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<DATE>2012-10-30</DATE>
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<NAME>Louis Goldberg</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Checklist: xChange DATE, validate xAdd DIV TYPEs, validate xReview structure, use FRONT,BODY, BACK or rarely GROUP xCheck PB placement and completeness, ensure sequence of N= xProof title page(s) xAdd FIGDESC= to any and all likely illustrations. xCheck HEAD TRAILER ARGUMENT EPIGRAPH xCheck OPENER CLOSER SIGNED SALUTE BYLINE DATE xCheck ^, oe, abq, italic I / J, _Initals, tb, space between &amp;c. xCheck hashes at signs -- UNCLEAR LB FIGURE xCheck frac; eogon; deg; BLANK xCheck GAP MISSING DUPLICATE xCheck for &punc; xCheck ABBR, q-semi-colon, start-q end-q to remove them, look for Q that shouldn't be marked as such xCorrect errors from proof sample xCorrect illegibles from proof sample xCheck illegible page, para, line, span, word, dollar signs xSkint if need be xRun Check afterwards Look at html online view if need be Note that in Black Letter, every capital U must be changed to a V Look for lists, illustrations, tables, music, math, end-notes, quasi-tabular arrangments, and marginalia Look for unobtrusive numerations: Do they mark divs? milestones? Examine marginalia. Is it all best tagged as NOTE? If appropriate, check for yoghs If appropriate, check for Latin problems, e.g. oe and ae digraphs If appropriate, check for abbreviation and brevigraph problems (1500s) If appropriate, check for units of measure, symbols (alchemical, astronomical, etc.) and the like xFinal validate Corrected [ ] illegible groups out of [ ]. Converted [ 24 ] illegible groups to GAP DESC="illeg." DONE</ITEM>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>XVI SERMONS Preached in the Univer&s;ity of OXFORD, AND AT COURT.</P>
<P>BY RICH. GARDINER, D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to King <HI>CHARLES</HI> decea&s;ed.</P>
<P>Together with his SERMON Preached in <HI>Bow-Church London,</HI> on the Anniver&s;ary Meeting of <HI>Hereford-&s;hire</HI> Natives, <HI>June</HI> 24. 1658.</P>
<Q><P>We have renounced the hidden things of di&s;hone&s;ty, not walking in craftine&s;s, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manife&s;tation of the truth, commending our &s;elves to every mans con&s;cience in the &s;ight of God,
<BIBL><HI>2 Cor. 4.2.</HI></BIBL></P>
<P>Meum e&s;&s;e e&s;t Fore.</P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed by <HI>James Cottrel,</HI> for <HI>Jo&s;eph Barber</HI> at the Lamb, and <HI>Samuel Speed</HI> at the Printing-Pre&s;s in St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s Church-yard. 1659.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>To the Religious READER.</HEAD>
<P>_IT hath plea&s;ed the Powers, un|der which the <HI>Doctor</HI> is per|mitted to breathe, to &s;hut up his Tongue in &s;ilence, in re|ference to the &s;olemn way of interpreting and applying &s;acred Writ: But he is not denyed the liberty to hold forth a Tran&s;cript of what he formerly taught and preach'd, as authoriz'd and a&s;sign'd to that great work by his high Calling. If thou conceive it comes abroad without the accu&s;tomed Verdure and Vigor, impute it to an unavoydable fatality: He hath been &s;o worried, that 'tis much if any &s;ignal e|vidence of a &s;trengthn'd Under&s;tanding be left to know him by.</P>
<P>Yet I am &s;ecur'd by unbya&s;&s;ed knowing
<PB REF="3">Judgements, thou wilt, in this, finde veri|fied, <HI>Afflictio dat Intellectum,</HI> his ma|nifold pre&s;&s;ures have improved and &s;ancti|fied his Intellectuals, cau&s;ing him to make <HI>Mary</HI> to take upon her <HI>Martha's</HI> duty, &s;peculative Knowledge to joyn hand in hand with practical and moral, whereby in enter|taining Chri&s;t, both chu&s;e the better part.</P>
<P>He was loath to condemn it to ob&s;curity, or to leave it as a Po&s;thumous I&s;&s;ue, le&s;t a Collector of Manu&s;cripts, blundering on it, might produce it into light with a Nick|name,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nocte plu|it tota.</NOTE> &s;ince <HI>Bathyllus</HI> pre&s;um'd to own that approved Di&s;tich, compo&s;ed, not &s;ub|&s;cribed, by <HI>Virgil,</HI> his living contempo|rary: Or le&s;t a <HI>Legerdemain Brachy|grapher</HI> might alter and di&s;gui&s;e it with a new-fangled Mode, and &s;o vend it; as the Indigent deal with the ductile Limbs of their Younglings; fir&s;t di&s;tort and cripple them; then expo&s;e them to publick view for a future Livelyhood. Another incite|ment for the publication, is to manife&s;t the gro&s;s &s;candal, rai&s;ed by errant Preach|menters, who groan it out to their &s;educed Pro&s;elytes, that Chri&s;t (alas!) was not rightly known among us, till the Chari|ot and Hor&s;emen of their <HI>I&s;rael</HI> opened the way for his pa&s;&s;age. And why? be|cau&s;e,
<PB REF="3">&s;o they feign, &s;elf-preachers &s;ent from the Univer&s;ities, not from God, filled the ears of the Court and Country with well|&s;ounding words, with neat delicate &s;treams of Wit and humane Learning, not ayming at the Souls health.</P>
<P>If the thick Mi&s;ts and Clouds of Faction have not quite darkned their Right Eye, the inward of the Soul, herein, as in other of his unanimous fellow-&s;ervants Pulpit-la|bours, they may brightly behold the Lord of Glory reaching out his Golden Scepter of Grace and Mercy to the poor in Spirit; &s;haking his Iron Rod of Terrour and Ven|geance, to cru&s;h and beat down every high Imagination exalted again&s;t Obedience to his Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>Here's no pillow &s;own under the Elbow of a Court-Favorite, <HI>Bla&s;tus;</HI> a tempori|zing Orator, <HI>Tertullus;</HI> a popular Me|chanick, <HI>Demetrius,</HI> the turbulent Silver|&s;mith; or of any other ring-leading Arti|ficer: But the purity of Evangelical Veri|ties, is carried on without connece&s;&s;ary quirks and quiddities, in a clear clean per|&s;picuity; unle&s;s they will have nothing plain, but what rankly &s;avours of down|right rude uncouth &s;lovenly Expre&s;sions. The chief points of each Sermon are nece&s;&s;a|ry
<PB REF="4">heads of Chri&s;tian Doctrine. The Na|ture and Offices, the Sufferings and Death of Chri&s;t, his Precepts, Promi&s;es, and Threats, are zealou&s;ly declared and pre&s;&s;ed home to the Con&s;cience, convincing the World of Sin, of Righteou&s;ne&s;s and Judge|ment.</P>
<P>Maligning Spirits may &s;urmi&s;e the end of this Impre&s;sion to be what&s;oever di&s;tem|pered Fancy may &s;ugge&s;t: The true Ver|dict, which I am to give in, is, if accor|ding to the Author's &s;upplications offered at the Throne of Grace, the Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall work &s;o effectually with the&s;e his Indeavours, as to make them &s;ub&s;ervient In&s;truments of reconciling any one to God in Chri&s;t; his intent or &s;cope is accompli&s;hed, his joy, his glory and crown atchieved. He will be bold to &s;ay he hath well laboured in the Word and Doctrine, as a Workman that nee|ded not to be a&s;hamed; being a&s;&s;ured, ac|cording to the gracious promi&s;e, he &s;hall have this inch, this minute of a toyl&s;ome time, out-weighed by the Eternity of bli&s;s|fulne&s;s.</P>
<P>Having opened the Purport, the Tenor and Sub&s;tance of my Commi&s;sion, thou may&s;t on ea&s;ie terms take the whole home,
<PB REF="4">at lea&s;ure peru&s;e it &s;eriou&s;ly, and make thy own eyes witne&s;&s;es of the Truth thus a&s;&s;erted by</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Thine, BIBLIOPOLA.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<PB REF="5">
<HEAD>ERRATA.</HEAD>
<P>PAge 2. line 20. read <HI>named.</HI> p. 3. l. 3. r. <HI>out of.</HI> p. 4. l. 3. r. <HI>fired.</HI> p 89. l. 19. after <HI>wonderfully,</HI> in&s;ert, <HI>E&s;ay believ'd in the Lord; but it was when he &s;aw him &s;itting on a high throne.</HI> p. 96 l. 29. r. <HI>tran&s;cen|dent.</HI> l. 33, 34. r. <HI>recalcitrating,</HI> p. 118. l. 6. r. <HI>Heir.</HI> p. 131. l. 17. r. <HI>Mankind.</HI> l. 26. r. <HI>ear.</HI> p. 132 l. 17. r. <HI>touched.</HI> p. 138. l. 13. r. <HI>pa&s;&s;ing.</HI> p. 147. l. 10. r. <HI>dram</HI> l. 25. r. <HI>me.</HI> p. 151. l. 23. r. <HI>Maids.</HI> p. 162. l. 17. r. <HI>loca.</HI> l. 18. in&s;ert <HI>Hall.</HI> p. 163. l. 9. r. <HI>Murena.</HI> p. 175. l. 28. in&s;ert <HI>on.</HI> p. 182. l. 19. r. <HI>pre|&s;umption.</HI> p. 209. l. 7. r. <HI>nere.</HI> p. 211. l. 31. dele fir&s;t <HI>but.</HI> p. 154. l. 24. r. <HI>filth.</HI> p. 295. l. 7. r. <HI>endure.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="5">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Luke 13.23, 24. v.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Then &s;aid one unto him, Lord, are there few that be &s;aved? And he &s;aid unto them, Strive to enter in at the &s;trait gate; for many, I &s;ay unto you, will &s;eek to enter in, and &s;hall not be able.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IN a di&s;puting Age, it will not be un&s;ea&s;onable to handle a que&s;tioning Text; either for the reproof of Curio&s;ity, or for &s;atisfacti|on of doubt.</P>
<P>The&s;e words evidently branch them&s;elves into a Que&s;tion, an An&s;wer, and a Rea&s;on. The Que&s;tion is in the beginning; <HI>Then &s;aid one unto him, Lord, are there few that be &s;a|ved?</HI> The An&s;wer follows; <HI>And he &s;aid to them, Strive to enter in at the &s;trait gate.</HI> And this is the Rea&s;on; <HI>for many, I &s;ay un|to you, will &s;eek to enter in, and &s;hall not be able.</HI></P>
<P>Of the&s;e, and their <HI>&s;ubdivided</HI> particulars, in order.</P>
<P>In the Que&s;tion you may ob&s;erve the <HI>party</HI>
<PB N="2" REF="6">asking, the <HI>manner,</HI> and the <HI>matter.</HI> The party asking is an <HI>Individuum vagum,</HI> a cer|tain uncertain <HI>Inqui&s;itor,</HI> one without a name, <HI>Then &s;aid ONE unto him.</HI></P>
<P>When a <HI>Que&s;tion</HI> is ask'd of our Saviour, which carries &s;ome weight, or tends to need|ful In&s;truction, the <HI>name</HI> of the <HI>Propo&s;er</HI> is regi&s;tred together with the propo&s;al. Thus <HI>John</HI> is on the file for asking, <HI>Art thou He that &s;hould come?</HI> Matth. 11.3. <HI>Caiaphas</HI> is not forgot, for asking, <HI>Art thou the Chri&s;t?</HI> Matth. 26.63. <HI>Pilate</HI> is recorded, for asking, <HI>Art thou the King of the Jews?</HI> Matth. 27.11. <HI>Nicodemus</HI> is nor unmentioned, for asking, <HI>How a man could be born again?</HI> John 3. But this Que&s;tion in the Text being more curious then nece&s;&s;ary, and tending to I know not what purpo&s;e, is ask'd by I know not whom; for he is not vouch&s;af'd the grace of being name. No particular is &s;pecified in holy <HI>writ,</HI> that made the <HI>Inter'gatory,</HI> or moved the <HI>Quaere.</HI> From whence I infer, that &s;uch as pry into Gods <HI>&s;ecrets,</HI> are le&s;&s;e in his books then they that follow the duties commanded. For need|le&s;s curio&s;ity of the brain, robs the heart of that intention, and devotion, which ought to be placed on matters more pertinent. Why &s;hould&s;t thou or I be inqui&s;itive after the <HI>number</HI> of tho&s;e &s;hall be &s;aved? It more concerns us to lay our hands on our own brea&s;ts, to enquire &s;trictly whether we find in our hearts tho&s;e heavenly graces to which
<PB N="3" REF="6">God hath annexed his &s;aving promi&s;es, the more to a&s;&s;ure our &s;elves that we are <HI>Chri&s;ts,</HI> tran&s;lated out the power of <HI>darkne&s;s</HI> to his marvailous <HI>light.</HI> Be not then addicted to vain prating people, who, as the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks, 1 Tim. 6. <HI>Know nothing, but dote a|bout que&s;tions, and &s;trife of words,</HI> and things which have no pith in them, whereby ye can reap no profit, but <HI>whereof cometh envying, raylings, evil &s;urmi&s;es, froward di&s;putations of men of corrupt minds, and de&s;titute of the truth.</HI></P>
<P>And &s;o from the per&s;on asking, I proceed to the manner, which in appearance is duty|ful; it begins with <HI>Lord.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Then &s;aid one unto him, Lord.</HI></P>
<P>The name of <HI>Lord</HI> is mo&s;t precious, and holy; it &s;ounds well in godly conference: when&s;oever it comes forth, it promi&s;eth a religious, and well-weighed &s;peech; and therefore it ought &s;o to be placed, and u&s;ed, that the matter may fitly become &s;o high a <HI>Name.</HI> But yet we find that all curious no|velties, and &s;trange reaches, how&s;oever de|vi&s;ed, and broached, are wrongfully entitled to Gods honour, that by his great <HI>Name</HI> they may get honour to them&s;elves. What vain phan&s;ie, or project; what here&s;ie, or commotion, hath ever been &s;et on foot without the pretence of <HI>Gods glory?</HI> Some|times his <HI>Name</HI> is quoted impertinently in &s;en&s;ele&s;s talk, which occa&s;ions a cold re|&s;pect of his omnipre&s;ent, though invi&s;ible
<PB N="4" REF="7">Maje&s;ty. Sometimes he is lewdly called on, which breeds offence. Sometimes he is prai|&s;ed for pro&s;pering downright &s;ins, which in time he will puni&s;h: And the <HI>griping</HI> world|ling will not &s;tick to &s;ay that <HI>God</HI> hath great|ly ble&s;&s;ed his e&s;tate. Not to run too far off, I do not think this que&s;tion in the Text of &s;ufficient piety to follow the Name <HI>Lord;</HI> which gives me occa&s;ion to complain of this &s;o &s;pecious abu&s;e. <HI>You call me Lord, or Ma|&s;ter,</HI> &s;aith our Saviour, <HI>and &s;o I am,</HI> John 13. if then I be your Lord, where is your &s;er|vice? <HI>Not every one that &s;aith unto me, Lord, &s;hall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father, which is in Heaven,</HI> Math. 7. Let <HI>Lord,</HI> and &s;ervice; more obedience, and le&s;s que&s;tioning, go together.</P>
<P>What&s;oever the que&s;tion be, as what it is, we &s;hall partly &s;ee anon, the formal, outward reverence of this <HI>Inqui&s;itor,</HI> &s;erves well to convince &s;ome rude, undi&s;ciplined Chri&s;ti|ans, who in mo&s;t religious duties are mo&s;t ne|gligent, undecent, and profane; who, when they &s;peak of <HI>God,</HI> yea when they &s;peak unto him, &s;hew le&s;&s;e manners, (I cannot &s;ay reli|gion) then they would to an hone&s;t man. Fir&s;t, coming into his hou&s;e not reverently, as into a <HI>Kings</HI> chamber, but heedle&s;ly, as into an <HI>Inne;</HI> then praying, or babling with a vagrant eye, with one knee, and one el|bow, perhaps with a long &s;ide, leaning like a dead pourtraicture on a Tomb-&s;tone. Let
<PB N="5" REF="7">&s;uch learn of this <HI>Que&s;tioner</HI> to &s;ay <HI>Lord</HI> man|nerly.</P>
<P>Now to the que&s;tion it &s;elf, <HI>Are there few that are &s;aved?</HI> Some have thought that after a certain revolution of date and puni&s;hment, all &s;hall be &s;aved. Some think ju&s;t half; colouring their opinion, I cannot &s;ay proving it, with certain parabolical allu|&s;ions, and &s;emblances, which to them &s;eem demon&s;trations: As becau&s;e <HI>I&s;aak</HI> had two &s;ons, one of whom God hated, and the other he loved: or becau&s;e two women &s;hall be grinding at a mill, one taken, and the other left: or in regard Saint <HI>Paul</HI> hath &s;aid, As in <HI>Adam</HI> many are made &s;inners, &s;o in Chri&s;t many are made righteous, <HI>Rom.</HI> 5. Or in con&s;ideration that the right and left hand (on which all at la&s;t &s;hall be rank'd) are both of a &s;ize; and &s;o they <HI>part &s;takes</HI> betwixt heaven and hell. The&s;e proofs need no an&s;wer.</P>
<P>Some think a few only &s;hall be &s;aved, &s;o few, that they can almo&s;t tell who they are. The&s;e &s;tile <HI>them&s;elves</HI> the <HI>beloved</HI> of God, his cho&s;en, and dear children, drawing all Gods promi&s;es only to their own behoof, reprobating all others; and what&s;oever is &s;poken again&s;t them, is &s;poken again&s;t <HI>God,</HI> The&s;e are &s;o &s;elf-conceited, that they con|fine Gods mercy to their own acquaintance. Thus the <HI>Donati&s;ts,</HI> or they of <HI>Donatus</HI> party, &s;o &s;piritually covetous, as if it would do them little good to &s;it in <HI>Abraham</HI>'s bo|&s;om,
<PB N="6" REF="8">unle&s;s they &s;aw many a <HI>Dives</HI> in hell. Their arguments for their <HI>paucity</HI> are the&s;e, drawn from the words of our Saviour, fir&s;t in a &s;eeming parallel to my Text, <HI>Mat.</HI> 7.14. <HI>Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.</HI> Again, in the 12. and 22 of St. Luke, <HI>Fear not, little flock, for it is your Fathers good plea&s;ure to give you the Kingdom.</HI> And Matth. 22.14. <HI>Many are called, but few are cho&s;en.</HI> Now if the flock be little, and the number few, all they that follow any kind of <HI>Sect,</HI> think them&s;elves to be the only men. I conceive we &s;hould like rather this opinion then any of the former, becau&s;e men prove it wor&s;t by their lives. A modern <HI>Light</HI> holds forth a <HI>Tenet,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Jo&s;eph Al|ford</HI> Treat. of Chri&s;t triumph.</NOTE> that the <HI>number</HI> of the <HI>Elect</HI> is not inferior to the damned; urging withal, that they who en|tertain &s;uch narrow conceptions of the hea|venly Kingdom, as if it were open but to few, do not advance Gods Maje&s;ty, but dimini&s;h it; not magnifie his goodne&s;s, but di&s;parage it.
<Q>For in this rather (&s;aith he) is the mer|cy of God manife&s;ted, that when in <HI>ju&s;tice</HI> he might have damned all, he de&s;tinated &s;ome to puni&s;hment, but more to &s;alvati|on.</Q> And &s;o tho&s;e Texts which tell us <HI>few</HI> are &s;aved, and <HI>few</HI> find the way to eternal life; he refers not to the fewne&s;s of the <HI>Elect,</HI> but of believing <HI>Jews</HI> at Chri&s;ts <HI>fir&s;t</HI> coming to them; as if &s;uch &s;peeches were directed only to the <HI>contemporary Jews,</HI> in regard in the &s;econd ver&s;e, <HI>Luk.</HI> 13. 'tis the
<PB N="7" REF="8">reply of tho&s;e <HI>Jews, We have eaten and drunk in thy pre&s;ence, and thou ha&s;t taught in our &s;treets,</HI> as if that &s;hould advantage them. Whereupon he gives this expo&s;ition of my Text.</P>
<P>You demand of me (&s;aith Chri&s;t) whether few be &s;aved, but I admoni&s;h you not to tri|fle away time in &s;uch que&s;tions, but let there be a holy Contention among you with all celerity to enter in at this <HI>door</HI> of my <HI>Go|&s;pel;</HI> for the time is very &s;hort in which you have a capacity of faith to obtain the King|dom of God. Now the remi&s;&s;ne&s;s, the la|zine&s;s of the&s;e <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> people was &s;o great, that few of them indeed did believe his Go|&s;pel, and thereby few at his fir&s;t manife&s;ta|tion in the fle&s;h did enter by the true gate, Chri&s;t Je&s;us. In the&s;e di&s;crepant applicati|ons of Chri&s;ts an&s;wer here, I will not im|po&s;e a nece&s;&s;ity of belief on any. And be|cau&s;e the faithful, be they never &s;o many, are few in re&s;pect of our Saviours bowels, who <HI>would that all &s;hould be &s;aved and come to the knowledg of the truth,</HI> 1 Tim. 2. or in re&s;pect <HI>a multitude of all Nations, which no man could number, &s;tood before the Throne with Palms in their hands,</HI> Revel. 7. I leave it, as 'tis here, undecided. For what can this further my Salvation, to know how many el&s;e &s;hall be &s;aved? Hath our heavenly <HI>Fa|ther</HI> but one ble&s;&s;ing? Is not his hou&s;e large enough? are there not many man&s;ions? Such a needle&s;s enquiry is like many other
<PB N="8" REF="9">concerning Gods Coun&s;el, as, What he did before he created the world, Where hell &s;hall be: How mankind &s;hould have encrea&s;ed, and been di&s;po&s;ed, if <HI>Adam</HI> had &s;tood in his innocency: Whether Gods decree be ab&s;o|lute, or conditional: When, and upon what con&s;iderations he elected: Whether there be <HI>Scientia media,</HI> a divine foreknowledge of future events upon &s;uch conditions as ne|ver come to pa&s;s?</P>
<P>There are a &s;ort of men who make it their only Religion to enquire of what Religion God him&s;elf is; who in &s;tead of following their own duties, dive into the Office of God. Such is the knowledge which puffes up, and buts again&s;t love, which edifies. Such que&s;tions of &s;upernatural <HI>Genealogies,</HI> or <HI>Genealogies</HI> of que&s;tions, be <HI>&s;uperfooli&s;h;</HI> a|way with them. So I ha&s;ten to the an&s;wer of our wi&s;e and ble&s;&s;ed Saviour, <HI>He &s;aid to them, Strive to enter in at the &s;trait gate.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t of the <HI>manner,</HI> then of the <HI>matter.</HI></P>
<P>It was but <HI>one</HI> propo&s;ed the que&s;tion; Chri&s;t replies to the re&s;t who &s;tood by, they being all concerned therein. Be&s;ides, the <HI>manner</HI> of his an&s;wer is not direct to the <HI>quaere,</HI> which &s;hews he did not much like it; but to the ground thereof. He an&s;wers like him&s;elf, who is even the <HI>Di&s;cerner</HI> of hearts, and can &s;ee to what conclu&s;ion the thought would bend. He that moved the que&s;tion, was haply touched with a &s;pice of pride, rejoycing within him&s;elf that he of the few
<PB N="9" REF="9">was one, and taking delight in the exclu&s;ion of others. Otherwi&s;e, if many &s;hould be &s;a|ved, he had a mind perchance to live idle, and &s;ecure, hoping to thru&s;t into heaven amid&s;t the multitude. Soft, our Saviour teacheth him his duty, that &s;o he may be one of the few; and in &s;tead of re&s;olving, gives him an an&s;wer like that which he gave to <HI>Peter,</HI> being inqui&s;itive about <HI>John, What's that to thee? follow thou me,</HI> John 21. Plea&s;e not thy phan&s;ie, who&s;oever thou art, in reckoning thy &s;elf one of the few; nor re&s;t &s;ecure, in counting upon many, but &s;trive thy &s;elf, as thou art bid.</P>
<P>It is the holy <HI>Gho&s;t</HI>'s u&s;ual method, in an&s;wering to impertinent que&s;tions, to be|gin at the end, and to render to prying &s;pe|culation a <HI>precept</HI> for practi&s;e. So when the <HI>Herodians</HI> asked Chri&s;t <HI>whether it were law|ful to pay tribute to Cae&s;ar;</HI> he refers them to the in&s;cription of the coyn, and bids them <HI>give to Cae&s;ar the things that are Cae&s;ars.</HI> Matth. 22. So when the <HI>Di&s;ciples</HI> asked concerning the end of the world, he an&s;wers, <HI>Let no man deceive you,</HI> Matth. 24. When the que&s;tion aro&s;e, <HI>Who &s;hould be the greate&s;t?</HI> He told them, <HI>The Kings of the Gentiles ex|erci&s;e Lord&s;hip, but ye &s;hall not do &s;o,</HI> Luk. 22. Still their an&s;wer is their duty. But when duty is the que&s;tion, the an&s;wer is plain, and direct: As, when the people asked the Apo|&s;tle <HI>John, What &s;hall we do? He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none,</HI>
<PB N="10" REF="10">Luk. 3.11. When the <HI>Publicans</HI> ask the fame, 'tis, <HI>Exact no more then what is appoint|ed you,</HI> Luk. 3. When the Souldiers demand in like manner, &s;o he an&s;wers, <HI>Do violence to no man, accu&s;e none fal&s;ly, be content with your wages,</HI> Luk. 3. 'Tis cleer, he prefers <HI>doing</HI> before <HI>di&s;puting.</HI></P>
<P>No doubt but our Saviour could have an|&s;wered exactly to this que&s;tion in the Text, for he knows his own, all his <HI>Members</HI> are written in his <HI>book.</HI> If we by our <HI>Anatomy</HI> can reckon up all the parts, all the bones, the veines, the &s;inews, and mu&s;cles of the natu|ral body,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 10.30.</NOTE> Chri&s;t could &s;urely tell all the <HI>Members</HI> of his my&s;tical body; yea and all the hairs on each of their heads. He &s;peaks plainly in the formentioned 7 Chapter of <HI>Matth.</HI> that tho&s;e which enter in at the narrow gate are but few: but here, to meet with a curious brain, with a proud or &s;luggi&s;h heart, he conceales that an&s;wer, and puts off the Que&s;tioner with his duty: <HI>Strive to en|ter in at the narrow gate;</HI> which is the <HI>mat|ter</HI> now to be pre&s;&s;ed upon you.</P>
<P>We may not think to get a place in Hea|ven as we do a prize in a <HI>Lottery;</HI> fir&s;t ask whether there be many, or few chances? then put in our hands, and draw our For|tunes. No, we mu&s;t <HI>work out Salvation;</HI> it will co&s;t us labour, and &s;weat, and &s;triving to extremity.</P>
<P>The word in the Original is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Strive till ye fall into an agony,</HI> and &s;weat as
<PB N="11" REF="10">well in receiving redemption, as <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> did with giving it. For it co&s;t our <HI>Redeemer</HI> a combate with Satan, an Agony within him|&s;elf, a wre&s;tling with death, before he could &s;et up the prize for us to run at. Wherefore we cannot do le&s;s then run, and thru&s;t hard when we come to the goal or gate. The Kingdom of Heaven is <HI>gotten by violence;</HI> we cannot obtain a ble&s;&s;ing, unle&s;s with <HI>Jacob</HI> we wre&s;tle for it. And indeed, the word here is borrowed from Champions, or wre&s;tlers. Before the combate, incredible was the care and &s;trictne&s;s of temper in tho&s;e <HI>Olympian Agonists,</HI> who for certain months before, clean&s;ed their bodies with phy&s;ick and diet, poy&s;ed the condition of weather with helpes of art, wore their apparel by rule, had their bread weigh'd, their drink mea&s;ured, their &s;leep &s;tinted, oftentimes breathing them&s;elves, and trying their abilities, to pre|pare way for victory. Can we do le&s;s in our &s;piritual cour&s;e for an infinite prize, a crown immea&s;urable, a Kingdom immortal? Then having phy&s;ick'd your &s;ouls with the Cup of Chri&s;t, be &s;ure ye keep your &s;elves clean and temperate. No bea&s;t, nor unclean thing might approach the Holy Mount on earth where the Law was given, <HI>Exod.</HI> 34.3. How then &s;hall men turn'd to bea&s;ts by un|cleanne&s;s, or wor&s;e then bea&s;ts, by &s;tupefying and &s;en&s;e-confounding exce&s;&s;e, be admitted into the Heavenly Mount, re&s;erved for the Children of Grace, who practi&s;e their &s;piri|tual
<PB N="12" REF="11">&s;trength with cha&s;te good works, and examine their parts inwardly before the la&s;t &s;tiffe wre&s;tling at heavens &s;trait gate?</P>
<P>But what means this <HI>Metaphor</HI> of entring at the <HI>&s;trait</HI> gate? It &s;hewes the difficulty of entrance; we mu&s;t therefore u&s;e the &s;ame endeavour &s;piritually for admittance into Heaven, as we do corporally for entrance through a narrow pa&s;&s;age, <HI>(i. e.)</HI> we mu&s;t &s;toop, and le&s;&s;en our &s;elves, by abating and ca&s;ting off all tho&s;e cumbrous impediments, which &s;well us up, and lets our ingredience. Such are the&s;e: <HI>pride,</HI> which advanceth the head; <HI>covetou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> which buncheth the back; and <HI>intemperance,</HI> which blows up the belly. The man mu&s;t be extenuated, and freed from all the&s;e incumbrances, that will get through this gate, which is therefore called <HI>narrow,</HI> becau&s;e vve mu&s;t narrow our &s;elves.</P>
<P>The hou&s;e of God on earth may be con|ceived a re&s;emblance of his heavenly palace; for in mo&s;t of our Churches the door we commonly enter in is low, and little; this an&s;wers to humility. None &s;hould pa&s;&s;e through with &s;tuffe, or carriage; this an&s;wers to the bani&s;hing of vvorldline&s;s. When vve come thither, vve u&s;e commonly to come cleanly, and fa&s;ting; this an&s;wers to cha&s;te and &s;ober temperance. Concerning the le&s;&s;ening of our &s;elves by humility, our Savi|our hath given the <HI>&s;ize</HI> of a little child for our mea&s;ure; <HI>except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye &s;hall not enter into
<PB N="13" REF="11">the heavenly Kingdom. Who&s;ever &s;hall hum|ble him&s;elf as this little child, &s;hall be greate&s;t,</HI> Matth. 18.</P>
<P>Nothing hinders humility &s;o much as pride of <HI>&s;pirit,</HI> pre&s;umption on God, or out &s;elves: pride of <HI>dre&s;&s;ing,</HI> or pride of prece|dence, hinder too, but not &s;o much. The one is a toy; the other the <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> once had, and unlearned;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.</NOTE> but pride of Spirit was proper to the <HI>Phari&s;ee;</HI> without this, he might have entred in; for &s;urely that Phari&s;aical Sect had more then ordinary righteou&s;ne&s;s, but they loved to &s;hew it, to boa&s;t, and &s;tand upon it, and to condemn all others. This is a &s;tiffe pride, and hard to be removed, becau&s;e they that have it applaud them&s;elves, and think they do vvell. This is the pride of <HI>Lucifer,</HI> vho appears as an Angel of <HI>Light;</HI> and they that have it, come very neer, yet cannot get through. Sometimes they can put in their heads by <HI>Speculation,</HI> but their backs vvill not bow, that their feet may come along. Sometimes a foot is in by <HI>practi&s;e;</HI> but while they keep their heads alo&s;t, and <HI>gaze</HI> on the my&s;teries of the &s;tructure, they get a knock on the head, and fall back to the vvorld.</P>
<P>Concerning <HI>abdication,</HI> or contempt of the vvorld, particularly of <HI>uncertain</HI> riches,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.17.</NOTE> our Saviour hath &s;aid, Matth. 19. <HI>It is hard for a rich man to enter in the Kingdom of Hea|ven,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 19. v. 23.24. &amp; ver&s;. 14.</NOTE> 'tis harder for him then for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle.</HI> On the contrary,
<PB N="14" REF="12">make ye friends of the unrighteous Mammon,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 16.9.</NOTE> <HI>that they may receive you into everla&s;ting ta|bernacles.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>poor,</HI> which are in before, will give a hand unto you. They have told Chri&s;t of their friends on earth, and Chri&s;t takes no|tice of them. Wherefore the &s;oul mu&s;t be le&s;&s;en'd, and purged from all the&s;e gro&s;s hu|mors, and <HI>fardels</HI> of fle&s;hline&s;s, otherwi&s;e the gate of Heaven, though wide enough for thou&s;ands to enter at once, will con|tract it &s;elf like a <HI>&s;hut-pur&s;e,</HI> and be found too narrow for one unreformed &s;inner; yea, though that &s;inner make a fair &s;hew of San|ctity by much religious di&s;pute, and &s;earch of heavenly things; for, as it follows, <HI>many will &s;eek to enter in, and &s;hall not be able.</HI></P>
<P>Is not this our Saviours promi&s;e, <HI>Seek, and ye &s;hall find; knock, it &s;hall be opened?</HI> Matth. 7. How then can any that <HI>&s;eek</HI> be denied entrance? Surely, becau&s;e they do not &s;eek to the purpo&s;e, and after a right manner. They &s;eek inqui&s;itively, not duti|fully; rather to know the Secrets of God, then to fulfil his Commands: or perhaps they &s;eek faintly, vvith a vvandring intenti|on, and carele&s;s ce&s;&s;ation; if they find not pre&s;ently, they give over their &s;earch; they may knock once, or twice on their brea&s;t, but &s;oftly, <HI>as upon felt,</HI> and &s;o give over be|fore they be heard. Therefore the <HI>Apostle</HI> having &s;aid in the third to the <HI>Colo&s;&s;ians,</HI> and the fir&s;t ver&s;e, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Seek earne&s;tly
<PB N="15" REF="12">to find the things above,</HI> for that's the extent of the Greek <GAP DESC="foreign">, in the &s;econd ver&s;e, he changeth <GAP DESC="foreign"> into <GAP DESC="foreign">, and &s;ayes, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>mind heavenly things.</HI> Now <GAP DESC="foreign"> is a general word, comprehending the operations as vvell of our vvill, as of our under&s;tanding; yea in the <HI>Scripture</HI> 'tis mo&s;t commonly applyed to the affections, which are peculiar motions of the will: &s;o that our la&s;t Engli&s;h tran&s;lation, to &s;hew the right manner in &s;eeking, hath well rendred it, <HI>Set your affection on the things above.</HI> For to &s;eek with love and duty, to &s;eek from the heart, is only effectual. Any other &s;earch, vvhether by &s;peculation, talk, or que&s;tioning, is but formal, vain, and frivolous. For heart|le&s;s enquirers &s;eek entrance into the King|dom of Heaven, as into a publick <HI>&s;pectacle;</HI> thither they come, and make a profer; but &s;eeing a thru&s;t at the door, away they pa&s;s. The difficulty of obtaining, rebates the edge of endeavour.</P>
<P>Such a <HI>Seeker</HI> was the young man in the Go&s;pel; he &s;ought indeed to enter, but how? by asking a que&s;tion, <HI>What &s;hall I do?</HI> Matt. 19.16. <HI>Do</HI> vvas the be&s;t que&s;tion could be asked; yet little available, becau&s;e the an&s;wer vvas not followed; for having <HI>great po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions,</HI> and being told,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 22.</NOTE> <HI>Thou &s;halt &s;ell all, and give to the poor, he went away for|rowful,</HI> and di&s;plea&s;ed. If Heaven might be purcha&s;ed at an ea&s;ie rate, there would be many more merchants then there are;
<PB N="16" REF="13">vvherefore our Saviour puts the man to the <HI>Te&s;t,</HI> whether he loved God be&s;t of all, by a propo&s;al of forgoing that, vvhich vvas deare&s;t to him; vvhereunto if he had wil|lingly conde&s;cended, as <HI>Abraham</HI> did to the &s;acrificing of his only &s;on, perhaps the <HI>will</HI> had been accepted in&s;teed of <HI>extream performance.</HI> But how&s;oever, he that loves any thing more then <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> he that vvill not for&s;ake Father or Mother, Wife or Child, Brother or Si&s;ter, to gain him (wit|ne&s;s Chri&s;t him&s;elf) is not worthy of him.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 10.37.</NOTE> Shall I &s;ay then, He that will not for&s;ake his dear &s;in, or rather, he that prefers Heaven it &s;elf before Chri&s;t, is unworthy of him, and Heaven? You may hear <HI>God</HI> him&s;elf com|plaining of the&s;e vain un&s;erviceable &s;eekers, I&s;a. 58.2. for indeed they are but hypocriti|cal &s;inners; <HI>They &s;eek me daily, and delight to know my wayes, as a Nation that did righte|ou&s;ne&s;s, and for&s;ook not the Ordinance of their God; they ask of me the Ordinance of Ju|&s;tice:</HI> but what follows? Still the old cu|&s;tome: They &s;eek to <HI>know,</HI> not to <HI>follow:</HI> and vvhat availes to <HI>&s;ee,</HI> and not to <HI>walk;</HI> to <HI>&s;tand,</HI> and not <HI>knock;</HI> to <HI>hear,</HI> and not <HI>obey;</HI> to <HI>&s;ay,</HI> and <HI>do not?</HI> You may find by experience, that true effectual &s;eeking, re|quires the diligent imployment of two parts, the <HI>eye,</HI> and <HI>foot;</HI> the one to <HI>look out,</HI> the other to <HI>follow after:</HI> That an&s;wers to &s;pe|culation, the other to practi&s;e. He that is wholly taken up with &s;peculation, may &s;ee
<PB N="17" REF="13">Heaven afar off, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;aw the Land of <HI>Canaan</HI> from Mount <HI>Nebo, Deut.</HI> 32. but thither he cannot come without religious practi&s;e.</P>
<P>Be not then curious in enquiring what needs not, whether, or how many others &s;hall be &s;av'd: this is to be <HI>bu&s;ie-bodies,</HI> or, as the word originally imports, <HI>Bi&s;hops in an|other dioce&s;&s;e,</HI> 1 Pet. 4. which the &s;ame <HI>Peter</HI> would not have Chri&s;tians to be; but &s;trive earne&s;tly, and faithfully, to do what God re|quires, that your &s;elves may obtain &s;alvati|on. Be careful truly and obediently to fol|low, and walk in that path, which will, though narrow, lead you to eternal life. En|deavour to be holy, as ye affect to be happy, for then &s;urely you &s;hall be both holy and happy; then &s;hall grace end with you in glory: and as here ye live the lives of the Saints, &s;o hereafter ye &s;hall po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e the joyes of the Saints in the Kingdom of Heaven: which God of his mercy grant unto us, through the merits of his Son, our Saviour, Je&s;us Chri&s;t, the righteous. Amen.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="18" REF="14">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>John 2. v. 11.</HI></BIBL>
<P>This beginning of Miracles did Je&s;us in Cana of Galilee; and manife&s;ted forth his glory, and his Di&s;ciples believed on him.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE fir&s;t Chapter records the <HI>Nativity</HI> of Chri&s;t:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. II.</NOTE> now after his birth follows his <HI>life, the things that Je&s;us began both to do, and teach;</HI> and the&s;e are no le&s;&s;e then Miracles, or words able to work them; but the vertue of every power is made mo&s;t apparent by action, for which re|&s;pect the Evangeli&s;t in the 1 of the <HI>Acts,</HI> v. 1. hath placed our Saviours <HI>doing</HI> before his <HI>teaching:</HI> for unle&s;s his works had made way for his words, the peoples belief had come but &s;lowly on. Mark then how holy Hi&s;tory hath regi&s;tred his Miracles from the begin|ning. This <HI>BEGINNING of Mi|racles,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>From which Record you may ob&s;erve the <HI>Miracle</HI> it &s;elf, it was the turning of <HI>water</HI> into <HI>wine;</HI> then the <HI>Circum&s;tances:</HI> 1. The <HI>Author,</HI> it was wrought by <HI>Je&s;us.</HI> 2. The <HI>time,</HI> it was the fir&s;t, or the <HI>BEGINNING</HI> of his Miracles. 3. The <HI>place,</HI> it was wrought in <HI>CANA</HI> of <HI>Galilee.</HI> Then the <HI>manner,</HI> it was glorious, for thereby he manife&s;ted forth <HI>his glory:</HI> and la&s;tly, the <HI>effect,</HI> which
<PB N="19" REF="14">was belief; <HI>his Di&s;ciples BELIEVED on him.</HI> Of the&s;e in the order propo&s;ed.</P>
<P>The turning of wine into water is familiar among&s;t us, but the turning of water into wine de&s;erves the name of a <HI>Miracle.</HI> 'Tis ea&s;ie to make wor&s;e of better, but not to make better of wor&s;e: ea&s;ie to &s;pend, and wa&s;t, but not to provide, and gather.</P>
<P>But you may &s;ay, We find it common in Nature, that water &s;oaking into the root of the tree, is turned into the <HI>blood</HI> of the grape, and &s;o becomes wine; and, which is mo&s;t difficult, that <HI>God</HI> him&s;elf &s;hould convert water into wine, or cau&s;e <HI>a vine</HI> to do the &s;ame.</P>
<P>Indeed every work of Nature, if duly con&s;idered, hath a greater expre&s;&s;ion of power then a Miracle: 'Tis more to <HI>make</HI> an eye, then to <HI>cure</HI> the blinde; to <HI>frame</HI> a joynt, then to <HI>bid</HI> the lame walk; to <HI>&s;crue</HI> an ear, then to <HI>open</HI> the deafs hearing; or to <HI>mould</HI> a man out of nothing, then to <HI>rai&s;e</HI> the dead. Neverthele&s;s, a vvork cut of ordinary cour&s;e, though of le&s;s power, more takes our gazing <HI>wonder,</HI> becau&s;e le&s;s obvious. Ignorance mixt vvith &s;ome parcel of know|ledg, is the Mother of Wonder.</P>
<P>How&s;oever, vve are rightly taught hereby to magnifie God in all his works, vvhich vve daily behold; for there is more excel|lent art in making the poore&s;t bramble, or thi&s;tle, then in building the goodlie&s;t <HI>Pa|lace</HI> of the earth; as <HI>Salomon in all his Roy|alty
<PB N="20" REF="15">was not apparelled like the Lily of the field,</HI> Matth. 6.</P>
<P>Next, this urgeth us to u&s;e Gods Crea|tures reverently, and temperately, becau&s;e it hath &s;ometimes co&s;t him a <HI>Miracle</HI> to call vvine out of vvater; yea, and vvater out of the rock. All the vvit of man cannot make a drop in time of nece&s;&s;ity, nor procure by the friend&s;hip of <HI>Abraham</HI> the moi&s;tning of his <HI>tongue,</HI> Luk. 16. <HI>Pharaohs</HI> Magicians, <HI>Exo.</HI> 7. could turn vvater into blood, &s;o can murtherers, and the de&s;troyers of mankind, they can turn vvhole Rivers; but to con|vert vvater into vvine, and make it fit for the u&s;e of man, this is the vvork of him that turns vvine <HI>Sacramentally</HI> into his own blood. <HI>God</HI> by turning and returning of vva|ter into vvine, and vvine into his own blood, hath double &s;anctified the u&s;e thereof. Ble&s;|&s;ed be He, who hath given us the &s;ame plen|teou&s;ly to enjoy, and reverent <HI>be</HI> vve in u&s;ing it decently.</P>
<P>The quantity of vvater here changed by computation of the firkins vvhich the 6 pots held, vvas neer about two hogs-heads: The Miracle afforded no more at a great meeting, at a &s;olemn marriage, where one Gue&s;t brought 13, or 14. in his company. For there was <HI>Je&s;us,</HI> and his <HI>Mother,</HI> and his <HI>Di&s;ciples.</HI> From hence we may learn to propo&s;e a fit mea&s;ure, both at the time of <HI>jollity,</HI> and ordinary <HI>refre&s;hing.</HI></P>
<P>This for the <HI>&s;ub&s;tance</HI> of the Miracle; the
<PB N="21" REF="15"><HI>circum&s;tance</HI> next following, is the <HI>Author</HI> Je&s;us.</P>
<P>That's the <HI>Son</HI> of God, and Saviour of Man, the Lord of Lords, and Head of all Powers; by his vvord all things were made, and by his vvord alone he could have &s;oon converted, or confounded the vvhole world. Neverthele&s;s &s;uch as He vvas, he &s;ought to rai&s;e faith, and vvin obedience rather by his <HI>goodne&s;s,</HI> then by his <HI>greatne&s;s;</HI> not by his rod, but by a beneficial Miracle; that &s;o the mighty may be brought to de&s;cend to the vveakne&s;s of their <HI>underlings</HI> by gra|cious dealing. If they be <HI>heads,</HI> not to tread on their feet, but to tread with them, to &s;hew and guide them, to move and direct them. If they be <HI>Ma&s;ters,</HI> to govern &s;weet|ly; if <HI>Fathers,</HI> to provide lovingly; if <HI>Teachers,</HI> to in&s;truct mildly; if <HI>Rich,</HI> to &s;u|&s;tain charitably; to rule by example of vvorks, as well as by rigour of vvords; not &s;o to load the back vvith ju&s;tice, as to leave the belly empty of mercy; but after Gods <HI>Method,</HI> to joyn the <HI>rod</HI> and the <HI>&s;taffe</HI> in <HI>comforting.</HI></P>
<P>Our <HI>Je&s;us</HI> being the Son of God, &s;hew'd vvho&s;e &s;on he vvas by his work, a work far exceeding the skill of <HI>Carpentry,</HI> not forming the ve&s;&s;el, but inriching it vvith liquor; his Father makes the <HI>vine,</HI> and he therefore the <HI>wine,</HI> vvhich i&s;&s;ues from the vine.</P>
<P>If you would demon&s;trate your &s;elves to be children of your heavenly Father, imitate
<PB N="22" REF="16">his vvorks, his goodne&s;s, his beneficence and mercy. Our <HI>Je&s;us</HI> being the true <HI>Vine,</HI> John 15.22. pre&s;ented the fruit of the vine in this Miracle: Can you think to be branches of the &s;ame vine, not yielding fruits an&s;wera|ble? <HI>Every tree that doth not bring forth good fruit, &s;hall be hewn down, and ca&s;t into the fire,</HI> Matth. 7.</P>
<P>The next circum&s;tance is that of <HI>time.</HI> This was the fir&s;t, the <HI>beginning</HI> of Chri&s;ts Mira|cles. Was it &s;o? I thought his very <HI>Incarnation</HI> had been the Miracle of all Miracles, the foundation of all the re&s;t. And &s;o it vvas in|deed; but this was the fir&s;t <HI>outward</HI> Mira|cle, which he vvrought <HI>Extra&s;e,</HI> without, upon other Creatures. That <HI>the word was made fle&s;h,</HI> vvas the beginning of <HI>humiliation;</HI> but that <HI>water was turned into wine,</HI> was the beginning of <HI>Exaltation.</HI> That the <HI>word</HI> be|ing made fle&s;h was born of a <HI>Virgin,</HI> a Mi|racle <HI>ab&s;olutely</HI> the fir&s;t, this redounds to the honour of <HI>Virginity,</HI> vvhich who&s;oever truly keeps, works a <HI>prime</HI> miracle on him|&s;elf; but that the <HI>word</HI> turn'd virgin-water into wine at a <HI>Wedding,</HI> the fir&s;t <HI>outward</HI> Mi|racle, it redounds to the honour of <HI>Mar|riage,</HI> which next to virginity is the mo&s;t honourable e&s;tate.</P>
<P>But vvhy was this the fir&s;t <HI>outward</HI> Mira|cle? You may &s;uppo&s;e the&s;e rea&s;ons.</P>
<P>The coming of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> was tidings of joy,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 2.</NOTE> of <HI>great joy, which &s;hould be to all people;</HI> therefore a Miracle of Wine, who&s;e pro|perty
<PB N="23" REF="16">is to make <HI>glad</HI> the heart of man, was a fit entrance to begin this time of joy. For indeed, if we <HI>dive</HI> into the my&s;tical &s;en&s;e, this turning of water into wine, is the tur|ning of tears into joy at the marriage of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> and his <HI>Church.</HI></P>
<P>Further, This beginning &s;uits well with the order and progre&s;s of Chri&s;ts Miracles: fir&s;t, you &s;ee he begins with change of the Creatures made for the u&s;e of man: then he proceeds to the change of mans body; as you have heard how he made the dumb to &s;peak, the blind to &s;ee, and the lame to walk; then in the la&s;t rank of Miracles he changeth <HI>the &s;oul,</HI> both by effu&s;ion of his blood, and infu&s;ion of his &s;pirit.</P>
<P>All that I &s;hall here apply is this: Fir&s;t, that the thought hereof be entertained with joy, and thankfulne&s;s. Secondly, that we an&s;wer this beginning of Chri&s;ts Miracles with &s;ome an&s;werable beginning in our &s;elves concerning the Creatures: For the turning of water into wine, let us begin a <HI>Counter-miracle,</HI> turn wine into water, the exce&s;s of it into tears of repentance, the a|bu&s;e into the u&s;e of &s;obriety; then vve may find in the next turn the form of the body to be vvonderfully chang'd, the dumb in a &s;pi|ritual &s;en&s;e vvill be inabled to &s;peak, the deaf to hear, the blind to &s;ee, and the lame to vvalk. Then at la&s;t vve may attain to the greate&s;t change of the &s;oul, by renewing the <HI>Image</HI> of Chri&s;t, by proceeding from igno|rance
<PB N="24" REF="17">to knowledge, from unrighteou&s;ne&s;s to righteou&s;ne&s;s, from profane&s;s to holine&s;s, daily growing up from grace to grace till we end in glory. Now having mea&s;ured the circum&s;tance of <HI>time,</HI> I arrive to the cir|cum&s;tance of <HI>place,</HI> which is <HI>Cana of Galilee. This beginning of Miracles did Je&s;us in Cana of Galilee.</HI></P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">&s;ignifieth <HI>zeale,</HI> or emulation, and <GAP DESC="foreign"> revolution, or turning about to the fir&s;t <HI>point</HI> where motion began: put both names together, they &s;ignifie the <HI>zeal</HI> of a Convert; which ought to exceed in the &s;er|vice of that God, whom formerly ye for|&s;ook. Thus under the name of the place, is couch'd the condition, which belongs to the people of God, <HI>zeale</HI> after conver&s;ion. <HI>Hearken to me ye that &s;eek the Lord; look un|to the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digg'd,</HI> E&s;ay 51.1. even to the Lord your <HI>Maker</HI> and <HI>Redeemer;</HI> look unto him, and turn unto him with zeale of &s;ervice: <HI>Yeeld your &s;elves unto him, as tho&s;e that are alive from the dead, and your members as weapons of righteou&s;ne&s;s unto God. Know you not, who&s;e &s;ervants you are, him ye obey? as therefore ye have yielded your mem|bers &s;ervants to uncleanne&s;s, and to iniquity unto iniquity; even &s;o now yield your mem|bers &s;ervants to righteou&s;ne&s;s unto holine&s;s,</HI> Rom. 6. The heart of a zealous convert is a fit &s;eat for Chri&s;t to begin Miracles. <HI>Galilee</HI> in the 4. of St. <HI>Matth.</HI> and originally in the
<PB N="25" REF="17">9 of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> is called <HI>Galilee of the Gentiles,</HI> becau&s;e it &s;tood on the confines, bordering upon them; and in regard of the <HI>Babylonian</HI> captivity, it was mixt with the Gentiles.</P>
<P>And &s;urely the <HI>Gentiles</HI> may well labour in zeal, and conform them&s;elves to the name of <HI>Cana,</HI> it &s;hall well become them: for God hath e&s;tranged him&s;elf from the <HI>Jews,</HI> and &s;ent &s;alvation upon the <HI>Gentiles</HI> to this purpo&s;e, that by them he might <HI>provoke the Jews to jealou&s;ie,</HI> Rom. 11.11. And &s;o &s;aith God him&s;elf, <HI>I will move them to jealou&s;ie with tho&s;e which are not a people; I will pro|voke them to anger with a fooli&s;h Nation,</HI> Deut. 32.21. Such were all the Gentiles, not a people, but <HI>fooli&s;h</HI> Nations; <GAP DESC="foreign">, a confu&s;ed multitude, before Chri&s;t reduced them to order, by working Miracles. But now the prophe&s;ie of <HI>E&s;ay</HI> began to take ef|fect, <HI>I am &s;ought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that &s;ought me not: I &s;aid, Behold me, behold me, to a Nation that was not called by my name,</HI> E&s;ay 65. and v. 1. And why? becau&s;e, as it follows, <HI>I have &s;pread out my hands all the day long to a rebel|lious people.</HI></P>
<P>Wherefore it concerns us <HI>Gentiles,</HI> to whom God hath revealed him&s;elf, to be zealous, and emulous in holy duties, as well to excite the Jews, as al&s;o to confirm our own election: If <HI>the branches were broken off, that we the wild Olives might be grafted in the true vine;</HI> know, that <HI>becau&s;e of unbelief
<PB N="26" REF="18">they were broken off, and that thou &s;tande&s;t by faith: Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God &s;pared not the natural branches, take heed le&s;t he al&s;o &s;pare not thee,</HI> Rom. 11.19.</P>
<P>We <HI>Gentiles</HI> were formerly but as <HI>dogs,</HI> unworthy to <HI>lick up the crums that fell from the childrens table,</HI> Matth. 15. and yet be|hold the <HI>children</HI> are di&s;carded, and the <HI>ta|ble</HI> is left to us. Let us not then <HI>like dogs return to our vomit,</HI> preferring uncleanne&s;s before the my&s;tery of holine&s;s, and lo&s;ing the reli&s;h of heavenly food for dro&s;s and filth. Take heed, ye that condemn the <HI>Jews</HI> for crucifying our Saviour, le&s;t ye do wor&s;e, by making his pa&s;&s;ion, and the riches of his mercy, to be of no effect.</P>
<P>It is remarkable how <HI>Je&s;us,</HI> being the Sa|viour of all, divided his pre&s;ence, and the means of Salvation, betwixt the <HI>Jew</HI> and <HI>Gen|tile.</HI> He was born at <HI>Bethlehem</HI> in Jewry, but he lived at <HI>Nazareth,</HI> at <HI>Cana,</HI> and <HI>Ca|pernaum</HI> of Galilee: he &s;uffered death at <HI>Jeru&s;alem;</HI> but being ri&s;en again, he went into <HI>Galilee,</HI> to declare his re&s;urrection, <HI>Mark</HI> 16.7. The <HI>Jews</HI> had the cu&s;tody of Divine Oracles, they had <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the <HI>Prophets,</HI> more worthy of belief then one &s;ent from the dead, <HI>Luk.</HI> 16. The Gentiles had onely the book of <HI>Nature;</HI> therefore at <HI>Je|ru&s;alem</HI> Chri&s;t taught in the Temple, but in <HI>Galilee</HI> he wrought Miracles: there he be&s;towed his words, as to men of more un|der&s;tanding; and here his works, as to men
<PB N="27" REF="18">of gro&s;&s;er capacity; there faith was to en|ter by the <HI>ear,</HI> and here a door was open'd by the <HI>eye.</HI> To either place our common Saviour was not defective, but applied means of conver&s;ion mo&s;t an&s;werable to both. Thus the <HI>Corner-&s;tone</HI> lay in the <HI>mid&s;t</HI> be|twixt both &s;ide-walls, the <HI>Jews,</HI> and the <HI>Gentiles;</HI> the &s;ame <HI>Mediator,</HI> who joyned <HI>God</HI> and <HI>Man</HI> in one <HI>Per&s;on,</HI> Heaven and Earth in one league, &s;ought al&s;o to joyn the <HI>Jew</HI> and <HI>Gentile</HI> in one Church. Thus like the <HI>Sun</HI> he illu&s;trates both <HI>hemi&s;pheres,</HI> and &s;o divides his cour&s;e, that the whole world may be cheri&s;hed by his beames.</P>
<P>Now for our parts, we have the <HI>means</HI> of conver&s;ion vouch&s;afed to both; we have the words which he preached at <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> we have the <HI>works</HI> he wrought in <HI>Galilee;</HI> and we know the truth of them as well as mo&s;t of the Inhabitants of <HI>Cana;</HI> for all were not pre&s;ent, the greater part were &s;a|tisfied with Relation: Then what hinders our belief? and if we believe, what hin|ders our duty? Let us <HI>&s;hew our faith by our works,</HI> by obedient conformity to his pre|cepts, and by newne&s;s of life.</P>
<P>Ob&s;erve further, that <HI>Galilee</HI> was con|temptible in the e&s;teem of the Jews, and was accounted a place from whence <HI>no good could ever come.</HI> Likewi&s;e <HI>Julian</HI> the <HI>Apo|&s;tate,</HI> thought to di&s;grace Chri&s;tians, by calling our Saviour him&s;elf, and all his be|lievers, by the name of <HI>Galileans.</HI> Where|fore
<PB N="28" REF="19"><HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> who came to relieve the di|&s;tre&s;&s;ed, and to rai&s;e the lowly, honoured this <HI>place</HI> with the <HI>fir&s;t</HI> of his Miracles. This teacheth us neither to de&s;pi&s;e others, nor to de&s;pair of our &s;elves, be the pre&s;ent con|dition never &s;o poor, and low. When <HI>God</HI> &s;eems to be farthe&s;t off, even then he is neere&s;t at hand, as loving to &s;hew his &s;trength in weakne&s;s, his mercy in mi&s;ery. Though <HI>Cana</HI> doth likewi&s;e &s;ignifie <GAP DESC="foreign"> a <HI>reed</HI> &s;haken with wind, yet let us rai&s;e our meditations with this, that the <HI>reed</HI> &s;tands up, when the &s;turdy <HI>oke</HI> is thrown to the ground. In &s;uch pre&s;ervation, and provi|dence, the glory of God appears mo&s;t mani|fe&s;t. So I proceed to the glorious manner of working this Miracle: He <HI>manife&s;ted</HI> forth his glory.</P>
<P><HI>Glory</HI> is the excellence of Maje&s;ty, the light and lu&s;tre of &s;urpa&s;&s;ing vertue, and therefore mo&s;t proper to <HI>God,</HI> the fountain of all vertue and power. Such brightne&s;&s;e cannot be concealed: the <HI>cloud</HI> of humane fle&s;h, and form of humility, wherein the Godhead of Chri&s;t was clothed, could not long ob&s;cure his Maje&s;ty, but upon occa&s;i|ons it mu&s;t needs break forth. They are his own words, <HI>No man puts a light under a bu|&s;hel;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 11.33.</NOTE> the true <HI>Light,</HI> which lightens every man into the world, begins at length to di&s;play his beams.</P>
<P>And becau&s;e <HI>glory</HI> is no private object, but con&s;picuous to publique view, therefore
<PB N="29" REF="19">our Saviour took <HI>this time</HI> for his Miracle, when a numerous a&s;&s;embly were met toge|ther at a <HI>Marriage</HI>-fea&s;t. The <HI>Sun</HI> was not made for the eye of a &s;ingle Spectator; par|ticular per&s;ons mu&s;t not expect a Miracle for per&s;onal rea&s;ons, or private re&s;pects, but content them&s;elves with the general cour&s;e of <HI>providence.</HI></P>
<P>Now if the <HI>manner</HI> of the Miracle be rightly con&s;idered, this work, this beginning of Miracles, did mo&s;t gloriou&s;ly declare the power of his <HI>God-head.</HI> For by his own Command, without any borrowed power, the &s;ame word, which made the Elements, was able to turn and change them how he li&s;t: yea, without a word &s;poken, his will was &s;uf|ficient; the &s;ub&s;tance created by him, felt his <HI>influence,</HI> and obeyed. For we find nothing &s;poken to the <HI>water,</HI> but onely this to the &s;ervants, <HI>Fill the water-pots, and now draw forth.</HI> None could do this in &s;uch a man|ner, but God him&s;elf.</P>
<P>Now to apply the&s;e ob&s;ervations; 'tis &s;aid, <HI>Exod.</HI> 34. That the glory which &s;hone on <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> made the face of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> to &s;hine; the <HI>light,</HI> which is darted on the wall, cau|&s;eth the wall to reflect a &s;econd light. It is then our duty, &s;ince the glory of Chri&s;t and his Go&s;pel is ri&s;en upon us, to manife&s;t the &s;ame by actions of light, according to that of the Prophet, <HI>Ari&s;e, &s;hine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is ri&s;en up|on thee,</HI> E&s;ay 60.1. Weak as we are, we
<PB N="30" REF="20">have a way of manife&s;ting Gods glory too, even by good works; Let your <HI>light</HI> &s;o <HI>&s;hine before men, that they may &s;ee your good works, and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven,</HI> Matth. 5. The <HI>Image</HI> of the <HI>Original</HI> may be conveyed hither and thither by &s;everal gla&s;&s;es; <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> bears the Image of his <HI>Fa|ther,</HI> and we of Chri&s;t; a Chri&s;tians good life is the <HI>reflex</HI> of Gods glory, which we mu&s;t endeavour to manife&s;t.</P>
<P>Again, Chri&s;t pre&s;ented his Miracle be|fore a <HI>multitude,</HI> &s;o mu&s;t our good be <HI>diffu|&s;ive,</HI> ready to be extended to many, even as many as occa&s;ion &s;hall require, and abi|lity will permit. The <HI>Sun</HI> is not exhau&s;ted by ca&s;ting his beams on every &s;ide: no more &s;hould we grow weary of diffu&s;ing righte|ou&s;ne&s;s on every <HI>object,</HI> both by deed, and example. The <HI>&s;tock</HI> of vertue is ever increa|&s;ed by &s;pending.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, &s;ince <HI>God</HI> is the &s;ole <HI>worker</HI> of Mi|racles, and <HI>glory</HI> is his peculiar, which <HI>He will not give to another,</HI> we ought nor to ap|propriate the lea&s;t beam thereof to our &s;elves in any of our works, but to attribute the whole to God, the prime Author of all. For where is the wine of the ve&s;&s;el without the vine, the water of the Conduit without the Spring; or the &s;hining of the wall without the light of Heaven? <HI>Herod</HI> after his rich decking of rayment, and language, was &s;truck by a hand invi&s;ible, and eaten up with worms, becau&s;e when the people heap'd
<PB N="31" REF="20">upon him divine applau&s;e, he gave not the prai&s;e to God, <HI>Act.</HI> 12. <HI>Not unto us,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 12.</NOTE> not un|to us, O Lord, but to thy Name be glory for evermore.</HI> I now come to my la&s;t point, the <HI>effect</HI> of this miracle: His di&s;ciples <HI>believed</HI> on him.</P>
<P>Miracles, and belief are mutual <HI>Relatives,</HI> eying each other as the cau&s;e and the effect: &s;o that Miracles are for belief, as the cau&s;e for the end; and readine&s;s of belief invites Miracles, as the end draws on the cau&s;e: <HI>&V;nle&s;s you &s;ee wonders,</HI> &s;aith our Saviour, <HI>ye will not believe,</HI> Joh. 4. The&s;e are the mo&s;t effe|ctual works of faith; &amp; on the other &s;ide, <HI>&s;aid I not unto thee, that if thou would&s;t believe, thou &s;hould&s;t &s;ee the glory of God?</HI> So he &s;peaks to <HI>Martha</HI> about the rai&s;ing of <HI>Lazarus,</HI> Joh. 11.40. <HI>Nece&s;&s;ary</HI> Miracles are never wanting to confirm belief. Human Nature in this depraved condition, is nothing &s;o ap|prehen&s;ive of truth, as it is greedy of good, and regardful of power; from whence it comes, that <HI>hearing</HI> of Gods word is le&s;s ta|king then <HI>&s;eeing</HI> of his works; e&s;pecially with men of hard hearts, and dull capaci|ties. <HI>A wicked and adulterous Generation, is altogether &s;et upon &s;ignes. What &s;ign &s;hewest thou?</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">v. 18.</NOTE> is frequent in the mouth of the learn|ed Jew, though be&s;t acquainted with divine Oracles. But how came Chri&s;ts own di&s;|ciples to be of this condition? you mu&s;t have them excu&s;ed, becau&s;e they were &s;imple and ignorant men, newly taken up by the Sea|coa&s;t
<PB N="32" REF="21">in <HI>Galilee,</HI> and had not been long with their <HI>Ma&s;ter.</HI> Wherefore our <HI>Saviour</HI> ac|cording to his continual goodne&s;s de&s;cends to humane infirmity, and initiates the faith of his Church vvith Miracles. And I dare &s;ay that Miracles are not yet &s;o cea&s;ed, but even to this day, if the <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> were now to be planted in a place where it hath not been already rejected, <HI>God</HI> would hearken to the voice of his <HI>Agent,</HI> and confirm his words vvith &s;ignes from Heaven.</P>
<P>Since then we know by our &s;elves what is mo&s;t prevalent in the conver&s;ion of a &s;inner, or unbeliever, let us be ready to afford that to others, which our &s;elves have &s;ometimes needed: Let us imitate the <HI>method</HI> of Chri&s;t; and though we cannot turn our brethren by &s;hewing Miracles, let us come as neer as vve can, and &s;econd good words vvith <HI>ex|emplary</HI> good works.</P>
<P>This is the way to be <HI>Sub-&s;aviours, Petty Mediators,</HI> and <HI>Factors</HI> for Chri&s;t. Then the Lords <HI>Mini&s;ter</HI> be&s;t follows the Text, vvhen his life comments upon his Doctrine, and makes a <HI>vi&s;ible</HI> repetition at home of vvhat he delivered in the Church. Likewi&s;e vvorks are hone&s;t <HI>Laymens</HI> Sermons, they preach vvith their hands, and not with their tongues,, and by the plenty of righteou&s;|ne&s;s there lies a tongue in every finger.</P>
<P>It was the Caveat of the ble&s;&s;ed Mother, to the &s;ervants of this fea&s;t, <HI>What&s;oever he &s;aith unto you, do it.</HI> And it &s;hall be mine
<PB N="33" REF="21">to you; See that ye do what our Saviour commandeth, that &s;o ye may keep the per|petual fea&s;t of a good con&s;cience, and find the water of tears and heavine&s;s, turned in|to the wine of joy and gladne&s;s; which may never be con&s;umed, but la&s;t like the widows oyl, till ye come to the place of joy everla|&s;ting; vvhither God of his mercy bring us, through Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord. Amen.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="34" REF="22">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Luke 7. part of the 47. ver&s;.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Her &s;ins, which are many, are forgiven her; for &s;he loved much.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE Text is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>a Word of Comfort,</HI> becau&s;e it treats of a wel|com Subject, our delivery from the bonds of &s;in. It is again a plau&s;ible Theme, in regard of this inference, <HI>for &s;he loved much.</HI> Of all pa&s;&s;ions, that of <HI>Love</HI> commands at|tention; it is the Idol, to which the tongues and pens of mo&s;t men do &s;acrifice their la|bours. And therefore the current of my di&s;cour&s;e is onely to draw the &s;tream of affe|ctions into its clear and native channel; to alter their object, and better their intent, and that by advancing this glorious example of ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Mary Magdalene,</HI> who&s;e &s;ingu|lar love to Chri&s;t, made the &s;weet &s;avour of her Name more precious then her oynt|ment, for it endures until this day; and &s;o chang'd the hue of her blu&s;hing &s;ins, that though they were of a crim&s;on dye, yet &s;he became all over as white as &s;now. Her fore|pa&s;t crimes had now cea&s;ed to call into her face her con&s;cious blood as a witne&s;&s;ing tin|cture of her guilt. The Judge him&s;elf hath pronounced it, <HI>Her &s;ins, which are many, are forgiven; for &s;he loved much.</HI></P>
<P>In which <HI>Epiphonema,</HI> or quick-clo&s;e, we
<PB N="35" REF="22">may behold the unparallel'd love of the one unto the other. <HI>Her &s;ins,</HI> which are many, are forgiven; there's Chri&s;ts love to her. <HI>For &s;he</HI> Loved much; there was her love to Chri&s;t. Herein onely was the difference: <HI>Maries</HI> love to Chri&s;t was <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>due debt;</HI> Chri&s;ts love to her is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>grace,</HI> and fa|vour. It's out of his free gift that her many &s;ins are forgiven her. He loved her fir&s;t, and &s;o in a corre&s;pendent tune &s;he eccho'd her due affection unto him. The <GAP DESC="foreign">, this il|lative <HI>For</HI> here in this Text, &s;hewes (as anon &s;hall be proved) that her love was the effect, not the cau&s;e of her forgivene&s;s. And &s;o I divide the whole into <HI>a benefit,</HI> and a <HI>thanksgiving. The benefit</HI> includes fir&s;t the <HI>matter</HI> it &s;elf, <HI>forgivene&s;s of &s;ins.</HI> Secondly, the <HI>extent</HI> of the gift; her <HI>many</HI> &s;ins are for|given. In the thank&s;giving, you may be plea&s;ed to ob&s;erve in what the &s;ub&s;tance of her thanks did con&s;i&s;t, it was in Love; <HI>For &s;he Loved:</HI> Then the degree and mea&s;ure thereof: it was no faint, no perfunctory affe|ction; it was fervent, and exuberant, &s;he lo|ved <HI>much.</HI> But in the fir&s;t place, the matter of the benefit requires my narration, and craves your patience. <HI>HER SINS are forgiven HER.</HI></P>
<P>Forgivene&s;s of &s;in is the greate&s;t boon the mi&s;erable man can obtain, becau&s;e none can be&s;tow it but he, who is the ab&s;olute Benefactor in mans Salvation. As for us, we are all crazed and crippled in our fall in
<PB N="36" REF="23"><HI>Adam;</HI> and how can one cripple help an|other? We then received &s;uch a crack, that none can new-ca&s;t us, and re&s;tore us to our primitive integrity, but <HI>he</HI> that fir&s;t moulded us. Our wound admits &s;uch infinite dimen|&s;ions, that it requires an infinite Redeemer to prepare a &s;ufficient play&s;ter. The Almigh|ty re&s;trains this prerogative as proper and peculiar to his own throne, placing it as the mo&s;t eminent of all his titles, and e&s;teeming it the chiefe&s;t <HI>Flower</HI> of his Crown. When <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> did &s;upplicate that he would daign him that honour as to &s;hew him his <HI>Glory, I will &s;hew thee my Excellency,</HI> &s;aith the Lord, <HI>Exod.</HI> 33. And what is it? even his grace, mercy, and bounty. In the next chapter He is proclaimed <HI>JEHOVAH, gracious, merciful, rich in kindne&s;s, forgiving INI|Q&V;ITY, TRANSGRESSION, and SIN.</HI> He in&s;i&s;ts upon it, as delighting therein; and expre&s;&s;eth it with a treble em|pha&s;is, forgiving <HI>iniquity, tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion,</HI> and <HI>&s;in;</HI> that no obliquity, whether in thought, word, or deed, may &s;eem to e&s;cape the bounds of his Royalty. <HI>Rich in kindne&s;s,</HI> as if the riches of his grace were in this one Act above others mo&s;t diffu&s;ed. And indeed we find it &s;o: for his mercy, who&s;e object is our iniquity, out&s;hines all his works. His Omnipotency demon&s;trates him to be an awful God, his mercy exhibits him an in|dulgent Father, and that encourageth us to tread within his Courts, and to approach
<PB N="37" REF="23">near his pre&s;ence. <HI>Forgivene&s;s of &s;ins,</HI> enti|tles us to a higher e&s;tate then we were fir&s;t born to; for by our <HI>Creation</HI> we were but men; by our <HI>Remi&s;&s;ion</HI> we become <HI>Saints.</HI> And &s;o happy we, that have been once wretched; Hence is it that 'tis the task, the &s;cope, the whole bu&s;ine&s;s of a Chri&s;tian: we cannot well live vvithout daily food, far le&s;s can we live without daily forgivene&s;s. And therefore our Saviour, who in the one Peti|tion taught us to pray, <HI>Give us this day our DAILY BREAD;</HI> in the very next he in&s;tructs al&s;o to ask, and <HI>FORGIVE us our tre&s;pa&s;&s;es.</HI> The Angels are Creatures more excellent then our &s;elves in Nature; and yet by this boon of forgivene&s;s, we far &s;urpa&s;&s;e &s;ome of them in condition. For they having neither Devil without, nor fle&s;h at home to &s;educe them, vvhen they once fell, fell eternally, being not &s;o much as vouch&s;afed that &s;mall courte&s;ie to be pitied. But man having his innocence &s;toln from him, and his overthrow occa&s;ioned by an|others trea&s;on, the Son of God was moved in compa&s;&s;ion to come down into the world; and not only &s;o, but to lay down his own life at the &s;take for the life of man, vvhich was forfeited. He was &s;o zealous of our remi&s;&s;ion, that when our many &s;ins like &s;o many talents of Lead had &s;unk us deep as hell it &s;elf, he then &s;tript him&s;elf of his robes of Maje&s;ty, and ca&s;t him&s;elf into the <HI>Main,</HI> to rai&s;e us up again. I have heard 'tis the me|thod
<PB N="38" REF="24">of the Court to cha&s;ti&s;e the faults of Princes in their <HI>Pages,</HI> whom they be&s;t love, that by &s;marting for their offences in their other &s;elves, they may the more wil|lingly amend them in their own &s;elves. But here the <HI>Prince</HI> him&s;elf, the only Son and Heir of the cele&s;tial <HI>Diademe,</HI> endures the di&s;cipline of the <HI>la&s;h,</HI> that his &s;ervants, his bond-&s;laves, may be forgiven.</P>
<P>Methinks we &s;hould be no le&s;s affected herewith, then <HI>Naaman</HI> vvas, when <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> healed him of the leprous di&s;ea&s;e that cloth'd his body.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kin. 5.</NOTE> For when he felt his <HI>fle&s;h to come again like the fle&s;h of a child,</HI> as the Text phra&s;eth it, he devoutly honoured the Pro|phet as a <HI>Father,</HI> and rejoyced at his &s;econd nativity. Greater rea&s;on have we to feed our &s;elves with true joy, and to magnifie the God of I&s;rael, who clean&s;eth our di&s;|ea&s;ed &s;ouls from a fouler lepro&s;ie, healing our old &s;oares by forgiving our &s;ins pa&s;t: and the better to keep us clean, the &s;ink being thus emptied, he in&s;tils into our hearts more &s;overaign Spirits, that &s;o we may be &s;ecured not only from a pre&s;ent, but a fu|ture danger. Neither doth this gracious dealing derogate from his ju&s;tice; for though his Edict be out again&s;t &s;in, yet it doth not &s;o bind his hands that he cannot &s;eal a par|don. He that tran&s;gre&s;&s;eth a Kings Law by <HI>Felony,</HI> is to fulfil the Law in the penalty of death. And yet the King, vvho ratifies the Laws validity, can &s;often, and take off,
<PB N="39" REF="24">as he plea&s;eth, the edge and rigor of tho&s;e Lawes, to which he puts the <HI>Fiat</HI> for their con&s;titution. Neither is punctual execution e&s;&s;ential to the Law, but the power of exe|cution. If Soveraign Powers may lauda|bly u&s;e their liberty in freeing of Delin|quents; much more may the King of Kings di&s;pen&s;e with his own Ordinance. The de|mon&s;tration of his revenging ju&s;tice &s;pring|eth not from the <HI>nece&s;&s;ity</HI> of his Nature, but from his <HI>voluntary</HI> di&s;po&s;ition; He being <HI>Agens Liberrimum.</HI> And though &s;in, as &s;in, hath an outward di&s;-agreement, and be evil in it &s;elf, yet it hath no inward repugnan|cie, it is not ab&s;olutely evil to the Almighty, in as much as he is not the wor&s;e for the being of it, but is able, were he pleas'd to &s;hew his power, to turn it to his Glory. Be not then di&s;mayed in regard of the va&s;t dimen&s;ions of thy numerous &s;ins. Saint <HI>John</HI> in his fir&s;t E|pi&s;tle, and fir&s;t chapter, certifies us, that <HI>the blood of Chri&s;t doth clean&s;e us from ALL our &s;ins;</HI> and &s;o are not able to &s;hut out a good heart from God, which can but ga&s;pe for mercy as a dry land doth where no wa|ter is. He ca&s;t out of this convert in the Text, &s;even devils as ea&s;ie as one, and &s;o he cancelled with the &s;ame facility her greate&s;t bonds, as he did her &s;malle&s;t bills.</P>
<P>We acknowledge the Devil to be chained to everla&s;ting torments; yet not &s;o much for his many &s;ins, as for his continuance therein, for his abode and dwelling in
<PB N="40" REF="25">tho&s;e tents of <HI>Kedar.</HI> If it were po&s;&s;ible he could break off that accur&s;ed league, his chains vvould be di&s;&s;olved, and him&s;elf <HI>Fixed into a Saint.</HI> It is well ob&s;erved how our Saviour was contented to de&s;cend according to the fle&s;h, as vvell of <HI>Rahab</HI> a Harlot, <HI>Ta|mar</HI> an ince&s;tuous per&s;on, as of the holy Patriarks; that vvhere &s;in did abound, grace might overflow. This one in&s;tance, <HI>Mary Magdalene,</HI> may &s;erve for all, vvho&s;e many and manifold &s;ins were quite forgiven.</P>
<P>Touching the per&s;on of this &s;inner, &s;he vvas indeed a Noble Woman;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Magdale|na, a Mag|dalo Ca&s;tro.</NOTE> but vertue is not entailed to de&s;cent; it doth not &s;till run in a blood: hers was corrupted, &s;he be|ing more noted for the eminency of vice, then of parentage. In plain terms, &s;he was <HI>Pro&s;tibulum,</HI> an uncha&s;t Lady, a common Curte&s;an:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Con&s;ueverat Peccatrix appellari.</NOTE> Her u&s;ual appellation was <HI>Pecca|trix, Mary the Sinner;</HI> all her &s;en&s;es and affections wholly taken up with pernitious plea&s;ures.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">In vita Magdal.</NOTE> Her eyes enchaunted with la&s;ci|vious objects, her ears charmed with &s;curri|lous talk, her &s;mell filled with artificial per|fumes, her arms heated with wanton embra|ces; by vvhich means &s;he became not be&s;et only, but po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed vvith a <HI>heptarchy</HI> of &s;oul &s;pirits, no le&s;&s;e then &s;even being the &s;etled inmates of her heart. And yet behold a &s;trange alteration! this &s;trayed &s;heep is re|turned, this prodigal child reclaimed; <HI>Mary Magdalene</HI> hath e&s;caped as a bird out of the &s;nare of the fowler, &s;he hath di&s;lodged that
<PB N="41" REF="25">unclean <HI>Legion,</HI> which &s;o wa&s;ted her Spirit; her body and &s;oul no more a Dungeon, but a <HI>Palace,</HI> even a &s;anctified <HI>Temple</HI> of the Holy-Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>Where are now tho&s;e Barbarians, that will cen&s;ure Saint. <HI>Paul</HI> a Murtherer,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 28.</NOTE> if the Viper be not &s;peedily &s;haken from his Hands? Where are the Phari&s;aical Spirits, that will pa&s;s their judgment upon any &s;oul but their own? a crooked Plant is not forth|with to be broken, it may be &s;traightned for a better u&s;e: <HI>He runs far, that never turns.</HI> God hath his own times and hours, and mo|ments, for the Conver&s;ion of a Sinner; and &s;o it becomes not us altogether to condemn any man, &s;eeing there's hope of every ones Forgivene&s;s, who&s;e Repentance is not yet cut off by Death.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tom. 5. p. 63. &s;up. Tu Pet.</NOTE> I am &s;ure Saint <HI>Am|bro&s;e</HI> doubts not to affirm, That <HI>Peter,</HI> by his fall, found more grace then he lo&s;t, his Faith being &s;tronger after, then before.</P>
<P>I &s;peak not this to encourage &s;ecure <HI>Li|bertines,</HI> who feel no remor&s;e for their Sins, leaving Repentance to their Death-bed: To &s;uch as the&s;e, I mu&s;t tell another Tale. An account that is long over-pa&s;t, in the end becomes difficult to be fini&s;hed: Even &s;o it will be with him, who wilfully &s;uffers his debt of Sin to multiply, and the reckoning of his Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions to run on; in the end, his own wickedne&s;s &s;hall reprove him. <HI>The Lord,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Jeremiah, &s;hall draw him out of his lurking holes, and pre&s;ent him naked to Judge|ment:</HI>
<PB N="42" REF="26">And then with what confu&s;ion and a|&s;toni&s;hment &s;hall he that was prodigal of the time of Grace,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chap. 2.</NOTE> come forward unto judg|ment? My intent, by propo&s;ing the <HI>Pattern</HI> of this Convert, is onely to &s;trengthen the brui&s;ed Reed, who&s;e humbl'd &s;pirit trembles at God's Indignation. Fir&s;t then, &s;hew me <HI>Mary Magdalen</HI>'s Confe&s;&s;ion, her hearty Contrition; make it appear, that thy &s;oul is furni&s;hed with her Grace, that thy Love to Chri&s;t is &s;teady and unfeined; and then my &s;oul for thy &s;afety, I dare &s;ecure thee of Re|mi&s;&s;ion. And &s;o we are brought directly to this Inference, <HI>For &s;he loved much.</HI></P>
<P>This Particle <HI>for,</HI> doth not infer that her love to Chri&s;t was the cau&s;e of her forgive|ne&s;s; but that it was a certain proof and &s;igne of her pardon, <HI>becau&s;e,</HI> or, <HI>in that,</HI> &s;he loved much: the words immediately following in the Ver&s;e, make the mea&s;ure or degree of our love to Chri&s;t, to ari&s;e from the mea|&s;ure of his gracious Remi&s;&s;ion towards us. <HI>To whom little is remitted,</HI> &s;aith our Saviour, <HI>he loves little;</HI> and &s;o <HI>to whom much is forgi|ven, he loveth much.</HI> The forgivene&s;s of her Sins going before her love, mu&s;t needs be the cau&s;e of her Love; and not her Love the cau&s;e of her forgivene&s;s. The &s;ame is mani|fe&s;t in the Parable or Similitude of the two Debtors, from the 40 to the 43 Ver&s;e, where 'tis &s;et down, that abundance of Love in the greate&s;t debtor, proceeded as an effect of the greater &s;um forgiven by the Creditor. The
<PB N="43" REF="26">ambiguous Inference thus explained, we may learn from this happy &s;oul, how to place our Love aright; not on &s;ome poor Creature, un|worthy to be &s;ought, in&s;ufficient if obtain'd; but upon the greate&s;t, wi&s;e&s;t, be&s;t, and faire&s;t Object, even upon the Lord our God, whereby we enjoy all Joy for ever by meer loving.</P>
<P>The Nature and Property of Love, may be expre&s;&s;'d in this Breviary: <HI>Love</HI> is the imperious Soveraign of Affections, yea, the &s;um of them, they are all reduced to it: For <HI>Love,</HI> when it <HI>longs</HI> for the thing loved, is then <HI>de&s;ire;</HI> when it hath the thing loved, it is then <HI>joy;</HI> when it flies from that it affects not, then 'tis <HI>fear;</HI> and when it feels what it not de&s;ires, it is <HI>&s;adne&s;s.</HI> Thus all the Affecti|ons, De&s;ire, Joy, Fear, and Grief, are inclu|ded in Love. So then, if we love God, we will de&s;ire to enjoy him; and having enjoy|ed him, we will rejoyce to keep him; and feeling him to leave us, we will grieve at his ab&s;ence. Again, <HI>Love</HI> is &s;o tran&s;cendent, that it &s;peaks with the tongue of every Ver|tue: <HI>Bounty</HI> is <HI>Love,</HI> as it is beneficial to the Indigent; <HI>Grace</HI> is <HI>Love,</HI> as it gives good things freely. Our Saviour makes <HI>Love</HI> the <HI>Cognizance</HI> of his Di&s;ciples; the Apo&s;tle &s;tiles it The <HI>accompli&s;hment</HI> of the Law, and <HI>bond of perfection,</HI> which linketh us to God, and God to us: we are far from him, if we love him not; with him, if we love him: <HI>Animus e&s;t ubi amat, non ubi animat;</HI> the &s;oul being more where it likes, then where
<PB N="44" REF="27">it lodgeth; rather where it loves, then where it lives. We finde, in the Hi&s;tory of this re|ligious <HI>Penitent,</HI> that Love acquitted her thanks to God, di&s;charged her reckoning, &s;anctified her actions, and covered a multi|tude of Faults.</P>
<P>But becau&s;e Love generally delivered, doth not illu&s;trate how &s;he particularly loved, we will draw clo&s;er to the Point, and try her Deeds by the <HI>Symptomes</HI> and Properties of true Sincerity; that &s;o it may appear her words were not &s;mooth and counterfeit, but the tru&s;ty Me&s;&s;engers of her &s;etled Affection to her Saviour.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t property of Love, is a fervent and longing de&s;ire to enjoy that which is be|loved.</P>
<P>This fir&s;t Step we may trace in her timely ha&s;ting to the Tomb, where when &s;he found her Lord removed, every part of her became an Eye; and every thought, a look. Indeed, <HI>Peter,</HI> the Di&s;ciple that is &s;aid to love Chri&s;t be&s;t, and <HI>John,</HI> the Di&s;ciple be&s;t beloved of the Lord, ran too; but their Devotion was &s;ooner out of breath. For when they had &s;een what &s;he had &s;aid, they &s;taid not, but &s;ud|denly retired, and &s;hrunk away. She &s;tands to it; her di&s;con&s;olate heart &s;till throbbing and panting, &s;ighing and enquiring until &s;he found him, whom her zealous &s;oul mo&s;t de|&s;ired. Neither was this thir&s;t of his pre&s;ence de&s;cryed onely in her early vi&s;its at his Grave where he lay, but it was di&s;covered al&s;o in
<PB N="45" REF="27">her former intru&s;ion into the Phari&s;ee's hou&s;e, where he &s;ate at repa&s;t. She would not expect his coming forth, as knowing nice Ceremonies of behaviour to &s;avour more of the <HI>Courtier</HI> then of the <HI>Chri&s;tian.</HI> The&s;e aiery and windy Circum&s;tances of worldly carriage, oft-times with&s;tand the &s;o|lid purcha&s;e of the Soul, and quencheth the alacrity of the Spirit. And &s;o the importu|nate Demeanour of this bold, yet religious Gue&s;t, received not a check, but a welcome. We cannot be un&s;ea&s;onable in pre&s;&s;ing our Redeemer <HI>at mid-night, before the morning-watch;</HI> he <HI>neither &s;lumbers nor &s;leeps.</HI> We may approach neer him at the very Table; it is <HI>his meat,</HI> &s;aith Saint <HI>John,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 4.34.</NOTE> to do the will of him that &s;ent him.</HI> And yet her approach was humble; &s;he came quivering behind him, who &s;aw her well enough;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 33.</NOTE> accounting it with <HI>Mo|&s;es,</HI> grace abundant to <HI>&s;ee the back parts of God's Glory.</HI> She looked not &s;o high as his hands, but in decent obey&s;ance fell at his feet, as re&s;olving now to tread wholly in her Saviours &s;teps.</P>
<P>Learn then out of this Property of Love, to crave no other &s;olace of Chri&s;t, but Chri&s;t him&s;elf, in who&s;e pre&s;ence is fulne&s;s of joy. Away with all dulne&s;s and coldne&s;s in God's Wor&s;hip; <HI>Maries</HI> fervour is the be&s;t tem|per. For he that is all Spirit, will not take plea&s;ure in the drowzie and heavy Service of a Sluggard. Why did he ordain the neck of the con&s;ecrated A&s;&s;e to be broken, rather
<PB N="46" REF="28">then offered up in Sacrifice? Was it not to intimate, That he cannot brook our heavi|ne&s;s and tardine&s;s in &s;erving him, of which the A&s;&s;e hath ever been a <HI>Hieroglyphick?</HI></P>
<P>The &s;econd Property of LOVE, is a quick obedience, and forward care to follow Chri&s;t. Her &s;peedy renovation was a lively expre&s;&s;ion of this &s;prightly quality. <HI>A Le|bete Phiala,</HI> of a Cauldron &s;eething and boyl|ing with lu&s;t, &s;he became a Chri&s;tal Vial of pure Cha&s;tity. <HI>Quot membra, tot holocau&s;ta;</HI> every member that before &s;erved Sin, is now turned a holocau&s;t, a &s;weet burnt Sacrifice. And that her Zeal within might want no pregnant &s;ignes without, the fire of her De|votion melts her &s;oul into floods of water, like a fla&s;h of lightning &s;econded with a &s;torm of rain, as if &s;he mean'd to overwhelm her &s;pi|ritual <HI>Pharaoh</HI> in her own &s;alt Sea of Tears. Her heart, vvhich before her Conver&s;ion vvas the Fountain of mi&s;chief, returns her now a Medicine; and her eye, vvhich let in vanity, lets it out again, by making her Tears as it vvere, a &s;econd <HI>Font,</HI> vvherein &s;he vvas renewed from the guilt of her Offences. And having pro&s;trated her &s;elf at Chri&s;ts feet, &s;he delights in ki&s;&s;ing them; her ki&s;&s;es being holy Interpreters of her devout acknowledg|ment, that it vvas his feet vvhich guided her in the vvay of peace. The better to declare how &s;he held nothing too good in the Ser|vice of &s;o good a Ma&s;ter, &s;he wipes them clean with the principal Ornament of her
<PB N="47" REF="28">head, <HI>the flaxen Towel</HI> of her hair. Tho&s;e di&s;hevelled locks, who&s;e curious dre&s;&s;ings were before laid out as enti&s;ing <HI>Nets,</HI> to catch the loo&s;e Beholders, are now religiou&s;ly de|dicated to dry his feet, from who&s;e paths they had &s;o often digre&s;&s;ed.</P>
<P>Her Diligence waited on him, no le&s;s when he was interred, then when he was alive. For though <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> and <HI>Nicodemus</HI> had already be&s;towed an hundred pounds of Myrrhe and Aloes for his embalming, yet &s;he prepared her Spices, and provided her Oyntments too. Not that &s;he undervalued what they had done, but becau&s;e Love per&s;waded &s;he was to do all her &s;elf. Upon gue&s;s that his dole|ful Coar&s;e was &s;urpri&s;ed by others, how did her re&s;olute fervour exceed her Sex? She wooes and &s;trives to win the &s;uppo&s;ed <HI>Gar|diner,</HI> with Titles of Honour, <HI>SIR, LORD, if you have taken him hence, tell me where he is; Ego illum tollam, I will bear him away.</HI> Timorous <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> of <HI>Arimathea, came &s;e|cretly to Pilate for fear of the Jews, and begged his body:</HI> But &s;he endued with <HI>Judiths</HI> &s;pirit, cannot be daunted with diffi|culties, nor appaled with impo&s;&s;ibilities. She thought her Love the compleare&s;t harne&s;s, the &s;ure&s;t &s;hield, and therefore &s;he begs not help, but maugre all their Oppo&s;ition, <HI>Ego tollam, I will bear him away.</HI></P>
<P>By this &s;econd Property, we may remem|ber, that the value of Chri&s;tian Love, is to be tryed by the &s;ame Touch&s;tone as holy
<PB N="48" REF="29"><HI>Mary</HI>'s was, not by words, but by obedi|ence.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14.23.</NOTE> <HI>If any love me,</HI> &s;aith Chri&s;t, <HI>he will keep my Commandments.</HI> The Jews called him <HI>King,</HI> and <HI>bowed their knees before him;</HI> but they defiled his Face with Spittle, and thre&s;hed his cheeks with blows. And what are they but degenerate, not freeborn Chri|&s;tians, who call Chri&s;t Lord, and bow their knees before him, yet crucifie him, and tram|ple his blood under their feet, by adhering to their impieties? What is this, but with <HI>Ju|das,</HI> to ki&s;s him, and betray him? We make his Scepter a <HI>Reed,</HI> when we yield him no &s;way over our Affections, when his ju&s;t Commands are more que&s;tioned then obey|ed.</P>
<P>The la&s;t Property of Love,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Philip. 4.</NOTE> is Bountiful|ne&s;s; <HI>Love,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;te, <HI>is bountiful:</HI> This cau&s;ed our Convert not to come nig|gardly, and empty-handed. She would not vi&s;it her Lord without a <HI>Pre&s;ent,</HI> without a Pledge of her homage and better meaning. The largene&s;s of her heart honoured him with the be&s;t &s;he had, and be&s;towed a &s;ump|tuous Oyntment on the Lords <HI>Anointed.</HI> An Oyntment &s;o pretious, that <HI>Judas,</HI> the Bea|rer of the Pur&s;e, repined with a <HI>quanto me|lius?</HI> how much better had this bin &s;old for three hundred pence, and the price thereof employed to the nece&s;&s;ities of the poor? Yet her mode&s;ty rated it not &s;o high, as that &s;he dur&s;t pour it on his &s;acred Head: &s;he e&s;tee|med it but good enough to anoint his hal|lowed
<PB N="49" REF="29">feet. It is true, that <HI>in nothing,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 22.</NOTE> as <HI>Job</HI> &s;aith, <HI>can a man be profitable to the Almighty:</HI> and &s;o the riches of the Spikenard could not add any &s;weetne&s;s to him, who is nothing but &s;weetne&s;s it &s;elf; yet he graciou&s;ly ac|cepts her little Mite, as a lively Symbole of her greater thankfulne&s;s, and entertaines her &s;mall Box of Oyntment, as a recom|pence for that &s;aving Oyl, which He, the good <HI>Samaritan,</HI> infu&s;ed into her &s;oul.</P>
<P>This la&s;t Property of Chri&s;tian Love, di&s;|covers the Hypocri&s;ie of tho&s;e who would be religious without <HI>Charges.</HI> They are like the Fig-Tree in the Go&s;pel, which had fair Leaves, but not &s;o much as one Figg to give to Chri&s;t in his hunger; ha|ving the &s;hew of Godline&s;s, but denying the Power; talking of a flouri&s;hing Church, and yet endeavouring to deprive the Church of her ancient <HI>Patrimony;</HI> devour|ing Tithes, becau&s;e they will not have the Lords Mini&s;ters meddle with that them|&s;elves <HI>Nick-name</HI> Worldline&s;s: A <HI>Patron</HI> &s;carce pa&s;&s;ing away a thin Par&s;onage, with|out a Re&s;ervation of his own Tythes. Some of the&s;e may be &s;een garni&s;hing their pri|vate Dwellings, and yet contented that Gods Hou&s;e lye naked, and more vile then &s;ome of their meane&s;t Offices; and all for fear of bringing in their own <HI>Chimaera</HI> of &s;uppo&s;ed Idolatry, when indeed their <HI>Cove|tou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> as 'tis 3 <HI>Colo&s;&s;.</HI> and their <HI>&s;tubborn|ne&s;s,</HI> 1 Sam. 15. are the main mi&s;chievous
<PB N="50" REF="30"><HI>Idolatry.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apol. cap. 39.</NOTE> But what &s;aith the ancient Fa|ther, <HI>Tertullian? Pietas e&s;t pro pietate &s;umptus facere:</HI> True Chri&s;tianity thinks it cannot be at too much <HI>co&s;t</HI> with God. For he is more delighted with <HI>Abel,</HI> &s;acrificing the be&s;t; then with <HI>Cain,</HI> &s;erving him with the wor&s;t: with <HI>Aaron,</HI> in a decent Ve&s;tment; then with a <HI>Noveli&s;t,</HI> &s;tanding before him in a &s;lovenly Coat. The outward re&s;pects of reverence, are &s;till accounted Pledges and Arguments of our Piety and inward Devotion, that with <HI>Mary Magdalene</HI> we love him much; which is the degree of her Affection in this Adverb <HI>much, for &s;he loved much.</HI></P>
<P>She did not love moderately or remi&s;sly, that were a plain &s;igne of too much under|valuing and neglect; &s;he loved earne&s;tly and extreamly. Other Objects may, God cannot have exce&s;s of Love. Tell me what pitch of Affection doth the <HI>Natural Man</HI> re&s;erve for his <HI>Mammon,</HI> for his <HI>Hero|dias;</HI> the &s;ame, in a far exceeding inten|tion, did &s;he confer upon her Saviour. How could &s;he love him too much, who, in re|gard of the beams of his Grace, which he vouch&s;afed to ca&s;t upon her, de&s;erved the be&s;t, yea, all, and a Thou&s;and times more then all? The precept is, <HI>Thou &s;halt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy &s;oul, with all thy &s;trength;</HI> which Saint <HI>Au&s;ten</HI> expounds of Supereminent and o|verflowing Love, that if any other thing
<PB N="51" REF="30">offers it &s;elf to be loved of us, it &s;hould be carried along, and made to run together with us, to the Love of God. Springs and Brooks run back into the Mayne; and &s;o the lea&s;t Rivulet of Affection, ought not to be drained any other way then to him, of whom, and from whom, are all things. It's an ungrateful ground, that like an un|bottomed Gulf, &s;wallows and returns not; whereas a clean, and well-planted Soyle, renders much fruit for the many &s;howrs did fall upon it. Gracious <HI>Mary</HI> had her heart refre&s;hed and watered plentifully, and &s;o her thankful &s;oul proved fruitful in good works, and brought forth a delightful harve&s;t, for <HI>&s;he loved M&V;CH.</HI></P>
<P>I need not in&s;i&s;t upon this Point: Her &s;everal Actions before expre&s;&s;ed, do a|bundantly te&s;tifie the eminent mea&s;ure of her Affection. You might &s;ee it in her Spices which &s;he brought to Chri&s;t alive, and at his grave. Neither was the Period there; her thankful and obedient heart fol|lowed him even beyond death. The <HI>Legend</HI> quotes <HI>Ege&s;ippus</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> Te&s;timonies, how after his A&s;cention from the Mount of <HI>Olives,</HI> &s;he &s;eque&s;tred her &s;elf from all the world, and led a &s;olitary life in the Wilder|ne&s;s; where, if their account be right, &s;he &s;ighed away full <HI>thirty</HI> years in mourn|ing for his ab&s;ence. We read, that the <HI>Ea&s;t|gate</HI> in <HI>Ezekials</HI> Temple, was ever &s;hut,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 44.2.</NOTE> be|cau&s;e God went once thorough it: &s;o her
<PB N="52" REF="31">heart was &s;hut to all Objects what&s;oever, and left open onely to retain her all-&s;uffici|ent Redeemer. The <HI>&s;teel</HI> of the Mariners <HI>Card,</HI> when it is once touched with the LOAD-STONE, is reported e|ver after to bend, and look towards the <HI>North.</HI> And &s;o &s;he, having her &s;oul touch|ed with the &s;anctifying Spirit of God, had her Cogitations onely directed to him. For the mea&s;ure of Loving God, is to Love him, &s;aith devout <HI>Bernard,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">De diligen. Deo.</NOTE> without mea&s;ure, <HI>(i. e.)</HI> with all po&s;&s;ible perfection that a Creature can attain unto: Nothing can fill the print of the Wax, but the Seal that made it; nor any thing &s;atisfie the Soul, but he who fir&s;t created it. Hence is that of Saint <HI>Au&s;ten, Domine feci&s;tinos ad Te;</HI> Lord, thou ha&s;t made us for thy &s;elf, <HI>Et irrequie|tum e&s;t cor no&s;trum donec requie&s;cat in Te;</HI> and our heart is unquiet, till it re&s;ts in thy &s;elf.</P>
<P><HI>Faith</HI> and <HI>Hope</HI> &s;hall cea&s;e, and like &s;ha|dows fly away; but <HI>Love</HI> mounts to Hea|ven; and the greater it hath been here, the higher in degree it &s;hall be there; the wider entrance, and happier entertainment it &s;hall finde with the Society of the <HI>Saints</HI> and <HI>An|gels,</HI> with the <HI>Beatifical</HI> Vi&s;ion and Fruition of the undivided <HI>Trinity.</HI></P>
<P>Now ble&s;&s;ed be the Lord, that leaves us not &s;o deeply engaged, but hath taught our poverty a &s;hort and ready way how to &s;ati&s;|fie &s;o infinite a Creditor. It is not rich
<PB N="53" REF="31">and &s;umptuous <HI>Pre&s;ents,</HI> nor any worldly ad|vantage, which he con&s;iders, that &s;o our out|ward wants may not di&s;hearten our often endeavours in the di&s;charge of our Duty.</P>
<P>He expects our tribute at <HI>home,</HI> and <HI>within</HI> us; the &s;ervice of our thanks being to be pre&s;ented by no other <HI>Pre&s;ent</HI> then <HI>Love.</HI> So that we may as well deny our &s;elves, as to be wanting in the performance of our love to him, who is the God of Love, the Father, the Son, the Holy-Gho&s;t; who&s;e Grace, Love and Communion, be with you always. Amen.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="54" REF="32">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Gal. 5. v. 24.</HI></BIBL>
<P>They that are Chri&s;ts, have crucified the fle&s;h, with the affections and lu&s;ts.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. 4.</NOTE>IT ought not to &s;eem &s;trange, that a Prea|cher of the <HI>Go&s;pel,</HI> being an <HI>Emba&s;&s;dor</HI> of Peace, &s;hould come as a <HI>Herauld,</HI> to denounce War: it was &s;o from the begin|ning: <HI>The very God of Peace</HI> proclaimed <HI>War</HI> betwixt the &s;eed of the <HI>Woman,</HI> and the &s;eed of the <HI>Serpent;</HI> The Sub&s;tantial <HI>Word</HI> of God, profe&s;&s;ed he came into the world <HI>to make divi&s;ion betwixt the Father and Son, the Mother and the Daughter.</HI> And the Apo&s;tle in the Text, &s;ets every man at vari|ance with him&s;elf, to make divi&s;ion betwixt the Fle&s;h and Spirit. This <GAP DESC="foreign">, Du|el, or Conflict in our own Brea&s;ts, is good, and Chri&s;tian indeed. For when we turn the greatne&s;s of our courage to the &s;ubduing of our inward Corruptions, we make a holy peace with God, and bring our &s;elves with|in the <HI>Line</HI> of <HI>Communication</HI> with his Saints.</P>
<Q>They which are Chri&s;ts, have crucified the fle&s;h, with the corruptions and lu&s;ts.</Q>
<P>In which Propo&s;ition, we may con&s;ider
<PB N="55" REF="32">how the per&s;ons are qualified, and vvho by a more peculiar appropriation, are &s;tamp'd with the Character of <HI>tho&s;e which are Chri&s;ts.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, The religious <HI>duty</HI> wherein they are exerci&s;ed, &s;hadowed in the Metaphor of <HI>crucifying;</HI> and here's their evidence and a&s;&s;urance, they <HI>have crucified.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly, The <HI>Subject,</HI> or matter of this crucifying, and that's the vvhole <HI>body of &s;in,</HI> both in the outward and inward man. They have crucified <HI>the fle&s;h;</HI> there the <HI>outward</HI> man is di&s;ciplined, his &s;en&s;ual Delights and Plea&s;ures being ca&s;tigated, and fa&s;tned to Chri&s;ts Cro&s;s. They have crucified <HI>the affe|ctions and lu&s;ts;</HI> there the <HI>inward</HI> man is rectified; the rebellious &s;tubbornne&s;s of the <HI>will,</HI> the exorbitant thoughts of the <HI>minde,</HI> the extravagant de&s;ires and motions of the <HI>heart,</HI> being regulated, and brought in obe|dience to the <HI>Law</HI> of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>We are to begin with the pruning of the luxuriant fle&s;h. <HI>They that are Chri&s;ts, have crucified the fle&s;h.</HI></P>
<P>'Tis too evident:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 3.6.</NOTE> Saint <HI>Peter</HI> hath rightly ob&s;erved, That <HI>&s;ome wre&s;ted his brother Pauls doctrine to their own damnation:</HI> for becau&s;e 'tis &s;aid in the fir&s;t ver&s;e of this Chapter, <HI>Chri&s;t hath made us FREE,</HI> and <HI>we are not under the Law,</HI> ver&s;e 18. the <HI>Antinomi|ans, Libertines,</HI> and others, catechize the <HI>pure</HI> Saints of their lewd Sect, that they may break the Law vvithout &s;inning; in
<PB N="56" REF="33">regard being not under the Law, they are not guilty of aberration from it, and &s;o not of &s;in: But the Apo&s;tle checks tho&s;e pre|&s;umptuous enemies of &s;ound Doctrine, ma|king it clear, ver&s;. 13. that the liberty he cry|ed up, doth not intend licence; nor his walking <HI>freely</HI> in the Spirit, make way to wander <HI>loo&s;ely</HI> in the fle&s;h. The &s;atisfaction of Chri&s;t, frees from the tyrannical yoke and cur&s;e of the Law; from the rigid per|formance of Circumci&s;ion, and other Bon|dages of the Law, 1 and 2 ver&s;es; but it voyds not Obligation of <HI>per&s;onal</HI> obedi|ence to the Law, as 'tis a <HI>rule</HI> of life, in the 13 and 14 ver&s;es. The end of our Redem|ption is not loo&s;ene&s;s in practi&s;e, but a happy &s;ervice: we gaine an ea&s;ier Ma&s;ter, no li|centious di&s;order; yea, rather by the Go|&s;pel of Chri&s;t, our burden is encrea&s;ed, a greater task is added. For whereas the Law &s;ays, <HI>Thou &s;halt not commit adultery,</HI> the Go|&s;pel &s;ays,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.28.</NOTE> <HI>Thou &s;halt not look,</HI> nor <HI>think la&s;ci|viou&s;ly.</HI> And indeed, all the &s;acrifices, all the &s;acraments, all the purgings of the Law, did but repre&s;ent the new Covenant of Chri&s;t, the crucifying of our&s;elves, and our clean&s;ing through his blood. The <HI>&s;hell</HI> of Ceremony we have thrown away, but the <HI>kernel</HI> of Moral and Chri&s;tian Duty couched under it, we &s;till retain. We ca&s;t off the body of &s;in, which defiled the body of fle&s;h; and in&s;tead of cutting away the <HI>foreskin</HI> of that member which execures the act of lu&s;t,
<PB N="57" REF="33">we prune the heart,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">See Colo&s;&s;. 2.18.</NOTE> where rotten de&s;ires are conceived; or, as in my Text, we <HI>crucifie the fle&s;h,</HI> (i. e.) vve mortifie the <HI>fle&s;hline&s;s</HI> of the fle&s;h, with the Affections and Lu&s;ts. To this purpo&s;e, and in this &s;en&s;e, Gods E|lect are &s;aid to derive their Race and de&s;cent from Chri&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>They which are Chri&s;ts,</HI> are the &s;ame <HI>Spirit</HI> with him, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 6. and &s;o are engaged to proceed in a profe&s;&s;ed ho&s;tility with the fle&s;h, vvithout <HI>Truce</HI> or Ce&s;&s;ation. For the <HI>Spirit</HI> is in &s;uch a direct Oppo&s;ition to the Fle&s;h,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.13.</NOTE> that 'tis written, <HI>If ye walk after the fle&s;h, ye &s;hall dye:</HI> and therefore <HI>Jude</HI> concludes, that the fle&s;hly <HI>have not the Spirit,</HI> ver&s;. 19.</P>
<P>They which are Chri&s;ts, are dead to &s;in; how then can &s;uch <HI>walk in the coun&s;el of the ungodly, or &s;tand in the way of &s;inners?</HI></P>
<P>Again, They which are Chri&s;ts, are adop|ted and regenerated, <HI>engrafted</HI> and <HI>rooted</HI> in him. Now vvhat a perver&s;e Con&s;ideration vvere it, to imagine the end of the&s;e improve|ments, and <HI>&s;uper-endowments</HI> to be, that this &s;eed, that this off-&s;pring of God, &s;hould &s;pread forth, &amp; be pamper'd vvith the <HI>Delica|cies</HI> of the fle&s;h, &s;ince the putting on of Chri&s;t is an inhibition to make <HI>provi&s;ion</HI> for the fle&s;h, to <HI>fulfil</HI> the lu&s;ts thereof? <HI>Rom.</HI> 13.14. vvhich ver&s;e is a good <HI>comment</HI> on this my Text. It doth not ab&s;olutely forbid to make provi&s;ion, but &s;o as to fulfil its lu&s;ts. And thus the <HI>Apo&s;tle</HI>'s crucifying the fle&s;h here, intends not the de&s;truction of the body, but
<PB N="58" REF="34">the ruine of tho&s;e corruptions which have entrenched and encompa&s;&s;ed in the &s;oul. For <HI>fle&s;h</HI> is not taken in this place for <HI>Caro carnis,</HI> for that which is the <HI>Sub&s;tance</HI> of the fle&s;h.</P>
<P>Indeed, there were Hereticks called <HI>Pa|triciani,</HI> who held Man's fle&s;h was not made of God, but of the Devil; which cau&s;ed &s;ome to di&s;patch them&s;elves, to ca&s;t off the fle&s;h. But we know the fle&s;h, in it &s;elf, like all the works of God's hand, was good and perfect; Chri&s;t him&s;elf hath a&s;&s;umed it. But by <HI>fle&s;h,</HI> the Apo&s;tle means <HI>Caro peccati,</HI> the body of &s;in, the depraved will of the fle&s;h, the general corruption of nature, vvhich hath &s;o &s;cattered its poy&s;on through the &s;oul, that the powers, vvhich &s;hould command, are turned to obey their Ser|vants. Notwith&s;tanding this manife&s;t truth, there was an ancient Here&s;ie, which being grounded upon the literal and violent &s;en&s;e of our Saviours Coun&s;el, that if the eye or hand offend, would have, without <HI>a Meta|phy&s;ical knife,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 18.9.</NOTE> or my&s;tical ab&s;traction,</HI> the one really to be cut off, and the other pulled out: whereas the right meaning of tho&s;e words, intimates nothing but the death of <HI>&s;in</HI> in tho&s;e parts, without the ruine of the parts them&s;elves.</P>
<P>It is the u&s;ual practi&s;e in progre&s;s of War, to de&s;troy the pertinacious refractory <HI>Inha|bitants,</HI> but to &s;pare the <HI>Country;</HI> as <HI>I&s;rael</HI> mu&s;t not let the <HI>Canaanites</HI> live, yet they may
<PB N="59" REF="34">live them&s;elves in their cities. Wherefore I cannot think any man &s;o imperfect, who&s;e natural <HI>Logique</HI> teacheth him not to ab&s;tract the &s;in from the &s;ubject, and di&s;creetly to di&s;tingui&s;h between the &s;oundne&s;s of the member, and the putrefaction. Be it our &s;tudy to root out, and utterly bani&s;h the&s;e inordinate qualities of the fle&s;h, &s;o that we maintain the &s;ub&s;tance; and in purging ma|lignant humours, do not ra&s;hly violate the life of nature, wherein we &s;hall &s;hew our &s;elves like wi&s;e Hou&s;eholders, that pull not out the teeth of their cur&s;t MASTIFES, but break them; as unwilling to lo&s;e that which is u&s;eful, where the inconvenience alone, may &s;afely be removed. It is a Po|&s;ition born with us, That <HI>no man hates his own fle&s;h;</HI> which Religion &s;eeks not to take away, but to reform. It was God's own ordinance, that we &s;hould <HI>glorifie Him in our BODIES:</HI> which injunction would be impo&s;&s;ible, if by unnatural and too cur&s;t u&s;age, we &s;hould humble them to the grave. For &s;aith <HI>David,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 6.5.</NOTE> In death no man remembers thee: and who will give thee thanks in the pit?</HI> Let then the Body have its due re&s;pect, but &s;till with relation to the &s;oul's health; &s;ince otherwi&s;e, exce&s;s of affection is not Love, but dotage; and the fea&s;ting of the body, the famine of the &s;oul. For though the Devil him&s;elf be all &s;piritual wickedne&s;s, yet he hath not a more officious Engine to catch our &s;ouls, then the wanton|ne&s;s
<PB N="60" REF="35">of the fle&s;h. The fle&s;h is his acce&s;s, to work the admittance of his &s;ugge&s;tions: So that the world, and the <HI>u&s;urping</HI> god of this world, could do nothing, or very little, un|le&s;s they <HI>plowed with our own Heyfer,</HI> and &s;ub|orned our fle&s;h again&s;t us. The nineteenth ver&s;e of this Chapter, begins with a large Catalogue of the works of the fle&s;h; I can|not run over each particular, I will touch the principal, which I conceive to be <HI>glut|tony</HI> and <HI>drunkenne&s;s.</HI> The one was the fir&s;t &s;in which appeared before the Flood; the o|ther, the fir&s;t after the Flood. <HI>Lot,</HI> who was newly delivered from the flames of in|ce&s;tuous <HI>Sodom,</HI> through di&s;temper of a con|trary element, fell into ince&s;t. <HI>Noah,</HI> who had lately e&s;cap'd the deluge of the whole world, was drowned in a <HI>Cup,</HI> when the Vine, which his hand planted, &s;upplanted the Husbandman, and expo&s;ed him to the mockage of his wicked Sons. The A&s;&s;yrian Monarch,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kin. 20.16, 20.</NOTE> <HI>Benhadad,</HI> who was guarded by a Troop of Kings, and thought to have taken all his Enemies alive, was &s;uddenly defeated, and &s;urprized, when VVine had given him the fir&s;t overthrow. For that which is ta|ken into the Body, enters not in vaine, but is conquered, or conquers: if it conquers, then the meat feeds on the Eater, the drink &s;wallows the Drinker: To him the Props of life become the In&s;truments of death. And here I cannot but ob&s;erve how <HI>drunken|ne&s;s,</HI> of all other Vices, mo&s;t takes the <HI>De|vils</HI>
<PB N="61" REF="35">part; for whereas <HI>God</HI> gave this <HI>Pledge,</HI> that the <HI>&s;eed of the Woman &s;hould break the Serpents HEAD;</HI> this &s;in, as it were in a natural revenge, &s;trikes at the <HI>head</HI> of Man. You may &s;ee the malice of it; it wounds the head, and trips up the heeles. And now &s;ince &s;uch decays, ruines and ven|geance be the wages of fle&s;hly exce&s;s, me|thinks I hear a voyce from the Spirit, cry, <HI>Crucifie, crucifie the fle&s;h.</HI></P>
<P>The better to under&s;tand the Congruity of the <HI>Metaphor,</HI> let's examine the Analo|gie betwixt mortifying the fle&s;h, and cruci|fying it.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, the <HI>Cro&s;s</HI> is a mo&s;t cruel and accurate torment. A torment, which being &s;eated in the hands and feet, parts mo&s;t &s;en&s;ible of paine, by the multitude of nerves there u|nited, makes the angui&s;h al&s;o more eminent. Such &s;hould be the death of &s;in in us all, a death without mercy or remor&s;e; A death as zealou&s;ly executed, as willingly de&s;erved: For if our tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions would plunge us in the depth of de&s;truction, all pity &s;hewed to them, is cruelty to our own Souls. Save the&s;e Traytors from the Gibbet, and in&s;tead of acknowledgment, they will be the fir&s;t Enemies that wound us. Impiety knows not how to be grateful, nor vvill it ever en|ter into a wicked heart, to repay the debt of thanks. <HI>Saul</HI> lo&s;t both his life and honour,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 15.</NOTE> in &s;paring <HI>Agag,</HI> a man appointed to dye: And can vve expect a better reward for the
<PB N="62" REF="36"><HI>flattery</HI> of our &s;ins? If they fir&s;t nayled our Saviour to the Cro&s;s, them&s;elves have taught us our duties how to entertain them; And how's that? as <HI>E&s;ther</HI> &s;erved <HI>Haman,</HI> by <HI>hanging them on their own Gallows.</HI> It can|not but argue us no friends of Chri&s;t, vvho are in peace vvith his Enemies, vvhich &s;o oft as vve fondly pamper, vve endeavour to re|new the bitterne&s;s of his pa&s;&s;ion, and put him to a &s;econd &s;hame. As there's no true friend&s;hip among the vvicked; &s;o to live friendly vvith vvickedne&s;s, is not love, but <HI>con&s;piracy.</HI> A &s;trange con&s;piracy, vvherein man is lo&s;t by his own treachery; and by mi&s;-applying his kindne&s;s, laid open to end|le&s;s injuries. To produce &s;in then, is dan|gerous; not to murder it vvhen 'tis born, is deadly. The &s;imple Commi&s;&s;ion, may be a vvork of infirmity; but not to cha&s;ti&s;e it &s;everely, is vvilfully to maintain it.</P>
<P>The &s;econd Congruity between mortify|ing and crucifying, is this: The <HI>Cro&s;s</HI> vvas a lingring puni&s;hment, vvhich de|priving the Malefactors of breath by de|grees, made them feel di&s;tinctly the decay of life, and number the expre&s;s minutes of their pa&s;&s;ions, like &s;o many Sands &s;tealing away from their Hour-gla&s;s. Is not this the very cour&s;e, and ordinary &s;tate of mortifica|tion, vvherein &s;in expires not vvith one breath, nor is the benefit of &s;anctification heaped on us all together? Sin is not &s;o vveak an Inmate, as to be thru&s;t out of doors
<PB N="63" REF="36">vvith ea&s;e; it both crept into us, and vvill depart vvith lea&s;ure. The <HI>Moon</HI> decrea&s;|eth not all in one night, neither doth the &s;wifte&s;t Ebbe po&s;t away in an in&s;tant. All <HI>Fruits</HI> have &s;ome days to wither in, before there can be a &s;ea&s;on to fall. In like man|ner, man's limited nature is not capable of &s;uch va&s;t and unruly &s;trides, as &s;uddenly to mount from the bottom to the top, from corruption to grace. VVhat though <HI>God</HI> by his Omnipotency can in the &s;tricte&s;t point of time, as ea&s;ily ca&s;t out &s;even Devils as one? yet it plea&s;eth him in the&s;e actions, to de|&s;cend to the vveak ability of his In&s;truments, and to perform vvhat they can, not vvhat he is able to do. Let's not how&s;oever be di&s;|comforted with the tediou&s;ne&s;s of this fight. A <HI>&s;low</HI> victory, is better then an <HI>eternal</HI> Ser|vitude; and our liberty vvill appear far more grateful, by how much it vvas purcha&s;ed at a dearer rate.</P>
<P>The la&s;t Similitude betwixt our <HI>mortifica|tion</HI> and <HI>crucifying,</HI> is, That as in crucify|ing no part e&s;caped &s;uffering, &s;o vve mu&s;t &s;uffer no &s;in to e&s;cape crucifying. God, who freely remits our offences, and without ex|ception cancels the general debt, vvill not accept a lame and imperfect repentance. That all tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions may be forgiven, all mu&s;t be crucified. For hovv can vve &s;erve God vvith a vvhole heart, vvhen one Clo&s;et is re&s;erved for a bo&s;ome-&s;in, when God is put to part &s;takes with the Devil in us; one eye
<PB N="64" REF="37">being ca&s;t up to Heaven, and the other <HI>&s;lyly</HI> glancing on a viler Object?</P>
<P>I have heightn'd this meditation to the utmo&s;t in the general; I &s;hall now apply it more particularly to tho&s;e, who are Chri&s;ts appropriated FLOCK. For the <HI>adop|ted</HI> Sons of God in all points, as far as they may, ought to re&s;emble the <HI>natural</HI> Son, and tread the &s;ame path which he hath &s;cor'd out. As Chri&s;t therefore &s;uffered the death of the Cro&s;s for &s;in, &s;o mu&s;t they crucifie &s;in, and dye to it.</P>
<P>Was the Cro&s;s a lingring, painful, and torturing death? Let it not &s;eem grievous to us, with &s;triving and &s;trugling, with Gall and Vinegar, with pricking and piercing, and with other tortures of tedious Combate, to &s;ubdue our Affections, and part by part to crucifie the body of Sin.</P>
<P>Were his Temples torn with a Crown of Thorns? Let it not &s;eem har&s;h to &s;et our &s;elves again&s;t the <HI>thornes of the fle&s;h,</HI> which goad our &s;ides.</P>
<P>VVere his hands and feet &s;o fa&s;t nayled to the Tree, that they were &s;top'd and di&s;abl'd from u&s;e and motion? It mu&s;t be the care of tho&s;e which are Chri&s;ts, to re&s;tain their hands from Oppre&s;&s;ion, their feet from blood|&s;hed, their tongues from fal&s;hood, their throats from exce&s;s, their eyes from adultery, and all their members from the motions of unrighteou&s;ne&s;s. Our Saviour endured the pangs of the Cro&s;s, till the clo&s;e of death; It
<PB N="65" REF="37">is likewi&s;e our part, never to cea&s;e from curbing rebellious affections, till they be quite dead, till the Serpent hath no &s;trength to move his <HI>Tayl.</HI> For they who finde comfort in <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> re&s;t not in a bare believing Chri&s;t was crucified <HI>for</HI> them, but do truely feel that they are crucified <HI>with</HI> him, the motions of &s;in working not &s;o &s;trongly in their mem|bers, to bring forth fruit unto death, <HI>Rom.</HI> 7.5. Then we are truly Chri&s;ts, mo&s;t deer|ly allyed to him, when we re&s;emble his Ver|tues, when our actions &s;peak us to be his. He will be read as well in our <HI>manners,</HI> as in our <HI>names;</HI> if we can gladly weare his <HI>Li|very,</HI> we mu&s;t not be &s;lack to perform his <HI>Service.</HI> True <HI>Catholique</HI> Religion, is not a Doctrine of ea&s;e; it teacheth that no cor|rective Di&s;cipline can be great enough to prevent the <HI>out-breakings</HI> of Natures Cor|ruption. Indeed, the <HI>Penance</HI> we put the body to, is over-ha&s;ty, and it la&s;ts not long. Our Tears, if any, dry &s;treight; our Pray|ers, if many, are quickly thought tedious; our Fa&s;ts, but loo&s;ely kept; our Cha&s;ti&s;e|ments, too &s;light to ma&s;ter our &s;turdy and ob&s;tinate Inclinations.</P>
<P>But there have been Worthies, who have not &s;pared to u&s;e all the means of humiliati|on, which a Creature is piou&s;ly capable of. <HI>I keep under my body,</HI> &s;aith Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 9.27. &s;o our Engli&s;h renders it; but 'tis more powerfully &s;ignificant in the Origi|nal, <GAP DESC="foreign">. The Apo&s;tles word imports,
<PB N="66" REF="38"><HI>I BEAT down my body,</HI> as it were with Blows and Clubs; to note his &s;trictne&s;s in keeping under the ob&s;tinacy of natural Cor|ruptions. Some have become like <HI>Bottles</HI> in the <HI>Smoake,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.</NOTE> watered their couch with their Tears, grown &s;tiffe in their knees, by pray|ing and fa&s;ting. I have read of others, who &s;teep'd their Bread <HI>in Lye,</HI> that they might <HI>eat A&s;hes</HI> with the Prophet. Chri&s;tian Charity believed this <HI>Vexation</HI> of body and &s;pirit, was u&s;ed as a means to advance them in their way to God: They thus <HI>macerated</HI> and wore out them&s;elves with a &s;trict au&s;terity, that by weakening the Body, they might &s;trengthen the &s;oul.</P>
<P>If the <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> &s;everity to their own fle&s;h, a&s;&s;iduou&s;ne&s;s at their <HI>Orizons,</HI> fre|quent inflictions of <HI>Penance,</HI> joyned with a Submi&s;&s;ive readine&s;s to renounce their Errors upon clearer Illumination, were true effects and Fruits of a well-guided Zeal for di&s;plea|&s;ing their Redeemer, and not practi&s;ed in a <HI>colour,</HI> pretence, and advantage of Religi|on; the&s;e &s;o <HI>qualified</HI> Ca&s;tigations of them|&s;elves, may be, for any thing I yet know to the contrary, acceptable in the &s;ight of God; in regard no exactne&s;s, no purity, no contending to perfection, can be too much pur&s;ued in true Religion.</P>
<P>They who are &s;ingled out for Chri&s;ts pure Service, ought to be men &s;eparated from the world, though within the world; not dwel|ling on the Earth, but pa&s;&s;ing through it; &s;o
<PB N="67" REF="38">e&s;tranged from covetou&s;ne&s;s, that they &s;carce u&s;e nece&s;&s;aries; &s;o far from lu&s;t, that they feel no fle&s;h; &s;o free from contentions, that they are not engaged by de&s;ires; &s;o &s;et on their journies end, that they &s;carce carry the eye of pa&s;&s;engers, or ca&s;t a glance to any delight|ful pro&s;pect. To &s;uch, if any &s;uch there be, the world is crucified, and they to the world; &s;in hath no lively <HI>operation</HI> in them, no <HI>domi|nion</HI> over them.</P>
<P>And &s;o I proceed from the <HI>outward</HI> to the <HI>inward</HI> man; from the crucifying of the fle&s;h, to the mortifying of the <HI>affections: They which are Chri&s;ts, have crucified the fle&s;h, with the affections and lu&s;ts.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, all unbridled pa&s;&s;ions are to be &s;ubdued to the <HI>yoke</HI> of Chri&s;t: for by their over-eager <HI>Excur&s;ions,</HI> men are &s;o di&s;|compo&s;ed, that they di&s;cern nothing clearly, do nothing orderly, but become utterly un|fit for holy actions. See'&s;t thou a man wan|ton in <HI>joy?</HI> As <HI>Ae&s;op's</HI> Crow lo&s;t his Mor&s;el when he endeavoured to &s;ing; &s;o through &s;ecure jollity, he &s;uddenly lo&s;eth that, which maketh him rejoyce. Is any other ca&s;t down with immoderate <HI>grief?</HI> he not onely quells the <HI>&s;pirit,</HI> which &s;hould work a remedy, but doubles his lo&s;s, by throwing him&s;elf after it. Some are &s;o tran&s;ported with <HI>anger,</HI> as if they took part with their Adver&s;ary to vex them&s;elves; &s;o <HI>impetuous</HI> in their <HI>hatred,</HI> that they avoid the good for the evil, by hating the per&s;on for the vice.</P>
<PB N="68" REF="39">
<P>Again, many had never bin hurt, if they had not <HI>feared;</HI> and others had been wel|come to their de&s;ires, had not ra&s;h boldne&s;s ca&s;t them on needle&s;s dangers.</P>
<P>But may not the de&s;ires, intentions and thoughts be free? No: The Law of the Go&s;pel takes hold of them too, as well as of our deeds. The&s;e <HI>Cockatrices</HI> are to be <HI>kil'd in the very egge,</HI> before they encrea&s;e, ei|ther in age or danger. The De&s;ire, the Plot, the Thought, of any iniquity, is as odious to God, as if it were actually done. For 'tis done in his eye, when 'tis but thought. <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> looks not &s;o much at the <HI>Acce&s;&s;ory,</HI> as the <HI>Principal;</HI> to the evil action, as to the mi&s;|chievous intention. To a <HI>Soveraign,</HI> the intent of Trea&s;on is as mortal as the Act; and &s;o the malicious thought of a deliberate Slaughter, which is the <HI>Mother,</HI> is to the <HI>All-Holy,</HI> murther too, as well as that act of Slaughter, which is the <HI>Daughter.</HI> Our Saviour is &s;o taken with the <HI>inward</HI> part, the affection of the heart, that he judgeth both of good and evil actions according as that is well or ill affected. Let the outward Con|ver&s;ation be what it will, yet if a man <HI>regard iniquity in his heart, he will not hear him.</HI> For <HI>gravius e&s;t diligere peccatum quam facere;</HI> it's a wor&s;e token of an evil man, to love &s;in, then to commit it; becau&s;e Commi&s;&s;ion may be out of a violent temptation, and &s;traying infirmity; and &s;o not &s;o much the &s;in of our &s;elves, as of tho&s;e remainders of &s;in, which
<PB N="69" REF="39">dwell vvithin us. But our <HI>Love</HI> is all our own; <HI>Satan</HI> can but offer a temptation, the heart it &s;elf mu&s;t love it. As then God in mercy accounts the good will for the deed, in regard where there is a willing minde, there will certainly be all an&s;werable endeavours to execute that will, and to reduce it to act: &s;o he e&s;teemes the deed nothing without the will. Publick &s;hews of Religion, by coming orderly to Church; outward po&s;tures and &s;er|vices of the body in the Temple, are no o|therwi&s;e plea&s;ing to the <HI>Searcher</HI> of hearts, then as they &s;erve to expre&s;s the inward De|votion and Elevation of the &s;oul. For men may haply come to <HI>Church,</HI> and there devi&s;e how to undermine it; &s;erve God, and rob him at once. And therefore the wor&s;hip which &s;tands in the appearance of a bare out|&s;ide, in &s;tead of honouring God, doth much derogate from his honour, as giving him the eye of an <HI>Idol,</HI> unable to &s;ee; or at mo&s;t the eye of a <HI>Creature,</HI> which can reach no further then the Superficies, or <HI>Skin</HI> of an action, without di&s;cerning the heart.</P>
<P>It had need then be part of our Petition as well as <HI>David's, Clean&s;e us, Lord, from our &s;ecret faults,</HI> and wa&s;h, as well our hearts from carnal affections, as our fle&s;h from e|vil actions.</P>
<P>We confe&s;s, O God, to our own &s;hame and confu&s;ion, that our back-&s;lidings be many, our iniquities do te&s;tifie again&s;t us; yet <HI>Thou,</HI> who art the <HI>hope of I&s;rael, the Sa|viour
<PB N="70" REF="40">thereof in time of trouble;</HI> &s;hew not thy &s;elf, vve be&s;eech thee, a <HI>&s;tranger</HI> in the Land vvhere thou delighte&s;t to dwell; but do away our tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions for thy <HI>Names</HI> &s;ake: and that vve may not transfer this Chri&s;tian duty of mortification from our &s;elves vvholly to others, grant, that by thy &s;aving Grace, vve may be enabled to cru|cifie and &s;ubdue our own pride, envy, malice, and covetou&s;ne&s;s; to endeavour in all &s;ince|rity, our own particular Reformation; and from the ground of our hearts, utterly to a|bandon each beloved &s;in, that &s;o thou may&s;t own us for thine, and vve may make our dayly approaches to thee, as to a gracious God, and mo&s;t merciful Father, in and through Je&s;us Chri&s;t, our onely Advocate and Redeemer. Amen.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="71" REF="40">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Colo&s;&s;. 1. ver&s;. 20.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And (having made peace by the blood of his Cro&s;s) by him to reconcile to him&s;elf, by him, I &s;ay, whether things in Heaven or Earth.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE high Excellency of Chri&s;t,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. 5.</NOTE> im|po&s;eth &s;ilence, and makes adoration our &s;afe&s;t Eloquence; vvhich caus'd me in my pa&s;&s;age on the former ver&s;e, not to dive into the depth of his fulne&s;s, le&s;t my weakne&s;s might &s;eem to bring up the lighter things of the Schooles, and let the weighty &s;ink. My vvalk vvas but neer the &s;hore, my approach did but touch the con|fines. The matter was divided only into two parts; fulne&s;s <HI>of union,</HI> and fulne&s;s <HI>of unction:</HI> yet it might ju&s;tly &s;eem a work of no mercy, no u&s;e to us, were tho&s;e prerogatives &s;ealed onely for him&s;elf; had vve no &s;hare in them, any one might &s;ay, as the Tribes to <HI>Rehoboam, What portion have we in David?
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kin. 12.</NOTE> we have no inheritance, no part in him.</HI> And therefore for the a&s;&s;urance of our faith, the <HI>Apo&s;tle</HI> &s;oares higher, and contemplates the riches of the <HI>Fathers</HI> mercy in the face of the <HI>Son,</HI> as it &s;hines and reflects upon us. To what end hath the <HI>Father</HI> given all things into the hand of Chri&s;t? Why is he thus re|pleni&s;hed
<PB N="72" REF="41">with all Trea&s;ures? Is it that he might keep and hoord it up for him&s;elf? No: All his goodne&s;s hath relation to our profit; All power is put into the hands of the <HI>Son of God,</HI> that he might di&s;pen&s;e it the better for the <HI>&s;ons of men. It plea&s;ed the Father, that in him &s;hould all fulne&s;s dwell, that he might be able,</HI> &s;aith the Text, <HI>to reconcile us unto the Father, and all things to him&s;elf, both things in Heaven, and things on Earth, by the blood of his Cro&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>In which words, you may ob&s;erve <HI>the act,</HI> one in &s;ub&s;tance, though various in the phra&s;e; <HI>to &s;et at peace, to reconcile:</HI> The <HI>Per&s;on</HI> to whom reconciliation is made, <HI>to him&s;elf:</HI> The <HI>Object, All things</HI> in general: The di&s;tinction of their particular places, <HI>Things in Heaven and on Earth:</HI> The <HI>mate|rial,</HI> or meritorious cau&s;e, <HI>by him, Chri&s;t,</HI> the &s;econd Per&s;on: The Means, <HI>by blood;</HI> and therein the difference; it is not every &s;prink|ling, nor every effu&s;ion of blood, but by his <HI>blood &s;hed on the Cro&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>I begin with the fir&s;t part, as it lies couch|ed in this Propo&s;ition: <HI>It plea&s;ed the Father, by him,</HI> or <HI>by Chri&s;t his Son, to pacifie, or re|concile to him&s;elf all things.</HI></P>
<P>God is &s;o well plea&s;ed with this Act of reconciling, that though the di&s;obedience of our fir&s;t Parents made him to come as a <HI>Judge,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2. &amp; 3.</NOTE> pronouncing condemnation, <HI>You &s;hall dye the death;</HI> yet as a <HI>Father,</HI> willing to re|e&s;tabli&s;h them, he repeales the Sentence, and
<PB N="73" REF="41">breaths again into their dead Trunks, that breath of life, <HI>The &s;eed of the Woman &s;hall brui&s;e the Serpents Head.</HI> So unnatural it is to him to de&s;troy his own Workman&s;hip, that he prepares the play&s;ter before we have the wound, our recovery before our fall; the di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing them of the earthly Paradi&s;e, e&s;tated them in the heavenly. The one &s;erved as a <HI>Nur&s;ery,</HI> not that they might grow there &s;till, but that from thence they might be tran&s;planted to the other above, where they &s;hall abide for ever. And the better to &s;ecure us of our Re&s;tauration, it plea&s;ed the Almighty to &s;hew the experi|ment in his own <HI>Per&s;on,</HI> by knitting and marrying in love, two natures mo&s;t unequal, the Divine and the Humane. For as in the beginning he took clay to create us, &s;o af|terwards he a&s;&s;umed fle&s;h made of clay, to reconcile us. The Wax receives not the impre&s;&s;ion before applyed to the &s;eal, no more could the weakne&s;s of our fle&s;h re-a&s;|&s;ume the characters of God, did not God honour and embrace this weakne&s;s of our fle&s;h. He which rai&s;eth another fallen, mu&s;t &s;toop him&s;elf to do the courte&s;ie. Man was fallen, and without recovery, had not God bowed the heavens and come down; had he not poured out him&s;elf, that all might partake of his fulne&s;s. Neither <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> nor the old World, &s;ent us relief: the Man which fell betwixt <HI>Jericho</HI> and <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> might have bled to death, for all the <HI>Prie&s;t</HI> and the
<PB N="74" REF="42"><HI>Levite:</HI> nothing but de&s;pair, until the good Samaritan came. So was it with the World until <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> came, all looked another vvay. The <HI>Prophets</HI> looked over it, the <HI>Law</HI> through it; the eye of the Prophets vvas fixed on the remedy, but applyed it not. The hand of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> vvas too rough for the wound; the Oyl he powred in, was but Vinegar at the be&s;t: the <HI>Law</HI> may &s;hew us the vvay, but lend no &s;trength to vvalk in it: He alone that is the true <HI>Light,</HI> can guide us; He who is the <HI>Way</HI> it &s;elf, can lead us; He that is the very <HI>Door,</HI> can give us a lawful entrance in|to our eternal <HI>Canaan.</HI> For though God hath given power to his Mini&s;ters, by ap|plying the means, and by vvay of me&s;&s;age, to pronounce our Salvation, neverthele&s;s the full and ab&s;olute authority remains in his own hands; and vvho &s;hall wre&s;t it from him? To grant a <HI>temporal,</HI> is an in&s;eparable Juri&s;diction of Princes; to a&s;&s;ure us of <HI>e|verla&s;ting</HI> pardon, is a priviledge due to none but to the King of kings. Their vveak re|mi&s;&s;ion relea&s;eth from the guilt in this life; but vvhere the Lord vouch&s;afes to &s;hew mer|cy, the iniquity is quite done away, the debt cancelled for ever. Wherefore to prevent all encroachment, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>by him,</HI> I &s;ay, <HI>by him to reconcile,</HI> is doubled, and re|peated. For <HI>He,</HI> which is the &s;ole Maker of the Law, admits no Partner in freeing the Tran&s;gre&s;&s;or of the Law. Neither is any Creature capable of that glorious <HI>preroga|tive,</HI>
<PB N="75" REF="42">vvhich &s;o neerly concerns the Divine Maje&s;ty. Indeed, the fir&s;t <HI>Adam</HI> could take God from us; onely the &s;econd <HI>Adam</HI> can re&s;tore God to us.</P>
<P>The holy Man, 2 <HI>King.</HI> 4. being to per|form that great task, fir&s;t &s;ent his Servant and his Staff to vvork the cure; but there vvas not the lea&s;t &s;parke of heat before <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> him&s;elf came: before he &s;tretched all parts upon the Childe, <HI>his mouth to his mouth, his eyes to his eyes, his feet to his feet;</HI> there was neither voice nor hearing to be di&s;cerned. The &s;ad mi&s;-hap of this Child, is the gene|ral fate of all us, Children of vvrath, all dead and rotten in our &s;ins, Slaves to &s;in, and E|nemies to God; vvho notwith&s;tanding &s;ent his Servants, the <HI>Patriarchs,</HI> the <HI>Prophets,</HI> and <HI>his own Law</HI> to &s;chool us; but vve vvere lo&s;t, and vvould not be found. The Exhor|tations and Precepts, though charmed never &s;o vvi&s;ely, vvere too vveak to free us from that &s;piritual Bondage, and to re&s;tore us to our primitive integrity: Neither breath in our No&s;trils, nor thank&s;giving in our mouths, until <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> came, vvho not onely applyed him&s;elf to us, his arms to our arms, his body to our body, his feet to our feet; but took on him our nature, and clothed him&s;elf vvith our fle&s;h, that &s;o by his <HI>Incarnation,</HI> he might take from us vvhat to offer to God for us in his <HI>Pa&s;&s;ion.</HI> So that to pacifie and <HI>reconcile,</HI> is the &s;pecial work of the Son of God. See vvith vvhat compa&s;&s;ion he &s;peaks
<PB N="76" REF="43">to <HI>Jeru&s;alem;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 13.</NOTE> Jeru&s;alem,</HI> and <HI>O Jeru&s;alem; I would gather,</HI> and <HI>how often would I gather thee; gather thee as a Hen,</HI> and <HI>as a Hen her Chickens, her Chickens under her Wings.</HI> The <HI>Devil</HI> di&s;per&s;eth, <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> gathers; Chri&s;t ga|thers as a Hen, Satan di&s;per&s;eth as a Lyon; Chri&s;t under his <HI>Wings,</HI> the Devil within his <HI>Jaws.</HI></P>
<P>We are all by nature disjoyned from God, with the Prodigal, wandring from our Fa|thers Hou&s;e, and &s;cattered like &s;heep in the Vallies of death. Chri&s;t calls us, and draws us home; removes that which did &s;eparate, and aboli&s;heth the enmity betwixt God and us. <HI>Zacharias</HI> was &s;tricken dumb, when our Saviour was to be born,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.</NOTE> in token that the <HI>Law</HI> was to be &s;ilent when the Go&s;pel of Reconciliation was to be preached. As the Womans Accu&s;ers brought her to Chri&s;t, and afterwards dropped away, leaving none but them two alone;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 8.</NOTE> <HI>(Reman&s;it magna mi&s;eri|cordia, &amp; magna mi&s;eria)</HI> &s;aith Saint <HI>Au|&s;tin,</HI> There remained no Body but Mi&s;ery and Mercy together; &s;o when the Law had frighted us with the Rod of Terrour, it at la&s;t brings us to Chri&s;t, the Prince of Peace; and there we find God pacified, and the De|linquents reconciled. It's well noted, <HI>Qu&ograve;d amat medium Mediator Dei &amp; hominum:</HI> The middle Per&s;on in the <HI>Trinity,</HI> the Me|diator 'twixt God and Man, loves always the middle part, that he may the better ayd and help all parts. When he was born, he
<PB N="77" REF="43">was in <HI>medio jumentorum,</HI> in the mid&s;t of the bea&s;ts: When he was twelve years old, he was <HI>in medio Doctorum,</HI> in the mid&s;t of the Doctors: When he taught, he &s;tood in <HI>me|dio di&s;cipulorum,</HI> in the mid&s;t of his Di&s;ciples: When he dyed, he was <HI>in medio Latronum,</HI> in the mid&s;t of the Thieves: Now he is in Heaven, he is <HI>in medio Angelorum,</HI> in the mid&s;t of his Angels; And yet al&s;o <HI>in medio Chri&s;tianorum,</HI> in the mid&s;t of us Chri&s;tians gathered together in Unity.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 18.20.</NOTE> For <HI>where&s;oe|ver two or three are gathered in my Name, there am I in the mid&s;t of them.</HI></P>
<P>In the <HI>Morning</HI> of the World, he was not &s;o familiar with his people; &s;afety and danger were then on equal terms; there was power to &s;tand, but no &s;tay to recover the foot that was once falling. Deliverance was afar off, and the promi&s;ed <HI>Me&s;&s;ias</HI> either not apprehended, or at lea&s;t beheld through <HI>Types</HI> and Shadows; weak Objects to rai&s;e them to an a&s;&s;urance of faith, or make them hope for redre&s;s, when the di&s;ea&s;e &s;eemed to outvy the Remedy. But when <HI>God</HI> made him&s;elf acquainted with our infir|mities, he then &s;hewed him&s;elf the great Phy&s;itian of our &s;ouls, and by a fellow-fee|ling of &s;ome weakne&s;&s;es, freely delivered us from all. Happy were tho&s;e that then needed a Phy&s;itian; the &s;ick were in better ca&s;e then they which were &s;ound: For to them, even to the weak, to them which were without, and to the lo&s;t, was he &s;ent, to be
<PB N="78" REF="44">a <HI>Reconciler.</HI> Come then, and &s;ee how gra|cious the Lord is, that breaks not the crook|ed Plant, but &s;treightens it for a better u&s;e, and &s;o frames us in a new Mould, that whereas before we tremble at the partial ex|amination of our own Con&s;cience, we may appear before his Tribunal with boldne&s;s. For by our Reconciliation, we become <HI>Saints;</HI> whereas by our Creation, we are made <HI>Men:</HI> as if the pardon of &s;in were a light matter, unle&s;s the Sinner were improved with it.</P>
<P>In regard this boon of Reconciliation is of &s;uch an excellent nature, <HI>venerable Bede</HI> accounts more honour doth redound to God, <HI>Re&s;tauratione Hominum, qu&agrave;m creatione An|gelorum,</HI> by re&s;toring of man that fell, then by Creation of the Angels: Yea, the <HI>Con|ver&s;ion</HI> of a Sinner,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">12 ae q. 11. art. 9.</NOTE> &s;aith the <HI>Schoolman,</HI> is a more glorious work then the Creation of the World; becau&s;e the one is tran&s;ient, the other permanent.</P>
<P>Labour then to be in the number of true Converts; for if we come neer to God, not being <HI>by him</HI> reconciled to him, we &s;hall come as &s;oft VVax to the &s;corching flame, and as &s;tubble to the devouring fire. For e|very &s;in, as it is a tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, is again&s;t the Maje&s;ty of <HI>God</HI> him&s;elf; and &s;o our Re|conciliation is to be made <HI>by him, I &s;ay, by him,</HI> to him&s;elf. He is the <HI>Centre,</HI> to which all hearts move: the mind is &s;till fluctua|ting, un&s;etled; no true tranquillity, no
<PB N="79" REF="44">peace, until we be reconciled to him. As in a <HI>Circle,</HI> the more the Lines drawn from the Circumference come neer the <HI>Centre,</HI> the more they unite; the further they go from the <HI>Centre,</HI> in which they are united, the more they run out one from the other: So when we run forth from our <HI>Father,</HI> into our own Exorbitances, then we are one di&s;|joyned from the other; but when we keep to <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> the neerer we come to him, the more we all unite. For <HI>it plea&s;ed the Father, by him to reconcile all things, both of things in Heaven, and things on earth:</HI> wherein the <HI>Ob|ject,</HI> with the particular places for our Re|concilement, is expre&s;sly mentioned.</P>
<P>As God is mo&s;t good, &s;o his goodne&s;s mo&s;t diffu&s;ive, who&s;e plenteous redemption de&s;cends like the morning-dew, not to be &s;hut up in a narrow family, no more then tho&s;e fatning drops can be confined within a certain Region. Hence the Evangeli&s;t, <HI>Joh.</HI> 1.9. calls Chri&s;t <HI>The Light, which enlightens</HI> not a few, but <HI>many;</HI> nor many, but <HI>all,</HI> even <HI>every one which comes into the world.</HI> And yet according to the various Di&s;po&s;ition of the VVorld, the Light doth variou&s;ly en|lighten the World. We &s;ee Light pa&s;s through Gla&s;s and Cry&s;tal, and yet 'tis with|&s;tood by the Earth, which is le&s;s &s;olid, le&s;s hard, becau&s;e the ba&s;e vile Earth may not admit tho&s;e pure beams of Light: So neither can <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> the Supernatural, Divine Light, enter into the &s;oul which is not
<PB N="80" REF="45">wa&s;hed and cleared by repenting Tears, and by the fire of the Spirit clean&s;ed from the &s;ordid Scurf and Corruption of the fle&s;h, which as earth adheres to the Soul. Let us then draw neer to him in grace, and &s;o we &s;hall draw neer to him in Glory. He will be with us in his protection on <HI>earth,</HI> and in fe|licity <HI>in heaven.</HI></P>
<P>VVho &s;ees not how the Apo&s;tle knew not any member belonging to Chri&s;ts Reconci|liation, but either <HI>in Heaven</HI> or <HI>on Earth?</HI> For the building of the material Temple, the &s;tones were either hewing or poli&s;hing in the Mountain,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kin. 5.</NOTE> or tran&s;ported and laid in the Temple. So it is with us, who are made ready like lively &s;tones, for the Coele&s;tial <HI>Jeru&s;a|lem;</HI> either we are &s;quaring and fitting here, or el&s;e by glorious Conjunction, laid on Chri&s;t the Corner-&s;tone in the Heavenly places.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. ad Macar.</NOTE> Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> once &s;aid it, and the Church accounts it Orthodox, When the time is fulfilled, the Combate ended, the race run, <HI>Qui&s;que id habebit, quod in hac conqui&s;ivit,</HI> every one &s;hall have that which he hath gained in this life. <HI>Hic vita aut amittitur,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ad Deme|triad.</NOTE> aut tenetur,</HI> crys <HI>Cyprian;</HI> Here if we mi&s;s, we mi&s;s for ever. <HI>Bernard</HI> &s;coffs at &s;ome mi&s;-believers, <HI>Qui expectant &s;alu|tem in medio Gehennae,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>In Cantic. Serm</HI> 51.</NOTE> quae facta e&s;t in medio terrae;</HI> which wait for Salvation amid&s;t hel|li&s;h receptacles, which was wrought in the mid&s;t of this Terre&s;trial Globe. And there|fore 'twas a fond Charity in <HI>Origen,</HI> to ima|gine
<PB N="81" REF="45">the wicked Angels &s;hould at la&s;t be &s;a|vingly purifi'd. For they fell without a Tempter, and &s;o &s;hall not receive the bene|fit of a Redeemer. Neither <HI>Devil</HI> without, nor <HI>fle&s;h</HI> at home to &s;educe them; whereas man's Innocence was &s;tolne from him, and his overthrow occa&s;ion'd by another's trea|&s;on. Yet as the reprobate Angels are in &s;uch a mi&s;ery, that they cannot be recall'd; &s;o the Holy Angels are in that perfection of happine&s;s, as they cannot fall: and if &s;o, the Office of a <HI>Reconciler</HI> may &s;eeme fruitle&s;s to both; He cannot helpe the one, nor better the other.</P>
<P>It's true, the ble&s;&s;ed Angels need no Re|conciler in regard <HI>of Redemption</HI> from <HI>&s;in;</HI> for by the power of their Nature, wherein they were created, they are able to execute what&s;oever it be, in which it &s;hall plea&s;e God to prove their obedience. Yet their peace was <HI>not perfect,</HI> until they were made <HI>&s;ure of per&s;everance,</HI> which was onely by <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> They had not that grace by <HI>Creation:</HI> for the fall of &s;ome of them, &s;hews that by their own nature their will was mutable; and therefore &s;aith St. <HI>Bernard, Qui crexit homi|nem lap&s;um, dedit Angelo &s;tanti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&egrave; caderet;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>In Cant. Serm.</HI> 22.</NOTE> the &s;ame Je&s;us, which rais'd up man, when he was fall'n, confirm'd the ble&s;&s;ed Angels that now they cannot fall. They have gain'd then <HI>by Chri&s;t</HI> a more perfect adhering to God; by <HI>Him</HI> they are confirm'd in good|ne&s;s, and freed from defection. The text
<PB N="82" REF="46">&s;aith they are <HI>reconcil'd</HI> by Chri&s;t, in that they are made friends with us on earth, with whom before they were at open enmity. For &s;eeing they have <HI>Idem velle &amp; Idem nolle</HI> with the Almighty, their will always concurring with his will, they cannot choo&s;e but love tho&s;e, on whom their <HI>Lord</HI> and <HI>Ma&s;ter</HI> &s;hall ca&s;t a gracious eye. Yea their love in this kinde is &s;o exce&s;&s;ive, that they will refu&s;e no Office, be it never &s;o mean, for them who are <HI>tran&s;lated out of the power of darkne&s;s into the kingdom of light.</HI> They will become their <HI>Nur&s;es,</HI> and <HI>carry them in their hands,</HI> P&s;al. 91. They will be their <HI>guard,</HI> and <HI>pitch their Tents about them,</HI> P&s;al. 24. So that of their protection we be &s;ure; but of their number, whether one, or more, it's que&s;tion'd by more than one. <HI>Jacob,</HI> Gen. 32. &s;aw a whole <HI>Ho&s;t</HI> of Angels environing him. The like did <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI>'s &s;ervant about the Prophet, 2 <HI>King.</HI> 6. Yet in the 10 of <HI>Daniel,</HI> the whole Kingdom of <HI>Per&s;ia</HI> had but one Angel-Guardian, <HI>Daniel</HI> 10. The ancient <HI>Fathers</HI> were of opinion, that or|dinarily one Angel is a&s;&s;ign'd to every one as his <HI>Cu&s;tos,</HI> and Tutor; but in extraordinary e|xigents, whole ho&s;ts of Angels are made A&s;&s;i|&s;tants to them, whom he hath reconcil'd to him&s;elf by the blood of his Sons Cro&s;s. But &s;eeing this my&s;tery is unreveal'd in the Scrip|tures, it &s;hall content us, that He, who makes his Angels <HI>Mini&s;tring Spirits,</HI> hath not onely broke down the partition-wal betwixt
<PB N="83" REF="46">heaven and earth, but hath given commi&s;&s;i|on to tho&s;e glorious Spirits, who are his own neer favourites, to wait on us, and to <HI>keep us in all our ways.</HI> And &s;o I am fall'n on my la&s;t part, <HI>the Means</HI> whereby this reconcili|ation is wrought, <HI>the blood of his cro&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>It is in vain to di&s;pute what God could have done; he was able by other means to &s;ave the world, for he might out of his ab&s;o|lute power not have puni&s;ht &s;in; the demon|&s;tration of his revenging ju&s;tice &s;pringing not from the nece&s;&s;ity of Gods Nature, but from his voluntary di&s;po&s;ition. Yet when once he determin'd that his Ju&s;tice &s;hould take revenge, if by breach of Covenant it be wrong'd, he could not &s;et us free from puni&s;hment, but &s;o as his injured ju&s;tice might be &s;atisfied. Hence it is that the Scrip|ture &s;o frequently affirms, It was meet and nece&s;&s;ary that Chri&s;t &s;hould be <HI>con&s;ecrated through &s;uffering;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24. Heb. 2.</NOTE> that <HI>He &s;hould &s;uffer, and &s;o enter into his glory.</HI> All the <HI>typical</HI> &s;acrifices prefigured this. The <HI>Pa&s;&s;over</HI> mu&s;t be kill'd, before <HI>I&s;rael</HI> could be delivered; &s;o Chri&s;t ought to be &s;lain, before we be reconciled. The blood of the &s;in-offering (what bea&s;t &s;oever it was) was to be poured out; &s;o the blood of Chri&s;t, the true &s;in-offering, was to be &s;hed; for <HI>without &s;hedding of blood, no reconciliation,</HI> Heb. 9.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tract. de diligen. Deo</NOTE> Well there|fore might Holy <HI>Bernard</HI> &s;ay, that our reno|vation co&s;t God more than our fir&s;t crea|tion. <HI>Semel, &amp; tant&ugrave;m dicendo fecit; in
<PB N="84" REF="47">Reficiendo fecit multa, &amp; pertulit dura.</HI> In the fir&s;t, He breathed life into the Face of MAN; in the Second, he breath'd out his own life, to redeem that man. The world is &s;aid, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 83. to be made by Gods fingers; but the Redemption of man is &s;aid to be wrought by the <HI>Arm</HI> of God, as requiring more &s;trength. <HI>He hath &s;hewed &s;trength with his Arm,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.</NOTE> &s;aith the ble&s;&s;ed virgin: God cre|ated the whole univer&s;e with his bare word; <HI>He &s;pake the word, and they were made:</HI> But our renovation &s;pent many a word, many a deed, many a tear; yea, the <HI>heart-blood</HI> of his onely begotten Son. For though &s;in be &s;oon acted, and with delight; yet 'tis long in clean&s;ing, and full of pain. We may con|fe&s;s the truth there of in our own experience; we &s;ee it here in our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour. There were not two days, nor (as &s;ome conceiv'd) two hours wa&s;ted, in eating that Sugred Poy|&s;on, which diffu&s;ed its rancor throughout the whole outward and inward man, and brought a mo&s;t fearful death on all our Members. Thus ea&s;ily, thus &s;peedily de&s;troyed; but we could not be re&s;tored to life again without uncon|ceivable torment, without Chri&s;ts <HI>Blood,</HI> and that gu&s;hing and &s;treaming from every part of his Sacred Body. So that it may be true|ly &s;aid, <HI>Copio&s;a apud Eum Redemptio,</HI> our Re|demption by Chri&s;t is plentiful, and made compleat by the &s;hedding his blood upon the <HI>cro&s;s</HI> even to death.</P>
<P>Hereupon, becau&s;e the <HI>cro&s;s</HI> was the In|&s;trument
<PB N="85" REF="47">of mans Redemption, the <HI>Altar</HI> of that great Sacrifice, and the <HI>Ladder</HI> by which Chri&s;t a&s;cended into Heaven; the <HI>Primitive</HI> Church held it in high e&s;timation, u&s;ing the formal or tran&s;ient &s;ign on the fore-head, as a badge of their profe&s;&s;ion; thereby te&s;tifying their faith, and manife&s;t|ing to the <HI>Heathen</HI> that they were not a|&s;hamed of their crucified God. Upon this ground was erected in their publique places, the permanent and material Cro&s;s, to &s;erve for a <HI>Trophe</HI> and monument of the exaltati|on of Him that dyed for our Salvation on the Cro&s;s.</P>
<P>Your very <HI>En&s;igns,</HI> your flagges and Co|lours in the camp, what are they but cro&s;&s;es wrought with Gold and Silk? we behold the &s;ign of the Cro&s;s naturally formed in a <HI>Ship,</HI> when &s;he is born with &s;welling Sailes, and rides with her Yards out-&s;tretched: when a man, &s;preading his arms, adores <HI>God</HI> with pure devotion, the &s;ign of the <HI>cro&s;s</HI> is there al&s;o. So that on this &s;ign natural Rea&s;on doth build, and Religion ca&s;ts no neg|lect on it. Yet this caution is to be ob|&s;erved, that we attribute no Divine wor&s;hip to the Cro&s;s, nor repo&s;e any hope of Salva|tion in the bare &s;ign, but as Saint <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> &s;ayes of <HI>Helen,</HI> We adore the King of Hea|ven, and not the wooden Cro&s;s. It &s;hould be our care to &s;ee that the cro&s;s of Chri&s;t be not made of no effect; for if he dyed there|on to breake down the <HI>Partition-wal,</HI> and to
<PB N="86" REF="48">&s;lay hatred; &s;hall enmity and di&s;cord live when he is dead? Shall he be Nailed, and &s;hall not our vile affections be Nailed down with him? If God be <HI>&s;low to Anger,</HI> and <HI>&s;wift to Mercy,</HI> you ought to be <HI>perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.</HI> We are members of one and the &s;ame Body, where|of Chri&s;t is the Head; we mu&s;t therefore be &s;o affected each to other, as we &s;ee the members are: They envy not one ano|ther, but communicate each with other; they are &s;o far from retaliating, that if one foot &s;trike the other, it will not &s;trike again, but bear the infirmity with no le&s;s affection then before. Let us remember Him, who hath thus remembred us, as not to &s;pare his own <HI>Blood</HI> to reconcile us. And &s;eeing He alone is the way for us to walke, the truth to direct us, the life to refre&s;h us; we mu&s;t fly to him by Him, building our ne&s;ts in the clefts of the Rocke, in the wounds of his Body, that He may be an <HI>Antidote</HI> to us, who was wounded for us; that his <HI>Blood</HI> may not cry for vengeance, but for remi&s;&s;ion, and for <HI>reconciliation of all things to him&s;elf, both of things in Heaven, and things on Earth:</HI> Which God of his infinite mercy grant, through the &s;ame Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Amen.</P>
<PB N="87" REF="48">
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<Q><BIBL>Luke 23. ver&s;. 42.</BIBL>
<P><HI>And he &s;aid to Je&s;us, Lord, remember me, when thou come&s;t into thy Kingdom.</HI></P></Q>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. VI.</NOTE> MY text is part of a Tragedy; the <HI>Scene,</HI> mount <HI>Calvary;</HI> the <HI>Action,</HI> crucifying; the <HI>Words,</HI> reviling; the <HI>Applau&s;es,</HI> Tears; the <HI>Cata&s;trophe,</HI> or end of all, <HI>Je&s;us of Nazareth</HI> hanging on the Cro&s;s between two theeves. One of them with a tongue <HI>&s;et on fire from hell,</HI> belcheth out his bla&s;phemy, <HI>If thou be Chri&s;t, the Son of God,</HI> &s;ent from the Father to &s;ave man|kind, then <HI>&s;ave thy &s;elf, and us.</HI> The other had his tongue and his heart, his outward and inward man, <HI>Baptized</HI> with the Holy Cho&s;t, and his own Blood; and therefore, as if he had been ravi&s;h'd into Paradi&s;e, and there bare a part in that Cele&s;tial har|mony, <HI>(Thou art the King of Glory O Chri&s;t, thou art the everla&s;ting Son of God)</HI> with Ad|miration of Soul, and in the language of the Saints, thus be&s;ought his Heavenly Maje&s;ty, <HI>Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.</HI></P>
<P>In which Pithy and pious <HI>Ejaculation,</HI> may it plea&s;e you fir&s;t to take notice of this <HI>Petitioner,</HI> and then of his <HI>Petition.</HI> The <HI>Petitioner</HI> is brought in masked under the
<PB N="88" REF="49">veile of an Indefinite Pronoune, <HI>He.</HI> The per&s;on to whom he commenceth his &s;uit, is directly expre&s;s'd to be <HI>Ie&s;us: [He &s;aid to Ie&s;us.]</HI></P>
<P>In the Petition, you have <HI>his confe&s;&s;ion.</HI> Fir&s;t, he gives witne&s;s to Chri&s;ts <HI>Deity,</HI> in this Compellation, <HI>Lord.</HI> Secondly, He ac|knowledgeth Chri&s;ts <HI>regal Soveraignty,</HI> in at|tributing to him a <HI>Kingdom:</HI> and La&s;tly, he believes his own Souls glorious <HI>Immortality,</HI> in that he &s;eeks to be remembred when Chri&s;t <HI>came</HI> into his Kingdom. I will begin with the Petitioner; <HI>And He &s;aid.</HI></P>
<P>I may not be &s;o forgetful of your patience, and the time, as to wa&s;t any of it in making a bu&s;ie enquiry, and as it were a <HI>Hue</HI> and <HI>Cry</HI> after this per&s;on: Let it &s;uffice, my E|vangeli&s;t tells you in general, he was <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>a Malefactor:</HI> St. <HI>Matthew</HI> and the other, &s;tile him more particularly <GAP DESC="foreign">, a <HI>thief,</HI> a common Robber, one that did oft provoke heaven; and yet He &s;aid to Je&s;us, <HI>Lord, remember me.</HI> He was now but re|turned from his many outrages by the high-way, and yet he dared to &s;et afre&s;h on him, who was the <HI>High-way</HI> it &s;elf. He had &s;carce wip'd his mouth, or wa&s;h'd his hands from his late impieties; and yet here, by a new and &s;trange kind of robbery, he is not afraid to &s;teale <HI>Eternity.</HI> It may well be &s;aid, that <HI>Heaven is gotten by Violence,</HI> when <HI>theeves break through, and &s;teal</HI> it. I am much taken up with admiration, when I reflect upon the
<PB N="89" REF="49"><HI>quality</HI> of this per&s;on: for what is more wor|thy of wonder and a&s;toni&s;hment, then that a <HI>thief</HI> &s;hould have a better knowledge of Chri&s;t upon the Cro&s;s, than his di&s;ciple had when he &s;ate vvith him at Supper? That a <HI>thief</HI> &s;hould have a more eminent degree of faith, than the Patriarch <HI>Abraham,</HI> the Fa|ther of the faithful, than <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> than the Evangelical Prophet <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> than his ovvn <HI>Apo&s;tles,</HI> to vvhom it vvas given by the grace of Di&s;pen&s;ation to knovv Chri&s;t, and the My&s;teries of his Kingdom?</P>
<P><HI>Abraham believed in the Lord,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 12.1.</NOTE> but it vvas vvhen he vvas &s;o much honoured as to have God him&s;elf to be his ovvn Me&s;&s;enger,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.4.</NOTE> and to parley vvith him from Heaven. <HI>Mo&s;es believed in the Lord;</HI> but it vvas vvhen he appeared to him in the mid&s;t of a fiery bu&s;h vvonderfully. <HI>The Apo&s;tles believed in the Lord;</HI> but they vvere eye-vvitne&s;&s;es hovv his miracles <HI>po&s;ed</HI> nature, and that all the Creatures did homage to him as to their Creator. The&s;e vvere <HI>ea&s;ie taskes</HI> of faith: But this <HI>Petitioner</HI> believed in the Lord, vvhen vvhich vvay &s;oever he looked about him, his eyes could not meet vvith any thing but horror and mi&s;ery. He doth not &s;uppli|cate to <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> &s;itting at the right hand of his <HI>Father;</HI> So he is crovvned vvith Maje&s;ty: nor unto <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> judging the quick and the dead; So He is attended vvith <HI>Angels,</HI> and Archangels: but vvhen he &s;avv his &s;ide, hands and feet all bleeding, his face gha&s;tly;
<PB N="90" REF="50">his head drooping, and his <HI>Soul heavy to the death,</HI> even then he &s;aid to Je&s;us, <HI>Lord,</HI> as if he had been lifted upon the Cro&s;s to over|look Chri&s;ts deba&s;ements, and to make a &s;hew openly that his faith &s;hould out-vy his &s;en&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Lorinus</HI> upon the fir&s;t of the <HI>Acts,</HI> cites many who believed that this <HI>Malefactor,</HI> hanging on the right hand of our Saviour, had his body over&s;hadow'd with Chri&s;ts &s;ha|dow, &s;o that the virtue of this &s;hadow procu|red his conver&s;ion. As if the feeble glim|mering light, and weake beams which he &s;aw, made him gue&s;s at the glory which is above. But this mi&s;conceit is wide, and empty of truth, a &s;hadow without &s;ub&s;tance. For if Chri&s;t was crucified at the <HI>&s;ixth hour,</HI> as Saint <HI>Iohn</HI> relates, and from the &s;ixth hour to the ninth there was darkne&s;s over all the Earth, and Chri&s;t died at the ninth hour; how could this &s;inner receive any &s;hadow, when there appeared no light? 'Tis mo&s;t true, this extraordinary confe&s;&s;ion was prin|cipally caus'd by the powerful operation of Gods Spirit. <HI>The Spirit of the Lord &s;hall come upon him, and he &s;hall be turned into another man.</HI> It was &s;poken of <HI>Saul,</HI> who had a <HI>fla&s;h</HI> of the Spirit pa&s;&s;ing by him.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 10.6.</NOTE> Give me a man whom the Spirit of God throughly Sanctifies, he &s;hall feele in him&s;elf &s;trange alterations, his &s;pirit renewed, his will reformed, his whole Body and Soul transformed into the Image of Chri&s;t. Looke upon the Apo&s;tles;
<PB N="91" REF="50"><HI>Ideots,</HI> and become Learned; <HI>Ignorant,</HI> and &s;peake with all tongues; <HI>Fugitives,</HI> and turn Martyrs; deny him, and per&s;ecute him, and yet gloriou&s;ly dye for him. Wherefore it becomes not us to pronounce condemna|tion upon any man; for whiles he So journes here, he is recoverable by future amend|ment. How know we whether God will temper him anew, and &s;tamp him into good|ne&s;s? A wa&s;tful childe may be call'd home, and unlive his mi&s;pent youth; the <HI>Day-&s;tar may ari&s;e in his heart,</HI> who now <HI>walkes in darkne&s;s,</HI> the Devils maske. <HI>Cinis fit vitrum;</HI> out of the dusky a&s;hes may be made bright Gla&s;s; he that is a <HI>wilde Olive</HI> to day, to mo|row may be grafted into a better &s;tock:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 7.</NOTE> <HI>Aa|rons</HI> Rod, though changed into a Serpent, was turned again into a Rod bearing blo&s;|&s;oms and fruit. Our ra&s;h falls may prove profitable, and make us more &s;afe from fal|ling. God can take occa&s;ion to magnifie his glory from our &s;ins, as well as from our In|nocence. I hope I &s;hall not offend to &s;ay, If the putrifi'd Sores of &s;in had not &s;melled ranke in <HI>Davids</HI> No&s;trils, the <HI>Church</HI> had wanted many of his P&s;alms. <HI>Mary Mag|dalen</HI> had never loved <HI>&s;o much,</HI> if her pardo|ned &s;ins had not been <HI>&s;o many.</HI></P>
<P>I tru&s;t there's none will &s;o lo&s;e him&s;elf, as to imagine that I propound this <HI>Pattern</HI> to encourage vice. This were to make me a <HI>Factor</HI> for Satan, who&s;e Chief bait is to en|tangle and beguile our Souls, by the train
<PB N="92" REF="51">and flouri&s;h of example. He will &s;ugge&s;t that <HI>Abraham</HI> was an Idolater, <HI>Paul</HI> a per&s;e|cutor; <HI>Mary Magdalen</HI> a Courti&s;an; and <HI>Semel in&s;anivimus omnes;</HI> the <HI>ju&s;t man falls &s;e|ven times a day,</HI> and yet he will ri&s;e again. For by this Sophi&s;m he backs the licentious Li|bertine, who litle &s;u&s;pecting in &s;o fair a &s;em|blance a treacherous <HI>Simon</HI> that &s;hould gull him, &s;ings a <HI>Requiem</HI> to his Soul, the Devil bearing him in hand he may at his plea&s;ure give the hand of parting to all tho&s;e inordi|nate <HI>Superfluities of naughtine&s;s,</HI> wherein he now embaths him&s;elf, and that at the la&s;t. Ga&s;p, a <HI>Lord remember me</HI> will &s;natch at Chri&s;t, and make him his own. Thus being blinded with &s;en&s;uality, while his &s;oul cleaves to the mid&s;t of his mirth, his unwelcome end &s;teales unlooked for; he's &s;uck'd into the gulf, and in a moment goes down into the pit. To prevent which de&s;truction, Saint <HI>Bernard</HI>'s rule is to be applyed to our hearts, <HI>Infidelis e&s;t fiducia, quando in &s;pe peccamus;</HI> it is not faith, but pre&s;umption, when we continue &s;inning with a conceit of impunity or pardon. The truth of this Converts hum|ble acknowledgment, and hearty confe&s;&s;ion, mu&s;t be evidenced, before we can partake of his joyes in Chri&s;ts Kingdom. And &s;o from the porch, or entrance of the Text, let's go in, and behold the beauty and glory therein contained. <HI>And He &s;aid to Ie&s;us, Lord.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Ie&s;us</HI> is the name of his per&s;on, the name brought from Heaven, the name wherein He
<PB N="93" REF="51">vvas promi&s;ed, and &s;o long expected on the earth, that the <HI>Iews</HI> might hear, and their ears might tingle: <HI>Him, whom you have &s;lain, and crucified, this Ie&s;us is the Lord.</HI> Now as <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> is the name of pity, and that wins us to love him; &s;o <HI>Lord</HI> is the attribute of Maje&s;ty, and that moves us to fear him. Fir&s;t, <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> and then <HI>Lord:</HI> for if we are not confident of his mercy, how &s;hall we tremble to approach his glory? 'Tis true, what St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Coe|lum non e&s;&s;et coelum, ni&s;i ibi Ie&s;us e&s;&s;et;</HI> Heaven would be no heaven to us, had we not there a <HI>Ie&s;us:</HI> And 'tis as true, that <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> could not be a <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> vvere he not <HI>Dominus,</HI> a <HI>Lord.</HI> For vvithout the God-head, the Man-hood of Chri&s;t were not a &s;ufficient foundation of faith: the Divinity doth &s;upport, enable, and deliver the humanity. So that <HI>Optimus</HI> and <HI>Maximus, Je&s;us</HI> and <HI>Dominus, Mercy</HI> and <HI>Truth, hath Ki&s;&s;ed each other,</HI> and by a migh|ty <HI>hypo&s;tatical union,</HI> met in one per&s;on,</P>
<P>The name of <HI>Lord</HI> is a name of power; and therefore when God &s;aid, <HI>Exo.</HI> 6. <HI>I will bring you into the Land which I &s;wore I would give you;</HI> all the a&s;&s;urance which he made is, <HI>I am the Lord:</HI> Again, <HI>I will pa&s;s through Aegypt the &s;ame night;</HI> &s;till the <HI>fiat</HI> is, <HI>I am the Lord,</HI> Exo. 12. This occa&s;ioned <HI>Abulen&s;is</HI> to put a kinde of Divinity in the very name: <HI>non e&s;t &s;ignifi|cativum, &s;ed operativum;</HI> it doth not barely &s;ignifie, as other feeble expre&s;&s;ions do; it hath as it vvere a Soveraign povver engraven in it; it vvorketh, it effecteth: For by the name of the <HI>Lord,</HI> the very fal&s;e Prophets vvere
<PB N="94" REF="52">able to give &s;ight to the blind, feet to the Lame, and to expell Devils. <HI>Peter</HI> in the depth of his di&s;tre&s;s cries, <HI>Save Lord, or el&s;e I peri&s;h:</HI> As if the name of the <HI>Lord</HI> had been the &s;vveetne&s;s of his Soul, and the very health of his Bones. The general acclamati|on of the people is, <HI>Ho&s;anna, Ble&s;&s;ed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.</HI> So that <HI>Domi|nus,</HI> vvhen 'tis put ab&s;olutely, is of the &s;ame extent vvith <HI>Deus.</HI> Upon this ground, the <HI>Septuagint</HI> doth ever render the name <HI>Ieho|vah</HI> by <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Lord.</HI> And thus much &s;ome of the Heathen &s;eemed to conceive. For as <HI>Domitian</HI> vvas the fir&s;t Emperor that a&s;&s;u|med this high and avvful name <HI>Lord;</HI> &s;o <HI>Sue|tonius</HI> ob&s;erves, that he no &s;ooner &s;tiled him&s;elf <HI>Dominus,</HI> but he called him&s;elf <HI>Deus</HI> too; <HI>Dominus Deus no&s;ter Domitianus,</HI> our Lord God <HI>Domitian.</HI></P>
<P>Indeed <HI>Tertullian</HI> in his book <HI>Adver&s;us Hermogenem,</HI> curiou&s;ly di&s;tingui&s;heth be|tvvixt the name of <HI>God</HI> and <HI>Lord.</HI> The name of <HI>God,</HI> &s;aith he, being <HI>Nomen</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, an ab|&s;olute, e&s;&s;ential Name, attributed to him in regard of his being, vvas alvvaies immanent in him&s;elf, before there vvas either time, or any creature. But the name Lord being <HI>No|men pote&s;tatis,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ni&s;i ex quo e&s;&s;e cae|perunt in quo pote&s;tas domini age|rt.</NOTE> a name of povver vvith relati|on to his creatures, could not be applyed to him untill he had actually produced tho&s;e tran&s;itive and forraign vvorks, vvherein his povver vvas to be exerci&s;ed. Which a&s;&s;erti|on hath text for it; for if you look into
<PB N="95" REF="52"><HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> you &s;hall finde that <HI>Dominus,</HI> Lord, is no vvhere &s;et dovvn before all the Works of Creation vvere particularly effected. Hence it is, <HI>Dixit Deus, God &s;aid, Let there be light, and there was light. Vidit Deus, God &s;aw the light that it was good. Fecit Deus, God made the Great light to rule the Day,</HI> &amp;c. But vvhen the Creation vvas perfected, then, and not before, <HI>Dominus Deus dixit:</HI> The Lord God &s;aid: And the <HI>Lord God took the Man, whom he had made:</HI> And <HI>the Lord God commanded.</HI> But vvith &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to that Learned <HI>Father,</HI> I cannot vvell yield, that therefore Chri&s;t ought not to be &s;tiled <HI>Lord</HI> from all times, becau&s;e the Creatures, in re|&s;pect of vvhom this appellation <HI>Lord</HI> per|taineth to him, vvere made in time. For al|though tho&s;e things vvhereof he is Lord, vvere not from all Eternity; yet he had the <HI>Right</HI> of Authority over them, even before the Foundation of the vvorld vvas Laid; and he is <HI>Lord</HI> from all Eternity, even of all things; from vvhom, and by vvhom, other Lords have their being. But mo&s;t pregnant it is for our purpo&s;e, that this Name <HI>Lord,</HI> vvhether it vvere given before all times, or in time, is a Name of infinite power, and tran&s;tendent Soveraignity; and therefore by it is decyphered Chri&s;ts <HI>Deity.</HI> He vvas no temporal Lord; vvhere vvas his Dominion? Novv vvas that Prophe&s;ie fulfilled, <HI>A worme and no man.</HI> He vvas trod upon by the <HI>reca|citrating,</HI> contradicting <HI>Iews;</HI> and yet re|torted
<PB N="96" REF="53">nothing, but <HI>Pater igno&s;ce: Father, for|give them.</HI> Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;hall end the contro|ver&s;ie, who 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2. makes it a marke whereby all Chri&s;tians are de&s;cribed, They are &s;uch as <HI>call on the Name of the Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> In the 42 of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> the ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Tri|nity</HI> &s;eems to be jealous of this Name; I <HI>am the Lord</HI> (&s;o runs the Proclamation) <HI>this is my Name, and I will not give it to any o|ther.</HI> I confe&s;s that his <HI>Vicegerents,</HI> as he &s;uffreth them to &s;hare with him in his highe&s;t title, &s;o have they &s;ome re&s;emblance of this Chief prerogative. For they al&s;o, out of the &s;lime of the Earth, and from the dunghil, can rai&s;e an ignoble <HI>vapor,</HI> and place it in the highe&s;t region of power and Authority; and if their heat be &s;tirred up again&s;t it, yea but a little, they can again di&s;&s;olve it, and throw it down head-long, making the end wor&s;e then the beginning. But as they cannot make the ba&s;e&s;t thing in the world, &s;o can they not annihilate, or nul the lea&s;t particle they finde Created. And how&s;oever they &s;eeme to have power of life and death over their &s;ubjects; yet in as much as their hearts are in Gods hand, and He ruleth them as &s;eemeth be&s;t unto him, they can neither quicken whom God would have depre&s;&s;ed, nor depre&s;s any, whom God would have rai|&s;ed up. So that we may truely &s;ay, and &s;ing, <HI>Who is like to thee, O Lord?</HI> Glorious in thy Saints, admirable in thy Maje&s;ty, working wonders; among them all, there is none like to thee.</P>
<PB N="97" REF="53">
<P>But Chri&s;ts <HI>Deity</HI> is confe&s;&s;ed not onely by this compellation <HI>Lord,</HI> but partly by the nature of his reque&s;t. And &s;o I proceed from the circum&s;tance of the <HI>per&s;on,</HI> to the <HI>Mat|ter</HI> of his Petition, <HI>Remember me.</HI></P>
<P>What a &s;udden familiarity is here with God!
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Spes bont et con&s;identia plus valent quam medi|cina.</NOTE> I have read ('tis <HI>Galen's</HI> ob&s;ervation) that a good conceit, and &s;trong confidence, oft-times proves more <HI>Soveraign</HI> then the phy&s;ick. And therefore they who write of that renowned Macedonian <HI>Alexander,</HI> do more wonder, <HI>qu&ograve;d au&s;us e&s;t aggredi, qu&agrave;m qu&ograve;d vicit;</HI> at his great attempts, then at his happy Conque&s;ts: Grant his courage, and you will yield him Victorious. So my thoughts are more amazed at the boldne&s;s of his Petition, then at its good &s;ucce&s;s.</P>
<P><HI>Lord, remember me:</HI> What &s;hall the Lord remember, if he remembreth thee? &s;hall he remember how thy Soul is foul with rapine, yea bloody with murther? &s;hall he remember how thou &s;old&s;t him to death by thy &s;ins? The&s;e cry as high as heaven, and &s;o mu&s;t pre&s;s thee as low as hell. Take a view of thy whole life, and thy guilty &s;oul will cry out, <HI>Lord,</HI> let not the remembrance of me be revived, but rather, let me be folded up in the darkne&s;s of oblivion. For among other puni&s;hments of &s;in, this is not the lea&s;t; it makes Gods pre&s;ence terrible to us. Indeed <HI>Adam</HI> in the &s;tate of Innocence had &s;uch a <HI>Paradi&s;e,</HI> that he walked with God without fear, but being galled with &s;in, he runs up and
<PB N="98" REF="54">down like a <HI>Hart</HI> with an arrow in his &s;ide. So <HI>Peter, Luke</HI> 5. crys out, <HI>Depart from me Lord, for I am a &s;inful man.</HI> The &s;ight of his &s;ins made him fear, le&s;t if he &s;hould be &s;o near Chri&s;t, he &s;hould awake him to revenge. But this <HI>Petitioner</HI> feels him&s;elf mo&s;t mi&s;era|ble, and yet he will remit nothing of the height of his thoughts; he tru&s;ts God as om|nipotent, and mo&s;t merciful, and &s;o lets him take the charge of the &s;ucce&s;s; He holds his conclu&s;ion, in &s;pight of all premi&s;es; and looks into heaven through helli&s;h pains.</P>
<P>Such is the nature of true Sons of <HI>Abra|ham,</HI> they con&s;ider not their own unworthy|ne&s;s &s;o much as Chri&s;ts boundle&s;s mercies, which a&s;&s;ure them he never &s;o <HI>Shuts up his loving kindne&s;s in di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> but at any time they who hunger and thir&s;t after remi&s;&s;ion, may finde ea&s;e for their Souls. For our Lord and Saviour never de&s;troies any thing he made, without a kinde of pain and reluctan|cy; grieving as oft as he is forced to procure grief to any. How oft would he have ga|thered the ob&s;tinate <HI>Iews,</HI> and covered them under his Wings! and when they <HI>would not</HI> come in, how did their di&s;obedience com|pel him to &s;catter them? He is &s;low to anger, and &s;wift to mercy: <HI>Fingens pla&s;mata, ante|quam faciens vulnera,</HI> as <HI>Evagrius</HI> &s;weetly &s;peakes; providing the remedy before he inflicts the wound. So that the petition is the &s;ame, which the Prophet makes, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 23. <HI>Remember thy tender mercies, O Lord, and
<PB N="99" REF="54">thy loving kindne&s;s; remember not the &s;ins of my youth, but according to thy mercy remem|ber me for thy goodne&s;s &s;ake, O Lord.</HI> Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> rightly catechi&s;eth, <HI>In Dominum non cadit oblivie;</HI> &s;uch a &s;lippery incon&s;tancy as forgetfulne&s;s cannot be a&s;cribed to God. <HI>Aquinas</HI> puts it <HI>Inter actus Deo inconvenien|tes,</HI> among tho&s;e acts which are incompatible with a Deity. Yet as the ju&s;t be had in his perpetual remembrance, &s;o God is &s;aid, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 10. to <HI>forget the wicked.</HI> But this forgetting is <HI>effectus Irae, non defectus memoriae;</HI> a note of puni&s;hing, not of his not remembring. The &s;um then is, <HI>Memento mei</HI> is all one with <HI>N&egrave; excludas me.</HI> Let me not be condemned, O Lord, let me not wholly be excluded from thee: I have followed thee with thy <HI>Cro&s;s,</HI> let me follow thee with thy <HI>Palmes:</HI> I have pledged the bitter potion of thy Cup, and dranke of thy Vinegar and Gall; let thy mer|cy afford me &s;ome <HI>nem Wine</HI> with thee in thy Kingdom. And this is ob&s;ervable out of the very words: It is not <HI>Memento actionum mea|rum,</HI> but <HI>Memento Mei;</HI> he &s;aith not, Re|member my works, or regard my merits; but Remember my <HI>Per&s;on, remember Me.</HI></P>
<P>There's no condignity, or <HI>congruity</HI> of merit, an&s;werable to that precedent &s;in, which is put back by our Judge, that it go not before us to Judgement; nor to that pre&s;ent grace he di&s;tils upon us, nor to any of that future glory which God hath trea&s;u|red up in Chri&s;t for us: <HI>Dignatio e&s;t Chri&s;ti,
<PB N="100" REF="55">non dignitas Chri&s;tiani;</HI> Eternal life is one|ly the gift of that God, whom to know to be the onely true God is eternal life. Doth the wall <HI>parturire radium,</HI> bring forth the light, which it reflects? Doth the Conduit|pipe create that water it conveyes? No more can man, who is a tottering wall, an empty cloud, challenge God for tho&s;e graces, which flow from him to Man-kind. Holy <HI>Bernard</HI>'s &s;aying is mo&s;t orthodox: <HI>Sufficit ad meritum, &s;cire non &s;ufficere meritum;</HI> Our be&s;t Knowledge is to acknowledge our errors; and our faire&s;t righteou&s;ne&s;s, to confe&s;s we are altogether foul and unrighteous. For there is not any thing in our actions, which can make us acceptable to God; 'tis onely the acceptation of our <HI>Per&s;ons</HI> through <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> Chri&s;t. But where would this poor Soul be remembred? Not in this pre&s;ent life; he is weary of that, his thoughts &s;oare higher: It is <HI>Cum veneris in regnum tuum,</HI> when thou come&s;t <HI>into thy Kingdom.</HI></P>
<P>Had this faithful <HI>Confe&s;&s;or</HI> con&s;ulted with fle&s;h and blood, he would have been judged to <HI>rave,</HI> in a&s;cribing a kingdom to one &s;o wretchedly crucified. He &s;aw the skin of our Saviour <HI>Pearl'd</HI> with blood, his totter'd Body black and blew with &s;tripes and wounds: And are the&s;e Inducements to argue Chri&s;t a <HI>King?</HI> If a <HI>King,</HI> where's his Throne? where's his Scepter? Is the Cro&s;s his Throne? are the nailes his Scepter? The brain-&s;ick <HI>Iews,</HI> led onely with things vi&s;ible, could
<PB N="101" REF="55">not di&s;cern how a <HI>Man of &s;orrow</HI> could &s;et up a Kingdom of Glory, and therefore im|pudently deny <HI>Their</HI> Prophe&s;ies of <HI>Our</HI> Chri&s;t. But the veile is taken away from our eyes, the &s;tumbling-blocke is removed; and 'tis the hight of our Comfort, to confe&s;s it be&s;t becomes the Maje&s;ty of our Redeemer to manife&s;t his power rather by weakne&s;s than &s;trength, by ba&s;ene&s;s than glory. It more adorns his crown and dignity, to con|quer his Foes by &s;tripping him&s;elf of all worldly means, than by inve&s;ting him&s;elf with imperial force. Had he come with more &s;trength, the le&s;s had been his Victory; the more pompe he had exhibited, the le&s;s he had declared his God-head.</P>
<P>Yet they are not wanting, who publi&s;h abroad that the Apo&s;tles did not &s;in when they thought Chri&s;ts Kingdom &s;hould be temporal; So <HI>Salmeron</HI> affirmes:
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tom.</HI> 4. <HI>Tracd.</HI> 37. <HI>Lorin in</HI> 4. <HI>Act. Men|doz. in</HI> 1 <HI>K. c.</HI> 2.</NOTE> <HI>Franci&s;cus</HI> and <HI>Alphon&s;us Mendoza</HI> are of opinion, that Chri&s;t had Dominion, and the prerogative of a temporal King, mo&s;t truly and properly in each circum&s;tance. But I conceive they dimini&s;h the Lords honour, in going about thus to encrea&s;e it. For 'tis mo&s;t certain, that the Kingdom of <HI>David</HI> and <HI>Solomon,</HI> from whom they derive our Saviours pedi|gree, was utterly extinct and demoli&s;h'd in <HI>Jechoniah. Jer.</HI> 22. makes this clear: <HI>There &s;hall not be a man of his &s;eed, which &s;hall &s;it on the Throne of David, or bear rule any more in Iudah.</HI> So that the <HI>actuall</HI> exerci&s;e of this
<PB N="102" REF="56">temporal Dominion, is not to be a&s;cribed to him by the title of <HI>Succe&s;&s;ion,</HI> much le&s;s by that of <HI>Election.</HI> For in <HI>Ioh.</HI> 6. when they would have <HI>made him King,</HI> he <HI>withdrew him|&s;elf, and fled into the mountain:</HI> The Jews were &s;o far from giving their Vote and Suffrage, that they cryed, <HI>We have no King but Cae&s;ar.</HI> Lea&s;t of all was he to claime it by force of <HI>Arms,</HI> or dint of Sword. His &s;tile is <HI>Prin|cips pacis,</HI> the Prince of peace. And it was a pre&s;age of his Birth, that <HI>they &s;hould break their Swords into Mattocks, their Spears into Sythes;</HI> and him&s;elf deny'd his being king of this World. We acknowledge, <HI>regnavit Dominus,</HI> the Lord raigneth; <HI>at reg|navit &agrave; ligno,</HI> but he raigned from the tree. The Lords Anointed, Chri&s;t, the Redeemer, is <HI>Ruler,</HI> but his Government is upon <HI>his Shoulders:</HI> His Scepter is <HI>a Scepter of righte|ou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> his Throne on the Earth is in the hearts and con&s;ciences of the faithful, who have union with him here, and by him &s;hall have communion with the whole <HI>Trinity</HI> in <HI>&V;nity</HI> hereafter in the Heavenly Kingdom.</P>
<P>I could live and die in contemplation of this kingdom above, wherein we &s;hall &s;ee that we love, and love that we &s;ee; and love the more that we &s;ee. For the <HI>mea&s;ure</HI> of the ble&s;&s;ed &s;hall be <HI>Full, heaped up, &s;haken toge|ther, and running over.</HI> Running over in God, &s;haken together in man. It's true, &s;ome Glory in this Kingdom is given <HI>excel|lenter,</HI> as the <HI>Schoole</HI> &s;peakes, more to one
<PB N="103" REF="56">then to another; yet &s;hall nothing be <HI>Singu|lariter,</HI> more in any one that it not in another One &s;hall &s;o have the gift of glory le&s;&s;er then another, that he &s;hall al&s;o have this gift, not to covet any more Glory. For what can be more, then to have all the good that we will, and to will nothing that is not good?</P>
<P><HI>Con&s;ider this, you that forget God,</HI> and re|member your Redeemer: what though all of us be in this ca&s;e of the thie&s;e on the Cro&s;s? <HI>Nos quidem ju&s;te,</HI> we have de&s;erved death, even everla&s;ting death; yet having Chri&s;t, we may challenge all things, even heaven it &s;elf. For <HI>having given us his &s;on,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.32</NOTE> how can he deny us any thing?</HI> So rea&s;oneth the <HI>A|po&s;tle.</HI> Now that our &s;ouls may be &s;aved by our Intere&s;t we have in <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> let us conti|nually remember his Doctrine, which fore|warns us, that 'tis to no purpo&s;e though we &s;ay <HI>Lord, Lord, doubling,</HI> and <HI>trebling</HI> it too,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Math. 7.21.</NOTE> if we be not diligent to do him true &s;ervice,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pov. 23.26</NOTE> whom we &s;tile <HI>Lord. My Son, give me thy heart,</HI> cries the Spirit by the mouth of <HI>Solo|mon:</HI> for in the hearts of men is the Throne of Gods Kingdom; and except he raign in our hearts while we are in the Church Mi|litant, we &s;hall never raign with him in glo|ry in the Church triumphant. The old &s;ay|ing cannot be too oft repeated; The thief &s;aved on the Cro&s;s, was <HI>one,</HI> that none &s;hould de&s;pair; and 'twas <HI>but one,</HI> that no <HI>Licenti|ous</HI> liver &s;hould pre&s;ume.</P>
<P>Therefore O God, though we have robbed
<PB N="104" REF="57">thee of thy glory, yet remember to make thy &s;elf glorious in us, now thou art in thy Kingdom of Glory. The poor thief on the Cro&s;s craving thy remembrance when thou came&s;t into thy Kingdom, obtained thy in|fallible promi&s;e of taking him with thee into thy Kingdom.</P>
<P>Behold, now thou art in thy heavenly Kingdom, and we here on this earthly vale of mi&s;ery; we be&s;eech thee graciou&s;ly to re|member thy unworthy &s;ervants, and let our Souls in affection, and in our conver&s;ation, be now, and ever in heaven; that &s;o when thou &s;halt tran&s;late us hence to thy cele&s;tial Man&s;ions, with Angels, and all glorified Spi|rits, we may breake out into tho&s;e Songs of Joy, and voices of exultation: <HI>Glory, and Prai&s;e, and Honour, be to him that &s;its on the Throne, and to the Lamb, for evermore.</HI></P>
<P>Amen.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="105" REF="57">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Ephe&s;ians</HI> the 1. Beginning with the later part of the 19 <HI>ver&s;.</HI></BIBL>
<P>According to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Chri&s;t, when he rai&s;ed him from the dead, and &s;et him at his own right hand, in the Heavenly Places.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. VII.</NOTE>THe <HI>Act</HI> of the Re&s;urrection and A&s;|cen&s;ion of Chri&s;t, is the precedent and exemplary cau&s;e of our reviving. An <HI>Exemplary</HI> cau&s;e, not as if we are rai&s;ed to the &s;imilitude thereof; for Chri&s;t ro&s;e, but &s;aw no corruption in the grave: Our Bodies, or, if you will, our <HI>Carca&s;&s;es,</HI> &s;hall ri&s;e again; but the corruption of the fle&s;h, the rottenne&s;s of the Bones, the du&s;t and a&s;hes, or rather nothing, whereinto we mu&s;t be di&s;&s;olved, is incident to us all. Chri&s;ts ri&s;ing and a&s;cending are <HI>exemplary,</HI> becau&s;e ours hath its inchoation or beginning in His; nay it hath its perfection and con&s;um|mation in him, before it be begun in us. For the <HI>Apo&s;tle</HI> in the &s;econd chapter of this Epi&s;tle, and <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 6. is confident to affirm, that God <HI>hath</HI> already <HI>rai&s;ed us up with him,
<PB N="106" REF="58">and &s;et us in the highe&s;t Heavenly places.</HI> So that even now we have a <HI>&s;ure,</HI> though not a <HI>full</HI> po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that glory, which hereafter &s;hall be revealed. Again&s;t this principal hold of our belief, the cunning malice of <HI>Sa|tan</HI> hath rai&s;ed more perver&s;e <HI>oppo&s;ites</HI> then again&s;t all the re&s;t of the building. And therefore le&s;t fle&s;h and blood meeting with &s;o many difficulties and contrarieties, &s;hould &s;inke into de&s;pair, and tremble to fight under the Lords <HI>Banner,</HI> Saint <HI>Paul</HI> fa&s;tens upon the <HI>mighty power</HI> of God; and to make &s;ure the point, betakes him to his <HI>Orizons,</HI> from the &s;ixteenth <HI>ver&s;e,</HI> to this of my Text, to induce thereby a per&s;wa&s;ion, that the <HI>Almigh|ty</HI> works in tho&s;e which believe, with the &s;ame force and efficacy as he did work in <HI>Chri&s;t:</HI> So that if we be not rai&s;ed from the dead, <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is not ri&s;en; and if we &s;hall not be there where Chri&s;t &s;its at the right hand of his <HI>Father,</HI> 'tis not true that He &s;its, as it is expre&s;&s;ed. For he ro&s;e not for him&s;elf, but for us; He a&s;cended up on high, and led Captivity Captive, not for him&s;elf, but that he might be our <HI>High</HI> Prie&s;t, and make inter|ce&s;&s;ion for us in the Heavenly places. This is the &s;um and &s;cope of the whole <HI>ver&s;e:</HI> but that I may &s;peake no le&s;s fitly then truely, I re&s;train my Meditations to the later part, as to the <HI>Cardo</HI> or the <HI>Ba&s;is</HI> both of the time and Text. Wherein you have the <HI>Efficient</HI> cau&s;e, <HI>The mighty power of God:</HI> the declara|tion, or <HI>operation</HI> of this Power, in that it
<PB N="107" REF="58"><HI>worketh:</HI> the &s;ubject, or <HI>per&s;on</HI> in whom it wrought, <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> The <HI>manner</HI> of this work|ing; and that's twofold, de&s;cribed by a dou|ble Act, and both miraculous; <HI>When he rai|&s;ed him from the dead, and &s;et him at his own right hand.</HI> In the fir&s;t act, con&s;ider the e&s;tate from whence he was rai&s;ed; <HI>From the dead:</HI> In the &s;econd act, his Superemi|nent exaltation; and <HI>&s;et him at his own right Hand:</HI> and la&s;tly, the place of this exaltati|on, <HI>in the Heavenly places. According to the mighty working of his power,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>The verity of Gods promi&s;e, and his abili|ty in performance, are the principal <HI>Pillars</HI> which &s;upport and &s;u&s;tain a Chri&s;tians confi|dence: So that not without ju&s;t cau&s;e, after we have made confe&s;&s;ion in our <HI>Creede,</HI> that we believe in <HI>God,</HI> we adde in the next place, that he is <HI>Almighty;</HI> for if this ground be once &s;haken, neither Earth, nor Heaven, nor Men, nor Angels, can yeild us any hope, or life, or con&s;olation. <HI>Our Preaching is in vain, your faith vain, you are yet in your &s;ins, they which are a&s;leepe in Chri&s;t are peri&s;hed.</HI> Wherefore <HI>Abraham,</HI> to &s;hew his affiance in Gods mighty power, <HI>con&s;ider'd not his own body how it was dead, he regarded not the deadne&s;s of the womb of</HI> Sara: Nay, when the heavy mandate to &s;acrifice his onely Son <HI>I&s;aac</HI> did &s;eeme to contradict the promi&s;e, that in <HI>I|&s;aacs life</HI> all the <HI>Nations</HI> &s;hould be ble&s;&s;ed; yet the <HI>Patriarch,</HI> under hope, did believe above hope, <HI>quia Fidelis e&s;t qui promi&s;it,</HI> becau&s;e
<PB N="108" REF="59">Faithful is he that promi&s;ed, <HI>Heb.</HI> 10. and not onely &s;o, <HI>&s;ed quia potens e&s;t qui promi&s;it,</HI> be|cau&s;e He that promi&s;ed is able to do it, <HI>Rom.</HI> 4. Holy <HI>David</HI> is &s;o re&s;olute, that <HI>though he walk in the mid&s;t of the &s;hadow of death, he would fear no evil;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P&s;al.</HI> 23.4.</NOTE> and why? <HI>becau&s;e thou, even thou, who art Omnipotent, art with me.</HI> Hence is it that the glorious Martyrs of the Church regarded not the cruelty of <HI>Tyrants,</HI> the launcing of the Sword, the torture of the Rack, the &s;corching of the Fire, nor the lo&s;s of Life. They re&s;t on the mighty <HI>Power</HI> of God, not fearing what man can do. Why did not the fire con&s;ume tho&s;e three thru&s;t into the fiery Oven? was it not hot enough, or did it not burn, when the very Flames did licke up the Tormentors which put them in? Why did the Sea &s;o <HI>&s;py</HI> the Lord? why ran it back, as afraid, and became a wall to <HI>I&s;|rael,</HI> and yet ran together again to drown <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> and his whole Ho&s;t? Why did not the Lions in their Den rather &s;natch <HI>Daniel</HI> before he came to ground, then lie &s;till be|fore him as <HI>Lambs,</HI> &amp; not <HI>Lions?</HI> But this, that water may not wet, though it be a great Sea; fire may not burn, though it be a flamingfire; many Lions, many hungry Lions may not touch a &s;illy man, when the all-commanding power of God requires a &s;trict obedience.</P>
<P>In Logical and natural things, <HI>Ratio facit fidem,</HI> Rea&s;on cau&s;eth us to a&s;&s;ent and be|lieve: but in Divine and Supernatural, <HI>Fides facit Rationem,</HI> faith commands our Rea&s;on.
<PB N="109" REF="59">So that <HI>Credendum e&s;t,</HI> as <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;peakes, <HI>quia e&s;t incredibile;</HI> we mu&s;t believe, becau&s;e it &s;eems to us incredible, and not to be believ|ed: <HI>Ratio enim facti e&s;t Potentia Facientis;</HI> for in things of wonder, the rea&s;on of the work is the power of the Worker. In our con|templations of the ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Trinity,</HI> the feeble brain of man apprehends it as an impo&s;&s;ibi|lity, that there &s;hould be a <HI>Plurality</HI> of per|&s;ons, and yet no di&s;tinction of E&s;&s;ence; that there &s;hould be <GAP DESC="foreign">, but not <GAP DESC="foreign">. that the <HI>Father</HI> &s;hould be another <HI>Per|&s;on</HI> from the <HI>Son,</HI> and the Son another per&s;on from the Father; and yet both &s;o <HI>One,</HI> that they are the very <HI>Onene&s;s</HI> and Unity of nature. But Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> makes the <HI>Identity</HI> of &s;ub&s;tance an argument again&s;t <HI>Maximinus,</HI> an Arrian Bi&s;hop, to prove God to be Omni|potent: Otherwi&s;e, where is the Omnipo|tency of the Father, if he could not beget to him&s;elf &s;uch a Son as is <HI>Co&euml;&s;&s;ential</HI> with him? So that the a&s;&s;urance of this mighty power, is the Fortre&s;s of Gods truth. It is &s;trange to &s;en&s;e, that a <HI>Virgin</HI> cha&s;t &s;hould bring forth a Son; but not to be doubted, con&s;ide|ring the working of Gods mighty power. For He, which could make <HI>Aarons</HI> Rod to bud, and <HI>Sara</HI>'s womb to conceive, is able al&s;o to make a <HI>Virgin</HI> fruitful.</P>
<P>The Schoo&s;es di&s;tingni&s;h the Power of God into his <HI>ab&s;olute,</HI> and <HI>ordinary,</HI> or <HI>actu|al</HI> power. The <HI>ab&s;olute</HI> Power of God ex|tends it &s;elf beyond his will, even to things
<PB N="110" REF="60">infinite: For by it he could have made a &s;tone on the ground, a Star in the <HI>Skie:</HI> a <HI>Reptil,</HI> or &s;illy Worm of the Earth, a glori|ous Angel in the highe&s;t Heaven. But here, if ever any where, a Gnat may better &s;wim, then an oxe wade; a &s;imple Ignorance be|ing preferred before an indi&s;creet know|ledge. For it were but a pre&s;umptuous fol|ly to &s;earch the depth of tho&s;e Secrets, which are re&s;erved for the mo&s;t High. The <HI>actual</HI> power of God is limited, being of the Latitude and extent with his will. By it he can do nothing but that which out of his mo&s;t free purpo&s;e he determined, and did fore&s;ee He would do.</P>
<P>I do not love to enter into the&s;e high and &s;ecret My&s;teries: onely for the comfort of our Souls, and confirmation of our faith, give me leave to ob&s;erve <HI>In tran&s;itn,</HI> in the very pa&s;&s;age to my Text, that the goodne&s;s and power of God is &s;till manife&s;ted and di&s;cove|red to us, as it wrought <HI>in Chri&s;t: ACCOR|DING to the working of his mighty Power, which he wrought IN CHRIST.</HI></P>
<P>The Name of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is not the Name of <HI>God:</HI> He is the <HI>Anointer,</HI> Chri&s;t the <HI>Anoin|ted.</HI> Yea, the Name of God were a Name full of horror and terror unto us, were it not for the Name of Chri&s;t. <HI>Caelum non e&s;&s;et caelum, ni&s;i ihi e&s;&s;et Chri&s;tus Je&s;us.</HI> Heaven were not to us a heaven, had we not there an Anointed Saviour. For the benedictions of the Go&s;pel are fir&s;t directed and made to
<PB N="111" REF="60">Chri&s;t; and then by con&s;equent, to them who are in ingrafted into Chri&s;t. He is the <HI>Angel of the Covenant, in whom all the pro|mi&s;es are yea and Amen.</HI> Looke upon the ex|ternal or tran&s;ient works, and you &s;hall finde them openly proclaime and pronounce Gods Glory; but &s;o, as they were done <HI>in Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>The Heathen dreamed of &s;o many <HI>Guides</HI> of Nature, as they &s;aw there were kindes of things natural in the world. But to us there is one onely worker of All in All, alone to be adored and honoured by all for ever. The Creator made the whole world, not <HI>with hands,</HI> but by the <HI>word:</HI> The Scripture here|in is plain; <HI>All things were made BY HIM, both vi&s;ible and invi&s;ible.</HI> And that we may know the heavenly <HI>Arch</HI> which is erected over our heads would quickly loo&s;en and di&s;|&s;olve it &s;elf into a di&s;ordered and confu&s;ed <HI>Chaos,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 1.3.</NOTE> nay would be <HI>annihilated,</HI> and brought to nothing, did it not receive its &s;tability from Chri&s;t; the Apo&s;tle, in <HI>Col.</HI> 1.17. is mo&s;t emphatical, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>All things con&s;i&s;t in Him: Portans omnia</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>bear|ing up all things by his mighty Word.</HI> Heb. 1.3. Whereby 'tis clear, that the con&s;erva|tion of the world is for the &s;ake of <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> The whole Book of God puts us in minde how we had utterly di&s;abled our Nature to fulfill that <HI>Law,</HI> which was delivered as an In&s;tructer concerning the my&s;tical way to Salvation; and therefore our Soveraign good, which we de&s;ired naturally, mu&s;t now be at|tained
<PB N="112" REF="61">&s;upernaturally <HI>by Chri&s;t.</HI> When all the floodgates of Gods indignation &s;eemed to be &s;et open again&s;t us, our affliction and ca|lamity being as un&s;upportable as death; then it plea&s;ed his tender mercy to be led as a <HI>Sheep</HI> to the &s;laughter. Nay, He was the <HI>Pa&s;chal Lamb &s;lain before the beginning of the World,</HI> in his Fathers <HI>Secret</HI> decree; for his blood <HI>Prius profuit quam fuit,</HI> was ef|fectual before it was actual. I &s;hould want both breath and time, if I went about to de|&s;cribe unto you how mightily God wrought in <HI>Chri&s;ts Doctrine.</HI> At the fir&s;t it &s;eemed ab&s;urd, and contemptible, the <HI>Profe&s;&s;ors</HI> be|ing reputed the <HI>Off-&s;couring</HI> of the Earth; but at la&s;t, it forced their violent per&s;ecutors to become their humble <HI>Orators,</HI> and to re|que&s;t that of them, as an e&s;pecial favour, which before them&s;elves &s;corned to grant. Run over the <HI>Circle</HI> of Chri&s;ts life, and winde up the whole thred of it, you &s;hall behold every where the Povver of God as it vvrought <HI>in Chri&s;t;</HI> &s;ometimes in curing di&s;|ea&s;es, and anon in ca&s;ting out vvhole Legi|ons of Devils. To in&s;tance in one for all, Remember an <HI>Army</HI> of unvictualled people &s;ed and Satisfied in the Wilderne&s;s, vvith the <HI>Poor</HI> provi&s;ion of five Loaves and tvvo Fi&s;hes, <HI>Inter &s;ecantes dexteras crevit Ceres,</HI> as <HI>Prudentius</HI> elegantly &s;ings. A &s;trange, and new Creation! The bread and fi&s;hes encrea&s;e and multiply in the hands of the Eaters; the Fragments and remainders pro|ving
<PB N="113" REF="61">greater then the Fea&s;t. All the&s;e things, which the power of God wrought <HI>in Chri&s;t,</HI> are glorious, and full of wonder: but that the Sepulchre &s;hould yeild him up, and the clouds receive him; that his dead body &s;hould ri&s;e out of the lowe&s;t Grave, and a&s;cend to the highe&s;t Heaven, is a miracle of miracles, at which the <HI>Angels</HI> &s;tood amazed. And &s;o I come to the two &s;pecial Acts of Gods power, as it follows in the Text, <HI>When he rai&s;ed him from the dead, and &s;et him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places.</HI></P>
<P>Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection a&s;&s;ures us of the fruit of his A&s;cen&s;ion; it is the fir&s;t degree of his exaltation: and therefore fix your thoughts a while upon his ri&s;ing from the dead, it being the <HI>Praecur&s;or,</HI> and Forerun|ner to his Se&s;&s;ion at Gods right hand.</P>
<P>It was altogether requi&s;ite that our Savi|our &s;hould ri&s;e from the dead; for though our redemption was purcha&s;ed by his death; yet unle&s;s he had ro&s;e again to apply it, no benefit had redounded to us; for all that, we might have peri&s;hed. And indeed, we could never hope that any power was able to <HI>Marry</HI> again tho&s;e Souls and Bodies, be|tvvixt vvhich nature had pronounced an e|verla&s;ting Divorce, were it not that the A|po&s;tle hath made Chri&s;t our Head's ri&s;ing an undoubted evidence that all his dead Mem|bers &s;hall ri&s;e too. <HI>As in Adam all dyed, &s;o in Chri&s;t all &s;hall be made alive,</HI> 1 Cor. 15.22. <HI>The dead in Chri&s;t &s;hall ri&s;e,</HI> 1 The&s;. 4.10.
<PB N="114" REF="62">To magnifie the tran&s;cendent work of our Re&s;urrection, the Apo&s;tles, when they were confirmed in this main <HI>Article</HI> of faith, and had &s;eene how Chri&s;t had perfected the work of Redemption, did con&s;titute a new <HI>Sabbath, quia minus e&s;t cre&acirc;&s;&s;e, qu&agrave;m repar&acirc;&s;&s;e mundum;</HI> becau&s;e 'tis a le&s;s work to create a World out of nothing, then to renew a world when it is fall'n into that which is wor&s;e then nothing. I confe&s;s, there is not a leafe in the whole book of nature, wherein he that li&s;teth may not read &s;ufficient mo|tives to induce his a&s;&s;ent to this truth: <HI>Cur enim de hominibus diffiditur, quod fieri in lignis videtur?</HI> For &s;eeing 'tis yearly done in the gra&s;s of the field, in the Corn that is &s;own, in the &s;eed of the trees, and vvood vvhich grovveth; vvhy &s;hould vve di&s;tru&s;t, or once doubt the like of men? Of all the &s;igns and <HI>Types</HI> of Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection, that of <HI>Jonas</HI> is the mo&s;t lively figure: <HI>De|voravit, po&s;&s;edit, ejecit;</HI> the <HI>Whale</HI> &s;vval|lovved him, retained him, and ca&s;t him out again. So vvas the <HI>Son</HI> of Man in the heart of the Earth, and the third day he aro&s;e again. To &s;ilence all cavils concerning ri|&s;ing in the &s;ame <HI>Individual,</HI> numerical body, Chri&s;ts body in the Grave is kept free from all putrifying alterations; there vvas no need to recollect any di&s;per&s;ed matter; his body &s;hifts not its &s;hape into various and un|&s;earchable changes, but the <HI>tru&s;ty</HI> Earth re|turns it again in the very &s;ame &s;hape it vvas
<PB N="115" REF="62">commended to her tru&s;t. And to &s;atisfie all doubt, he is zealous to a&s;&s;ure their eyes and hands: <HI>Behold my Hands and my Feet,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.39</NOTE> 'tis I my &s;elf; Handle, and See; a Spirit hath not fle&s;h and bones, as you &s;ee me have.</HI> This is it, vvhich makes Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ay,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 14.</NOTE> <HI>He was DE|CLARED to be the Son of God, by the re&s;urrection from the dead;</HI> So evidently de|clared, that there is not a <HI>Didymus,</HI> vvhich knovvs it, but mu&s;t cry out, <HI>My God, and my Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Neither is it any diminution of Chri&s;ts Glory, in that 'tis &s;aid the Povver of God rai&s;ed him; For God here is not to be taken <HI>Per&s;onally,</HI> but <HI>E&s;&s;entially.</HI> Saint <HI>Au&s;tens</HI> rule of the <HI>Trinity</HI> pa&s;&s;eth for good and cur|rant; <HI>&V;bi unus, ibi Trinitas, Deus unus;</HI> where One is, All are. The Father doth all things, <HI>by</HI> the Son, <HI>in</HI> the Holy Gho&s;t. The Son is no le&s;s Omnipotent then the Father: For though he hath both E&s;&s;ence and povver from the Father; yet as his E&s;&s;ence is natural to him, in regard he hath it by generation; &s;o is his Povver natural al&s;o: and therefore <HI>Hilary's</HI> form of &s;peech is, The Son doth all things, and is mighty, not <HI>of him&s;elf</HI> indeed, but <HI>by him&s;elf: What&s;oever the Father doth,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the very &s;ame the Son doth,</HI> Joh. 5. He had <HI>power to lay down his own life, &s;o he had power to take it up again.</HI> This made him tell the <HI>Iews,</HI> that though they de&s;troyed the temple of his Bo|dy, yet in three days he vvould build it up again: And not long after, He rai&s;ed it to
<PB N="116" REF="63">&s;uch a hight, that it did not onely touch, but &s;it in the highe&s;t Heaven, even at the right hand of God, vvhich is the <GAP DESC="foreign"> and Supere|minent degree of Gods Povver, vvhich He vvrought in Chri&s;t, vvhen he rai&s;ed him from the dead, <HI>and &s;et Him at his own right hand.</HI></P>
<P><HI>To Sit,</HI> is a &s;ign of tranquillity: the <HI>right</HI> hand, as it is a Name of dexterity, &s;o it is of dignity. The right hand <HI>of God</HI> is a Name of Povver and Maje&s;ty; the <HI>Heavenly Places,</HI> are the chief City of the great King of Glo|ry. It is then a happy Re&s;urrection &s;o to be rai&s;ed, a ble&s;&s;ed Se&s;&s;ion &s;o to be placed. <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> vvhile He So journed on the Earth, vvas &s;till in motion; he <HI>had not whereon to re&s;t his head;</HI> and vvas it not good rea&s;on, that having ended this trouble&s;ome Pilgri|mage, he &s;hould novv &s;it dovvn, and have a <HI>Quietus e&s;t</HI> in his ovvn home? The holy Spirit it is &s;tiled the <HI>Finger of God;</HI> Chri&s;t, the <HI>hand</HI> of God: And yet vvhile he vvas conver&s;ant among Men, He di&s;robed him&s;elf of all honour, being e&s;teemed an <HI>out-ca&s;t</HI> of the people. But being rai&s;ed in triumph, and having made his enemies his Foot-&s;toole, he vvill novv be <HI>Glorified with that Glory, which he had with his Father from the begin|ning of the World.</HI> He vvill novv keep his re&s;idence in Gods <HI>Pre&s;ence Chamber,</HI> in the Heaven of ble&s;&s;ed Angels and Spirits, to vvhom the Almighty reveals him&s;elf in the abundance of his Glory. I &s;hould <HI>ill hu&s;|band</HI>
<PB N="117" REF="63">my time, and much tre&s;pa&s;s upon your patience, if I went about to prove how the right or left hand being parts, and that mate|rial, cannot properly be attributed to the pure and &s;imple E&s;&s;ence of God: Sufficient it is for our purpo&s;e, that this &s;itting at the right hand of God, is con&s;trued in <HI>Heb.</HI> 1.3. by &s;itting at <HI>the right hand of the Throne of Maje&s;ty.</HI> In 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 15. in&s;tead of <GAP DESC="foreign">, the <HI>Apo&s;tle</HI> u&s;eth the word <GAP DESC="foreign">, he mu&s;t <HI>Raign.</HI> In <HI>Luk.</HI> 22. it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, the right hand of <HI>Power.</HI> To go no further then my Text, &s;o &s;oon as 'tis &s;aid, <HI>And &s;et him at the righ hand of God in Heavenly places;</HI> he pre&s;ently adjoyns, by way of explication, <HI>Far above all Principalities, and Powers, and Might.</HI> This occa&s;ioned <HI>Aquinas</HI> to ob|&s;erve, that the &s;itting of Chri&s;t at the right of God, con&s;i&s;teth in three things: In his <HI>Eminency</HI> of heaven, who&s;e glory he doth enjoy; in his <HI>Pre-eminence</HI> of the Angels, whom he excels in Dignity; and with his <HI>Co|emenincy</HI> with the Father, with whom He is equal in Maje&s;ty. But whether this imperi|all power over the creature, this advance|ment to the Throne of God, this communica|tion of the Divine attributes, be the right or claim of Chri&s;t as he is <HI>God,</HI> or as he is <HI>Man,</HI> or as he is both <HI>God and Man,</HI> the fury of controver&s;ie, wherewith the Text Laboureth, commands me now to en|quire.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t, as he was the <HI>Word,</HI> had <HI>Equality</HI>
<PB N="118" REF="64">of Dominion with the Father from all eter|nity; but as he was the <HI>Word Incarnate,</HI> or manife&s;ted in the fle&s;h, this prerogative of fitting at the right hand of God was a <HI>Con|&s;equent</HI> of his A&s;cen&s;ion. It cannot be de|ny'd, being <HI>Hair of all things,</HI> it was meet he &s;hould be before all, who are but parts of his Inheritance; and &s;eeing he was inve&s;ted with the exuberance and excellency of en|dowments more then any other, it was re|qui&s;ite he &s;hould have the fir&s;t place before all other: From the <HI>In&s;tant</HI> of his concepti|on, his Soul, as the <HI>Schoole</HI> teacheth, enjoy|ed the ble&s;&s;ed Vi&s;ion; but while God was cloath'd with the veile of fle&s;h, and compa&s;|&s;ed with the &s;hadow of death, <HI>quievit Dei|tas,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Irenaeus,</HI> the Deity lay hid, and would not di&s;cover its whole virtue; and &s;o by a voluntary <HI>minoration,</HI> and <HI>exinanition</HI> of him&s;elf, he &s;eque&s;tred and laid a&s;ide his right of Precedency and Soveraignty. But &s;o &s;oone as He a&s;cended, the <HI>God-head</HI> openly di&s;per&s;ed its Beams, and &s;hin'd clearly in the <HI>Man-hood,</HI> exalting it above all things created, and dignifying it with as much Ma|je&s;ty and Honour as po&s;&s;ibly it could con|tain. The Apo&s;tle goes further; for in 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3. he dares to tell us, that <HI>God</HI> is <HI>re|ceived up into glory.</HI> And indeed, to &s;peake properly, Chri&s;t, as he was the <HI>Word,</HI> had his Omnipotent Power in him&s;elf: during the time of mortality, as it were <HI>a Sword in a &s;heath,</HI> he could not draw it out at the Com|mandment
<PB N="119" REF="64">of the fle&s;h, but then onely when it plea&s;ed the Father. For we read, that in &s;ome places <HI>He could not do many miracles.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 11.</NOTE> At the rai&s;ing up of <HI>Lazarns,</HI> he was glad to pray to his Father that he might exerci&s;e his Authority over death. Being ready to &s;uffer, and &s;o al&s;o to ri&s;e again, his Prayer was, <HI>Father, glorifie me with that Glory which I had with thee from the beginning of the world.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 17.5.</NOTE> He pray'd not this as <HI>bare Man;</HI> for he had not really that glory which he de&s;ir'd, from the beginning of the world, as he was <HI>Man;</HI> but as the natural <HI>Son</HI> of God. And he di&s;|po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed him&s;elf of the &s;ame, not as he was Man, but as he was the <HI>Son,</HI> being in the <HI>Form</HI> of God. We may therefore &s;afely rea&s;&s;ume that &s;aying of Saint <HI>Paul,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3.16</NOTE> God</HI> is <HI>re|ceived up in glory.</HI> For it was at his a&s;cen&s;ion that Chri&s;t, as he was the <HI>Son</HI> of God, had the Rule and authority over the creatures re&s;tored, though <HI>not be&s;towed.</HI> And it was at his a&s;cen&s;ion that Chri&s;t, as he was <HI>Man,</HI> had this <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>be&s;towed,</HI> though <HI>not re&s;tored;</HI> The Son by a voluntary di&s;pen&s;ation, emp|tyed him&s;elf, and relinqui&s;h'd his right in the time of his humiliation. The <HI>Father</HI> by a voluntary di&s;pen&s;ation, re&s;igned to the <HI>Son</HI> the actual execution of all power, upon this his a&s;cen&s;ion.</P>
<P>The <HI>Lutherans</HI> will have Chri&s;ts placing at the right hand God, to be an elevating of his humane nature to a true and real u&s;e of the Divine attributes; &s;o that by virtue of
<PB N="120" REF="65">this exaltation, the humanity is become Om|ni&s;cient, and Omnipre&s;ent, no le&s;s properly then the Deity. This opinion, or rather bla&s;phemy, makes in Chri&s;t not an <HI>&V;nion,</HI> but a <HI>mixtion,</HI> and confu&s;ion. For the Rule is ancient, and orthodox; <HI>Where two natures are conjoyned, tho&s;e things which are proper to one, cannot really be communicated to ano|ther.</HI> Otherwi&s;e this <HI>Se&s;&s;ion</HI> would nullifie the e&s;&s;ential properties of Chri&s;ts Body, and &s;o it &s;hould not be glorified, but aboli&s;hed. It is true, the right hand of God is every where; but 'tis a Sophi&s;m to hold <HI>that which</HI> &s;its at the right hand to be every where. His Rule and Dominion is in every Place, but his pre&s;ence in re&s;pect of his Man-hood is not in every Place. For a Spiritual Sub&s;tance hath a larger circuit, and is extended farther then a corporal. The <HI>Beams</HI> of the Sun are in&s;eparably united with the Body of the Sun, and yet the <HI>Body</HI> is not where&s;oever the <HI>Beams</HI> are: The whole Di|vine Nature of Chri&s;t is in&s;eparably united to the humane, and yet it is not con&s;equent that where the one is, the other mu&s;t needs be. For although the <HI>Total</HI> Deity be in the Humanity, yet it is not there, as I may &s;ay <HI>Totally,</HI> becau&s;e it is wholly <HI>in</HI> the humanity, and wholly <HI>out</HI> of the humanity. So that the <HI>WORD</HI> is &s;omewhere where the Fle&s;h is not, and yet the <HI>Word</HI> is everywhere <HI>God</HI> and <HI>Man.</HI></P>
<P>We may &s;ee in a <HI>Circle</HI> all the lines equally
<PB N="121" REF="65">drawn from the circumference to the <HI>Centre,</HI> but we know the <HI>centre</HI> is not where&s;oever the Lines are; &amp; yet we cannot conclude that the lines of the Circle are anywhere, whereas they are not in the centre. The truth is the &s;ame in the point in hand, though the <HI>man|ner</HI> be different. For Chri&s;t according to his Deity is really every where; but according to his humanity, He &s;its onely at the right hand of God in the Heavenly Places; and where|&s;oever Chri&s;t is, there is He both God and Man.</P>
<P>So that the ground of the <HI>Lutheran</HI> Er|ror is their &s;uppo&s;ing a fal&s;e effect of the <HI>Se&s;|&s;ion</HI> and per&s;onal <HI>&V;nion.</HI> For the <HI>Man-hood</HI> of Chri&s;t exalted into Heaven, is not made equal with the Father, but advanced above the Creature. When King <HI>Solomon</HI> cau&s;ed his <HI>Mother</HI> to &s;it at his right hand, did he give her an <HI>Equality</HI> in his Government? And yet we may religiou&s;ly affirm, that the humanity of our Saviour now &s;itting at the right hand of God, in a &s;ort, in &s;ome accep|tion, raigns with equal power and Maje&s;ty with God; that it is Omni&s;cient, Omnipotent, and Omnipre&s;ent, <HI>Non in Ab&s;tracto, &s;ed in concreto;</HI> not <HI>formally,</HI> as it is in it &s;elf; but as it is in the <HI>Word,</HI> whereunto <HI>'tis per&s;onally united;</HI> becau&s;e through the hypo&s;tatical uni|on, it can be no where &s;ever'd from that na|ture, which in it &s;elf is infinite. And &s;o Chri&s;t in his two natures <HI>is</HI> and <HI>works</HI> every where in a di&s;er&s;e manner, and by mixt actions: as
<PB N="122" REF="66">God by e&s;&s;ential pre&s;ence; as man, by virtual co-operation with that which is e&s;&s;entially every where pre&s;ent. Hereupon we may in every place approach his Throne with bold|ne&s;s, the pity and compa&s;&s;ion of his Man|hood &s;till clo&s;ing with the &s;trength and might of his God-head. The di&s;tinction may be learned from Chri&s;ts own mouth in <HI>Matth.</HI> 8. <HI>All thing are given TOME;</HI> not <HI>to my humanity,</HI> but <HI>to Me.</HI> His Body then is not otherwi&s;e omnipotent, and omni|pre&s;ent, then as it is in the <HI>WORD,</HI> which is truely omnipotent, and omnipre&s;ent really. The words of my Text give an over|throw to any contradicting Spirit: <HI>And &s;et Him at his own right hand, in the Heavenly Places</HI></P>
<P>Certainly, the&s;e <HI>Places</HI> &s;ignifie nothing but a place limited for the extent of it; &s;o that 'tis a &s;ufficent rea&s;on; His body is a&s;cen|ded, and &s;its at the right hand of God in the Heavenly places, therefore he is not corporal|ly pre&s;ent here below. The Man&s;ions of Gods Hou&s;e are many; and this is implyed in the plurality, <HI>Places:</HI> but what the joyes of the&s;e Heavenly places are, or how the degrees are unequal, <HI>Profecto in me totum non intrabit,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Au&s;t.</NOTE> truely it will not wholly enter into us by knowledge that we may apprehend it; <HI>Sed ego in illud totus intrabo,</HI> but we &s;hall whol|ly enter into it by fruition, that we may enjoy it.</P>
<P>Wherefore comfort ye, comfort ye, you
<PB N="123" REF="66">which long for the coming of Chri&s;t; <HI>Eun|dem habituri e&s;tis Iudicem, &amp; Advocatum;</HI> He &s;hall judge you, that dyed, and ro&s;e again, and took po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of heaven for you. What if it be &s;aid, <HI>No man a&s;cended into heaven,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.10.</NOTE> but He that de&s;cended, the &s;on of Man, which is in Heaven?</HI> &s;hall we therefore de&s;pair? No, but we will hope &s;o much the more: <HI>Licet enim &s;olus intrabit,</HI> for though He alone &s;hall enter into heaven, <HI>at profecto Totus in|trabit,</HI> yet he &s;hall enter whole, and entire.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> <HI>A bone of him &s;hall not be broken;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34.20 Joh. 19.36.</NOTE> we are <HI>Bone of his bone, and fle&s;h of his fle&s;h;</HI> He is the <HI>Head,</HI> we the <HI>Members;</HI> the one is not found in the Kingdom without the other. For the body of Chri&s;t is not like to that hi|deous <HI>Image</HI> who&s;e head was <HI>Gold,</HI> and feet <HI>Clay;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 2.32, 33.</NOTE> our Glorious Head mu&s;t al&s;o have glorified Members. And now me thinks I &s;ee our <HI>Saviour</HI> not riding upon the Wings of the wind, or making the clouds his charet, but &s;itting on his <HI>Throne</HI> of Maje&s;ty, and ad|vanced in the highe&s;t Heavenly places; and <HI>Satan,</HI> and &s;in, and death, trod under his Feet. And now behold how the whole <HI>Hoa&s;t</HI> of Heaven &s;toupeth, and doth ho|mage to him, and every knee boweth be|fore Him, <HI>Both of things in Heaven, and things in the Earth, and things under the Earth, and every Tongue confe&s;&s;eth that God</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>hath worthily &s;uper-exalted him.</HI></P>
<P>Let every one then that hath any con&s;o|lation
<PB N="124" REF="67">in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, rejoyce, and &s;ing out thanks unto <HI>God, who hath given us Victory through Chri&s;t Je&s;us our Lord.</HI> For it is the <HI>Lamb</HI> that <HI>is worthy to receive Power, and Riches, and Wi&s;edom, and Honour, and Glo|ry, and Prai&s;e, for ever and ever.</HI></P>
<P>AMEN.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="125" REF="67">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Matth. 9.20, 21, 22.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And behold, a Woman which was di&s;ea&s;ed with an i&s;&s;ue of Blood twelve years, came behind Him, and touched the hem of his Garment. For &s;he &s;aid within her &s;elf, If I may but touch his Garment, I &s;hall be made whole. But Je&s;us turned him about, and when he &s;aw her, he &s;aid, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. VIII.</NOTE><HI>CHRIST</HI> came into the world not for him&s;elf, but us; his <HI>Errand</HI> being not his own, but our advantage; which made the <HI>Evangeli&s;ts</HI> to ob&s;erve, that he kept no long re&s;idence any where, but coa&s;ted from place to place, to <HI>&s;eek and &s;ave that which was lo&s;t.</HI> The chapter prefers a <HI>bill</HI> of his &s;everal Cures; this in the Text is remembred as eminent among the re&s;t, and that's the rea&s;on 'tis u&s;hered in with a note of attention and admiration, <HI>behold.</HI></P>
<P>The better to <HI>lodge</HI> the argument in your mindes, give me leave to <HI>chalk</HI> out the whole, part by part, ob&s;erving the <HI>infirmity</HI> of the Woman, and therein the <HI>qualy,</HI> a <HI>Bloody</HI> i&s;&s;ue; the <HI>continuance</HI> thereof, which was of no le&s;s &s;tanding than <HI>Twelve</HI> years; the <HI>means</HI> &s;he u&s;ed as a re&s;cue from the danger, ex|pre&s;&s;ed
<PB N="126" REF="68">in a double act, <HI>She came behind him,</HI> and <HI>touched the hem of his Garment:</HI> The <HI>Motive,</HI> and that was a per&s;wa&s;ion of Chri&s;ts Power to do her good; <HI>For &s;he &s;aid within her &s;elf, If I may but touch the hem of his Garment, I &s;hall be whole.</HI> Then follows the exceeding riches of Chri&s;ts goodne&s;s; fir&s;t, in his <HI>ge&s;ture, He turn'd him about to &s;ee her;</HI> then in his <HI>Words,</HI> partly cheri&s;h|ing her, and &s;aid, <HI>Daughter be of good com|fort;</HI> partly <HI>commending</HI> her, <HI>thy faith hath made thee whole.</HI> So that we may con&s;ider here a weak Woman, a &s;trong faith; a ba&s;h|ful means, a pro&s;perous cure. To this end I would bring you likewi&s;e, and therefore I will try to lead you orderly in her &s;teps, be|ginning with the notice of her per&s;on; <HI>Be|hold, a Woman.</HI></P>
<P>A <HI>Woman,</HI> fir&s;t, and &s;o more &s;ubject to &s;hame, and fear: a <HI>di&s;ea&s;ed</HI> Woman; what makes &s;he then abroad, in a throng too? Di&s;ea&s;ed with an unclean i&s;&s;ue of Blood,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lev. 15.</NOTE> and therefore unfit by the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> to touch or be touched by any creature, under peril of uncleanne&s;s. How if &s;ome zealous <HI>Iew</HI> &s;hould have known, and &s;pied her there? Be|&s;ides, her di&s;ea&s;e had &s;tay'd upon her twelve years; enough to denote to the cen&s;orious, a Divine Judgement on her, and Gods dere|liction of her. She had wearied all Phy&s;iti|ans, She; and they were alike weary, for &s;he had <HI>emptyed</HI> her pur&s;e. What cure could &s;he now hope for,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 5.26.</NOTE> unle&s;s her de&s;perate
<PB N="127" REF="68">ca&s;e had made her malicious to infect others? An <HI>Anchorites</HI> hole might &s;eem fitter then a publique a&s;&s;embly. Soft, hold! This is eve|ry mans own ca&s;e; for the <HI>Woman</HI> in Scrip|ture u&s;ually repre&s;ents the whole <HI>Church,</HI> the <HI>Spou&s;e</HI> of Chri&s;t, whereof we are Mem|bers. Her womani&s;h affections of &s;hame, and fear, may ju&s;tly be ours; for we al&s;o are di&s;ea&s;ed, and yet we venture abroad in|to the <HI>To&s;&s;ings</HI> of the world, and are &s;till in a throng. The weak fle&s;h is pre&s;&s;ed with the world before, with nece&s;&s;ities behind; with the Devil on that &s;ide, and the malice of men on the other: <HI>Di&s;ea&s;ed</HI> we are all with &s;hameful uncleanne&s;s; our Blood runs out, by running the waies of perdition. If every mans di&s;ea&s;e were &s;ucce&s;&s;ively written in his Fore-head, we might all in turn &s;eeme unworthy of company; the <HI>Phari&s;ee</HI> him|&s;elf with all his purity and holine&s;s, not ex|cepted. Thus we langui&s;h in Soul, not for twelve years onely, but for mo&s;t part of our life. The Phy&s;itians, which are the <HI>Divines,</HI> be they never &s;o good, never &s;o many, can|not clean&s;e us. Though we &s;pend all our trea|&s;ures, will and working, labour and wit, &s;en&s;e and rea&s;on, and what&s;oever we can bring to &s;ubmit to our Teachers and Refor|mers, for bettering our e&s;tate, we do but lin|ger out, and cannot by &s;uch means attain to perfect health, no more then this weak <HI>Woman.</HI></P>
<P>In that the ground of this Womans di&s;ea&s;e
<PB N="128" REF="69">was her own blood, I ob&s;erve, how &s;in breeds &s;o great a di&s;order, that it rai&s;eth a commotion in our very <HI>Principles,</HI> turning the ble&s;&s;ing into a cur&s;e, the nutriment into the puni&s;hment. For what's more u&s;ual, then to &s;ee tho&s;e, who give way to the fury and phren&s;ie of their pa&s;&s;ions, to ruine their Bodies by their very &s;trength? It being ju&s;t with God to chaine a man in his own fetters to intrap him in his own &s;nare. So that it behoves us not to Riot and Frolick away our natural abilities; le&s;t what is ordained for our &s;afety, becomes an In&s;trument of our mi&s;ery.</P>
<P>Again, did the <HI>Prodigal</HI> flux continue venting <HI>twelve</HI> years? Learn, that 'tis the Lord's method to cloud his face towards us for a while, to withdraw things mo&s;t de&s;ir'd, that our confidence may be approved, when we tru&s;t <HI>He</HI> can as well helpe without the means, as by them. The impotent man at the Poole of <HI>Bethe&s;da,</HI> was departing thence eight and thirty years: It co&s;t him many a deepe &s;igh and &s;alt tear, long looking, and as much longing, and yet no prevailing, 'till the appointed period was at hand. The Crooked Woman, <HI>Luk.</HI> 13. was doubled and bowed together by the Spirit of infirmi|ty eighteen years (a tedious &s;pace to be de|tained in the throws of fear and doubt) but after long &s;earch, and much ado, Chri&s;t made her &s;trait. It's plain in <HI>Iohn</HI> 11. ver. 33. that our Saviours compa&s;&s;ionate Soul was
<PB N="129" REF="69">touched with remor&s;e for the Agonies of <HI>Lazarus;</HI> yet he e&s;tranged him&s;elf from him, and &s;u&s;pended his relief. He prepares not to vi&s;it him, till Mi&s;ery it &s;elf &s;poke, and the lo&s;s was manife&s;t.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 11.17</NOTE> <HI>Lazarus</HI> mu&s;t be en|terr'd, before he be recovered; ca&s;t into a dead &s;leep, before he goes to wake him up, that &s;o their unexpected contentment might be greater then their former complaint. Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> will have all this to be done in a My&s;tery, to no other end, but that &s;uch, who have <HI>deaded</HI> all their faculties to &s;piritual Actions, &s;hould not de&s;pair, as if the <HI>Tree of Life</HI> was not to be recovered; but when Sin is waxed to the height, expect a Con|ver&s;ion, and not a Confu&s;ion. <HI>God</HI> oft|times abides the extremity of evil; expects Ungodline&s;s to the utmo&s;t; and then to magnifie his Mercy, he hath Compa&s;&s;ion. Complaine&s;t thou with that devout <HI>Father,</HI> of thy imbred inveterate Vices, again&s;t which thou ha&s;t oft re&s;olved, <HI>Mod&ograve;,</HI> and <HI>mod&ograve;,</HI> Now I will leave them, now I will ut|terly relinqui&s;h them; and yet they keep thee <HI>Pri&s;oner</HI> &s;till, pleading <HI>Pre&s;cription</HI> for their hold? For all this, give not thy &s;elf over, where thy <HI>Phy&s;itian</HI> doth not; but know, that Chri&s;t came to cure, not onely green Cuts, &s;mall Skars; but deep and inveterate Wounds, Di&s;ea&s;es of eight, twelve, of as many years old as thy life can bear date.</P>
<P>They mi&s;take the good plea&s;ure of God, who confine it to the narrow Circum&s;tances
<PB N="130" REF="70">of Time and Per&s;ons. With him all things are not onely alike po&s;&s;ible, but ea&s;ie. He is able to refine pure Gold from ba&s;e Mettal, to &s;ift out fair Wheat from cour&s;e Bran; to make the <HI>Prodigal</HI> of Nature, a <HI>Miracle</HI> of Grace; the Child of wrath, the Son of God. He can work it out of the very Flint;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.9.</NOTE> as well of <HI>&s;tones</HI> rai&s;e Children to <HI>Abraham,</HI> as of <HI>Jews;</HI> and, though the Point be difficult, at the la&s;t ga&s;p, take the prey out of the Lyons Mouth.</P>
<P>I &s;peak this, that no di&s;con&s;olate Soul &s;hould go dropping, and hanging down the head with <HI>Spira</HI> the Italian, who, as it were, drew the <HI>Indentures,</HI> &s;et the &s;eal to his dam|nation; made his own Hell, through a trea|cherous per&s;wa&s;ion: He was one among o|thers, to whom God never intended a <HI>power</HI> to believe, nor a <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> to believe in. Our &s;afe&s;t cour&s;e is not to &s;tand out by multiply|ing Rebellions, but upon remor&s;e of Con|&s;cience in&s;tantly to come in.</P>
<P>La&s;tly: Is her ca&s;e &s;o neer like ours? then let us con&s;ider it more tenderly. A|las, poor woman! Who is this, whom her <HI>genuine</HI> blood, her natural infirmity, and o|ginal &s;ickne&s;s, hath brought to deaths door &s;treights of unclean langui&s;hment? VVho is this &s;o defiled with corruption, &s;o tainted with &s;ecret &s;ores, that <HI>Art</HI> could not cure her, nor the <HI>Law</HI> &s;uffer her to pa&s;s for clean; yea, whom the Law prohibited from the Temple, from all &s;acred things, e&s;teeming
<PB N="131" REF="70">all things polluted which &s;he touched? This is even the <HI>Church,</HI> &s;tained with the fir&s;t <HI>Mans</HI> Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, originally corrupted, wounded, and weltring in her own Blood. if we look neerly, we &s;hall find her to be more e&s;pecially the Church of the <HI>Gentiles:</HI> For in the &s;ame Go&s;pel, under the per&s;on of of the <HI>Rulers</HI> Daughter, the <HI>Church</HI> of the Jews is otherwi&s;e &s;pecified: To her cure <HI>Christ</HI> was travelling, who &s;aies, <HI>I am not &s;ent but to the lo&s;t Sheep of the Hou&s;e of I&s;|rael,</HI> Mat. 15.24. But by the di&s;ea&s;ed wo|man, &s;ecluded from the rites of the Syna|gogue, is meaned the people of the Nati|ons, not de&s;cended from the <HI>Patriarchs,</HI> not &s;anctified by the <HI>Law,</HI> nor glorified in the <HI>Prophets.</HI> This part of Mandkind, &s;triving to cure the corruption of Nature by humane skill, did more encrea&s;e it: for &s;trictne&s;s of di&s;cipline did onely draw forth the blood of the Offenders, but could not &s;top it. The <HI>Jews</HI> enjoyed the Saviour's corporal pre|&s;ence; the <HI>Nations</HI> onely heard of his Fame pa&s;&s;ing by, and therefore came <HI>behind him,</HI> (that is) they followed him in after-times, by the tract of the year, being glad to touch his garment, to feel him in the Sacrament by the touch of Faith. The <HI>Rulers</HI> Daugh|ter, and under her the <HI>Synagogue,</HI> is &s;aid, ver&s;e 18. to have dyed; dye &s;he mu&s;t to the Law, and peri&s;h according to Nature, that &s;o &s;he may be rai&s;ed to life through Faith in Chri&s;t; though mo&s;t of the Jews, even to
<PB N="132" REF="71">this day,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 3.35.</NOTE> will not believe it, &s;aying, <HI>Trouble not the Ma&s;ter, for the Dam&s;el is dead;</HI> they will not accept of Chri&s;ts coming, they have death in their Mouths, and refu&s;e the hope of the Re&s;urrection. But the <HI>unclean wo|man,</HI> and under her the <HI>Corporation</HI> of the <HI>Gentiles,</HI> creeps to receive the comfort of the Go&s;pel, hopes for health by touching Chri&s;ts Garment, which is the Garment of Righteou&s;ne&s;s.</P>
<P>Now, Men and Brethren, &s;ince you know what this woman is, or rather, what your &s;elves are, take it for no &s;hame this once to follow a woman. So, for your Example, I proceed from the weak per&s;on, to her &s;trong Faith, evidenced in two Acts, <HI>Acce&s;&s;it, Te|tigit,</HI> &s;he came behind him, and tuched the hem of his Garment.</P>
<P><HI>She</HI> did well to come; for if we would have any thing with the Lord, it's all the rea&s;on that may be, that we come unto him; <HI>we</HI> have need of <HI>him,</HI> not <HI>he</HI> of <HI>us.</HI> But when was it that &s;he came? that's expre&s;&s;ed in the former ver&s;e, even then, when he was in the way to the <HI>Rulers</HI> Hou&s;e. A time, one would think, not very congruous to <HI>facilitate</HI> a &s;uit. Had &s;he con&s;ulted with her carnal Coun&s;elors, tho&s;e <HI>friendly</HI> ene|mies would have wi&s;hed her (for&s;ooth) to be more <HI>mannerly</HI> then to pre&s;s him while he was in the <HI>heat</HI> of other imployments; for &s;uch an un&s;eemly <HI>prepo&s;terou&s;ne&s;s</HI> was not like to compa&s;s any thing. But let them
<PB N="133" REF="71">con&s;true her meaning as they will, &s;he will not intermit this opportunity. She had heard how our Saviour proclaimed openly, <HI>Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will ea&s;e you;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 11.28.</NOTE> and &s;o feeling the burden of her own grief intolerable, &s;he thought it would be deemed pride or neg|lect, not to come, being thus invited; rude|ne&s;s, and not civility, not to do as &s;he was bid. Neither height, nor depth, nor Prin|cipalities, nor Rulers, could &s;eparate her from the Lord of Health. She over-looks all di&s;&s;iculties, and &s;wims out of the&s;e in|tangling Weeds, to lay hold on Chri&s;t, though the <HI>Mon&s;ter-headed</HI> multitude &s;tood in the way, like &s;o many Bears and Lyons, to intercept her pa&s;&s;age.</P>
<P>This womans forwardne&s;s in coming to Chri&s;t for her bodily health, checks our <HI>&s;u|pine</HI> negligence in flying to him for our &s;ouls health. Away then with the&s;e <HI>nice</HI> Circum|&s;tances of worldly carriage, which abate the fervor of Zeal, and by unnece&s;&s;ary delayes, with&s;tand, if not ruine our Conver&s;ion. In things which mu&s;t be done, it's good to be &s;peedily ro&s;olute; for having once neglect|ed the fir&s;t motions of Grace, and &s;uffered them to dye i&s;&s;uele&s;s, we may wait long e|nough before the opportunity of a &s;econd call encourageth us. <HI>Over-&s;hamefa&s;tne&s;s</HI> is an <HI>unprofitable</HI> Vertue in a Begger, who&s;e importunate demeanor may well be excu&s;ed by his nece&s;&s;ity, and his earne&s;tne&s;s de&s;erves
<PB N="134" REF="72">rather pity then a check. All places are of alike acce&s;s to God: in what place &s;oever we come unto him, in bed, or up; in the field, or with this woman in the <HI>road,</HI> we &s;hall be &s;ure to have Audience. Yet, though &s;he boldly entred, her courage was quickly da&s;hed; for when &s;he came in pre&s;ence of <HI>him,</HI> whom &s;he was to petition, her Con|&s;cience was touch'd vvith Mode&s;ty; and that Di&s;ea&s;e, vvhich brought her thither for her help, made her likewi&s;e to fear her Help|er, and to come <HI>behind him.</HI></P>
<P>Timorous Woman! What could there di&s;may thee? Thy Saviour, in &s;hape a man, in the lowe&s;t Ebbe of fortune, in company vvith Sinners; and yet, vvith a dejected Countenance, comme&s;t thou behind him? Do&s;t thou tremble to behold <HI>God</HI> in the <HI>back</HI> of <HI>Man?</HI> The weake&s;t &s;ight fears not to gaze on the Suns Glory through another body; yet &s;o tender vvas the Eye of her Faith, that &s;he dur&s;t not behold this <HI>Son</HI> of Righteou&s;ne&s;s to his Face, though the Lu&s;tre of his God-head vvas then involved in the <HI>Cloud</HI> of our humanity.</P>
<P>In this her <HI>po&s;ture,</HI> vve may all behold the <HI>Cowardi&s;e</HI> of guilt, and of a &s;tained Con|&s;cience: For &s;in is in the Soul, vvhat the Di&s;ea&s;e is in the Body; &s;hame and fear in&s;e|parately waites upon both. <HI>Adam</HI> had no &s;ooner experience of evil, but became ac|quainted vvith fear:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.10.</NOTE> <HI>I heard thy voyce in the Garden, and was afraid:</HI> He runs <HI>behind.</HI>
<PB N="135" REF="72">Who vvould not fear to &s;in, which makes us thus afraid? <HI>Magnum &s;upplicium peccare, et&s;i non puniamur;</HI> &s;in it &s;elf is a dreadful &s;ting. This pen&s;ive vvoman dur&s;t not come into the pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t, for &s;hame of her uncleanne&s;s; and the con&s;ideration of this her impurity, made her to &s;hun the eyes of the people, fearing that they al&s;o would repel her; being by &s;entence of Law de|barred from company. In this mournful grief, &s;he placed her &s;elf <HI>behind</HI> him, hoping &s;ecretly to &s;teal her health by a touch, and &s;o be gone.</P>
<P>VVe &s;tand in a mi&s;erable and hard con|dition, I needs mu&s;t &s;ay; for while natural infirmities egges us on to &s;in, inbred &s;hame keeps us off from Confe&s;&s;ion; what we fear not to do, we blu&s;h to &s;peak; and yet perhaps have a great de&s;ire to be cured. This was the vvomans ca&s;e; &s;he vvas troubled with a ba&s;hful Di&s;ea&s;e, and therefore de&s;ired to be cur'd in &s;ecret. The fir&s;t happine&s;s is, not to fall into the &s;hame of &s;in; the next, is to finde a covered remedy, according to that, <HI>P&s;alm</HI> 31. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is the man, who&s;e ini|quity is forgiven, and who&s;e &s;in is covered.</HI> How&s;oever, to fly the Phy&s;itian, vvho&s;e ver|tue mu&s;t cure us; to conceale the Malady from him, who at fir&s;t &s;ight cannot chu&s;e but know it, is <HI>unprofitable</HI> Mode&s;ty. Though vve come vvith &s;hame, yet come vve mu&s;t, and creep after this afflicted vvretch, though it be <HI>behind</HI> him. VVhich <HI>po&s;ture</HI> of hers,
<PB N="136" REF="73">&s;hews &s;he was quickened with a good mea|&s;ure of the Spirit, otherwi&s;e, how &s;hould &s;he be per&s;waded Chri&s;t to be &s;o holy and pow|erful, as to heal by the lowe&s;t means, that if <HI>behind</HI> him &s;he came, &s;o near as his <HI>hem,</HI> &s;he &s;hould receive her health from him, or at lea&s;t from <HI>God</HI> working in him? No ground in Nature could cau&s;e this per&s;wa&s;ion; the Rules of Phy&s;ick pre&s;cribe either &s;ome in|ward receipt, or outward application, with|out vvhich, no di&s;ea&s;e is cureable; for vvhat Phy&s;itian can cure vvith a touch?</P>
<P>No doubt though this vvoman could have proceeded no further then to the meer moti|on of Spirit (vvhich Chri&s;t under&s;tood as vvell as the touch of his Garment) that a|lone vvithout any corporal application, vvould have been effectual; for &s;o the Faith of the <HI>Centurion,</HI> prevailed for his Servant, though ab&s;ent, <HI>Mat.</HI> 8.13. <HI>As thou believe&s;t, &s;o be it done unto thee:</HI> And the Faith of the <HI>Syrophenician,</HI> Mat 15.28. <HI>Be it unto thee, even as thou wilt:</HI> And the faith of the <HI>Noble</HI> man for his Son, <HI>John</HI> 4.50. vvho vvas cured <HI>on the &s;elf &s;ame hour.</HI> If thus the faith of one prevailed for ano|ther, the Ma&s;ter for the Servant, the Mo|ther for the Daughter, the Father for the Son; much more might this vvomans faith have been &s;ucce&s;sful fot her &s;elf. <HI>Approxi|mation</HI> of Spirit, is &s;tronger then that of the Body. Neverthele&s;s, having gotten the opportunity (vvhich is never to be neg|lected)
<PB N="137" REF="73">&s;he would &s;atisfie the Spirit in the behalf of the body, with &s;ome bodily Medi|cine, though not powerful in it &s;elf, yet &s;ome way <HI>&s;acramental,</HI> able to convay health by the Mercy of Chri&s;t, though not to give it. For what was it &s;he de&s;ired? meer|ly the touch of his Garment: <HI>She &s;aid with|in her &s;elf, If I may but touch his Garment, I &s;hall be whole.</HI></P>
<P>VVell fare a good heart yet: though &s;he had little blood in her body, &s;he had &s;pirit in her heart &s;till; after &s;o much vain co&s;t and labour, &s;he was not &s;o de&s;perately gone, but that &s;he could yet think of a Remedy. Think &s;he could, but dur&s;t not &s;peak out: Thought was loud enough in the Ears of God, from whom &s;he expected cure; and therefore <HI>within her &s;elf</HI> &s;he &s;aid: but if &s;he &s;pake out one word of her infirmity in the eares of men, &s;he feared a repul&s;e and puni&s;hment from Jewi&s;h Rigor, where upon &s;he &s;aid no further then <HI>within her &s;elf.</HI></P>
<P>Poor &s;oul! how was &s;he di&s;tracted in Mind? how was &s;he driven by nece&s;&s;ity, and divided in Thought? If the &s;tength of Faith do be&s;t appear in oppo&s;ing difficulties, behold, an unvanqui&s;hed Faith, not broken by a Conflict of Thoughts, not cru&s;hed by a VVar of afflictions, though as violent as two contrary VVinds wre&s;tling in the Aire, or two headlong Rivers ju&s;tling in the Sea. Nece&s;&s;ity of her danger drove her forward,
<PB N="138" REF="74">&s;hame of unworthine&s;s kept her back; health &s;he de&s;ired, but feared the cen&s;ure of the Law; &s;he &s;aw a way to clean&s;e her &s;elf, but it lay through the pollution of others; &s;he was confident of the Ma&s;ters gentlene&s;s, but &s;he doubted the Rigor of the &s;tanders by: &s;he would receive the benefit of cure; but therewithal to ca&s;t an a&s;pertion of un|cleanne&s;s on the Giver, would be a grief. If &s;he &s;pake her ca&s;e, &s;he proclaimed her unfitne&s;s; if &s;he held her peace, &s;he needs mu&s;t &s;uffer: if &s;he &s;taid to deliberare, the &s;wiftne&s;s of Chri&s;ts pa&s;&s;ion would cut off opportunity. Thus her bad cau&s;e fought with her faith, fear with hope, &s;hame with de&s;ire, manners with nece&s;&s;ity. How could &s;he reconcile the&s;e contraries? how finde a covert, in publick? &s;ecrecy, in a multi|tude? &s;peak, and hold her peace? how get health, and &s;ave her mode&s;ty? receive a benefit, and do no injury? touch, and not defile? In all this &s;torm of perplexity, &s;he fainted not, &s;till &s;he had &s;omewhat to &s;ay, <HI>A woman for that;</HI> but yet, liek a wi&s;e woman, &s;he &s;aid it <HI>within her &s;elf.</HI> In great extremities, the force of grief turns <HI>Coun|&s;elour,</HI> nece&s;&s;ity becomes a <HI>Doctre&s;s,</HI> and &s;ick|ne&s;s findes a Remedy to it &s;elf. This <HI>Woman,</HI> by the working of Faith, thought on a way how to &s;alve all; her life, her Mode&s;ty, the Ma&s;ters Reverence, and the Peoples purity: and that vvas <HI>by &s;hooting with white Powder,</HI> by &s;peaking inaudibly, by <HI>whi&s;pering aloud</HI>
<PB N="139" REF="74">unto God, both below and above the Eares of men; by &s;aying <HI>within her &s;elf.</HI> VVhere &s;he might not approach in body, thither &s;he &s;tole in heart; &s;he came to the heavenly Phy&s;itian, by a &s;ecret pa&s;&s;age of Spirit, while with the open appearance of fle&s;h, &s;he kept aloof.</P>
<P>Happy woman in this, who among the multitude, knew how to be alone with Chri&s;t, and found a pa&s;&s;age, which none could &s;top!</P>
<P>This was the womans behaviour, and this mu&s;t be ours in like nece&s;&s;ity. VVhen our fortunes are inclo&s;ed with calamity, when the body is beleaguered with &s;ickne&s;s, or the &s;oul with torment of &s;in; when we can ga|ther no help, either from our &s;elves or Friends, from Doctors or Pa&s;tors, vvhen &s;entence is death, and judgment is pronoun|ced by all our <HI>mi&s;erable Comforters,</HI> and vve are bani&s;hed from the Church and all A&s;|&s;emblies; yet &s;till there's a Temple in the <HI>heart,</HI> and a &s;park of Divinity there lodg|ed, which findes acce&s;s unto God. Say our Mi&s;ery be &s;o tyrannous, that we may not &s;peak and vent our grief in words, (the common ea&s;e of tho&s;e that be helple&s;s) there is yet a <HI>tongue</HI> in the heart, which may grow hot with Communication; there's the <HI>Dialect</HI> of Spirits; the Language which hath be&s;t audience in Heaven, is there &s;po|ken. Suppo&s;e the heart it &s;elf be perplexed and troubled with doubt, we mu&s;t yet be|lieve
<PB N="140" REF="75">again&s;t threatning, hope again&s;t hope, ca&s;t about againe and againe, never leave &s;aying, and a&s;&s;aying <HI>within our &s;elves,</HI> till a glimp&s;e of comfort &s;hall appear like the breaking of day-light in fearful darkne&s;s. This weak womans Faith vvas implicated with much doubting; yet Chri&s;t entertains her trembling confidence with &s;uch a gra|cious ge&s;ture, as <HI>he turned about, and &s;eeing her, &s;aid, Daughter be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole:</HI> [hath made thee whole] Here's a full <HI>tide</HI> of matter ready to ru&s;h in, and overflow; and I cannot, without much perplexity to my &s;elf and you, make my pa&s;&s;age through: I will therefore withdraw, and retire till a more u&s;eful &s;ea&s;on be admi|ni&s;tred. To the immortal, eternal, invi&s;ible, onely wi&s;e God, Three in Per&s;ons, One in E&s;&s;ence, be all Honour and Glory, from Ge|neration to Generation. Amen.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="141" REF="75">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Matth. 9.22.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But Je&s;us turned him about, and when he &s;aw her, he &s;aid, Daughter be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. IX.</NOTE><HI>JE&s;us</HI> turning about, and &s;eeing her, doth not infer &s;he was undi&s;cerned of him be|fore; for neither di&s;tance of place, nor ob&s;curity of the conveying <HI>Means,</HI> nor interpo&s;ition of objects, could let our Saviour from looking on her. He, to whom all things are diaphanous, &s;aw that &s;oone&s;t, which was hid from him. His eye is all penetrable, <HI>&agrave; tergo &amp; &agrave; fronte,</HI> as well behind as before. He perceived not accor|ding to the appearance of her face, but ac|cording to the di&s;po&s;ition of her minde; he beheld what &s;he did in the withdrawing room of her heart, her de&s;ire had as <HI>articu|late</HI> a &s;ound in his ear as her &s;peech, and thence the Holy Gho&s;t his Language is, <HI>ver.</HI> 21. <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>She &s;aid within her &s;elf,</HI> be|cau&s;e he heard her heart out-&s;peake her tongue. It is true, Chri&s;t demanded <HI>Mar.</HI> 5.30. who it was that touched him, yet the que&s;tion was not made as if he were ignorant of her per&s;on, but that her confe&s;&s;ion might publi&s;h to others what him&s;elf fore-knew. He demanded that her faith might be con|firmed
<PB N="142" REF="76">her in&s;idility removed which occa&s;io|ned her to think &s;he might be heal'd by <HI>&s;tealth;</HI> our Saviour not knowing it. For tho&s;e words in <HI>Lu.</HI> 8.47. <HI>When &s;he &s;aw &s;he was not hid,</HI> im|plies &s;he thought &s;he might be hid; a tre&s;pa&s;s again&s;t his omni&s;cience. Be&s;ides, the <HI>Quere</HI> was expedient, becau&s;e thereby &s;he might be brought to an open acknowledgement of the miracle, for the &s;trengthening of the <HI>Ruler</HI>'s faith, encouraging him to believe that Chri&s;t could cure his Daughter as well as this Wo|man. And that the benefit might be more diffu&s;ive, he changed his <HI>Po&s;ture,</HI> u&s;ed an In|terrogatory, ca&s;t his eye upon her, the better to commend her to the multitude, as an ex|ample of imitation: So that Grace went a|long with his look, for &s;o &s;oone as he beheld her he breathed con&s;olation, <HI>and &s;aid, Daughter.</HI></P>
<P>It could not chu&s;e but be a &s;ingular com|fort to this di&s;tre&s;&s;ed woman, who, as the o|ther <HI>Evangeli&s;ts</HI> hath recorded, was now fall'n down trembling at our Saviours feet, to hear her &s;elf term'd by the appellation of <HI>Daughter.</HI> For, as we are the children of God, we have claim to the Kingdom of Hea|ven, Chri&s;t him&s;elf becomes our <HI>Brother,</HI> He the child of God by nature, we by Adoption. Now what bond of love is &s;o &s;trict as that betwixt the Father and the Child? Mercy, and bounty are the <HI>Characters</HI> of a Father: And the&s;e are &s;o tran&s;cendent in our heaven|ly Father, that the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> chap. 49.
<PB N="143" REF="76">gives the prerogative to him. She might therefore &s;ecure her &s;elf of his bounty; <HI>For if they that be evil can give to their Children good gifts, How much more &s;hall the Father, which is in Heaven</HI> give &s;o to her his Daugh|ter, <HI>Matth.</HI> 7.11? And then &s;he needed not mi&s;tru&s;t his mercy; For even as a Father pities his own children, &s;o is the Lord mer|ciful to his, <HI>Pla&s;.</HI> 103. The proofe whereof we may behold in this gracious &s;peech, <HI>Be of good comfort.</HI></P>
<P>You may know the <HI>Lord</HI> by his <HI>Walke,</HI> it is in the <HI>Coole;</HI> and by his voice, it is in a &s;oft woing <HI>Idiome, Gen.</HI> 3.8. and &s;ub&s;equent ver&s;es. Tho&s;e &s;ons of thunder may be of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> fiery train, they are not fit Di&s;ciples for the <HI>Me&s;&s;ias.</HI> The Lord &s;tands not now on mount <HI>Sinai</HI> with burning fire, and di&s;mal darkne&s;s, but on mount <HI>Sion,</HI> &s;peaking to us, not by the terrible trumpet, but by the meeke <HI>Mediator</HI> of the New Te&s;tament, alluring with mercy, and comfort, not affrighting with terror, and Judgments: It is the pe|culiar dignity of Chri&s;ts coming to <HI>Solace,</HI> and make glad the heart. If the law make the heart as Mount <HI>Sinai</HI> covered with dark|ne&s;s, his Go&s;pel calmes and lightens it pre|&s;ently. He did not &s;hake, but &s;ettle the weake, un&s;table Ground of this Womans faith. 'Tis not the part of a di&s;creet Phi&s;itian to admini|&s;ter <HI>corra&s;ives</HI> to a feeble <HI>Patient,</HI> who&s;e na|tural temper and vigor is not able to over|come &s;o forcible a pre&s;cript: And he is no
<PB N="144" REF="77">good Phi&s;itian of Souls that comes in a whirlwinde, and a tempe&s;t again&s;t a dejected Sinner. They likewi&s;e are too &s;imple, who think, becau&s;e they are Chri&s;tians, they mu&s;t affect a grim au&s;tere carriage or deportment, a demure compo&s;ed countenance like an <HI>I|mage.</HI> What is a Chri&s;tian but his Mirth? his joy in the Holy Gho&s;t, with melody in his heart to the Lord? Wherein doth the Kingdom of heaven con&s;i&s;t but in joy? <HI>Re|joyce in the Lord,</HI> &s;aith Saint <HI>Paul, and a|gain I &s;ay rejoyce,</HI> Philip. 4.4. <HI>Let the righ|teous be glad, and rejoyce before God,</HI> P&s;al. 68.3. For the <HI>Father of con&s;olation</HI> may ju&s;tly withdraw his refre&s;hing comforts from &s;uch as do not cheerfully rely on his graci|ous providence. And indeed the Holy Gho&s;t, who is <HI>the Comforter,</HI> &s;eldome re&s;ts on a lumpi&s;h Spirit. It &s;eemes the Prophet <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> thus conceived it: for in 2 <HI>King.</HI> 3.15. he called for <HI>mu&s;ick</HI> to cheere his Spirits before he was fit to receive the <HI>Spirit</HI> of God. Let others then number life by the hours, I &s;hall mea&s;ure it by cheerfulne&s;s, as I would money, not by <HI>tale,</HI> but value. My Saviour is my <HI>Pattern,</HI> who exhilarated this pen&s;ive Woman, &s;aying unto her, Be of good comfort, <HI>Thy faith hath made thee whole.</HI></P>
<P>Her faith is here evidently augmented by mode&s;ty and humility, as indeed it is alwaies, the di&s;tance of the <HI>Patient,</HI> and the lowli|ne&s;s of the de&s;ired medicine attributes the greater power to him that &s;hould cure. You
<PB N="145" REF="77">&s;hall finde great difference betwixt the faith of the <HI>Ruler,</HI> and of this poor Woman, becau&s;e the one was led by his learning, the other by her virtue. The <HI>Ruler</HI> be&s;ought our Saviour for his Daughter openly to his Face, the <HI>Woman</HI> came &s;ecretly behind his back, as not worthy to appear be|fore him. One prayed him <HI>to come</HI> and vi&s;it <HI>Luk.</HI> 8.41. as if God were not alwaies, and every where pre&s;ent, but mu&s;t change Pla|ces, and make journies. The other thought it good manners to come her &s;elf: the one being learned in the law, pre&s;cribed a Legal form of cure, the <HI>Impo&s;ition</HI> of hands, <HI>Come and lay thy hands on her,</HI> ver&s;. 18. as if man were nece&s;&s;arily to be cured, as he was fir&s;t made, by Gods <HI>handy Work.</HI> Nothing would &s;erve him but the hand: The other trembled in touching his Garment, yea the hem of his Garment, the lowe&s;t inch, acknowledging his power to lie there as well as in his hands.</P>
<P><HI>Behind</HI> &s;he came, not thinking to decline the eye of Chri&s;t, but the eye of man; for man u&s;eth to abhorr all &s;ores, but God loves to clean&s;e them. She could not hope to be cured in &s;uch a manner, unle&s;s &s;he believed the Phy&s;itian could &s;ee in &s;ecret, and hear in <HI>Silence.</HI> In <HI>God</HI> there is neither behind, nor below: the body of Manhood hath parts, the Godhead is purely &s;imple, the &s;ame on e|very &s;ide, and <HI>eye</HI> all over; the power where|of is neither dimini&s;hed in Manhood, nor de|graded in the Skirt of the garment. Thus, after
<PB N="146" REF="78">a mode&s;ter way, &s;he pre&s;ented her &s;elf to the eye, which &s;he &s;eem'd to decline: by the back &s;he came to the face, by the outward garment to the bre&s;t within, by the garments hem to the top of the head.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;olo.</NOTE> <HI>Manu ve&s;ti|mentum, fide Deum;</HI> the garment &s;he touched with her hand, and God with her faith. I may be bold to aver, that by a mode&s;t beliefe in means &s;o weak and remote &s;he far out-pa&s;&s;ed not onely the <HI>Ruler,</HI> but the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves, who too much doted on bodily evidence. <HI>Thomas</HI> the Apo&s;tle would not believe Chri&s;t was ri&s;en,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 20.25.</NOTE> unle&s;s he lay his hand on his &s;ide, and thru&s;t his finger into the wound; as it were compelling his Saviour to &s;uffer once more after his re&s;urrection. But this meeke Woman was &s;atisfied with the lowe&s;t, and mo&s;t outward token of cure, not con&s;idering the garment &s;o much as the <HI>Wearer,</HI> contenting her &s;elf with the farthe&s;t <HI>Beam</HI> of an infinite Maje&s;ty, becau&s;e it can|not faint by degrees, nor grow weak by di|&s;tance, nor be defil'd by her unclean touch. For if the Sun by fingering dung with his <HI>Beams</HI> can &s;uffer no pollution, much le&s;s the Suns <HI>Inlightner.</HI> And if our Phi&s;itians think it no di&s;grace to handle a &s;ore, but an honour to cure it, &s;urely the Heavenly Phi&s;itian is &s;trong of the &s;ame minde, becau&s;e he came from Heaven not onely to heal our bodily wounds, but to cure the &s;in of the Soul: Sin it &s;elf when it turns to a wound, that is, when it hangs upon us again&s;t our wills, and
<PB N="147" REF="78">is not embraced, then it moves not his an|ger, but his pity; the &s;inner &s;hall be puni&s;h|ed, but he that is &s;ore and &s;ick of &s;in &s;hall be cured. This made the Woman &s;o confident as to draw neer, and yet in the manner of her approach &s;he did not forget her mode&s;ty; &s;he came behind &s;ilently, touched his gar|ment gently, and reverently, the hem of it right humbly; the lea&s;t &s;ence of Grace, the lowe&s;t drachm of mercy, would &s;uffice her. She came like a religious Theif, &s;tealing fa|vour, enriching her &s;elf without her Ma&s;ters detriment, not choo&s;ing, but taking that which was next at hand, laying hold on no more then what &s;he might carry away with the Owners leave, and a&s;&s;i&s;tance.</P>
<P>The words in the Text afford no color, not the lea&s;t touch that any part of Chri&s;t's gar|ment could work miracles. Fir&s;t, it is not <HI>thy Touch,</HI> but <HI>thy Faith hath made thee whole. Euk,</HI> 8, 46. the <HI>Soveraign</HI> Power is attribu|ted to his <HI>Per&s;on,</HI> not to the hem of his ve&s;t|ment; and therefore Chri&s;t there &s;aid, that virtue proceeded not out of his garment, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, out of one. <HI>Salmerons</HI> conceit is wide, that the God of Nature might give as well the virtue of healing to that coat of his, as to the <HI>Load&s;tone</HI> a natural efficacy of at|tracting Iron. For if it were as natural for Chri&s;ts <HI>Coate</HI> to heal, as for the Load&s;tone to attract, then the virtue &s;hould have &s;hined, it &s;hould have been con&s;picuous no le&s;s at
<PB N="148" REF="79">one time then another. It would have been inherent, in&s;eperable from the garment: And &s;o the Souldiers, which parted it, the people which trode on it, ought to receive &s;ome benefit as well as the Woman. But no powerful influence was derived to them; the Lords own words are partly interroga|tive, <HI>Who is it that touched me?</HI> Luk. 8. v. 45. And partly po&s;itive, <HI>Some one hath touched me,</HI> v. 46. which made the Di&s;ciples, as if they had been po&s;ed, to reply to him: <HI>Thou &s;ee&s;t? the whole multitude throng thee, and yet aske&s;t thou who touched thee? Gregory</HI> the Great tells us, it is no <HI>Paradox</HI> in Divinity to &s;ay they thronged him, and yet they did not touch him. For many pre&s;&s;ed him with their bodily pre&s;ence, who never touched him with their hearts, becau&s;e in their devotion they were meerly ab&s;ent from him: The hand of the Soul, and not of the body, apprehends and toucheth Chri&s;t for our good. It was not the fingring of his garment, but her faith which went along with her finger that tou|ched him to make her whole.</P>
<P>But admit &s;he was healed by the touch of Chri&s;ts garment, the Rule of the School in|forms us, <HI>Privilegia per&s;onalia non trahuntur in exemplum,</HI> Per&s;onal priviledges, are not to be patterns of imitation. And therefore, though it plea&s;ed our Saviour to u&s;e &s;ome ex|ternal &s;igns and rites in curing the infirm, yet we have no commi&s;&s;ion that we &s;hould do the like by touching of <HI>Reliques.</HI> What
<PB N="149" REF="79">if the dead man, which touched the bones of <HI>Eli&s;ha,</HI> was re&s;tored to life, 2 <HI>King.</HI> 13. and many were healed of their di&s;ea&s;es, at the monuments of <HI>Martyrs,</HI> the Devil, as Saint <HI>Ierome</HI> ti&s;tifies, roaring and yelling in tho&s;e hallow'd places? Yet this was not done that any &s;hould put confidence in their reliques, but it was the plea&s;ure of the Almighty by the&s;e te&s;timonies, which then were needful, to commend to us the Doctrine, and faith of his Servants. It was not becau&s;e <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI>'s bones had any power in them to revive the dead, but the Lord did rai&s;e from the dead him as touched tho&s;e dead bones, to declare the Holine&s;s of his <HI>Prophet.</HI></P>
<P>Neither is it a well weigh'd rea&s;on, be|cau&s;e heretofore miracles were wrought at the Saints <HI>&s;hrines,</HI> therefore now we &s;hould expect the &s;ame. <HI>Na&s;centi Eccle&s;iae data &s;unt, non con&s;titutae;</HI> they were not di&s;pen&s;ed to tho&s;e which believed, but believed not. At the fir&s;t planting of the Go&s;pel; <HI>God</HI> wrought by the hands of Holy men to e&s;tab|li&s;h the authority, and to gain credit to the Go&s;pel, then newly publi&s;hed, and not to accompany their Reliques in the&s;e Sun-&s;hine dayes, the &s;ound of the Go&s;pel being already gone into the uttermo&s;t parts of the World. So that concerning <HI>miracles</HI> now much brag|ged of, I may &s;ay, as Saint <HI>Au&s;tine</HI> &s;ometimes &s;aid of the miracles of the <HI>donati&s;ts, aut &s;unt fi|gmenta mendacium hominum, aut portenta fal|lacium Spirituum;</HI> they are either the bold in|ventions
<PB N="150" REF="80">of Jugling <HI>Impo&s;tors,</HI> or the vain delu&s;ions of infernal Spirits. For this parti|cular of my Text we have it written, it was not the manual touching of his garment, but the &s;piritual touch by faith which made her whole; <HI>Thy faith hath made thee whole.</HI></P>
<P>Had our Saviour &s;aid, my <HI>Power</HI> hath made thee whole, he had magnified his own virtue, but not commended to her the means to make u&s;e of it. And therefore to &s;hew how he e&s;teemes of faith above all other graces, he empties him&s;elf to fill it with honour, &s;aying, <HI>Thy Faith hath made thee whole.</HI> It is without all que&s;tion, that the Power of Chri&s;t wrought the cure <HI>effectiv&egrave;,</HI> as the Prime Agent, yet hath faith concurred <HI>di&s;po|&s;itiv&egrave;,</HI> the <HI>Patient</HI> was uncapable of her health without the performance of this condition by the work of the Holy Gho&s;t in her. For though his &s;aving power be ineffably great, yet he hath made an order <HI>modo ordinario,</HI> ordinarily it &s;hall extend to none but &s;uch as are believers; the effect is known onely in them; <GAP DESC="foreign">, is Saint <HI>Markes</HI> phra&s;e, <HI>Mark.</HI> 6. v. 6. He <HI>could not</HI> do any power|ful work in his own Country, in re&s;pect of their unbelief, that put the <HI>Obex,</HI> and made the damme.</P>
<P>My intent is not to afflict your Ears with a long winded di&s;cour&s;e concerning Faith: Let who will finde lea&s;ure to weave a curi|ous Spiders VVeb, in differing a <HI>former</HI> and a <HI>later</HI> Love in God; I de&s;ire no more
<PB N="151" REF="80">leave then to tell you in a word, that I con|ceive <HI>Love</HI> in God to be one mo&s;t &s;imply, as him&s;elf is mo&s;t &s;imply One, Entire, and <HI>Radical</HI> in Chri&s;t, accounting it with <HI>Luther,</HI> on the <HI>Galathians,</HI> a <HI>horrible</HI> thing once to think on God, without Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>As for tho&s;e fruitle&s;s Contentions about Faith and VVorks, if moderate men had the &s;teering of them, there would not be &s;o much ado. This we &s;afely &s;ay, Then onely they are them&s;elves, when they are toge|ther: For VVorks without Faith, make but a <HI>Phari&s;aical</HI> Hypocrite; and Faith without VVorks, &s;tiles thee a <HI>Carnal</HI> Go|&s;peller. I confe&s;s, their Functions be di|ver&s;e, yet they mu&s;t dwell both in one Soul, as <HI>Mary</HI> and <HI>Martha</HI> did in one Hou&s;e. It is fit, that every thing doth &s;tand in it's proper Charge and Office, yet mu&s;t every thing need, in &s;ome re&s;pect, the Society of an other. A <HI>Queen,</HI> though in her State and Royalty &s;he be alone, goes not without her <HI>Train,</HI> her Mayors of Honour. VVe may ob&s;erve it in Nature: The Root &s;ucks of the Ground, the Body receives of the Root, the Branch takes of the Body, and the Fruit &s;hoots out of the Branch; The&s;e &s;ucce&s;|&s;ively accompany, and go together: So Faith grounds upon Chri&s;ts Pa&s;&s;ion, that gives the Sap of Love, and Love blo&s;&s;omes forth in VVorks. In Faith then, be con|&s;tant; in Love, fervent; in VVorks, dili|gent. By Faith in Chri&s;t, this feeble wo|man
<PB N="152" REF="81">is cured in a minute, whom humane Art could not recover in twelve long years.</P>
<P>This Example &s;hews, it is likely our own fault, or our own neglect, that we lie &s;o long langui&s;hing under &s;uch tedious infirmities, when Faith, and <HI>obvious,</HI> or ea&s;ie endeavour, can cure &s;o quickly; For the Vertue of Chri&s;t, may now be touched as well in his <HI>Sacrament,</HI> as heretofore in his <HI>Garment:</HI> His <HI>Divinity</HI> is &s;till as near, and his <HI>Ap|pendixes</HI> nearer. Chri&s;t is not wanting to us, but we to him, and our &s;elves. Do you wonder that the woman was cured by the touch of Chri&s;ts Garment? It might be &s;o ea&s;ily, for you may read, in the fifth of the <HI>Acts, ver&s;.</HI> 15. that the &s;ick were laid in the &s;treets, to be cured by the very &s;hadow of his Apo&s;tle <HI>Peter.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>See</HI> Mat. 17.20.</NOTE> To remove a Sin, or a di&s;ea&s;e by Faith, is nothing &s;o hard, as to re|move a Mountain.</P>
<P>I &s;hall not &s;train the <HI>Allegory,</HI> in applying it to an humble <HI>inva&s;ion</HI> of Mercy, when we lie &s;ick under a like <HI>Flux</HI> of &s;in, for it fuits naturally.</P>
<P>The Garment of Chri&s;t, is an <HI>Emblem</HI> of his Humanity, wherewith the God-head is &s;aid to be cloathed, and habited, <HI>Philip.</HI> the &s;econd; He was found in <HI>Habit</HI> as a
<PB N="153" REF="81">Man: And this <HI>Habit</HI> of his Humanity, is the <HI>Conduit</HI> of his Mercy, becau&s;e in the Fle&s;h, he reconciled the VVorld to him|&s;elf: &s;o that to touch his Garment, is to lay hold on his Mercy. So much God him|&s;elf hath &s;ignified in the &s;ixteenth of <HI>Ezeki|el, I &s;aw thee polluted in thine own blood: I &s;aid unto thee, when thou wa&s;t in thy blood, Live: and,</HI> as it followeth, <HI>I &s;pread my Skirt over thee.</HI> Then the hem of his Garment, &s;ignifies the precious Drops of our Re|demption, vvhich ran dovvn like <HI>Aa|rous</HI> Oyntment from his wounded Head, to the Skirts of his clothing: Or, if you will, it &s;ignifies the Dew of Grace de|&s;cending from the top of Chri&s;ts <HI>Divinity,</HI> to the touch of his lowe&s;t Members on Earth. VVherefore, from the touch of this VVoman, you may gather the&s;e Le&s;|&s;ons.</P>
<P>A repayring to Chri&s;t for Mercy, though our &s;inful Sores, our bloody Fluxes, and frail Di&s;ea&s;es, run upon us never &s;o grie|vou&s;ly: For the Son of Man came not to de&s;troy, but to &s;ave &s;inners.</P>
<P>Next, Humility in our approach, e|&s;teeming our &s;elves far unworthy to &s;tand before him, who are &s;o defiled in our ovvn corrupt &s;ight, and in the &s;ight of equal &s;in|ners.</P>
<PB N="154" REF="82">
<P>The <HI>Crums</HI> of his Table, the <HI>Hemme</HI> of his Garment, his <HI>Shooe-latchet,</HI> the lea&s;t of his Mercies, is too good for our <HI>Betters.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, a &s;ubmi&s;&s;ive Confidence in tho&s;e Conveyances of Mercy, which lie next be|fore us, though they &s;eem never &s;o com|mon, and de&s;picable in humane &s;ight; &s;uch are the <HI>Elements</HI> of water and wine in the Sacraments, the <HI>fooli&s;hne&s;s</HI> of preaching the Go&s;pel. <HI>Naaman,</HI> 2 <HI>Kings</HI> 5.10. mu&s;t purge his Lepro&s;ie in <HI>Jordan,</HI> though the River of <HI>Dama&s;cus</HI> be as good: <HI>Joa&s;h,</HI> 2 <HI>Kings</HI> 13.11. mu&s;t &s;mite the <HI>A&s;&s;yrian,</HI> by &s;miting the Ground, though the blow touch not the E|nemy. Our Saviour was plea&s;ed to cure the blind with Clay and Spittle, though both &s;eem hurtful to the &s;ight.</P>
<P>VVhat &s;hould we look for Extraordinary Revelations from Heaven? are not the&s;e ea&s;ie and &s;imple <HI>Conduits</HI> of Grace, which convey &s;o great benefit, &s;ufficient Miracles? VVe mu&s;t not con&s;ider the quality of the Elements and Organs, but the Vertue of him, who&s;e Ordinance hath given them a <HI>Supernatural</HI> u&s;e, when rightly they are performed. Remember the Example of this vvoman, vvho de&s;ired onely to touch his Garment, &s;aying then, <HI>I &s;hall be whole;</HI>
<PB N="155" REF="82">and as &s;he believed, &s;o it came to pa&s;s; by Faith in CHRIST, &s;he is cured in a trice.</P>
<P>To conclude: VVhen vve feel Chri&s;t to be touched by us to the purpo&s;e, Let's come forth, and appear before men, that Glory may be given to the <HI>Author.</HI> For our Saviours intent, by enquiring after her Per&s;on, (whom he needs mu&s;t know, &s;ee|ing he vvas not ignorant of the &s;ecret Fact) vvas this: To publi&s;h the vvork, and to &s;et it forth for Gods Honour, and the Spectators In&s;truction, that all might partake the benefit of the recovery, which one had gained.</P>
<P>VVe therefore, vvho have gotten health to our &s;ouls by touching Chri&s;t with a live|ly Faith in his &s;acred Ordinances, do pour out our Harts, and all that is within us, in giving thanks unto thy Name, O Thou <HI>mo&s;t Highe&s;t.</HI> Thou ha&s;t made us glad through thy VVorks, and vve vvill re|joyce in giving Prai&s;e for the Operations of thy Hands; VVe vvill be telling of thy loving Kindne&s;s early in the Morning, and of thy Truth in the Night-&s;ea&s;on: VVe vvill declare thy Name to our Bre|thren, and in the mid&s;t of the Congre|gation we vvill fall dovvn and Wor&s;hip thee, crying vvith a loud Voyce, <HI>Sal|vation
<PB N="156" REF="83">to our God, which &s;itteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb: Ble&s;&s;ing and Glory, and Wi&s;dome, and Thanksgiving, and Honour, and Power, be to our God for ever, and ever.</HI> Amen.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="157" REF="83">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Mat. 26. La&s;t part of the la&s;t Ver&s;e.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And he went out, and wept bitterly.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. X.</NOTE>PRAYERS and Tears have ever been accounted the Church-Weapons a|gain&s;t all the Enemies of her Peace and Pro&s;perity. VVe are here met this day, to celebrate it, as it ought to be, with Weeping, Mourning, Fa&s;ting, and Pray|ing, that the Cry of our Supplications and Tears, may out-cry that of our Sins, and derive a ble&s;&s;ing to this Monthly Fa&s;t: To help &s;o Religious a Work, I have cho&s;en a Text, which (without affectation to u&s;e the Apo&s;tles words, <HI>Phil.</HI> 2.10.) <HI>holds forth</HI> a Le&s;&s;on of Saint <HI>Peters</HI> Contrition: it being my duty to tell you, how the Lord expects, that <HI>Peters</HI> humiliation &s;hould be a <HI>Motive</HI> of our Reformation, which con&s;i&s;ts in be|ing a&s;hamed and confounded, that we &s;hould &s;in again&s;t &s;o good a God.</P>
<P>The ca&s;e in brief, was this: The <HI>Apo&s;tle</HI> ju&s;tly feared he had not onely kindled the Fire of his Ma&s;ters Wrath by denying him, but fuelled it too, by for-&s;wearing him; and therefore, that he might not fall into that Fire, which will hereafter prove unquench|able, he doth here quench it with his Tears; and le&s;t the Lord &s;hould &s;et his mi&s;-doings
<PB N="158" REF="84">in order and battel aray before his Face, he makes ha&s;te to prevent the thunder of his Anger, by puni&s;hing in him&s;elf the Offence he had committed; that &s;o God, who was in|jured by him, might he righted on him; and this was the cau&s;e, <HI>HE WENT O&V;T, AND WEPT BITTERLY.</HI></P>
<P>Wherein we may ob&s;erve the <HI>quality</HI> of the per&s;on formerly offending, <HI>Peter,</HI> an e|minent Apo&s;tle; the <HI>manner</HI> of his Con|ver&s;ion, couched in the&s;e two Circum&s;tan|ces, <HI>went out, and wept:</HI> The going out ar|gued, that he loathed the lew'd Company of the &s;inful; his weeping, is an evidence that he abhorred his own &s;in. And here we have the <HI>order</HI> and proce&s;s of his Renovation; Fir&s;t, he <HI>went out,</HI> and then wept. And &s;e|condly, <HI>&s;o &s;oon</HI> as he went out, he wept. In the la&s;t place, is &s;et down the great <HI>Mea|&s;ure,</HI> and high <HI>degree</HI> of his &s;orrow, he wept <HI>bitterly.</HI></P>
<P>It is remarkable, that the infirmities of <HI>Peter,</HI> are more upon the <HI>file,</HI> then any of all the <HI>Apo&s;tles,</HI> as if his <HI>Lap&s;es</HI> were left as <HI>Cautions,</HI> that none, in a puff of Pride, &s;hould &s;oar aloft above others, in regard of priori|ty. In his frailty, we all may behold, as in a <HI>Mirror,</HI> the plain image of our own im|becillity. For if the <HI>Lyon</HI> be vanqui&s;hed, what &s;hall become of the little <HI>Lamb?</HI> Green VVood will warp and &s;hrink, if &s;ea|&s;oned Timber hold not out: &s;lender Tre&s;tles mu&s;t give way, when &s;tronger Pillars bend.
<PB N="159" REF="84">If <HI>Peter,</HI> who&s;e Faith was &s;uppo&s;ed to be &s;trong as a <HI>Rock,</HI> did notwith&s;tanding waver, and reel to and fro like a rowling Stone, it behoves us to look to our feet, which &s;tand upon a more &s;lippery ground. Indeed, it is the delu&s;ion of the &s;educing Spirit, to pro|po&s;e the exorbitances of <HI>Gods Saints,</HI> not for our humiliation, but imitation, as if we could hide our wickedne&s;s under the Vail of their holine&s;s.</P>
<P>Hence was it, that the gods of the <HI>Gen|tiles</HI> were for the mo&s;t part found <HI>criminous,</HI> that men might thence think they &s;inned by <HI>Authority:</HI> and having known by long ex|perience how much he hath thrived by this Project, he &s;till keeps it up, he's mo&s;t bu&s;ie in &s;ifting <HI>Peter,</HI> in laying open to the Eye the imperfections and blemi&s;hes of tho&s;e, which are <HI>above</HI> us, that &s;o the eminence of their Per&s;ons, may make good their Vices, and draw their Examples into Rules. To which purpo&s;e, the &s;elf &s;ame Text which forbids &s;in, &s;hall, by his mi&s;-applying So|phi&s;try, maintain us in &s;inning: Becau&s;e <HI>Peter</HI> fell &s;o hainou&s;ly, his Example &s;hall make the &s;ecure Sinner to hug all &s;u|perfluity of naughtine&s;s, and to run on in the &s;ame exce&s;s of riot, deceiving his own Soul. But his fiery darts do &s;ometimes more heal then hurt; the remembrance of his for|mer <HI>Wiles,</HI> work in the penitent, a dete&s;tati|on of his helli&s;h practi&s;e; and makes his profane delight, his godly &s;orrow.</P>
<PB N="160" REF="85">
<P>Thus Hell helps to Heaven, the Devil again&s;t his will turns Phy&s;itian to <HI>Pe|ter:</HI> for the foyl he received, re&s;olved him into &s;anctifyed Tears, &s;o that he gained more by weeping, then he lo&s;t by &s;inning. The Church reads his <HI>Story,</HI> as a <HI>Rule</HI> of Cir|cum&s;pection, and not of Pre&s;umption; as an <HI>Argument</HI> of Fear, and not of boldne&s;s in &s;inning; as a <HI>Motive</HI> to his Repen|tance, and not to his denial; for to this end it follows, <HI>he went out.</HI></P>
<P>He did well in going out; company doth hinder us to parley with our &s;ins, and to en|large our Meditations. There's no &s;uch time for a man to reconcile him&s;elf, to make his own <HI>Atonement</HI> and peace with God, as when he is alone; then he may fully bewail and bemoan, even be&s;hrew and <HI>&s;hrive</HI> him|&s;elf unto the Lord. Therefore, holy men of old, when they went about to make a fearch, and as it were a que&s;t of inquiry throughout the &s;inful corners of their Con&s;cience, &s;till retired them&s;elves, coveting to be alone, and &s;eque&s;tred from the Croud. <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> when the evening drew nigh, went out alone into the Fields, and poured forth his Orizons, <HI>Gen.</HI> 24. <HI>Jonas,</HI> preparing him&s;elf to mourn, &s;its not &s;till, but went out of the City, and be|ing alone, freely disburdened his bre&s;t into the Bo&s;ome of God, <HI>Jonas</HI> 4. VVhen was it that <HI>Jacob</HI> wra&s;tled with an Angel, and prevailed for a ble&s;&s;ing, but being &s;olitary, private, and left alone? <HI>Gen.</HI> 32. when Gods
<PB N="161" REF="85">will was that <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;hould have the Ex|ecution of certain Ordinances, which him|&s;elf had appointed, he cau&s;ed him fir&s;t to re|move out of his Country, and to &s;eparate from the Di&s;tractions and di&s;turbance of worldly Conver&s;ation, <HI>Gen.</HI> 12. He took <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> up to the top of Mount <HI>Sinai,</HI> and &s;trictly commanded that none &s;hould pre|&s;ume to approach the Mount, while he vouch&s;afed to commune with him, <HI>Exod.</HI> 19. How oft did our <HI>Saviour</HI> withdraw him&s;elf from the multitude, and went out into the Mountains, the De&s;erts, and &s;uch &s;olitary places, to pray unto his <HI>Father?</HI> Wherefore, when <HI>God</HI> &s;tirs thy heart, and makes it in a weeping ca&s;e, (that is) apt, and inclined to &s;hed Tears, with <HI>Peter,</HI> go out into &s;ome convenient place, which may witne&s;s thy Tears, as well as it hath done thy Sin; and where thou mai&s;t freely vent thy &s;orrow and Contrition, without fear or &s;u&s;pition of vain-Glory, without interruption or avoca|tion from tho&s;e &s;ad and &s;erious Contempla|tions, which make thy &s;oul to bleed within. So <HI>Jo&s;eph,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 42.24.</NOTE> when his affection was enflamed towards his Brethren, makes ha&s;te to get him&s;elf into a private room, where this pa&s;|&s;ion of love might more freely vent it &s;elf.</P>
<P>It cannot be denied, but &s;uch, who can well away with a &s;olitary kinde of life, have many opportunities to &s;erve the Lord, which others have not; and have not many imper|fections of the VVorld, which others have.
<PB N="162" REF="86">This made divers voluntarily to relin|qui&s;h their Crown, their Scepter, their Royal Robes, and to dedicate them&s;elves to a <HI>Cloy&s;ters</HI> privacy, that they might live, as they thought, more acceptably to God. Yet I would not have you &s;o to come out of Company, that you make a &s;ullen &s;egrega|tion from all Society, as <HI>Ermites</HI> do in their Caves and Dens; for Temptations are, and may as well be, in the De&s;erts, as in publick Places. Chri&s;t being alone in the Wilderne&s;s, and fa&s;ting too, was tempted, <HI>Mat.</HI> 4. So that 'tis impo&s;&s;ible for a man to avoid Temptations, yea, though he went out of the VVorld, except he left his heart behind him al&s;o. <HI>Gratian</HI> &s;ays well, <HI>Non loco, vel ordines, Creatori no&s;tro nos pro|ximos faciant:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Di&s;tinct.</HI> 40. <HI>c. Non Loca.</HI></NOTE> There's no one <HI>Calling,</HI> &s;tate or condition of Life, that &s;imply of it &s;elf, doth engratiate us with our Maker; but the an&s;wer of a good Con&s;cience, is that which procures his Favour: He that hath a day|ly care to pre&s;erve this, may live as well in a City, as in a Cell. For a le&s;&s;er &s;tick may fire a Billet, and the poore&s;t good Compani|on will do thee &s;ome good. But the place <HI>Peter</HI> quitted, was not the Temple, but the High Prie&s;ts; he brake not company with tho&s;e who profe&s;&s;ed Chri&s;t, but with &s;uch as per&s;ecuted him; it was from them <HI>he went out.</HI></P>
<P>And it was high time he &s;hould &s;o do; for him&s;elf is a &s;ad in&s;tance, how meetings and manners do oft a&s;&s;imilate and &s;ympa|thize.
<PB N="163" REF="86">VVhen <HI>Augu&s;tus</HI> perceived grave Senators talking with <HI>Livia,</HI> but riotous Youths with his Daughter <HI>Julia,</HI> he con|cluded, &s;aith <HI>Suetonius,</HI> the one to be light, and the other &s;taid. Can any one continu|ally handle Pitch, and yet have none clea|ving to his hands? It was an extraordinary Commendation which <HI>Tully</HI> gave to <HI>Mu|rana,</HI> that living among the luxurious <HI>A|&s;ians,</HI> he was not infected with their effe|minacy. <HI>Laus illi tribuenda e&s;t, non qu&ograve;d A|&s;iam viderat, &s;ed qu&ograve;d in A&s;ia continenter vixerat. &V;ly&s;&s;es</HI> is urged as a rare <HI>Pre&s;ident</HI> of temperance, that he kept him&s;elf &s;ober in <HI>Circe</HI>'s Celler. And 'tis one of the pious <HI>Elogies</HI> of the Church, that &s;he flouri&s;h|eth like a <HI>Lilie</HI> among <HI>Thornes,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 2.</NOTE> becau&s;e they are but few that are entire and whole, able to &s;tand upright amid&s;t the &s;harp pre&s;|&s;ures of a crooked Generation, as <HI>Lot</HI> in <HI>Sodome,</HI> or like Fi&s;h in the &s;alt Sea, that can retaine their &s;weetne&s;s even there: 'Tis a matter of as much difficulty to live inno|cently among evil doers, as to &s;wim again&s;t the violence of a &s;tream.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Metaphy&s;. l.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 16.</NOTE> <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> notes it of his Ma&s;ter <HI>Plato,</HI> That abiding long with the <HI>Pythagoreans,</HI> he learned of them many erroneous Opinions. <HI>Julian,</HI> in pro|fe&s;&s;ion, &s;ometimes a Chri&s;tian, by con|ver&s;ing with <HI>Libanius</HI> and <HI>Maximus,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Sozomen. l.</HI> 5. <HI>c.</HI> 2.</NOTE> be|came an Apo&s;tate. The <HI>Hebrews,</HI> dwelling among the Idolatrous <HI>Egyptians,</HI> which wor&s;hipped an <HI>Ox,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Herodotus,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>L.</HI> 2.</NOTE> did i|mitate
<PB N="164" REF="87">them &s;o near, that they wor&s;hipped a <HI>Calf;</HI> and pitching but a while in the plain of <HI>Moab,</HI> they &s;acrificed to <HI>Baal-Peor,</HI> and ate the offerings of the Dead. This made Saint <HI>John</HI> &s;o cautelous,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 2. Ep. 1. 1. v. 10, 11.</NOTE> that in his &s;econd Epi&s;tle, he will not allow &s;o much time as may &s;erve to &s;alute, or bid a dangerous He|retick good &s;peed, le&s;t by u&s;ing that &s;igne of familiarity towards him, we be parta|kers of his &s;in, and &s;o con&s;equently of his puni&s;hment. As is his precept, &s;o was his practi&s;e: for coming into a bath, and &s;pying <HI>Cerinthus</HI> in the &s;ame, he &s;uddenly, &s;aith <HI>Eu&s;ebius,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Elb.</HI> 3.</NOTE> leapes back, crying to his A&s;&s;ociates, <HI>Let's go hence,</HI> le&s;t the bath fall on us, while the Enemy of Gods truth is with us. <HI>Lot</HI> is to ha&s;ten out of <HI>Sodom,</HI> if he will not be burned; and <HI>Peter</HI> mu&s;t come out of <HI>Caiaphas</HI> retinue, before he can come to him&s;elf.</P>
<P>For though it be not &s;hame to deplore our &s;ins in the appearance of men, &s;o long as we do it not that it may appear to men; yet Saint <HI>Pauls Decorum,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14.40.</NOTE> Let all things be done DECENTLY and in order,</HI> will the better di&s;po&s;e us to Devotion. In the great mourning of Jeru&s;alem, <HI>Zachary</HI> tells us,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12.22.</NOTE> That the Family of every Tribe was &s;et apart, and their Wives apart. <HI>My &s;oul,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Jeremiah,</HI> Lamentations the eighth, <HI>&s;hall weep for them in &s;ecret places. I pour out my heart by my &s;elf,</HI> &s;aith the P&s;almi&s;t, <HI>P&s;alm</HI> 42. The man truly humbled, is de|&s;cribed
<PB N="165" REF="87">in the third of the <HI>Lamentations,</HI> to &s;it alone, and to keep &s;ilence: for good Moti|ons are re&s;trained and quenched in the &s;tir and noi&s;e of much people. It is as clear as the <HI>Sun,</HI> that a &s;olitary and private place, is the fitte&s;t to work us to Compunction: We &s;ee the effect of it in <HI>Peter;</HI> for &s;o &s;oon as Chri&s;ts gracious look called him home a|gain, he demurred no longer, but at once left his &s;inful company, and his own &s;inne too.</P>
<P>True Repentance is <HI>early,,</HI> not dilatory: A green Wound is to be taken in hand pre|&s;ently; for if it be &s;uffered to fe&s;ter and wrankle, the Cure will not prove &s;o ea&s;ie. Hence is it, when a true Penitent is through|ly awaked, as <HI>Peter</HI> here, he's forthwith &s;truck with a holy horror, he pre&s;ently be|&s;tirs him&s;elf, never &s;uffers his eyes to &s;leep, nor his Eye-lids to &s;lumber, till he hath made his peace with God by &s;erious humili|ation. The &s;urvey and view of his &s;in, works in him a reformation of his Life, which the <HI>Bapti&s;t</HI> calls <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>The worthy fruits of Repentance;</HI> it brings him to &s;uch an In|dignation and Zeal, that he is much troubled in his deportment. We may behold it in this humble <HI>Penitent:</HI> for &s;o &s;oon as he &s;et foot in the Palace, he ha&s;tes back into the Porch; and at la&s;t, finding no re&s;ting place there, he <HI>went out, and wept;</HI> which is the &s;igne of his Conver&s;ion.</P>
<P>There's nothing doth purcha&s;e God's fa|vor,
<PB N="166" REF="88">more then the Teares of Contrition; for though they are not meritorious cau&s;es, yet they are pregnant &s;ignes of Grace, and &s;anctified means to compa&s;s God's Mercy in on every &s;ide. The Lord accepted the Of|fering of <HI>Eliah,</HI> drowned in waters, when he would not look upon the Oblation of <HI>Baals</HI> Prie&s;ts, though it was &s;owz'd with their own blood, 1 <HI>King.</HI> 18. And &s;o the &s;acrifice of a broken and weeping heart, is more plea&s;ing in his &s;ight, then the giving up our bodies to the Sword. In the Crea|tion, the <HI>Holy-Gho&s;t</HI> lay, and in a holy &s;en&s;e brooded on the waters. In the new Creati|on of a <HI>Convert,</HI> the &s;ame holy Spirit moves &s;till on the waters of Repentance. He makes &s;uch an account of them, that he puts them up in his <HI>Bottle,</HI> writes them in his <HI>Note-book,</HI> as it &s;eemes by the P&s;almi&s;t; &s;o many Tears, for &s;o many Sins, now di&s;char|ged and cro&s;&s;ed.</P>
<P>It is not <HI>Here&s;ie</HI> to &s;ay, That &s;o oft as we bemoan our &s;ins, &s;o oft we are rebaptized; our own tears are the <HI>Element</HI> to purge the &s;taines of pollution. VVhen all Fle&s;h was corrupted, <HI>God</HI> &s;ent the water of that great Flood upon the earth, as a Remedy to clean&s;e it: and if we let the Flood of relenting Tears to over-flow our hearts, it will mor|tifie all carnal Concupi&s;cence, and make fruitful the barren Field of the Soul: &s;o that teares are as nece&s;&s;ary to Chri&s;tians, as the VVaters to the Earth. A Land that's never
<PB N="167" REF="88">watered, brings nothing forth but VVeeds and Thi&s;tles; and the Soul will be unfruitful in good works, which is not watered with the&s;e <HI>natural</HI> &s;howers. Our Saviour tells us,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 18.17.</NOTE> Un|le&s;s we be as little Children, we &s;hall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. You know that Children have no other VVea|pon to defend them&s;elves withal, but Tears; and with tho&s;e likewi&s;e mu&s;t we be armed, if we will prevaile again&s;t the Adver&s;ary. <HI>Pharaoh</HI> was drowned in the water of the Sea, and we have no other <HI>Ocean</HI> to over|whelm our &s;piritual <HI>Pharaoh</HI> in, but our own &s;alt Sea of Tears. <HI>David</HI> was a Mi|racle in weeping, he mingled his Drink with his Tears; he did &s;o drench him&s;elf therein, that he made his Bed &s;wim in Tears; he was &s;o affected with grief, that he changed even the cour&s;e of Nature, de|lighting in no &s;ociety, but compared him|&s;elf to a <HI>Pelican</HI> in the VVilderne&s;s,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 102.6.</NOTE> who&s;e nature is ever to have Tears trickling down her Bill; to an <HI>Owl</HI> of the De&s;art, and to a <HI>Sparrow</HI> that &s;its alone upon the hou&s;e top.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">102.7.</NOTE> A man would think <HI>Jeremiahs</HI> head was all on fire, and that nothing could quench it but a torrent: <HI>O,</HI> &s;aith he,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 9.1.</NOTE> <HI>that my head were waters, and mine eyes a Foun|tain of tears!</HI> VVe &s;hall not finde in any of the Evangeli&s;ts, that Chri&s;t <HI>laughed</HI> at any time, but of his <HI>weeping</HI> we have oft men|tion. He bedewed the way before us, to &s;ignifie that he treads ju&s;t in his &s;teps, who
<PB N="168" REF="89">carries always the &s;orrow of his bitter pa&s;|&s;ion before his eyes; which is my la&s;t part, he high degree of <HI>Peters</HI> grief; in that he twept <HI>bitterly.</HI></P>
<P>Tho&s;e <HI>bitter</HI> Tears, mu&s;t needs flow out of the bottom of a heart throughly broken; they did te&s;tifie <HI>he went out,</HI> to &s;peak in his own tearms, 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 3.9. <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>to retire</HI> to Repentance. Gall and Vinegar was our Sa|viours bitter Potion on the Cro&s;s; and the &s;ame, in a my&s;tical &s;ence, mu&s;t be ours, if we vvill crucifie the <HI>old Man.</HI> Hence it is, we read in the Scripture of
<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Lu. 18.</NOTE> <HI>knocking</HI> our &s;to|ny hearts, of
<NOTE N="(b)" PLACE="marg">Jer. 31.</NOTE> <HI>&s;miting</HI> the Thigh,
<NOTE N="(c)" PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 13.</NOTE> <HI>ted|ring</HI> the hair, <HI>wringing</HI> the hands,
<NOTE N="(d)" PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.</NOTE> <HI>put|ting</HI> on &s;ackcloth,
<NOTE N="(e)" PLACE="marg">Job 42.</NOTE> <HI>&s;trewing A&s;hes,
<NOTE N="(f)" PLACE="marg">Dan. 16.</NOTE> howling,</HI> and lying on the ground. For the&s;e &s;ignificant Rites and Ceremonies, expre&s;s true Repentance; which, if they be u&s;ed in &s;incerity and &s;implicity, and not in a &s;uper&s;titious, di&s;&s;embled, perfunctory Hy|pocri&s;ie, will be powerful with the Almigh|ty.</P>
<P>A penitent &s;inner is to u&s;e &s;everity again&s;t him&s;elf. Holy <HI>Bernard</HI> &s;ays truely, <HI>In quan|tum non peperceris tibi, in tantum Deus ti|bi parcit:</HI> In how little thou do&s;t &s;pare thy &s;elf, by &s;o much the more God will &s;pare thee</P>
<P>The coming of the Lord into our hum|bled Souls, may be re&s;embled by his appea|rance to <HI>Eliah.</HI> Fir&s;t, there came a mighty &s;trong <HI>Wind,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 19.15. <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> that rent the Mountains, brake
<PB N="169" REF="89">the Rocks: After the wind, came an <HI>Earth|quake;</HI> after that, a <HI>fire;</HI> and la&s;t of all, came a <HI>&s;oft</HI> and <HI>&s;till</HI> voyce. So the Lord appears to the mortified Chri&s;tians; Fir&s;t, by the <HI>Wind</HI> of his VVrath, breaking his Spirits; then by the <HI>Earthquake</HI> of his In|dignation, &s;haking his Soul; then by the <HI>Fire</HI> of his di&s;plea&s;ure, &s;moaking his Con|&s;cience: but in the end, by the <HI>&s;till</HI> Voyce of his Mercy, he refre&s;heth his drooping heart.</P>
<P>It is not erroneous Doctrine, to &s;ay, VVe mu&s;t, after a &s;ort, be in hell, before we can be capable of Heaven: That is, in the hell of an a&s;hamed, affrighted, and confounded Con&s;cience, before the Lord will &s;peak unto us, that he is our Redemption. 'Tis recorded of Chri&s;t, that in the days of his Fle&s;h, he of|fered prayers and &s;upplications, with &s;trong cries and tears, <HI>Heb.</HI> 5. He did not onely cry, but &s;traine him&s;elf with vehemency; that we might know, it is not the faint, but the violent <HI>bitter</HI> cry, which layeth hold on Heaven. <HI>Peter</HI> did abound in &s;obbing and lamentation,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lament. 2.</NOTE> letting tears run down like a <HI>River:</HI> Yet, as one &s;aith of his weeping, <HI>Invenio qu&ograve;d flevit, non invenio quid dixit:</HI> Though I finde he <HI>wept,</HI> I do not finde what he <HI>&s;aid:</HI> his tears did &s;upply the defect of his &s;peech, they were more <HI>energetical,</HI> more per&s;wa&s;ive, then any words. The&s;e are the be&s;t <HI>Orators</HI> to plead and intercede for Re|mi&s;&s;ion before the Throne of Grace, like
<PB N="170" REF="90"><HI>rain,</HI> they penetrate more profitably, by fal|ling without noy&s;e.</P>
<P>If any finde him&s;elf to be <GAP DESC="foreign">, of &s;uch a dry <HI>brawny</HI> temper, that he's unapt to weep: if his eyes be like to the Moun|taines of <HI>Gilboah,</HI> on which neither Dew nor Rain did fall; yet let him cry with his heart, and that will be <HI>Taciturnitas Cla|mo&s;i&s;&s;ima,</HI> a &s;ilence that &s;peaks loud in the Eares of our Redeemer. The <HI>groans</HI> of the poor <HI>Publican,</HI> pierceth Heaven more then the noy&s;e of the talking <HI>Phari&s;ee.</HI> When <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> at the Red Sea, was environ'd with Enemies behind, with Rocks and Hills on each &s;ide, the Text &s;aith, They made a doleful <HI>howling</HI> to the Lord, but <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> held his peace: yet in the i&s;&s;ue, <HI>Populus clamabat, &amp; non audiebatur; tace|bat Mo&s;es, &amp; audiebatur;</HI> the people cryed, and were not heard; <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> held his peace, and was heard. <HI>Why do&s;t thou cry unto me?</HI> &s;aith God, <HI>Exod.</HI> 14. v. 15. when he uttered never a word, nor made any noy&s;e we read of, onely his heart cryed, and that was it the Searcher and Ob&s;erver of hearts li&s;ten'd unto. So that the compunction of the fluent melting heart, is ab&s;olutely ne|ce&s;&s;ary to unfained repentance.</P>
<P>To this contrition in heart, the <HI>School</HI> adds confe&s;&s;ion in word, and &s;atisfaction in work. Take away the <HI>Leven</HI> of Popery from tho&s;e two acts (that is) their ab&s;olute ne|ce&s;&s;ity, and dignity of merit, and for ought I
<PB N="171" REF="90">yet &s;ee, we go &s;o far: confe&s;&s;ion to the Lords Mini&s;ter, the Arch-bi&s;hop <HI>&V;&s;her</HI> admits in &s;ome ca&s;es, as <HI>Medicinal,</HI> not as <HI>Sacramental.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">In an&s;wer to a Je&s;uite.</NOTE> Such as cannot quiet their own brea&s;ts, mu&s;t be pre&s;&s;ed to unbo&s;ome, and unca&s;e their con|&s;cience; to open and di&s;cover their &s;piritual wounds to their gho&s;tly Phy&s;itian, for their further In&s;truction. When the Sinner can finde no ea&s;e at home, what &s;hould he do but u&s;e the be&s;t means he can to finde it abroad? Yet a <HI>Penitent</HI> which confe&s;&s;eth his faults dai|ly in humble &s;upplications, that &s;hews his grones, and &s;ends up Lamentations from the depth of the Soul to God alone, who &s;eeth the things that are in &s;ecret; If he reform his <HI>Ex|ce&s;&s;es,</HI> and cea&s;e from his former &s;ins for the time to come, no nece&s;&s;ity can <HI>ab&s;olutely</HI> bind &s;uch a one to bring him&s;elf upon the &s;tage, or to confe&s;s each particular to a <HI>Prie&s;t</HI> for obtaining remi&s;&s;ion. His remedy is within him&s;elf; his own internal repentance will gain him acce&s;s to his Saviour.</P>
<P>As for <HI>Canonical</HI> &s;atisfaction, the Church in the daies of <HI>Yore</HI> had power to proportion penance according to the quality of the of|fence.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">See <HI>Caran|za, c.</HI> 31. <HI>or</HI> 37.</NOTE> The primitive di&s;cipline did thus mea&s;ure the delinquents humiliation du|ring the time of their enjoyned puni&s;hment: &s;ome were called <HI>Andientes,</HI> becau&s;e they might onely &s;tay the Sermon.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Concil. A|gath. Con. Nice. Cypri. l.</HI> 3.</NOTE> Others were &s;tiled <HI>Orantes,</HI> in that they might be pre&s;ent at the Prayers, but not at the <HI>Euchari&s;t.</HI> If any in the time of per&s;ecution had denied
<PB N="172" REF="91">the faith, though it were much again&s;t their will, yet they were to undergo a bitter pe|nance, and that was to continue three years at lea&s;t. Some had it prolonged <HI>ad Magnum Diem,</HI> even till the hour of their death, as ap|pears <HI>Can. 6. concil. Ancyrani:</HI> our Church of <HI>England</HI> allow'd greater mitigation and re|laxation from the former &s;everity, conde&s;cen|ding, like an indulgent <HI>Mother,</HI> to the weak|ne&s;s of her children, le&s;t &s;ome &s;hould rather hazard the lo&s;s of heaven, then endure &s;uch a rigor by a publique acknowledgment of their tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions. And herein the pro|ceeding was prudent:
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Gratian.</HI> 1. <HI>di&s;t. de pan.</HI></NOTE> for <HI>apud Deum non tant&ugrave;m valet men&s;ura temporis, qu&agrave;m doloris;</HI> God regards not the <HI>Length</HI> but the <HI>Strength</HI> of our repentance; not the <HI>Time,</HI> but the <HI>Truth</HI> of our contrition. Yet the <HI>Eccle&s;i|e&s;tical</HI> Story pre&s;ents &s;ome to our view, who voluntarily afflicted them&s;elves in a great mea&s;ure, and high degree, by watching whole nights, lying on the hard earth: which being u&s;ed without any &s;uper&s;titious opinion of merit, or &s;atisfaction, I cannot di&s;allow.</P>
<P><HI>Irenaeus</HI> tells us of a Woman &s;educed by <HI>Mark</HI> the heretique,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>L.</HI> 5.8.27.</NOTE> which did &s;o bewail her offence, that her life and laments did end to|gether. <HI>Natalis,</HI> the heretical Bi&s;hop in <HI>Eu&s;ebius,</HI> puts on Sack-cloth, and a&s;hes, and falling down before the feet of the Bi&s;hop with unce&s;&s;ant tears, and &s;ighes, implores a pardon.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>L.</HI> 3. <HI>c.</HI> 11.</NOTE> <HI>Ecebolius</HI> in <HI>Socrates</HI> Pro&s;trates him&s;elf to the feet of the Pa&s;&s;engers, crying,
<PB N="173" REF="91"><HI>Tread me, tread me under your feet; for I am the un&s;avory Salt.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>L.</HI> 1. <HI>de pa|nit. c.</HI> 16.</NOTE> Saint <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> gives us a <HI>Ca|talogue</HI> of many, who macerated and wither'd their cheeks with weeping, and by con|tinual ab&s;tinence made their living bodies the very image of Death. The&s;e did conform them&s;elves to the place of their habitation; &amp; &s;eeing the world was nothing el&s;e to them but the valley of <HI>Bochim,</HI> of Weepers, like mournful <HI>Doves,</HI> they &s;pent their lives in re|lenting tears, that thereby they might di&s;|charge and blot out the bill and <HI>hand-writing,</HI> which was on record again&s;t them.</P>
<P>Thus I have given a rude draught of the limbs and branches of the unfallible &s;igns of an unfaigned humiliation. But what of all this? What is my Illation? It is the &s;ame, which Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> infers upon that to the <HI>Romans.</HI></P>
<P>For where the Apo&s;tle &s;aies,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.28.</NOTE> <HI>All things worke together for the be&s;t to tho&s;e that love God;</HI> the holy Father is bold to conclude, <HI>Etiam peccata, Domine;</HI> yea even our &s;ins, <HI>Lord,</HI> do that too. For do they not make for our good, when thereby we become more humble, more devout, more wary in our con|ver&s;ation? Saint <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> ob&s;erves, that <HI>Peters</HI> faith was &s;tronger after his fall, then before; as a broken bone well &s;et, is the fa&s;ter. Hence it is that the <HI>Angels</HI> triumph with &s;uch an exceeding joy for the conver|&s;ion of a notorious &s;inner, becau&s;e &s;uch a one effectually reclaimed, becomes more di&s;|plea&s;ed,
<PB N="174" REF="92">more fallen out with him&s;elf for his &s;ins then any other. None more fearful of relap&s;es, none more careful and &s;incere in Gods &s;ervice then he. The Soul of <HI>Iona|than</HI> was not &s;o knit to <HI>David,</HI> as his is to the &s;on of <HI>David.</HI> The general drift and de&s;ire of his heart, is in nothing willingly to &s;in a|gain&s;t God, but in every thing to <HI>approve</HI> him&s;elf before him. Upon this ground <HI>Ber|nard</HI> makes repentant eyes the <HI>Angel</HI>'s Cellars, and penitent tears their &s;weete&s;t Wines, becau&s;e they make them glad for the benefit which thereby accrues. Therefore for the comfort of true penitents, <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> after his re&s;urrection appeared fir&s;t to <HI>Mary Magdalen,</HI> and to <HI>Peter,</HI> who of grievous &s;inners proved the &s;ounde&s;t converts. The one never left mourning for her &s;ins till &s;he left the world; and the other, as 'tis &s;toryed of him, every night about the crowing of the cocke, did ri&s;e, and pray with continual tears. The holy <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> fluxed eyes &s;hould be Ser|mons unto ours; and his weeping for his de|nying, mu&s;t put us in minde of our denyals. For not to yeild obedience to what we know, what el&s;e is it then in effect to deny Chri&s;t? If ever you will allot a time of tears, be|gin now while it is day, le&s;t darkne&s;s over|take you, and there be none to help you.</P>
<P>In the&s;e &s;ad dayes of humiliation, every eye &s;hould &s;hed forth teares, and all faces gather blackne&s;s; that as we have &s;pent our fir&s;t days in &s;in, &s;o may we our la&s;t in &s;or|row.
<PB N="175" REF="92">Is not wrath gone forth from the Lord, when the Dove, with the Olive-Branch, is flying from us? Who can wa&s;h his hands from tho&s;e &s;ins, which have brought a publick calamity upon him&s;elf and others? And therefore we &s;hould be deeply affected with the &s;mart of the <HI>Land.</HI> He that looks on &s;in, in the milde&s;t notion of it, &s;hall finde in it plentiful matter to fetch tears; but he that weighs it more narrowly in the Balance of the Sanctuary, and takes a view of all &s;uch pa&s;&s;ages as add to the hainou&s;ne&s;s of it, what is it that can turn his eyes into a Foun|tain of tears, if this doth it not? when a man weighs with him&s;elf, that he hath grieved the good <HI>Spirit</HI> of God, provoked &s;o mer|ciful a <HI>Saviour</HI> as Chri&s;t is, di&s;plea&s;ed &s;o lo|ving a <HI>Father</HI> as God hath been to him, that he hath &s;inned again&s;t the experience and effects of Mercy, again&s;t the reluctancy and checks of his own Con&s;cience, again&s;t his own Vows and Re&s;olutions to the contrary; how &s;hould this make his heart to bleed within? Add hereunto, how at &s;uch a time when thou wert in the <HI>Act</HI> of uncleanne&s;s, of drunkenne&s;s, and the like, the ju&s;t God might have &s;ent thee to Hell in the very Act; he might have made thy tongue to rot, the la&s;t <HI>Oath</HI> thou did&s;t vainly &s;wear. Ma|ny in hell have not &s;inned the &s;ins we have done; and &s;o we might have been howling and yelling in everla&s;ting burnings at this in|&s;tant, did not Gods pure Mercy deliver us.
<PB N="176" REF="93">As then <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> threw <HI>Salt</HI> into the waters,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Kin. 2.21.</NOTE> to make them &s;weet, &s;o let us &s;ea&s;on our prayers with <HI>&s;alt</HI> teares, to make them &s;avory to the Lord.</P>
<P>Give us, we be&s;eech thee, holy <HI>Father,</HI> the Springs <HI>above,</HI> and the Springs <HI>beneath;</HI> the Springs of the <HI>heart,</HI> and the Springs of the <HI>eyes,</HI> to weep bitterly and unce&s;&s;antly for the &s;ins of our Souls; that &s;o, having our mea&s;ure of tears here, we may be freed from them without mea&s;ure hereafter, and be re|ceived into tho&s;e ineffable Joyes, which nei|ther Eye hath &s;een, nor Ear hath heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man to con|ceive. Grant this, good God, we be&s;eech Thee, for Je&s;us Chri&s;ts &s;ake, our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="177" REF="93">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Heb. 12. fir&s;t part ver&s;. 6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Whom the Lord Loves, he cha&s;tens.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. XI.</NOTE>THe exigents of this life, were at the fir&s;t onely the wages of &s;in: but Gods gracious mercy, which brought hony out of the <HI>Lions</HI> brea&s;t,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 14.</NOTE> turn'd al&s;o our wounds into a Plai&s;ter, and made that the re|medy, which he ordain'd to be the &s;mart of our offence. Nor ought it &s;eeme &s;trange that Gods vi&s;itation &s;hould produce effects &s;o mainly different, &s;ince the very &s;ame meat in a whole&s;ome body, turns to pure and &s;olid nouri&s;hment, which in a di&s;temper'd &s;to|macke encrea&s;eth the malignant humour there predominant. How&s;oever then the&s;e benefits which redound to us by the &s;everi|ty of Gods ju&s;tice, may &s;eeme to be be&s;tow'd with a frowning countenance, yet the event will &s;hew them whole&s;ome arguments of his favour; For <HI>whom the Lord loves he cha&s;tens.</HI> In which po&s;ition are three points remark|able: Fir&s;t, The means, which the divine Ma|je&s;ty u&s;eth to prove who be His; and the&s;e be <HI>Chasti&s;ements.</HI> Secondly, the per&s;ons to|wards whom he u&s;eth the&s;e means, <HI>Whom he Loves,</HI> his Sons: La&s;tly, The duty and pra|cti&s;e how to demean our &s;elves in this tryal, following by way of con&s;equence; and that
<PB N="178" REF="94">mu&s;t be done in a patient &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to the will of God, &s;ince his cha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters">&s;ements are ef|fects of his love. I begin with the means, to|gether with the prime Author and di&s;po&s;er thereof, namely the Lord, <HI>HE cha&s;tens.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Preacher</HI> hath ob&s;erved long &s;ince, That <HI>the race is not to the Swift, nor the battle to the Strong, nor favor to men of Knowledge.</HI> Eccle&s;. 3. And is there no complayning in our &s;treets, that they who are but <HI>Gregarii ordinis,</HI> meanly gifted, to our thinking, are exalted, when others of known abilities are kept low? In regard of this &s;eeming confu|&s;ion in the di&s;pen&s;ing of earthly moveables, the <HI>Stoiques</HI> Dream'd all things to be gover|ned by Fate, or Di&s;tiny; the <HI>Epicures</HI> and Poets attributed the Soveraignty to Chance or Fortune. But the&s;e pre-conceits were fi|ctions and fables; the <HI>onely wi&s;e</HI> God makes him&s;elf the prime Author of all tho&s;e pre&s;|&s;ures, which are incident to tho&s;e that are neer and dear unto him. Hence is it that the prophetical writings &s;eldome mention an affliction, but the Author is annexed, <HI>I the Lord have done it.</HI> In <HI>Amos</HI> 3. he makes it his bu&s;ine&s;s to per&s;wade it. All things, &s;aith the &s;on of <HI>Syrach,</HI> are <HI>double,</HI> one again&s;t ano|ther, <HI>ch.</HI> 42.24, 25. and that for <HI>the good of one another.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 25.</NOTE> Thus the dulne&s;s of cold &s;erves to qualifie and mitigate the eager activity of the heat. If fulne&s;s hath clo&s;ed thy eyes a|again&s;t the Divine light, &s;carcity is at hand to open them, and to abate that tympany of
<PB N="179" REF="94">pride, which pro&s;terity hath engender'd. <HI>To this end, I <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"></HI> the Almighty, <HI>form the light, and create the darkne&s;s,</HI> E&s;ay 45. This was Typified in <HI>Ezechiels</HI> vi&s;ion, <HI>chap.</HI> 1. For when he &s;aw the Maje&s;ty of God after the appearance of a <HI>Man,</HI> there were four Wheels which moved before him, thereby &s;ignifying there's nothing done within the compa&s;s of the round world, but the eye of Gods providence appears in it. If He pro|nounce <HI>Fiat,</HI> or <HI>Corruat,</HI> helpe, or hurt, both Heaven and Earth obey him, <HI>As a handmaid looks to the eye of her Mi&s;tre&s;s.</HI> Indeed we read, <HI>chap.</HI> 19. <HI>v.</HI> 1. of <HI>Job,</HI> there came a great wind from the Wilderne&s;s, which &s;o &s;mote the four corners of the hou&s;e, where <HI>Iob's</HI> Children were Fea&s;ting, that it fell on them to their ruine: but the <HI>P&s;almi&s;t</HI> declares it is the Lord which <HI>brings the winds out of his trea&s;ures,</HI> P&s;al. 135.7. Doth <HI>David's ene|mies compa&s;s round about to devour his Soul like a Lion that is greedy of his prey?</HI> P&s;al. 17.5. Yet in that very P&s;alm, where he prays a|gain&s;t them, he acknowledgeth them to be the <HI>Sword</HI> of the Lord, and the <HI>men of his hand,</HI> v. 13. 14.</P>
<P>How&s;oever, that Innocency &s;hould every where be marked out to mi&s;ery, at this the Saints have oft not marvail'd, but &s;tood ama|zed. But marvail not at it, the doors of the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> were all be&s;prinkled with blood: affliction and &s;orrow are the markes of the be&s;t,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Greg.</NOTE> <HI>Et licet occultum &s;it c&ugrave;m bonis mal&egrave; eve|niat,
<PB N="180" REF="95">&amp; malis ben&egrave;;</HI> though it be a &s;ecret my|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ry, that the good are di&s;tre&s;&s;ed, and the ill pro&s;per; yet 'tis a greater &s;ecret, and God works more again&s;t cour&s;e and kinde, when ill men are mole&s;ted, and the good pro&s;per. Whereas we read, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 2. <HI>O&s;culamini fili|um,</HI> ki&s;s the Son <HI>(i.)</HI> do honour and homage to the Son of God, &s;ome render it <HI>apprehen|dite di&s;ciplinam,</HI> apprehend his di&s;cipline, o|bey his ordinances, &s;ubmit to his corrections: For to &s;ay truth, a man can hardly attain to a well-&s;etl'd peace, till he hath been &s;ome way di&s;ciplin'd by the hand of Heaven.</P>
<P>It is not the method in Gods School, to bring us to Heaven by ea&s;e, and flattery; there's no pa&s;&s;age form interrupted joyes on earth, to tho&s;e permanent felicities which are above. For the way we mu&s;t tread is &s;pred with thorns, not ro&s;es; the gate we are to en|ter is narrow, and requires our earne&s;t endea|vours to pa&s;s through it with a religious vi|olence. For if it were convenient that Chri&s;t &s;hould fir&s;t &s;uffer, and then enter into his Glory; ought not we to take the like pains, and &s;o follow him? You would think it a &s;trange <HI>Soloeci&s;m,</HI> that the <HI>General</HI> &s;hould lead the way with &s;ighs and groans, and his wan|ton Souldiers dance after him: that a &s;ick and tormented head &s;hould be furni&s;hed with a pampered body, with &s;oft &amp; delicate mem|bers.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.24.</NOTE> <HI>He that will be my Di&s;ciple,</HI> &s;aith Chri&s;t, <HI>mu&s;t take up his cro&s;s, and follow me.</HI> You &s;ee upon what conditions we are entertain|ed;
<PB N="181" REF="95">not as idle drones to lay all on his neck; our own &s;houlders mu&s;t &s;mart al&s;o, and we take up his cro&s;s, and follow him. Follow him, not to <HI>Ieru&s;alem</HI> in triumph, but to the fatal Garden, where he was arre&s;ted; and if he yet cal, to mount <HI>Calvary,</HI> where he was crucifi'd.</P>
<P>God deals with us here, as we do with our own clothes, which we cut out into &s;everal &s;mall parcels, before we make up into an en|tire and compleat garment: What then if our heavenly Father &s;uffer us to be torn and rent a&s;under? It is the better to fit us for that heavenly Robe, that our mortality may the ea&s;ier put on Immortality, and our Savi|our rai&s;e us to a &s;econd being, when he &s;ees us &s;hattered into our fir&s;t du&s;t. They who in ordinary races contend for ma&s;teries, harden their bodies by a &s;trict diet, &s;ubmit them|&s;elves to a &s;evere di&s;cipline, and with delight ab&s;tain from tho&s;e meats which flatter their palats. They are daily exerci&s;ed, vexed, weakned; and the more oppre&s;&s;ed with la|bour, the greater hope they conceive of vi|ctory. It cannot then be, that Chri&s;t &s;hould &s;o much neglect his own Champions, as to leave them &s;oftned and broken with &s;loth, who are to wre&s;tle not with men or bea&s;ts, but with <HI>Principalities, and Powers, and &s;pi|ritual wickedne&s;s, and tho&s;e in high Places. Ierom</HI> is peremptory, <HI>Non potes tran&s;ire &agrave; de|litiis ad delitias,</HI> we mu&s;t not think to pa&s;s from the delights of this world directly and immediately to the joyes of the next. The
<PB N="182" REF="96">children of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> had many windings and turnings, much encumbrances by de&s;erts and Serpents, before they came to the Land of <HI>Canaan.</HI> This typified our pa&s;&s;age to the <HI>Canaan</HI> above. For the weakne&s;s of our na|ture is &s;uch, that we grow proud, and thereby endanger the lo&s;s of our &s;elves, if we over|much ta&s;t of Gods bountiful favours.</P>
<P>After that our Saviour had commended <HI>Peter,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.17.</NOTE> &s;aying, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed art thou Simon, for fle&s;h and blood hath not revealed that unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven;</HI> Pre&s;ently he became &s;o hot and forvvard on this favour, as quickly after he would needs &s;eek to hin|der our Redeemer from his pa&s;&s;ion; pre&s;u|ming to &s;ay Ma&s;ter,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 22.</NOTE> pity thy &s;elf, <HI>this &s;hall not be unto thee.</HI> And &s;o vvhen <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;avv it plea&s;|ed God to talke familiarly with him, he could not contain him&s;elf from further pre&s;umtion, but enters into the&s;e vvords; <HI>I be&s;eech thee &s;hew me thy Glory,</HI> Exod. 33. To humble us then, and to bring us to the knovvledge of our &s;elves, vve are made vveak, our bones are oft vex'd, and bitter Wormvvood is mingled vvith our honey; vve being like a Damask-Ro&s;e, &s;vveeter in the <HI>Still</HI> then on the Stalk. Gods hand &s;trikes his peculiar adherents like the <HI>Launcer</HI> of a Surgeon, not to let out the Soul, but the impo&s;thumed blood. His &s;tripes carry along a Soveraign healing <HI>Bal&s;am:</HI> And &s;o much is imply'd in the orginal vvord of my Text; for <GAP DESC="foreign">, being derived from <GAP DESC="foreign">, notes &s;uch a di&s;ci|pline,
<PB N="183" REF="96">which a tender parent laies upon his deer child, and that is more to in&s;truct then correct. <HI>Man being in honour, hath no under|&s;tanding,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet <HI>David:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 59.20.</NOTE> the &s;ame tune is &s;ung by the Son of <HI>David, The pro|&s;perity of fools de&s;troys them.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 1.</NOTE> But a wi&s;er then <HI>Solomon,</HI> intitles his patients heirs of eternal Ble&s;&s;edne&s;s. No marvail then if the benefit be &s;o great, that God be&s;tows it onely on whom he loves, and admits none into the number of his Sons, but whom he cha&s;tens. And &s;o I proceed to the per&s;ons towards whom he u&s;eth the&s;e means of Cha&s;ti&s;e|ments, <HI>Whom he loves.</HI></P>
<P>Gods love is very large, and therefore the better to under&s;tand it, we mu&s;t &s;ee how it is di&s;tingui&s;hed. There is his <HI>General,</HI> and his <HI>Special</HI> love: By his <HI>General</HI> love he loves the univer&s;ality of the creature; for to love, is nothing but to will well, and to do well to any. Now Gods goodne&s;s is over all; for e|very thing hath life, motion, and being from him. He pre&s;erves the very bea&s;ts. <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 36. But this manifold kindne&s;s, which he extends to all indifferently, is &s;o &s;hort of that &s;pecial love wherewith he embraceth the elect in Chri&s;t, that when Saint <HI>Paul</HI> comes to con|&s;ider it, he rai&s;eth his &s;tile, as wanting a word &s;ufficient to expre&s;s it: in <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 4.7. 'tis &s;tiled great love, rich mercy, yea and more, the <HI>exceeding</HI> riches of his Grace. In <HI>Eph.</HI> 3. 'tis de&s;cribed to be a Love incomprehen&s;ible; for in <HI>ver.</HI> 9. 'tis &s;aid to <HI>Surpa&s;s</HI> knowledge.
<PB N="184" REF="97">Hence is it that the <HI>P&s;almi&s;t</HI> compares it to the love of a <HI>Father,</HI> the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> pre|fers it before the tender bowels of a <HI>Mo|ther,</HI> and the Apo&s;tle in the <GAP DESC="foreign"> of the Text confirms this &s;ingular and &s;uperabun|dant love of God. For <GAP DESC="foreign">, is derived from <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>vald<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> and <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>acquie&s;co;</HI> which in&s;tructs us, that God in the love of his Church finds a complacency, or well|plea&s;ingne&s;s, an oblectation, delight, or con|tentment. According to that in <HI>Zephany</HI> 3.17. The Lord will <HI>quiet</HI> him&s;elf in the love of his Church, he will rejoyce over her with joy.</P>
<P>Nor ought it to &s;tagger fle&s;h and blood, that God &s;uffers his Church to be &s;o tor|mented, if his entire love towards her be &s;o great; for affliction is the tryal of a Chri&s;tian: It is without <HI>Here&s;ie,</HI> a true <HI>Purgatory</HI> on earth, wherein good men are purified. For though fire con&s;ume &s;traw, it purgeth Gold; and that calamity which confounds the wic|ked, doth but refine the godly. It &s;treng|thens and confirms them, as bla&s;ts of wind encrea&s;e the flame; and like <HI>Antaeus</HI> in the Fable, the oftner ca&s;t down, the greater courage is regained. There's nothing more unhappy, then a man perpetually happy; It's a &s;ign &s;uch a one is contemned of God as a coward, and unfit to war under his Banner. <HI>Alexander</HI> the great made choice of the <HI>Stipendiarii</HI> his <HI>PENSIONERS,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">.</HI>l 1</NOTE> for his prime Souldiers in his Per&s;ian expedition.
<PB N="185" REF="97">And thus tho&s;e who are <HI>Gods Pen&s;ioners,</HI> en|riched with his continual favours, are cho&s;en to be his <HI>Triarii,</HI> his couragious and con&s;tant Souldiers in the Church Militant; who when they are brui&s;ed and cru&s;hed in the outward man, are yet &s;o &s;ound in the Inner man, that like a firm Tower they &s;tand un&s;haken for all the Devils battery. To the&s;e are committed the harde&s;t and mo&s;t dangerous exploits, &amp; &s;o they cannot but count them&s;elves honoured by the <HI>Lord</HI> of <HI>Ho&s;ts,</HI> who elects and e&s;teems them worthy for the noble&s;t enterpri&s;es.</P>
<P>This is no new art: for if we run over the li&s;t of Saints from the beginning of the World, we &s;hall finde God adopts none but &s;uch as know <HI>how</HI> to be <HI>Wretched.</HI> In the fir&s;t of daies, rather then righteous <HI>Abel</HI> &s;hall not &s;uffer, a <HI>Brother</HI> will be his executioner. <HI>Abraham,</HI> the friend of God, mu&s;t fir&s;t be bani&s;hed from his own Country, before thought fit to be a Citizen of Heaven. Is not <HI>Jacob</HI> per&s;ecuted by <HI>E&s;au,</HI> as if affliction came by inheritance? Is not <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> al&s;o &s;old by his Brethren? <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> no &s;ooner leaves the Court of <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> but the world leaves him: what armies of mi&s;chief begirt him, when once it appeared he made religion his profe&s;&s;ion? <HI>David</HI> a man after Gods own heart, fought as many Battles with afflictions as with the enemies of <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> The pur&s;uit of a cruel Ma&s;ter, the unnatural rebellion of a Son, the apo&s;tacy of friends, and his own foul enormities, were means quick enough
<PB N="186" REF="98">to keep him from worldly content, and to ranke him in the fir&s;t place with tho&s;e, who became <HI>Worthies</HI> by affliction. If we pro|ceed, we may behold that royal Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> divided with a Saw, <HI>Jeremy</HI> at once &s;lain, and buried in a &s;howre of &s;tones; <HI>Daniel,</HI> who fed their Souls with the word of the living God, made a prey for Lions: and to conclude, what corner of the world is not made famous by the &s;everal martyrdomes of the <HI>Apo&s;tles?</HI> So that I may truly call tribulation the Phy|&s;ick of good men, which keeps them from the &s;urfet of Spiritual pride, and vain confidence in their own gho&s;tly &s;trength. <HI>In their affli|ctions they will &s;eek me diligently,</HI> &s;aith God him&s;elf, <HI>Ho&s;ea</HI> 5. For when they feel the heavy hand of God, and &s;everely &s;mart under his Rod, they are brought to an acknowledg|ment of their &s;ins, from which they might think them&s;elves free, did not &s;ome cha&s;ti&s;e|ment put them in mind of their de&s;ert. Be|&s;ides, &s;hould the ungodly live alwaies in pro|&s;perity, it might be thought they loved Hea|ven for their own ea&s;e, and &s;erved God more for his reward, then honour. So Satan ob|jected again&s;t <HI>Iob,</HI> that he loved God be|cau&s;e he gained by him, <HI>Iob</HI> 1. But affliction makes it appear, that their wor&s;hip is not grounded upon temporal re&s;pects, when they can adore him in the bed of &s;ickne&s;s as cheerfully as in the greate&s;t calm of fortune; and are &s;o far from tying their duties to his outward re&s;pects, that in a down-ca&s;t e&s;tate
<PB N="187" REF="98">they can renounce them&s;elves for him, who by withdrawing his hand &s;eemes quite to have for&s;aken them.</P>
<P>Again, &s;hould Chri&s;tians want afflictions, their virtue would want matter to feed upon; and like an active fire &s;adly decay, if the fuel be once &s;ub&s;tracted. Should they continual|ly enjoy an interrupted felicity, what would become of their fortitude, humility, pati|ence, which had they not an Adver&s;ary to grapple with, would be buried in &s;luggi&s;h|ne&s;s? No Ro&s;e &s;prings without a thorn; and moral Philo&s;ophy teacheth us, there's no vir|tue but hath a double vice to encounter with. They &s;ay the <HI>Eagle</HI> expo&s;eth her young ones to the tryal of the Sun, the Gold&s;mith de&s;|cries the Metal by the Touch-&s;tone, and God approves or rejects his &s;ervants as com|mended by adver&s;ity. Are not the hotte&s;t Spices brayed in a Mortar, that they may yeild a more fragrant &s;mell? And do they not pre&s;s the faire&s;t and ripe&s;t Grapes, to bring forth their &s;weete&s;t juice? Ripe and full Ears are &s;mitten with the Flail, to beat the corn out of them, and the corn is grin|ded to make Flour. Whereupon Saint <HI>Iohn</HI> profe&s;&s;eth, <HI>chap.</HI> 16. <HI>In mundo pre&s;&s;uram ha|bebitis:</HI> though ye be Gods cho&s;en, ye &s;hall have pre&s;&s;ures and grievances in this world, that God may be glorified amid&s;t your cheer|ful &s;uffrings.</P>
<P>The <HI>Phy&s;itian</HI> permits to tho&s;e, whom he de&s;pairs to recover, a liberty of their de&s;ires;
<PB N="188" REF="99">but where hope of amendment may encou|rage his proceedings, bitter potions are there admini&s;tred, and the intemperate longings of an unruly appetite mo&s;t &s;everely curbed: The bea&s;ts which are ordained for Slaughter, we permit freely to range in the fruitfulle&s;t pa&s;tures, little regarding the extraordinary thriving of tho&s;e we accu&s;tome to Labour. Fruitful Vines are cut, and Pruned, and dre&s;&s;ed, while the luxurious branches of the barren are re&s;erved onely for the fire. Do not then repine to &s;ee the wicked flouri&s;h; they are men quite given over by the Phy&s;i|tian of their Souls, and left to a reprobate &s;en&s;e; they lye in Hell like &s;heep, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 49. and may fitly be compared to the unhappy fig-tree in the Go&s;pel, not worth the care of manuring, but &s;ubject to the finall cur&s;e, and utmo&s;t neglect of the Husbandman. What then if the God-for&s;aken-man &s;preads out his Plumes, and &s;eems to check the Sun in glory? Vice loves to &s;eeme glorious, yea more to &s;eeme then to be: And indeed it had need to have &s;ome plea&s;ure here, which hath nothing but wo hereafter. The world loves the vicious, and &s;o will not puni&s;h them; God loves them not, and there|fore &s;corns to cha&s;ten them. He will not u&s;e the Rod where he means to u&s;e the Sword, nor will he de&s;troy the body where he means to de&s;troy the inward man. What remains then, but that we endeavour to bring forth the fruit of tribulation, which is a patient
<PB N="189" REF="99">&s;ubmi&s;&s;ion under the hand of God, &s;ince his Cha&s;ti&s;ements are effects of his love, the la&s;t part, by way of Con&s;equence? <HI>The Lord cha&s;tens whom he loves,</HI> therefore &s;ubmit to his Cha&s;ti&s;ements.</P>
<P>One would think there needs no great per&s;wa&s;ion to patience, where Cha&s;ti&s;e|ments are the effects of Love; but rather as the <HI>Species</HI> or Image which i&s;&s;ues from the Countenance into the Gla&s;s, is reflected into the eye of the Beholder: &s;o Gods love to us, &s;hould beget in us a love, which is reflected upon him, the Author of all love; yea, Love it &s;elf. When the Hea|then judged the Chri&s;tians unhappy, becau&s;e they &s;uffered poverty, &s;poil, exile, and the like; Saint <HI>Au&s;ten</HI> an&s;wered, Now &s;urely their ca&s;e were mi&s;erable, if they could be carried any whither <HI>ubi Creatorem &s;uum non invenirent,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>L.</HI> 1. <HI>de Civ. Dei.</HI></NOTE> where they might not find their Creators loving Protection. But &s;o long as Gods favourable Pre&s;ence is with them, they cannot be unhappy: His torments are certain benefits, and a &s;ure way to Heaven. Hereupon Saint <HI>Paul</HI> accounts his afflictions no le&s;s then the <HI>very dying of the Lord Je|&s;us,</HI> that the life al&s;o of Je&s;us might be made manife&s;t in his and our body, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.10. Indeed, when I recount all his &s;uf|ferings, and peru&s;e the large Catalogue of them under his own hand, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11. <HI>In labours more abundant, in &s;tripes above mea|&s;ure, in pri&s;ons more plenteou&s;ly; in perils in
<PB N="190" REF="100">the City, in perils in the Wilderne&s;s, in perils among fal&s;e Brethren;</HI> Good God! how many men, how many <HI>holy Pauls</HI> &s;eem there to be pre&s;ented to me? is it po&s;&s;ible one man &s;hould &s;u&s;tain an army of afflictions? or, that one &s;oul &s;hould encounter &s;o many Cro&s;&s;es? Yes, what cannot he endure as Chri&s;ts Beloved? what cannot he do in the power of him that doth all things? in the Vertue of Chri&s;ts Death, Saint <HI>Paul</HI> can tire and weary out his Torments. He can prevent the fury of Death, by dying to him&s;elf; and by mortifying his own fle&s;h, like a dead Carka&s;e, become in&s;en&s;ible of a &s;e|cond pain. Hence it is, that the Primitive Martyrs looked on Tyrants, Lyons, Devils, with undaunted Countenances, walked through Gaols, Gives and Hells, without &s;tartling; yeelded their Limbs to be mang|led, their Joynts to be racked, their fle&s;h to boyl'd in &s;calding Oyls, and embraced Death with Cheerfulne&s;s: they con&s;idered not <HI>quam poenam habuerunt in flagello,</HI> what &s;mart they endured in the &s;courge; <HI>&s;ed quem locum in te&s;tamento,</HI> but what right and intere&s;t they had in their heavenly Fathers Will. And therefore, if God wounded them, they counted his VVounds the VVounds of a Friend, tending to their good. If he put them to the Sword, they embraced that as an occa&s;ion of everla&s;ting victory, being fully per&s;waded that Death would be to them an entrance to Life, and a pa&s;&s;age to
<PB N="191" REF="100">Immortality. They remembred to their Con&s;olation, that when <HI>Steven</HI> was &s;toned, he &s;aw Heaven opened, and Chri&s;t at the right hand of his Father, ready to receive him. When <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> was be&s;et with the A&s;|&s;yrians, he &s;aw a Hill of fiery Chariots in his Defence; and &s;o, recording Gods un|changeable promi&s;es, they reckon all the perplexities of this life, and the extremities of death it &s;elf, to be but as <HI>Eli&s;ha's</HI> fiery Chariot to carry them to Heaven, or like <HI>Lazarus</HI> &s;oars, to &s;end them to <HI>Abrahams</HI> Bo&s;ome. Thus did holy <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> com|fort him&s;elf, when the Empre&s;s <HI>Eudoxia</HI> breathed out threatnings and &s;laughters a|gain&s;t him.</P>
<P>If, &s;aith the good Father,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;. E|pi&s;t. ad Cy|riamon.</NOTE> &s;he'll bani&s;h me, let her u&s;e her plea&s;ure; <HI>the earth is the Lords, and the fulne&s;s thereof.</HI> If &s;he'll throw me into the Sea, let her; I remember <HI>Jonas.</HI> If &s;he'll ca&s;t me into the Furnace, I have the three Children encouraging my patience. If &s;he'll expo&s;e me to wild Bea&s;ts, I remember <HI>Daniel,</HI> ca&s;t to the Lyons in the Den. If &s;he'll &s;tone me, I have <HI>Steven</HI> the <HI>Proto-Martyr</HI> for my Leader. If &s;he'll take off my Head, let her take it, I have the <HI>Bapti&s;t</HI> for my pattern. If &s;he'll &s;trip me of my Goods, let her di&s;po&s;e of them; <HI>Naked came I out of my Mothers Womb, and naked &s;hall I return.</HI></P>
<P>O, what a rare Vertue was it, thus to con|quer him&s;elf, that mi&s;ery might not conquer
<PB N="192" REF="101">him! How doth this chearful Re&s;olution of that precious Saint, check our cowarci&s;e, who cannot endute in cold blood to lo&s;e a Limb with patience, nor abide the &s;hort di&s;plea&s;ure of &s;ome few odd minutes, with|out thinking pre&s;ently of Rebelling, or run|ning away &s;o &s;oon as call'd to the field.</P>
<P>To prevent &s;uch an indi&s;cretion, let us con&s;ider there's no greater &s;ign of di&s;creti|on and grace, then to &s;mart patiently and contentedly, to re&s;t our hearts in the Ju|&s;tice and VVi&s;dome of God. For to &s;truggle with afflictions, doth the more entangle our &s;elves; and, as it falls out with the Bird in the &s;nare, it works rather our Captivity then Enlargement. Our Saviour, when he &s;uffe|red that cruel &s;hameful Death on the Cro&s;s, might have redeemed him&s;elf by de&s;cending from the Tree; but he chu&s;ed rather to ex|erci&s;e his patience, then to &s;hew the great|ne&s;s of his power: thereby le&s;&s;oning us, that Sufferings are greater tryals then Acti|ons.</P>
<P>If then the Lord &s;hall cau&s;e the Sun to go down upon thee at Noon, as <HI>Amos</HI> phra&s;eth it, &s;ending affliction in the mid&s;t of thy pro|&s;perity; if poverty come upon thee like an armed man, &s;tartle not at it; if naked, be not dejected; thou art then ble&s;&s;ed, being mi&s;erable; and approved of God, though thus loath&s;ome. When the Angel of the Lord &s;aw <HI>Jo&s;uah</HI> the high Prie&s;t &s;tand before him in filthy Garments, he cau&s;ed them to be
<PB N="193" REF="101">taken from him, and to be cloathed with change of rayment, <HI>Zach.</HI> 3. The more de&s;titute you are, the more conformable you are to the Author and Fini&s;her of your Faith, who, at his birth, had no better Cradle then a Cratch; in his middle age, without a hou&s;e to put his head in; and at his death, had not &s;o much ground as would &s;erve for the length of his body, but <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> of <HI>Arimathea</HI> is fain to put him in his own Sepulchre.</P>
<P>Is a malicious fal&s;e glo&s;s ca&s;t upon thy &s;incere Intentions, and publick Actions? Con&s;ider, the be&s;t cau&s;e doth not always find the be&s;t patronage. <HI>Mary Magda|lenes</HI> admirable Zeal, is with <HI>Judas,</HI> loo&s;e pro|digality. Good Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> that heavenly Apo&s;tle, who, as <HI>Maximus</HI> &s;peaks, learned among the Angels, what he &s;hould preach among men; who brake many a quiet &s;leep, to break the word aright to his people; for all his Graces and Labours, is hated, and e|&s;teemed an enemy by his own <HI>Galatians;</HI> and yet, not long before, they were ready to pull out their eyes to do him &s;ervice.</P>
<P>Is thy good name bla&s;ted with the ma|lignant gu&s;ts of detraction? <HI>Behold,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> the eighth, <HI>I, and the Children whom the Lord gave me, are as &s;ignes and wonders in I&s;rael; yea, as Mon&s;ters, not worthy to live,</HI> Zachariah the third. Chri&s;t before you, and for you, ta&s;ted the bitter|ne&s;s of this Cup. What &s;ay the Jews of him?
<PB N="194" REF="102"><HI>He is a Samaritan, and hath a Devil.</HI> Is <HI>Jobs</HI> Cro&s;s &s;trange and extraordinary? his own Friends judge him a tran&s;gre&s;&s;or. What remains then, but that in the extremity of all Outrages, which can be committed a|gain&s;t our upright dealings, we earne&s;tly en|deavor to obtain a firm per&s;wa&s;ion of Gods &s;pecial Favour to our innocent per&s;ons; and then the &s;en&s;e of his gracious pre&s;ence, will &s;often and &s;weeten all our di&s;quiet.</P>
<P><HI>David,</HI> in <HI>Ziklag,</HI> was at a low Ebbe, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 30. his E&s;tate gone, his Goods &s;poyl|ed, his Hou&s;e burned; he was &s;tript of all outward Comforts, the Enemy had got into Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion; the lo&s;s of their Children had &s;o imbittered the People, that they talk'd of &s;toning <HI>David,</HI> ver&s;e 6. yet, &s;aith the Text, He <HI>encouraged him&s;elf in the Lord his God;</HI> he comforted his heart in the &s;pring of comfort, &s;teel'd and confirmed it with this Conclu&s;ion, That the Lord of Ho&s;ts, the God of the Armies of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> was more able to help him, and fight his Battles, then his greate&s;t Enemies were able to di&s;may him. And according to his Confidence, was his &s;ucce&s;s; for there we read in the end, he recovered his Lo&s;&s;es, and quite &s;ubdued his Foes. And therefore, amid&s;t all your fores, think not on your own wounds, but your Redeemers: If Satan, by his Emi&s;&s;aries; &s;hould de&s;troy your bodies, he hath done the like to your Lord and Saviour;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 1.29.</NOTE> and to you 'tis given, not onely to believe in Chri&s;t,
<PB N="195" REF="102">but to &s;uffer for his &s;ake. <HI>Tertullians</HI> advice &s;hall clo&s;e up all.</P>
<P>Learn to love and imitate the patience of God, who delays to revenge your Sins; and the patience of Chri&s;t, who &s;uffered for your Sins. Endeavor to repay him that o|bedience which he hath di&s;charged for you; offer to him the patience of Soul, and the patience of the Body, who expect from him in the general Re&s;urrection, a happy Re|union of Body and Soul: VVhich God mer|cifully grant us in his due time, through the Merits of Chri&s;t, our Lord and Saviour. A|men.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="196" REF="103">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>2 Cor. chap. 7. ver&s;. 1.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Having therefore the&s;e Promi&s;es, dearly Beloved, let us clean&s;e our &s;elves from all filthine&s;s of the Fle&s;h and Spirit, perfecting Holine&s;s in the fear of God.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. XII.</NOTE>EVery Chri&s;tian con&s;i&s;ts of a double per&s;on, a <HI>carnal</HI> and a <HI>&s;piritual;</HI> both which are compounded of &s;o diver&s;e and contrary Elements, that though they are joyned in the &s;ame Brea&s;t, yet, like <HI>Ja|cob</HI> and <HI>E&s;au</HI> in the Mothers Womb, they there &s;truggle for the Victory: &s;o that the&s;e Words pre&s;ent a <HI>Duel</HI> betwixt the Soul and the Body; the &s;ucce&s;s of which Combate determines that great Controver&s;ie of Mans Salvation. If the Soul &s;ubdue the rebellious Fle&s;h, then are we redeemed from the &s;lavery of &s;in, the Laws Bondage, and are made Heirs of Gods promi&s;es in Chri&s;t. The better to prevaile, the antecedent part of my Text removes the evil; the conclu|&s;ion per&s;wades to perfection.</P>
<P>The manner of the Motive is by way of Compellation; <HI>dearly Beloved:</HI> the ground of it, Evangelical Promi&s;es, <HI>having the&s;e PROMISES.</HI> And here the Apo&s;tle makes
<PB N="197" REF="103">us joynt Purcha&s;ers with him&s;elf; <HI>having,</HI> or <HI>WE having,</HI> there's our intere&s;t and ju&s;t claim; <HI>let us clean&s;e,</HI> that's the propriety of the work; <HI>our &s;elves,</HI> there's the proprie|ty of the per&s;ons; <HI>from filthyne&s;s,</HI> the mat|ter to be wrought upon; and that in the full latitude, <HI>from ALL filthyne&s;s,</HI> even <HI>of the fle&s;h and &s;pirit,</HI> the parts and faculties which are infected. La&s;tly, our continual progre&s;s therein, <HI>perfecting holine&s;s in the fear of God.</HI> But before I enter into this large field of matter, give me leave to &s;a|lute you in this Compellation, <HI>Dearly Be|loved.</HI></P>
<P>Religion doth not make men rude, but civil; the Church hath its <HI>Ethicks,</HI> as well as the School; good Language is not con|fined to the Court, we &s;hould hear it from the Pulpit; for it is not Apo&s;tolical, if we quote a Text to u&s;her in a <HI>Libel.</HI> Hath Saint <HI>Paul</HI> a Doctrine to be &s;etled in the mindes of a multitude? Is he to pierce a heart that is &s;ealed up with hardne&s;s? his Pen lyes not &s;teep'd in Wormwood, he comes not in a Tempe&s;t or Earthquake; but in a mode&s;t, quiet, and mild temper, &s;weet|ning his words, and preparing their Ears with <HI>I BESEECH you Brethren, by the mer|cies of God,</HI> Rom. 12. <HI>I Paul my &s;elf BE|SEECH you by the meekne&s;s and gentlene&s;s of Chri&s;t,</HI> 2 Cor. 10. <HI>As an emba&s;&s;adour of God, I BESEECH you in Christs &s;tead, that ye be reconciled to him,</HI> 2 Cor. 5. <HI>And
<PB N="198" REF="104">&s;eeing we have the&s;e promi&s;es, DEARLY BELOVED, let us clean&s;e our &s;elves.</HI></P>
<P>If at any time he's compelled to let fall a few drops of &s;everity, even that little Gall is mingled with much Hony; that bitter water, i&s;&s;ues out of a &s;weet Fountain; eve|ry reprehen&s;ion of his, proceeds from a loving affection. Well may this form and &s;tile of preaching, be the <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> in imita|tion, when it was the Ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Trinitie's</HI> in example. God the <HI>Father,</HI> came in a &s;oft and &s;till voyce; God the <HI>Son,</HI> figur'd him|&s;elf not as a <HI>Tyger,</HI> but a <HI>Lamb;</HI> God the <HI>Holy-Gho&s;t,</HI> appeared not in the &s;hape of a <HI>Vulture,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ep.</HI> 84.</NOTE> but a <HI>Dove. Leo</HI> the great, gives the rea&s;on, <HI>Plus agat cohortatio qu&agrave;m Com|motio, Plus charitas qu&agrave;m pote&s;tas:</HI> Violence is no good In&s;trument to win an a&s;&s;embly; that doth rather exa&s;perate then reform. Bitter Pills are u&s;ed to be admini&s;tred in &s;weet Sirrups, without any lo&s;s of their Vertue or Operation; and I never heard that the influence of a gentle per&s;wa&s;ion, was any di&s;paragement or prejudice to the cau&s;e. So that <HI>captare benevolentiam,</HI> to work a mans &s;elf into the good liking of his Auditors, is a rule not onely pre&s;cribed for the <HI>Orator,</HI> but <HI>Divine</HI> too. The ca&s;e is the &s;ame in both, becau&s;e if they like not the <HI>Man,</HI> they will not care for the <HI>Matter.</HI> Wherefore Saint <HI>Paul</HI> doth not mean we &s;hould &s;peak &s;lovingly, when in the fir&s;t to the <HI>Corinthians,</HI> he renounced the enti&s;ing
<PB N="199" REF="104">words of man's wi&s;dom; for who &s;ees not that an uncouth and bald expre&s;&s;ion, mi&s;|&s;hapes good matter, and in &s;tead of edifying, deafs mens ears? The Apo&s;tle denyed, That by the &s;trength of their own Eloquence, they had &s;trength to win &s;ouls to Chri&s;t; but yet him&s;elf accounted and u&s;ed the <HI>beau|ty</HI> of &s;peech, as a help to our Conver&s;ion. And &s;o, from the Porch and Entrance of my Text, let's go in and behold the Building. From this Compellation, <HI>Dearly Beloved,</HI> we may ob&s;erve who are included within the&s;e Promi&s;es; and they, upon the fir&s;t view, appear to be no other then We, <HI>WE having,</HI> or <HI>&s;eeing WE have.</HI></P>
<P>Faith and Charity keep a different Dia|lect; the voyce of Faith is <HI>Ego, I,</HI> with an appropriation to our &s;elves; the Language of Charity is <HI>Nos, We,</HI> with a Communicati|on to others: <HI>It &s;eeks not her own,</HI> 1 Cor. 13. Now as Charity knows no bounds, &s;o <HI>Nos</HI> no re&s;triction. It is <HI>Nos</HI> in the large&s;t Latitude, and utmo&s;t exten&s;ion, as it com|prehends Jews and Gentiles. We hold not in &s;pecial, but in common; and &s;o we are not to &s;traighten and contract our Savi|ours Bowels, when he hath enlarged them; nor to make an enclo&s;ure of the&s;e Promi&s;es, which he hath laid open: to day, and ye&s;ter|day, and from the beginning of the world he hath been liberal unto all. In <HI>Paradi&s;e,</HI> there was a Tree of Life, as well as of Know|ledge. Ever &s;ince, as there hath been a Law
<PB N="200" REF="105">to in&s;truct, &s;o there hath been provided a Tree of Life too, that man might eat of it, and live for ever; even the <HI>Lamb</HI> &s;lain from the beginning of the world. Our fir&s;t Pa|rents had the <HI>Redeemer</HI> a&s;&s;ured by the pro|mi&s;ed Seed of the VVoman; <HI>Enoch,</HI> the &s;e|venth from <HI>Adam,</HI> remembred it: tho&s;e were called the <HI>Sons</HI> of God, which could not be but by Grace; the Law made them not Sons. After the Flood, <HI>Noah,</HI> with his lit|tle Family, offered Sacrifice; which was a Type of Chri&s;t. All our Fathers did eat the &s;ame &s;piritual Meat, and they drank of the &s;ame &s;piritual Rock, and that Rock was Chri&s;t. It was prophe&s;ied long before he came, that all fle&s;h &s;hould &s;ee the <HI>Salvation of God,</HI> Lev. 3. After he was come, the A|po&s;tles, at the day of Penteco&s;t, were ac|commodated with all Tongues, that Chri&s;t, by them, &s;hould be conveyed to all Nations. Seeing then he hath vouch&s;afed the ordina|ry Means of Salvation to attract all, <HI>Go, and preach to ALL nations;</HI> &s;o it runs in the Commi&s;&s;ion; and dayly invites All to em|brace them: without que&s;tion both Jews and Gentiles have a Right and Title to the&s;e Promi&s;es. The King, in the Parable, <HI>Mat.</HI> 22. bids <HI>ALL</HI> to the Marriage; his will was, none &s;hould be debarred, but &s;uch as cared not to bring along with them their Wedding-Garment: So the great <HI>King</HI> of Heaven, invites every one to the Marriage of the <HI>Lamb;</HI> he admits All to his heavenly
<PB N="201" REF="105">Table; he rejects none but onely &s;uch, who under-value, and ca&s;t behind them, the All-healing Robe of Chri&s;ts Righteou&s;ne&s;s. If the Redeemer of Man-kind, when he &s;aw us weltring in our own blood, drawing in corruption fa&s;ter then our breath, had ca&s;t his &s;aving Mantle &s;hort of the mark, as be|ing unwilling to cover the skirts, as well as the head of prevaricating <HI>Adam,</HI> the Gen|tiles, as well as the Jews, the Play&s;ter had been le&s;s then the wound; and the &s;ight of &s;uch a Medicine might have made the ca&s;e more lamentable; and in &s;tead of curing, enraged the di&s;ea&s;ed. But to prevent all querulous murmuring, it plea&s;ed our Saviour to be made a little lower then the Angels, that he might ta&s;te death for every man, <HI>Heb.</HI> 2.9. For he would have no man to peri&s;h, but <HI>that all &s;hould come to Repentance,</HI> 2 Pet. 3. not ca&s;ting away any until <HI>there be no remedy;</HI> and that's chronicled too, 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 36.13.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">See D. Prof. Rep. ad Object. Vincen.</NOTE> So that their blood may be on their own heads, and de&s;truction from them&s;elves. Indeed, <HI>Job</HI> tells us, That <HI>the O&s;trich leaves her Eggs in the earth, and forgets that the foot might &s;catter them, or that the wild Bea&s;ts might break them,</HI> Job 39. She &s;hews her &s;elf cruel to her young ones, as if they were not hers; and is without fear, as if &s;he travelled in vain. But our <HI>Maker</HI> is of a melting di&s;po|&s;ition, grieving &s;o oft as he is forced to pro|cure grief to any; which makes him to ex|emplifie his Compa&s;&s;ion, by parallelling it
<PB N="202" REF="106">to a <HI>Hen, Mat.</HI> 23. a Creature mo&s;t affecti|onate to her brood: the wings of his Mer|cy being always di&s;played to hide every one from the day of wrath, unle&s;s it be them, the full mea&s;ure of who&s;e iniquity makes them de&s;perately to cry out,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kin. 12.</NOTE> <HI>What portion have we in David? we have no Inheritance, no part in him.</HI> Hence it is, that in the &s;econd to the <HI>He|brews,</HI> he is &s;aid to take upon him the <HI>&s;eed</HI> of <HI>Abraham.</HI> Our &s;eed is apprehended, that part which is common to us all, that part where we began to tran&s;gre&s;s, that &s;o the gift might not be per&s;onal, but redound to all. And yet, though he took on him our &s;eed, not|with&s;tanding it is &s;tiled The &s;eed of <HI>Abra|ham.</HI></P>
<P>For albeit <HI>Adams</HI> fle&s;h is united, yet <HI>A|brahams</HI> &s;eed is named; as if mankind then began, when Faith began to flouri&s;h. None could carry away the Name in the genera|tion of Chri&s;t, before the Father of the Faithful: So that <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;tands for a whole world; <HI>I am the God of Abraham.</HI> He took upon him the &s;eed of <HI>Abraham,</HI> that the world might know thereby how the promi&s;e was not made to his fle&s;h, but to his Faith. And therefore, though the&s;e promi&s;es in Chri&s;t are unfainedly proclaimed to All; yet, becau&s;e not truly apprehended by All, the participation is not all alike.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>See D. Pro&s;. Re&s;p. ad c.</HI> 5 <HI>Gal. &amp; ad c.</HI> 7 <HI>&amp;</HI> 9 <HI>Gal. &amp;c.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>ad ob Vin.</HI></NOTE> If you have an intuitive eye on the Oblation it &s;elf, Dr. <HI>Pro&s;per</HI> will have that to be for the whole world; but if you reflect on the in|e&s;timable
<PB N="203" REF="106">e&s;timable benefit, that's found onely in the Elect. And why? The world lying in wick|edne&s;s, would have none of it; &s;o that in his &s;ence, the Saviour of the world could not but affirm, that he came to &s;ave onely the &s;heep that were lo&s;t of the hou&s;e of <HI>I&s;|rael,</HI> all others de&s;pi&s;ing the riches of his Goodne&s;s. He graciou&s;ly wooed, they gracele&s;ly rejected him. Neverthele&s;s, he dyed not altogether in vaine, though his Death proved not their Life, no more then he can be &s;aid in vain to have created to e|verla&s;ting bli&s;s, the Angels that fell; it be|ing the Wi&s;dom of the Lord hereby to make manife&s;t, that the default was not on his part, but on their own neglect and contempt of his Cro&s;s: &s;ome putting him away quite, others confe&s;&s;ing him with their mouths, but not permitting him to raigne in their hearts. Our Lord, by uniting to his per&s;on that na|ture which is common to us all, and &s;uffe|ring death for the &s;ame cau&s;e, whereunto we all hold up our hands, and plead guilty, may truely, &s;aith <HI>Pro&s;per,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro&s;. ut &s;u|pra.</NOTE> be called the Redeemer of the world. But in regard All do not ta&s;te the fruit of his pa&s;&s;ion, the benefit accrues to them, concerning whom it's written, That <HI>the Prince of this world is ca&s;t out;</HI> they a|lone applying his Merits to heal their Mi&s;e|ries. For as the Cup of Salvation is fruit|le&s;s to him, the faith of who&s;e &s;oul is not o|pen to receive it; &s;o likewi&s;e is Chri&s;ts Oblation.</P>
<PB N="204" REF="107">
<P>Upon this Argument, the Apo&s;tle en|forceth his Exhortation; Seeing we have not any bare or naked Title, but our <HI>Tenure</HI> is in the validity of the&s;e Promi&s;es; &s;eeing we boa&s;t to have the life of grace in us, which the di&s;-inherited have not, <HI>let us clean&s;e our &s;elves.</HI> And &s;urely there's not a &s;tronger Motive to &s;tir up our practi&s;e of this Duty, then the&s;e few words, that we challenge an intere&s;t in <HI>the&s;e Promi&s;es.</HI> If entituled to Chri&s;t, where then is his Cha|racter? where's the Di&s;cipline of Chri&s;t? Superficial &s;anctity, and titular re&s;pects, make us no better then &s;ome <HI>Apothecaries</HI> Boxes, who&s;e glorious in&s;criptions, and var|ni&s;hed out-&s;ides, are inwardly &s;tored with nothing but hypocri&s;ie and emptine&s;s.</P>
<P>The&s;e Promi&s;es are &s;ingular Promi&s;es, and worthy Gods performance onely. VVho would have thought that the Red-Sea could have been divided? the weak water, which is moved with a Feather, &s;hould &s;erve as a pavement to walk upon? that the Snn &s;hould &s;tay his Cour&s;e, as it were forgetting his going down? that water &s;hould abun|dantly &s;treame from the flinty Rocks? The&s;e the Almighty promi&s;ed; and according to his Promi&s;e, effected. <HI>Seeing then we have the&s;e &s;ingular promi&s;es, let &V;S clean&s;e our &s;elves.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e promi&s;es, are &s;pecial <HI>Promi&s;es;</HI> God rules us not as <HI>Pharaoh</HI> ruled <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> with a Rod of Iron, toyling them in their
<PB N="205" REF="107">task of Brick, and allowing no Straw; but he commends our well-doing, and helps us to do it. He infu&s;eth his a&s;&s;i&s;ting Grace, to keep us from the danger of a relap&s;e; and &s;trengthneth the weakne&s;s of our Nature, which upon every temptation is ready to &s;tart back. And when all that is done, is done by our native Allegeance; yet his li|beral bounty &s;urpa&s;&s;eth our conceiving; when for a broken &s;ervice on earth, he makes a promi&s;e of Heaven. Seeing then we have the&s;e precious Promi&s;es, let's be &s;ure to clean&s;e our &s;elves; for <HI>no unclean thing enters into the heavenly gate.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e promi&s;es are mo&s;t certain Promi|&s;es, as proceeding from his immutable will. Hence it is, that although Fle&s;h and Blood, in our be&s;t Contemplations, meet with ma|ny difficulties, and rea&s;on and &s;en&s;e appre|hend many impo&s;&s;ibilities; yet, under hope, we believe above hope, and give God the glory. <HI>Abraham</HI> con&s;idered not his own body, how it was dead; he regarded not the deadne&s;s of <HI>Sarahs</HI> Womb; nay, when the heavy Mandate to kill and &s;acrifice his one|ly &s;on <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> did &s;eem to contradict the pro|mi&s;e, That <HI>in I&s;aac all the Nations &s;hould be ble&s;&s;ed;</HI> yet the <HI>Patriarch</HI> believes beyond all impo&s;&s;ibilities, re&s;ting on this &s;ure foun|dation, and unmoveable, <HI>Faithful is he which promi&s;eth,</HI> Heb. 10. And thus the true &s;eed of <HI>Abraham,</HI> do not &s;tagger at the horror of their &s;eparation, nor the ugline&s;s of death,
<PB N="206" REF="108">nor the corruption of their fle&s;h, nor the rortenne&s;s of their bones, nor the du&s;t and a&s;hes whereinto they mu&s;t be di&s;&s;olved; they anchor and fa&s;ten on this ground, All the&s;e promi&s;es are certain, they are <HI>yea</HI> and <HI>Amen.</HI> In the horror of the Grave, they are the &s;eed of Immortality, which is &s;own with us, and makes us hope to &s;pring up anew to eternal Glory.</P>
<P>Now as the&s;e promi&s;es are mo&s;t certain, as ari&s;ing from his will; &s;o they are unfained, and void of all Sophi&s;try, as proceeding from his Verity. The promi&s;es of the world are &s;mooth and counterfeit; fair in pretence, empty of performance. They are but skin|deep; put them to the Piercer, make tryal of them, they are without blood. They gnaw on the bark, there's no &s;ap in them; it being the Complement of too many, to pro|mi&s;e any thing for pre&s;ent &s;atisfaction. The Tongues of a great part, are tipt with <HI>Ita|liani&s;m,</HI> you mu&s;t not &s;hew your &s;elves &s;o rude, as to entertain their courte&s;ies; for they, like to our <HI>Oar-men,</HI> look one way, and row another.</P>
<P>I remember <HI>Barclay,</HI> in his <HI>Icon Animo|rum,</HI> relates how the <HI>Italians,</HI> when they are mo&s;t offended, will make the large&s;t ten|ders of humanity; that &s;o, by the priviledge of friend&s;hip, they may the more &s;ubtly work their revenge. But our Lord God is not carried away with any fluctuation, but remains continually firm upon his Square.
<PB N="207" REF="108">He urgeth, and &s;eriou&s;ly pre&s;&s;eth, to an ac|ceptance of his willing profers: To this end he &s;tretcheth out his hands all the day long, &s;ends forth his me&s;&s;engers early and late, to convince &s;inners, to terrifie and &s;hame them out of their &s;inful cour&s;es. <HI>Peter,</HI> 2 <HI>Epi&s;t.</HI> 3 <HI>chap.</HI> 9 <HI>ver&s;.</HI> abundantly te&s;tifies it: Fir&s;t, Negatively, <HI>The Lord is not willing that a|ny &s;hould peri&s;h;</HI> having no primary intenti|on, or antecedent thought of their de&s;tructi|on, before they give occa&s;ion. Then he proves Affirmatively, That the will of God hath a po&s;itive act in procuring their Salva|tion; becau&s;e he wills that <HI>all &s;hould come to repentance.</HI> Well might he &s;ay, &s;aith <HI>Ber|nard,</HI> That he <HI>will not the death of a &s;inner,</HI> who dyed him&s;elf to &s;ave &s;inners. In the 23 Chapter of this prophe&s;ie, ver&s;. 11. He pro|te&s;ts, and confirms it with an Oath, to make his promi&s;e more firm and &s;table; <HI>As I live, &s;aith the Lord, I do not delight in the death of the wicked:</HI> Yea, rather then he will fail in his purpo&s;e of doing his people good, he falls to expo&s;tulations, urgeth them to give any colour of rea&s;on, why they will rather peri&s;h in &s;in, then be reconciled to him: <HI>Why will ye dye, O hou&s;e of I&s;rael?</HI> Is there no hope? will ye not return? will nothing prevaile with you? no means? no promi&s;es of &s;aving mercies? no threatnings? no judgements? will ye not enter into Cove|nant with me? why will ye not? <HI>Why will ye dye, O hou&s;e of I&s;rael?</HI> So in the &s;ixth
<PB N="208" REF="109">of <HI>Micah,</HI> and the third, <HI>O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? come and te&s;tifie again&s;t me.</HI> As if the Lord had &s;aid, <HI>What could I have done more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it?</HI> I have offered Mercy, and it hath been refu&s;ed; gracious helps and means, and neglected; ble&s;&s;ings, and not regarded: I have waited for your Conver&s;ion, and ye have not returned. And what is there in all this, that makes you &s;o unwilling to lay down your weapons of Rebellion, that ye have taken up again&s;t me? And le&s;t &s;ome &s;hould charge God fooli&s;hly, that his pro|mi&s;es are but &s;hadows, like to mans impo|&s;tures, in the 25 ver&s;e, he ju&s;tifies him&s;elf and his dealings with them: <HI>Hear now, O hou&s;e of I&s;rael; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?</HI></P>
<P>And indeed, &s;eeing a double heart, which harbours honey in the mouth, and gall in the brea&s;t, is abominable before him; how can it be thought he &s;hould promi&s;e one thing, and will the contrary? <HI>Non mutat voluntatem, &s;ed vult mutationem,</HI> as Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> expre&s;&s;eth it;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">De civ. Dei.</NOTE> he doth not change his will, but wills a change; the alteration is not in the Di&s;po&s;er of the thing, but in the thing di&s;po&s;ed of. And therefore, when Saint <HI>James</HI> calls him The <HI>Father of Lights,</HI> he pre&s;ently adds the propriety of the Sun, that fountain of Light, with whom is no va|riablene&s;s, nor &s;hadow of change. Indeed,
<PB N="209" REF="109">the Moon alters nothing, but &s;he is fir&s;t al|tered her &s;elf: if &s;he cau&s;e a flux and re|flux of humors below, &s;he waxeth and wa|neth in her light above. But the Sun, which &s;o turneth the hue of all this lower world, continues &s;till the &s;ame; and when it &s;corch|eth mo&s;t, is ne'er the warmer. So the Lord, upon &s;ome occurrences, changeth his Creatures, continuing him&s;elf unchange|able. Doth he promi&s;e Life, and yet inflicts Death? That promi&s;ed Ble&s;&s;ing, was upon condition of our obedience; &s;o that if we perform not the condition, no marvel if we fail of the&s;e promi&s;es. Seeing then we have the&s;e unfained promi&s;es, let us not be wan|ting to our &s;elves, but let us fall to our work, which con&s;i&s;ts in the Act of Renova|tion, <HI>Let us clean&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>You &s;ee the Connexion and Dependance of the words; it is not, Having the&s;e pro|mi&s;es, let us <HI>defile</HI> our &s;elves, but, let us <HI>clean&s;e</HI> our&s;elves. The Liberty of a Chri&s;ti|an, implies not loo&s;ene&s;s, but holine&s;s. The&s;e promi&s;es are the ground of our Obe|dience, and Obedience is the fir&s;t &s;tep to the Throne. It is the true Badge and Cogni|zance of a Chri&s;tian; it was Chri&s;ts in Ex|ample, it mu&s;t be ours in Imitation. It is the Kings High-way to Heaven, the way beaten out unto us by the Kings own Son; with whom, if we will raign, we mu&s;t clean&s;e our&s;elves, and crucifie the <HI>old man</HI> within us; with a godly revenge, executing tho&s;e
<PB N="210" REF="110">Offences which would have condemned us. We are to put off the <HI>old man,</HI> as we do our Garments, orderly, and by parts; now clean|&s;ing one &s;in, then another, until we have freed our &s;elves from their accur&s;ed League. All the Levitical cleanne&s;s under the Law, the wa&s;hing of the Prie&s;ts, clean&s;ing of the people, of the Altar, the Temple, the Gates and Entrances of their Hou&s;es; What were they, but &s;o many my&s;teries of their purify|ing from the turpitude and deformity of &s;in? God requires the &s;ame of us in &s;ub&s;tance, which was prefigured in the&s;e Ceremonies. The Altar is our heart; the Hou&s;e of the Lord, our bodies and &s;ouls, which are the temples of the Holy Gho&s;t; the People and Gates, are we here a&s;&s;embled, whom of no people, he hath made a people, that we &s;hould be holy as he is holy, &s;anctifying our Affections and Actions, which are the Gates and Doors through which the Spirit of Grace is to go in and out. Chri&s;t hath not redeemed us to be altogether &s;edentary, dull and lazie; but to be Operative, and furni&s;h|ed with good works. It is true, God gives the Ability; yet he will have us to make u&s;e of it. He will not take all the pains him|&s;elf, and leave us idlely to depend on him. For to &s;it our &s;elves down, and lay all on the Divine Providence, is ju&s;t the &s;luggi&s;h Knave in the Fable; who, when his Cart was overthrown, would needs have his God <HI>Hercules</HI> come down from Heaven, to rai&s;e
<PB N="211" REF="110">it up againe, whiles him&s;elf would be Specta|tor, and give aime. The Members of Chri&s;t are not Stocks and Stones, in&s;en&s;ible, with|out &s;tudying of goodne&s;s; they are not <HI>Fi|culnus, inutile lignum,</HI> like the Image of <HI>Baal,</HI> and the Stump of <HI>Dagon;</HI> they will not &s;uf|fer the Graces they have received, to &s;leep in them, but will put their hands to the plow, and labour in the Vineyard.</P>
<P>We acknowledge the nece&s;&s;ity of pre|venting Grace, for the Inchoation or begin|ning of what is good: we believe there mu&s;t be his Co-operating Grace, to a&s;&s;i&s;t our well-doing; and his &s;ub&s;equent Grace, to perfect this mundifying or clean&s;ing work. For it lyes not in mans will, nor in his run|ning; but in the Mercy of God, the onely Sufficient and Efficient cau&s;e of Renovation to Life eternal. Therefore, &s;aith God to his people, <HI>I&s;ai.</HI> 43. <HI>I, even I am he, that puts away thy Iniquity for my own &s;ake. I,</HI> with an Ingemination; <HI>even I,</HI> excluding all other means; <HI>for my own &s;ake,</HI> removing all o|ther Motives: Yet, without we both will and run, we &s;hall not obtain the Reward. The Lord, &s;aith <HI>Pro&s;per,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pro&s;. Re&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. ad c.</HI> 8 <HI>&amp;</HI> 5 <HI>Gal.</HI></NOTE> offered Salvation to <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> not for their own de&s;ervings, but of his Mercy; yet they obtained it not, be|cau&s;e they would neither will nor run. The Scribes and Phari&s;ees de&s;pi&s;ed Gods Coun&s;el; but they would neither will nor run, but kept &s;till their old pace, and &s;o they peri&s;hed, the Kingdom being taken from them, and given
<PB N="212" REF="111">to &s;uch, as by Grace, both will and run, and bring forth the fruit thereof.</P>
<P>Up then, &s;luggi&s;h &s;oul; ari&s;e, thou that &s;leepe&s;t, unfold thy hands, and gird they &s;elf to the Battle: behold, thy Enemy hath entrenched thee, thy fle&s;h hath compa&s;&s;ed in thy &s;oul; and now the onely means to &s;ub|due it, is to purge and clean&s;e all peccant humors. The very word doth import, that the Apo&s;tle intends not the de&s;truction, but the obedience of the body; that as the body received life and motion from the &s;oul, &s;o it might return a willing &s;ervice. For God, who requires our bodies as a rea&s;onable and living Offering, means not we &s;hould de|&s;troy them in our humiliation, or with a carele&s;s di&s;-re&s;pect, quire put off man, to be|come Chri&s;tians. It is onely, <HI>let us Clean&s;e our &s;elves.</HI> And thus I am fallen on the pro|per Object of this Act of Renovation, <HI>Let us clean&s;e OVR SELVES.</HI> The world is full of clean&s;ing and &s;couring the &s;pots and &s;tains it findes, but the &s;pight is, it works not on the right Object, <HI>Our &s;elves.</HI> Men run with open Mouths to reprehend the &s;ay|ings,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vix. &s;atis apertum os.</HI> Salu&s;t.</NOTE> and to reform the deeds of others; they think their tongues too backward in uttering what they have coriceived, and un|der colour of rectifying and reducing each aberration to the primitive integrity. A foul practi&s;e, under a fair pretence. If things be thus or thus ordered, what's that to thee? There are imperfections and defects
<PB N="213" REF="111">enough in thy own bo&s;ome. How many are the corruptions exalted again&s;t obedi|ence to be &s;ubdued? how many infirmities to be bewailed? But it is the di&s;tempera|ture of mindes di&s;contented at any thing pre&s;ent, to be alwaies di&s;cu&s;&s;ing what they ob&s;erve without, &s;eldome or never taking a diligent &s;urvey of their own weakne&s;&s;es that are within. They are wont to have Lyncean Eyes to others; more eyes then the Leo|pard hath &s;pots, not a more &s;hall e&s;cape their cen&s;ure; but as blind as Moles to them&s;elves, more blind then <HI>Bartimeus,</HI> which knew not Men from Trees. They cannot &s;ee beams at home; the rea&s;on is, be|cau&s;e they are in love with the property of the eye, which &s;ees all but it &s;elf. Indeed, the eye &s;ees it &s;elf; yet not <HI>per lineam di|rectam,</HI> but by reflexion: &s;o they &s;ee their own enormities, yet not <HI>per radios directos;</HI> but <HI>per ambages, &amp; circumloquia.</HI></P>
<P>Neither will they &s;ee them &s;o, till judg|ments force them, till they be brought upon their knees. <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> in the eighth of <HI>Ex|odus,</HI> becomes &s;omewhat tractable; but it is when a &s;torm drives him to it. <HI>Balaam,</HI> in the twenty &s;econd of <HI>Numbers,</HI> bows, and gives good words; but it is when danger is near him, otherwi&s;e they will di&s;gui&s;e their impiety. But &s;uch as the&s;e, are reproach e|nough unto them&s;elves; and &s;eeing they make Scripture a witne&s;s of their folly, we will pa&s;s them over with a Spunge.</P>
<PB N="214" REF="112">
<P>It &s;hall be our care to dive into our own brea&s;ts, to &s;it in the Watch-tower of our own hearts, viewing and rectifying the relap&s;es and declinations of our &s;elves. If a&s;per&s;ions be ca&s;t upon our be&s;t Actions; what a joy will it be, that we &s;hould be guil|ty of Goodne&s;s, and be made to commit Charity? Thus the Di&s;ciples of Chri&s;t knew nothing of the State, they &s;tudied them|&s;elves, &s;aying, <HI>Ma&s;ter, is it I?</HI> Mat. 26. Not, <HI>Ma&s;ter, is it He?</HI> The di&s;ciples of Saint <HI>John</HI> ask, <HI>Ma&s;ter, what &s;hall we do?</HI> not, <HI>What &s;hall they do?</HI> We mu&s;t obey &s;ome, hear others, love all, clean&s;e our &s;elves.</P>
<P>The &s;ummons &s;hall be, <HI>Give an account of thy own &s;teward&s;hip. Peter</HI> therefore, when he would be &s;mattering in beloved <HI>John</HI>'s affairs, receives from our Saviour no other an&s;wer but this, <HI>What is that to thee? Joh.</HI> 21. It may be that &s;harp reproof made St. <HI>Peter</HI> give charge again&s;t bu&s;ie medlers, as again&s;t theft and murther: No man mu&s;t &s;uffer as a Thief or Murderer, nor as a bu&s;ie-body, 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 4.15. Well may they be coupled; for many times the&s;e <HI>Po|lypragmatiques</HI> are their own civil murder|ers. A prying Eye, and a bu&s;ie Hand, hath commonly an unquiet heart. And thus, ha|ving endeavoured to purge out this Itch of Curio&s;ity, which, like a trouble&s;ome Thorn, lay in the way, our pa&s;&s;age will be more clear <HI>from all filthine&s;s of the fle&s;h and &s;pirit,</HI> which is the task, together with the parts
<PB N="215" REF="112">and faculties infected. You &s;ee my Mat|ter; but where is the time to deliver it? May it plea&s;e you to &s;u&s;pend your Royal Pa|tience till the next Opportunity, and we will give you an account of all. In the mean time, let us not hew out unto our &s;elves, Ci&s;terns that will hold no water; but let us have recour&s;e to the fountain of Living waters, of which, who&s;oever drinks, &s;hall never thir&s;t after the impurities of the fle&s;h, but &s;hall have the world crucified to him, and him&s;elf unto the World.</P>
<P>Let us pray with holy <HI>David, Wa&s;h us, O Lord, again; and again wa&s;h us through from the pollution of the fle&s;h and &s;pirit.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s; 5.</NOTE> Now the very God of peace &s;anctifie us throughout, in &s;pirit, &s;oul and body, and keep us blamele&s;s to the coming of our Lord;</HI> that &s;o, having our fruit here in holine&s;s, our end may be ever|la&s;ting Life, through Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord. Amen.</P>
<PB N="216" REF="113">
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL>2 Cor. chap. 7. la&s;t part ver&s;. 1.</BIBL>
<P>&mdash; <HI>From all filthine&s;s of the Fle&s;h and Spirit, perfecting holine&s;s in the fear of God.</HI></P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. XIII.</NOTE> THis later part doth &s;earch the &s;ore: a difficult work; it being not con|tracted to any one &s;pecial part, but extended from the Crown of the head, to the &s;ole of the foot. The virulent matter hath diffu&s;ed its rancor through all the Veins and Nerves of the body; nay, it runs from the outward to the inward man, the Spirit hath drunk up its Venome. Not one|ly the <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> but the <HI>Spirit,</HI> is to be clean&s;ed from <HI>filthine&s;s;</HI> which is the matter to be wrought upon, and that in the full extent, <HI>From ALL filthine&s;s of the Fle&s;h and Spirit.</HI> And la&s;tly, this purifying act without inter|ruption, is to be in a continual progre&s;s, <HI>per|fecting holine&s;s in the fear of God.</HI></P>
<P>The ugline&s;s of &s;in appears by the &s;eve|ral Names and Characters wherewith 'tis branded in the Scriptures. In the &s;ixteenth of <HI>Ezekiel,</HI> it's compared to the pollution of a <HI>new born Child.</HI> In the thirty &s;ixth Chap|ter, the &s;ame Prophet likens it to the impu|rity of a <HI>removed woman.</HI> In the fir&s;t of
<PB N="217" REF="113"><HI>John,</HI> to the rottenne&s;s of man in his <HI>grave. David,</HI> viewing the deformity of his &s;ins, roars for the di&s;quietne&s;s of his heart, findes no re&s;t in his bones; which made him im|plore the Lord to cover them, and blot them all quite out. It is too manife&s;t, that ma|ny harbor &s;ome one corrupt affection as their darling; and becau&s;e they are fortified a|gain&s;t the a&s;&s;ault of all others, they make fair weather withal, and think all is well with them. The &s;tarved Niggard, falls foul upon the full Epicure, and the Epicure jeeres the Niggard. The Covetous counts him&s;elf a good Chri&s;tian, becau&s;e he is not debo&s;h'd, not given to licentiou&s;ne&s;s. And the Voluptuous would be e&s;teemed a good Chri&s;tian too, in that he abhors all wretch|ed fordidne&s;s. This party, and delicate o|bedience, &s;upplicates to God for a di&s;pen&s;a|tion in <HI>Naaman</HI>'s form: <HI>When I bow my knee to Rimmon,</HI> &s;aid he; to <HI>Mammon,</HI> &s;aith the Covetous; to <HI>Bacchus,</HI> &s;aith the Rio|tous; to <HI>Venus,</HI> &s;aith the Libidinous; to <HI>Mars,</HI> &s;aith the Furious; <HI>God be merciful to me in this.</HI> But the true Convert is at de|fiance with each &s;in; he remembers how <HI>Herod,</HI> a man that never knew the power of goodne&s;s, in many things heard <HI>John Bapti&s;t</HI> gladly; yet, in one thing, he would be <HI>He|rod</HI> &s;till, in his filthy ince&s;t he would be no Changeling. Whereupon, the regenerate Chri&s;tian re&s;erves no peculiar Clo&s;et for any bo&s;ome &s;in; for he con&s;iders, if we leave
<PB N="218" REF="114">but one inlet of out &s;ouls open to folly, Sa|tan, that old Serpent, who lyes in ambu&s;h for all advantages, may as well by that, creep in, to our perdion, as by many apparent brea|ches. The Ship may be &s;unk by &s;ome little in|&s;en&s;ibleleak, as well as by the violence of the waves breaking in upon it. The lea&s;t drachm of poy&s;on is enough to infect the &s;ounde&s;t Con&s;titution. One prevailing Di&s;ea&s;e, may kill the body, as well as many: &s;o one <HI>Dali|lah,</HI> one corrupt lu&s;t adhering to us, will de&s;troy both body and &s;oul, no le&s;s then a multitude of &s;ins: the rea&s;on is, becau&s;e the lea&s;t &s;in is as mortal in it's nature, as the greate&s;t. Hence it was, that Chri&s;t &s;uffered exactly in every part, and ro&s;e again com|pleatly with all his parts, to &s;hew that we al&s;o, who are Chri&s;ts, &s;hould be throughly mortified to &s;in in all parts, and cuickned to righteou&s;ne&s;s in every point. The body is not &s;ound, &s;o long as the remainder of a Di&s;ea&s;e ne&s;tles in it; no more can our &s;ouls be clean, if one corner be left un&s;wept.</P>
<P>In the natural body, if one part be ex|ceeding hot, and the re&s;t exceeding cold, it is a &s;ymptome of &s;ome di&s;temper within; but if there be an equal temper of heat throughout, then all is well. So it is in the &s;piritual man; if our blood &s;hall ri&s;e at the hearing of an Oath, and yet can be content to cheat our neighbour; that's a &s;igne all is not well within, becau&s;e true obedience mu&s;t be in all integrity. For &s;eeing the Al|mighty
<PB N="219" REF="114">made every part and faculty of our bodies and &s;ouls, and u&s;ed no partner in the work, he will never admit the <HI>Devil</HI> as a Cope-mate to part &s;takes with him; but like the true Mother of the Child, will <HI>have all or none.</HI> Thus we read that Chri&s;t ca&s;t out of <HI>Mary Magdalene</HI> &s;even Divels,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar 16.</NOTE> he left not one: he ca&s;t a Legion of Devils out of another, not one was left behind;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 5.</NOTE> to le&s;|&s;on us wholly to put off the old man, and what&s;oever hath any affinity with &s;in and Satan, as the <HI>Romans</HI> expelled the whole Race of the <HI>Tarquins</HI> out of <HI>Rome.</HI> Our purgative therefore mu&s;t be general, from <HI>ALL filthine&s;s,</HI> and that <HI>of the fle&s;h and &s;pirit,</HI> which are the parts &s;o much infect|ed.</P>
<P>The fle&s;h is &s;ometimes taken in Scripture for the general Ma&s;s of Corruption, as it is repugnant to the Law. So the Apo&s;tle, in the fifth to the <HI>Galatians,</HI> reckons Pride, Envy, and &s;uch like, among the works of the fle&s;h: yet <HI>fle&s;h</HI> here, pa&s;&s;eth for that o|ther part, which, with the &s;oul, builds up the whole Man, in regard 'tis put directly oppo&s;ite to the Spirit. And well it may be &s;o put; for this pollution of the fle&s;h, which cleaves to the &s;ub&s;tance as Chaff to the Wheat, hath depraved our whole Nature; and &s;o, not our hands onely, but our hearts too; as well the inward man, as the out|ward; the in&s;ide, no le&s;s then the out&s;ide, mu&s;t be clean&s;ed and purified.</P>
<PB N="220" REF="115">
<P>I finde it &s;toried of devout <HI>An&s;elm,</HI> how, on a certain time, he ca&s;t his eye on a Shep|herds Boy; who, having caught a Bird, tyed a &s;tone to the leg, by which means the Bird could no &s;ooner mount and &s;oar a|loft, but the &s;tone drew her down again: And &s;o that holy Arch-Bi&s;hop, having a &s;ympathy or feeling of humane infirmities, fell a weep|ing, and condoled the mi&s;erable &s;tate of Man by Nature, who could no &s;ooner by pious Contemplations endeavour to a&s;cend into heaven, but his Corruptions forthwith enfor|ced him to the earth. The noy&s;ome &s;team and exhalations of our &s;en&s;ual affections, cloud the rational faculty or power of our Rea&s;on, and &s;o damps the clearne&s;s of her operati|ons.</P>
<P>It's worth the while to eye the order of the words, <HI>Let us clean&s;e our &s;elves from all filthine&s;s:</HI> Fir&s;t, of the <HI>fle&s;h;</HI> then of the <HI>&s;pirit,</HI> the rebellious motions of the fle&s;h being the matter and fuel of &s;in. Our fle&s;h is both our wor&s;t, and neare&s;t enemy; and the wor&s;t, becau&s;e our neare&s;t. VVell may the whole life of Man be called a continual warfare here on Earth, &s;ince every one car|ries his greate&s;t Adver&s;ary in his own bo|&s;ome. And upon very good ground is Hea|ven &s;aid to be got by violence, when our own fle&s;h, like a ponderous and ma&s;&s;ie weight, is repre&s;&s;ing us from a&s;piring thi|ther. I cannot now wonder, that Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> as one amaz'd and much a&s;toni&s;h'd,
<PB N="221" REF="115">breaks forth into this pa&s;&s;ionate exclamati|on, <HI>Rom.</HI> 7. <HI>O wretched man that I am, who &s;hall deliver me from the body of this death?</HI> Seeing the Law of the Members hinders the good which we would do, and drives us to the evil we would not do.</P>
<P>Now if it much humbled <HI>Abraham</HI> to re|member he was but du&s;t and a&s;hes;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.27.</NOTE> far more it &s;hould humble us, knowing we are much wor&s;e, lumps of &s;in and corruption: Our bodies and &s;ouls being no better then <HI>Sterquilinium &s;uper &s;terquilinium,</HI> one dung|hill tumbled upon another. As for tho&s;e wrangling di&s;putes, Whether the fir&s;t moti|ons of the fle&s;h be formally or materially, properly or improperly &s;ins, let them take their re&s;t; it's truly concluded on all &s;ides, and every one mu&s;t be abundantly &s;en&s;ible, that they are <HI>fomes peccati,</HI> the Matter, the Tinder, Womb of all ungodline&s;s; and there|fore are ab&s;olutely to be curbed, not once to be admitted, or at lea&s;t pre&s;ently expelled. <HI>Elias</HI> cloud was but a little one at fir&s;t;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kin. 18.</NOTE> yet afterwards it became a covering for the whole heaven. And &s;o the &s;malle&s;t &s;parke of ill motions, may burn into a va&s;t flame. For &s;in is of a &s;preading Nature, it never &s;tays where it begins. Give but the lea&s;t Serpent room for his head, and he will ea&s;ily winde in his whole body. The heart being once defiled, vve yeild our members vvea|pons of uncleanne&s;s to uncleanne&s;s; &s;o fruitful and teeming a Mother is the inbred
<PB N="222" REF="116">Concupi&s;cence of our inordinate Nature. When &s;inful motions &s;pring up, u&s;e them as <HI>Hercules</HI> u&s;ed the two Snakes, &s;trangle them in the Cradle, in the &s;wathing band, in the very beginning.</P>
<P>Tvvo main enemies to this Act of Re|novation, or clean&s;ing the lu&s;ts and vicious habits of the fle&s;h and &s;pirit, are intempe|rate Eating, and immoderate Drinking. For the body carries the &s;oul, as the Hor&s;e the Rider; vvhich, if too vvantonly fed, vvill either run avvay, or dangerou&s;ly throvv him. A &s;urfeited and unruly body, is no ha|bitation for the &s;oul; but a pri&s;on, a place onely to enclo&s;e the &s;pirit, not to entertain it. When the belly is fulle&s;t, there is mo&s;t room for Satan; becau&s;e the &s;oul is never more fraught with &s;in, then when the fle&s;hly Epicure is mo&s;t di&s;tended with meat. Let him be glutted, and all the day after will &s;erve for nothing but to &s;in, or at lea&s;t to &s;leep in. To this purpo&s;e Satan &s;et on <HI>Jobs</HI> Children in the place of their banqueting, and made their Table their Snare, their Dainties their Bane. Let not us then im|prove &s;in by the &s;ame trade our fir&s;t Parents purcha&s;ed it, by eating; for the time will come, when God will de&s;troy the belly, and the meat; when the very fle&s;h, &s;o careful|ly maintained, will &s;erve for nothing but to maintain the VVorms that de&s;troy it.</P>
<P>The other Capital Vice which cro&s;&s;eth Mortification, is immoderate u&s;ing of Drink&punc;
<PB N="223" REF="116">They are both near of blood: For what is a Clutton, but <HI>Qui men&s;uram &s;tomachi non novit,</HI> who delights in nothing but eating and drinking? Would you know why the Sun|day is better known to the Drunkard by the Ale-hou&s;e, then the Church? The Devil hath taken po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion in his &s;wini&s;h bre&s;t; and that makes him &s;till run headlong to tho&s;e waters. It is true,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Judith</HI> 13.2.</NOTE> that <HI>Judith</HI> killed <HI>Holofernes;</HI> but we read that the wine be|gan his death. It were good then to hear|ken to Saint <HI>Peters</HI> pre&s;cription, <HI>Be &s;ober,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.5.</NOTE> and watch.</HI></P>
<P>The better to prevent the like incur&s;ions upon the whole man, the Forts and bulwarks of the &s;oul, the exterior &s;en&s;es, are to be well manned and kept &s;afe. The ear and the eye are the two &s;pecial inlets to all Trea&s;ons and Con&s;piracies again&s;t the fle&s;h and the &s;pirit. It is hard to &s;ay where lies the more dan|ger: &s;ure I am, the lower hou&s;e ma&s;ters the upper; the Law of the members exact obedience of the Law of the mind, the fle&s;h of the Spirit. <HI>Job,</HI> in his twelfth Chap|ter, makes the ear the Ta&s;ter of the &s;oul, as the mouth is for the belly; as if no word went down to the heart, but what the ear approves. Now, if the heart be full, the mouth mu&s;t vent, if not run over; and if the tongue be wide, the ear will be wide too. This makes profanene&s;s, which is a pain to the Chri&s;tian, a pa&s;time to the Carnal, be|cau&s;e we delight to &s;peak of tho&s;e things
<PB N="224" REF="117">whereof we delight to hear. Hence is it' that the Tale-teller, and the Tale-receiver, are of as near confederacy, as the Thief and the Receiver, in&s;eparable companions, &s;worn brothers.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">In Cant.</NOTE> Devout <HI>Bernard</HI> makes no more dif|ference betwixt them but this; the one car|ries the Devil in his Tongue, the other in his Ear. Take then Saint <HI>Luke</HI> for your Coun&s;el|lour,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 8.18.</NOTE> who bids you <HI>take heed how you hear.</HI> For &s;eeing Nature hath left the ear without any door or &s;top, the lea&s;t &s;ound which ap|proacheth tho&s;e trenches, may be admitted without re&s;i&s;tance. If it be not a clear &s;ound, then <GAP DESC="foreign">, rottenne&s;s of &s;peech is like to convey corruption of man|ners. But upon better view, we finde the eye the arrant&s;t traytor; the ea&s;ie&s;t entrance for a&s;&s;aults again&s;t the fle&s;h and the &s;pirit, lyes that way.</P>
<P>The eyes are the windows of the &s;oul; and if the windows be not &s;hut clo&s;e, or well guarded, acce&s;s will be wrought for dange|rous Enemies. It may be que&s;tioned, whe|ther ever &s;in had took footing in the world, had it not crept in by the windows of the eye? That which fir&s;t induced <HI>Eve</HI> to ta&s;te the forbidden Fruit, was this: She &s;aw 'twas goodly to the eye. VVhat brought <HI>Achan</HI> into de&s;truction, but the waving up and down of his Eye? So &s;oon as he &s;aw the VVedge of Gold, and the Babyloni&s;h Garment, his de&s;ires were enflamed, and &s;teal he mu&s;t. VVho knows not that <HI>Davids</HI> eyes were
<PB N="225" REF="117">a burning-gla&s;s to &s;et both body and &s;oul in Combu&s;tion? For collecting the beams of <HI>Bath&s;heba</HI>'s &s;hining beauty, he was &s;et on fire with that was precious in her. And &s;o, by the &s;parkling lure of the eye, <HI>Bath&s;hcba</HI> lo&s;t her honour, and <HI>&V;riah</HI> his head.</P>
<P>I could &s;hew you how we read in Saint <HI>John,</HI> of the lu&s;t of the eye; in Saint <HI>Peter,</HI> of the adultery of the eye; and how <HI>Solo|mon,</HI> forbidding to look on the wine while it is red, and &s;parkling in the Cup, intimates there is a drunkenne&s;s of the eye. And though it was <HI>Seneca</HI>'s reproof, an Apo&s;tle might have owned it, <HI>Etiam oculis gulo&s;t &s;unt;</HI> it may be truely &s;aid, that, in &s;ome &s;en&s;e, there is gluttony in the eye. Such a Ma&s;s of Corruption lies lurking in the little Orb of the Eye:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 31.</NOTE> &s;o that <HI>Jobs</HI> re&s;olution may be ours, which is to make a Covenant with our Eyes, not to take in the&s;e treacherous Temptations, le&s;t the alluring blandi&s;hments of the fle&s;h, which pa&s;s through the eye, do quench the &s;pirit. For as there are car|nal delights, wherewith the body is chiefly infected; &s;o there are the &s;piritual impuri|ties wherewith the &s;pirit is defiled. <HI>Illa majoris &s;unt infamiae haec culpae;</HI> carnal &s;ins bring greater infamy and &s;hame unto men, but the &s;piritual leave a greater blot imprin|ted within. Tho&s;e make men like Bea&s;ts, but &s;piritual uncleanne&s;s make men like De|vils. Therefore let's clean&s;e our &s;elvs from all filthine&s;s, not onely of the fle&s;h, but of
<PB N="226" REF="118"><HI>the Spirit,</HI> which is the other part put oppo|&s;ite to the fle&s;h.</P>
<P>Here the Curio&s;ity of the School is much troubled, how the Soul, being a Spirit, and &s;o immaterial, can receive contagion from the Fle&s;h. Much puzzling there is in loo&s;ing the knot, in determining the Controver&s;ie. <HI>Aquinas,</HI> as I conceive, is mo&s;t &s;atisfying; who,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1a 2ae q. 83. <HI>Artic.</HI> 13.</NOTE> &s;eating the &s;ubject of &s;in in the body and &s;oul united, imputes all that is ami&s;s to the Agency of the Spirits, hurrying in the &s;eed. For the&s;e Spirits, &s;aith he, being of a middle nature, betwixt the body and &s;oul, and withal, the In&s;truments of Generation, do in&s;tantly convey the Species or Impre&s;|&s;ions of &s;inful imaginations from the Pa|rent to the Child, whereby all the faculties are &s;uddenly depraved. But what need all this ado? We are &s;ure we are fallen into the puddle and filthy &s;ink of &s;in; let's &s;trive more how to get out, then enquire how we fell in. It is a plain ca&s;e, that Pride, Envy, and the like, are the Biles and Ulcers of the Soul; and therefore the Impo&s;thumation mu&s;t be launc'd, the cure mu&s;t be endeavou|red. The fir&s;t turpitude of the Spirit, which comes to be clean&s;ed, is Pride. It was &s;o bold as to intrude into heaven, and thence threw an Angel into hell.</P>
<P>This &s;hould abate the Cre&s;t, and rever&s;e the Armes of the highe&s;t Spirit; for if God &s;pared not his Angels, he will not &s;pare the be&s;t of men, who are but du&s;t and a&s;hes,
<PB N="227" REF="118">if their attempts be proud.</P>
<P>Pride would be perking in Paradi&s;e, and forthwith <HI>Adam</HI> was ca&s;t out. Mount not then aloft like an Egle,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">De&s;iit e&s;&s;e quod erat, quia voluit e&s;&s;c quod non erat.</NOTE> but con&s;ider our fir&s;t Father lo&s;t the perfection of being inno|cent, by aiming to be tran&s;cendent. It would &s;et up its plumes in the Court, and &s;o turn'd King <HI>Nebuchadnezzar</HI> a grazing. They then that are <HI>&s;ibi ip&s;is &s;uffeni,</HI> &s;moo|thers to them&s;elves, forgetting their Na|ture and their Maker, mu&s;t know this, <HI>Ho|mo e&s;&s;e perdidit, quia &s;e ultra hominem e&s;ti|mavit;</HI> he became a Bea&s;t, that would needs be more then a Man.</P>
<P>Of the &s;ame wing with Pride, is the tow|ring Vice of Envy. This is a de&s;troyer, <HI>a murtherer from the beginning.</HI> Saint <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> faies, <GAP DESC="foreign"> and <GAP DESC="foreign">, are as like in Na|ture as in Name. They are Correlatives, &s;laughter being Envies intimate and Fami|liar. <HI>Cain</HI> fir&s;t envies his Brother, then &s;lew him. Envy is rightly called <HI>toxicum chari|tatis,</HI> the bane of Charity: for whereas Charity cau&s;eth us to rejoyce at the happi|ne&s;s of one another, this makes his Neigh|bours welfare, the envious mans Di&s;ea&s;e. It excires them in whom it raigns, to deal with their brethren as the Jews did with Chri&s;t; who, when they came to &s;peak of his miracles and glorious works, were very remi&s;s and &s;paring; then they concealed his Name, <HI>Hic Homo, this FELLOW doth ma|ny Miracles,</HI> John 11. But when they wrote
<PB N="228" REF="119">the Title of his faigned Crime upon the Cro&s;s, there mo&s;t maliciou&s;ly they pub|li&s;hed his Name. <HI>Hic Homo</HI> would not &s;erve the turn; but <HI>Je&s;us of Nazareth, King of the Jews;</HI> and that in three famous Tongues, Hebrew, Greek, and Latine; writ|ten too in Capital Letters, that all men might run and read it.</P>
<P>Yet of all Vices, this of Envy &s;eems the ju&s;te&s;t, in that it brings along with it its own Vengeance. For the envious man, becau&s;e he cannot con&s;ume anothers heart, mo&s;t viperou&s;ly devours and eats out his own: like unto a Bee, who &s;tinging another, lo&s;eth at once her own &s;trength and life: Or like to Flies; who, while they &s;trive to ex|tingui&s;h the light of others, torment and burn them&s;elves in the flame. Therefore God &s;hould do great injury to the envious, if he placed them in Heaven, where is no|thing but Joy. For pro&s;perity being the Object of Envy, it would encrea&s;e their &s;orrow. Rightly then is hell allotted for &s;uch Vipers, where they &s;hall &s;ee nothing they may envy at. The &s;afer to &s;teer our cour&s;e amid&s;t the&s;e corruptions of the fle&s;h and Spirit, Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> in the fifth to the <HI>Ga|latians,</HI> brings a Catalogue of &s;piritual fruits again&s;t the works of the fle&s;h. <HI>The fruit of the &s;pirit,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>is love, joy, gentle|ne&s;s, faith, temperance,</HI> and the like; in which fruits, if ye abide, ye &s;hall never fall, but be partakers of the Divine Nature, <HI>ha|ving
<PB N="229" REF="119">e&s;caped the pollutions which are in the world, through lu&s;ts,</HI> 1 Peter, Epi&s;t. 2.</P>
<P>But this is not all; another &s;tumbling block of offence is to be removed; and &s;o much the rather, becau&s;e fle&s;h and blood either makes it a meer nothing, or &s;o &s;mall, as they think it &s;hall never be brought to tryal; and that is the Thought of fle&s;h and blood.</P>
<P>Our Thoughts, indeed, are free from in|qui&s;ition in the Law of Man; they are not &s;o in the Law of God. That calls to Exa|mination idle Thoughts, no le&s;s then idle words. For the intention of ill, as it is o|pen to Gods Eyes, as the ill it &s;elf; &s;o 'tis as odious where 'tis nouri&s;hed in the heart with full con&s;ent. A man may thus Think him&s;elf to hell: The rea&s;on is, becau&s;e, as in actions which be good, God accepts the de&s;ire, where we want ability for the deed: &s;o, in tho&s;e which are bad, his pu|ni&s;hments take hold of the thought, where we want means for the outward act. Our Saviour calls a lu&s;tful thought adultery: St. <HI>John</HI> &s;tiles a malicious thought murther. Well then may the Church pray, <HI>Clean&s;e, O Lord, the thoughts of our hearts, by the in|&s;piration of thy holy Spirit, that we may per|fectly love thee;</HI> for unle&s;s the&s;e thoughts be purified, there will be no progre&s;s in good|ne&s;s, no perfecting of holine&s;s in the fear of God, the la&s;t and be&s;t part, it being the
<PB N="230" REF="120"><GAP DESC="foreign">, the top and the complement of all our Perfection.</P>
<P>After our Mortification, we mu&s;t not &s;tay there, as <HI>I&s;rael</HI> did at the foot of the hill, <HI>Exod.</HI> 19. but with <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> a&s;cend into the Mount of God, and improve our holine&s;s. The I&s;raelites gathered Manna every day but on the Sabbath; to &s;ignifie, that until the everla&s;ting Sabbath of Re&s;t, there mu&s;t be no &s;tanding &s;till in our Chri&s;tian growth. They are but <HI>Embryo's</HI> in Religion; Chil|dren, in their fir&s;t Conception, who have their nouri&s;hment &s;till &s;ent into them with|out their Knowledge and will: at the be&s;t, but Babes, who are continually &s;ucking the Milk, the fir&s;t Principles. Men of a full growth, perfect Men, are to dige&s;t &s;olid Meat, fortifying the power of Chri&s;t that is in them by &s;piritual exerci&s;es. They, who aime to be glorious Citizens above, pro|ceed here, as the Sun, in a con&s;tant path, and grow in brightne&s;s till they attain the height of perfection. Boa&s;t not then of thy undaunted Faith, unmoveable Grace, for if thou do&s;t not long and endeavour to be encrea&s;ed in Faith, and furthered in Sancti|fication; I doubt whether any &s;park of Faith, any atome or graine of Grace be in thee or no. That de&s;perate &s;aying was the Devils dictating; <HI>I am prede&s;tinated to life, and &s;o what matters my endeavour, I am &s;ure to be &s;aved?</HI> For while we are <HI>Viatores,</HI>
<PB N="231" REF="120">Pa&s;&s;engers on the way, it's good providence to fear as well as to hope.</P>
<P>I do not in this mixture of fle&s;h and &s;pirit, expect we &s;hould be all &s;p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ritual; that were not to be of the Church Militant, but Triumphant. <HI>Novatus</HI> and <HI>Pelagius</HI> &s;crued Man to &s;uch a purity, as might make him free from all weakne&s;&s;es; &s;o that when he pray|ed for forgivene&s;s of &s;ins, it was rather <HI>humi|liter</HI> then <HI>veraciter,</HI> out of mode&s;ty then truth. Indeed, I read that Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> touch|ing the righteou&s;ne&s;s of the Law, lived un|rebukably, even before he was converted: Mens eyes could &s;py no fault in him. In the fir&s;t to the <HI>Corinthians,</HI> he prote&s;ted that he knew nothing by him&s;elf. In the twenty fourth of the <HI>Acts,</HI> he avows to the face of his mo&s;t quick-&s;ighted Adver&s;aries, that he truly wor&s;hipped the God of his Fathers, believing all things in the Law and the Pro|phets, had hope in the re&s;urrection of the dead, and laboured to keep a clear Con&s;ci|ence towards God and Man. In the twen|tieth of the <HI>Acts,</HI> he takes the Elders of the Phari&s;ees to witne&s;s after what manner he had lived with them at all &s;ea&s;ons, &s;erving the Lord with all humility, and with many tears; and how he pa&s;&s;ed not for Bonds and Afflictions, neither was his life dear unto him, &s;o that he might fulfil his cour&s;e with Joy. When he was now ready to be offe|red up, and the time of his departing was
<PB N="232" REF="121">at hand, his Con&s;cience could give him this Te&s;timony, <HI>I have fought a good fight, and fini&s;hed my cour&s;e, I have kept the faith: from henceforth is laid up for me the Crown of righteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI> And yet notwith&s;tanding all this his righteou&s;ne&s;s, in the third to the <HI>Philippians</HI> he confe&s;&s;eth he hath not attain|ed to that perfection of Grace he ought to labour for. And if not &s;o, then out of his own mouth, he was not pure from &s;in. For,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>S. Au&s;t.</HI> to <HI>Jerom. Ep.</HI> 29.</NOTE> <HI>quicquid minus e&s;t quam debet, ex vitio e&s;t;</HI> what we do not &s;o well as we ought, we do ami&s;s. But if not Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> then who may phari&s;aically think him&s;elf perfect, or as the Angel of <HI>Laodicea,</HI> wanting nothing? If any &s;hould dare thus to over-value his borrowed Talents, he will &s;hew a braine as empty of under&s;tanding, as a heart of Devotion. They magnifie the arm of fle&s;h, more then rea&s;on will admit, who, becau&s;e they finde &s;ome pa&s;&s;ages in Scrip|ture concerning the innocency, ju&s;tice and perfection of Gods Children, do &s;im|ply infer, That every jot and <HI>punctilio</HI> of the Law may be fulfilled. Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> gives a good Rule, <HI>Cum dicitur cuju&s;que rei perfectio, qua in re dicatur videatur:</HI> VVhen the perfection of any thing is na|med, we mu&s;t con&s;ider wherein it is na|med. <HI>Job</HI> may be righteous, compared with whom he lived; the <HI>Publican</HI> may go to his hou&s;e more ju&s;tified then the <HI>Phari&s;ee,</HI> yet not ab&s;olutely ju&s;tified. The
<PB N="233" REF="121"><HI>Spou&s;e</HI> in the <HI>Canticles</HI> may be fair among VVomen; yet her beauty not &s;uch, but &s;he complaines of her blackne&s;s. The <HI>Go|&s;pel</HI>-purity is not here full, ab&s;olute and compleat; 'tis onely in part, in re&s;pect and in con&s;tancy of &s;incere endeavours. And therefore 'tis added, <HI>perfecting holine&s;s in the fear of God.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Holine&s;s</HI> rooted in the fear of God, doth not mix with carnal re&s;pects; it is &s;ingle, not mercenary; &s;incere, not counterfeit: Painted Rottenne&s;s, and gli&s;tering Vice, is an abomination to the Lord. And there|fore, of all Nations, a di&s;&s;embling Na|tion is &s;tiled The People of Gods wrath, <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> the tenth, as fitte&s;t for the fire of his burning ire. That then we may not have our portion with <HI>Hypocrites,</HI> let our Hearts and Souls be purified with a &s;ound Faith, bringing into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Chri&s;t, ha|ving our Mindes entirely &s;way'd with the Fear of God; making it appear by outward Expre&s;&s;ions of Humility and Reverence, that the right Spirit of Gods Fear is upon us.</P>
<P>Now the God of Peace, that brought againe from the dead our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, make you perfect in every good VVork to do his Will, that &s;o you may be Partakers of a Glorious Inheritance a|mong
<PB N="234" REF="122">them, who have clean&s;ed them|&s;elves throughly from ALL filthine&s;s of the Fle&s;h and Spirit, and purifyed their Bodies and Souls in the Blood of the Lamb.</P>
<P>AMEN.</P>
<P><HI>Deo Gloria, mihi venia.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="235" REF="122">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 Pet. chap. 5. ver&s;. 6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Humble your &s;elves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. XIV.</NOTE>THe Apo&s;tle having con&s;idered in the la&s;t words of the former Ver&s;e, how the Almighty looks on the high-minded as on his Oppo&s;ites, whom he re&s;i&s;ts to the uttermo&s;t: and on the contrary, that he is gracious to &s;uch as are lowly in their own eyes; hereupon he &s;trongly urgeth e|very one to humble him&s;elf, that he may be exalted. In the former part of my Text, which is an Exhortation, there's an Act, the Act of <HI>humbling:</HI> the Object of that Act, <HI>your &s;elves; humble your &s;elves,</HI> not <HI>others:</HI> We have work enough at home, why &s;hould we bu&s;ie our &s;elves abroad about the weak|ne&s;&s;es of our Brethren? The Motives indu|cing this humiliating Act, are two; the one implied in the illative term, <HI>[therefore]</HI> God <HI>re&s;i&s;ts the proud, humble your &s;elves therefore:</HI> The order is expre&s;&s;ed in the words which follow, <HI>under the mighty hand of God;</HI> Gods hand is mighty, <HI>therefore humble your &s;elves under the mighty hand of God.</HI></P>
<PB N="236" REF="123">
<P>The later part, which is the rea&s;on of the Exhortation, containes the honour indulged to the truly humbled, Exaltation; together with the Author thereof prefixed, <HI>that HE may exalt you;</HI> and in the clo&s;e is &s;et down the opportunity of the time, <HI>in D&V;E time: Humble your &s;elves therefore under the migh|ty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.</HI></P>
<P>My Theme or Subject, is Humility, a ver|tue more prai&s;ed then practi&s;ed; and yet 'tis a foundation whereon all other Chri&s;tian duties are builded. That this groundwork may be well laid, we are to con&s;ider the ef|fect which comes by it. In the precedent Ver&s;e, we are exhorted to deck our &s;elves inwardly with lowline&s;s. Indeed, our tran&s;la|tion reads, <HI>Be cloth'd with humility;</HI> but the Original <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;ignifies not &s;imply clothing, but bedecking: the Apo&s;tle then e&s;teems it an Ornament, and that &s;o beau|tiful and well-plea&s;ing in Gods Eye, that he adds grace unto it; <HI>He gives grace to the humble,</HI> &s;aith that Ver&s;e.</P>
<P>The Scripture is copious in this point, that the heart which receives mo&s;t from God, ever thinks lea&s;t of it &s;elf. It was the hum|ble &s;peech of <HI>Abraham, I am but du&s;t and a&s;hes,</HI> Gen. 18. he's made the Father of the Faithful. It was the &s;ubmi&s;&s;ive voyce of <HI>Jacob, I am le&s;s then the lea&s;t of Gods Mer|cies,</HI> Gen. 32. he's made his brothers lord. <HI>John</HI> acknowledgeth he is not worthy to
<PB N="237" REF="123">loo&s;e the Latchet of Chri&s;ts Shooe, <HI>Luk.</HI> 3. he's made his Redeemers <HI>Bapti&s;t.</HI> The <HI>Centurion</HI> cries out, He is not worthy Chri&s;t &s;hould come under his roof, <HI>Mat.</HI> 8. his &s;er|vant is re&s;tor'd to health: a gracious reward of his lowline&s;s. The ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Virgin</HI> profe&s;|&s;eth her &s;elf the Lords <HI>Handmaid,</HI> &s;he's made the Mother of God incarnate. So true is that of Saint <HI>Au&s;tin, Qui &s;ibi di&s;pli|cet, Deo placet:</HI> To fall out with thy &s;elf, is the next way to make God thy Friend. Thou &s;halt be &s;o much more glorious in the &s;ight of the Lord, by how much the more contemptible and incon&s;iderable thou art in thy own e&s;timate. It was <HI>Samuel</HI>'s in|ter'gatory to Saul, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 15. <HI>When thou wa&s;t little in thy own eyes, wa&s;t thou not great in the eyes of God?</HI> All waters run naturally to de&s;cending places: &s;o do the influences of &s;upernatural graces to the lowly, who are as Vallies; not to the proud, who are as Moun|taines. A full Stomach will not dige&s;t more Meat: &s;o a haughty minde is uncapable to receive any &s;tore of ble&s;&s;ings. The Phari&s;ee thought him&s;elf full, he went home empty, <HI>Luk.</HI> 18. One cau&s;e, &s;aith <HI>Seneca,</HI> why men are not wi&s;e, is becau&s;e they think them|&s;elves wi&s;e already; &s;o many come not to their wi&s;h'd-for height, becau&s;e too &s;oon they think &s;o high of them&s;elves. He that will enter into a hou&s;e with a low door, mu&s;t fir&s;t &s;toop; Chri&s;t is the door of Hea|ven; and he that will enter there by him,
<PB N="238" REF="124">mu&s;t of him learn to be <HI>lowly</HI> in heart, <HI>Mat.</HI> 19.</P>
<P>Many things teach us humility: Fir&s;t, the Omnipotent Maje&s;ty of God, in who&s;e &s;ight the Stars, &s;ome tran&s;late the Angels are unclean, <HI>Job</HI> 25. and therefore there is in us a nullity, in re&s;pect of his irre&s;i&s;tible great|ne&s;s. Secondly, our Name, <HI>homo ab humo,</HI> bids us to reflect on the de&s;picablene&s;s of our extraction, to de&s;cend <HI>in domum Figu|li,</HI> where we may find Clay, or the ba&s;e&s;t of all Elements, Earth, to be the Original Matter of our fir&s;t being. The con&s;ideration where|of, forc'd the Per&s;ian Emperour, haughty <HI>Xerxes,</HI> to pour out tears, in regard none of his formidable huge Army &s;hould be alive within an hundred years; and thereupon to proclaim him&s;elf a King of Du&s;t, and not of Men. Again, the Contemplation of our Souls will help to humble us; the faculties whereof being &s;ore wounded, &s;ince our fall in <HI>Adam.</HI> The be&s;t rarities we have, are but <HI>dona,</HI> Gods donatives; they are given, and that <HI>ad Beneplacitum Dei,</HI> we have them not by Lea&s;e. Be&s;ides, that which we know not, is more then that which we know; if one be wi&s;e, another is wi&s;er; and where's the more Grace, there's the more &s;en&s;e of the want of it; therefore no cau&s;e to glory therein.</P>
<P>Moreover, knowledge often begets a high conceit, <HI>Scientia inflat;</HI> Humility &s;erves as a Pin to prick that windy Bladder of Knowledge.</P>
<PB N="239" REF="124">
<P>Con&s;ider likewi&s;e how the greatne&s;s of your endowments do greaten your burden, add to your charge, and enhaun&s;e the rec|koning. <HI>For, to whom much is given, of him much is required.</HI> If thou ha&s;t five Talents, thy Lord will look for the encrea&s;e of five, <HI>Mat.</HI> 25. Do not then de&s;pi&s;e others, as lacking tho&s;e good parts, which you &s;eem to have; but make your &s;elves equal to them of the lower &s;ort, <HI>Rom.</HI> 12. and in giving honour ('tis not in taking honour) go one before another, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 10. Experience al&s;o &s;hews, that little Keyes are placed by the great; and little Pipes, with the great, make good Mu&s;ick: So it is in the condition of mans life, little and great, the mighty and the mean, &s;ort well together in mutual Offices.</P>
<P>The lea&s;t member in the body, the lea&s;t pin in the building, the lea&s;t nayl in the work, hath its place and u&s;e; none are to be con|temned. The favours which the humble enjoy, I conceive to be arguments to hum|ble us. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the poor in &s;pirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven,</HI> Mat. 5. as if it were prepared for none but &s;uch. <HI>To him will I look, even to him that is of a poor and contrite &s;pirit, and that trembleth at my words,</HI> I&s;ai. 66. As if God would vouch|&s;afe none &s;o much as a look, but the humble. VVhat &s;hall I &s;ay of Chri&s;t, the exemplary pattern of Humility? Did thy Prince, being Lord of Lords, make him&s;elf of no repu|tation?
<PB N="240" REF="125"><HI>Phil.</HI> 2. Drink of the brook in the way? <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 111. Take the form of a Ser|vant, and wilt thou domineeringly lord it over thy fellow-Servants? Thy Redeemers Head hang'd down upon the Cro&s;s; do not though then, who art but a &s;ubordi|nate Member, be eager to be &s;et up on Thrones; rather let pride have a fall, let us fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he comes to re&s;i&s;t the proud. Humble your &s;elves <HI>therefore,</HI> even <HI>therefore,</HI> becau&s;e God re&s;i&s;ts the proud: which is the fir&s;t Motive in my Text.</P>
<P>The Original &s;peaks more emphatically, <GAP DESC="foreign">, God &s;ets him&s;elf in battle aray again&s;t him that hath a proud look. For <GAP DESC="foreign">, is a military word, &s;ignifying in order to &s;et again&s;t: So that the Lord doth <HI>in&s;truere aciam,</HI> even gather an army of his Creatures again&s;t the in&s;olent. He is not tyed to vindicate his honour meerly by an army of Men; he can rai&s;e an army of his lowe&s;t Creatures, able enough to confound the proude&s;t <HI>Pharaohs,</HI> the mo&s;t deified <HI>He|rods:</HI> an army of Flies, or an army of Lo|cu&s;ts; an army of Frogs, or an army of Lice; an army of Drops, or an army of Du&s;t: He can rai&s;e an army again&s;t the proud out of his own Fle&s;h; an army of VVorms, or an army of &s;pots; an army of fiery In|flammations, windy Convul&s;ions, watry De|fluxions: He can rai&s;e an army out of his own &s;oul; an army of vain Follies, and
<PB N="241" REF="125">ruinous Devices. <HI>If God be again&s;t us, who can be with us?</HI> Neither is he limitted to apparent and &s;en&s;ible ways, he can de&s;troy the proud by <HI>&s;ecret and hidden</HI> blows. When <HI>Nebuchadnezzar</HI> was proud of his goodly and gorgeous building, a Voyce from Heaven &s;aid, <HI>Thy Kingdom is departed from thee;</HI> and pre&s;ently he was exiled, and made free Deni&s;on of the fields &s;even years, <HI>Dan.</HI> 4. This &s;in hath a long repentance. <HI>Goli|ah,</HI> the glory of the Phili&s;tins, was re|&s;i&s;ted onely by a &s;tone which was flung at him, and his own Sword cut off his head, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 11. <HI>Antiochus</HI> threatn'd to make <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> a common place of burial for the Jews; God &s;mote him with an invi&s;ible in|curable di&s;ea&s;e in his Bowels, wherewith he was tormented till his death, 2 <HI>Machab.</HI> 9.</P>
<P>Secondly, God re&s;i&s;ts the proud by hin|dering their purpo&s;es: when <HI>Zenacharib,</HI> the proud King of <HI>A&s;&s;yria,</HI> intended the de|&s;truction of the Jews, God, by his Angel, &s;lew an hundred four&s;core and five thou&s;and of his Camp by night; and onely by the hearing of a noy&s;e, a bla&s;t, he was &s;o &s;cared, that he turned home into his own land, where he fell by the Sword of his own Sons, 2 <HI>King.</HI> 9. <HI>Saul</HI> proudly purpo&s;ed <HI>Davids</HI> de&s;truction;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 23.27, 28.</NOTE> a Me&s;&s;enger on the &s;uddain tell'd him a Rumour, that the Phili&s;tins had invaded the Land, and he turns from pur&s;u|ing <HI>David.</HI></P>
<PB N="242" REF="126">
<P>Thirdly, God re&s;i&s;ts the proud by turning their Coun&s;els upon them&s;elves, and en|&s;naring them with their own mi&s;chiefs. The proud Princes of <HI>Babylon</HI> condemned <HI>Dani|el</HI> to the Lyons Den; but the Lyons devou|red them, their Wives and Children, <HI>Dan.</HI> 6.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, God re&s;i&s;ts the proud by taking a|way the things whereof they are proud. The Dam&s;els of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> are threatn'd to have all their bravery and ornaments tane away, <HI>I&s;ai.</HI> 3. The <HI>Cormorant,</HI> proud of his riches, was bereav'd of them, <HI>Luk.</HI> 12. So if we be proud of our &s;trength, God will take it a|way by &s;ickne&s;s; if of beauty, by an Ague or the &s;mall Pocks; if of wit, by an Apo|plexy, or doting folly. It's evident, the Al|mighties word &s;tands as a Law, which &s;aith, <HI>He that exalts him&s;elf &s;hall be brought low,</HI> Luk. 18. <HI>He that is proud, &s;hall come to &s;hame; nay, to de&s;truction,</HI> Prov. 12. And thus, from the Argument of Illation by way of re|&s;i&s;tance, I proceed to the other Motive in regard of the mighty hand of God: <HI>Hum|ble your &s;elves therefore under the mighty hand of God.</HI></P>
<P>But hath God a hand? Yes: as he hath an Eye, Foot, and the like; not properly, truly and literally; but improperly, figura|tively, in a borrowed &s;en&s;e, by way of &s;imi|litude or re&s;emblance. So the Apo&s;tle, ex|pre&s;&s;ing the exerci&s;e of Gods &s;upream pow|er, &s;peaks <GAP DESC="foreign">, after the manner
<PB N="243" REF="126">of men, who are wont to be humbled by the hand. So when God by his mighty power dryed the Sea, &s;oftned the Rocks, turned the River into Blood, &s;taid the Sun, darkn'd the Moon, and made the whole earth to tremble; the P&s;almi&s;t calls this might of his power, the might of his hand;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 11<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.15.</NOTE> <HI>The right hand of the Lord hath brought mighty things to pa&s;s:</HI> It is the might and &s;trength of his power, which orders all things according to the Coun&s;el of his own will. It is He who in due time will exalt us.</P>
<P><HI>He,</HI> not Chance or Fortune; but <HI>He,</HI> and <HI>He</HI> alone; &s;hall <HI>exalt,</HI> not tread down; in <HI>due</HI> time, not perhaps in a time expected, but then, when it &s;hall be more requi&s;ite, more comfortable, even in <HI>due</HI> time. Now if all true advancement be from God, he then that is exalted, and not by the Lord, is exalted with a Vengeance. <HI>Haman</HI> was &s;o highly exalted, that he was reputed as <HI>Ha|man the high:</HI> but becau&s;e it was not this <HI>HE</HI> in my Text who exalted him, all his honour quickly decay'd; for when he ex|pected to be rais'd to the high &s;eat of Digni|ty, a Halter was his comfort; they hang'd him on a Tree which he had prepared for <HI>Mordecai.</HI> How did <HI>Abimelech</HI> weary and wa&s;te him&s;elf in obtaining a Kingdom? but becau&s;e he took not the right Method in coming to it by the Lord, the prime Author of all glory, all his pomp lay in the du&s;t: a &s;illy woman ca&s;t a piece of Mil&s;tone upon
<PB N="244" REF="127">his head, and brake his Scull, which was the bane of all his hopeful endeavours, <HI>Judg.</HI> 9. In the eleventh of the &s;econd of <HI>Kings, A|thaliah</HI> raigned. Queen over all the Land; but becau&s;e the Lord &s;et her not up, but her own bloody Ambition, by de&s;troying the Seed royal, not long after &s;he was &s;lain by the Sword. Let us therefore rather want, then be great on any termes, which are not godly and righteous. It's better to endure poverty, then to be potent by parting with piety. The purcha&s;e is extreamly dear, when we part with our &s;ouls in the bar|gaine.</P>
<P>Againe, it is <HI>He</HI> the LORD which ex|alts; why then boa&s;te&s;t thou thy &s;elf, &s;acri|ficing to thy Nets, as if by thy wit or worth thou could&s;t adde one cubit to thy &s;tature, one mite to thy millions, one grain to thy graces? <HI>Without me,</HI> &s;aith Chri&s;t, <HI>ye can do nothing,</HI> John 15. And, <HI>without God,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>you can have nothing,</HI> 1 Cor. 4. What &s;aith the P&s;almi&s;t? <HI>Except the Lord build the hou&s;e, they labour in vain that build it: and except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen watch in vain,</HI> P&s;alm 127. And whom the pride of heart promoteth, though they &s;hould make their ne&s;t as high as the Eagle, the Lord will bring them down thence, <HI>Jer.</HI> 49.16. <HI>Yea, though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he &s;hall peri&s;h for ever like his own dung,</HI> ver&s;. 6, 7. Do not then in
<PB N="245" REF="127">your endowments, &s;ay thus: <HI>I have gotten by the might of my power;</HI> but look up rather to God, who hath &s;o poured out his ble&s;|&s;ings on us, that we &s;hould remember to give up our ble&s;&s;ings to him, pray&s;ing and magnifying his holy Name, <HI>that he may ex|alt you.</HI></P>
<P>We &s;ee in Nature, that the greatne&s;s of enjoyments infer the lowe&s;t conde&s;centi|ons; the more the Tree is laden with Fruit, the lower it bends to the ground. Hence it is, that many come &s;hort of honour, though it be mo&s;t mens aime, becau&s;e they would a&s;cend to be honoured, without de&s;cending to be humbled. The old Romans, in buil|ding one Temple to <HI>Vertue,</HI> and another to <HI>Honour,</HI> conjoyned them in &s;uch &s;ort, as none could enter into that of Honour, ex|cept he fir&s;t made a pa&s;&s;age through this of Vertue. In like manner 'tis Gods Ordi|nance, that none be exalted in his upper Courts, but &s;uch as contentedly &s;ubmit to &s;toop and pa&s;s through the low wicket, and narrow door of Humility here below. This is exemplified in little and lowly <HI>David,</HI> who&s;e Humility tran&s;lated him from the Sheep-fold to the high &s;eat of Princes; yea, of the Princes of his people. We confe&s;s, every one that is humble, doth not here with <HI>Saul,</HI> finde a Kingdom, while he is &s;eek|ing his Fathers A&s;&s;es, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 9. Yet many mean Apprenti&s;es, who have endured the heat of the day, and the drudgery of the
<PB N="246" REF="128">night, have been advanced to the Skarlet and golden Chain of a Lord Maior; and &s;ure 'tis within the memory of man, that poor Scholars have a&s;cended to be Lord-Bi&s;hops.</P>
<P>But this exaltation of the lowly, is rai|&s;ed by degrees; for though God be ever the &s;ame in him&s;elf, yet he is not always &s;o in us; though he loves his beloved to the end, yet his love hath &s;ome intermi&s;&s;ion. And this he doth in his infinite wi&s;dom; for the withholding of that we de&s;ire, encrea&s;|eth our de&s;ire; the more we &s;tay for it, the more we long after it. We commonly ne|ver know the benefit of a thing, but by the ab&s;ence of it; our health would not be &s;o much e&s;teemed, if it plea&s;ed not the Lord we were &s;ometimes &s;ick. The long ab&s;ence of a Friend, makes him the more welcome at his return. Thus the onely wi&s;e Di&s;po&s;er of all things, oft times delays his Mercies, &s;ub&s;tracts his Comforts, withdraws his gra|cious Pre&s;ence, to the end we may know our &s;elves, and &s;eek after him with greater fervency and devotion. The humble have their cro&s;&s;es, but they are onely for the try|al of their Vertues. What if we be hum|bled under the mighty hand of God? the &s;ame hand which &s;mote us, &s;hall make us whole, and lift us up; and that <HI>in D&V;E time.</HI></P>
<P>All things have a time, orderly things a <HI>due</HI> time. In be&s;towing his Mercy, the
<PB N="247" REF="128">Lord regards the circum&s;tance &s;o well as the &s;ub&s;tance; not onely in time, but in <HI>due time.</HI> That's the grace of a favour, to do it oppor|tunely, orderly, and conveniently, in a <HI>due</HI> time. Food and Phy&s;ick given in due &s;ea|&s;on, pro&s;per well; but the mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary of the&s;e out of due time, doth hurt rather then help. God hath this gracious attribute among the re&s;t, <HI>He is a pre&s;ent help in time of need,</HI> P&s;am 9.9. (That is) he performs it in extremity; then, when the minde of him who is in affliction, doth mo&s;t greedily co|vet and de&s;ire it. <HI>To every thing,</HI> Eccle&s;. 3.1. <HI>there is an appointed time;</HI> what&s;oever is done, &s;uffered, enjoyed, whether natural, voluntary, or involuntary, it hath a &s;et time wherein 'tis beautiful and comely. And though long, yet at length every promi&s;e, every threat, every prediction, &s;hall come to his ju&s;t period and performance. So 'tis ex|pre&s;&s;ed in <HI>Habakkuk</HI> the &s;econd, <HI>The vi&s;ion is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it &s;hall &s;peak and not lye: though it tarry, wait for it, becau&s;e it &s;hall &s;urely come, it will not tar|ry.</HI> It is the madne&s;s of the world, not to &s;tay the time God hath de&s;igned, but they mu&s;t &s;treight have their longings. Good <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was overtaken thus, expo&s;tulating with the Lord, <HI>Exod.</HI> 5. <HI>Since I came to Pha|raoh to &s;peak in thy Name, he hath vexed this people more, and yet thou ha&s;t not delivered thy people at all:</HI> He thought it much to ex|pect Gods due time. In like manner the
<PB N="248" REF="129">&s;ouls of tho&s;e that lye under the Altar, cry'd, <HI>Lord, how long? thou art holy, and ju&s;t, and true; do&s;t thou not judge, avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?</HI> Revelations the &s;ixth. But they received an&s;wer, They <HI>mu&s;t re&s;t for a &s;ea&s;on, till the fulne&s;s of time.</HI> Nothing befalls us, but in Gods time; which we mu&s;t attend, not pre&s;cribe. In the one hundred twenty ninth <HI>P&s;alm,</HI> God &s;uffered evil men to plow the Church, and &s;o make long Furrows on the back of it; Yet, &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>the Lord will cut the cords of the wicked:</HI> their plow &s;hall have no more traces to be drawn with. The Church may be given over to be vexed and tormented for a cer|tain &s;ea&s;on; but when the holy One hath done his work, when he hath &s;ufficiently corrected his people to their amendment, then he breaks the cords, the traces, and bonds a&s;under.</P>
<P>The I&s;raelites groan'd a long time under <HI>Pharaohs</HI> burdens; but when four hundred and thirty years were full, the period which God &s;et, the fit time; then, upon the very &s;ame day, they were delivered, and <HI>Pharaoh</HI> utterly de&s;troyed, <HI>Exo.</HI> 12.41. There's a clear place for this, <HI>Deut.</HI> 32.35. Where, &s;pea|king of the Enemies of the Church, 'tis &s;aid, <HI>His foot &s;hall &s;lide in due time.</HI> Per|haps you may complaine and think it too long, but 'tis not too long; if it were any &s;ooner, it would be too &s;oon. <HI>In D&V;E time his foot &s;hall &s;lide: Yet a little while, and he
<PB N="249" REF="129">that &s;hall come, will come, and will not tarry,</HI> Heb. 10. That is, he will not tarry a jot beyond the due time and &s;ea&s;on that is fitte&s;t. When ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Mary,</HI> the Mother of the Lord, would have had him to turn water into wine, he tell'd her &s;he mu&s;t &s;tay her time, <HI>for my hour is not yet come,</HI> John 2. <HI>(i.)</HI> The hour wherein it might be more acceptable, and the miracle more profitable for them, for who&s;e &s;akes the ble&s;&s;ed Vir|gin de&s;ired it to be done. So though he exceedingly loved <HI>Lazarus,</HI> yet he would not make &s;uch ha&s;t to help him, as was de&s;i|red, <HI>John</HI> 11. And why? even becau&s;e he who knew all things, knew this al&s;o, That when he was dead in his grave, the time was mo&s;t fit,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, in regard of God, becau&s;e thereby to him would accrue the greater glory.</P>
<P>Secondly, in re&s;pect of Chri&s;t him&s;elf, be|cau&s;e by &s;uch an extraordinary Act, he &s;hould the more &s;oundly confute and confound the Jews. And be&s;ides, his Di&s;ciples, through this Miracle, were the more &s;trong|ly confirmed in their belief. Wherefore, in the mid&s;t of our pre&s;&s;ures and calami|ties, let us abide cheerfully, and comfor|tably look for Gods due time. For the All-&s;ufficient helps at a pinch; when all help failes, then is he &s;een. Doth <HI>Jacob</HI> want bread at home?
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 45.</NOTE> then <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> is heard of a|broad. Though he would not deliver <HI>Jo|nas</HI> from the tempe&s;t,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jonas 2.</NOTE> he did from the Whales
<PB N="250" REF="130">belly. The greater the danger was, the more his glory.</P>
<P>The better to win you to wait Gods lea&s;ure, as <HI>Abraham</HI> did, bethink your &s;elves how many a long look God hath made for us.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.</NOTE> Hath he not &s;tood at our Doors knocking and calling, till his head was full of dew,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 5.</NOTE> and his locks full of the drops of the night? Forty dayes he &s;taid for <HI>Nine|ve, Jonas</HI> the third. Forty years for <HI>Jeru&s;a|lem,</HI> P&s;alm the ninety fifth; and a Centu|ry for <HI>England.</HI> How much more then &s;hould we wait on him, till he will have mercy; ingeminating our prayers for help, until he heales our bones, &s;ince he hath promi&s;ed that he <HI>will ri&s;e and have mercy upon Zion?</HI> P&s;alm 102.</P>
<P>VVe now, O Lord, humble our &s;elves before thee, in praying to thee, and by a thankful Remembrance of thy Meritorious dying for us.</P>
<P>Now therefore exalt us in thy &s;trength, refre&s;h our &s;ouls with the Comforts of thy holy Spirit, that we may glorifie thy holy Name, tru&s;t in thy promi&s;es, and hope in thy Mercies, through Chri&s;ts Merits; to whom, with thee and the holy Spirit, be a|&s;cribed all Honour and Glory, be rendered all prai&s;e and thank&s;giving, &s;ervice and obe|dience, from Generation to Generation. A|men.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="251" REF="130">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>John 1. fir&s;t part ver&s;. 14.</HI></BIBL>
<P>The Word was made Fle&s;h.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. XV.</NOTE>THe&s;e words, though few in number, are in meaning large: Take them Hi&s;torically, &s;o they are a &s;hort Creed: Take them Figuratively, &s;o they contain the my&s;tery of the ble&s;&s;ed Sacra|ment: Take them Morally, &s;o they &s;um up the practick end of all our preaching. Thus, as I conceive, they &s;et forth unto us, a three|fold Incarnation of our Saviour; His In|carnation in the VVomb, in the Euchari&s;t, in the Life of a Chri&s;tian. One way he is incarnate by him&s;elf alone; the &s;econd way he is oft made fle&s;h by our &s;ubordinate Mi|ni&s;try, that is, &s;acramentally; and a third way he is to be made fle&s;h by your tractable duty. The Hi&s;torical &s;en&s;e I have here|tofore examined, and by command, 'twas made publickly extant. Therein I &s;hewed three members growing out of the Text; the Per&s;on A&s;&s;uming, the Nature A&s;&s;umed, and the Manner of the Union. The Per&s;on A&s;&s;uming, the VVord, the &s;econd Per&s;on of the Deity; the Nature A&s;&s;umed, Humane, by the Name of <HI>Fle&s;h;</HI> the Manner of Union, &s;ecretly and wonderfully wrought, not by
<PB N="252" REF="131">carnal generation, not by conver&s;ion, or mixture of &s;ub&s;tance, but by meer ma|king; <HI>The Word was MADE fle&s;h.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;um of the fir&s;t member was this: That by the Name of <HI>Word,</HI> the Son of God, or Gods inward Conception and pure Rea|&s;on, was here &s;ignified; (for a Spirit hath naturally no other Son but &s;uch) and that he was &s;ignified by the Name <HI>Word</HI> more properly and per&s;onally then by any other. More properly then by the Name <HI>Son;</HI> for that name is common to <HI>Adam, Luk.</HI> 3.28. and doth not &s;ufficiently di&s;tingui&s;h from the uncleanly and material birth of Creatures. Likewi&s;e that he is named by <HI>Word</HI> more per&s;onally then by <HI>Light, Wi&s;|dome, Image,</HI> which without &s;ome fur|ther <HI>Adjunct,</HI> agrees to other per&s;ons of the Deity.</P>
<P>From the &s;econd Member, this is the <HI>Ex|tract,</HI> That the incomprehen&s;ible <HI>Word</HI> took Fle&s;h to become &s;en&s;ible: that he &s;o mani|fe&s;ted him&s;elf for our Salvation, which could not be wrought by taking any but humane fle&s;h, the &s;ame that offended. <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> mans wor|&s;er part, as well as the better, to &s;ave him wholly. True fle&s;h, to &s;ave him indeed. Fle&s;h in general, to &s;ave many; not fle&s;h re&s;trained to a particular humane, but eleva|ted to a divine Per&s;on. That &s;uch genera|lity was mo&s;t congruous with his all-&s;prea|ding Divinity; that the Comfort thereof extended the Capacity of Salvation to us
<PB N="253" REF="131">Gentiles and Sinners, as well as to the Jews; that fle&s;h being &s;o contemptible and vile, and yet taken by Chri&s;t the Natural Son of God, was al&s;o a Motive to Humility. The Contents of the la&s;t member were the&s;e; That his temporal or &s;econd Conception, was meerly a making; not humane genera|tion joyn'd with carnal Knowledge, but a &s;ecret over-&s;hadowing and workman&s;hip of God, joyn'd with the Virgins: That there|by it was pure in it &s;elf, and fit to clean&s;e o|thers: That this making was no conver|&s;ion either of <HI>Word</HI> or <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> no mixture of both, but onely a di&s;tinct reception of hu|mane nature, into the per&s;onal &s;ub&s;i&s;tence of the Deity: That there aro&s;e from this U|nion, an ample transfu&s;ion of Royal gifts and prerogatives, whereby the humane Na|ture was highly advanced; and likewi&s;e by that Nature, our humane Per&s;ons, who, by this means, have a near Con&s;anguinity with God, and great hope by that Con&s;angui|nity.</P>
<P>Thus much Hi&s;torically, for your con&s;tant belief: I will now proceed to touch the &s;ame Text &s;acramentally, for your future benefit; for in the Sacrament al&s;o the <HI>Word</HI> is made Fle&s;h.</P>
<P><HI>Word</HI> is now to be taken in another &s;en&s;e, not &s;ub&s;tantially for the Per&s;on of Chri&s;t, but effectively, for the word by him &s;poken, the word of Con&s;ecration, fir&s;t pronounced by our Saviour, and afterwards by us: Or
<PB N="254" REF="132">el&s;e for a further effect of that word, grace conveyed by Chri&s;ts In&s;titution, and our Mini&s;try, into a &s;acramental body. And then for the <HI>Word</HI> made fle&s;h, you have grace made meat; grace, the beam of his God|head in bread, the Deputy of his Fle&s;h and Man-hood; which if ye eat religiou&s;ly with a believing &s;oul, as well as naturally with a dige&s;ting body, not onely as bread, but as a Sacrament, then <HI>eat and live,</HI> be <HI>as gods in|deed,</HI> knowing good without evil. For then the bread is not more really converted into your fle&s;h for bodily &s;trength, then the fle&s;h of Chri&s;t is truly united to your &s;ouls for the &s;trength of the Spirit; truly united, not by the identity of Nature onely, &s;o it was before, but by lively Operation. The in|carnation made the Sacrament true, the Sa|crament makes the incarnation beneficial. For Sacraments are not onely &s;olemn Cere|monies, and &s;ignificant Commemorations of Chri&s;ts death; but exhibitive Conduits of Life to us; through which, if they be not &s;topt by our own wilful or negligent faith, grace will con&s;tantly flow.</P>
<P>Many &s;imilitudes there are betwixt the&s;e two Nativities: Though that were tran&s;|acted in a Stable, and this in a temple; yet commonly in both places Chri&s;t is laid in a Manger, a du&s;ty filthy Manger; el&s;e the bea&s;ts cannot feed about him, profane Men|bea&s;ts, barbarou&s;ly &s;lutti&s;h through pretend|ed purity, exce&s;&s;ively proud through Chri&s;ts
<PB N="255" REF="132">humility. As there the <HI>Word</HI> was true God, &s;o here he is true grace; as there he was perfect man, &s;o here he is perfect bread, bread indeed, the true &s;taff of Life; tran|&s;ub&s;tantiated into fle&s;h, I will not &s;ay, nor con&s;ub&s;tantiate with fle&s;h, (for what need this?) but the body of Chri&s;t &s;o truely pre&s;ent, (though I know not fully how) that you may &s;afely call the con&s;ecrated bread, the body of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Againe, as the <HI>Word</HI> did not a&s;&s;ume any particular humane per&s;on, but fle&s;h in gene|ral; &s;o grace is here annexed to general bread; general, for the many grains where|of it was made, to &s;ignifie the Unity of fit Receivers: general for the making, it may be ordinary and u&s;ual bread, to &s;ignifie the in|differency of the Receivers, any Gentile of any e&s;tate, any well-di&s;po&s;ed Chri&s;tian, may come and welcome.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, as the <HI>Word</HI> was not converted into fle&s;h by the Union there; &s;o grace is not here tran&s;corporated into bread; the meer bodily eating will not ingratiate. One touch of faith was once more medicinable, and may be &s;till, then either was the throng|ing of the rude multitude to our Saviour,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat 9.</NOTE> or the gro&s;s eating of him can be to you.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, as the wi&s;e men came wor&s;hipping and bringing pre&s;ents at our Saviours &s;ub|&s;tantial birth, Gold, Myrrhe and Frankin|cen&s;e; &s;o they that are wi&s;e, will reverence his &s;acramental birth; they will bring their
<PB N="256" REF="133">Trea&s;ure of Charity to relieve his poor, they will bring the Myrrhe of repentance to im|balm and bury the old Man of &s;in; their in|cen&s;e of prayer and devotion, who&s;e &s;weet &s;avour may a&s;cend up to heaven. One main difference I find: Chri&s;t was then lodg'd in a pure Virgin, but our vile Carca&s;&s;es have been deflowr'd or defil'd with divers fle&s;hly and worldly lu&s;ts. What &s;hall we &s;ay then? Shall we cry out with the Centurion,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 8.8.</NOTE> <HI>I am unworthy that thou &s;houlde&s;t enter under my roof?</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 5.8.</NOTE> Or with Saint <HI>Peter, Lord, depart from me, for I am a &s;inner?</HI> Not &s;o, Lord; but let thy ble&s;&s;ed Spirit joyn'd with our own &s;ighs, fan our inner parts; that though &s;till unworthy, we may be &s;omewhat more wor|thy of &s;o high a Gue&s;t.</P>
<P>If the <HI>Word</HI> be made fle&s;h in the Sacra|ment: &amp; you the receivers, then when&s;oever you come neer, addre&s;s your &s;elves like the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, while the earthly Angel thus &s;aultes her,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.28.</NOTE> <HI>Hayl Soul full of grace, the Lord is with thee:</HI> Then mu&s;t you nece&s;&s;arily &s;tand amaz'd; <NOTE PLACE="marg">V.30.</NOTE>but he proceeds, <HI>Fear not, behold, thou &s;halt conceive, <NOTE PLACE="marg">V.31.</NOTE>and bear a Son, his Name is JES&V;S.</HI> Then put thou on the Mode&s;ty of ble&s;&s;ed Mary; what &s;aid &s;he? <HI>How may this be, <NOTE PLACE="marg">V.34.</NOTE>&s;eeing I know not a man?</HI> So &s;ay thou, <HI>Lord, how may this be, &s;ince I know thee not, not as I ought?</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">V.35.</NOTE>The &s;ame an&s;wer may &s;erve for both, <HI>The Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall come upon thee, and the power of the mo&s;t High &s;hall over|&s;hadow thee:</HI> Then take ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Maries</HI>
<PB N="257" REF="133">Faith, and ready Obedience, <NOTE PLACE="marg">V.38.</NOTE><HI>Be it according to thy word;</HI> then her humility, e&s;teeming thy &s;elf far unworthy of &s;uch honour, <NOTE PLACE="marg">V.48.</NOTE>and he that is mighty will regard the <HI>lowline&s;s</HI> of his Servant; Then break out into her thank&s;gi|ving, <HI>My Soul doth magnifie the Lord, <NOTE PLACE="marg">V.46.</NOTE>and my Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour:</HI> And be &s;ure of her Charity, re&s;olve to vi&s;it <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">V.40.</NOTE>and to live in Amity with thy kindred in Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>This in&s;truction in one re&s;pect is like the <HI>Ant</HI>'s provi&s;ion, to be laid up again&s;t ano|ther &s;ea&s;on. Providence may lay it up, but folly, I fear, will be the Keeper: what &s;ay the Many, the Multitude? It need not be u&s;ed till <HI>Ea&s;ter.</HI> How are we fall'n from the Primitive Zeal towards this heavenly food? the time hath been when it was <HI>dayly bread;</HI> and need not we pray it were permit|ted to be made &s;o now? The &s;ad face of the&s;e <HI>warring</HI> times being drawn with as deep a <HI>&s;hadow</HI> as that. But men, for the mo&s;t part; u&s;e it &s;carce <HI>yearly;</HI> and by their wills, take it once in an age; ju&s;t when they are dying, then they call for the means of good living; and when they can &s;in no more; they think of repentance and pardon; &s;o condemning all their former life, by their own judgment and act at la&s;t.</P>
<P>But be it <HI>&s;adly</HI> con&s;idered; is this a &s;ound rea&s;on to excu&s;e our backwardne&s;s, I am not in Charity, I am clogg'd with weights of &s;in,
<PB N="258" REF="134">or I have &s;ome lu&s;ts to be fulfilled? Then &s;ay likewi&s;e, I am &s;ick, and therefore unapt to take Phy&s;ick; I have &s;oars upon me, and therefore will touch no Plai&s;ter; I am al|mo&s;t &s;tarv'd, and therefore will eat no bread: But &s;ay others, this Phy&s;ick, this Plai&s;ter, and this Food, if not rightly us'd, is dangerous and deadly: &s;o is prayer, &s;o is preaching, &s;o is thy common bread, &s;o is every thing which God hath given for our welfare: but as evil is not to be committed for love of good; &s;o is not good to be omitted, for fear of e|vil.</P>
<P>Wherefore invert thy frigid rea&s;on, and endeavour to draw neer: do not forbear becau&s;e thou art in malice, but force thy &s;elf to be in Charity, that thou mai&s;t communi|cate. Do not hug thy &s;in, and complain it makes thee unfit, le&s;t thou be found to pre|fer that &s;in before Chri&s;t; but rather re|nounce it with thy heart, and Chri&s;t is ready to be received. If &s;till thou think thy &s;elf unworthy, know, that &s;o to think, is the be&s;t part of thy worthine&s;s.</P>
<P>Let the words I have &s;poken concerning the enlivening of this <HI>God-uniting</HI> my&s;tery, both excite your appetite of receiving the &s;ub&s;tance, and in&s;truct your devotion in the manner of receiving it. Then the&s;e things which I have delivered, being rightly per|formed at the &s;acramental Incarnation, you &s;hall &s;oon be well gone with a third Nativi|ty,
<PB N="259" REF="134">even the <HI>Moral,</HI> which is to be ripen'd by a religious and dutiful practi&s;e of Chri&s;ts holy precepts. For thus in <HI>Morality,</HI> the <HI>Word</HI> is al&s;o made fle&s;h; which is the third &s;en&s;e propo&s;ed.</P>
<P>The <HI>Word,</HI> I &s;ay, is made fle&s;h, as before <HI>&s;ub&s;tantially</HI> in the Womb, when Chri&s;t came down to us; and then <HI>effectively</HI> in the Sa|crament, where he meets us half way: &s;o now <HI>affectively</HI> in our Chri&s;tian <HI>morality,</HI> whereby we travel to him; and through which he de&s;cends to the heart, and there takes deeper hold; and &s;till by the &s;ame &s;piritual way, &s;till by an over-&s;hadowing of the Holy Gho&s;t, and Mans obedient Faith.</P>
<P>Take heed then <HI>how</HI> you hear, for <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is in the Voice. As the <HI>Word</HI> in the Fle&s;h was &s;piritually conceived; &s;o now in the &s;ound he cannot be conceived carnally, nor <HI>impreg|nate</HI> a heart which is fill'd with unclean de|&s;ires. When that which you hear, is well dige&s;ted, when it thrives and grows into bo|dily action, when the <HI>engrafted</HI> Word buds out, and brings forth fruit after the &s;piritual graft; then is the <HI>Word</HI> perfectly <HI>incarnate,</HI> then it hath gotten living Members <HI>ma&s;te|rable</HI> to the be&s;t u&s;e; <HI>eyes</HI> to look up, <HI>knees</HI> to pray, <HI>hands</HI> to give, and a <HI>mouth</HI> to prai&s;e. See that ye thus u&s;e your Members.</P>
<P>If the <HI>Word</HI> be &s;o prevalent in you, as to make you, &s;ubdue the unruline&s;s of the fle&s;h to the Governance of the &s;pirit, to drown
<PB N="260" REF="135">the <HI>habit</HI> of exce&s;s in the <HI>Cup</HI> of the Eucha|ri&s;t, to con&s;ume the fire of lu&s;t and the fire of &s;tife with the fire of Devotion. If ye ob&s;erve with all your power, a &s;ober, a clean, and Virgin-like behaviour, adding your <HI>Fi|at</HI> and obedient con&s;ent to the VVord &s;po|ken; <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is much alike made fle&s;h in you, as in the pure and <HI>ble&s;&s;ed Virgin.</HI> See you &s;trive to put this in practi&s;e.</P>
<P>If, remembering the word of Chri&s;t, ye overcome the &s;ollicitous dotage of this world, with meditation of heavenly trea|&s;ure, and proceed to make friends of un|righteous <HI>Mammon,</HI> &s;cattering the &s;uper|fluous <HI>du&s;t</HI> of your pockets, or <HI>doales</HI> of your basket, the <HI>Word</HI> is almo&s;t <HI>literally</HI> made fle&s;h; fle&s;h in thy <HI>hand,</HI> fle&s;h in him that <HI>is fed</HI> al&s;o; and He, whom thou feede&s;t, is <HI>Chri&s;t. Me</HI> you fed,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.35, 36. V. 40. <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Me</HI> you cloth'd, <HI>Me</HI> you lodg'd; 'twas <HI>I,</HI> &s;aith our Saviour. And well &s;hall ye be while this is practi&s;ed.</P>
<P>But tho&s;e, thou wilt &s;ay, are tokens of a <HI>Moral, Fo&s;ter</HI>-parent, not of one that brings forth Chri&s;t <HI>indeed.</HI> Be it &s;o; yet if Chri&s;t e&s;teemed his <HI>Moral,</HI> his <HI>Fo&s;ter</HI>-Parent bet|ter then his <HI>Natural,</HI> as meerly natural, do thou e&s;teem &s;o too. In compari&s;on of o|bedient Hearers, he &s;eems to vilifie his own <HI>Mother:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">. 48.</NOTE> Concerning her, he askes <HI>who,</HI> who &s;he was; He &s;eems &s;trange to her, for our learning; but his <HI>obedient Hearers</HI> he freely acknowledgeth,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 4<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>Behold my Mother,
<PB N="261" REF="135">my Brothers, and my Si&s;ters:</HI> And as Chri&s;t &s;poke, &s;o ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Mary</HI> thought of her &s;elf, according to her wonted humility; for, &s;aith the Go&s;pel,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk 2.19.</NOTE> &s;he laid up <HI>his &s;ayings in her heart.</HI> She had not &s;o much of him already, but that &s;he needed a further Conception: Better it was to bear him in <HI>&s;oul,</HI> then to have born him in <HI>body.</HI></P>
<P>However, great re&s;emblance there is be|twixt bearing, and true hearing. Saint <HI>Paul</HI> communicates the acts of the one to the o|ther, <HI>breeding, fa&s;hioning, travel: My Chil|dren, I am in travel againe till Chri&s;t be fa|&s;hioned within you,</HI> Gal. 4.19. VVhen the <HI>Word</HI> begins to <HI>curdle,</HI> and <HI>qualms</HI> come o|ver the Con&s;cience, then is Chri&s;t a <HI>bree|ding;</HI> when godly purpo&s;es are conceived, Chri&s;t is a <HI>fa&s;hioning;</HI> when our bowels <HI>yearn</HI> with heavenly longings for execution, then we are in <HI>travel</HI> with Chri&s;t; and when we come to <HI>action,</HI> Chri&s;t is <HI>delivered;</HI> yet &s;till remaining within. Wilt thou farther know how he lives within? Even as thou do&s;t, by <HI>Motion, Heat,</HI> and <HI>Food:</HI> By <HI>Motion up|ward,</HI> in love of heavenly things; <HI>down|ward,</HI> in fear of infernal: by <HI>Heat</HI> al&s;o, that of Zeal and Devotion: by <HI>Food</HI> likewi&s;e, continual &s;upply of the <HI>word,</HI> which repairs what &s;in hath wa&s;ted; and not without a re|&s;training dige&s;ting faculty, which turns the food to nouri&s;hment, to growth, and fruit.</P>
<P>Yet Chri&s;t, when he was upon the earth,
<PB N="262" REF="136">did not live upon the <HI>Word</HI> onely, &s;ome|times on bread. Feed him now with bread al&s;o, not onely with that bread which thou receive&s;t in the <HI>Sacrament,</HI> &s;ometimes with that thou &s;houdl&s;t give to others; <HI>to others,</HI> that thy &s;elf may'&s;t live in Chri&s;t, and <HI>He</HI> in thee.</P>
<P>VVhy did the Woman cry out, <HI>BLES|SED is the Womb that bare thee,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 11.27.</NOTE> and the Bre&s;ts that gave thee &s;uck?</HI> What need of a <HI>Womb,</HI> when thou ha&s;t a <HI>fruitful</HI> heart? VVhat need of Milk, when thou ha&s;t &s;trong Meat? Or why no care but onely for this Milk, the <HI>&s;incere Milk</HI> of the <HI>Word?</HI> Give Chri&s;t the &s;tronge&s;t Meat a poor man can eat, feed him with &s;uch Brea&s;ts as <HI>Kings,</HI> in the &s;ixtieth of <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> are &s;aid to have, with <HI>protection</HI> of his weak, <HI>bounty</HI> towards his <HI>little ones.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Beloved,</HI> there is not a woman, nor a Virgin, no nor a man here, but by &s;ome kind or other, by obeying the Go&s;pel, may be the <HI>Mother</HI> of Chri&s;t, his ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Mo|ther;</HI> and, if you believe the Prophet, may have brea&s;ts to give him &s;uck. This is ea|&s;ier for you to believe, then for ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Mary</HI> the Me&s;&s;age brought to her; you have her Example, &s;he had none. And &s;hall you then, all the &s;ort of you, be <HI>Mothers</HI> of Chri&s;t? Doubt it not: Be one|ly in &s;ome mea&s;ure pure as <HI>HE,</HI> holy as <HI>HE,</HI> righteous as <HI>HE,</HI> humble as <HI>HE,</HI> charitable as <HI>HE;</HI> as <HI>HE</HI> by word and Ex|ample
<PB N="263" REF="136">bids you, and Chri&s;t will grow with|in you. Then if his fle&s;h be ble&s;&s;ed, ble&s;&s;ed &s;hall you be, you that hear his VVord, and make it fle&s;h by <HI>doing.</HI></P>
<P>AMEN.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="264" REF="137">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>S. Matthew, chap. 12. ver&s;. 36.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But I &s;ay unto you, That of every idle word that men &s;hall &s;peak, they &s;hall give ac|count at the day of judgment.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">SERM. XVI.</NOTE>IN this Chapter <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is que&s;tion'd, bla&s;|phem'd, and bla&s;ted with the infamy of ca&s;ting out Devils by the power of the Devil. For the <HI>Phari&s;ees,</HI> the men princi|pally intended in the Text, had their eyes &s;o blinded with malice, that &s;eeing, they might not &s;ee, or at lea&s;t not acknowledge the wonderful miracles of our Saviour, to proceed from the <HI>Spirit</HI> of God; Pride puff'd them up with an affectation of being call'd <HI>Ma&s;ters of I&s;rael;</HI> and caus'd them, by way of Prerogative, to a&s;&s;ume that cen|forious humour of judging others, which here they put in practi&s;e upon the <HI>Judge</HI> of the whole world. The un&s;etled multitude was herewith amaz'd, ver&s;. 23. In this Sea of di&s;traction, le&s;t the Church might &s;uffer Shipwrack; Chri&s;t, in the riches of his mercy, becomes the <HI>Pilot</HI> him&s;elf, draws the directing <HI>Compa&s;s,</HI> makes the <HI>Card</HI> they mu&s;t &s;ail by, preacheth to them what they ought to follow; and by &s;hewing the danger of a le&s;s &s;in, &s;eeks to divert them from a greater.
<PB N="265" REF="137">The drift of his Argument being this: <HI>De|lude not your &s;ouls in extenuating your Offen|ces; Obloquies &s;o well as bla&s;phemies, not one|ly gro&s;sly evil, but trifling idle &s;peeches, &s;hall be charged upon you in the la&s;t Endite|ment.</HI> So that in the Text is ob&s;ervable, a <HI>Tre&s;pa&s;s</HI> objected, con&s;i&s;ting in &s;ingle <HI>words,</HI> not &s;imply as <HI>words,</HI> but as they are qualifi|ed, and di&s;cerned to be <HI>extravagant, IDLE words.</HI> Secondly, a proce&s;s certainly to be i&s;&s;ued forth, and an impartial <HI>Verdict</HI> to pa&s;s again&s;t them, in regard <HI>He</HI> that neither de|ceives nor can be deceived, expre&s;sly a&s;&s;ures it, That they &s;hall come to a &s;trict account <HI>at the day of judgement,</HI> which is <HI>the time,</HI> even the la&s;t day of the world, when Gods Ju&s;tice &s;hall be <HI>throughly</HI> accompli&s;h'd. <HI>But I &s;ay unto you, That of every idle word that men &s;hall &s;peak, they &s;hall give account at the day of judgment.</HI></P>
<P>Chri&s;ts &s;ayings are <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Principles</HI> to be believed, not <HI>Premi&s;es</HI> to be proved: &s;o that 'tis enough to hear from his mouth, <HI>E|go dico, I &s;ay unto you.</HI> Indeed, it's lawful to lay the po&s;itions of men in the balance of examination, that rea&s;on may be pondered and poys'd with rea&s;on; but this honour is ever to be given to the words of Chri&s;t, that we &s;hould &s;ay with the <HI>Centurion,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.8.</NOTE> Speak the word onely.</HI> Humane Rea&s;ons are like <HI>Comets,</HI> not fix'd in any <HI>Orb</HI> of truth; but our Saviours Doctrine is like him&s;elf, &s;ound and heavenly.</P>
<PB N="266" REF="138">
<P>Now though I may &s;ay with <HI>Tertulli|an,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Uti Lan|guentes c&ugrave;m vacent a &s;anitate, de vonis e|jus tacere non n&ocirc;|rant,</HI> &amp;c. Tertull. de patien.</NOTE> That as they, who langui&s;h with &s;ick|ne&s;s, are mo&s;t prone to talk of health, not becau&s;e they enjoy, but de&s;ire it: &s;o I exhort you to a moderation, a pertinency of &s;peech, rather as one that would have it, then as one that po&s;&s;e&s;&s;eth it. Yet becau&s;e &s;ometimes a di&s;ea&s;ed Phy&s;itian may pre&s;cribe health&s;ome phy&s;ick, and a deform'd Engraver carve a fair pourtraiture; I tru&s;t God will ble&s;s the&s;e my weak endeavours, while for my own and your good, I have made my &s;elf a com|mon <HI>Remembrancer</HI> to prepare our parti|cular accounts again&s;t the coming of the Lord. But fir&s;t I am to examine the <HI>Offence</HI> in its qualified <HI>Notion,</HI> which is <HI>every idle word.</HI></P>
<P>It's well &s;tated by the <HI>Philo&s;opher</HI> and <HI>Di|vine,</HI> that words were ordained to &s;et forth Gods <HI>glory,</HI> mans <HI>gratitude,</HI> and to keep up <HI>civil</HI> commerce. For by the u&s;e of &s;peech, we under&s;tand each others wants; and &s;o are accommodated mutually to communi|cate convenient &s;upplies. If then our words tend not to the Love of <HI>God</HI> and our <HI>Neigh|bour,</HI> the Law &s;hall judge and condemn them as a &s;candalous wa&s;te of that rich Talent and powerful Gift of Rational di&s;cour&s;e. VVhy hath the <HI>onely wi&s;e</HI> Creator lock'd up the Tongue in a dark <HI>hole,</HI> as in a pri&s;on; &s;hut and barr'd it in with Teeth and Jaws, but to prevent impertinent idle Language? And is it not &s;eated betwixt two &s;overaign parts
<PB N="267" REF="138">of man, the <HI>brain</HI> and <HI>heart,</HI> that by the a&s;|&s;i&s;tance of a right under&s;tanding, and well|ordered will, the tongue may be kept with|in the bounds of rectifi'd Rea&s;on? If it break out into intemperate &s;wearing, it fills the man with iniquity: &s;o &s;peaks the Son of <HI>Syrach,</HI> 23 <HI>Ecclus. v.</HI> 11. and by his bad ex|ample corrupting the Family, derives a hea|vie cur&s;e to his <HI>po&s;terity. The Plague,</HI> as it follows there, <HI>&s;hall never depart from his hou&s;e.</HI> But do not I herein &s;eem a rigid <HI>Preci&s;ian,</HI> more &s;trict then Chri&s;t, making him to mean more then he does? Shall the God of com|pa&s;&s;ion, who&s;e mercy is over and above all his works, be &s;o &s;evere as to call us to ac|count for the&s;e &s;maller trifles? If our Savi|our literally &s;ignified, that our <HI>idle</HI> words, &s;ins of &s;o mean a quality, &s;hould be exami|ned by &s;uch a fiery tryal; how is it that St. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaks to <HI>Ananias, God &s;hall &s;mite thee, thou whited wall?</HI> Act. 23. Doth not the <HI>Apo&s;tle</HI>'s example intimate that Chri&s;t &s;pake here by way of <HI>hyperbole,</HI> or exce&s;s of &s;peech, &s;o that he &s;trains not &s;o high indeed, as we bear the world in hand? Surely no; for the &s;peech of Saint <HI>Paul</HI> is no cur&s;e, but onely a reprehen&s;ion, conjoyn'd with a de|nouncement of Gods future judgment. He &s;aith not, <HI>I PRAY God to &s;mite thee;</HI> but onely it &s;hall come to pa&s;s, that <HI>God &s;hall &s;mite thee.</HI> Which, in effect, is, God will not &s;uffer thee to e&s;cape unpuni&s;hed. And therefore, becau&s;e it might be objected, that
<PB N="268" REF="139"><HI>David,</HI> in the 109 P&s;alm, almo&s;t through|out, &s;eems to run upon Imprecations or Cur&s;es; Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> an&s;wers, Many times <HI>In verbis mal&egrave; Optantis, intelligenda &s;unt prae|dicta Prophetantis;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Au&s;t. in</HI> P&s;. 108.</NOTE> That which is &s;poken in manner of an Imprecation, is indeed but a <HI>prediction</HI> what God in future times will do to the Enemies of his Church and Glory. Be&s;ides, The Prophets were not <HI>obnoxious,</HI> though they u&s;ed Imprecations, in that they had their warrant from the Lord him&s;elf; their Commi&s;&s;ion to ble&s;s or cur&s;e, was dicta|ted to them. As for us, <HI>obligat praeceptum generale, ubi no est privilegium &s;peciale;</HI> ha|ving no particular di&s;pen&s;ation, we are &s;till oblig'd to bridle our tongues from &s;canda|lous words,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1.26.</NOTE> el&s;e <HI>our religion is vain.</HI> The e|verla&s;ting Law of the Lord is, <HI>Thou &s;halt not rai&s;e or receive a fal&s;e report,</HI> Exod. 24. In the twenty &s;eventh of <HI>Deuteronomy,</HI> he is cur&s;ed that &s;mites his Neighbour &s;ecretly. And Saint <HI>James</HI> chargeth us, not &s;o much as to grudge one again&s;t another,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chap. 5.9.</NOTE> le&s;t we be condemned.</P>
<P>I grant, <HI>idle</HI> words, as every other Vice, hath a latitude and degrees: there is a word of a deep and double dye, of a full extent, commen&s;urable with the fiercene&s;s of Gods wrath; the Son of <HI>Syrach, Ecclu&s;.</HI> 23.12. &s;ig|nificantly terms it a word <HI>cloth'd about</HI> with death, the Garment &s;ticking not &s;o clo&s;e to the body, as death doth to his &s;oul, who u&s;u|ally utters it. And there be words of a le&s;&s;er
<PB N="269" REF="139">&s;ize, and &s;maller mea&s;ure: In the fifth of the <HI>Proverbs,</HI> we read of <HI>Ropes,</HI> and <HI>Wain-ropes</HI> of Sin. And <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> the fifth Chapter, men|tions <HI>funiculos vanitatis,</HI> &s;light cords of vanity. Of this &s;ort is <GAP DESC="foreign"> a frivolous word, <GAP DESC="foreign">, an un&s;avoury &s;peech, and <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;awcy je&s;ting, which is wont to be <HI>nick-nam'd</HI> plea&s;ant conceit. 'Tis too true, this kind of Vice is become the <HI>Mode,</HI> the <HI>Garbe,</HI> the <HI>Mu&s;ick</HI> of the&s;e times. Men of|fend &s;o con&s;iderately herein, that they think it no le&s;s then a great commendation to be &s;o courtly impious. They are &s;o much in love with this <HI>Art</HI> of &s;inning, that the di&s;|u&s;e thereof is e&s;teemed meer dulne&s;s, and want of breeding. Yet Saint <HI>Paul's</HI> Rule is, <HI>Eph.</HI> 5. that fooli&s;h talking, and &s;currile je&s;t|ing, &s;hould not once be named among&s;t us: where 'tis ob&s;ervable, that <GAP DESC="foreign">, which the Morali&s;t &s;tiles <HI>&V;rbanity,</HI> and ranks a|mong&s;t <HI>Moral</HI> Vertues, the <HI>New Te&s;tament</HI> interprets direct &s;currility, and brands it as a great Crime. For this facile accommoda|tion, this &s;porting of a luxuriant Wit, to hu|mor &s;ome and di&s;plea&s;e others, is no better then a breach of the &s;ixth Commandment, in regard it prepares and oft occa&s;ions effu&s;i|on of blood.</P>
<P>Hence is it, that Chri&s;t, the right Inter|preter of his Fathers will, gives us to under|&s;tand in the fifteenth of Saint <HI>Matthew,</HI> that to be angry without a cau&s;e, to &s;ay <HI>Racha,</HI> Thou emptybrain, Thou fool, Pi&s;h, or the like
<PB N="270" REF="140">unadvi&s;ed terms, is &s;ufficient to di&s;card us from our heavenly Inheritance, if the Lord be not plea&s;ed to <GAP DESC="foreign">, to connive at it, as the Holy Gho&s;t phra&s;eth it in the &s;e|venteenth of the <HI>Acts,</HI> but to ob&s;erve this contemptuous and provoking behaviour. The rea&s;on may be, becau&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, un|clean, un&s;eemly communication, abates the &s;ervency of devotion, corrupts and deads Gods graces in us. <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;coffing neglect, &s;lackens the heat of Charity, and unties the knot of Friend&s;hip. Fle&s;h and Blood is mo&s;t &s;en&s;ible of <HI>deri&s;ion:</HI> how oft doth <HI>David</HI> complain, he was made a &s;corn and by-word? <HI>Saul</HI> had not many minutes of life left, yet he pray'd his Armour-bea|rer to kill him,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 31.4.</NOTE> becau&s;e he could not endure to hear the uncircumci&s;ed to reproach him in a jeering in&s;olency. We know <HI>Rehobo|am,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kin. c. 12.</NOTE> through an unplea&s;ing &s;peech, lo&s;t ten Tribes at a <HI>clap.</HI> Wherefore Saint <HI>Bernard</HI> well &s;aith,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ser.</HI> 3. <HI>de Cu&s;tod. ling.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Leviter volat, &s;ed graviter vul|nerat;</HI> A term of di&s;grace pa&s;&s;eth &s;uddenly from out mouths, as lightning out of the Clouds; but like lightning, it &s;trikes the in|mo&s;t parts after a various manner. For it wounds the Con&s;cience of him that &s;peaks, gives &s;candal to tho&s;e which hear, and takes away the lively heart of &s;uch as are made the Argument, the Subject of undervaluing Scoffs &amp; Jeers. The <HI>Parthians,</HI> as <HI>Dion</HI> relates, &s;hot Arrows again&s;t <HI>Lucullus</HI> his Souldiers with two heads, which were &s;et on in &s;uch &s;ort, that
<PB N="271" REF="140">although they were forthwith drawn out of their bodies; yet the one point of the head would &s;till remain in the fle&s;h, which cau&s;ed their de&s;tructions. Such Arrows are dayly &s;ent abroad by tho&s;e &s;coffing <HI>Michols,</HI> who delight to &s;it in the feat of the &s;cornful; and &s;o perniciou&s;ly are they picked and head|ed, that albeit they be pre&s;ently recalled and drawn back; yet they oft leave &s;uch a &s;car, &s;uch a pe&s;tilent point in the &s;oul, that many times it bereaves it of Gods favour, which is the life of the &s;oul. VVhat then &s;hall be done to tho&s;e calumniating tongues, which are bent like bows for outragious lies, that they may &s;hoot at the upright in heart, throwing dirt in the face of <HI>Authority,</HI> re|viling tho&s;e who ought to be obeyed for Con&s;cience &s;ake, traducing them to walk in craftine&s;s, and to handle the word de|ceitfully; when, as 'tis in the &s;econd to the <HI>Corinthians,</HI> and in the fourth Chapter, in declaration of the truth, they approve them|&s;elves to every mans Con&s;cience in the &s;ight of God? Chri&s;t hath already &s;entenced &s;uch to be of the Devil, &s;ince his works they do. He is accu&s;tomed to deprave tho&s;e, which mo&s;t excel, being herein not unlike <HI>Fencers,</HI> who &s;ometimes cunningly take aim at the <HI>Foot,</HI> when their intent is to reach the <HI>Head.</HI> So Satan, and his detracting complices, by de|faming the worthie&s;t of Gods Servants, do project to bring the true wor&s;hip of God into contempt, as many by blaming the Ser|vant
<PB N="272" REF="141">have &s;ought the overthrow of the Ma|&s;ter.</P>
<P>The <HI>Syriack,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"><HI>Hebr.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Kerats Chald. &s;cidit, &amp; Syriace per metaph. accu&s;avit. Inde nomen Syriac.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> Kart|&s;o <HI>Accu&s;atio, calum|nia, unde addito ver|bo</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> Achal, <HI>quod &s;ignificat edere,</HI> Acal-Kart&s;o, <HI>accu&s;avit, q. d. accu&s;ationem, vel calumniam edit. In|de nomen participale</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> Oeel-Kart&s;o, <HI>Accu&s;ator, Diabolus' qua&s;i ca|lumniis ve&s;cens.</HI></NOTE> in many places of the New Te&s;tament, in|&s;tead of <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;ets down, &s;aith <HI>Shindler,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Ocel-kart&s;o,</HI> Accu&s;ator, <HI>qua&s;i edens accu&s;ationem,</HI> The eater of Accu&s;ations: from which <HI>name</HI> I ob&s;erve, that as the do|ing of his <HI>Fathers</HI> will was Chri&s;ts <HI>meat</HI> and <HI>drink;</HI> &s;o, in in oppo&s;ition thereunto, to calumniate the Children of o|bedience, is the main <HI>Food</HI> of the Devil and his Adherents.</P>
<P>Of all idle words, which tend not to any good, the mur|muring &s;eeret VVhi&s;perer hath the mo&s;t exce&s;&s;ive number. His tongue buzzeth fal&s;e rumours into credulous ears, rai&s;eth commotions as cau&s;ele&s;s, as pernicious; makes the multi|tude believe there's a <HI>Snake</HI> under every <HI>Leaf;</HI> and although we prote&s;t <HI>tabulis con|&s;ignatis,</HI> and confirm it by the &s;ure te&s;timony of an Oath, that as we have printed in our books, &s;o we have in our hearts; yet the&s;e fame-defacing &s;urmi&s;ers, publi&s;h up and down, that our bo&s;ome, like <HI>Rachels</HI> tent, hath <HI>Idols</HI> hid in the Straw; or like a <HI>Phi|li&s;tin</HI>'s Temple, hath the <HI>Ark</HI> and <HI>Dagon</HI> un|der one Roof. The&s;e never cea&s;e crying out
<PB N="273" REF="141">to the <HI>Church,</HI> as the Devil did to <HI>Chri&s;t, Ca&s;t thy &s;elf down,</HI> humble thy &s;elf before us. The <HI>Church,</HI> albeit rent, and almo&s;t ruin'd, is yet too glorious in their eyes; it faring with the&s;e men, as with tho&s;e, who &s;tanding on the earth, look up to lofty <HI>pinnacles,</HI> which &s;till &s;eem to waver and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">and awry, when the defect is in their own <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ght.</P>
<P>The truth is, the fault lies in the di&s;con|tented, &s;elf-&s;eeking, levelling Spirits, who chu&s;e rather to <HI>&s;carrifie,</HI> then clo&s;e our wounds; ca&s;ting Coals, and kindling &s;trife betwixt the <HI>&s;upream</HI> and <HI>&s;ubordinate,</HI> that the whole <HI>Nation</HI> may be &s;et on flame and in Combu&s;tion. The <HI>Prie&s;ts</HI> of old, caus'd the <HI>Oracle</HI> to an&s;wer according to King <HI>Phi|lip</HI>'s humour: The&s;e have delivered the &s;en&s;e of Gods <HI>&s;ure Oracles,</HI> &s;ometimes one way, &s;ometimes another, as the winde and tyde be&s;t &s;erved to foment faction and tumult, making the &s;piritual <HI>Manna</HI> of the word to have a &s;everal ta&s;te, according to every mans palate, as the <HI>Rabbins</HI> &s;aid the I&s;raelites corpora<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Manna had. But the Lord, who changeth not, will not acknowledge &s;uch Changelings for his Me&s;&s;engers; for if we &s;tudy to plea&s;e men, we &s;hall not be the Friends of Chri&s;t. I could wi&s;h all <HI>Preten|ders</HI> would con&s;ider &s;eriou&s;ly, that no mur|muring &s;o &s;ecret &s;hall go for nought; and the mouth that &s;peaks lies, &s;lays the &s;oul, <HI>Wi&s;d.</HI> 1.11. VVhich mi&s;chievous effects proceed not from any native di&s;ea&s;e <HI>radical</HI>
<PB N="274" REF="142">in the tongue, but onely by &s;ympathy and con&s;ent with an ill di&s;po&s;ed heart. As we &s;ee the head may &s;uffer pain and angui&s;h, not &s;o much from any obnoxious quality inhe|rent in it, as from the fumes ari&s;ing out of a di&s;tempered and foul &s;tomach. For words, as con&s;i&s;ting of Letters and &s;yllables, are in|different in their own nature; they are made guilty, as they &s;peak the temper of that brea&s;t from whence they flow. <HI>Index est Animi &s;ermo,</HI> &s;peech is the Character, the Stamp, the Image of the Mind; and &s;o may ju&s;tly be puni&s;hed for its bad me&s;&s;age, as a guiltle&s;s <HI>Emba&s;&s;adour</HI> may be evil entreated, becau&s;e his <HI>Errand</HI> di&s;ta&s;ted. In re&s;pect of the concurrence and mutual corre&s;pondence betwixt the heart and tongue, our thoughts are called <GAP DESC="foreign">, words of the <HI>mind.</HI> We read in the &s;eventh of Saint <HI>Luke, Simon</HI> &s;aid <HI>within</HI> him&s;elf; his think|ing was &s;peaking. Our thoughts indeed, for want of the tongues forming and <HI>articula|ting,</HI> are not audible to the ears of man; yet God under&s;tands their Language, he hears what we think. In the twenty fifth ver&s;e of this Chapter, <HI>Je&s;us,</HI> knowing their <HI>thoughts,</HI> &s;aid unto them: He di&s;cerns the re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ellion of our imaginations, the intempe|rance of our affections; and if they be not raz'd out of the book of his <HI>remembrances,</HI> by the grace of Repentance, he will judge them accordingly. So that we had need to call our idle thoughts to examination, as well
<PB N="275" REF="142">as our idle words; otherwi&s;e one day they will both be brought to tryal. Before the Lord, evil thoughts are as much &s;ins as evil deeds; as much perhaps, though not as great. Wherefore as Chri&s;t was wounded for our tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, and brui&s;ed for our iniquities:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.</NOTE> &s;o he was delivered <GAP DESC="foreign">, even for our <HI>&s;lips,</HI> as the O|riginal expre&s;&s;eth it in the fourth to the <HI>Ro|mans,</HI> and the la&s;t Ver&s;e.</P>
<P>This &s;hould make us tremble at Gods judgements due to our very trifling <HI>lap&s;es,</HI> &s;ince for the&s;e al&s;o our Saviour &s;hed his precious blood: we can be &s;o favourable to our &s;elves, as to think the de&s;ire onely to do a good work, though there want ability to do it, is as well accepted with God, as if it were done. And we mu&s;t know too, that the contrary is as true; the de&s;ire of any iniquity is as odious to the Omni&s;cient Ma|je&s;ty, as the Act of Commi&s;&s;ion is. Where|fore Saint <HI>John,</HI> 1 <HI>Epi&s;t. chap.</HI> 3. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 15. makes hatred of the heart, murther before God. So that our con&s;cience &s;hould be af|frighted at each petty puny offence; for one errour may multiply into many. <HI>Solon,</HI> as <HI>Plutack</HI> reports, reproving <HI>The&s;pis</HI> a Poet, for lying in his Play, <HI>The&s;pis</HI> an&s;wered, It was not material to do or &s;ay &s;uch things, con&s;idering all was but in &s;port. Yea, but reply'd <HI>Solon,</HI> if we commend lying in &s;port, we &s;hall find it afterwards in good earne&s;t. <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> who is the <HI>Word,</HI> delights in our words
<PB N="276" REF="143">when they are conformable to his will; and therefore Satan, to cro&s;s him therein, makes the fir&s;t open entrance into irregular cour&s;es upon trivial occa&s;ions, as <HI>idle words,</HI> which may &s;erve to bring on, and u&s;her in more outragious evils. For the unclean Spirit, having once in&s;inuated and got entertain|ment in ou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> hearts by the&s;e &s;light skirmi&s;hes, he wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l ea&s;ily introduce &s;even other <HI>Spirits,</HI> nay, a <HI>Legion,</HI> wor&s;e then him&s;elf. Let it then be our di&s;cretion and religion, to &s;tran|gle and &s;uppre&s;s ill motions in the womb &s;o &s;oon as conceived; for if we &s;uffer them to ripen into idle words, they may prove the &s;hame and de&s;truction of the Speaker. To make the account exact, every <HI>farthing</HI> mu&s;t be expre&s;&s;ed; and &s;o in the &s;trict &s;everity of Gods Ju&s;tice, not onely our crying &s;ins, but <HI>idle</HI> words, and <HI>vain</HI> thoughts, will be &s;um|med up, if they be not wa&s;hed out by relen|ting tears. Whence 'tis clear, that the ar|raigning our &s;elves at the Bar of our own Con&s;cience in this life, is the onely way to be acquitted hereafter through our <HI>&s;urety,</HI> Chri&s;t Je&s;us. For God loves to behold his Ju&s;tice prevented, by our accu&s;ing and con|demning our &s;elves, as being unwilling his la&s;t de&s;tructive &s;entence of execution, &s;hould be &s;erved upon our per&s;ons: yet take this <HI>Caution</HI> along al&s;o, If we call not our &s;elves to account in this time of <HI>Truce,</HI> but leave God to do it at the general <HI>Audit</HI> of all fle&s;h, Mercy is then out of <HI>date,</HI> there's
<PB N="277" REF="143">no more parleying, but utter defiance; bo|dy and &s;oul, both will be forfeited without any <HI>Reprieve</HI> from eternal death: which re|fers me to the circum&s;tance of time, when this account is compleatly to be made, <HI>at the day of judgement.</HI></P>
<P>That there &s;hall be a <HI>general</HI> Judgment, is granted by the very Devils, who, in the eighth of Saint <HI>Matthew,</HI> are &s;aid to believe and tremble at the fearful expectation of it. The Knowledge whereof in the general is imparted to us here, that the <HI>Terror</HI> of the Lord might not overtake us like a violent &s;torm, not to be prevented, becau&s;e not fore|&s;een. To this end the la&s;t judgement is &s;ometimes decyphered by the name of a <HI>day,</HI> &s;ometimes of a <HI>night.</HI> 'Tis &s;til'd A <HI>night,</HI> to exci<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e our vigilancy, or watchfulne&s;s in expectation of its coming, which is &s;aid to &s;teal upon the world like a <HI>thief</HI> in the <HI>night.</HI> 'Tis call'd A <HI>day,</HI> to make us blu&s;h in remem|brance that our &s;ecret &s;ins &s;hall be di&s;clo&s;ed, and the thoughts of our hearts revealed as clear as the Sun in his brightne&s;s &s;hining at high noon. Again, this day of Judgement is &s;aid to be the <HI>la&s;t day:</HI> Fir&s;t, to demon&s;trate Gods fatherly Tenderne&s;s over his <HI>Elect;</HI> many of them are yet unconverted and un|born, therefore his goodne&s;s &s;taies till their number be accompli&s;hed. The Souls of them that lye under the Altar, <HI>Revelations</HI> the &s;ixth, did cry, <HI>How long, Lord, holy and true? do&s;t thou not judge and avenge our blood
<PB N="278" REF="144">on them which dwell on the earth?</HI> And an|&s;wer was there made, They &s;hould re&s;t for a &s;ea&s;on, till their Brethren and Fellow-&s;er|vants &s;hould be kill'd as they were. Our account is likewi&s;e po&s;ted off till <HI>the day of Judgment,</HI> to declare the bountifulne&s;s and patience of the Lord, which waits from year to year to &s;ee if at the la&s;t we will return to him in a true reconciliation. And here's great inqui&s;ition of the <HI>certain</HI> time when the Judgement-day &s;hall be. It's common in every mouth, how the <HI>Jews</HI> had a prophe|&s;ie that the world &s;hould continue &s;ix thou|&s;and years; two thou&s;and before the Law, two thou&s;and under the Law, and two thou|&s;and under the Go&s;pel.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aug. lib.</HI> 20. <HI>Civ. Dei, c.</HI> 17.</NOTE> Many of the <HI>Fa|thers</HI> conjectur'd it &s;o to be, becau&s;e it was created in &s;ix days; &s;trangely mi&s;taking that phra&s;e of Saint <HI>Peter,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2.</NOTE> One day with the Lord is as a thou&s;and years.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cypr. de Ex|hort Mart. c.</HI> 11. <HI>Lact. l.</HI> 7.</NOTE> <HI>Lactantius</HI> was pe|remptory, that the world could not continue above two hundred years in his age; but it hath la&s;ted tho&s;e two hundred, and a thou|&s;and years be&s;ides; which condemns his pre|&s;umption.</P>
<P>In our time, a <HI>Cabali&s;tical</HI> Calculator of our own Nation, hath concluded from the numeral Letters of <HI>Elohim,</HI> that the half year after one thou&s;and &s;ix hundred fifty two, &s;hould be the undoubted &s;tint and pe|riod of the worlds continuance, as you may finde it in the thirteenth Chapter of his Book,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Ala|ba&s;ter,</HI></NOTE> entituled, <HI>Ecce Spon&s;us venit:</HI> And &s;o
<PB N="279" REF="144">his bolt is &s;hot vainly. In points of this na|ture, 'tis good to take Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> rule, <HI>Sapere ad &s;obrietatem,</HI> to think &s;oberly,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.</NOTE> not above what we ought to think. Where the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> in Scripture hath not a tongue to &s;peak, we &s;hould have none to enquire; for if we fail in matters which are &s;ubject to &s;en&s;e, and have their proper cau&s;es from our &s;elves, what are we like to do in things which are far above the point of our <HI>Hori|zon?</HI> The time and &s;ea&s;on of the Lords fi|nal appearance, the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the la&s;t end of the termination of the world, and all things therein, the <HI>Father</HI> hath re&s;erved in his own power; and &s;o it becomes not us to pry into the <HI>Ark</HI> of his &s;ecret coun&s;el, but we mu&s;t content our &s;elves <HI>with things revealed.</HI> Therein we may read in <HI>legible</HI> Characters, that the end of our own particular lives draws nigh; nay, 'tis like a Cloud in the <HI>Zenith,</HI> imminent over our heads, at the very point to drop down.</P>
<P>Indeed, when I reflect on <HI>this iron age,</HI> wherein <HI>Pandora's</HI> boxes are open'd to in|fect man-kind, Satan is broke loo&s;e in glo|zing lying tongues, which nouri&s;h divi&s;ions from <HI>Dan to Beer&s;heba:</HI> though I cannot &s;ay they are &s;ignes of Chri&s;ts immediate pre&s;ent coming to judge the univer&s;al world; yet they may pre&s;age, that the god of this world hath &s;o puzzled the under&s;tanding of &s;uch as are &s;educed, that they cannot &s;ee how he projects that the particular private judge|ment
<PB N="280" REF="145">of each &s;oul at the day of death, may &s;urpri&s;e them unawares to their utter ruine.</P>
<P>Concerning the <HI>Place</HI> where the world &s;hall be judged, I cannot conceive how it &s;hould be,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aquin.</NOTE> as &s;ome have imagined, in the Valley of <HI>Jeho&s;aphat,</HI> or on mount <HI>Olivet,</HI> whence Chri&s;t a&s;cended, or any where el&s;e on the &s;urface of the earth. For if you al|low bodies di&s;tance and place, as they mu&s;t be allowed, there's no earthly place &s;o large as to contain &s;o many <HI>Myriads</HI> of people as &s;hall appear in that day. But I &s;uppo&s;e the <HI>Tribunal</HI> &s;hall be erected in the <HI>Air,</HI> where every eye may &s;ee him, according to that of Saint <HI>Paul,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 4.</NOTE> We which remain &s;hall be caught up al&s;o with them in the Clouds, to meet the Lord in the Air: and &s;hall be ever with the Lord.</HI> There needs no que&s;tion to be moved touching <HI>the Per&s;on by whom</HI> we &s;hall be judged; for all judgement is committed to the <HI>Son,</HI> in the fifth Chapter of Saint <HI>John.</HI> And he hath commanded us to preach to the people, that 'tis <HI>He,</HI> who is ordained to be the Judge of the quick and dead, <HI>Act.</HI> 10. The title to this judgement belong'd to him as the <HI>Son of God;</HI> judgement being the in|delible Character of the God-head: The <HI>power</HI> of <HI>actual</HI> execution is in him as the <HI>Son of Man;</HI> none but Chri&s;t in the fle&s;h can <HI>in&s;trumentally</HI> execute it. The whole Trinity,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aquin. part</HI> 2. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">9 <HI>ad jus &s;upplem. ad <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> part In conclu&s;.</HI></NOTE> &s;aith the <HI>Schoolman,</HI> may be &s;aid to judge by <HI>equal right</HI> of Authority; but to the <HI>Son</HI> is delivered by a peculiar propriety
<PB N="281" REF="145">the <HI>promulgation</HI> of the final &s;entence, in re|gard he hath taken our nature upon him, whereby all man-kind may &s;ee the Judge by whom they are to be doom'd. So that Chri&s;ts coming in the Clouds, cannot chu&s;e but be a terrour to the impenitent and ob|durate &s;inners: they &s;hall &s;ee him gloriou&s;ly appear in that very fle&s;h which they di&s;ho|nourably pierc'd and crucifi'd by a continual progre&s;s in their Crimes. But it &s;hall be a <HI>jubile</HI> and endle&s;s joy to the faithful, who &s;hall behold him their <HI>Judge,</HI> who was their <HI>Advocate</HI> and <HI>Surety,</HI> who will quit all their <HI>&s;cores,</HI> and free them from eternal death.</P>
<P><HI>Wherefore &s;eeing ye look for &s;uch things,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Ep. c. 3.</NOTE> be diligent,</HI> as Saint <HI>Peter</HI> exhorts, <HI>that ye may be found of him in peace, without &s;pot, and blamele&s;s.</HI> And &s;ince our vain words are regi&s;tred in the Volume of Gods Book, and are like to be urged again&s;t us before no le&s;s an A&s;&s;embly then the whole world; it be|hoves to take heed to our tongues, that they hale not down Gods Vengeance by execra|ble Oaths, which to our &s;hame and grief do dayly &s;ound in our &s;treets as loud and ter|rible as <HI>thunderclaps.</HI> Let the long-&s;uffering of God win us to renounce what&s;oever hath affinity with the lea&s;t &s;in; remembring that if we abu&s;e the riches of <HI>Gods mercy</HI> un|to wantonne&s;s, we do but trea&s;ure up wrath again&s;t the day of wrath. For on that day, the terrible <HI>day of the Lord,</HI> the <HI>day of judg|ment,</HI>
<PB N="282" REF="146">he will no more knock at the door of our hearts in a gentle wooing voice, but will &s;tretch forth his mighty Arm to give the deadly &s;troke, the &s;troke of everla&s;ting hor|ror both to &s;oul and body. From which the Father of Mercy &s;hield us, through Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord and Saviour. Amen.</P>
<PB REF="146">
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<P>A SERMON Preached in <HI>Bow-Church</HI> LONDON, On the Anniver&s;ary Meeting of <HI>Hereford&s;hire</HI> Natives, <HI>June</HI> 24. 1658.</P>
<P>BY <HI>RICH. GARDINER,</HI> D. D.</P>
<Q><P><HI>We preach not our &s;elves, but Chri&s;t Je&s;us the Lord, and our &s;elves your Servants for Je&s;us &s;ake,</HI>
<BIBL>2 Cor. 4.5.</BIBL></P>
<P><HI>We have this trea&s;ure in earthen ve&s;&s;els, that the excellency of that power might be of God, and not of us,</HI>
<BIBL>ver&s;. 7.</BIBL></P>
<P>Ad hunc &s;tylum pio, &amp; officio&s;o animo, non vani Nominis appetitione, ac nugatoriae o&s;tentationis acce&s;&s;i. <BIBL><HI>S. Augu&s;t. Ep.</HI> 89. ad Honoratum.</BIBL></P></Q>
<P><HI>London:</HI> Printed for <HI>Sam. Speed,</HI> at the Printing-Pre&s;s in St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s Church|yard. 1659.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="284" REF="147">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>St. John 19. ver&s;e 27.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Then &s;aid he to the Di&s;ciple, Behold thy Mother. And from that hour that Di&s;ciple took her to his own home.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>GIve me leave to &s;ignifie in all meek|ne&s;s, you are not to expect <HI>London</HI>-mea&s;ure, extended prolixity; I e|ver minded the &s;trength, not length of mat|ter; my endeavours tending to &s;peak much in little, not little in much: My di&s;cour&s;e, I doubt not, will prove &s;ea&s;onable on this <HI>An|niver&s;ary</HI> Meeting, although I have not cho&s;en, according to my wont, an Argu|ment con&s;onant and &s;utable to the day. The ancient <HI>Rubrick</HI> of the Church, makes the whole bu&s;ine&s;s of this day to be of <HI>John</HI> the <HI>Bapti&s;t:</HI> I follow not that direction now, to prevent mi&s;pri&s;ion of captious times, and becau&s;e I hold this Text more u&s;eful for your Audience, which treats not of <HI>John</HI> the <HI>Baptist,</HI> but of <HI>John</HI> the <HI>Evangeli&s;t;</HI> it was he to whom Chri&s;t &s;aid, <HI>Behold thy Mother;</HI> and he was the Di&s;ciple, who from that hour took her to his own home.</P>
<P>To di&s;pel and clear &s;ome mi&s;ts hovering a|bout the Text, which otherwi&s;e may cloud and darken your under&s;tanding, con&s;ider
<PB N="285" REF="147">that our Saviour was now in extremity of pain and torment on the Cro&s;s; the whole outward man was battered, and every part be&s;ieged with a di&s;tinct death; he felt his Fathers Arrows &s;ticking in his holy &s;ides, drinking up his innocent blood for our tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions; yet when in the mid&s;t of his Agony, he &s;aw his dear Mother and beloved Di&s;ciple &s;tanding near the Cro&s;s, as one regardle&s;s of the Gall and Bitterne&s;s of his own &s;ufferings, of the pricking angui&s;h in his hands and feet by the Nails, in a &s;ympa|thy his heart yearns and commi&s;erates his Mothers mi&s;ery, who&s;e &s;oul was now pier|ced with the &s;word of Sorrow. His Zeal had a &s;mart &s;en&s;e of the wants &s;he might be expo&s;ed to after his decea&s;e; and therefore ca&s;ting a loving glance on the Virgin and Di&s;ciple, he &s;aith to his Mother, <HI>Behold thy Son,</HI> ver&s;e 26. and here to the Di&s;ciple, <HI>Be|hold thy Mother.</HI> Now we are not to fa&s;ten on the Rind and Bark of the Letter; the words are to be under&s;tood in a &s;ound &s;en&s;e, and <HI>cum grano &s;alis.</HI> It cannot be conceiv|ed the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, ble&s;&s;ed <HI>among</HI> women, ble&s;&s;ed <HI>above</HI> women, &s;hould have <HI>John</HI> for the natural i&s;&s;ue of her womb: St. <HI>Matthew, chap.</HI> 4. doth catechi&s;e us, that <HI>John</HI> was the Son of <HI>Zebedeus;</HI> but by the&s;e endearing appellations of <HI>Son</HI> and <HI>Mother,</HI> our Saviour &s;ignifies his meaning was, that Di&s;ciple &s;hould as much &s;et by her, have her in as high e&s;timation, as if from her bowels he came breathing into the world.</P>
<PB N="286" REF="148">
<P>Few have &s;o learned Chri&s;t: The world a|bounds with <GAP DESC="foreign">, unnatural Imps, who either &s;upport not at all the weakne&s;s of their needy Parents; or, if they have a touch of remor&s;e, their aid is after &s;uch a penuri|ous &s;cant manner, that as the Orator &s;ays of the poor pri&s;oners pittances, <GAP DESC="foreign">, it is not &s;ufficient to keep them alive, and yet will not &s;uffer them to dye. Excellent per&s;ons to make Scribes and Phari&s;ees of! They taught the people to an&s;wer their indigent impotent Parents craving help in their nece&s;&s;ity, by &s;aying, 'Tis <HI>Corban,</HI> Mar. 7.11. <HI>(i.)</HI> they had alrea|dy di&s;tributed to pious and charitable u&s;es, and &s;o had done enough; &s;tood di&s;charg'd before God; no further thing to be re|quired at their hands; leaving them from whom they received their lives, to &s;tarve and peri&s;h. But Chri&s;t tell'd them there, in &s;tead of Gods Commandments, they taught their own traditions. The Ethnicks will ri&s;e up in Judgment again&s;t &s;uch flint-hearted wretches. <HI>Valerius Maximus</HI> hath &s;et down a remarkable &s;tory of a Daughter, who vi&s;i|ting her Father in Pri&s;on, condemned there to dye by Famine, prolong'd his life by fo&s;tering him with the Milk of her brea&s;ts; which being di&s;covered to the Magi&s;trate, the Re&s;ult was an applau&s;e of the Daughter, and a relea&s;e of the Father. Sordid-&s;pirited, clo&s;e-fi&s;ted mi&s;creants, are to be &s;ent to the Bea&s;ts of the Field, and Fowls of the Air, to
<PB N="287" REF="148">learn Wi&s;dom, as <HI>Job</HI> &s;peaks, <HI>chap.</HI> 12. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 7. The Stork in her youth, cheri&s;heth the old days of her Parents. It is the odious Ge|neration of Vipers, which gnaw out the bellies of their Dams, &s;eeking their own lives with the Dams death.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. 46.47.</NOTE> <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> is a me|morable pattern of filial ob&s;ervance. He in a time of dearth &s;ent for his aged Father, gave for his convoy Waggons, and all pro|vi&s;ions nece&s;&s;ary for his Voyage; and being arrived in <HI>Egypt,</HI> &s;eated him in the fruitful|e&s;t part of the Land.</P>
<P>In the twelfth ver&s;e of the forty &s;eventh Chapter, he <HI>nouri&s;hed</HI> his <HI>Father,</HI> &s;o we ren|der it; but our Tran&s;lation comes &s;hort of the force and &s;trength in the Original, he nurs'd his Father, <GAP DESC="foreign">,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lechem Le|pi hataph.</NOTE> <HI>Ad os parvuli,</HI> or <HI>in os parvnli panem vel cibum in|gerendo;</HI> which Mr. <HI>Calvin</HI> &s;aies &s;ome ex|pound that he &s;ed his Father, being unable to feed him&s;elf, by putting the meat into his mouth, after the u&s;age of a Child. The <HI>in|terlineary</HI> Bible hath it in the Margin, <HI>quem|admodum parvulus alitur;</HI> and from thence 'tis in our Engli&s;h Marginal Note, nouri&s;h|ed according <HI>to the little ones. Bellarmine,</HI> in his <HI>Opu&s;cula,</HI> I hope you will not &s;tart at the words of an Adver&s;ary, where they have a tendency to inflame true devotion, brings in Chri&s;t thus &s;peaking of his holy Mother: I took but one life, my humane life, of my Virgin Mother; yet for that one, I gave to her three lives: I gave to her a humane life,
<PB N="288" REF="149">when together with the Father and the holy Spirit, I created her: For he made all things, <HI>and without him was made nothing that was made,</HI> John 1.3. I gave her the life of grace, in that I quickn'd and regenerated her with my Spirit. I gave to her al&s;o the life of glory, in that I dyed for her, to the intent &s;he might not peri&s;h, but have life eternal. I carefully provided for her in my life and death. What a &s;pur &s;hould this be to the <HI>naturalne&s;s of our love?</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 8.8.</NOTE> How &s;hould it &s;ummon all our parts to help our Parents, as we be able, if nece&s;&s;ity require? Though we &s;trive to do the utmo&s;t we can do, and what we cannot do, we &s;hall never requite the expence, the mole&s;tation, the homely offices they have &s;u&s;tained in our minority, nur|ture and education. It &s;eems Saint <HI>John</HI> was of this per&s;wa&s;ion; for &s;o &s;oon as Chri&s;t bid him to behold the Virgin as his Mother, that <HI>engaging</HI> title wrought &s;o upon him, that like a regardful Son, forthwith he obeys the charge, <HI>and from that hour took her to his own home.</HI></P>
<P>[From that hour.]</P>
<P>A right Di&s;ciple and Follower of Chri&s;t, is upon the wing for holy duties, prepared e|very hour; yea, on a &s;uddain, with <HI>Samuel,</HI> 1 <HI>Sam. chap.</HI> 3. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 4. he an&s;wers at the fir&s;t Call. When God enjoyned <HI>Abra|ham</HI> to offer up his onely Son <HI>I&s;aac</HI> for a
<PB N="289" REF="149">burnt offering, upon one of the Mountains, which he would &s;hew, he doth not delibe|rate and examine circum&s;tances, how this could &s;tand with the promi&s;e, That <HI>in I&s;aac all the Nations of the earth &s;hould be ble&s;&s;ed;</HI> but the Text &s;aith, <HI>Abraham</HI> ro&s;e <HI>early,</HI> he would not put it off till noon, to perform that &s;trange a&s;toni&s;hing Sacrifice, <HI>Gen.</HI> 22.3. When Chri&s;t call'd on <HI>Zacheus</HI> in the <HI>Syca|more</HI>-Tree, to come down, and to prepare for his entertainment at his own home; Saint <HI>Luke</HI> records it in the nineteenth chapter, and the &s;ixth ver&s;e, that he made <HI>ha&s;te,</HI> re|ceiving him not repiningly, but joyfully. <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Andrew</HI> upon <HI>Chri&s;ts</HI> fir&s;t call, left their Nets, and immediately followed him, <HI>Mat.</HI> 4. What&s;oever thou take&s;t in hand, <HI>in&s;tanter operare,</HI> Eccles. 9.10. &s;traight|way, quickly, in&s;tantly do it with all thy power and might; for true Devotion is of a &s;prightly readine&s;s, le&s;t its inward fervency or zeal, by delay, wax cold and neglectful. Had the Apo&s;tle made a demur, con&s;ulted with fle&s;h and blood, the worldling would have rounded him in the ear, that this was a Legacy utterly to be rejected. Indeed, a gift of gain both hands may be open to re|ceive, but the bequeathing a nece&s;&s;itous mother to your maintaining, is a bu&s;ine&s;s of another nature; 'tis a hard <HI>province,</HI> and who will undertake it to his certain lo&s;s? Mu&s;t you of all others be commended into this charge and trouble? Such would have
<PB N="290" REF="150">been the Plea of a carnal churli&s;h <HI>Nabal.</HI> But <HI>Eagle-eyed John</HI> viewed the&s;e &s;ubluna|ry re&s;pects as things below him. His De|votion flies upward, looks &s;tedfa&s;tly on the Son of Righteou&s;ne&s;s, con&s;iders he cannot do too much for &s;uch a Ma&s;ter, who before the re&s;t, own'd him for the be&s;t beloved Di|&s;ciple; and to &s;ignifie the confidence he re|po&s;ed in him above all others, would tru&s;t none with the care of his Mother, but him alone. And &s;o out of a thankful mind, e|ven pre&s;ently takes her to his cu&s;tody; and that not for the date or term of &s;et years by covenant, but freely, &s;o long as &s;he lived; which, if you will give credence to <HI>Nicepho|rus</HI> and <HI>Rome</HI>'s <HI>Legend,</HI> was the &s;pace of e|leven or twelve years from that hour of Chri&s;ts death.</P>
<P>This religious fact, and continued fidelity of <HI>John,</HI> &s;hould rouze all <HI>Trustees,</HI> to whom is appointed the di&s;po&s;ing of the &s;ub&s;tance of the dead, to be con&s;tantly hone&s;t, and faith|ful in their tru&s;t. The neglect whereof hath cool'd the Zeal of many enclined to libera|lity, cau&s;ing them to withdraw the Oyl from their &s;hining and burning Lamps; it being voyc'd to be a common fault, an accu&s;tom'd manner to pervert and &s;ubvert the Te&s;ta|tors &s;en&s;e and meaning, whereby &s;ome de|&s;ign'd for <HI>Executors,</HI> are reproachfully bran|ded for <HI>Executioners</HI> of Wills. I profe&s;s in all &s;incerity, I never heard this renowned City tainted with &s;uch a guilt, but that you
<PB N="291" REF="150">are &s;trictly tender of the Wills, and of what is put into your hands to be kept for others; &s;o that what&s;oever is laid up in your publick Chamber for pious u&s;es, is &s;ecure and &s;afe, fa&s;tened like <HI>a nail in a &s;ure place,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;ai. 22.23.</NOTE> as the Prophet phra&s;eth it. You have given a good example, but 'tis <HI>copyed</HI> out byfew. Sure this barbarous inhumanity towards the <HI>de|funct,</HI> was unknown in the <HI>primitive</HI> times: Saint <HI>Paul</HI> is po&s;itive in the third Chapter to the <HI>Galatians,</HI> ver&s;. 15. that though it be a mans Te&s;tament, yet if it be confirmed, none doth abrogate it, or add any thing to it. Read the thirty fifth Chapter of <HI>Jeremiah,</HI> and mark how God rewarded the <HI>Rechabites</HI> for their obedience to their Fathers will. <HI>I &s;et,</HI> &s;o &s;peaks the Prophet, <HI>before the children of Rechab, bottles full of Wine, and &s;aid to them, Drink Wine. But they &s;aid, We will not drink wine: for Jonadab our father com|manded us, &s;aying, You &s;hall drink no Wine, you nor your Sons for ever.</HI> Which they ob|&s;erved, onely becau&s;e it was the will of their decea&s;ed Father. <HI>Therefore thus &s;aith the Lord of ho&s;ts, the God of I&s;rael, Jonadab the Son of Rechab &s;hall not want a man to &s;tand before me,</HI> (i.) to be in my favour, <HI>for ever,</HI> ver&s;e <HI>ult.</HI> Labour then to keep a good Con&s;cience, to deal ju&s;ty and uprightly before God our heavenly Father, and before men in all concernments impos'd upon us, and undertaken by us.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 4.6.</NOTE> What &s;aith the A|po&s;tle? <HI>Let no man go beyond and defraud his
<PB N="292" REF="151">Brother in any matter.</HI> With what horror at the day of the <HI>Re&s;urrection</HI> &s;hall the Child meet his Father, the Wife her Hus|band, one Brother and Friend another, if they have fal&s;ified the tru&s;t depo&s;ited in them? Suppo&s;e thou ha&s;t no outward <HI>Re|lations</HI> committed to thy charge, yet thou ha&s;t an <HI>inward man,</HI> thy <HI>Soul,</HI> to be attended and carefully look'd to. If thou do&s;t not cheri&s;h that <HI>&s;park</HI> of Eternity, if thou &s;tarve that <HI>particle</HI> of Divinity, the Lover of Souls will urge it as done to his own <HI>Image.</HI> Here a que&s;tion is moved, why Saint <HI>John</HI> leaves his own name unmentioned. In the beginning of this ver&s;e, it is not, Then he &s;aid to <HI>ME, Behold thy Mother,</HI> but to the <HI>Di&s;ciple</HI> whom he loved; and in the &s;ub&s;e|quent words he &s;aith not, <HI>I</HI> took her, but <HI>that Di&s;ciple</HI> took her to his own home. 'Tis conceived he omitted his Name, that his Mode&s;ty might check and curb affectation of vain glory.</P>
<P>Never was there more need that a Copy hereof &s;hould be drawn forth at length, then in the&s;e days. We fa&s;t, we pray; there's a great deal of preaching, hearing, making a formal glittering &s;hew of godline&s;s in ex|ternal wor&s;hip; but where's the power of it? Let none as a fal&s;e brother mi&s;interpret, and &s;o mi&s;relate me, as if I oppo&s;e devout praying, and frequent preaching. For I &s;hould joy to &s;ee the earth full of the Know|ledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the
<PB N="293" REF="151">Sea, according to the prophe&s;ie, <HI>I&s;ai.</HI> 11.9, <HI>that all the people be taught of the Lord,</HI> I&s;ai. 54.13. yet let me put you in remembrance, Saint <HI>James</HI> advice is, <HI>Jam.</HI> 1.22. <HI>Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers onely, deceiving your &s;elves.</HI> As if he had thus enlarged him|&s;elf: Your hands mu&s;t be open to do,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">B. A. in Lo|cum.</NOTE> as well as your ears to hear; doing the word mu&s;t be pre&s;erved as well as the hearing it; con&s;cience of practi&s;e is to be joyned with curio&s;ity of knowledge; for bare hearing is an illu&s;ion, a cozening your &s;elves. I add; 'tis no better then a thir&s;t after a vulgar e|&s;teem, to get a Name, to be counted <GAP DESC="foreign">, not onely &s;ome body, but &s;ome great one in religion. <HI>Augu&s;tus</HI> was very ambitious of pre&s;erving a Name; for he gave commi&s;&s;ion to the <HI>Pretors</HI> of <HI>Rome,</HI> not to &s;uffer his Name <HI>Ob&s;ole fieri,</HI> to be worn out of u&s;e: he would have it kept up in grace and digni|ty. But what &s;peak I of a magnificent Emperor? So great is the fooli&s;h and in|con&s;iderate de&s;ire of Fame, that &s;carce a Church can be whited and adorned with two or three painted Fringes, but <HI>Parietes Medius Fidius,</HI> the walls for&s;ooth mu&s;t pro|claim the Names of tho&s;e &s;mall Officers in who&s;e Warden&s;hip 'twas &s;o beautifi'd; and yet all this while they were free on others co&s;t, the &s;tock of the Pari&s;h. To them, in another &s;en&s;e, may be apply'd that in 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.7. <HI>That which thou boa&s;te&s;t of is none of thy own: and if thou did&s;t receive it, why
<PB N="294" REF="152">did&s;t thou glory?</HI> But &s;eek not your own ap|plau&s;e when you do any good.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.8.</NOTE> <HI>He that gives,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 2. ver&s;. la&s;t.</NOTE> let him do it with &s;implicity. Be &s;incere, that your prai&s;e may not be of man, but of God.</HI> Saint <HI>John,</HI> without blowing a Trum|pet, took Chri&s;ts Virgin-Mother to his own home; which makes it evident &s;he was a poor woman.</P>
<P>One might have thought that ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Mary,</HI> Chri&s;ts <HI>Mother,</HI> born of the blood <HI>Royal,</HI> for &s;he was naturally de&s;cended out of <HI>Davids Loyns,</HI> &s;hould not be con&s;train|ed to live by the Alms and Co&s;t of a Di|&s;ciple: That <HI>Jo&s;eph,</HI> her betrothed Hus|band, right heir to the Crown of <HI>Judah,</HI> &s;hould not be brought &s;o low, as to be fain to labour for his living. Who &s;ees not how applyable this Story is? But the wheel is turn'd, and who am I &s;hould take it in hand again? It &s;tands with our humility and obe|dience, to keep the &s;ame motion with the le&s;&s;er under-wheels, as the great upper Ma|&s;ter-wheel of the whole Univer&s;e &s;hall move us. If the Divine Providence, which or|dereth all things, will hae me or thee, which whilome &s;ate at the upper end, to come down, and &s;it lower, let's not expo&s;tu|late, but quietly humble our &s;elves under the mighty hand of God, and in a pious re&s;o|lution, &s;ay as <HI>David</HI> in a great extremity &s;aid, 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 15. <HI>Behold, here we are, let the Lord do to us as &s;eemeth good in his own eyes.</HI> If Royal Extractions become levell'd with
<PB N="295" REF="152"><HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> and <HI>Mary,</HI> in &s;uch an <HI>exinanition,</HI> I tru&s;t, without offence, I may wi&s;h they may with them po&s;&s;e&s;s their Souls in patience, and account the defalcations med cinal Di|minutions. For &s;ince they are become &s;en|&s;ible that a little contents nature, they may the better endute the want of magnificent abundance. As for the accumulation of worldly accoutrements, they &s;erve onely for pomp and &s;tate, which infer more cark, and care, and di&s;turbing fear. Therefore, in the heavine&s;s of <HI>dereliction,</HI> ca&s;t thy burden up|on the Lord, who many times is mo&s;t neer us, when he &s;eems to &s;tand farthe&s;t off; as lo|ving to &s;hew his mercy in our mi&s;ery, his power in our weakne&s;s. The Lords <HI>Mo|ther</HI> here &s;tood under, or neer the Cro&s;s, de&s;titute of all outward help; but there was a <HI>Di&s;ciple</HI> &s;tanding by, pre-ordained to &s;u&s;tain her, <HI>who from that hour took her to his own home.</HI></P>
<P>[To his own home.]</P>
<P>And now after all this travail and pains, I am informed my labour is lo&s;t, having fra|med a Ca&s;tle in the Air, without any Foun|dation on the Earth. For in the <HI>Original</HI> 'tis &s;imply and barely put down, <HI>He took her to his own:</HI> The bold Engli&s;h, who u&s;e to &s;peak out, have in their Tran&s;lation &s;uper|added <HI>hou&s;e</HI> and <HI>home.</HI> The ground of this Variance is a &s;trange long mi&s;take of <HI>Peter</HI>'s
<PB N="296" REF="153">words, <HI>Mat.</HI> 19.27. becau&s;e there <HI>Peter,</HI> as <HI>Prolocutor</HI> for the re&s;t, &s;aid to Chri&s;t, <HI>We have for&s;aken all, and followed thee;</HI> many of the <HI>Fathers</HI> (to whom God was not plea|&s;ed to reveale all Circum&s;tances) have tran&s;lated the Greek, <GAP DESC="foreign">, from its proper to an improper &s;ignification. They will not have it &s;o under&s;tood, as if <HI>John</HI> took her to his own po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, (for by their ver|dict he was one of tho&s;e who utterly for|&s;ook all for Chri&s;ts &s;ake) but that he took her to his <HI>own care,</HI> to help her the be&s;t he could out of the contributions of the faith|ful.</P>
<P>The <HI>Romani&s;ts,</HI> who lye at the lurch by too much &s;ubtilty, to make plain things ob&s;cure, when it conduceth to their own intere&s;t, cry up this ancient interpretation as <HI>Catholique,</HI> and the contrary as <HI>Heretical;</HI> thereby in|tending, from the Apo&s;tles practi&s;e, to exalt the &s;upererogating Vow of voluntary po|verty. The <HI>Anabapti&s;ts,</HI> from hence, con|demn propriety of Goods, as incon&s;i&s;tent with, or oppo&s;ite to the Go&s;pel. So that it may &s;eem I have undertaken a difficult pro|vince, to ju&s;tifie our Church in rendering Saint <HI>John</HI>'s taking the Virgin Mother to his own habitation.</P>
<P>But I doubt not to demon&s;trate to each di&s;cerning Spirit, that after their call to the <HI>Apo&s;tle&s;hip, John,</HI> with the re&s;t, had a propri|ety in their Hou&s;es, Moveables, Tenures, per&s;onal and real E&s;tates. For though 'tis
<PB N="297" REF="153">recorded they left all, yet 'twas in a qualifi|ed &s;en&s;e; they left not all &s;imply and wholly, but &s;o far, and &s;o long, as they might be im|pediments to their <HI>Commi&s;&s;ion</HI> of propaga|ting Faith in Chri&s;t, or preaching the Go&s;pel, and no otherwi&s;e. They could at their plea&s;ure return to the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion and u&s;e of what was theirs. This is confirmed, <HI>Mark</HI> 1.29. when they were come out of the Sy|nagogue, <HI>Je&s;us</HI> entered into the <HI>hou&s;e of Si|mon,</HI> with <HI>Andrew, James</HI> and <HI>John;</HI> where, after their de&s;ertion of all, 'tis &s;till <HI>Simons hou&s;e.</HI> So <HI>Matthew</HI> 4.14. he came into <HI>Peters hou&s;e.</HI> The better to declare his Vin|dication, or challenging it for his own, he entertain'd Chri&s;t and his fellow Di&s;ciples, with a banquet therein: So much is collect|ed from ver&s;e 31. which re&s;tifies that his Mo|ther-in-law, newly by him recovered from a Fever, mini&s;tred to them. After this, as a wealthy Citizen of <HI>Capernaum,</HI> he paid Tri|bute-Money, <HI>Mat.</HI> 17.27. And which proves they mean'd no ab&s;olute perpetual abnegation, abjuration, or renouncing of their temporalties, but onely a willing &s;e|que&s;tration from them, during their La|bours and Employments abroad for the ga|thering of the <HI>Saints,</HI> the enlarging the bor|ders of the Church; <HI>Peter, Joh.</HI> 21. after Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection, is named to have u&s;ed the Ship and Nets as his peculiar. <HI>Mat|thew,</HI> after his calling from the Receipt of Cu&s;tome, made Chri&s;t a great Fea&s;t in his
<PB N="298" REF="154">own hou&s;e, <HI>Mat.</HI> 9.11. <HI>Mark</HI> 2.14. Now this <HI>Evangeli&s;t John</HI>'s Fortunes were greater then his fellow Fi&s;hers; it being ob&s;erved, <HI>Mark</HI> 1.20. that he had Mercenary Ser|vants in the Ship to attend his Father <HI>Zebe|dee,</HI> when, on Chri&s;ts &s;ummons, he left them to wait on him. Were it not then a weak Collection, that he, of all the re&s;t, &s;hould &s;acrifice to the <HI>Godde&s;s</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, devoting him&s;elf to &s;candalous wilful beggery, when it cannot well be conceived how he &s;hould receive and accommodate holy <HI>Mary</HI> with|out an abiding place, and &s;ome con&s;tant Re|venue? Who &s;ees not what a derogation it would have been to the Son of God, yea, to any of his faithful Servants, to dedicate the charge of a tender Mother to an errant needy Vagrant of &s;mall value, and little worth? This indeed had been a goodly providing for the Mother of Him, who was God!</P>
<P>Cardinal <HI>Baronius,</HI> of no &s;mall account in the Romi&s;h <HI>Hierarchy,</HI> fore&s;eeing &s;uch a &s;candal, cites the <HI>Ancients</HI> a&s;&s;erting <HI>John</HI> to have <HI>held his hou&s;e</HI> &s;eated on the hill of Sion, and that for the noblene&s;s of his de&s;cent, he was in great favour with <HI>Caiaphas</HI> the high Prie&s;t, to whom he made &s;ale of his Terri|tories in <HI>Galilee.</HI> The be&s;t Criticks declare that <GAP DESC="foreign">, in the Greek, &s;ignifie the &s;ame with <GAP DESC="foreign">, which always implies reality of Sub&s;tance;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">El Betho.</NOTE> and with <GAP DESC="foreign"> in the <HI>Hebrew,</HI> that is, into his own Hou&s;e, and &s;o
<PB N="299" REF="154">con&s;equently confirms <HI>John</HI>'s taking her to a habitation of his own.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Grotius in Locum.</NOTE></P>
<P>Neither can there any thing in Scripture be found, which on ju&s;t cau&s;e may be judg'd to contradict the truth hereof. Fir&s;t, the <HI>A|po&s;tles</HI> do not relate they left all, by their ex|ample to teach us to vow mendicity, to em|brace penury as a &s;tate of perfection. If it had heen &s;o, Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> 1 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 4.11, 12. ver&s;es, would not command us to work with our hands, that we may have lack of no|thing: yea, if that were good Doctrine, how comes it to pa&s;s, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 16.2. he wills every one to lay by him in &s;tore, for the mi|ni&s;tring to the Saints, as God had pro&s;pered him?</P>
<P>If we may &s;tore up, and plea&s;e God too, we need not to di&s;claim our proper Goods, but rather to pre&s;erve the materials of Cha|rity, that the Lord may be glorified through the liberal di&s;tributions of &s;uch who are en|riched in every thing to all bountifulne&s;s, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 9.11. Whence I conceive that a godly wi&s;e man may de&s;ire always to have all &s;uf|ficiency in all things,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 8. Ver&s;. 12.</NOTE> as they are &s;ub&s;ervi|ent, nece&s;&s;ary means to undertake great mat|ters of Religion, and to make him abound to every good work, which cau&s;eth, through him, thank&s;giving to the Lord.</P>
<P>There being certain Vertues not practi&s;e|able by the poor, as this was of <HI>John</HI>'s &s;up|porting the di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Virgin; why doth the <HI>Apo&s;tle</HI> &s;ay, <HI>Phil.</HI> 4.12. <HI>I know how to want,
<PB N="300" REF="155">and how to abound?</HI> But to in&s;truct, if it plea&s;e God to exerci&s;e his patience with &s;uf|fering want, he was ready to &s;erve him in all obedience; but if it &s;eem'd meet to his di|vine Wi&s;dom to furni&s;h him with abun|dance, he knew how to u&s;e it to the Glory of God with thankfulne&s;s.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, the Authour and Fini&s;her of our Faith, who came into the world, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 8.9. did not lead &s;o ba&s;e and &s;or|did a life, as &s;ome pretend, but had a com|petency of needful provi&s;ions. For in <HI>John</HI> 13. we read it was <HI>Judas</HI> Office to keep the Bag, and disbur&s;e his Ca&s;h. The Di&s;ciple <HI>Philip, John</HI> 6. makes a demand of two hun|dred pence, as it were out of his Stock. In the &s;econd of <HI>John,</HI> his Di&s;ciples were &s;ent to buy meat out of his own pur&s;e; to which end, the Di&s;ciples thought in the thirteenth of <HI>John,</HI> ver&s;e twenty nine, that Chri&s;t bid <HI>Judas</HI> to <HI>buy</HI> tho&s;e nece&s;&s;aries they had u&s;e of again&s;t a fe&s;tival day. They talk'd, <HI>Mat.</HI> 28. of <HI>&s;elling</HI> the pretious Oyntment. All which are as Clouds of Witne&s;&s;es, that the <HI>Primitive</HI> times did not hold a voluntary dereliction of worldly wealth, a &s;tate of greater <HI>perfection</HI> then others, as the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> impo&s;eth on the World, to magnifie the beggery of <HI>Capuchins, Hermits,</HI> and <HI>Anchorets.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, 'tis again&s;t all rea&s;on, that the <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> relinqui&s;hed all on this re&s;pect, that
<PB N="301" REF="155">'tis unlawful to retain any thing as our own peculiar. For God hath not created man to inherit the earth in common. 'Tis re|gi&s;tred, <HI>Deut.</HI> 32.8. the mo&s;t High <HI>divided</HI> the Nations their inheritance, he hath &s;e|parated the Sons of <HI>Adam.</HI> And having commanded the Land of <HI>Canaan</HI> to be <HI>divi|ded,</HI> he gave in charge that the inheritances allotted, &s;hould not be <HI>alienated</HI> from one <HI>Tribe</HI> to another: &s;o that &s;everal and di|&s;tinct po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions are Gods Ordinance. When the Children of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> were come into the Land of <HI>Canaan,</HI> every <HI>Tribe</HI> had his po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ion allotted by <HI>Jo&s;hua.</HI> The tenth Com|mandment forbidding us to covet any thing that is our Neighbours, implies our Neigh|bour to have Goods peculiar to him&s;elf.</P>
<P>Again, if &s;uch as be rich had no right in their riches more then others, the <HI>Apo&s;tle</HI> would have &s;o in&s;tructed them, and wi&s;h'd them to renounce their wealth: but his Coun&s;el is, that they be not <HI>high-minded,</HI> that they do not <HI>tru&s;t</HI> in <HI>uncertain</HI> riches, but in the living God, 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 6. It is not enjoying of our worldly Trea&s;ure, but our &s;etting our hearts on it, the inordinate love thereof, to the hinderance of our &s;ervice towards God, which we are utterly to for|&s;ake. If the holding of E&s;tates in private, had di&s;plea&s;ed the <HI>Almighty,</HI> then when <HI>Zacheus,</HI> upon his receiving Chri&s;t into his hou&s;e, &s;aid, <HI>Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor;</HI> Chri&s;t would have re|buked
<PB N="302" REF="156">him for his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions; but his an|&s;wer was, <HI>Luk.</HI> 19. <HI>This day is Salvation come to this Hou&s;e.</HI> We read of others in the New Te&s;tament, who were full of goods; as <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> of <HI>Arimathea,</HI> the <HI>Eunuch, Ly|dia, Tabitha,</HI> the women which followed Chri&s;t out of <HI>Galilee, Act.</HI> 21. Yet there's not any reprehen&s;ion of them, or condemn|ing any propriety they enjoy'd. This <HI>A|nabapti&s;tical</HI> community, was an Opinion taught by <HI>Plato</HI> in his time. Afterwards the <HI>Hereticks</HI> call'd <HI>Apo&s;tolici,</HI> were of the &s;ame mind, becau&s;e 'tis written, <HI>Act.</HI> 2. <HI>they had all things common.</HI> But they did not con&s;i|der the community then was a nece&s;&s;ary po|licy, being dayly in danger by tyranny, to have all &s;eiz'd and taken away violently. Be&s;ides, 'twas not enforc'd by any Law, but they voluntarily tendered what they had; which cau&s;ed <HI>Peter</HI> to an&s;wer <HI>Ananias,</HI> Act. 5. <HI>While it remained, was it not thy own?</HI> That which was &s;old and made common, was not di&s;po&s;ed as every one plea&s;ed, but di&s;tri|buted according to their &s;everal nece&s;&s;ities. Moreover, if no &s;ingle per&s;on hath any right to his Goods, what needed <HI>Naboth</HI> to keep &s;uch ado about his Vineyard? It was not <HI>Ahab,</HI> but <HI>Naboth,</HI> that on this account was in jurious, by u&s;urping to him&s;elf what was not confirmed to him by a rightful Title. The eighth Commandment will be thought &s;uperfluous: Can we be &s;aid to &s;teal that which I may as ju&s;tly call mine, as thou
<PB N="303" REF="156">thine? If <HI>propriety</HI> be not e&s;tabli&s;hed, Alms|deeds will be u&s;ele&s;s, Family provi&s;ions need|le&s;s, forrein Merchandizing quite neg|lected. None will expo&s;e them&s;elves to the horrors of the <HI>depth,</HI> the in&s;olencies and violencies on the Land, if He, who &s;carce &s;teps out of his own <HI>Horizon,</HI> hath as much intere&s;t, and that without any charge, as the <HI>Adventurer,</HI> who plowing up the Furrows of the Ocean, imports the advantage and gain. Hence will follow the decay of <HI>Com|monwealths;</HI> for no <HI>Nation</HI> hath a full &s;ub|&s;i&s;tency of it &s;elf; all lend mutual &s;trength and help to each other, whereby they are &s;upported and held up in a flouri&s;hing &s;tate.</P>
<P>To draw to an Application, which is the quickning, as it were, the life and &s;oul of e|very Sermon. To &s;peak &s;trictly, the propri|ety of earthly things is <HI>God</HI>'s alone,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 24.1.</NOTE> <HI>The earth is the Lords, and the fulne&s;s thereof. The &s;ilver is mine, and the gold is mine,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hag. 2.9.</NOTE> &s;aith the Lord of Hosts.</HI></P>
<P>He that hath transferred the right thereof on thee, expects, in the managing and u&s;age, thou do&s;t communicate to the nece&s;&s;ities of the Saints. If thou niggardly lock up that which is more then thou need&s;t, thou do&s;t injure Gods poor ones, who need more then they have. Should you &s;ay, If &s;uch a com|manding Object of Charity were pre&s;ented to you as Chri&s;ts di&s;tre&s;&s;ed <HI>Mother,</HI> you would readily &s;acrifice your E&s;tate to
<PB N="304" REF="157">&s;u&s;tain her? Behold, Chri&s;t in the 12 of Saint <HI>Matthew, ver&s;.</HI> 50. calls all tho&s;e who do the will of his heavenly <HI>Father,</HI> his <HI>Mo|ther, Brothers and Si&s;ters:</HI> di&s;per&s;e out of your private &s;tore to rai&s;e a &s;tock for relief of their wants; and with <HI>John,</HI> you have ex|pre&s;&s;ed an operative effectual regard of Chri&s;ts Mother.</P>
<P>Tenacious Mi&s;ers may pretend what they will; though we extol not good works &s;o high as to make them to be the price of heaven, yet they are not to be reckoned &s;o low, as if they availed nothing towards it. <HI>For we are Gods workman&s;hip, created unto good works, which he hath prepared that we &s;hould walk in them,</HI> Ephe&s;. 2.9, 10. Yea, to be cold in doing good, is to &s;ru&s;trate the end of our <HI>Redemption.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 2.14.</NOTE> Chri&s;t,</HI> &s;aith Saint <HI>Paul, gave him&s;elf to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purifie to him&s;elf a peculiar people, zea|lous of good works.</HI></P>
<P>The rightly ordained Orthodox <HI>Mini&s;ters</HI> of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> do preach and print, that good works, in the concernments of Salvation, are nece&s;&s;ary <HI>quoad prae&s;enti|am, non quoad efficientiam:</HI> Though God in the Act of Ju&s;tification, eye them not as if they had an influence or efficacy to ju&s;tifie us; yet he beholds them as Concomi|tants and evidences of that Faith through which we are freely &s;av'd by grace. They are con&s;tant Attendants of true Faith, as Maydes of Honour are of their right
<PB N="305" REF="157">Queen. <HI>&V;p then, and be doing,</HI> and the Lord will be with you: make your Lamps to burn bright with the Oyl of Chariry. <HI>For pure religion and undefiled, is to vi&s;it the fatherle&s;s and widow, and to keep our &s;elves un&s;potted of the world,</HI> James 1. <HI>To do good forget not: for with &s;uch &s;acrifices God is well plea&s;ed,</HI> Heb. 13.16. So well plea&s;ed, that what&s;o|ever ye do to one of the&s;e, he takes it done to him&s;elf, <HI>Mat.</HI> 25.45. And therefore will return it with good mea&s;ure, pre&s;&s;ed down, &s;haken together, and running over, <HI>Luk.</HI> 6.38. Let this Fe&s;tival meeting be like to tho&s;e in the <HI>Primitive</HI> times, which were called in the Greek <GAP DESC="foreign">, becau&s;e in tho&s;e Chri&s;tian <HI>Love-fea&s;ts</HI> they di&s;tributed out of their fulne&s;s to the relief of their ne|ce&s;&s;itous Fellow-members. In <HI>Exod.</HI> 23.15. God will have none of his people in keeping of their <HI>Fea&s;ts</HI> to appear empty before him; &s;omething mu&s;t be offered, and that from a willing heart, <HI>Exod.</HI> 35.5. Gifts which are extorted, and come grudgingly, <HI>Seneca</HI> right|ly calls <HI>Lapido&s;a beneficia,</HI> being as irk&s;ome in receiving, as bread given with greet in it, is in the eating. 'Tis the chearful Giver God loves, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 9.7. The Land is full of Objects of Charity: you can &s;carce go up and down the &s;treets, but you may hear many complaining they have been wounded by extravagant Thieves, &s;tript of their Live|lyhood, and left to the wide world to &s;ink or &s;wim. So that there's need of many piti|ful
<PB N="278" REF="158"><HI>Samaritans</HI> to bind up their wounds, to pour Oyl into their &s;ores, to re&s;ent their mi&s;eries, not with the tongue-deep, empty ceremonies, <HI>Jam.</HI> 2. <HI>Depart in peace, be ye warmed, be ye full;</HI> but in doing good for them by hand and pur&s;e. <HI>For who &s;tops his ears to their cries, he al&s;o &s;hall cry him&s;elf and not be heard,</HI> Prov. 21.13. <HI>Dives,</HI> in his life time, regarded not <HI>Lazarus</HI> plaints, and Chri&s;t gives no ear to his howlings in hell. But e&s;pecially let the bowels of your com|pa&s;&s;ion be &s;tirred within you, your hands o|pen'd wide towards <HI>the Lords Emba&s;&s;adours,</HI> the Di&s;po&s;ers of his &s;ecrets, who in many places are under great &s;uffering of much want. My Blood was ready to curdle, my Heart to bleed,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Dram|ball,</HI> B. <HI>Ber|ry.</HI></NOTE> when a <HI>Right Reverend</HI> O|ver&s;eer of Chri&s;ts Flock, a learned Champion of the Truth, publi&s;hed in print not long a|go, he was forc'd to take care for his back and belly, when he &s;hould be &s;tudying the good of Souls. To come home to you: I deny not, but that this <HI>Metropolis,</HI> wherein you have improved your E&s;tates, ought to partake of &s;ome &s;ignal token of your re&s;pect to it; yet the <HI>instinct,</HI> the Impre&s;&s;ion of Na|ture, will prompt you to advance the wel|fare of the Country of your Nativity: there your Charity &s;hould &s;tream forth in a full &s;ource, and extend it &s;elf according to the mea&s;ure of the line of your proportions. The County is of no large extent and cir|cuit;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10.13.</NOTE> yet 'tis greatn'd, in that it hath been
<PB N="279" REF="158">the Womb of honourable Extractions. Thence de&s;cended the illu&s;trious <HI>Cliffords, Cecills, Scudamores,</HI> the very ancient <HI>Family of Croft's Knights,</HI> with others of eminent gentry.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Camden.</NOTE></P>
<P>And, which accumu|lates its Renown, thence that famous <HI>Brad|wardine,</HI> Arch-Bi&s;hop of <HI>Canterbury,</HI> had his Origine and Name; who, in that age wherein he lived, for his deep learning and variety of knowledge, was &s;tiled, <HI>The Pro|found Doctor.</HI> So excellently learned judi|cious Mr. <HI>Cambden</HI> expre&s;&s;eth it in his <HI>Bri|tannia.</HI> Touching the &s;aid City of the Shire, may it not be &s;aid of it, as <HI>Lot</HI> did of <HI>Zoar,</HI> Gen. 19.20. <HI>It is not a little one?</HI> Yet that little one is highly magnified abroad for its prowe&s;s; it exceeds many great ones in number of well-endowed <HI>Ho&s;pitals, Monu|ments</HI> of Bounty and Liberality. Do not de|generate from your <HI>Predece&s;&s;ors,</HI> who lived before you; be as vertuous and nobly minded as they were; honour the Lord with your Sub|&s;tance, as far as you are able, remembering he that &s;oweth liberally, &s;hall reap liberally, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 9.6. Fill the bellies of them, who are ready to &s;tarve; clothe &s;uch who &s;tand &s;hive|ring for want of rayment; apprenti&s;e ingeni|ous Children who want &s;upplies to be put to Trades; and be a&s;&s;ured, all your love will be requited and returned &s;evenfold into your own bo&s;omes. <HI>He that giveth to the poor,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Prov.</HI> 19.17.</NOTE> lendeth to the Lord;</HI> and if &s;o, be not weary
<PB N="308" REF="159">of giving, and well-doing; never was any one a lo&s;er by his God.</P>
<P>Now the Eternal, Invi&s;ible, onely wi&s;e GOD, who doth all things accoridng to the Coun&s;el of his own Will, give us Grace to be Charitable to our own Souls, by di&s;tri|buting out of our &s;tore to the want of o|thers; that neither the <HI>Moat,</HI> nor the <HI>Ru&s;t,</HI> nor the <HI>Canker</HI> of our <HI>Mammon,</HI> may endite us of unfruitful engro&s;&s;ing the Lords Talents to <HI>Self-intere&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>We be&s;eech him to enable us with con|tentfulne&s;s in all E&s;tates, with cheerfulne&s;s in tribulations, with confidence in his &s;aving help, though he &s;hould &s;lay us; that &s;o when we are to leave our earthly home, we may be taken into his Coele&s;tial Habitations, where with ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Mary,</HI> devout <HI>John,</HI> and with all Gods Elect people, we &s;hall wor&s;hip and enjoy his beatifying Pre&s;ence in eternal holine&s;s and happine&s;s: which God grant us through Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord. Amen.</P>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="159">
<HEAD>A TABLE of the Texts on which the precedent Sermons were preached; with the page where each begins.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM>Serm. Page</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 1 <HI>Luke</HI> 13.23, 24. Page 1</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 2 <HI>John</HI> 2.11. Page 18</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 3 <HI>Luke</HI> 7. part of <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 47. Page 34</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 4 <HI>Gal.</HI> 5.24. Page 54</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 5 <HI>Col.</HI> 1.20. Page 71</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 6 <HI>Luke</HI> 23.42. Page 87</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 7 <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 1. <HI>ult</HI> part <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 19. Page 105</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 8 <HI>Matth.</HI> 9.20, 21, 22. Page 125</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 9 <HI>Matth.</HI> 9.22. Page 141</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 10 <HI>Matth.</HI> 26. <HI>ult</HI> part <HI>ver&s;. ult.</HI> Page 157</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 11 <HI>Heb.</HI> 12. fir&s;t part <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 6. Page 177</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 12 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 7.1. Page 196</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 13 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 7. <HI>ult</HI> part <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 1. Page 216</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 14 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 5.6. Page 235</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 15 <HI>John</HI> 1. fir&s;t part <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 14. Page 251</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serm. 16 <HI>Matth.</HI> 12.36. Page 264</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Sermon preached to the <HI>Hereford-&s;hire|men</HI> on <HI>John</HI> 19.27. Page 284</ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
<PB REF="160">
<HEAD>Reader, Excu&s;e me in giving No|tice, that be&s;ides the&s;e there are Ser|mons of Dr. <HI>Gardiners,</HI> heretofore printed, on the following Texts.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>Gen.</HI> 45. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. St. <HI>John</HI> 1 <HI>chap. ver&s;.</HI> 14.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>Chap.</HI> 2. <HI>Matth. ver&s;.</HI> 2.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. <HI>Chap.</HI> 8. <HI>Rom. ver&s;.</HI> 11.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. 1 <HI>Ep.</HI> St. <HI>Paul</HI> to <HI>Tim. chap.</HI> 4. <HI>ver&s;. la&s;t.</HI> Latine.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. 1 <HI>Ep.</HI> to <HI>Tim. chap.</HI> 2. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 1, 2.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Cooperentur in bonum.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
<PB REF="160">
<HEAD>An Adverti&s;ement of Books worth buying, to be &s;old by <HI>Samuel Speed,</HI> at the &s;igne of the Printing-Pre&s;s in St. <HI>Paul's</HI> Church-yard.</HEAD>
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<P>Mr. <HI>Greenhill</HI> his Expo&s;ition on <HI>Ezekiel,</HI> with u&s;eful Ob&s;ervations thereupon: In 4.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Ain&s;worths</HI> Communion of Saints: In 8.</P>
<P>&mdash; Arrow again&s;t Idolatry: In 8.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Sadlers</HI> Enchiridion of the Art of Phy&s;ick: In 8.</P>
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<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
