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<NAME>Alexis Jakobson</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<P>&Egr;&Kgr;&THgr;&Egr;&Sgr;&Igr;&Sgr; &Pgr;&Igr;&Sgr;&Tgr;&Egr;&OHgr;&Sgr; OR AN EXPOSITION OF THE Apo&s;tles Creed, Delivered in &s;everal SERMONS</P>
<P>By <HI>William Nichol&s;on</HI> Arch-deacon of <HI>Brecon.</HI></P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ROM. 1.16.</HI></BIBL> I am not a&s;hamed of the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t; for it is the power of God unto &s;alvation, to every one that believeth; to the Jew fir&s;t, and al&s;o to the Greek.</Q>
<P><FIGURE>
<P>IN DEFENCE</P>
</FIGURE></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>VVilliam Leake</HI> at the Crown in <HI>Fleet-&s;treet,</HI> be|tween the two Temple-gates. 1661.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>To the Right Honourable RICHARD Earl of CARBERY: AND To the Vertuous Lady ALICE Counte&s;s of CARBERY: <HI>The Author wi&s;heth increa&s;e of Grace, con&s;tancy in the Truth, Perfection of Wi&s;dom, Health, and Happine&s;s.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Right Honourable,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_THAT pious and devout Prie&s;t old <HI>Zachary,</HI> who walked in all the Commandments of the Lord blamele&s;s, being to be the Father of the Voice <HI>John</HI> the <HI>Bapti&s;t,</HI> was for his infidelity for &s;even moneths at lea&s;t &s;truck dumb; neither was the benefit of his tongue re&s;tored, till he made &s;igns for writing Tables, and wrote in them, that Word of Grace, <HI>His Name &s;hall be called John,</HI> a man who was to be the voice of the Cryer, and fir&s;t to proclaim the glad tydings of the Go&s;pel. Some &s;uch thing hath been impo&s;ed upon me for more than the&s;e &s;even years, &s;o that rarely I have in Publick been permitted to &s;peak, and proclaim tho&s;e glad tydings, which were put into my mouth. In which my ca&s;e is yet &s;omewhat different from that old Prie&s;t: For his tongue was tied up for his in|fidelity, mine is re&s;trained for my fidelity; his becau&s;e he believed not, mine becau&s;e I do believe, and te&s;tifie to the world that tho&s;e things I do believe are true. A draught whereof your Honour &s;hall &s;ee fully delineated in the&s;e Sermons.</P>
<P>For to be &s;ilent alwayes, was pain and grief to me; and while I
<PB REF="3"> was thus mu&s;ing, I called for writing Tables, and &s;pake thus with my pen, no other thing than what I before &s;pake with my Tongue. And if pen and tongue offend too, then I am in a great &s;trait, and know not how to proclaim the Go&s;pel: To which Office yet I am called, and I tremble at the Apo&s;tles <HI>Vae, Wo is me If I preach not the Go&s;pel;</HI> and I &s;hake at that fearful commination in the Prophet: <HI>If the Watchman &s;ee the &s;word come, and not blow the Trumpet, and the people be not warned, if the &s;word come, and take any per&s;on from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity: But his blood will I require at the Watchmans hand. Nunquid ego &s;crip&s;i? nunquid delere po&s;&s;um?</HI> Did I write the&s;e words? can I blot them out? If any other man dare do it, I &s;ubmit and yield to be &s;ilent and &s;ilenced; otherwi&s;e I mu&s;t &s;peak. Speak what I may not in the Pulpit, yet in the Pre&s;s.</P>
<P><HI>To</HI> this I have been &s;ome years &s;ince earne&s;tly pre&s;&s;ed by learned friends, even when times were calm, and the Church at Unity. But I profe&s;s I was deaf to the motion, being con&s;cious to my own weak|ne&s;s and in&s;ufficiency, e&s;teeming my &s;elf unworthy to appear before the eyes of a learned and judicious Clergy.</P>
<P>But now at la&s;t I am provoked by the reproaches ca&s;t upon the &s;ilent and &s;ilenced Mini&s;ters by a &s;currilous and factious generation; who notwith&s;tanding the Ordinance again&s;t ejected Mini&s;ters, re|proach our &s;ilence, and object our fear: as if there were no way to contend for the truth once delivered to the Saints, and but once, and to proclaim to the Go&s;pel, but to &s;tep into the Pulpit, and preach, and to oppo&s;e and contradict the Edicts of tho&s;e in power. A grave Divine hath well ob&s;erved, that this their heat ari&s;eth not out of any affection they bear to the Glory of God, the advance|ment of the Go&s;pel, or the &s;alvation of the people: But becau&s;e they have declared their Malignity and Inconformity to the pre&s;ent Go|vernment, they are &s;orry they can have no more company. To &s;top the mouths of the&s;e, my Apology &s;hall be the &s;ame, which that great and Learned Dr. <HI>Reinolds</HI> made, when he was in our ca&s;e, <HI>E|vangelizo manu &amp; &s;criptione.</HI> And this I profe&s;s was one rea&s;on, which ha&s;tned to light this Edition.</P>
<P>But another there was, which in time preceded this. It is not un|known to your Lord&s;hip, that I have expo&s;ed to the Publick view an Expo&s;ition of the Church-Catechi&s;m, and compo&s;ed it with what Brevity and per&s;picuity I could. To dilate upon the My&s;te|ries of Religion, was not proper for &s;uch a Breviary, which yet to be more fully unfolded I held it nece&s;&s;ary. The&s;e Depths e&s;pecially lie couched in the Creed, and that they might be more fully known, I &s;et my &s;elf upon this work, contriving my Meditations into Ser|mons, becau&s;e men nowadayes are fallen into adoration: The&s;e now no le&s;s being made an Idol, then the old Liturgy.</P>
<P>At your Lord&s;hips being in the Court of <HI>Spain,</HI> I a&s;&s;ure my &s;elf you could not be unacquainted with the common proverb, <HI>Quien mal en h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rna, &s;aca los panes tuertos, i. e.</HI> He that &s;ets his bread ill into
<PB REF="3"> the Oven, &s;hall have wry-mouth'd loaves. <HI>A</HI> care then mu&s;t be taken in the moulding and making up the bread, and preparing it for the Oven, or el&s;e the batch will run all a-wry. This diligence I de|&s;ire may be taken about the bread of life, which while it hath been over-leaven'd and kneaded, and &s;et into the Oven by unskilful hands, the loaves have run all awry, and become &s;o deformed and pouch-mouthd as we &s;ee at this day. VVhat is already ill-mould|ed, hard-baked, and mi&s;haped, cannot be new-formed; but the way to hinder this di&s;tortion for the future, is to lay the foundation of re|ligion upon &s;uch grounds: as will bear up the &s;tructure. For then the Fabrick will neither &s;hoot too far on one &s;ide or the other, but will keep that even and comely proportion that it ought. Now a better way to compa&s;s this cannot be imagined, than by acquainting our &s;elves clearly and foundly with the Contents of our Chri&s;tian Faith. The&s;e are Principles of great amplitude; Every Article containing in the belly of it a Mine of My&s;teries, which in the ope|ning hath &s;woln into that bulk that here you behold.</P>
<P>Before I fell upon the main work it &s;elf, I held it Nece&s;&s;ary that my Auditory &s;hould be well inform'd and &s;ea&s;oned with the Nece&s;&s;i|ty of Religion, that good part which <HI>Mary Magdalen</HI> cho&s;e. To which, Infidelity and hardne&s;s of heart <HI>ex diametro</HI> are &s;uch apparent adver&s;aries, that I conceived it was requi&s;ite to remove the&s;e fir&s;t, and that which &s;trongly bewitcheth and draws to the&s;e, <HI>viz.</HI> too much carefulne&s;s and Anxiety of earthly things, before I propo&s;ed the Object of Belief. For he who with <HI>Martha</HI> is di&s;tracted or <HI>trou|bled about many things,</HI> or carries in his bo&s;om an heart of unbelief, or hath a &s;oul hardned with the deceitfulne&s;s of &s;in, will never with comfort and affection profe&s;s <HI>Credo in Deum, &amp;c.</HI> will never with <HI>Mary</HI> make choice of that <HI>good part which &s;hall never be taken away.</HI> My intent and labour hath been in the five fir&s;t Sermons to remove the&s;e impediments; And I hope it will no more offend any man, that I have premi&s;ed the&s;e Meditations, then it would a Traveller to find all rubs and &s;tumbling blocks taken out of his way, that he may arrive at his journies end with the greater ea&s;e.</P>
<P>In the tract it &s;elf, if your Lord&s;hip meet not with the &s;ame even|ne&s;s and ea&s;ine&s;s of expre&s;&s;ion, it mu&s;t be imputed to the Subject Matter, &s;ince all the contents are not of an equal clearne&s;s. Some Articles are of &s;uch a Bottomle&s;s Depth, that we mu&s;t be content to mea&s;ure them with &s;uch plummets as we may and is lawful.</P>
<Q>Ornari res ip&s;a negat, contenta doceri.</Q>
<P>Others are again accommodated to our under&s;tanding, and nearer unto rea&s;on; and the&s;e I have illu&s;trated with &s;uch helps as Arts could teach: VVhich (let mens fancies &s;ugge&s;t what they plea&s;e) I by long experience know, that they are very nece&s;&s;ary and in&s;trumental for a Divine, and I ble&s;s God that I was brought up in them.</P>
<PB REF="4">
<P>That I have devoted this my labour to your Honours &s;ervice, need be no wonder, &s;ince it is well known your Honour drew me in|to the&s;e parts, in which I have lived &s;o many, and breathed only the&s;e la&s;t years. VVhen therefore your Honour hath always had &s;o great an Intere&s;t in the Author, 'tis but ju&s;t you have al&s;o an Intere&s;t in his endeavours. The &s;eeds of the&s;e were fir&s;t &s;own in you and other hopeful fre&s;h earth at <HI>Croydon,</HI> which there was committed to my husbandry; they ripened in this air, and your Honour was often pre|&s;ent at the Harve&s;t of them, when you were plea&s;ed to bind up the handfuls with the be&s;t attention. And therefore I &s;hall the le&s;s de|&s;pair of your kind reception, when you may review, turn them into good bread, and dige&s;t them at your lea&s;ure.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t of the&s;e is more properly due to your Honourable La|dy, and to her piety I devote it, being one of the fir&s;t Sermons &s;he heard in the&s;e parts. And it &s;eems her Honour heard it to good pur|po&s;e, in whom the vertues of the two Si&s;ters <HI>Martha</HI> and <HI>Mary</HI> are &s;o happily combin'd.</P>
<P>My Lord, it is your happine&s;s to have a Lady brought by God to you extracted out of two mo&s;t Noble and Illu&s;trious families, to be what God created a woman, a help meet for you. Your loves are equal, your cares are equal, and that your pieties and devotions may be equal, I have pre&s;ented to your Honours the&s;e my conceptions, which if your Honours be plea&s;ed to accept with a candid a&s;pect, you &s;hall bind me to be</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><HI>Your Honours mo&s;t devoted</HI> William Nichol&s;on.</SIGNED>
<DATELINE><HI>Caermarth.</HI> <DATE>May 27. 1656.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>Titles of the SERMONS, their Or|der, Number and TEXTS.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM><LABEL><HI>SERMON</HI> 1, 2. REligion the be&s;t choice, Fol. 1, 15</LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Luke 10.41, 42.</BIBL>
<P>And Je&s;us an&s;wered and &s;aid unto her, <HI>Martha, Martha,</HI> thou art careful and troubled about many things.</P>
<P>But one thing is needful; And <HI>Mary</HI> hath cho&s;en that goo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> part which &s;hall not be taken away from her.</P></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>3, 4. Infidelity the ground of A|po&s;tacy, 26, 44</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Heb. 3.12.</BIBL> Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>5. Sea&s;onable Chri&s;tian Exhortation, A good remedy again&s;t Induration, 54</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Heb. 3.13.</BIBL> But exhort one another daily, while it is called to day, le&s;t any of you be hardned, through the deceitfulne&s;s of &s;in.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>6. That there is a God. 71</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Gen. 1.1.</BIBL> In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>7. That there is three Per&s;ons, 86</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>1 John 5.7.</BIBL> For there are three which bear Record in hea|ven, the Father, the Word, and the holy Gho&s;t, and the&s;e three are one.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>8. That God is our Father. 99</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Rom. 8.15.</BIBL> But ye have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry <HI>Abba</HI> Father.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>9. Of Gods Power, Omnipotency, Providence, fol. 111</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>P&s;al. 78.20.</BIBL> Behold he &s;mote the Rock of &s;tone, and the waters gu&s;hed out, and the &s;treams flowed; but can he give bread al&s;o, or provide fle&s;h for his People?</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>10. That God the Father Almighty is to be &s;erved, 124</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Jo&s;hua 24.15.</BIBL> <HI>But as for me, I &amp; my hou&s;e will &s;erve the Lord.</HI></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL><HI>Sermon</HI> 11. The Ardent de&s;ire of the Patri|archs, Prophets, and holy men of God, that Chri&s;t would appear in the fle&s;h, 141</LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Cant. 1.1.</BIBL> <HI>Let him ki&s;s me with the ki&s;&s;es of his mouth.</HI></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL><HI>Sermon</HI> 12, 13. The Per&s;on, Natures, and Offices of Chri&s;t, 153, 163</LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Mat. 16.15, 16.</BIBL> But whom &s;ay ye that I am?</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM>And Simon Peter an&s;wered and &s;aid, Thou art Chri&s;t the Son of the living God.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>14. The near Union betwixt Chri&s;t and his Church, 174</HI></LABEL>
<Q><PB REF="5"><BIBL>2 Cor. 11.2.</BIBL> For I have e&s;pou&s;ed you to one Husband, that I may pre&s;ent you a cha&s;te Virgin to Chri&s;t.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>15. Of the eternal Generation of the Son of God; and his Incarnation, fol. 186</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>I&s;a. 53.8.</BIBL> <HI>And who &s;hall declare his Generation?</HI></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL><HI>Sermon.</HI> 16. Of Chri&s;ts Circumci&s;ion, and the Impo&s;ition of his name Je&s;us, 200</LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Luke 2.21.</BIBL> And when eight dayes were accompli&s;hed for the circumci&s;ing of the child, his Name was called Je&s;us, which was &s;o named of the Angel before he was conceived in the womb.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>17. Of the Pa&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, 212</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Luke 24.46.</BIBL> <HI>Thus it behoved Chri&s;t to &s;uffer.</HI></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL><HI>Sermon</HI> 18. Of the cau&s;es of Chri&s;ts Pa&s;&s;ion, 238</LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>I&s;aiah 53.10.</BIBL> Yet it plea&s;ed the Lord to brui&s;e him: he hath put him to grief; when thou &s;halt make his &s;oul an offering for &s;in, Or when his &s;oul &s;hall make an offering for &s;in, he &s;hall &s;ee his &s;eed.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>19. Duties required of us in Relation to the Pa&s;&s;ion, 251</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>John 19.5.</BIBL> <HI>Behold the man.</HI></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL><HI>Sermon</HI> 20. Of Chri&s;ts De&s;cent into hell 261</LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Ephe&s;. 4.9, 10.</BIBL>
<P>Now that he a&s;cended, what is it, but that he de&s;cended fir&s;t into the lower parts of the earth?</P>
<P>He that de&s;cended, is the &s;ame al&s;o which a&s;cended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.</P></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>21. Of Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection, 275</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Rom. 4.25.</BIBL> Who was delivered for our offences, but rai&s;ed again for our Ju&s;tification.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>22. Of the ends of the Re&s;urrecti|on, and the influence it ought to have upon our lives, fol. 283</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Rom. 4.25.</BIBL> Who was delivered for our offences, but was rai&s;ed again for our Ju&s;tification.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>23. Of Chri&s;t A&s;cen&s;ion, 103</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Luke 24.50, 51.</BIBL>
<P>And he led them out as far as to <HI>Bethany,</HI> and he lift up his hands, and ble&s;sed them.</P>
<P>And it came to pa&s;s while he ble&s;&s;ed th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m, he departed from them, and was carried up to heaven.</P></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon. <HI>24. Of Chri&s;ts coming again to Judgement, 303</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Acts 10.42.</BIBL> And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to te&s;tifie, that it is he who was ordained of God to be Judge of Quick and Dead.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>25, 26, 27, 28, 29. The De&s;cent of the Holy Gho&s;t, 321, 333, 343, 353, 368</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Acts 2.1, 2, 3, 4.</BIBL>
<P>And when the day of Penteco&s;t was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.</P>
<P>And &s;uddenly there came a &s;ound from hea|ven, as of a ru&s;hing mighty wind, and it filled all the hou&s;e where they were &s;itting.</P>
<P>And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it &s;ate upon each of them.</P>
<P>And they were all fill'd with the holy Gho&s;t, and began to &s;peak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.</P></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>30. The Sealing of the Spirit, 380</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Cant. 8.6.</BIBL> Set me as a Seal upon thy heart, as a Seal up|on thy Arm.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>31, 32. The Stability and Excellency of the Church, 394, 418</HI></LABEL>
<Q><PB REF="5"><BIBL>I&s;aiah 2.1, 2, 3, 4, 5.</BIBL>
<P>The Word that <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> the &s;on of <HI>Amos</HI> &s;aw concerning <HI>Judah</HI> and <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P>And it &s;hall come to pa&s;&s;e in the la&s;t dayes, that the Mountain of the Lords Hou&s;e &s;hall be e&s;tabli&s;hed in the top of the Mountains, and &s;hall be exalted above the Hills, and all Nations &s;hall flow unto it.</P>
<P>And many people &s;hall go and &s;ay, Come ye, and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the Hou&s;e of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his wayes, and we will walk in his paths; for out of <HI>Zion,</HI> &s;hall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P>And he &s;hall judge among the Nations, and &s;hall rebuke many people; and they &s;hall beat their Swords into Plow&s;hares, and their Spears into pruning Hooks; Nation &s;hall not lift up a Sword again&s;t Nation, Neither &s;hall they learn War any more.</P>
<P>O Hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob,</HI> Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.</P></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>33. The Government of the Catho|lick Church, fol. 430</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>I&s;a. 2.4.</BIBL> And he &s;hall judge among the Nations, and &s;hall rebuke may people, and they &s;hall beat their Sword into Plow&s;hares, &amp;c.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>34. Of the peaceable temper of the Members of the Catholick Church, 440</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>I&s;a. 2.4, 5.</BIBL>
<P>And they &s;hall beat their Swords into Plow|&s;hares, and their Spears into Pruning hooks; Nation &s;hall not lift up a Sword again&s;t Na|tion, neither &s;hall they learn War any more.</P>
<P>O Hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob</HI> come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.</P></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>35. Of the Beauty of the Church Militant. 450</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>The Song of <HI>Solomon,</HI> cap. 1. ver. 5, 6.</BIBL>
<P>I am black, but comely (O ye daughters of <HI>Je|ru&s;alem</HI>) as the Tents of the <HI>Kedar,</HI> as the Curtains of Solomon.</P>
<P>Look not upon me, becau&s;e I am black, becau&s;e the &s;un hath looked upon me; My Mo|thers children were angry with me, &amp;c.</P></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>36. The Quarrel of the Sons of the Church, 463</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>The Song of <HI>Solomon,</HI> cap. 1. ver. 6.</BIBL> <HI>My Mothers children were angry with me.</HI></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL><HI>Sermon</HI> 37. A Vindication of the Epi&s;copal Power, 477</LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Heb. 13.17.</BIBL> Obey them that have the Rule over you, [or guide] you, and &s;ubmit [your &s;elves] for they wait for your &s;ouls, as they that mu&s;t give an account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief; for that is unprofitable for you.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>38. A Vindication of the Eccle&s;i|a&s;tical or Church-Cen&s;ure, 501</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>1 Cor. 4. <HI>ult.</HI> Or as the Greek Scholia&s;ts, the fir&s;t <HI>ver&s;e</HI> of the next <HI>Chapter.</HI></BIBL> What will ye? &s;hall I come unto you with a Rod, or in love, and in the &s;pirit of meekne&s;s?</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>39. The Churches affliction and la|mentation, 519</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>P&s;alm 137.1.</BIBL> By the waters of <HI>Babylon,</HI> we &s;ate down and wept, when we remembred thee O <HI>Zion.</HI></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>40, 41. The Communion of Saints, 533, 544.</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Ephe&s;. 4.16.</BIBL> From the whole body fitly joyn'd together, and compacted by that which every joynt &s;upplies, according to the effectual working in the mea|&s;ure of every part, maketh increa&s;e of the body, unto the edifying of it &s;elf in love.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>42. God is a&s;&s;erted to be light, 556</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>1 John 1.5, 6, 7, 8, 9.</BIBL>
<P>This is the me&s;&s;age we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkne&s;s at all.</P>
<P>If we &s;ay that we have fellow&s;hip with him, and walk in darkne&s;s, we lye, and do not the truth;</P>
<P>But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellow&s;hip one with another; And the blood of Je&s;us Christ his Son clean&s;eth us from all &s;in.</P>
<PB REF="6">
<P>If we &s;ay that we have no &s;in, we deceive our &s;elves, and the Truth is not in us.</P>
<P>If we confe&s;&s;e our &s;ins, he is faithful, and ju&s;t to forgive us our &s;ins and to clean&s;e us from all unrighteou&s;ne&s;s.</P></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>43. A Good Chri&s;tian walks in the light, fol. 567</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>1 John 1.6, 7.</BIBL>
<P>If we &s;ay that we have fellow&s;hip with him, and walk in darkne&s;s, we lye, and do not the truth.</P>
<P>If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellow&s;hip one with another; And the blood of Je&s;us Christ clean&s;eth us from all &s;in.</P></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>44. The denial of &s;in a deceit, 577</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>1 John 1.8, &amp; 10.</BIBL>
<P>If we &s;ay we have no &s;in, we deceive our &s;elves, and the truth is not in us. <HI>And</HI></P>
<P>If we &s;ay we have not &s;inned, we make him a Lyar, and his Word is not in us.</P></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>45. The publick and private Confe&s;|&s;ion of &s;in, 589</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>1 John 1.9.</BIBL> If we confe&s;s our &s;ins, he is faithul and ju&s;t to forgive us our &s;ins, and to clean&s;e us from all unrighteou&s;ne&s;s.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon. <HI>46. Gods Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins, 598</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>1 John 1.9.</BIBL> He is faithful and ju&s;t to forgive us our &s;ins, and to clean&s;e us from all unrighteou&s;ne&s;s.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>47. The Character or De&s;cription of a true Chri&s;tian, 609</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Phil. 3.20, 21.</BIBL>
<P>For our Conver&s;ation is in Heaven, from whence al&s;o we look for a Saviour the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t;</P>
<P>Who &s;hall change our vile body, that it may be fa&s;hioned like unto his glorious body, accord|ing to the working whereby he is able even to &s;ubdue all things unto him&s;elf.</P></Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>48. The hope and expectation of a true Chri&s;tian, 618</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Phil. 3.20.</BIBL> From whence al&s;o we look for a Saviour, the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon <HI>49. The Re&s;urrection of the Body, 625</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Phil. 3.21.</BIBL> Who &s;hall change our vile body, that it may be fa&s;hioned like unto his glorious body, accord|ing to the working whereby he is able even to &s;ubdue all things unto him&s;elf.</Q></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Sermon. <HI>50. The Life everla&s;ting, 638</HI></LABEL>
<Q><BIBL>Mat. 25.46.</BIBL> But the Righteous into life Eternal.</Q></ITEM>
</LIST>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 N="1" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="6">
<HEAD>RELIGION THE Be&s;t Choice.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>LUK. 10.41, 42.</HI></BIBL>
<P><BIBL><HI>41.</HI></BIBL> And Je&s;us an&s;wered and &s;aid unto her, Martha, Mar|tha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.</P>
<P><BIBL><HI>42.</HI></BIBL> But one thing is needful; And Mary hath cho&s;en that good part, which &s;hall not be taken away from her.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe que&s;tion is <HI>Solomons,</HI> and he perhaps might ask out of ex|perience; for few men, if any, had more;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 30.10.</NOTE> <HI>Who can finde a vertuous woman?</HI> His meaning is not but &s;uch an one may be found, but that there is difficulty in it; and when found, then her price is far above Rubies; two of which pearls yet we here meet with under one and the &s;ame roof, <HI>Martha</HI> and <HI>Mary.</HI></P>
<P>A pair of Si&s;ters both from the &s;ame womb, but not of the &s;ame temper; the one <GAP DESC="foreign">, a &s;tirring good Hu&s;wife, a quality very commendable in the eyes of men; the other <GAP DESC="foreign">, now a devout, Votary, a vertue more acceptable in the eye of God; the one neither &s;paring care nor co&s;t, <HI>ut pa&s;ce|ret Dominum,</HI> that &s;he might feed her Lord; the other laying hold of the oc|ca&s;ion <HI>ut pa&s;ceretur &agrave; Domino,</HI> that &s;he might be fed by her Lord; the one &s;etting her fingers to prepare and di&s;h out the meat; the other prepared, and lending her ear to receive and feed on Chri&s;ts words.</P>
<P>This <HI>Martha</HI> takes ill, and in &s;ome di&s;content complains, not of her Si&s;ter alone, but by the by on Chri&s;t that &s;uffered it; <HI>Ma&s;ter do&s;t thou not care?</HI> No
<PB N="2" REF="7"> care at all good Ma&s;ter, that my Si&s;ter is <HI>Otio&s;a,</HI> &s;its here, and takes her ea&s;e at thy feet, while I am <HI>Negotio&s;a,</HI> cumbred about much &s;erving? out of meer pitty bid her help me; &s;he may lend her ear to the Sermon at another time.</P>
<P>Our Saviour being willing to cool this &s;udden heat, and compo&s;e the dif|ference, as an Advocate, enters a plea or an apology for <HI>Mary:</HI> The &s;um whereof is, that
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. What &s;he did was needful.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That her choi&s;e was Good.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That what &s;he cho&s;e would remain.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>And how full this Plea is, will more evidently appear by the <GAP DESC="foreign">, or oppo&s;ition, by which the an&s;wer is illu&s;trated and amplified; the advantage &s;till re&s;ting on <HI>Maries</HI> &s;ide.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>Martha</HI> had many things to do; <HI>Mary</HI> but one.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Martha's</HI> many things brought upon her many cares, many troubles; <HI>Maries</HI> one re&s;t and ea&s;e: <HI>&s;he &s;ate at Chri&s;ts-feet;</HI> a po&s;ition of tho&s;e who are at re&s;t.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>Martha's</HI> many but occa&s;ional; <HI>Maries</HI> nece&s;&s;ary both for her, and her Si&s;ter. <HI>One thing is needful.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. <HI>Martha's</HI> many, in time and place, both convenient and u&s;eful; but <HI>Maries</HI> one, po&s;itively and ab&s;olutely good: <HI>A good part.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>5. <HI>Martha's</HI> many, tran&s;itory, that would peri&s;h and quickly fade; but <HI>Ma|ries</HI> of a la&s;ting nature, and eternal continuance. <HI>A part that &s;hall never be taken away from her.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>You perceive by this time the &s;um and occa&s;ion of the&s;e words. The Le&s;&s;ons to be learned hence are the&s;e.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>That things well done may be ill taken.</HI> Even <HI>Maries</HI> &s;itting at Chri&s;ts feet, and hearing his words is &s;ubject to a bad con&s;truction.</P>
<P>Secondly, <HI>That when this falls out, we be not di&s;couraged but leave it to Chri&s;t to make the an&s;wer.</HI> Excu&s;atur Maria, &s;edebat &s;ecura.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE>Thirdly, In that this an&s;wer of our Saviours &s;tands upon two feet, <HI>Laus &amp; vituperium;</HI> is partly a reprehen&s;ion, partly a commendation: It may teach us, <HI>That in Chri&s;tians po&s;&s;ible it is to meet what is worthy of prai&s;e, what of di&s;|prai&s;e.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. To be &s;ollicitous, to be troubled, to be troubled about many things, is a fault and de&s;erves a check.</P>
<P N="2">2. To make choice of that one, good, nece&s;&s;ary, enduring &s;ub&s;tance [Re|ligion I mean] is true wi&s;dom, and very commendable.</P>
<P>But before I enter upon the words, nece&s;&s;ary it is that we ca&s;t our eyes back upon <HI>Maries</HI> fact, or &s;uppo&s;ed fault; for &s;uch <HI>Martha</HI> conceived it to be; The complaint was
<Q>That &s;he &s;ate at Chri&s;ts feet, and heard his words, <BIBL><HI>Ver&s;. 39.</HI></BIBL></Q></P>
<P>The Fathers with one con&s;ent have pre&s;ented <HI>Mary</HI> to us as a type of a con|templative Chri&s;tian; in whom they require two e&s;pecial qualities, <HI>Humility,</HI> and an <HI>Even Soul;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 40.6.</NOTE> to both which yet there mu&s;t precede <HI>Auris perforata,</HI> the <HI>bored and open Ear,</HI> prepared to be attentive, what God &s;hall &s;ay concerning us. The&s;e three we find conjoyn'd in <HI>Mary,</HI> an <HI>humble Spirit,</HI> a <HI>quiet Mind,</HI> and an <HI>open Ear</HI> ready to learn her le&s;&s;on from Chri&s;ts mouth: Her Seat was an argument of her even compo&s;ed &s;pirit; for we &s;ay, Sit down and re&s;t: The place &s;he took, his feet, of her humility: The loan and bend of her ear, of her obedient attention, with which &s;he drunk in tho&s;e mellifluous words that dropt from his lips.</P>
<PB N="3" REF="7">
<P>And yet this devout Soul could not e&s;cape the envy, murmur, nor cen&s;ure of her Si&s;ter: A complaint we finde put up here again&s;t her.</P>
<P><HI>Quicquid e&s;t pulchrum &s;equitur Momus.</HI> 'Tis the fate of the choice&s;t beauties to be, though cha&s;te, &s;u&s;pected, and of the delicate&s;t blo&s;&s;oms to be nipt by an unkind fro&s;t: And this is the hap that befals the mo&s;t con&s;cientious of Gods Servants, to have their be&s;t deeds bla&s;ted with &s;ome unkinde breath; and their hone&s;t in|tentions traduced by &s;ome &s;ini&s;ter con&s;truction. Be the thing never &s;o good in it &s;elf, or done never to &s;o good an e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d, yet ill-will will fa&s;ten a ru&s;ty tooth in it, that it may rankle at lea&s;t into a &s;car or deformity.</P>
<P><HI>Charon</HI> in <HI>Lucian</HI> was conducted by <HI>Mercury</HI> to a place whence he might &s;ee all the world at once, and being asked by the god what he had ob&s;erved, he wittily an&s;wered, <HI>That the Cities of the world &s;eemed to him like &s;o many Bee-hives, and the People as &s;o many Bees, of which every one had his weapon, and that they did nothing but quarrel and &s;ting one another.</HI> Of which &s;ting, not any one feels the point and venome more, than the be&s;t of men: Grand offences &s;lide by unob&s;erved, while that which is commendable in heaven, is planet-&s;truck on earth.</P>
<P>Who could conceive that any man could be &s;o envious, as to pick a quar|rel with a brother for &s;erving his God? and yet this was the ground of the ha|tred that <HI>Cain</HI> bore to innocent <HI>Abel,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4.4, 5.</NOTE> That fire fell from heaven to con|&s;ume the Sacrifice; that thereby God te&s;tified his acceptance of it; that <HI>Cain</HI>'s offering was rejected was no fault of <HI>Abels,</HI> it lay not in his power either to endear his own, or to bring di&s;-e&s;teem to his brothers gift; and yet the flame of anger that aro&s;e from hence was &s;o great that, it could be quenched with no other &s;tream than that of blood, the blood of a brother, the blood of a pious, innocent brother.</P>
<P>The Courtiers at <HI>Babylon</HI> were angry with <HI>Daniel;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 6.4, 5.</NOTE> re&s;olved they were ei|ther to remove or de&s;troy him; this put them to pry into his actions; but &s;o faithful they found him in what he was intru&s;ted, that it was not po&s;&s;ible for ill-will it &s;elf to pick occa&s;ion or fault again&s;t him: Rather than fail of an ac|cu&s;ation, his piety and devotion &s;hall be brought again&s;t him; crime enough it &s;hall prove to ca&s;t him into the Lions den, that he makes his petition to God three times a day.</P>
<P>Dead flies cau&s;e the oyntment of the Apothecary to &s;end forth a &s;tinking &s;a|vour;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 10.1.</NOTE> and male-content apprehen&s;ions will fly-blow the &s;weete&s;t graces and performances. And of this, no one of Gods devoted had more lamentable experience than this poor woman: At three &s;everal times &s;he &s;hews three &s;e|veral vertues, and for the&s;e three &s;he is three times repined at.</P>
<P N="1">1. At <HI>Simons</HI> hou&s;e, &s;he te&s;tifies her repentance with a flood of &s;alt tears,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.39.</NOTE> and the Phari&s;ee did what he could to di&s;grace her.</P>
<P N="2">2.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 14.3, 4.</NOTE> Not long before our Saviours death &s;he &s;hews her love and bountiful heart, brings her box of Spicknard, breaks it and anoints Chri&s;t's head; yet &s;ome there were that di&s;dained, grudged at it, and mole&s;ted her; <HI>To what pur|po&s;e is this wa&s;te?</HI> &s;aith <HI>Judas.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. In this place &s;he manife&s;ts her devotion by &s;itting at Chri&s;ts feet, and hearing him preach; and <HI>Martha</HI> her own &s;i&s;ter brings a complaint again&s;t her. Poor &s;oul! nothing that &s;he can do can give content; nor her tears, not her love, nor her box, nor her thanks, nor her bounty, nor her devotion can plea&s;e all; &s;omething is &s;till awry in their conce<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t, or as it &s;hould not be.</P>
<P>A foul di&s;heartning this, and enough to cool any good and pious duty in her and in us too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6.8.</NOTE> were it not that our way lyes to heaven <HI>through honor and di&s;honor;</HI> were it not <HI>by good report and bad report</HI> we are nece&s;&s;itated to enter thither. In a word, were it not that we had an Advocate to &s;peak for us; the
<PB N="4" REF="8"> &s;elf-&s;ame that <HI>Mary</HI> had. Be it a Phari&s;ee, be it a <HI>Judas,</HI> be it a Si&s;ter that will repine and traduce what's well; yet we &s;erve a good Lord that will ju&s;tifie and an&s;wer for us. So he did for her here, and &s;o he will do for her and his here|after.</P>
<Q>Je&s;us an&s;wered and &s;aid.</Q>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. Ser. <HI>3.</HI> de A&s;&s;ump.</NOTE>Behold <HI>Maries</HI> prerogative: The &s;traitlaced Phari&s;ee grumbles at her; Chri&s;ts own Di&s;ciples mole&s;t her; now her own &s;i&s;ter <HI>Martha</HI> &s;teps up with a complaint again&s;t her.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plaut.</NOTE> <HI>&V;bi&abque; Maria tacet, &amp; pro ea loquitur Chri&s;tus; Mary is at all &s;ilent, but Chri&s;t &s;peaks for her:</HI> He was <HI>Invocatus,</HI> invited for a gue&s;t, but he becomes <HI>Advocatus,</HI> an Advocate to plead for her again&s;t her querulous Si&s;ter. The elder appeals to him as to a Judge, <HI>at ex judice fit advocatus; Of a Judge he becomes an Advocate,</HI> and enters a plea for the younger.</P>
<P>By this he give an e&s;&s;ay what he would be for all his at the great Tribunal; appear, intercede, and &s;peak for us, when we think not of it. <HI>Does any man &s;in,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.1.</NOTE> and yet with <HI>Mary</HI> grieve, and mourn, and weep for that &s;in? the comfort is, <HI>he hath an Advocate, Je&s;us Christ the righteous,</HI> one <HI>at the right hand of God to make interce&s;&s;ion:</HI> And when the ca&s;e is not &s;o good, that it for it &s;elf can be ju&s;tified, upon our repentance and reliance on him, he will blot out the imperfection and guilt with his own blood. This is the an&s;wer our Advo|cate will make for us in a tolerable ca&s;e. But when the action is good and ju|&s;tifiable, &s;uch as <HI>Maries</HI> was, never let the venome of an ill tongue di&s;courage any;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 10.19.</NOTE> in &s;uch a ca&s;e <HI>take no thought what to an&s;wer;</HI> for an Advocate we have in the pre&s;ence of that great Judge of quick and dead, and our cau&s;e can take no harm;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 14.14.</NOTE> he that here an&s;wered for <HI>Mary,</HI> will then an&s;wer for you, hold you your peace. And &s;o I come to the an&s;wer he made, and fir&s;t in relation to <HI>Martha,</HI> or as it was <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Reprehen&s;ion.</P>
<Q>Martha, Martha thou art troubled.</Q>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug. Ser. <HI>27.</HI> de verbis Dei.</NOTE><HI>Quid autem putamus nos reprehen&s;um mini&s;terium Marthae? Shall we think that our Lord found fault with Martha's &s;ervice?</HI> as if the care of her hou&s;e, or her diligence for his and his followers kinde entertainment had been ill taken by him?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 31.13, 15, 19, 20.</NOTE> Grant but that, and then let <HI>Solomons</HI> good Hu&s;wife let her wool and her flax alone; never let her &s;et her hands to the &s;pindle, nor her &s;ingers to the di&s;taff: Let her keep her bed, and give a portion to her maids who will. Neither let any care be taken what ho&s;pitality be kept, who wants bread, who clothes. <HI>Vacant opera mi&s;ericordiae, uni in&s;tetur &s;cientiae; Farewel then all works of mercy, and let men only hear Sermons.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 15.19.</NOTE>In this ca&s;e then, we mu&s;t have our eyes in our bead, and &s;eparate the precious from the vile; a difference there mu&s;t be betwixt that which was com|mendable in <HI>Martha,</HI> and what to be di&s;liked. It was not her Good-hou&s;e|wifery our Saviour di&s;likes, nor yet her kinde heart. Our Saviour &s;aith not <HI>Martha, Mar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ha,</HI> thou ha&s;t cho&s;en the evil part: But that which di&s;|plea&s;eth him was,</P>
<P N="1">1. That whereas there is One thing more needful than all the re&s;t, &s;he by &s;etting her minde on <HI>Multa, many things,</HI> was too cold in the pur&s;uit of that One.</P>
<P N="2">2. Then that whereas &s;he might have been contented with le&s;s, &s;he was over-careful, even to di&s;traction in the provi&s;ion of more. Her judgement in preferring earthly food before heavenly; and her care and di&s;traction about that was ill taken.</P>
<P>Two things we are to learn from hence.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, The one commanded, and to be &s;uppo&s;ed in the Text; <HI>viz.</HI> dili|gence
<PB N="5" REF="8"> in the works of our vocation; for this is well enough compatible with Religion; nay very often commanded and practi&s;ed in Scripture by the religi|ons. Gods command is, <HI>in the &s;weat of thy brows thou &s;halt eat thy bread;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19. Ephe&s;. 4.28.</NOTE> the Apo&s;tles command is, <HI>Let him labor and work with his hands.</HI> All the Saints of God in one way or other have been laborers; not one drone is to be found among them: Bodies we have, and the&s;e bodies call for food and raiment; when we put off the&s;e, we may put off our toil and care; till then <HI>nece&s;&s;aeria e&s;t Marthae</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Martha's part is nece&s;&s;ary,</HI> and mu&s;t be acted.</P>
<P>Secondly, But the other is forbidden, and here di&s;liked; it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, anxiety, perturbation, di&s;traction of the minde.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.25.</NOTE> This our Saviour pro|hibits before, <GAP DESC="foreign">; <HI>take no thought,</HI> divide not your minde about it, and here condemns in <HI>Martha,</HI> as one of a dubious and divided &s;oul;
<Q>Martha, Martha, <GAP DESC="foreign">, Thou may'&s;t be thoughtful, and art troubled.</Q></P>
<P><HI>Indicatur turbidae opera &s;ollicitudo;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Beza.</NOTE> the &s;ollicitude of a trouble&s;om work is here intimated; and I add, <HI>interdicitur,</HI> interdicted: It was the burden that God laid upon man, <HI>In the &s;weat of thy brows,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19.</NOTE> not in the pain and la|bor of thy heart, <HI>thou &s;halt eat thy bread.</HI> It is then an unwi&s;e part, I could &s;ay wor&s;e of it, to make the burden heavier than God hath made it.</P>
<P>This was <HI>Martha's</HI> fault; about &s;he went, and many things &s;he found to do; and was it any wonder then &s;he &s;hould be troubled? for <HI>tolle unum &amp; turba e&s;t;</HI> upon the remove from one thing there will be trouble; the &s;oul,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.29.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, will be in a thoughtful &s;u&s;pence, hanging as it were betwixt two, as not knowing to which to lean.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Just. Mart. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <HI>Pythagoras</HI> &s;et an infamous mark up|on Two, becau&s;e it divides and parts from One. For where unity is not pre&s;erved, there a multitude begins, and &s;till the further, the more di|vi&s;ion; and the more divi&s;ion, the more di&s;traction. The minde while fixed on one object, is but One; when it is pre&s;ented with many, multi|plies, as do the objects, and not re&s;olving on which to &s;ettle, cannot pro|perly be &s;aid to retain unity with it &s;elf. Hence it is that &s;uch a pendulous per&s;on becomes like <HI>Plinyes Amphysbaena,</HI> a worm with two heads,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plan. lib. <HI>8.</HI> c. <HI>23.</HI></NOTE> one at one end of the body, and the other at the other, one of which tugging this way, and the other that, both contend &s;o long till they rend the poor creature a&s;under.</P>
<P><HI>Maries</HI> choyce of One thing made her but One woman, whereas <HI>Martha</HI> was divided: our Saviour doubles her name, ingeminates <HI>Martha, Martha,</HI> as if &s;he had been no more One but two creatures.</P>
<P>It plea&s;eth the Father of gifts to be&s;tow upon us many things, many en|dowments again&s;t nakedne&s;s, and many ornaments for comline&s;s, many nouri&s;hments to fill us, and many dainties to de ight us, and the&s;e may be re|ceived, and u&s;ed, &s;o they be not longed for as the <HI>I&s;raelit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s</HI> Quails,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 16.12.</NOTE> nor pur&s;ued with anxiety and trouble.</P>
<P>A Grace doth well for the&s;e, but not a Prayer; and if nor a prayer, than &s;urely not vexation, not di&s;traction. When God opens his bowels, and gives with a liberal and plentiful hand, receive this plurality of good things and be thankful. The rich man in the Go&s;pel boa&s;ted of the one, but left out the other; he gloried of his <HI>plurima bona, many goods,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.19.</NOTE> but he forgot his thanks; that was one of his faults. The receit of many good things with thanks I am not again&s;t, but again&s;t the prayer clearly; for we may ask only that which we have a promi&s;e to receive; and Gods promi&s;e extends no farther than to pro|vide for every &s;ervant of his, food and raiment, that is, a competency of nece&s;&s;a|ries
<PB N="6" REF="9"> for this life.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.8.</NOTE> Chri&s;t's command al&s;o is our warrant to pray for thus much, and no more; <HI>Give us this day our daily bread;</HI> that is, day by day tho&s;e things which are nece&s;&s;ary for the remainder of our life.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.11.</NOTE> I hope by this time I &s;hall not need to &s;ay much to di&s;&s;wade the trouble; for certainly let it be confe&s;&s;ed the petition for the&s;e is unlawful, and then the di&s;quiet and anxiety can never be ju&s;tified; if men may not &s;ue to heaven for them, they never may with di&s;traction of &s;oul pur&s;ue them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.25.</NOTE> never vex their hearts, <GAP DESC="foreign">, about <HI>Multa.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. Apol. cap. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE>A good Chri&s;tian &s;hould remember, that he is but a pilgrim, a &s;tranger, a &s;ojourner on the earth; <HI>Genus, &s;edem, spem, patriam in coelis habere.</HI> Now travellers do not u&s;e to trouble them&s;elves with more than needs; In his journey the pa&s;&s;enger &s;ees many a fair field loaden with bol'd and heavy ears; many a green meadow mantled with fragrant flowers, many a &s;tately building towring up to heaven; but becau&s;e he is out of his Country, the&s;e he covets not, they retard him not, nor yet trouble him in his journey; on he pa&s;&s;es, and prai&s;es what he &s;aw, but he is not &s;ick of them. Such ought to be the af|fection we carry to every thing we meet with by the way; to prai&s;e the gift, and ble&s;s the giver, may be done with a &s;ingle heart; but upon the doubling we &s;hall create a trouble to our &s;elves, and bring an impediment to our journey, and to our end.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.25. Luke 12.29.</NOTE>'Twas not then without rea&s;on, that our Saviour gave us that &s;trict caveat, <GAP DESC="foreign">, take no thought, <GAP DESC="foreign">, live not in a careful &s;u&s;pen&s;e. For he knew what was in man, and that they were too prone to this piece of infidelity; whereas if they would but relie upon his word, they &s;hould have little cau&s;e of this heart-eating trouble.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.27. P&s;a. 147.9.</NOTE> Above us, the Fowls of the air may teach us this part of confidence, for he <HI>feeds the young ravens that call upon him;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.28.</NOTE> under our feet the Lillies may confirm us, for he <HI>clothes tho&s;e flowers, that nor labor nor &s;pin;</HI> he beautifully arrays the one, and in nece&s;&s;ity, upon their call,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 30.</NOTE> gives food to the other, <HI>and &s;hall he not much more cloth and feed you, O ye of little faith?</HI></P>
<P>What's to be done then? <HI>Quae illius &s;unt curate, ille curabit quae ve&s;tra;</HI> Have a care to do your duty to him, and never doubt but he will take care of you.<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 33.</NOTE> <HI>Seek the Kingdom of God and its righteou&s;ne&s;s, and all other things</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>&s;hall be ca&s;t in over and above to you.</HI> Diligent prayer, hone&s;t labour, ju&s;t ac|qui&s;ition, wary thrift, and merciful expence are the means that he allows, and requires; and his promi&s;e to feed and clothe us is annexed to the&s;e: This is the order of his Kingdom, this the way of his righteou&s;ne&s;s; as oft as we &s;tep out of this, we &s;hall be &s;ure to meet with trouble and vexation of &s;pirit.</P>
<P>Di&s;dain then to divide thy &s;oul, which in its own nature is indivi&s;ible, betwixt the dirty god of this world, and the God of heaven. Trouble not thy &s;elf in the pur&s;uit of that a moth can eat, a worm corrupt, a theif can &s;teal: <HI>Ne multus &s;is,</HI> pine not after that which is of a fickle temper, every day watching an opportunity to &s;teal away; like to a bird upon the wing, it will be gone, or like a &s;tream po&s;ting by a meadow &s;ide, <HI>labitu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &amp; labetur,</HI> which no man can &s;tay.</P>
<P>And now, O man! I &s;hall &s;hew thee what is good; It is <HI>Maries</HI> part, that Good part, that one thing nece&s;&s;ary; that which will never fail nor vani&s;h.</P>
<P>Many things will di&s;tract, fix on this One; many things that trouble may be well &s;pared; this may not, <HI>it is needful.</HI> Goods you are plea&s;ed to call tho&s;e many; this whether you call it &s;o or not, yet it is a <HI>Good part.</HI> This good la&s;tly you &s;hall be &s;ure to finde in it, that when the&s;e <HI>Multa</HI> fail, this One good thing will accompany you into everla&s;ting habitations.</P>
<Q><PB N="7" REF="9">
<P><HI>Ver&s;. 42.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">; <HI>Of one thing there is need.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Vulg. Lat.</HI> Unum e&s;t nece&s;&s;arium.</P>
<P><HI>Beza.</HI> Atqui uno opus e&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>Tremel.</HI> &V;num e&s;t autem quod requiritur.</P>
<P><HI>Engl. Tr.</HI> But one thing is needful.</P></Q>
<P>Hitherto my labor hath been to remove all impediments, as it were the rubbi&s;h: Now I begin to build. And in the foundation I &s;hall lay that one thing that cannot be &s;pared, becau&s;e it is Nece&s;&s;ary, requi&s;ite, needful, and of &s;pecial u&s;e; without it the building can never &s;tand.</P>
<P>It was a wi&s;e que&s;tion the Lawyer propo&s;ed to our Saviour above, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 25. <HI>What &s;hall I do to inherit e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ernal life?</HI> that ought to be our aim; for every one mu&s;t needs love him&s;elf &s;o well, that he would fain live for ever, and live hap|pily for ever. To attain this One thing, it is needful, that he &s;erve God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Beza in loc.</NOTE> And therefore as <HI>Beza</HI> notes on the&s;e words, <HI>raeclara &s;ententia;</HI> a worthy Apothegm, by which we are warned that we de&s;tine and direct all the duties and parts of our life to that end, that we &s;erve God, this being the whole man.</P>
<P>For the&s;e nece&s;&s;arily follow and infer each oth<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r; God, Man, Religion; a Father, a Son, Reverence and honor; a Lord, a Servant, and Service; a Giver, a Receiver, and Thankfulne&s;s; a Creditor, a Debtor, and an obligation: Whence it may be well collected, that the fir&s;t Divines were expert Logicians; For when as a man mounts to God, as it were with two wings, by his Under|&s;tanding and his Will; &s;o &s;oon as the Under&s;tanding a&s;&s;ents and concludes that there is a God, that he is a Father, a Lord, a great Benefactor, a Cre|ditor; the Will &s;trait infers, that he is to be wor&s;hipped, reverenced, &s;erved, ob&s;erved, prai&s;ed, thanked, and that we are obliged and bound to all this.</P>
<P>But all this being done, becau&s;e defective and imperfect, yet is not able to conjoyn and reconcile man unto God, without wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch happine&s;s and &s;alvation cannot be obtained: A way then mu&s;t be found out by which God mu&s;t be &s;atisfied as well as &s;erved; pacified as well as wor&s;hipped. 'Tis but in va n to look for this in Sacrifices, Purgations, Ceremonies or Prayers: For what doth the effu&s;ion of the blood of a bea&s;t offered in &s;acrifice intimate, but that thou had&s;t de&s;erved to die, and be &s;lain, as was that bea&s;t? what tho&s;e pur|gations, but that thou art polluted, and neede&s;t a laver? what tho&s;e cere|monies, but God is di&s;plea&s;ed, and mu&s;t be propitiated? what tho&s;e confe&s;&s;i|ons, but than thou art a &s;inner, and de&s;erv'&s;t the &s;entence of death? That a|lone which can do this, be able to &s;atisfie and pacifie, mu&s;t be &s;ome greater price, &s;ome higher payment; that ran&s;om alone, which is &s;et forth to us in the Go&s;pel; of which the prerogative is, <HI>That it is the power of God to Salvation, to every one that believes, to the J w fir&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.16.</NOTE> <HI>and al&s;o to the Greek.</HI></P>
<P>This is that needful principle that mu&s;t be known, and known it ca not be till it be taught; and being taught, it mu&s;t be heard; and when heard, belie|ved and obeyed, in all which the power of Religion doth con&s;i&s;t. For in a word, that is true Religion, and alone de&s;erves the name of Religion, which hath God for the &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ope, his Word for the rule of Divine Wor|&s;hip, and &s;hews a way and a means whereby God being pacified, &s;atisfied and reconciled to &s;inful man, may be&s;tow upon him &s;alvation, and eternal hap|pine&s;s.</P>
<P>That then which <HI>Mary</HI> &s;ate at Chri&s;ts feet to learn, was Religion; to which that I may win your affection, I will &s;hew you
<LIST>
<PB N="8" REF="10">
<ITEM>1. That it is but <HI>One.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That it is <HI>nece&s;&s;ary.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That it is no &s;eeming, but a po&s;itive Good; <HI>A good part.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. That it is not as <HI>Martha's multa,</HI> many things are, a tran&s;itory uten&s;ile, but la&s;ting, everla&s;ting; <HI>It never &s;hall be taken away.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>I dare &s;ay I &s;hall not need to u&s;e any other arguments to quicken your election; hoping that all other things being undervalued, you will (if you have cho&s;e ill already) with <HI>Mary</HI> make a new choice, and re&s;olve upon the&s;e grounds never to chu&s;e again.</P>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Religion is but One.</HEAD>
<P>That which fir&s;t commends Chri&s;tian Religion is the Unity; for &s;o indeed it is in it &s;elf but One; it was taught by One and the &s;ame God; it propo&s;es One and the &s;ame Chri&s;t; It is in&s;pired by One and the &s;ame Spirit; It unites all the parts under One and the &s;ame Head; it conveys all Promi&s;es under One and the &s;ame Seals; the Duties that it enjoyns are the &s;elf &s;ame; the Articles agreed upon for belief the very &s;ame; the Petitions all men are to pre&s;ent mu&s;t be framed by One and the &s;ame pattern; the hope of our calling One and the &s;ame; And is it then po&s;&s;ible that the Religion &s;hould be other than One, that hath &s;o many bands of Unity?</P>
<P>The divi&s;ions that are about it, proceed from the hot brains of the Religi|ous, or Irreligious rather, while every one will bring his &s;ingle &s;tone, and grow cholerick, if it be not put into the foundation, which God never intended &s;hould come there. But let men hug their own conceits as they plea&s;e, it mu&s;t be granted, that for the &s;ub&s;tance of Religion, there is but <HI>una, &s;ola, immobilis, irreformabilis regula,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull.</NOTE> to which no man may add, from which no man may di|mini&s;h; and in re&s;pect of the&s;e Catholique and nece&s;&s;ary verities Chri&s;tian Re|ligion is but One.</P>
<P>Tell me no more of variety of Liturgies, Rites, Ceremonies, &s;o they be few, decent, orderly, and tend to edification; I can admit them in different Churches, and yet no more confe&s;s the foundation to be changed, then I &s;hould acknowledge that to be a new Fabrick in who&s;e &s;everal rooms I &s;hould behold variety of ornaments or hangings.</P>
<P>Never in&s;tance in infinite Conclu&s;ions, &s;ome more plainly, &s;ome more ob&s;curely hid in the bo&s;om, and rationally deduced from the fir&s;t principles; for how true, or like truth &s;oever they are, yet they come in the cata|logue of Super&s;tructures, not Foundations. He that knows them not may be &s;aved without them. Of which nature are the mo&s;t controver&s;ies, which &s;ub|tile heads di&s;pute with &s;o much heat, and little charity. Could men be brought to be of a meek and quiet &s;pirit, the di&s;qui&s;itions of the&s;e might be of great u&s;e. But while Zealots pro&s;ecute their own intere&s;ts with &s;o much eagerne&s;s, that they cry out as tho&s;e Souldiers in <HI>Polybius,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, to the fire with him, to hell with him that will not a&s;&s;ent to their deductions, the unity is as much as lies in them rent a&s;under.</P>
<P>He mi&s;takes that imputes this to the Religion we profe&s;s; it mu&s;t be charged upon the education, the pride, the &s;elf-love, or &s;elf-ends of the pro|fe&s;&s;ors.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tacit. hist.</NOTE> I excu&s;e it not, but acknowledge, that <HI>vitia erunt, donec homines,</HI> that men are men, over-pa&s;&s;ionate, and in love with their own fancies more than truth: This is evident in other Arts, and it will be &s;o among Divines. All other Arti&s;ts have their civil Wars; Logicians their debates, Phy&s;itians their controver&s;ies, Lawyers their Moot-ca&s;es; and can it be imagined there &s;hould be all peace among Divines, in who&s;e profe&s;&s;ions there is as many que&s;tions as my&s;teries, and tho&s;e not few?</P>
<PB N="9" REF="10">
<P>Among tho&s;e divided <HI>Scioli&s;ts</HI> no man will &s;ay, that their Art or Profe&s;|&s;ion is not One (though they contend) neither is it rational they &s;hould &s;o &s;ay, &s;ince <HI>&V;nitas &s;cientiae dependet ab unitate objecti &amp; finis.</HI> The unity of any &s;cience is denominated from the unity of the object and end; &s;o long then as the Profe&s;&s;ours admit of the &s;ame <HI>indubitate Maxims,</HI> and aim at the &s;ame end, be the contentions what they will, the &s;cience is ac|knowledg'd for one and the &s;ame.</P>
<P>Let the &s;ame indulgence be granted to Divinity, and the contentions in it, and about it, will never pre&s;ent it with a double face;
<Q><L>&mdash;Facies non omnibus una,</L>
<L>Nec diver&s;a tamen, qualem decet e&s;se &s;ororum.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ovid. Met. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE></L></Q> Confe&s;&s;'d it mu&s;t be, that in the &s;econdary and ob&s;cure points, there are too many di&s;&s;en&s;ions, and too bitter among learned men; who yet becau&s;e they maintaine one and the &s;ame rule of Faith once given to the Saints,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude 2. 2 Tim. 1.13. Heb 6.1.</NOTE> contend for that Form of whole&s;ome words, and the Principles of the O|racles of God, and all aime the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t &s;ame end, the inve&s;tigation of Truth: Even in this di&s;traction the Religion which they profe&s;s, may be &s;aid to be the &s;ame.</P>
<P>What hath been &s;aid, may &s;erve to &s;everal good purpo&s;es.</P>
<P N="1">1. To remove that offence which mo&s;t take at the di&s;&s;entions in Reli|gion, and by the Contenders Quarrels take occa&s;ion to di&s;-e&s;teem the Truth. <HI>Vellem fieri Chri&s;tianus, &s;ed ne&s;cio cui parti adhaream,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Chry&s;. in cap.</HI> 1. ad Gal.</NOTE> a Chri&s;tian I would faine be, but I cannot tell to what part to adhere, men are divided into &s;o many Factions. It falls not &s;o out in other Profe&s;&s;ions; why then in this? The Lawyers contend, and yet the Law is honour'd; Phy&s;icians differ in opinion, and yet Phy&s;ique is in reque&s;t; Though then Divines are at odds, yet let not Religion fare the wor&s;e. Honour the mother, how&s;oever the chil|dren be ungracious, and quarrel&s;ome.</P>
<P N="2">2. And in the mid&s;t of the&s;e di&s;putes adhere to tho&s;e Truths which all Chri&s;tians hold. For there is one Old &s;afe way, whereof all Chri&s;tians are agreed in this world of Cavils. A way that lies faire enough, and is plaine enough to heaven; and there needed nor &s;o much complaint, were not men more de&s;irous to walk in Mazes of their own, than in this one Way.</P>
<P N="3">3. What doubts may happen about tho&s;e things which lie by the way &s;ide; wi&s;dome it were that every one would not be too bu&s;ie about them; or at lea&s;t &s;o bu&s;ie as to make a rent in the Church for them. For Schi&s;me and &s;eparation may ca&s;t away that &s;oul, whom &s;imple ignorance and errour &s;hall not.</P>
<P>Two Doctors of Phy&s;ique &s;ate at a Table together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dallingt. A|phor.</NOTE> and a third man at the &s;ame board, who wanted their learning, but had a better &s;tomach than either to his meat. The one of the&s;e was a <HI>Gallenist,</HI> the other a <HI>Para|cel&s;ian,</HI> of different opinions both; and as it falls out, in the mid&s;t of din|ner they fall to Argument. The <HI>Galleni&s;t</HI> &s;peaks highly and eagerly for his &s;imples, the <HI>Paracel&s;ian</HI> for his Spirits, and oppo&s;ed what&s;oever was &s;aid, more out of &s;pleen, and a humour of contention, than that the truth was on his &s;ide. At la&s;t from arguing, the&s;e two &s;ticklers fall to rayling, to fretting, to open defiance. Choler &s;o increa&s;ed in the one, and melancholy in the other, and the blood &s;o inflamed in both, that the dige&s;tion being hindered, they were both taken away de&s;perately &s;ick. But the poor hone&s;t <HI>Ignaro,</HI> that &s;ate by all this while, who under&s;tood not the cau&s;e, though he heard the Quarrel, fell heartily to his meat, while they fell by the ears;
<PB N="10" REF="11"> at la&s;t he aro&s;e, gave God thanks, dige&s;ted it well, and in the &s;trength of that meat, went on to his hone&s;t labour, and at evening receiv'd his wa|ges. Thus it fares with the Rabbins in Divinity, and the &s;imple hone&s;t Chri&s;tian. They may di&s;puts them&s;elves &s;ick, and &s;o lo&s;e the benefit of the &s;weet and <HI>&s;incere milk of the Word;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.2.</NOTE> while the meek and quiet &s;oul, that knows as much as needs only, may &s;it and feed, and ble&s;s God for his whole|&s;ome meat, and by it be nouri&s;hed up to eternal life.</P>
<P N="4">4. La&s;tly, It were to be wi&s;hed, that men were not &s;o, not to &s;et up Al|tar again&s;t Altar, Faith again&s;t Faith, one kinde of &s;ervice again&s;t another. Charity may compound, at lea&s;t tolerate unnece&s;&s;ary differences. It &s;avors not of a Go&s;pel-&s;pirit, to fa&s;ten the name of Anti-Chri&s;tian and Super&s;titi|on on that they like not, and pre&s;ently to un&s;aint that man who is not of their judgement. Unity well be&s;eems tho&s;e who &s;erve the Prince of Peace.</P>
<P>Hearty reverence, and devout adoration are for holy My&s;teries; much wrangling and prating never was, nor will be the Character of a devout &s;oul. It is not the cunning pate, but the hone&s;t heart that God accepts. God had not &s;uch a Servant in the earth as <HI>Job;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vulg. Tran&s;l.</HI> Job 1.1.</NOTE> and he was <HI>Vir &s;implex, a plaine man;</HI> one <HI>&s;ine plicis,</HI> without any folds, any windings, or doublings, or Sophi&s;ms. All Arts have their <HI>Arcana,</HI> &s;ecrets; Religion its <HI>My&s;teria,</HI> my&s;teries; and it is not the over-curious &s;earch of the&s;e will bring you to heaven. In a word, I will &s;hew you a plaine way, a brief way, and a &s;afe way. The belief of what is delivered in the Apo&s;tles Creed: The practice of what God requires in the Decalogue: and the commencing your Petiti|ons and prayers in and after that forme that Chri&s;t hath caught, is the ea&s;ie and ready path that leads to heaven.</P>
<P>Let then your &s;tudy be to know this Rule, let your endeavour be to walk aright in this path, keep this one way, <HI>minde this &s;ame thing,</HI> and you &s;hall be happy. And if any man, in the Conclu&s;ions deduced from the&s;e, be o|therwi&s;e minded,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.16.</NOTE> let him propo&s;e his Scruples, <HI>&s;edat&egrave;,</HI> in a milde, and an humble way, and never trouble the Church. Witty men may pretend the pur&s;uit of Truth &s;o long as they plea&s;e; but I &s;hall never believe any man to do this &s;incerely, who is not of a meek and a quiet &s;pirit; for <HI>ho&s;tis est veritatis, qui&s;quis non e&s;t amicus unitatis,</HI> he is an enemy to Truth, who is not a friend of unity.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t in the <HI>Canticles,</HI> profe&s;&s;eth that he received a wound from his Spou&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 4.9.</NOTE> but it was from a &s;ingle and united eye, from a twi&s;ted or united lock, or wreath. Thou ha&s;t ravi&s;hed, or taken away, <HI>or wounded my heart, my Si&s;ter, my Spou&s;e; thou ha&s;t ravi&s;hed my heart with one of thy eyes, with one chaine of thy neck.</HI> The&s;e eyes, the&s;e chaines, the&s;e wreaths, are the operations of a Chri&s;tian &s;oul, and they wound not, they ravi&s;h not till they be united, till they knit together in Charity, which is the Bond of perfection.</P>
<P>Faith indeed wounds and ravi&s;heth the heart of Chri&s;t, but it is that faith that works by love. Hope wounds al&s;o, but it mu&s;t go hand in hand with Charity. Devotion and prayer draws his eye, but never till it be united with goodwill. Obedience <HI>rapit ad &s;e,</HI> take away his bowels and heart, but it mu&s;t be then the obedience of Love.</P>
<P>Love it is that does all, makes all one; two eyes, one eye; many &s;in|gle haires, one lock; which if you remove, nor Faith, nor Knowledge, nor, Hope, nor Devotion, nor Obedience, nor any other eminent Ver|tue, will ever ravi&s;h the heart of your heavenly Spou&s;e.</P>
<P>Charity it is that will unite you to God, and God to you. Charity it is that of many will make one; Make men to be of one mind in an hou&s;e,
<PB N="11" REF="11"> of one minde in a Church, cau&s;e men to &s;erve God with <HI>one heart,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 68.6. Acts 4.32. Jer. 32.39.</NOTE> <HI>and one &s;oul;</HI> which is the property of that Religion which I have hitherto &s;hew'd you to be but One.</P>
<P>Next I am to prove, that this <HI>one thing</HI> is <HI>Nece&s;&s;ary;</HI> for that's the At|tribute of our Saviours Propo&s;ition.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> One thing is Needful: or as the Vulgar, Nece&s;&s;ary; as <HI>Tremel.</HI> Requi&s;ite.</HEAD>
<P>To tell &s;ome that <HI>Maries</HI> part was that good part; or others, that it is a la&s;ting part, &s;uch as will hold out, when other things will part with us, will prove but weak Arguments. For &s;ome are &s;o wicked, that they regard not what is good; and others &s;o worldly, that they are all for the pre&s;ent. If it appeare then that this is requi&s;ite, needful, nece&s;&s;ary; that without it, <HI>nec e&s;se pote&s;t,</HI> that without it a man cannot be what he &s;hould be, what he de&s;ires to be, <HI>viz.</HI> Happy; then I dare &s;ay there cannot be a more powerful rea&s;on to per&s;wade.</P>
<P>Now a thing is &s;a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d to be nece&s;&s;ary two wayes. 1. <HI>Ad e&s;&s;e rei.</HI> 2. <HI>Ad operari.</HI> Either to the being and con&s;titution of a thing, or el&s;e to its actions and operations.</P>
<P N="1">1. An e&s;&s;ence or being every mam hath, <HI>e&s;se naturae,</HI> for he is a rati|onal creature; and I &s;ay not that Religion is nece&s;&s;ary to make him a man; for how many men are there, who are not, nor will be per&s;waded to be Re|ligious? who yet do participate of rea&s;on, and have a humane being. A man then may be a man without it.</P>
<P N="2">2. But there is another <HI>E&s;se,</HI> or being, an <HI>e&s;se gratiae,</HI> a being that pro|ceedeth from grace, that rai&s;eth a man to a higher pitch, re&s;tores him to that Image in which he was at fir&s;t <HI>created;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.10. 1 Pet. 1.4.</NOTE> makes him <HI>partaker of the di|vine Nature,</HI> walking here below as a kinde of mortal God. Now to give a man &s;uch an E&s;&s;ence, Religion is nece&s;&s;ary; yea, and this part of Religi|on, which <HI>Mary</HI> here cho&s;e and practi&s;ed.</P>
<P>Every thing before it have a being, mu&s;t have a Procreant cau&s;e. In this, the Seed and Original of our being <HI>is the Word;</HI> to heare which,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.26. 1 Cor. 4.15. 1 Cor. 3.2. Heb. 5.14.</NOTE> <HI>Mary</HI> &s;ate at Chri&s;ts feet, who&s;e place now the Pa&s;tour &s;upplies; <HI>I have begotten you through the Gospel.</HI> And after any thing is brought forth, it mu&s;t be brought up to, and have nouri&s;hment; the Word of God is this al&s;o; <HI>Milk to the babe, meat to the &s;trong men.</HI> Farther yet, both children and men have need of <HI>Doctrine, Reproof, Correction, In&s;truction.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.16, 17</NOTE> The mo&s;t graci|ous &s;oul, at one time or other, will &s;tand in need of one or more of the&s;e; and to this, this one thing is requi&s;ite, for it makes the man of God perfect. Denied then it cannot be, but the Principles of Religion are ne|ce&s;&s;ary to make and con&s;titute a man of grace, and of God.</P>
<P N="2">2. I come in the next place to his actions and operations, the&s;e mu&s;t be con&s;onant to his being. For &s;uch as any thing is in its being, &s;uch al&s;o it will &s;hew it &s;elf by working; The Sun will &s;hew it &s;elf to be the Foun|tain of light, by illuminating, and a Tree to be of this or that kinde by the fruit. Actions are required of the Religious, for they mu&s;t be doers;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.22. John 15.2.</NOTE> fruits, for to that end they were emplanted in the Vine; now no action can be compleat, no fruit good for the object, for the end, for the cau&s;e, for all requi&s;ite conditions, except Religion conducts it; and therefore the Rules of Religion are nece&s;&s;ary <HI>ad operari</HI> al&s;o.</P>
<P>By <HI>Adams</HI> fall, this rule of our Actions, was very much ob&s;cured in the &s;oul and faculties. Men did what they could to null it. It was again&s;t their lu&s;ts, and therefore they threw it a&s;ide. Then came al&s;o a &s;uper-&s;eminator,
<PB N="12" REF="12"> that <HI>enemy,</HI> that &s;owed his Tares in the heart; The ranke&s;t of which was, <HI>Bonum e&s;t quod prode&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13.28.</NOTE> That alone is good, which is profitable; and what is profitable, is good.</P>
<P>Therefore God was plea&s;ed to write it fair again; not in two Tables of &s;tone,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 3.3. Jer. 32.40.</NOTE> as on Mount <HI>Sinai,</HI> but in the fle&s;hly Tables of <HI>the heart, that they depart not from him.</HI> This will direct us in all goodne&s;s, to all we are to do, to God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 2.12.</NOTE> to man, to our &s;elves. 1. To God, that we live piou&s;ly, adore him reverently, con&s;tantly, &s;incerely. 2. To man, that we carry our &s;elves ju&s;tly, charitably. <HI>Fac, quod potes,</HI> is the coun&s;el of <HI>Machiavel. Fac, quod vis pati,</HI> Do as thou would&s;t be done to, is the rule of Truth. 3. To our &s;elves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.32. Luke 12.19.</NOTE> &s;oberly. Our &s;en&s;ual part will ca&s;t no Bridle upon our lu&s;t. Ask na|ture, and it whi&s;pers, <HI>Ede, bibe, lude, Soul, take thy ea&s;e, eat, drinks, and be merry.</HI> Take God for thy Coun&s;ellour, and he will &s;et a re&s;traint upon all exce&s;s. Rea&s;on we have common with Angels, &s;en&s;e with Bea&s;ts; Reli|gion will teach us, <HI>ut quod deterius &s;ubjiciatur meliori,</HI> The wor&s;t part be &s;ubject to the better; that rea&s;on be &s;ubject to God, &s;en&s;e to rea&s;on.</P>
<P>If then we intend that our actions adorne our profe&s;&s;ion, nece&s;&s;ary it is that we be skilful in this one Rule, &s;ince this mu&s;t direct the under&s;tanding to know every duty perfectly; the judgement to di&s;cern betwixt good and evil exactly; the memory to retain what is taught firmly; the will to choo&s;e the better, and leave the wor&s;t freely; and the affections to love what God loves, and hate what he hates ardently.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 12.12.</NOTE><HI>It is to no end</HI> (&s;aith the Wi&s;e man) <HI>to make many books,</HI> and 'tis to no end <HI>to u&s;e many words;</HI> will you hear the Conclu&s;ion of the whole mat|ter, that nece&s;&s;ary point we mu&s;t all drive at? To feare God, and keep his Commandments, is the whole man. His whole being of grace con&s;i&s;ts in this, and his operations that nece&s;&s;arily follow this his being demon&s;trate this.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 11.12.</NOTE>Vain and empty man may imagine, <HI>that he is born as free as a wild A&s;|&s;es Colt; i. e.</HI> bound to no Ma&s;ter, &s;ubject to no Yoke, but like a Wilde Colt the Foale of an A&s;&s;e in the de&s;ert, that was never brought to hand. But let &s;uch a man or bea&s;t rather con&s;ult with the Book of God, and he &s;hall finde this Univer&s;al Affirmative,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 16.4.</NOTE> <HI>that our Lord hath made all things for him&s;elf;</HI> and if all, then man likewi&s;e. Nece&s;&s;ity then is laid upon man to &s;erve his Maker; it is <HI>nece&s;&s;arium,</HI> it is <HI>&V;num Nece&s;sarium,</HI> nece&s;&s;ary it is, that one nece&s;&s;ary Point; from which will follow this Con|clu&s;ion.</P>
<P>That &s;ince this is <GAP DESC="foreign"> a nece&s;&s;ary work; what tends not to this, is <GAP DESC="foreign"> a matter by the by in compari&s;on of this. Our maine bu&s;ine&s;s that we came for into the world, is to &s;erve our Maker, and to &s;ave a &s;oul; what conduceth to this end, would be our mark to &s;hoot at, our &s;cope to aim at: To all other things, as Riches, Poverty, Health, Sickne&s;s, Honour, Di&s;|honour, &s;uch an indifferent affection would be borne, that we e&s;teem not our &s;elves happy with them, nor yet unhappy without them; that with a thankful heart we receive them if be&s;towed by God; and if it be his plea|&s;ure to detaine or take them from us, we murmure, we repine not, becau&s;e not any of the&s;e come within the Compa&s;&s;e of this <HI>One Ne|ce&s;&s;ary.</HI></P>
<P>Now if this &s;hall &s;eem to any man rather a &s;peculative, than a &s;ad Truth, let him go to the Couch of a &s;ick Worldling, or prophane per&s;on, and ask him then, what he judgeth to be of the greate&s;t nece&s;&s;ity? God, or his gold? God or his belly? Could a man behold and feel the &s;ecret throbs, the &s;ad accu|&s;ations, the fearful remembrances of &s;uch a heart at that in&s;tant? no doubt, he &s;hould finde him of another judgement and Opinion, than he was in the
<PB N="13" REF="12"> ruff and heat of his jollity. Doubtle&s;s he would avow, that the remembrance of one houre laid out upon this nece&s;&s;ary Point, did bring him at that in|&s;tant more &s;olid comfort, than all the toyle and plea&s;ure he took in the&s;e tran&s;itory things.</P>
<P>Now, deare Brethren, give me leave I be&s;eech you to be&s;peak you: I that am your Servant for God, you who profe&s;s your &s;elves Servants to God:</P>
<P>U&s;e I entreat you, this experiment to your commodity, u&s;e it to your in&s;truction, u&s;e it for a warning. That which thy Neighbour is now, thou mu&s;t be ere long, a dying, a dead man. And of all follies, it is the greate&s;t, not to fly dangers by the examples of others: The difference be|twixt a wi&s;e man and a fool being this, that the one fore&s;ees a mi&s;chief, and prevents it while there is time; the other would do it when it is too late. If thou could&s;t but now feel the &s;tate and ca&s;e wherein thy poor heart &s;hall be at the la&s;t ga&s;p, for neglecting the &s;tudy of this Nece&s;&s;ary, and pur|&s;uing that which then will not profit, thou woald&s;t take from thy meat, thy &s;leep, thy other occa&s;ions, to &s;tudy this one Nece&s;&s;ary indeed.</P>
<P>It is the opinion of a great Divine of &s;ound judgement, that the &s;ouls of Gods Saints in the houre of their departure,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bil&s;on, Survey</HI> of Chri&s;ts &s;uff. p. 389.</NOTE> are &s;uffered to feel the touch and &s;ting of bodily death, which is fully known to none but God who ordain|ed it, or to her &s;elf that feels it; though this Agony of death be &s;hortned or &s;uccour'd, as it plea&s;eth God in his mercy to di&s;po&s;e to every man. There is then more rea&s;on in that prayer which our Mother the Church hath taught us, than at fir&s;t &s;ight appeares, <HI>That God would deliver us in the houre of death, and in the day of judgement.</HI></P>
<P>Of which terrour he that would take a full view, let him go into the Garden, and behold our Saviour in his <HI>Agony,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 22.44.</NOTE> when his &s;oul was <GAP DESC="foreign"> be|&s;ieged with &s;orrow; when he did &s;weat tho&s;e clots and &s;trings of blood ro|ping down unto the ground. He then &s;aw God upon the Throne armed with wrath and indignation again&s;t the &s;innes of ill the world. Then he &s;aw, but felt not what the damned mu&s;t feel, the fire of hell kindled to torment them who are hardned in their &s;innes, and dye without Repentance in their wickedne&s;s. This wrung from him tho&s;e drops, that blood, that fear, that prayer.</P>
<P>Now if this day may prove a day of heavine&s;s, one houre, one minute at lea&s;t of that houre of darkne&s;s, even to tho&s;e who all their lives have thought of this One thing, and &s;tudied this Needful Point: what is like to be to them, who becau&s;e of <HI>Multa,</HI> many di&s;tractions, had no lei&s;ure to think of it; and for impertinent matters, have &s;et by this Nece&s;&s;ary, that have chang'd the fir&s;t into the la&s;t, and put the la&s;t fir&s;t! I cannot without horrour conceive of the horrour of that &s;oul; I cannot without di&s;comfort call to minde the di&s;comforts of that houre. Doleful it is, to con&s;ider in what bit|terne&s;s, in what amazement, in what (I want words to expre&s;s my thoughts) in what, in what a&s;toni&s;hment that la&s;t divorce of this long wedded couple, the ma&s;culine &s;oul, and the weaker body w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll be then made.</P>
<P>True it is, that the godly ought not to be di&s;heartned by that King of fear, &s;ince it is their good God who wounds and heales; their Je&s;us that kills and quickens; their Redeemer that brings to the Gates of Hell, and brings back againe. But yet they &s;hould con&s;ider the bitterne&s;s of death, which is the &s;ting of &s;inne, and how ju&s;tly they have de&s;erved to be pierced and wounded with it; and &s;o with a Religious feare, and mo&s;t earne&s;t prayer, beg of God a&s;&s;i&s;tance and defence again&s;t the terrour of Death, before they approach their end. No man ever breath'd out his &s;oul without bitterne&s;s; but he with the mo&s;t, who hath not all his life long had a careful eye, and a &s;olicitous heart about this <HI>On Nece&s;&s;ary.</HI></P>
<PB N="14" REF="13">
<P>Would it were in my power to per&s;wade men to grow wi&s;e, and fore&s;ee the&s;e things, that they would ca&s;t about, <HI>quid fiet in novi&s;&s;imo, what they &s;hall do in the end thereof?</HI> In all other actions little is undertaken; but it is propo&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 5. ult.</NOTE> What will be the end thereof? What will come of it? why not here al&s;o? What? &s;o wi&s;e in all other things, and &s;o unwi&s;e in this? If your end be heaven, why glue ye your hearts to the earth? if you &s;eek to plea&s;e God, why are you yet Servants of men? nay, of <HI>&V;enus,</HI> of <HI>Bac|chus,</HI> of <HI>Mammon?</HI> if one nece&s;&s;ary Point be to be &s;tudied, why &s;tudy you all points el&s;e, and neglect that? This is to <HI>lay out money, and not for bread;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 55.2. Luke 15.16.</NOTE> this is to feed upon <HI>Husks,</HI> when you might feed on the flowre of Wheat.</P>
<P>But if ever the &s;cales &s;hall fall from your eyes, as they did from the Pro|digals,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 17.</NOTE> ye will confe&s;s that all the&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, are but <GAP DESC="foreign"> light chaffe in the winde, that will be blow'd from the face of the earth. This will be the Harve&s;t of &s;uch light &s;tuffe; for he that <HI>hath the Fanne in his hand, will purge his floore,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.12.</NOTE> <HI>and burn up the chaffe.</HI></P>
<P>Now if the Fan move you not, then think upon the Scale. For the Pro|phet puts a balance, and weights into Gods hand, and teacheth us, <HI>that all Nations are as the dust of the balance.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 40.15.</NOTE> An examination there will be in a very nice and delicate manner, &s;uch as is of gold in the balance of the Gold&s;mith, with whom, not any counterfeit mettal can pa&s;s, nor any piece that is too light; and when all our plots, our de&s;ignes, our acts come to Gods balance, nothing will be current, but what is circled with this One Nece&s;&s;ary; our &s;ervice of our God, our &s;incere heart in the performance of the&s;e Religious duties, our &s;itting at Chri&s;ts feet, and hearing his Word, our practice of what we heard; thus much, and thus much alone will pa&s;s; and if any thing in this be found, as much will be found to be light and emba&s;ed; our Saviour will ca&s;t in his own All-&s;ufficient merit to &s;upply the defect. For he who accepted and commended this very Woman,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 14.8.</NOTE> becau&s;e &s;he did what &s;he could, if he finde the like endeavour in us, hath al&s;o given us a Super&s;edeas that our heart be not troubled,<NOTE PLACE="marg">6.</NOTE> nor that any other trouble us about it.</P>
<P>But for all the re&s;t, God, not man numbers it. <HI>Tekel,</HI> it is found too light. <HI>Pharez.</HI> away with it; out of the balance it mu&s;t; God will never approve it, becau&s;e it is more than needs.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 5.25.</NOTE> Were the Jewi&s;h Phylacteries, or the Front|lets now in u&s;e, I could wi&s;h the&s;e three words written on your foreheads, or as Bracelets wreathed about your wri&s;ts: But &s;ince tho&s;e are in di&s;u&s;e, you have yet a Tablet, in which you may engrave them; I mean the Tablet of your hearts; e&s;pecially the&s;e two, <HI>Mene, Tekel,</HI> that import the numbering and weighing of all men do. This would make every carele&s;s &s;oul fall to reckoning and accompt with them&s;elves, what would hereafter pa&s;s, what would not pa&s;s, what was to be accompted for on the by, what on the main, what &s;uperfluous, what ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary, what fir&s;t, what la&s;t, what would be taken, and what would never be receiv'd.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e things which will not be receiv'd then, are not <HI>Martha's multa,</HI> many di&s;hes; nor <HI>Dives multa,</HI> many goods; nor Epicures <HI>multa,</HI> many delights; nor the Politicians <HI>multa,</HI> many plots; nor the active mans <HI>multa,</HI> many bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;es; nor the Hypocrites <HI>multa,</HI> many long prayers; nor the Itinerants <HI>multa,</HI> many Sermons; nor the worldlings <HI>multa,</HI> many cares; nor the Soul|diers <HI>multa,</HI> many Victories. This <HI>Maries unum,</HI> her &s;incere devotion, her &s;incere Religion, her &s;ole &s;ervice, her intent attention; in a word, her one heart, her one &s;oul, her &s;ole heart, her &s;ole &s;oul, univer&s;ally and con&s;tantly united to her God. This is that One, that nece&s;&s;ary thing, that good part, which never &s;hall be taken from her.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="2" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="15" REF="13">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>LUKE 10.42.</HI></BIBL>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P>But Mary hath cho&s;en that good part, which &s;hall not be taken away from Her.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><HI>N&V;lla e&s;t hic comparatio,</HI> for here is no comparative, nor &s;uperlative,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Beza.</NOTE> as many Interpreters dream; and therefore read it thus,
<Q><L>Mary hath cho&s;en the better part.</L>
<L>Mary hath cho&s;en the be&s;t part.</L></Q></P>
<P><HI>Sed tantum pronunciat Chri&s;tus Mariam in &s;ancto &amp; utili &s;tudio occupa|ri, unde ab&s;trahi non debeat;</HI> But Chri&s;ts judgement is, That <HI>Mary</HI> was bu&s;ied about a holy and profitable matter, from which &s;he ought not to be drawn.</P>
<P>I am this day to bring you into a Family, to which I could wi&s;h every Chri&s;tian hou&s;e were like; for in this, &s;o many chief per&s;ons, &s;o many pat|terns of piety, and Religion. Three we finde, <HI>Martha, Mary,</HI> with their good Brother <HI>Lazarus;</HI> not the begger that lay at the Rich mans Gate, but <HI>Lazarus the friend of Chri&s;t, who &s;lept in his grave,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 11.11, 43</NOTE> <HI>and with a loud voice was awak'd, and rai&s;ed, and came forth.</HI> And every one of the&s;e propo&s;ed in their kinde for imitation.</P>
<P><HI>Martha</HI> the Hou&s;ewife bu&s;ied at her work; <HI>Mary</HI> the devout, at Chri&s;ts feet hearing a Sermon; <HI>Lazarus</HI> the type of an obdurate accu&s;tomed &s;inner, for many dayes dead and buried, and &s;tinking in tre&s;pa&s;&s;es; but now by a loud, powerful, and mighty voice of Chri&s;t rai&s;ed, and therefore acting the part of a Convert, a living Chri&s;tian; who being rai&s;ed from the death and grave of &s;inne, intends to live unto God. Now happy is that hou&s;e which is &s;tored with &s;uch Inhabitants; for there, nor God, nor man is forgotten; no, nor yet that duty which is due to both. Not God; for <HI>Mary</HI> the devout <HI>pi&egrave; &amp; &s;ublimit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r &s;entiet de Deo,</HI> will think highly and reverently of her God. Not man; for <HI>Martha</HI> the ho&s;pitable <HI>benign&egrave; &amp; mi&s;ericordit&egrave;r de proximo,</HI> will charitably provide food and entertainment for tho&s;e that want; and <HI>Lazarus</HI> with his Doves eyes, <HI>humilit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r &amp; mi&s;erabiliter de &s;e|ip&s;o, pejus de peccato,</HI> will think humbly of him&s;elf, wor&s;e of &s;in that paid him his wages, and laid him up in his grave.</P>
<P>It were to be wi&s;h'd that the vertues of the&s;e three were united, and that we might finde in every Chri&s;tian, <HI>Martha's</HI> Charity, and <HI>Maries</HI> Devo|tion, and <HI>Lazarus</HI>'s Re&s;urrection; but the&s;e &s;eldome meet; for where there is <HI>Martha's</HI> care, or rather trouble, <HI>Maries</HI> Devotion will be cooled, if not ab&s;ent, and <HI>Lazarus</HI>'s life will &s;mell too &s;trong of the grave; the re|turne from thence, will not be as it ought like Chri&s;ts, who left the <HI>linnen clothes, and the Napkin about his head,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 20.6, 7. John 11.44.</NOTE> the whole furniture of death be|hind him; but too too like <HI>Lazarus</HI>'s, who came forth <HI>bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and his face bound with a Napkin;</HI> in plainer words, where there is anxiety, and great di&s;traction, this Re&s;urrection to a new life will be hindered, bound up, clouded, vayled, that it cannot go on nimbly.</P>
<P>The &s;ole way to &s;et it at liberty, and chearfully active, is to make <HI>Maries</HI> choice which our Saviour here commends, and from his mouth I commend
<PB N="16" REF="14"> to you. Put it to the world, and there will be a plea put in for <HI>Martha;</HI> but let Chri&s;t be judge, and <HI>Maries</HI> choice will be preferr'd. <HI>Martha's</HI> E|lection was an errour, but <HI>error &s;alutaris,</HI> a beneficial mi&s;take; for, It may rid the world of an errour ever after; but the choice of <HI>Mary</HI> was <HI>&s;aluta|ris electio,</HI> a wi&s;e choice, &s;afe, and heal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hful; for it may teach all po&s;terity what to choo&s;e; not many things, but One; not one &s;uperfluous matter, but one nece&s;&s;ary; not that which may &s;eem to be, and is not, but that which is truly, po&s;itively, and really good; La&s;tly, not that which is of a flitting, tran&s;itory, and vaine nature, but &s;uch as will be la&s;ting, and everla&s;ting &s;hall not be taken away from us.</P>
<P>The Subject I told you of this Text, is Religion, which is here commended to us under <HI>Maries</HI> choice, for four eminent qualities.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. For the Unity of it. It is but one; there is but this one way to make men truly happy.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. For the nece&s;&s;ity of it. It is a needful point; no man can be a Servant of God, or &s;ave a &s;oul without it.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. For the perfection. It is without controver&s;ie, and beyond all di|&s;pute, <HI>A good part, the good part.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. For the perpetuity. The fruit gathered from it is immortal; <HI>It will ne|ver be taken away.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Two of the&s;e excellencies I have &s;poke of before; now I am to pro&s;ecute the other two, and to declare, That this part is a good part, and everla&s;ting, which will ju&s;tifie the more <HI>Maries</HI> di&s;cretion that &s;he cho&s;e it; for what &s;he did, was not done at all adventure; but upon mature deliberation &s;he cho&s;e.</P>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Mary <GAP DESC="foreign">, Mary hath cho&s;en.</HEAD>
<P>She cho&s;e it, and &s;he cho&s;e it <GAP DESC="foreign"> out of, from among other things; as a man &s;hould choo&s;e a pearle out of a heap of rubbi&s;h, or any one thing that he likes, out of a &s;hop of commodities.</P>
<P>Election cannot be made, but where more things are propo&s;ed; upon which the &s;oul of man deliberates, and within holds, as it were a coun&s;el, what to admit, what to reject, what to choo&s;e, what to refu&s;e; and he is no wi&s;e man that fa&s;tens on any thing, before he hath well weigh'd the Argu|ments that may per&s;wade, or di&s;&s;wade him; e&s;pecially in Religion, the matter here in que&s;tion, the choice of which is the point of the greate&s;t moment.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 8.2.</NOTE>Methinks, I behold here on one hand, the &s;even Devils ca&s;t out of her by our Saviour, pleading hard with her, pre&s;&s;ing mo&s;t alluring Arguments to flatter her into her old way of lu&s;t and plea&s;ure; What &s;he &s;o courted for her beauty, and admired by &s;o many Lovers, marre her face with a floud of teares, and &s;toop her lips to ki&s;s the feet of any, of who&s;e ki&s;&s;es, youth and love would be ambitious! What &s;o neglective of her &s;elf, to make her haire a Towel, which in curles did allure, and perfum'd w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">th odours plea&s;e &s;o ma|ny Lovers! But on the other &s;ide, Religion pre&s;enting unto her the &s;trict au&s;terities of Chri&s;tianity, the frequent fa&s;tings, the daily prayers, the &s;ubdu|ing of lu&s;ts, the mortifying of the body, the taming of the fle&s;h, and gi|ving it a black eye; In a word, all tho&s;e duties of piety, and charity, which could not be performed without much trouble to the fle&s;h, that I name not that &s;elf-denial, and Cro&s;s, that all mu&s;t take up, who willl &s;it at Chri&s;ts feet and hear his words!</P>
<P>And yet <HI>Mary</HI> &s;its &s;till, and is immoveable. Plea&s;ure &s;ings to a deaf wo|man; Religion prevailes; &s;he choo&s;es that which would &s;ave a &s;oul, before that which delights; that which would never faile, when all her plea&s;ures and Lovers would for&s;ake her.</P>
<PB N="17" REF="14">
<P>And to &s;ay truth, a Religious life is alwayes be&s;t when cho&s;en. He whom occa&s;ion, or education, or cu&s;tome, or fa&s;hion, or the conver&s;ation of o|thers moves to be Religious, is &s;eldome really &s;uch; <HI>intus &amp; in cute,</HI> he is not a Jew within; his devotions are formal, his &s;ervice hypocritical; he ap|proacheth God with the lips, but his heart is far off.</P>
<P>Whereas he that &s;its down, deliberates, and enters a con&s;ultation, de|bating the matter betwixt him and his own &s;oul, upon what grounds he will be Religious; and findeth the&s;e grounds to prevaile upon his under&s;tan|ding, is like to make a good choice, and do his Duty truly, heartily, &s;incerely.</P>
<P>Of the end of Religion there is no doubt, there needs no con&s;ultation a|bout that; for every man would be happy, and live for ever; Naturally our will is carried to that. The whole deliberation will be about the meanes by which we &s;hall attaine this end, which is <HI>Maries</HI> part, Repentance toward God, hearing his Word, obeying what we hear, and faith in Je&s;us Chri&s;t; for the&s;e being aver&s;e to fle&s;h and blood, and not known to all, the debate is a|bout the practice of the&s;e. Now he who after a &s;ad and &s;erious di&s;qui&s;ition, rejecting all other vanities, and by-wayes, &s;hall make his choice of the&s;e, is the &s;ole wi&s;e man, and like to prove the good Chri&s;tian; which will be ea&s;i|ly confe&s;&s;'d, when I &s;hall have opened at full unto you, in what re&s;pects Chri&s;tian Religion is the &s;ame.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, That good part.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Bonum,</HI> if we con&s;ult <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> is that <HI>quod cui&abque; conveniens e&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ethic.</HI> 1.</NOTE> and &s;ince that there is not any thing &s;o convenient unto man as Religion, Reli|gion mu&s;t be the chief good; under&s;tanding by good, that which doth mo&s;t conduce to attain the chief end, which all things aime at, felicity. Nothing can be &s;o convenient to man, as that which teacheth him to know God, to joyn him to God, to give God all honour and glory, and to live hone&s;tly, ju&s;tly, peaceably among men; all which being the Dictates of Religion, con|fe&s;&s;'d it mu&s;t be to be the Good part.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, By Religion it is that we come to know God; thus the wi&s;e have defin'd it, <GAP DESC="foreign">. Piety is the knowledge of God. <HI>The whole world,</HI> as &s;aith Saint <HI>John, lies in darkne&s;s;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 5.19.</NOTE> and if any light came to them by the Book of Nature, by it they might know that he is, not what he is; that to be wor&s;hipped, not how to be wor&s;hipped. To the que&s;tion pro|po&s;ed, What God was, the wi&s;e&s;t of them was fain to take a longer day, and to profe&s;s that he di&s;puted the mo&s;t wi&s;ely of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Simonides.</NOTE> that &s;aid no more than <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>That he is.</HI> What beyond this they knew,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> they were beholding to Revelation. For that Rule of <HI>Ju&s;tin Martyr</HI> is undeniable, with which he often in that Book pre&s;&s;eth the <HI>Grecians,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">; <HI>i. e.</HI> 'Tis not po&s;&s;ible for them who had not before lear|ned &s;o great and Divine things from tho&s;e that knew them, either them&s;elves to know them, or rightly to teach others; what&s;oever it was then that the Chaldees, Egyptians, or Greeks, knew or taught aright of God, that they received from <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and the Prophets, and &s;tole it out of their Writings, though that the Theft &s;hould not appeare, they di&s;gui&s;ed it under other noti|ons, and fictions;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> to the truth of Religion then they were beholding for what they knew or taught truly of God. <HI>Veritas &agrave; quocun&abque; dicituri, &agrave; &s;pi|r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tu &s;ancto profecta est,</HI> Truth by whom&s;oever it is &s;aid, yet it proceeds from the Holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>Secondly, But this is not all that Religion doth for us; for after it hath
<PB N="18" REF="15"> acquainted us with God, it joynes us clo&s;e, and re-unites us to God. <HI>Re|ligionis nomen &agrave; vinculo pietatis deducitur,</HI> It hath its name <HI>&agrave; Religo,</HI> to binde. It bindes us in a Bond of piety; and to acknowledge that we are not at liberty, but bound and oblig'd to performe what we have undertaken. The very forme of the Indenture,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 2.23.</NOTE> is thus drawn, <HI>I will &s;ay to them, Thou art my people; and they &s;hall &s;ay, Thou art my God;</HI> 'tis a mutual con|tract on his, on our part; it had its ri&s;e indeed from love; He lov'd fir&s;t, and therefore we are but to love againe. In him it was free, in us it is duty; and that which &s;ets the mea&s;ure of this love (if it have any) and pre&s;cribes the Offices of this love, is Religion; we never can of the&s;e make due payment, till we are Religiou&s;ly united to him.</P>
<P>Thirdly, And from this loving union there flows another admirable ef|fect, which is an inward ob&s;ervance, and an outward adoration of that En|tity, which a man e&s;teems to be of &s;o high and Divine a Nature. His &s;tudy is to exalt God to the highe&s;t degree, and to aba&s;e him&s;elf to the lowe&s;t; &s;o did the Father of the faithful in his Petition for <HI>Sodome,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen: 18.27.</NOTE> He acknowledgeth God to be his Lord, <HI>him&s;elf du&s;t and a&s;hes.</HI></P>
<P>Such is the force of this Divine vertue, it makes a devout &s;oul dedicate him&s;elf wholly to God; his body to be Gods Temple, his &s;oul the Altar, his affections the offerings, his &s;pirit his Image, the be&s;t expence of his time to &s;erve, to extoll, to imitate, to implore his God. Religion prayes, Religion fa&s;ts, Religion adores, Religion it is that gives thanks, Religion that gives reverence to his holy Name, to holy dayes, to holy places; by this only it is that we yield obedience to what we &s;hould, confe&s;s, are &s;ad, and ask pardon for what we cannot do.</P>
<P>Go now and &s;ay, but with what face I know not, that Religion is not a good part, which teacheth &s;o much good. If to know God, if to be united to God, if to exalt and glorifie God, if to adore, obey, wor&s;hip, &s;erve him, have any goodne&s;s in it, then certainly that mu&s;t be good which teacheth the Rule and Practice of all the&s;e.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Religion good for the Societies of men.</HEAD>
<P>But I come now to men; and if we &s;hall prize and e&s;teem that duty which man owes to man, and the performance of it as wonderfully condu|cing to the con&s;ervation of Humane Societies, Religion mu&s;t be confe&s;&s;'d to be a Good part. It is no peculiar conceit, but a matter of &s;ound con|&s;equence, that all ju&s;t and charitable duties, are by &s;o much the kindlier performed, by how much the men are more Religious from whom they proceed.</P>
<P>No act of Ju&s;tice is &s;o genuinely executed, as where the feare of God is the fir&s;t moving cau&s;e, his glory the end; and the Rule by which Ju&s;titiaries proceed, his Word and Will, and not &s;ome &s;ini&s;ter re&s;pect, or crooked line of their own. For if tho&s;e who fill the &s;eats of Ju&s;tice, follow it only as a Trade, with unquenchable and uncon&s;cionable thir&s;t of gain, being not fully per&s;waded in heart, that ju&s;tice is Gods own work, and them&s;elves on|ly Agents about it; that which was ordain'd for the common good, will be made the very Rod and Scourge to torment poor innocents, and a cau&s;e of a common mi&s;ery.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e who extoll the Golden age, acquaint us with many admirable ef|fects,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ovid. Met. He|&s;iod.</NOTE> as that men at that time, of their own accord; without any Law, kept their Word, their faith with men, that they lov'd what was right, and hated what was wrong; that not feare of revenge or puni&s;hment, but meer love of vertue and equity was a barre again&s;t all oppre&s;&s;ions. And how came this
<PB N="19" REF="15"> about? The gods, &s;ay their Poets, did as yet dwell and conver&s;e with men; they had tho&s;e, though feigned Deityes for their Tutors, for their Directors, for their Guardians; and they were &s;o Religiou&s;ly aw'd by their pre&s;ence, that they had no thought to attempt any unju&s;t act; but upon their retire|ment to Heaven, then
<Q><L>&mdash;Fugere pudor, verumque, fide&s;que.</L>
<L><HI>And ju&s;tice and all fled together.</HI></L>
<L>&V;ltima caele&s;t&ucirc;m terras A&s;traea reliquit.</L></Q></P>
<P>The truth I confe&s;&s;e is di&s;gui&s;ed in a fiction; but the Moral is, That where God is, there will be good; and where good is, 'tis the work of a Religious feare.</P>
<P>To go one &s;tep further, let the god be never &s;o &s;trange and fal&s;e, yet in the Religion of that god, &s;ome principles are true, from which have &s;prung notable effects for the benefit of mankinde. Not a man among the Hea|then, who had or hath a &s;tock, a &s;tone, a clout, a Feti&s;&s;o for his god, but will yield you this Principle, that breach of Oaths is dete&s;table to their Deity; and that &s;uch as &s;hould be wilfully guilty of that hateful crime, alwayes were to be pur&s;ued with Divine Vengeance. It was their errour to attribute &s;o great power to their Puppets and fal&s;e gods; yet the right conceit they had, That to perjury, and inju&s;tice, vengeance belongs; made, and doth yet make them &s;o punctual in their Contracts which they make with men.</P>
<P>I verily believe, that tho&s;e &s;pecious vertues, their milde &s;everity, their &s;e|vere but exact ju&s;tice, their cha&s;tity, &s;obriety, valour, their integrity and hone&s;t &s;implicity which we read of, admire, and commend in the Heathen, were no other than the fruits of true Religion; &s;ome Axioms and Principles whereof, were by God rooted and imprinted in their hearts; for they were but <GAP DESC="foreign">, Thieves of other mens goods; having borrowed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Clem. Alex.</NOTE> or if you will, pilfer'd from Gods Truth, what&s;oever they publi&s;hed and pra|cti&s;ed as true.</P>
<P>The&s;e Maxims common to them with us, tyed the hands from violence, the tongue from bla&s;phemy, the eyes from beholding vanity, the heart from impure conceptions, the head from Trea&s;onable plots, and the feet from running to vile exce&s;s; upon all the&s;e Religion laid a &s;trait, but an aw|ful Yoke; which, who &s;o ca&s;t off, were even by them&s;elves branded and reck|on'd among the irreligious.</P>
<P>But if it be &s;aid, that the&s;e effects being common to all Religions; to the fal&s;e, as well as the true; therefore the goodne&s;s even of tho&s;e is this way &s;et forth, as well as of the Religion we profe&s;s: I would have it re|membred,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That the&s;e effects proceeded, as I &s;aid before, from tho&s;e common Truths and Maxims, in which the fal&s;e&s;t Religion in the world doth com|municate with the true; <HI>viz. That there is a God;</HI> that this God is to be honoured; that this God hates cruelty and inju&s;tice; that this God hath <GAP DESC="foreign"> a revengeful eye; that he is a holy God, and doth dete&s;t unholy actions and per&s;ons. To the truth of Religion the effects may be attri|buted, though they that do them are not of a true Religion.</P>
<P>Secondly, That how&s;oever this their Religion, be it what it will be, may teach them &s;ome Truths, and dictate &s;ome good things; yet it is not in all things ab&s;olute, in all things good, as is the Chri&s;tian Religion; and there|fore not that good parr which our Saviour here commends in <HI>Maries</HI> choice. It will not then be ami&s;s next to examine, how farre that Reli|gion we profe&s;&s;e is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>that good part,</HI> and excells all other Re|ligions that ever were yet in the world.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="section">
<PB N="20" REF="16">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> That Chri&s;tian Religion is that good part.</HEAD>
<P>Every Religion beares in her very dictates the Image of the Authour. Nature never invented, or impo&s;ed any that did not favour her; nor the Spi|rit of God any, that did not oppo&s;e Nature. Let then this be the <HI>Lydian</HI> &s;tone to make the trial; that which will di&s;tingui&s;h Chri&s;tian Religion from the re&s;t, and give it a preheminence above the re&s;t; we need no other. What Religion doth plainly content nature, let that be fal&s;e; what gives more &s;incere glory to God, and de&s;troyes the works of the fle&s;h, let that be true and good.</P>
<P>Now look over all the Rules of Chri&s;tian Religion, and &s;hew me but one that gives liberty to the fle&s;h, to our carnal appetite; what one doth not breath forth the greate&s;t holine&s;s, purity, piety, charity, that can be expe|cted?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Just. Mart. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Tertul. de Idol.</NOTE> Among the Heathens, their very gods were contentious, and had their Warres; wanton and lu&s;tful, and had their <HI>Ganymedes,</HI> their <HI>Europae's;</HI> Gluttons, and had their Fea&s;ts. A goodly Religion certainly where the Au|thours were &s;o vitious, and who&s;e &s;et forms of &s;ervice were compo&s;'d of nought el&s;e but bruti&s;h ob&s;cenity!</P>
<P>But I pa&s;s by the&s;e, as not to be named to cha&s;t eares. What &s;hould I &s;ay, that that very Religion which God gave unto the Jews had imperfecti|on in it?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 7.18, 19. Col. 2.17. Heb. 10.1. Gal. 3.24. and 4.9. Ezra 20.25.</NOTE> The Apo&s;tle &s;peaks it plainly, that it was <HI>di&s;annull'd for the un|profitablene&s;s and weakne&s;s thereof.</HI> A &s;hadow it was of good things to come, <HI>and it made nothing perfect.</HI> At be&s;t but a <HI>School-ma&s;ter to lead to Chri&s;t,</HI> in compari&s;on of who&s;e Sacrifice, all the Mo&s;aical Ceremonies were but <HI>weak and beggarly rudiments.</HI> And therefore God tells the Jews by his Pro|phet, <HI>That I gave them Statutes which were not good;</HI> not good &s;ufficient|ly, becau&s;e they never could by them obtain the end; <HI>for tho&s;e Sacrifices which they offered yeare by yeare continually,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.1.</NOTE> <HI>could not make the comers there|unto perfect.</HI> Thus it was in the Rites, thus in the Ceremonies; and for the Moral part of it, in one point an indulgence they had, or took at lea&s;t, for the hardne&s;s of their hearts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 24.1. Mat. 19.7. Mat. 5.21.</NOTE> <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> admitted a <HI>Bill of divorce.</HI> And in the Commands of the &s;econd Table, they gave an indulgence to them&s;elves to hate, they took liberty to be angry, to &s;launder, though they might <HI>not kill.</HI> A wanton eye was thought no crime; or an adulterous heart e&s;teemed no fault.<NOTE PLACE="marg">28. 33.</NOTE> With others they je&s;ted, and &s;o that they kept from perjury, to &s;weare by the Temple, was nothing with them. 'Tis not their practice I &s;peak of,<NOTE PLACE="marg">21.</NOTE> 'tis of their Doctrines; the&s;e were the Commandments of men currant among them, and the&s;e they had been taught from the Ancients. Our Saviour was faine in a full Sermon to confute all their Glo&s;&s;es, and hypocritical pretences, for their breach of the Moral Law.</P>
<P>There is but one more which &s;tands out in competition with the Chri&s;tian Religion, and this is that of the Impo&s;tor <HI>Mahomet;</HI> and he that &s;hould read his <HI>Alcoran,</HI> would conceive he hoped rather to meet with bea&s;ts than men. To &s;ay nothing of his di&s;gui&s;ed Stories of the Patriarchs, &s;toln by him out of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> but chang'd into lyes, and old Wives Tale; who can Relate the &s;tories of Angel <HI>Adriels</HI> death, <HI>Seraphuels</HI> Trumpet, <HI>Gabriels</HI> Bridge, <HI>Herroth</HI> and <HI>Marroths</HI> hanging, the Moons de&s;cent into his &s;leeve, the Angels Hammer, the Litter, and much of the &s;ame Bran without laugh|ter! Be&s;ides the&s;e ridiculous Fables, how doth he &s;ooth up nature; A man would think he heard <HI>Epicurus</HI> rather reading a flattering Lecture of plea|&s;ure, than a grave Law-giver; for his Ordinances are encouragements to licence baits of plea&s;ure; his heaven &s;omewhat like the <HI>Millenaries,</HI> a Paradi&s;e of Amorous Ladies; by him revenge is encourag'd, multitude of
<PB N="21" REF="16"> Wives tolerated, theft allowed. Rea&s;on it &s;elf being the impre&s;s of God in man, hath light enough to per&s;wade that this Religion cannot be good, who&s;e Laws are wicked and licentious, and credit bol&s;ter'd up by lyes, fables, and impo&s;tures.</P>
<P><HI>On the contrary, by Chri&s;tian Religion</HI> we curb Nature; we re&s;traine, we di&s;courage, we threaten her; teaching not to re&s;t in outward actions of piety, or di&s;pen&s;ations of men, but to &s;trive unto &s;incerity, without which we may expect no part in Chri&s;t, no &s;alvation, no future life, no help in our prayers, in Sacraments, in any Chri&s;tian duties. Call upon men we do to &s;et the heart to work in all Devotions, without which the lips are but ba|blers; to &s;et the hand to work in all good actions, without which the heart is but an hypocrite. Our Law is an undefiled Law, <HI>and converts the &s;oule.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.7. Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>prop&egrave; finem.</HI></NOTE> With us it is a &s;ufficient matter of accu&s;ation, not only to be wicked, but to carry a heart, and a de&s;ire to be &s;uch. For we prohibit the very purpo&s;e as well as the Act and the Deed. Cha&s;tity is &s;o farre exacted by this good Law, that it puts a Covenant upon the wanton eye,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.28.</NOTE> and a re&s;traint upon the adul|terous heart. Perjury with us is held for &s;o va&s;t a &s;inne, that forbid we are by a &s;olemne &s;anction, <HI>not to &s;weare. Sweare not at all;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 34. 1 The&s;. 5.22.</NOTE> <HI>by us even the appearance of evil is to be avoided.</HI> To &s;peak ill, to do ill, to think ill, to plot ill, are alike forbidden; all iniquity be it never &s;o clo&s;e or &s;ecret, mu&s;t by our Law be forborne. Read but the fifth Chapter of Saint <HI>Matthews</HI> Go&s;pel, with our Ma&s;ters Comment upon <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Law, and there you &s;hall &s;ee the perfection and goodne&s;s of our Chri&s;tian profe&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>Now let me appeale to your own &s;oul, and unto the judgement of the whole world, whether that Religion mu&s;t not be good, who&s;e rules are &s;o good, who&s;e commands &s;o holy? Whether it be po&s;&s;ible, that &s;hould re|ceive its ri&s;e and being from fle&s;h and blood, which keeps under, oppo&s;es, de&s;troyes fle&s;h and blood? That certainly, which is &s;o oppo&s;ite and con|trary to mens affections, &s;o cro&s;s to their mindes, mu&s;t be from heaven; that which commands men <HI>to be holy as God is holy,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.16. Jam. 1.17.</NOTE> mu&s;t needs be from a holy God, and con&s;equently it mu&s;t be good; <HI>for every good gift comes from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variablene&s;s, nor &s;hadow of turning.</HI></P>
<P>Could I finde the lea&s;t favour given to our will and natural corruption in it, I &s;hould &s;u&s;pect that the Authour of it con&s;ulted with fle&s;h and blood; as tho&s;e we &s;ee do, that break,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 3.16.</NOTE> or countenance their breaches by &s;ome or o|ther Clau&s;e they finde written in it; forc'd they are <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>to wre&s;t the place,</HI> and &s;et it on the Rack as it were, and torture it, before it can be got to confe&s;s and countenance what they would have it. But when I cannot finde here the lea&s;t indulgence or di&s;pen&s;ation granted to the lea&s;t &s;in, no,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 5.22.</NOTE> not to the appearance of evil, convicted I am, and &s;o mu&s;t any man that carries not about him an ob&s;tinate &s;oul, that this is alone the good part; or &s;ince &s;ome will &s;o have it, the be&s;t part; nor Heatheni&s;h civilities, nor Jew|i&s;h Ceremonies, nor Turki&s;h Libertini&s;me may be named in the &s;ame day with it.</P>
<P>Hone&s;ty then and piety we have to plead for us; ju&s;tice and charity, Ar|guments of &s;ufficient weight to get the good-will of a vertuous &s;oul. But that which mo&s;t works upon the hearts of mo&s;t men, is <HI>&V;tile,</HI> profit.</P>
<P><HI>Nil ni&s;i quod prode&s;t charum e&s;t. What is the Almighty, that we &s;hould &s;erve him? and what profit &s;hould we have if we pray unto him?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 21.15.</NOTE> &s;ay tho&s;e prophane men in <HI>Job. Cui bono?</HI> What profit will it bring us? how &s;hall we be the better for it? is that powerful rea&s;on that draws men all the world over. Might it then be di&s;cern'd which way this which is &s;o magnified for a
<PB N="22" REF="17"> good part, might be profitable for us, then without doubt it would be de&s;ired, and make men good indeed. Even thus farre our Saviour to winne our affe|ction, hath conde&s;cended al&s;o, a&s;&s;uring us that it is &s;o beneficial, that it will be of an eternal u&s;e. <HI>Non auf<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">retur.</HI></P>
<Q>It &s;hall never be taken away.</Q>
<P>All things under the Sun, are &s;tigmatiz'd with the name of Vanity. <HI>Va|nity of vanities,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 1.2.</NOTE> <HI>all is vanity, &s;aith one,</HI> than whom never any one had more experience; and at what rate &s;oever we e&s;teem them, yet we e&s;teem them the le&s;s, becau&s;e we are &s;ure they will not la&s;t.</P>
<P>In this one thing it is, that Religion and Religious duties hath the pri|ority,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cic. pro Archia.</NOTE> that they will not leave us, nor for&s;ake us, <HI>pernoctantur, perigrinan|tur, ru&s;ticantur, commoriuntur, con&s;epeliuntur, re&s;urgunt,</HI> at night they lay us &s;weetly to &s;leep, in our way they accompany us, in the Country they attend on us, when we expire, they go to the grave with us, and at our calling up, they will ri&s;e and appear, and &s;peak a good word for us. <HI>Ble&s;sed are they that dye in the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14.13.</NOTE> <HI>for their works follow them;</HI> this only might win our good-will. There is not any one thing in Religion, that is &s;ubject to decay. Not our God, for he is eternal, not changeable in him&s;elf, not changeable to us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 13.1. Mat. 28.20. Mat. 1.23. Rev. 14.6.</NOTE> <HI>whom he once loves, he loves to the end, and will be pre|&s;ent with tho&s;e he loves, for ever;</HI> for this he hath given us his Word, <HI>I will be with you to the end of the world.</HI> His name is <HI>Immanuel, God with us.</HI> Not his Law neither, for that is immutable; it is the <HI>everla&s;ting Go&s;pel;</HI> af|ter which we may not look for another; that which &s;hall not be taken from the Church, till the Church be taken out of the World. Not his Spirit that informes the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.16.</NOTE> for that he hath pa&s;&s;ed his promi&s;e, <HI>I will &s;end you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.</HI></P>
<P>This Go&s;pel it is that propo&s;eth <HI>meat to us that peri&s;heth not, bread of life that decayes not, fountaines of living water that will spring for ever.</HI> This Go&s;pel it is that enjoyns duties as I &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 6.27, 32, 33, Joh. 7.39. P&s;al. 56.8.</NOTE> that will not de&s;ert us; draws from us <HI>teares, which God will put into his bottle;</HI> teacheth us to give Almes, <HI>that God will record in his Book;</HI> do &s;uch works which will go a|long with us to the Throne of God, and never leave us, till they behold a Crown upon our heads.</P>
<P>Nothing you can name be&s;ides, will be &s;o fa&s;t a friend, &s;tay, attend, a|bide, and follow you. And in that our Saviour fa&s;tens <HI>non auferetur,</HI> to this one good part; evident it is, he puts a difference betwixt this and all o|ther petty goods of the world; intimating to us, there be other things of a flitting di&s;po&s;ition;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;ost.</NOTE> though not this, yet tho&s;e Tran&s;itory. And &s;o they are like the Ne&s;t of Swallows, made up of a little dirt and a few &s;traws, which in a fro&s;ty Winter drop down of them&s;elves.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.8. Mat. 15.17.</NOTE> <HI>That which is &s;own to the fle&s;h, is lo&s;t in corruption; that which is spent on the belly, pa&s;&s;eth into the draught;</HI> that which is laid on the back, falls to rags; a decay there is upon all the&s;e. Let then our e&s;timation be according; <HI>terrae damnemus, quod ha|bemus &agrave; terra,</HI> let us leave to the earth, what we have from the earth, and begin to withdraw our love from that, which will &s;o ba&s;ely withdraw from us. Can we &s;u&s;pect only a man, whom we have made choice of to be our friend, into who&s;e bo&s;ome we pour our &s;ecrets, with whom we love to &s;pend our hearts? have we I &s;ay, the lea&s;t &s;u&s;picion that this man would prove a <HI>Judas,</HI> ki&s;s, and kill, and &s;tand afar off in the day of trouble? our affection will cool and abate wonderfully to him; but upon experiment, that actually he proves a Traytour, apt we are to take up <HI>Davids</HI> complaint; <HI>This my companion,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 41.9.</NOTE> <HI>my guide, my own familiar bo&s;ome friend, this was the man that for&s;ook me.</HI></P>
<PB N="23" REF="17">
<P>It is beyond &s;u&s;picion, certain we are, that the wedge of Gold in which we have put our confidence, all tho&s;e plea&s;ures which we have endeared in our bo&s;ome, our ambitious thoughts with which we have taken &s;weet coun|&s;el, even tho&s;e whom we have loved &s;o dearly, that we have prophanely brought them with us into the hou&s;e of God, and walkt with them there as friends, even a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l the&s;e will betray us fir&s;t; and then leave us, when we are ready to leave the World. They will be then taken away; and if they come in &s;ight at the la&s;t ga&s;p, they will be &s;uch mi&s;erable comforters, as the &s;urvi|ving <HI>Canaanites</HI> were to <HI>I&s;rael, Scourges in our &s;ides, and thornes in our eyes.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 23.13.</NOTE> Thus much we all know, and this con&s;ideration very much abates the heat of our affection to all the&s;e.</P>
<P>At that day the memory of a well-led life, a con&s;cience e&s;tabli&s;hed by faith, the remembrance that we have &s;ate at Chri&s;ts feet, and heard him Preach, an hone&s;t endeavour to remember what we heard, and a love and practice of tho&s;e good le&s;&s;ons, will be the be&s;t and &s;ure&s;t friends that will &s;tick by us. It is the commendation of <HI>Mary,</HI> that &s;he made her Election this way. Expo&s;itours unanimou&s;ly have made this good woman the pattern of a contemplative man, who bendes his thoughts to meditate on heaven, and con&s;ider the earth after upon good grounds to make his choice. Is it thy purpo&s;e then to choo&s;e aright? call for <HI>Mary,</HI> bid her come and help thee. For he that con&s;iders not well, choo&s;es but ill; whereas he that puts every circum&s;tance into the Scale, and weighs all, is not like to be deceiv'd. <HI>So|lomons</HI> good woman <HI>con&s;idered the field, and bought it;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 31.16.</NOTE> &s;he con&s;ider'd before &s;he purcha&s;ed; for where there is buying, and no con&s;ideration, the bargain is not like to be advantageous.</P>
<P><HI>Mundus est per&s;onatus,</HI> all the World acts but a Comedy; and it is not within, what it is without; it &s;ets forth honour, plea&s;ure, riches, in the be&s;t attire, and in&s;tructs them to act their part &s;o plau&s;ibly, as may be&s;t plea&s;e. Before then thou be enamour'd of any of the&s;e, pull off the Vizard, and behold what they are within. <HI>Non hominibus &s;olum, &s;ed etiam rebus demenda e&s;t per&s;ona, &amp; reddenda facies &s;un;</HI> not from men only,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Seneca.</NOTE> but from things the per&s;onated out&s;ide is to be taken off, and every thing made to ap|peare in its true natural &s;hape and face: Con&s;ider then before you choo&s;e, and then you will make no more choice of tho&s;e I but now named, for what they &s;how, than you would do of a Hor&s;e for his gli&s;tering capari&s;ons. And know withal, that when you have made a bad choice, and &s;elected the&s;e, you have cho&s;en that which will not make you happy.</P>
<P>It was the judgement of the wi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;oc. ad Demon. Plutarch. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Cicero. <HI>1.</HI> Paradox.</NOTE> that all the things which they in their Philo&s;oph<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> call'd <HI>Bona,</HI> were not to be truly &s;tiled good things, or &s;uch as would make their happy man, becau&s;e they were placed upon Fortunes Wheele; <HI>Eripi, &s;urripi po&s;&s;ent,</HI> a man could have no hold-fa&s;t of them, nor call them <HI>Sua</HI> his own; if they &s;tay'd with him to day, they would &s;teale away, or might be &s;toln away to morrow. They were but like a fire a|mong Thornes, that blazeth and crackles, and pre&s;ently goes out. It mu&s;t be in their opinion the con&s;tellation of vertues, that would make their hap|py man; becau&s;e nor the force of fire, nor the waves of the &s;ea, nor di&s;|favour of Princes, nor rage of Tyrants, nor Sword, nor Age, nor Sickne&s;s, no nor Death it &s;elf could take their vertues, nor good deeds from them. You &s;ee what&s;oever was &s;ubject to incon&s;tancy, they thought too weak to be the foundation of felicity; and that tho&s;e things were e&s;pecially to be pur&s;u|ed which were con&s;tant. Their accompt they made upon <HI>non auferentur,</HI> that they could not be taken away. This made them &s;o re&s;olutely hone&s;t.</P>
<P>And yet for this, they wanted much of the &s;ecurity that we have; they
<PB N="24" REF="18"> had but a dimm light to view it by; we have the light over and above of the Scriptures;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cic. de Senect.</NOTE> they had nothing but the Te&s;timony <HI>pur&egrave; &amp; elegantur actae aeta|tis</HI> of an hone&s;t life; which how good &s;oever, yet is &s;ubject to defects; we have a promi&s;e from God, and a pardon annexed to the promi&s;e for what would make us unworthy of it; they had before them for patterns of ver|tue,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertual. de pa|tient.</NOTE> meer natural men, <HI>gloriae animalia;</HI> we have the Prophets, Apo&s;tles, Martyrs, a&s;&s;i&s;ted with extraordinary grace.</P>
<P>Now if tho&s;e men were &s;o affected with what was permanent; and if the con&s;ideration of the alteration of all things below, and the meditation of the unchangeablene&s;s of what they thought the &s;ole good, were to them that &s;aw &s;o little, and &s;o darkly, &s;o powerful a motive to make a good choice; what &s;hould this be to us, who are compa&s;&s;ed with a Cloud of Witne&s;&s;es, have the Word, have the Oath, have the Promi&s;e, have the Son of God, have the Seal of the Spirit, that our labour of love &s;hall not be forgotten, that our &s;incere, though weak &s;ervice of God, &s;hall never be taken away!</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The CONCL&V;SION.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE><HI>Quid in hoc mundo fratres agimus, aut quid d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> hoc mundo?</HI> Oh my Brethren, what is it we do in this Word, or what concerning it? about it we are not to do much, except to undervalue it; &s;olicitous and careful we may not be about it, except it be to &s;hake it off. Our bodies are but the Pri&s;ons of our &s;ouls; and &s;ince we expect a delivery, why is it that we are &s;o much in love with our fetters and &s;hackles? Suppo&s;e the&s;e were of the Gold of Ophir, yet they be fetters &s;till; and therefore let us not &s;o much e|&s;teem their price, as weigh their incumbrance; though they cannot, yet this the trouble mu&s;t certainly be removed, our work mu&s;t be no more than needs mu&s;t to meddle with the World.</P>
<P><HI>Agendum tamen aliquid in mundo.</HI> And yet while we are in the World, we mu&s;t not be idle; for man was borne to labour; even <HI>Adam</HI> in Paradi&s;e had &s;omewhat to do. God loves no loyterer; neither let it di&s;plea&s;e you to learne your work, and take your Task from a Woman. Set <HI>Mary</HI> before you; and what you have &s;een her do before you, do you likewi&s;e.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>Agenda est poenitentia,</HI> you mu&s;t be penitents, that's your fir&s;t and chief work.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ezek. 18.2.</HI> Tertul. de poenit. cap. ult.</NOTE> <HI>For ever &s;ince our father Adam eat &s;owre grapes, the teeth of all us his children have been &s;et on edge,</HI> for which we are to be &s;or|rowful men; being borne to no one work more than to repentance. <HI>Mary</HI> may be our pattern for this, that took up her &s;eat at Chri&s;ts feet, turn'd her eyes into water,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.38.</NOTE> and her haire into a Towel to wa&s;h and wipe him, that by his blood was to wa&s;h and wipe off her &s;pots. This was her fir&s;t choice, and by it &s;he gain'd an ab&s;olution; and if we choo&s;e this way to win Chri&s;ts love, we &s;hall be di&s;mi&s;&s;ed as &s;he was; <HI>Multa remi&s;sa peccata, quia dilexit multum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">47.</NOTE> <HI>Many &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ns were forgiven her, for &s;he loved much.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, And it &s;eems &s;he liked her fir&s;t choice well; for when &s;he cho&s;e again, &s;he cho&s;e the &s;ame place, <HI>the feet.</HI> There fir&s;t &s;he &s;ate to re|pent, here now to learn. The fir&s;t words &s;he heard, were &s;o comfortable, that &s;he thought nothing but honey could drop from tho&s;e lips. No Task &s;he knew could be heavy, that love impo&s;ed; and therefore &s;he was re&s;olved to li&s;ten what burden he would lay upon her; being unburdened of her &s;inne, &s;he found her neck ready for any Yoke. The place &s;he made choice of, &s;hews &s;he did &s;ubmit to be a Scholar, and prepared to do what &s;he was bidden.</P>
<P>And let this be our &s;econd choice, let us all get us to our Saviours feet,
<PB N="25" REF="18"> hear him, and learn of him, as <HI>Mary</HI> did, and &s;uffer all other things &s;lip by us in compari&s;on of than which will never fail; it is a nece&s;&s;ary point, we cannot be without it; 'tis a good part, for it will make us good; and 'tis a la&s;ting part; the prai&s;e of it, and the prize or reward of it &s;hall never be ta|ken away from us.</P>
<P>While then we have day before us, let us work; work and &s;weat for that meat which peri&s;heth not; while we are in Gods Vineyard, let us labour; labour for that immortal <HI>penny,</HI> for which our Ma&s;ter hath hired us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.1, 2. Mat. 13.44.</NOTE> while we are in the field (the field is the World) dig, dig and delve for that <HI>hidden trea&s;ure, that the wi&s;e labourer having found, &s;old all, and bought it.</HI> For what we work for el&s;e, and &s;weat for el&s;e, and labour for el&s;e, and dig for el&s;e, and Trade for el&s;e, and purcha&s;e el&s;e, is nor <HI>vera,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> nor <HI>no&s;tra;</HI> is not true, nor truly ours. Not true good, for it will prove like <HI>Jobs</HI> Winter brook, full of water in Winter when it raines day by day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 6.15, 16.</NOTE> and there is no want; but in the greate&s;t drought when the earth chops and gapes for raine, not a drop in it; neither can we call the&s;e properly our own, becau&s;e we cannot carry them along with us; <HI>Si ve&s;tra, tollite vobi&s;cum.</HI> Prove them to be yours, and take them in Gods Name along with you; &s;uch property as we have, we cannot hold it long; if as long as life, which is not alwayes, yet not for ever.</P>
<P>We commonly di&s;tingui&s;h of life, and divide it into this pre&s;ent, and that which is to come; and this we call temporal, the other eternal; in re&s;pect of Nature thus I know it is; but if we will look upon Grace, there is but one life; this and that the &s;ame; and that no other than the continuance of this. <HI>&V;ita haec una &amp; eadem quoad e&s;&s;entiam, quae &agrave; &s;uo principio per|manet in aeternum;</HI> this life of grace is but one and the &s;ame in e&s;&s;ence, pro|ceeding from &s;uch a principle that doth continue for ever; to wit, the pow|erful operation of the holy Spirit, which rai&s;eth and quickens every member of Chri&s;ts my&s;tical Body in this life, and will quicken it in that other eternally.</P>
<P>When we go out of this Valley of teares, we begin not then to live, but we live more perfectly; what we did here in much weakne&s;s and defici|ency, that there we &s;hall do to the heighth; what here we po&s;&s;e&s;s but in part, there we &s;hall enjoy in the whole; our vertues that had here their abate|ments and degrees, &s;hall there be con&s;ummate; and the evidences of this our new life, which are the actions proceeding from tho&s;e vertues full of im|perfection below, &s;hall above be made ab&s;olute; this is that Saint <HI>Paul</HI> teacheth. Now we &s;ee through a Gla&s;s, <GAP DESC="foreign">, darkly in a Riddle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.12, 13.</NOTE> the picture of a face for a face; but then we &s;hall &s;ee the face it &s;elf, <HI>face to face;</HI> now I know in part, but then &s;hall I know even as I am known; yet however this dark &s;ight is a &s;ight; and this partial knowledge, is knowledge which is not extinct when we go from hence, for it abideth; <HI>Now abideth Faith,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 13.</NOTE> <HI>Hope, and Charity;</HI> and what abideth, though never &s;o much bettered, yet is in &s;ome &s;ence the &s;ame it was before that alteration; for a change of any quality in degrees, never alters the &s;pecies. Our faith that admits of degrees here, our love that ri&s;eth and falls into more or le&s;s here, our hope and confidence that hath its <HI>Lucida intervalla,</HI> &s;woonings and recoveries here; our choice that is incon&s;i&s;tent, weak, cold, and remi&s;s here, together with all the Chri&s;tian acts that flow from the&s;e, will be, and remain the &s;elf|&s;ame, though &s;trong, fervent, ab&s;olute, and con&s;tant. Whence St. <HI>J<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hn</HI> calls it <HI>Vita manens, a life that abideth;</HI> and denies it of any malicious man (the like may be &s;aid of every irregenerate per&s;on) <HI>and we know that no &s;uch hath eternal life abiding in him.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 3.15.</NOTE> It is of this world the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks; for in that other there's no place for hatred, or malice, nor murder
<PB N="26" REF="19"> to be committed; in this then that eternal life begins, which is to abide in heaven; there we &s;hall continue to manife&s;t the &s;ame acts of the &s;ame life we lead here, though far more perfectly.</P>
<P>It is an errour then with which many men are &s;educed, that no man en|ters into eternal life before he dyes; for whil&s;t he lives among men in the Church Militant, he mu&s;t &s;et his foot upon the Borders of it. He mu&s;t live the life of grace, that intends to live the life of glory; which two differ on|ly in this, that this is a gracious, but that a gracious and glorious life. Grace is a nece&s;&s;ary ingredient in both, but heightned to that pitch, that it is perfect and perpetual.</P>
<P>To &s;hut up all then, remember this Truth, that you mu&s;t carry &s;omewhat out of this World with you when you go hence; &s;omewhat that will not leave you. It is the life of grace which you mu&s;t begin here, if you hope to be perfect there; &s;tudy to be gracious, or you can have little confidence to be glorious.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 3.2, 3.</NOTE> So &s;aith St. <HI>John, Who&s;oever hath this hope,</HI> that is, <HI>to be like God, and &s;ee him as he is,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>purificat, ca&s;tificat, &s;anctificat,</HI> puri|fieth him&s;elf, and purgeth out the ba&s;er dro&s;s; labours to have a cha&s;t &s;oul; though he cannot be perfectly holy, yet he is upon the Work of San|ctification, and doing &s;omewhat about it to perfect it day by day.</P>
<P>There is not any thing in the world but hath its beginning; &s;entences be|gin from words, words from letters, harve&s;t from corne, corne from &s;eeds; in this life it is that this &s;eed is &s;own, in that other is the Harve&s;t; in this is the labour, in that the wages; and this Harve&s;t and the&s;e Wages, are the penny of immortality, which is circular and round, and hath no end; time &s;hall not end it, not any ca&s;ualty or enemy di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;s us of it. Our Saviour makes this promi&s;e for our encouragement to <HI>Mary,</HI> that this nece&s;|&s;ary work in her hand, <HI>this good part &s;hould never be taken away from Her.</HI></P>
<P>Never from her, nor never from any that are of her minde. When <HI>mul|ta,</HI> many things; nay, <HI>omnia,</HI> all things of the world &s;hall faile, vani&s;h, and be taken away from us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 16.2.</NOTE> or we from them, and in the clo&s;e as <HI>Jobs</HI> friends, <HI>prove mi&s;erable comforters;</HI> this one nece&s;&s;ary will &s;tay behind, this good part will continue by us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ruth 1.17.</NOTE> and like <HI>Naomi</HI> to <HI>Ruth, prove a fa&s;t friend;</HI> not leave us, nor for&s;ake us, till it hath brought our &s;ouls, and cau&s;ed them to be receiv'd into everla&s;ting habitations.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="3" TYPE="sermon">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>HEB. 3.12, 13.</HI></BIBL>
<P><BIBL><HI>12.</HI></BIBL> Take heed, brethren, le&s;t th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.</P>
<P><BIBL><HI>13.</HI></BIBL> But Exhort one another dayly, while it is called to day, le&s;t any of you be hardned through the deceitfulne&s;s of &s;in.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE>THE advice is good, that Gods Emba&s;&s;adours make choice to in&s;i&s;t on that part of their me&s;&s;age as may be mo&s;t profitable to them to whom they are &s;ent, and make deepe&s;t impre&s;&s;ions on their hearts; becau&s;e it is very uncertain whether they &s;hall ever have opportunity to &s;peak againe, or the people life to hear them. This hath alwayes moved me to &s;elect &s;uch por|tions of holy Writ, and open them before you, as might be of &s;pecial u&s;e; neither peri&s;h in the eare, nor yet &s;catter in the ayr, but warme you to the heart; as well knowing the uncertainty, whether we &s;hall ever meet againe in this place, I to &s;peak, or you to heare. And for this I have a pre|&s;ident,
<PB N="27" REF="19"> the Authour of this Epi&s;tle, that makes choice of an old fit Text out of the 95. P&s;alm, and allots no longer time than the pre&s;ent to heare it. <HI>Hodie &s;i vocem, To day if you will hear his voice;</HI> and repeats it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. 7. &amp; 13. &amp; 15. cap. 4.7.</NOTE> and dwells upon it, and applyes it four &s;everal times as a circum&s;tance never to be forgotten.</P>
<P>But this was not the &s;ole rea&s;on that drew my eyes to the&s;e words. In my former Medications I commended unto you Religion, to which there is not &s;uch an enemy as Infidelity, &s;uch a friend as Faith; the fir&s;t di&s;couraging and retarding, the other inciting and giving life to all Chri&s;tian duties. I thought I could not more powerfully give you a Caveat of the danger of the one, and move you to hold fa&s;t the other, than by renewing this coun&s;el of our Apo&s;tle, <HI>Take heed, Brethren, le&s;t, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;ub&s;tance of his Sermon, is, that Chri&s;t and his Go&s;pel is mo&s;t dili|gently to be heard.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Heard before the Prophets, Fathers, Angels,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 1.2.</NOTE> becau&s;e he is in Nature and Office far &s;uperiour to them.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Heard before <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> becau&s;e in his Mini&s;try much beyond him:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 3. ad ver. 1. ad 6.</NOTE> <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> being but the Servant in the Hou&s;e, he the Lord of the Hou&s;e.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. And for the circum&s;tance of time, heard pre&s;ently, without delay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 7.</NOTE> <HI>to day;</HI> becau&s;e there may be no more dayes of hearing.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>And that all this may come the warmer to their and our hearts, he propo|&s;eth the dayes of old, how God had dealt with their fore-fathers upon their <HI>Exodus</HI> out of <HI>Egypt,</HI> and how they had dealt with him. God gave them a Law, and a day to heare it; a day of forty yeares long in the Wilderne&s;s; but they and their fathers were <HI>gynhedlaeth gyndin,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 78.8.</NOTE> <HI>a stubborne and rebelli|ous Generation;</HI> a people much like your <HI>gyndin</HI> &s;tiff ground with a &s;tubborn heart; as unfit to receive any motions of Gods Spirit, as an unturn'd fallow is for &s;eed. And becau&s;e by <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> meekne&s;s, nor by Gods immediate voice they would not be broken up, that Generation God broke off;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 17.</NOTE> their carka&s;&s;es fell in the Wilderne&s;s, which fearful example the Apo&s;tle here propo&s;eth, and inforceth upon them by an Argument drawn <HI>&agrave; minori ad majus,</HI> from the le&s;s to the greater. If they fell who would not heare <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> much more you who will not heare Chri&s;t; if they peri&s;hed who would not obey the Law, much more you who will not be obedient to the Go&s;pel; if they were de&s;troy|ed who would not believe the Servant, much more you who will not accept of the Lord him&s;elf; and therefore my Brethren <HI>Take heed, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In the fir&s;t of the&s;e Ver&s;es, the Apo&s;tle &s;tands as it were upon his Watch, and gives warning, <HI>Cavete.</HI> In the &s;econd, he calls up the City to make Head again&s;t the Enemy, <HI>Exhort one another.</HI> In the fir&s;t he di&s;covers who this great Enemy is; In the &s;econd he &s;hews how he may be prevented, and defeated.</P>
<P N="1">1. The General that leads in all &s;in upon us, is <HI>&V;nbelief.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">The Summe of the 12. ver&s;e.</NOTE> The Caution is punctually again&s;t that: About which the Apo&s;tle di&s;covers
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The Original. The naughtine&s;s of our nature. <HI>Evil.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The Seat. <HI>The heart.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The purpo&s;e. To make us Apo&s;tates. <HI>To depart.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. And that from no le&s;s Ma&s;ter than <HI>the living God.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>To &s;uch an Enemy no man mu&s;t give place; no not for an hour; for to that end the Apo&s;tles Caution extends
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. To all times. <GAP DESC="foreign">, a word omitted in the Tran&s;lation. <HI>Take heed, le&s;t at any time.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. To all per&s;ons. <HI>Not in any of you.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>The Enemy is apparent, <HI>&V;nbelief.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">The Summe of the 13. ver&s;e.</NOTE> But after good take-heed the readie&s;t
<PB N="28" REF="20"> munition again&s;t him is exhortation. Good admonition, and continual in|&s;truction is the mo&s;t effectual means to defeat unbelief. About which the A|po&s;tle exhorts,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That we do exhort, or call upon.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That it be done in Charity, mutually, <HI>Exhort one another.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Sea&s;onably, continually, <HI>dayly,</HI> or day after day.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Speedily, without delay or tergiver&s;ation. It may not be put off till to morrow, but done it mu&s;t be, <HI>while it is called to day.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>For if it be either omitted, or delay'd, the con&s;equence may be dange|rous; no le&s;s than a dry, hard heart; the heart may be hardned by &s;in, by the deceitfulne&s;s of &s;in. Two <HI>Ne's,</HI> two Adverbs of forbidding we meet with in the&s;e two ver&s;es, and they both give us rea&s;ons; one of the Caution, the other of the Exhortation. The fir&s;t not attended, and the la&s;t omitted or de|ferr'd, may produce a lamentable effect.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Attend not to the Caution, and there may follow Apo&s;tacy <HI>from the li|ving God;</HI> and therefore <HI>Cavete Ne, &amp;c.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Omit or defer the Exhortation, and there may follow hardne&s;s of heart; <HI>and therefore exhort,</HI> Ne, <HI>le&s;t any of you be hardned, &amp;c.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Here then is good Chri&s;tian coun&s;el given, and that it may be the better taken, the Apo&s;tle u&s;hers it in with a word of love, <HI>Brethren.</HI></P>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>1. <HI>Brethren.</HI></HEAD>
<P>Had Saint <HI>Paul</HI> by this appellation intended to bring to their memory, only his alliance and neerne&s;s of blood with the <HI>Hebrews,</HI> as one de&s;cended of the &s;ame &s;tock with them, it had been a powerful motive to gain attenti|on; for &s;uch was his heavine&s;s, and continual &s;orrow for the&s;e his <HI>Brethren,</HI> his kin&s;men in the fle&s;h,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 9.2, 3.</NOTE> <HI>that he could wi&s;h him&s;elf accur&s;ed from Chri&s;t,</HI> con|ditionally they might be ingraffed.</P>
<P>But evident it is that many of the&s;e <HI>Hebrews</HI> to whom he writes, were of a more noble Brother-hood;<NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 12.13. 1 Pet. 2.17.</NOTE> that Brother-hood which Saint <HI>Peter</HI> gives in charge to love. By this name then as a cunning Oratour, he doth <HI>captare benevolentiam,</HI> in&s;inuate into their good-will. For this being granted, as indeed it mu&s;t, that all Chri&s;tians (ever &s;ince Chri&s;t him&s;elf was not a|&s;hamed to call them Brethren) are of the &s;ame hou&s;e and Brother-hood:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 2.11.</NOTE> <HI>Paul</HI> a Brother to them, they Brethren to him; it cannot be conceived that he will be the Authour of evil coun&s;el; it were not the part of a Brother to &s;e|duce, to teach them what &s;hould do them hurt.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. Ep.</NOTE> He that breaths from the &s;ame &s;pirit is compa&s;&s;ionate, and compa&s;&s;ion ari&s;eth from bowels of pity, and bowels of pity may be believ'd to give good coun&s;el. They are truly affected that are Brethren, will wi&s;h no more hurt, nor give wor&s;e advice to a Brother than to them&s;elves. <HI>Dives</HI> would not do it in hell;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.28.</NOTE> that damn'd gho&s;t had a care of &s;uch; a &s;uit he made that they might not come into that place of torment. They then certainly have le&s;s charity than tho&s;e accur&s;ed &s;pirits, that wi&s;h &s;o ill to their Brethren, that coun&s;el &s;o ill again&s;t their Brethren.</P>
<P>All we that &s;peak in the &s;pirit of meekne&s;s, dare not be &s;u&s;pected for &s;uch ill coun&s;ellours. We know that we are not &s;o much Brethren in the fle&s;h, as Brethren in the Lord; we have the &s;ame God for our Father, the &s;ame Church for our Mother, the &s;ame Chri&s;t for our Elder Brother, the &s;ame Spirit for our Informer. We are begotten of the &s;ame immortal &s;eed, wa&s;hed in the &s;ame Laver, joyn'd by the &s;inews of the &s;ame faith, nouri&s;h|ed by the &s;ame Milk. All the&s;e bonds then of Brotherly love, in which we
<PB N="29" REF="20"> are united, enforceth us to &s;tand upon our Watch; and as from &s;ome high <HI>Pharos,</HI> at the approach of any danger, to lift up our voice as a Trumpet, and cry to our Brethren.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, Look about you, Beware, Take heed.</HEAD>
<P>Now what and if we &s;hould cry nothing el&s;e in your eares, make up all our Sermons of <HI>Cavete's,</HI> were it any more than needs? for we walk in the mid&s;t of &s;nares; not only near them, but in the very mid&s;t of them; with|in, without, on the left, on the right hand they are; and would not then a Caveat do always well? No que&s;tion, it were a wi&s;e and a pious meditation thus for a man to di&s;cour&s;e with his own &s;oul in the morning; This day I am to enter into the World, and &s;nares are &s;et for me in every place; be it that I be not very cautelous, no help for me but I mu&s;t be taken. Suppo&s;e I am going to prayer, my heart will be ready to &s;ugge&s;t &s;ome idle thought; whence our Saviour puts in his Caveat for that, <HI>Take heed how ye pray.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.</NOTE> Be it that I am ready to do &s;ome charitable deed, &s;ome thought of vain-glory may marre it; whence Chri&s;t puts in a Caveat for that too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.1.</NOTE> <HI>Take heed that you do not your almes before men.</HI> The like may be &s;aid of every good work; the be&s;t may be marr'd for want of good take heed. And if it be thus with the good, how much more caution is to be u&s;ed about the bad? Tho&s;e be vi|tious and dangerous in their own nature, not in circum&s;tance only. Take &s;pecial heed, when you are tempted to any of them; <HI>for lust when it hath conceived, brings forth &s;inne; and &s;inne when it is fini&s;hed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">James 1.15.</NOTE> <HI>brings forth death.</HI></P>
<P>There is no duty then &s;o nece&s;&s;ary for us to pre&s;s as that which hath <HI>Cavete</HI> annexed unto it. For our eyes can never be quick enough for our heart; a deceitful piece it is, and will put a fallacy upon us if we look not to it; and in no one thing &s;ooner than about our Faith; per&s;wading us either not to believe at all, or el&s;e to believe what, and as we li&s;t; &s;o much as &s;hall be con&s;onant to &s;en&s;e and rea&s;on, and no more. The advice then that the A|po&s;tle here gives, is Brotherly.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Take heed that there be not in any of you a heart of unbelief.</HEAD>
<P>We need not go farre to &s;earch into the nature of this &s;in; for the Apo&s;tle hath in this place lively &s;et it forth before our eyes, by the &s;eat, the cau&s;e, the effect; the &s;eat where it re&s;ts, is the heart; the cau&s;e, the naughty malignant quality of the heart; the effect, Apo&s;tacy, revolt, &s;eparation; it withdraws from the living God.</P>
<P>For whereas Divine Revelations, Gods comfortable promi&s;es, his fear|ful judgements, obedience to his Commandments, are the object of our faith; unbelief &s;eated in the heart, labours to per&s;wade that the&s;e are neither good, nor true, nor nece&s;&s;ary. Not good, for they oppo&s;e our appetite; not true, for they contradict our rea&s;on; not nece&s;&s;ary, for we can well live, nay live more contentedly without them; and being not true, we need not be|lieve them; and being not good, nor nece&s;&s;ary, we need not obey them.</P>
<P>This is that which God &s;o much complains of by his Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea 8.12.</NOTE> <HI>I have written unto them the wonderful things of my Law, and they accounted them a &s;trange thing;</HI> &s;trange to their judgements, for they did not prize them, nor e&s;teem them, but lay them by, as &s;ome refu&s;e &s;tuff; &s;trange to their thoughts, for they did not minde them, not meditate on them; &s;trange to their affections, they loved them not, they liked them not, could finde no ta&s;te, no reli&s;h at all in them; &s;trange to their practice, for they ca&s;t them behind their back,
<PB N="30" REF="21"> and &s;corn'd to live after them; and all this practical Athei&s;m aro&s;e from an incredulous heart. Our Saviour makes it evident, when he breaks thus pa|thetically upon his Di&s;ciples, or the multitude rather, <HI>O faithle&s;s, and per|ver&s;e generation!</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 17.17.</NOTE> faithle&s;s fir&s;t, and perver&s;e after; intimating that the un|toward perver&s;ene&s;s of their wills proceeded from their weakne&s;s of faith; per|ver&s;e they had never been, had they not been faithle&s;s.</P>
<P>For infidelity is the great grandame of all mi&s;chief; it multiplies &s;innes, and encrea&s;eth the&s;e accur&s;ed Brats from generation to generation; to me it &s;eems very like the <HI>Indian</HI> figtree,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Clu&s;ius.</NOTE> or <HI>arbor de raes,</HI> which growing out of the ground with many boughs, yields certain gummy &s;trings of the colour of gold; the&s;e roping down to the earth, do there take root, and make as it were new trees, or a wood of Trees; from the fir&s;t &s;tock there &s;pring &s;o many plants by a perpetual &s;ucce&s;&s;ion, that they cover by this means the be&s;t part &s;ometimes of a mile. This is a lively embleme of infidelity; for where it roots, it &s;hoots, and every &s;in is a branch of it; and the&s;e &s;o chain'd and linked together, that they cover a whole Country. There is not a wick|edne&s;s to be named, that one way or other hath not its ri&s;e and dependence from this root; the overflowing of &s;in is from hence; &s;o that notwith&s;tand|ing the &s;pecious Titles of Chri&s;tians, Believers, Profe&s;&s;ours, a man may yet propo&s;e the Prophets Que&s;tion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.1.</NOTE> <HI>Who hath believed our report?</HI> Our Saviour allows us to judge of the Tree by the fruits; and the fruits I am &s;ure, Proclaime that there is in mo&s;t Chri&s;tians, an unbelieving heart.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, The pre&s;ence of Gods eye is not believed to be at our thoughts, over our actions. For we are a&s;hamed to do many things in the eyes of men, that we colour not to plot and act in the eye of God; did we believe that God were by, we would &s;tand in awe; at lea&s;t not be audacious to &s;in. The P&s;al|mi&s;t tells us of men that encourage them&s;elves in mi&s;chief, and lay &s;nares; and upon what ground but this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 64.5. P&s;alm 73.11.</NOTE> <HI>That God was not in their thoughts? Tu&s;h, &s;ay they, how &s;hould God know? is there knowledge in the Most High?</HI> This is the fir&s;t-born of infidelity.</P>
<P>Secondly, Neither do mo&s;t men believe the particular providence of God; a general Father perhaps confe&s;s him they may; but no kinde Father to provide for them; and therefore they will provide for them&s;elves. In their wants <HI>they tru&s;t to their wits;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 1.16. Jer. 17.5. 1 Sam. 28.7. 2 Kings 1. P&s;alm 18.30.</NOTE> in their di&s;tre&s;&s;es, <HI>to &s;ome arme of fle&s;h;</HI> in their &s;ickne&s;s, <HI>&s;ome run to the Witch at Endor,</HI> or <HI>the god of Ekron.</HI> God is for&s;aken upon the lea&s;t occa&s;ion, or lea&s;t tru&s;ted, though he hath promi&s;ed <HI>never to for&s;ake tho&s;e that tru&s;t to him;</HI> and this is another childe of in|fidelity.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Again, many call him <HI>Lord, Lord,</HI> but believe not &s;o; for why &s;hould men conceive and call him Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.21. Luke 6.46. Jer. 35.8, 15, 16, 17.</NOTE> and do &s;o little that he bids them? The words of <HI>Jonadab the &s;on of Rechab that he commanded his &s;ons, are performed; but I, &s;aith the Lord, have spoken, Do this,</HI> and yet there is no more heed given to my Commands, than to dreames; as little account made of what I &s;ay, as if my injunctions were not given in earne&s;t, I meant not what I &s;aid, nor intended to call for an account of what I com|manded. This is Infidelities impudent and gracele&s;s &s;on. For could this bold di&s;obedience be found in any profe&s;&s;our of Religion, did he believe that his Lord is a great and a jealous God? of Authority to command, of power to puni&s;h?</P>
<P>Fourthly, Farther yet believed it is by &s;ome, that there be other expiati|ons of &s;in than by effu&s;ion of blood;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Socinus</HI> and his followers.</NOTE> and upon it there be that erre in the prime Article. For an example of holy life, they will admit the life of the Son of God; and his death for a pattern of patience, but not for a &s;atisfacti|on,
<PB N="31" REF="21"> not for a ran&s;ome. The goodne&s;s or God, they tell us, may make a|mends to his ju&s;tice, the blood of his Son was not requi&s;ite: Whereas the Scripture in plaine terms informs us, That when Chri&s;t &s;uffered,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">5. Lam. 1.12. I&s;a. 53.10. Mark 10.46. 1 Tim. 2.6.</NOTE> there was a Demon&s;tration of his ju&s;tice, and a full Declaration of his anger, <HI>that he made his &s;oul an offering for &s;in;</HI> with which <HI>God was &s;o well-plea&s;ed, that he did accept this his precious blood,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>for a &s;ufficient price; and</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>a price in exchange for the &s;innes of the world.</HI></P>
<P>Fifthly, But this, as it is not believed by &s;ome, &s;o it is not regarded by others; for many tread under foot the Sonne of God, crucifying by their prophane life him afre&s;h; who beare their heads &s;o high,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 19.30.</NOTE> as if Chri&s;t had ne|ver bowed his head, <HI>and given up his &s;oul upon the cro&s;s for them.</HI> And the&s;e are two twins of infidelity, of a later birth; for the innocent and Or|thodox Chri&s;tians of the Primitive Church knew them not; whereof the fir&s;t believes not his Doctrine, and the la&s;t &s;eem to di&s;-believe his Death.</P>
<P>Sixthly, As for heaven and the glory thereof,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 33.31, 32.</NOTE> they are entertain'd as the mu&s;ique of a plea&s;ant &s;ong; much commended they are for the aire, and for that vouch&s;afed the hearing, and yet in a trice as little remembred of the one, as of the other. Whereas were men fully per&s;waded that an inheritance in heaven were a reality, a Crown, a Kingdome, there would be more &s;uit made for it; they would, that they would <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.1.</NOTE> &s;et a&s;ide earthly things, <HI>and &s;et them&s;elves to &s;eek the things above.</HI> This &s;upine carele&s;ne&s;s is the &s;ixth i&s;&s;ue of an incredulous heart.</P>
<P>Seventhly, La&s;tly, The terrours of the Lord, are no terrours to many;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.11.</NOTE> nor the Angels Trumpet, nor the la&s;t judgement, nor the en&s;uing torments; for were men fully convinc'd of the wrath and vengeance of that day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 2.2. Zeph. 1.15. Acts 24.25. Dan. 4.27. 1 Cor. 11.31.</NOTE> the <HI>darkne&s;s, the gloomine&s;s,</HI> the fearful and final &s;entence, and that the paines of hell were &s;uch as indeed they are, they would <HI>tremble with Foelix when they heard a di&s;cour&s;e of the last judgement;</HI> they would <HI>break off their &s;ins by repentance, and judge them&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lves that they be not judged.</HI> And this &s;e|curity is the &s;eventh birth of an unbelieving &s;oul.</P>
<P>To collect all, &s;ince the pre&s;ence of God, nor yet his providence, &s;ince the Commands of the Almighty, nor yet his only Sons Sacrifice, &s;ince the joyes of heaven, nor the &s;orrows of hell can have a &s;ufficient influence to better mens lives; Evident it is, <HI>that all are not I&s;rael, that are of I&s;rael;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 9.6. 1 John 2.19.</NOTE> that &s;uch as dwell among us, <HI>are not of us;</HI> in plaine Engli&s;h, that among Chri&s;tians there be Infidels; and therefore there is yet u&s;e of the Apo&s;tles Caution, <HI>Take heed that ther<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> be not in any of you an evil heart of unbe|lief.</HI> The &s;eeds, with the former-mentioned fruits of Infidelity, in &s;ome de|gree or other, at one time or other, are in mo&s;t men; take heed then even of the&s;e; but however beware of this core of unbelief.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> A heart of Unbelief. A heart.</HEAD>
<P>By the heart of man in the Scriptures, is comprehended the under&s;tan|ding, the will, the affections; blindne&s;s then and ignorance in the under&s;tan|ding, wilfulne&s;s, ob&s;tinacy, and perver&s;ene&s;s in the will; No &s;ence, nor love, nor delight, nor content of what God hath done for our Redemption, make up this incredulous heart, or to &s;peak in the Hebrai&s;me, this heart of unbelief, a heart inform'd, full fraught, delighted with it, &s;et up|on it.</P>
<P>To help all this, God hath given man &s;ufficient means,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.105. Rev. 3.18. P&s;al. 119.18. Luke 24.31.</NOTE> would he make u&s;e of them. <HI>His Word to be a Lanthorne, an eye-&s;alve to remove ignorance and darkne&s;s from the minde;</HI> and the act is called <HI>illumination, or the open|ing
<PB N="32" REF="22"> of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 16.7, 13. Acts 2.2, 3. Mal. 3.3. Acts 16.14.</NOTE> <HI>his Spirit to be the Comforter and Coun&s;ellour; a fire, and a winde;</HI> a winde to beat down the &s;tubbornne&s;s and perver&s;ene&s;s; and a fire to melt out the malice and pride of our wills; and this is call'd <HI>the opening of the heart.</HI> La&s;tly, his grace he hath be&s;tow'd upon us to remove our cold|ne&s;s, and di&s;orderly affections of honour, riches, plea&s;ures, and other &s;en|&s;ualities, and to beget in us a pious love, delight, and good-will to him&s;elf, and Religion, and with joy and great content to apply the &s;weet promi&s;es of the Go&s;pel unto our &s;elves. Now when men will have no care <HI>to know the things that belong to their peace,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 19.42.</NOTE> nor yet a&s;&s;ent to them after they are made known, but rather oppo&s;e them; nor yet bear any affection or love to them, nor care to apply them, but rather &s;light and contemn them; guilty they are, and carry about with them this &s;ame heart of unbelief; of which the Apo|&s;tle gives his Caveat, <HI>Ne &s;it,</HI> that it be not in any Profe&s;&s;or.</P>
<P>The Caution is directed again&s;t three &s;orts of men.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Again&s;t tho&s;e that know not.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Again&s;t tho&s;e that know and a&s;&s;ent not.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Again&s;t tho&s;e that know and a&s;&s;ent to, yet apply not to them&s;elves the &s;weet promi&s;es of the Go&s;pel.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="subsection">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Fir&s;t then of tho&s;e that know not; and beware of that kinde of incredulous Heart.</HEAD>
<P>A Latitude there is in the apprehen&s;ion of the object of faith; and to &s;et a bound to this, and &s;trictly to define ju&s;t how far you mu&s;t know in every particular, or incur damnation, is no work for my &s;hallow capacity.</P>
<P>I can ea&s;ily admit the &s;chool di&s;tinction of <HI>explicita &amp; implicita fides,</HI> in a good &s;en&s;e, and yet neither plead for the Colliers faith, nor maintain that ignorance is the Mother of Devotion. By <HI>fides explicita,</HI> we mean a cleare, di&s;tinct, and particular faith or belief of any Point or Article of Chri&s;tian Religion. By <HI>fides implicita,</HI> a more dark, &s;ecret, or hidden belief implied, and as it were wrapped up in the belief of another more general Article. As for example; in the Article of Chri&s;ts Incarnation, we do believe clearly and di&s;tinctly, not only that Chri&s;t the Son of God was made fle&s;h for us, but further, that in particular there were in him two Natures, but one per|&s;on; two di&s;tinct wills; the humane Nature pa&s;&s;ible, the Divine impa&s;&s;ible. But yet &s;ome other men are not bound to know the&s;e and other particulars &s;o di&s;tinctly as Schollars; it &s;ufficeth that they know them by an implyed faith. The Article they mu&s;t know and believe di&s;tinctly, <HI>viz.</HI> That the Son of God was incarnate for mans Redemption; but the con&s;equences of it no farther than their capacities or education, time, &s;tation can reach to. God forbid that we &s;hould tye up every unlearned man to that mea&s;ure of knowledge which is requi&s;ite in the Prie&s;t and greate&s;t Clarks; who, be they never &s;o learned, mu&s;t believe al&s;o many my&s;teries in the Scripture, which they are not able to explain with an implicite faith, or el&s;e God help them.</P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.48.</NOTE>1. This I know, <HI>that to whom&s;oever God hath given more, more of him &s;hall be required;</HI> as well in belief as obedience; and therefore many things may be nece&s;&s;ary for a knowing mans &s;alvation, which are not &s;o nece&s;&s;ary for a poor &s;imple &s;oul.</P>
<P N="2">2. This again is mo&s;t certain, that the peremptory e&s;tabli&s;hing of many points (which are remote deductions from the fir&s;t agreed on principle) to be believ'd as matters of faith nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, hath lo&s;t the peace and unity of the Church, as is evident by the <HI>Trent</HI> Articles.</P>
<P N="3">3. And the Learned and Judicious have been very &s;ober and charitable in their judgements to weaker capacities, what&s;oever zealous Gno&s;ticks pre&s;s to the contrary. A fal&s;e conceit is crept into the minds of men, to imagine
<PB N="33" REF="22"> that the points of Religion that be manife&s;t, are but &s;ome petty points; &s;carce worth the learning; Tho&s;e to be great, and none to tho&s;e that have &s;ubtile di|&s;putes about them.</P>
<P>Whereas Chri&s;t Epitomizes the whole Law of obedience into the&s;e two great Commands, <HI>the love of God, and the love of our Neighbour.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 22.37, 39. Heb. 11.6.</NOTE> And the Apo&s;tle the whole Law of belief to the&s;e two principles; 1. <HI>He that co|meth to God, mu&s;t believe that he is.</HI> 2. <HI>That he is a rewarder of them that diligently &s;eek him.</HI> Which our Saviour hath, though as briefly, yet more ful|ly expre&s;&s;ed, <HI>This is life eternal to know thee to be the only true God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 17.3.</NOTE> <HI>and Je&s;us Chri&s;t whom thou ha&s;t &s;ent.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Thomas Aquinas</HI> had rea&s;on to &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">22<HI>^a^e. q.</HI> 1. <HI>Art.</HI> 10.</NOTE> <HI>Articuli fidei &s;unt &s;icuti principia per &s;e nota,</HI> The Articles of our Creed, are as it were, principles known of them&s;elves; a way without Controver&s;ie that lies fair enough, and plaine enough, were men peaceable; and <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazianzen.</NOTE> that hath made tho&s;e things plaine that are nece&s;&s;ary, and tho&s;e again not nece&s;&s;ary not plain. In one word, I am of <HI>Hilaries</HI> opinion; <HI>in ab&s;oluto &amp; facili e&s;t nobis aeter|nitas,</HI> Eternal life is propo&s;ed in an ab&s;olute but ea&s;ie &s;umme; he means in re&s;pect of knowledge; that to know the Trinity in Unity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hilar. lib. <HI>8.</HI> de Trin.</NOTE> and Unity in Tri|nity as &s;et out in the Creed; God to be the Creatour, Chri&s;t to be the Re|deemer, with the whole &s;tory of the Redemption of mankind, as it is there expre&s;&s;ed; the Holy Gho&s;t to be the Lord and giver of life, who &s;pake by the Prophets; that God hath his Church, his people, to whom there be|longs Remi&s;&s;ion, Re&s;urrection, life eternal, is a &s;ufficient knowledge of &s;al|vation for &s;imple men. <HI>Cedat curio&s;itas fidei, cedat gloria &s;aluti;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. de pre|&s;cript. c. <HI>14.</HI></NOTE> <HI>cert&egrave; aut non ob&s;trepant, aut quie&s;cant adver&s;us regulam, Nihil ultra &s;cire, om|nia &s;cire e&s;t, &amp;c.</HI> Let curio&s;ity of &s;earching yield to faith and believing; let the vain-glory of di&s;puting, give place to the &s;tudy of our &s;alvation; and at lea&s;twi&s;e let them not brabble at all, or let them be &s;ilent again&s;t this rule of faith; for to know nothing beyond this, is to know all things.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;tin.</NOTE> <HI>Turbam non intelligendi vivacitas, &s;ed credendi &s;implicitas tuti&s;&s;imam facit.</HI> The vulgar &s;ort of Chri&s;tians are made mo&s;t &s;ure of their &s;alvation, not by the vivacity or quickne&s;s of their under&s;tanding, but by the &s;implicity of belie|ving. But in what degrees this knowledge mu&s;t be had (the gifts of God are &s;o various, and the per&s;ons that receive the&s;e gifts of &s;o &s;everal capacities) that for my part, I hold it impo&s;&s;ible for the able&s;t pen to expre&s;s.</P>
<P>Beware then about the&s;e ab&s;olute nece&s;&s;ary foundations of faith and obe|dience, of wilful ignorance. The Apo&s;tles Caveat is again&s;t that, that is a great part of the heart of unbelief; and <HI>Ne &s;it,</HI> that it may not be in any of the <HI>Hebrews,</HI> he in&s;tructs them in this Epi&s;tle about the <HI>Nature. Per&s;on, Office, Prie&s;t-hood, and Sacrifice of Chri&s;t.</HI> The&s;e no man may be igno|rant of, as neither of the other Articles as far as his capacity reacheth. As for what is above it, I no way doubt but there &s;hall be an indulgence granted; Thou &s;halt be accepted <HI>not according to that thou ha&s;t not,</HI> nor could&s;t not have, <HI>but according to that thou ha&s;t.</HI> The dying Ideots &s;hort prayer, was with|out doubt heard by him that in&s;pired it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 8.11.</NOTE> <HI>Lord require no more than thou ha&s;t given.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="subsection">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Again&s;t tho&s;e that know and a&s;&s;ent not.</HEAD>
<P>This is the ca&s;e of &s;imple, hone&s;t, ignorant people. A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d yet if the&s;e (as &s;ome are very rigid, and fix upon this people <HI>accur&s;ed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 7.49.</NOTE> <HI>becau&s;e they know not the Law</HI> in as nigh a degree as them&s;elves) mu&s;t be reckon'd among Infidels; &s;ure I am that there are another &s;ort, that much more worthily de|&s;erve the name.</P>
<P>The&s;e are <HI>Scioli&s;ts,</HI> that know much, but a&s;&s;ent to nothing.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> Men who
<PB N="34" REF="23"> <GAP DESC="foreign">, calling rea&s;on to coun&s;el, and not God, agree to, and approve &s;o much of Religion as &s;hall &s;eem probable unto them, for the near affinity it hath with rea&s;on.</P>
<P>But the&s;e men mu&s;t know, that the height and &s;ublimity of many my&s;te|ries in Divinity is &s;uch, that they are to be believed and a&s;&s;ented to meer|ly upon Gods Revelation, &s;ince they do &s;urpa&s;s the poor capacity and rea|&s;on of man; &s;uch as are the Creation of the World of nothing, the my&s;tery of the Trinity, the Incarnation of the Son of God, his birth of a Virgin, and the Re&s;urrection of our bodies. The&s;e, humane rea&s;on cannot reach to, though they be not contrary to it, but above it; To the&s;e then we mu&s;t a&s;|&s;ent, and not di&s;cour&s;e; believe, though we have no other evidence than Gods bare word for them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augustin. tract. <HI>79.</HI> in Joan. Athana&s;. tract. de advent. <HI>1.</HI> cont. Apol.</NOTE> For <HI>laus fidei e&s;t, &s;i quod creditur, non videtur;</HI> the prai&s;e of faith &s;tands in this, that the thing be not &s;een which is belie|ved. For <HI>fides de re evidenti concepta, fides dici non pote&s;t,</HI> faith conceiv'd of an evident matter, cannot be call'd faith.</P>
<P>Out of this I infer, that every one ought to come, and intreat of the&s;e high my&s;teries that immediately belong to faith and belief, with great reve|rence, re&s;pect, mode&s;ty, and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion; not condemning that which his &s;en&s;e and rea&s;on cannot fathome, nor making the depth of his own capacity, the rule and mea&s;ure of his belief. Be it that our rea&s;on and &s;en&s;e re&s;i&s;t and ri&s;e again&s;t it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 10.5.</NOTE> yet Saint <HI>Paul</HI> requires that we captivate our under&s;tanding, <HI>or bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>But what then? is there no place for rea&s;on in matters of faith? may there not from thence be fetch't motives to gaine our a&s;&s;ent? Yes certainly, for be&s;ides tho&s;e above-named my&s;teries, there are other Articles of our faith, which are both believ'd, and taken up upon &s;ound rea&s;on, becau&s;e they may be demon&s;trated, as that there is a God, that he is but One, that he by his providence governs the World; that he hath ordain'd rewards for the good, and puni&s;hments to the bad; &s;o that he &s;hall be not only no Chri&s;tian, but no man that a&s;&s;ents not to the&s;e: And for the&s;e we have a double light; one of rea&s;on, the other of Revelation; yet &s;o as to per&s;wade the conclu&s;i|on, we farre prefer the <HI>Medium</HI> of Revelation, before that drawn from rea&s;on; concluding rather as a Divine, than a Philo&s;opher.</P>
<P>And yet for all this, we may u&s;e many other Arguments to gaine a&s;&s;ent. For it being &s;uppo&s;ed, which in rea&s;on mu&s;t be granted, that God created man for happine&s;s; and happy be could never be without the true knowledge of him; and this knowledge could not be had without Revelation; and this Revelation is extant in no Book but the Scripture; it will nece&s;&s;arily follow, that the Scripture is the Word of God deliver'd to the Prophets; and con&s;e|quently, what&s;oever is in the Old Te&s;tament, is to be believ'd; which being granted, it is not hard to prove and demon&s;trate the Truth of Chri&s;tian Reli|gion again&s;t either Jew or Gentile.</P>
<P>For God, who hath delivered to us the Truth, and requires at our hands <HI>rea&s;onable &s;ervice,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.1.</NOTE> or an obedience founded upon rea&s;on, hath left unto us many proofs and Arguments of per&s;wa&s;ion and inducement, call'd <HI>argu|menta credibilitatis,</HI> rea&s;ons of credibility; which being laid together, and well pondered, may ju&s;tly move any indifferent prudent man to yield h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s a&s;|&s;ent thereunto, and to re&s;t fully &s;atisfied in the Truth; and to render them <HI>unexcu&s;able</HI> that will not believe the &s;ame;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.1.</NOTE> &s;uch are the con&s;tant Te&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mo|ny of men of all Ages; The&s;e men of a holy and a godly life, far &s;urpa&s;&s;ing the founders of any other Religions; and of that integrity, that they &s;pa|red not them&s;elves, nor their friends, but impartially related their own, and others faults,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 7.14. Acts 4.13.</NOTE> as well as their vertues; and &s;ome of the&s;e altogether i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> i|terate, never train'd up in Schoole, and yet &s;hew the depth of wi&s;dome.
<PB N="35" REF="23"> The matter they deliver is heavenly, the Harmony &s;weet, their words full of Maje&s;ty; they per&s;wade not by rea&s;ons, as Oratours, but command in the Name of the Lord, and require credit; their end and &s;cope is Gods glo|ry, and the &s;alvation of the &s;oul; to which they propo&s;e a good and Religi|ous life to be the &s;ole way. What &s;hould I &s;ay, that the hatred that the de|vil and all his In&s;truments have borne to this Religion, their endeavour to the utter extingui&s;hment of it! Gods goodne&s;s yet in its pre&s;ervation, the miracles by which he confirmed it, the foretelling &s;o punctually, and ful|filling all things about it, are Arguments more than humane to gain our a&s;|&s;ent, and to keep us from this heart of unbelief; whether pa&s;&s;ive or active (for &s;o the Hebrew Genetive Ca&s;e of the Sub&s;tantive &s;ometimes &s;ignifies) from the pa&s;&s;ive, that it take no root in us, much le&s;s that it be active, pragmatical, and working, rai&s;e in us a &s;pirit of contradiction again&s;t &s;o appro|ved a Truth.</P>
<P>And to give countenance to the&s;e Arguments of credibility,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1. <HI>&agrave;</HI> 17. ad. 21.</NOTE> we have the example of Saint <HI>Peter;</HI> who the better to prevaile with tho&s;e to whom he Writ, fir&s;t a&s;&s;ures them that he was not induced by vain fables, but that he had &s;trong motives for the &s;ame; as Fir&s;t, That he and the re&s;t of the A|po&s;tles had conver&s;ed with Chri&s;t, and were all eye-witne&s;&s;es of his doings. Secondly, That a voice from Heaven, the <HI>Bath-Col,</HI> at his Ma&s;ters Transfi|guration on Mount <HI>Tabor,</HI> was by him heard, which did a&s;&s;ure him that Chri&s;t was the Son of God, and to be heard. Thirdly, That this was con|&s;onant to the predictions of the old Prophets, who had foretold the Birth, Life, Death, Re&s;urrection, of the Sonne of God; to which they &s;hould do well to take heed, as a Light that &s;hines in a dark place.</P>
<P>And the wi&s;e and Learned Fathers of the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ju&s;t. Mart. Ter|tul. Augu&s;t. Eu|&s;ebius, &amp;c.</NOTE> treading in the &s;teps of this great Apo&s;tle, have produced and &s;et forth to the world, very many Ar|guments of per&s;wa&s;ion and credibility for the Truth of Chri&s;tian Religion, to gain mens love to it, as may be &s;een in their Books and Apologies they made in defence of it. The&s;e well weighed, with the ab&s;urdities of all other Religions &s;et forth by them, do make our faith more credible, and are &s;uffi|cient to make any wi&s;e, di&s;creet man to believe the &s;ame, though they do not inforce him.</P>
<P>The U&s;e that I &s;hall make of this Di&s;cour&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&V;&s;e.</NOTE> is that to which the Apo|&s;tle directs this Caveat, <HI>That we keep our heart from unbelief;</HI> that we a&s;|&s;ent to, and never contradict tho&s;e high and &s;ublime my&s;teries of our faith; which could never have been known, had they not been revealed; and there|fore mu&s;t be believ'd, though our own rea&s;on arrive not to penetrate the &s;ame; About the&s;e, &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, humility, reverence becomes a Chri&s;tian, and not a <HI>con&s;ultation with fle&s;h and blood.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.16.</NOTE> For who&s;oever once openeth his eares to let in the <HI>Syrene</HI> Charms of humane rea&s;ons again&s;t the my&s;te|rious Articles of his faith, he is in danger either to lo&s;e his a&s;&s;urance and faith, or el&s;e the peace, comfort, and tranquillity of his minde; and to ca&s;t open a wide gap to the Devil and all his In&s;truments; as well Infidels, as Hereticks; to make an inrode upon, and to trouble his con&s;cience.</P>
<P>Th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s hath been the way of Infidels; they alwayes objected again&s;t the Trinity, Chri&s;ts Incarnation, the Re&s;urrection, the unrea&s;onablene&s;s there|of; whence <HI>Julian</HI> with his Sophi&s;ts was thus wont to twit the Chri&s;tians;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> among you <GAP DESC="foreign">, you &s;ing to us no other Song but Believe, Believe only you inculcate, but give us no other rea&s;on.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> This was the cour&s;e of tho&s;e Patriarchs, of Hereticks: And this is the cour&s;e of Hereticks them&s;elves. The <HI>Arrians</HI> were wont to deceive many by this Legerdemain;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Theodoret.</NOTE> draw forth they would their handkerchiefs, which being &s;quare, ask the peo|ple
<PB N="36" REF="24"> they would, Whether three corners thereof could be one or no? and thereupon infer deceitfully, No more could three per&s;ons be one God. And from the &s;ame &s;hop are fetched all the fallacies of the <HI>Antitrinitarians,</HI> Jews, and Turks, again&s;t this my&s;tery. Upon this anvil al&s;o are forged the di&s;putes of the <HI>Sadduces,</HI> and &s;uch as deny the Re&s;urrection of the fle&s;h. It &s;eems impo&s;&s;ible unto them, that dead bones &s;hould live; that that which the Wormes, Time, Corruption hath devour'd, &s;hall be collected, and again covered with a fre&s;h skinne; but not &s;o to the Prophet who tells us, <HI>That the Spirit of the Lord &s;hould quicken tho&s;e bones;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 37.5.</NOTE> nor yet to the Apo&s;tle who informs us, <HI>That this &s;hould be done by that mighty working, whereby he is able to &s;ubdue all things to him&s;elf;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.21.</NOTE> and therefore asks the Jews be|fore <HI>Agrippa,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 26.8.</NOTE> <HI>Why &s;hould it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God &s;hould rai&s;e the dead?</HI> And of the like bran are tho&s;e &s;pecious &s;ophi&s;ms of the Anabapti&s;ts again&s;t Poedobapti&s;m; for is it rea&s;onable, &s;ay they, that &s;uch as can neither repent nor believe, &s;hould be baptized? but I ask, Hath not God out of mercy taken them into the Covenant, and what art thou that denie&s;t them the &s;eal? I could be infinite in this Argument. The Fa|mili&s;ts denial of a local Hell, and blowing up the fire in a mans con&s;cience; The <HI>Browni&s;ts</HI> &s;corne of ab&s;olution; <HI>Socinus</HI> his bla&s;phemies, and &s;leighting of Ordination; and the Independent collecting Churches, and committing the power of the keys to Vulgar hands, have received growth and counte|nance from this root, while rea&s;on mu&s;t be heard to babble again&s;t Gods Order; and Scripture, except taken in their own &s;en&s;e, mu&s;t be &s;ilent. In a word, Popular Arguments have done the mi&s;chief, and &s;et the Church in a light flame. The audience given to rea&s;on (not that which is truly enligh|tened, but that which is darkned and partial) being the high way to all infi|delity, Athei&s;m, mi&s;-belief, and Schi&s;m.</P>
<P>Beware then how you give eare too much to humane rea&s;on in the great My&s;teries and Secrets of Religion, <HI>le&s;t there be in you a Heart of &V;nbelief.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. But an a&s;&s;ent once given to the Word of God, and in that &s;en&s;e too, as the Catholick Church (I mean not <HI>Rome</HI>) hath univer&s;ally, unani|mou&s;ly, and con&s;tantly interpreted it; &s;ince that God hath left us &s;uch &s;tore and variety of Arguments of credibility, every man according to his Talent and &s;tation, ought to be diligent and careful to &s;eek out and u&s;e the &s;ame, and not &s;uffer him&s;elf to be over-borne by a &s;ort of cavilling and quarrel|&s;ome people, without looking out, and looking into his evidences he hath for the &s;ame: This is as &s;upine a negligence, as if a man were &s;ued at Law for a Mannor to which he hath a good Title, and having in his Cu&s;tody good &s;tore of Writings that would &s;et forth his ju&s;t Title, &s;hould &s;uffer him&s;elf to be ca&s;t and overthrown in his &s;uit for a little lazine&s;s, becau&s;e he would not look over and view tho&s;e Deeds which would clearly &s;et forth his Intere&s;t. Let us then painfully and diligently &s;earch out, and well con&s;ider all tho&s;e motives, all tho&s;e per&s;wa&s;ive rea&s;ons, all tho&s;e inducements, which the Fathers of the Church have left us to gaine our a&s;&s;ent to the verity of Chri|&s;tian Religion; and doubtle&s;s they will keep us from this bane of an incre|dulous heart.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.7. <HI>Augu&s;t. in Do|nat.</HI></NOTE> We &s;hall not be men of un&s;table mindes, <HI>alwayes learning, but never &s;etled.</HI> We &s;hall not be men of imaginations, <HI>Quod volumus &s;an|ctum,</HI> making that holy which we plea&s;e, and unholy that we like not. We &s;hall not be &s;uperficial; all for the Rine and Husk, but nothing for the &s;ub&s;tance, La&s;tly, we &s;hall not be ob&s;tinate, &s;tubborne, and perver&s;e, but ea&s;ily yield our a&s;&s;ent, and readily &s;ubmit our under&s;tanding and will to the my&s;teries and depths of faith; and &s;o be far from this &s;ame heart of unbelief, of which the Apo&s;tle gives us warning.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="subsection">
<PB N="37" REF="24">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Again&s;t tho&s;e that know and a&s;sent, but affect not, nor apply the promi&s;es of the Go&s;pel.</HEAD>
<P>Seen you have in faith, that knowledge is nece&s;&s;ary, and therefore you mu&s;t take heed of affected ignorance. Then that a&s;&s;ent is nece&s;&s;ary, and there|fore you mu&s;t take heed al&s;o of ob&s;tinate and wilfull oppo&s;ition. One thing is yet behinde, which is indeed the Key to open and let you in to the fruiti|on of all that faith propo&s;es to you, which is a pious and purged affection, and after an application of what the Go&s;pel promi&s;eth to a believer, with|out which you will be but mi&s;erable and uncomfortable Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P N="1">1. For fir&s;t, if your affections be not clean&s;ed, all the Arguments of cre|dibility in the world will no more work a man from Infidelity, than the per|&s;wa&s;ions of <HI>John</HI> wrought with <HI>Herod;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 9. Acts 24.</NOTE> nor Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> conference with <HI>Foelix.</HI> And the cau&s;e is, that however the under&s;tanding enlightens, and rea&s;on it were that the will &s;hould follow that light, yet the predominancy of the affections is &s;o powerful, that they carry the matter; As a man is af|fected, or di&s;-affected, &s;o goes our judgement and under&s;tanding al&s;o.</P>
<Q><L>&mdash; &V;ideo meliora, proboque,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ovid.</NOTE></L>
<L>Deteriora &s;equor.</L></Q>
<P>I &s;ee the be&s;t, &s;aith the under&s;tanding; I approve it, &s;aith the will, but I follow the wor&s;t upon the verdict of the affections. When the affections are not rightly moved, there will be no true choice made, nor of faith, nor any other good.</P>
<P>This is that which our Saviour asks the Jews, <HI>How can ye believe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.44.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ee|ing ye &s;eek glory one of another?</HI> Their affections were ambitious, and that was an impediment to their faith &s;o long as they were tran&s;ported with vain-glory; nor his Sermons, nor his Miracles, nor <HI>Johns mourning,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.32.</NOTE> nor his <HI>piping,</HI> could free their hearts from unbelief. So that where this pious affection is not, no love of, nor no delight in the Truth, or at lea&s;t where it is not in &s;ome degree purged from the love of our &s;elves, the love of ho|nour, riches, and other &s;en&s;ualities, that it remaineth with &s;ome indifferen|cy of de&s;ire to know and follow the Truth, there can be no good hoped for. It behoves then every man that intends to ca&s;t away this heart of unbelief, to di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;s him&s;elf of his pa&s;&s;ions, which rai&s;e in him &s;ini&s;ter prejudices again&s;t the Truth; (of which the&s;e Hebrews were very guilty) and that he place him&s;elf in &s;uch an indifferency and evenne&s;s of minde, that he may be able to look upon, and di&s;cerne the Truth with an unpa&s;&s;ionate eye when pre&s;ented to him.</P>
<P N="2">2. La&s;tly, After we do affect the Truth, nece&s;&s;ary it is al&s;o that we apply it to our own &s;ouls; for Application is the very life of faith; the &s;ole water that can revive a <HI>fainting spirit, Jonathans honey, Hagars well.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 14. Gen. 21.19.</NOTE> And faithful people have been &s;tudious to keep this water by them, and &s;tored up in their bo&s;omes; it was their care to be fully per&s;waded, that there was no mercy, no grace, no promi&s;e, no favour, no pardon, which belong'd not to them. They were not contented with the Word of God, that like <HI>Ma|ries Alabaster box,</HI> contain'd &s;weet oyntment or precious <HI>&s;pikenard,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 12. P&s;al. 18.1, 2. Job 19.25. Luke 1.47. John 20.28.</NOTE> except they brake it, and &s;hared it among them. <HI>David</HI> takes his &s;hare, <HI>God is my Rock and my Salvation. Job</HI> claims his part, <HI>I know that my Redeemer li|veth. Mary</HI> will have hers, <HI>My spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour. Tho|mas</HI> his, <HI>My Lord, and my God.</HI> To dye for the world, was a benefit at large; enough there were to &s;hare of that, and St. <HI>Paul</HI> ne're the better;
<PB N="38" REF="25"> and therefore he brings his Lord home and layes him in his bo&s;ome.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 2.20.</NOTE> <HI>Chri&s;t &s;aved me, and gave him&s;elf for me, dyed for me.</HI></P>
<P>And this is u&s;ually call'd particular faith, which re&s;pects not &s;o much the object, as is an infu&s;ed habit into man. It is not the faith which we believe, as that faith by which we believe. A quality then it is, and therefore as all other qualities it mu&s;t admit of degrees. So that in re&s;pect of the Subject or per&s;on in whom it is, it is more or le&s;s; for there is a &s;trong faith, and a weak faith. A &s;trong faith there is, &s;uch as was in <HI>Abraham, who &s;tagger'd not in the promi&s;e through unbelief.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4.20.</NOTE> Such was in the woman of <HI>Canaan,</HI> to whom our Saviour gives this Te&s;timony, <HI>O woman, great is thy faith!</HI> And there is a weak faith;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.28. Luke 17.6. Matth. 14.31. Luke 17.5.</NOTE> faith like unto <HI>a grain of mu&s;tard &s;eed;</HI> &s;uch was in the Di&s;ciples, <HI>O ye of little faith!</HI> and they pray for an encrea&s;e of it, <HI>Lord increa&s;e our faith.</HI></P>
<P>And yet this little faith is of the &s;ame nature with the great. For <HI>magis &amp; minus nos variant speciem,</HI> more or le&s;s do never alter the nature of any thing; The &s;ame then I &s;ay it is; and though it have not the &s;ame comfort, yet it hath the &s;ame promi&s;e. Give eare to tho&s;e comfortable words of our Saviour, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they which hunger and thir&s;t after righteou&s;ne&s;s, for they &s;hall be &s;atisfied.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.6. <HI>Chilling. part</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 1. <HI>&s;ect.</HI> 8, 9.</NOTE> Though men are unrea&s;onable, yet God requires no|thing but rea&s;on. They will not be plea&s;ed without a down weight, but God is contented if the &s;cale be turn'd. They pretend that heavenly things cannot be &s;een but by a midday light, but God will be &s;atisfied if we re|ceive any degree of light, which makes us leave the works of darkne&s;s, and <HI>walk as Children of the light.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.8.</NOTE> He will accept of the weake&s;t and lowe&s;t de|gree of faith, if it be living and effectual to obedience. For he it is <HI>that will not quench the &s;moaking flax, nor break the brui&s;ed reed.</HI> He did not reject the prayer of that di&s;tre&s;&s;ed man, that cryed to him, <HI>Lord, I believe, help my unbelief;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 12.20. Mark 9.24. Rom. 14.1.</NOTE> And commands us by St. <HI>Pauls</HI> mouth, <HI>to receive them that are weak in faith,</HI> by which he declares <HI>that he receives them.</HI></P>
<P>Now according to the degree of faith, &s;uch is the apprehen&s;ion; and as a man apprehends, &s;o he applies. Where the apprehen&s;ion is &s;tronger, there the Application is &s;tronger; and where it is weaker, that is weaker al&s;o; To &s;ome, God gives the &s;pirit of confirmation and ob&s;ignation, as in tho&s;e I now named; as in particular to St. <HI>Paul,</HI> who could &s;ay with comfort, <HI>I have &s;ought a good fight, I have kept the faith; henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, &amp;c.</HI> and happy are they, thrice happy, that have this a&s;&s;urance; which if another man cannot &s;ay with the &s;ame confi|dence, it will not pre&s;ently be want of faith in him, as long as this want proceeds not from any di&s;tru&s;t of the Truth of Gods promi&s;e, but a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> humble feare, and conceit of his own Repentance, that it is too &s;ight and &s;hort.</P>
<P>Thus it fares with &s;uch a man, as with him who is fallen into a deep ri|ver,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.7, 8. Archb. of <HI>Ar|magh. ex Bern.</HI></NOTE> and carried down the &s;treame; by the way he &s;pyes and layes hold on &s;ome bough that hangs over the water; this he catcheth at, clings to with all his might; and &s;eeing no other &s;uccour but that, ventures his life upon it. This man &s;o &s;oon as he was fa&s;tned to the bough, was in a &s;afe condi|tion; though <HI>terrent jam nubila mentem,</HI> all feares and terrours are not out of his minde, untill he comes to him&s;elf, and &s;ees him&s;elf out of dan|ger; Then he is &s;ure he is &s;afe, but he was &s;afe before he was &s;ure. Ju&s;t &s;o it is with a believer; Faith is but the e&s;pying of Chri&s;t as that bough, the only meanes to &s;ave a life, and the reaching out the heart as the man his hand, to lay hold on him; it informes the &s;oul, God hath ordain'd his Sonne to be his Saviour. So &s;oon as the &s;oul with joy apprehends this, God imputes the righteou&s;ne&s;s of his Son unto it, and it is actually ju&s;tified in
<PB N="39" REF="25"> the Court of Heaven, though it is not pre&s;ently quieted in the Court of con&s;cience; that may be afterwards done by degrees, in &s;ome &s;ooner, in &s;ome later as God plea&s;eth. For I doubt not but the Spirit of God being im|plored by devout and humble prayer, and &s;incere obedience, may and will by degrees advance his Servants higher, and give them the certainty of ad|herence beyond their certainty of evidence; but what he gives as a reward to believers, is one thing; and what he requires as a duty, is another; and what he will accept out of grace and favour, is a Third.</P>
<P>The duty he expects is this;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dr.</HI> Hammond. pract. Catech. p. <HI>33.</HI></NOTE></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, A confident per&s;wa&s;ion, that if I faile not on my part, Chri&s;t will not faile on his; if I do repent and believe, no power in heaven, earth, or hell, &s;hall deprive me of any part of his promi&s;e.</P>
<P>Secondly, That I &s;et my &s;elf &s;eriou&s;ly to perform the condition upon which this promi&s;e is made.</P>
<P>Thirdly, To examine my heart how farre I have perform'd the conditi|on; and upon evidence of con&s;cience given of the performance, conclude, that I am one of tho&s;e to whom the promi&s;e belongs, if I per&s;evere and continue. But there being very much uncertainty whether I judge rightly of my &s;elf, the conclu&s;ion drawn from thence, can be no &s;tronger than the evi|dence of my con&s;cience; and then I &s;hall apply Chri&s;t with no more a&s;&s;u|rance and comfort to me, than the degrees of faith and repentance are in me; weakly if weak, and &s;trongly if &s;trong; yet comfortably in both; be|cau&s;e as I &s;aid, <HI>Ble&s;sed are they who hunger and thir&s;t after righteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>This have I &s;poken, or collected rather out of three Learned Divines, that they who are of a feeble heart, and of a weak faith, may receive com|fort; Too too often they are dejected, when they read tho&s;e &s;evere words written by men of great credit, that every man is bound to be certain of his Salvation without doubt, and to believe it as certainly as an Article of his Creed.</P>
<P>Take this po&s;ition rigidly, and it cannot be true; for tho&s;e we believe up|on Gods Revelation, whereas the other can have no other evidence than the Ce tificate of our own &s;oul; that Te&s;timony is Divine, this but Humane, and therefore not of equal &s;trength with the other. If it be &s;aid, that this weak|ne&s;s is &s;upplied by the work of Gods Spirit in the con&s;cience; I an&s;wer, that this work is not in all the faithful alike; and therefore all have not, nor are bound to have the &s;ame a&s;&s;urance. He mu&s;t needs have more, who hath re|ceived a greater mea&s;ure of the Spirit; and he le&s;s, to whom the Spirit is gi|ven in a le&s;&s;er degree. Oh the happy condition of that &s;oul, to whom the Spirit hath &s;ounded and &s;ealed tho&s;e gracious words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.48.</NOTE> <HI>Thy &s;innes are forgiven thee!</HI> But let not him de&s;paire neither, who upon the view of his imperfect faith, and imperfect repentance doth doubt, whether the promi&s;es of pardon and &s;alvation belong to him; for all doubting doth not exclude faith, nor all de&s;paire hope; if that doubt, or not hope, (rather than de&s;paire) be grounded in a fal&s;e judgement of his own repentance and &s;incerity, &s;ugge|&s;ting to him that he is no penitent, when he is, no believer, when he is, this will not be the &s;in of de&s;pair, which commonly makes men run on in wick|edne&s;s, and take de&s;perate cour&s;es; nor yet the &s;in of infidelity, which pro|perly makes a man apo&s;tatize, and draws him to di&s;-believe the oppo&s;ite to what he believ'd before. For <HI>fides non excludit omnem dubitationem, &s;ed dubitationem vincentem &amp; trahent<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m ad oppo&s;itum credibilis;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Seat.</HI> 3. <HI>dist.</HI> 23.</NOTE> Faith excludes not all doubting, but that doubting which prevails, and conquers, and draws the will to choo&s;e the contrary to that to which he gave credit; as for example, the world for God, a fal&s;e Religion for the true, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> or <HI>Ma|hom<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t</HI> for Chri&s;t. Faith then may yet dwell with doubting, and hope with
<PB N="40" REF="26"> a holy de&s;pair, when the&s;e proceed from an humble &s;oul con&s;cious of its own wants, unworthine&s;s, and imperfections, and not from this evil heart of unbelief which draws from the living God.</P>
<P>One Que&s;tion I &s;hall yet demand of this di&s;con&s;olate &s;oul, Whether when he doubts, he would not doubt? whether when he de&s;pairs, he would not de&s;pair? to which if he &s;hall an&s;wer his heart is again&s;t both, then I dare a&s;&s;ure him, that he neither wants faith nor hope, for he de&s;ires both; and the&s;e de&s;ires are accepted of God, and make him a happy man.</P>
<P>Here again I &s;hall ingeminate to him, that never too often repeated, and that never to be forgotten promi&s;e of our Saviour, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they that hunger and thir&s;t after righteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.6.</NOTE> Which ver&s;e containing the mo&s;t comfortable promi&s;e that ever was made to a poor dejected, but pe|nitent and believing Sinner, I &s;hall fir&s;t Explaine, then apply to my purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>By righteou&s;ne&s;s we are to under&s;tand, 1. That which is inherent. 2. Then that which is imputed. The inherent is imperfect, proportionable to our e&s;tate, con&s;i&s;ting in true &s;anctification and holine&s;s, enabling a man <HI>to mortifie his &s;innes and lusts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.13. Mat. 3.8. 1 Cor. 13.13. Tit. 1.16.33. 1 Pet. 2.8.</NOTE> and <HI>to bring forth the fruits of repentance,</HI> and to beautifie his &s;oul with the vertues of <HI>Faith, Hope, and Charity;</HI> &s;o that there be none truly <GAP DESC="foreign">, but they who are <GAP DESC="foreign">, none unbelievers but <HI>the di&s;obedient.</HI> And happy is the &s;oul that hungers and Thir&s;ts after this righteou&s;ne&s;s.</P>
<P>But becau&s;e this righteou&s;ne&s;s in what degree &s;oever is unperfect, nece&s;|&s;ary it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 17.10. Phil. 3.12. Rom. 3.23. Rom. 9.30, 31, 32,</NOTE> that we hunger and Thir&s;t after another, which is the righteou&s;|ne&s;s of Chri&s;t ari&s;ing out of his obedience, whereby he fulfilled the Law, and &s;atisfied the puni&s;hment in his life, and in his death for us; which obe|dience both merited the Remi&s;&s;ion of our &s;innes, and effectually wrought the righteou&s;ne&s;s of the Law, and acceptation of our per&s;ons in Chri&s;t. For the deriving whereof to us, two things mu&s;t be done; one on Gods be|half, the other on ours. That which God doth, is call'd <HI>Imputation;</HI> That which we do, is call'd <HI>Believing in Chri&s;t,</HI> and &s;o receiving that which God offereth. And happy is that &s;oule to whom this Righteou&s;ne&s;s is imputed.</P>
<P>And now behold in this promi&s;e the tender mercies of our good God. The comfort is, that the promi&s;e is made to tho&s;e who hunger and Thir&s;t for this righteou&s;ne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.78. I&s;a. 54.7.55.3.</NOTE> and not to tho&s;e that have it. That the Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ours of it are a ble&s;&s;ed people, is without que&s;tion; but that tho&s;e &s;hould be ble&s;&s;ed al&s;o who unfainedly de&s;ire it, is a wonderful conde&s;cen&s;ion and indulgence, and the greate&s;t &s;tay to a fainting &s;oul, that po&s;&s;ibly can be. For how many are there who&s;e faith is &s;o weak, that they cannot per&s;wade them&s;elves of Gods good-will toward them, that their &s;ins for Chri&s;ts &s;ake &s;hall be forgi|ven, that God is reconciled to them, and will &s;ave them? How many a|gain, that finding them&s;elves fall &s;hort of that righteou&s;ne&s;s, and holine&s;s, mortification, Repentance and purity, which the Go&s;pel exacts, are ready even to give up the gho&s;t!</P>
<P>Now that which only can revive the &s;pirit, and give a&s;&s;urance to &s;uch a ga&s;ping &s;oul, is, That Chri&s;t hath promi&s;ed ble&s;&s;edne&s;s to our de&s;ires; de|&s;ires like to that of a hungry and Thir&s;ty man, which will be&s;t teach us how the&s;e de&s;ires mu&s;t be qualified.</P>
<P N="1">1. They mu&s;t be eager, earne&s;t, impatient, un&s;atiable, &s;erious; for &s;uch is our appetite to meat and drink when we are hungry and Thir&s;ty. True de|&s;ires then are no faint de&s;ires, but affectionate, proceeding of a real &s;en&s;e of what we want, and without the obtaining of which it will not be &s;a|tisfied.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="41" REF="26">2. They mu&s;t be laborious and painful, content to undergo any paines to be &s;atisfied. For Hunger and Thir&s;t, we &s;ay, will break &s;tone walls, make a man feed upon his own fle&s;h rather than &s;tarve. True de&s;ires then are no lazy or idle de&s;ires, but will be up and doing;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 23.10.</NOTE> not only wi&s;h <HI>to dye the death of the righteous,</HI> but labour to live the life of the righteous. The formal man finds it an ea&s;ie matter to believe; Satan troubles him not, his heart &s;mites him not. But the true believer is often in a conflict;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 7.5.</NOTE> <HI>without fight|ings, within feares;</HI> without Satan a&s;&s;aults him, pleading his faith as naught, and within his fle&s;h oppo&s;es and feares him, that Satan &s;ayes true. Whence Saint <HI>Paul</HI> calls it, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the difficult work of faith.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 1.2.</NOTE></P>
<P N="3">3. They mu&s;t be con&s;tant de&s;ires; la&s;t and continue, though they have their intervals, fits, and &s;woonings; as Thir&s;t half quenched, and Hunger half &s;laked, they alwayes return. <HI>Nunquam expletur, nec &s;atiatur hujus cu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">iditatis &s;itis,</HI> The Thir&s;t of this righteou&s;ne&s;s is never fill'd, nor &s;atisfi'd; though he have never &s;o much of it to day, yet he longs for more of it to morrow; and therefore con&s;tantly and dayly cryes to heaven, Give, Give, ever more good Father <HI>give me of this water;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 4.15.6.33.</NOTE> of this <HI>bread</HI> that came down from heaven. Earne&s;tne&s;s, painfulne&s;s, and con&s;tancy, are the true Ingre|dients of the&s;e de&s;ires; earne&s;tne&s;s excludes formality, labour lazine&s;s, and con&s;tancy in&s;tability and levity.</P>
<P>The&s;e give Title to men of all the merciful promi&s;es of God. The de|&s;ire of Reconciliation to God in Chri&s;t &s;o qualified, is Reconciliation it &s;elf.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Perk.</HI> Graine of mu&s;tard. Concl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> 3.</NOTE> The de&s;ire of faith with tho&s;e conditions, is faith it &s;elf. The de&s;ire of re|pentance, repentance it &s;elf. Not &s;o in the Nature of the thing; for I know well, that the de&s;ire is one thing, and the thing de&s;ired another: But &s;o it is in Gods acceptation, otherwi&s;e he had never &s;aid, <HI>Ble&s;sed are tho&s;e that hunger and thirst;</HI> and pa&s;t his word, <HI>I will give to him that thir&s;ts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 22.17.</NOTE> <HI>to drink of the water of life freely.</HI></P>
<P>And thus much I &s;hall now demon&s;trate unto you, and that by the chief kinde of demon&s;tration, the <GAP DESC="foreign">, from the cau&s;e to the effect. For from whence come the&s;e de&s;ires? whence this hunger and Thir&s;t to be reconciled to God? from the fle&s;h, or from the Spirit?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.7. James 4.4. Gal. 5.17.</NOTE> From the fle&s;h they can never come; for <HI>the de&s;ires of the fle&s;h are enmity to God; The fle&s;h lusteth a|gain&s;t the Spirit;</HI> ri&s;eth, oppo&s;eth, and labours to continue the Quarrel betwixt God and man. It mu&s;t then &s;urely proceed from the Spirit of God that dwells in us, which lu&s;teth again&s;t the fle&s;h, and moves us to Thir&s;t for that ju&s;tice which we feel we want. The&s;e holy de&s;ires then being the moti|ons of the Holy Gho&s;t within us, are &s;ure Te&s;timonies of our faith, though they be &s;mall and weak; For as a woman that feeles the motion of a childe within her womb, though it be &s;carce &s;en&s;ible, yet a&s;&s;ures her &s;elf that &s;he hath conceiv'd. So if we have the&s;e motions, the&s;e de&s;ires, the&s;e holy af|fections &s;o qualified as I but now mentioned, we need not doubt but we have receiv'd a portion of Gods Spirit; and con&s;equently, that we belong to him; <HI>for hereby we know that he abides in us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 3.24.</NOTE> <HI>by the Spirit that he hath given us.</HI></P>
<P>To knit up this Point, the Summe is, That every true believer is bound to lay hold on Chri&s;t by the hand of a particular faith; that this hand in all is not of equal &s;trength, that it may hold fa&s;t when it feels not; and that God hath promi&s;ed ble&s;&s;edne&s;s to tho&s;e who &s;eriou&s;ly, eagerly, laboriou&s;ly, and con&s;tantly keep their hold-fa&s;t, wra&s;tle with him all night,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 32.26.</NOTE> and will not let him go without a <HI>Ble&s;&s;ing.</HI> This is the comfort of a dejected, ga&s;ping, and Thir&s;ty &s;oul.</P>
<P>But two &s;orts of men are like to receive di&s;comfort from it. 1. The care|le&s;s. 2. The over-bold.</P>
<PB N="42" REF="27">
<P>Fir&s;t, A carele&s;s &s;ort of men there are, that think it enough to know there is a God, and that by his Son he Redeemed the World, in which they exceed not, nay come &s;hort of Satan. But to be a&s;&s;ured how far God is their God, and to have a Seal for their particular pardon, they trouble not them&s;elves. No pains is taken for this a&s;&s;urance, this Third Act of faith, without which they can have no comfort in Chri&s;t.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 22.2. Jer. 8.22. &amp; 46.11.</NOTE><HI>The leaves of the Tree might have vertue to heale the Nations; The b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lm of Gilead a &s;overaign medicine to cure all running ulcers; The pool of Bethe&s;da effectual for all aches;</HI> and yet who can doubt, but there be many who were then &s;ick in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.2.</NOTE> and brui&s;ed throughout the world? The fault mu&s;t not be laid upon the Tree, the Balm, or the Water. Many among the Nations would none of the leaves, and divers a &s;tubborn <HI>I&s;raelite</HI> underva|lued the bal&s;ome and the water; and &s;o de&s;ervedly they were &s;ick and &s;ore &s;till.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 130.7.</NOTE> Thus it is in this ca&s;e; <HI>With God there is plenteous Redemption;</HI> me|rit enough in the blood of Chri&s;t to &s;ave more than have, or &s;hall live; and yet there is many a &s;ore, many a &s;inner nor cured by him; and the rea|&s;on is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 13.1. Jer. 8.22.46.11. Luke 10.34.</NOTE> becau&s;e <HI>the fountain of his blood is not taken,</HI> nor the <HI>bal&s;ome</HI> of his pa&s;&s;ion applied, and laid to the fe&s;tred ulcers, and running &s;ores of mens &s;oules.</P>
<P>Take heed then, you <HI>that be at ea&s;e in Zion,</HI> be not wanting to your &s;elves in this part of belief.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 6.1.</NOTE> For this application can alone cure you, and mu&s;t be your comfortable Certificate in your way to heaven; without which you &s;hall dye <HI>without hope,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 37.11. Ephe&s;. 2.12.</NOTE> and can promi&s;e to your &s;elves no more benefit by Chri&s;t, than can an Infidel.</P>
<P>Secondly, And on the other &s;ide, take heed of pre&s;umption too, for there is a great errour committed that way: An errour that leads more to hell, than the other; for too too many there are, that apply Chri&s;t in their own conceits, when the Truth is nor &s;o, nor &s;o. They &s;alute Chri&s;t, when be re-&s;alutes them not;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.13. Mat. 7.22.</NOTE> and take acquaintance of him, when he will not know them <HI>Eo die.</HI> A day will come, when a multitude of people will tell him to his face, that they gloried in his Name, were his be&s;t Servants, and zealous Saints waited upon him, fought for him, prophe&s;ied, and went up and down, and Preached a multitude of Sermons in his Name, propa|gated the Go&s;pel, and did wonders, and thereupon challenge a kindne&s;&s;e from him;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 7.23.</NOTE> whom yet he will di&s;charge with a <HI>Ne&s;cio vos, Depart from me, for I know you not.</HI> Their application, by the &s;corne put upon it, appears to be but a fancy &s;wimming in their braine; like the eating of bread, or drinking of Wine in a dream.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 29.8.</NOTE> And that no man be hereafter deluded with it, give me leave to &s;et down &s;ome certain Characters, by which it may be known, whether the application of Chri&s;t be true or pre&s;umptuous.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, He that applyes Chri&s;t truly, falls in love with Chri&s;t; he &s;eeks him not for the <HI>Loaves and Fi&s;hes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.26. 2 Kings 10.16. Cant. 4.11.</NOTE> nor labours to erect Chri&s;ts Kingdom, that he may &s;et up his own, but he loves him for him&s;elf, and follows him for that vertue that is in him. His Saviours lips drop like an honey-comb, and his de&s;ire is to hang upon them. And he loves what&s;oever is his; his Servants,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 15.16. P&s;al. 119.105.24.</NOTE> his Wayes, his Works, but his Word above all things; This he makes his light to &s;ee by, his coun&s;el to learne by, his Law to live by, his Gla&s;s to look into, and mend what is ami&s;s. <HI>His Faith works by love.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.6.</NOTE></P>
<P>Secondly, And out of this love there ari&s;eth a de&s;ire of Reconciliation before any thing in the world. Too often he knows, he hath given Chri&s;t occa&s;ion to fall out with him; and therefore he is never at re&s;t, till he hath recovered his good-will again. The frownes of his Beloved break his heart, and therefore he hungers and thir&s;ts after peace.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 42.1, 2.</NOTE> The cha&s;ed Hart de&s;ires not
<PB N="43" REF="27"> &s;o much <HI>the water brooks,</HI> as his &s;oul pants to be in favour with his God. Upon any falling out, He, or rather <HI>the Spirit that helps his infirmities,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.26.</NOTE> in|tercedes with &s;ighs and groanes within him, and with him &s;eriou&s;ly and con|&s;tantly, till God &s;ay unto his &s;oul, <HI>The Lord hath put away thy &s;in.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 12.13.</NOTE> This is not the de&s;ire of a half Chri&s;tian, who much regards not the ju&s;tice of the Almighty, nor much feares his anger. Salvation he would fain have, and will often beg, but Reconciliation comes not heartily, nor con&s;tantly into his Petition.</P>
<P>Thirdly, This is his love, the&s;e his de&s;ires; and next I &s;hall pre&s;ent you with his Humility. <HI>The faith of pre&s;umptuous men is windy,</HI> and <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 8.1.</NOTE> puffs up; abundance of Revelation makes them mad, and lean to their own wi&s;dome. The Phari&s;ee that was knowledge all over, was at <HI>God, I thank thee I am not like other men, nor as this Publican.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.11.</NOTE> And at the ap|plau&s;e of the multitude, they boa&s;t of their own feathers, pick, and proine, and oyle, and &s;pread them, as if their knowledge alone would mount them to heaven. Whereas the true believer is alwayes an humble man;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 42.6. P&s;al. 143.2. P&s;al. 6.1. P&s;alm 51.1. Luke 18.14.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ees and abhorres him&s;elf in du&s;t and a&s;hes;</HI> cryes to God, Ne intres, <HI>Enter not into judgement with thy &s;ervant;</HI> and that if God take him to Task, <HI>that it be not in his fury, and heavy displea&s;ure;</HI> for it is by a P&s;alme of mercy he hopes to be &s;aved; and therefore knocks his brea&s;t with the Publican, and cryes, <HI>Lord be m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rciful to me a &s;inner.</HI> His faith pre&s;ents unto him what he is, and what God is; what he hath de&s;erved from God, and what God hath de&s;erved from him; and at every word he &s;peaks out of the du&s;t; <HI>Dignus, &amp; non dignus. Thou, O Lord, art worthy to receive glory,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 4.11. Mat. 3.11. Luke 15.21.</NOTE> <HI>and honour, and power,</HI> but I a creature mo&s;t unworthy to give it. Thou a mo&s;t worthy Father, but <HI>I unworthy to be call'd thy &s;on.</HI> This is the language of a true poor believing heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12.10.</NOTE> that at every word &s;peaks humility and <HI>&s;up|plications.</HI></P>
<P>Fourthly, And yet he is not &s;o farre dejected out of the &s;en&s;e of his ba&s;ene&s;s and unworthine&s;s, that he growes de&s;perare. Believe he will even above &s;en&s;e, and beyond rea&s;on. So it was with <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 116.3, 4</NOTE> <HI>The &s;orrows of death compa&s;sed me, and the paines of hell gat hold upon me; I found trou|ble and &s;orrow. Then call'd I upon the Name of the Lord; O Lord, I be|&s;eech thee, deliver my &s;oul.</HI> So it was with <HI>Job, Though he &s;lay me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 13.15. Jonah 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>yet will I tru&s;t in him.</HI> So with <HI>Jonah, I am ca&s;t out of the &s;ight of thy eyes, yet will I look toward thy holy Temple.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.21, &amp;c.</NOTE> But above all in the woman of <HI>Ca|naan;</HI> &s;mall comfort (God wot) &s;he had; at the fir&s;t Chri&s;t gave her ne're a word, the Di&s;ciples would have her &s;ent away; Chri&s;t told her <HI>he was not &s;ent to her; that it was not fit to take bread prepared for children, and ca&s;t it to Dogs;</HI> but &s;he picks advantage out of that reproachful name, re|plying, That Dogs might lick up the lo&s;t crummes; and why not &s;he be fed with &s;ome crummes of mercy, though no better than a Dog? Thus have Gods Servants kept their hold; and in the greate&s;t &s;orrows,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4, 18, 20.</NOTE> <HI>again&s;t hope be|lieved in hope, giving glory to God.</HI></P>
<P>Fifthly, La&s;tly, When God is plea&s;ed to look up again, and &s;hew the light of his countenance, and give that acclamation to their faith, that he did to the Woman of <HI>Canaan, Great is thy faith:</HI> Be it as thou de&s;ire&s;t:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.28.</NOTE> The &s;oul takes more joy, delight, content in this, than all the delights of the world. Then <GAP DESC="foreign">, the promi&s;es are bid welcome, ki&s;s'd,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.13. P&s;alm 4.7.</NOTE> and embraced in both armes. Farre more joy than when the Corne, and Wine, and Oyle is encrea&s;ed; and no marvaile; for as <HI>Tertullian</HI> hath it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. de Spe|ctac. cap. <HI>29.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Quid e&s;t jucundius, quam Dei patris cum p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cca<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ore Reconciliatio?</HI> What content can be greater to the &s;oul, than the Reconciliation of God the Father with a &s;inner?</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="conclusion">
<PB N="44" REF="28">
<HEAD>CONCL&V;SIO.</HEAD>
<P>By what I have &s;poken, you may di&s;cerne whether this Caveat will reach to you or no. It is the de&s;ire of my heart, there may be no need of it; that among &s;o many, there may not be found one faithle&s;s man, no malignant Infidel among you.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 3.20.</NOTE> But if your heart accu&s;e you, God is grea|ter than your heart, and knows all things; it will be wi&s;dom to have an eye to the Caution.</P>
<P N="1">1. Again&s;t <HI>Ignorance,</HI> e&s;pecially affected; that you be not blind in the ne|ce&s;&s;ary points of Religion.</P>
<P N="2">2. Then again&s;t <HI>Ob&s;tinacy</HI> and <HI>Wilfulne&s;s;</HI> that you malicou&s;ly &s;hut not your eyes, and wilfully with-draw not your a&s;&s;ent from the Truth of God, from his mercy and judgement.</P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, That you make u&s;e of your knowledge, fall in love with the Will of God revealed in his Word, delight in it, and affect it &s;incerely: and al&s;o apply to your own &s;ouls the benefits of Chri&s;ts pa&s;&s;ion, and the promi&s;es of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.10.</NOTE>This if you do, you &s;hall finde, <HI>that as with the heart you &s;hall believe unto righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> &s;o with <HI>the mouth confe&s;&s;ion will be made unto &s;alvation.</HI> That faith in the heart will draw from you a confe&s;&s;ion with the tongue, a profe&s;&s;ion in your life. And your life being every way an&s;werable to your Chri&s;tian Confe&s;&s;ion, will have a ble&s;&s;ed end, and a happy reward. Your dayes &s;hall &s;et in peace, upon which &s;hall follow that peace which pa&s;&s;eth all under&s;tanding, that which God hath prepared for tho&s;e that love and tru&s;t to him.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="4" TYPE="sermon">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>HEB. 3.12.</HI></BIBL>
<P><BIBL><HI>12.</HI></BIBL> Take heed, brethren, le&s;t there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exodus 31.</NOTE>AS tho&s;e skilful <HI>Bezaliels</HI> and <HI>Aholiabs,</HI> that work in gold, have not only a care of the Ingots and ma&s;&s;y pieces, but even of the rayes and filings of that precious mettal, that nothing be lo&s;t: So al&s;o it behoves them who are to work about the Word of God, (which is more precious than gold,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 19.10.</NOTE> yea than much fine gold) to take care not only while they are at work upon the main and &s;ub&s;tantial parts of the Text, that they be well &s;et and cut; but even for the circum&s;tantial al&s;o, that they be pre&s;erv'd. The&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.12.</NOTE> as the fragments and broken pieces are to be gathered up, that there be no lo&s;s, no wa&s;te committed at all.</P>
<P>The la&s;t day I dealt about the main point <HI>Infidelity,</HI> and the Caveat about it; Now I am to &s;peak of</P>
<P N="1">1. The place where it takes up its re&s;idence. <HI>The heart.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The Original whence it proceeds. <HI>The naughtine&s;s of it.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. The effect or danger of it; <HI>it makes Apo&s;tates; cau&s;eth a departure from the living God.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. The per&s;ons that are in the only danger to be with-drawn. You that are enlightned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.4, 5.</NOTE> you that have ta&s;ted of the good Word of God, and given up your Names to Chri&s;t. <HI>Therefore take you heed that there be not in any of you this Heart.</HI></P>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="section">
<PB N="45" REF="28">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> A Heart of &V;nbelief.</HEAD>
<P>By the heart, you are not to under&s;tand the matter and &s;ub&s;tance of it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13.15. I&s;a. 6.18.</NOTE> Th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s were to have a gro&s;s; and a fat heart; but the whole &s;oul of man, and the parts and faculties of it. Take it for the inferiour, take it in the &s;u|periour, it is, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> the clo&s;e &s;hop of vertue or mi&s;chief; where God accepts, or rejects every work, as it is wrought within.</P>
<P>It is no offence to me, when I heare or read tho&s;e plea&s;ing Elogies of the &s;oul of man, that it is the Image of the living God, a cele&s;tial ray, a ta&s;te of the Divinity, to which God hath given wit to &s;earch all, will to choo&s;e good, affections to love, joy, feare, hope, hate, grieve; and rea&s;on to &s;it at the &s;terne, to move, to guide, to moderate, to mea&s;ure all. In a word, there is no miracle on earth more wonderful than man; in man nothing more wonderful than his Spirit. The&s;e are all plau&s;ible and plea|&s;ing words, and often rung into our ears; apt they are too, and they have tran&s;ported &s;ome to think better of them&s;elves than they ought; and to think as the fool, <HI>there is no God be&s;ides man.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 14.1.</NOTE></P>
<P>Ca&s;t your eye then off from the beauty of it, and enquire what is hid, and finde you &s;hall, that for all the&s;e Elogies, it is both to it &s;elf, and the man a mo&s;t dangerous and pernicious in&s;trument, the leven that &s;owres the whole Lump, the <HI>Colloquintida</HI> that brings death into the Pot,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5.6, 7. 2 Kings 4.40.</NOTE> a tedious and importunate Para&s;ite; and which, as a Juggler who playes at fa&s;t and loo&s;e, under the colour of &s;ome flye and plea&s;ing motion, forgeth, inven|teth, and produceth all the mi&s;chief in the World. For the Truth is, did not the heart &s;et all awork, there would be none. For the heart is truly the Murderer, the heart is the Adulterer, the heart is the Thief,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.19.</NOTE> the heart is the Infidel. 'Tis too long to tell you what the Heart is; and &s;hould I do it, I mu&s;t call it by all the wicked names, by which &s;inners are reproached in the world.</P>
<P>We u&s;ually ca&s;t the blame upon others; as upon the evil &s;pirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.12, 13.</NOTE> <HI>The Serpent beguiled me;</HI> we accu&s;e the woman, <HI>The woman deceiv'd me:</HI> We blame the Apple, <HI>'tis a plea&s;ing fruit to the eye, &s;weet to the taste.</HI> Alas,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 6.</NOTE> all the&s;e are but external &s;olicitors; allure they may, compel they cannot. A <HI>Delilah</HI> there lies in the bo&s;ome, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 16.6, 13.</NOTE> a bo&s;ome enemy wor&s;e than all; by her, Satan works, and takes his advantage to undo us. Satan is without, and if we re&s;i&s;t him he will flye: But our heart is within, it &s;tayes with us &s;till, importunately pre&s;&s;es, waits all times,<NOTE PLACE="marg">James 4.7.</NOTE> catches all op|portunities, and if great heed be not taken, it will deceive and kill.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 10.15.</NOTE> Plea&s;e our &s;elves (we may) as <HI>Jehu</HI> did with an hypocritical Que&s;tion, <HI>Is thy heart upright as mine is upright?</HI> when it is mo&s;t fal&s;e, and de&s;erves the Epithite the Apo&s;tle be&s;tows upon an evil heart, in which he &s;ets down the Root, whence this &s;in of unbelief and all other &s;ins have their Original. <HI>viz.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.19, 20.</NOTE> <HI>The naughtine&s;s of the heart.</HI> Of which next.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> An Evil Heart.</HEAD>
<P>The words in Scripture u&s;ed for Naughtine&s;s and Wickedne&s;s are com|monly two, <GAP DESC="foreign"> and <GAP DESC="foreign">; and the fir&s;t <GAP DESC="foreign">, properly &s;ignifies a loo&s;e, licentious lewdne&s;s lightly perfected by lu&s;t. The other <GAP DESC="foreign">, an unquiet working wickedne&s;s, that will take paines to do a &s;hrewd turn, being com|monly the effect of malice. This la&s;t the Apo&s;tle makes choice of here, that however faith in the heart be in this life but weak,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.12.</NOTE> <HI>for we know but in
<PB N="46" REF="29"> part;</HI> yet there &s;hould not be in us a bu&s;ie di&s;po&s;ition to di&s;turb, much le&s;s a malicious working brain, to invent Arguments by which we may di&s;pute a|gain&s;t the Truth.</P>
<P>An advice if at any time, needful for the age in which we live, where he is counted the mo&s;t zealous Saint, and &s;incere&s;t believer, who can with the faire&s;t colour, overlay the foule&s;t errour, though &s;o varni&s;h'd for no other end, but to &s;hake and overturne the mo&s;t Ancient and e&s;tabli&s;hed founda|tions.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2. Jude Ep. Ephe&s;. 4.14. 1 Tim. 1.6, 7. 4.1, 2. 2 Tim. 3.2, 3.</NOTE> <HI>Sceptiques</HI> &s;hall I call the&s;e in Religion? rather &s;uch as the Apo&s;tles foretold, Spirits of errour, Seducers, Deceivers, Jugglers, Authours of di|vers Sects. Men of nature contentious, and unquiet, doating about Que|&s;tions and &s;trife of words. And to countenance this, there is not one of them who carries not a Bible under his arme; and to make his matter good, will, as did the Devil, urge <HI>Scriptum e&s;t, It is written;</HI> is it not writ|ten,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 4.</NOTE> <HI>&s;earch the Scriptures, &s;eek and ye &s;hall finde?</HI> To &s;eek and &s;earch is al|low'd, &s;o it be done with di&s;cretion. Now that it be di&s;creetly done, the&s;e three things are to be ob&s;erv'd; <HI>Res, tempus, modus.</HI> In the thing we mu&s;t know what to &s;earch for.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. de prae|&s;cript. cap. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> About the time, when we are to &s;earch. And for the manner, how farre.</P>
<P>The Summe of that Learned Fathers Di&s;cour&s;e, is, That when we have attain'd the grounds, and are firmly built upon that foundation, <HI>of which Chri&s;t is the chief Corner-&s;tone,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.20.</NOTE> being united by the holy Gho&s;t; and after repaired and &s;trengthened by the vertue of the Sacrament, that men con|tent them&s;elves, and &s;eek curiou&s;ly, contentiou&s;ly, maliciou&s;ly no farther. <HI>Nobis curio&s;itate opus non e&s;t po&s;t Chri&s;tum, nec inqui&s;itione po&s;t Evangelium;</HI> We need not curio&s;ity after Chri&s;t, nor inqui&s;ition after the Go&s;pel. To do other, is the practice of <HI>Athens,</HI> not <HI>Hieru&s;alem;</HI> and what hath the wrangling Schoole to do with the Church? Our in&s;tructions and examples mu&s;t be fetcht not from the <HI>Stoa</HI> of <HI>Socrates,</HI> but from <HI>Solomons</HI> Porch, who&s;e direction is, <HI>Seek the Lord in &s;implicity of heart.</HI> Read the Scri|ptures, but with &s;obriety. If any man upon pre&s;umption of his own wit, his own parts, either of Nature or Art, or (which is at this day pretended) In&s;piration, or Revelation, &s;eek farther than &s;tands with the Rule of faith and peace of the Church: be&s;ides that this betrayes an evil heart, he &s;hall be &s;ure to ca&s;t him&s;elf into a <HI>Labyrinth,</HI> out of which it will not be ea&s;ie to get. <HI>Cum credimus, nihil de&s;ideramus ultra credere,</HI> when we once know our Creed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. loc. co.</NOTE> and believe it, we do not de&s;ire to &s;earch farther what to believe. For let a licentious liberty be granted to that, and then Mr. <HI>Calvin</HI> will tell you what's like to come of it. <HI>Quanta um rixarum &s;emen, &amp; futura e&s;t confu&s;io, &s;i prout cui&abque; libitum e&s;t mutare liceat quae ad communem &s;ta|tum pertinent!</HI> what &s;eeds of Quarrels are &s;own, and how great will be the confu&s;ion, if, as every one li&s;t, he may change that which by grave and due con&s;ideration is e&s;tabli&s;hed for the common &s;tate of the Church! What is a|greed on will never plea&s;e all; and therefore, &s;aith he, There will never be an end of wrangling, if matters may be left indifferent to be determined by every mans private di&s;cretion.</P>
<P>It is then a certain Argument of this naughtine&s;s of heart, and a plaine Note of Infidelity, when men move every &s;tone of the foundation. The u&s;e that I &s;hall make of it, is,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That we look to the heart, that this bu&s;ie and malignant Infidelity lurk not there; that how&s;oever there may thoughts ari&s;e within, that would entice to this &s;inne, yet that they be repre&s;s'd, &s;mother'd &s;o &s;oon as born. It is too much that they ari&s;e, for it di&s;covers that the heart is evil; but if we ca&s;t a loving eye to them, nur&s;e them up, and plea&s;e our &s;elves in them, it may bring us to that &s;inne out of mea&s;ure &s;inful, Apo&s;tacy and hardne&s;s of
<PB N="47" REF="29"> heart, that heavy judgement about which the Apo&s;tle gives us the Caveat. That which <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> confe&s;s'd of him&s;elf about the reading of the School|men, is as true in all contentions of Religion;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Era&s;m. Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">loq. Relig o&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m.</NOTE> I finde that by the reading of them, I am a little acuter, but no way the better; the &s;ubtiler di&s;pu|tant, not the better Chri&s;tian; for when I come from them, my devotion is cooled; <HI>&amp; frigidus affectus &s;um erga veram virtutem, &s;ed irritatior ad contentionem,</HI> I am frozen to true vertue, but piping hot to contention. And the Learned Dr. <HI>White</HI> the Elder, in his Preface to his Orthodox,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Whites</HI> Or|thodox., Epi&s;t. Ded.</NOTE> a|mong evils of contention in Religion, hath ob&s;erved the&s;e four. Fir&s;t, That Religion and Faith, which of all other things ought to be mo&s;t indubitate and certain, whiles it is que&s;tioned, beginneth to be doubted of: and di&s;cord in Religion nouri&s;heth certain &s;eeds of Athei&s;m. Secondly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazianzen.</NOTE> As plants which are often removed, cannot take root and pro&s;per; &s;o points of Faith and Pi|ety being removed out of their old &s;tanding, or bended this and that way, begin to lo&s;e their reverence and &s;tability in the &s;ouls of men. Thirdly, As in building, &s;o in contention, one Opponent gain-&s;aying another, plucketh down, what (by a common labour and con&s;ent) ought to be builded up. Fourthly, La&s;tly, As it is impo&s;&s;ible to follow guides, who&s;e backs are each to other, and their faces look a contrary way; &s;o Gods people, who&s;e right it is to be led by their &s;piritual guides in one beaten path of faith and godline&s;s, beholding their leaders call them a contrary way, are with peril of their &s;al|vation di&s;tracted, not knowing which way to take.</P>
<P>Secondly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 10.11.</NOTE> Hence we may learn not to plea&s;e out &s;elves with Athei&s;tical thoughts, <HI>as if no eye &s;aw them.</HI> For be it that we may &s;mooth them over to men, yet God can &s;ee what is within. Though the Put-ca&s;es of the Church, do move their doubts as cunningly as <HI>Julian</HI> the Apo&s;tate,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, under a pretence for&s;ooth to whet their wits, and tell us what may be &s;aid; yet God who &s;earcheth the heart, knows that it is out of an evil intent; that it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, a practice again&s;t the Truth, proceeding from the &s;pirit of contradiction;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.15.</NOTE> for did they &s;earch the Truth indeed, it would be in love.</P>
<P>This practice though it come no farther than the heart, is yet open to his eye; for <HI>Caro &amp; Spiritus Dei res,</HI> Fle&s;h and Spirit are both from God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. de poe|nit. cap. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> the fle&s;h from his hand, the &s;oul from his breath; both are the works and goods of the &s;ame Lord; and therefore both, if both offend, equally offen&s;ive to the &s;ame Lord. When you come to plead with God, 'tis a great vanity to plead <HI>&V;olui,</HI> I confe&s;s I intended it, but <HI>non feai,</HI> I never did it: for a thought pa&s;&s;eth for an act before him; and the very de&s;ires, plots, intentions, are &s;o many breaches of his Law.</P>
<P>They may want many degrees of weight and haynou&s;ne&s;s in re&s;pect of man; for till man is hurt actually by them, to man they cannot be grievous: But as the&s;e thoughts are entertain'd, and harbour'd, and cheri&s;hed within, to him they are as malicious, as if brought to act; and he will puni&s;h the &s;oul no le&s;s for the plot, than the body for the act. For God is neither <HI>di&s;|&s;imulator nec praevaricator &s;uae perspicaciae,</HI> he will neither hide nor palliate what he &s;ees; he knows the will is the principal in the &s;inne, and therefore the &s;oul (of which this is a faculty) mu&s;t needs be &s;o much the more liable to the puni&s;hment, by how much it is more guilty of the fact. This I have premi&s;ed, that we take heed to free our &s;elves from this malignity of the heart in this &s;in, and every other as well as the body; That &s;ince there is a common Law to both, and a common guilt of both, and a common be|holder and Judge of both, and a common Trial for both, and a common paine for both, that both be aw'd by it. But e&s;pecially the heart, becau&s;e from that, as the Fountaine, flowes all the mi&s;chief. It is good ad|vice
<PB N="48" REF="30"> then that the Spirit of God &s;o often gives, <HI>That we keep the heart, and clean&s;e it.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That we keep it; &s;o coun&s;els the wi&s;e <HI>Solomon, Keep thy heart with all diligence.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 4.23.</NOTE> Set the Word of God upon it to look to it, <HI>ne effluat;</HI> for as oft as it breaks over that bank, it puts all in hazard and danger. Set the Law to hammer it, and break it, and brui&s;e it, that it may be a broken and a contrite heart, and &s;o a fit Sacrifice to God. Set the Go&s;pel upon it to melt and &s;often it, that of a &s;tony and &s;tubborne, it may become a trem|bling, a &s;ubmi&s;&s;ive, a tender, a fle&s;hy heart, a fit Ve&s;&s;el to receive the Oyl of mercy.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.17.</NOTE> Set Repentance to work upon it, Confe&s;&s;ion to acknowledge what's ami&s;s, deprecation to ask pardon for what's ami&s;s, &s;orrow for what is pa&s;t, care for the time to come, that it may be a new reformed heart, mor|tified and dead to &s;in, but quickned and alive to grace.</P>
<P>Secondly, But notwith&s;tanding all our care, it is not po&s;&s;ible to keep it without filth; nece&s;&s;ary it is that we clean&s;e it often. It is Prophetical coun|&s;el, <HI>O Hieru&s;alem, wa&s;h thy heart!</HI> It is Apo&s;tolical coun&s;el al&s;o, <HI>Puri|fie your hearts you double-mind<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 4.14. James 4.8.</NOTE> If you purifie your braine, 'tis well; for the head is full of mi&s;chief and fancies; never more than now; and well it is that they be &s;wept out; for &s;uch notions become not the mindes of well-meaning Chri&s;tians. If you clean&s;e the hands 'tis well; I mean the outward man from impure acts: For actual wickedne&s;s di&s;honours our holy profe&s;&s;i|on. Would we wa&s;h our mouths too, 'twere not ami&s;s, for they are very foul with Oaths, bla&s;phemies and &s;launders. But let no man think when he hath brought his thoughts to &s;ome other order, or his outward man to &s;ome civil conformity, that he is cleane enough, and wa&s;hed &s;ufficiently. For the altering of the braine may be but <HI>vertigo capitis;</HI> and the clen&s;ing of the hand, as the Phari&s;aical wa&s;hings of Pots, and Cups, and other Brazen Ve&s;|&s;els,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 7.4, 8.</NOTE> condemned by our Saviour. A wa&s;hing away there mu&s;t be, not only of certain notions in our braines, but of the affections of the heart. And an alteration, not in the face for &s;hame, or in the feet for feare, or in the hand for fa&s;hion, but in the heart, ari&s;ing out of the pollution that dwells in it, and a con&s;cience of the naughtine&s;s we know by it.</P>
<P>For if we carry a heart about us, &s;et upon evil; deceive others for a time we may, but &s;hall at la&s;t be deceived our &s;elves. Others we deceive carry|ing the name of Chri&s;tians,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.13. James 1.26.</NOTE> but hearts of Infidels: and deceiv'd we &s;hall be; for when we expect the wages of Servants, we &s;hall receive the portion of Hypocrites.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> Let what faire &s;hew &s;oever be made, this un&s;ound heart, as water kept in Caverns of the earth by force, will break out and overflow all at la&s;t, and carry you away from the Living God. Which that it fall not out, Saint <HI>Paul</HI> here gives his Caveat, <HI>Take heed, le&s;t in any of you there be an evil heart.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, That you Depart, Revolt, Apo&s;tatize not, that you fall not off.</HEAD>
<P>This is the labour of Infidelity, this the intent; to this purpo&s;e the whole battery is rai&s;ed to make the heart revolt from, and for&s;ake God. Now &s;o many wayes as we may be &s;aid to draw near and cleave to God, &s;o many wayes we may be &s;aid to disjoyne and go from him. The fir&s;t way that a man approacheth God, and adheres to him, is Faith; and the other is Love: For by Faith he believes that God is, and what he is; a wi&s;e, good, true, ju&s;t, merciful Deity; and upon this contemplation he falls in love with him, and unites to him as near as he can, and de&s;ires to do his will; becau&s;e he is con|fident, that that God who is &s;o wi&s;e, good, true, and ju&s;t, will never &s;et
<PB N="49" REF="30"> down any erroneous Law, nor command any fooli&s;h, naughty, or unju&s;t a|ction: and who is &s;o merciful, will forgive, remit, and blot out his failings and imperfect &s;ervices. By the&s;e two affections, Faith and Love, which con|tinue us to God, ea&s;ie it will be to know who are Apo&s;tates.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, They which ob&s;tinately refu&s;e the Faith being Revealed and propo|&s;ed to them, are, though not &s;o properly, in this rank; for the&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign"> keep and &s;tand off: In this number are to be mu&s;tered the &s;tiff-necked Jews, the incredulous Turks, and other Infidels; for who&s;e Conver&s;ion we are bound to pray,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 9.2.</NOTE> and for who&s;e Ob&s;tinacy to have great &s;orrow in our heart.</P>
<P>Secondly, But tho&s;e properly are to be branded with this name,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6, 4, 5.</NOTE> <HI>Who ha|ving been once enlightned, and have ta&s;ted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Gho&s;t, and ta&s;ted the good Word of God, and the powers of the World to come,</HI> yet fall away,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 10.29.</NOTE> and <HI>tread under foot the Son of God, and count the blood of the Covenant wherewith they were &s;an|ctified, an unholy thing, and do de&s;pight to the Spirit of grace.</HI></P>
<P>A mans life is a warfarre upon the earth; Chri&s;t is the General, and leads the Army; and all that have given up their names to Chri&s;t, are his Soul|diers, and bound to fight under his banner. From the Camp then this word is borrowed; and tho&s;e that run away from their Captain and Colours, are of tho&s;e Renegado's and Fugitives. This is done two manner of wayes; either in whole, or in part.</P>
<P N="1">1. They are guilty of this Apo&s;tacy in the highe&s;t Decree, who totally renounce, deny, and fall from Chri&s;t; of whom the Apo&s;tle &s;poke in the former Chapters; and of which e&s;pecially, as I conceive here; For as the Jews were the fir&s;t Converts, &s;o were they the fir&s;t Apo&s;tates. Many tri|bulations tho&s;e Jews who receiv'd the Faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 2.14.</NOTE> &s;u&s;tain'd of their own Coun|trymen the Jews; There never being &s;uch a Jew to a Chri&s;tian Jew, as a natural and apo&s;tate Jew. Tho&s;e per&s;ecutions then of the ob&s;tinate incre|dulous Jews their Countrymen, was one great tentation to them. And a|nother tentation was the per&s;wa&s;ions they brought unto them out of Scri|ptures, to cleave unto the Law, and not to believe in Je&s;us the dead man. Be&s;ides there were many among them, who though they did not totally re|nounce Chri&s;t, yet did teach them to Judaize, to receive the whole Mo&s;ai|cal Law, as well as the Go&s;pel, bringing them back again to that Yoke, which they had been taught to ca&s;t off. This was to begin in the Spirit, and to end in the fle&s;h. This was to evacuate Chri&s;t, and to fall from grace.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 3.3. Cap. 5.4.</NOTE> And to this end the Apo&s;tle here gives them this Caveat, That neither per|&s;ecutions, nor per&s;wa&s;ions &s;hould &s;o far prevaile with them, that they depart from the living God.</P>
<P>For in parting from Chri&s;t, they mu&s;t depart from the living God, &s;ince he was the Lord of life, nay life it &s;elf; <HI>I an the way, the truth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.6. John 6.54.</NOTE> <HI>and the life.</HI> Which the Di&s;ciples acknowledg'd; for Chri&s;t propo&s;ing the que|&s;tion, <HI>What? will you al&s;o go away?</HI> Quo? <HI>Whither &s;hall we go? Thou ha&s;t the words of eternal life.</HI> Totally then to renounce our Chri&s;tian pro|fe&s;&s;ion, as <HI>Demas</HI> and <HI>Julian</HI> the Apo&s;tate did; or to Judaize, as did many at <HI>Rome</HI> and <HI>Galatia,</HI> is to depart from the living God.</P>
<P N="2">2. This is that &s;in out of mea&s;ure &s;inful, and not many are guilty of it; but there is another kind of it, from which I cannot free very many who carry the Name of Chri&s;t. <HI>Arrius</HI> that denies the Deity of our Saviour; and <HI>Socinus</HI> that denies the ran&s;ome of his blood; In a word, all Hereticks that ob&s;tinately take from the verity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.19. and cap. 4.1.</NOTE> and all Sci&s;maticks that rend and teare the unity of the Catholick Church, are in part revolters, and making &s;hipwrack of a good con&s;cience, do depart from the faith.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="50" REF="31">2. The guilt of this &s;in, though it be frequently and quickly fa&s;tned, yet it is hard to finde any man almo&s;t that will own it. For the verye&s;t Heretick <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> tell you he is an Orthodox Chri&s;tian, and contends for the faith; and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he unquiete&s;t Sci&s;matick, that he is of a peaceable &s;pirit, and de&s;ires to &s;et up Chri&s;ts Kingdome; It would draw me too farre from my purpo&s;e, to convict them both at this time. I &s;hall therefore bring before you another kinde, of which there will be no di&s;pute; becau&s;e Saint <HI>Paul</HI> in expre&s;&s;e wordsavers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3. &amp; ver. 1. ad 8.</NOTE> <HI>that they are reprobate concerning the faith.</HI> He &s;ets them out &s;o to the life, and in &s;uch colours, that it is no hard matter to know them, together with the time they are to appeare. <HI>In the la&s;t dayes,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>pe|rillous times &s;hall come; for men &s;hall be lovers of their own &s;elves, covetous, boa&s;ters, proud, blasphemers, di&s;obedient to Parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, fal&s;e accu&s;ers, incontinent, fierce, despi&s;ers of tho&s;e that are good, Traytours, heady, high-minded, having a forme of godline&s;s, but denying the power thereof, &amp;c.</HI> Who&s;e de&s;cription may be fuller read in St.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2. Jude Epi&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Peter,</HI> and St. <HI>Jude;</HI> and to whom it belongs, is evi|dent by the Declaration, extant for a day of Humiliation and Fa&s;ting, <HI>March</HI> 20. 1653.</P>
<P>Who&s;oever then they are, <HI>Qui magis vultum, quam ingenium bonum ha|bent,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Salu&s;t.</HI> Tit. 1.16.</NOTE> are all for the face, little for the heart; who in <HI>words confe&s;s Chri&s;t, in deeds deny him;</HI> who in profe&s;&s;ion are Chri&s;tians, in their actions Hea|thens;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.8.</NOTE> the&s;e men have denyed the faith, and are practical Athei&s;ts; for they want true love, which is the forme, the very life and &s;oul of faith. They are not wrong'd when we charge them with that revolt, with which God charg'd the Jews, <HI>They have for&s;aken me the fountain of living water, and digg'd to them&s;elves ci&s;terns that will hold no water.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 2.13.</NOTE></P>
<P>Take heed therefore of Infidelity; for if you be guilty of this &s;in, there is neither true faith, nor true love in you. As this &s;in more or le&s;s increa|&s;eth, and &s;eizeth the heart, &s;o more or le&s;s we depart from the living God. For the le&s;s you believe God, the le&s;s you will regard him; the le&s;s you re|gard, the le&s;s you will love him; the le&s;s you love, the le&s;s you will tru&s;t him; the le&s;s you tru&s;t, the le&s;s you will obey him; and the le&s;s you obey, the further &s;till you depart from God. Be it then a man be not guilty of an univer&s;al Apo&s;tacy, by which he doth ob&s;tinately and maliciou&s;ly re&s;i&s;t the holy Gho&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.51.</NOTE> <HI>tread under foot the Son of God, and count the blood by which he was &s;anctified, an unholy thing.</HI> Yet &s;o farre as he doth &s;et him&s;elf to di&s;-e&s;teem, or wilfully contradict any Article of the faith; yea, or come &s;hort of the Sincerity and Truth of the Go&s;pel in his life and practice, &s;o farre he may be &s;aid to have renounced the Faith, and departed from the living God.</P>
<P>It is by God laid to the charge of the Church of <HI>Ephe&s;us, that &s;he had left her first love;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.4.</NOTE> and yet it appeares that the revolt was not Total. That which Chri&s;t had again&s;t her, was, a decay, a cooling, a defect in her affecti|on. Her love was not &s;o earne&s;t, &s;o con&s;tant, &s;o hot as it was at fir&s;t. The very cooling in Religious duties that brings a man to <HI>&s;tagger</HI> in the faith, is in|terpretative,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 29.9.</NOTE> a revolt from God.</P>
<P>To this the Devil labours to bring men; fir&s;t he tempts to doubt, then to di&s;pute; well knowing that doubts and di&s;putes may po&s;&s;ibly forme the under&s;tanding to a new-belief. Like <HI>Anaxagoras,</HI> that meerly at fir&s;t in|venting Arguments that the &s;now was not white, intending only to oppo&s;e Sophi&s;ts, at la&s;t came to think &s;o indeed. In the like manner, when a man &s;ets his wits awork to di&s;credit principles, by little and little thoughts &s;teale upon him that they are fal&s;e indeed, and bring him to the next &s;tep to A|po&s;tatize and Revolt from the living God.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="section">
<PB N="51" REF="31">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> Living God.</HEAD>
<P>It &s;eems to me the&s;e two words, <HI>Deus &amp; vivens,</HI> are as the Angel in <HI>Balaams</HI> way, &s;et as two impediments in the way of every Apo&s;tate. 'Tis from God we go, and will any &s;tart from him?<NOTE PLACE="marg">N<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mb. 22.</NOTE> 'Tis from the living God we depart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 8.19.</NOTE> and will any man in his right minde go <HI>from the living to the dead?</HI> From God it is; and when I named him unto you, 'tis all one as if I had name all Truth, all Goodne&s;s, all perfections. <HI>Let God be true,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.4. Luke 18.19. Gen. 6 5.</NOTE> <HI>and all men lyars,</HI> and all the Idols, and vain imaginations of men lyes. <HI>There is none good but God only;</HI> for all the <HI>imaginations of mans heart, and his practices al&s;o are evil continually:</HI> And will any rational man wilfully depart from Truth, maliciou&s;ly for&s;ake goodne&s;s?</P>
<P>There is nothing excellent that may not be found in him;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1.17.</NOTE> no good thing that comes not from him. Even tho&s;e very things which the e&s;timation of men hath made precious, and for which you have a heart to for&s;ake him, came from him: Any thing that you would faine cleave to, is but a beam of his Sun, a &s;tream from that fountaine. Take the&s;e as love tokens from him, and love him the more affectionately for them, he is well plea&s;ed you enjoy them &s;till. But if upon the detention of the&s;e you begin to repine and murmur, and &s;hake him off: or if upon the having of the&s;e, you relye upon them, tru&s;t to them, &s;acrificing to your own wit, or your own net,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 1.16.</NOTE> Infidelity hath brought forth, and is deliver'd of this Mon&s;ter Apo&s;tacy; from God you go, and which is farther to be thought on, the Living God.</P>
<DIV3 TYPE="subsection">
<HEAD>The LI&V;ING.</HEAD>
<P>This is the true property of God; So proper to him, that it is <HI>primo</HI> in the fir&s;t &s;en&s;e proper to nothing el&s;e. Other things have life, but it is by Deed of Gift from his Bounty. In him we and all creatures live;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.3. Acts 17.25, 28. P&s;alm 104.29.</NOTE> in him we and all Chri&s;tians live; <HI>In him we live, and move, and have our being;</HI> our being of Nature, our being of Grace. He takes away our <HI>breath;</HI> the breath of his &s;anctifying Spirit, and the breath of our natural life, and we dye in&s;tantly. There being no more certaine Attribute to &s;et forth his Being (for he mu&s;t live, before he can be Omnipotent, ju&s;t, merciful, good, &amp;c.) he bound the Jews to &s;wear by this Solemn Form,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 4 2.</NOTE> <HI>The Lord liveth.</HI></P>
<P>All other things which men call Gods, and adore as Gods (for there be Gods many, and Lords many) yet are but dead gods. The Idol, the World, your imaginations, your belly, your money,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 8.5.</NOTE> &s;avour all of the earth and mortality; there is no true life in them, not hold of them. As for your gold, the Thief &s;teals it, the Ru&s;t eats it; for your Idol,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.19. I&s;a 2.20. 1 Cor. 3.12. 1 Cor. 6.13.</NOTE> the Wea|ther rots it, the Birds defile it; all the Religion of your own braine is but Wood, Hay, Stubble, the fire will burn it up. <HI>Meats are for the bel|ly, and belly for meats; but this living God will con&s;ume it and them.</HI> And for the world, it is but a decaying, fading world;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 7.31.</NOTE> <HI>the fa&s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">on of it every day pa&s;&s;eth away.</HI> The&s;e which by men are &s;et up for Deities, yet are no living Gods.</P>
<P>'Tis your God alone that hath life in him&s;elf, nay who is life it &s;elf; and what&s;oever hath life, hath it (as I &s;aid) from him. By his gift it is that we live the life of nature; by his &s;pirit that we live the life of grace; and by his free-grace it is that we hope to live the life of glory. As you love your life then, this or that other, take heed you depart not from the Authour, giver, and fini&s;her of it.</P>
<PB N="52" REF="32">
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.68.</NOTE>And to whom, or to what will you go? are not words of eternal life with him? Leave him once, and what is it that you can go to &s;ee or &s;eek? <HI>A Reede &s;haken with the winde?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 11.7.</NOTE> A Reede indeed, a hollow, empty, weak and vaine thing. To nothing more like than a Reede is what&s;oever you can lean to, in the emptine&s;&s;e, in the weakne&s;&s;e, yea, and perhaps in the paine it may put you to,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 36.6.</NOTE> breaking even then, when you put your &s;elves upon it, and leaving behinde a &s;plint in the hand, rather a wound in the heart.</P>
<P>And that I may po&s;e you with a que&s;tion, leave this living God, and <HI>quo ibitis?</HI> whither will you go? Nay, whither &s;hall you not go? Into what ma|zes of errour &s;hall you not fall? Unto what vaine imaginations, and mon|&s;trous opinions &s;hall you not be brought? For God being for&s;aken, what can a man overtake but lies, &s;inne, darkne&s;&s;e, death, wrath, fire, hell, condemnation for ever and ever? To &s;hut up this point then, &s;ince infidelity layes &s;iege to the heart, makes an evil heart, withdraws the heart from God, from the living God, Take heed le&s;t it be</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> In any of you.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Per&s;onarum adjectio habet empha&s;in.</HI> The addition of the per&s;ons is very emphatical.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aretius in loc.</NOTE> And it is a circum&s;tance of great moment, in regard of the rela|tion that was betwixt the per&s;ons and God now. For as the Ma&s;ters of Rheto|rique have taught us, <HI>relationes &s;unt minimae entitatis, &s;ed maximae efficaciae,</HI> Re|lations however they be things of the lea&s;t entity, yet they are of great force in the aggravation of any &s;inne. So it is here.</P>
<P>That any &s;hould disbeleeve, di&s;tru&s;t, or fall from the living God, is a very foul over-&s;ight; but it is more to be charged upon you, and leaves a heavier guilt upon you, than many others: and that for the&s;e rea&s;ons.</P>
<P N="1">1. You have had more means and helps to beleeve; you have had the Law, and the Prophets.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.1, 2.</NOTE> You have heard <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;peaking in the Law, Chri&s;t in the Go&s;pel.<NOTE PLACE="marg">August.</NOTE> <HI>Tolle &amp; lege,</HI> take up and read, whether all you read were not confir|med by miracles from heaven: By miracles done in the name of Chri&s;t after he was crucified,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 2.3, 4.</NOTE> dead, buried, or rather in the name of Chri&s;t ri&s;en, and a&s;cended, which &s;hews evidently that he is alive, that he is God, otherwi&s;e his name could not be virtual. Thus much you have been taught, thus much you know, and therefore let there not be in any of you this unbelieving heart. For the more light God hath given to any one, and the more means to beget faith, the greater is his &s;inne, if he be an Infidel, greate&s;t if he revolt.</P>
<P N="2">2. To you he comes by the &s;ecret motions of his holy Spirit, knocking at the door, as de&s;irous of admittance. It labours to rai&s;e within you good me|ditations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 3.20.</NOTE> good inclinations and de&s;ires, in the mind, will, affections. Of this work <HI>David</HI> was &s;en&s;ible, when he did acknowledge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 16.7.</NOTE> <HI>My reins cha&s;ten me in the night &s;ea&s;on;</HI> When he was alone on his Couch, many a pious thought he had, many a good intention; and the fountain whence they all came was his reins, that is, the faculties of his &s;oul &s;anctified and guided by the Spirit of God, that put him in mind of his duty.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.17.</NOTE>But this is not all; it labours to hinder and &s;uppre&s;&s;e the bad motions of the fle&s;h; as well knowing that where way is given to the bad, there will be cold entertainment for the good.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 30.22.</NOTE> How often (I appeal to your own &s;ouls) when a man is going a wrong way, doth he hear a voice from within as it were from heaven calling unto him, that is not the way, <HI>this is the way, walk in it.</HI> And when we have left the right way,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 25.31. Prov. 18.14. I&s;a. 29.10.</NOTE> then comes upon us <HI>Singultus cordis,</HI> as <HI>A|bigail</HI> excellently calls it, an offence of heart, an upbraiding, a throbbing; or as <HI>Solomon,</HI> a wound and gall of &s;pirit, or a &s;ting and pricking of con&s;cience, as <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> that will not &s;uffer us to go on quietly. Whence proceeds this di&s;tur|bance
<PB N="53" REF="32"> I pray you? Why are we not let alone to be as bad as we de&s;ire? Is it not that the Spirit of God is chiding and checking us within, and &s;triving a|gain&s;t the rebellious de&s;ires of our fle&s;h?</P>
<P N="3">3. Be&s;ides, to you he hath &s;poken in the works of his providence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 12.3. Gal. 3.8.</NOTE> in mer|cies, in judgements, in ble&s;&s;ings, in cro&s;&s;es: He promi&s;ed to <HI>Abraham, that in his &s;eed all the Nations of the earth &s;hould be ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> and he hath done it. He threatned the Jews, his own people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.17.20 1 Sam. 2.30.</NOTE> <HI>that they &s;hould be broken off through unbelief,</HI> and he hath done it: <HI>that the heathen &s;hould be planted in,</HI> and he hath done that too. <HI>That tho&s;e that honour, him &s;hould be honoured; that de&s;pi&s;e him, &s;hould be de&s;pi&s;ed.</HI> Go through the Prophe&s;ies, and finde one favour he promi&s;ed, or one plague he hath threatned, which he hath not made good, and then di&s;tru&s;t him, or believe him no more: But if this be not to be found, and this you mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e is not to be found, then <HI>Ne &s;it in vobis,</HI> let not there be in you, in any of you, who have had the&s;e helps, the&s;e meanes, this light, tho&s;e miracles, &s;uch checks of the Spirit, &s;o many mercies, &s;o ma|ny cro&s;&s;es, let there not be I &s;ay <HI>in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.</HI></P>
<P>Men account tho&s;e places happie&s;t where the Word of God is preached, and where the plentifulle&s;t means to beget faith is offered; and &s;o it is indeed if a right u&s;e be made of it, and faith begotten and &s;trengthned by it:<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 2.16.</NOTE> But if men remain incredulous and di&s;obedient, <HI>the Go&s;pel will become the &s;avour of death unto death.</HI> You have heard of the wo of <HI>Corazin,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 11.21. Luke 10.13. Luke 12.47.</NOTE> and that other of <HI>Beth&s;aida,</HI> and &s;ure I am you have read the Text often in which there is men|tion made of many &s;tripes. The wo pronounced again&s;t both tho&s;e Cities, was becau&s;e they were not &s;en&s;ible of the many works and mighty done in them. And tho&s;e many &s;tripes, becau&s;e they knew much, and did little. Live not then as if tho&s;e Woes had never fallen from our Saviours lips, nor yet tho&s;e &s;tripes had nere been threatned.</P>
<P>The&s;e Texts concern you neere, and the le&s;&s;on they teach is <HI>Ne &s;it,</HI> be not Infidels. Are you better than they? They peri&s;hed, becau&s;e Chri&s;t preached and they beleeved not, and were no better. He, that bad &s;ervant, <HI>becau&s;e he knew his Ma&s;ters will and did it not:</HI> and I know not how it can go better with you, with you that know, that have been taught, if you beleeve not, a&s;&s;ent not, apply not. And perhaps for the pre&s;ent you begin to think of it, and are re&s;olved to do it hereafter; And why not now? why not at this in&s;tant? Li|berty there is not given you by the Apo&s;tle, no not for a minute; his advice is to do it pre&s;ently.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="subsection">
<HEAD><HI>6.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, Beware le&s;t at any time.</HEAD>
<P>God gives no di&s;pen&s;ation to &s;inne, no time to incredulity; the Caveat is peremptory and negative, and therefore mu&s;t binde <HI>ad &s;emper,</HI> to all in&s;tants of time. And that you be per&s;waded at no time to give way to it, I pray con|&s;ider, that that hour, that minute this is done, you come into great danger. <HI>For he that beleeveth not, hath the wrath of God abiding on him.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 3.63.</NOTE> Next as your per&s;ons, &s;o all your actions civil or religious, are &s;tained and &s;potted, be|cau&s;e they proceed not from a con&s;cience purged by faith;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Titus 1.15. Heb. 11.3.</NOTE> and what proceeds not from faith is &s;inne. I know you would be all &s;aved, but &s;o long as you car|ry about you this malignant incredulous heart, Chri&s;t can do you no good; and without him how can you go to heaven?</P>
<P>While&s;t he was on earth, the want of faith in his Countreymen did &s;o binde up his hands, <HI>that he could not do any mighty works among them.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 6.5. Enthym. ex <HI>Naz.</HI></NOTE> To make a &s;ick man whole by miracle, two things are nece&s;&s;ary, <HI>&amp; fides ejus qui cu|randus, &amp; potentia ejus qui curare debeat:</HI> both the &s;aith of him who is to be cured, and the power of him who is to cure; the later as the cau&s;e, the fir&s;t as the di&s;po&s;ition in the &s;ubject; power in God, faith in the &s;ick; whence we often
<PB N="54" REF="33"> read the&s;e &s;olemn Acclamations from Chri&s;t to tho&s;e that came to him for help,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15 28. Luke 7.50. Mat. 9.29.</NOTE> <HI>O woman, great is thy faith: Thy faith hath &s;aved thee: Be it to thee according to thy faith, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>But what? was the Arme of the Lord &s;hortned, or his power turned to weakne&s;s?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. de Theo|log.</NOTE> No &s;uch matter. Two &s;en&s;es are given of the&s;e words He could not. The fir&s;t is, That he would not; as we u&s;ually &s;ay, I cannot drink Wine, I cannot abide it; that is, I have no minde to drink Wine, I will not abide it; and that is &s;aid to be impo&s;&s;ible, from which the will abhorres. The other Interpretation is,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Them.</HI> 3.4.43.2. Mat. 9.15.</NOTE> That <HI>cannot</HI> is often u&s;ed for <HI>non e&s;t congruum</HI> or <HI>con&s;entaneum,</HI> that which is not congruous or fit to be done; as, <HI>Can the children of the Marriage Chamber fa&s;t?</HI> that is, is it fit they &s;hould fa&s;t? and in this &s;en&s;e it may well be taken here; for was it fit for him to work mi|racles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13.55. Mark 6.3.</NOTE> and do good to them that asked in &s;corne, <HI>Is not this the Car|penters Sonne? are not his Brethren with us? whence hath he this great Wi&s;dome?</HI></P>
<P>Take it either way; either that he would not, or it was not fit for him to do it; &s;ure I am the better they were not for Chri&s;t, becau&s;e of their un|belief. And there is great rea&s;on for it, in that no &s;inne more di&s;honours God than Infidelity; For in effect, it makes God to be no God, Chri&s;t to be no Chri&s;t, his Word a lye, his Promi&s;es untruths, and his Threats <HI>bru|tum fulmen,</HI> a crack of Thunder, that may fright and feare, but &s;catter and never hurt.</P>
<P>Do you then beare any go<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d-will to the honour of God? will you uphold his Truth, his Mercies? Nay, do you beare any good-will unto your &s;elves? would you be glad your works &s;hould plea&s;e him?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 4.18. Heb. 13.16.</NOTE> your whole &s;ervice be a &s;weet &s;melling &s;acrifice to him? Then take heed <GAP DESC="foreign">, that at no time there enter into you this evil heart of unbelief; for at that time you are not ca|pable of favour from him.</P>
<P>I know it is not in your power alwayes to &s;uppre&s;s doubts that may ari&s;e in your hearts (for faith is weak in many, and yet it may be a &s;ound faith, <HI>that is but like a graine of mu&s;tard &s;eed</HI>) yet it is in your power to come to Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 17.20. Luke 17.5.</NOTE> and pray him, <HI>Lord encrea&s;e our faith.</HI> Yet it is in your power (for I &s;peak now to regenerate per&s;ons) to call for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Horat.</NOTE> and u&s;e the means God hath ordain'd to remove tho&s;e doubts. <HI>Sunt verba, &amp; voces:</HI> God hath left in his Church meanes to beget, meanes to &s;tirre up, meanes to &s;trengthen your faith. There is his Word, there are his Sacraments, there are his Mini&s;ters to whom is committed the word of Reconciliation;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.18, 19.</NOTE> hear diligently the one, and receive reverently the other, and God will give the encrea&s;e.</P>
<P>It lies upon you to call for the&s;e medicinable and corroborating Cordials. By Application of the&s;e, by Gods ble&s;&s;ing, you &s;hall go from &s;trength to &s;trength,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.17.</NOTE> from faith to faith, from a le&s;s to a greater, from a weaker to a &s;tron|ger degree, till you appear before God in <HI>Zion.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="5" TYPE="sermon">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>HEB. 3.13.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But Exhort one another dayly, while it is called to day, le&s;t any of you be hardned through the deceitfulne&s;s of &s;in.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>IT is the part of a wi&s;e man not only to di&s;cover a danger, but to &s;hew the means to prevent it. Which Rule our Apo&s;tle here follows; for having in the former ver&s;e given notice of the great enemy of the &s;oul, <HI>Infidelity,</HI> and the follower of it, <HI>Apo&s;tacy,</HI> in this he acquaints the <HI>Hebrews</HI> and us,
<PB N="55" REF="33"> which way they and we may be &s;ecured from the mi&s;chief. The pre&s;ent Ar|mour again&s;t both, and that which here follows is <HI>Exhortation;</HI> and therefore he fir&s;t exhorts
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That we <HI>Exhort,</HI> or call upon.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That it be done in charity, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>One another.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Sea&s;onably, continually, <HI>dayly, day by day.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Speedily, without delay. <HI>While it is called to day.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>5. The rea&s;on drawn from the danger. If omitted or delayed, <HI>the heart may be hardned by the deceitfulne&s;s of &s;in.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>1. <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Exhort.</HI></HEAD>
<P>It was a mi&s;take in a great Clerk to teach <HI>Animam oblivionis non e&s;&s;e capacem,</HI> That the &s;oul of man was not capable of oblivion;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. de anim. c. <HI>23.</HI></NOTE> for I hope to make it evident, that there is not &s;uch another forgetful creature as man. For he needs a Remembrancer to put him in minde what he was, what he is, and what he may be. That he was a creature framed by God, the &s;ole crea|ture after his Image.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.26, 27. John 8.44.</NOTE> A creature transformed by &s;inne to the image of the devil; that he may be happy or unhappy as he believes, or di&s;-believes, o|beyes or di&s;obeyes his Maker. Thus much hath God recorded in his Book with the point of a Diamond; but men have not eyes to read it; or if read, not to heed it; or if heeded for the pre&s;ent, yet as a &s;hadow before night it is behinde, pa&s;t, forgotten; call'd upon men mu&s;t be, and call'd upon often; and therefore the Apo&s;tle calls upon us to call upon them.</P>
<P>Exhortation is of excellent u&s;e; for by it we may be rooted in faith and obedience; And it &s;eems in the Primitive Church it was &s;o nece&s;&s;ary,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.8.</NOTE> that &s;ome were to attend about it. He that Exhorts, let him wait upon Exhortation.</P>
<P>And a &s;ervice it is that no man need to be a&s;hamed of. For in the execu|tion he doth the Office of the Third Per&s;on in the Trinity, who takes his name from it. For he is &s;tiled <GAP DESC="foreign">, from the comfort &s;ome &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 16.7.</NOTE> others from the coun&s;el he gives; indeed from both. If we be of a faint heart, he is <GAP DESC="foreign"> by to recover us; if we doubt, he is <GAP DESC="foreign"> by to re&s;olve us; if we be perplex|ed, ready he is to advi&s;e, to guide us. <HI>He is the Spirit of comfort,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.17. I&s;a. 11.2.</NOTE> <HI>the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of coun&s;el to rai&s;e, to direct, to exhort us.</HI></P>
<P>From this <HI>Paraclete</HI> then learn <GAP DESC="foreign"> to call upon, comfort, and coun&s;el. Learn to do the duty from him, and from him learn to do it a|right; for there is great art to be u&s;ed about it. All men are not of one di&s;|po&s;ition, and therefore all exhortations are not to be framed one way. Re|&s;pect mu&s;t be had to the Per&s;ons, the matter, the manner, if we ever mean to exhort to purpo&s;e.</P>
<P N="1">1. &s;ome are yet &s;care in the way,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The per&s;ons.</NOTE> and the&s;e are to be &s;hew'd their dan|ger, and exhorted in time to look about them. Others are in the way, but <HI>&s;tand all the day idle;</HI> the&s;e mu&s;t be exhorted to work, and to take notice, that none &s;hall have the <HI>penny</HI> but tho&s;e who labour. A Third &s;ort are,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.6, 9.</NOTE> and go in the way, but it is too &s;low a pace. <HI>Sunt tepidi,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. de a&s;cen&s;. Ser. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> Their obedience is without devotion, their prayers without intention, their reading without edification; the&s;e mu&s;t be exhorted to grow more zealous. A fourth &s;ort there are yet who are <HI>Trepidi</HI> of a fearful heart, that eat, that pray,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 2.14. Rev. 3.19. I&s;a. 35.4. P&s;al. 73.2, 3. I&s;a. 35.3. Luke 22.32. Gal. 6.9.</NOTE> that &s;ing with us. But at the pro&s;perity of the wicked their treadings had well nigh &s;lipt. <HI>So<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ii &s;unt tribulationis, con&s;olationis non item,</HI> Companions they are of our Tribulation, but not of our Con&s;olation. And the&s;e feeble knees mu&s;t be &s;trengthened, and exhorted not to de&s;pair; <HI>for in due time they &s;hall reap, if they faint not.</HI></P>
<PB N="56" REF="34">
<P>You &s;ee then <HI>Dulce e&s;t &s;apere in loco,</HI> it is good to &s;hew wi&s;dome in an op|portune time and place; <HI>A word &s;poken in due &s;ea&s;on, is like Apples of gold in pictures of &s;ilver,</HI> which cannot be done without re&s;pect had to the per&s;on;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 25.11. Rom. 12.17.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;tands well with the Text; and it is no ill doctrine, that he who means to do good by his Exhortation, preach the Go&s;pel in &s;ea&s;on.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.2. Eccle&s;. 3 5.</NOTE> What&s;oever &s;ome &s;peak of time-&s;ervers, a man may well &s;erve God in &s;erving the time.</P>
<P N="2">2. And re&s;pect being had to the per&s;ons, next let him look to the matter of his Exhortation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The matter.</NOTE> that it be &s;ound and whole&s;ome doctrine, which the A|po&s;tle calls <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 6.4.</NOTE> <HI>the in&s;truction or information of the Lord.</HI> This is likened to a building, and then the exhorter mu&s;t needs be a builder. In a building which we mean &s;hall &s;tand, nece&s;&s;ary it is that there be a foundati|on, which mu&s;t be deep digg'd, and foundly laid; if upon a Rock, the better, the Fabrick being likely to continue the longer; but if laid &s;hallow, and in the &s;and, <HI>the winde and the raine beat upon that hou&s;e, and down it falls, and great is the fall thereof.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.26, 27.</NOTE></P>
<P>At this day we live to &s;ee many breaches, many ruines in Religion; and the&s;e cracks and flaws, the&s;e dilapidations have proceeded from no other cau&s;e, &s;ave from the folly and deceitful dealing of the Exhorters. The foun|dation by them was never hone&s;tly laid, and no marvail then if their work is of &s;o tottering a di&s;po&s;ition. To day a Papi&s;t, to morrow an Anabapti&s;t, the next day a Browni&s;t, the fourth an Enthu&s;ia&s;t; &s;ometimes a Presbyter, and &s;hortly after an Independent, and at la&s;t a Neuter, or an Athei&s;t. I dare &s;ay't, and I know what I &s;peak, let a maine part of the giddy-headed multi|tude be examined upon the fundamental points,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.1.</NOTE> <HI>viz. Repentance from dead works, and faith toward God,</HI> and they who &s;tand high in their own conceit, will be found no le&s;s ignorant than that people who in the Saints judgement <HI>know not the Law, and are accur&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 7.49.</NOTE>This can be imputed to nothing el&s;e, but that they who have taken upon them to be chief Exhorters and Ma&s;ter-workmen, have &s;haped their work ac|cording to the fa&s;hion of the time, neglecting wholly to lay the foundation truly and &s;oundly. <HI>But in the beginning it was not &s;o. Theophilus, Apol|los,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.4. Act 18.15. 2 Tim. 3.15.</NOTE> <HI>Timothy</HI> were all Catechized. And the Churches of <HI>Galatia, Carthage, Hippo, Alexandria,</HI> had re&s;pectively in them <HI>Pantenus, Clemens, Origen, Dio|ny&s;ius, Augu&s;tine, Optatus</HI> &s;et a part to that Office.</P>
<P>The Chri&s;tians had this way of Exhortation in great reputation from the beginning,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 22.6.</NOTE> and the Jewes before them. <HI>Traine up a childe in the way that he &s;hould go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. Traine up,</HI> &s;aith the Text; <HI>Catechi&s;e,</HI> &s;aith the margent, according to the natural force of the Hebrew word <HI>Chanach,</HI> that &s;ignifies to enter or initiate. And <HI>Sepher Chinnuch,</HI> the Book of In&s;titutions; <HI>i. e.</HI> a Catechi&s;m, is a Book well known among the Jewes in every place where they are known. Were babes in Chri&s;t carefully fed with &s;uch milk as this, that is fit (I had almo&s;t &s;aid only for the tender age) they would grow to be perfecter and &s;ounder men in Religion, and never prove &s;uch deformed, &s;uch mis&s;hapen, &s;uch di&s;ea&s;ed creatures as now they do.</P>
<P>'Tis not my meaning that men inclo&s;e and circum&s;cribe their thoughts in Catechi&s;tical rudiments, but before they &s;oare higher, I would have them skilfull in the&s;e fir&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.1.</NOTE> The Apo&s;tle puts upon us this progre&s;s, <HI>Learn the prin|ciples of the doctrine of Chri&s;t, and go on to perfection.</HI> Not to leave at them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 3.18.</NOTE> but not to leave them out; that we endeavour to encrea&s;e in know|ledge, but fir&s;t make &s;ure of the foundation. For let the &s;uper&s;tructures be what they will, this is &s;ound and whole&s;ome. Sound in it &s;elf; <HI>for other foundati|on can no man lay;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.11.</NOTE> and very whole&s;ome if well dige&s;ted; for it will breed
<PB N="57" REF="34"> good blood, which will repaire, fortifie, and pre&s;erve the vital &s;pirits of Reli|gion; and tho&s;e are good and wi&s;e &s;ervants, di&s;creet exhorters,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.8. 2 Tim. 2.15.</NOTE> which from this begin to divide the Word of God.</P>
<P N="3">3. To go a &s;tep farther, when an eye hath been had to the matter of the Exhortation, and a regard to the per&s;ons, heed mu&s;t be taken to the manner or method we proceed by; it mu&s;t not have its ri&s;e either from deceit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 2.3, 4.</NOTE> or uncleanne&s;s, or guile; the Apo&s;tle renounceth it; Our Exhortation was not of deceit, not of uncleanne&s;s, not of guile. But as we are allow'd of God to be put in tru&s;t with the Go&s;pel, even &s;o we &s;peak. <GAP DESC="foreign">, Deceit is to be referr'd to the &s;ub&s;tance of the Exhortation, <GAP DESC="foreign"> uncleanne&s;s to the affection of the heart, but <GAP DESC="foreign"> Guile to the juggling about it. God likes not that his Exhorters be Planets or wandering &s;tarres in the Orb of the Church; their influences are too <HI>Saturnine,</HI> too <HI>Martial,</HI> too <HI>Mercurial,</HI> and if fame be not a lyar, <HI>&V;enereal.</HI> And this mu&s;t not be neither, not <GAP DESC="foreign">, that is uncleanne&s;s. There were a generation of <HI>Nicolaitans,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.15.</NOTE> who&s;e impurity was hateful to our Saviours &s;oul: And if there be any of that po&s;terity alive, who exhort that all things be common, let them peri&s;h with their Exhortation. But as for guile, it ought not once to be named by a profe&s;&s;or of Truth; It is too Serpentine and devili&s;h to &s;peak Ro&s;es, and in|&s;till poy&s;on. All Exhorters are but Tru&s;tees of the Go&s;pel; and they truly di&s;charge their tru&s;t, when they exhort &s;incerely, <GAP DESC="foreign">, without error; holily, <GAP DESC="foreign">, without impurity; plainly, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 19.25. 1 Sam. 17.30.</NOTE> without guile or Legerdemaine; having neither <HI>Demetrius</HI>'s end, nor <HI>Sauls</HI> de&s;ire.</P>
<P>Now you may conceive that all this while the duty of Exhortation be|longs not to you; and therefore too apt you are to lay the whole burden on our &s;houlders. But I pray weigh the next word, and then it will appear, that re|&s;pect being had to your &s;everal relations, you are call'd to this work al&s;o; el&s;e why doth the Apo&s;tle command</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Exhort <GAP DESC="foreign">. Schol. graec. <GAP DESC="foreign"> vosin vicem. One another.</HEAD>
<P>To us of the Clergy no que&s;tion it is that this duty <HI>ex officio</HI> by Office belongs. For <HI>Debtors we are to the Greeks and Barbarians,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.14. 1 Tim. 4.13.</NOTE> <HI>to the wi&s;e and unwi&s;e.</HI> And to us it is &s;poken in the per&s;on of <HI>Timothy, Give attendance to exhortation.</HI> But you may not &s;o far engage us, as to di&s;charge your &s;elves. <HI>Ex charitate,</HI> even you of the Laity are debtors al&s;o; as God hath advan|ced you to the dignity of a Father, a Ma&s;ter, or any way made you a Superi|our, bound you are (if enabled) to pay to your children, to your &s;ervants, to your brethren exhortation. That this be done within the walls of your own families, is required by the Law of charity; but that any private man without a calling &s;tep into a Pulpit and do it publickly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5.11. Heb. 3.13. Col. 3.16. 2 Pet. 3.16. Prov. 30.33. Mat. 28.19. Mark 16.15. Luke 24.47.</NOTE> is more than can be defended. Such Texts as the&s;e, <HI>Edifie one another, admoni&s;h one another, exhort one another, &amp;c.</HI> are I know by <HI>Socinus,</HI> and our gifted men produ|ced to give countenance to it; But it is to wre&s;t the Scripture, and fetch blood from it. Certain it is that the Commi&s;&s;ion to preach was given in o|ther words. In Saint <HI>Matthew</HI> it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>make Di&s;ciples, and Baptize;</HI> and then none to preach, but they who might admini&s;ter the Sacrament: In Saint <HI>Mark</HI> it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Go and proclaime the Gospel;</HI> and <GAP DESC="foreign"> were alwayes Officers and publick per&s;ons; and the&s;e words I hope import &s;omewhat more than building, edifying, admoni&s;hing, exhorting.</P>
<P>What is it then? are we again&s;t the&s;e charitable acts in private, again&s;t the in&s;tructions of peaceable, humble gifted men? No, we call for them, and wi&s;h that all the Lords people were in this &s;en&s;e Prophets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 11.29.</NOTE> able and rea|dy
<PB N="58" REF="35"> to in&s;truct their families. That which we di&s;like, is, that charity is become uncharitable, and turn'd out of office; tho&s;e who had the Commi&s;&s;ion, under pretence of gifts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. Ep.</NOTE> &s;ilenced tho&s;e who were truly gifted. That the Swal|lows have out-babbled the Swans, and brought the world into a belief that their chatterings are to be heard as the &s;ole and mo&s;t powerful exhortations: When being compared with the weight, worth, and authority of a learned Mini&s;ters paines, they will &s;eeme but as a churle upon a gentleman, as tedious and nau&s;eating as &s;mall beer and water after men have drank well of the be&s;t wine;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dr.</HI> Gaudent. Hiera&s;pi&s;t p. <HI>215</HI></NOTE> Or as the &s;craps of poor Countrey fare, after men have been filled with the marrow of fat things.</P>
<P>To clo&s;e this point, and to return: We finde no cau&s;e why the&s;e two may not be lawfully joyned together in a Chri&s;tian and a comfortable union;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>page</HI> 214.</NOTE> the publique gifts of Mini&s;ters in a publique way of divine authority, and private gifts of the faithful in a way of private Chri&s;tian charity. We <HI>ex officio,</HI> by our office and place publiquely, you out of duty and charity mu&s;t call upon and exhort one another.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. Every day dayly.</HEAD>
<P>That is, with a willing minde, &s;o often as opportunity and occa&s;ion doth re|quire.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5.17. Ephe&s;. 5.20. Phil. 4.4.</NOTE> For this is of the number of affirmative precepts, &s;uch as are <HI>Pray without cea&s;ing, Give thanks to God alwayes, Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes,</HI> and many the like, which may not be expounded litterally, as if they did bind a man <HI>ad &s;emper,</HI> to every in&s;tant and minute of time; for &s;o actually to per|forme them, would prove impo&s;&s;ible; for &s;hould a man always pray, he &s;hould have no time to exhort; nothing but exhort and pray, no time to labour, and &s;o one duty would interrupt another. The&s;e then and the like forms of &s;peech, and the commands laid upon us by them, binde the con&s;cience only habitu|ally; that all negligence and &s;atiety laid a&s;ide, we have a ready di&s;po&s;ition of minde and will, to pray, to give thanks, to rejoyce, to exhort at all hours and &s;ea&s;ons, &s;o farre forth as we &s;hall be called upon. To omit the other duties, I &s;hall in&s;i&s;t upon this only: And that you exhort one another the more readily without intermi&s;&s;ion, I &s;hall quicken you with the&s;e four rea&s;ons.</P>
<P N="1">1. Food for the &s;oul is as nece&s;&s;ary as nouri&s;hment for the body. Thus much the Oratour could teach us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cic. de Senect.</NOTE> <HI>Non &s;olum &s;ubveniendum corpori, &s;ed men|ti &amp; animo multo magis, &amp;c.</HI> We may not only cheri&s;h and feed the body, but the mind and under&s;tanding much more; for this is like a Lamp, into which if you in&s;til not oyle, it will go out. His oyle was Moral precepts, ours is a more pure,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.32, 33, &amp;c.</NOTE> &s;ublime, and heavenly material. 'Tis the bread that came down from thence, 'tis the milk that God hath provided for Babes, the meat allotted for &s;trong men and Travellers.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.2. Heb. 5.12.14.</NOTE> He, the Heathen knew they could not &s;pare theirs; and we Chri&s;tians mu&s;t not think to live without ours. As that Taber|nacle of our body (for &s;uch it is, and &s;o e&s;teeme it) will quickly down, if it be not &s;taid up with the &s;taffe of bread:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezra 4.16.</NOTE> So al&s;o your better part which &s;ojourns in this Tabernacle, will &s;tarve and die except it have a daily &s;upply of &s;piritual food. I appeal to your own brea&s;ts; how quick, how lively, how couragious have you been to a duty after an exhortation! how re&s;olute to with&s;tand a tem|ptation after a &s;ad admonition, what Votaries I had almo&s;t &s;aid again&s;t it. Me|thinks I have &s;eene tho&s;e that are mighty to pour in &s;trong drink,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 5.11, 22.</NOTE> after the Wo denounced, and an exhortation to &s;obriety, either to forbear their riot, or to decline the hou&s;e and company,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t. Hom. <HI>1.</HI> de Lazar.</NOTE> or at lea&s;t not to frequent it, or if drawn &s;ometimes a&s;ide, yet to &s;it there unwillingly, to drink unplea&s;antly; the re|membrance of the exhortation giving a check to every gla&s;&s;e, and taking off the former accu&s;tomed delight. I &s;ee that <HI>Solomons</HI> words will prove true; <HI>The words of the wi&s;e are as goads and nails.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 12.11.</NOTE> Goads to quicken a &s;low
<PB N="59" REF="35"> bea&s;t to work, and nails to fa&s;ten him, that he fall not from his work; and all exhorters, whether by Office, or out of charity, are the Ma&s;ters of the Con|gregation that handle them, and drive them home, to the utter removal and exclu&s;ion of an impudent hard heart.</P>
<P N="2">2. For in that lies the danger (from which I draw my &s;econd rea&s;on) For neglect this duty, and your heart of fle&s;h may be turned into an heart of &s;tone; (and what that is, and the danger of it, I &s;hall by and by open unto you) again&s;t which fearful judgement daily exhortation is a &s;overaign Antidote.</P>
<P><HI>Nu&s;quam &s;couritas,</HI> brethren; we walk in a dangerous way.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> The Angels could not be &s;ecure in heaven: Not <HI>Adam</HI> in Paradi&s;e, and &s;hall we now ex|pect to be &s;ecure on earth? Every day our feet may &s;lip, and therefore we ought to take heed every day, le&s;t we catch a fall. Be it we were, which few of us are, burning and &s;hining Lamps; yet know we mu&s;t, that we are <HI>&s;ub Dio,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.35.</NOTE> not in <HI>domo,</HI> we are abroad in the open are, and then it behoves us with both hands to keep in the light, not to tru&s;t over-much to the aire, though it &s;eeme never &s;o &s;till and quiet. Were it that we were in that hou&s;e which we all hope for in heaven, <HI>eternal, not made with hands,</HI> where no enemy comes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.1.</NOTE> whence no friend departs, there were no occa&s;ion either of fear or coun&s;el. But we live, as I &s;aid, <HI>&s;ub Dio,</HI> and that little light we have is expo&s;ed to the fury of three mo&s;t impetuous winds; The Divel which blu&s;ters about us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 5.8. Rev. 12.4.</NOTE> for <HI>he walks and &s;eeks whom he may devour.</HI> The <HI>World</HI> that without a&s;&s;aults us; and the <HI>Fl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;h</HI> that &s;ets upon us within; that I &s;ay not how we are &s;ubject to wa&s;ting, to fainting, to weakne&s;&s;e, to a &s;ecret decay of our &s;elves, had we no other enemy. Therefore with both hands, with that of our own, with that of our neighbours, let care be taken that this light be kept in. <HI>My &s;oul,</HI> &s;aith <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.109.</NOTE> <HI>is in my hand;</HI> As a canndle carried betwixt both hands, po&s;&s;ible to be extingui&s;hed: And yet as a candle betwixt two hands to be looked to, pre&s;erv'd, covered with all po&s;&s;ible diligence.</P>
<P>And every day this le&s;&s;on would be ingeminated and &s;aid over, that every man hath a &s;oul, a &s;oul in danger, a &s;oul in danger to be-&s;tiffned and hardned; and when &s;tiffned and hardned, that it can receive no impre&s;&s;ion of the Spirit; and he that hath not that impre&s;&s;e, belongs not to God. All which inconveni|ences by a&s;&s;iduous and dayly exhortation may be prevented.</P>
<P N="3">3. Adde to this, that po&s;&s;ibly he that exhorts another may be much the bet|ter for it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan 12.3:</NOTE> I &s;peak not of the reward we &s;hall have at the hands of God (though I know it &s;hall be very great, farre beyond the merit of &s;o &s;light a work) but his knowledge by this will be much improved, and his deadne&s;&s;e to a duty quick|ned.</P>
<Q><L>Qui docet indoctos, licet indocti&s;&s;imus e&s;set,</L>
<L>Ip&s;e brevi reliquis doctior e&s;&s;e queat.</L></Q>
<P>No way &s;o ea&s;ie, to attain perfection in any Art as in&s;truction of the ignorant. One Flint &s;truck again&s;t another grows hot and &s;parkles, and a dull Knife whet|ted by another becomes &s;harper: The way then to be perfect &s;cholars,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 6.7.</NOTE> is <HI>acu|endo haec,</HI> to rehear&s;e, and by rehear&s;ing to &s;harpen, and whet the doctrine of Chri&s;t one upon another. While you exhort others, you &s;hall teach and ex|hort your &s;elves, and day by day become the more learned, as by you day by day another man learns.</P>
<P>The&s;e rea&s;ons I have added <HI>ex &s;uper abundanti,</HI> over and above, to quicken you to this duty. But yet there be three more, of more validity, than any thing that I can &s;ay, becau&s;e they are the rea&s;ons of the Text. The fir&s;t drawn from the Opportunity and Time that God hath given to do it. The &s;econd from the danger, if not done. The third from the cunning and &s;lyne&s;&s;e of &s;inne. Fir&s;t, Do it, exhort, <GAP DESC="foreign">, build up,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Occumen, in loc. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> en|courage,
<PB N="60" REF="36"> &s;et right one another; becau&s;e God hath given you a day, and but a day to do it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 25.37.</NOTE> Secondly, If not done, there is great danger in it, for the heart will grow hard; and to <GAP DESC="foreign">. What is hard and dry, will hardly yield, and becomes inflexible by him that Exhorts</P>
<P N="3">3. Sinne is a notable Sophi&s;ter, and is apt to put a fallacy upon us; A deceitfulne&s;s is in it. If then you mean not to an&s;wer for your neglect of time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.3. Job 14.14. 1 Cor. 7.29. P&s;al. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">0.12.</NOTE> or if you tremble at the fore-tunner of hell, a hard heart, or mean not to expo&s;e your &s;elves to be &s;educed by the Sophi&s;ms of &s;inne, &s;ee that you call upon one another dayly; delay it not, but &s;et about it, and do it fir&s;t.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> Whil&s;t it is called to day.</HEAD>
<P>And this intimates that it will not alwayes be call'd &s;o. It is not with the Tides of Gods grace, as it is with the Tides of water which flow at a &s;et hour, &s;o that he which over&s;lips the Tide to day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 7.29.</NOTE> may take it to morrow. No, no, it is full &s;ea-mark to day; take advantage then of this day; for if lo&s;t, or over|&s;lipt, there is no promi&s;e made, nor a&s;&s;urance given, that the like grace &s;hall be offered againe. Wherefore the Apo&s;tle four &s;everal times pre&s;&s;eth this cir|cum&s;tance, as if none were more helpful to this work of our &s;alvation; none more dangerous, if not laid hold on.</P>
<P><HI>E&s;t dies no&s;tra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &amp; e&s;t dies Domini.</HI> God hath re&s;erved one day to him|&s;elf, and he hath be&s;tow'd another day upon us. Our day is of the &s;ame length with our lives; It was to the old World 120. years, to the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> 40. years, to the <HI>Ninivites</HI> 40. dayes. But the fir&s;t were di&s;obedient, and the &s;e|cond provoked him; and the fir&s;t peri&s;hed by water, and the carka&s;&s;es of the other peri&s;hed in the Wilderne&s;s. The third only were &s;pared, becau&s;e they repented at the preaching of <HI>Jonah,</HI> and made u&s;e of the day while it was &s;o called;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.20. P&s;al. 104.19.</NOTE> And this may &s;et us to work while it is to day; <HI>for the night will come when no man can work.</HI></P>
<P>For <HI>euit dies Domini;</HI> for upon the &s;etting of our day, there will &s;ucceed another, that will be none of ours. That will be Gods day, in which he will have all the doings; and as we have dealt with him in our day, &s;o will he deale with us in his. The&s;e who have heard him &s;peak now, &s;hall be heard then; but to tho&s;e who in this their day, have with the deaf Adder &s;topped their cares, he will, though they call, give no plea&s;ing an&s;wer. Suppo&s;e <HI>No|ah, Daniel,</HI> and <HI>Job; Noah</HI> before the flood, <HI>Job</HI> before the Law, or <HI>Da|niel,</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Samuel</HI> under the Levitical prie&s;t-hood; yea, though all the Saints in heaven &s;hould pre&s;ent their &s;uit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 12.5.</NOTE> yet by their righteou&s;ne&s;s they &s;hould only deliver their own &s;ouls.</P>
<P>There is but one fountaine opened for <HI>&s;inne and uncleanne&s;s,</HI> and it was opened to the living, not to the dead. He then that lives, if he will be clean mu&s;t wa&s;h in it. And the &s;ooner the better; for though that no time be ami&s;s, but at what time &s;oever we repent, that is the acceptable time, that the day of &s;alvation; yet God that hath promi&s;ed pardon at all times to Pe|nitents, hath not promi&s;ed grace to repent at all times. <HI>A</HI> day beyond this day he hath no where allotted; which &s;hews, that as for all things under the Sun, &s;o for this great and weighty bu&s;ine&s;s, there is not only <GAP DESC="foreign">, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, a nick of time, a &s;ea&s;on and opportunity given, which if taken with the five wi&s;e Virgins, we may enter with the Bridegroom to that great Supper; but if &s;lighted and neglected, we &s;hall be &s;hut out of doors for ever. 'Twill be but in vaine to bounce, and knock, and cry, <HI>Land, Lord, open to us;</HI> for the door is fa&s;t, and a voice heard from within, an uncomfortable voice, <HI>De|part,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 1.8.</NOTE> <HI>I know you not. Profecto, ad hoc tonitru,</HI> Certainly, he who is not af|frighted
<PB N="61" REF="36"> at this Thunder, hath with <HI>Nabal a heart dead within him, cold as a stone.</HI></P>
<P>Time and opportunity doth very much facilitate what&s;oever is difficult. It hath its <HI>Articulos,</HI> its Articles, and as it were joynts; if you hit upon them, the work is done with much ca&s;e; but if mi&s;taken, much labour may be be&s;towed to little purpo&s;e. In their &s;ea&s;on the principles of Arts may be learned, which being let &s;lip, known it is by lamentable experience, they will not be obtained; or if ever, yet not &s;o perfectly, not with ea&s;e. There|fore this circum&s;tance hath with wi&s;e men ever carried the force of an Argu|ment. Saint <HI>Peter, Job,</HI> Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> who not have &s;erv'd them&s;elves of it? and <HI>David</HI> prayes to God to be taught this fir&s;t point in Arithmetick, <HI>O teach me to number my dayes.</HI> Now that what I per&s;wade about it, may come the warmer to your hearts, weigh the &s;everal rea&s;ons that may move you to make u&s;e of this your day.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, It is but &s;hort; which is Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> rea&s;on, <HI>This I &s;ay, becau&s;e the day is &s;hort.</HI> Tho&s;e who have but a little light to bring them to bed, hu&s;|band it as thriftily as they may; and &s;ince we have but (as I may &s;o &s;ay) a can|dles end of life to lay us in our beds of du&s;t, we ought to be thrifty of it. Your time, you may &s;ee here and el&s;ewhere, is not mea&s;ur'd out to you by ages, by years, by months, by dayes, but by a &s;ingle day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 19.22. 2 Cor. 6.2. Acts 17.31.</NOTE> which at the longe&s;t is of no great continuance.</P>
<P>Secondly, But grant that we pre&s;ume it long, yet it is of a fluent nature, alwayes in motion, wa&s;ting, and con&s;uming &s;till; the more &s;pent, the le&s;s be|hinde. It is like oyle in the Lamp, or Wine in the Ve&s;&s;el,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.3.</NOTE> that dayly grows le&s;s and wor&s;e. This houre then omitted, is an houre lo&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 7. Heb. 3. Ver&s;e 17. Jonah 3.10.</NOTE> and this day neg|lected, is a day irrecoverable; &s;o much at lea&s;t thou art ca&s;t behind in this great Work.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Yea, and which is farther to be thought on al&s;o, this may be the la&s;t day for ought thou knowe&s;t. God may call for thy &s;oul this night.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 9.4.</NOTE> The Sun knows his houre to &s;et, <HI>and the Moon her time of going down;</HI> but man knows not when his Lamp of life will go out; for death doth not arre&s;t men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 61.2. Joel 2.2.</NOTE> and lay them up in the pri&s;on of their grave according to their &s;e|niority, age, and &s;tanding. A young <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> dyes, as well as an old <HI>Methu|&s;elah.</HI> When you &s;ee bubbles dancing upon the face of the &s;tream, you behold men, of which &s;ome &s;well higher, &s;ome are le&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 1.28. Ezek. 14.14.</NOTE> but all after they have fetcht a few frisks and turnes, fall flat into a &s;heet of water, and tho&s;e into a &s;heet for the earth.</P>
<P>Fourthly, What &s;hould I &s;ay, that grant a longer day be given,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 15.1.</NOTE> and a man deferr'd till the Almond Tree do flouri&s;h, yet it will be nor wi&s;dome, nor gratitude to deferre the Exhortation, or not to lend an ear to it, or obey it till then. Fir&s;t, No wi&s;dome;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 13.1.</NOTE> for what man that is in his right minde travelling on the way, and having &s;tore of lu&s;ty and able bea&s;ts, would let them all go empty, and lay all his pack and whole carriage upon &s;ome poor, leane, and infirme Jade that is &s;carce able to carry him&s;elf, much le&s;s the Pack, the Load that is ca&s;t upon him?<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6.2.</NOTE> And &s;urely no le&s;s unrea&s;onable is that man, who pa&s;&s;ing away over idly the able and lu&s;ty dayes of his youth, packs all the labour and travel for his &s;oul upon his impotent old age,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 3.1.</NOTE> who&s;e infirmities are &s;o many and &s;o trouble&s;ome, that they weary him of them|&s;elves, though you reckon not the weight of this burden. Secondly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.11, 12.</NOTE> But to let this pa&s;s, what ingratitude and inju&s;tice is this to our good God, who hath lent us our time, to &s;et out the lea&s;t, the la&s;t, the wor&s;t part of our life unto his &s;ervice? For it is but the dregs in the bottome when the Wine is drawn out, and the <HI>amurca</HI> and &s;nuff in the Lamp, the oyl being &s;pent: and who can tell, being brought, whether God will accept it?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;tine.</NOTE></P>
<PB N="62" REF="37">
<P>Sure I am that he is accur&s;ed by God, that having whole and &s;ound Cattle in his flock,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. 1.8.</NOTE> doth yet offer unto him the lame and halt; and may not men fear who have &s;o many &s;ound dayes of youth and &s;trength, yet pre&s;ume to bring him their rotten and limping old age? No man in the old Law, was to have two mea&s;ures in his hou&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 25.13, 14</NOTE> a greater for his friend, a le&s;s for other men: And yet thou art not a&s;hamed to u&s;e two mea&s;ures for thy life; a le&s;s for thy God, a greater for tho&s;e thou e&s;teeme&s;t thy friends. To him thou al|lotte&s;t a little, &s;hort, niggardly pittance of thy old age; but to thy own lu&s;ts and plea&s;ures on whom thou ha&s;t ca&s;t thy love, the greate&s;t, the faire&s;t, the fulle&s;t mea&s;ure that can be; <HI>a good mea&s;ure, pre&s;&s;ed down, &s;haken together, and running over.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6.38.</NOTE></P>
<P>Oh unequal dealing! O extreame ingratitude! What rea&s;on is there that God &s;hould be thus u&s;ed at our hands? what equity? that having &s;pent in the &s;ervice of lu&s;t the flower of youth, thou di&s;h out to him thy old di&s;ea&s;ed bones? that his enemies have the be&s;t, and he the leavings? they the Wine, and he the dregs? as if a man had learn'd his Le&s;&s;on of the Traveller in the Apo|logue, that eat up all the Kernels and Almonds, and pre&s;ented the rines and &s;hells to his God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 3.16.</NOTE> Do&s;t thou not remember that in his Sacrifice his por|tion was the fat? the be&s;t part? follow then the coun&s;el of the holy Gho&s;t gi|ven by <HI>Solomon, Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth, before the evil days come,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 12.1.</NOTE> <HI>when thou &s;halt &s;ay, I have no plea&s;ure in them;</HI> and if tho&s;e evil dayes plea&s;e not thee, pre&s;ume not they will plea&s;e him.</P>
<P>You have heard the Apo&s;tles fir&s;t rea&s;on, why you &s;hould be active in this Duty; and why al&s;o they who are exhorted, &s;hould take their day and do their work in it. Now it follows that we con&s;ider the &s;econd, which is drawn <HI>ab eventu,</HI> from a dangerous con&s;equence that may follow upon it. Do it</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> Lest your heart be hardned, <GAP DESC="foreign">, le&s;t it be dryed; for the root is <GAP DESC="foreign">, that &s;ignifies <GAP DESC="foreign">, He&s;ych. to dry, and wither up.</HEAD>
<P>Dryne&s;s is a quality in any body, wrought either by heat or cold; for by heat the internal moy&s;ture is call'd forth, as in dryed wood; and by cold it is congealed and embodyed, as in &s;tones and mettals; upon which there fol|lows a &s;tiffne&s;s, &s;tubbornne&s;s, and hardne&s;s in the &s;ubject, &s;o that it will not ea&s;ily receive any impre&s;&s;ion. Such a quality there is in the heart of man, and proceeds from both; &s;ometimes from abundance of heat, &s;ometimes again from an exce&s;s of cold.</P>
<P>The Jewes were a zealous people; zealous of the Law of their fathers, zealous for the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and this hear of zeal was &s;o great, that it &s;tiffned their necks and their hearts &s;o much,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 22.3.21.20.</NOTE> that the Truth of the Go&s;pel could make no impre&s;&s;ion upon them, &s;ay the Prophets, &s;ay Chri&s;t, &s;ay the A|po&s;tles what they could, they &s;till remained blinde, ob&s;tinate, &s;tiff, &s;tubborn, as good mollifie a &s;tone. And this is yet to be &s;een in many zealots, upon whom this unkind heat of a pre&s;umptuous &s;pirit hath wrought &s;o much, that it hath &s;tiffned them in their own opinions; &s;o &s;tubborne they are again&s;t ma|nife&s;t Truth; that rather than they will be recall'd, they will be of any Sect, Neuters, any thing, nothing, all things that may &s;erve their turne. Through this heat of zeale their hardne&s;s becomes un&s;peakable, unpreg|nable.</P>
<P>But &s;ometimes again this hardne&s;s is wrought through abundance of cold, too much earthline&s;s, which &s;o cools and freezeth all motions of the &s;pirit, that the heart is no way &s;oftened by them. <HI>Achans</HI> wedge of gold, <HI>Shechem</HI> and <HI>Hamors</HI> &s;ub&s;tance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 7.21. Gen. 34.23. Acts 19.14.</NOTE> <HI>Demetrius</HI> &s;ilver &s;hrines of <HI>Diana;</HI> in a word, plea&s;ure, profit, ambition, bring &s;uch a coldne&s;s and &s;tiffne&s;s upon the heart, that it is re&s;olved not to yield, never to relent.</P>
<PB N="63" REF="37">
<P>Now out of the&s;e exce&s;&s;ive fits of heat and cold, ari&s;eth that cauterized con|&s;cience the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of, which makes it pa&s;t feeling;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 4.2.</NOTE> which is peculiar fir&s;t to Hereticks, &s;uch as give eare to &s;educing &s;pirits, and doctrines of De|vils, that &s;peak lyes in hypocri&s;ie. Then to ob&s;tinate and notorious Malefa|ctours, who by cu&s;tome of &s;inning extingui&s;h the light of nature; that call <HI>good evil, and evil good, being men of a reprobate minde.</HI> La&s;tly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 21.25. P&s;alm 94.4.</NOTE> to men who &s;inne habitually, <HI>that &s;ell them&s;elves to work wickedne&s;se,</HI> and glory in doing mi&s;chief.</P>
<P>And how heavie this judgement is, will manife&s;tly appear, if we &s;hall take a view of the&s;e three. 1. The <HI>Time</HI> when it is inflicted. 2. The <HI>Agents</HI> in it. 3. And the <HI>per&s;ons</HI> upon whom it is brought.</P>
<P N="1">1. A time there is for the heart to be melted, &s;oftned, mollified: It is cal|led <HI>to Day</HI> in this place, when God offers a pardon, and u&s;eth all means to make men capable of it; he &s;ues to us by the mini&s;try of the Word, that it might be accepted. And this his reque&s;t he &s;econds with intreaties, expo&s;tulations, lamentations, commi&s;erations, and all other &s;trains of Rhetorique, that are apt to move affections, and prevail with men to draw them nearer unto him. But all the&s;e offers of Grace becoming uneffectual, he takes a &s;harper cour&s;e, calls for his rod and &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es, vi&s;its with &s;courges, and wounds, that &s;o either <HI>per manum plectentem,</HI> or <HI>amplectentem,</HI> by his embraces or blows, by his love or &s;everity, his mercy or his ju&s;tice, he might make the heart to yield. At la&s;t finding that he hath to deale with a &s;tone, that he &s;peaks to a &s;tone, beats upon a &s;tone, which no hand is able to make &s;en&s;ible, he gives over calling, expecting, waiting, &s;triving, &s;miting, and leaves the heart as he found it, hard, &s;tubborne, rebellious, ob&s;tinate, and contumacious.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.32. Exod. 9.12.</NOTE> And then the man fills up the mea&s;ure of his iniquities, upon which de&s;truction infallibly follows, <HI>Jo&s;h.</HI> 11.20.</P>
<P>God hardens <HI>Pharaohs</HI> heart. But when was it? not till a fair intreaty to let his people go, not till the plague of Froggs, and &s;warms of Flyes, nor an|noyance of Lice, nor Murrain of the Cattle were able to &s;often him. Upon this God &s;ends another plague, that of boyles and blaines, and then 'tis &s;aid, and not before, in a new &s;tile, <HI>the Lord hardned the heart of Pharaoh,</HI> as upon one that was ripe for de&s;truction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Hammond,</HI> Of late or death-bed re|pentance. Sect. 14. <HI>Obfirmatum e&s;t cor Pharaonis.</HI> Jun.</NOTE> and one upon whom he would pour all his plagues. True it is that we read, <HI>chap.</HI> 4.21. by way of prediction or De|cree, <HI>I will harden Pharaohs heart;</HI> but that was not yet done; and again in our Tran&s;lation, <HI>chap.</HI> 7.13. <HI>He hardned Pharaohs heart,</HI> but that is a mi&s;take, for the words do not bear that in the Hebrew, but thus, <HI>Pharaohs heart waxed &s;trong,</HI> or hard, or was hardned; it is pa&s;&s;ively, not actively to be under&s;tood. Gods time of hardning was not yet come; Then he did it, and not till then, when nor a fair and mild reque&s;t, nor four or five &s;harper blows could &s;often him. The like is to be ob&s;erved of <HI>Sihon</HI> King of the <HI>Amorites,</HI> of tho&s;e Na|tions that God de&s;troyed utterly. Of the ten Tribes;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 2.30. Jo&s;h. 11.20. 2 Kings 17.14. 2 Chron. 36.3. Rom. 11.7, 8, 9.</NOTE> Of <HI>Zedekiah</HI> that hard|ned his heart, and &s;tifned his neck from turning to the Lord God of <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> And of the whole Nation of the Jews, who were broken off, rejected, and at this day di&s;per&s;ed. The precedent of their ruine was an obduration and &s;tub|bornne&s;&s;e; and this fell not upon them, till all means that might &s;often them were &s;lighted, and would not be heard. The time then that makes men ripe for this judgement, and the con&s;equent of it, may be one &s;trong retentive to keep men from it. Exhort, that you be not hardned.</P>
<P N="2">2. But if the time when it is inflicted, move you not, then next look upon the Agents about it. Fir&s;t, I &s;hall name a ju&s;t God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 9.18.</NOTE> <HI>For whom he will h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> hardneth.</HI> And when I called him ju&s;t, I made an Apology for this his Agen|cy; for he hardneth no mans heart, before the man him&s;elf hath fir&s;t hardned it. Some precedent iniquity there is, which might procure God in his ju&s;tice
<PB N="64" REF="38"> and anger to deny his mercy, or take away the mollifying grace of his Spi|rit. God often puni&s;heth &s;inne with &s;inne, and makes the future iniquity to be the revenge of the former. It is ea&s;ie to collect this out of Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> words, <HI>Wherefore God gave them up to beleeve a lye, becau&s;e they changed the Truth of God into a lye.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.24. 2 The&s;. 2.11, 12.</NOTE> It was <GAP DESC="foreign">, a ju&s;t recompence of their former errour. Hardne&s;&s;e of heart is not only a puni&s;hment, but a &s;in, and as a &s;inne it hath di&s;order, obliquity, deformity in it, and &s;o God cannot be the proper cau&s;e of it; but look upon it as it is a ju&s;t recompence of &s;ome foregoing wickedne&s;&s;e, and then it is certainly true that the ju&s;tice of heaven hath a very great hand in it. Farther yet, this obduration, when attributed to God, is no work of his properly, nor act of infu&s;ion, or po&s;itive producti|on, for he puts no hardne&s;&s;e into the heart, no malice into the affections: But his approaches of mercy being &s;lighted, he withdraws, affords his grace no longer, which &s;hould mollifie the heart, and then the heart returnes to its own hardne&s;s and malice; no otherwi&s;e than wax, which &s;tiffne&s;s &s;o &s;oon as the heat of the fire, hand, or &s;un, that did &s;often it, is removed from it.</P>
<P>For that I may give you a clearer light in this matter, the immediate, neare&s;t, and true&s;t cau&s;e of this hardne&s;s, is man him&s;elf. In who&s;e heart there is a double malignity, <HI>Innata, &amp; adaucta,</HI> Born with him, and en|crea&s;ing upon him. The fir&s;t is innate, &s;ome call it natural, and God pro|mi&s;eth to remove it from all the Ve&s;&s;ells of mercy, <HI>I will take away their heart of &s;tone, and give them a heart of fle&s;h.</HI> Before then a man be born againe this &s;tony heart was in him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 36.</NOTE> otherwi&s;e it could not be taken away. The other is humane and voluntary, when a man wilfully grows &s;tubborne, and perver&s;e, and will not by the &s;till voice of mercy, nor thunder of judgement, be drawn to yield or &s;ubmit. Now the Agents that encrea&s;e and heighten it, is fir&s;t by accident, the Admonition, Exhortation, Commination of any man of God, &s;ent to mollifie &s;uch a &s;oule. <HI>Go</HI> (&s;aith God to his Prophet) <HI>and blind their eyes.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 6.10.</NOTE> That which &s;hould have been for their wealth, through their own default is an occa&s;ion of falling;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 2.16.</NOTE> <HI>the Go&s;pel ordain'd for life, the &s;avour of death unto death.</HI> Then the Devil takes his advantage; and as he findes the heart enclined, works to the greater hardening of it. <HI>The Devil put into the heart of Judas to betray him.</HI> And becau&s;e he knows there is no readier in&s;trument for &s;uch a purpo&s;e than a fal&s;e Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 13.2.</NOTE> therefore he makes choice of him to be his under Agent. <HI>I will go, and be a lying &s;pirit in the mouth of all his Prophets;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 22, 22.</NOTE> and this lye was &s;o efficacious, that it deceiv'd <HI>Ahab,</HI> hardned him to go up again&s;t <HI>Ramoth-Gilead,</HI> to his de&s;truction. This the devil him&s;elf thought was a way that could not faile. La&s;tly, Sinne is an Agent al&s;o in this work; or to &s;peak more properly with our Apo&s;tle, <HI>the deceitfulne&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 2.11.</NOTE> <HI>the delu&s;ion, the cunning, the Sophi&s;try of it:</HI> Of which more by and by.</P>
<P>Lay all this together. That God hardens in anger and ju&s;tice, his grace being withdrawn. That the heart is &s;uffered to returne <HI>ad ingenium,</HI> to that natural di&s;po&s;ition of a &s;tone. That the Mini&s;try of the Word rejected en|crea&s;eth it; That the Devil and the fal&s;e Prophet are great Agents in it; That &s;inne is the Sophi&s;t that per&s;wades unto it: And then con&s;ider whe|ther all meanes be not to be u&s;ed, <GAP DESC="foreign">, le&s;t the heart be hardened.</P>
<P N="3">3. E&s;pecially if you &s;hall lay to heart the con&s;equence, That it is a certain Fore-runner of perdition. For in whom doth it re&s;t? who are the proper &s;ubject of it, but the children of di&s;obedience? In the&s;e there is <GAP DESC="foreign">, they are pa&s;t feeling;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 2.2. Eph. 4.19.</NOTE> they are like men in a phren&s;ie, that being in a mi&s;e|rable ca&s;e, yet &s;mile and laugh, and think all other men di&s;tracted, and them|&s;elves
<PB N="65" REF="38"> well. In them there is a <HI>con&s;cience &s;eared as with a hot Iron,</HI> a mark t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">t will not out, a callum upon which nothing will grow.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim 4.2. 2 Kings 22.19. Job 23.10. P&s;alm 22.14.</NOTE> Whereas it is a property of Gods children to have a <HI>tender heart,</HI> a <HI>&s;oft heart,</HI> a <HI>melting heart; My heart,</HI> &s;aith <HI>David, in the mid&s;t of my body, is even like mel|ting wax;</HI> if pricked they will bleed, if &s;mitten they will relent, if heated and chafed, they will yield and &s;often; They will ea&s;ily be wrought fir&s;t to attrition, then to contrition. With the&s;e cauterized men it is otherwi&s;e, their heart is a hard and impenitent heart: &s;trike upon them with the ham|mer of the Law, as good beat upon a Rock; they are not malleable: Go about to melt them with the fire of the Go&s;pel, they &s;often not. Mourn or pipe, all's one, they will nor dance, nor weep.</P>
<P><HI>Pharaoh</HI> in <HI>Egypt, Sihon</HI> de&s;tined to de&s;truction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.32.</NOTE> the <HI>Jewes</HI> ordained to captivity, after to be ca&s;t off, <HI>Nebuchadnezzar</HI> to be turn'd among bea&s;ts, <HI>Judas</HI> the &s;onne of perdition, with many other ominous names regi&s;tred in the Book of God, are pre&s;ented to po&s;terity as &s;o many &s;tigmatized per&s;ons, all branded with this &s;tiff neck, impudent forehead, proud and hard heart, and ob&s;tinate &s;oul, that we read and tremble, tremble and take heed that we come not into the rol of the&s;e &s;onnes of <HI>Belial,</HI> le&s;t we peri&s;h in their gain|&s;aying.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude ver. 11.</NOTE></P>
<P>Even charity that is kinde, and judgeth the be&s;t cannot be &s;o blinde, as of the&s;e not to &s;u&s;pect the wor&s;t. Look upon the&s;e then, and learne to heare God, his voice, his Word, his Spirit, his Mini&s;ters, who&s;e labour it is to melt, to mollifie you, to form your &s;tony heart into a heart of wax, capa|ble of &s;uch impre&s;&s;ions as mu&s;t be &s;ealed upon you, if ever you intend to en|ter into his re&s;t. There remains a re&s;t for the people of God, and you &s;hall not read of one that dyed with an ob&s;tinate and hard heart ever entered into it:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.9.</NOTE> No more than the&s;e &s;tubborn <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> (whom the Apo&s;tle hath here pro|po&s;ed for a terrour) into the Land of <HI>Canaan.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 3.7, 8.</NOTE></P>
<P>Wherefore as the holy Gho&s;t &s;aith before, <HI>To day if you will heare his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.30. 1 The&s;. 5.19. Heb. 10.29.</NOTE> <HI>as in the day of tem|ptation in the Wilderne&s;s.</HI> For this is <HI>to grieve the Spirit, by whom you mu&s;t be &s;ealed</HI> (if ever) <HI>to the day of Redemption.</HI> This is to quench the fire of the Spirit, which alone can melt out your dro&s;s. This is to do de&s;pite to the Spirit of grace, when he is about to change your heart. And upon this grie|vance given to him, and this quench ca&s;t upon him, and this de&s;pite done him, he will be gone, and then you left in a &s;ad condition. For then God will harden, the Devil will harden, the Go&s;pel will harden, and &s;inne will harden your heart; God out of ju&s;tice and revenge, the Devil out of malice, the Go&s;pel by accident for your unbelief, and Sinne by collu&s;ion and cun|ning. To which pitch when an obdurate &s;inner is come, he is &s;et upon the brink of hell; and if he be &s;aved out of the flame, it mu&s;t be by as &s;trange a pre&s;ervation, as <HI>Lot</HI> was &s;aved from the fire of <HI>Sodome,</HI> when the Angel took him, and his wife,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19.16.</NOTE> and his daughters by the hand (the Lord being merciful unto him) and deliver'd him from that fire and brim&s;tone.</P>
<P>But becau&s;e among the&s;e Agents, the Apo&s;tle here &s;ingles out one as a chief actor in it, and withal acquaints us with the way by which it works, to wit, not by force and power, but by Art and &s;lye practices, I &s;hall in the la&s;t place &s;peak a word of tho&s;e, and give you warning about them, that you be not taken by the fallacy. I exhort then that you be not hardned</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>6.</HI> By the deceitfulne&s;s of &s;inne.</HEAD>
<P>For let the matter be throughly examined, and appeare it will, that there is not one &s;inne in which we are taken, but by &s;ome cheat or other; &s;o true
<PB N="66" REF="39"> and ingenuous is that confe&s;&s;ion of Saint <HI>Paul, Sinne hath deceived me;</HI> for it hath both <HI>e&s;cam &amp; hamum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.11.</NOTE> the bait that appears, and the hook that is conceal'd; bread that in one hand it &s;hews, and a &s;tone that it hides in the o|ther; and under the &s;pecious colour of &s;ome good, it allures us to bite &s;o greedily, till we are taken by it, hardned, and ruin'd. An in&s;tance or two will make all plaine.</P>
<P>Such a practice there was upon our fir&s;t Parents; the forbidden fruit was pre&s;ented fir&s;t as profitable,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.6.</NOTE> <HI>good for food;</HI> then as plea&s;ant, a de&s;ire to the eye; after a means to knowledge, a Tree to be de&s;ired to make one wi&s;e; and la&s;tly, a ready way to preferment, Let them take and eat, and they &s;hould be like gods: here was the bait, in all this the deceit. Not the lea&s;t &s;yllable all this while of the Hook that was conceal'd, till the cunning An|gler had catch'd his prey, then they confe&s;s'd that they were both couzened. <HI>The woman deceived me,</HI> &s;aith the man; <HI>The Serpent deceived and beguiled me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 12, 13.</NOTE> &s;aith the woman; both too too late acknowledged the Parologi&s;m that was put upon them.</P>
<P>And is it not &s;o in love and dalliance? The fallacy here is the lips of the Harlot that drop like an honey-comb,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 7.5, &amp;c.</NOTE> and her words &s;weet as Ro&s;es: &s;he hath for&s;ooth peace offerings, &s;he hath perfum'd her bed with myrrh, Aloes, Cinamon, and upon this impudently makes the motion, <HI>Come let us take our fill of love.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 7.14.</NOTE> The bait appeares, but this is only <HI>Deceptio auris,</HI> as the other was <HI>Deceptio vi&s;us,</HI> faire words drunk in by the eare, as the Apple was the bait to the eye, but both plea&s;e and kill. In that death climb'd up the windows, in this it comes in by the door. For the Harlots hou&s;e is the way of hell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 9.21. Prov. 7.27.</NOTE> and leads on to the Chambers of death.</P>
<P>The Sacrilegious per&s;on is in the number of devourers; his Throat is an open Sepulchre, and he is alwayes gaping after glebe-lands, Church reve|nues,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 14.4. P&s;alm 5.9.</NOTE> Tithes, and Offerings, or what&s;oever the piety and bounty of devout &s;ouls hath dedicated and &s;et apart to uphold the &s;ervice of God, and encou|rage learning; All this he can glut down as ea&s;ily as a man can &s;wallow his &s;pittle; and at every bit that he gets down, he cryes <HI>panis Chri&s;ti, panis dul|cis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 7.19.</NOTE> no bread &s;o &s;weet as that taken from Chri&s;ts Table, no meat to that which is taken from the Altar.</P>
<Q><L>Populus me devovet;&mdash;</L>
<L>Plaudo domi, quoties nummos contemplor in arca.</L></Q>
<P>But with this bait he devours the hook too, or el&s;e <HI>Solomon</HI> was mi&s;taken, who affirmes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 20.25.</NOTE> <HI>That it is a &s;nare to a man to devoure that which is holy.</HI> For that will happen to him, which befell the Eagle that &s;tole a part of the Sacrifice from the Altar; a &s;ecret coal will be carried along with it, that will devoure the devourer, and con&s;ume his Ne&s;t and young birds together.</P>
<P>It were an endle&s;s labour to pre&s;ent you all the deceits of &s;inne; I &s;hall only acquaint you with one juggle more, and produce the jugglers that by it delude, and &s;o end. And I rather pitch upon this, becau&s;e it was in great u&s;e when the Apo&s;tle wrote, and many by it drawn to harden their hearts a|gain&s;t the Go&s;pel. Then there were fal&s;e Brethren <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>unawares brought in;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 2.4. Jude ver. 4. 1 Tim. 3.6. Ephe&s;. 4.14.</NOTE> or as <HI>Jude</HI> hath it, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>unawares crept in;</HI> privily creeping, (a trick learned of the old Serpent who crept into Paradi&s;e) <HI>creep|ing into hou&s;es, and leading captive &s;illy women.</HI> Now the way they take them is by a &s;light, by cunning craftine&s;s whereby they lie in wait to de|ceive.</P>
<P>The beguiled are here a &s;ort of &s;illy people; in age perhaps men and wo|men, but in under&s;tanding meer children, <GAP DESC="foreign">, they who can &s;ay little, or
<PB N="67" REF="39"> little to the purpo&s;e. The&s;e are <GAP DESC="foreign">, as &s;hips at Sea to&s;t to and fro; <GAP DESC="foreign">, as reeds at Land &s;haken hither and thither, and carried about; and that which driveth them, and to&s;&s;eth them, is every winde of doctrine: This as the winde ri&s;eth from the womb of the earth, puffs, and blows, and blu&s;ters, and throws all down before it, ari&s;eth on a &s;udden and gives no war|ning, and &s;hifts as the winde every point of the compa&s;s. Yet with this winde the&s;e &s;illy people are to&s;t to and fro, and carried about. But they which carry them, are meer cheaters, as appears by their artifice; for as our Apo&s;tle teacheth, they u&s;e</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <GAP DESC="foreign">, a &s;light, as men at Dice. They are men of skill and Art, they have high men and low men; and fal&s;e Dice, and bard Dice, and &s;light of hand, and all to deceive and over-reach. Cunning Game&s;ters they are, and there is not any thing &s;etled in our Church, which they have not endea|voured to cog us out of. The <HI>Socinians</HI> and new <HI>Arrians</HI> out of our faith: The <HI>Antinomians</HI> of our repentance from dead works: The <HI>Libertines</HI> from our holy life and good deeds: The <HI>Anabaptists</HI> from our Orders and Sacra|ments: The <HI>Browni&s;ts</HI> from our Liturgy and D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;cipline: The <HI>Independents</HI> from our Government: The <HI>Shakers</HI> and <HI>Enthu&s;ia&s;ts</HI> from our devotions and prayers: Such is their <GAP DESC="foreign">, their &s;light, their Art, their cogging.</P>
<P>Secondly, Which that it may take the better effect, they become <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;ubtle Merchants, that know how to make u&s;e of the Foxes Taile when the Lions skinne can do no good; and againe to roare as Lions, when they need not &s;peak like Foxes. This the Apo&s;tle intimates al&s;o, &s;aying, That they u&s;e not only <GAP DESC="foreign">, but <GAP DESC="foreign"> al&s;o; and this of larger &s;ignification than the former, what&s;oever the Greek Scholia&s;t thinks; for be it that <GAP DESC="foreign"> is <GAP DESC="foreign">, all cogging and fal&s;e play is a craft, yet there is other craftine&s;s be|&s;ides that at Dice.</P>
<P>For <GAP DESC="foreign">, as <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> de&s;cribes,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ethic.</HI> 6.</NOTE> is one who is ready to undertake a|ny cour&s;e, good or bad, a crafty, &s;ubtle, witty, and incon&s;tant man, who as <HI>Tertullian</HI> elegantly de&s;cribes the Peacock, is <HI>multicolor, &amp; di&s;color,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. de pal|lio. c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>&amp; ver|&s;icolor, nunquam ip&s;a, &s;emper alia, et &s;i &s;emper ip&s;a, quando alia, toties denique mutanda, quoties movenda:</HI> So the&s;e creeping Brethren have two faces, and two hearts, they are many colours, and different colours, and changeable colours, never the &s;ame, alwayes altering; and yet when alter|ed, &s;till the &s;elf-&s;ame; they move and change, and change as often as they move. He that will draw their picture and the cunning they u&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hook. Epi&s;t. De|dicatory.</NOTE> may take a view of what Mr. <HI>H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oker</HI> hath tran&s;cribed out of <HI>Guy de Bree's</HI> &s;tory of the Anabapti&s;ts of his time.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Now both the&s;e, whether <GAP DESC="foreign"> or <GAP DESC="foreign">, cogging or craft, tends to the &s;ame ends, it is to deceive; and that you may know they are no bunglers at their work, they have a Method to do it by; the Apo&s;tle names it <GAP DESC="foreign"> I cannot well render it; you may call it an illu&s;i|on, a &s;tudied fallacy, a back or by-way invented by the&s;e Sophi&s;ters to &s;teale upon, and &s;educe hone&s;t Pa&s;&s;engers. And their Method is this,</P>
<P>Their grand Maxime is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cartwright.</NOTE> That the Scripture is in &s;uch &s;ort to be the Rule of our Actions, that what we do being not directed by it is &s;inne, though it be to the taking up of a ru&s;h or a &s;traw. Then, that all Philo&s;ophy and Hu|mane learning is of a dangerous con&s;equence in Divinity. Thirdly, That in the wor&s;hip and &s;ervice of God nothing may be retain'd, but what was in u&s;e in the Apo&s;tles dayes. La&s;tly, Tho&s;e few and innocent Rites which we plead for now, are Popi&s;h, Anti-Chri&s;tian, Scandalous. This is the method which the&s;e Impo&s;tours proceed by; and when they meet with weak under&s;tandings, they prove very powerful to deceive; yea, and to harden the heart al&s;o in the deceit.</P>
<PB N="68" REF="40">
<P>What <HI>Samuel</HI> &s;aid of Rebellion, is as true of Here&s;ie and Schi&s;m, it is as the &s;inne of Witchcraft.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 15.23.</NOTE> For they who are fooli&s;hly bewitched with it, as were the <HI>Galatians,</HI> have thus much of the Witch, to per&s;i&s;t and conti|nue.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal 3.1.</NOTE> Seldome you heare of a Witch reclaim'd, and a very rare thing it is for an Heretick to return to the Truth, or a Schi&s;matick to the peace of the Church. 'Tis our ordinary Proverb of one whom rea&s;on cannot di&s;&s;wade from &s;uch or &s;uch a &s;inne, <HI>That he is bewitched.</HI> The Inchanters know that a young Serpent may be dealt with, but if he once become <HI>Chobber Chobberim,</HI> an old Adder, he will not be charmed, then he claps his Taile to one eare,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plalm 58.6.</NOTE> and the other to the earth, and charme the Charmer never &s;o wi&s;ely, yet he is not moved: And thus it happens to a man that is be|witched by the&s;e Impo&s;tours, Charme him with the cleare&s;t evidence of Rea&s;on or Scripture, you &s;ing to a deaf man. The fle&s;h &s;tops one eare, and the earth the other, and he will not heare.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>CONCL&V;SIO.</HEAD>
<P>I doubt not but you are ready to prevent my inference, that &s;ince I have di&s;cover'd the &s;nare, you are re&s;olved to be &s;o wi&s;e as not to be taken in it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 1.17. Ho&s;. 7.11, 12.</NOTE> Surely in vaine is the Net &s;pread in the &s;ight of any Bird. The Net you &s;ee, the Foulers you behold, and I &s;hall &s;ay you are like <HI>Ephraim,</HI> Eve|ry one of you <HI>a &s;illy Dove without a heart,</HI> if yet you &s;hall &s;uffer it to be &s;pread over you.</P>
<P>Why are you call'd Chri&s;tians, if you yet do the works of unbelievers? why do you boa&s;t of the Spirit, when yet you are deceiv'd by the frauds of the fle&s;h? To what purpo&s;e are our dayly Exhortations, &s;hould you yet be hardned by the deceitfulne&s;s of &s;inne? It were to no purpo&s;e that we &s;tretch forth our hands all day long, &s;hould you yet prove a <HI>rebellious and gain|&s;aying people.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 56.2. Rom. 2.5.</NOTE> Is there any of you de&s;ires to heap up wrath again&s;t the day of wrath? then let him make love to this impenitent and hard heart. Any that re&s;olves to make it yet harder? then let him li&s;ten to the Charmes, to the Elenchs, to the baits of &s;inne. A wedge of gold, a goodly Babyloni&s;h Garment, the accur&s;ed thing, an <HI>Herodias,</HI> a Vineyard, all the glory of the world, a cup of Fornication, &s;ome new fancy, or dream, or imagina|tion, it hath to pre&s;ent you withal to winne your affection. Like it and choo&s;e, choo&s;e and love, love and take, take and harden, harden and go on, go on and die.</P>
<P>Think not but I could make and place down pillows under your e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">bows, as well as any <HI>Balaam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 13.18.</NOTE> and &s;uffer &s;inne to deceive you as cunningly, and harden your hearts as powerfully, as ever it did the heart of <HI>Judas. Sed co|git me Paulus iste,</HI> But this <HI>Paul</HI> compells me to &s;peak; he bids <HI>Exhort,</HI> and I mu&s;t exhort; he commands to <HI>Warne,</HI> and warne I do, <HI>That by un|belief you depart not from the living God, that by the deceitfulne&s;s of &s;inne your heart be not hardned.</HI> And if this warning will not prevaile, and the&s;e Exhortations can do no good, &s;end you I mu&s;t to the Judgement Seat of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 51.9.</NOTE> with this in&s;cription on your forehead, <HI>We would have healed Baby|lon, but &s;he is not healed; for&s;ake her, and let us go every one into his own Countrey; for her judgement reacheth unto Heaven, and is lifted up unto the skies.</HI></P>
<P>This fallacy then of &s;inne is beyond that of the School; for by that a man is mocked and deluded only, and made appeare to be a weak man, but by this there is much harme done; This is a bitter deceit, it mocks and kills, jeers and undoes at once. <HI>Sarca&s;ms</HI> and <HI>Ironies</HI> &s;erve for wit and &s;port;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 2.14.</NOTE> but in this there is <HI>Joabs</HI> and <HI>Abners</HI> play, in the end bitterne&s;s will
<PB N="69" REF="40"> be found in earne&s;t. Sinne approacheth with a fleering and glozing &s;mile; and that it may allure you to con&s;ent, promi&s;eth great happine&s;s and felici|ty, when yet it ends in &s;orrow and repentance.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 6.21.</NOTE> <HI>What profit are you like to have of tho&s;e things, of which one day you will be a&s;hamed?</HI> What profit, except to buy repentance at too deare a Rate. What profit had <HI>Achan</HI> of his golden Wedge? what <HI>Dives</HI> of his purple, fine linnen, or &s;umptuous fea&s;t? what profit? or rather not what di&s;profit?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 7.25. Luke 16.24.</NOTE> when &s;tones flew about the eares of that Sacrilegious wretch, and fire of hell flam'd about the head of that E|picure and Glutton; were you ever pre&s;ent at the &s;ighs, the &s;obs, the groans of burdened and oppre&s;&s;ed &s;oules, &s;ummoned, as they judge by death, to an&s;wer at Gods Tribunal! The men were before (as you now are) full of youth, full of courage, full of valour, that dur&s;t have entertain'd any &s;in; but then the &s;trange&s;t object of pity, of di&s;comfort, of weakne&s;s, that ever eye beheld. Then they confe&s;s their errour, then they acknowledge they were deceiv'd, and might they be re&s;pited, they would never be taken by &s;in as ea&s;ily as fi&s;hes with a bait, profe&s;&s;ing that what&s;oever was pre&s;ented, was indeed <GAP DESC="foreign">, a deceitful temptation, and not <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Oecum.</NOTE> truly and pro|perly plea&s;ure.</P>
<P>Methinks, by this time, I perceive your bowels begin to yern within you, and your hearts to melt like wax; that you are a&s;hamed to have been decei|ved, and re&s;olv'd that you will never be againe hardned by any fallacy &s;in can invent. For your comfort, then to a pricked, tender, bleeding &s;oul, I dare promi&s;e the grace of Repentance; but to the hard and impenitent I cannot. To tho&s;e I have warrant to Proclaime it alone, to whom Chri&s;t was &s;ent, and tho&s;e were <HI>the poor, the broken-hearted, the captives, the blinde,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 4.18, 19.</NOTE> <HI>the brui&s;ed;</HI> there is not one &s;tubborne per&s;on among them. Take it for a Rule, If Chri&s;t heale the broken-hearted, then broken-hearted they mu&s;t be before he can heale them; what is your heart whole? as hard as the nei|ther Mill-&s;tone? then are you not for his care. In all Chri&s;ts di&s;pen&s;a|tory, there is not a medicine for &s;uch a heart, no balm in <HI>Gilead</HI> for &s;uch a &s;ore.</P>
<P>The <HI>Rabbins</HI> truly teach us, That the heart may be broken from &s;in, and for &s;inne. From &s;inne comes all afflictions and cro&s;&s;es, which give the heart a mighty blow, but this is no kindly hammer. <HI>Pharaohs</HI> heart was broken with Ten plagues, but I know not how it did congeale againe, and was as hard if not harder than ever before. Then the heart is truly broken, when it is batter'd to pieces for &s;inne, when it beholds &s;inne with all its proportions and flatteries, and hates it, becau&s;e it is odious to God, offen|&s;ive to his Maje&s;ty, a di&s;honour unto his Holine&s;&s;e, and &s;o great a pro|vocation of his anger, that no le&s;&s;e Sacrifice could appea&s;e his Wrath, and Reconcile us to him, than the Blood of his Deare Sonne poured out upon the accur&s;ed Tree. This, this thought alone is able to melt the &s;tonye&s;t heart, that &s;tubbornely and wilfully it &s;hould go on to pro|voke &s;o merciful a Father, &s;o kinde a Redeemer, and &s;o pre&s;ent a Comforter: That by no exhortations or admonitions, it &s;hould be won from the deceits of &s;in.</P>
<P>Remember this houre, I have told you of it, and lay it to heart; it may perhaps turne back your heads, and in time break you off from pre&s;umptuous Wickedne&s;&s;e. That's my aime, that's my de&s;ire, that you may once at la&s;t break with your lu&s;ts. And the Lord &s;o mollifie and &s;often your hearts, that the hammer of his Law may in time barter you, and the fire of his Go&s;pel may &s;o melt you, that you tremble at his Ju&s;tice and Judgements, and believe and embrace his mercies and promi&s;es. Both together may work in you a &s;erious and true
<PB N="70" REF="41"> contrition for your former hardne&s;&s;e and unbelief, and a Re&s;oluti|on to hearken to every Exhortation and call of grace for the fu|ture.</P>
<P>This will make us both happy. Me for teaching you this Le&s;&s;on, and me and you for practicing it. For for hearkening to his voice here, you &s;hall heare a joyful voice there, <HI>Come ye Ble&s;&s;ed of my Father,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.34.</NOTE> <HI>inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the World.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>The&s;e following Sermons are fitted to expound the Ar|ticles of the Creed; e&s;pecially that they may be pra|ctical, and have an influence upon a Chri&s;tian life.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="1" TYPE="part">
<PB N="71" REF="41">
<HEAD>AN EXPOSITION OF THE Apo&s;tles Creed. <HI>The fir&s;t Part.</HI></HEAD>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>That there is a God.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Gen. 1. ver&s;e 1.</HI></BIBL>
<P>In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><HI>_E&V;ery Scribe in&s;tructed unto the kingdom of heaven,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 13.52.</NOTE> <HI>is like a man who is an hou&s;holder, which brings forth out of his trea&s;ure things New and Old.</HI> For every provident Ma&s;ter of a family hath his &s;torehou&s;e, and 'tis well provided,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cato de Senect.</NOTE> <HI>abun|dat hoedo, ca&s;eo, lacte, oleo, g<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">llina, vino;</HI> he hath his Old and his New wine, his fruits of this year, and the la&s;t, and di&s;creet|ly he brings forth both, as may make for the honour of his hou&s;e, and content of his gue&s;ts and family: So is every Scribe, every Doctor, every Pa&s;tor, who is learned and in&s;tructed to promote the kingdom of heaven. This man is not to &s;eek for provi&s;ion for Gods people up and down, he knows not where;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 5.11, 12.</NOTE> (as <HI>I&s;rael</HI> went to look for &s;traw over all the Land of <HI>Egypt,</HI> and when all was done it was but &s;tubble) But he hath it by him, and occa&s;ionally he brings it forth: his trea&s;ury is full of Scripture, full of rea&s;on, full of <HI>Mo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es,</HI> full of the Prophets, full of the Law, full of the Go&s;pel, full of old Pre&s;idents, full of new Examples, full of old Exhortations, Parables, Arguments, full of new Demon&s;trations, Apothegms, Sentences, Axioms, Per&s;wa&s;ions, as may make for the repa&s;t, nouri&s;hment, health, and &s;atisfaction of his auditory.</P>
<P>At the former meetings I entertained you with delicates out of the Newer trea&s;ury, tho&s;e which Saint <HI>Luke</HI> and Saint <HI>Paul</HI> had before prepar'd; I was only like the hou&s;holder to bring them forth. This hour out of the &s;torehou&s;e I &s;hall pre&s;ent you with a more Old and Ancient di&s;h, being the fir&s;t that ever was, and put into the trea&s;ury by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> in compari&s;on of whom, all tho&s;e whom we call ancient Writers, are but new men, and of ye&s;terday.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ju&s;t. Martyr. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> From him therefore I fetch the provi&s;ion, that I intend now to &s;et before you; and I have been moved to do it, becau&s;e it is the confirmation of the fir&s;t Article of our <HI>Creed.</HI> Here we profe&s;&s;e to <HI>beleeve in God the Father Almighty creator of
<PB N="72" REF="42"> heaven and earth:</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> old record a&s;&s;ures us that it was &s;o, that <HI>In the beginning God created heaven and earth.</HI> So that in this our Belief <HI>we have not followed cunningly devi&s;ed fables,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.16.</NOTE> but that for which we have a good and an old record to &s;hew: a witne&s;&s;e beyond all exception.</P>
<P>In this Chapter <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;ets out to us the &s;tory of the Creation of the whole world. Teaching us that it was not eternal, but that it had a beginning in time. Thus the record begins <HI>In principio,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> that is, <GAP DESC="foreign">, at that time when things were not, but began to be, for <HI>principium</HI> is here <HI>verbum incepti|onis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. concra Hermogen.</NOTE> a word that &s;ignifies the inchoation or entrance upon the work. As if <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had &s;aid, when God plea&s;ed, the world began. And becau&s;e that every thing is be&s;t known, when the cau&s;es thereof are di&s;covered, therefore he hath not concealed the&s;e.</P>
<P N="1">1. He acquaints us with the efficient, which is <HI>Elohim,</HI> three per&s;ons, the <HI>Father,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>Sonne,</HI> and <HI>Holy Gho&s;t; Jehovah</HI> the <HI>Lord God.</HI> In our <HI>Creed</HI> God the Father, who hath a being of him&s;elf, and is the &s;ole Author and Father of all being, whether of Nature or Grace.</P>
<P N="2">2. The material cau&s;e, which was indeed Nothing, for he created it; and the difference betwixt generation and creation is vulgarly known, that the fir&s;t was out of a pre-exi&s;tent matter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aquin. <HI>1</HI>ae par|te q. <HI>65.</HI> Art.</NOTE> the la&s;t the production of a thing according to its whole &s;ub&s;tance, no matter being pre&s;uppo&s;ed. This is an act of omnipo|tency, and therefore in the <HI>Creed</HI> we give him this attribute, Almighty. That which is thus produced, is &s;ummed up in both places under the name of <HI>heaven</HI> and <HI>earth.</HI> In heaven we are taught, there are the &s;pheres, the &s;tarres, the two great lights, with the Angelical powers, which have their &s;eats therein. Be|low the Moone, then the elements, birds, bea&s;ts, fi&s;hes, trees, plants, minerals, men; There be vi&s;ible, there be invi&s;ible creatures, &s;ome below, &s;ome above, and God Almighty is the maker of all the&s;e. And all the&s;e he made at fir&s;t from Nothing.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.2, 6.</NOTE> <HI>Dixit &amp; facta.</HI> He &s;aid the word only, Let it be &s;o, and &s;o it was. <HI>Let there be light, and there was light; Let there be a firmament and there was a firmament.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> though he only names the generals, as fowles, fi&s;hes, herbs, cat|tel, and creeping things, yet he tells us, that they <HI>were made after their kinde,</HI> in &s;uch or &s;uch a &s;pecies; and then they mu&s;t have of nece&s;&s;ity &s;omewhat that internally doth &s;pecificate them, and put an e&s;&s;ential difference betwixt kinde and kinde, which can be nothing el&s;e but the forme, it being the property of that to give being, di&s;tinction, and operation to every kinde. And &s;o he hath led us by the hand to the Formal cau&s;e al&s;o.</P>
<P N="4">4. La&s;tly, he opens to us the final cau&s;e, <HI>viz.</HI> That all the&s;e creatures were made for Man.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 28, 29.</NOTE> He to be the Lord, and have dominon over all; all given to him for his u&s;e, for his enjoyment; yet &s;o, that he returne God his tribute of glory. In the <HI>Creed</HI> therefore al&s;o called a Father, &s;tanding in a more peculi|ar relation to men than to other creatures, which <HI>Plato</HI> perceived, and profe&s;|&s;ed, that God was a maker of other things, but a Father of men.</P>
<P>It is not my purpo&s;e at this time to enlarge my di&s;cour&s;e upon the work or works of the Creation; my aime meerly is to informe you about matters of faith; and therefore I &s;hall acquaint you with the&s;e particulars.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>That there is a God.</HI> For God created.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>That this God is one in e&s;&s;ence,</HI> but in this Godhead are three di&s;tinct per&s;ons.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zanchy.</NOTE> For its &s;aid by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> that <HI>Elohim creavit.</HI> The Noune Plural being joyned to a Verb Singular. The Plural intimating to us the Tri|nity, the Verb Singular the Unity.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>That this God was the Creatour.</HI> By which act is &s;et forth unto us, his Wi&s;dome, his Power, and his Al-&s;ufficiency: which I &s;hall have occa&s;ion to make u&s;e of in the proof of my fir&s;t Propo&s;ition, <HI>viz.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<PB N="73" REF="42">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> That there is a God.</HEAD>
<P>The fir&s;t duty that God requires of every man, is, That he doth ac|knowledge <HI>that there is a God.</HI> 'Tis the fir&s;t principle that a man mu&s;t learn.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.6.</NOTE> Saint <HI>Paul</HI> puts a nece&s;&s;ity upon it, <HI>He that comes to God, mu&s;t believe that he is;</HI> and he &s;poke it but out of his Ma&s;ters mouth;<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 17.3.</NOTE> <HI>This is life eter|nal to believe thee to be the only God, and him whom thou ha&s;t &s;ent, Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> Where two things are propounded for a man to believe; one as a man, the other as a Chri&s;tian: As a man, to believe a God, to whom he is bound for his Creation. As a Chri&s;tian, to believe Je&s;us Chri&s;t to whom he is indebted for his &s;alvation. Even nature will bind him to the one, but grace to the other; having from <HI>Jehovah</HI> his root of being, from Je&s;us his ori|ginal of well-being.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t of the&s;e po&s;itions, to wit, <HI>Deum e&s;se, that there is a God,</HI> is &s;o certain in it &s;elf, and &s;o univer&s;ally receiv'd by all Nations, that I thought it lo&s;t labour to go about to prove it. Yet when I con&s;ider'd again, that there is in the world a degenerate generation of men mi&s;-&s;hapen in the powers of their &s;ouls, and transformed from the power of rea&s;on, roo|ting up tho&s;e Maximes and Principles, which rea&s;on and the hand of Nature hath planted in them, I thought it not ami&s;s to fortifie this foundation upon which all that followeth mu&s;t relie.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">. Athei&s;m is the great &s;ickne&s;s of the &s;oule, whence proceed all other di&s;temperatures in the life. And of it are guilty, fir&s;t the contradicting Athei&s;t, who, with that <HI>Diagoras</HI> flatly denies that there is a God; tell him of bla&s;phemies, he &s;miles, as if there were no name to be bla&s;phemed; that it is the h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters"> One of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> he impudently returns, That there is nothing holy. Wit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> him the whole &s;ervice of God is but an humane invention, that hoped to ma&s;ter them by Religion, whom they could not overcome by rea&s;on. Ring in his eare the joyes of heaven, or the paines of hell, 'tis as if you &s;poke of the <HI>Ely&s;ian</HI> fields, or <HI>Plato's</HI> Court. Produce Scripture to prove it, as good alledge <HI>Rablais</HI> or the <HI>Al|coran.</HI> Next to him is the Sceptick, the di&s;puting Athei&s;t, who though he is not po&s;itive there is no God, yet he que&s;tions <HI>An &s;it,</HI> whether there be a God or no, and to that end he invents Arguments <HI>pro &amp; con,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> that may &s;erve for both &s;ides; and for the mo&s;t part defends as <HI>Julian,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, the wor&s;t part of the probleme. But let him know, that while he thus hangs in <HI>aequilibrio,</HI> between the two, from his <HI>an &s;it,</HI> he is in danger to come to <HI>Non e&s;t,</HI> from his doubt to the flat Negative, there is no God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plalm 14.1.</NOTE> And yet there is another of this brood, you may call him the Natural Athe|i&s;t; who is &s;o taken up with his <HI>Natura naturata,</HI> that he thinks never of <HI>Natura naturans;</HI> &s;o drown'd with the con&s;tant and vi&s;ible work of Nature below, that he never looks up to God, that infu&s;ed by an eternal Law, that con&s;tancy into the works of Nature. Now this is a man <HI>impeditae linguae,</HI> who &s;ometimes li&s;ps and &s;tammers that Nature is that which we Divines call God, and be&s;ides her there is no other. In the la&s;t place appears the Practical Athei&s;t, the man who in words acknowledgeth God, but in his works denies him. Whence are tho&s;e &s;innes that have tongues and cry? are they not from this fountaine? Bla&s;phemy would not be heard, blood would not cry; Oppre&s;&s;ion, Sacriledge, Perjury, would not be a burden to the Land; <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron</HI> would be of more e&s;teem,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 14.1.</NOTE> did not men &s;ay in their hearts with the Fool, <HI>There is no God.</HI></P>
<P>Now divers cau&s;es there are, which may bring men and invite them to &s;it down and re&s;t <HI>in cathedr&acirc; pe&s;tilentiae, in this chaire of &s;corners.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 1.1.</NOTE> The fir&s;t
<PB N="74" REF="43"> is pride of heart; they think the va&s;t braine of man &s;hould comprehend all things; which being but finite, mu&s;t needs be too &s;hallow to comprehend an infinite Maje&s;ty. For <HI>finiti ad infinitum nulla proportio.</HI> Is it not enough to apprehend him, but he would comprehend him al&s;o? Could he be pro|portion'd to the model of our braine, he were not God, not infinite, not immen&s;e. Never then let the Devil lead thee to this Athei&s;me, Thou can&s;t not comprehend him, therefore reject him, Thou can&s;t never under&s;tand fully what he is, therefore deny that he is. Secondly, There is not any man who is con&s;cious of &s;ome wicked deed, who de&s;ires not to be hid, and to e&s;cape puni&s;hment.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. Apol. c. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Malefici ge&s;tiunt latere, devitant apparere, trepi|dant deprehen&s;i, negant accu&s;ati.</HI> If there be a God, he mu&s;t be ju&s;t; if ju&s;t, he will be reveng'd on &s;inners, and then he will be reveng'd on me, &s;aith the Athei&s;t; which that he be not, he &s;hall not be. Thirdly, They finde things &s;ucceed not according to their minde; <HI>they ask and have not,</HI> and then they doubt with the <HI>I&s;raelites,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 17.7. Job 22.15.</NOTE> <HI>Whether God is among them or not. What is the Almighty, that they &s;hould &s;erve him? and what profit &s;hall they have, if they pray unto him?</HI> La&s;tly, That which &s;hould have been for their wealth, is unto them an occa&s;ion of falling; that very thing which &s;hould have taught them <HI>that there is a God,</HI> hath per&s;waded them that he is not. For what greater evidence of the Deity is there, than the con&s;tant and interrupted or|der we &s;ee of this Univer&s;e, every creature being obedient and ob&s;ervant of that Law which God gave at fir&s;t? Their actions are uniforme, one cour&s;e they keep, yet know not what they do, nor why; which proceeding not from them&s;elves, mu&s;t on nece&s;&s;ity come from &s;ome &s;uch Agent originally, that knoweth, appointeth, holdeth up this order, con&s;tancy, uniformity. This then might &s;tay the&s;e mens ha&s;te and bla&s;phemy, in concluding that God is not: Whereas like a whole&s;o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o&s;e, that meets with a foule &s;tomach or a rotten liver, it hath a contra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ect, for it makes them to bla&s;pheme, as is evident;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 3.4.</NOTE> <HI>Since the Fathers fell a&s;leep, all things continue as they were,</HI> &s;ay they, <HI>even from the beginning of the Creation. The thing which hath been,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 1.15.</NOTE> <HI>is that which &s;hall be; and that which is done, is that which &s;hall be done, and there is no now thing under the &s;un;</HI> and upon it they infer,
<Q><LG>
<L>Nullum e&s;&s;e Deum, inan<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> coelum.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>There is no God, nor Lord, nor Diligence,</L>
<L>Nor Love, nor Care, nor Power, nor Providence.</L>
</LG></Q></P>
<P>The&s;e be the motives to this odious impiety, and ea&s;ie it is from a Chri|&s;tian heart to remove them: But from one who is re&s;olv'd to be ob&s;tinate, and will be &s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ff in the denial, there is not any thing more hard and difficult: For this is not a conclu&s;ion, but a pri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ciple, and the fir&s;t of all other princi|ples.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dr.</HI> Fotherby A|theomastix. lib. <HI>1.</HI> cap. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> Now principles in all Arts, e&s;pecially in the highe&s;t, as is Divinity, are mo&s;t difficult to be proved, becau&s;e they are the fir&s;t and immediate pro|po&s;itions, mo&s;t known and indemon&s;trable in them&s;elves, and admit no cau&s;e or <HI>medium</HI> by which they may be a&s;&s;ured. Expect not then in this ca&s;e invincible demon&s;trations, becau&s;e the propo&s;ition hath its foundation, not in &s;en&s;e, nor in &s;cience, but meerly in belief; and upon that Saint <HI>Paul</HI> builds it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb, 11.3.</NOTE> <HI>We by faith under&s;tand that the world were framed by the Word of God, &s;o that things which are &s;een, were not made of things which do appear. By faith alone,</HI> (&s;ai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h the Apo&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e) <HI>we have the a&s;&s;urance thereof;</HI> then can rea&s;on but grope at this Truth in the dark, and produce only probable Argu|ments for it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Thom. part. <HI>1</HI>ae. q. <HI>46.</HI> Art. <HI>2.</HI> Concl.</NOTE> not demon&s;trative. What <HI>Aquinas</HI> concludes of the Creation, is as true of this principle, <HI>Mundum coepi&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;uppo&s;e it be <HI>Deum e&s;se, &s;old
<PB N="75" REF="43"> fide tenetur, nec demon&s;trativ&egrave; hoc &s;ciri p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">te&s;t, &s;ed id credere maxim&egrave; ex|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">edit.</HI> That the world began by Creation, or that God is, is only a&s;&s;ured by faith; neither can it be demon&s;tratively known, but it is mo&s;t expedient to believe it. And he addes, That it is very profitable to know thus much,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Corp. Art.</NOTE> le&s;t that any man undertaking to demon&s;trate this, and being able to produce on|ly Arguments of credibility, gives an occa&s;ion to Athei&s;ts and Infidels to mock and &s;coff at him, &s;uppo&s;ing that we upon tho&s;e grounds do believe tho&s;e things which are meerly conclu&s;ions of faith.</P>
<P>But if it be objected, That <HI>Thomas</HI> him&s;elf moving the que&s;tion,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Part.</HI> 1. <HI>q.</HI> 2. <HI>Art.</HI> 2.</NOTE> whe|ther it be demon&s;trable or not, <HI>Deum e&s;se, that God is,</HI> re&s;olves it that it is. I an&s;wer, That he affirmes no more but that it may be prov'd by an imper|fect demon&s;tration. Not, &s;aith he, <HI>&agrave; priori,</HI> or <HI>per cau&s;am,</HI> but only <HI>&agrave; posteriori,</HI> or <HI>ex notiori nobis effectu.</HI> Never by any former or pre-exi&s;tent cau&s;e, but from &s;ome noble and eminent effects, which are after and depend upon that cau&s;e; which by Logicians are accounted but imperfect demon|&s;trations, and only Arguments of credibility: Which I &s;hall mar&s;hal under the&s;e two heads; either of Revelation or Rea&s;on, of Scripture or Nature; for the knowledge of God is brought to us either by his Word, or his Works. His Word, the Scripture, is open only to tho&s;e of his family; but his works, Heaven and Earth, and the creatures in both, is a Book in Folio, open to all the world, wherein the mo&s;t unletter'd man may perceive there is a God. The Records that are yet extant and receiv'd by all Chri&s;tians are beyond ex|ception; and he de&s;erves not the name of a Chri&s;tian, that dare doubt or &s;ay, That the Scripture is not his Word. In this he that runnes may reade this Truth engraven, as with the point of a Diamond almo&s;t in every Line. If therefore it can be proved that this is his Word, with the &s;ame breath prov'd it will be <HI>that he is,</HI> &s;ince it is nece&s;&s;ary that the Agent be before the Action, the per&s;on exi&s;t before he &s;peak. The fir&s;t being the efficient, and the la&s;t the &s;ignification of his Will.</P>
<P>The&s;e Oracles of God were fir&s;t entru&s;ted with the Jew. So much was ac|knowledg'd by an old Oracle extant in <HI>Ju&s;tine Martyr.</HI></P>
<Q><L><GAP DESC="foreign"></L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign">.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE></L></Q>
<P>For the old part of this Record they, the Jewes I mean, and yet pre&s;erve, have deliver'd it unto us. This together with the New, the Catholick Church of God hath &s;tooped unto as the revealed Will of God. And this mu&s;t needs be a &s;trong inducement devoutly and diligently to read it, and reverently to e&s;teem it; with which the more we con&s;ult, the more we &s;hall be per&s;waded that it came from God: There is in the Edicts &s;o much Maje&s;ty, in the Pen-men &s;o much Unity and Harmony, in the Truth &s;o much con&s;tancy, in the Doctrine &s;o much equity and purity. Had it proceeded from the corrupt fountaine of mans braine, either the flatne&s;s of the &s;tile, or the jarring of the writers, or the incon&s;tancy of the materials, or the inju&s;tice or impurity of the Rules contained in it, would too rankly have &s;avoured of fle&s;h and blood. That I name not tho&s;e &s;trange predictions (which had their com|plement in their &s;ea&s;on) contain'd in it; and tho&s;e high and &s;ublime Reve|lations &s;o farre beyond the reach of man to invent, that they are not believed when Taught. Could a Natural man be the Authour of that, which as yet no Natural man is able by the &s;trength of rea&s;on to comprehend?</P>
<P>Farther yet, even Nature it &s;elf hath ingraffed in every mans &s;oul a de|&s;ire to be happy. To which all the directions of men are un&s;ufficient, becau&s;e
<PB N="76" REF="44"> they never yet could finde out a meanes fully to content and &s;atisfie Gods ju|&s;tice for one &s;inne. Nece&s;&s;ary then it was, that man who was ordained to, and de&s;ires to attaine happine&s;s, &s;hould have &s;ome &s;upernatural help to bring him to it, &s;ince all natural was too weak. This we call the revealed Will of God, without which the de&s;ire of the &s;oul will be fru&s;trate. And once let it be granted that Revelation is nece&s;&s;ary, and then one of the&s;e two will fol|low; That there never was any &s;uch Revelation; which will fru&s;trate the intentions of God for mans felicity: Or that the Word of God which we now embrace, is that Revelation, &s;ince there is no other extant.</P>
<P>To clo&s;e up this Digre&s;&s;ion, I &s;hall offer one thing more only, which will be a &s;tong per&s;wa&s;ion that this is the Book of God, and that it came not from any private impul&s;ion. Every man is &s;o great a flatterer of him&s;elf, and &s;o jealous of his own honour, that were it po&s;&s;ible, he would not &s;uffer the lea&s;t of his infirmities to appeare, much le&s;s his foule&s;t enormities to be blazon'd to po&s;terity. But the Secretaries of this Book have not concealed their gro&s;&s;e&s;t faults,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32. Num. 12. &amp; 20. P&s;alm. 51. Jonah 1. &amp; 4. 1 Tim. 1.13.</NOTE> nor their friends impure&s;t actions. <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> not the fa|thers errours, nor his own, no nor <HI>Aarons</HI> his own brothers tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions; <HI>David</HI> in a Throne mournes, yet expre&s;&s;eth his adultery, and murder of <HI>&V;|riah; Jonah</HI> Book'd his &s;hameful flight, and his &s;ullen anger, his impatience; <HI>Paul</HI> mentions his cruel per&s;ecution of the Church, and was content to have it &s;et out at large by Saint <HI>Luke,</HI> as Saint <HI>Peter</HI> al&s;o his perjury and denial of his Ma&s;ter by the Evangeli&s;ts. Since then the&s;e pious &s;oules either wrote them&s;elves their own blemi&s;hes, or being written by others, &s;uffered not an <HI>Index expurgatorius</HI> to pa&s;s upon them; a mighty evidence it is, That there was a motion more than humane that thus di&s;po&s;ed them to write, and to beare with what was written.</P>
<P>To what purpo&s;e you will &s;ay, is all this? to what el&s;e, but to per&s;wade you, or rather all Infidels, that the Scripture is the revealed Will of God? And then it will nece&s;&s;arily follow, that there is a God before he can reveal any thing, which was the Point to be proved.</P>
<P>Secondly, Were we to convince a <HI>Mahometan</HI> in this que&s;tion, we could be copious in proofs out of the <HI>Alcoran;</HI> were we to undertake a Jew, a <HI>Saducee,</HI> a <HI>Samaritan,</HI> we could convince them either out of the Old Te|&s;tament, the <HI>Pentateuch,</HI> or <HI>Talmud.</HI> Had we a di&s;pute with &s;ome wi&s;e Heathen, we could &s;erve our &s;elves of infinite Te&s;timonies from their own Writings. Our Task is then the more difficult, becau&s;e being to deal with men, who would be held, and are in their own eyes the &s;ole ingro&s;&s;ers and Monopoli&s;ts of rea&s;on, yet to wi&s;e men &s;eem mo&s;t irrational. But as <HI>Fe&s;tus</HI> &s;aid to <HI>Paul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 25.12.</NOTE> <HI>Ha&s;t thou appealed unto Cae&s;ar? unto Cae&s;ar &s;halt thou go;</HI> So &s;ay I al&s;o to the&s;e men, that &s;ince they appeal to rea&s;on, at the Tribunal of rea&s;on they &s;hall take their Tryal.</P>
<P>Where the fir&s;t Witne&s;s I produce &s;hall be the &s;oule of man. <HI>Con&s;i&s;te in medio anima,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tetrul. Test. ani|mae. cap. <HI>1.</HI> Apolog. cap. <HI>17.</HI></NOTE> &s;tand forth, O thou &s;oule of man; I call thee not taught to &s;peak at <HI>Athens,</HI> or informed in the School, or enabled by Libraries. It is thee now I cite hither, who art rude and &s;imple, and wholly unlearned, &s;uch as a man may finde at Plough in the high way; I had almo&s;t &s;aid dwel|ling in the brea&s;t of an Ideot. In this ca&s;e I have need of thy &s;implicity and plainne&s;s, &s;ince to thy Art and skill this Adver&s;ary will not give credit. What we may not without &s;u&s;picion of fraud be heard to &s;ay, you &s;hall hear this &s;imple &s;oul openly pronounce, God is good, God is great, God gives all things. Do him good, he returnes his ble&s;&s;ing in the Name of God; <HI>Deus benedicat,</HI> God ble&s;s you for it. Do him wrong, he appeales to Heaven; <HI>Deus videt omnia, &amp; Deus reddet, &amp; Deus inter nos judicabit,</HI> God &s;ees all, and God revenge my Quarrel, I commend my ca&s;e to God, God
<PB N="77" REF="44"> judge betwixt us. <HI>O Te&s;timonium animae naturaliter Chri&s;tianae,</HI> This is the Te&s;timony of a &s;oul that even nature hath taught to &s;peak like a Chri&s;tian. For were this voice heard alone where the Go&s;pel might infu&s;e &s;uch a prin|ciple, it might be &s;u&s;pected; But when the tongues of naked <HI>Indians,</HI> and &s;avage <HI>Americans</HI> are inur'd to the&s;e formes, I &s;ee that univer&s;ally in all men there cannot be but &s;ome inbred notions of the Deity ingraffed and infixed in their &s;ouls, by the larger u&s;e of rea&s;on, and relicks of the Divine Image. Compa&s;s the world, finde you may Cities without walls, Letters, Princes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">utarch.</NOTE> Wealth, Schools, Theaters; but not one &s;hall you finde without &s;ome God, without a Tryal by Oath, without &s;ome Ceremony of Religion, by which they hope to procure good things for them, and to avert evil from them. Out of which <HI>Calvin</HI> well collects, <HI>In eo tacita quaedam confe&s;&s;io e&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin. in&s;tit. c. <HI>1.</HI> Sect. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> <HI>in|&s;criptum in cordibus hominum Divinitatis &s;en&s;um,</HI> That by this there is a ta|cit confe&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tu&s;c. <HI>1</HI> &amp; de Natura Deorum.</NOTE> that there is a &s;en&s;e of a Deity in&s;cribed in the hearts of all men; I adde out of <HI>Tully,</HI> be they never &s;o cruel or barbarous.</P>
<P N="2">2. And yet this is not the &s;ole evidence that the &s;oule gives in to this Truth. God hath placed in every mans brea&s;t a con&s;cience, in which things are not written as in &s;inking paper, where the letters cannot be read, but as Characters drawn with the juyce of an Onyon, not legible till they are brought to the fire. Suppo&s;e you beheld a man commit &s;ome heynous &s;inne &s;ecurely and &s;ecretly, and per&s;wading him&s;elf that there is nor Judge nor Revenger; at that in&s;tant let but death appeare, and hold up his finger, his countenance is chang'd, his knees &s;mite together, his heart becomes cold as a &s;tone. Now his con&s;cience beginnes to awake, and a&s;&s;ures him there is a God that judgeth the earth. It was a pious meditation of <HI>Bernard,</HI> At home I have an Accu&s;er, a Witne&s;s, a Judge, a Tormentor;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard. de In|ter. domo. c. <HI>14.</HI></NOTE> my con&s;cience accu&s;eth me, my memory is the Witne&s;s, my rea&s;on is the &s;ubordinate Judge, and feare is the Tormentor. This cau&s;eth even the bolde&s;t Athei&s;t, who in his ruff and jollity defies heaven, in a time of di&s;tre&s;s and danger to eat his words, and &s;eek for help of that Deity he hath before denyed and bla&s;phemed. The Oratour makes mention of one <HI>Metrodorus</HI> a famous A|thei&s;t of his time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero.</NOTE> than whom I never &s;aw any man more &s;urprized with feare. <HI>Nunquam vidi quenquam qui magis timeret ea; quae timenda nega|ret, mortem dico &amp; Deos,</HI> I never beheld a man who did more feare tho&s;e things which he denyed to be feared, Death and the Gods.<NOTE PLACE="marg">He&s;ych. Illu&s;tri|us.</NOTE> And there is extant an elegant Epigram of one <HI>Bion Bory&s;thenes</HI> one of the &s;ame crue, who in his health &s;coffed at the Gods, and every one he &s;aw at his prayers; but falling &s;ick, <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. He did not only plea&s;e the Gods with the fat of Rammes, and labour to fea&s;t and delight their no&s;trills with the &s;wee|te&s;t incen&s;e; neither &s;aid only <HI>Peccavi,</HI> I have &s;inn'd, pardon what's pa&s;t; but he yielded his neck to the Charmes of an old Witch. Gods there were when he would live, and was in danger; not &s;o much as the Devil that &s;hould not be &s;ought to. A &s;tory much like this we finde in <HI>Ae&s;chylus.</HI> When the <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Army was to pa&s;s the River <HI>Strimon</HI> before frozen, and on a &s;udden beginning to Thaw; At every crack of Ice, &s;aith the Me&s;&s;enger, there I &s;aw with my eyes tho&s;e Gallants (whom before I heard boldly to maintain there was no God) every one of them on their knees, and full devoutly praying the Ice might hold till they got over. See, &s;ee, what death, what &s;ick<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;s, what a Thaw can do! in an in&s;tant it can convert an Athei&s;t into a Thei&s;t, a profane wretch into a devout; of a mocker, change a man to a &s;uper&s;titi|ous foole. So hard a matter it is to check nature, and &s;tifle con&s;cience, but it will arre&s;t the man in a time of feare and trouble, and &s;et him to the Barre. In their pro&s;perity confe&s;s God they will not, le&s;t they &s;hould feare him;
<PB N="78" REF="45"> but the lea&s;t feare extorts from them a free confe&s;&s;ion. And becau&s;e they would not feare God that made all things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 53.5. <HI>Sueton. Cicero.</HI> Lev. 26.36. I&s;a. 19.16.</NOTE> they are afraid of all things they need not feare. This being the perpetual note of an Athei&s;t, to fear; with <HI>Caligula,</HI> a Thunder-clap; with the <HI>Stoick,</HI> a &s;torme, a leafe, a &s;hadow, the &s;ha|king of a hand.</P>
<P>Come now, O thou immoveable Stoick, and loo&s;er Epicure, thou &s;pawn of the old <HI>Saducee,</HI> come now, I &s;ay, and let us rea&s;on together. Why do&s;t quake? why art thou wanne? No eye &s;ees thee, no face beholds thee, all's done in &s;ecret, and the night dwells upon thy actions. There are no pa&s;&s;ions; heaven is a fable, and hell a Tale; there is neither Angel, nor Spirit, nor yet Gods: or if any, they take their re&s;t and ea&s;e above, and re|gard not any thing that is here done below; Fate and Nece&s;&s;ity alone beare the &s;way in all things, and do&s;t thou yet tremble? are thou yet pale? do&s;t thou yet flye and hide? Well, now I &s;ee that guilt makes thee a man a|gaine, and danger creates feare, and feare creates Gods. That little &s;park of the Deity, which thy loo&s;er cour&s;e of life hath raked up for a time be|ginnes to glow in a time of trouble, pre&s;ents to thy con&s;cience a Judge, a Tribunal, a fearful Sentence. Let us then appeale <HI>ab ebriis ad &s;obrios,</HI> from <HI>Caligula</HI> in his pride, to <HI>Caligula</HI> under a clap of Thunder; from the Stoick in a cleare day, to the Stoick in a &s;torme; from the Epicure in h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s drunken fit of &s;ecurity, to the &s;ame Epicure under a di&s;ea&s;e pre&s;enting him with the gha&s;tly face of death;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 42.21.</NOTE> In a word, from <HI>Jo&s;ephs</HI> Brethren in <HI>Dothan,</HI> to <HI>Jo&s;ephs</HI> Brethren in Pri&s;on: And then even the&s;e Opponents that &s;tiffly de|nyed, will now ea&s;ily grant the Conclu&s;ion, That there is a God that judgeth the earth. You &s;hall not need to prove it, for it &s;hall be freely confe&s;&s;ed. So powerful is that evidence of con&s;cience in them, the &s;ting of which, though it may be blunted, yet cannot it be pull'd out, but will &s;hoote, and ake, and put them to paine while it convicts them as guilty, and &s;ummons them to an&s;wer at Gods Tribunal. It was not without rea&s;on then, that <HI>Da|vid</HI> prayed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 9.20.</NOTE> <HI>Put them in feare, O Lord, that the Heathen may know them|&s;elves to be but men.</HI> So he concludes the P&s;alm, and &s;o will I conclude this Argument.</P>
<P N="3">3. Another there is of no le&s;s force, which this Text affords, <HI>Heaven and Earth;</HI> and the &s;erious view and &s;urvey of the&s;e, will with a loud voice pro|claime the <HI>Creatour.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cardinal Cu&s;a|nus.</HI> Rom. 1.20.</NOTE> For <HI>univer&s;us mundus nihil aliud e&s;t quam D us ex|plicatus,</HI> The whole world is nothing el&s;e but God expre&s;&s;ed. <HI>For the in|vi&s;ible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly &s;een, being under&s;tood by the things that are made; even his eternal Power and God|head.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> The heaven and the earth then is <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Divinity Schoole, in which every Creature is a Doctor of the Chaire, and reads to us a plaine Lecture of the Creatour. For as that excellent Carver <HI>Phidias</HI> did &s;o cunningly engrave his own name in <HI>Minerva's</HI> &s;hield,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero <HI>1.</HI> Tu&s;c.</NOTE> that it was im|po&s;&s;ible to blot out the Letters, without utterly defacing the whole picture: So al&s;o it hath plea&s;ed Almighty God to &s;et his own Name with &s;o curious a hand upon the lea&s;t of his creatures, that it is not po&s;&s;ible to blur out the Character an not deny the Work-ma&s;ter.</P>
<P>Suppo&s;e you &s;hould arrive in &s;ome I&s;land, where at fir&s;t there appeared unto you no inhabitant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. Morn. de veritate Relig. Chri&s;t. cap. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> yet you &s;hould here behold &s;tately &s;tructures, magnificent Temples, Vines dige&s;ted into order, and Fruits of all &s;orts &s;pringing from &s;tocks either by engraffing or inoculation: Say you would certainly, that the &s;tones roll'd not together of them&s;elves to this beauty, nor the trees could ne|ver con&s;pire to plant, and order one another; and upon it conclude, that this I&s;land hath, or hath had wi&s;e inhabitants; Some man without que&s;tion hath &s;eated him&s;elf here; for we evidently behold the ingenuity of a man,
<PB N="79" REF="45"> though the &s;teps of his feet appear not. We will therefore proceed farther, and make trial, if we yet can finde out the the Author of the&s;e works of won|der. To the light we are brought, everywhere we meet with works which man was never able to make, no nor yet know nor under&s;tand, &s;hould his dayes be drawn out to tho&s;e of <HI>Methu&s;elah.</HI> Ought we not to wonder, and in admiration to conclude, The Spirit of God hath gone this way, the Spirit of the Almighty is in this; &s;ince in every place we behold that, which not the wit of man, nor arme of fle&s;h were able to bring to pa&s;&s;e. Pitch upon the im|mediate cau&s;e, you are too low; upon the next wheele, you are yet to &s;eek; a&s;cend to the Sun, the Moon, the Starres, you cannot be &s;o &s;atisfied; for what is it that hath &s;et all the&s;e to work in &s;uch a con&s;tant way, and order? The minde of the mo&s;t diligent enquirer can finde nothing to re&s;t in, till from the con|nexion of cau&s;es he arrives at the fir&s;t, which is an infinite omnipotent agent, the Spirit of God that mov'd upon the face of the waters.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.2.</NOTE> That meditation of <HI>Hermes</HI> was pious, <HI>Domine ego contemplabor te, &amp;c.</HI> O Lord, I will con|&s;ider thee, in tho&s;e things above, in tho&s;e things below.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hermes Tri&s;|meg.</NOTE> Thou ha&s;t created all things, neither is this univer&s;al Nature any thing el&s;e than an Idea or exem|plar of thee.</P>
<P>Now in this gla&s;&s;e we behold the face of God three &s;everal wayes. 1.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Viguer.</HI> cap. 19. Sect. 1. ver&s;. 1.</NOTE> <HI>Via eminentiae.</HI> 2. <HI>Negationis. Cau&s;ationis.</HI> 1. Fir&s;t, eminently, when tho&s;e perfections which are in the creature mount our thoughts to the Creator, and warrant us to affirme, that if they be honorable in the effect, they mu&s;t needs be of far more veneration in the cau&s;e. We know that God cannot be com|pounded of Sub&s;tance and Accidents, but what&s;oever is in God, is God; and therefore we &s;hould call him, <HI>in ab&s;tracto,</HI> ju&s;tice, mercy, good|ne&s;&s;e, power it &s;elf, and not ju&s;t, merciful, good, omnipotent. 'Tis then by Analogy this is done; and from the &s;imilitude of a finite object every way a|greeable to our weak under&s;tanding, we attribute to God tho&s;e vertues in which the creature doth excel. We hold it an honour to a man to be wi&s;e, ju&s;t, good, holy, merciful, &amp;c. and therefore we conceive it will make for his glory to acknowledge, that he is wi&s;e in his coun&s;els, ju&s;t in his proceedings, good in benefits, holy in his wayes, merciful in his forbearance. Eminent in all the&s;e, and paramount, infinitely beyond the perfections of the be&s;t man.</P>
<P N="2">2. The way we come to know God from the creature, is Negatively, by which we remove from him all tho&s;e defects and imperfections which are in|cid<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nt to our &s;elves; We &s;tile him Immortal, Immutable, Invi&s;ible, Infinite, Incomprehen&s;ible, becau&s;e mortality, and mutability argue a defect in the creature; and to be limited and confined, imperfectoin. 'Tis not therefore for him who hath an unlimited e&s;&s;ence to be &s;tinted by our eye or minde; 'tis not for him, who is life it &s;elf, or <HI>in whom is no &s;hadow of change,</HI> to be &s;ubject to mortality and alteration. Leave all the&s;e defects to mortal, mutable, and weak men; and therefore that we may be &s;ure to remove them far enough from him, we have cho&s;en to expre&s;&s;e our &s;elves in the&s;e Negative Epithets. For,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Julius Scali|ger.</NOTE> <HI>Nullis vocibus tam plen&egrave; Deum &s;ignificamus quam iis, quae ignorantiam prae|tendunt.</HI> We &s;ignifie God by no words &s;o fully, as tho&s;e which expre&s;&s;e our own ignorance.</P>
<P N="3">3. But both the&s;e wayes, the Affirmative, the Negative, rather &s;hew us what God is, than that he is: how we &s;hall apprehend him, than how we &s;hall prove his being and exi&s;tence. And before I proceed farther, I be&s;eech the Maje&s;ty of heaven to pardon my bold attempt and pre&s;umption, and &s;ay the &s;in to the charge of tho&s;e mi&s;creants which have put me to this unwilling and unnece&s;&s;a|ry labour. For &s;uch it were, would men but confe&s;&s;e what they &s;ee and fee<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e, and acknowledge but &s;o much as the grounds of rea&s;on would informe them:
<PB N="80" REF="46"> For we never &s;ee any effect, but pre&s;ently we enquire after the cau&s;e; we ne|ver behold a thing, but &s;trait we enquire who did it. The effects we mu&s;t needs confe&s;&s;e are not ea&s;ie to be numbred, and the cau&s;es by which produced, &s;ub|ordinate, <HI>a wheele in a wheele,</HI> and the inferiour depending upon the Superi|our, and the le&s;&s;e mov'd by that which is chain'd and next to it, by which if we a&s;cend,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Thom. parte <HI>1</HI>ae q. <HI>2.</HI> Artic. <HI>3.</HI> Conclu&s;.</NOTE> we &s;hall at la&s;t come unto one fir&s;t mover, in whom our thoughts mu&s;t re&s;t. For otherwi&s;e the progre&s;&s;e in &s;ubordinate cau&s;es would be infinite, which may not be admitted. For let the cau&s;es that work under one another extend to an infinity, the minde will not have whereon to &s;ettle, but &s;till mu&s;t enquire farther, and then nothing can be known, &s;ince all &s;cience ari&s;eth from the knowledge of the cau&s;es. There mu&s;t then in the&s;e be an order, and all order pre&s;uppo&s;eth <HI>primum &amp; ultimum,</HI> the fir&s;t and the la&s;t. The la&s;t is of|ten evident; The fir&s;t we &s;eek for, which being not to be found in heaven or earth, for all things in both are moved; and it is granted, that <HI>Nihil movetur &agrave; &s;eip&s;o,</HI> that Nothing can be moved of it &s;elf; it then upon nece&s;&s;ity mu&s;t be moved by another, which can be nothing el&s;e but a &s;upreme power, from which all other mu&s;t depend <HI>tam in e&s;s<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ndo quam cau&s;ando,</HI> both in e&s;&s;ence and cau&s;ation. And this is that eternal being we call God, <GAP DESC="foreign">, that fir&s;t and independent cau&s;e in him&s;elf; <HI>Cau&s;a cau&s;ae, &amp; cau&s;a cau&s;ati,</HI> The cau&s;e from which all other inferiour cau&s;es have their efficiency, and the cau&s;e of all other effects what&s;oever: According to that of Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> God works all in all; far more powerfully, and with greater efficacy concurring to any effect than any &s;econd cau&s;e; which truth <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> that great Ma&s;ter of Na|ture &s;aw,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Metaphy&s;.</HI> 2. text. 17.</NOTE> and confe&s;&s;ed; for &s;aith he, <HI>Si prima non e&s;sent, nihil e&s;set.</HI> If there be not a Fir&s;t, there will be Nothing.</P>
<P>It is the belief of a Heathen. <HI>Credo Deos immortales ideo spar&s;i&s;&s;e ani|mos in humana corpora,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero de Se|nect.</NOTE> <HI>&amp;c.</HI> I beleeve, &s;aith he, the immortal Gods to that end to have &s;ent from the cele&s;tial dwelling &s;ouls into the bodies of men, that beholding the beauty of the earth, and order of heaven, they &s;hould imitate both by an orderly life, and a con&s;tant cour&s;e. Our &s;oul then was not infu&s;ed to be idle; It was fir&s;t for contemplation of what Ood made, heaven and earth, in which what can we el&s;e &s;ee but works of wonder? To which I now call you, and de&s;ire your patience, while I lead you through the whole; you mu&s;t needs acknowledge the Maker the more clearly after this view.</P>
<DIV4 TYPE="subsection">
<HEAD>God created heaven and earth.</HEAD>
<P>Behold and &s;ee the foundation &s;trongly laid, the fabrick &s;trangely erected, the roofe curiou&s;ly &s;et on, beautified with greater and le&s;&s;er lights; and can you do le&s;&s;e than acknowledge that in every roome, above and below, you &s;ee the face of God, as in a gla&s;&s;e, darkly? and read in the&s;e great volumes the pow|er, the wi&s;dome, the goodne&s;&s;e of the Creatour? his power in making, in up|holding; his wi&s;dome in placing, and ordering; his goodne&s;&s;e in beautifying the whole,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tu&s;cul. que&s;t. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> and giving &s;trange and contrary gifts to the lea&s;t of his creatures? When we &s;ee the&s;e things, can we doubt, <HI>quin his prae&s;it aliquis conditor &amp; effector,</HI> that there is over the&s;e &s;ome maker and Efficient, &s;ome moderator of &s;o great a work?</P>
<P>I will carry you through every chamber of this E&s;curial; but by the way, I pray take notice of the roof; Look but upon the matter, and you &s;hall finde it more refined than the&s;e inferiour bodies, as if that &s;pacious arch had been made of the finer &s;tuff, and the&s;e elementary bodies of the dregges and re|fu&s;e of the mettle. Hence it is that tho&s;e higher orbes have not run to ruine, nor needed any reparation from the fir&s;t erection. Look upon the form, and then how &s;pacious, how glorious is it? The extent is beyond thought, in which
<PB N="81" REF="46"> the mo&s;t &s;tars exceed in quantity the earth, and are yet remov'd from other by &s;o great a di&s;tance. And the glory &s;o clear, that every orbe is as gla&s;&s;e dia|phanous, and gives leave to the eye to &s;ee tho&s;e higher and brighter lamps in the eighth wheele, who&s;e light indeed &s;eemes to us to &s;hake into quicker rayes, becau&s;e our eyes are too weak to behold it. Yet all the&s;e are but &s;econds, in|digent candles that mu&s;t borrow their light, their glory from the fountain of light, the Sun, who&s;e &s;plendour is &s;o fiery and radiant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 31.26, 27. Deut. 4.19.</NOTE> that it will dazle the &s;tronge&s;t eye, except that of the Eagle, to behold it: So wonderful, that it hath forc'd them, who know no better, to fall down, adore, and wor&s;hip it.</P>
<P>Neither are the&s;e lights more glorious in their bodies, than wonderful in their motions. Should I but name unto you the &s;wiftne&s;s of the fir&s;t wheele, it were e|nough to &s;et you in admiration. So beyond all conceit it is, that it hath begot in our Magnetical Philo&s;ophers a fancy that the earth moves, and that the heaven &s;tands &s;till; For by ca&s;ting up the Circumference they find the Orbe &s;o va&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Wright</HI> in his Epi&s;t. to <HI>Gilbert</HI> &s;et before his Book <HI>de Mag|nete.</HI></NOTE> that &s;hould it whirle round in twenty four hours, <HI>in ictu oculi</HI> it &s;hould run a race of five hundred Engli&s;h miles, or <HI>eo circiter tempore, quo quis celeriter incedendo uni|co tantum pa&s;&s;u progredi po&s;&s;it,</HI> or in the &s;pacea man could take a &s;wift and ha&s;ty &s;tride five thou&s;and. And upon it they have &s;erv'd that Orbe with a writ of ea&s;e.</P>
<P>To tho&s;e then I de&s;cend which do move. And in them I meet with the Planets, all which though erratical, yet are con&s;tant in their wayes in the Zodi|aque. This is the rea&s;on that the A&s;tronomers &s;o certainly acquaint you with their Conjunctions, Oppo&s;itions, Sex tiles, Trines, divers years before.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plin. l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>12.</HI></NOTE> This was the rea&s;on that <HI>Hipparchus</HI> compiled his <HI>Ephimerides</HI> containing the cour&s;e and A&s;pects of the Sun and Moon for &s;ix hundred years en&s;uing, and that no le&s;&s;e a&s;&s;uredly than if he had been of Natures privy coun&s;el. We finde not that they quickned or &s;lackned their motions, but that in the &s;ame &s;pace of time they alwayes run the &s;ame races, which being ended, they begin them a|gain as fre&s;hly as at the fir&s;t in&s;tant they &s;et forth. And it is no le&s;&s;e wonder|ful, that however the re&s;t move in &s;ome latitude, yet the Sun keeps his cour&s;e in the Ecliptick, which is an oblique circle, and carries him &s;ometimes on this, &s;ometimes on that &s;ide of the Aequatour, and that by a perpetual Law, that all people might proportionably partake of his light, heat and influence:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 148.6.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. as <HI>Plutarch</HI> hath ob&s;erved; The fir&s;t motive that led men unto God, was the orderly and con&s;tant motion of the Stars, day and night,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plut. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>6.</HI> de placitis philo&s;o|phorum.</NOTE> Summer and Winter ob&s;erving their de&s;igned ri&s;ings and &s;ettings. And <HI>Cicero</HI> the fa|ther of eloquence hath largely delivered the &s;ame. <HI>Tu&s;cul. que&s;t.</HI> 1.</P>
<P>No marvel then if <HI>David</HI> rai&s;ed with a diviner &s;pirit, breaks forth and &s;ings, <HI>The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament &s;hews his handy work; one day telleth another, and one night certifies another; there is neither &s;peech nor language, but their voices are heard among them.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 19.1, 2, 3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>The heavens</HI> he tells us are become Preachers enarrant, <HI>they declare;</HI> and the &s;ubject of their Declaration is the glory of God. And they are diligent preachers, for they preach <HI>day and night,</HI> ver&s;. 2.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bellar. in hunc <HI>P&s;al.</HI></NOTE> And they are learned Preachers, for they preach in all tongues, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 3. And they are Catholick Preachers, for they preach in all lands. Give good heed then to the Sermons they preach, and like little children, bu&s;ie not your &s;elves by gazing on the gilded cover of the book, from whence they have taken their text, but lay up the Doctrine, and you will confe&s;&s;e there is a God.</P>
<P>Hitherto you have looked upon the roof only; will it now plea&s;e you to enter the hou&s;e, and view the building: In which I pray take notice of the me|thod of the Creatour, how aptly, how wi&s;ely he hath di&s;po&s;ed all things. In the higher rooms mo&s;t purity, but upon the floor, the dregges and lees of all, &s;toring up mettals and minerals in the bowels of the ba&s;e&s;t element, as in the Cellarage: &s;urely it was his mind to inject &s;ome &s;uch thought into us, that
<PB N="82" REF="47"> earth was framed for ba&s;er offices and u&s;es, but heaven for our habitation and entertainment. Ever the higher you ri&s;e, the more perfection, each element as &s;uperiour unto other in place, &s;o in purity, that our thoughts by the&s;e &s;taires of perfection might a&s;pire to the top of holine&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>But it cannot be denyed, we are yet &s;etled upon the lower roome, the ground; wi&s;dome it were to view that we tread upon. Why doth not this foundation &s;ink under us?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 16.31.</NOTE> 'Tis round, hath a figure apt for motion, it hath &s;wallowed up others. Why then &s;hould it be fixt upon its center? Why doth it not &s;ink? why doth it not gape? There is no pillars to uphold it, nothing for it to anchor upon, and we are as ripe for judgment as ever was <HI>Korah.</HI> That then it re&s;ts in the mid&s;t of the world without any hand to &s;upport it; that it opens not to devour a rebellious people, is meer mercy; an act of power in &s;u&s;taining that, and an act of favour in pa&s;&s;ing by us. Of the fir&s;t of which God him&s;elf glories, <HI>Job</HI> 38.3, 4, 5, 6.</P>
<P>Farther yet, How many millions of wonders may we behold in this lower roome?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero de Se|nect.</NOTE> <HI>Non me &s;olum fructus, &s;ed vis &amp; natura ip&s;ius t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rrae delectat.</HI> 'Tis not &s;o much the profit, as the &s;trange power of the earth delights me. Here it plea&s;eth the wi&s;dome of God to entertain us with the varieties of trees, leaves, fruits, &s;eeds, flowers, creatures, of different qualities, of different &s;mels, u&s;es, colours; and that we might not &s;ee all at once, and &s;o &s;urfet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgil. Georg. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> he hath be&s;towed upon every corner of the earth &s;ome peculiar ble&s;|&s;ing, making this abundant in corne, that in wine; one in oyle, another in cat|tle. O the riches of the wi&s;dome of the Creatour! he ordained that there &s;hould be &s;ome want every where, that one man might know that he &s;tood in need of another, and all men might confe&s;&s;e that they &s;tood in need of him.</P>
<P>Should I enlarge my &s;elf in this argument, I &s;hould aske how it comes to pa&s;&s;e that bea&s;ts are of &s;o different kinds and &s;hapes? why the gra&s;&s;e is green? why flowers are &s;o &s;tained with colours? who taught the Bee to frame his ve&s;|&s;el to an Octogone? or the Magnet Coition, direction, or inclination? with ten thou&s;and que&s;tions of the like nature, the lea&s;t of which will po&s;e the wit of the wi&s;e&s;t man, till he acknowledge the hand of the Lord hath done this. <HI>O Lord our Governour how excellent is thy name in all the world!</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 8.1.9.</NOTE></P>
<P>I &s;hall now carry you a little a&s;ide, that you may behold the Fountains and Rivers as &s;o many Water-works to &s;erve the hou&s;e. The&s;e all receive their &s;treams from the Sea; but how they &s;hould &s;pring in that abundance in and from the tops of hills, &s;ince tho&s;e are farre higher than the &s;urface of the wa|ters, doth farre &s;urpa&s;&s;e the &s;trength of mans wit to a&s;&s;igne a &s;atisfying rea&s;on. And no le&s;&s;e will it trouble the acute&s;t braine to a&s;&s;igne a cau&s;e of the wonder|ful qualities of waters and fountains to be read in <HI>Pliny.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Plin. <HI>l.</HI> 2. <HI>c.</HI> 103.</NOTE> Will you but go down into the great deep; who was it that collected tho&s;e &s;treams into one place, vaulted the earth, and let in the waters? there holds them that they c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n|not return to cover the earth? How doth the Ocean ebb and flow, and flow and ebb, roaring in its recoile, as if it did complaine and murmur that it is not permitted to pa&s;&s;e any farther! What man living is able to give a true rea&s;on of this con&s;tant and violent motion? Yea and if this could be &s;atisfied, he may be pre&s;&s;ed with one more difficult, why the Sea-water &s;hould be &s;alt? Many I know are a&s;&s;igned for both, but none yet &s;atisfactory.</P>
<P>I fear me, I have &s;taid you too long in the&s;e lower roomes; will you but a&s;cend a little, and take your pro&s;pect into the three &s;tories of the aire? What marvels do here entertain you? I will expre&s;&s;e my thoughts in the words of an Eloquent Bi&s;hop,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Hall, l.</HI> 1. Contempl. 1.</NOTE> There are tho&s;e clouds, tho&s;e bottles of raine, ve&s;&s;els as thin as the liquor contained in them; there they hang and move, though weigh|ty with their burden; how they are upheld, and why they fall here, and now, we know not, and wonder; The&s;e God makes as airy &s;eas to hold water, and
<PB N="83" REF="47"> againe as airy furnaces to vomit out fire and lightnings not without thunder and amazement. Another while they re&s;emble &s;teel gla&s;&s;es, wherein the Sun looks and &s;hews his face in all the colours of the Rainebow. Here are &s;treams of light, blazing and falling Meteors, fires darted up and down in many formes, be&s;ides tho&s;e hideous openings, and as it were, gulfes of the sky, the woolly &s;now, and the &s;tony haile. In the lower room of this thinner body, tho&s;e boy&s;trous windes that breath from the Caves of the earth exerci&s;e their dominion, and act like Tyrants; Their &s;ound we heare, and their force we feele, yet we can neither &s;ee their &s;ub&s;tance, nor well know their cau&s;e; whence, and what they are, and whither they pa&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 3.8.</NOTE> God alone knows.</P>
<P>And that man &s;hould not pa&s;s away his time in a melancholy and dumpi&s;h manner, the Creatour hath provided &s;everal &s;orts of mu&s;ique to content him; Tho&s;e winged Mu&s;icians of the aire build and &s;it, and &s;ing at our doors, the tongue of many birds being as as in&s;trument of mu&s;ique to plea&s;e the ear. Some with a loud voice, others with a &s;till; one humming as it were the Ba&s;e, another chanting the Treble; this holding the plaine &s;ong, while the Nightin|gale &s;ings de&s;cant and divi&s;ion, in that &s;weetne&s;s that no Art of man can ex|ceed, I had almo&s;t &s;aid imitate. That I mention not tho&s;e little round beds, and pretty Cradles prepared for their little ones, &s;o artificially compo&s;ed, and yet according to their &s;everal kindes framed, inlay'd, and &s;tuft, that mans hand though it can do &s;trange things, yet is not able to di&s;po&s;e in &s;uch order the &s;ticks, the wooll, the haire, the mo&s;s, the morter. What is it that taught them this Harmony, this Architecture, if chance, it would not be con&s;tant, and alwayes the &s;ame; If &s;ence, why then is it not common to other crea|tures? It mu&s;t be God or Nature; and to fa&s;ten upon Nature, is all one if you named God, &s;ince Nature is nothing el&s;e but that in&s;tinct which God hath be&s;towed upon every Creature, by which it works con&s;tantly and uni|formly.</P>
<P>All this while I have only carried you through the &s;everal Roomes of this goodly building, and &s;hew'd you the furniture. It remaines only, that I ac|quaint you for who&s;e &s;ake all this goodly Fabrick was erected. In one word, it was man, created after Gods Image, made la&s;t, as another little world, in whom as in a Map, or &s;hort Summe, what is in heaven above, and in earth beneath, is expre&s;s'd. A &s;oul he hath of a wonderful Original; into which when the wi&s;e&s;t men have &s;earched,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cic. Tu&s;c. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> by their mi&s;take and folly they have &s;hew|ed them&s;elves to be but men. <HI>Zeno</HI> defined it to be fire,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ju&s;t. Martyr. <GAP DESC="foreign"> in Ellen.</NOTE> <HI>Ari&s;toxereus</HI> har|mony, <HI>Xenocrates</HI> number; Some will have it aire, &s;ome the intellect, &s;ome a motion, &s;ome a vapour, &s;ome blood about the heart, <HI>Plato</HI> a tripartite faculty; but <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> hides his minde under a new word &s;carce intelligible, <GAP DESC="foreign">, and <HI>Hermolaus Barbarus</HI> tran&s;lation of it is as little, <HI>perfectiha|bia;</HI> which of the&s;e opinions is true, as <HI>Tully</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Deus aliquis viderit;</HI> 'Tis evident indeed there is Truth in none of them; for this cannot be known, till we come to that Record, <HI>God breathed into his no&s;trills,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.7.</NOTE> <HI>the brea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h of of life.</HI> His body was from the du&s;t, but his &s;oul from the breath of God; Our fle&s;h is from fle&s;h, but our Spirit from the God of Spirits: In which we may yet finde a re&s;emblance of the Deity; as God, &s;o the &s;oul is but one, and yet di&s;tingui&s;hed into three powers; for we under&s;tand, we will, we di&s;|cour&s;e, as an inferiour God. What? &s;hould I tell you that it is immaterial, immortal, of &s;uch activity, that in a moment it flyes up to heaven, and in|&s;tantly againe to the earth, and apprehends all things; enquires into the occa|&s;ions of all events, remembers things pa&s;t, by them fore&s;ees divers dangerous con&s;equents, and provides again&s;t them.</P>
<P>The&s;e foure words difference the world, <HI>e&s;se, vivere, &s;entire, ratio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i|nari;</HI>
<PB N="84" REF="48"> Being is common to man with other creatures, life with plants, &s;en&s;e with bea&s;ts, but by di&s;cour&s;e he is rai&s;ed above the re&s;t, and honoured with the endowment of Angels. <HI>Ratio &amp; Oratio,</HI> are the maine e&s;&s;ential parts of his definition;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plutarch. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> His rea&s;on ought to be the commander of his tongue, and his tongue the &s;ervant of rea&s;on. Now who was it that fir&s;t taught this lit|tle filme of fle&s;h the&s;e articulate notions, and to expre&s;s his conceptions in &s;uch apt and adequate words. No que&s;tion the four and twenty letters, as <HI>Democritus Atoms,</HI> fell together of them&s;elves, and in&s;tantly fram'd fit words, which man took up for u&s;e, giving di&s;tinct names to all things. Or if this may not be imagined,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Fr. Thamara de las Co&s;tum de todas las gentes lib. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> then &s;urely nature taught them. But if &s;o, then why are not words naturally &s;ignificant? why do not men by nature &s;peak? why are they mute if not taught? Suppo&s;e then that a man could be framed at fir&s;t by the meere force of nature; out of <HI>Atomes,</HI> or I know not what matter; yet in this it &s;eems nature was deficient, that it could neither teach him to &s;peak, nor informe him how to conclude. Both the&s;e he mu&s;t needs have from &s;ome higher power, or el&s;e remaine dumb and illogical clay for ever. The fiction of <HI>Prometheus</HI> makes this good, who after he had &s;haped his man of clay, was fain to go and light his Taper at the Sun before he could have life, &s;en&s;e, motion, or the u&s;e of rea&s;on.</P>
<P>The other part of man is his body, in the frame of which, Phy&s;icians and Anatomi&s;ts confe&s;s &s;o many parts, &s;o many miracles. Whence is the hardne&s;s of the bones? whence that red juice that flows in the veines? whence are tho&s;e vital, tho&s;e animal &s;pirits? whence is that retentive, that concoctive, that expul&s;ive faculty? whence came tho&s;e &s;inks to convey away what would ob&s;truct and kill, the gall for choler, the &s;pleen for melancholy, the bladder for urine, the belly for excrements? whence is that continual and mu&s;ical time of the pul&s;e, actuated by the &s;pirits, to quicken the blood that it cool not, and drive it on that it &s;tay not? All the&s;e are wonders. O man, thou neither can&s;t make the&s;e in thy &s;elf, nor yet <HI>Galen</HI> or <HI>Hippocrates</HI> in thee. And therefore know and acknowledge, that all the&s;e with infinite more flow from a &s;uperiour cau&s;e. And becau&s;e thou under&s;tand&s;t, he mu&s;t under&s;tand much more; and becau&s;e thou art a voluntary Agent, he mu&s;t much more do what he will: If thou be quick, active, and infinite in thy conceptions, he mu&s;t farre more exceed in his thoughts; there can be nothing excellent in thee, which is not &s;uper-eminent in him who is <HI>Jehova</HI> the eternal God ble&s;|&s;ed for ever and ever.</P>
<P>Ea&s;ie it were to be infinite in this Argument; I &s;hall therefore &s;end him that &s;hall yet be ob&s;tinate, to his own face. Let him &s;hew a rea&s;on why it is not like another mans, or that of another not like his, or a third to neither, or which is more marvellous,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. c. <HI>8.</HI> in Pagan.</NOTE> not any ones like the other? A learned Fa|ther calls this diver&s;ity of faces a great miracle. And it is al&s;o a great ble&s;|&s;ing, &s;ince without it no &s;ociety could continue; for without it the Wife would not know her Husband from another man, nor the father di&s;tingui&s;h his own children, the innocent would be condemned for the Malefactour, and the Malefactour e&s;cape without fear of puni&s;hment.</P>
<P>And if after all this, men will be &s;o impudent to outface us that there is no God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Read <HI>Burtons</HI> Melanch. part 1. Sect. 2. Memb. 1. Sub|&s;ect. 2. and all that have writ of <HI>Afrique</HI> and <HI>America.</HI></NOTE> then I &s;hall &s;end them to Hell, a place fit and prepared for them to conver&s;e with, and to enquire of the Devil and his Angels. To deny the&s;e; is to contradict the confe&s;&s;ions of Witches, and Conjurers, Phy&s;icians, and Hi&s;torians, impudently to ca&s;t off all Records, that acquaint us with the Hea|then Oracles, their Sybills, and predictions. To tell us that there are no <HI>Daemoniacks,</HI> or men who being po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed, have not expre&s;&s;ed them&s;elves in divers languages, which they being Ideots and unlearned under&s;tood not, experience will confute. And to grant there are the&s;e powerful and delu|ding
<PB N="85" REF="48"> &s;pirits, is with the &s;ame breath to yield there is a God, more powerful, and more merciful; who, &s;hould he not put a Bridle into their no&s;trils,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1. Mat. 8.</NOTE> their malice is &s;o great, and mi&s;chief &s;o vigorous, that it would pre&s;ently overturn the whole world, as is evident in the ca&s;e of <HI>Job,</HI> and the <HI>Gadarens</HI> Swine.</P>
</DIV4>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>CONCL&V;SIO.</HEAD>
<P>All this while we have been in the Speculation of this Truth;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Hammond</HI> practic. Cate|chi&s;. in initio.</NOTE> and pre|&s;uppo&s;ing that the&s;e rea&s;ons have convinced your under&s;tanding, that there is a God, I &s;hall labour now and hereafter that it be operative upon your will, and practical upon your life. For the end of Chri&s;tian Philo&s;ophy is chiefly to make men better; not only to make men learned; to edifie, and not on|ly to in&s;truct: It is an affective, not a &s;peculative knowledge; to teach us what we &s;hould do to inherit eternal life, not what to &s;ay or know only about it. For as the knowledge of &s;ome excellent do&s;e or drugg will not help a di&s;ea&s;e till it be applyed; or a perfume wrapt up in a Pomander &s;ends forth no &s;weet favour till it be cha&s;ed: So neither will this nor any other Article of our faith cure the di&s;ea&s;es of our &s;ouls, or &s;weeten our lives, &s;o long as they &s;wimme only in the braine, and are looked upon for content, and not for u&s;e.</P>
<P>Into the heart then by a &s;ad and &s;erious meditation let them &s;ink, and this in the fir&s;t place, becau&s;e it is the fir&s;t Principle. And thence you will conclude without any &s;training, that love, and feare, and confidence, and ho|line&s;s, and obedience, and wor&s;hip, and adoration, and giving of thanks is his due, and your duty.</P>
<P>Shall heaven and earth, and the whole body of the creatures in their kinds exhibit the&s;e, and &s;hall man alone be the Rebel? T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e appeales that God makes to the heaven and the earth; The gratitude of the Oxe and the A&s;s:<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.2, 3. Jer. 8.7. Ho&s;. 2.22.</NOTE> The wi&s;dome of the Crane and the Swallow, and the Stork: The obedience of the dull earth to heare the Corn, and the Wine, and the Oyl, are extant to &s;hame us; for &s;hall the&s;e heare <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and will not <HI>I&s;rael</HI> heare God?</P>
<Q><L>&mdash;Pudet haec opprobria nobis</L>
<L>Et dici potui&s;&s;e, &amp; non potui&s;se refelli.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ovid. Met.</NOTE></L></Q>
<P>Thou art inexcu&s;able, O man, upon whom God hath &s;tamp'd his own I|mage, to acknowledge le&s;s of the Creatour than the &s;en&s;ele&s;s creatures. The cele&s;tial Orbs prai&s;e him in their motions, the &s;tarres by their light and in|fluences, the Thunder &s;peaks his Maje&s;ty, the earth his riches, all creatures heare, feare, and obey, and &s;hall man alone hang off, deride, and que&s;tion, if not deny his Divine power? Were there no more in it than our irreve|rence, our pre&s;umption, or impudent wickedne&s;s, yet this were in effect to per&s;wade men that we doubt of the Deity, and reproach our Maker. Cer|tainly he mu&s;t needs have but a wavering per&s;wa&s;ion of the pre&s;ence of God, who dares be impudently and maliciou&s;ly wicked in the &s;ight of &s;o jealous and di&s;cerning an eye. This rea&s;on is a&s;&s;igned by God him&s;elf;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 9.9.</NOTE> <HI>The iniquity of the hou&s;e of I&s;rael and Judah is exceeding great, and the Land is full of blood, and the City full of perver&s;ene&s;&s;e: for they &s;ay the Lord hath for&s;a|ken the earth, and the Lord &s;eeth not.</HI> Which is all one to &s;ay he is not;<NOTE PLACE="marg">and 8.12.</NOTE> This the Heathen never conceived of their dumb and blinde Idols, and &s;hall a Chri&s;tian harbour &s;o foule an indignity of the God of heaven? I know in your &s;oules you abhorre the thought, and then I mu&s;t infallibly inferre that you will abhorre all impurity, and no more commit &s;inne with a high hand, than a childe would be malepert in the eye of his father, or a Pupil impudent
<PB N="86" REF="49"> before his Tutor, or a Wife uncha&s;t in the pre&s;ence of her Husband, or a Ser|vant &s;aucy before his Ma&s;ter.</P>
<P>We act before that Judge who is infallible in his Sentence, all-knowing in his information, &s;evere in his anger, in his wrath intolerable; who hath an open eare to heare all words, a piercing eye to &s;ee all hearts, and an un|wearied arm to cru&s;h all &s;inners; and if this be not enough to awe us into re|verence and obedience, nothing can.</P>
<P>Down, down then you &s;onnes of pride, fall low at his foot&s;toole, and &s;peak out of the du&s;t for your Athei&s;tical thoughts, and contempt of his pre|&s;ence; and for the future know his Maje&s;ty, know his ju&s;tice, know his pow|er,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 14.28. I&s;a. 38.36. Dan. 4.33. &amp; 5.27. Acts 12.23. 2 Maccab. 9.12.</NOTE> know his judgements; take a full view of <HI>Pharaoh</HI> drown'd in the Sea, <HI>Senacharibs</HI> Army ruin'd in a night, <HI>Nebuchadnezzar</HI> turn'd among bea&s;ts, <HI>Baltazar</HI> weighed, and found too light, <HI>Herod</HI> eaten up with wormes, and <HI>Antiochus</HI> &s;mitten with an incurable and invi&s;ible di&s;ea&s;e, and acknowledge with that profane and proud King, <HI>It is meet to be &s;ubject unto God, and that a man who is mortal, &s;hould not proudly think of him&s;elf as if he were God.</HI> 'Tis good coun&s;el that <HI>Minerva</HI> gives in <HI>Sophocles,</HI> with which I will conclude
<Q><LG>
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Sophocles <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE><GAP DESC="foreign"></L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign">,</L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign"></L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign">.</L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign"></L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign"></L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign">.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Look into this, and no high word</L>
<L>Prefume to speak again&s;t the Lord,</L>
<L>Nor &s;hew no pride, though thou hast more</L>
<L>Of power, of &s;trength, of wealth great &s;tore.</L>
<L>For one day breaks, and tumbles down</L>
<L>All humane things. Gods eye doth frown</L>
<L>On haughty mindes; the proud removes,</L>
<L>But he the meek and mode&s;t loves.</L>
</LG></Q></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>That there is three Per&s;ons.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 John 5.7.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For there are three which beare Record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the holy Gho&s;t, and the&s;e three are one.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THis day the Church hath honour'd with the name of the holy and ble&s;&s;ed Trinity; and as in the honour of the Trinity we ob&s;erve the day, &s;o we have a &s;ure ground for the doctrine of the Trinity in the Text. The <GAP DESC="foreign">, or maine matter to be debated in this place, is, whether Je&s;us be that Chri&s;t, that Son of God which was to come into the world, the Me&s;&s;iah pro|mi&s;ed to Jew and Gentile, on whom alone our faith, our hope, our victory, our eternal &s;alvation was to depend. Now for proof of this, the Apo&s;tle pro|duceth his witne&s;&s;es; Three in heaven, three on earth, above in heaven the whole Trinity. The <HI>Father,</HI> who te&s;tified at <HI>Jordan</HI> in his Bapti&s;me, and on Mount <HI>Tabor</HI> at his transfiguration by the <HI>Bath-Col,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.17. Mat. 17.5.</NOTE> or daughter of the voice,
<PB N="87" REF="49"> as the Jews call it; <HI>This is my beloved Son, &amp;c.</HI> And the <HI>Word,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.63. Mat. 3.16. Acts 2.3.</NOTE> who per|petually affirmed, that he was the Son of God. And the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> that at his Bapti&s;me de&s;cended upon him in the &s;hape of a <HI>Dove,</HI> and after his a&s;cen|&s;ion, came upon the Apo&s;tles in the vi&s;ible <HI>&s;hape of fiery tongues, endowing them with power from above.</HI></P>
<P>Below on earth there is another Trinity. The Spirit, or rather the gifts and graces of his Spirit, &s;hed abroad in the hearts of the faithful,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Beza. Aretius, Zanchy. Ar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t. Estius.</NOTE> that &s;hew his power, and declare him to be a King. The water poured upon his head in Bapti&s;me, or the Bapti&s;mal water poured upon ours, by which we are re|generate and clen&s;ed from the &s;taine of &s;in. Or el&s;e the water of life, and promulgation of the Go&s;pel (the Word of God being often compared to wa|ter) which te&s;tifie againe, and declare him to be a Prophet. And the blood &s;hed upon the Cro&s;s, of which we keep to this day a commemoration in the Sacrament, is a third Witne&s;s;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.10.</NOTE> and declares that he was our Prie&s;t to offer his &s;oul a Sacrifice for us. The&s;e three benefits then, the Graces of his Spirit, our Regeneration by the Go&s;pel, our Redemption by his blood, do to us on earth evidently demon&s;trate that he was that Me&s;&s;iah, a King to govern, a Pro|phet to enlighten, a Prie&s;t to appea&s;e God for us.</P>
<P>The three Witne&s;&s;es on earth I call not forth at this time. The other three only I &s;hall &s;et before you; and I have cho&s;en to do it this day, that we may do the work of the day upon the day, joyntly ble&s;s the holy Trinity for the goodne&s;s declared toward the children of men;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 4.8, 10.</NOTE> that with the <HI>foure and twenty Elders we ca&s;t down our Crownes, and fall before him that &s;its upon the Throne, and cry, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty.</HI></P>
<P>What&s;oever &s;ome peevi&s;h and perver&s;e &s;pirits have thought, yet the in|&s;titutions of high and holy dayes are not &s;o unnece&s;&s;ary and &s;uper&s;titious as men &s;uppo&s;e. The intention of our Mother the Church in their Ordination being fir&s;t to in&s;truct her children, next to rai&s;e their hearts to a joyful thankful|ne&s;s. The ob&s;ervation of the day is an ea&s;ie help to rub up the memory, or to fa&s;ten in it, even of the mo&s;t illiterate man, the great work that God did for him, as upon that day; that he was conceiv'd by the holy Gho&s;t in a Vir|gin womb, born, dyed, ro&s;e, a&s;cended to heaven for him, and being &s;et on the right hand of God, gave gifts to men: Gifts, which are effu&s;ions of the whole Trinity. So that a man would think, that tho&s;e who have ca&s;t a|&s;ide the dayes on which the&s;e benefits were remembred, intended that the benefits &s;hould be forgotten al&s;o, and that men &s;hould be to &s;eek for the Ar|ticles of their Creed.</P>
<P>But there was yet another purpo&s;e in it, it was that we &s;hould rejoyce be|fore the Lord, and ble&s;s his holy Name, who hath done &s;o great things for &s;inful man. God would not have his people like bea&s;ts, which feed and ne|ver look upward, but really affected with what he hath done, and for it to exult and be glad, and for it to expre&s;s our joy to the eare and eye of others.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 118.24.</NOTE> Dumb and &s;ilent remembrances plea&s;e him not; there is <HI>vox P&s;alterii,</HI> the found of the Viol, and all In&s;truments of <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 5.23.6.5</NOTE> the&s;e have been framed by Art; And there is againe <HI>vox melodiae,</HI> the voice of melody, which in Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> language, is P&s;almes, and Hymns, and &s;piritual &s;ongs:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.16.</NOTE> The&s;e may be expre&s;&s;ed by natural In&s;truments. And with both the&s;e the Scripture Fe&s;tivals were &s;olemnized. <HI>Sing you merrily to God our &s;trength, make a cheerful noi&s;e to the God of Jacob;</HI> there is <HI>vox melodiae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 81.1, 2, 3.</NOTE> the voice natu|ral. Then it follows, <HI>Bring hither the Tabret, the merry Harpe, with the Lute, Blow up the Trumpet.</HI> There is <HI>vox P&s;alterii,</HI> the voice artificial and in&s;trumental.</P>
<P>But the&s;e though they have in them <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14.11.</NOTE> the power of the voice working &s;trongly not only upon the &s;en&s;es, but even upon the affections
<PB N="88" REF="50"> al&s;o, yet they have not <GAP DESC="foreign">, the voice of power; upon the under&s;tanding they work little, that power being peculiar to the two edged Sword,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.12.</NOTE> that <HI>pierceth to the dividing a&s;under of the &s;oule and &s;pirit.</HI> This efficacy God hath re&s;erved to his own voice, his own Word: which in his Fea&s;ts he would have heard from the mouth of his Mini&s;ters, who in the&s;e Fe&s;tivals were not only to utter good and comfortable words, but to bring <HI>Goads and Nails.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 12.11.</NOTE> Nails to fa&s;ten the back-&s;liding and &s;tarting Profe&s;&s;ours that they &s;lip not from the faith: and Goads to excite and provoke the heavy headed, dull and forgetful mindes to prai&s;e and thank&s;giving.</P>
<P>Though then there appeare not at this our Fea&s;t, what Saint <HI>John</HI> &s;aw in heaven, <HI>Harpers harping with their Harps,</HI> nor the voice of melody, nor &s;ound of the Viol,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14.2.</NOTE> and if &s;ome may have their will, never &s;hall: yet I &s;hall &s;upply what cannot be had, by a voice taught me from heaven; and I hope it &s;hall be &s;o powerfull, that like a Goad it &s;hall quicken you, and as a Nail it will &s;tick fa&s;t in you, that the great my&s;tery of the Trinity be under&s;tood, belie|ved, and adored by you.</P>
<P>I pray you therefore to accompany me with your prayers, as well as with your attentions, that I may conceive as I ought, and &s;peak as I ought of &s;o weighty, of &s;o profound a matter. For that ob&s;ervation of <HI>Lombard</HI> out of Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lombard. &s;en|tent. lib. <HI>1.</HI> de&s;t. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>1.</HI> Augu&s;t. de Trin. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> is mo&s;t true; <HI>&V;bi quaeritur unitas Trinitatis, Patris &s;ci|licet, filii, &amp; spiritus &s;ancti, nec periculo&s;ius alicubi erratur, nec laborio|&s;ius aliquid quaeritur, nec fructuo&s;ius aliquid invenitur.</HI> Which I &s;hall Eng|li&s;h in the poe&s;ie of the be&s;t Tran&s;latour:
<Q><L>In &s;acred &s;heets of either Te&s;tament</L>
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Du Burtas.</NOTE>'Tis hard to finde an higher Argument;</L>
<L>More deep to &s;ound, more bu&s;ie to di&s;cu&s;s,</L>
<L>More u&s;eful known, unknown more dangerous.</L></Q></P>
<P>If ever I went to fathome the Ocean, 'tis now; if to enter into the third Heaven, it is this day. 'Tis a bold attempt I humbly acknowledge, and if I faile, or expre&s;s my &s;elf too ob&s;curely, impute it to the depth of the my&s;tery, to which the &s;harpe&s;t eye of rea&s;on is not able to penetrate; &s;o that had it not been for the help of Revelation, we had been blinde in this point for ever. Let then tho&s;e bold followers of <HI>Servetus</HI> and <HI>Blandrate,</HI> with all <HI>Tritheits</HI> go and boa&s;t of their clear knowledge in this my&s;tery, and that they finde no difficulty at all in it; while we with mode&s;ty, feare, and reverence approach &s;o high a &s;ecret, and learn of the <HI>Seraphims</HI> to cover our faces at the pre&s;ence of &s;o great a glory and Maje&s;ty;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 6.2.</NOTE> which is to be adored, not curiou&s;ly to be &s;earched; to be believ'd, and not irreverently to be enquired into. Omit|ting therefore all di&s;putes of new and old Heretiques, I will out of the Scri|ptures open unto you, what in this point you are to believe; to which pur|po&s;e I have made choice of the&s;e words; Which are &s;o full for the proof of the Trinity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tremel. loc.</NOTE> that &s;ome <HI>Arrians</HI> expunged them out of the Text. Out of which I collect the&s;e propo&s;itions.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That there is but one God.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That in the Godhead there be three per&s;ons.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> GOD is One.</HEAD>
<P>That God is but One, we have a full Te&s;timony out of the Law, out of the Prophets, out of the Go&s;pel, out of the Epi&s;tles.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Thus &s;peaks the Law, <HI>Heare, O I&s;rael, the Lord is God, and there is no other be&s;ides me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 5.7.</NOTE> <HI>or before me.</HI> Which command, as <HI>Philo</HI> and
<PB N="89" REF="50"> the Chri&s;tians that followed, have call'd <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>de unius imperio,</HI> the commandment by which the Empire of one is e&s;tabli&s;hed, and the multi|tude of gods are de&s;troyed. And againe, <HI>Heare O I&s;rael, the Lord our God is one Lord.</HI> And yet againe, <HI>See now that I, even I am He,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 6 4. &amp; 32.39.</NOTE> <HI>and there is no God with me;</HI> which in the Hebrew is thus read, <HI>Ego, Ego ip&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, Thus &s;peak the Prophets; <HI>David</HI> in the P&s;almes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 83.18. &amp; 86.10. &amp; 18.31 I&s;a. 45.5. &amp; 42.8. &amp; 44.6, 8.</NOTE> <HI>Thou who&s;e name alone is Jehovah, art the mo&s;t High over all the earth. Thou art God alone. For who is God &s;ave the Lord? or who is a Rock &s;ave our God?</HI> This &s;upremacy God re&s;erves to him&s;elf, <HI>I am the Lord, and there is none el&s;e, there is no God be&s;ides me.</HI> Which the &s;ame Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> had &s;aid twice or thrice before, <HI>I am the Lord, this is my name; and my glory I will not give to another. I am the fir&s;t, I am the la&s;t, and be&s;ides me there is no God.</HI> And againe, <HI>Is there a God be&s;ides me? There is no God, I know not any.</HI> Which al&s;o <HI>Hannah</HI> the Mother of <HI>Samuel</HI> remembred in her Song, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 2.2.</P>
<P>Thirdly, This was al&s;o the language of the <HI>Phari&s;ee</HI> in the Go&s;pel, con|fe&s;&s;ing that it was a great Truth our Saviour &s;poke, <HI>Well Ma&s;ter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 12.32. Rom. 3.30. 1 Cor. 8.4, 6. Gal. 3.20. Ephe&s;. 4.6.</NOTE> <HI>thou ha&s;t &s;aid the truth; for there is one God, and there is none other but he.</HI> And Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaks the &s;ame words to the <HI>Romanes, It is one God &s;hall ju&s;tifie;</HI> to the <HI>Corinthians, To us there is but one God.</HI> To the <HI>Galatians, But God is one.</HI> To the <HI>Ephe&s;ians, There is one God and Father of all.</HI> And to heap up no more places, in the fir&s;t Epi&s;tle to <HI>Timothy</HI> thus we reade,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 2.5.</NOTE> <HI>There is one God, and one Mediatour between God and man, the man Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI> Either then ca&s;t off the Old and New Te&s;tament, or it mu&s;t be confe&s;s'd <HI>that God is but one, &V;nity</HI> being his fir&s;t Attribute.</P>
<P>An A&s;&s;ertion which the wi&s;e&s;t of the Heathens have delivered and proved;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Orpheus, Sibyl|lae, Homer, Py|thagoras, Plato. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Seld. de diis Syris proleg.</NOTE> I &s;hould but trouble you in producing their Te&s;timonies, they are extant in <HI>Ju&s;tine Martyr.</HI> Yet I cannot pa&s;s over that the Prie&s;ts in <HI>Egypt,</HI> though for their profit they retain'd a multitude of gods in name and &s;hew, yet in the mo&s;t &s;ecret reve&s;tres of their Temples, whither the people might not approach, they had a Sphere re&s;embling the world, who&s;e In&s;cription was <HI>Moderatoris &V;nici, The Symbol of the only Governour.</HI> And at <HI>Athens</HI> though they had their my&s;teries of <HI>Ceres,</HI> their fea&s;ts of <HI>Apollo, Bacchus, &amp;c.</HI> yet they had one Altar erected <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>to the unknown God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 17.23.</NOTE> which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> proves to be the God of heaven. That great <HI>Hermes</HI> hath at once &s;poken for them all, <HI>&V;num &s;tatuimus Deum, unam unitatem, omnium, quae &s;unt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Alii legunt uni|tatum. Tri&s;megi&s;t. in Paemand. c. <HI>2, 3, &amp;c.</HI> Plato Epi&s;t. <HI>13.</HI> ad Diony&s;.</NOTE> <HI>radi|cem: Deos non Naturae ordine, &s;ed honoris cau&s;&acirc; nomimamus,</HI> We judge that there is but one God, one root of all the Unities which are in the world; And Gods indeed we name, not for their being&punc; but for their ho|nour. Which Truth was acknowledged al&s;o by <HI>Plato</HI> to <HI>Diony&s;ius;</HI> Hence, &s;aith he, you &s;hall know whether I write &s;eriou&s;ly or not; for when I write &s;eriou&s;ly, <HI>ordior epi&s;tolam ab uno Deo; c&ugrave;m &s;ecus, &agrave; pluribus,</HI> I begin my Letter from one God; when otherwi&s;e, with many; and therefore he &s;aith not <HI>Si diis placuerit, &s;i dii adfuerint, &amp;c.</HI> If it plea&s;e the Gods, if the Gods be pre&s;ent; but often u&s;eth the&s;e formes of &s;peech, <HI>Quod Deo placue|rit, Deo juvante, Deus novit, Deus fecit,</HI> If it plea&s;e God, God helping,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ju&s;t. Martyr. l. citato.</NOTE> God knows, God makes. And him he calls <GAP DESC="foreign">, as in <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>The only Being;</HI> but the re&s;t, <GAP DESC="foreign">, Tho&s;e who had no Being truly.</P>
<P>Be it as it is conceived, that he and the re&s;t among the Learned Heathens tran&s;cribed this and many other truths from the Books of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the Pro|phets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vide Philip. Morn. de ver. Chri&s;ti Relig. cap. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> yet this &s;eemeth very con&s;onant to the light of rea&s;on; for otherwi&s;e with one voice they would not have delivered it. All things in the world mu&s;t have a beginning and being. Which beginning of being is either from,
<PB N="90" REF="51"> them&s;elves, or from &s;ome other. That from them&s;elves they have it not 'tis certain; why is it el&s;e they peri&s;h? why do they change? why come they to nothing? could not that Nature, would not that Nature which fir&s;t gave them being, have al&s;o continued them? would not every thing pre&s;erve its own &s;tate,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dr.</HI> Hackwells Apology. lib. <HI>5.</HI> Sect. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> were it in its own proper power? Since Nature inclines not to corrupti|on, but generation, nece&s;&s;ary then it is that we confe&s;s a Superiour power, that impo&s;ed this condition upon all that doth decay in the fir&s;t Creation; which is that <GAP DESC="foreign">, that <HI>Summum E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s,</HI> who&s;e priviledge it is to be what he is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.8.</NOTE> who&s;e Name is <HI>Jehovah, I am ye&s;terday, to day, the &s;ame for ever.</HI></P>
<P>Now this condition he impo&s;ed upon the Creatures out of his infinite pow|er. But two infinite powers cannot be conceiv'd at once, &s;ince the infinite power of the one will limit and circum&s;cribe the power of the other, for el&s;e it cannot be infinite. As therefore it is nece&s;&s;ary there be but one infi|nite power, &s;o it is nece&s;&s;ary that there be but one only God, from who&s;e Unity all diver&s;ity doth proceed; as from one point all &s;orts of lines, from one number all equality and inequality of numbers.</P>
<P>'Tis known who&s;e ambition it was to be like the Mo&s;t High, and yet his pride was not to have ab&s;olute,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 14.12, 13, 14.</NOTE> but a proportional power; like he would be only, not above him. The Devil was not &s;o mad or fooli&s;h, to de&s;ire an impo&s;&s;ible thing, he would only be Independent, no Subject, but command in his Kingdome, as God did in his, and enjoy his own as his own, freely, and not precariou&s;ly as a homager. For which attempt he was ju&s;tly ca&s;t out of heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Epipbanius haer.</HI> 66. <HI>Sect.</HI> 14. <HI>Socrat. Scol.</HI> l. 1. cap. 21.</NOTE> and re&s;erved in chaines of darkne&s;s for ever. To erect then more powers than one, is to be of the Devils con&s;piracy, and to fetch from Hell, that old bla&s;phemy of the <HI>Manichees</HI> who made two principles, one of good, another of evil; one of light, another of darkne&s;s; one of heat, another of cold; one of health, another of &s;ickne&s;s.</P>
<P>But take a view of all the creatures of the world, and tell me whether they do not proclaime their Maker to be but One. In the Elements we finde contrary qualities, heat and cold, moy&s;ture and &s;iccity; and where there is contrariety, there will be Warre. Were there then one God of the cold, another of the heat; one power to command over moy&s;t, another over dry bodyes, there would be continual factions, perpetual quarrels betwixt the E|lements. Whereas it is now One God that keeps them quiet, cau&s;eth that one u&s;urp not each others rights and places, and &s;weetly unites them for the com|po&s;ition of natural bodyes.</P>
<P>What &s;hould I &s;ay, that all things in Nature, Art, and Policy, tend to u|nity? In man the branches of many veines are from one Liver, of many nervs from one braine, many arteryes proceed from one heart. And though the body be compo&s;ed of parts of different qualities, yet it hath but one head for the guidance and direction of all, and one &s;oul to direct and guide that one head. In a Tree there be divers boughs, &s;prigs, and armes, yet all con-center in the &s;ame body, and both meet in one root. To which <HI>Porphiry</HI> compares his Scale of Univer&s;als, in which you a&s;cend from the particulars to the Species, and &s;o upwards till you come to the highe&s;t <HI>Genus, Ens,</HI> in which are united what&s;oever you can conceive. So that this diver&s;ity is redu|ced into an unity, till at la&s;t you come by degrees to that unity, than which nothing can be more one. For <HI>Unum &amp; Ens convertuntur.</HI></P>
<P>'Tis a mo&s;t true Ob&s;ervation, that Art imitates Nature; and what is it that makes any Art differ from any other but unity? The unity of the object and the end being the e&s;&s;ential difference; and yet the learned are not &s;o con|tent; they think it would be an occa&s;ion of quarrel, &s;hould they thus &s;tand &s;ingle, without any re&s;pect one to another, and therefore they have linked
<PB N="91" REF="51"> them together by &s;ubordination, that one might a&s;&s;i&s;t the other in the proof of their principles: Over all which they have &s;et the Metaphy&s;iques as a &s;u|pervi&s;or to examine, to confirme, to judge what &s;hall be receiv'd for un|doubted Truth. What&s;oever then man conceives, finds out, di&s;po&s;es, tends to unity.</P>
<P>I omit here that Grammer fir&s;t requires Concords, Rhetorick unites di&s;|affected mindes, Arithmetick beginnes with unites, the Mathematicks re|duce all Diagrams to a &s;ingle point, Mu&s;ick clo&s;es every Le&s;&s;on in a Dia-pa|&s;on or Cords. For the Politicks are nearer for my purpo&s;e, in which I find a Monarchy preferr'd before all other kinde of Governments.</P>
<Q><GAP DESC="foreign">.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hom. II.</NOTE></Q>
<P>Multiplicity of Kings is not good, &s;aith that wi&s;e&s;t of the Grecians. Good! nay, &s;tark naught, the occa&s;ion of that &s;edition and quarrel among them, and therefore let there be but one King. <GAP DESC="foreign">.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ju&s;t. Martyr. <GAP DESC="foreign">. ad Ellen.</NOTE> But Monarchy is &s;afe and inexpugnable. In <HI>I&s;rael</HI> they had their <HI>Senhedrim,</HI> yet all was out of &s;quare, as appeares in the Theft and Idolatry of <HI>Micah,</HI> in the Idolatry and Rapine of the <HI>Danites,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Judges 17.18, 19, 20.</NOTE> in the abominable be&s;tialities of the men of <HI>Gibeah,</HI> and the civil War of the <HI>Benjamites.</HI> All which e|normities the holy Gho&s;t imputes to the want of a Monarch. There was no King in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> therefore every man did that which was right in his own eyes.</P>
<P>'Tis Unity then that holds together the World, Heads all Arts and Scien|ces, pre&s;erves all bodyes, both natural and political, which fall to decay and ruine upon di&s;-union and &s;eparation. Now what can this &s;peculation leade us to, but to &s;et up one Monarch over all, who by his wi&s;dome &s;hould direct all, and by his eye and care &s;hould provide for all, and by his hand and pow|er govern all? So things of different kindes and qualities might be kept in peace; whereas without that one to &s;et them a Law, they would fight with and de&s;troy one another. It was &s;o in the Chaos, &s;aith the wittye&s;t of Poets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ovid.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; In Chaos antiquum confundimur,</HI> we &s;hould be turn'd into the old Chaos againe, had not that One God that made all the&s;e&mdash; <HI>Concordi pace ligavit,</HI> knit them in peace.</P>
<P>To clo&s;e up this point, judge in your &s;elves, whether it be fit for man, who will admit but one Pilot in a Ship, one General in an Army, one Ad|miral in a Navy, one Ma&s;ter in a Family, one Mayor in a City, to &s;uppo&s;e the world &s;hould have more Lords than One! And if rea&s;on hath taught us yet over all to appoint one, let the &s;ame rea&s;on teach us al&s;o, that it is as nece&s;&s;ary to allow One God to Rule the whole. Be not more bruti&s;h than bea&s;ts: The Bees have their King, the Birds their chief, every Herd their Leader. Nay, be not wor&s;e than the Devils, for they have their Prince, <HI>Beelzebub the Prince of Devils.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 11.15.</NOTE> And his Elde&s;t and be&s;t beloved Son Anti-Chri&s;t, will u&s;urp that forme of Government which is mo&s;t glorious, mo&s;t divine, he will admit no competitour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 2.3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>will exalt him&s;elf above all that is called God, or that is wor&s;hipped, &amp;c.</HI> Of the&s;e then learn that Monarchy is the be&s;t forme of Government. And deny flatly that there is a God, or el&s;e acknowledge that he mu&s;t be the &s;ole Monarch. Think not that he will admit of any competitour, which irrational creatures will not do in their little Common-Wealths, nor the Devil, nor Anti-Chri&s;t in their King|domes.</P>
<P>Do all Arts and Sciences teach unity of objects, and &s;hall we conceive that Divinity alone &s;hould teach multiplicity of Gods? Heatheni&s;me may, but Chri&s;tianity will not; no, nor yet Judai&s;me, nor Turci&s;me. The&s;e
<PB N="92" REF="52"> though differing in other things, yet in this principle they unite, That there is but <HI>One Jehovah, God ble&s;sed f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r ever more.</HI> Amen.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> That in the Godhead be three Per&s;ons.</HEAD>
<P>But it will be &s;aid, What, is there but one God? how is that po&s;&s;ible, &s;ince here we reade of three? Three in heaven. Can one be three, and three one? Yes, it may be, it mu&s;t be &s;o; even &s;o &s;aith the Spirit, <HI>The&s;e three are one.</HI> Some tell us that they are one <HI>con&s;en&s;u,</HI> or <HI>Te&s;timonio,</HI> in con&s;ent, in their Te&s;timony; which is true, for all three agree in this, <HI>That God &s;ent his Sonne.</HI> But this Interpretation is too cold; for &s;o three hundred men may be but one, that is, agree in the &s;ame Te&s;timony, and be but one Witne&s;s: Which yet by the way proves them to be di&s;tinct per&s;ons; for &s;uch they mu&s;t be before they can agree: The per&s;on alwayes having an exi&s;tence before he can con&s;ent. Which clearly overthrows the end for which this an&s;wer was invented, and &s;tops the mouths of tho&s;e that &s;erve them&s;elves of it. But this &s;hift is not it that can &s;u&s;taine the weight of the&s;e words; for in the Original the predicate is <GAP DESC="foreign">, not <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Unum,</HI> not <HI>Unus.</HI> One in e&s;&s;ence, not one witne&s;s, which mu&s;t be referr'd to their nature and &s;ub&s;tance, not to their union in a&s;&s;ent, which the following words &s;eem to cleare; for of the three following Witne&s;&s;es on earth, the phra&s;e is otherwi&s;e, <HI>they three agree</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>to one purpo&s;e.</HI> This then is but an eva&s;ion, and if true, did not enervate the force of the Text.</P>
<P>To give you more light in this my&s;tery; a thing is &s;aid to be one two man|ner of wayes;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ju&s;tine Mart. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> either in e&s;&s;ence, in per&s;on or exi&s;tence. By e&s;&s;ence a thing is meant having being in it &s;elf, but common unto others; As the nature of man is to be a rea&s;onable creature, which yet is not &s;o re&s;train'd to any par|ticular man, but all equally &s;hare in it. And thus the Deity or Nature of the Godhead, which yet is not &s;o limited to the Father, but the Son and the holy Gho&s;t equally partake of it. By per&s;on is meant a &s;ub&s;tance having exi|&s;tence in him&s;elf, intelligent, incommunicable, no part of another, nor &s;u&s;tained by any other. Thus we &s;ay <HI>Peter, James,</HI> and <HI>John</HI> are di&s;tinct, and intelligent per&s;ons; for though they all agree in the Nature of man, yet they have every one a particular exi&s;tence. For <HI>Peter</HI> is not <HI>James,</HI> nor <HI>John</HI> the &s;ame numerically with either. To apply this to my purpo&s;e. Thus we believe and teach, that God is one in Nature and E&s;&s;ence of him&s;elf, &s;ub&s;i&s;ting by him&s;elf,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 17.1. 1 Cor. 8.6. Heb. 2.10.</NOTE> <HI>Al-&s;ufficient of him&s;elf; of whom, through whom, in whom are all things.</HI> We neverthele&s;s believe and teach, that this &s;ame infinite One is without any confu&s;ion di&s;tingui&s;hed into three Per&s;ons. The fir&s;t called the <HI>Father,</HI> the &s;econd called the <HI>Sonne,</HI> the third the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t:</HI> And thus three may be one, and one three. Three one in e&s;&s;ence, and one three in exi&s;tence.</P>
<P>If any one then would conceive aright in his minde the Divine Nature, he mu&s;t conceive of God or the Godhead ab&s;olutely; if any of the Per&s;ons, then he mu&s;t conceive of the &s;ame Godhead, with the relation it hath to per|&s;onal properties. Thus the Godhead con&s;ider'd with the property of Father|hood or begetting, is the per&s;on of the <HI>Father.</HI> The &s;ame Godhead con&s;ider|ed with the property of being begotten, is the per&s;on of the <HI>Son.</HI> And the &s;ame Godhead again con&s;ider'd with the property of proceeding, is the per&s;on of the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>Hitherto I have &s;hew'd you how one may be three, and three one. It re|mains, that out of the Scripture I demon&s;trate
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That the&s;e three are one in Nature.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That the&s;e three are Per&s;ons, not qualities.</ITEM>
<PB N="93" REF="52">
<ITEM>3. That they are three di&s;tinct Per&s;ons, not One.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> The&s;e three Per&s;ons are One in Nature, Coe&s;sential, and Con&s;ub&s;tantial.</HEAD>
<P N="1">1. Becau&s;e the name of God agrees to all three. <HI>The Father is God,</HI> Jer. 23.6. <HI>Jehovah our righteou&s;ne&s;se.</HI> The Sonne is God. <HI>Of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">athers con|cerning the fl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;h Chri&s;t came, who is over all, God ble&s;sed for ever. Amen.</HI> Rom. 9.5. The Holy Gho&s;t is God. <HI>Acts</HI> 5.3, 4. <HI>Thou ha&s;t lyed unto the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> that is, to God.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Divine Attributes are given unto all three, <HI>The Father uncreate; for of him, and through him, and to him are all thing<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> Rom. 11.36. <HI>The Sonne &V;ncreate. All things were mad<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> by him, and without him was made nothing that was made.</HI> John 1.3. <HI>The Holy Gho&s;t &V;ncreate. The Spirit of God moved upon the waters.</HI> Gen. 1.2. P&s;al. 104.30. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he Father eternal,</HI> 1 Tim. 1.17. <HI>Unto the King eternal be honour. The Sonne e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ernal. Before Abraham was, I am.</HI> John 8.58. <HI>The Holy Ghost eternal.</HI> Heb. 9.14. <HI>Called the et<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rnal Spirit. The Father Almighty,</HI> Gen. 17.1. <HI>Th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> So<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ne Almighty; He &s;hall rai&s;e our dead bodies by that mighty working,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.21.</NOTE> <HI>whereby he is able to &s;ubdue all things to him&s;elf. And the Holy Gho&s;t Almighty. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his Coun&s;ellor, hath taught him?</HI> I&s;a. 40.13.</P>
<P N="3">3. The <HI>Opera ad extra,</HI> or the works which from the Unity i&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e as it were in open &s;ight, are all in common works of the Deity. The fir&s;t is that wonderful work of the Creation, which is attributed to all three per&s;ons. <HI>Elohim creav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t.</HI> This the <HI>Creede</HI> attr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">butes to the Father.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.1.</NOTE> But this al&s;o is attributed to the Son I&s;a. 54.5. <HI>Thy Maker is thy husband.</HI> The &s;ame to t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e Holy <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ho&s;t, <HI>Job</HI> 33.4. <HI>The Spirit of the Lord hath made.</HI> The &s;econd work is Redempti|on, is attributed to the Sonne. The third of Sanctificatio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, which is a work of the Holy Gho&s;t, and yet all three are the works of one true God, and of God alone, and therefore there can be but one Go<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, Bapti&s;me can only be admini&s;tred in the name of God, as is evi|dent. Belief may not be fixed upon any but God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.14, 15 Jer. 17.5.</NOTE> for creatures are no ob|jects of faith; <HI>cur&s;ed be the man,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ru&s;ts in man.</HI> Di|vine glory may be given to none but God; <HI>My glory I will not give o an|other.</HI> Ble&s;&s;e we may not in any other name but Gods.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 42.8. Num. 6.24. ad 27.</NOTE> Since then we Bap|tize in the Name, and beleeve in the Name, and give glory in th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Name, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd ble&s;&s;e in the Name of all three, all three mu&s;t in &s;ub&s;tance be the &s;ame God.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, or three Per&s;ons.</HEAD>
<P>And this &s;elf &s;ame argument will al&s;o prove that they are three per&s;ons, and not three qualities in the &s;ame G<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dhead. For, &s;hall any man ble&s;&s;e, or baptize, or believe in, or give glory to an Attribute? The&s;e are acts, and &s;peci|all acts of a Divine wor&s;hip, and therefore may not be given to any but a per|&s;on really exi&s;tent in the Divine e&s;&s;ence. And of this argument Saint <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> makes this excellent u&s;e, <HI>Quomodo baptizamur, ita &amp; credimus; &amp; quo|modo credimus, ita glorificamus; &amp; quomodo glo ificamus, ita &amp; bene|dicimus.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. Then let us go to the Font, and con&s;ider how we are baptized. There, there is expre&s;&s;e mention of all three per&s;ons. <HI>A. B. I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Sonne, and of the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> We mean not I hope to renounce our Bapti&s;me; and if not that, we mu&s;t beleeve all three per|&s;ons.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="94" REF="53">2. And as we are baptized, &s;o we beleeve, and the Canon of our faith is this, <HI>I beleeve in God the Father, &amp;c. I beleeve in God the Sonne, &amp;c. I beleeve in the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Now all believers are bound to give glory to God; and as they believe, &s;o to give glory. This the Catholick Church, and every part of it, hath done, till of late, to all three per&s;ons; The Conclu&s;ion of their <HI>P&s;alms</HI> and <HI>Hymns</HI> being that <HI>Doxology,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Hammond.</HI> Vind. of the Liturgy.</NOTE> <HI>Glory be to the Father, to the Sonne, and to the Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> which, (as there is for it good authority) was compo&s;ed by the fir&s;t <HI>Nicene</HI> Council, and appointed by them to be u&s;ed in the Church, as a le&s;&s;er <HI>Creede,</HI> again&s;t the <HI>Arrians.</HI> As it they had al&s;o learned of the Cherubims to &s;ing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 6.2.</NOTE> <HI>Holy, Holy, Holy,</HI> out of which <HI>Anthem</HI> the old Jewes prov'd the Trinity.</P>
<P N="4">4. So it is in our Bapti&s;me, &s;o in our <HI>Creed,</HI> &s;o in our Thanks, and is &s;o yet in our ble&s;&s;ing, and I hope ever &s;hall be &s;o. We end our &s;ervice with the Ble&s;&s;ing of God Almighty, the Father, Sonne, and Holy Gho&s;t; and we di&s;mi&s;&s;e you after Sermon with <HI>The Grace of o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, the love of God, and the communion of the holy Spirit:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 13.14.</NOTE> 'Tis as if we &s;aid, God in nature one, in per&s;ons three, <HI>ble&s;&s;e you, be with you, remaine with you.</HI> The&s;e you &s;ee are no high &s;peculations, not far fet; You cannot remember your Bapti&s;me, you cannot &s;ay your <HI>Creede,</HI> you can never be ble&s;s'd as you de&s;ire, nor de|part with a ble&s;&s;ing from this Congregation as you ought, but &s;till you are put in mind of the three per&s;ons. And it mu&s;t be confe&s;&s;ed, that either the Ca|tholick Church hath been very much out in their whole Service, or el&s;e the truth of this Article mu&s;t &s;tand immovable.</P>
<P N="2">2. But I proceed. <HI>Actiones &s;unt &s;uppo&s;itorum.</HI> Individuals only exi&s;t, and are alone active, e&s;pecially about &s;uch works as the Scripture attributes to the&s;e three. To create is the work of a per&s;on. To take a body, to redeem, to reconcile, to govern, the work of a per&s;on. To &s;anctifie, to be Lord, to &s;peak, to teach, to reprove, to comfort, to be a witne&s;&s;e, to place Bi&s;hops, to make Decrees in Councils, are all per&s;onal acts; actions all of a per&s;on ex|i&s;tent, working, living, endued with under&s;tanding and will. But all the&s;e are the actions of the ble&s;&s;ed Trinity, and therefore it is nece&s;&s;ary that there be three Per&s;ons.</P>
<P N="3">3. Of the per&s;on of the Father, there is no doubt: it is the Per&s;onality of the Sonne and the Holy Gho&s;t that is oppo&s;'d. But no man who believes the Scriptures, can call that in que&s;tion. Not the per&s;on of the Sonne, &s;ince of him it is written, <HI>His going forth hath been of old, from everla&s;ting, or the dayes of eternity.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Micah 5.2.</NOTE> And again, <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t, ye&s;terday, and to day, and the &s;ame for ever.</HI> Not of the Per&s;on of the Holy Gho&s;t, &s;ince we read of him, and of his gifts and graces;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.8.</NOTE> as two di&s;tinct things. <HI>There be diver&s;ity of gifts, but the &s;ame Spirit;</HI> and then he and his gifts cannot be one and the &s;ame. Farther yet tis evident,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.4.</NOTE> that he appeared in the forme of a Dove, and of fiery tongues,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 3.16. Acts 1.3.</NOTE> which were &s;ub&s;tantial appearances, no qualities, and therefore he who was plea&s;ed to de&s;cend in tho&s;e formes, mu&s;t have an exi&s;tence.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> The&s;e Per&s;ons are di&s;tinct.</HEAD>
<P>Per&s;ons then they mu&s;t be, and one Per&s;on they are not, but three di&s;tinct.</P>
<P N="1">1. Di&s;tinct in Number. For the Father is the Father, and not the Sonne. The Son is the Son, and not the Father. The Holy Gho&s;t, the Holy Gho&s;t, and not the Father, nor yet the Son. From which re&s;pect, that which we call di&s;tinction in the Trinity doth ari&s;e, which though it makes not <GAP DESC="foreign">, another thing, yet the per&s;on is <GAP DESC="foreign">, another per&s;on.</P>
<P N="2">2. And this Number was repre&s;ented thus di&s;tinct to &s;en&s;e at Chri&s;ts Bap|ti&s;me.
<PB N="95" REF="53"> The Father in the voice pre&s;ented to the eare. The Son in the flood pre&s;ented to the hand. The Holy Gho&s;t in the Dove pre&s;ented to the eye.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 3.16.</NOTE></P>
<P N="3">3. Again, this di&s;tinction intimated in Chri&s;ts promi&s;e, <HI>I will aske the Father, and he &s;hall give you another Comforter.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.16.</NOTE> Where we meet with three di&s;tinct Per|&s;ons. <HI>Ego, Ille, Alium.</HI> I, the Son praying; He, the Father giving. Another third Per&s;on comforting, named here the Paraclete. A plain di&s;tinction.</P>
<P>This Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity, the Fathers of the Church have found out many &s;imilitudes to illu&s;trate, though it mu&s;t be acknowledged, that they are no more than Similes, which are <GAP DESC="foreign">, in many things unlike. They have thought upon the &s;oul of man; in which you have three principal parts, the Memory, Under&s;tanding, the Will, which all three yet make but one &s;oul.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. cont. Praxeam. Cypr. in Symb. Augu&s;tin. Tertul. Cyprian. Lactant. Tertul. Cont. Praxeam. Symb. Nic. Ju&s;t. Martyr. Cyprian.</NOTE> Of the Emanation or effluence of water, in which you meet with the Springs, the Rill, and the River, three di&s;tinct names, and yet the water the &s;ame. Of a Tree, in which we finde the Root, the Trunk, and the Boughs, three diffe|rent parts, but yet the &s;ame Tree, the Root depending of none, the Stock of the Root, the Boughs of both. Of Light, which the three hundred and eigh|teen Fathers of <HI>Nice</HI> made choi&s;e of, to the creation or production rather of which, we know there concurs the Sun, the Beame, and the Shine.</P>
<P>But the&s;e <HI>Similes</HI> were not produced by them fully to unfold this My&s;tery, but only that it might be &s;omeway &s;hewed that it was not altogether ab&s;urd, or impo&s;&s;ible that there &s;hould be one &amp; one three, in different re&s;pects. And ther|fore I pre&s;&s;e them no farther.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The Conclu&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>Thus have I with much fear and &s;obriety opened unto you, what is to be be|leev'd in this great My&s;tery; and if any man &s;hall expect arguments more de|mon&s;trative, let him know, that this great Truth admits no other demon&s;trati|on than we finde in Scripture. Had not God reveal'd it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ju&s;t. Mart. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> man had been igno|rant of it for ever; The &s;ublimity of the My&s;tery being &s;uch, that it far &s;ur|pa&s;&s;eth the capacity of mans &s;hallow brain. Revealed then it is, and it is far beyond our reach.</P>
<P N="1">1. That our obedience to Gods Word may be the better tryed, our faith the clearer, and our reward the greater. To beleeve only that for which we have evidence of rea&s;on, is knowledge, not faith, and comes &s;hort of that reward promi&s;ed by our Saviour, that being made to tho&s;e who beleeve what they &s;ee not. <HI>Thomas, becau&s;e thou hast &s;eene, thou ha&s;t beleeved; ble&s;sed are they who have not &s;eene, and yet have beleeved.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. That we might not wor&s;hip him after our own imaginations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 20.20.29</NOTE> feigning to our &s;elves &s;uch a God as we plea&s;ed. <HI>Trinity in Unity</HI> mu&s;t be known of us. <HI>Trinity in &V;nity</HI> mu&s;t be wor&s;hipped by us.</P>
<P N="3">3. That we be wi&s;e unto &s;obriety, not &s;uffering our tongues and wits to riot, or our pens to be too lavi&s;h in the &s;earch and expre&s;&s;ion of all heavenly My|&s;teries; For though in the&s;e three is nothing again&s;t, yet there are many things above the reach of humane rea&s;on. How is it likely that the wit of man &s;hould ever mea&s;ure out the immen&s;e e&s;&s;en&s;e of God, that could never yet dive fully into, and comprehend the nature of the poore&s;t Emmet, a con|temptible creature, as being little in body, very ba&s;e in &s;ub&s;tance!<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ba&s;il. epi&s;t.</HI> 168. See the an|&s;wer of the Angel to <HI>E&s;|dras. E&s;dras</HI> 2.4, 9, 10, 11, 21. &amp; cap. 5.36, 37, 40.</NOTE></P>
<P><HI>Heus tu, qui intellectu tuo, &amp; ratione metiri audes divina, metire ea|dem men&s;ura vel formicam.</HI> O thou, who with thy va&s;t rea&s;on and under&s;tand|ing pre&s;umes to mea&s;ure Divine My&s;teries, take the full view if thou can&s;t, with the &s;ame mea&s;ure of the nature even of one poor Pi&s;mire, and &s;atisfie the&s;e demands. For with &s;uch que&s;tions, as follow, doth that great <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> con|vince the prying eyes of meer natural men, who mu&s;t have a rea&s;on of all things, or el&s;e receive no &s;atisfaction.</P>
<PB N="96" REF="54">
<P>Tell me, &s;aith he, whether it breaths or not, or if that little Corps be upheld with bones? if tho&s;e &s;maller joynts be linked together with &s;inews, or chain'd with &s;trings? and tho&s;e &s;inews fortified with mu&s;cles? whether doth there run through the back a facile chaine, pliable and flexible to bend, and winde, and turne? where be the ve&s;&s;els in tho&s;e bones to retaine the whi|ter marrow? whether hath it a heart the &s;eat of life, or a Liver the &s;hop of blood, or a gall to draine the choler, or a &s;pleen to empty the melancholy, or a bladder to receive the urine? where be the kidneys, the veines, the ar|teries, the midriff? Tell me how long it lives; after what manner it is pro|duced; whether by generation, or out of putrefaction; and if by generation, how long it continueth in the womb. In a word, &s;ay, why all do not creep, but &s;ome mount upon the wing, and other foot it below.</P>
<P>In &s;o &s;mall a vermine the wi&s;e&s;t wit may be put to a Non-plus, and no di&s;&s;ection &s;hall be able to inform what may give content: How &s;hall we their think to &s;atisfie rea&s;on in &s;o high a My&s;tery as is this of the Trinity?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>5.</HI> de con&s;i|derat.</NOTE> Ex|cellently Saint <HI>Bernard, Sacramentum Trinitatis My&s;terium magnum est, &amp; quidem venerandum, non &s;crutandum; Scrutari temeritas e&s;t, credere pi|etas e&s;t, no&s;se vita e&s;t, &amp; vitae aeterna,</HI> The My&s;tery of the Trinity is a great My&s;tery, and worthy of veneration, but not to be curiou&s;ly &s;earched. To &s;earch it is ra&s;hne&s;s;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> to believe it is piety, to know it life, and that eternal. In this we confe&s;s <GAP DESC="foreign">, faith mu&s;t be above rea&s;on; <HI>docili|tate opus est magis quam acumine;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Calv. in&s;tit. cap. de fide. Sect. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> we mu&s;t be rather docile Scholars, than curious and &s;harp inqui&s;itours. The <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>ip&s;e Dixit</HI> of our Ma&s;ter mu&s;t be enough; That direction of <HI>Calvin</HI> is worth ob&s;ervation, <HI>Deum nu|quam quaeramus ni&s;i in ejus verbo, aut de ip&s;o cogitemus ni&s;i cum ejus ver|bo, aut loquamur ni&s;i per ejus verbum,</HI> Let us never &s;eek God except in his Word, or think upon him but with his Word, or &s;peak of him but by the light of his Word. This, this alone is the way in this and other My&s;teries to be freed from darkne&s;s, and kept from errour.</P>
<P>With me admire that &s;ecret which you cannot comprehend, believe that which you cannot by rea&s;on prove; doubt not of that which God hath revea|led; and in all humble reverence, reverent devotion, devout humility a|dore,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Jo. Meur&s;.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. Codinus de orig. Constantinop. Dama&s;c. de Or|thod. fide. c. <HI>57.</HI></NOTE> and &s;ing that <GAP DESC="foreign">, of which the words were, <GAP DESC="foreign">, referring the fir&s;t <GAP DESC="foreign"> or holy to God the Father, the &s;econd to God the Son, the third to God the holy Gho&s;t. This Hymne was taught by Angels, and commanded by <HI>Theodo&s;ius</HI> the younger to be &s;ung in all Churches of the Empire. Which al&s;o the fourth Council at <HI>Chalcedon</HI> chaunted aloud as appears in the Acts. And let the wi&s;e judge, whether this be a time to ca&s;t out of the Church &s;uch Hymns as the&s;e, by which glory is given to God on high, and the Doctrine of the Trinity &s;ecured. If any man hath a months minde to revive the condemned bla&s;phemy of accur&s;ed <HI>Arrius,</HI> or with the <HI>Macedonian</HI> Hereticks to fight again&s;t the Deity of the Holy Gho&s;t, let him bring his Spunge, and wipe out of the Liturgy <HI>Gloria Patri, filio, &amp; Spiritui Sancto.</HI> But if he bear a good will to the ble&s;&s;ed Trinity, let him be content to let it &s;tand, &s;ince it will prove a great impediment to the growth of the&s;e new reviv'd Here&s;ies.</P>
<P N="2">2. And yet farther make this u&s;e of this my&s;tery, That &s;ince the Trinity agree in &s;o &s;weet an Unity, Let us al&s;o who were baptized in the Name of this Trinity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.4, 5, 6.</NOTE> <HI>endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.</HI> It were a &s;hame for us, who acknowledge but one Father which is God, one Elder Brother which is Chri&s;t, one Comforter, which is the holy Spirit, that are &s;ons of one Mother, which is the Church, and were Baptized into one faith, through Schi&s;me and Here&s;ie to &s;eparate from the Catholick Church, and through hatred or private ends and grudges, to rai&s;e tumults and &s;editions in Gods family.</P>
<PB N="97" REF="54">
<P>Shall the&s;e ble&s;&s;ed per&s;ons in the Trinity be but one, and &s;hall we mu&s;h|roms on earth be divided by &s;ides and factions? what is this el&s;e but to ener|vate Chri&s;ts prayer for us, who earne&s;tly near his parting with the world, thus Petitions his Father in our behalf, <HI>Keep through thy Name, good Father,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 17.11.</NOTE> <HI>tho&s;e whom thou ha&s;t giv<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n me, that they may be one as we are. Unum &s;i|cut nos.</HI> One as we are; good God, how can that be! Such an unity in e&s;|&s;ence and &s;ub&s;tance cannot be expected in or among men: it is only required that we imitate this, not equal it. Many per&s;ons on earth cannot have the &s;ame Numerical Nature, but yet they may have the &s;ame love by which their &s;ouls may be, as it were, one. One then we may be, though many, in Love and Charity, as the Trinity is by Nature, which is the thing our Saviour prayes for.</P>
<P>It is worth your con&s;ideration, how far God is a lover of Unity. He fra|med but one world, committed it to the care and Monarchy of one man&punc; that in him as one common root all after-births &s;hould meet and joyn. In the Inferiour creatures al&s;o he ob&s;erv'd this unity, creating only two (the next number to one) Male and Female of every kinde, which in &s;pecie are but one, that from this unity the re&s;t might be encrea&s;ed and multiplied. Yea, and when he de&s;troyed the world again by water, his care was only for the pre&s;ervation of as few as might be of every kinde.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.19.</NOTE> What &s;hould I tell you, that tho&s;e whom he hath made choice of to &s;ave, cannot be out of dan|ger, till they meet in one body which is the Church, according to that of Saint <HI>Paul? We many are but one body in Chri&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.4, 5.</NOTE> As good children then it behoves us all to follow the &s;teps of our heavenly Father, to pre&s;erve unity &s;o near as may be. To love together, and live together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 4.8. John 13.34. Wi&s;d. 1.6. Gal. 5.22. Acts 10.36. Rom. 10.15. Heb. 12.14. I&s;a. 9.6. Rom. 12.18. Mat. 12.25.</NOTE> &s;ince we all &s;erve one God, who&s;e e&s;&s;ence is but one, who&s;e Attribute is <HI>love,</HI> who&s;e command is <HI>love,</HI> who&s;e Legacy is <HI>love,</HI> who&s;e Spirit is a <HI>loving Spirit.</HI> His Doctrine is the <HI>Doctrine of peace,</HI> his Mini&s;ters are the <HI>Me&s;&s;engers of peace,</HI> his follow|ers are the <HI>Children of peace,</HI> his Son is the <HI>Prince of peace: As much then as in you lies, have peace with all men,</HI> but e&s;pecially with tho&s;e who are of the hou&s;hold of faith.</P>
<P><HI>A hou&s;e divided again&s;t it &s;elf cannot &s;tand, or a Kingdome divided a|gain&s;t it &s;elf cannot continue,</HI> no not that of the Devil; which that evil &s;pi|rit knowing to be a great Truth, labours what he may to divide and di&s;tract you: Which endeavour the fir&s;t and be&s;t Chri&s;tians utterly fru&s;trated by their unanimity. When they pray'd, they pray'd all together; when they heard, they heard all together; when they brake bread, they did it all together;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 4.24. Acts 8.6. Acts 2.46. Acts 2.1.</NOTE> At the receiving the holy Gho&s;t, they were all together. All together ever; not one in one place, and one in another, but all <GAP DESC="foreign">, with one minde, in one place; with one mind, in that there is Unanimity; in one place, in that there is Uniformity. And again <GAP DESC="foreign"> all about the &s;ame bu&s;ine&s;s, how they might mo&s;t &s;et forth <GAP DESC="foreign"> the wonderful works of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.11.</NOTE> how they might mo&s;t advance the Name of Je&s;us of <HI>Na|zareth.</HI></P>
<P>This work will never be well done without the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Spirit; and there is no &s;uch barre to his a&s;&s;i&s;tance, as is di&s;cord and di&s;-union of mindes. He will no more informe divided hearts, than the natural &s;pirit will di&s;mem|bred bodies, or &s;catter'd bones. <HI>At Salem is his Tabernacle,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 76.2.</NOTE> <HI>and Salem is peace;</HI> and is it likely then he &s;hould come and dwell there, where there is nothing but Schi&s;mes, and jarres, and quarrels?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.25.</NOTE> 'Tis then but vanity of them who withdraw them&s;elves, and yet boa&s;t of the Spirit, and monopolize the Spirit, and &s;peak pre&s;umptuou&s;ly of the gifts of the Spirit, &s;ince they are &s;o rent, &s;o divided, &s;o &s;eparated, &s;o torne into &s;o many factions, fractions, divi&s;ions, and &s;ubdivi&s;ions. <HI>For whereas there is among you envyings,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>and
<PB N="98" REF="55"> &s;trife, and factions, are you not carnal, and walk as men? For while one &s;aith, I am of</HI> Paul, <HI>another, I am of</HI> Apollos, <HI>are ye not carnal?</HI> Yes, Carnal, &s;o &s;aith Saint <HI>Paul. Sen&s;ual, having not the Spirit,</HI> &s;o &s;aith Saint <HI>Jude.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude Epi&s;t. ver. 19.</NOTE> You may vainly boa&s;t of, <HI>but the Spirit you have not:</HI> po&s;itively &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>You have it not.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Returne, return, O Shulamite, returne, returne, that we may look up|on thee:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 6.13.</NOTE> what &s;hall you &s;ee in the <HI>Shulamite,</HI> but as the Company of an Ar|my? Return to thy God which is but one; return to the truth which can be but one; return to thy former feelings of grace which proceeded from one Spirit; return to the unity of the Church, which is the one &s;ole Mother of us all. And what &s;hall you &s;ee in this united Church? even &s;uch an aweful Maje&s;ty and grace, as in a well-mar&s;halled Army, which under one General and one &s;tandard, is ready with one minde to fight the enemy. Corners beget Here&s;ies, Here&s;ies Sci&s;mes, Sci&s;me hatred, hatred Alienation of mindes, and mindes that are Alienated are not fit to Engage in this Battel.</P>
<P>The complaint is bitter that the Spou&s;e takes up in the <HI>Canticles, My mo|thers Sonnes have fought again&s;t me.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.6. <HI>Bernard in loc.</HI></NOTE> Mark again&s;t whom &s;he lifts up her voice. <HI>Matris filios &s;olos accu&s;at, quia &s;oli in culp&acirc;,</HI> She accu&s;eth only her Mothers Sonnes, becau&s;e they were only in fault. Her fathers children &s;he complained not of. They that have one Father in heaven, will not fall out with their poor brethren on earth. They were her Mothers Sonnes that did her all the wrong, that were angry with her. They who are born in the &s;ame womb, that live in the &s;ame hou&s;e, and eat of the &s;ame bread, <HI>and drink the &s;ame &s;piritual drink,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.3.</NOTE> the&s;e are froward children, and grow angry, and in anger arme, and fight, and di&s;turb their Mothers family, and &s;et all in a tumult. Such are all factious Novelli&s;ts and Heretical Doctors; the one of which do labour <HI>corrumpere fidei dogmata,</HI> To corrupt the principles of our faith; the other <HI>di&s;rumpere charitatis unicula,</HI> to untye the bonds of love;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judges 15.3.</NOTE> both like <HI>Samp&s;ons</HI> Foxes, though &s;evered in the heads, yet meet in the Tailes, with Fire-brands at once to wa&s;t peace and piety.</P>
<P>In which if any man hereafter &s;hall take delight, I &s;hall not call him a &s;on of our Father in heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.19. 1 Cor. 8.4. Ephe&s;. 1.10.</NOTE> <HI>who is but one;</HI> nor a Brother of Chri&s;t, <HI>who came into the world to make all things one;</HI> nor yet born of the Spirit, who&s;e pro|perty it is <HI>to make men to be of one minde in a hou&s;e.</HI> For my &s;elf I vow to be <HI>Filius Pacifici,</HI> to be a Childe of the God of peace, praying that tho&s;e fear|ful rents which are made in the &s;eamle&s;s Coat of our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t, may be once more rather made up, than by our uncharitable di&s;cords and contentions made wider.</P>
<P>For that peace which our Lord and Saviour going from the earth, left as a Legacy to his Church, and depo&s;ited in her hands to keep, is it which all Chri&s;tians ought to &s;eek,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.17. P&s;al. 34.14. Heb. 12.14.</NOTE> to pur&s;ue, to pre&s;erve. This is it which the Church hath pre&s;cribed to pray for in our Liturgy; that we be&s;eech God to in&s;pire the Univer&s;al Church with the Spirit of Truth, Unity, and Concord; and to grant that all they who do profe&s;s Chri&s;ts holy Name, may agree in the Truth of his holy Word, and live in unity and godly love.</P>
<P><HI>Now the God of peace that brought againe from the dead our Lord Je|&s;us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.20, 21.</NOTE> <HI>that great Shepherd of the &s;heep, through the blood of the everla&s;ting Co|venant, make you perfect in every good work to do his Will, working in you that which is well-plea&s;ing in his &s;ight, through Je&s;us Chri&s;t, to whom be glory for ever and ever.</HI> Amen.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="99" REF="55">
<HEAD>That God is our Father.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Rom. 8.15.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But you have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry Abba Fa|ther.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE Schools out of <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ubtilly di&s;tingui&s;h between believing God, believing in God, and believing on God. To believe <HI>that God is,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">In. Joannem. tract. <HI>29.</HI> Credere Deum. Credere Deo. Credere in De|um. <HI>James 2.19. Numb. 23.19.</HI></NOTE> is no great matter, &s;ince <HI>the devil believes &s;o much, and trembles:</HI> or to believe that his Word is true, becau&s;e <HI>he hath spoken it who cannot lye,</HI> is not much neither, &s;ince many a Reprobate hath confe&s;s'd it. A believer then mu&s;t be endued with a higher degree of Faith, and profe&s;s as his Creed hath directed, <HI>Credo</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, I believe in God, or on God.</P>
<P N="1">1. Which a&s;&s;ent is &s;ometimes accompanied with feare, which the Apo&s;tle here calls the Spirit of bondage; for this Spirit &s;ets before us the Law, tells us we are &s;ervants, and ought to keep it, and threatens blowes for the breach of it. The Command is &s;trict, and the effect fearful, <HI>Do this, or dye.</HI></P>
<P>The Spirit of God is then call'd the Spirit of bondage unto fear; not as if it made men bondmen in whom it works, but becau&s;e it fir&s;t makes them &s;ee the bond in which they were bound, the penalty if not perform'd; and up|on con&s;cience of the breach there follows a deadly fear; &s;o it was in tho&s;e Converts, <HI>Luke</HI> 3. <HI>What &s;hall we do?</HI> and in tho&s;e in <HI>Acts</HI> 2.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 10, 12, 14. Acts 2.37.</NOTE> <HI>Men and Bre|thren, what &s;hall we do to be &s;aved?</HI></P>
<P>This is the fir&s;t operation of the Spirit; and this the <HI>Romans</HI> had receiv'd in their fir&s;t conver&s;ion. A great fear for that they had not kept their bond. And in all the Elect that are of di&s;cretion, the Spirit of God works by this feare, before it begets a filial a&s;&s;urance that all may know they &s;tand in need of Chri&s;t and &s;eek him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 3.24.</NOTE> <HI>The Law is our Schoole-ma&s;ter to bring us to Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. But this a&s;&s;ent is again accompanied with love and comfort. A love of the Commands, and a comfort in the promi&s;es of the Go&s;pel, when we remember that he that impo&s;ed the one and made the other, is our Father; whence with confidence we profe&s;s, <HI>Credo in Deum Patrem, I believe in God the Father,</HI> or as the Apo&s;tle here, <HI>We cry Abba Pater.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Abba</HI> is Originally Hebrew; <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Graec. Father;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 118.22. Acts 4.11.</NOTE> and the Apo&s;tle u&s;eth both tongues to animate both Nations, Jews and Greeks, by this honour of Filiation. For being both united in that one &s;tone which is the Head of the Corner, there is no more di&s;tinction. Every one of both Nations who partakes of this Spirit of Adoption, may boldly approach the Throne of grace, and &s;ay <HI>Our Father.</HI></P>
<P>The Apo&s;tle in the Ver&s;e before had &s;aid, <HI>that we are the Sonnes of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 19.2.</NOTE> and in this and the next he proves it by that fear and love that are in all tho&s;e that receive the Spirit. That receive it I &s;ay; for it is a receipt; and there|fore Saint <HI>Paul</HI> at <HI>Ephe&s;us</HI> ask'd, <HI>Whether they had received the Spirit:</HI> And it is cleare, that without this Receipt we have no Seale to the A|doption.</P>
<P>Now with the Spirit we receive two things, which are the two &s;everal ways of working in the Sons of God.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t is feare, which the Apo&s;tle here calls the &s;pirit of bondage, which requires &s;trict &s;ervice, as I &s;aid, and exact obedience, calling to us <HI>Fac,
<PB N="100" REF="56"> fac vel timore poenae,</HI> Do it man, do as you are bidden, though it be meerly for feare of puni&s;hment; And this is an excellent and nece&s;&s;ary introduction fit for beginners in the faith. It is like the ba&s;e Court, which a man mu&s;t pa&s;s before he enters into the Palace. And it &s;eemes the <HI>Romanes</HI> had pa&s;t through it; This againe in the Text intimates &s;o much; They were not againe to receive this Spirit of feare, therefore they had once before receiv'd it.</P>
<P N="2">2. The &s;econd is by love, which the Apo&s;tle calls <HI>the Spirit of Adopti|on.</HI> This &s;peaks to them as to Sons, commands them to obey as before, but not out of a &s;ervile, but a filial feare. As if he had &s;aid, That very Spirit which taught you at fir&s;t as &s;ervants for terrour to keep and do the duties of the Law, now as Sonnes leads you to performe the &s;ame obedience, and to walk in newne&s;s of life. The duties then are the &s;ame, the Spirit that ena|bles you the &s;ame; but the rea&s;on whence they ari&s;e is not the &s;ame; for at fir&s;t they &s;prang from fear, but now from love.</P>
<P>The Apo&s;tle then in this place makes not here his compari&s;on betwixt the godly, who had &s;ubmitted them&s;elves to that ea&s;ie Yoke of the Go&s;pel, with them who yet lived under the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> But the collation is betwixt tho&s;e who had given up their names to Chri&s;t within them&s;elves, and in them he compares a &s;econd operation of the Spirit with the fir&s;t: Within them it was not as it was before. Before no more comfort they could have, than their &s;ervice could a&s;&s;ure them in doing their duties, and then feare mu&s;t at|tend their be&s;t endeavours, as being con&s;cious to them&s;elves that the be&s;t work that they could do, was either polluted or imperfect. But upon their &s;econd receipt great comfort they might take, in that God was their Father, and they his Sonnes. And therefore <HI>as a father pitieth his own children, &s;o God would be merciful to tho&s;e that feare him.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 103.13.</NOTE> This wrought upon them to do their &s;ervice out of love. And that which wrought this love in their hearts, was the Spirit of Adoption which they had received.</P>
<P>Yea, but how &s;hall it appear that they had received him? How? By feeling and experience. Of which</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t is the <HI>Clamamus</HI> here. That he hath poured upon us the Spi|rit of grace and &s;upplication, by which with zeale and fervour of &s;pirit, with contention of voice, and intention of heart, without intermi&s;&s;ion we call and cry to him <HI>Abba Pater,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12.10. 1 Cor. 12.3.</NOTE> <HI>exandi nos, O good Father heare us. No man with confidence and boldne&s;s can call God Father, but by the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> This you now can do. Therefore you have received the Spirit of Adoption.</P>
<P N="2"><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE>2. The &s;econd experience is the <GAP DESC="foreign"> in the next ver&s;e. <HI>For the &s;ame Spirit beares witne&s;&s;e with our Spirit, that we are the Sonnes of God.</HI> Note here, that not our Spirit, nor the Spirit of God alone gives in this Te&s;timony, but both concurring and meeting together. Our &s;pirit cannot alone make this Certificate, becau&s;e mans heart is alwayes evil, and too too often deceitful.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.5. Jer. 17.9.</NOTE> And Gods Spirit makes not this per&s;wa&s;ion comfortably in any, without the witne&s;s of our &s;pirit. <HI>For if our con&s;cience condemn us, God is greater than our hearts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 3.20, 21.</NOTE> <HI>and knows all things: But if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.</HI></P>
<P>Then we may be a&s;&s;ured that we have received the Spirit of Adoption. Then we may boldly &s;ay, <HI>I believe in God the Father Almighty.</HI> Then we may with comfort approach the Throne of grace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.16.</NOTE> and pray, <HI>Our Father.</HI> Then we may lay our claime, and cry in all our di&s;tre&s;&s;es, <HI>Abba Pater.</HI> For if we be Sons, then are we Heirs, even Heirs of this God our Father, and co-heirs annexed with Chri&s;t, as the Apo&s;tle hath for our comfort concluded at the 17. Ver&s;e.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="101" REF="56">1. Now two &s;orts of men there are that make u&s;e of this Certificate; the one too much, and the other too little. There be that live after the fle&s;h, yet boa&s;t of the Spirit; &s;uch are carnal profe&s;&s;ors, whom <HI>Solomon</HI> hath thus de&s;cribed to us; <HI>There is a generation that cur&s;eth their father,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 30.11, 12 13.</NOTE> <HI>and doth not ble&s;s their mother; There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not wa&s;h'd from their filthine&s;&s;e; There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes, and their eye lids are lifted up; There is a genera|tion who&s;e teeth are &s;words, and their jaw-teeth as Knives to devoure the poore from off the earth, and the needy from among men.</HI> And yet notwith|&s;tanding their cur&s;es, their filthine&s;s, their pride, their cruelty, they will be, I had almo&s;t &s;aid alone, their fathers be&s;t children; for which if you ask an evidence, pre&s;umptuou&s;ly they will produce this place, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>The Spirit beareth witne&s;&s;e with our spirit.</HI> The Spirit; what Spirit? the &s;pirit of errour, the &s;pirit of &s;eduction, the lying &s;pirit, the &s;pi|rit of pride; for God hath no Sonnes, but tho&s;e who are like him. The Spirit of Adoption is the Spirit of Sanctification; fir&s;t he makes a new crea|ture, and then beares witne&s;s. Pretend not then the Te&s;timony of the Holy Gho&s;t for thy Adoption, without the Certificate of thine own con&s;cience; nor that of thine own con&s;cience, without that of the Holy Gho&s;t, for the&s;e mu&s;t go together. As is thy faith and repentance, &s;uch is thy Certificate; &s;o certaine, &s;o comfortable, and no more. Take heed then, and &s;plit not upon the Rock of pre&s;umption, for it is Phari&s;ai&s;m.</P>
<P N="2">2. But as there be, who look upon this Certificate too boldly, &s;o al&s;o there are, who behold it, and reade it with too weak an eye, who for the mo&s;t part are yet the be&s;t children. For none &s;o apt to complaine of them|&s;elves, and the ab&s;ence of their Father, and his Spirit, as they who are mo&s;t &s;piritual. Gods Children are like covetous rich men, who think that they have nothing, becau&s;e they thir&s;t for more. But as the Carnal Pro|fe&s;&s;our may not pre&s;ume, &s;o let not the weak Chri&s;tian de&s;paire, becau&s;e he alwayes feels not the witne&s;s of the Spirit in the &s;ame mea&s;ure. In &s;pi|ritual de&s;ertions, good it will be to have recour&s;e to the former Comforts; Let &s;uch remember their joyful Songs, their devout prayers, their &s;harp combates, their thir&s;t, their hunger after <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ighteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, their con&s;tant de&s;ires, their &s;incere &s;tudyes and endeavours, and by the&s;e collect their e&s;tate: And this will keep them from the Rock of de&s;paire. All the&s;e are e|vidences of the Spirit of <HI>Adoption,</HI> and therefore they may yet with comfort cry <HI>Abba Father.</HI></P>
<P>And thus have I given you an accompt for the &s;en&s;e and connexion of the&s;e words with the former, and the &s;ub&s;equent. And out of the&s;e I could rai&s;e many profitable Notes. As that</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Prayer is a Gift of the Spirit of Adoption, in that it is here &s;aid, <HI>In quo.</HI> In whom, that is, in the Power of this Spirit we cry.</P>
<P>Secondly, That this our prayer ought to be zealous, importunate, fer|vent, a clamour, a cry. <HI>Clamamus,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle; &s;o our Saviour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5.7. Exod. 17.4. Cap. 14.15. P&s;al. 130.1. Jonah 2.2.</NOTE> &s;o <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> &s;o <HI>David,</HI> &s;o <HI>Jonah</HI> pray'd. Our Saviour with &s;trong cryes in the Garden, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> at the red Sea, <HI>David</HI> out of the deep, <HI>Jonah</HI> from the belly of the Whale.</P>
<P>Thirdly, That our prayer mu&s;t be daily, con&s;tant, without cea&s;ing; for <HI>Clamamus</HI> is the Pre&s;ent ten&s;e, which notes the pre&s;ent time; an action not to be delay'd or put off, but pre&s;ently to be done.</P>
<P>Fourthly, That all good men joyn their forces, and combine in prayer. The A|po&s;tle that &s;poke in the &s;econd per&s;on before, <HI>Recepi&s;tis Spiritum,</HI> yet when they came to cry, then he would make One. In whom we cry altogether, <HI>Our Father.</HI></P>
<P N="5"><PB N="102" REF="57">5. In that there is Charity. But in that we reflect upon him in our petiti|ons as a Father, and pathetically cry, <HI>Abba, Pater,</HI> this is a &s;eale of our faith, and gives us boldne&s;&s;e, and confidence to approach him. Many impediments there may be, which may deter us from coming into his pre&s;ence, and which may retard our &s;upplications. But this one word, <HI>Abba, Father,</HI> may animate us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15.18.</NOTE> and quicken them. Say thou be a Prodigal, remember that he is thy Fa|ther; come then to thy &s;elf, ari&s;e and go to thy Father. Thy con&s;cience tells thee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.14.</NOTE> that God is a God of pure eyes, and that thou art carnal, and &s;old under &s;inne, and will he then look upon &s;uch a one? But again remember, that he is a Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2.13.</NOTE> and he cannot deny him&s;elf. Cry with the affection of a &s;onne, <HI>Ab|ba, Father,</HI> and <GAP DESC="foreign">, his bowels will came upon thee, he will pity thee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15.20. P&s;al. 103.13.</NOTE> he will hear thee, he will have compa&s;&s;ion on thee, <HI>as a father pitieth his only &s;onne.</HI></P>
<P>You &s;ee what a plentiful harve&s;t I have of a little &s;eed; but I cannot now &s;tand to gather and thre&s;h out every &s;heaf, and &s;hall only then make choyce of of the la&s;t, <HI>Abba, Father;</HI> Becau&s;e it will &s;erve me to make bread of that Notion of the <HI>Creed</HI> upon which I am fallen, <HI>I beleeve in God the Father.</HI></P>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>The Father.</HEAD>
<P>This word is <GAP DESC="foreign">. A word of Relation, and mu&s;t then upon nece&s;&s;i|ty carry our thoughts to its Correlative a Son. For <HI>Relatorum e&s;t mutuum iter.</HI> Relative termes are always reciprocal, and terminate are the other. He is no father, that hath no &s;on, nor he no &s;onne, that hath no father. So many wayes then God may be &s;aid to be a Father, as he may have &s;ons, which being doub<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e, either by Nature or Grace, &s;uch mu&s;t his children be al&s;o.</P>
<P N="1">1. One &s;on only he hath by Nature, upon whom he hath &s;et a note of di|&s;tinction.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.7. Matth. 3.17. John 1.14. Heb. 1.3.</NOTE> I have &s;aid, <HI>Thou art my Son.</HI> And again, <HI>This is my beloved Sonne. Thou art,</HI> that is, in &s;uch a manner as no other is, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>my only begotten Sonne,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>The brightne&s;&s;e of my glory, and the expre&s;se image of my per&s;on.</HI> His e&s;&s;ence being the &s;ame with his, though his exi&s;tence be diver&s;e. And this Son is our Saviour and Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="2">2. That the whole world be&s;ides are his children by indulgence and favour; For as the Apo&s;tle tells the Athenians out of <HI>Aratus,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>We are all his off-&s;pring.</HI></P>
<Q><L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">. ex Orpheo.</NOTE><GAP DESC="foreign">.</L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign">.</L></Q>
<P>The meaning of the point is, that the power of the glorious and great God is effectual to the production of all things.</P>
<P>It is u&s;ual to call him the Father of the family, <HI>from whom all that family is derived,</HI> and by who&s;e coun&s;el and power it is guided and protected. And in this &s;en&s;e we call God the Father of the Univer&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.6.</NOTE> in that he makes, governs, and by his providence orders the whole. Hence is that que&s;tion propo&s;ed by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 2.10.</NOTE> <HI>Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and e&s;tabli&s;hed thee?</HI> But &s;horter in <HI>Malachi, Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?</HI></P>
<P>This is a favour imparted at large, even to the lea&s;t flye, much more to the wor&s;t man;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.45.</NOTE> for he feeds, pre&s;erves, maintains, adorns, even Publicans and &s;inners; to him, tho&s;e that every day bla&s;pheme him, are more beholding for the expre&s;&s;ion of the&s;e paternal acts, than to their parents that begat them. Be|&s;ides then this common favour, there mu&s;t be one more peculiar, by which all the acts of a Father are performed unto &s;ons, but in a farre higher and more
<PB N="103" REF="57"> excellent degree than unto other creatures, or unto other men. And &s;uch there be.</P>
<P>For to &s;ome he gives that power and honour to be, and to be called the &s;ons of God: He is well plea&s;ed that &s;ome lay their claime, and call him <HI>Abba,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.12.</NOTE> <HI>Father:</HI> He hath ordained &s;ome to be Heirs, even Co-heirs annexed with Chri&s;t. The&s;e he begets by his Word and Spirit, which are the Principles of their New and Cele&s;tial life. The&s;e he a&s;&s;i&s;ts with his Grace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.15. John 1.13.</NOTE> which is able to continue and pre&s;erve what he hath begotten. No father can be more care|full of his &s;ons education, than he is of their breeding; and to that purpo&s;e he guids their feet, where the way is dangerous, and opens their eyes, where the path is dark; and prevents a temptation, when it is too powerful; and quickens them up, when they are heavie and dull, and have no mind to learn.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.3, 4.</NOTE> But this is not all neither, when they are pa&s;t their minority, which la&s;ts as long as his life la&s;ts; he hath provided an inheritance for them, not by the death of the Fa|ther, but by the Purcha&s;e of the Son, of which he hath given the&s;e his children an a&s;&s;urance of his Spirit, and will put them into po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion in another world.</P>
<P>Me thinks it cannot &s;atisfie to huddle up &s;o many acts of Grace, and &s;uch ine&s;timable indulgences, and to pre&s;ent them thus in gro&s;&s;e. It will not then I hope &s;eeme tedious unto you, that I &s;ort the&s;e particulars, and offer them to your view one by one, it mu&s;t needs chear up the heart of every gracious child, to hear that he hath &s;o good and munificent a Father.</P>
<P N="1">1. I pa&s;&s;e by here how out of a lump of red earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.27. &amp; 2.7.</NOTE> and Virgin-clay he fra|med man to no other likene&s;&s;e, than that of him&s;elf. Out of which pattern for &s;ucceeding po&s;terity, when our enemy by temptation had prevail'd to blot Gods image, our gracious Father began to think how it might be re&s;tored as at fir&s;t. And no other way being found to effect it, he that was the expre&s;&s;e image of his per&s;on, offered him&s;elf to become like man, that &s;o man again might become like God.</P>
<P N="2">2. And when He again left the world, and departed to his Father, He &s;ent down his Spirit to dwell with us, to abide with us, to renew us, to reform us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14.16, 17. Tit. 3.5. Heb. 9.10. 1 The&s;. 5.23.</NOTE> to work all manner of &s;anctity in our hearts. The &s;ecret preventions, the inward and quick excitations, tho&s;e &s;obs and throbs of heart, tho&s;e powerful a&s;&s;i&s;tances, tho&s;e calls and motions to good, are to no other end, but that you <HI>put off the old man, with his deeds, and that you put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 3.9, 10.</NOTE> The Holy Gho&s;t then does but the &s;ame work for which the Son of God was born, <HI>viz.</HI> That we might be reborn, and have the holy image of our Father once more &s;tamped upon us, and look like our Fathers children.</P>
<P N="3">3. And we, who are his Emba&s;&s;adours, make all our addre&s;&s;es to you for the &s;ame purpo&s;e. We employ all our &s;tudies, art, indu&s;try, we &s;pend our &s;pirits,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5, 20.</NOTE> and torture our braines, only to make you again look like God your Father. It hath plea&s;ed the great Lord that &s;ent us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.15. Gal. 4.19.</NOTE> to honour us with the title of &s;piri|tual fathers; and what is now our de&s;ire? but to beget you again by the Go&s;pel, that &s;o Chri&s;t might be once again formed in you.</P>
<P>For I mu&s;t tell you, you <HI>are by nature the children of wrath:</HI> Or,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ehpe&s;. 2.3. John 8.44.</NOTE> as Chri&s;t told the Phari&s;ees, <HI>Of your Father the Devil, and the lu&s;ts of your father ye did:</HI> If it be now better with you, ble&s;&s;e the Spirit of God, who hath re|generated you by the Mini&s;try of the Church. Among the chaffe you lay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 3.12. Matth. 13.30.</NOTE> 'tis the fan in our hand as under-workmen that hath purg'd you. You &s;ometimes grew among the Tares, that you e&s;cape the fire, thank God who hath &s;ent forth skilful Labourers to gather you: Rough, knotty, and unpoli&s;hed timber you were, our axe, our plaine, point and edge hath gone upon you, and fitted you for the building. Of this God, by <HI>Ho&s;ee</HI> minds the Jews, and I you. <HI>Dedo|lavi per prophetas.</HI> I have hew'd you by the Prophets, <HI>Ego, per:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 6.5.</NOTE> The work
<PB N="104" REF="58"> then is Gods,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 3.2.</NOTE> he hews, &s;hapes, fa&s;hions, &s;mooths you for his Temple, to dwell in; but yet it is by us, we are fellow-labourers, we are in&s;trumental; the axe, the &s;aw, the plaine, which it plea&s;eth God to make u&s;e of, is put into our hand; and I pray let it not offend, that as we &s;ee occa&s;ion, we u&s;e the one and the o|ther; for till the knots and ruggedne&s;&s;e be chipt off, and the proud ri&s;ings be taken down, you are not capable of your Fathers face, that image of righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e and holine&s;&s;e, the which to the life our de&s;ire and labour is to &s;et up|on you.</P>
<P N="3">3. And becau&s;e want is oftentimes an hinderance to the undertaking of many worthy actions, that neither we be di&s;couraged in the execution of our Emba&s;&s;ay, nor you deterred from your filial obedience, like a good Father he hath furni&s;hed us with all temporal nece&s;&s;aries. We may mi&s;take our corne and wine, our cloaths and meat, and take it for our own, and of our own pro|vi&s;ion: But I know who&s;e it is, and who hath provided it for us. The pro|perty is our Fathers, the u&s;e only ours; like an indulgent and wi&s;e father, he may pa&s;&s;e over a Lea&s;e during plea&s;ure of the&s;e temporals; but the right he &s;till retains in his own hand.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.18.</NOTE> His Title you &s;hall hear him plead; Thy Oyle is mine, thy Incen&s;e is mine, thy meat is mine, thy flower is mine, thy gold is mine, thy &s;ilver is mine, thy &s;ons are mine, and thy daughters are mine. And upon the di&s;obedience of his children, he threatens to make a re-entry. <HI>Becau&s;e &s;he knew not that I gave her corne,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 2.8, 9.</NOTE> <HI>and wine, and oyle, and multiplyed her &s;ilver and gold, therefore I will returne, and take away my corne in the time thereof, and my wine in the &s;ea&s;on thereof, and I will recover my wooll and my flax given to cover her nakedne&s;se.</HI></P>
<P>Lord how much mi&s;taken was the Churle <HI>Nabal,</HI> and &s;o are all other Churles with him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 25.11.</NOTE> when they cry out My meat and my bread, and my water, and my &s;hearers; for the&s;e things our bountiful Father in heaven hath only &s;et out to his children on earth, and when they are behind with him for their rent of thanks, or el&s;e commit wa&s;te in his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, he may lawfully revoke his grant, and does often find another Tenant.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.45.</NOTE>The Sunne that ripens our corne is his, the aire that we breath is his; not a &s;hower that comes from heaven but he begets it, for he is <HI>Pater pluviae,</HI> the Father of the raine:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 38.28. Matth. 6, 11. Ezek. 4.16.</NOTE> The bread al&s;o which we eate is his, ours only when we have begg'd it of him; and when we have it, it will not be the &s;taffe of bread to prop up the&s;e tabernacles of our bodies, till he hath given the power of nu|trition to. <HI>Your heavenly Father feedeth you,</HI> Mat. 6.26.</P>
<P>And if this courte&s;ie &s;eeme too common, becau&s;e all creatures &s;hare in it, (for even the Ravens eate of our Fathers meat as well as we) then behold a farther honour. Every one of us are beholding to him for our preferment. After he had laid the foundation of the earth, watred it with rivers and &s;prings, erected the walls of the elements, clapped on the roof of heaven, and furni&s;h|ed it with lights from above; at la&s;t he brought in man, not to be a va&s;&s;al or uten&s;ile,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1, 26.</NOTE> as the re&s;t of the creatures, but to be a great Lord, to be a Superinten|dent, and to ma&s;ter all. <HI>Dominari, To have dominion over the fi&s;h of the &s;ea, and over the fouls of the aire, and over the cattel, and over all the earth;</HI> was there ever the like Patent! <HI>David</HI> is &s;o amaz'd at it, that he cries out, <HI>O Lord our Governours, how excellent is thy name in all the world!</HI> So he begins,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 8.1. <HI>ult.</HI></NOTE> &s;o he ends the <HI>P&s;alm.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. But I pre&s;&s;e the&s;e temporals no farther, though I might do well in it; for mo&s;t of us are too too earthly-minded, and think tho&s;e our farhers white &s;ons that have the large&s;t portion a&s;&s;igned them on earth. But the Apo&s;tle calls me to a far higher contemplation: It being not &s;o much his providence, by which God hath &s;hewed him&s;elf a Father unto us, as in that he hath gi|ven us</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<PB N="105" REF="58">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> The Spirit of Adoption.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Adoption</HI> is an act of Grace, found out for the comfort of tho&s;e who have no children, or if they have, yet out of &s;ome deep di&s;like have ca&s;t them off. By this the per&s;on &s;o cho&s;en, is put in the place, and honoured with the title of a &s;onne, and intended to be the heire. This is the indulgence of men; but we finde the God of heaven far more indulgent in this act. For this &s;piritual Adoption far exceeds that which is civil, and with us u&s;ual.</P>
<P N="1">1. The civil was found out by man. This proceeded from God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.5.</NOTE> God the Father de&s;tinated us unto the adoption of children, &amp;c. 2. The civil was brought in for the comfort of a father that wants children and heires; this for the comfort of a child, that wants a father. 3. In the civil no man adopts, that hath a &s;on and heire, or that hath not for &s;ome enormity judged him un|worthy of his inheritance: but in this, the father had a &s;on and heire, and there was no di&s;like, nor no rea&s;on for it, and yet he adopts &s;trangers to be coheires with his &s;on. 4. The civil often hath its ri&s;e from &s;ome outward motive, ei|ther nearne&s;&s;e of blood, or con&s;ideration of &s;ome rare parts in the per&s;on adopted, or blind affection: But this had no &s;uch cau&s;e, it was not from faith or works fore&s;eene, nor for any mans righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, nor uprightne&s;&s;e of heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 9.5.</NOTE> nor for any proximity; for we were aliens and &s;trangers to him; It proceed|ed meerly <HI>ex motu proprio;</HI> he adopted us according to the good plea&s;ure of his will. 5. La&s;tly, in the civil,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.5.</NOTE> the manners and conditions of the adopted is not chang'd; make choice of an Ethiop, and adopt him for your &s;on, and he remains as black as before; whereas in this adoption the man becomes a new man, his life is bettered, his ways of another fa&s;hion; he is &s;o &s;anctified, &s;o clean&s;ed, that &s;hould you compare him with what he was, and what he is, you would &s;carce take him to be the &s;ame man. And that you wonder no|thing at it, at the in&s;tant of the Adoption, they</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Receive the Spirit.</HEAD>
<P>Do not think it in vain, that the Apo&s;tle phra&s;eth it thus. He might have &s;aid Adoption barely, but that he doth not, but puts us in mind of the Spirit that comes to our Adoption, and that for weighty rea&s;ons.</P>
<P N="1">1. Becau&s;e this Spirit transforms the man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.1.</NOTE> and makes him walk not accor|ding to the fle&s;h, but by the conduct of the Spirit. No &s;ooner &s;hall you finde a man admitted into this catalogue of &s;ons, but you &s;hall find him a new man.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9. Luke 7. Luke 10.39.</NOTE> <HI>Saul</HI> is made a <HI>Paul; Mary</HI> the City &s;inner, or as <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> hath it, the Cities &s;inne, is turned into <HI>Mary</HI> the devout. Are thy wayes foul, vitious, &s;otti&s;h, profane, whori&s;h? The foul &s;pirit is yet in thee. Art thou humble, penitent, meek, circum&s;pect? thy own &s;pirit brought thee not to that; it was this Spirit of Adoption.</P>
<P N="2">2. Or &s;econdly, becau&s;e till he comes, there is none of our Fathers work done in any child of God; <HI>The natural man perceives not the things of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.9. to 16</NOTE> the under&s;tanding is dark, the will perver&s;e, the affections bent to evil. He, and He alone makes us partakers of the divine nature; Illuminates, renewes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.4.</NOTE> teacheth, incites, confirms, prayes in us, and makes us do all the duties of &s;ons;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.27. Ephe&s;. 4.30.</NOTE> in one word, &s;eals us to the day of redemption.</P>
<P N="3">3. And that Sealing is to us the Spirit of Adoption. For Adoption hath to us no Spirit, life or heart in it, till it come to that. The name of a Fa|ther, and the inheritance made over unto us, are but like an Indenture fairly drawn, from which we have no a&s;&s;urance that we &s;hall receive any benefit, till the &s;eale be &s;et. That being once done, then we may be confident that
<PB N="106" REF="59"> what is contain'd in the Deed, is made over to us. Very precious promi&s;es our gracious Father hath made to all his Adopted children; and that they nothing doubt of the enjoyment of them, he hath given them his Spirit to be a <HI>Witne&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.16. Eph. 4.30. Eph. 1.14.</NOTE> a <HI>Seale,</HI> a <HI>Pledge,</HI> an <HI>Earne&s;t</HI> to &s;ecure the Inheritance. And all who are his Sonnes have receiv'd this Spirit; not Adoption only, but the comfort of Adoption, which at one time or other is brought home, and laid up in their bo&s;ome.</P>
<P>When <HI>David</HI> was offer'd <HI>Sauls</HI> daughter to Wife, he thought him&s;elf too mean for that Honour; in humility he di&s;parages his birth, and blood; he labours to put it off with,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 18.18.</NOTE> <HI>Who am I, that I &s;hould be a Sonne in law to a King?</HI> And I pray what are all we? from what Race are we &s;prung? <HI>are we not pot&s;heards of the earth?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 45.9.</NOTE> how comes then this about that we &s;hould not only be &s;ons in law, but adopted &s;ons? not to an earthly father, but to the King of all the earth? It had been a great favour to have been reckoned in the number of his menial &s;ervants; <HI>David</HI> boa&s;ted of that Title,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 116.16. James 2.23. 1 Kings 20.33. John 1.3, 7.</NOTE> <HI>I am thy &s;ervant;</HI> a greater to have been the <HI>friend of God,</HI> as was <HI>Abraham;</HI> To be a Brother &s;o great an honour, that one King greedily catcht at it from another, <HI>Thy Brother Benhadad. Qualem ergo chari|tatem,</HI> I ask you what kinde of love this was? teach me I pray, for I know not of what quality it is, or how to expre&s;&s;e it; I ask againe, what kinde of love is this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.6.8.10. Ephe&s;. 2.12. Gen. 18.27. John 15.15. John 20.17.</NOTE> that we who were <HI>Enemies, Sinners, Ungodly, Impotent, Aliens and Strangers,</HI> the highe&s;t that can be &s;aid of us but men; and men are but du&s;t and a&s;hes; That we I &s;ay, &s;hould be admitted, not for &s;ervants, but friends; not only &s;ervants and friends, but brethren, nay Sons, Sons and Heirs to our Father in heaven!</P>
<P>Had this been the fir&s;t houre that the&s;e Titles had been &s;ounded in your eares, I feare that would have befallen me, which happened to <HI>Paul</HI> at <HI>A|thens,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 17.18.</NOTE> I &s;hould have been taken for <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>for &s;ome vaine babler;</HI> It &s;o far pa&s;&s;eth Humane rea&s;on, that a &s;inful man &s;hould be thus dignified. Admired it would be, that <HI>Tantus tantillos, tantum,</HI> that &s;o great a Maje|&s;ty &s;hould ever love &s;uch <HI>Minims</HI> as we were, &s;o much, as of enemies to entertaine us for &s;ervants, of &s;ervants to make us brethren, from brethren to adopt us &s;onnes, and of &s;onnes to make us Heires, yea while his own on|ly Sonne the Heire of all was yet alive. But this is now become the common Report of every Evangeli&s;t, of every Apo&s;tle; there is not a Book extant, in which we finde not the Original Indenture betwixt God and man running in the&s;e termes of Relation: The Inheritance being pa&s;&s;ed in a Fathers Name to his adopted Sonnes: Which becau&s;e it is &s;tale News, we &s;light, un|dervalue, and little regard.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">U&s;es.</NOTE>Well then, be the e&s;teem what it will, yet I will be bold to minde you of your duty; and teach you what obedience the Name of a Father impo|&s;es upon you, and what comfort you may reap from it. It may be you may grow wi&s;er by it, and value this Ine&s;timable Indulgence at a higher Rate.</P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 1.6.</NOTE>1. <HI>If I be a Father,</HI> &s;aith God by the Prophet <HI>Malachi, where's my honour?</HI> as if it were not po&s;&s;ible for any man to acknowledge God for his Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 6.2.</NOTE> who doth not yield him the obedience of a Sonne. <HI>Honour thy fa|ther and mother,</HI> is the fir&s;t Commandment with promi&s;e; the Law of na|ture bindes to that duty; and therefore if we will be accounted the Sonnes of our Father who is in Heaven, like good Sonnes that would alwayes plea&s;e, we mu&s;t do what we can to honour him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15. Rom. 2.24. I&s;a. 52.5.</NOTE> Nothing &s;o much grieved the Pro|digal, as that he had <HI>offended his father;</HI> this al&s;o mu&s;t be our grief, that our Fathers Name &s;hould be bla&s;phemed by us&punc; and for us, that he who hath
<PB N="107" REF="59"> adopted us for his Sonnes, &s;hould be &s;o vi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ified by us. No di&s;honour then for a Fathers &s;ake.</P>
<P N="2">2. But rather <HI>affection and imitation;</HI> for it behoves children out of love, to tread in their fathers &s;teps. <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;oc. ad Dem.</NOTE> For it is ab&s;urd for Pain|ters to &s;et out to the life the faire&s;t proportions of common creatures, and for children not to imitate their fathers vertues. Are you per&s;ecuted? <HI>pray for them who de&s;pitefully u&s;e you, that y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u may be the children of your Fa|ther which is in heaven.</HI> Have you abilities? <HI>be pitiful, be merciful,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.45.</NOTE> <HI>be a father to the fatherle&s;&s;e, a husband to the widow, eyes to the blinde,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 29.15, 16.</NOTE> <HI>feet to the lame, a father to the poor.</HI> For the&s;e di&s;tre&s;&s;ed people are your Brethren; and to a Brother you owe <HI>Con&s;ilium &amp; auxilium,</HI> Alms and coun|&s;el. In all things labour to be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.</P>
<Q><L><GAP DESC="foreign"></L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign">.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Q Calaber.</NOTE></L></Q>
<P>A more evident &s;ign of a Ba&s;tard Brood there cannot be, than to degene|rate from, and &s;hame the blood of our Progenitours. If therefore you be Sons of &s;o great a Father as God is, di&s;honour not your Royal de&s;cent by a ba&s;e and vitious life.</P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, If God be your Father, then you mu&s;t learn to &s;uffer patiently under his hand, if it plea&s;e him at any time to afflict and cro&s;s you. For he hath not a Sonne whom one way or other, at &s;ome time or other, he doth not cha&s;ti&s;e; &s;o it mu&s;t be; for &s;hould it fall out otherwi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.6, 7, 8.</NOTE> we were Ba&s;tards and not Sonnes.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Origen. Hieron.</HI> Ho&s;. 4.14. Ezek. 16.42. <HI>Bern. Ser.</HI> 4. <HI>in Cant.</HI></NOTE> Will you heare the mo&s;t terrible words that ever fell from the mouth of God? it is that in <HI>Ho&s;ea, I will not puni&s;h your Daughters when they commit whoredome:</HI> Or that in <HI>Ezekiel, My jealou&s;ie &s;hall depart from thee, I will be quiet, I will be angry no more. Bernard</HI> confe&s;&s;eth that he could never reade this Text without extream horrour. <HI>Contremi&s;co &s;olo au|ditu,</HI> I &s;hiver, &s;aith he, to heare that God will not be angry, that he will not puni&s;h, that he will not vi&s;it; I will none of this mercy; <HI>&s;upra omnem iram est haec mi&s;eratio,</HI> this pity is beyond all anger: For how can I ever be a&s;&s;ured that I am his Childe, if I never receive any correction from him? What father can you name, that gave not, or cau&s;ed correction to be given to his childe? I never read of any but one who &s;caped the Rod, and he pro|ved a Traytour. <HI>Adoniah</HI> was the childe that <HI>David</HI> never di&s;plea&s;ed at any time, or &s;aid &s;o much to him as <HI>Why ha&s;t thou done &s;o?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 1.5.</NOTE> and he would needs be in his fathers Throne, before his fathers head was laid up in his grave. A dangerous indulgence then it is in a father not to frown, and mi&s;erable mercy in God not to puni&s;h. Sometimes to &s;hew his anger, is a greater evidence of his love; which when this our kinde Father doth toward his untoward chil|dren, if they beare it patiently, no &s;urer Argument of their adoption. <HI>For whom he loveth, he cha&s;teneth, and &s;courgeth every Son that he receiveth.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.21. Heb. 12.6.</NOTE> Frown and fight he may, but ca&s;t off and hate he will not. And therefore it becomes us to be patient. In regard then of your adoption, and his Fa|therhood, do the duties of Sonnes. Take all things in good part that come from his hands; tread in his &s;teps, and readily and heartily obey his com|mands (which three are the true properties of good children) and upon the performance of the&s;e, there will ari&s;e to you divers con&s;olations and &s;olid comforts. For as a fathers name is a <HI>memento</HI> for duty, &s;o is it al&s;o a &s;tay and ground-work of hope.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Upon the endeavour to walk in your fathers &s;teps, his love will beare with, and pa&s;s by many wants and imperfections in a childe. <HI>For as a father spares his own Son, &s;o will God spare them that feare him;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 103.13.</NOTE> and a|gaine
<PB N="108" REF="60"> you may reade in <HI>Malachi,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.16.17.</NOTE> <HI>That a Book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and thought upon his Name. And they &s;hall be mine, &s;aith the Lord of Ho&s;ts, in that day when I make up my Jewels; and I will spare them, as a man &s;pares his own Son that &s;erveth him.</HI> It is not for nothing that we reade of a di&s;tinction of &s;pots; the &s;pots of the Leopard,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 13.23. Deut. 32.5.</NOTE> and the &s;pots of Sonnes; tho&s;e are the &s;pots of a bea&s;t, the&s;e of a childe. 'Tis not the Herb Borith, nor Fullers &s;ope can purge the fir&s;t, for their &s;pot is not the &s;pot of children; but our brothers blood will purge the la&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 23.21.</NOTE> &s;o that <HI>God will not &s;ee iniquity in Jacob,</HI> not &s;ee it to impute it, not &s;ee it to puni&s;h it; no more than a father will the di&s;torted Characters and blots in his childs Copy, when he is fully per&s;waded of his utmo&s;t en|deavour.</P>
<P>Secondly, Farther yet, a &s;trong hope we have from this name that we &s;hall not lo&s;e our reward. It cannot be denyed, that for our untowardne&s;s we de|&s;erve to lo&s;e our Inheritance; but the comfort is, that if we returne, our Fa|ther will not di&s;inherit us. For the childe he loves once, he loves for ever. Though <HI>Ab&s;olom</HI> were an ungracious childe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 31.3. 2 Sam. 18.5.</NOTE> yet in the very height of his Trea&s;on, <HI>David</HI> his father loved him &s;till, he commanded the Captaines to u&s;e him kindly for his &s;ake; and upon the Relation of his unlucky death, be|took him to his Chamber,<NOTE PLACE="marg">33.</NOTE> and wept, and cry'd, <HI>O Ab&s;olom my &s;onne!</HI> So it is with our gracious Father even at the in&s;tant of our Rebellions, though our Trea&s;ons make him pur&s;ue us, yet he loves when he &s;trikes, and &s;ighs when he puni&s;heth any of his. <HI>Ah, I will be avenged.</HI> And his work then is <HI>to purge away thr dro&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.24, 25.</NOTE> <HI>and take away the tinne.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 49.13, 14, 15.16.</NOTE><HI>Sing O heaven, and be joyful O earth, and break forth into &s;inging O Mountaines, for God hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his afflicted.</HI> But <HI>Zion</HI> &s;aid, <HI>The Lord hath for&s;aken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.</HI> So pu&s;illanimous and diffident a childe of God &s;ometimes is. To which our Father might have an&s;wered, I have not forgotten thee, I have not for&s;aken thee; but he returns his an&s;wer in more powerful and effectual words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 2.26.</NOTE> <HI>Can a woman forget her &s;ucking childe, that &s;he &s;hould not have com|pa&s;&s;ion on the &s;onne of her womb?</HI> Let one of the Harlots that pleaded before <HI>Solomon</HI> decide that doubt. But put ca&s;e &s;uch a thing happen. <HI>Yea, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee.</HI> His love to us is wonderful, pa&s;&s;ing the love of women.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 1.26.</NOTE> <HI>Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me.</HI></P>
<P>The comfort of this place is beyond expre&s;&s;ion. Thou crye&s;t &s;ometimes perhaps, The Lord hath forgotten me, my fa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her hath for&s;aken me; but it cannot be, for the memorials engraven, not barely written, in his hands; the memorial in his eyes, the love of a mother which containes all loves in it, are again&s;t it. Lay to heart this his fatherly affection in the greate&s;t of thy temptations, when the world, the devil, and thy own heart &s;hall endeavour to per&s;wade thee, that thou art ca&s;t out of the eyes of thy Heavenly Father, Say yet with <HI>Job,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 13.15.</NOTE> <HI>Though he &s;lay me, yet will I trust in him; for I know he can no more for&s;ake me, than a mother her &s;ucking childe. When my father and mother for&s;ake me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 27.10.</NOTE> <HI>yet t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e Lord taketh me up;</HI> as if he had &s;aid, Though Parents here &s;ometimes do, yet my Father in Heaven will never put off that Fatherly and Motherly affection he beares me. Into his di&s;plea&s;ure his children may fall, but Totally and Finally they never &s;hall lo&s;e his Love.</P>
<P>Thirdly, This name brings them home when they are gone a&s;tray, this name animates their petitions, this name conveys their &s;oules to Heaven. God is a Name of Maje&s;ty, Lord of power, both may deter us in our approa|ches to him; but Father is a Name of mercy, that calls us into the Mount.
<PB N="109" REF="60"> The Kings children may come into his pre&s;ence, when others in contemplati|on of his Maje&s;ty and greatne&s;s, mu&s;t &s;tand without.</P>
<P>When you petition, <HI>Our Father</HI> is to be the fir&s;t word;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.9. Luke 15.21. Luke 23.34. Mat. 6 12. Luke 23.46.</NOTE> when you con|fe&s;s your &s;innes, <HI>Pater, peccavi,</HI> is a good forme to begin with; in your in|terce&s;&s;ions, <HI>Pater igno&s;ce, Father forgive,</HI> hath authority from our Savi|ours lips. When you part with the world, <HI>Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,</HI> is an excellent ejaculation to end with: So that Praying, Confe&s;&s;ing, Repenting, Interceding, Dying, we finde comfort in this Name.</P>
<P>I &s;hall repeat it over againe while we are here; if we cry <HI>Abba Father,</HI> he is ready to receive our prayers while we are here; if we acknowledge, <HI>Father I have &s;inn'd again&s;t heaven, and again&s;t thee,</HI> he is ready to receive our confe&s;&s;ion: While we are here, if at any time we repent, and &s;ay with the Prodigal, <HI>I will ari&s;e, and go to my father,</HI> he is ready to receive us to grace; and when we go hence, can we but &s;ay with our Saviour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 16.10. Col. 1.2. John 2.3. Gal. 1.3. Ephe&s;. 1.17. James 1.17.</NOTE> <HI>I go to my Father,</HI> he is ready to receive us to glory. Grace is from God the Father, and mercy is from God the Father, and peace is from God the Father, and glory is from God the Father. <HI>There is no gift, or perfect gift, but comes down from this Father of lights.</HI></P>
<P>Fourthly, I &s;ee I mu&s;t break from this point, or el&s;e I &s;hall never get from it. For I confe&s;s I have found an honey-comb, and I could be content to &s;uck it for ever. But I have one U&s;e more to make of this Name, and &s;o I will end. To &s;hut up all then, is God a Father? then without que&s;tion he will provide for his children; <HI>for the children lay not up for the fathers,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.14.</NOTE> <HI>but the fathers for the children.</HI> Many things are nece&s;&s;ary for our bodies, many things for our &s;ouls; but our Father provides his of both; food and cloathing the two principles for the body; his Word and the Sacrament the nouri&s;hments for the &s;oul; When we profe&s;s to believe in God the Father, we al&s;o believe his providence.</P>
<P>Our Saviour would not have his followers over careful <HI>what they &s;hould eat, or what they &s;hould drink, or wherewith they &s;hould be cloathed;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.30, 31, 32.</NOTE> for|tifying his coun&s;el with this rea&s;on, <HI>For your heavenly Father knoweth where|of you &s;tand in need;</HI> and therefore <GAP DESC="foreign">, be not anxious, di&s;tract, divide not the minde about it; for this is a &s;hrewd &s;igne that we do not be|lieve as we ought, that God our Father who gives us life and bodies, wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> allow us means to &s;u&s;taine the one, and cloath the other; or at lea&s;t that we do <GAP DESC="foreign">, hang betwixt two opinions,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.29.</NOTE> not knowing on which to re|&s;olve, whether our Father will do this for us or no, which our Saviour calls want or littlene&s;s, or defect of faith. To remove then this little Infidelity, let every good childe u&s;e prayer, labour, and thir&s;t, as his Father in Heaven hath directed, and then never doubt but he &s;hall be provided for. That God who fed <HI>Eliah</HI> with Ravens, will never &s;tarve a childe, that greatr Povider who cloaths the Lillies, will never &s;uffer a &s;on to go naked.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 17.6.</NOTE> If men will yet be &s;olicitous and careful, a matter there is of more weight; and he puts Gods children to be careful of that, <HI>viz.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.33.</NOTE> <HI>That they be careful to &s;eek the Kingdome of God, and its righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e;</HI> which either they mu&s;t gaine, or be unhappy for ever. This is that &s;ame one nece&s;&s;ary thing, without the purcha&s;e of which all other things are but lo&s;s. Fir&s;t &s;eek that then, and other things <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;hall be ca&s;t in over and above.</P>
<P>Now &s;uch is the love of our Heavenly Father, that he hath provided us &s;ufficient meanes to attaine this Kingdome, to gaine this righteou&s;ne&s;s.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.29.</NOTE> <HI>They have Mo&s;es and the Prophets,</HI> &s;aid <HI>Abraham</HI> once from Heaven, <HI>let them heare them.</HI> But you have, &s;ay I, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the Prophets, and over and above, the Evangeli&s;ts and Apo&s;tles, let all the&s;e be heard; for this is
<PB N="110" REF="61"> the provi&s;ion your Heavenly Father hath made for you. <HI>Parata &s;unt omnia,</HI> All things are ready;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 14.17, 18.</NOTE> invited you are; make no, excu&s;es upon pretence of the Wife, the Oxen, and the Farme; come to your fathers great Supper, <HI>Eat, O friends,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 5.1.</NOTE> <HI>drink, yea, drink abundantly, O Beloved.</HI></P>
<P>To care for the world I need not exhort you, for that you are &s;o &s;olicitous already, as if you did di&s;tru&s;t your Fathers providence. It &s;hall be then my Petition at this time to you, that you would depo&s;e &s;ome of the&s;e worldly thoughts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.1.</NOTE> and in&s;tead thereof entertaine Heavenly; that you would <HI>&s;et your affections on things above,</HI> where Chri&s;t your Elder Brother &s;its on the right hand of God. There your Heavenly Father hath provided for you al&s;o, yea, and far better things than the&s;e tran&s;itory vanities, a Crown, a Kingdome, a Throne,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, re&s;erved in heaven for you;</HI> For if we be Sonnes, then are we Heires, and co-heires to &s;uch an Inheritance which earth cannot afford. Ours here, the greate&s;t are &s;ubject to three foule inconveniences, Corruption, Soyle, and Fading. They corrupt in the &s;ub&s;tance; are defiled and full of &s;oyle in the quality; and fade in the beauty. What&s;oever we can inherit here below, is &s;ubject to one, nay to all the&s;e. It corrupts, takes &s;oyle, fades. But that Inheritance which our Father hath prepared for us, is in danger of none of the&s;e. It is uncorrupt, and will hold its being, none ever &s;hall di&s;herit or di&s;&s;eize us of it. Undefiled, and &s;hall hold the te&s;t, none ever &s;hall emba&s;e it with any mixture.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jonah 4.7.</NOTE> Fade or decay it will not; <HI>Jonahs</HI> worme &s;hall not bite it, but it &s;hall hold out its prime perfection and beauty.</P>
<P>Now ble&s;&s;ed be God, and the Father of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, who ac|cording to his abundant mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.3, 4.</NOTE> hath begotten us (which is the act of a father) to a lively hope of this Inheritance: And ble&s;&s;ed be our Elder Brother Je&s;us Chri&s;t, who hath purcha&s;ed this Inheritance for us: And ble&s;&s;ed be the Spirit of God, who hath &s;et to the Seale, and given us &s;ecurity, that this In|heritance is re&s;erved for us in Heaven.</P>
<P>Kept for us it is, and kept in Heaven, which is well for us; for had it been kept on earth, it might have gone the &s;ame way that Paradi&s;e did. Now &s;ince that is kept for us, let us al&s;o keep our &s;elves for it, keep from all di&s;|obedience, keep from all wilfull contempts of our Father, as little as we can tran&s;gre&s;s any of his Commands; and when that falls out, fall down at his feet, and cry, <HI>Pater peccavi, Father I have &s;inned.</HI> For upon our &s;ub|mi&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15.18, 20</NOTE> confe&s;&s;ion, and amendment, &s;till the Inheritance &s;hall be ours. While we are yet a great way off, our Father will &s;ee us on the way, he will have compa&s;&s;ion on us, runne and make ha&s;te to meet us, fall on our neck and embrace us, and give us a ki&s;s, a &s;ure Token of our Reconciliation. <HI>He will call together his friends and neighbours, Saints and Angels, and &s;ay unto them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 6. Ver&s;e 32.</NOTE> <HI>It is meet that we &s;hould be merry, and be glad; for this my &s;on your brother was dead in tre&s;pa&s;ses and &s;innes, but he is alive againe; he was lost, but is found.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="111" REF="61">
<HEAD>Of Gods Power, Omnipotency, Providence.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">lm 78.20.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Behold he &s;mote the Rock of &s;tone, and the waters gu&s;hed out, and the &s;treams flowed; but can he give bread al&s;o, or provide fle&s;h for his People?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THis P&s;alm is a brief Record of Gods goodne&s;s to <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and of <HI>I&s;raels</HI> untowardne&s;s to God: that with them he e&s;tabli&s;hed a Te&s;timony, and appointed them a Law; the fir&s;t Act of grace: that for their &s;ake he did wonders in <HI>Egypt,</HI> that he divided the Sea, that he led them with a Cloud,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 5.12, 13, 24.</NOTE> fed them with Manna. Reade the P&s;alm, you may &s;ee what he did; every ver&s;e almo&s;t being a memorial of his favour. Notwith&s;tanding all which, <HI>they were a &s;tubborne and rebellious generation, that &s;et not their heart aright,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 8.</NOTE> <HI>and who&s;e heart cleaved not &s;tedfa&s;tly to God.</HI></P>
<P>Now this Report was not made that it &s;hould be barely read, and &s;o pa&s;|&s;ed over as &s;ome other &s;tory, for it was written for our in&s;truction. The Ti|tle of the P&s;alm is <HI>Ma&s;chil A&s;aph,</HI> a P&s;alm to give in&s;truction, and the Le&s;&s;on is &s;et upon the file at the 8. ver&s;e, <HI>Ne fiant &s;icut patres eorum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 17, 18, 19.</NOTE> that we &s;hould not be as this people, and their fore-fathers were, a cro&s;s, and a crooked generation, ready to provoke the mo&s;t High; forward to tempt God in our heart, to ask meat for our lu&s;ts, to &s;peak again&s;t him.</P>
<P>To this <HI>Ne fiat,</HI> this ob&s;tinacy and infidelity, there be no &s;uch Retentives as the con&s;ideration of the goodne&s;s of God, and his power; of both which the fir&s;t Article of our Creed puts us in minde; of his goodne&s;s, in that he is a Father; of his power, in that he is Omnipotent; the fir&s;t intimates that he will, for who &s;o ready to do a good turne to his childe as a father? the &s;e|cond, that if he will he can; for being Almighty he wants no power. And therefore if we ask and have not, let us never que&s;tion with the <HI>I&s;ra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lites</HI> here, <HI>Can he?</HI> or &s;peak again&s;t God, &s;aying,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 59.1.</NOTE> <HI>His arme is &s;hortned that he cannot help.</HI> But rather that we are Rebellious children, and de&s;erve no &s;uch courte&s;ie from him, or el&s;e that he is a good Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 11.10, 11, 12.</NOTE> and will not for <HI>bread give a Scorpion.</HI></P>
<P>Of his good-will I have &s;poken &s;ufficiently in the la&s;t. The Name of a Father is a Seale for that. At this time I &s;hall &s;peak of his power, here impi|ou&s;ly call'd into que&s;tion by his own people. Of which that we doubt not, taught we are thus to profe&s;s, <HI>I believe in God the Father Almighty.</HI></P>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD><GAP DESC="foreign">, Omnipotent, Almighty.</HEAD>
<P>Power then and Dominion he hath over all. And becau&s;e this his power is a Tran&s;cendent, therefore we joyn <HI>Omnis,</HI> or all to it. Other great Prin|ces in the World have had &s;welling Titles added to them; as the <HI>A&s;&s;yrian</HI> was &s;tiled <GAP DESC="foreign">, The great King; and <HI>Alexander,</HI> and <HI>Pompey,</HI> and <HI>Cae&s;ar,</HI> and <HI>Charles</HI> were called <HI>Magni,</HI> The great. High and mighty Prin|ces they were, and much, and great things they did, and were able to do; but as mighty as they were, their power was circum&s;cribed and limited. Al|mighty not one of them was. For they mu&s;t all ca&s;t down their Crowns,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 4.10. and 19.16</NOTE> and &s;toop their Scepters in the pre&s;ence of him who is <HI>King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.</HI> Let him then have his Title alone, <GAP DESC="foreign">, for he hath power over all. Let him enjoy this Attribute alone, <HI>Omnipotent,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 135.6.</NOTE> <HI>for he doth what|&s;oever he will in heaven and earth.</HI></P>
<PB N="112" REF="62">
<P>Every where in the Scripture this powerful Word is &s;et as a Bar to all dif|fidence and di&s;tru&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4.19, 20, 21.</NOTE> <HI>Abraham</HI> was promi&s;ed a &s;on, he was old, and his Wife pa&s;t children, but he con&s;idered not his own body now dead, nor the deadne&s;s of <HI>Sarahs</HI> womb; he &s;tagger'd not, but was &s;trong in faith; why &s;o? what kept him from wavering? what? Gods power. He was fully per|&s;waded, that what God had promi&s;ed, he was able to performe. The rejected Jews (Saint <HI>Paul</HI> opens to us that my&s;tery) &s;hall be called and ingraffed a|gaine into the natural Olive.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.23, 25</NOTE> This the Gentile it &s;eemes was not apt to be|lieve. The Apo&s;tle commands us never to di&s;tru&s;t it upon this rea&s;on, For God is able to graffe them in againe; Nothing may be thought impo&s;|&s;ible to him <HI>who is able to rai&s;e of &s;tones,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.9.</NOTE> <HI>children unto Abraham.</HI></P>
<P>So that it is not without rea&s;on, why omitting the other Attributes of God, mercy, ju&s;tice, &amp;c. in the beginning of the Creed, the Apo&s;tles made choice of this. For many particulars follow here, which could no otherwi&s;e be brought to pa&s;s, but by a mighty hand.</P>
<P>To Create the world of nothing, to Redeem from hell, to make a Mo|ther remaine a Virgin, to de&s;cend and to triumph over the infernal powers, to ari&s;e from the grave, to a&s;cend far above all heavens, to come againe in the Clouds to judge quick and dead, are all Acts of power. The&s;e things are <HI>marvelous in our eyes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 118.23.</NOTE> yet credible they are, believe them we may and mu&s;t, for he that is Almighty hath done them. When any thing is impo&s;&s;ible to God, then let the&s;e &s;eem impo&s;&s;ible to you. Farther yet, to forgive &s;ins is an Act of power;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 2 7.</NOTE> <HI>for who can forgive &s;innes, but God only?</HI> To rai&s;e the body of a dead man, who&s;e very a&s;hes have admitted of various formes, cau|&s;ing each bone to come to its bone, &s;inew to unite to &s;inew, and to call for a cover of new fle&s;h,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 36.</NOTE> and a fre&s;h skinne: yea, over and above to this fle&s;h &s;o quickned to indulge eternal life, can proceed from none but from that Al|mighty hand,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 1.18.</NOTE> <HI>who hath the keyes of hell and death.</HI> Since then all the&s;e are without the verge of humane capacity; &s;ince fle&s;h and blood cannot con|ceive them feizable, and yet mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be believed by every Chri&s;tian: God him&s;elf to &s;tay our infirmity, and &s;ettle our wavering mindes when we heare of &s;uch miracles, hath in the front of our Creed acquainted us who it is that doth all the&s;e great and wonderful things. It is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>qui potens e&s;t,</HI> he that is mighty: It is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>he that can do whatever he plea|&s;eth in heaven and in earth.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.49.</NOTE> Impo&s;&s;ible that cannot be, which God, that is Almighty, hath done, and means to do.</P>
<P>The demand of the meer natural man in things improbable is <GAP DESC="foreign">, how can this thing be? Let an Angel from heaven tell <HI>Sarah</HI> of a Sonne to be born to her in her old age, &s;he &s;miles at it as an impo&s;&s;ible thing, &s;aying, <HI>What,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.12, 14</NOTE> <HI>after I am waxed old, and my Lord al&s;o?</HI> but what &s;aith the An|gel? <HI>Shall any thing be impo&s;&s;ible to the Lord?</HI> Let the Prophet foretell of the incredible plenty in fami&s;hed <HI>Samaria,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 7.18, 19.</NOTE> <HI>that two mea&s;ures of Barly &s;hall be &s;old for a &s;hekel, and a mea&s;ure of fine flower for a &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">kel, to morrow about this time in the Gate of Samaria.</HI> Some Lord upon who&s;e hand the King leans will an&s;wer, <HI>Now behold, if the Lord &s;hould make windows in hea|ven, could this thing be?</HI> But the Prophet will tell him, <HI>Thou &s;halt &s;ee it with thy eyes.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 11.4, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">3.</NOTE> When the&s;e Murmurers in the P&s;alme fell a lu&s;ting, and wept, and ask'd, <HI>Who &s;hall give us fle&s;h to eat? Can God prepare a Table in the Wilderne&s;s?</HI> See how God an&s;wers their que&s;tion with another, <HI>Is the Lords hand waxed &s;hort? Thou &s;halt &s;ee whether my word &s;hall come to pa&s;s or no;</HI> and upon it this Almighty &s;ent them meat for a month together, till it came out againe at their no&s;trills. Who is able &s;ufficiently to &s;peak of the wonderful works of the Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4.24. 2 Kings 2. Gen. 7.23.</NOTE> or to &s;et forth the miraculous effects of his power? <HI>Enoch</HI> tran&s;lated, <HI>Eliah</HI> taken up, <HI>Noah</HI> &s;aved in the Ark, and
<PB N="113" REF="62"> &s;aving a &s;eed for the world, that it might be peopled with better inhabitants.<NOTE PLACE="marg">He&s;d. 14.6. Gen. 19.</NOTE> The unexpected ruine of the impious by a &s;hower of fire and brim&s;tone, and of pious <HI>L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t</HI> the more unexpected deliverance. The Pillar of Salt. <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> made a God to <HI>Pharaoh.</HI> The plagues of <HI>Egypt.</HI> The Sea divided with the rod,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 7. &amp;c. Exod. 14. Exod. 13.21. Exod. 17.11. Jo&s;h. 10.12. Judg. 6.37. &amp; 16.17. Numb. 16.31. Dan. 6.22. Tit. 3.26, 27.</NOTE> and coming together with a word. The Pillar of a cloud &s;ending forth a coole &s;hade by day, and the Pillar of fire giving light by night. <HI>Amalek</HI> beaten down with a prayer. The Sun commanded to &s;tand &s;till, and the Moon to &s;tay her cour&s;e. The earth and the fleece interchangably dryed and moi&s;tned. The power of the haire equal to a whole army. <HI>Corah, Dathan,</HI> and <HI>A|biram</HI> &s;wallowed up. The Lions mouths &s;topped, and the three children in the mid&s;t of the fire delivered, with many more, are all effects of this Omni|potency. Whether&s;oever we ca&s;t our eyes, either upon the &s;trange puni&s;h|ments inflicted upon his enemies, or upon the miraculous courte&s;ies and pre|&s;ervations of his &s;ervants, we mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e that he is Almighty; and &s;ing with <HI>David, with his own right hand,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 98.1.</NOTE> <HI>and with his holy arme he hath gotten him&s;elf the victory.</HI></P>
<P>Of &s;ome of the&s;e, the&s;e I&s;raelites had heard; of many of the&s;e they had ex|perience, and yet like Infidels they aske in &s;corne, <HI>Can he give bread al&s;o?</HI> &amp;c. In the words I commend unto you the&s;e two generals.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. An open Confe&s;&s;ion of his power. <HI>Behold he &s;mote the Rock, and the waters gu&s;hed out.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. A di&s;tru&s;t of his help at pre&s;ent, and a que&s;tioning of that power they confe&s;s'd. <HI>But can he give bread al&s;o?</HI> &amp;c.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. In their Confe&s;&s;ion ob&s;erve
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The <HI>Action. He &s;mote the Rock.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The <HI>Miracle,</HI> Or Con&s;equent of the blow: <HI>Waters gu&s;h'd out,</HI> &s;treams overflow'd.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="2">2. In their Murmur or Di&s;tru&s;t, take notice of
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The calling in que&s;tion his power and providence, <HI>Can he give bread? Can he provide fle&s;h?</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. What they murmured for, <HI>bread</HI> and <HI>fle&s;h.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Their &s;otti&s;hne&s;&s;e, that they &s;hould acknowledge them&s;elves his peo|ple, and yet doubt of his provi&s;ion in &s;o &s;mall a matter as Victuals.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="3">3. Both which, that it may come the warmer to your heart, is u&s;hered in with an <HI>Ecce.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>1. <HI>Behold.</HI></HEAD>
<P>This word calls for our eye to &s;ee, and for our eare to hear, and be attent to what is &s;poken. It is never &s;et by the Holy Gho&s;t, but before matter of more than ordinary note. So it is here; Set it before the fir&s;t clau&s;e, and it pre&s;ents to your eye a Miracle. <HI>Ecce percu&s;&s;it rupem, Behold he &s;mote the Rock, and the, &amp;c.</HI> Set it before the &s;econd, and it &s;hewes a Wonder, an untoward di&s;po|&s;ition of a &s;tubborne people, asking in a geering way. <HI>But can he give bread al&s;o, &amp;c?</HI></P>
<P><HI>He &s;mote the Rock,</HI> that's confe&s;t; <HI>But can he give bread?</HI> that's que|&s;tion'd; and which is the greater wonder, is hard to judge; either his &s;miting, or their doubting; for to confe&s;&s;e his power in giving water, and with the &s;ame breath to que&s;tion his power in giving bread, is matter of wonder, &s;ince the experience of the one, &s;hould have &s;taid their diffidence of the other.</P>
<P>That then which I &s;hall call you to behold fir&s;t, is the froward nature of man, who is never well plea&s;ed, nor full nor fa&s;ting; if God do not for him as he would have it, he is pre&s;ently di&s;contented;
<Q><L>&mdash; <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Theognis.</NOTE></L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign">.</L></Q></P>
<PB N="115" REF="63">
<P>Let <HI>Jupiter</HI> raine or not, he cannot plea&s;e all. Of one whom thou &s;awe&s;t ye&s;terday, thou maye&s;t ask the next, Who is he? he is much chang'd in his thoughts.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jonah 4.6, 9.</NOTE> This was true in <HI>Jonah,</HI> who is quickly angry, and quickly pleas'd, and all for a poor Gourd; the herb came up over his head, and he was exceed|ing glad;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 11.5, 6.</NOTE> the &s;ame withers and he is exceeding &s;ad. The I&s;raelites I doubt not were wonderfully plea&s;ed with the &s;treams flowing from the Rock; but being a little &s;traitned for bread and fle&s;h, they murmure, and prefer <HI>Egypt</HI> before their pre&s;ent condition. But to take off this untoward pa&s;&s;ion, or el&s;e to abate it, know we &s;hould, that the condition of our lives is &s;uch, that there are many things that mu&s;t happen to us, while we are in our journey to the cele&s;ti|al <HI>Canaan,</HI> for which we may change our names, and &s;ay with <HI>Naomi, Call me not Naomi,</HI> that is, beautiful, or plea&s;ant; <HI>but call me Marah, for the Al|mighty hath given me much bitterne&s;se,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ruth. 1.20.</NOTE> dealt very bitterly with me. But if we remember withal that this is the work of our Almighty Father to humble us, it may teach us patience, and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion. For to whom do we owe the &s;ub|jection of our &s;pirits but to him, who loads us with benefits, to informe us how ea&s;ily he can be&s;tow them, and take them away, that we may know how little we de&s;erve them?</P>
<P>Upon this ground Saint <HI>Paul learned to want, and to abound;</HI> upon this old <HI>Eli</HI> to be content,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 4.11. 1 Sam. 3.18.</NOTE> <HI>It is the Lord;</HI> that thought quieted his &s;oul, and put to &s;ilence all that might be objected. Were it an enemy, po&s;&s;ible it were to hide our &s;elves from him: Were it the &s;on of man, po&s;&s;ibly &s;ome re&s;i&s;tance might be made again&s;t him; Were it any creature of God, means perhaps might be u&s;ed to redre&s;&s;e our &s;ufferings; but if it be the Lord that doth it, &s;ub|mi&s;&s;ion is our duty, patience our &s;hield. This holy <HI>Job</HI> took, and how many fiery darts did he repul&s;e with it? Satan expected that he &s;hould have cur&s;ed God to his face, and his wife another Satan in his bo&s;ome tried to per&s;wade him to it; but there fell from his lips no other be&s;ides the&s;e gracious words, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed be the name of the Lord:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1.21, 11. Job 2.9, 10.</NOTE> The witne&s;&s;e is true which is there given, <HI>In all this did not Job &s;inne, nor charge God fooli&s;hly.</HI> I conclude this ob&s;ervati|on with that of <HI>Tertullian, Totum licet &s;eculum pereat, dum patientiam lucri|faciam.</HI> Let me lo&s;e all, &s;o I may retaine my patience, for I am &s;ure to be a gainer by it.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> He &s;mote.</HEAD>
<P>And that which may confirme us in our patience, is, that as he brings his people &s;ometimes into want and nece&s;&s;ity, &s;o he knows his time of help and &s;uccour. <HI>I&s;rael</HI> in the De&s;ert &s;hall not peri&s;h for want of a little water; rather than &s;o, he will do a miracle, <HI>He &s;mote the Rock.</HI></P>
<P><HI>He,</HI> &s;aith our P&s;almi&s;t, He &s;mote it, and yet if we look into the &s;tory, we &s;hall finde that it was <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his &s;ervant that gave the blow.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 20.</NOTE> But Almighty God oftentimes ownes tho&s;e actions which are done by his e&s;pecial in&s;tru|ments. If there be an obliquity in them, as was in this, we mu&s;t be charged with that; but the power by which we do ought, proceeds from him; The fault and error is ours, the action as natural is his. And there is rea&s;on for it; For if an in&s;trumental cau&s;e have no power in it &s;elf to produce an effect, but by the vertue of the Principal, e&s;pecially when the in&s;trumental depends upon the principal both for its e&s;&s;ence and ability to work: Let God then have the honour both of the action and effect, &s;o that what is ami&s;&s;e in it, and erroneous, be charged upon his &s;ervant <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> For, if we &s;urvey the &s;tory, finde we &s;hall, that it was he that &s;mote, and not God.</P>
<P><HI>He &s;mote;</HI> And in that he pa&s;&s;eth his Commi&s;&s;ion. He was commanded to &s;peak only to the Rock,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 20.8, 11.</NOTE> and he gave it two blows; he was charged only to call for water, and he would as good as force and pre&s;&s;e it out of the &s;tone.</P>
<PB N="115" REF="63">
<P>The be&s;t of Gods &s;ervants have their imperfections; even <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> that meek man hath his bag of gall, and when it overflows, he goes beyond his Warrant; In this action of his there were the&s;e obliquities.</P>
<P N="1">1. A di&s;tru&s;t of Gods Word and Providence;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 20.12.</NOTE> with that God chargeth him and his brother <HI>Aaron, Ye believed me not.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Then his impatience, <HI>He &s;pake unadvi&s;edly with his lips.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 106.33.</NOTE> This was his &s;aying, <HI>Hear now ye Rebels, &s;hall we being you water out of this Rock? Tantum apud &s;e ceperat indignationis, ut placide Dei mandatum non audiret.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 20.10. <HI>Moller.</HI></NOTE> So angry he grew, that he could not execute Gods command with an even and compo&s;ed Spirit: The he&s;itation of his heart was fault enough; but &s;o far to give way to his pa&s;&s;ion, as to &s;uffer it to break out upon his tongue, heightens the offence. This is, <HI>ac&s;i faetor &s;tomachi aperto ore profundatur,</HI> as if a man &s;hould vomit what offends the &s;tomach at his mouth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mu&s;culus in loc</NOTE> and bring up and out the &s;in that is conceived within.</P>
<P N="3">3. The di&s;honour by this his ra&s;h and unadvi&s;ed over-cholerique expre&s;&s;ion done to God; for thereby his Name was bla&s;phemed, as if <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> rod and blow had done the miracle, and not Gods immediate hand; with this al&s;o God char|geth them, <HI>Ye did not &s;anctifie me in the eyes of the children of I&s;rael.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 20.12.</NOTE> The&s;e were the errors of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and his brother <HI>Aaron;</HI> and the puni&s;hment fol|lows in the &s;ame ver&s;e; <HI>Therefore you &s;hall not bring this Congregation into the Land which I have given them.</HI> And hence we may collect the great|ne&s;&s;e of the offence, that God for it did not &s;pare his choyce&s;t &s;ervant. That we are to make of it, is this.</P>
<P N="1">1. To beware we tran&s;gre&s;&s;e not our Commi&s;&s;ion, and do that for which we have no Warrant. Even actions in their own nature good, change and alter, become &s;tark naught, and offend God in a high degree that cannot be warrant|ed. The &s;elf-&s;ame action, that is commendable in one, is &s;inful in another, being done without a Vocation. To offer &s;acrifice is in it &s;elf good, but it was puni&s;hed in <HI>Saul,</HI> and in <HI>&V;zziah,</HI> becau&s;e they would invade the Prie&s;ts office,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 13.8, 9. 2 Chron. 26.19</NOTE> and for a Scepter take a Cen&s;er. The Sword is allowable in the Superiours hands, not &s;o in <HI>Peters,</HI> for he is commanded to put it up, having no warrant from his Ma&s;ter to draw it. And &s;o mu&s;t all that are in <HI>Peters</HI> ca&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 18.11.</NOTE> keep the &s;word in its place, and never drawn but upon command; for in that place it is cur&s;ed, when otherwi&s;e taken forth. <HI>Ex officio,</HI> upon a warrantable call men, are bound to do what they do; and then again not <HI>exilire limites,</HI> not to tran&s;|gre&s;&s;e their authority.</P>
<P N="2">2. For &s;econdly, we mu&s;t take heed that anger and choler tran&s;port us not, no not in Gods cau&s;e. Zeal doth well, &s;o it be regulated; but mixt with our own pa&s;&s;ions and intere&s;ts, it drives on like <HI>Jehu;</HI> Fury it i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> rather than zeale,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 9.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">0.</NOTE> and God di&s;likes it, nay puni&s;heth it. <HI>Ye know not &s;aith Chri&s;t, of what spi|rit you are;</HI> he would not have his di&s;ciples to be any of the Jewi&s;h zealots. Tho&s;e were to be out of date in the time of the Go&s;pel. True indeed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 9.15.</NOTE> <HI>it is good to be zealous in a good matter,</HI> but the matter mu&s;t be good for &s;ub|&s;tance and circum&s;tance, or el&s;e the zeale is &s;tark naught.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.18.</NOTE> So it was here in <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, <HI>Maxima ill<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cebra peccandi spes impunitatis,</HI> hope of impuni|ty is the &s;tronge&s;t motive to offend; that this fa&s;ten not upon any, &s;ee here <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> the favorite of God not &s;pared; <HI>He &s;mote the Rock,</HI> and he is &s;mit|ten. But what and if this Rock be Chri&s;t? as the Apo&s;tle teacheth us it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.4.</NOTE> then we have a fearful example not to give him a blow; For tho&s;e who &s;mote him, have been &s;mitten ever &s;ince. <HI>Gnammi</HI> they were, but for the blow they gave him, they are become <HI>Lo-gnammi;</HI> of his people, not his people, nay &s;carce a people. To cha&s;ti&s;e one, is to &s;hew mercy to many; &s;ince,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 1.9.</NOTE> though the &s;tripes fall but on one mans back, yet the terror and fear may be upon others.</P>
<PB N="116" REF="64">
<P>And yet here admire the bowels of our heavenly Father, who ever puni&s;h|eth <HI>citra condignum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 34.1.</NOTE> not according to our defers, <HI>but in judgment remem|bers mercy. Mo&s;es</HI> is not pre&s;ently &s;natcht away in anger, but is delayed, and brought to the top of mount <HI>Nebo,</HI> whence he might &s;ee the land, into which he might not enter; and though not into that <HI>Canaan,</HI> yet into that which is above he might. Thus God deals with his &s;ervants, pre&s;ently he takes them not away upon their &s;inne, but delays them, and gives them a time of repen|tance; yea &s;ometimes debars them of their milk and hony, that they may &s;ee and confe&s;&s;e what they have de&s;erved to lo&s;e; yet upon their return, for an earth|ly <HI>Cannan</HI> which they have de&s;erved to lo&s;e, they &s;hall enter into a cele&s;tial, of which that was but a type.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> He &s;mote the Rock.</HEAD>
<P>But now to the Rock I come. A dry, &s;tony Rock, whence a man would ra|ther look for fire than water, e&s;pecially in that Countrey, which for the flinty mountains, is to this day call'd <HI>Arabia</HI> the &s;tony. For be it, that out of great Rocks &s;ally forth &s;tore of lively &s;treames, yet the&s;e rather drill down by the &s;ides of them, than i&s;&s;ue out of the matter and &s;ub&s;tance of them. This was <HI>&egrave; Petra,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 16.</NOTE> <HI>non per Petram,</HI> out of it, not rilling down by and through it. A miracle then here was done, that no man dreamt of a natural cau&s;e; whether it were by conver&s;ion of the &s;ub&s;tance of the Rock into water, or by giving pa&s;|&s;age there to &s;ome river before inclo&s;ed and &s;treaming in the bowels of the earth, I di&s;pute not. A miracle I &s;ay, God to content his people did, and then too, when they had little care to content him.</P>
<P>At this time they were &s;ojourners in the Wilderne&s;&s;e of <HI>Zin,</HI> where they began to mutiny; the mixt multitude began fir&s;t, and the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> followed, as if they meant to obey no longer than their turns were &s;erv'd. Flat Rebels <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> calls them. It repented them of their chang'd e&s;tates, and grieved them to remember tho&s;e lo&s;t delicates, Garlick and Onions, and fle&s;h to boot while they Were in <HI>Egypt:</HI> where they rather contented them&s;elves to be full fed, and beaten after the manner of bea&s;ts, than to &s;uffer a little nece&s;&s;ary want in expectation of the Promi&s;e and freedome of Religion.</P>
<P>What Boanerges would not here call for fire from heaven to con&s;ume them, or an opening of the earth again to &s;wallow them! But behold the tender mercy and long-&s;uffering of God: In &s;tead of fire to con&s;ume, &s;ee here wa|ter to coole their unquiet appetite: In &s;tead of opening to &s;wallow, the earth opens, and that in the harde&s;t part a rock to fill their mouths. To fill I &s;ay, for they might drink their fill, the waters came forth in &s;uch abundance.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> Waters gu&s;hed out, and &s;treams overflowed.</HEAD>
<P>Such was the bounty of God the giver, that he proportions his bounty to their wants. Had &s;ome little rill drain'd out of the Rock, or &s;ome few drops followed upon the &s;troke, the &s;tone might have &s;eemed rather to have &s;weat a little, and di&s;till'd them, than that it had been an act of divine power: And then again they might have doubted that they &s;hould not have enough to quench their thir&s;t. But that nor his power &s;hould be que&s;tion'd, nor his care thought to be le&s;&s;e than their wants, the P&s;almi&s;t &s;aith not that the waters dropt down the Rock, but that there were full &s;pouts of them. They gu&s;hed out, they overflowed.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 20.11.</NOTE> The water came out abundantly, and the Congregation drank, and their bea&s;ts al&s;o.</P>
<P>Saint <HI>Paul</HI> tells us, <HI>that the Rock followed them.</HI> Some of the Jewes take this litterally,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.4.</NOTE> affirming that the Rock became movable, and of its own accord removed whither they removed, and &s;taid &s;till where they re&s;ted. Others th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t
<PB N="117" REF="64"> it became &s;o little, that <HI>Miriam, Mo&s;es</HI> Si&s;ter carried it in her bo&s;ome, that &s;o oft as they plea&s;ed, they might go to her and fetch water: But the&s;e are Jewi&s;h fables. That which is mo&s;t like to truth, is, that the&s;e waters that flowed out of the Rock did not pre&s;ently dry up; but being derived into many rills and &s;treams, accompanied the <HI>I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">raelites</HI> wherever they pitched their Tents, untill they came into another Land of waters, by which they might be &s;upplied. Thus <HI>Tertullian</HI> under&s;tands the words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. de pati|ent. cap. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> and therefore calls it <HI>Petrae aqua<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ilem &s;equelam;</HI> which &s;en&s;e may well be warranted out of the P&s;alme, <HI>He opened the Rock, and the waters gu&s;hed out, &s;o that Rivers ran in dry places.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 105.41.</NOTE></P>
<P>And now give me leave to ask you, <HI>Amici, ad quid veni&s;tis?</HI> my friends, wherefore are you come? only to heare of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> thus plentifully &s;atisfied with water? only to reade a miracle how great &s;treams gu&s;hed out of a Rock? This were to &s;ee other men cooled, and your &s;elves to remain in a flame &s;till. And therefore drink you al&s;o and be &s;atisfied; <HI>for this Rock was Chri&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.4.</NOTE> not in &s;ub&s;tance, but in &s;ignification; and the water that came from thence, a type or &s;hadow of our Saviours blood.</P>
<P>This Rock was &s;mitten, and &s;o was he. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;mote the Rock, and it was the Law that gave him the blow. In <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Rod was the hand of God, and in his &s;ufferings Gods hand was al&s;o;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 1, 12. John 19.34. P&s;alm 130.7.</NOTE> for thus it was done to him in the fiercene&s;s of his wrath. Out of the Rock there gu&s;hed water, and &s;treams o|verflowed; and out of his &s;ide there i&s;&s;ued a flow of water, and a &s;treame of blood, that we might have <HI>Copio&s;am Redemptionem,</HI> not only Redemption, but Redemption in abundance from all the enemies we &s;tood in feare of; from &s;inne, from the grave, from hell, from the devil: Water enough to refre&s;h our thir&s;ty &s;ouls, and blood enough to bath and wa&s;h away our pollutions: Water enough to quench the fire of Hell, and blood enough to deliver us from the power of darkne&s;s.</P>
<P>With one mouth Interpreters after the Apo&s;tle teach us, that this Rock was the Type of Chri&s;t, a Rock that upholds the whole Fabrick of his Church; and he was &s;mitten by the Jews, of whom <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> may be a figure; and up|on the blow he received at his death there &s;prung a fountaine of grace, with which his Church hath been refre&s;hed ever &s;ince. What word is that which hath &s;lipt my mouth <HI>Ever &s;ince?</HI> I mu&s;t recall it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 13.1.</NOTE> for I &s;aid too little of this Fountaine; they that lived before it was opened, as well as we who have lived &s;ince the Water and Blood gu&s;hed out, have been the better for it.</P>
<P>The Covenant made with them and us the &s;ame, the per&s;on in whom it was made the &s;ame; the Sacraments by which it was Sealed in &s;ub&s;tance the &s;ame, the conditions on which it was to be made good the &s;ame, <HI>viz. Re|pentance and Faith,</HI> which had the &s;ame object, <HI>the &s;eed of the woman;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15.22.18.</NOTE> to them foretold, to us performed; &s;o that their faith and ours in this may be &s;aid to differ, That they believed in Chri&s;t to come; we, That he is come. But to return back againe to the Rock, this very place of Saint <HI>Paul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.</NOTE> were there no other, doth &s;ignally &s;hew the concord of the Old and New Sacraments, and con&s;equently, the truth of all I &s;aid.</P>
<P>For the Sacraments of the Old Te&s;tament, circumci&s;ion and the Pa&s;chal Lamb did &s;ignifie Chri&s;t, as well as ours; Theirs ob&s;curely, ours more plain|ly. Of ours there is no que&s;tion; of theirs the Apo&s;tle in this place affirms, <HI>that they all eat the &s;ame &s;piritual meat, and they all drank of the &s;ame &s;pi|ritual drink, which was Chri&s;t;</HI> &s;o that in both Sacraments, Old and New, Chri&s;t mu&s;t be <HI>res &s;ignificata,</HI> the thing &s;ignified. Neither can there be gi|ven any other rea&s;on, why the Holy Gho&s;t doth &s;o fit the Old to the New, and the New to the Old, except on purpo&s;e he intended to &s;hew the mutual
<PB N="118" REF="65"> concordance betwixt the Old and the New in the thing &s;ignified, and the A|greement and Harmony in the u&s;e of both. For as he &s;aith here, <HI>the fathers were baptized;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.11, 12. 1 Cor. 5.7.</NOTE> &s;o el&s;ewhere he &s;aith, <HI>that we were circumci&s;ed; and as they did eat the &s;ame spiritual meat, and drink the &s;ame spiritual drink, &s;o Chri&s;t our Pa&s;&s;eover was &s;acrificed for us.</HI> Why &s;o? except his purpo&s;e had been to informe us that the old Patriarchs had the &s;ame communion with Chri&s;t, which we believe; and that there was one faith, and one Church, both built upon the &s;ame Rock, and both refre&s;hed, clen&s;ed, &s;anctified, and &s;a|tisfied with the &s;ame water.</P>
<P>To come to this Fountain he calls us by his Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah, Ho every one,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 55.1.</NOTE> that is, <HI>that is thir&s;ty, come to the waters and drink.</HI> Thither they that thir&s;ted before us came, and thither we that come after them mu&s;t come, if we meane to cool our heat. Enough there was for them, and enough there is for us; it flows; and if we draw it by a lively faith, a Well it will be in us &s;pringing up to eternal life. <HI>Lord, evermore give us of this water, that we faint not in our greate&s;t thir&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 4.14, 15.</NOTE></P>
<P>And &s;o much be &s;poken of the fir&s;t General; I now come to the &s;econd, for which I made choice of this Ver&s;e; In which I finde the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> to que&s;tion Gods power.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>But can he give bread al&s;o? Can he provide? &amp;c.</HEAD>
<P>A malicious que&s;tion; one would think at the next word they &s;hould ask, <HI>Whether he were?</HI> It being as po&s;&s;ible for God not to be, as not to be Om|nipotent: Not to be their Father, as not to give bread. They then in ef|fect deny the Conclu&s;ion of the Lords prayer, <HI>Thine is the power.</HI> They fall from the fir&s;t Article of our Creed, <HI>I believe in God the Father Al|mighty;</HI> and &s;o do as many who with them ask, <HI>Whether he can give bread, or provide fle&s;h.</HI></P>
<P>And yet &s;uch is the froward nature of man, that the lea&s;t wants prove &s;trong Arguments to per&s;wade him to ill thoughts. If God do not follow the torrent of our humours, then we apprehend him anxious, &s;piteful, or weak; never as a Father, but alwayes as a Judge; &s;eldome bountiful, but for the mo&s;t part clo&s;e-handed. Then we are at the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> Quaere, <HI>Can he do this?</HI> or <HI>Can he do that?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> <HI>Donec Deus homini placuerit, Deus non erit,</HI> God &s;hall be God no longer than he plea&s;eth man.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 36.20.</NOTE>This is a doubt fit to be propo&s;ed by none but a <HI>Rab&s;hekah, Is your God able to deliver you?</HI> And it may receive an An&s;wer from one of his own Nation to one in as de&s;perate a ca&s;e as a man might be, to one in a Lions Den,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 6.16, 22.</NOTE> <HI>The God whom thou &s;erve&s;t, is able to deliver thee;</HI> and deliver him he did, for he &s;ent his Angel, and &s;hut the Lions mouths: The Prophet retur|ning from thence as whole as he de&s;cended thither.</P>
<P>Go to the &s;tocks and &s;tones, the Gods of the Heathen (which indeed were no Gods) and the que&s;tion is proper,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 2.11. I&s;a. 46.1, 2.</NOTE> <HI>What can they? Nebo is fallen, Bel is bowed down; their Idols are upon the bea&s;ts; Gods and all are gone into cap|tivity, they could not deliver.</HI> Go to the Gods of the earth (for &s;uch they are upon Gods e&s;teem,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 82.6.</NOTE> how ba&s;ely &s;oever man thinks of them) and the que|&s;tion is proper againe, <HI>Can they?</HI> One among them acknowledged it; for being &s;ent to cure a &s;ick man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 5.7.</NOTE> <HI>Am I God,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>to kill, and make alive, that this man doth &s;end to me to cure a man <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f his lepro&s;ie?</HI> Mortal Gods they are,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 2.22.</NOTE> <HI>their breath is in their no&s;trils,</HI> and they mu&s;t breath it forth like other men. Their power how great &s;oever, is circum&s;cribed, and they can only do what this power permits them. The Quaere had been right of <HI>Mo&s;es, Can he give bread?</HI> and as true of the Rock, <HI>Can it give water?</HI> or of all other
<PB N="118" REF="65"> creatures, <HI>Can they give, or be food?</HI> But to fa&s;ten it upon the Creatour, <HI>who is able to do what&s;oever he will in heaven and in earth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 135.6, Mat. 4.3. Mark 6.41. 2 Kings 7.2.</NOTE> <HI>that can turn &s;tones in|to bread, and multiply loaves and fi&s;hes, and convert elements into fle&s;h,</HI> is a &s;piteful and malicious que&s;tion, much like his that ask'd, <HI>If God &s;hould make windows in heaven, could &s;uch a thing be?</HI></P>
<P>Though then the&s;e &s;tubborn <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> made a doubt of it, yet never let a|ny good Chri&s;tian move it more. For Gods words are words of power and authority; what&s;oever he calls for, mu&s;t be done without delay.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.3, 6.</NOTE> <HI>Dixit &amp; fa|cta &s;unt.</HI> He calls for famine, and behold famine appears;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 29.17, 18.</NOTE> he calls for plen|ty, and behold plenty crowns the earth; he calls for pe&s;tilence, and behold the plague; he <HI>hi&s;&s;eth for the flie of Egypt, and the Bee of A&s;syria,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 7.18.</NOTE> and they come up, and trouble, and &s;ting a Nation. All men, bea&s;ts, and Angels, are at his beck; they are his creatures, and they mu&s;t obey.</P>
<P>His power you &s;ee; and learn then fir&s;t to &s;ubmit to it; next, never to de|&s;paire in your greate&s;t pre&s;&s;ures. Our feare ari&s;eth both in &s;inne and danger, that we look to our &s;elves, and leave out God: Then we enquire, <HI>Whether he is in the midst of us or no?</HI> Indeed there is &s;ome rea&s;on to &s;u&s;pect it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 17.7.</NOTE> when we look upon our wayes and doings. We live as if there were no over|&s;eer of our actions, no Cen&s;or or Revenger of our mi&s;doings, or manners. If then you would have him be with you, you mu&s;t be with him; if to be with you to &s;ave you, you with him to &s;erve him, with him in your obedience,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chron. 15.2.</NOTE> with him in your prayers, with him in your prai&s;es; it holds reciprocal as in all dutyes of love, God with you, and you with God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 8.14.</NOTE> And if God be with you, you need not feare, for he will be a <HI>Sanctuary;</HI> the avenger of blood &s;hall not overtake you; he is an umbrage, a &s;hadow; the heat of the fiery Trial &s;hall not &s;corch and con&s;ume you. <HI>God</HI> (&s;ay the Phili&s;tims) <HI>is come into the Campe; Wo unto us, wo unto us;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 4.7, 8.</NOTE> <HI>who &s;hall deliver us out of the hands of the&s;e mighty Gods!</HI> The pot of Manna, <HI>Aarons</HI> Rod, the two Tables, &s;ignes only of Gods pre&s;ence, gave courage to <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> occa&s;ion of feare to the enemy; and though at that pre&s;ent he hid his face, yet it was not long but he &s;hewed his power; The head and &s;tump of <HI>Dagon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 5. &amp; 6.</NOTE> the &s;ore di&s;ea&s;e in their Cities, the plague of <HI>Emerods</HI> forced them to &s;end back the Ark with &s;hame and &s;orrow, and confe&s;s that the owner of the Ark was a mighty God indeed.</P>
<P><HI>Feare not then little flock;</HI> for though you be de&s;titute of all outward help, yet his promi&s;e we have, <HI>that he will be with us to the end of the world;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.32. Mat. 28 20. Rom. 8.31. John 18.5. I&s;a. 7 4.</NOTE> <HI>and if he be with us, what matter is it who be again&s;t us?</HI> As if he alone with one <HI>Ego &s;um,</HI> one word of his mouth, could not blow them all down, could not make them all, as the tailes of a couple of fire-brands that &s;moke a little, &s;pend them&s;elves, and &s;o go out. Nay, nay, if he be with us, we need not fear what the&s;e two, nay, what all the fire-brands of hell can do a|gain&s;t us.</P>
<P>And &s;ure it is, that the Saints of God have taken great courage and com|fort from the a&s;&s;urance of Gods pre&s;ence with them. <HI>Go,</HI> &s;aith <HI>E&s;ay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 8.10.</NOTE> <HI>take your coun&s;el, but it &s;hall be brought to naught; pronounce a Decree, but it &s;hall not &s;tand, for God is with us.</HI> And upon this confidence the Apo&s;tle enters into the li&s;ts, as it were, with his gho&s;tly enemies, and gives a chal|lenge to them all, <HI>to heights, to depths, to things pre&s;ent, to things to come,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.37, 38, 39.</NOTE> <HI>to all;</HI> profe&s;&s;ing, <HI>that none of them &s;hould be able to &s;eparate him from the love of God, &amp;c.</HI> And this out of an a&s;&s;urance that God was with him; in who&s;e power he was fully per&s;waded not only to conquer, but <GAP DESC="foreign"> to be more than a Conquerour.</P>
<P>Split not then your faith upon this Rock, <HI>Can he?</HI> for he both can and will give, if you tru&s;t to him, what &s;hall be for your good. <HI>Si non ad volun|tatem,
<PB N="120" REF="66"> tamen ad &s;alutem,</HI> If not to your minde, yet to your eternal &s;alvati|on, and let that content you. Though God afflict his people, and long de|lay his people to &s;hew them any comfort, yet at la&s;t he will clear up all, and &s;hew him&s;elf in as kind words as <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> did to his brethren, <HI>It is I, I your brother Jo&s;eph, that hath impri&s;oned you, be not afraid.</HI> It is I, your Father Almighty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen 45.4, 5. John 14.1.</NOTE> that hath afflicted you, brought you into di&s;tre&s;s and want, <HI>l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t not your heart be troubled.</HI> Never ask with the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> the &s;econd que&s;tion,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Can he provide?</HEAD>
<P>Propo&s;e this que&s;tion to the Lillies, propo&s;e it to the fowles of the Aire, and the bea&s;ts of the earth. Ask the Lillies of the field how they come by their glory, the young Ravens how they come by their meat, the Lions how they come by their prey. The an&s;wer will quickly be return'd, <HI>Deus provi|dit,</HI> God hath provided for them their rich attire, God hath provided for them &s;everal nouri&s;hments. Whence Providence is repre&s;ented to us in the <HI>Medals</HI> of <HI>Probus,</HI> by a Lady in a rich Robe, bearing in her right hand a Scepter, in her left a Cornucopia, re&s;ting her &s;elf upon the Globe of the earth. His meaning was, That the eye of Providence with one hand guided, and with the other be&s;tow'd her gifts, and in that various manner, as the earth and creatures in it had need of.</P>
<P>For man then endued with rea&s;on, to ask, <HI>Can he provide?</HI> is to de&s;cend a &s;tep below the Creatures, or at lea&s;t not to con&s;ider what his provi&s;ion is for them. To them it is that our Saviour &s;ends us. A Sermon he preacheth on this Common place,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mat. 6.</HI> &agrave; <HI>25.</HI> ad finem cap.</NOTE> that for Gods care for them, our heart be not di&s;quiet|ed. <HI>Shall not he who cloaths the Lillies of the field in more various and more curious colours than ever Solomon carried in Robes, much more cloath you, O ye of little faith?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 38.41. P&s;al. 147.9. <HI>Gregor.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Shall not he who feeds the young Ravens that call upon him, give meat to man, to whom he hath given a tongue to call in &s;obriety and mode&s;ty? Qui diem dedit, non dabit quae in diem nece&s;&s;aria?</HI> He that hath given the day, &s;hall not he give nece&s;&s;aries for the day? Therefore be not in &s;u&s;pence, or over thoughtful, &s;aying, What &s;hall we eat, or what &s;hall we drink? where &s;hall we have bread, or where &s;hall we have fle&s;h, or how &s;hall we come by water in this dry Wilderne&s;s? for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all the&s;e things. Go on, and pray, and labour in an hone&s;t Vocation, and never doubt of his providence. Be not &s;o ba&s;e-minded as to think, that he who be&s;tows &s;uch liber<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l gifts, and provides &s;uch large &s;u&s;tenance for all other creatures, will eave man (the Lord of the&s;e) negle|cted, as if he were the only creature in di&s;grace and contempt with his Maker. Is not the life of man (their Lord and King) worth ten thou&s;and of theirs? Had men acquired but as much Religion, reliance, and dependance on God, after &s;o much preaching the Go&s;pel, as nature teacheth the young Ravens af|ter they are hatcht, the <HI>Mammoni&s;h</HI> Idol would &s;oon fall, and all tho&s;e jealous trayterous feares that betray us to the world, and in&s;tead thereof a cheerful and comfortable dependance on heaven would be erected with an o|bedient &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to, and pro&s;ecution of the meanes he directs; and then <HI>if we peri&s;h,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ther 4.16.</NOTE> <HI>we peri&s;h;</HI> which yet we need not &s;u&s;pect, &s;ince we have his Word and promi&s;e for it that needful things &s;hall not be wanting.</P>
<P>Take no thought then for to morrow, becau&s;e the time to come, for which we de&s;ire to lay in before hand, will be able when it comes, to take care and make provi&s;ion for it &s;elf.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 16.19.</NOTE> Your heavenly Father that provided Manna for this day, will cau&s;e it to fall to morrow. Every day it de&s;cends; on the pro|per day then go out to gather it. The &s;ame providence of God which hath brought you in a pre&s;ent &s;tore, will (upon your labour and indu&s;try which
<PB N="121" REF="66"> mu&s;t be &s;ub&s;ervient to his providence) be ready to do the like for the remain|der of your lives. The trouble, the labour, and &s;weat that belongs to every day for the maintenance of it &s;elf, is &s;ufficient for that one day; it were but folly to load it with the burden and toyle of another, and &s;o lay a double weight upon it, to provide for it &s;elf, and the next al&s;o, which may divert us from the duties of piety to the&s;e ba&s;er and inferiour drudgeries.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Bread and Fle&s;h, Can he provide bread and fle&s;h al&s;o?</HEAD>
<P>For when all's done, all this toyle, all this labour, all this carking care is for little more th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n for what the&s;e <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> here longed for, <HI>Bread and fle&s;h.</HI> No great matter certainly, and yet for this they murmur, about this they mourn. They fir&s;t wanted water, now bread, and fle&s;h to their bread. Be|fore this they had Quailes &s;ent them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 16.13.</NOTE> and eat till it came out at their No|&s;trils; <HI>u&s;&abque; ad vomitum,</HI> ti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l they &s;pued it up againe: At this time they had Manna, bread from heaven to &s;u&s;taine them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 16.20. Num. 11.6. Exod. 12.38.</NOTE> but that (which was able to con|tent every mans delight, and was agreeable to every ta&s;te) was in their e|&s;teem but light bread. <HI>There is,</HI> &s;ay they, <HI>nothing but this Manna before our eyes.</HI> Be&s;ides they had &s;tore of Herds and Cattle which they brought out of <HI>Egypt;</HI> wherefore then did they yet lu&s;t? wherefore did they yet murmur? Doubtle&s;s out of that extravagant de&s;ire of man, who never thinks him&s;elf well dealt with, except God be&s;tows upon him over and above his nece&s;&s;a|ries, &s;omewhat to revel and riot in exce&s;s.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 11.4.</NOTE> And this appears out of their own words, <HI>Who &s;hall give us fle&s;h to eat? we remember the fle&s;h that we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, melons, and the leeks, and the onyons and garlick; we then had meat and variety of &s;auces, but now our &s;oul is dryed away; there is nothing at all but this Manna before our eyes;</HI> a little light bread, one and the &s;ame di&s;h, and that continually, day after day; and who would not loath to be thus dyeted?</P>
<P>But <HI>I&s;rael</HI> might have remembred, and we with them, that bread and fle&s;h were ordained for nouri&s;hment, and not meerly to plea&s;e the palate; to re|paire the decayes of nature, and not to pamper it. God hath not given to man the gullet of a Crane, which the Glutton <HI>Philoxenus</HI> wi&s;hed for, but a &s;horter pa&s;&s;age, that he &s;hould quickly chew and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">et down his meat, and not melt it into plea&s;ure upon his tongue. This is lu&s;t and wantonne&s;s, no act of temperance, with which God here chargeth <HI>I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 78.30.</NOTE> <HI>They were not e&s;tranged from their lu&s;ts.</HI> Lu&s;t then it was in them that cau&s;ed this murmur; and though there were over and above for their nece&s;&s;ities, yet there was not enough for their lu&s;ts.</P>
<P>Now when our de&s;ires thus degenerate, they provoke God to plague us with &s;undry kindes of di&s;ea&s;es, as it did him to puni&s;h this murmuring peo|ple, that had the&s;e dainties with a ve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">geance; for while the meat was yet in their mouths, the heavy wrath of God was yet upon them; <HI>and he &s;lew the Wealthiest of them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 31.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;mote down the Cho&s;en Men that were in I&s;rael.</HI></P>
<P>Learn then hence we may, to bottome our de&s;ires, not upon lu&s;t but rea|&s;on; to beg of our God what nature requires (which is not much) not what our appetite &s;ugge&s;ts. Let us be &s;ober in asking, &s;ober in u&s;ing; for &s;obriety is a kinde of progre&s;s and &s;tep to other vertues. It alwayes teacheth a man to be content with what he hath,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 4.11. 1 Tim. 6 8. Heb. 13.5.</NOTE> and not to urge God farther than he is content to be&s;tow: And he that thinks otherwi&s;e, let him con&s;ider in what relation he &s;tands to God, that he is one of his people, a Title that <HI>I&s;ra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l</HI> in their greate&s;t murmur would not omit. His people they would needs be for all that.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="122" REF="67">2 But before I come to their Claime, I will give you one note more which heightens their &s;inne.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ve&s;e 18.</NOTE> At <HI>ver.</HI> 18. we read that <HI>they tempted God,</HI> and of this temptation we have a manife&s;t in the next; <HI>They spake again&s;t God, &s;aying, Can God prepare a table in the wilderne&s;&s;e?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 19.</NOTE> A Table, 'twas dainties you may &s;ee they would have, and their impiety proceeded &s;o far, that what was in their heart, floated upon their tongue. They fir&s;t thought, then &s;pake it openly, im|pudently, <HI>Can he?</HI></P>
<P>But about this temptation Interpreters are divided; for &s;ome expound it of his power, others of his will, <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> conceives that they doubted of his power, as if they had &s;aid <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. it is ea&s;ie and facile for him to cau&s;e water, which is hid in the bowels and caverns of the earth to i&s;&s;ue out of any rock. No great wonder this, of which it is po&s;&s;ible to give many in&s;tan|ces. But to give bread, the materials of which mu&s;t have time to grow, and to bring fle&s;h, which &s;tarts not from the ground in an in&s;tant, this we doubt whe|ther he can do or no? E&s;pecially in &s;uch a place, in a De&s;ert, where there is nothing but penury; E&s;pecially in &s;uch a quantity, as might &s;atisfie &s;uch a mul|titude.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 11.21.</NOTE> Hear what <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;aith, <HI>The people are &s;ix hundred thou&s;and foot|men, and thou ha&s;t &s;aid I will give them fle&s;h that they may eate a whole moneth. Shall the flocks and herds be &s;laine for them to &s;uffice them? or &s;hall all the fi&s;h of the Sea be gathered together for them to &s;uffice them?</HI> To which the Lord returns this an&s;wer; <HI>Is the Lords hand waxed &s;hort?</HI> which is an evidence, how gro&s;&s;e &s;oever the temptation &s;eemes, that yet they doubted of his power.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mu&s;culus. Mollerus.</NOTE>And yet &s;ome Modern Interpreters encline rather to think that they doubt|ed of his will. As if they had &s;aid, we confe&s;&s;e indeed that he brought waters for us out of the Rock; but we may well doubt whether he will give us bread and fle&s;h,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 1.27.</NOTE> for he bears us no good will at all; He hates us. Such was their dif|fidence. Of what kinde this temptation was, whether of the fir&s;t &s;ort, or the la&s;t, or both, I will not contend; this I am &s;ure, to have an experiment of one or both, they de&s;ired.</P>
<P>So that this temptation &s;eemes to me to be very like that of the evil and adulterous generation that came to Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 12.38.</NOTE> and &s;aid, <HI>Ma&s;ter, we would &s;ee a &s;ign from heaven.</HI> Signs they had &s;een enough before, miracle after mira|cle, a dumb man cured in his tongue, a blinde man in his eyes. So had the&s;e men &s;eene a &s;ign before, water flowing out of a Rock, that I name not all the wonders in <HI>Egypt,</HI> and the miracles ever &s;ince: Tho&s;e yet would have a &s;igne from heaven, and &s;o would the&s;e, bread on a &s;udden rained from thence, and fle&s;h to de&s;cend out of the aire, or el&s;e nothing would content them.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 3.2.</NOTE>What &s;hall we &s;ay to this? but as the Apo&s;tle doth, <HI>all men have not faith.</HI> God &s;ent his Patriarchs, and found not faith; his Prophets, and found not faith; la&s;t of all his Son approv'd to the world by great works, wonders, and &s;ignes, yet found no faith, <HI>And when the Son of man comes, &s;hall he finde faith on the earth?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.8.</NOTE> A man would judge, that the time of his coming cannot be far off, &s;ince faith hath taken her wing, and left the&s;e lower regions. Sure the mo&s;t men beleeve not that the pre&s;ence of God is over their actions, they &s;peak &s;o loftily,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 52.1. and 94.20.</NOTE> and encourage them&s;elves in mi&s;chief. They b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">leeve not their Fathers providence, they tru&s;t &s;o much to their own wits and arme of fle&s;h in provi&s;ion for them&s;elves. They beleeve not his power, they &s;o little leane to him, and rely upon him in their di&s;tre&s;&s;es.</P>
<P>Of you, my brethren, I hope better things, and that I &s;hall not need to exhort you, that you &s;peak not again&s;t God, that you never aske <HI>Can he,</HI> or <HI>Can he?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 12.22.</NOTE> For I pre&s;ume that you beleeve he Can, and I hope you are per&s;waded of his good will al&s;o, that he never will for&s;ake his people. Beleeve his Word that is already written; beleeve the Miracles written in that Word; &s;eek not
<PB N="123" REF="67"> after new and airy &s;ignes; run not after new and &s;trange lights, here is enough to ground your faith, to confirme your faith, to crown your faith. Happy are they who are of the number of his people.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> For his People.</HEAD>
<P>From this hold <HI>I&s;rael</HI> would not be beaten; even in their highe&s;t rebellion they thought them&s;elves the people of the Lord.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 16.</NOTE> They that the earth &s;wallow|ed, were for&s;ooth the people of the Lord. Nothing more frequent in their mouths than <HI>the people of the Lord, the people of the Lord.</HI> But whether they were truly &s;uch or no, let <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> be heard to &s;peak, for he knew them better than any man. <HI>'Tis a fooli&s;h and unwi&s;e people</HI> &s;aith he.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.6. Exod. 32.22 Exod. 33.3. Exod. 32.7.</NOTE> And his bro|ther <HI>Aaron</HI> &s;econds him, <HI>'tis</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>a people &s;et u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">on mi&s;chief;</HI> and if their word may not be taken, God him&s;elf I hope may be beleeved, who calls them <HI>a people of a &s;tiffe neck: Mo&s;es</HI> people, and not his, after their Idola|try. <HI>Go, get thee down, for thy people, whom thou ha&s;t brought out of the Land of Egypt have corrupted them&s;elves.</HI> And yet notwith&s;tanding all their folly, foolery, mi&s;chief, &s;tiffne&s;&s;e, no nay but they would be his people &s;till.</P>
<P>Not this people only, but all other is a &s;trange creature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 19.10.</NOTE> whether they rebel again&s;t heaven or not; whether they obey God, or obey him not, pull down his Altars, kill his Prie&s;ts, <HI>&s;lay his Prophets with the edge of the &s;word,</HI> yet angry they will be if any man &s;ay, that they are not Gods people, they not the godly, they not the Saints, they not the meek on earth! But as our Saviour told the Jews, <HI>If you were the children of Abraham,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 8.39.</NOTE> <HI>you would do the works of Abraham;</HI> &s;o al&s;o I &s;ay to &s;uch, if they were the people of God, they would do the works of Gods people.</P>
<P>Is it for any of Gods people to murmure again&s;t <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron,</HI> to tell them, when they do their duty, <HI>they take too much upon them?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 16.3. 1 Sam. 2.13, 14 Rev. 12. <HI>&agrave;</HI> 1. <HI>ad</HI> 7.</NOTE> Is it for any of Gods people to take a fle&s;h-hook in his hand, and fa&s;ten it to the con&s;ecra|ted thing, and look what ever comes up, to take it for his own? Is it for any of Gods people to drive the woman clothed with the Sun into the Wilderne&s;s, and to &s;tand by till &s;he be delivered, and devour her children?<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 13.33. I&s;a. 58.4.</NOTE> Is it for any of Gods people to make the lowe&s;t of the people Prie&s;ts to the mo&s;t high? Is it for any of Gods people to fa&s;t, <HI>that they &s;mite with the fist of iniquity,</HI> to &s;eize upon mens inheritances, to drive them from their habitations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 9 <HI>&agrave;</HI> 4 <HI>ad</HI> 9. &amp; 7.9.</NOTE> to op|pre&s;&s;e, to defraud, to di&s;&s;emble, to &s;wear fal&s;ly, by right or wrong to acquire po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ions?</P>
<P><HI>Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgement.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 7.24.</NOTE> Either forbear the&s;e works, or give over the Title; <GAP DESC="foreign">, a bare name is but a boa&s;ting and lying witne&s;&s;e; For to &s;uch God will &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 1.9.</NOTE> as he did to <HI>I&s;ra|el,</HI> when he did revolt, <HI>Call his name Lo-ammi, far ye are not my people, neither will I be your God.</HI> And upon this they &s;hall want bread and fle&s;h;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 12.27. P&s;al. 69.22. Hab. 2.9, 10, 11.</NOTE> want it I &s;ay; for they &s;hall want content. <HI>For the wicked &s;hall not roa&s;t what he got in hunting.</HI> While the meat is yet in their mouths, the heavie wrath of God &s;hall fall upon them. <HI>Their very table &s;hall be a &s;nare.</HI> Hear what God hath &s;aid by his Prophet <HI>Habakkuk; Wo to him that coveteth an evil co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e to his hou&s;e, that he may &s;et his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil. Thou ha&s;t con&s;ulted &s;hame to thy hou&s;e, by cutting of many people, and ha&s;t &s;inned again&s;t thy &s;oul;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">12.15.18.</NOTE> <HI>For the &s;tone &s;hall cry out of the wall, and the beame out of the timber &s;hall an&s;wer it.</HI> And yet there is another Woe, and another, and another, and the&s;e woes mu&s;t come; <HI>for the mouth of the Lord hath &s;poken it.</HI></P>
<P>Boa&s;t not then of the bare Name, without the properties that belong to it.
<PB N="124" REF="68"> This title ought to be operative, quick, and lively; and impo&s;es a Duty, nay many Duties. The people of the Lord ought to be obedient to their Lord, to &s;erve their Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 12.30.</NOTE> to fear their Lord, to love their Lord with all their &s;oul, with all their heart, with all their &s;trength; to &s;ubmit to his command, to re&s;igne them&s;elves to his will and wi&s;dome, to beleeve him, and to rely upon him. The&s;e Duties being done, or endeavoured to be done, will ju&s;tly entitle us to the Name, really &s;hew we are of that People and Society, who live under that law by which his People are to be guided.</P>
<P>Which being ob&s;erv'd, then there is no doubt, but as he can, &s;o al&s;o he will give meat; he can and will provide fle&s;h. For the Lions, a ravenous bea&s;t, do lack and &s;uffer hunger;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34.10.</NOTE> <HI>but they that fear the Lord &s;hall want no manner of thing that is good.</HI> Behold what comfortable words he hath left upon record! <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 46.3, 4. <HI>Hearken to me O <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ou&s;e of Jacob, and all the remnant of the hou&s;e of I&s;rael, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 46.3, 4</NOTE> <HI>And even to your old age I am he, and even to hoar haires I will carry you, and I will deliver you.</HI> There is bread, and there is the &s;taffe of bread. By bread a man lives not alone; that it be a &s;taffe and a &s;tay to us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 26.26. P&s;al. 105.16. Ezek. 14.13.</NOTE> upon which we may leane from the womb to our old age, his a&s;&s;i&s;tance mu&s;t be &s;ought. His ble&s;&s;ing mu&s;t come to our bread, or it will never nouri&s;h.</P>
<P>Do then your duty, and he will performe his promi&s;e. <HI>He that hath given us his Son, that living bread that came down from heaven, how &s;hall he not with him give us all things?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 6.51, 58. Rom. 8.32.</NOTE> All things nece&s;&s;ary for our pilgrimage, while we travel through the De&s;erts of this world, and all things that are ne|ce&s;&s;ary in our way to the cele&s;tial <HI>Canaan;</HI> which is not a Land flowing with Milk and Honey, but with &s;uch plea&s;ures, that nor <HI>eare hath heard, nor eye hath &s;eene,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.9.</NOTE> <HI>neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive.</HI> Be then truly of his people, and be&s;ides his ble&s;&s;ing here, you &s;hall not want tho&s;e there. The&s;e are re&s;erved for his, of which number if you be, you &s;hall be happy.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>That God the Father Almighty is to be &s;erved.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Jo&s;hua 24.15.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But as for me, I and my hou&s;e will &s;erve the Lord.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THe re&s;olutions of a dying man are mo&s;t weighty, and of mo&s;t regard: Be|cau&s;e however the heart of man being deceitful above all things, may in the time of youth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer 17.9. 1 Sam. 28.14.</NOTE> health, and pro&s;perity, put on <HI>Samuels</HI> mantle, and act a part: yet when it draws toward the <HI>Exit,</HI> at the &s;ight of Gods Tribunal, off the the mantle goes, and it di&s;covers it &s;elf barely and really to the view of man.</P>
<P><HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> was now old, and going the way of all fle&s;h, he had acted fairly all his life, and being now come near the <HI>Plaudite,</HI> he calls the Elders, the Heads, the Officers of all <HI>I&s;rael</HI> together to hear the Epilogue: He acquaints them what God had done for them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 14.</NOTE> and therefore mindes them what they were to do for God; To fear him, to &s;erve him in &s;incerity and truth, and not to &s;erve any other God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 2.</NOTE> Not the God that <HI>Terah</HI> and <HI>Nahor</HI> &s;erved in old time on the o|ther &s;ide of the flood,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 15.</NOTE> nor yet the Egyptian, nor any Amoriti&s;h Idol. And if this good coun&s;el &s;hould &s;eeme evil to them, by a bitter Sarca&s;me he puts them to their choice; <HI>Choo&s;e you this day whom you will &s;erve, whether the Tera|phims,
<PB N="125" REF="68"> your fathers gods, or Jehovah the God of your fathers: whether the gods of the Amorites in who&s;e land ye dwell, or the God of heaven who gave you their land to dwell in.</HI></P>
<P>However, &s;hould you be &s;o impious and &s;otti&s;h to make an ill choice; yet be it known to you, that not I, nor any of mine will do it. Shake off your yoke you may, and &s;erve what &s;tock or &s;tone you plea&s;e; <HI>But as for me, I and my hou&s;e will &s;erve the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>In this pious re&s;olution there is not a word, which is not <HI>verbum vigilans;</HI> and it were an argument then of too much &s;loth, to be either drow&s;ie or a&s;leep when they are recited. Or if you had rather apt and fit words; for they will make your faith Practical; and to that purpo&s;e I have cho&s;en them, that you may &s;erve that God whom you beleeve to be your Father, whom you confe&s;&s;e to be Omnipotent, and maker of all things. <HI>Solomon</HI> tells us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 25.11.</NOTE> that &s;uch words are &s;poken upon their wheeles, and then in their turning they will turne to us one good le&s;&s;on or other. That then the&s;e wheeles turne not too fa&s;t, and &s;o the le&s;&s;on be turned away too, I will endeavour thus to &s;tay them. For <HI>&s;ufflami|nandus e&s;t no&s;ter Jo&s;hua,</HI> this our <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> is to be trigg'd. Let then the fir&s;t &s;top be.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. At <HI>But,</HI> the Adver&s;ative particle.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The &s;econd at the chief per&s;on. <HI>I,</HI> that noble <HI>Jo&s;hua.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The third at his family or hou&s;hold. <HI>Domus mea.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The fourth at that which unties them, the copulative, <HI>&amp;, I and my hou&s;e.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>5. The fifth at the Act upon which the maine weight lies, <HI>I and my hou&s;e will &s;erve.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>6. The la&s;t at the object of his &s;ervice, <HI>The Lord.</HI> Without which <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> and his hou&s;e might have little thanks for his labour.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>The &s;peech then, though very compendious, is exceeding rich; and that you view and prize it as you ought, and being it into practice, I will more fully open unto you the particulars.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> But as for me.</HEAD>
<P>And here we mu&s;t make the fir&s;t pau&s;e; for <HI>But is particula adver&s;ativa,</HI> ever a note of di&s;cretion, or el&s;e di&s;tinction, and advi&s;eth us to put a difference betwixt per&s;on and per&s;on, thing and thing; &s;omewhat that is &s;aid or done be|fore, and &s;omewhat that is to follow after. It doth &s;o here; notice out to us a manife&s;t re&s;olution in <HI>Jo&s;hua,</HI> in ca&s;e the I&s;raelites &s;hould revolt from God, not to be like them. Po&s;&s;ible it was, that they and their po&s;terity might fall away from the true &s;ervice of God, as indeed they did; But he and his would never do it. Let them run their own cour&s;e, another way he was re&s;olved to take. They theirs, He his. That way they, <HI>But as for me and my hou&s;e, we will &s;erve the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Yea, but what folly was this in a wi&s;e man, and what want of policy? What, one <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> wi&s;er than a whole Nation? What one &s;ingle tribe or family more preci&s;e than a whole State? Yea, than the whole world, when it leaves the world to &s;erve God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 111.10. Prov. 1.7. &amp; 15.13. Rom. 1.30. Matth. 7.14. 1 Kings 9.10. &amp; 12.28. 2 Sam. 22.24.</NOTE> <HI>For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wi&s;|dome;</HI> with that a man mu&s;t begin, or el&s;e they may be witty, but never wi&s;e. Witty to finde out many inventions, not &s;o wi&s;e to follow <GAP DESC="foreign">, the beaten, but &s;trait and narrow way that leads to life. The broad is not the way to heaven, and yet in it mo&s;t run; But he that leaves it, and turnes from it to the &s;trait, is wi&s;er than a whole Nation.</P>
<P>Who had the wit, <HI>Eliah,</HI> or the ten Tribes, when he &s;tuck to God, and they revolted to <HI>Baal?</HI> Who wi&s;er, <HI>Jeroboam</HI> that &s;et up his Calves, or <HI>David,</HI> who &s;erved his God with an upright heart? Who was the greater Politique, <HI>Noah,</HI>
<PB N="126" REF="69"> or the whole world? they who peri&s;hed, or he who was &s;aved in the Ark? The <HI>Sodomites</HI> that were burnt up, or <HI>Lot</HI> that was one of the ten righteous per&s;ons in tho&s;e wicked Cities? Let the matter then be well examin'd, and Religion will be found to be the be&s;t policy; and con&s;tancy in and to the Truth, the &s;tronge&s;t foundation for &s;ecurity, peace, and pro&s;perity.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.33.</NOTE>Saint <HI>Peters</HI> re&s;olution then was very commendable, <HI>Although all men &s;hall for&s;ake thee, yet will not I;</HI> of which minde the re&s;t of his fellows were, for likewi&s;e &s;aid they all. For let it be granted, that out of weakne&s;s they &s;tood not to it when the time came, yet their purpo&s;e was prai&s;e-worthy. Now the &s;ame minde ought to be in every one of Chri&s;ts followers, never to fol|low a multitude to do evil,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 23.2.</NOTE> but to be re&s;olute in the old and good way, firm|ly re&s;olving within him&s;elf, Though all men for&s;ake the truth, and wor&s;hip their own imaginations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 49.6. P&s;alm 26.8.</NOTE> yet will not I. <HI>My &s;oul &s;hall not come into their &s;ecr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t, nor to their a&s;sembly mine honour &s;hall not be united. My foot &s;tandeth right, I will prai&s;e the Lord in the great Congregation.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.9, 13.</NOTE>Be it, that for this thou be e&s;teemed <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the off-&s;couring of the world, a spectacle to men and Angels;</HI> be it that thou be the mu&s;ick of a prophane eare, and hooted at as &s;ome &s;trange thing. Be it, that they which &s;it in the gate &s;peak again&s;t thee, e&s;teem'd as Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> a pe&s;tilent fellow,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 69.12. Acts 24 5. 1 Kings 17.18. Luke 9.62. Job 31.36. Rev. 3.16. Tit. 2.14. Ephe&s;. 5.15. Matth. 5.29. I&s;a. 58. Matth. 11.12. Jer. 15.19. Ephe&s;. 2.2. 1 Peter 4.2. Rom. 12.2.</NOTE> or as <HI>Elijah,</HI> a troubler of <HI>I&s;rael;</HI> yet having <HI>put thy hand to the Plough, look not back,</HI> but hold it thy greate&s;t honour to be dignified and &s;tiled with <HI>Jo&s;hua, Servus Domini,</HI> Ver&s;e 29. <HI>The Servant of the Lord.</HI> Binde it as a Crown to thy head, to be &s;ingled out for a good man, and to make con&s;cience of tho&s;e duties which other men never &s;hrink at, or think on; as to be hot in Religion; <HI>to be zealous in good works; to walk circum|spectly; to pluck out the right eye; to make the Sabbath a delight; to take heaven by force.</HI> For God exacts in his children an excellency beyond other men, and that they hold a &s;trange counter-motion to the cour&s;es of the World; They are the precious &s;eparated from the vile; and therefore mu&s;t differ from the cour&s;e of this World, <HI>from the lu&s;ts of men, and from the corrupti|on of the times.</HI></P>
<P>Chri&s;tians ought to be men of &s;ingularity; &s;ingular I &s;ay in holine&s;s, in purity, in charity, in meekne&s;s, peace, humility, but not in faction, &s;chi&s;m, and furious zeale. And here the coun&s;el of Saint <HI>Paul</HI> is of &s;ingular u&s;e, <HI>It is good to be zealou&s;ly affected in a good matter.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.18.</NOTE> The thing mu&s;t be good, or el&s;e the zeale will be &s;tark naught.</P>
<P>Now zealots there be too many; who, let authority command what it may lawfully, &s;tart a&s;ide with rebellious <HI>Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ah,</HI> and cry, <HI>We will not come up.</HI> God forbid that we &s;hould obey man.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 16.12.</NOTE> <HI>Ego &amp; domus mea &s;erviemus D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mi|no.</HI> Live and dye we will, that's &s;ure, with a cleare con&s;cience. But Sci|ence is the ground of con&s;cience; and if that knowledge may be nick-na|med, and &s;o no knowledge, indeed much more may con&s;cience, which ap|plieth that knowledge to particular acts.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.20.</NOTE> A polluted and defiled con&s;cience there is, which begets a vaine and defiled Religion. There is <HI>A&s;inina con|&s;cientia;</HI> there is <HI>Lupina.</HI> The con&s;cience of the A&s;s, and the con&s;cience of the Wolf. A con&s;cience &s;o &s;imple, that it will &s;traine at a gnat, make a &s;cruple at every thing indifferent in it &s;elf, e&s;pecially if commanded by a Su|periour. Then there is will-wor&s;hip, or el&s;e &s;uper&s;tition, or I know not what in it; away with it; others may, but I will not come neare it. By the help of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 4.19. Judges 8.33.9.4. 1 King. 12.28. Dan. 3.5. Mat. 26.15.</NOTE> <HI>I and my hou&s;e will &s;erve the Lord.</HI> The Lord, and not man; <HI>for whether it be fit to obey God or man, judge ye.</HI> Another con|&s;cience there is, that no Wolves Throat is wider; any thing enjoyn'd, be it right or wrong, will down with it. The wor&s;hip of <HI>Baalberith,</HI> the Calves in <HI>Dan</HI> and <HI>Bethel, Nebuchadnezzars</HI> golden Image, <HI>Judas</HI>'s thirty pieces
<PB N="127" REF="69"> of &s;ilver, the Phari&s;ees <HI>Corban,</HI> what you will &s;hall be &s;wallowed.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 7.11.</NOTE> And here indeed, and none but here, is the right Application of this Text, and this example; that, command who will, upon a certaine evidence of con&s;ci|ence that God commands otherwi&s;e, refu&s;e we may, nay mu&s;t; For <HI>Si ali|ud Deus, aliud imperator ju&s;serit, contempto hoc, obtemperandum e&s;t Deo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> If God commands one thing, and the Emperour the flat contrary, we mu&s;t de&s;pi&s;e man, and obey God.</P>
<P>And &s;uch was this pre&s;ent ca&s;e, not a di&s;pute of Rites and Ceremonies, not a matter of decency and order, of Unity and Uniformity in the wor&s;hip of God; but in effect whether <HI>Jehovah</HI> &s;hould be God; and as God wor&s;hip|ped, or the Idols of the <HI>Amorites</HI> be &s;et up. Now in &s;uch a ca&s;e not to be &s;tout and zealous, were either flat Apo&s;tacy, or at be&s;t Neutrality. Both impieties that God hates. <HI>Jo&s;huah</HI> in &s;uch a ca&s;e was too &s;tout to yield. A party he &s;hew'd him&s;elf, being zealou&s;ly bent to &s;tand it out &s;ingle, yea, though it were again&s;t all <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> De&s;ert me if you will, choo&s;e another God if you plea&s;e; re&s;olv'd I am, that the Lord of heaven &s;hall be my God. Come on't what will, <HI>I will &s;erve him.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> But as for me. I, Ego.</HEAD>
<P>As I am the fir&s;t man in the State, and the chiefe&s;t man in my family, &s;o I'le be the formo&s;t man in the &s;ervice. And will you mark me one thing by the way? and mark it you &s;hall do well; for it is almo&s;t a miracle, that <HI>Ego</HI> &s;hould meet together with <HI>Serviam.</HI> For it is a wonder that &s;o great a per|&s;on, and &s;uch a duty &s;hould ki&s;s each other. U&s;ual it is not with &s;uch an <HI>I per &s;e</HI> I as <HI>Jo&s;huah,</HI> &s;uch a Grandee, &s;o Valiant a Captaine, &s;o mighty a Ge|neral and Conquerour, to entertaine a thought of this &s;ervice. They, with the great <HI>Alexander</HI> will be Gods them&s;elves;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Arrian, Sueton, Tacit.</NOTE> or with the Romane <HI>Augu|&s;tus,</HI> &s;uffer Altars and Temples to be erected to their Deities for&s;ooth, be adored and not adore; &s;erved and not &s;erve;
<Q><L>Raro conveniunt &amp; in una &s;ede morantur</L>
<L>Maje&s;tas &amp; honor Domini.</L></Q></P>
<P>For &s;uch with <HI>Pharaoh</HI> ask proudly, <HI>Who is the Lord, that a people &s;hould be let go to &s;erve him?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 5.2. I&s;a. 36.20.</NOTE> or with that eloquent and bitter-tongu'd <HI>Rab|&s;hekah, What's the God of I&s;rael more than the Gods of other Nations, that &s;uch high and mighty things as they &s;hould fall down and wor&s;hip him?</HI> Chri&s;t is no more with them than a bare <HI>Galilean,</HI> the Carpenters Sonne, and his Go&s;pel a gainful &s;tory. For Popes can bla&s;pheme, and Princes can be pro|phane; and the&s;e earthly Gods, &s;coff at the God of the whole earth. This they can do, and &s;ome of them have done; But not one of them but had cau&s;e enough to repent it. The hand of this mighty Lord was upon the proud|e&s;t Sir of them all, and force them to confe&s;s, that it had been far better to have been his &s;ervants.</P>
<P>The time came when the proud <HI>Pharaoh</HI> him&s;elf is glad to put his mouth in the earth, and &s;peak in a low voice, <HI>God is righteous, and I am wicked.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 9.27.</NOTE> And when haughty <HI>Senacharib</HI> &s;hall flie with a hoook in his no&s;trils,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Herod. lib. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> and write for all po&s;terity to reade, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Let a man look upon me, and learn to feare God.</HI> And that great Conquerour of the Ea&s;t when he &s;ees his blood, confe&s;&s;es it to be <GAP DESC="foreign">, not <GAP DESC="foreign">, blood, the very &s;ame for &s;ub&s;tance that flows out of other mens veines,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hom. Il.</NOTE> not that thin and &s;erous di&s;tillation that was wont to flow from the wounded Deities, as the Poets feign'd, and his flatterers would make him believe. To be brief, that <HI>Rene|gado
<PB N="128" REF="70"> Julian</HI> may end with this de&s;perate acknowledgement, <HI>&V;ieisti Gali|laee,</HI> O <HI>Galilean</HI> thou ha&s;t overcome, with the &s;ame breath profe&s;&s;ing his own ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ice, and Chri&s;ts power. His inveterate malice by the &s;corne, but the power of this <HI>Galilean</HI> in his victory over him. At which time, had you been by, when the&s;e fearful plagues fell upon the&s;e proud mon&s;ters that would be none of Gods Servants, you might have &s;een their Servants and Sycophants that we<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e wont to glory in the&s;e great Lords,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 8.22.</NOTE> and more to &s;erve them than God, perhaps to cur&s;e their King and their God, and look upward.</P>
<P>Better it is to do that for love, to which a man may be brought for feare. Though men be the greate&s;t Potentates and Grandees upon the earth; yet with <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> to write them&s;elves <HI>Servus Domini,</HI> and with <HI>David</HI> to acknowledge, <HI>I am thy &s;ervant Lord, I am thy &s;ervant;</HI> and with Saint <HI>Paul</HI> to &s;ub&s;cribe, <HI>The Servant of Je&s;us Christ,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 116.16. Rom. 1.1. Tit. 1.1.</NOTE> <HI>and day by day to do him homage.</HI> Con|ceive what you li&s;t, &s;hame it is none, nay, 'tis the greate&s;t honour to finde an Honourable Per&s;onage honouring God upon his knees. For this is the Triumph of Religion, to bring down the greate&s;t Lords, and make them Servants.</P>
<P N="2">2. And God is be&s;t plea&s;ed when he &s;ees the great man at his &s;ervice; for the meane&s;t will be &s;ure to follow him; Honour they will him, that their Ma&s;ter honours; and de&s;pi&s;e him, whom he de&s;pi&s;eth. Great rea&s;on then there is, that as <HI>Ego, I,</HI> &s;tands in the Text, &s;o he go before <HI>Domus,</HI> the <HI>Hou&s;e;</HI> that he be fir&s;t in his &s;ervice, as he is in his place.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, And that fir&s;t in re&s;pect of his <HI>Receipt;</HI> more he hath receiv'd than any of his family, and therefore is richer in Obligations. Oblig'd for more wealth and for more honour, bound for the <HI>fat of the earth, and the dew of heaven</HI> conferr'd upon him <HI>Centuplum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 27.28.</NOTE> an hundred to one more than any of his hou&s;hold; and is it rea&s;on then that his payment of thanks, and return of &s;ervice be le&s;s? Somewhat proportion'd, que&s;tionle&s;s, the&s;e would be; More acknowledgements, where greater ble&s;&s;ings are be&s;tow'd.</P>
<P>Secondly, More in re&s;pect of his <HI>Accompt;</HI> for he that hath received much,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 25.16.</NOTE> mu&s;t give an accompt for much; for no le&s;s than <HI>five Talents, who hath received five.</HI> Now &s;uppo&s;e that the&s;e are laid out for that u&s;e they were given, in the &s;ervice of God, and the advancement of his glory, then the accompt &s;hall be with <HI>joy.</HI> But if upon his own lu&s;ts, at the General <HI>Audit</HI> no <HI>quietus e&s;t</HI> will be had,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.17. Matth. 25.26.</NOTE> the accompt will be with <HI>grief.</HI> Out of his Lords mouth whom he &s;hould have &s;erv'd, he will heare, <HI>Ah &s;erve ne|quam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.47. Wi&s;d. 6.6. Rev. 18 6.</NOTE> <HI>O thou wicked &s;ervant!</HI> Thus I did by thee, and thus and thus thou deal'&s;t with me; his reward will be <HI>&s;tripes, many &s;tripes; for the mighty men &s;hall be mightily tormented.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly, To return to what I begun this point with; fir&s;t in re&s;pect of his Family; for they'le all be the better if he be the fir&s;t, and all be the wor&s;e when hee's the la&s;t. As then <HI>Jo&s;huah,</HI> or any in <HI>Jo&s;huahs</HI> place is chief in the Hou&s;e, &s;o it becomes him to be the chief example in the Hou&s;e: The fir&s;t Servant of God. <HI>Philo</HI> the Jew tells us, that God placed the fifth Com|mandment <GAP DESC="foreign">, as it were, in the Confines of both Tables, be|cau&s;e the practique part of both Tables did much depend upon it; the &s;ervice to God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 14.16. 2 Chron. 31.20 Amos 5.24.</NOTE> and the &s;ervice to man. <HI>Jeroboam &s;innes, and he cau&s;es all I&s;rael to &s;inne with him. Hezekiah did that which was good and right, and truth before the Lord his God, and in his time judgement did run down like waters, and righteou&s;ne&s;s as a mighty &s;treame.</HI> The <HI>Lacedemonian</HI> Souldiers being ask'd, Which way they, who being wont to live by forrage and &s;poile, be|came on a &s;udden &s;o hone&s;t and ab&s;tenious? an&s;wered, We are the &s;ame now and heretofore, <GAP DESC="foreign">, but we have now another General than we had before;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Xenoph. <HI>3.</HI> graec. hist.</NOTE> for in&s;tead of a thievi&s;h <HI>Thymbri|on,</HI>
<PB N="129" REF="70"> we have a ju&s;t and mode&s;t <HI>Dercyllus.</HI> For too true it is, the example of the Ma&s;ter is the Servants Rule; the Lords l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">fe, his followers Law.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Claud.</NOTE></P>
<Q><L>&mdash;Non &s;ic inflectere &s;en&s;us</L>
<L>Human s edicta valent ut vita regentum.</L></Q>
<P>For whether this be done out of flattery or no, it is not certaine; For by a&s;&s;imilation he hopes to &s;trengthen him&s;elf in his Ma&s;ters affection, with|out which he knows that love cannot long la&s;t; for <HI>Idem v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lle,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Plutarch. Cicero de ami|cit.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; idem nol|le ea dem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m firma <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">micitia.</HI> Hence it is that his Ma&s;ters life is his gla&s;&s;e; and he a&s;&s;ures him&s;elf to plea&s;e mo&s;t, when he mo&s;t re&s;embles him: Or whether it proceed out of a pre&s;umption of great wi&s;dome and judgement in tho&s;e they follow, that direct them, as they conceive to make the be&s;t choice; or el&s;e, which is mo&s;t likely, a feare to di&s;plea&s;e. For, for a poor Servant to di&s;like wha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> his Ma&s;ter loves, and practice what he hates, were to upbraid his cour&s;e and choice, ca&s;t him out of favour, and pull upon him&s;elf what was laid to <HI>Jo&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">phs</HI> charge, though fal&s;ely, <HI>The H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">brew &s;ervant that thou brought&s;t in unto us, c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">me into to mock us.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen 39.14.</NOTE></P>
<P>For &s;ome of the&s;e rea&s;ons, or all the&s;e, the poor &s;ervant wil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> be ob&s;er|v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nt of his Ma&s;ters way; <HI>ait, aio; negat, nego;</HI> &s;ay what he &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Terent.</NOTE> and un&s;ay what he de<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">es; depend upo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> his Ma&s;ters tongue, his Ma&s;ters eye, his Ma&s;ters nod, &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">pe him&s;elf wholly to his Ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ters Religion and fa&s;hion,
<Q>&V;t trahitur nervis alienis mobile lignum.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Horat.</NOTE></Q></P>
<P>Tell me now, whether <HI>Ego, Jo&s;huah</HI> the Lord of the Land, had not need be at &s;ervice, when the good life and Religion of his family depend upon his example and devotion?</P>
<P>To what the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;hall I liken &s;uch a man, or to what &s;hall I compare him? To me he &s;eems to re&s;emble the brazen Serpent &s;et up by <HI>Mo es</HI> in the Wil|derne&s;s, that heal'd, being o ly beheld.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 21.9.</NOTE> Conceive you <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">aw a great multitude thronging about that exalted picture, &s;ome hea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ed&punc; &s;ome to be healed, others wond<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ring which way this could be, that the &s;ight of a piece of b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">a&s;s rai&s;ed upon the top of a pole, could heale a mortal wound, and yet ble&s;&s;ing the Name of God, when they &s;aw (without any torment of the di&s;affected par|ty, or help of Art, or length of time) the malignity of the ve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ome i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> a moment to abate, the &s;ting pull'd out, and the langui&s;hi g man cured. Be plea&s;ed to compare every great per&s;onage with this Brazen Serpent, and you &s;hall &s;ee greater things than the&s;e; except you &s;uppo&s;e it a le&s;&s;e matter to re|paire the &s;ores of a vitious &s;oul, than of a wounded body. Look on him all you that are under him, and you &s;hall &s;ee a living &s;alve &s;et on h gh, which without any co&s;t or long &s;tudy, Art or Rule, will cure by the &s;ight, and heal by an in&s;en&s;ible motion. In the face and practice of an eminent per&s;on, there is &s;uch force and vertue, that he heals where he is but &s;een; and more mira|culou&s;ly, in an in&s;tant works upon an invenom'd and a poy&s;oned &s;oule, than either the &s;traite&s;t prohibition of the wi&s;e&s;t Law-givers, or the &s;tudied Rules and Precepts of the grave&s;t Philo&s;ophers, or the Thunder and Lightning of the mo&s;t powerful Divi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es. Where he comes, he da&s;hes &s;inne out of counte|nance, and gives life to Religion, <HI>Odium peccandi non metum facit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Seneca.</NOTE> his fol|lowers more hate &s;inne, than feare it. And when he enters in o the Temple, <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Canon and Rule goes in with him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. de Ba&s;il.</NOTE> and example to o|thers how they ought to behave them&s;elves at the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r devotions. That by his reverence they learn to enter in a reverent manner, fall upon th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ir k<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ees and ble&s;s God, when they &s;ee him humbly on his knees, and hear, and learne
<PB N="130" REF="71"> their duties, when they behold their Ma&s;ter attentively to learn his. That will fall out, what the Senate with one voice in a publick acclamation pro|fe&s;s'd to <HI>Severus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Xiphilin. in Se|vero.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">. All will do all things well, becau&s;e thou do&s;t begin well.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> My Hou&s;e.</HEAD>
<P>Let then <HI>Ego</HI> the Ma&s;ter be &s;ure to &s;erve the Lord. But all the &s;ervice mu&s;t not lie upon him. <HI>Domus</HI> the family mu&s;t do its part al&s;o. Serve rhey mu&s;t as well, nay indeed better than before their Ma&s;ter. For the Ma&s;ter and the man have both dependance on a h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gher Lord, and in Relation to him the homage mu&s;t be done by both. The great Lord mu&s;t not omit, nor the menial &s;ervant mu&s;t not be behinde; <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> enters the Covenant not for him|&s;elf alone, but for his hou&s;e too, <HI>I and my hou&s;e will &s;erve.</HI></P>
<P>But becau&s;e the &s;ervant is very like to follow when the Ma&s;ter goes before, I &s;hall need to &s;ay the le&s;s of it; and yet a word in their eare will not do ami&s;s. For fir&s;t,</P>
<P N="1">1. What is the hou&s;e? what &s;ave a little Kingdome containing all the So|cieties of Husband and Wife, and Father and Sonne, and Ma&s;ter and Servant in it? Or if you had rather, a body compacted of many members, of which the Ma&s;ter is the Head, the re&s;t the parts, an eye, an eare, a hand, a foot, in a higher,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ob&s;tetrixon ajo|rum.</NOTE> in a lower place, as their worth is; for by the&s;e names the <HI>Per&s;ians</HI> were wont to call their &s;ervants.</P>
<P>Now if the eye be evil, you know what will follow; the head will have but a dimm and a dark light to &s;ee by; or if the hand be wither'd, or the foot lame,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 6.6. Col. 3.22.</NOTE> the &s;ervice will be according. The endeavours will be lame, and the obedience blinde, where the Inferiour &s;erves with eye-&s;ervice, and not from the heart. Let the man then &s;erve a Lord above, as well as a Lord below, and be taught, that he hath a duty to do out of con&s;cience as well as feare, or el&s;e he may wait at the Table, and hang on for his meat, but he will fall off, or be &s;hak'd off, as a leaf from a Tree in the downfall of Winter, when there is mo&s;t rea&s;on to &s;tick fa&s;te&s;t on. I will never be per&s;waded, that he will ever be a true &s;ervant to man on earth, that is not a devout and Religious &s;ervant to God in heaven. If he be fal&s;e to his God, how can it be expected that he &s;hould be true to his Image? Religion and con&s;cience mu&s;t make him what he &s;hould be,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.49.</NOTE> or el&s;e with <HI>Judas,</HI> he may bring an <HI>Ave</HI> in his mouth, when he harbours villany in his heart.</P>
<P N="2">2. Be&s;ides it &s;tands every Servant upon, that his Ma&s;ters bu&s;ine&s;s be pro|moted, and thrive well under his hand. Now what can his diligence do with|out Gods ble&s;&s;ing?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 10.4, 22.</NOTE> <HI>The diligent hand makes rich,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Solomon; And the ble&s;&s;ing of God makes rich,</HI> &s;aith he in the &s;ame Chapter. Diligence with Gods ble&s;&s;ing; with both the&s;e the work may well go on; but without either, very &s;lowly, and without the la&s;t never. For exclude the ble&s;&s;ing, and 'tis but in vain to ri&s;e early,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 127.2.</NOTE> and &s;o late take re&s;t. And I pray which way can a ble&s;&s;ing be brought upon our labour, but by falling on the knee and asking it? God being &s;erv'd, he will &s;erve them and their Ma&s;ter; whereas if they di&s;&s;erve God, their Ma&s;ters nece&s;&s;ities may for their impiety receive a check from heaven. Take notice of it, you &s;hall find how God ble&s;&s;ed the Ma&s;ter, when the Servant plea&s;ed God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 30.27.</NOTE> <HI>Laban</HI> was the better, when <HI>Jacob</HI> was with|in his doors, though a very churle; yet he had learn'd this by experience, <HI>That the Lord had ble&s;&s;ed him for Jacobs &s;ake.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 47.20.</NOTE> How was <HI>Pharaohs</HI> e&s;tate improv'd by the wi&s;e &s;ervice of <HI>Jo&s;eph?</HI> I forbear more examples. Let then every &s;ervant that bears any good-will to his Ma&s;ter and his pro&s;perity, fir&s;t &s;erve God. So what he undertakes may pro&s;per, not otherwi&s;e.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="131" REF="71">3. But if he love not his Ma&s;ter, yet let him love him&s;elf. God hath made him of the &s;ame mould that he made his Ma&s;ter, though he rai&s;ed his Lord to be a ve&s;&s;el of honour. His Lord a ve&s;&s;el, and the man a ve&s;&s;el too, and therefore both for &s;ervice. In his degree and place then, he, as well bound to &s;erve as his Lord. A &s;oul he hath to &s;ave, and an accompt to make for his time, his duty, as well as the greate&s;t Potentate on earth. He &s;hall be no more pa&s;t by and forgotten, than tho&s;e great ones; and therefore he mu&s;t be diligent to do his duty. A Vi&s;ion Saint <HI>John</HI> had,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.12</NOTE> and in it <HI>he &s;aw the dead gr at and &s;mall &s;tand before God.</HI> Look upon tho&s;e at the Bar, and you &s;hall not only finde the Grandees there. You that &s;tand and wait now, mu&s;t await your doom then. The meane&s;t per&s;on mu&s;t appear; the &s;mall as well as the great; the man as well as the Ma&s;ter; He at the Table, and that other in the Stable mu&s;t then &s;tand forth, and give an accompt how they have &s;erv'd this Lord. Your own accompt, your Ma&s;ters pro&s;perity, your <GAP DESC="foreign">, or eye-&s;ervice which then mu&s;t be an&s;wered for, will I hope, be &s;ufficient mo|tives to you of the family, that you &s;erve God.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> I and my Hou&s;e.</HEAD>
<P>Hitherto have I con&s;ider'd the Lord and his Servant &s;ingle and apart. Now I come to &s;peak of them joyntly; for in Gods publick &s;ervice disjoyn'd they mu&s;t not be. The Commandment runnes in this form, <HI>Thou and thy Son,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 20.10.</NOTE> <HI>and thy Daughter, thy man &s;ervant, and thy maid &s;ervant, &amp;c.</HI> When the Sabbath comes, and the &s;ervice to be done out of the hou&s;e, the Ma&s;ter mu&s;t not appear alone in the Church, and the &s;ervant left to his corner. Nor when publickly in the hou&s;e, the Ma&s;ter mu&s;t not petition in his Clo&s;et, and the &s;ervant apart in his Chamber; It is as it &s;hould be, when both meet, and joyn their force. This &s;ame <HI>Et</HI> is <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Conjunction Copulative, and it knits them both together.</P>
<P>And together they would be kept united in Gods hou&s;e, as they are hou&s;'d under one roof. For as in the body natural it fares betwixt the &s;tomach and the head; a Rheumatick head marrs the &s;tomach by continual di&s;tillations; and a cold &s;tomach fills and offends the head with raw vapours: So is it here; the Ma&s;ter neglecting to &s;erve God, as the head, di&s;tills a neglect that marrs and cooles the whole hou&s;e; and the hou&s;e by him di&s;-affected, &s;ends up mo&s;t ill-favour'd vapours, that too often di&s;quiets and di&s;tempers his brain. Great quietne&s;s, content and ea&s;e there is in the family, when they both joyn in di|vine &s;ervice. The father of the faithful may be in this ca&s;e a pattern to the faithful. A peremptory command he layes upon his children and his hou&s;hold to keep in Gods way, and to be ju&s;t and upright; and God takes notice of it, and upon it makes him <HI>&agrave; &s;ecretioribus,</HI> of his Privy Council,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.19.</NOTE> <HI>I know A|braham that he will command,</HI> &amp;c. and therefore <HI>&s;hall I hide ought from him that I am to do?</HI> He will not hide my wayes from his, and therefore I will not hide my wayes from him.</P>
<P><HI>Jo&s;huah</HI> was for his hou&s;e as well as him&s;elf; <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> for the whole peo|ple, <HI>Thou &s;halt teach, whet, or &s;harpen my Statutes upon thy children.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 6.7.</NOTE> <HI>Pauls</HI> care was to <HI>in&s;truct all the Churches. Davids</HI> call general, <HI>Come,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.28. P&s;al. 95.1, 6.</NOTE> <HI>l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t us kneele, &amp;c. Come, let us go together to Gods wor&s;hip.</HI> That permi&s;&s;ion of <HI>Pharaoh</HI> will work coldly, <HI>Go ye, go to Church, and &s;erve the Lord. Da|vids</HI> call is of more power, <HI>Come with me to &s;erve God; come my Wife,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 8.25.</NOTE> <HI>come my Son, come my Kin&s;man, come my &s;ervant, go along with me, and joyn with me in Gods &s;ervice.</HI> This, this is it which will add much life and heat to our publick devotions.</P>
<P>And here will I &s;ing unto you of mercy and judgement, being a P&s;alm
<PB N="132" REF="72"> &s;et by <HI>David</HI> to tune his hou&s;hold, and if we learn it, and give good eare to it, it will keep our families in tune too.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 101.</NOTE> Fir&s;t, for <HI>Ego,</HI> the Ma&s;ter.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That he behave him&s;elf in a perfect way, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 2.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 2.</NOTE></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That he walk in his hou&s;e with a perfect heart.</ITEM>
<ITEM><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 3.</NOTE>3. That he &s;et no wicked thing, or of <HI>Belial</HI> before his eyes.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. That he hate the works of them that turne a&s;ide, never cleave to them.</ITEM>
<ITEM><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 4.</NOTE>5. That wicked per&s;ons be not known to him, no dealing, no acquaintance with them, no coun&s;el to be taken from them.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Thus wary he ought to be over him&s;elf, and after let him reflect upon his fami|ly, to which he is to extend his mercy and his ju&s;tice; For tho&s;e are the other two &s;traines of the <HI>P&s;alme.</HI></P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 6.</NOTE>1. Mercy and favour to be extended to him that de&s;erv'd it. Could he but hear of a faithful man in the Land, his eye &s;hould be pre&s;ently ca&s;t upon him, that he might dwell with him. He that walk'd in a perfect way, he was a &s;er|vant for him. Thus favourable would he be to good men.</P>
<P N="2">2. But as for the naughty per&s;ons, they were like to ta&s;te of his ju&s;tice.</P>
<P N="1">1. Were any retainer of his a pickthank, one that privily &s;landereth his neighbour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 5.</NOTE> he was re&s;olv'd to cut him &s;hort.</P>
<P N="2">2. Were a man of a proud look, and a proud heart, one who would not o|bey,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 8.</NOTE> and &s;ubmit, he &s;hould not be endured. I will not &s;uffer him.</P>
<P N="3"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 7.</NOTE>3. Did he work deceit, he mu&s;t &s;eek him another Ma&s;ter; for he &s;hould not dwell within his hou&s;e.</P>
<P N="4">4. Were he a lyar, out of his &s;ight he mu&s;t, under his roof there was no &s;tay|ing for him.</P>
<P>This was the Mu&s;ique that <HI>David</HI> &s;ung to his family, and if you would be plea&s;ed to call for the Song oftner, and put every &s;traine thereof in practice, you might finde far better harmony within dores, than perhaps you do; there would not be &s;uch jarting and di&s;cord in the hou&s;e. For the&s;e tell-tales and high, proud, &s;urly &s;ervants, the&s;e deceitful, bloody men and lyars, &s;et all out of order. Set then your families to the tune of this <HI>P&s;alme.</HI> Let the Ma&s;ter as it were the Ba&s;e &s;et him&s;elf in tune, and to him&s;elf tune all the le&s;&s;er in&s;tru|ments. The truer &s;trings let him winde up to a ju&s;t height by rewards and mer|cy. The fal&s;e and uneven let him break or ca&s;t a&s;ide by &s;everity and ju&s;tice. O then <HI>quam bonum &amp; jucundum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 133.1.</NOTE> how &s;weet and plea&s;ant will be that Mu&s;ique which he and his family will make in the eare of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero. de Senec.</NOTE> and unexpre&s;&s;ible is that content which he will take in it him&s;elf; when his &s;ervants fear him, his children reverence him, old and young re&s;pect, love, honour him! Deare he will be to all, becau&s;e he is deare to his God. This, this will be the effect of his piety. 'Tis wi&s;dome then to put on <HI>Jo&s;hua's</HI> re&s;olution, and to perform what he here undertakes, <HI>I and my hou&s;e will &s;erve the Lord.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> Serviemus Domino. Serve the Lord</HEAD>
<P>All this while I have only prepared the men, but now I &s;hall &s;et before them their duty, Bring down the Lord and make him a &s;ervant; and rai&s;e the &s;ervant, and make him a little Lord, a free-man at lea&s;t; for <HI>Servire huic Domino liber|tas,</HI> To &s;erve this Lord is the &s;ole liberty. He is no drudge to the world, no &s;lave to the Devil, no captive to the fle&s;h, which is Gods &s;ervant. The Law of Je&s;us Chri&s;t hath made him free.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.18 22. 1 Cor. 7.22. Luke 1.74.</NOTE> <HI>Liberati &s;erviamus,</HI> Being then freed, let us &s;erve.</P>
<P>Serve with true and religious &s;ervice; for fa&s;hionable and complemental this Lord cares not for. Would that be taken, he &s;hould have as many &s;ervants al|mo&s;t as men, di&s;&s;emblers good &s;tore, that would come and crouch, and make their mouth ki&s;&s;e their hand;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 31.27.</NOTE> ready to &s;ub&s;cribe, engage, and profe&s;&s;e, your
<PB N="133" REF="72"> &s;ervant Lord, you &s;ervant, <HI>I am the &s;ervant of the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>With &s;uch complements men may be deluded, but Je&s;us Chri&s;t will not; <HI>for not every one that &s;aith Lord, Lord,</HI> &s;hall pre&s;ently be inroll'd in his &s;ervice;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 7.21.</NOTE> as the planter expects from his tree more than fair blo&s;&s;omes, or green leaves, &s;o doth he expect from his &s;ervants more than &s;pecious word. Works he calls for, and real &s;ervice, which whether it be &s;o or no, nece&s;&s;ary it is, that it be ex|amined according to the Act, the Rule, the Fountain, the Object; the very act that we do, the rule by which it is to be done, the fountain whence it flows, and the object upon which we reflect in the doing of it.</P>
<P N="1">1. In one word the Acts are the whole wor&s;hip of God, begun and conti|nued within, expre&s;&s;ed and performed without. The &s;ervice of the heart, the &s;ervice of the eare, the &s;ervice of the knee, tongue, hand; Faith, Hope, Love, Feare, Tru&s;t, Honour, Humility, Obedience, Patience, Prayer, Thank&s;giving, Almes, Fa&s;ting. And all the&s;e exhibited &s;incercly, entirely, con&s;tantly. Sin|cerely, and &s;o not polluted with carnality, nor blended with hypocri&s;ie; entire|ly, and then not choo&s;ing in what we will &s;erve, in what we will not &s;erve; and con&s;tantly, and then not waiting upon him to day, and falling off to morrow, as plea&s;ure or profit call upon us.</P>
<P N="2">2. The limbs only, and lineaments of your work I have, as it were, with a back coale, &s;et before you; I mu&s;t leave it to you to fill up the empty &s;paces; which that you may the ea&s;ilier do, I next pre&s;ent you with the rule you are to work by: Which is not one of your own making, but made to your hand. We &s;etting light by the rule of God, thinking it a goodly matter to be witty, and to finde out things of our &s;elves how to &s;erve him; This makes men not to for|bear even in things that pertaine unto Gods wor&s;hip, but every day to devi&s;e new tricks, opinions, fa&s;hions, newly and fre&s;h taken up, which their fathers never knew of; or el&s;e to revive and renew the old imaginations, and mingle and card them with Gods commands, that men may fall down, adore and wor|&s;hip them.</P>
<P>But God hath taken order to the contrary, <HI>You &s;hall not do every man what &s;eemes good in his own eyes,</HI> or findes out in his own braines,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 12.8.</NOTE> <HI>but what I command you, that only &s;hall you do.</HI> Nay, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> him&s;elf the Law-giver, who brought an order for this &s;ervice, might do no other;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 25.40. &amp; 26.30.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ecundum formam in monte,</HI> according to the patterne in the Mount he was to pre&s;cribe and do all things; and &s;hall any man then dare to forge another?<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 17.</NOTE> There were indeed &s;ome who attempted to bring in a new forme, to fear the Lord, and &s;erve their own gods al&s;o; but God &s;ent Lions among them to de&s;troy them: For that was not the manner of the God of the Land. Served he will be, and only &s;o &s;er|ved as he hath pre&s;cribed in his Word.</P>
<P N="3">3. Now the fountain from which this &s;ervice mu&s;t &s;pring is Devotion,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Thom.</HI> 2. 2. <HI>q.</HI> 82. <HI>Art.</HI> 1.</NOTE> which makes a man quick and ready to piety, and wakeneth and di&s;po&s;eth him to do his duty with facility and ea&s;ine&s;&s;e. The greate&s;t hindrance in our &s;er|vice, is, the corruption of our nature, from which there proceeds a great in|clination to be ob&s;tinate and rebellious. This makes every command of our Lord difficult, and to our apprehen&s;ion impo&s;&s;ible. Now again&s;t this difficul|ty and heavine&s;&s;e, our good Lord hath provided a mo&s;t fit and convenient re|medy, to wit, the vertue and a&s;&s;i&s;tance of devotion. For even as the North|wind &s;catters and di&s;&s;olves the clouds, and leaves the aire bright and clear, &s;o true devotion &s;hakes off from our &s;oul all this heavine&s;&s;e and difficulty, and leaves her afterwards ready and di&s;po&s;ed to do any thing that our Lord com|mands. <HI>Non fingit laborem in praecepto.</HI> It talks not of a Lion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 26.13. Mark 16.3, 4. Acts 9.6.</NOTE> or I know not of what perilous bea&s;t in the way, it goes on though there be a great &s;tone at the mouth of the Sepulchre; a&s;ham'd it is to confe&s;&s;e that any command is too hard for it, and therefore it &s;ayes with Saint <HI>Paul, Lord, what wilt thou
<PB N="134" REF="73"> have me to do?</HI> How fit devotion makes a man to work, appears in one of Gods be&s;t &s;ervants,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.32.</NOTE> that thus profe&s;&s;eth before his Lord, <HI>I will run the way of thy Commandments, when thou ha&s;t &s;et my heart at liberty.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. But nor the alacrity, nor the &s;ervice is to any purpo&s;e, if it be placed upon a wrong object. Better a great deale forborne, than exhibited; for the more zealous any man is, the more officious in the &s;ervice of a fal&s;e God, the more trayterous, the more fal&s;e to his true Lord. That you gad not then about &s;o much to change the way,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 2.36.</NOTE> li&s;ten to <HI>Jo&s;hua,</HI> he will tell you whom you mu&s;t &s;erve. It is the Lord.</P>
<P>A Lord then, that is, every Lord that comes in your way, you may not &s;erve: Nor <HI>Baal,</HI> nor <HI>A&s;hteroth,</HI> nor <HI>Milcom,</HI> nor <HI>Dagon,</HI> nor any of the gods of the Nations; nor <HI>Mammon,</HI> nor your belly, nor the image of the bea&s;t, later erected Idols.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.24, Phil. 3.19. Rev. 16.2. Rev. 17.14.</NOTE> But you mu&s;t &s;erve the Lord, The Lord, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>him who is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.</HI></P>
<P>Them, why &s;hould you &s;erve? for they are no gods; &s;ee what names of &s;hame and &s;corne this Lord hath put upon them. <HI>Gelilim,</HI> gods of dung, <HI>Shi|kut&s;im,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech. 20.8. Dan. 9.27.</NOTE> or <GAP DESC="foreign">, abominations, loath&s;ome pieces, that defile the con|&s;cience, and are of as much account in his eye, as dung and excrements is in ours. This they are in them&s;elves; but to their followers and &s;ervants they become <HI>Emim,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Chron. 15. Jer. 50.38. I&s;a. 45.16.</NOTE> gods that fright them into their duties; or <HI>Zirmi, Tormina,</HI> &s;uch as are upon women in child-birth, to theirr &s;ervants they bring nothing but &s;or|row. They that &s;erve them are guilty of folly. <HI>Loammi,</HI> no people, or at be&s;t a fooli&s;h people;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 10.15. Ho&s;. 1.9. Deut. 32.11. Ho&s;. 10.13. Ho&s;. 8.10. Exod. 20.2.</NOTE> fooli&s;h indeed that eate the bread of lies, fooli&s;h that put their tru&s;t in the Spiders web; for &s;uch their confidence is a net which the wind breaks, or broome &s;weeps down. Such gods then you mu&s;t not &s;et up nor &s;erve <HI>coram eo, gnal pani,</HI> before his face, &s;o long as he lives, &s;o long as he is, you &s;hall choo&s;e no other God. For in oppo&s;ition to the&s;e it is, that <HI>Jo|&s;hua</HI> makes here his prote&s;tation.</P>
<P>He remembers what <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had left upon record, with which our Saviour cha&s;ed away the Devil;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 10.20. Matth. 4.10, 11</NOTE> <HI>It is written, Thou &s;halt wor&s;hip the Lord thy God, and him only &s;halt thou &s;erve.</HI> Him, and him alone. For though the Hea|then gods were good fellows, and could be content to &s;hare in each others &s;ervives; yet our Lord is a jealous God, and will have all or no part of our &s;ervice; he never made any deed of gift, by which he &s;et over any parcel of his honour to another.</P>
<P>And to my under&s;tanding, two motives are couched in the&s;e two words, to quicken us in his &s;ervice. The fir&s;t is in the Act, <HI>Serviemus,</HI> the other in the Object,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Scaliger in Var|ronem ex Ju|ri&s;con&s;ultis.</NOTE> <HI>Domino.</HI> 1. <HI>Servire</HI> is by Grammarians derived from <HI>&s;ervare</HI> to &s;ave, from whence comes <HI>&s;ervus,</HI> or <HI>&s;ervando;</HI> For they were fir&s;t called <HI>Servi,</HI> who were <HI>Servati,</HI> being taken by the Soul|dier, had their lives &s;aved, in regard of which favour &s;ervants they mu&s;t be to that man who &s;aved their lives. In re&s;pect of which favour <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> might very well covenant for him&s;elf, for he knew what it was to be a bond&s;lave; he was one of tho&s;e that burnt the brick.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 1.14.</NOTE> This Lord had &s;aved him, and then he had rea&s;on to &s;erve him. And in his delivery, the liberty of his po&s;terity was purcha|&s;ed al&s;o, and the freedom of the other I&s;raelites in the &s;etting at large of their fathers. Being then &s;aved from <HI>Pharaohs</HI> fury, and the Egyptian power, &s;aved &s;ince from <HI>Og</HI> King of <HI>Ba&s;han,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 6.7.8.9, 10.11.13.</NOTE> and from <HI>Sihon</HI> the Amoriti&s;h tyrant. Sav'd from <HI>Balaaks</HI> craft, and <HI>Baalams</HI> cur&s;e; Sav'd again at <HI>Jericho</HI> from the confe|deracy of &s;even Princes; Sav'd only? nay enrch'd too by a gift of land, for which they did not labour, and of Cities which they never built, and Vine|yards and Olive-yards which they never planted. And what &s;hall we make of all this? tell me, can it amount to le&s;&s;e than a bond or an obligation? Would not every weak under&s;tanding draw <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI>'s conclu&s;ion out of &s;uch premi&s;es?
<PB N="135" REF="73"> Now therefore &s;erve the Lord. <HI>Servati</HI> you are, therefore it is fit you &s;hould be <HI>Servi.</HI> Sav'd, and therefore by the Law of equity and Nations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">14.</NOTE> to be at his command that &s;av'd you.</P>
<P>That the &s;ame argument concludes us, I need not doubt, who were &s;av'd as many wayes as ever <HI>I&s;ra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l.</HI> Our ignorance in times pa&s;t was beyond that dark|ne&s;&s;e of <HI>Egypt;</HI> &s;av'd we were from that; &s;av'd again from the powder you know where; and &s;av'd from the Armado, you know when; and yet we expect a day of redemption. But all the&s;e deliverances laid together are nothing to the <HI>Suprema Salus,</HI> A &s;afety promi&s;ed to <HI>I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 6.17, 18. 2 Tim. 2.26 Luke 4 18. Ephe&s;. 2.3, 4.</NOTE> but purcha&s;ed and conveyed to us by the blood of Chri&s;t. Servants we were of &s;inne, and &s;av'd we are, and made &s;ervants of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e. In captivity we were to Satan, <HI>taken by him at his will;</HI> but Chri&s;t hath preached deliverance to the captives. Chil|dren of wrath we were, but &s;aved from that, and become &s;ons of his love, Pri&s;oners we were, tied wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h the chains of our &s;ins, and with the bonds of ini|quity, and &s;itting in the darkne&s;&s;e and &s;hadow of death.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.79.</NOTE> But he hath knocked off the chains, and broken the&s;e bonds, di&s;pelled this darkne&s;&s;e, <HI>and brought us into his marvellous light,</HI> and therefore <HI>&s;ervati &s;erviamus,</HI> being &s;o mira|culou&s;ly &s;aved, and from &s;uch and &s;o many dangers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.9.</NOTE> let us vow to be&s;tow our whole lives in the &s;ervice of that Lord who hath out of meer mercy and love &s;aved and delivered us.</P>
<P N="2">2. Bound we are to &s;erve then, &s;o oft as we reflect upon his goodne&s;&s;e; yea, and bound to &s;erve again, when we con&s;ider his greatne&s;&s;e. <HI>Dominus est,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 145.3.</NOTE> It is the Lord, of who&s;e greatne&s;&s;e there is no end, and why then &s;hould there be any end of our &s;ervice? So that in this word <HI>Lord,</HI> the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e is, as I conceive, a &s;econd motive couched to per&s;wade our homage: Adoration being due to Lord&s;hip and Dominion. In earth we &s;erve none, either with natural, mo|ral, or civil reverence, except a Superiour, him whom the Law &s;tiles father, one to whom this grand Lord hath imparted &s;ome of his power.</P>
<P>That we &s;erve the&s;e with a civil and humane honour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazianz.</NOTE> it is becau&s;e they are Repre&s;entatives of this Lord, &s;ome in full and well proporion'd Statues, as Kings, others in pictures down to the middle, as greater Lords; others in le&s;&s;er meddals to the &s;houlders only, as all inferiour Magi&s;trates. To the&s;e we mu&s;t &s;ubmit, to the&s;e we mu&s;t bend, becau&s;e they are hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her powers;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.1.</NOTE> which &s;hewes evidently, that where no Lord&s;hip, no &s;ervice is due, but with the title the duty is annexed.</P>
<P>In&s;eparably annexed I &s;ay, it is, and to be paid, not upon courte&s;ie, but upon due debt Due to all tho&s;e earthly Lords after and under <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">od, becau&s;e their Dominion is not ab&s;olute, nor their Lord&s;hip &s;upreme. It is <HI>&agrave; De<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, &s;ub D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o, in Deum.</HI> But due to this Lord ab&s;olutely without any limitation, becau&s;e he is the Lord Paramount of heaven and earth. Even Angels and Saints may not be &s;harers in this &s;ervice; and why &s;o?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1. Rev. 19.</NOTE> becau&s;e though they have Grace and Glory above men, yet Dominion they have not; mini&s;tring Spirits they are; Mini&s;ters then, not Lords; brethren and fellow-&s;erva<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ts, not Ma&s;ters and Commoners, and therefore uncapable of divine honour. For no man ever offered &s;uch a &s;ervice to a y, <HI>quem non aut Deum &s;c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">vit, aut p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tavit, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ut finxit,</HI> whom he thought not, or knew, or fain'd not to be a God.</P>
<P>Weigh then the &s;trength of this la&s;t rea&s;on, God is the Lord, the Lord ab|&s;olute without any condition, the &s;ole Lord without compare: Lord of men and Angels, Lord of death and Devils, <HI>Dominus dom<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">norum,</HI> Lord of al earthly Lords and Subjects; and therefore as is his Lord&s;hip, &s;o let his &s;ervice be, ab&s;olute, &s;ole, &s;upreme. No other &s;erv'd in &s;tead of him, no other &s;erv'd together with him.</P>
<Q><PB N="136" REF="74"><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3.16.</NOTE>The Conclu&s;ion, <GAP DESC="foreign">, for Reproof, Cor|rection, In&s;truction.</Q>
<P>And of this we will &s;oon agree, that this Lord is to be &s;erved, and &s;olely to be &s;erved; I would to God, that men would as ea&s;ily do it, as agree that it is to be done. Were it perform'd, our good Lord would have no rea&s;on to complaine to this day, as he &s;ometimes did, <HI>If I be a Lord, where's my feare?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 1.6.</NOTE></P>
<P>Two duties he calls to us for. Fir&s;t, <HI>To heare his voice;</HI> and his voice will direct us in all duties of piety,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 5 1. Luke 9.35.</NOTE> and charity. Now with him for that we will not much &s;tick: For an houre, or two, or three, as the Preacher is longer or &s;horter winded, we can be content to lend him our eare, &s;uppo|&s;ing then that we are <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f his mo&s;t dutiful &s;ervants. This I condemn not; yet I would not have any &s;ervant mi&s;taken, to take that for &s;ole &s;ervice, which at the be&s;t is but the rule of his &s;ervice. For Preaching is <HI>doctrina cultus,</HI> not <HI>cultus ip&s;e.</HI> It <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s only a doctrine that teacheth, and the way that leadeth to the &s;ervice of God, but not properly the &s;ervice it &s;elf. This was nece&s;|&s;arily to be noted, becau&s;e that many now think that they have &s;ufficiently &s;erv'd their Lord, when they have heard a Sermon, which gave occa&s;ion to the Adver&s;ary to &s;coff, that the Religion of the Hereticks (for &s;o tho&s;e of <HI>Rome</HI> &s;tile us) was a meer preach.</P>
<P>A &s;econd &s;ervice then there is, and it con&s;i&s;ts <HI>in doing of our Lords will after we have heard it;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">James 1.22.</NOTE> to which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> was &s;o inclineable, that imme|diately upon the voice,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9.6.</NOTE> he ask'd, <HI>Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?</HI> what &s;ervice is it your plea&s;ure to command me? It is &s;ervice that denominates the Servant, and doing his will that honours the Lord. And it is &s;o ab&s;urd a matter to think otherwi&s;e, that Chri&s;t in admiration asks, With what face a|ny man could call his Father Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6.46.</NOTE> and not do as he was bid? <HI>How call you me Lord, and do not as I will you?</HI> As much as to &s;ay, which in another place he expre&s;&s;eth, 'Tis to no purpo&s;e to &s;ay, <HI>Domine, Domine, Lord, Lord. Lord in thy Name we have ca&s;t out devils.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.21, 22, 23.</NOTE> <HI>Lord, Lord, in thy Name we have prophe&s;ied: Lord, in thy Name we have done wonderful works.</HI> All I &s;ay is in va<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n, if yet we be workers of iniquity.</P>
<P>Well then, how goes our &s;ervice? What it is in our Clo&s;et, I ask not. For it is in &s;ecret, and he that &s;ees in &s;ecret can be&s;t judge of it; I pray God it be daily and not intermitted;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 99.5.132.7. 2 Chron 29.29. <HI>Augu&s;t. in</HI> P&s;a. 98.</NOTE> fervent, and not interrupted. The Lord God add to our prayers, how many &s;oever they be. What it is in publick we &s;ee. In old time <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> bowed before the Ark, and <HI>Hezekiah</HI> wor&s;hipped and bow'd the head in the Temple; and in the purer times <HI>nemo manducabat ni&s;i prius adoret.</HI></P>
<P>But now the indecency of the place fir&s;t &s;hews that we are like to be &s;lo|venly &s;ervants. Next our approaches are very irreverent; in we come, our hat is not moved, and down we clap, and di&s;honour our head, our Head Chri&s;t more;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11.4.</NOTE> we &s;eal not our prayer, for our Amen is &s;ilent, the lips &s;carce move, nor the knee can be got to bow. Homly God wot, and familiar our behaviour is, it cannot be called &s;ervice, there is &s;o little of a &s;ervant in it.</P>
<P>A&s;ham'd I am to in&s;i&s;t longer upon this; it were to upbraid you with your whole &s;ervice. For very &s;hame then out of the Church I go, to view your lives abroad; And there I feare me, I &s;hall find you too loo&s;e, when your &s;ervice in your Lords nearer pre&s;ence is &s;o profane. It fareth with us, not as if God were the Lord, and we to do his Will, but as if we were the Lords, and he to do ours. May he not renew his old complaint taken up again&s;t a
<PB N="137" REF="74"> people that he had entertain'd for his mental &s;ervants? <HI>Thou ha&s;t made me to &s;erve with thy &s;innes, thou ha&s;t wearied me with thine iniqui ies.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 43.24.</NOTE> 'Tis a homely word, but I cannot fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">bear it, that you may forbear to do it, we make him lacquey to our vile affections.</P>
<P>There be that lay the whole burden of their &s;innes upon God, and make his Name &s;erve for their own ends. In his Name they &s;peak, and would be reputed his be&s;t Servants, that they may gaine repute and credit. 'Tis old, but true, <HI>In nomine D mini inc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">pit omne malum.</HI> They would have men believe they are drawing h s Will, when it is their own. It was for&s;ooth the will of God that <HI>Jehu</HI> was doing, when by the blood of <HI>Ahabs</HI> Sonnes, he was thir&s;ting after a Crown.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 10.15. 2 Sam. 15.7.</NOTE> It was the will of God that commanded <HI>Ab&s;o|lom</HI> to <HI>Hebron,</HI> to pay his vow, when he &s;tole the hearts of the people, and meant to dethrone his Father. No &s;uch great mi&s;chief ever attempted, per|fected, as that which hath had the Name and Will of God affixed to it.</P>
<P>The covetous <HI>Phari&s;ee</HI> comes in the Name of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.14.</NOTE> and fools the poor Widow into a belief, that God hath not &s;uch another devout &s;ervant upon the earth as he; under which colour he creeps into the &s;illy womans hou&s;e, and with a long prayer, and a leven'd face, devoures her. Said it is, that the Romi&s;h Je&s;uite, and the preci&s;er brother, are cozen Germans to this old Hypocrite; the one making as good a Market of his dirges, trentalls, and hallowed graines; the other of his groans and &s;ighs, and Oh Lord God, and good Father, as ever that Viper did of his tedious Orizons. The leud Strum|pet too, &s;he looks as demurely as the cha&s;t <HI>Su&s;anna,</HI> who would conceive no le&s;s upon a groan fetch'd at a Sermon, but &s;he were at lea&s;t the hand-maid of the Lord, when &s;he is <HI>Mary</HI> the City &s;inner, or rather the Cities &s;inne, making this Religious Face to &s;erve her turne, and her Lord to &s;erve her lu&s;t.</P>
<P>And as if this were a &s;mall matter thus to counterfeit our Lords Name, there be that reject him, as if he were not worth the &s;erving, and profe&s;&s;edly &s;et up another Lord; in their l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ves I am &s;ure, be their words what they will. Ever &s;ince <HI>Our Father which art in heaven</HI> hath been ca&s;t a&s;ide, <HI>I believe in God</HI> hath been bani&s;hed with it; and that which makes me think &s;o, is, becau&s;e 'tis evident that the greate&s;t part of the godly fall low in the wedge of gold, and devoutly wor&s;hip: Though Chri&s;t tells them, that it is <GAP DESC="foreign"> im|po&s;&s;ible, <HI>Ye cannot &s;erve God and Mammon; be godly, and covetous:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.24.</NOTE> Let the Catalogue of Gods Servants be call'd over, and though you may brand many of them for foul enormities, yet you cannot &s;ay that one of them was a Mammoni&s;t. Again, there be that &s;erve their &s;en&s;e and appetite, who&s;e God is their belly, their Kitchin is their Temple, their dainties the &s;acrifice,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.19.</NOTE> their Cook their Prie&s;t, and their Paunch the Altar. Every where &s;in is a great Lord, and hath a long train of Servants; This &s;ame <HI>Agre&s;tis &amp; fu|rio&s;us Dominus,</HI> as <HI>Sophocles</HI> calls him, raigns and wears a Crown, makes Laws, and is obeyed in every Corner.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.18, 20.</NOTE> Though there is an <GAP DESC="foreign"> for that too; <HI>If you be the &s;ervants of &s;inne, you cannot be the &s;ervants of righ|teou&s;ne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>And heare you? Our <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> is at his <HI>Non pote&s;tis</HI> al&s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 19.</NOTE> You cannot &s;erve the Lord, for he is a holy God, he is a jealous God, he will not forgive your tre&s;pa&s;&s;es and your &s;innes. How? not &s;erve the Lord? No, not the Lord and <HI>Baalim,</HI> other Lords, for that is his meaning; not the Lord and your belly, not the Lord and your pur&s;e, not the Lord and your &s;inne, not the Lord with a mask and a vi&s;our on. For he is</P>
<P N="1">1. An holy Lord; What &s;hould he do with unclean, impure, u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">holy, and voluptuous Servants? His purity will not away with their impurity; his Sanctity with their pollutions. If the belly and &s;inne, <HI>Bacchus</HI> and <HI>&V;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">us</HI> be
<PB N="138" REF="75"> Ma&s;ters, he &s;corns your offer of &s;ervice to him. Down the&s;e mu&s;t, where he is &s;et up.</P>
<P N="2">2. And as he is holy, &s;o is he jealous too; <HI>his glory he will not give t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> another.</HI> No Husband more impatient of a corrival in his bed, than he of a Co-partner in his Service.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, He abominates that the dirty Lord <HI>Mammon</HI> &s;hould be &s;erved with him, much more preferr'd before him. Down this Idol mu&s;t, and all other fal&s;e Gods, or el&s;e no Servants of his.</P>
<P N="3">3. And from his jealou&s;ie proceeds his fury. This puts him into &s;uch a rage,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>I&s;a. 28.21. &amp; 27.4.</HI> Bern. Serm. <HI>5.</HI> de natali Dom. Tertul. ad Mar. lib. <HI>2.</HI> cap. <HI>11.</HI> Et de Re&s;urr. carnis. c. <HI>14.</HI></NOTE> that he will not forgive. It forceth him to do his work, his &s;trange work; to bring to pa&s;s his Act, his &s;trange Act. In the former Chapter of <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> he tells us, <HI>that anger is not in him.</HI> That his nature is to pardon; this is <HI>ingenita,</HI> proceeds from his bowels; to that other he is con&s;train'd; and therefore the effect of his Ju&s;tice is <HI>opus alienum,</HI> call'd <HI>a &s;trange work. Ita prior Dei bonitas &s;ecundum naturam, &s;everitas po&s;terior &s;ecundum cau&s;am,</HI> So then the goodne&s;s of God is fir&s;t in him according to his Nature, his &s;everity is after according to the cau&s;e that he findes in us. For when once his Servants come to this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 42.20. James 1.8. I&s;a. 2.9. Jer. 18.23. Rev. 3.16.</NOTE> that they di&s;&s;emble with him, carry a double heart, u&s;e his Name, and abu&s;e his &s;ervice, he will not forgive, he will not pardon. Holy he is, and he will not be prophaned; jealous he is, and he may not be con&s;orted; &s;evere he is, and he will not be hypocritically &s;erved; for &s;uch a <HI>Laodicean</HI> he will &s;pue out of his mouth. The Jews have to this day this Say|ing commonly in their mouths, <HI>Non tibi O I&s;rael accidit ulla ultio, in qu&acirc; non &s;it uncia de iniquitate vituli;</HI> i. e. O <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> there is no puni&s;hment which befalls thee, in which there is not one ounce weight of the Golden Calf. So it is not; however in their judgement it ju&s;tifies <HI>Jo&s;hua's</HI> word, that he is a jealous God, and he will not pardon.</P>
<P>And now I put you to your Option, as <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> did the&s;e <HI>I&s;raelites, Eli|gite vobis,</HI> choo&s;e you whether you will &s;erve this great Lord or your &s;elves; this Father Almighty, or your own imaginations. And methinks I hear you reply as they did, <HI>Ab&s;it, God forbid that we &s;hould &s;erve any other.</HI> Nay, we will &s;erve the Lord by all means. Servants of the Lord we will be. <HI>Oh that there were &s;uch an heart in you alwayes!</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 4.6. &amp; 5.29.</NOTE> <HI>for this would be your wi&s;|dome and under&s;tanding in the &s;ight of the people with whom you live.</HI> But if this be your minde, then this day renew the Covenant, which you made when you became Gods &s;ervants.</P>
<P>A bond you gave at your Bapti&s;me to for&s;ake all the enemies of this your Lord, and to &s;erve him; and of this, that &s;tone, the Font is a Witne&s;s; and Surety you gave for performance of this Bond. Pay therefore what you have vow'd, &s;erve this Lord, obey this Lord whom you have cho&s;en to be your God; for to your obedience are the promi&s;es made; The ble&s;&s;ing in the City, and the ble&s;&s;ing in the field:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 28.</NOTE> The ble&s;&s;ing to the fruit of your body, and the ble&s;&s;ing to the fruit of your ground; the ble&s;&s;ing to your Kine, and the ble&s;&s;ing to your Flock. The&s;e I after <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> propo&s;e as good powerful motives on|ly. There is a ble&s;&s;ing promi&s;ed beyond all the&s;e, purcha&s;ed and a&s;&s;ured by the blood of Chri&s;t, to every good and faithful Servant. Serve then out your time, and your Lord will &s;urely pay you better wages than any earth can afford. He will call unto you, <HI>Euge, Well done thou good and faithful &s;ervant, enter into thy Ma|&s;ters joy.</HI> His joy it will be to Crown thee, thy joy to be Crown'd at that day; when with the re&s;t of thy fellow Servants, he &s;hall call unto thee, &s;aying, <HI>Come ye Ble&s;sed of my Father, inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the begin|ning of the world.</HI> Which God grant, &amp;c.</P>
<DIV4 TYPE="letter">
<PB N="139" REF="75">
<HEAD>To the Noble and his much Honoured Friend THOMAS LOWER, E&s;q; <HI>WILLIAM NICOLSON</HI> prayeth happine&s;s in this World, but e&s;pecially in the future.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Noble Sir,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_I So much pre&s;ume of acceptance of what I offer to your Candour, that I do not beg it, but enjoyne it. For it is your and my Je&s;us in the bo&s;ome of his Father, in the womb of his Mother, in his Cratch, on the Cro&s;s, in his grave &s;o low, and in his Throne of Glory &s;o high; In a word, it is our common Savi|our; Him I here pre&s;ent you, becau&s;e I know, notwith&s;tanding your vertues, you need him. And with the &s;ame hand I reach him to you, I take him back againe, becau&s;e I need him more than you; being one to whom God hath lent more yeares, and therefore con&s;ci|ous to more &s;innes; One placed in a publick Office, and therefore to an&s;wer for other mens deficiencies as well as my own. Where|as therefore others who pre&s;ent gifts, freely part with all unto him on whom they be&s;tow their free-will offering: I cannot on other terms re&s;igne my Saviour into your hands, but that you be content I &s;hare with you. His Name is an Oyntment poured forth; and it may very well &s;weeten us both, becau&s;e it is &s;ufficient to perfume the whole world. Other &s;weets mu&s;t be &s;et a&s;ide in compari&s;on of this, becau&s;e they are indeed dung to this.</P>
<P>The ill hap is, that this &s;weet Name hath of late pa&s;t through &s;ome &s;lovenly hands, who have expo&s;ed it &s;o rudely, that it cau|&s;ed too many to nau&s;eate. For when bu&s;ie flyes fall into the Oynt|ment of the Apothecary, they cau&s;e it to &s;tink. That then this pre|cious balme be return'd to its prime worth, e&s;teeme, u&s;e, I have endeavoured according to that mea&s;ure of Grace which God hath be|stowed on me, to &s;et it forth as it was at fir&s;t, before it became &s;ullied by their &s;lutti&s;h fingers. If I have done well, and as fitting &s;o precious a &s;ubject, it is that which I de&s;ired; but if &s;lenderly and meanly, it is that I could attain to.</P>
<PB N="140" REF="76">
<P>Your ingenuity, affability, courte&s;ie, conde&s;cen&s;ion, hath been alwayes &s;uch, that it hath wonne upon the hearts of all that know you, and among others hath made me, the lea&s;t of many, one of your Votaries, on whom you have alwayes ca&s;t &s;o kinde an a&s;pect, that you made old <HI>Cato's</HI> Ob&s;ervation good, <HI>That old age is not odious to young men, Bon&acirc; indole praeditis,</HI> enobled with the tincture and &s;eeds of vertue and goodne&s;s. The&s;e of your Noble and excellently en|dowed Father yet live in you; which that they may ripen, and in you bring forth the fruits of true piety, I thought good to moy&s;ten with the blood of my Saviour; than which there cannot be a better Manure to the practice of piety. In this my prayers are that you thrive and grow, till you come to be a perfect man in Chri&s;t Je&s;us. So I take my leave, and remaine one</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Who is ready to do you true Chri&s;tian &s;ervice, WILLIAM NICOLSON.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV4>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>The&s;e following Sermons are applyable to the &s;econd part of the <HI>Creed,</HI> concerning that great work of mans Redemption by Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="2" TYPE="part">
<PB N="141" REF="76">
<HEAD>AN EXPOSITION OF THE Apo&s;tles Creed. <HI>The Second Part.</HI></HEAD>
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The Ardent de&s;ire of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and holy men of God, that Chri&s;t would appeare in the fle&s;h.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>CANT. 1.1.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Let him ki&s;s me with the ki&s;&s;es of his mouth.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_A Strange beginning of a Book you'le &s;ay, and with <HI>Solomon</HI> unu&s;ual. His <HI>Proverbs</HI> beare his name.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov 1.1.</NOTE> <HI>The Proverbs of Solomon, the Son of David, King of I&s;rael.</HI> His Sermons &s;et forth the Authour. <HI>The words of the Preacher,</HI> and his Text on which he preacheth, <HI>&V;anity of vanity, all is vanity;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 1.1.</NOTE> up|on which one hath thus de&s;canted;
<Q><L>Cum vanitas &s;it vanitatis filia</L>
<L>Quae vanitati vanitatem procreet:</L>
<L>O vanitas, quid vanitate vanius?</L></Q></P>
<P>But for this Book, had not the In&s;cription been added by &s;ome old <HI>Rab|bin,</HI> we had been to &s;eek the Compo&s;er.</P>
<P>Without all que&s;tion it is of his Compo&s;ure. Who as in his <HI>Proverbs</HI> he reads us many Lectures in the Ethicks, Politicks, and Oeconomicks, and in <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tes</HI> in the Phy&s;icks; &s;o in this Book he is Metaphy&s;ical, and Treats upon a Subject beyond both, to wit, of the indi&s;&s;oluble conjunction of Chri&s;t and his Church, who&s;e longing de&s;ires he pre&s;ents to us in the&s;e words, <HI>Let him ki&s;&s;e me.</HI></P>
<P>A pa&s;&s;ionate expre&s;&s;ion! and at fir&s;t it is hard to &s;ay of whom, or to whom; The Pronounes, <HI>Him</HI> and <HI>Me,</HI> are &s;o indefinite. But be they &s;poken by whom they will, certainly it is of one deeply in love; for &s;he de&s;ires a ki&s;s, and ki&s;s after ki&s;s; ki&s;&s;es doubled, if not trebled; <HI>Let him ki&s;&s;e me with the ki&s;ses of his own mouth.</HI> And this is indeed the Solaeci&s;me of love, which
<PB N="142" REF="77"> thinks that every one is bound to take notice of whom &s;he is enamoured. She &s;ayes only here, <HI>Let him ki&s;s me;</HI> and &s;uppo&s;es all the world bound to take notice who this <HI>He</HI> is, whom &s;he meanes, though &s;he di&s;cover not his name, nor &s;ay one word more. <HI>Amor, quem ip&s;e cogitat, neminem putat ign<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rare.</HI> This is Loves own Dialect, that &s;pends more upon de&s;ires, than words.</P>
<P>Were you then affected as you ought, I &s;hould not need to name who the per&s;ons are; nor <HI>He,</HI> nor <HI>She;</HI> nor the Bride, nor the Bridegroome; nor her that de&s;ires a ki&s;s, nor him from whom it is de&s;ired. But I feare you are too earthly-minded; I mu&s;t therefore rai&s;e your thoughts. Never was there &s;o high an exta&s;ie, never &s;o pa&s;&s;ionate intercour&s;es of love. And yet <HI>abi Ve|nus;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.63.</NOTE> For what&s;oever is here expre&s;&s;ed, is wholly Spiritual and Divine. <HI>The&s;e words are Spirit and life.</HI> The deepe&s;t things of God being involv'd in Al|legories, and &s;hadowed in Riddles, which who &s;o will under&s;tand, mu&s;t be in love, as the Spou&s;e was here.</P>
<P>The enamour'd &s;oule was here the Church; the object of her love Chri&s;t, which takes upon him the per&s;on of a loving Husband, to enrich his Spou&s;e with what is his. This &s;he well knowing, longs, and &s;ighs, and wi&s;hes for the Marriage day, which was (to &s;peak truth) the day of his Nativity, and ap|parition in the fle&s;h. And again&s;t that day, <HI>Solomon</HI> moved by the Spirit of God, compo&s;ed this <HI>Epithalamium,</HI> or wedding Song.</P>
<P>Which is &s;tiled <HI>Canticum Canticorum;</HI> as if he &s;hould &s;ay the mo&s;t excel|lent of all his Songs.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 4.26. Exod. 15. Judges 5. 1 Sam. 2.</NOTE> Five hundred he compo&s;ed, but none like this. No nor ever any Song made like this. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Song is extant, and <HI>Deborahs</HI> Song is upon record, and <HI>Annahs,</HI> and <HI>Davids,</HI> and <HI>A&s;aphs.</HI> The&s;e were all &s;weet Singers of <HI>I&s;rael;</HI> but not any of tho&s;e yet it &s;eems, to be equall'd to this. They bare <HI>Cantica,</HI> P&s;alms, Hymns, Songs; but this as having pre|heminence of all the re&s;t, <HI>Canticum Canticorum, The Song of Songs.</HI> Sung they were by particular per&s;ons mo&s;t wi&s;e for &s;ome benefit receiv'd; as put ca&s;e, that of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> for <HI>I&s;raels</HI> &s;afety, and <HI>Pharaohs</HI> overthrow, of <HI>De|borah</HI> for her victory over <HI>Si&s;era, Annah</HI> for her Son, &amp;c. But this was a Song penn'd to be &s;ung by the whole Church to God, for the Redemption of the World by his Sonne. For look what&s;oever God had promi&s;ed, the Prophets foretold, the Patriarchs expected, the Evangeli&s;ts wrote, the Apo|&s;tles preached, either for the building up of our faith, or confirming our hope, is fully, though darkly comprehended in it, <HI>Eloquio jucundo, figurato tamen.</HI></P>
<P>Here indeed is a vaile, as &s;ometimes over <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> face; but time hath re|moved it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 34.33, 34, 35. Ephe&s;. 3.9. 1 Tim. 3.16. Cant 8.1.</NOTE> and the my&s;tery, hid from the beginning of the world, is now opened, &s;ince God is manife&s;ted in the fle&s;h. What tho&s;e old Fathers had in <HI>Spe,</HI> that we have in <HI>Re.</HI> What the people of God then expected, we en|joy. The Church then de&s;ired, <HI>Oh that thou wert as my brother, &s;ucking the brea&s;ts of my mother.</HI> But we behold that our brother an infant of a &s;panne long, drawing tho&s;e milk-white brea&s;ts. The ki&s;&s;es which &s;he de&s;ired, have been &s;ealed upon our lips; and tho&s;e lips that gave them, have by him&s;elf &s;poken unto us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.2.</NOTE></P>
<P><HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;aid it long ago, <HI>Chri&s;tianus nihil aliud ni&s;i Judaeus re|formatus,</HI> That a Chri&s;tian was nothing el&s;e but a reformed Jew. For the Doctrine of Chri&s;t was no &s;trange thing in the world; It began not 1654. yeares ago, but was from the beginning. A Doctrine fir&s;t made known by God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15. Rev. 13.8. Acts 28.20. &amp; 26.6, 7. Heb. 13.8.</NOTE> <HI>The &s;eed of the woman &s;hall break the Ser<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ents head;</HI> and all Sermons &s;ince, are but rehear&s;als and explanations of that old Text, and old Truth. For Chri&s;t was that <HI>Lamb &s;laine from the beginning of the world.</HI> He was that common hope of the Fathers, and us their Children. <HI>He was ye&s;terday,
<PB N="143" REF="77"> and to day, and the &s;ame for ever. To all the &s;ame spiritual meat, and the &s;ame &s;piritual drink.</HI> They that went before, and they that follow'd after,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.4. Mat. 20.15.</NOTE> cryed, and yet cry, <HI>Ho&s;anna to this Son of David.</HI></P>
<P>The Apo&s;tle witne&s;&s;eth that they plea&s;ed God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.39.</NOTE> and was God ever yet plea|&s;ed with any but through his Sonne? The voice from heaven a&s;&s;ures us that it was no otherwi&s;e. <HI>Th u a t my Sonne in whom,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.17.</NOTE> it is not with whom <HI>I am well plea&s;ed.</HI> Plea&s;ed with him, but in him plea&s;ed with us too. There never was, there never &s;hall be but one Catholick Church; there never was, nor never &s;hall be but one Communion of Saints; and of the&s;e Saints one Chri&s;t is the Redeemer, and of th s Catholick Church one Chri&s;t is the Head. The Fathers that lived before, and they who lived at, and we who have lived &s;ince the time he took the&s;e lips to ki&s;s us, are all but members of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s one body. Though they were forward as <HI>Jacob,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen 25.26.</NOTE> and put forth their hand, and laid hold on the promi&s;es before their brethren, yet they were joyn'd to the body by this head. And that which united them, was their faith; which was one and the &s;ame in re&s;pect of the object, <HI>the &s;eed of the woman;</HI> expected and de&s;ired by them, performed and exhibited to us: They believ'd and hoped for &s;alvation by a <HI>M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ias</HI> to come, we believe and hope for &s;alva|tion by the &s;ame <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> that is come.</P>
<P>Which that it may the better be conceiv'd, you &s;hall do well to con&s;ider Faith in the&s;e re&s;pects.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Q<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oad internam illuminationem,</HI> by the light of knowledge, which is the fir&s;t ground of faith; and thus their faith was not the &s;ame with ours; for our light is greater than ever theirs was. For what they in general believed of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> that we have unfo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ded, and dige&s;ted into particular Articles Mans life is compared to a day; and by the parts of a day, this truth may be be&s;t known. Some there be that are up betime before the day &s;pring, or the Sun hath &s;catter'd the clouds and mi&s;ts, and what &s;uch men &s;ee, they behold darkly as in a Fogg. Thus the old Patriarchs (that lived before <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he day-&s;pring from on high came to vi&s;it us) &s;aw the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah;</HI> They &s;aw only a &s;hadow and a glimp&s;e of him breaking through the darkne&s;s of Prophe&s;ies, and the mi&s;ts of Sacrifices, Types, and Ceremonies. Some other walk abroad at noon-day when the Sun is in the Zenith, and what they &s;ee, they behold clearly. Thus they &s;aw the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> that conver&s;ed with him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude ver. 3.</NOTE> which cau&s;ed them to con|tend for the faith &s;o earne&s;tly, &s;o con&s;tantly, &s;o faithfully. But who&s;oever &s;ince have &s;een him, are come nearer to the evening; and therefore though the object be the &s;ame, yet the <HI>Medium</HI> is darker, mi&s;ted with Here&s;ies, er|rours, profane life of the profe&s;&s;ors, which makes the apprehen&s;ion the wea|ker by much. In regard of the light then faith hath its degrees. The Fathers that had le&s;s light &s;aw le&s;s, but in the other re&s;pects, their faith was the &s;ame with ours.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Quoad ob<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ectum;</HI> In regard of the object, as I &s;aid but now;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Justine Martyr.</NOTE> for <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. they who lived under the old Te&s;tament, had a firme hope that God would make good his promi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 22.18. Gal. 3.23. Gen. 49.18.</NOTE> <HI>and ble&s;s all nati|ons in the &s;eed of Abraham, and a lively faith in the Redeemer to be revealed in the fulne&s;s of time. Jacob</HI> thus &s;peaks to God on his death-bed, <HI>I have waited for thy &s;alvation, O Lord;</HI> or as &s;ome read it, <HI>Je&s;um tuum, Thy Je&s;us.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Quoad a&s;&s;en&s;um,</HI> for they a&s;&s;ented, and yielded no le&s;s to this way of Salvation than we do. <HI>Abraham &s;aw my day, and rejoyced.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 8.56.</NOTE> Ju&s;t as a man that &s;ees but with one eye, equally believes, and is plea&s;ed with the object he &s;ees, as he that perfectly beholds it with both.</P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>Quoad applicationem,</HI> In regard of application; and &s;o the Fathers by Faith receiv'd the promi&s;es of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> to come, and applyed them to
<PB N="144" REF="78"> them&s;elves for their own benefit; No le&s;&s;e &s;hall I &s;ay? nay, I feare me, much more than we do:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.13.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, They gave them a kinde em|brace. This was <HI>Jobs</HI> &s;tay, he took it and put it in his bo&s;ome next his heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 19.25.</NOTE> <HI>I know that my Redeemer liveth.</HI> A Redeemer would not &s;erve h s turne; He never was at re&s;t, till he knew that he was his Redeemer; till he had taken hold of him, and applyed him, even by faith made him his own; and made, as I may &s;o &s;ay, a kinde of Monopoly of him, <HI>My Redeemer liveth.</HI></P>
<P>Their faith then was true, but not &s;o cleare. True, for it had for its ob|ject the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah.</HI> True againe, in that it did a&s;&s;ent and re&s;t in the promi&s;e. True la&s;tly, in that they did apply to them&s;elves the Redeemer, and expe|cted to be &s;aved by him. But not &s;o clear, becau&s;e all the particulars of this Redemption were not made known to them.</P>
<P>And now perhaps you will &s;ay, What needed this wa&s;te of time? what u&s;e of this long preamble? you may judge it &s;uperfluous, but I &s;ay 'twas nece&s;|&s;ary, and could not well be &s;pared; For had not the Church believed all this, to what purpo&s;e &s;hould have been tho&s;e ejaculations, tho&s;e fervent pe|titions of the old Patriarchs and Prophets that de&s;ired to &s;ee this day? how could we have under&s;tood what the Spou&s;e here intended, when &s;he pa&s;&s;io|nately thus breaks forth, <HI>Let him ki&s;&s;e me with the ki&s;&s;es of his mouth.</HI> Out of which I &s;hall commend unto you the&s;e three Points to be con|&s;idered.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The earne&s;t de&s;ire of the old Church.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The Object of her de&s;ire, to &s;ee Chri&s;t in the fle&s;h.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The end that &s;he de&s;ired it; <HI>viz.</HI> that peace might be made betwixt hea|ven and earth; of which a ki&s;s given and taken is a token and pledge.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> The de&s;ire of the old Church earne&s;t.</HEAD>
<P>The prayers of the old Church were neither <HI>Trepidae,</HI> nor <HI>Tepidae;</HI> bold|ly they came to the Throne of grace; for they were arm'd with faith, and fervently th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ent up their petitions from thence, for they were wing'd with Love. Where the love is cold, the prayer is cold; whereas from a heart warm'd with this pa&s;&s;ion, the petition is earne&s;t. Heate a man once with the fire of the Spirit, and he will &s;peak to God in &s;ighs and groans that cannot be uttered;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.26.</NOTE> as the old Saints did in this ca&s;e. <HI>David</HI> fetcheth one grone a|bout it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 14.7. I&s;a. 64 1. Cant 8.1.</NOTE> <HI>O that thou would&s;t give &s;alvation to I&s;rael out of Sion. I&s;aiah</HI> another, <HI>Oh that thou would&s;t rent the heavens.</HI> And the Spou&s;e a third, <HI>Oh that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hou wert as my brother.</HI> And this here, <HI>Let him ki&s;s me,</HI> is no faint de&s;ire.</P>
<P>When you pray then, pray thus. Thus as the Spou&s;e with heat and love; be earne&s;t and &s;erious with God; and conceive not that God will heare you, when you heare not your &s;elves. True it is, <HI>that the prayer of the righteous man prevailes much;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">James 5.16.</NOTE> but it mu&s;t then be fervent; for if cold, it freezeth in the Clouds, and comes not to heaven; whereas a zealous prayer mou ts higher,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 32.24, 26</NOTE> wre&s;tles with God, and will not let him alone. It is an Argument that a man is not much touch'd with the &s;en&s;e of what he wants, or wanti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">g asks, when his &s;uit is heavily commenced; for every one that truly feels his own nece&s;&s;ity, will be importunate, he will pre&s;s his friend even after a deni|al;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.3.</NOTE> So it was with the poor Widow, which cried, and cried &s;till after the un|ju&s;t Judge, till &s;he made him heare; an example that our Saviour hath left upon Record, that we &s;hould be earne&s;t, importunate, and zealous in our prayers, and not petition as if we cared not much whether what we ask'd were granted or not; &s;o did not the Spou&s;e, for &s;he was tran&s;ported with the
<PB N="145" REF="78"> love of what &s;he wanted and &s;ued for, and would not be &s;atisfied without &s;he &s;ped. <HI>Let him ki&s;s me.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. There be that ob&s;erve here again her humility and reverence in her &s;uits, in that &s;he &s;aid, <HI>Let him ki&s;s me with the ki&s;&s;es of his mouth,</HI> not with the ki&s;&s;es of <HI>thy</HI> mouth; that phra&s;e &s;he thought too familiar, homely and unman|nerly; which will check their impudence, that take upon them to command God, when they &s;hould intreat. Thus I have &s;een their Petitions printed, Thou Lord &s;halt do this for us, Thou mu&s;t do it, We command thee to do it; ground|ing their bold pride and confidence upon that place of the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah; And concerning the work of my hands command ye me;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 45.11.</NOTE> which is an Ironical Sarca&s;me to the <HI>Babylonians,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jun. &amp; Trem. in locum.</NOTE> that thought they might lay an interdict upon God, and &s;tay his Decree for the return of the captivity, and no warrant for a brazen-fac'd prayer. Sure I am, that the cream of Gods &s;ervants have petiti|oned, not commanded, and thought it a great happine&s;s, if upon a &s;uit ten|dered with all &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, humility and reverence, they might be heard, and di&s;mi&s;&s;ed with <HI>Be it unto thee as thou de&s;ire&s;t.</HI> Familiarity begets contempt,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.28.</NOTE> and contempt draws on anger; and in anger I deny not, but a Petition may be &s;igned; but better it were for him, it were denied; for it proceeds <HI>&agrave; Deo irato non propitio;</HI> and what is &s;o granted, is given as the <HI>I&s;raelites Quails,</HI> far better be without it. Faith, though it be confident, yet it is not impudent; it blu&s;heth when it asks; though it de&s;ires a ki&s;s, yet it &s;hall be mode&s;tly, &s;ub|mi&s;&s;ively done, approaching not as a bold Whore, but as a cha&s;te Spou&s;e, being prepared rather to receive, than to command a ki&s;s.</P>
<P>A ki&s;&s;e, or ki&s;&s;es: And that was a great matter, as I &s;hall by and by make evident to you. This teacheth us, that &s;o often as we approach the Throne of Grace, we &s;ue not for Trifles; it becomes not the Maje&s;ty of heaven to attend &s;uch Suits: <HI>Tu cum oras, magna ora:</HI> When you pray, ask for great things.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> in P&s;al. 118. Mat. 6.33.</NOTE> <HI>Fir&s;t &s;eek the Kingdom of God, and the righteou&s;ne&s;s of that Kingdom,</HI> which are the ki&s;&s;es the Spou&s;e &s;ues for in this place, and then for other matters: For one temporal ask five eternal; this is the method by which we are taught to pray, in which we have but one &s;ingle petition for daily bread, but five for this one, for tho&s;e things that concern Gods honour, and our &s;ouls wealth. Tran|&s;itory things then would be put into our petitions, as they &s;tand in our <HI>Pater no&s;ter,</HI> not too oft repeated, nor too much in&s;i&s;ted on; as for heavenly and &s;piritual, they cannot be too frequently, too earne&s;tly pre&s;&s;ed, becau&s;e they properly concern our happine&s;s. And among the&s;e, this e&s;pecially, which the Church here asks to be reconciled to God through his Son, a work that could never have been done, had he not become the Son of man; for how &s;hould he ever have given a ki&s;s, that had no lips? how &s;hould he &s;peak peace, that had no mouth? when then &s;he de&s;ires a ki&s;s, or ki&s;s from his mouth, her mind no que&s;tion was, that he would appear in the &s;hape of man, which was that &s;ame <HI>Magnum</HI> I hinted to you, and to that now I come.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> The object of the Churches de&s;ire, which was, to &s;ee Christ in the fle&s;h.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15. Gen. 12. Gen. 49. Acts 10.43. Numb. 24.17. Deut. 18.18. P&s;al. 2.7. I&s;a. 7.14. Jer. 23.5. Ezek. 34.23. Dan. 9.25. Micah 5.2. Zach. 3.8. Rev. 19.20. 2 Pet. 1.19.</NOTE></HEAD>
<P>Long before &s;uch a ki&s;s was promi&s;ed, or el&s;e &s;he had never pre&s;umed to de|&s;ire it. What did God el&s;e mean <HI>by the &s;eed of the woman?</HI> What el&s;e <HI>by the ble&s;&s;ing to come from Abrahams &s;eed?</HI> What <HI>by Jacobs Scepter?</HI> which was not to depart till he came. Infinite it were to in&s;i&s;t upon all the Prophe|&s;ies of him; <HI>for to him give all the Prophets witne&s;s. Baalam by a Star: Mo&s;es by a Prophet: David by a &s;on: E&s;ay by a child: Jeremy by a ju&s;t God, Jehovah our righteou&s;ne&s;s: Ezekiel by a Pa&s;tor: Daniel by the Me&s;&s;i|ah: Micah by a Governour: Zachary by a branch:</HI> So that the te&s;timony of Je&s;us is the Spirit of Prophe&s;ie; this is the light that &s;hines in a dark place, to which he that gives heed mu&s;t needs be brought to Chri&s;t.</P>
<PB N="146" REF="79">
<P>And to him again give all the Types and Sacrifices witne&s;s; the Pa&s;chal Lamb, the Brazen Serpent, the Scape-goat, the Red Cow, and I know not how many more of them, &s;o that the te&s;timony of Je&s;us are the Types of the old Law. But all Prophe&s;ies hang in &s;u&s;pen&s;e till the fulfilling of them; and all Types are but &s;hadows, empty things, till the &s;ub&s;tance be exh bited. And yet this was all the light that the old Church had; a Saviour rather &s;hadowed out darkly, than clearly expre&s;&s;ed; and therefore &s;he is de&s;irous to know fully what tho&s;e darker Prophe&s;ies aimed at, and what tho&s;e ob&s;cure Types intended; petitions to God to open them, and fulfill them.</P>
<P>'Tis as if &s;he had &s;aid, <HI>Quo mihi &s;emiverbia illa Prophetarum ora?</HI> What comfort can I take in tho&s;e half and cloudy expre&s;&s;ions of the Prophets?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 4.10. I&s;a. 6.5. Jer. 1.6.</NOTE> I'le hear <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> no longer, he is a man of a <HI>&s;tammering tongue,</HI> and no way <HI>eloquent. I&s;aiah</HI>'s <HI>lips are polluted. Jeremy is a childe,</HI> and knows not well <HI>how to &s;peak.</HI> As for Vi&s;ions and Dreams, and Types, I wot not what to make of them; and therefore <HI>ip&s;e loquatur, quem loquuntur,</HI> let him come him&s;elf and &s;peak of whom they &s;peak &s;o much, and &s;peak to me, and ki&s;s me with his own mouth; &s;o may the my&s;tery that hath lyen hid from the begin|ning of the world be made known to me.</P>
<P>But it was not curio&s;ity only that made the old Synagogue to be &s;o earne&s;t to &s;ee the promi&s;e fulfilled; a farther matter there was in it. God and the world for mans di&s;obedience were fallen out; God was become angry with man, and man was an enemy to God; and betwixt both fore-told it was, that there &s;hould be a peace concluded by the lips of the womans &s;eed:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Micah 4.3, 4. I&s;a. 9.6.</NOTE> <HI>Micah</HI> &s;aid it, that when he came, peace &s;hould be in our Land. <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> before him, that he &s;hould be <HI>Shar-&s;halon, the Prince of peace,</HI> the fir&s;t that &s;hould take that burden upon his &s;houlders.</P>
<P>This was the promi&s;e, but where's the performance? &s;ome mockers there were which &s;aid, You Prophets cry peace peace, but we find no peace; How long do you torment our &s;ouls? If he your Child, your Me&s;&s;ias will have us per&s;waded of his good will &s;o often &s;ignified by you his &s;ervants, then let him come down and make the peace, make your words good, and pacifie all in heaven and earth.</P>
<P>Upon this <HI>Angeli pacis amar&egrave; flebant,</HI> tho&s;e Me&s;&s;engers of peace began to weep bitterly; and as well to &s;top the mouths of the&s;e mockers, as to a&s;|&s;ure their own peace, they were very earne&s;t with God. <HI>David</HI> would have the heavens bowed:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 144.5. I&s;a. 64.1. &amp;, 41.8.</NOTE> <HI>Bow the heavens O Lord, and come down. I&s;aiah</HI> would have them rent and broken: <HI>O that thou would&s;t break the heavens;</HI> rather tho&s;e cele&s;tial orbs &s;uffer violence, bow and rend, and di&s;&s;olve to dew, than he &s;hould not de&s;cend to make up their and our peace; nay, &s;uch was the ear|ne&s;tne&s;s of <HI>Daniel,</HI> that he was &s;til'd <HI>Vir de&s;ideriorum,</HI> a man of de&s;ires; and whether think you that <HI>Balaam</HI> had not a months mind this way, when he pa&s;|&s;ionately laments,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 24.23. Luke 2.25, 38. Numb. 6.25.</NOTE> <HI>Alas, who &s;hall live when God doth this?</HI> tho&s;e that lived near his coming, as <HI>Zachary, Simeon, Anna,</HI> were always looking and expecting this day. Con&s;iderable al&s;o it is, what the Jews meant by that common &s;alutation, <HI>O&s;tendat tibi Dominus faciem &s;uam; the Lord make his face to &s;hine upon thee;</HI> for what was the face of God, but the Son of God, the very Image and Character of his brightne&s;s, who&s;e appearance and manife&s;tation they prayed for, by this form of &s;peech as is conceived?</P>
<P>But what &s;peak I of particular men, when I have here the reque&s;t of the whole Church? <HI>O&s;culetur me; let him ki&s;s me, &amp;c.</HI> All the ki&s;&s;es given before were but in words only, this real; they in hope, this in truth; they but like <HI>the Prophets &s;taffe &s;ent by Gehazi a &s;ervant,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 4.31. <HI>Bern.</HI></NOTE> <HI>and laid u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">on the face of the childe</HI> without effect, without vertue. There was no voice, no life in the child; as yet he breaths not, moves not, looks not up. That great Prophet him&s;elf mu&s;t come in per&s;on, he mu&s;t put his mouth upon our mouths, and his
<PB N="147" REF="79"> hands upon our hands, and his eyes upon our eyes, or el&s;e we &s;hall never reco|ver. <HI>Nam quod tactus baculi non potuit, tactus carnis mirabilit&egrave;r perficiet.</HI> For what the cold touch of the &s;taffe could not do, that the touch of his fle&s;h will in a wonderful manner bring to pa&s;s.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> The end why the Fathers de&s;ired the Incarnation of Christ; it was, that he would ki&s;s her.</HEAD>
<P>And now let us &s;ee what tho&s;e ki&s;&s;es were which &s;he &s;o much de&s;ired, for ma|ny they were; <HI>O&s;cula,</HI> a plurality of ki&s;&s;es; which when we know, confe&s;s we &s;hall that not one of them could be &s;pared, for we &s;tood in need of them all.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t ki&s;s he gave to our nature whereby he took the &s;eed of the wo|man, and join'd it to his Deity, &s;o of two making one, of two natures, that of God, and that of man, one per&s;on. By this there was a &s;tay made of that pollution or birth-&s;in that defiles our nature. By this an infu&s;ion of that pu|rity and holine&s;s which was requi&s;ite in a Mediatour; for had he been any way defiled with &s;in him&s;elf, he never could have reconciled God to &s;inners.</P>
<P>In his per&s;on there was the grace of union, and the grace of unction; and becau&s;e the fir&s;t of union, therefore this latter of unction; the conjunction of our du&s;t to his Deity, rai&s;ed our clay to a higher pitch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Thom. Part <HI>3.</HI> Q. <HI>7.</HI> Art. <HI>10.</HI> Viguerius.</NOTE> and gave to the &s;eed of <HI>Abraham</HI> which he a&s;&s;umed, a &s;acred unction and ability, <HI>&amp; inten&s;iv&egrave;, &amp; exten&s;iv&egrave;, &amp; quoad e&s;&s;entiam, &amp; quoad virtutem;</HI> in the inten&s;e&s;t and high|e&s;t degree that po&s;&s;ibly grace may be had, and a faculty to u&s;e it unto all effects and purpo&s;es that grace can extend. 'Tis acutely ob&s;erved by <HI>Rupert,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.16. Acts 2.3.</NOTE> that the Holy Gho&s;t de&s;cended upon our Saviour in the &s;hape of a whole creature, a whole Dove; whereas it came upon the Apo&s;tles in the form of a parted and divided tongue. Becau&s;e grace was be&s;towed upon him totally and perfectly, being habitually and formally inherent in his humane nature; whereas unto them there was a divi&s;ion made of tho&s;e gifts, every one having his &s;hare, as was requi&s;ite for them&s;elves; <HI>for the jointing of the Saints;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.12.</NOTE> <HI>for the work of the Mini&s;try, and for the edifying of the body of Chri&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 45.7.</NOTE> Above his fellows he was to be in the work, and therefore to be <HI>anointed with the oyle of glad|ne&s;s above his fellows.</HI></P>
<P>But becau&s;e this work could never be done without this union,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 49.7.</NOTE> therefore he decreed that the&s;e two natures &s;hould meet and ki&s;s. <HI>Man cannot redeem his brother;</HI> it is a work too high for him, he mu&s;t let that alone for ever; God is unapt to do it, as having no blood to &s;hed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 9.22.</NOTE> without which there can be no Re|demption. Could then there be a per&s;on of that wonderful compo&s;ition found, who might be <GAP DESC="foreign">, God and man, this alone were he who were apt to &s;tand up in the gap, and reconcile the di&s;agreeing per&s;ons; that then he might be God to merit, and man to dye, and by both to bring &s;alvation to tho&s;e who were lo&s;t; his Deity did vouch&s;afe to humble it &s;elf, and ki&s;s the &s;eed of the wo|man; after which grace of union there followed ki&s;s upon ki&s;s; for many they are.</P>
<P N="1">1. A ki&s;s in Bapti&s;me, when he fir&s;t meets with us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.38.</NOTE> and by water &s;eals up|on our lips a pardon and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins.</P>
<P N="2">2. After this another ki&s;s by the other Sacrament, when to our mouths he offers his body, and to our lips his blood,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.28. 1 Cor. 10.16.</NOTE> as a &s;ure pledge of our peace made with him.</P>
<P N="3">3. The&s;e ki&s;&s;es at &s;ome particular times; but all our life long a ki&s;s by his Spirit of love. He comes and calls, and knocks, and vi&s;its us day by day:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 5.2. Rev. 3.20. 1 Cor. <HI>&agrave;</HI> 4. <HI>ad</HI> 11. 1 Cor. 1.5. 2 Tim. 4.2. Joh. 1.16.</NOTE> Upon &s;ome he be&s;tows <GAP DESC="foreign">, gifts, and &s;eals them on their lips; their eloquence, their utterance, their words &s;poken in &s;ea&s;on, and out of &s;ea&s;on, are of the&s;e ample te&s;timonies; but to others he gives <GAP DESC="foreign">, graces, and &s;eals them in their hearts, and by good works on their hands, and by good words on their tongues.</P>
<P N="4"><PB N="148" REF="80">4. And yet we have another ki&s;s from his lips, a ki&s;s of In&s;truction, a pe|culiarity in this ki&s;s; for the &s;ame word <HI>Nazak</HI> in the Original, that &s;ignifies to ki&s;s, &s;ignifies to in&s;truct al&s;o. In&s;tructed he hath, and taught us now a new le&s;&s;on, yea, and that from his own mouth; for &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>God hath spoken to us by his Son.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 1.2.</NOTE> The old le&s;&s;on we had from his Me&s;&s;engers and Ser|vants, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the Prophets; but this not from any man of God, though never &s;o eminent, but from the Lord of the Prophets; not from any &s;ervant, though never &s;o great in place, but from the Son him&s;elf; from his mouth we have received notice of Gods will; he him&s;elf, <HI>ore tenus,</HI> gave us this ki&s;s.</P>
<P N="5">5. Now the la&s;t ki&s;s he gives, is a parting ki&s;s, a comfortable ki&s;s indeed, without which we &s;hould take out farewel of the world with &s;mall content: Did not he come, when we are pa&s;&s;ing from the&s;e hou&s;es of earth, and &s;eal upon our lips, <HI>O&s;culum pacis,</HI> the ki&s;s of peace, pronouncing with a clear voice, and a &s;erene countenance, <HI>Pax tibi frater,</HI> Peace be to thee my bro|ther; a&s;&s;uring us that through his blood our Father is reconciled to us, and we to him, without which we &s;hould pa&s;s hence with a &s;ad and amazed &s;oul. Did you ever behold the chearful look, and the Swan-like &s;ong of a Saint of God upon the approach of grim-fac'd death?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.29.</NOTE> that which cau&s;ed him to &s;ing his <HI>Nunc dimittis</HI> with &s;uch content, was the a&s;&s;urance of this ki&s;s. On the other &s;ide, have you ever been by to hear the groans and pitiful complaints, not of men of the common &s;ort, but of &s;pirit and valour, that dur&s;t have looked death in the face,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 38.1, 14.</NOTE> yet upon the Summons, <HI>Set thy hou&s;e in order, for thou &s;halt dye,</HI> brought &s;o low, that they mourn as a Dove, and chatter as a Swallow? That which &s;truck them into this terror, was, that they could find no inward certifi|cate of this ki&s;s. It is no light thing then that the Spou&s;e here &s;ues for, &s;ince to it is annexed all our comfort; &s;ince when it is either denied or with-held, there is nothing but the greate&s;t di&s;comfort and perplexity.</P>
<P>A ki&s;s is the perfecte&s;t Symbol of love and amity, and given from the lips of Chri&s;t mo&s;t &s;ure. Among men it may be, as they are, deceitful; for there is a crafty and in&s;inuating ki&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 15.5. Mat. 26.49.</NOTE> as was <HI>Ab&s;oloms;</HI> and a fal&s;e and treacherous ki&s;s, as was that of <HI>Judas;</HI> but in God there cannot be the lea&s;t &s;u&s;pition of fal&s;hood, no ill intent; and therefore from his mouth a ki&s;s given, mu&s;t needs be <HI>Charitatis Symbolum,</HI> a &s;ure &s;ign of love and peace.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.14. John 14.27. John 16.33. Eph. 2.13, 14, 15, 16. Luke 19.42. I&s;a. 53.5. Joh. 20.21, 26.</NOTE>When he was born, it was his <HI>Xenium,</HI> his New-years Gift, <HI>Peace be to men;</HI> when he dyed, it was his Legacy, <HI>My peace be with you.</HI> In his life he prayed for it, paid for it, wept for it. At his death he dyed for it, and at his ri&s;ing he brought and bequeathed it, he &s;tood in the mid&s;t and &s;aid, <HI>Peace be unto you:</HI> And when they are parting with the world, pre&s;ent he is with his, to di&s;mi&s;s them with a ki&s;s of peace: <HI>In &s;igno pacis facit de pace &s;ecuros,</HI> by this love-token of peace, he makes them &s;ecure of his peace.</P>
<P>Yea, but what now, did not <HI>Abraham</HI> the friend of God, the Patriarchs and Prophets enjoy this? Had not they their ki&s;s of peace and reconciliation long before he had any lips to give it? yes certainly, and they joyed at it; but yet their joy was not full; no more then his can be, who having a friends word pa&s;t to him for a courte&s;ie, yet is not wholly quiet in his mind till what is pro|mi&s;ed is performed. Though then their a&s;&s;urance for the performance was as firm as ours, yet the way how it &s;hould be performed was not &s;o clear and evi|dent; and this as it needs mu&s;t abate of their content, &s;o al&s;o it did very much fire and inflame their de&s;ires.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero de Senect.</NOTE> <HI>Nihil molestum est quod non de&s;id<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">res;</HI> no|thing is trouble&s;ome that a man de&s;ires not; and then by the Rule of contra|ries it will follow, <HI>Omne mole&s;tum quod de&s;ideres;</HI> every thing puts a man to ttouble which he de&s;ires. Promi&s;e a man victory, and &s;ay he believes it, yet he is not &s;atisfied till he know how it &s;hould be done. Let an Angel from hea|ven
<PB N="149" REF="80"> tell <HI>Sarah</HI> of a Son; or <HI>Mary,</HI> that &s;he &s;hall conceive,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.10. Luke 1.31, 34.</NOTE> and enquired it will be, <GAP DESC="foreign">; <HI>How can this be?</HI> and till that be known, the &s;oul is re&s;t|le&s;s: So it was in this ca&s;e; Gods Word was pa&s;t, that in time the Bridegroom &s;hould come, who &s;hould give his Spou&s;e this ki&s;s, which &s;he believed, and yet de&s;ired; and &s;o much the more de&s;ired, becau&s;e it was but <HI>V<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">spertina notitia,</HI> a glimmering of light to our Sun&s;hine which came to them.</P>
<P>For fir&s;t it was brought to them by piece-meal, and not all at once. One piece to <HI>Adam</HI> in gro&s;s, that he &s;hould be the &s;eed of the woman; no more.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15. Gen. 22.18. Gen. 49.10. P&s;al. 132.11.</NOTE> Then another piece to <HI>Abraham,</HI> that of his loins, his people; after of the Tribe of <HI>Judah,</HI> then la&s;t of the Family of <HI>David;</HI> his Pedegree was thus by degrees made known, and more clearly di&s;covered. And for his Offices, the&s;e were not declared all at once neither, but &s;ometimes to one, &s;ometimes to another. To <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> that he &s;hould be a Prophet:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 18.18. P&s;al. 110.4.</NOTE> To <HI>David</HI> that he &s;hould be a <HI>Prie&s;t:</HI> To <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> a <HI>Prince</HI> or <HI>King.</HI> And <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ot to hold you long, the circum&s;tances of his birth were by pieces delivered: To <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> made known it was that his mother &s;hould be a <HI>Virgin.</HI> To <HI>Micah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.6. I&s;a. 7.14. Micah 5.2. Dan. 9.24.</NOTE> that the place of his birth mu&s;t be <HI>Bethlehem:</HI> To <HI>Daniel,</HI> that the time mu&s;t be after &s;eventy weeks. A man in this piece of an houre may now come to as much knowledge of him, as they arrived to in &s;ome hundreds of years. Now how was it po&s;&s;ible, but as they &s;aw the light ari&s;e by little and little, &s;o al&s;o they &s;hould &s;till be de&s;irous to &s;ee more of it, indeed to behold it in its full &s;trength and beauty, without which they could not be &s;atisfied? All they heard of him hitherto, except that intimation given to <HI>Adam</HI> and <HI>Abra|ham,</HI> was immediatly from the mouth of man. One word from his own lips were worth ten thou&s;and of theirs; now this &s;he, the Spou&s;e here de&s;ires, and this in the la&s;t times he granted; for he came in the fulne&s;s of time, and &s;pake by him&s;elf.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The Conclu&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>When I lay to heart the earne&s;t de&s;ire of the old Jewi&s;h Synagogue for the Incarnation of the Son of God, and behold our coldne&s;s and negligence, our little regard and e&s;teem of him, now that he is born and come among&s;t us, <HI>I wi&s;h that my head were a fountain of water, and my eyes wells of tears,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 9.1. Tit. 2.11.</NOTE> <HI>that I might weep day and night for the &s;ecurity of the daughter of my people.</HI> For to which of us doth the grace of God which hath appeared, give &s;o much content as the promi&s;e only that he was to appear, gave to them? Now tell me I pray why their joy &s;hould be greater than ours; the mouth which the old world beg'd to &s;ee, we have heard to &s;peak to us; the lips which they de&s;ired to ki&s;s, is at this Fea&s;t pre&s;ented unto us, hanging and &s;ucking at his Mothers brea&s;ts: Eye-witne&s;&s;es then were enough that &s;aw him, <HI>Angels,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2. Mat. 2.</NOTE> <HI>Shep|herds, Wi&s;emen, lying in a Cratch, crying in Swadling Cloaths,</HI> an in|fant of a Span long. And thus much Apo&s;tles, Di&s;ciples after affirmed and made good, <HI>by working of Miracles,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 6.8. &amp; 8, 6, 9. Hebr. 2.4. 1 John 1.1. John 20.31.</NOTE> <HI>and healing all manner of di&s;|ea&s;es among the people;</HI> and what they &s;aw, they delivered; and what they hand|led of the Word of life, they wrote; and they wrote it, that we might believe.</P>
<P>Believing then what tho&s;e old Fathers hoped for, there is no rea&s;on our thanks be le&s;s; and enjoying what they expected, a &s;hame it were that our affections &s;hould be colder. In great love and greater humility he hath heard the de&s;ires of his old Saints, and is come down to ki&s;s us; fit then it were that we met him half way, and ki&s;s'd him. From him this is <GAP DESC="foreign"> a love-token indeed, but from us <GAP DESC="foreign"> a due debt. Little children, and new-borne babes we are wont to ki&s;s; and this day you may <HI>heare of him at Beth|lehem,</HI> a pretty childe hanging at his mothers brea&s;ts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2. Mat. 2.</NOTE> and emptying tho&s;e Virgin bottles. Some &s;owre men may conceive what they li&s;t; but &s;ure I
<PB N="150" REF="81"> am that it will plea&s;e God, that at his birth we <HI>rejoyce with the Shepherds,</HI> Sing a Charol with the Arch-Angel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.13, 20. Mat. 2.10, 11.</NOTE> run after the &s;tar, fall down with the wi&s;e men, and offer gold, incen&s;e, and myrrh; gold to our King, incen&s;e to our God, myrrh to our Redeemer.</P>
<P><HI>Nazianzen</HI> Preaching on this day, thus begins his Sermon, <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. Chri&s;t is born, glorifie him; Chri&s;t from heaven, go out to meet him;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. Orat. <HI>38.</HI></NOTE> Chri&s;t upon the earth, exalt him; Chri&s;t in the fle&s;h; be glad with feare, and joy; with feare, that your &s;innes brought him down; with joy, for the hope of Reconciliation. And <HI>Cyprian</HI> long before him thus begins al&s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cypr. de Nativ. Chri&s;ti.</NOTE> <HI>Ade&s;t multum de&s;iderata &amp; diu expectata Nativitas, adest &s;olem|nitas inclyta, &amp; in prae&s;entia Salvatoris grates &amp; laudes vi&s;itatori &s;uo per orb<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m terrarum &s;ancta reddit Eccle&s;ia.</HI> In his dayes then it was a Solemnity, a famous Solemnity kept by the holy Church over all the world; in which they gave laude and thanks to him who came to vi&s;it them, and to give them a ki&s;s. No man, I dare &s;ay, ever thought ill of the day, but he who grudg|eth to performe the duty;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. Orat. cit.</NOTE> That Eloquent Father is per&s;waded, that on this day the powers of heaven, becau&s;e they honour God and love men, do <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;ing with, rejoyce and keep this Solemnity with the Church. What they do, we can but gue&s;s at; what the prime and be&s;t Chri&s;tians did, we know; and 'tis more wi&s;dome to hear them to &s;peak for, and celebrate a Chri&s;tian Fea&s;t, than to hear the clamours of new men with|out &s;en&s;e, without rea&s;on again&s;t it. They thought on this day they were bound to do their duty, to return a ki&s;s for his ki&s;s, taking their direction from his lips, who &s;pake by the mouth of the Prophet <HI>David, Ki&s;s the Son:</HI> And now I &s;hall acquaint you how it is to be done.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.12.</NOTE></P>
<P N="1">1. By a con&s;tant profe&s;&s;ion of his Name; this cannot be done without the lips;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.10. Heb. 4.14. 1 Pet. 3.15.</NOTE> for the Apo&s;tle hath taught us, <HI>With the mouth confe&s;&s;ion is made to &s;al|vation.</HI> To this he requires that we &s;tick clo&s;e, hold fa&s;t the profe&s;&s;ion with|out wavering; and of it Saint <HI>Peter</HI> would have us ready to give an an&s;wer. This will di&s;tingui&s;h us from Jews and Turks; to God they give a ki&s;s; the Fa|ther they profe&s;s, but deny the Son; whereas we are bound not on<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y to ki&s;s the Father, but his Son al&s;o. This will di&s;tingui&s;h us, if it be hearty, as it ought, from lukewarm Profe&s;&s;ors,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.10. 1 Tim. 1.20. 2 Tim. 2.17.</NOTE> <HI>Demas, Hymenaeus,</HI> and <HI>Philetus,</HI> who go away, and leave the Son, and give him no ki&s;s at all in a hard time; whereas true Profe&s;&s;ors continue with him to the end, and cannot be beaten from his lips, no not in the time of the greate&s;t trouble.</P>
<P N="2">2. To ki&s;s is to adore. Idolaters to that purpo&s;e ki&s;&s;ed their Gods. <HI>Tul|ly</HI> tells us of <HI>Hercules</HI> brazen &s;hrine, that the very chin and lips thereof were worne off by tho&s;e who did adore him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cic. in Ver. Act. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Quia non &s;olum in precibus &amp; adorationibus adorare, &s;ed &amp; o&s;culari &s;olent. Solent,</HI> it was their cu&s;tome in their prayers, not only to adore, but to ki&s;s. And <HI>Pliny</HI> tells us, that in their adorations they turn'd the &s;ervice of the right hand into a ki&s;s.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plin. lib. <HI>20.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> But what need I rake the Heathens to prove this, when the Scriptures note it in <HI>Ephra|im</HI> and <HI>Baals</HI> &s;ervitours?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 13.2. 1 Kings 19.8.</NOTE> <HI>Ephraim</HI> ki&s;&s;ed the Calves. <HI>I have re&s;erved unto me &s;even thou&s;and, who&s;e mouths have not ki&s;&s;ed Baal.</HI> When they &s;aw the Sun in his glory, and the Moon in her &s;trength, their mouth ki&s;&s;ed their hand;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 31.37.</NOTE> which <HI>Job</HI> did not. To ki&s;s then is to adore; and &s;o the old Tran&s;latour reads it, <HI>Adorate filium,</HI> not <HI>o&s;culumini,</HI> Adore the Son.</P>
<P>Get ye then to your knees, with the wi&s;e men fall down and wor&s;hip him; they did it when he was in a low e&s;tate,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.10.</NOTE> when a Childe in the Inn, in the Sta|ble, in the Manger, and therefore in no wor&s;hipful condition. You behold him on high, far above all heavens, &s;itting on the right hand of God; fall low then before him:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.10. Col. 3.1.</NOTE> And for the many ki&s;&s;es he hath given you, give him this one of honour.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="151" REF="81">2. This one? nay &s;econd it with another of Homage and Subjection. Ho|magers ki&s;s the hands of their leige Lords; and of old,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Godw. Antiq. <HI>Jud. lib.</HI> 3. <HI>c.</HI> 2.</NOTE> Subjects were wont to ki&s;s their Soveraigns. <HI>Samuel</HI> &s;o &s;oone as he had emptied his horne of oyle upon <HI>Sauls</HI> head, ki&s;&s;ed him, to &s;ignifie that he was his Subject.<NOTE PLACE="marg">8 Sam. 10.1.</NOTE> And <HI>Phae|raoh</HI> when he made <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> Lord over all <HI>Egypt,</HI> that he might a&s;&s;ure him of his grant, told him, That according to his word all his people &s;hould <HI>Na&s;ak,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 41.40.</NOTE> ki&s;s, that is, be ruled.</P>
<P>Now &s;uch a ki&s;&s;e bring to your Saviour, a Subjects ki&s;&s;e. Take every word as a favour that falls from his lips, and no &s;ooner hear, but be as ready to obey.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 18.44.</NOTE> It is the true&s;t Character of one of Gods good Subjects, that <HI>in auditu auris,</HI> that he will no &s;ooner hear than obey. Strange children may di&s;&s;emble, hear and do nothing; but they who do truly &s;ubmit to his government, <HI>pendent narrantis ab ore,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 85.8.</NOTE> hearken the&s;e will what the Lord God will &s;ay concerning ihem; To which the Spirit of God here exhorts in the judgment of the <HI>Septu|agint</HI> and <HI>Chaldee</HI> Paraphra&s;t; for the fir&s;t read it <GAP DESC="foreign">, and the la&s;t <HI>recipite di&s;ciplinam,</HI> receive his doctrine, and follow your in&s;truction, hear, &s;ubmit, and be content to be taught by him. <HI>Erudimini, apprehendite di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ciplinam.</HI></P>
<P>But Subjects are not all of one &s;ort; &s;ome obey for fear, others for love; &s;ome do but flatter and di&s;&s;emble with their double lips,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 78.36.</NOTE> others mean &s;imply &amp; plain|ly, give a true ki&s;&s;e of love. Now &s;uch mu&s;t be the ki&s;&s;e you bring this child, if any; &s;ee it be <GAP DESC="foreign">, a true, friendly, hearty &s;alute, or el&s;e forbear. <HI>Judas</HI> brought him a ki&s;&s;e, but it had been better kept; For a ki&s;&s;e from a fal&s;e heart moves him not, except to wrath. Beware then, give not a ki&s;&s;e of comple|ment, or for fa&s;hion, as the multitude; give him not a trayterous ki&s;&s;e, as the hypocrite; but if you intend to ki&s;&s;e him at all, be &s;ure it be with a true lo|vers heart, or el&s;e ab&s;taine. Hurt your &s;elves you may;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 28.15.</NOTE> you &s;hall not winne him, if you play the Devils part in <HI>Samuels</HI> mantle.</P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, &s;ince he is come to make our peace, be not <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.3</NOTE> be not of that generation which will have no peace, that will admit of no reconcilia|tion. He for his part hath &s;ignified his mind to be&s;tow on you <HI>&s;culum pacis,</HI> a ki&s;&s;e of peace; I pray therefore ki&s;&s;e and be friends. Why &s;hould you &s;tand out any longer? Te&s;tifie if you can, wherein he hath grieved you;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 6.3. Heb. 3.10. Ez. 16.43.</NOTE> that you have grieved his Spirit, and fretted him, is too too apparent, and yet as if the wrong and injury had been done by him, he &s;eeks to man for his good will.</P>
<P><HI>Prepare then to meet thy God O I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 4.12. Luke 19.42. Eph. 6.15. Rom. 3.17. I&s;a. 9.6. Rom. 10.15.</NOTE> be ready to meet him in the things that concerne thy peace. Meet him in his Go&s;pel of peace; meet him in his wayes of peace; meet him by faith in his Sonne, who is the Prince of peace; meet him in his Sacraments, which are his Conduits of peace; meet him in his Mini&s;ters, who are the Angels of peace: and never then doubt but thou &s;halt be di&s;mi&s;&s;ed at la&s;t with a ki&s;&s;e of peace, a certaine evidence of re|conciliation; which is properly the ki&s;&s;e of his mouth, not of ours.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.15.</NOTE> For he it is that mu&s;t a&s;&s;ure us that the peace is made, el&s;e we &s;hall have no comfort in it. When the kind father had fallen upon the neck of his Prodigal,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15.20.</NOTE> and ki&s;&s;ed him, then he was &s;ure that his pardon was &s;ign'd, not before. The father gave it, the Son receiv'd it.</P>
<P>To ki&s;&s;e Chri&s;ts feet, or his hands, belongs to us; when we adore him, we ki&s;&s;e his feet; when we &s;ubmit to him, we ki&s;&s;e his hands, and are both a duty in us: But to give a ki&s;&s;e with his mouth, that is to be reconcil'd to us, only belongs to him, and is no otherwi&s;e a duty laid upon us, but that we be earne&s;t and in&s;tant to obtain it. And to &s;ay truth, the &s;ole way to purcha&s;e this fa|vour, is to begin with his feet, and go on to his hands.</P>
<P><HI>Mary</HI> the penitent began at his feet;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.38.</NOTE> at his feet &s;he &s;ate with a broken &s;pirit and a contrite &s;oul, with blubber'd eyes, and mournful &s;obbs; and what
<PB N="152" REF="82"> now, if we got us all thither, &s;tooped down to his feet, and watered them with this contrite dew, and ki&s;s'd them with our &s;orrowful lips? 'Tis but our duty, and a readier way there is not to obtaine a ki&s;&s;e from his mouth.</P>
<P>This ki&s;&s;e of the feet is for Penitents, which yet, when we have &s;adly given, it becomes us not pre&s;ently to be over-ha&s;ty or pre&s;umptuous to challenge that of his mouth. Ther'es another ki&s;&s;e to be given by the way, a middle duty; the hand is then offer'd, and we mu&s;t remember to ki&s;&s;e that. For what? thou wa&s;t but ye&s;terday polluted with blood, and wilt thou pre&s;ume to touch his lips? but now thou lay&s;t grovling at his feet loaden with, and confe&s;&s;ing thy deformities, and wilt thou pre&s;ently be &s;o bold as to approach his mouth? Take his hand in the way, and ki&s;&s;e that; Pray humbly, that with his hand he may rai&s;e thee, with his hand uphold thee, with his hand a&s;&s;i&s;t thee, that thy hands which before were in&s;truments of iniquity, may hereafter be hands of inno|cency, dedicated wholly to his &s;ervice, to his honour.</P>
<P>When we have thus humbly done our parts, ki&s;&s;ed his feet with penitent tears,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nehem. 2.8.</NOTE> and humble &s;ouls; and ki&s;&s;ed his hands in acknowledgment of our de|pendance upon him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.16.</NOTE> telying wholly upon the good hand of God for power to execute our begun re&s;olutions: Then we may the more boldly come to the throne of grace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke. 7.48. 2 Cor. 12.9.</NOTE> and beg a ki&s;&s;e of his mouth from him. Say it be that of <HI>Ma|ry, Thy &s;innes are forgiven thee.</HI> Say it be that to Saint <HI>Paul, My grace is &s;ufficient for thee,</HI> yet there is great comfort in it; for as it follows in the clo&s;e of this <HI>ver&s;e, his love is better than wine.</HI> A Pardon pronounced by his lips, and a &s;ufficiency of grace a&s;&s;ured by his promi&s;e, is farre beyond the delights of all earthly delicates.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.14.</NOTE> Talk no more then of the clu&s;ters of <HI>Engeddi,</HI> name not to me the Valleys loaden with Wheat, nor the Fields with Olives; The&s;e may plea&s;e and content for a time, be &s;ome comfort rather to a living, than a dying man.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.29.</NOTE> While I live and breath, and at that in&s;tant when I &s;hall breath my la&s;t, the Lord afford me this ki&s;&s;e, and &s;eale his love upon my lips and &s;oul, that I may depart in peace.</P>
<P>If I erre in this my de&s;ire, I am content to erre; neither am I willing, that either the motives of the ambitious, nor the incentives of the wanton, nor the wedge of the covetous, nor all the delights of the &s;onnes of men, ever per&s;wade me from this error. For I am a&s;&s;ured, that a ki&s;&s;e of reconciliation will be a better cordial to my now panting heart, and then parting &s;oul, than all the plea&s;ures of <HI>Solomon,</HI> or the trea&s;ures of <HI>Tyre.</HI> Evermore therefore Lord give me of this comfort, ki&s;&s;e me with the ki&s;&s;es of thy mouth, that I may live in peace, and dye in peace, and re&s;t in peace, and enjoy the fruits of this peace for ever and ever. Farre be it from your heart to imagine me &s;o uncharitable, as that I have not included you in this my de&s;ire; for know that I wi&s;h you no wor&s;e than my &s;elf; why is it that I &s;pend this breath, but that Chri&s;t &s;hould have his ki&s;&s;es from you, and you again your ki&s;&s;es from him? He his of adoration and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, and you yours of reconciliation and peace. Go toward him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15.20.</NOTE> and make your tender of them, as did the Prodigal, and then though you be a great way off, he will fall upon your neck, and give you his ki&s;&s;e. Nothing can hinder you from it, but your undervaluing of it; which if you do, I &s;hall hold you unworthy of &s;o great a grace, &s;o great love, &s;o great a benefit, But I hope better things of you, and that you are as ambitious of it, as he ready to give it. Be content then to be reconcil'd to God, and he will be reconcil'd to you, upon which only depends your pre&s;ent, and your future happine&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>For till you be at peace with him, all the world is in warre with you; The Angels have a drawn &s;word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb 22.31. Judg. 5.20. Joel. 2.25.</NOTE> and are ready to &s;mite you. The Starres in their cour&s;es fight again&s;t you; Gods mighty Army are in armes, and wait but for his &s;word to fall upon you: Whereas if you &s;hall meet him, and ki&s;&s;e his
<PB N="153" REF="82"> Sonne, nay pray earne&s;tly that he would ki&s;&s;e you, be willing that he apply his mouth to your mouth, and receive in&s;tructions from him, he will &s;trike up with you a Covenant of peace. Peace you &s;hall have in earth with all crea|tures; Peace within in your own hearts. And peace in heaven with your God. This will be the fruit of your reconciliation with Chri&s;t, and the end everla&s;t|ing peace. Which God grant, &amp;c.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12, 13" TYPE="sermons">
<HEAD>The Per&s;on, Natures, and Offices of Chri&s;t.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Matth. 16.15, 16.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But whom &s;ay you that I am?</P>
<P>And Simon Peter an&s;wered and &s;aid, Thou art Chri&s;t the Sonne of the living God.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THere was a three-fold error and mi&s;take about our Saviour; the fir&s;t was the time of his coming; the &s;econd was about his condition in which he was to come; The third concerning his per&s;on when he was come.</P>
<P N="1">1. About the time the ob&s;tinate Jew yet errs gro&s;&s;ely, for they deny that the Me&s;&s;iah is yet come,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 49.10.</NOTE> though they have &s;eene the Scepter departed from <HI>Ju|dah;</HI> though they have read all the Prophecies fulfilled in him; though they feele his blood upon them and their children,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 3.15.</NOTE> which de&s;cends four times a year con&s;tantly, as the late converted Jew hath di&s;covered to us; though their Ge|nealogies be lo&s;t, their Temple and City razed, and them&s;elves di&s;per&s;ed to the four winds, yet there is a vaile over their hearts, another they look for, and will not be taught, that our Chri&s;t was the Me&s;&s;iah, who was &s;ent in the fulne&s;&s;e of time to &s;ave the world.</P>
<P N="2">2. And that which then did, and yet doth animate them in their error, is, the low e&s;tate, and meane condition in which Chri&s;t came. For they expect|ed a great Prince for their Me&s;&s;iah, a temporal and worldly King;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.</NOTE> quite con|trary to that which the Prophets, e&s;pecially I <HI>&s;ay</HI> hath left written of him. And to this day they continue in this error; for they give it out, that their Me&s;&s;iah &s;hall be a mighty warriour; re&s;tore the Kingdome of <HI>David</HI> to its, wonted dignity; build their Sanctuary and City; and gather all the di&s;per&s;ed Jews to <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Both the&s;e mi&s;takes are great, but the greate&s;t was <HI>error per&s;onae,</HI> the mi&s;take about his per&s;on when he was come. About which that there be no more mi&s;takes, our Saviour propo&s;eth to his Di&s;ciples two que&s;tions.</P>
<P>One at <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 13. <HI>Whom do men &s;ay that I the Sonne ef man am?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 13.</NOTE> He confe&s;&s;eth him&s;elf to be the Sonne of man, and clo&s;ely intimates, that this was it that gave the cau&s;e of offence; becau&s;e they beheld him in a low degree,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.2, 3.</NOTE> therefore they took occa&s;ion to e&s;teeme him as an object and contemptible per&s;on. Gladly therfore he would know of his Di&s;ciples what opinion the world had of him.</P>
<P>To which que&s;tion they return this an&s;wer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 14.</NOTE> that men were not of one opi|nion, divided they were, and <HI>&s;ome &s;aid this, and &s;ome &s;aid that; &s;ome &s;aid that he was John the Bapti&s;t newly ri&s;en from the dead; &s;ome Eliah,</HI> whom the Jewes expected; <HI>&s;ome Jeremiah;</HI> or if none of the&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Montacat. A|nalect. Exc. <HI>3.</HI> &s;ect. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> yet at lea&s;t <HI>one of the old Prophets.</HI> And I little doubt, but that this their conjecture took its ri&s;e from that Phari&s;aical phancy then current, that the &s;ouls of good men pa&s;|&s;ed into other good mens bodies, and therefore po&s;&s;ible it was, that Chri&s;ts bo|dy might be animated by the &s;oul either of <HI>John, Elias,</HI> or <HI>Jeremiah.</HI></P>
<PB N="154" REF="83">
<P>Though this their judgement were erroneous, yet 'tis an argument that the people yet had an honourable e&s;teeme of him. For we hear no news here of a|ny of the wonted bla&s;phemies of the Phari&s;ees thrown in his face;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 11.19. John 8.48.</NOTE> Not that he is <HI>a wine-bibber, a friend of Publicans and &s;inners;</HI> not that <HI>he is a Samaritan, and hath a Devil.</HI> Though they err'd foully; yet it was with an hone&s;t minde, their thoughts were honourable, though low, and imperfect; therefore he turns to his Di&s;ciples, and would needs know their judgement of him.</P>
<P><HI>But whom &s;ay you that I am?</HI> As if he had &s;aid, the former conjectures are all fal&s;e, be it that by them they &s;hew &s;ome love and good will to me, yet I am nor one, nor t'other. You now are my Di&s;ciples, have been thus long with me, &s;een my miracles, heard my words, publiquely, privately you have conver&s;ed with me; <HI>Quid vos tandem?</HI> What &s;ay you to this que&s;tion? which was no &s;ooner propos'd, but <HI>Peter</HI> &s;teps forth, <HI>&amp; prae omnibus, &amp; pro omni|bus,</HI> for all, and before all makes this Confe&s;&s;ion, <HI>Thou art the Chri&s;t, the Son of the living God.</HI> This is the occa&s;ion and coherence of the&s;e words, out of which I propo&s;e to your con&s;ideration</P>
<P N="1">1. The Que&s;tion, which is Emphatical; for there is one Empha&s;is in <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Adver&s;ative particle, another in <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Pronoune. <HI>But you.</HI> A difference there ought to be betwixt you and other men; betwixt the judgement of you my Di&s;ciples, and that of common people.</P>
<P N="2">2. The an&s;wer by way of Confe&s;&s;ion, which is Emphatical al&s;o, for every word hath his Article. <HI>Thou art.</HI> Thou, and no other be&s;ides thee, art, not a Chri&s;t, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>The Chri&s;t;</HI> not <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Son at large, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>ille filius,</HI> that Son, not of any reputed Nominal God, but the Son <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>of that li|ving God.</HI> A man would think that it had not been Saint <HI>James,</HI> according to the Tradition, that had fram'd that Article of the <HI>Creed, I beleeve in Je&s;us Chri&s;t his only Son our Lord</HI> (which gave me occa&s;ion to choo&s;e this Ver&s;e) but Saint <HI>Peter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 27.19.</NOTE> &s;ince face doth not more an&s;wer in water to face, than this his Confe&s;&s;ion is an&s;werable to that Article, and that Article to this Confe&s;&s;ion, as will farther appear by the farther examination of it.</P>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> But whom &s;ay you that I am?</HEAD>
<P>But fir&s;t a word of the que&s;tion, which is here propo&s;ed to the Di&s;ciples, not to the people. In doubts and difficulties that ari&s;e in matters of faith, we are not to &s;eek for re&s;olutions from ordinary men, but apply our &s;elves to &s;uch as Chri&s;t hath taken nearer to him, and enquire of them. This man &s;aith this, and th'other man &s;aith that, <HI>But what &s;ay you?</HI> Of the Lawyer we will en|quire about our e&s;tate, and con&s;ult we will with the Phy&s;itian about our health, and mu&s;t the Divine be laid a&s;ide only, when a Quaere ari&s;eth in his profe&s;&s;i|on? Had this doubt here been moved to any of the people, 'tis evident what the an&s;wer had been; hone&s;t perhaps, and according to their knowledge, but yet far &s;hort of the Truth.</P>
<P>God hath ordained a higher Keeper of Divine My&s;teries. The Prie&s;ts lips, &s;aith he &s;hall pre&s;erve knowledge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 2.7. Hagg. 2.11. 1 Kings 7.29. <HI>Greg.</HI></NOTE> pre&s;erve it and have it ready in &s;tore; and then follows the peoples duty, <HI>and thou &s;halt enquire the Law at his mouth.</HI> In the Ba&s;es of the Temple there were Lions, Oxen, and Cherubins, of which a Father makes this Moral, tho&s;e whom God has taken near to him, are the Ba&s;es of the Church, and endued they mu&s;t be with the valour of Lions, the pains and patience of the Oxe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 28.30.</NOTE> and with the knowledge of a Cherub. Car|ry they mu&s;t about them what the High Prie&s;t did in the Brea&s;tplate, <HI>&V;rim</HI> and <HI>Thummim,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hieron.</HI> in Mal. 2.</NOTE> which <HI>Hieron</HI> expounds <HI>Doctrina &amp; Veritas,</HI> Doctrine and Truth; There it is called the Brea&s;tplate of judgement; now no man in office receives
<PB N="155" REF="83"> power of Judicature for him&s;elf, but for the benefit of another. Doctrine is nece&s;&s;ary that he judge wi&s;ely; and truth is requi&s;ite that he re&s;olve hone&s;tly; but both the&s;e are of no farther u&s;e than to informe him&s;elf, if no man refer him&s;elf to his judgement. Remember then, it is not arbitrary in you, left to your choice whether you will ask or no, but a duty. His lips &s;hall pre|&s;erve; Thou &s;halt enquire. As he mu&s;t be able by &s;ound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gain-&s;ayers:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 1.9. 1 Cor. 14.16.</NOTE> &s;o mu&s;t he (whom Saint <HI>Paul</HI> calls <GAP DESC="foreign">, in oppo&s;ition to him, the unlearned) make u&s;e of his ab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lities to be exhorted, and for the conviction of gain-&s;ayers.</P>
<P>Be it, that the malignant can &s;py moats in their eyes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.3, 4. Mat. 23.2.</NOTE> which want of charity often &s;wells into beams; yet as Chri&s;t told the Jewes, <HI>The Scribes and Phari&s;ees &s;it in Mo&s;es &s;eat, and therefore what&s;oever they bid you ob|&s;erve, that ob&s;erve and do.</HI> The&s;e are now &s;et, not upon <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;eat, but upon Chri&s;ts; He by them teacheth you what you are to believe, what you are to do.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.20.</NOTE> 'Tis his providence that the&s;e Pa&s;tors and Doctors &s;hall not be wanting to the end of the World, by the light in who&s;e eyes you may be kept from darkne&s;s; by who&s;e truth from errour. E&s;pecially in tho&s;e truths which are ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation; Among which there is none of &s;o great weight, as that upon which the que&s;tion was here moved by Chri&s;t, and thus re&s;olved by Saint <HI>Peter,</HI>
<Q><L><GAP DESC="foreign">.</L>
<L>Thou art the Chri&s;t, the Son of the living God.</L></Q></P>
<P>A &s;hort, but a full confe&s;&s;ion; in few words comprehending the whole Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t, as well concerning his Natures, as his Offices.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Melanct. Mar|lorat. Beza. Are|tius.</NOTE></P>
<P N="1">1. His Natures; that of God, that of man.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Of man. <HI>Thou the Sonne of Mary art Chri&s;t, anointed;</HI> therefore a man.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Of God. <HI>For thou art,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the Sonne of the living God;</HI> there|fore more than man.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="2">2. His Offices; in that he was <GAP DESC="foreign">, that Me&s;&s;iah that anointed, that was to come into the world; who was to be the Mediatour to Re|concile God to Man: To be the Redeemer and Saviour of His People.</P>
<P>Two points then out of the&s;e words naturally offer them&s;elves to be di&s;|cu&s;&s;ed. 1. His Per&s;on. 2. His Offices; of which in their order. And fir&s;t,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Of the Per&s;on. Thou art the Sonne of the living God.</HEAD>
<P>Without que&s;tion, great is the my&s;tery of godline&s;s;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3.16.</NOTE> a my&s;tery in many re&s;pects, but in this mo&s;t my&s;terious, that God &s;hould be made manife&s;t in the fle&s;h. The Angels were a&s;toni&s;hed at it, <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;toop down,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.12.</NOTE> as de&s;irous to look into it; and <HI>Gabriel</HI> that was &s;ent to reveale it, &s;hadows it out to us in an ob&s;cure word, <HI>The Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall come upon thee,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.35.</NOTE> <HI>and the power of the Most High &s;hall over-&s;hadow thee; therefore that holy One which &s;hall be borne of thee, &s;hall be call'd the Son of God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. Serm. <HI>1.</HI> in Epiph.</NOTE> But faith <HI>Lynceos habet oculos,</HI> hath a quick eye; for <HI>Peter</HI> though he beheld Chri&s;t with his bodily eyes in the forme of a &s;ervant as the Sonne of man, yet with his Spiritual eye of faith he pierced the vaile, and perceiv'd, and confe&s;s'd that he was more than man, even <HI>the Son of the living God.</HI></P>
<P>The meaning of which words is this, That Je&s;us Chri&s;t is not only a man, nor took his beginning when he was borne of the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> but that he
<PB N="156" REF="84"> was the Eternal Son of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hook. Eccl. pol. lib. <HI>5.</HI> Sect. <HI>42.</HI></NOTE> that he was true God as the Father is, and hath the &s;ame nature, e&s;&s;ence, will and power with him. Neither can the confe&s;&s;ion of <HI>Peter</HI> admit of a lower interpretation, as it is proved by <HI>Zanchy</HI> by many &s;trong Arguments; of which this is the Sum.</P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zanch. de tribus Elohim. l. <HI>5.</HI> c. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE>1. By the addition of the Article, &orougr;. <HI>Ille filius Dei,</HI> That, that Son of God by which he &s;eparates, and di&s;tingui&s;heth him from all of his Sons; They Sons by Grace, but <HI>Thou that his Son by Nature.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Becau&s;e upon this confe&s;&s;ion our Saviour pronounceth <HI>Peter</HI> ble&s;&s;ed, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed art thou Peter.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 17.</NOTE> For could the confe&s;&s;ion of him to have been the Son of God, as other men were, have made <HI>Peter</HI> a ble&s;&s;ed man? Nece&s;|&s;ary then it was, that <HI>Peter</HI> by this his confe&s;&s;ion, mu&s;t acknowledge him more than another man, or el&s;e no Ble&s;&s;edne&s;s could have been an|nexed to it.</P>
<P N="3">3. The rea&s;on by our Saviour here added confirms it, <HI>For fle&s;h and blood hath not revealed this unto thee.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 17.</NOTE> A Revelation it was from Chri&s;ts Father in Heaven, and &s;uch there needed none, to te&s;tifie him to be &s;uch a Sonne as God had many, adorned with excellent and extraordinary gifts and graces. For the&s;e had been a &s;ufficient witne&s;s.</P>
<P N="4"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 18, 19.</NOTE>4. Chri&s;t promi&s;eth to <HI>Peter,</HI> 1. Con&s;tancy in his profe&s;&s;ion. 2. That he would build his Church upon this Rock, that is, hat faith which <HI>Peer</HI> had confe&s;&s;ed. 3. That the gates of Hell &s;hould never prevaile again&s;t it. 4. He gives him the keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven, power to binde and loo&s;e. And who can do all this but God only? He alone can give per&s;everance, he alone can build the Church, he alone can conquer the Gates of Hell; at his girdle the keys of the Kingdome of Heaven hang, and he alone can give power to remit or retain &s;innes. Since therefore our Saviour a&s;&s;umes to him|&s;elf that power which belongs to God, and gives to <HI>Peter</HI> for this confe&s;&s;ion, that which God alone could be&s;tow: it cannot be thought, but <HI>P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ter</HI> by his confe&s;&s;ion, <HI>Thou art that Chri&s;t the Sonne of the living God,</HI> inten|ded more than that he was one of tho&s;e Sonnes whom God adopted or &s;an|ctified with grace; but that he acknowledg'd him to be his only Sonne borne of God by Nature; and therefore true God with the Father from ever|la&s;ting.</P>
<P>A Truth, which becau&s;e the <HI>Arrians</HI> long &s;ince oppo&s;ed, therefore the 318.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Nicene</HI> Creed.</NOTE> Bi&s;hops a&s;&s;embled at <HI>Nice,</HI> expounded in larger terms, <HI>viz. I be|lieve in one Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>of one &s;ub&s;tance with the Father:</HI> And <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> againe, <HI>God of the &s;ub&s;tance of the Father, perfect God, aequal to the Father,</HI> as touching his God-head. What the Apo&s;tles had fir&s;t delivered, that tho&s;e pious Bi&s;hops explained, and <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Athana&s;ius</NOTE> defended, which was no other than <HI>Peters</HI> confe&s;&s;ion in this place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Creed.</NOTE> <HI>Thou art the S n of the living God.</HI> And that this his Te&s;timony was true, we have &s;o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> it the Word of God, <HI>P&s;alm</HI> 2.7.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.7.</NOTE> <HI>Thou art my Sonne, this day have I begotten thee.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.17. Rom. 1.4.</NOTE> The voice of God at <HI>Jordan,</HI> at <HI>Tabor, This is my beloved Son;</HI> and a Declaration of it by his Re&s;urrection from the dead; be&s;ides other in|finite Te&s;timonies in the Go&s;pels and Epi&s;tles, which for brevity I for|beare.</P>
<P>But what Son, perhaps you will ask, is he? Let <HI>David</HI> be heard to &s;peak, and he will tell you, <HI>that he is his begotten Son;</HI> Saint <HI>John, that he is his only begoten Son,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.14. 1 John 5.20. Rom. 8.32. Heb. 1.6.</NOTE> <HI>his true Son;</HI> Saint <HI>Paul, that he is his own Son, his fir&s;t borne;</HI> having to this purpo&s;e in the ver&s;e before, alledged that place of the P&s;alme, <HI>Thou art my Sonne, this day have I begotten thee.</HI> Some Sonnes of God there are who are not begotten, but come in &s;ome other
<PB N="157" REF="84"> way. Sonnes of love, Sonnes of age, Sonnes of Regeneration, Sonnes of Adoption. Sonnes at large they are, but not begotten any one of them all. This word then <HI>Begotten,</HI> is a di&s;tingui&s;hing terme; and makes Chri&s;t to be &s;o Gods Son, as is no other. They their way, he his. They by grace and favour, he by nature and e&s;&s;ence, his &s;ole, natural, &s;ingular Sonne, of the &s;ame &s;ub&s;tance that he is. <HI>Co-e&s;&s;ential, Co-equal, Co-eternal</HI> with Him.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">-e&s;sential;</HI> for he is his begotten Son; and ever the thing begotten is of the &s;ame e&s;&s;ence and &s;ub&s;tance with that which begets it; for which we have his own words, <HI>I and the Father are one. &V;num,</HI> not <HI>Unus.</HI> Not one in will, but in Nature.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 10 30.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Co-equal.</HI> For neither per&s;on is greater or le&s;&s;er than other. The Apo&s;tle teacheth it plainly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.6.</NOTE> <HI>He thought it no Robbery to be equal with God.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Co-eternal.</HI> If the Father from everla&s;ting, then the Son al&s;o from everla&s;ting, becau&s;e God as a Father cannot be conceived but to have a Son. Thus it is extant in the Prophet, <HI>Out of thee &s;hall come a Prince,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Micah 5.2.</NOTE> <HI>who&s;e going forth hath been from old, from everla&s;ting.</HI> In the creature there is a priority both of order and time; for in both the&s;e, that which is doth be|get, is before that which is begotten. But in the generation of the &s;econd Per&s;on of the Trinity, there is a priority only of order flowing from the Re|lation, and not of Time; for in Time they are both equal, neither being a|fore nor after other.</P>
<P>But this whole point is fully delivered by the Apo&s;tle, <HI>God,</HI> &s;aith he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.2, 3.</NOTE> <HI>hath &s;poken by his Son, who was the brightne&s;s of his glory, and the en|graved image of his per&s;on.</HI> I &s;hall give light to this place in the very words of a pious and Learned Bi&s;hop; and I glory to borrow my light from one of the cleare&s;t Lamps that ever this Church had. Chri&s;ts Divine Nature hath no le&s;&s;e than the&s;e three words to expre&s;&s;e it, <HI>Sonne, Brightne&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bi&s;h. <HI>Andrews</HI> Serm. 7. of the Nativit.</NOTE> <HI>Cha|racter.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. In &s;onne there is a true Identity of Nature, upon it is grounded <GAP DESC="foreign">, being of one &s;ub&s;tance, even as a Son is with the Father.</P>
<P N="2">2. But the Son comes after the Father in time, and that a good time: A|mends is made for that in the next terme <HI>Brightne&s;&s;e.</HI> For it is not to be ima|gined that there ever was, or could be a light body, but in the &s;ame in&s;tant there mu&s;t &s;treame from it a brightne&s;s. Upon this term then is grounded Co-eternal.</P>
<P N="3">3. But then there is &s;ome inequality between the light body it &s;elf, and the beame or brightne&s;s of it: The beame not full out &s;o cleare. This is the imperfection in the terme <HI>Brightne&s;s.</HI> But that is &s;upplyed by the next terme <HI>Character.</HI> For that is ever equal; neither greater, nor le&s;&s;er, than the type or &s;tamp that made it. And upon this is grounded Co-equal. Agree|able to the&s;e three, we believe of Chri&s;t, that he is con&s;ub&s;tantial as the Son; co-eternal as is the Brightne&s;s; co-equal as the Character: again&s;t the new heads of the old <HI>Hydra,</HI> &s;prung up in our dayes. Thus far that Oracle of Learning and Piety.</P>
<P>Hitherto I have demon&s;trated out of the Scriptures the truth of <HI>Peters</HI> con|fe&s;&s;ion, &s;o that no more needs be &s;aid. Yet that I may &s;top the mouths of too too many impudent men, that at this day bark again&s;t this Article of our Creed, <HI>Ex &s;up<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rabundanti</HI> over and above,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vid. Bellar. lib. <HI>1.</HI> de Christo. c. <HI>8.</HI></NOTE> I &s;hall add the&s;e following rea&s;ons.</P>
<P N="1">1. The properties of the God-head are a&s;cribed to him. For he knew mens thoughts. He was <HI>eternal, Ye&s;terday, to day, and the &s;ame for ever.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6.8. Heb. 13.8. John 5.19.</NOTE> He is pre&s;ent in all places. <HI>I am with you to the end of the world.</HI> He is Omni|potent;
<PB N="158" REF="85"> <HI>What&s;oever the Father doth, that doth the Son al&s;o.</HI> All which attri|buted to him, evince that he is God.</P>
<P N="2">2. The works of the Deity are attributed to him. <HI>Creation, Ill<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mination, Sanctification,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.2. John 1.9.</NOTE> Eph. 5.26. <HI>Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;inne,</HI> Mat. 9.6. <HI>Ju&s;tification,</HI> Rom. 3.24, 25. That I name not the many miracles done in his Name.</P>
<P N="3">3. Divine wor&s;hip is to be given to him; <HI>For God hath given him a Name above every Name,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2 12. Heb. 1.6. Phil. 2 9, 10. John 5.23.</NOTE> <HI>that at the Name of Je&s;us every knee &s;hould Bow.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. La&s;tly, As others attributed, &s;o he him&s;elf did a&s;&s;ume and ju&s;tifie this Name, when in the Go&s;pel of Saint <HI>John,</HI> a Go&s;pel written on purpo&s;e to confirm his Deity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.18. John 19.7, 8. Mat. 26.65.</NOTE> he gave a re&s;olute and plaine Te&s;timony, <HI>that God was his Father.</HI> For this they, the Jews, &s;ought to kill him, for this they accu&s;ed him before <HI>Pilate;</HI> at that accu&s;ation <HI>Pilate</HI> was the more afraid; <HI>And the high Prie&s;t rent his cloaths, &s;aying, He had spoken blasphemy.</HI> Had he meant, or they under&s;tood no more, but that he was the Son of God in that &s;ort that other men or Angels were, they never would have been &s;o highly offended at him; Where had been the bla&s;phemy? The accu&s;ers malice then, and the Judges fear, argue that they under&s;tood his words, as indeed he &s;poke them, and meant them, that he was Gods Son, not <GAP DESC="foreign">, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, not by ex|cellency or prerogative, but &s;ub&s;tantially his Son. The Son of God, and con|&s;equently God.</P>
<P>An honour of which God hath been &s;o jealous, that never any u&s;urp'd it, but well paid for their pride and ambition. The devil would needs mount in|to Gods &s;eat, <HI>But how art thou faln, O Lucifer the &s;on of the morning? how re&s;erved in chaines of darkne&s;&s;e to the judgement of the la&s;t day?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 14.12. Jude ver. 6.</NOTE> What &s;hould I tell you of <HI>Herod, Alexander, C. Caligula, Domitian? &amp;c.</HI> who becau&s;e they would be Gods, dyed not like men, but before their time, ei|ther by a bloody or na&s;ty death. So true is that Ob&s;ervation of the Mu&s;es chief Prie&s;t, which there is to be read at large
<Q><L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgil. Aen. <HI>6.</HI> Ver&s;. <HI>580.</HI></NOTE>Hic genus antiquum terrae, Titania pubes,</L>
<L>Fulmine dejecti fundo volvuntur in imo, &amp;c.</L></Q></P>
<P>The bold Gyants, <HI>Oetus, Ephialtus, Salmoneus,</HI> with the re&s;t of the rab|ble all in Hell, in the bottome of Hell, <HI>quod divum &s;ibi po&s;ceba<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> honorem,</HI> becau&s;e they would be Gods. And doubtle&s;s, had Chri&s;t been but a meer man, and not true God, as he avouch'd, the &s;ame hand of God would have been upon him, and overtook him, that overtook others.</P>
<P>He &s;uffer'd indeed, and was crucified; but even then he mo&s;t triumphed; when he dyed he was honoured. He dyed with power, Nature was &s;trong; he might have liv'd,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 23.46, 44, 45. Mat. 27.51, 52.</NOTE> but he yields in the mid&s;t of his &s;trength, gives up the gho&s;t, and dyes, that he might &s;hew him&s;elf to be Lord of Life and Death: <HI>Quis tam facil&egrave; quando vult moritur?</HI> who can &s;o ea&s;ily dye at his own plea&s;ure? Like a God he cau&s;eth the Sun to detain his light, the earth to tremble and totter, the Rocks to &s;plit, the Temple to rend, the graves to open, the dead to ari&s;e; and notwith&s;tanding his opprobrious death, extorted this confe&s;&s;ion from the mouth of the Centurion, and they that were with him, out of great fear,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.54.</NOTE> <HI>Truly, this was the Son of God.</HI></P>
<P>What &s;hould I tell you how he made his greate&s;t enemies feel the power of his Godhead? <HI>Herod</HI> that derided him, <HI>Pilate</HI> that condemned him, <HI>Caia|phas</HI> that would &s;uffer him to be &s;pet on and buffeted for th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s bla&s;phemy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;eph. lib. <HI>8.</HI> c. <HI>9.</HI> Antiq. Juda|ic. Eu&s;eb. Eu|trop. lib. <HI>7</HI></NOTE> as he call'd it, <HI>Judas</HI> that &s;old and betrayed him, and the whole Nation of the Jews that crucified him, have dearly paid for the denial of this Truth. Not one of the&s;e e&s;caped the power of his arme. Wherefore &s;ince God, that
<PB N="159" REF="85"> cannot abide that <HI>his glory &s;hould be given to another,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 42.8.</NOTE> hath &s;o exemplarily revenged him&s;elf upon the u&s;urpers of this title; and yet notwith&s;tanding the a&s;&s;umption of this Name, <HI>hath highly exalted him,</HI> and by infallible &s;igns and wonders approved him to be his Son;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.9. Acts 1.3.</NOTE> it is nece&s;&s;ary we confe&s;s that that te&s;timony which Chri&s;t gave of him&s;elf, be infallibly true, and without all que&s;tion received by us. The High Prie&s;t &s;a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.63, 64</NOTE> <HI>I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Chri&s;t, the Son of God?</HI> Je&s;us &s;aith to him, <HI>Thou ha&s;t &s;aid.</HI></P>
<P>Since the extirpation of the&s;e Mi&s;creants, there be that would have made him a creature; but the Ring-leaders have not e&s;caped the hand of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sozomen. Socrat. Theodor. Ruff. lib. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI> Jornandes. Niceph. lib. <HI>14.</HI> cap. <HI>36.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ar|rius</HI> voided his Guts on a Publick Hou&s;e of Office. <HI>Valence</HI> the Arrian Em|perour, was &s;hamefully put to flight by the <HI>Goths,</HI> pur&s;ued and burned in a lit|tle hou&s;e &s;et a fire by them, to which he fled. <HI>Ne&s;torius</HI> was bani&s;hed, tor|mented with a &s;trange di&s;ea&s;e; the worms did gnaw a&s;under his bla&s;phemous tongue, and at length the earth opened her mouth, and &s;wallow him up. <HI>Ser|vetus</HI> peri&s;hed, raving in the fire. <HI>Valentinus Gentilis,</HI> ended mi&s;erably at <HI>Berne. Li&s;man</HI> broke his neck into a Well. <HI>Francis David</HI> dyed mad. <HI>Hacket</HI> and his two Di&s;ciples, <HI>Coppinger</HI> and <HI>Arthrington</HI> had the reward they de|&s;erved. And &s;o let thine enemies peri&s;h O Lord, &s;uch an end attend on tho&s;e who think,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>ad unici patris gloriam &s;e non po&s;&s;e ni&s;i per unici filii contumeli|am pervenire;</HI> that they cannot honour the Father enough, but by di&s;honour|ing his only Son.</P>
<P N="2">2. Having proceeded thus far, and proved that Chri&s;t is God, it remains now to &s;hew that he was man al&s;o: Had it been otherwi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15. &amp; 22.18. Matth. 1.1. Gal. 3.4.</NOTE> how could he have been <HI>the &s;eed of the woman, the &s;eed of Abraham, the &s;on of David?</HI> or as Saint <HI>Paul</HI> hath it, <HI>made of a woman; made ex,</HI> and <HI>ex</HI> alwayes &s;hews the material cau&s;e out of which any thing is made.</P>
<P><HI>The Word was made fle&s;h;</HI> made it was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. Iren. Epiph. Epiph. Tertull.</NOTE> and &s;o no phanta&s;me or &s;hadow of a body, as the <HI>Gno&s;ticks</HI> held. Made of the Virgin, and then not of a Starry &s;ub&s;tance or an Airy, as <HI>Apelles;</HI> nor yet a &s;piritual body, as <HI>Valentinus.</HI> Made fle&s;h the Word was, but how made? not by conver&s;ion, as if the Word had been turned into fle&s;h, as <HI>Cerinthus</HI> dreamed: Nor by a loving conjun|ction, as two friends being made one, &s;o as they continue two per&s;ons &s;till, as <HI>Ne&s;torius</HI> thought: Nor yet by compo&s;ition, and &s;o a third thing produced of both, as <HI>Eutiches</HI> imagined; but made he was, by taking the &s;eed of <HI>A|braham;</HI> but of this Point I &s;hall &s;peak more fully in a fitter place.</P>
<P>Into the Godhead then was the Manhood taken, and both together make one Per&s;on, yet &s;o, that the Natures are pre&s;erved without confu&s;ion, and the Per&s;on entire without divi&s;ion; <GAP DESC="foreign">; truly, perfectly, without &s;eparation of Per&s;ons, without commixtion of Natures, he was God and man, as the Old Councils declared again&s;t the Hereticks of tho&s;e times; truly again&s;t the School of the <HI>Gno&s;ticks,</HI> and the <HI>Manichees;</HI> per|fectly again&s;t <HI>Apelles, Ebion,</HI> and <HI>Cerinthus, &amp;c.</HI> indivi&s;ibly again&s;t the <HI>Nestorians,</HI> and yet di&s;tinctly again&s;t <HI>Eutiches</HI> and his followers.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t then, that did really &s;ub&s;i&s;t before in the Nature of God, took the &s;eed of our Nature, which had no per&s;onal &s;ub&s;i&s;tence before, and joyned it to his Deity, that &s;o being united to his Per&s;on, it might have the &s;ame &s;ub&s;i&s;tence which he had. The Per&s;on then of the Son of God being made man, did not acquire any new &s;ub&s;i&s;tence, but changed only the manner of it. He that from all eternity did &s;ub&s;i&s;t only in the Nature of God, <HI>a&s;sumed the nature of man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.9.</NOTE> <HI>and dwells in our fle&s;h bodily,</HI> that is per&s;onally; not only by efficacy and a&s;|&s;i&s;tance, but by an hypo&s;tatical union; &s;o that <GAP DESC="foreign">, the word a&s;&s;uming and inhabiting, and the Nature a&s;&s;umed, in which the word <HI>dwells,</HI> make but one per&s;on, which is not <GAP DESC="foreign">, a man only &s;trengthned and &s;anctified
<PB N="160" REF="86"> by the Holy Gho&s;t; but truly <GAP DESC="foreign">, God and man.</P>
<P>This we u&s;ually call the grace of union, and the per&s;onal &s;ub&s;i&s;tence of the&s;e two natures are explained to us under many Similes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bellar. de Incar. lib. <HI>3.</HI> cap. <HI>8.</HI></NOTE> all which yet are far &s;hort of the truth of this my&s;tery, as <HI>Bellarmine</HI> &s;hews, as of the &s;oul and body that make but one man; of a fiery Sword, or glowing Iron, in wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch are the properties of Fire and Iron, and yet but one Subject; of a man in whom there be two accidental forms, as the Art of Phy&s;ick, and Skill of Law, and yet the man but one man; of a Stock and a Graft, which is of another kind, and yet both make but one Tree; The&s;e give &s;ome light, and thus much on|ly, that as two things of different kinds may meet, and denominate one &s;ub|ject; &s;o the Natures of God and Man did meet, and make but one Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Now from this union of our Nature to the Per&s;on of the Son of God, there ari&s;eth to us the&s;e priviledges or benefits.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t is, the Exaltation of our Nature even above all creatures what|&s;oever, not the Angels them&s;elves excepted, in that now it hath its &s;ub&s;i&s;tence in the &s;econd Per&s;on of the Trinity.</P>
<P N="2">2. The &s;econd is, that which Divines call the communication of proper|ties; but this mu&s;t be taken with a grain of &s;alt, for here was no real donation by which one Nature might u&s;e the properties of the other; for what&s;oever was proper to the Deity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hook. lib. <HI>5.</HI> Sect. <HI>54.</HI></NOTE> was not communicated to the Humanity; and what|&s;oever was natural to the Manhood, the Deity was not capable of. This then is that we affirme, that the properties which really and e&s;&s;entially belong to either Nature, are attributed to the whole Per&s;on. 'Tis proper unto God to be immutable, impa&s;&s;ible, immortal; yet becau&s;e God dwelt in our fle&s;h, we may &s;ay, that he that was God, was born of the Virgin <HI>Mary;</HI> God &s;uf|fered, God dyed for us, becau&s;e the Per&s;on in which the Godhead dwelt, was born, and dyed. Again, we may truly &s;ay that man is Omnipotent, Eternal, Omni&s;cious, becau&s;e that Per&s;on to whom we attribute the&s;e properties of the Deity, had the Nature of God as well as the Nature of man in him; &s;o that all the actions and pa&s;&s;ions of Chri&s;t are to be referred properly unto his per|&s;on, and the Predications to be under&s;tood of his Per&s;on, as the true &s;ubject in which they do exi&s;t, though &s;ome of them mu&s;t be referred to one Nature, &s;ome to the other, as the principle and cau&s;e from which they flow. The Rule in Logick is true, and of excellent u&s;e in this Point: <HI>Quod e&s;t partis, qua pars, id etiam totius e&s;t &s;ecundum illam partem;</HI> that property which belongs e&s;&s;entially to any part, may be attributed to the whole in re&s;pect of that part: Both Propo&s;itions then are true, Chri&s;t dyed, and Chri&s;t dyed not; for Chri&s;t is the whole, and the Godhead and Manhood are as it were the parts; here what belongs to a part only, is attributed to the whole and truly; for he dyed accord|ing to his Manhood, but he dyed not according to his Godhead: And thus the properties of either Nature may be &s;afe, and yet communicated to the whole.</P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, By rea&s;on of this union it is, that the Godhead of Chri&s;t works all things in that great bu&s;ine&s;s of our redemption in and by the Manhood. Thus he became <HI>the way, the truth, and the life;</HI> thus <HI>wi&s;dome, righteou&s;ne&s;s, &s;anctification,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.6. 2 Cor. 1.30. Acts 28.20. Hebr. 1.2. Col. 1.18.</NOTE> <HI>redemption;</HI> thus he became <HI>the peace of the world, the hope of the Fathers, the heir of all things, the &s;upreme head of the Church:</HI> The man Chri&s;t and Son of <HI>Mary,</HI> is the &s;ubject and per&s;on upon which the&s;e honours and prerogatives are be&s;towed, but not &s;imply as he is man, but as a man with whom Deity is per&s;onally joyned. <HI>The fle&s;h profiteth nothing,</HI> yet by vertue which it receiveth from the per&s;on to which it is joyned, it is quickning fle&s;h, and the bread of life; which one point of Chri&s;tian belief, is the very ground|work of all things believed concerning life and &s;alvation.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="161" REF="86">1. For had he not been the Son of God, he could not have been a Saviour, a Redeemer. This is evident; for <HI>man cannot redeem his brother,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 49.7.</NOTE> nor make agreement unto God for him; Saints cannot do this, Angels may not under|take to do it; for in his Saints he found folly, and in his Angels <HI>pravitatem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 15.15.</NOTE> &s;omewhat that was awry. They need a Redeemer and Saviour them&s;elves, and what they need them&s;elves, they cannot &s;upply to others. Who then, if nor man, nor Saint, nor Angel is fit for this work, is able to redeem and &s;ave? Who but God alone, and upon him <HI>David</HI> pitcheth?<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 49. v. 15.</NOTE> <HI>It is God that redeems my &s;oul from the power of hell.</HI> For he that will redeem, mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily do the&s;e four things.</P>
<P N="1">1. He mu&s;t give a full price for that which he will redeem; lay down he mu&s;t what&s;oever can be demanded, or el&s;e the per&s;on to whom the forfeiture is made, may choo&s;e whether he will &s;et free or no. This <GAP DESC="foreign">, this price God only was able to lay down, and therefore God only a Redeemer; and this he did lay down, whence it is written, <HI>God redeemed the Church with his own blood.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hcts 20.28.</NOTE> <HI>Ye know ye were not redeemed with gold and &s;ilver,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>but with the preci|ous blood of Chri&s;t. I am the Lord, and be&s;ides me there is no Saviour,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.18, 19 I&s;a. 43.11.</NOTE> &s;aith the Prophet. The dignity of the &s;atisfaction depended upon the dignity of the per&s;on.</P>
<P N="2">2. He mu&s;t make amends for the wrong that was done to the offended par|ty, and repair him in point of honour, if in ju&s;tice it be demanded. The wrong that was here done to Almighty God by &s;in, was infinite, an infinite di&s;honour; for which he exacting reparation, it could never be had from a finite creature; and therefore he that would undertake to re&s;tore this honour, mu&s;t be God alone.</P>
<P N="3">3. For this infinite wrong, God was infinitely angry, and in his anger he threatned an infinite and eternal puni&s;hment. The &s;atisfaction for this mu&s;t be corre&s;pondent, which had it light upon any creature, he would have been o|verwhelmed and cru&s;hed with it; God then he mu&s;t be that &s;hould undergo this wrath; God, that he might overcome, and not &s;ink under this puni&s;hment, which was, and is rightly call'd infinite, becau&s;e &s;u&s;tained by &s;uch a per&s;on, that makes it equivalent to an eternal.</P>
<P N="4">4. La&s;tly, He that will redeem, mu&s;t &s;et the per&s;on &s;o at liberty, that he be <HI>in &s;tatu quo prius,</HI> in as good an e&s;tate as he was at fir&s;t, for el&s;e his work is but done by halfs. The &s;tate in which man at fir&s;t was, was very glorious;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.10. Ephe&s;. 4.24.</NOTE> for <HI>cre|ated he was in the image of God, in righteou&s;ne&s;s and true holine&s;s.</HI> Defa|ced this was, utterly lo&s;t and repaired it mu&s;t be, or el&s;e he &s;hall never be able to appear <HI>rectus in Curi&acirc;,</HI> a holy and a righteous creature, when the Judge &s;hall &s;it on the Bench. Now can any thing we do repair it? Alas no, for <HI>all our righteou&s;ne&s;s is but a filthy rag, and our specious works as dung:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 64.6. Phil. 3.8.</NOTE> That which will purge away this filth, mu&s;t be the blood of the Son of God, this alone can re&s;tore the image of God in us, and make us appear holy and righteous creatures; whence the Prophet teacheth us a Name by which we are to call him, <HI>Jehovah our righteou&s;ne&s;s;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 23.6. Phil. 3.9.</NOTE> <HI>Jehovah</HI> you &s;ee mu&s;t be an ingredi|ent, or el&s;e our righteou&s;ne&s;s will fall &s;hort.</P>
<P>Whether then we con&s;ider the price to be paid, the wrong to be &s;ati&s;fied, the puni&s;hment to be &s;u&s;tained, or our wicked and perver&s;e nature to be rectified and re&s;tored; nece&s;&s;ary it is that he who would undertake to do this, be God, or el&s;e he could be no Redeemer.</P>
<P N="2">2. On the other &s;ide, if a Redeemer of men, man he mu&s;t be al&s;o; &s;o is the flat redemption of per&s;ons. He mu&s;t be a brother, or next of blood, el&s;e not admitted to redeem a per&s;on. <HI>Job</HI> took notice of this in that <HI>chap.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 25.25.</NOTE> where we fir&s;t meet with this word <HI>Redeemer, I know that my Redeemer liveth;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 19.25.</NOTE> for the word is very Emphatical, <HI>Goel,</HI> it is that &s;ignifieth a <HI>Kin&s;man,</HI> near al|lied
<PB N="162" REF="87"> to him, of his own fle&s;h, as well as a <HI>Redeemer;</HI> and I doubt not that the Spou&s;e had an eye to this in her earne&s;t de&s;ire for his Incarnation; <HI>Oh that thou wert as my brother,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 8.1.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ucking the brea&s;ts of my mother;</HI> her <HI>brother</HI> &s;aith &s;he; his <HI>kin&s;man</HI> &s;aith <HI>Job,</HI> or el&s;e no <HI>redeemer;</HI> for</P>
<P N="1">1. He that would redeem a man from the breach of the Law, mu&s;t him&s;elf come under the Law;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.4.</NOTE> for if he be out of the compa&s;s of the Law, the Law cannot take hold of him. No remedy then but he who would undertake our debt and danger which the Law exacted of us, mu&s;t put and bind him&s;elf un|der the Law, that &s;o he might perform whatever the Law required at our hands, and where we fell &s;hort pay for all our mi&s;demeanours, and bear the &s;tripes we de&s;erved. This was impo&s;&s;ible for the Deity; for he cannot be brought un|der, nor cannot &s;uffer; &s;ince then it plea&s;ed him to be our Surety, and to enter bond for us, nece&s;&s;ary it was that he &s;hould be man, to do what we &s;hould have done; and &s;uffer what we &s;hould have &s;uffered.</P>
<P N="2">2. God and man were fallen at variance; and requi&s;ite it was that &s;ome one &s;hould &s;tep in, and work a reconciliation. God was the offended Party, and of too high a Nature for &s;uch a work:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo de pa&s;&s;. &s;er. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> Man was the offending per&s;on, and no way capable to treat. 'Tis the <HI>Medium</HI> that unites the extreams; and &s;uch an one was Chri&s;t, the <HI>Medium</HI> betwixt God and man, and &s;o compo&s;'d of both,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 2.1. Hebr. 7.25. Rev. 8.3.</NOTE> that he came betwixt both. As God, &s;peaks to the Father for us, and pre&s;ents our prayers to him; but man, that God might &s;peak to us, and we to God by Chri&s;t. <HI>For there is one God, and one Mediatour betwixt God and man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 2.5.</NOTE> <HI>the man Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. But praying would not &s;erve the turn; there mu&s;t be paying al&s;o; a pay|ment to be made with blood;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 9.22.</NOTE> for <HI>without &s;hedding of blood there is no remi&s;|&s;ion;</HI> but God had no blood to &s;hed. Dye he could not, nor &s;hed blood he could not, had he only continued to be the Son of God. He mu&s;t then become al&s;o the Son of man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 2.9.</NOTE> <HI>that he might partake of death for man,</HI> with|out which we had layen under the cur&s;e &s;till.</P>
<P N="4">4. Yet farther, man he would be, that we thereby might have &s;trong con|&s;olation; for had not this been, he could never have been one with us, and we with him, which is the &s;ole ground of our comfort; for by this union it is <HI>that we are made partakers of the Divine Nature.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.4. Hebr. 2.11. &amp; 2.17. &amp; 4.15.</NOTE> God is become our Fa|ther, Chri&s;t our elder Brother; he the Sanctifier, and we the Saints; <HI>and he that &s;anctifieth, and they that are &s;anctified, are all one.</HI> He then mu&s;t be like to us in all things, <HI>&s;in only excepted,</HI> or el&s;e our Brotherhood, our Filiation, our Sanctification, our Kindred, our Fellow&s;hip with him is quite gone, and with that all our hope and confidence.</P>
<P N="5">5. And yet there is one rea&s;on more, which is, that that Nature might be a means to work the peace which had made the breach; and that nature con|quer the Divel, that was conquered by the Divel. 1. It was the Nature of man that in <HI>Adam</HI> did tran&s;gre&s;s; and it was the Nature of man in Chri&s;t that mu&s;t and did &s;atisfie.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.12.</NOTE> As by man came &s;in, &s;o by man Redemption from &s;in. And this &s;eems to belong to Ju&s;tice, that he &s;hould &s;atisfie who hath &s;inned: <HI>Et ideo in natura per peccatum co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rupta debet a&s;&s;umi id per quod &s;atisfactio erat implenda pro tota natura;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo Serm. <HI>2.</HI> de Nativit.</NOTE> and this is <HI>Leo</HI>'s Rea&s;on. 2. But then a|gain, this Nature of man had not only been &s;educed and corrupted, but tramp|led upon, captivated and en&s;laved by the Divel; that then the &s;ame Nature might conquer that had been conquered, and triumph which had been led captive, it plea&s;ed God to joyne him&s;elf to our Nature, and in it to give the Divel a deadly blow,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19.</NOTE> and as it was promi&s;ed, <HI>to break the Serpents head;</HI> and this belonged to the wi&s;dome and goodne&s;s of the Creator, <HI>ut per eandem cre|aturam &s;uperaretur Diabolus, quam &s;e &s;upera&s;se gaudebat;</HI> That the Divel &s;hould be conquered by that &s;elf-&s;ame creature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. lib. <HI>13.</HI> de Trin. cap. <HI>18.</HI></NOTE> whom he did glory to have con|quered; and this is <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI>'s Rea&s;on.</P>
<PB N="163" REF="87">
<P>Sum up all this, and the total will be, that it was nece&s;&s;ary (Gods Decree being pre&s;uppo&s;ed, for of ab&s;olute nece&s;&s;ity I &s;peak not) that the Redeemer of men &s;hould be a man, that he might come under the Law, might be fitted to be a Mediatour, might have blood to &s;hed, might in our Nature &s;atisfie and pa|cifie the wrath of God, conquer and triumph over the Divel, and be made one with his Church.</P>
<P>Oh the infinite riches of the wi&s;dome and mercy of Almighty God, who &s;o fitted a Per&s;on to this great work of mans Redemption, in whom both the&s;e Natures are combined, the Godhead and the Manhood! Man, that he might have wherewith to pay; and God, that this his payment might be fully &s;ati&s;|factory; never &s;uch a per&s;on, never &s;uch a price, never &s;uch a mercy: <HI>By this we have acce&s;&s;e to the Throne of Grace,</HI> where we receive this comfort,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 4.15, 16. &amp; 5.2.</NOTE> that being man, he will be more pitiful to man, fit to be a Mediator; and being God, <HI>able to fini&s;h the work of our &s;alvation to the uttermo&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 7.25.</NOTE> Both together make him to be the Saviour of the world, to which he was anointed, and was therefore called Chri&s;t, or as <HI>Peter</HI> here &s;tiles him, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Thou art the Chri&s;t.</HEAD>
<P>THis is that other Title given by <HI>Peter</HI> to our Saviour; and as the former was <HI>Nomen Naturae,</HI> &s;o is this <HI>Officii;</HI> that expre&s;&s;ed to us his Nature, this his Office; that was peculiar and proper to him; for never was any &s;o the Son of God as he was. This is an appellative or common name given to others, becau&s;e they were Types and Figures of him, and bore tho&s;e Offices in their times, which he for ever executes in his Church. It is all one with Me&s;&s;iah in Hebrew, whereby the Redeemer was named in the Old Te&s;tament; and un|der that name the woman of <HI>Samaria,</HI> as the other Jewes expected him:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 9.15. John 14.25. <HI>Tertull. adver. Prax. cap.</HI> 28.</NOTE> <HI>I know that the Me&s;&s;iah comes, which is called Christ.</HI> The Hebrew, Greek and Latine &s;ignifie no more than <HI>anointed</HI> in Engli&s;h; whence <HI>Tertullian</HI> made a doubt whether it be a name or no: <HI>Si tamen nomen e&s;t Chri&s;tus, &amp; non poti|us appellatio;</HI> if yet it be, &s;aith he, a name, and not rather an appellation, as are other denominatives; be it then no more, yet it is an appellation both of Office and Honour.</P>
<P N="1">1. Of Office, Tru&s;t and Charge; for he was a Saviour <HI>ex Officio;</HI> at his coming into the world God erected an Office of &s;alvation. Some before him had been temporal and particular &s;aviours as it fell out; but none ordained, none &s;o &s;anctified, none &s;o commi&s;&s;ioned fully to execute that Office be&s;ides him&s;elf;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 42.1. Joh. 3.17. Joh. 6.27.</NOTE> he was elected, called, &s;ent, anointed, &s;ealed to exerci&s;e this function of a Saviour.</P>
<P N="2">2. And as it is a Name of Office, &s;o al&s;o is it a Title of Honour and Digni|ty; for though &s;ome had it before his coming, yet never any bore it, but &s;uch as were in &s;ome honourable place, and high calling. Kings were called <HI>Chri&s;ti,</HI> and Prie&s;ts were called <HI>Chri&s;ti,</HI> and Prophets were <HI>Chri&s;ti,</HI> Chri&s;ts, or anointed; the calling of all three before our time was never que&s;tioned to be very hono|rable; Chri&s;t therefore is a Name of Dignity: <HI>Quod propter eximiam ali|quam praecellentiam conferebatur;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> which was conferred for &s;ome &s;ignal prehe|minence; for tho&s;e three above-named bore the title in regard of the unction, becau&s;e by the external Ceremony of anointing, they were all three con&s;ecra|ted and enabled to the execution of their Office. The Office of the King is in temporal things chiefly, to Judge, to Rule, to Defend his People; to &s;et all right, and keep all right; to &s;ave his people from tho&s;e who would hurt, and to help the innocent. The Office of the Prie&s;t lies in &s;piritual matters; to &s;tand in the gap, to pacifie, and reconcile man to God, and God to man.
<PB N="164" REF="88"> The Office of the Prophet is to illuminate and direct, and by this light and di|rection to &s;ave our feet from the by-paths of Error, and our &s;ouls from the fire of hell. Kings, Prie&s;ts, and Prophets then were put into the&s;e high places to &s;ave;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lev. 8.12. 1 Kings 19.16. 1 Sam. 16.13.</NOTE> and all the&s;e three had their &s;everal anointings; <HI>Aaron</HI> the Prie&s;t, <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> the Prophet, <HI>David</HI> the King.</P>
<P>But when Je&s;us came into the world, becau&s;e he was to do the Office of all the&s;e three, therefore was he called <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the Anointed,</HI> in a more peculiar manner than they were; for they were anointed with material oyle, he with the Holy Gho&s;t; they by the hands of men, he by no other than God him&s;elf; they to &s;ave for a time, he to &s;ave for ever.</P>
<P>They were typical, he a perfect Chri&s;t; in him all tho&s;e Offices were con|joyned, which in them were never perfectly to be found. Two of the&s;e met in &s;ome one or other, but in none of them all three. <HI>Melchizedech</HI> was King and Prie&s;t, but no Prophet; <HI>David</HI> Prophet and King, but no Prie&s;t; <HI>Samuel</HI> Prie&s;t and Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 110.4. Deut. 18.18. Dan. 9.25. Luke 1.33.</NOTE> but no King; he the &s;ole perfect Chri&s;t, becau&s;e all three. <HI>Davids</HI> Prie&s;t: <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Prophet: <HI>Daniels</HI> King; for he was to reign in the hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob</HI> for ever.</P>
<P>Farther yet, this name of honour was given to him in a more eminent man|ner, becau&s;e in him alone are contained the cau&s;es of that unction, for which tho&s;e other were honoured with the Name of Chri&s;t; for he was by his Pro|phetical Office to teach and in&s;truct in the whole will of God. <HI>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 61.1. Luke 4.18.</NOTE> <HI>becau&s;e the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tydings to the meek, &amp;c.</HI> By his Prie&s;thood to purge, to expiate, to offer a Sacrifice for us, to reconcile us again to God, to mediate for us, and ble&s;s us; and by his Kingly power to &s;ubdue his enemies of all &s;orts; to protect his Church; to pre&s;cribe whol&s;ome Laws by which he would govern it; to reward the ob&s;er|vers, and puni&s;h the breakers of them; but of this more at large by and by.</P>
<P>For my more methodical proceeding, and your better under&s;tanding this nece&s;&s;ary point of Doctrine. In this Office to which our Saviour was Anoint|ed, I will con&s;ider the&s;e three things.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. His Separation and Con&s;ecration to this Office.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The Endowments and Graces which were given for the execution of it.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The Charge and Tru&s;t by this Office committed to him.</ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> His Con&s;ecration.</HEAD>
<P>To Con&s;ecrate, is to &s;et apart to &s;ome &s;acred u&s;e, or function; and to this Office he was Con&s;ecrated when he became man; for as he was God he could not be Anointed. That which made him capable of this Unction, was the a&s;|&s;umption of the &s;eed of the woman into the Unity of his per&s;on. Which when <HI>in the fulne&s;se of time</HI> it was effected,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.4.</NOTE> then by the concurrence and good will of all three per&s;ons, he was anointed, and had the name of Chri&s;t given him; The Sonne of God he was before, but not <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Chri&s;t till now; Now it was that the Father anointed him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 4.27. Acts 10.38.</NOTE> Now it was that <HI>he was anointed with the Holy Gho&s;t and with power.</HI> So that there is a concurrence of all per&s;ons in this name, all willing and well-plea&s;ed that he &s;hould be con&s;ecrated, and &s;et apart to do the Office of a Mediatour betwixt God and man. The Father he de&s;igned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.17.</NOTE> &s;ealed, the Sonne was con&s;ecrated and &s;ealed, the Holy Gho&s;t anoint|ed him with power, endowments, gifts and graces for the perfect execution of this high calling.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> His Endowments and Graces.</HEAD>
<P>For this Anointing is the pouring out of the fulne&s;&s;e of the Spirit or Grace
<PB N="165" REF="88"> into the manhood of Chri&s;t, whence he is &s;aid to be <HI>full of Grace and Truth.</HI> With outward Oyle as other Kings, Prie&s;ts, and Prophets, he was not,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.14.</NOTE> he need|ed not be anointed. And the rea&s;on is, becau&s;e <HI>Divinitas,</HI> his Deity being in|&s;eparably united to his humanity, <HI>humanitatis unctio e&s;t,</HI> is the anointing of his humane nature. This made him full of Grace, and this fulne&s;&s;e of Grace was either in re&s;pect of
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>&V;nion</HI> or</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Unction.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST> This I touched before, but now I will &s;peak more fully of them.</P>
<P N="1">1. Than the Grace of Union there could be no greater be&s;towed on the na|ture of man. For be&s;ides the Sanctification of it, how farre hath God honour|ed our clay, by joyning his Deity to our du&s;t? By this Union God and earth, Maje&s;ty and infirmity, power and weakne&s;&s;e cohabit and dwell together. <HI>Ni|hil Deo &s;ublimius, nil limo vilius.</HI> Nothing is higher than God, nothing ba&s;er than earth or du&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. in Vigil. Nativ. Ser. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> and yet out of &s;o great conde&s;cen&s;ion <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">od hath de|&s;cended to our earth, and with &s;o great honour our earth hath a&s;cended to God, that what&s;oever God hath done in it, that our earth and du&s;t is &s;aid to have done; and what&s;oever our earth &s;uffered, God is beleeved to have borne it out. By rea&s;on of this Union it is, that God hath put all things into his hands.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.10. John 5.26.</NOTE> The name which he hath above every name is given unto him, yea and he hath pow|er to bequeath life to whom he plea&s;eth.</P>
<P>The Union then of the fle&s;h to the Deity, is to the fle&s;h a principal grace and favour; for by vertue of this Grace man is really united to God, made an a&s;&s;ociate of the Deity, partaker of Divine power, a creature is exalted above the dignity of all creatures, and hath all creatures made &s;ubject to it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo.</NOTE> <HI>Ag|no&s;ce O homo Chri&s;tiane dignitatem tuam, &amp; divinae con&s;ors factus na|turae, dole in veterem vilitatem degeneri conver&s;atione redire.</HI> O Chri&s;tian man take notice of thy dignity, and being made a partaker of the Divine na|ture, think thy &s;elf too good to degenerate and return to thy old ba&s;ene&s;s by a &s;ordid and &s;inful life.</P>
<P N="2">2. But to come to the grace of Unction; Did the two parts of our Nature, the &s;oul and body of Chri&s;t, receive from the influence of the Deity, whereto they were conjoyned, no ability of operation, no vertue or quality above Na|ture? yes verily; for otherwi&s;e the Holy Gho&s;t had never taught the holy men of God thus to write, <HI>that he was anointed above his fellows;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 45. John 1.14. Ephe&s;. 1.</NOTE> <HI>that he was full of grace and truth; that it plea&s;ed the Father that in him all fulne&s;s &s;hould dwell.</HI></P>
<P>Grace then, as the Schoolmen have well ob&s;erved,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Thom. part. <HI>3.</HI> q. <HI>7.</HI> Art. <HI>9.</HI></NOTE> is to be con&s;idered two ways; <HI>vel ex parte gratiae, vel ex parte &s;ubjecti habentis gratiam;</HI> either in re&s;pect of grace it &s;elf, or the &s;ubject in which grace is.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fulne&s;s of grace in re&s;pect of grace it &s;elf, is, when one cometh to the highe&s;t pitch of grace, both <HI>quoad e&s;&s;entiam, &amp; quoad virtutem, &amp; exten&s;iv&egrave;, &amp; inten&s;iv&egrave;;</HI> both &s;o far as it may be had, and to all the effects and purpo&s;es to which it may extend; as he that hath life in all the perfections, mu&s;t have what&s;oever the vegetative, the &s;en&s;itive &s;oul, or what rea&s;on can contri|bute to him. This kind of grace is proper unto Chri&s;t alone; for God gave not the Spirit unto him by mea&s;ure, or in any &s;mall &s;cantling.</P>
<P N="2">2. But the fulne&s;s of grace in re&s;pect of the &s;ubject, is, when one hath gracefully and perfectly, according to his e&s;tate and condition; inten&s;ively, according to his rank; and exten&s;ively, according to the duties and offices which God requires from men of his rank. And thus <HI>Mary, Stephen,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.28. Acts 7.55. Acts 2.4.</NOTE> the A|po&s;tles were full of the Holy Gho&s;t, in that they had grace &s;o far forth as might appertain to the performance of tho&s;e things to which God made choice of them.</P>
<PB N="166" REF="89">
<P>Their graces were then limited, Chri&s;ts without limitation; theirs in mea&s;ure,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.7. John 1.33.</NOTE> his had no &s;tint, no bounds. Whence Saint <HI>John</HI> &s;aith, <HI>that the holy Gho&s;t did de&s;cend and remaine upon him.</HI> The Deity (the e&s;&s;ential properties of the Godhead only excepted) imparted to the humanity all things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.14.</NOTE> repleni&s;hed it with all &s;uch perfections according to the exi|gence of that oeconomy and &s;ervice, for which it plea&s;ed him in love and mercy to be made man.</P>
<P>And the&s;e graces and qualities &s;ubjectively, habitually, and formally in|herent in the Humane Nature of Chri&s;t, are in particular aptly typed out to us by that Holy Oyle which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was commanded to make after the Art of the Apothecary, and re&s;erve for the Unction of <HI>Aaron</HI> and his Sonnes, when they were to be con&s;ecrated to the Prie&s;ts Office.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 30.22.</NOTE> And that in three re&s;pects.</P>
<P N="1">1. That Holy Oyle had no man for its Authour, but God alone: So the &s;upereminent graces in the Manhood of Chri&s;t, have no other beginning or fountaine &s;ave his very Deity.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Feild</HI> of the Church. l. 5. c. 14.</NOTE> <HI>The Spirit of the Lord &s;hall re&s;t upon him, the Spirit of wi&s;dome and under&s;tanding, the Spirit of coun&s;el and might, the Spi|rit of knowledge, and the feare of the Lord.</HI></P>
<P N="2"><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 11.1, 2.</NOTE>2. Though that Oyle were more precious, yet the compo&s;ition was of earth|ly &s;ub&s;tances, as Myrrh, Cinnamon, Ca&s;&s;ia, Calamus, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to &s;ignifie that the &s;piritual Oyle of grace, whereof the Man-hood of Chri&s;t was as it were, the Ve&s;&s;el or Store-hou&s;e, did not con&s;i&s;t of the e&s;&s;ential properties of his Deity, but in certain habitual gifts and graces re&s;ident in his Humane Nature; otherwi&s;e we could not have had our parts in them.</P>
<P N="3">3. That Oyle was a mo&s;t fragrant perfume, &s;ending forth a mo&s;t &s;weet &s;melling &s;avour. This was a mo&s;t lively re&s;emblance of the graces of Chri&s;t, which are a &s;weet &s;melling &s;avour in the no&s;trils of the Almighty, which doth &s;ente our per&s;ons and actions,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.2.</NOTE> and make them &s;o acceptable to him, that the &s;trong vapours of our &s;tinking &s;innes are no more loath&s;ome and un|&s;avoury to him. Hence it is, that Saint <HI>Paul</HI> calls our Saviours death <HI>a &s;acrifice of a &s;weet &s;melling &s;avour;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 2.15.</NOTE> and &s;aith al&s;o, <HI>that through it we are unto God the &s;weet &s;avour of Christ.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> The Charge and Trust by this Office committed to him.</HEAD>
<P>I am pa&s;t the two fir&s;t points, his <HI>Con&s;ecration,</HI> and his <HI>Endowments;</HI> It remaines now that I &s;peak of that threefold Office to which he was anointed; that of a <HI>King,</HI> that of a <HI>Prie&s;t,</HI> and that of a <HI>Prophet.</HI> And there is very great rea&s;on for this number.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fi&s;t, In that man by his Apo&s;tacy from God, became ignorant and knew not, an enemy and would not, &s;o impotent that he could not return of him&s;elf againe to him. By the&s;e Offices there is a pre&s;ent remedy &s;et forth for all the&s;e. As a <HI>Prophet,</HI> he teacheth us knowledge, and &s;o cures our ig|norance: As a <HI>Prie&s;t,</HI> he takes up all matters of difference and di&s;like, makes God our friend, and &s;o removes all enmity: And as a <HI>King,</HI> he empowers us with &s;trength, and enables us to conquer and overcome all difficulties and im|pediments that are ca&s;t in the way of our return.</P>
<P N="2">2. Again, the Method of Gods be&s;towing &s;alvation requires this number. For this my&s;tery of our Redemption ought fir&s;t to be expounded, then paid for, and la&s;tly be applyed to us. Now who fitter than a Prophet to open and expound the Will of God to his people? who than a Prie&s;t to offer a Sacri|fice, and by it to make God amends for &s;inne? what per&s;on &s;o fit as a King, who hath power in his hand to apply to every one what is needful? And all this he did; As a <HI>Prophet</HI> he made known, as a <HI>Prie&s;t</HI> he paid, and
<PB N="167" REF="89"> as a <HI>King</HI> he applyed his whole Ran&s;ome and Satisfaction, and made it ours.</P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, The&s;e three Offices appeare in the orderly execution of them. For fir&s;t as a <HI>Prophet</HI> he walkt about, at lea&s;t for three years, publi&s;hing and preaching the glad tydings of the Go&s;pel. Then as a <HI>Prie&s;t</HI> he offer'd his &s;oul a Sacrifice for &s;inne upon the Altar of the Cro&s;s. And la&s;tly having conque|red his and our enemies, Sinne, Death, and Hell, as a <HI>King</HI> he entred tri|umphantly into his glory, and took po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of his Crown. But it will not be ami&s;s to &s;peak of the&s;e more particularly.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Chri&s;t a Prophet.</HEAD>
<P>A Prophet is deriv'd from <GAP DESC="foreign">, to foretell. And in a &s;trict &s;en&s;e it &s;ignifies a man who hath received a gift to foretell things to come. But in a larger acception it denotes a man that is endowed with power to interpret, and make known the Will of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11.4. &amp; 14.6.</NOTE> Though then we exclude not Chri&s;t from the Office of Prophecy in the fir&s;t &s;en&s;e of that word (for we know the Re|velation proceeded from him, which is a prophecy of the &s;tate of the Church to the end of the world, that I name not many other predictions) yet in this ca&s;e we rather embrace the latter, becau&s;e</P>
<P N="1">1. He taught upon what terms ble&s;&s;edne&s;s was to be had under the Go&s;pel;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.1, 2, 3, &amp;c.</NOTE> which could never have been made known, had he not reveal'd it; <HI>viz.</HI> The Redemption of the World by his death and pa&s;&s;ion; The Application of it by his Re&s;urrection, A&s;cen&s;ion, and &s;ending of the Holy Gho&s;t; Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;inne, and Ju&s;tification by his blood, and Reconciliation of all things in hea|ven and in earth.</P>
<P N="2">2. He purg'd the Law from divers corruptions,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.21, 22, &amp;c.</NOTE> which the fal&s;e glo&s;&s;es of the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> had put upon it; and in that excellent Sermon upon the Mount, and through the whole Go&s;pel &s;ets down an Exacter Rule of life than any Law-giver ever before him thought of, or at lea&s;t &s;o ob&s;curely, that their injunctions were not well under&s;tood, much le&s;&s;e ob|&s;erved.</P>
<P N="3">3. He ordain'd Sacraments, in&s;tituted a Mini&s;try,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.26. &amp; 28.19. Eph. 4.11. Mat. 16.19. Mat. 18.18. Joh. 20.22, 23. H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">b. 3.1. John 3.2. Mat. 23.8. I&s;a 9.6. 1 Cor. 1.24. Col. 2.3.</NOTE> <HI>Gave &s;ome to be Apo|&s;tles, &s;ome Prophets, &s;ome Evangeli&s;ts, &s;ome Pa&s;tors, &s;ome Teachers;</HI> Gave into their hands the keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven, and power to make u&s;e of that Di&s;cipline which he ordain'd to the end of the world.</P>
<P>All the&s;e are Acts of his prophetick function; and in regard of the execution of them, he is call'd <HI>The Apo&s;tle of our profe&s;&s;ion;</HI> confe&s;&s;ed to be a <HI>Tea|cher &s;ent from God; A Rabbi,</HI> the &s;ole <HI>Rabbi; Magni con&s;ilii angelus; The Coun&s;ellour; The wi&s;dome of God;</HI> nay, <HI>the very trea&s;ury in which are &s;to|red up all the trea&s;ures of wi&s;dom and knowledge.</HI></P>
<P>And in two things it is that he hath the preheminence of all other Pro|phets.</P>
<P N="1">1. That he was in the bo&s;ome of his Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 11.27. Joh. 1.18.</NOTE> and con&s;cious to his Fathers &s;ecrets; he needed not &s;tay for a Revelation, but out of his own immediate knowledge, is enab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ed to deliver the whole Will of God to us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 16.13, 14, 15.</NOTE> whereas all other Prophets and Teachers receive their Revelation at the &s;econd hand, ac|cording to the grace given them by the Spirit of Chri&s;t, &s;earching what,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.10. &amp; 12.7. ad 13. 1 Pet. 1.11.</NOTE> or what manner of time the Spirit of Chri&s;t which was in them would &s;ignifie. The gift of Prophecy in him then was <HI>per modum habitus;</HI> a habit it was, &s;o that he could work by it, &s;o that he could reveale the &s;ecrets of God, where, when, to whom, and as he would: But in other Prophets it was only <HI>per modum coru&s;cationis &amp; actus,</HI> a light that &s;hined into their under&s;tanding for the pre&s;ent, &s;o that they could not prophecy when they plea&s;ed, or &s;peak
<PB N="168" REF="90"> what they li&s;t, but only &s;o much, and at that time when God inform'd them. In a word, Prophecy in Chri&s;t was like the light in the Sun; but in any of his Me&s;&s;engers, like the &s;ame light in the aire, which you know vani&s;heth when the Sun is &s;et.</P>
<P N="2">2. But thete is not only a manife&s;t difference in the receipt of this Prophe|tick Spirit, but a great di&s;parity al&s;o in the effects to which it is given. All other Prophets could no more but declare, and teach, and labour, and plant, and water,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.6, 7, 9, 10. 1 Cor. 15.10.</NOTE> and build. <HI>Paul</HI> is a planter, <HI>Apollos</HI> a waterer; in one place a fellow labourer, in another a chief Builder. But who is <HI>Paul?</HI> and who is <HI>Apoll<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s?</HI> Mini&s;ters only by whom men believe. It is the Lord that gives the encrea&s;e; They may plant indeed, and water, and labour all night, and build,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 5.5.</NOTE> and toyle, but unle&s;s Chri&s;t be with them with the powerful pre&s;ence of his Spirit, they are not able to &s;ave one &s;oul. <HI>We as lively &s;tones are built up into a &s;piritual hou&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.5. P&s;al. 127.1.</NOTE> <HI>but except the Lord build the hou&s;e, their labour is but lost that build it;</HI> for who is able to breath that Spirit of life into tho&s;e cold &s;tones but he? who can make the dead in their graves heare the voice of the Sonne of God but he?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 5.25. Mat. 4.20. Luke 19.6. Luke 24.32.</NOTE> He calls his Apo&s;tles, and they leave all, and follow him in&s;tantly. He commands <HI>Zacheus</HI> to de&s;cend, and he comes down quickly, and entertaines him. He opens to the two Di&s;ciples the Scri|ptures, and their hearts glow within them. This then is another priviledge he hath beyond any other Prophet; that whereas he can only declare and &s;peak, Chri&s;t can give Spirit, life, and power to his Word, and make it &s;o effectual to the conver&s;ion of the hearer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 55.11.</NOTE> that it returns not empty.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Chri&s;t a Prie&s;t.</HEAD>
<P>Which yet will be more evident, if we con&s;ider his &s;econd Office, that of a Prie&s;t. For the Office of a Prie&s;t lies in this e&s;pecially, that he interpo&s;e and mediate; that he offer Sacrifice, that he do ble&s;s the people. For we know in the old Law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 16.46. Lev. 3.11. &amp; 4.7, 16. Num. 6.23.</NOTE> if at any time God and his people were faln out, the Prie&s;t was to &s;tand in the Gap to pray for them, and to mediate a peace. Then againe to purge and expiate their &s;inne by Sacrifice. La&s;tly, to ble&s;s them. And all the&s;e wayes Chri&s;t may well be called a Prie&s;t by his Mediation, his Sa|crifice, and Benediction.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 2.5.</NOTE>Fir&s;t, He mediates; <HI>for there is but one Mediatour betwixt God and man, the man Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI> Now mediation is nothing el&s;e but an act by which one interpo&s;eth him&s;elf betwixt two that are at variance to reconcile them, and joyn them in a new League of amity or friend&s;hip. This media|tion is performed foure wayes. Fir&s;t, By di&s;cerning and judging the matters of quarrel and di&s;like, that &s;eparate and e&s;trange the parties. Secondly, By making report to either party the conditions on which the peace &s;hould be made, and the differences ended. Thirdly, By entreating one party for ano|ther. And fourthly, by &s;atisfying one party for the wrong done by the other. Now all the&s;e ways was Chri&s;t a Mediatour.</P>
<P N="1">1. For fir&s;t he interpo&s;ed him&s;elf as an Arbitratour between God and us, and ea&s;ily di&s;cern'd the whole matter of di&s;like, and judg'd it to be mo&s;t equal on the part of God.</P>
<P N="2">2. Then he reported the conditions upon which the di&s;like might be taken up; to wit, that we &s;hould &s;ubmit to God, pro&s;trate our &s;elves at his feet, repent of the wrongs we did him, beg mercy, believe tho&s;e promi&s;es of par|don he &s;hould make us, and enter into a Solemne Obligation, never wilfully hereafter to reject his Laws, or wrong him any more, upon which conditi|ons God &s;hould accept of our &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, faith, repentance, and purpo&s;e of amendment.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="169" REF="90">3. Farthe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, He mediated by &s;upplication and intreaty, praying God to be reconciled to us; he &s;its at the right hand of God, there he is our Advocate,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.1. Rom 8.34.</NOTE> and makes reque&s;t for us.</P>
<P N="4">4. La&s;tly, He mediated by &s;atisfying the one party for the wrong done by the other, which could be done only by Sacrifice, and &s;o he perform'd the o|ther duty of the Prie&s;t.</P>
<P>Secondly, <HI>For every high Prie&s;t taken from among men,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5.1.</NOTE> <HI>is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and &s;a|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rifi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es for &s;innes:</HI> Ordained then it is, that every Prie&s;t offer a Sacrifice; This then is common to him with <HI>Aaron,</HI> that he offer'd; but that Sacrifice which he offer'd, farre exceeds that of <HI>Aarons</HI> and of his family.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.7. Heb. 9.12, 25, 26. &amp; 13.</NOTE> They of|fer'd fir&s;t for them&s;elves, he for the people only; for, for him&s;elf he needed not. They often, he but once; They &s;omewhat el&s;e, as Bulls, Goats, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> but he offer'd him&s;elf for the Sinnes of the world, to a painful and &s;hameful death, by which he did &s;atisfie God for the injuries and wrongs done him by &s;inful men, and repair him in point of honour, &s;o far as ungodly wretches had di&s;honoured him.</P>
<P>A Prie&s;t that would undertake this, mu&s;t needs be &s;uch a per&s;on as Chri&s;t was. Man: that he might be a Sacrifice, &s;hed his blood, and dye, which God could not. God: that the effu&s;ion of this blood, might be a price &s;ufficient and valuable for the &s;inne of man. For though the Sacrifice was offer'd ac|cording to his humane Nature; yet the force, vertue, and efficacy thereof did depend upon his Divine. Which is mo&s;t evident by this. Suppo&s;e a man were never &s;o innocent, never &s;o pure, ju&s;t, holy, yet a meer man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo de pa&s;s. <HI>Serm. 12.</HI></NOTE> who would be content to &s;uffer all that Chri&s;t did for the ran&s;ome of mankind, could he &s;o &s;uffering and dying &s;atisfie Gods wrath? could he reconcile him to all men? Surely no; it were well if he could &s;ave his own &s;oul. What is it then that makes Chri&s;ts blood of more value than his?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 14.14.</NOTE> of a greater price than that holy, ju&s;t, righteous mans? Nothing but that he was not &s;uch a per|&s;on as Chri&s;t was; only that his blood was not the blood of the Son of God: An infinite per&s;on he was not, as Chri&s;t was, and therefore could not &s;a|tisfie for an infinite offence. It was the Son of God, and Lord of life, that dyed for us upon the Cro&s;s; but the Nature of man, and not of God, in which he dyed. But it was the Nature of God, and the infinite excellency of the &s;ame, whence the price, value, and worth of his pa&s;&s;ion grew.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Two Offices of the Prie&s;t evident it is that he executed; and in this la&s;t of Sacrifice, <HI>Aaron</HI> was a type of him. For as he offer'd the blood of bea&s;ts, &s;o did Chri&s;t his own blood, to make &s;atisfaction for the &s;innes of the people. A third duty there is yet of the Prie&s;t behinde,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 14.19. Heb. 7.7.</NOTE> and that is to <HI>Ble&s;&s;e,</HI> in which <HI>Melchized<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ck</HI> was a lively type of him. For he ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Abraham.</HI> And &s;o doth Chri&s;t as a Prie&s;t yet ble&s;s the &s;piritual &s;eed of <HI>Abra|ham,</HI> and none el&s;e. The Sacrifice which he offered as an Aaronical Prie&s;t, ended with his death, and all tho&s;e other &s;acrifices, which were but types of it. For Chri&s;t being once dead, dyes no more; he needs not;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.9. Heb. 10.26.</NOTE> that one death was &s;ufficient. There remaines no more &s;acrifice for &s;inne. But this other part of his Office, <HI>To ble&s;s,</HI> is perpetually to continue; whence it is written of him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 7.17.</NOTE> <HI>That he was to be a Prie&s;t for ever after the order of Melchi|zedech.</HI> For ever a Prie&s;t, but not after the order of <HI>Aaron,</HI> that had its period with his Sacrifice: but after the order of <HI>Melchizedech;</HI> The chief Act of who&s;e Prie&s;t-hood was, which we reade of, that he did ble&s;&s;e <HI>A|braham.</HI></P>
<P>True it is, that the Prie&s;ts of <HI>Aarons</HI> order did ble&s;s too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Chron. 23.13. Num. 6.24, 25.</NOTE> but it was in the name of another. <HI>The Lord ble&s;&s;e thee; The Lord make his face to &s;hine upon thee, &amp;c.</HI> But Chri&s;t ble&s;&s;ed in his own Name; They by prayer
<PB N="170" REF="91"> and petition; He by &s;o powerful an Interce&s;&s;ion, which becau&s;e it is back'd with authority, is all one with an actual donation. He was &s;ent to ble&s;s, and he doth ble&s;s indeed.</P>
<P>But perhaps you will ask in what this ble&s;&s;ing doth con&s;i&s;t? Saint <HI>Peter</HI> &s;hall tell you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 3.26. <HI>Vid.</HI> Dr. <HI>Ham.</HI> Serm. 9. on this Text.</NOTE> <HI>God having rai&s;ed up his Son Je&s;us, &s;ent him to ble&s;s you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.</HI> After his Re&s;urrecti|on there follows his M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ion, he rai&s;ed, he &s;ent; and the end of this &s;en|ding is to ble&s;s; and the ble&s;&s;ing con&s;i&s;ts in this, <HI>that every one of us be turn'd from his iniquity.</HI> The act is in him, but the work mu&s;t be in us. He turnes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.9. Phil. 2.12.</NOTE> and we mu&s;t be turned. He gives &s;ufficient grace to work an univer&s;al, &s;incere, impartial, thorough change of every &s;inner; and therefore every &s;inner mu&s;t co-operate with this grace, and be changed.</P>
<P N="1">1. There mu&s;t be a turning, or inverting of the &s;oul, <GAP DESC="foreign">, a tran&s;|mentation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.2.</NOTE> and le&s;s than that will not prove &s;ufficient; Humiliation, Con|fe&s;&s;ion, grief for, and hatred of &s;inne will not &s;erve the turn, for all the&s;e are but initial preparations to repentance; there mu&s;t be an actual turning from &s;in, <HI>a repentance from dead works.</HI></P>
<P N="2"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.1.</NOTE>2. To effect this, ob&s;erve the ble&s;&s;ing expre&s;&s;ed by <GAP DESC="foreign">, in turning, which is common to Chri&s;t and us; but in a different power and &s;en&s;e; he by way of efficiency, we of non-re&s;i&s;tance; he to turn us, and then we to turn;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.51. Eph. 4.30. 2 The&s;. 5.19.</NOTE> not to re&s;i&s;t, to grieve, to quench that power of his grace which he ble&s;|&s;eth to turn us.</P>
<P N="3">3. The extent of this ble&s;&s;ing, 'tis upon all. The end is that every one turn: Jew or Gentile; for the grace of God, that brings &s;alvation, appea|red to all;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 2.11, 12. Luke 13.3.</NOTE> and the le&s;&s;on it teacheth, is, <HI>That every one live &s;oberly, justly, and piou&s;ly; for except every one repent, he &s;hall peri&s;h.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. The ble&s;&s;ing is &s;o effectual, that it turnes <GAP DESC="foreign">, from ini|quities. There be frailties, weakne&s;&s;es, infirmities, which are reconcileable with a regenerate e&s;tate; from the&s;e we are not &s;o farre ble&s;&s;ed, as to be tur|ned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.21.22, 23, 24.</NOTE> while we carry about with us this burden of fle&s;h. And there be <GAP DESC="foreign">, villainies, and wickedne&s;&s;es of the carnal man, deliberate acts and wa&s;t|ing habits of an un&s;anctified life; and from the&s;e, e&s;pecially from the raigne of the&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6, 12, 13, 14, 19.</NOTE> Chri&s;t Ble&s;&s;eth all tho&s;e, who admit Him for their Prie&s;t.</P>
<P>There be that are glad to heare of that Sacrifice which this our Prie&s;t offer'd for them upon the Cro&s;s; in their mouths they have alwayes that Ran&s;ome; and well it were they would remember it more, &s;o withal by a wicked life they would not crucifie him againe.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.6.</NOTE> But well it were al&s;o, that while they &s;olace them&s;elves with his death, they would call to minde al&s;o that he ro&s;e again;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.4, 5.</NOTE> and then that they, as they are to dye with him, &s;o mu&s;t ri&s;e again to newne&s;s of life; without which the Sacrifice he offer'd on the Cro&s;s, will &s;tand them in little &s;tead.</P>
<P>Remember, that he came not only to Sacrifice, but to b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;s al&s;o; and can any man per&s;wade him&s;elf that he is partaker of the ble&s;&s;ing, &s;o long as he is not turn'd from his iniquities? or rather &s;o long as he turnes to them, and &s;uffers them to domineer and raign in his mortal body? 'Tis a vaine per&s;wa&s;i|on for any man to look for a ble&s;&s;ing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 12.</NOTE> a pardon, eternal &s;alvation from this high Prie&s;t, either as &s;atisfying or &s;uffering, but upon the good u&s;e of his grace. So farre only we may expect ju&s;tification and &s;alvation from the &s;uffer|ings of Chri&s;t, as we are wrought upon by his Renewing and Sanctifying Spi|rit:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 2.14.</NOTE> This being the end of his death, <HI>That he might Redeem us from our iniquities,</HI> that is, from the raigning power, as well as the guilt, <HI>and purifie unto him&s;elf a people zealous of good works.</HI> And if he faile of his end, we are like to faile of ours; after the light he held out as a Prophet, and the Sa|crifice
<PB N="171" REF="91"> he offer'd as a Prie&s;t, the impenitent wretch, and the unreformed <HI>Cai|tiffe,</HI> notwith&s;tanding the great boa&s;t of his faith and confidence in the blood and merits of Chri&s;t, may be ca&s;t away, and peri&s;h everla&s;tingly. I &s;hall clo&s;e this point with tho&s;e fearful words of Saint <HI>Paul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.26, 27.</NOTE> which I wi&s;h may &s;ound continually <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ike a clap of thunder in the eares of every di&s;&s;olute and pre&s;um|ptuous &s;inner; <HI>For if we &s;inne wilfully after that we have received the know|ledge of the Truth, there remaines no more Sacrifice for Sinnes; but a certaine fearful looking for of Judgement, and fiery Indignation, which &s;hall devour<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the Adver&s;aries.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Christ a King.</HEAD>
<P>And that he might be able to reward all his good Subjects, and puni&s;h his rebellious Enemies, this Chri&s;t, be&s;ides that he is a Prie&s;t and a Prophet, is a mighty King; for as he told <HI>Pilate, to that end he was borne,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 18.37.</NOTE> <HI>and to that end he came into the world.</HI> But not to be a Temporal King, that you mi|&s;take not with the Jews, who dream of a Me&s;&s;iah to come in &s;uch State, Power, and Maje&s;ty, that he &s;hall ca&s;t down all Monarchs before him, and &s;ubdue all Princes unto him. For as he &s;aid before <HI>Pilate,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 36.</NOTE> <HI>His Kingdome is not of this world;</HI> It &s;tands not in the arm or policy of man, as earthly King|domes do; But it is Spiritual, and hath its efficacy upon the hearts and con|&s;ciences of men, in whom he rules by the power of his Spirit, and by the light of his Go&s;pel. For this is the Sword and Scepter of his Kingdome, which he weilds in the mid&s;t of his enemies, and makes them all his foot&s;toole:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 45.6. P&s;a. 110.1, 2.</NOTE> Such of his enemies he converts as pertain to Gods Election; and &s;uch he conquers and confounds, as are the &s;onnes of perdition. His Go&s;pel <HI>to one is the &s;avour of life, and to the other the &s;avour of Death unto Death,</HI> 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2.16.</P>
<P>Divers differences there are betwixt him and other Kings, betwixt his and other Kingdomes.</P>
<P N="1">1. The dominions of all other Princes are limited, and the Borders of their Kingdomes bounded. But he is a Catholick King, and hath an univer&s;al Kingdome. <HI>All power is given unto him in heaven and earth.</HI> Nay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.18. Phil. 2.9, 10. Dan. 7.14. Ephe&s;. 1.22.</NOTE> <HI>under the earth. All people and Nations mu&s;t &s;erve him; All creatures mu&s;t bow to him; for God hath put all things under his feet, being given to be the head of all things to his Church.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Other Princes (many of them at lea&s;t) have &s;et up their Kingdomes by the power of the Sword. A Captaine of <HI>Cae&s;ars</HI> being &s;ent by him to the Senate for continuance of his Province, and under&s;tanding they would not grant it, claps his hand to the pummel of his Sword; Well, &s;aith he, &s;ince you will not yield to this motion, <HI>Hic dabit,</HI> this &s;hall force it from you: And <HI>Pompey</HI> (the <HI>Me&s;senians</HI> alledging their Laws and Priviledges) an&s;wer|ed in choler, What do you prattle of your Laws to us that have our Swords by our &s;ides? Wich the&s;e <HI>Mahomet</HI> brought in his <HI>Alcoran,</HI> thus he main|taines it. So the <HI>A&s;&s;yrian, Per&s;ian, Graecian, Romane</HI> Monarchies were erected; So Tyrants and Potentates of the world end all their quarrels, and make their enemies their foot&s;toole.</P>
<P>But the Scepter of Chri&s;ts Kingdome is not a Sword of Steel. I know not one of his Di&s;ciples were &s;ent forth to Preach with a Sword by his &s;ide. He &s;ubdues a people to him&s;elf <HI>non ore gladii,</HI> but <HI>gladio oris,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.16. Eph. 6.17. Heb. 4.12. Rom. 1.16. 2 Cor. 10.5.</NOTE> not by the mouth of the Sword, but by the Sword of his mouth; <HI>For the Gospel is the great power of God unto &s;alvation; ca&s;ting down holds, and imaginations, and every thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God; and bringing into captivity every high thought to the obedience of Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P N="3"><PB N="172" REF="92">3. And this is al&s;o a third difference, <HI>that every high thought is brought to the obedience of Chri&s;t.</HI> For whereas all other Princes may by a poenal Law re&s;traine the hand, and enforce the outward Act only; this King gives grace that reformes and amends the heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Micah 7.19.</NOTE> by which our iniquities are not on|ly &s;ubdued, but the vertues of faith, and hope, and charity are &s;o powerfully infu&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.19. Gal. 6.15. Luke 1.75.</NOTE> that the man becomes a new creature, and takes delight to do his duty to this King in righteou&s;ne&s;s and holine&s;s all his dayes. For which o|bedience, if &s;incere, though imperfect, he will at la&s;t reward him with an immortal Crown.</P>
<P>His Kingdome then is a Kingdome of power, by which he will de&s;troy all his and our enemies, Sinne, Satan, Death, Hell, and all ungodly men; even them who &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 19.14. Gal. 1.4. Rev. 5.8, 9, 10. Eph. 4.11. James 4.12. 1 Tim. 3.15. 2 Cor. 10.4, 5. Acts 3.26. I&s;a. 32.2. Luke 1.71. Mat. 12.28. Luke 2.32. Mat. 5.3. Heb. 6.5.</NOTE> <HI>Nolumus hunc regnare, We will not have this man to raign over us.</HI> His Kingdome is a Kingdome of grace, under which he calls the Church out of the world to a holy fellow&s;hip with him; in&s;titutes Ordi|nances for his wor&s;hip, and appoints Mini&s;ters to di&s;pen&s;e them; Gives Laws for the ordering of our wayes, and the ordering of his hou&s;e; Gives power of life to all his In&s;titutions, and to his people by them; Be&s;towing &s;trength of grace to overcome all rebellious lu&s;ts, and habits of &s;inne: And protecting and delivering his Church from all the enemies of their peace. La&s;tly, His Kingdome is a Kingdome of glory, call'd in Scripture <HI>the King|dome of God, the Kingdome of light, the Kingdome of heaven, and the world to come;</HI> becau&s;e this will be the end of the good u&s;e of his grace to make us Raign with him in Everla&s;ting Glory.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The CONCLUSION.</HEAD>
<P>What&s;oever Chri&s;t did, what&s;oever Chri&s;t was made, it was for us men, and our &s;alvation. Let us then con&s;ider how nearly this benefit of unction and con&s;ecration concerns us. For as the Oyle upon <HI>Aarons</HI> head de&s;cended to the beard,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 133.3.</NOTE> and reach'd to the skirts of his cloathing, &s;o al&s;o this Oyle was poured upon Chri&s;ts head, thence de&s;cended to his Members, that &s;o he might not only be <HI>&V;nctus,</HI> but <HI>&V;nctor;</HI> not the Anointed only, but the A|nointer.</P>
<P>It is recorded that upon the day of his birth at <HI>Rome</HI> a fountaine of Oyle broke out of the earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Oro&s;. lib. <HI>6.</HI> cap. <HI>20.</HI> Thom. <HI>3.</HI> part. q. <HI>36.</HI> Eu&s;eb. in Chron.</NOTE> and continued to run that whole day. A pre&s;age this might be, that from him as a fountaine, &s;hould &s;tream forth a holy Oynt|ment, from which all that belong'd to him, &s;hould receive their Unction and Appellatfon. Which of tho&s;e old Kings, Prie&s;ts, or Prophets, though they were &s;tiled Chri&s;ts, yet left that name to any that they &s;aved or ruled? The Oyntment they had for them&s;elves, not to communicate it to others. But this Name of this Chri&s;t is <HI>Oleum effu&s;um, an Oyntment poured forth;</HI> we may be &s;aid to receive &s;ome part with him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.3:</NOTE> In that from this anointing we have our names; 'Tis our honour that we may be bold to proclaime <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian. <GAP DESC="foreign">. P&s;alm 2.2. Acts 4.27. Acts 11.26.</NOTE> Chri&s;tians we are denominated from Chri&s;t; <HI>Uncti ab Uncta, anointed from him who was the Anointed.</HI> A Name fir&s;t given at <HI>Antioch,</HI> and re|tain'd ever &s;ince by all po&s;terity.</P>
<P>And now let us enquire with <HI>Gregory Ny&s;&s;en,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, what we promi&s;e and profe&s;s upon the a&s;&s;umption of this Name.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Greg. Ny&s;&s;en. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> The medi|tation, if &s;ad, will be very profitable; for it being once accuratly found out, what is contain'd in this Name, we mu&s;t needs be much quickned to a vertuous life. For as he who affects to be honoured with the Title of a Phy&s;ician, O|ratour, or Mathematician, will endeavour by all meanes to give &s;ufficient Te&s;timony that he is worthy of that name: In like manner they who intend to glory in the name of a Chri&s;tian, will labour to live as a Chri&s;tian ought,
<PB N="173" REF="92"> that &s;o their works may adorn their profe&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Titus 2.10. 1 Cor. 14.25.</NOTE> and force even tho&s;e who are without, to confe&s;s that Chri&s;t is in them indeed.</P>
<P>A Chri&s;tian is a name of vertue, of ju&s;tice, of goodne&s;s, of integrity, of patience, of cha&s;tity, of prudence, of humility, of courte&s;ie, of innocence, of piety. In a word, it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, an imitation of the divine Nature. Neither doth this definition pa&s;s the bounds of rea&s;on. For &s;ince man at fir&s;t was created after the Image of God; which being lo&s;t, our Chri|&s;tian profe&s;&s;ion aimes to re&s;tore; it cannot then be otherwi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 1.1. P&s;alm 119.1, 3. 1 Pet. 2.1.</NOTE> but Chri&s;tiani|ty mu&s;t be an imitation of the Divine Nature. A Chri&s;tian then is he who imitates Chri&s;t, who is holy, innocent, undefiled; in who&s;e brea&s;t there is no malicious wickedne&s;s, in who&s;e tongue there is no guile, who undoes no man, but helps all.</P>
<P>But and if in the profe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;tianity a man live the life of a Jew, and fall below the Heathen; if he take delight in mi&s;chief,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 36.4. P&s;alm 94.20. Luke 18.2.</NOTE> plot and practice it; if he feare not God, nor reverence man; if he give him&s;elf over to wan|tonne&s;s, to adultery, to fornication, to drunkenne&s;s; if he harbour hatred, &s;trife, wrath, variance, or cruelty,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Eccle&s;. 10.1.</HI> Vid. Ny&s;&s;en. loc. cit.</NOTE> he is but a dead fly that corrupts the &s;weet Oyntment of Chri&s;ts Name; or the Ape dre&s;s'd up, and dancing han&s;omely in the attire of a Boy, that di&s;cover'd him&s;elf upon the ca&s;ting down of the Almonds.</P>
<P>Should &s;ome skilfull Painter undertake to pre&s;ent you with the lively por|traiture of &s;ome great and good Prince, and in&s;tead thereof &s;et him out with the head of a Lyon, the paw of a Beare, the teeth of a Dog, and the taile of a Fox, would not he that expected &s;ome excellent piece, and the Prince who by this deformed Image is &s;o abu&s;ed, conceive an intolerable injury and &s;corne put upon him? The ca&s;e is not altogether unlike; every Chri&s;tian by profe&s;&s;ion makes you believe that he will pre&s;ent you with an exact expre&s;s of Chri&s;t, with a draught of his humility, his meekne&s;s, his patience, his innocency, his &s;incerity, indeed that very Image of righteou&s;ne&s;s and holi|ne&s;s in which he was created; but upon the view you finde the cruelty of a Lion, the mercy of a Bear, the raven of a Dog, the craft of a Fox, and mu&s;t not this needs provoke him to anger who&s;e picture you have undertaken to repre&s;ent,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 12.14. I&s;a. 52.5. Rom. 2.24.</NOTE> yet have &s;o fal&s;ified? Will not this <HI>give occa&s;ion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme?</HI></P>
<P>For in what draught the image is repre&s;ented, &s;uch an enemy will con|ceive the Prototype to be. If then Chri&s;tianity be the imitation of Chri&s;t, he that &s;hall behold in our lives expre&s;&s;ions of all goodne&s;&s;e, will ea&s;ily be per|&s;waded that Chri&s;t is a good Ma&s;ter, and the God whom we honour, a ju&s;t and a holy God. But and if the man who gives out that he is his Image, be deformed with pa&s;&s;ions, and mi&s;-&s;haped with bea&s;tly vices, advantage will be taken by an ill minde to ca&s;t an a&s;per&s;ion upon that God who&s;e Name we bear, as if he were the &s;ame with his &s;ervants.</P>
<P><HI>Julius Cae&s;ar</HI> quieted a &s;edition in his Army with one word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tacit. Ann. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> He called them only <HI>Quirites,</HI> and they were pre&s;ently &s;trucken with it, and re|turned to their obedience.</P>
<Q><L>&mdash; Di&s;cedete ca&s;tris,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lucan.</NOTE></L>
<L>Tradite no&s;tra viris ignavi &s;igna Quirites.</L></Q>
<P>And methinks we, who have our name from &s;o &s;weet a perfume, &s;hould take heed how we make it &s;tink in the no&s;trils of unbelievers. The very name of Chri&s;tians from &s;uch a Chri&s;t, &s;uch a Prie&s;t, &s;uch a King, &s;uch a Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 1.6.</NOTE> &s;hould move us all to &s;tudy to be Kings, Prie&s;ts, and Prophets too. For think of your &s;elves what you will, if you truly belong to Chri&s;t, you have
<PB N="174" REF="93"> a &s;hare of this holy oyle.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.9. Rev. 1.6. Exod. 19.6. Colo&s;. 1.13.</NOTE> <HI>For you are a cho&s;en generation, a royal Prie&s;thood, an holy Nation, a peculiar people. A Nation of Kings and Prie&s;ts. Kings and Prie&s;ts to God the Father; that ye &s;hould &s;hew fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">th the prai&s;es of him who hath called you out of darkne&s;&s;e into his marvell<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">us light.</HI> Be then what you are called, all Prophets, all Prie&s;ts, all Kings.</P>
<P><HI>Let the Word of God dwell in you plentifully, and richly in all wi&s;dome, teaching and admoni&s;hing one another,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 3.16.</NOTE> as Prophets. <HI>Pre&s;ent your bodies a li|ving &s;acrifice, holy, acceptable to God,</HI> as Prie&s;ts. Fight his battels again&s;t Sinne,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.1. Ephe&s;. 6.12. James 4.7.</NOTE> and Satan, as Kings. Yield a ready obedience to his in&s;titutions, and doctrine, neither di&s;puting nor neglecting the u&s;e of what he hath taught, or thought fit to pre&s;cribe: Subdue proud Rea&s;on to the Revelations of Chri&s;t. For thus did the Prophets of old.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.13.</NOTE> 2. Make your heart an Altar, <GAP DESC="foreign">, pre&s;ent upon it the &s;acrifices of mortification and contrition, the &s;weet in|cen&s;e of prayer and &s;upplication, the perfume of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e and holine&s;&s;e, the odours of prai&s;e and thank&s;giving, and the holocau&s;t of the whole man un|to your God. Thus ye may be a Kingdome of Prie&s;ts. 3. To conclude, &s;hew your &s;elves to be obedient, loyal, con&s;tant &s;ubjects to this King; vow and per|forme allegeance to him, pay him his tribute of honour, and reverence, en|tru&s;t him with your protection, addre&s;&s;e your petitions to him, have no peace but with his friends, no war but with his enemies, and this will be a &s;trong evi|dence that you are a royal Prie&s;thood.</P>
<P>I might farther &s;et off the&s;e per&s;wa&s;ions, and improve them to &s;uch a nece&s;|&s;ity, that every one mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e, they mu&s;t be done, or el&s;e for ever di&s;claime the name of Chri&s;tian. Since to be wi&s;e in the wayes of &s;alvation, to mortifie all carnality, to conquer their trayterous wills, and rebellious affections, is as proper to this profe&s;&s;ion, as light is to the Sun, heat to the fire. But I have ti|red you, and therefore in a word, I &s;hall labour to melt, and charme, and win you into &s;o nece&s;&s;ary, &s;o feizable, &s;o gainful a &s;ervice. Remember that he who was the Sonne of the living God, became Chri&s;t for you, that he might be your Je&s;us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.31.</NOTE> I &s;ay no more, I need &s;ay no more; for if this charme you not into your duty, <HI>though one &s;hould ri&s;e from the dead yet you would not be per&s;waded.</HI></P>
<P>If then there be any con&s;olation in the name of Chri&s;t, <HI>any comfort of love, any vertue,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 4.8.</NOTE> <HI>any prai&s;e, any hope of heaven hereafter, think of the&s;e things.</HI></P>
<P>Since there is an union of Chri&s;t in all the&s;e offices, receive him in all the&s;e in your hearts. For he will be a Je&s;us to none, but to &s;uch as &s;o uniformely re|ceive him. This is the &s;ole way to enter into the family of this good Ma&s;ter. This is the &s;ole way to an immortal crown. For tho&s;e only whom he hath protected by his power, furni&s;hed and adorned with his grace, &s;oftned by his Go&s;pel, grounded in faith, moor'd in hope, rooted in charity, &s;hall ob|taine that crown of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e and glory,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.8. Luke 21.27.</NOTE> <HI>which he will give to all that love his appearance,</HI> when he &s;hall come in the clouds to bring eternal life and bli&s;&s;e with him for all the children of God.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 22.20, 21.</NOTE><HI>He which te&s;tifieth the&s;e things, &s;aith, Surely I come quickly. Amen, Even &s;o come Lord Je&s;us. The peace of our Lord Je&s;us Christ be with you all. Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="14" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The near Union betwixt Chri&s;t and his Church.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>2 Corinth. 11.2.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For I have espou&s;ed you to one husband, that I may pre&s;ent you a cha&s;te Virgin to Christ.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THe fir&s;t word is Cau&s;al, and a&s;&s;ignes a rea&s;on of what went before. The Apo&s;tle begins the Chapter as a jealous man, &s;peaks in the phra&s;e of lovers,
<PB N="175" REF="93"> acknowledgeth his folly, and de&s;ires to be born with.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 1.</NOTE> This manner of &s;peak|ing (&s;uch was his heat of affection) he could not help, nor his jealou&s;ie nei|ther; for he had e&s;pou&s;ed them. Su&s;pitious and fearful he was le&s;t he &s;hould lo&s;e all his pains, and they after his long endeavours ca&s;t their affection on &s;ome other, put ca&s;e <HI>Ap<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">llos, Cephas,</HI> nay upon him&s;elf, and &s;et by Chri&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.12.</NOTE> That which was once done, mi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ht, for ought he knew, be done again. The Devil, when time was, beguiled <HI>Eve</HI> out of Paradi&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 3.</NOTE> and why not now again corrupt their minds from the &s;implicity which is in Chri&s;t? Being crafty then, he took them by guile, and endeavours to make &s;ure work; to do that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.16.</NOTE> which being once done, could never be undone; to wit, to draw a firme contract betwixt Chri&s;t and the &s;ouls at <HI>Corint<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> that by this internal, indi&s;&s;oluble, and neare&s;t bond of Union, that Church might become his.</P>
<P>At any marriage what&s;oever, of any per&s;on whom&s;oever, the <HI>Omen</HI> is good luck, <HI>Faelix fanstumque &s;it,</HI> God give you joy. And no marvel, for it puts us in minde, that we had not been alive to ble&s;&s;e others, had not our father and mother been thus ble&s;t. 'Tis the Rock whence we are hew'd,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 51.1, 2. <HI>Cicero.</HI></NOTE> the Root whence we &s;prung. <HI>Prima &s;ocietas in conjugio, hoc qua&s;i principium urbis, &amp; &s;e|minarium Reipublicae.</HI> The fir&s;t link of all Society is in wedlock, this is as it were the Principle of a City, and the Seminary of a Common-wealth.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.18.</NOTE> T'was not well with man, while he was alone, then his happine&s;&s;e and joy began when God made him a help meet for him.</P>
<P>And if joy at any wedding, then &s;ure at this, when our Creator becomes our Husband, the creature his &s;pou&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 54.5. Ho&s;ea 2.19.</NOTE> again&s;t which day there was an <HI>Epitha|lamium</HI> prepar'd in the <HI>Canticles;</HI> a &s;olemn, but &s;acred Fea&s;t in the <HI>Euchari&s;t;</HI> and a Prie&s;t, our Apo&s;tle I mean, enabled wi h a faculty to do his office, to e&s;pou&s;e the Bride, and pre&s;ent her to her Husband, which is Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Good God, how much the Spirit of God is plea&s;ed with this allu&s;ion! It is pre&s;s'd in the Old, it is opened in the New Te&s;tament; In both we finde, that God al&s;o hath his E&s;pou&s;als. The fir&s;t marriage that ever was betwixt our great-great Grand&s;ier <HI>Adam,</HI> and our mother <HI>Eve,</HI> is applyed to this my&s;tical mariage by Saint <HI>Paul;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.23. Ver&s;e 31. John 3.29.</NOTE> &s;o that though we have no warrant to make it a Sa|crament, yet authority enough we have to make it a My&s;tery, in which the Church is Gods Spou&s;e, Chri&s;t the Husband, the Prophets and Apo&s;tles <GAP DESC="foreign">, friends of the Bridegroome to bring them together.</P>
<P>Now among this Reverend and Holy Order, Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;teps forth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Beza in loc.</NOTE> <HI>Loqui|tur ut procus &amp; ambit, non autem &s;ibi, &s;ed Chri&s;to.</HI> He &s;peaks as a Suiter, and wooes, but not for him&s;elf, it is for Chri&s;t: Being ready to do that at <HI>Co|rinth,</HI> what they, who &s;ucceed the&s;e twelve Patriarchs in the Pa&s;toral charge, mu&s;t do to their flock. He, and they to be Suiters, labour to e&s;pou&s;e, and pre|&s;ent &s;ouls as pure Virgins to Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Three per&s;ons take up the whole Text, as many as are ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary at every wedding. <HI>Ego, Vos, Chri&s;to.</HI> The Apo&s;tle, as the Prie&s;t. Chri&s;t the Bridegroom. The <HI>Corinthians</HI> in place of the Bride. The whole runs up|on Relatives. Here then we are to con&s;ider,</P>
<P N="1">1. The Relation that <HI>Ego</HI> hath to <HI>Vos,</HI> in what relation Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;tands to the Church of <HI>Corinth;</HI> if he were not an Apo&s;tle to others,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.2.</NOTE> yet he was to them, for they were the &s;eale of his Apo&s;tle&s;hip in the Lord. This then in|timates a reciprocal office, a Duty of care in him, and a return of willingne&s;&s;e in them. He to e&s;pou&s;e; they to be e&s;pou&s;ed; without which ordinarily this match cannot well proceed:</P>
<P N="2">2. The next Relation to be though on is, how <HI>Vos</HI> &s;tands to <HI>Chri&s;to.</HI> The <HI>Corinthians</HI> and all the faithful to Chri&s;t; As men they relate to their Maker, but as Chri&s;tians to their Redeemer. Either then be content to be e&s;pou&s;ed, and keep you fa&s;t to him, or expect no Redemption.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="176" REF="94">3. Upon ju&s;t rea&s;on I hope you will be per&s;waded to it; and in the <HI>Relato,</HI> which is Chri&s;t, you have rea&s;on upon rea&s;on, even a threefold cord. He to whom you are to joyne, is, <HI>&V;nus, Vir, Chri&s;tus.</HI> One, a Husband, Chri&s;t; by his Unity, his Manhood, his Unction, he will be helpful to you. For the&s;e cau&s;es al&s;o, keep you only to him. Now the&s;e three &s;hall be the motives by which I will promote the &s;uit:</P>
<P N="4">4. To which, if you mean to yield, know that you are the <HI>Correlatum,</HI> the Spou&s;e; and then your qualifications mu&s;t be &s;uch as are required in every hone&s;t Bride; you mu&s;t be a cha&s;t Virgin; Virginity and Cha&s;tity, the one be|fore, the other after, being the conditions that every one expects that marries a Maid.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 12.13.</NOTE></P>
<P N="5">5. In brief, will you heare the Conclu&s;ion of the whole matter? The ve|ry end that the Apo&s;tle was call'd, that I, or any Prie&s;t took Orders, is that which St. <HI>Paul</HI> here endeavours, <GAP DESC="foreign">, to fit, and &s;o repre&s;ent to Chri&s;t. I will make it my la&s;t point, and conclude with it, labouring to make the knot firm, to joyn you to Chri&s;t, and Chri&s;t to you.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Ego Vos.</HEAD>
<P>The e&s;tate of mankind as they are conjoyn'd in the Society of the Church, are pre&s;ented unto us in the Book of God under divers notions;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.32. 1 Pet. 5.2. Mat. 13.24, 47. I&s;a. 5.1, 2. 1 Tim. 3.15.</NOTE> &s;ometimes of a flock, one while of a field, a Net, a Vineyard, &s;ometimes of a Hou&s;e, &s;ometimes of Marriage. Now the &s;tile of this Text runnes under this la&s;t, where we have a couple to be joyn'd, and a Mini&s;ter to joyn them: Who had endeavoured to do his Office, and therefore he &s;peaks in &s;ome pa&s;&s;ion, <HI>I am jealous of you;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 2.</NOTE> This being the &s;peech of <HI>Paul</HI> the zealot. Ever a jealous &s;oul is a loving &s;oule; jealou&s;ie alwayes ari&s;ing from love; whence it is very common in the mouth of the <HI>Italians,</HI> That there is no true love, where there is not a mixture of jealou&s;ie.</P>
<Q><L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Terent. Eunuch.</NOTE>In amore haec in&s;unt vitia; injuriae, &s;uspiciones,</L>
<L>Induciae, bellum, pax rur&s;um.</L></Q>
<P>All which have their ri&s;e and fall from jealou&s;ie. Since then the Apo&s;tle doth not hide that pa&s;&s;ion, which they who are mo&s;t guilty, are yet a&s;hamed to own; and that this his affection reflects not upon the Ore of <HI>Corinth,</HI> but the per&s;ons who lived there:<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.14.</NOTE> Them, not theirs: Their &s;ouls, not their Wealth; and not any particular per&s;on neither, but them indifferently, and indefinitely: Methinks it &s;hould warme the blood of every one, who is employed to wo for Chri&s;t, and make a match for Chri&s;t, not to pur&s;ue and follow his &s;uit in a cold carele&s;s manner.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 19.10. 2 Cor. 11.14. Ver&s;e 3.</NOTE> But <HI>Zelando zelari,</HI> to be ex|ceeding jealous, le&s;t the devil come in the &s;hape of an Angel of light, and beguile, and commit fornicati<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n with the poor &s;oul, to which he makes love for Chri&s;t, as he &s;ometime did with our mother <HI>Eve.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jonah 4.5.</NOTE>'Tis not for a Prophet with <HI>Jonah,</HI> to get him out of the City, and &s;et him&s;elf up a Booth, and &s;it at ea&s;e under the &s;hadow of it. Whither he is &s;ent, he mu&s;t go, and upon every opportunity make a motion for him who &s;ent him, and zealou&s;ly attend, <HI>Ne quid Chri&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">us detrimenti capiat,</HI> le&s;t his Ma&s;ter receive &s;ome prejudice by his coldne&s;s, and be cro&s;&s;ed in his &s;uit. The &s;peech was profane, which &s;ome imployed upon this bu&s;ine&s;s u&s;ed in Saint <HI>Au|&s;tines</HI> dayes, <HI>Quid ad me pertinet? qui&s;&abque;, quod velit, agat; victus meus &s;alvus &s;it, &amp; lac, &amp; lana. Satis &s;it mihi, Eccle&s;ia Chri&s;ti eat, qua po|te&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4.9. Luke 12.19.</NOTE> <HI>What is Abel to me? Soul thou ha&s;t enough;</HI> though the &s;ouls at <HI>Co|rinth</HI> be naked and poor, let them do as they can. Perhaps it was the jea|lou&s;ie
<PB N="177" REF="94"> of that devout Father, that there were &s;uch; and if any were, I hope they dyed with that age. Yet that none of that race revive and live with us, well it were Saint <HI>Paul</HI> were made an example:<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.20.</NOTE> who remembering that he was made an Emba&s;&s;adour for Chri&s;t, prayes for his children at <HI>Corinth,</HI> Preacheth the Go&s;pel to them, be&s;tows what he had received,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 12.15. Cap. 11.29.</NOTE> freely upon them, yea and is content to be be&s;towed for them. He burns, when any one of them is &s;candalized; Like &s;alt, melts him&s;elf to &s;ea&s;on them: like a Lamp wa&s;ts him&s;elf to give them light: Nay, is jealous and &s;u&s;picious when all's done, le&s;t he &s;hould fail of his purpo&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Magnes amoris amor.</HI> Love as a Load&s;tone attracts love:<NOTE PLACE="marg">U&s;e.</NOTE> So it &s;hould be. This love of <HI>Ego</HI> the Apo&s;tle, the Prie&s;t to the people, &s;hould move <HI>&V;os,</HI> you the people to returne &s;ome love to the Prie&s;t, cau&s;e your love to be reciprocal, ebb back to us, make us more deare to you, and better thought on. What it &s;hould be is apparent; what it is we know and feele; even the &s;elf-&s;ame Saint <HI>Paul</HI> found at <HI>Corinth,</HI> the more we love,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.15.</NOTE> the le&s;s we are be|loved. Je&s;uites are deare to their Pro&s;elytes, Seminaries to their Converts, Pa&s;tors to their collected Churches, Presbyters to their Congregations; &s;corn and contempt is ca&s;t upon none but tho&s;e who de&s;ire to pre&s;ent you pure Vir|gins to Chri&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 102.6.</NOTE> By Prote&s;tants the true Prote&s;tant Mini&s;ter is made <HI>the Owl in the Wilderne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>Well, be it what it will, Saints you are by calling; God &s;o loved you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.2. John 3.16. Eph. 5.2.</NOTE> that he hath given his Son; His Son &s;o lov'd you, that he hath given his blood; and therefore we will not love you &s;o little, as not to be&s;tow our pains.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Ego vos Chri&s;to.</HEAD>
<P>Now of what weight this motive is, will be be&s;t under&s;tood if we remove our &s;tation, and take a view of the &s;econd Relation, examining in what near|ne&s;s you are to Chri&s;t. <HI>He bone of your bone, and fle&s;h of your fle&s;h;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.30. 1 John 4.13. <HI>Cyprian.</HI></NOTE> and you fle&s;h againe, quickned and enliven'd by his <HI>Spirit. Germani&s;&s;ima e&s;t haec &s;ocietas;</HI> for a nearer conjunction there cannot be. 'Tis too cold and comfortle&s;s a bond, by which &s;ome would &s;o unite Chri&s;t to us, as if this tye imported no more but the communication of our nature to him. He, and we both perfect men. For what man, even the verye&s;t Pagan and Infidel, hath not a Relation to Chri&s;t in this &s;ence! who is not man as he is? A nearer coherence then there mu&s;t be than that of Nature. For the Church doth partake of Chri&s;t, as <HI>Eve</HI> did of <HI>Adam.</HI> Now God made <HI>Eve</HI> of the Rib of <HI>Adam;</HI> and his Church he hath built out of the very fle&s;h, and bleeding &s;ide of the Sonne of God. That is as it were <HI>principium pa&s;&s;ivum,</HI> the mate|rial part; and this he doth actuate, enlive, and move by his own Spirit, which is <HI>principium activum,</HI> and the formal part, that truly <HI>dat nomen &amp; e&s;se,</HI> gives it its name, and makes it what it is. He took our pawn, and he gave us his; he took unto him our fle&s;h the pawne from us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 1.22. &amp; cap. 5.5.</NOTE> and he gave unto us his Spirit the Pawne from Him, upon that day that he made us His.</P>
<P>And I pray ob&s;erve diligently, that I &s;ay <HI>He made;</HI> for we are <HI>facti,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 3.14. P&s;al. 1.3. Rom. 11.24.</NOTE> not <HI>nati;</HI> made, not borne Chri&s;tians. Trees of righteou&s;ne&s;s grow not of them|&s;elves. A good tree is a tree planted, taken out of the wilde and common &s;tock of <HI>Adam,</HI> and ingraffed into the true Olive, by which it becomes partaker of Chri&s;ts Oyle.</P>
<P>And yet that you be not too bold or pre&s;umptuous upon this conjunction, you &s;hall do well to know, that this as all other Relations are <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, that appeare to be, and are not; or that are indeed what they appear.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="178" REF="95"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 3.1.</NOTE>1. There be that have given up their names to Chri&s;t; their bare names and no more; becau&s;e they profe&s;s one Lord, one Faith, one Bapti&s;me, they mu&s;t by us be e&s;teemed of the Corporation: when yet in truth they are but <HI>aequivocae partes,</HI> vi&s;ible parts, and do receive no more vertue or &s;pirit from Chri&s;t, than a wooden leg, or an eye of gla&s;s doth life or motion from the body, to which they are for fa&s;hion &s;ake added. Keep in memory <HI>Judas, A|nanias, Sapphira, Hymeneus, Philetus,</HI> with the Catalogue of &s;uch hypocrites and formal Profe&s;&s;ors, and you cannot want in&s;tances of the&s;e reputed but a|dulterate members.</P>
<P N="2">2. Now be&s;ides the&s;e Nominals, <GAP DESC="foreign">, Chri&s;tians fal&s;ely &s;o call'd, who have a name to live, and yet are dead, there be reals, <HI>qui ver&egrave; nomi|nantur &amp; &s;unt,</HI> are what they &s;eem to be, true parts of Chri&s;t, and truly partaking of the Divine Nature.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.4.</NOTE> Such the Apo&s;tle would have the <HI>Corinthi|ans</HI> to be, joyn'd truly and really to him, and not beare the world in hand to be &s;o; cha&s;te and Virgins indeed, and not a&s;&s;ume the names where both are wanting. In &s;uch Ornaments he de&s;ires to pre&s;ent them, in which if clad, then they make good Spou&s;es. And that he may the ea&s;ier gaine their a&s;&s;ent to the match, he commends his Ma&s;ter to them, and &s;ets him forth in his Attributes and Endowments, that he is <HI>Unus, Vir, Chri&s;tus.</HI> One, not &s;uch another; one that would not admit of Corrivals. <HI>Vir,</HI> a man, a Husband, that would do the Office of a Husband to her; and this one man Chri&s;t, that is, one anointed for that end, that he might be the Husband to his Church.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Ego &V;os &V;ni.</HEAD>
<P>One; One who&s;e love was immutable unto her, and therefore her love &s;hould be immutable unto him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 31.3. Ho&s;. 2.19.</NOTE> This he hath promi&s;ed in <HI>Ho&s;ea</HI> thrice, one after another, <HI>I will betroth, I will betroth, I will betroth;</HI> and if this re|petition will not beare it out, &s;ure I am the word following will, <HI>For ever; I will betroth thee to me for ever;</HI> for which he gives in his ju&s;tice, and judge|ment, and mercy, and loving-kindne&s;s, and faithfulne&s;s for &s;ecurity: From which there never can be a divorce, except upon manife&s;t adultery. This &s;eparated <HI>I&s;rael</HI> from him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 3.8.</NOTE> and it may cau&s;e a Divorce of any Church.</P>
<P>If then you intend to be his Spou&s;e, upon nece&s;&s;ity you mu&s;t keep your &s;elves to One.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 4.1.</NOTE> For no bed did yet admit of plurality of Husbands. In a &s;carce time, &s;even women laid hold of one man, and would be call'd by his name; but you &s;hall never reade of &s;even men that gave a Coniugal name to one Woman. Polygamy in re&s;pect of the man no Nation hath admitted.</P>
<Q><L>Lecto te &s;olum, lecto te deprecor uno;</L>
<L>Rivalem po&s;&s;um non ego ferre Jovem.</L></Q>
<P>Goods, Lands, Mony, men are content to enjoy in common, but the Bed admits not of <HI>Coparcenary. Omnia communia preter uxores,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Pla|to.</HI> I am content in my Common Wealth that all be common be&s;ides wives. 'Tis a plaine Book Ca&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.2.</NOTE> <HI>The Woman which hath a Husband, is bound by the Law to her Husband &s;o long as he liveth:</HI> So that if &s;he be married to another man, while her Husband liveth, &s;he &s;hall be called an Adultere&s;s. The inference is evident, <HI>Vivit maritus ve&s;ter, your fir&s;t love is yet alive, and he will live for ever,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 5.14. &amp; 1.18.</NOTE> <HI>for he hath the keyes of death and hell;</HI> and mu&s;t you not then by the Law keep you only to him?</P>
<P>Were he dead, you might make your own choice, but &s;ince he is yet alive,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 20.16.</NOTE> he mu&s;t be, as <HI>Abim<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lech</HI> told <HI>Sarah, the covering of your eyes.</HI></P>
<PB N="179" REF="95">
<P>When you became his <HI>verbis conceptis &amp; con&s;ultis,</HI> in &s;olemne words, thus much you promi&s;ed, and gave in Sureties for it. The day of your Bapti&s;me was the very houre of the contract, and there and then you undertook to for|&s;ake the devil, the world, &amp;c. in effect to for&s;ake all other, and keep you to this One, as long as you both &s;hould live.</P>
<P>I require and charge you all, as you will an&s;wer it at the dreadful day of Judgement, when the &s;ecrets of all hearts &s;hall be opened, whether you were not e&s;pou&s;ed to Chri&s;t alone in this form? and if your hearts tell you thus much; how is it come to pa&s;s, that you are un&s;atiable,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.28.</NOTE> and have mu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tiplied your lovers?</P>
<P>Beware, <HI>vir ve&s;ter e&s;t Deus zelotes,</HI> your God is a jealous God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 20.5. Ezek. 16.38.</NOTE> and he hath begun already to judge you, as a woman that hath broken wedlock. Go and ask the former age what he hath done in the like ca&s;e. The wheele being turn'd, will bring up <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> the &s;even Churches of <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> of <HI>Greece,</HI> of <HI>Afrique,</HI> nay, this of <HI>Corinth;</HI> every one in their times, which all, becau&s;e they kept not their fir&s;t faith and love given to this one,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lev. 2.4.</NOTE> have had their Bills of divorce. For their leudne&s;&s;e God hath dealt furiou&s;ly with them, &s;erv'd them like harlots,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 23.15.</NOTE> and taken away their no&s;e and their eares.</P>
<P>What we have de&s;erv'd for our wantonne&s;&s;e I know; how he hath dealt with us we feele; how further he will proceed I know not. Would we yet return to the guide of our youth, who can tell but he might returne?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 3.1, 4.</NOTE> For &s;uch a ca&s;e he hath put, that contrary to the fa&s;hion of all jealous husbands, he will come to his bed again, after it is defiled, &s;o that it be fir&s;t bath'd and wa&s;h'd with penitent tears. As we &s;tand divided into fractions and factions, as we &s;tand enamour'd on <HI>Cephas, Apollo;</HI> as we go a whoring after Presby|tery, Independency, Anabapti&s;me, a fifth Monarchy, and I know not what; there is very little, hope of it. Gad then no more about to change the way;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 2 38.</NOTE> ca&s;t not your affection upon every new man, but keep clo&s;e, <HI>Uni,</HI> to this One. To this One I &s;ay in that &s;implicity, which our mother, the Primitive Church, hath commended him unto us, and that was in tho&s;e ornaments in which the Church of <HI>England,</HI> by her doctrine and di&s;cipline had attired him. The content and benefits which our ancient mother had from him, &s;hould methinks content us; which were, what any cha&s;t wife could expect from a husband, a <HI>Viro.</HI> For no husband could confer more honour, and a greater dowry upon a wife, then he hath done upon his Church, as will ap|pear by opening unto you the next notion in which the Apo&s;tle pre&s;ents him, which is <HI>Vir.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> Ego vos uni Viro.</HEAD>
<P>For fir&s;t he honours us with his Name; His own name, Chri&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.12.</NOTE> <HI>Even &s;o is Chri&s;t,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, meaning the Church. This is <HI>de&s;pon&s;atae nobilitas,</HI> it is the dignity to which any Spou&s;e is rai&s;ed, to be honour'd with her hu&s;|bands name. The &s;even women in <HI>I&s;ay,</HI> that I but now mention'd,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 4.1.</NOTE> who would content them&s;elves with one man, would not lo&s;e that honourable title, <HI>We will be call'd by thy Name.</HI> Their own bread they would eat, and their own apparel they would wear, not put their husbands to charge for maintenance (indeed it was too much to maintain &s;even) but however their <HI>Name</HI> they would take from him; This, as they thought, would take away their reproach. It is then our glory to be dignified by our husbands name, to be called Chri&s;tians from Chri&s;t, a name fir&s;t impo&s;ed at <HI>Antioch,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 11.26.</NOTE> and to this day continued; Catholique is our Name, Chri&s;tian is our Sirname; <GAP DESC="foreign">.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> Let all the world
<PB N="180" REF="96"> know that we are Chri&s;tians, that we are in heart Chri&s;tians, as <HI>Julians</HI> &s;oul|diers proclaimed to his teeth. And what &s;ervice and duty this Name im|po&s;eth upon us, you have heard in the former Sermon.</P>
<P N="2">2. But Titles are but bla&s;ts of aire, with realities they beget re&s;pect. You &s;hall now &s;ee then, what a Dowry this husband upon the match conveys over to keep up his Spou&s;es honour. As the husband endows his wife with his worldly goods, &s;o he makes over to his Spou&s;e his &s;piritual Graces, and gives her a right to partake in what is his; <HI>Communio bonorum intercedit conjuga|tis, ita donis &s;uis Deus cumulat fideles.</HI> His pre&s;ence he vouch&s;afes her, and with that him&s;elf, and what is his, partly by imputation, and partly by real infu&s;ion.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, a good husband hides the weakne&s;&s;es and infirmities of his wife, and this man doth it to his Spou&s;e. He imputes to her his whole innocent life, and ca&s;ting his skirt over her,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.8. Rev. 7.13, 14.</NOTE> covers her all, <HI>ve&s;te talari,</HI> with his long white robe; long enough to cover all, and white enough to beautifie all, &s;o that God cannot &s;ee iniquity in <HI>Jacob.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 23.21.</NOTE> <HI>Aethiopi&s;&s;a haec,</HI> black of her &s;elf, and moori&s;h in her complexion, yet betroth'd to him in loving kindne&s;&s;e and mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 61.10.</NOTE> becomes faire, and draws Gods eye to her. The&s;e are the gar|ments of &s;alvation in which &s;he is cloathed, the&s;e the robe of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e in which &s;he is covered; as a bridegroome decketh him&s;elf with his orna|ments,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.27.</NOTE> and as a bride adorneth her &s;elf with her jewels. In the&s;e he atires her, that he might pre&s;ent her unto him&s;elf a glorious Church, not having &s;pot, or wrinkle, or any &s;uch thing.</P>
<P>Again, a husband mu&s;t an&s;wer for his wife, for &s;he is under covert-barn; and in Law there lies no Action again&s;t the wife, during the husbands life. This trouble al&s;o he put him&s;elf to, to an&s;wer for his Spou&s;e. Trouble, did I &s;ay? my, pain and &s;hame, and &s;orrow and death. This was his pa&s;&s;ive obedience, and he imputes this, and by it frees his Church from all forfeitures and penal|ties what&s;oever. This is a comfortable point. For if the devil at any time enter his Action, and &s;ue you for breach of Covenant; your an&s;wer may be, that the fle&s;h and you are divorced, that you have made choice of another husband, <HI>virum Chri&s;tum,</HI> the man Chri&s;t, who, as your Head, hath taken upon him to pay your debts; and therefore if the Plaintiff will reply and pro|ceed, let him &s;ue him. And this is the fir&s;t part of the Dowry, a di&s;charge of the bond, and a di&s;charge of the penalty; the one by his un&s;potted life, the other by his unde&s;erved death, or rather both by both. So that nor debt, nor penalty, nor the breach of the directive, nor penal part of the obligation can light up|on his Spou&s;e.</P>
<P>Secondly, but be&s;ide this imputed ju&s;tice, it plea&s;eth him to adorne his Spou&s;e with a world of graces. And in this he exceeds all other husbands. If they finde fair wives, well, but they make them not. No man can make a black face white,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.5.</NOTE> a deformed comely; and all the Art us'd to do it, doth at la&s;t marre and wither it. But Chri&s;t comes to his Spou&s;e, by nature deform|ed, in vi&s;age black, puts his beauty upon her, and with his gifts and graces makes her comely. He makes her wi&s;e with the one, and vertuous with the other:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 45.11, 13.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, by his graces and gifts <HI>the Kings daughter is all glorious within,</HI> and the King hath plea&s;ure in her beauty.</P>
<P>More plainly, &s;anctification and holine&s;&s;e of life, a vertuous and godly con|ver&s;ation, the duties of piety and charity, are a good part of this dowry, to which he hath entituled every &s;oul that &s;hall be his Spou&s;e. You were, &s;aith the Apo&s;tle to the&s;e <HI>Corinthians, you were,</HI> before this marriage, <HI>fornicators, idolaters,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.9, 10, 11.</NOTE> <HI>adulterers, effeminate, &amp;c. But now,</HI> &s;ince the match, <HI>you are wa&s;hed, you are &s;anctified, ye are ju&s;tified in the Name of the Lord Je&s;us, and by the Spirit of our God.</HI></P>
<PB N="181" REF="96">
<P>Thirdly, for upon the marriage the Church brings forth children to God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.9. Rom. 8.16. and 9.26. Joh. 1.13. Gen. 30.1. I&s;a. 54.1.</NOTE> No more then to the world, and the fle&s;h. A main end of Wedlock, this. How pa&s;&s;ionate was <HI>Rachel</HI> in her barrenne&s;&s;e? <HI>Give me children, or el&s;e I die.</HI> A comfort then it is, and a great comfort for the Church of the Gentiles, that &s;he, who before the&s;e e&s;pou&s;als was barren, <GAP DESC="foreign">, and wanted a husband, had be&s;towed upon her gifts, that is, men enabled with gifts, Apo&s;tles, Prophets, and Evangeli&s;ts for the time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.11.</NOTE> but Pa&s;tours and Doctors to remain with her for ever, by who&s;e means &s;he hath brought forth more then &s;he which had a husband.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> Ego vos uni viro Chri&s;to.</HEAD>
<P>But, <HI>unde hoc vobis?</HI> How came all this to pa&s;&s;e, that he &s;hould thus affect,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.5. Jam. 1.18.</NOTE> thus honour and advance his Spou&s;e? That he did thus affect, it was his meere good will; but that he might thus endow, we are beholding to <HI>Chri|stus;</HI> for nothing could he have done this way, had he not beene Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Conceive it thus. The aptitude or faculty to match aro&s;e from his Per|&s;on, and his Office; and by vertue of the anointing, he became &s;uch a per&s;on, and was capable of &s;uch a place.</P>
<P N="1">1. That he was anointed, demon&s;trated that he was man, and this was ne|ce&s;&s;ary, or el&s;e no matching; for all Matrimonial contracts mu&s;t be betwixt tho&s;e of the &s;ame kinde. A promi&s;e there was for this match many yeares before; but the &s;olemnization of it was upon that day he took fle&s;h, to which you are call'd in the <HI>Canticles. Go forth, O daughters of</HI> Zion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 3.11. I&s;a. 9.6.</NOTE> <HI>and behold King</HI> Solomon, that is <HI>Shar-&s;olom,</HI> this Prince of peace, with his Crown wherewith his mother crowned him, <HI>i. e.</HI> that fle&s;h which he a&s;&s;umed from his mother, the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> in the day of his e&s;pou&s;als.</P>
<P>The foundation then of this matrimonial union is in the fle&s;h of Chri&s;t. A faithful man is fir&s;t united to the humane nature, and afterwards by help of the humanity, <GAP DESC="foreign">, to the word, or divine nature. For though ful|ne&s;&s;e of &s;alvation and life depends on the fulne&s;&s;e of the Godhead of Chri&s;t, yet it is communicated to us by his fle&s;h. For we can apprehend and elect, but as we know; but by the humanity we fir&s;t come to the knowledge of Chri&s;t as a Mediatour, and therefore in the order and nature of faith, his fle&s;h is the fir&s;t thing we can reflect on, to which in our thoughts we joyne.</P>
<P>Thus God propos'd him to us, <HI>The &s;eed of the woman.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15. Deut. 18.18.</NOTE> Thus <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> foretold him, <HI>A Prophet of your brethren like unto me.</HI> Thus the Prophets made mention of him; <HI>To you a Son is born, to you a child is given.</HI> Every|where, <HI>the &s;eed, the Son of</HI> David, <HI>the root of</HI> Je&s;&s;e. Saint <HI>John</HI> confe&s;&s;eth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.6.11.1.10. Joh. 1.14. 1 Joh. 1.1.</NOTE> <HI>That they &s;aw his glory, as of the onely begotten Son of God;</HI> but before he ac|knowledgeth, <HI>that he took fle&s;h, and dwelt in us: That he was the word of life,</HI> but &s;uch, <HI>that they &s;aw it, and handled it.</HI> Fir&s;t they knew him to be man, then God.</P>
<P>His Deity no que&s;tion is the fountain, from whence doth ari&s;e all our good, life, &s;alvation, &amp;c. but his fle&s;h and humanity, is as it were the chan|nel, by which all the&s;e graces are derived to us. If then we know not the channel, by which the&s;e Graces are conveyed, we may thir&s;t for ever. And the way to know this conduit-pipe, is to go along with God, and &s;earch for it as he hath propos'd, promis'd and reveal'd it unto us; that is, to begin at the &s;eed of the woman, and thence a&s;cend to his eternal generation; el&s;e Chri&s;t can be no Saviour, no Mediator, no Husband unto us.</P>
<PB N="182" REF="97">
<P>Farther, in the Sacraments, as in two chry&s;tal gla&s;&s;es, this doctrine is mo&s;t apparent. Two parts there are of every Sacrament; the vi&s;ible &s;igne, and the invi&s;ible grace, <HI>res terrena, &amp; coele&s;tis.</HI> A faithful &s;oul comes preparedly, and takes a &s;hare of both. But in what order? is it not in that, as they are propo&s;ed by God? Fir&s;t the vi&s;ible, put ca&s;e the water, the bread and wine: Then remi&s;&s;ion of &s;inne, and all Chri&s;t: As by this Divine di&s;pen&s;ation, the material part is received fir&s;t, and after in that, and by that the &s;piritual: So al&s;o in this ca&s;e, you mu&s;t reflect upon Chri&s;t as a perfect man, and in that nature, and be conjoyn'd to him, before you can be partaker, or have a|ny benefit from the Divine. And therefore the Apo&s;tles endeavour is to joyne you here to one husband, which is Chri&s;t the Me&s;&s;iah, the A|nointed, that is, to the Man Chri&s;t, as well knowing that God is not ca|pable of unction.</P>
<P N="2">2. And this anointing fitted him for this Office, to be a King, and a Prie&s;t, and Prophet to his Church, and to make us Kings and Prie&s;ts to God. For though he was anointed <HI>prae con&s;ortibus, farre above his fellows,</HI> yet it was <HI>pro con&s;ortibus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 45.7. Eph. 5.25, 26.</NOTE> for his con&s;orts &s;ake. He needed none of this &s;weet oyle for him&s;elf. But &s;he, his Spou&s;e, was in great want of it, and for her &s;ake he would be <HI>Chri&s;tus,</HI> the Me&s;&s;iah.</P>
<P>For had he not been united to our Nature, which is that grace of union; and had he not &s;anctified this our Nature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 27.</NOTE> which is the grace of unction; there had been no Church to bear his Name; there had been no obedience, either active or pa&s;&s;ive, to be imputed to us; there had been no Gifts, no Graces &s;ent down upon men: In one word, no Chri&s;tian &s;ociety to bring forth children to God.</P>
<P>All this while, as I conceive, there hath been nothing, but that you have been well enough content to hear. For the beauty of a bridegroom is glo|rious,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.5.</NOTE> and draws eyes after him. And if ever any, then he who is <HI>unus, vir Chri&s;tus.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 7.28. Dan. 7.10.</NOTE> Not <HI>Solomons</HI> one of a thou&s;and, but one to whom among the thou|&s;and thou&s;ands of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> there was not the like. Not one conceiv'd of the Holy Gho&s;t, but he: Not one born of a pure Virgin, but he: Not one ever &s;o endow'd, as he: One and &s;ingular in his conception. A Man by his incar|nation:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 5.16.</NOTE> Chri&s;t from his unction: Now this is your beloved, this the man, this your friend; <HI>O daughter of</HI> Hieru&s;alem; <HI>This is He.</HI> And now con&s;i|der what you are to be. Conceive not that he your husband mu&s;t be a man of perfections, and you left loo&s;e to be as leud as may be. On your parts a qualification is nece&s;&s;ary, and without it the match cannot go forward. Requi&s;ite it is, that you be, what every man expects that marries a maid: <HI>Virgines &amp; Ca&s;tae,</HI> Virgins and Cha&s;t. Virgins at the time; Cha&s;t after the &s;o|lemnity; Virgins for thoughts, Cha&s;t for deeds, in minde untoucht.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="6" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>6.</HI> A Virgin.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lev. 21.13, 14.</NOTE>Not to hold you in Generals. The fir&s;t condition is, that you be a Virgin. In the old Law, the high Prie&s;t might not match but with a maid; and in the new,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.4. Ho&s;. 1.6, 9.</NOTE> our high Prie&s;t will not cohabit for ever, with any Church that will not remain a Virgin. Virginity is then pre&s;erv'd, when &s;incerity of faith is defended.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lyra. Eu&s;eb.</HI> Hi&s;t. lib. 3. <HI>c.</HI> 9.</NOTE> <HI>Virgo propter fidei &s;inceritatem.</HI> And therefore <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> tells us out of <HI>Ege&s;ippus,</HI> that &s;o long as the Apo&s;tles lived, the Church remain'd a pure and uncorrupt Virgin.</P>
<P>Conceive not that God comes a wooing for your beauty, or that he is taken with your blood,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.</NOTE> your place, your honour; read the 16. <HI>cha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> of <HI>Ezekiel,</HI> and you will be of another minde. <HI>It is in much mercy, bowels of compa&s;&s;ion, and faithfulne&s;se he hath e&s;pou&s;ed you.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 2.20.</NOTE> All this matter concernes Religion. In
<PB N="183" REF="97"> faith and religious wor&s;hip he would have you pure Virgins. As in the bed, &s;o in the Church there may be adultery and fornication committed. Ser|ving of fal&s;e gods is whoredome; the adorning of vain imaginations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.</NOTE> and falling in love with every new man, and every new fancy, is wantonne&s;&s;e at lea&s;t. Chri&s;tians &s;hould no more do it, then maids gadd abroad, and let their eyes wander after every goodly man they &s;ee.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 4.1.</NOTE> The eyes of this Vir|gin are Doves eyes, &s;ingle and direct as a Dove; not leering and &s;quinting every way like a Fox:<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Plin.</HI> lib. 10. c. 34.</NOTE> and <HI>Pliny</HI> tells us that Doves never look with de&s;ire upon any male, except their own mate. A quality &s;o e&s;&s;ential to every one of Chri&s;ts Doves; that the Fathers tell us, No Dove, no Church.</P>
<P>And great heed, they who mean to keep their Virginity for Chri&s;t, ought to take to their eyes.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 31.1.</NOTE> Never more need to make a Covenant with your eyes then now, that they wander not after every lover; for &s;uiters there are on all hands; and all, <HI>in&s;idiantur virginitati,</HI> aim to defloure you.</P>
<P N="1">1. Would it were but the young Levite, or <HI>Itinerant,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 17. Mat. 24.23.</NOTE> that goes out to &s;o|journ where he can a place, &s;ome rea&s;on that he cry, <HI>Loe here is Chri&s;t;</HI> for <HI>inde acqui&s;itio,</HI> by that means he mu&s;t get his living. The danger is great|er; an old &s;ubtile-pated Apo&s;tate prophet there was in <HI>Bethel,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 19.25. 1 Reg. 13.11, 18.</NOTE> and he is ri&s;en again, and he for&s;ooth hath &s;een a vi&s;ion; The Spirit of God hath &s;poken this and this unto him, nay, but Chri&s;t is there, when he lies unto you. Want, ambition, male-content, give many an a&s;&s;ault to your Virginity. It behoves you then not to &s;hew the lea&s;t &s;igne of lightne&s;&s;e, lea&s;t you become pro&s;titutes to the&s;e importunate and factious &s;pirits. <HI>Ca&s;ta e&s;t, quam nemo rogavit.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. But zealots there are from <HI>Rome,</HI> they &s;peak as faire as the Apo&s;tle, though never with &s;o hone&s;t an intention, <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. Deceiv'd they would not have you, when it is their &s;tudy to deceive. It is their whole labour to bring <HI>Vicariatum in conjugio,</HI> a Vicar for an husband, an Antichri&s;t for Chri&s;t, and &s;o to undo, at once, the true E&s;&s;ence of this nuptial bond, that di&s;pen&s;es not with a husband to &s;upply his place by a Vicar.</P>
<P>Betwixt both will you know what to do? believe neither, yeild to neither; Let neither the Holy water of <HI>Tyber,</HI> nor the pure &s;tream of the <HI>Leman</HI> lake too much affect you. You have a mother in <HI>England,</HI> &s;he is a grave matron, aged and venerable, like&s;t the time when the Church was a pure Virgin, of any Church in the Chri&s;tian world; and I dare &s;ay, that if any Church remain <HI>illibata Virgo,</HI> an un&s;potred Virgin in her Doctrine, in her Di&s;cipline, it is &s;he. Gad no more then after new Lovers, but hearken to her and obey her.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 2.5, 10, 13</NOTE> Behold &s;he hath &s;et forth the Apo&s;tolick age for a form of di&s;cipline to go|vern you. A C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">techi&s;me brief indeed, but full to in&s;truct you. Two Te&s;ta|ments to feed you with the &s;incere milk of the Go&s;pel.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.2.</NOTE> Three Creeds to ground you. Four Councels to confirme you. The five fir&s;t ages for Pre&s;idents to a&s;&s;ure you. And what lack you yet? If this gravity, this antiquity, the&s;e foundations, the&s;e determinations, the&s;e patterns cannot &s;ettle your hearts, your love, I mu&s;t needs then &s;ay, You are wantons.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="7" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>7.</HI> A Cha&s;te Virgin.</HEAD>
<P>For the pre&s;ervation of your Virginity I require no more; But to Cha&s;ti|ty there is &s;omewhat el&s;e required. For as you mu&s;t be Virgins, <HI>quantum ad fidei &s;inceritatem,</HI> as to the &s;incerity of faith: &s;o you mu&s;t be cha&s;te, <HI>quan|tum ad morum integritatem,</HI> in integrity of manners. Your hone&s;t conver|&s;ation mu&s;t be &s;uitable to your profe&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.24. Ezek. 36.20, 23.</NOTE> or el&s;e you &s;hall di&s;grace and di&s;|honour him you call your husband; occa&s;ions you will give to the enemies of our Lord to bla&s;pheme. Chri&s;ts Spou&s;e is a Beauty more than ordinary, a
<PB N="184" REF="98"> precious part &s;eparated from the vile;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 15.29. Eph. 5.27.</NOTE> a face without &s;pot or wrinkle; Such, as though the eye of God may, yet an enemy &s;hould not finde a blemi&s;h in it.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 35.12.</NOTE>The envious &s;pirit that is too apt to accu&s;e the brethren, and lay to their charge things that they know not:</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ovid.</NOTE><HI>Vixque tenet lachrymas, quia nil lachrymabile cernit.</HI> Being put to con&s;ider <HI>Job,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1.9.</NOTE> could not finde what to object; all that he could &s;ay was, <HI>That</HI> Job <HI>fear|ed not God for nought;</HI> that he feared God, was undeniable. He was &s;o in his time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.9. Luk. 1.6.</NOTE> and &s;o <HI>Noah</HI> before him, <HI>a perfect and ju&s;t man, that walked with God;</HI> and &s;o long after him <HI>Zachary</HI> and <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> both righteous before God, both blamele&s;s.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ovid.</NOTE><HI>Innocui ambo, cultores numinis ambo.</HI> And the Chri&s;tian Church that &s;ucceeded in her younger days,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2.41, 46. <HI>Plin.</HI> lib. 10. Epi&s;t. 103. <HI>Tertul.</HI> Apol. cap. 2.</NOTE> was as innocent. For the three thou&s;and fir&s;t converts did all in &s;inglene&s;&s;e of heart; and &s;o to <HI>Plinies</HI> time harmle&s;&s;e peo|ple they were, that ro&s;e before day to &s;ing P&s;almes and Hymns to God and Chri&s;t. <HI>Homicidium, fraudem, perfidiam, adulterium, &amp;c. prohibentes;</HI> Mur|der, fraud, adultery, perfidiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and all wickedne&s;&s;e were hateful to them. Pri&s;ons might abound with heatheni&s;h malefactors,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tertul.</HI> Apol. cap. 44, 45.</NOTE> but in tho&s;e Cages of unclean birds, not one Chri&s;tian among that rabble, <HI>ni&s;i tantum quod Chri|&s;tianus,</HI> except becau&s;e he was a Chri&s;tian. So all along tho&s;e golden dayes, their very enemies could not finde what to charge upon them but their Religion. So cha&s;te, &s;o holy, &s;o pure was their conver|&s;ation.</P>
<P>But the date of tho&s;e holy &s;ouls is now worn out: As if &s;uch purity, and holine&s;s, and integrity had been onely for tho&s;e Baby and Infant Chri&s;ti|ans, and they Babies onely that u&s;ed it; we have molded Chri&s;tianity to another fa&s;hion; more wit it &s;eemes we have then tho&s;e &s;imple &s;ouls, and can finde a broader way to heaven then ever they dreamed of, or thought upon.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 2.11. Mic. 2.1. Mat. 5. Exod. 20.</NOTE> Providence is the rule we follow, and not Gods revealed will; and we make that lawful which the power of our hand can execute, not Chri&s;ts Sermon on the Mount, or what God wrot with his own finger on Mount <HI>Sinai.</HI> The Apologies that tho&s;e harmle&s;&s;e &s;ouls wrote for their innocence and obedience, are derided by our new Lights. So that whatever the Poets told us of the iron age we &s;ee done, countenanced, defended in this. <HI>Vi|vitur ex rapto, &amp;c.</HI> But I refraine my &s;elf; <HI>I &s;aid, I will take heed to my tongue,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 39.1.</NOTE> <HI>while the ungodly is in my &s;ight.</HI> For a man may follow truth &s;o clo&s;e at the heels, that he may have his teeth kicked out.</P>
<Q><L>&mdash;Secuit Lucilius urbem,</L>
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Per&s;. Sat. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE>Te Lupe, te Muti, &amp; Genuinum fregit in illis.</L>
<L>Me mutire nefas?</L></Q>
<P>This is pain and grief to me. Yet thus much I dare &s;ay of tho&s;e ancient Profe&s;&s;ors of Chri&s;tianity; They thought that <HI>nulla parte decuit maechari vir|ginem,</HI> that a Virgin &s;hould not be uncha&s;t in any part, <HI>non lingua, non au|re, non oculo, non vultu, non nictu, non nutu.</HI> Not in tongue, not by the ear, not by the eye, not by a look, a wink, a nod; whereas we &s;et the door o|pen to bla&s;phemous words, and the windows to la&s;civious objects, we admit the devil to parle as <HI>Eve</HI> did,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.</NOTE> and drink in his &s;ugge&s;tions. And that after all this we &s;et the hand to work is too apparent.</P>
<P>And are we not cha&s;t Virgins in the mean time, that have neither <HI>conti|nentes oculos,</HI> nor <HI>continentes manus,</HI> nor ab&s;temious eyes, nor hands. Well, men may frame to them&s;elves what &s;peculations they plea&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.5. 1 Tim. 2.1.</NOTE> but &s;ure I am, that Saint <HI>Peter</HI> joynes vertue to faith; and Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> hone&s;ty to godli|ne&s;&s;e;
<PB N="185" REF="98"> and the common Maxime mu&s;t not be de&s;pi&s;ed, <HI>That a good con&s;cience and good manners must go together.</HI> Our Religion is ancient, and therefore it mu&s;t be attired like a grave and ancient matron, in a civil, vertuous, &s;ober, decent, mode&s;t and comely manner. The new fa&s;hions of the&s;e times neither for faith, nor manners become it; not the fir&s;t, for it forceth her Virginity; nor the la&s;t, for it wrongs her cha&s;tity. And the Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t, if we will believe the Apo&s;tle, mu&s;t be a cha&s;te Virgin.</P>
<P>I fear me, I have been tedious unto you. But I hope I &s;hall the ea&s;ilier ob|taine pardon, becau&s;e it is the fa&s;hion of Suitors, who can never tell where to end. And a little more there is behinde, and methinks that &s;hould be told, this day, you are at lea&s;ure to heare it. 'Tis my de&s;ire, &s;ince God hath called me to th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s Office, <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">, to fit, and &s;o to pre&s;ent you.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="8" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>8. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Beza</HI> reads it <HI>aptarem,</HI> and aptly; for what&s;oever is joyn'd, e&s;pecially <HI>per</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, mu&s;t be even and equal, becau&s;e uneven parts will never well clo&s;e together; Which God thought &s;o nece&s;&s;ary in this ca&s;e, that in the fir&s;t in&s;titution of marriage, he made for man <HI>a help meet</HI> for him. And many matches &s;ucceed very ill,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.18.</NOTE> becau&s;e there is not choice made of a meet per&s;on. Be&s;ides the virginity and cha&s;tity, I but now &s;poke of, this word &s;eems to me to import a farther matter. Tho&s;e are requi&s;ite, but not tho&s;e only. Tho&s;e qualities at large, even in a maid, whether &s;he match, or no. Some other things there are more nearly to be re&s;pected, and &s;ought after, when &s;he intends to become a Bride; &s;omewhat before, &s;omewhat af|ter the marriage.</P>
<P N="1">1. Before or at the time a free con&s;ent; then it is demanded of her, <HI>Wilt thou have this man to thy wedded husband?</HI> and upon an open profe&s;&s;ion of con|&s;ent, the bond is tyed. <HI>For as much as</HI> A. B. <HI>have con&s;ented in Wedlock; I pronounce them to be man and wife together.</HI> The ca&s;e is very like. For God makes no Covenant with the unwilling. <HI>Non &s;alvabit te &s;ine te.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> We never can <HI>aptare,</HI> fit you for this one husband till you give your con&s;ent. Say then, are you a ready and a willing people? Will you have this man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.19.</NOTE> or no? If that be your minde, we will not be backward to do our office; e&s;|pou&s;e you to Chri&s;t. Coactive power we have none, per&s;wade onely we may, yet profe&s;s we do, that it is our whole de&s;ire to get your good will to this match.</P>
<P N="2">2. After that you be re&s;olv'd to live in love and peace with him; (For di&s;cords do not well in the marriage bed) that you be amiable as <HI>Rachel,</HI> wi&s;e as <HI>Rebeccah,</HI> faithful and obedient as <HI>Sarah,</HI> and in all quietne&s;&s;e and peace &s;ubmit to him, and learn of him all the days of your life.</P>
<P N="3">3. For your affections mu&s;t not be fickle and incon&s;tant, as is that of ma|ny women, wonne to day and lo&s;t to morrow; it mu&s;t be permanent. To that purpo&s;e it is that we &s;ue: to that purpo&s;e he hath cho&s;en you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.75.</NOTE> to &s;erve &s;o long as you have a day to live; <HI>omnibus diebus vitae,</HI> your life and your obe|dience mu&s;t end together.</P>
<P>You now know the conditions, you &s;ee your duty; how to be qualified before, how at the time, how to behave your &s;elves after the marriage; Which if you re&s;olve to do, then we &s;hall do our office for the pre&s;ent with comfort,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.17.</NOTE> but at the la&s;t day with more joy, be bold</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="9" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>9.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. Pre&s;ent you to Chri&s;t.</HEAD>
<P>In the mean time we are but <GAP DESC="foreign">, only friends of the Bridegroom;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.29.</NOTE>
<PB N="186" REF="99"> all we do, is but <GAP DESC="foreign">, to fit you for this and that day. And know this, that there mu&s;t be this &s;ame <GAP DESC="foreign">, this &s;ame e&s;pou&s;al made by us on earth, or el&s;e there will be no <GAP DESC="foreign">, no pre&s;entation of you by us in heaven.</P>
<P>O happy you of the Laity, that are to pre&s;ent but one only! our ca&s;e of the Clergy is farre more pitiful, who mu&s;t pre&s;ent, and reckon for you too. Enough we &s;hall have to do to pre&s;ent our &s;elves, every one of us &s;av'd as through fire. But the Lord knows what we &s;hall &s;ay, when we come to pre|&s;ent you al&s;o. For except it appeare that every &s;oul we pre&s;ent, be <HI>tam mo|ribus quam doctrina habilis &amp; idonea,</HI> have a Virgin Faith, and a cha&s;te life; carry a willing, loving, quiet, humble, reverent, and obedient heart, pre&s;ent we dare not: And how far every one of you is thus qualified, you be&s;t know.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">, Zealous we are to have it &s;o. And what is it you return for this heat of love, except it be a heat of fury, hatred, and &s;u&s;picion! Zealous we are for you, and you for this jealous over us, and &s;u&s;pect the wor&s;t, that we would pre&s;ent you to one husband the Pope,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.1.</NOTE> <HI>Arminius, Socinus,</HI> Anti|chri&s;t, and I know not to whom. Hence you fly from us your &s;piritual Fa|thers, and would be pre&s;ented by a Super-intendent. If any among&s;t us have bent their wits that way, to pre&s;ent you to, or by any Vicar, or up&s;tart He|retick or Sci&s;matick,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.7. Ez. 32.2. Jo&s;h. 7.25. Gal. 5.12. Lam. 3.45. 1 Cor. 4.13.</NOTE> they have troubled the Church, and God trouble them. <HI>Utinam ab&s;cindantur;</HI> Would they were cut off. But by that love that you beare to this your &s;ole Husband Chri&s;t Je&s;us, let me beg this for the whole Tribe of <HI>Levi,</HI> that the whole be not made a <GAP DESC="foreign"> pre&s;ented to &s;corne for their &s;akes. Hate not the whole Apo&s;tolique Colledge for one <HI>Judas.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 2.1. Heb. 13.17.</NOTE>Be &s;o charitable to conceive, that the manife&s;t part of tho&s;e whom God hath &s;et upon their Watch, do watch for your &s;ouls, as tho&s;e who long to &s;ee this contract con&s;ummate, and the marriage Solemniz'd; you joyn'd to Chri&s;t, and Chri&s;t to you; you made one with Chri&s;t, and Chri&s;t with you.</P>
<P>For as the world began, &s;o it mu&s;t end; it began with a Wedding, and it mu&s;t end with a Wedding.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.23, 24. Rev. 19.7, 9. I&s;a. 62.5. Luke 15.7, 10.</NOTE> In <HI>Gene&s;is</HI> it began with the Nuptials of the fir&s;t <HI>Adam</HI> with his <HI>Eve:</HI> And in the Revelation it is foretold to end with the Nuptials of the &s;econd <HI>Adam</HI> with his Church. When that will not be wan|ting, which doth accompany all Weddings, joy, and gladne&s;s. For God will rejoyce in his Spou&s;e. The Angels will rejoyce over the penitents, the Spou&s;e &s;hall rejoyce for her honour, and we the friends of the Bridegroome be glad at heart to pre&s;ent you there, and that we can give up our accompt with joy.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.17.</NOTE> Neither will that joy be like that which accompanieth our marri|ages &s;ometimes on earth; one merry day perhaps and no more, but joy in a perpetuity.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="15" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>Of the eternal Generation of the Sonne of God; and his Incarnation.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ISAIAH 53.8.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And who &s;hall declare his Generation?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE Subject of this ver&s;icle, is the cau&s;e of this dayes meeting; yea, in|deed of all other our meetings in this place. For had not Chri&s;t been for ever, and been borne in time, we &s;inners of the Gentiles had had no
<PB N="187" REF="99"> day, nor place to ble&s;s God. Since therefore now we have both by his <HI>Gene|ration</HI> granted unto us, let us do that for which we are met: I to declare, you to hear of his Nativity. Your task is the ea&s;ier; for he can do little, that cannot lend an eare; mine the harder, for <HI>Quis declarabit?</HI> &s;aith our Prophet, evident it is there is difficulty in it.</P>
<P>Other Offices of our Saviours Mediator&s;hip were more ea&s;ily expre&s;&s;ed, more ea&s;ily conceived; our Eloquent Prophet, like &s;ome cunning Arti&s;t (as if he would make this his Ma&s;terpiece) hath here &s;hew'd his skill,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vet&s;e 3, 4, 5.</NOTE> and drawn his aba&s;ements and &s;ufferings to the life. The &s;orrow and grief in his coun|tenance, the unfriendly wounds in his hands and &s;ide, the blows and brui&s;es on his face, the cha&s;ti&s;ements and &s;tripes on his back, his oppre&s;&s;ion and af|fliction at his Arraignment, and his Lamb-like &s;ilence at his &s;laughter;<NOTE PLACE="marg">7, 6.</NOTE> Not &s;o much as the cour&s;e dealing of his own Nation toward him is omitted; nor the &s;mall pity they had of a man, when they &s;hould &s;ee him in this lamenta|ble ca&s;e. <HI>They rejected him, they despi&s;ed him, they esteemed him not.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">3.</NOTE> In the expre&s;&s;ion of all the&s;e &s;everals the Prophet hath gone beyond him&s;elf; and in admiration only demands, as well he might, <HI>Quis crederet?</HI> who would ever believe that the Saviour of the World &s;hould be thus cour&s;ely and rudely handled?<NOTE PLACE="marg">1.</NOTE></P>
<P>Marry, when he comes to this point, his <HI>Generation,</HI> then he was at a Non-plus; the <GAP DESC="foreign">, that it &s;hould be &s;o, he could well tell; <HI>that he &s;hould grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2.</NOTE> and the <GAP DESC="foreign">, why it &s;hould be &s;o, he could tell al&s;o; <HI>for our tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">4, 5.</NOTE> <HI>for our peace; that we with his &s;tripes &s;hould be healed:</HI> But the <HI>Modus,</HI> the manner how this &s;hould be done, he knew not; he could not declare, nor indeed fully no man el&s;e: For <HI>Quis declarabit, Who &s;hall declare his Gene|ration?</HI></P>
<P>The word in the Original is <HI>Dor,</HI> that &s;ignifies an age, duration of time, and generation; and accordingly Expo&s;itors give two Interpretations.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rivet. Scultet. in locum.</NOTE> The Modern under&s;tand by it, the continuance of Chri&s;t after he was receiv'd up in glory; and they make an Antithe&s;is betwixt this and the former Clau&s;e, to this purpo&s;e. He was indeed taken out of this life by di&s;tre&s;s and judgement;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 8.</NOTE> <HI>but who can declare his duration and age afterward?</HI> for he is taken from a mortal life to an immortal,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Rom. 6.9.</HI> Justine Mart. Tertul. Hieron. Eu&s;eb. Cae&s;.</NOTE> <HI>&s;o that death &s;hall have no more dominion over him.</HI> This &s;en&s;e I di&s;like not. But all the Ancient Fathers &s;aile another way; and I had rather be carried in their Ship, than in any new Boat. They under&s;tand by <HI>Generation,</HI> either the manner by which Chri&s;t is begotten of the Father from all eternity, or el&s;e, by which in the fulne&s;s of time, by the power of the Holy Gho&s;t he was made man of the Virgin <HI>Mary.</HI> And both are apt for this place, for both are wonderful. Both follow well after his ignominious death. As if this our Prophet, converting his eyes from the ignominious pa&s;&s;ion of our Saviour, which he had de&s;cribed, to the Nobility of his B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rth, &s;hould be as it were in an exta&s;ie; and being able to &s;ay no more, in great admiration cry out, <HI>W o can declare his Generation?</HI> For all you behold him now in this low and lamentable condition, yet his de&s;cent is &s;uch, that no man can declare it.</P>
<P>No man can, for it is a my&s;tery. Without all controver&s;ie it is &s;o;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3.16. Eph. 1 9. Col. 1.26.</NOTE> <HI>the great my&s;tery of godline&s;s.</HI> A my&s;tery hid from the beginning of the world. How well then do the Greek and Latine Fathers &s;tile it, The great my&s;tery of Chri&s;ts Incarnation!</P>
<P>What we have revealed to us of it, was not by man; an Angel did it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.26, 27, &amp;c.</NOTE> and that none of the Inferiour Orders, but of the chief, even <HI>Gabriel;</HI> not of his own head neither, but &s;ent from God to tell <HI>Mary, that &s;he &s;hould conceive a Sonne.</HI> She, as &s;he might well enquire of the manner, <GAP DESC="foreign">;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 34.</NOTE> <HI>How
<PB N="188" REF="100"> &s;hall this thing be?</HI> She knew well that there was extant a promi&s;e, <HI>Ecce &V;irgo concipiet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>I&s;a. 7.14.</HI> Bernard. Brent. Theophyl.</NOTE> <HI>Behold a Virgin &s;hall conceive, and bring forth a Sonne.</HI> She no way doubted of the performance: Neither are the&s;e words, words of curio&s;ity, or incredibility, but of nece&s;&s;ity; <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. as a wi&s;e and di&s;creet woman &s;he ask'd, as willing to be inform'd of the manner, how this &s;hould be done, &s;ince &s;he knew not man?</P>
<P>To which the Angel returnes her this ob&s;cure an&s;wer, <HI>The Holy Ghost &s;hall come upon thee,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.35.</NOTE> <HI>and the power of the Most High &s;hall over-&s;hadow thee, &amp;c.</HI> And perhaps it was for this &s;aid <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>&s;hall over-&s;hadow thee,</HI> becau&s;e the thing was to be done in a my&s;tery; and that that which the Trini|ty alone intended to do, and did in and with the &s;ole Virgin, <HI>&s;oli datum est no&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. hom. <HI>4.</HI> &s;u|per Mi&s;&s;us est.</NOTE> <HI>cui datum experiri,</HI> was to her alone granted to know, to whom alone it was granted to try and finde.</P>
<P>And yet &s;o &s;trictly I would not be under&s;tood, as if our Saviours Incarna|tion were &s;uch a my&s;tery that could in no part be unfolded; &s;hould I affirme that the Antheme of the Angels &s;et Quire-wi&s;e at his birth, the expedition of the Shepherds to view the Manger,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.14, 16, 17. Mat. 2.1, 11, 16.</NOTE> the Stable, the &s;wadling cloaths, the faith and joy of the wi&s;e men that followed his &s;tarre, and pre&s;ented their gifts; the cruelty of <HI>Herod,</HI> and Martyrdome of the Innocents, would be out of tho&s;e Sacred Amanuenfes produced as Witne&s;&s;es again&s;t me. This is that I contend, <HI>Semper erat My&s;terium, nec ce&s;&s;abit e&s;&s;e My&s;terium,</HI> It alwayes was, and it alwayes will be a My&s;tery; that when we have &s;aid all we can, it is an object of faith, not of rea&s;on; rather fit for us to believe, than curiou&s;ly to examine. As <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> therefore &s;aid of his Phy&s;iques called commonly <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>&s;ic editos, qua&s;i non editi viderentur,</HI> that they were &s;o &s;et forth, as if they had not been publi&s;hed, the &s;tile was &s;o curt, and the matter &s;o ab&s;tru&s;e: So al&s;o may I &s;ay of the manner of our Sa|viours <HI>Generation;</HI> the Angel that reported it, hath &s;o &s;hadowed it out unto us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.12.</NOTE> that &s;till we are but <HI>&s;ub umbra,</HI> under the vail, we &s;ee but in part, and know but in part, <HI>as in a gla&s;s darkly.</HI></P>
<P>Which will be yet more manife&s;t, if we call to minde that there is a double Generation of the Sonne of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.1. Gal. 4.4.</NOTE> One in the beginning, the other in the fulne&s;s of time; the one from all eternity, the other as upon this day; by the fir&s;t he was the Son of God, by the &s;econd the Son of man; by the fir&s;t he was <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 7.3.</NOTE> without Mother, by the la&s;t he was <GAP DESC="foreign">, without Father; and &s;o in both the true <HI>Melchizedech;</HI> in both <GAP DESC="foreign">, without Pede|gree or De&s;cent; having neither beginning of dayes, nor end of life, but a|bides a Prie&s;t for ever,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazianz. orat. <HI>38.</HI></NOTE> as <HI>Nazianzene</HI> applies this Text.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Now as he is the Sonne of God begotten from all eternity, what tongue dare attempt? or if &s;o daring, can fully declare his Generation? What may be declared of it,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Serm. 2.</HI> Ignat. Epist. ad Magne&s;.</NOTE> I have &s;aid before, and can adde nothing unto it. He was <GAP DESC="foreign">, not <GAP DESC="foreign">, not <GAP DESC="foreign">, he was the &s;ub&s;tantial Word of God, not Vocal, not &s;poken, as if he intended that this <HI>Generation</HI> &s;hould not be the Subject of our &s;peech, but matter for our contemplation. Tho&s;e who mo&s;t mode&s;tly have &s;earch'd into it, have confe&s;&s;ed it to be, and &s;o left it as an un&s;earchable depth; and tho&s;e who have over-curiou&s;ly gone about to fathome it, have at la&s;t betrayed their own ignorance, and brought forth mon&s;trous and bla&s;phemous doctrines, to the trouble of the Church, and di&s;quiet of the peace of Chri&s;tendome. I re&s;olve therefore, and I hope &s;o will you too, to believe what I cannot comprehend, <HI>viz. That Je&s;us Chri&s;t was the eternal Sonne of God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 1.15.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, not <GAP DESC="foreign">, the fir&s;t-begot|ten, not the fir&s;t creature; begotten, not made; being of one &s;ub&s;tance of the Father. Who, for us men, and for our &s;alvation, came down from hea|ven, was <HI>conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost, borne of the Virgin Mary;</HI> which
<PB N="189" REF="100"> is his &s;econd Generation of wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch I come now to &s;peak.</P>
<P>Secondly, But in this al&s;o there is room left for the Prophets Quaere,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ba&s;il.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. 25. in <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <HI>Quis declarabit? Who &s;hall declare?</HI> born he was, but <GAP DESC="foreign">. &s;earch not how, for it is impo&s;&s;ible in all things to give a &s;atisfactory an&s;wer. For had our Saviour been borne only after the ordinary and natural generation of men, it had been no ea&s;ie matter to de|clare how in the womb tho&s;e elements of being do unite, and mingle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 10.8, 9, 10.11,</NOTE> and curdle together: how the&s;e three noble and heroick parts, the Liver, Heart, and Braine linked together by &s;lender &s;trings, do in time fill with fle&s;h: La&s;t|ly, how every portion of the whole body being, as I may &s;o &s;ay, entuned to other, &s;tretch'd out by &s;inews, and &s;trengthened with bones, were at la&s;t cloathed with skinne, and after &s;ome few months &s;ent with teares to draw in the common aire. Had, I &s;ay, our Saviours birth been after the u&s;ual manner of men, it might well be the Subject of our admiration:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 139.13, 14.</NOTE> <HI>David</HI> was amazed when he &s;earch'd into it, <HI>I am fearfully and wonderfully made, &amp;c.</HI> And well he might; for even the Mother her &s;elf, in the &s;hop, as I may &s;o &s;ay, of who&s;e womb this &s;trange work is wrought, is utterly unacquainted with the Creatours skill, by which the frame is perfected: Witne&s;s that Religious Mother encouraging her &s;even &s;onnes to dye for the Laws of their Fathers; <HI>I cannot tell,</HI> &s;aith &s;he, <HI>how ye came into my womb, for I neither gave you breath nor life; it is not I that &s;et in order the members of your body,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Mac. 7.22.</NOTE> but doubtle&s;s the Creatour of the world, who formed the birth of man. Had it been then no more but this, <HI>Quis declarabit,</HI> what tongue were able to declare it? what pen fully to expre&s;s it?</P>
<P>But there is more in it than &s;o. For as there was never &s;uch a man, &s;o there never was &s;uch a birth in which God was the Father, a Virgin the mo|ther, the Holy Gho&s;t the workma&s;ter; by which to &s;peak in <HI>Nazianzens</HI> Elo|quence, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">. That is, He who had no fle&s;h, was made fle&s;h; the eternal Word was thickned; He who was in|vi&s;ible is &s;een; who was not tangible, is handled; who was without time, takes a beginning; In a word, The Sonne of God is made the Sonne of man.</P>
<P>And how difficult it is to declare all this, and make it fully intelligible, were there no other rea&s;on to per&s;wade it, yet this one were &s;ufficient; that Learned men, and tho&s;e of the &s;harpe&s;t wits, while they endeavour'd to o|pen to others their conceits about it, have &s;plit upon &s;o many Rocks, and pe&s;ter'd the Church with &s;o many Here&s;ies. In plaine things and evident, wi&s;e men will not be much mi&s;taken; Then men run awry, when the matter be|ing my&s;tical, ca&s;ts a mi&s;t upon the under&s;tanding; in which, without dili|gent and careful circum&s;pection, a Traveller is apt to deviate, and to mi&s;take his way. Which becau&s;e in this point it hath happened to many &s;ubtile heads, and that e&s;pecially in the fir&s;t times, when they were neare the be&s;t guides, we mu&s;t needs conclude that the Declaration of this my&s;tery is not &s;o ea&s;ie as mo&s;t men conceive, and per&s;wade men rather readily to belive it, than &s;earch over curiou&s;ly into it.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Ebion, Cerinthus, Photinus,</HI> with the greater part of the <HI>Gno&s;ticks</HI> could not conceive how it was po&s;&s;ible, that he who was in the form of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ignat. ad Trall. Iren. lib. <HI>1, 25.</HI> Tertul. P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ae&s;c. <HI>48</HI> Epiphan.</NOTE> that is, who had the E&s;&s;ence and Attributes of God, &s;hould &s;o farre humble him&s;elf, as to take upon him the e&s;&s;ence, properties, and proportions of a Servant. Which &s;ince it is manife&s;t he did, they gave it out, that he was but <GAP DESC="foreign">, a meer, bare, pure naked man; or as <HI>Sama&s;otenus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ignatius, Eu&s;eb. l. <HI>7.</HI> c. <HI>27, 28.</HI></NOTE> a man working miracles by the power of God; and of the &s;eed of <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> by <HI>Mary,</HI> having no exi&s;tence before that he was borne of her. Again&s;t
<PB N="190" REF="101" MS="y"> which opinion Saint <HI>John</HI> entreated by the Bi&s;hops of <HI>A&s;ia</HI> wrote his Go&s;pel.</P>
<P N="2">2. The&s;e then denyed that the divine dature was in the fle&s;h. On the o|ther &s;ide,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tertul.</HI> Prae&s;c. c. 46. 51. <HI>Iren.</HI> l. 1. 20, &amp;c. <HI>Epiph.</HI> her. 21.</NOTE> the <HI>Ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cionites, Cerdon, Saturninus, Ba&s;ilides,</HI> could not &s;ee which was it was imaginable, that the humane nature &s;hould be a&s;&s;umed, and joyn'd in one per&s;on with the Deity, upon which conception they taught, that he had no true fle&s;h, but was a man onely in appearance, a meer phan|ta&s;me and thought to be what he was not.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tertul.</HI> Prae&s;c. c. 49. <HI>&amp; de carne</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>c.</HI> 15. Prae&s;. c. 50. Epiph.</NOTE>But after the&s;e aro&s;e <HI>Valentinus,</HI> who confe&s;s'd he had a true body, but not of the fle&s;h of the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> it was &s;piritual, it was <HI>aethereal,</HI> or heavenly; or as <HI>A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">elles,</HI> out of the four Elements, far unl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ke to ours, which pa&s;t through the womb of the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> as water through a pipe. And with them of old agteed the <HI>Manichees,</HI> and of late years &s;ome <HI>Anabapti&s;ts.</HI></P>
<P N="3"><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cyril.</HI> ep. 2. ad &s;ucce&s;s. de In|carnat. c. 27, 28 <HI>I&s;id.</HI> li. 8. Etim. Dama&s;c. l. 3. Ca&s;s. l. 2. 6.</NOTE>3. After the&s;e aro&s;e <HI>Ne&s;torius,</HI> who though he acknowledged Chri&s;t to be true God and man, yet he could not conceive how the&s;e two natures being united, &s;hould exi&s;t in one per&s;on. And therefore he affirmed, that Chri&s;t mu&s;t be an <HI>individuum</HI> confi&s;ting of two per&s;ons. The per&s;on of the Son of God, which was in the form of God, and the per&s;on of the &s;on of man, which did exi&s;t in the form of a &s;ervant; and that the&s;e two per&s;ons were united in the Virgins womb, as two friends are made one. The two natures he did ad|mit, and acknowledg'd that they were di&s;tinct: But withal he gave to each a &s;everal &s;ub&s;i&s;tence, and divided the one from the other; united only by con|&s;ociation and a&s;&s;i&s;tance, &s;o that the Word, and Je&s;us, that is the humane nature, were not only <HI>aliud &amp; aliud,</HI> di&s;tinct, which we admit, but <HI>alius &amp; alius,</HI> di&s;tinct per&s;ons, which we deny.</P>
<P N="4"><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Theod.</HI> Dial. 2. <HI>Virgil.</HI> lib. 1, 2. <HI>Evagr.</HI> lib. 2.16</NOTE>4. Sixteen years after <HI>Ne&s;torius</HI> aro&s;e <HI>Eutyches,</HI> who held the opini|on of <HI>Ne&s;torius</HI> unrea&s;onable, and therefore he confe&s;&s;ed that there were in Chri&s;t two natures, the divine and humane; but that the&s;e were chang'd, confu&s;ed, and mixt together after his incarnation; of which there re&s;ulted but one nature, to wit, the divine. So that the forme of a &s;ervant was as it were &s;wallowed up by the form of God, converted into it, and the proper|ties confounded, as if a man &s;hould poure a di&s;h of water into a whole butt of Wine.</P>
<P>The father of this here&s;ie, as I &s;aid, was <HI>Eutyches</HI> the Abbot; In <HI>Constan|tinople</HI> it was begot, nur&s;ed up in <HI>Alexandria</HI> by <HI>Dio&s;corus</HI> the Patriarch, and &s;ent to travaile into <HI>Syria</HI> by one <HI>Jacobus,</HI> &s;irnamed <HI>Zanzalus,</HI> who gave name to the <HI>Jacobites:</HI> and it gained &s;uch affection, that it over&s;pread the Church of <HI>Greece,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Niceph.</HI> lib. 18. cap. 45, &amp;c. <HI>Leont.</HI> de &s;ectis action. 5, &amp;c.</NOTE> <HI>Egypt,</HI> and <HI>Syria.</HI> And it gave occa&s;ion to many other here&s;ies, that infinitely deform'd the Church, rending with many &s;chi&s;mes the unity, and wounding with as many here&s;ies the faith of it.</P>
<P>For fir&s;t it drew after it the here&s;ie of the <HI>Theopa&s;chites,</HI> or of the the pa&s;&s;ible|ne&s;s of the Deity,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Brerwood</HI> of Relig. lang. c. 25. de Macon.</NOTE> becau&s;e the Deity of Chri&s;t was become (in their conceit) the &s;ame nature with the humanity, which was pa&s;&s;ible.</P>
<P>Secondly, (the ab&s;urdity of the former opinion being di&s;cerned) it occa&s;ion|ed another extreamly oppo&s;ite,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Zanch.</HI> de Incar. lib. 2. cap. 1.</NOTE> maintain'd by tho&s;e call'd <HI>Aphthardocitae,</HI> who affirm'd the body of our Saviour from his incarnation to be free from pa&s;&s;ibi|lity, and corruption, becau&s;e it was become one nature with the Deity, which we know is impa&s;&s;ible, incorruptible.</P>
<P>Thirdly, when the fondne&s;s of both the&s;e were di&s;covered, a new device aro&s;e, namely, that there was but one nature in our Saviour, but not by per|mixtion or confu&s;ion of &s;ub&s;tances, as <HI>Eutyches</HI> taught, but only by compo&s;iti|on: The Deity and humanity becoming one nature by coalition, as the body and &s;oule into one nature in man. Which was neare that of <HI>Apoll<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">niaris,</HI> who affirm'd the divinity of Chri&s;t to &s;upply the place of the humane &s;oul.</P>
<PB N="191" REF="101">
<P>La&s;tly, this errour being exploded as a meer fancy, there &s;ucceeded that of the <HI>Monothelites,</HI> who confe&s;&s;ing two Natures to be in Chri&s;t, yet af|firm'd, that there was but one Will, and one Action of both natures in the Per&s;on of our Saviour. If you &s;hall now ask, how it came to pa&s;s that &s;o many great Wits ran &s;o many wild-goo&s;e cha&s;es about this Article? the an&s;wer is obvious, that it proceeded from the depth of this my&s;tery, which while they went about to &s;ound with the &s;hort line and plummet of humane Rea&s;on, they fouly err'd from the truth. Whereas had they &s;oberly con|tented them&s;elves with what is revealed of it, they had &s;een enough to guide their feet in the way of peace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.79.</NOTE> and not perhaps have let in the <HI>Sarracens</HI> and <HI>Mahometans</HI> among them, who have been ever &s;ince to them the &s;courge of God, for that di&s;honour they brought upon his Sonne.</P>
<P N="1">1. Would they have humbly con&s;ulted with the Oracles of God, and not with the pride of their own heart heightened by pro&s;perity, the&s;e fancies either had nere been broached, or at lea&s;t quickly vani&s;hed.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.6.</NOTE> Saint <HI>Paul</HI> would have taught them, that Chri&s;t, before he took the forme of a &s;er|vant, was <GAP DESC="foreign">, mark that word, was exi&s;tent in the form of God. But in what forme? what an accidental? but that is not in God; it then mu&s;t needs be e&s;&s;ential and &s;ub&s;tantial; and farther, that he thought it no robbery, no u&s;urpation, to be, not to &s;eeme, <GAP DESC="foreign">, in every thing equal to God; which Deity he depo&s;ed not, when he took upon him the form of a &s;ervant, but onely <GAP DESC="foreign">, he emptied him&s;elf of it, the glory and Ma|je&s;ty of the Deity being vayled with fle&s;h. He then cea&s;ed not to be what he was, but a&s;&s;umed our fle&s;h into the unity of his per&s;on. The conceit then of <HI>Ebion</HI> and his followers, that affirm'd him to be <GAP DESC="foreign">, a meere man, falls to the ground by this one place of the Apo&s;tle, that I produce not infinite others, which it were ea&s;ie, to the &s;ame purpo&s;e.</P>
<P N="2">2. Farther, had the <HI>Marcionites</HI> and <HI>Valentinians</HI> con&s;idered attentively tho&s;e places of Scripture, in which it was plainly &s;et down of what matter his body &s;hould be made, they never had made Chri&s;t a <HI>&s;pectrum,</HI> a <HI>phan|ta&s;me,</HI> or an <HI>Aethereal,</HI> or <HI>A&euml;rial</HI> &s;ub&s;tance. For do we not read,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15. ver. 22.18. Heb. 2.16. Rom. 1.3.</NOTE> <HI>That the &s;eeed of the woman &s;hould break the Serpents head? That in</HI> Abra|hams <HI>&s;eed all Nations &s;hould be ble&s;&s;ed? That Chri&s;t was made of</HI> Davids <HI>&s;eed according to the fle&s;h?</HI> In a word, doth not the Angel at his conception tell <HI>Mary, Na&s;citur ex te. He &s;hall be borne</HI> (ex) <HI>of thee?</HI> Now, <HI>Ex,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.35.</NOTE> <HI>di|cit cau&s;am materialem. Ex</HI> &s;hews the material cau&s;e whence any thing is made, and therefore Chri&s;t from her fle&s;h was to take the &s;ub&s;tance of his body. Be&s;ides in him we finde all the true properties and operations of his manhood, &s;uch as <HI>Irenaeus</HI> reckoneth up. If Chri&s;t, &s;aith he,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Iren.</HI> l. 3. <HI>c.</HI> 32.</NOTE> had not ta|ken fle&s;h from the very earth, he would not have coveted tho&s;e earthly nouri&s;hments, wherewith bodies which be taken from thence are fed. This was the nature that felt hunger and thir&s;t, was de&s;irous of re&s;t after travail, te&s;tified compa&s;&s;ion and love by teares, groaned with heavine&s;&s;e, and with extreamity of grief even melted away it &s;elf into bloody &s;weats. The&s;e are all evidences of fle&s;h taken from the earth. And all the&s;e Chri&s;t did, <GAP DESC="foreign">, after the fa&s;hion of other men,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Naz.</HI> Orat. 2. de filio.</NOTE> that you may know that that airy body of <HI>Valentinus</HI> is but an airy &s;peculation.</P>
<P N="3">3. As for that of <HI>Ne&s;torius</HI> fancying two per&s;ons in Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hook.</HI> Eccl. pol. l. 5. &s;ect. 52.</NOTE> it is no o|ther; as will appear, if tho&s;e words of that judicious Divine Mr. <HI>Hooker</HI> be well weighed, which I will here &s;et down; <Q>It plea&s;ed not the Word or wi&s;dome of God to take to him&s;elf &s;ome one per&s;on among men, for then that one &s;hould have been advanc'd which was a&s;&s;um'd, and no more;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 9.1. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Joh. 1.14.</NOTE> but Wi&s;dome to the end &s;he might &s;ave many, built her hou&s;e of that Na|ture
<PB N="192" REF="102"> which is common to all; &s;he made not this or that man her habitation, but dwelt in us.</Q></P>
<P>The &s;eeds of Herbs and Plants at fir&s;t are not in act, but in po&s;&s;ib<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lity that which they afterwards grow to be. If the Son of God had taken to him&s;elf a man now made, and already perfected, it would upon nece&s;&s;ity follow, that there are in Chri&s;t two per&s;ons; the one a&s;&s;uming, and the other a&s;&s;umed: whereas the Son of God did not a&s;&s;ume a mans per&s;on to his own, but a mans nature to his own per&s;on; and therefore he is &s;aid to have taken the &s;eed of the woman, the &s;eed of <HI>Abraham,</HI> the &s;eed of <HI>David,</HI> the fir&s;t and Original Element of our Nature, before it came to have a per&s;onal &s;ub|&s;i&s;tence.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Theodoret. Di|al. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> For <GAP DESC="foreign">, the a&s;&s;umed Nature did not exi&s;t before the a&s;&s;umption.</P>
<P>So that fle&s;h and the conjunction of the fle&s;h with God began at one in|&s;tant; his making and taking our fle&s;h, but one act; There can be then in Chri&s;t no per&s;onal &s;ub&s;i&s;tence, but one, and that from everla&s;ting. Only that wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch &s;ub&s;i&s;ted before in the glory of God, &s;ub&s;i&s;ts now in the habit of our fle&s;h.</P>
<P N="4">4. And the&s;e two Natures &s;ub&s;i&s;t in the &s;ame per&s;on without any confu&s;ion, commixtion, alteration, or change, either of natures or properties e&s;&s;ential to either Nature.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Leo</HI> Epi&s;t. ad Flavian.</NOTE> For <HI>utra&abque; forma agit quod &s;uum e&s;t,</HI> each Nature per|forming tho&s;e actions that are proper unto it, which yet are attributed to the whole per&s;on. 'Tis an excellent rule deliver'd by Mr. <HI>Hooker,</HI> for the deciding of all doubts and que&s;tions about the union of both Natures in Chri&s;t, That of both Natures there is a co-operation often,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hook.</HI> Eccle&s;. pol. lib. 5. Sect. 53.</NOTE> an a&s;&s;ociation alwayes; but never any mutual participation, whereby the properties of the one are infu&s;ed into the other.</P>
<P>It is critically and well ob&s;erv'd by <HI>Zanchy,</HI> that the Apo&s;tle <HI>Phil.</HI> 2.7. makes choice of the word <GAP DESC="foreign">;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 1. de Incar|nat. <GAP DESC="foreign">. c. 2.</NOTE> he &s;aith not, He emptied him&s;elf, <GAP DESC="foreign">, changing, turning, or confounding the &s;hape of God in|to that of a Servant, but only <GAP DESC="foreign">, taking upon him the &s;hape of a &s;ervant, the forme of God remaining unchanged and unmixt. Therefore the Natures of Chri&s;t are not in his per&s;on, are not changed, or confu&s;ed, or mixt, or blended together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Athana&s;. Symb.</NOTE> but both remaine in their integrity: Who though he be God and man, yet is he not two, but one Chri&s;t. One not by the conver&s;ion of the Godhead into fle&s;h, but by the taking of the manhood into God. One altogether, not by confu&s;ion of &s;ub&s;tance, but unity of per&s;on. For as the rea&s;onable &s;oul and fle&s;h is one man, &s;o God and man is one Chri&s;t. <HI>Et &s;ic actum de Eutychianis.</HI></P>
<P>To conclude this point, there be foure things which concurre to make com|pleat the whole &s;tate of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t; his Deity, his Manhood, the conjunction of both, and the di&s;tinction of one from the other, being joyn'd in one per&s;on. All the&s;e have found their Opponents. For to omit the <HI>Gno|&s;ticks,</HI> who&s;e labour was to overthrow either his Divinity, or Humanity; who&s;e &s;ick-braine fancies <HI>Ignatius, Irenaeus, Tertulliau</HI> di&s;covered and con|futed:<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hook.</HI> par. 54. lib. 5. Eccl. pol.</NOTE> After them aro&s;e foure principal Here&s;ies which have with&s;tood the Truth. The <HI>Arrians</HI> bent them&s;elves again&s;t his Deity: The <HI>Apollinarians</HI> maimed him in his humanity, by denying him to have a rea&s;onable &s;oul: The <HI>Nestorians</HI> rent Chri&s;t a&s;under, by dividing him into two Natures: The <HI>Eu|tychians</HI> confounded his Natures by blending them together, which they &s;hould di&s;tingui&s;h. And again&s;t the&s;e there have been foure mo&s;t famous ancient ge|neral Councils; the Council of <HI>Nice</HI> defin'd again&s;t <HI>Arrius</HI> for Chri&s;ts di|vinity; the Council of <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> again&s;t <HI>Apollinaris</HI> for his humanity; and both withal gave a deadly blow to the whole Schoole of <HI>Gno&s;ticks;</HI> the Council of <HI>Ephe&s;us</HI> again&s;t <HI>Ne&s;torius</HI> and his two per&s;ons; and the Council
<PB N="193" REF="102"> of <HI>Calcedon</HI> again&s;t <HI>Eutyches</HI> and his mixture of Natures. A few Adverbs they have left us, to which we may reduce what&s;oever may be &s;aid in Decla|ration of Chri&s;tian belief, or in refutation of Here&s;ie in this matter. To wit, that the Son of God took the forme of a Servant into the unity of his per&s;on, <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;ub|&s;tantially, and then not united as an accident to a &s;ubject; <GAP DESC="foreign"> truly, and then not in appearance only; <GAP DESC="foreign">, indivi&s;ibly, and then not to be di|vided into two per&s;ons or &s;ub&s;i&s;tences; <GAP DESC="foreign">, immutably, and then not one Nature chang'd into another; <GAP DESC="foreign">, without blending, and then not one Nature mixt with the other: La&s;tly, <GAP DESC="foreign">, without any divi&s;ion or &s;eparation, &s;o that the Sonne of God will never depo&s;e that nature of man which he hath a&s;&s;umed, but will retain it, being God and man forever and ever.</P>
<P>When I had proceeded thus farre, I thought that I had made a &s;ufficient Declaration of this grand my&s;tery: But taking a &s;econd view, I found that all this while I was upon the de&s;tructive part, and had only declared and con|futed what Hereticks had imagin'd about it. Be&s;ides, I &s;aw that mo&s;t of the&s;e Adverbs were either Negative or Privative. And negations and privations, teach no more than what the thing is not; they informe not what it is. Ne|ce&s;&s;ary then I thought it, to take another cour&s;e; to try whether there might not be a farther di&s;qui&s;ition made, by which the truth, to be holden about this &s;ecret, might in &s;ome &s;ort be declared.</P>
<P>And an ea&s;ier way, and clearer, I thought could not be found, than the Creed hath directed in two words, <HI>Conceived,</HI> and <HI>Borne;</HI> for if the riches of tho&s;e notions were fully di&s;cover'd, the truth nece&s;&s;ary to belief, would ea|&s;ily appear. In the fir&s;t we have to con&s;ider his <HI>Conception;</HI> the la&s;t points us to his <HI>Incarnation.</HI></P>
<P>In his <HI>Conception</HI> we are to reflect upon two things e&s;pecially.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The framing of the manhood, <HI>Conceiv'd.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The Sanctifying of it, <HI>By the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>In his <HI>Incarnation</HI> we will open the&s;e two points.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The per&s;onal union of the manhood with the Godhead,</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The glorious effects which proceed from &s;o glorious an union with the Deity.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Fir&s;t, For the framing of his manhood we have the matter of it, and the manner of it expre&s;&s;ed in Scripture.</P>
<P N="1">1. The matter of his body was the fle&s;h and blood of the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin; fle&s;h immediately he took from her &s;eed, which yet was the &s;eed of <HI>Adam,</HI> derived by &s;ucce&s;&s;ion to <HI>Abraham,</HI> propagated to <HI>David,</HI> and &s;o onward till it came to <HI>Mary,</HI> that &s;o he might be the Son of <HI>Mary,</HI> the Son of <HI>Da|vid,</HI> the Son of <HI>Abraham,</HI> the Son of <HI>Adam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 3. Gen. 3.15. &amp; 22.18. P&s;al. 132.11.</NOTE> as Saint <HI>Luke</HI> deduceth his Genealogy. In a word, he was <HI>the &s;eed of the woman</HI> who was <HI>to break the Serpents head; that &s;eed in which all the Nations of the earth &s;hould be ble&s;|&s;ed;</HI> that &s;eed of whom God &s;aid to <HI>David, Of the fruit of thy body will I &s;et upon thy &s;eat;</HI> and this is one rea&s;on that the Evangeli&s;t ends not his Ge|nealogy till he comes to <HI>Adam.</HI> And yet there is another, that we might know that he was to purge, expiate, and &s;ave <HI>Adams</HI> fle&s;h; that is, <HI>Adam,</HI> and all his race from the guilt and puni&s;hment of &s;in due to him and them, for his and their di&s;obedience, of which his was the fir&s;t Original: whence St.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.17.</NOTE> <HI>Paul,</HI> when he &s;hew'd by whom &s;inne came into the world, and polluted all men, <HI>viz. The fir&s;t Adam;</HI> immediately declares who it was that took it away, and &s;aved men from it, <HI>viz. Adams,</HI> or the Vir|gins &s;eed, <HI>The Second Adam.</HI> The matter then of his Body is Evi|dent.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="194" REF="103">2. As for the manner how this Virgins &s;eed &s;hould be framed into the pro|portion of a man, in is miraculous. The God of Nature chang'd here the cour&s;e of Nature, and above Nature, without the help of man, by an extra|ordinary operation of the holy Gho&s;t, made the Word to become fle&s;h. Two actions are a&s;cribed by the Angel to the holy Gho&s;t in this great work;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.35.</NOTE> the one to come upon the Virgin; the other to over&s;hadow her. By the fir&s;t was &s;ignified his extraordinary power in making a Virgin remaining a Virgin to conceive a Son: Which was done at that in&s;tant, when the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin broke out into the&s;e words, <HI>Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it to me according to thy word;</HI> for here was no need of any delay, &s;ince this con|ception was the &s;ole work of God, without the help of man. Her con&s;ent on|ly, was expected; and that being given by <HI>Ecce ancilla Domini,</HI> the <HI>fiat</HI> in&s;tantly followed; as &s;oon as when upon his <HI>fiat</HI> the heaven and earth were created. Pre&s;ently &s;he conceiv'd a Son.</P>
<P>The encrea&s;e and growth of his body to a ju&s;t quantity, was not in an in|&s;tant, but was by degrees brought to it in about nine months time. But the formation of his body was perfected and &s;haped at that in&s;tant; fle&s;h he then took,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dama&s;c.</HI> lib. 3. c. 2. <HI>Zanch.</HI> de In|carnat lib. 2. q 7, 8. The&s;. 1.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, that was animated with a rea&s;onable and under&s;tanding &s;oule. Or which we are able to give the&s;e rea&s;ons. Fir&s;t, Becau&s;e the power of the Agent was infinite, and therefore he was able with|out any delay to perfect the conception out of the matter before prepared. Secondly, Becau&s;e that which was conceiv'd was <HI>Homo,</HI> a man; but a whole man is not a body alone, or a &s;oul alone, but a &s;ub&s;tance compo&s;ed of both. And therefore it was nece&s;&s;ary, that <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Word &s;hould take a body in|form'd with a rea&s;onable &s;oul: for otherwi&s;e there would be &s;ome moment of time, in which the Son of God &s;hould not be true man, but only a body the material part of man. Thirdly, This body &s;o informed, was perfect in all parts and Organs; a &s;oul it had, as is but now proved, and then the body mu&s;t be perfect, for the &s;oul is <GAP DESC="foreign">, that which moves an Organical body. And it no way became the Son of God, who is the fountaine of all perfections, to a&s;&s;ume into the unity of his per&s;on, an un&s;haped or imperfect thing, &s;uch as that of an <HI>Embria.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, The other action of the holy Gho&s;t, was <HI>Over&s;hadowing,</HI> which checks all curio&s;ity, and commands us not to be bold to &s;earch into that work too farre, over which the Holy Gho&s;t hath ca&s;t a &s;hadow: <HI>Doceri non pote&s;t ni&s;i &agrave; donante,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bern.</HI> Hom. 4. &s;uper Mi&s;&s;us e&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>nec di&s;ci ni&s;i &agrave; formante,</HI> to alter <HI>Bernards</HI> words a little.</P>
<P>O God, why &s;hould men go about to &s;eek for a cleare light, where thou ha&s;t ca&s;t a &s;hadow! why to look upon that Sun, betwixt which and us thou ha&s;t interpo&s;ed a Cloud? No Mother knows the manner of her natural con|ception; what pre&s;umption then is it for fle&s;h and blood to be inqui&s;itive how the holy Gho&s;t did his work in the dark womb of the Virgin? As therefore after the Angels &s;alutation and &s;olution, this ble&s;&s;ed mother makes no more doubts, nor rai&s;es no more que&s;tions about the manner; for her <HI>How &s;hall this thing be?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 1.18.</NOTE> went before; So al&s;o when the Scripture hath taught us, that the Birth of Chri&s;t was on this wi&s;e, let us ask no more que&s;tions, but in an holy admiration break out with Saint <HI>Paul, Great is the my&s;tery of godli|ne&s;s, Chri&s;t revealed in the fle&s;h!</HI> for if we &s;hould, I know not how we &s;hould be &s;atisfied;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3.16.</NOTE> for <HI>Quis Declararet? Who &s;hall declare it?</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, The manner of it I mean. For as for the &s;econd point, and the effects thence proceeding, they may be declared.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t of which is negative; that though he took upon him <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.35.</NOTE> a body of weakne&s;s, yet he took not to him <GAP DESC="foreign">, a body of &s;inne. For he was Sanctified from the womb; <HI>That which is born of the
<PB N="195" REF="103"> &s;hall be called holy;</HI> not holy fle&s;h, not a holy man, nor a holy infant, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>Singulariter Sanctum,</HI> by &s;ome prerogative.</P>
<P>He was no more polluted by the contagion of our depraved nature, than fire is changed, being receiv'd in the pores of &s;ome piece of ru&s;ty Iron, who&s;e force is no whit dulled by the ru&s;t, coldne&s;s, or &s;oyle of that heavy body.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ba&s;il.</HI> Hom. 25.</NOTE> For by the power of the Holy Gho&s;t, there was a &s;toppage made of that Original corruption which doth flow into the nature of all mankind,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.9.</NOTE> and as a little le|ven, doth &s;oure the whole lump.</P>
<P N="2">2. But &s;econdly, Negative holine&s;s there was not in him alone, but Po|&s;itive al&s;o; even an infu&s;ion of all holine&s;s and purity in the manhood of Chri&s;t, being the endowment of the &s;oule and body with all manner of graces and vertues proportionable to his own purpo&s;es, intents, and coun&s;els.</P>
<P>And this is the grace of Divine Unction, which Divines willingly attri|bute to the body and &s;oul of this Me&s;&s;iah: For we may not think, that the hu|manity of our Saviour by this conception, receiv'd no vertue or quality above nature. But even as the Sword that is made fiery, doth not only cut by the &s;harpne&s;s which it hath from its own edge, but al&s;o burns by that glowing heat which it received and retaines from the fire: So al&s;o the humanity of our Saviour is enabled by the Deity that a&s;&s;umed it with many more graces than it naturally had. The Godhead imparting unto it &s;o many perfections, as either it was being a creature capable of, or the exigence of that oeconomy, <HI>viz.</HI> mans Redemption did require.</P>
<P>Saint <HI>John</HI> &s;hews us plainly, that the Word which dwelt among us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.14.</NOTE> was full of grace and truth. For the illu&s;tration of which, the Schoolmen do thus di&s;tin|gui&s;h of grace and the fulne&s;s of it.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Say they, there is <HI>plenitud<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> excellentiae,</HI> a fulne&s;s of excellency;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Viguer.</HI> in&s;tit.</NOTE> &s;uch as is that of &s;ome maine pipe, by which the Virgin-water of the fountain is conveyed into the le&s;&s;er Ci&s;terns. And &s;uch a plenty of grace they place in the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, who was indeed <GAP DESC="foreign">, highly graced,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.28.</NOTE> highly fa|voured, to be made the Mother of our Lord; in reference to which we may &s;ay truly, <HI>Nil gratiae ad nos venit, ni&s;i quod non prius per uterum Ma|riae tran&s;it,</HI> No grace came to us, but fir&s;t pa&s;t through the Virgins womb.</P>
<P>Secondly, There is <HI>plenitudo abundantiae,</HI> abundant grace; &s;uch was the grace which was in the Apo&s;tles, who were all fill'd with the Holy Gho&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>ad men&s;uram va&s;culi,</HI> as full as a Ve&s;&s;el could hold; being tho&s;e greater Ci|&s;terns, that fir&s;t held, and then let out the water of life which yet refre&s;heth our thir&s;ty &s;ouls; and the&s;e are commonly call'd <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>gratiae gratis da|tae,</HI> Gifts freely given by God.</P>
<P>Thirdly, There is <HI>plenitudo &s;ufficientiae,</HI> as much grace as is &s;ufficient to &s;ave a &s;oul, and keep it from &s;in, which is commonly call'd <HI>Sanctification,</HI> or <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>gratia gratum faciens,</HI> that grace which makes a man acce|ptable in the eyes of God, renews, comforts, upholds a &s;inner from falling and fainting. And to that &s;oul which hungers and thir&s;ts after it, is return'd that an&s;wer which was given to Saint <HI>Paul, Sufficit tibi gratia mea,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.9. Eph. 4.7.</NOTE> <HI>My grace is &s;ufficient for thee;</HI> for to every one is given &s;ome, more or le&s;s, as their wants are more or le&s;s in their Pilgrimage toward the Cele&s;tial <HI>Canaan.</HI></P>
<P>Fourthly, But the la&s;t is <HI>Gratia effluentiae,</HI> overflowing grace, or the grace of the fountaine, from which Ci&s;tern, Pipe and Pitchers are fill'd. It is &s;weet in it &s;elf, pure in it &s;elf, &s;ufficient of it &s;elf; from which all &s;weet|ne&s;s, all purene&s;s, all excellency, all abundance, all &s;ufficiency is. And this alone we confe&s;s to be in our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t, who was
<PB N="196" REF="104"> &s;anctified in his mothers womb, by the Holy Gho&s;t the fountain of all Sancti|ty; both by the extirpation of Original corruption, and infu&s;ion of grace and holine&s;s.</P>
<DIV3 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>CONCL&V;SIO.</HEAD>
<P>Hitherto have I gone about to declare that, which in declaring I admire, and in admiring reverence, and in reverence do admire again, and in hu|mility ever &s;hall, why the &s;econd Per&s;on in the Trinity would have a genera|tion to declare; why he &s;hould become bone of our bone, and fle&s;h of our fle&s;h; be &s;anctified in the womb, be united to our nature, and cloathed with our skin.</P>
<P>But if God would come down to us in the likene&s;s of men, why did he not appear like him&s;elf? why not as &s;ometimes he did upon Mount <HI>Sinai,</HI> cover|ed with a pavilion of thick Clouds,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 19.16.</NOTE> u&s;her'd with the bla&s;t of &s;ome Angels Trump, &s;peaking in Thunder, and lighted down with &s;ome fla&s;h of lightning from heaven? This had been for the Maje&s;ty of a God, fit for the glory of &s;o great a King.</P>
<P>Yea, but he came not now in Maje&s;ty; he came in great humility to vi&s;it us, in love to Redeem us, and therefore he hath not now &s;o much as a &s;till and &s;oft voice to affright us.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bern.</HI> in fe&s;to Nativ. Gen. 3.9, 10.</NOTE> His voice was &s;till and &s;oft enough when he &s;pake to <HI>Adam</HI> in the Garden, <HI>&V;bies Adam? Adam, where art thou?</HI> and yet &s;o terrible, that when he heard it, he fled, and hid him&s;elf. That we &s;hould not flee at this his vi&s;itation, <HI>Ecce infans &amp; &s;ine voce,</HI> Behold an infant, and without a voice; voice he hath none, except it be <HI>vagire in cunis,</HI> to cry for us, not a word to &s;peak in an angry tone.</P>
<P>In nature, creatures of like kind are commonly well-affected to other; that then we might know how he &s;tood affected to us, he came in our own likene&s;s, an infant of a &s;pan long, born of a woman, wrapped up in &s;wadling cloaths; and except it were that his mother wanted a Chamber to lie in in the Inn, and a Cradle to rock him, for which &s;he was glad to make u&s;e of the Manger, like he was to us in all things.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz.</NOTE><GAP DESC="foreign">, Never object to him his poverty or low e&s;tate; for it was for your &s;akes that he became thus low. Love him rather, &s;ince he is become your kin&s;man in the fle&s;h, and by it gain'd a faculty to &s;peak for his kin&s;men to God. With this meditation <HI>Job</HI> comforts him&s;elf, <HI>I know that my Redeemer liveth;</HI> the word is <HI>Goel,</HI> and there is comfort in it; a kin&s;|man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 19.25. <HI>Ba&s;il.</HI></NOTE> one near allyed; as if our Saviour <GAP DESC="foreign">, would plead for us to God, as indeed he doth; for how could he have u&s;ed tho&s;e powerful Arguments of his wounds in his &s;ide, hands, feet; and tho&s;e skars in his body to reconcile an angry God unto man, had he not been allyed to us in the fle&s;h? yea, how could he exerci&s;e dominion over all men with &s;o true, natural, and &s;en&s;ible a touch of mercy, were it not for his manhood, which is the proper &s;ubject of compa&s;&s;ion and feeling pity?</P>
<P N="2">2. And yet be&s;ides the Office of Mediation and Interce&s;&s;ion, yea, and that maine cau&s;e of Satisfaction (that &s;o that Nature which had offended God, might make him amends) another rea&s;on is a&s;&s;igned, why it did plea&s;e the Son of God to humble him&s;elf, and dwell with fle&s;h. This is, <GAP DESC="foreign">.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Naz.</HI> Orat. 38.</NOTE> For God having divers wayes before Chri&s;ts Incarnation, thought to repre&s;s &s;in, at one time by the promulgation of his Law, at another by the threats of his Prophets, &s;ometimes by puni&s;hments, &s;ometimes by fa|vours: One while he rerz'd the world clean by a flood of water, another while he purg'd it with a &s;howre of fire: Signes in the heaven, &s;trange &s;ights in the aire, commotions on the earth, and irruptions of the Sea, amaz'd, de|&s;troy'd, and &s;unk many Cities and Kingdomes: and all the&s;e a bitter and a
<PB N="197" REF="104"> &s;harp potion, or inci&s;ion nece&s;&s;ary for the cure of the old world, de&s;perately &s;ick and over-run with &s;in: But when none of the&s;e cour&s;es would &s;erve the turn, but &s;till the di&s;ea&s;e prevailing, the whole began to gangrene; that &s;in &s;hould not be mortal, but a period &s;hould be &s;et to tho&s;e unnatural lu&s;ts, perju|ries, and adulteries, and e&s;pecially that fir&s;t and la&s;t of mi&s;chiefs,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.3.</NOTE> the idolatry of the Gentiles; it plea&s;ed him, who was the brightne&s;s of Gods glory, and the expre&s;s image of his Per&s;on, to &s;hadow him&s;elf with a body of fle&s;h,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 3.8.</NOTE> and blur his image with the &s;tamp of man, that &s;o in our nature he might de&s;troy the works of the Divel. Since the world needed a &s;trong cure, &s;tronger it ob|tain'd; fle&s;h he took to purge the fle&s;h, and a &s;oul to cure the &s;oul,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, purging like with like.</P>
<P>Neither let any man object this humility to our Saviour, except he who is offended with the Phy&s;itians diligence, who notwith&s;tanding the offen&s;ive|ne&s;s of &s;tinking &s;ores, will bow him&s;elf down, handle, and &s;earch the putrified parts, that &s;o he may cure his di&s;ea&s;ed patient: or with the compa&s;&s;ionate bowels of that man, who in meer pity will let him&s;elf down into the ditch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 22. Luke 14.5.</NOTE> to help his neighbors Ox out of the pit.</P>
<P>Let the Jews be &s;candalized at the Inne and Stable; let Infidels &s;coff and mock at the Manger, and Swathbands; let Hereticks be offended with the form of a Servant; it &s;hall be our glory, <HI>That to us this day is born a Saviour,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.11.</NOTE> <HI>which was Chri&s;t the Lord.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. You that &s;it in the du&s;t, be amazed no more with de&s;truction and death; for to you is born a Je&s;us. You who&s;e &s;ouls are ulcerated with &s;in, and wound|ed with tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, take heart again, for to you is born a Me&s;&s;iah, a Chri&s;t, a Phy&s;itian that hath pretious Oyntment enough to heal your maladies. La&s;tly, you who&s;e Heroique &s;pirits aim at a Kingdom and a Crown, ble&s;s God for that here is a Lord come down to &s;et you on thrones in heaven. <HI>Neque enim &s;ine &s;alute Je&s;us, neque &s;ine &V;nctione Chri&s;tus, nec &s;ine gloria Dominus.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. in Vigil. Nat. Ser. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> For Je&s;us cannot be without Salvation, nor Chri&s;t without Unction, nor a Lord without Glory.</P>
<P>And indeed, who can do le&s;s than rejoyce, when he doth but think of the &s;alvation which he &s;hall receive by Je&s;us! of the Spiritual Unction he doth en|joy by Chri&s;t; of the glory this Lord hath prepared for him? E&s;pecially upon this day, which is a day of joy. Every birth day is a day of mirth. Even the very Heathens kept their &s;olemn fea&s;ts upon the days on which their Kings, Princes, Patrons, Friends, Benefactors, or them&s;elves were born;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Montag. Ana|lect.</HI> Exo. 10. Mar. 6.26.</NOTE> neither in the&s;e was it lawful to &s;adden their mirth by the execution of any condemned man; much le&s;s of any other. And this is conceived to be the rea&s;on, that the di&s;|&s;embler <HI>Herod</HI> was &s;o &s;ad to behead St. <HI>John Bapti&s;t</HI> on his birth day; it grieved him to &s;hed the blood of another on that day he received life.</P>
<P>I bid you not to imitate the Heathen in their exce&s;&s;es and riot, but in their joy, in their thankfulne&s;s; not for the birth of &s;ome temporal Benefactor, but for the Nativity of Je&s;us Chri&s;t the Son of God. Methinks it doth not be|come a Chri&s;tian to look &s;adly on that day that Chri&s;t came to vi&s;it him; it be|comes him not I &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 8.56.</NOTE> in a dull and heavy manner to hang down his head upon that day a Saviour was born for him.</P>
<P><HI>Abraham</HI> &s;aw this day, and he rejoyced:<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.3.</NOTE> The Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> fore&s;aw this day, and foretold there &s;hould be great joy on it; joy as the joy in harve&s;t; joy as at the divi&s;ion of the &s;poil. <HI>Zachary</HI> calls him the Branch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 3 8, 10.</NOTE> and upon that day he &s;hould be brought forth, tells us, that every man &s;hall call his neighbor under his Vine, and under his Fig-tree, to make merry as at a fea&s;t. The&s;e Prophets fore&s;aw not onely the day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.2.</NOTE> but prophe&s;ied of the mirth of the day: And if they who rejoyced onely in <HI>Spe,</HI> in hope, were &s;o glad of it; what joy doth it behove us to expre&s;s, who have all in <HI>Re,</HI>
<PB N="198" REF="105"> the &s;ub&s;tance of that which they hoped for? God is with us, who can choo&s;e but be merry?<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 7.14. Mat. 1.23.</NOTE> nay, God is become as one of us; who&s;e heart doth not leap for joy?</P>
<P>Lord, what joy was there at this birth! and &s;hall we only, whom it mo&s;t concern'd, be &s;ad? Joy there was in heaven. I collect it thus; For if in heaven there be joy at the conver&s;ion of one &s;inner,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15.7, 10.</NOTE> what joy was there, think you, at the &s;alvation of a whole world of &s;inners! Joy there was on earth; for then the fields were the Temple, the Shepherds the Auditory, an Angel the Chantour, Angels the Quire; the <HI>&V;er&s;iculus, Behold I bring you tydings of great joy;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.11, 12, &amp;c.</NOTE> after which the <HI>Chorus</HI> comes in, and &s;ings with full voice, <HI>Glory to God on high.</HI> I am per&s;waded (pardon me if I erre, for in this I erre willingly) that could we but lay a&s;ide this clod of earth a little, and a&s;cend with Saint <HI>Paul</HI> above the Sphears,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.2.</NOTE> we &s;hould hear tho&s;e heavenly Mu&s;icians &s;inging the &s;ame Carol, and all of them clo&s;ing in the &s;ame <HI>Diapa|&s;on, Glory to God an high.</HI></P>
<P>Joy there was at <HI>Bethlehem,</HI> learned, and unlearned; wi&s;e men and Shepherds rejoyced at it. From the Ea&s;t the <HI>Magi</HI> came, <HI>and when they &s;aw the &s;tarre over the hou&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.10, 11.</NOTE> <HI>they rejoyced with an exceeding great joy.</HI> From the fields of <HI>Bethelehem</HI> the &s;hepherds, and found the Angels words ve|rified. So joyful were the wi&s;e men, that they opened their Trea&s;ures, and pre&s;ented <HI>gold,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.20.</NOTE> <HI>incen&s;e, and myrrh.</HI> And &s;o glad were the &s;hepherds, that they returned <HI>glorifying and prai&s;ing God.</HI></P>
<P>To conclude, I reade of none that were &s;ad at his birth but <HI>Herod</HI> and his faction:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.3.</NOTE> He indeed is netled at the news, and <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> is troubled with him. If then we will not be like him, and tho&s;e mi&s;creants, let us joyn with the Angels,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.46, 68.</NOTE> prai&s;e God with the &s;hepherds, magnifie him with <HI>Mary,</HI> ble&s;s him with <HI>Zachary,</HI> adore with the wi&s;e men; offer to him the pure gold of a holy life, pre&s;ent him with the &s;weet incen&s;e of our prayers, and glorifie him with the bitter myrrh of a mortified conver&s;ation; that &s;o when we have pray'd to him, and prai&s;ed him in this life, we may laud him in heaven hereafter, being perfect, in that <HI>Cherubicum,</HI> Therefore with Angels and Arch-Angels, and all the company of heaven, we laud and glorifie thy glorious Name, evermore prai&s;ing thee, and &s;aying, <HI>Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Ho&s;ts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory; Glory be to thee, O God mo&s;t High!</HI></P>
<Q><TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="hymn">
<HEAD>A Hymn for Chri&s;tmas day.</HEAD>
<LG>
<L>WHat means this &s;udden glory, or this light</L>
<L>That's darted through the aire in the dark night?</L>
<L>What means the heavenly mu&s;ick, which we heare,</L>
<L>Beguiling &s;o the time, filling the eare?</L>
<L>Let's go and &s;earch the cau&s;e. O my&s;tery!</L>
<L>An Army of cele&s;tial powers do cry</L>
<L>Glory to God on high: Who now doth take</L>
<L>A body made of fle&s;h, for lo&s;t mans &s;ake.</L>
<L>A body made of fle&s;h! How can that be?</L>
<L>God made a man! that wonder would I &s;ee.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Go then along with Shepherds, that do hie</L>
<L>To Bethlem, carele&s;s where there &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ep do lie:</L>
<L>Along with them I &s;ay; there &s;halt thou view,</L>
<L>&V;nder a craggy Rock plac'd in the liew,</L>
<PB N="199" REF="105">
<L>An Inn, a poor despi&s;ed Inn, &s;o low,</L>
<L>That none of fa&s;hion into it would go.</L>
<L>See there the Manger, and in it a child</L>
<L>Lies crying, new-borne of a Virgin mild:</L>
<L>God emptying him&s;elf of Maje&s;ty,</L>
<L>Of no repute, cloath'd with humanity.</L>
<L>He that cloaths all, gives all a place to dwell;</L>
<L>Wrapt up in clouts him&s;elf in a ba&s;e Cell.</L>
<L>This is no lye, nor tale; believe the wonder,</L>
<L>For faith is farre above, and rea&s;on under.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Ne're wonder that the Shepherds run &s;o fa&s;t,</L>
<L>But overtake them, and out-run their ha&s;te.</L>
<L>Tender thy homage, and on bended knee</L>
<L>Adore thy Lord, who was thus meane for thee.</L>
<L>If th' ha&s;t not, what tho&s;e wi&s;e men did pre&s;ent,</L>
<L>Nor gold, nor myrrh, nor frankincen&s;e for &s;ente:</L>
<L>Gold for his Tribute, Gumm for his Deity,</L>
<L>Myrrh 'gain&s;t his body in the earth &s;hall lie:</L>
<L>Though ne're &s;o poor thou art, thou ha&s;t a tongue,</L>
<L>Teach that an Antheme, and pre&s;ent a Song.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Sweet was the news, that the&s;e poor &s;hepherd &s;wains</L>
<L>At their returne related in the plaines.</L>
<L>How did their fellows throng with greedy eare</L>
<L>To drink the news the&s;e vigilant men did beare?</L>
<L>A Saviours Name, which &s;hould be Chri&s;t the Lord,</L>
<L>That &s;ame Me&s;&s;iah, who was to accord</L>
<L>All differences and jarres 'twixt God and man,</L>
<L>Was honey to the ta&s;te, to the eare a Swan.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Tho&s;e &s;trings once taught to &s;peak by Orpheus hand</L>
<L>That caus'd the trees to move, the bea&s;ts to &s;tand:</L>
<L>Or &s;weet <HI>Amphions</HI> Harp, or <HI>Mercuries</HI> flute</L>
<L>That <HI>Argus</HI> lull'd a&s;leep, or <HI>Phoebus</HI> Lute:</L>
<L>Nor yet a Briti&s;h Bard, nor <HI>Jopas</HI> skill</L>
<L>Did e're the aire with &s;uch &s;weet mu&s;ick fill.</L>
<L>Tho&s;e &s;ung of amorous Gods, and at the be&s;t,</L>
<L>Of the Moons labours, and the Suns unre&s;t,</L>
<L>How fiercer minds, and cruel Iron hearts</L>
<L>Did melt, and bed together, mov'd by Arts:</L>
<L>What caus'd the raine, the &s;ea to ebb, to flow,</L>
<L>The Winds, the Thunders, and the woolly Snow.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>But the&s;e a higher ditty had, which one</L>
<L>As the Praecentor to the re&s;t begunne.</L>
<L>He told of old how God had promi&s;ed</L>
<L>A &s;eed, that batter &s;hould the Serpents head;</L>
<L>And now had made it good: For borne was he</L>
<L>In whom fulfilled was every Prophe&s;ie.</L>
<L>The root of <HI>Je&s;&s;e</HI> 'gan afre&s;h to &s;hoot,</L>
<L>And that &s;ame humble Cyence forth to put,</L>
<L>Which grow &s;hould to a tree; under who&s;e &s;hade</L>
<L>The Nations mu&s;t both feed and tru&s;t, he &s;aid.</L>
<L>His Name <HI>Immanuel</HI> was; at which the Quire</L>
<L>Came in and &s;ung full voice with th' aged Sire,</L>
<L>Glory to God; this when the hills did heare,</L>
<L>They eccho'd glory back to th' Shepherds eare.</L>
<PB N="200" REF="106">
<L>Both in the clo&s;e, as having but one tongue,</L>
<L>Glory and honour, honour and glory &s;ung.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>I envy tho&s;e &s;weet voices, and that morne</L>
<L>Do wi&s;h with them that I a part had borne.</L>
<L>That happine&s;&s;e denyed me, yet I &s;ing</L>
<L>Glory to God on high, the worlds great King:</L>
<L>Who lov'd me &s;o, that of a &V;irgin cha&s;te</L>
<L>He would be borne, live meanly, die at last.</L>
</LG>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT></Q>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="16" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>Of Chri&s;ts Circumci&s;ion, and the Impo&s;ition of his Name Je&s;us.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>LUKE 2.21.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And when eight dayes were accompli&s;hed for the circumci&s;ing of the childe, his Name was called Je&s;us, which was &s;o named of the Angel, before he was conceiv'd in the womb.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazianz.</NOTE><GAP DESC="foreign">. Behold I once more pre&s;ent you with my Je&s;us, and once more with &s;alvation: And if Je&s;us the per&s;on, and if Salvation the favour be not glad and welcome tidings to you, I know not how to choo&s;e a Text. Brethren, as &s;ometimes Saint <HI>Paul</HI> told the <HI>Philippians,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.1.</NOTE> <HI>To write the &s;ame things to you, to me is not grievous, but to you &s;afe:</HI> So &s;ay I, To preach the &s;ame things unto you, I &s;hall not think it trouble&s;ome, when it may concern your profit and your &s;afety.</P>
<P>Before, you have heard the earne&s;t de&s;ire of the old Church, That God would make good his promi&s;e for the Redemption of the world: That the Patriarchs and Prophets de&s;ired to &s;ee that day. Heard you have al&s;o of his E|ternal Generation, and of that in time, that he was from everla&s;ting the Son of God; and that he was borne in the fulne&s;s of time the Son of a Vir|gin, and as &s;uch the Me&s;&s;iah, anointed to be King, Prie&s;t, and Prophet to his Church. It remaines only, that I acquaint you how he became under the Law; for till that be done, we cannot have any &s;olid comfort from him. 'Tis not the unity of his Nature that can &s;ufficiently &s;ecure us; for &s;o he is united to all mankind. There mu&s;t be an unity of per&s;on al&s;o, which only can be beneficial to us. And &s;o it was upon this day of his Circumci&s;ion; then he per&s;onally became our Surety, &s;ubmitted him&s;elf to the Law, undertook for us to pay both debt and penalty, and &s;o was in as deep as we were, &s;ince in Law the Debtor and Surety make but one per&s;on. Now this is the day when he went under the Knife, engaged him&s;elf for our Debt, and had the Name above every Name, that Name <HI>Je&s;us</HI> impo&s;ed upon Him.</P>
<P>In this Go&s;pel there be very many memorable things, all worthy of a &s;e|rious con&s;ideration. Fir&s;t an Army of Angels that &s;ung the Antheme. Then the diligence of the Shepherds in &s;eeking, their gratitude in prai&s;ing God. La&s;tly, the carefulne&s;s of <HI>Mary</HI> the Virgin; who as a Mother, kept him in her armes; as an hand-maid kept him in her lowly heart.</P>
<P>But at this time I pa&s;s by the&s;e, and will in&s;i&s;t upon the&s;e three particulars clearly &s;et forth in this ver&s;e.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The Circumci&s;ion of Chri&s;t.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The time, <HI>the eighth day.</HI></ITEM>
<PB N="201" REF="106">
<ITEM>3. The Impo&s;ition of his Name <HI>J<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;us.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> When they came to circumci&s;e, &amp;c.</HEAD>
<P>I pre&s;ume I &s;hall not need to Catechi&s;e you about the Sacrament of Cir|cumci&s;ion; when, why, and to whom given;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 17.10, 11 &amp;c.</NOTE> as that it was the fir&s;t Sacra|ment of the old Law: that it was in&s;tituted by God: that given to <HI>Abraham</HI> as a &s;igne, a &s;eale. A &s;igne, that what&s;oever is begotten and proceedeth of the &s;eed of man, is originally corrupt and &s;inful. And a Seale al&s;o, that as the <HI>praepu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ium,</HI> or foreskin was cut away, &s;o was there a di&s;charge of that o|riginal pollution. Yea, and a farther a&s;&s;urance, that now God and man were entred into a clo&s;er and nearer Covenant; He to be their God, and they his people; He to ble&s;s them, they to &s;erve him.</P>
<P>But what do you now circumci&s;ing this Child? that all other children, nay men, <HI>Abraham,</HI> and all be circumci&s;ed, there is great rea&s;on; but why this Child? <HI>Abraham,</HI> and all the po&s;terity of <HI>Abraham</HI> are &s;ubject to many fooli&s;h and noy&s;ome lu&s;ts; which of the Saints did you ever yet reade of,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.9.</NOTE> who in &s;omething was no &s;inner?<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 64.6. Jer. 2.22.</NOTE> Their be&s;t righteou&s;ne&s;s is but <HI>pannus m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n&s;trua|tus,</HI> a homely cloth; nor much Nitre, nor the herb Borith will be able to clen&s;e it. Nece&s;&s;ary then it is, that not <HI>faex populi,</HI> the dregs the wor&s;t, but <HI>flos populi,</HI> the flowre, the be&s;t of the people be cut. And this rea&s;on is binding for Infants al&s;o; for being conceiv'd of unclean &s;eed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.5. Ez. 16.3, 4, 5.</NOTE> and warm'd in a &s;inful womb, at their birth polluted no le&s;s in &s;in than in blood, they al&s;o mu&s;t go under the Knife.</P>
<P>But what do you now Circumci&s;ing him in whom there was nothing &s;u|perfluous? how comes this about? Go and circumci&s;e your own corrupt and &s;inful fle&s;h; never make him bleed for it, <HI>qui nec peccatum admi&s;it,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> <HI>nec contraxit.</HI> That he committed none, his age is a certain evidence; that he contr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cted none is manife&s;t; for which way &s;hould he contract any, who had God for his Father, a Virgin for his Mother, who&s;e womb was &s;anctified by the Holy Gho&s;t? He did, he knew no &s;in; why then mu&s;t he as other infants undergo this pain?</P>
<P>There was no ab&s;olute nece&s;&s;ity in it, that's certain; but yet very great con|venience. Since it plea&s;ed him to be the Saviour of the world, convenient it was to take tho&s;e wayes as he judg'd mo&s;t fit to &s;ave.</P>
<P N="1">1. It became him to be obedient who would be a Saviour; for how &s;hould a di&s;obedient per&s;on &s;atisfie for our di&s;obedience? How &s;hould he pay for the breach of the Law, that would not him&s;elf keep the Law?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 17.12, 14</NOTE> Now a Law there was, <HI>That every male which was eight dayes old, must be circumci&s;ed, or el&s;e be cut off from Gods people.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.4.</NOTE> That then he might make it evident that he was now, as other, under the Law, and bound no le&s;s than any other to obey, content he was to bleed as other Males.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.23.</NOTE> We make light of all Gods Commands, be they the greater matters of the Law, judgement, and mercy; or be they the le&s;s, Mint, Annice, Cummin, all's one with us, for we break all. And if we be &s;crupulous in any, it is about the Mint, and Annice; to di&s;obey in judgement and ju&s;tice we &s;tick but little: Whereas our Saviour would be &s;ubject even to a Ceremony; rather &s;mart, than have one Title of the Law not fulfilled.</P>
<P N="2">2. This fir&s;t; the next might be to &s;et us an example of great humility,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.11.</NOTE> that we be not &s;piritually proud, that we &s;et not up our wheele with the <HI>Pha|ri&s;ee,</HI> and boa&s;t we are not like other men, not as the <HI>Publican,</HI> when per|haps we are farre wor&s;e. This did not he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.7. I&s;a. 53.12.</NOTE> who made him&s;elf of no reputati|on, who was content to be numbred among &s;inners, and take upon him the mark and note of &s;inners, and to beare it about him all his life long: Though
<PB N="202" REF="107"> he had not &s;o much as the lea&s;t impurity of a wound, yet he was con|tent to carry in his fle&s;h the &s;carres and Ligatures of a wounded man. Which of us, were he con&s;cious to him&s;elf, I &s;ay not of &s;o much glory, but &s;o much innocency, would willingly be put to paine and &s;hame, and receive into his body the brand of a Malefactour?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer 6.15. 1 Pet. 1.19.</NOTE> We &s;inne and blu&s;h not; nay, we &s;inne, and take it ill to be e&s;teemed &s;inners: But &s;o great was his humility, though a Lamb without &s;pot, yet <HI>non dedignatus,</HI> thought it no di&s;honour to be numbred among the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors.</P>
<P N="3">3. Farther, the vaine a&s;&s;ertions of many Hereticks are &s;ilenc'd by this one Act;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Epiphan.</HI> lib. 1. Tom. 2.</NOTE> and hence <HI>Epiphanius</HI> fetcheth Arguments to confute three grand He|re&s;ies. <HI>Manes</HI> held Chri&s;t had no true body; as if his being made fle&s;h, had been only a mockery. <HI>Apollinaris,</HI> that his fle&s;h was con&s;ub&s;tantial with the Deity. <HI>&V;alentinus,</HI> that it was cele&s;tial and &s;piritual.</P>
<P>But how fond the&s;e fancies are, the blood of this his Circumci&s;ion evin|ceth; for had he not been truly made fle&s;h, he could not bleed; had the &s;ub&s;tance of his body naturally been, or el&s;e by conver&s;ion turn'd into his Deity, there had not been any thing &s;uperfluous to cut off. That then he was true man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.4.</NOTE> made of a woman, this one Act, were there no other, would de|mon&s;trate.</P>
<P N="4">4. But to be made of a woman, as I hinted in the beginning, is not that we mu&s;t tru&s;t to. This very Incarnation will not make him Je&s;us to us. How many are there who are borne of women, that yet cannot &s;ave? He that will &s;ave by ju&s;tice, mu&s;t come under the Law, &s;ubmit him&s;elf to all &s;uch du|ties and penalties as the Law exacts of tho&s;e he means to &s;ave, or el&s;e it is in choice of the Superiour, whether they be the better for him.</P>
<P>By a &s;trong hand or power he intended not to &s;ave; it was by payment, and making full &s;atisfaction to ju&s;tice; which that he might do, he was con|tent to come under the Law; and to give a&s;&s;urance that it was &s;o, he recei|ved the Seale of Circumci&s;ion in his fle&s;h. Then in&s;tantly he became a Debtor of the whole Law; then bound to ob&s;erve every <GAP DESC="foreign">, or tittle; then bound to an&s;wer for our enormities;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.17.</NOTE> and that it might be known, that he in|tended not to &s;tart or &s;hrink from what he undertook, he received the &s;eale in his fle&s;h, and &s;ub&s;cribed his Name Je&s;us in blood at his Circumci&s;ion. Then, even then he &s;hed &s;ome few drops as a pawn, that he would, when time was, &s;hed all the re&s;t for us: as this in the &s;table, &s;o that in the Hall and Garden; as this in the Cratch, &s;o that on the Cro&s;s.</P>
<P>Look on Chri&s;t then as our Surety, as one that &s;tood in our place, and then very ju&s;t it is, that he go under the &s;tone-knife. 'Tis now no courte&s;ie, but ju&s;tice. Pity indeed it is to &s;ee a poor innocent put to paine, and lie weltring in his blood: but if this innocent per&s;on will put him&s;elf into the place of the guilty, bring him&s;elf under the Law, and &s;ubject him&s;elf to the penalty of the Law, no remedy, the Law mu&s;t take its cour&s;e, and ju&s;tice proceed.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.15.</NOTE><HI>Oportet implere ju&s;titiam, It behoves us to fulfill all righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> was his own words at <HI>Jordan;</HI> He would be there baptiz'd to &s;atisfie ju&s;tice; and he would be here Circumcis'd to &s;atisfie ju&s;tice. Ju&s;tice that he fulfil the old Law; and Ju&s;tice that he begin by the Seale and Engagement of a Sacrament.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.45.</NOTE>To give you a little more light about this matter; in Chri&s;t there be two capacities. It was &s;o in the fir&s;t <HI>Adam;</HI> it may as ea&s;ily be conceiv'd in the &s;econd. The fir&s;t <HI>Adam</HI> was a per&s;on of him&s;elf; and he was againe the Au|thour of a race, or Head of a Society. And &s;o Chri&s;t the &s;econd <HI>Adam</HI> is a &s;ingle and individual per&s;on exi&s;tent of him&s;elf; or el&s;e a part of that vi|&s;ible body called the Church.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.23.</NOTE> A part I &s;ay, though the chief part, the
<PB N="203" REF="107"> Head, and all Chri&s;tians be&s;ides; &s;ome more noble, &s;ome inferiour parts of his body.</P>
<P>Take Chri&s;t then now by him&s;elf as a per&s;on exi&s;tent without any relation ro us, &s;o he is an innocent per&s;on, a Lamb without &s;pot, Sanctified from the womb; no rea&s;on or ju&s;tice at all that you circumci&s;e him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.9.</NOTE> <HI>For the Law was not given for a righteous man.</HI> But take him againe as joyn'd with us, and part of us, and then there is all the ju&s;tice in the world, that he do as we do, and &s;uffer what we &s;uffer, and bleed as we bleed. Since he took our Nature, nay more, our per&s;on, and put him&s;elf into the hand of Law, Law might take its cour&s;e. In our bodyes parts there be, that, as I may &s;o &s;ay, undertake for the whole; as the arm very often is let blood for the whole bo|dy. Put then Chri&s;t in that very place and ca&s;e that the Prophet doth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.6. 2 Cor. 5.21.</NOTE> <HI>Po|&s;uit &s;uper eum, God hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all;</HI> put him as the Apo&s;tle &s;ets him, <HI>Factus p ccatum, Made &s;inne for us;</HI> put all our debts, all our &s;innes, all our errours upon him, and then he will de&s;erve to bleed for them. Then he will need that for me and thee, which for him&s;elf he needed not. Need though a child, to be circumci&s;ed the</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Eighth day.</HEAD>
<P>That was the time. You &s;ee how at unawares I am fallen upon it, and do not think but there be good rea&s;ons for this very circum&s;tance, as for the Act. As he would be Circumci&s;ed, &s;o al&s;o he would on the eighth Day.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, In the prime in&s;titution of this Sacrament, the Law was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 17.12. Lev. 12.2.</NOTE> <HI>That e|very male which was eight dayes old &s;hould be circumci&s;ed,</HI> which Law is revived in <HI>Leviticus.</HI> Time is but a circum&s;tance of action, and yet not in this our Saviour would be deficient; as he was under the Law, &s;o al&s;o he tyed him&s;elf to the Circum&s;tances of the Law, and would not &s;o much as tran&s;gre&s;s this. This was the time &s;et by God, reviv'd by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> ob&s;erv'd by the Jews, and was to continue till Chri&s;t by his death aboli&s;hed the whole Law of Ceremonies. And this in&s;titution of God was without que&s;tion the true rea&s;on why Chri&s;t would not be circumci&s;ed nor before nor after the Eighth Day.</P>
<P>But why, you'le &s;ay, was it deferr'd &s;o long, &s;ince the Law was &s;o &s;trict, that an uncircumci&s;ed man was to be cut off from his people? by the Sword,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Godw. Antiq.</HI> lib. 6.1.</NOTE> &s;ay &s;ome; but others, to be e&s;teemed as one who was without the Covenant, and therefore to have no benefit at all by it, no more than a leg or an arme that is cut off from the body.</P>
<P>It is pre&s;umption to give a peremptory rea&s;on of Gods Commands: So it plea&s;ed him, &s;hould conte<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t a &s;ober minde. But the curious will not be &s;o &s;a|tisfied. Ye &s;hall heare therefore what the Jews &s;aid to it, and then the Chri|&s;tians. The Jews &s;uper&s;titiou&s;ly conceiv'd, that each creatures perfection de|pended upon the Sanctification of one Sabbath day at lea&s;t; and therefore they tell us, that God enjoyn'd the day, that one Sabbath might pa&s;s over each male, before he &s;hould be admitted into the Covenant.</P>
<P>But the Chri&s;tians more probably conceive: Fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lev. 22.27. &amp; 12.2, 3.</NOTE> That in this time of the Mo&s;aical Paedagogy there was a legal uncleanne&s;s, in which the creatures were rhought to be as remaining in their blood. Secondly, To &s;hew that God in matters of &s;alvation, neithe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> was, nor is tyed to Sacraments; for then there had been no le&s;s cruelty in forbidding Circumci&s;ion till the eighth day, than there was love in permitting it upon the eighth, when the Parents received comfort by the mature initiation of their children.</P>
<P>And now I &s;hall tell you why I mov'd this Que&s;tion. It was to comfort
<PB N="204" REF="108"> and inform &s;ome ignorant people, and to confute &s;ome Heretical, both which conceive that the Sacrament is ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation; &s;o that if with|out that, even children depart this life, they are not &s;av'd.</P>
<P>But how vain and cruel this A&s;&s;ertion is, appears even by the delay of Circumci&s;ion. For can any conceive that God would have deferr'd it for eight dayes (in which intervall of time many millions dyed) had it been ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation? It is the contempt of the Sacrament, this &s;ame <HI>nolle circumcidi,</HI> and that which an&s;wers to it, <HI>Nolle Baptizari,</HI> to be again&s;t Infants Bapti&s;m, that God takes ill, to ca&s;t off the means, which he hath ordained, when it may be had: For when it cannot be, and yet is de&s;ired, he will not impute it. Though God hath tyed us, yet he hath not tyed him|&s;elf; the grace of God may be imputed without the Sacraments; and I no|thing doubt but it was extended to many Infants who&s;e foreskin was not cut, and to &s;ome of tho&s;e who dyed in the wilderne&s;s, when Circumci&s;ion was omit|ted for fourty years.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.5.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. But I return to the&s;e eight dayes. Mu&s;ick they &s;ay con&s;i&s;ts in numbers; and mo&s;t true it is, that all voyces or in&s;truments tun'd, by their parity or im|parity, produce a Symphony; you &s;hall hear then what De&s;cant the grave&s;t Divines have run upon this Diapa&s;on, this Eight. For &s;ome apply it Mo|rally, &s;ome My&s;tically.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That this eight day falls out to be the fir&s;t of the year, it teacheth what we are to have in mind all the year. <HI>viz.</HI> The blood of Chri&s;t this day &s;hed as a pledge, that he would &s;hed all the re&s;t for us. For there was a double effu&s;ion of his blood; Fir&s;t at his Circumci&s;ion; the other at his Pa&s;&s;ion. Now an Infant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 21.2.</NOTE> he &s;hed a few drops, as it were the two mites, and ca&s;t them into the trea&s;ury of the Church; little they appear to be, but they are of in|finite vallue and comfort; for they are a pawn, that by the &s;tream to follow, all our debts &s;hall be paid, we &s;hall be enriched, we &s;hall be &s;aved, we &s;hall live for ever.</P>
<P>Secondly, That this Circumci&s;ion followed &s;o quickly upon his Birth; it &s;hews that mortification of our fle&s;hly members, and the Cro&s;s of Chri&s;t is not to be deferred to our old age,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Stella in Luc.</HI> Lam. 3.27.</NOTE> but that the yoke of God is to be borne even from our youth. And the&s;e Morals <HI>Stella</HI> finds in it.</P>
<P><HI>Bede, Hierom, Nazianzene, Augu&s;tine,</HI> find in the eighth day a great My&s;te|ry. They tell us fir&s;t, that the number of eight is <HI>numerus &s;alutis,</HI> a number of &s;alvation, becau&s;e that eight per&s;ons only were &s;aved in the Ark from pe|ri&s;hing in the water.</P>
<P>Secondly, That this is <HI>Novi Te&s;tamenti numerus,</HI> the number of the New Te&s;tament. For that our Lord ro&s;e out of the grave the next day after the Sabbath,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hierom. in <HI>Ezek. 20. &amp; 40.</HI> August. de ci|vit. Dei. <HI>16.</HI> cap. <HI>26.</HI> Augu&s;t. in <HI>P&s;. 6.</HI></NOTE> which was the eighth day from the fir&s;t of the Creation. The Jews kept holy the &s;eventh, but we under the New Te&s;tament the eighth in memory of our Saviours re&s;urrection on that day.</P>
<P>Thirdly, That it is <HI>numerus aeternitatis,</HI> a number that puts us in mind of eternity. In the &s;ix dayes what&s;oever was made, mu&s;t al&s;o peri&s;h; the &s;eventh day it&s;elf was not to continue, no nor the &s;ervice done in it. The day was but a &s;hadow that mu&s;t give way to our Lords day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh 4.23.</NOTE> and the &s;ervice meere Ce|remony, that mu&s;t yield to our wor&s;hip in Spirit and Truth. The eighth day, the day we now keep mu&s;t la&s;t, and the honour of it to continue to the worlds end. After which there remains <HI>Sabbati&s;mus,</HI> a re&s;t to the people of God, an eternal Sabbath in heaven. This mu&s;t be after the re&s;urrection, of which this Sabbath,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian. orat. <HI>43.</HI> Hug. Victor. lib. <HI>1.</HI> de Sacram. part. <HI>12.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> this eighth day I mean kept to the honour of Chri&s;t ri&s;ing from the grave, is but a Type; when all corruption of the fle&s;h &s;hall be cut off, <HI>and this mortal &s;hall put on immortality,</HI> 1 Cor. 15.53.</P>
<P>Now how fitly doth this <HI>Salutis numerus,</HI> this number of &s;alvation ag<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">e
<PB N="205" REF="108"> to him, who was the Saviour of all! How aptly the number of the New Te|&s;tament to him, who abbrogated the Old, and made this New Will! The number of Eternity to the Father of Eternity, and of the future world!</P>
<P>What &s;hould I tell you that <HI>Bede</HI> findes a multiplyed Ogdoas in the Name of Je&s;us. Thus he writes it, and out of the numeral letters put together,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bede in</HI> Luc. 2.</NOTE> ca&s;ts the product 888.</P>
<P><TABLE>
<ROW>
<CELL>&Igr;</CELL>
<CELL>&eegr;</CELL>
<CELL>&sgr;</CELL>
<CELL>&ogr;</CELL>
<CELL>&ugr;</CELL>
<CELL>&sfgr;</CELL>
<CELL COLS="2">Which being added together, make 888.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>10</CELL>
<CELL>8</CELL>
<CELL>200</CELL>
<CELL>70</CELL>
<CELL>400</CELL>
<CELL>200</CELL>
</ROW>
</TABLE></P>
<P>The number of the Bea&s;t runs all upon &s;ixes. So is his name 666.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 13.18.</NOTE> The num|ber of all things which fade and faile, being created in the &s;ix dayes. About the&s;e fading vanities was the work of Antichri&s;t; nor he, nor they mu&s;t conti|nue, for they &s;hall be de&s;troy'd by the Spirit of Chri&s;ts mouth. But the Name of Je&s;us was founded upon eights, that number of Eternity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 2.8. Rev. 14.6. Heb. 5.9. and 9.12.</NOTE> that number of Salvation, to teach us that his Go&s;pel was to be an Eternal Go&s;pel; his Re|demption an Eternal Redemption, farre beyond any work done upon the &s;ix dayes; that, and the fruit of it to remain for ever.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> His Name was called Je&s;us.</HEAD>
<P>Salvation is the fruit, &s;alvation is the end; for that end he was born, for that end circumci&s;ed. The Obligation he entred into at his Circumci&s;ion was to &s;ave, and therefore then, and not till then he had his Name given him, Je|&s;us a Saviour. A wonderful and &s;trange thing, <HI>Circumciditur puer &amp; vocatur Je&s;us,</HI> he is circumci&s;ed, and yet called Je&s;us. He is circumci&s;ed, and that makes him a Servant, for by this &s;ign he was mark'd to be one of Gods people under the Law, and bound to &s;ervice. And yet this &s;ervant (for &s;o <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 49.6. Phil. 2.7.</NOTE> &s;o St. <HI>Paul</HI> calls him) is more then a &s;ervant, for he is Je&s;us, and mu&s;t &s;ave, which alone belongs to God.</P>
<P><HI>Abram</HI> at his Circumci&s;ion received a new name, that honourable name of <HI>Abraham,</HI> becau&s;e he &s;hould be the Father of many Nations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 17.5.</NOTE> who &s;hould believe and obey, as he did: So Chri&s;t at his Circumci&s;ion, who, as a man, became now one of the people of God, dedicated to his &s;ervice and honour, took this wonderful Name of Je&s;us, becau&s;e he was to be the Saviour of all tho&s;e Nations of which <HI>Abraham</HI> was to be the Father according to the Co|venant of Grace.</P>
<P>In this one ver&s;e then, we have Law and Go&s;pel; The Law ob&s;erv'd by the &s;harp knife of Circumci&s;ion; the Go&s;pel preach'd under the Name of Je&s;us. One of <HI>Abrahams</HI> Children in that he bled; more than <HI>Abrahams</HI> Childe in that he was Je&s;us. Maje&s;ty and weakne&s;s, God and man, Heaven and earth are in this place met together. His Circumci&s;ion is an undeniable Ar|gument of his Humanity; The Name given him above every Name,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.9.</NOTE> an evi|dence of his Maje&s;ty: what means this connexion? what is the purpo&s;e of this great Saviour to conjoyn heights and depths, humane things and Divine together? was it to give us a ta&s;te, that he could not be Je&s;us, a Saviour, with|out &s;hedding of blood? or was it not rather to inform us, that it is peculiar to God to exalt the obedient? To my under&s;tanding,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>I&s;a. 62.2.</HI> Pi&s;cator in loc. Cyrill. lib. <HI>5.</HI> de Trinit.</NOTE> the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> in&s;inuates &s;ome &s;uch thing, when he foretells, <HI>Thou &s;halt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord &s;hall name;</HI> or as <HI>Pi&s;cator</HI> reads it, <HI>prefixerit,</HI> and paraphra&s;eth it, <HI>determinaverit, de&s;ignarit, definierit;</HI> or according to the propriety of the <HI>Heb. perforabit,</HI> &s;hall bore.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vegetius. Chry|&s;ost. Prudent.</NOTE> After the &s;ame manner as we cut notes and letters which we de&s;ire to be la&s;ting, in &s;ome &s;oft matter, &s;uch as &s;laves and &s;ouldiers
<PB N="206" REF="109"> were wont to have burnt in their fle&s;h or faces, which &s;hew'd that they were no longer in their own power,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.7. Joh. 4.34.</NOTE> but at the command of another. So was this Name of Je&s;us, <HI>perforatum,</HI> cut into his fle&s;h, and by the edge of this &s;har<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> knife at his Circumci&s;ion impre&s;s'd in him, to &s;hew that he became a &s;ervant for us, was no more at his own di&s;po&s;e, but wholly bent to do the will of him that &s;ent him.</P>
<P>But it is worth your ob&s;ervation, that God never forgot his &s;ervant. For in his humility his judgement was exalted; when he was at the weake&s;t, then to a diligent eye, he was at the &s;tronge&s;t; when &s;o low that he might give an offence, then was there &s;ome &s;ign from heaven which might wipe away the &s;candal. Offend it might, that he &s;hould be conceived of men&s;truous blood; for nine moneths continue in the womb of a woman. But that this woman was a Virgin, that her concepion was from the Holy Gho&s;t, that this was de|clared by an Angel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 1. Luc. 1.</NOTE> that her Sonne was <GAP DESC="foreign">, a holy thing, makes a full amends for that. Look on his Birth, therein lies the Lord of glory without all glory, his Palace a &s;table, his Cradle a cratch, his Pillow, God knows what, the hangings of that room, for ought we know, du&s;t, and cob|webs, his attendants bea&s;ts, or &s;hepherds at the be&s;t: <HI>Audi&s;tis vilia, audi|etis mirifica.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;.</NOTE> Were the&s;e things ba&s;e and mean? an offence, a &s;candal? you may turn then here and &s;ee what will make you wonder. That contemp|tible Cratch is honoured with the report and mu&s;ick of Angels: The little Babe in his clouts is made known by a Star in the Clouds: For the poor &s;he|pherds you have great wi&s;e men, to fall down to him, to adore him even then, and offer their gifts.</P>
<P>Offend again it may, to &s;ee him like any other Jewi&s;h Male, to bleed under this &s;harp and &s;hameful knife; but then call to mind his Name then given, and you have an ample amends made; a Name that is above every Name.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.9.</NOTE> A Name above to him, above to us. To us, <HI>For there is no other Name given by which we can be &s;aved:</HI> And above to him, for that he would purcha&s;e it twice with his blood, now in his Cradle, after on his Cro&s;s, when al&s;o he would have this Name written in fair Characters over his head, in three known Lnaguages for all to read,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.19. I&s;a. 43.11.</NOTE> as if then he intended to proclaim in Hebrew, Greek, and Latine, <HI>I am, and be&s;ides me there is no Je&s;us.</HI></P>
<P>Names if rightly impo&s;ed, are <HI>Notamina,</HI> &s;hort definitions that expre&s;s to us the nature of the thing;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Scaliger.</NOTE> whence the Ancients taught, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plato.</NOTE> he that will teach aright, mu&s;t fir&s;t &s;earch out the rea&s;on of the Name. Now all other Names of God, as <HI>El</HI> the &s;trong God, or <HI>Shadai</HI> the All-&s;ufficient God, or <HI>Adonai</HI> my Lord, or <HI>Elohim</HI> Governours, or &s;trong Princes, are all Appellatives, and may be com|municated: This One is Gods proper Name, litterally as &s;ome contend, ne|ver communicated to any other per&s;on, but I am &s;ure in the energy and &s;en&s;e of it, never, never.</P>
<P>Great Clerks inform us, that the names of tho&s;e in Scripture we u&s;ually call Je&s;us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Galatin. Pagnin. Jaer&s;en. Suarez. Thomas.</NOTE> had not the &s;ame name <HI>&s;ecundum materiale,</HI> not in very letters and &s;yllables. For their Names they &s;ay, was <HI>Jeho&s;hua, Chri&s;ts Je&s;ua:</HI> Now <HI>Jeho&s;hua</HI> &s;ignifies God will &s;ave, &s;ave by them: But <HI>Je&s;ua</HI> in the pre&s;ent ten&s;e, he &s;aves, or is a Saviour him&s;elf, which if true, then the Name litte|rally is proper to him <HI>quarto modo.</HI> It belongs to him <HI>uni &s;oli &amp; &s;emper,</HI> to him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 45.21.</NOTE> to him only, and alwayes to him. <HI>I&s;aiahs</HI> words are verified in him alone, <HI>I am, and be&s;ides me there is no Saviour.</HI></P>
<P>As for the &s;en&s;e of it, in others it was but <HI>Magni nominis umbra;</HI> for they were petty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lucan.</NOTE> particular, temporal Saviours, but &s;hadows only, and Types of him. The Angel might well proclaim at his birth, <HI>To day is b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rn to you a Saviour;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 2.11.</NOTE> for never was there an Univer&s;al, Spiritual Saviour in the world till he was born.</P>
<PB N="207" REF="109">
<P>Tho&s;e might and did &s;ave the body: This Saviour body and &s;oul together; They could &s;ave but from man and carnal enemies; He from the enemies of mankind, and from &s;piritual. They &s;ome one Nation, as put ca&s;e the Jews: He the whole world. They from temporal calamities, as it were the branches; he from &s;in, as it were the root. They from enemies and mi&s;eries for a time onely, for they came again; he from them, and &s;o that they &s;hall not return. He wrought eternal &s;alvation; Eternal,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5.9.</NOTE> which never any Je&s;us or <HI>Jeho&s;hua</HI> el&s;e did. La&s;tly, they all had need of a Saviour them&s;elves, without whom they had been lo&s;t; but he for him&s;elf needed none, yet imparts of his &s;alvation to all others who are &s;aved; and if you are de&s;irous to know how this is done,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 1.21.</NOTE> it was by &s;aving his people from their &s;in.</P>
<P>Yea but youle &s;ay, How are his people &s;aved from their &s;ins, when there is not one of his people who are not to this day &s;inners? <HI>Abraham</HI> a &s;inner, <HI>Da|vid</HI> a &s;inner, <HI>Peter</HI> a &s;inful man; <HI>And if any man &s;ay that he hath no &s;in,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 1.8.</NOTE> <HI>he deceives him&s;elf, and there is no truth in him.</HI> Can a man be &s;aid to be freed from that burden under which he yet &s;uffers and groans?</P>
<P>But O happy &s;ighs and groans! for the&s;e if con&s;tant and &s;erious in any one of his people, &s;hew evidently that the man is &s;aved. Saved not &s;o far from &s;in, that it &s;hall not dwell in him and with him, but that it doth not reign in him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.12. Joh. 5.24.</NOTE> nor &s;hall condemn him. In &s;in there is a double power, the one <HI>dominandi,</HI> of domineering; the other <HI>damnandi,</HI> of condemning; and from both he hath &s;aved his people. Fir&s;t from that of reigning or domineering, whereby it commands, and men obey, drudge and droyl in its &s;ervice;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.1.</NOTE> and &s;uch a &s;lave not one of his people can be; for they live not after the fle&s;h, but after the Spirit. And then again from that power of condemning, becau&s;e <HI>there is no condemnation to tho&s;e that are in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 33.34.</NOTE> <HI>Who &s;hall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect? It is God that ju&s;tifieth: Who is it that condemneth? it is Chri&s;t that dyed, yea rather that is ri&s;en again, who is even at the right hand of God, who al&s;o makes interce&s;&s;ion for us.</HI></P>
<P>This name then is an ointment poured forth;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.3.</NOTE> for at the impo&s;ition and ma|nife&s;tation it &s;ends forth a mo&s;t fragrant &s;mell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 12.3.</NOTE> as <HI>Maries</HI> box of Spiknard when it was opened. For indeed it containes in it the vertue and power of all tho&s;e other Names with which the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> honors him:<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.6.</NOTE> How well doth the name of Wonderful agree to him who did &s;uch wonders to &s;ave us? He mu&s;t needs be the be&s;t Coun&s;ellor, that directs a way to &s;ave a &s;oul; no e|nemy can take us out of his hand, for he is the Mighty God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 27.10. Joh. 14.18.</NOTE> other fathers leave and for&s;ake us; but he is the everla&s;ting Father, and will not leave us Orphans. Without peace there can be no &s;afety; Why he is the Prince of Peace. Let therefore Je&s;us be to thee wonderful, by whom thou mai&s;t do wonders, conquer &s;in, Satan, death, hell; let Je&s;us be thy Mighty God to whom being united thou &s;halt always overcome. Take Je&s;us for thy Coun|&s;ellor, who will open unto thee the whole will of God; Choo&s;e Je&s;us for thy father, by and from whom thou &s;halt obtain an everla&s;ting inheritance; acknowledge him to be the Prince of Peace, by who&s;e aide thy enemies being conquered thou &s;halt enjoy eternal peace. O good Je&s;u, how truely is thy Name an ointment poured out, becau&s;e from thee there was poured out up|on us wi&s;dom, righteou&s;ne&s;s, &s;anctification, and redemption, coun&s;el,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.30.</NOTE> &s;trength, hope of eternal life, and peace which pa&s;&s;eth all under&s;tand|ing!</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> Which was &s;o named of the Angel before he was conceived in the wombe.</HEAD>
<P>Now then &s;ince he was to be all this to us, no marvail if he had his Name from heaven; had he been to be named by his mother, from her he could not
<PB N="208" REF="110"> well have been called Je&s;us, becau&s;e from her he was to have onely his humane nature, he mu&s;t be born under the law, was capable of Circumci&s;ion and pain; whence &s;he might well have called him, as <HI>Rachel</HI> her &s;on, <HI>Benoni,</HI> the &s;on of &s;orrow.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 35.18. Luc. 10.22.</NOTE> But becau&s;e no man knows the Son but the Father, and he to whom the father will reveal him, therefore he alone impo&s;ed the Name, and to that purpo&s;e &s;ent his me&s;&s;enger the Angel <HI>Gabriel,</HI> at the &s;ame time when he brought the good news of his Conception;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 1 31.</NOTE> then, before he was conceived, enjoyned it was to <HI>Mary,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 1.21.</NOTE> <HI>Thou &s;halt call his name Je&s;us;</HI> for this name was made known to <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> by the &s;ame, or another Angel afterwards.</P>
<P>Mark here how &s;trict the words of the injunction are, <HI>Thou &s;halt call him,</HI> not by any Name, not as you plea&s;e, but as I from God command: This name then was not impo&s;ed as other names on children by the will of their parents,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 1.31, 32.</NOTE> but in a &s;ingular way, becau&s;e the child that was to be called by it, was far to exceed all other children; which the Angel expre&s;&s;eth fully in the &s;ame place, <HI>He &s;hall be great and &s;hall be called the Son of the Mo&s;t High; And the Lord God &s;hall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he &s;hall reign over the hou&s;e of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there &s;hall be no end.</HI> In which words the Angel &s;ets down three excellent prerogatives of this Name, or of the per&s;on who bears this Name.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Erit magnus,</HI> he &s;hall be great, not with any limitation or re&s;triction, as of <HI>John Bapti&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 1.15.</NOTE> great before the Lord, that is, a great Prophet, or &s;ervant; or as <HI>Jo&s;hua,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 3.1.</NOTE> a great high Prie&s;t &s;tanding before the Angel of the Lord, but ab&s;olutely great, as being <HI>Dominus Dominantium,</HI> the Lord of Lords, as mak|ing all other great; and in who&s;e pre&s;ence it is the greate&s;t honor to be great,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.14.</NOTE> the very Angels them&s;elves &s;tanding before his throne as Mini&s;ters.</P>
<P N="2">2. He out of Humility calls him&s;elf the Son of man; and that he was &s;o, were there no other rea&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.20.</NOTE> that <HI>cauterium peccatoris,</HI> and effu&s;ion of blood at his Circumci&s;ion would &s;ufficiently prove it; but the Angel calls him the Son of the mo&s;t High, not the Adopted, but Natural, who&s;e power is &s;o great, that by this grace of adoption,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.14, 15, 16, 17.</NOTE> he is able to make others al&s;o &s;ons and heirs; and this is his &s;econd prerogative.</P>
<P N="3">3. And yet there is a third, This Je&s;us is a King to &s;ucceed <HI>David,</HI> to reign over the hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob</HI> for ever; which <HI>for ever,</HI> lea&s;t it &s;hould be &s;tinted to a &s;et time, as it is &s;ometime in Scripture, the Angel adds, <HI>Of his kingdom there &s;hall be no end;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 2.7. Ezek. 20.5.</NOTE> no end in time, nor no end for extent, for he is to raign in the hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob,</HI> in the hou&s;e of the faithful who are properly the &s;eed of <HI>Jacob</HI> for ever; over all he doth and will reign by his Scepter of power, but over them by his Scepter of Grace.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 45.6, 7.</NOTE> This, this is the Title over his head, <HI>Je&s;us of Nazareth the King of the Jews.</HI></P>
<P>And now, O thou happy Chri&s;tian, who hope&s;t for &s;alvation by this name Je&s;us, let this name be to thee an ointment poured forth, and carry in thy&s;elf the three powers of this Name. Be thou therefore by his Spirit great before God: be thou his &s;on by adoption; be a King and reign over thy unruly affections and pa&s;&s;ions, and &s;o hereafter thou &s;halt reign with him for ever. If thou &s;halt hum|ble thy &s;elf with him as he did, thou &s;halt be exalted by him, <HI>Becau&s;e every one that humbleth him&s;elf &s;hall be exalted.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 14.11.</NOTE></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>The Application.</HEAD>
<P>Thus have you the explication; I now de&s;cend to the Application of this text. Brethren, we have in the Circumci&s;ion of our Lord what to admire, what to imitate, and in his name what to reverence.</P>
<P N="1">1. It mu&s;t &s;trike us into admiration to &s;ee God in our fle&s;h, God &s;uffering in our fle&s;h, and bleeding in our nature; Was there ever the like heard, ever the like
<PB N="209" REF="110"> &s;eem? When I look upon the per&s;on, I cannot comprehend the greatne&s;s of his Maje&s;ty; when I behold the blood,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.22. &amp; 3.18. Joh. 10.11.</NOTE> I am not able to expre&s;s the greatne&s;s of his love. The Innocent would bleed for the &s;inful, the Judge for the Male|factor, the Phy&s;itian for his patient, the Shepherd for the &s;heep, the Creator for his creature, in a word, God for man.</P>
<P><HI>Ob&s;tupe&s;cite coeli,</HI> Be amazed O heavens! behold at what rate he e&s;teemed man, and be not like hor&s;e and mule, creatures without under&s;tanding, but get you to <HI>Bethlehem,</HI> and behold there the Lord of Angels,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 32.9. Heb. 2.7, 9.</NOTE> not made onely lower than Angels, but lower than an ordinary per&s;on, taking upon him not onely the &s;hape of man, but the form of a &s;inner, a wicked &s;inner,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 19.7.</NOTE> for he is marked in his fle&s;h <HI>qua&s;i quodam cauterio latronis,</HI> burnt as it were and &s;tigma|tized with the mark of an evil doer. Behold this fir&s;t, and wonder at it, and wondering love him, and loving rejoyce, and with greater joy be thankful to the head that would bleed for the members, to the head that would dye for the parts, to Je&s;us <HI>qui totus pro nobis datus, totus in u&s;us no&s;tros expen&s;us,</HI> to Je&s;us I &s;ay who was wholly given for us, wholly expended and laid out for our u&s;e.</P>
<P N="2">2. But to wonder is not much; &s;eldom is there any &s;trange thing which men will not gaze at; or to love and be glad is no hard motion to per&s;wade, for na|turally men do love and will joy in that which &s;hall make for their good and benefit. We have then here &s;omewhat more to admire, &s;omewhat to &s;et us to work; the Circumci&s;ion is for our imitation; we, even we, yet though the let|ter be gone, have what in this Ceremony to follow.</P>
<P>There is a Circumci&s;ion of the heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 4.2.</NOTE> a cutting off of what&s;oever is &s;uper|fluous, what&s;oever is &s;inful, and in this we mu&s;t all be Jews. Cut off pride, that thou mai&s;t be ve&s;ted with Chri&s;ts humility; cut off thine own will, that thou mai&s;t put on his obedience; cut off thine anger and fury, that thou mai&s;t receive his patience. Cut off the love of thy &s;elf, that thou mai&s;t be marked with the love of God. Coveteou&s;ne&s;s mu&s;t go under the knife; wantonne&s;s under the knife, gluttony under the knife, &s;acriledge under the knife, bla&s;phemy under the knife; in a word all the lu&s;ts of the fle&s;h under the knife, they mu&s;t be cut off and ca&s;t away from us if we mean to receive the &s;eal of Chri&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;&s;. 5.23. Mat. 6.22. Rom. 2.29.</NOTE> The Jew was circumci&s;ed in one part onely, but the Chri&s;tian is to be circumci&s;|ed in the whole man; the Jew outwardly, the Chri&s;tian within; the Jew in the fle&s;h, the Chri&s;tian in the heart; the Jew in the letter, the Chri&s;tian in the Spirit; <HI>Ye are circumci&s;ed</HI> (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle) <HI>not with circumci&s;ion made with hands, but with the circumci&s;ion made without hands,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.11.</NOTE> <HI>in putting off the body of the &s;ins of the fle&s;h by the circumci&s;ion of Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>Be it that this be grievous to fle&s;h and blood, yet &s;o God will have it; there could be no cutting without pain, nor bleeding without inci&s;ion; 'tis contrary to the nature of Circumci&s;ion, that the circumci&s;ed &s;mart not. When you are then to be circumci&s;ed with Chri&s;t and for Chri&s;t, you mu&s;t be content to &s;mart, to &s;uffer, to abide pain, or el&s;e you can never be within the Covenant; think not that God hath &s;trewed your way to heaven with ro&s;es;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.14.</NOTE> 'tis a &s;harpe way that leads thither, the way of mortification; the rough way of repen|tance, the &s;trait gate of ab&s;tinence and fa&s;ting, and the bloody path of afflicti|on tends to happine&s;s; in one word, death is the gate of life, and the&s;e as &s;o many circumci&s;ions mu&s;t be undergone by us, before we can wear a Crown;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.6. Col. 3.9.</NOTE> the old man cannot be put off without trouble: ye have now what to imitate.</P>
<P N="3">3. But in the la&s;t place once more be plea&s;ed to ca&s;t your ey upon the name Je&s;us, &amp; you have a name to honor &amp; wor&s;hip. Humility it was in him to take the name, but greater humility to take it at a Circumci&s;ion; now becau&s;e he thus humbled him&s;elf, <HI>Therfore hath God given him a name above every name,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.8, 9, 10.</NOTE> <HI>that at the name of
<PB N="210" REF="111"> Je&s;us every knee &s;hould bow, of things in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under the earth.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.45, 51, 52.</NOTE> The Sunne &s;aw this Name Je&s;us upon the Cro&s;s, and it withdrew its light, and &s;o bow'd to it; The earth then &s;aw it, and fell a tre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">bling before it. The Saints in their graves heard of it, and ro&s;e in obey&s;ance to it. And &s;o was verified what he before &s;aid, <HI>I, if I be lifted up from the earth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 12.32.</NOTE> <HI>I will draw all unto me, all to bow their knee before me.</HI> Be&s;ides the Sun then things in heaven bowed; For Angels at his Re&s;urrecti|on (which was his <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.6. <HI>Chry&s;.</HI> Hom. 20. in Joan. John 1.51.</NOTE> his &s;econd bringing into the world) the Angels I &s;ay, de&s;cended to adore and honour him. Then, as <HI>Chry&s;ostome</HI> hath it, was fulfill'd what our Saviour &s;aid to <HI>Nathaniel, You &s;hall &s;ee the heaven opened, and the Angels of God a&s;cending and de&s;cending on the Son of man.</HI> Then things in the earth bow'd, when &s;ome of all Nations, Jews and Gentiles be|ing converted, confe&s;&s;ed his Name, and fell low before him. The&s;e gladly, willingly, chearfully. But for things under the earth, Devils, and foul &s;pi|rits fell low before him; when, though unwillingly, by this very name they were forced to depart from tho&s;e they po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed, and put to &s;ilence in tho&s;e Oracles, and compell'd to leave tho&s;e Temples where they had been of old a|dored. All things then in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, bow'd to the Name; They that had knees bowed in kinde; but tho&s;e that had none, did bow with the knee, as they did confe&s;s with the tongue, that is, their way, by &s;omething that is <GAP DESC="foreign">, corre&s;pondent to both.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bi&s;h. Andrews</HI> Serm. in Phil. 2.</NOTE>Look unto the Text then, and let no man per&s;wade you, but that God requireth a reverent carriage even of the body it &s;elf. And namely, this &s;er|vice of the knee, and that to his Sonnes Name. What to the &s;yllables? to the &s;ound? I &s;ay it not; but to the per&s;on, who&s;e name it is, yea, and that you take an occa&s;ion to do it, when this Name is with reverence brought to your eares. This is that Name above every name; above, as I but now &s;aid, to him, above to us. To him, for to purcha&s;e our Salvation (which was the joy that was &s;et before him) he endured the Cro&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.2.</NOTE> and de&s;pi&s;ed the &s;hame. No man co&s;t him &s;o deare; it co&s;t him his honour, it co&s;t him paine, it co&s;t him blood, it co&s;t him his life before he could be our Je&s;us; and that which co&s;t him &s;o dear, as it is dear to him, &s;o it ought to be dearly re&s;pe|cted by us.</P>
<P>So it ought: But alas, what is more cheap! we take it in our mouths as familiarly, as if it were &s;ome common name; we prophane it by a vaine and idle Oath. Many, who know not what manner of per&s;on he is, will yet have <HI>By Je&s;u</HI> in their mouths, more readily than Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord at the end of their prayers.</P>
<P>But this is the lea&s;t injury, I feare me; the Name is become very cheap indeed, even by tho&s;e who would be taken for his &s;ole Servants; men, that vote it to be &s;uper&s;titious to bow at it;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vide Scult.</HI> in I&s;a. 45. &amp; 23. <HI>Zanch.</HI> In loc.</NOTE> That it hath been u&s;ed to &s;uper&s;tition, I have read &s;ome that &s;ay; that upon &s;ome rea&s;ons it might be forborne, and for &s;ome rea&s;ons u&s;ed, I reade al&s;o; but never did I heare or reade till this age, that it was unlawful to bow at it; never the reverence done at it, &s;corn'd for <HI>Je&s;u-wor&s;hip.</HI></P>
<P>Will you but with patience heare what may be &s;aid; the Text is known, <HI>At the Name of Je&s;us every knee &s;hall bow;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.10.</NOTE> and all Expo&s;itors, even they who are again&s;t bowing, profe&s;s, that with the <HI>Heart</HI> all veneration, reve|rence, fear, bowing may be done to the Name.</P>
<P>O gro&s;s &s;tupidity, or wilfull blindne&s;s! &s;hall we yield that the heart may bow, and not the knee? what grant the more, and yet deny the le&s;s? which I pray' is the greater &s;ervice? that of the heart, or that other of the knee? the interiour, or the exteriour? Well now, put ca&s;e there be &s;uper&s;tition in the bowing at the Name, where lies the guilt? within, or without? in the
<PB N="211" REF="111"> heart, or in the knee? Within certainly, as well as without; either then let them both be allow'd to bow together, or both be denyed to bow; which yet I never met with any, who &s;poke of this Subject, dur&s;t af|firme.</P>
<P>That men do it at the Name of God, <HI>Jehovah,</HI> Chri&s;t, I know not any deny; but that it be done at this Name e&s;pecially, peculiar rea&s;ons there are.</P>
<P N="1">1. Tho&s;e Names never were in &s;uch di&s;e&s;teem as this. This was brought low by the Jews: This derided by the Gentiles: This &s;coffed at by <HI>Julian</HI> and all Apo&s;tates: This &s;et upon the Cro&s;s in &s;corne: and then there is great rea&s;on, that all they who hope to have &s;alvation by it, highly exalt it; and the next way to exalt any thing that is low, is to fall low before it.</P>
<P N="2">2. Nay, among Chri&s;tians there were and are, that would not have it the Name of God. The <HI>Arrians</HI> did and do deny his eternal Generation;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Zanch.</HI> in Phil. 2.</NOTE> and to confute the&s;e, it was a very Ancient and laudable cu&s;tome in the Church to bow at his Name. The <HI>Lutherans</HI> to this day u&s;e it. <HI>Scultetus</HI> grants,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Scult.</HI> in I&s;a. 45 <HI>Vorst.</HI> apol. per. Eccl. Belg.</NOTE> <HI>Si cum animi devotione id fiat, landandum;</HI> That if it be done with the devotion of the heart, it de&s;erves prai&s;e; and more we require not. And <HI>Vor&s;tius</HI> &s;aith, That the Churches of the Low Countries have no Act, no Canon for it; but yet, <HI>Si quis velit, per nos licet;</HI> If any man be di&s;pos'd to bow his knee at the Name, he may freely do it. With which moderation al&s;o <HI>Scultetus</HI> concludes his deci&s;ion of this point.</P>
<P N="3">3. I &s;hall add the&s;e rea&s;ons, <HI>verbatim,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bi&s;h. <HI>Adrews</HI> Ser. in 2 Phil.</NOTE> taken out of that Worthy of our Church, whom I honour in his grave, Bi&s;hop <HI>Andrews.</HI> He moves the que|&s;tion, Why to this Name, more than to the Name of Chri&s;t? The rea|&s;ons are,</P>
<P N="1">1. Chri&s;t is not, cannot be the Name of God? God cannot be anointed. But Je&s;us is the Name of God, and the chief Name of God.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Name of Chri&s;t is communicated by him to others:<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 43.11.</NOTE> So is not Je|&s;us, that is proper, <HI>I am, and be&s;ide me there is no other;</HI> and ever that which is proper, is above that which is holden common.</P>
<P N="3">3. Chri&s;t is Anointed to what end? to be a Saviour. Ever the end is a|bove the means: Ever the name of health, above the name of the medicine. I add, that there be many now adayes that deny his <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Socinus.</NOTE> the price he laid down for our health, as the <HI>Socinians;</HI> good then to bow, to &s;hew we are not of their judgement.</P>
<P N="4">4. But when we finde expre&s;&s;ely in this ver&s;e, this Name exalted above all names, and this Act limited to it in direct words, and &s;o this Name above them in this very peculiar, why &s;eek we farther?</P>
<P>Thus farre that Learned and Pious Bi&s;hop; now I proceed. Not to do it, to omit it, and leave it undone, is very doubtful: But to deny it, to forbid it to be done, to mock and &s;coff at tho&s;e who do it, is methinks a kinde of Juliani&s;me. Will you then take the &s;afe&s;t way? To omit it, may be dangerous; to do it piou&s;ly, cannot be &s;inful: and therefore, as I may, I mu&s;t do reve|rence to the per&s;on of my Saviour, &s;o will I take an occa&s;ion to do it upon the mention of his &s;aving Name; and &s;o much the rather,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zanchy, Hooker, Whitgift.</NOTE> becau&s;e I have the Declaration of my Mother the Church of <HI>England</HI> to direct me, and an Univer&s;al practice of the mo&s;t con&s;cientious Chri&s;tians for many Ages.</P>
<P>To Conclude, if Chri&s;t be Je&s;us, if Je&s;us God, all reverence, interiour, exteriour, is too little for him. The homage of the heart, the bowing of the knee, the confe&s;&s;ion of the tongue, are all his due. And if ye cannot be per|&s;waded to yield it, yet be not of the number of tho&s;e that do deny it, that do forbid it, that &s;coff at it, nay, that per&s;ecute and brand tho&s;e that do it.</P>
<PB N="212" REF="112">
<P>Therefore God hath exalted his per&s;on, that we &s;hould exalt his per&s;on; therefore God hath given him a Name above all names, that we above all names &s;hould honour it. What&s;oever good we can de&s;ire or expect, is to be found in this Name. Is life good? <HI>Je&s;us is the life.</HI> Is Re&s;urrection good? <HI>Je&s;us is the Re&s;urrection.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 11.25. <HI>Origen.</HI> pref. in Joannem. Joh. 8.12. &amp; 14.6. <HI>Ambro&s;.</HI> lib. 3. de Virgin. Zach. 13.1. Jer. 23.6.</NOTE> Is the light good? <HI>Je&s;us the light of the World.</HI> Briefly, <HI>He is the way, the truth, wi&s;dome, power, righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, a full trea&s;ury of all good things.</HI> All good things we have in Chri&s;t, and Chri&s;t Je&s;us is all good things to us. If thou de&s;ire&s;t to cure thy wounds, he is the Phy&s;ician; if thou art fcorch'd with a feveri&s;h &s;inne, he is a Fountain; if loaden with a burden of iniquity, he is thy righteou&s;ne&s;s; if thou need&s;t help, he is power; if thou feare&s;t death, he is life; if thou de&s;ire&s;t heaven, he is the way; if thou hate&s;t darkne&s;s, he is light; if thou &s;eeke&s;t meat, he is food and nouri&s;hment; O ta&s;te and &s;ee how gracious, how &s;weet this Name Je&s;us is! ble&s;&s;ed is the man that hopes in him.</P>
<P>O ble&s;&s;ed Je&s;us! thy Name truly to me is an ointment poured forth! thine &s;hall I call it, or mine? Both I confe&s;s; thy name now and mine: Thine becau&s;e thine is &s;alvation, and it proceeds from thee: Mine, becau&s;e it is wholly imparted to me, and impo&s;ed for me. The Name of Chri&s;t is preci|ous, from which I have the anointing; but the Name of Je&s;us to me more proper and u&s;eful, by which I am &s;aved. For the Name of Chri&s;t is partly his, and partly mine; mine for him, and his for me. But he was call'd Je|&s;us, not for him&s;elf, but for me alone: For he needed no Saviour, that was no &s;inner. I was the &s;inner, and for me he took the Name; my Spirit there|fore &s;hall rejoyce in God my Saviour; my heart &s;hall bow to God my Savi|our; and my knee &s;hall bend to God my Saviour; and my tongue &s;hall con|fe&s;s God my Saviour; and my life &s;hall expre&s;s God my Saviour.</P>
<P>Becau&s;e this Name of Je&s;us is for me, I will al&s;o be wholly for Je&s;us; no longer mine own, but his; his Di&s;ciple, his Servant, his follower; my Lords wholly to obey his Will, to do his Commands; that as from Chri&s;t the Lord I am called a Chri&s;tian&punc; &s;o from Je&s;us the Saviour I may be Saved.</P>
<P>O deare and &s;weet Je&s;us! would I might be wholly thine, as thou art made wholly mine! Let thy Name be to me an Ointment poured forth, a fragrant &s;mell and perfume, &s;enting me with Ble&s;&s;ing, Salvation, and life for ever and ever. <HI>Amen, Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="17" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>Of the Pa&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>LUKE 24.46.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Thus it behoved Chri&s;t to &s;uffer.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>ALL our Saviours life was a continual Pa&s;&s;ion. For who knows not that Chri&s;t and his Cro&s;s were never parted? and therefore we no &s;ooner confe&s;s that he was borne of the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> but we almo&s;t with the &s;ame breath acknowledge that he <HI>&s;uffered under Pontius Pilate;</HI> we may well be|gin with Chri&s;t in the Cratch, becau&s;e we mu&s;t end with him on the Cro&s;s.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.6, 7.</NOTE>He &s;uffer'd when he became man, his very making being indeed his mar|ring; For whereas before he was in the forme of God, now he became in the forme of a Servant; emptyed, or rather emptying him&s;elf of his glory, and fill'd with &s;hame and di&s;grace. Go to <HI>Bethlehem,</HI> and there you may &s;ee
<PB N="213" REF="112"> him laid in the Manger, wrapt in clouts, bleeding by the edge of a &s;harp knife, borne in a &s;table,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2. Luke 2. Mat. 8.20.</NOTE> not &s;o happy as his own creatures the foules and the bea&s;ts; for whereas the lea&s;t of tho&s;e have ne&s;ts, and the craftie&s;t have holes, <HI>he had not whereon to re&s;t his head.</HI> And was not this to &s;uffer, think ye? He beginning and his end &s;uit too well. <HI>Sic opor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uit Chri&s;tum na&s;ci, &s;ic mori.</HI> So to be borne, &s;o to die: In both <HI>Thus to &s;uffer.</HI> Nay, the very innocency of his infancy could not &s;ecure him from a Tyrants &s;word. His life was even then &s;ought for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.16.</NOTE> as the poore infants round about <HI>Bethlehem</HI> too well felt. The point and edge of that &s;harp weapon, was even dull'd and blunted with the blood, or rather milky gore of tho&s;e pretty innocents:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 21.</NOTE> Which <HI>Rachel</HI> mourned for, and he him&s;elf al&s;o condol'd, as &s;uffering in his members. And he had &s;uffered this cruel &s;troke of death in his own body, had he not &s;uffered another way, <HI>viz.</HI> a long and tedious journey into <HI>E|gypt;</HI> and what wants he &s;uffered by the way, or there, God knows. The 22. P&s;alme, which is a prophe&s;ie of his &s;ufferings and death,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Moller.</HI> Luke 2.51. Mat. 13.55. <HI>Justin Martyr.</HI> Mark 6.3.</NOTE> carries the Title of <HI>Cerva Matutina,</HI> a Hart rowzed early to be hunted in the morning. I pa&s;s by tho&s;e thirty yeares he liv'd with his Parents, and was obedient unto them, in all which time his condition could not be very plentiful, &s;ince his father was but a poor Carpenter, and he with him, as <HI>Ju&s;tine Martyr</HI> was bold to &s;ay, bu&s;ied <GAP DESC="foreign">, in making Beds and Ploughs; as if he would undergo that penalty laid upon man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19.</NOTE> <HI>In the &s;weat of thy brows thou &s;halt eat thy bread.</HI></P>
<P>The time is now come, that he mu&s;t manife&s;t him&s;elf to <HI>I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.80.</NOTE> and now his &s;ufferings became mo&s;t manife&s;t. He is hardly u&s;ed by the devils,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 4.</NOTE> and by men. The devil meets him in the Wilderne&s;&s;e; and, as it is the nature of ba&s;e &s;pirits to trample and in&s;ult over tho&s;e that are down, takes occa&s;ion from his wants and extremities, to a&s;&s;ault and grieve him. He tempts him to un|belief, to pre&s;umption, to Idolatry. One repul&s;e would not check this en|gineer of mi&s;chief.</P>
<P>Out of the Wilderne&s;&s;e he comes to &s;eek the lo&s;t &s;heep; but Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.6. Heb. 12.3. P&s;al. 140.3.</NOTE> how many indignities doth he &s;uffer from his own Nation! his life being nothing el&s;e out a gain-&s;aying of &s;inners. Their tongues runne upon him, and the poy&s;on of A&s;ps couch'd in their lips, is maliciou&s;ly di&s;gorg'd in his face. Fir&s;t they endeavour to take away his good Name, after his life. The very vile&s;t a&s;per&s;ions they could invent, they ca&s;t upon him. By ones cen&s;ure he was a <HI>Samaritane, and had a Devil;</HI> By anothers a mad man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 8.48. Mark 3.21. Joh. 7.12. Luke 7.34. John 15 24. Mat. 12.24. John 9 16. Mat. 13.55. John 7.52.</NOTE> <HI>who &s;o mad as to heare him?</HI> One while he was a <HI>Seducer,</HI> another a <HI>Wine-bibber,</HI> a <HI>gluttonous per&s;on.</HI> Though he did works among them, that no man ever did or could do, yet the&s;e mu&s;t be traduc'd, and the Devils power be rather brought to help, than his Name have the glory; <HI>He ca&s;t out devils?</HI> Ay, <HI>by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils. This man is not from God; the far|thest he can fetch his Pedegree, is from the Carpenters Shop, and his coun|try from G<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lilee, and we know that no good thing can come from thence.</HI> Thus, thus they did de&s;cant upon him with their tongues.</P>
<P>And their practices were corre&s;pondent.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 9.34,</NOTE> His followers they excommu|nicated. There was a Decree already enrolled, <HI>That if any man confe&s;sed him to be the Chri&s;t, he &s;hould be thru&s;t out of the Synagogue.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 11.53.</NOTE> And a|gain&s;t him they call'd a Council, in which it was enacted, <HI>That he mu&s;t die.</HI> And from that day forward they gave an expre&s;&s;e Command,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. ult.</NOTE> <HI>That if any knew where he was, he &s;hould &s;hew it, that they might take him.</HI></P>
<P>Such were the General Sufferings of our Saviour; but the Particulars far more ignominious, farre more grievous. The&s;e in the Scripture are properly call'd the Cro&s;s of Chri&s;t, being all tho&s;e calamities which he &s;uffer'd from his la&s;t Supper until his Death, in his apprehen&s;ion, accu&s;ation, condemnation, execution.</P>
<PB N="214" REF="113">
<P>One of his own family, to put him to the greater grief, mu&s;t be hired to betray him: He knew where to find him, he knew when to take him alone, apart from the multitude, of whom they had &s;ome &s;u&s;pition of re&s;cuing him. <HI>Judas</HI> is the man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.5. Joh. 12.6.</NOTE> one that he tru&s;ted and honoured with the Pur&s;ers place, made the receiver and di&s;pen&s;er of all his trea&s;ure, as if he purpo&s;ely would keep him from this trea&s;on. This <HI>Judas</HI> is hired for a little money to &s;ell him and deliver him into his enemies hands:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 22.4, 5, 6. Zech. 11.4.</NOTE> Thirty pieces of &s;ilver, a goodly price whereat the Son of God was valued. But yet this is too too common; none &s;ell Chri&s;t &s;ooner then tho&s;e that need not:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 27.28.</NOTE> Tho&s;eupon whom God hath be&s;towed <HI>Jacobs</HI> ble&s;&s;ing, the fat of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine, make the quicke&s;t merchandize of their God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 7.21. 1 King. 21.</NOTE> If they as <HI>Achan,</HI> &s;pye a wedge, though it be of con&s;ecrated gold: or with <HI>Ahab</HI> a piece of land that lies neer and convenient for them; Religion, Con&s;cience, Hone&s;ty &s;hall be &s;et to &s;ail, rather then they will fail in their purpo&s;e. Gain with the&s;e men is godline&s;s; and where they are incon&s;i&s;tent, godline&s;s &s;hall give way to gain.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.5. Acts 19.25, 26, 27.</NOTE> Sirs, &s;ee you not, that by this way we get our living? why then &s;hould this <HI>Paul,</HI> or any of his fellows, that &s;peak again&s;t our &s;ilver &s;hrines, be &s;uffered to preach any longer?</P>
<P>But I proceed; See what a goodly company this perfidious Traitour had got about him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.47.</NOTE> As is the man, &s;uch are his a&s;&s;ociates: A multitude with &s;words and &s;taves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke. 22.47.</NOTE> a band with clubs and armes to attach his Ma&s;ter; before whom he as &s;ome great Commander marched, gives them the word lea&s;t they &s;hould mi&s;take; <HI>Whom I ki&s;s, that's the man;</HI> and a caution, lea&s;t he &s;hould e&s;cape: Take him and lead him away <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 14.43, 44</NOTE> &s;afely; belike he was affraid lea&s;t he &s;hould lo&s;e his money, if he e&s;caped.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 35.</NOTE>By this time &s;uppo&s;e this goodly train with Traitour <HI>Judas</HI> were come to the Garden, the place where Chri&s;t pray'd, where he waited for them. Another man would have retired,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.4.</NOTE> he goes forth to meet them; the Lamb confronts the Wolf; asks what they would, and whom with their &s;tave they &s;ought? particular|ly <HI>Judas</HI> in a friendly manner,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 6.</NOTE> wherefore he was come? they upon the que&s;tion &s;tep back and fall to the earth; what Conquerour ever did the like? they have beaten their enemies with their arms; Chri&s;t a band of armed men with one word;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo de pa&s;s. <HI>ver. 1.</HI></NOTE> his voice hath power in it; <HI>Quid faciet judicaturus, qui hoc fecit judican|dus?</HI> And if his voice were &s;o powerful when he was to be judged, how powerful will in be when he &s;hall come to judge? He could as ea&s;ily have thrown them into hell, as ca&s;t them to the earth; but in a ju&s;t occa&s;ion of anger he re|members mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 9.56.</NOTE> &s;av'd their lives that &s;ought his, becau&s;e <HI>he came to &s;ave the life, and not to de&s;troy.</HI> But <HI>Judas,</HI> nothing daunted at the overthrow of his lewd rabble, &s;teps forward and &s;eals his ki&s;s upon his Ma&s;ters lips; this indeed he did with a bended knee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.49.</NOTE> and a di&s;&s;embling tongue: Haile Ma&s;ter, was the language with which he kil'd him. <HI>Judas</HI> is dead, but his po&s;terity are yet above ground; never &s;uch a generation that ki&s;s and kill as now: Many an enemy to Chri&s;t &s;peaks him fair,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.22.</NOTE> &s;alutes him with Lord, Lord, tell us all they do it to advance his Kingdom, and &s;et up his Throne, when yet they are Tra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|tors to him in their hearts, and pull both down: But <HI>tutum &s;ilentij praemium,</HI> and therefore I forbear.</P>
<P><HI>Judas</HI> had no &s;ooner acted his Trea&s;on, but the Officers immediately exe|cute their Warrant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.50. Joh. 18.12. Mat. 26.55.</NOTE> for they lay hands on him, and hold him fa&s;t; and as if he had been &s;ome notorious malefactor, they bind him, and carry him away: We read of no complaint till now, but now we do; What, are you come out as a|gain&s;t a thief with &s;words and &s;taves? No courte&s;ie or fair u&s;age can reclaim a di&s;loyal malicious nature: He &s;pared the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r lives, when they fell before him to the ground: He healed <HI>Malchus</HI> ear &s;mitten off by <HI>Peter;</HI> they had &s;een his wonderful power in word and deed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.51.</NOTE> that had ta&s;ted of his bowels of love
<PB N="215" REF="113"> and mercy extended to them that &s;ought his life, and yet they proceed in their malice. They unmercifully manicle tho&s;e hands that cured them; they di&s;|gracefully pinnion tho&s;e arms that rai&s;ed them.</P>
<Q><L>Ecce, manus Je&s;um inte<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ea po&s;t terga revinctum</L>
<L>Tota cohors magno ad Caipham clamore vocabant.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgil.</NOTE></L>
<L>Undi&abque; vi&s;endi &s;tudio Judea juventus</L>
<L>Circumfu&s;a ruit, certant&abque; illudere capto.</L></Q>
<P>But the&s;e were his &s;worn enemies; he could expect no better from them. To break his heart the more, <HI>his lovers and his friends &s;tood afar off.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 38.11. Zech. 13.7. Mar. 14.31. ver&s;. 50.</NOTE> Now was fulfilled that of the Prophet, <HI>I will &s;mite the &s;hepherd, and the &s;heep &s;hall be &s;cattered.</HI> The eleven Di&s;ciples that he cho&s;e to be with him, and who had promi&s;ed to dye with him, rather than deny him; even the&s;e, all the&s;e for|&s;ook him and fled. Take notice what friends the be&s;t men are, and then the wor&s;t, of no good condition; both like leaves that fall off in the winter, when the trees have mo&s;t need that they &s;hould hang on.</P>
<P>Two of the&s;e indeed &s;omewhat bolder than the re&s;t, follow to the high Prie&s;ts hall, but not there with any intent to confe&s;s or vouch him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.15.</NOTE> but out of a lo|ving curio&s;ity to know what would become of him; both &s;ecretly for fear of the Jews. <HI>John</HI> by favour gets &s;omewhat nearer, but <HI>Peter</HI> follows afar off;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.54.</NOTE> That <HI>Peter,</HI> that would dye with him; that he would; that <HI>Peter,</HI> who, though all the world &s;hould for&s;ake him, yet he would not; that <HI>Peter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 22.50.</NOTE> who like a valiant Champion manfully draws his &s;word and cuts off an ear in his Ma&s;ters quarrel, now comes lagging after in the Rear, follows indeed, but along like a coward. <HI>Let him that &s;tands take heed le&s;t he fall;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.20.</NOTE> &s;ince &s;uch as he had cho|&s;en, &s;uch as had believ'd in him, &s;uch as had confe&s;s'd him, preach'd, and ca&s;t out Divels in his Name, flie, and fall thus fearfully.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 10.17.</NOTE></P>
<P>Hitherto I have pre&s;ented you with the fir&s;t and &s;econd Act of this lamen|table Tragedy. In every Scene whereof you may behold the Indignities, the Di&s;graces, the Di&s;comforts &s;uffered by the Son of God, from his Birth to his Apprehen&s;ion: And now the&s;e Actors go off the Stage, and new appear. The high Prie&s;t <HI>Caiaphas,</HI> the Elders and Scribes, with the whole A&s;&s;embly begin to Act their parts, but with &s;o much malice and inju&s;tice, as was never &s;ave once parallel'd.</P>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> The examination of our Saviour before <HI>Caiaphas</HI> and the Coun|cil, and thereupon the Indictment drawn.</HEAD>
<P>Their proceeding was judicial by a Legal form; a form I &s;ay, for there was much packing in it, as there is too often in tryals of this nature; where the per&s;on to be araign'd is condem'd before he is heard. But you'l &s;ay, what &s;u&s;pi|tion could there be of any unju&s;t practice, where the High Prie&s;t, and the Lord chief Ju&s;tice had the hearing of the matter? For he was examined and tryed in both Courts, Eccle&s;ia&s;tical and Temporal,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.13, 28.</NOTE> before <HI>Caiaphas</HI> the high Prie&s;t in the great Con&s;i&s;tory at <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> and before <HI>Pilate</HI> the civil Judge in <HI>Prae|torio</HI> or the Hall of judgement. But both Courts condemn him too too often; <HI>Pilate</HI> the Pre&s;ident with the A&s;&s;embly of the Elders, joyn together to condemn the Innocent King of the Jews.</P>
<P>He is fir&s;t brought to the hou&s;e of <HI>Annas,</HI> that for&s;ooth they might honour the Father in law of the high Prie&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 13. ver&s;. 30.</NOTE> with the fir&s;t &s;ight of &s;o notorious (as they thought and call'd him) a Malefactor; but from him he is amanded to the man of Authority, the Superintendent <HI>Caiphas,</HI> who was High Prie&s;t that year:<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 24. ver&s;. 19.</NOTE> There he is examin'd of his Di&s;ciples of his Doctrine: Of his Di&s;ciples he
<PB N="216" REF="114"> an&s;wered nothing. He could truely and pa&s;&s;ionately exclaim, that one of them &s;old, betray'd him, and the re&s;t fled and left him. But he accu&s;es not &s;o much as the Traitor <HI>Judas;</HI> patiently he went to his death, without any invective a|gain&s;t friend or foe.<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 20.</NOTE> For his Doctrine he refers the High Prie&s;t to his Auditors; He taught in the Synag<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gues, and in the Temple, nothing in &s;ecret: And therefore he might call witne&s;&s;es enough, if he preach'd any Seditious and Er|roneous Doctrine.<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 22.</NOTE> Upon which mode&s;t and rea&s;onable an&s;wer, one of the pickthank Officers more forward than the re&s;t, as if Chri&s;t had forgot good manners, &s;trikes him on the face, &s;aying, <HI>What, an&s;were&s;t thou the High Priest &s;o?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 23.</NOTE> This was the fir&s;t blow our Saviour received, and he puts it up without either &s;hew of di&s;like, or ill word, replying calmly, that if he had &s;poken evil, he might bear witne&s;s of the evil; if not, it was an injury to be &s;o light fin|ger'd. O admirable pattern of patience! he meant to teach us in Gods cau&s;e being &s;trucken,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 6.22.</NOTE> to turn the other cheek.</P>
<P>By this time the Court was full; for the chief Prie&s;ts, and Elders, and Scribes were all a&s;&s;embled;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 14.53.</NOTE> not to &s;ee as men in place and authority ought, that there &s;hould be a fair and a ju&s;t proceeding again&s;t the Pri&s;oner; but with a malicious thir&s;t for his blood.<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 55.</NOTE> Be his cau&s;e never &s;o ju&s;t, him&s;elf never &s;o in|nocent, concluded it was that dye he mu&s;t. They were able to return <HI>Caia|phas</HI> words (for to him now he was brought) upon him&s;elf,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 11.49.</NOTE> that he knew or under&s;tood nothing at all; To go <HI>&s;ecundum allegata &amp; probata,</HI> by indictment and proof, would be a long and an uncertain way; they knew a quicker and &s;urer cour&s;e:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.60. Mar. 14.57.</NOTE> Two perjur'd villains would do the deed, and an oath by them made an end to a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l the &s;trife. A cour&s;e too well known, and too wickedly practi|&s;ed in the world at this day, when many an innocent is outed of his life, honor, land, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, by &s;uborn'd and for&s;worn witne&s;&s;es. But it was in the night when this deed of darkne&s;s was done, and none follow it but the &s;ervant of the Prince of darkne&s;s.</P>
<P>Their own con&s;ciences could not choo&s;e but tell them, that to plot thus for the blood of a man, had he been a malefactor, was an unju&s;t cour&s;e. However this way is approved: where the wood is &s;ere and dry, what a &s;mall &s;park kindles it? Fal&s;e witne&s;&s;es were &s;ought for; were the&s;e Judges or Wolves think you, who did not deliver as they ought, but thir&s;ted, as they ought not, after the blood of an innocent Lamb? what needed all this ado? dye he mu&s;t, that was decreed: A &s;entence from the High Prie&s;ts mouth would have done the deed without any more trouble. Ay but a legal tryal would have a fairer colour of a ju&s;t proceeding, the packing di&s;cern'd by few; or if that, who dur&s;t open his mouth again&s;t this high Court of Ju&s;tice? Hypocrites &s;o they can avoid the &s;word of man, little regard the all-&s;eeing eye of heaven.</P>
<P>Long it was ere they could find the&s;e, for they &s;ought, but found none to their mind, for their witne&s;s agreed not together. I fear me, had they liv'd in our times, they might have met with them &s;ooner, and Juri&s;ts more cun|ning.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.60.</NOTE> At la&s;t appear two grave Knights of the Po&s;t, and they depo&s;e, that they heard him &s;ay, <HI>I will de&s;troy this Temple made with hands, and rai&s;e it up in three dayes;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 2.21.</NOTE> and was not this true? were they not his own words? No &s;uch thing, either for matter or manner. Nor for manner, for he &s;aid not, I will de&s;toy, but bade them do it: Do you de&s;troy; not for matter, for he &s;aid, <HI>this Temple,</HI> meaning his Body; they added, <HI>made with hands,</HI> which his was not, being fram'd by the Holy Gho&s;t. Thus they chang'd both words and meaning, an u&s;ual property of fal&s;e witne&s;&s;es.</P>
<P>To this &s;candalous accu&s;ation Chri&s;t an&s;wers nothing. A foole is not al|wayes to an&s;wer according to his folly.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 26.4.</NOTE> Be&s;ides, at this time he was to &s;uffer, not to conte&s;t, and to contend; <HI>Like as a Lamb brought to the &s;laughter,</HI> to dye,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.7.</NOTE> not to cry, <HI>and therefore he opened not his mouth.</HI> Such al&s;o hath been the
<PB N="217" REF="114"> patience of the Saints, <HI>who being reviled, reviled not again;</HI> &s;uffering,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2.23, 21.</NOTE> they threatned not, but committed their cau&s;e to him who judgeth righteou&s;ly, fol|lowing his &s;teps who left the example.</P>
<P>His &s;ilence and patience the Chief Prie&s;t admires, and therefore the bet|ter to pick out matter of accu&s;ation, adjures him by the living God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.63, 64.</NOTE> that he tell them whether he were the Chri&s;t, the Son of God: Je&s;us though &s;ilent before, yet in reverence to Gods Maje&s;ty, returns a plain an&s;wer, Thou &s;ay'&s;t it, or thou ha&s;t &s;aid the truth, for I am he. O thou hard-hearted Jew, look no more for another, never &s;tand gaping for a Me&s;&s;ias longer; for another thou &s;halt never &s;ee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 64.</NOTE> till thou &s;ee the Son of man &s;itting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Behold, he hath told thee.</P>
<P>Truth to &s;ome ears is the mo&s;t unwelcome errand: So it was to the&s;e Jews;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 65.</NOTE> to them a true a&s;&s;ertion was bla&s;phemy, and upon the hearing of it, they fall to tearing of their clothes, whereas they &s;hould have torn and rent their obdu|rate and malicious hearts in which there was &s;o much envy, hatred, and inju&s;tice concieved again&s;t the per&s;on of our Saviour. Now &s;aith <HI>Caiaphas,</HI> What further need have we of more witne&s;&s;es? the bla&s;phemy was apparent to them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 66.</NOTE> &s;o that the whole A&s;&s;embly, as if they had but one tongue, joyn in his condemnation. He is guilty of death; &s;o went the general vote, and therefore let ju&s;tice be done upon him: Guilty of death? how was that po&s;&s;ible? could that inno|cent, who never did any thing ami&s;&s;e de&s;erve to dye?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.41.</NOTE> could the Lord and gi|ver of life become worthy of dearh? could the breath of our no&s;trils, de&s;erve him&s;elf not to breath? He was worthy ten thou&s;and of us, nay all of us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 4.20.</NOTE> and was he now not held worthy to live? He was the Repairer of the breaches, the Redeemer of the guilty, the Enlarger of the Pri&s;oners;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 18.3.</NOTE> and mu&s;t he be now broken and found guilty, and come into bonds him&s;elf? Yes, yes, &s;o it mu&s;t be; thus it behoved Chri&s;t to &s;uffer. Guilty of death he is, and worthy to dye; but not for him&s;elf, not for any evil he hath done.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 11.50.</NOTE> <HI>One man mu&s;t dye for the people;</HI> better one than all the Nation peri&s;h, &s;aith <HI>Caiaphas,</HI> ignorantly indeed, though maliciou&s;ly. Our per&s;on he &s;u&s;tained, and our per&s;on brought the guilt upon him: 'Twas not his own, but the &s;in of the Nation that brought him to his end. The guilt of death was our portion, our de&s;ert: His, becau&s;e he would be made &s;in for us: <HI>The Lord hath laid upon him the in|iquity of us all.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.6.</NOTE></P>
<P>But &s;uppo&s;e he were worthy to dye, was it not fit he &s;hould dye quietly? what Malefactor being to be condemned is taunted, and &s;coffed, and mocked, and abu&s;ed at his Arrainment and Trial? This Anointed was;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.67, 68.</NOTE> for no &s;ooner the vote was pa&s;&s;ed; but they began to &s;pit in his face, to buffet him, to &s;mite him, to jeere him, and to &s;ay unto him in a &s;corn, Prophe&s;ie; nay the abjects did &s;mite him with the palms of their hands, <HI>Certant illudere capto.</HI> Not the&s;e unde&s;erved blows could light upon his cheeks without a Prophe&s;ie; nor tho&s;e filthy excrements upon his face without a Prophe&s;ie:<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 50.6.</NOTE> <HI>I gave my back to the &s;miters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off my haire; I hid not my face from &s;hame and &s;pitting,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet in his per&s;on. The beauty of that face which glads the Angels, is deform'd with their filthy &s;pittle; tho&s;e eyes which &s;ee all things, they Hypocrites as they are, hope to cover and put out with a poore vaile: He that knows all things pa&s;t, pre&s;ent, and to come, and revealed them to his Prophets, is here derided as if he were &s;ome blind Wizard, or ignorant Fortuneteller: Thou the Chri&s;t, thou the Me&s;&s;iah!<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 4.25.</NOTE> <HI>when he comes he &s;hall tell us all things;</HI> if then thou be he, riddle who it is that &s;mote thee. In this &s;ort did the&s;e &s;corning mates in&s;ult over the Lords Anointed in his mi&s;ery: He had from them bitter words, and harder blows, and yet both the&s;e were but the beginning of &s;orrows.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 24.8.</NOTE></P>
<PB N="218" REF="115">
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 26.69, &amp;c. Luke 22.55. Joh. 18.25.</NOTE>Here I may not forget, that in the midd'&s;t of the&s;e indignities he receiv'd one blow that went nearer his heart, than any he received from their hands: It was a blow from <HI>Peters</HI> tongue: One blow did I &s;ay? nay three, one after another, and every one greater than other. The fir&s;t at the fire, when he &s;imply denyed him; the &s;econd in the porch, when he denyed him with an oath: Neither of the&s;e blows could be ea&s;ily borne; but the la&s;t was un|tolerable, when he began to cur&s;e and &s;wear that he knew not the man. At this blow, as I may &s;o &s;ay, our Saviour did &s;tartle, he looked back, and he looked upon <HI>Peter,</HI> pittying the weakne&s;s of man in his fearful &s;ervant; up|on which he went out, and wept bitterly; he bath'd the greenne&s;s of his wound with a river of brini&s;h tears, and that no que&s;tion gave his Lord and Ma&s;ter &s;ome ea&s;e: more bitter this blow had been, had it not been for his &s;peedy repentance. If it be our infirmity to &s;mite with <HI>Peter,</HI> let us be &s;ure to repent with <HI>Peter:</HI> If any of us wilfully or weakly have denyed and for&s;worn our Lord and Ma&s;ter, let us with <HI>Peter</HI> weep bitterly, bitterly I &s;ay, for &s;uch &s;alt-water may alleviate the &s;in.</P>
<P>All this was done in the night, a fit hour for &s;uch deeds of darkne&s;&s;e. Well,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.66. Matth. 27.1.</NOTE> the morning was no &s;ooner come but the hou&s;e fills. The former ex|amination was in the High Prie&s;ts hou&s;e, but this latter in the Council-Cham|ber: <HI>Caiaphas</HI> and the chief Prie&s;ts were a&s;&s;embled before, but now the El|ders of the people were added to them: A goodly Council no que&s;tion, where the Divel was the Pre&s;ident, Wolves in &s;heeps clothing in the Commi&s;&s;ion, cruelty, ambition, covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e the Coun&s;ellours, and malice the Pro|&s;equutour.</P>
<P>This grave <GAP DESC="foreign">, for &s;o it is in the Original, this Presbytery of Jews <HI>or elder&s;hip</HI> being &s;et down, the fir&s;t que&s;tion that is asked him was, whether he were <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 22.67.</NOTE> the Chri&s;t, that is, the Anointed. He had &s;aid it before, and they no doubt had heard &s;o much, but now they would hear it them&s;elves from his own mouth, that they al&s;o might be witne&s;&s;es again&s;t him before <HI>Pi|late.</HI> This King of the Jews an&s;wers, that he had told them &s;o much over and over,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 67, 68, 69.</NOTE> which if he &s;hould tell them again, 'twere to no purpo&s;e, they would not believe, or if he &s;hall ask, they would not an&s;wer, nor let him go. But whe|ther they believed or believed it not, he a&s;&s;ur'd them, as he had done before, that they &s;hould &s;ee him, the Son of man, whom they now contemned and derided, &s;it on the right hand of the power of God.</P>
<P>At this without any regard of mode&s;ty, law, equity, or ju&s;tice, in a tumultu|ous and in&s;ulting manner they all vociferate, <HI>Art thou the Son of God?</HI> Thou? as if they had &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 70. Matth. 13.55. Luk. 7.34. Joh. 8.48. Mar. 3.21. Mat. 12.24. Mar. 14.62. Mar. 15.1. Luk. 23.1.</NOTE> what, <HI>Thou the Carpenters Son? Thou the friend of Publi|cans and &s;inners? Thou the Samaritan, art mad, and ha&s;t a Divel?</HI> What art thou now become the Son of God? &s;halt thou &s;it at the right hand of his pow|er? &s;halt thou come in the clouds of heaven? the Cro&s;&s;e is a fitter place, and Thieves on each hand fitter companions for thee: And with that in all ha&s;te the whole Council brake up, bound him again, led him away, and de|livered him to <HI>Pontius Pilate.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> The Accu&s;ation, Examination of our Saviour before Pilate, and his abu&s;e by Herod, &amp;c.</HEAD>
<P>Thus have we pre&s;ented you with the third Act of this Tragedy, in which <HI>Annas, Caiaphas,</HI> the chief Prie&s;ts, Elders and Scribes were the main Actors. I come now to the fourth, where I &s;hall pre&s;ent you with new fa|ces,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 3.</NOTE> an unju&s;t and timerous Pre&s;ident, a mocking King, and profane &s;ouldi|ers, but all con&s;piring the death of the King of the Jews. For that was the fir&s;t que&s;tion that <HI>Pilate</HI> propo&s;ed to him.</P>
<PB N="219" REF="115">
<P>For the better under&s;tanding of this whole Act, con&s;ider you mu&s;t what the &s;tate of the Jews was at this day. A little before the birth of Chri&s;t, the Jews were &s;ubdued by the <HI>Romans,</HI> who taking the government into their own hands, appointed them Governors of their own. At this time <HI>Herod</HI> held the juri&s;diction of the Northern part, the hilly country toward Galilee; and Pilate was the Deputy in the re&s;t of Jewry. And thus much the Jews confe&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.31. <HI>Godw. Jew. antiq. lib.</HI> 5. <HI>c.</HI> 7.</NOTE> when they &s;ay, <HI>It is not lawful for us to put any man to death,</HI> that is, in &s;uch a ca&s;e as this, which is plain &s;edition and trea&s;on, e&s;pecially at this time being the preparation of the Sabbath; and therefore they brought our Saviour to <HI>Pilate,</HI> that he being the Pre&s;ident, might judicially proceed again&s;t him, examine, arraign, and give &s;entence upon him, for that he &s;aid he was a King;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.12, 15.</NOTE> for you &s;hall find that when all failed, this was the point they pre&s;&s;ed home to <HI>Pilate.</HI></P>
<P>Behold here the brethren of <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> ri&s;ing again&s;t their own natural brother,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 37.18, 28</NOTE> and putting him into the hands of the <HI>I&s;hmaelites;</HI> the Jews of who&s;e &s;eed our Saviour came according to the fle&s;h,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 15.10.</NOTE> put the &s;eed of <HI>Abraham</HI> into the pow|er of the Gentiles; the cau&s;e was the very &s;ame, envy and malice. This is a raging and heady pa&s;&s;ion, that mo&s;t commonly feeds upon blood, oftentimes in act, alwayes in de&s;ire. If there be envy in the heart, there will be an evil eye, an evil and bloody hand if po&s;&s;ible, and an evil tongue.</P>
<P>This cau&s;ed them to frame an enditement of &s;everal Articles. 1. Of Sedi|tion, 2. Gauloniti&s;m. 3. Trea&s;on.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.5, 2.</NOTE> A &s;editious per&s;on they charge him to be, &s;tirring up the people, beginning from Galilee to this place; di&s;obedient, forbidding Tribute to be paid to <HI>Cae&s;ar;</HI> and a Traitor, &s;aying, that he was Chri&s;t a King; when indeed he was nor this, not that. But this is an old de|vi&s;e of <HI>Machevillians,</HI> that bring &s;uch in danger of the State,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Reg. 21.10. Act. 24.5.</NOTE> they labor to ruine. <HI>Naboth</HI> bla&s;phemed God and the King; <HI>Tertullus</HI> flaunts it out in his Rhetorique, <HI>We have found this man a pe&s;tilent fellow.</HI></P>
<P>If to &s;tand in the gap, if to maintain the Truth, if to defend the Law, if to preach the Go&s;pel to the poor,, if to heal the broken-hearted, if to preach deliverance to the captives, if to &s;et at liberty tho&s;e who were brui&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 61.1. Luc. 4.18.</NOTE> if to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and to proclaim all the&s;e, be to be a &s;editious per&s;on, then the allegation cannot be denyed; for &s;uch a &s;educer he was, and other end in &s;educing he had not. But if they intend, as they did,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo. de pa&s;&s;. Ser. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> one who drew a multitude after him to di&s;turbe the peace and quiet of the Na|tion, there was nothing more untrue. The fir&s;t part then of the charge was a manife&s;t a&s;per&s;ion; and the &s;econd a flat lye, no better then a &s;tarke lye; for how did he forbid the payment of Tribute, who commanded it? confe&s;&s;ed it a debt and paid it, <GAP DESC="foreign">; <HI>Return,</HI> &s;aith he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 22.21. &amp; 17.27.</NOTE> <HI>to Cae&s;ar the things which are Cae&s;ars.</HI> A debt then it is, not a gift, and debts mu&s;t be paid, <HI>Ow nothing to any man.</HI> Now that his practice might be conformable to his doctrine, he &s;ent <HI>Peter</HI> to the &s;ea to fetch &s;o much money out of the mouth of a fi&s;h,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.8.</NOTE> as &s;hould pay for them both. He was then no Gaulonite in the di&s;&s;wa&s;ion of Tribute:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 6.15.</NOTE> Neither ever had he any thought of an earthly crown or &s;cepter; when the people &s;ought for him to make him a King,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 12.14.</NOTE> he conveyed him&s;elf away and hid him&s;elf; nay he would not be &s;o much as a &s;ubordinate judge, to divide the land betwixt the two di&s;&s;enting brerhren; but there is nothing &s;o fal&s;e, no|thing &s;o untrue which a &s;candalous tongue will not fa&s;ten on the Innocent, or the Wolf lay to the charge of the Lamb; he mu&s;t be devoured, and to that's enough, <HI>Pater, mater, omne tuum invi&s;um genus &s;edulo mihi adver&s;atur; Tu ergo dabis hodie poenas.</HI></P>
<P>How&s;oever this la&s;t charge becau&s;e it reflected on the per&s;on of <HI>Cae&s;ar, Pilate</HI> takes &s;pecial notice of it; for the bed and the crown are tender things, they may be no more toucht then the eye. Upon this point therefore he examines him,
<PB N="220" REF="116"> <HI>Art th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u the King of the Jews?</HI> To which our Saviour returns a good confe&s;&s;i|on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.33. Mat. 27.11.</NOTE> <HI>Thou &s;ai&s;t it;</HI> as if he &s;hould have &s;aid, O <HI>Pilate,</HI> although thou &s;ee me &s;old as a &s;lave, apprehended as a thief, bound like a fool, humbled like a &s;er|vant, accu&s;ed like a malefactor, and defamed for rai&s;ing tumults; yet know, that I am a King; a King I am, but not in your &s;en&s;e; and a kingdom I am over, but not &s;uch as <HI>Tiberius</HI> your ma&s;ter governs; it is not of this world; You rule over the bodies of men, I over their hearts and con&s;ciences; you govern by your laws, I by my truth and Go&s;pel; your &s;ubjects obey for fear, mine for love; they hear your Edicts, the&s;e my voice; yours is an outward and temporal, mine a &s;piritual and everla&s;ting kingdom. With which an&s;wer <HI>Pilate</HI> re&s;ted &s;o fully &s;atisfied,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.38.</NOTE> that he went out, and &s;aid to the Jews, <HI>That he could find no fault in him at all.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.28.</NOTE>But by the way I pray ob&s;erve, that <HI>Pilate went out to them;</HI> what needed that? youl &s;ay; were not his accu&s;ers in the &s;ame place face to face? No, they were not: Saint <HI>John</HI> plainly &s;aith, <HI>They them&s;elves went not into the judgement hall, lea&s;t that they &s;hould be defiled; but that they might eat the Pa&s;&s;over.</HI> What name to call this &s;in by I cannot well tell, whether &s;uper&s;tition or hypo|cri&s;ie; both indeed it was, and of both in them we have a notable example. They never &s;tick to &s;eek the life of a ju&s;t innocent man, and yet are very &s;trict and curious about a ceremony. To hire fal&s;e witne&s;&s;es to condemn Chri&s;t, a trivial matter; marry to enter into <HI>Pilates</HI> hall would defile them. And doth not <HI>Rome</HI> afford &s;uch &s;uper&s;titious hypocrites at this day? to eat an egge in Lent, a bit of fle&s;h on Friday, is a mortal &s;in; but to excommunicate and interdict, to embrue their hands in the blood of the Lords Anointed, is a meritorious Act. Thus Hypocrites too often Tithe mint and cummin, and omit the great and weighty matters of the Law. But I mu&s;t return to <HI>Pilate:</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.23.</NOTE>Who, when upon the evidence of his con&s;cience he found him Innocent (for he profe&s;&s;ed I find no fault in him) begins to think of &s;ome way to &s;ave his life; and three eva&s;ions he thinks of; if any of rhem took, he gained his purpo&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 23.7. Ver&s;. 16. Joh. 18.39. Luc. 23.22.</NOTE> Fir&s;t he &s;ends him to <HI>Herod;</HI> then he cau&s;ed him to be &s;courged&punc; La&s;tly he puts it to their choi&s;e whether they would acquit him or <HI>Barabbas.</HI> He that wants an example of a wicked Judge may remember <HI>Pilate.</HI> For if Chri&s;t were by the te&s;timony of his own con&s;cience blamele&s;s, why doth he po&s;t him over to another Judge? why whip him, why &s;courge him, why bring him into the &s;cale with <HI>Barabbas?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 24.</NOTE> Here he &s;hould have interpo&s;ed his power, and not have delivered him to the will of them he knew to be his enemies. For a Magi&s;trate is a Protector,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;. 1.17.</NOTE> and bears a &s;word to keep off a blow from the Innocent, as well as a &s;word to fa&s;ten a blow upon the neck of a notable malefactor. Had Chri&s;t appealed to <HI>Herod, Pilate</HI> might well have replyed, <HI>&V;nto Herod &s;halt thou go.</HI> But when he &s;tood to his judgement, he was bound, being an Innocent, or one who had done nothing ami&s;s, to acquit him.</P>
<P>The Jews no doubt were very well plea&s;ed with <HI>Pilates</HI> order. For they little doubted that at <HI>Herods</HI> hands he &s;hould fare no better then <HI>John</HI> the <HI>Bapti&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 14.10.</NOTE> who was <HI>Vox clamantis, The voice of one crying;</HI> and he that had cut out Chri&s;ts tongue, was not in their opinion like to &s;pare the head. Thither then they carry him, and pre&s;ent him to the cruel bloody King; in who&s;e dealing ob|&s;erve,</P>
<P N="1">1. That he was wonderfully glad of his comming, for he was de&s;irous of a long &s;ea&s;on to &s;ee him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.8.</NOTE> De&s;irous to &s;ee Je&s;us? why, who would not? <HI>Abra|ham,</HI> the Angels, the whole world de&s;ired to &s;ee him. Not a hou&s;e into which he enters, if they bid him welcome, but he brings &s;alvation with him. But this was not it that made <HI>Herod</HI> glad; he regarded neither his name nor his help. It was meerly to &s;atisfie his curio&s;ity.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="221" REF="116">2. For he hoped to have &s;een &s;ome miracle to have been done by him. He thought no better of him, then of &s;ome Magician or Mountebanke, that be|ing brought into the pre&s;ence of a King begins &s;traitway to &s;hew his impo&s;tures. The very account that Chri&s;t finds with great ones at this day, when a buffone with his &s;ophi&s;mes and delu&s;ions is of great account, but a true &s;ervant of his is made a &s;pectacle to men and Angels. O &s;trange folly, to expect a wonder,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.9.</NOTE> and not to regard his words! God grant many Chri&s;tians be not guilty of it, who are perfect in the &s;tory of the Bible; but for any &s;ound &s;entence, or for|cible argument to direct or reform their lives, they regard not. And this in all likelihood was the rea&s;on, that though be asked many things, yet our Saviour gave him no an&s;wer, made no Sermon, wrought no miracle before him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.9.</NOTE> as knowing his intention to be vain if not malicious, no way to be bettered or to profit by him.</P>
<P N="3">3. For all this the chief Prie&s;ts and Scribes de&s;i&s;ted not,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 10. Luc. 23.10.</NOTE> they pre&s;t the accu|&s;ation, <GAP DESC="foreign">, they amplified, exaggerated, &s;tretched every cir|cum&s;tance to the height; in all likelihood the very &s;elf &s;ame matter, which they urged before <HI>Pilate, viz.</HI> how he moved and &s;tirred up the people, begin|ning at Galilee, a circum&s;tance which they knew would mo&s;t nettle <HI>Herod,</HI> becau&s;e Galilee belonged to his juri&s;diction; malice knows not where to end,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 23.7.</NOTE> being quick to invent, much le&s;s forgetful to omit an opportunity that may help on her intended mi&s;chief.</P>
<P N="4">4. Now <HI>Herod</HI> &s;eeing our Saviour &s;tand before him, as he was indeed, a Lambe, a Sheep, took him for a &s;imple man, a man that had tongue enough before an unlettered multitude, but no audacity to &s;peak before him, and therefore <GAP DESC="foreign">, he &s;et him at naught, he plaid upon him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 11.</NOTE> as if he had been &s;ome worthle&s;s fellow; and as followers u&s;ually follow the example of their King, his men of war did the like. They with him &s;corned, &s;coffed, de|rided him, made a may-game of him, and when they had jeered their fill, they claded him in a gorgeous coat, &s;uch as Kings wear, becau&s;e he &s;aid he was a King; and thus clad in &s;corn &s;ent him back again to the Pre&s;ident <HI>Pilate.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 12.</NOTE> The conclu&s;ion was that <HI>Herod</HI> and <HI>Pilate</HI> were friends that day; both though before enemies, yet agree well enough to put the Lords anointed to death. Men of di&s;&s;enting judgements yet &s;oder and unite,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 105.15. 1 Chron. 16.22.</NOTE> when any mi&s;chief is to be done to Chri&s;t, or to &s;uch whom they are commanded not to harm, no not to touch.</P>
<P>There is, there is &s;uch a thing as con&s;cience, that awakes in the heart of the drow&s;ie&s;t &s;inner. As this carries a whip to puni&s;h after the fact, &s;o al&s;o it hath a bridle to curbe and re&s;train before the deed be done. <HI>Judas</HI> he felt the la&s;h, and complained of it after his trea&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.4, 5.</NOTE> <HI>I have &s;inned in betraying the innocent blood;</HI> and it la&s;hed him &s;o, that it la&s;hed him to the gallows; a ju&s;t reward for a Traitor. They bite upon the bridle, that &s;ay before the fact, What do I?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 23. Ver&s;. 14, 15, 16</NOTE> where about go I? how can I do this great wickedne&s;s? <HI>Pilate</HI> at this time champed upon the bit; his very con&s;cience reined him in, and told him, 'twas no good matter he was about; not lawful that a ju&s;t man &s;hould be condemned, and therefore he puts on foot another project to &s;ave his life.</P>
<P>A cu&s;tome the Jews had, that at <HI>Ea&s;ter</HI> tbe Deputy &s;hould relea&s;e unto them one pri&s;oner whom they would;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 17. Mat. 27.15.</NOTE> a cu&s;tom pte&s;erved perchance in memory that they them&s;elves had been pri&s;oners in <HI>Egypt,</HI> and that at this time they were delivered from thence. Well, <HI>Pilate</HI> takes from hence an occa&s;ion to pre&s;ent unto them Je&s;us and <HI>Barabbas;</HI> gold and dirt, a diamond and gla&s;s, the Sun and darkne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.39.</NOTE> heaven and hell are not more unlike then Je&s;us and <HI>Barab|bas.</HI> For Je&s;us was a ju&s;t per&s;on, one that had done nothing ami&s;s, and of this then witne&s;&s;es enough, and all his enemies; but this <HI>Barabbas</HI> a notable theif, one who for murder and in&s;urrection was ca&s;t into pri&s;on; <HI>Pilate</HI> there|fore
<PB N="222" REF="117"> imagined that the Jews could not be &s;o notoriou&s;ly wicked, as to prefer a murtherer before Chri&s;t, a malefactor that was not worthy to live upon the face of the earth, before a ju&s;t man; that then he might this way acquit him, he pre&s;ented them both together; but behold here the di&s;po&s;ition of a multi|tude animated by tho&s;e in power; for the people are as water, the breath of a great man the winde that in&s;en&s;ibly moves it. This people moved by their &s;uperiors &s;treightway clamor, Not this man, but <HI>Barabbas; Vivat Barabbas, pe|reat Christus;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 23.18, 21.</NOTE> let <HI>Barabbas</HI> live and let Chri&s;t dye; away with him, the cro&s;s is fit for him, <HI>Crucifie him, crucifie him.</HI> Could there be a rejection in a fouler degree? <HI>Non hunc,</HI> not He, Away with &s;uch a fellow from the earth, 'tis not fit he &s;hould live, had been a &s;oul indignity; but to bring him into the &s;cale with <HI>Barabbas,</HI> and to make <HI>Barabbas</HI> outweigh him; to prefer a murderer, a di|&s;turber of the peace before him, was an intolerable injury. If it were our ca&s;e, heaven and earth &s;hould ring of it. What compate me to &s;uch a Varlet? what prefer him before me? Yet thus it went now, <HI>Barabbas</HI> is loo&s;ed, and Je&s;us refu&s;ed.</P>
<P>Still <HI>Pilates</HI> con&s;cience fretted and chaffed, and murmured within him; it told him, that this was no good dealing thus to condemne an innocent; and to quicken it the more,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.19.</NOTE> his wife &s;ends to him, that he &s;hould have nothing to do with the blood of that ju&s;t man; Therefore he ca&s;ts about, and at la&s;t be|takes him to a more de&s;perate &s;hift then all the re&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vulg. Tran&s;l.</HI> Mat. 27.26.</NOTE> <HI>Emendatum dimitteret,</HI> he would mend him for&s;ooth (a likely project to mend him, who in his own judgement wanted no mending) and &s;o let him go. No que&s;tion he thought, that if they had any bowels of men in them, when they &s;hould behold him &s;o mended, as he thought to mend him with a whip, they would take &s;ome compa&s;&s;ion on him, and call no more for a <HI>Crucifige.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prudent. Hierom. Beda. <HI>1 Reg. 12.14. Mat. 27.26.</HI> Eustath. Athe|naeus Dipno&s;op. lib. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE>View a little the particulars of this Politique, I cannot &s;ay ju&s;t Judge; he fir&s;ts whips him; the ancient Fathers report that it was <HI>ad columnam,</HI> tyed to a pillar; &s;ure I am it was with a &s;courge, called in Scripture a Scorpion. For Saint <HI>Matthew</HI> hath it <GAP DESC="foreign">, He &s;courged Je&s;us, in all likelihood <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>flagro taxillato,</HI> in which they tyed certain huckle bones, or plummets of lead with &s;harp thornes to the end of the thongs, to augment the pains. O foul di&s;grace and &s;candal, be&s;ides the pain to offer him the &s;hame of this &s;ervil and ba&s;e puni&s;hment, not to be inflicted on any but &s;laves and bondmen,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plautus.</NOTE> <HI>Loris? liber &s;um,</HI> &s;aith he in the Comedy in a great di&s;dain, as if being free-born, he held it a foul indignity to have the whip once named to him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 16.17.</NOTE> What &s;courge a <HI>Romane</HI> and uncondemned? &s;aith Saint <HI>Paul.</HI> But this <HI>Pilates</HI> hall is made the Theater for the whole world; here is &s;uch a &s;pectacle as was never &s;een before. The God of heaven a&s;&s;uming fle&s;h is tyed and bound to a pillar, the Lord of all &s;courged and whipt like the ba&s;e&s;t &s;ervant. Oh how glorious was the King of I&s;rael to day, who was uncovered in the eyes of the hand-maids of his &s;ervants,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 6.20.</NOTE> as one of the vain fellows &s;hamele&s;ly unco|vereth him&s;elf! &s;aith <HI>Michal</HI> of <HI>David</HI> in the way of &s;corn. But here was no je&s;ting, it was thus with the &s;on of <HI>David</HI> in good earne&s;t; for the true King of I&s;rael hath his garments torn off him, and as if he were <HI>unus de &s;curris,</HI> one of the vain fellows, hath his very fle&s;h torn off with Scorpions. And was not this think you a glorious &s;ight?</P>
<P>If you be not moved to compa&s;&s;ion with this, go on, and you &s;hall behold the King of I&s;rael in his royalty and glory indeed; in a crown, with a Scepter, in a purple robe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.29.</NOTE> men enough about him, bowing the knee and crying, <HI>Hail thou King of the Jews;</HI> of the Jews indeed, for none but Jews would ever &s;o have u&s;ed their King.</P>
<P>A crown, and a &s;cepter, and a purple robe! who can do le&s;s then take him for a King? Mark their knees and tongues, and you have le&s;s cau&s;e to doubt.
<PB N="223" REF="117"> But go on to the end of the ver&s;e, and you &s;hall &s;ee to what purpo&s;e all this was done; not to his honour, but his di&s;honour; not to plea&s;e, but to grieve him. For that tongue which cryed, <HI>Ave Rex Judaeorum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 30.</NOTE> &s;pet and &s;pued in his face; and that hand which put on his Crown, knockt it with a Cane fa&s;t to his head.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, his Crown was of Thornes. Thornes in their Crowns, that is, &s;harp-pointed mi&s;eries and afflictions Kings too often beare; you know who gra&s;p'd it as &s;harp as it was. But no King ever wore a Crown made of Thorns be&s;ides this one, When they cloath'd him with purple, that went no farther than a je&s;t, but in this Coronation there was paine and torment; for look how many Thornes did enter through his skinne, &s;o many &s;luces there were for his blood to i&s;&s;ue. The blood gu&s;ht out, where the Thornes went in; and now &s;tream'd as fa&s;t down his face in the Palace, as it did down his back and &s;houlders at the Pillar.</P>
<P>I &s;hould have acquainted you, how before they Crown'd him with this prickly Coronet; they put off his Coat, that gari&s;h Coat,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 28.</NOTE> in which <HI>Herod</HI> array'd him, and put him on a purple Robe. O the wonderful patience of the Sonne of God to be thus cloathed and uncloathed; uncloathed and cloath'd by the&s;e mi&s;creants! Surely their hatred was &s;o great to him, that by their good wills they would have chang'd him to another: And thereupon it was that they chang'd his skinne, when they &s;courg'd him; they chang'd his e&s;tate, when they arraigned him; they chang'd his dignity, when they &s;coff'd him; they chang'd his family, when the Officers waited upon him; they chang'd his Name, when they mi&s;-call'd him Seducer, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> They chang'd his Apparel, when in <HI>Herods</HI> Livery, and in <HI>Pilates</HI> purple they abu&s;ed him. And was not the King of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> very glorious, this day? this day, when he was thus derided?</P>
<P>Thus derided: But there is a third &s;coffe no le&s;s grievous than the other two; yea, as &s;ome think, beyond them; Tho&s;e touch'd his body, this more directly wounded his honour, which every noble &s;pirit prizeth beyond his life. <HI>Kill me,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Saul, le&s;t the uncircumci&s;ed come upon me, and mock me.</HI> Now in his Honour, by the reed put into his hand, he &s;uffers:<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 31.4.</NOTE> For the reed is an empty, hollow thing, naturally without pith in it, by which they would intimate, that the braine and head of Chri&s;t was as empty of wit, ha|ving no more worth or &s;ub&s;tance in it, than that hollow Cane; that He was a great mocker, and his Kingdome no other than a great mockery.</P>
<P>And to te&s;tifie &s;o much, they bow'd their knees, and whet their tongues. The tongue and the knee are the two chief in&s;truments in our outward wor|&s;hip. God calls for them, he will be adored by them. He &s;wears it in <HI>I&s;aiah, Every knee &s;hall bow, and every tongue confe&s;s the Lord.</HI> As if he had &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 45.23.</NOTE> I have &s;worne, That none &s;hall be &s;o bold to open his mouth, but only to prai&s;e me; none &s;hall be &s;o irreligious as to bow his knee, if it be not to wor&s;hip me. But &s;ee here the quite contrary; The&s;e mi&s;creants bend their knees, but it is to &s;coff him; they make u&s;e of their tongues, but it is to re|vile him. On their knees they would prove him to be a fool, and with their tongues they would prophane that very Word by which they &s;hould honor. <HI>Av<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Haile, King of the Jews.</HI></P>
<P>And with that they &s;pit in his face, beat the Thorny Crown clo&s;e to his head. An injury yet offer'd to Chri&s;t by notorious &s;inners. Give over thy lend life, O thou carele&s;s wretch! O thou prophane Chri&s;tian, and they will give over to beat thy Saviour! For know, that &s;o many bla&s;phemies, &s;o much &s;pettle thou ca&s;ts in his face, &s;o many reigning &s;ins, &s;o many reeds thou break'&s;t on his head.</P>
<PB N="224" REF="118">
<P>By this time, out of que&s;tion, <HI>Pilate</HI> had well mended him, that is, &s;courg'd him. Evident it is, that no ba&s;e Abject was ever wor&s;e &s;courg'd, &s;o Crown'd, more &s;corn'd, more fouled with filthy excrements, And in this lamentable condition <HI>Pilate</HI> brings him forth to the people; and to move &s;ome pity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 19.5, 14.</NOTE> he cryes aloud, <HI>Ecce homo, See good people, behold the man.</HI> A man he is; and can men do le&s;s than pity &s;o rueful a Spectacle? A &s;tranger he is to me, not &s;o to you: One he is of your own fle&s;h and blood, an <HI>I&s;ra|elite,</HI> and will you not then have &s;ome compa&s;&s;ion on your kin&s;man? Do not your bowels melt to &s;ee him thus torne! thus mangled! Have you no regard?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 1.12.</NOTE> no remor&s;e? are you not men? <HI>Behold the man.</HI> The man you have pre&s;ented to me, &s;courg'd like a &s;lave, drench't in his own gore, crow|ned with Thornes, &s;corn'd, &s;pet on. Never feare he will affect any more Crowns, that hath felt this of Thornes; The purple and reed will &s;ufficiently teach him, that his per&s;on was not made to weare a Diadem; nor his hands bound with Thongs, ordained to weild a Scepter. Had he before any ambitious thoughts, by this time they are taken down from affecting Kingdoms.</P>
<P>All this is in <HI>Ecce homo.</HI> But nor this piteous &s;ight, nor <HI>Pilates Ecce,</HI> could any whit allay their malice.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.22, 23. Luke 23.21. Joh. 19.12, 13.</NOTE> Dye he mu&s;t, and nothing could &s;atisfie them, till they &s;aw him breath his la&s;t. Therefore in a tumultuous manner they cry againe, <HI>Crucifie him, Crucifie him;</HI> whether he had done evil or not, was not the matter. A &s;editious per&s;on he was; and he that went about to &s;ave him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.24.</NOTE> was no friend to <HI>Cae&s;ar.</HI> With this la&s;t &s;peech <HI>Pilate</HI> was con|quer'd; though he laboured before for him, yet now he y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">elds; at the name of <HI>Cae&s;ar</HI> he &s;hrinks; rather condemn and crucifie a thou&s;and Chri&s;ts, than be none of <HI>Cae&s;ars</HI> friend. The cour&s;e of the world right; do any mi&s;chief, rather than di&s;plea&s;e a man in power. Oh &s;uch a mans frown or check is a ma|terial point; no wi&s;e man wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l hazard it.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Maximus de accu&s;. Domini. Hom. <HI>1. Luk. 23.24.</HI></NOTE>This con&s;ideration work't upon <HI>Pilate</HI> &s;o deeply, that it made him do the foule&s;t Act that ever Judge did. Not the water in the Ba&s;on, nor all the wa|ter in the Sea, can ever wa&s;h cleane his hypocritical hands. It made him condemn the Sonne of God; one, whom him&s;elf, and <HI>Herod,</HI> as he &s;aid, and his own wife adjudg'd to be innocent, and in a &s;hameful manner to de|liver him to their will. O unheard of &s;entence from the mouth of a Judge! that a mans enemies &s;hould have power in their hands to revenge them&s;elves on a Pri&s;oner, according to their own will and plea&s;ure.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>Of the Pa&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>LUKE 24.46.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Thus it behoved Chri&s;t to &s;uffer.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> Of our Saviours Pa&s;&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.17. Luk. 18.31.</NOTE>OUR Saviour going up to <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> acquaints his Di&s;ciples that he &s;hould be betray'd to the chief Prie&s;ts and Scribes, that he &s;hould be condemned by them, and deliver'd to the Gentiles, be mocked, &s;pitefully entreated, and &s;pet on, that they &s;hould &s;courge him, and put him to death. And to that I am now come, which is the la&s;t Act of this Tragedy, the &s;ad|de&s;t that ever was pre&s;ented. The Sunne became pitch, the earth quaked, the
<PB N="225" REF="118"> Temple &s;plit, the graves gaped, the dead awak'd upon the &s;en&s;e of it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.45.1.52, 53.</NOTE> and therefore I hope you will not heare it with a cold heart, with dry eyes. I con|fe&s;s I could willingly wrap up my face in a Mantle, as confe&s;&s;ing that I am not able to repre&s;ent a grief of this depth.</P>
<P>But having pre&s;ented you with the foure other Acts, I mu&s;t not like a &s;luggi&s;h Poet, <HI>deficere in extremo.</HI> My task tyes me to it, and I mu&s;t pre&s;ent this al&s;o, and not faint in the la&s;t, and &s;et before your eyes <HI>Chri&s;t crucified,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 3.1.</NOTE> Chri&s;t going to, and &s;uffering upon the Cro&s;s. A &s;ad and heavy &s;pectacle in it &s;elf, but to us matter of joy. So great joy, that the Apo&s;tle in compari|&s;on of it, rejects all other, <HI>God forbid, that I &s;hould rejoyce in any thing,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.14. 1 Cor. 1.22, 23.</NOTE> <HI>but in the Cro&s;s of Chri&s;t:</HI> and God forbid, &s;ay I, that we &s;hould rejoyce in any thing, but in the Cro&s;s of Chri&s;t. For how&s;oever the Jew looking for wonders, and the Graecian looking after wi&s;dome, do and did both condemn the Cro&s;s; the one of weakne&s;s, the other of folly; Of folly, that the Sonne of God &s;hould leave his Throne for a Cro&s;s of paine and &s;hame; that he &s;hould there hang, bleed, expire, and die: Yet we, who by this Cro&s;s are become heires of the promi&s;e, mu&s;t make it the object of our joy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.17. 1 Cor. 1.18. I&s;a. 53.5.</NOTE> the on|ly object of our joy. <HI>For Chri&s;t crucified, is the power and wi&s;dome of God to &s;ave all them that believe;</HI> and this Cro&s;s is the foundation of our Faith, Hope, and Joy. For from his paines it is that we are ea&s;ed, <HI>by his &s;tripes that we are healed;</HI> his weakne&s;s is our &s;trength, his &s;hame our glo|ry, his death our life. Oh how truly the Prophet &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam 3.58.</NOTE> <HI>Domini feci&s;ti cau|&s;am meam! My cau&s;e, O Lord, thou ha&s;t pleaded, and made good. Mine,</HI> not thy own, con&s;idering that he had no bu&s;ine&s;s to &s;ollicite for him&s;elf, no cau&s;e to go up to that accur&s;ed Tree,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 3.13. I&s;a. 53.5.</NOTE> except it were to dye for our &s;innes, and to pay for our tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, <HI>for the cha&s;ti&s;ement of our peace was upon him.</HI> Since then the cau&s;e was ours, and his the payment and pain, great rea&s;on we have to &s;it down, and &s;adly to ca&s;t up an accompt of what he paid and &s;uffer'd for us.</P>
<P>The la&s;t day you beheld our Saviour betray'd by <HI>Judas,</HI> abjur'd by <HI>Peter,</HI> for&s;aken by his followers, apprehended like a Thief, pinioned like a Male|factor, fal&s;ely accu&s;ed, unju&s;tly condemn'd, buffeted, &s;pet on, revil'd, whipt. Now I, nay his enemies bring him to the Cro&s;s, where you &s;hall behold his eyes dejected for &s;hame, his eares glowing with taunts, his mouth &s;owred with Vinacre, his hands and feeet wounded with Iron Spikes, his bones unjoynted, his &s;inews pricked and &s;trained, his whole body hanging by the &s;trength of his hands and feet, and his heart pierc'd through with a Spear and &s;orrow.</P>
<P>But before he comes to <HI>Calvary,</HI> let it be con&s;ider'd what he &s;uffer'd by the way. Fir&s;t they di&s;robe him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.31, 32.</NOTE> The purple Garment put upon him in &s;corne, was thought too good for him; that then they took off, and put up|on him his own. Next they load him with a Cro&s;s, as was the cu&s;tome of Malefactors. <HI>Malefici cum ad &s;upplicium educuntur, qui&s;&abque; &s;uam effert Crucem.</HI> In this <HI>I&s;aac</HI> was a type of Chri&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Plutarch. de &s;e|ra. Num. vind.</HI> Gen. 22.6. <HI>Tertul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> cont. Jud. cap. 10. <HI>Leo</HI> de pa&s;s. Serm. 8. <HI>August. Tertul.</HI></NOTE> <HI>I&s;aac</HI> carries the wood on which he was to be Sacrificed; and Chri&s;t a wooden Cro&s;s on which he was to &s;uffer. <HI>Grande &s;pectaculum,</HI> a &s;trange &s;ight; <HI>&s;i spectet impietas, grande ludibrium; &s;i spectet pietas, grande My&s;terium.</HI> Let a wicked man behold it, he will &s;coffe the King that &s;hould carry &s;uch a piece of wood for his Scepter: Let a pious &s;oule look upon it, and he will honour that piece of Wood he carried, which he was to fa&s;ten in the foreheads of Kings, and the hearts of Saints.</P>
<P>This Cro&s;s was &s;o great (for it is &s;uppo&s;ed, whereas other Malefactors carried but a part, they laid upon him the whole) that he fainted under it. He had lo&s;t &s;o much blood before by the Whips and Thornes, that he might
<PB N="226" REF="119"> well faint now. Not to ea&s;e him then, but forc'd by nece&s;&s;ity, when Chri&s;t had carried it more than half of this Dolorus way, they met with one <HI>Simon</HI> a <HI>Cyrenian,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.32. <HI>Leo.</HI> de pa&s;s. Serm. 8.</NOTE> a &s;tranger, and him they compell'd to carry his Cro&s;s. Behold for your comfort, the Gentile bears that which the Jew rejected. The Cro&s;s of Chri&s;t laid upon our &s;houlders, to protect, to &s;ave us, which was ca&s;t off, and &s;corn'd by the hard-hearted Jews.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 9.23. Mat. 16.24.</NOTE> You then who are Chri&s;tians, take it up, beare it patiently, beare it willingly, if God &s;o will lay it upon your &s;houlders; and joy in this, that your Ma&s;ter hath borne it half the way before you.</P>
<P>In this long and &s;orrowful proce&s;&s;ion, I finde not any compa&s;&s;ion that any one man had on him. Hard hearts, whom &s;uch a rueful &s;pectacle could not move. I hope ours are of a &s;ofter temper, that they melt, that they telent upon the rehear&s;al of this heavy &s;tory. Some good Women yet there were, who met him on the way,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.27.</NOTE> and with blubber'd eyes, and with bedewed cheeks pityed his ca&s;e. Chri&s;t takes notice of their &s;adne&s;s, and thus be&s;peaks them, <HI>O ye daughters of Hieru&s;alem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 28.</NOTE> <HI>weep not for me, but weep for your &s;elves, &amp;c.</HI> Their teares he di&s;likes not, but he would not have them wa&s;ted; not &s;o much out of a &s;udden pa&s;&s;ion, as out of compa&s;&s;ion, and that of their own &s;ouls: <HI>For if this were done in the green tree, what &s;hould be done in the dry?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 31. <HI>Leo</HI> de pa&s;s. Serm. 10.</NOTE> Is there any word in Scripture that comes warmer to the heart, or any &s;entence that may &s;ooner &s;tartle a &s;ecure &s;inner than this? <HI>Si hoc in lign<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> viridi?</HI> If this be the lot of a green Tree? if that be brought to the fire, &s;corcht, burnt, how quickly will the dry be in a light flame? Lie down with this me|ditation, &s;leep with it, wake with it, ri&s;e with it, walk with it in your mouths.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.17, 18.</NOTE> Saint <HI>Peter</HI> hath thus paraphra&s;ed on it, <HI>The time is come that judgement mu&s;t begin at the hou&s;e of God; and if it fir&s;t begin there, what &s;hall be the end of them that obey not the Go&s;pel? If the righteous &s;hall be &s;carcely &s;av'd, where &s;hall the ungodly and &s;inner appeare?</HI> If the Son of God be thus handled, what &s;tripes &s;hall be given to a bold Servant and a &s;tub|borne &s;lave? If the green Tree unapt for the fire was thus hack'd and hew'd, and at la&s;t cut down; what &s;hall become of tho&s;e who are but Sere and dry Trees,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 13.7. Mat. 3.10.</NOTE> that beare no fruit, except it be that which is &s;tark naught, that &s;erve for no u&s;e, except it be to trouble the ground? The Bapti&s;t hath made the Conclu&s;ion for me, <HI>Cut it up, and ca&s;t it into the fire;</HI> Cut up, is no great matter; what &s;hould be done with a dry Tree el&s;e? but ca&s;t into the fire, is part of that judgement which may bring tears from our eyes, and a&s;toni&s;h|ment and amazement from our hearts. Thither the dry Tree, the unfruitful, the impenitent &s;inner mu&s;t; and therefore while you have Time, weep for your &s;elves, and with Buckets of penitent water labour to extingui&s;h tho&s;e flames.</P>
<P>The interval of this meditation hath brought me to <HI>Golgotha,</HI> an unplea|&s;ant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.33.</NOTE> an un&s;avoury place; unplea&s;ant to the eye; for skulls and bones of dead men, though an u&s;eful, yet are but an ungrateful object; and un&s;avoury to the no&s;trils, for that heads and putrified limbs of Malefactors rotting in that place, &s;ent forth a mo&s;t noy&s;ome &s;avour.</P>
<P>Here the common Executioner unloads <HI>Simon,</HI> rears up the Cro&s;s, and prepares our Saviour for his death. And now you &s;hall behold the &s;adde&s;t &s;pe|ctacle that ever the Sun before or &s;ince beheld, <HI>The Son of God hanging up|on the Cro&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 33.</NOTE> <HI>and crucified betwixt two Thieves.</HI> That you take the better view of what Chri&s;t there &s;uffer'd, I will reduce all to foure Heads an&s;werable to the foure ends or quarters of the Cro&s;s. <HI>Sanguis Crucis,</HI> the blood of the Cro&s;s &s;hall be the Latitude.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 1.20. Acts 2.24. 1 Cor. 1.23. Gal. 3.13.</NOTE> <HI>Dolores Crucis,</HI> the &s;orrows of this death &s;hall be the Longitude. <HI>Scandalum Cru<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">is,</HI> the Scandal of the Cro&s;s &s;hall be the Depth. <HI>Maledictum Crucis,</HI> the Cur&s;e of the Cro&s;s &s;hall be the Height of
<PB N="227" REF="119"> what he &s;uffer'd. For the death of the Cro&s;s is a bloody, painful, &s;candalous, accur&s;ed death.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bi&s;h. <HI>Andrews</HI> of the Pa&s;s. Serm. 3.</NOTE> And I am not a&s;ham'd to tell you from whom I have borrow|ed my Method, holding it an honour to me to &s;it at the feet of &s;o great a <HI>Ga|maliel,</HI> that Learned, Pious, Reverend Bi&s;hop of <HI>Winche&s;ter,</HI> who hath &s;o fully gather'd the Harve&s;t of every field he entred, that tho&s;e that come after him, can pick up only here and there a few &s;catter'd eares.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Sanguis Crucis.</HEAD>
<P>The fir&s;t thing that men de&s;ire, &s;ince they know they mu&s;t dye, is, that they may die <HI>Sicca morte,</HI> part with the world as men lie down to &s;leep,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.5. 1 Kings 2.9.</NOTE> not by a violent, and untimely death, in garments rolled in blood. When <HI>Da|vid</HI> would lay a burden upon <HI>Joab,</HI> his charge to <HI>Solomon</HI> was, <HI>His hoare head bring thou down to the grave with blood.</HI> A puni&s;hment then it is to die weltring in a mans own gore; and where there is the greater effu&s;ion of blood, the puni&s;hment is the greater. In Chri&s;t there was no &s;pare made; poured out it was at every part that could bleed. Well I might &s;ay, that the blood of the Cro&s;s admitted a longitude, for it carried a length according to the proportion of his whole body, and whole life.</P>
<P><HI>Bernard</HI> likens him to a Ro&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bern.</HI> de pa&s;s. cap. 35.</NOTE> blood red in the morning of his life when he began to di&s;clo&s;e, but more red in the evening of it, when he was cropt off. The blood which he &s;hed at his Circumci&s;ion, was <HI>Sanguis Crucis,</HI> The blood of his Cro&s;s, becau&s;e his whole life was <HI>Crux &amp; Martyrium,</HI> a kinde of Cro&s;s and Martyrdome. The Church may well take up <HI>Zipporahs</HI> words, <HI>Truly thou art a husband of blood to me, becau&s;e of the Circumci&s;ion;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 4.25.</NOTE> a drop or two then &s;hed as an engagement for the re&s;t.</P>
<P>And the re&s;t he began to &s;hed in <HI>Geth&s;emani,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.36. Luk. 22.44.</NOTE> where he &s;hed drops of blood trickling down to the ground. Enquire and con&s;ider whether ever you heard or read the like. The weather was cold, the place open; nor time nor place could occa&s;ion &s;weat. No man by to hurt him, no weapon to wound him; whence then &s;hould flow this &s;treame of blood? It &s;hould &s;eem by this &s;weat of his, he was neare &s;ome furnace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 1.13.</NOTE> &s;ome fire was &s;ent into his bones. And &s;o it was, the wrath of God for our &s;inne which he took, was up|on him, and this ca&s;t him into an Agony, and the Agony caus'd him to bleed through fle&s;h and skinne; not &s;ome faint dew, but clots of blood, &s;o many, &s;o thickned, that they &s;tring'd down to the earth.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.13, 17.</NOTE> Certainly this blood of <HI>Geth&s;emani</HI> was another manner of blood than that of <HI>Gabbatha</HI> or <HI>Gol|gotha</HI> either. In the two la&s;t no blood i&s;&s;ued, but where pa&s;&s;ages were made for it to runne; This &s;treines out through &s;uch &s;mall pores, as never blood went. That in &s;ome places, this in all.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5.7. Luk. 22.42. P&s;al. 75.8.</NOTE> That never cau&s;ed him to &s;hrink and complaine: But this to &s;end forth <GAP DESC="foreign">, a &s;trong cry; and the matter of the cry was, <HI>Father, let this Cup pa&s;s from me.</HI> In the hand of the Lord there was a Cup; the Wine was red, and full mixt; all the ungodly of the earth mu&s;t drink of it. About it went, and at la&s;t it came to Chri&s;t. Why, you'le &s;ay, was he one of the company? No, but he was &s;o repu|ted. He would have had it pa&s;s, <HI>Praetereat dalix.</HI> But it might not be. He knew if we drunk it, it would be our bane. Therefore he took it, and off it went even dregs and all. Now this was it which ca&s;t him into this unnatural &s;weat. He prayes, and &s;weats, and bleeds in a Garden, for that &s;in (and wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t followed) fir&s;t committed in a Garden.</P>
<P>But this was not all the blood he &s;hed, though the mo&s;t painful and &s;trange of all the re&s;t. Go along with him from <HI>Geth&s;emani</HI> to <HI>Gabbatha,</HI> and you &s;hall &s;ee him bleed afre&s;h. Bleed, and bleed againe. Bleed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 19.13. Mat. 27.</NOTE> when <HI>Pilate</HI> &s;courg'd him at the Pillar: bleed when the Souldiers put the platted Crown
<PB N="228" REF="120"> of thorns on his head, bleed when his back was &s;traked and whal'd with la&s;hes, bleed when his face was disfigur'd with blood.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 63.2, 3.</NOTE> In his whole body no other colour then that of the red grape, when it is &s;trained and trode in the pre&s;s. By this time a man would imagine, that our Saviour had lo&s;t &s;o much blood, that he had no more to lo&s;e; but more there is yet, and more he mu&s;t lo&s;e; for all this would do us no good; it mu&s;t be the blood of the Cro&s;s that mu&s;t pacifie all things;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 1.20. Phil. 2.8.</NOTE> blood joynd with death that mu&s;t be the price and ran&s;ome of the world.</P>
<P>You may then track him all the way by the blood which he &s;hed, bleeding all along to <HI>Golgotha,</HI> where he bled his la&s;t. Here they find in&s;truments to phle|botomize him, nails to dig into his hands, &s;pikes to nail down his feet, and a &s;ouldiers &s;pear to pierce his &s;ide,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.34.</NOTE> if not his heart. The total is <HI>Sanguis Crucis,</HI> &s;hed in four &s;everal places; in the &s;table at <HI>Bethlehem,</HI> again in the Garden, twice in <HI>Gabbatha,</HI> twice in and about <HI>Golgotha;</HI> &s;ix &s;everal times he &s;hed his blood for us; he made no &s;pare, that we might have plentifull Re|demption.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 130.7.</NOTE></P>
<P>And when I named that word Redemption, I al&s;o named the cau&s;e why he would &s;hed his blood,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.22.</NOTE> it was meerly that we might be Redeemed. In the old Law, No Redemption without &s;hedding of blood; either the &s;inner mu&s;t dye, or el&s;e the bea&s;t for him;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 3.4.</NOTE> and this was the rea&s;on that under <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> no &s;acri|fice could be propitiatory, except it were bloody. The blood of the bea&s;t mu&s;t be &s;hed before the &s;inner, who was to dye, could be &s;et free, and re&s;tored to the favour of God. Chri&s;t was the &s;ub&s;tance of all the&s;e &s;acrifices; their blood the Type of his, and his the power and virtue of theirs; we were the offen|dors that mu&s;t have dyed; be or we, that's certain; our blood or his mu&s;t &s;atisfie; ours could not, becau&s;e but finite, the blood onely of a creature; his could becau&s;e of an infinite worth, being by the My&s;tical union the blood of God, and this he would &s;hed rather then we &s;hould dye.</P>
<Q><NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgil.</NOTE>&V;num pro multis datum e&s;t caput.</Q>
<P>And &s;o you have at once a full accompt of the blood our Saviour &s;hed for us, and the true cau&s;e of this effu&s;ion.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Dolores Crucis.</HEAD>
<P>But if Bloody, mu&s;t it be painful too? Yes, it mu&s;t be &s;o, and that for our good, <HI>viz.</HI> to free us from pain; and painful it was, if ever any. Can it be thought other where there was &s;o much blood &s;hed? Painful it mu&s;t needs be to as many parts as the blood came through. Of all that is penal the common di|vi&s;ion is <HI>&s;en&s;us &amp; damni;</HI> we &s;uffer pain either for that we feel, or for that we lo&s;e and are deprived of. Our Saviour &s;uffered both ways, in that he felt, in that of which he was be reft, and therefore his Cro&s;s mu&s;t needs be the more painful.</P>
<P N="1">1. Which of his &s;en&s;es was not as I may &s;o &s;ay, a window ro let in &s;orrow! His eyes &s;aw the tears of his mother and friends;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.25.</NOTE> and that which the eye &s;ees, the heart mu&s;t needs grieve at; his ears filled with the bla&s;phemy of the mul|titude,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 15.29. Mat. 27.41. Mar. 15.23. Joh. 19.29.</NOTE> wagging their heads, and crying, Ah thou wretch, ah thou that de&s;troy|e&s;t the Temple, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> His tongue reli&s;hed the Gall or Myrrh; his no&s;e filled with the noi&s;ome &s;avour of skulls in this place of a skull. As for his raiment, his skin I mean, it was of Needlework thru&s;t through and through with nails, thornes, with whips, with a &s;pear.</P>
<P>And yet the &s;tripes in his back, and thorns in his crown, are now &s;carce worth naming; they were light pains to his nailing to the cro&s;s. They were
<PB N="229" REF="120"> indeed painful, but the&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, properly &s;treining pains, or pains of Torture; they put him upon the rack, and &s;tretched him as a skin on the head of a Drum, or as the &s;tring of an in&s;trument; <HI>Hith paredu,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 22.14.</NOTE> <HI>&s;epa|raverunt o&s;&s;a,</HI> they pulled him joint from joint, and limbe from limbe; <HI>&V;&s;raemeu;</HI> or if you will, they &s;trained his body, as a Fuller &s;tretcheth his cloth upon the Tenter, for &s;o the word will bear it; and did I not well then to call this <HI>Latitudo Crucis,</HI> the breadth or Latitude of the Cro&s;s?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 16.</NOTE> And when they had wound him up to the highe&s;t pin, they then begin to nail down his hands and his feet. I &s;aid too little, it was not bare nailing, it was digging; <HI>foderunt manus,</HI> they made wide holes, as if they had been digging in &s;ome ditch. Now &s;ure this was it which made his pains beyond mea&s;ure painful; for the Center of the hands and the feet mu&s;t needs be more &s;en&s;ible then other parts of the body, becau&s;e in them is a general concour&s;e of the &s;inews, &s;o that the &s;trein|ing and tearing of the&s;e mu&s;t be an extreme torture.</P>
<P>Adde to this, that his pains in every &s;en&s;e mu&s;t far exceed what another man could &s;uffer, becau&s;e the very con&s;titution of Chri&s;ts body did far exceed any mans, was more delicate then any mans.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Thom. <HI>3.</HI> part. q. <HI>46.</HI> Art. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>In Chri&s;ti corpore &s;piritus &s;ancti opere fabricato maxime viguit &s;en&s;us tactus;</HI> The &s;en&s;e of touching in Chri&s;ts body framed by the work of the Holy Gho&s;t was mo&s;t exqui&s;ite; neither did he in|terpo&s;e his Divinity by which he would le&s;&s;en or keep off any pain; nor harden or benum any part, that it &s;hould be le&s;s &s;en&s;ible of greif; for <HI>unicuique viri|um permi&s;it agere, quod e&s;t &s;ibi proprium;</HI> He would have every &s;en&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dama&s;c. lib. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> every part grieved to the full. Three whole hours he hung there in perfect &s;en&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 23.44.</NOTE> for whereas the torments of others when they are mo&s;t violent, do either ha|&s;ten their death, or overwhelm the &s;en&s;e, and &s;o the pain when it is mo&s;t vio|lent is lea&s;t perceived: In Chri&s;t it was not &s;o; for he dyed not by degrees as we do; no pangs of death &s;eized upon him before he would;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 46, 47.</NOTE> the Centurion wondred that he &s;hould cry with a loud voice and give up the Gho&s;t. <HI>Quis tam facile, quando vult, moritur?</HI> Who dyes &s;o ea&s;ily when he li&s;ts? for in perfect patience he voluntarily re&s;igned up his &s;oul into his fathers hands; Till then <GAP DESC="foreign">, i. e. <GAP DESC="foreign">. He did tarry, &s;tay, abide under it.</P>
<P N="2">2. And yet all this was but the half of his &s;ufferings,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Andr. &s;er. <HI>2</HI> de pa&s;&s;.</NOTE> and the le&s;&s;er part by half; for indeed the pain of the Body is but the body of pain; the very &s;oul of pain, is the pain of the &s;oul,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 12.25.</NOTE> which doth &s;o far exceed the other, as the &s;oul doth the body; any heavine&s;s to the heavine&s;s of the heart; none like that, and in that he mo&s;t &s;uffered;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.35.</NOTE> it is evident by all four E|vangeli&s;ts. Wi&s;e and re&s;olute men do not complain of a little; Holy Martyrs were racked and would not be loo&s;ed; they &s;uffered,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.38. Marc. 14.33. Luc. 22.44. Joh. 12.21.</NOTE> endured and complained not. To what pitch then this &s;orrow came (for I mu&s;t carry you back again to the garden) when the &s;oul of the Son of God was &s;ad to death; when he be|gan <GAP DESC="foreign">, to be troubled and perplexed, <GAP DESC="foreign">, to be a&s;toni&s;hed, to be in an agony, to be <GAP DESC="foreign">, be&s;ieged, be&s;et with &s;orro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, when <GAP DESC="foreign">, he was troubled in Spirit; &s;orrow and a &s;iege of &s;orrow, fear and an a&s;toni&s;hing fear; an agony and a bloody agony; trouble, and troubles of the &s;oul are avouched by them, confe&s;&s;ed by him&s;elf! Four &s;words at once, &s;orrow, fear, a conflict, and trouble peirced his &s;oul; that hour what his &s;or|rows were, it it dangerous to define. To very good purpo&s;e it was that the an|cient fathers of the <HI>Greek</HI> Church &s;hut up their Litany in this pathetical form, <GAP DESC="foreign">, By thy unknown &s;orrows and tortures, felt by thee, but unknown to us, have pity on us and &s;ave us. Great they were that cau&s;ed this unheard of &s;weat. Trouble, &s;orrow, grief, angui&s;h, perplexity is always &s;uitable to the apprehen&s;ion; and never any man was able &s;o truely to apprehend the cau&s;es of the&s;e pa&s;&s;ions as him&s;elf, and therefore never any &s;o much affected with them.</P>
<PB N="230" REF="121">
<P>He &s;aw the maje&s;ty of God arm'd with fierce wrath again&s;t all the &s;inners of the world, for whom he had undertaken to an&s;wer; this made him fear. He &s;aw the heinou&s;ne&s;s of mans &s;in, with which God was di&s;plea&s;ed; this made him grieve: He &s;aw the Judge on the throne ready to take revenge; this made him to pray,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 22.42.</NOTE> <HI>Prae<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ereat calix i&s;te.</HI> He &s;aw Satan accu&s;ing his Elect, this perplexed him. In a word, he &s;aw the nece&s;&s;ity of mans damnation if he &s;uf|fered not; of his redemption if he did &s;uffer; and this made him take the cup, and drink it down. And whil&s;t he was in this conflict of fear, and grief, and prayer, and love, declining and choo&s;ing, he &s;weats and bleeds.</P>
<P>'Tis no wonder if the glory of Gods judgements and the power of his wrath; if the number of our &s;ins, and neglect of our own e&s;tate; if the malice of Sa|tan, and the danger of our condition cau&s;ed Chri&s;t, who had taken upon him to be our Surety, out of fear of the great Maje&s;ty of the Judge; out of &s;orrow for the crimes and contempts of the pri&s;oners; out of zeal again&s;t the im|pugner of mans deliverance, thus to Agonize him&s;elf into a bloody &s;weat.</P>
<P N="3">3. And now behold this Hour is over, this hour of pain, of heavine&s;s, of angui&s;h, of &s;weat, of blood; For an Angel appears <GAP DESC="foreign">, to &s;treng|then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 22.43.</NOTE> to comfort him; his burden was le&s;&s;ened, or rather his &s;trength to bear it encrea&s;ed; but within a while there &s;ucceeds another, when not an Angel dare look from above to relieve him, not a man on earth &s;tands by him to comfort him.</P>
<P>In this di&s;tre&s;s then, whence can he expect ea&s;e? what from his own thoughts? No not thence, for the influence of the &s;uperior faculty of the &s;oul was re&s;trained from the aid of the inferior; not one drop of comfort thence.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aquiuas.</NOTE> Will his father do i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">? Yea there was his hope, but that hope failes. He, even He, his Father delivers him into the hands of his enemies, then turns his back upon him as a &s;tranger;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.10.</NOTE> the Lord would break him.</P>
<P>This was right <HI>Poena damni,</HI> all lo&s;&s;es light to this; we hear him not com|plain till now; give ear to his cry, the like was never heard, <HI>My God, my God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.46.</NOTE> <HI>why ha&s;t thou for&s;aken me!</HI> What a word was this to fall from the mouth of the Son of God? My di&s;ciples are men, weak and fearful; no marveil if they leave me and fly. The Jews are Jews, cruel, and ob&s;tinate; I complain not of, I pray for them; but that thou, O my Father, thou that ha&s;t witne&s;&s;ed by a voice from heaven, <HI>This is my beloved Son;</HI> Thou of whom I have te&s;ti|fied,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.17. Joh. 8.54.</NOTE> It is my Father that glorifies me, that thou &s;hould&s;t now for&s;ake me! bring me to this &s;hame and pain, and here leave me! afford me no comfort, no a&s;&s;i&s;tance at all! This is a pain beyond all pain; the torments of the body are nothing to this; for to be for&s;aken of God, is a mi&s;ery, that the body can|not feel, or tell what it means. This a complaint proper to the &s;oul, and how great the pain is, <HI>Jonah</HI> in the belly of the Whale, and <HI>Job</HI> from the dunghill,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jon. 2.4. Job 6.4. P&s;al. 130.1.</NOTE> and <HI>David</HI> when he cryed <HI>de profundis</HI> out of the deep, were be&s;t able to inform you; &s;hould you fall ever into it, which God forbid, you would confe&s;s there were no &s;orrow like to this &s;orrow.</P>
<P>Yet to this pa&s;s Chri&s;t came, he was for&s;aken, as the Godly complain &s;ome|time when they be void of comfort, or de&s;titute of help, left wholly to the will of the oppre&s;&s;or. <HI>Leo</HI> fir&s;t &s;aid it, and all antiquity hath &s;ub&s;cribed to it, <HI>Non &s;olvit unionem, &s;ed &s;ubtraxit vi&s;ionem.</HI> The union of the two Natures was not di&s;&s;olved, but the beams and comfortable influence of the Diety was re&s;trained; there was a traver&s;e, as it were, drawn betwixt heaven and him, &s;o that his &s;oul was left as a dry-&s;corched heath ground,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 1.21.</NOTE> upon which there fell nor dew nor rain.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<PB N="231" REF="121">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Scandalum Crucis.</HEAD>
<P>I have I fear been too long upon this Point, the pains of the Cro&s;s, which he &s;uffered in body and &s;oul, and under which he was left. But not too long, if I could rai&s;e in you a corre&s;pondent &s;orrow for your &s;ins that cau&s;ed the&s;e paines. For it was for your iniquities that Chri&s;t underwent the&s;e paines. Now if all the&s;e might have been endured <HI>Salv<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> honore,</HI> with his honour, it had been &s;o much the le&s;s. But to fill up tho&s;e &s;orrows, and to embitter the&s;e paines, there is yet <HI>Scandalum Crucis,</HI> a &s;candal ne|ce&s;&s;arily con&s;equent to this death to be thought on, which caus'd a wi&s;e man to &s;ay, <HI>Plus e&s;t etiam quam mors, e&s;t etiam mors ignominio&s;a,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Senec.</HI> ad Helv. c. 15.</NOTE> It is more than death, for it is an ignommious death.</P>
<P><HI>Dyed</HI> Abner <HI>as a foole?</HI> &s;aith <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 3.33, 34</NOTE> in great regret for a valiant man. Evident it is that our Saviour died &s;o; as a fool, and as a Malefactor to boot; whence the wi&s;e being put in minde of Chri&s;t crucified, were wont to &s;tile it <HI>The fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e of the Cro&s;s.</HI> His hands were bound,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.23.</NOTE> and his feet put into fetters; and as a man falls before wicked men, &s;o fell he. Nay, he fell in the mid&s;t of wicked men, as if he had been the mo&s;t wicked. For they were not content to put him to the death of Malefactors, but to place a Thief on each &s;ide; one on the left hand, and another on the right,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.23. <HI>Lip&s;.</HI> lib. 3. An|tiq. Lect.</NOTE> and Je&s;us in the mid&s;t, as if he had been the Prince of Thieves. The middle place with the Ancients was mo&s;t Honourable; and therefore the middle place among Thieves mu&s;t needs be mo&s;t di&s;honourable. And yet thus our <HI>Ab|ner</HI> died.</P>
<P>Di&s;graceful that, but more di&s;graceful this; for &s;hameful it is for any man to end his life upon a Tree; which if it &s;o fall out, yet let him end his dayes quietly, not be &s;corn'd, and &s;coffed, and di&s;graced then; this will add a cro&s;s to the Cro&s;s. We often pro&s;ecute even wicked men to &s;uch places with tears, with pity. Our Saviour found none at that houre, not one to &s;ay, <HI>Ah Lord,</HI> or <HI>Ah his glory,</HI> but even then in&s;ultation, irri&s;ion, taunts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 22.18. P&s;al. 22.16, 17. Mat. 27.39. Ver. 40. Ver. 42. Luk. 23.39. Mat. 27.46. Ver. 49.</NOTE> and &s;corns to break his heart. They &s;tood gaping and &s;taring upon him, wag|ging their heads, writhing their mouths, rayling on him, reviling him. <HI>Hay, thou that de&s;troye&s;t the Temple,</HI> &s;aith one, <HI>Come down, and we will believe; Ho, thou that &s;ave&s;t others,</HI> &s;aith another, <HI>now &s;ave thy &s;elf, and us,</HI> quoth the Thief. Yea, in the very in&s;tant of his prayer, when he cryed with a loud voice and a bitter, <HI>Eli, Eli,</HI> they interrupted him with a &s;cornful Sar|ca&s;me and a bitter, <HI>Stay, let him alone, let us &s;ee if Eliah will come and take him down.</HI> And thus our <HI>Abner</HI> dyed even like a fool. And this I call the depth of Chri&s;ts Cro&s;s, becau&s;e there is no mi&s;ery will pierce a heart more deeply than reproach and &s;hame; and alwayes the more noble the heart is, the deeper the wound. For two things are mo&s;t precious; our life, and our reputation; they go both arme in arme. The Cro&s;s took away both life and honour; and for both, brought forth another couple, Death and Di&s;grace upon Him.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> Maledictum Crucis.</HEAD>
<P>Is there any wor&s;e yet behinde? There is. For all this was but a &s;candal; and a &s;candal may be ca&s;t upon him that de&s;erves it not. <HI>Maledictum Crucis,</HI> The cur&s;e of the Cro&s;s is a death of another pitch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 3.13.</NOTE> and yet this al&s;o he under|went for us. So that the Death he dyed, was not only a bloody, a pain|ful, a &s;candalous, reproachful, but it was an execrable and an accur&s;ed death al&s;o.</P>
<PB N="232" REF="122">
<P>Higher we cannot go, and therefore I call'd this the height of Chri&s;ts Cro&s;s;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.14.</NOTE> hither he would be, as he call'd it, lifted, that he might be made a cur&s;e for us. A cur&s;e for us, as the Sacrifice in the old Law is call'd a &s;inne. That was a &s;inne, becau&s;e on it was laid the Sinne of the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors; and Chri&s;t made a cur&s;e, becau&s;e upon him was laid that kinde of accur&s;ed death. Saint <HI>Paul</HI> makes mention of two kinds of cur&s;es; one for doing evil; another in &s;uffering as an evil doer;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 3.13.</NOTE> one to him that was hang'd upon the Tree; another to the tran&s;gre&s;&s;or of the Law. All the world was &s;ubject to this latter, becau&s;e tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors. But Chri&s;t exchang'd this cur&s;e for another. He hung on the Tree, underwent that death, which was accur&s;ed in the Law, that &s;o by the one, he might lo&s;e the other; by the accur&s;ed death of the Cro&s;s, di&s;&s;olve that cur&s;e which was due to mans &s;in.</P>
<P>And thus it is fini&s;hed; all things contain'd in the word <HI>Crucified</HI> or <HI>Suf|fered,</HI> have an end; his &s;orrow, his paines, his &s;hame, his cur&s;e. And thus far we have warrant to extend his &s;ufferings,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> That Chri&s;t &s;uffered not hell torments.</HEAD>
<P>But there be that &s;tretch it farther; yea, &s;o farre, that they trench very near upon bla&s;phemy. They who take upon them to be Champions of the Holy Cau&s;e, as they call it, have out of their Pulpits, and in their Catechi&s;ms, taught their Pro&s;elites, that <HI>Nihil actum corpore&acirc; morte Chri&s;ti,</HI> that for Chri&s;t to dye in body, was not a &s;ufficient price for mans Redemption, ex|cept he dye in &s;oul al&s;o, and &s;uffer <HI>infernales poenas in anima.</HI> Suffer he mu&s;t the very &s;ame pains of the damned in Hell, <HI>horre&s;co referens,</HI> before we could be ran&s;om'd from the wrath of God.</P>
<P>Did the Patriots of this opinion (I name none for the honour I beare them, though now in the du&s;t) meane by <HI>infernales poenas in anim&acirc;,</HI> nothing el&s;e but great and extream tortures, I &s;hould not gain-&s;ay them. But when they heighten the&s;e torments to de&s;paire, terror, and anxiety of con&s;cience, <HI>cruciatibus damnati &amp; perditi hominis,</HI> to the paines of a damned and lo&s;t mi&s;creant, to all tho&s;e puni&s;hments which mi&s;erable &s;ouls are to &s;uffer, exce|pting only the perpetuity and continuance; I cannot, neither I believe will any Orthodox Chri&s;tian agree with them; and that for the&s;e rea&s;ons.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Adoro plenitudinem Scripturarum;</HI> To go farther than the Scripture leads in the work of mans Redemption,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> is pre&s;umption, that I &s;ay no wor&s;e. And what one &s;yllable is there to be found in Gods book to countenance in|fernal paines in Chri&s;ts &s;oul?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.8. I&s;a. 53.12. Col. 1.20. Rev. 5.9. Acts 20.28. 1 Pet. 1.19. 1 Joh. 1.7. Mat. 20.28. 1 Tim. 2.6.</NOTE> <HI>To death he was obedient, even to the death of the Cro&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;o farre Saint <HI>Paul</HI> goes; <HI>He poured forth his &s;oule to death,</HI> &s;o farre the Prophet. <HI>He made peace by his blood, he Redeemed us by his blood, he bought us with his blood, purcha&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d us with his blood: His blood clen&s;eth us from all &s;inne,</HI> this we read frequently. Nothing beyond it. And therefore no que&s;tion his blood accompanied with the death of the Cro&s;s, was a &s;ufficient ran&s;ome for the &s;inne of the whole world. And what need then the&s;e new invented torments? This Hell in his Soul? what this new price of our Redemption? this new way of Reconciliation?</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Poenae infernales in anim&acirc;,</HI> Infernal paines in the &s;oul are the &s;econd Death; and dare any man &s;ay, that Chri&s;t &s;uffered this? Two deaths there are; the one is the &s;eparation of the &s;oul from the body; the other is the &s;eparati|on of the &s;oul from grace, from glory, from God: And is he think you in his right wits, who dares affirme this of Chri&s;ts &s;oul? His &s;oul was alwayes quickned by the Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 3.18. Joh. 11.42. Luk. 23.34.</NOTE> actuated by faith, inform'd by love; and was it then po&s;&s;ible, that in &s;uch abundance of Spirit, evidence of faith, a&s;&s;urance of hope, and perfection of charity, Chri&s;ts &s;oul &s;hould do other than live to God?
<PB N="233" REF="122"> Life and Death are privatives; they cannot be found in one and the &s;ame Subject, in one and the &s;ame time. Chri&s;ts &s;oul then that was al|ways &s;piritually alive, cannot be &s;piritually dead; and if not dead, it could not &s;uffer Hell torments.</P>
<P N="3">3. That this truth may yet more appear, &s;ee I pray' to what impiety they mu&s;t needs be brought, that maintain this new and helli&s;h device. Confe&s;s they mu&s;t, that he who once comes within the paines of the damned, mu&s;t be &s;ubject to the &s;entence of the damned contain'd in the&s;e words, <HI>Ite Male|dicti,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Be Rejected, Accur&s;ed, Condemned to fire, to everla&s;ting fire.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.41.</NOTE> And all the&s;e without bla&s;phemy, cannot be a&s;crib'd to Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Can we &s;ay, that he was rejected from the favour or good-will of God, who in his greate&s;t angui&s;h pray'd and prevail'd! prevail'd for him&s;elf; <HI>He was heard,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>in that he feared;</HI> or for his piety; that is, he was deliver'd from that he feared,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5.7.</NOTE> though with a pious feare: prevail'd for his per&s;ecutors; who gave at that in&s;tant Paradi&s;e to the Thief; yea, and in tho&s;e very words they alledge for his de&s;paire,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.43.</NOTE> yet profe&s;|&s;ed God to be his God, and his Father; <HI>My God, my God, why hast,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.46. Luk. 23.46. I&s;a. 53.3.</NOTE> <HI>&amp;c. Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit.</HI> Are the&s;e the words of one that conceives him&s;elf ca&s;t a&s;ide, think ye? Rejected indeed of men he might be, and was; but rejected of God he could never be, nor conceive him&s;elf to be. For this would bring him under <HI>Poenam damni,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian. <GAP DESC="foreign"></NOTE> under the puni&s;hment of the lo&s;s of the Beatifical Vi&s;ion, which is a puni&s;hment be|yond all that is feared, or to be &s;uffered in Hell. The truth is, that in the mid&s;t of his Agony God was in love with his per&s;on, which he witne&s;&s;ed by the mea&s;ure of his cha&s;ti&s;ement, and the reward of his humility; and therefore in that very day of the fiercene&s;s of Gods wrath, he was not rejected,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 1.12.</NOTE> or in disfavour.</P>
<P N="2">2. Can we &s;ay, that he was properly accur&s;ed, who procured a ble&s;&s;ing for us? Yea, but the Apo&s;tle in expre&s;s words &s;aith &s;o much,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 3.13.</NOTE> <HI>He was made a Cur&s;e for us.</HI> But out of this place they might learn to di&s;tingui&s;h of <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Cur&s;e. For there is <GAP DESC="foreign">, the cur&s;e emphatically expre&s;s'd by the Ar|ticle, and <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Cur&s;e &s;et without an Article. Betwixt the&s;e two there is a va&s;t difference. For the Cur&s;e includes in it Dete&s;tation, the worm that never dies; Obligation to eternal puni&s;hment, with all the Concomitants. A Cur&s;e includes no more than hanging on the Tree, to which by the Law Malefactors were adjudg'd; and in that &s;en&s;e accur&s;ed, becau&s;e they &s;hame|fully ended their dayes. The fir&s;t was properly the cur&s;e of the Law, which includes Gods dete&s;tation of &s;in, his commination again&s;t &s;in, his indigna|tion in proportioning puni&s;hment for &s;in, and his ju&s;tice in executing it up|on &s;inners. The &s;econd proceeds from the Law, and includes no more than the penalty due by the Letter of the Law, and in this life to be executed upon a Malefactour, according to tho&s;e words of <HI>Mo&s;es, Cur|&s;ed is every one that hangs upon a Tree;</HI> &s;hould we extend them farther,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 21.23.</NOTE> damn we mu&s;t the good Thief upon the Cro&s;s, and all other who die that ig|nominious death.</P>
<P>To apply this to our purpo&s;e in the Apo&s;tles words, <HI>Chri&s;t redeemed us,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>purcha&s;ed us from the cur&s;e of the Law, being made a cur&s;e for us.</HI> Not the cur&s;e, but <HI>a Cur&s;e.</HI> As if he had &s;aid, Becau&s;e Chri&s;t could not be &s;ubject to that cur&s;e to which the people were for tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, he admitted the other Cur&s;e, <HI>viz.</HI> to hang on the Cro&s;s in&s;tead of that;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;ost. <HI>in loc.</HI> Cyril. Epiphan. Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> that &s;o he might loo&s;e the people from <HI>the Cur&s;e.</HI> This cau&s;ed <HI>Cyrill</HI> to &s;ay, Chri&s;t was not made a cur&s;e in truth; And <HI>Epiphanius,</HI> Chri&s;t was made a cur&s;e to the cur&s;e; that is, a di&s;&s;olver of the cur&s;e. But mo&s;t cleerly <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> and <HI>Hierom,</HI> Chri&s;t was made a
<PB N="234" REF="123"> cur&s;e as he was made &s;inne; that is, a Sacrifice to extingui&s;h the cur&s;e of &s;in; a cur&s;e and &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> that he might aboli&s;h our cur&s;e and &s;in. Chri&s;t was made a cur&s;e, as he was made &s;in and fooli&s;hne&s;s; but &s;in and fooli&s;hne&s;s he never was made truly and properly; and therefore he never was a true and proper cur&s;e for &s;in. Away then with this ill-&s;ounding word <HI>Accur&s;ed;</HI> or if it mu&s;t be kept, let us never &s;tretch it farther than will &s;tand with the Apo&s;tles intenti|on, the Fathers Expo&s;ition, and our Saviours Honour.</P>
<P N="3">3. And as for the Fire which they ca&s;t into Chri&s;ts &s;oul, who taught them, that in this world any man could in &s;oul &s;uffer the paines of Hell? Hell fire is no Allegory, but a true and real flame; whether material or immaterial, I di|&s;pute not; but prepar'd to torment fir&s;t the Devil and his Angels, after the bodies and &s;ouls of men;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.41.</NOTE> and the late fiction of Famili&s;ts, and Quakers, that Hell was only the &s;ting of a guilty con&s;cience, was long &s;ince condemn'd in <HI>Origen</HI> by the Church of Chri&s;t. Be&s;ides, were this opinion true, how is it po&s;&s;ible, that he &s;hould be &s;ubject to the &s;ting of &s;inne, which was never &s;ub|ject to &s;inne? that is <HI>the &s;ting of death,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle; and he means it of inherent corruption.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.50.</NOTE> And how was it then conceivable, that the &s;tin|ging paines of the &s;econd death &s;hall fa&s;ten upon that per&s;on in whom there was nor &s;eed, nor root, nor branch, nor fruit of &s;in.</P>
<P N="4">4. As for the perpetual paines of this fire, they who ca&s;t him into it, free him from it. Flame it did, &s;ay they, during the Agony in the Gar|den, his la&s;t cry and complaint on the Cro&s;s; but upon his death they put it out.</P>
<P>But I pray, upon what ground? Sure I am, they may not, if they will &s;tick to their own principles. For do they not tell us, <HI>that the whole wrath of God, and the full &V;ials of his wrath mu&s;t be poured upon his Son? that he mu&s;t &s;uffer in kinde all that we were to &s;uffer?</HI> what? are his Vials of wrath now by them &s;hortned that admini&s;ter them? and his whole wrath not whole? Methinks they who are &s;o kinde to di&s;pence with one degree, might di&s;pence with another, and yet another, and &s;o with all, &s;ince if all were nece&s;&s;ary, not one might be di&s;penc'd with.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> The Truth Cleared.</HEAD>
<P>The truth is, that their po&s;ition is fal&s;e, <HI>viz.</HI> That the paines of Hell in Chri&s;ts &s;oul, was nece&s;&s;arily required to the full &s;atisfaction of all our &s;innes. That extream paines were requi&s;ite, will be ea&s;ily granted, but not infernal. <HI>Every &s;inne doth defile the whole man;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 7.15. Jam. 3.6.</NOTE> and therefore the &s;uffering for &s;inne in the per&s;on of the Mediator, mu&s;t be al&s;o common to the whole man|hood. As our &s;ouls are in &s;inne the principal Agent, &s;o in &s;uffering for &s;in, in him the &s;oul mu&s;t be the principal Patient. God tells us, <HI>that his &s;acri|fice for &s;inne,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 51.17. Mark 14.33.</NOTE> <HI>is a troubled &s;pirit;</HI> this then might not want in Chri&s;ts Sacri|fice; and this brought him <GAP DESC="foreign">, to that a&s;toni&s;hment. Tho&s;e that approach the Maje&s;ty of Heaven, mu&s;t make their approach with reverence. This put him to pray <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5.7.</NOTE> with devotion. Such as &s;tand in the place of &s;inners, have rea&s;on to tremble and quake at Gods wrath and ju&s;tice. This might put him into his Agony.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.44. Mat. 26.37.</NOTE> That Gods holine&s;s was &s;o much wrong'd and polluted by wicked men, might put him to &s;o much &s;orrow. That in his &s;oul he &s;uffered all the&s;e, we do allow. And the&s;e Sacrifices, fear and &s;or|row offered with reverence, obedience, and patience, for us and our &s;ins in the Per&s;on of the Son of God, were no le&s;s acceptable to God, than the &s;uf|fering of paine. Let then this be fir&s;t ob&s;erv'd, that I deny not but Chri&s;t &s;uf|fered in Soul as well as in Body.</P>
<P N="2">2. Next I affirm, that it is not required by the Rules of equity, as they
<PB N="235" REF="123"> &s;uppo&s;e, that &s;atisfaction for wrongs &s;hould alway be made in kinde, or in Identity; a man breaks his Neighbours arme, or burns his Hou&s;e, here the Law permits not to proceed <HI>Lege Tal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">onis,</HI> by blows, or fire, to require re|compence, but finds out a more equal way to give contentment; &s;uch as might &s;atisfie the wronged party, far better than in kinde to do it: Now equi|ty is the life of the Law; who&s;e chief maxime is, <HI>Ne quid detrimenti,</HI> That the wronged per&s;on be at no lo&s;s; <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero. Aristot.</NOTE> that he have not le&s;s than his due; whether in Identity or no, is not &s;o requi&s;ite.</P>
<P>God was offended and wronged by all mankinde in <HI>Adam,</HI> and requi&s;ite it was that his ju&s;tice be &s;atisfied to the highe&s;t degree. Man, had he been condemned to pain for ever, could not have done it. His own Son therefore undertook to become our Surety; and all that God could require of his Son,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 7.22.</NOTE> was to make full &s;atisfaction according to the Rule of ju&s;tice; which, as I have &s;hewed, is not alwayes the &s;elf-&s;ame, but &s;omewhat that may be equivalent to it. Thus much we know might be accompli&s;hed by our Saviour after a more excellent manner, than by &s;uffering Satan to exerci&s;e his malice upon him, and to torment his &s;oul.</P>
<P>Pain, it is confe&s;&s;ed, he &s;uffered for our pain, paid for our di&s;obedience by his obedience, for our impatience by his patience, for our want of con|trition by his &s;orrow, for our ob&s;tinacy by his feare, for our irreligion by his reverence. There is not a &s;inne for which he hath not made full &s;atis|faction.</P>
<P>Be it that &s;in be infinite: So was the &s;atisfaction infinite al&s;o; and far more truly infinite than &s;in. <HI>Non quia pa&s;&s;us e&s;t infinita, &s;ed quia qui pa&s;|&s;us e&s;t erat infinitus;</HI> Not becau&s;e he &s;uffered infinite pains, but becau&s;e he that &s;uffered them is infinite. And <HI>Bellarmine</HI> is right in this,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bell.</HI> lib. 4, de Chri&s;ti pa&s;s. c. 8.</NOTE> That the true and full &s;atisfaction for our &s;ins mu&s;t not be deriv'd from the infinity and &s;in|gularity of Chri&s;ts &s;ufferings (for the Devils and damned &s;pirits have &s;uffer|ed the&s;e infernal paines long, and longer mu&s;t, yet &s;atisfie not) <HI>&s;ed ex dig|nitate per&s;onae, qui pa&s;&s;us; &amp; ex charitate, qua pa&s;&s;us,</HI> but from the Dignity of the Per&s;on who &s;uffered, and from the love out of which he &s;uffered. That the Son of God who made us; that he, I &s;ay, &s;hould humble him&s;elf to death, even to the death of the Cro&s;s for us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.8. I&s;a. 53.10.</NOTE> that he &s;hould make his &s;oul a &s;acri|fice for &s;inne, this was it that was &s;o plea&s;ing to God. In him it was an in|finite obedience, an infinite &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, an infinite love, an infinite pati|ence, and therefore an infinite &s;atisfaction for the wrong.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.11, 12, 13, 14.</NOTE> The Apo&s;tles au|thority, or rather rea&s;on will put the point out of que&s;tion, where he com|pares the blood of Bulls and Goats with the blood of Chri&s;t, and the Prie&s;t and Chri&s;t who offer'd them, and then thus infers, <HI>That if the blood of bulls and goats,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>could Sanctifie to the purifying of the fle&s;h; how much more the blood of Chri&s;t, who through the eternal Spirit offered him&s;elf, &amp;c.</HI> Ob&s;erve I pray, that the ground of the Apo&s;tles inference doth not &s;imply con&s;i&s;t in the &s;uper-excellency of the High Prie&s;t of our &s;ouls, or the Sacri|fice which he offer'd, but in the admirable union of our High Prie&s;t and his Sacrifice. That which gave efficacy to it, was, that he offer'd him&s;elf without &s;pot to God, to purge our con&s;ciences from dead works, to &s;erve the living God. <HI>Vide Thom. Aquin. part</HI> 3. <HI>Q.</HI> 48. <HI>Art.</HI> 2.</P>
<P>Let men talk then no longer, <HI>Chri&s;tum nihil egi&s;&s;e morte corporali,</HI> Chri&s;ts bodily death was of no value; that except he died in &s;oul, our &s;oul mu&s;t die; that the paines of his body will make him only <HI>Corporum Redem|ptorem,</HI> a Redeemer of the body. For the matter is far otherwi&s;e; both be|cau&s;e Chri&s;t &s;uffered in body and in &s;oul, and becau&s;e the puni&s;hment of this per&s;on was of an infinite price. What it wanted in exten&s;ion of time and i|dentity, is made up by the inten&s;ion of his &s;ufferings, and dignity of the
<PB N="236" REF="124"> per&s;on. Temporal death &s;o condition'd, mu&s;t needs be a &s;ufficient price for an eternal death, for &s;o much as Gods holine&s;s is highly plea&s;ed with the obe|dience, Gods glory greatly advanced by the Humility, and Gods ju&s;tice fully &s;atisfied with the &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion and patience of his Sonne upon the Cro&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>Into gro&s;s errour men often runne through incogitancy; they compare Chri&s;ts body without ours, his per&s;on with a common man; and therefore equal him in the pa&s;&s;ion, and in the payment; becau&s;e the paines of our bo|dies can make no &s;atisfaction for the &s;oul, they conceive this of his al&s;o. But it would be con&s;idered, That the mea&s;ure, nature, and quality of paines mu&s;t be taken not &s;o much from the force and violence of the Agent, as from the condition and temper of the Patient. <HI>Actus agentium &s;unt in patiente rite di&s;po&s;ito,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Scalig.</HI> exercit. 16. Sect. 2.</NOTE> The Actions of the Agent have their effect according to the di|&s;po&s;ition of the Patient; for the Patient doth not nece&s;&s;arily &s;uffer, what the Agent intends. The Sun hath not the &s;ame effect upon clay and wax; nor the fire the &s;ame power upon green wood, as upon dry. Nor the wrath of God, and vengeance due to &s;in, which would have affrighted any other man into de&s;paire, could have the &s;ame power upon Chri&s;t: It was not able to conquer his Faith, Hope, Love, Patience; which it mu&s;t needs do, &s;hould he have &s;uffered the Helli&s;h paines in his Soul.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.46.</NOTE> He confe&s;&s;eth <HI>that he was for|&s;aken, and wanted comfort in his troubles;</HI> and asks only, <HI>Quare, Why it &s;hould be &s;o,</HI> and &s;ays no more.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="U&s;e"><HI>&V;&s;e</HI> 1. The U&s;e that we may put this di&s;cour&s;e to, is, Fir&s;t, That we be not overha&s;ty to believe our new Ma&s;ters in their new fancies about Chri&s;ts &s;ufferings, but keep our &s;elves to our Articles, which our fathers have been taught out of the Prophets, Evangeli&s;ts, Apo&s;tles. In them farther we are not taught to extend his Sufferings, than his blood and his death on the Cro&s;s, and therefore let us there re&s;t.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="U&s;e"><HI>&V;&s;e</HI> 2. And re&s;t we may well upon it; &s;ince the greate&s;t comfort that any mortal man can expect, mu&s;t i&s;&s;ue from this one Fountain of our Savi|ours Agony and Bloody &s;weat, from his Cro&s;s and Pa&s;&s;ion. For what&s;oever he &s;uffer'd in tho&s;e two la&s;t bitter dayes, he &s;uffer'd, if not for this alone, yet for this e&s;pecially,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12.10.</NOTE> that he might be an All-&s;ufficient Comforter to all &s;uch as mourn that they ever pierced him. <HI>We have not an High Prie&s;t,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4 15.</NOTE> <HI>which cannot be touch'd with the feeling of our infirmities,</HI> but one who was like to us in reproaches, in nece&s;&s;ities, in feare, in &s;orrow, and beyond us in affliction. And it is the greate&s;t comfort to come to him for help,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5.2. &amp; 2.18.</NOTE> who by experience of what he hath &s;uffer'd, hath learned to be compa&s;&s;ionate.</P>
<P>Men that have been wrong'd with vexatious &s;uits in Law, per&s;wade them&s;elves better of a Judge, who hath been wrong'd and vex'd him&s;elf in the &s;ame kinde, than of one who alwayes hath been at re&s;t. The Phy&s;ician, 'tis likely, will be mo&s;t affected toward his Patient Rack'd with the Gout or Stone, if he him&s;elf hath langui&s;hed, and been formerly, tortured with the &s;ame di&s;ea&s;e: And a Sea-faring man who hath &s;uffered a Wrack, is alw<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">yes mo&s;t confident of pity, help, relief, when he meets with one that hath been at Sea, and &s;uffered &s;hipwrack by the fury of the waves and windes. It may then rai&s;e our &s;pirits, that the Sonne of God hath in his Body borne our infir|mities, hath in his Soul &s;uffered our &s;orrows, been brui&s;ed, afflicted, perplex|ed, grieved, for&s;aken as we may be, encountred the wrath of God more than we can. For as in the&s;e he did &s;uffer for us, &s;o al&s;o hath he learn'd by the&s;e to be compa&s;&s;ionate and &s;uffer with us.</P>
<PB N="237" REF="124">
<P>Let then tho&s;e giddy and bla&s;phemous Noveli&s;ts, tho&s;e &s;ons of <HI>I&s;mael</HI> &s;coff at tho&s;e &s;ad pa&s;&s;ages of our Liturgy, <HI>By thine Agony and bloody &s;weat, by thy Cro&s;s and Pa&s;&s;ion, &amp;c. good Lord deliver us;</HI> as if they had more alliance with Oaths, Spells, Exorci&s;mes, or forms of Conjuration, than with the Spirit of prayer and devotion; and upon a &s;uper&s;titious feare, as Ducklings &s;car'd with the &s;hadow of a Kite in the water, run with might and maine out of the Temple. For my part, I &s;hall be ready, and I profe&s;s it, in &s;uch forms to conjure my Lord, as conceiving, that then he is mo&s;t like to heare the agonies of my &s;oul, who in his agony de&s;ired to be heard him&s;elf; mo&s;t like to pity, who complain'd that he felt no pity.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Zanch.</HI> in expo&s;. praecept. 3. Sect de Invocat. The&s;. 2.</NOTE> Two things (&s;aith a great and learned Divine, and one beyond mo&s;t of the other &s;ide of the &s;ea, Judicious and Moderate) have alwayes plea&s;ed me in the Romane Church. <HI>Unum, quod omnes ad Patrem preces clauduntur Per Je&s;um Chri&s;tum Do|minum no&s;trum. Alterum, quod cum invocant Chri&s;tum, addunt Per Cru|cem &amp; pa&s;&s;ionem tuam &amp; aliquid &s;imile, quo Officium Mediatoris expri|mitur.</HI> The fir&s;t, that all prayers &s;ent up to the Father are concluded in this form, <HI>By Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord.</HI> The other, that when they call upon Chri&s;t, they add, By thy Cro&s;s and Pa&s;&s;ion, or &s;ome &s;uch thing, by which the Office of the Mediator is expre&s;&s;ed. This compendious and u&s;eful reca|pitulation of the brief of the Go&s;pel, that acknowledgement of the chief means of our Salvation, well pleas'd this great Divine, with which our New men are &s;o much offended. If any thing do offend, it &s;hould be their own dul|ne&s;s and coldne&s;s, when the&s;e or the like words are rehear&s;ed, that they are not affected, fired, and heated to devotion with them.</P>
<P>For were it but po&s;&s;ible to &s;weat blood at prayer, po&s;&s;ible to tender our Petitions with &s;trong cryes and tears as he did, we &s;hould be heard; for his bowels would yearn upon us, when he &s;aw us in his own ca&s;e. Thither we do not, we cannot come, however fervent and zealous we may be. And in our heat let us put him in minde of his Agony and bloody &s;weat, of his Cro&s;s and Pa&s;&s;ion; a more powerful ejaculation there cannot be; 'tis but in effect as if we &s;aid to him, that be would remember our ca&s;e, and make it his own; which is a more powerful peice of Rhetorick, than all the Prolix Non-&s;ence, and extemporary frothy &s;tuff of tho&s;e who di&s;ta&s;te it. And I would faine be taught, if it be lawful in prayer to plead the merits of Chri&s;t in general, why it is not as lawful to u&s;e any of tho&s;e particular Acts, <HI>&V;iz.</HI> Circumci&s;ion, Bapti&s;me, Incarnation, &amp;c. from whence tho&s;e merits do ari&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>U&s;e</HI> 3. To draw to an end, Behold yet more comfort, you di&s;con&s;olate <MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="U&s;e"> &s;ouls, that make the&s;e &s;ad conclu&s;ions again&s;t your &s;elves, &s;aying with <HI>Jonah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jonah 2.4. P&s;al. 42.6.</NOTE> <HI>I am ca&s;t out of the &s;ight of thine eyes;</HI> with <HI>David, I am ca&s;t off:</HI> For your comfort, you may belong to God though you feel it not. See what a convul&s;ion the Sonne of God was in, when he cryed with a loud voice,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.46.</NOTE> <HI>My God, my God, why ha&s;t thou for&s;aken me!</HI> The cry was not &s;o lamentable to him, as comfortable to you; for <HI>vocem emi&s;it ve&s;tram, non &s;uam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> he cri|ed then with your tongue, rather than his own; intimating, that to tho&s;e gulfs, tho&s;e plunges, that woe, that mi&s;ery, the deare&s;t of Gods Servants may come; that in a holy de&s;paire (for &s;uch there is) they may cry, <HI>My God, my God, &amp;c. Mihi compatitur, mihi tri&s;tis e&s;t, mihi dolet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> He &s;uffers for me, he is &s;ad for me, he grieves for me. In him as a &s;econd fir&s;t fruit of our &s;tock we were &s;trugling; in him tho&s;e words were of faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyril.</NOTE> not of &s;en&s;e; and &s;o let them be in us, if at any time we come to that pa&s;s, that we feel the heavy wrath of God upon us.</P>
<P>You poor &s;inners with Doves eyes, that eat up your own heart wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h &s;or|rows,
<PB N="238" REF="125"> are the&s;e doublings felt by you? is this want of comfort lamented? would you not de&s;paire? then wipe away tho&s;e teares; what you feele, and abhorre, will not hurt. For even then when you finde your &s;inne a burden, and de&s;ire to ca&s;t it off on Chri&s;t, you have faith; He cannot be ca&s;t away by de&s;paire, that affectionately, earne&s;tly, continually de&s;ires to cry, <HI>My God, my God.</HI> That the Head was in this ca&s;e, is the comfort of the mem|bers, becau&s;e he came into this ca&s;e for the love and good of His Mem|bers.</P>
<P>Damn not then your &s;elves for tho&s;e &s;innes which the Sonne of God hath borne. Shall the blood of that Innocent Lamb be &s;hed to clen&s;e you from guilt, and will you in a moody melancholy, poure it upon the ground? &s;hall he open heaven, and will you &s;hut it? &s;hall he naile the writing to the Cro&s;s that was again&s;t you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.14.</NOTE> and will you yet take it down and reade it, and keep it in force again&s;t your own life? Is this the thanks, this the fruit you return him for bearing the burden and the heat of the day in your per&s;ons? Will you now for the Cup of Salvation which he hath offer'd you, take the Cup of de&s;pair and death? bla&s;pheme his Name? evacuate his Cro&s;s? tread the blood of his Te&s;tament under foot, and die pa&s;t hope?</P>
<P>God forbid, and the earne&s;t prayers and &s;obs of your own &s;ouls forbid it al&s;o. Hope even again&s;t hope, above hope. The ba&s;ene&s;s of thy condition, and weight of thy &s;inne, cannot exceed the Blood and Merit of thy Saviour, nor Satans malice his love. The rigour of the Law is &s;atisfied, the ju&s;tice of the mo&s;t upright Judge fully contented; and who, or what then can con|demn any one that is in Chri&s;t Je&s;us?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ram. 8.1.</NOTE> Rely upon his Name, for it is a Tow|er of defence; Tru&s;t to his promi&s;es, for they are &s;weet; Remember his Co|venant, for it is &s;ure; and then doubt not but he will remember thee, and bring thee to his Kingdome. His Name, his Promi&s;es, his Covenant will be our comfort while we live here, and they will not for&s;ake us, and leave us, till they have conducted our &s;ouls to heaven, where with him we &s;hall be hap|py for ever. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="18" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>Of the Cau&s;es of Chri&s;ts Pa&s;&s;ion.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>I&s;aiah 53.10.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Yet it plea&s;ed the Lord to brui&s;e him: he hath put him to grief. When thou &s;halt make his &s;oul an offering for &s;in:<NOTE PLACE="marg">De cau&s;is pa&s;|&s;ionis.</NOTE> <HI>Or</HI> when his &s;oul &s;hall make an off<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r|fering for &s;in, he &s;hall &s;ee his &s;eed.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclu&s;. 42. ult.</NOTE><HI>WHO can be fill'd in beholding Gods glory!</HI> &s;aith the Son of <HI>Syrach,</HI> &s;peaking of the works of the Creation. And who can be fill'd, may I &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.12.</NOTE> in beholding the work of the Pa&s;&s;ion! The Angels &s;toop't to look in|to it, the Patriarchs long'd to &s;ee it, the Prophets foretold it, the Evange|li&s;ts related it, and out of them I have &s;pun a long Narration; and yet notwith&s;tanding all, I have &s;aid it is a my&s;tery; and before we can know all we ought (for all in this world we never &s;hall) of it, it mu&s;t be farther &s;earch'd.</P>
<P>Now nothing is ever well &s;earcht, till we arrive at the Cau&s;e. Thither till we come, new things beget in us wonder, and &s;ad things amazement; and &s;o may the pa&s;&s;ion &s;et us to admire, put us to a melancholy dump. Read what goes before this,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>&agrave;</HI> Ver. 2. ad 10.</NOTE> and wonder that ever any man &s;hould be thus u&s;ed,
<PB N="239" REF="125"> de&s;pi&s;ed, rejected, di&s;e&s;teemed, &s;tricken, afflicted, brui&s;ed, cha&s;ti&s;ed, brought to &s;laughter, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> that was a Ju&s;t Man, one that had done no violence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 9.</NOTE> nor any guile to be found in his mouth, &s;hould be thus u&s;ed; Yet this man, this ju&s;t man was &s;o pitifully handled, as our Eloquent Prophet hath de&s;cribed. Now &s;et a&s;ide the cau&s;e, and this u&s;age is but a melancholy and heavy &s;ight; that I &s;ay not very &s;candalous; for there are who take offence at it. To remove then this &s;candal from the Jews, and to cea&s;e all admiration, and dry up the tears of believers, the Prophet from Gods mouth in the&s;e words acquaints us, why Chri&s;t was thus brui&s;ed, thus &s;laughtered, thus put to pain. Now the cau&s;es here expre&s;&s;ed, are the&s;e.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The principal efficient <HI>was God.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The <GAP DESC="foreign">, or that which drew God unto it, <HI>His good plea&s;ure, his will, his love; It plea&s;ed the Lord.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Again the <GAP DESC="foreign">, that induced Chri&s;t unto it; the &s;elf &s;ame, <HI>His goodwill and plea&s;ure al&s;o.</HI> For God he was, and could not be compelled; and therefore it is at the 12. <HI>ver&s;. He poured out his Soul;</HI> and the old Tran&s;lation at the 7. <HI>ver&s;. Oblatus e&s;t quia voluit;</HI> and our tran&s;lation had an eye to this his voluntary offering, that in the Margent of our Bibles read it actively, <HI>When his Soul &s;hall make an offering.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The <GAP DESC="foreign"> or that which outwardly drew him unto it. Sin, our &s;in, not his own, <HI>For there was no violence in his hands, no deceit in his mouth,</HI> ver&s;. 9.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. The final cau&s;e, <HI>That his &s;oul might be an offering for this &s;in;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 5. Ver&s;. 7. Ver&s;. 12.</NOTE> or as the Prophet expre&s;&s;eth it before, <HI>That he might bear our griefs, that we might have Peace with God;</HI> and after, <HI>That he might bear the &s;in of many, and make interce&s;&s;ion for the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>6. The event and con&s;equent, that which God hath here promi&s;ed, <HI>He &s;hall &s;ee his &s;eed.</HI> This &s;eed is men, and the&s;e men are his Church; which at the 11 <HI>v.</HI> is more fully expre&s;&s;ed, <HI>He &s;hall &s;ee of the travail of his &s;oul, and &s;hall be &s;atisfied. By his knowledge &s;hall my righteous &s;ervant ju&s;tifie many, For he &s;hall bear their iniquities.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>The&s;e were the cau&s;es the Son of God took upon him the form of a &s;ervant, was obedient as a &s;ervant, patient as a &s;ervant, &s;pake as a &s;ervant, did as a &s;ervant, was beaten as a &s;ervant, and dyed as a &s;ervant; and that you may take the ex|acter view of them, I &s;hall in&s;i&s;t upon them in their order; and &s;peak of the fir&s;t, which &s;tands fir&s;t, <HI>The good plea&s;ure of God.</HI></P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Voluit Jehovah, Chaphets, Deliciatus e&s;t. Jun. &amp; Tremel. It plea&s;ed the Lord.</HEAD>
<P>In the Scripture we meet with divers Names of God, &s;ome per&s;onal as <HI>Elo|him,</HI> &s;ome Relative as <HI>El</HI> &s;trong, <HI>Schaddai</HI> omnipotent, all-&s;ufficient, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> But E&s;&s;ential this of <HI>Jehovah,</HI> which in <HI>Exodus</HI> is <HI>Ehije, I am.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 3.14.</NOTE> A name which teacheth us three points; Fir&s;t that God is <GAP DESC="foreign">, of him&s;elf a being. Second|ly, that he is the fountain of all being; And thirdly, he is <GAP DESC="foreign"> alwayes the &s;ame in his promi&s;es. Now this word <HI>Jehovah,</HI> the Holy Gho&s;t hath made choice of here; promi&s;ed he had that the &s;eed of the woman &s;hould break the Serpents head; and what he promi&s;ed, he here performed.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 6.3.</NOTE> It plea&s;ed <HI>Jeho|vah</HI> to brui&s;e him. <HI>Jehovah</HI> brought his people out of <HI>Egypt,</HI> not known by that name till then. Sin was our &s;piritual <HI>Egypt,</HI> the Divel <HI>Pharaoh</HI> that op|pre&s;&s;ed us, Chri&s;t our deliverer; <HI>Jehovah</HI> brought us out by bru&s;ing him. God that would be known to his people, by his Name of <HI>Jehovah</HI> at their deliver|ance from <HI>Egypt,</HI> will al&s;o be known to his Church by the &s;ame Name at our delivery from this bondage of &s;in. That he did it <HI>de facto,</HI> is the perpetual lan|guage
<PB N="240" REF="126"> of the Scripture; God gave his Son, God &s;pared not his Son, God &s;ent his Son,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.16, 17. 2 Cor. 5.12.</NOTE> God made his Son who knew no &s;in to be made &s;in for us. It is then beyond all controver&s;ie, that in this great work of mans Redemption, the great God of heaven was the fir&s;t wheel or principal Agent.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Chaphets, Voluit, Deliciatus e&s;t.</HEAD>
<P>Now if you &s;hall be inqui&s;itive to ask the cau&s;e, our Prophet &s;hall return you an an&s;wer; He would do it, he took delight to do it, it plea&s;ed him. Other rea&s;on there is none to be given;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.24. Rev. 21.6. Eph. 2.4. I&s;a. 9.7. Tit. 3.4. Ephe&s;. 1.5. Ephe&s;. 2.4.</NOTE> and this is the free Grace &s;o much contended for, <GAP DESC="foreign"> freely, freely he did it. This is &s;ometimes called love, &s;ome|times zeal, as <HI>the zeal of the Lord of ho&s;ts &s;hall do this;</HI> &s;ometimes <GAP DESC="foreign">, his affection he bore to mankind, or his <GAP DESC="foreign">, his good plea&s;ure; &s;ometimes mercy, or the riches of his mercy. Call it by what name you will, it is but one and the &s;ame fountain whence our &s;alvation flows; for except it had been for his loving zeal, and zealous affection; his affectionate pitty, and his piti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ul good plea&s;ure; his meer mercy, and his abundant goodwill; it cannot be con|ceived what it was that &s;hould move him to brui&s;e his Son.</P>
<P>And two circum&s;tances there are in this ver&s;e, which do wonderfully amplifie and magnifie this his goodwill and mercy.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t is in <HI>eum</HI> the pronoune, that he &s;hould brui&s;e him, that he &s;hould put him to grief, make his &s;oul the &s;acrifice. Fir&s;t, For this per&s;on was no le&s;s then God; the greater the per&s;on, the greater the mercy; for <HI>Je|hovah</HI> then to lay upon him that was God of God, light of light, our iniquity, to cau&s;e him who was to receive &s;acrifices to become a &s;acrifice, mu&s;t needs be a &s;trong argument of love. Secondly, Again, this <HI>Eum</HI> here was his Son; had he been ours, the winde might not blow on him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 18.33.</NOTE> We reckon of a &s;on as <HI>David</HI> did of his <HI>Ab&s;alom, O Ab&s;olom my &s;on, my &s;on, would God I had dyed for thee!</HI> What riches then of mercy was this unto mankind, that he would not &s;pare his own &s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.16.</NOTE> but take delight to brui&s;e him! In the creation of the world, <HI>Dilexit</HI> he loved; but it was not <HI>&s;ic dilexit,</HI> &s;o he loved, till it came to mans re|demption.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 3.1.</NOTE> In the pre&s;ervation of all things <HI>o&s;tendit charitatem,</HI> he &s;hews his love; but till it came to this point, it was not <HI>Ecce quantam charitatem!</HI> Be|hold how great love he &s;hewed! not how great love with an <HI>Ecce</HI> before, Come and behold it; enough I confe&s;s it had been, con&s;idering our e&s;tate, to have been relieved by any, and men in mi&s;ery care not by whom it be done &s;o they be relieved. Here then is goodwill indeed, and it makes the mea&s;ure of his good|will full, that for mans &s;alvation he would brui&s;e no le&s;s per&s;on then his Son. Thirdly, And yet there is one thing behind that makes it fuller; Had this Son been a di&s;obedient child, then good rea&s;on to brui&s;e him; or had God had more &s;ons, this matter had not been &s;o much to &s;acrifice him. Here there is zeal and love, and goodwill, that he would make this his onely Son bear the burden, that he would make that Son in whom he was well plea&s;ed, the &s;a|crifice;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 22.12, 16.</NOTE> God him&s;elf extols this love in <HI>Abraham,</HI> that he would not with|hold his &s;on, his onely &s;on, his <HI>I&s;aac</HI> that he loved, the &s;on of h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s age, the &s;on of his de&s;ires, the heir of his love. How then &s;hall we &s;tand amazed at the goodwill of this <HI>Jehovah,</HI> that not onely gave, but took delight to give his onely Son, the Son of his love, who had never di&s;plea&s;ed him, to death for our &s;in!</P>
<P N="2">2. And that's the other circum&s;tance that heightens, this love, becau&s;e it was for &s;in; to it vengeance is due, and not love. What then did God love our &s;in?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.6, 8.</NOTE> No, he hated that, but he loved the &s;inner; his intention was that &s;in &s;hould dye, but the &s;inner live, though an enemy, a weak enemy, an ungodly enemy. In this then he commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet &s;inners Chri&s;t dyed for us. But of this more by and by.</P>
<PB N="241" REF="126">
<P>The que&s;tion is moved by <HI>Thom. Aquin.</HI> Whether it was Nece&s;&s;ary for Chri&s;t to &s;uffer for the Redemption of mankind? A curious que&s;tion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Thom. <HI>3.</HI> part. q. <HI>46.</HI> Artic. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> and not ea&s;ie to re&s;olve; for peremptorily to avouch, that God could not have remit|ted the &s;ins of the world without a full &s;atisfaction, is a bold and &s;awcy do|ctrine; yet on the other &s;ide, to &s;ay that &s;ins could have been forgiven without an amends made, would be a ra&s;h and un&s;ound a&s;&s;ertion. The be&s;t way then to re&s;olve this doubt, will be to remember, that &s;ome things are done upon Nece&s;&s;ity, other upon convenience: And this Nece&s;&s;ity is again twofold.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t is ab&s;olute, without which it is impo&s;&s;ible the thing can be brought to pa&s;s. Now to tye God out of an ab&s;olute Nece&s;&s;ity to do as he did, and not to leave him at liberty to do all things according to his own will and wi&s;dom, were to revive the old error of the Manichees; and in this ca&s;e not ab&s;olutely requi&s;ite, whether you re&s;pect God, who was to redeem, or man to be redeemed. For out of que&s;tion he could,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zanch. in Phi|lip. <HI>2.</HI> Calvin. in Joh. <HI>15.</HI></NOTE> if he had plea&s;ed by his &s;ole word, will, nod, have redeemed man; or el&s;e he might have empowred &s;ome Angel, or other creature to have done it, and a creature &s;o empowred might have trod Satan under his feet.</P>
<P N="2">2. But out of his meer love he Decreed to have it done by his Son; and this Decree being pre&s;uppo&s;ed, then we &s;ay, <HI>Oportet</HI> it behooved Chri&s;t to &s;uffer; his Son mu&s;t dye and &s;o dye. And this is the &s;en&s;e of all tho&s;e texts, that &s;eem to impo&s;e a Nece&s;&s;ity of his death; as, <HI>The Son of man mu&s;t be betrayed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.54, 20, 17. Mat. 9.31. Luc. 24.7.</NOTE> <HI>mu&s;t be delivered to the hand of &s;inners; mu&s;t give his &s;oul a &s;acrifice for &s;in,</HI> &amp;c. of which decree if you yet enquire the rea&s;on, the Prophet &s;hall give the an&s;wer, <HI>Jehovah voluit, It plea&s;ed the Lord.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. But if you &s;hall again ca&s;t an eye upon the congruity and convenience of this way, in that &s;en&s;e, none &s;o nece&s;&s;ary, none better to &s;hew his love and good|will, as I &s;hewed but now; none like this to demon&s;trare his Wi&s;dom, Pow|er, Goodne&s;s, Ju&s;tice.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Wi&s;e&s;t way (if wi&s;dom can contrive it) to cure a man &s;tunge by a Vi|per, is to do it by the blood of the Viper; that what brought the mi&s;chief might be cau&s;e of the remedy. Hence it is, that wi&s;e Arti&s;ts have found out the oyl of Scorpions, to cure the bitings of Scorpions, and Mithridate made of Serpents, to prevent the poy&s;on of Serpents.</P>
<P N="2">2. The mo&s;t powerful way (if power can effect it) is to make &s;trength to ap|pear in weakne&s;s, and by infirm and unlikely means, to bring to pa&s;s the greate&s;t things.</P>
<P N="3">3. The next way (if goodne&s;s will admit it) to engage man, is to lay the Bond upon his own Nature, and not to engage him to man or Angel for his delivery.</P>
<P N="4">4. And now let Ju&s;tice take her weights, and weigh all in her &s;cale, and found it will be that there can be no ju&s;ter way found out, then that that &s;elf &s;ame nature which hath offended, do al&s;o make recompence. Now in this work of mans Redemption, there was the concurrence of all the&s;e, Wi&s;dom, Power, Goodne&s;s, Ju&s;tice.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fle&s;h, the Venemous fle&s;h of our Viperous Nature was by the wi&s;|dom of God taken, and fir&s;t purified and clean&s;ed from the poy&s;on of &s;in; then brui&s;ed and punned, that the blood of it might be as a Bal&s;om or Treacle to heal the biting and venemous &s;ting of the old Serpent; I mean Satan. Be|hold Wi&s;dom!</P>
<P N="2">2. Man, the Nature of man, a weak creature God knows, and &s;o much the weaker now, becau&s;e it was in the form of a &s;ervant, yet enabled to break and brui&s;e the &s;erpents head. Behold power!</P>
<P N="3">3. For this, God would not have us beholding to any of the Angels, to any of the creatures, but meerly to him&s;elf. Behold goodne&s;s!</P>
<P N="4"><PB N="242" REF="127">4. La&s;tly, &s;ince as the Lawyers tell us, that tho&s;e are alwayes the faire&s;t and ju&s;te&s;t &s;atisfactions and commutations, when the wronged party is fully in iden|tity recompen&s;ed; for as they &s;ay, <HI>proxima &s;unt idem &amp; tantundem.</HI> Therefore this way mu&s;t needs be mo&s;t convenient, where Death was to be &s;uffered for Death, pain for pain, man for man, <GAP DESC="foreign">, that the honor and penalty of the law might be pre&s;erved. Behold Ju&s;tice!</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.8.</NOTE>How ju&s;tly now doth the Apo&s;tle teach us, that we were redeemed <GAP DESC="foreign">, in all wi&s;dom and prudence, &s;ince when there could be no Nece&s;&s;ity to force God to make choice of this way, yet <HI>ex congruo,</HI> it plea&s;ed him to take &s;uch a cour&s;e, by which his Wi&s;dom, his Power, his Good|ne&s;s, and his Ju&s;tice &s;hould be mo&s;t made known to men.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Thou &s;halt make his &s;oul an offering for &s;in, <HI>or</HI> When his &s;oul &s;hall make an offering for &s;in. Cum expo&s;uerit in &s;acrificium. <HI>Pi&s;cator.</HI> Si po&s;uerit in &s;acrificium animam &s;uam,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lectiones variae</NOTE> <HI>e. i.</HI> Seip&s;um. <HI>Rivet.</HI> Quandoquidem expone|bat &s;eip&s;e &s;acrificium pro reatu. <HI>Jun. Tremell. Heb.</HI> Se reatum anima ip&s;ius. Cum po&s;uerit &s;eip&s;am &s;acrificium pro delicto anima. <HI>Scult.</HI></HEAD>
<P>But what Ju&s;tice was this to brui&s;e his Son? To cau&s;e a man, a ju&s;t man, &s;o great a per&s;on, his dear Son to be put to this pain? None indeed, had he been again&s;t it; but &s;ince he was willing with it, it mu&s;t be ju&s;tly done, which our Prophet hath not here forgotten neither; for he goes on, and tells us thus much in the judgement of mo&s;t Divines, as you may &s;ee by their ver&s;ion of the&s;e words, <HI>His &s;oul &s;hall make an offering for &s;in;</HI> or <HI>He &s;hall expo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e him&s;elf a &s;acri|fice for the Guilt of &s;in;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.7, 8. Ephe&s;. 5.2. Gal. 1.4. Joh. 10.18.</NOTE> con&s;onant to what the Prophet &s;aith, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 12. <HI>He poured out his &s;oul.</HI> And this the Scripture every where puts us in minde of. <HI>He emptyed him&s;elf, He humbled him&s;elf, He gave him&s;elf; None took his life from him, but he laid it down him&s;elf.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Athana&s;. August. Chry&s;o&s;t. Ambro&s;. Hieron. Gregor. Beda. Dama&s;c. Bernard. <HI>P&s;al. 40.6, 7, 8.</HI></NOTE>And the Fathers of the Catholique Church have been very careful to con|tinue this Truth in Chri&s;ts Church, and to deliver it with one voice to po&s;teri|ty, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Nulla nece&s;&s;itate, &s;ed plena voluntate;</HI> that not upon compul&s;ion, but upon meer good will, that not out of any Nece&s;&s;ity, but freely, Chri&s;t of God became a &s;ervant, of rich became poor, of high low, of &s;trong weak; was voluntarily Incarnate, voluntarily brui&s;ed, voluntarily crucified for our &s;ake. The P&s;almi&s;t had &s;aid it in his per&s;on long before, <HI>In burnt offerings and &s;acrifice for &s;in thou had&s;t no plea&s;ure;</HI> then &s;aid I, <HI>Lo I come,</HI> of my own ac|cord, willingly, cheerfully, without any co-action, <HI>to do thy will, O my God.</HI></P>
<P>And of this truth we have this evidence; There was no moment in which his death, and the kind of his death, together with the very hour, and all the indignities and pains of it, was not repre&s;ented to his minde; yet the will of God was &s;o powerful, and his love for mans &s;alvation &s;o fervent in him, that the remembrance of it was full of joy and content to him; of which joy and plea&s;ure we have a &s;ufficient argument from his own mouth, I have a Bapti&s;m to be baptized with (it was <HI>Bapti&s;mus &s;anguinis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 12.50.</NOTE> his bapti&s;m of blood at his Pa&s;&s;ion) and how am I &s;traitned, how pinched till I am at it! as if he were in pain,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 18.31.</NOTE> till in pain to deliver us. This could not be till he came to <HI>Hieru&s;alem;</HI> thither he a&s;cended,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 10.32.</NOTE> and told his Di&s;ciples to what purpo&s;e; and yet he went before them with &s;uch alacrity, that they wondered at it. Into the City he rode in Triumph, with palms, with acclamations, with &s;o much &s;olemnity, as he never admitted all his life before.</P>
<P>Farther yet, at his la&s;t Supper he gave a full &s;ignification of this his will, when he &s;aid to his Di&s;ciples,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 22.15.</NOTE> This, this is the Pa&s;&s;oever, which <HI>De&s;idererio de&s;ide|ravi,</HI> I have &s;o longed for, as embracing and welcoming his death. No marveil therefore if the Spou&s;e in the <HI>Canticles,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 3.11.</NOTE> called the day in which his mo|ther
<PB N="243" REF="127"> the Synagogue crowned him with thornes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.2.</NOTE> the day of the gladne&s;s of his heart. In his heart this joy and gladne&s;s aro&s;e out of a thought that he was to &s;ave man, and for this joy &s;et before him, he endured the Cro&s;s, and de&s;pi&s;ed the &s;hame; this was to be mo&s;t painful and mo&s;t &s;hameful; none but Malefactors, none but &s;laves of a ba&s;e condition were liable to it; and not one of the&s;e did &s;uffer it willingly, or out of obedience; but for want of power to e&s;chew it. Had it been in the power of the mo&s;t abject &s;lave that ever &s;uffered to have called &s;o many <HI>Romane</HI> &s;ouldiers to his re&s;cue,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.53.</NOTE> as Chri&s;t Je&s;us could have commanded Legions of Angels, he would have &s;old his life at a deare rate.</P>
<P>But the man Chri&s;t Je&s;us was brought to the cro&s;s as a Lamb;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.7.</NOTE> he opened not his mouth, gave not one high word; even Lambs dye not willingly, but with &s;ome &s;trugling and reluctation. Whereas this Lamb of God to &s;hew him|&s;elf the mirror of patience, and voluntary obedience; after the pangs of death more then natural had &s;eized upon him; after he had been apprehended and bound as a theif; after he had been buffeted, &s;pit on, &s;courged, crowned with thornes, reviled; after he had endured the lingring and cruel torments of the cro&s;s; after all the indignities and jeers of his malicious per&s;ecutors,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.48.</NOTE> that poured Vinegar into his wounds in &s;tead of Oyl, yet gave not the lea&s;t &s;ignification of di&s;content.</P>
<P>As there never was any &s;orrow like his &s;orrow,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 3.12.</NOTE> &s;o never was there obedi|ence like his obedience; never any &s;o voluntary, never any &s;o free; He gave his &s;oul a &s;acrifice, <HI>&s;e ip&s;e,</HI> He, him&s;elf. He humbled, &s;aith the Apo&s;tle; He the Son of God, what per&s;on greater? He, him&s;elf, of a willing minde, not upon force and con&s;traint; for he had no &s;uperior. And &s;o great was this hu|mility, &s;o &s;trange this obedience,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Oecum.</HI> in Eph. 1.6, 7, 8, 14, 18, 19.</NOTE> that the Apo&s;tle u&s;es Hyperboles to &s;et it forth, <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;ometimes riches, &s;ometimes the riches of his Grace, the riches of his glory; and that this <GAP DESC="foreign">, abounded.</P>
<P N="1">1. Now this willing offer of Chri&s;t, as it &s;ets forth the riches of Gods good|will to man; &s;o it was al&s;o the very life and &s;oul of that admirable obedience of his Humane will, to do and &s;uffer what&s;oever he did or &s;uffered in his fle&s;h; that which gave the infinite value and everla&s;ting efficacy to his everla&s;ting &s;acri|fice, which was offered once for all.</P>
<P>No &s;ervice that we do to God, is welcome except it proceed from a glad heart, and a cheerful &s;pirit. God loves a cheerful giver,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 9.7. P&s;al. 32.9. I&s;a. 2.2.</NOTE> and &s;o he loves a chearful &s;upplicant, and a cheerful &s;ervant; to be drawn along with b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t and bridle, is for a hor&s;e and mule, whereas his &s;ervants enter his hou&s;e with glad|ne&s;s, as water <HI>confluunt</HI> they flow, they flow together to his &s;ervice; and this willing minde is it that makes all their devotions acceptable to their God. How much more then mu&s;t this readine&s;s, this alacrity, this cheerfulne&s;s of his Son, that He expo&s;ed, He poured out, He emptyed him&s;elf, He freely gave his blood, make all the Acts of Chri&s;t meritorious for the world.</P>
<P N="2">2. Again this willingne&s;s of his is that which ju&s;tifies God in his proceeding again&s;t him; For God forbid, that as <HI>Ananias</HI> the High Prie&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 23.2. Gen. 18.25. I&s;a. 53.9.</NOTE> God &s;hould cau&s;e him to be &s;mitten without a cau&s;e; God forbid, that as <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;aid in the ca&s;e of <HI>Sodom,</HI> the Judge of the world &s;hould do wrong to any; to any, much le&s;s to his Son, the Son of his love, to him a righteous per&s;on, in whom there was found no guile. How then came it to pa&s;s, that &s;o righteous a per&s;on was thus brui&s;ed, thus &s;acrificed? Whence? Meerly from him&s;elf, he may thank no body but him&s;elf, <HI>Ip&s;e voluit,</HI> He would have it &s;o; 'tis all I can &s;ay to it, and more need not be &s;aid.</P>
<P><HI>Volenti non fit injuria;</HI> You cannot call that an injury which a man calls for on himelf; pity it is to &s;ee a man pay that he never took, great pity; but
<PB N="244" REF="128"> if that man willingly will become a Surety, and make him&s;elf a debtor, what remedy? &s;atisfie the debt he mu&s;t: Pity it is to &s;ee a poor Lamb lie bleeding under the knife, but if the Lamb be cho&s;en for a &s;acrifice, &s;uch is the Nature of a &s;acrifice, &s;o it mu&s;t be. And great pity it was to &s;ee a ju&s;t man to pay, to bleed, to be brui&s;ed, to be &s;acrific'd, to dye: But &s;ince this ju&s;t man would take upon him to be our Surety, our &s;acrifice, of his own accord to offer him|&s;elf for us, ju&s;tice might take its cour&s;e and proceed again&s;t him.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech. 18.4.</NOTE>Yea, but hath not ju&s;tice it &s;elf &s;aid it, <HI>The &s;oul that &s;ins &s;hall dye?</HI> True, and it is as True here; for in a &s;afe &s;en&s;e Chri&s;t may be called the Grand-&s;inner; for &s;o &s;aith the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.4. 1 Pet. 2.24.</NOTE> He bare our &s;ins; and for the &s;ins he bare, his Soul became a &s;acrifice for &s;in; and &s;o unawares I am fallen upon the outward Impul&s;ive cau&s;e of our Saviours &s;ufferings, &s;in.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> For Sin.</HEAD>
<P>Sin was the cau&s;e of his and our &s;orrows al&s;o; for had man &s;tood in his in|tegrity, he had needed no Saviour; but falling from that perfection in which God had created him, in &s;tead of love, he procured Gods anger; in&s;tead of an immortal life, he brought upon him&s;elf eternal death. God who was his Creator, became now his Judge; of his Father, a &s;evere revenger. God and man then &s;tanding upon the&s;e terms of variance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.21.</NOTE> his Son &s;teps in, and is con|tent to make up the peace; to free us, and tran&s;late the &s;in upon him&s;elf: Or, to be made &s;in for us.</P>
<P>Now that you may under&s;tand this point aright, know you mu&s;t that &s;in is either committed, as by <HI>Adam,</HI> and the Angels; or inherited, as by <HI>Adams</HI> po&s;terity; or el&s;e a&s;&s;umed, as by Chri&s;t, and this way onely he was made &s;in for us, Not &s;o &s;in as if he committed any, for no Lamb &s;o innocent; not &s;o as if he inherited or contracted any,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 29.14. Levit. 4.29. &amp; cap. 7.7.</NOTE> for he was undefiled; but as the &s;acrifice in the Law was called &s;in that was the creature on which the delinquent laid his &s;in, and for this &s;in put to death; which being done, the anger of God was appea&s;ed, and the &s;inner received to favour. It was &s;o here, Chri&s;t was made &s;in, that is a &s;acrifice for &s;in; and upon his death, Gods anger was pacified, and man the &s;inner received to mercy.</P>
<P>Man having offended, ju&s;t it was with God to receive &s;atisfaction from the delinquent. Now a man becomes <HI>Reus,</HI> i. e. Guilty, two ways, either by him|&s;elf, for his own offence, and &s;o Chri&s;t was not guilty, nor could be puni&s;hed; or el&s;e by affinity, connexion, conjunction, neerne&s;s, alliance, or Relation, which ari&s;eth out of a threefold bond.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t is of Nature; &s;uch is betwixt man and man, Father and Son.</P>
<P>The &s;econd is of Union; &s;uch a relation there is betwixt a King and his people.</P>
<P>The third is of the Will; and &s;uch is the obligation of the debtor and the Surety. And as men have and do &s;tand in the&s;e relations one to another, they have been and are ju&s;tly puni&s;hed one for another; as <HI>Achans</HI> children for the fathers theft;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 7.24, 25. 2 Sam. 24.15, 17.</NOTE> &s;eventy thou&s;and poor &s;heep of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> for <HI>Davids</HI> &s;in, and the Surety every day pays for the creditor.</P>
<P>Now every one of the&s;e ways Chri&s;t was joyned to us. By nature, for he was bone of our bone, and fle&s;h of our fle&s;h, but this onely made him ca|pable of puni&s;hment. By relation, for he became our King, we his people; he our head, we his members. By his own free-will, for he became our Surety, and therefore taking our fle&s;h to that purpo&s;e, and our debt upon him freely and vo|luntarily, God might ju&s;tly lay upon him our &s;ins, that is the puni&s;hment of our &s;ins, as I &s;aid before.</P>
<PB N="245" REF="128">
<P>And le&s;t you &s;hould forget this, the Prophet tells us it &s;even times over,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12.</NOTE> He took upon him our griefs, our &s;orrows; he was wounded for our iniquities, and broken for our tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions; the cha&s;ti&s;ement of our peace was upon him, with his &s;tripes we are healed; The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all; all, all, every one of us. We were the men, who for our many &s;ins &s;hould have been &s;o de&s;pi&s;ed, &s;o rejected, &s;uffered &s;uch &s;orrows in body in &s;oul, that &s;hould have been thus &s;mitten of God, wounded, brui&s;ed.</P>
<P>Let us return a true verdict, and it will appear, that we were men that thus u&s;ed the Son of God, we and our fathers together; we and our friends and children together; we who gave him tho&s;e wounds, tho&s;e &s;tripes, we that &s;o cha&s;ti&s;ed him, &s;o brui&s;ed him; we were the principals in the murder; <HI>Judas, Caiphas,</HI> the Jews and <HI>Pilate</HI> the in&s;truments onely to execute what by our &s;ins we had effected, <HI>Peccatum &s;olum homicida e&s;t,</HI> Sin alone was the murderer, that, of which we are guilty.</P>
<P>There is not one of us here who had not a hand in his death, except he that dare &s;ay his heart is clean; however we de&s;ire to po&s;t it off to others, yet we had a hand in it as well as they. Why &s;tand you gazing one upon another? like <HI>Jo&s;ephs</HI> brethren, wondering that you &s;hould be charged with &s;o heinous a fact, as if every one of you were ready to ask me in the di&s;ciples language,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Marc. 14.19.</NOTE> <HI>Ma&s;ter, is it I?</HI> and another, <HI>Is it I?</HI> Yes, as <HI>Nathan</HI> told <HI>David,</HI> &s;o I tell you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 12.7.</NOTE> <HI>Tu es homo,</HI> Thou art the man; 'tis thou, and thou, and thou, and I, and every one of us, that put to death the Son of God; thou and I as well as others were the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors for who&s;e &s;ins God hath &s;mitten, wounded and brui&s;ed him. There's not an oath we vainly or fal&s;ly take, but was a thorne in his crown; not a leud action we commit but was a &s;tripe on his back; no mi&s;|chief we plot; but was the &s;pear that runs him to the heart. Fools make a make a mock of &s;in; but &s;ee here what comes of their fooling and mock|ing; the Son of God to redeem them, is fain to make his &s;oul a &s;acrifice.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> An offering or &s;acrifice.</HEAD>
<P>You have &s;een what inwardly moved God, what moved his Son to under|take this work, <HI>viz.</HI> his <GAP DESC="foreign">, It plea&s;ed him, <HI>voluit Jehovah,</HI> and He would do it: Again, con&s;idered we have what outwardly drew him to it; our mi&s;ery, our &s;in; and that which in this mu&s;t give us comfort is the end; This done, that his &s;oul might be a &s;acrifice,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.2.</NOTE> a Propitiation for the &s;ins of the whole world.</P>
<P>In the Law there were two kind of &s;acrifices; the one <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 7.</NOTE> a &s;a|crifice of prai&s;e and thank&s;giving; The other <GAP DESC="foreign">, propitiatory, which &s;er|ved to &s;atisfie for &s;in, and this was a <HI>Holocau&s;t,</HI> a whole burnt-offering, for it was con&s;umed wholly upon the Altar; and &s;uch was the &s;acrifice of Chri&s;t upon the Cro&s;s, an offering in Body and Soul, the &s;acrifice of a &s;weet &s;melling &s;avour to God; <HI>Totus Chri&s;tus pro toto mundo;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.2.</NOTE> whole Chri&s;t offered for the whole world.</P>
<P>All the world lay under the cur&s;e; it began with the Serpent for tempting,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.14, 17.</NOTE> <HI>Cur&s;ed art thou;</HI> and it proceeded to the earth in bearing, <HI>Cur&s;ed is it;</HI> and it ended in <HI>Adam</HI> and <HI>Eve,</HI> Cur&s;ed are they, and as many as came from them;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 27.15, &amp;c.</NOTE> if they continued not in the words of Gods book to fulfill it. All the Goods in the world were not able to free one &s;oul from this cur&s;e; gold would not do it, nor &s;ilver ne<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ther, no nor yet man the Lord of this gold and &s;ilver:<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.18. P&s;al. 49.7.</NOTE> For man may not redeem his brother; no nor yet any thing el&s;e that man could give; not the blood of bea&s;ts, nor ten thou&s;and rivers of oyl; It mu&s;t be the Son of God that mu&s;t be the &s;acrifice, or el&s;e no &s;atisfaction;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.9. Mic. 6.7.</NOTE> his blood the price, or el&s;e nothing bought; his life the ran&s;ome, or nothing redeemed.
<PB N="246" REF="129" MS="y"> But this Sacrifice being offered, his blood being paid, his life laid down, then there was <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.18. 1 Tim. 2.6. 1 Joh. 2.2.</NOTE> a Ran&s;ome; then there was <GAP DESC="foreign">, a &s;ufficient com|mutation; then there was <GAP DESC="foreign">, a pacification made for the &s;inne of Man.</P>
<P>His per&s;on was the only Sacrifice that God would accept; his blood the only price which God would e&s;teem; his death the &s;ole Ran&s;ome that God would receive for the Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.25. Heb. 9.26, 28. Rom. 8, 3. 1 Joh. 1.7. Rom. 6.12. Rom. 8.1, 5, 10.</NOTE> So that by the Sacrifice of his Body, the price of his blood, and the Ran&s;ome by his death, Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in can only be obtain'd; In his fle&s;h then &s;in was condemned, which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> calls <GAP DESC="foreign">, Saint <HI>John</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, the taking away, de&s;troying, and lo&s;ing &s;inne by the Sacrifice of him&s;elf. And it containes the remove of the guilt; the blood of Chri&s;t purgeth. Then the weakening of the power, that it reign not. Farther, the pulling out the &s;ting that it condemn not. And la&s;tly, a liberty to enter heaven.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.20. Eph. 2.14.</NOTE> <HI>By the blood of Je&s;us we may be bold to enter the holy place by a new and living way, which is his fle&s;h.</HI> The partition wall is broken down, and he hath, as I may &s;o &s;ay, trailed the way with his own blood. To Summ up all;</P>
<P>If we look for Redemption, 'tis to be had in his Pa&s;&s;ion; if for ab&s;olu|tion, in his condemnation; if a di&s;charge from the cur&s;e, 'tis to be found in his death; if for &s;atisfaction, look to his Sacrifice; if for a purgation, expect it from his blood; if reconciliation, in the pouring out his &s;oul; if mortifi|cation, &s;eek it in his death; if newne&s;s of life, in his Re&s;urrection. In a word, if glory and immortality, and an inheritance in heaven, it mu&s;t flow from his a&s;cent and exaltation. In him all the Trea&s;ures of God are <HI>operti,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.3.</NOTE> hid; and by him they mu&s;t be <HI>aperti,</HI> opened and be&s;tow'd upon us.</P>
<P>Many and admirable are tho&s;e good things which Chri&s;t hath be&s;towed upon us; but the means by which it was brought about, &s;urpa&s;&s;eth all admi|ration; and &s;o you will &s;ay, when I &s;hall acquaint you with an Elegant Pro&s;o|popeia out of St. <HI>Bernard;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bern.</HI> Serm. 1. de Annunciat.</NOTE> of which I &s;hall make u&s;e to declare it, and indeed to illu&s;trate all that I have &s;et down touching the Cau&s;es of Chri&s;ts Pa&s;&s;ion. The matter is his, the manner of Delivery mine only.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 85.10, 11.</NOTE>Ob&s;curely the whole frame of it is hinted to us in the 85. P&s;alm in the&s;e words, <HI>Mercy and truth &s;hall meet together, Righteou&s;ne&s;s and Peace did ki&s;s each other.</HI> How came the&s;e graces a&s;under, that it &s;hould be &s;uch a marvel to &s;ee them meet and ki&s;s? You &s;hall &s;ee now both when and how.</P>
<P>At the Creation of man they all meet, and are joyn'd in him. Mercy was his Guardian to protect him, his &s;ervant to attend him in all his wayes. Truth his Tutor to teach him, and bring him up in all goodne&s;s. Righteou&s;|ne&s;s his Rule to proceed by in all his Actions. Peace to be his faithful friend to delight him, to &s;ecure him, that nor fears within, nor troubles without, &s;hould mole&s;t him. At <HI>Adams</HI> fall they left their charge; and for&s;aking their dwelling below, return'd back to him that &s;ent them, making report of what was fallen out in the earth, and earne&s;tly &s;oliciting the Almighty con|cerning this his wretched and forlorn creature Man; yet in a very different &s;ort and manner.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.4. P&s;al. 116.11. Rom. 13.4.</NOTE>Of the&s;e Mercy &s;eems to favour man, and peace al&s;o; the&s;e wi&s;h all well in heaven and earth: But of righteou&s;ne&s;s and truth I dare not &s;ay it. For truth proclaimes, <HI>All men are lyars, all vaine in their imaginations.</HI> And <HI>righteou&s;ne&s;s bears a Sword, and it is not in vaine.</HI> Two then are for us, and two again&s;t us.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Mercy taking into con&s;ideration the depth of mans mi&s;ery, begun
<PB N="247" REF="129"> and &s;pake fir&s;t; And well might; for if you con&s;ider it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 3.4. Tit. 2.11. Eph. 2.4. Rom. 9.23. Luk. 1.78.</NOTE> you &s;hall in no text reade of mans Redemption, but &s;till mercy leads the way. Sometimes it is the Bounty of our Lord and Saviour, &s;ometimes the love, &s;ometimes the grace of God appeared, &s;ometimes the riches of his mercies, &s;ometimes his bowels of mercy. This mo&s;t u&s;eful Attribute is never omitted, nay is the for|warde&s;t for our Salvation. Never, never (which is the comfort of a mi&s;er|able &s;inner) looking to the party what he is, or what he hath de&s;erved, but what he &s;uffers, and in how wretched a ca&s;e he is.</P>
<P>Mercy then ever lying in the bowels of a merciful God, thus whi&s;pers unto him, <HI>Numquid in vanum? What ha&s;t thou made all men for naught?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 89.47.</NOTE> All, all to de&s;truction? That were over-&s;evere, and their ca&s;e wor&s;e than the lap&s;ed Angels. They fell, and I ask no mercy for them: For when &s;ome fell, yet others &s;tood, and &s;o they did not all peri&s;h. They fell again, be|ing not tempted by any other to it; it was out of their own pride and malici|ous wickedne&s;s: whereas mans fall was out of credulity and weakne&s;s; he was drawn by the &s;ubtilty and temptation of the Serpent unto his &s;inne and A|po&s;tacy; <HI>&amp; levius e&s;t alien&acirc; mente quam propri&acirc; pecca&s;&s;e;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.</NOTE> it is a le&s;s of|fence to &s;in upon anothers per&s;wa&s;ion, than by his own inclination. Be&s;ides, the fall of man is univer&s;al; <HI>with one all men &s;inned;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.12.</NOTE> and if thy ju&s;tice pro|ceed, all men mu&s;t die, all men mu&s;t peri&s;h; and wilt thou then create &s;o many millions of men for fuel in Hell? <HI>What profit is there in mans blood, if he de&s;cend into the pit? Hath God forgotten to be gracious?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 30.9. P&s;. 77.9. P&s;. 145.9.</NOTE> <HI>will he &s;hut up his loving-kindne&s;s in di&s;plea&s;ure? Thy mercy is over all thy works,</HI> and therefore infinitely beyond mans Sinne. Let not then Sinne bring to de&s;tru|ction the creature framed after thy own Image. Let it &s;uffice, O Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2.4. Jude 6.</NOTE> let it &s;uffice for demon&s;tration of thy ju&s;tice and indignation, that thou ha&s;t thru&s;t the proud Angels out of heaven, and re&s;erved them in chaines of darkne&s;s. For them I plead not: 'Tis for poor man, made out of the du&s;t of the earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 51.12.</NOTE> and &s;educed by malice, lap&s;ed by ignorance, not contempt; <HI>Restore him againe to thy love.</HI> And as thou ha&s;t made the ambitious Angels examples of thy ju&s;tice, &s;o make poor man a monument of thy mercy;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 9.26.</NOTE> <HI>Destroy not thou the work of thine own hands.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e were the <HI>pij &s;u&s;urri,</HI> the pious and powerful whi&s;pers of mercy, with which &s;he entred, or rather lay in the bowels and bo&s;ome of her Father, and made them yerne and melt upon his Son;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 15.20.</NOTE> and no doubt &s;he had prevail|ed, had not Truth and Righteou&s;ne&s;s much to plead again&s;t her. I am a debtor, &s;aith God, to thy two Si&s;ters, Truth and Ju&s;tice; they mu&s;t be heard too; let them then be call'd, and hear I will, what they can plead why thy re|que&s;t may not be granted.</P>
<P>Secondly, Truth then fir&s;t appearing, puts in her plea to this effect,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.18. Gen. 2.17.</NOTE> Lord, thou that can&s;t not lye, &s;ayd'&s;t fir&s;t to <HI>Adam, Morte morieris, In the day thou eatest the forbidden fruit, thou &s;halt die the death;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 18.20. Num. 23.19.</NOTE> After to his po&s;terity, <HI>The &s;oul that &s;innes &s;hall die.</HI> And &s;hall God be like man, to fal|&s;ifie his word? or <HI>as the &s;onne of man, that he &s;hould repent?</HI> Nay, nay, what he hath &s;aid may never be revers'd. The &s;entence is pa&s;t. What's God but his Word? Mercy it &s;elf, if re&s;pect be had of my honour, cannot grant an indulgence: And therefore <HI>Totus moriatur Adam.</HI> Let the &s;entence for truths &s;ake be executed upon <HI>Adam,</HI> and all his rebellious off-&s;pring. As the whole earth hath corrupted its way before thee, &s;o let the whole earth peri&s;h.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.11, 12.</NOTE> Let God be true, and all men lyars.</P>
<P>Thirdly, And immediately Ju&s;tice &s;teps up, and &s;econds her Si&s;ter Truth;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.4. P&s;al. 145.17. Gen. 18.25. Exod. 23.7. Act. 10.34.</NOTE> and it is no hard matter to judge what &s;he had to &s;ay, <HI>viz.</HI> That as God is true of his word, &s;o is he righteous in his wayes, and &s;hall not the Judge of all the World do right? Art thou a God that will ju&s;tifie the wicked, or re&s;pect
<PB N="248" REF="130"> per&s;ons in judgement? Thou ha&s;t decreed, that no &s;inne &s;hall go unpuni&s;hed; call then all the &s;inners of the earth before thee, and let them render an ac|count for their rebellions. <HI>Pereat mundus, &amp; fiat ju&s;titia; As man hath plowed iniquity, &s;o let him reap the &s;ame; by the bla&s;t of thy mouth let him be Con&s;umed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 4.8, 9.</NOTE> <HI>and by the Breath of thy No&s;trils let him peri&s;h.</HI></P>
<P>Fourthly, A &s;evere and har&s;h Conclu&s;ion, which made Peace, that &s;tood by and heard what was &s;aid by Truth and Ju&s;tice, weep bitterly, and all the Angels of peace wept with her. Oh &s;aith Peace, forbear, forbear, I be&s;eech you my two deare Si&s;ters,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 85.10, 11.</NOTE> the&s;e har&s;h words. This contention becomes not the Ladies of vertue. Mercy and Truth &s;hould meet together, Righteou&s;ne&s;s and I &s;hould ki&s;s each other.</P>
<P>But they as &s;tirr'd, the more went on, and made it their own ca&s;es; What &s;hall become of us, &s;aid Ju&s;tice and Truth, if Mercy be heard? <HI>Perijmus, ni&s;i homo moriatur,</HI> We die, if man die not; No ju&s;tice in God, no truth in his Word, if man be &s;uffer'd to live.</P>
<P>And what u&s;e of me, replied Mercy, if Ju&s;tice and Truth prevail? Truth her &s;elf knows, that if man die, I mu&s;t die too; And if I die, then the Father of mercies mu&s;t die with me.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 1.3.</NOTE></P>
<Q><L>Nec mihi mors gravis e&s;t, po&s;iturae morte dolores;</L>
<L>Hic qui diligitur, vellem diuturnior e&s;set.</L>
<L>Nunc duo concordes anim&acirc; moriemur in un&acirc;.</L></Q>
<P>Hard hold there was; and all this while, mans &s;alvation lay a bleeding; like a poor Pri&s;oner at the Bar, it was not known, what would become of him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.6.</NOTE> Who would not &s;ay, that it had been good, man had ner'e been born<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, about whom there was &s;o much ado, &s;o much contention?</P>
<P>At la&s;t, the Almighty having heard the pleas of all partyes, refers the fi|nal judgement to his Son. What, &s;aith he, is Ju&s;tice and Truth &s;o earne&s;t? will they die, if <HI>Adam</HI> die not? and is Mercy againe &s;o pitiful, that &s;he will die, if he do die? I will finde a way to content all parties; and with that he &s;teps down, and writes upon the earth, <HI>Fiat mors bona, Let death be made good;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 8.6.</NOTE> and &s;o all parties may have what may give them content. Truth and Ju&s;tice would have man dye, and he &s;hall dye. Mercy would have him live,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.55, 56.</NOTE> and he &s;hall live. Take away the cur&s;e, the &s;ting of death, and both parties may receive full &s;atisfaction.</P>
<P>Truth upon this Verdict began a little to yield, and Ju&s;tice was al&s;o contented, &s;o &s;he might have &s;atisfaction: That &s;he &s;tood upon, and for that &s;he call'd &s;till; and till that was given, re&s;olved &s;he was, that Mercy &s;hould not &s;ave man; but the way to obtain this, yet &s;he &s;aw not. An&s;wer was made, that this might be done, if one could be found, who out of meer love and good-will would be content to die for the world. One yet &s;o innocent, and free from &s;in, that he never had de&s;erv'd to die.</P>
<P>With this an&s;wer Ju&s;tice and Mercy departed from the Throne of God. Ju|&s;tice goes through the earth. Mercy leaves no quarter of heaven un&s;earch'd to &s;ee, if it were po&s;&s;ible to finde a per&s;on compo&s;ed of &s;o much love, quali|fied with &s;o much Innocency. But in earth Ju&s;tice could not meet with the man.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 14.4. P&s;a. 51.5.</NOTE> Every child &s;he met with, were it but of a day old, was conceiv'd of unclean &s;eed, and warm'd in a &s;inful womb. For men, as they grew in age, &s;o they grew in &s;in, they all were unfit for this work.</P>
<P>In heaven Mercy, though &s;he met with creatures devoyd of &s;in, yet none indued with &s;o much love or confidence, that they dur&s;t undergo the wrath of God, and die for a company of lo&s;t people. And yet had they been wil|ling,
<PB N="249" REF="130"> they never could have &s;atisfied; they wanted a body to do it: They were not per&s;ons of infinite worth, of infinite vertue, which he mu&s;t be, that would &s;atisfie for this infinite wrong, or el&s;e Ju&s;tice would be clamo|rous &s;till.</P>
<P>Ju&s;tice now returnes in Triumph, and Mercy neer dead and de&s;pairing to the Throne of God, and both agreeing that Truth &s;hould &s;peak for them;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 59.16.</NOTE> &s;he delivers this great truth, <HI>I &s;ee there is no man, and confe&s;s there is no Inter|ce&s;&s;or.</HI> But in that in&s;tant Peace &s;teps up, and clo&s;es all. You my deare Si|&s;ters, know nothing at all, nor under&s;tand. <HI>Qui dedit con&s;ilium, ferat auxi|lium.</HI> He that hath given the coun&s;el to look for &s;uch a man, let him help now, and finde the man him&s;elf.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.6. P&s;a. 40.7. Luk. 19.10.</NOTE> And the Prince of Peace well under&s;tan|ding what was &s;aid, proffers him&s;elf, <HI>Ecce venio, Behold I come to help. I,</HI> (for I know that's the de&s;ire of Peace) <HI>will become the Sonne of man to &s;ave what is lost.</HI> By partaking the Nature of man, I am content to par|take of his mi&s;eries, and &s;ubject my &s;elf unto his puni&s;hments. And by u|niting my Divine Nature unto his, fill it with all grace and heavenly perfe|ctions: And if it appeare that I &s;hall do what he was bound to do, and pay for him what for his di&s;obedience he was bound to &s;uffer, the Bond mu&s;t be voyd, and penalty &s;atisfied, and then though death doth arre&s;t him, yet it &s;hall not be able to detaine him, but <HI>erit optima,</HI> &s;hall be good, as the Sentence was. And thus by this free and voluntary offer of the Son of God, to become the Son of man, and to make his Soul a Sacrifice for &s;inne, the de&s;ires of the&s;e Litigants were &s;atisfied. Man was puni&s;hed as Ju&s;tice exacted; Man dyed as Truth required; Man was pardoned as Mercy intreated; and God and man reconcil'd as Peace expected. When therefore Truth flouri&s;h|ed out of the earth, the &s;econd per&s;on in the Trinity became the Sonne of man, then Righteou&s;ne&s;s looked down from heaven. It beheld and &s;aw not only an equal &s;atisfaction, but a &s;uperabundant al&s;o: Merits of that infinite worth, that they were able to make amends for the &s;ins of ten thou&s;and worlds, and to de&s;erve that reward which God had to give.</P>
<P>Such a Title to heaven, &s;uch a Plea for a pardon,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bi&s;h. <HI>Andrews.</HI> Serm. 11. de Nativ.</NOTE> no Religion in the world can &s;hew be&s;ides the Chri&s;tian. That &s;ome &s;atisfaction is nece&s;&s;ary, they evi|dently manife&s;t by their Sacrifices, cutting of their fle&s;h, petitions, prayers, charmes, and other kinds of will-wor&s;hip; but that any of the&s;e can &s;oundly &s;atisfie ju&s;tice, re&s;ts upon them to prove; nay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cherb. de veri|tate.</NOTE> upon the point they di&s;claim it; for being put to it, they maintaine this blinde and fal&s;e Paradox, <HI>Ju&s;titiae divinae bonitatem divinam e&s;&s;e</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, That Gods mercy is a full &s;atisfaction to his ju&s;tice; wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch in other words is as if they &s;hould affirme, That becau&s;e he is merciful, and will forgive &s;inners, therefore ju&s;tice, will &s;he, nill &s;he, mu&s;t be contented with it. For more &s;he &s;hall not have, nor more expect. This were a quick way to ob&s;truct all proceedings of ju&s;tice; I will, &s;aith the Judge, &s;ave this Malefactor out of the mercy I bear to mankind, never there|fore proceed farther again&s;t him.</P>
<P>Among the <HI>Socinians</HI> there is no other way; among the Turks no other way; among our New practical Athei&s;ts no other way. Marvel not that I link them together. For I conceive much of their Religion is out of the <HI>Al|coran. Mahomet</HI> doth acknowledge Chri&s;t to be a holy Prophet; and <HI>Soci|nus</HI> doth no more; for a good example he will grant him to be; for to be <GAP DESC="foreign">, his &s;oul an offering for &s;in, he doth deny. Thus <HI>they deny the Lord that bought them,</HI> and give the lye to our Prophet, who affirms,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2.1.</NOTE> <HI>That he gave his &s;oul a &s;acrifice for &s;in. A &s;acrifice,</HI> and that (though Legal) when time was, was accepted for &s;atisfaction.</P>
<P>Accepted I &s;ay, for it was not &s;o in it &s;elf. The Jew will tell you of his &s;cape-Goat, his Calves, his red Heifer, and a multitude of other Rites or|dain'd
<PB N="250" REF="131"> by God to that purpo&s;e. But all they had their power, if any, from this one Sacrifice of Chri&s;t to be Sacrific'd.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.13, 19. Ver&s;. 9. Heb. 10.4.</NOTE> In them&s;elves the Apo&s;tle af|firms, that they could not &s;atisfie for &s;in; no more power in any of the&s;e, without relation to Chri&s;t, than in a Heathen Ramm, or a Graecian <HI>Heca|tomb.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.1. Heb. 7.18.</NOTE> They made no man perfect; &s;hort they came of &s;atisfaction to ju&s;tice. Types they only were of that blood which was to be &s;hed; which being &s;hed, they have no farther u&s;e, but are abrogated, <GAP DESC="foreign">, for their weakne&s;s and inutility. There is not then any thing, no not in the Jew|i&s;h Religion, nor ever was, that could &s;ave what was lo&s;t, in &s;trict termes of Ju&s;tice.</P>
<P>And if not there, then &s;ure nothing either among the Mahometans, or Heathens. Ask the Mu&s;&s;elman how he hopes for Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in; and his an&s;wer will be, That his Prophets prayer &s;hall be upon you. Say his Prophet had been, what he was not, a ju&s;t, holy man, yet his motion only could have been for mercy. But ju&s;tice exacts, and expects &s;atisfaction, not intreaties; for real payment, not for words. There is not then in the <HI>Alcoran,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Alcoran.</NOTE> a Sa|crifice to be found for &s;in. From the&s;e, turn to their Predece&s;&s;ors the Hea|thens; and among them &s;omewhat is to be found, that comes nearer to the point. A &s;atisfaction they held was nece&s;&s;ary, and to that purpo&s;e at the Al|tar &s;lew a Bea&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Virg. Aen. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> &s;ometimes a man. <HI>Sanguine lita&s;tis, &amp;c. Sanguine quaerendi reditus.</HI></P>
<P>But the&s;e their &s;atisfactions were not &s;atisfactory. Of theirs, nay of bet|ter Sacrifices,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.4.</NOTE> the Apo&s;tle delivers his Vote, <HI>That it was impo&s;&s;ible that the blood of Bulls and Goats &s;hould &s;atisfie for &s;innes;</HI> What, a man &s;in, and a bea&s;t die? Ju&s;tice will ne're be corrupted with that.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 6.7. <HI>Seid.</HI> de dijs Sy|ris. cap. de Mo|loch. P&s;al. 106.37. <HI>Cae&s;.</HI> Com. l. 6.</NOTE>Yea, but what &s;ay you to the <HI>fruit of the body for the &s;in of the &s;oul?</HI> for &s;uch a cu&s;tome there was among the Heathens, begun by the <HI>Canaanites,</HI> continued by the <HI>Carthaginian<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> follow'd by the <HI>Ma&s;&s;ilians, Graecians, Gauls,</HI> nay almo&s;t all Nations, to offer their &s;onnes and daughters unto Di|vels; for it ranne in their heads, <HI>Pro vit&acirc; hominum ni&s;i vita hominis r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d|datur, numen deorum non po&s;se placari.</HI> A true Maxime, but not true in their &s;en&s;e. For it was not the life of a meer man could do this. For had it been one of their be&s;t men, as it was commonly one of their wor&s;t, yet the be&s;t had been borne in &s;inne, and brought up in &s;inne; and &s;inne for &s;inne can never &s;atisfie.</P>
<P>Is there then no &s;acrifice to be found for &s;inne? none among the Jews? none among the Mahometans? None among the Heathens? Then ble&s;s God who hath made thee a Chri&s;tian, and acquainted thee with a way, how Mercy and Truth meet; Righteou&s;ne&s;s and Peace meet and ki&s;s. You that are out of the way, be of good cheer, for truth will direct you. You that are affrighted with the ju&s;tice of God, be not di&s;may'd, your debt is paid, his mercy will &s;ave you. You that are di&s;heartned with his anger and hot indignation, take heart again, for your peace is made.</P>
<P>This may quiet thy &s;oul; and finding this peace within, enjoyn thy tongue without,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 103.1, 2, 3.</NOTE> <HI>Davids</HI> task, <HI>Prai&s;e the Lord, O my &s;oul, and all that is within me prai&s;e his holy Name:</HI> And binde thy knee to performe the Pro|phets and Apo&s;tles command,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.10, 11.</NOTE> <HI>Bow to the Name of Je&s;us who made his &s;oul an offering for &s;inne for thee; fall low at his Name, even to his very foot&s;toole.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 132.7.</NOTE> And this &s;ervice began and performed by the heart on earth, will, I doubt not, be ended and perfected in heaven; where the foure and twenty Elders ca&s;t down their Crowns, and acknowledge, <HI>Thou Lord art worthy (and worthy is the Lamb that was &s;tain) who ha&s;t Redeemed us by thy blood out of every Kingdome,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 5.9, 12.</NOTE> <HI>and tongue, and people, and nation; to receive power, and riches, and wi&s;dome, and &s;trength, and honour, and glory, and
<PB N="251" REF="131"> ble&s;&s;ing.</HI> And therefore let every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and in the &s;ea, and all that in them is, cry with a loud voice; Ble&s;&s;ing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 13.</NOTE> Glory; Honour, Power be unto him that &s;its upon the Throne, and unto the Lambe for ever and ever, <HI>Amen, Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="19" TYPE="sermon">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>John 19.5.</HI></BIBL>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">, Behold the Man!</P>
<P>In this Sermon are &s;et forth tho&s;e Duties required of us in Relation to the Pa&s;&s;ion.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>GOod coun&s;el from an enemy may &s;afely be followed. <HI>Pilate,</HI> an enemy to Chri&s;t, gives it, and he &s;pake to his enemies the malicious Jews,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo. de pa&s;&s;. &s;er. <HI>8.</HI></NOTE> but his intent in it was good; for he would have moved compa&s;&s;ion in them upon the &s;ight; from his mouth I borrow it, and deliver it to you, you that bear Chri&s;ts name, and glory to be his friends; I hope then, it will &s;tir in you that, which it could not do in them, compa&s;&s;ion and compunction; <HI>Behold the Man!</HI></P>
<P><HI>Behold the man!</HI> why? that you'l &s;ay we have done already &s;ufficiently two or three dayes one after another, &s;ix hours together; beheld him we have in his pa&s;&s;ion, beheld him in the cau&s;es of it; what need we look upon him any more? 'Twas but a &s;ad &s;pectacle, and we care not much to trouble our &s;elves with it. Well, whether you care or no, troubled you mu&s;t be again with it; the Prophet will have it &s;o. <HI>Re&s;picient,</HI> e. i. <HI>re-a&s;picient,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12.10.</NOTE> they mu&s;t look back and again on him they have peirced; an eye mu&s;t be ca&s;t back thither; the Apo&s;tle al&s;o enjoyns it, <GAP DESC="foreign">, Con&s;ider ye, 'tis an Auditors word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb&punc; 12.3.</NOTE> &s;it down and recoken, and ca&s;t up your accounts, what, how great, to what end his &s;ufferings were.</P>
<P>An injunction mo&s;t rea&s;onable;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Herodian.</HI> Luc. 13.32.</NOTE> for even Nature it &s;elf inclines us to this act, to look upon a man in mi&s;ery; the Prie&s;t and the Levite, thar would not relieve, yet came to look upon the wounded man. And I remember <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> lays this charge among others to the rich man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;. hom. de Lazar.</NOTE> that though <HI>Laza|rus</HI> lay daily at his gate, where he could not go in nor out, but he mu&s;t &s;ee his &s;ores, yet he would not &s;o much as afford him one good look; he hath not then the bowels of a man, who will not look upon a man in di|&s;tre&s;s.</P>
<P>Thus much I am per&s;waded you will not &s;tand with Chri&s;t for; and yet I may &s;ay truly, there be among us, who have not afforded him that; not a look, not looking to this place, where this &s;ad &s;pectacle hath been pre&s;ented. God grant, that when at the la&s;t ga&s;pe they &s;hall look for a good look from him, they look not in vain; He no more look to them, than they have done to him; turn his back upon them, as they have turned upon him. 'Tis to you, who have been pre&s;ent at this &s;ad &s;ight, that I e&s;pecially erect this Beacon on a hill, and call you to con&s;ider &s;eriou&s;ly, what you came out for to &s;ee; not a reed &s;haken with the winde, not a man clothed in &s;oft raiment, but a man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 11.7, 8.</NOTE> nay more than a man, the Son of God, your Saviour, your Chri&s;t, by who&s;e name you are called, in who&s;e name you glory, dying a bloody, painful, &s;candalous, an accur&s;ed death.</P>
<P>Saint <HI>Luke</HI> calls the pa&s;&s;ion <GAP DESC="foreign">: matter then it is to be of our contem|plation, not &s;o much for the eye to &s;ee, or the ear to hear, as for the heart to
<PB N="252" REF="132"> think on. Behold the man then, for in him you &s;hall behold a world of good &s;ights, a provocative to many good Duties.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. A &s;ight to Pity.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. And a &s;ight to Love.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. A &s;ight on which to Tru&s;t.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. And a &s;ight in which to Hope.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. A &s;ight to provoke tears.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. And a &s;ight to move Revenge.</ITEM>
<ITEM>7. A &s;ight for imitation.</ITEM>
<ITEM>8. And a &s;ight to call for Retribution.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>So many excellent contemplations may we have, upon the &s;erious con&s;ide|ration of this &s;ight. I have &s;hewed you in gro&s;s what you are to behold; will you now that I open the Parcels? to that end I know you are come; and to content you, or rather indeed to mend you, I &s;hall not think much to do it, and thus I begin.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Ecce &amp; compatere. Behold and &s;uffer with him.</HEAD>
<P>Look into his Body, you may ea&s;ily do it; his &s;tripes are as Lattices, and his wounds as &s;o many windows to let in your eyes; mark and note well, how our friends do open their dores unto us that we may come in; their Gar|ners, that we fill our &s;acks; their Cellars that we ta&s;te their wine; their pur&s;es to lend us mony; but did you yet ever hear of a friend, that would open his whole heart to another man? No, no: No friend is &s;o dear, nor no heart &s;o clear, that hides not &s;ome &s;ecret; for the heart is a depth, and no man can know it; onely the Son of God is he, that to his friends denyed nothing, hides no &s;ecret from them that was fit for them to know; &s;huts no door a|gain&s;t them; is well content, that they &s;hould &s;ee all, all that was in his bowels. <HI>Clavus penetrans factus e&s;t mihi clavis re&s;erans.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. &s;er. <HI>61.</HI> in Cant.</NOTE> The nails and &s;pear-head &s;erve as keys to unlock his heart; enter in then and look into the palms of his hands, where he hath engraven you.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 49.16. Joh. 14.13.</NOTE> Look through the door of his &s;ide, 'tis open, where he means to hide you; you may &s;ee if you plea&s;e, his bowels of loving-kingdne&s;s, and heart of compa&s;&s;ion, moving, and &s;tirring, and yearning upon you; and will not your bowels move and &s;tir? can you for very humanity be le&s;s than compa&s;&s;ionate toward him?<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 16.11. Jer. 22.18.</NOTE> Pity him at lea&s;t, make your hearts &s;ound as a harpe, and every &s;tring bring to the ear, Ah Lord, ah his Glory; and yet alas, what good can you do him, if you do pity him? what &s;tripe can you hinder? what wound can you clo&s;e? what blood can you &s;taunch? or what comfort can you add? And yet this he looks for, this he calls for. He looks if there be any to be &s;ad with him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 69.20. P&s;al. 142.4.</NOTE> he looks if there be any man who will bring a towel and wipe off his blood; any balm and oyl to &s;upple his wounds, any man that will bathe his injuries with tears, and bury his body in a compa&s;&s;ionate heart; &s;ome few he &s;ees, and he &s;ees too too few, and this is it which puts him in a pa&s;&s;ion &s;till.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.3.</NOTE>He may well to this day complain as he did by one Prophet, that men hid their faces from him, that they e&s;teemed him not; and ask as he did by ano|ther,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 1.12.</NOTE> Have you no regard? Is it nothing to you? &s;hall I &s;hed all the&s;e tears? pour forth all this blood, and &s;weat, and bleed and dye thus ignominiou&s;ly, thus painfully for you, and will you not think upon it, not pity me for it, have no e|&s;teem, no regard? You may if you plea&s;e, &s;ee me by the in&s;pection of my heart (ea&s;ie it is to do it, for <HI>patent vulnera, patent vi&s;cera,</HI> my heart is as open as my wounds) &s;ee me I &s;ay you may,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.3.</NOTE> not only <HI>virum dolorum,</HI> a man of &s;orrows, but <HI>virum amorum,</HI> a man compo&s;ed of love, who out of meer love would &s;uffer all this for you; and will you not &s;o much as regard it? not e&s;teem it? not pity me for it.</P>
<P>Were ye members of my Body as you do pretend, you could not chu&s;e but &s;uffer
<PB N="253" REF="132"> with me; for can any one member of the body &s;uffer, and the re&s;t not &s;uffer with it? Can the head be in pain, and the foot, and the hand,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.26.</NOTE> and the arm at ea&s;e? I could not be &s;o, when you were di&s;ea&s;ed; I could not be at re&s;t in heaven, till I had put my &s;elf into pain to ea&s;e you; and will you not put your &s;elves to a little pain to ea&s;e me? 'Tis but your compa&s;&s;ion as yet I call for, for your regard; your con&s;ideration onely of my &s;orrows, you may ea&s;ily grant that, it will co&s;t you nothing; Oh let me have that, That however, if no more.</P>
<P>How &s;hould the&s;e earthy and rocky hearts of ours rend in peices and &s;hake at &s;uch powerful words! why are not our faces covered with blackne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joel 2.6. I&s;a. 24.11.</NOTE> and all our joy turned to a threne? What more bruti&s;h than the unrea&s;onable creatures? and yet they heard his complaints, and &s;aw what he &s;uffered, and afforded what compa&s;&s;ion they could; the Sun felt his &s;orrows, and &s;hrunk in his light,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.45, 51, &amp;c. <HI>Leo de pa&s;s. &s;er.</HI> 2. <HI>&amp; &s;er.</HI> 6.</NOTE> the earth heard his cryes, and trembled at them. The &s;tones, the hard cold &s;tones felt it &s;eems his pain, and cleft a&s;under; the graves and dead bodies his lamen|table moans, and opened to hear them; and &s;hall man then, for who&s;e good all this was done, thus much &s;uffered, have a heart more hard than the&s;e rocks? more in&s;en&s;ible than the&s;e inanimate creatures? &s;hall they? For very &s;hame &s;ympathize and &s;uffer with him, and melt into compa&s;&s;ion that he &s;hould be thus brui&s;ed, thus broken for your &s;ake;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.5.</NOTE> You may po&s;t off all this hard u&s;age to <HI>Pilate,</HI> to <HI>Herod,</HI> to the &s;ouldiers, to the Jews; but there is not a &s;inner in this place, who gave him not a blow. Behold then the man, and be compa&s;&s;ionate at lea&s;t.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> Ecce &amp; dilige.</HEAD>
<P>But I call you not onely to a weak and infirm pity of our Saviours &s;orrows; in the next place, Behold the man, and love him; compa&s;&s;ion doth well, but love doth better;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 23.47.</NOTE> a tender-hearted enemy may afford him that (may be a Centurion, when he &s;aid, Doubtle&s;s, this was a ju&s;t man) but a friend onely this. You pretend, that you are his friends, let him then have love from you.</P>
<P>Love him? why who can do le&s;s? 'twere &s;trange if we &s;hould not return love for love; he loved fir&s;t, ca&s;t an affection upon us when we were &s;trangers;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 2.17. Rom. 5.10.</NOTE> &s;trangers onely? &s;o perhaps his affection might be paralleld; it was when we were enemies; enemies &s;o &s;tubborn, that we &s;tood out in rebellion, &s;o poor,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.5.</NOTE> that we were expo&s;ed to the loathing of our per&s;ons, &s;o contemptible, that no eye pittied us; and yet when we were &s;uch, he ca&s;t his skirt over us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 8.</NOTE> and made that the tim<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> of love.</P>
<P>Then he came from heaven to make &s;uite to our &s;ouls, and he was re&s;olved to &s;peed his &s;uit, or to &s;pend all he had. A man hath nothing more precious than his blood, and that he would &s;pend to e&s;pou&s;e us; his love to us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 49.16.</NOTE> made him receive tho&s;e wounds; we may read our names written in the palms of his hands, the nails were the pen, the blood the inke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.16.</NOTE> with which he writ in capital letters; <HI>Sic Deus dilexit, So God loved;</HI> for if you aske me how much,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 15.15. Rom. 1.17. Rom. 9.23. Joh. 20.17. Col. 1.24. Rom. 8.16. Jam. 2.5.</NOTE> I cannot tell; &s;trangely I am &s;ure; <HI>Nimium,</HI> I am certain; Chri&s;t &s;o loved his enemies, that he made them his friends; &s;o loved &s;inners, that he would make them ju&s;t men; &s;o the children of wrath, that he would make them ve&s;&s;els of mercy; &s;o loved &s;ervants of &s;in, that he would make them his brethren; &s;o the limbs of darkne&s;s, that he would make them members of his own body; &s;o poor beggars, that he would make them his &s;ons and heirs; heirs of a kingdom, heirs of the kingdom of heaven; you may wonder at it, as I do, but rea&s;on I can give you none, but <HI>&s;ic dilexit,</HI> So he loved, and that's all.</P>
<P>But good God, how coldly do we an&s;wer his love! his was, <HI>&s;o he loved;</HI> but
<PB N="254" REF="133"> ours, &s;o &s;o, very faint God wot; more fervent to any plea&s;ure, to any profit, than to him. My brethren, this &s;hould not be, and for Chri&s;ts &s;ake, let it be &s;o no more; &s;uch is his love, that he will forget what is pa&s;t, if you will but love him hereafter; &s;tand not with him for &s;o little, give it freely, give it him heartily, and thank him that he will accept of &s;o little; a &s;hame it were to receive &s;o great a benefit as Redemption at his hands, and not love him; too much neglect to look upon &s;uch bitter wounds, and unheard of &s;orrows, and not love him, that would be for us thus wounded.</P>
<P><HI>Love&s;t thou me?</HI> &s;aith our Saviour to <HI>Peter,</HI> and he askes again, <HI>Love&s;t thou me?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 21.15, 16, 17.</NOTE> and yet again he askes, <HI>Love&s;t thou me?</HI> The good man was &s;orry that the que&s;tion &s;hould be thrice put to him, and returns a kind of pa&s;&s;ionate an&s;wer, <HI>Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 17.</NOTE> <HI>thou knowe&s;t that I love thee.</HI> Methinks I di&s;cern in your faces, that if I &s;hould propo&s;e the &s;ame que&s;tion to you, What? Love ye your Saviour? Love ye the Lord Je&s;us? <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ove ye the Son of God, who dyed for you? You would all, with one voice reply, Ay, the Lord knows we all love him. Well then, I hope it is &s;o, and therefore Ile make no more que&s;tion of it, but take it for granted that you do love him; I will onely therefore make this motion, that by your life you te&s;tifie your love, and by your works ju&s;tifie your love, and that this your love may continue, that you incrrea&s;e in it, and love him more, and then alls well. Not a word more of this then.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Ecce &amp; Crede. Behold and Believe.</HEAD>
<P>That he loved us, is out of all que&s;tion; for el&s;e he never would have given his &s;oul a &s;acrifice for us; and &s;o much we are bound to Believe, and rely on. And therefore once more <HI>Behold the man,</HI> and believe in him.</P>
<P>They who were &s;mitten with the fiery &s;erpents, had no other way to &s;ave their lives,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 21.9.</NOTE> than by beholding the brazen &s;erpent, erected on the top of a pole. To him as many as turned and looked, &s;aved their lives. Tho&s;e &s;erpents are rotten, their &s;tings pulled out, and the pole is taken down, nay the bra&s;s it &s;elf is become <HI>Nehu&s;htan.</HI> But there is a fieryer &s;erpent alive, that &s;tings us &s;till, the devil that old &s;erpent, and his &s;ting in &s;in; Art thou then with this wounded to death?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.14, 15.</NOTE> <HI>Ecce &amp; crede,</HI> look up man and Belive, Belive and Live; behold with the eyes of Faith this Antytipe of that Type exalted on the Cro&s;s, and &s;ave thy life.</P>
<P>Never let the greate&s;t of thy &s;piritual enemies affright thee; for this man went up to the cro&s;s and conquered them; let not the long li&s;t of thy &s;ins a|maze thee;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.14.</NOTE> for he took the handwriting and nailed it banner wi&s;e to the wood. Before the per&s;on of this judge thou mu&s;t appear; but for thy comfort, <HI>Ecce Homo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 20.28.</NOTE> Behold the judge is thy Saviour, <HI>Thomas</HI> was never bold and confident till he &s;aw the wounds in his hands, and the hole in his &s;ide; then he believes, then he profe&s;&s;eth openly, <HI>My Lord and my God;</HI> the&s;e he retains, the&s;e he will bring with him to judgement, that thou mai&s;t creep into his &s;ide and hide thy &s;elf in his wounds till the wrath of God be overpa&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.30.</NOTE> Look up, and be|hold the &s;ign of the Son of man in the clouds; the Cro&s;s on which he &s;uffered exalted in Triumph, a terror to Infidels, an <HI>A&s;ylum</HI> to all Believers, to which becau&s;e they always did fly and tru&s;t, they cannot peri&s;h.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 4.34.</NOTE>The Shunamites &s;on revived not, untill the Prophet put his own mouth on the childs mouth, his hands upon the childs hands, and his eyes upon the childs eyes, and &s;tretched him&s;elf upon him, then the fle&s;h waxed warm, he neez'd and came again. Dead we are, and if we mean to live to everla&s;ting life, we mu&s;t by faith &s;et our eyes upon the cro&s;s of Chri&s;t, apply our defiled hands to his bleeding &s;ide, &s;et our wicked feet to his wounded feet, joyn our &s;inful heart to his wounded heart; in a word put our
<PB N="255" REF="133"> fingers in his &s;ide, even dive and plunge our whole man in his wounds, &s;or|rows, paines, &s;hame, cur&s;e, and blood; for then we &s;hall finde our hearts to wax warm within us, and our fainting &s;pirits will come againe.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.32.</NOTE> The hand of faith will do all this. And we may be bold to do it. What he &s;aid to <HI>Tho|mas,</HI> he &s;aid to all, <HI>Reach hither thy hand.</HI> You heard but now what his love was. None greater than to lay down his life: None equal to lay it down for his enemies.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 15.13.</NOTE> Upon the abundance of his love then be bold to ap|proach, to tru&s;t; credible it is not that he will deny you any thing fit for him to give, for you to have, who hath given his life, for you.</P>
<P><HI>Ecce homo,</HI> Behold all the ge&s;tures and po&s;tures of this man are &s;uch, as if he would invite a poor &s;inner to tru&s;t in him. His hands on the Cro&s;s are &s;tretch'd out to receive thee, his head bow'd down to ki&s;s thee, his &s;ide open to hide thee, his tongue at liberty, and with that he begs a pardon for thee, <HI>Father forgive them.</HI> His eyes indeed are &s;ad and heavy and dejected,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.34.</NOTE> but that &s;adne&s;s and heavine&s;s is, becau&s;e men have hard hearts, and will not be|lieve; not believe him when he calls,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 11.28. Mark 5.36.</NOTE> <HI>Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, and I will refre&s;h you.</HI> Away then with this infidelity, <HI>Believe only, and thou &s;halt be &s;afe.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> Ecce &amp; Spera, Behold the man and hope.</HEAD>
<P>For when the eye of faith &s;hall &s;ee &s;o much in him, what is it not that the eye of Hope may not look for from him? He that came from heaven to dye for our &s;akes, mu&s;t needs rai&s;e our hopes that he will do much for us.</P>
<P>He came to proclaime the great <HI>Jubilee.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 4.18.</NOTE> What&s;oever then &s;ervants or debtors could hope for at the <HI>Jubilee,</HI> that we may hope for from him. When this great yeare of <HI>Jubilee</HI> came, there was a Remi&s;&s;ion and a Re&s;titution. A remi&s;&s;ion; for then all bonds were freely given up, all pri&s;ons &s;et open, and all pri&s;oners for debt di&s;charg'd, all &s;ervants and bondmen &s;et free.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lev. 25.</NOTE> A re&s;titution or reinve&s;titure; for then all e&s;tates formerly mortgaged, forfeited, or any wayes alien'd, were re&s;tored to the fir&s;t owners in as ample manner, as ever they had or held them at any time before.</P>
<P>Behold then his &s;ide and his heart opened, and &s;ee a Gate of Hope &s;et wide open to you. Expect from him what either &s;ervant, pri&s;oner, or debtor could look for at the yeare of <HI>Jubilee.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. Liberty from the &s;lavery and bondage of &s;inne; &s;o that as a Lord he &s;hall no more command you to drudge in his &s;ervice, and then reward you with bitterne&s;s of &s;oul.</P>
<P N="2">2. Remi&s;&s;ion from all the puni&s;hments due to &s;uch drudges, the Vials of Gods wrath here, and the wrath to come.</P>
<P N="3">3. A re&s;titution to what by &s;inne we had forfeited; to wit, our pre&s;ent, and our future felicity. As then we love our own good, wi&s;dome will advi&s;e us to behold the man by whom we hope, and mu&s;t hope to receive all that can make us happy.</P>
<P><HI>But the hope of the hypocrite &s;hall peri&s;h, it &s;hall be cut off,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 8.13, 14.</NOTE> <HI>'tis but like a spiders hou&s;e,</HI> a little &s;hog breaks it. If we will have our hope &s;trong, we mu&s;t have the Valley of <HI>Achor</HI> for our door of hope.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 2.15. Jo&s;h. 7.24.</NOTE> The Valley of <HI>Achor</HI> was a Valley of trouble, of mourning for <HI>Achans</HI> Sacriledge; and there if we begin, o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r hope will be the better confirmed, and much the &s;ounder; and therefore once more,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<PB N="256" REF="134">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> Ecce homo, &amp; re&s;ipi&s;ce, Behold the man and repent.</HEAD>
<P>Behold and weep. I look not now for your tears of compa&s;&s;ion, tho&s;e I call'd for before. They are the tears of compunction which I now would have drop from your hearts and eyes for tho&s;e &s;innes of yours, which brought Chri&s;t to the Cro&s;s. It behoves you to look upon &s;inne with another eye than mo&s;t do.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 14.9.</NOTE> <HI>Fooles make a mock of &s;inne,</HI> but wi&s;e men con&s;ider that the Sonne of God was made a mock for &s;inne. That can be no &s;ight matter which brought the Sonne of God from heaven, made him a man, made him a &s;ervant, made him a cur&s;e, brought him to the whip, to the Cro&s;s, to Death.</P>
<P>Look upon all the revenges that God took upon &s;inne before, they were light to this. Before they were upon men that de&s;erv'd it, grievous &s;inners, <HI>Sodomites,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19. Exod. 14. Rom. 3.25. Luk. 12.45.</NOTE> <HI>Eg<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ptians,</HI> Idolaters, &amp;c. but now upon an innocent per&s;on. Before but on Va&s;&s;als, but now the revenge was taken on his Sonne; before on enemies, now on his Beloved; before &s;uch was his patience, that he &s;eem'd to have <GAP DESC="foreign">, a kind of truce with &s;inners; &s;o much, that the wor&s;t &s;ervant in the hou&s;e boa&s;ted of it, <HI>My ma&s;ter defers his coming.</HI> But now there was nor <GAP DESC="foreign">, nor <GAP DESC="foreign">, nor delay, nor pa&s;&s;ing over &s;in, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, a clear demon&s;tration of his Ju&s;tice.</P>
<P>Take then a view of the Son of God in his brui&s;es, and you will ea&s;ily judge of the odious nature of iniquity. Our corrupt con&s;ciences are apt to make a heinous &s;inne,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19.20.</NOTE> like <HI>Zoar,</HI> a little one. But let it be con&s;ider'd in the death and pa&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, whereof it was the cau&s;e, and it will appeare in its right &s;hape, odious to us, becau&s;e odious to God; &s;ince that being di&s;plea|&s;ed for &s;inne, nothing could plea&s;e him but the Blood, the Brui&s;es, the Paines, the Death of his only deare Sonne; and for no other rea|&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 7.25.</NOTE> but becau&s;e he would appear, pay for, and make interce&s;&s;ion for &s;inners.</P>
<P N="2">2. Which al&s;o &s;hould put us in minde to bewaile them, and do what we can to be rid of them. 'Tis the fa&s;hion of men, with bitter Invectives to pro&s;ecute the Jews as a bloody hard-hearted people, that they &s;hould cruci|fie this innocent per&s;on; but all this while they forget them&s;elves. Were it laid to heart, that not <HI>Judas</HI> betray'd him, but the whole world; not <HI>Annas</HI> and <HI>Caiaphas</HI> &s;coffed and derided him, but every man and woman that lived before and &s;ince; not the people then only buffeted him, and &s;pet in his face, but all the living; that not <HI>Pilate</HI> deliver'd him, and the Jews crucified him, but every individual childe of <HI>Adam;</HI> this, this would no que&s;tion cau&s;e the mo&s;t Marble heart to mollifie, and melt into teares of repentant &s;orrow.</P>
<P>And till it come to this, we with our rods do but &s;mite a Rock. Streams of water will never flow, till this be laid to heart. With this &s;troke when <HI>Pe|ter</HI> fell upon the Jews,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.36, 23.</NOTE> <HI>Ye have murdered and crucified the Son of God,</HI> then they fell upon their hearts: &s;o that his words pierced their &s;ouls, as the Spear had done his;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 41.</NOTE> the effect was, <HI>three thou&s;and of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m were converted.</HI> I &s;ee I want St. <HI>Peters</HI> tongue; could I thunder and lighten as he did, I would hope to make you tremble, and pierce your hearts for piercing him. Howe|ver 'tis the blow I meane to give; Never look &s;trange at it, behold I <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l it to your faces before all this Congregation, <HI>Ye have crucified the Lord of glo|ry.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.8.</NOTE> You know how loth I am to impeach any of you. Had not your father <HI>Adam</HI> done it, I had not di&s;covered your nakedne&s;s; but it were cruelty to teach you otherwi&s;e, and might bring your blood upon me. Guilty you are all;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.28.</NOTE> and my end in accu&s;ing you, is, that if you cannot be brought to
<PB N="257" REF="134"> weep for him, yet that you be mov'd to weep for your &s;elves; That your hearts prick, and &s;hoot, and ake, 'tis well; but it will never be done as it &s;hould be, till they bleed for the blood of the Son of God &s;hed for you and by you.</P>
<P>The Prophecy is extant, <HI>Th y &s;hall &s;ee him whom they have pierced,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12.10.</NOTE> <HI>and mourne. Mourne!</HI> not in an ordinary manner, but as he that mourns for his only Son; they &s;hall be in bitterne&s;s, as one that is in bitterne&s;s for his fir&s;t born: Such grief and bitterne&s;s was like to follow upon the &s;ad thought, that they had pierc'd him. Be not then &s;o Stoically void of &s;en&s;e, but mourn to con&s;ider how thy &s;ins have pierc'd and &s;tricken through the heart of thy Sure|ty, thy Ma&s;ter, thy Maker; Groan and &s;ay,</P>
<P>O good God, what a &s;pectacle is this thou &s;ette&s;t before my eyes! I, even I am guilty; I have de&s;erved tho&s;e blows; And whence comes this exchange, that thy ble&s;&s;ed Sonne is in my room! that I de&s;erving to die, this innocent Lamb is made the Sacrifice! Wretch that I am, how have I forgotten my &s;elf! how thee! Oh pour forth thy holy Spirit, that I may judge my &s;elf as ba&s;e before thy eyes, and my own, as thou wert e&s;teem'd ba&s;e, and vilified in the eyes of the Jews for my &s;ake.</P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, Forget it not, <HI>Con&s;umm<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tum e&s;t, All is fini&s;hed.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 19.20.</NOTE> That &s;torm which fell upon the Lord of glory, is &s;till'd and quieted. <HI>Judas</HI> hath done his work, the Scribes and Phari&s;ees, Elders and people have wreak'd their malice upon him; <HI>Pilate</HI> and <HI>Herod</HI> have crucified him; and from the Cro&s;s he is a&s;cended to his Throne; and wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l you not yet &s;uffer the Son of God to be at re&s;t? do you yet go about to fetch him out of his &s;eat, and the &s;econd time naile him to the Cro&s;s! I feare to &s;ay it; and I had not &s;aid it, had not the Spirit of God &s;aid it before me,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.6.</NOTE> Tho&s;e that wilfully and ob&s;tinately live in pre&s;umptuous and malicious &s;ins, <HI>do crucifie to them&s;elves again the Son of God, and put him to an open &s;hame.</HI></P>
<P>Never &s;tartle at it! in the Apo&s;tles time there were tho&s;e that did it; and there be tho&s;e that do it now, that crucifie him afre&s;h. Every notorious ha|bitual enormity indulg'd to again&s;t con&s;cience, is a Thorn, and a Naile, and a Spear yet to wound him. The Li&s;t of particulars I give you not in; it is needle&s;s, &s;ince your own Coun&s;ellor can with a wet finger bring to your me|mory a long Catalogue of Perjury, Murders, Sacriledge, Rebellion, Inju|&s;tice, Oppre&s;&s;ion (I want a <HI>Nomenclator</HI> to &s;ay the re&s;t) acted, countenan|ced, defended, ju&s;tified. And is not this to crucifie again the Son of God? is not this to put him to an open &s;hame? If it be not, I con|fe&s;s I under&s;tand not the Apo&s;tle; but if it be, then <HI>Behold the man, and mourne.</HI></P>
<P>Too much it is to anger him; Too unkinde a part to provoke and grieve him. Of what pitch is this &s;in to crucifie and &s;hame him! I want a name to call it by. 'Tis not that irremi&s;&s;ible &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t, but it is next to it.</P>
<P>Crucifie him, you'l &s;ay? He is in heaven, farre out of the reach of wicked men, how then can this be done? And &s;o he was, when the Apo&s;tle wrote to the <HI>Hebrews,</HI> and yet there were tho&s;e that did it then, and therefore there may be tho&s;e that do it now. For they may crucifice, that is, do what lies in their power to crucifie him. That they do it not, no thank to them; were he in their reach, I little doubt, that they, who under colour of his Name ju|&s;tifie tho&s;e former ugly, heinous wickedne&s;s, would not &s;tick to crucifie him; And with him <HI>the endeavor is all.</HI> To do what man can, <HI>habetur pro facto,</HI> with him is reckoned as done, though the fact follow not. I finde in the Go|&s;pel from our Saviours mouth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.28.</NOTE> <HI>That he who looks after a woman to lust af|er her, hath committed adultery with her in his heart;</HI> the woman in the
<PB N="258" REF="135"> mean time remaining cha&s;te, as never thinking on &s;uch a matter: Then it one party may be an Adulterer, and the other not Adulterated; why not in the like &s;ort, one crucifie, and yet the other not crucified? This manner of &s;peech then well &s;erves,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tertul.</HI> contra Marcion. lib 2.</NOTE> <HI>ad exaggerandam peccati maliciam,</HI> to aggravate &s;ome &s;ins, and &s;hew the malice of &s;ome &s;inners, that do on their part all they can do, to fret, to grieve God, to crucifie his Chri&s;t; and that's all one upon his account, as <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f they did it.</P>
<P>Go on then you prophane wretches, proceed in your wayes you rebellious and debauch'd wretches, cau&s;e his Name to be bla&s;phemed among the Gen|tiles; but then &s;tand forth and hear your doom; 'tis a heavy &s;entence, and therefore I &s;hall reade it to you out of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>There remaines no more Sacrifice for &s;inne,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.24. Hebrews 10.26, 27, 28, 29.</NOTE> <HI>but a certain fearful looking for of judgement, and fiery indignation which &s;hall devoure the Adver&s;aries. He that de&s;pi&s;ed</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>Law, died without mercy under two or three witne&s;ses: Of how much &s;orer puni&s;hment &s;hall he be worthy, who hath troden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was &s;anctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace?</HI></P>
<P>Tell me, are you in love with crucifying now? have you any more mind to that? Well, if you have, I will &s;hew you upon what you &s;hall &s;pend your malice. You carry an enemy about you, your own fle&s;h; in&s;tead of crucifying Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.24.</NOTE> fall to crucifie it; and by the &s;word of the Spirit every day give it a blow, and wound it even to death. For again,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="6" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>6.</HI> Ecce homo, &amp; ulci&s;cere, Behold the man, and be Reveng'd.</HEAD>
<P>Men that throughly grieve for an injury offer'd, are withal quickly moved to take revenge on him that offer'd the wrong: Such a kind of affection &s;hould be in you; be reveng'd on &s;in that did Chri&s;t all the wrong. Deal by it, as it did by him. That Crucified, Mortified, and Buried him: Return like for like; Crucifie, Mortifie, and Bury it. Crucifying is a lingring death; put it to as much paine as you can; let it be dying all your life-time. Nail it fa&s;t down hand and foot, that it move not in you; thru&s;t it through with the Sword of the Spirit, and wound the &s;ugge&s;tions and provocations it offers to death.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.13. Col. 3.5.</NOTE> <HI>Mortifie your earthly members,</HI> &s;aith St. <HI>Paul;</HI> they kill'd Chri&s;t, and will not you kill them?</P>
<P>Wholly mortified I know they will not be, but deaded they may be very much; for dead God counts them, when they reign not in you, weare no Crowns, &s;it not on Thrones, beare no Swords, hold no Councils, create no Laws, nor yet rule by Ordinances. In a word, mortified you are, when you carry no affection, no &s;ign of love to that evil which &s;ometimes you do.</P>
<P>There is a Natural, there is a Civil, there is a Moral death; this la&s;t now I &s;peak of. Every notable change of life from wor&s;e to better, is this Moral death. Happy we were, could we arrive to that perfection to dye as Chri&s;t, <GAP DESC="foreign">, once only; that at once there could be an utter ejection of &s;ins domi|nion, and a continual per&s;i&s;ting in what we well begin.</P>
<P>I can do no le&s;s than pre&s;ume that the&s;e &s;orrows of our Saviour have &s;o &s;et your hearts upon revenge, that at this time you are re&s;olv'd to commit murder. Methinks I &s;ee every man mov'd with <HI>Phinehaz</HI> zeal, arm'd like a Souldier with a Speare in his hand, and a &s;word to hew a&s;under this <HI>Agag.</HI> Ari&s;e O Chri&s;tian Souldier,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 25.8. 1 Sam. 15.33. Judg. 6.12.</NOTE> kill and &s;lay; the Lord be with thee, thou vali|ant man; run through this <HI>Moabiti&s;h</HI> woman, kill this &s;ame <HI>Amalekite;</HI> let not thine eye pity, kill and &s;pare not, &s;pare not any, not &s;o much as thy bo&s;ome &s;in, for that was it that e&s;pecially kill'd thy Lord. Take heed that it
<PB N="259" REF="135"> live not again; for if it revive, thou art but a dead man. It is of the <HI>Hy|dra's</HI> race, of a Serpentine brood; It will revive when the head is off, and &s;tirre and wriggle when it is hewn in pieces. Be wi&s;e therefore, take an ad|vantage of every wound thou give&s;t; and being deaded, tumble it into the grave, every day ca&s;t &s;ome mould upon it, roule a &s;tone to the mouth of the Cave, that it never ri&s;e up any more. Chri&s;t was buryed for it, bury thou it for Chri&s;ts &s;ake. To this Revenge it is that the Scripture exhorts, when it advi&s;eth us <HI>to crucifie the old man, to mortifie our fle&s;hly members;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.4.</NOTE> and the rather, becau&s;e we are buried with Chri&s;t in Bapti&s;m. He then doth but prate, not believe, that Chri&s;t was <HI>Crucified, Dead,</HI> and <HI>Buried,</HI> who lives willingly and maliciou&s;ly in a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y known &s;in.</P>
<P><HI>Return O Shulamite, return, return, that we may look upon thee.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 6.13.</NOTE> This <HI>Shulamite</HI> is Chri&s;t; upon him you have look'd this whole houre, and what needs he turn or return any more? Is there any more in him yet to be &s;een? Yes that there is. Return with me yet once again, long you &s;hall not &s;tay, and I will tell you what you &s;hall more &s;ee in this my <HI>Shulamite.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="7" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>7.</HI> Ecce homo &amp; imitare, Behold the man, and follow him.</HEAD>
<P>You &s;hall &s;ee in him &s;uch a pattern and example to follow, that if all other Idea's and Draughts of vertues and goodne&s;s were broken to pieces and burnt, they may be found combin'd in him. Hence it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.29. 1 Joh. 2.6. Phil. 2.5.</NOTE> that the Apo&s;tles who trode in his &s;teps, &s;o often call upon us to be like the Image of Gods Son, to conform our &s;elves and lives to his, to learn of him, to walk as he walk'd, and bear &s;uch a mind as he did.</P>
<P N="1">1. To be like him in Faith, who in that in&s;tant of his Dereliction, yet cla&s;ps both his armes about his Father with <HI>My God, my God. Similiter &amp; vos.</HI> Go and do you likewi&s;e. In trouble, &s;orrows, in life, in death,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.46.</NOTE> hold fa&s;t with both hands the promi&s;es of God by a true and a lively Faith; Never let him go, keep your hold &s;till, even beyond feeling, be|yond Hope. Re&s;olve with <HI>Jacob, I will not let thee go, except thou ble&s;s me.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 32.26.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. Be like to him in patience; <HI>for when he was reviled, he reviled not againe. Similiter &amp; vos.</HI> Go and do thou likewi&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.23. Rom. 12.19. Mat. 15.25.</NOTE> Patiently beare tho&s;e wrongs and injuries which are offer'd to thee, becau&s;e thou belong&s;t to him. Revenge not thy &s;elf, but referr thy wrongs <GAP DESC="foreign">, to his Court above. It is well for the Di&s;ciple if he be as his Ma&s;ter, and the &s;ervant as his Lord.</P>
<P N="3">3. Be like unto him in Humility.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.7.</NOTE> <HI>He humbled him&s;elf to the forme of a &s;ervant,</HI> to the form of an ill &s;ervant, to the form of a ridiculous &s;ervant; Nay, <HI>u&s;&abque; ad mortem crucis, to the death of the Cro&s;s. Similit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r &amp; vos,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 8. Ver&s;e 5. 1 Cor. 4.6. 2 Cor. 12.6, 7.</NOTE> Go and do thou likewi&s;e. <HI>Let the &s;ame mind be in you, which was in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI> Be humble, exalt not your &s;elves above that which is fit. <HI>Nihil gran|de de vobis &s;entite.</HI> Think not magnifically of your &s;elves. De&s;pi&s;e not your poor brethren, who are made of as good mettle as your &s;elves; earth and a&s;hes every mothers Son; and &s;hall earth and a&s;hes exalt it &s;elf in the pre&s;ence of an humble God?</P>
<P N="4">4. Be like unto him in love; <HI>for he loved us, and gave him&s;elf for us;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.2. Eph. 3.18, 19.</NOTE> of which love when the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks, he pre&s;ents it with <HI>Heigth,</HI> and <HI>Depth,</HI> and <HI>Length,</HI> and <HI>Bredth;</HI> tho&s;e foure dimen&s;ions of the Cro&s;s, no|ting to us the exacte&s;t love that could be. <HI>Similiter &amp; vos,</HI> Go and do you likewi&s;e. For in love there &s;hould be the vertue of the Load&s;tone to draw like love to it again, Serve one another therefore in love,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 6.35. Eph. 4.2. &amp; 5.2.</NOTE> do good to all men, even to your enemies, for &s;o your love will be like Chri&s;ts. Almo&s;t
<PB N="260" REF="136"> his la&s;t words were, <HI>Father, forgive them.</HI> And the&s;e he would have you for|give,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.24. Luk. 6.27, 28.</NOTE> <HI>Tho&s;e who per&s;ecute you, and de&s;pitefully u&s;e you; tho&s;e that &s;peak all evil of you.</HI> There is not on earth a greater &s;ign of a &s;oul throughly &s;etled in the love of Chri&s;t, than to be thus minded. Come what will come, &s;aith &s;uch a &s;oul, frown or favor, re&s;pect or neglect, what I do, I will do; pray even for you that hate me,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.15.</NOTE> love you that ungratefully u&s;e me, although the more I love, the le&s;s I am belov'd. This is love like the fir&s;t Copy and O|riginal.</P>
<P>Thus many &s;everal duties the &s;ight of your Saviour will put you in mind of. For it is <HI>Grande spectaculum,</HI> a wonderful and &s;trange &s;ight, a matter of &s;corn to an impious Wretch, to a pious &s;oul a grand My&s;tery. You are now ready to turne your backs; yet ere you depart, for Chri&s;ts &s;ake I ask one look more.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="8" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>8.</HI> Ecce homo &amp; retribue, Behold the man and be thankful.</HEAD>
<P>A &s;hame it were to be alway receiving, and never re&s;toring: The very earth doth it not; for the rain it drinks in, it returns you gra&s;s and fruits. Your fields do it not; for your labor and &s;eed you &s;ow, it returns you u&s;e. But I am not now in nature. Men, I know in &s;tate of grace would &s;corne to be compared, I am &s;ure, exceeded by that &s;luggi&s;h element. Bethink then your &s;elves what to give. To give &s;aid I? nay, what to return; for it is no gift, it is a due, a debt.</P>
<P>Thankfulne&s;s is as due upon the receipt of a benefit, as any money upon a Bond;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 50.15.</NOTE> and therefore God never does us good, but expects that we be thank|ful. Thus the Indenture runnes, <HI>Ego liberabo: Tu glorificabis.</HI> I will de|liver thee, that is his promi&s;e; Thou &s;halt prai&s;e me, there's our duty. <HI>Gue|vam</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Guevam.</NOTE> hath contracted all the P&s;alms into two words, <HI>Ble&s;&s;e God, and let God ble&s;&s;e.</HI> For indeed what do we el&s;e from one end of the P&s;alter to the other, but beg a ble&s;&s;ing from him, and ble&s;s him for the receipt. Now this is done when we receive the benefit with a chearful and glad heart, take what is done kindly, and acknowledge it for a courte&s;ie, then when we write it not in our hearts as in &s;and, &s;o lightly that every puff of winde will make it il|legible.</P>
<P>Now if ever any benefit ought to be chearfully receiv'd, and engraven with the point of a Diamond, it is this. For in this God made his promi&s;e of <HI>Li|berabo</HI> appeare to purpo&s;e. Here was deliverance and freedome from &s;inne, hell, death, wrath; &s;uch enemies, that all other are not to be named on the &s;ame day with them. Under their paws we were, and from the&s;e he hath Re|deem'd and deliver'd us. This would be thought on, remembred, Record|ed; and &s;o often as we reade over the Record, to have an eye to <HI>Glorificabis,</HI> that is in the foot of it, that, that al&s;o is our duty. A duty not to be detain'd or paid at our plea&s;ure,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Thom. Zanch.</NOTE> but due <HI>Debito ju&s;titiae,</HI> by Obligation; Man as well bound in ju&s;tice to pay it, as God bound by promi&s;e to deliver him.</P>
<P>In brief then I &s;hall now teach you how to pay it. Thus it is: As he hath made his &s;oul a Sacrifice for us, &s;o al&s;o we dedicate our &s;elves a whole Sacri|fice to him; for though the Legal Sacrifices be cea&s;ed, yet Chri&s;tians have yet what to offer. This is done
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. By tendring our prayers, &s;upplications, thank&s;givings to him, and in his Name.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 141.2. 1 Tim. 2.1. Phil. 4.18. Heb. 13.15. P&s;. 116.13. P&s;. 51.19. P&s;. 4.5.</NOTE></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. By relief of his poor members, as occa&s;ion requires.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. By taking the Cup of &s;alvation, and calling on the Name of the Lord.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. By offering to him a broken and a contrite heart.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. By offering the Sacrifice of righteou&s;ne&s;s, and putting our tru&s;t in him.</ITEM>
<PB N="261" REF="136">
<ITEM>6. In a word, in re&s;igning our &s;elves, &s;oul and bodies to his &s;ervice.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.1. &amp; 6.13.</NOTE></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>In the Holocau&s;t all was con&s;umed, and turn'd to &s;moke, no man having benefit of any part of the Sacrifice: and by it we are taught to make whole offerings, not in part, but wholly to dedicate what&s;oever we can call ours to Gods &s;ervice; yea, and if the Will of our God be &s;o, even to death.</P>
<P>And by it we &s;hall be no lo&s;ers. Lo&s;ers? Nay, Gainers every way; for, for the Cro&s;s we &s;hall finde a Crown, for torments ea&s;e, for trouble peace, for &s;orrow joy, for this death life: A life not like this to vani&s;h, but which will la&s;t and continue for ever and ever. Which God grant, &amp;c.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="20" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>Of Chri&s;ts De&s;cent to Hell.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Ephe&s;. 4.9, 10.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Now that he a&s;cended, what is it, but that he de&s;cended fir&s;t into the lower parts of the earth?</P>
<P>He that de&s;cended, is the &s;ame al&s;o which a&s;cended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THe&s;e two Ver&s;es are inclo&s;ed in a parenthe&s;is, and therefore they &s;erve for an Explication of what went before. The Prophet, out of whom the former Ver&s;e was taken, foretold Chri&s;ts a&s;cent:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 68.18.</NOTE> which being premi&s;ed and granted, the Apo&s;tle makes his inference, partly concerning the Humili|ation, partly concerning the Exaltation of our Saviour. He a&s;cended; there|fore he de&s;cended; that's plaine: He de&s;cended; therefore he a&s;cended again, that's as cleare. In his de&s;cent we finde him humbled; in his a&s;cent rai&s;ed and exalted; both Acts are for his honour, our benefit. We willingly therefore attribute the whole work of our Redemption, to the Humiliation and Exaltation of our Saviour.</P>
<P>In his humiliation we may finde many degrees; our Creed hath expre&s;s'd them in few, but full words. To de&s;cend to the Virgins womb is one &s;tep, and a low &s;tep too; for God to be made and born of a Woman, and by that birth to take upon him the forme of a &s;ervant, is humility beyond expre&s;&s;ion! To conde&s;cend to hunger and thir&s;t, nay to be &s;corn'd, mock'd, and &s;cour|ged, to be brought to the Cro&s;s, there to be crucified under <HI>Pontius Pilate,</HI> an unju&s;t Judge, is another. To die there, and breath forth his &s;oul, and to be laid up in the grave, is yet a third. Thus was he humbled in his birth, humbled by his Cro&s;s, humbled in his death, humbled in his grave. Farther I li&s;t not to go.</P>
<P>Now for this his humility, hath God h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ghly exalted him; <HI>He</HI> (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle) <HI>a&s;cended;</HI> in which it is no hard matter to finde as many honours done him. His fir&s;t a&s;cent was from the grave, his next to heaven, his third in heaven to the highe&s;t place, and there to have the honour to have all pow|ers committed to him, to be King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.</P>
<P>Now betwixt the&s;e Articles, which concern our Saviours humiliation and his exaltation, as a midwall, &s;tands this one, <HI>He de&s;cended into Hell;</HI> which &s;ome Divines refer to one &s;tate, and &s;ome to the other. What you are to judge of it, I &s;hall &s;hew you by and by, being led thereto by the Apo&s;tles Text; which that you may the better under&s;tand, I de&s;ire you to con&s;ider the Scope and full intent of the words.</P>
<P>His purpo&s;e in the&s;e two Ver&s;es was to &s;et forth unto us the whole Office of Chri&s;t, that he de&s;cended, that he a&s;cended; and why he de&s;cended, and
<PB N="262" REF="137"> why he a&s;cended; it was that he might fill all things; and the con&s;ideration of both makes very much for his purpo&s;e, for he was to per&s;wade to Unity, to Humility; examples are often more powerful than rea&s;ons; and can there be any more vigorous example to enduce to either than that of Chri&s;t? He de|&s;cended, who can exalt him&s;elf; what proud in the pre&s;ence of an humble God? He a&s;cended, and from above &s;ent down the &s;pirit of Unity; will any man then dare to break the Unity of the Spirit? This is the Apo&s;tles &s;cope and intent; the&s;e points I have not lea&s;ure to pro&s;ecute. In the words I com|mend unto you
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The Per&s;on, Chri&s;t, <HI>Idem qui de&s;cendit.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The two contrary Acts
<LIST>
<ITEM>He a&s;cended.</ITEM>
<ITEM>He de&s;cended.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The terms <HI>a quo, ad quem,</HI> from which, to which, and the&s;e con|trary al&s;o.
<LIST>
<ITEM>The term to which he de&s;cended, The lower parts of the earth.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The term to which he a&s;cended, Far above all heavens.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The end of both, That he might fill all things.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>1. <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c.</HEAD>
<P N="1">1. This &s;ame <GAP DESC="foreign">, this &s;ame word <HI>a&s;cendit,</HI> he a&s;cended, <GAP DESC="foreign">, what doth it mean? what doth it &s;ignifie? what doth it conclude? what el&s;e but that the &s;ame per&s;on de&s;cended from that place to which he a&s;cended? Now this collection of Saint <HI>Paul</HI> will make good Chri&s;ts own words, <GAP DESC="foreign">;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 8.58.</NOTE> <HI>before Abraham was born, I am,</HI> where <GAP DESC="foreign"> to be born, is referred to <HI>Abraham,</HI> but <GAP DESC="foreign"> is referred to him&s;elf, <HI>I am,</HI> which is the proper name of God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 68.18.</NOTE> God then he was of God before he de&s;cended. The Prophet then knew, that he was <HI>Jehovah;</HI> the Prophet in the <HI>P&s;alm</HI> out of which this ver&s;e was taken, calls him <HI>Jehovah;</HI> and the Apo&s;tle takes it for granted that he was <HI>Jehovah,</HI> exi&s;tent above before he was exi&s;tent below; or el&s;e how could he have &s;aid he a&s;cended,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Greg. Schol. in loc.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, if he had not known, that he de&s;cended fir&s;t?</P>
<P>This was a peculiar that belonged to Chri&s;ts per&s;on alone; Angels 'tis true de&s;cended from thence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 28.22.</NOTE> and took humane bodies for a time; but their oecono|my being done, they laid them a&s;ide, to heaven they did not carry them; You have heard of <HI>Enochs</HI> Tran&s;lation;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.5. 2 Reg. 2.11.</NOTE> you have read of <HI>Eliahs</HI> mounting th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ther in a fiery chariot; Nay we all profe&s;s our belief to a&s;cend thither in the&s;e our bodies, who yet de&s;cended not from that place; that then this collection of the Apo&s;tle &s;tand good, nece&s;&s;ary it is that we attribute &s;omewhat more to him than to them, more to Chri&s;t than to <HI>Eliah, Enoch,</HI> than to our &s;elves.</P>
<P>Now this difference doth not ari&s;e out of the a&s;cent and de&s;cent; for the acts are and may be affirmed of Angels and men; but from the quality of the per&s;on who doth a&s;cend. Never any that came down from heaven, and a&s;|&s;umed a humane body, a&s;cended in that humane body but he; never any, that in a humane body a&s;cended, came fir&s;t down from heaven but he; which evinceth, that he was not onely man, but God al&s;o. Certainly if Chri&s;t were meerly from the earth, as we are; the Apo&s;tles collection were very weak, nay none at all; he could not have &s;aid, he de&s;cended fir&s;t. But let it be &s;uppo&s;ed, that he was God from everla&s;ting, then it follows nece&s;&s;arily, that his a&s;cent from the earth to heaven, will i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">fer his de&s;cent from heaven to the earth, of which our Saviour him&s;elf puts us in mind, <HI>No man a&s;cended into heaven,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.13.</NOTE> <HI>but he who de&s;cended from heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven.</HI></P>
<PB N="263" REF="137">
<P>It was then the &s;elf &s;ame per&s;on that de&s;cended, and the &s;elf &s;ame that a|&s;cended; the &s;ame which came from the Father, and the &s;ame that went to the Father; yet with this difference, That whereas in his de&s;cent, he was onely God, in his a&s;cent he was both God and man. The per&s;on was the &s;ame, <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>ip&s;e,</HI> ver&s;. 10. but otherwi&s;e qualified; he a&s;&s;umed our Nature into the &s;ub&s;i&s;tence of his per&s;on, and took that to heaven with him which he brought not thence.</P>
<P>In Chri&s;t there was but one per&s;on, but two natures;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3.16.</NOTE> for God was mani|fe&s;ted in the fle&s;h, which being granted, ea&s;ie it is to explain the&s;e two acts of his a&s;cent and de&s;cent, and to know how to attribute them. In the &s;ame re&s;pect they are not to be taken; for we mu&s;t refer his de&s;cent to what he was before he was man, that is, being God on high, it plea&s;ed him to de&s;cend, and to be made man; which was no natural motion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.7.</NOTE> but an empting him&s;elf of his glory, and taking upon him the form of a Servant. But for his a&s;cent, it mu&s;t be referred to that per&s;on he then was; God inve&s;ted with the nature of man, to which we may and do attribute a local motion. Truely then and pro|perly in re&s;pect of his humanity, he did a&s;cend from earth to heaven, as na|turally as his body aro&s;e from the grave; And yet we &s;ay, that whole Chri&s;t did really a&s;cend <GAP DESC="foreign">, becau&s;e the Attributes proper to one own nature, are attributed to the whole per&s;on.</P>
<P>When therefore the Apo&s;tle &s;aith, he who de&s;cended, is the &s;ame which al|&s;o a&s;cended, he intimates to us two things. Fir&s;t, that it is the &s;ame per&s;on, to whom the&s;e two Acts are attributed; then that the&s;e two acts mu&s;t be un|der&s;tood after a different manner, <HI>viz.</HI> That he de&s;cended as God, with|out change of place. But as man he a&s;cended to heaven, and went from us.</P>
<P>Who the per&s;on is, we now &s;ee, and in what &s;en&s;e the Acts are appliable to him. The next is, that we con&s;ider the places to which he came, to which he went, about which there is &s;ome difficulty; and what interpreters have thought of both, you &s;hall now here.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> He de&s;cended into <GAP DESC="foreign">, into the lower parts of the earth.</HEAD>
<P N="1">1. Some under&s;tand by the lower parts of the earth the Virgins womb, in which the Son of God was conceived and made man; in which &s;en&s;e we find the phra&s;e once u&s;ed, and but once onely; I was fa&s;hioned &s;ecretly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 139.15.</NOTE> <HI>Tachijoth Arets,</HI> in the lowe&s;t parts of the earth, where <HI>David</HI> by a Metaphor re&s;em|bles the lowe&s;t parts of his mothers belly, where he was framed and formed, to the lowe&s;t part of the earth; noting the &s;trange &s;ecret of his conception and formation in his mothers wombe; that from the earth as from a common mother he came, that thither he mu&s;t return; that below he was fa&s;hioned by a &s;ecret way, as metals and minerals lye and grow in the depths of this com|mon parent. All which though true, yet I believe it reacheth not home to the Apo&s;tles intent; for his purpo&s;e is here to expound tho&s;e words of <HI>David, He a&s;cended up on high, he led captivity captive, he gave gifts unto men;</HI> which was done upon his a&s;cent, not de&s;cent to the Virgins womb. Since then Chri&s;t during the time of his conception did not lead captivity captive, nor gave the&s;e gifts; his Mothers womb cannot aptly pertain to the Apo&s;tles purpo&s;e in this place; &s;ome other &s;en&s;e will be more appliable to <HI>Inferiores partes terrae,</HI> the lower parts of the earth.</P>
<P N="2">2. By the&s;e parts then others under&s;tand <HI>terram ip&s;am,</HI> the earth it &s;elf, which becau&s;e it is <HI>In&s;ima pars mundi,</HI> the lowe&s;t element of the world, is here called by <HI>Hypallage inferiora terrae,</HI> the lower part of the earth; &s;o that here
<PB N="264" REF="138"> &s;hould not be a compari&s;on of the parts of the earth one to another, but of the parts of the world one to another; &s;o that the Apo&s;tles meaning &s;hould be no more, but that he de&s;cended from heaven to the earth, left the happi|ne&s;s of heaven, emptyed him&s;elf of his glory; took upon him the condition of men, that condition which the poore&s;t, the meane&s;t, the mo&s;t inferior man on earth hath done; even that of a &s;ervant, and &s;ubjected him&s;elf to our mi|&s;ery. But this interpretation is &s;ubject to the &s;ame difficulties that the former was; and had the Apo&s;tle meant no more then his being on earth, he might have expre&s;&s;ed it without <HI>inferiora terrae.</HI> Be&s;ides, here is a plain oppo&s;ition betwixt the places whither he came, and whither he went. Now the &s;urface of the earth, bears no true oppo&s;ition to the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the height to which he a&s;cend|ed; De&s;cending and a&s;cending, mu&s;t have contrary extremes, from which, and to which the motion is made; therefore to the highe&s;t heavens, to which Chri&s;t a&s;cended, the Apo&s;tle oppo&s;eth the lower parts of the earth, to which he De&s;cended.</P>
<P N="3">3. Which &s;ome di&s;cerning, go a &s;tep farther, and by the lower parts of the earth under&s;tand the grave, and the condition of the dead; and to this pur|po&s;e they alledge tho&s;e words of our Saviour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 12.40.</NOTE> <HI>As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the Whale, &s;o mu&s;t the Son of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth.</HI> So that they make here a compari&s;on betwixt the parts of the earth; one the upper, upon which we breath, live, walk; ano|ther inferior, in which our bodies mu&s;t be laid after our departure hence. Thus they &s;ay, Chri&s;t de&s;cended into the lower parts of the earth; that is, into his &s;epulcher, as other men, and that for &s;ome hours his body was held under the captivity of death.</P>
<P>Thus much mu&s;t be granted, yet it &s;atisfies not; for here again, a grave &s;ome three foot deep, will carry no proportion to the highe&s;t heavens; and in his Grave he was led captive him&s;elf, then &s;hewed not any conque&s;t over death; that I &s;ay not, he gave no gifts to men. That then this his conque&s;t may be full, over Hell, Satan, death, &s;in, and all the power of darkne&s;s, there is yet a fourth interpretation of the&s;e words.</P>
<P N="4">4. Eighteen of the ancient fathers, and twelve of the be&s;t modern Divines, do profe&s;s that Chri&s;t did de&s;cend locally to that place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bil&s;on p. <HI>544.</HI> Bellar. de de&s;c. c. <HI>14. 4.</HI></NOTE> which was prepared for the Divel, his Angels, and all wicked men; &s;o that it can be no impiety by <HI>the lower parts</HI> of the earth to under&s;tand that place. The grey hairs of antiquity, and the concurrent judgement of the &s;ounde&s;t divines hath been always &s;o ve|nerable with me, that I never dur&s;t &s;teer a contrary cour&s;e again&s;t them, where they oppo&s;e not the Scriptures; which &s;ince they do not in this point, I ra|ther choo&s;e to tread in their &s;teps, then to follow the mazes of new emptyer men.</P>
<P>But touching this place of the Apo&s;tle, I willingly admit of all the&s;e four ex|po&s;itions, every one of them having great authors, and being con&s;onant to the Analogy of Faith; for if <HI>he de&s;cended</HI> be referred to the Incarnation, it agrees well with the Article, He de&s;cended from heaven, and was born of the Virgin <HI>Mary.</HI> If to his life and &s;ufferings, to his Pa&s;&s;ion under <HI>Pontius Pilate;</HI> if to his grave, he was dead and buryed; if to his entring and invading the <HI>Tar|tarus,</HI> he de&s;cended to hell. Therefore we cannot err from truth, if we &s;ay, that he de&s;cended to the lower parts of the earth, all, or any of the&s;e ways. But becau&s;e the la&s;t is more doubted: two rea&s;ons there are alledged by <HI>Zan|chy,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zanchy in loc.</NOTE> why he conceives this la&s;t &s;en&s;e comes neere&s;t to the intention of the Apo&s;tle.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, becau&s;e here is an evident Antithe&s;is betwixt <HI>above all heavens,</HI> and <HI>the lowe&s;t parts of the earth,</HI> as I &s;aid before; but that place to which he a&s;cended, is litterally to be under&s;tood; and therefore in rea&s;on this al&s;o. Thus the
<PB N="265" REF="138"> text will keep ju&s;t corre&s;pondence betwixt his high and his low; that was <HI>ad &s;umma coeli,</HI> the highe&s;t top of the heavens, than which none higher; this then <HI>ad ima terrae,</HI> to the lowe&s;t parts of the earth, than which none lower, none beneath them.</P>
<P>Then again, the Apo&s;tle &s;aith not &s;imply Chri&s;t de&s;cended; be it to his mo|thers womb, to the form of a &s;ervant, to death, to the grave, <HI>de&s;cendit</HI> would have &s;erved for either; but expre&s;ly he names the lower parts of the earth, in|timating a lower de&s;cent than the former.</P>
<P>Now this place &s;o expounded, very well agrees with the Article of our Creed, <HI>He de&s;cended into Hell;</HI> which the be&s;t Divines have under&s;tood not of a vir|tual or effectual onely, but of a local de&s;cent; and therefore I &s;ee no rea&s;on without any figures, without any allu&s;ions, that the place be litterally under|&s;tood; e&s;pecially &s;ince the &s;ame Truth is held forth to us in other places; &s;uch are, <HI>Thou &s;halt not leave my &s;oul in hell,</HI> P&s;al. 16.10. Act. 2.</P>
<Q><L>The Son of man mu&s;t be in the heart of the earth, <BIBL><HI>Mat. 12.</HI></BIBL></L>
<L>Who &s;hall de&s;cend into the deep? <HI>i. e.</HI> to bring Chri&s;t from the dead, <BIBL><HI>Rom. 10.7.</HI></BIBL></L>
<L>He preach't to the &s;pirits which were in Pri&s;on, <BIBL><HI>1 Pet. 3.19.</HI></BIBL></L>
<L>The Go&s;pel was preach't to the dead, <BIBL><HI>1 Pet. 4.6.</HI></BIBL></L></Q>
<P>Having then &s;o ju&s;t occa&s;ion given me, I &s;hall here enquire into the &s;en&s;e of that Article, <HI>He de&s;cended into Hell.</HI> Now becau&s;e this word Hell is of great latitude and very ambiguous, the Article hath been &s;ubject to diver&s;e con|&s;tructions.</P>
<P N="1">1. Hell is taken for the Grave, as the <HI>Heb. Sheol,</HI> and <GAP DESC="foreign"> in the <HI>Septua|gint.</HI> From whence there be, that have taken occa&s;ion to expound the Article of our Saviours burial, as if He de&s;cended to Hell, imported no, more than that after he was dead he was honorably buryed. This expo&s;ition &s;eems to me over jejune, and flat; for thus much was contained in the clau&s;e before, He was buryed: So that admitting this &s;en&s;e, we have the &s;ame thing over and o|ver; which cannot be well conceived in &s;o &s;hort a &s;um as the Creed is. For what is it el&s;e to &s;ay He was buryed and de&s;cended into Hell, <HI>i. e.</HI> into the grave, but to profe&s;s that he was buryed, and that he was buryed? Neither can any man with ju&s;t rea&s;on affirm, that this clau&s;e expounds the former, be|cau&s;e it is much more difficult and hard than the former, which is quite and clean contrary to the nature of all exegetical and expo&s;itory &s;entences, which ought to be far more clear than the precedent; for how el&s;e can they be &s;aid to ex|plain? This falls not out here, but the clean contrary; for every child can ea&s;ily conceive what is meant by Buryed, whenas many learned Divines have di&s;puted what is intended by his de&s;cent into Hell. 'Tis not therefore probable that in the Creed <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;hould be <GAP DESC="foreign">, Hell &s;hould be the grave.</P>
<P N="2">2. Let us now look into the &s;econd opinion, and &s;ee what likelihood of Truth is in it. There are who judge, <HI>He de&s;cend into Hell,</HI> &s;ignifies no more but that Chri&s;t was under the dominion of death, was held captive in the grave, and lay there in bondage and pri&s;on, as it were for three dayes. But th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s expo|&s;ition &s;eems too cold al&s;o.</P>
<P N="1">1. For in the new Te&s;tament <GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign"> are preci&s;ely di&s;tingui&s;hed; <GAP DESC="foreign">, Hell in the Creed, in N. T. never &s;ignifies <GAP DESC="foreign">, the death of the body, but is di&s;tinct from it, and is a con&s;equent to it. Thus much Saint <HI>John</HI> in plain words doth witne&s;s; his name that &s;ate on the pale hor&s;e was <GAP DESC="foreign">, Death,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 6.8. Luc. 16.23. Mat. 16 18. Rev. 20.13.</NOTE> and <GAP DESC="foreign">, Hell followed him. Again, <HI>Lu.</HI> 16. <GAP DESC="foreign"> is a place of torment in which the rich glutton was tormented, not a place common to good and bad, as the grave is. So <HI>Mat.</HI> 16. <HI>The gates of Hell</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>&s;hall not prevail.</HI> So al&s;o <HI>Rev.</HI> 20. Death and Hades gaves up their Dead; Death her pri&s;oners, the Saints and other bo|dies
<PB N="266" REF="139"> in the grave; and Hades tho&s;e who were buryed in Hell. Why there|fore Hades &s;hould be taken in any other &s;en&s;e in the Creed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ignat. E&s;tpi. ad Trull.</NOTE> than it is in the New Te&s;tament, I &s;ee not. Sure I am that <HI>Ignatius</HI> under&s;tood it in no other, when he affirms of Chri&s;t, <GAP DESC="foreign">. He de&s;cended to Hades a|lone; which cannot be true, if Hades be taken for the grave.</P>
<P N="2">2. Three rules are exactly to be ob&s;erved in the expo&s;ition of the&s;e words. 1. Di&s;tinction of matter. 2. Con&s;equence of order. 3. Propriety of words. Now this expo&s;ition is contrary to all three; For it is a &s;uperfluous, di&s;orderly, and aenigmatical iteration. Superfluous, for &s;o much was &s;aid before; for was not thus much &s;et down to us, when we heard that Chri&s;t was dead? for what is it el&s;e to dye, then to come under the common &s;tate and condition of the dead? 2. Di&s;orderly, for twas no place to mention the power and dominion of death after his Burial. 3. Aenigmatical, ob&s;cure, and improper; for it cannot be properly a&s;&s;erted that Chri&s;t was under the dominion of death; for his death differed from other mens in three re&s;pects. Fir&s;t in the cau&s;e; theirs was from &s;in, &s;o was not his; then in the manner; theirs nece&s;&s;ary; his volun|tary. La&s;tly, in the con&s;equent; they dye and rot in the grave; but he &s;aw no corruption; he alone was free among the dead.</P>
<P N="3">3. A third &s;en&s;e is given to this Article, He de&s;cended to Hell, by the Do|ctors of the <HI>Romane</HI> Church, farther off the truth than either of the former, and more derogatory to the efficacy of Chri&s;ts death. So much they have en|croached upon the Common of Hell, that they have taken out of it three main inclo&s;ures, and left onely a fourth part for the Divel and his company. A man would think they had been appointed Surveyors of that place, they can &s;o exactly and cunningly make their draughts, and quarter out the divels kingdom.</P>
<P>The lowe&s;t peice of it they acknowledge to be that &s;ame <HI>Sheol,</HI> or <HI>Hades, infernum,</HI> or <HI>Tartarus,</HI> a pri&s;on from which there is no Redemption, over who&s;e gate may be written that golden and be&s;t ver&s;e of the Poet,
<Q><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.10. Mat. 25.41.</NOTE>Di&s;cite ju&s;titiam moniti, &amp; non temn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re Divos.</Q></P>
<P>It is that <HI>Lake burning with fire and brim&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ome, prepared for the Divel and his Angels.</HI></P>
<P>Above this they &s;ay there's another place, not much ea&s;ier for torment, but more comfortable for time; 'tis &s;o neer that lower furnace, that the fire thereof flames and &s;treams into every part of this region. Marry the comfort is, that a Dirge or indulgence bought at the Popes hand, or at the wor&s;t, &s;ome time will free a poor &s;oul from this fearful place. And this is that room calld Pur|gatory, and well it may; for it hath purged more pur&s;es of money, than &s;ouls from venial &s;ins, as they &s;peak.</P>
<P>The&s;e two are the main parts; now view the skirts, the buttals and boun|dals of this kingdom according to their draught; in their own notion they are <HI>Limbi;</HI> and two they make of them, the old and the new.</P>
<P>The old was called <HI>Limbus patrum,</HI> a brim or skirt of Hell, where they &s;up|po&s;e that the &s;ouls of <HI>Abraham</HI> and the Patriarchs, Prophets, and holy &s;er|vants of God before Chri&s;ts death and de&s;cent remained without comfort or joy, untill Chri&s;t by his de&s;cending thither, did bring a general Jubilee, and a plenary indulgence for their delivery; but this imaginary Limbus is by their own confe&s;&s;ion long &s;ince broken off and di&s;&s;olved. No &s;uch place in being now.</P>
<P>But le&s;t Hell &s;hould be without a border, they have now found out a new hem for it; <HI>Limbus puerorum,</HI> and placed in it, all unbaptized Infants, and &s;uch as dye onely in the guilt of original &s;in; a place it is, &s;ay they, of darkne&s;s,
<PB N="267" REF="139"> &s;ituate next above their &s;uppo&s;ed Purgatory; yet &s;o as the fire of the lowe&s;t Hell reacheth not unto it. Detained poor Infants are there, not burned.</P>
<P>For what they affirm of Hell, the Scripture is their wartant; but their Pur|gatory, and <HI>Limbus puerorum</HI> it is an imagination, and having onely &s;ome co|lourable texts forced by them to &s;peak for it, they impo&s;e upon the con&s;ci|ence, when they make it an Article of faith. I cannot now &s;tand to di&s;pute the point; thus much onely I &s;hall &s;ay, that <HI>Homer</HI> and <HI>Virgil,</HI> tho&s;e noble Bards &s;ung of it in <HI>Greek</HI> and <HI>Latin</HI> ver&s;es; and that it was &s;mothered long in the Church: That in <HI>Gr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gories</HI> time it began to burn out; And it hath an admirable faculty contrary to all other fire; for whereas, that de&s;troys and wa&s;ts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Spalat. de rep. Ecc. lib. <HI>5.</HI> c. <HI>8. Sect. 73.</HI></NOTE> and burns down all things; this hath erected and &s;et up many a Mona&s;try, enriched and encrea&s;ed <HI>Peters</HI> patrimony; and the profit is &s;o great, that it is held fit to burn till this day. How many a <HI>Romi&s;h</HI> Prie&s;t rubs his hands, and &s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 44.16.</NOTE> <HI>Ah I am warm, I have &s;een the fire!</HI></P>
<P>But for <HI>Limbus patrum,</HI> taken in a right &s;en&s;e, not in theirs, there may be more &s;aid. Many fathers, &s;ay they, were of this opinion; a number indeed there was, and that con&s;iderable, but not univer&s;al. All &s;aid it not; <HI>Origen, Chry&s;o&s;t. Hierom, Augu&s;tine, Ambro&s;e</HI> affirm, that the place was <HI>Abrahams</HI> bo&s;om, a place far higher than Hell, &s;aith <HI>Tertullian.</HI> The highe&s;t heaven, &s;aith a Je&s;uite; no verge then or li&s;t of the <HI>Romi&s;h</HI> Hell. Did they mean no more by their <HI>Limbus patrum,</HI> it were tolerable; but in &s;trictne&s;s of &s;peech,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 16.26, 23. Zach. 9.11.</NOTE> that <GAP DESC="foreign"> in Saint <HI>Luke,</HI> the bo&s;om of <HI>Abraham,</HI> the Lake in <HI>Zachary</HI> will not fully prove it, by the confe&s;&s;ion of their own Je&s;uites, <HI>Salmeron, Maldo|nate,</HI> and <HI>Ribera.</HI></P>
<P>Indeed it is not agreeable to Gods mercy, that he &s;hould take tho&s;e &s;ancti|fied &s;ouls of <HI>Noah, Abraham,</HI> the Prophets, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and deliver them up, to lye in durance for more or le&s;s hundreds of years, to &s;uffer <HI>poenam damni,</HI> and groan after their inheritance; e&s;pecially, when their merits were, as the Pontificians teach, beyond tho&s;e of ordinary Chri&s;tians; becau&s;e when the grounds of their Faith and love were le&s;s evident, the fruits of both were more eminent and excellent. This al&s;o would be enquired into, whether it doth not more mag|nifie the power and Grace of a Saviour, to free from pain altogether, than to deliver a poor man from puni&s;hment, when he is under it? Certainly, deliver|ance from danger by prevention, &s;o far, that we never come under it, or in the compa&s;s of it, is ano<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her manner of favour than the deliverance by recove|ry; for that keeps us from it; this onely draws us out of the endurance we are already in.</P>
<P>Now, why I pray, &s;hould not the Patriarchs be as capable of this favour and liberty, as we, who have lived &s;ince? Their faith was the &s;ame with ours, and their means to e&s;cape the &s;ame with ours. As we, &s;o they; and as they, &s;o we were all by rea&s;on of &s;in to be &s;ent to the &s;ame place; our deliverance is from the &s;ame cau&s;e, Chri&s;t the means to &s;ave both.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 13.8.</NOTE> But his death was effectual be|fore he dyed, he being that Lambe that was &s;lain from the beginning of the world; like the Sun in the firmament, he ca&s;ts the beams of his Grace back|ward and forward, to both ends of the world, being equally a Redeemer unto the faithful as well before as &s;ince his comming. And why then &s;hould not they be redeemed as fully as we are, when the cau&s;e was the &s;ame, and the means to obtain the favour the &s;ame? what rea&s;on is there, but that the &s;ame effect &s;hould follow? Chri&s;t &s;uffered for them, as for us; they as well as we believed and hoped for happine&s;s by his blood; why then mu&s;t we go to heaven, and they poor &s;ouls remain for &s;o long a time in Limbo?</P>
<P>Again, what befell to &s;ome of them, might happen to others likewi&s;e in this ca&s;e; there being no more rea&s;on to admit one to heaven than another.
<PB N="268" REF="140"> But &s;ome were exalted to that place of bli&s;s before our Saviours a&s;cen&s;ion; &s;o was <HI>Enoch,</HI> &s;o was <HI>Elias; Elias</HI> by their own confe&s;&s;ion, that I in&s;tance not in the thief on the cro&s;s, who the day he dyed was in Paradi&s;e; and therefore what rea&s;on is there to admit any,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 23.43.</NOTE> and not to admit all? to exclude any, and not to exclude all? If the rea&s;on be what they alledge, becau&s;e Chri&s;t had not yet opened the kingdom of heaven; this rea&s;on mu&s;t as well exclude <HI>Enoch</HI> and <HI>Elias,</HI> as any of the re&s;t.</P>
<P>But this rea&s;on is of no force to exclude any of Gods elect from heaven, be|fore Chri&s;t had overcome the &s;harpne&s;s of death;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Jack&s;on</HI> on the <HI>Creed, lib.</HI> 8. <HI>c.</HI> 33.</NOTE> for heaven is one thing, and the kingdom of heaven imports another. So that it is one thing to &s;ay, that the &s;ouls of righteous men decea&s;ed were in heaven before our Saviour a&s;cend|ed thither; another to &s;ay, they were in the kingdom of heaven, or Citizens of that Kingdom. And he who denys the &s;ouls of the Patriarchs to be parta|kers of the Kingdom of Heaven before our Saviours Death and Re&s;urrection, cannot be concluded to grant that they were in Limbo, or in any other region under the earth, or under the &s;tars.</P>
<P>I conclude then, that Hell in the Creed, cannot be taken for <HI>Limbus patrum;</HI> and that Chri&s;t de&s;cended not thither to free the Fathers thence, for they were not there; but in heaven, in Paradi&s;e, in <HI>Abrahams</HI> bo&s;om, where they might perhaps be delayed till Chri&s;ts a&s;cen&s;ion; yet there they enjoy'd a gene|ral felicity, though not that which they &s;hall enjoy at the con&s;ummation of all things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14.2, 3. Heb. 11.40.</NOTE> when body and &s;oul being joyned, &s;hall be taken and &s;eated in that place which Chri&s;t is gone before to prepare for them. They without us &s;hall not be perfect.</P>
<P N="4">4. The&s;e three expo&s;&s;itions then being unapt for the Creed, let us con&s;ider, whether we cannot meet with &s;ome other more agreeable to the Scripture. Two there are yet behinde; for there are that take Hell Metaphorically; and there are that take it really, and locally.</P>
<P N="1">1. Tho&s;e that expound this by a Metaphor, take Hell here not for a place, but the torments of hell; they affirm then that Chri&s;t in his &s;oul for &s;eventeen hours together, beginning at his agony in the garden, till he gave up the Gho&s;t, &s;uffered in his &s;oul the pains of hell. Had they meant no more but this, that then our Saviours &s;orrows were extreme and vehement, &s;orrows never the like, pains never the like, cau&s;ed through the wonderful apprehen&s;ion of Gods wrath lying upon his &s;oul, there had been no impiety in this opinion, though too far yet removed from the true &s;en&s;e of the Creed; but when they a&s;&s;ert, <HI>Diros in a|nima cruciatus danmati &amp; perditi homixis pertulit; Perinde alienatum &s;e &agrave; Deo &s;en&s;it, ac &s;i in &s;uam perniciem con&s;pira&s;&s;et;</HI> When they &s;ay, he mu&s;t undergo the whole wrath of God, undergo the fir&s;t and &s;econd death, bear all the burden of our &s;ins; This is it which I cannot a&s;&s;ent to, in that it differs, being well &s;ifted, but very little from bla&s;phemy. But of this opinion I &s;ay no more now, ha|ving lately &s;aid &s;o much of it.</P>
<P N="2">2. The&s;e four &s;en&s;es being all upon &s;o good grounds, thought unapt for this place; I will now deliver, what I judge mo&s;t &s;uitable to this Article, <HI>viz.</HI> That Chri&s;t &s;ometime <HI>in Triduo mortis,</HI> the time I define not, did really de&s;cend in &s;oul into the place of the damned.</P>
<P>This &s;en&s;e is mo&s;t litteral, natural, and agreeable to the words, no way li|able to any Tautology, nor repugnant to the Analogy of faith, con&s;orting with the plain words of Scripture, and te&s;timonies of the ancient fathers, and the mo&s;t judicious Divines of later times. I add, that it &s;eems to me to be the &s;en&s;e of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> at the fir&s;t time of reformation, received and delivered to us in the 37. Article, as appears by the&s;e words of Mr. <HI>Noels</HI> Cate|chi&s;m, <HI>Chri&s;tum ut corpore in terrae vi&s;cera, i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">a anim&acirc; &acirc; corpore &s;eparat&acirc; ad inferos, ad inferos ip&s;os de&s;cendi&s;&s;e credimus.</HI> We believe, that as Chri&s;ts body
<PB N="269" REF="140"> was laid in the bowels of the earth; &s;o his &s;oul being &s;eparated from his body, did de&s;cend to the places below, even to tho&s;e very places; and this Cate|chi&s;m is authori&s;ed by the publique approbation of our Church. Now the rea&s;ons that per&s;wade this expo&s;ition, are drawn out of the Scriptures, the Te&s;timonies of Theologues, and the ends of Chri&s;ts de&s;cent.</P>
<P N="1">1. We have both Te&s;taments to &s;peak for it, Old and New;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 16.11.</NOTE> <HI>David</HI> in the <HI>P&s;alm</HI> &s;aith it plainly in the per&s;on of Chri&s;t, <HI>Thou &s;halt not leave my &s;oul in Hell, neither &s;halt thou &s;uffer thy Holy one to &s;ee corruption;</HI> and that we &s;hould not be mi&s;taken, to him Saint <HI>Peter</HI> applies it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2.31.</NOTE> which words contain a &s;pecial prerogative verified in none but in the true <HI>Me&s;&s;ias</HI> and Saviour of the world. Saint <HI>Peters</HI> purpo&s;e there was to prove him Lord and Chri&s;t; thats his con|clu&s;ion; his medium to prove this, is drawn from the priviledge of his body and &s;oul; his body as <HI>Davids</HI> did, corrupted not in the Grave,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 36.</NOTE> and his &s;oul though in Hell, was not left there; each part returns to life with greater glory; the fle&s;h free from corruption, the &s;oul &s;uperior to de&s;truction. Saint <HI>Peter</HI> there|fore applying this &s;entence to the re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t, doth as it were with his finger point out the places, whence the&s;e two parts were to be brought; the &s;oul from Hell, for that could not hold it; and the body from the grave, that it &s;hould not corrupt there. Add to this, that if by <HI>Sheol</HI> or <GAP DESC="foreign">, we &s;hould under&s;tand the grave in this place, the phra&s;e would be very improper, &s;ince no mans &s;oul can be &s;aid to be left in the grave, into which it never comes.</P>
<P N="2">2. I forbear other places of the old Te&s;tament, and come to the new; a|mong which this of my Text is one principal. For that rea&s;on before alledged, that there is no proportion betwixt the highe&s;t heavens, and a grave three foot deep; I add here, that the Scripture is the be&s;t intepretor of Scripture; now the lower parts of the earth are in other places of the &s;acred text put for Hell. <HI>Ezekiel</HI> foretelling the ruin of the <HI>A&s;&s;yrian</HI> for his pride,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 31.14.</NOTE> compares him to a tree; and to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt them&s;elves, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> they are delivered to death, to the neather parts of the earth with them that go down to the pit, where <HI>Eretz tachtith</HI> hath manife&s;tly the &s;ame &s;en&s;e with <HI>Sheol tachath, E&s;a.</HI> 14.9. hell from beneath or below.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 14.9.</NOTE> Here the prophet threatens to them two di&s;tinct things, Death, and a de&s;cent to the neather parts, and gives &s;uch &s;ight, &s;peech, affections to them, which tho&s;e in hell may have and u&s;e, but not they in the grave. I &s;pare other places to confirm this, becau&s;e I ha&s;ten, and come to the famous place of Saint <HI>Paul, Rom.</HI> 10.6, 7.</P>
<P><HI>Say not thou in thy heart, Who &s;hall a&s;cend into heaven?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.6, 7.</NOTE> <HI>that is to bring Chri&s;t down from above: Or who &s;hall de&s;cend</HI> in Aby&s;&s;um, <HI>into the deep? that is to bring Chri&s;t again from the Dead,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>The Apo&s;tle alludes here to <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> words, and fits them to Chri&s;t; <HI>Mo|&s;es</HI> &s;peech is of the Law, and his meaning is plain,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 30.12, 14.</NOTE> that the Jews could not pretend in excu&s;e of their di&s;obedience, the knowledge of Gods will hid from them in heaven, or far removed by &s;ea, that they &s;hould &s;ay, <HI>Who &s;hall a|&s;cend?</HI> &amp;c. for it was nigh them, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> This the Apo&s;tle applies to the Go&s;pel. The way now to decline death, and obtain life, is not to look to the Law, but to Chri&s;t; yea, but where &s;hall we find him? Oh &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, Away with all &s;uch thoughts. <HI>Ne dicas,</HI> &s;ay it not, think it not; ask not, Who &s;hall a|cend to heaven to &s;ee whether God be reconciled to us through Chri&s;t? aske not, Who &s;hall de&s;cend to the deep to &s;ee whether death be di&s;armed, and hell gates broken?</P>
<P>After Chri&s;ts de&s;cen&s;ion and a&s;cen&s;ion, to ask Who &s;hall a&s;cend to procure life? or Who &s;hall de&s;cend in <HI>Aby&s;&s;um</HI> to de&s;troy death for us? &s;avours of infi|delity; and through want of faith fru&s;trates what Chri&s;t hath purcha&s;ed for
<PB N="270" REF="141"> us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 8, 9.</NOTE> The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth. And he that &s;hall confe&s;&s;e with his mouth, and believe with his heart, that God rai&s;ed up Je&s;us from the dead, to be Lord of all, <HI>i. e.</HI> to &s;ave from death, and give life, &s;hall be &s;aved. This <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s the Apo&s;tles intent and purpo&s;e in this place.</P>
<P>Faith therefore informes us, that Chri&s;t is that per&s;on who a&s;cended to heaven, to carry us thither with him; and who de&s;cended in <HI>Aby&s;sum,</HI> to de|&s;troy him that had the power of death. Now <HI>Aby&s;sus</HI> is never in Scripture u&s;ed for the grave; it &s;ignifies &s;ometimes the depth of the Sea, and bottome of the earth, and is Metaphorically taken for the deep coun&s;els of God, and de&s;perate troubles of men, in the Old Te&s;tament: But in the New, only for the bottomle&s;s pit, whither the Devils a re afraid to go: as appears by their Petition to Chri&s;t, <HI>That they be not commanded to depart</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>in|to the deep,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 8.31. Rev. 20.</NOTE> where they are lock'd and chain'd when God plea&s;eth. It &s;eems then by the Apo&s;tles <HI>Ne dicas,</HI> No more doubt to be made of his de&s;cent, than of his a&s;cent.</P>
<P>I am not ignorant how that place of St. <HI>Peter</HI> is brought to confirme this Opinion.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 3.18, 19.</NOTE> The words are, <HI>Christ &s;uffered once, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the fle&s;h, but quicken|ed by the Spirit, by which he al&s;o went, and preach'd to the &s;pirits which are in pri&s;on, which &s;ometimes were di&s;obedient, when once the long-&s;uffering of God wai|ted in the days of Noah, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aug.</HI> Ep. 99. ad Euodium. 1 Pet. 4.6. <HI>Aret.</HI> in Loc.</NOTE>This is one of tho&s;e places in which an Elephant may &s;wimm. St. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> acknowledgeth it a depth, and thought he could not &s;ound it. Every Interpreter complaines of the ob&s;curity; and it may be it is like that <HI>the Gospel was preach'd to the Dead;</HI> of which <HI>Aretius</HI> affirmes, that the School in heaven &s;hall inform us. The light which abler Divines lent me, I thus hold forth:</P>
<P>Take the word <HI>Spirit</HI> for the Soul of Chri&s;t; and the word <GAP DESC="foreign">, for kept alive, then the &s;en&s;e is this, Chri&s;t dyed in his Body, but continu|ed alive in his Soul, by which he went and preached to the damned &s;ouls de|tained in the Pri&s;on of Hell, and tho&s;e who had been di&s;obedient in the time of <HI>Noah;</HI> not tho&s;e only, but tho&s;e e&s;pecially, becau&s;e they were the mo&s;t fa|mous, the mo&s;t ob&s;tinate &s;inners, not repenting when the Son of God &s;pake and call'd them to amendment by <HI>Noahs</HI> tongue.</P>
<P>This is more con&s;onant to the full intention of St. <HI>Peter,</HI> who purpo&s;e|ly &s;peaking of the death of Chri&s;t, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 18. pur&s;ueth the con&s;equents thereof in order; as fir&s;t his de&s;cent to the &s;pirits in pri&s;on, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 19. Then his Re|&s;urrection, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 21. After his A&s;cen&s;ion, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 22. La&s;tly, His Se&s;&s;ion at Gods right hand, in the &s;ame ver&s;e, &amp;c. Angels, and authorities and powers be|ing made &s;ubject to him. This is the mo&s;t Natural &s;en&s;e, as I conceive, of this place, and &s;erves evidently to prove the Article, <HI>That Chri&s;t de&s;cended to Hell.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e be the e&s;pecial Scriptures upon which the literal Expo&s;ition is groun|ded. And this is the general judgement of the mo&s;t Ancient Fathers, and the be&s;t Learned of Modern Divines of the reformed Churches. <HI>Ignatius, I|renaeus, Cyprian, Athana&s;ius, Eu&s;ebius, Hilary, Nazianzen, Chry&s;o&s;t. Hi|eron, Augu&s;tine, Cyrill, &amp;c.</HI> who&s;e plaine Te&s;timonies I forbear to recite, becau&s;e they may be read in Bi&s;hop <HI>Bil&s;on,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bil&s;on.</HI> p. 544.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; Bellarmine de Chri&s;ti anima. lib.</HI> 4. <HI>cap.</HI> 14. And for later Divines, <HI>Peter Martyr, Zanchy, Aretius, Hemingius, Moller, Pomeran, Mu&s;culus, &V;rbanus, Regues, Chy<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">aeus, Luther, &amp;c.</HI> and our Church of <HI>England,</HI> affirm it. If any man be otherwi&s;e min|ded,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.15.</NOTE> <HI>Deus revelabit;</HI> in the mean time let him not di&s;turb the peace of the Church about it. I mu&s;t draw toward an end; But I cannot choo&s;e but call to your memories, tho&s;e rea&s;ons given by Divines, which in
<PB N="271" REF="141"> all probability moved Chri&s;t to de&s;cend. Three ends they a&s;&s;ign for it.</P>
<P N="1">1. That the &s;ouls of Infidels and wicked men there tortured, might con|fe&s;s, that however their puni&s;hments were &s;harp, yet they were very ju&s;t. The &s;eed of the woman to break the Serpents head, was promi&s;ed to them; Salva|tion by Chri&s;t to come was prophe&s;ied; but this they derided, this they mock|ed at, as in the dayes of <HI>Noah;</HI> but now they might &s;ee all perform'd; he that was to come, was <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ome; and becau&s;e they neglected him of whom they had &s;o often heard, their condemnation was ju&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 2.2, 3.</NOTE> This was a real and experimen|tal Sermon; thus the Go&s;pel might be &s;aid to be preach'd to the dead. In which he did upbraid to the &s;pirits of ob&s;tinate men, what a gracious Saviour they had ca&s;t a&s;ide.</P>
<P N="2">2. Satan the great Prince of darkne&s;s might &s;ee all his power to be weak|ned, broken, and utterly ruin'd. He and his &s;ervants for an houre had their will on him; betray'd, &s;courg'd, crucified him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.53. Mat. 4.3.</NOTE> like an infirme and weak man; This might put him to enquire, <HI>If thou be the Son of God.</HI> But that now he might &s;ee who and what he was, He de&s;cended, and broke the Gates of Bra&s;s, cau&s;ed the Keepers of tho&s;e Gates to tremble, trode under his feet the Serpent, Death, Hell, Triumphed over him in his own Fort, beat him in his own Kingdome; took and bound the &s;trong man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 11.22. Col. 2.14, 15.</NOTE> and leads him and all his Troops Captive. I cannot &s;et up a more eminent Trophee for this vi|ctory, than St. <HI>Paul</HI> hath done; where, after the Bond cancell'd, and nail|ed to the Cro&s;s, he goes on, and &s;ets Chri&s;t, as I may &s;o &s;ay, <HI>in Sell&acirc; Curuli,</HI> in his Triumphant Chariot, teaching us, <HI>that he de&s;poyled principalities and powers, and made a &s;hew of them openly, triumphing over them.</HI> In which words the Apo&s;tle alludes to the manner of Heathen Triumphs. For it was their cu&s;tome after a Victory, to erect &s;ome monument in the place where the Battel was fought and won. This being done, there often follow|ed an open &s;hew, in which the Conquerour was mounted in a triumphal Cha|riot, and the chief of his enemies being bound and pinioned, were led openly after him.</P>
<P>This Battel was fought upon Mount <HI>Calvary</HI> betwixt Chri&s;t and the devil. There Chri&s;t vanqui&s;hed him, and erected a Trophee in remembrance that he got the day, and after pro&s;ecuted his Victory even to Hell, took there prin|cipalities and powers, <HI>i. e.</HI> the devil, his angels, hell, death, and condem|nation-pri&s;oners, &s;poyled them of their Armour and Weapons, chain'd them and bound them each to other, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Zanchy</HI> in loc.</NOTE> carried them along the open aire, and dragg'd them after him in the &s;ight of Almighty God only, and the ble&s;&s;ed Spirits.</P>
<P N="3">3. And this could not choo&s;e but give great content to the &s;ouls and &s;pi|rits of ju&s;t men decea&s;ed before (who, while they lived, believed and ho|ped in Chri&s;t) to perceive the work of their Redemption fini&s;hed, all their enemies vanqui&s;hed, Death, Hell, and the lord of both conquer'd and ut|terly &s;ubdued. Whether therefore we reflect upon the Reprobate, the Devil. or Gods Elect, there be excellent comforts in this one Article. The Re|probate are thereby convinced, the Devil de&s;troyed, and the &s;pirits of ju&s;t men a&s;&s;ured that hell never &s;hall have any power to torment them.</P>
<P>But could not thus much have been done, had not his &s;oul de&s;cended thi|ther? Yes, no Que&s;tion. But if yet it plea&s;ed him to de&s;cend to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hat di&s;mal place, not to &s;uffer any thing, but there to begin his triumph, we are to admire his love, and congratulate his Victory.</P>
<P>Thus have I deliver'd what I conceive of this point, <HI>viz.</HI> That Chri&s;t in his Soul after his death, de&s;cended not only virtually, but locally into <HI>Ha|des;</HI> not to &s;uffer any thing for our Redemption,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.30.</NOTE> there being for that a <HI>C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n|&s;ummatum</HI>
<PB N="272" REF="142"> upon the Cro&s;s, but to triumph over all our &s;piritual enemies: So that I make not this Article to be the la&s;t of his Humiliation and aba&s;e|ment; but the fir&s;t &s;tep of his exaltation and advancement. If any man &s;hall think otherwi&s;e, I condemn him not, as I de&s;ire he would not do me. Let the Rule of Charity guide both; That &s;ince all confe&s;s the truth of the Arti|cle, and differ only in the &s;en&s;e, we make no Sci&s;me in Chri&s;ts &s;eamle&s;s coat about it, rai&s;e no di&s;cord in the Church, but <HI>endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.3.</NOTE></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> He a&s;cended farre above all heavens.</HEAD>
<P>You have &s;een one term of our Saviours motion, as low as low may be. Now will you but look upon the other, you &s;hall &s;ee him as high as high may be. In the ver&s;e before, it was <HI>On high;</HI> which is &s;omewhat a doubtful word; for any way above or from the earth, is on high. The Apo&s;tle then to remove all doubt, that we might know what height, what altitude he meant, expounds it for us. To that pitch he came that he was <GAP DESC="foreign">, above, and <GAP DESC="foreign">, aloft; above the heavens, above all the heavens, even the highe&s;t of them.</P>
<P>But of our Saviours A&s;cen&s;ion I &s;hall not at this time &s;peak more, there being a fitter opportunity for it when I &s;hall come to treat of that Article. I go on then to the la&s;t words of the Text, which &s;hew the end of the&s;e two motions, and which will give much light to the former Expo&s;ition; to which purpo&s;e Divines make advantage of it. The end was,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> That he might fill all things.</HEAD>
<P>The end is that which perfects all things. This, though la&s;t in execution, is fir&s;t in intention. To give then &s;atisfaction that way, the Apo&s;tle omits not that neither, but opens the end why he did de&s;cend, why he did a&s;cend; why to the depth, why to the heigth: Ir was <HI>that he might fill all things.</HI> The word <GAP DESC="foreign">, is of great latitude; and Interpreters refer it to divers Suppo|&s;ites; &s;ome to <HI>Officia;</HI> &s;ome to <HI>De &s;e &s;cripta,</HI> &s;ome to <HI>Dona,</HI> &s;ome to <HI>Loca;</HI> &s;ome make it the &s;ingular number, and under&s;tand <GAP DESC="foreign">, Every man; all carry a good &s;en&s;e with them, and proper enough to the Text.</P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 2.5.</NOTE>1. The Office of a Mediator Chri&s;t undertook for us; and this Office he was to execute partly above, partly below. To earth he de&s;cended to take fle&s;h, to teach, to &s;uffer, to die, to be buryed: To the lower parts of the earth to triumph. But as yet the whole work of our Redemption was not fi|ni&s;hed; &s;omewhat was to be done in heaven for us; thence he was to be a King, to give Laws and Govern; there as a high Prie&s;t, to intercede and in|terpo&s;e for us, thence to pour down the gifts of his Spirit, and &s;et Officers in his Church; To earth then he came, and to heaven he went, <GAP DESC="foreign">, that he might execute the Office of a King, Prie&s;t, and Prophet.</P>
<P N="2">2. This is an excellent Interpretation of the Apo&s;tles Text; and yet there is a &s;econd, <HI>He de&s;cended and a&s;cended, that he might fill all things;</HI> that is, all things that were written of him. What&s;oever was foretold of him, were but as it were empty things till they were fulfill'd. All were but in promi&s;es, in &s;hadows, in types, in figures and prophe&s;ies only, which fill not, God he knows. Had they given full content, why is it that tho&s;e who liv'd then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 64.1. Cant. 8.1. Col. 1, 19. Luk. 24.44.</NOTE> were &s;till in expectation? why were they &s;o earne&s;t? <HI>O that thou would&s;t break the heavens and come down. O that thou wer'&s;t as my Bro|ther.</HI> That which could fully &s;atisfie, it &s;eems was he alone, <HI>in whom dwelt all fulne&s;s.</HI> De&s;cend then, and a&s;cend he would, to fulfill all that was written of him, in <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> the Prophets, and the P&s;almes.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="273" REF="142">3. And yet there is more in it; you may joyn <HI>Omnia</HI> to <HI>Loca,</HI> and the &s;en&s;e will be this. The partition of the&s;e places is in the Apo&s;tle tripartite, <HI>Things in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eaven, things on earth, things under the earth.</HI> The earth he vi&s;ited in his fle&s;h. Tho&s;e parts below the earth, in his Soul; and that he might fill all places with his humanity, he now a&s;cended to heaven. For the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of Chri&s;t as of a great King who takes po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of his King|dome: not by taking a view of every particular place, but the chief only; which being done, he is acknowledg'd for a Prince in all places, and all do him homage. It was &s;o in this ca&s;e; <HI>Terrena,</HI> in earth his Saints bow wil|lingly before him: Here and under the earth the Divel and his Angels are forc'd to bow to him; and in Heaven the Angels and ble&s;&s;ed Spirits fall low before him. The power of his Scepter, and glory of his Maje&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y hath fill'd all things.</P>
<P N="4">4. But what now if <GAP DESC="foreign">, all be referr'd to all kinds and &s;orts of men, of which the Church of the Elect is built up? tho&s;e which inhabited not <HI>Ju|dea</HI> only, but all parts of the earth?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.10. Eph. 2.14, 15. Eph. 4.12. Act. 2.4. Joh. 16 7.</NOTE> For now the <HI>partition-wall was bro|ken down,</HI> and the gifts and graces of his Spirit he hath imparted to all. To all a &s;hare in a fit mea&s;ure for the joynting of the Saint, <HI>for the work of the Mini&s;try, for the perfecting of his Body.</HI> And when the&s;e gifts were thus be&s;towed, there was a filling; the Sacred Text expre&s;&s;eth it plainly, <HI>They were all filled with the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> But had they not been thus fill'd, had he not a&s;cended? It &s;eems not. For he told his Apo&s;tles, <HI>Exce<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t I go away, the Spirit will n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t come unto you.</HI> No Spirit to be given, till Je&s;us was glorified.</P>
<P>The Con&s;equent then is very natural and proper to this place, <HI>He that de&s;cended, is the &s;ame which a&s;cended, that he might</HI> (which without his a&s;cent he would not) <HI>fill all the hearts of his Elect people with the gifts of his holy Spirit.</HI> By his a&s;cen&s;ion above all the heavens he hath fill'd up all the Texts, every Title that was written of him; he hath fulfill'd all his Offi|ces, he hath fully &s;hew'd his Merit and Victory in all places; he hath fill'd the hearts of his Saints with all nece&s;&s;ary graces; in one word, <HI>Implevit Omnia, He hath fill'd all things.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The CONCL&V;SION.</HEAD>
<P>I &s;uppo&s;e I need not u&s;e many words unto you to a&s;cend; not a man, who is not ambitious, and would fain be above. The place at the right and left hand in Chri&s;ts Kingdom, &s;uppo&s;ed by them who &s;poke it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 7.39.</NOTE> and &s;ince de&s;ire it to be on earth, is eagerly affected by more than <HI>Zebedees</HI> &s;ons. But then remember, as you affect the place, &s;o you take the way to come thither. In which, that you err not, let Chri&s;t <HI>who is the way</HI> be your guide; make ac|count to come thither the &s;ame way that he went. Here on high, and above all heavens you &s;ee he is; but I pray forget not by what &s;teps he came thither. Was it by exalting him&s;elf? was it by bearing a broad &s;ayl in the World? No &s;uch thing; remember there was a de&s;cent before; <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 10.37.</NOTE> <HI>That he a&s;cended, what is it but that he de&s;cended?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A&s;cendit Angelus, &amp; factus e&s;t Diabolus,</HI> The Angel a&s;cended, and he was made a Divel. Why &s;o? He never de&s;cended fir&s;t; and therefore he is now in the bottom of Hell. Whereas he who fir&s;t de&s;cended, and after a&s;|cended, is now in the top of heaven: To teach us that an high top, if it &s;tand firm, mu&s;t have a low root. We mu&s;t be as he was, before we can b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> capable to be as he is; de&s;cend by humility, conde&s;cend by charity, or el&s;e there is little hope to a&s;cend after him.</P>
<PB N="274" REF="143">
<P>Our Saviour by his example hath taught us, That an humble mind is the way to an high a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d glorious e&s;tate. This St. <HI>Paul</HI> propo&s;eth to us, <HI>Let the &s;ame minde be in y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.5.</NOTE> <HI>that was in Chri&s;t; who being equal with God, made him&s;elf of no reputation, but was found in the &s;hape of a &s;ervant:</HI> Thus much you mu&s;t be content to be;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.13.</NOTE> &s;ervants of God, &s;ervants to one another. Now proud thoughts, and proud looks become not &s;ervants. Nothing mo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e be|comes that &s;tate than humility.</P>
<P>In what low and humble po&s;tures and terms have the &s;ervants of God ap|pear'd before him?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.27. Gen. 32.10. P&s;. 116.16. Mat. 3.11. Luk. 15.19. Luk. 7.6. Luk. 5.8. 1 Cor. 15.9.</NOTE> <HI>I am but du&s;t and a&s;hes,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Abraham; I am not worthy of the lea&s;t of thy mercies,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Jacob; I am thy &s;ervant, thy &s;ervant, and the &s;onne of thy hand-maid,</HI> &s;aith <HI>David; I am n t worthy to loo&s;e the latchet of thy &s;hooe,</HI> &s;aith <HI>John; Not worthy to be called thy Son,</HI> &s;aith the Prodigal; <HI>Not worthy that thou &s;hould'&s;t come under my roof,</HI> &s;aith the Centurion; <HI>A &s;inful man,</HI> &s;aith St. <HI>Peter; Not worthy to be cal|led an Apo&s;tle,</HI> &s;aith St. <HI>Paul.</HI> Thus humble the&s;e be&s;t &s;ervants of God were in the pre&s;ence of their Lord.</P>
<P>And how ready every one of the&s;e were to &s;erve each other in love, is as evident.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 13.8, 9, 10 Gen. 33.3, 14, 15. P&s;a. 53.13. I&s;a. 41.8. Rom. 4.16. I&s;a. 44.1, 2. P&s;a. 78.71. Mat. 3.15. Mat. 8.10. Gal. 2.7, 9. Act. 9.15.</NOTE> <HI>Abraham</HI> is humble, even to <HI>Lot</HI> his Nephew: <HI>Jacob</HI> &s;peaks out of the du&s;t to his Brother: <HI>David</HI> puts on Sackcloth for his enemies: I forbear more examples, This was their de&s;cent before God, to men; little they were in their own eyes; yet none greater in the eyes of God than the&s;e. For <HI>Abraham</HI> from his du&s;t and a&s;hes, is rai&s;ed to be the friend of God, to be the father of the faithful. <HI>Jacob</HI> to be his &s;ervant: <HI>David</HI> from the &s;heep-fold to feed his people: The <HI>Bapti&s;t</HI> unworthy to unty his &s;hooe, to pour water on his head: The Centurion a man of greater faith than any in <HI>I&s;rael; Peter</HI> from his boat, to be one of the chief of the Apo&s;tles; and <HI>Paul,</HI> notwith&s;tanding his unworthine&s;s, a cho&s;en Ve&s;&s;el.</P>
<P>Behold what humility can do! rai&s;e from the du&s;t, rai&s;e from the flock, rai&s;e from the lowe&s;t condition to the highe&s;t favor. I know not any thing in the world that ri&s;eth to perfection, but it is at fir&s;t humbled: A de&s;cent there is, before there be an a&s;cent. Seeds are laid low in the earth, hum|bled yet lower in the root, before you &s;ee them in their A&s;cendent, flouri&s;h|ing in their green, mounted on their &s;talks or Trunks, &s;preading in their boughs, and loaded with their ears or fruits: Men again are crying in their Cradles, ve&s;ted in their Clouts and Coats, before they arrive at the &s;trength of men; In their <HI>A B C,</HI> before they can offer at any perfection of know|ledge. The like is to be found in all other things. They are in their begin|nings, in their <HI>fieri,</HI> in their powers only, which is a kind of humiliation and de&s;cent, before they get up, grow &s;trong, mature, and come to full perfe|ction. No form is introduced, but a privation precedes.</P>
<P>And thus it mu&s;t be in Chri&s;tianity; perfection we are to aim at; to ri&s;e to that height to be loaden with fruits; but this will never be, except the &s;eeds be &s;own in humility.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 4.6.</NOTE> <HI>For God re&s;i&s;ts the proud, and gives grace to the humble.</HI> In which vertue the more we root, the fa&s;ter we &s;tand, and the taller and more fruitful we are like to be.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ez. 9.4.</NOTE> In <HI>Ezekiel</HI> tho&s;e who were &s;aved, were marked with the letter <HI>Tau</HI> in their foreheads. That is the true mark of humility, true in the letter, for it is in the foot, the la&s;t, the lowe&s;t of the Hebrew Alphabet; and true again in the type, for it bears the emblem of the Cro&s;s, which was the la&s;t and lowe&s;t &s;tep of our Saviours humiliation while he liv'd.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.8.</NOTE> <HI>He humbled him&s;elf to death, even to the death of the Cro&s;s;</HI> &s;o far St. <HI>Paul</HI> goes, and there &s;tops.</P>
<P>You &s;ee then your mark, <HI>H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mility;</HI> no pride in your foreheads, Humili|ty only;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 30.13.</NOTE> no high eye-brows, but &s;ubmi&s;s and humble. <HI>Contraria contrariis curantur.</HI> Pride it is confe&s;s'd was our fall and ruine; and nothing can rai&s;e
<PB N="275" REF="143"> us but humility. The Apo&s;tle puts us in mind of babes in Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.2.</NOTE> and they who are not humble, are not come &s;o far; not to their <GAP DESC="foreign">, the &s;tate of &s;alvation. For who yet ever &s;aw a babe in his cradle, in his fir&s;t clouts proud? poor innocent, he knows not what it means: And what time, trow you, will tho&s;e &s;ons of pride come to the mea&s;ure of the fir&s;t age in Chri&s;t? can they ever hope to come to the top of the ladder, who are not yet upon the fir&s;t round?</P>
<P>To &s;hut up all: There is <HI>Virtus ab alio, power from on high;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.49.</NOTE> tho&s;e gifts that the Apo&s;tle here &s;peaks of, which Chi&s;t a&s;cended up on high to be&s;tow: and upon whom do they de&s;cend? what upon the lofty, the high, the proud? be not mi&s;taken, it is not &s;o; for the holy Gho&s;t will not re&s;t, <HI>but upon the lowly,</HI> &s;aith <HI>I&s;ay;</HI> nor God give grace <HI>but to the humble,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Solomon;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 57.15. Prov. 3.14. Can. 2.1. 2 Sam. 1.21.</NOTE> for grace can no more abide to lodge in a proud heart, than rain &s;tay on the top of mountains: <HI>The Church of Chri&s;t is a lilly of the valleys,</HI> and valleys are low places, in them the water runs and remains, &s;o graces in an humble and low &s;pirit: whereas the cur&s;e of the mountains of <HI>Gilboa</HI> is upon tho&s;e who are high and mighty in their own eyes; not the &s;weet &s;howers, nor yet the mild dews of Gods grace can fall upon them; or if it do, it is to no purpo&s;e, for they have no capacity to retain it; it flows away as if it had never fallen.</P>
<P><HI>Borrow and take many empty-ve&s;&s;els,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> to the widow,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 4.3.</NOTE> and poure oyle into them: Ve&s;&s;els that are full can receive no more; and hearts that are full of pride can never receive any of this precious oyle. To receive then abundance of grace (which is a part of this Donative) into our hearts, they mu&s;t be void of &s;elf-love, and vain-glory; pray we then him that giveth grace to the humble, to give us grace to be humble, that &s;o we may be meet to receive him. For then from the lowe&s;t place, we may have hope to a&s;cend to the highe&s;t; from the&s;e low &s;eated parts of the earth, to come to the high|e&s;t heavens, that place where he is&punc; <HI>Per gratiam pervenitur ad gloriam;</HI> This his grace which runs in the low valleys of our hearts here, will di&s;po&s;e us to glory hereafter, where we &s;hall live and reign with him for ever. Amen.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="21" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>Of Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Rom. 4.25.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Who was delivered for our offences, but rai&s;ed again for our ju&s;tification.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>WHO is a Relative, and therefore in Grammer it mu&s;t have an Antece|dent; it hath &s;o; It relates here to Je&s;us uur Lord; view him where you left him three dayes &s;ince, and you &s;hall &s;ee him delivered to the Jews, to the Cro&s;s, to the Grave, Crucified, Dead and Buried; and this is the third day &s;ince that was done, which from that time to this, the whole Chri&s;tian world hath and doth keep holy in memory that the Lord of life, being loo&s;ed from tho&s;e fetters of death, ro&s;e as he had foretold.</P>
<P>That he was delivered, was a &s;ad and heavy &s;pectacle; that day is pa&s;t, and I am pa&s;t that, which was fit for that day, the day of his Pa&s;&s;ion, Death, Buri|al; I li&s;t not to repeat it. Now I &s;hall pre&s;ent you with a more plea&s;ing di&s;|cour&s;e; the Re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t, which is the very matter of our hope; for when in the hour of death, Friends, Phy&s;itians, Wife, Children will all prove mi&s;erable comforters, this one word will revive our &s;pirits; Chri&s;t is ri&s;en.</P>
<P>Two Points there are, that in the la&s;t Clau&s;e of this ver&s;e offer them|&s;elves
<PB N="276" REF="144"> to our con&s;ideration. 1. The Act. 2. The End.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The Act. <HI>Chri&s;t is rai&s;ed.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The End. <HI>For our ju&s;tification.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, He was rai&s;ed.</HEAD>
<P>Which yet we mu&s;t not &s;o mi&s;take, as if any other had rai&s;ed him be&s;ides him&s;elf. For as <HI>Bernard, alios credimus re&s;u&s;citatos, Chri&s;tum re&s;urrexi&s;&s;e.</HI> The Angels &s;ermon to the women is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 16.6.</NOTE> <HI>He if ri&s;en; Elizeus</HI> re&s;tored a child; <HI>Peter Tabitha;</HI> but others, not them&s;elves. The Saints which ro&s;e after the re&s;urrection were patients while the act was done upon them;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 4.35, 36. Act. 9.40.</NOTE> whereas Chri&s;t ro&s;e not <HI>virtute aliena &amp; precaria,</HI> but <HI>propri&acirc;,</HI> not by other or any precarious, but by his own might and power. <HI>Power he had to lay down his life,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 10.18. Joh. 2.19.</NOTE> <HI>and power to take it again:</HI> and therefore he bade the Jews, <HI>De&s;troy, &amp;c.</HI> but know yet, that I will rai&s;e it.</P>
<P>The Scripture I know &s;peaks &s;ometimes pa&s;&s;ively, He is rai&s;ed; &s;ometimes actively, He ro&s;e. And that you marvel not at it, St. <HI>Paul</HI> hath lent us a di|&s;tinction to remove the &s;cruple; <HI>He was crucified through weakne&s;s, but he lives by the powor of God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 13.4.</NOTE> Chri&s;t was an extraordinary per&s;on, compo&s;ed of two Natures, God and Man, and therefore he did participate of the proper|ties of both. What &s;o proper to man as weakne&s;s? what &s;o peculiar to God as power? He was then a weak man, and a powerful God; as he was cruci|fied, &s;o he was weak; but as he ro&s;e to life, &s;o he was powerful. His Deity was never parted from his Humanity, no not when his body lay breathle&s;s in the grave. The body is lay'd in the grave, the &s;oul is re&s;igned; the God is eter|nally united to them both without any po&s;&s;ibility of divorce. The &s;oul in his agony feels not the pre&s;ence of the Godhead; the body in the grave feels not the pre&s;ence of the &s;oul;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Concil. Chalced.</NOTE> yet as the Fathers of <HI>Chalcedon</HI> &s;ay truely, <GAP DESC="foreign">, indivi&s;ibly, un&s;eparably is the Godhead with both the&s;e &s;till, and ever one and the &s;ame per&s;on: He was then rai&s;ed, and yet did ri&s;e: The power of his Godhead did rai&s;e the weakne&s;s of his Manhood from tho&s;e uncomfortable &s;orrows of the grave. He ri&s;eth as God, and is rai&s;ed as man. <HI>Deitas quae ab utr&acirc;que hominis &s;ub&s;tanti&acirc; non rece&s;&s;it,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo. Ser. <HI>1.</HI> de Re&s;ur.</NOTE> <HI>quod pote&s;tate divi&s;it, potestate con|junxit;</HI> The Deity which never departed from his body nor &s;oul, what it di|vided by power, conjoyned again by the &s;ame power.</P>
<P N="2">2. And how ea&s;ie might this be, &s;ince his Grave was but his Bed? thither he went to take his re&s;t, and when he had &s;lept there, he prefixed time, he ro&s;e from thence, according to the Prophe&s;ie that went of him, <HI>I laid m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> down and &s;lept,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 4. ult.</NOTE> <HI>and ro&s;e again, for thou Lord make&s;t we dwell in &s;afety.</HI> When he was to dye, no man took his life from him, <HI>for he gave up the gho&s;t,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.30.</NOTE> he gave it up. <HI>Quis quando vult tam facili dormit?</HI> he dyed as ea&s;ily as we go to &s;leep, and therefore rai&s;ed him&s;elf more ea&s;ily than we wake. As the Pa&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t was, as I may &s;o &s;ay, the &s;leep of his Deity, &s;o al&s;o the death of Chri&s;t was the &s;leep of his Humanity.</P>
<P>Two priviledges belong to &s;leepers. One is Incorruption; The other is hope of Re&s;u&s;citation, In tho&s;e that &s;leep, though <HI>Morpheus</HI> binds all the &s;en|&s;es, and re&s;trains their operations, yet in &s;leep there is an immunity from corruption. For when this &s;i&s;ter of death is plea&s;ed to unloo&s;e her bonds, eve|ry &s;ence and part is in the &s;elf &s;ame integrity, if not better than what it was when we lay down. Thus was it with our Saviour; he lay'd him&s;elf down to re&s;t in his grave indeed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 88.5.</NOTE> <HI>but he was free among the dead;</HI> he had a liberty that never any dead man had be&s;ides him&s;elf. For whereas other dead bodies are re&s;olv'd into du&s;t, <HI>God would not &s;uffer his holy one to &s;ee corruption.</HI> He
<PB N="277" REF="144"> ro&s;e as entire from the bed of his grave as when he lay down: Otherwi&s;e death &s;hould have had dominion in part over him.</P>
<P>The &s;econd priviledge is Re&s;u&s;citation. Men go to bed with a purpo&s;e to ri&s;e again; &s;o did our Saviour go to his grave, not to lye there beyond a &s;et time, but when he had &s;weetned and perfumed that bed for us, to take his leave, and return to life. For</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. He was rai&s;ed.</HEAD>
<P>And that Chri&s;t is again ri&s;en from the dead, there is evidence enough to per&s;wade any man, except him who is po&s;&s;e&s;t with ob&s;tinacy, and the &s;pirit of conrradiction. The books are open; and if ether the Praedictions of the Pro|phets, the witne&s;s of Angels, his own Apparitions, the opening of the graves after he ro&s;e, the malicious tales of his very enemies, the te&s;timonies of many men and women, the valour and con&s;tancy of tho&s;e who dyed for the witne&s;s of it, the multitude of tho&s;e who quickly embraced and believed it will &s;atisfie, he that runs may read and hear enough to confirm him in this truth. <HI>Et quid te&s;tium &s;atis, &s;i non hoc &s;atis?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.1.</NOTE> And if this cloud of witne&s;&s;es be not enough, men de&s;erve to be under a cloud of error &s;till.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, what evident Praedictions are there of our Saviours re&s;urrection, both by others, and him&s;elf! His holy Ptophets foretold it, <HI>Job</HI> was a&s;&s;ured of it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 19.15. P&s;al. 16.10.</NOTE> <HI>I know that my Redeemer liveth. David</HI> &s;aith it plainly, <HI>Thou &s;halt not leave my &s;oul in hell, neither &s;halt thou &s;uffer thy holy One to &s;ee corruption. I&s;aiah</HI> foretelleth it, <HI>He was taken from pri&s;on, and from judgement. Jonah</HI> was a Type of it; and the Prophet <HI>Ho&s;ea</HI> confidently avoucheth it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.8. Matth. 12.40. Ho&s;. 6.2.</NOTE> <HI>He &s;hall quicken us again after two dayes, in the third he &s;hall rai&s;e us up, and we &s;hall live in his &s;ight.</HI></P>
<P>Thus much was promi&s;ed and hoped for by the Prophets before his appear|ance in the fle&s;h, and while he lived he averred as much. How often did he tell his Di&s;ciples that he &s;hould go to <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> be crucified;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 20.19.</NOTE> and that he would ri&s;e again the third day? he plainly did affirm to the faces of his greate&s;t enemies, that if they de&s;troyed, the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">emple of his body he meant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 2.19.</NOTE> he would rai&s;e it up again in three dayes. The incredulous Jews would needs have from him a &s;ign, and none they &s;hould have, and none he would yield to,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 12.40.</NOTE> but that of <HI>Jonah; three dayes the Prophet in the whales belly, and he three dayes only in the heart of the earth.</HI> Had he a&s;&s;igned &s;ome long time for his return from death to life (as <HI>Mahomet</HI> promi&s;ed his Sarracens after 800. years) the fal&s;hood might have been hid by length of time. But taking no longer to make good his promi&s;e then three dayes, 'tis evident he meant to per|form; for otherwi&s;e the fraud would &s;oon have been detected. And it &s;eems that his intentions and promi&s;es were well enough known, not only to his friends, but even to the Jews his enemies.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 27.63.</NOTE> Why is it el&s;e that they pre&s;&s;e <HI>Pi|late,</HI> and put him in mind of his words? <HI>Sir, we remember that this deceiver,</HI> (&s;o they bla&s;phemed) <HI>&s;aid, while he was yet alive, after three dayes I will ri&s;e again;</HI> they could you &s;ee, call it to mind and remember it. <HI>Et ut praedix|it, &s;ic revixit;</HI> he gave warning that it &s;hould be &s;o, and he fulfilled it. Come hither thou malicious Jew, and &s;ee how thou art taken in thine own &s;nare! Why do&s;t thou with &s;o much diligence &s;ecure the Tomb?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver 64, 65.</NOTE> Chri&s;t will prove to thee a deceiver indeed, <HI>&s;ed pius non malitio&s;us;</HI> deceive thee he will, but out of power and love, not out of malice and cunning. For all thy &s;eals, and &s;tone, and watch, deceive thee he will; for he will ri&s;e as he foretold. Where's the man that but now &s;aid, if he would come down from the Cro&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 42.</NOTE> he would be|lieve in him! for whether is it a greater miracle for a living man to de&s;cend from a tree, or for a dead man to de&s;cend from a grave? Behold, the Se|pulchre
<PB N="278" REF="145"> is open, you may &s;toop down and enter if you plea&s;e, but there you &s;hall not find him, for he is ri&s;en as he &s;aid.</P>
<P N="2">2. He had &s;aid it, and at that time two Angels came from Heaven to witne&s;s that he &s;aid true; &s;o is the Text, <HI>As Mary &s;tooped into the Sepulchre &s;he &s;aw two Angels in white &s;itting,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 20.12.</NOTE> <HI>the one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Je&s;us had layn.</HI> Their words, their place, their habits, their &s;ite, their order are all ample te&s;timonies of the re&s;urrection.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.5.</NOTE>Their words were reprehen&s;ive, <HI>Why &s;eek ye the living among the dead?</HI> every thing is to be &s;ought in its proper place; and a grave is no proper place for a living man. Oh you devout women, carry back tho&s;e &s;weet Odours which you prepar'd for your Ma&s;ters body; for your and our Lord lyes not here dead, but doth triumph in life. Let your eyes be your judges, <HI>Come and &s;ee the place where your Lord lay:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28 6.</NOTE> He lay there, but now we &s;it here to witne&s;s that he is gone.</P>
<P>For what have Angels el&s;e to do in a grave? for to &s;ee tho&s;e immortal &s;pi|rits in the hou&s;e of the dead, was but a &s;trange &s;ight a &s;ight never &s;een before; never till Chri&s;ts body had been there; this the fir&s;t news of Angels in &s;uch a place. Ble&s;&s;ed Angels never but in a ble&s;&s;ed place: And &s;uch was this &s;ince Chri&s;t lay there, even this hou&s;e of death ble&s;&s;ed. There was a voice heard from Heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14.13. P&s;al. 116.15.</NOTE> <HI>Ble&s;sed are the dead; precious the death, glorious the memory of tho&s;e who dye in the Lord.</HI> 'Tis not then without a great my&s;tery, that the Angels de&s;cend and &s;it here, that that &s;hould be the place for Angels, that was the place for worms: Their errand is to declare, that their Lord as well as ours is ri&s;en from the grave, and upon it a great change was like to en&s;ue in that place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.9.</NOTE> to wit, <HI>That death &s;hould no more have dominion over him,</HI> nor over his.</P>
<P>And as the place in which they were, &s;o al&s;o the colour in which they appear'd, was an evidence of this. I &s;u&s;pect, &s;hou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d a man have &s;een an Angel upon the day of Chri&s;ts pa&s;&s;ion, he &s;hould have &s;een him in a black mourning weed: the habit which the Sun wore that day for three hours, makes me judge &s;o: But this of white is a fit Ea&s;ter-day colour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 27.45.</NOTE> for it is the colour of tho&s;e that mu&s;t ri&s;e to glory;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 3.4, 5. Mar. 9.3. <HI>Greg. Hom.</HI> 21.</NOTE> whom therefore <HI>Tertullian</HI> calls <HI>re&s;urrectionis Candidati.</HI> Which when Chri&s;t would repre&s;ent on the Mount; <HI>His rayment was all white,</HI> no Fuller on earth could come near it. <HI>Candida Angelorum &s;tola, re&s;urrectionis gaudia demon&s;trat:</HI> The Angels white &s;tole, puts us in mind of tho&s;e whi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e robes, in which the Saints at their ri&s;ing &s;hall walk.</P>
<P>Farther yet, their &s;ight was a po&s;ition well be&s;eeming the re&s;urrection; for they were &s;ate to take their re&s;t, as we ordinarily &s;ay, Sit down and re&s;t: Such is a grave now become to Gods &s;ervants, a place of re&s;t; of re&s;t, not from our labours only,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 16.9.</NOTE> &s;o the bea&s;ts re&s;t when they dye; but as the P&s;almi&s;t, <HI>a re&s;t in hope;</HI> hope of ri&s;ing again to the members, by vertue of the head, whom the Angel &s;aid was ri&s;en,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 8.11.</NOTE> and hope to enter into the re&s;t above, <HI>And &s;it down with Abraham, I&s;aac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, the Angels order in &s;itting is not without a My&s;tery, one at the head, the other at the feet; Such a thing there will be at the re&s;urrection of the ju&s;t; difference of places,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 25.33. 1 Cor. 15.41, 42.</NOTE> difference of glory then, &s;ome &s;et on the right hand, and &s;ome on the left in his kingdom; All &s;hall have glory enough, though not all an equal degree of glory.</P>
<P N="3">3. But that which exceeds all te&s;timony of Angels, was the frequent mani|fe&s;tation of him&s;elf after he was alive to his appall'd,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 16.9. Mat. 28.9. 1 Cor. 15.5. Luk. 24.13. Mat. 28.16. 1 Cor. 15.6.</NOTE> di&s;may'd, forlorn, afflicted followers. This he did twelve &s;everal times; Fir&s;t to <HI>Mary Magdalen</HI> apart, then to the other women with her, after to his Di&s;ciples, &s;ometimes to one or two alone, &s;ometimes to the whole body together, and at la&s;t to five hun|dred brethren at once; all which apparitions are able to re&s;olve any &s;pirit
<PB N="279" REF="145"> that &s;ets not him&s;elf on purpo&s;e to re&s;i&s;t the truth.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 27.52, 53. Joh. 20.26. Act. 10.41.</NOTE> I had almo&s;t &s;aid he appear|ed to the dead; &s;ure I am his power did; for after his re&s;urrection, <HI>many of the bodies of the Saints ar &s;e and came into the holy City, and appeared to many.</HI> The women &s;aw him, the men touch him; one puts his fingers into his wounds; he eat, he drank, he conver&s;ed with his Di&s;ciples often, and for many dayes; why then &s;hould any man deny that he is ri&s;en? Of which St. <HI>Luke,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.2. 1 Joh. 1.1.</NOTE> and Saint <HI>John</HI> were &s;o confident, that the one writes, <HI>That which we have heard and &s;een, we deliver unto you;</HI> and the other, <HI>That which we have looked on, and our hands have handled of the Word of life, that we declare. Credible facit vi|dentium certitudo:</HI> In a matter of fact can there be any te&s;timony &s;urer than his who is an eye witne&s;s? The&s;e they were, and that their witne&s;s be the le&s;s doubted, they were not credulous men, ea&s;ie of belief, &s;uch as would take up any thing and report it at the fir&s;t bound: But &s;low of heart to believe all that the Prophets had &s;poken.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.25.</NOTE> Never was matter carried on with more &s;cruple and &s;lowne&s;s of belief, with more doubts and difficulties (I mean not by the world, but by the Di&s;ciples them&s;elves) than this of Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 16.11, 13</NOTE> <HI>Mary Magdalen</HI> &s;aw him alive, and reported it, but they believed her not; the two that went to <HI>Emmaus</HI> &s;aw him and reported it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.11.</NOTE> them they believed not neither; divers women together &s;aw him, and came and told his Di&s;ciples, but their words &s;eemed unto them <GAP DESC="foreign"> a very go&s;&s;ips tale; they all &s;aw him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">41. Joh. 20.21.</NOTE> and yet &s;eeing him they doubted. When they were put but of doubt, and told it to one that was ab&s;ent, <HI>Thomas</HI> by name, 'tis known what his &s;tifne&s;s and peremptorine&s;s was: He believe it? no not he, he would believe ner'e a one of them all, except he might not only &s;ee with his eyes, but feel with his fingers, and put his hand into his &s;ide, he would not believe. The te|&s;timonies of &s;o many eye-witne&s;&s;es, &s;o cautelous, &s;o wary, &s;o incredulous till confirm'd, makes the matter pa&s;t all doubt. And this their &s;u&s;pence was pro|fitable to po&s;terity, for <HI>dubetatum e&s;t ab illis, ne dubitaretur &agrave; nobis;</HI> God &s;uffer'd them to doubt, that we hereafter &s;hould never doubt more of it: their incre|dulity &s;o di&s;pelled &s;hould confirm our faith.</P>
<P N="4">4. Long it was you &s;ee before they believed; but they were not &s;o incredulous before, as confident now: they averr'd it boldly and, unanimou&s;ly before the whole world: Dye they would rather than deny it, nay dye they would rather then they would be &s;ilent, and not publi&s;h it; commanded they were to the contrary; had they but he'd their tongue all had been well,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 4.18.</NOTE> but this they would not do: <GAP DESC="foreign">, Be it known unto you, &s;aith <HI>Peter, that Je&s;us of Nazareth whom ye have crucified, is by God rai&s;ed from the dead.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">10.</NOTE> And what got they by being &s;o forward? nay, what did they not lo&s;e? Their life, their liberty, their Country, their livelyhood, all they had to lo&s;e; all they might have &s;av'd, and &s;aid nothing; but their mouth could not be &s;topt, even to the la&s;t drop of blood, to the la&s;t ga&s;pe they expired with this Article, <HI>Je&s;us is ri&s; n. Credibile facit morientium fortitudo.</HI> The courage of them who died for his Name, may make an infidel believe it: tell me what comfort had it been to the&s;e men to have devi&s;ed all this? what encouragement could they have had in tho&s;e doleful afflictions in a manife&s;t untruth? Their &s;orrow would have been the greater, their con&s;tancy the le&s;&s;e, when their own heart &s;hould have given their tongue the lye. That then they thus per&s;i&s;ted in it, that unanimou&s;lly, not one, but all, and per&s;i&s;ted ro death, is an argument beyond con|trole.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 3.6, 7. Act. 5.16. and 8.7. and 16.18. Act. 2.13. Matt. 26.73: Act. 6.7. Act. 19.19.</NOTE></P>
<P N="5">5. But to proceed; By who&s;e power was it <HI>that they ca&s;t out Divels;</HI> by who&s;e power was it that <HI>the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> healed the Criple;</HI> by who&s;e power was it that they who were un<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">etterd men, that could &s;peak but one language, and &s;carce that well, &s;hould convert &s;o many Prie&s;ts, &s;o many Philo&s;ophers and wi&s;e men to the Faith? It is a &s;en&s;ele&s;s thing to &s;ay, that a dead man &s;hould have
<PB N="280" REF="146"> the power to move and &s;tir in the hearts of the living; that a Jew or a Greci|an &s;hould for&s;ake his old religion, and ca&s;ting away his gods, wor&s;hip one that was crucified, is beyond belief, had the evidence been to be contradicted. Who will ever believe, that a man for&s;aken of life, and able to do nothing, &s;hould be able to hinder, or alter the actions of living and active men? And yet thus it fell out, By the te&s;timonies of tho&s;e poor men bearing witne&s;s to the world, that Chri&s;t was ri&s;en; the adulterer left his adulteries, the murtherer his cruelties;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plutarch.</NOTE> nay, which is beyond all rea&s;on, the feigned gods of tho&s;e times for&s;ook their Te<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ples and Oracles, the devils having no longer power to de|lude the world with their ambiguous an&s;wers.</P>
<P>Hear, O you de&s;pi&s;ers, and wonder! How could the a&s;hes of a dead man ever prevail &s;o much with the living, that upon the confidence of life therein contained, they &s;hould willingly forego wife, children, goods, good name, and life it &s;elf, with &s;uch alacrity and magnanimity, that their enemies held it for a ruled and re&s;olved ca&s;e? there is no Chri&s;tian living that feareth death. This &s;trange alteration in the world, the&s;e &s;illy men could not have effected, had their witne&s;s been any way loo&s;e or controlable; for force they had none to do it. I read not of any one of the Apo&s;tles that went to preach with a &s;word by his &s;ide; That's for <HI>Mahomet</HI> and his followers.</P>
<P>Farther yet, they to whom they preached this Truth, were no Babes; the Cities where they delivered it no ob&s;cure places. <HI>Rome</HI> was <HI>caput orbis, gen|tiumque;</HI> the Queen of Nations; <HI>Corinth</HI> among the great Mart-Towns of <HI>Europe; Athens</HI> the famous School and Seminary of Learning; <HI>Eph<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;us</HI> well known and frequented for the great Deity of <HI>Diana.</HI> In the&s;e places were the wi&s;e&s;t men for Counel, the &s;ubtile&s;t for traffique, the wittie&s;t for di&s;putes; and the mo&s;t accompli&s;ht for their irreligious my&s;teries. Here, if any where, the&s;e poor &s;illy men, tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> believed in a crucified God, whom they reported to be alive, were mo&s;t likely to find contradictions and opponents, and yet &s;o confident they were of this Truth&punc;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 19.19. Act. 17.17.</NOTE> that Je&s;us was ri&s;en, that they dur&s;t pub|li&s;h it in their Schools, in the Synagogues, in the &s;treets.</P>
<P>And the &s;ucce&s;s of this their declaration, is an evident argrment of the Truth, that without any humane motives (for what could they promi&s;e, or did they, except poverty, &s;corn, contempt, afflictions) whole Nations quickly were of their judgement. Had it been otherwi&s;e, to what purpo&s;e had it been for Saint <HI>Paul</HI> to have written Epi&s;tles to the Churches of <HI>Rome,</HI> of <HI>Corinth,</HI> of <HI>Ephe&s;us?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.1.</NOTE> &amp;c. Why did the other Apo&s;tles write to the di&s;per&s;ed in <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> had not they, to whom they wrote, been convinced in their con&s;ciences, that what they wrote, was true?</P>
<P>It is the fa&s;hion of &s;uch as publi&s;h an untruth, to betake them&s;elves to &s;ome ob&s;cure place fir&s;t, where when they have gained upon the ignorant, then they attempt farther.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Alcoran.</NOTE> So <HI>Mahomet</HI> &s;owed his bla&s;phemous &s;eeds at a poor ob&s;cure village in <HI>Arabia.</HI> 'Tis known too well what &s;tuffe hath come out of Conventicles; but as Chri&s;t ro&s;e or <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> which was the City of the great King,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 48.2. Luc. 24.47.</NOTE> the glory and joy of the whole earth; &s;o al&s;o was this doctrine publi&s;hed fir&s;t at <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> where the contradiction it found was by the invention of a &s;en&s;ele&s;s, incredible and notorious lye. Well therefore hath <HI>Calvin</HI> ob&s;erved, as the friends and followers of Chri&s;t were preachers of his Re&s;urrection, <HI>moriendo,</HI> by dying; &s;o al&s;o his enemies became proclaimers thereof, <HI>vel tacendo, vel mentiendo;</HI> the <HI>Grecians</HI> by their &s;ilence, and the Jews by reporting an incre|dible tale about it.</P>
<P N="6">6. This grand lye was fir&s;t invented by their Rulers, and after broached by the Souldiers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.12, 13.</NOTE> and this it was, <HI>That his di&s;ciples came by night and &s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">le him away while they &s;lept;</HI> but what likelihood or po&s;&s;ibility can there be in this? do not they who rai&s;ed the &s;lander, &s;hew them&s;elves the &s;tarke&s;t fool<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, even
<PB N="281" REF="146"> in that they purpo&s;e to &s;hew their wi&s;dom. Was there not caution and pro|vi&s;ion enough before hand?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.65, 66. Marc. 15.46.</NOTE> was there not a great &s;tone rolled to the mouth of the grave? a &s;eal &s;et upon the &s;tone? and a watch appointed to attend the &s;epulchre? What probabiliy then was there, that his di&s;ciples &s;hould come thither, break up the monument, take away the body, and carry it away, ne|ver more to be &s;een or found without the e&s;pial of &s;ome one or other that at|tended there? The &s;tone was &s;o grear, that it could not be carried, rolled it was to the mouth of the &s;epulcher, nothing was like to remove it but &s;ome engine; and yet amid&s;t all this heaving and &s;hoving, not a &s;ouldier there could ob&s;erve or hear it!</P>
<P>But youl &s;ay they were a&s;leep; rather you &s;hould &s;ay they were dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.2.</NOTE> e&s;peci|ally the ground &s;haking and tottering under them by the earthquake. But 'tis &s;trange, that among a guard relieved at &s;et hours, every one of them &s;hould be &s;o carele&s;s, every eye &s;o heavy; one or two might &s;leep, but that all &s;hould be fa&s;t, is miraculous. But grant that it was &s;o, all a&s;leep; The Jews were put to it for a witne&s;s, that bring in &s;leepers, as if &s;uch could report what they knew not; would you not deride that man that &s;hould bring to the bar a wit|ne&s;s to relate what was done while he &s;lept? It is <HI>Augu&s;tins dil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mma, O mali,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug. <HI>36.</HI> Hom. in Joan.</NOTE> <HI>O pe&s;&s;imi;</HI> O evil, O wicked fellows, either you were awake, and then you ought to have taken better heed, or el&s;e you were a&s;leep, and then knew not what was done; how did you know that they were his di&s;ciples, who came and &s;tole him away, rather than any other?</P>
<P>Stands it with rea&s;on, that a few, di&s;mayed, heartle&s;s men, &s;o afraid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.56.</NOTE> that they fled and left him, while he was yet alive, &s;hould on a &s;uddain grow &s;o couragious, as to venture upon a guard of &s;ouldiers, and &s;teal a dead body, which to them could bring no profit and le&s;s comfort, but &s;erve onely to en|crea&s;e their grief and &s;orrow?</P>
<P>La&s;tly, had they come to have &s;tollen him, who will ever believe, that a|mong a guard they would have &s;taid &s;o long as to unwinde his body,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tertull.</HI> Joh. 20.7.</NOTE> loo&s;e his feet, unbind his head, and di&s;po&s;e of the&s;e <HI>exuvias &s;epulti,</HI> the&s;e fine linnen cloths in &s;everal places! a thief would not have di&s;covered &s;o much folly, as to have been &s;o curious about trifles, &s;tood &s;tripping, and wrapping, and laying them by parcels one by one; he rather would have taken away the whole with him, and di&s;robed it after; which the Chri&s;tian Poet <HI>Sedulius</HI> hath thus excellently expre&s;&s;ed:
<Q><L>&mdash;Anne beati</L>
<L>Corporis oblator, v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">locius e&s;&s;e putavit</L>
<L>Solvere contectum, quam devectare ligatum,</L>
<L>Cum mora &s;it furtis contraria? Cautius ergo</L>
<L>Cum domino potuere magis &s;ua lintea tolli.</L></Q> And therefore <HI>Pilate</HI> the Governor con&s;idering what was done, and that it was unlikely that if the body were &s;tollen, it &s;hould be taken away without the privity of the guard, calls the &s;ouldiers to him, and under&s;tood by them the whole Truth. All which and much more of Je&s;us life and death he wrote to <HI>Rome</HI> to <HI>Tiberius;</HI> which information the Emperor receiving, moved in the Senate, that Je&s;us &s;hould be reckoned among their Gods. But the Senators di&s;&s;enting, he gave licen&s;e to all to believe in Chri&s;t that would, and forbad any Officer or other to mole&s;t any one that bare a good affection, zeal, or reve|rence to that name. Thus much <HI>Tertullian</HI> te&s;tifieth of his own knowledge, who lived 180. years afters Chri&s;t; and with him agree <HI>Ege&s;ippius, Eu&s;eb<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. Apolog. c. <HI>5.</HI> &amp; <HI>21.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ruffin, Nicephorus, Oro&s;ius;</HI> neither ought this &s;eem &s;o &s;trange, when <HI>Jo&s;e|phus,</HI> who was young when the&s;e things were done, and wrote his hi&s;tory yet
<PB N="282" REF="147"> extant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;eph. Antiq. lib. <HI>14.</HI> cap. 4.</NOTE> about fourty years after Chri&s;t, being no Chri&s;tian, but a Jew, for ought we know, hath thus written; Chri&s;t appeared to them, that is, his di&s;|ciples, again the third day, his life being a&s;&s;umed.</P>
<P N="7">7. But why do I fight again&s;t an unworthy fal&s;hood with humane rea&s;on, when God gave the very Dead life, and a tongue to te&s;tifie that his Son was ri&s;en!<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.53.</NOTE> For after Chri&s;ts re&s;urrection, many bodies of the Saints, which &s;lept aro&s;e, and came out of their graves, and went into the Holy City and appeared to many.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.20, 23. Joh. 11.44. 2 Reg. 13.21.</NOTE> This was after his re&s;urrection, to &s;hew that he was the fir&s;t fruits from the Dead; he ro&s;e fir&s;t, they after by his power. When <HI>Laza|rus</HI> was rai&s;ed, did any other accompany him? when the man was revived by the Prophets bones, did the other graves thereby open, and &s;et at liberty their pri&s;oners? What power ever before this time, or &s;ince, hath cau&s;ed tho&s;e walls of earth to gape, and &s;plit, and redeliver many of her dead at one time? Were there no other argument to prove that Chri&s;t was ri&s;en, then the reuniting a|gain of the&s;e good &s;ouls to their cold deaded bodies; yet this one were enough, for the witne&s;&s;es were holy, and many, Saints, and a multitude of Saints. If <HI>Dives</HI> thought a Sermon preached by the mouth but of one from the dead, were more effectual for the conver&s;ion of his five brethren to repentance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 16.30.</NOTE> then all the per&s;wa&s;ions of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the Prophets: how powerful then &s;hould be the tongue of Saints, of many Saints, of many Saints ari&s;ing at once from the Dead be to per&s;wade men, that Chri&s;t is ri&s;en?</P>
<P>To collect all, If Angels, men, women, &s;trangers, di&s;ciples, frieads, foes, a whole cloud of witne&s;&s;es: if the emptying of the &s;epulcher, and leaving the linnen cloths; if the amazement of the watch, &s;ubornation of the high Prie&s;ts and Elders; if the letter of <HI>Pilate</HI> to <HI>Tiberius;</HI> if the &s;ending down of the Holy Gho&s;t; if the gifts then and after given; if the miracles wrought in Chri&s;ts name; if the &s;uddain and miraculous conver&s;ion of the world; if preaching, living, and dying in that belief be enough to beget credit: <HI>Then Chri&s;t is ri&s;en from the dead, and now he dyeth no more; death hath no more domi|nion over him;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.9.</NOTE> rather he hath dominion over death; <HI>For he is alive, but was dead,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 1.18.</NOTE> <HI>and behold he is alive for evermore, Amen: And he hath the keys of Hell and death.</HI></P>
<P>Some man may perchance marveil why I have been &s;o punctual to prove an Article of Faith? Before I be condemned, hear my Apology. Fir&s;t, I have done in it re&s;pect of Chri&s;ts enemies that thereby the mouths of all contradict|ors might be &s;topt; and there can be no exception taken again&s;t this relation, which will not be as &s;trong to prejudice any Narrative of any matter of fact though never &s;o manife&s;t, which a man hath not &s;een with his own eyes; to which let a man give way, and a man may almo&s;t deny any thing, but the Sun &s;hines. Next, I have taken this pains for the comfort of Chri&s;tians, be|cau&s;e upon the re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t depends our chief happine&s;s. For if Chri&s;t be not ri&s;en,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.17.</NOTE> our faith is vain, we are yet in our &s;in.</P>
<P>This is that which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> in his an&s;wer to <HI>Agrippa</HI> called the hope of the fathers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 26.6. Rev. 14.12. 1 Cor. 15.14. P&s;al. 58.5.</NOTE> and I may &s;ay as properly it is the patience and faith of the Saints; without this our preaching is vain; If Chri&s;t be not ri&s;en, pull down Temples, de&s;troy your Churches, burn the writings of the Prophets and Apo&s;tles, &s;top your ears at the voice of the charmer, charm he never &s;o wi&s;ely; prai&s;e the li|ving more then the dead in the Lord; and practice that <HI>Epicurean</HI> le&s;&s;on, <HI>Let us eat and drink for to morrow we &s;hall dye:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.32.</NOTE> For as in every action the vertue that moveth the Agent to undertake it, is the hope of good to come; <HI>Virtus agendi &s;pes futuri:</HI> He that &s;oweth, &s;oweth to reap; and he that fights, fights for victory. So take the hope of the re&s;urrection (which depends upon this of Chri&s;ts) and all the con&s;cience and care of godline&s;s will fall to the ground. That therefore your faith &s;hould be &s;tronger, your hope better a&s;&s;ured, and
<PB N="283" REF="147"> your alacrity in the way of godline&s;s more quick and &s;priteful and better con|firmed, I have laid this for a foundation, that Chri&s;t is ri&s;en, and proved it I hope very evidently and &s;ufficiently.</P>
<P>The benefits you reap thereby, are &s;o many, and &s;o important, that I will take the next hour to recount them; till then I entreat you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15. ult.</NOTE> that you would comfort one another with the&s;e words, that you would be <HI>&s;tedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.4.</NOTE> <HI>fora&s;much as you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord;</HI> For <HI>when Chri&s;t who is your life, &s;hall appear, then al&s;o &s;hall you appear with him in glory.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="22" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>Of the ends of the Re&s;urrection, and the Influence it ought to have upon our lives.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Rom. 4.25.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Who was delivered for our offences, but was rai&s;ed again for our ju&s;tification.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THe Pa&s;&s;ion and Re&s;urrection of our Saviour <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re &s;o nearly conjoyned, that there is &s;eldom mention of the one without the other. The Son of man &s;hall be delivered to the Gentiles, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and they &s;hall put him to death, but the third day he &s;hall ri&s;e again. I &s;lept and ro&s;e, <HI>It is Chri&s;t that dyed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 18.33. P&s;al. 4. Rom. 8.34. Joh. 10.17.</NOTE> <HI>yea rather which is ri&s;en. I lay down my life, that I might take it again;</HI> and in this place for his <GAP DESC="foreign">, he was delivered, we have following, in all parts an&s;wering unto it, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>He was rai&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P>How truely doth the &s;pou&s;e in the Canticles all him <HI>fa&s;ciculus myrrhae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.13, 14.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; botrus Cypri! My beloved is to me a bundle of Myrrh, and a clu&s;ter of Cypre&s;s?</HI> What more di&s;ta&s;teful and bitter to the ta&s;te than Myrrh? The Jews when they would put our Saviour to all the pain they could,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 15.23.</NOTE> they reached him wine &s;o mingled. What's of a more fragrant &s;mell then the clu&s;ters of <HI>Cypre&s;s? Ve|neri arbor e&s;t dicata.</HI> Such was the death, &s;uch was the ri&s;ing of our Saviour; a bundle of Myrrh, and a handful of Cypre&s;s. His ignominious pa&s;&s;ion em|bittered with all &s;cornes and pains that malice could invent, was like a bun|dle of Myrrh; but his re&s;urrection falling at a &s;ea&s;on when every flower and tree puts forth, is as a handful of Cypre&s;s; an Act which &s;ends forth a more plea&s;ing &s;ent then the mo&s;t odoriferous &s;weet.</P>
<P>Of the&s;e two, Myrrh and Cypre&s;s, Saint <HI>Paul</HI> hath here made a Chri&s;tian po&s;ie. That he was delivered; there's Myrrh for you; That he was rai&s;ed, there's Cypre&s;s. You &s;hall do very well to make u&s;e of both; For, for your &s;akes he underwent and took down the Myrrh, and for your &s;akes again it was that he &s;hot up as a green Cypre&s;s; He dyed for us, he ro&s;e for us; He was delivered for our &s;ins; he ro&s;e again for our ju&s;tification.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> For our &s;ins: For our ju&s;tification.</HEAD>
<P>Benefits that concern another, little affect us; but when we once become in|tere&s;ted in the profit, then we begin with a greedy ear to hearken after them. If then your attentions and hearts may be won; here's enough to make you atten|tive and affectionate. His was the pains, He dyed; your's are the gains, 'twas for your offences. His was the Re&s;urrection, yours the benefit; 'twas for your ju&s;tification. How kinde hath the God of heaven been to us poor men, that what&s;oever his &s;on did or &s;uffered it mu&s;t be done for us!</P>
<P>As the Prophet <HI>I&s;ay</HI> had foretold, &s;o it mu&s;t be, <HI>To you a Son is given, and to you a child is born;</HI> he might have added, for you this child mu&s;t dye,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.6.</NOTE> for
<PB N="284" REF="148"> you this Son will ari&s;e; &s;ince it is certain, that he wholly laid him&s;elf out for our u&s;e.</P>
<P>For him&s;elf he was not born, he dyed not; for he that was born of his Father before all times,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 5.2.</NOTE> could not add any thing to his honor by being born of a poor Virgin; And &s;ure I am that &s;uch a death could not be to his reputation. And for the Angels who knew his Maje&s;ty and greatne&s;s, they had no de&s;ire to &s;ee him le&s;s; little he was for our &s;akes onely, becau&s;e we alone &s;tood in need of him; for us then he was born, for us he lived; he went about all his life time to do good to &s;uch as were no better then we are:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 10.38.</NOTE> For our offences he dyed; for our &s;ins he &s;uffered, and for our ju&s;tification he ro&s;e again; all was for our benefit and advantage.</P>
<P>For what could he by any of the&s;e Acts gain to him&s;elf more then he had? could he be greater then he was, who was the Son of God? could he be more honoured then he was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.16. Rev. 21.24.</NOTE> before who&s;e foot&s;tool all Kings of the earth throw down their crowns? If a &s;table, if hunger and thir&s;t, if ignominy, if con|tempt, the cro&s;s, death, and a grave could honor him, then from the&s;e he might receive acce&s;s of glory, for the&s;e he underwent to the full. The good in all the&s;e was ours, not his; that we might be honoured, that we might be bettered, we &s;aved, we di&s;charged, he would undergo all the&s;e and Dye. After which the honour befell him to ari&s;e; and yet that neither he would appropri|ate to him&s;elf; content he was, that we al&s;o &s;hould have a &s;hare in the Benefit.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> He was rai&s;ed for our ju&s;tification.</HEAD>
<P>Now this benefit doth call for our thanks; and becau&s;e the mea&s;ure of thanks doth commonly ari&s;e out of the quantity of the benefit, let us &s;ee what it is that we reap by our Saviours re&s;urrection, that &s;o we may be truely thank|full.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Thom. part. <HI>3.</HI> q. <HI>53.</HI> Art. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE><HI>Thomas Aquinas</HI> in his &s;ums hath &s;et down five rea&s;ons why it was nece&s;&s;ary that Chri&s;t &s;hould ari&s;e from the grave. The</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Ad commendationem divinae ju&s;titiae,</HI> To &s;et forth and commend unto us Gods righteous dealing. For it is a peculiar of divine ju&s;tice to rai&s;e tho&s;e, who are unju&s;tly depre&s;&s;ed; with men it is too often otherwi&s;e; if any rai&s;ed, it mu&s;t not be of all other rea&s;ons for that he was oppre&s;&s;ed or cru&s;hed; but with God it is otherwi&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 113.7, 8.</NOTE> he rai&s;eth the poor out of the du&s;t, where and when every foot is apt to trample upon them; he that brings light out of darkne&s;s, exalts the humble, ju&s;t, and innocent man, and &s;ets him with the Princes, even with the Princes of his people; it was rea&s;onable then, that he who was thus unju&s;tly humbled, &s;hould be again exalted; that he who was cau&s;ele&s;ly brought &s;o low, &s;hould again be rai&s;ed and &s;et on high. The ma&s;ter builders refu&s;ed him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 4.11. 1 Pet. 2.7.</NOTE> and ca&s;t him a&s;ide as an u&s;ele&s;s &s;tone, and unfit for any place in the buil|ding, and God in ju&s;tice called for him again, and made him the head of the corner.</P>
<P N="2">2. Another rea&s;on why he ro&s;e, was, <HI>ad fidei nostrae in&s;tructionem,</HI> To build up our faith; for by the re&s;urrection of our Saviour our Faith is much &s;trength|ned and confirmed; In that he aro&s;e from the grave, and delivered him&s;elf from the &s;orrows of death, a&s;&s;ured we are of his divine power. Thus &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, He was declared to be the Son of God, by his re&s;urrection from the dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.4.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">. 'Twas a part of the definition by which he might be known to be &s;o. All he had done el&s;e, &s;ome or other of the Prophets now and then had done the like; given &s;igns even from heaven, yea even rai&s;ed the dead. But rai&s;e him&s;elf being dead, get forth of the heart of the earth, when once he was in it, that exceeded a Prophets power; ne're a Patriarch or Prophet o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">
<PB N="285" REF="148"> them all could do that; So then that by this power he overcame the tyranny of death, it declared him undoubtedly, and may &s;ettle us in our belief, that he is the Son of God.</P>
<P>While he lay in the grave, how weak was the faith even of his own di&s;ci|ples! They, when they &s;aw him laid in, and &s;ealed up in the monument, a &s;tone rolled over him, and a watch &s;et upon him, began to doubt, whether that were he who was to redeem I&s;rael. To &s;ay nothing of their faith, their very hope was in a &s;woon; <HI>&s;perabamus</HI> &s;ay they,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 24.21.</NOTE> we were in a good hope while he lived, but now we can hope very little from him. No better means than to revive their forlorn hope, and free them from de&s;pair than that he be up again. Upon it <HI>Mary</HI> calls him <HI>Rabboni;</HI> upon this <HI>Thomas</HI> acknowledgeth him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 20.16, 28.</NOTE> <HI>My Lord and my God;</HI> upon this they which were faithle&s;s, became faithful, pro|fe&s;&s;ed him, confe&s;&s;ed him, preached him, dyed for him; No better means then to confirm us in the faith, than that Chri&s;t is ri&s;en.</P>
<P N="3">3. The third is, <HI>ad &s;pei no&s;tra &s;ublevationem,</HI> That we &s;hould live in hope, dye in hope, and re&s;t in hope; that as Chri&s;t ro&s;e again, &s;o our bodies, though turned to du&s;t, &s;hould again ari&s;e from tho&s;e du&s;ty beds;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 9.11.</NOTE> &s;o the re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t &s;peaks comfort to all the pri&s;oners of Hope, that the members &s;hall be in no wor&s;e condition than the head, becau&s;e he ro&s;e in body, and is alive; therefore every part of him &s;hall get up and live al&s;o. And of this <HI>medium Job</HI> &s;erves him&s;elf, and &s;trongly infers his conclu&s;ion, <HI>I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he &s;hall &s;tand at the latter day upon the earth;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 19.25, 26.</NOTE> <HI>and though after my skin worms de&s;troy this body, yet in my fle&s;h &s;hall I &s;ee God: Scio quod <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, ergo quod ego.</HI> But of this more in a fit place.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> Ad ju&s;tificationem.</HEAD>
<P N="4">4. The fourth rea&s;on why our Saviour aro&s;e, is here a&s;&s;igned by Saint <HI>Paul; It is for our ju&s;tification:</HI> In reading the <HI>Greek</HI> Copies vary; for &s;ome read it <GAP DESC="foreign">, others <GAP DESC="foreign">; the difference of the words is this; <GAP DESC="foreign">, is that vertue which indeed comprehends in it all vertues, a habit of ju&s;tice in|herent in us, which we in Divinity call &s;anctification, or rather &s;anctity and holine&s;s. If then the Apo&s;tles word were <GAP DESC="foreign">, the &s;en&s;e is, that Chri&s;t ro&s;e, that he might be either the Efficient cau&s;e, or the type and example to us to ri&s;e from &s;in, as he ro&s;e from the grave; and to have his holine&s;s, and purity inherent in us; which is certainly true, as in the clo&s;e I &s;hall make ap|pear to you.</P>
<P>The other, and more u&s;ual word is <GAP DESC="foreign">, which <HI>Beza</HI> conceives &s;hould be rendred rather <HI>ju&s;tificamen,</HI> or <HI>ju&s;tificamentum,</HI> and is oppo&s;ed to <GAP DESC="foreign">, or condemnation, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, a cro&s;s plea; for <GAP DESC="foreign"> is a legal word, and &s;ignifies the pleading of a mans own cau&s;e before a Tribunal, when he puts in what may make for his defence. The meaning then of the Apo&s;tle may be this, that Chri&s;t being ri&s;en from the dead, hath put into every mans mouth that ro&s;e in him, what he &s;hall be able to &s;ay in ju&s;tification of him&s;elf, when he &s;hall appear at the bar of God. Give me leave to pro&s;ecute the Metaphor, that from the proceeding in a Court, you may with comfort under&s;tand this nece&s;&s;a|ry point. In every Se&s;&s;ion you know there are accu&s;ers, an Enditement, a Judge, who&s;e office it is to ab&s;olve or condemne: It is &s;o here.</P>
<P N="1">1. Accu&s;ers here be, the Divel, who as by name,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 12.10.</NOTE> &s;o in nature is the accu|&s;er of the brethren; our own con&s;cience, which is in&s;tead of a thou&s;and wit|ne&s;&s;es. The Sun and Moon in who&s;e pre&s;ence we have committed our &s;ins; the creatures which we have inordinately abu&s;ed, his &s;ervants who&s;e voice we have not heard, our brethren whom we have oppre&s;&s;ed, and our companions with whom we have too wantonly lived.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="286" REF="149">2. The inditement will be laid for impiety, infidelity, irreligion, perjury, theft, adultery, oppre&s;&s;ion; in a word for all the enomities we have commit|ted, and all acts of piety or charity omitted. To all which I know not any man can plead Not guilty; yet the ju&s;t Judge will be content to hear <GAP DESC="foreign">, that we put in our plea; which can be no other then this, Chri&s;t ro&s;e for our ju&s;tification. This, no man can do with a good con&s;cience, but he who is a penitent,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.1. Mat. 5.6.</NOTE> believing &s;inner; he who lives not after the fle&s;h, but after the &s;pi|rit. He who hungers nor after righteou&s;ne&s;s, the righteou&s;ne&s;s of Chri&s;t to be imputed to him, by which he may be di&s;charged and acquitted from condem|nation; and after the righteou&s;ne&s;s of Chri&s;t inherent in him, by which he can &s;ay he is freed from the dominion of &s;in; &s;o that though &s;in dwelt, yet it never reigned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.20. &amp; 6.12.</NOTE> or if any time, yet very unwillingly in his mortal body.</P>
<P N="3">3. That which remaines, is, we expect the &s;entence of the Judge; heavy this would be, if according to our merit, no other than the &s;entence of death; for we have de&s;erved no le&s;s. But behold, &s;tand amazed and wonder, in &s;tead of condemning, he is plea&s;ed to admit of the plea of the&s;e poor penitent and believing &s;inners, ju&s;tifie them, and declare them for his Sons &s;ake inno|cent per&s;ons.</P>
<P>Neither doth he this by his ab&s;olute power, as a King by his royal prerogative pardons an offendor; but manife&s;ts to the world that he is &s;atisfied for the wrong, and upon that &s;atisfaction doth acquit them. So that ju&s;tification is not a work of power, but a work of mercy and ju&s;tice; of ju&s;tice in that Al|mighty God will have an infinite puni&s;hment &s;uffered either by us or our Surety, proportionable to the infinity of the offence; of mercy in that he did and doth receive the puni&s;hment of another to free us.</P>
<P>Two things then there are which concur in this work of our ju&s;tification; one on Gods behalf, and the other on our part.</P>
<P N="1">1. That which God doth, is called imputation of Chri&s;ts ju&s;tice to the ju&s;ti|fied per&s;on, which ju&s;tice ari&s;eth from the obedience of his Son, Active and Pa&s;&s;ive. For as it is in a marriage where &s;ome noble man e&s;pou&s;eth a woman of low degree, the honors and wealth of the husband are &s;o far imparted to the wife, that her means and poverty are no more regarded, but all her hus|bands riches and Titles are attributted to her: So in this ca&s;e it falls out, that our faults and puni&s;hments being by God imputed to his Son, we are acquitted from them; and all his Sons righteou&s;ne&s;s being imputed to us, we for the merit thereof appear righteous in his &s;ight; <HI>He that knew no &s;in, he was made &s;in for us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.21.</NOTE> <HI>that we might be made the righteou&s;ne&s;s of God in him.</HI></P>
<P>Now upon this imputation of Chri&s;ts righteou&s;ne&s;s, there follow three ad|mirable benefits to a Chri&s;tian &s;oul; redemption from &s;in, remi&s;&s;ion from pu|ni&s;hment, Reconciliation to God.</P>
<P N="1">1. Grace is given, whereby a man is freed from the domineering power of &s;in. He that is not within the compa&s;s of the Covenant, is a captive of &s;in; a &s;lave and drudge to &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 21.20. Rom. 13.14.</NOTE> he &s;ells him&s;elf to work iniquity, and obeys it in the lu&s;ts thereof; held he is in &s;uch a bond of captivity, that he &s;hall not return to good; and bound with &s;uch fetters of &s;ervitude, that he &s;hall not cea&s;e from evil. Now when he becomes a ju&s;tified per&s;on, he is freed from this captivity, &s;lavery, and drudgery, <HI>For the Law of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Spirit of life in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, hath freed me from the law of &s;in and death.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.2.</NOTE> Chri&s;t erects his throne in his heart, and enables to mortifie and de&s;troy every enormous and grievous &s;in.</P>
<P N="2">2. A pardon is al&s;o given him, whereby he is ab&s;olved from puni&s;hment; &s;in and pain are Relatives, they an&s;wer one to another, as face to face in wa|ter;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 27.19.</NOTE> he that is guilty of the breach of Gods law, is &s;ubject to the puni&s;hment threatned for the breach of that law, which is all kind of death. Now the
<PB N="287" REF="149"> Apo&s;tle told us in the former place, <HI>that the Law of the Spirit frees us from the Law,</HI> that is, the force and power of Death.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.2.</NOTE> So then a ju&s;tified per&s;on is acquitted from the power of both, <HI>&agrave; pote&s;tate dominandi, &amp; damnandi.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.1.</NOTE> Sin &s;hall neither domineer over him, nor be able to condemn him; <HI>For there is no condemnation to tho&s;e who are in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. And the third mercy is, that God is pacified and reconciled to him; not only remits what is pa&s;t, but becomes a friend. By the blood of Chri&s;t his peace is made. <HI>For the cha&s;ti&s;ement of our peace was upon him.</HI> Be|hold now the happy condition of tho&s;e who are ju&s;tified by the imputation of Chri&s;ts righteou&s;ne&s;s! Freed they are from the tyranny of &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.5.</NOTE> ab&s;olv'd from the rigour of puni&s;hment, and reconciled to the favor and love of God: Of which, that he might a&s;&s;ure us, he ro&s;e from the grave. For had he lien there &s;till, we could never have been confident, than he had procur'd grace or pardon for us, or wrought our peace.</P>
<P N="2">2. What God in mercy does for us we &s;ee; and to whom it is done we behold. Sinners they are who are thus ju&s;tified. But that you be not pre&s;um|ptuous, they are not all &s;inners pelimell, who are &s;et at liberty, pardoned, and accepted to favour; &s;omewhat al&s;o is required on our part, before we be admitted into the li&s;t and number of the ju&s;tified. 'Twas a virulent and ma|licious a&s;per&s;ion that <HI>Cel&s;us</HI> laid upon our Saviour, that he call'd all &s;inners to come unto him, Publicans, Harlots, to all he gave welcome and pardon: Which al&s;o is as maliciou&s;ly by <HI>Zo&s;ymus</HI> objected to <HI>Con&s;tantine,</HI> as the cau&s;e of his conver&s;ion to Chri&s;tianity. From which he was apt to conclude,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Zo&s;ymus.</HI> lib. 2.</NOTE> that Chri&s;ts Church was like the <HI>A&s;ylum</HI> &s;et up by <HI>Romulus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Plutarch. Ro|mul.</NOTE> being a Sanctuary for all comers. To which <HI>Origen</HI> return'd this an&s;wer, that there is a double invitation; One of the Thief, the other of the Phy&s;ician: The Thief in|vites to get companions; the Phy&s;ician Patients; the Thief to debauch the innocent; the Phy&s;ician to cure the di&s;ea&s;ed, to recover the relap&s;ed: The former to continue and confirm them in their lewd cour&s;es: The latter to purge out, and reform their impurities. This, this is the de&s;ign of Chri&s;t. For God ju&s;tifies none as &s;inners, but as &s;inners that are fitted and prepar'd for ju&s;tification, that is, penitent and believing &s;inners. So that the&s;e two are both nece&s;&s;ary <HI>in ju&s;tificato,</HI> in him who de&s;ires to be ju&s;tified, Faith and Re|pentance.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>The Go&s;pel is the great power of God to &s;alvation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.16. Mark 16.16.</NOTE> but with this limitation and caution, <HI>to every believer. For he that believeth only &s;hall be &s;aved.</HI> God is plea&s;ed to propo&s;e and offer to us his Son in the Go&s;pel, upon which there mu&s;t follow an acceptation and reception of this his free of|fer, without which this work cannot be perfect and con&s;ummate; The merit of Chri&s;t is of no more power than phy&s;ick, though never &s;o precious, not applied, or not taken down. Now Faith is the hand that applies it. It was &s;o in <HI>Ahraham,</HI> who is therefore call'd the <HI>Father of the faithful.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4.3, 12. Act. 6.8. Act. 8.37. Act. 10.45. Joh. 1.12.</NOTE> <HI>Abra|ham believ'd, and that was counted to him for righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e;</HI> &s;o with <HI>Ste|phen, who was full of faith;</HI> &s;o with the <HI>Eunuch;</HI> &s;o with <HI>Cornelius;</HI> &s;o, in a word, with all. <HI>For &s;o many as received him,</HI> that is, by faith, <HI>to them he gave power to become the Sons of God.</HI></P>
<P>Now this Faith how weak &s;oever, if true, is &s;aid to ju&s;tifie in a double &s;en&s;e; either in Relation, or Oppo&s;ition.</P>
<P N="1">1. In <HI>Relation,</HI> as it reflects upon Chri&s;t. For take it as a quality, a ver|tue, a habit infu&s;ed into the heart by the holy Spirit, and &s;o it ju&s;tifies not; for that were to make our Faith our Chri&s;t. But reflect upon faith in another notion, as it hath for its object Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and layes hold on his whole ran|&s;ome, and applies it; and &s;o faith may be very properly &s;aid to ju&s;tifie, be|cau&s;e the object which it apprehends doth ju&s;tifie.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="288" REF="150">2. Or again, in another &s;en&s;e faith is &s;aid to ju&s;tifie, that is <HI>oppo&s;it&egrave;,</HI> as it is oppo&s;ed to good works, becau&s;e it excludes from <HI>Ju&s;tification,</HI> the works of the Moral Law.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.28.</NOTE> Which, though vertues of very high e&s;teem, and com|mendable and requi&s;ite in the eyes of God and man (&s;ince without them our faith lives not) yet being polluted and defective,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 2.17.</NOTE> they may not be pleaded <HI>in foro ju&s;titiae,</HI> in the High Court of Ju&s;tice. <HI>In foro novae obedientiae,</HI> In the Chancery, &s;et up for examination of works of new obedience, they may pa&s;s, and receive a candid Interpretation; but in the Upper Bench of &s;trict Ju&s;tice, where every mans life and actions mu&s;t be tryed by the exact Letter of the Law, all works, whether done by the power of Nature, or help of Grace, will fall &s;hort of that the Law requires, and con&s;equently, nor they &s;hall be ju|&s;tified for exactly good, nor any man ju&s;tified for them.</P>
<P>That which in this Court mu&s;t ju&s;tifie, mu&s;t be the &s;ole merit of Chri&s;t; of which he alone can be a partaker, who is a believer; &s;o &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>By him every one that believeth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 13.39.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall be ju&s;tified.</HI> Faith then is the fir&s;t condition that is required in a ju&s;tifiable per&s;on.</P>
<P>Secondly, The other condition required in the man, without which no pardon, no remi&s;&s;ion can be had, is repentance, and godly &s;orrow. For how|&s;oever Repentance, <HI>non attingit effective remi&s;&s;ionem,</HI> doth not effectually procure Remi&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 22.14.</NOTE> yet is it <HI>removens prohibens,</HI> and takes away all impedi|ments of pardon. It takes away &s;tubbornne&s;s, and makes the heart like wax, fit to receive an impre&s;&s;ion.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 22.19. 2 Chron. 32, 26 P&s;a. 73.1. P&s;a. 101.2.</NOTE> It removes pride, <HI>and makes the heart an hum|ble heart:</HI> It takes away hardne&s;s, <HI>and makes the heart a &s;oft and a tender heart:</HI> It wa&s;heth off pollution, <HI>and makes the heart clean:</HI> It removes hypocri&s;ie, <HI>and makes the heart &s;incere and hone&s;t.</HI> So that by it the heart being put in a new frame, made dutyful, lowly, broken, tender, clean, &s;in|cere, and hone&s;t, the man may come with &s;ome boldne&s;s to the Throne of Grace, and humbly entreat that he may be found in the number of tho&s;e who &s;hall receive this pardon of Grace.</P>
<P>This is the Method that Chri&s;t hath taught us to preach, and you to learn by;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.47.</NOTE> <HI>Go and preach Repentance and Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;inne:</HI> Ob&s;erve, <HI>Repen|tance</HI> fir&s;t, and <HI>Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;inne</HI> after. This is the Summe of that Text upon which our Saviour fir&s;t preach'd. <HI>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the Gospel;</HI> but to whom? <HI>to the poore; he hath &s;ent me to heale the broken-hearted,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 4.18, 19.</NOTE> <HI>to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of &s;ight to the blinde, to &s;et at liberty them that are brui&s;ed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Repentance is to be con&s;idered as an Act, or as a State. As an Act, and &s;o it mu&s;t in the nature of the thing go before ju&s;tification.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Hammond.</HI> pract. Catech.</NOTE> As a &s;tate, &s;o it mu&s;t follow; it being the leading a new, holy, and gracious life, the improving the grace which God gives, and per&s;evering, and dying in it.</P>
<P>The order then which God hath taken to &s;ave a poor &s;inner, is this. Fir&s;t God gives his Son to die and &s;atisfie for him: In that death he &s;trikes up a Covenant with him: According to this Covenant he calls for Faith and Re|pentance: If he hear this call, repents, and believes, God ju&s;tifies him. He gives him more grace upon the improvement of the Talent given to him: La&s;t|ly, upon his per&s;everance gives him, as to a faithful &s;ervant, a Crown of Glory.</P>
<P>But if this Covenant be &s;triken with us in his death, and we ju&s;tified by his Death and Pa&s;&s;ion, how is it here attributed to his Re&s;urrection? <HI>He ro&s;e,</HI> &s;aith our Apo&s;tle, <HI>for our ju&s;tification;</HI> the Apo&s;tle rather &s;hould have &s;aid He dyed for our ju&s;tification.</P>
<P>To this I an&s;wer, that in the Pa&s;&s;ion and Death of Chri&s;t was contain'd the Ran&s;om and Merit: but in the Re&s;urrection, the evidence and Declaration,
<PB N="289" REF="150"> that we were freed and ju&s;tified. For whereas Chri&s;t died, he died for our &s;ins; of which had there been the lea&s;t un&s;atisfied, death would have kept him in his grave &s;till; whereas therefore he ro&s;e from thence, it is more than manife&s;t, that he made &s;o full a &s;atisfaction for them all, that death was able to hold him no longer in pri&s;on.</P>
<P>We willingly therefore divide the work of our Redemption betwixt the Pa&s;&s;ion and Re&s;urrection of our Saviour. We attribute to his Death the di&s;|charge of the debt both of &s;inne and puni&s;hment: But the fir&s;t means of the application of it to his Re&s;urrection; for by it we are proclaimed to &s;tand <HI>recti in curi&acirc;,</HI> held for freed men, and innocent per&s;ons: As therefore the Super&s;cription of his Cro&s;s might have been, <HI>O death,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.54, 55</NOTE> <HI>I will be thy death!</HI> &s;o al&s;o the Epitaph on his Tomb might have been, <HI>Death is &s;wallow|ed up in victory.</HI> For however <HI>virtualis Triumphus &amp; meriti,</HI> the virtual and meritorious Triumph over Death, was upon the Cro&s;s, and in the death of our Saviour; yet this Triumph was acted, and the Solemnity thereof kept on the day of his <HI>Re&s;urrection.</HI> Upon the Cro&s;s he did Triumph over death as <HI>in Campo &V;ictoriae,</HI> in the field where the battel was fought and won, as I &s;aid before; but on the day he ro&s;e, he celebrated it <HI>in Sella Curuli &amp; Tri|umphali,</HI> in his Triumphal Chariot, when he return'd to life, and led Capti|vity Captive.</P>
<P>This one point of Chri&s;tian Religion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">U&s;e.</NOTE> is the Anchor upon which our &s;ouls mu&s;t re&s;t in all the tempe&s;ts of de&s;paire.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 8.9.</NOTE> As <HI>the Dove &s;ent forth by Noah when the waters overran the earth, found no re&s;t for the &s;ole of her foot till &s;he returned againe to the Ark:</HI> So the &s;oul of man, when the deep wa|ters of a guilty con&s;cience &s;hall encompa&s;s him, &s;hall find nothing to re&s;t on, nothing to &s;ecure him, till he come to this Ark of &s;afety, to know how he may be ju&s;tified.</P>
<P>Every man mu&s;t come to his bed of death, from thence to his grave; far|ther yet, from his grave to judgement. Here or there he mu&s;t look to be im|pleaded for his original, for his actual &s;innes: where he &s;hall have &s;o many Articles preferr'd again&s;t him as he hath committed offences of infirmity, ig|norance, negligence, malice, or omitted duties of piety or charity. It be|hoves him then to think, when God &s;hall call, what he will an&s;wer;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 31.14. Hab. 2.1.</NOTE> how he may be acquitted, how ab&s;olv'd at that Bar. Who is it that can ju&s;tifie him|&s;elf by the rigorous Rule of the Law? who is it that can clean&s;e his heart, or wa&s;h his hands from &s;in? That then which mu&s;t a&s;&s;ure our hearts before God, is not the righteou&s;ne&s;s of the Law, but the righteou&s;ne&s;s which is by faith. Hence mu&s;t &s;pring the fountain of all our comfort,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.3.</NOTE> <HI>that it is Chri&s;t who ju&s;tifies.</HI></P>
<P>We may therefore boldly challenge all our enemies in St. <HI>Pauls</HI> words and confidence, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.33.</NOTE> <HI>Who is it that &s;hall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that ju&s;tifieth; Who is it that condemneth? it is Chri&s;t that died, yea rather that is ri&s;en againe.</HI> As if there dur&s;t not ap|pear any Accu&s;er or Judge again&s;t the Elect of God, after that Chri&s;t was ri|&s;en to ju&s;tifie them. Excellently Mr. <HI>Perkins;</HI> If Satan plead again&s;t us that we are &s;inners, and therefore obnoxious to eternal damnation, let us an&s;wer him, That the obedience of Chri&s;t hath freed us from that fearful &s;en|tence. For as by <HI>Adams</HI> di&s;obedience came the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Crime, the Sen|tence; &s;o by Chri&s;ts obedience came the <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, the ju&s;tifica|tion or plea which with a good con&s;cience we might put in. <HI>We are now e|spou&s;ed to one Husband Chri&s;t Je&s;us, who is to an&s;wer for us.</HI> For as no &s;uit of Law can take place again&s;t the Wife, &s;o long as the Husband liveth; &s;o neither can any action that Satan layes again&s;t us, proceed to our prejudice,
<PB N="290" REF="151"> &s;o long as Chri&s;t who is our Head and Husband, is alive. If he plead far|ther, that we never fulfill'd the Law, and con&s;equently we have no right to Eternal life, the reply is ea&s;ie, by granting all that is objected, and that our hope of, and our Title to Eternal life depends not now upon our own perfor|mances, but upon the obedience of Chri&s;t, who hath fulfill'd the Law for us: In the duties of which, if we have faln &s;hort, our an&s;wer mu&s;t be, That we have been overborne by Satans temptations, and that therefore our failings &s;hall be &s;urely imputed to him, and &s;et upon his &s;core at the day of judge|ment.</P>
<P>Be it that he dayly and hourly mole&s;t and vex the con&s;cience with the ex|probration of manifold corruptions and imperfections, yet if our heart can re|ply &s;incerely, that we have had God alwayes before us, that we have &s;tood in aw, and fear'd to offend, that we dayly lament the&s;e wants and imperfecti|ons, fixing all our hope in the merits of Chri&s;t, all our defects will be cover'd by his obedience.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, If at the hour of death, the fear and apprehen&s;ion of the ju&s;t judgement, anger, and wrath of God &s;hall affright, terrifie, and appale our poor, &s;inful, and guilty &s;oul, An&s;wer we may, that Chri&s;t hath undergone this wrath for us, he was in an agony, and brought to this furnace for our &s;akes; which &s;uffe ing of his we may ju&s;tly place betwixt the fierce wrath of God, and our di&s;may'd con&s;ciences; and quietly re&s;t in the confidence of it, infold, and wrap up our &s;ouls in it, and &s;o pre&s;ent them to our God.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.25. Exod. 25.21, 22</NOTE>Our Apo&s;tle before calls Chri&s;t <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>a propitiation for our &s;innes.</HI> For as the Propiatory cover'd the Ark, and the Law in the Ark, which is the hand-writing again&s;t us: &s;o Chri&s;t covereth our &s;ins, putting his own obedi|ence between us and the indignation of God. O the happy condition then of a faithful and penitent Chri&s;tian! for he alone is happy, <HI>who&s;e &s;in is cover|ed;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 32.1, 2.</NOTE> <HI>that man ble&s;&s;ed, to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity.</HI> For as it fa|reth with a Captive ran&s;om'd out of bondage by the free liberality of his Prince, and advanced after to great dignity and riches: or with a poor mi&s;e|rable man arre&s;ted and impri&s;oned for a grand debt to his Soveraign, who be|yond all hope is &s;uddenly fetcht from his Dungeon, pardoned his debt, and enrich'd with a Ma&s;s of trea&s;ure: even &s;o it befalleth him who is ju&s;tified by the merits and mercies of Chri&s;t. By nature and guilt of &s;in he is a bond|man to Satan, enthrall'd to his own lu&s;ts and Hell, mo&s;t mi&s;erably poor, de&s;titute of all righteou&s;ne&s;s; Indebted to the Lord of the whole world, for ever to be kept from Eternal life in Heaven for default of perfect holine&s;s, and to be ca&s;t body and &s;oul into the dungeon of Hell for his di&s;obedience: Yet through the wonderful bounty of God freely giving his Son for the wi|ping away of all the guilt of &s;in and merit of puni&s;hment: And for the im|putation of Chri&s;ts holine&s;s and innocence, man now once again of a bond|man, and beggarly wretch, of an heir of hell, and an exile from heaven, is advanc'd, and become mo&s;t free, rich, and glorious. For he is become an heir, yea fellow-heir with Chri&s;t, of no le&s;s than a Kingdom, even of a Kingdom in heaven.</P>
<P>The comfort which I take in this point, hath made me tedious; and glad I would be that you &s;hould receive comfort in it, when all worldly comforts faile you. For this mu&s;t be the only Cordial that mu&s;t revive your dying &s;pirits, to know that Chri&s;t mu&s;t ju&s;tifie you. If you &s;hall appear at Gods Bar (as all mu&s;t appear) without this confidence, you &s;hall appear to your condemnation. No Angel, no power, no man, no wealth, no gold can &s;ave you, or purcha&s;e your pardon. But if you take the righteou&s;ne&s;s of Chri&s;t by a true and lively faith along with you, you may boldly appear be|fore
<PB N="291" REF="151"> the Throne of God; <HI>for ye are then ju&s;tified, ye are &s;anctified,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.11.</NOTE> <HI>ye &s;hall be glorified.</HI></P>
<P N="5">5. The la&s;t end for which our Saviour aro&s;e, according to <HI>Thomas,</HI> was <HI>ad in|formationem vitae fidelium,</HI> To inform men to lead a holy life; and if <GAP DESC="foreign"> was the Original word, the Text favours it; that word &s;ignifying a con&s;tellation of vertues which mu&s;t meet, and be inherent in every ju&s;tified per&s;on, of which this act of Chri&s;t was a pattern, or rather a type.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Estius in loc.</NOTE> The place then they interprete to this &s;en&s;e; That as Chri&s;t dying for &s;in, left us a pattern to die to &s;in; &s;o ri&s;ing from the dead, he left us a type to ri&s;e from the death of &s;in to righteou&s;ne&s;s, or newne&s;s of life; to which he exhorts at large in the &s;ixth Chapter.</P>
<P>It is an error certainly, that runs in mo&s;t mens heads, that when they hear of the Re&s;urrection, they conceive of it only as a thing to come; not to take place till the latter day; to concern the body, and not the &s;oul: whereas the Scriptures &s;peak otherwi&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.6.</NOTE> In them we meet with a fir&s;t Re&s;ur|rection, as well as a &s;econd; and happine&s;s a&s;&s;ign'd to him who hath his part in the fir&s;t. For to &s;peak truly, this is but the Key of the other; and Chri&s;ts <HI>re&s;urge</HI> hath its proper efficacy and vertue upon us when we thus ri&s;e; and we never &s;hall find true comfort in that, till we ri&s;e fir&s;t by this. No glory is to be expected without grace. <HI>An unclean thing cannot enter heaven;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 21.27.</NOTE> and &s;uch are all men, till they ri&s;e from &s;in. And that this work be well done, let us propo&s;e our Saviours example, as the perfecte&s;t type for us to ri&s;e by.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 6.4.</NOTE> So doth our Apo&s;tle; <HI>As Chri&s;t was rai&s;ed up from the dead, even &s;o we al&s;o &s;hould walk in newne&s;&s;e of life;</HI> And again, <HI>As in his death, &s;o al&s;o you must conforme your &s;elves to him in his Re&s;urrection.</HI> Imitate him then</P>
<P N="1">1. In the <HI>Speed.</HI> He lay no longer in the grave than needs mu&s;t, but ha|&s;tened his Re&s;urrection: As he then ro&s;e the third day from the grave,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 20.1.</NOTE> and in the dawning of that day, &s;o we immediately and early ri&s;e to a new life. Well it were we would make it this mornings work, and not defer it an hour longer; for <HI>plus valet hora fervens, quam men&s;is tepens,</HI> one hours heat and fervency in this work, will do more than a whole months lukewarm|ne&s;s. Yet if you put it off for this hour, delay it not till another day. For then the day of Re&s;urrection will be pa&s;t, and God knows whether you &s;hall ever &s;ee another <HI>Ea&s;ter.</HI> Let this day then be your Pa&s;&s;eover, I mean, your <HI>Tran&s;itus,</HI> or day of pa&s;&s;age from &s;in; <HI>Behold now is the day,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6.2.</NOTE> therefore take the time.</P>
<P N="2">2. Next imitate him in the <HI>Act;</HI> he did it but once: So al&s;o do you this work &s;o perfectly, that it be but once done. Re&s;urrection of other Saints can be no true pattern for this. They ro&s;e, and went to their graves again, and therefore mu&s;t have a &s;econd Re&s;urrection. The <HI>Shunamites</HI> &s;on, <HI>Jairus</HI> daughter, and <HI>Lazarus</HI> ro&s;e to life, but they dyed, and returned againe to that place whence they came: So did not Chri&s;t, he dyed no more, return'd to the earth no more, that he &s;hould need a &s;econd ri&s;ing, and left al&s;o all the Ornaments of a dead man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 20.6, 2.</NOTE> the Napkins and linnen cloths in his grave behinde him. Thus we &s;hould do, dye to &s;inne, and live to God; dye and live once for all. Being once up, continue we &s;hould in a &s;an|ctified e&s;tate.</P>
<P>But alas, with us it is not &s;o; we play fa&s;t and loo&s;e with God; we dye and live, and live and dye, as oft as &s;in commands; which &s;hews that our Re&s;urrection is rather like that of <HI>Lazarus</HI> (than Chri&s;ts) <HI>who came from the grave fast bound hand and foot;</HI> and &s;o we ri&s;e from our old &s;ins,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 11.44.</NOTE> with our bonds and grave-cloaths about us &s;till.</P>
<P>Grace lifts up the eye, looks up a little, and giveth &s;ome &s;ignes of life
<PB N="284" REF="152"> again&s;t a good time, &s;uch as this. But after a day or two, if not before, comes &s;in and layes his command upon us, bids us go, and we go; come, and we come;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.9.</NOTE> do this, and we do it; The Centurions &s;ervants were not more ready at his nod, than we are obedient when this great Commander &s;peaks; for we follow him <HI>as a fool to the Stocks.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 7.22.</NOTE> I appeal to your own con&s;ciences, whether this be not &s;o; but I mu&s;t tell you, it &s;hould not be &s;o, but quite o|therwi&s;e. Get you mu&s;t out of this Tyrants clutches, and make an end of the&s;e &s;candalous recidivations. Dye you ought once to &s;in, as Chri&s;t died but once; and ri&s;e once to newne&s;s of life, and continue alive ever after, as Chri&s;t did.</P>
<P>Now whether you do this or no, you &s;hall know by the&s;e evident &s;igns; breath, warmth, and motion; for as the&s;e are evidences of a natural, &s;o will they be of a &s;piritual life.</P>
<P N="1">1. What is it then you breath after? with what is your mind warm'd? If you breath in nothing but the foggy vapours that ari&s;e from the earth, and nothing can warm your heart except a wedge of gold, you are in your grave &s;till: whereas if you have a heavenly mind,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.1.</NOTE> and &s;eek after and affect the things above, <HI>you are ri&s;en with Christ.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. This will appear in our motion al&s;o, when we walk exemplarily before men; which the Apo&s;tle requires in all that are ri&s;en with Chri&s;t, comman|ding,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.4.</NOTE> <HI>That they walk in newne&s;s of life.</HI> To walk is to move; and motion argues life; where there is walking, there mu&s;t be living; and where there is living, there would be walking; for &s;itting &s;till breeds bad and corrupt hu|mours. Walking then there mu&s;t be: But this walking mu&s;t not be in the old way; that will not &s;erve the turn, it mu&s;t be in a new walk. In a word, that we walk according to God:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.13. Gal. 5.16. Eph. 5.2.</NOTE> And then we walk to him, when we make his Will our Law, his Word our Rule, his Sons life our example, his Spirit rather than our own de&s;ires, the guid of our actions.</P>
<P>In all walking there is a motion of progre&s;&s;ion, a going forward till a man arrive at the end of his walk. So it &s;hould be in this walk, a going on by degrees and &s;teps, till we arrive at perfection. Every thing that lives, moves by degrees. Corn begins in the &s;eed, &s;tarts up into the leaf, ari&s;eth into a blade, &s;pires into a Reed, &s;hoots into an ear, neither is it alway green there, but matures, and grows white again&s;t Harve&s;t for the &s;ickle. I come nearer, your &s;elves were infants, you &s;hot up to mans e&s;tate, &s;trong men, old men; and you are now a&s;ham'd of the toys and follies of children. Your excu&s;e is ready to any Objector of tho&s;e mi&s;demeanours, <HI>When I was a child, I &s;pake as a child,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.11.</NOTE> <HI>I did as a child;</HI> why not thus in the &s;tate of grace? &s;hall all natural bodies go on to perfection, and the man of God remain un|perfect? In your &s;eeds you were, when you were fir&s;t engraffed in Bapti&s;m; ever &s;ince you make &s;hew of &s;hooting; &s;hoot on you heavenly plants, till you bring forth fruit that may plea&s;e God and man.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 9.13. 1 Pet. 2.2. 2 Pet. 3.18. Eph. 4.13.</NOTE> Babes you were in Chri&s;t, when fir&s;t fed with milk; but be not babes to day and to morrow, and chil|dren &s;till, now and &s;even years hence, but grow in grace and knowledge, till you become <HI>perfect men in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI></P>
<P>Nothing can grow without nouri&s;hment. The want of that you cannot pretend. God hath provided for you &s;ufficient &s;u&s;tenance. Milk for you, the &s;incere milk of the Word, when you were babes. His body and blood to feed on now you are men; approach therefore, and receive your food. And God grant you may &s;o worthily receive, and dige&s;t it in your hearts purified by faith, wa&s;h'd by repentance, prepar'd and warm'd with charity, that ye may grow thereby <HI>from grace to grace,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.6. P&s;a. 84.7.</NOTE> <HI>from vertue to vertue, from strength to &s;trength, untill every one of you appeare before the Lord in Zion.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="23" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="285" REF="152">
<HEAD>Of Chri&s;ts A&s;cen&s;ion.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>LUKE 24.50, 51.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And he led them out as farre as to Bethany, and he lift up his hands, and ble&s;&s;ed them.</P>
<P>And it came to pa&s;s while he ble&s;&s;ed them, he parted from them, and was carried up to heaven.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>ALL the works of God have their fit time, their opportunity. Among the chief of the&s;e is the Redemption of the World by Chri&s;t; which be|cau&s;e it is perfected by &s;ucce&s;&s;ive Acts, that the&s;e might be the better remem|bred, the Church a&s;&s;igned &s;everal dayes to his honour. All the re&s;t are gone before, this is pre&s;ent; and it ought to be a day of <HI>Jubile,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 47.5.</NOTE> <HI>for that God went up with a merry noy&s;e, and the Lord with the &s;ound of the Trump.</HI></P>
<P>For after our Saviour had fought the battel, and gotten the Victory on the Cro&s;s, after he had repaired by his Re&s;urge that Temple of his body, which the malicious Jews had digg'd down, he a&s;cended up on high,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Greg.</HI> hom. 4. in Ezek.</NOTE> far above all heavens, even the highe&s;t of them. St. <HI>Gregory</HI> compares our Saviour to <HI>Ezekiels</HI> Vi&s;ion. The Prophet &s;aw foure <HI>Cherubins,</HI> who&s;e likene&s;s was that of a man, and every one had four faces: The fir&s;t had the face of a Lyon, the &s;econd of an Oxe, the third of an Eagle, the fourth was of a man. Chri&s;t &s;aith he, lively opens this Vi&s;ion to us; A man in his birth, an Oxe &s;acrificed at his death, a Lion on the day of his Re&s;urrection, and an Eagle in his A|&s;cen&s;ion to heaven. A better &s;ight it is to &s;ee him an Eagle in the clouds, than an Oxe upon the Altar, as on <HI>Good-friday</HI> we beheld him. Better to behold a cloud to receive him, than a grave-&s;tone to cover him. Better to &s;ee him preparing for his Triumph on Mount <HI>Olivet,</HI> than upon his Cro&s;s in <HI>Golgotha.</HI></P>
<P>To this Mount he came, after the 40. dayes of his return from the grave were expired. For &s;o long he conver&s;ed with them from his Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 1.3.</NOTE> being not willing pre&s;ently to withdraw and ab&s;ent him&s;elf from his Di&s;ciples, but delay his own honour for their good, In that time he inform'd their ig|norance, and confirm'd their Faith: Their want of knowledge, which for|merly made them doubt: Their fear, which when time was, made them fly; his bitter Cro&s;s that before put them in a maze; their diffidence which brought them near de&s;pair, is by this his gracious pre&s;ence in that length of time di|&s;pell'd. Conclude they mu&s;t and did, that it was no Spirit which they &s;aw; no phanta&s;tick body &s;uddenly appearing, and as &s;uddenly vani&s;hing: but a true &s;ub&s;tance con&s;i&s;ting of fle&s;h and bones, which their very hands handled, and their eyes &s;aw to eat and drink before them: Thus of weak they became &s;trong; of faithle&s;s faithful.</P>
<P>Well now, &s;uppo&s;e the 40. days are ended. Our Evangeli&s;t Relates what then &s;ucceeded to Chri&s;t and his Di&s;ciples; for the&s;e two take up the clo&s;e of his Go&s;pel. In which con&s;ider
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. His Manudiction, <HI>He led them out as far as Bethany.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. His Benediction, <HI>He lift up his hands, and ble&s;sed them.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. His A&s;cen&s;ion, <HI>He parted from them, and was carried to heaven</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>All this concern'd him; but as for his Di&s;ciples, ob&s;erve
<LIST>
<PB N="294" REF="153">
<ITEM>1. Their Religion, <HI>They wor&s;hipped him.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Their full &s;atisfaction, <HI>They r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">turn'd with joy to Hieru&s;alem.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Their piety, <HI>They were continually in the Temple.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Their thankfulne&s;s, <HI>They prai&s;ed, they ble&s;sed God.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> He led them out as farre as Bethany.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Bethany</HI> was a little Town about two Miles from <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> and it &s;ig|nifieth the hou&s;e of affliction, near to which was the Garden, where being in an Agony, Chri&s;t &s;weat blood. It is not without a my&s;tery, that the &s;ame place was de&s;tin'd to the beginning of his pa&s;&s;ion, and to his A&s;cen&s;ion; to his pain, to his glory. This &s;hews where we mu&s;t reckon to begin, if we mean to be happy. To <HI>Bethany</HI> he leads all his, before they a&s;cend to heaven; &s;hew he would that &s;orrows and afflictions attend his followers.</P>
<P>If then you mean to be happy, be content to go with Chri&s;t as far as <HI>Be|thany,</HI> the hou&s;e of affliction; attend on him in <HI>Olivet,</HI> the Garden of his Pa&s;&s;ion, if you mean to live with him in glory. Suffer with him, and for him, if ever you mean to wear a Crown. But I go on;</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> He lift up his hands and ble&s;sed them.</HEAD>
<P>He omitted not &s;o much as the Ceremony which might honor the action. With us Ceremonies are &s;coffed at as vain and empty; but Chri&s;t would not give his ble&s;&s;ing without it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.48. &amp; 134.2. 1 Tim. 2.8.</NOTE> Let men deride as they plea&s;e the&s;e external rites, yet I know they have their u&s;e and &s;ignification al&s;o. The hands lifted up in prayer, in ble&s;&s;ing, &s;hews that we are not able to help, to ble&s;s our &s;elves; but that &s;upply we expect mu&s;t come from above; and that ble&s;&s;ing which we be&s;tow, de&s;cends from the Father of ble&s;&s;ings; to him we lift up our hands to receive it; and from him being receiv'd, we be&s;tow it. This is the rea&s;on that <HI>Aaron being to ble&s;s the people,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lev. 9.22.</NOTE> <HI>lifted up his hands.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Benedixit, He ble&s;&s;ed them.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Aaron</HI> was but a type, Chri&s;t the true High Prie&s;t, and with his hands he gave his ble&s;&s;ing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 21.17.</NOTE> <HI>Benedixit.</HI> Now his <HI>dicere</HI> is <HI>facere;</HI> His Word and Deed go together. We may wi&s;h well, but we cannot make the party the better by our wi&s;hes: Let him but &s;ay the word, and the thing is done. <HI>Doth he ble&s;s them?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 22.2. &amp; 6.27.</NOTE> <HI>then they &s;hall be ble&s;&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P>I am not able to tell you to how many things this ble&s;&s;ing extended. It brought peace to their &s;ouls; never were there &s;uch quiet and contented hearts, even in the mid&s;t of troubles; beaten they were for their Ma&s;ters &s;ake, but they went away <HI>rejoycing;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 5.41. Mat. 5.11.</NOTE> They had then the effect of his promi&s;e, <HI>Ble&s;|&s;ed are ye when men &s;hall revile you, and per&s;ecute you, &amp;c.</HI> This his ble&s;|&s;ing brought unity and peace to their Colledge; 'twas the ble&s;&s;ing of God that they remain'd all together in one place, of one heart and one &s;oul. This gave &s;ucce&s;s to their labours; that three thou&s;and at St. <HI>Peters</HI> fir&s;t Sermon were converted;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.41.46. Act. 4.4. Acts 5.14. Act. 3.26.</NOTE> that the number on a &s;udden encrea&s;ed to five thou&s;and; that multitudes both of men and women were added to the Lord, was from hence. And I dare &s;ay, that the whole &s;ociety of S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ints from that day to this, is the better for this ble&s;&s;ing. <HI>For God having rai&s;ed up his Son, &s;ent him to ble&s;s us, in turning away every one of us from our iniquities.</HI> In a word, it made them, and will make us happy in our deaths; for as they lived piou&s;ly, &s;o they ended in a cheerful and a ble&s;&s;ed hope; which ble&s;&s;ing will befall all that live as they did.</P>
<PB N="295" REF="153">
<P>Such was the confidence that <HI>Balaac</HI> had in <HI>Balaam,</HI> that he profe&s;&s;eth, <HI>I wot well, that whom thou cur&s;e&s;t is cur&s;ed;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 22.6.</NOTE> <HI>and he whom thou ble&s;&s;e&s;t is ble&s;sed.</HI> In his judgement then the ble&s;&s;ing of a Prophet is &s;omewhat. <HI>Pha|raoh,</HI> even &s;tubborn <HI>Pharaoh</HI> de&s;ired that of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 12.32.</NOTE> <HI>Go and ble&s;&s;e me al|&s;o.</HI> How pa&s;&s;ionate would the&s;e two Kings have been, had they &s;een the Son of God ble&s;&s;ing his little Flock on Mount <HI>Olivet?</HI> They would out of doubt, been a&s;&s;ured of the effect, when there is not one over whom he lifts a hand to ble&s;s, but is <HI>Benedictus.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 115.12, 13</NOTE></P>
<P>The ble&s;&s;ings of &s;uch, who either <HI>ex officio</HI> ble&s;s the people as the Prie&s;t: or <HI>ex authoritate,</HI> ble&s;s the family as the father, ought not to be &s;lighted, con|temned, &s;ince without que&s;tion, the le&s;s is ble&s;s'd of the greater;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 7.7.</NOTE> a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d for it there be examples good &s;tore in Scripture. But the Bl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">g of o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> Father in heaven, and of our High Prie&s;t who &s;its on the right hand of God, is with prayer, and zeal, and teares to be implored, &s;ince without his ble&s;&s;ing we can expect no happy &s;ucce&s;s. Which our Saviour well knowing, ble&s;&s;ed his Di&s;ciples before he departed; a&s;&s;uring them of that, what&s;oever &s;hould befall them. And <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> As he ble&s;&s;ed them, he parted from them.</HEAD>
<P>For it &s;o fell out, that in giving this ble&s;&s;ing he took his leave. If any man be de&s;irous to know in what po&s;ture our Saviour a&s;cended, he may finde it here, <HI>dum benedictienem nondum ab&s;olvi&s;set,</HI> before he had ended his ble&s;|&s;ing. The ble&s;&s;ing which he began upon them, and with them, with words and ge&s;ture he continued a&s;cending, that is, with his hands lifted up; not &s;o much perhaps upright to heaven, whither his heart, hands, and eyes were &s;ent up in prayer before; but his hands lifted up over his Apo&s;tles, as if he were di|&s;per&s;ing his grace, and pouring out a ble&s;&s;ing. So <HI>Simon,</HI> the &s;on of <HI>Onias,</HI> u&s;ed a mo&s;t Solem form of benediction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclu&s;. 50.20.</NOTE> <HI>He lift up his hands over the whole Congre|gation of I&s;rael, to give the ble&s;&s;ing, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>'Tis the property of good men to depart with a ble&s;&s;ing in their mouths.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 27.4, 7, 10 Gen. 48.15, 9. &amp; cap. 49.</NOTE> <HI>I&s;aac</HI> calls his two &s;onnes; and <HI>Jacob</HI> the twelve Patriarchs, to ble&s;s them be|fore they dyed. For the words of a good man at the la&s;t breath, as they are more weighty, &s;o al&s;o they are more hearty, more affectionate; and though they cannot effect, yet they may be Interce&s;&s;ors for a ble&s;&s;ing. And if tho&s;e examples cannot move, yet this may, this of our Saviour, who with a ble&s;|&s;ing in his mouth departed.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, Departed from them.</HEAD>
<P>From them he parted, but not with his Spirit and Grace, but in his bodi|ly pre&s;ence. With his Spirit he was with them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.20.</NOTE> and <HI>will be with his unto the end of the world;</HI> but in his body he took his leave; neither ought any man expect him any more, till the houre he hath promi&s;ed to ap|peare.</P>
<P>United to Chri&s;t every true member of his body is; but to make this uni|on, it is not needful that his humane Nature &s;hould be drawn down from h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">|ven. Not that his body be everywhere, as the <HI>&V;biquitaries</HI> affirm; nor that in the Sacrament there be a Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, as the <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> imagine.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.11. 1 Cor. 3.16. 2 Tim. 1.14.</NOTE> His dwelling is by his Spirit, and our union with him wholly &s;piritual. Neither in thus &s;aying do we divide his two Natures, for they are in&s;eperably joyn'd in one per&s;onal union; But the property of both Natures mu&s;t be pre&s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ved. As God, he is in all places; but as God united to man, he can no more be in many places at once, than one and the &s;elf-&s;ame natural body can be here and
<PB N="296" REF="154"> el&s;ewhere. Mo&s;t true it is, that his body is glorified, but yet a body it is &s;till, and therefore mu&s;t have the &s;ame e&s;&s;ential properties of another body, the &s;ame dimen&s;ions, and con&s;equently the &s;ame <HI>&V;bi,</HI> and circum&s;cription of parts, and therefore cannot in the &s;ame moment infinitely diffu&s;e it &s;elf. The Scripture &s;peaks re&s;ervedly, <HI>He departed;</HI> then no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> bodily to be longer pre|&s;ent;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 3.21. Col. 3.1. 1 The&s;. 1.10.</NOTE> and that after his departure the heaven mu&s;t contain him; he was not then to be more on earth. In heaven he mu&s;t &s;it, thence he mu&s;t come; whereas were he in all or divers places, the heaven did no more containe him than other places. He &s;hould no more &s;it there, than in other places; neither could he be &s;aid at the la&s;t day to come from thence, more than from other places. Therefore <HI>Noli dubitare ibi e&s;&s;e hominem Chri&s;tum unde ven|turus e&s;t,</HI> put it out of doubt, and keep faithfully that Chri&s;tian confe&s;&s;ion: Chri&s;t is ri&s;en from the dead, a&s;cended into heaven, &s;its on the right hand of the Father, and that he &s;hall come from no other place than from heaven, to judge both the quick and the dead.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. He was carried up to Heaven.</HEAD>
<P>But now I come to the main point of the Text, <HI>His A&s;cen&s;ion:</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>He was carried up.</HI> Chri&s;t was taken up, not as birds fly, or men move, but &s;o as if he had been carried in mens hands, and by little and little mounted upward,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Brugen&s;. Cajetan. Barrad. Aquin.</NOTE> with an upright po&s;ture of body lea&s;urely a&s;cending. He was moun|ted not by any other power, but by his own; either as God, or by an agility proper to humane glorified bodies. Yet <HI>Aquinas</HI> well ob&s;erves, That as Chri&s;t is &s;aid to ri&s;e by his own power, and yet to be rai&s;ed by the Father, becau&s;e their powers are one; &s;o may he be &s;aid to a&s;cend by his own power, and yet be elevated and a&s;&s;i&s;ted by the Father. He moved not leg after leg, or &s;eemed to go or climb, but in all parts alike, and wholly together he was lifted up.</P>
<P>And for the greater Maje&s;ty a cloud was under him, de&s;cending even to his feet in the form of a Throne, on which he &s;ate. As the Royal Chariot de|clares the King; &s;o there was &s;ent down to Chri&s;t, <HI>Regale Vehiculum,</HI> a Roy|al Chariot; which rather yet was carried by him, than he by it. For this was not <HI>vehiculum nece&s;&s;arium,</HI> a nece&s;&s;ary &s;upport and &s;tay; for &s;uch he needed not; yet it might be <HI>adminiculum &s;olemne,</HI> a &s;olemn free a&s;&s;i&s;tance, which he plea&s;ed to a&s;&s;ume as a &s;ign of Maje&s;ty.</P>
<P>As he is to come, &s;o he was to go. But <HI>he &s;hall come in the clouds of hea|ven;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 1.11. Mat. 24.30.</NOTE> and therefore he was in the &s;ame manner taken away with the clouds a|bout him. One perhaps more Eminent, on which he &s;ate, and on which he a&s;cended, as a Te&s;timonial that he was the Lord of the clouds. A Cloud then was the Triumphal Chariot in which he rode; and this Cloud left him not till he was mounted to heaven.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="6" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>6.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, To Heaven.</HEAD>
<P>To that pitch he came, and that was <GAP DESC="foreign"> above, and <GAP DESC="foreign"> a|loft;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.10.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, above all the heavens, even the highe&s;t of them, by which he went and took po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, and &s;hew'd him&s;elf Lord of all.</P>
<P>His Lord appear'd in the Sea, when he walk'd upon the water without a &s;hip.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 14.25, 26. &amp; 27.52. <HI>Athana&s;.</HI></NOTE> His Lord&s;hip appear'd on the Land, when he cau&s;ed the graves to &s;plit, and deliver up their dead. His Lord&s;hip appear'd in hell, when <GAP DESC="foreign">, when the Devil trembled and &s;tartled; when he broke tho&s;e gates,
<PB N="297" REF="154"> and brought away the keys and &s;hewed them; his Lord&s;hip appeared in the air, when he led captivity captive, drew powers and principalities after him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.8. Col. 2.15.</NOTE> and triumphed over them in him&s;elf; there was but one place in which his do|minion and power was not apparent. Heaven it was, and thither now he went,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 10.36.</NOTE> that he might &s;hew him&s;elf Lord of all.</P>
<P>Heaven is a very doubtful term, were it but a little above the earth it might be heaven; the birds that flutter above our heads, are called the birds of heaven, and the canopy of clouds, the clouds of heaven. Again, had it been higher, as to the Orbs of the plants, or fixed &s;tars, heaven it had been al|&s;o. But be&s;ides the&s;e we read of the highe&s;t heavens, the throne, &s;eat, and habitation of God, where there is the perpetual revelation of Gods holine&s;s, glory, maje&s;ty, where there is fulne&s;s of joy, &s;tability, and &s;ecurity; and to this place it is that Chri&s;t a&s;cended with his body, having under him all other corporeal and vi&s;ible &s;phears as his foot&s;tool.</P>
<P>This is well expre&s;&s;ed to us by the Apo&s;tle, under the type of the High Prie&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.14.</NOTE> who entred once a year into the Holie&s;t of Holies, but not without blood; and &s;o have we, &s;aith he, an High Prie&s;t that hath pa&s;&s;ed into the heavens.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Godw. Ant. lib. <HI>2.</HI> cap. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> The Temple of <HI>Solomon</HI> was a type of the world; in it were three parts, the <HI>atrium apertum,</HI> the open Court, or Court of the people, where the multitude were a&s;&s;embled and the &s;acrifices offered; the lower part of the world is very like to it where bea&s;ts and men do live. The &s;econd part was called <HI>Sanctuarium,</HI> in which was the golden Candle&s;tick with the lamps, this re&s;embled the heaven|ly Orbs, in which are the greater Luminaries and le&s;s lights. The third part was that &s;ame <HI>Sanctum Sanctorum,</HI> into which the High Prie&s;t onely might enter.</P>
<P>In this there was the propiatory on the Mercy &s;eat;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.24.</NOTE> and this will an&s;wer to that place Chri&s;t called in Scripture, the City of God, or <HI>Hieru&s;alem</HI> which is above.</P>
<P>Into this <HI>&s;acrarium</HI> the High Prie&s;t might alone enter, and into that above our High Prie&s;t is entred; that the highe&s;t part of the Temple, this of heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.7.</NOTE> in that was <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Propiatory, in this Chri&s;t, who is the &s;ole <GAP DESC="foreign">, or propitiation for our &s;ins.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.2.</NOTE> Now that thither Chri&s;t is a&s;cended the Scrip|tures are &s;o clear an evidence, that he that runs may read it.</P>
<P>One thing onely give me leave to add, that being exalted thither, God &s;aid unto him, <HI>Sit thou on my right hand,</HI> which he never &s;aid to any of the Angels,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.13.</NOTE> how glorious &s;oever.</P>
<P>In God there is neither eye, nor ear, nor foot, nor hand properly, for he is a Spirit, and therefore not compo&s;ed of &s;uch material parts; when the Scriptures &s;peaks in &s;uch terms of God, <HI>Humanum dicit,</HI> it &s;peaks after the manner of men, that men by what is done among them, might conceive what is done in heaven.</P>
<P N="1">1. Whom Kings will chiefly honor, tho&s;e they place in the chief &s;eat above them, even on their right hand. It was the place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 2.19. P&s;al. 45.9.</NOTE> where <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;et his mo|thers throne; it was the place on which the King &s;ets his Queen. On the right hand did &s;tand the Queen in a ve&s;ture of Gold, Thus it is done to tho&s;e whom the King will honor.</P>
<P N="2">2. And as the right hand is a place of Honor, &s;o 'tis a place of power and authority too; tho&s;e who are at the Kings right hand have commonly mo&s;t pow|er and command in a &s;tate, <HI>Solomon</HI> having &s;et his mother on his right hand, &s;aid, <HI>Ask on my mother, for I will not &s;ay thee nay.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 20. Mat. 20.21.</NOTE> That was the place that the Mother of <HI>Zebedees</HI> children asked for her &s;ons for that end.</P>
<P>That then Chri&s;t was &s;et at the right hand of God, intimates, that all Honor and Glory, all power and authority in heaven and in earth was delivered unto him; and Chri&s;t God and man receives this in his whole per&s;on, but collated
<PB N="298" REF="155"> upon him in regard of his manhood, his Godhead being uncapable of any new acce&s;&s;ion of power or glory. <HI>Sedere ad dextram patris e&s;t a&s;&s;umptae carnis my&s;terium.</HI></P>
<P>His humane body a&s;&s;umed here below was de&s;pi&s;ed and placed (a&s;hamed I am to tell you where, had not he de&s;pi&s;ed the &s;hame) 'twas upon the cro&s;s be|twixt two theives; in heaven 'tis advanced to an honorable place; there he hung like a poor creature, &s;corned by all, abu&s;ed by all; here he is exalted a|bove all, &s;eated in a chair or throne next his Father. In this world he was poor, weary, hungry, thir&s;ty, harberle&s;s; he found no re&s;t for the &s;ole of his foot; here he &s;its at ea&s;e, full of riches, and hath abundance of Man&s;ions to be&s;tow upon tho&s;e who &s;hall &s;ue for them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14.2.</NOTE> This world afforded him nor Robe, nor Crown, nor Scepter, or if any, &s;uch as reeds and thorns could make, and &s;corners put on: But heaven yeelded him all the&s;e with advantage, took him up, and made him King of kings, and Lord of lords; a King at who&s;e feet all Kings mu&s;t ca&s;t down their crowns, and a Lord in who&s;e pre&s;ence all their dominion and juri&s;diction cea&s;eth.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.18.</NOTE> <HI>Omnis pote&s;tas, All power was given to him in heaven and in earth;</HI> power given and granted in the large&s;t terms, and the greate&s;t extent. Power, and all power; the power of the King, and power of the Prie&s;t; for now he was declared to be King of Saints, and Bi&s;hop of our &s;ouls. Power of a large extent, as ample as heaven and earth; and if that be not wide enough,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 15.3. 1 Pet. 2.25.</NOTE> you may take in the territory of hell too; For he had all power given into his hands over all men on earth, all Angels and Saints in heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 1.18.</NOTE> all devils and reprobates in Hell; the keys of hell and death being delivered unto him.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>The Application.</HEAD>
<P>All this while I have followed the thred of the Text, and with much brevi|ty and per&s;picuity acquainted you with the &s;tory of our Saviours a&s;cen&s;ion; It remains now that we examine the cau&s;es and effects of it; for till we under|&s;tand them, tis but a bare relation, by which the hearer may be a little the wi&s;er, but not much the better. That then he went up on high, was for him&s;elf, and for us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 16.17.</NOTE> for his Honour, for our Benefit, comfort, and in&s;truction; <HI>It is expedient for you,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>that I go away.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. This fir&s;t was for his Honor; while he was below, no man more contem|ptible; now he is above no name more Honorable; the cloud that carried him, the Angels that attend him, the heavens that received him, the right hand of his Father a&s;&s;igned him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 19.16.</NOTE> proclaim to all the world, that he is <HI>Rex re|gum, Dux dominantium.</HI></P>
<P>The Jews, Jews as they were, did what they could again&s;t him; they endea|vored to bring down his name, per&s;on, power; they vilified his per&s;on by ma|king him a&s;cend up to the cro&s;s; they di&s;graced his name by putting over his head,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.19. Mat. 27.29.</NOTE> <HI>I. N. R. I.</HI> They derided his power by the crown of thornes they put on his head, and the &s;cepter of a reed they thru&s;t into his hand; for were not the&s;e goodly en&s;igns of Regal power? But God hath righted him in all the&s;e, exalted him in all the&s;e, honoured him again in his Name, Per&s;on, Power.</P>
<P>There he hung like a poor creature, &s;corned by all, di&s;graced by all; God now hath exalted this contemptible per&s;on, rai&s;ed him above all, and &s;eated him in a chair of &s;tate next him&s;elf. From the Father he proceeded, and in|to the world he came;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 16.28. Marc. 16.19.</NOTE> the world he left, and to the Father he went; his cour&s;e you &s;ee was circular, and the period or the joyning was <HI>Dextra patris,</HI> The Fa|thers right hand.</P>
<P>On his Cro&s;s you may read his Name, and on a lower place it could not be
<PB N="299" REF="155"> put. This Name &s;o humbled, &s;o deba&s;ed, God takes, and makes more honorable than any name, requiring the greate&s;t Monarchs to &s;toop to it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.10.</NOTE> all nations to fall low before it; Angels to adore it, Saints to wor&s;hip it, and the devils them&s;elves to tremble and fly at the mention of it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.10, 11.</NOTE> On earth his power &s;eemed to be con|fined, or at lea&s;t it plea&s;ed him to &s;ubmit to an humane power; but now all power is given to him; he hath no &s;uperior,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.18. Gal. 4.6. P&s;al. 2.9.</NOTE> but rules in the Church by his laws, in the hearts of men by his Spirit, over his enemies with a rod of Iron.</P>
<P>And this kingdom was the ju&s;t reward of his great humility; It is the ac|knowledgement of many Angels, and many Elders about the throne,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 5.12.</NOTE> <HI>Tu Do|mine dignus, Thou Lord art worthy,</HI> to receive ble&s;&s;ing and glory, and honour, and power; and why all this? but becau&s;e he was the Lambe that was &s;lain; as if they had &s;ung, This Je&s;us is a&s;cended, becau&s;e he de&s;cended to the womb, de&s;cended to the manger, de&s;cended to the cro&s;s, de&s;cended to the grave: It being u&s;ual to &s;ettle the eminency of his power and glory upon the <GAP DESC="foreign"> of his infirmity and humility, <HI>He &s;hall drink of the brook in the way, therefore &s;hall he lift up his head, P&s;al.</HI> 110.7. See al&s;o, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 53.11, 12. <HI>Phil.</HI> 2.9, 10. <HI>Heb.</HI> 2.5. <HI>Claritas humilitatis praemium.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Thus it was done to the man, whom the King of heaven would honour; and that it was done to him as a man, it is al&s;o beneficial to us; for as Chri&s;t was not incarnate for his own good, but for us; nor &s;ubject to the law for him|&s;elf but for us; nor crucified, dead, and buried for his own &s;ake, but for ours; nor ro&s;e again onely for him&s;elf, but for us; &s;o al&s;o he a&s;cended into heaven for us al&s;o, honoring thereby the Nature of man. When Je&s;us was taken to heaven, our Nature united to his per&s;on was mounted thither with him.</P>
<P>Weigh but what Nature this was upon which God be&s;towed this ble&s;&s;ing, and you mu&s;t wonder at the advancement; that nature it was which God had &s;aid, <HI>Du&s;t thou art, and to du&s;t &s;halt thou return;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19.</NOTE> who&s;e principles were but du&s;t and a&s;hes, and who&s;e re&s;olution mu&s;t be by the order of nature into du&s;t and a&s;hes: that nature which we made inglorious, and vilified,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 40.6.</NOTE> vani&s;hing as a flower, corruptible like other creatures. Behold and wonder, man that was compared to the bea&s;ts that peri&s;h, is again become in Honor; that Nature which in corruption is like other things, is taken up, and &s;eated above all things, and being one with Chri&s;t made &s;uperior to the Angels;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 49.20. Ephe&s;. 1.21. Heb. 1.13.</NOTE> for <HI>cui An|gelorum,</HI> for to which of the Angels did God ever &s;ay, <HI>Sit thou on my right hand!</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. To &s;ee our nature thus exalted, may give great content; and yet there is in it that which may plea&s;e us better; every man wi&s;heth well to his body, and by his good will would have it immortal, and rai&s;ed to the greate&s;t honor. In the world it cannot be &s;o; Tabernacles they are, and they mu&s;t be taken down,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.1. Heb. 13.14. Joh. 14.2.</NOTE> for they are &s;et up in a City that cannot continue; the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the man&s;ions are above, among which that they &s;hould remain, Chri&s;t is gone up to prepare a place for them. As then they mu&s;t have to our grief their de&s;cent, &s;o &s;hall they have to our joy their a&s;cent al&s;o; as taken down to the earth, &s;o taken up to heaven; for if Chri&s;ts body, then ours al&s;o, when rai&s;ed, mu&s;t be in that happy place; otherwi&s;e the head and members &s;hould be parted. He left behind him his pawn or earne&s;t, his &s;pirit by which he did de&s;cend to us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 1.22. &amp; 5.5.</NOTE> and he took our pawn, our fle&s;h, that we &s;hould one day a&s;cend to him; at his ri&s;ing he took to him&s;elf the keys of hell and death, unlocked the doors,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 1.18.</NOTE> and let him&s;elf our and all his; and &s;o now at his taking up, he took to him&s;elf the keys of heaven, and opened that kingdom to all believers. This fea&s;t then is <HI>fe&s;tum dedicationis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.19.</NOTE> the fea&s;t of dedication, in which <HI>dedicatum e&s;t hominibus coelum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.20.</NOTE> heaven by a new and a living way was con&s;ecrated for us, a way not known to any, nor pa&s;&s;able
<PB N="300" REF="156"> for any, but by the vail of Chri&s;ts fle&s;h. After the vail was rent, the way was revealed,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bern.</HI> Levit. 23.10. 1 Cor. 15.23.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; dedicata a&s;cen&s;ionis no&s;trae primordia.</HI> His body in the nature of a fir&s;t fruit out of the field of men being lift up, con&s;ecrated the whold field, by vertue whereof all the &s;heafs, the bodies I mean of men that were hallowed with it, &s;hall be lifted up and advanced to the place where he is.</P>
<P N="4">4. This is a benefit which we &s;hall reap at the la&s;t day; but in the mean time he is not wanting to us; whether we con&s;ider him Lord, or Chri&s;t; whether as the High Prie&s;t of our profe&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2.36. Heb. 3.1. Rev. 15.3.</NOTE> or a great King &s;eated on Gods right hand with all power and authority.</P>
<P N="1">1. His Prie&s;thood after the order of <HI>Aaron</HI> ended at his death, for he was to offer no more &s;acrifice for &s;in;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.26. Heb. 7.17.</NOTE> but after the order of <HI>Melchizedech</HI> he was to continue a Prie&s;t for ever; and this his Prie&s;thood is yet very beneficial un|to us.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 12.10.</NOTE>We have a very &s;landerous adver&s;ary, and would I could &s;ay all he had to lay to our charge were meer &s;landers; but God help us, it is otherwi&s;e; the mo&s;t part of that he hath to &s;ay is too true; be&s;ides many a petition we have to de|liver, many a &s;uite to make at the throne of Grace, and &s;o much out of favor for our di&s;obedience we are, that we need a Mediator, one to make way and &s;peak for us.</P>
<P>For our comfort then, let the divel clogg his bill either with &s;landers or Truths, all penitent and believing &s;inners have in that high Court an Advo|cate, an agent to plead for them, a Sollicitor to follow their whole bu&s;ine&s;s, an interce&s;&s;or to &s;tep in upon every di&s;like,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 1.2. Heb. 7.25.</NOTE> and make an atonement, nay one to do that which no Advocate is able, <HI>facere cau&s;am,</HI> to make our ca&s;e good, which in it &s;elf is &s;tarke naught. Again, if at any time in an humble manner we bring a petition,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14.13. Rom. 8.26.</NOTE> and pre&s;ent it in his Name, as our High Prie&s;t he takes it, offers it to God his Father, and makes reque&s;t for us.</P>
<P>The &s;um is, when Almighty God is di&s;plea&s;ed, he turns his Fathers eye from us upon him&s;elf, pre&s;ents his wounds, his blood, his Cro&s;s, his death; at which a&s;pect Gods anger is pacified, his indignation a&s;&s;waged, his goodwill recovered; and our infirm petitions &s;ent up with &s;ighs, with groans and a zea|lous heart, are accepted and granted; without him that throne were full of a|mazement and horror;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.15, 16.</NOTE> that he is upon it, gives us boldne&s;s to have acce&s;s to the throne of Grace, and to pre&s;ent our reque&s;ts with confidence, becau&s;e he &s;peaks for us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.16. Joh. 11.42.</NOTE> with whom God is well-plea&s;ed; he pleads for us, whom God always hears. Let tho&s;e &s;educed &s;ouls of <HI>Rome</HI> find out other Advocates, Saints or Angels, and engage them to promote their reque&s;ts in the Court of heaven; to us Chri&s;t is in &s;tead of all, being a&s;&s;ured that a prayer conceived with a faith|ful heart, and offered upon the Altar of a contrite &s;oul through Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord, cannot mi&s;carry.</P>
<P N="2">2. Well then it was for us that ever he became High Prie&s;t, and well again that ever he was &s;et at Gods right hand, and made a King, &s;ince his power he will al&s;o u&s;e for our good, and that many ways.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t of the&s;e is the collection of his Church, which is the tran&s;lati|on of &s;ome men from that great Prince of darkne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 1.13.</NOTE> and the plantation of them in his own kingdom of Grace; the means by which this is done, are his word and the power of his Spirit; for by preaching of the Word, he beates upon the ears outwardly, and by the &s;ecret operation of the Spirit he molli|fies the heart inwardly to a&s;&s;ent to what is heard, to lay up what is &s;owed, by the power whereof &s;ome men are &s;ingled out of the world and tran&s;lated into the kingdom of God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.9.</NOTE> The&s;e are called the precious &s;eparated from the vile, a cho&s;en generation, a royal Prie&s;thood, an holy nation, a peculiar people to &s;hew forth the prai&s;es of him who hath called them out of darkne&s;s in|to his marvellous light.</P>
<PB N="301" REF="156">
<P>By which you may judge of the collections made at this day; it &s;eems to me to be &s;uch a gathering as the I&s;raelites made in <HI>Egypt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 5.12.</NOTE> when they were &s;ent over the whole land to gather &s;traw; for what el<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e have they got together, but an empty company, in which there is no &s;olidity, little judgement, little Truth, le&s;s morality! And how was it po&s;&s;ible it &s;hould be otherwi&s;e, &s;ince as often as they met with a heavy eare, they threw it a&s;ide! Chri&s;ts gathering is other.</P>
<P N="2">2. And when he hath by his Word and his Spirit gathered a &s;elect company, careful he is, that they be well ordered, guided, governed; for where no guid|ance and governance is, the collected body will quickly fall a&s;under. His laws then he hath to guide them, and his &s;tatutes to direct them, and his Prophets to publi&s;h the&s;e, and his <GAP DESC="foreign">, Heralds to proclaim the&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Marc. 16.15. I&s;a. 49.23. Act. 20.28.</NOTE> and his Kings and Bi&s;hops to look that men walk according to the&s;e, lea&s;t tho&s;e whom he hath collected do turn and &s;tart a&s;ide. In the wilderne&s;s, when God led the I&s;rae|lites with a cloud by day, and fire by night, as the pillar moved they moved,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 9.15.</NOTE> and when the cloud &s;tood &s;till, they &s;tood &s;till; as fire or cloud moved or &s;tood, &s;o al&s;o they went forward, or were at a &s;tand. This prefigured how provident God is in guiding, and how orderly we &s;hould be in obeying his commands and directions. Where he moves before us in his word, or by his &s;pirit, thar there we move to; but if he &s;tand &s;till, and &s;hew us not the way, that there we pau&s;e and &s;tay, not daring to proceed in the action, till we are &s;ure we have an order from him.</P>
<P N="3">3. But to collect a company is to no purpo&s;e, no nor yet to &s;et down an order and rule by which they &s;hall be governed, except there be power to &s;ecure tho&s;e who ob&s;erve his laws, and puni&s;h &s;uch as tran&s;gre&s;s them. To this end al&s;o it was that Chri&s;t &s;ate down at the right of his Father, that he might have all power be&s;towed upon him; and his power he will u&s;e for both tho&s;e ends.</P>
<P N="1">1. He hath power to defend his Church, and he will and doth dayly u&s;e this power for the good of his people. Though he &s;its at the right hand of his Father in heaven, yet doth he not forget his poor Church on earth, but either limit, or annihilate the fury and power of her enemies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.18.</NOTE> &s;o that &s;he &s;hall never be overthrown. 'Tis his promi&s;e, <HI>That the gates of hell &s;hall never prevail again&s;t her.</HI></P>
<P>The Tyrants of this world may, when Gods people grow too wanton,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 10.5.</NOTE> be as that proud <HI>A&s;&s;yrian, the rod of Gods anger;</HI> which yet is &s;mall comfort to them; for I never read any man put into that Office, to be Gods Rod to &s;courge his people, who was not him&s;elf a Reprobate. <HI>For they meane not &s;o, neither doth their heart think &s;o;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 7.</NOTE> <HI>their intent is not to execute Gods an|ger: But it is in their heart to de&s;troy and cut off this holy Nation, this royal Prie&s;t-hood;</HI> this Sacred people collected with &s;o much &s;weat, and purcha&s;ed with &s;uch precious blood. <HI>Howbeit, when the Lord hath perform'd his whole work upon Mount Zion, and upon Jeru&s;alem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 12.</NOTE> <HI>then he will bring down the fruit of the &s;tout heart, and puni&s;h the glory of their high looks, and he will take that Rod with which he hath cha&s;ti&s;ed his people, and ca&s;t it into the fire.</HI></P>
<P>What Sect hath ever been &s;o oppo&s;ed as the Chri&s;tian Religion? again&s;t what &s;ort of men hath the Devil and men &s;o &s;trongly confederated as again&s;t Chri&s;tians? If per&s;ecutions, if politick inventions, if fire, if fagots, if the teeth of wilde bea&s;ts, if gredirons, &s;eque&s;trations, barbarous u&s;age, &amp;c. if Wolves in &s;heeps cloath<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ng could have raven'd and devoured this little flock, there had not been one man to pre&s;ent a prayer to Je&s;us Chri&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.4. &amp; 124.7. &amp; 5.12.</NOTE> <HI>But he that &s;its in heaven, hath laugh'd the&s;e Tyrants to &s;corne; the &s;nares of their in|ventions have been broken, and his are delivered; he hath protected, he
<PB N="302" REF="157"> hath compa&s;&s;ed his dearly beloved Spou&s;e with his loving-kindne&s;s as with a Shield.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. And as he makes u&s;e of his power to protect; &s;o al&s;o he &s;tretcheth out his arme to the confu&s;ion and de&s;truction of his Churches enemies.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 7, &amp;c. Exod. 14 Exod. 17.14. Jo&s;h. 10.11. Act. 12.13. Act. 1.18. P&s;al. 110.1.</NOTE> He that reads of the plagues of <HI>Egypt,</HI> and the overthrow of <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> of the de&s;tructi|on of <HI>Amalech,</HI> and the five Kings by tho&s;e haile&s;tones &s;ent from heaven; of the utter &s;ubver&s;ion of the <HI>Cananiti&s;h</HI> Kings, of the rejection of the Jews, of the lou&s;ie death of <HI>Herod,</HI> of the bowels of <HI>Judas, Arrius, Julian;</HI> in a word, of the fearful ends of the per&s;ecutors of his people; mu&s;t needs confe&s;s with <HI>David,</HI> that God hath made Chri&s;ts enemies his foot&s;tool, and hath &s;et his foot upon the necks of tho&s;e proud Kings,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 10.24.</NOTE> and forced them to confe&s;s, though they were on high, yet that there is one that is higher than they, even on high at the right hand of God.</P>
<P>I have now done with the Comforts which the a&s;cen&s;ion and Se&s;&s;ion of our Saviour at Gods right hand affords; comfort to our dead bodies, comfort that he &s;its in heaven to plead for us, comfort that he makes our ca&s;e good, com|fort that he guides us and governs us here in this world, and comfort a|gain&s;t the fury of our enemies. For as a Prie&s;t in heaven he doth in|tercede for us; and as a King in heaven he doth guide, govern and pro|tect us.</P>
<P N="5"><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 68.18. Ephe&s;. 4.8.</NOTE>5. And yet his goodne&s;s &s;tays not here; the P&s;almi&s;t hath thus expre&s;&s;ed what I mean, and the Apo&s;tle after him, that being gone up on high, he received and gave gifts to men: In which you may behold the magnificence of this King. As other Conquerors in their Triumphs, &s;o he &s;catters his Mi&s;&s;ilia al|&s;o. The height of his place, the Glory of his Triumph makes him not for|get his poor little flock below, for his love comes down with a handful of gifts.</P>
<P>See whether he made not his word good, <HI>It is expedient for you that I go away;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 16.7.</NOTE> <HI>for had he not departed, the Comforter had not come;</HI> The&s;e gifts had not been poured down. I expre&s;s it right; for it was <HI>effu&s;io;</HI> not a gift given with a &s;paring hand,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 72.6.</NOTE> but a gift de&s;cending as rain into a Fleece of Wooll, and like the drops that water the earth. But, what, a &s;ingle gift? Nay <HI>Dona,</HI> gifts; for they were many, a plurality of them; Languages, Graces, Miracles, govern|ments: men to u&s;e them, Apo&s;tles, Prophets, Pa&s;tors, Doctors, every thing in &s;ome mea&s;ure, of which the Holy Gho&s;t was owner. I &s;hall &s;ay no more of them now, becau&s;e I am to give you a full accompt &s;hortly of them, in a fit time and place. For the pre&s;ent let us enter into a &s;erious con&s;ideration of the Donors bounty, that being not moved by any thing in us, except our want and nece&s;&s;ity, yet would be&s;tow.</P>
<P>Into his hou&s;hold he took us, when we were Aliens, this one Gift; and in that he provides for us Apo&s;tles to teach us, Prophets to inform us, Pa&s;tors to guide us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.17, 19, 20. Eph. 4.11. I&s;a. 50.4. 2 Tim. 4.2. 2 Tim. 2.15.</NOTE> this another gift, though in the&s;e days not much &s;et by, and to the&s;e he gives the tongue of the learned (&s;till his gifts do overflow) that they &s;peak a word in due &s;ea&s;on. And by their lips, as officers under him, he divides to us what by his death he purcha&s;ed, what by his A&s;cent he is &s;ei|zed on.</P>
<P>Wi&s;dom he is, and he divides to us wi&s;dom, <HI>To make us wi&s;e to &s;alvation;</HI> Holine&s;s he is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.30.</NOTE> and divides to us of his holine&s;s to make us better. Righteou&s;|ne&s;s he is, and he divides to us of his righteou&s;ne&s;s to make us ju&s;t: The Re|deemer of the world he is, and he divides to us of his Redemption to &s;et us free. The Lord and Heir of all he is, and he divides to us of his inheritance to make us rich;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.4.</NOTE> being gone up on high, he received gifts, and ever &s;ince he is upon the giving hand.</P>
<P>Methinks then, 'tis a &s;hame for us always to be poring upon the earth, and
<PB N="303" REF="157"> never turn an eye upward to him from whom the&s;e, and all other good gifts come. Can Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> exhortation wing your thoughts?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1.17.</NOTE> Then li&s;ten to his coun|&s;el, <HI>Seek tho&s;e things that are above, where Chri&s;t &s;its on the right hand of God:</HI> Your hope is to a&s;cend to heaven whether he is gone,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.1.</NOTE> and <HI>therefore &s;ee your con|ver&s;ation be in heaven.</HI> This I know is <HI>&s;umma voti,</HI> the &s;hort, the &s;cope of all your de&s;ires, to be where he is; at re&s;t in heaven as he is;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.20.</NOTE> at re&s;t on high as he is; as therefore he is gone to prepare a place for you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14.3.</NOTE> &s;o do you prepare your &s;elves for the place.</P>
<P>To which place he that is gone up to heaven, vouch&s;afe to bring us, that with Saints and Angels, we may enjoy the clear light of his countenance, and with them &s;ing the &s;ong of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the Lambe, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ing, glory,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 15.</NOTE> <HI>honor and power be unto him that &s;its upon the throne, and unto the Lambe for ever and ever. Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="24" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>Of Chri&s;ts coming again to Judgement.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Acts 10.42.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to te&s;tifie, that it is he who was ordained of God to be the Judge of Quick and Dead.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>AS it is the la&s;t Article of our Creed, that concerns the hi&s;tory of our Sa|viour, that Chri&s;t &s;hall come from heaven to judge the quick and dead; &s;o it is one of tho&s;e la&s;t things which the wi&s;e man wi&s;hes us to remember, as a fit <HI>memorandum</HI> to keep us from &s;in, <HI>Memento novi&s;&s;ima;</HI> what&s;oever thou take&s;t in hand remember <GAP DESC="foreign">, as it is in the Greek, the la&s;t things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl. 7.36.</NOTE> and thou &s;halt never do ami&s;s. And the&s;e are four, Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell; and they altogether make up &s;o good a le&s;&s;on, that could we but learn it well, and carry it well in our memories, we &s;hould need little more teach|ing. We might &s;pare all our Sermons, and forbear our vehement exhortati|ons, being nothing el&s;e but earne&s;t per&s;wa&s;ions and calls to good, and &s;erious di&s;&s;wa&s;ions from &s;ins; did men but call to mind that they were always dying, I had almo&s;t &s;aid, Dead men: That yet being dead, or a&s;leep in their graves, they mu&s;t thence be &s;ummoned to judgement, where if they have done well,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 5.29. Mat. 25.46.</NOTE> they &s;hall go into life eternal; if ill, into everla&s;ting pain: This, this one meditation were a &s;ufficient motive.</P>
<P>But the chief of the&s;e is judgement, for all the re&s;t depend upon it; Death is but Judgements u&s;her that goes before it; heaven or hell that retinue that follows it; death would not be &s;o fearful if judgement did not follow; hell not &s;o painful, if judgement did not go before; he that remembers the la&s;t day, re|members all the la&s;t things, and he that remembers the la&s;t things, cannot do ami&s;s. Let therefore that practice of Saint <HI>Hierom</HI> be our daily meditation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> Eat we, drink we, buy we, &s;ell we, ri&s;e we, or lye we down to &s;leep, what&s;oever we do, let us always &s;uppo&s;e we hear the &s;ummons of the la&s;t Trumpe, <HI>Surgite mortui, &amp; venite ad judicium, Ari&s;e you Dead and come to judgement.</HI></P>
<P>A point of that moment and nece&s;&s;ity to be known, that <HI>Peter</HI> omits it not in this his Sermon. Called the Apo&s;tles were to be witne&s;&s;es, witne&s;&s;es of his life, witne&s;&s;es of his death, witne&s;&s;es of his re&s;urrection, witne&s;&s;es that he &s;hould be judge of quick and dead;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 72.1, 2.</NOTE> which among other things declared him to be the <HI>Me&s;&s;ias</HI> promi&s;ed to the Fathers; for it was foretold, <HI>Give the king thy judge|ments, O Lord, and thy righteou&s;ne&s;s to the kings &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n. He &s;hall judge thy people with righteou&s;ne&s;s, and thy poor with judgement;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>He &s;hall judge among the na|tions,
<PB N="304" REF="158"> and &s;hall rebuke many people.</HI> But more clearly, <HI>Dan.</HI> 12.1, 2, 3, 4, <HI>ver&s;es.</HI> I forbear infinite other places,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 5.22.</NOTE> Chri&s;t him&s;elf had &s;aid, <HI>The Father judgeth no man, but hath delivered all judgement to the Son.</HI> And of this Apo&s;tles were witne&s;&s;es; this they were commanded <GAP DESC="foreign">, to proclaim, this to te&s;tifie.</P>
<P>Three points there are in this ver&s;e to be con&s;idered, with the fir&s;t of which, I &s;hall not now meddle, as being not directly to my purpo&s;e.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The intent of the Apo&s;tles commi&s;&s;ion, to proclaim, and to witne&s;s the office of Chri&s;t, and the Redemption purcha&s;ed by him.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That he was ordained to be the Judge.</ITEM>
<ITEM><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 14.10.</NOTE>3. That all men mu&s;t appear and be judged, whether quick or dead; For we &s;hall &s;tand before the judgement &s;eat of Chri&s;t.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> He was ordained to be the Judge.</HEAD>
<P>And then there mu&s;t be a day of judgement, for otherwi&s;e the Judge had been ordained to no purpo&s;e; and he mu&s;t be a &s;tranger to the Scripture that doubts of it; and if all other things which the holy Spirit foretold came to pa&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tertull. Apol. c.</HI> 18, 29. P&s;al. 96. I&s;a. 2.13. &amp; 19.21. &amp; 26.20. &amp; 30.33.</NOTE> what rea&s;on have we to call this in que&s;tion. This is to be read, as if en|graven with the point of a Diamond in many places. <HI>David</HI> acknowledgeth it, <HI>For he cometh, he cometh to judge the earth. I&s;aiah</HI> foretells it again and a|gain; <HI>Daniel</HI> prophe&s;ieth of it, <HI>Dan.</HI> 12.1, 2. <HI>Joel</HI> de&s;cribes it, <HI>Joel</HI> 2.31. And that I may end with him, that concluded the Prophets, <HI>Malachy</HI> I mean; he al&s;o mentions it, <HI>Behold the day comes, that &s;hall burn as an oven, and all the proud,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 4.1.</NOTE> <HI>yea and all that do wickedly, &s;hall be &s;tubble, &s;aith the Lord, and it &s;hall nei|ther leave them root nor branch.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;pare infinite other texts, becau&s;e I ha&s;ten to tho&s;e evident te&s;timonies out of the new Te&s;tament; he that did not omit to comfort his di&s;ciples with ma|ny promi&s;es in the mid&s;t of their fiery tryals to be undergone for his name, did not forget this nece&s;&s;ary comfort of his return again;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24. Mar. 13. Luc. 17.22. Act. 17.31. 1 The&s;&s;. 4.16. 2 Pet. 3.10.</NOTE> <HI>You &s;hall &s;ee the Son of man coming in the clouds with power and great glory.</HI></P>
<P>And his Apo&s;tles after him repeated it, and urged it, as a main Anchor of their hope; Saint <HI>Paul</HI> at <HI>Athens</HI> proclaims it, advi&s;eth the <HI>The&s;&s;alonians</HI> to comfort them&s;elves in it; Saint <HI>Peter</HI> teacheth it, nay an old prophecy there was, as old almo&s;t as the world that taught us much; <HI>Jude</HI> hath it out of the re|cords of <HI>Enoch,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jud. ep. ver. 14.</NOTE> for he prophe&s;ied of the&s;e things, <HI>Behold the Lord comes with thou&s;ands of his Saints, to execute judgements upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly of their ungodly deeds.</HI></P>
<P>That which I have hitherto produced, tends to this purpo&s;e that &s;ince Al|mighty God hath by a perpetual &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of Prophets, by him&s;elf, by his A|po&s;tles made mention of this his &s;econd coming, it ought to &s;tand for an un|movable foundation; that there &s;hall be a day, in which God will judge the world;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 17.31.</NOTE> which yet may &s;eem at the fir&s;t glimp&s;e to derogate from the honor of &s;o great a Maje&s;ty. Even as if &s;ome great King &s;hould call before him the ba&s;e&s;t of his &s;ervants, and cau&s;e him to render an accompt of his tru&s;t; for what is man, or what is all the glory of man? Earth and a&s;hes, &s;aith our father <HI>Abra|ham,</HI> as the &s;mall du&s;t of the balance, &s;aith <HI>I&s;aiah;</HI> a thing of naught, &s;aith <HI>David;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 144.3. Gen. 18.27. I&s;a. 40.15. P&s;al. 39.6, 7. Job 14.3. Gen. 18.21.</NOTE> a &s;hadow, <GAP DESC="foreign">, the dream of a &s;hadow, &s;aith <HI>Pindar;</HI> and doe&s;t thou then open thine eye upon &s;uch an one, and bringe&s;t him into judgement with thee? wilt thou enquire before thou de&s;troy? and go down and &s;ee whether man hath done altogether according to the cry that is come before thee?</P>
<P>But God, who is omnipotent, is al&s;o ju&s;t, and therefore as we mu&s;t give
<PB N="305" REF="158"> an account of our lives, &s;o al&s;o will he at that day give an account of his pro|ceedings in this world, and defend his own cau&s;e, and his own ju&s;tice; that what he did in this World, was equally and ju&s;tly done; the day &s;hall de|clare it. Expedient therefore it was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.13.</NOTE> that there &s;hould be a day of judge|ment,</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Ex parte &s;ui,</HI> For his own &s;ake. For if he be ju&s;t, nece&s;&s;ary it is that a good life have a good reward, and an evil life the evil of puni&s;hment. But in this life it is not alwayes &s;o, where the be&s;t are under the Cro&s;s, and wicked men crucifie them: Ungodly men flouri&s;h as the Palm Tree, and the good and godly are pre&s;&s;ed and trode under foot like the <HI>Camomile.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 73.2. P&s;a. 50.21.</NOTE> <HI>David</HI> wonders at this, his feet well-nigh &s;lipt at it, and the wicked grew pre&s;umptu|ous upon it. A thought came into their head, that God was &s;uch as they were, he had no better thoughts, no other ends. For be it that &s;ome few were made the examples of Gods anger; in one age a <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> in another a <HI>He|rod;</HI> now a <HI>Julian,</HI> and then an <HI>Arrius;</HI> yet the mo&s;t ended their dayes in peace, and de&s;cended to their graves in mirth and plea&s;ure.</P>
<P>To remove &s;uch a &s;candal therefore, when God &s;ees his time, he will up, an&s;wer all, &s;atisfie all Objections, he will vindicate his wayes, and his wi&s;e government of the world, and make it cleare by this judgement,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 3.9.</NOTE> That the world judg'd ami&s;s of him; he was not &s;lack or carele&s;s, nor gave his ble&s;&s;ings over head; but that he be&s;tow'd the&s;e to win the wor&s;t; who, becau&s;e they refu|&s;ed his mercy, &s;hall then &s;mart by his judgement.</P>
<P N="2">2. Expedient this is al&s;o, <HI>ex parte no&s;tri,</HI> For our &s;akes. God indeed be|&s;tows a reward upon his &s;ervants &s;o &s;oon as they breath out their &s;ouls.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 16.22.</NOTE> <HI>Laza|rus</HI> dyes, and the Angels fetch his &s;oul, and repo&s;e it in <HI>Abrahams</HI> bo&s;ome. <HI>A modo,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, pre&s;ently the teares are wiped from our eyes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14.13. P&s;a. 126.5.</NOTE> and the &s;or|rows are removed from our hearts; our wet &s;eed time of tears, is recompenc'd with an Harve&s;t of joy. But all this is <HI>in occulto</HI> in &s;ecret; every <HI>Dives</HI> &s;ees not this, nor wicked <HI>Pharaoh</HI> the re&s;t of <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> Nece&s;&s;ary it is that this com|pen&s;ation be made known, that this joyful change and vici&s;&s;itude be pro|claimed, that the rich man is in his gulf, that <HI>Lazarus</HI> is gone to his re&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 16.23. Act. 1.25. Mat. 19.28.</NOTE> that <HI>Judas</HI> is &s;ent to his place, and the Apo&s;tles &s;et on their Thrones. Thus much that day will manife&s;t; and that this reward be open, appointed he hath a day in which he will judge the world. Then, then it &s;hall be &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 58.11.</NOTE> <HI>&V;erily there is a reward for the righteous, doubtle&s;&s;e there is a God that judgeth the Earth.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Expedient this is for the di&s;covery of hypocrites: <HI>The heart of man is deceitful above all things; who can know it?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 17.9. 1 Reg. 21.27. 2 Sam. 15.7. Mat. 26.49. Matth. 6. Mat. 23.14.</NOTE> <HI>Ahab</HI> &s;eems to be a great penitent, he puts on &s;ack-cloth, and walks humbly before God: <HI>Ab&s;olom</HI> pretends a vow to be paid at <HI>Hebron,</HI> when he rai&s;eth Rebellion again&s;t his father: <HI>Judas</HI> ki&s;&s;eth Chri&s;t, when his intent is to betray him: The <HI>Phari|&s;ees</HI> leven their face, and fa&s;t, and pray, when their purpo&s;e is to devoure a poor widows hou&s;e. All the&s;e things are to us <HI>in o culto,</HI> we &s;ee them not, we know them not; &s;o that the foule&s;t Hypocrite may pa&s;s with us for a good Saint; a Wolf in &s;heeps cloathing, for a harmle&s;s creature.</P>
<P>A day then there mu&s;t be to put the difference; &s;hew who di&s;&s;embled with God with their lips, and who &s;erv'd him with an hone&s;t and &s;incere heart. Now that day will reveale all. Every mans work &s;hall then be made manife&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.15. Luk. 8.17.</NOTE> Eve|ry mans heart &s;hall then be opened; for our Saviours words &s;hall then be made good, <HI>There is nothing hid, which &s;hall not be made ma|nifest; nor nothing &s;ecret, which &s;hall not be made known and come a|broad.</HI></P>
<P>Before then we venture too far,<NOTE PLACE="marg">U&s;e.</NOTE> 'twill be good to look what will come of
<PB N="306" REF="159"> it. 'Tis an excellent piece of wi&s;dome; and <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> wi&s;heth it to his <HI>I&s;rae|lites,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.29.</NOTE> <HI>O that they were wi&s;e, that they under&s;tood this, that they would con&s;ider their latter end!</HI> Something &s;ure there is in this end worthy our &s;ight, that he &s;o pathetically de&s;ires they would con&s;ider it. The want of which,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 5.30.</NOTE> cau&s;ed, as <HI>Jeremy</HI> complaines, a &s;trange and horrible thing to be com|mitted in the Land; what it was, you may reade there; the people liked this &s;in, and loved that &s;in; which he pre&s;umes never would have been done, had they thought <HI>quid fiet in novi&s;&s;imo,</HI> what would be the end thereof. God in|deed was merciful, and might forgive more than they could offend; but for ought he &s;aw, their ca&s;e was de&s;perate; when the end of all things came, he could not tell what end they &s;hould have.</P>
<P>A Con&s;ideration though it move us little, yet it mov'd our Saviour very much, and fetcht a &s;igh from his heart, and tears from his eyes; he earne&s;t|ly wi&s;h'd, and the tears fell when he &s;pake, <HI>Oh that thou, even thou had&s;t known in this thy day,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 19.41.</NOTE> <HI>the things that belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes;</HI> and &s;o was faine to break off, the tears flowing &s;o fa&s;t, that they interrupted his words, and forced him to weep out the re&s;t of the &s;entence! Think not he lamented only the ruine of tho&s;e goodly buil|dings; it was their rejection, their &s;tubbornne&s;s, their hardne&s;s of heart he wept for, who would not in their day know the things that belong'd to their peace, and &s;o prevent the fury of the Lord in his day, of which this their de&s;tru|ction was but a fore-runner.</P>
<P>The&s;e teares &s;hew, that the day of Gods vi&s;itation is like to be a heavy day. Tho&s;e wi&s;hes demon&s;trate, that <HI>recordatio novi&s;&s;imi,</HI> the remembrance of the latter end, is a whole&s;ome meditation, and that the greate&s;t errours of our lives ari&s;e from the neglect of it. Did we think of it aright, we would not fore&s;low the time, but runne as fa&s;t from &s;in, as now we runne after it; come as fa&s;t on our knees to God, as with our feet we fly from him; in a word, ari&s;e, returne, and repent, before the terror of the Lord, and that angry day overtake us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl. 11.9.</NOTE> <HI>Rejoyce then O young man in thy youth, and let thy heart cheere thee in the dayes of thy youth, and walk in the wayes of thy heart, and the &s;ight of thy eyes: but know thou, that for all the&s;e things God will bring thee to judgement;</HI> when it will not be po&s;&s;ible to hide what is now kept &s;ecret, nor to gild over what is rotten; all things will appeare naked and bare; The Judge will not be corrupted nor inclin'd to favour, but give to every man according to his de&s;ert in that day.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Of the uncertainty of this day.</HEAD>
<P>But when will this day be? The que&s;tion is too curious; and yet certain it is, that the be&s;t Saints of God have been very inqui&s;itive about this point; gracious promi&s;es they had made unto them when this day came, and there|fore they thought it long till it came.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 12.8, 6.</NOTE> <HI>Daniel</HI> asks after it with a kinde of pa&s;&s;ion, <HI>O my Lord, what &s;hall be the end of the&s;e things! E&s;dras</HI> is yet more curious,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 E&s;d. 4.44, 45, 51.</NOTE> and demands upon the favour he found with God, <HI>Whether he might not live untill that time.</HI> A curio&s;ity which po&s;&s;e&s;s'd Chri&s;ts own Di&s;|ciples; they came to their Ma&s;ter privately, &s;aying, <HI>Tell us when &s;hall the&s;e things be, and what &s;hall be the &s;ignes of thy coming, and of the end of the World?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.3.</NOTE> Our Saviour &s;ayes much there, by which the approach may be gue&s;&s;ed at, but in fine re&s;olves them, that it was not for them, that it was not for them to know the times and &s;ea&s;ons which God had put in his own power; <HI>For of that day and houre knoweth no man, no not the Angels in heaven, but my Fa|ther only.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 36.</NOTE></P>
<P>Notwith&s;tanding which cleare re&s;olution, &s;ome bold Calcutatours there
<PB N="307" REF="159"> were, who in St. <HI>Pauls</HI> time would needs foretell the day. The&s;e Impo&s;tors u&s;ed three kinds of per&s;wa&s;ions; Revelations, Rea&s;ons, and counterfeit Let|ters from the Apo&s;tles; again&s;t which St. <HI>Paul</HI> oppo&s;eth his Negative,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 2.2.</NOTE> <HI>Be not troubled, neither by Spirit, nor by Word, nor by Letter as from us, as that the day of Chri&s;t is at hand. Not by Spirit,</HI> for Revelation they ne|ver had any; rather the contrary. <HI>To you it is not given. Not by Word,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 1.6.</NOTE> for <GAP DESC="foreign">, from rea&s;on Chri&s;ts coming on &s;uch a yeare cannot be concluded. <HI>Not by Letter,</HI> for from the Apo&s;tles no &s;uch Letters have proceeded, nor ever could be procured; they knew it not them&s;elves, and therefore cannot in it in|form others.</P>
<P>But neither Chri&s;ts <HI>Non e&s;t datum,</HI> nor St. <HI>Pauls</HI> threefold rea&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Napier</HI> Po&s;it. 14.</NOTE> hath &s;tay'd the itching humours of curious men, who out of a Talmudical prophe|&s;ie, a Cabali&s;tical Cypher of numbers, men and ages, and other light Argu|ments have &s;et the period to the world 6000. years, which for the Elects &s;ake may not be compleat. Others have yet gone farther, and out of I know not what &s;pirit, pre&s;umed upon the month and day.</P>
<P>But why &s;hould men pre&s;ume to know more than other &s;ober men in this point, more than the Apo&s;tles, more than the Angels, more than Chri&s;t him|&s;elf, as he was the Son of man? It is a kinde of Sacriledge to break into Gods holy place, and pry into his Ark. Chri&s;ts Apo&s;tles were nearer unto him, in as much favour as we can be. The my&s;teries of the Kingdom they might know;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 4.11. Dan. 12.4. Mat. 18.10.</NOTE> others, yet not this. Knowledge might be encrea&s;ed, as was revealed to <HI>Da|niel,</HI> and yet not in this kinde. Angels behold the face of God in heaven, have natural, experimental, revealed knowledge; <HI>&amp; matutinam &amp; ve&s;per|tinam notitiam;</HI> yet thus much they may not know. Chri&s;t him&s;elf as man, is ignorant of it; or el&s;e <HI>dicitur ne&s;cire, quia non facit &s;cire,</HI> he is &s;aid to be ignorant of it, becau&s;e he minds not to reveal it; and &s;hall a lump of heavy clay &s;ore above the Angels, the Schollar look to know more than his Ma&s;ter, or more than he intends to teach him? He is but a fool, who will be wi&s;er than Wi&s;dom it &s;elf. <HI>Secret things belong to the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 29.29.</NOTE> and then let us &s;uf|fer them to re&s;t in &s;ecret, even in the brea&s;t of him to whom they belong. 'Tis dangerous to have an eare where God hath no tongue. God to di&s;cover how much this curio&s;ity hath di&s;plea&s;ed him, hath fru&s;trated the accounts, and e|victed of errour and impo&s;ture, as many as have plea&s;ed them&s;elves with this curio&s;ity. In this point there is a re&s;olution, which is &s;afe and godly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.18.</NOTE> <HI>That the&s;e are the last times.</HI> Th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t the time of Nature is pa&s;t, the time under <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> gone; that the time of the Go&s;pel is now;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 10.6. James 5.9. Mat. 24.33. Hab. 2.3.</NOTE> that after this there &s;hall be no more time; <HI>That the Judge is near, before the door,</HI> &s;aith St. <HI>James; In or at the door,</HI> &s;aith St. <HI>M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t hew; and that he that &s;hall come, will come, and will not tarry.</HI> And upon it I &s;hall enjoyn you no other duties than the Spirit of God hath done.</P>
<P N="1">1. Be &s;ober; 'tis St. <HI>Peters</HI> coun&s;el; or if you had rather,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.7. Luk. 21.34.</NOTE> you &s;hall have it from Chri&s;ts mouth, <HI>Take heed to your &s;elves, le&s;t at any time your hearts be oppre&s;&s;ed with &s;urfetting and drunkenne&s;s, &amp;c.</HI> For the&s;e things &s;lyly &s;teale away the heart, load and oppre&s;s it, making it &s;o drow&s;ie and heavy, that it cannot look for Chri&s;ts coming. The bad &s;ervant in the Go&s;pel would never have become Ma&s;ter of mi&s;-rule, fell upon his fellow-&s;ervants,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12.</NOTE> abu&s;ed and beat them; he would never have kept &s;uch leud company, eat and drunk, and been drunken with them, had he not been per&s;waded that his Ma&s;ter had deferr'd his coming. All his Riot is imputed to that pre&s;umption. And &s;ure|ly we may impute the di&s;orders of the world to the &s;ame cau&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 6.3.</NOTE> <HI>Men put a|way the evil day farre from them;</HI> they think not the Judge is &s;o near, the A&s;&s;ize &s;o pre&s;ent. And this is it that hath brought in &s;uch a flood of wicked|ne&s;s. A way yet there is to &s;tay this inundation; remember St. <HI>Pauls</HI> words,
<PB N="308" REF="160"> <HI>The Lord is at hand;</HI> and if he were at hand then, he is much nearer now. This is the old decrepit age of the world;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 4.5.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; quod &s;ene&s;cit prop&egrave; interitum e&s;t;</HI> every thing that grows old is neare its end. The time is at hand when the account mu&s;t be given, and therefore be wi&s;e and &s;ober.</P>
<P N="2">2. For if you be not wi&s;e and &s;ober, you will be heavy and drow&s;ie, ready to fall a&s;leep, and &s;o unapt to perform another duty, which Chri&s;t out of this re&s;pect enjoyns you, <HI>Wath therefore, for you know not at what houre your Lord doth c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">me.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.42.</NOTE> Come he will, that you know; but when he will come, that you know not; watch therefore. For if you do it not, you &s;hall have le&s;s wit in your heads than every common hou&s;holder. For know this, <HI>That if the good man knew at what time the Thief would come,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.43.</NOTE> <HI>he would have wat|ched, and not have &s;uffered his hou&s;e to have been broken up.</HI> Chri&s;t is that &s;ame good Thief, he will &s;teal upon us as a Thief in the night; doth it not &s;tand us then upon to watch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 3.3.</NOTE> becau&s;e we know not the houre when he will come?</P>
<P>I &s;peak not of bodily watching, but of the care and vigilancy of the heart. For a man may be a&s;leep in &s;inne with his eyes open; and on the contrary, watch for his Ma&s;ters coming when his eyes are fa&s;t&s;hut. Will you then know what it is to &s;tand upon your Watch? Prepare your &s;elves every day to make up your account, as if the la&s;t day; &s;earch your hearts by the light of Gods Word; arraign, judge, condemn your &s;elves for your &s;ins; pray to him for Remi&s;&s;ion and pardon of them; be chang'd, become new creatures, &s;tand up|on the Gate, and look which way your &s;piritual enemies mean to a&s;&s;ault the City, labour to repell them, and beat them back, and then you need not fear to meet the Judge. <HI>Plus vigilare, e&s;t plus vivere.</HI> He that lives be&s;t, watch|eth mo&s;t.</P>
<P>Nothing &s;o like death as &s;leep; nor any thing &s;o like a dead man, as he that is laid to re&s;t. Will you then &s;hew your &s;elves alive? So long as you &s;leep in &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.34.</NOTE> you carry about you the re&s;emblance of a dead man; awake to righteou&s;ne&s;s, and &s;in not, and &s;o men will know that you are alive. The Prophet <HI>Jonah</HI> fled from God, and a mighty &s;torme from above fell upon the &s;hip, &s;o that the Mariners, which they u&s;e not oft, fell devoutly to their prayers:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Johah. 1.4, 5, 6.</NOTE> <HI>But all the while he lay, and was fast a&s;leep.</HI> The Tempe&s;t could not awake him, till the Ma&s;ter of the &s;hip rouzed him with <HI>What meanest thou, O thou &s;leeper!</HI> I apply it thus: A tempe&s;t there is coming, and it is from God; the Sea and the waters &s;hall roare. You and the greate&s;t part of the world are like <HI>Jonah,</HI> fa&s;t a&s;leep, you think not of your danger. Some few there are,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 21.25.</NOTE> who are awake, and pray that the &s;hip &s;ink not, and at this time I &s;upply the Pilots room; Tho&s;e &s;leepers mu&s;t be content that I rouze them up from their pillows of &s;ecurity, and ask, What mean you, O you &s;lee|pers! will you go away in a &s;leep! &s;hall your life pa&s;s away in a dream! Came you naked of goodne&s;s into the world, and will you return as naked! brought you no oyl in your Lamps with you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.10. 1 The&s;. 4.16.</NOTE> and will you have none when the bride|groom comes! Or do you tarry to be &s;tartled by the Angels Trump? the &s;hril|le&s;t Trumpet that ever blew, the fearfulle&s;t voice to &s;leepers that ever &s;ounded. What is it you expect? what is it you look for?</P>
<P>A long continuance of the world? That may not be; it is in its decaying age, and mu&s;t ere long di&s;&s;olve. Hope you for <HI>Methu&s;elahs</HI> years for your &s;elves? Nor that neither; for &s;eventy, or eighty, or an hundred years is the large&s;t grant. What yet do you expect? an adjournment of the Se&s;&s;ion; &s;oo|ner it may come,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.22.</NOTE> but deferr'd it will not be; <HI>for, for the Elects &s;ake tho&s;e dayes are &s;hortned.</HI></P>
<P>Or &s;uppo&s;e all this, that the world would la&s;t long, or the A&s;&s;ize were put off,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12.20.</NOTE> yet the day of thy appearance is at hand. This night, or to morrow he
<PB N="309" REF="160"> may &s;end for thy &s;oul, and exact a private account of thy life. To day a man, to morrow none. For in death there is no peradventure; in other things there is great ca&s;ualty; <HI>forte dives erit, forte pauper, &amp;c.</HI> perhaps a man may be rich, perhaps poor; perhaps honourable, perhaps di&s;honourable; per|haps married, perhaps unmarried: but can a man &s;ay, Perhaps I &s;hall die,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augustin.</NOTE> per|haps I &s;hall not die? No, no, death is a &s;nare, it takes all, 'tis a hook that catcheth all.</P>
<P>Now look as Death arre&s;ts and delivers a man, &s;o &s;hall judgement find him; if it fell him a hallow tree, the grave will not make him &s;ound; if a good tree,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 11.3.</NOTE> 'twill not make him wor&s;e. <HI>As the tree falls, &s;o &s;hall it lie. Cain</HI> died in his impenitence, and for that the Bill will be found again&s;t him. <HI>Judas</HI> in his Trea&s;on, and for a Traytour he &s;hall be condemned; the like may be &s;aid of others; if the day of death finde them unworthy, as unworthy per&s;ons at the la&s;t day they &s;hall be adjudg'd. He that goes out of the world in debt, mu&s;t lie in that eternal pri&s;on, till at the la&s;t day he be haled by the &s;evere Creditor before the Judge. When the Accu&s;er of the brethren, like &s;ome eloquent O|rator, will plead thus again&s;t an ob&s;tinate &s;inner, Not I,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 12.10.</NOTE> not I &s;uffer'd one blow on my face, one thorn in my head, one &s;courge on my back for this man, I &s;hed no blood to Redeem him, I was not crucified to &s;ave him, I promi&s;ed him no Kingdome for his work, except it were that of darkne&s;&s;e: yet hath this wicked wretch been at my &s;ervice, and devoted him&s;elf wholly to my command. Judge O righteous Judge of the world, that which is equal;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.25.</NOTE> judge him mine, who would be none of thine. After his abrenunciation of me, and all that is mine, in his Bapti&s;m, what had he to do with vanity, with lu&s;t, with anger, with covetou&s;ne&s;s? &amp;c. In the&s;e yet he hath yielded him|&s;elf my &s;ervant. Behold my works are yet found about him; and therefore let him be wholly mine, who hath wholly &s;erv'd me. O therefore beware how you part the world with any of the devils &s;tuff about you! for you &s;ee he may claim it at the day of judgement, and you for it.</P>
<P>I end this meditation with that of <HI>Augu&s;tine, Momentum hoc e&s;t unde pendet aeternitas;</HI> Our life is &s;hort, a moment, a puff of breath in our no&s;trils, but yet &s;uch a moment that on it depends no le&s;s matter than Eternity; our bli&s;s, or bane; comfort, or torment. It &s;tands us therefore in hand, to hu&s;|band this moment well, to be &s;ober in it, to be wachful in it; for then when the Bridegroom cometh, we &s;hall go with him into a place of joy. And next I &s;hall put you out of &s;u&s;pence who this Bridegroom is, which was no o|ther than He who was appointed to be the Judge, our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> He it is.</HEAD>
<P>In the Text we finde a Decree pa&s;t for it, and pre&s;ently after his Re&s;urre|ction, his faculty was dated and &s;igned for the execution of it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.18. Joh. 5.27, 22.</NOTE> <HI>All power is given to me in heaven and in earth;</HI> with which <HI>the Father delivered all Judgement to the Son.</HI> True it is that the Act of Judicature is common to all three per&s;ons, but the execution is con&s;ign'd to Chri&s;t only; By him God &s;hall judge the world. That per&s;on God and man, is delegated to this Office, although the Authority and weight of his Sentence depends upon his Divine Power. And the Rea&s;ons Interpreters fetch from common e|quity.</P>
<P>By him, &s;ay they, it was that the Law was given in Mount <HI>Sinai;</HI> by him I am &s;ure it was that the world was bought in Mount <HI>Calvary;</HI> who then &s;o fit to call men to account for the ob&s;ervation of the Law, as the Authour of the Law? who &s;o fit to judge of tho&s;e he bought, as he that laid down the price?</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="310" REF="161">2. Men we are, and who can be fitter to heare the cau&s;e of men, than one of our own fle&s;h and blood?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 19.25.</NOTE> <HI>I know that my Redeemer liveth. Go<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l,</HI> Heb. <HI>My Kin&s;man,</HI> and then he will do the part of a Kin&s;man unto me. Let God come to judgement, and down our cre&s;ts mu&s;t fall; we have nothing to an|&s;wer, no pure hands to lift up, deal only we can by &s;upp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ications, <HI>O Lo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d enter not into judgement with thy &s;ervant.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 8.5. P&s;a. 143.2. Gal. 3.19. Heb. 4.15. Mat. 18.11. Joh. 3.15, 16.</NOTE> But now it is the likelier we &s;hall finde mercy in that day, becau&s;e the Law by which he is to proceed, is in the hand of a Mediator; a man that hath experience of our infirmities, a man that came to &s;ave us, a man that dyed for us, a man that hath promi|&s;ed <HI>That who&s;oever believeth in him, &s;hall not peri&s;h, but have everla|&s;ting life.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Farther; As he was the Son of man, he was arraigned, condemned, executed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.2. Phil. 2.8, 9.</NOTE> put to a &s;hameful and a painful death: Therefore hath God now highly exalted him, &s;et him on the Bench, that was arraigned at the Barre; made him the Judge, who was judg'd; given all power to him, that &s;ubmit|ted him&s;elf to an earthly power; and &s;et his Name above every name, be|cau&s;e it was made inferiour to every name, and fa&s;tned to the Cro&s;s in &s;corn, <HI>Je&s;us of Nazare<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>August.</HI> tract. 19. in Joan.</NOTE> <HI>&amp;c.</HI> This rea&s;on is St. <HI>Augu&s;tins, Forma illa erit judex, quae &s;tetit &s;ub judice; illa judicabit quae judicata e&s;t.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">U&s;e.</NOTE><HI>U&s;e.</HI> The whole world admits of no other divi&s;ion than good and bad,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.32. Mat. 13.25, &amp;c.</NOTE> Sheep and Goats, Corne and Tares; and here is matter of meditation for both.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, For the ungodly of the world, <HI>that put the evil day away from them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 6.3. I&s;a. 28.18. Rev. 20.4, 11. Dan. 7.9.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;uppo&s;e their Covenant with Death &s;hall &s;tand,</HI> here is matter of terrour. For 'tis not &s;o; their day mu&s;t come, <HI>the Thrones mu&s;t be &s;et, and Chri&s;t the Ancient of dayes will take his place.</HI> Lord, what confu&s;ion of fa|ces will there be, to &s;ee him the Judge whom they have thru&s;t through! his wounds opened, whom they have derided! his per&s;on rai&s;ed and exalted, whom they have troden underfoot!</P>
<P>Men love not to &s;ee the faces of tho&s;e they have wronged, much le&s;s if they have power to puni&s;h them; at the very name of <HI>Jo&s;eph,</HI> his eleven bre|thren were amaz'd; <HI>I am Jo&s;eph whom you &s;old;</HI> you are found murther|ers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 45.3.</NOTE> and de&s;erve to die; I am a Prince, you my pri&s;oners. What trouble then &s;hall po&s;&s;e&s;s the hearts of wretched and accur&s;ed &s;ouls, when at the la&s;t day Chri&s;t &s;hall &s;ay to the wicked, I am Je&s;us! Je&s;us that would have &s;aved you, but you would none of my &s;alvation! Je&s;us that was &s;old to pre&s;erve you a|live, but you would not come to fetch food! Je&s;us that offer'd my &s;elf unto you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.21. &amp; 23.37. Act. 10.38. Luk. 4.29. Zach. 11.13.</NOTE> but you preferr'd <HI>Barabbas</HI> before me! <HI>Je&s;us that would have gather|ed you as a Hen gathereth her chickens, but you would not!</HI> Je&s;us that went about to do you good, but you thru&s;t me out of your Coa&s;ts, that I &s;ay not, you &s;old me for trifles, plea&s;ures, and profits! <HI>a goodly price to value the Son of God at!</HI></P>
<P>The voice of thunder, or the crack of a cloud, is nothing to the &s;ound of the&s;e words; Gods own voice upon Mount <HI>Sinai</HI> was not &s;o terrible; for they that heard it did live; but they who hear this mu&s;t live no more, except in fire. That they might be out of hearing, how glad would they be that the hills would break about them, <HI>fall upon them, cover them!</HI> But that may not be;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.30. Zach. 12.10.</NOTE> &s;tand they mu&s;t there &s;till, and &s;ee <HI>and look upon him whom they have pierced.</HI> He &s;hall be a Thorn in the eye of that Jew that Crown'd him with Thorns; a prick in the &s;ide of that Gentile, which with his &s;inne prick'd him to the heart. See him they &s;hall, and acknowledge him to be the Son of God by the eminent lu&s;tre of his glorious body, by the evident &s;igns in the Sunne, Moon, and Stars, by his ab&s;olute power to command, and the ready obedi|ence
<PB N="311" REF="161"> of Saints and Angels unto him. True it is, that this &s;ight will bring no delight to them. Delight? nay, much &s;adne&s;s and heavine&s;s. For it cannot choo&s;e but be a grief of heart to them, to &s;ee him whom they have hated,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 21.27. Mat. 24.31, 30.</NOTE> di&s;|graced, &s;corned, ca&s;t a&s;ide, come in &s;o great power, Maje&s;ty, Glory. For if a general &s;hout in heaven, if the vo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ce of an Arch-Angel, if the Trump of God, if the attendance and &s;ervice of Angels, if the invironing clouds, if the exaltation of the Cro&s;s, and the &s;eat of judgement can make any pre&s;ence terrible and glorious, this will be a day of terrour and glory.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;th. 6.11.</NOTE> <HI>For thus &s;hall it be done on that day to the man whom God will honor.</HI> All Nations &s;hall then bow before him, all people &s;hall fall low unto him, and cry, <HI>The Lord he is God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 18.39.</NOTE> <HI>the Lord he is God.</HI></P>
<P>What will the Mammoni&s;t of the world &s;ay, to &s;ee him the Judge, who in his life was &s;o poor, <HI>that he had not whereon to lay his head?</HI> What the proud, to &s;ee him the Judge, who humbled him&s;elf to the Cro&s;s? What the ambitious, to &s;ee him the Judge, who fled when they would make him King?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 9 58. Joh. 6.15. Mat. 27.34.</NOTE> What the Gluttonous before him, who was offer'd gall and vinegar? La&s;tly, What will all the lovers of the world &s;ay then before him, who hath comman|ded, <HI>That they love not the world?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.15.</NOTE> It mu&s;t needs be a great horrour and con|fu&s;ion of face to the rich, that the poor; to the proud, that the humble; to the Lion, that the Lamb; to the wanton, that the undefiled; to the glutton, that the &s;ober; to the ambitious, oppre&s;&s;ing Grandee, that the contemnor of honor, poor Chri&s;t Je&s;us mu&s;t be the Judge.</P>
<P>Then you may behold the nature of an evil con&s;cience. It lies a&s;leep here all the while a man lives, and Satan is content to &s;ing Lullaby to it, as de&s;i|rous it &s;hould &s;leep on, and take its re&s;t; But at the la&s;t day, when it &s;hall &s;ee its Judge with the&s;e eyes, &s;o terrible, &s;o glorious, then it will &s;tirre, then it will awake, and no <HI>Opium</HI> will bring it to &s;leep again; it will torment, attach, accu&s;e, endite, condemn the man, and lay to his charge the contempt of Chri&s;t and his Word, his di&s;belief, and his mi&s;demeanors in the day of grace. And he repenting and groaning in him&s;elf, &s;hall &s;ay, Oh this is that Chri&s;t whom I had &s;ometimes in deri&s;ion!<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 69.7. Heb. 10.29.</NOTE> this is that Je&s;us whom I made a Proverb of reproach! this is that Son of God whom I crucified afre&s;h, who&s;e blood I trode under foot! this is that holy One, to who&s;e Spirit I did de&s;pite! But now I &s;ee plainly that he was the Saviour of the world, that he is worthily rai&s;ed and exalted to be the Judge, when I an unworthy wretch mu&s;t &s;tand and be judg'd at the Bar.</P>
<P>The&s;e and the like &s;hall be the thoughts of the wicked at that day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 21.26.</NOTE> and their very hearts &s;hall faile them for fear, in a woful expectation of what &s;hall en&s;ue; for the&s;e are but the beginning of &s;orrows. The wor&s;t follows, when this &s;en|tence &s;hall fall from the mouth of the Judge, <HI>Depart from me ye cur&s;ed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.41.</NOTE> <HI>in|to everla&s;ting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels.</HI> Never any &s;entence that fell from the mouth of Judge, no nor all the &s;entences put to|gether, were &s;o terrible as this. In all penalties there can be but either lo&s;s or paine. Here we finde both, <HI>Depart,</HI> in that a lo&s;s, a lo&s;s beyond expre&s;&s;i|on! for it is from the ble&s;&s;ed Vi&s;ion of Gods face, <HI>in which is fulne&s;&s;e of joy.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 16.11.</NOTE> The per&s;ons are Accur&s;ed, the pain is fire, the continuance of the torment in that fire, Eternal.</P>
<P>Put ca&s;e the&s;e accur&s;ed &s;ouls &s;hould at that day put up a &s;upplication to the Judge to this purpo&s;e, for &s;ome Remi&s;&s;ion, yet they &s;hall not be heard. He that &s;tands to li&s;ten, and to receive petitions now, will not hearken then. Be it they make a motion, Lord, &s;ince we mu&s;t be ca&s;t from thy &s;ight, yet &s;end us away with a ble&s;&s;ing; but this may not be, Cur&s;ed you are. Well yet if accur&s;ed, yet &s;uffer us to go into a place of re&s;t. No, &s;aith the Judge, it mu&s;t be <HI>into Fire.</HI> Well yet, if this mu&s;t be our doom, yet remember us at la&s;t,
<PB N="312" REF="162"> and &s;uffer us not to be accur&s;ed, and lie in this fire tormen ed for ever. For ever and ever it mu&s;t be, replyes the Judge. O let not our Lord be angry, and we will &s;peak but this once: Since we be Accur&s;ed, &s;ince live in fire, &s;ince in everla&s;ting fire, yet let us have there with us &s;ome good company, who may afford us &s;ome comfort. But this may not be granted, ye &s;hall live ac|cur&s;ed, ye &s;hall live in fire, ye &s;hall live in <HI>everla&s;ting fire, prepared for the de|vil and his Angels.</HI> Tho&s;e for ever mu&s;t be your companions, tho&s;e your tor|mentors.</P>
<P N="2"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 5.1.</NOTE>2. But as for the godly, it &s;hall not be &s;o with them: For then &s;hall the righteous men &s;tand with great boldne&s;s before the face of &s;uch as have afflicted them, and made no account of their labours. The &s;entence of the Judge hath enough in it to put them in heart.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.34.</NOTE> Fir&s;t he calls in a kinde manner, <HI>Come ye;</HI> then he pronounceth them <HI>a ble&s;&s;ed p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ople;</HI> after he be&s;tows an inheritance upon them, then acquaints them with the quality of it; 'tis no le&s;s than a <HI>Kingdom;</HI> a Kingdom not then thought on, <HI>but one prepar'd for them from the beginning of the world.</HI></P>
<P>In the &s;entence there is not a word, which is not like the dropping of an honey-comb. That the fearful &s;entence to be pronounced upon the wicked terrifie them not, he calls to them fir&s;t, <HI>&V;enite, Come <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e;</HI> he fir&s;t &s;hews &s;ignes of clemency, before any token of &s;everity; <HI>Come near, for ye are ble&s;&s;ed.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ing is a rich word; and I know not the verye&s;t mi&s;creant but would wi&s;h him&s;elf well. Even <HI>E&s;au,</HI> prophane <HI>E&s;au</HI> comes with his eyes full of teares,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 27.38.</NOTE> and houles for thus much; but this was but from an earthly fa|ther: But yours is from my Father in heaven; you are <HI>Benedicti patris, The ble&s;sed of my Father.</HI> And come ye ble&s;&s;ed, not to receive &s;ome &s;mall por|tion or dowry, but an inheritance. Your Father hath adopted you for his children,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.17.</NOTE> and made you all heires. In inheritances there be great odds, one much better than another; but this is one and the &s;ame to all; One of the greate&s;t honour and highe&s;t e&s;teem that may be. It is a Kingdom: Inherit the Kingdom. What, mu&s;t all Gods adopted Sons be Kings then? <HI>Lazarus</HI> and all? who would think that &s;uch Rags were ordain'd to be exchanged for Robes? or &s;uch an ulcered body fit to wear a Crown? But &s;o it mu&s;t be, <HI>for it is your Fathers will to give you a Kingdome, for it is prepared for you.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12.32.</NOTE></P>
<P><HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> &s;uffered his brethren to be brought into great &s;traits and fears, as God doth his children &s;ometimes in this world;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 44.16.</NOTE> They are apt to &s;ay with <HI>Judah, What is this that God doth unto us? what &s;hall we &s;ay unto my Lord? what &s;hall we &s;peak?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 5.15.</NOTE> <HI>or how &s;hall we cleare our &s;elves? God certainly will finde out the iniquity of his &s;ervants.</HI> And God oftentimes in the&s;e agonies will of|tentimes refraine him&s;elf. But at la&s;t he will cleare up his face in <HI>Jo&s;ephs</HI> words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 45.3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>It is I, I am your brother Jo&s;eph; Come near to me, I pray you, I am Jo&s;eph your brother, be not afraid.</HI> Thus at that great and fearful day will Chri&s;t &s;ay to all his, It is I, it is I, I am <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> your brother, Chri&s;t your Saviour, your God; your Lord, that have not &s;pared mine own life, but have given it for you, be not afraid; be not I &s;ay afraid, pluck up your hearts and rejoyce; your &s;orrow is ended, your trial fini&s;hed. I will be a good brother unto you, and no wor&s;e for ever. It is I, it is I, be of good comfort; come, come near to me, I will promote you, and place you neare about me, in my Throne, in my Kingdome. <HI>Come you ble&s;&s;ed of my Father, for I am Je&s;us your brother, bone of your bone, and fle&s;h of your fle&s;h.</HI></P>
<P>When a merciful King &s;hall go about to ruine his b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t Subjects; when the head &s;hall cea&s;e to direct or &s;uccour the feet; when an hone&s;t Advocate &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll betray the ju&s;t cau&s;e of his Client; then think that Chri&s;t the King, the Head,
<PB N="313" REF="162"> the Advocate of his Church will ruine, plot de&s;truction, and &s;uffer a judge|ment or Decree to pa&s;s again&s;t his. But if all this may happen, for Kings are but men, and &s;ome heads may be di&s;temper'd, and &s;ome Advocates corru|pted; and others, though never &s;o hone&s;t, yet through ignorance deceiv'd, or by power over-rul'd: But with Chri&s;t it is otherwi&s;e. For there can be no bad intendment in this King toward his people: in this head not the lea&s;t &s;u|&s;picion of a bad influence upon his Body: In this Advocate there is fulne&s;s of knowledge, and plenitude of power; tho&s;e Clients then, who&s;e cau&s;e he hath taken to follow and plead, cannot mi&s;carry. 'Tis no &s;mall matter of &s;e|curity, that we &s;hall appear at no other Bar than of that of a Redeemer, where he that bought us with his blood, &s;hall be our Advocate and Judge too. No more &s;hall be put into the bill than he plea&s;eth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.1.</NOTE> for he frames it out of his own book. And no &s;entence &s;hall proceed from his mouth for his, but that of Ab&s;olution, according to that of the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.1.</NOTE> <HI>There is no condemnation to tho&s;e who are in Chri&s;t Je&s;us; who walk not after the fle&s;h, but after the Spirit.</HI></P>
<P>Thus you &s;ee this one clau&s;e, that Chri&s;t is ordain'd to be Judge, hath Law and Go&s;pel, Wine and Oyle, a Sting and Honey, Mercy and Judgement in it. To the wicked, that Chri&s;t &s;hall come to judge, there is nothing but Law, no|thing but &s;owre wine, a &s;harp &s;ting, and judgement without mercy to be ex|pected: whereas tho&s;e who are his &s;ervants, &s;hall ta&s;te nothing but honey, be cheered with oyl, hear nothing but Go&s;pel, feel nothing but mercy from Him.</P>
<P>And to receive both, both mu&s;t appear.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 14.10.</NOTE> <HI>All &s;hall appear before the judge|ment-&s;eat of Chri&s;t.</HI> In this world many cannot be brought to an&s;wer at a tri|bunal, their power is &s;o great, their wealth &s;o va&s;t; and &s;ay they could be im|pleaded, yet you know, that Laws are like Spiders webs,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Plutarch.</HI> in So|lone.</NOTE> they entangle poor flyes, but cannot hold Wa&s;ps or Hornets. Be&s;ides, Judges are too oft cor|rupted, and accepters of per&s;ons. But when that day comes, all Orders of men, all Sexes, all Nations, all &s;orts, great and &s;mall,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.12.</NOTE> rich and poor &s;hall be &s;et at the Tribunal.</P>
<Q><L>Every man &s;hall take his Doom;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Gower.</HI> lib. 2.</NOTE></L>
<L>As well the Ma&s;ter as the Groom.</L></Q>
<P>Here's no place for any Latitat. If the Writ be once put, and the Trum|pet &s;ounded, there is no <HI>Non comparuit</HI> to be return'd. No plea to be had or heard, no &s;hift or delay to be admitted; for every one mu&s;t appeare in per|&s;on, whether alive or dead; &s;o &s;aith Saint <HI>Peter, He was ordained to be</HI>
<Q>JUDGE OF QUICK AND DEAD.</Q></P>
<P>That the Dead &s;hall ri&s;e, there can be no doubt to him that believes the Scripturrs. The que&s;tion is about the quick. For &s;hall there be any then who &s;hall remaine alive? How &s;ay &s;ome, is that po&s;&s;ible, &s;ince there is a <HI>Statutum e&s;t,</HI> a Statute made in heaven, and proclaim'd by the mouth of God on earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.27.</NOTE> <HI>That all men mu&s;t once die.</HI></P>
<P>To cleare this doubt, Confe&s;&s;ed it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.22.</NOTE> <HI>That in Adam all men became mor|tal;</HI> our fir&s;t father &s;inned, and his po&s;terity died. Thus it is with the gene|rality of men; Death &s;pares none. But he who hath the power of death, may &s;pare whom he plea&s;eth, as he re&s;trains the fire, the water, the Lions mouth upon particular occa&s;ions. And out of this plenary power, an exemption was granted to <HI>Enoch.</HI> Some Rabbins indeed &s;uppo&s;e he died, yet &s;o, that his death was <GAP DESC="foreign">, an ea&s;ie and &s;weet kinde of death without paine; but the Apo|&s;tles
<PB N="314" REF="163"> Te&s;timony is evident, that he died not, <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>He was tran&s;lated that he might not &s;ee death.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.5.</NOTE> And of <HI>Eliah</HI> it is confe&s;&s;ed; The&s;e two,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 2.11.</NOTE> notwith&s;tanding the &s;tatute, were exempted, and therefore there may be an exemption, if God plea&s;e, for others al&s;o. And of this number we finde all tho&s;e who &s;hall be alive at Chri&s;ts coming, who in the Text are call'd <HI>the Quick;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the living;</HI> in the Epi&s;tle to the <HI>The&s;&s;alonians,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>tho&s;e that remain,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 4.17.</NOTE> he means <HI>alive.</HI></P>
<P>But what &s;hall then happen to the&s;e? A my&s;tery and &s;ecret it is; and had not St. <HI>Paul</HI> revealed it, we knew not what to &s;ay to it. But now we can give an an&s;wer from his mouth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.51.</NOTE> <HI>We &s;hall not all &s;leep,</HI> that is, dye, <HI>but we &s;hall be all changed.</HI> Such a change there mu&s;t be, both in the dead and living; <HI>becau&s;e fle&s;h and blood,</HI> that is, the corrupt qualities, <HI>and infirmities of fle&s;h and blood,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">50.52.46.</NOTE> <HI>cannot inherit the Kingdome of God. Chang'd we &s;hall be all;</HI> and made of mortal immortal; of corruptible incorruptible; of natural &s;pi|ritual; of weak &s;trong; in a word, of earthly heavenly; of ba&s;e and vile, glo|rious creatures in our bodies: And this change &s;hall be without any delay, without &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of time, it &s;hall be in a moment, in an in&s;tant, in the twinkling of an eye;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 4.17. 1 Cor. 15.51.</NOTE> as &s;oon as you can &s;hut your eye-lid, &s;ay &s;ome; as &s;pee|dy as you turn the candle of your eye, &s;ay others. The Trumpet &s;hall no &s;oo|ner &s;ound, but this change &s;hall be made. But the doubt doth &s;till remaine. How then do all die? An&s;wer is made, that this word <HI>Death</HI> is taken in a double acception: Either properly, or improperly. Properly, for the &s;epara|tion of the &s;oul from the body: Or improperly, for the mutation of the corrupt qualities of the body.</P>
<P N="1">1. Many of the Latine fathers, and with them the <HI>Pontificians,</HI> becau&s;e of tho&s;e words of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19.</NOTE> <HI>Du&s;t thou art, and to dust &s;halt thou return;</HI> and becau&s;e Original &s;in hath over-run all mankinde, do except no man from the &s;troke of death taken in a proper and &s;trict &s;en&s;e; and <HI>Aquinas</HI> is bolder, who maintaines an incineration of the body, from who&s;e a&s;hes an incorruptible bo|dy &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll ari&s;e: which <HI>Salmeron</HI> affirms, &s;hall be done <HI>igne conflagrationis,</HI> by that fire which &s;hall burn the whole world.</P>
<P N="2">2. But the Greeks, and &s;ome of the Latines collect out of the Apo&s;tles words, there &s;hall be a change only, which &s;hall be a freedome of the body from all corruptibility and mortality, and other defects. Which becau&s;e it &s;hall not di&s;&s;olve the <HI>totum compo&s;itum,</HI> cannot be &s;aid to be a true, real, and proper death.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Calvin.</HI> in The&s;. 1. cap. 4.</NOTE> To their judgement <HI>Calvin</HI> &s;ub&s;cribes, <HI>Qui dormiunt aliquo temporis spatio, exuunt corporis &s;ubstantiam; qui innovabuntur, non ni&s;i qua|litatem.</HI> And this opinion &s;eems mo&s;t con&s;onant to the Holy Gho&s;t for the&s;e rea&s;ons:</P>
<P N="1">1. The very Preface to St. <HI>Pauls</HI> Text, &s;peaks for it, <HI>Behold I &s;hew you a my&s;tery.</HI> Is it any my&s;tery to &s;hew all &s;hall die? To be mortal and breath out our &s;ouls, needs no Demon&s;tration, dayly rea&s;on and experience will prove it. The &s;ecret is, that at Chri&s;ts coming there &s;hould be many men re|main alive, who &s;hould not die: that they &s;hould be pre&s;ently chang'd; of mortal creatures, become immortal, though <HI>di&s;pari conditione,</HI> in an un|like condition; the good made incorruptible by glory, the bad made immortal for pain.</P>
<P N="2">2. And to this the Adver&s;ative particle here gives great &s;trength, <HI>But:</HI> For it makes a plain oppo&s;ition and di&s;tinction betwixt <HI>All</HI> in the fir&s;t pau&s;e, and <HI>All</HI> in the &s;econd: intimating &s;omething to be attributed to the&s;e, which &s;hall not happen to the other. Death to tho&s;e, but a change to the&s;e. All &s;hall not &s;leep, negatively, exclu&s;ively, but all &s;hall be chang'd; as if he had &s;aid, Though all die not, yet &s;omewhat there &s;hall be that &s;hall happen to all in&s;tead of death, <HI>viz.</HI> a mutation.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="315" REF="163">3. La&s;tly, This is con&s;onant, and very aptly agrees with the clau&s;e of the next ver&s;e, <HI>The dead &s;hall be rai&s;ed incorruptible,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 53.</NOTE> <HI>and we &s;hall be chan|ged.</HI> The dead rai&s;ed; but we that live, changed; they &s;hall have their Re&s;ur|rection; we in&s;tead of it, our Mutation. Doth he not plainly put a difference betwixt the one and the other? As Re&s;urrection is a favour expected by tho&s;e who lie in their graves: &s;o is this alteration and change of the corrupt qualities of their bodies, an indulgence granted to tho&s;e that &s;hall be alive at the &s;ound of the la&s;t Trump. And this I take to be the my&s;tery which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> reveals.</P>
<P>That I hold you no longer, Be the truth on which &s;ide it will, yet this is certain, than all mu&s;t appear. Quick and Dead, and that the Judge will pa&s;s &s;entence upon all.</P>
<P>Look upon the pri&s;oners at the Bar, and among them look upon your &s;elves; for all you mu&s;t &s;tand there; when you can exempt your &s;elves out of the number of the dead or living,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.12.</NOTE> or be free from the appellation of high or low, &s;mall or great, then you &s;hall have a better place; till then you mu&s;t be content to be ranked with tho&s;e who mu&s;t hold up their hand.</P>
<P>The King here &s;its upon his Throne, the Judges &s;it upon the bench, and the Ju&s;tices are A&s;&s;e&s;&s;ors, and &s;it by him, and God is content all this while to &s;tand; <HI>God &s;tandeth in the Congregation of the mighty.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 82.1.</NOTE> He &s;tands atten|tively and patiently, to &s;ee how they in the Throne and Bench carry them|&s;elves. But then the ca&s;e will be altered; He will &s;it, and they &s;hall &s;tand. He that &s;tood waiting &s;o long, and li&s;tning &s;o long, to mark what they did upon their &s;eats, will make all the&s;e great ones &s;tand before him at the bar, and an|&s;wer for what they have done upon the bench. Neither do you who &s;tand be|low, imagine that you &s;hall be forgot, and never call'd for. No, no; all you, even the meane&s;t per&s;on among you mu&s;t appeare; not only the great,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.12. Mat. 24.40, 41.</NOTE> but the &s;mall, &s;o &s;aith St. <HI>John; &s;he at the mill, and be in the field.</HI> The grave cannot hide you, your life cannot protect you, the entrails of fi&s;hes, the gor|ges of foules, the maws of wilde bea&s;ts, the depths of waters cannot detaine you. God will call to the&s;e, and the earth mu&s;t give up her dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.13. Ezek. 37.7.</NOTE> and the bea&s;ts their prey, and the &s;ea her &s;laine. <HI>Bone mu&s;t come again to bone, and &s;inew &s;hall be knit to &s;inew, and fle&s;h &s;hall cover all, and breath enliven all.</HI> Living or dead, you mu&s;t &s;tand before the Judge; not one &s;hall be ab&s;ent.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 4.18.</NOTE> As there is an order, <HI>That all mu&s;t dye, or be changed:</HI> &s;o al&s;o there is another Order for judgement, <HI>All mu&s;t appeare before the judgement-&s;eat of Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>What pri&s;oners therefore do before the A&s;&s;ize, that we ought to do before this great day, bethink our &s;elves of an an&s;wer to every part of the Endite|ment. Not guilty we &s;hall not be able to plead; for <HI>he found folly in his An|gels, and iniquity in the be&s;t of his Saints.</HI> One way there is to take off the bill, and cancel the nditement. Amendment and Faith will do it; Look then you be provided of the&s;e again&s;t God &s;hall call. Penitent teares will &s;o blur and wet the Enditement, that it cannot be read. Faith will pre&s;ent &s;uch an infinite obedience and &s;atisfaction, that the Judge will be pacified. It will make what is his, yours; &s;o that what is done, cannot be undone; yet upon his book it will be no more found and read, than if never done. Oh how happy would the pri&s;oner at the bar think him&s;elf, if after the commi&s;&s;ion of &s;ome notorious offence, a few teares, and &s;ome expre&s;&s;ions of &s;orrow, the leaving off his old cour&s;e, and becoming a new man, would &s;ave his life! Your ca&s;e is better; this &s;orrow and reformation will availe you. While there|fore you are in the&s;e pri&s;ons of your bodies, and are not yet brought to the bar,
<PB N="316" REF="164"> let your eyes run down with tears for what is pa&s;t, and become new men; and &s;o though you mu&s;t &s;tand at the bar, yet you &s;hall not be condemn'd as Male|factors.</P>
<P><HI>My little children of whom I travel in the Lord,</HI> and &s;hould judge it my happine&s;s to pre&s;ent you to the Judge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.19. Heb. 13.17.</NOTE> <HI>and make my account with <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oy,</HI> &s;hall I acquaint you with the &s;ecrets of my heart? I never reade tho&s;e words of the Go&s;pel without horrour and trembling (<HI>The men of Ninivee &s;hall ri&s;e up in the judgement with this Generation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 12.41, 42.</NOTE> <HI>and condemne it; for they repented at the Preaching of</HI> Jonas, <HI>and behold a greater than</HI> Jonas <HI>is here! The Queene of the South &s;hall ri&s;e up in the judgement a|gain&s;t this generation, and condemne it: For &s;he came from the utmo&s;t parts of the earth to heare the wi&s;dome of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here.</HI>)</P>
<P>For, methinks, I heare the la&s;t Trump &s;ounding, the Judge &s;et upon the Tribunal, the Books opened, Chri&s;tians &s;et to the Barre; and the <HI>Ni|nivites</HI> on one hand, and the Queene of the South on the other, up|braiding and libelling, and that ju&s;tly again&s;t them. She enditing them for their ignorance and negligence; and they impleading them for their infi|delity, irrepentance, and intemperance. To which accu&s;ation what will be replyed, I &s;ee not; Lay the fault upon <HI>Jonah</HI> you cannot; for the Prophet hath lift up his voice in your &s;treets, cryed he hath early and late, <HI>Repent,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.2. Luk. 9.56.</NOTE> <HI>for the Kingdome of God is at hand.</HI> Transferre the fault upon the Judge you dare not, <HI>for he came to &s;ave, and not to de&s;troy;</HI> he, greater than <HI>Jonah,</HI> than <HI>Solomon,</HI> would have wonne you to amend|ment, to be wi&s;e in time, and was prodigal of his Blood to &s;ave you. Look about for Advocates, you can finde none, Accu&s;ers many. Your very &s;ilence &s;peaks you guilty, and your Guilt calls for Condem|nation.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jonah 3.8.</NOTE>And yet I know what you may an&s;wer, We have &s;inned with <HI>Ninivee,</HI> but we have repented with <HI>Ninivee;</HI> we have done wickedly as that wick|ed City, but we have cried mightily to God, and wa&s;hed off that wicked|ne&s;s with a bathe of teares; proudly and pre&s;umptuou&s;ly we offended, but for this we appeared in Sack-cloth and a&s;hes before thee. We once turned a|way our eare, and would not heare one wi&s;er than <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;peaking by his Emba&s;&s;adours to us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 10.8.</NOTE> but after we confe&s;&s;ed, <HI>That happy are thy men, and happy are the&s;e thy &s;ervants which &s;tand continually before thee, and that heare thy wi&s;dome.</HI> Now &s;uch is the Rhetorick of this Apology, that if found true, it will melt the bowels of the Judge into compa&s;&s;ion; &s;tand up he will in the behalf of his Elect, and ask, What <HI>Ninivite</HI> dare ri&s;e up again&s;t them? What black-faced Queen of the South judge and condemn the&s;e peni|tents. I, even I have &s;een their tears, bottled them up, and numbered in my book their &s;orrows,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 44.22.</NOTE> <HI>and for my Nams-&s;ake have blotted out their tran&s;|gre&s;&s;ions.</HI></P>
<P>Strive therefore with God by &s;orrow and amendment, as he &s;trives by his Spirit and Word with you.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.3. Jonah 3.9. Ezek. 33.11. Heb. 3.15. Gen. 32.26.</NOTE> Meet him in &s;ack-cloth and a&s;hes, before his fierce anger doth ari&s;e. <HI>Quis &s;cit? Who knows whether he will return and pardon?</HI> Nay, <HI>Quis non &s;cit? Who knows not that he will returne and pardon:</HI> for his Word and his Oath is pa&s;&s;ed for it. Thus therefore while it is call'd to day, if you wre&s;tle, you &s;hall have a ble&s;&s;ing; Thus if you contend, you &s;hall wear a Crown.</P>
<P>The Judge on the Throne at the la&s;t day will &s;ay unto you, <HI>Come ye Ble&s;&s;ed.</HI> The&s;e are the men who weakly fouled their Garments, but they have wa&s;hed them in the blood of the Lamb. The&s;e are they who
<PB N="317" REF="164"> ignorantly and unwillingly defiled their hands, but they thru&s;t their fin|gers into my &s;ide, and clean&s;ed them with my blood. The&s;e never com|mitted &s;inne without a teare, nor yielded to wickedne&s;s without a &s;ob, a &s;igh, a groane; a&s;hamed they were for what they did, and confounded for that in which they tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed, and therefore they &s;hall enter into my joy, and their joy.</P>
<P>My joy it is to reward them, and their joy to be thus rewarded: And this joy &s;hall no man take from them; For ever and ever they &s;hall be happy, and follow the Lamb where&s;oever he goeth: Which God grant to us all in his good time, for his Son Je&s;us Chri&s;ts &s;ake: To whom with the Father, and the Holy Gho&s;t, be all Glory and Honour world with|out end. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>The&s;e Sermons which follow next, &s;erve to expound the Article concerning the Holy Gho&s;t.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="165">
<PB N="319" REF="165">
<HEAD>To the Right Wor&s;hipful Sir <HI>THOMAS ABDY,</HI> Knight, And his two Brothers, Mr. <HI>ROBERT ABDY,</HI> and Mr. <HI>JOHN ABDY;</HI> The Authour wi&s;heth all health and happine&s;s.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Worthy Sir,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_IT is more than thirty three years &s;ince your grave and prudent father committed you to my tuition, being then but of tender age; but even then I confe&s;s &s;oft and excellent wax, apt to receive a clear impre&s;&s;ion of learning, vertue, and Religi|on. I &s;hould do you wrong, if <HI>I</HI> did not acknowledge that you were even then ingenious, and indu&s;trious, and &s;o &s;taid and grave beyond your years, that you promi&s;ed to be the man, which I now hear you are, &s;ober in your wayes, prudent in your under|takings, ju&s;t in your dealings, pious in your devotions, and &s;et|tled in your Religion, which in this &s;haking age is no &s;mall com|mendation. My hopes of you were great in your minority, and in my old age it is my comfort, that they are not fru&s;trated. It is now about thirty years &s;ince I &s;aw you; yet to give you a&s;&s;u|rance, that as yet I bear you fre&s;h in memory, I have pre&s;umed to dedicate the Third Part of my Meditations of the Creed to your name and protection. I know that of the re&s;t it will need a &s;hield, which your judgement ripened by time is able to afford it, and my pre&s;umption is you will.</P>
<P>And I hope it &s;hall not offend, that I have joyn'd your bre|thren with you, in whom I have no other intere&s;t but that of your parents, a vertuous, pious, and prudent couple whom I ho|nour'd in their lives, and do not forget in their graves. The re|membrance of them is to me yet precious, and therefore I have brought my box of &s;pikenard, as de&s;irous to embalm it. Which yet I confe&s;&s;e is far inferior to that perfume which you three
<PB N="320" REF="166"> green branches of that excellent root &s;end forth. 'Tis the de&s;ire of every man to be immortal; which becau&s;e he cannot be in him&s;elf, his &s;tudy is to pre&s;erve that immortality in his &s;eed Nor wealth, nor wit, nor policy can ever perpetuate that. The Philo&s;opher makes it the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of vertue, the Divine of Re|ligion; and they both &s;ay truth, the difference being ea&s;ily recon|ciled, &s;ince vertuous Religion, and Religious vertue is the &s;ole way to perpetuate a Noble family. Go on then you dear bre|thren, who lay in the &s;ame womb, let Religion be your rule, and the practice of vertue the Expre&s;&s;e, and I &s;hall not doubt the con|tinuance of your memory to po&s;terity.</P>
<P>I am per&s;waded you need no Nomenclator. But there be &s;ome who are of &s;uch a bu&s;ie nature, that they will be giving ad|vice where no need is. And among the&s;e Polypragmons I &s;hall bear it, if you rank me. However love may bring a mantle, and cover this fault of old age, which is by nature Talkative. In quicker words, if what <HI>I</HI> pre&s;ent here, may any way be &s;ervicea|ble to make you more knowing and practical in the duties of Reli|gion, I have my end. As for my freedom, I humbly crave par|don, being one who de&s;ires that you may remain three bodies with one heart, as at this di&s;tance I hear you do, and that with one heart you may be the &s;ervants of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, in whom</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>I am ready to &s;erve you, William Nicol&s;on.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="3" TYPE="part">
<PB N="321" REF="166">
<HEAD>AN EXPOSITION OF THE Apo&s;tles Creed. <HI>The Third Part.</HI></HEAD>
<DIV2 N="25" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The De&s;cent of the Holy Gho&s;t.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Acts 2.1, 2, 3, 4.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And when the day of Penteco&s;t was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.</P>
<P>And &s;uddenly there came a &s;ound from heaven, as of a ru&s;hing mighty winde, and it filled all the hou&s;e where they were &s;itting.</P>
<P>And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it &s;ate upon each of them.</P>
<P>And they were all fill'd with the holy Gho&s;t, and began to &s;peak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them uttterance.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WE are this day met to ble&s;s God for ble&s;&s;ing us, to give him thanks for the be&s;t gift that he ever gave; As upon this day, he &s;ent down according to our Saviours pro|mi&s;e, the holy Gho&s;t, and for that, Hallowed be his Name. This was one of tho&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 11.</NOTE> tho&s;e wonderful works of God; which the Apo&s;tles had no &s;ooner recei|ved, but publi&s;hed: So wonderful,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 12.</NOTE> that all that were pre&s;ent were amazed at it; they doubted, they knew not what it meant: So wonderful, that there were not tongues enough on earth to &s;pread it abroad, except there came a &s;upply from heaven: That as every Nation received a &s;hare of the gift, &s;o there might be in every Nation &s;ome to magnifie God for it.</P>
<P>And they who will not be per&s;waded to magnifie his holy Name for this Donation, will hardly be moved to make it great for any: Becau&s;e all the wonderful works of God, though great in them&s;elves, though good in them|&s;elves, yet are not beneficial and good to us, till the holy Gho&s;t &s;eals and de|livers them. For every man may take a threefold view of his own condition. As he is a meer man, as a Chri&s;tian, and as born againe. For every man is not a Chri&s;tian; the Heathens are not &s;o; nor every Chri&s;tian is not born a|gain;
<PB N="322" REF="167"> the wicked are not &s;o. His Manhood he hath from God the Father. He made him and all the world. His Chri&s;tian Name from Chri&s;t, for he Re|deemed him, and all mankinde: But his new-birth from the holy Gho&s;t, for he &s;anctifies him, and all the elect people of God. This Trinity of graces pro|ceeds from this Trinity of per&s;ons.</P>
<P>Now to what purpo&s;e had either of the two fir&s;t been be&s;towed, had it not been for this third? For had we not been be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n again of water and the Spirit, into heaven we could not have gone; and th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> it had been but a mi&s;erable ca&s;e, either to have been made or Redeem'd. Of our making there is no doubt; for every man will confe&s;s, that it is but a wretched ca&s;e to be made for Hell. The que&s;tion is about our Redemption. For what! &s;hould this have been of no force, without the work of the Spirit? No, of none to us, had it not been for this Seal. That great work hath not its full perfection, till the holy Gho&s;t be given. Full it is indeed in it &s;elf, the Ran&s;ome being fully paid upon the Cro&s;s; The blood of the Son of God there &s;hed, being a &s;ufficient price for the Redemption of ten thou&s;and Worlds. But yet not full and perfect, and comfortable to us, till there be a&s;&s;urance given that it is made ours, which is the work of the Spirit in our hearts.</P>
<P>Shall I &s;peak to you after the manner of men? and I am bold &s;o to &s;peak, becau&s;e the Spirit him&s;elf hath &s;o &s;poken before me. Chri&s;t is the Word, and all we heare of him but words; words &s;poken, or words but written. And a word, ye know, is of no force, yea though written, which we call a Deed or Obligation, till the Seal be fixed and impre&s;&s;ed; that is it which makes it au|thentical. God hath borrowed the terms from us, and &s;peaks to us in our own language. A fair conveyance and Charter we have to produce for a pardon and eternal life; many gracious promi&s;es, many glorious prerogatives, words enough extant in his book to rai&s;e our hearts. What want we yet? The &s;eal. Could we but once finde them &s;ealed and delivered over unto us, we might be &s;ecure. This al&s;o our good Father, and gracious Redeemer is plea&s;ed to do: He vouch&s;afes to give us of his holy Spirit, <HI>by whom we are &s;ealed to the day of redemption;</HI> and &s;o by his &s;ignature, what&s;oever is contained in the Deed to our comfort, is made over to us.</P>
<P>Farther, put ca&s;e an Act or Deed be &s;ealed, as it happens in the VVill of a Te&s;tator, yet till an Admini&s;trator or Executor be allowed and admitted, all's in &s;u&s;pence; no Legacy can be &s;ued for, nor any Creditor look for &s;atisfacti|on. A faire VVill we have confirmed by the Death of the Te&s;tator, I mean our bountiful Lord and Ma&s;ter Je&s;us Chri&s;t; in it not the younge&s;t childe or poore&s;t &s;ervant of his family, but hath a rich Legacy bequeath'd him. But there was no Admini&s;trator declared till the Spirit de&s;cended. After ten days the Sonne from the Father &s;ends down the holy Gho&s;t with Letters (as I may &s;o &s;ay) of Admini&s;tration (for the Admini&s;tration is the Spirits) and he conveighs over to every one,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.5.</NOTE> what is freely and graciou&s;ly be&s;towed in the VVill.</P>
<P>I &s;hall yet farther make this point more plaine to you. There's not any thing in Religion can do you any good, were it not for the Holy Gho&s;t; your Bapti&s;me, our preaching, your receiving, our and your praying were all in vaine. Begin with that with which all begin; go to the Font and wa&s;h there, and what &s;hall ye wa&s;h off, without the Spirit of God clean&s;e the wa|ter? you may perhaps wa&s;h off a few &s;pots of the body, but your &s;ouls will be ne're the cleaner, if the Spirit of God move not upon the water, and make it the Laver of Regeneration.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.</NOTE> From the Font &s;tep to the Pulpit, and our words will be found to be but as a <HI>&s;ounding bra&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13. 1 Cor. 3.6. 2 Cor. 3.6.</NOTE> <HI>or a tinkling Cymbal,</HI> ex|cept the Spirit gives life to them; for he that <HI>plants</HI> is nothing, and he that <HI>waters</HI> is nothing, <HI>but God that gives the encrea&s;e.</HI> He mu&s;t put life into our
<PB N="323" REF="167"> words, they are otherwi&s;e but <HI>a killing, and a dead Letter.</HI> Go yet higher, though with much feare and reverence, and approach the Holy Table; and what behold you now there but bread and wine? were they more, &s;uch as the new Religion of <HI>Rome</HI> teacheth, the very fle&s;h, and very blood of the Son of God; yet if the Spirit come not thither, the receivers were ne're the bet|ter. If you bring not Faith and Repentance with you, which are the graces of this holy Spirit, you receive no benefit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11.27. Joh 6 63.</NOTE> nay much hurt by that which you there receive. <HI>The fle&s;h profiteth nothing.</HI> La&s;tly, remove into your Clo|&s;et, and make your petitions with <HI>Daniel, three times aday;</HI> and from thence remove to this holy place;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.26, 27.</NOTE> unle&s;s the Spirit of God come <HI>and help our infir|mities, and make interce&s;&s;ion with us with &s;ighs and groans that cannot be uttered,</HI> all's to no purpo&s;e. For we know not how nor what to pray, and therefore cannot expect to receive much. So nece&s;&s;ary a gift this was of the Holy Gho&s;t, becau&s;e for us no good thing could be done, or by us nothing done acceptable to God without it: nor Chri&s;ts merits &s;ealed to us, nor our &s;ervice plea&s;ing to him. To have been born, to have dyed, to have a&s;cen|ded, are Acts of Mercy and M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">je&s;ty: but till we come to be partakers of the Divine Nature, be joyn'd to him by his Spirit, as he was joyn'd to us by his fle&s;h, we are but <HI>animales,</HI> meer natural men; men of &s;oul, not of the Spirit. And this is a certain rule, that <HI>animalis homo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.19.</NOTE> the Natural man that never receiv'd the Spirit, perceives, reli&s;heth, ta&s;tes not the things of God. You know it was the fir&s;t Que&s;tion that St. <HI>Paul</HI> asked when he came to <HI>Ephe&s;us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 19.2.</NOTE> <HI>Whether they had received the Spirit?</HI> as much as to &s;ay, If you have not receiv'd him, you have yet receiv'd nothing, all's to no purpo&s;e, for nothing will do you good.</P>
<P>It is not then without great rea&s;on, that among tho&s;e foundations of our belief, this al&s;o of the Holy Gho&s;t is laid for one. The &s;umme of which, is, That I believe the Holy Gho&s;t to be the third per&s;on in the ble&s;&s;ed Trinity, e|qual with the Father and the Son, but proceeding from both: That he is the Lord and giver of life, and that he &s;pake by the Prophets. And therefore as I believe, and wor&s;hip, and glorifie God the Father as my Creator and dayly Protector, and God the Son as my Redeemer and Mediator: &s;o al&s;o I relie upon, wor&s;hip, and glorifie God the Holy Gho&s;t as my dayly Comforter, In|&s;tructor, and Sanctifier; who works all grace and vertue in me, being by Na|ture a lump of &s;inne and ma&s;s of corruption. Of whom, that you may have the fuller knowledge, by his help and a&s;&s;i&s;tance, I have conceiv'd the&s;e follow|ing meditations; taking my ri&s;e from this &s;tory of his de&s;cent &s;o fully &s;et forth unto us by St. <HI>Luke,</HI> in the words I but even now read unto you. Out of which I &s;hall propo&s;e unto you the&s;e four Generals. 1. The effu&s;ion. 2. His manner of coming. 3. His abode. 4. The effects.</P>
<P N="1">1. In the effu&s;ion we are to reflect upon the&s;e &s;everals:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The Time, <HI>viz. The day of Penteco&s;t fully come.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The Place, <HI>Hieru&s;alem:</HI> An upper Chamber, in which
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. They were <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>with one accord.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>About the &s;ame bu&s;ine&s;s.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>He came then upon a good day, <HI>White&s;unday.</HI> To a good place, <HI>Hieru|&s;alem.</HI> To good-minded people, for they were at unity and peace a|mong them&s;elves.</P>
<P N="2">2. The manner of his coming was wonderful.</P>
<P N="1">1. As a great Prince he had his Harbinger before him, <GAP DESC="foreign">, An Eccho, a Sound fit for the purpo&s;e he came. In which Eccho there be four con|&s;iderable Appendices.</P>
<LIST>
<PB N="324" REF="168">
<ITEM>1. It was <HI>de coelo,</HI> from heaven, whence every good gift comes.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. It was <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;udden, as are the in&s;pirations of the Spirit.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. It was violent, as of a mighty ru&s;hing winde.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. It was filling; for it fill'd all the hou&s;e where they were &s;itting.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="2">2. After this Harbinger there followed the Apparition in the &s;hape of tonges; which had three properties.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. They were divided, <HI>Cloven tongues.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. They were fiery, <HI>As of fire.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. They &s;tayed when they came, <HI>They &s;ate upon every one of them.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="3">3. The Con&s;equents of this winde and apparition, which are;
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That they were fill'd, all fill'd, and that with the mo&s;t precious gift that ever was be&s;towed, <HI>With the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. They concealed not the gift, <HI>They began to &s;peak.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The tongue in which they &s;pake, which was all languages, <HI>For it was with other tongues.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. But yet with this re&s;triction and limitation, <HI>Quid, &amp; quantum, &amp; quomodo Spiritus dabat, All was as the Spirit gave them ut|terance.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>And this of <HI>&V;tterance,</HI> is <GAP DESC="foreign">, a gift too; which that at this time it may be given to me, I de&s;ire you to be in&s;tant with all prayer and &s;upplication in the Spirit; without who&s;e a&s;&s;i&s;tance I &s;hall not be able to &s;peak as I ought of this great my&s;tery, to the unfolding of which I now de&s;cend.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> When the day of Penteco&s;t was fully come. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</HEAD>
<P>Though Religion be not tyed to time, yet the practice thereof requires a &s;et time allotted to it. For remove the circum&s;tances, where, when, and by whom Religious duties &s;hall be performed, and you &s;hall finde men will not be long Religious. Hence Religious minds, as they have alwayes had their Sacred places where, and their Sacred per&s;ons by whom, &s;o al&s;o have they had their Sacred &s;et dayes when to &s;erve God.</P>
<P>Now God is either &s;erved with an humble, pen&s;ive, &s;orrowful &s;oul, or with a joyful, merry, and glad heart; and both have their vici&s;&s;itudes, both their dayes. As God deals with us, &s;o we mu&s;t behave our &s;elves to him. Joy and grief divide our time, and mark out our dayes with black and white &s;tones. On &s;uch a day God hath or doth deale us a ble&s;&s;ing: Let us rejoyce and be glad in it. On that other he &s;ends us a Cro&s;s, &s;ack-cloth and a&s;hes are fit Robes for it. God likes not, that man be like the &s;ullen earth from which he came; A bruti&s;h lump, un&s;en&s;ible of the hand that does him good or evil. And therefore he is be&s;t plea&s;ed, that as he divides to us, &s;o we divide with him; expre&s;s upon its day both Pa&s;&s;ions: Joy, upon that day he does us good; and grief upon that day we &s;uffer under his hand. And upon this ground it is that the Church hath differenced her time, marked out &s;ome for fa&s;ting dayes, others for fe&s;tival &s;olemnities. With tho&s;e dayes of pen&s;ive dejection I will not meddle; my Text calls me to &s;peak of a Fea&s;t.</P>
<P>A Fea&s;t and a Religious Fea&s;t. Now a Religious Fea&s;t will alwayes put us in mind of a benefit &s;ent from heaven; The day on which it is kept, being ad|vanced above other dayes, becau&s;e that &s;ome &s;tream of mercy &s;pringing a|bove, hath overflowed the Land in which we live. For it is with dayes as it is with men; equal they are <HI>in e&s;&s;e naturae,</HI> all equally from the ground; even the fir&s;t <HI>Adam</HI> was but an earthen ve&s;&s;el; and the be&s;t &s;ince but &s;herd; of that old Pot. When mens bones lie &s;cattered before the pit, you may &s;ee of what
<PB N="325" REF="168"> mettal their pitchers were. No man can di&s;tingui&s;h betwixt a Ribb of <HI>Laza|rus,</HI> and <HI>Dives</HI> bones: But <HI>in e&s;se morali,</HI> in &s;tate and condition, a va&s;t dif|ference and imparity there is. For God hath di&s;tingui&s;hed the&s;e earthen Ve&s;|&s;els; made &s;ome to honour, &s;ome to di&s;honour; &s;ome he hath ble&s;&s;ed and rai&s;ed, as Kings, Princes, &amp;c. &s;ome he hath con&s;ecrated and appropriated to him&s;elf as Prie&s;ts and Prophets; &s;ome he hath pa&s;&s;ed by and brought low, and &s;uffered to lie among the pots &s;till.</P>
<P>Thus hath he done by the dayes of the year; though, as the Author of all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 33.9, 10, 11, 12.</NOTE> he hath mea&s;ured them out by the periodick motion of the &s;un, yet hath he not given the &s;ame honour to one, that he hath conferred upon another: Some he hath advanced to be Holy, other he hath pa&s;&s;ed by as common days. The&s;e he hath put among the dayes to number; Tho&s;e he hath exalted, and made high dayes, &s;etting them above their fellows for a holy purpo&s;e. Tho&s;e are numeral only; The&s;e are Fe&s;tival. And that I may follow the Compari|&s;on a little further; As men that are advanced by their Prince above the ma|ny, have commonly endowments and qualities of minde or body more than ordinary: &s;o al&s;o the&s;e dayes that God hath advanc'd above the re&s;t, have &s;ome|what of extraordinary and principal e&s;teem, for which they have been hono|red. In them there was <HI>opus privelegiatum,</HI> &s;ome peculiar work which God did on them. No day being better than another, but as it is a Memorial of &s;ome grace or favour which God had done on that day more than other.</P>
<P N="1">1. Look among the Heathen, and you &s;hall not finde them without their Fea&s;ts, and Fea&s;ts celebrated at tho&s;e times they receiv'd their benefits. At <HI>E|leu&s;is</HI> their <GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Meur&s;. Eleu&s;.</NOTE> they had kept nine dayes to the honour of <HI>Ceres</HI> for two favours received, <GAP DESC="foreign">, their fru<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> and their initiations in Religion. The <HI>Athenians</HI> celebrated their <GAP DESC="foreign">, for their Laws receiv'd from the gods: Againe, their <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Graec. Fer.</NOTE> to the honour of <HI>Minerva,</HI> for that by her coun&s;el the di&s;per&s;ed people of <HI>Attica</HI> were col|lected into one Body and one City.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plut. Rom.</NOTE> The <HI>Romans</HI> had their <HI>Liberalia</HI> in the honour of <HI>Liber;</HI> their <HI>Lupercalia</HI> to <HI>Pan;</HI> their <HI>Con&s;ualia</HI> to <HI>Con&s;us;</HI> all appointed on &s;et dayes in their <HI>Fa&s;ti</HI> or <HI>Calenders,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tertul.</HI> de Spect. cap. 5.6.</NOTE> <HI>ob beneficium quod hi&s;ce Dijs a&s;cribebant,</HI> for &s;ome benefit which they a&s;cribed to the&s;e gods. I could be infinite in proof this way, &s;hould I look among other Nations, <HI>Per|&s;ians, Egyptians, Indians, Syrians.</HI> The Conclu&s;ion is, That they who loo|ked out of the Ca&s;ement of Nature, acknowledged the benefits received to come from heaven, and that they could not &s;hew them&s;elves &s;ufficiently thankful, but by a&s;&s;igning &s;ome time to the honour of tho&s;e Deities, whom they &s;tiled <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Bountiful Contributers of all that was good.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hom.</NOTE> It ran certainly in their heads, that except &s;ome due time and lea&s;ure were &s;et out for publick memorials of great mercies, and cloathed with outward Robes of Religion above others, that their thanks would end with the day, and be wrapped up and buried in a dark&s;ome and everla&s;ting oblivion. For man is for good turnes, but of a &s;hort memory. Injuries are engraven in Marble, but cour|te&s;ies are &s;cribled in &s;and;
<Q>Et turbata volant rapidis ludibria ventis.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Virg.</NOTE></Q></P>
<P>Every puff of wind makes the Characters illegible. Dayes and Fea&s;ts, and all are too little to help the memory;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> de Ci|vit. Dei. l. 10. c. 4.</NOTE> and yet for fit helps they were ordai|ned, le&s;t an unthankful forgetfulne&s;s &s;hould creep upon men by cour&s;e of time.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Law of Nature or Dictates of rea&s;on taught the very Heathen thus much, but God his own people; and therefore for higher ble&s;&s;ings, he &s;et a&s;ide higher dayes: Such were,</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="326" REF="169">1. The weekly Sabbath to the memory of the Creation.</P>
<P N="2">2. Monthly the New Moons, to thank him for the beginning of time.</P>
<P N="3">3. Annually, their Anniver&s;aries for other ble&s;&s;ings; as fir&s;t that of the Tabernacles to bring to their minds,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 15.</NOTE> that however now they lodged in &s;eiled hou&s;es, yet the time was when their fathers were wor&s;e entertained; for as pilgrims and &s;trangers they lodged in Tents and Tabernacles. Then that of the Pa&s;&s;eover to continue a Commemoration of their great deliverance from <HI>Egypt.</HI> La&s;tly, this of Penteco&s;t to be kept yearly, the 50. day after the &s;e|cond of the Pa&s;&s;eover, to which our <HI>Whit&s;unday</HI> now &s;ucceeds, and well it may. For as the Jewi&s;h Penteco&s;t was a Commemoration of their Law gi|ven on the 50. day after their departure from <HI>Egypt</HI> on Mount <HI>Sinai:</HI> &s;o al|&s;o was this our Fea&s;t ordained to be kept the 50. day after our <HI>Easter,</HI> as a Memorial of our Law the Go&s;pel, taught and publi&s;hed by the de&s;cent of the Holy Gho&s;t upon Mount <HI>Sion:</HI> So that that of the Eloquent Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> was this day fulfill'd,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 2.3.</NOTE> <HI>Out of Zion &s;hall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Hieru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. The&s;e benefits were publick to the whole Nation, and therefore God would have in them publick thanks. Which yet did not debarre any mans private liberty, but he might keep a private fea&s;t, and be thankful on it, when God be&s;towed on him a particular ble&s;&s;ing.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 21.8. Gen. 43.33. Exod. 18.10. Joh. 2. Luk. 7.36.</NOTE> Hence we reade of <HI>Abrahams</HI> great fea&s;t at the weaning of <HI>I&s;aac; Jo&s;ephs</HI> fea&s;t at the entertainment of his brethren; <HI>Jethro's</HI> fea&s;t, to which he called <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron,</HI> and all the Elders of <HI>I&s;rael;</HI> the marriage fea&s;t at <HI>Cana,</HI> to which our Saviour was invi|ted, and was pre&s;ent; and the fea&s;t in the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> hou&s;e where Chri&s;t was entertain'd. To aboli&s;h fea&s;ts then, were to debar the occa&s;ions of ble&s;&s;ing God both for publick and private ble&s;&s;ings.</P>
<P N="4">4. The&s;e grounds being well weighed, the Chri&s;tian Church &s;aw no rea&s;on but &s;he al&s;o might do what was done before, in common equity and prudence &s;et apart &s;ome dayes for a thankful remembrance of Gods benefits. As natu|ral rea&s;on had taught the Heathen, and God the Jews; except Chri&s;tians on|ly can plead a liberty to be unthankful, to receive ble&s;&s;ings from God with a hea|vy and dull heart. Hence Holydayes our Mother the Church hath appointed al&s;o. Some to the honour of her Lord. The Sunday, that Queen and Sove|raign of all dayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ignat. Naz.</NOTE> to the honour of his Re&s;urrection; <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, Chri&s;tmas day, to the honour of his Incarnation. Holy <HI>Thur&s;day</HI> to the me|mory of his A&s;cen&s;ion; and <HI>Whit&s;unday</HI> to ble&s;s God for the&s;e fir&s;t-fruits of his Spirit: The&s;e to her Lord. Some other to honour him in his Saints, ac|knowledging that her Lord was not great only in him&s;elf, but great al&s;o in tho&s;e worthies, who expo&s;ed their lives, their liberty, their honour, all that could be deare to them, to advance the Name of Je&s;us. And therefore when tho&s;e <HI>Natales Martyrum</HI> came, they ble&s;&s;ed God for them; nothing doubt|ing, but as God was well plea&s;ed <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;o al&s;o he would be deligh|ted,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, as with the blood they &s;hed out of love to him, &s;o al&s;o with the honourable remembrance that on tho&s;e dayes was had of them.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>APPLICATION.</HEAD>
<P>But becau&s;e it may &s;o fall out, that God may &s;ay of our Fea&s;ts as he did of the Jewi&s;h Fe&s;tivals,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.14.</NOTE> <HI>Your &s;olemne Fea&s;ts my &s;oul hates,</HI> 'twill not be ami&s;s to appoint you &s;ome Holiday apparel; in which, if you attire your &s;ouls, you &s;hall not need to doubt but your Fea&s;ts will be acceptable to h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m. Now the propere&s;t garments for a Religious fea&s;t, are the due compo&s;ure of the&s;e three duties, Joyful prai&s;e, Bounty, and Re&s;t. The Angels compri&s;ed all three in their Antheme; as if they had &s;et a Song of three parts to be &s;ung upon every
<PB N="327" REF="169"> Holyday. <HI>Glory to God on high,</HI> &s;ung they; in that is prai&s;e. <HI>In earth peace;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 2.14.</NOTE> and peace cannot be where there is no re&s;t. <HI>Goodwill toward men;</HI> and little goodwill there is, where then is no Bounty. Only it would not be forgotten that they preach'd the Go&s;pel fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 2.10.</NOTE> <HI>Behold I bring you glad-tydings of great joy.</HI> And &s;o you have all the duties of a Religious Chri&s;tian Fea&s;t.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Upon the Fea&s;t then be &s;ure fir&s;t to &s;ing <HI>Gloria in excel&s;is,</HI> Glory to God on high; <HI>Sing merrily unto God our &s;trength,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 81.</NOTE> <HI>make a chearful noy&s;e unto the God of Jacob; take the P&s;alm, and bring the Tabret, the merry Harp with the Lute, blow up the Trumpet as in the New Moon, even in the time appointed, and upon our &s;olemn fea&s;t day. For this was a &s;tatute for I&s;rael, and a Law of the God of Jacob. Lex, &s;tatutum,</HI> all kinde of Law for it. For this <GAP DESC="foreign">, this &s;acrifice of prai&s;e, this fruit of the lips is as it were the grace that &s;anctifies the Fea&s;t. Upon &s;uch a &s;olemnity God expects that a man have a merry heart, and that he expre&s;s it by a P&s;alm of thank&s;giving, <HI>This is the day which the Lord hath made;</HI> made a day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 118.24.</NOTE> by conferring &s;ome extraordinary favour upon us. What's to be done then? what, &s;hall we hang down our head like a Bull-ru&s;h? No, not &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Neh. 8.9.</NOTE> this would marre our Holyday-faces. <HI>Mourn not, nor weep,</HI> &s;aith good <HI>Nehemiah, for this is a holyday unto the Lord our God.</HI> A Phari&s;aical vi&s;age as &s;owre as leven, becomes us not. Another countenance would be put upon the matter: <HI>Exultemus &amp; laetemur,</HI> Let's be glad that God hath made us glad; let's rejoyce, that God hath given us occa&s;ion to rejoyce. <HI>Laetemur</HI> calls for a chearful alacrity of the heart; and <HI>Exultemus</HI> a &s;udden &s;pring of the body, that tho&s;e which are by, may &s;ee it. <HI>Exultemus &amp; laetemur</HI> both, <HI>whom God hath joyned together, let no man put a&s;under.</HI> For one will never do well without the other. Exultation the motion of the body, and joy the fruit of the Spirit, mu&s;t be an un&s;eparable couple in our Fea&s;ts. Begin within, make merry in the heart to God for the ble&s;&s;ing you have received. Otherwi&s;e it may be the golden Calves fea&s;t right,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.6.</NOTE> when <HI>the people &s;ate down to eate and drink, and ro&s;e up to play.</HI> And then allow the body its part, <HI>to have a &s;ong as in the night, when an holy Solemnity is kept, and gladne&s;&s;e of heart,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 30.29.</NOTE> <HI>as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the Mountaine of the Lord to the Mighty One of I&s;rael.</HI> Now the matter of this &s;ong would be, what God hath done for us, by which Annunciation would be joyned to our prai&s;e, and &s;o both parts required in thank&s;giving ob&s;erv'd and paid. Thus the prime Chri&s;tians &s;olemniz'd their Sunday; a merry day they made it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. Apol.</NOTE> <HI>Diem &s;olis laetitiae indulgemus,</HI> &s;aith the &s;ententious <HI>African</HI> father. And this is the way to make it, as God requires, <HI>Sabbatum, delicias, the Sabbath a delight,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 58.13.</NOTE> <HI>and no Burden.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, <HI>But bodily exerci&s;e profiteth little;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 4.8.</NOTE> remember the &s;econd part of the Angels Carol, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Goodwill to men;</HI> and our goodwill would be expre&s;&s;ed by a charitable large&s;s of &s;omewhat more than common bounty. <HI>Nid oes gwell rhag Ely&s;on,</HI> &s;aith our old Proverb; 'Tis no Fea&s;t without an Alms. For it is an effect of joy, becau&s;e it abounds to give; <GAP DESC="foreign">, 'tis a property of the &s;ame nature to be both pious and pitiful. For by &s;uch liberality men expre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s fir&s;t their joy, that God hath ble&s;&s;ed them above others. Then they refre&s;h the bowels of the poor and needy, and give them occa&s;ion to ble&s;s God, that their wants are re|lieved by anothers &s;urplu&s;age.</P>
<P>A cour&s;e d ligently ob&s;erved by the old Chri&s;tians, who upon the fir&s;t day of the week &s;et apart, as God had enabled them, for the poor: And had their <GAP DESC="foreign">, Fea&s;ts of Charity for the help and comfort of their poor brethren.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 16.1.</NOTE> Say no more then with <HI>Mary, They have taken away my Lord, I cannot
<PB N="328" REF="170"> now fea&s;t him;</HI> for thy Lord hath his members on earth &s;till; and what is done to them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.40. Deut. 15.11. Neh. 8.10.</NOTE> is done to him. The poor &s;hall be alwayes by thee; the fa|therle&s;s and widow will alwayes cry after thee. Eat not then thy mor&s;els a|lone, but let the fatherle&s;s eat his part with thee. Upon the Fea&s;t-day de|voure not the Lambs of thy flock,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;th. 9.22.</NOTE> and the Calves of thy &s;tall; drink not wine in bowls, but let poor afflicted <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> have his portion &s;et him. This is the &s;econd way to keep a Religious Fea&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 6.6.</NOTE></P>
<P>Thirdly, The third is <HI>Re&s;t;</HI> which mu&s;t be double, from
<LIST>
<ITEM>Labour,</ITEM>
<ITEM>&amp; Sinne.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1">1. A &s;eque&s;tration there would be from ordinary labour, the toyles, and cares,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 16.8.</NOTE> and trouble whereof are no fit companions for joy and gladne&s;s. Not that &s;uch labour is of a vitious and &s;inful quality in it &s;elf, but becau&s;e it may hinder and withdraw men from the &s;ervice of God, and better actions. A greater &s;ervice we have upon &s;uch a high day to performe, which is to be done with <HI>a glad heart;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">11.</NOTE> and therefore tho&s;e ba&s;er and viler Offices which are ne|ver done without much painfulne&s;s, mu&s;t, as I may &s;o &s;ay, by way of homage and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion &s;urrender them&s;elves to the other, wherewith they cannot ea|&s;ily concurre (painfulne&s;s and joy being oppo&s;ite) nor yet be decently joy|ned, becau&s;e while the minde &s;hall make her abode in the hou&s;e of gladne&s;s, the weed of ordinarily toyle and labour becomes her not.</P>
<P N="2">2. Much le&s;s can tho&s;e old rags of &s;inne any way become it. <HI>Let us keep the Fea&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5.8.</NOTE> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>but not with the old leven.</HI> The leven of pride, of malice, of hypocri&s;ie, and generally of all wickedne&s;s, will give &s;uch a &s;owre and tart reli&s;h to our Fe&s;tival preparations, that they will di&s;ta&s;te God; and therefore let us be &s;ure to purge out this &s;ame old leven. The very Jews were careful not to offer any violence to Chri&s;t at their Fea&s;t, <HI>Not on the Fea&s;t-day,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.5.</NOTE> &s;ay they; and if our &s;piritual enemy &s;hall &s;ugge&s;t an evil motion then,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cyril.</HI> in Joan. lib. 8. cap. 5.</NOTE> repell'd it would be with <HI>Not on the fea&s;t-day;</HI> that day of all other, is unfit for an evil practice. <HI>Eo gravius peccatum quo &s;anctiori tempore c mmit|titur,</HI> The &s;inne is the more grievous that is committed on a Holy day. Let us then re&s;t from &s;inne, re&s;t from our labours, do good to our brethren, and prai&s;e God for his ble&s;&s;ings, heare his word and do it, and &s;o &s;hall we keep a true, holy, Religious Fea&s;t; which that it is lawful, I have &s;ufficiently proved.</P>
<P N="2">2. Neither is there much doubt made of this in <GAP DESC="foreign">, when the Authour and In&s;titutor of the&s;e is God. He is the Lord of all time, and may therefore &s;et a&s;ide what time he plea&s;eth to him&s;elf. But in <HI>Hypothe&s;i</HI> there is &s;ome op|po&s;ition; many of tho&s;e now enjoyn'd by the Church are ca&s;t a&s;ide. For, &s;ay our New Ma&s;ters, it is not in the power of man to command others to cea&s;e from their labours; to &s;et apart a Fea&s;t or Holy-day to the &s;ervice of God. Now again&s;t the&s;e I give out this Propo&s;ition: That
<Q>Fea&s;ts of Humane In&s;titution are lawful, and may be ob&s;erved.</Q></P>
<P>This I &s;hall invincibly prove out of the Scriptures. Upon what ground did the Jews, I pray, keep their Fea&s;t of Dedication? where is the command or Law extant for it?<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Maccab. 4.59.</NOTE> when did it begin? was it not ordain'd by <HI>Judas Mac|cabaeus</HI> about 165. years before our Saviours birth, for the con&s;ecration of the Altar formerly polluted by <HI>Antiochus</HI> who &s;et up the Idol of <HI>Jupiter</HI> in the Temple? There was now no Prophet in <HI>I&s;rael</HI> to direct them, no an&s;wer given by <HI>&V;rim</HI> and <HI>Thummim.</HI> Prudence only then and piety did move this
<PB N="329" REF="170"> good man to make a Law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 10.22.</NOTE> That this Fea&s;t &s;hould be ob&s;erved from year to year for eight dayes. At this Fea&s;t we reade our Saviour him&s;elf was; had therefore humane in&s;titution made it an abomination to God, it may not be conceived, that our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour would have Honoured it with his pre&s;ence.</P>
<P>I pa&s;s by here that great Fea&s;t kept by <HI>Solomon</HI> at the Dedication of the Temple, and that ordinary Tran&s;lation of their Fea&s;ts from one day to ano|ther, either out of a Polit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">que re&s;pect, or the Moons conjunction with the Sun; of which Tran&s;lations,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hospin.</HI> de orig. Fe&s;tor. p. 6.</NOTE> <HI>Eleazar</HI> a chief man among the Jewes 350 years before Chri&s;ts Nativity, is &s;aid to be the Authour. Had the authority and wi&s;dome no place about Fea&s;ts, how can that Dedication of the&s;e Tran&s;lations be ju&s;tified? And yet we finde, that the fir&s;t was &s;o accepted by God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Reg. 8.11.</NOTE> <HI>that the glory of the Lord filled the whole hou&s;e;</HI> and that the &s;econd was never repro|ved, which yet with it mov'd all the Fea&s;ts of the year.</P>
<P>What &s;hould I &s;hould &s;peak of the fea&s;t of <HI>Purim,</HI> or the fea&s;t of Lots (for <HI>Pur</HI> is a <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> word that &s;ignifieth a Lot) e&s;tabli&s;hed by meer humane power. The authority could be derived from no other than <HI>He&s;ter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;th. 9.21.</NOTE> <HI>Morde|cai,</HI> or <HI>Aha&s;huerus;</HI> and what if from this latter a meer Heathen Prince? The fea&s;t, never fear it, will be ne're the wor&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.7.</NOTE> <HI>Ninevehs</HI> Fa&s;t was not the unholier, that the King a Heathen gave order for it. Nor <HI>Nebuchadn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">zzars</HI> Decree the more to be di&s;liked, <HI>viz.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 3.29.</NOTE> <HI>That none pre&s;ume to &s;peak any thing ami&s;s again&s;t the true God,</HI> that he an Idolatour made it. For there is au|thority in regal power, even in that of Heathen Kings, to ratifie and enjoyn what may tend to the wor&s;hip and &s;ervice of God. If therefore a Heathen Prince have power to enact a Fe&s;tival day to the honour of God, &s;hall not a Chri&s;tian Prince have authority to take order for dayes and Rites of this Na|ture? Be it that the&s;e examples are no Rules, yet they may be leading ca&s;es. For what <HI>de facto</HI> hath been done without controle, nay with great accep|tance, may be a warrant to us, that <HI>de jure</HI> it may be done again, and God not di&s;plea&s;ed.</P>
<P>The matching of contraries is a kinde of illu&s;tration to both. To our fe|&s;tival Solemnities, the dayes of humiliation are oppo&s;ed. Fa&s;ts to Fea&s;ts. But our &s;upercilious Innovators di&s;allow not the&s;e. They acknowledge that a ci|vil power may enjoyn a Fa&s;t, notwith&s;tanding Gods command of &s;ix dayes la|bour by vertue of the Prophets words, <HI>Sanctifie a fa&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joel 2.15.</NOTE> and why then may they not as well think it in the power of the &s;ame authority to enjoyn a Fea&s;t, by tenour of the Text, <HI>This is the day which the Lord hath made?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 118.24.</NOTE> And it &s;eems they do think &s;o; for el&s;e what can be pleaded for the injunction of days of Thank&s;giving?</P>
<P>Well yet, let rea&s;on and practice be what it will, there be that cry,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 74.8. <HI>Graec.</HI> &amp; Lat. vulg.</NOTE> <HI>Quie&s;|cere faciamus omnes fe&s;tos dies Dei de terra;</HI> and why &s;o? exceptions they have of no &s;mall moment, as they think, again&s;t them.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t &s;ay the&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, Theologues of Ye&s;terday, The&s;e Fea&s;ts appeare not in Scripture; no precept, no command for them; and therefore the ob&s;ervation of them is Super&s;tition, Will-wor&s;hip, and I know not what.</P>
<P>But this a&s;&s;ertion is like the re&s;t of their Divinity; The very &s;tamp &s;hews out of what forge it came. Which of the Ancients ever concluded in adi|aphorous things, <HI>ab authoritate Scripturae negativ&egrave;?</HI> For &s;uch a circum&s;tance about the wor&s;hip of God there is no command in Scripture, therefore it may not be ob&s;erv'd. The Scripture teacheth not, hath not taught, will never teach all the Rites and Cu&s;toms in Religion, which have been of continual u&s;e and practice in the Church. Such are &s;et dayes for fa&s;ting, for thank&s;giving, erection of Churches, weekly and monthly Lectures, dayly prayers with our
<PB N="330" REF="171"> families, preaching on a &s;et Text, with divers others. Sufficient tho&s;e Ora|cles of God are to that end they were ordained, <HI>viz. That the Almighty be known to be the true God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 17.3.</NOTE> <HI>and him whom he hath &s;ent, Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> The e&s;&s;ential parts of Gods wor&s;hip are found there; no man may add to it, or dimini&s;h ought from it. The Circum&s;tances are left to the Church, who then determines aright, when &s;he enjoynes any thing con&s;onant to the Word of God.</P>
<P>Although in this ca&s;e &s;he hath much to guide her:</P>
<P N="1">1. The equity of Gods Law, that enjoynes a thankful remembrance now as well as then. So that though our Fe&s;tivals have no particular and &s;pecial Scripture-warrant, whereby they &s;hould be &s;et apart, yet a General they have, under which they may be authorized. For they are warranted by the equity and &s;en&s;e of the Ceremonial Law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.9, 10.</NOTE> which by the Apo&s;tles argument is yet in force. And &s;o much is confe&s;&s;ed by a great Champion of the adver&s;e party, who&s;e words are the&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ame&s;. Medul. Theol.</HI> l. 2. c. 15. n. 16.</NOTE> <HI>Praeterea festi dies, Anniver&s;arij, Novilunia, &amp;c. &amp; quae mer&egrave; Ceremoniales fuerunt, aequitatem i&s;tam generalem in &s;e etiam continent, &amp; adhuc nos docent certos quo&s;dam &amp; accommodatos dies cultui pub|lico a&s;&s;ignari debere.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The practice of the Jewi&s;h Church, which ordain'd and celebrated fe|&s;tivals, even then; when, according to the pattern in the Mount, was mo&s;t in force, as I but now made good. What &s;hould I &s;ay, that the Worthies of tho&s;e times perform'd &s;ome Religious duties without a &s;pecial warrant? <HI>A|braham</HI> paid to <HI>Melchizedech</HI> his tyths; <HI>Jacob</HI> vow'd them, and con&s;ecrates <HI>Bethel.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 14.20. &amp; 28.19, 20. Jer. 35. Dan. 6.10. P&s;a. 119. 2 Sam. 7.2. Joh. 12.3. Mat. 26.10.</NOTE> The <HI>Rechabites</HI> enter into a vow to ab&s;taine from Wine. <HI>Daniel</HI> prayes three times a day; <HI>David</HI> &s;even; Purpo&s;eth to build the Temple. <HI>Ma|ry</HI> breaks her box, and poures three hundred pennyworth of &s;pikenard on our Saviours feet: Precept there was none for any of the&s;e particulars; they per|formed them out of pious prudence; and yet I dare &s;ay of them all, as our Saviour did of the la&s;t, <HI>They did a good work, and well-plea&s;ing to God.</HI></P>
<P>No more rea&s;on then to brand this Religious in&s;titution of the Church with will-wor&s;hip, than any of tho&s;e formerly mentioned. Ra&s;h and pre|&s;umptuous ignorance it is, &s;o to judge, and &s;o to &s;peak. For Will-wor&s;hip is a Religion and &s;ervice proceeding meerly from the fiction and fancy of a mans braine; having no foundation at all in the Law of God, nor in any ju&s;t Law of man. The Characters whereof are, 1. That it is vaine and &s;uperfluous. 2. Erroneous. 3. Repugnant to Gods Law and Will. Now I wonder what vanity, error, or repugnancy adheres to the Church in the in&s;titution of Holy dayes? 1. The object of our wor&s;hip in the&s;e dayes, is the true and everli|ving God. 2. The form of our wor&s;hip then, &s;uch as at other times. 3. The whole &s;ervice no way Repugnant, but wholly conformable to &s;uch Rules and Canons, as the Holy Gho&s;t hath deliver'd for the ordering of external circum|&s;tances, and external materials of Gods wor&s;hip. All which &s;hall be made good again&s;t any Opponent. <HI>Sed nunc non his Locus:</HI> and therefore it cannot be vain, impious, or erroneous. God will never reject it with <HI>Quis requi&s;ivit haec?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.12.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. Yea, &s;ay it be not will-wor&s;hip, yet there is much &s;uper&s;tition in the ob&s;ervation of the&s;e dayes. Either an old Relique of the Jew, or el&s;e &s;ome rotten Ceremony of the Papi&s;t doth adhere to them. To retain them, is a part of Judai&s;me; and to account them holy, and dedicate them to a crea|ture, a point of Papi&s;me; neither of which may be admitted by a Virgin Church. Thus the&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, who, while they go about to fa&s;ten upon us an affirmative &s;uper&s;tition, ought to take heed that they be not guilty of a Negative. There may be as much &s;uper&s;tition in Touch not, Ta&s;te
<PB N="331" REF="171"> not, Handle not, as in <HI>Touching, Ta&s;ting, Handling,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.21.</NOTE> that I add not di&s;|obedience, malice, Schi&s;me. Let them then look about them, and con&s;ider whether they may not be as &s;uper&s;titious in &s;tanding apart, and not joyning with Gods people on tho&s;e dayes, as they would make others in a&s;&s;embling with them.</P>
<P N="1">1. For who told them, that to keep &s;uch Fea&s;ts was to bring back <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> from the dead? The Apo&s;tle, as they tell us; who puts the Church in mind of weak and beggarly rudiments, and that he was in fear of them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.9, 10, 11</NOTE> <HI>for that they ob&s;erved days, and months, and years.</HI></P>
<P>But had they more diligently plowed with St. <HI>Pauls</HI> heifer, they might have better gue&s;t at his Riddle.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 14.18.</NOTE> It never was the Apo&s;tles intention to encou|rage bitter Invictives again&s;t Chri&s;tian Fea&s;ts. He condemns only the ob&s;er|vation of dayes and months out of a Jewi&s;h opinion, who gave it out, That the whole world of Chri&s;tians were bound to ob&s;erve the&s;e, and other Mo&s;ai|cal Ceremonies upon paine of condemnation &s;till, as hoping to be ju&s;tified by them. Upon this ground to keep a day, is indeed to revive <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and call him back from the dead. This is indeed <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 9.</NOTE> a weak and poor principle; the thought of nece&s;&s;ary ob&s;ervance is again&s;t Chri&s;tian liberty, and brings a man in bondage; let no man judge you to be &s;o weak as to maintaine it. For all the Jews <HI>New Moons, and Holy days, and Sab|baths, were but &s;hadows of good things to come.</HI> As Jewi&s;h,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.16.</NOTE> out of date they are in the time of the Go&s;pel. He that ob&s;erves any of them with the minde of a Jew, &s;aith in effect, That Chri&s;t is not come. But who is there among us, that ob&s;erves a Holy day out of that Opi|nion?</P>
<P>It is a meer fallacy then to argue from the condemnation of the Jewi&s;h fea&s;ts to the Chri&s;tian; and to pre&s;s <HI>St. Pauls</HI> words to the abolition of ours; which 'tis evident he intended again&s;t the Jew and Jewi&s;h opinion only, with which we have nothing to do. For as <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> &s;aid long ago, We keep the &s;abbath, but <GAP DESC="foreign">.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Athan.</NOTE> Now another generation, he means the Chri&s;tian, being come, we &s;abbatize not as in the fir&s;t. And of the &s;ame minde was <HI>Tertullian:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tertul.</HI> adver&s;us P&s;ychic. c. 14.</NOTE> <HI>Galaticamur plan&egrave;,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>&s;i Judaicarum Ceremoniarum, &s;i legalium &s;olemnitatum ob|&s;ervantes &s;umus;</HI> For the&s;e were buried with Chri&s;t. <HI>Quod &s;i nova conditio, &amp; in Chri&s;to &s;epulti per&s;everant, jam &amp; nova &s;olemnia e&s;&s;e debebunt: aut &s;i omnem in totum devotionem temporum, &amp; dierum, &amp; men&s;ium era&s;it Apo|&s;tolus, cur Pa&s;cha celebramus annuo circulo in men&s;e primo? Cur</HI> 50. <HI>exinde die|bus in omni exultatione decurrimus?</HI></P>
<P>Out of which Te&s;timony we may Collect the&s;e four things.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That the Chri&s;tians had their fea&s;ts, <HI>Ea&s;ter</HI> and <HI>Whit&s;unday</HI> then.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That they did celebrate the&s;e, <HI>Omni exultatione,</HI> with all exultation.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That they kept not the&s;e upon that ground the Jews did, for that had been <HI>Galaticari plan&egrave;,</HI> to have been of the &s;ame mind with the <HI>Gala|tians.</HI> New creatures they were, in a new condition, and therefore mu&s;t have new fea&s;ts.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. La&s;tly, That <HI>Non ob&s;tante</HI> the Apo&s;tles prohibition they had their fe&s;ti|vals; and therefore it never was the Apo&s;tles intent to aboli&s;h Chri&s;ti|an &s;olemnities. For if the Apo&s;tle had a purpo&s;e to raze out, all the devotion of times, dayes, and months, why yet do we yearly in the fir&s;t month celebrate the Pa&s;sover? Why fifty days after do we run and meet together with &s;o much joy?</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="2">2. Judai&s;me then in the ob&s;ervation of Chri&s;tian fea&s;ts we are not guilty of.
<PB N="332" REF="172"> But how &s;hall we free our Church from the &s;uper&s;tition of the Papi&s;t in the re|taining the&s;e? Many of the&s;e, &s;ay they, we &s;et apart to the honour of Saints; and Saints how holy and glorious &s;oever, are but creatures, to whom no Divine honour is due. Again, the&s;e days we make holy, which in them&s;elves are common; neither of which ought to be done in <HI>I&s;rael.</HI></P>
<P>We yield neither of the&s;e in <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> Heare therefore our ju&s;t Apology; <HI>In all good con&s;cience we have &s;erv'd God to this day.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 23.1.</NOTE> God we have &s;er|ved, not the Saints. <HI>Scias &agrave; Chri&s;tianis Catholicis nullum coli mortuorum, nihil adorari,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>quod &s;it factum &amp; conditum &agrave; Deo.</HI> Know, that none of the Dead is wor&s;hipped by Chri&s;tian Catholicks; that nothing made or cre|ated by God is to be adored. It is their mi&s;take then to &s;uppo&s;e that we dedi|cate dayes to the &s;ervice of the Saints. The dayes which bear their Names, we retaine, but not for the wor&s;hip of them upon the&s;e dayes. We remem|ber their worthy and noble Acts, we call to minde their excellent examples, <HI>&amp; ad erube&s;centiam dico,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.5. <HI>Bern.</HI> Serm. de Vigil. Pauli. &amp; Petri.</NOTE> and labour to make men blu&s;h to &s;ee how &s;hort they come. If devout <HI>Bernard,</HI> and with him divers others in tho&s;e blinde times, went further to implore <HI>auxilium &s;ancti in die &s;uo,</HI> The help of the Saint upon his day; becau&s;e he that was <HI>Potens in terris,</HI> mu&s;t needs be <HI>Po|tentior in calo,</HI> &s;o powerful on earth, mu&s;t be more powerful in heaven: we have not to an&s;wer for the errour, that maintain it not. Let the rigid'&s;t Se|perati&s;t &s;hew us, where or when we implore them, where we con&s;ecrate dayes and terminate them in their honour, and we yield. It is to the God of Martyrs that the day is dedicated, which for di&s;tinction and Commemoration only bears their Name.</P>
<P N="2">2. What is our fault then? We keep the&s;e holy. Well it is yet, that we impute not holine&s;s to them, or rather place it not in them, that we judge them not more inherently Holy than o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her dayes.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bellar.</HI> cap. 10. Propo&s;. 2. Apoc. 1. Sect. 6.</NOTE> That is indeed a Cardinal errour; and let <HI>Bellarmine</HI> give &s;atisfaction for it, who affirms <HI>Fe&s;tos dies &s;ub Novo Te&s;tamento per &s;e alijs e&s;&s;e &s;anctiores,</HI> That Fea&s;t-dayes under the New Te&s;tament, are more Holy <HI>per &s;e</HI> of their own Nature than others.</P>
<P>That we dare avouch, is, That the&s;e holy dayes are dayes hallowed, con&s;e|crated, and &s;et apart to the performance of holy actions. Holy they are in u&s;e, not in vertue: Holy by Relation meerly. For there is not any holine&s;s either of infu&s;ion or inhae&s;ion more in them than in any other dayes. Not in the con&s;cience of the day, but out of a pious minde to God, and obedience to the voice of the Church we then meet to ble&s;s God for ble&s;&s;ing us. Tho&s;e then who go about to remove the&s;e Fea&s;ts, endeavour to deface the &s;plendour and dignity of our Religion;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hooker.</HI> Eccl. pol. 5.</NOTE> to blot out the mo&s;t lively memorials of Anci|ent Truth; to &s;ilence the &s;ure&s;t witne&s;s of Chri&s;tianity, and deprive us of the &s;hadows of future happine&s;s.</P>
<P>Let then as many as intend to keep Religion in its youth and lu&s;tre, make love to the&s;e dayes, and never be daunted with the moro&s;ity of new men. For I will &s;ay of the&s;e, as the chief of Philo&s;ophers did of women, That if they were good, the half of the Common-wealth is happy in which they live: So the&s;e being good, as I have prov'd, and being Religiou&s;ly ob&s;erv'd, is the way to conduct us to a happier e&s;tate; &s;ince the be&s;t and flower of our time is &s;pent mo&s;t happily, when it is expended in the &s;ervice of God, on the&s;e dayes.</P>
<P>I had thought once to have been &s;ilent upon this &s;ubject, but having &s;o ju&s;t occa&s;ion given me to &s;peak of Fea&s;ts, becau&s;e this great day of Penteco&s;t is mentioned in this Text; and a ju&s;ter from their endeavours, who go about to raze their names out of the Calender, my heart did burn within me, and at la&s;t I &s;pake with my lips.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 39.3.</NOTE> If by what I have &s;aid, any mans judgement &s;hall
<PB N="333" REF="172"> be inform'd, and his mi&s;-placed zeale rectified, I have my end. However I de&s;ire, that what hath been offer'd with the right hand, may not be taken with the left; for I have learned of <HI>Pythagoras,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Plutarch. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P>And &s;o I proceed to what I intended.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="26" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The de&s;cent of the Holy Gho&s;t.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Acts 2.1, 2.</HI></BIBL>
<P>They were all with one accord in one place.</P>
<P>And &s;uddenly there came a &s;ound from heaven as of a ru&s;hing mighty winde, and it fill'd all the hou&s;e where they were &s;itting.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE place at large was <HI>Jeru&s;alem;</HI> in particular <GAP DESC="foreign">, an upper room,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 1.13, 14.</NOTE> conceiv'd to be that in which our Saviour eat the Pa&s;sover with his Di&s;|ciples. In this they continued in prayer and &s;upplication. Continue they did till the fifty dayes were fully come; for &s;o they were commanded,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s; 4.</NOTE> <HI>That they &s;hould not depart from Jeru&s;alem, but wait for the promi&s;e of the Fa|ther.</HI> Here they were <GAP DESC="foreign">, altogether; which is expre&s;&s;ely noted of this company, which was the fir&s;t Church, <HI>that they continued to|gether.</HI> When they pray'd, they pray'd altogether; when they heard, they heard altogether; when they brake bread, they brake it altogether.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 4.24. Cap. 8.6. Cap. 2.46.</NOTE> Not one in one place, and &s;ome in another, but altogether. But men may be toge|ther, who&s;e minds are yet far enough a&s;under; for there is <HI>Eccle&s;ia malignan|tium,</HI> an A&s;&s;embly of malignants. The&s;e were no &s;uch people: For they had but one mind. Many bodies they had,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 83.3.</NOTE> but one &s;oul and mind informed them all; <HI>they were altogether with one accord.</HI> Their heart was not divided nor di&s;tracted; one thing they aimed at, one end they all pur&s;ued, <GAP DESC="foreign">. To the &s;ame purpo&s;e they were collected, and it was, how they might &s;et forth <GAP DESC="foreign">, the wonderful works of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 11.</NOTE> how they might advance the Name of Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth.</HI></P>
<P>In the place there was Retiredne&s;s; in their prayers devotion; in their de|votions uniformity; in their minds unity and concord; in their intentions &s;incerity; in their &s;tay patience and expectance; and while they were thus qua|lified and prepared, the holy Gho&s;t fell upon them.</P>
<P>The Spirit of God is a loving and clean Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 1.4, 5, 6.</NOTE> and therefore he loves a loving and a clean heart to dwell in. That &s;oul which is levened with malice, and &s;lutti&s;h with &s;in, is no place for him to come to. It is to Repentance that St. <HI>Peter</HI> per&s;wades this company to whom he preach'd, before he makes them any promi&s;e of the Spirit. <HI>Repent,</HI> &s;aith he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 2.38.</NOTE> <HI>and by Bapti&s;me wa&s;h a|way your &s;innes, and then ye &s;hall receive the gift of the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> No repentance then, no Spirit. For repentance di&s;po&s;eth the &s;oul, by emptying it of wickedne&s;s to receive grace. This is the method in which <HI>David</HI> prays, <HI>Purge me, clean&s;e me, wa&s;h me, make me whiter than &s;now.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 51.7, 9, 10, 11, 12.</NOTE> <HI>Hide thy face from my &s;innes, and blot out all my iniquities.</HI> This fir&s;t, then fol|lows a petition for the Spirit, <HI>Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me. Ca&s;t me not away from thy pre&s;ence, and take not thy holy Spirit from m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. Re&s;tore unto me the joy of thy countenance, and uphold me with thy free Spirit.</HI></P>
<PB N="334" REF="173">
<P>Now how we are to be di&s;pos'd for the receipt of the Spirit, cannot be bet|ter learn'd than from this place.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> They were in <GAP DESC="foreign">.</HEAD>
<P>In a room they were, &s;eparate from the incumbrance of the multitude, in an upper room, as near heaven as well they could get. And in this the Spirit of God comes upon them. Make choice of that place which will admit the fewe&s;t occa&s;ions of withdrawing thy &s;oul from good thoughts; and be apte&s;t to mount thy heart upward, and expect a ble&s;&s;ing. Here the gifts from above de&s;cend upon them who were farthe&s;t from earth and trouble, neare&s;t to Heaven.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> They continued in Prayer and Supplication.</HEAD>
<P>But it was not &s;o much the place that they retired to, that moved Chri&s;t to perform his promi&s;e, as their importunity and con&s;tancy in their petitions. Promi&s;ed he had,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 16.23. Act. 1.14.</NOTE> <HI>That what&s;oever they &s;hould ask in his Name, &s;hould be obtained;</HI> and therefore here they continued to &s;ollicite him. Two things e|&s;pecially they needed, and therefore two kinds of prayers they u&s;ed; <GAP DESC="foreign"> is a petition by which a man de&s;ires to be freed <GAP DESC="foreign">, from tho&s;e things which may trouble and grieve him. But <GAP DESC="foreign"> is a &s;uit made <GAP DESC="foreign">, for good things. To be &s;ent they were as &s;heep among Wolves;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.16.</NOTE> they &s;upplicate therefore for protection again&s;t them. A great Office they were call'd to, and they wanted many good gifts for the di&s;|charge of it; and for the&s;e they petition, and upon their prayer the holy Gho&s;t de&s;cends.</P>
<P>The ca&s;e is ours, a high calling we have, and many duties are required at our hands; whether we are to perform any publick office, or private duty, that which alone can enable us to it, are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Being then &s;en&s;ible of our own wants, let us petition as they did, and we may &s;peed as they did. The Holy Gho&s;t no doubt, will come down that way that we &s;tand mo&s;t in need.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> They continued, <GAP DESC="foreign">.</HEAD>
<P>But then we mu&s;t have another condition, which I here find in them, we mu&s;t per&s;evere, continue, and be con&s;tant, and wait upon God, and give him leave to perform his promi&s;e in his own time. Many things there were that might at this time di&s;hearten them, and make them &s;tagger in their re|&s;olution. The place was &s;uch, that in <HI>Hieru&s;alem</HI> the cau&s;e and doctrine of Chri&s;t was ill &s;poken of. Their enemies many and mighty, Scribes and Pha|ri&s;ees, that then were in authority; who if they &s;pared not their Ma&s;ter, were not like to &s;pare them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 1.15.</NOTE> Their number was &s;mall, about 120. Their per&s;ons of no great regard, they them&s;elves poor fi&s;hermen, with whom there were join'd &s;ome women;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 4, 5.</NOTE> nor power, nor wealth, nor eloquence yet they had, to carry on &s;o great work. Add to this, the promi&s;e made to them of power from above, was indefinite. No time &s;et or prefix'd for this Bapti&s;m of the Spirit; &s;ure they were it would not be many dayes hence; but how ma|ny, they knew not. Yet again&s;t all the&s;e difficulties they oppo&s;ed re|&s;olute and undaunted hearts, and &s;till waited: &s;till they continued in prayer.</P>
<P>This is a true Character of a faithful &s;oul, ever to wait upon and tru&s;t to the promi&s;es of God. This is indeed a hard and a difficult trial. <HI>Saul</HI> was not
<PB N="335" REF="173"> able to bear it. <HI>Jehoram</HI> was much di&s;plea&s;ed at it, <HI>Why,</HI> &s;aith he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 13.8, 9. &amp; 28.6. 2 Reg. 6.33. Judith 7.30. Rev. 6.10. Gen. 48.18, 19.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hould we wait on the Lord any longer?</HI> Fle&s;h and blood murmurs at it. <HI>Onias</HI> would &s;tint the Lord to five dayes. What &s;hould I &s;ay, that the very &s;ouls un|der the Altar cry, <HI>How long Lord, holy and true?</HI> They, even they in their ha&s;te, would as <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> did, alter Gods hands; where he layes the right hand, they wi&s;h the left; and where he layes the left, they wi&s;h the right; what he thinks good, men think evil; and &s;o on the contrary.</P>
<P>But this is, as I &s;aid, in their ha&s;te;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 73.17.</NOTE> for when they go into the Sanctuary of God, they are of another mind. For then they are re&s;olv'd to be expe|ctants, and wait &s;till; then content to let God take his own time, yet in their continual prayers to remember him of it. This is the afflicted people of whom God thus &s;peaks by his Prophet <HI>Zephaniah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zeph. 3.12.</NOTE> <HI>I will leave in her an af|flicted, a poor people, and they &s;hall tru&s;t in the Lord.</HI> And well they may; <HI>For, loe this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will &s;ave us:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 25.9.</NOTE> <HI>This is the Lord, we have waited for him, we will be glad, and rejoyce in his &s;alvation.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. He is the Lord; <HI>Potens e&s;t.</HI> Able he is to make his promi&s;e good.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 46 3.</NOTE> <HI>Feare not,</HI> &s;aith he to <HI>Jacob, to go down into Egypt;</HI> a&s;&s;uring him that his hand, his help &s;hould go along with him; and the heart can wi&s;h no more. For as <HI>Philo</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Philo.</NOTE> the Jew told <HI>Caligula, Ubi auxilium humanum deficit, incipit divi|num,</HI> Where man cannot or will not help, God both can and will.</P>
<P N="2">2. He is our God; <HI>Verax e&s;t,</HI> He is faithful and true. Let it be &s;hew'd when ever he brake his word, and I am content you wait no longer. Man may, but God will not change; <HI>Hath he &s;aid, and will he not do it?</HI> To <HI>Abraham</HI> he made a promi&s;e to be perform'd after 400 years,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15.13, 18</NOTE> yet the good Patriarch pray'd him not to &s;horten the time, although he knew that in <HI>Egypt</HI> his &s;eed mu&s;t abide <GAP DESC="foreign">, be u&s;ed more like &s;laves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;ost.</NOTE> than &s;ervants; That God had &s;aid, he would judge their Oppre&s;&s;ors, they who held his &s;eed in captivity, this &s;ufficed him.</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Vult,</HI> He will do it. <HI>He will &s;ave,</HI> &s;aith our Prophet; His Will is manife&s;t by his promi&s;e. For promi&s;ed he never would, except he had meant to perform it. <HI>The ju&s;t Lord is in the mid&s;t of thee, he will not do iniquity;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zeph. 3.5.</NOTE> <HI>every morning doth he bring his judgements to light, he faileth not; but the unju&s;t knows no &s;hame.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e are the three props of our confidence. The&s;e made the Apo&s;tles wait, and they mu&s;t make us wait ever on our God; his goodwill, his truth, and his power. His goodwill was &s;hew'd in promi&s;ing; of his power or truth they made no doubt; and therefore they continued to pray for the perfor|mance. The fitte&s;t Motto for a Chri&s;tian &s;oul, is, <HI>Sileo &amp; Spero.</HI> For in &s;i|lence and confidence &s;hall be our re&s;t. <HI>Quieta pietas, optima.</HI> Doubt it not, <HI>your God will come, and he will not tarry. Ble&s;&s;ed are they that wait for him.</HI> God hath his times, and opportunities of time to help.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 30.15, 18. Hab. 2.3. Gen. 37.28. Act. 12.7. E&s;th. 4.14.</NOTE> The <HI>I&s;h|maeliti&s;h</HI> Merchants come by, when <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> is in the pit. The Angel de&s;cends, when <HI>Peter</HI> is in the pri&s;on. Though man hold his peace in a hard time, <HI>yet &s;hall enlargement and deliverance come to Gods people from <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ome other place.</HI> Relie then upon Gods promi&s;e, continue in prayer and &s;uppli|cation; his time is the be&s;t, wait and expect for that, as the Apo|&s;tles and this holy company here did, and never doubt but the Com|forter will at la&s;t come.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, All with one accord.</HEAD>
<P>But they had another excellent quality, which no que&s;tion the holy Spi|rit regarded; they were all at unity and peace among them&s;elves; though
<PB N="336" REF="174"> many, yet they had as it were but one heart, and one mind. For the Ho<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y Gho&s;t found them at his de&s;cent, as in one place, &s;o <GAP DESC="foreign">, of one judg|ment.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14.27.</NOTE> <HI>Peace</HI> was the Legacy which our Saviour bequeathed to his Di&s;ciples, <HI>My peace I leave with you;</HI> and here they were found all peaceably and quietly together; no divi&s;ion, no &s;tir, no &s;chi&s;m among them. He found not <HI>Peter</HI> contending for the &s;upremacy;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.24. Mark 10.37.</NOTE> nor <HI>James</HI> and <HI>John</HI> ambitious of the right and left hand; but all in quiet, and at prayer when he came.</P>
<P>'Tis an excellent thing for brethren to be at unity in an hou&s;e, but much more for the hou&s;hold of Chri&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 133.1. Eph. 4.5.</NOTE> As they have but one Lord, one Spirit, one Bapti&s;m, one Hope, &s;o al&s;o &s;hould they have but one Heart. To &s;uch a com|pany hath God promi&s;ed his ble&s;&s;ing; and to &s;uch an A&s;&s;embly the Spirit of God comes.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 133.3.</NOTE> This loving Spirit is like the dew of <HI>Hermon</HI> which fell upon the hill of <HI>Zion.</HI> For as that &s;weet dew did never fall in a &s;torm or tempe&s;t; &s;o this good Spirit never comes into that man, who is furiou&s;ly carried away with rage,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Theodoret.</NOTE> envy, malice. <HI>Tranquillo tempore ros, tranquillo tempore de&s;cen|dit Spiritus,</HI> In a calm aire the dew, and in a calm time the Spirit de|&s;cends.</P>
<P>He is the e&s;&s;ential love, and love-knot of the Father and Son; He is the &s;ame bond of love betwixt God and man; He joines together Chri&s;t and his Church. He makes men to be of one minde in an hou&s;e. There cannot then be a greater oppo&s;ition and bar to his work, than di&s;cord, and di&s;-union of minds. For he will no more inform divided hearts, than the natural &s;pirit will di&s;-membered and di&s;-united bodies. How fal&s;ely then do they boa&s;t of the Spirit, who are &s;o rent, divided, &s;eparated; &s;o torn into factions, divi|&s;ions, &s;ubdivi&s;ions among them&s;elves? may we not well fa&s;ten upon them St. <HI>Judes</HI> mark?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude Ep. v. 19.</NOTE> <HI>The&s;e are they who &s;eparate them&s;elves, &s;en&s;ual, having not the Spirit!</HI> Talk they may of (as much they do) but the Spirit they have not; po&s;itively they have it not. While their heart is divided, their accord is gone, and with it the Spirit is gone too. The Church of God being a flock united under one &s;hepherd;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 10.16. P&s;a. 122.3.</NOTE> <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> not <HI>Babel;</HI> a City built, and at unity in it &s;elf, and not a City of confu&s;ion.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15.10.</NOTE>When <HI>Abraham</HI> was to offer unto God a &s;acrifice, he divided the bea&s;ts; the Heifer, the Goat, and the Ram: but as for the birds, the Turtle, and the Dove, he left them whole. What are the&s;e bea&s;ts, but tho&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, tho&s;e &s;en&s;ual men in St. <HI>Jude,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ambro&s;.</HI> Ser. 14. in P&s;a. 118. Gal. 5.20.</NOTE> walking and poring on the earth? What are the&s;e birds, but the &s;piritual, &s;oaring and mounting toward heaven? Tho&s;e like bea&s;ts are alwayes divided, &s;undred into divers parts by hatred, debate, emu|lation, contention, &s;edition, here&s;ies: while tho&s;e other mild and Dove|like minds remain alwayes whole and entire, like a City that is at unity in it &s;elf, where both the Governor, Magi&s;trates, and people joyn in one for the common good.</P>
<P>In &s;uch a holy unity the Di&s;ciples were a&s;&s;embled; in &s;uch an unity they pray'd, in &s;uch an unity they remained; there was not a har&s;h word to hinder, or a di&s;cord to break off this holy meeting. In this A&s;&s;embly they purpo&s;e to fill up their Colledge;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 1.21, &amp;c.</NOTE> no man gain&s;ayes <HI>Peters</HI> motion; with a common con&s;ent they give forth their lots; with one voice they pray. And when the lot fell upon <HI>Matthias,</HI> nor he that was cho&s;en was proud of his pre|ferment, nor he that was pa&s;&s;ed by murmurs at it. And the rea&s;on was, be|cau&s;e they were all with one accord</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>5. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</HEAD>
<P>This is their la&s;t Qualification; this generally is referr'd to the place. And
<PB N="337" REF="174"> they make the Note this, that unity of mind was not enough, except they continued under one roof. For, &s;ay men what they will, divi&s;ion of places will not be long without divi&s;ion of minds. Good rea&s;on therefore had the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> to be jealous and offended with the two Tribes and a ha f, for ere|cting their Altar in the Borders of <HI>Jordan,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h 22.11, 12</NOTE> and thought it a &s;ufficient ground of Warre, till they were &s;atisfied. For they conceived if they came not up to <HI>Shilo,</HI> they would quickly part from the &s;incerity of their Religion. For did it not &s;o fall out afterward,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 12.32. <HI>Jo&s;ephu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> Joh. 4.19.</NOTE> by the erection of the Calves by <HI>Jerob<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">am</HI> in <HI>Dan</HI> and <HI>Bethel,</HI> and the <HI>Samaritane</HI> Temple? You &s;ay, at <HI>Jeru&s;alem;</HI> but we &s;ay, in this Mountaine; Mark I pray to what pa&s;s the matter comes; You &s;ay, but we &s;ay, and that to Chri&s;ts own face, by a Woman. No &s;uch thing heard of, &s;o long as the people went up three times in a yeare according to Gods Ordinance to the Temple at <HI>Hieru&s;alem</HI> to wor&s;hip.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.39.</NOTE> This is an <HI>Item</HI> for tho&s;e who are <HI>filij &s;ub&s;tractionis,</HI> withdraw them&s;elves to perdition. Ne|ver let them pre&s;ume to keep the unity of faith, who flie that place where the faithful meet to &s;erve the God of unity. Of this, lamentable experience is too &s;ure a proof. For we live to &s;ee it verified. Scarce men of one minde in one hou&s;e, &s;ince they met not in one hou&s;e. Corners beget a ba&s;tard-brood of imaginations; imaginations will-wor&s;hip; will-wor&s;hip here&s;ies; here&s;ies divi&s;ions; divi&s;ions hatred and alienation of minds; And it will be no better, till we meet again <GAP DESC="foreign">, in the &s;ame place.</P>
<P N="2">2. This I acknowledge is the judgement of all the Expo&s;itors I have ca&s;t my eyes on, who refer <GAP DESC="foreign"> to the place, and then no que&s;tion they under|&s;tand the Sub&s;tantive <GAP DESC="foreign">. But what now and if <GAP DESC="foreign"> be the Suppo&s;ite, as is mo&s;t u&s;ual in the Greek Dialect? then the &s;en&s;e will be, They were all minding the &s;ame thing, how they might advance the Name of Je&s;us of <HI>Na|zareth;</HI> how they might enlarge the Church by execution of their Commi&s;|&s;ion, <HI>Go and teach all Nations;</HI> how they might draw in the Jews,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.19.</NOTE> and convert the Gentiles. Now the&s;e thoughts might be a notable motive to move their Ma&s;ter, who gave the Commi&s;&s;ion, to &s;end down the Holy Gho&s;t (without who&s;e power it could never be done) upon them: It be|ing u&s;ual with God to be&s;tow Gifts upon all tho&s;e he &s;ends upon his Er|rand.</P>
<P>Every true &s;ervant of God is his Coine. Now to mony that &s;hall be cur|rant, three things are requi&s;ite. Fir&s;t, that the mettal be pure and lawful: Then, that it hath a right &s;tamp and &s;uper&s;cription. La&s;tly, that it be of a ju&s;t weight. Good works proceeding from faith and charity, is as it were the material part, all of pure gold. The letters in the po&s;ie carry the Name of God. And that which makes it full weight, is the pious and hone&s;t inten|tion out of which they are done. <HI>Amor meus pondus meum; eo feror,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">August.</NOTE> <HI>quo|cun&abque; feror.</HI> If therefore thy love carry thee to God and his glory, that pi|ous intention will make it down weight. The Apo&s;tles &s;hew'd evidently who&s;e coyn they were. Their works were pious, their lives blamele&s;s; we hear hitherto of nothing but prayers and &s;upplications. In every place they came, they produced their Commi&s;&s;ion, and publi&s;h'd it in their Ma&s;ters Name. And at this time 'tis evident their intention was hone&s;t and pious; for gathered they were <GAP DESC="foreign"> for that end and no other; with which their Ma&s;ter was &s;o well-plea&s;ed, that
<Q>Suddenly there came a &s;ound from heaven as of a ru&s;hing mighty winde,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 2.</NOTE> and it fill'd the hou&s;e where they were &s;itting.</Q></P>
<P>When the Holy Gho&s;t was given, you have heard, and what Qualificati|ons there were in them that receiv'd him. It remaines now, that I acquaint you
<PB N="338" REF="175"> with the manner how he came, which was evident to two &s;en&s;es, the eare, and the eye. To the eare in a noy&s;e; To the eye by a light. A noy&s;e or &s;ound, put ca&s;e of a Trumpet, to awake the drow&s;ie world to hear. A light, to let them &s;ee the day of their vi&s;itation;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.68. &amp; 19.42.</NOTE> that they now look up, and con|tinue in blindne&s;s no longer. Audible and vi&s;ible this his coming was; whence Saint <HI>Peter</HI> &s;aith, Ver&s;e 33. <HI>Christ being by the right hand of God exalted, hath &s;hed forth this, which you now &s;ee and heare.</HI> And heard fir&s;t it was; For it was</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> A Sound.</HEAD>
<P>Before men enter the hou&s;e, they u&s;ually knock at the door, and &s;o &s;hew that there is &s;ome body pre&s;ent, that would willingly be admitted in: So the Spirit here fir&s;t by this &s;ound gives notice of his approach, &s;tands at the door as it were, and knocks, that they to whom he was &s;ent, might open unto him. And it &s;eems he knock'd &s;o loud,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 3.20.</NOTE> that all <HI>Hieru&s;alem</HI> heard it: For at this &s;ound the multitude came together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 6.</NOTE> and was amaz'd to hear it. It &s;eemes to me, to have been like the voice of &s;ome Trumpet, clear, and certain, which brought the&s;e devout Jews and Pro&s;elytes that dwelt at <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> &s;o directly to the hou&s;e whence this &s;ound proceeded, to know the cau&s;e of this &s;udden Alarum.</P>
<P>Being a&s;&s;embled, probable it is that the Apo&s;tles miraculou&s;ly honoured with the fiery tongues, which &s;ate upon their heads as &s;ome conceive, went out unto them. <HI>Carthu&s;ian</HI> thinks into the Temple; For the upper Cham|ber in which they were, was not capable po&s;&s;ibly of &s;uch a multitude, of which three thou&s;and were converted upon <HI>Peters</HI> Sermon. However it were, this &s;ound was loud, di&s;tinct; and it wrought &s;o much upon them, that it brought them together to enquire of this wonder.</P>
<P>This &s;ound at the &s;ixth ver&s;e is call'd <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>a voice;</HI> &s;o that a man may gue&s;s there was &s;omewhat Articulate in it; and if &s;o, they mu&s;t run together the more willingly. Chri&s;t by his Spirit de&s;cended not now as at his Nativi|ty all in &s;ilence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 72.6.</NOTE> as raine into a fleece of wool, but openly, and with a great &s;ound; not in humility, but in Maje&s;ty, that he might make it known, that he was exalted, that he was gone to heaven, that he was &s;eated on the right hand of God. And from thence he &s;hed forth this, which they &s;aw and heard. Saw, in the fiery tongues; Heard, in the &s;ound and voice. This &s;hews,</P>
<P N="1">1. That the Spirit of Chri&s;t is no dumb Spirit, but vocal; A &s;ound gone out into all Lands, heard in all ages. <HI>Enoch</HI> &s;ounded it abroad by his prophe|&s;ie, <HI>Noah</HI> by his preaching, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> cau&s;ed it to be heard by the Jews; and when <HI>John</HI> came, he noy&s;ed it abroad. For he was <HI>vox clamantis;</HI> Chri&s;t was the Word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 1.23. P&s;a. 19.3.</NOTE> he the &s;ound only to bring it to the ear. And what were the Apo&s;tles el&s;e? voices only, who&s;e &s;ound went out into all lands.</P>
<P>And it is not without rea&s;on, that the holy Gho&s;t thus de&s;cended in a &s;ound fir&s;t, that brought the multitude together, and after &s;pake by the Apo&s;tles tongues more di&s;tinctly to them. For it &s;hews us the way by which the holy Gho&s;t works by the Word.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14.2.</NOTE>Revel. 14.2. <HI>There came a voice from heaven, and it was fir&s;t as the voice of many waters; then as the voice of a great thunder, after as the voice of harpers with their harps.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. The noy&s;e of waters goes fir&s;t, and the roaring thereof is heard afar off, and cau&s;eth men to run together to enquire the cau&s;e. But it is no di&s;tinct voice. Thus the &s;ound of Gods Word affects men at the fir&s;t hearin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. They come to the A&s;&s;embly of Gods Saints, they hear it as it were a great noy&s;e,
<PB N="339" REF="175"> they are amazed and a&s;toni&s;hed at it, but perfectly under&s;tand not what it means. Come, &s;aith <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> before his conver&s;ion, let us go and hear the eloquence of <HI>Ambro&s;e;</HI> no more let us go and hear like the <HI>Athenians,</HI> ready to lend an ear to every new thing.</P>
<P N="2">2. But to this noy&s;e of waters, there &s;ucceeds the voice of Thunder. For God hath among his Emba&s;&s;adors &s;ome <HI>Boan<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rges, &s;onnes of thunder;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 3.17. <HI>Plutarch.</HI></NOTE> that upon occa&s;ion, as <HI>Pericles,</HI> can &s;peak Thunder and Lightning, &s;trike fear and terrour into them, whom the meer &s;ound and voice of the waters brought together. Such was the Parable of <HI>Nathan</HI> to <HI>David;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 11.1. I&s;a. 38.1. Jon. 3.4.</NOTE> the me&s;&s;age of <HI>I&s;ai|ah</HI> to <HI>Hezekiah;</HI> of <HI>Jonah</HI> to <HI>Nineveh.</HI> And this operation of the Word, though very fearful, is exceeding healthful; for by &s;en&s;e of wrath the Lord makes ready and prepares his &s;ervants to receive the &s;weet mu&s;ick of mercy.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 26.17.</NOTE> <HI>A dolore parturivimus &s;alutem, Like as a woman with child, that draw|eth near the time of her delivery, is in paine, and cryeth out in her pangs, &s;o have we been in thy &s;ight, O Lord.</HI> For the Spirit of bondage or a &s;ervant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.15.</NOTE> makes way to receive the Spirit of Adoption and a&s;&s;urance of a Son, by which we cry <HI>Abba Father.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Now after this &s;ucceeds Harpers. The&s;e are skilful Mu&s;icians, and melodious mu&s;ick they bring to our ears after the Thunder. For &s;uch is the operation of the Holy Gho&s;t by the Word, that after the heart is terrified and mollified by the Thunder-clap, it &s;ounds forth a plea&s;ant and plea&s;ing time of mercy to the penitent. The Thunder was over, and <HI>David</HI> hears,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 12.13.</NOTE> <HI>God hath put away thy &s;inne.</HI> The clap, <HI>morioris, thou &s;halt dye,</HI> is pa&s;t; and <HI>Heze|kiah</HI> hears, <HI>I have added to thy life</HI> 15. <HI>years.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 38.5. Joh. 3.10.</NOTE> <HI>Nineveh</HI> appears in Sack|cloth, and God &s;pares that &s;inful City. Every Chapter of the Book of God endited by this holy Spirit, is as it were a &s;everal &s;tring of this Harp; which being touch't by a finger taught to &s;trike from above (for except the mu&s;ician be skilful, the in&s;trument will make no melody) brings to our ear a heaven|ly harmony. One &s;tring or ver&s;e &s;ounds forth mercy and Remi&s;&s;ion; ano|ther Grace and Renovation. This peace and con&s;olation, that joy un&s;peak|able, altogether glory and eternal felicity. In a word, no tongue can expre&s;s the comfort, the joy, the power, the word of the Spirit hath to allay and pacifie the manifold ri&s;ings and perturbations in the hearts of the Saints of God. They come penitents, they depart with a pardon;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 18.14.</NOTE> they come <HI>Publi|cans,</HI> they depart ju&s;tified; they come in teares, they depart in joy; they come di&s;turb'd, they depart in peace; they come oppre&s;&s;ed with cares, they depart re|liev'd with content. O happy, thrice happy that &s;oul to whom the Spirit of God upon his Harp plays this Le&s;&s;on!</P>
<P>And finde we not all this verified in this place? Fir&s;t the Spirit of God de&s;cends in a &s;ound like that of many waters; this brought the multitude to|gether, and the effect was no more, but that <GAP DESC="foreign">, they were confounded, troubled in minde, and knew not what to make of it. But after <HI>Peter</HI> falls upon them in Thunder and Lightning, <HI>You are the men that crucified Je&s;us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 36,</NOTE> <HI>who is now rai&s;ed and made Lord and Chri&s;t.</HI> Of him you are the betrayers and murderers; with which clap they were &s;o terrified and affrighted, <HI>that they were pricked to the heart, and cryed out, Men and Brethren,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">37,</NOTE> <HI>what &s;hall we do!</HI> The Thunder is over, and now <HI>Peter</HI> takes, as I may &s;o &s;ay, his Harp, and &s;trikes up to them this &s;weet and melodious Le&s;&s;on, <HI>Repent and be baptiz'd every one of you in the Name of Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">38,</NOTE> <HI>for the Re|mi&s;&s;ion of your &s;innes, and ye &s;hall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promi&s;e is made to you and your children.</HI> What promi&s;e?<NOTE PLACE="marg">39,</NOTE> that of the <HI>Me&s;&s;ias,</HI> that of <HI>Joel, Effundam Spiritum, I will poure out of my Spirit.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">16,</NOTE> Did ever Harp &s;ound forth a more plea&s;ing Note! The delight was &s;o great, that it drew them alwayes to be in the &s;ound of it, to continue together, and
<PB N="340" REF="176"> <HI>to eat their bread with gladne&s;s and &s;inglene&s;&s;e of heart.</HI> But ob&s;erve I pray, that this content came not till the thunder was gone,<NOTE PLACE="marg">47.</NOTE> and the found that went before it. With that the holy Gho&s;t began; that, if no more, yet as a Trumpet, may draw men together.</P>
<P N="2">2. Next I pray take notice what kinde of &s;ound it was. Not every noy&s;e I warrant you; It was <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>A &s;ound,</HI> as is that of an Eccho, which is a &s;ound at the &s;econd hand, or at the rebound. Spoken &s;omewhat mu&s;t be be|fore, or el&s;e there is no voice heard. And a lively type this was of all the &s;ounds that came from the Apo&s;tles mouths. For they were but Eccho's of that voice which &s;pake fir&s;t from above to them; they took the voice at the rebound, and return'd it. For they &s;ounded not any thing into the world of their own heads, but what this Spirit &s;aid before. <HI>Ex&s;pirabant quod i&s;te Spiritus in&s;pirabat:</HI> They breath'd forth what this Spirit breath'd in; much like an Organ or Trumpet which &s;ounds out, and diver&s;ifies the Notes from the Bellows or winde. Their &s;ound indeed and their words went out into all Lands,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 18.</NOTE> but it was Gods meaning; their voice, but his Do|ctrine.</P>
<P>And cur&s;ed be that preacher who takes him&s;elf to be more than an ec|cho. For if an Apo&s;tle, or an Angel from heaven preach any other doctrine than what he hath receiv'd from thence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.8, 9.</NOTE> let him be accur&s;ed. No prophe&s;ie was of Old <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet, 1.20.</NOTE> of private impul&s;e; and therefore no Prophe&s;ie now mu&s;t be of any private interpretation; that one which God hath put in our mouths,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 22.38.</NOTE> that mu&s;t we &s;peak, being but as I &s;aid only Eccho's,
<Q>Quae nec reticere loquenti&mdash;Nec prior ip&s;a loqui didicit.</Q></P>
<P>Let then the New lights boa&s;t them&s;elves to be voices, we will e&s;teem our &s;elves only to be but Eccho's;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 1.1.</NOTE> and by the help of God, that which was from the beginning, that which we have heard and &s;een, that only we will report to you. Our me&s;&s;age &s;hall not be out of our own brain, it &s;hall be from hea|ven, whence this &s;ound came.</P>
<P>For four properties I told you this &s;ound had.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. It was from heaven.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. It was &s;udden. <HI>It came &s;uddenly.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. It was powerful, <HI>as of a ru&s;hing mighty winde.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. It was no common winde, <HI>for it fill'd the place.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> It was from heaven, <GAP DESC="foreign">.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1.17.</NOTE>From heaven it was from whence every good gift comes; and needs it mu&s;t be &s;o, &s;ince in heaven the Father of all good gifts dwells. It was not more than ten dayes, &s;ince our Saviour was a&s;cended thither, and behold what a Comforter he &s;ends from thence! The be&s;t of us being u&s;ed as he was but &s;even weeks before, would never more have thought of man, except it had been to raine down fire and brim&s;tone from heaven in revenge. But how un|like are Gods thoughts to ours! Chri&s;t a&s;cends to the Father, and he cryes to the Father, <HI>Ari&s;e O Lord and vi&s;it all people. The Heathen that know me not, and the Jews that crucified me.</HI> Ego vi&s;itavi, <HI>I have vi&s;ited the world, and done the work that thou ha&s;t commanded me to do; and now O Father be but thou plea&s;ed, and I will perfect and con&s;ummate this work not only in gathering the lo&s;t &s;heep of the hou&s;e of</HI> I&s;rael, <HI>but all Nations to my fold.</HI> He could have cryed, <HI>Revenge my blood O Father!</HI> but he asks, <HI>Poure out thy Spirit from this thy &s;eat of Maje&s;ty, that with me he may make
<PB N="341" REF="176"> and &s;eal my Redemption to man. I come to &s;end fire on the earth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12.49.</NOTE> <HI>and what would I till it be kindled?</HI></P>
<P>When <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> a&s;cended into the Mount, the Law from the Spirit de&s;cen|ded. And now that Chri&s;t is a&s;cended to heaven, the Spirit him&s;elf came down. There was then fire about the Mountaine terrible and full of &s;moak. But now fiery tongues, but nor terrour, nor yet &s;moak appears.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 19.18.</NOTE> Then the peo|ple heard a voice that they knew not, and now the Apo&s;tles &s;peak many tongues, which before they under&s;tood not. There when the Law was gi|ven, a Trumpet &s;ounded; and here on a &s;udden a voice &s;ounded from hea|ven. <HI>De coelo Lex, de coelo Evangelium;</HI> Law and Go&s;pel, both from heaven. It was not in the Di&s;ciples power, but in Chri&s;ts promi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Marl.</HI> in loc.</NOTE> that the Spirit came down. It was the work of God in heaven, not of any man on earth. If ever, upon this day, that of the P&s;almi&s;t was verified, <HI>The hea|vens declare the glory of God;</HI> not by the beauty of the Sun,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 19.1.</NOTE> or order of the &s;tars, nor yet by the &s;weet dews and rains that di&s;till from thence, but that from tho&s;e cele&s;tial Orbs there came this heavenly gift, which taught the Apo&s;tles what to &s;ay, and the Church what to believe.</P>
<P>Oh how true is that of Saint <HI>James! Every good and perfect gift is from above;</HI> wi&s;dom is from above, the true bread from above;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1.17. Joh. 6.31. Joh. 6.13. P&s;a. 57.3. Luk. 20.5. Luk. 22.43. Heb. 12.25. Judg. 5.20. 1 Cor. 15.47.</NOTE> Chri&s;t is from heaven. Ble&s;&s;ing is from heaven, <HI>Deut.</HI> 26.15. Forgivene&s;s is from hea|ven, 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 6.27. Salvation from heaven. Righteou&s;ne&s;s from heaven, <HI>P&s;alme</HI> 85.11. The voice from heaven, <HI>Matth.</HI> 3.17. The Bapti&s;m of <HI>John</HI> from heaven; An Angel to comfort, from heaven; Light from hea|ven, <HI>Acts</HI> 9.3. The &s;heet opened and di&s;played, from heaven, <HI>Acts</HI> 11.5, 9. The words yet &s;poken to us, from heaven; Our defence from heaven, <HI>Jo&s;huah</HI> 10.11. Our New birth from heaven, <HI>John</HI> 3.3, 5. Our Lord we ex|pect, from heaven, 1 <HI>The&s;s.</HI> 4.16. In a word, this &s;ound from heaven. All from above, all from the Father of lights.</P>
<P>How &s;hould this wing our thoughts, and mount them upward! When we hear any mighty noy&s;e, or &s;udden &s;ound, we pre&s;ently turn our face, and look toward the place whence that &s;ound proceeds.</P>
<Q><L>Clare&s;cunt &s;onitus, armorunque ingruit horror,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgil. Ae<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE></L>
<L>Excutior &s;omno, &amp; &s;ummi fa&s;tigia tecti</L>
<L>A&s;cen&s;u &s;upero, a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">que arrectis auribus a&s;to, <HI>&s;aith</HI> Aeneas.</L></Q>
<P>Here we have a &s;ound from heaven; at lea&s;t then let us look upward, and lift up our eyes to the hills from whence comes our help.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 121.1.</NOTE> This was one of tho&s;e P&s;alms of Degrees, which was &s;ung by the Prie&s;ts upon the &s;teps <HI>in a&s;cen|&s;u,</HI> as they a&s;cended to the Temple; and it teacheth to a&s;cend and rai&s;e our thoughts on high, e&s;pecially at that time when the &s;ounds come from heaven.</P>
<P>The Revelations of the Prophets, the Moral Law of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> the voice of the Evangeli&s;ts, the writings of the Apo&s;tles, nay all the good Sermons fra|med according to that Rule, that per&s;wade to faith and a holy life, are &s;ounds from heaven. The Holy Gho&s;t which &s;pake by the Prophets, yet preacheth by us; And will you not then turn your faces, and once look up,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.12.</NOTE> and enquire whence the &s;ound comes?</P>
<P>From any hollow or dark Cave of the earth it comes not; for it is no va|pour or exhalation. Were it &s;uch, it would puff into your ears, <HI>Eat, and drink, for to morrow ye &s;hall die.</HI> From fle&s;h and blood it comes not,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 22.13. Prov. 30.15. &amp; 7.19.</NOTE> for then it would deaf you againe with the Hor&s;leach note, <HI>Give, give;</HI> or the Harlots tongue, <HI>Come, let us take our fill of love.</HI> From hell it is not, for then it would carry you about from corner to corner; delude you here, and
<PB N="342" REF="177"> mock you there,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.23. Jam. 3.15.</NOTE> <HI>Here is Chri&s;t, there is Chri&s;t;</HI> the noy&s;e would be fear|ful, hideous, uncertaine: it would be earthly, &s;en&s;ual, devili&s;h. And &s;uch &s;ounds there be now too many; I de&s;ire you would be deaf to them; for though they roare loud, yet they are empty, vain, pernicious.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 40.6.</NOTE><HI>Perforavit aures,</HI> God hath bored your ears for another purpo&s;e; and &s;ent this &s;ound from heaven to another end. Suppo&s;e you yet heard the voice from above,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 9.35.</NOTE> <HI>This is my well-beloved Son, heare him.</HI> As that Preacher is happy, of who&s;e Sermon it may be truly &s;aid, <HI>Hodie de coelo factus &s;onus,</HI> This day by his tongue there came to us a &s;ound from heaven: So al&s;o is that hearer happy, who lends his attention to that &s;ound. And the &s;ooner the better; for it is fit that our attention &s;hould an&s;wer his &s;peed; as the &s;ound came &s;uddenly from Heaven, &s;o &s;hould we &s;peedily li&s;ten, heare, and obey on Earth.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">; Suddenly there came a &s;ound.</HEAD>
<P>For that's the &s;econd property of this &s;ound, that it was &s;udden. <HI>Sudden|ly the &s;ound came,</HI> when they thought not of it. The gifts of the Spirit of God are free,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.29.</NOTE> not tyed to times or tydes, nor per&s;ons, nor places; but they come on a &s;udden, when he will, and on whom he li&s;t. All acqui&s;ite habits, how perfect &s;oever, require much time, much indu&s;try, much experience, many precepts: whereas tho&s;e which are infu&s;ed, and are far more excellent, are not delayed, but perfected in an in&s;tant; whence &s;aith the P&s;almi&s;t, <HI>Thy Word runneth very &s;wiftly;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 147.15.</NOTE> no motion &s;o &s;wift, none &s;o quick: <HI>Ne&s;cit tarda molimina Spiritus &s;ancti gratia:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Greg.</NOTE> The grace of Gods Spirit knows not what be|longs to labour; he &s;ooner makes a new man, than the Sun doth a new day. This is a work of power, and therefore indi&s;po&s;ition or unaptne&s;s of the &s;ub|ject &s;hall not be able to retard it.</P>
<P>The Re&s;urrection from the dead &s;hall be <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>in a moment,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.52.</NOTE> in the turn-ca&s;t, or <HI>twinkling of an eye;</HI> not &s;ucce&s;&s;ively, but &s;uddenly; not by degrees of time, but in an in&s;tant. The ri&s;ing from &s;in is another Re&s;urrection, and 'tis but for the Spirit to &s;ay the Word, and 'tis done; the houre comes, and now is, when they who are in their graves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.28.</NOTE> dead and buried in their tre&s;pa&s;&s;es and &s;ins, &s;hall hear the voyce of the Son of God, and live.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE><HI>O quam mirus artifex Spiritus i&s;te!</HI> O what a &s;trange Arti&s;an is this Spi|rit, who changeth not the &s;ub&s;tance and nature of the man, that you mi&s;take not, but mends the faculties and affections of his &s;oul in an in&s;tant. It falls upon a Publican, and makes him an Evangeli&s;t; it finds a Per&s;ecutor, and makes him a Doctor; it meets with a Herd&s;man, and turns him to a Pro|phet; with <HI>David</HI> a Harper, and makes him a P&s;almi&s;t. In a word, with <HI>Mary</HI> the &s;inner, and makes her a Saint; of a common Harlot, more cha&s;te than the mo&s;t Virgins. Such as is the &s;peed of an Arrow, which parts the yielding Aire with an incomparable celerity, &s;o that the eye cannot well di&s;|cern the motion; yet that it hath moved it knows, when it beholds it fixed: Such is the motion of the Spirit, <HI>progredientem non vidimus, progre&s;&s;um vide|mus.</HI> The work is &s;o quick and &s;ecret, that we di&s;cern it not; but that it hath moved we know, when on a &s;udden we behold <HI>Saul</HI> to become a <HI>Paul,</HI> a deboi&s;t Prodigal to become another man. Sudden things &s;tartle us, and make us look about, and &s;o well may this; for 'tis not po&s;&s;ible to fix upon any other cau&s;e than this power of the Spirit: <HI>The right hand of the Lord brings mighty things to pa&s;s.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 118.15.</NOTE></P>
<P>And that which now on a &s;udden this good Spirit hath brought to my thoughts, is, that this very in&s;tant there is a &s;ound from heaven ringing in
<PB N="343" REF="177"> your ears, and are you not awake at it? are you not affected with it? De&s;pi&s;e not the pre&s;ent motions of grace, though &s;uddenly ari&s;ing in your hearts, but take the wind while it blows, as not knowing when it will, or whether it will ever blow again. The Spirit which works repentance and grace in our hearts, is not at our beck, we cannot &s;et him a work when we would; let him therefore work when he plea&s;eth.</P>
<P>When <HI>David</HI> asked coun&s;el of God whether he &s;hould go up again&s;t the <HI>Phili&s;tines,</HI> the return was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 5.24.</NOTE> <HI>When thou heare&s;t the noi&s;e of one going in the top of the Mulberry Trees, then remove; for then &s;hall the Lord go out be|fore thee to &s;mite the Phili&s;tines:</HI> So <HI>David</HI> did, and prevailed, and no marvail, when he followed <HI>Ductum Dei,</HI> God that led him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Peter Martyr in loc.</NOTE> and &s;et him his time. Thus &s;hould every one ob&s;erve, when God ca&s;teth into his mind good motions and de&s;ires, and then &s;tep in and apply him&s;elf to God; &s;tir with him when he &s;tirs; for this is the way to conquer any &s;in, though it be a <HI>Phi|li&s;tine.</HI> At the Pool of <HI>Beth&s;eda,</HI> there were &s;et-times when the <HI>Angel came down and troubled the waters, and who&s;oever did there &s;tep in,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.4.</NOTE> <HI>was healed of what&s;oever di&s;ea&s;e he had.</HI> So are there certain times when God moves and &s;tirs the waters; that is, the heart and the affections: and would but men be heedful of the&s;e &s;ea&s;ons, of this kindly and unexpected work of the Spirit, and work with him, find they &s;hould a very &s;trange effect: For as the <HI>Camele|on</HI> approaching a body of any colour, is in&s;tantly of the &s;ame &s;tain; &s;o al&s;o they who with diligence and endeavour are intentive to the approaches of Gods Spirit, carry away a deep and various tincture of grace on a &s;udden; his de|&s;cent is not more &s;udden, than is their change; the alteration of the weather is not more &s;udden upon the &s;hifting of the wind; which here al&s;o we find a type of him; for this &s;udden &s;ound was</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="27" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The De&s;cent of the Holy Gho&s;t.</HEAD>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, As of a wind.</HEAD>
<P>AND yet not every wind neither; it was not <GAP DESC="foreign">, but <GAP DESC="foreign">; not a common wind, but a &s;pirit, a breath;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lorin. in loc.</NOTE> which word doth well agree to the Holy Gho&s;t. 1. Becau&s;e the proceeding of the Holy Gho&s;t is as it were the breathing of the Father and the Son. 2.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aret. in loc.</NOTE> Or el&s;e becau&s;e by a breath fir&s;t confer'd on the Apo&s;tles; <HI>He breathed on them, &s;aying, Receive the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> And at this day <HI>confertur in&s;pirando, tacito afflatu,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 20.22.</NOTE> in a &s;ecret in&s;pira|tion, and not by any external and &s;en&s;ible motion.</P>
<P>Breath is a certain evidence of life; when that fails, we dye; while we draw in that, we continue in the Land of the living;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 104.29.</NOTE> hence the word is bor|rowed to &s;ignifie the Holy Spirit, who is the fountain and original of all our &s;piritual and &s;upernatural life; or as the Nicene Fathers have it, the Lord and Giver of life; which the words of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> do not ob&s;curely in&s;inuate; <HI>The Lord God formed man of the du&s;t of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living &s;oul.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.7. E&s;dras 2.3, 5.</NOTE> After the hand of God had pa&s;t upon <HI>Adam,</HI> and &s;haped him out of that earthy &s;lime, there he lay a body without a &s;oul; then he breathed into him, and with that breath in&s;pired him, and communicated unto him the breath of life; or as it is in the Hebrew, <HI>Spiraculum vitarum,</HI> in the plural number, the breath of lives, becau&s;e he gave unto him a double life.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t was natural, proceeding from his &s;oul, which being infu&s;ed and breathed into him, with it there came tho&s;e faculties of vegetation, &s;en&s;e and
<PB N="344" REF="178"> rea&s;on, by the exerci&s;e of which we know and conclude rightly that any thing is alive.</P>
<P N="2">2. The other was &s;upernatural, or a life of grace, proceeding from the Holy Spirit, which <GAP DESC="foreign">, or preheminence, is called <HI>Spiraculum vita|rum,</HI> the breath of lives, becau&s;e the gifts and graces are many which come with this breath, though in &s;uch a mea&s;ure as it plea&s;eth him to breath them in. In the life active or contemplative what&s;oever is vertuous, in piety or charity what&s;oever is commendable, are but the breathings of the Spirit: For as <HI>Ezekiels</HI> &s;cattered and dry bones came not together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 37.</NOTE> till there was a noi&s;e and a &s;haking among them, and after they wete joyned, and &s;innews and fle&s;h came upon them, and the skin covered them, yet they lived not, till the breath came among them. So al&s;o a natural man is but a dry bone, &s;ever'd he is from the body of the Church, he moves not, he &s;tirs not till the noi&s;e of this Spirit comes, and then he walks with fle&s;h and skin on his back, but hath not in him the lea&s;t &s;ign of life, of this &s;piritual life, till this <GAP DESC="foreign">, this breath from heaven comes into him:<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.63.</NOTE> <HI>It is the Spirit that quickneth, the fle&s;h profi|teth nothing.</HI> For what is the fle&s;h without breath but a dead, &s;tinking, pu|trifying carka&s;s? And what is the &s;oul without this holy breath but mi&s;era|ble fle&s;h, carnal, dead to &s;inne, &s;tinking in the grave of enormities, corrupt and putrifying? But when God is plea&s;ed to poure out his Spirit upon this fle&s;h, it pre&s;ently lives, it breaths, and the breath is &s;weet and odoriferous, exhaling from the flowers of vertues; and the ill &s;cents of vice offend no more. In a word, &s;uch is the efficacy and power of this breath, that the old dead man re&s;olv'd as it were into dry bones, lives, and breaths, and does all the duties of a living &s;oul.</P>
<P>Look up to heaven, and tell me whether you can number the &s;tars. At the &s;ame in&s;tant you may give in a Catalogue of tho&s;e graces and favors which come unto us with this breath. To &s;ome general heads we are able to reduce them, as we do the &s;tars to con&s;tellations; but the particulars are innumer|able.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t you &s;hall have the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiahs</HI> account, <HI>The Spirit of wi&s;|dome and under&s;tanding,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 11.2.</NOTE> <HI>the Spirit of coun&s;el and might, the Spirit of know|ledge, and the feare of the Lord;</HI> To which Saint <HI>Hierom</HI> adds the Spirit of piety; Whence the Fathers and Schoolmen have taken occa&s;ion to call the Holy Gho&s;t <HI>Septiformem Spiritum,</HI> the &s;even-fold Spirit; and &s;ome li|ken him to the &s;even Trumpets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 6.20.</NOTE> at the bla&s;t of which the Walls of <HI>Jericho</HI> fell down; others to the &s;even pipes that conveyed the Oyle into the &s;even Lamps that were on the top of the golden Candle&s;tick,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 4.2.</NOTE> which was a type of the Church.</P>
<P>But St. <HI>Pauls</HI> Catalogue is far more cleare; <HI>The Generals are Diver&s;i|ties of gift,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.4, &amp;c.</NOTE> <HI>Differences of Admini&s;trations, Diver&s;ities of operations.</HI> The particulars, <HI>the word of wi&s;dome, the word of knowledge, faith, the gifts of healing, working of miracles, Prophecy, di&s;cerning of &s;pirits, divers kinds of tongues, Interpretation of tongues. But all the&s;e worketh that one and the &s;elf-&s;ame Spirit, dividing to every one &s;everally as he will.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Docendi cau&s;&acirc;,</HI> To inform us the better about them, Divines reduce them all to the&s;e two heads. There be, &s;ay they, <HI>Gratiae gratis datae,</HI> or <HI>Gratiae gratum facientes;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.4.</NOTE> favours freely given, and favours that being given <HI>gratis,</HI> make us acceptable in the eyes of God. I &s;hall u&s;e ea&s;ier terms, <HI>Gifts,</HI> and <HI>Grace,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.7.</NOTE> with the fruits that come from it.</P>
<P N="1">1. The&s;e gifts of the Spirit are call'd <GAP DESC="foreign">, of which &s;ort is the Spi|rit of life infus'd into all living creatures.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.22, 23. Exod. 35.35. Judg. 6.34. Num. 11.17.</NOTE> Then that of Art into <HI>Bzealiel,</HI> that made him skilful to work in Bra&s;s; and that of power into <HI>Gideon;</HI> that into the Elders which gave them wi&s;dome to govern; that of Prophecy in
<PB N="345" REF="178"> the old Prophets; Of miracles in the Primitive Chri&s;tians;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 65.5. Am. 6.13.</NOTE> of power to &s;peak all tongues in the Apo&s;tles; In a word, of ability to execute the duties of our particular callings and profe&s;&s;ions. Men may be apt to &s;acrifice to their own arme, and boa&s;t By my own wit, and my might, and power, and skill, have I done this or that. But their words are but winde; their whole ability and ingenuity is from this breath. <HI>Bezaliel</HI> a Ma&s;on cannot Carve a &s;tone,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 31.3.</NOTE> nor <HI>Aholiab</HI> work in bra&s;s or gold, till God hath fill'd them with his Spirit.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 11.17.</NOTE> A part of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;pirit mu&s;t be put upon the Elders, before they know how to be Judges. And a cloven tongue of fire mu&s;t de&s;cend upon the Apo&s;tles, other|wi&s;e they know not what and when to &s;peak.</P>
<P>All the&s;e are Gifts that <HI>gratis</HI> freely come from the Spirit of God; but they come from him as he is the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Spirit only, without any reference to Holy at all; for they may be in tho&s;e that he never means to make holy. <HI>Tubalcain</HI> may be a cunning workman; <HI>Balaam</HI> a Prophet; <HI>Mulihamet</HI> a good ju&s;ticer; <HI>Judas</HI> and all ca&s;t out devils; <HI>Mithridates</HI> &s;peak 22. languages, and yet perhaps not one of the&s;e go to heaven.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is from the Spirit as he is holy, that come tho&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, tho&s;e <HI>Gratiae gratum facientes,</HI> tho&s;e fruits of grace that fir&s;t &s;anctifies the Root, and then the blo&s;&s;oms and fruits with which his Saints and Servants are ve&s;ted. The&s;e are only the graces that will better us, the&s;e for which we &s;hall be the better (for the other without the&s;e will be of no u&s;e, except to encrea&s;e our &s;tripes) and therefore let us be humble &s;uiters, that we may be in&s;pired with the&s;e. You may, if you plea&s;e, comprehend them all under the word <HI>Inha|bitation,</HI> which is St. <HI>Pauls,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.9 2 Cor. 13.5.</NOTE> <HI>Know you not that the Spirit of God dwells in you, except, &amp;c.</HI> He dwells, and that notes a perpetuity; he comes not to give us a vi&s;it, and &s;o take his leave, but he comes to &s;ettle him&s;elf, and take up his re&s;idence in our bodies <HI>which are his Temples.</HI> Yea,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.19.</NOTE> and he performs then the Offices of the Ma&s;ter of the Family, di&s;po&s;eth of the heart of man, as Lord of the hou&s;e, <HI>tenet dominium in &s;uos;</HI> and makes u&s;e of his power over all &s;uch as are under his Charge.</P>
<P N="1">1. He directs all the Family, <HI>and guides into all truth.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 16.13. Joh. 14.26.</NOTE> <HI>He teacheth what they know not, calls to minde what they have forgot.</HI> Where any doubt, he is able to re&s;olve them; when perplex'd, to advi&s;e them. He exhorts the &s;oul to joyn to God, the minde to de&s;i&s;t from evil. O &s;trange thing, the Creator per&s;wades his creature, God intreats his clay; to &s;ome he &s;peaks kind|ly as friends, to others as brethren, to &s;ome as Sons, to many as &s;ervants! He calls upon all, to think le&s;s on the world, and more on heaven; and that they may not mi&s;take the way, promi&s;ed he hath (&s;o he may be heard to &s;peak) <HI>to keep them from error, and &s;ecure them in truth.</HI> He is then the be&s;t Coun&s;ellor that may be.</P>
<P N="2">2. But he dwells not only with us to direct, advi&s;e, teach, and coun&s;el us, but as Lord of the hou&s;e, when ought is ami&s;s, he begins to chide and finde fault. He is the holy Spirit of di&s;cipline, and he will not abide it, when unrighteou&s;ne&s;s comes in. <HI>He will convince, &s;hame, confute, &s;ilence,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 1.6. Joh. 16.8. P&s;a. 50.21.</NOTE> <HI>when he &s;ets before his the things that they have done.</HI> Tho&s;e throbs and throws of the heart that follow this conviction, tho&s;e accu&s;ing thoughts are from this Spirit. He is a wind again&s;t us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.15.</NOTE> when we are about to do &s;omething again&s;t Him.</P>
<P N="3">3. And in&s;tead thereof, it &s;tirs up good affections and motions in us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.17.</NOTE> <HI>For as the fle&s;h lu&s;teth again&s;t the Spirit, &s;o the Spirit ri&s;eth again&s;t the fle&s;h.</HI> It never will &s;uffer &s;in to reign, and domineer, and command in that hou&s;e where it is Ma&s;ter. Lodge it may by &s;tealth in &s;ome out-hou&s;e, but into the Bed-Chamber of the Heart, it &s;hall never come to play <HI>REX</HI> there.</P>
<P N="4"><PB N="346" REF="179">4. La&s;tly, If any of his Family, even the meane&s;t be di&s;affected, and &s;tands in need of comfort,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 10.34.</NOTE> like the good <HI>Samaritane, he poures in wine and oyle.</HI> The Comforter he is, and he never fails to bring comfort with him. Two things there are which do mo&s;t afflict; outward calamities, and inward &s;or|rows; and of the&s;e two this la&s;t is mo&s;t bitter; <HI>for a troubled spirit, who can beare it?</HI> It is this holy Spirit of God, that in both breaths comfort in|to our fainting &s;pirits; A&s;&s;uring us for the fir&s;t, <HI>That the &s;ufferings of this pre&s;ent time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that &s;hall be revealed in us.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.18. Ma. 9.2.</NOTE> And bidding us <HI>be of good cheer</HI> for the la&s;t, <HI>for our &s;innes are forgiven.</HI></P>
<P>His &s;aving graces you &s;ee are divers, and yet I am forc'd to omit many. And becau&s;e they are many, his types are &s;o too. Water &s;ometimes, &s;ome|times fire; one while winde, another while oyntment; in one place a &s;eale he is, in another <GAP DESC="foreign">, an earne&s;t; that according to our &s;everal wants we might be &s;upplied. Be we cool, and dull, and chill at our duties and devo|tions? he is fire to warm us. Are we &s;oyled and fouled with the filth of &s;in? he is water to purge and clean&s;e us. Are we &s;hipt with <HI>Jonah,</HI> and flying from God? a powerful winde he is to bring us back. Are we in di&s;tre&s;s and heavi|ne&s;s?<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 45.9.</NOTE> then he is oyle, <HI>the oyle of gladne&s;&s;e</HI> to cheer the heart, and refre&s;h the countenance. Are we in doubt of our inheritance, then he comes with his &s;eale, and &s;ets it to our conveyance, that what was prepared by the Father, and purcha&s;ed by the Son, &s;hall be fully po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed by us; for which he gives us earne&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 1.22.</NOTE> <HI>even the earne&s;t of his Spirit.</HI></P>
<P>But perhaps it may be demanded, How &s;hall we know whether we have receiv'd this Earne&s;t or no? I conceive it is no hard matter. Remember that he is <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Breath; and whether a man hath any breath in his body, will ea&s;i|ly be di&s;covered. For there be three principal places in which it will be di|&s;cerned. For at the heart it will beat; at the mouth it will breath; and at the pul&s;e it will be felt. One of the&s;e may, but all of the&s;e will not deceive.</P>
<P N="1">1. I'le begin at the heart where life begins; for as in the life of Nature, that is <HI>primum vivens,</HI> the part that fir&s;t lives: &s;o is it in our life of grace, that part it is that is fir&s;t quickned. God promi&s;eth when he was about to make a new man, that he would fir&s;t make him a new heart; <HI>A new heart will I give you,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 36.26.</NOTE> <HI>and a new spirit will I put in you.</HI></P>
<P>No better way then to know whether we have receiv'd a New &s;pirit, than to examine how this breath is operative about the heart. If it remain &s;till cold as a &s;tone, then this breath hath not warm'd it. Or if it burn with fle&s;hly de|&s;ires, then this breath hath not been receiv'd to coole it, to puri|fie it.</P>
<P>Yea, but is not the promi&s;e there, that the conver&s;ion &s;hall be into a heart of fle&s;h? True, of fle&s;h, but not of &s;tone. Of fle&s;h, for the &s;oftne&s;s, ten|derne&s;s, live-blood that is in it; not the impurity, corruption, and gro&s;&s;e|ne&s;s, and fatne&s;s. The&s;e are gone, and in&s;tead thereof there comes into it &s;oftne&s;s, that the Spirit may ea&s;ily write the Will of God upon it; and ten|derne&s;s, that it will be &s;en&s;ible of the lea&s;t prick; and &s;o full of life it will be,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 51.17. Mat. 6.23. Heb. 10.12. Luk. 8.15. P&s;a. 7.10. Cant. 5.1. and 8.6. Prov. 19.21.</NOTE> that the motions and de&s;ires thereof, will uniformly and con&s;tantly be en|clined upward. Briefly, it will be <HI>a broken and a contrite heart, a heart full of light, a clean heart, an hone&s;t and a good heart, an upright heart, a di|ligent heart, an heart that hath Gods &s;eal upon it;</HI> which, as I now &s;aid, <HI>is the Spirit.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. But becau&s;e <HI>there be many devices in a mans heart.</HI> And po&s;&s;ible it is it may not be &s;o &s;ound and hone&s;t as we would make our &s;elves and others believe; a wi&s;e way it will be to look abroad, and mark diligently what comes
<PB N="347" REF="179"> from within. The life is the be&s;t Index of the Spirit, <HI>novum adveni&s;se spiri|tum, nova vitae ratio demon&s;trat.</HI> A new life will &s;hew as ea&s;ily that we have receiv'd a new Spirit, as good fruit from a Crab&s;tock, will demon&s;trate that it was graffed. Now our life is be&s;t known by vital actions, which are Speech and Works.</P>
<P N="2">2. Go to the mouth then, and mark what kinde of breath comes from thence. For if men breath not out the wonderful works of God, 'tis not likely that they have receiv'd <GAP DESC="foreign">, this breath. For the Apo&s;tles had no &s;ooner taken in this Aire, but pre&s;ently they began to &s;peak with other tongues. The miracle is pa&s;t, but the Moral la&s;ts; upon the receipt of this holy Spirit, there will be a change in the Dialect; a change from cur&s;ed, un|clean, corrupt communication to &s;uch as becometh Saints. Mark the Apo|&s;tles Charge, <HI>Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouths, &amp;c.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph 4.29, 30, 31.</NOTE> Then follows, <HI>Grieve not the Spirit by whom you are &s;ealed to the day of Redemption.</HI> After, <HI>Let all bitterne&s;&s;e, and wrath, and anger, and cla|mour, and evil-speaking be put away from you with all malice.</HI> Let no &s;uch &s;tuff come from you, let the&s;e be put away. Why &s;o? becau&s;e it will be <HI>gra|vamen,</HI> a grief, a &s;adne&s;s to the Spirit. He is the Spirit of the great God, and then for his honours &s;ake: He is the Spirit that &s;eales, and &s;o for his be|nefits &s;ake ab&s;taine from the&s;e. The&s;e two, his Greatne&s;&s;e, and his Goodne&s;&s;e; his Greatne&s;&s;e in him&s;elf, his Goodne&s;&s;e to us plead &s;trongly again&s;t all Impure, Ob&s;cure, Accur&s;ed, Bloody, Filthy words.</P>
<P>Judge then with what &s;pirit they &s;peak, who&s;e lips are no &s;ooner opened, but incontinent you may &s;mell the &s;tinking breath of their Lungs infecting both the aire and ears of the hearer! When I &s;ee the &s;moak vomiting out at the top of a Chimney, would not a man take me for a fool, nay wor&s;e, a ly|er, to affirm there were no fire in the hearth? The ca&s;e is much alike; when whole floods of corruptions, accur&s;ed Oaths, &s;mutty words, threatning and &s;laughter again&s;t Gods people &s;hew them&s;elves at the mouth, were it not great folly and a &s;tark lye to affirm, that there were no filth at the heart? As the Wench at the Door told <HI>Peter, Thou art a Galilean, for thy &s;peech bewrayes thee:</HI> So al&s;o this door-keeper of thy thoughts will accu&s;e thee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 14.70. Jam. 1.26.</NOTE> and blab it abroad, that thou art but a <HI>Galilean,</HI> becau&s;e thy language is &s;o broad, &s;o &s;anguine, &s;o malicious. St. <HI>James</HI> makes &s;hort work, <HI>If any man among you &s;eemeth to be Religious, and bridles not his tongue, this mans Religion is</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>vaine, fooli&s;h, little to be &s;et by.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. But the la&s;t way is the &s;ure&s;t of all, which is the Pul&s;e. For if there be breath in any mans body, the pul&s;e will beat, and by it the Phy&s;ician gives a &s;trong conjecture of the &s;tate of the man. For if the vital &s;pirit beat even, and keep good time, then there is hope the body is in the better temper. But if it beat too fa&s;t or too &s;low, he knows the blood is over-cold, or too much heated; if weakly, there is a deficiency in the &s;pirit; if not at all, or not to be di&s;cerned, that his Patient is in great danger, if not pa&s;t recovery. I apply it thus: Works in the Scripture, good or bad, are appropriated to the hand; &s;o call'd often <HI>Opera manuum, the works of our hands.</HI> If you will then know what &s;tate a Chri&s;tian is in, go to the hand, try the work, have an eye to that. If you feele the pul&s;e beat &s;trongly, even, con&s;tantly, then the Spi|rit of God is lively, active, vigorous in that man; he is of a &s;ound con&s;titu|tion, no danger of death in him at all. But if his work be over-ha&s;ty, pro|ceeding from an over-heated zeale, or come over-&s;lowly from him, as if his hand were &s;hrunk up or wither'd, or el&s;e is &s;o weak that it cannot be known, whether there be any impul&s;e or no, I dare not &s;ay the man is pa&s;t recovery; for who knows that he &s;tands or falls to the Lord of life? &s;ure I am, he carries
<PB N="348" REF="180"> great &s;ymptomes and evidences of death about him. Yea, and much more when his pul&s;e beats apace, and di&s;covers nothing el&s;e but a high feavor of wicked works in him.</P>
<P>Shall I tell you my meaning yet more plainly? No man ever yet &s;aw the works of the Devil, come from the Spirit of God. The works of <HI>Cain</HI> are from the &s;pirit of envy. The works of <HI>Demas</HI> are from the &s;pirit of the world. Ob&s;tinacy and &s;tubbornne&s;s is from the &s;pirit of perver&s;ene&s;s. A care|le&s;s heart is from the &s;pirit of &s;lumber: Here&s;ies, Schi&s;mes, and incon&s;tancy is from the &s;pirit of errour and giddine&s;s: A wicked life from the &s;pirit of un|cleanne&s;s. La&s;tly, prophane&s;s from the &s;pirit of Anti-Chri&s;t. And if we have a hand to help on the&s;e and the like enormities, you may ea&s;ily judge what &s;pirit it is that beats from the heart; whereas on the contrary, if we be ready to &s;et our hands to every good work, have hands of innocency to lay upon Gods Altar; hands of mercy to extend to his poor, the pul&s;e beats well; then are great &s;ignes of life in us.</P>
<P>As for what lies couch't in the heart, who knows? not we our &s;elves; our own heart may deceive us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 17.9.</NOTE> And for the tongue, there is much deceit in that too; Men, as Parrets, have learn'd to &s;peak, and that holy phra&s;es for a need too; <HI>Hail Ma&s;ter, Thou teache&s;t the way of God truly.</HI> Saint <HI>Paul</HI> puts in a complaint again&s;t &s;uch <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 20.21.</NOTE> &s;tinking, di&s;obedi|ent fellows,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 1.16.</NOTE> <HI>who profe&s;&s;e that they know God, but in works they deny him.</HI> But there is <HI>opus fidei, The work of faith,</HI> that proceeds from the Habit of faith;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 1.11.</NOTE> faith that &s;hews it &s;elf by the hand. And this, if it be free, uniform, and con&s;tant: Con&s;tant, that it vani&s;h not like the morning dew: Uniform, as all kindly and natural motions are: Free, that it have no ba&s;e principle in it, but meerly flowing from the Spirit of piety, and intended for Gods honour and glory, is a certain evidence of this breath of God within. Where|as without &s;uch works the Spirit of God cannot be; <HI>For without works,</HI> &s;aith St. <HI>James</HI> po&s;itively,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 2.24.</NOTE> <HI>it is but a dead faith;</HI> the carka&s;s of faith, no life or &s;pirit in it. For <HI>u&s;&abque; adeo e&s;t proprium operari Spiritui, ut ni&s;i operetur, non &s;it.</HI> The Spirit it is not, if work it do none.</P>
<P>I have proceeded a great way farther upon this Note than I inten|ded. And I de&s;ire it may be imputed to this gale of winde that blew here. For it was <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<Q><GAP DESC="foreign">.</Q>
<P>Which the Vulgar Latine tran&s;lates <HI>Advenientis.</HI></P>
<LIST>
<LABEL>Hentenius.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>&V;enientis flatus.</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>Beza.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>Ruentis venti.</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>Our Engli&s;h.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>Ru&s;hing.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>But I &s;ee no rea&s;on why it may not be <HI>pro&s;perous, bearing,</HI> or <HI>favoura|ble.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iliad.</NOTE> For &s;ure I am that in <HI>Homer</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, is <HI>ventus qui &agrave; puppe;</HI> or <GAP DESC="foreign">, the winde that blows in the poop favourably, and carries on the &s;hip, which in <HI>Euripides</HI> is <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">. In <HI>Virgil</HI> and <HI>Seneca, Ventus ferens.</HI></P>
<Q><LG>
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgil. Aen. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE>Expectat facilem&abque; fugam, vento&s;&abque; ferentes.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Seneca.</HI> de Ben. c. 21.</NOTE>Navigantem &s;ecundus &amp; ferens ventus exhilarat.</L>
</LG></Q>
<P>The Church is often compared unto a &s;hip, in which Chri&s;t is the Pilot, the Cro&s;s the Ma&s;t, the Go&s;pel the &s;ayles, Saints the pa&s;&s;engers, the Apo&s;tles and their Succe&s;&s;ors tugg at the Oare and Ropes, and the holy Gho&s;t the wind that drives it on. Since then the work of the Holy Gho&s;t is &s;uch, that which
<PB N="349" REF="180"> offers no force to the will of man, but makes it move in its natural cour&s;e, to produce its own Acts freely, and to co-operate with God; I take it that Ru&s;hing hath not &s;o well expre&s;&s;ed, what in the Original is <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>a bearing, a favourable blast:</HI> And if we beare up with this &s;weet Gale, I doubt not but at la&s;t we &s;hall &s;afely arrive at the <HI>Faire Havens,</HI> that is, Heaven.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 27.8.</NOTE> And this is that gentle winde that hath brought me thus far, and yet onward it carries me, to con&s;ider another property this wind had. For it was</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><L N="4"><HI>4.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, A &s;trong and mighty winde.</L>
<L>Vehemens flatus, <HI>Vulg.</HI> a powerful bla&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vulg. Lat. Aret. Beza.</NOTE></L>
<L>Qui cum impetu fertur, blowing vigorou&s;ly.</L>
<L>Violentus, is not &s;o well.</L></HEAD>
<P>Now &s;uch it ought to be, mighty, powerful, vigorous, vehement, whe|ther we look upon the end for which it was &s;ent, or the effects which it wrought upon the Apo&s;tles and the world.</P>
<P N="1">1. The end <HI>Calvin</HI> conceives to be to move this good company, and make them humble, and &s;o the fitter to receive this heavenly gift;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Calv.</HI> in loc.</NOTE> For this hath been one of the u&s;ual wayes of God, not only when he comes to convert &s;in|ners, but when he approacheth to vi&s;it the ju&s;t, and e&s;pecially when he in|tends to reveale unto them &s;ome high my&s;teries; fir&s;t to &s;trike a feare and ter|ror into them; that being affected with the reverence of his Maje&s;ty, and con|&s;cious of their own weakne&s;s and unworthine&s;s, they may be the better pre|pared with an humble feare to behold what he is plea&s;ed to reveale. But then pre&s;ently againe he is plea&s;ed to di&s;pel this feare, and quiet the minde, that they may with the greater attention under&s;tand what he &s;hall propo&s;e in a &s;till and &s;oft voice.</P>
<P><HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;aw the bu&s;h burn, and was afraid, and then God &s;pake.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 3. 1 Kings 19.11, 12, 13. Job 4.14, 15.</NOTE> <HI>Elijah</HI> was fir&s;t terrified with the &s;trong winde, the Earthquake, and the fire, and then came the &s;till and &s;oft voice. The &s;ame al&s;o hapned to <HI>Eliphaz,</HI> when he &s;aw his Divine Revelation: <HI>Feare came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to &s;hake. Then a &s;pirit pa&s;t before my face, the haire of my fle&s;h &s;tood up, &amp;c. There was &s;ilence, and I heard a voice &s;aying, Shall mortal man be more ju&s;t than God? &amp;c.</HI> It is needle&s;s to tell you of <HI>Da|niel, Zachary,</HI> the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, who receiv'd good News from heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 10.12. Luk. 1.12, 29.</NOTE> yet were terrified fir&s;t, but had this feare removed with a <HI>Noli timere, Fear not.</HI></P>
<P>To this purpo&s;e it is notably ob&s;erved by <HI>Gregory,</HI> The holy Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Moral.</HI> lib. 5. c. 26.</NOTE> &s;aith he, when he will make his power known to humane infirmity, comes down in the &s;ound of a vehement &s;pirit, and in the voice of a gentle aire: Becau&s;e when he comes, he is both mighty and milde: Milde and gentle, that he may apply him&s;elf to our capacities, and &s;ettle our &s;en&s;es to apprehend what he is plea&s;ed to make known: But mighty and powerful, becau&s;e though he doth accommodate him&s;elf to our infirmities, yet by his coming, our infirmity and blindne&s;s is di&s;turbed by his glory. But this terrour hath a happy i&s;&s;ue: for it ends in joy and &s;ecurity, and &s;ecurity begets hope, and hope erects and confirms the mind, and the mind being erected and confirm'd, li&s;tens attentive|ly and quietly to what the Spirit &s;hall &s;peak.</P>
<P N="2">2. But I come to the effects, and the&s;e were as of a mighty winde, whether <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ou ca&s;t your eyes upon the Apo&s;tles, or upon the world.</P>
<P N="1">1. Upon the Apo&s;tles this winde had a mighty power.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bern.</HI> Serm. 1. Pent.</NOTE> <HI>Nemo spiritum vehementem iis adveni&s;&s;e dubitet, qui de tanta pu&s;illanimitate ad tantum venere con&s;tantiam,</HI> Let no man doubt but the Spirit de&s;cended on the&s;e men as a mighty winde, &s;ince from &s;o much cowardize, they came to have &s;o much
<PB N="350" REF="181"> courage. After this they fly no more, they leave not their Ma&s;ter; we ne|ver reade that <HI>Peter</HI> for&s;wore him, or any one of them denyed him. Till this day for feare of the Jews, they were &s;hut up in an upper Chamber, but pre|&s;ently they appeare in publick&punc;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 5.28. Act. 4.18.</NOTE> they fill <HI>Hieru&s;alem</HI> with their doctrine, they vouch him in the Council, they proclaime his Name, notwith&s;tanding the peremptory charge of the High Prie&s;ts to the contrary. It mu&s;t needs be a mighty power, that wrought this &s;o &s;trange an alteration in them. <HI>Prius in|ter an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">illae verba formid<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bern.</HI> loc. cit. Luk. 22.56. Act. 5.41.</NOTE> <HI>po&s;t modum inter principum verbera fortitudo.</HI> He that before was afraid at the words of a &s;illy maid, fears not now the blows of the chief Prie&s;ts, <HI>but went away rejoycing, that they were thought worthy to be bea|ten for their Ma&s;ter.</HI></P>
<P>Not one of them de&s;ires to be &s;pared upon <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> rea&s;on, <HI>O Lord, I am not eloquent;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 4.10. Jer. 1.6.</NOTE> Nor puts off his imployment with <HI>Jeremy, Becau&s;e he was a childe:</HI> But with undaunted courage they with&s;tood the Jews; and the more they were forbidden, &s;o much the more they publi&s;hed him. We mu&s;t not think their Mu&s;cles were of Iron, or their bodies were of Steel; that their bones were of Adamant, or their fle&s;h of bra&s;s: But as a greater light extin|gui&s;heth a le&s;s, &s;o the love of God was &s;o fervent in their hearts, that it made them forget to love them&s;elves.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;.</NOTE> <HI>Ex luteis facti &s;unt ferrei;</HI> Of earthen ve&s;|&s;els they became as hard as Iron; a little handful that dur&s;t encounter the per&s;ecutors &s;words, the tormentors fires, the teeth of Ravenous bea&s;ts, as if they had been <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> as if they had been the Spe|ctatours, and others in their &s;teads; as if they had nor bodies, nor fle&s;h for the fire to fry; nor yet blood for the &s;word, bea&s;ts, or Whips to let out.</P>
<P N="2">2. This powerful effect this Winde had in the Apo&s;tles the preachers; and upon the Auditours whether Jews or Gentiles, it had no le&s;s. The winde is the thinne&s;t, the poore&s;t puff of aire, yet it is of mighty force; it roots up trees, it maketh the deep to boyle like a pot, it rattles the &s;hips together, and overturns the hou&s;es of Princes. Such are the operations of this Spirit that moved the whole world, <HI>it ca&s;t down &s;trong holds, pull'd down imaginations and every thing that exalted it &s;elf again&s;t the knowledge of God, and brought into captivity every thought to the obedience of Chri&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 10.4, 5.</NOTE> Wi&s;dom, learning, might, maje|&s;ty &s;toop't to it.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2.41.</NOTE>At the fir&s;t bla&s;t of this wind three thou&s;and &s;ouls overturn'd, and turn'd to God, and in the compa&s;s of fourteen yeares we reade of whole Countryes and Churches. Ca&s;t but your eyes upon the &s;tate of the world at that time, and tell me whether or no it could be le&s;s than a mighty winde, which could <HI>ca&s;t down principalities and powers,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 10.4, 5.</NOTE> <HI>and what&s;oever did with&s;tand the Name of Je&s;us.</HI> The whole world lay in wickedne&s;s, Idolatry had clouded Religi|on, the leven of &s;inne &s;owred the whole lump. Except the&s;e twelve unlear|ned men, and &s;ome few others being as a berry or two in the top of an O|live,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 17.6.</NOTE> hard it was to find a believer. Among the&s;e Infidels were the&s;e fi&s;her|men &s;ent, to the&s;e great Clerks were the&s;e unlearned men to preach from their profit, from their plea&s;ures, that I name not their principles, their kin|dred, their countrey, their lives; they were to &s;eparate them; and had they not need then of a mighty winde, and that from heaven too, to do all this?</P>
<P>And yet this, this &s;o great a work, the&s;e plaine men out of <HI>Galilee</HI> quickly did. For there were of every Age, Sex, condition &s;ome, nay many, who did now loo&s;e and unglue them&s;elves from the world, nay from their lu&s;ts (which is <HI>peccatum maximae adherentiae</HI>) and cleave fa&s;t to the Apo&s;tles.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Thom.</HI> Act. 17.34. 1 Cor 1.20.</NOTE> So that St. <HI>Pauls</HI> Que&s;tion is here &s;ea&s;onable, <HI>Where is the wi&s;e? where is the Scribe? where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made the wi&s;dome of this
<PB N="351" REF="181"> world fooli&s;h?</HI> Oh you unletter'd tongues, and untaught by the skill of man, I do even envy the power of your fooli&s;h (as the World judged it) preach|ing, by which the Jews were convinced, and the curious Arti&s;ts burn'd their books! And of both,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 18.28. Act 19.19.</NOTE> many Jews and Gentiles per&s;waded to be Chri|&s;tians. This could proceed from no other power than that of Gods Spirit, which makes his Word to be <HI>&s;harper than any two-edged &s;word, and rea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">heth to the divi&s;ion of the &s;oul and &s;pirit, of the joynts and marrow,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.12.</NOTE> <HI>being the di&s;cerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.</HI></P>
<P>The number was &s;o great that this winde brought in, that <HI>Tertullian</HI> in his Apology he wrote to the Emperor, not many yeares after the Apo&s;tles days, boa&s;ts of it in the&s;e words, If we were enemies to your State,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tertul.</HI> Apol. c. 37.</NOTE> you might well &s;eek new Cities, and new Countries whereof to bear Government, for that you &s;hould have in your Empire more enemies than Citizens. We have fil|led your Towns, your Cities, your Provinces, your I&s;lands, your Ca&s;tles, your Fortre&s;&s;es, your Tents, your Camps, your Courts, your Palaces, your Councils, your Senate it &s;elf.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 19.20.</NOTE> <HI>So mightily grew the Word of God and pre|vailed,</HI> after the holy Gho&s;t had de&s;cended in this mighty wind. The power of that Spirit had quickly fill'd the whole world, which, as upon this day, fill'd the whole place. For this was the la&s;t property this winde had, it was a filling winde.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> It filled the whole hou&s;e where they were &s;itting.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Heb ddew heb ddim Dieu a digon,</HI> &s;ay the old <HI>Britans;</HI> Without God, without every thing; God is alone &s;ufficient. For have what you will, with|out him you will never have enough. He alone fills, and gives content to the &s;oul. That nor riches, nor plea&s;ure, nor honour can &s;atisfie, every fool can tell you. Even that innocent good with which the nobler &s;ouls hope to &s;lake their appetite (I mean the deep &s;earch and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of knowledge) doth but edge and provoke their de&s;ire; Fulne&s;s in any of the&s;e, &s;wells rather than &s;a|tiates; di&s;quiets more than contents. Many with the&s;e are <GAP DESC="foreign">, loaden, full to the brim, none <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;atiated and fill'd. The rea&s;on is evi|dent, this Winde is wanting, which commands every man to be content with that mea&s;ure he is plea&s;ed to fill them, yea,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.7.</NOTE> though it be of Grace.</P>
<P>And with that, in what mea&s;ure he plea&s;eth, yet in &s;ufficiency he fills eve|ry hou&s;e where he comes. He fills the head, he fills the heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.9.</NOTE> he fills the will. <HI>Monet, movet, docet,</HI> he warns the memory, he moves the will, he informs the under&s;tanding; by which three ways he fills the whole hou&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bern.</HI> Serm. 1. Pentec.</NOTE> which is the whole man: The &s;eat of the memory, rea&s;on, and will, being the chiefe&s;t Rooms in this building.</P>
<P N="1">1. He fills the memory, whil&s;t he calls to our minde what Chri&s;t &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14.26.</NOTE> what he did, what he &s;uffered for us; <HI>According to promi&s;e, the Comforter &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll bring all things to your remembrance.</HI> Tho&s;e &s;ad and &s;erious thoughts of our Saviours actions or pa&s;&s;ions, are all remembrances of this holy Spirit; that out of the love he bears our &s;ouls, would not have &s;o great matters buried i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> an ungrateful Oblivion.</P>
<P N="2">2. Then again, as he is a good Rembrancer, &s;o he is the be&s;t teacher. Ma|ny may advi&s;e well, that know not how to teach the way to do well. But this great Ma&s;ter, <HI>Docebit omnia, will teach all things;</HI> teach the Rule,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14 26.</NOTE> and the way to practice the Rule; as he doth illuminate the under&s;tanding, &s;o with his light he brings heat too, and can when he plea&s;eth, make it active. Every Chri&s;tian is rather his Schollar than ours; and therefore we may bring to you, and repeat in your hearing the Le&s;&s;ons he hath taught us, without fruit, ex|cept
<PB N="352" REF="182"> he is plea&s;ed to teach you to practice them. Let there be in Gods hou&s;e a thou&s;and, two or three perhaps are fill'd with this winde; the other come and go, and are no more moved than when they came. Empty &s;till they re|maine for all our winde. The Spirit within is the chief Ma&s;ter, men without are but the under-teachers; the&s;e are very nece&s;&s;ary, <HI>Sed &s;ine interno Spiri|tu clamare poterunt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Gregor.</HI> Hom. 30. in Evang.</NOTE> <HI>convertere ad Deum non poterunt;</HI> but without the Spi|rit within, cry they may, but convert to God they &s;hall not. <HI>Paul</HI> may bu|&s;ie him&s;elf in planting, <HI>Apollos</HI> in watering, but except God give the encrea&s;e, 'tis but in vain to ri&s;e &s;o early, and &s;o late take re&s;t.</P>
<P N="3">3. Farther we maintain, that be&s;ides this light receiv'd in the under&s;tan|ding, there mu&s;t be a delight and a love of that a man knows in his will, by which he is inflamed, and earne&s;tly de&s;ires to adhere to God, to his Word, to the light afforded him. For till that duty which is to be done doth delight, and be receiv'd with love, it will never be well done, a good life will not follow. This holy Spirit then <HI>non &s;olum monet, &amp; docet, &s;ed etiam afficit &amp; movet,</HI> not only warnes the memory, and teacheth the under&s;tanding, but affects and moves the will al&s;o. Proceeding from the Father, who&s;e Attribute is power, he rai&s;eth the heart, and makes it able. Proceeding from the Son, who&s;e Attribute is Wi&s;dom, he informs the heart, and makes it wi&s;e. And being of him&s;elf the Love of the Father and the Son, his charity is &s;o &s;hed a|broad in our hearts, that now not from our own free will, but by his mighty working we bear a good liking to Religion and Religious duties.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> And thus he fills every hou&s;e, every particular &s;oul into which he comes, <HI>bona &s;uggerendo, in&s;truendo, afficiendo,</HI> by reviving the memory, by enlightning the under&s;tanding, by inflaming the will to that which is good.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="6" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>6.</HI> The whole hou&s;e where they were &s;itting.</HEAD>
<P>Signally, determinately, that hou&s;e where they were, it fill'd, and not every hou&s;e at large; not any out-hou&s;e, or any place removed from it. This Hou&s;e was a Type of the Church; they then who expect to be fill'd with this winde of the Spirit, mu&s;t be &s;ure to continue in the unity and verity of it. 'Tis but folly to &s;eek it el&s;ewhere; either in the Synods of Heretiques, or the Conventicles of Schi&s;matiques or Sectaries. There this winde blows not.</P>
<P>A winde indeed they have, but it is not <GAP DESC="foreign">, a favourable, a gentle winde, that drives on the &s;hip to the de&s;ired Port: but it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, a &s;torm, rather than a winde, that carries the ve&s;&s;el about, and indangers it; and therefore the Apo&s;tle knowing that &s;uch a winde would ri&s;e, gives the <HI>E|phe&s;ians</HI> warning, that they be not carried about with it, <HI>Be not carried a|bout with every winde of doctrine.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.14.</NOTE> This kindly drives not on the pa&s;&s;engers, but to&s;&s;eth them to and fro; this fills not the &s;ayles, but rents and tears them. It would put all men in amaze, to con&s;ider what &s;tate, wi&s;dom, holine&s;s, ma|je&s;ty have &s;tooped to it. What Churches and Common-Wealths have been overthrown by it. No winde hath been &s;o violent as this &s;torm. The&s;e are the effects of that winde which blows out of corners: I never think of it, but it brings to my memory the winde that fell upon <HI>Jobs</HI> Elde&s;t &s;ons hou&s;e, <HI>that &s;mote the foure corners of it,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1.19.</NOTE> <HI>&s;o that it fell upon the young men, and brain'd them.</HI> And well it may be compared to it, for it ari&s;eth from the &s;ame Cave; from the Wilderne&s;s that, from an Heathen land this. From Satan that, and this from a &s;pirit, but not from the Spirit <GAP DESC="foreign">, that blew from Heaven; 'tis from that uncleane &s;pirit that blu&s;ters from Hell; and therefore wonder not if it fills the world with confu&s;ion.</P>
<PB N="353" REF="182">
<P>In the Catholique Church of God you &s;hall finde no &s;uch winde; it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, 'tis <GAP DESC="foreign">, it is a pro&s;perous winde, it is a filling winde. It fills with light, and not darkne&s;s; with knowledge, and not ignorance; with meekne&s;s, and not pride; with love and charity, and not with malice and frowardne&s;s; with peace and unity, and not with War and di&s;&s;en&s;ion; In a word, with truth, and not with lyes and errour. Sit &s;till then in the Church, and you may be fill'd with this winde; without, never expect to find it.</P>
<P>For to the Church of God only were the promi&s;es made;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 33.24. Joh. 2.28. Eph. 1.22.</NOTE> To the people that remain in it. <HI>I will poure out my Spirit,</HI> &s;poken to none but them. Of this Body Chri&s;t is the Head; and it never can be imagin'd, that his Spirit &s;hall informe, enlive, warme any part that is &s;eparated, or doth &s;eparate from him. To tho&s;e, to all tho&s;e who &s;it in his hou&s;e, he will be by his Spirit an Advocate, a Comforter, an Exhorter. An Advocate &s;ettling a Mini&s;try to pray, to intercede for the people, and to u&s;e the power of the keys for their good. A Comforter, in divulging and applying the glad-tydings of the Go&s;pel, containing the promi&s;es of grace and pardon to the comfortle&s;s. An Exhorter, to quicken us, to walk worthy of our calling.</P>
<P>What remains therefore, but that we expect the Spirit in that hou&s;e he is pleas'd to fill? That we &s;ubmit to his Ordinances, and wait for his grace, that way he is plea&s;ed to be&s;tow it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 16.14. Heb. 13.17. 1 Cor. 11.28. Act. 2.41, 46. 1 Cor. 5. Act. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.51. 1 The&s;. 5.19. Eph. 4.30.</NOTE> which is then done when we are diligent in his Word, when we are obedient to the Pa&s;tors &s;ee over us by the Holy Gho&s;t. For <HI>in voce hominis, tuba Dei,</HI> The Go&s;pel is Gods Trumpet at mans mouth; when we continue under his roof, and receive the Sacraments, being the ordinary Conduits to convey grace unto us; when we &s;ubmit to the Cen&s;ures or Di&s;cipline of the Church. La&s;tly, if his motions be more inward and &s;ecret, that we re&s;i&s;t them not, quench them not, nor <HI>grieve the holy Spirit, by whom we are &s;ealed to the day of Redemption.</HI></P>
<P>This being done,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 132.14</NOTE> the Spirit of God will take a delight to dwell among you; He will give to him that hath, and fill up that which is wanting; he will never leave to heap grace upon grace, till being capable of no more in this life, he de&s;troy this earthly hou&s;e of your body, and take your &s;ouls to him&s;elf to fill them with peace, and re&s;t, and joy, and happine&s;s, which he hath prepared for all tho&s;e that wait upon him, and tru&s;t in him.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="28" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The de&s;cent of the Holy Gho&s;t.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Acts 2.3.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And then appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it &s;ate upon each of them.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE illap&s;es of the Spirit of God were in old time, and are at this day &s;e|cret. We reade not in any vi&s;ible &s;ign he de&s;cended upon the old Pro|phets. Their me&s;&s;ages were in&s;pirations, they <GAP DESC="foreign">. But when the time of refre&s;hing came, then the holy Gho&s;t appeared to the &s;en&s;e under &s;uch Sym|bolls as he was plea&s;ed to a&s;&s;ume.</P>
<P>He was plea&s;ed to de&s;cend at <HI>Jordan</HI> in the &s;hape of a Dove upon the Head;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.16.</NOTE> and here he is plea&s;ed again to de&s;cend upon the fir&s;t members of this Body in the form of fiery, divided tongues: Out of which no man may con|clude, that there is <HI>Motus localis,</HI> a remove in God from place to place,
<PB N="354" REF="183"> but that his power and pre&s;ence is with his Church, which he was plea&s;ed at this time to &s;hew even to the eye. For the Spirit of God is every where dif|fu&s;ed; it fills heaven and earth. Yet he is &s;aid to be given, &s;ent, poured out, when by the efficacy of his pre&s;ence he creates, excites, and by little and little perfects his own gifts in the members of his Church; of which, that the Queen his Church might have the &s;tronger hope, and better a&s;&s;u|rance on this day of her Solemn Inauguration, he hath &s;hed forth this that you both &s;ee and hear; an audible, a vi&s;ible Comforter; audible in the &s;ound and winde; vi&s;ible in the fire and tongues. Of that you have heard before; of this I &s;hall &s;peak now, as that tongue &s;hall be plea&s;ed to empower mine. To which, that I may &s;et &s;ome bounds, I &s;hall propo&s;e unto your con|&s;ideration,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The Symbol in which the Apparition was, <HI>viz. Tongues.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That the&s;e tongues had two qualities.
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>They were cloven.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Like as of fire.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Their abode and &s;tay, <HI>Non ideo venit ut exiret.</HI> The Spirit came to &s;tay. <HI>It &s;ate upon each of them.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> There appeared unto them Tongues.</HEAD>
<P>The Tongue of man is his glory, being that part by which he manife&s;ts a great portion of that Image of God in which he was created, for it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, it is the &s;ervant of the minde, and makes him appear without, what he is within,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plut. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <HI>viz.</HI> a creature endued with rea&s;on, and with how much, no way &s;o ea&s;ie to di&s;cern as by his &s;peech. And if <HI>Anaxagoras</HI> would un|dertake to demon&s;trate man to be the wi&s;e&s;t of all creatures, becau&s;e he had hands by which he was able to do &s;uch works that no creature could do be|&s;ides; much more may I conclude of the &s;ame man, that he is in wi&s;dome far beyond all other animals, becau&s;e he hath a tongue with which he is able to expre&s;s a rea&s;on of tho&s;e works. This was then the ground of that Tran|&s;lation of the <HI>Chaldee;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.7.</NOTE> for whereas we reade <HI>Factus e&s;t homo in animam vi|ventem, Man was made a living &s;oul,</HI> they paraphra&s;e it thus, <HI>Man was made</HI> in animam loquentem, <HI>a speaking &s;oul,</HI> a man that had a tongue ena|bled to utter his conceptions; and &s;o a perfect man at fir&s;t, no Infant or Child.</P>
<P>Other Organs of &s;ence he hath in common with the bea&s;ts, but in this he in a great part re&s;embles his Maker; by this he makes known his thoughts, his conceits, his coun&s;els, and &s;o in &s;ome &s;ort doth what God doth, who this way reveals his will, his Covenant, his &s;ecrets. <HI>Thus &s;aith the Lord,</HI> or <HI>The mouth of the Lord hath spoken,</HI> being the Maje&s;tical clo&s;e of every Prophecy. And in a wi&s;e man this little filme of broad but nimble fle&s;h, is like the door of &s;ome rich Cabinet, no &s;ooner opened, but a world of varie|ties, and plea&s;ing trea&s;ures pre&s;ent them&s;elves to the ear. <HI>&V;etera &amp; nova.</HI> Old &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13.52.</NOTE> Hi&s;tories, Proverbs, Apothegms, New allu&s;ions, Similies, Argu|ments are brought forth. That I &s;ay not, that by this power the heavenly trea&s;ure is di&s;penc'd, Hereticks convinc'd, Satan &s;ilenc'd, Religion advan|ced, God adored, and the hearts of &s;tubborn men mollified. For like an imperious Ma&s;ter it enters the heart, animates, exa&s;perates, appea&s;eth, makes &s;ad or merry; Finally, imprints what&s;oever pa&s;&s;ion it plea&s;eth, making the hearer pliable to the di&s;po&s;ition of the &s;peaker.</P>
<Q><PB N="355" REF="183">
<L>Ille regit dictis animos &amp; pectora mulcet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgil. Silius.</NOTE> <HI>being able</HI></L>
<L>Voce movere fora, at&abque; orando fingere mentes.</L></Q>
<P>In regard of which powerful command of the tongue, the <HI>Areopagites</HI> provided by a decree, That no Orator who pleaded before them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vo&s;&s;. Rhet.</NOTE> &s;hould u&s;e either in&s;inuating Preface, or pathetical expre&s;&s;ion, by which the Court might be mov'd <GAP DESC="foreign">, the more to like or di&s;like either per&s;on or cau&s;e that was depending before them.</P>
<P>To move the world the&s;e men were call'd; to convert the world the&s;e men were &s;ent; and this could never be done without a tongue; and there|fore the Holy Gho&s;t came down upon them in this form. Sent out they were to preach, and Preachers mu&s;t have tongues; for a dumb Prie&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 56.10.</NOTE> is but like a dumb Dog, that is content his Ma&s;ters Hou&s;e be broke open, and his goods &s;toln, and yet he will never open his mouth, or move his tongue. The tongue is the interpreter of that word which is fir&s;t in the minde; Chri&s;t is that internal and eternal Word of the Father, the Apo&s;tles the tongues to make this known. Of this they were cho&s;en to be Witne&s;&s;es.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 15.16. Act. 1.8.</NOTE> But hitherto they &s;aid nothing, and great rea&s;on; for as yet a tongue was not given them; that was no &s;ooner given, but they witne&s;&s;ed to all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 18.28. Rom. 10.17.</NOTE> <HI>That Je&s;us was the Chri&s;t.</HI> To believe this, they were to win the world; now <HI>faith comes by hearing;</HI> and hear no man can, where there is not a tongue to &s;peak. You &s;ee then a tongue is &s;till nece&s;&s;ary. Bound they were to exhort, to reprove,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.2.</NOTE> to rebuke, to convince the gain-&s;ayers. None of which can be done by a dumb man; and therefore to enable them to deliver their me&s;&s;age at full, the Holy Gho&s;t was &s;ent down upon them in the form of tongues. And two peculiar properties the&s;e tongues had; they were
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Cloven tongues.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>As of fire.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Cloven tongues, <GAP DESC="foreign">.</HEAD>
<P>The tongue was a Symbol of their Elocution, the partition of their en|dowments. But in the divi&s;ion Interpreters divide. For &s;ome &s;o divide them,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aret.</HI> in loc.</NOTE> that they give to every Apo&s;tle a &s;everal tongue: Others make the divi&s;ion to to be in that tongue that &s;ate upon every &s;everal Apo&s;tle, to which our tran|&s;lation enclines, that reads cloven tongues, &s;ettling the cleft in the tongue.</P>
<Q><L>Di&s;pertitae. &V;ulg. Lat. Tremel. Beza, <HI>and the</HI> Graec. Schol. <HI>thus Pa|phra&s;eth,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Oecum.</HI></L>
<L>Divi&s;ae. Henten. Aretius. <HI>Some</HI> di&s;sectae, bicornes.</L></Q>
<P>The meaning of the fir&s;t, is, that no Apo&s;tle was pa&s;t by, but every one had his &s;hare of the tongue, <HI>They were all fill'd;</HI> of which I &s;hall &s;peak, when I come to it. The intent of the la&s;t, that every Apo&s;tle had <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> cleft in his tongue, with that tongue received many tongues, many languages, ma|ny Gifts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor 12 11.</NOTE> <HI>the Holy Gho&s;t dividing and de&s;tributing to ev<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ry one as he will.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. Now the fir&s;t gift that this Tongue brought from heaven, was a Copy and variety of language. They before knew and &s;poke but one tongue only, and that not very well neither. But now on a &s;udden they &s;pake all Languages and all Dialects. A &s;trange thing to hear an ignorant <HI>Galilaean,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.73.</NOTE> an illetter'd Fi&s;herman &s;peak <HI>Arabick, Per&s;ian, Greek, Latine,</HI> what tongue you
<PB N="356" REF="184"> would; one of which a man ordinarily cannot attain to, without much indu|&s;try and practice.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;.</NOTE> The&s;e <HI>Galilaeans</HI> more mute than the fi&s;hes they were wont to take, became in an in&s;tant &s;o ready, that they enclo&s;ed &s;ome of all Nati|ons in their Net. Ble&s;&s;ed then be the maje&s;ty and wi&s;dome of the Almighty, that hath turn'd that into a ble&s;&s;ing, which was at fir&s;t a Cur&s;e. For the divi|&s;ion of tongues hindred,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 11.7.</NOTE> when time was, the building of the Tower; but the ability to &s;peak the&s;e divers languages, hath rai&s;ed, and doth yet help forward the Walls of the heavenly <HI>Hieru&s;alem.</HI> So that by this gift here is a plain re|ver&s;ing of the Cur&s;e at <HI>Babel.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Then again ob&s;erve, that though they all &s;pake divers languages, yet they &s;pake all one thing. They &s;et forth the wonderful works of God; be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t in what tongue you will, yet the matter is &s;till one and the &s;ame. Had you but heard the Apo&s;tles language before the de&s;cent of this Spirit, you might have heard them &s;peaking low and earthly things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.7. Luk. 22.23. Act. 1.6. 1 Cor. 13.11.</NOTE> of the bread they had for|got to take, of the principality, and chief &s;eat, inquiring about a tempo|ral Kingdome; and no marvel; for when a man is a child, he &s;peaks as a child. But they were now become men, they &s;peak as becomes men, of great and high my&s;teries: Of this effu&s;ion, of the death and pa&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, of his glorious Re&s;urrection, of his Exaltation and A&s;cen&s;ion, of his Divinity, Power, Maje&s;ty, and of his Goodne&s;s in &s;ending down the&s;e tongues. For this is the &s;umme of the following di&s;cour&s;e of St. <HI>Peter;</HI> which is managed with &s;o great order, depth of rea&s;on, prudence, &s;agacity, that you cannot &s;ay that was <HI>Peter</HI> the <HI>Galilaean, Peter</HI> the fi&s;herman, or <HI>Peter</HI> the illiterate that &s;pake, but <HI>Peter</HI> that was Taught by a Tongue from Heaven.</P>
<P>Could we finde the like either for power, matter, or elocution in the Tongues that are let loo&s;e at this day, we would no more object to them their &s;hops, than we do unto the Apo&s;tles their Boats. But when the&s;e piti|ful Praters, who pretend to a tongue from above, are &s;o farre from any &s;uch gift, that they are &s;carce Ma&s;ters of their own Mother tongue: When in|&s;tead of &s;etting forth <HI>Magnalia Dei,</HI> the great Truths of the Go&s;pel, they &s;ow vanity and vi&s;ions of their own heart;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 8.7.</NOTE> counterfeit and cropt opinions, for full weight of Chri&s;tian Doctrines: ea&s;ie it is to gue&s;s what &s;pirit moves the&s;e tongues. That, out of doubt, from below; and not this that de&s;cended upon the Apo&s;tles from above.</P>
<P N="3">3. But I return into my way, from which the&s;e Phari&s;ees (for Scribes they are not) made me turn a little. Grant that the whole earth had been, as it was at fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 11.1.</NOTE> of one language; yet hard it had been to meet with men of the &s;ame temper and di&s;po&s;ition. This diver&s;ity of gifts in the&s;e divided tongues is apt to meet with &s;uch diver&s;ity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.19.</NOTE> to vary their words, as they finde men vary, to become all things to all men to win &s;ome.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 6.5.</NOTE>Some men are rough &s;tones, and the&s;e need be hewed by the Prophets; others are &s;oft and tender-hearted, and for the&s;e the tongue of <HI>Nestor,</HI> and the <GAP DESC="foreign"> of <HI>Demo&s;thenes</HI> is fitte&s;t. There be precious &s;tones al&s;o, and the&s;e mu&s;t be poli&s;hed to the be&s;t advantage by the tongue of love: Others lie bedded in the Quarre, and the&s;e mu&s;t be rai&s;ed from thence with the tongue of fear. For all the &s;ervices God hath his &s;everal tongues. His <HI>Boanerges, &s;ons of Thunder;</HI>
<Q><L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joan. Euchait.</NOTE><GAP DESC="foreign">,</L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign">.</L></Q></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 4.36. Mat. 12.20.</NOTE>Yea, and his <HI>Barnaba&s;ses</HI> al&s;o, or his &s;ons of con&s;olation, that know not how to break the brui&s;ed Reed, nor quench the &s;moaking flax. A <HI>Paul</HI> we<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">
<PB N="357" REF="184"> skill'd in both, either to come with a Rod,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.21.</NOTE> or to &s;peak in the Spirit of meekne&s;s.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> Let <HI>Orpheus</HI> &s;tand a&s;ide, and un&s;tring his Harp; for we have cele&s;tial tongues abler to draw &s;tones and bea&s;ts to this building, than his warbling and prating In&s;trument. For the&s;e Apo&s;tolical tongues were become like &s;ome excellent In&s;trument of mu|&s;ick, which being entuned from heaven, was enabled to expre&s;s any Le&s;&s;on. The plain &s;ong was alwayes the &s;ame, <HI>Je&s;us Christ and him crucified;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.2.</NOTE> but the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Cliff, Tune, and Time was varied according to the di&s;po&s;i|tion of the Auditory. <HI>Una erat in omnibus lingua, &amp; mille linguae,</HI> One tongue in all, and yet a thou&s;and tongues, all &s;ounding one thing, but &s;till in harmony and con&s;ort.</P>
<P>Chromatick mu&s;ick is not for all ears;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.16.</NOTE> nor the &s;ame tongue fit to &s;peak to all hearts; Doctrine and Reproof are fit for &s;ome times; Correction and In&s;truction at others; and a tongue enabled &s;ea&s;onably to u&s;e all the&s;e, is fitte&s;t to make the man of God perfect. And thus the Apo&s;tles were furni&s;h|ed; they knew when to teach, whom to rebuke, where to correct, and whom to in&s;truct. Though they were <HI>as &s;imple as Doves,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.16.</NOTE> yet they were <HI>as wi&s;e as Serpents,</HI> which hath, as it is reported, <HI>Linguam di&s;&s;ectam,</HI> a parted tongue.</P>
<P>It cannot be denyed, but &s;ome of their Succe&s;&s;ors have made u&s;e only of the Serpents fork. The &s;implicity of the Dove they ca&s;t by; and double their tongue, not to the edification, as it was intended, but to the rending and di|viding of Chri&s;ts Church. I mean the two Incendiaries of Chri&s;tendom, the Je&s;uite, and the Sectary. Their tongues indeed are &s;mooth as Oyle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 55.21. P&s;a. 137.3.</NOTE> their &s;ongs, as they would make you believe, are the &s;ongs of <HI>Zion.</HI> But while by the Crotchets and Quavers of their own curious braines, they have de&s;|canted too farre on the ground, the Church-mu&s;ick is by them quite marred. <HI>Notae nimium denigrantur,</HI> Their Notes are over-black: A fault generally ob|&s;erv'd in all <HI>Italian</HI> mu&s;icians.</P>
<P>On all &s;ides we u&s;e our tongues too much, and practice too little; &s;ure I am, it had been for the advancement of Chri&s;tianity, if that Sun which ro&s;e had al&s;o &s;et upon mo&s;t Que&s;tions, and that they never had came to the School|mens File, and the Canoni&s;ts Anvile. But &s;ince their tongues have blown up the Coals of di&s;&s;en&s;ion, let us u&s;e our be&s;t endeavour to cover and take up the fire. Though this tongue that came from heaven hath given us liberty to &s;peak <GAP DESC="foreign">, to pre&s;ent his truth in our own ve&s;&s;el, mu&s;t we, as if our tongues were our own, run-ryot, and brings forth <GAP DESC="foreign">, quite and clean an|other thing? This is to u&s;e the Cleft in the tongue to a very ill pur|po&s;e.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">, another thing? why in Religion, who dares do that? Who?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 19.24.</NOTE> He that means to be &s;ome body. Who had ever read of <HI>Demetrius</HI> with his &s;il|ver-Smiths, had he not made a Party? <HI>Hero&s;tratus</HI> might have dyed as he was born, an ob&s;cured fellow, had he not &s;et <HI>Diana's</HI> Temple in a light flame: <HI>Primiamus</HI> as St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> was wont to je&s;t, might have been <HI>Po&s;tremianus,</HI> come in the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ere, had be not been the Head of a Faction. This is one rea&s;on, and a chief one too, That &s;o long as there be cloven tongues, we &s;hall not want Divi&s;ions and Schi&s;ms.</P>
<Q><L>Quod &s;i dolo&s;i &s;pes reful&s;erit nummi,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Per&s;.</NOTE></L>
<L>Corvos poetas &amp; poetridas picas</L>
<L>Cantore credas <GAP DESC="foreign"> melos.</L></Q>
<P>For <HI>Chry&s;ippus</HI>-like (&s;uch is the power of Gold)<NOTE PLACE="marg">Diog. Laert.</NOTE> can men but meet
<PB N="358" REF="185"> with opin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ons, they will never want Arguments to defend them. And this motive makes tongues move apace at this day. But I &s;ay no more of it, le&s;t mine be &s;lit. Another there is, which more &s;trongly prevails with them, (whether they them&s;elves that pre&s;s it believe it, I much doubt, however they pretend it, and &s;tand much upon it) they are all great pretenders to the Holy Gho&s;t, all &s;piritual, all gifted men; <HI>A word they have receiv'd in their heart,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 20.9.</NOTE> <HI>and it is become as a burning fire &s;hut up in their bones, this makes them weary of forbearing, and they cannot &s;tay.</HI> But as they abu&s;e the cleft in the tongue, &s;o al&s;o they do the fire too; which indeed is but a Meteor: A hot and dry exhalation, gro&s;s and foeculent: Heated with in|di&s;creet zeale, dry and jejune, as appears in the effects: Gro&s;s and bitu|minous, it &s;o &s;oon catcheth, and &s;mells &s;o &s;trong. That which fell upon the Apo&s;tles, was of another nature, as I &s;hall now make it evident. And &s;o at unawares I am faln upon the other property of the&s;e tongues, <HI>They were fiery. There appeared unto them Cloven Tongues</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, Like as of Fire.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Oecum.</NOTE>Not fire, but like as of fire, that no man have any gro&s;s conceits of the Holy Gho&s;t, as if his per&s;on could be an object of &s;ence. But in this man|ner he was plea&s;ed to de&s;cend, that what was promi&s;ed might be performed, <HI>Ye &s;hall be baptiz'd with the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.11.</NOTE> <HI>and with fire.</HI> Fire, of all the E|lements, is the mo&s;t active; and of &s;uch, or rather of farre more pow|er is the Spirit, and the operations thereof are very like tho&s;e of Fire.</P>
<P>The chief activity of Fire is this:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. It melts what is hard and &s;olid.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. It &s;eparates what is impure.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. It &s;hines and gives light in the dark.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. It warms and heats what is cold.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. It a&s;cends to the highe&s;t place.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>All which actions do &s;o evidently belong to the Spirit of God, that I would not wa&s;te time in the unfolding them, were it not that I love to &s;peak clearly unto you.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t property of the fire is to melt what may be melted, as are mettals and &s;ome &s;tones; and &s;o doth the Spirit: For the heart of man by Nature is hard and &s;tubborn. And nothing can mollifie and di&s;&s;olve it into godly &s;orrow,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 23.29.</NOTE> but the power of this fire; the Hammar of the Law may break it to pieces, the fear of wrath <HI>Atterere,</HI> &s;tamp it to very du&s;t, and &s;o make it more capable of a di&s;&s;olution, than it was when it wa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> whole: But that out of meer love a mans heart doth melt for the offence he hath done again&s;t his Heavenly Father, Chri&s;t the Redeemer, this holy Spirit his Sanctifier, is a Grace of this Spirit that at that time did de&s;cend in Fire.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chron. 34.27 P&s;al. 22.14.</NOTE>'Tis Recorded of <HI>Jo&s;iah, that his heart did melt within him;</HI> and <HI>Da|vid</HI> te&s;tifieth of him&s;elf, <HI>that the heart in his body was become like melting wax, &s;oft and fit to receive an impre&s;&s;ion;</HI> out of doubt it had been near this fire. Be it then that we feel at any time the like effect, a relenting, ten|der, &s;oft heart, let us pre&s;ently conceive a Grace to this holy Spirit, who&s;e work it is to di&s;&s;olve, thaw, and mollifie our Icy, hard, Iron hearts.</P>
<P>Many &s;uch &s;tony-hearted men as live now the Apo&s;tles were to meet with in the world, a people <HI>alienated from the life of God, becau&s;e of the blind|ne&s;s and hardne&s;s of their heart,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.18.</NOTE> <HI>men pa&s;t feeling:</HI> It lies not in mans pow|er
<PB N="359" REF="185"> to make them &s;en&s;ible; to melt them, no humane eloquence is able. That therefore they might be ca&s;t anew, and moulded to that &s;hape which God would put upon them, the tongue of an Apo&s;tle in&s;lamed by the Spirit of God was requi&s;ite and nece&s;&s;ary.</P>
<P N="2">2. Now the end of melting, is to &s;eparate the precious from the vile, which is done by the heating of the &s;pirits of the mettal. For the&s;e being in|flamed and &s;et a work by heat, labour ha&s;tily to fly out, and &s;o extend the gro&s;&s;er parts, that tho&s;e which are finer and &s;imilare, may friendly meet, and tho&s;e which are fuller of dro&s;s may &s;ettle, and be removed. And is not this the work of the Spirit, when the heart is heated and melted by it? That na|tural rea&s;on which God hath put into the heart of man, is mov'd, and pre|&s;ently a &s;eparation is made, which by time is more and more perfected, till all the faculties of the &s;oul are refined, &s;weetly uniting and joyning together to purifie the man of God, and removing the dreggs of &s;inne, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd gro&s;&s;er parts, that they might be ca&s;t a&s;ide. The &s;oul and body in regard of their e&s;|&s;ence, powers, faculties, or natural actions, are the &s;ame: Onely the corrupt and vitious qualities thereof are made to flie, or Re|ctified.</P>
<P>Sorrow, Fear, Joy, are not aboli&s;hed, but refined, and are &s;ettled upon a new object. Fear of puni&s;hment, is turn'd into the fear of &s;in. Worldly grief, into godly &s;orrow: Carnal mirth, into joy in the Holy Gho&s;t: Cho|ler and anger to the enkindling of a di&s;creet zeale: Hatred to the pur&s;uit of &s;inne: So that as brute bea&s;ts, which of their own nature are very harmful,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> being once tamed become of &s;ingular u&s;e: &s;o the&s;e inordinate pa&s;&s;ions in man, being by this fire of the holy Spirit refined and purged, are of wonder|ful u&s;e for the exerci&s;e of all vertues.</P>
<P><HI>Bede</HI> Records three notable victories of the fire. The fir&s;t was in the o|verthrow of <HI>Sodome.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19. Gen. 4. Gen. 15.17. 1 King. 18.38.</NOTE> The &s;econd was when it de&s;cend and con&s;umed the Sacrifice of <HI>Abel, Abraham,</HI> and <HI>Elijah.</HI> The la&s;t is this of the Holy Gho&s;t upon the Apo&s;tles. But in all it was <HI>Ignis purgatorius,</HI> a purging, a &s;eparating fire. And if there be any true purgatory fire, it is this; The fir&s;t con&s;umed the &s;inners and &s;inne together: The &s;econd de&s;troyed the bea&s;ts: But this removes the &s;inne, and purifies the &s;inner; it is <HI>ignis conflagratio|nis,</HI> that burns not him up, but his work. For, according to his promi&s;e, <HI>He will &s;it in the hearts of his people like as a refiner, and a purifier of &s;ilver,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.3.</NOTE> <HI>and he &s;hall pu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ifie the Sons of God, and purge them as gold and &s;ilver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering of righteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>For as the Rod of <HI>Aaron</HI> devour'd all the Charmers Rods turn'd into Serpents; Or as the fire of the Lord that de&s;cended by <HI>Elijahs</HI> prayer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 7.12. 1 King. 18.38.</NOTE> <HI>con&s;u|med the burnt Sacrifice with the wood, the du&s;t, and licked up the water that was in the trench:</HI> &s;o al&s;o this Spirit of God on whom&s;oever it de&s;cends, burns away the earthy and gro&s;&s;er parts of &s;in, leaves nothing behinde that &s;hall be imputed for filth. It rai&s;eth the heart to that condition, that though becau&s;e we dwell in and with fle&s;h, there will be &s;pots in it, yet they are but the &s;pots of &s;ons, and our merciful Father will hide his face from them:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.5.</NOTE> This it doth. It makes a man become another man. It changeth him within, and without. Within he hath a new heart, and new affections, as I &s;hall &s;hew you by and by. And without the man is not the &s;ame. For it chan|geth his tongue, his eyes, his garments, his companions. Of a &s;landerous and bu&s;ie tongue, it makes an in&s;trument of prai&s;e and &s;ilence. Of wanton eyes, Lamps of mode&s;ty and cha&s;tity. Of proud apparel, a rayment worthy of a Chri&s;tian. Of leud companions, a choice of friends, by who&s;e coun&s;el and conver&s;ation we may learn to be good, and of good made better. Such a work the Apo&s;tles were to do in the world, which becau&s;e it could never
<PB N="360" REF="186"> be done without the fire of the Spirit, therefore it plea&s;ed the Spirit to de&s;cend in this type.</P>
<P>Let it then be our prayer to God, that it yet plea&s;e him to de&s;cend upon us in this flame, without which it is impo&s;&s;ible to be made other men; that he would &s;it within as a refiner,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 26.2.</NOTE> <HI>prove, and try our reigns and our hearts;</HI> For then we &s;hould have new hands to work with, new eyes to &s;ee by, new tongues to talk of, and new hearts to love God; we &s;hould appear new crea|tures in body and &s;oul: So that no Eagle having ca&s;t her beak, nor no Snake his old &s;poile, could be more fre&s;h, and &s;mug, and youthful, and nimble, than we &s;hould be in the wayes of God. As we were po&s;ting before to the wayes of Hell, &s;o now we would as fa&s;t run the other way to attain the prize of Heaven. It were not a trifling profit, or an enticing plea&s;ure, that like <HI>Hippomanes</HI> Apple could &s;tay our cour&s;e. For an&s;wer we would all friends and &s;ins that &s;hould go about to retard or with-draw us in our way, as the young man in St. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> did the impudent Harlot,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> <HI>Ego non &s;um ego,</HI> God hath refined me now by his holy Spirit, and therefore I will now keep my body as a Temple fit for his holy Spirit to dwell in.</P>
<P N="3">3. And this work of the Refiner is the &s;ooner wrought when the fire is brought to a flame; For <HI>flamma e&s;t maxim&egrave; ignis,</HI> as <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> hath taught us; Upon which there will follow a great light, as we &s;ee in &s;moaking wood that is kindled, or a Candle that is lighted.</P>
<P>As at the Creation, darkne&s;s went before the light, &s;o in the conver&s;ion of the world, the thick darkne&s;s of &s;in and ignorance did precede the clear light of the Go&s;pel. This the Apo&s;tles were to di&s;pel; and that they might be able to do it, the Holy Gho&s;t delivered a light, cleare, flaming Torch into their hand, which they ever &s;ince have held out to the Church.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.19.</NOTE>The Prophets words were light indeed; but yet a light that &s;hined in a dark place; but this the day-dawning that &s;till grows clearer and clearer, or the morning-&s;tar that will certainly &s;hew you the &s;ucceeding Sun. The effect thereof is Illumination, upon which ignorance being put to flight, there fol|lows knowledge of the Truth. And &s;o the man that was blind before, hath the &s;cales faln from his eyes, and &s;ees clearly.</P>
<P>This the voice only of the Son of God can do; as at the beginning all was made by the voice of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.3.</NOTE> he &s;aid, <HI>Let there be light, and there was light;</HI> &s;o al&s;o is it now; let but the Spirit of Chri&s;t &s;ay to any blind and ig|norant &s;on of <HI>Adam,</HI> Be thou enlightned, and he &s;ees pre&s;ently. Without it the help of man is but in vain;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 57.19.</NOTE> <HI>I the Lord create the fruit of the lips;</HI> the fruit of the lips are words that bring comfort, life, light, knowledge; but that you attribute not too much to them in the mouth of the mo&s;t &s;plendid tongue, you mu&s;t know that when they are effectual, they are words of Gods creation.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 9.27.</NOTE> For the Lord mu&s;t per&s;wade <HI>Japheth to dwell in the Tents of Shem.</HI> The heart of man is a curious Lock; none can pick it, but he who is well acquainted with the Wards: Mens per&s;wa&s;ions alone, are as one that will turn a Lock with a wrong Key; can but God be induced to help, the per&s;wa&s;ions will be fitted to the turnings.</P>
<P>And yet the&s;e of men mu&s;t not be de&s;pi&s;ed neither, they being the ordi|nary way by which God turns any heart; otherwi&s;e he would never of old have &s;poken by his Prophets, after by his Son, and by his Apo&s;tles, never have faln upon them in the&s;e tongues of fire <HI>to turn men from darkn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;s to light, from the power of Satan to the knowledge of him&s;elf.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 1.13.</NOTE></P>
<P>Two wayes then you &s;ee there are to help us to this new &s;piritual light. The Spirit, and the Word of God in the mouth of tho&s;e he hath &s;ent to bring it.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="361" REF="186">1. The principal is the good Spirit of God, the Spirit of wi&s;dome and under&s;tanding; where we are fooli&s;h, he is able to make us wi&s;e; where we &s;ee not, able to enlighten us; where we erre, <GAP DESC="foreign"> to guide us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 16.13. Joh. 6.45.</NOTE> He is the chief Ma&s;ter of the Schoole, &s;o that every childe he teacheth, is taught of God.</P>
<P N="2">2. There are yet under-teachers imploy'd by him, whom yet he enjoynes to reade all their Lectures to his Schollars out of his own book.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 3.18.</NOTE> In this is to be found that precious eye-&s;alve, which the Spi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">it of God advi&s;eth every Schollar of his to buy, and anoint his dimme eyes that he may &s;ee. There is no known way but this, to come by a new, wi&s;e, and under&s;tanding heart.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 19.7.</NOTE> <HI>For the Word of the Lord is it which makes wi&s;e the &s;imple.</HI></P>
<P>But becau&s;e there be that are great pretenders to this heavenly wi&s;dome, and hold them&s;elves for the &s;ole proficients in this book, and none of a new under&s;tanding Spirit be&s;ides them&s;elves, it will not be ami&s;s to &s;et down &s;ome Characters by which this Spirit of God may be di&s;cerned from a new Light.</P>
<P N="1">1. The knowledge it brings is not confu&s;ed and general, but di&s;tinct and particular. It is able to di&s;tingui&s;h betwixt moral vertues, and &s;upernatural habits wrought by the Spirit. Con&s;tant and uniform, de&s;ires, and fla&s;hes, and fits of piety. It knows not only the notions of Religion in gro&s;s, but is able in particular to apply them. In a word, it mi&s;takes not one thing for another; Truth for fal&s;hood, and fal&s;hood for Truth. It apprehends not ne|ce&s;&s;ary points of &s;alvation ob&s;curely, nor teacheth them confu&s;edly and im|methodically, but clearly, and orderly; The under&s;tanding of that man is become like a rich Diamond, that receiving light into the body of it, re|tains it there, and &s;ends from thence a mo&s;t glorious lu&s;tre; Of &s;uch tho&s;e words of our Saviour may well be verified, <HI>Ye are the light of the world.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.14.</NOTE> But of our New Lights it is nor &s;o, nor &s;o. Their light is de&s;ultory; that which is light with them to day, to morrow is darkne&s;s: Evil is mi&s;taken for good, and good is called evil. Their Notions are ob&s;cure, and &s;carce intelligible, nor well under&s;tood by them&s;elves, nor yet by others; as for their confu&s;ed manner of delivering, it is notorious to every Reader and Hearer. Tho&s;e words of St. <HI>Paul</HI> may well be applyed to them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.6, 7.</NOTE> <HI>They have &s;werv'd from the faith, they have turn'd a&s;ide to vaine jangling, de&s;iring to be teachers of the Law, under&s;tanding neither what they &s;ay, nor where|of they affirme.</HI> And can a man then endued with a &s;mall portion of rea&s;on, conceive the&s;e to be the &s;ole men on whom the Spirit is de&s;cended in a tongue <HI>as of fire,</HI> to enlighten their under&s;tanding, in whom their light is darkne&s;s, confu&s;ed, erroneous, di&s;orderly, &s;hifting as the wind, and variable as the tydes and opportunities of time and gain dictate to them? <HI>Credat Judaeus Apella, Non ego.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The knowledge and light which this Spirit brings, is heavenly and from above: It is not &s;ordid, ba&s;e, allay'd with ba&s;e ends, and eclip&s;ed by the interpo&s;ition of the earth. <HI>Non remanebit extra,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bern.</HI> in Cant. Serm. 73.</NOTE> it will di&s;dain the &s;pi|rit of the world, and the &s;pirit of the fle&s;h. For there be that follow the &s;pirit of the world, and &s;o much grow into the admiration of that blaze, and have their eyes &s;o much dazled with this fal&s;e light, that they &s;hape the whole frame of their life and Religion by it. <HI>Diana</HI> for&s;ooth mu&s;t be a great Godde&s;s, and wor&s;hipped, rather than an ambulatory trade be removed.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 19.</NOTE> With them gain is godline&s;s, though what they embrace as gainful policy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.5. 1 Cor. 3.19.</NOTE> God pronounceth meer folly. <HI>He hath made the wi&s;dome of this world fo li&s;h|ne&s;s.</HI> He hath done it, and he will do it again. In this light men may re|joyce for a time, but at la&s;t it will appear a meer delu&s;ion, full of darkne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 5.35.</NOTE> &s;moke, vanity, nay, which is far wor&s;e, earthly, &s;en&s;ual, diveli&s;h.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="362" REF="187">3. A third property that this light or knowledge hath, is, that <HI>non haerebit in &s;uperficie,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> <HI>non in&s;tar coeci palpat forin&s;ea, fed profunda rimatur;</HI> it was as I &s;aid, like light received in a Diamond, and not in glimmering and &s;hi|ning wood. He that is partaker of it, will not content him&s;elf with a little &s;u|perficial neoterick knowledge, and like a blinde man grope at, and lay hold on every thing from without he can meet with:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 3.18.</NOTE> But he will &s;earch the depth, the height, the length, the bredth (according to his mea&s;ure of fight) of Gods promi&s;es; and having taken the ju&s;t mea&s;ure, will endeavour that they &s;it well about and fit him: which is indeed the right and only <HI>Sapere.</HI> When all's done,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 4.6. P&s;a. 51. P&s;a. 119.</NOTE> this will be your wi&s;dom. And I will pray to God with <HI>David, to create this new heart within me, and to give me this under&s;tanding.</HI> For <HI>&s;apere</HI> is not only to di&s;tingui&s;h ta&s;tes, but with the ta&s;te to feel &s;ome delight, and to have a &s;en&s;e of the &s;weetne&s;s withal.</P>
<P N="4">4. La&s;tly, The new Spirit is no windy Spirit blu&s;tering in the brain and fancy, making the owners to be men of imaginations, &s;ubtile and fallacious at an Argument, and in nothing el&s;e good: But it works upon the &s;oul, di&s;|&s;olves it, and makes it capable of a new form. It is not a knowledge only of apprehen&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aquin.</HI> 22. q. 188. Art. 5.</NOTE> but of approbation; a lively and effectual knowledge, that hath a quick and prevailing influence upon the life and conver&s;ation, begetting in the &s;oul de&s;ires and endeavours in &s;ome degree and mea&s;ure &s;uitable to it: Which whether it be in our New Lights, let the world judge; who&s;e know|ledge, how little &s;oever, is for &s;hew, not for u&s;e; like the Lamps of the foo|li&s;h Virgins,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.3.</NOTE> which blaze as much as the wife: whereas true knowledge is a <HI>burning and a &s;hining Lamp,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 5.35.</NOTE> a light that heats and &s;hines, it warms the new man at the heart, and if they will, burns away his dro&s;s, and then &s;hines by love: For Truth and goodne&s;s differ no more than the &s;eal and the &s;tamp. And that both the&s;e might flame out, as well as within, is another rea&s;on that the Spirit De&s;cended in a Fiery Tongue.</P>
<P N="4">4. For that is another property of the fire, that it does not only melt, purge, and give light, but it heats and warms any cold body that comes with|in the &s;phere of its activity. But ob&s;erve this diligently, that it gives light before it heats, intimating that knowledge, a clear evident light, mu&s;t pre|cede our heat; for el&s;e the fervour may be &s;o great, that it may &s;et the whole hou&s;e on fire. The flame is call'd zeale, which is a pa&s;&s;ion compounded of love and anger; out of love it de&s;ires to be doing, and out of meer anger it frets when it falls &s;hort. To be in love, and yet to be wi&s;e, are almo&s;t incom|patible; and how far beyond all bounds of rea&s;on men in anger are tran&s;por|ted, I need not &s;ay. Zealots alwayes have had but an ill name for this. Ne|ce&s;&s;ary then it is for the regulating of this head-&s;trong pa&s;&s;ion, that the bright Lamp of knowledge be carried before it; for &s;o a man may di&s;creetly &s;ee his way; be zealous in his know<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">edge, and di&s;creet in his zeal; do that upon &s;ure grounds of knowledge which he is a&s;&s;ured ought to be done, and do it out of that &s;incere love and holy anger with which it ought to be undertaken and done.</P>
<P>Among others this is one rea&s;on that St. <HI>Bernard</HI> gives of this type. In fire,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bern.</HI> Serm. 2. de Pent.</NOTE> &s;aith he, the Holy Gho&s;t de&s;cended upon the Apo&s;tles, <HI>propter lumen pa|riter &amp; ardorem,</HI> both to bring light and heat, that he might make tho&s;e whom he fill'd, knowing in the truth, and fervent in &s;pirit; for as he hath it in another place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">De Nativitate Baptist.</NOTE> <HI>E&s;t tantum lucere vanum, tantum ardere parum, lucere &amp; ardere perfectum.</HI> To &s;hine only in knowledge is vanity; only to be fer|vent, a matter of no moment: but to &s;hine and to be fervent together, a great degree of perfection. Happy then is that man, who&s;e heat doth quick|en his di&s;cretion, and who&s;e di&s;cretion doth command over his heat; for
<PB N="363" REF="187"> this man may be an excellent in&s;trument to &s;et forth with his tongue the wonderful works of God, which was the end that the Holy Gho&s;t de&s;cended in Fire.</P>
<P>With this the Apo&s;tles were no &s;ooner heated, but like the wi&s;e Virgins,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25. Act. 3.14.</NOTE> they had their Lamps burning. How hot was <HI>Peter</HI> with the men of <HI>I&s;rael? Ye denyed the holy One, and the Ju&s;t, and de&s;ired a murderer to be gran|ted you, but kill'd the Prince o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> life!</HI> How round with <HI>Ananias</HI> and his wife? <HI>VVhy hath Satan fill'd your hearts to lye to the Holy Gho&s;t?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 5.3. Cap. 8.20.</NOTE> How angry with <HI>Simon Magus? Thy mony peri&s;h with thee!</HI> As if &s;o be the &s;pirit of <HI>Elijah</HI> that a&s;cended to heaven in a fiery Chariot, had been doubled upon him: As if <HI>John</HI> and he had chang'd names; <HI>John</HI> became <HI>Cephas,</HI> as cold as a &s;tone, and he now <HI>Boanerges, a &s;on <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f thunder.</HI></P>
<P>This was that fire that &s;tirr'd Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> &s;pirit within him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 17.</NOTE> when at <HI>A|thens</HI> he &s;aw the City given to Idolatry. This cau&s;ed him to di&s;pute with the Jews in their Synagogues, and to parly in the Markets with every one he met. So that in them was fulfill'd that of the P&s;alme,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 104. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> Gal. 4.18.</NOTE> <HI>He makes his Mini|&s;ters a flaming fire, ignem urentem,</HI> when he gave them fiery tongues. Nei|ther could this their zeal be any way blamed, &s;ince it was in a good matter, and &s;uch as they them&s;elves, being taught by the Spirit, infallibly knew that it was good.</P>
<P>You of the Laity are ready to finde fault with us, that we are &s;o fiery in our reprehen&s;ions, when indeed we mu&s;t blame you who are &s;o cold in Re|ligious duties; it is your fro&s;t that by an Antiperi&s;ta&s;is &s;ets us in a flame. Could we but &s;ee your bowels &s;tirr'd within you, when you &s;ee tho&s;e high di&s;|honours done unto God at this day, we would never appear to you as God did unto <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in a flame of fire.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 3.2&punc;</NOTE> But when we find you &s;o far from re|prehending others, that you freeze in &s;in your &s;elves, it will be but charity, and an evidence of our love inflamed, that we grow angry and impatient.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.13. P&s;a. 39.2.</NOTE> And I hope you will forgive us this wrong, and impute it to the fire that kindles with|in, and your own Ice that heeds it. Will the Patient find fault with the Chyrurgion, that he doth cauterize that &s;ore which cannot otherwi&s;e be cu|red? and not rather lament the malice of his di&s;ea&s;e, grown to that de&s;pe|rate pitch, that nothing but fire can &s;tay it! Neither let it offend you when we are red-hot again&s;t your vices, your vanities, your lyes, your crying &s;ins. Bemoan your &s;elves rather,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 31.18.</NOTE> that your ba&s;e and unchri&s;tian practices &s;hould &s;well to &s;uch a height, that we &s;hould be put to make an experiment by fire. Suppo&s;e you &s;aw, when you behold our flame, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in the heat of zeal,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.19. 1 King. 18.40. Num. 25.7. Mat. 3.7. Luk. 12.49. Lev. 6.13.</NOTE> or <HI>Elijah</HI> with his fire about him, or <HI>Jonah</HI> in his anger, or <HI>Phinehaz</HI> with his Javelin in his hand, or <HI>John</HI> the Bapti&s;t proclaiming aloud, <HI>Oh generati|on of &V;ipers!</HI> For though our good Lord be gone to heaven, yet he hath left this fire in his &s;ervants tongues; and what is his de&s;ire, <HI>but that it be kindled?</HI> what, but that like the fire in the Temple, it never go out?</P>
<P><HI>Never,</HI> becau&s;e there is a perpetual u&s;e of it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 51&punc; 17.</NOTE> for the offering of that &s;acri|fice (<HI>a contrite heart</HI> I mean) which he will only accept; to prepare which, one tongue fired with this heavenly flame, will have more power in one hour, <HI>quam &s;egnes aliae &amp; gelidae tota Die,</HI> than many other lazy, and cold, flat tongues in a whole day.</P>
<P N="5">5. And among all the Sacrifices the chief was the Holocau&s;t, of which e|very part was to be con&s;umed by fire; who&s;e la&s;t property is to a&s;cend: So did the flame in that. Say the heart be the Holocau&s;t, then the affections mu&s;t be fired al&s;o; to which, and not before, when this fire of the Spirit is put, they will be inflam'd, and mount upward very nimbly, and with great alacri|ty. Heaven and heavenly things will be loved, Gods di&s;plea&s;ure feared;
<PB N="364" REF="188"> grief that he &s;hould be di&s;honoured, joy that he is reconciled. Be it that &s;ometimes the &s;oul be borne down and depre&s;&s;ed by this body of &s;inne, yet the inclinations and motions a&s;cend continually. A man inflam'd with this Spirit, is like a man going up to <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> who in his thoughts is there even when he &s;ets out. And were it not that the gro&s;&s;ene&s;s of his fle&s;h did retard him, he would be at his journyes end the fir&s;t houre. However he is &s;till <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ogging onward, and makes what &s;peed he can. Thus it is with that man who<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e affections carry him to that <HI>Hieru&s;alem</HI> which is above, <HI>his con|ver&s;a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ion is in heaven,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.20. Col. 3.2.</NOTE> <HI>he &s;ets his affection on heavenly things;</HI> there he is in his mind; for <HI>animus e&s;t ubi amat, non ubi animat;</HI> the <HI>ubi</HI> of the &s;oul is where it loves, not where it lives; and could his body be as quick as his thoughts, he would not be long ab&s;ent; however he makes what expedition he is able, and is ever mounting in his de&s;ires, and will not be at re&s;t till he arrive there.</P>
<P>Now this de&s;ire cannot be imputed to the fle&s;h; for it is earthy, gro&s;s, dull, heavy. It is an appetite and activity that comes from the Spirit, which impre&s;&s;eth in the &s;oul a fiery force and fervour <HI>petere circumferentiam,</HI> to reach the wheele above.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Origen.</HI> Hom. 1. in P&s;al. 38.</NOTE> And that this de&s;ire k ndle and increa&s;e, here we meet with a fiery tongue to inflame it. The rea&s;on is <HI>Origens, Ignei vigoris deberent grati&acirc; r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">borari, ut auditorum animae flammam per &s;ermonis tradu|cem &s;umeren<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> They (the Apo&s;tles he means) were &s;trengthned with the power of a fiery vigour, that the &s;ouls of their Auditors might conceive a flame brought along by their tongue. Oh the heavenly thoughts of tho&s;e heads upon which this fire fell! Oh the heavenly de&s;ires and endeavours of tho&s;e hearts into whom their tongues ca&s;t the flame! Their God in&s;tantly became a con&s;uming fire, con&s;umed all their dro&s;s and dregs of earth, and made them full of Spirit; upon which they ca&s;t no earth to grieve it, for they &s;old all:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2.45, 46.</NOTE> They retain'd no watery plea&s;ure to quench it, for at their Ba|pti&s;m they renounc'd all: Careful they were to feed it with the Oyle of Devo|tion, for they continued &s;tedfa&s;tly in prayers: At which exerci&s;e the Spirit found the Apo&s;tles,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Oecum.</HI> in loc.</NOTE> and this little Church when he de&s;cended. A motive no que&s;tion for him to come, and being come, to remaine with them as he did: For</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> He &s;ate upon each of them.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Oecum. Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE><GAP DESC="foreign">] that is, <GAP DESC="foreign">, he abode and &s;taid, and <GAP DESC="foreign">, he &s;ate upon them and re&s;ted; For this action of <HI>&s;itting</HI> notes out to us <GAP DESC="foreign">, continuance and con&s;tancy. The fire then of this holy Spirit is not like a fooli&s;h Meteor, <GAP DESC="foreign">, de&s;ultory, and hopping from place to place; now in, now out; but permanent and la&s;ting. It comes not upon tho&s;e that belong to God to remove, but to abide and continue. The graces which he brings along with him are infu&s;ed habits, which live and act in the heart, which are &s;eldome, never, or very hardly removed from the Sub|ject.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Thom.</HI> part. 1. q. 43. Art. 3. <HI>Leo, Ambro&s;e, Augu&s;t.</HI></NOTE>It is the opinion of the Schoolmen, and divers of the Fathers, That the Holy Gho&s;t at Penteco&s;t de&s;cending upon the Di&s;ciples, and at this day upon <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll tho&s;e whom he doth ju&s;tifie and &s;anctifie by infu&s;ion of grace, was not only given in his gifts, but in h s own per&s;on, in which after a new manner he doth inhabit that minde which he ju&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">fies, which he doth enrich, a|dorn, beautifie, i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">luminate with his Sacred and Divine pre&s;ence; So that he &s;hould be in &s;uch a heart, as that which is beloved is in him who loves it, as that which is known is in the mind of him that knows it, as the Pilot is n the &s;hip which he guides, till it &s;afely arrives at the Haven where he would
<PB N="365" REF="188"> be; or as a Tutor that guides, and is content to provide for the good and profit of his Pupil.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Thom.</HI> 22. q 6. Art. 1. ad 3.</NOTE> For as in a meer natural man for the production of all humane acts, not the &s;oul, nor yet the natural in&s;truments, as eyes to &s;ee, or feet to walk, will &s;uffice, without the concurrence of the fir&s;t cau&s;e, which is God, by who&s;e power both eyes are moved to &s;ee, and feet to walk, the will and under&s;tanding, and all other faculties to execute their of|fices: &s;o al&s;o in the &s;oul of a ju&s;tified man, &s;uppo&s;e grace be as the form re&s;i|dent in the faculties of the &s;oul, yet to do good actions this will not &s;uffice, except the Spirit of God come and abide, and &s;tir up the&s;e vertues and gifts, to wit, faith in the heart, and love and hope in the will, to bring forth tho&s;e fruits and works for which tho&s;e vertues were at fir&s;t be&s;towed: For as Organ pipes &s;end forth a &s;ound no longer than while the bellows fill them with winde, &s;o neither will the&s;e vertues be operative longer than the Spi|rit is plea&s;ed to a&s;&s;i&s;t them; upon his remove and departure, they to any action are as if they were not.</P>
<P>Which being well known to our Saviour, a promi&s;e he made to the&s;e his friends before he went from them, <HI>That when he was gone,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14.16.</NOTE> <HI>he would &s;end a Comforter who &s;hall abide with them for ever.</HI> For he knew well if he did not abide to Direct, to Governe, to keep cleane, to &s;et forward all the work in the hou&s;e, all would be out of order, and go very &s;low|ly on.</P>
<P>Yea, but is there not &s;ome fear of his remove? if not, why did <HI>David</HI> pray, <HI>Ne auf<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ras, Take not thy holy Spirit from me?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.11.</NOTE> This imports not a full departure of Gods Spirit from him; otherwi&s;e he could not have pray|ed; but that his &s;inne had dimini&s;hed the &s;en&s;e and feeling of that operation of the Spirit, of which at other times he had experience. This falls out of|ten to Gods deare&s;t children, and it is a heavy ca&s;e: Yet know that even then, though thou feel it not, if thou belonge&s;t to God, the habit of grace re|maines; as fire raked up in Embers, is there, though it neither &s;hines nor warmes. And to a&s;&s;ure us of this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 21.3. Rom. 8.9.</NOTE> he promi&s;eth <HI>that his Spirit &s;hall dwell with us.</HI> Dwell, not turn in, and &s;tay for a night, as in an Inn, and be gone in the morning, but take up our hearts for an habitation, and make his re&s;idence a|mong&s;t us.</P>
<P>How much then doth it behove us to keep our hearts in order, that no|thing offend and grieve him! how much to purge and &s;weep the hou&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.30. 1 Cor. 3.16.</NOTE> that we ever entertain him! <HI>Know you not that your bodies are the Temples of the Holy Gho&s;t?</HI> and where doth God take a delight to dwell, but in his holy Temple? The Temple of <HI>Solomon</HI> was in all parts beautiful,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 6.</NOTE> but the glory was within. In the outward Court the Altar was of Bra&s;s, within the Sanctuary was overlay'd with gold. A Chri&s;tian ought to be holy without, in his looks, words, wayes, but within a golden man. There holine&s;s to the Lord, endowed with knowledge, righteou&s;ne&s;s, repentance, faith, devoti|on; &s;o that the&s;e our bodies, though as other Temples made up of earth, yet they contain heavenly trea&s;ures.</P>
<P>And what now? will God dwell with men? yes, he will. It was a chief end of our Saviours a&s;cen&s;ion, <HI>that he might receive gifts to be&s;tow upon his,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 68.18.</NOTE> <HI>and dwell among&s;t them.</HI> His gifts are the graces, the comforts he be&s;tows; and he will not de&s;ert us, or leave us in either, except we give him ju&s;t oc|ca&s;ion to be gone. If he &s;tay not with us, it is our fault, not his: For the end he comes, is to abide and comfort us. Remember we mu&s;t, that as he is a loving Spirit, &s;o he is <HI>y&s;pryd gl&acirc;re,</HI> a clean &s;pirit al&s;o, and therefore de|&s;ires the hou&s;e &s;hould be neat and clean where he intends to dwell. Be it that he finde it otherwi&s;e, he fir&s;t begins to chide, to which if a deaf ear be turn'd, and the man become ob&s;tinate, perver&s;e, malicious, and re&s;ol|ved
<PB N="366" REF="189"> to grieve him perpetually with his &s;lutteries and &s;wini&s;h life, he will retire. For think not that he will alway be chiding; when it came to that pa&s;s, it repented him that ever he made man.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.3.</NOTE> And he profe&s;&s;eth that <HI>non &s;emper rixabitur; Lo jadon;</HI> which the old Latine reades <HI>non &s;emper permanebit, His Spirit &s;hall not alwayes &s;trive with man;</HI> as if it were, he will not al|wayes &s;tay and abide to that purpo&s;e, to be &s;triving, contending, chiding, to better the man. Becau&s;e he takes no content and comfort in &s;uch a con|tention, he will take the wings of a Dove and fly away, and take away his comforts with him. Mark the rea&s;on why he will not &s;tay and &s;trive, <HI>Becau&s;e he is but fle&s;h.</HI> The fle&s;h and the Spirit are contrary, they alwayes lu&s;t and fight one again&s;t the other; and when it comes to this pa&s;s, that the fle&s;h is &s;tubborn, and in the &s;trife will not yield, he takes no delight in the conten|tion, and will abide no longer. With mortified fle&s;h he will dwell, but with proud, rank, &s;urly fle&s;h he will not continue.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.20.</NOTE>True it is indeed that &s;inne dwells, and the Spirit dwells too in one and the &s;ame man; even in the mo&s;t regenerate; as <HI>Sarah</HI> and <HI>Hagar</HI> in <HI>Abra|hams</HI> hou&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 21.9, 10.</NOTE> But then <HI>Sarah</HI> will be grumbling at it, never be quiet, till <HI>Hagar</HI> be turn'd out of doors; and if &s;he be received againe, &s;he mu&s;t be humbled, and acknowledge <HI>Sarah</HI> to be her Mi&s;tris. My meaning is, that though &s;inne dwell in the fle&s;h with us, yet it mu&s;t be no pert and imperious Dame, not think to domineer and rule, but humbled by and to the Spirit; which if done, the Spirit will be content, becau&s;e it can be no other, to re&s;t up|on us, and abide &s;till by it.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 31.9.</NOTE><HI>Thus &s;aith the Lord, who&s;e fire is in Zion, and who&s;e furnace or hearth is in Jeru&s;alem.</HI> They who intend to dwell in any place, will be &s;ure to provide <HI>Ca&s;a y hogar,</HI> a hou&s;e and a hearth. This God had provided him|&s;elf in <HI>Zion,</HI> a Temple, and an Altar, on which there was the fire perpetu|ally burning. Now the Body of man is the Temple, his heart the Altar, and the fire in it the perpetual flames of this holy Spirit, which will con&s;tant|ly burne, except we ca&s;t ba&s;e and filthy quench upon it to extin|gui&s;h it.</P>
<P>Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ure was in fear of &s;ome &s;uch thing, when he thus exhorts the <HI>The&s;&s;alonians, Nolite extinguere Spiritum, See you have no will or minde to quench the Spirit.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5.19.</NOTE> The word is Metaphorical, taken from fire, that Sym|bol in which the Holy Gho&s;t now de&s;cended, and &s;ate upon the Apo&s;tles. And fire is put out two wayes e&s;pecially: Either by ca&s;ting cold water upon it, or by taking away the fuel that did nouri&s;h it; and &s;o many wayes this fire of the Spirit is quench'd.</P>
<P N="1">1. By ca&s;ting water upon it, which is &s;o often done as we offend this ho|ly Spirit with an uncleane life; Carnality gives cold entertainment to the Spirit; Adultery, fornication, uncleanne&s;s, and la&s;civiou&s;ne&s;s, are carnal works, and they mu&s;t be left. Idolatry, witchcrafts, come from within, and cool devotion, ca&s;t a&s;ide the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> would be. Hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, &s;trife, &s;editions, here&s;ies, envying, and murder, are in men carnal|ly minded;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.19. Gal. 5.19, 20, 21.</NOTE> the&s;e mu&s;t be repre&s;&s;ed, or the fire of the Spirit will never burn. Drunkenne&s;s, and Revellings, and &s;uch like, are but filthy puddle-water, and put out this holy flame. 'Tis a Bea&s;tly and na&s;ty &s;oule in which the&s;e dwell, and the Spirit from above will never &s;it upon and re&s;t there.</P>
<P N="2">2. Beware then fir&s;t how you ca&s;t the cold water of an unclean life into the flames of this heavenly fire. And next have an eye to the fuel by which it is kept in: Beware that you take not that away. Fire goes out you know, if you take away the coals or wood; and the Spirit will be extinct, that be|ing taken away which nouri&s;heth it. That we be not to &s;eek for this nou|ri&s;hment,
<PB N="367" REF="189"> from that place of Saint <HI>Paul</HI> ea&s;ie it is to fetch what will keep it in.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5.</NOTE></P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Joy</HI> will keep it flaming; whence the Apo&s;tle exhorts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 16.</NOTE> <HI>Rejoyce ever|more.</HI> And if joy in the Lord will keep it in, then murmuring and &s;ullenne&s;s will put it out. A di&s;contented heart at the ways and works of God, is a means to cool his goodwill.</P>
<P N="2">2. But there is no means like to <HI>prayer;</HI> it brought this fire which &s;ate upon the Church at this time. Hence St. <HI>Paul</HI> rejoynes, <HI>Pray continuall.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 17.</NOTE> For hearty prayer, and holy devotions, are the bellows to blow the Coals, and increa&s;e the flame of this heavenly fire. The&s;e are able to bring it down:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 11.13.</NOTE> We have our Saviours promi&s;e for it: He will give the Holy Gho&s;t <GAP DESC="foreign">, to them who make a petition, &s;eek, and &s;ue, and open their mouths to pray for it: So that they who pre&s;ent no prayer, and make no &s;uit, cannot expect that he &s;hould come from heaven, and fit upon them.</P>
<P N="3">3. I go on with the Apo&s;tle, <HI>In all things give thanks.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 18.</NOTE> Be thankful for blows, thankful for ble&s;&s;ings; thankful that he would de&s;cend and &s;it up|on you, thankful for ordaining the means to a&s;&s;ure and &s;eale to you his con|tinual abode. For hath he not ordain'd the <HI>Euchari&s;t?</HI> in which to every penitent and believing &s;oul, is repre&s;ented, exhibited, and &s;ealed, Remi&s;&s;i|on of &s;in, and the graces of his Spirit. Therefore <GAP DESC="foreign">, come and receive the Sacrament, that his graces may continue with you.</P>
<P N="4">4. The la&s;t way to keep in this fire, is the perpetual meditation of the Word of God. True it is, that this kindles it, but yet as true, that it feeds it al&s;o; whence the Apo&s;tle &s;ubjoyns, <HI>Despi&s;e not Prophecy.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 20.</NOTE> This is the &s;word of the Spirit, a fiery &s;word that cuts and inflames at once; &s;harp it is, <HI>for it divides the &s;oul and &s;pirit;</HI> and as it divides, it burns;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.12.</NOTE> burns out the dro&s;s, and inflames the heart with a heavenly love. That we feel not this effect in us, is becau&s;e we heare the&s;e things as if they were the word of men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk 10.16. <HI>Cyprian.</HI> Epi&s;t. 69.</NOTE> and not the Word of God. Chri&s;ts words, <HI>He that hears you, hears me,</HI> are little &s;et by. <HI>Homo dignatione Dei honoratus, indignus hominibus judi|catur;</HI> whereas when we have heard him &s;peak to us, would we but get us to &s;ome retired place, and con&s;ider what he would &s;ay in us, after a pious me|ditation and mu&s;ing, the fire would kindle, and be kept alive, which o|therwi&s;e will go out and dye. And certaine it is, that many &s;parks kindled for want of this, go out againe &s;trait, and never prove of a|ny u&s;e.</P>
<P>When then you find the preachers lips touch'd with a fiery Coal from Gods Altar, be not &s;o malicious as to blow out the fire.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a 6 6.</NOTE> However it be your hard hap by ca&s;ting on the water of an unclean life to abate, or by the neglect of pious duties, to draw away what &s;hould nouri&s;h this flame, yet let it be done fore again&s;t your will; let it never come within your thoughts to plot that it be &s;o done. Rather &s;hew your &s;elves a willing people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 110.3.</NOTE> turn <HI>voluntatem in velleitatem;</HI> be &s;o far from extingui&s;hing, that you be ready to u&s;e all means to blow up the Coals, and bring the Spirit to re&s;ide and flame within you. If you find your hearts to glow at any time, be diligent then in the ex|erci&s;es of the Word and prayer, labour to &s;trengthen the flame by the fre|quent u&s;e of the Sacrament, and you &s;hall finde that the fire at fir&s;t kindled, will become a great flame. When you have a quick &s;en&s;e of this &s;tirring in your heart, as at the Pool of <HI>Beth<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;da,</HI> take the opportunity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.</NOTE> and &s;hew a willing mind to be warm'd. That is your hour, and the hour of the Spirits approach; refu&s;e it not. You cannot bring him down when you will, &s;uffer him then to de&s;cend and &s;it upon you when he plea&s;eth.</P>
<P>I know I cannot end with a better motion, and more important. The more you think of it, the more nece&s;&s;ary you will judge it. And that good Spirit of
<PB N="368" REF="190"> God that this day did de&s;cend upon the Apo&s;tles in the &s;hape of fiery tongues to enlighten, to heat, to &s;anctifie them, de&s;cend upon you, and fill you with the rayes of this holy fire. And God grant that by a holy conver&s;ation, and by a con&s;tant practice of piety you may &s;o keep it in, that it may re&s;ide and continue with you, to comfort and guide you through the Wilderne&s;s of this world, and never de&s;ert or leave you, till you enter the cele&s;tial <HI>Cana|an,</HI> that Land of promi&s;e, which God by his Word hath made over unto his people.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="29" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The De&s;cent of the Holy Gho&s;t.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Acts 2.4.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And they were all fill'd with the Holy Gho&s;t, and began to &s;peak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THis beginning of Miracles Je&s;us did after he was gone up on high, and &s;hew'd forth his glory. The fir&s;t wonder he did on earth, was the con|ver&s;ion of water into wine;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 2.</NOTE> and the fir&s;t Miracle he &s;hew'd from heaven, was the change of the Apo&s;tles, men by education and condition in&s;ipid and weak as water, into eloquent and wi&s;e men. That in him was a powerful, this a gracious part: For grace like the &s;oul in man, is <HI>Tota in toto,</HI> and runnes through every part of this ver&s;e. In the fir&s;t Limb there is <HI>Gratia infu&s;a;</HI> In the next <HI>Gratia effu&s;a;</HI> in the la&s;t <HI>terminata.</HI> The Apo&s;tles were fill'd with the Spirit of grace, there is the infu&s;ion: They &s;pake with other tongues, there is the effu&s;ion: But it was not what they plea&s;ed, but what the Spirit did dictate, there we have the limitation or re&s;traint.</P>
<P>Fill'd they were, and they were all fill'd, and that with the mo&s;t precious gift that ever was be&s;towed upon man. The gift was a general gift, all had their &s;hare; <HI>All,</HI> not <HI>coll<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ctiv&egrave;,</HI> but <HI>di&s;tributiv&egrave;,</HI> every one was full of it; <HI>It &s;ate upon every one of them.</HI> The gift was a worthy, a precious gift; <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">, graces of &s;anctification, and endowments for execution of their function were conferr'd with it; at once they were made good and able Men.</P>
<P>The points then are as many as the Comma's in the ver&s;e.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The fir&s;t is how and with what the Apo&s;tles were gifted and quali|fied before the exerci&s;e of their function, <HI>They were fill'd with the holy Gho&s;t.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The next, the u&s;e to which they put the&s;e gifts and graces; for being in|wardly fill'd, outwardly they began to expre&s;s it. The fire that de&s;cen|ded, flamed out, <HI>They began to speak.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>In them was <HI>boldne&s;s,</HI> and <HI>elocution.</HI></P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>Boldne&s;s;</HI> for whereas before they were fearful and dur&s;t not, now they are bold and confident men, they began to &s;peak, and vouch their Ma&s;ter. They began now, but they never gave over after.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Elocution;</HI> for whereas before they were ignorant of &s;peech, and could not, now they became Eloquent, and had the tongue of the Lear|ned given them, abilities to expre&s;s their Commi&s;&s;ion in any lan|guage, <HI>They &s;pake with other tongues.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="3"><PB N="369" REF="190">3. The la&s;t point is, that though they were ready, able, eloquent, yet there was a re&s;traint upon them, they might not, nor did not preach them&s;elves, and their own ends; not out of faction, nor yet fa&s;hion. Both matter and manner was regulated; all was done, <HI>As the Spirit gave them utterance.</HI></P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> The were filled with the holy Ghost.</HEAD>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">, Spirit or Gho&s;t is the Subject. Holy the Atttibute, before then we go any farther, nece&s;&s;ary it is that we enquire about that becau&s;e there be that oppo&s;e and deny his Deity, and labour to make the world beleeve, that he is no other than a holy quality effected by God in the hearts of his Saints.</P>
<P>But this place affords us a &s;trong argument for our faith to relie on: that he is a Per&s;on and no quality. For did he not here de&s;cend in a vi&s;ible manner? Did he not &s;it upon the Apo&s;tles in the &s;hape of fiery tongues? Did he not here make a di&s;tribution of his gifts? Did he not re&s;train al&s;o the&s;e gifts, make tho&s;e to whom they were given &s;peak what, and as he plea&s;ed?</P>
<P>Let it be &s;hown when any quality or accident did a&s;&s;ume any &s;hape; when it di&s;tributes gifts, when it limits and re&s;trains the gifts, utters what and in what manner the accident pleas'd and no more, and &s;omething may be &s;aid that may take off the &s;trength of the argument. Till that be done, we mu&s;t hold this conclu&s;ion for an undoubted truth, That the Spirit of God is no quality, but a per&s;on; That he is God, <GAP DESC="foreign">, of the &s;ame E&s;&s;ence with the Father, and the Son, and with them to be beleeved, wor&s;hipped and glorified.</P>
<P>But that th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s Truth may the batter be cleared, we mu&s;t know, that the Spirit of God in the Scripture is taken three ways.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, <GAP DESC="foreign">, for the e&s;&s;ence, power, and nature of God ab&s;olutely. As in the <HI>P&s;alm, Whither &s;hall I go from thy Spirit?</HI> that is, from the power,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 139.7.</NOTE> and pre&s;ence of God; but more plainly, <HI>Acts</HI> 5.3, 4. <HI>Why hath Satan filled thy heart, that thou &s;hould&s;t lye to the Holy Gho&s;t, thou ha&s;t not lyed <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o men, but to God.</HI> God then the Holy Gho&s;t is, which nor goodne&s;&s;e, nor piety, not any other other affection are ever call'd.</P>
<P N="2">2. <GAP DESC="foreign">, For a per&s;on proceeding from the Father and the Son, but having a di&s;tinct exi&s;tence of him&s;elf. For is he not called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Chri&s;t? Are we not baptized in his Name? and no man can be baptized into the name of a quality. Farther, tho&s;e actions proper to a per&s;on are attributed to him, He teacheth, he di&s;tributes gifts as he will; He comforts, He confirms, he enlightens, he governs, He &s;ends Apo&s;tles, He &s;peaks in them, He guids into all truth, he &s;eparates to the work of the mini&s;try, and appoints Bi&s;hops in the Church. The&s;e all are the works of a per&s;on, who exi&s;ts, under&s;tands, wills, works, lives; &s;uch then he mu&s;t be, &s;ince the&s;e and many more are attributed to him. Adde to this, that he may be bla&s;phe|med, grieved, have de&s;pight done to him; and can a created quality be a patient, and &s;uffer any of the&s;e indignities?</P>
<P>Thirdly, He is taken <GAP DESC="foreign">, for tho&s;e impul&s;es, motions and &s;piritual gifts that come from him, whether admini&s;trations, or operations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.4.5, 6.</NOTE> for the&s;e di|ver&s;ities of gifts proceed from one and the &s;ame Spirit, &s;aith the Apo&s;tle. If then the gifts proceed from him, he cannot be the &s;ame with the gifts, no more than the Sun can be the &s;ame, with the heat or light which proceeds from it.</P>
<P>That then the Apo&s;tles in this place &s;pake by the power of the Spirit, will prove his <GAP DESC="foreign">, his energetical power; that he de&s;cended in a vi&s;ible &s;hape upon them, demon&s;trates his <GAP DESC="foreign">, his exi&s;tence and per&s;onality, that he was able to make them &s;peak divers tongues <GAP DESC="foreign">, his Deity. <HI>For I the Lord creat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the fruit of the lips;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 57.19. I&s;a. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">0.4.</NOTE> he takes power to him&s;elf to give to his Prophet the tongue of the learned.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<PB N="370" REF="191">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Holy.</HEAD>
<P>The Per&s;on you by this time under&s;tand, who&s;e Attribute is here, and con|&s;tantly in other places, Holy, which is a di&s;tingui&s;hing terme: Holine&s;&s;e being e&s;&s;ential to him, and to no other, and from him derived to other. For he is cal|led Holy</P>
<P N="1">1. In him&s;elf: that is, pure without all mixture and compo&s;ition either of pollution or allay. 2. Then he is the Author of all Holine&s;&s;e in Saint or An|gel. All Holine&s;&s;e in a creature being a ray or effu&s;ion of this &s;anctifying Spi|rit, who works in it by his grace and a&s;&s;i&s;tance.</P>
<P>Another Spirit there is, who is oppo&s;ite to this holy Spirit both in Name and Nature&punc; for he is the unclean &s;pirit, both in him&s;elf, and in his effects; for work|ing mightily in the children of di&s;obedience,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.2.</NOTE> he fills the world with uncleanne&s;s; <HI>he brings with him &s;even spirits wor&s;e than him&s;elf.</HI> The Spirit of the world, which &s;peaks vain things. The &s;pirit of the fle&s;h, which &s;ows pillows under mens elbows. The &s;pirit of giddine&s;&s;e, which brings in all errours. The &s;pi|rit of lying,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 22. Rom. 11.</NOTE> which maintains them. The &s;pirit of &s;lumber, which lulls them a&s;leep in wickedne&s;&s;e. The &s;pirit of malice, which teacheth bitter things. And the &s;pirit of perver&s;ne&s;&s;e and contradiction, which will not be reformed. The&s;e are the train of this evil and unclean &s;pirit, with which he fills the world; For he is Gods Ape, and he will be filling too.</P>
<P>Happy then is that Heart, which is filled with this holy Spirit, &s;ince in it there is no roome left for this unholy &s;pirit, nor any of his train. The vaine|glory of the world doth not &s;educe it, the &s;oftne&s;&s;e of the fle&s;h doth not be|witch it. The man is not made giddy and turn'd round with every errour: nor will defend what is not true by lyes and fallacies. He will never &s;nort in &s;inne, nor commit malicious wickedne&s;&s;e, much le&s;&s;e perver&s;ly, and out of the &s;pirit of contradiction gain-&s;ay the Truth. All the&s;e evil &s;pirits being ca&s;t out, he hath his hou&s;e empty, &s;wept and garni&s;hed again&s;t the approaches of the holy Gho&s;t, who taking delight in &s;uch a Temple, will come and fill it with his pre&s;ence, which was his work at that time, tho&s;e upon whom he came, being filled by him.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> They were all filled with the holy Gho&s;t.</HEAD>
<P>For &s;uch was his Energie, that he fill'd their memory, their under&s;tanding, their will, their affections with his gracious endowments; and the&s;e were of two kinds.</P>
<P N="1">1. Either <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>Gratiae gratum facientes,</HI> properly call'd graces, by which the Spirit of God &s;hapes the heart within, brings light, and heat, faith and love, in&s;en&s;ibly converts the heart of &s;tone into a heart of fle&s;h. The&s;e by &s;ome Divines are call'd <HI>Media &s;alutis immediata,</HI> the neare&s;t meanes to obtain &s;alvation, becau&s;e there is no ordinary way to gain a ble&s;&s;ing but in the&s;e &s;weet &s;melling garments. And with the&s;e &s;weets out of doubt this good company was fill'd.</P>
<P N="2">2. But be&s;ides the&s;e there be <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>Gratia gratis datae,</HI> Gifts which are <HI>Media mediorum,</HI> Means which it plea&s;eth the wi&s;dom of God to u&s;e to beget &amp; to perfect in his &s;ervant tho&s;e former gifts of Grace; &s;uch are the gifts of prophe|cy, power to work Miracles, eloquence, knowledge in Church-government &amp;c. being all peculiar favors, with which at this time the&s;e prime Bi&s;hops were fill'd.</P>
<P>The former like tho&s;e common benefits of aire and water, elements ab&s;o|lutely nece&s;&s;ary for the &s;u&s;tentation of mans life, are be&s;towed upon all Gods Saints. But the&s;e later like precious Jewels and choi&s;e ornaments, are re&s;erved for tho&s;e whom God hath more nearly taken unto him&s;elf.</P>
<PB N="371" REF="191">
<P>But had not the Apo&s;tles received the&s;e gifts till now? What was it then that Chri&s;t be&s;towed, <HI>when he breathed upon them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 20.22.</NOTE> and bade them receive what he in&s;pired: Ab&s;urd it were <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o think, that our Saviour did both to the eare and eye expre&s;s a real donation, and they at that time receive nothing.</P>
<P>We may then &s;afely judge, that with Chri&s;ts breath the Apo&s;tles at that time re|ceived the power of Order, by wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch they had a &s;pecial and immediate Commi&s;|&s;ion for the execution of tho&s;e Sacred Services, in which others (except by Au|thority derived from them) may not intermeddle; as al&s;o the power of Ju|ri&s;diction to exerci&s;e their former faculties, where, when, and over whom they plea&s;ed, without a&s;&s;ignation of City, or Province. The former exhibi|ted by tho&s;e words, <HI>Receive the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> which are laudably retained in our Ordination to this day: The latter, by that General Grant, <HI>Go and teach all Nations.</HI> But now they were fill'd with Gifts and Graces for the confirma|tion and execution of that power.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. de pre|&s;cript. cap. <HI>20.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Con&s;equnti &s;unt pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mi&s;sum Spiritus &s;ancti ad V<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rtutem &amp; Eloquium;</HI> they obtained the promi&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t for Elocution, and to work Miracles. Then they received their Mi&s;&s;ion and Com|mi&s;&s;ion, now their Dotation; what before was promi&s;ed, is now fully perform|ed. <HI>Ade&s;t Spiritus &s;anctus cumulans &s;ua dona, non inchoans:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo. Hom. <HI>3.</HI> de Pentec.</NOTE> Our Saviour now made his words good, <HI>That to him that hath, it &s;hall be given;</HI> for the Holy Gho&s;t came down to heap upon them his Gifts, not to begin them; before he came in the degree of warme breath, but now in the mea&s;ure of fiery tongues. The &s;ame Spirit that entred before, now loaded them with ampler abilities; their under&s;tanding was filled with light, truth, wi&s;dom; their wills with love, zeal, charity; their hands with power; their tongues with eloquence; there was no faculty empty of Divine Grace; of any Grace which was fit for men of their condition, and requi&s;ite to the performance of their Function to which they were called: Which limitation is nece&s;&s;ary to be ob&s;erved; for it is not to be thought, that this Fulne&s;s of Grace in them, was equal to that which was in Chri&s;t: <HI>For in him dwel't all the Fulne&s;s of the God|head bodily;</HI> that is, per&s;onally; not only by a&s;&s;i&s;tance and efficacy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.9.</NOTE> but by an hypo&s;tatical union; and therefore he had Grace in the inten&s;e&s;t and highe&s;t degree, that po&s;&s;ibly Grace could be had; and a faculty to u&s;e it unto all in|tents and effects, whereunto Grace doth, or can extend.</P>
<P>Whereas the Holy Gho&s;t was not united to the per&s;ons of the Apo&s;tles, or is to any other mans, otherwi&s;e than by a&s;&s;i&s;tance and influence; and yet the&s;e men may be &s;aid to be full of the Holy Spirit, when they are endowed with this heavenly Gift, &s;o far forth, as is requi&s;ite for the performance of tho&s;e things which God expects from a man in &s;uch or &s;uch a condition or vocation: <HI>To every one of us is given Grace, according to the mea&s;ure of the Gift of Chri&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.7.</NOTE> that is, as he plea&s;eth to fill us; &s;ufficiently it is given to all that belong to him: But with this the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin was more eminently fill'd;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.9.</NOTE> but the A|po&s;tles were abundantly fill'd with it, becau&s;e of the work to which they were &s;et apart, which was, <HI>The joynting of the Saints, the work of the Mini&s;tery, the edifying of the body of Chri&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.12.</NOTE></P>
<P>In a word, the Fulne&s;s of Chri&s;t, was the fulne&s;s of the Ci&s;tern; the ful|ne&s;s of the Saints like the waters in Aqueducts and Pipes containing le&s;s or more, as may &s;erve for that purpo&s;e to which God is to u&s;e them. Chri&s;t is the head, the Apo&s;tles, as it were, the beard;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. in P&s;al. <HI>132.</HI></NOTE> and the Holy Gho&s;t the &s;weet oyntment poured upon the head of our <HI>Aaron,</HI> that fir&s;t ran down to the beard, and after de&s;cended to the very skirts of his cloathing; upon the Apo|&s;tles, as the beard, it ran plentifully as it were this day; and thence it de&s;cended, and runs &s;till, till it came to us, who are as it were but the skirts of the Gar|ment: And then upon us like oyntment, which the farther it flows, the thin|ner it alwayes is.</P>
<PB N="372" REF="192">
<P>But I return to the Apo&s;tles, who were filled with this holy oyle; &s;hame then upon that gro&s;s conceit of tho&s;e old giddy Gno&s;ticks, that the Apo&s;tles knew not all requi&s;ite truths;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. de prae|&s;cript. cap. <HI>22.</HI> Iren. lib. <HI>3.</HI> cap. <HI>1</HI></NOTE> and therefore <HI>Valentinus</HI> with his Followers, were appointed to be <HI>Emendatores Apo&s;tolorum,</HI> the Correctors of the Apo|&s;tles; a bla&s;phemy encrea&s;ed by the Father of the <HI>Manichees,</HI> who two hun|dred and &s;ixty years after Saint <HI>Luke</HI> had written <HI>that the Apo&s;tles were fill'd from above,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. de util. credend. cap. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> affirmed, that Chri&s;ts promi&s;e <HI>to &s;end the Comforter,</HI> was made to him, <HI>viz. Manes,</HI> that by his illuminated brain the world might be in|&s;tructed.</P>
<P>An Errour and Phren&s;ie I had not mentioned, had not the Phanta&s;ticks of this Age boa&s;ted of new light, and &s;haked many men and women out of their fir&s;t principles, by pretending they are above Ordinances; that the Scri|ptures and Apo&s;tolical Writings, are but a dead letter, except out of their mouths.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. adver|&s;us Valent. c. <HI>13</HI></NOTE> <HI>Quod &s;upere&s;t, vos valete &amp; plaudite, imo quod &s;up<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re&s;t, vos audite &amp; projicite.</HI> For who that is not &s;o mad as <HI>Manes,</HI> can think they were igno|rant, whom he, that knew all things, promi&s;ed to in&s;truct in all truth? Who dare talk of new light, when the Spirit, who &s;pake by Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> tongue, &s;aith plainly, <HI>That if we, or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.8, 9.</NOTE> <HI>than that ye have received, let him be accur&s;ed;</HI> and ingeminates it. With what face can a man &s;ay, he is above Ordinances, when the Apo&s;tle com|mands,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11.2.</NOTE> <HI>K<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ep the Ordinances, as I delivered them unto you?</HI> No que&s;tion the&s;e high-flown men are in higher favour, than tho&s;e who were <HI>Legati &agrave; latere,</HI> who were his Legates,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. de prae|&s;cript. cap. <HI>20.</HI></NOTE> and in&s;eparable Friends, <HI>in Comitatu, Convictu, Di&s;cipu|latu,</HI> (as that curt and dark, but &s;ententious Father of <HI>Carthage</HI> &s;peaks) in his School, at his Table, in his Company.</P>
<P>Their All-knowing Ma&s;ter opens unto them dark Parables apart, remem|bers them of a faculty dated and &s;igned to them in particular to know my&s;te|ries,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 4.10, 11. John 13.23.</NOTE> yea, the &s;ecrets of the Kingdom, admits <HI>John to lean upon his bo&s;ome;</HI> as if he meant to expectorate, and lay open his whole heart to him; gives to <HI>Pe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">er,</HI> and the re&s;t, <HI>power to binde and loo&s;e,</HI> and delivers the Keys; which le&s;t they forget,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 18.18. John 14.26.</NOTE> <HI>He promi&s;eth the Holy Gho&s;t to be their Remembrancer.</HI> And yet the&s;e Followers of our Saviour mu&s;t be thought to be but dark Guides, in com|pari&s;on of their illuminated Noddles: Guide they mu&s;t according to their light, or el&s;e there is a mi&s;take &s;omewhere.</P>
<P>And to countenance this the better, they have in their mouths, that check of Saint <HI>Paul</HI> to <HI>Peter</HI> for his di&s;&s;imulation: <HI>Oh</HI> (&s;ay they) <HI>when then was that univer&s;al knowledge which &s;hould have freed even the chief of the Apo&s;tles from erring?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 2.12.</NOTE> But &s;trange it is, that they who are &s;o Eagle-&s;ighted into the lea&s;t cracks of the&s;e chief Pillars, &s;hould yet be &s;o heavy-eyed, as not to di&s;|cern betwixt matters of Fact, and points of Faith! For clear it is, that this was <HI>Vitium Conver&s;ationis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. loc. cit.</NOTE> <HI>non Praedicationis;</HI> Saint <HI>Peters</HI> Errour was not in his Doctrine, but in the manner of his Conver&s;ation. Could they prove, that the&s;e two Ma&s;ter-builders laid two contrary Foundations; or that they went not about to knit that &s;acred building in the &s;ame Corner-&s;tone; or that which was fir&s;t laid by them, were too weak to uphold the whole &s;tructure; that which they alledge, were of &s;ome moment. Till then, we will hold that for an unremoveable foundation of Chri&s;tian Religion, <HI>Quod Eccle&s;ia ab Apo&s;tolis, Apo&s;toli &agrave; Chri&s;to,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull.</NOTE> <HI>Chri&s;ius &agrave; Deo &s;u&s;cepit:</HI> That we will hold, which the Church hath received from the Apo&s;tles, the Apo&s;tles from Chri&s;t, Chri&s;t from God; being fully a&s;&s;ured, that in <HI>credendis &amp; agendis,</HI> in points of faith, and matters of fact,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Thom.</HI> 1. 2ae. <HI>Q.</HI> 106. <HI>Art.</HI> 4.</NOTE> for the policy of the Church they were fill'd with the Holy Gho&s;t.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<PB N="373" REF="192">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> All. All fill'd.</HEAD>
<P>For the Propo&s;ition is <GAP DESC="foreign">, which yet may not &s;o convenient|ly be under&s;tood <HI>C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ctiv&egrave;,</HI> as if the fulne&s;s of Grace had been conferred jointly on the whole Corps; as <HI>Di&s;tributiv&egrave;,</HI> in that every &s;ingle Fellow of this <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ociety had an equal portion of it. And this is mo&s;t evident, becau&s;e the Note of Univer&s;ality, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>All</HI> i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the Text, is in the Verie before, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>each of them;</HI> every one of tho&s;e that God had made choice of to be Witne&s;&s;es. The&s;e gifts then with an equal hand, were be&s;towed upon the&s;e his Emba&s;&s;adours, becau&s;e they were every one of them to execute the &s;ame Me&s;&s;age; and therefore as before they were equally empowred in the Com|mi&s;&s;ion, &s;o now they were equally en<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">bled for the execution of it; their pow|er then, nor their gifts now, were not dependent, or derived from any one th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t was &s;uperiour in their Colledge; but power and gifts were immediatly from heaven: <HI>Cyprian</HI> &s;aid it long ago; <HI>Hoc erant uti&abque; &amp; coeteri Apo&s;toli quod fuit P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">trus, pari con&s;ortio praediti &amp; honoris &amp; pote&s;tatis:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyprian de unit. Eccle&s;.</NOTE> All the re&s;t of the Apo&s;tles were what <HI>Peter</HI> was, equal in fellow&s;hip, in honour, in power.</P>
<P>Methinks then tho&s;e Para&s;ites of <HI>Rome</HI> do a manife&s;t injury to this grant, who to e&s;tabli&s;h the Monarchy of the <HI>Roman</HI> Bi&s;hop, inve&s;t Saint <HI>Peter</HI> with the fulne&s;s of all Apo&s;tolical power, from whom the other Apo&s;tles were to derive their Commi&s;&s;ion. Had they confined their claim unto &s;ome per&s;onal Prerogatives, &s;uch as were Seniority, Vocation, Fervour of love, Order and Honour; for which he might have <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian.</NOTE> the fir&s;t place in their A&s;&s;em|blies, direction of proceeding, and power to pronounce the &s;entence agreed on, we could and would willingly with the Fathers have given this Primacy to <HI>P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|ter.</HI> But when they place this priority <HI>in Apo&s;tolatu,</HI> in the Apo&s;tolick Of|fice, making Saint <HI>Peter</HI> to be the Shepherd, and the re&s;t of the Apo&s;tles his &s;heep; him to be the Monarch, and the re&s;t to depend on him both for exe|cution and limitation of thei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Function; we mu&s;t here out of that affection we bear to the Truth, with&s;tand their claim, well knowing they are to be reproved. For when the Ma&s;ter of the hou&s;e judged an Ari&s;tocracy to be the fitte&s;t form of Policy for his Family, &s;hall any dare to erect a Mo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">archy?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 22.25.</NOTE> when he gave an expre&s;s prohibition for this temporal Lording, by a <HI>&s;ic non e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">it vobis;</HI> &s;o it &s;hall not be among you, &s;hall any mortal man a&s;&s;ume an illimited power, <GAP DESC="foreign">, as Kings over Subjects, &s;o to Domineer over Gods Flock?<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 5.3.</NOTE> Sure I am that humble &s;ervant of C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ri&s;t, Saint <HI>Peter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joan. Euchait.</NOTE> whom <GAP DESC="foreign">, who would be crucified with his head downward, dur&s;t not lift up his Crown &s;o high; he that gave this direction to the Elders, not to Lord it over Gods inheritance, never a&s;pired to the &s;tate of a Monarch.</P>
<P>It was no doubt fre&s;h in his memory, that the whole Colledge were cho|&s;en and taught by Chri&s;t as well as he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 4.13.</NOTE> being all in their pure naturals unlearned men; that their Commi&s;&s;ion was as large as his; their Ordination was gene|ral; that their Endowments were in Equality; for <HI>they were all filled;</HI> and therefore it is not conceivable, that he would make him&s;elf, as his pretended Succe&s;&s;ours have done, the Univer&s;al Bi&s;hop. Were I in the School, I would &s;ay more to this point; but I remember that I am in the Temple; for who&s;e &s;ervice controver&s;ies are not &s;o fit; no nor yet for the&s;e tongues, which were &s;ent down to preach, and not to wrangle; an excellent E&s;&s;ay of which they gave here, &s;o &s;oon as they were enflamed; for they &s;et forth in divers Lan|guages the wonderful Works of God; this they began with, &s;o &s;oon as,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<PB N="374" REF="193">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> They began to &s;peak.</HEAD>
<P>But I pray ob&s;erve, that <HI>they began not to &s;peak before they were filled.</HI> Here was an infu&s;ion of the Spirit, before there was an effu&s;ion; replein&s;hed they were fir&s;t, and then they empty; which methinks, &s;hould &s;hame the Speakers of this Age, had they not impudent Fore-heads, that cannot blu&s;h, who &s;tep up, and &s;peak before they are full. Full, did I &s;ay? nay, altogether empty; empty of wit, empty of wi&s;dom, empty of ordinary rea&s;on, empty of common di&s;cretion; I had almo&s;t &s;aid, empty of hone&s;ty, and morality; I am &s;ure, empty of good education and learning.</P>
<P>'Tis an evidence of their folly, that they ply the Cocks too fa&s;t, and then you may be &s;ure that the Ci&s;tern cannot be full. Wi&s;e men will be fill'd to the brim before they draw out; but the&s;e Taps, though there be only a little dregs and faeces in the bottom, will be &s;ure to let it out; which they have made &s;o evident, that now no rational man, except forced, or feared, will ta&s;te of their water. I call'd it right water, <HI>jejune,</HI> weak, cold, fla&s;hy &s;tuffe; it hath no life, nor heat, nor any quality of the Spirit in it; even their own Pro&s;elytes begin to di&s;relli&s;h it. This, this is the effect, when men will begin to &s;peak before they are full, fill'd with Wi&s;dom, fill'd with Eloquence, as were the Apo&s;tles, which was the rea&s;on <HI>they began to speak.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>They began</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>to speaek;</HI> for I refer <GAP DESC="foreign"> to their tongue; as <GAP DESC="foreign">, in the next clau&s;e to the matter they &s;pake; &s;o that they &s;pake all Languages <HI>expedit&egrave;,</HI> readily, plainly, intelligibly, not in a drawling and li&s;ping fa&s;hion, mi&s;taking words and accents; which is another Argument, that the&s;e gifted men are not taught to &s;peak by the Spirit, their tongues are &s;o &s;low, their mi&s;takes of words &s;o many, their fal&s;e accents &s;o gro&s;s. Who can but &s;mile to hear a tongue draule out at length <HI>Metaph&oacute;-ra, &amp; Synecd&oacute;-ches?</HI> Who can choo&s;e but call to minde the li&s;pings of children, and the confu&s;ion of Languages at <HI>Babel,</HI> when he hears the &s;tammering Engli&s;h that falls from their lips? Is &s;uch Barbari&s;me like the propriety of language in which the A|po&s;tles expre&s;&s;ed them&s;elves? What they &s;pake came from their tongues &s;o clearly, that the hearers heard them &s;peak in their own tongues, proper words in a proper Dialect. The miracle then lay not only in the variety of Langua|ges which they &s;pake; but that on a &s;udden they &s;hould without any mi&s;take, he&s;itation, or ridiculous pronunciation, or Tone, &s;peak the&s;e Languages &s;o clearly, and di&s;tinctly, which by length of time, long practice, and conver|&s;ing with any Nation a &s;tranger &s;hall hardly attain to: This then I reckon a part of the miracle, that in a moment they could <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;peak &s;o readily, &s;o tunably.</P>
<P N="3">3. Next they were no &s;ooner <HI>fill'd with the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> but pre&s;ently by diver&s;e tongues, and external actions, they gave &s;igns of the life they had re|ceived.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 10.6.</NOTE> For he that <HI>is full of the H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ly Gho&s;t, is pre&s;ently turned into another man.</HI> Though he were luke-warm before, yet he is now fervent; though fearful before, yet now valiant. <HI>Miratur, &s;e tunc e&s;se quod non erat; miratur, &s;e tunc non fui&s;&s;e quod e&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Greg.</NOTE> He wonders that he &s;hould be now, what he was not; and he wonders again, that then he was not, what he is now.</P>
<P>For as by experience we find true, &s;o &s;oon as the &s;oul is infu&s;ed into man, he in&s;tantly receives life, and with it external and vital motions; &s;o when this good Spirit fills the mind, pre&s;ently the life of the Spirit begins to ap|pear by outward actions, at our hands, our eyes, and our tongue e&s;pecially. Whence the Apo&s;tles being fill'd, could no longer contain; but not being content in the <HI>Hebrew</HI> and <HI>Syriack,</HI> in all other tongues then nece&s;&s;ary, they &s;et forth the wonderful Works of God; but of this particular I &s;poke before in the Cloven tongues, whither I remit you.</P>
<P N="4"><PB N="375" REF="193">4. La&s;tly, in that they began to &s;peak, take notice of their boldne&s;s: <GAP DESC="foreign">. Lord, what a &s;trange change was here?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;toph. <GAP DESC="foreign"></NOTE> and how &s;udden! Of Fi&s;hermen, they were become Preachers; from Fi&s;hes turned to Tongues; of ignorant, eloquent; of timerous and fearful &s;ouls, bold and couragious Champions for their Ma&s;ter; where the Spirit of God is the Tutor, the Le&s;&s;on is no &s;ooner taught, than learned: New creatures we find here both in heart and tongue; in heart, for they bu&s;tle not for the right and left hand; they di&s;pute not who &s;hall be the greate&s;t. In Tongue, for he that denied, and for&s;wore, dares not only think well, but &s;peak out what he thinks of his Ma&s;ter; he now &s;pake with another tongue. Every man will be ready to open his mouth when there is no danger; but to oppo&s;e for, and main|tain the Truth to the hazard of the teeth, is a labour proper to him alone, who&s;e tongue is enflamed from heaven.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 3.21. Acts 5.41.</NOTE> For th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s the three children were content to enter the flames: For this the Apo&s;tles receive blowes, and rejoyce in them: For this the Army of Martyrs fry, and preach at the &s;take. The&s;e were all prodi|gal of their own blood, that they might be thir&s;ty of Gods glory, being re&s;olved to dye rather any kind of death, than Chri&s;t &s;hould lo&s;e the lea&s;t &s;cruple of Ho|nour by their Cowardize. The Apo&s;tles, as the Generals, led the way; of whom but one dyed <HI>morte &s;u&acirc;,</HI> a natural death; and the whole Army of Mar|tyrs as &s;toutly followed; for they went as willingly to tho&s;e torments, as if they had no bodies for the fire to roa&s;t, nor yet blood for the Bea&s;ts and Whips to let out.</P>
<P>I admire and envy the couragious zeal, and zealous courage of tho&s;e re&s;o|lute &s;ouls, who could find nothing to hate but them&s;elves: Not their enemies; <HI>for they prayed for them:</HI> Not the Executioners; <HI>for they forgave them:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.</NOTE> Not the Flames and Bea&s;ts; <HI>for they embraced them.</HI> Their own lives and bodies a man would think, were their &s;ole burden, becau&s;e they kept them and their God a&s;under. And lea&s;t they &s;hould be di&s;&s;ever'd any longer, willing they were to lay down their burden in the flames, that &s;o with <HI>Elijah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 2.11.</NOTE> they might a&s;cend as it were, <HI>in a fiery Chariot into heaven.</HI></P>
<P>When, and how the Holy Gho&s;t was given, you have heard, and the effects which it wrought, that the Apo&s;tles were filled with it, that their Cup did o|verflow; they were &s;o filled with his gifts and graces,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 4.20.</NOTE> that they could not but <HI>&s;peak the things which they had heard of Chri&s;t, and &s;een;</HI> they were now like <HI>the Wine which had no vent;</HI> and like <HI>the new Bottles that bur&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 32.19. <HI>Ardens in loc.</HI></NOTE> they &s;pake with other tongues, yet with this re&s;traint upon them, that it was <HI>quid, quan|tum, &amp; quomodo &s;piritus dabat,</HI> for matter, extent, manner,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="6" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>6.</HI> As the Spirit gave them utteran<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e.</HEAD>
<Q><L><GAP DESC="foreign">.</L>
<L>Prout Spiritus dabat eis elobui. <BIBL><HI>Tremel. &amp; Vulgar.</HI></BIBL></L>
<L>Prout Spiritus dabat eis effari. <BIBL><HI>Beza.</HI></BIBL></L></Q>
<P>But the Original is far more Emphatical, and we want a word in other Languages to expre&s;s it; for it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, which &s;ignifies to &s;peak Apo|thegmes; &s;o that as the Greek Scholia&s;t ob&s;erves, <GAP DESC="foreign">, tho&s;e words that came from the&s;e tongues were &s;hort, &s;harp, and weighty &s;entences. In this Clau&s;e then ob&s;erve the&s;e two things.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The <HI>Quid,</HI> the matter which they &s;poke, Apothe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mes.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The power by which they &s;pake; guided they were not by their own wit, or their own will; they had the Direction and Orders from the Spirit.</ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<PB N="376" REF="194">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> The Spirit gave them <GAP DESC="foreign">.</HEAD>
<P>There came no vain, light, frothy words from their lips; but &s;uch as were full of Purity, Per&s;picuity, Dignity, and Maje&s;ty, which are the Ornaments of Elocution. And for the matter ve&s;ted in the&s;e words, it was Grave, not Trivial; Serious, not Sordid; Principles of Faith, and not Rules for Facti|on; Rules for a good Life, and not Homilies to corrupt good Manners. Do you wonder why I u&s;e the&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">? it is, becau&s;e the Doctrines of many men now adayes are no Apothegmes, and their U&s;es for the mo&s;t part Cor|ruptions.</P>
<P>For an Apothegme is a &s;hort, but wi&s;e &s;aying, in few words containing a world of matter, which <HI>Plutarch</HI> likens to a Ceremony in Religion, that promi&s;eth very little or nothing at the fir&s;t &s;ight, but more narrowly looked in|to, is full of deep my&s;teries: Such do not u&s;e to fall from Fools, but Wi&s;e men, whom Po&s;terity hath &s;o Reverenc'd for the&s;e &s;ententious Aphori&s;mes, that they pre&s;erved them as little Jewels, when they ca&s;t a&s;ide whole Mountains of Rubbi&s;h and Stones, not doubting to teach, that &s;ome of them came from heaven.</P>
<Q>E Caelo de&s;cendit <GAP DESC="foreign">, No&s;ce teip&s;um.</Q>
<P>The&s;e adde life, beauty, light to any &s;peech; and being artificially placed, are like a Diamond &s;et in gold, which makes the Ring more rich, as the&s;e the Ser|mon: But you mu&s;t know, that it is not for every Bungler to &s;et a precious &s;tone; nor for every mean wit to in&s;ert as he plea&s;eth the&s;e Apothegmes; no, though they be taken from <HI>Peter,</HI> or <HI>Pauls</HI> lips; which &s;ome Bunglers un|dertaking to do, they by their rude and unskilful placing them, plea&s;e as much as the A&s;&s;e, that took up the Harp; or <HI>Ther&s;ites,</HI> when he gra&s;ped the Scepter. 'Tis well ob&s;erved by <HI>Fabius,</HI> that there is nothing more ridiculous in u&s;e than an Apothegme, if it be not aptly, add pecently plac'd; for that will befall him that affects it, which happens to a pretender in Mu&s;ick; in which Art, he who &s;hews not him&s;elf an excellent Arti&s;t, grates the Ear, and becomes ridiculous.</P>
<P>From which the Apo&s;tles were, no men further removed; for as they &s;poke Apothegmes, &s;o they knew where to place them; I will give you an in&s;tance in one or two:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 4.19. Acts 10.34. Acts 20.35. Jam. 1.17.</NOTE> <HI>Whether it is fit in the &s;ight of God to hearken unto you, more than unto God, judge ye.</HI> And again, <HI>God is no respecter of per&s;ons:</HI> And yet again, <HI>I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> is more b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;sed to give, than receive:</HI> And yet <HI>every good gift, and every perfect gif<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> is from above.</HI> Infinite it were to in&s;i&s;t upon the&s;e! e&s;pecially Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> who is &s;hort in his words, but rich in his &s;enten|ces; and how was it po&s;&s;ible it &s;hould be otherwi&s;e, &s;ince they &s;pake</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> As the Spirit gave them utterance?</HEAD>
<P>For as the matter, &s;o al&s;o the manner is from the Spirit too; as he directs what, &s;o al&s;o he teacheth how to &s;peak&punc; Now &s;o much is confe&s;&s;ed by every private &s;pi|rit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.27.</NOTE> who pre&s;mptuou&s;ly make the Spirit of God the Author of whatever they ut|ter; their plea is, <HI>They are the &s;imple, and the &s;imple God hath cho&s;en&punc;</HI> I <HI>Thomas,</HI> or I <HI>John</HI> di&s;allow this, renounce that; we know that we are of God; and he that heareth God, hears us; we are of the Brethren, we the Godly, we the &s;ole Saints,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 26.24, 25.</NOTE> others are of the World, Time-&s;ervers: No matter then, though the wicked count us with the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Mad;</HI> for we know <HI>we &s;p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ak the words of truth and &s;oberne&s;s;</HI> what we deliver, &s;mells not of any profane Lamp; but <HI>datur in ill&acirc; hor&acirc;,</HI> is given and uttered in the &s;elf-&s;ame houre.</P>
<PB N="377" REF="194">
<P>This conceit hath been mo&s;t prevalent &amp; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o&s;t pernicious. For whereas Divine Authority is of that command<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ng power, that without any more que&s;tion, <HI>Ait, Aio; Negat, neg<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">;</HI> let it appear that God &s;aith it, and I &s;ay it al&s;o; that he d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nies it, and I deny it; &s;uch private &s;pi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">its to gain A&s;&s;ent and Followers, like the old <HI>&V;alentinians, Prae&s;umptionem appellant Revelationem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. in Va|lent. cap. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Chari&s;ma Ingenium;</HI> every pre&s;umptuous opinion they call a Revelation; and an Abor|tive of their own Brain, a Gift of the Spirit.</P>
<P><HI>But D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">arly Belov<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d, give not cre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">it to every spirit;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 4.1.</NOTE> for there be but two wayes by which the Spirit of God leads into all truth; Extraordinary, and Common. The fir&s;t we call Reve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ation, the la&s;t Rea&s;on.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hooker. Eccle&s;. Pol. lib. <HI>5.</HI> Sect. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> If then the Spirit of God by &s;uch immediate Revelation hath di&s;covered to any the &s;ecrets of Chri&s;ts Kingdom, they mu&s;t be all Prophets: But if by the &s;trength of Rea|&s;on and D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;cour&s;e, they &s;hall go about to e&s;tabli&s;h what they teach, their <HI>Me|dium</HI> mu&s;t upon nece&s;&s;ity, by which they will prove this, be fetch't out of the Scripture already revealed: And then it mu&s;t be the &s;oundne&s;s of that Col|lection, not the heat and zeal with which it is pre&s;t, that mu&s;t declare that opi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ion to be taught by the Holy Gh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t; who&s;e gifts and graces do &s;o naturally tend unto common peace, that where &s;uch &s;ingularity is, they who&s;e hearts it po&s;&s;e&s;&s;eth, ought &s;trongly to pre&s;ume, that God hath not moved their hearts to think &s;uch things as he hath not e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">abled them invincibly to prove.</P>
<P N="2">2. I am not ignorant, that the Zelots of <HI>Rome</HI> have ca&s;t this Dirt in the face of all the Reformed Churches, that we give the Reins to every Idiot by a &s;ecret illumination to judge the Church; which we do not, or ever did; but they forget all this while, that their own hou&s;e is of gla&s;s, and th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t the lea&s;t returned pibble may break it.</P>
<P>For can there be any &s;pirit more private than that of one man? and yet with them one is made the &s;ole infallible Judge; one is virtually the whole Church: He hath <HI>Coele&s;te Arbitrium,</HI> an heavenly judgem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nt, cannot erre <HI>E Cathedr&acirc;,</HI> out of the Chair; if he follow the Ancient Councils and Fa|thers, &s;ay the old; but whether he u&s;e means and diligence or not, &s;ay their new D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">vines; for otherwi&s;e &s;ay they, any man might call in que&s;tion his Conclu&s;ions, not being fully a&s;&s;ured, whether the Pope had u&s;ed that &s;earch and diligence in his determinations which he ought: Hence they teach, that the Spirit of God doth infallibly a&s;&s;i&s;t him in the conclu&s;ion, but not in the premi&s;es; and therefore he can make &s;omething of nothing, <HI>extra jus, con|tra <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">us, &s;upra <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">us.</HI> Fetch a &s;en&s;e out of Scripture, as ea&s;ily as an <HI>Alchymi&s;t</HI> can extract gold out of a pibble; all this, and much more, becau&s;e the Spi|rit, <GAP DESC="foreign">, will be his Guide, and give him utterance. Thus they who &s;o much declaim again&s;t, advance a private &s;pirit: Thus they abu&s;e the promi&s;e of Chri&s;t to their advantage, his in&s;pirations are pleaded as &s;trongly to uphold the Popes Decrees by them, as by our New-lights for their Euthu&s;ia&s;ms.</P>
<P>Again, can any Church be more particular, than that which is confined to one Dioce&s;s? Either the &s;even Churches of <HI>A&s;ia</HI> were Catholick Churches, or <HI>Rome</HI> is not: Or, the four Oriental Patriarchs, Oecumenical Bi&s;hops, or the Popes holine&s;s is none. For were their Decrees the Canons of pri|vate Churches, and are not his? who in their Patriarchs had as great power given them by the Canon of the <HI>Nicene</HI> Council, as he had in his; as much as we yield them, we dare grant him; more we cannot.</P>
<P>I know the Eva&s;ion, the Catholick, and Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> are terms convertible; and therefore what Prerogatives God be&s;towed upon one, he bequeathed al&s;o to the other. <HI>Baculus in angulo;</HI> excellent Sophi&s;ts, to argue from Catholici&s;me of Doctrine, (were it granted them) to Catholici&s;me of Juri&s;diction. So, if I mi&s;take not, any private Conventicle, maintaining in all points Catholick Doctrine, might a&s;&s;ume to it &s;elf the name of the
<PB N="378" REF="195"> Catholick Church: Which to affirme, what were it el&s;e but to take &s;ome live Coals out of the Embers of <HI>Dona<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">us,</HI> who&s;e conceit was, that the Church remained only in his Party, in his Conventicles? This he termed the Catho|lick Church, not from the Univer&s;ality of People or Nations; but from the right u&s;e of the Sacraments, the purity of Doctrine, Di&s;cipline, and the un|&s;potted life of the Profe&s;&s;ors.</P>
<Q><L>Papam deni&abque; compara cum Donato;</L>
<L>Aut utrum&abque; putabis e&s;&s;e verum;</L>
<L>Aut utrum&abque; putabis e&s;&s;e fictum.</L></Q>
<P>The Name for&s;ooth Catholick only to be a&s;&s;umed by him and his followers; no God, no Religion, but with them; no Sacraments, but &s;uch as are con|&s;ecrated by a Prie&s;t of their ordaining. Sanctity, a mark peculiar to their Church alone; and that which is mo&s;t arrogant, that the Spirit of God &s;peaks only by their lips. A <HI>Cretian</HI> is not more like a Cretian; an Egg to an Egg; or a Fig to a Fig, than in the&s;e a&s;&s;ertives the <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> are to our <HI>Noveli&s;ts,</HI> again&s;t whom they inveigh &s;o bitterly, but yet ju&s;tly for their private &s;pirit. Well it is yet, that at la&s;t it hath been confe&s;&s;ed, that the contention ought to be laid a&s;ide, and they with the Orthodox Prote&s;tants ought to joyn to beat down Pract<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cal Athei&s;me, which hath like a Torrent over-&s;pread <HI>Chri|&s;tendom,</HI> taking a great part of its ri&s;e from the&s;e bitter quarrels about the claims to the Spirit; of all which di&s;putes I &s;hall &s;ay, as that great <HI>Era&s;|mus</HI> confe&s;&s;ed of him&s;elf, that he aro&s;e from the reading of the Schoolmen <HI>irritatior ad contentionem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Era&s;m. Colloq. Religio&s;.</NOTE> but <HI>frigidius affectus ad virtutem:</HI> He was warm|er and fitter for a contention, but much colder to Piety and Devotion; which is the very effect that this wrangle hath wrought in mo&s;t men at this day.</P>
<P>To compo&s;e then all differences, and inflame true devotion indeed, well it were, that on all hands men would adhere to that which they are &s;ure that the Holy Gho&s;t hath uttered, and not what they imagine he &s;pake. The Re|cord is extant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.19.</NOTE> and to it men &s;hall <HI>do well to take heed as to a light that &s;hines in a dark place.</HI> The place in which we live is but dark, and the errour of opinion, and practice of impiety may ea&s;ily &s;educe a well-minded man; in which di&s;traction and darkne&s;s is any man de&s;irous to guide his feet in the way of peace? then let him take what the Spirit hath plainly by the Prophets, E|vangeli&s;ts and Apo&s;tles uttered for his Guide; and &s;etting a&s;ide all that may be cavill'd about, he may &s;afely, without errour, and notorious wickedne&s;s, arrive at the place of happine&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 5.12.</NOTE> without errour in the <HI>principles of the Oracles of God;</HI> that is, in the fundamental points of Faith, which e&s;&s;entially con|&s;titute a true Church, and a true Chri&s;tian; for the&s;e are clearly and evidently &s;et down in tho&s;e words, that we are &s;ure that the Holy Gho&s;t hath utter'd; and then again, without notorious wickedne&s;s; for that is the end that the Spirit hath uttered the words, <HI>That a man might receive the in&s;truction of wi&s;dom, ju&s;tice,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 1.3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>and judgement, and equity; to give &s;ubtilty to the &s;imple, to the young man knowledge and di&s;cretion.</HI></P>
<P>Other Rule of Faith and Manners we know none; but becau&s;e that of <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> is undoubtedly true, that <HI>Veritas &agrave; quocun&abque; dicitur, &agrave; Spiritu &s;ancto profecta e&s;t.</HI> Truth, by whom&s;oever utter'd, is from the Holy Gho&s;t; there|fore we honour Truth, though it proceed from the mouth of man, a man not immediatly in&s;pired to utter it, as were the&s;e tongues. Traditions we em|brace, &s;o they have grey hairs, univer&s;al con&s;ent, and an harmony with what the Apo&s;tles utter'd to plead for them; but not <HI>pari pietatis affectu,</HI> not with an equal Reverence with the Apo&s;tolical Writings. Let the Fathers of <HI>Trent</HI> an&s;wer for that; the&s;e I &s;ay we receive, yet not <HI>ad
<PB N="379" REF="195"> fidei</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> lay a foundat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">on for any point of Faith, but only for moral practice and di&s;cipline. Humane Arts and Learning we honour as a nece&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ry help to under&s;tand the Language, the Art, the power in which the&s;e words were uttered, and a notable in&s;trument <GAP DESC="foreign">, to divide them aright to every one of the hou&s;hold. Learned and ancient Expo&s;itors we follow, as tho&s;e who have brought great light to the Apo&s;tles Apothegmes; yet with this <HI>provi&s;o</HI> of the Florentine Council, &s;o that their Lamps be lighted <HI>ex in|trin&s;ecis,</HI> from the A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o&s;tles torches. A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l the&s;e we admit as helps, not as foun|dations on which to build our faith, becau&s;e every rule of faith mu&s;t be <HI>certa &amp; Nota,</HI> certain in it &s;elf, and known to us, as this was; uttered, that it might be known, and by the holy Gho&s;t, who cannot lie, that it might be cer|taine.</P>
<P>My &s;peech ha&s;tens, and your at<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">en<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ion I know calls for a conclu&s;ion. <HI>Au|dite &s;eculares, comparate vo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">bs Biblia animae pharmaca.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t. hom. <HI>9.</HI> in <HI>Colo&s;&s;.</HI></NOTE> Hear O you peo|ple, get you Bibles the be&s;t phy&s;ick for your &s;ouls, in which you &s;hall read what the&s;e holy men of God &s;aid, <HI>as the Sp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rit gave them utterance.</HI> But hear you again, not to lie in your h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u&s;es covered with du&s;t, but to read and learn by; Not to make Collections and inferences, when you and they are alone in a corner, but to &s;ettle you in tho&s;e things you are taught. Search the&s;e Books with prayer, with humility, with &s;obriety; for in the&s;e God hath vouch&s;afed to &s;peak to you. Tho&s;e books which carry the titles of men, yet are the words of God, this place proves it evidently; for being filled with the holy Gho&s;t, <HI>they &s;pake as the Spirit gave them utterance.</HI> They began now, and &s;o they continued.</P>
<P>Now out of the&s;e books it is, that we fetch all the good le&s;&s;ons we teach you; our water is from their &s;prings, our li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ht from their fire. And cur&s;ed be that tongue that brings any other. And &s;o long as we prophe&s;ie according to the Analogy of Faith, to de&s;pi&s;e us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.16.</NOTE> is to de&s;pi&s;e the Spirit by which they &s;pake; and to hear us, to hearken to that Spirit that gave them utterance. For be it that we be Scribes and Phari&s;ees, as I know the world thinks no better of us, yet we &s;it in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> chair,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Matth.</HI> 22.3.</NOTE> and what we teach agreeable to the Law and Go|&s;pel, that you are bound to ob&s;erve and do. <HI>Quod D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">us p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r &s;acerdotes &s;uos facit, ip&s;ius pote&s;tas est.</HI> What God does by his Prie&s;ts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pucian. Epist. <HI>1.</HI> ad Semp.</NOTE> is his own power.</P>
<P>Ay, but &s;ay &s;ome, if Chri&s;t or an Angel from heaven &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uld preach to us, then we would hear; but when poor &s;illy men like our &s;elves &s;peak, what mat|ter is it, what they &s;ay? But know, that this is the impious &s;peech of a pro|fane heart. For, if Chri&s;t him&s;elf &s;hould &s;peak from heaven, he would deliver no other Truth. And yet when he &s;pake in his own per&s;on, had he any more regard? any better audience? <HI>He is madde,</HI> &s;ay they, <HI>why hear <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ou him?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 10.20. 1 Cor. 1.21. Acts 17, 18.</NOTE> When tho&s;e, to whom the Spirit gave utterance, were they of any g eater re|pute? Their doctrine to the wi&s;e <HI>was the fooli&s;hne&s;se of preaching.</HI> And they them&s;elves <GAP DESC="foreign">, held for no other than Bablers.</P>
<P>As for tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed &s;pirits, &s;hould they at this hour be &s;ent f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">om heaven, they would b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing but the &s;ame doctrine; &s;hould they bring any o he<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.8 9. 2 Cor. 4.7. &amp; 5.20.</NOTE> they mu&s;t be accur&s;ed. It was the goodne&s;&s;e of God then to man, to make men to be as gods to us, to &s;end this heavenly trea&s;ure to us in earthen ve&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ls, that when the Emba&s;&s;adour was a man like to our &s;elves, out of the affectio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> we beare to our own image, might grow in love wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h the me&s;&s;age. Doth any <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">an reject the flowre for the huske, the wheat for the chaffe? or is your gold the le&s;&s;e &s;et by becau&s;e pre&s;erved in the skin of &s;ome dead bea&s;t? Out of que&s;tion you will ta&s;te no Wallnuts becau&s;e the kernel is matur'd in the womb of a &s;owre and bitter rine, and refu&s;e your drink, becau&s;e the ve&s;&s;el is of wood or lea|ther. Go to then, de&s;pi&s;e this bread of life, becau&s;e we pre&s;ent it w <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n un|clean
<PB N="380" REF="196"> hands:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.10.</NOTE> reject this word of God more precious than fine go<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d, becau&s;e we bring it to you in a body &s;ubject to mortality; di&s;e&s;teem this water of life, becau&s;e we offer it in an Earthen Ve&s;&s;el: So you know withall, <HI>That if the word spoken by Angels was &s;tedfa&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 2.2, 3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>and every tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion and di&s;ob<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dience received a just recompence of reward: How &s;hall you e&s;cape, if you neglect &s;o great &s;alvation, which at fir&s;t was spoken of by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by tho&s;e that heard him?</HI></P>
<P>That the Holy Gho&s;t de&s;cended upon the Apo&s;tles, it was for you; that he gave them the g<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ft of utterancce, it was for you; that he taught them all truth, it was for you; that he directed their fingers to write it, it was for your &s;akes; not for your &s;akes alone, but for you with others; as every drop of blood purified in the Liver, may be as well belonging to the Foot, as the Head;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude 3.</NOTE> for the tenor of the words are, <HI>the common <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">alvation;</HI> to which we that live now, have a title and intere&s;t, as well as the be&s;t and greate&s;t who liv'd then, and may as ju&s;tly claim, as the poore&s;t man living may challenge and draw in an equal portion of the Aire with the greate&s;t Monarch.</P>
<P>And that Spirit which was mighty in the Apo&s;tles, hath at this time given me the gift of utterance to tell you &s;o. My tongue would cleave to my gums, had not he opened my mouth, and my words would be no other than Addle &s;peech, did not he put life and truth into them: De&s;pi&s;e not then what is &s;poken for my meanne&s;s, but hear it, lay it up as the Word of God; look not upon the Earthen Ve&s;&s;el, but think upon the Trea&s;ure; 'tis the choice&s;t Jewel that ever God bequeathed to man; <HI>Depo&s;itum Eccle&s;iae,</HI> that rare riches which God depo&s;ited in the hands of his Church.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.20.</NOTE> Buy it, beg it, get it, purcha&s;e it; for there is no other way to heaven, but what it &s;hews; no o|ther guide in the way, but this. And therefore if your faces be bent thither, &s;earch after this old way, take this for your Director in the way; for then you &s;hall &s;afely arrive at the end of your way, where alone you &s;hall have re&s;t and ea&s;e. All other things in the world have their growth and fall; <HI>only the Word of the Lord remains for ever.</HI> If you hearken to it, and be a willing people, it will make you Saints on Earth, good men, and good women in this World; and after you have depo&s;ed your bodies of fle&s;h in the Grave, it will be the means to mount your &s;ouls to heaven; where you &s;hall be Saints in glory, bearing a part in that Angelical Anthymne, <HI>Glory and Wi&s;dom, and Than&s;giving, and Honour, and Power be unto him that &s;its upon the Throne, and un|to the Lamb for evermore.</HI> Amen, Amen.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="30" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The Sealing of the Spirit.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Cant. 8.6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Set me as a Seal upon thy heart, as a Seal upon thy Arme.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>HERE we hear of a Suit preferr'd, and at fir&s;t &s;ight we know not by whom, or to whom; but certainly by one in love, in that he reque&s;ts the heart and hand to be at his devotion. And indeed if ever there were one in love, it was he who made this Suit, with which pa&s;&s;ion he was &s;o &s;trangely tran&s;ported,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 2.5. &amp; 5.8.</NOTE> <HI>that he was &s;ick of it</HI> again, and dyed for it. Do you de&s;ire to hear the manner of his death? Then call to minde a bloody &s;weat, a whip, a Cro&s;s, a Spear, Gall, Vineger, Darkne&s;s, and an Earth-quake; and you may know who it was that was in love: Earth could not afford a man that would undergo this for his friend, and therefore Heaven &s;ent down the Son of God to undergo all this for his enemies.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.10.</NOTE> Pity then it is, that he &s;hould have
<PB N="381" REF="196"> any thing denied him, that would &s;pare neither heart nor hand to &s;ave both: And yet how hardly we grant either, the many Denials, the &s;everal Reque&s;ts, the &s;weet Intercour&s;es which pa&s;s in this Book betwixt Chri&s;t and his Church, do mo&s;t evidently declare. I have now named unto you by whom the Suit, (in the Judgement of the Fathers, and be&s;t of the Modern Expo&s;itors) is prefer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">'d, no le&s;s per&s;on than the Son of God. 'Twere a &s;hame to deny him any thing, and yet how unwillingly do we come off? One while he is fain to complai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">other while to expo&s;tulate, now and then to chide; mo&s;t frequently pre&s;ent his Beloved with Gifts and Favours, that no way might be unattempt|ed <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n her aff<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ction.</P>
<P>It were too tedious to recite all the&s;e. In the <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> before, he puts her in mind of a wonderful mercy, that when he &s;aw her in a very bad con|dition, yet then he lov'd her: He &s;pyed her under the Apple-Tree, upon which grew the forbidden fruit; then her Mother brought her forth, there &s;he brought thee forth that bare thee; and yet, &s;aith he, <HI>I rai&s;ed thee up under the Apple-Tree,</HI> even when thou wert under guilt of di&s;obedience, for eating the fruit of this Tree; I prevented thee with my love, and rai&s;ed thee with my grace, that thou might'&s;t be mine. The words then carry the &s;ame &s;en&s;e with tho&s;e in <HI>Ezekiel, And when I pa&s;sed by,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.6.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;aw thee polluted in thy own blood, I &s;aid unto <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hee when thou wa&s;t in thy blood, Live; yea, I &s;aid unto thee when thou wa&s;t in thy blood, Live.</HI></P>
<P>In this <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> then being rai&s;ed, he ju&s;tly pre&s;cribes her a work, that &s;he be indu&s;trious, and co-operate with the Spirit of God: For when once God by his preventing grace hath &s;tirred the &s;oul, and rai&s;ed it from its natural con|dition; then the free con&s;ent, and co-operation of the &s;oul with grace, and help of the Spirit is expected; &s;ea&s;onable it is to make &s;uch a motion as this, to which, if we will not be ungrateful, we are bound to yield, <HI>Set me as a Seal,</HI> &amp;c. In which words con&s;ider,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. A Reque&s;t; or if you will, an Order, or Injunction. <HI>Pone,</HI> Set.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The Object, or Per&s;on whom you are to put. <HI>Me,</HI> My Name, my Honour, my Service.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The Manner how he de&s;ires to be &s;et. <HI>As a Seal.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The two places where he de&s;ires to be &s;et. <HI>Intus &amp; Foris;</HI> within and without.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1">1. Upon the heart within. <HI>Set me on thy heart.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Upon the Arme without. <HI>Set me on thine A me.</HI></P>
<P>You &s;ee what an ample Harve&s;t I have of a little Corn; in the gathering whereof, if I a little exceed my houre, impute it to the fulne&s;s of the ears; and my zeal to importune you, that &s;o earne&s;t a Lover &s;hould &s;peed in his Suit. 'Tis for obedience to the Spirit I move,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6.1. I&s;a. 1.19.</NOTE> and that <HI>you receive not any more the grace of God in vain:</HI> But that you &s;hew your &s;elves <HI>a willing and ob<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dient people;</HI> as ready to yield to his reque&s;t, as he is to make it, which he doth in this word</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>1. <HI>Pone me.</HI> Set me.</HEAD>
<P>Since God here de&s;ires to be &s;et upon the heart, con&s;idered it would be, whether, or how far, and which way it is in our power to yield to this reque&s;t. For it were but in vain to call for the Duty, which no man hath any power to perform.</P>
<P>That grace is nece&s;&s;ary to this work, I know not any man denies: <HI>For the natural man perceives not the things of God;</HI> he di&s;cerns them not,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.14.</NOTE> he reli&s;heth them not; and what rea&s;on perceives not, a&s;&s;ents not to, approves not, that the will can never choo&s;e, and be delighted with. If ever there b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ny &s;uch
<PB N="382" REF="197"> motion in it, it mu&s;t come from an higher cau&s;e, which becau&s;e without any motive in us, it proceeds freely from it, we call grace, which is the &s;pecial a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Spirit moving, preventing, exciting, and &s;o powerfully work|ing upon the will of man that it may yield; di&s;cern fir&s;t that what is propo|&s;ed is true, and then freely elect it, becau&s;e it is good.</P>
<P>Whether this action of the Spirit be Proper, immediate, Phy&s;ical; or whether it be Metaphorical and Moral only, by which God doth di&s;po&s;e and per&s;wade the heart to yield, let others determine. Thus much mu&s;t be con|fe&s;&s;ed, that God offers no violence to the will of man, but &s;weetly moves by external and internal means.</P>
<P N="1">1. Before that a man can yield to the motions of the Spirit, there is <HI>ab extra,</HI> without, ordinarily the Word and the Go&s;pel propounded unto him by the Mini&s;try of the Church, in which there is contained many Threats, Promi&s;es, Exhortations, Reproofs, Puni&s;hments, Rewards: For God doth not u&s;e by I know not what Enthu&s;ia&s;ms, and &s;trange Raptures, to convert men, and make them <HI>&s;et him as a Seal upon their heart.</HI> His u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ual cour&s;e is to do it by the pub<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ication of his Will; and therefore Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> who was a &s;piritual Father to the <HI>Corinthians,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.15.</NOTE> puts them in mind, <HI>that he had begotten them, but tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> it was through the Go&s;pel;</HI> the preaching of the Go&s;pel was the means he u&s;ed to do it.</P>
<P N="2">2. Now certain inward effects there are, which often follow upon the outward means well prepared, and truly applied, &s;uch as are Illumination, or a light of knowledge in the under&s;tanding which was not there before; a cer|tainty of that knowledge; to which there &s;ucceeds a &s;miting of the heart, a remor&s;e of con&s;cience, a fear of puni&s;hment, and yet &s;ome hope of pardon: Which, where the grace of God is effectual, per&s;wade to Mortification, to Renovation, to Sanctification; <HI>to come out of the Kingdom of darkne&s;s, and to be tran&s;lated into the Kingdom of his dear Son:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 1.13.</NOTE> For the Word of God is quick and lively, and &s;tirs in the heart of man not yet ju&s;tified, &s;triking him even with fear and &s;orrow.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.37. Acts 24.26.</NOTE> They who were pre&s;ent at <HI>Peters</HI> Sermon, <HI>were pricked to the heart.</HI> And when Saint <HI>Paul</HI> preached before <HI>Felix, he trembled.</HI></P>
<P>Man then is to be con&s;idered in a two-fold in&s;tant. The fir&s;t is, when the Spirit of God by the fore&s;aid means begins this work, &s;ets upon the heart, and &s;tirs it to Faith and Repentance. The other in&s;tant is, when there is an actual conver&s;ion, a new heart created; when men being born again, are in|grafted into Chri&s;t, and brought into the number of Ju&s;tified Per&s;ons.</P>
<P>Let man be con&s;idered in the fir&s;t in&s;tant of his upri&s;ing, and mo&s;t cer|tain it is that his very <HI>wi&s;dom is enmity to God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.7.</NOTE> His wi&s;dom, his be&s;t thoughts are &s;o far from yielding, that they encline him another way; they are not only contrary, but <HI>enmity: For Chri&s;t Je&s;us is a &s;tumbling block to the Jews, and fooli&s;hne&s;s to the Gentiles:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.23.</NOTE> Natural rea&s;on of it &s;elf will never teach a man to be a Chri&s;tian.</P>
<P>But now let a man be again con&s;idered in another in&s;tant, when he hath laid to heart what hath been propo&s;ed; when he is warmed with <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he Word, <HI>turned from an heart of &s;tone,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 36.26.</NOTE> <HI>to a heart of fle&s;h,</HI> melted, and made tender: and then it receives a new condition, that it both can, and will co-operate with Gods Spirit, and freely move it &s;elf to tho&s;e works which are acceptable to him. Thus have I heard an in&s;trument of Mu&s;ick &s;et fir&s;t in tune, an&s;wer unto the melodious touch of a skilful hand, filling the ear with a plea&s;ing Aire, which before the ju&s;t exten&s;ion of the &s;trings by an ungrateful di&s;&s;onancy did very much di&s;plea&s;e.</P>
<P>I know not any &s;ound Divine, who doth &s;o conceive of the will of man,
<PB N="383" REF="197"> as if it were <HI>Inanime Organon,</HI> a &s;en&s;le&s;s Block: For <HI>non corrumpitur quoad radicem agendi,</HI> but <HI>quoad terminum.</HI> The principle of action lies yet in the root, and the power to will in it is not lo&s;t, but the Application of it to this &s;upernatural object. In wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t comes within the compa&s;s of rea&s;on it is free, and hath, being a&s;&s;i&s;ted by a general grace, abil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ty to de&s;ire it, and apply it &s;elf to it. As for that which is of a higher pitch, when it is once rai&s;ed by a &s;pecial grace (as it is where the means are powerfully propounded) it may de&s;ire: Then <HI>petit terminum,</HI> then it almes at the right end, and freely wills the means that conduce to that end; like unto a Clock, it may be out of tune; or as a di&s;ordered compa&s;s point upon any Rumbe: But when &s;ome cunning Workman hath mended the wheels of the one, or el&s;e &s;ome know|ing Pilot hath touched anew the Needle of the other; that gives a true no|tice of the houre, this of the Pole. Thus it is with the will of man, before God hath by the fore&s;aid means mended it; <HI>omne bonum &s;alutare est ultra &s;pha|ram activitatis;</HI> all that good which tends to his eternal &s;alvation and happi|ne&s;s, is beyond his &s;phere and power of activity; but when this Divine hand hath touch'd it, and &s;et it in order, the fault is our own, if we point not right to heaven. El&s;e how &s;hould God jud<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e the world in righteou&s;ne&s;s, ju&s;tly re|ward &s;ome for making right u&s;e of his Talents, and as ju&s;tly condemn others for wrapping up, and hiding his money in a Napkin!<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> <HI>Omnes nos cau&s;amur nobis dee&s;&s;e gratiam, &s;ed ju&s;tius for&s;itan gratia queratur de nobis.</HI> U&s;ual it is with men to complain that they want grace, but I fear that the grace of God hath more ju&s;t rea&s;on to complain of men; for would they but an&s;wer to the outward and inward calls of grace, <HI>Lo, here I am, What wilt thou have me to do?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9.6.</NOTE> find they &s;hould, that the grace of God would a&s;&s;i&s;t and help them on to attain the end. Even the very Heathens have this grace offered them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.20.</NOTE> <HI>that by the things which they &s;ee, they may beh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ld his Eternal Power and Godhead, &s;o that they are with|out excu&s;e:</HI> So that if they would enquire farther, and improve this grace, they might come to a farther knowledge, glorifie him as God; and learn, &s;ince they do it not, he mu&s;t needs be offended with them, and then again mu&s;t be pacified and reconciled. This con&s;ideration would &s;et them upon an enquiry how this were to be done, and at la&s;t finding that all their invented means were notable to do it, they would fix upon that which alone could; and Chri&s;tian Religion alone teacheth the merits of our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t; And this grace upon who&s;e heart it works powerfully,</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, <HI>Ex nolente facit volentem;</HI> of a &s;tubbo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n, rebellious per&s;on, it makes him one of his willing people; for God judges no man worthy of &s;al|vation, whom he hath not made formerly willing to accept of it upon tho&s;e conditions he hath propounded it. To which &s;o long as man remains a &s;tub|born, wilful, and perver&s;e bea&s;t, he is unapt; therefore the grace of God removes this great impediment of unwillingne&s;s, and &s;tirs him up willingly and freely to de&s;ire it.</P>
<P N="2">2. For this grace of God offers no force to the will of man; but it makes it move in its natural cour&s;e, and co-operate with it. Hence the Spou&s;e in the <HI>Canticles</HI> prays in this form, <HI>Draw me, and we will run after thee;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.</NOTE> as if &s;he had &s;aid, I will not, I cannot run alone; but I de&s;ire that thou O Lord would&s;t vouch&s;afe to run along with me, then we will run both al<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ng together. Thou fir&s;t giving me &s;trength to run, moving and directing every &s;tep I take, and I willingly con&s;enting to be drawn along, and moving with thee: This Saint <HI>Paul</HI> expre&s;&s;eth in him&s;elf mo&s;t evidently; <HI>By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace in me was not in vain,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.10.</NOTE> <HI>for I laboured more than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God in me.</HI> He acknowledgeth that it was the grace of God that drew him; of a &s;tubborn Per&s;ecutor, made him <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> willing Apo&s;tle; that &s;tirr'd him up, he followed, he laboured, he ran along; but he
<PB N="384" REF="198"> ran not alone, nor laboured alone, but both ran together; the grace of God with him: So that that happens to a man rai&s;ed by grace, that fell out to <HI>Eze|kiels</HI> Cherubims and Wheels; <HI>They went every one &s;trait forward; whe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her the Spirit was to go,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 1.12, 20.</NOTE> <HI>they went: And th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Wheels were lifted up over again&s;t them; for the &s;pirit of the living creatures was in the Wheels; when tho&s;e went, the&s;e went; and when tho&s;e &s;tood &s;till, the&s;e &s;tood &s;till; and when tho&s;e were l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">fted up from the Earth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">21.</NOTE> <HI>the Wheels were lifted up over again&s;t them.</HI> The motion of Cherubs and Wheels was from the Spirit; but being moved, then they move and go both together &s;weetly, kindly, freely.</P>
<P>When then the Spou&s;e de&s;ires to be <HI>drawn,</HI> &s;he de&s;ires not to be compell'd; &s;he begs not that &s;uch a force be offered her, that may take away the liberty of her will; but only that there might be impre&s;&s;ed in her a vehement inclinati|on, a &s;upernatural ability, by which &s;he might be &s;trongly, but yet kindly <HI>drawn;</HI> for <HI>trahit &s;ua quem&abque; voluptas;</HI> a man is &s;aid to be drawn to that, to which in de&s;ire, and with content he inclines. A father holds forth an Apple to his childe; or a Shepherd a great Bough to a &s;heep, and by it draws him unto him; which yet is done without any violence at all, becau&s;e the de&s;ire of both en|cline to it: So Chri&s;t and his Promi&s;es draw us unto him; not upon any co-action, not by any nece&s;&s;ity; but with great content, and delight, and plea|&s;ure; and if there be a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y violence, or con&s;traint at all in it, it is not offer'd to the will, fir&s;t moved by God, but to the Divel, to the World, to the Fle&s;h, to our Plea&s;ures, to our Profits, which labour to turn us from God, and hin|der us to run together with his Spirit; which is the &s;en&s;e of that &s;peech of our Saviour, <HI>the Kingd<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m of heaven &s;uffers violence, and the violent take it by force:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 11.12.</NOTE> For they are not called violent, becau&s;e again&s;t their wills they &s;uffer violence; but becau&s;e willingly, and out of election, they offer violence to their &s;ins, and to all that might entice them to tho&s;e &s;ins, which might hinder them from their Crown in heaven.</P>
<P>Out of that which hath been &s;aid, ea&s;ie it is to collect why God u&s;eth &s;o many Exhortations, &s;o many Suits to that man, that he may be heard and ad|mitted; as in this place, <HI>Set me as a Seal.</HI> For,</P>
<P N="1">1. The Almighty by the&s;e reque&s;ts or injunctions, would affect man with the &s;en&s;e of his duty, that he him&s;elf is the great Lord that may command, and Man his Servant and Va&s;&s;al that ought to be commanded, how|ever &s;ince he is plea&s;ed &s;o far to conde&s;cend, as to reque&s;t, that he be not deni|ed, e&s;pecially giving &s;uch rea&s;ons for it, which will melt any ingenuous heart.</P>
<P N="2">2. That &s;ince his heart without this impre&s;&s;ion or &s;eal, is but a counter|feit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 58.4.</NOTE> and <HI>the hand a fi&s;t of iniquity,</HI> that he would not re&s;i&s;t the means to bet|ter both; but that when he &s;peaks outwardly by his Word, he may be heard; and when inwardly by his Spirit, by &s;weet, &s;ecret, and gentle motions, he be not delayed, and put off: Two things are nece&s;&s;ary, <HI>doceri &amp; juvari,</HI> to be taught, to be help't; God hath done both; taught us by his Word, help't us by his Spirit; nor externally, nor internally is he wanting to us; to con&s;ent lies in us.</P>
<P>Take the&s;e Exhortations then as &s;poken to tho&s;e who are not yet effectually called, and &s;o they are nece&s;&s;ary to teach them their debt and duty; what they are by nature, and what God de&s;ires they &s;hould be. By nature without any &s;eal of goodne&s;s at all, and now God de&s;ires they would receive his image; but take them as &s;poken to men already &s;ealed, and &s;o it is good advice, <HI>that they grieve not his Spirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4 30.</NOTE> when he comes to &s;et <HI>his Seal</HI> upon them; but that they be content he be &s;et upon their heart as an undelible Cha|racter and Seal, that may not at any time be defac'd or bro|ken.</P>
<PB N="385" REF="198">
<P>I &s;hall yet more fully open unto you my meaning. You &s;ee here he brings the Seale, as ready to do his office; Grace he offers, if you will. Let not us then refu&s;e, or be unwilling to be &s;ealed; it were our part to invite him; now that he is come, and makes a reque&s;t to us, it were a ba&s;e ingratitude to delay him, or &s;hift him off. An argument rather it were of an hone&s;t heart to di&s;po&s;e our &s;elves, and work out &s;ouls as wax again&s;t his coming. If your heart be hard and obdurate, as good offer him a flint to &s;eale, which can take no print. If your hand be wicked, as good offer him a Deed to &s;eale that is &s;ealed already, and therefore incapaple of this holy impre&s;&s;ion. A willing, a &s;oft heart, and an hone&s;t hand is the matter alone upon which he de&s;ires to be &s;et. Refu&s;e him in the&s;e, and you offer unto him an indignity.</P>
<P>Shall I but minde you of that Seale which he hath &s;et upon you already? the very Natural Law which he &s;tamp'd in yours and all mens hearts, is the in&s;cription of this Seale, Do as you would be done to. Ask not then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 4.7.</NOTE> as they in the <HI>P&s;alm, Who will &s;hew us any good;</HI> for <HI>&s;ignatum est,</HI> the light of his countenance is &s;ealed upon us. For Moral actions we have light e|nough from the Lamp of Rea&s;on, provided we can but keep this print fair; <GAP DESC="foreign">, the things of the Law may be done by vertue of this Seal.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.14.</NOTE> And a &s;hame it is, that mo&s;t heathens pre&s;erve this Seal fairer than many Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P>Again, on the hand we have a Seale of his al&s;o. For there is in every man a Natural dexrerity to this or that profe&s;&s;ion; in one to the plough, in another to the book, in him to the &s;word, in that man to the &s;hop, which the <HI>Lacedemonians</HI> were wont to try in their children by putting &s;everal &s;orts of in&s;truments into their hands, and look what the childe made choi&s;e of, to that profe&s;&s;ion they put him.</P>
<P>Would men then but follow <HI>ducem Naturam,</HI> men would be better skilful in all profe&s;&s;ions Arts and Trades. For this profe&s;&s;ion and ingenuity in Nature is a Seale of the Spirit. And well it were that parents would ob&s;erve it, and as their children are bent and enclined, &s;o to endeavour to have it &s;et upon the hand. There would much di&s;order in the life of man, and many inconvenien|cies be amended by it.</P>
<P>This by the way. For there be higher matters he calls for by his <HI>Pone me.</HI> It is your Sanctification, it is your Conver&s;ion, which becau&s;e it cannot be done without him, let every one of us pray <HI>Veni Creator,</HI> Come holy Gho&s;t; Oh thou &s;weet breath of God, breath upon my heart, that I may be able to fulfil this thy de&s;ire. It was the de&s;ire of the Spou&s;e, and we &s;hall do well to joyn with her, <HI>Ari&s;e O North, and come O South,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 4.16.</NOTE> <HI>and blow upon my gar|den, that the spices thereof may flow forth.</HI> All tho&s;e inward pangs, all godly meditations, all grave exhortations, all pathetical Sermons, all good books that ever ye looked into, are but &s;weet gales of this winde, by which ye drive on gently toward heaven. You never &s;aw a dropping eye, or a bedew'd cheeke for him, but when the winde &s;ate in this corner. Fir&s;t, there was a <HI>fla|vit Spiritus,</HI> then a <HI>flevit Maria.</HI> The Spirit fir&s;t blew, and the bla&s;t begot this &s;howre.</P>
<P>And after this &s;howre how &s;weet Gods garden &s;mells! <HI>fluunt aromata ejus,</HI> the &s;pices thereof flow forth; Not a tree which is not loaden with its fruits, nor a root which &s;hoots not into a flowre, as ambitious to &s;end a &s;weet &s;avour into the no&s;trils of the Almighty. The <GAP DESC="foreign">, or &s;trong &s;avour of &s;inne a&s;cends no more to offend him, but in&s;tead thereof &s;weet words and good works alway follow upon this winde, this &s;howre.</P>
<P>Even in the mo&s;t hopeful garden till this winde blow, the plants &s;eeme to be dead and withered as in the down-look of winter, the herb Grace of Cha|rity, Faith, Humility, Obedience, put not forth one whit. But upon the ri&s;ing of this gracious gale, the fruits of the &s;pirit begin to knit; and if it blow long,
<PB N="386" REF="199"> and continue, you &s;hall &s;ee <HI>Ver erit aeternum,</HI> the garden will be in its prime and glory. Faith loaden with good works, humility pre&s;&s;ed to the earth with her burden of patience, obedience and charity bear their expected fruits, not one en&s;pired vertue &s;terile or barren.</P>
<P>But thus it befals them alone who are diligent to ob&s;erve when this winde blows. For the Spirit, that &s;tirs up in thee good motions to day, will not al|wayes &s;trive with thee.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo. 3 8.</NOTE> This winde bloweth when and where it li&s;teth, and therefore it is uncertain whether thou &s;halt have the like impre&s;&s;ions. Or if they be granted,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 1.24.</NOTE> it will be with more difficulty; for as God hath called, and thou ha&s;t not an&s;wered, &s;o &s;halt thou call and cry and not be heard.</P>
<P>Willingly then, thankfully receive the bla&s;ts of this winde; &s;uffer no in|&s;piration to pa&s;&s;e without &s;ome &s;pecial notice taken of it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 40.31.</NOTE> and then thou &s;halt change thy &s;trength, <HI>humanam in divinam,</HI> that of a man into a divine pow|er. For the&s;e helps of divine grace are the enabling of our natural faculties, &s;ent by God for that purpo&s;e, that we may more ea&s;ily pro&s;ecute all religious acts. That light of Gods will &s;ealed upon our under&s;tanding, is but the be|ginning of Faith, Meditation, Contemplation, by which the minde being moved, with content believes, meditates, contemplates divine My&s;teries. The breath of the holy Gho&s;t into the will, is an introduction of our hope and love, devotion and de&s;ires, with which the Will being exceedingly delighted, never re&s;ts till they be in a light flame. The Embers &s;atisfie not, till the fire burn out.</P>
<P>As in a Quire, the Chaunter begins the <HI>Te Deum, We prai&s;e thee O God,</HI> and then the whole Quire comes in, and joyns with him: So when we make me|lody to God in our hearts, it is God by his Spirit and his holy in&s;pirations, that begins the&s;e religious acts;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.19.</NOTE> but yet it is done to that end, that we &s;hould joyne with him, and continue in the&s;e prai&s;es to the God of <HI>Jacob.</HI></P>
<P>The more too blame they then, that lay all the work upon God, and put not their own &s;houlder to the wheele, as if the Spirit of Chri&s;t were to do all, and they nothing at all. His part he hath done, when he hath outwardly cal|led you by his Word, inwardly &s;poke to you by his Spirit. Refu&s;e him not then in his motions. Go on cheerfully and &s;teadily in in your devotions, ri&s;e with his name in your mouths, work with his name engraven upon your hands, clo&s;e up your day with his name in your lips, lye down with his name on your hearts, &s;o &s;hall you &s;how that in &s;ome part you have yielded to his reque&s;t, and are ready to yield to the re&s;t; which was it is, I &s;hall now acquaint you, by oc|ca&s;ion of this Pronoune <HI>Me.</HI></P>
<Q><HI>Pone me.</HI> Set me.</Q>
<P>It was well ob&s;erved by a quick-&s;ighted man, that there was much Divinity couched in Pronounes. Without doubt it is &s;o here, for the weight of the &s;en|tence lies upon it. For let Heart or Hand have what &s;eale they will, never &s;o &s;pecious, never &s;o learned, if He and his Character be not &s;tamped th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re, it will not be accepted. Accepted &s;aid I? nay it will be odious.</P>
<P>The Gods of the Heathens were good fellows, they would ea&s;ily endure to entercommune with each other in their Sacrifices. One Saliar ver&s;e would content <HI>Mars</HI> and <HI>Hercules.</HI> The &s;ame Temple was dedicated to the <HI>Dio&s;|curi.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Strabo lib. <HI>12.</HI></NOTE> The <HI>Eleu&s;inian</HI> My&s;teries were &s;acred to <HI>Bacchus</HI> and <HI>Ceres.</HI> Not to trouble you with more examples, we read of an Altar erected <HI>Diis Deabu&s;|que omnibus,</HI> To all the Gods and Godde&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s without di&s;tinction. But with the God we &s;erve it is not &s;o: He <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s a jealous God, he will have the &s;oul that becomes his,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 24.19.</NOTE> to be &s;ealed to his u&s;e, and his alone. No other may challenge any property in it, and therefore he calls to you here, <HI>Set me.</HI></P>
<PB N="387" REF="199">
<P>A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d there is great ju&s;tice and equity in this reque&s;t; for who&s;e image and &s;uper&s;cription b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re your heart at fir&s;t? was it not Gods? was it not fir&s;t &s;tamped with righteou&s;ne&s;s and holine&s;s? As therefore our Saviour replied to the Phari&s;ees that &s;hewed him <HI>Cae&s;ars</HI> Coyne that bore his image and &s;uper|&s;cription, <HI>Give to</HI> Cae&s;ar <HI>the things that belong to</HI> Cae&s;ar:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 22.20.</NOTE> &s;o al&s;o I can as ea|&s;ily &s;atisfie any man that &s;hould doubt why he &s;hould &s;et God upon his heart, that in common ju&s;tice and equity he is bound to do it: For who&s;e image and &s;uper&s;cription doth it now bear, if he be a Chri&s;tian? Is it not Gods? <HI>Let then God have the things that belong to God, no le&s;s than</HI> Cae&s;ar <HI>the things that belong to</HI> Cae&s;ar. This Argument I am &s;ure was good at the fir&s;t coynage, when the heart was fir&s;t Minted; and if it be weak now, 'tis our &s;hame that have blurr'd out the image of God from our hearts, and &s;et upon them &s;ome other counterfeit impre&s;&s;ion, as if on purpo&s;e he &s;hould not claim his own. The <HI>Bu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lion</HI> indeed is Gods, but many among us have Coyned it in the Divels Name; otherwi&s;e how comes it to pa&s;s that &s;o many Athei&s;ts, and profane per&s;ons, &s;o many Sacrilegi&s;ts, and fal&s;e and bla&s;phemous Swearers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> la|bour daily at the Mint?</P>
<P>But of you Brethren I hope better things, and that you will readily yield to this reque&s;t, that you will &s;et him on your hearts and hands; which when you do, you mu&s;t remember to &s;et him in his Law and his Go&s;pel too; for in the&s;e his face appears mo&s;t gloriou&s;ly in righteou&s;ne&s;s and true holine&s;s; and therefore he commands by <HI>Solomon, that the&s;e be bound upon thy fingers,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 7.3.</NOTE> <HI>and written upon the Table of thy heart.</HI> Upon thy fingers to work by, and upon the Table of thy heart to love by; nothing is to come into thy heart and hand, which is not con&s;onant and agreeable to this Law; for as all money receives e&s;timation and value from the Kings Seal that is upon it; &s;o all our works receive their worth and re&s;pect from that conformity which they carry to the Law of God.</P>
<P>And when you are per&s;waded to &s;et Gods Law there, &s;et it <HI>as a Seal:</HI> Writing may do much, but Sealing is far better. Any Writing that is framed by pen and ink, is done by &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of parts, and many in&s;tants of time; letter is written after letter, line after line; now a little, and then a little; and po&s;&s;ible it is that a Writing be cancell'd, and the letters razed out; but a Seal &s;ets the whole print in the &s;elf-&s;ame in&s;tant, all's done at once, and with the &s;ame hand; a man is not long about it; and being done, it remains in the Wax. And thus the Law of God &s;hould be &s;tamped upon us, readily, uni|ver&s;ally, totally, con&s;tantly. All the Law, without omi&s;&s;ion of any part; for a man mu&s;t not give him&s;elf a Di&s;pen&s;ation, or &s;eek for an indulgence for any precept. The will to obey, mu&s;t be total together at once, as a Seal im|pre&s;&s;ed upon the heart, and ready as occa&s;ion requires: For in re&s;pect of exe|cution it is written by parcels, or piece-meal, the precepts being to be fulfil|led as particular occurrences require; but as the impre&s;&s;ion of a Seal is du|rable, and la&s;ts long; &s;o the obedience to the Law mu&s;t be con&s;tant; walk we mu&s;t in it all the dayes of our life.</P>
<P>And if our con&s;ciences can truly te&s;tifie that thus we have &s;et him, we have an a&s;&s;urance that we are &s;ealed by his Spirit, becau&s;e this ready, univer&s;al, and con&s;tant obedience flows not from any principle of the fle&s;h; of which we ought to be ambitious ind<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ed, &s;ince this is the Seal that makes up all, and without which nothing is to us Authentical;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.16.</NOTE> for except the Spirit of God te|&s;tifies with our &s;pirit, the ran&s;ome, the redemption, the purcha&s;e that Chri&s;t made for us, is but like a Deed fair drawn without a Seal, which you know till the Seal be added, is of no validity.</P>
<P>Nece&s;&s;ary then it is, that we &s;et, or to &s;peak more properly, &s;uffer the Holy Gho&s;t to be &s;et on our hearts and hands, if we mean comfortab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> to en|joy
<PB N="388" REF="200"> the promi&s;es of God, and benefits of Chri&s;t. His Per&s;on we cannot &s;et there, but his graces we may: Charity and Goodne&s;s are in him as in the Pro|totype and Original Seal, and ought to be in us as in the Wax; increated in him, created in us; and yet &s;o in us, as if they carried a lively impre&s;&s;ion of that &s;tamp by which they were framed; whence, &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>the love of God is &s;hed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.5.</NOTE> <HI>which is given un|to us.</HI></P>
<P>To collect all, the &s;umme is, that we &s;et the Father, Son and Holy Gho&s;t upon our hearts; that we &s;et him there, and him alone, and no other God; that we &s;et his Law and his Go&s;pel there as a Seal readily, totally, con&s;tantly, which will be a&s;&s;urances that we have the benefits of Chri&s;t conveyed to us under Hand and Seal. 'Tis his de&s;ire that it &s;hould be &s;o; not &s;et any way, or in a &s;light manner, as a face in water-colours; but as a Signet impre&s;&s;ed, put ca&s;e in hard Wax which is la&s;ting; his reque&s;t is, which &s;ets me on the next point,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Set me as a Seal.</HEAD>
<P>There be four U&s;es or Ends of a Seal or Signet.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. It &s;erves for Propriety.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. For difference.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. For Memory.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. For Security. All which wayes we ought to &s;et Chri&s;t as a Seal upon us.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. For Propriety, that thereby we may be known to be his. We &s;ign with our Seal, and mark tho&s;e things we call our's, and in which we will not have another man to claim an intere&s;t. Shop-men &s;eal their Wares, Sheep-ma&s;ters their own Flock;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Martial.</NOTE> and it was an old cu&s;tome to mark their &s;laves with their own Signet; the &s;ervan<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> that would not leave his Ma&s;ter, <HI>mu&s;t be bored through the ear.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 21.6.</NOTE> Tho&s;e Jewes who did over-weakly renounce their God by the irreligious Edict of the Egyptian King, were by his command to be &s;igned with an Ivy Branch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Macc. 3.2, 21.</NOTE> burn't into their bodies, in the honour of god <HI>Bacchus,</HI> to who&s;e Protection and Wor&s;hip they by their revolt had yielded: For it was the cu&s;tome of the Heathen, either with a hot Iron to burn into their bodies, or el&s;e with a Needles point to punch into their fle&s;h the Names or Pictures of tho&s;e Deities to who&s;e Devotions, and Heatheni&s;h Ceremonies they were addicted.</P>
<Q><L>Quid quod &s;acrandas accipit &s;phragitidas?</L>
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prudent. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Hymn. <HI>10</HI></NOTE>Acus minutas ingerunt fornacibus,</L>
<L>His membra pergunt urere ut igniverint.</L>
<L>Quamcun&abque; partem corporis fervens nota</L>
<L>Stigmarit, hanc &s;ic con&s;ecratam praedicant.</L></Q>
<P>Whether this were not the manner that <HI>Baal</HI>'s Prie&s;ts cut them&s;elves with Knives and Launcers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vegetius. Are|tius. Leges Ar|cadii &amp; Hono|rii. cap. de Fa|bricen&s;ibus. Chry&s;ost. Hom. <HI>3. in 2</HI> Cor.</NOTE> let others judge. What &s;hould I tell you that the <HI>R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|man</HI> Souldiers had the Names of the Emperours burned into their hands; In allu&s;ion to which the Golden-mouth'd father, <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. As the Mark and Seal is put upon the Souldiers, &s;o the Holy Gho&s;t is put upon the Faithful; that &s;o if you de&s;ert your Rank, you may be di&s;cove|red, and noted by all.</P>
<P>Certain it is, that the Souldiers who were to fight under the God of hea|ven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 13.16.7.2.14.1.</NOTE> and the God of this world, and the Bea&s;t, <HI>received the mark of the Bea&s;t in their right hand, and in their foreheads;</HI> The other, <HI>the Seal of the living God, which was his Name written in their foreheads.</HI></P>
<PB N="389" REF="200">
<P>To what purpo&s;e you'le &s;ay is all this? Attend, and you &s;hall now hear. Whether we acknowledge God for our Shepherd, as good &s;heep; or take him for our Ma&s;ter, as good &s;ervants; or give up our Names to him, as &s;incere Wor&s;hippers; or La&s;tly, fight on his &s;ide, as valiant Souldiers; fit it is we, &s;hould carry his Mark, and bear his Seal. By this we &s;hall be known to be hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">; by it, he to be ours; the world may take notice that we are in it, not of it; the fle&s;h, though we dwell with it, yet we owe it no &s;ervicc; the Divel, that we fight not for him, but again&s;t him; for we have given up our Names to another General, taken his Seal upon us, by which we are be|come his.</P>
<P N="2">2. For in the next place, this Seal &s;erves for a difference; we never were more like white paper, than when we were wrapped in our fir&s;t Clouts; at that time it plea&s;ed God to make us his by Bapti&s;me, and &s;et his Seal upon us; by which th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n three no table differences were made of a Chri&s;tian from another man: For then he profe&s;&s;ed his Faith, by which he is di&s;tingui&s;hed from an Infidel; then he renounced the Divel, the World, the Fle&s;h, by which he is di&s;tingui&s;hed from a profane per&s;on; then he became a childe of God, by which he is di&s;tinct from a childe of wrath. 'Tis the de&s;ire then of our Saviour, <HI>that we being born again,</HI> profe&s;s the true Faith, whereby we &s;hall be of the Orthodox; be regenerate, <HI>and born anew of water, and of the Spirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 3.5.</NOTE> by which <HI>we &s;hall be heirs of the Kingdom; briefly &s;anctified throughout,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;&s;. 5.23.</NOTE> by which we &s;hall be known from common men. This Seal then &s;et upon us, will make a plain di&s;tinction of an hone&s;t and true Chri&s;tian from an Infidel, Here|tick, Athei&s;t, Hypocrite, Lewd Liver, a Reprobate Per&s;on.</P>
<P N="3">3. Now lea&s;t we &s;hould forget our Profe&s;&s;ion, and with it our Duty; the Seal will &s;erve to call to remembrance what we promi&s;ed, when we became his. For <HI>the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> who &s;ets the Seal, <HI>will be our Remembrancer;</HI> as our Ma&s;ter promi&s;ed, <HI>He &s;hall bring all things to your remembrance:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.26.</NOTE> Anciently &s;ome did engrave upon a Seal the Portraicture of their be&s;t Beloved. <HI>Ecce vi|deo amicam tuam Callidore.</HI> Call. <HI>&V;bi ea e&s;t?</HI> P&s;eud. <HI>In Cera cubat.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Plaut. P&s;eud.</NOTE> And <HI>Epicurus</HI>'s Scholars were wont to bear their Ma&s;ters Picture encha&s;ed in a Sig|net. Others by pricking the skin with Needles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pliny.</NOTE> and rubbing it over with the Juice of &s;ome Herb, who&s;e Tincture will never out,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sands tra.</NOTE> did brand their arms to keep in memory each other. A cu&s;tome much u&s;ed among the Mores and A|rabs to this day; but among both as an Antidote again&s;t Oblivion.</P>
<P>Wi&s;e men have thought it alwayes a &s;trong Bar again&s;t &s;in, to have always in our memory &s;ome man, who&s;e imaginary pre&s;ence might keep us in awe.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Seneca Ep. <HI>11.</HI></NOTE> Take <HI>Cato;</HI> or if he be too har&s;h and &s;tern, choo&s;e one of a &s;ober mettal, who&s;e gravity of life and &s;peech thou love&s;t; his mind and countenance carry with thee, &s;et him alwayes before thine eyes, either as a pattern, or a witne&s;s. If fancied remembrances of other mens eyes be &s;o available to awake &s;hame|fa&s;tne&s;s, that &s;o the boldne&s;s of &s;in may be &s;tayed ere it look abroad; of what force &s;hould the memory of him whom we profe&s;s to love, by who&s;e Name we glory to be call'd, who&s;e eyes without &s;lumbering or &s;lee<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing watch over us; la&s;tly, by who&s;e Spirit we are &s;ealed to the day of Redemption, be to with-hold us from unworthy actions? &s;et therefore Chri&s;t upon thy heart to remember him; and good rea&s;on, for he bears the Seals of his love to thy &s;oul in his &s;ide, and on his hands &s;till; every minute he looks upon the marks, that tho&s;e &s;harp Nails, and Spear delv'd into his innocent body; forget him not then, becau&s;e he forgets not thee; remember him in the &s;ame way he remembers thee; as he did, and doth keep the Seals of his love upon his heart, and his hands; &s;o do thou again &s;et him by thy love, as a Seal upon thine, which keeps the &s;tamp that is once engraven up|on it.</P>
<P N="4"><PB N="390" REF="201">4. For certainty; thou &s;halt gain by it; for <HI>erit in Cu&s;todiam;</HI> he will protect thee under his Wings,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 91.4.</NOTE> and <HI>thou &s;halt be &s;afe under his feathers,</HI> &s;afer than Chickens under the Wings of the Hen. We &s;eal up our Letters, Caskets Clo&s;ets, Jewels, which we would &s;ecure from others eyes and fingers: <HI>Quae pretio&s;a &s;unt non uno &s;igillo ob&s;ignamus.</HI> The malicious Jewes, that they might make &s;ure work as they thought, with our Saviours body, importuned <HI>Pilate to &s;eal the &s;tone.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 27.66. Dan. 6.17. <HI>Lip&s;. Exc.</HI> 2. <HI>in Tacit. Annal.</HI> 2.</NOTE> And <HI>Daniels</HI> Accu&s;ers never thought they had him &s;afe enough, <HI>till they pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cured the King to &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">al with his own Signet the Den of Lyons.</HI> Yea, I read, that the more mi&s;erable <HI>Romans</HI> were wont to &s;eal up their Bottles of choice Wine from their liquori&s;h &s;ervants with an Iron Seal, con|triv'd with a Key, which they wore alwayes for that purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>There's nothing in the World needs more wary keeping than mans heart; 'tis Gods riche&s;t and choice&s;t Magazin: Here the ine&s;timable trea&s;ure of Faith is &s;tored; in it is the gold of patience laid up, which being tried in the fire of affliction, admis of no dro&s;s; here are all tho&s;e Jewels of the Holy Gho&s;t trea&s;ured, <HI>Joy, Peace, Love, Long-&s;uffering, Gentlene&s;s, Go<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dne&s;s, Meekne&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.22.</NOTE> <HI>Temperance;</HI> nay, <HI>Chri&s;t him&s;elf, and the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> are &s;aid <HI>to dwell in our hearts;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 13.19.</NOTE> into which Clo&s;et that old Thief, the Divel, &s;ometimes by violence, &s;ometimes by cunning, endeavours to break in; fain he would be fingring &s;ome of Gods Trea&s;ure, and longs to rob us of one vertue or other. How nece&s;&s;ary then is it, that our hearts be &s;ealed with our Ma&s;ters Seal, that is the Magazin of &s;o great riches, that is threatned to be robbed by &s;o potent an enemy! For to what purpo&s;e were it to lay up &s;o great Trea&s;ure, and leave the door wide open? Lock it up then, and all's too little; &s;eal it too; the Divel will be afraid to make his a&s;&s;aults, when he &s;hall &s;ee Gods Seal, his Law, his Go&s;pel, his Son, his Spirit upon it; when the Divel found <HI>Judas</HI> un&s;ealed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 13.2.</NOTE> <HI>He put into the heart of the Traytour to betray his Ma&s;ter.</HI></P>
<P>Whether therefore we de&s;ire that God &s;hould lay any ju&s;t claim or title to us, or el&s;e to be differenced from the Ve&s;&s;els of wrath, or to keep a continual Commemoration of Gods goodne&s;s to us; or La&s;tly, to pre&s;erve entire, and untouch'd, the riches of Gods grace with which he hath entru&s;ted us, let us be &s;ure <HI>to &s;et him as a Seal,</HI> and that</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> Upon the H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">art, upon the Arme.</HEAD>
<P>Tho&s;e are the places we are to receive his &s;eal; <HI>poni vult intus &amp; foris;</HI> &s;et he mu&s;t be inwardly and outwardly; upon the <HI>heart</HI> within, and the <HI>arme</HI> without; upon the <HI>heart</HI> by affection, upon the <HI>arme</HI> by operation; upon the <HI>heart</HI> by meditation, upon the <HI>arme</HI> by execution; upon the <HI>heart</HI> by holine&s;s, upon the <HI>arme</HI> by righteou&s;ne&s;s; upon the <HI>heart</HI> by faith, upon the <HI>arme</HI> by good works, that &s;o the whole man may be Gods; that &s;o what&s;o|ever is within us, or what&s;oever proceeds from us, may have Gods Seal upon it. This reque&s;t then in &s;en&s;e is the &s;ame with the great Commandment, <HI>Thou &s;halt love the Lord thy God;</HI> that's for the <HI>heart: Thou &s;halt love thy Neighbour as thy &s;elf;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 22.35.</NOTE> that's for the <HI>arme</HI> or <HI>hand.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> &V;pon thy heart.</HEAD>
<P>Yet when the day of &s;ealing comes, be &s;ure to proceed by a right method, and &s;et him on the <HI>heart</HI> fir&s;t; for that's the part about us he mo&s;t loves;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 23.26.</NOTE> he requires it of every child of his: <HI>My &s;on, give me thy heart;</HI> thence the <HI>arme</HI> mu&s;t receive the impre&s;&s;ion: For the &s;eal plea&s;eth not, which is &s;et upon the <HI>arme</HI> alone; if it proceed not from the &s;tamp of the <HI>heart,</HI> then <HI>Gregories</HI> Rule will be true, <HI>Probatio dil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ctionis exhibitio e&s;t operis;</HI> the work
<PB N="391" REF="201"> will prove our love, not el&s;e: For the work may be fair and &s;plendid, as it was in the Phari&s;ees Al<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es and Prayers, and the <HI>heart</HI> an hypo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rite.</P>
<P>The <HI>h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">rt</HI> then mu&s;t needs be fir&s;t &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">al'd; becau&s;e without it be &s;o, not any im|pre&s;s upon the hand will plea&s;e God: He is &agr; and &ohgr; <HI>the fir&s;t and the la&s;t;</HI> the Original of life and motion, and expects from us that part which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">r&s;t lives, and la&s;t dies; as if his intent were, or at lea&s;t we may make that con|&s;truction of it, that from th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &agr;, the fir&s;t in&s;tant of our lives, to the &ohgr;, or la&s;t period of them, our <HI>heart</HI> receive his <HI>Seal,</HI> and be wholly dedicated to him, to him; and to him alone.</P>
<P>For if it fall out otherwi&s;e, complain he will, as &s;ometimes he did by the Prophet, <HI>their heart is divided;</HI> that is, <HI>th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ir heart</HI> is not whole with God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 10.2.</NOTE> for one part they re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">erve for his &s;ervice, the other for &s;omewhat el&s;e. But as the &s;ame Wax is in vain &s;tamped with different impre&s;&s;ions, becau&s;e the &s;tamp of the one will exceedi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gly deface the impre&s;s of the other; &s;o likewi&s;e the <HI>heart</HI> of man is not capable at the &s;ame time of diver&s;e Forms; &s;et God there, there will be no room for the World; &s;et the World there, and pre|&s;ently you blur Gods image. The Ark and <HI>Dagon,</HI> God and <HI>Mammon, Je|hovah</HI> and <HI>Baal</HI> cannot co-hab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t in one <HI>heart;</HI> that little <HI>Thalamus</HI> of the <HI>heart</HI> is too narrow to receive two &s;uch great Princes at once, as the King of heaven, and the god of this World; the Author of Goodne&s;s, and that great Ingeneer of Mi&s;chief. Whence the Spou&s;e with the cha&s;te <HI>heart</HI> tells her Beloved, <HI>Q<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ae&s;ivi te in Lectulo, I &s;ought thee!</HI> in Lectulo, <HI>in a little Pallet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 3.1.</NOTE> <HI>ra|th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r than</HI> in Lecto, <HI>a great Bed.</HI> Me<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hinks in the Phra&s;e there's a kind of Coarctation, and narrowing of the Room, as if the Church (like a good wife) were &s;o &s;canted for lodging, that &s;he could entertain no other, but her husband <HI>in Thalamo cordis,</HI> in the Bed-chamber of her heart; let him come and welcome, her heart was enlarged: But if any other, <HI>the Bed was &s;trait, that it could not &s;uffice; and the Covering narrow,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 28.20.</NOTE> <HI>that one could not wrap him&s;elf.</HI></P>
<P>But what if a Friend come, nay an enemy, mu&s;t he go without lodging? Doth God &s;o take up our hearts, that our Kings, our Parents, our Chil|dren, our Neighbours mu&s;t find no love, no entertainment? no &s;uch mat|ter; he that would have us lodge him there, commands us to lodge them too; yea, the more hearty entertainment we give the&s;e, the more welcome we make God.</P>
<P>At the ri&s;ing of the Sun tho&s;e le&s;&s;er Lamps of heaven are pre&s;ently ob|&s;cur'd; removed they are not from their &s;tations, nor deprived of their light, but only hid from us by a more glorious body; at Night they take their cour&s;e, and &s;hine again. Thus it is with the love of God &s;ealed upon our <HI>heart;</HI> the lu&s;tre of it ought to be &s;o em<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nent, that it &s;eems to ob&s;cure and hide the love of man quite; and indeed when the&s;e two come in competiti|on, it mu&s;t &s;hine alone: But after God, then the love of man &s;ucceeds, and mu&s;t &s;hine in good works, as the &s;tars take their turn, and &s;hine when the Sun is &s;et.</P>
<P>Di&s;po&s;e of God fir&s;t we mu&s;t; lodge him in the be&s;t Chamber, and then after provide for the re&s;t, as attenders, and &s;ervitors upon him; if either Neighbour or Friend; or Brother or Si&s;ter; or Father or Mother; yea, or the King him&s;elf be &s;o ambitious as to thru&s;t into Gods Room, and thru&s;t him out, then they mu&s;t be ejected as Intruders, and commanded to look for a lodging &s;omewhere el&s;e. With God they may come, and be welcome; marry if they be &s;o &s;aucy as to come without him, the door mu&s;t be &s;hut again&s;t them.</P>
<P>To this there be many pretenders, and none &s;o forward to boa&s;t of the Seal, as tho&s;e that have it lea&s;t; on their backs you &s;hall find <HI>the cloathing
<PB N="392" REF="202"> of the &s;heep,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 7.15, 22</NOTE> <HI>in th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ir mouths, Lord, Lord,</HI> the words of &s;ervants; their wayes are &s;o clo&s;e, &s;o &s;ubtile, &s;o &s;pecious, that without a narrow view, 'tis not ea&s;ie to di&s;cern them from &s;uch as are truly &s;ealed; their hearts you can|not &s;ee, their hands you may; have an eye then that way, and found it will be by a diligent ob&s;ervation, that <HI>though the voyce be Jacobs voyce,</HI> yet <HI>the hands of E&s;au,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 27.22.</NOTE> and by that you &s;hall know them: For God enjoyns all his to &s;et him <HI>as a Seal,</HI> not only on their <HI>hearts,</HI> but on their <HI>hands</HI> al&s;o, which hy|pocrites will not do; or if they &s;eem to do at fir&s;t, that thereby they may get e&s;teem, belief, and authority; yet their end being obtained, the <HI>Seal</HI> will quickly be wiped off, and their hand will become <HI>a fi&s;t of iniquity;</HI> con|&s;tant they will not be in well-doing, as God expects in all tho&s;e that bear his <HI>Seal,</HI> to be perpetually &s;uch outwardly, as they are inwardly, and therefore it is here added,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Set me as a Seal upon thy Arme.</HEAD>
<P>I read in Scripture of three parts e&s;pecially upon which he de&s;ires to be &s;et; upon the <HI>forehead, heart</HI> and <HI>hand;</HI> upon the <HI>fore-head,</HI> that we &s;hould not be a&s;hamed to confe&s;s him; in the <HI>heart,</HI> that we love him; on the <HI>arm</HI> or <HI>hand,</HI> that we be doing good for his &s;ake; to omit the two fir&s;t, the la&s;t is that which God expects here, that we employ the &s;trength of our <HI>arm</HI> to glorifie him. The <HI>Rabbin</HI> &s;aid well, that God requires two things concerning his Law, Cu&s;tody and Work; Cu&s;tody in the <HI>heart,</HI> Work in the <HI>hand;</HI> for without this latter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.5.</NOTE> <HI>we have only a &s;hew of godline&s;s;</HI> we act Religion, not practice it.</P>
<P>Now the <HI>Practice of Piety</HI> is the Book we &s;hould all &s;tudy; for with|out it our profe&s;&s;ion is vain, our love feigned; hence Divines define Theolo|gy to be a prudential vertue, that is affective, not &s;peculative; practical, and not only contemplative, which warms fir&s;t the heart, and after moves the <HI>arme;</HI> in a word, by which we are taught to live to God; in which life, they re|quire not &s;o much the happine&s;s which we &s;hall enjoy in another life, as our hone&s;t and vertuous Conver&s;ation in this: For he is the be&s;t Student in Divini|ty, <HI>qui verba vertit in opera,</HI> is not only a Learner, but a Practi&s;er; not &s;o ready to lend his ear to a Sermon, as his hand to act what he hath heard in a Sermon.</P>
<P>And now O all ye that have dedicated your &s;elves to Gods &s;ervice, ex|amine your lives whether you have &s;et God upon your hearts or no? It were a wrong to me to enter into your bo&s;omes, and knock at tho&s;e &s;ecret Cabi|nets open only to God and your &s;elves; but if I &s;hould, I a&s;&s;ure my &s;elf it were a hard matter to find a man who&s;e an&s;wer would not be, that he had an hone&s;t heart to God: But as <HI>Samuel</HI> replied to <HI>Saul,</HI> upon his forward an|&s;wer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 15.13, 14.</NOTE> <HI>I have fulfilled the command of the Lord; What then means the bleating of the Sheep and Oxen in my ears?</HI> So I may &s;ay to the mo&s;t of men, who&s;e hearts are &s;o ready for God; if your hearts &s;tand &s;o upright to God-ward, <HI>whence proceeds tho&s;e evil thoughts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.18, 19.</NOTE> <HI>Murders, Adulteries, Fornications, Thefts, fal&s;e Te&s;timonies, Slanders that are &s;o ri&s;e among you?</HI> Do not all the&s;e come from within, and defile the man? Would you put out the eyes of Gods Seers, and make them beileve your hearts are dedicated to God, when your hands are thus defiled! Good old meaning <HI>I&s;aac</HI> might be gull'd with <HI>Jacobs voyce,</HI> and <HI>E&s;aus hands;</HI> but never think that the eye of God, <HI>which never &s;lumbers nor &s;leeps,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 121.3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>will give a ble&s;&s;ing to a &s;mooth tongue, and rough hands.</HI> If his Name be not engraven upon your <HI>hands,</HI> as well as pretended to be upon your <HI>hearts,</HI> ye &s;hall have what <HI>Jacob</HI> feared, <HI>a Cur&s;e in&s;tead of a Ble&s;&s;ing.</HI></P>
<P>The que&s;tion of the young man was to our Saviour, <HI>Good Ma&s;ter what
<PB N="393" REF="202"> must I do to inherit eternal life?</HI> and of the Jaylour to <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Silas, Sirs,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 19.16. Acts 16.30. Luke 13.6, 7.</NOTE> <HI>What mu&s;t I do to be &s;aved?</HI> They &s;till were for action; they knew well that the Fig-tree which bore green leave<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, and no fruit, was in the end deprived of life and leaves too.</P>
<P>For however in Chri&s;tian Religion faith be the fir&s;t and principal founda|tion that mu&s;t be laid in the heart, whereupon all the re&s;t is &s;tayed and ground|ed; yet as in other material buildings after the foundation is laid, there re|mains the greate&s;t co&s;t, care, art, diligence, time and labour in rai&s;ing of the Walls, di&s;po&s;ing of the Rooms, ordering the Lights, &s;etting on the Roof, beautifying and furni&s;hing the Fabrick; even &s;o is it in this &s;piritual hou&s;e, in making the man of God perfect and ab&s;olute; the foundation and grand work of Faith is quickly laid in the heart; &s;ome &s;mall time of our life will &s;erve for the learning of the principles of Religion; the greate&s;t part of our dayes and labour mu&s;t be &s;pent in directing of the hand, and in erecting the whole frame of this &s;piritual Edifice, and with the furni&s;hing of it with all Chri&s;tian vertues, and diligent ob&s;ervation of Gods Commandments; with|out which, our faith is to no more purpo&s;e than a foundation without a build|ing, or a Stock or Tree that bears no fruit.</P>
<P>This then is the end of all our Sermons, of all our Exhortations, that you furni&s;h the inner man with all Chri&s;tian Vertues, and be abundant in the fruits of the Spirit. We can teach, you can learn no more but this, Set God on thy heart, &s;et him on thy hand; this is the &s;umme of the whole Law; for if thou love God, thou wilt give him thy <HI>heart;</HI> if thou love thy Neighbour, thou wilt lend him thy hand; the end of our Adoption and Redemption is no other: For therefore <HI>Chri&s;t freed us from our enemies, and gave us a faculty to become the &s;ons of God, that we &s;hould &s;erve him in righteou&s;ne&s;s and holine&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.74, 75.</NOTE> have holy hearts, and righteous hands. This is the end of our hope; for the reward in heaven &s;hall be be&s;towed <HI>pro tecto, pro ve&s;te, pro frigid&acirc;;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> becau&s;e out of the hearty love we have born to God, we have &s;tretched forth our hand to hou&s;e the &s;tranger, to cloath the naked, to give drink to the thir&s;ty.</P>
<P>God grant therefore that we may &s;o &s;et God upon our hearts by pious meditations, fervour, love; and on our hands by outward Works, and chari|table Deeds, that we may receive that ble&s;&s;ing that &s;hall one day be pronoun|ced to the Doers of the Law: <HI>Come ye ble&s;&s;ed of my Father, inherit the King|dom of God pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">pared for you.</HI> Amen.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The&s;e Sermons which follow, &s;erve to Expound to us the Article of the Catholick Church, the Communion of Saints.</HEAD>
<P>NEver any Agent is operative but in &s;ome Subject. In our &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lvation the A|gent is the whole Trinity. God the Father ordain'd, the Son bought, and the Holy Gho&s;t &s;eals &s;uch as &s;hall live with God. What they have done, I have at large declar'd before; it remains now to treat of the Subject in which they work, which in the Creed is call'd the Catholick Church: For he that con&s;iders the omnipotent power, and ineffable love of God the Father; that knows the bitter death and pa&s;&s;ion of God the Son; that weighs the wonder|ful Gifts and Graces of God the Holy Gho&s;t, &s;ees without more ado, the
<PB N="394" REF="203"> principal cau&s;es of mans &s;alvation: But to what &s;ort of men this love, that price,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.9.</NOTE> tho&s;e gifts and graces are extended, he &s;ees not, <HI>till he hears of a pecu|liar People, a holy Nation, a royal Prie&s;thood, honoured by the Name of the Church:</HI> For to tho&s;e who are graced and dignified with this title, the merits of the Son of God, and the &s;eals of the Spirit do belong and bequeath a ble&s;|&s;ing, and none el&s;e; Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in is a ble&s;&s;ing; Re&s;urrection to eternal life and glorification, are ble&s;&s;ings, and the&s;e are given to none but &s;uch who are within the Church,</P>
<P>The Object then of Gods favour, and Chri&s;ts mercy, is to be now the Subject of my Di&s;cour&s;e; and that I lo&s;e not my &s;elf, and tire you in di&s;|cour&s;ing on that Subject, upon which almo&s;t all the World is at lo&s;s, I &s;hall make choice of &s;uch Texts as &s;hall mo&s;t aptly &s;et forth unto us the Nature and E&s;&s;ence of the Church, and give me occa&s;ion to re&s;olve many doubts which ari&s;e on all hands about this Subject. A Sea I now enter, tumultuous and dangerous; the good Spirit of God guide me, that I may be &s;afely brought to the Harbour: And the words I &s;et out with, &s;hall be tho&s;e which God by his Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> hath put into my mouth.</P>
<DIV2 N="31" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The Stability and Excellency of the Church.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>I&s;aiah 2.1.2, 3, 4, 5.</HI></BIBL>
<P>The Word that <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> the &s;onne of <HI>Amos</HI> &s;aw concerning <HI>Judah</HI> and <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P>And it &s;hall come to pa&s;s in the la&s;t dayes, that the Mountain of the Lords Hou&s;e &s;hall be e&s;tabli&s;hed in the top of the Mountains, and &s;hall be exalted above the Hills, and all Nations &s;hall flow unto it.</P>
<P>And many people &s;hall go and &s;ay, Come ye, and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the Hou&s;e of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his wayes, and we will walk in his paths; for out of <HI>Zion</HI> &s;hall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P>And he &s;hall judge among the Nations, and &s;hall rebuke many people; and they &s;hall beat their Swords into Plow&s;hares, and their Spears into Pruning Hooks; Nation &s;hall not lift up a Sword again&s;t Nation, neither &s;hall they learn War any more.</P>
<P>O Hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob,</HI> Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THAT the&s;e words contain a Prediction of the Vocation of the <HI>Gen|tiles,</HI> and the foundation of the Catholick Church of Chri&s;tians, is the judgement of all Ancient and Modern Expo&s;itors; for that there is a <HI>con|&s;tat,</HI> and it needs no farther proof: What the Prophet delivers about it, may be reduced to the&s;e three general heads.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. A Preface, or In&s;cription of the Prophe&s;ie, <HI>&V;er.</HI> 1.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. A Prediction, or the Prophe&s;ie it &s;elf, <HI>Ver.</HI> 2.3, 4.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. An Exhortation of the Prophet directed to the <HI>Jews, Ver.</HI> 5.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. The Preface &s;hews us the certainty of the Prophe&s;ie.</P>
<P N="2">2. In the Prediction we are to con&s;ider many things.</P>
<LIST>
<PB N="395" REF="203">
<ITEM>1. The time when the Prophe&s;ie was to take effect, <HI>In the la&s;t dayes.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The firmne&s;s, &s;tability, and continuance of the Church; <HI>It &s;hall be an e&s;tabli&s;hed Mountain.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The Excellency and Glory of it; <HI>It &s;hall be e&s;tabli&s;hed in the top of the Mountain, and exalted above the Hills.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The Amplitude and Greatne&s;s of it; <HI>all Nations &s;hall flow un|to it.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>5. The excellent and rare qualities of the people collected into this Church.
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Their Zeal, Love, Charity one to another, exhorting, and inci|ting each other to an ardent &s;tudy of piety: <HI>Come, let us go to the Mountain of the Lord,</HI> &amp;c.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Their readine&s;s to learn, and to obey; <HI>he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>The cau&s;es both of their
<LIST>
<ITEM>Zeal,</ITEM>
<ITEM>&amp; Ready Obedience.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That which outwardly moved them to it; <HI>the Law to go forth from</HI> Zion, <HI>and the Word of the Lord from</HI> Jeru&s;alem.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That which inwardly; the conviction by the Spirit; <HI>he &s;hall judge, he &s;hall rebuke.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The third quality of this people, is, that they &s;hould be peace|able, Metaphorically de&s;cribed in the 4th. <HI>&V;er&s;e, They &s;hall beat their Swords into Plow&s;hares,</HI> &amp;c.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="3">3. When the Prophet had fore&s;een, and foretold that the <HI>Gentiles</HI> &s;hould embrace the light of the Go&s;p l, he exhorts his own Kindred and Countreymen the <HI>Jewes,</HI> to do t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e like. <HI>O Hou&s;e of</HI> Jacob <HI>come ye, and let us walk in the light o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the Lord,</HI> Ver. 5.</P>
<P>This is the &s;umme of this Prophe&s;ie, in handling of which I &s;hall in&s;i&s;t upon tho&s;e points only which are to my pre&s;ent purpo&s;e; the re&s;t I &s;hall but lightly touch, and fir&s;t of the Preface.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e Word that <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> the &s;on of <HI>Amo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> &s;aw.</HEAD>
<P><HI>The Word</HI> is here put for that which <HI>I&s;aiah &s;aw, the Vi&s;ion,</HI> or that which was revealed unto the Prophet; and it is not improbable, that it might be adumbrated, or pre&s;ented unto him, that he &s;aw the <HI>Gentiles,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Scult. in loc.</NOTE> and heard their words, &s;aying one to another, <HI>Come, let us go up;</HI> it being u&s;ual with God, to confirm his promi&s;es by Types, and outward Signs. Thus in the Sa|craments under vi&s;ible &s;igns he is plea&s;ed to repre&s;ent unto us his pa&s;&s;ion, and to impart life and &s;aving grace to &s;uch as are capable thereof; for &s;ith God is in him&s;elf invi&s;ible; therefore when it &s;eems good to his Wi&s;dom that men &s;hould take notice of his approaches, he gives them &s;ome plain and &s;en&s;ible token whereby to know that which they cannot &s;ee; as in <HI>the motion of the waters at the Po<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l of</HI> Bethe&s;da;<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5. Acts 2.</NOTE> or <HI>in the de&s;cent of fiery tongues</HI> upon the A|po&s;tles. Now that which he &s;aw here, was the rejection of the <HI>Jew<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s,</HI> and the calling or admi&s;&s;ion of the <HI>Gentiles</HI> into the Church; the rejectio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> of them in the following part of the Chapter; the calling of the <HI>Gentil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s</HI> in this former; where we fir&s;t meet with the time when this was to be fulfilled.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<PB N="396" REF="204">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> It &s;hall come to pa&s;&s;e in the la&s;t days.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Futurum e&s;t, It &s;hall come to pa&s;&s;e,</HI> that was out of all que&s;tion, <HI>for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.</HI> Now if any &s;hould doubt, and ask, when &s;hould this be? he a&s;&s;ignes the time, <HI>The la&s;t days;</HI> to wit, that time when the Law of Ceremonies was to be aboli&s;h'd, and the Go&s;pel be|gun to be preached by Chri&s;t, after pub<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;hed to the whole world, which is call'd <HI>the la&s;t time</HI> in the Old Te&s;tament here, in <HI>Micah</HI> 4.1. <HI>Joel</HI> 2.29. And in the New, <HI>Act.</HI> 2.17. 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 1.11. <HI>Heb.</HI> 1.2.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Alvarez in loc.</NOTE>Now this is call'd the la&s;t time, not <HI>ratione temporis, &s;ed ratione &s;tatus.</HI> Not in re&s;pect of time, as if &s;o &s;oon as this prophecy &s;hould begin to be fulfill'd, the la&s;t day mu&s;t pre&s;ently come. But that the&s;e &s;hould be the la&s;t dayes to the Jewi&s;h &s;tate and policy, that now the Scepter was to depart from <HI>Judah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 49.10.</NOTE> <HI>Shil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h</HI> was to come, and a new form of government to &s;uc|ceed in the Church, which was to be fixed, firm, &s;table, and la&s;ting, till time &s;hould be no more; and therefore this Policy might well be call'd the la&s;t, there being no other to &s;ucceed and come after it. The Law of Nature went before, the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;ucceed. <HI>Novi&s;&s;im&egrave;, now in the last dayes he hath &s;poken by his Son;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.2. Rev. 14.6.</NOTE> and by any other he will not &s;peak. <HI>His blood is the blood of the la&s;t and eternal Te&s;tament.</HI></P>
<P>Three ages then we may reckon of the world. The fir&s;t is as it were the child-hood and youth of the world, under which men were Tutoured by the Law of Rea&s;on. The &s;econd, as it were the manhood, when the Jews were brought up under <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the Prophets. The third, as it were the worlds old age, la&s;ting from Chri&s;ts coming in humility, till his appearing in glory, in which men are taught by the Go&s;pel, and which mu&s;t la&s;t till all things which are written mu&s;t be fulfi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l'd.</P>
<P>But as th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Old age of m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n may perhaps la&s;t longer in number of yeares than both the other, which yet becau&s;e it &s;ucceeds the other, is call'd the la&s;t age of man: So al&s;o may this, &s;hould it exceed both the former Ages, be call'd the la&s;t Age, becau&s;e none is to follow it. For it is not call'd the la&s;t, as if it were not to continue after it began many dayes. But, that after Chri&s;t appeared in the fle&s;h, no other Me&s;&s;iah was to be expected, no other Go&s;pel, no other Sacraments, no other Church-government to be looked for; what he ordain'd, was to &s;tand fa&s;t and continue to the worlds end. For as our Prophet a&s;&s;ures us</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> The Mountain of the Lords Hou&s;e &s;hall be e&s;tabli&s;hed.</HEAD>
<P>That is, the <HI>Church,</HI> as Expo&s;itors unanimou&s;ly agree; and the cau&s;e of the <HI>Trope,</HI> is, Fir&s;t, becau&s;e the Temple to which the Jews repaired for Gods &s;ervice, was built on a Hill; and next it was the cu&s;tome of Idolators, to &s;eat their Altars, Groves, and Hou&s;es of their gods, on high places. Whe|ther this were done in imitation of the Temple &s;o &s;eated, I know not; or whether by it they would put all men in minde to a&s;cend in their thoughts, when they were about any Religious wor&s;hip.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 24.3.</NOTE></P>
<P>And tho&s;e properties which in Scripture we reade attributed to Mountains, will well agree to the Church.</P>
<P N="1">1. Abundance, Fertility, and Plenty; <HI>His vineyard was planted in a very fruitful hill:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 5.1. P&s;al. 68.15.</NOTE> <HI>As the hill of Ba&s;han, &s;o is Gods hill;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Sep<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> a hill of fat things, in it no want of any thing for the nouri&s;hment of a &s;piritual life.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="397" REF="204">2. Whole&s;omne&s;&s;e of aire. And in the Church there be no mi&s;ts and fogs of errour; the doctrine of it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s &s;ound and whole&s;ome doctrine;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 1 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> &s;ound words, that cure and pre&s;erve the health of a &s;oule, and never in|fect it.</P>
<P N="3">3. Eminency and height. For Mountains are higher than other places, and &s;o is the Church; it hath the preheminence of all other governments. <HI>All Sc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">pters mu&s;t yield to it, and Kings with their Crowns,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 4.10.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ubmit be|fore it.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. Security and &s;afety. <HI>Fly to the Mountain,</HI> &s;aith the Angel to <HI>Lot.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19.7.</NOTE> And if there be &s;ecurity or &s;afety any where to be found, it is in this Mountain: For it is the Mountain of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 68.17. &amp; 91.4.</NOTE> <HI>This is Gods hill in which it plea&s;eth him to dwell f r ever.</HI> And if there can be protection any where, it mu&s;t be in his hou&s;e, <HI>under his wings, under his feathers.</HI></P>
<P N="5">5. Here he will dwell: So that he hath not taken it up as a place to &s;tay, re&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 132.14.</NOTE> or lodge in for a night or &s;o, as men u&s;e in an Inn, but as a Hou&s;e to <HI>dwell and abide in it for ever.</HI> In which re&s;pect it may well be called a Moun|tain, than which no parts of the earth are more firme, more la&s;ting, more durable: Are they not for this call'd <HI>The Everlasting Hills?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 49.26.</NOTE> The vio|lence of waters removes not the&s;e out of their places; Time though it wear them, yet it annihilates them not. And &s;uch is the Church of God a Moun|tain unmoveable; It hath, it doth, it &s;hall continue unto the end of the world; and therefore our Prophet here puts us in mind, that</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> It is the Mountaine of the Lords Hou&s;e e&s;tabli&s;hed.</HEAD>
<P><HI>A hou&s;e it is, built upon the foundation of the Apo&s;tles and Prophets,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.20.</NOTE> <HI>Je&s;us Christ him&s;elf being the chief Corner-&s;tone.</HI> This Corner-&s;tone is put either in the bottome of the building, upon who&s;e firmne&s;s and &s;tability the weight of the whole doth relie; or &s;ometime again in the top, to knit to|gether two Walls. <HI>This Rock was Chri&s;t; and other foundation can no man lay;</HI> and Chri&s;t al&s;o was this upper &s;tone, who knit together the two Walls, Jews and Gentiles, into this one Hou&s;e his Church. And being thus knit, &s;o the hou&s;e mu&s;t &s;tand;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.18.</NOTE> <HI>For the Gates of Hell &s;hall not be able to prevaile a|gain&s;t it.</HI></P>
<P>Per&s;ecutors, Hereticks, Schi&s;maticks, profane per&s;ons, are the&s;e gates of Hell. They that &s;it in the gates, and have power in their hands, and coun|&s;el in their heads, crying with <HI>Edom, Exanite, exan<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">te,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 137.7.</NOTE> <HI>u&s;&abque; ad fundamen|ta, Down with it, down with it, even to the ground,</HI> are the &s;trength of the bottomle&s;s pit; but their &s;trength is to &s;it &s;till,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 30.7.</NOTE> <HI>for the Mountain of the Lords Hou&s;e &s;hall be e&s;tabli&s;hed;</HI> when they are able to remove the Corner|&s;tone that is laid in the foundation, or that knits the walls, then they may hope to ca&s;t down and ruine the Hou&s;e; but &s;ince that is immoveable, and beyond their power, all their endeavor is like that of the Gyants, who labou|red to remove Mountains to their own ruine.</P>
<P>Confe&s;&s;ed it mu&s;t be, that the rain hath de&s;cended, and the floods came,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.27.</NOTE> and the winds have blown high, and have fallen upon this hou&s;e; <HI>irruerunt, &s;ed non prevaluerunt;</HI> the &s;torms have been many and great, but it was ne|ver &s;torm'd, for it was and is built upon a Rock. <HI>We have a &s;trong City, &s;alvation will God appoint for walls and Bulwarks. And as we have heard,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 26.1. P&s;al. 48.8.</NOTE> <HI>&s;o have we &s;een in the City of our God, that God upholds the &s;ame for Ever.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Pharaoh</HI> works wi&s;ely to de&s;troy the <HI>I&s;raelites,</HI> but they multi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ly;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 1.10. Ezra 2. Mat. 2.</NOTE> The <HI>Babylonians</HI> oppre&s;s the C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ptive Jews, but they return many more thou|&s;ands than were carried into bondage. <HI>Herod</HI> &s;eeks the life of our Saviour,
<PB N="398" REF="205"> but Chri&s;t lives.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 3.</NOTE> The High Prie&s;ts and Elders &s;eek to &s;uppre&s;s the Apo&s;tles, but the Word in their mouths took effect to the conver&s;ion of the world. What &s;hould I &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> that <HI>Sanguis Martyrum</HI> was <HI>&s;emen eccle&s;iae,</HI> the blood of Martyrs was the &s;eed of the Church? So true is that of <HI>Hilary, Ec le&s;ia dum per&s;equuta e&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hilar.</NOTE> <HI>floret; dum opprimitur, cre&s;cit; dum contemnitur, pro|ficit; dum laeditur, vincit; dum arguitur, intelligit; tum deni&abque; &s;tat, cum &s;uperari videtur.</HI> That which mi&s;ts, fogs, and clouds, are able to do a|gain&s;t the light and beams of the Sun; the &s;ame may force, fraud or fal&s;e|hood do again&s;t the Church; hide they may the glory thereof for a time, whol|ly &s;uppre&s;s the beams and light they never can; for it is a City built upon a Hill, the Founder is God, Chri&s;t the Foundation, the Elect the living &s;tones, the Spirit of Love and Truth the cement that joynes them; &s;o that the gates of Hell &s;hall never be able to prevail again&s;t it. <HI>Oppugnare po&s;|&s;unt, expugnare non po&s;&s;unt;</HI> Oppo&s;e they may, and will, but utterly over|throw they never &s;hall: Be it that God bring a heavy de&s;truction upon any people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 14.32.</NOTE> among whom his Church doth &s;ojourn, &s;o that a man may take up the Prophets words, <HI>Houle O Gate, cry O City, thou whole Pale&s;tina art di&s;&s;olved, for there &s;hall come from the North a &s;mok<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">:</HI> What &s;hall one then an&s;wer the Me&s;&s;engers of the Nations? what &s;hall be &s;aid to them that ask in &s;uch a general deluge, What &s;hall become of the Church? <HI>This,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>Say, that the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his peopl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;hall tru&s;t in it.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 11.16.</NOTE> <HI>The&s;e are the remnant of his people, for whom there &s;hall be an high-way to e&s;cape, as it was for I&s;rael in the day when he came out of Egypt.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 6.13.</NOTE> <HI>When the Cities &s;hall be wa&s;ted, in it there &s;hall be a tenth, a part Sacred and dedicated to God, and it &s;hall return. This &s;hall be like a Teile tree, and as an Oak who&s;e &s;ub&s;tance is in them, when they ca&s;t their leaves; &s;o the holy &s;eed &s;hall be the &s;ub&s;tance thereof.</HI> As in the Au|tumn trees ca&s;t their leaves, who&s;e &s;ub&s;tance and life pre&s;erv'd in the root, &s;hews it &s;elf the next Spring: &s;o is it with the people of God; de&s;poyl'd they may be in the Winter of affliction of all their beauty, but the &s;ub&s;tance &s;till remains in the Holy &s;eed. And &s;o long as life remains in the &s;eed, the &s;pe|cies and things them&s;elves can never be &s;aid to be extingui&s;ht. And from this &s;eed, in de&s;pite of all oppo&s;ition, many other Holy branches will &s;hoot up.</P>
<P>Now if you ask the rea&s;on, I can give no other than th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s, <HI>The zeale of the Lord of Hoa&s;ts &s;hall do this;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.7.</NOTE> 'tis his love, 'tis his mercy to his Church; for he hath <HI>writ her in the palmes of his hands, he hath loved her with an everla&s;ting love,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 49.16. Jer. 31.3. Ho&s;. 2.19. Mat. 16.18.</NOTE> <HI>he hath espou&s;ed her to him&s;elf for ever.</HI> He hath built her upon a Rock, he hath founded her as a Mountain, a Mountain pre|pared by him, e&s;tabli&s;hed by his Decree. And then 'tis but in vain for De|vils or men to go about to move it, much le&s;s to remove it. 'Tis <HI>the true Hill of Zion that &s;tands fa&s;t for ever.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 125.1.</NOTE></P>
<P>And yet this gives no &s;ecurity to any particular Churches, but they may be broken off. The promi&s;e is made to the whole, and not to any part. 'Tis the Mountain of the Lords Hou&s;e that is e&s;tabli&s;h'd, and mu&s;t &s;tand, not eve|ry particular &s;tone, or parcel of that Mountain. For as we &s;ee by the injury of time, or violence of torrents, many eminent parts of a Mountain to be broken off, and divers great &s;tones to be tumbled down, when yet the whole remains firm upon its ba&s;is and foundation: So is it with the Church of God; many fair and goodly pieces have been broken off, as <HI>Jeru&s;alem, Corinth,</HI> the &s;even Churches of <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> that at <HI>Colo&s;&s;i, Philippi, &amp;c.</HI> And yet the Church built on the Mountain,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 89.37.</NOTE> remains &s;till, and &s;hall remain &s;o long as the &s;un and moon endureth.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.20, 21, 22.</NOTE>The Le&s;&s;on that we are to learn from it, is that of St. <HI>Paul, Be not high-minded,
<PB N="399" REF="205"> but fear;</HI> and I cannot u&s;e a more powerful argument than he doth, drawn from the example of the Jew; <HI>For if God &s;pared no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the natural branches, take heed le&s;t he spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodne&s;&s;e and &s;everity of God; on them which fell &s;everity, but towards thee good|ne&s;&s;e, if thou continue in his goodne&s;&s;e; otherwi&s;e thou al&s;o &s;halt be cut off.</HI> The&s;e la&s;t words &s;ound in the eare like a clap of Thunder, <HI>Thou al&s;o &s;halt be cut off;</HI> whom will it not &s;tartle! Spoken it is to whole Nations, &s;poken it is to all particular Churches, &s;poken to every &s;ingle man in any particular Church; and can they then do le&s;s than fear? What was once done, may be done again; the Jew degenerated and was cut off, take heed le&s;t the &s;ame befall not thee, if thou prove an unprofitable branch.</P>
<P>As God is good, &s;o is he al&s;o &s;evere. The &s;ight is offended with too much light, and by too little hindred. So the comfort of Gods promi&s;es is much abated by the view of too much mercy, or none at all; that cau&s;eth de&s;pair, this pre&s;umption. The cure for both, is, the remembrance of Gods <GAP DESC="foreign"> here, his exci&s;ion of the Jew, it will &s;ecure from pre&s;umption. Remember al&s;o his inci&s;ion of the Gentile, and it will keep from de&s;paire. And yet that no Nation ingraffed into the Vine or Olive in place of the Jew be high-minded, that &s;hall befall the Gentile that befell the Jew, <GAP DESC="foreign">, if he continue not, he &s;hall be cut off, &s;tock'd up; become in a wor&s;e ca&s;e than the Jew; for he hath a promi&s;e to be engraffed again; but to any particular Church of the Gentiles, I find none &s;uch made.</P>
<P>Continue then, and per&s;evere to <HI>the end.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 3.14.</NOTE> This is a nece&s;&s;ary condition of faith; for faith &s;aveth that is kept to the end: Flowers fre&s;h and &s;weet plea&s;e, but fading are ca&s;t away. If <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> the faithful City become an Harlot, if <HI>Corinth</HI> rent with divi&s;ions continue carnal,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.21. 1 Cor. 3..4 Rev. 2.4. &amp; 3.15. &amp; 17.5. Mat 3.9. Jer. 7 4.</NOTE> if <HI>Ephe&s;us</HI> leave her fir&s;t. Love, if <HI>Laodicea</HI> be not hot nor cold; nay, if <HI>Rome</HI> her &s;elf be|come the Scarlet whore, &s;he al&s;o &s;hall be broken off. <HI>Think not to &s;ay with the Jews, We have Abraham for our father; for God is able even out of the&s;e &s;tones to rai&s;e up children to Abraham.</HI> Pre&s;ume not upon <HI>The Tem|ple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord,</HI> for any particular Temple may fall to the ground, and yet his Hou&s;e be e&s;tabli&s;h'd. His promi&s;e is not made to any National Church, it is to the Catholique; <HI>This is the Mountain of the Lords Hou&s;e, and it &s;hall be e&s;tabli&s;hed in the tops of the Mountains, and &s;hall be exalted above all hills.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> Establi&s;hed in the tops of the Mountains, and exalted above all Hills.</HEAD>
<P>Our Prophet &s;till continues in the Metaphor; and as by the <HI>Mountain</HI> he intimated the &s;tability, continuance, and firmne&s;s of Chri&s;ts Church, &s;o al&s;o in this he fore-tells the glory and eminency of it. Far more glorious it &s;hall be than any other Temple, either Jewi&s;h, or Heatheni&s;h; and the Truth profe&s;&s;ed by them who re&s;ort to it, as far exceeding all other Religi|ons, Sects, and impieties, as a Mountain that over-tops all the Hillocks round about it. You &s;ee the rea&s;on of the <HI>Trope,</HI> and it ju&s;tifies our Saviours words, <HI>That it is a City &s;et upon a Hill,</HI> whence it will follow,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.14.</NOTE> that it cannot be hid; and thence we may as ea&s;ily gather, that it mu&s;t be Vi&s;ible. Which doctrine we con&s;tantly maintain, though our Adver&s;aries of <HI>Rome</HI> are plea&s;ed to defame us: And defended it mu&s;t be; for how el&s;e &s;hould all Nations flow unto it? how &s;hould they call one to another, <HI>venite a&s;cenda|mus, Come, let us a&s;cend to the Hill of the Lord,</HI> if this Mountain, if this Hou&s;e did not appear? This is it then we &s;ay, that exi&s;tent alwayes it is, but not in an equal glory. The que&s;tion then being not of the e&s;&s;ence of the
<PB N="400" REF="206"> Church, but of the exi&s;tence only, evident it is, that the di&s;tinction of a vi|&s;ible and invi&s;ible Church is but modal, which never makes a new thing, but intimates that the adjuncts of the &s;ame thing are to be con&s;idered at one time in this manner, and at another time in another. You &s;hall under&s;tand my meaning by familiar in&s;tances: I pull in, I put forth; I clinch, I o|pen my hand; will any man &s;ay my hand is not the &s;ame it was before? A man retires him&s;elf out of this Congregation, and anon he appears again; is he not therefore the &s;ame man? The like may be &s;aid of the Church; in the time of trouble and per&s;ecution it hath retired; under the protection and favour of Princes, it hath come forth again; contracted it hath been by &s;in and here&s;ie; dilated and opened by the gracious motions of the Spirit; and yet all the while but the &s;ame Church.</P>
<P>But that you may the better apprehend this point, for a main matter de|pends upon it, I will &s;hew you how far we grant the Church vi&s;ible; how far, and in what &s;ence invi&s;ible.</P>
<P N="1">1. If the Catholick Church be taken in its full latitude, as it takes in Chri&s;t the Head, and whole &s;ociety of Saints, partly Triumphant in Heaven, partly Militant here on earth, &s;o it is invi&s;ible. For neither is Chri&s;t the Head now an object of our eye; nor yet from <HI>Ab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l</HI> to this day, any one, as a member of that &s;ociety, &s;een by us.</P>
<P N="2">2. For next, we &s;ay, that let the Church be taken for the true, proper, and univocal parts thereof, wre&s;tling with fle&s;h and blood, now here on earth, who are truly members of Chri&s;ts my&s;tical body, and the&s;e are wholly in|vi&s;ible. All men knew <HI>Nathanael</HI> to be an <HI>I&s;raelite,</HI> but that he was a true <HI>I&s;raelite,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.47.</NOTE> <HI>in whom there was no guile,</HI> was no object to &s;ence, but known only to God, to who&s;e eye the heart is clear and manife&s;t. As men are Chri&s;tians they may be &s;een; but that they, are elected, that his Spirit unites them to Chri&s;t, that they have faith unfained, that their works proceed from a pure heart, and a good con&s;cience, who can pronounce, &s;aving only the &s;earcher of all mens hearts, who only intuitively doth know in this kinde, who are his? We can &s;ee the men, and by their fruits hope they are Gods elect; but to &s;peak preci&s;ely, no mortal eye can di&s;cern them to be Gods Elect, but God alone: becau&s;e Hypocrites and the Reprobate do many times re&s;emble them in &s;hew and profe&s;&s;ion. And thus much a Papi&s;t dares not deny.</P>
<P N="3">3. The whole que&s;tion lies only upon the outward &s;tate and condition of the Church. And of this the Learned of <HI>Rome</HI> affirm, that the company of Profe&s;&s;ors mu&s;t be &s;o illu&s;trious, that it may be known to all men, living at all times, that the Church is &s;o vi&s;ible, that it is palpable, that it is as co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;picuous as any earthly kingdome, that it may be di&s;cerned, and as it were pointed out with the finger. This their errour lies in the exce&s;s. With them then though we agree that the Church even in the external face and profe&s;&s;ion hath been and &s;hall be alwayes known, being a Society di&s;tinct from Jews and Infidels; Yet we content our &s;elves with a lower degree of vi&s;ibi|lity: For we &s;ay, That this Society is not alwayes alike eminent, but &s;ome|times clouded, ob&s;cured, covered, darkned, as a hou&s;e on the top of a Mountain envelop'd with a mi&s;t or a thick Fogg. This company is de&s;cen|ded from <HI>Abraham,</HI> of who&s;e po&s;terity God &s;aid, <HI>that it &s;hould be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ike the Starres of Heaven,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15.4. Gen. 22.17.</NOTE> <HI>and the Sands of the Sea;</HI> &s;ometimes then as tho&s;e lights of heaven, &s;hining in their glory, at other times are darkned or eclip&s;ed; at one time as tho&s;e &s;ands apparant to any eye, but at another cove|red with waves of tribulation and tentation. And this is evident to any man that is conver&s;ant, either in Scripture or &s;tory.</P>
<PB N="401" REF="206">
<P>For fir&s;t, The number may be &s;mall: Was it not &s;o in the time of <HI>Eli|jah?</HI> Doth he not complain, <HI>I only am left alone?</HI> Seven thou&s;and indeed there were, but <HI>Elijah</HI> &s;aw them not; a &s;eed, a remnant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 19.14, 18</NOTE> a &s;ub&s;tance in the root which every eye cannot di&s;cern; if the Church be &s;o con&s;picuous, as the <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> tell us for the number, why do they place it in the V rgin <HI>Mary</HI> alone at our Saviours pa&s;&s;ion? certainly it was not very glorious, when tho&s;e one hundred and twenty were &s;hut up, and concealed in an upper Chamber.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 1.15.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. The external Government thereof may come to decay; Pa&s;tors driven from their Flocks, and the outward exerci&s;e of Religion &s;u&s;pended. In the Jewi&s;h Church it was &s;o in the &s;eventy years captivity; and by the confe&s;&s;ion of our Adver&s;aries, it &s;hall be &s;o in tho&s;e three years and a half of Antichri&s;ts Reign; for they agree to that of <HI>Hippolitus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hippol.</NOTE> that then the holy hou&s;es of God &s;hall be like a Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">age; the precious body of Ch<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;t and his blood &s;hall not be extant; the Liturgy &s;hall be extingui&s;hed; the &s;inging of P&s;alms &s;hall cea&s;e; the reading of the Scriptures &s;hall not be heard: A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d therefore the Church is well compared in the <HI>Revelation</HI> to <HI>a Woman,</HI> which at one time <HI>is as vi&s;ible as any thing can be, cloathed with the Sun,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 12.1, 5, 6.</NOTE> <HI>and having the Moon under her feet, and upon her head a Crown of twelve &s;tars;</HI> and yet at another time <HI>&s;he is driven into the Wilderne&s;s out of the &s;ight of men; yea, her child taken up into heaven, there to abide a thou&s;and two hun|dred and three&s;core days.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. The mo&s;t and greate&s;t may be carried into Errour; the Pa&s;tors be|coming <HI>Wolves in Sheeps cloathing,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 13.6, 17.</NOTE> and the people receiving <HI>the mark of the Bea&s;t;</HI> &s;o that &s;ome few, and they &s;uch as are mo&s;t unlikely to defend the Truth, are remaining: Multitude, Authority, and Reputation defendi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">g the one &s;ide; and Paucity, and Meanne&s;s, di&s;countenancing the other. Thus it fell out in the time of <HI>Arrius,</HI> when the whole world groaned, <HI>&amp; mi|ratus est &s;e factum A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rianum,</HI> and wondered how on a &s;udden it became <HI>Arrian; Athana&s;ius</HI> only, and a few that were bani&s;hed with him, excepted; <HI>who&s;e hand was again&s;t every man, and every mans hand again&s;t him.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 16.12.</NOTE></P>
<P N="4">4. La&s;tly, Yet we affirm that there have been, and evermore &s;hall be &s;ome Pa&s;tors and People, more or le&s;s, who even to the view of men have profe&s;&s;ed the &s;ub&s;tance and e&s;&s;ential parts of Religion, and have openly taught the prime, nece&s;&s;ary, fundamental Articles of &s;aving truth, though in &s;ome &s;econdary points carried by the &s;tream and darkne&s;s of the Times, they might have failed and erred; yea &s;uch, who have reproved the gro&s;s Errors which Time-&s;ervers, and fal&s;e Teachers brought in. This they have done, either <HI>Agendo,</HI> or <HI>Patiendo;</HI> either by their tongues or by their lives; by preaching the Truth, or dying for the Truth; &s;o that <HI>Hi&s;torians</HI> have taken notice of them.</P>
<P>The doubt then betwixt <HI>Rome</HI> and Us, ought not to be of the Vi&s;ibili|ty of the Church, but only of the manner of the Vi&s;ibility: For we both affirm it vi&s;ible, but not in the &s;ame degree. They tell us of a Ro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">al, Pom|pous, and Glorious E&s;tate, &s;uch as is the outward face of Earthly Domini|ons and Monarchies; and this we deny to be always nece&s;&s;ary to the Church of God; for we make it an external, no proper accident of the Church, and &s;uch is &s;eparable: And in&s;tead thereof we put another Vi&s;ibility, to wit, a company of Pa&s;tors and Pe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">le, however reproved, di&s;graced, per&s;ecuted, that either in the view of the W<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rld in General, or in the pre&s;ence of any part thereof, do teach &s;aving Truth i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the Main and Capital Articl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s of Re|ligion, which we &s;ay is &s;ufficient to make the Church vi&s;ible, and is in&s;eparable from it.</P>
<PB N="402" REF="207">
<P>The&s;e things being premi&s;ed, ea&s;ie it is to an&s;wer unto that &s;cornful de|mand of tho&s;e who flowt, and ask, Where was our Religion? Where was our Church before <HI>Luther</HI> aro&s;e? In what hole of the Earth it lurked? where for &s;o many years it lay a&s;leep? Fooli&s;h men! as if <HI>Luther,</HI> or any other Reformer ever went about to erect a new Church, or a new Religion: No, no, the Church of Chri&s;t never was but one, the &s;ame from the beginning to the end. If their Church then was vi&s;ible, ours is al&s;o vi&s;ible, becau&s;e theirs and ours are both but parts of the Catholick; theirs indeed un&s;ound, ours recovered of that un&s;oundne&s;s which it had contracted &s;o long as it was remaining among them:<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 5.</NOTE> As therefore <HI>Naaman, &s;ick of his lepro&s;ie,</HI> was the &s;ame <HI>Naaman</HI> that he was, being cured, vi&s;ibly the &s;ame man; &s;o al&s;o are we yet vi&s;ibly the &s;ame Church, of the &s;ame &s;ociety of Chri&s;tians, among them leprous, but gone from their company healed. When then was our Church vi&s;ible before <HI>Luther?</HI> Why in the bo&s;ome of <HI>Rome;</HI> but un&s;ound, and unhealthy; where is it now? in the We&s;tern Church &s;till, vi&s;ibly healed and bettered.</P>
<P>The &s;tate of the Church under the <HI>Roman</HI> obedience, and that part which is Reformed, is very fitly re&s;embled to a Field over-grown with Weeds, Tares, and Cockle: Some part whereof is weeded and clean&s;ed, &s;ome part whereof remains as it was before; which makes &s;uch a va&s;t difference to the eye, as if it were not the &s;ame Corn: But being well con&s;idered, it will ap|pear, that the whole difference is from the Weeds which remain there, and are here taken away. Tho&s;e laborious husbandmen, that in the la&s;t hundreds of years have taken pains in plucking up tho&s;e rank Weeds out of the Lords Field, cannot be rightly &s;aid in doing this, either to have brought in another piece of ground, or to have changed the old &s;eed; the Field is the &s;ame, but weeded now, and unweeded then; the Grain the &s;ame, but winnowed n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">w, and unwinnowed then; and this appears, becau&s;e we both hold fa&s;t &s;till the &s;ame fundamental points, the &s;ame Creed, the &s;ame Rule of Obedience, the &s;ame Rule of Prayer, the &s;ame Sacraments, the &s;ame Canon of Scri|pture.</P>
<P>It doth not then be&s;eem men of learning and ingenuity to object in &s;corn to us an Aery and Mathematical Church, con&s;i&s;ting of certain imaginary in|vi&s;ibilities; for our Church is no more Aery and invi&s;ible than their own, be|ing in E&s;&s;ence the &s;ame with theirs, as the blind man, who had recovered his &s;ight, was the &s;ame in &s;ub&s;tance he was before; no other man, but no blind man. That which we confe&s;s, is this, That the number who oppo&s;ed their in|novations, was in compari&s;on of the oppo&s;ite party, &s;mall, their authority little, and their power le&s;s; &s;o that in regard of the prevailing Faction, which like &s;ome &s;welling Torrent carried all before it, they were &s;carce a con|&s;iderable party. A party yet they were, who with <HI>Elijah, and his</HI> 7000. <HI>never bowed to Baal;</HI> and becau&s;e they were but a &s;mall party, it gave occa&s;ion to &s;ome Divines to &s;ay our Church was invi&s;ible. The parts of this Church, whether vi&s;ible, or invi&s;ible, in the &s;en&s;e before belongs to the Catholick Church, of which we have an evident prediction in this place, be|cau&s;e our Prophet addes,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="6" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>6.</HI> That all Nations &s;hall flow unto it.</HEAD>
<P>Such was to be the latitude of this Mountain, &s;uch the amplitude of this Hou&s;e; the Catholick Church and Faith was to fill &s;o many places, that it might be &s;aid to be planted everywhere. Other Nations had their Mountains, that is, their Groves, their Temples, their Altars; but there was not an uni|ver&s;al concour&s;e of all people to any one of them. In <HI>Judea</HI> al&s;o the Moun|tain
<PB N="403" REF="207"> of the Lord was very glorious, but not a <HI>Jew</HI> dare &s;ay, that the glory of their Temple, or hill of <HI>Zion</HI> con&s;i&s;ted in this, that all people came to <HI>Je|ru&s;alem</HI> to wor&s;hip. In <HI>Jewry</HI> indeed <HI>God was known, and his Name was great in</HI> I&s;rael; <HI>at</HI> Salem <HI>was his Tabernacle,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 76.1, 2.</NOTE> <HI>and his dwelling in</HI> Zion.</P>
<P>B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t all this while the <HI>Gentiles</HI> in general were &s;et by, they had not the knowledge of his Laws; as they cared not to perform any honour to God, &s;o God call'd upon them for no &s;pecial duties. In one Countrey or other he might perhaps ca&s;t a favourable eye upon this or that man, and call a <HI>Job,</HI> a <HI>Naaman,</HI> a <HI>Jethro,</HI> or an Eunuch to do him &s;ervice; but for the gene<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ality of men, <HI>he &s;uffered them to wander in their own wayes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 14.16, 17.</NOTE> <HI>though then he le<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t them no without excu&s;e, becau&s;e he gave them rain, and fruitful &s;ea&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ns:</HI> But when the&s;e <HI>la&s;t dayes</HI> came that our Prophet &s;peaks of, <HI>this Mountain was exalted above all Hills, and all Nations did flow unto it.</HI> Whil'&s;t it was yet confined at <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> there were of all Nations converted by S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">int <HI>Peters</HI> Sermon, and &s;oon after the noi&s;e of the Apo&s;tles Trumpets, &s;ound<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d over all the World, thou&s;ands in all places re&s;orted to this Mountain. About one hundred and forty years after our Saviours birth, &s;o great was the confluence of people, that an Ancient Father was not afraid to &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ju&s;tin. Martyr dial. cum Try|phone.</NOTE> that there was no People, no Nation &s;o barbarous among&s;t whom by the crucified Je&s;us &s;uppli|cations and thank&s;giving are not made to the Creator of all things. In <HI>Ly|bia, Egypt,</HI> the Ea&s;t, there were many Languages, but one Faith;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">n. Tertull. Apoll.</NOTE> Chri&s;ti|ans then fill'd the I&s;lands, the Ca&s;tles, the Cities, the Palaces, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he Senate, the Court of the <HI>Roman</HI> Empire: <HI>Parthians, Medes, Ela<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">tes, M r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s, Gauls, Spaniards, Britans, Sarmatians, Germans, Scythians</HI> did render them|&s;elves Subjects to Chri&s;t and his Law.</P>
<P><HI>Daniel</HI> &s;aith, <HI>that he &s;aw a &s;tone;</HI> i. e. <HI>Chri&s;t cut from the Mountain;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 2.45.</NOTE> i. e. <HI>Mary, without hands;</HI> that is, the help of mans &s;eed; and that this &s;tone became a Mountain, which fill'd all the earth. How grew this &s;tone to be &s;o great? how to fill the whole earth? not in his Natural body, but in his My&s;tical, which is the Catholick Church, filling the whole Wo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ld; to which Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> alludes in this manner, <HI>What is there &s;o manif<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t as a H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. Tract. <HI>1.</HI> in Ep. Joan.</NOTE> But yet there be many Hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ls unknown, becau&s;e they are but in one place of the Earth; but &s;o it can never be &s;aid of this Hill, becau&s;e it &s;hall be an Hill erected in the top of H lls, <HI>and all Nations &s;hall flow unto it.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 14.28.</NOTE> <HI>In the mult<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|tude of a people is the glory of a King.</HI> How glorious then was this Empire to be, in which there was not an acce&s;&s;ion of one Nation, or one people, but every Tongue, every Nation, were annexed to his Crown, <HI>and the uttermo&s;t par<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s of the earth given to Chri&s;t for his inheritance!</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.8.</NOTE></P>
<P>This was the honour re&s;erved to the Son of God; he was to be the Ca|tholick King, and King of Catholicks; his Church is Catholick, his Power is Catholick, his Laws are Catholick, and are made known to all&punc; that they might be ob&s;erved by all; to that end he gave a Catholick Commi&s;&s;ion to his Di&s;ciples, <HI>Go and teach all Nations;</HI> for now <HI>Peters</HI> ob&s;ervation is found true; <HI>In every Nation he that fears God, and doth righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.19. Acts 10.34.</NOTE> <HI>is accepted of him.</HI></P>
<P>Now this is a point that &s;erves for Reproof and Comfort.</P>
<P N="1">1. It ca&s;ts &s;hame into the face of the <HI>Romani&s;ts,</HI> that ingro&s;s Chri&s;t to their &s;even Hills. God &s;aith, <HI>all Nations,</HI> no &s;ay they; none b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t they who &s;hall be built upon the Popes Rock; none but who mu&s;t have depe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dance on St. <HI>Peters</HI> Chair. Uncharitable men, that when Chri&s;t hath given liberty for all Nations to flow to his Church, do &s;o re&s;train and confine the limits of it, that none &s;hall come thither, till he come to <HI>Rome</HI> fir&s;t; the re&s;t may be excluded for Hereticks, Schi&s;maticks, Infidels, and I know not what; if this
<PB N="404" REF="208"> be not Donati&s;me, let the World judge: But with the&s;e I will not enter the Li&s;ts at this time.</P>
<P N="2">2. That which I intend, is to leave a deep impre&s;&s;ion in your hearts of this mercy; for give me leave to be&s;peak you in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> words, <HI>Rejoyce O ye Nations with his people.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.43.</NOTE> Before we were a Deodate given to Chri&s;t by God, <HI>&s;hut we were out of the Covenant,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 2.12, 19. ver&s;e 3.</NOTE> <HI>enemies, &s;trangers, without God in the World;</HI> but now we are admitted <HI>into the League, made friends, taken into the Family, and incorporated to be Fellow-Citizens with the Saints.</HI> Before <HI>we were chil|dren of wrath;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.6.</NOTE> but <HI>now beloved in him, who was, and is the Beloved.</HI> Be|fore <HI>bani&s;hed from the inheritance of heaven;</HI> but <HI>now e&s;tated in an inheri|tance uncorrupt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.4.</NOTE> <HI>undefiled, that fades not away, re&s;erved for us.</HI> Before <HI>we were di&s;per&s;ed over the World;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 10.16.</NOTE> but <HI>now gathered as Sheep into one Fold, un|der on<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Shepherd.</HI> Before <HI>we &s;ate in the darkne&s;s and &s;hadow of death;</HI> but <HI>now light is ri&s;en up to us.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 4.16.</NOTE> Our Saviours words are made good, <HI>Many from the Ea&s;t and We&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 8.11.</NOTE> <HI>from the North, and from the South, &s;hall come and &s;it down in the Kingdom of God: God hath per&s;waded</HI> Japhet <HI>to live and dwell in the Tents of</HI> Shem.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 9.27.</NOTE></P>
<P>That Task which the Apo&s;tle puts upon us for this mercy, is, <HI>that we prai&s;e God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 15.11.</NOTE> <HI>Prai&s;e the Lord all ye Gentiles, and laud him all ye people. The Lord hath healed the broken-hearted, and given &s;ight to the blinde.</HI> Lo&s;t Sheep we all were,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34.18.</NOTE> <HI>and God hath gone after us in the Wilderne&s;s, and brought us home on his own &s;houlders to the Fold.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15.5.</NOTE> The time was, when we lay as the wounded man, and no eye pitied us; <HI>the Prie&s;t and the Levite pa&s;|&s;ed by without compa&s;&s;ion;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.</NOTE> nor &s;o much as a Mo&s;aical &s;acrifice was to be of|fered for us; Then came the good <HI>Samaritan, he poured in wine and oyle, and brought us to his Inne, his Church, where he bound up our &s;ores, and cured our wounds;</HI> and &s;hall not we l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ud him, and prai&s;e him for this? Good words do well, but good works do far better; this la&s;t is a Real Prai&s;e, the other but Verbal; neither will the offering of the lips plea&s;e him, without the &s;acrifice of the life, proceeding from an hone&s;t heart. And therefore &s;o often as you call to mind this benefit, this in&s;ition, this engraffing in his Church, <HI>toti lau|date; cantet &V;ox, cantet Spiritus, cantent facta;</HI> let tongue and heart, and &s;pirit, and life, and dealing, and conver&s;ation altogether &s;et forth his prai&s;e; and for this you need not go far for a patte<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n, or example, the&s;e people here may be your copy; for Gods Mountain was no &s;ooner exalted among them, but
<LIST>
<ITEM>Fir&s;t, <HI>They flow'd to it;</HI> &s;ee, their heart was ready.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Secondly, Then they call'd to one another, <HI>Come, let us a&s;cend;</HI> be|hold, they were not backward with their tongues.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Thirdly, La&s;tly, They profe&s;s their obedience, that their life &s;hould be an&s;werable to their profe&s;&s;ion; <HI>He &s;hall teach, we will walk in his paths.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>The&s;e are the Properties and Characters of Gods people; the fir&s;t of which is their readine&s;s, their willingne&s;s, the joy, content, alacrity they take in Gods &s;ervice, intimated in this word,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>1. <HI>Confluent,</HI> They &s;hall flow unto it.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 17.15.</NOTE><HI>The waters are Peoples and Multitudes, and Nations, and Tongues.</HI> Now as waters ri&s;e from &s;everal Springs, and are conveyed by &s;everal Channels, till at la&s;t meeting in &s;ome one great River, they run together lovingly into the Sea: So the people of &s;everal parts take their wayes and cour&s;es, but at la&s;t meet and agree &s;weetly, and continue undivided till they come to this Mountain:
<PB N="405" REF="208"> <HI>They flow</HI> in great multitudes, as waters; and they run apace, as waters; and derive them&s;elves freely, read<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ly, naturally, as waters; in this only lies the wonder; that whereas waters by the in&s;tinct of nature &s;tream along to the lower places, the&s;e &s;hould a&s;cend, and mount up to a Hill.</P>
<P>A wonder indeed, did we not know that they are moved by another prin|ciple than that of nature; for <HI>Spir<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tus Domini incubabat aquis;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.2.</NOTE> <HI>it is the Spirit of the Lord that moves upon the&s;e waters;</HI> and this carries them up|ward, whither by their own di&s;po&s;ition they would never incline. Of a re|bellious and &s;tubb<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rn, it makes them an obedient and yielding people; of &s;ul|len, ready and quick; of an ob&s;tinate, &s;low, and refractory, a joyful, a nimble, and a willing Nation; &s;o that <HI>they no &s;ooner hear,</HI> but <HI>they obey;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 18.44.</NOTE> <HI>they no &s;ooner are call'd,</HI> but <HI>they come; no &s;ooner are mov'd,</HI> but <HI>they move, and run together to this Mountain of the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>And if they meet with any ob&s;tacle or impediment in their way, that would divert or damme up their cour&s;e, (as they meet with many) they have this al&s;o of water, that they make a &s;tand, and collect their force, till they ri&s;e to that height and &s;trength, that they overflow the Were, and then run with more courage and expedition than they did before.</P>
<Q><L>Sic ego torrentem, qua nil ob&s;tabat eunti</L>
<L>L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nius, &amp; modico &s;trepitu decurrere vili.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ovid. Met. 3.</NOTE></L>
<L>At quacun&abque; trabes, ob&s;tructa&abque; &s;axa tenebant,</L>
<L>Spumeus, &amp; fervens, &amp; ab obice &s;aevior ibat.</L></Q>
<P>In&s;tances I need not give, 'tis known with what joy the Apo&s;tles with|&s;tood the <HI>Jewes;</HI> the Martyrs their Per&s;ecutors; the Nations <HI>came flowing to this Mountain,</HI> though they knew of the Banks and Mounts ca&s;t up to hin|der them. By the power of the Spirit there given, they were a&s;&s;ured to be more <HI>than Conquerours;</HI> and this moved them thus readily, nimbly, willingly <HI>to flow together.</HI></P>
<P>And thus it was foretold, <HI>Populus tuus Spontaneus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.37.</NOTE> <HI>Thy people &s;hall be willing in the day of thy power.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 110.3.</NOTE> In other worldly Kingdoms much is done by force, much for fear; as they are gotten by the Sword, &s;o they are order'd, and kept by the Sword; and the Subjects are obedient out of con&s;traint, &s;el|dome out of good will, &s;ubmit and act wirh <HI>eye-&s;ervice,</HI> not from the heart;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 6.6.</NOTE> in hypocri&s;ie, but not in &s;incerity. But in this Kingdom it is otherwi&s;e; for Chr &s;t hath a people collected not by the Sword, but by his Word and Spirit; therefore they no &s;ooner hear of him, but they obey, freely without coaction; chearfully, without compul&s;ion; &s;incerely, without di&s;&s;imulation; conten|tedly, without murmur or &s;ullenne&s;s; for it is no by-end, covetous, ambiti|ous de&s;ire, or hope of reward that moves them to it; but meer love, and their own choice: This, this is it that makes them <HI>flow together to this Mountain.</HI></P>
<P>In other Kingdoms that of <HI>Thucydides</HI> is too true, <GAP DESC="foreign">, the pre&s;ent Government is alwayes grievous; but in this <HI>jugum <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uave,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 11.30.</NOTE> <HI>the yoke is &s;weet, and the burden light;</HI> and his people yield their necks to draw in it, and their &s;houlders to bear with great alacrity; wearine&s;s they find none, tediou&s;ne&s;s they find none under this yoke or burden.</P>
<P>Neither is it thus alone with this people in their actions, but in their pa&s;&s;ions al&s;o; they are as ready to ki&s;s the Rod, as the golden Scepter; to bowe to his hand <HI>plectenti,</HI> &s;miting them, as <HI>amplectenti,</HI> embracing them; they know it is the Lord, their Lords hand that is upon them; <HI>the Lord that brings evil upon the City,</HI> and therefore they fume and fret not again&s;t him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 3.6.</NOTE> nor go about to &s;hake off his Government, but yield them&s;elves to his will
<PB N="406" REF="209"> and wi&s;dom. <HI>It is the Lord, let him do with me as &s;eems good in his eyes.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 3.18.</NOTE></P>
<P>Now this is a Note that would not be &s;lightly con&s;idered; for there is not a greater evidence to the con&s;cience, that a man is a true member of Chri&s;ts my&s;tical body; nor a &s;tronger Argument of a religious &s;incerity, than that tho&s;e duties which a man performs to God, proceed from a willing, free, and chearful heart. Every mans own con&s;cience can be his witne&s;s, whether he comes to Gods Mountain, or rather with what heart he comes; for of the fir&s;t the eye of man may judge, but of the la&s;t the judgement mu&s;t come from within. So that when a mans own &s;oul a&s;&s;ures him, that he <HI>prai&s;eth G<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d with joyful lips,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 63.5. P&s;al. 51.12.</NOTE> he hath that which <HI>David</HI> prayed for, <HI>principalem Spiri|tum, Gods chief principal free Spirit.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 10.</NOTE>Before this penitent King had begg'd of God <HI>a right &s;pirit, and a con|&s;tant &s;pirit,</HI> that he might be renewed and confirmed in grace; <HI>and a &s;ancti|fying &s;pirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 11.</NOTE> that he might be enflamed to the performance of &s;uch actions as were agreeable with the Law of God; but this &s;atisfied him not, till he came to have this principal &s;pirit, which might &s;o guide him in his coun&s;els, actions, troubles, that he might freely and voluntarily obey his God, and ne|ver murmur again&s;t his Will and Providence.</P>
<P>This, this is truly the &s;pirit of the Go&s;pel, that makes men to be wil|ling and obedient.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. Lib. Arbit</NOTE> Patience &s;aith So it mu&s;t be, becau&s;e I cannot help it, and is therefore &s;way'd by fear: A good will &s;aith, So it is expedient, for it is mo|ved by hope: But love which is enflamed by this principal &s;pirit, &s;aith neither <HI>&s;ic oportet, nec &s;ic expedit;</HI> it neither mu&s;t be &s;o, nor it is expedient it be &s;o; but So I will have it, &s;o I de&s;ire it &s;hould be done, becau&s;e God hath &s;o ordained it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 63.5.</NOTE> <HI>My &s;oul &s;hall be filled as it were with marrow and fatne&s;s, when my mouth prai&s;eth thee with joyful lips;</HI> even in that wor&s;hip that ari&s;eth from the &s;pirit of the Law, and carnal ju&s;tice, there is much reluctan|cy, much muttering, much rebellion, and backwardne&s;s again&s;t that which a man doth:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.7.</NOTE> <HI>For the &s;en&s;e of the fle&s;h is enmity again&s;t God.</HI> The action is indeed done, but it is not kindly done, even then the fle&s;h would fain have it other|wi&s;e: Upon the command to part with all, the young man in the Go&s;pel <HI>went away heavy;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 19.22. &amp; ver. 21.</NOTE> and another call'd upon to follow Chri&s;t, would fain have it delayed, <HI>till he might bury his father:</HI> Whereas a man endued with this principal &s;pirit, an&s;wers &s;o &s;oon as God calls, with <HI>Zacheus, Come down quickly,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 19.6. John 8.56. Luke 1.41.</NOTE> and freely parts with all; with <HI>Abraham, rejoyceth to &s;ee Chri&s;ts day;</HI> and no &s;ooner is quick, as <HI>John</HI> in his Mothers womb, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>he leaps,</HI> and exults to hear of &s;alutation from his Lord.</P>
<P>Now how contrary are all other motions in tho&s;e who would be held to be, but are not truly religious to this! A certain artificial thing there is in Religion, call'd hypocri&s;ie, which by certain gins and pins, (as in Clocks and Jacks) makes many motions; it is ea&s;ie to di&s;cover them from the prin|ciple whence they ari&s;e, and from the end; the principle &s;ometimes is fear; loth they are to incur di&s;plea&s;ure, and that which will follow upon it, puni&s;h|ment: This make a <HI>Phari&s;ee of fear,</HI> this cau&s;eth the &s;tatutes of <HI>Omri</HI> to be kept;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Micah 6.16. Acts 19. Gen. 12. Matth. 6. Gen. 34.</NOTE> the rod of God or man keeps the hypocrite in awe: As for the end, that is diver&s;e; it may be <HI>Demetrius</HI>'s end <HI>to get a living;</HI> or <HI>Nimrod</HI>'s end <HI>to get a Name;</HI> or the <HI>Phari&s;ees, to be &s;een of men;</HI> or <HI>Simeon</HI> and <HI>Le|vi</HI>'s end <HI>to be revenged.</HI> Many men &s;erve God, to &s;erve their own turn; How often are private re&s;pects covered over with the Cloak of a publick good? Let malice intend the ruine of him &s;he hates; let ambition aime at greatne&s;s and glory; let covetou&s;ne&s;s pre&s;ent <HI>&s;ome wedge of gold, or Baby|loni&s;h Garment,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;huah 7.21.</NOTE> commonly the pretence is a publick good, greater l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">berty to a people, more freedom of con&s;cience: Thus the Church, the State &s;hall be
<PB N="407" REF="209"> benefited by it, when indeed the&s;e godly people intend as much good to ei|ther, as <HI>Hamor</HI> did to the <HI>Shechemites,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 34.</NOTE> as the two Brethren did to <HI>Hamor.</HI></P>
<P>However the&s;e ends move them to make a &s;hew of godline&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 9.3. <HI>Gr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">g. Moral. in</HI> Job 39.</NOTE> and becau&s;e they are <HI>the Locu&s;ts in the Revelation, dant Locu&s;tarum &s;altus,</HI> they <HI>fetch the Locu&s;ts leap;</HI> they <HI>fetch a &s;udden spring,</HI> but pre&s;ently they <HI>fall t the Earth:</HI> So the&s;e men will on a &s;udden ri&s;e to fa&s;t, and pray, and &s;eek God; but return pre&s;ently <HI>to &s;mite with the fi&s;t of iniquity, and practice abomi|nable uncleanne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>Behold the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> fetching the leap of the Gra&s;hoppers; when <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had read to the people the book of the Covenant, they in&s;tantly an|&s;wered, <HI>All that the Lord commands us, we will do.</HI> Here's a fair leap,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 24.7.</NOTE> a large promi&s;e; but incontinent, they made many &s;hameful Apo&s;ta&s;ies, into <HI>Aegypt</HI> they return in their hearts, they pre&s;ently fall back to the Earth, and <HI>long for the Garlick and Oynions in</HI> Go&s;hen; <HI>they murmur, they grudge,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 11.5.</NOTE> <HI>they di&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rust God.</HI> Thus it is with many Prof<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ours of the Go&s;pel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 11.5.</NOTE> religious they are by &s;tarts and fits; <HI>their goodne&s;s is like the morning dew,</HI> or <HI>like the &s;eed that &s;prings to the blade, but then withereth;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea 6.4. Matth. 13.5. 2 Pet. 2.22.</NOTE> <HI>they return with the Dog to the &s;in they vomited up, and with the Sow to the Mire they &s;eemed to leave.</HI> Their motions in Religion are neither con&s;tant, nor uniform; and the rea|&s;on is, becau&s;e they are not <HI>ab intra,</HI> but <HI>ab extra;</HI> no natural, no kindly motions proceeding from this principal &s;p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rit of God; but from &s;ome out|ward motive or intention, as I but now &s;aid.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.14.</NOTE></P>
<P>Such &s;ervice as this, is but <GAP DESC="foreign">, away with it, it &s;tinks in his No&s;trils; for this <HI>I&s;rael</HI> was cur&s;ed: <HI>All the&s;e cur&s;es &s;hall be upon thee,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 28.45, 47</NOTE> <HI>and &s;hall pur&s;ue thee, and overtake thee,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Becau&s;e thou &s;erved&s;t not the Lord thy God with joyfulne&s;s and gladne&s;s of heart, for the abundance of all things:</HI> For God loves not that any duty be drawn from us, as verjuyce from a Crab, with much pumping, &s;treining, and &s;queezing;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.5.</NOTE> nor that it be <HI>prop<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">er iram,</HI> for that's the &s;ervants motive; nor yet to &s;erve an end, for &s;o doth the Formali&s;t. In the con&s;cience he &s;its as Judge, con&s;iders what's done, and with what heart it is done; and when it comes freely and chearfully from us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 66.3.</NOTE> he will accept it, el&s;e 'tis as if we <HI>cut off a Dogs neck.</HI></P>
<P>When then you have a mind to come to Gods holy Mountain, be of the number of tho&s;e people that are here likened to water, flow thither without compul&s;ion, and perform your devotions with a ready and glad heart: For as <HI>God loves a chearful Giver,</HI> &s;o <HI>he loves a chearful Wor&s;hipper;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 9.7.</NOTE> that the Tribute of honour we pay him, be offer'd with a willing mind. Thus did <HI>David</HI> and all <HI>I&s;rael, They play<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d before God with all their might and &s;ing|ing.</HI> Thus did the wi&s;e men at the &s;ight of the &s;tar,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Chron. 13.8. Matth. 2.10.</NOTE> <HI>They rejoyced with an exceeding great joy;</HI> and as God, &s;o al&s;o <HI>David</HI> was plea&s;ed with it, <HI>that toward the building of the Temple, the P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">inces, and the people brought their gifts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Chron. 29.9, 14, 17.</NOTE> <HI>and offered them willingly;</HI> for the&s;e he takes notice of it, and repeats in one Chapter, and concludes thus: <HI>And now have I &s;een with <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oy thy people that are pre&s;ent here to offer willingly unto thee.</HI> This is the fat of the Sacrifice, keep back that, and keep your Offering al&s;o; for God never re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ards <HI>q<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">id,</HI> what is your Offer; but <HI>quo animo,</HI> with what affection it is offered; that his Will be the Center from which, and his Glory the Circumference to which all our &s;ervice is to be drawn, with which if the heart be dilate<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> and plea&s;ed in the tender of it, the Almighty will be plea&s;ed, accept, and reward it. <HI>Domine, Spiritus tuus voluntarius confirmet me;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.12.</NOTE> with which Petition I clo&s;e this point, and come to the next.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<PB N="408" REF="210">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Come ye, and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the hou&s;e of the God of <HI>Jacob.</HI></HEAD>
<P>The fir&s;t property of Gods people ye have heard, their delight, their con|tent, their readine&s;s, and alacrity they took to &s;erve God. The next is their <HI>zeal, love,</HI> and <HI>charity</HI> to others. Alone they would not go, but they would take along with them all they could. To this end is their call, <HI>Come, l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t us a&s;cend.</HI></P>
<P>Their love to God was great, evident it is by their ready and cheerful confluence. But this their piety had not extingui&s;hed their charity to men; Nor indeed mu&s;t it; <HI>for if a man love God, he will love his Neighbour al&s;o.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 4.21.</NOTE> In the things of the world men are allow'd to be proprietaries; for many things there are which are &s;o our own, that we need not call others to &s;hare with us. But in the things of God, one hath no more property than another; the price was paid for a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">; of which he that hath his &s;hare, &s;hall have ne're the le&s;s, though another partakes with him. And therefore it is a charitable and a pious deed to exhort, to call on, to incite others to take a part with us. And this minde you &s;hall finde to be in all good Chri&s;tians, to draw as many to God as they po&s;&s;ibly can. This de&s;ire was in Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> who thus wi&s;hed for <HI>Agrippa</HI> and the whole company, <HI>I would to God, that not only thou,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 26.29.</NOTE> <HI>but al&s;o all that hear me this day, were not almo&s;t, but al|together &s;uch as I am,</HI> meaning Chri&s;tians. This talk Chri&s;t layes upon <HI>Peter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.32.</NOTE> <HI>And thou being converted, confirm thy brethren.</HI> This St. <HI>Paul</HI> pre&s;|&s;eth upon the Pa&s;tors of <HI>Galatia, If any man be fall<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n, you which are &s;piritual re|&s;tore &s;uch a man.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.1.</NOTE></P>
<P>But becau&s;e examples work farre more powerfully than rea&s;ons, they con|tent not them&s;elves only with the bare call, but they pre&s;s to have them a|long with them; glad they would be of their company. The more the mer|rier; the &s;tronger their power to wre&s;tle with God in their prayers, the more their Ma&s;ters honour, the fuller his hou&s;e is.</P>
<P>This is the cau&s;e that Gods &s;ervants have call'd upon, and call'd up one another to the performance of pious duties. <HI>Come ye children to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 34.11. 1 Sam. 9.9. Neh. 2.17. P&s;al. 95.1&punc; 6. Ho&s;. 6.1. Jer. 50.5.</NOTE> <HI>Come let us go to the Seer. Come let us build the Wall. Come let us &s;ing unto the Lord; come let us fall down, and wor&s;hip, and kneele. Come let us return to the Lord. Come let us joyn our &s;elves to the Lord.</HI> To do any duty it is apparant they were loth without company; and therefore they, as it were, take others by the hand, and call'd to others to go along wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h them. What &s;hould I &s;ay, that this zeal and affection was &s;o fervent in the Woman of <HI>Samaria,</HI> who was &s;carce yet a Convert, that &s;he invites her Neighbours to heare Chri&s;t? <HI>Come,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 4.19.</NOTE> &s;aith &s;he, <HI>and &s;ee the man, who hath taught me all things that ever I did.</HI></P>
<P>Envy, e&s;pecially in divine things, is odious to God; Communication, and Liberality, are grateful to him. <HI>What I have learned diligently, I do communicate liberally,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 7.13. <HI>Seneca. Ep.</HI> 6.</NOTE> <HI>and I do not hide the riches of Wi&s;dome,</HI> &s;aith <HI>So|lomon.</HI> Were Wi&s;dome given me, on that condition, that I &s;hould inclo&s;e her, and make a Monopoly of her, I would refu&s;e it, &s;aid a wi&s;e man. I re|joyce to learn, that I may teach; neither &s;hall any knowledge delight, be it never &s;o great, never &s;o excellent, which I mu&s;t po&s;&s;e&s;s alone. And this good mind hath been in Gods &s;ervants, and to that end they make this motion, <HI>Come let us a&s;cend.</HI></P>
<P>Which is &s;omewhat a &s;trange motion if you mark it; for when men are a&s;cending, they love no others to mount up with them. When <HI>James</HI> and
<PB N="409" REF="210"> <HI>John</HI> de&s;ired to a&s;cend to the <HI>right and left hand,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.24.</NOTE> the re&s;t of the Colledge &s;tomach'd it, and envyed at them:<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 5.8.</NOTE> For ambition is too proud to admit of a con&s;ort, <HI>It loves to live alone in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he earth.</HI></P>
<Q><L>&mdash;Nec f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rre pote&s;t Cae&s;arve priorem,</L>
<L>Pompeiu&s;ve parem.</L></Q>
<P>But Gods people are humble, and not proud; charitable, and not &s;ullen and melancholy; loving, and not envious. Content they are not only to ad|mit, but glad to take others in their company, and to that end they call, <HI>Come let us a&s;cend.</HI> Come my Wife, come my Son, come my Kin&s;man, come my Servant, come my Neighbour, come all people, <HI>let us a&s;|cend to the Mountaine of the Lord, to the Hou&s;e of the God of Jacob.</HI></P>
<P>Good God, how farre do the calls of the world and wicked men differ from this call! <HI>Come,</HI> &s;aith one, <HI>let us make our father drink wine.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19.32. Judg 9.15. Neh. 4.8. P&s;a. 83.4. Pro. 1.11. &amp; 7.18.</NOTE> <HI>Come let us &s;lay our brother,</HI> Gen. 32.20. <HI>Come let us deal wi&s;ely,</HI> Exod. 1.10. <HI>Come thou and raign over us,</HI> Judges 9. <HI>Come and put your tru&s;t under my &s;hadow,</HI> &s;aith the Bramble. <HI>Come let us fight again&s;t Jeru&s;alem. Come let us cut them off, that they may be no more a people, and take the hou&s;es of God in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion. Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rk privily for the innocent without cau&s;e, &amp;c.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 18.18. Mat. 21.38.</NOTE> <HI>Come let us take our fill of Love. Come let us devi&s;e devices again&s;t</HI> Jeremy. <HI>Come let us &s;mite hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> with the tongue. Come let us kill the heir, and &s;eize his inhe|ritance.</HI> Calls you finde here, and calls for an a&s;&s;ociation. But it was <HI>ab Eccle&s;ia malignantium,</HI> by an A&s;&s;embly of Malignants; you hear no motion made or combination for any good end, but to the clean contrary, the extrea|me&s;t evil.</P>
<P>Where's the charity of the fir&s;t Chri&s;tians? what's become of their zeale? into what Mountain hath it retired? or into what de&s;ert is it fled? Every whete a man may hear more than a good many crying and clamouring, Come let us drink, let us ki<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l, let us &s;teal, &amp;c. Bu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the voice of him who will call to his Neighbour, <HI>Com<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> let us a&s;cend to the Mountain of the Lord,</HI> is like the berry in the top of an Olive. What is this our progre&s;s we make in piety? this our zeal to encrea&s;e Chri&s;ts Flock? this our &s;tudy to enlarge his Hou&s;e? I cou d provoke you to anger with a fooli&s;h people, <HI>that com|pa&s;s &s;ea and land to make a pro&s;elyte,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.15.</NOTE> <HI>whom yet they make two-fold more a child of H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll than them&s;elves.</HI> But I &s;pare you; this only I &s;hall adde, <GAP DESC="foreign"> to &s;hame you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.5.</NOTE> that you do not oppo&s;e your <HI>Come</HI> to their <HI>Come;</HI> your <HI>a&s;cendamus,</HI> to their <HI>de&s;cendamus.</HI> A &s;hame it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 16.8.</NOTE> <HI>that the chil|dren of this world &s;hould be wi&s;er than the childr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n of light;</HI> and get more company to their Mole-hill, than we to our Mountain; at lea&s;t that in them there &s;hould be &s;uch a fury of zeal, and in us &s;o much coldne&s;s.</P>
<P>Once more then I call upon you, that you call upon others; that you &s;uffer not, whom you may warm and fire, to freeze in their wickedne&s;s, to freeze in their devotions, to freeze in their luke-warmne&s;s; but that fir&s;t you heat your &s;elves, and then take others by the hand, and lead them along with you. That you &s;ay to all you can, <HI>Come let us a&s;cend to the Moun|tain of the Lo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d.</HI> The benefit will recompence your labour; <HI>For he will teach you his wayes, and you will walk in his path.</HI> He will be a good Ma&s;ter, and you &s;hall be apt and good Schollars. He will direct, and you will obey.</P>
<P N="2">2. But before I come to &s;peak of that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Scult in loc.</NOTE> take this Note moreover home with you, That the Church of God is but One. 'Tis but one Mountain in the &s;ingular Number, and one Hou&s;e; and this Hou&s;e is <HI>the Hou&s;e of the
<PB N="410" REF="211"> God of Jacob.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.17. Joh. 10.16.</NOTE> So that the Jews who were <HI>Jacobs</HI> &s;eed, and the Gentiles who were graffed in, make up one Catholique Church, and are under one Pa&s;tour.</P>
<P>Now One the Church is &s;aid to be three ways e&s;pecially.</P>
<P N="1">1. Becau&s;e it is from One beginning, which is <HI>the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> who as one &s;oul quickens and moves all the members.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.4. 1 Cor. 12.4.</NOTE> <HI>There are diver&s;ities of gra|ces, but one Spirit.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Next, in that it hath but One Head, <HI>which is Chri&s;t;</HI> under whom though there be divers guides,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 1.22.</NOTE> yet they ought to be taken as one Epi&s;copacy and Office, compacted together by a &s;weet connexion and coherence among them&s;elves: Every Province acknowledging &s;ubjection and ordination to their own Primate,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.25.</NOTE> and he to Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, In that it is but One Body, or One Society, participating the &s;ame means of &s;alvation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 14.4, 12, 13.</NOTE> which are the &s;ame Rule of Faith, the &s;ame Ca|non of Scriptures, the &s;ame Sacraments, the &s;ame rule of Prayer, the &s;ame rules of Obedience.</P>
<P>Cur&s;ed then be they who have made a Schi&s;me in this &s;eamle&s;s Coat, of which tho&s;e of <HI>Rome</HI> and the Sectaries are highly guilty. For if the fault mu&s;t be laid upon him who hath given the cau&s;e, they cannot be excu&s;ed; <HI>non fugimus, &s;ed fugamur.</HI> Both are angry with they know not well what, and in their rage they have taken their &s;taff and &s;word, and beaten us out of Doors.</P>
<P>As for us, re&s;olved we are to continue in this Mountain, and &s;ave our &s;ouls. For as out of the Ark of <HI>Noah</HI> there was no &s;afety from the flood; &s;o out of this Mountain,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen 7.21.</NOTE> <HI>i. e.</HI> the Catholique Church, there is no &s;alvation to be hoped for: Out of this Mountain comes the Law: Out of this Moun|tain comes the Word of life; that Word without which, <HI>we &s;hould have pe|ri&s;hed in our trouble.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 119.92.</NOTE> In this Mountain we may learn how the creature is to be &s;ubject, acknowledge, and magnifie its Creatour. In this Mountain is the &s;ound of that doctrine to be heard, than which there is not any more cer|tain to cheer up a &s;ad and loaden con&s;cience, and to &s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tle in peace di&s;quieted minds. La&s;tly, in this Mountain, as out of a Watch-Tower, there is hang|ed forth the light of Prophetical and Apo&s;tolical doctrine. To this Moun|tain we will a&s;cend, being fully a&s;&s;ured, that in this Mountain</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> He will teach us his Laws.</HEAD>
<P><HI>He</HI> Emphatically. He him&s;elf will in this his Mountain be the great Do|ctor of the Chair; a&s;cend thither, and reade a Lecture of his Law: So that <HI>all that belong to him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 54 5. Joh. 6.45.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall be</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>taught of God.</HI> This is a peculi|ar of the Go&s;pel, and &s;o the Apo&s;tle e&s;teems it, and by it puts a manife&s;t difference betwixt that and the Law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.1.</NOTE> the Fathers, and we that live &s;ince. To them God &s;pake <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">, by piece-meale, and in di|vers fa&s;hions, and this was by the Prophets, by Vi&s;ions, by Dreams, by Re|velations, by <HI>&V;rim,</HI> by <HI>Thummim.</HI> But <HI>in novi&s;&s;imis diebus,</HI> this <GAP DESC="foreign">, this <GAP DESC="foreign">, was at an end. He &s;peaks no more by his &s;ervants the Prophets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 2. Gal. 1.11, 12.</NOTE> but he hath made his own Sonne the Teacher. <HI>He &s;peaks,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>by his own Son.</HI> The Go&s;pel then came not from men, nor by men, but was taught immediately from heaven.</P>
<P>His Sonne was <HI>a Teacher &s;ent from God: The Angel of the Covenant: The Apo&s;tle of our Profe&s;&s;ion,</HI> Heb. 3.1. <HI>That Prophet.</HI> And he doth the Office of a Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.2. Mal. 3.1. Deut. 18.18.</NOTE> preacheth, teacheth, and in&s;tructs his people, perfect|ly revealing the Will of God about mans &s;alvation. He taught upon what terms Ble&s;&s;edne&s;s was to be had, Redemption by his death and pa&s;&s;ion, San|ctification
<PB N="411" REF="211"> by his Spirit, Ju&s;tification by his Blood, Reconciliation by his me|rits, and hope of life by his Re&s;urrection: In a word, boldne&s;s to approach to the Throne of Grace by his Mediation and Interce&s;&s;ion. And this was a great part of the Law, upon which he &s;aid he would preach, <HI>P&s;alm</HI> 2.7. and upo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> which he did preach, taking his Text out of the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> Luke 4.18.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, he taught, what was the full meaning of God in the Moral Law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.</NOTE> purges it from divers corruptions, which the fal&s;e glo&s;&s;es of the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> had put upon it, and &s;ets down an exact<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r rule than ever any Law-giver thought of. Whence &s;ay the&s;e good people here, <HI>He &s;hall teach us of his wa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI></P>
<P>And yet <HI>He,</HI> is not &s;o to be taken, as if it were exclu&s;ive and of &s;trength to &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t out all other Teachers, for he hath in his School many undertakers, for to that end he ordain'd a Mini&s;try to continue in his Church for ever. <HI>Be|ing a&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ended up on high, he gave &s;ome to be Apo&s;tles, &s;ome Prophets,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.11. Mat. 16.19. Mat. 28.20.</NOTE> <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">om<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Evangelists, &s;ome Pastours, &s;ome Teachers:</HI> And into their hands he hath given <HI>the Keys of the Kingdome of heav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n:</HI> and with them he hath promi&s;ed <HI>to be to the end of the world,</HI> whom al&s;o we are commanded to hear, <HI>Luk<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> 16.29.</P>
<P>And yet you mu&s;t know that it is <HI>ip&s;e docebit.</HI> He &s;hall teach for all this. Becau&s;e they are taught of him what they teach you. The Law they teach is his, the Go&s;pel they teach is his. His is the me&s;&s;age, they only the Repor|ters and Me&s;&s;engers; <HI>and if any teach otherwi&s;e than he hath taught,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.8, 9.</NOTE> <HI>let him be accur&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P>Only there be two main differences betwixt <HI>ip&s;e</HI> and <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">p&s;i,</HI> him and all his under-teachers.</P>
<P N="1">1. What he taught was in him &s;uper-eminently, habitually, actually,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.3.</NOTE> <HI>he was a trea&s;ury of all wi&s;dome and knowledge.</HI> In him it was as light in the Sun: In them as light in the Aire, &s;ubject to much ob&s;curity.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 1.18.</NOTE> <HI>He was in the bo&s;ome of the Father, and knew all &s;ecrets,</HI> and could reveal; they no more, than he was plea&s;ed to reveal.</P>
<P N="2">2. Then again he is able to put life into his words, and make them ope|rative. He can make <HI>the dead to hear his voice.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 5.25.</NOTE> The&s;e people acknow|ledge &s;o much: He will teach, and we will walk. But all that his Emba&s;|&s;adours can do, is but to declare his will and minde; they can effect nothing. <HI>Paul may plant, and Apo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">los may water,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.6, 7, 9, 10.</NOTE> <HI>but it is God who mu&s;t give the en|crea&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>But there be that pre&s;s the&s;e words, and the like Texts to a very ill purpo&s;e! A company of &s;ick-brained men there are, who becau&s;e <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hey reade here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 54.5.</NOTE> <HI>He &s;hall teach;</HI> and find a promi&s;e, <HI>They &s;hall all be taught of God;</HI> and a|gain, <HI>That the anointing which ye have <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ceived of him abideth in you,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.27.</NOTE> <HI>and ye need not any man &s;hould teach you, for the &s;am<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> anointing teacheth you of all things.</HI> Therefore they dream of an immediate teaching only; and now after Chri&s;ts coming they reject the whole external Mi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;try of the Word as &s;uperfluous, and rely meerely upon Enthu&s;ia&s;ms, and I know not on what Revelations.</P>
<P>The&s;e are of the number of tho&s;e filthy Dream<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rs of whom Saint <HI>Jude</HI> &s;peaks, who wre&s;t the Scripture to their de&s;truction.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude 8. 2 Pet. 3.16.</NOTE> And it is no hard mat|ter to di&s;cover their errour and madne&s;s. For who can conceive that it was the minde of Chri&s;t to teach all immediately by his Spirit, who him&s;elf or|dain'd Apo&s;tles, Doctors, and Teachers, to inform the World? Why was it, that Saint <HI>Paul</HI> labour'd &s;o diligently? Why did they whom he &s;ent, <HI>go and preach to all Nations?</HI> Why was <HI>Titus</HI> left in <HI>Crete,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 1.5.</NOTE> <HI>Timoth<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> at <HI>Ephe|&s;us,</HI> with power to ordain Presbyters in every Church, if the minde of God
<PB N="412" REF="212"> had been to ca&s;hire at once the whole Mini&s;try? Had God intended to have taught only by his own Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.3.</NOTE> he never certainly had &s;ent forth his Apo&s;tles, they others, and given a charge to <HI>Timothy,</HI> and in him to all Bi&s;hops, <HI>that they lay hands &s;uddenly on no man:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.21, 22.</NOTE> And <HI>that this Commandment be kept until the appearing of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 6.14.</NOTE></P>
<P>Yea, but is it not here &s;aid, <HI>He will teach us?</HI> Yes; but that hinders not, but he may teach by his Mini&s;ters. No more, than in the dayes of the Prophets, he is &s;aid to have &s;poken, when it was yet the Prophet that &s;pake. The words in their mouths are his, they only the voice that bring them to mens eares. And if the action of the in&s;trument be to be referr'd to the prime Agent, what is done by them, is to be referr'd to him. He may be &s;aid to teach, when he teacheth by them.</P>
<P>But that I may remove all &s;cruple, there is a double teaching: One <HI>Se|cundum intellectum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;tius in Joan.</NOTE> when a man is taught to know &s;omewhat that he knew not before, though he never falls to practice what he knows; Now this in|formation, no que&s;tion, may be had from man: For a learned man, without doubt, may illuminate and inform the under&s;tanding. But another teaching there is, <HI>S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cundum affectum,</HI> when a man falls in love, is affected, and war|med to the heart with what he knows, and does the Le&s;&s;on, that he learns; and this is a teaching that mu&s;t be expected from Gods Spirit alone; whence <HI>David</HI> prayes, <HI>Teach me to do thy Will O Lord; Teach me the way of thy Statutes:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 119.33.133.</NOTE> <HI>Order my &s;teps in thy Word.</HI> And that this is the teaching here meant, is evident, for they profe&s;s, <HI>He &s;hall teach, and we will walk.</HI> This no man is able to do, but he who is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>taught of God.</HI> And his pro|mi&s;e is, <HI>that all his &s;hall be &s;o taught.</HI> Not by force; not only by the illu|mination of the under&s;tanding, but by the motion of the will. To this pur|po&s;e it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 8.10. Jer. 31.33.</NOTE> that the Apo&s;tle alledgeth that place of <HI>Jermy, I will put my Laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, &amp;c. And they &s;hall not teach every man his brother, &s;aying, Know the Lord, for all &s;hall know me from the lea&s;t to the greate&s;t.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>E&s;tius in loc.</HI> Rom. 1.21. Rom. 2.17, 18. 1 Cor. 2.6, 7.</NOTE>For the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks not here of a bare and naked knowledge, &s;uch as was in them, <HI>who when they knew God, glorified him not as God:</HI> Nor &s;uch as was in the Jews, who gloryed and boa&s;ted of their deep knowledge of the Law. Nor yet of the knowledge of profound My&s;teries, &s;uch as the Apo&s;tle &s;pake among tho&s;e who are <HI>perfect.</HI> But he &s;peaks of that knowledge which is nece&s;&s;ary to <HI>&s;alvation, d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> notitia viv&acirc;, format&acirc;, affectiva,</HI> a lively, af|fective, working knowledge, by which God is &s;o known, that the affection an&s;wers to our rea&s;on: God &s;o known, that he is lov'd al&s;o; his Laws, that they be made choice of, and walk't in. Now he who comes to be &s;uch a Di&s;|ciple, mu&s;t have God for his Tutor and Teacher: For fle&s;h and blood will never teach him any &s;uch Le&s;&s;on. The&s;e promi&s;es then, <HI>They &s;hall be all taught of God. And he &s;hall teach. And they &s;hall know me from the greatest to the lea&s;t:</HI> do not belong to all men, no nor promi&s;cuou&s;ly to all Chri&s;tians good and bad; <HI>but only to tho&s;e who are &s;ons of the promi&s;e;</HI> nor to the&s;e neither, as if they &s;hould have immediate illuminations and infu&s;ions of his Spirit; but that God only under the New Te&s;tament will give to his Children &s;uch a portion of his Spirit, of Grace, of Love, that they &s;hall de|&s;ire and delight to know, to love, to ob&s;erve, and fulfill his Will.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.20, 27.</NOTE>As for that place of Saint <HI>John, But ye have an &V;nction, and need not that any man &s;hould teach you, &amp;c.</HI> it &s;o little makes for them, that being rightly under&s;tood, it makes expre&s;&s;ely again&s;t them: For it is the intent of the Apo&s;tle, to give a Caveat to all good Chri&s;tians, that they be not &s;educed by any Anti-chri&s;tian teachers, &s;uch as were then <HI>Cerinthus, Ebion, Simon Magus,</HI> &amp;c. But that they continue in tho&s;e things which they had learn'd
<PB N="413" REF="212"> from the Apo&s;tles; and why &s;o? Becau&s;e <HI>they had an Unction from the Ho|ly One,</HI> ver&s;. 20. And <HI>the anointing which you have received from him, abideth in you.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, He who did anoint, was the Father; <GAP DESC="foreign">, the anoinied was Chri&s;t, call'd here <HI>the Holy One;</HI> The <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Un|ction was the Holy Gho&s;t, with all his gifts, e&s;pecially that of <HI>the truth of R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gion,</HI> and this they had yet among&s;t them; and therefore he per&s;wades, <HI>that they ab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> in that which they had heard from the beginning;</HI> that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 24.</NOTE> from the beginning of their conver&s;ion, and the Go&s;pel preach'd unto them. They need not turn away, and give eare to <HI>Ebion, Cerinthus,</HI> or any of that rabble, any new Teachers, any new Doctors; <HI>no need that any man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 27.</NOTE> that is, any New Up&s;tart Sectary, <HI>teach them:</HI> For they knew all things; that is, all the Truths of God nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation already. The Spirit who was <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the guide,</HI> had by the Apo&s;tles guided them into all Truth al|ready; and as yet they had the &s;ame &s;piritual Unction among them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;tius in loc.</NOTE> They had their B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;hops, they had their Presbyters, by who&s;e care and diligence their Churches were &s;ufficiently in&s;tructed in all tho&s;e things which do pertain to the Truth of Chri&s;tian Doctrine. As yet <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hey were not &s;educ'd by Here|tiques, but held fa&s;t what they had once been taught: And therefore they needed not a Teacher, as tho&s;e who are Rude or Seduc'd. Rude and igno|rant, that may learn, what they never knew: Seduced, that they may re|turn to the Truth they had for&s;aken. But yet they were not ab&s;olute, and knew all things &s;o well, but they might &s;tand in need of a Teacher, by who&s;e indu|&s;try they might be retain'd in the Doctrine they had received, be fuller in|&s;tructed in it, and be &s;ecured again&s;t all the errours and &s;ophi&s;mes of fal&s;e Teachers.</P>
<P>This is the genuine interpretation of the&s;e words, and the full &s;cope of the Apo&s;tle; by which it is evident, that the collection of the Sectaries from hence, is &s;trained, and ab&s;urd, <HI>viz.</HI> that the Holy Gho&s;t doth &s;o enlighten every Chri&s;tian, that he needs no other Doctor, no external Mini&s;try to teach him, that he knows all the my&s;teries and &s;ecrets of God. For the Un|ction mentioned here, belongs to the Catholique Church, and no farther to every particular man in this Church, than is nece&s;&s;ary for his place and &s;tation in it, and to bring him to eternal life. When Sectaries by pre&s;uming upon, and confiding in the dictates of their private &s;pirit, as the&s;e Impo&s;tors and Anti-chri&s;ts here did, de&s;ert the Truth taught from the beginning by the Apo|&s;tolical Church, they have lo&s;t their &s;hare of this Unction; and pretending to be the &s;ole men of knowledge, they become the &s;ons of pride and pitiful ig|norance.</P>
<P>Were there not many other rea&s;ons to prove it, yet this one were enough, in that they are &s;o much mi&s;taken in the interpretation and application of the&s;e Texts. Had they the Unction they boa&s;t of, they would be better taught. This would teach them to be Schollars,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 22.3.</NOTE> before they take upon them to be Ma&s;ters; and to &s;it down at <HI>Gamaliels</HI> feet and learn, before they pre&s;ume to teach <HI>Gamaliel.</HI> But what &s;peak I of any one &s;ingle <HI>Gamali<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l?</HI> they would hear the whole Church, by whom God hath promi&s;ed to teach,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14.16, 17, 26.</NOTE> to which he hath promi&s;ed <HI>the Spirit of Truth, to guide into all Truth,</HI> and not rely upon a private interpretation, which oppo&s;eth the &s;cope and &s;ence of the whole Scripture, and other Expo&s;itors. <HI>Omnes patres &s;ic.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. Ep. <HI>91.</HI></NOTE> It is overmuch pride then to &s;ay with the Lubber <HI>Abailardus, Ego non &s;ic:</HI> And why &s;o? Becau&s;e For&s;ooth, if my &s;ence be not heard, <HI>Ego</HI> mu&s;t not be <HI>Ego;</HI> I mu&s;t not be <HI>I per &s;e I;</HI> I a gifted man mu&s;t not be heard. The Church will take upon it to be the Interpreter, and Gods voice to his people, and I, then poor <HI>I, whether &s;hall I go?</HI> Whether? To the Hou&s;e from whence he came,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 37.30. Luk. 11.24.</NOTE> as the devil return'd into the man from which he was gone out. For &s;uch tea|chers
<PB N="414" REF="213"> may well be &s;pared: The Spirit of Truth, which God hath promi&s;ed and left in his Church, will be <HI>a flame of fire by night, and a pillar of a cloud by day,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 13.21.</NOTE> to teach us</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> His Wayes. His Paths.</HEAD>
<P>The wayes of God are his Will, his Paths, his Commandments; and this way is <HI>&s;implex &amp; multiplex,</HI> manifold; for there be many precepts, and yet but One; becau&s;e they all meet in One way, which is <HI>Love.</HI> This is <HI>&V;ia re|galis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.10. Jam. 2.8. I&s;a. 55.8, 9.</NOTE> his way; <HI>His</HI> &s;ignally; A way we have to, or rather wayes of our own, but not like His. <HI>My wayes,</HI> &s;aith God, <HI>are not as your wayes;</HI> Nothing like ours indeed; For ours are dark wayes, and full of errour; foul wayes, and full of &s;in;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. 7.13. I&s;a. 35.8, 9, 10.</NOTE> devilli&s;h wayes, and full of malice; broad wayes, yet full of danger, and de&s;perate wayes that leads to de&s;truction. But his wayes are of another fa&s;hion as they are de&s;cribed to us; <HI>A certain way; he that follows it, &s;hall not walk in darkne&s;s. A holy way, and a way of holine&s;s, the unclean &s;hall not pa&s;s through it. A plain way, the way-faring men, though fools, &s;hall not erre therein. A &s;afe way, for there &s;hall be no Lyon in it;</HI> I am &s;ure not the roaring Lyon,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 14.30. I&s;a. 35.10.</NOTE> <HI>for he hath nothing in Chri&s;t:</HI> Yea, and let men &s;ay what they will, it is <HI>a plea&s;ant way;</HI> for the Redeemed pa&s;s through it with a <HI>Jubilee.</HI> This is the way which God hath promi&s;ed to teach; and every good man de&s;ires to learn, not only that he may know it, but that he may go in it.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> And we will walk in his Paths.</HEAD>
<P>The end that any man comes to the Church of God, is, not only to learn his Will, but to frame his life, manners, and conver&s;ation by it. For he is the be&s;t Schollar, <HI>qui verba vertit in opera,</HI> and practiceth upon every Rule he learns. 'Tis to no purpo&s;e that the Le&s;&s;on &s;till tink our eares, except the power be expre&s;&s;ed in our lives. For as meat that is chew'd and taken down avails not, except it be concocted and turned into good blood: &s;o we ought to know, that chirping and chewing of our Le&s;&s;on will do us little good, ex|cept we convert the whole&s;ome precepts into good manners. <HI>Vita con&s;onet fi|dei dogmatis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; dogmata in&s;tituant vitam,</HI> Let the life be con&s;onant to the Doctrines of our faith, and let tho&s;e Doctrines have an influence upon the life. For though we keep clo&s;e to the Doctrine, and way of truth, and neg|lect the way of Love and Charity, the&s;e Doctrines will do us very little good. For they are not the <HI>hearers</HI> of the Law &s;hall be ble&s;&s;ed, but the <HI>doers.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1.22, 23.</NOTE>How many men have you of quick and great under&s;tanding, and that in this Doctrine too, which yet &s;hall ne're be happy. Will the devils knowledge &s;ave him? Will the profound &s;ubtleties of Hereticks and men of perver&s;e minds bring them to Heaven? 'Tis not the &s;peculation of this doctrine that God regards; for tho&s;e that have been taught, <HI>and know their Ma&s;ters will, and do it not,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12.47.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall be beaten with many &s;tripes.</HI> It is the practical, ex|perimental; affective knowledge, that &s;inks into the heart, and betters the man, that mu&s;t make him happy. One &s;aith well, that Gods School is more upon affection, than under&s;tanding; for both Le&s;&s;ons do well; but for the fir&s;t, the doctrine doth be&s;t, and is mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary for this Age, in which there be many that pretend to knowledge, but I find little good-will. And he that hath much skill, and no affection, may do good to others by informa|tion of their ignorance, but little to him&s;elf. Since God is not u&s;ed to ca&s;t a|way his love upon tho&s;e, of whom he is known, and not lov'd. Of this point the&s;e good people were not ignorant; and therefore they profe&s;s, that after
<PB N="415" REF="213"> <HI>the God of Jacob had taught them of his wayes, that then they would walk in his paths; in &s;emitis,</HI> in the &s;tricte&s;t, in the narrowe&s;t, in the lea&s;t beaten of them.</P>
<Q>We will walk.</Q>
<P>To <HI>walk</HI> is an Hebrai&s;me, and it is a word much u&s;ed by the Holy Gho&s;t, being put in the Scripture for to begin a cour&s;e of life, and to continue in it. Wicked men are &s;aid to walk, for they have their paths too, and their by-ways.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 1.1. &amp; 82.5. 2 Pet. 2.10. Ephe&s;. 5.15. P&s;al. 119.3. Rom. 8 1. 1 John 1.7. P&s;al. 84.7.</NOTE> <HI>They walk in the coun&s;el of the ungodly, they walk in the lu&s;ts of the fle&s;h, they walk in darkne&s;s:</HI> But good men give over the&s;e wayes, their lives be|ing of another fa&s;hion, <HI>They walk circum&s;pectly, they look to their feet, and walk in the Law of God; they walk in the Spirit, they walk in the light, they go from &s;trength to &s;trength, till they app<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ar before God in</HI> Zion.</P>
<P>Now walking imports two things, <HI>progredi, &amp; per&s;everare,</HI> to proceed, and to continue; that which is any mans delight, and his con&s;tant cour&s;e, that is &s;aid to be his Track, that his Walk. The undertaking then of the&s;e men &s;ets us an example of a religious life, which w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> are bound to pro&s;ecute with delight, and with con&s;tancy.</P>
<P N="1">1. We are all but Travellers, to our Countrey we are not come,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 11.13.</NOTE> and then it is fit that we be going on; for &s;tanding &s;till will never bring us to our journies end: Walking every man knows, is <HI>motus prog<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;&s;ivus,</HI> a progre&s;&s;ion in which the hinder foot removes, and overtakes, and out-&s;teps the former. And in this way a progre&s;s there mu&s;t be both in faith and in manners. In faith; for go we mu&s;t <HI>from faith to faith;</HI> from one degree to another; from a weak,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.17. P&s;al. 87.7. Rom. 6.4.</NOTE> to a &s;trong faith: And in manners; for we mu&s;t go <HI>from vertue to vertue;</HI> or which is all one in the Apo&s;tles language, <HI>Walk in newne&s;s of l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">fe.</HI></P>
<P>What therefore God &s;aid to <HI>Elijah, A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;e and walk,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 19.7.</NOTE> <HI>for thou hast a great journey to go:</HI> That I &s;ay to every Chri&s;tian, &s;tand up on thy feet, and after &s;tand not &s;till, for the journey may be long, not fini&s;hed, &s;o long as thou ha&s;t a day to live. Requi&s;ite it is in a Traveller, that he loyter not, but pro|ceed, never thinking how far he hath gone; but how far he hath to go, well knowing, that if he fail but of one or two &s;teps, he &s;hall never come to the place he expects; let no man then &s;ing on Earth, <HI>Soul, take thy re&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.19. John 14.2.</NOTE> <HI>fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> in heaven only are Man&s;ions and re&s;ting pla<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es.</HI> The graces of God mu&s;t not only as flowres in a Garden be kept by us, but they mu&s;t be &s;uccoured and che|ri&s;hed as it were, with fre&s;h and fre&s;h Earth, that they may improve. As <HI>Charles</HI> the Emperour took for his Mo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">to, <HI>Ulterius;</HI> &s;o &s;hould a good Chri&s;ti|an take for his <HI>Superius,</HI> every day be taking a &s;tep on-ward and up-ward; every day learn a line, and be skilful in the P&s;alms of degrees; mount <HI>&agrave; temporali|bus ad aeterna, &agrave; terrenis ad coele&s;tia. Jacobs</HI> Ladder had its &s;taves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro&s;per.</NOTE> upon which he &s;aw not <HI>one Angel a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> re&s;t,</HI> all were in motion.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 28.12.</NOTE> This Ladder is <HI>Sca|la Coeli,</HI> in which a Chri&s;tian by <HI>learning line after line,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 28.10, 13.</NOTE> <HI>and precept after precept, here a little, and there a little, here a little, and there a little,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.14.</NOTE> will run on &s;till in the Race, <HI>till he comes to the mark, the prize of the high calling of God in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI></P>
<P>And becau&s;e we are but Travellers, of Travellers we may learn many ne|ce&s;&s;ary things to help us forward in this our journey. Fir&s;t, Travellers be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ng ignorant of the way enquire the neare&s;t and the &s;traite&s;t, and &s;o mu&s;t we. If we ask for the neare&s;t, it is Chri&s;ts merits; therefore the Apo&s;tle directs us <HI>to walk in him.</HI> If for the &s;traite&s;t, it is the Law of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.7.</NOTE> which <HI>is the w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f holin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;s, and of obedience.</HI> Then Travellers in dangerous and unknown way<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s &s;eek a Guide: In our way, two there are which will offer them&s;elves;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 35.8.</NOTE> a fal&s;e and deceiving Guide, <HI>the Fle&s;h;</HI> beware, follow it not; a true one, which is <HI>the Spirit,</HI> walk after it, <HI>He will teach us of his wayes.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.5, 6.</NOTE> Travellers again
<PB N="416" REF="214"> content them&s;elves with unnece&s;&s;ary Viands, and exonerate them&s;elves of all &s;uperfluous and unnece&s;&s;ary things. The cares of this World, Riches, Vices, Plea&s;ures mu&s;t be left behind, and provi&s;ion made of &s;uch things e&s;pecially which we cannot want in our journey.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 8.14. Gen. 12. P&s;al. 16.3.</NOTE> Farther, yet Travellers enquire for good company; <HI>Abraham took Lot along with him,</HI> a good and a godly man; and &s;o mu&s;t he place his delight with <HI>David, upon the Saints that dwell on the Earth, and on &s;uch as excell in vertue:</HI> For by enquiring of Saints which know the way, he &s;hall grow the perfecter in this Saint-like way; and by con|ver&s;ing with tho&s;e that excell in vertue, he will be the more skilful in the pra|ctic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> of vertue: This from Drunkards, Swearers, Perjurers, Adulterers, Lyars, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> will never be learned. To go a &s;tep farther, Travellers if they hear of any danger in the way, provide them&s;elves of Arms: In the way, we &s;hall be &s;ure to meet with the Divel, a Lyon, a Thief; Arme thy &s;elf then <HI>with the Sword of the Spirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 6.11, &amp;c. 1 Pet. 5.8, 9. James 4.7. Eph. 6.16. Mat. 14.30. <HI>&amp;</HI> Luke 22.32. Rom. 11.20.</NOTE> and <HI>above all,</HI> be &s;ure to carry <HI>Faith</HI> along with thee; this will be an offen&s;ive weapon, by which if thou <HI>re&s;i&s;t him, he will flie;</HI> this is a defen&s;ive weapon; for it is a <HI>Target</HI> and a <HI>Shield;</HI> nay, 'tis a <HI>Staffe</HI> too; and an old or weak man will &s;eldom go without his Staffe; when <HI>Peter</HI> was fainting, and failing, it was this Staffe of <HI>Faith</HI> that kept him up; it is good therefore that the heart, in this our way, be e&s;tabli&s;hed by <HI>Faith.</HI> La&s;tly, when Travellers are to go a long way, they carry with them Cordials, and hot Waters. In this our way, Chri&s;t is the be&s;t Cordial, his merits the mo&s;t comfortable Refection; be &s;ure then you take him along with you, and the warm tears of Repentance will be in&s;tead of <HI>Aqua vitae,</HI> the be&s;t water to recover your fainting &s;pirits; again&s;t which, the&s;e are mo&s;t excellent Anti|dotes, none to the&s;e, none can keep you from fainting but the&s;e; were it not for the&s;e, we &s;hould all <HI>faint by the way,</HI> of which great care ought to be taken;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 8.3.</NOTE> becau&s;e if we <HI>faint by the way,</HI> we &s;hall fail of our end; the pro|mi&s;e being,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.9.</NOTE> <HI>that in Due Time we &s;hall reap if we faint not:</HI> You may re|member that I told you, <HI>walking,</HI> puts us in mind of two things, <HI>Motum, &amp; Pro|gre&s;&s;ionem,</HI> going on, and proceeding in the way, and per&s;everance, and con|&s;tancy, which is the next point.</P>
<P N="2">2. As a good man goes on his way with content, &s;o he doth it with much patience and con&s;tancy; for he gives not over till he comes to his journies end: He certainly is never &s;aid to walk in any way, who after &s;ome &s;teps, is weary of his purpo&s;e, turns back, or &s;its down; a Walk is a path &s;mooth'd and cho&s;en for continual u&s;e: So can he never be &s;aid to walk in good works, in newne&s;s of life, in the way of holine&s;s, who begins a good work, and leaves it &s;o &s;oon as it is begun: It is then the purpo&s;e of God, that we do not only be|gin, and for a time with joy proceed, but that we walk con&s;tantly in the &s;tudy of a holy life all our dayes. The command to <HI>Abraham,</HI> was, <HI>Walk before me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 17.1.</NOTE> <HI>and be thou perfect. Walk</HI> is the Act, <HI>Perfection</HI> is the Scope, the End; now perfection in any thing will never be attained without continual practice and exerci&s;e.</P>
<P>Divers Rea&s;ons there are to move men to continue in the way, and walk forward; among which, the&s;e are &s;ome, and I &s;hall only name them; as,</P>
<P N="1">1. It is a di&s;grace, and &s;candal not to do it; 'tis not unknown what was &s;aid in the Go&s;pel of the fooli&s;h Builder; all men that &s;aw his undertakings and his performances,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 14.30.</NOTE> <HI>jeered at him, This man began to build. Lots</HI> Wife, the names of <HI>Demas, Judas, Julian,</HI> with infinite that wens in this way, and left it, are &s;et up in the Church-book, as &s;o many &s;tones in the High-way, for Tra|vellers to look upon with pity and fear; to this day their names are infamous, their failings notorious, their end de&s;perate.</P>
<P N="2">2. But be it that infamy moves not, though it will move any generous
<PB N="417" REF="214"> &s;pirit, there is a wor&s;e matter in it yet: <HI>He that walks on well at fir&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 9.62.</NOTE> <HI>and aft r looks back, is not</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>not fit for the Kingdom <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f God;</HI> a mi&s;erable ca&s;e this, that he &s;hould have no aptne&s;s or fitne&s;s to it: Now where there is no aptne&s;s or inclination, there the habit is never attained; to which there is no &s;uch <HI>remora,</HI> as is de&s;uetude and di&s;u&s;e. <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> di&s;puting <HI>de jucundis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ari&s;t. Rhet. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> teacheth us, That tho&s;e things are plea&s;ant to us, which are done according to nature, or that which is next to it, &s;uch things to which we are accu&s;tomed: For he conceives that there was no other difference betwixt nature and cu&s;tom, but <HI>&s;emper &amp; plerum&abque;;</HI> for that which is wrought by the power of nature, is perpetual, and alwayes the &s;ame; that which is done by u&s;e and cu&s;tom, is commonly the &s;ame; and therefore he gives his Scholars this wi&s;e coun&s;el, to choo&s;e the walk of goodne&s;s even from their youth, which though it &s;eems at fir&s;t hard and difficult, will by u&s;e become very plea&s;ant and delightful. We ought then to take heed, le&s;t by turning out of the way, we grow out of love of the way, which when it fal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s out, 'twill be a very difficult thing to reclaim a lap&s;ed Chri&s;tian.</P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, The want of one &s;tep more, may make void all that went before. <HI>Per<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">unt praeterita, &s;i quae coeperunt de&s;inunt e&s;s<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rfecta:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cypr. de bono patient.</NOTE> What la|bour is formerly taken in the way, is all lo&s;t, except that wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch is undertaken, be perfected. It is wittily ob&s;erved by <HI>Bernard,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> That all the Chri&s;ti n vertues run together in the Race; but not one of them is crowned, which is not at|tended by con&s;tancy; &s;he &s;ets the Garland upon the head of Faith, Hope, and Charity; &s;he crowns our Repentance and Holine&s;s: Be it that a man be indued with all the&s;e graces in the way, the incon&s;tancy of one houre will make void the work of many years:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 18.24. Rev. 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>The righteou&s;ne&s;s of the Back-&s;lider &s;hall not be re|membred.</HI> That which God had to &s;ay again&s;t the Church of <HI>Ephe&s;us,</HI> is, <HI>That &s;he had left her fir&s;t love.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> ob&s;erves, That God in the beginning commended all his Works, <HI>that they were good, very good.</HI> All, except man;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.31.</NOTE> for he was <HI>prius probandus, quam laudandus;</HI> his per&s;everance to be tryed, and then to be commended; of which, becau&s;e he fail'd, <HI>he brought upon him&s;elf and the Earth, a Cur&s;e.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.17.</NOTE></P>
<P>What then was &s;poken to <HI>L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t,</HI> and his Wife, &s;uppo&s;e it &s;poken to thee: <HI>Look not behind thee, nor tarry in the Plain;</HI> being come out of <HI>S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dom,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19.17.</NOTE> look no more back to it, &s;tay not loytering, and pa&s;&s;ionately lamenting after it. Not a man of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> that returned back to <HI>Egypt</HI> in their heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 14.4, 29.</NOTE> ever &s;et footing in the Land of <HI>Canaan:</HI> Patience and per&s;everance are fellow-partners in Gods Harve&s;t; and though the former bears all the burden, yet the latter only receives the ble&s;&s;ing. <HI>I have fought a good fight, I have fini&s;hed my cour&s;e, I have kept the faith;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.7, 8.</NOTE> <HI>henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righ|teou&s;ne&s;s, which the Lord the righteous Judge &s;hall give me at that day;</HI> and the Apo&s;tle had great Rea&s;on to be confident upon it, becau&s;e our Saviour pro|mi&s;eth a Table in heaven; not to tho&s;e who heard, nor tho&s;e who followed; but to tho&s;e <HI>who continued with him in his temptations.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 22.28.</NOTE></P>
<P>Walk therefore &s;trait on, <HI>turn not to the right hand, nor to the left;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 5.32.</NOTE> de|&s;i&s;t not, but go on; proceed from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace; circle every pious and devout action with con&s;tancy, and you &s;hall be ble&s;&s;ed, you &s;hall be crowned; and carry this home with you, <HI>That there is nothing fit to be rewarded with Eternity, but Eternity.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="32" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="418" REF="215">
<HEAD>The Stability and Excellency of the Church.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>I&s;aiah 2.3, 4.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For out of <HI>Zion</HI> &s;hall go forth a Law, and the Word of the Lord from <HI>Hieru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P>And he &s;hall judge among the Nations, and &s;hall rebuke many peo|ple, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>IT is mo&s;t certain that every thing is then be&s;t known, when the cau&s;e is &s;earch'd. Before we have heard of the rare zeal, love, and charity of Gods people one to another, in calling and exhorting one the other to the &s;er|vice of God; as al&s;o of their readine&s;s and alacrity to be taught by God, and being taught, to walk in his wayes and paths; excellent qualities the&s;e are, and that we admire the le&s;s, our Prophet goes on, and I being led by his hand, to &s;et down the Cau&s;es whence &s;uch admirable effects did flow, which are two; the fir&s;t external, or without; the publication of the Law in Mount <HI>Zion:</HI> The other internal, that works within, the impul&s;e, or conviction of the Spirit; for from him is this judgement, this rebuke.</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t Rea&s;on we are to con&s;ider,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The place from whence, <HI>Zion, Hieru&s;alem.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That which proceeds from thence, <HI>the Law, the Word,</HI> &amp;c.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The <HI>Exit</HI> of it; <HI>Inde emanat, &s;ed non manet.</HI> When it came from thence, it took its leave, and from that day to this re|turned not to the Temple.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Out of <HI>Zion,</HI> from <HI>Hieru&s;alem.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>Zion</HI> was fir&s;t a Fort of the <HI>Jebu&s;ites,</HI> which <HI>David</HI> took from them, and therein erected a &s;trong hold,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 5.7. 2 Chron. 3.1.</NOTE> and <HI>Solomon</HI> after built the Temple; &s;o that it was both <HI>Sedes Regni &amp; Sacrarii,</HI> as is evident by <HI>Davids</HI> words, <HI>He,</HI> i. e. <HI>God refu&s;ed the Tabernacle of</HI> Jo&s;eph, <HI>and cho&s;e not the Tribe of Ephra|im;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 78.67, 68.</NOTE> <HI>but cho&s;e the Tribe of</HI> Judah, <HI>the Mount</HI> Zion, <HI>which he loved, and there he built his Sanctuary,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Hieru&s;alem</HI> was the City of God, and <HI>Zion</HI> was within the Walls; both are a type of the Church of Chri&s;t. And the Church is then like&s;t to flouri&s;h, <HI>when the Word of the Lord comes out of</HI> Salem,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 76.2.</NOTE> <HI>the City of peace, and is guarded by</HI> Zion, <HI>a Watch-tower, on who&s;e Forts the Prophets &s;tand upon their Watch,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 21.5, 8.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;hew</HI> quae &s;equenda, quae fugienda, <HI>What to flie, and what to follow.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e words of our Prophet were fir&s;t true in the letter; for no <HI>Jew</HI> can deny that the Apo&s;tles were bound to &s;tay at <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> till they had re|ceived power from on high to execute their Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Go and teach all Nations.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 24.47.</NOTE> There fir&s;t they were to begin; <HI>there to preach Repentance, and Re|mi&s;&s;ion of &s;in;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 1.8.</NOTE> <HI>to be witne&s;ses of Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection:</HI> Fir&s;t in <HI>Jeru&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lem,</HI> then in all <HI>Judea,</HI> after in <HI>Samaria;</HI> and la&s;tly, <HI>to the uttermo&s;t parts <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f the Earth.</HI> This was the order which they were to ob&s;erve in the publication of the Go&s;pel, from which they varied not a hairs breath, as is evide it in the &s;tory of their Acts, written by St. <HI>Luke.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.6. P&s;al. 110.2.</NOTE>Upon <HI>Zion</HI> it was that Chri&s;t was to be <HI>&s;et a King;</HI> there the Scepter, the Rod of power was to be put into his hand: And in that place he fir&s;t executed
<PB N="419" REF="215"> this his power, to which many of the <HI>Jewes stooped,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> 2.41. Acts 4.4.</NOTE> <HI>and readily did him homage.</HI> So fu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ly even to the very letter is this of our Prophet fulfilled, <HI>Out of</HI> Zion <HI>&s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll come forth a Law, and the Word of the Lord from</HI> Jeru&s;alem.</P>
<P><HI>Veritas non quaerit Angulos;</HI> Truth &s;eeks no Corners, it peeps not out of &s;ome ob&s;cure Hole, or clo&s;e Conventicle; &s;uch dark rece&s;&s;es are fit for Errour that is a&s;hamed, before it hath got power to &s;hew its head; for it is a work of darkne&s;s, and loves to work in &s;ome dark back room; clo&s;ely and &s;ecret|ly the whole practice mu&s;t be carried, that it may &s;teal into,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 28.1.</NOTE> and &s;teal the heart of the &s;imple un&s;een: Whereas <HI>Truth is as bold as a Lyon,</HI> it fears no face, it fears no Sun; it enters even the <HI>Metropolis</HI> of <HI>Judea,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.6.</NOTE> and will be fir&s;t pro|claimed in <HI>Zion.</HI> Here it was, that Chri&s;t was <HI>Unctus in Regem, Anointed or King;</HI> Here it was, <HI>where he would dye and ri&s;e.</HI> Here it was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 27. &amp; 28.</NOTE> <HI>that he would &s;end down the Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> yea, and at the <HI>Feast of Penteco&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.</NOTE> when there was the greate&s;t concour&s;e of people, that the work of mans Redem|ption, and the Apo&s;tles Commi&s;&s;ion to publi&s;h it, might be openly known; for indeed &s;o great matters were not fit to be ob&s;curely carried, &s;toll'n as it were, and done <HI>in a corner.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 26.26.</NOTE></P>
<P>That Objection then of <HI>Cel&s;us</HI> the Heathen again&s;t the Chri&s;tian Religion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen. lib. <HI>6.</HI> adver&s;. Cel&s;um.</NOTE> was ridiculous. <HI>If</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>your God intended this way you &s;peak of, to deliver man from mi&s;ery,</HI> Quid ita in unum Angulum mi&s;it i&s;tum, quem jactatis, Spiritum? <HI>Why did he &s;end this Spirit, which you boa&s;t of, into one Corner?</HI> But what now is <HI>Zion</HI> become a Corner? Is <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> which was the glory of the whole Earth, a little Angle? Either &s;ure the man wanted mat|ter to object, or el&s;e was very ignorant, that could put no di&s;tinction betwixt <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> and a Corner: For here it was the&s;e things were done, and here they were fitte&s;t to be done; in &s;uch a place, to &s;uch a people;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 16.22.</NOTE> to whom all that was to be done, <HI>was foretold by the Prophets;</HI> that &s;o, when what they expected, came to pa&s;s, they might the ea&s;ilier be per&s;waded to believe; this is in effect the an&s;wer given by <HI>Origen</HI> to that virulent Caviler; and it is &s;o true, and &s;o full, that there needs no more to be added to it.</P>
<P N="2">2. I leave then the letter, and come to the my&s;tery; <HI>Zion</HI> and <HI>Hieru&s;a|lem</HI> are confe&s;&s;ed to be Types of the Catholick Church. In this Chri&s;t reigns as a King, and con&s;equently having in his hands a Legi&s;lative power, he hath enacted Laws; for he commanded the Decalogue to be ob&s;erved, he confirmed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 19. Matth. 5. Matth. 26.26. &amp; 28.19. John 20.23.</NOTE> explained, and perfected this Law; he decreed new Laws to be ob&s;erved, &s;o long as his Kingdom &s;hould continue; &s;hew'd upon what conditions &s;alvation was to be had; in&s;tituted new Sacraments; gave the power of the Keyes; ap|pointed Officers under him to u&s;e them; &s;o that the exerci&s;e of the whole Church Law is in <HI>Zion,</HI> and the power to execute it, proceeds meerly from him, which is King in <HI>Zion,</HI> our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="3">3. And that we may take the better notice of it, and the more readily obey it; that which in the fir&s;t Clau&s;e of this Ver&s;e, is called <HI>a Law,</HI> is the la&s;t <HI>Verbum Domini, the Wo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d of the Lord: The Gospel then came not from man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.11, 12.</NOTE> <HI>nor by man.</HI> Many Law-givers, that they might obtain the greater regard, and veneration to their Laws, were wont to tell the people that they received them from &s;ome God or other. <HI>Mynias,</HI> the Law-giver of the <HI>Egyptians,</HI> gave out, that he was taught his Laws from <HI>Mercury. Minos,</HI> of the <HI>Cretians,</HI> from <HI>Jupiter. Lycurgus,</HI> of the <HI>Lacedemonians,</HI> from <HI>Apollo. Solon</HI> of the <HI>A|thenians,</HI> by <HI>Minerva; Zamolxis,</HI> of the <HI>Getes,</HI> by <HI>Ve&s;ta. Numa Pom|pilius,</HI> of the <HI>Romans,</HI> by <HI>Egena.</HI> All the&s;e were but Fictions; yet well it was, that they all agreed in this, that there was no Law &s;o binding among men, as that which hath Divinity &s;tamped upon it; and indeed all humane Laws can call for obedience no farther than they are con&s;onant to the Divine;
<PB N="420" REF="216"> this may, and doth; obedience it exacts in all things; for <HI>it is the Word of the Lord,</HI> that Lord which had ab&s;olute power to command.</P>
<P>And there is great Rea&s;on we yield him this power, this right, and title of a Law-giver; for el&s;e he having planted a Common-wealth, and Church; and if he had not had power to bind them by Law and Con&s;cience to his Ordinan|ces, his Subjects might refu&s;e to obey; and &s;o he had been inferiour to other Princes, and more di&s;orders and confu&s;ions be brought into his Church, than into any other Kingdom or Common-wealth; to prevent which, he hath left a Law in <HI>Zion,</HI> by which he will have his people governed; and that there be the greater Authority and Dignity in it, and the more awfulne&s;s and obedi|ence in us unto it, every &s;yllable in it, is <HI>&V;erbum Domini;</HI> for the mouth of the Lord hath &s;poken it. <HI>He will teach,</HI> &s;ay the&s;e people, <HI>and he hath taught us his wayes.</HI></P>
<P>In the Jewi&s;h polity he left them not without a Law; but that came from Mount <HI>Sinai,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 20.</NOTE> to which none but <HI>Mo&s;es and Aaron might a&s;cend;</HI> but this out of Mount <HI>Zion,</HI> to which all Nations might have acce&s;s; <HI>that Law gen|d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">reth to bondage,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.24.</NOTE> it wrought an affection of fear, it begot only &s;ervants to God; but this Law from <HI>Zion,</HI> is the Law of liberty, it works an affection of love, and brings forth &s;ons: That Law being not performed, left a man under the wrath of God, horror of con&s;cience, guilt of &s;in and hell. This offers more grace, for being not punctually ob&s;erved, but indeavoured, and lamen|ted, when broken, frees the penitent Offender from condemnation and pu|ni&s;hment.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 15.10. Lev. 18.5. Rom. 1.17. Gal. 3.2.</NOTE> <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> hands were heavy, and Magi&s;terially commanded, <HI>Do this, and live;</HI> but Chri&s;ts yoke is ea&s;ier by far, <HI>Believe, and live; Mo&s;es</HI> laid upon us his Law, and afforded no help; but Chri&s;ts with his Law, gives us <HI>of his Spirit,</HI> that we may &s;erve him without fear. In <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Law we hear of no pardon; in this of Chri&s;ts, <HI>Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed then be the day, when this Law came out of Mount <HI>Zion,</HI> &s;ince without it we had been in a mo&s;t mi&s;erable condition,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.26.</NOTE> ca&s;t away and lo&s;t every mothers &s;on of us; but now <HI>Hieru&s;alem, which is above, is the Mother of us all: Hieru&s;alem</HI> is a Type of the Catholick Church, of which in the Creed there be three Pro|perties, and three Prerogatives. Her properties are holy, Catholick, knit in a Communion: Her Prerogatives are forgivene&s;s of &s;in, re&s;urrection of the body, life everla&s;ting. The word above in St. <HI>Paul</HI> doth intimate &s;he is ho|ly; <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> and Mother, that &s;he is knit in a Communion; in that &s;he is mother of us all, it &s;hews her to be Catholick; in that a free-woman, and her children heirs, implies <HI>forgivene&s;s of &s;ins, re&s;urrection of the body, and life everla&s;ting.</HI></P>
<P N="1"><MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="U&s;e"> 1. But what tell you us of Law? &s;ay &s;ome Noveli&s;ts. We live under the Go&s;pel, and is it po&s;&s;ible the Go&s;pel &s;hould have any Law-points in it? At the very name of the Law they look thus &s;trangely, and are offended with tho&s;e who preach it. They for&s;ooth <HI>are not under the Law,</HI> but <HI>under Grace;</HI> they <HI>are led by the Spirit;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.15. 2 Cor. 3.17. Gal. 5&punc; 13. 1 Kings 1.50.</NOTE> and <HI>where th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Spirit of God is, there is liberty;</HI> and <HI>being call'd to liberty, under the Law they are not.</HI> Thus, as <HI>A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">onijah,</HI> though guilty of Trea&s;on again&s;t <HI>Solomon,</HI> yet as if he had been very religious, <HI>fled to the Horns of the Altar;</HI> &s;o do the&s;e <HI>Antimonians,</HI> who have Go&s;pel'd it &s;o long, till they have evacuated the whole Chri&s;tian law; though they con|&s;pire again&s;t the Truth, yet flie to the Truth of the Go&s;pel, for protecti|on of their Villany;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Irenae.</NOTE> be&s;etting their Foxes Head with the&s;e precious Pearls.</P>
<P>The Chri&s;tian is not indeed under the Law, that is, &s;o under it that he ex|pects Ju&s;tification by it, that mu&s;t be had by grace offer'd in the Go&s;pel; <HI>What then?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.15.</NOTE> <HI>Is he not under it, to obey it? God forbid,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle. A
<PB N="421" REF="216"> Chri&s;tian is led by the Spirit, taught by the Spirit, to do his whole duty as a &s;on by love, not as a &s;lave fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> fear; and con&s;equently not under the terrour and penalty of the Law; but wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t hence follow, that he is not under it to ob&s;erve and keep it? A Chri&s;t an is call'd to liberty; is a free-man, <HI>liber quod liberatus</HI> free, becau&s;e freed by Chri&s;t, freed from the dominion of &s;in, freed from the condemnation of the Law; will it fol ow theref<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.1, 2.</NOTE> that he is freed from the Obligation? becau&s;e he is freed fr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m the penal part of the L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">w, that therefore he is freed from the directive? that he may live as he li&s;t, and performe no obedience to God or man? From <HI>Hell</HI> this opinion fir&s;t came, and thither let it return, which hath been the bane of all good works, the corruption of manners, the mother of Rebellion and Di&s;obedience, and the eternal &s;hame of Chri&s;tianity.</P>
<P>The Apo&s;tle was impatient to hear of &s;uch a thought,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.31.</NOTE> and therefore he doth abominate the very conceit; <HI>What,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>though I have proved, that man cannot be ju&s;tified by the Law? do we therefore make void the Law through faith? God forbid: yea, we e&s;tabli&s;h the Law.</HI> And this was con|&s;onant to the Commi&s;&s;ion our Saviour gave his Di&s;ciples,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.19, 20.</NOTE> when he &s;ent them to preach, <HI>Go and preach the Go&s;pel to all Nations, teaching them to ob|&s;erve the things that I have commanded you.</HI> Lo here is Commandments to be preached, and here is ob&s;erving required. So the Go&s;pel con&s;i&s;ts not only of certain Articles to be believ'd, but of certain commands al&s;o to be ob|&s;erved.</P>
<P>The Ceremonial Law is abrogated and vani&s;h'd;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.2.</NOTE> for it was <HI>a &s;hadow on|ly of good things to come;</HI> and the &s;ub&s;tance of all tho&s;e Sacrifices and Rites being exhibited, 'twere to no purpo&s;e to retain it. From this Law we are free, and to require it, is in effect to affirm, that the Me&s;&s;iah is not come. Again&s;t tho&s;e who pre&s;&s;ed the nece&s;&s;ary ob&s;ervatio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> of it under the Go&s;pel, Sain<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>Paul</HI> be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ds his forces in the Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Galatians:</HI> This is the liberty he princi|pally means.</P>
<P>The Judicials, as they contain certain principals which agree with the Law of Nature, &s;o they may be taken up again by any Nation if they plea&s;e, but are not of nece&s;&s;ity to be required.</P>
<P>But the Moral Law, is that Law of Nature expre&s;&s;ed and written by the finger of God in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he two Tables of Stone, that teacheth what is to be done, what left undone by all men. This requires ab&s;olute, entire, eterna<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> obedi|ence. This is a part of the Go&s;pel, that Law which came out of <HI>Zion,</HI> and it mu&s;t be declared. This is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ogated and done away &s;o far, that the breach thereof &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll not be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ble to condemn any man that is in Chri&s;t. But if any man <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">udge that he is not bound to ob&s;erve it, and keep it, he is a deceiver, and is dece<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">v'd; he is no better than an Anti-chri&s;t. For the words of Chri&s;t are y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t extant, <HI>If thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments.</HI> And,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19. Mat. 5.17, 18.</NOTE> that we be not to &s;eek what Commandments he means, they are extant in that place. And again, <HI>Th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Son of man came not to d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;troy the Law, but</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>to fill it up.</HI> And addes, <HI>&V;erily I &s;ay unto you, till heaven and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">arth pa&s;s, one <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ot and one tittle &s;hall in no wi&s;e pa&s;s from the Law, till all be fulfill d;</HI> and after in the &s;ame Chapter interprets the Law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 22, 28, 32, 34.</NOTE> and impo&s;eth it upon the hearts of all his in this &s;olemn form, <HI>Amen,</HI> ego dico, <HI>Verily I &s;ay un<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o you.</HI></P>
<P>This is the rule of our lives. This is the rule of all ju&s;tice. This &s;hews us our mi&s;erable condition. It accu&s;eth. It wounds and mortifieth. It &s;hames, and makes &s;ad. It excites to obedience.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5. Luke 10. Mat. 19. Luke 1.74.</NOTE> And therefore the &s;ound of the Law ought &s;till to come out of <HI>Zion.</HI> The Covenant for &s;alvation runs thus, <HI>That being &s;aved, we &s;erve;</HI> and that can never be, except the Law be preach'd. Sick &s;ouls men have, and healed they will never be without repen|tance;
<PB N="422" REF="217"> and repent they cannot, till they be convicted for &s;inners; and what &s;o proper to convict men as the Law?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.34.</NOTE> The good <HI>Samaritane,</HI> that cured the wounded man, <HI>poured in wine and oyle; wine</HI> to &s;earch, and <HI>oyle</HI> to heal. Both the&s;e mu&s;t be u&s;ed in the recovery of a &s;inner. Oyle only, the oyle of the Go&s;pel, will heal and skin too fa&s;t; corrupt and dead fle&s;h there is, and the wine, the &s;harp wine of the Law, much &s;earch and eat out that, or el&s;e there never will be a perfect cure. It is a great madne&s;s for men to conceive, that the Go&s;pel is only <HI>Lex fidei,</HI> the Law of Faith; there is in it <HI>Lex fa|ctorum,</HI> the Law of Works al&s;o; and though the&s;e may not be heard to &s;peak in the Court of Ju&s;tification, yet in the Court of Sanctification they bear a great &s;way, and the Plea there admitted being brought into the Court of Ju|&s;tice, &s;hall be heard; and be &s;o powerful, that no man &s;hall be acquitted be|fore he bring with him this Te&s;timonial of his Holine&s;s and Saint-&s;hip. Do we then make void the Law? or the works that the Law requires? God for|bid that any man &s;hould think &s;o, or &s;ay &s;o. Let then the &s;ick-brain <HI>Antino|mian</HI> run his Wildgoo&s;e cha&s;e, let the foul-mouth'd <HI>Campian</HI> and <HI>Kelli&s;on</HI> &s;ay their plea&s;ure, <HI>Calvin</HI> and <HI>Luther,</HI> and the Reformed Churches ac|knowledge Chri&s;t <HI>the Lord our Law-giver,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 33.22.</NOTE> and enjoyn, and will endeavour to keep the Law that came out of <HI>Zion</HI> as &s;trictly as any <HI>Romani&s;t.</HI></P>
<P N="2"><MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="U&s;e"> 2. But when we preach the Law, may we reade out of it what Lectures we plea&s;e? Not &s;o neither: For we mu&s;t remember the Law that we are to preach on, is, <HI>Verbum Domini</HI> here, <HI>The Word of the Lord.</HI> And there|fore we mu&s;t keep our &s;elves to the words of our Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>I have not spo|ken of my &s;elf,</HI> &s;aith our Saviour; <HI>he which &s;ent me, he gave me a Com|mandment what I &s;hould &s;ay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 12.49, 50.</NOTE> <HI>and what I &s;hould &s;peak; what&s;oever there|fore I speak, even as the Father &s;aid to me &s;o I &s;peak.</HI> The Son of God ties him&s;elf to the pre&s;cript Rule in his preaching, which God gave him, <HI>of him that &s;ent him;</HI> and &s;o punctually fulfill'd the prophe&s;ie, <HI>I will preach the Law,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 2.7.</NOTE> <HI>whereof the Lord &s;aid unto me:</HI> And &s;hall they then, who are his Mini&s;ters and Servants, dare to bring into his Church, and preach a doctrine, and publi&s;h in his name, which he never &s;poke?</P>
<P>He is an Impo&s;tour, no true Legate, Servant, or Emba&s;&s;adour, who de|livers under his Princes name that which he hath not in command. <HI>Balaam,</HI> no not <HI>Balaam</HI> would do it. For this hireling &s;aid to <HI>Balak, Lo I am come unto thee;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Num 22.38.</NOTE> <HI>have I any power at all to &s;ay any thing? the Word that God puts in my mouth, that &s;hall I &s;peak?</HI> And this was the form u&s;ed by the Prophets of Old; every prophe&s;ie they &s;ealed with the&s;e authorative and Maje&s;tical words, <HI>Haec loquutus Dominus, It is our Lord, and your Lord, not we poor men, that speak unto you.</HI></P>
<P>When our Saviour &s;ent his Di&s;ciples to preach, he left them not at large to publi&s;h their own conceits and imaginations, but tied them in expre&s;s words to deliver his commands, <HI>Go and preach, and teach men to ob&s;erve what&s;oever I have commanded, strictly, what I have commanded.</HI> For the greate&s;t Emba&s;&s;adour that ever yet God employ'd, was but <HI>Vox clamantis,</HI> a voice,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.3. Job 33.23.</NOTE> an eccho, who&s;e property is to return what is before &s;poken; He is but an Interpreter, and an Interpreter is only to give the true &s;ence of his Au|thour; he may not make him &s;peak what and as he plea&s;eth. If any man &s;peak then, let him &s;peak both the Word of God, and as the Word of God: The Word of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.3, 4. 2 Pet. 1.20. 2 Cor. 3.12. 2 Pet. 3.16.</NOTE> that which God hath fir&s;t &s;poken; <HI>for no Scripture is of private interpretation:</HI> And as the Word, in &s;o much plainne&s;s, &s;incerity, and &s;ilene&s;s of heart, that he do never <GAP DESC="foreign">, torture it, and &s;et it on the Rack, and writh, and wre&s;t it, till it &s;peak according to his own Heart.</P>
<PB N="423" REF="217">
<P>Now were this Rule ob&s;erv'd, the Church would not be troubled with &s;o many &s;trange <HI>Chimera's.</HI> Men would never ca&s;t a&s;ide the Word of the Lord; never think that they mi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> come to that perfection, that they needed no Or|dinances, no M ni&s;try, no Sacraments. Preachers would come with more reverence and fear into this place, and not babble and vomit up what lies uppermo&s;t. You &s;hould hear nothing from their lips, but what your own con&s;ciences would a&s;&s;ent to &s;o &s;oon as heard, That it is the Word of the Lord.</P>
<P>Dubious and perplex'd Texts would never be produced for proof of their own thoughts, nor yet unnece&s;&s;ary points, and perhaps fal&s;ehoods taught for Truths. He that remembers who&s;e me&s;&s;enger he is, and in who&s;e Name he &s;peaks, and by what Rule he is to &s;peak, will never rove at the &s;ence, but be able demon&s;tratively to prove to you, that this is that which God hath &s;po|ken, without which certain knowledge, he may through ignorance obtrude upon you, in&s;tead of Truth, his own fancies. It is the God of Truth who hath &s;ent him, if he be &s;ent at all: It is the God of heaven, who&s;e Interpreter he &s;hould be: It is his Word that &s;hould be his Rule; and dare he then bring down the God of heaven, the God of truth, and make him the Author of a lye? dare he &s;ay, that his mouth hath &s;poken that, which never came into his mind?</P>
<P>I want words to expre&s;s the greatne&s;s of this &s;in, the boldne&s;s and impie|ty of the&s;e men. Brethren, I am full of infirmities, but I would not be wit|tingly guilty of this wickedne&s;s, for that which the Divel offer'd our Saviour;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 4.9.</NOTE> Know therefore, that according to the Talent that God hath given me, I have opened only unto you the whole Will of God; I have conceal'd nothing from you, that I held nece&s;&s;ary for your &s;alvation. So near as I could appre|hend, I have trode in my Ma&s;ters &s;teps, taught you that which hath been taught me.</P>
<P>Continue therefore in this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.14.</NOTE> and be not carried about with every winde of doctrine. This blows from Mount <HI>Zion;</HI> what is contrary to it from Mount <HI>Seir:</HI> This from <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> that other from <HI>Babel.</HI> The effect of both we have liv'd to &s;ee. Wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">le there was ear given to the Law out of <HI>Zion,</HI> and to the Lord that &s;poke out of <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 96.6.</NOTE> there was the beauty of holine&s;s in our Temples, Orthodox truth in our Doctrines, reverence in our A&s;&s;emblies, har|mony and unity in our Confe&s;&s;ions, power in our Di&s;cipline, peace and love in our Territories. But &s;ince Ordinances have been created in Mount <HI>Seir,</HI> and a Fort hath been rai&s;ed again&s;t the Mount of the daughter of <HI>Zion,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 10.32.</NOTE> the h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll of <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> we have heard of nothing but confu&s;ion, unhallowed de|formity, lyes and errours, irreverence, licenciou&s;ne&s;s, di&s;cord, di&s;&s;en&s;ion, malice, and hatred, in Church and Common-wealth. Neither is there any hope it will be otherwi&s;e, till the Law again come out of <HI>Zion,</HI> and the Lord may be heard to &s;peak from <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI> For it is not a Parlour of <HI>Am&s;ter|dam,</HI> that may be held fit to give a Law to the whole body of Chri&s;tians; nor a Colluvies of illiterate Noveli&s;ts who may pre&s;cribe rules of life and do|ctrine to the Catholick Church. That by which it is to be guided in both, mu&s;t proceed from a cleerer Spring, from a more Authentique fountain; our Prophet tells us to that purpo&s;e,
<Q>Out of Zion &s;hall go forth a Law.</Q></P>
<P>Now <HI>Zion</HI> is the Catholick Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 16.13. Mat. 28, 20. Joh. 14.16. Mat. 16.18. 1 Tim. 3.15.</NOTE> to which Chri&s;t hath given his Spi|rit, <HI>which &s;hall guide her into all truth;</HI> to whom he hath promi&s;ed his <HI>pre|&s;ence, and to be with her unto the end of the world; again&s;t whom</HI> (for we have his Word for &s;ecurity) <HI>the gates of Hell &s;hall never prevail,</HI> &s;he be|ing
<PB N="424" REF="218"> the ground and pillar of truth; a pillar to hold out, and a &s;tay to uphold and &s;upport the truth.</P>
<P>In this Church are to be found tho&s;e excellent Rules and Helps for Faith and good life; tho&s;e means, by the ob&s;ervation of which, Chri&s;tian men may procure &s;alvation. Here is to be found the truth of Religion, and the certainty thereof: Here the Oracles of God, and right interpretation of tho&s;e Oracles: Here the power of the Keys, and a perpetual &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of Prie&s;ts, to who&s;e hands that power was committed: Here are the &s;eals of the Cove|nant, unity of Faith and Doctrine, the Communion of Saints, pardon and grace offered to &s;inners. In a word, warrant and &s;ecurity is here alone to be found from all errours in fundamental points, which are nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvati|on. But then this power of not erring is not to be conceiv'd, as if it were in the Church <HI>prim&ograve; &amp; per &s;e,</HI> from any thing inherent in it &s;elf: For the Church is con&s;tituted of men; and all men as men may erre: But by a pre|rogative acquired, that is by the promi&s;e of Chri&s;t, <HI>that his Spirit &s;hall lead into all truth;</HI> Be&s;ides, to teach oherwi&s;e, as our Learned and Acute Arch-Bi&s;hop of <HI>Canterbury</HI> in his an&s;wer to <HI>Fi&s;her,</HI> hath ob&s;erv'd, will impeach the Article of the Creed concerning the Holy Catholique Church;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sect. 21. Num. 5.</NOTE> who&s;e ho|line&s;s con&s;i&s;ts as much, if not more, in the verity of Faith, as in the integri|ty of manners. So that if &s;he can erre either from the foundation, or in it, &s;he can be no longer Holy, and that Article of the Creed is gone. For if the can erre quite from the foundation, then &s;he is nor holy, nor Church, but be|comes an Infidel.</P>
<P>To that que&s;tion then &s;o much vex'd among Divines, whether the Church can erre? the An&s;wer mu&s;t be, fir&s;t, by di&s;tingui&s;hing this Notion the <HI>Church;</HI> then by reflecting upon the Object or Matter in which the Errour may lie.</P>
<P><HI>The Church</HI> is a very ambiguous term: For the Catholique Church con|tains not only the whole Militant Church on earth, but the whole Triumph|ant in Heaven; of this la&s;t the que&s;tion is not mov'd, for in that in Heaven there can be no errour. The doubt is about the Militant. Now this is again to be con&s;ider'd in the whole body, or any part of this body, which we call particular Churches; as the Church of <HI>Rome, Greece, Ephe&s;us,</HI> and the like. And no man can doubt, or ever did doubt, till of late the Je&s;uite, that they may and have err'd. But for the whole body of the Militant Church, we wil|lingly acknowledge that &s;he is Holy, though in a farre lower degree than the Triumphant, and affirm that &s;he erres not. But then this al&s;o mu&s;t have its limitation according to the object or matter, becau&s;e this freedom from er|rour mu&s;t not be extended further than Chri&s;t hath promi&s;ed to defend his Church.</P>
<P>The&s;e Objects of Faith are the prime Articles or foundations of our Chri|&s;tian Religion, and from the&s;e the whole Church on earth &s;hall not at once make an univer&s;al defection, or do any thing by which they &s;hall cea&s;e to be a Church. But be&s;ides the&s;e, there be many other &s;uper&s;tructures and dedu|ctions, many by and unnece&s;&s;ary points, and that her curio&s;ity, or other weakne&s;s carry her beyond, or cau&s;e her to fall &s;hort of her Rule, her Law that comes from <HI>Zion,</HI> in the&s;e no man need doubt. The&s;e errours that are of a meaner allay, take not Holine&s;s from the Church; but tho&s;e which are dy|ed in grain cannot con&s;i&s;t with Holine&s;s, of which the faith in Chri&s;t is the foundation.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Scultet. in loc.</NOTE><HI>Scultetus</HI> wittily asks upon this place, <HI>Quanti redimeret locum i&s;tum Papa?</HI> What would not the Pope give, could he but have found it here writ|ten, <HI>The Law &s;hall come <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ut of</HI> Rome, <HI>and the Word of the Lord from the Tarpeian hill.</HI> But &s;ince that cannot be found by expo&s;ition, it &s;hall be made
<PB N="425" REF="218"> good; for <HI>Rome</HI> &s;hall be made <HI>Zion,</HI> and the <HI>Tarpeian hill</HI> the Catholique Church; and the Word of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ord, the word of the Lord God the Pope; no Word of the Lord but that he doth Canonize; no interpretation or &s;en&s;e of Scr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">pture allow'd, which he will not admit; no Act of any Council firm, till he approve it. Which if it be not <HI>to &s;it in the Temple of God as God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;&s;. 2.4.</NOTE> let all wi&s;e men judge.</P>
<P>Is it po&s;&s;ible, that men otherwi&s;e wi&s;e and learned, &s;hould conceive the whole and a part &s;hould be all one? or that the <HI>Romane</HI> and <HI>Catholique</HI> &s;hould be convertible terms? or that property which belongs to the whole as the adaequate &s;ubject, &s;hould be Attributed to every part? This is all one, as if one &s;hould call an Arme a man, and Attribute to that Arme rea&s;on, which belongs to the &s;ame man. The ca&s;e is the &s;elf-&s;ame; for <HI>Rome</HI> at be&s;t can be b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t a part of the Catholique Church; and the priviledge belonging to this, can no further belong to that, then as it is a part. And if that priviledge was limited and re&s;train'd to the whole, it may not without that limitation and re|&s;triction be granted to any part.</P>
<P>Suppo&s;e then &s;he were, as &s;he layes her claim, infallible, and could not erre; yet it might not be further extended or granted than fundamentals, or doctrines ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, becau&s;e the promi&s;e of <HI>a&s;&s;i&s;tance,</HI> and Chri&s;ts <HI>pre&s;ence</HI> to the Univer&s;al Church is a&s;&s;ured no further. In her &s;e|condary objects of Faith, in her conclu&s;ions drawn from the fir&s;t principles yet &s;he may be much mi&s;taken, becau&s;e &s;he can have no more a&s;&s;urance of in|fallibility in the&s;e, than any other particular Church, to whom the promi&s;e primarily and ab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">olutely was not made. The Laws that come out of <HI>Zion,</HI> will be of undoubted truth, and infallibility, &s;o that a&s;&s;urance be given they be the Laws of <HI>Zion;</HI> a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d to all other that come from thence, great venera|tion, &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, and obedience yielded, &s;o that they be con&s;onant to that prime Law. The names &s;hall not offend, nor yet affright any &s;ober man, whether the Church &s;hall propo&s;e them or impo&s;e them, as Acts of Coun|cils, Decrees, Con&s;titutions, Canons, Traditions, or under any other Title.</P>
<P>For it is known we admit of Traditions, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> whether Ritual, Hi&s;torical,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>White.</HI> Orthod. c. 4. part 3. Sect. 1.</NOTE> or Doctrinal; yet with the&s;e two Cautions.</P>
<P N="1">1. That they be <GAP DESC="foreign">, agree with the written Word of God.</P>
<P N="2">2. That they have the Te&s;timony of the Church in the prime Age there|of, and de&s;cend to our dayes by an unterrupted &s;ucce&s;&s;ion in the Catholique Church; but <HI>pari pietatis affecta,</HI> to receive them with equal veneration with the Scriptures, or relie upon them for as firm a direction for our Faith or good life, as upon that which we know to be the Rule, we dare not, be|cau&s;e they fall far &s;hort of tho&s;e conditions, which are required in that which in this ca&s;e ought to be the Rule.</P>
<P>There is but one Faith by which men attain &s;alvation; to which is requi|red a firm a&s;&s;ent of the mind; and to this the mind will never a&s;&s;ent, till it be inform'd by a Rule, which mu&s;t have the&s;e five properties.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, It mu&s;t be infallible, and mo&s;t undoubtedly certain; for other|wi&s;e the Faith built upon it might deceive.</P>
<P>Secondly, It mu&s;t be plaine and ea&s;ie to all &s;orts of men, which u&s;e the meanes, are diligent in attending it, and to whom God gives eyes to &s;ee it.</P>
<P>Thirdly, It mu&s;t be Univer&s;al, that it in&s;truct, not in &s;ome only, but in all points of Faith that are nece&s;&s;ary to be known, to make the man of God perfect.</P>
<PB N="426" REF="219">
<P>Fourthly, It mu&s;t be equal, even, and impartial; not more inclined to favor one &s;ide than another.</P>
<P>Fifthly, It mu&s;t carry with it power and Authority &s;ufficient to convince the con&s;cience, and from which there lies no appeal. All which properties becau&s;e they in perfection belong only to the Law that came out of <HI>Zion,</HI> it remains that that Law alone be the Rule of our Faith to which we are to a&s;|&s;ent, upon which we mu&s;t fully relye with a&s;&s;urance and per&s;wa&s;ion. I know what is brought by the <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> to the contrary; but any man who is de&s;i|rous to &s;ee their Sophi&s;try and Cavils fully An&s;wered, may peru&s;e the begin|ning of Dr. <HI>John White</HI>'s way of the Church, which at this time I will not tran&s;cribe, becau&s;e I ha&s;ten to a Conclu&s;ion, and &s;hall have an apt opportunity to enlarge my &s;elf on this point in another place.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>CONCL&V;SION.</HEAD>
<P>Doth this Law come out of <HI>Zion?</HI> is it the Word of the Lord from <HI>Je|ru&s;alem?</HI> then it behoves us to be thankful unto him for it, &s;ince <HI>it is the power of God unto &s;alvation to every one that believes;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.16.</NOTE> <HI>to the Jew first, and al&s;o to the Greek.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chem. exam. Concil. Trid. cap. de Script. Can.</NOTE> This is the Canon, or perpendicular by which all the <HI>Architects</HI> in the Hou&s;e of God are to examine every &s;tone they put into the building, and by it to judge how they bedd and knit, that none jut out too farre, nor any fall too &s;hort, le&s;t it deform and weaken their work. This is the Canon or tongue of the Balance, which &s;hews the equal poy&s;e of the Scales upon an even &s;tand, by which all that will teach mu&s;t weigh their do|ctrines, and not put in &s;uch &s;tuffe of their own as will encline the &s;cale as they plea&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. de Bap. contra Donat. l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> Let us not u&s;e fal&s;e balances, &s;aith St. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> into which we may ca&s;t what we li&s;t, and as we li&s;t; making men believe this is heavy, and that is light. <HI>Sed afferamus divinam &s;tateram de Scripturis &s;anctis,</HI> But let us bring forth Gods balance out of the Holy Scriptures, and let us put to it what is heavy, or rather let us put nothing to it, well knowing, that what is weighty, is put there already by God.</P>
<P>God be ble&s;&s;ed then, that he him&s;elf hath left us this Canon to build by, this Balance of the Sanctuary to weigh by; which if we u&s;e as we ought, we &s;hall quickly di&s;cern what's crooked, what's &s;trait in Gods building; what's light, what's heavy, and of ju&s;t weight among the Wares that are &s;et abroad at this day. And if the Heathens thought they could never render &s;ufficient thanks to the Authours of their Laws, which yet did but continue them, and pre&s;erve them &s;afe in a civil Society: what thanks can be too great for our good Lord, who hath left us his Law to direct us <HI>in Credendis &amp; Agendis,</HI> by which, were heed given to him and it, men would be pre&s;erv'd in the Com|munion of Saints!</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Lex,</HI> &s;aith the Oratour, had its name <HI>&agrave; Legendo,</HI> being propo&s;ed at fir&s;t in pillars or Tables that it might be read,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero. l. <HI>1.</HI> de Leg.</NOTE> and that then impo&s;eth this duty upon us, that we attend to reading. What then the voice from Heaven &s;aid to St. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> that I enjoyn you, <HI>Tolle &amp; lege, take up the Book and reade it,</HI> or at lea&s;t hear it read unto you. 'Tis too much pride to have a Law given by God, and not to vouch&s;afe to reade it. And if <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had that honour pre&s;erv'd to his Law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 13.27.</NOTE> that it was read in their Synagogues every Sabbath day, it mu&s;t needs be a di&s;honour to this Law that came out of <HI>Zion,</HI> that the reading of it is &s;o much neglected.</P>
<P N="3">3. But when we do read, it would be done with great circum&s;pection and much prudence; &s;ince the greate&s;t injury ari&s;eth, <HI>ex prava interpretatime legis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero. Off. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> by a wicked interpretation put upon any Law. We ought not then to think the Law a piece of Wax, upon which we may &s;et what &s;tamp we plea&s;e,
<PB N="427" REF="219"> <HI>Tantum veritati o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">strepit adulter &s;en&s;us, quantum corruptor &s;tylus:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. Apol.</NOTE> He adul|terates this Law, who humbles it to his own lu&s;t. <HI>Ye erre</HI> (&s;aith Chri&s;t to the Phari&s;ees) <HI>not knowing the Scriptures.</HI> I ask then, Did not the&s;e great Doctors know the Law? yes, yes, they were very great Textuaries,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 12.24.</NOTE> they knew <GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Chap er</HI> and <HI>Ver&s;e.</HI> The words they knew, but the &s;en&s;e they made, and this made <HI>them erre.</HI> That acute Advice then of <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> the great, to the Emperours Cook, that would have his finger in di&s;hing out of every Text, would not be forgotten by &s;uch &s;aucy Interpreters;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> <HI>Tuum e&s;t pul|menta curare, non divina eloquia de<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oquere.</HI> Hearty reverence and an humble &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion become the&s;e holy Writings of God, and not a bold and ungrounded Expo&s;ition. In all other Laws, we give leave to tho&s;e who are skilful, to expound and judge; and in this what &s;hould hinder, but the &s;ame equity &s;hould be ob&s;erved? <HI>He</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Hilary) is the be&s;t Reader, who ra|ther expects the under&s;tanding of things from the things them&s;elves,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hilar. de Trin. lib. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>than from him&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lf impo&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">th it upon them; who takes the Expo&s;ition from thence, rather than br<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ngs it thither; and fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ceth not the &s;en&s;e upon the words, which before his read|ing he pre&s;um'd: Let the Word of God dwell in you in all wi&s;dom:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 3.13.</NOTE> Now the fir&s;t part o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> wi&s;dom is, that you diligently read, and be very cautelous in the Expo|&s;ition of it.</P>
<P N="3">3. The next is, that when you have attained the true knowledge of it, you lay it up in a &s;afe place. <HI>Q<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ae p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">etio&s;a &s;unt, non uno ostio &s;ervantur;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Era&s;m.</HI> Ho&s;ea 8.12.</NOTE> one Door or Lock are too little to keep precious things. <HI>The Law of God is a Jewel;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Ruby, a precious thing; and therefore let it be kept as a precious jewel; not only under one door the lips, nor under only one guard the eyes; but let it be clo&s;ed up in the Cabinet and Trea&s;ury of a good and an hone&s;t heart.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 40.8.</NOTE></P>
<P>Even Hypocrites bring their hands and lips, and eyes, and ears, and knees,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 8.15.</NOTE> and conform them to Gods Law; he that &s;hould &s;ee them &s;tand before the Prophet, and hear their Prote&s;tations and Covenants, would take them for men very zealous of the Law of God, and the only Saints. Well then it is that <HI>David</HI> &s;ets this Character on a good man, That <HI>&V;oluntas ejus in lege Domini; his Will;</HI> for the Will is the great Commander of our Actions;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 1.2.</NOTE> it &s;its as a great Prince in the &s;oul, and directs the mouth, and ears, and eyes, and hands, and under&s;tanding, and all; upon obedience given to it, every Action is either good or bad: For nor God nor man looks &s;o much upon what is done, as with what Will it is done. Be it a foule offence, yet done again&s;t our Will, we draw a Fig-leaf over it, excu&s;e, and hide it; whereas if it be a le&s;&s;er matter, but wilfully, and maliciou&s;ly committed, we cry our, a pe&s;tilent Fellow, away with him. A&s;&s;ign your Will over to the ob&s;ervance of the Law of God, and you will be the readier to yield all. The under&s;tanding will follow the injunction laid upon it by the Will, the aff<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ctions will ea&s;ily encline to pro&s;ecute it, every part about you will be ob&s;equious, ready to &s;erve; in &s;erving, fall low to the Earth; and falling down, &s;peak with an humble voyce out of the du&s;t, <HI>Lord, here I am, What wilt thou have me to do?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9.6.</NOTE></P>
<P>And becau&s;e this man, who&s;e Will is thus &s;ubdued to the Law of the Lord, knows that the <HI>opus operatum,</HI> or the doing of the things of the Law, is not enough; therefore <HI>he &s;ets his delight in the Law of the Lord;</HI> for &s;o we read the fore-cited <HI>ver&s;e</HI> of the &s;ame, and well we may, &s;ince the Hebrew word <HI>Haphete,</HI> &s;ignifies not only the Will, but <HI>complacentiam, beneplacitum, de&s;iderium;</HI> that content and plea&s;ure which the Will takes in doing that which is com|manded. Thus it was to <HI>David, Thy te&s;timonies are my delight,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.14.</NOTE> <HI>and my Coun&s;ellours.</HI> There are two great benefits that commonly men de&s;ire, plea|&s;ure to refre&s;h them, and coun&s;el to govern them; and <HI>David</HI> found both
<PB N="436" REF="220"> in the Law of God, <HI>Delight</HI> in his pre&s;&s;ures, <HI>Coun&s;el</HI> in his per|plexities.</P>
<P>Make it then your delight to read, to under&s;tand, to ob&s;erve, and keep Gods Law;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> 'tis to a &s;oul delighted in it but a ligh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> burden, but an ea&s;ie yoke. <HI>Da amantem, &amp; &s;entiet quod dico;</HI> and then let it be of your coun&s;el; it was written to that end to direct you <HI>in Cultu, in Moribus;</HI> if you doubt how to &s;erve God, take coun&s;el from his Law, you &s;hall not erre; if you doubt what to do, take coun&s;el of this Law, y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u &s;hall not mi&s;take: Others Coun|&s;ellours may flatter, others deceive; this Book of the Law wil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> tell you the truth, and nothing but the truth; and therefore in all your doubts, both of Religion and Life, advi&s;e with it.</P>
<P><HI>Take heed therefore to keep the&s;e &s;tatutes,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Mo&s;es: Bind up the Te&s;timonies,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 4.6, 9.</NOTE> <HI>&s;eal the Law,</HI> &s;aith <HI>I&s;aiah. Search the Scriptures,</HI> &s;aith our Saviour:<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 8.16.</NOTE> <HI>Let Mo&s;es and the Prophets be heard,</HI> &s;aith Father <HI>Abraham</HI> to the damned &s;oul; hither <HI>Abraham, Mo&s;es, I&s;aiah</HI> and our Saviour &s;end us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.39.</NOTE> and hither let us go. The Rea&s;on of <HI>Multiplicata Al<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">aria,</HI> was, b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cau&s;e <HI>Gods Law was not heeded then;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.29. Ezek. 16.25.21, 51.</NOTE> and the true Rea&s;on of &s;o many Altars, &s;o many &s;everal &s;orts of Wor&s;hip at this day, is, becau&s;e there is li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tle or no regard of, little or no coun&s;el taken from, little or no <HI>delight in this Law of God that came out of Mount</HI> Zion.</P>
<P>That I may yet go one &s;tep farther, I will &s;uppo&s;e for the pre&s;ent, that your <HI>Will,</HI> that your <HI>Delight</HI> is &s;et in, and that you take your <HI>Coun&s;el from this Law;</HI> but then you mu&s;t give me leave to ask, whether the <HI>Formalis Ratio,</HI> the prime motive of this your <HI>delight,</HI> is, becau&s;e <HI>it is t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e Law out of</HI> Zion, <HI>and the Word of the Lord from Hieru&s;alem.</HI> Any man may <HI>love and del<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ght in the Law, Thou &s;halt not kill,</HI> out of a &s;elf-re&s;pect, becau&s;e by i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> his l fe is &s;ecur'd; or he may <HI>love the Law, Thou &s;halt not &s;teal,</HI> becau&s;e by it a Hedge is &s;et a|bout his Goods; the&s;e are Mercenary ends, and tread too much inward; God exacts another kind of love to his Law from us; deli<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ht we mu&s;t in it chiefly becau&s;e it is <HI>his Law,</HI> and con&s;equently conformable to that eternal ju&s;tice and righteou&s;ne&s;s that is in him. <HI>Idem velle, &amp; idem noll ea demum firma ami|citia:</HI> To will that which God wills, becau&s;e he wills i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">; and to nill that which he nills, becau&s;e he will not have it done, is that which will rai&s;e us to that high title of Gods friends, according to that of our Saviour, <HI>Ye are my Friends, if you &s;hall do what&s;oever I bid you.</HI></P>
<P N="4"><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 15.14.</NOTE>4. And when my eyes look't back upon the&s;e words of my Saviour, I found doing in them; <HI>Frie<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ds you are, if you do them;</HI> the words it &s;eems we read, mu&s;t be turned into Works; for 'tis to no purpo&s;e that the &s;ound of the Law doth tink in our ears, except the power of the Law be expre&s;&s;ed in our lives: For as meat that is chewed, and taken down avails not, except it be concocted and turned into blood; &s;o we ought to know that chirping upon, and chewing of the Law will do us no good, except we dige&s;t and convert the whol&s;ome precepts into good manners.<NOTE PLACE="marg">James 1.22.</NOTE> <HI>They are not the hearers of the Law, but the doers that &s;hall be ble&s;&s;ed.</HI> See then that your life be conformable to the Law of Faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">James 2.14.</NOTE> and let this Law regulate your life: For although <HI>you hold fa&s;t the &s; und Rule of Faith, and neglect the practice of it in your life, will this Faith &s;ave you?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 7.24, 25, 26.</NOTE> <HI>He that hears my words, and doth them,</HI> &s;aith our Ma&s;ter, <HI>he &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll be likened to a wi&s;e man; he layes his foundation on a Rock, and his Building is &s;trong; but he that lends his ear to hear, and &s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s not his hand to work, is like the fool; his hou&s;e is built on the &s;and, the wind blowes, and the rain de&s;c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nds, and beats upon his hou&s;e, and it falls about his ears, and great is the fall thereof.</HI></P>
<P>It was objected to the <HI>Athenians, Scire quae recta, &s;ed noll<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> facere;</HI> that they knew well what was to be done,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cato de Senect.</NOTE> but they would not do it; be not of
<PB N="437" REF="220"> this <HI>Athenian</HI> humour; but &s;ince you do, or at lea&s;t may know the Law, be as diligent to perform it: Turn over the Book, till you find a Text fit to pra|ctice upon. If covetous, re&s;t not till thou find &s;ome &s;uch place as this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.24.</NOTE> <HI>Ye canno<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;erv<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> God and M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mmon:</HI> If wanton, re&s;t not till thou meet with this, or the like Text, <HI>He that &s;eeth a woman, and lu&s;ts after her, &amp;c.</HI> If prone to anger, then read, <HI>Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.28. Ephe&s;. 4.26.</NOTE> Every bo|&s;ome-&s;in would be pre&s;ented with the Law, upon which a man will be apt to &s;ay, This is the Law that convicts me, this is my di&s;ea&s;e, here I fail, I acknow|ledge it, and by Gods help, I will take better heed hereafter; apply I will the remedy pre&s;cribed, and never doubt of cure. When you take in your hand the Works of &s;ome learned Phy&s;itian, and read in his Books the nature and danger of many di&s;ea&s;es, you neglect all, till you fall upon that place that writes of that di&s;ea&s;e which you enquire after, and find the remedy proper for that; he that is troubled with the Gout, will not much enquire after a cure of the Drop&s;ie; or he that hath weak eyes, what may help his ears; he gives not over, till he be fully informed of the nature of his own di&s;ea&s;e, and how he may be re&s;tored to his de&s;ired health. U&s;e the &s;ame diligence about this Law that came from <HI>Zion;</HI> there is not an infirmity of the &s;oul that is not here de|&s;cribed; not a &s;ymptome which is not here di&s;covered; nor Antidote that can be de&s;ired again&s;t it, which is not here pre&s;cribed; &s;tay not then till you come to that place that is mo&s;t proper for that vice you &s;eek to cure, or for that vertue you intend to fortifie; read it over and over, meditate upon it, apply it, daily make u&s;e of it, and by the help of God you may do well.</P>
<P>There be &s;ome &s;o &s;trait-laced, that no nay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Carter. lib. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> con&s;ult they will with this Law about Toyes; not a &s;traw for&s;ooth mu&s;t be taken up, but a Text mu&s;t be &s;ought out to warrant it. Others, &s;uch cunning <HI>Machivillians,</HI> that what|ever Oaths they impo&s;e, or rebellious Acts they commit, yet they will en|deavour to find out &s;ome Pre&s;ident or Title out of this Law to ju&s;tifie it; but be|cau&s;e the&s;e are Super&s;titious or Phari&s;aical, be not you profane; better it is from thence to take our directions, even in all things, great and &s;mall, then to wade through matters of principal weight and moment, without caring ever what the Law of God hath, either for or again&s;t our de&s;igns.</P>
<P>Men that are civil, &s;aith <HI>Strabo,</HI> live after a common Law appointing them what to do; the&s;e they received from gods or men:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Strabo Geogr. lib. <HI>16.</HI></NOTE> And of the two the&s;e were of mo&s;t honour which came from heaven; for which cau&s;e a con|&s;ultation with the Oracles was mo&s;t u&s;ual and frequent; and at this day the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> undertakes no great matter without the coun&s;el of the <HI>Alco|ran,</HI> nor the <HI>Banian</HI> of his Sha&s;ter. Did the Heathens then make &s;o much account of their gods, which indeed were no gods? the <HI>Mahometan</HI> and <HI>Banian</HI> of their foppi&s;h Law, which compar'd with this Law of <HI>Zion,</HI> is as dung to gold; and &s;hall we neglect the p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ecious benefit of conference with the Oracles of the living God? <HI>Shall he write unto us the great things of his Law,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea 8.12.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;hall we c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">unt them a &s;trange thing?</HI> whereof yet there is &s;o rich a Trea&s;ury left to the Church, and whereunto there is &s;o plain, &s;o ea&s;ie acce&s;s?</P>
<P>You are <HI>brought to Fountains of living water,</HI> which you digged not;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 2.13.</NOTE> do not with the <HI>Phili&s;tines,</HI> ca&s;t Earth into them, nor prefer broken Pits before them, with the <HI>Jewes. Others have laboured,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 4.38. 2 Cor. 6.1. Hebr 2.3. Matth. 7.6. Matth. 3.34. Ho&s;ea 4.6. Gen. 25.32. John 3.19.</NOTE> <HI>you do but enter into their labours. Receive not &s;o precious things in vain, despi&s;e not &s;o great &s;alva|tion:</HI> Be not like <HI>Swine, to tread under foot &s;o precious a Law;</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">or like <HI>Dogs, to tear and &s;narle at it.</HI> Say not to our Saviour, with the <HI>Gerga&s;ites, Depart out of our Coa&s;ts;</HI> nor to God with tho&s;e &s;tubborn <HI>Jewes, We will not hav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the knowledge of thy Lawes.</HI> Love <HI>not your pottage more than your ble&s;&s;ing;</HI> &s;ince <HI>light is come into the World, love not darkne&s;s more than light.</HI></P>
<PB N="430" REF="221">
<P>But make u&s;e of that Law of Rea&s;on which God hath written in your hearts; and where it is too dark and blind, call for his revealed Will; u&s;e <HI>this pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cious gift to his glory that gave it;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5, 15, 21 1 Pet. 3.13.</NOTE> &s;eek by it to know <HI>what is perfect and good,</HI> and then endeavour faithfully and truly to do it, and doubtle&s;s your <HI>reward &s;hall be great in heaven.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6.35.</NOTE></P>
<P><HI>Mo&s;es</HI> is read to us every Sabbath-day, the Prophets are yet among&s;t us; Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles though dead, yet &s;peak; the &s;ound of their words is yet in our ears, their books in our hands, their writings before our eyes; oh that we wanted not the power thereof in our con&s;ciences, the life of the&s;e in our lives. The Lord make a happy conjunction, and in&s;eparable of both the&s;e, that his Law and our Obedience may meet together; his Will and our Fruits may ki&s;s each other; that we may hear and obey, obey and proceed; be good Students, good Hearers, good Livers, that we may live with him for ever. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="33" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The Government of the Catholick Church.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>I&s;aiah 2.4.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And he &s;hall judge among the Nations, and &s;hall rebuke many people; and they &s;hall beat their Swords into Plow-&s;hares, &amp;c.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THAT Chri&s;t as he was God, had full and ab&s;olute power over all things from everla&s;ting, cannot be doubted, becau&s;e <HI>the Earth is the Lords,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 23.1. Acts 20.28. Titus 2.14. Ephe&s;. 1.22.</NOTE> <HI>and all that is therein.</HI> But as he was man, <HI>He came to purcha&s;e a peculiar people unto him&s;elf;</HI> I mean, <HI>the Church;</HI> to whom <HI>he was to be the Head,</HI> and over whom to Rule and Govern in a more &s;pecial manner.</P>
<P>This power no que&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">on belonged unto him, even when he was conver&s;ant on Earth with men; but he challenged, declared, or exerci&s;ed it, not before the <HI>purcha&s;e</HI> made of it by <HI>his blood:</HI> Then being <HI>ri&s;en,</HI> he told his Di&s;ciples,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 28.18.</NOTE> <HI>All Power in Heaven and Earth is given unto me.</HI> Given, and then given; given to him as man, (for to God nothing can be given) and then given as a reward of his &s;uffering; that as <HI>a Head,</HI> he &s;hould Rule, Gu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">de, and Govern his Church: But after his Glorification and A&s;cen&s;ion into Heaven, and Se&s;&s;ion at the right hand of God, he began more evidently to put this power on Foot, &s;hewing clearly, that he would be <HI>Judge among the Nations,</HI> and that he would <HI>rebuke the peopl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> This is that which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> teacheth, <HI>K<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ow we ought the exceeding greatne&s;s of his power which he wrought in Chri&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1. <HI>&agrave;</HI> 19. <HI>ad finem.</HI></NOTE> <HI>when he rai&s;ed him from the dead, and &s;et him at his own right hand, in the heavenly places, far above all Principality and Power, and Might, and Dominion, and every Name that is named, not only in this World, but that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the Head over all things to his Church, which is his body, the fulne&s;s of him who filleth all in all.</HI></P>
<P>By which words it is evident, that upon his Exaltation to his right hand, he hath &s;et <HI>his Son above all things, that all powers, will they, nill they, are under his feet:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.10, 11.</NOTE> But to his Church he is given to be the <HI>Heud,</HI> even <HI>in hoc Saeculo,</HI> in this World, A true head, being of the &s;ame &s;ub&s;tance with the body; a perfect head, that gives life, motion, and other influences and operations to the body; a &s;ole head, that the body acknowledge no other; and a perpetual and immortal head, that never cea&s;eth to impart life, and what&s;oever is nece&s;&s;a|ry to the body: They then are deceived, who affirm, that becau&s;e Chri&s;t is ab|&s;ent,
<PB N="431" REF="221"> and invi&s;ible, therefore there is need of a pre&s;ent external, and vi&s;ible head to do his Office for him in the Church, to <HI>judge</HI> under him, to <HI>rebuke</HI> for him: For he is alwayes pre&s;ent by his Power, by his Word, and by his Spirit; and by this <HI>he will judge among the Nations, and rebuke many people,</HI> as our Prophet here foretells; in which words I &s;hall con&s;ider,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The Per&s;on exalted to the Bench, <HI>He,</HI> which is the Lord Chri&s;t.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The Acts to be performed, <HI>He is to rebuke, to judge.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The per&s;ons to be judged, and rebuked, <HI>the Nations, the People.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1. He,</HI> the Lord.</HEAD>
<P>For <HI>the Lord is King,</HI> be the people never &s;o impatient;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 99.1, 2. Colo&s;. 1.19.</NOTE> and the Son of man is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>primatum tenet,</HI> hath the preheminence, be the people never &s;o unquiet; &s;o that they are very much mi&s;taken, who do di&s;|cour&s;e of the Government of the Church, as of the &s;ocieties of men; partly whi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e they attribute to the Governours thereof an ab&s;olute coactive power, whereas <HI>all the glory of the Kings Daughter is from within;</HI> and partly be|cau&s;e as in other Kingdoms, the Prince being ab&s;ent or dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 45.13.</NOTE> he mu&s;t have ano|ther &s;et in his place, to execute the Office of the ab&s;ent or dead King; for Chri&s;t is neither ab&s;ent, nor yet dead;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 28.20. 2 Cor. 13. Rom. 6.9.</NOTE> <HI>he is with his Church to the end of the World;</HI> and <HI>he lives by the pow r of God, death having no more dominion over him;</HI> it is needle&s;s therefore to appoint him a Vicar, or Sub&s;titute to go|vern his Church, &s;ince he yet doth this Office by him&s;elf. Suppo&s;e a King ta|king a journey into a far Countrey, yet could at every in&s;tant of time by &s;ome &s;ecret way, be pre&s;ent with his Coun&s;ellours and Officers, and give life to all their Acts and Endeavours, no le&s;s than if he were pre&s;ent in body; would you &s;ay now that &s;uch a King had need of a Viceroy? The ca&s;e is the &s;ame; Our King Chri&s;t Je&s;us, though ab&s;ent in body, yet is able, and doth execute all his Offices, is pre&s;ent at the Coun&s;els of all his Mini&s;ters, and gives life to all his own Ordinances by the power of his Spirit; why then &s;hould men talk of a Vicar-General, or of a Catholick Sub&s;titute, without who&s;e direction and judgment nothing may be Authentical in the Church?</P>
<P>Let the Church be con&s;idered in its large&s;t Extent, as it comprehends both the Militant and Triumphant, which with Chri&s;t the Head make but one body; and &s;o the Government thereof is ab&s;olutely Monarchical, Chri&s;t be|ing over it the &s;ole Monarch, Lord, King, Judge, to give Laws, interpret, execute. And the very expre&s;&s;ions of this &s;en&s;e is a fu l an&s;wer to all tho&s;e Arguments drawn from Nature, Rea&s;on, and the Providence of God, urged &s;o hotly and frequently by the <HI>Je&s;uites,</HI> to prove that the Church is a Mo|narchy.</P>
<P>But the Church Militant being as large as the World, and &s;pread into ma|ny Earthly Kingdoms, it plea&s;ed our Saviour, as tho&s;e Kingdoms have their &s;everal Princes and Judges, &s;o al&s;o &s;hould the&s;e &s;everal National Churches have their Patriarchs and Bi&s;hops to order and judge of all matters within their Dioce&s;s. This is it which <HI>Cyp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ian</HI> &s;ayes plainly even to <HI>Cornelius</HI> him&s;elf, the then Pope&punc;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cypr. lib. <HI>1.</HI> Ep. <HI>3</HI></NOTE> <HI>To every Bi&s;hop is a&s;cribed a portion of the Flock for him to go|vern, and then not all committed to One;</HI> which is &s;o clear a truth, that <HI>Bel|larmine</HI> him&s;elf labouring to prove that Secular Princes are excluded from Church-Government, evinceth no more by all his Arguments, but this Con|clu&s;ion; viz. <HI>That the Government of the Church was ever in Bi&s;hops:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bellar. lib. <HI>1.</HI> de Rom. Pont. cap.</NOTE> Out of which it is apparent that the Government of the Church was not at the fir&s;t Monarchical, but Ari&s;tocratical; that it was ruled and judged by divers, and
<PB N="432" REF="222"> not by one Vice-Roy: Of which I &s;hall &s;peak at large in its proper place.</P>
<P>By which their Argument fetch't from common &s;en&s;e, falls to the ground: <HI>The goodne&s;s of God</HI> (&s;ay they) <HI>hath ordained,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Harding <HI>in</HI> Jewell.</NOTE> <HI>that every thing &s;hould be con&s;erved by that means, which is mo&s;t fit for its condition and nature:</HI> Since then mankind doth depend e&s;pecially upon &s;en&s;e, therefore nece&s;&s;ary it is, that he receive his In&s;truction and Di&s;cipline by external means: This they &s;ay is true; but it proves not therefore that there &s;hould be one only In|&s;tructer and Ruler; I hope men may be taught by a &s;en&s;ible and external way, though there be more than one Ruler and In&s;tructer in the Church.</P>
<P>Yea, but they reply, This mu&s;t be but One, or el&s;e God hath provided wor&s;e for the Church, than for the Government of the World. Among all kind of policies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Homer.</NOTE> Monarchy is confe&s;&s;ed to be the be&s;t; <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Let there be but one to wear a Crown,</HI> (&s;aid that old <HI>Homer) for el&s;e the Multitude, which ought to be but One, will never long be knit to|gether.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, We &s;ay, that they are mi&s;taken, who judge and form the Govern|ment of the Church out of Rea&s;ons drawn from Nature, or principles of Art&punc; For let it be out of doubt, that Chri&s;t both could and would govern his Church by that form which &s;hould be be&s;t, and mo&s;t profitable; yet whether this ought to be Monarchical, Ari&s;tocratical, or Democratical, or mixt, mu&s;t not depend upon a &s;peculation of our Brain, but upon the in&s;titution of Chri&s;t him&s;elf; He is to pre&s;cribe the be&s;t way to us, and not we to pre&s;cribe to him. Now it becomes them to &s;hew, where, when, and in what place it appears that Chri&s;t hath ordained any One man to be the Head of the Church, an Univer&s;al Bi&s;hop, a &s;ole Monarch, his Vicar; or el&s;e their Argument drawn from Monarchy, as the be&s;t Form of Government, is of no &s;trength, be|cau&s;e it appears not, that that which &s;eems be&s;t to us, &s;eemed be&s;t to him: That po&s;ition of <HI>Harding</HI> is mo&s;t &s;ound; <HI>it belongs to Chri&s;t only to appoint his &V;icar;</HI> but that he hath appointed the Pope alone, re&s;ts upon them to prove,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 16.18. Luke 22.38. John 21.16. Gen. 1.1.</NOTE> which out of the Scriptures they &s;hall never be able to do, till they can bring clearer Texts than <HI>Tu es Petrus,</HI> or <HI>Ecce duo gladii,</HI> or <HI>Pa&s;ce Oves,</HI> or that alledged by <HI>Boniface</HI> the eighth, <HI>In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth; In principio, non in principiis; and therefore</HI> (O Rare Conclu&s;ion) <HI>the Pope is the Head of the Church.</HI> Away then with that Bla&s;phemous and Ridiculous A&s;&s;ertion of <HI>Roffen&s;is,</HI> cited by Bi&s;hop <HI>Jewel de primatu, Sect.</HI> 17. <HI>Eccle&s;ia una e&s;t, non propter Christum, &s;ed propter Papam, qui eam con&s;ervat unam:</HI> To which you may adde if you plea&s;e, that of <HI>Betraud, Non videretur Dominus di&s;cretus fui&s;&s;e, ni&s;i unicum po&s;t &s;e talem Vicarium reliqui&s;set.</HI> To what height of Villany will not Pride and Ambition tempt?</P>
<P>But then what is it that they can conclude out of their <GAP DESC="foreign">, Let there be but One King? is it their purpo&s;e, that there be but One Catho|lique King, as that there be but One Catholique Bi&s;hop? One Sun, and One Moon, a Pope and an Emperour all the World over? For the rea&s;on for u|niting and Heading the multitude makes for One, as well as the other; which is indeed for neither: For be it that a Monarchy is the be&s;t Form of Govern|ment in one City or Countrey, as a particular King over the Republique of Bees in every Hive; yet it follows not, that it is the be&s;t in re&s;pect of the whole World, where the parts are &s;o remote, and the di&s;po&s;itions of men &s;o various;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>1.</HI> de Rom. Pont. cap. <HI>3.</HI> Sect. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> and therefore <HI>Bellarmine</HI> him&s;elf confe&s;&s;eth, That a Monarchy mixt with Ari&s;tocracy and Democracy, is farre more profitable in this life, than an ab&s;olute and &s;imple Monarchy. Little advantage then can they have from this Argument fetcht from Monarchy.</P>
<PB N="433" REF="222">
<P>But <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Knott. part. <HI>1.</HI> cap. <HI>1.</HI> Sect. <HI>7.</HI></NOTE> our Opponents pre&s;s us yet further with this gradati|on. Almighty God hath ordai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ed man to felicity, and therefore hath ap|pointed competent mean<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> by which it may be obtain'd; this cannot be at|tai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">'d without unity in th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Church; which will never be, except there be &s;ome way to di&s;cover and condemn Here&s;ies, to appea&s;e and reduce Shi&s;mes, and to determine all Controver&s;ies in Religion. Hence they conclude, that there mu&s;t be a living, vi&s;ible, infallible Judge; and that the Pope mu&s;t be the man to whom all men mu&s;t &s;ubmit, and no man ask, <HI>Domine, quid ita facis?</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, It &s;hall be ea&s;ily granted, that Chri&s;t hath founded a vi&s;ible Church with all helps nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, particularly with &s;ufficient means to beget and con&s;erve Faith, to maintain Unity, to compo&s;e Shi&s;mes, to di&s;|cover and condemn Here&s;ies, and to determine all Controver&s;ies in Religi|on, which were nece&s;&s;arily to be determined.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.11.</NOTE> And to this end <HI>he gave A|po&s;tles, Prophets, Doctors, Evangel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ts, Pa&s;tors,</HI> who by word of mouth taught tho&s;e with whom they liv'd, and by their Writings taught all po&s;terity what way &s;uper-natural felicity was to be obtained. For <HI>all Scripture is gi|ven by divine inspiration,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.16, 17.</NOTE> <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and <HI>is able to make the man of God p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r|fect.</HI> To &s;ettle then Controver&s;ies in the Church, that I may u&s;e the Arch-Bi&s;hop of <HI>Canterbury</HI>'s words, There is a Vi&s;ible Judge and Infallible, but not living, and that is the Scripture pronouncing by the Church: And there is a Vi&s;ible Judge and living, but not infallible, and that is a general Coun|cil lawfully called, and proceeding accord ng to this Rule. And this was thought a &s;ufficient Judge, when Chri&s;tians were as humble as lear|ned.<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Read that Conference of the Arch-Bi&s;hop. <HI>Sect.</HI> 26. <HI>Numb.</HI> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. where you may &s;ee the judgements of the Fathers pro|duced to that purpo&s;e, e&s;pecially of <HI>Optatus</HI> and <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> with the An&s;wer to <HI>Baldwin</HI>'s <HI>Nuncupa|tive Will.</HI> Numb. 1.</NOTE></P>
<P>Now in the Scripture manife&s;t places there are (which need no di&s;pute, no external Judge) which are able to &s;ettle Unity and Certainty of belief in <HI>Ne|ce&s;&s;aries to Salvation;</HI> and in and about things not <HI>Nece&s;&s;ary</HI> there ought not to be a contention to Separation; about which the wrangle for the mo&s;t part is betwixt <HI>Rome</HI> and us. And that for Nece&s;&s;aries the Scripture is a Rule &s;ufficient, is clear out of <HI>Bellarmine</HI>'s own words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bellar. de verbo Dei. lib. <HI>1.</HI> cap. <HI>2.</HI> Sect. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> di&s;puting again&s;t the <HI>Swingfeldian,</HI> where he requires two conditions to a Rule, <HI>viz. That it be certain, and made known:</HI> For if it be not <HI>certain,</HI> it is no Rule; and if it be not <HI>known,</HI> it is no Rule to us. But by his own confe&s;&s;ion there is nothing more certain, nothing better known than the Scripture; therefore it is the Rule of Catholique Faith, both in it &s;elf, and to us al&s;o; being in things &s;im|ply nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, abundantly known and manife&s;t. In things Nece&s;|&s;ary, I &s;ay: For in tho&s;e that are not Nece&s;&s;ary, a man may abound in his own &s;ence, and do him&s;elf no harm; provided, that he be of a meek and a peaceable &s;pirit, diligent to inform his con&s;cience, and con&s;tant to follow it. And this is the comfort that St. <HI>Paul</HI> gives &s;uch a man, with this Caveat,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3. <HI>&agrave;.</HI> 10. ad 15.</NOTE> <HI>To take heed how he builds upon the foundation:</HI> His de&s;ire is, that nothing be laid upon it but <HI>gold, &s;ilver, precious &s;tones;</HI> that is, &s;ound Doctrine; but if it be through ignorance and infirmity, <HI>wood, hay, &s;tubble,</HI> heterodox &s;tuff, <HI>This mans work &s;hall be burnt, he &s;hall &s;uffer lo&s;s, but he him&s;elf &s;hall be &s;aved.</HI></P>
<P>It is not then Nece&s;&s;ary that a Vi&s;ible Judge be appointed to end all the Controver&s;ies that fall out in Religion. And their Argument fetcht from the great nece&s;&s;ity of Judges in Civil and Criminal cau&s;es is very fallacious, there being a great di&s;parity betwixt the&s;e, as is clearly &s;hew'd by Mr. <HI>Chilling|worth</HI>
<PB N="434" REF="223"> by nine Arguments in his An&s;wer to the Je&s;uite. <HI>cap.</HI> 2. <HI>part</HI> 1. a <HI>Sect.</HI> 12. ad 24.</P>
<P>His la&s;t Argument is, That for the ending of Civil Controver&s;ies, that Judges be appointed and known. So likewi&s;e &s;aith he, If our Saviour had in|tended, that all Controver&s;ies in Religion &s;hould be by &s;ome vi&s;ible Judge finally determined, who can doubt, but in plain terms he would have ex|pre&s;&s;ed him&s;elf about this matter? He would have &s;aid plainly, The Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome</HI> I have appointed to decide all emergent Controver&s;ies. For that our Saviour &s;hould de&s;ign the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome</HI> to this Office, and not cau&s;e it to be written by any Evangeli&s;t or Apo&s;tle, but leave it to be drawn out of uncertain principles by &s;treins of Logique and Philo&s;ophy, <HI>Credat Judaeus apel|la, non ego.</HI></P>
<P>Be&s;ides, &s;uppo&s;e there were a living Judge, and the Pope were the man, yet &s;uch is the malice of the Devil, and of impious men, that this would not be enough to keep the Church from renting at all times, or &s;oder up the rents which are made in the Doctrines of Faith: For doth not the Apo&s;tle inform us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11.19.</NOTE> <HI>that there will be Here&s;ies?</HI> and were there not Schi&s;mes, even then, when their vi&s;ible Head, as they call him, St. <HI>Peter</HI> was yet alive? It &s;eems the Popes power is beyond that of the chief Apo&s;tle; and he can do more with one Decree, than <HI>Peter</HI> or <HI>Paul</HI> could do by their Commi&s;&s;ion. But if his deci&s;ion be of &s;uch vertue, that all the Bea&s;ts of the Fore&s;t mu&s;t tremble at the roaring of the Lyon, I wonder that he &s;hould be either &s;o uncharitable or neg|ligent to &s;uffer &s;uch heats and contentions among his own at home? Why is the <HI>Je&s;uite</HI> &s;uffer'd to ri&s;e again&s;t the <HI>Dominican?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vide</HI> Dr. <HI>Whites</HI> way. <HI>dig.</HI> 24.</NOTE> the <HI>Seminary</HI> again&s;t the <HI>Je|&s;uite?</HI> the <HI>Franci&s;can</HI> oppo&s;ite to either? in a word, all by the eares about matters of Religion? and that too in no mean points, but in the greate&s;t, and &s;uch as are this day controverted among Chri&s;tians. <HI>Jupiter in Trojam, &amp;c.</HI> Methinks it were but for him to interpo&s;e his <HI>Tribunitium &V;eto.</HI> Surely 'twere but for this great <HI>Jupiter</HI> to throw down his Logg, and the Frogs on a &s;udden would be all &s;ilent. Well, this he hath done in many points, and yet the&s;e untoward creatures finding at la&s;t his determination to be but a blocki&s;h De|cree in&s;ultant and de&s;ultant, they reject it, or mince it, or interpret it as may &s;erve their own turns; or el&s;e &s;ay that he ob&s;erved not the conditions re|qui&s;ite, when he pa&s;&s;ed his Decree. But in other que&s;tions he dares not de|termine, le&s;t a part of tho&s;e who came to help up the Papacy, when it was at a dead lift, &s;hould fall from him. I need not in&s;tance, for the thing is apparent to all Learned men.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vide</HI> Dr. <HI>Whites</HI> Orthod c. 3. Sect. 13.</NOTE>Adde to this, that the Pope hath been oft an Idiot, or unlearned man; whence then proceeds this ability of judgement in Theological doubts, that this his definitive &s;entence mu&s;t end all the Controver&s;ie? Surely either he mu&s;t take his advice in this ca&s;e from other men, and then they define, and not he;<NOTE PLACE="marg">B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">llar. Staple|ton. Canus. Bannez.</NOTE> or el&s;e he mu&s;t be governed by an immediate Revelation, which they them&s;elves will not admit: So unable he may be to judge; &s;o ineffectual are his Decrees when he hath judged; &s;o dangerous it is for him in many points for to judge; and therefore in policy he doth wi&s;ely to ab&s;tain from it: <HI>Cum Leonina pellis non val<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t, a&s;&s;uit &V;ulpinam.</HI></P>
<P>Well then, to re&s;ume the que&s;tion, is there no way left to end and decide Controver&s;ies ari&s;ing in Religion? Yes certainly; and to that end God hath appointed two kind of Judges,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Whites</HI> Or|thod. c. 4. Sect. 2.</NOTE> as that Learned Bi&s;hop hath taught me in his Orthodox.: The &s;um of who&s;e di&s;cour&s;e is this:</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, The one Supream and Independent, who&s;e &s;entence is infallible; this Judge is the Holy Gho&s;t, who delivers an open and vi&s;ible &s;entence in the Scripture in all things nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation. But be&s;ides the Holy Gho&s;t, the Lord hath left in his Church &s;ubordinate Judges, by who&s;e Wi&s;dom and Au|thority
<PB N="435" REF="223"> Controver&s;ies of Religion are to be debated and defined. And the&s;e Judges are of two &s;orts. Fir&s;t, general, for the whole Church, namely the Fathers lawfully A&s;&s;embled, and proceeding in a general Council. Or el&s;e particular, the chief Fathers of each Provincial or National Church: both which are bound in their judgement in all &s;upernatural verity to proceed by the written Word of God, and their definition delivered according to this Rule is Authentical and infallible, and ought to be obey'd principally for the matter &s;o declared, which hath its Authority from the Scripture in which it is contain'd, and to which it is con&s;onant: But then Secondly, becau&s;e it is de|clared and publi&s;hed by Pa&s;tours and Teachers, by Governours and Rulers, whom God hath made the Stewards of his Family, and to whom he hath com|mitted the Keys of his &s;piritual Kingdom. And becau&s;e to the&s;e there is made a &s;pecial promi&s;e of a&s;&s;i&s;tance of Grace, and a joynt labour u&s;ed for the di&s;co|very of the Truth, and upon that their hone&s;t indu&s;try and unanimous judge|ment given; the Truth &s;o declared and publi&s;h'd, mu&s;t needs be of more Au|thority, than any Truth made known by private per&s;ons. But where it is ap|parent that the Pa&s;tours have not proceeded by this Rule, it is nor Schi&s;me, nor Here&s;ie, to di&s;&s;ent, or to affirm, that in this or that point <HI>ampliandum,</HI> and in a peaceable way to produce &s;olid rea&s;ons of our di&s;&s;ent.</P>
<P>I know the difficulties to which this determination is &s;ubject. But when our Adver&s;aries have &s;aid all they can again&s;t it, the very &s;elf-&s;ame will pre&s;s them, when they &s;hall &s;et up One infallible Judge. Be it that of the private &s;pirit, or ob&s;curity of Scripture, or Interpretation of Fathers, or partiality, or pride, or &s;elf-love; which a late Je&s;uite perceiving, delivers the&s;e words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Except to the Lord <HI>Faul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> di&s;cour&s;e, ad 5. Sect. c. 6.</NOTE> Some peradventure will deny our Churches verity to be evidently credible: If any do it, the matter mu&s;t be remitted to an equal Tryal between us. But &s;ay you, Who mu&s;t be the Judge? I am no <HI>Socinian,</HI> nor inclining to that &s;ort of mi&s;-believers; yet neverthele&s;s, I &s;ay, <HI>Right Rea&s;on must be he, and eve|ry mans own con&s;cience.</HI> And of the&s;e Judges I hope every man will allow; and it is rea&s;onably &s;ure they ought to do &s;o, becau&s;e <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is in all que&s;tions the <HI>la&s;t</HI> and the <HI>Interior Judge;</HI> without who&s;e a&s;&s;ent and approbation, no exterior is &s;ufficient and compleat: For exterior Judges be as Spectacles to the eyes; and as Spectacles, be they never &s;o good, cannot &s;ee without eyes; &s;o cannot Revelation, be it never &s;o manife&s;t, give the la&s;t &s;entence about any Doctrine, nor be &s;ufficient without Rea&s;on. What is this I reade here? what a higher Judge than he that is infallible? Rea&s;on to be &s;et upon the Bench, and to give Judgement of the Popes definition? Rea&s;on guided aright,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Chilling.</HI> pre|face. Sect. 12. &amp;c. 2. part 1. a. Sect. 106. ad 121. 1 Joh. 4.1. 1 The&s;. 5.21. 1 Pet. 3.15. Luke 12.57. Luke 6.39.</NOTE> made the la&s;t Umpire in debates of Religion? This if true, then &s;ure &s;ome body had rea&s;on to cite tho&s;e Texts to that purpo&s;e, that of St. <HI>John, Dearly beloved, b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eve not every spirit, but try the &s;pirits, whether they be of God or no:</HI> And that of St. <HI>Paul, Try all things, and hold fa&s;t that which is good:</HI> That of St. <HI>P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ter, Be ye ready to render a rea&s;on of the hope that is in you:</HI> And that of our Saviour, <HI>And why of your &s;elves judge ye not that which is right?</HI> for otherwi&s;e <HI>the blind may lead the blind.</HI> For though by pa&s;&s;ion, prejudice, faction, and precipitate ra&s;hne&s;s, &amp;c. men may be car|ried into errour, yet by di&s;cour&s;e grounded on divine Revel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tion fir&s;t, then upon common principles a&s;&s;ented to by all, a man cannot be drawn into a mi&s;take. If at any time the con&s;equence deceive him, it is not Rea&s;on that hath &s;educ'd him, but his weakne&s;s and di&s;ability not to make u&s;e of Right Rea&s;on.</P>
<P>Now right Rea&s;on will dictate all that I have &s;aid, That Chri&s;t be the Su|pream Judge in his Church, that he be heard when he delivers his &s;entence by his Spirit in the Scriptures, that they then be the Rule for other men to proceed by, that in all points nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, this Rule be plain and
<PB N="436" REF="224"> evident: That it is &s;uch, none &s;o fit to judge as the Primitive Church, who were no way intere&s;&s;ed in the contentions that &s;ince have ri&s;en: Thar in the&s;e late differences, the <HI>Pope</HI> of all other can be no competent Judge, becau&s;e a Party. That therefore the debates be referred to a General Council-law, fully called; and that their Deci&s;ions be &s;ubmitted to, from which it is then only lawful to di&s;&s;ent, when there is evident te&s;timony of plain Scripture, ex|pounded according to the General Tenet of godly Pa&s;tours of the precedent Church; then only it is lawful to gain&s;ay the pre&s;ent definition of Eccle&s;ia&s;ti|cal Judges.</P>
<P>I am full as the Moon, but if I &s;hould empty my &s;elf, the Tide would flow &s;o high, that what &s;tuffe &s;oever the Sea of <HI>Rome</HI> hath brought upon the Church, mu&s;t come to your view; their Supremacy, their Monarchy, their Infallibility, with all the Con&s;equences, and a Volume is too little for it. In this point what I have &s;aid, is enough to &s;atisfie and &s;ettle a &s;ober mind: <HI>If any man love to be contentious,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11.16.</NOTE> all that hath been, or can be &s;aid, will be too lit|tle; <HI>but we have no &s;uch custome, nor the Churches of God.</HI> And &s;o I take my leave of this Point; in which having &s;etled the Per&s;on, we are next to reflect upon the Acts.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> He &s;hall judge; he &s;hall reprove.</HEAD>
<P>To judge, is a word of great Extent, and it comprehends all the duties of a good Prince; &s;uch a one who will erect a Court of Ju&s;tice, impartially ex|amine every cau&s;e, ju&s;tly weigh the manners, merits, and demerits of every man, and then without favour or affection render to every man reward or puni&s;hment according to the Laws he hath pre&s;cribed, without which it is not po&s;&s;ible his Subjects &s;hould be long <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plato.</NOTE> continue in amicable &s;ocie|ty. Then if an enemy ari&s;e from abroad, he is to arm his Citizens again&s;t them, to conduct them wi&s;ely, &s;upply them with Ammunition and Nece&s;&s;a|ries, valiantly to with&s;tand and defeat all Opponents, till all injuries be righted, and peace re&s;tored.</P>
<P>Now &s;uch a Judge is Chri&s;t to his people: <HI>He &s;its upon a Throne in Hea|ven,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 4.2, 3.</NOTE> <HI>with a Rainbow about it;</HI> and thence he hath publi&s;hed his Laws, and he &s;its, and continues upon it, being prepared to hear all Cau&s;es, which he will examine in an equal &s;cale;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 7.27.</NOTE> <HI>for he &s;hall not judge after the &s;ight of his eyes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 11.3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>neither reprove after the hearing of his ears; but with righteou&s;ne&s;s &s;hall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the Earth. Mi&s;phah</HI> before him &s;hall not pa&s;s for <HI>Mispat;</HI> nor <HI>Tzehacah</HI> for <HI>Tzedacah; oppre&s;&s;ion &s;hall not pa&s;s for judgment, nor a cry be e&s;teemed righ|teou&s;ne&s;s.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 5.8.</NOTE> Then Again, He will deliver His from their Enemies, the Divel, Death, and all the Gates of Hell; He will re&s;tore his Image decayed in them; He hath provided them Arms for the day of Battel; He is pre&s;ent with the power of his Spirit with his People; while they are in the conflict, he helps them, at length frees them, brings them to the pre&s;ence of his Father, and gifts them with Eternal Light, Peace, Ju&s;tice, and Life.</P>
<P><HI>In a man</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Calvin) there be two Worlds;</HI> the fle&s;h he means, and the &s;pirit;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin. In&s;tit.</NOTE> over which, as there may be <HI>Variae Leges,</HI> Divers Laws; &s;o al&s;o <HI>Varii Reges,</HI> Divers Governours may be &s;et. And from hence aro&s;e that common di&s;tinction of a Government Politick and Spiritual: Tho&s;e who out of their pride and worldly re&s;pects defend the external Government of the Church to be Monarchical, will have Chri&s;t to be a temporal King, flat con|trary to his own words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 18.36.</NOTE> <HI>My Kingdom is not of this World:</HI> This power it plea&s;ed him to leave in the hands of Kings, and &s;ecular Superiours; divide he would not &s;o much as a poor inheritance, rejecting him that de&s;ired it, with
<PB N="437" REF="224"> this Check, <HI>Man, who made me a Judge, or Divider over you?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.14.</NOTE> The more to blame then they, whether <HI>Popes</HI> or <HI>Presbyters,</HI> that in order <HI>ad &s;piritu|alia,</HI> take upon them to give Checkmate to the Edicts and Commands of law|ful Superiours, that tend to the peace of a Common-wealth, and the beauty of Holine&s;s: For be it that Chri&s;t as God is the &s;upreme Judge over all, yet they &s;hould prove that he delegated this his Supremacy to man, or el&s;e in that re|&s;pect they ought not to a&s;&s;ume it, or meddle with it. They ought to look upon him, as this Government was delivered into his hands, <HI>Jure Redem|ptionis,</HI> by right of Redemption, or Acqui&s;ition; a Saviour, a Redeemer, a Mediatour he is of and for his Church; and then over the&s;e his Government will be only &s;piritual, to no carnal, but a &s;piritual end, being ordered by the meer power of his Spirit.</P>
<P>All the favour he is plea&s;ed to be&s;tow upon his people in this life, or ano|ther, are but effects of his power, his grace, his glory, which three u&s;ually have given di&s;tinction unto his Kingdom.</P>
<P N="1">1. In Heaven he hath e&s;tabli&s;hed his Throne, yet he forgets not his poor &s;ervants below: If any be per&s;ecuted, he holds it an injury done unto him; and either by his power &s;ends him deliverance, and as a Judge delivers him from the hand of the Oppre&s;&s;our; or el&s;e by his mighty hand protects whom he plea&s;eth &s;o far, that they &s;hall nor come into the paw of the Bear, or jaw of the Lyon. The protection, the help, the ea&s;e that any under his Govern|ment have found, either under, or out of adver&s;ities and troubles, are effects of his power: The Divels malice is great, and his in&s;truments no le&s;s again&s;t Chri&s;ts Church; not <HI>Job,</HI> not <HI>Peter,</HI> not <HI>Paul</HI> can e&s;cape it; how comes it to pa&s;s then, that the poor Lambs are not devoured by the&s;e roaring Lyons? The Rea&s;on cannot be fetch't from below; for as every natural Agent will act <HI>ad ultimum potentiae,</HI> &s;o far as it can; &s;o al&s;o will this Murderer of men from the beginning, and all &s;piritual wickedne&s;&s;es in high places plot and practice <HI>ad ultimum malitiae,</HI> to the utmo&s;t of their malice, that there be not one godly man left: Look higher then we mu&s;t, ca&s;t our eyes upon him that &s;its upon the Throne, and behold we may in his hand a drawn Sword ready to re|pre&s;s and avenge the wrongs of his deare&s;t &s;ervants.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 118.15, 16.</NOTE> <HI>The right hand of our Lord brings mighty things to pa&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>Have you not heard of the death of the great <HI>Pan?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Plutarch. Genev. Chron. lib. Ann. <HI>69.</HI> Theod l. <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>11.</HI> Sozomen. l. <HI>5.</HI> c. <HI>19. 20, 21.</HI></NOTE> Of the firing of <HI>He|rods</HI> Temple by <HI>Titus</HI> Souldiers, that it could not be quenched by the in|du&s;try of man? And at the &s;ame time the Temple of <HI>Apollo</HI> at <HI>D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lphi</HI> was utterly de&s;troyed by Earth-quakes, and Thunder-bolts, and neither of them could be &s;ince repaired; an end was &s;et at the &s;ame time to the Jewi&s;h Cere|monies, and Heatheni&s;h Idolatry, that the Juri&s;diction of this judge might be the better e&s;tabli&s;hed.</P>
<P>Are you yet de&s;irous to &s;ee more effects of his power? Sin, that he now labours to de&s;troy by the power of his grace, &s;hall, when he comes to judge|ment, be totally de&s;troyed. Satan &s;hall be fully di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of his Dominion; not re&s;trained, as now, but utterly ca&s;t out. <HI>Wicked and ungodly men,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 19.14. P&s;al. 2.9. 1 Cor. 15.26, 54. Rev. 20.13.</NOTE> <HI>that would not &s;uffer him to reign over them, &s;hall be broken in pi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ces with his Rod of Iron;</HI> and <HI>de<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">th</HI> it &s;elf, <HI>that la&s;t enemy, &s;hall be de&s;troyed;</HI> the <HI>Grave</HI> it &s;elf <HI>&s;hall be forced to return its captives, and pre&s;ent them before this Judge.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Con&s;idered we have how terrible and de&s;tructive the power of this Judge will be to his enemies, and how comfortable to his friends; next let us look upon his Juri&s;diction as it hath grace annexed to it: For from the riches of his grace proceed all tho&s;e heavenly gifts, fruits and ble&s;&s;ings of his Spirit, wherewith the Church, and every Member thereof, is furni&s;hed and
<PB N="438" REF="225"> adorned. He brings all tho&s;e he means to &s;ave to hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> judgment-&s;eat, particu|larly every man, and <GAP DESC="foreign">, rebukes, di&s;covers him, &s;hames him, brings him under the Spirit of bondage, and convinceth of &s;in, and makes it appa|rent,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he&s;. 2.3.</NOTE> that for it <HI>he is by nature a child of wrat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">;</HI> and yet for all this there is a remedy &s;ufficient for him by the blood of a Mediator; that he may apply this, he enlightens his mind, &s;oftens his heart, enab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es him to get the victory over &s;in. Is any man grounded in faith, mored in hope, rooted in charity? Doth any man find the love of truth to flame in his heart? Is his obedience chearful, univer&s;al,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.48. &amp; Ver. 6. Hab. 1.16. James 1.17.</NOTE> con&s;tant? Is it his de&s;ire <HI>to be holy and perfect, as his heavenly Father is perfect?</HI> In a word, <HI>Doth he hunger and thir&s;t after righteou&s;|ne&s;s? Let him never &s;acrifice to his own Net; for every good and perfect gift is from above.</HI> The Donor &s;its at the right hand of God, and he out of meer grace hath &s;ent down his holy Spirit, by which he doth reign in this his Kingdom, to work the&s;e Effects in the hearts of his deare&s;t &s;ervants.</P>
<P N="3">3. To the&s;e he hath made many precious promi&s;es, which when they feel a&s;&s;u|red to their con&s;ciences by this Seal, th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y have peace within, and joy in it, the&s;e being but the repa&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s of their future felicity, which al&s;o he will <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;tow upon them; for he is the Lord of Glory al&s;o: For the ultimate end that he gave his grace, was, that he might be&s;tow upon them a Crown, the true end that he &s;its in the Con&s;cience as a Judge, convinceth, and &s;hames the &s;inner, is, that he might not be a&s;hamed, when he appears before him, and the world, at that la&s;t and high Tribunal; but be ju&s;tified there, and receive a Crown of Righteou&s;ne&s;s and Glory. This is the true Kingdom of Chri&s;t; and in this effectual, &s;piritual, and cele&s;tial manner, he doth, and &s;hall govern his Church here on Earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.25.</NOTE> and every Member thereof, <HI>till all his enemies be put under his feet.</HI></P>
<P>But yet in the mean time, that what he hath promi&s;ed by Covenant, may the ea&s;ilier be effected in, and &s;ealed to the hearts of the &s;ons of men, it hath plea&s;ed him to appoint a &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of Mini&s;ters to the end of the World, to whom he hath given a power, and made them in&s;trumental to judge and rebuke under him, till his coming again. The&s;e moderate the outward actions of men only;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.6, 7.</NOTE> they can <HI>plant,</HI> as joint-workmen with God; they may <HI>water,</HI> but no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hing will come of this their planting and watering, except God give the increa&s;e. They may &s;ow their &s;eed, but it will not root, nor &s;hoot, nor fructifie, except the Lord prepare the ground, and ble&s;s it in the ear. The Sa|craments are but dead Elements in their hands, without the Spirit quickens them; farther than the outward man they cannot act, they have no power over the &s;ecret affections of the heart, the &s;ecret graces of the Spirit, the &s;tedfa&s;t tru&s;t of future glory. Chri&s;t that hath left to them the &s;upervi&s;ion and mode|ration of external things and actions, hath yet re&s;erved to him&s;elf the mighty force, and heavenly grace of his &s;piritual Kingdom; that is, a preheminence per&s;onal, in which he will have neither Partner, nor Helper.</P>
<P>Of the outward Admini&s;tration of this Kingdom, and the per&s;ons to whole hands he hath committed the Keyes of it, I &s;hall &s;peak at large here|after; I &s;hall therefore now return to the Text, and &s;peak of tho&s;e whom he is to judge, and rebuke, named here, <HI>the</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Nations, many people.</HEAD>
<P>In which out of que&s;tion is foretold, the large Extent, and Power of this Judge, &s;ince that Nation and people &s;hall come under his juri&s;diction; that the <HI>Jewes</HI> were at fir&s;t, that the <HI>Gentiles</HI> are now under his Government,
<PB N="439" REF="225"> needs not be proved: So that as there is but <HI>one Pa&s;tor,</HI> &s;o there is but <HI>one Shepherd.</HI> God indeed &s;ent his Prophets to the <HI>Jews,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 10.16.</NOTE> but they have been the Doctors and Teachers of us the <HI>Gentiles;</HI> for what they have taught, we have &s;een fulfilled. <HI>Libanus is turned into Carmel; and the High-way out of Egypt to A&s;&s;yria, is made plain; and the A&s;&s;yrians are come into Egypt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 29.17. I&s;a. 19.23.</NOTE> <HI>and the Egyptian into A&s;syria, and the Egyptians &s;hall &s;erve with the A&s;|&s;yrians; in that day &s;hall I&s;rael be the third with Egypt and A&s;&s;yria, even a ble&s;&s;ing in the mid&s;t of the Land, whom the Lord of Ho&s;ts &s;hall ble&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 24.</NOTE> &s;aying, <HI>Ble&s;sed be Egypt my p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ople, and A&s;&s;yria the work of my hands.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 25.</NOTE> It were to no end to heap up Prophe&s;ies to this purpo&s;e, and I have before fully proved this point. We live to &s;ee our Saviours word fulfilled; <HI>For many from the Ea&s;t and We&s;t have come and &s;ate down with Abraham and I&s;aac, and Jacob,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 8.11.</NOTE> <HI>in the Kingdom of Heaven. He doth now judge the Nations, he doth now rebuke many people.</HI></P>
<P>Some Interpreters, more Criti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, by Nations under&s;tand the <HI>Gentiles,</HI> by People, the <HI>Jewes,</HI> who peculiarly are often honoured with that name,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Alvarez. in loc.</NOTE> <HI>My Peopl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, Gods People.</HI> And then <HI>dijudicabit,</HI> &s;hall belong to the <HI>Gen|tiles;</HI> and <HI>a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">guet</HI> to the <HI>Jewes</HI> in this &s;en&s;e; the <HI>Gentiles</HI> to be judged properly, the <HI>Jewes</HI> to be convinced. God would examine the Merits and Demer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ts of the <HI>Gentiles,</HI> and judge for them; that though Idolaters, and <HI>without God and Chri&s;t in the World,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.2, 3.</NOTE> <HI>and ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> their Con&s;ervation in the lu&s;ts of the fle&s;h;</HI> yet this was not done out of malice, but through ignorance; and this time of ignorance, <HI>God</HI> (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle) <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>wink<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d at,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 17.30.</NOTE> over-looked it, as if he had not &s;een it, and notwith&s;tanding their di&s;obedi|ence, judged them Ve&s;&s;els of mercy, commanding them by his Apo&s;tles, <HI>everywhere to repent.</HI></P>
<P>But as for the people the <HI>Jewes,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, he convinced, he rebuked, he &s;hamed them upon the &s;ending down of the Paraclete: For <HI>when he came,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 16.8, 9, 10</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>he reproved the World,</HI> the <HI>Jewes</HI> e&s;pecially <HI>of Sin, of Righteou&s;|ne&s;s, of Judgem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nt: Of Sin,</HI> of that great crime committed, in rejecting, and not believing Chri&s;t to be the Son of God, whom they had &s;een rai&s;'d, and to have &s;ent down the Holy Gho&s;t as he had promi&s;ed: <HI>Of Righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> that he mu&s;t be a righteous per&s;on, who a&s;cended to heaven, and did partake of his Fathers glory; <HI>Of judgement,</HI> becau&s;e they lived to &s;ee the Ptince of the World ca&s;t out; His Oracles &s;ilenc'd, and his Idols overturn'd. This was, and is &s;uch an apparent conviction to the ob&s;tinate <HI>Jew,</HI> that it doth, and will &s;hame him for his infidelity.</P>
<P><HI>U&s;e.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">&V;&s;e.</NOTE> What hath Chri&s;t judged for us &s;inners of the <HI>Gentiles?</HI> What hath he winked at our di&s;obedience? hath he not regarded this our time of ig|norance, but granted unto us repentance unto &s;alvation? Hath he by his Spirit reproved and convicted the <HI>Jew,</HI> and yet doth he &s;till remain perver&s;e and ob&s;tinate? Oh then never let his &s;tiffe neck be objected to us; but as he hath given &s;entence for us, &s;o let us make u&s;e of it to our benefit.</P>
<P>A man that &s;uffers Ship-wrack at Sea, if he can but lay hold of a broken Board, or &s;ome piece of a Ma&s;t, by which he may hope to be brought &s;afe to the Shoar, he is a glad man. Wracked we are too often by &s;in in the dange|rous Sea of this World, and Repentance is <HI>&s;ecunda po&s;t Naufragium Tabu|la,</HI> the &s;ole plank on which we mu&s;t &s;ave our lives;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull.</NOTE> and this Chri&s;t hath ad|judged even unto us <HI>Gentiles;</HI> at which, though the new Converts of the <HI>Jewes</HI> were at fir&s;t offended, yet upon <HI>Peters</HI> Apology, they re&s;t fully &s;ati&s;|fied, <HI>th y held their peace, and glorified God,</HI> &s;aying, <HI>Then hath God al&s;o to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.</HI> As a gift they reckoned of it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 11.2, 3.</NOTE> and as a gift let us accept it, and u&s;e it.</P>
<PB N="440" REF="226">
<P>A long peace brought forth plenty, plenty made us wanton, wantonne&s;s increa&s;ed to pride, pride hath produced many horrid &s;ins, the&s;e &s;ins have rai|&s;ed di&s;plea&s;ure, and this di&s;plea&s;ure in God being inflamed, hath turned his patience into fury, and his fury hath poured upon us many heavy judgements; How we &s;hall e&s;cape the dregs in the bottom of the Cup, I know not, except we help our &s;elves by the portion he hath adjudged us, <HI>R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">pentanc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> Repent then; or if you do it already, do it more earne&s;tly; pray we cannot, except we repent; and peri&s;h we mu&s;t, if we repent not. Tho&s;e eminent Churches of <HI>A&s;ia lo&s;t their fir&s;t love,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.4, 10, 14, 20. Chap. 3.1, 8, 16.</NOTE> <HI>were not faithful to death, maintained the Do|ctrine of Balaam, &s;uff<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">red Women to teach, bare a Name only to live, had but a little &s;trength, were neither hot nor cold.</HI> The&s;e were their &s;ins; but their grand offence, was their impenitence, <HI>they repented not</HI> as they &s;hould have done;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chap. 2.21.</NOTE> therefore <HI>they were reprehended by John, threatned by Chri&s;t, and their Candle&s;tick is removed.</HI> Read and tremble, tremble and amend; but that this is not done, I have great Rea&s;on to &s;u&s;pect, becau&s;e I &s;ee not yet our Prophets words verified; <HI>for our Swords are not beaten into Plow-&s;hares, nor our Spears into Pruning-hooks.</HI></P>
<P>Could I pronounce <HI>Repen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> as powerfully as he who was the voyce of one crying in the Wilderne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 3.2.</NOTE> po&s;&s;ible it were to &s;ee an Army come and ask, <HI>And what &s;hall we do?</HI> Into who&s;e ears I would fir&s;t &s;oftly whi&s;per, that when Chri&s;t came to be King, his Subjects would <HI>turn their Swords into Plow-&s;hares;</HI> to this I believe it will be hard to per&s;wade, and therefore to every man with a Sword in his hand, I enjoin, yet not I, but the Bapti&s;t, <HI>Do violence to no man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 3.14.</NOTE> <HI>neither accu&s;e any fal&s;ly, and be content with your wa|ges.</HI> This is the Le&s;&s;on I would have taken out for the pre&s;ent, that it be thought on, practi&s;ed; which if not, I &s;hall de&s;ire you to joyn with me in the 43. <HI>P&s;alme,</HI> and with heart and voyce to &s;ing,
<Q><L>Judge and revenge my cau&s;e O Lord,</L>
<L>From them that evil be, &amp;c.</L></Q></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="34" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>Of the peaceable temper of the Members of the Ca|tholick Church.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>I&s;aiah 2.4, 5.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And they &s;hall beat their Swords into Plow-&s;harts, and their Spears into Pruning-hooks; Nation &s;hall not lift up a Sword against Nation, nei|ther &s;hall they learn War any more.</P>
<P>O Hou&s;e of Jacob come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.14.</NOTE>THAT very ble&s;&s;ing which an Army of Angels proclaimed in the Fields near <HI>Bethlehem,</HI> at the Birth of our Saviour, was in the&s;e words fore|told by our Prophet. And it would plea&s;e me well, that an Army on Earth would proclaim no other; for death hath but a grim countenance, and a crim|&s;on &s;tream of blood is but an unplea&s;ant &s;ight; drawn Swords, and &s;harp Spears are uncomfortable Objects, and tho&s;e mercile&s;s Engines that out-&s;peak the Thunder terrible: How more welcome would that voice be, that would de&s;cend and a&s;&s;ure, <HI>Peace on Earth, good will toward men!</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.14.</NOTE>Now this is it which the Prophet fore-tells in this place, That &s;ince the
<PB N="441" REF="226"> mo&s;t excellent quality of a good Prince con&s;i&s;ts in his endeavour in making and keeping the Peace. He here beforehand acquaints the World, that when the Me&s;&s;iah entred upon his Kingdom, that not only the Tumult, the Noi&s;e, the Preparations for War &s;hould cea&s;e; but that no occa&s;ion &s;hould be given for this inhumane &s;port; all kind of Armour &s;hould be removed; Swords &s;hould be turned to Shares, and Spears to Hooks; men &s;hould be better plea|&s;ed to cut up and wound the Earth with a Plow, than to hew and pierce the bodies of their Brethren with a Sword; take more delight in pruning of Vines, than in lopping off Heads. In a word, that every man &s;hould have an opportunity to till his Grounds, and dre&s;s his Gardens with great &s;ecurity, which is the con&s;equent of a well-&s;etled peace.</P>
<P>As then our Prophet before had &s;et down two properties of Chri&s;ts King|dom: Fir&s;t, That it &s;hould be ample and great; <HI>for all Nations &s;hould flow un|to it.</HI> Then, that it &s;hould be &s;piritual; <HI>for he was to judge, he was to rebuke;</HI> &s;o al&s;o in the&s;e words, he puts us in mind of a third, that it mu&s;t be al&s;o a peaceable Government. If the old ob&s;ervation be true, <HI>Qualis Rex, talis Grex;</HI> it cannot be, but where the Prince is <HI>Shar-&s;alom, the Prince of peace;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.6. Mat. 5.9.</NOTE> the People al&s;o mu&s;t be <HI>Pacifici, peaceable Subjects.</HI></P>
<P>But of what peace our Prophet here &s;peaks, it is not agreed; whether of the &s;piritual and internal, or of the temporal and external, or el&s;e of both; and yet &s;o the difficulty is not ea&s;ily removed, &s;ince all tho&s;e who live under Chri&s;ts Kingdom, find by experience <HI>without fightings, within fears.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 7.5.</NOTE></P>
<P N="1">1. If the fire of the Holy Gho&s;t, the Spirit of Regeneration be &s;o powerful in any man to make him to renounce &s;in, and reform his life, he then is like to find little quiet within; <HI>for the fle&s;h will lu&s;t again&s;t the Spirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.17.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; lex membrorum,</HI> Rom. 7.22. His lu&s;t and concupi&s;cence will rebel and boyle, and provoke him more than before, making him as a man di&s;traught, in&s;omuch <HI>that what he would, he cannot do; and what he would not,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 19.</NOTE> <HI>h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;hall do.</HI> The fallow and gunden ground of the heart will not be torn and bro|ken up by the &s;hare of contrition;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 4.3. Ho&s;. 10.12.</NOTE> nor the hardned habits of &s;in unrooted without much pain and fighting; no nor yet the &s;uckers and luxuriant &s;hoots pruned and pared off, except the Hook be always in the hand: So that the be&s;t Chri&s;tian is &s;till a Souldier, and finds a War and a Tumult in his own brea&s;t, while regenerate Rea&s;on fights to &s;ubdue unruly and pa&s;&s;ionate fle&s;h, and fle&s;hly per&s;ons rebel and &s;truggle to &s;ubdue Rea&s;on: And where then, you will &s;ay, is this &s;ame peace of the Spirit, where this quiet of the &s;oul?</P>
<P N="2">2. And the Bodies, E&s;tates, and Lives of men have had &s;ince as little. From <HI>Barbarians</HI> and <HI>Heathens</HI> we expect it not, they do but that which their Revenge, Rapine, Ambition, Envy, Rel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gion moves them to: But from <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> by the promi&s;e of this prediction, a man would think he might look for his <HI>Quietus e&s;t.</HI> Yet let a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l Records of Antiquity be con&s;ulted, and it mu&s;t be confe&s;&s;ed, that &s;ince the Birth of this Prince of peace, Chri&s;tians have had little re&s;t, yea, and that from Chri&s;tians; the bloody I&s;&s;ue hath not been dried up, but rather increa&s;ed; &s;o that a man may invert our Prophets words, and &s;ay, <HI>Plow-&s;h res have been beaten into Swords, and Pruning-hooks into Spears.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 37.31.</NOTE> I take no delight in pre&s;enting you with <HI>Jo&s;ephs Coat di&s;ped in blood,</HI> yet that was but of a <HI>Bea&s;t:</HI> This, &s;hould I bring forth, would be of a Crim&s;on dye, &s;teeped in the blood of Men, of Brethren, of that peculiar people, who&s;e peace this Prince of peace purcha&s;ed: And yet they cannot be quiet in their po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion &s;o dearly paid for, but are for ever and anon outed by them, who &s;hould deal with Shares, and not with Swords; with Hooks and Siths, and not with Spears. The matter is come to that pa&s;s in <HI>Chri&s;tend<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m,</HI> that we hear <HI>of nothing but Wars, and Rumours of Wars; Nation is ri&s;en again&s;t Nation, and Kingdom again&s;t Kingdom.</HI> What then is become of this
<PB N="442" REF="227"> Prophe&s;ie, <HI>They &s;hall beat their Swords into Plow-&s;hares, and their Spears in|to Siths or Pruning-hooks?</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Archer.</NOTE>This the Millenary taking into his con&s;ideration, and finding it by expe|rience true, that a Chri&s;tian hath not yet po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed an internal, nor yet an ex|ternal peace, hath fancied for Chri&s;t an <HI>Utopian</HI> Kingdom, a thou&s;and years Reign here on Earth; in the time of this Dominion, all the Subjects &s;hall be Free|men; no &s;inners, but all true Saints; no Hypocrites, but all upright men: There &s;hall be no &s;orrow, no weeping; there &s;hall be a fulne&s;s of all tempo|ral ble&s;&s;ings, as peace, &s;afety, riches, health, long life; Original corruption &s;hall be kept in, and not &s;uffered to break forth into any gro&s;s way: And the&s;e they tell us are the dayes that mu&s;t verifie this and many other Pro|phe&s;ies.</P>
<P>A plau&s;ible and plea&s;ing dream, and I have not now time to confute it: My Task is other, and that is to &s;hew you, how this promi&s;e of peace may be made good, though the Chilia&s;ts Brain had never conceived.</P>
<P>For fir&s;t; for the internal peace, clear it is, that the &s;ervants of God do, and may enjoy it under their Prince, notwith&s;tanding all their &s;trugling and wre&s;tlings they have with their untoward fle&s;h and rebellious pa&s;&s;ions; nay, which is &s;omewhat &s;trange, the more &s;trife and oppo&s;ition they make with, and again&s;t the&s;e, their peace is the more &s;ecure, and better confirmed: For by this the con&s;cience doth witne&s;s, that the man would not yield to do that he does; <HI>'tis not he,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.20.</NOTE> <HI>but &s;in that dwells in him,</HI> that does the Deed, upon which evi|dence there is in him a con&s;tant and &s;table tranquillity of mind, becau&s;e his <HI>own heart doth not accu&s;e him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 3.21.</NOTE> but excu&s;e, as touching the con&s;ent; &s;o that nor death, nor hell, nor condemnation is over-much feared by him: This is of great excellency;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 4 7.</NOTE> for <HI>it is the peace of God,</HI> and it &s;prings out of our faith, <HI>whereby we believe our reconciliation with God through Chri&s;t; for being ju&s;tified by faith,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.1.</NOTE> <HI>we have peace with God:</HI> Yea, as our faith is, &s;uch is our peace; lively faith, lively peace; con&s;tant faith, con&s;tant peace; faith in life, peace in life; faith in death, peace in death; &s;o that we may &s;ing with <HI>Sime|on,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 2.29.</NOTE> <HI>Lord, now lette&s;t thy &s;ervant depart in peace.</HI></P>
<P>And in the mean time there is great quietne&s;s in the &s;oul; for the <HI>Sword</HI> is really be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ten into a <HI>Share,</HI> and the <HI>Spear</HI> into a <HI>Pruning-hook.</HI> Anger is a Sword, and in the hand of an unregenerate man it wounds deep; hence comes that &s;ame bitter envy and zeal, hence that de&s;ire of revenge, hence clamors, &s;editions, murders; but let this be mortified and turned into a <HI>Plow-&s;hare,</HI> and a man with it will plow up the fallow ground of his heart, and un|root all his animo&s;ities again&s;t other men, and turn the edge upon him&s;elf: He will <HI>&s;mite his own brea&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 18 13. Ho&s;. 14 8.</NOTE> with the <HI>Publican,</HI> and <HI>fret within,</HI> with <HI>Eph<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">a|im,</HI> finding no occa&s;ion to be angry with any other &s;o much as him&s;elf; nor to be revenged on any but his own heart, that by di&s;plea&s;ing God, brings upon him &s;o much evil. Again, his grief and &s;orrow, which like a <HI>Spear</HI> pierceth the &s;oul, will be beaten into a <HI>Pruning-hook,</HI> and &s;o al&s;o will his fear and his love.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.28. I&s;a. 8.13.</NOTE> <HI>He fears not them that can kill the body, but &s;tands in awe of him that can kill body and &s;oul, and ca&s;t both into hell. The Lord is his fear; and this fear in him is the beginning of wi&s;dom;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 111.10.</NOTE> &s;o that as a Nail or Spear being &s;tricken into the heart, it keeps it &s;table, that nor the tyranny, nor deceit of &s;in can carry it away; nay, it is <HI>cu&s;tos innocentiae, &amp; &s;emen ju&s;titiae,</HI> it &s;owes a man in righteou&s;ne&s;s, and keeps him innocent; at lea&s;t from the great offence, that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.13.</NOTE> <HI>pre&s;umptuous, habitual wickedne&s;s.</HI> And if that this his fear hath not &s;o effectually pruned off his &s;in, as he de&s;ires, but ever and anon it puts forth, then he layes to it the edge of &s;orrow. I mean not that of the World; for that is a Spear to the &s;oul, and wounds to <HI>death;</HI> but <HI>of that godly &s;orrow that works repentance to &s;alvation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 7.10.</NOTE> <HI>not to be repented of;</HI> he knows there is no Sa|crifice
<PB N="443" REF="227"> after he hath &s;inned can appea&s;e God, but that of <HI>a broken and con|trite heart;</HI> and therefore now with <HI>Peter, he weeps bitterly;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.17. Mat. 26.75. Luk. 7.44.</NOTE> and with <HI>Ma|ry, labours to wa&s;h off the filth of his leudne&s;s with a flood of tears:</HI> But what he wants in &s;orrow, he will make good by love; &s;o long as this was lavi&s;h't out upon &s;en&s;ual objects, it was a <HI>Sword</HI> and <HI>a Spear,</HI> and the wounds were many and deadly that the &s;oul received by it: But now carnal love is turned in|to &s;piritual and the love of our &s;elves; and the world beaten into the love of God, and it becomes both a <HI>Share,</HI> and a <HI>Pruning-hook;</HI> a <HI>Share,</HI> to furrow up the very green &s;wart of that innocent and blamele&s;s face of unregenerate morality; and a <HI>Pruning-hook,</HI> to cut off the twigs and &s;uckers of &s;in, &s;o fa&s;t as they &s;hoot; pre&s;ent this loving &s;oul with a Wedge, an Apple, with all the World, he an&s;wers, <HI>Qui po&s;&s;um, How can I do this great wickedne&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 39.9.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;in again&s;t God?</HI> He hath made me, redeemed me, &s;anctified me, and therefore I will love him with my whole heart; which I cannot do, if I give way to this, or the other temptation. <HI>Si de&s;eris illum qui te fecit, &amp; amas illa quae fecit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>adulter es.</HI> What other men avoid for fear, that he will flie out of love; &s;o powerful this affection is in his heart, that it will daily be pruning of one excre&s;|cence of original corruption or other.</P>
<P>This manuring of the affections, and pruning of the pa&s;&s;ions, is a work done in &s;ecret, and no man can give evidence about it, but the Judge; I mean, the Con&s;cience that &s;its within; yet upon the verdict there ari&s;eth a &s;trange joy and peace; nor Whips, nor Racks, nor Fire, nor Bea&s;ts have di&s;turbed it. The man dare avouch, <HI>that he lives not after the fle&s;h, but after the Spirit;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.2, 1.</NOTE> and therefore is certain, that there is <HI>nulla condemnatio,</HI> no condemnatory &s;en|tence to be pa&s;t upon him. Be it, <HI>that the thorn may not depart,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.8, 9.</NOTE> yet <HI>&s;ufficit gratia,</HI> quiets his &s;oul: The effect and power whereof when he finds in &s;ub|duing, in unrooting, in pruning his unruly and rebellious pa&s;&s;ions, he hath great hope of pardon and reconciliation with God; and from that reconciliation peace, <HI>that peace which pa&s;&s;eth all under&s;tanding.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 4.7.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. And thus the fir&s;t Objection falls to the ground; but for the other, that of external peace, when a man looks upon the drawn Swords that are, that have been in Chri&s;tians hands, he would conceive there were little truth in this Prediction; that not Peace, but War; that not Concord, but Di&s;&s;ention; not Love, but Hatred, and &s;tudy of Revenge were to be the con&s;equent of Chri&s;ts Birth; that his own words were more truly verified, than the Prophets; <HI>Suppo&s;e you that I came to give peace on the Earth? I tell you, Nay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12.51.</NOTE> <HI>but rather divi&s;ion.</HI></P>
<P>That War and Di&s;&s;ention, Blood and Revenge, are the con&s;equent of our Saviours appearance in the fle&s;h, I deny not; but that his coming, or his gra|cious de&s;cent is the cau&s;e of it, I ab&s;olutely deny; the&s;e proceed not from him, or the Go&s;pel that he taught and left to us; but from the unruly pa&s;&s;ions of men, which will not be curbed by him: 'Tis then of the Event our Saviour &s;peaks, and not of the Cau&s;e; for of this our Prophets words are verified: For the Doctrine of the Go&s;pel <HI>per &s;e,</HI> is a peaceable Doctrine; <HI>per acci|dens,</HI> Sedition, Divi&s;ion, and War followed the promulgation of it. What&s;o|ever therefore is &s;aid to the contrary, is but a meer fallacy, and proceeds <HI>&agrave; non cau&s;&acirc; ad cau&s;am,</HI> a&s;&s;igning that for a cau&s;e, which hath no way an influence in|to the effect; but in its o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n nature, if it might be heard and obeyed, would produce the quite contrary.</P>
<P>And this Truth will the better appear, and the Truth of this Prophe&s;ie, if you &s;hall reflect upon the Antecedent to this Relative here, <HI>They, They &s;hall beat;</HI> not all then that come &s;o fa&s;t to this Mountain, but they alone, who ad|mit Chri&s;t for their Judge, and are content to be rebuked by him; they whom he &s;hall &s;ubdue and conquer, in who&s;e hearts he &s;hall &s;it as Judge, tho&s;e who will
<PB N="444" REF="228"> tremble at his Rebuke: The&s;e Mild, Tame, Evangelical New Creatures, &s;hall be &s;o changed by the Spirit, and Power of his Doctrine, that they <HI>&s;hall beat their Swords into Plow-&s;hares, and their Spears</HI> really <HI>into Pruning-hooks.</HI></P>
<P>Behold, and wonder on a &s;udden, of Bea&s;ts it would make Men; Men be|fore their Conver&s;ion no better than Bea&s;ts, in their Manners open enemies of the Church, as bloody and ravenous as Wolves, as crafty as Leopards, as greedy as Bears, as fierce as Lyons, &s;o &s;oon as they &s;hall become united by Chri&s;ts Spi|rit to this holy &s;ociety of his people, a &s;ort of innocent creatures: <HI>For the Wolf &s;hall dwell with the Lamb,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 11.6, 7, 8, 9</NOTE> <HI>the Leopard &s;hall lie down with the Kid,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>They &s;hall not hurt nor de&s;troy in all my holy Mountain.</HI> All that dwell in this holy Mountain as true Inhabitants of it, &s;hall be &s;o &s;tudious of peace, &s;o milde, &s;o tame, that they &s;hall co-habit, lie down together, feed together; the Lyons cruelty, the Wolfs raven, the Bears revenge, the Leopards &s;ubtilty, the A&s;pe and Cockatrices &s;ting and poy&s;on &s;hall be depo&s;ed, none &s;hall hurt, none &s;hall de&s;troy, revenge, rapine, pride, contumacy being laid a&s;ide; &s;o obedient the&s;e wilde Bea&s;ts &s;hall be, that the voyce and hand of a childe, the lea&s;t Mini|&s;ter of the Go&s;pel &s;hall lead them. O wonderful Change! O &s;trange Meta|morpho&s;is, the violent turned to <HI>pacifici!</HI> the fierce made kind and loving! the angry and revengeful full of charity! the proud become humble! the contu|macious gentle in a moment! Now that you admire the le&s;s at this, the Pro|phet hath acquainted you with the cau&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 9.</NOTE> <HI>For the Earth &s;hall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the Sea.</HI> The knowledge of the Lord is the light of the Go&s;pel, which if it &s;wim not in the Brain, but &s;ink down into the heart, for pride will induce humility; for de&s;ire of revenge, meekne&s;s; for choler and anger, patience; for raving covetou&s;ne&s;s, conten|tedne&s;s; and the&s;e four Evangelical vertues and graces received and rooted in the heart, will <HI>turn any Sword into a Plow-&s;hare, any Spear into a Pruning-hook:</HI> in a word, of the bloodie&s;t and hurtful'&s;t Bea&s;ts make the milde&s;t and mo&s;t innocent men:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 9.1, 6.</NOTE> And you now &s;hall &s;ee all this <HI>de facto,</HI> done: <HI>Saul</HI> a Wolf, breathing out threatning and &s;laughter, turned into <HI>Paul</HI> trembling as any Lamb.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2.37. Luk. 19. Joh. 3. Act. 17.</NOTE> The <HI>Jewes</HI> that before <HI>Pilate</HI> &s;pake as Lyons, for this their mur|der <HI>pricked to the heart,</HI> and as tame as a &s;ucking Babe: <HI>Matthew</HI> and <HI>Za|cheus</HI> Publicans, ravening as Bears: <HI>Nicodemus</HI> a Phari&s;ee, and <HI>Diony&s;ius</HI> a Philo&s;opher, &s;ubtle as A&s;pes, in a moment rid of their malice and poy&s;on, and great in&s;truments to promote this peace, and to reconcile the World.</P>
<P>And this effect which the Go&s;pel had on them, it had upon many more, e&s;pecially in the youth of the Church, when there was &s;o great, firm, fixed peace and tranquillity among the faithful,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2.46.</NOTE> <HI>that they all had but one heart, and one mind;</HI> and no que&s;tion many there are at this day, upon whom the Evan|gelical precepts have &s;o powerful an influence, that they can &s;ay with <HI>David, My &s;oul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace;</HI> yet <HI>Ego Pacificus, Ego Salom,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 120.6, 7.</NOTE> <HI>Ego ip&s;a pax, I am for peace</HI> or <HI>a man of peace: And therefore woe is me that I &s;ojourn in Me&s;ech,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 5.</NOTE> <HI>and dwell in the Tents of Kedar.</HI></P>
<P>Be it therefore, that when we &s;peak thereof they are for War; yet this &s;hews them to be degenerate, not regenerate Chri&s;tians. Be it that they re|tain their Swords whole, and their Spears unbeaten &s;till, yet this hinders not the truth of this Prediction: For our Prophet fore-tells what &s;hould be, not &s;hall be; his meaning is, to expre&s;s the Duty and Obligation of true Chri&s;tians, not that which they who mask under that name will perform. The fir&s;t know well that charity is the only precept, Peace the la&s;t Legacy that Chri&s;t at his part|ing bequeathed to his, and then be there never &s;o many drawn Swords among
<PB N="445" REF="228"> Chri&s;tian Nations, yet it were a greater Argument of an obedient, and Go&s;pel-&s;pirit, if they were all <HI>beaten into Plow-&s;hares.</HI> To this purpo&s;e ex|cellently <HI>Lactantius</HI> comparing the manners of the Chri&s;tians with the cu&s;tomes of the <HI>Gentiles: Dicit igitur aliquis, Quae ergo, aut ubi,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lactan. lib. <HI>5.</HI> cap. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> <HI>aut qualis e&s;t pietas?</HI> Some men will ask me, What, or where, or of what quality is Re|ligion and Piety? Among them it is who know not War, who keep peace and concord with all; who are friends even to their enemies; who love all men for Brethren; who know how to bridle and curb their anger, and to mitigate the fury of their &s;oul with a moderate and even tran|quillity.</P>
<P><HI>From whence come Wars and Fightings among you? Come they not hence,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 4.1.</NOTE> <HI>even from your lu&s;ts that war in your members?</HI> And in this War the chief Commanders are Covetou&s;ne&s;s, Pride, Anger, all kind of inju&s;tice; but to the&s;e the Go&s;pel is a bitter enemy; the&s;e unclean &s;pirits it labours to ca&s;t out, and doth ca&s;t out in as many as will yield to Chri&s;ts rebuke; let the&s;e then be removed, and the matter and cau&s;e of War will be removed, and the War with it; for <HI>&s;ublata cau&s;a tollitur effectus.</HI> And &s;o our Prophets words will have great truth in them; even the mo&s;t Barbarous, Warlike people, the <HI>Nim|rods</HI> of the Earth <HI>will beat their Swords into Plow-&s;hares, and their Spears into Pruning-hooks:</HI> And how can it be otherwi&s;e, &s;ince <HI>the wi&s;dome that is from above, is fir&s;t pure, then peaceable, gentle, and ea&s;ie to be intreated,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 3.17.18.</NOTE> <HI>full of m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rcy and good fruits, without tumult, and without hypocri&s;ie; and the f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uit of righteou&s;ne&s;s is &s;own in peace of them that make peace.</HI> Our Prophet goes on, and tells us,
<Q>Neither &s;hall they learne War any more.</Q></P>
<P>For how, or of whom &s;hould they learn it? what&s;oever is taught or learn|ed, is taught or learned from &s;ome Ma&s;ter, by &s;ome Rule and Precept, or el&s;e by Example; but in the Go&s;pel we have none of the&s;e, no Ma&s;ter to teach, no Rule for it, no Example to follow about it: Hence then it cannot be learned.</P>
<P N="1">1. Thus it is written in the New Te&s;tament, and thus we read,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 6.45.</NOTE> <HI>They &s;hall be all taught of God:</HI> Let it then be &s;hew'd in what Book, in what Chapter, in what Ver&s;e, he hath taught his people the Art of War. The <HI>Militia</HI> he hath in&s;tituted under the new Covenant, is to fight again&s;t &s;in, never again&s;t men. It is worth our Ob&s;ervation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 15.33. &amp; 16.20. 2. Cor. 13.11. Phil. 4.9.</NOTE> that in the whole New Te&s;tament we find not this Title of Honour &s;o often a&s;&s;umed by him in the Old, <HI>The Lord of Ho&s;ts:</HI> Here we may often read him &s;tiled, <HI>The God of Peace,</HI> but never the God of Battel, that I remember.</P>
<P>Under the Go&s;pel &s;uch was his love, that he would have us taught and gui|ded by his Spirit, which is a loving Spirit; a meek, gentle, a charitable, mer|ciful, quiet Spirit, and therefore not like to teach a Le&s;&s;on, which &s;hould di&s;|quiet the World, and &s;et all in a light flame. When tho&s;e &s;ons of thunder made mention of fire, and thought upon revenge, he told them, <HI>They yet knew not of what Spirit they were;</HI> the Guide they were to follow,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 9.55.</NOTE> would teach them no &s;uch rough Le&s;&s;on.</P>
<P N="2">2. But indeed the quite contrary, if we &s;hall take a view of his pre|cepts: The chief of which, is, <HI>That we re&s;ist not evil;</HI> that is, the inju|rious per&s;on; for &s;o St. <HI>Paul</HI> expounds it, <HI>Render to no man evil for evil;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.39.</NOTE> and he backs it with a rea&s;on, <HI>&V;engeance is mine, I will repay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.17.</NOTE> <HI>&s;aith the Lord.</HI> It is one of Gods peculiars; we may not take it out of his hands, and put it into our own: Nay, which is more,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.35.</NOTE> not de&s;ire or thir&s;t after that re|venge which the Law of man affords, to &s;atisfie our revengeful humour. Thi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">
<PB N="446" REF="229"> precept may &s;ufficiently abate that affection of Rage and Revenge; but ano|ther precept he hath given that leads us higher; and &s;uch as may inflame our affections, words, and actions, even to tho&s;e who have expre&s;&s;ed no good|will to us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.44.</NOTE> and that is, <HI>Love your enemies, ble&s;s them that cur&s;e you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully u&s;e you and per&s;ecute you.</HI> This is to be children of your Father which is in heaven, from whom comes the beams of the Sun, and the &s;weet drops of raine upon the <HI>ju&s;t and unju&s;t.</HI> The&s;e precepts, with divers others to the &s;ame purpo&s;e, he hath taught with his own mouth; and tho&s;e his Di&s;ciples that taught after and under him, gave out the &s;ame: St. <HI>Paul, Follow peace with all men, and holine&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.14. Col. 3.15.</NOTE> <HI>with<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ut which no man &s;hall &s;ee the Lord;</HI> And again, <HI>Let the peace of God,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>command, rule, moderate in your hearts, to the which ye are al&s;o called in one body.</HI> In our hearts ari&s;e there will many turbulent affections, anger, hatred, wrath, revenge; <HI>Let,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>this peace of God be the</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the Agonotheta, to compo&s;e the&s;e tumults within,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 3 8, 9, &amp;c.</NOTE> <HI>end the &s;trife, and &s;ettle the peace.</HI> St. <HI>Peter</HI> al&s;o pre&s;cribes, <HI>Final|ly, be ye all of one mind, having compa&s;&s;ion one of another, love as Bre|thren, be pitiful, be courteous; not rendering evil for evil, or rayling for rayling, but contrarily ble&s;&s;ing, knowing that you are thereunto called, &amp;c.</HI> And in the next ver&s;e but one,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 11.</NOTE> <HI>E&s;chew evil, and do good; &s;eek peace, and in&s;ue it.</HI> I need not tell you, the whole Epi&s;tle of St. <HI>John</HI> is a Letter of <HI>Love.</HI> In his Ma&s;ters bo&s;ome he lay, and knew his heart, and from him he breaths this gentle Command, <HI>Love the brethren.</HI> Since then nor Chri&s;t, nor any of his Apo&s;tles taught this bloody butchery of men, but the clean contrary, well might our Prophet &s;ay, <HI>Neither &s;hall they learn warre any more.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Learn it they could not from any rule, much le&s;s by any example either of him, or his followers. He was gentle and lowly in heart, and would not have fire to de&s;cend to con&s;ume a &s;chi&s;matical <HI>Samaritane.</HI> He was &s;o meek, that he would not &s;uffer <HI>Peter</HI> to keep his Sword drawn in his quarrel. He was merciful and pitiful,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.51, 52, 53. I&s;a. 37.36.</NOTE> and re&s;tored the eare that <HI>Peter</HI> in his ha&s;t cut off. Twelve Legions of Angels he had at his Command (one of which was able to de&s;troy an <HI>A&s;&s;yrian</HI> Army) and yet he would not &s;uffer any one of them to de&s;cend for his re&s;cue. What his power then was, is manife&s;t, that at his que&s;tion, tho&s;e who came with their Swords and Staves, fell to the ground, and yet he would not re&s;i&s;t, but was content to be led away <HI>as a &s;heep to the &s;laughter:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.7.</NOTE> Nay further, when the Jews tho&s;e his malicious enemies, had pre|vailed with <HI>Pilate</HI> to wreak their fury upon him, and exalted him to the Cro&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.34.</NOTE> in&s;tead of bitter words, we hear a fervent Prayer, <HI>Father, forgive them, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 7.60.</NOTE>The fir&s;t Martyr that follow'd him was <HI>Stephen,</HI> and he trode in his Ma|&s;ters &s;teps: For he pray'd for his per&s;ecutors, and &s;o did the re&s;t of that Ar|my, who ended their lives by fire and torment. They knew not how to han|dle any other weapons than prayers and teares.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;.</NOTE> Interce&s;&s;ions they had learn|ed to make for all in Authority; and in their pre&s;&s;ures they dealt by petitions, and not by Swords,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 2.1, 2.</NOTE> profe&s;&s;ing openly to the world, <HI>Rogamus Cae&s;ar, non pugnamus.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.16. I&s;a. 9.6.</NOTE>To collect all then; Not God, for he is <HI>the God of peace;</HI> Not the Spirit of God, for he is <HI>the Spirit of peace, and de&s;cended in the &s;hape of a Dove;</HI> Not the Son of God, for he is <HI>the Prince of peace;</HI> Not any of his Servants,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.15.</NOTE> for they were <HI>the me&s;&s;engers of peace;</HI> have either by precept or example taught this inhumanity, this ma&s;&s;acre of men, but rather the quite contrary. Confe&s;&s;ed then it mu&s;t be, that it mu&s;t have &s;ome other Original than that from Heaven; and if it come not from above, ea&s;ie it is to &s;ay from what dark Cave it proceeds.</P>
<PB N="447" REF="229">
<P>That I may &s;ay much in few words, carry Home with you that good coun|&s;el given by the Apo&s;tle to the <HI>Ephe&s;ians;</HI> it being hearkned to,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.31, 32</NOTE> may blunt and beat to pieces all &s;words and &s;peares; <HI>Let all bitterne&s;s, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> evil-&s;peaking, be put away from you with all ma|lice. And be you kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one ano|ther, even as God for Chri&s;ts &s;ake forgave you.</HI> The Apo&s;tle here directs us what vices a Chri&s;tian mu&s;t put away; which are of the mouth, <HI>bitterne&s;s, clamour, evil-speaking;</HI> Of the heart, <HI>wrath, anger, malice.</HI> Then he ac|quaints us what vertues we mu&s;t carry about us, affectionate bowels, and a|ctive love, that we <HI>be kind, tender-hearted,</HI> apt to <HI>forgive one another;</HI> and that this his direction might work the more effectually, he propo&s;eth a mo|tive, which mu&s;t needs prevail with us if we have any bowels; <HI>Forgive, as God for Chri&s;ts &s;ake forgave you.</HI> How that was, may ea&s;ily be known, if you will but con&s;ider what ca&s;e we were in when God did gratifie us with his par|don. Our Apo&s;tle, if you know it not, &s;hall inform you, <HI>Weak, Godle&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.6, 8, 10.</NOTE> <HI>Sinners, Enemies&punc; Weak,</HI> and had no &s;trength to help our &s;elves; <HI>Godle&s;s,</HI> and had no piety to procure a good look or a pardon. <HI>Sinners,</HI> and had no righ|teou&s;ne&s;s to &s;atisfie the wrong done. <HI>Enemies,</HI> and had no acquaintance to make a friend to intercede or mediate for us, and yet notwith&s;tanding all the&s;e impediments and defects, for Chri&s;ts &s;ake he pa&s;&s;ed by all, gave a free and a full pardon, and was plea&s;ed to be reconcil'd to us.</P>
<P><HI>E&s;tote imitatores,</HI> That's your le&s;&s;on now. Do by your brethren, what your Father hath done to you. Are your brethren <GAP DESC="foreign">, weak and impo|tent? labour to re&s;tore them. Are they <GAP DESC="foreign">, ungodly? pray for them, that if it be po&s;&s;ible, the thoughts of their hearts may be forgiven.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 8.22.</NOTE> Are they <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;inners? again&s;t heaven I mean not, but again&s;t thee;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 18.15.</NOTE> <HI>go and tell every one his fault betwixt thee and him alive, winne thy brother.</HI> Are they <GAP DESC="foreign">, odious enemies? learn by precept, by pattern, to love them. God loved his Enemies, therefore love ye them al&s;o; the Sonne of God loved, therefore love; &s;o he lov'd, that he dyed, he forgave, he pray'd for them, <HI>Fa|ther, forgive, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Let the &s;ame minde be in you, which was in Chri&s;t Je&s;us:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.5.</NOTE> For that the Apo&s;tle calls; but I remember it was in the Innocent dayes of the Church; in this decrepit Age I de&s;pair to find it; however give me leave to make the motion after him, and let you know that God expects as much of you as he did of them. Now, <HI>His love was wonderful, pa&s;&s;ing the love of weomen;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 1.26.</NOTE> <HI>His love was wonderful, pa&s;&s;ing the love of all men.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.7.</NOTE> <HI>Greater love than this hath no man, that one die for his friend;</HI> but his love was &s;uperlative, for he died for his Enemies; &s;uch Enemies, as I now named. He cryed upon the Cro&s;s for the Jews; he was Crucified without the Gate for the Gentiles. In the open &s;ight of God, Men, Angels, not out of weakne&s;s, but love; not out of form, but intimate affection then he cryed, <HI>Good Father, for|give.</HI></P>
<P>To this motion if you will not yield, then I make a lower, that at lea&s;t you be not Lyons and Tygers; that you be not &s;avage bea&s;ts, <HI>to bite, to teare,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.15.</NOTE> <HI>to devoure one another.</HI> This cruelty cannot be in &s;uch as dwell in Gods ho|ly Mountain; &s;uch be&s;tiality is incompatible with our Chri&s;tian profe&s;&s;ion; ei|ther then renounce the name, or be a&s;ham'd of your &s;in.</P>
<P>So far as may be, be not angry; if yet angry, be not bitter; or if bit|ter, yet revile not, bla&s;pheme not; if that, yet be not clamourou&s;ly mali|cious; or if &s;o, yet <HI>beat not your &s;hares into &s;words, and your &s;ithes into &s;peares:</HI> Rather for Gods &s;ake forgive, and for Chri&s;ts &s;ake forget, and &s;o &s;hall you for Chri&s;ts &s;ake be forgiven, and your wickedne&s;s for his &s;ake forgot|ten. For <HI>love will cover a multitude of &s;ins.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.8.</NOTE></P>
<PB N="448" REF="230">
<P>This Art of forgetfulne&s;s is the mo&s;t profitable Art, and u&s;eful for the &s;o|ciety of men that can be learned; for it will in a moment di&s;arm all Chri|&s;tendom, which now welters in blood; it will charm all this new invented Artillery, and return the Bears and Ba&s;ilisks into their old humane &s;hapes a|gain, an univer&s;al peace being proclaim'd to our envy, wrath, malice, co|vetou&s;ne&s;s, ambition, pride, tho&s;e accur&s;ed Ma&s;ters from which we have learned to War: To which if you be ready to yield, then I &s;hall be&s;peak you as the Prophet here doth his people,
<Q>O hou&s;e of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.</Q></P>
<P>Somewhat certainly there is in it, that the Church and people of God is &s;o con&s;tantly by the Prophets pre&s;ented to us under this notion, <HI>The Hou&s;e of Jacob,</HI> Or <HI>The Hou&s;e of I&s;rael.</HI> What was it, trow ye, that <HI>Jacob</HI> was the type of all the Elect? as <HI>E&s;au</HI> of the Reprobate; whence God &s;aith, <HI>I have loved Jacob, but hated E&s;au.</HI> Or was it, that <HI>Jacob</HI> fir&s;t &s;et him up a Hou&s;e calling it <HI>Bethel,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 9.13. Gen. 28.19, 20</NOTE> <HI>the hou&s;e of God?</HI> where he appropriated <HI>God to be his God; vowed,</HI> and I doubt not paid his Tithes. Or was it becau&s;e he wre&s;tled with God by his prayers, and prevailed? whence he had his name chang'd to <HI>I&s;rael.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 31.24, 28.</NOTE> Or la&s;tly, was it becau&s;e he was of a peaceable and quiet di&s;po&s;ition? His brother <HI>E&s;au</HI> was the rough Swordman; he comes out to meet him with his four hundred men; but <HI>Jacob</HI> deals fir&s;t with God by his prayers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 32.6, 9, 13.33.8.</NOTE> then with his brother with his <HI>pre&s;ent:</HI> He intreats, he fights not; he de&s;ires to find Grace in the &s;ight of his Lord <HI>E&s;au,</HI> he oppo&s;eth not: Yea, &s;uch an Enemy he was to drawn Swords, that he forgot not the Ma&s;&s;acre made by his Sonnes, divers years afte<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> and therefore among the ble&s;&s;ing of the re&s;t; he remembers the&s;e two Sonnes of blood in this Manner, <HI>Simeon and Levi are br<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">thren, instruments of cru<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lty are in their habitations: O my &s;oul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 49.5, 6, 7.</NOTE> <HI>come not thou into their &s;ecret; unto their A&s;&s;embly mine honor be thou not united; for in their anger they &s;lew a man, and in their &s;elf-will they digg'd down a wall. Cur&s;ed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel.</HI></P>
<P>And admit this la&s;t to be the cau&s;e, and it will very aptly agree to this place, as if the Prophet had &s;aid, What, are tho&s;e fierce and warlick Nations of the Gentiles become &s;o milde, &s;o &s;tudious of peace, that upon the rece|ption of the glad-tydings of the Go&s;pel, they have <HI>turn'd their Swords in|to Plough-&s;hares, and their Speares to &s;ithes,</HI> and quite forgot to War? O doe then you my Countrey-men, my Kin&s;men in the fle&s;h remember
<Q>Qua &s;itis origine nati.</Q> Call to mind that you are de&s;cended from the loynes of that peaceable Pa|triarch <HI>Jacob,</HI> from that old Father <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> who prevail'd with God by his prayers, with his brother by a pre&s;ent and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion; from that dying Pro|phet that in his la&s;t words cur&s;ed the anger and in&s;truments of cruelty of his own &s;ons; and then depo&s;e the&s;e animo&s;ities and bloody thoughts, as altoge|ther unbe&s;eeming <HI>the Hou&s;e of Jacob.</HI> Give me leave <HI>to provoke you to jealou&s;ie by them that are no people, and by a fooli&s;h people to anger you:</HI> Shall they be <HI>pacifici,</HI> and will not ye? They readily and joyfully lay down Arms,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.21.</NOTE> and will ye yet hold them up? Shall they which are <HI>Aliens and Stran|gers to the Common-wealth of I&s;rael, turn their Swords into Plow-&s;hares;</HI> and &s;hall <HI>the Hou&s;e of Jacob beat</HI> their Cultures and In&s;truments of Husbandry <HI>into Swords?</HI> Oh for &s;hame let this black Note of Infamy be never fa&s;tned
<PB N="449" REF="230"> upon <HI>I&s;raels</HI> po&s;terity. <HI>Come ra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her O Hou&s;e of Jacob, and</HI>
<Q>Let us walke in the light of the Lord.</Q></P>
<P>In this wo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ld we are but Travellers; our Father <HI>Jacob</HI> confe&s;s'd him&s;elf to <HI>Pharaoh</HI> to be no other; and the way we go, is dark and dangerous;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 48.9.</NOTE> we had need of a light to guide us, and &s;uch our Lord hath provided for us; as for the old Hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob,</HI> the Prophets, <HI>a light that &s;hined in a dark place;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.19.</NOTE> &s;o to us that &s;ucceed them, both the &s;ame, and a cleerer light in the Go&s;pel for our direction, can we have only &s;o much grace to take heed to it. In this Family he mu&s;t bear the &s;way, <HI>who is the Lord of lords, and King of kings.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 19.16. Luke 1.33.</NOTE> So &s;aith the Angel, <HI>He &s;hall raign in the hou&s;e of Jacob for ever.</HI> And therefore <HI>Come O hou&s;e of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Bernard</HI> in that Sermon in which he per&s;wades us to &s;ubmit our wills to the Will of God, makes a di&s;tinction of l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ghts and of walkers. <HI>One,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> &s;aith he, <HI>walks in the light of his own countenan<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e, being &s;ollicitous to fu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">fill the lusts of his own heart;</HI> and what can come from a mans corrupt heart our Saviour hath informed us: <HI>Out of the heart come evil thoughts, mu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rs,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.19. Rom 3.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">4&punc; 15, 16, 17.</NOTE> <HI>&amp;c. Another walks in the light of anoth<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r mans c un<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">enance, and is care|ful wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t will plea&s;e men. Their mouth is full of cur&s;ing and bitterne&s;s, their feet are &s;wift to &s;hed blood; de&s;truction and mi&s;ery are in their wayes; and the way of peace have they not known.</HI> Walk then by the blaze of either of the&s;e two lights; either that of proud, malicious, envious, covetous, and ambitious nature; or that to wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch the example and ends of others may be a <GAP DESC="foreign">, and there is little hope of ever <HI>beating Swords into Plough-&s;hares.</HI> Both the&s;e as <HI>ignes fatui,</HI> fal&s;e and fooli&s;h lights being &s;et a&s;ide, a third there is; it is <HI>Lumen Domini, the light of the Lord;</HI> that which the Lord carries before us; and which, if we &s;hall be content to follow, then I am certain the Hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob</HI> will not learn to war any more.</P>
<P>For who &s;hould teach it? Not God, fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> he is <HI>the God of peace;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14.33.</NOTE> let then any of his Family break it, they are not <HI>I&s;raelitae,</HI> but <HI>Je&s;racl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 1.4.</NOTE> not &s;ons of <HI>Jacob,</HI> but &s;upplanters; though then they pretend to &s;ee forward the cau&s;e of God, yet they promote the cau&s;e of the Devil; for he is the contri|ver and &s;ower of all di&s;&s;en&s;ion. <HI>Ye are from your father the devil,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 8.44.</NOTE> <HI>for he was a murderer from the beginning.</HI></P>
<P>Again, this peace of God mu&s;t <GAP DESC="foreign">, as I touch'd before, it mu&s;t predominate, and bear &s;way,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.15.</NOTE> and exerci&s;e a regal po<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">er over a l the affecti|ons in the hearts of tho&s;e who are of the Hou&s;e of <HI>Jac<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">b;</HI> for to that end their Lord holds forth to them this light. All tumultuous pa&s;&s;ions then of the &s;oul, &s;uch as are anger, envy, malice, hatred, &amp;c. as Rebels again&s;t their Prince, and breakers of the peace, are to be laid hold on, repre&s;s'd, quell'd, and as I may &s;ay, to be ca&s;t into Pri&s;on. Then the Hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob</HI> w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll be at re&s;t, and not till then. La&s;tly, call'd they are to this in one body; Call'd to <HI>peace,</HI> &s;o that if they be di&s;turbers of it, they are wholly unmindful of their calling, and &s;tubborn Contemners of Gods order: The&s;e Make-bates and leaders of Factions, may plea&s;e them&s;elves, and &s;ing a <HI>requiem</HI> to their own &s;ouls, but in <HI>Jacobs</HI> Hou&s;e God allows no &s;uch allows: nay, <HI>his &s;oul hates them.</HI> 'Tis the &s;eventh per&s;on he abominates,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 6.16, 19.</NOTE> <HI>the man that &s;oweth di&s;cord a|mong his brethren.</HI></P>
<P>In a word, if this con&s;ideration of the <HI>Hou&s;e</HI> cannot work tho&s;e that are &s;ervants under the &s;ame Lord to be of one minde, yet methinks, that of the body &s;hould do it. What, are all now made members of one body, and yet fall out, quarrel, fight, kill, de&s;troy each other? Oh unnatural cruelty!
<PB N="450" REF="231"> <HI>No man hates his own fle&s;h, but loves and cheri&s;heth it.</HI> Love, tenderne&s;s, &s;ympathy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.29.</NOTE> is the indulgence that one part owes to another, not animo&s;ities, indignation, revenge. Continue this, and what will befall to the whole, but what hapned to the hands, feet, and eyes, when they quarrel'd with the belly? <HI>cum ventre &s;imul pereunte pereunt.</HI></P>
<Q><L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prudent. in P&s;y|cho.</NOTE>&mdash;Sci&s;&s;ura dome&s;tica turbat</L>
<L>Rem populi; titubat&abque; foris, quod di&s;&s;idet intus.</L></Q>
<P><HI>Come then, O Hou&s;e of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.</HI> For thus much light the Lord hath lent us to promote, to keep the Peace.</P>
<P>But I remember, that be the light never &s;o clear, yet it is the God of <HI>peace</HI> that mu&s;t make us walk in this light. And therefore let the Hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob</HI> joyn in earne&s;t prayers to this Lord, that as he hath held forth to us this light, &s;o we may have eyes to &s;ee it, and hearts to rejoyce in it, and feet to be guided and walk after it; for then our <HI>Swords will be turn'd into Plough-&s;hares, and Speares into pruning hooks. Nation &s;hall not lift up a Sword again&s;t Nation, neither &s;hall they learn to warre any more.</HI> Not a Bea&s;t &s;hall hurt or de&s;troy in Gods Holy Mountain. And to this let the Prince of <HI>peace</HI> &s;ay <HI>Amen;</HI> and to this let all the Hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob</HI> &s;ay <HI>Amen,</HI> all that bear any good-will to <HI>Zion. Now to God the Father of peace, and to his Sonne the Prince of peace, and to the Holy Gho&s;t the Spirit of unity and peace, three per&s;ons and one God, be a&s;cribed all Honor and Glory this day and evermore.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="35" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>Of the Beauty of the Church Militant.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>The Song of</HI> Solomon, <HI>cap. 1. ver. 5, 6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>I am black, but comely (O ye daughters of Jeru&s;alem) as the Tents of Kedar, as the Curtains of Solomon.</P>
<P>Look not upon me, becau&s;e I am blacky, becau&s;e the Sunne hath look|ed upon me; My Mothers children were angry with me, &amp;c.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THis is the defence which the Church Militant makes for her <HI>blackne&s;s.</HI> And it is directed to the daughters of <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> whom &s;he might have called the daughters of <HI>Babylon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> becau&s;e out of envy they did detract from her beau|ty, and impute to her di&s;grace her Aethiopian face. To the&s;e &s;he is forc'd to make her Apology, in which &s;he &s;hews her ingenuity, confe&s;&s;ing in part what they alledge; <HI>black</HI> through actual and Original &s;in; <HI>black</HI> by the Rebellion of the fle&s;h; <HI>black</HI> by many a temptation of the foul &s;pirit; <HI>black</HI> through af|flictions and per&s;ecutions, <HI>as black as the Tents of Kedar.</HI> But yet &s;he would have them remember,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> <HI>non omne quod nigrum e&s;t continuo deforme e&s;t;</HI> there may be fair proportions, as in a black eye, or an Aethiopian face, where the colour is of deepe&s;t black, and &s;uch was yet in her; deformed &s;he was not, though of a dark skin; <HI>black</HI> indeed, yet <HI>comely,</HI> through that beauty her Spou&s;e had put upon her.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.14.</NOTE> Her condition then well con&s;ider'd, rather call'd upon them for pity than contempt; for comforts rather than detracti|on and invectives; from which that they might the better forbear, &s;he yet at
<PB N="451" REF="231"> lea&s;t de&s;ires them to con&s;ider the cau&s;e: <HI>Sol decoloravit me, filij Matris expugnarunt m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> I am &s;un-burnt with afflictions, and with &s;in the cau&s;es of afflictions; and be&s;ides, <HI>my Mothers &s;ons,</HI> which &s;hould in the&s;e have &s;tood by me, <HI>are angry with me,</HI> and become mi&s;erable comforters; and can you then blame me that I am <HI>&s;ubnigra,</HI> &s;omewhat &s;warthy? O daughters of <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> know you &s;hould that there be three &s;orts of people. One <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hat are Coal black, and have not any beauty at all about them, and &s;uch are all tho&s;e that are de&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tute of divine grace; that carry about them the face of the Devil; and for this colour they mu&s;t be brands in Hell. Another there are, who on the quite contrary, are as white, as fair, and beautiful, having nor &s;pot, nor wrinkle about them; and the&s;e are the Saints in Heaven, who be|ing freed from &s;in and mi&s;ery, <HI>follow the Lamb, amicti &s;tolis albis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14.4.</NOTE> cloth'd in long white Robes, <HI>where&s;oever he goeth.</HI> A third &s;ort there is, who are in a middle &s;tate and condition; Souldiers in the field they are, and then at be&s;t they can but lodge in Tents; or Travellers they are, and 'tis well for them, if they be lodged in Curtains; in the field they meet with Enemies, within doors with difficulties; 'tis no wonder then that their beauty is much impair'd.</P>
<P>This is the ca&s;e of the Church Militant, in which &s;he retains an amiable beauty; which what it is, you &s;hall &s;ee hereafter.</P>
<P>The occa&s;ion and &s;ub&s;tance of the&s;e words is apparent, and the partition of them is as ea&s;ie. They thus fall a&s;under.</P>
<P N="1">1. The ingenuous confe&s;&s;ion of the Militant Church, <HI>I am black;</HI> which &s;he amplifies by both the <HI>Similees</HI> as &s;ome think, certainly by the fir&s;t, <HI>Black as the Tents of Kedar.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The ju&s;t Vindication of Her &s;elf by way of exception, <HI>Black, but fair;</HI> that al&s;o amplified as the be&s;t and mo&s;t Expo&s;itors affirm, <HI>Fair, as the Curtains of Solomon.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Her reque&s;t, motion, or petition to the Daughters of <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> that for Her <HI>blackne&s;s</HI> &s;he &s;hould not be the le&s;s &s;et by, <HI>Lo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">k not upon me be|cau&s;e I am Black.</HI> For of this <HI>Blackne&s;s</HI> &s;he a&s;&s;ignes two Rea&s;ons; both of which might abate their Moro&s;ity.</P>
<P>The one Native and from within; the other without.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Within, <HI>the Sun hath looked upon me.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Without, <HI>My Mothers Sons were angry with me, and have fought again&s;t me.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<Q><HI>Nigra Sum.</HI> I am Black.</Q>
<P>It is not denied, but man at fir&s;t <HI>was made after the Image of God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.26.</NOTE> that he had a perfect, pure, white, clean &s;oul; but in this Candour he long con|tinued not, for he wilfully became guilty of di&s;obedience, by which he foul|ed him&s;elf and his po&s;terity; &s;o that ever &s;ince there is not a man who is not blacked with Original and Actual &s;in.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 9.18, 20.</NOTE> The Infant of a &s;pan long is as the young Maid dead in her Mothers Hou&s;e; and the longer liver, as the Woman with the <HI>bloody i&s;&s;ue,</HI> of which he is infirm many years: and the faces of them all gather blackne&s;s, or is as <HI>Nigredo ollae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nahum 2.10.</NOTE> as the old Tran&s;lator reads tho&s;e words. For as the new Earthen Ve&s;&s;el (when it comes fre&s;h from the hand of the Potter) is white as the Virgin-clay, but being brought to the &s;moaky Furnace, is pre&s;ently &s;ullied, &s;mooted, and contracts a blace hue: So the Soul of man at fir&s;t coming from the hand of the Creatour, had nor &s;pot, nor blemi&s;h, but was white and beautiful; But when <HI>Eve</HI> approach'd to the foul &s;pirit, and <HI>Adam</HI> clove to his Wife, they brought forth an <HI>Aethiopian</HI>
<PB N="452" REF="232"> po&s;terity, and all their childrens fac<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s gather'd blackne&s;s. <HI>Partus &s;equitur ventrem,</HI> which <HI>David</HI> acknowledg'd, and calls all men to &s;ee it, <HI>Behold, I was &s;hapen in iniquity,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 51.5.</NOTE> <HI>and in &s;in my Mother conceiv'd me.</HI> And this Mother was not <HI>Sarah,</HI> for we were <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ot children of the free-woman, but <HI>Hagar</HI> the Hand-maid, the Mother of tho&s;e who dwelt in the&s;e Tents of <HI>Kedar.</HI> The Spou&s;e therefore looking back upon the&s;e Her Progenitours, and Her old Grand-mother <HI>Eve,</HI> and remembring what deformity &s;he had brought from their loines, ingenuou&s;ly confe&s;&s;eth that Her &s;elf and all Her Children in the day of Her Nativity, were all <HI>Blackmoors;</HI> as black as tho&s;e <HI>Tents of Kedar,</HI> which &s;ignifies <HI>darkne&s;s,</HI> in which <HI>Hagars</HI> children, as pilgrims and &s;trangers, were wont to &s;ojourn.</P>
<P>'Tis a rare thing in a Woman to acknowledge any defect in her beauty; nay, be her face never &s;o &s;warthy, and her skin never &s;o thick and tann'd, well &s;he will not take it to be told it is &s;o.</P>
<Q><L>Manet alta mente repo&s;tum</L>
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Virg.</NOTE>Judicium Paridis, &s;pretae&abque; injuria formae.</L></Q>
<P>But the contrary was in the Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t to other Weomen; whereas o|thers would have boa&s;ted and &s;et forth their beauty, that they might have gain'd, what &s;he at the fir&s;t <HI>ver&s;e</HI> de&s;ired, <HI>a ki&s;&s;e;</HI> &s;he makes Her <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">elf no better than &s;he is, <HI>By Nature Black.</HI> You, O daughters of <HI>H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eru&s;alem,</HI> may bragg and vaunt your own beauty (as too many of their Phari&s;aical off-&s;pring did) I naturally have nothing to win the love of my Beloved but my <HI>Blackne&s;&s;e;</HI> if this will not move Him, I have no more to plead.</P>
<P>And this did it, this deformity, this <HI>blackne&s;s;</HI> this <HI>Aethiopian</HI> colour moved him. For tell me, what was it that moved the Son of God to come from Heaven? why did he vaile h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s glory under the &s;hape and fle&s;h of man? but becau&s;e the face of his Spou&s;e was covered with <HI>blackne&s;s.</HI> It pitied him to &s;ee her whom he loved, &s;o foul, &s;o deformed; and therefore not out of any Merit, but meere Mercy, he came down and made her a Laver of his Blood; in which when &s;he wa&s;hed, &s;he &s;hould be white, clean, beautiful. Bathe but in this Bloody Fountain, and <HI>though your &s;innes be as &s;carle, they &s;hall be as white as &s;now;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.18.</NOTE> <HI>though they be red like Crim&s;on, they &s;hall be as Wool.</HI> One deep calls upon another; her depth of mi&s;ery, his Sea of mercy; and therefore as if &s;he were at confe&s;&s;ion, &s;he makes not her &s;elf better than &s;he is, but profe&s;&s;eth her Native <HI>Blackn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;s;</HI> being a&s;&s;ured, that he who ca&s;ts his eyes upon &s;uch who are in her ca&s;e, and acknowledge it, would ca&s;t a fa|vourable eye toward her. <HI>He that covereth his &s;ins &s;hall not pro&s;per, but he that confe&s;&s;eth and for&s;akes them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 28.13.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall have mercy.</HI></P>
<P>This the Beloved Spou&s;e knew, and therefore though now &s;he knew and profe&s;&s;eth her &s;elf after to be beautiful, yet &s;he looks to what &s;he was. She forgets not her fir&s;t e&s;tate; &s;he premi&s;eth that, becau&s;e that preceded this; which &s;ets forth her humility in the&s;e re&s;pects.</P>
<P N="1">1. That &s;he intimates what &s;he was of her &s;elf, and by her corrupt Nature. <HI>As black as the Tents of Kedar;</HI> black within and without: For as &s;he was nothing of her &s;elf, and &s;hould quickly be reduced to nothing, did not the hand of her Spou&s;e hold her up: So of her &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lf &s;he was <HI>black,</HI> and a &s;inful creature; and what &s;he was, &s;he &s;hould alwayes be, had not her Husband put his beauty upon her: For <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">er Birth and Nativity was of the Land of Canaan;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.3.</NOTE> <HI>her Father was an Amorite, and her Mother a Hittite.</HI></P>
<P N="2"><PB N="453" REF="232">2. Be it that <HI>&s;he was now wa&s;hed with water, and clean&s;ed from her blood,</HI> by grace beautiful indeed; yet, as an humble Convert,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 9.</NOTE> in remembrance of her fir&s;t condition, &s;he retains her name &s;till, &s;he e&s;teems her &s;elf <HI>black,</HI> becau&s;e &s;he was once <HI>black;</HI> which ought to be the e&s;timate that every con|verted &s;inner, though now a Saint, ought to have of him&s;elf, and not to be overmuch puffed up with the thoughts of his pre&s;ent condition. To be plea&s;ed and contented with it, I can allow him, but not to be proud. How far was St. <HI>Paul</HI> from this, who though call'd, chang'd in name, in nature; <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f a Per&s;ecutor, made a Preacher;</HI> yet looking back to what he fir&s;t was, leaves this Character of him|&s;elf, <HI>Ego minimus Apo&s;tolorum, I am the lea&s;t of the Apo&s;tles;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.9.</NOTE> <HI>who am not worthy to be called an Ap<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;tl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, becau&s;e I per&s;ecuted the Church of God!</HI> He &s;aith not, <HI>Non fui dignus, &s;ed non &s;um,</HI> I have not been, but <HI>I am not now worthy.</HI> Though now made worthy by the grace of God, yet recollecting even then his former cour&s;es, he h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ld him&s;elf unworthy of &s;o high an honour. And the Rea&s;on of this is, becau&s;e an humble penitent always hath before his eyes his former &s;ins, and melts out of tho&s;e enormities into a River of tears. <HI>My &s;in</HI> (&s;aith <HI>David) is alwayes before me;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.3.</NOTE> that which God ca&s;ts behind his back, he &s;ets before his face; and being alwayes in his eye, <HI>His eyes gu&s;h out Rivers of water, b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cau&s;e he hath not ke<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t the Law of his God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.136.</NOTE> even for his fore-pa&s;t life he thinks him&s;elf <HI>black</HI> &s;till.</P>
<P N="3">3. Or el&s;e in an humble manner &s;he bears that reproach which &s;he &s;u&s;|pected the Daughters of <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> would put upon her; for &s;uch is the na|ture of malicious men, that whom once they have known to be <HI>black,</HI> they will alwayes count <HI>black;</HI> once &s;inners, ever &s;inners; &s;ee it in the <HI>Phar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ee,</HI> that never looked upon <HI>Maries</HI> repentance, but <HI>Maries</HI> &s;in; he con&s;idered <HI>not her tears, that &s;he &s;ate at Chri&s;ts fe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t,</HI> but looked on her former life;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.39.</NOTE> and therefore even then fa&s;tens upon her, this foule Name, <HI>Haec Peccatrix, This Sinner,</HI> as his fellow <HI>Phari&s;ee</HI> did upon the poor <HI>Publican, Hic Publica|nus, This Publican.</HI> Whether this proceed out of malice, or incogitancy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.11.</NOTE> I know not, or rather out of an e&s;timate of others by them&s;elves. They hold it not po&s;&s;ible the plea&s;ures and profits of &s;in can &s;o ea&s;ily be &s;haken off: Be it as it will, the Spou&s;e fore-&s;eeing the wor&s;t they could object, freely confe&s;&s;eth all; <HI>N<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gra &s;um, I am black indeed;</HI> as St. <HI>Matthew</HI> gives him&s;elf the name of <HI>Publican</HI> long after his Conver&s;ion, becau&s;e he had been a <HI>Publican.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 10.3.</NOTE> <HI>Bet|ter</HI> (&s;aith the wi&s;e &s;on of <HI>Sirach) is the wickedne&s;s of a man, than a c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ur|teous woman, a woman that brings &s;hame and reproach:</HI> Upon which words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 42.14.</NOTE> <HI>Gregory</HI> ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h this Note, <HI>An infirm, an effeminate, in<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">reet man, if he <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oth any good Deed, is proud of it, and &s;o commits a greater &s;in; but a di&s;creet and &s;ober Convert, knowing that he hath done evil, is the more humble and wary; he ever thinks what he was,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 41.6.</NOTE> <HI>and therefore abhors him&s;elf in &s;ack|cloth and a&s;hes.</HI> But yet in this black and mourning ve&s;ture, &s;he is not di&s;|heartned; for &s;he takes a &s;econd view of her &s;elf; though one eye be fa&s;tned on her fir&s;t e&s;tate, yet the other &s;he fixeth on her &s;econd, con&s;idering not alto|gether what &s;he is by Nature, as what &s;he is by Grace, and then bold &s;he is to avouch that &s;he is <HI>beautiful.</HI></P>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Nigra &s;um, &s;ed formo&s;a. I am black, but beautiful, comely.</HEAD>
<P>The <HI>Kings Daughter is all beautiful within;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 45.13.</NOTE> within then it is that we mu&s;t look for this beauty, which is indeed the beauty of holine&s;s, and this we are bound to believe; for &s;o we confe&s;s in our Creed, <HI>I believe the Holy Catho|lick Church.</HI></P>
<P>For be it &s;he be <HI>black,</HI> for the Rea&s;on before alledged, becau&s;e all her
<PB N="454" REF="233"> children are by nature the &s;ons of wrath, being conceived in &s;in: Or which is another Rea&s;on, becau&s;e the mo&s;t of her company vi&s;ibly &s;een, are for manners profane; yet for all this &s;he doth not cea&s;e to be <HI>comely,</HI> becau&s;e the denomi|nation mu&s;t alwayes be taken from the nobler and better part, and not from the multitude; now <HI>comely, fair, beautiful</HI> and <HI>holy</HI> &s;he is, in four re&s;pects.</P>
<P N="1">1. In re&s;pect of the Husband, to whom &s;he is joyned; &s;o that what beauty is in him, is al&s;o imputed to her. 'Tis his Prerogative to be beauty it &s;elf;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.22.</NOTE> <HI>for he did no &s;in, neither was there any guile found in his mouth;</HI> but he is plea&s;ed to take away her blackne&s;s, and put upon her his own beauty: <HI>Be|come he is Jehovah our righteou&s;ne&s;s;</HI> and we again <HI>the righteou&s;ne&s;s of God in him.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 23.6. 2 Cor. 5.21. Rev. 7.14.</NOTE> And now tell me, how can &s;he choo&s;e but be beautiful, <HI>who hath wa&s;hed her Robes in the blood of the Lamb!</HI> It is a certain Rule in Rea&s;on, that <HI>quod partis e&s;t qua pars, id rect&egrave; attribu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tur toti &s;ecundam illam par|tem:</HI> As for Example, the vi&s;ual faculty properly belonging to the eye, as a part of the man, is in regard of that part attributed to the whole man; &s;o that we may truly affirm the whole man doth &s;ee, though it be the eye properly on|ly which doth &s;ee. In like manner, we may truly affirm the whole my&s;tical body of Chri&s;t is <HI>fair, comely, holy,</HI> becau&s;e the Head thereof, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, is <HI>fair</HI> and <HI>comely;</HI> that which properly belongs to a part, being attributed to the whole.</P>
<P N="2">2. And that it might be thus attributed, he hath given to <HI>his Spou&s;e his holy Spirit,</HI> who brings with him a Train of graces, not only to rid her of her blackne&s;s, but to adorn and beautifie her. <HI>&V;ertue</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Plato) hath &s;o ma|ny excellent Lineaments, and &s;uch a &s;trange comeline&s;s in it, that if it could be &s;een with the eye,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cic. Off. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>it would draw eyes after it, and make men wonderfully in love with it.</HI> If he thus judged of his Moral Vertue, What &s;hall we think of the&s;e graces of the Holy Spirit? If tho&s;e would &s;o beautifie the &s;oul, what comeline&s;s then will the&s;e adde to it! Tho&s;e would make a man <HI>ne quid in|decor&egrave;, effaeminative faciat;</HI> that he &s;hould do nothing unhand&s;omly, effemi|nately; and therefore much more the&s;e, whence there mu&s;t needs ari&s;e an excellent comeline&s;s in the &s;oul; the Spou&s;e then being decked with the&s;e effu&s;ions, mu&s;t needs be comely.</P>
<P N="3">3. And to increa&s;e her comeline&s;s, <HI>Her Husband decked her with other Ornaments, he put Bracel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ts on her hands, and a Chain upon h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r neck, a Jewel in her fore-head,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.11, 12</NOTE> <HI>Earings in her ears, and a beautiful Crown upon her head.</HI> What were all the&s;e precious, outward Ornaments, but a Religion cor|rupted with no Errour, a Law &s;tained with no &s;inful toleration, a holy Canon of Scripture, in which there is no lie nor fal&s;hood, nor &s;hadow of untruth! be|&s;ides, &s;he hath Sacraments which are Conduits of grace, and Keyes committed to her hands to remove from her tho&s;e who might pollute her. The&s;e are all Ornaments of beauty, and they make all tho&s;e comely that live in her, and wear them; whereas in the A&s;&s;emblies of <HI>Jewes, Pagans,</HI> and <HI>Turks,</HI> &s;uch comeline&s;s is not to be found: Such? Nor any thing like it; their very &s;ins be|ing ma&s;hed with their Doctrines, Sects and Here&s;ies; &s;o that they let loo&s;e the reins to the lu&s;ts, and appetite of the fle&s;h, and encourage &s;in by teaching it; &s;uch countenance wickedne&s;s never &s;inds in the Church, <HI>who&s;e Law is undefiled, ho|ly,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.12.</NOTE> <HI>ju&s;t and good.</HI> This <HI>&s;he</HI> carries <HI>as a frontlet betwixt her eyes, as a Jewel in her ears;</HI> this <HI>&s;he</HI> wears <HI>as a Bracelet on her hands, and as a Chain about h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r neck;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 6.8.</NOTE> <HI>to obey this Law, &s;he holds it her Glory, and her Crown;</HI> and then may not &s;he well &s;ay <HI>&s;he is comely?</HI> Yes &s;ure, <HI>pulcherrima inter mulieres, the faire&s;t among women.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.8.</NOTE></P>
<P N="4">4. The la&s;t part of her comeline&s;s, con&s;i&s;ts in her inherent holine&s;s, which is a created quality in the Church, whereby the image of God lo&s;t in
<PB N="455" REF="233"> <HI>Adam</HI> is again renewed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.15. 1 Pet. 2.9. Rev. 1.6.</NOTE> and re&s;tored in every one of tho&s;e that is one of her true children. The&s;e <HI>become new creatures, a peculiar people, a Royal Prie&s;thood, Kings and Prie&s;ts to God,</HI> upon who&s;e Fore-heads was to be car|ried, <HI>Holine&s;s to the Lord.</HI> A good Chri&s;tian is a true Reformado, his life is innocent, his deeds hone&s;t, his actions ju&s;t, his wayes exemplary: In a word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 28.36.</NOTE> <HI>His Conver&s;ation is in Heaven.</HI> In his under&s;tanding he is light, in his will goodne&s;s, in his affections love and charity, his indeavours and &s;tudy perfection.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.20.</NOTE> Be it then he be not perfect, <HI>&amp; to a pulchra,</HI> altogether fair, yet he is comely, as beautiful as his condition in this life can attain to; &s;ure <HI>pulcherema inter mulieres, fair</HI> if compared with others: As <HI>Noah, perfect in his Genera|tion;</HI> as <HI>Job, Vir &s;implex, a plain man without doubling.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.9. Job 1.1. Matth. 5.8.</NOTE> Of that number he is to whom our Saviour pronounceth <HI>Ble&s;&s;edne&s;s, Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart.</HI> His heart is not defiled with Carnality or Hypocri&s;ie; he con&s;ents not to uncleanne&s;s, nor unclean de&s;ires; he feeds not his eye with unlawful objects, nor his heart with filthy thoughts; &s;trife, faction, &s;edition, pride, are unknown to him as for &s;ordid and earthy worldline&s;s; &s;o far he is from the acts of in|ju&s;tice and violence, that covetou&s;ne&s;s, and the plots of oppre&s;&s;ion never &s;tay upon his &s;oul to defile it. As for hypocritical &s;ervice, he knows not what it means; for he is &s;evere again&s;t him&s;elf in any known &s;in; he doubles not with his God, nor yet divides his heart, alotting th s to Mammon, his own lu&s;ts, his own intere&s;ts, and that other part to his God. <HI>Totus totus &s;incerus,</HI> i. e. <HI>&s;ine ce|r&acirc;,</HI> without any dro&s;s or dregs; <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;o far from any counterfeit di&s;gui&s;es, or artifice of deceit, that he fears not to take his trial in the Sun; with <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 139.23, 24.</NOTE> he dares to venture him&s;elf naked and bare unto Gods eye, &s;aying, <HI>Prove me O Lord, and try me, &s;earch out my reins and my heart.</HI></P>
<P>Which yet I would not have &s;o under&s;tood as if I freed him from &s;in; <HI>for if we &s;ay we have no &s;in, we deceive our &s;elves, and there is no truth in us.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 1.8.</NOTE> Even we that have fellow&s;hip with the Father, and his Son Je&s;us Chri&s;t; we that have fellow&s;hip with all the Saints, we may not &s;ay <HI>we have no &s;in;</HI> for if we &s;hould, we put a fallacy on our &s;elves, and are lyars; for the truth is, &s;o long as we carry this fle&s;h about us, &s;omewhat of Carnality will remain to be purged out, &s;omewhat of doubling, &s;ome reliques of hypocri&s;ie and &s;elf-love, will interpo&s;e in the be&s;t actions; which yet becau&s;e the man is humbled, and a penitent for them; which yet becau&s;e this humble penitent &s;truggles to Ma&s;ter, and will not &s;uffer them to Tyrannize and Ma&s;ter him; the man, notwith|&s;tanding the&s;e &s;pots of a &s;on, pa&s;&s;eth in Gods eye for a comely creature, and before men walking <GAP DESC="foreign">, without complaint, there is no Rea&s;on given why any man &s;hould impute his humane frailties, or fa&s;ten the name of uncome|ly upon him.</P>
<P>Thus have I &s;een the picture of &s;ome eminent beauty drawn at fir&s;t rudely, the limbs only and lineaments &s;haped out with a black Cole, and yet a man may &s;ay, the per&s;on, who&s;e image it is, is a comely piece, even before the hand of the Painter hath pa&s;&s;ed upon it, draw'n it in colours to the life, or fil'd it up. Such beauty in her black lines the Spou&s;e here had, a beauty of holine&s;s compa&s;&s;ed with infirmities; and therefore &s;he makes u&s;e of a dimini&s;hing term; ab&s;olute beauty &s;he layes no claim to, but only to comeline&s;s, &s;o much &s;he dur&s;t a&s;&s;ume to her &s;elf. The Epithete of <HI>fair,</HI> &s;he left to her Spou&s;e to be&s;tow on her; that yet <HI>&s;he was comely, was her Glory and Crown.</HI></P>
<P>Yea, but was not this a tincture of arrogance in her? What though <HI>come|ly,</HI> mu&s;t &s;he boa&s;t of it? At fir&s;t view this &s;eems to have &s;omewhat of a <HI>Pha|ri&s;ee</HI> in it, who boa&s;ted him&s;elf in the Temple: But far be it from us to con|ceive any &s;uch affectation, or high thoughts to be in the heart of this humble Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t; it was not &s;elf-love or pride that cau&s;ed this; that would
<PB N="456" REF="234"> have moved her to have dilated and amplified, and given us in a particular of her comeline&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18&punc; 11.</NOTE> as it did the <HI>Phar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s; e, Lord, I thank thee that I am not like other men, no Extortioner, &amp;c. I fa&s;t twice in the week, &amp;c.</HI> Whereas &s;he comes over it only, and humbly profe&s;&s;eth her blackne&s;s with the &s;ame breath, not removing <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he one by a&s;&s;erting the other. <HI>Black, but comely;</HI> for it is a <HI>Paradia&s;tole,</HI> and no <HI>Antith<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;is.</HI></P>
<P>Here then a pattern we have what other &s;ervants of God may do in the like ca&s;e; &s;o that humility be alwayes pre&s;erved, lawful it is to make known tho&s;e Endowments which God hath be&s;towed upon us, e&s;pecially by way of Apology,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Greg. <HI>19.</HI> Mor. cap. <HI>14&punc;</HI> &amp; hom. <HI>9.</HI> &amp; <HI>19.</HI> in <HI>Ezek.</HI></NOTE> as here it was; becau&s;e from thence there ari&s;eth a double profit, as St. <HI>Gregory</HI> hath excellently taught us.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t is, that God by the comeline&s;s in his Saints may be more glorified; for it often falls out, that the words of a good man are little &s;et by, and the &s;peech of him is contemptible, who&s;e life men know not. To &s;tay this i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l opinion, Gods Me&s;&s;engers are compelled to acquaint the World with their Conver&s;ation, that anothers mans life may by that Example be reformed and changed; at le&s;t, that ill opinion which otherwi&s;e might be had of them, be taken off:<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 12.3. Job 31.</NOTE> To this end was that Apology of <HI>Samuel, Who&s;e Oxe have I taken?</HI> To this intent <HI>Job</HI> acquits him&s;elf; to this our Saviour, <HI>W<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ich of you can convince me of &s;in?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 8.48.</NOTE> After the Apo&s;tle had commended his Apo&s;tle&s;hip, recounted his Revelations, gloried in his &s;ufferings, he addes, <HI>I was a fool in boasting, but ye have comp lled me;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.11.</NOTE> that is, I may &s;eem fooli&s;h in the commendation of my &s;elf, but &s;o I am not; for I have not done it willingly, but out of a kind of nece&s;&s;ity; not for my profit, but yours; 'tis for the glory of God that thus much be known, and may &s;tir in you the greater veneration and attention to what I teach, and the readier imitation of me; though the per&s;on be weak, yet &s;uch a per&s;wa&s;ion may be powerful.</P>
<P>But when a force is put upon any man to &s;hew his own comeline&s;s, this Caution would not be forgotten, which may be learned from the Spou&s;e here, that fir&s;t he be humbled for his blackne&s;s, before he make report of his comely features. She layes her foundation in humility; thus &s;he begins, <HI>I am black,</HI> I will gladly rather glory of my infirmities; but for the&s;e <HI>you Daughters of Jeru&s;alem in&s;ult over me;</HI> I would have you therefore to &s;tay your in|vectives, and withall to con&s;ider, that <HI>I am comely</HI> al&s;o; of this you had not heard, had you not compelled me to it: For I would have you to know that I am of the &s;ame mind with all holy men, who more willingly &s;et forth their own mi&s;eries and imperfections, than their glorious gifts; the <HI>blackne&s;s</HI> I ac|knowledge readily, willingly, humbly, the <HI>comeline&s;s</HI> again&s;t my will; Gods glory, your good inforces me to it.</P>
<P N="2">2. And yet there is another Rea&s;on that the Saints make report &s;ome|time of this their comeline&s;s; it is done in the day of their calamity, when Gods hand is heavy upon them; then they hold up their drooping &s;pirits, and pre&s;erve their &s;ouls from &s;plitting on the Rock of De&s;pair, by the pro&s;pect of their inherent comeline&s;s;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cic. de &s;enect.</NOTE> for <HI>multorum Benefactorum recordatio e&s;t jucun|di&s;&s;ima.</HI> Thus it was with <HI>Hezekiah,</HI> &s;ick and dying as he thought, in that extremity he pre&s;ents to God his former life, and prayes in this form, <HI>Remember O Lord how I have walked before thee with a perfect heart:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 38.3.</NOTE> That perfect heart was now his comfort, and to that end only he makes mention of it, and yet even then he forgets not his blackne&s;s; for for very &s;hame he turned his face to the Wall. This was al&s;o the comfort of <HI>Job,</HI> when his Friends in&s;ulted over him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 31.</NOTE> and laid to his charge hypocri&s;ie, that he &s;eem not to de&s;pair, he calls to memory his former good deeds, li&s;ts them in order, and pre&s;ents them to the&s;e his mi&s;erable comforters: What is it that this good man upon his dung|hill, and among his ulcers produceth h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s vertues? <HI>Let another mans mouth
<PB N="457" REF="234"> prai&s;e thee,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Solomon;</HI> why is it then, that he commends his own work,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 27.2.</NOTE> with his own lips? In this it may be thought there was either vanity or vain|glory. But in this evil day, he remembers his good things, that he might not be &s;wallowed up of de&s;pair; by rubbing up the memory of the&s;e, he remained as a Wall of Bra&s;s in his Adver&s;ity.</P>
<Q><L>Ju&s;tum &amp; tenacem propo&s;iti virum</L>
<L>Non Jovis ira, &amp;c. Mente quatit &s;olida:</L>
<L>Si fractus illabatur orbis,</L>
<L>Impavidum ferient ruinae.</L></Q>
<P>The Spou&s;e was here &s;et upon by the envious Daughters of <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> and therefore as another <HI>Job,</HI> &s;he rai&s;eth her &s;elf into a lively hope by the con&s;ci|ence of her own <HI>comeline&s;s,</HI> upon which &s;he de&s;ires them al&s;o to ca&s;t an eye, and not to de&s;pi&s;e her <HI>becau&s;e &s;he is black.</HI></P>
<Q>Look not upon me becau&s;e I am black.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 6.</NOTE></Q>
<P><HI>Ne respiciatis ad me,</HI> Look not over your &s;houlder as it were,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jun.</NOTE> with a frowning, envious, and &s;uperc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lious eye. <HI>Nolite con&s;iderare me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Vulg.</NOTE> con&s;ider me not to contemn, deride, de&s;pi&s;e me, <HI>becau&s;e I am black,</HI> till you are acquaint|ed how this dark face hath happened to me: And there is great Rea&s;on for this her reque&s;t, this reque&s;t, this motion to be made to them; <HI>They were Daught|ers of Hieru&s;alem, children of the &s;ame Mother;</HI> they then the unfitte&s;t of all other to object her di&s;coloured vi&s;age unto her.</P>
<P>Even Morality hath taught us thus much, to look upon tho&s;e faults which black the countenance of others, with the affection of a Friend, or a Father; Love in a Friend covers a multitude of &s;ins, it excu&s;eth, it extenuates what is ami&s;s; nay, &s;o blind it is, that <GAP DESC="foreign">;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Theoc. Tull. De natura Deorum.</NOTE> A Wart in <HI>&V;enus</HI>'s face, may be a beauty, and the ca&s;t of <HI>Ro&s;cias</HI>'s &s;quint-eye, a Sun-beam. What &s;hould I &s;ay, that a Father will not &s;ee the imperfection of the Eye, the Leg, the Face of his &s;on; but <HI>balbutit &s;caurum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hor. Sat.</NOTE> li&s;ps them into &s;uch extenuating &s;yllables as may hide their deformities! Oh that our Mother the Church could find &s;o much love from her own children, whom &s;he hath conceived in her own womb, with whom &s;he hath travelled in pain, nur&s;ed at her own brea&s;ts, and carried in her bo&s;ome. So much were but a ju&s;t re|turn for all her care and indulgence: But if this may not be had, yet candor at lea&s;t and humanity ought to be expected. This &s;he finds not, but in&s;tead there|of &s;corn, deri&s;ion, contempt, and that not from <HI>the &s;ons of Edom,</HI> but from <HI>the daughters of Jeru&s;alem;</HI> this &s;he here deprecates; <HI>look not upon me,</HI> &s;corn me not, deride me not, <HI>becau&s;e I am fu&s;ca,</HI> or <HI>&s;ubingra, blacki&s;h,</HI> and of a dusky colour.</P>
<P>For with &s;o envious and malignant an eye her own bowels look upon her, that <HI>&s;i quid &s;incerum e&s;t cupiunt incru&s;tare,</HI> they call that <HI>black</HI> which is not&punc; her Rites and Ceremonies with them are undecent, the Government of her Hou&s;e is wholly Antichri&s;tian, her Forms of Service are &s;uper&s;titious, the Order &s;he hath pre&s;cribed carnal, beggarly, dung, dro&s;s. Not a child of hers, though but of the Age of four or five and twenty, if you anger him, but will &s;wear, if need were, that he hath more wit than his Mother, or all the Reverent Attendants that have been hitherto in her Family: Be it that &s;he is able to produce as Ancient, and as good Records as any can be required for matter of Fact, that the&s;e objected &s;pots were e&s;teemed for the perfections of her beauty, when &s;he was in her prime and youth, yet this will not &s;atisfie; <HI>black</HI> for&s;ooth &s;he mu&s;t be, becau&s;e the&s;e &s;ons of pride and envy will <HI>black</HI> her.</P>
<PB N="458" REF="235">
<P>And if for that which is her beauty &s;he mu&s;t be thus looked upon, what think you then &s;hall be done in tho&s;e things in which &s;he is <HI>black</HI> indeed? For from &s;uch a colour, ob&s;erve it, &s;he excu&s;eth not her &s;elf; for &s;he never was, nor ne|ver &s;hall be ab&s;olutely <HI>fair:</HI> Not any Church of any one denomination there hath been, nor &s;hall be, which hath not had her &s;pots. Tho&s;e that pretend to it, mu&s;t with <HI>Petilian, provide a Ladder to climb to Heaven;</HI> for on Earth they &s;hall not meet with any company of &s;uch Saints, except among tho&s;e who &s;ay, <HI>Quod volumus &s;anctum est;</HI> Every thing and man is holy, that they plea&s;e to call &s;o: For either in Doctrine or Di&s;cipline, or Manners, there wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l be &s;omewhat or other exorbitant; and in the&s;e none are more commonly out of the way, than tho&s;e who mo&s;t find fault. I name none, le&s;t I &s;hould <HI>&s;tir a Ne&s;t of Hornets, and make the Daughters of Jeru&s;alem more angry than they are.</HI></P>
<P>This only I int<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eat, that &s;ince the &s;uppo&s;ed blemi&s;hes of our Mother are but few, and her perfections many; that for the&s;e excellencies they would grant her an indulgence, and not look upon her with &s;uch an e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">vious, &s;couling, bitter eye, for that blackne&s;s which they conceive to be in her, but &s;hall never be able to prove. In her con&s;titutions I know none; in the practice if any be found, I de&s;ire a &s;u&s;pen&s;ion of invectives and bitterne&s;s, till it be inquired, how her face became thus <HI>black:</HI> and if it appear that it is not wholly through her default, but out of an avoidable nece&s;&s;ity, the condition of her Pilgrimage being con&s;idered, I hope &s;he may the ea&s;ilier obtain a candid cen&s;ure for her defects of perfect beauty. Now two cau&s;es I here find of it; the fir&s;t from <HI>the Sun,</HI> the other from <HI>her &s;ons;</HI> both &s;he puts in to &s;tay their anger and envy, al|ledging both to be the cau&s;es of her blackne&s;s, and fir&s;t <HI>the Sun; Look not up|on me becau&s;e I am black.</HI></P>
<Q>Becau&s;e the Sun hath looked upon me.</Q>
<P>Though the guilt and puni&s;hment of Original &s;in be remitted in Bapti&s;m, yet the Root actually remains;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epiphan.</NOTE> and as the &s;tump of a wild Fig in an old Wall will continue after the body is cut off, which ever and anon will be putting forth; &s;o this old <HI>Adam</HI> even after our Lavor of Regeneration, &s;till will root and live in us, and be ready to &s;hoot forth; nor is it po&s;&s;ible to unroot that wild Tree, but by taking a&s;under the &s;tones; nor to de&s;troy this luxuriant fle&s;h, till death di&s;&s;olve the man. This is the Incentive and Nur&s;e of &s;in; this is that which works us to evil, and brings upon us a difficulty to good. As the Sun blacks the faces of tho&s;e upon whom it &s;hines with its &s;cortching beams&punc; &s;o this heat of concupi&s;cence within us, &s;cortcheth, and blacks all our actions, and cau&s;eth them <HI>all to fall &s;hort of the glory of God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.23.</NOTE> Thus much the Spou&s;e here hath elegantly expre&s;&s;ed under a Metaphor of <HI>the Sun</HI> di&s;colouring her: <HI>O Daughters of Hieru&s;al<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m, look not contemptibly upon me, for that I am black;</HI> and be not &s;candalized for this, or troubled; de&s;pi&s;e me not, conetmn me not; for this my blackne&s;s is not voluntarily contracted; I have not cho&s;en it, but I &s;uffer it full &s;ore again&s;t my will; for the <HI>Sun</HI> hath di&s;coloured me, and blacked me; <HI>Combu&s;&s;it me Sol, Torrefecit me Sol,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Aquila. Theod. Symm.</NOTE> <HI>Torv&egrave; me in&s;pexit Sol:</HI> The <HI>Sun</HI> hath &s;cortched and roa&s;ted me; the <HI>Sun</HI> h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">th looked &s;ternly upon me; that is, that fiery lu&s;t of concu|pi&s;cence in my bones, which being transfu&s;ed from the loynes of <HI>Adam,</HI> yet burns within me, hath done this; and yet know, that this &s;warthy colour is only in my out&s;ide; that is, my fle&s;h; for in the inward man, which is renewed by the Spirit, I am <HI>yet comely;</HI> &s;o that I am not <HI>tota nigra,</HI> but <HI>&s;ubingra;</HI> not wholly <HI>black,</HI> though blacki&s;h.</P>
<PB N="459" REF="235">
<P>What one of my Sons <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ffirms of him&s;elf, is as true of all. See, he joynes them together, <HI>Beauty</HI> and <HI>Blackn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;s. Black</HI> he profe&s;&s;eth him&s;elf by the importunity of his rebe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lious <HI>fle&s;h,</HI> but yet very <HI>comely</HI> by the ornament of <HI>Gr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ce: I delight,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.21.</NOTE> &s;ai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h he, ('tis St. <HI>Paul) in the Law of God accor|ding to the inner-man;</HI> b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hold him comely in the Spirit; <HI>but I &s;ee another Law in my members rebelling again&s;t the Law of my minde, and leading me captive to the Law o &s;inne.</HI> See how <HI>black</HI> he is become by the fle&s;h! And while <HI>the fle&s;h lusts against the Spirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.19.</NOTE> we cannot choo&s;e but remem|ber we are in the Tents of <HI>Kedar.</HI> But when the &s;pirit lu&s;ts again&s;t the fle&s;h, we may be plea&s;ed to call to minde we are inclo&s;ed within the rich and beau|tiful Curtains of <HI>Solomon.</HI> But however &s;ince in this fight we receive many a Foile<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, it mu&s;t not be denied, that we contract black and blew wounds by it.</P>
<P N="2">2. But I &s;aid too little of it; would they were but foiles; they prove flat fal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s. For in the fight we too often yield, and Act not what the Spirit, but what the fle&s;h commands; either out of ignorance, or infirmity, or impor|tunity, or daily &s;urreption, would I could not &s;ay malice and pre&s;umption, we take part with the fle&s;h. And the fire of the temptation is &s;o &s;corching, that I reade no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> any one of my Mothers Sons (except he who did no &s;inne) but have been black'd wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h it. <HI>If we &s;ay we have no &s;inne,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 1.8. Prov. 24.16. Jam. 1.14.</NOTE> <HI>we deceive ou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">v s, and there is no truth in us,</HI> &s;aith St. <HI>John;</HI> and he means not only Original, but Actual &s;inne; for <HI>the ju&s;t man falls &s;even times aday.</HI> For this innate corruption of our Nature is &s;tirring, <GAP DESC="foreign">, it tempts, it inticeth, it draws, it <HI>conceives, it brings forth &s;inne.</HI> This more or le&s;s blacks the face of Her &s;ons; and for their &s;akes &s;he al&s;o is &s;aid to have a dark countenance.</P>
<P N="3">3. This colour, 'tis true, no &s;ooner her good &s;onnes di&s;cern, but they are ready to wa&s;h their &s;mutch'd faces. They take the teares of Repentance, and of them make a Bath to &s;coure off all their filth. But even then do they not appeare to the eye of the world <HI>Black?</HI> Their garments are tho&s;e of Mourners, their faces are &s;ad, their eyes are dejected, their cheeks are be|bl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">bber'd, their gate is &s;oft, their voice of the Publican, not a look they dare ca&s;t to Heaven. <HI>Peccavi, Pater, peccavi,</HI> the &s;ole words you can get from them. You may behold them, if you plea&s;e, abhorring them&s;elves in &s;ack-cloth and a&s;hes, renting their garments, and beating their brea&s;ts. And could you at the &s;ame time look within, you might behold a dark c ou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> upon the &s;oul, &s;o that the poor penitent is even <HI>&s;wallowed up with &s;orrow,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 2.7.</NOTE> that he hath offended &s;o good, &s;o gracious a God.</P>
<P>Now whence proceeds this down-look of the Soul, this face of &s;adne&s;s and bemoaning him&s;elf in the Body? whence the&s;e Doves eyes, the&s;e mour|ning Robes, the&s;e &s;ad and amazing thoughts? The Spou&s;e in this place &s;hall tell you&punc; <HI>Sol decoloravit, The Sun hath done it.</HI> Sol ju&s;titiae,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 4.2. Luk. 1.78.</NOTE> <HI>The day-&s;pring from on high;</HI> that is, God is plea&s;ed thus to di&s;colour me. For when he could by Bapti&s;me, if he would, have taken away this Rebellious fle&s;h with which I am &s;corch'd and black'd, yet he was plea&s;ed that i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;hould dwell with me &s;till, that I &s;hould not be over enamour'd of my beauty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.17.</NOTE> but for the defect of it, and the defects that flow from it, appear in this mourning weed before him.</P>
<P>And it is his grace and favour, that I do &s;o appear. For it is the Sunne from above that hath put the&s;e &s;ad thoughts in my heart, and the&s;e peniten|tial Ornaments upon my back. For when he enlightned me to know him, and inflamed me to love him, at the &s;ame in&s;tant he pierced my heart with a radiant beam, that I might know my own wickedne&s;s, and acknowledge my &s;in, mourn for it, and hate it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 51.3.</NOTE> at which time though in his eye I may be
<PB N="460" REF="236"> faire, yet to all that look upon me I am but black.</P>
<P>And it is his eye that blacks me; for <HI>Repentance</HI> is his gift: <HI>Now we &s;ee clearly,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 11.17, 18.</NOTE> &s;aith the Church, <HI>that God hath given Repentance to the Gen|tiles al&s;o unto life.</HI> Ob&s;erve it, and you &s;hall find the&s;e go together, his <HI>aspect,</HI> and <HI>godly &s;orrow.</HI> He calls <HI>Zebedees</HI> Sons, <HI>Matthew, Zachaeus,</HI> others,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 4.18. Luk. 19.5.</NOTE> but &s;till the Evangeli&s;ts inform us, he &s;aw them fir&s;t. <HI>&V;idit illos,</HI> He look'd upon them before they were Converts. But this is in none more evident, than in the conver&s;ion of St. <HI>Peter; The Lord,</HI> &s;aid the Sacred Text, <HI>turn'd about and look'd upon</HI> Peter, <HI>and then he went out and wept bitterly.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.61.</NOTE> The burning flame of tentation had black'd <HI>Peter,</HI> brought him to deny and for&s;wear the Lord of glory. Could there be likely a blacker &s;oul? But the Sun of righteou&s;ne&s;s yet is plea&s;ed to behold him; the beams whereof toucht, and &s;hin'd, and &s;truck upon his heart, inflam'd and burnt him with a vehement grief and contrition proceeding from the love of his Ma&s;ter; and as I may &s;o &s;ay, di&s;colour'd him within, while it made him &s;ad at Heart, heavy in his Countenance, and di&s;till'd a River of &s;alt teares from his eyes, with which he might &s;teep and ren&s;e off his contracted &s;warthy hue, and reco|ver the beauty of Grace which he lo&s;t. This Sun &s;uffer'd him to be di&s;co|lour'd, that it might colour him afre&s;h; it black'd him to make him whiter, it burnt him to make him brighter: For a while it was, as I may &s;ay, ec|clip&s;ed to him, that it might &s;hine upon him with the more comfortable Beames.</P>
<P>To give you farther light about this matter; It will be worth ob&s;ervation, that &s;inners are put in a threefold difference, the men being compared to tares,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Augu&s;t. lib.</HI> 4. <HI>E|vang. in</HI> Mat. c. 11.</NOTE> or chaff; to tares, which have a root in Nature quite different from the wheat; or to chaff, which with the wheat &s;prings from the &s;ame graine and root. The fir&s;t we call Infidels; the la&s;t are yet in the number of the faithful.</P>
<P N="1">1. The&s;e, if truly of that number, are not Coal-black, but <HI>fu&s;ci,</HI> black|i&s;h; and that face is &s;aid to be &s;uch, which hath more of blackne&s;s in it: So the faithful though they be black'd with &s;in, and di&s;colour'd, having lo&s;t much of their fir&s;t love, the violence of concupi&s;cence drawing them to con|&s;ent to &s;in, yet &s;till they retain much of their Faith and Hope, they hold &s;till to the true Religion, and &s;o cannot be properly &s;aid to be <HI>Nigri,</HI> but <HI>Subni|gri;</HI> di&s;coloured they are, but they are no <HI>Moors;</HI> Tawny, but not pure <HI>Aethiops.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. And hence may proceed another difference betwixt the faithful and the Infidels: That the profe&s;&s;ion blacks the one; but the &s;in, that dwells in him and cannot be &s;haken off, blacks the other. For the cau&s;e of this di&s;co|louring in the Sons of the Church, is not to be imputed to their Mother, nor to the Law, nor to the Doctrine or Rule of life, in which they are brought up: For all the&s;e are Holy, and would keep, if ob&s;erv'd, her Chil|dren in perfect beauty; the fault mu&s;t be laid upon the heate of concupi&s;cence, for by this they become &s;un-burnt: Whereas it is not this flame only of in|bred lu&s;t that doth bring this colour of night upon the &s;ouls of Jews, <HI>Ma|hometans,</HI> Heretiques, and Sectaries, but their very profe&s;&s;ion, that teach|eth lyes, and corrupts good manners; becau&s;e they wor&s;hip an Idol, an imagination, a fal&s;e Chri&s;t; &s;o that the more Religious, the more black: <HI>The be&s;t of them being a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> a brier;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 7.4.</NOTE> <HI>and the most upright &s;harper than a thorne hedge.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. And yet there is a third difference betwixt &s;inners among Chri&s;tians. Some mask only under the name, and others are true believers. Tho&s;e &s;in without any remor&s;e of con&s;cience;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 7.14.</NOTE> <HI>they plot mi&s;chief, and rejoyce to do e|vil.</HI> The Sun, I mean the Son of God, &s;eldom looks upon the&s;e; and there|fore
<PB N="461" REF="236"> they are not di&s;colour'd, and appeare not in the mourning garments of Repentance. The other &s;in often, but they are led Captives by the tyranny of concupi&s;cence, and their heart murmurs, and ri&s;eth again&s;t what they do; their <HI>Maids,</HI> that is, their affections <HI>lead them as with the voice of Doves,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nahum 2.7.</NOTE> <HI>tabring upon their brea&s;ts.</HI> Whence it comes to pa&s;s, that the Sun of Righ|teou&s;ne&s;s looks upon, di&s;colours them with mourning, lamentation, and tears of Repentance, that they may recover their fir&s;t and true colour, and be re|&s;tored to the image in which they were created. Of the&s;e the Prophet <HI>Zacha|ry</HI> &s;peaks, <HI>The feeble among them at that day &s;hall be as</HI> David.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12.8.</NOTE> In that day of their <HI>godly &s;orrow</HI> as <HI>David</HI> the&s;e feeble ones &s;hall be, not like <HI>Saul.</HI> For <HI>Saul</HI> repented not, amended not, but daily grew wor&s;e and wor&s;e; and con&s;equently, blacker and blacker. But <HI>David</HI> had alwayes his iniquity be|fore him, he acknowledg'd his wickedne&s;s, and &s;o bath'd away his &s;pots: So do the true Sons of the Church, &s;in as <HI>David,</HI> but cry <HI>peccavi</HI> as <HI>David;</HI> and &s;o notwith&s;tanding their blackne&s;s, or rather a &s;eeming &s;taine and tincture of it, acquire &s;o much beauty that they are Comely in Gods Eye.</P>
<P>The Apo&s;tle reckons up &s;even effects of <HI>godly &s;orrow;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 7.11.</NOTE> among which <HI>zeal</HI> and <HI>revenge</HI> are the la&s;t; to which when any penitent comes, you &s;hall find him black enough, whether his zeal moves him to take revenge either upon him&s;elf, or el&s;e to vindicate Gods Honor.</P>
<P>Let St. <HI>Paul</HI> be for an example; <HI>I run,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>but not uncertainly;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.26.</NOTE> <HI>I fight, but not as one that beats the aire, and therefore I chasti&s;e, and bring my body into &s;ubjection.</HI> Afraid he was of &s;ome Rebellion and re&s;i|&s;tance or other from this proud Bea&s;t his fle&s;h, that might retard and hinder him in his cour&s;e; and therefore wi&s;ely <HI>demit de hordeo,</HI> he fa&s;ts, and a|bates of his allowance, and ever and anon gives it a penitential blow to keep it in order.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 18.11.</NOTE> And to what other end were that blow which the <HI>Publican</HI> gave him&s;elf on his brea&s;t? and that other &s;troak which <HI>Ephraim</HI> fix'd upon his thigh?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 31.19.</NOTE> was it not out of heat and zeal to be reveng'd on that body which drew them to that &s;inne? whence no man can call <HI>Paul</HI> beautiful, for <GAP DESC="foreign">, he gave his fle&s;h, as it were; a black eye: As for the <HI>Publican,</HI> &s;o much &s;hame was in his face, that he dur&s;t not lift up his eyes to Heaven. And I &s;ee <HI>Ephraim</HI> at that time bemoaning him&s;elf. The countenance then could be no other than that of the night, which no man will call faire and a|miable. But the truth of this appears not in any man more than in <HI>Job;</HI> He was <HI>totum pro corpore vulnus,</HI> a Botch rather than a man; nothing but <HI>boyles, from the crown of his head, to the &s;ole of his <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oot,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 2.7, 8.</NOTE> and yet <HI>he took a pot&s;herd to &s;crape him&s;elf withal.</HI> Upon which words <HI>Origen</HI> hath this Note, He took not any &s;oft thing, no fine lint, or gentle foment,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Origen.</HI> lib. 2. in Job.</NOTE> to wipe and clen&s;e his wounds, but he catch'd up the rough &s;herd of &s;ome broken pot, to raze away the &s;curfe, and to vex his &s;ores. O ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Job,</HI> &s;ay, why do'&s;t thou this? why art thou thus &s;o &s;evere to thy &s;elf? why do&s;t thou adde to thy pain? when thou ought'&s;t to have taken Towels of the &s;ofte&s;t lint to have clens'd, water to have wa&s;hed, oyles and bal&s;ome to have anointed and &s;up|pled, lenitives to have mitigated tho&s;e boyles and ulcers, why is it that thou do&s;t thus anger them with the rough edge of a &s;harp pot? This ju&s;t man may be &s;uppo&s;ed to An&s;wer, I nor yield to the Devils rage, nor yet fall under the&s;e his blows. Sore I am, but I am not wearied; &s;ick, but I faint not: For the&s;e dolours do not exceed my valiant &s;oul; nor are the&s;e torments har|der than my heart; and therefore I take this Tile and Rake in the&s;e &s;ores, and &s;earch them with it to the quick, that by provoking the pain, I might &s;hew my enemy, how little I regarded his malice; that &s;ince liberty was gi|ven him to make me thus foule, I was content even with a te&s;t to open and
<PB N="462" REF="237"> witne&s;s my foulne&s;s, the &s;ight whereof I knew would vex him, even as a thing that is raw. No beauty then at all may be found in any of our Mo|thers Sonnes, when out of zeal, and hatred of their own wayes, they have put upon them&s;elves &s;ome &s;everities and &s;harp penance for their &s;innes.</P>
<P N="4">4. No nor yet any beauty, when they are carried away with the zeale of their Ma&s;ters Honor: Then they have been tran&s;ported even beyond them|&s;elves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 9.17. Num. 20.10. 2 Sam. 6.14.</NOTE> and done &s;uch things, which did not much become them. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> a meek man, yet being provoked fir&s;t by <HI>Aarons</HI> Calf, after by the Rebel|lious Rout, breaks the two Tables written by Gods own finger, and &s;mites the Rock. What was it that cau&s;ed <HI>David</HI> to dance before the Ark in a lin|nen Ephod, except his zeal? which was &s;o uncomely an habit for a King, that he was derided for it by his Wife <HI>Michal,</HI> to which he only return'd this An&s;wer, <HI>I will be yet more vile, yet more uncomely.</HI> What, &s;hould I men|tion St. <HI>P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ter</HI> arm'd with a Sword?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.10. Luk. 9.55.</NOTE> that became not an Apo&s;tle, or the two Di&s;ciples, that would by their good-wills have fire from Heaven to con&s;ume, which became not the Spirit of the Go&s;pel! But to omit others, be plea&s;ed to behold the example of examples, Chri&s;t him&s;elf, of whom <HI>David</HI> had fore-told, and he made his words good, <HI>The zeal of thy Hou&s;e hath eaten me up.</HI> Whence, forgetting his mildne&s;s, being &s;et as it were, on fire with zeale,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 69.9. Joh. 2.15.</NOTE> he makes a whip of &s;mall Cords, and drives the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple. A whip in the hand of a Lamb was no comely &s;ight; and yet his zeal made him far yet more uncomely when he was <HI>&s;courged, &s;pet on, mocked, crucified;</HI> at what time his beauty was &s;o far marr'd, that <HI>there was no form nor comeline&s;s in him that we &s;hould de&s;ire him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.2. I&s;a. 9 7.</NOTE> If you will know the cau&s;e, the Prophet &s;hall re&s;olve you, <HI>The zeal of the Lord of Ho&s;ts hath done this.</HI></P>
<P>And happy is that &s;oul that is thus di&s;colour'd, who is content, for Gods glory, to &s;eem in the eyes of men uncomely. <HI>It is good,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>to be zealous in a good matter.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.18. Phil. 2.21. Ezek. 2.6.</NOTE> The matter mu&s;t be good, or el&s;e the zeal is &s;tark <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">aught; and good it will never be, if we <HI>&s;eek our own, not Chri&s;ts.</HI> We live among briers and thornes, this may di&s;colour us, but yet let us even for the&s;e deform our countenance a little further: To appear in Sack-cloth and A&s;hes for them, to weep Rivers of teares for their enormities, to &s;end up in prayers the voice of a Dove for their conver&s;ion, to be con&s;tant in tri|bulation and per&s;ecution, &s;o we may gaine them, may be to the eye of fle&s;h and blood an uncomely &s;ight, but in the eye of God our face will then appear mo&s;t beautiful. Let then this fiery zeal of Charity, burn, black, to&s;te, di&s;|colour you, &s;o that with a good con&s;cience you can take up tho&s;e words after St. <HI>Paul, Quotidie morior fratres propter gloriam v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;tram,</HI> as the old Tran|&s;lator renders it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.31.</NOTE></P>
<P>As if he had &s;aid, for your &s;alvation, and your conver&s;ion which is my glory as well as yours, I &s;uffer within, without many things; I am di&s;colou|red, black, and without beauty; <HI>quotidie morior, I carry the face of death. This,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Serm.</HI> 28 in Cant. 2 Cor. 11.29.</NOTE> &s;aith <HI>Bernard, is to be burnt and di&s;colour'd by the Sun, to be in|flam'd with brotherly charity, to weep with tho&s;e that weep, to be weak with tho&s;e who are weak, and to burn with tho&s;e who are offended, and to do all he can, that the &s;candals may be removed.</HI></P>
<P>But that word <HI>Morior, I die,</HI> hath an Empha&s;is in it; for no man dies with this Zeal, but he that dies to him&s;elf, to his <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">wn profits and honours, and all worldly glory and beauty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.24.</NOTE> <HI>Not &s;eeking th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;e things which are his own, but which are Je&s;us Chri&s;ts, and his Neighbours,</HI> and would be content to &s;pend his wealth, his wit, his blood, his life, for that end. This is the man that may truly &s;ay, <HI>Decoloravit me Sol:</HI> For who is &s;o much di&s;colour'd
<PB N="463" REF="237"> and pale, as a man &s;o dead? Now &s;uch a death proceeds from Love and Zeal:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 8.6.</NOTE> <HI>Love b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing as &s;trong as death,</HI> killing the Lover, to give life to the Belo|ved; but yet while he thus dyes to him&s;elf, he lives happily; for he lives to his God, and &s;hall live with him for ever and ever. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="36" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The Quarrel of the Sons of the Church.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>The Song of</HI> Solomon, <HI>cap. 1. ver. 6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>My Mothers childr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n were angry with me.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t is mo&s;t like, mo&s;t unlike a Woman: Unlike in the confe&s;&s;ion of her deformity, <HI>Black I am:</HI> But yet like again in the &s;etting forth her beauty, <HI>Yet comely.</HI> Unlike again in the manner of the di&s;|covery of her imperfections; for &s;he begins with it, and doth it willingly: As for her beauty, &s;he &s;peaks &s;paringly of it, and mode&s;tly, intimating it to be only &s;uch which might vindicate her from &s;corn, &s;ince it could not allure the eyes of the Daughters of <HI>Jeru&s;alem. A fool I was in glorying,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.11.</NOTE> <HI>but ye have compelled me;</HI> fooli&s;h perhaps this vindication of her beauty might &s;eem, but &s;he was forc'd unto it.</P>
<P>For upon the view of her face di&s;colour'd by infirmity, &s;orrow, and fur|row'd with affliction, &s;he was (and a greater trouble cannot befall a woman) in danger of contempt: And therefore <HI>averruncat,</HI> intreats all her Lovers not to look &s;o di&s;dainfully upon her, at lea&s;t not to &s;well every Mole into a wenne, and every Moat into a Beam: For this blackne&s;s, be&s;ides tho&s;e cau|&s;es before recited,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Bern.</HI> in Cant. Serm. 28.</NOTE> had one meerely external brought upon her from her un|gracious Children. <HI>Nigredinem fervor per&s;ecutionis, non conver&s;ationis pu|dor invexit;</HI> Her afflictions and per&s;ecutions, her wrongs, di&s;graces, and di&s;courte&s;ies received from her own, were like the direct beams of than foun|tain of light <HI>beating on the head of fainting Jonah,</HI> that &s;corch'd her,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jon. 4.8.</NOTE> and made her Moori&s;h. They were not Aliens, but Sons that &s;et this <GAP DESC="foreign">; and becau&s;e they have dealt &s;o <HI>roundly</HI> with my Mother, and yours, I de&s;ire your Chri&s;tian patience, while I deale <HI>roundly</HI> with them. A fathers dan|ger made a dumb Childe &s;peak; and a Mothers infamy hath unloo&s;ed the tongue of an obedient Sonne. 'Tis a Sword to my Soule, that my Mo|ther &s;hould ju&s;tly complaine, <HI>My Mothers Sonnes were angry with Me.</HI></P>
<P>In which Complaint we have to con&s;ider
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The <HI>Mother.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The <HI>Children.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Their <HI>Frowa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dne&s;s.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The object of it, <HI>The Mother.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1">1. The Mother is the Catholick Church: <HI>Hieru&s;alem from above, which is the Mother of us all.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4, 26.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. Her children are tho&s;e &s;ons and daughters which were born to her in Bapti&s;m, fo&s;ter'd by the Mini&s;try, nur&s;ed up <HI>by the &s;incere milk of the Word,</HI> &s;trengthened <HI>by the body and blood of Chri&s;t,</HI> and to be corrected to, when they do ami&s;s, by her Di&s;cipline, a Rod &s;ometimes being as fit for a Child as bread.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="464" REF="238">3. Their ill condition is, <HI>That they grew angry,</HI> nay, incen&s;ed with an|ger,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jun. Vulgar. T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">au&s;l.</NOTE> <HI>ir&agrave; accen&s;i;</HI> nay, &s;o cholerick and hot, that <HI>pugnaverunt,</HI> they fought, 'twas but a word and a blow with them; anger was the the Root, but quarrel|ling the fruit:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 49.7.</NOTE> But <HI>cu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. And &s;o much the more cruel, if you reflect upon the Ob|ject, <HI>Me,</HI> their own Mother, to whom pity and compa&s;&s;ion, not anger, was due.</P>
<P>Every word to me &s;eems an aggravation of their fault; Children they were, and therefore ought love and obedience; &s;ons of one womb, and there|fore by nature bound to agree; or if not &s;o kind as they ought, yet not to be enraged to quarrel and fight; e&s;pecially &s;ince all their anger and blow<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s are interpreted, what fair pretences &s;oever may be made for it, to be a|gain&s;t her; they &s;ons in the plural, many fal&s;e Brethren combin'd, &s;he but one &s;illy woman, yet a Mother.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Vi gil. Aen. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE><HI>Egregiam vero laudem, &amp; spolia ampla;</HI> a very worthy act, and manlike exploit no que&s;tion!</P>
<P><HI>&V;na dolo vir&ucirc;m &s;i foemina victa,</HI> that they many and ungracious chil|dren &s;hould &s;et upon, and abu&s;e their poor Mother: Fir&s;t then I will &s;peak of her, then of her ungracious &s;ons.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Church of God in his Book hath many &s;pecious Titles, &s;ome in re&s;pect to him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 8.1.</NOTE> others in re&s;pect to us. <HI>To him &s;he is a Spou&s;e,</HI> ever &s;ince her elder brother became her Kin&s;man in the fle&s;h; ever &s;ince <HI>he betrothed her in righteou&s;ne&s;s and judgement,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 2.19, 20.</NOTE> <HI>and loving-kindne&s;s, and m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rcies unto him&s;elf for ever.</HI> But to all us &s;he is a common Mother, doing all the Offices of a kind parent to us; as then we are beholding to our parents for our natural life and well-being, &s;o are we bound to this good Mother for our &s;piritual life and well-being; from the one we are meer men, by the means of the other Chri&s;tian men: And it had been better for us never to have been born, had we not been by her Mini&s;try re-born: For as men we had been mi&s;erable, <HI>damnati prius quam nati;</HI> the di&s;obedience of our Grand&s;ire <HI>Adam</HI> had involved every Mothers &s;on of us in the guilt of &s;in and puni&s;hment. With <HI>Job,</HI> we &s;hould have had good Rea&s;on to have <HI>cur&s;ed that day in which it was &s;aid a Man-child was born into the World,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 3.3, 4, 5.</NOTE> <HI>and wi&s;hed that a cloud might perpetually have dwelt upon it, &s;ince our Nativity was of the hand of Canaan; our fa|ther</HI> at be&s;t <HI>but an Amorite,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.3.</NOTE> <HI>and our mother a Hittite;</HI> father and mother, and children accur&s;ed for eating the forbidden fruit.</P>
<P>But the day of our New Birth it plea&s;ed our heavenly Father to make the time of love,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>proceeding from the riches of his ineffable mercy.</HI> Then he pur|po&s;ed <HI>tollere filium,</HI> not to expo&s;e, as tho&s;e cruel Fathers among the Heathens, the New-born Babe, but to take from the Earth the Infant, and put them into the Lap of his dear Wife, the Church; <HI>that their Navel might be cut, that they might be wa&s;hed with water,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.4.</NOTE> <HI>&s;uppled, &s;alted, &s;wadled;</HI> that however through their own default they could not be his children by Nature, yet through Grace they &s;hould be his Adopted &s;ons, and &s;o once again, as I may &s;o &s;ay, naturalized and enabled to receive that inheritance which they had lo&s;t.</P>
<P>De&s;pi&s;e then your Birth-day in compari&s;on of this Nativity, and rejoyce on that day in which you were made a &s;on of this Mother; then it was, and not before you <HI>were made &s;ons of your Father in heaven; and if &s;ons, then heirs,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.16, 17.</NOTE> <HI>heirs annexed with Chri&s;t.</HI> Then it was, and not before you <HI>were made one body, by rea&s;on of that one &s;pirit, by which you are conjoyned together in this one body,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 1.22, 23.</NOTE> <HI>and to the head. One Bapti&s;m</HI> was the door by which you en|tred;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.4, 5.</NOTE> the profe&s;&s;ion of one faith, the Note and Cognizance of di&s;tinction, and
<PB N="465" REF="238"> the &s;incere Homage you do this one Lord, the a&s;&s;urance of your Filiation; the Spirit effectually quickned, Bapti&s;m admitted, your profe&s;&s;ion and fa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">th manife&s;ts your obedience, gives a&s;&s;urance that you are her <HI>&s;ons.</HI></P>
<P>Which that you may be better enabled to perform, con&s;ider how indulgent ever &s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> on w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re wa&s;hed, this kind Mother hath been unto you. She hath &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">adled you her &s;elf, born with much &s;luttery in you; &s;he hath drawn forth unto you <GAP DESC="foreign">, the two Bottles of her Brea&s;ts, the two Te&s;taments,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Triphiodorus.</HI> P&s;al. 45. 1 Pet. 2.2. Heb. 5.14.</NOTE> &s;toop'd, though <HI>a Queen,</HI> yet to be <HI>a Nur&s;ing-mother; fed you with Milk while ye were children, and &s;tronger meat &s;ince you came to be men;</HI> at no time &s;he can be &s;aid to have forgotten h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r child. Love calls for love, affection requires mutual affection, her Motherly care, Reverence and Obedience: peevi&s;hne&s;s and frowardne&s;s, &s;tomach and anger toward a Mother, are Argu|ments of little grace and piety; and yet even to the&s;e, &s;uch is her charity, &s;he &s;hews her affection, renounce them utterly &s;he will not, nor quite and clean ca&s;t them off, and ca&s;t them out of her Family; &s;till &s;he acknowledgeth them for her children, and here calls them <HI>&s;ons, Her Mothers &s;ons.</HI></P>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> My Mothers &s;ons.</HEAD>
<P>You know now who the Mother is, and what &s;he hath done for you, next take notice of her children; &s;ome of the&s;e are gracele&s;s, others, gracious <HI>&s;ons;</HI> &s;ome of the&s;e are angry, cholerick, ha&s;ty Zelots, others are of a calm, meek, cool, &s;ober &s;pirit: Among the fir&s;t kind, &s;ome profe&s;s the &s;ame faith with her, but not wholly, not entirely, and the&s;e are Hereticks: Others adde to her Faith, their own Inventions, Imaginations, Fancies, Doctrines, and the&s;e are Will-wor&s;hippers, Sectaries: Others profe&s;s the whole &s;aving-faith, but not in Unity, and &s;uch are Sci&s;maticks: Others profe&s;s the whole faith in conformity, perhaps, but not in &s;incerity, and &s;anctity of life, and &s;uch are Hypocrites, and practical Athei&s;ts, to whom, yet while they are Profe&s;&s;ors, &s;he vouch&s;afes the name of <HI>&s;ons.</HI></P>
<P>Her gracious <HI>&s;ons</HI> are tho&s;e only, that profe&s;s the whole &s;aving Truth in Unity, in Sincerity, and con&s;cionable Obedience, who&s;e life is an honour to their Faith, and who&s;e Faith hath a &s;trong and effectual influence upon their life. Now of the&s;e true believers &s;he complains not, 'tis of the outward Pro|fe&s;&s;ors, whether Hereticks, Schi&s;maticks, or profane per&s;ons, the&s;e are tho&s;e angry, wa&s;pi&s;h Zelots, yet the&s;e in charity &s;he holds for <HI>&s;ons:</HI> Whether they be obedient <HI>&s;ons</HI> or no, is not the que&s;tion; for that is confe&s;&s;ed they are not, and wi&s;hed they were; the &s;ole doubt is, whether they may be &s;aid to be of the Family.</P>
<P>Di&s;&s;enters there are on both hands; <HI>Rome</HI> ejects all tho&s;e for <HI>&s;ons,</HI> who are not born in her womb; and the Brethren of &s;eparation will acknowledge none for children, who are not nur&s;ed up at their brea&s;ts, and dandled upon their knees: Zeal hath tran&s;ported them both beyond the truth, in the mid&s;t it lies, and this it is.</P>
<P>The Husband of this our Mother, is Chri&s;t, the Hou&s;hold is the Church, to who&s;e Family men belong either vi&s;ibly or my&s;tical<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y, the&s;e are commonly cal|led either the vi&s;ible or my&s;tical Members of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s Society: The my&s;tical So|ciety is that company whom Chri&s;t doth animate, and formalize with his own Spirit, being truly united to him; and of this Corporation, nor Hypocrites, nor Hereticks, nor profane per&s;ons are parts and members; the Rea&s;ons for it are evident.</P>
<P N="1">1. They are but as ill humours in the body, which though in the body, yet are not any true parts of the body, no more are the&s;e.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="466" REF="239">2. Nothing is truly and formally that who&s;e name it bears, <HI>quando dici|ur cum termino dimuente;</HI> when a term of limitation, re&s;triction, or dimi|nution is added to it; as a dead man, is not truly a man; a painted City, is not truly a City. Thus it is here, members the&s;e are, but dead members; Chri|&s;tians they are, but painted Chri&s;tians; not therefore living members of Chri&s;ts body, not truly Chri&s;tians; in name they are, and not farther.</P>
<P N="3">3. There is no true and my&s;tical member of Chri&s;ts body which receives not a vital influx from the head; but Infidels and wicked men receive not this vital influence, and therefore they cannot be parts of that body which Chri&s;t doth quicken with his Spirit.</P>
<P N="4">4. At the &s;ame time the &s;ame man cannot be a member of Chri&s;t and the Divel; but profane and heretical per&s;ons <HI>qua tales,</HI> are by Saint <HI>John,</HI> reckon'd to be <HI>&s;ervants and &s;ons of that evil spirit;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 8.44.</NOTE> and therefore truly they belong not to Chri&s;t, nor are really the Sonnes of our Mother.</P>
<P N="2">2. But be&s;ides this My&s;tical, there be other Vi&s;ible parts of this &s;ocie<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y, that communicate in the outward profe&s;&s;ion of the&s;e Heavenly verities, who in regard of the clo&s;e and inward di&s;po&s;ition of their minds, and outward conver&s;ation, I adde, in regard of &s;ome parts of their very profe&s;&s;ion, are mo&s;t worthily hateful in the eyes of Almighty God, and the eyes of the &s;ound|er part of the Vi&s;ible Church execrable; and yet Truth and Charity bids us call the&s;e our <HI>Mothers &s;ons:</HI> Call them, &s;o I &s;ay, equivocally, as we call a wooden Leg, or a gla&s;s Eye, a part of the body, which in truth are not &s;uch. And could we as ea&s;ily and certainly di&s;cern that they are but a&s;cititious and coun|terfeit, as we can that Leg to be of wood, and that Eye of gla&s;s, we would not call them &s;o neither. But that Charity <HI>that bids us hope all things, and believe all things,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.7. 1 Cor. 4.5.</NOTE> commands us not <HI>to eject and damn any before the time:</HI> The Hypocrite we can never di&s;cern; the profane man is an object of our hope and compa&s;&s;ion; the Heretick may come to the knowledge of the truth; and therefore we are bound to e&s;teem them Brethren, whom our <HI>Mother</HI> calls <HI>&s;ons.</HI></P>
<P>A man hath a rotten Leg, a gangred and corrupted Arm, Is it not for all that a part of his body? an un&s;ound part I confe&s;s, but a part though. I would ask, Whether the <HI>ince&s;luous Corinthian,</HI> before he was ca&s;t out, were of that Church or not? If not, then they had no power to ca&s;t him out. <HI>For what have we to do,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5.1.</NOTE> (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle) <HI>to judge tho&s;e who are without?</HI> If he were in the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 12.</NOTE> as he was, for within he mu&s;t be, before he could be ca&s;t out; then po&s;&s;ible it is for a profane per&s;on to be a member of a Vi&s;ible Church; or which is all one, <HI>a &s;on of our Mother;</HI> not by Merit, not by Election, but by Tale, and outward profe&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>And what can our Saviour mean el&s;e, <HI>When he likens the Kingdom of God to a Net ca&s;t into the Sea,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 13.47. Matth. 3.12. Mat. 13.24. &amp; Ver. <HI>&agrave;</HI> 3.8.</NOTE> <HI>into which all that comes, neither is, nor &s;eems to be Fi&s;h? To a Floor, in which there is Wheat and Chaffe: To a Field, where|in are Tares and Wheat: To the ground, that received and rejected the &s;eed: To the &V;irgins, of which, five were wi&s;e, and five were fooli&s;h.</HI> Of different kinds they were,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chap. 25.2.</NOTE> yet both in the &s;ame <HI>Net,</HI> in the &s;ame <HI>Floor,</HI> in the &s;ame <HI>Field, and Ground,</HI> in the &s;ame <HI>Kingdom.</HI> All which, it cannot be denied, are Re&s;em|blances of the Church, and therefore may, as they did, receive good and bad.</P>
<P>The good principally, fully, intrin&s;ecally, ab&s;olutely are acknowledged to be <HI>our Mothers &s;ons,</HI> her fir&s;t-born, that &s;hall go away with the ble&s;&s;ing: To the other &s;he is but <HI>Mater putativa,</HI> a &s;uppo&s;ed Mother; and they, as the Lawyers, &s;peak <HI>Muli<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r,</HI> or Suppo&s;ititious; Children, and with her legitimate <HI>&s;ons,</HI> they &s;hall not inherit: Both which <HI>Bellarmine</HI> hath well expre&s;&s;ed; <HI>Eccle&s;ia precipu&egrave;, &amp; ex intentione &s;u&acirc; fidelis tantum colligit,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Cum au|tem
<PB N="467" REF="239"> aliqui admi&s;centur ficti, qui ver&egrave; non credunt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">llar. d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Eccle|&s;ia M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">it. lib. <HI>3.</HI> cap. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> <HI>id accidit praeter intentio|nem Eccle&s;iae; &s;i enim eos no&s;&s;e po&s;&s;it, nunquam admitteret, aut ca&s;u admi&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">os continu&ograve; excluderet.</HI></P>
<P>Down then with tho&s;e high thoughts with which many a <HI>Phari&s;ee</HI> is tran|&s;ported, who out of a contemplation of his own purity, &s;tands apart, and di&s;|dains <HI>a poor Publican,</HI> rejects utterly his company and &s;ociety,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.11.</NOTE> as if he were pitch that may not be touch't; or an infirm &s;heep, which the &s;ound may not approach without danger. This was the furious zeal of the <HI>Pelagians</HI> of old, and the off-&s;pring of <HI>Donatus</HI> and <HI>Luciferius</HI> in our dayes, who have dif|famed this our <HI>Mother</HI> for a Strumpet, and Ba&s;tardiz'd her Chil|dren.</P>
<P><HI>Parent &s;ibi &s;calas, &amp; a&s;cendant in Caelum &s;oli;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> for we may not be admit|ted to their company: Well then, after we will come, and upon the &s;ight of our defects call for <HI>a P&s;alme of mercy,</HI> upon the hearty recital of which,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.1.</NOTE> we have great hope our good Father will forget our imperfections, and our kind Mother will be&s;tow upon us her ab&s;olution and ble&s;&s;ing. Fooli&s;h men, to &s;uppo&s;e unholy children could not be found in &s;o holy an A&s;&s;embly, nothing remembring <HI>that Cham was in the Ark as w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll as Sem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 7.8.</NOTE> <HI>unclean Bea&s;ts as well as clean;</HI> and that a venemous Toad may lie under the con&s;ecrated &s;tones of the Temple.</P>
<P>It had been therefore their Charity not to have renounced us, till we had renounced Chri&s;t; and their duty not to have made a Nullity in their Mothers Marriage, for the di&s;obedience of her &s;ons; yea, and wi&s;dom al&s;o, le&s;t at una|wares they make them&s;elves no Chri&s;tians; becau&s;e in her womb it was, that mo&s;t of them were fir&s;t conceived, and nur&s;ed up at her brea&s;ts, and e&s;teemed children of God; either then they mu&s;t acknowledge her Chri&s;ten|dom, or deny their Son&s;hip, which many of them do not, nor will not.</P>
<P>Say &s;he were weak, poor, ragged, black in their eye in her per&s;onal defects, blacki&s;h in her Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Ornaments; yet &s;he was their <HI>Mother,</HI> we their Brethren; pity had been better than &s;tomach; prayers, than &s;eparation; as putative &s;ons of our common mother they might &s;afely have taken us, and &s;o eat and drunk without &s;in in our company, could not their Charity have been inflamed to that degree to have accounted us zealous B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e|thren.</P>
<P>And becau&s;e I am fallen upon this point of Separation, I &s;hall freely impart a little more largely my thoughts about it. That which can give a ju&s;t cau&s;e to &s;eparate, is reducible to the&s;e two Heads; Errors in Life, or el&s;e Errors in Doctrine.</P>
<P N="1">1. As touching Errors of Life, the Apo&s;tle gives us this command, <HI>Have not any fellow&s;hip with the unfruitful works of darkne&s;s;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.10.</NOTE> <HI>for what com|munion hath light with darkne&s;s? Chri&s;t with Belial? God with M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m|mon?</HI> But ob&s;erve here, the Apo&s;tle names <HI>the works of darkne&s;s,</HI> not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he Men: To withdraw from the per&s;ons when they walk inordinatly, is &s;ober wi&s;dom; but to &s;ay to &s;uch, <HI>Stand apart, for I am holier than thou, Phari&s;ai&s;me;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 65.5.</NOTE> for the works, they are ab&s;olutely to be avo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ded: To do the &s;ame which a wicked man does, to give coun&s;el, a&s;&s;i&s;tance, approbation, commendation to a leud act; not to re&s;train when it lies in our power another mans malice or wickedne&s;s, is no que&s;tion <HI>to communicate with the works of darkne&s;s.</HI> And he who will walk hone&s;tly, will neither have &s;uch a heart, nor &s;uch a hand, nor &s;uch a tongue; not &s;uch a heart to con&s;ent; not &s;uch a tongue to commend; not &s;uch a hand to co-operate with an evil doer.</P>
<P>But for the per&s;ons, it is not &s;o ea&s;ie to avoid, nor indeed &s;o nece&s;&s;ary in that &s;en&s;e as many &s;trait-laced men conceive; for wicked men are to be con|&s;idered
<PB N="468" REF="240"> as Members of a civil &s;ociety, or of that &s;ociety which is called the Church.</P>
<P>As Members of the &s;ociety of mankind, a common fellow&s;hip may, and mu&s;t &s;ometimes be retained with them for Commerce, for civil peace, for the performance of all outward Courte&s;ies of love, <HI>u&s;que ad Aras. Abraham made a Covenant with Abimelech,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 20. Gen. 19. Gen. 31. 1 Cor. 7.13.</NOTE> <HI>Jacob with Laban, Lot conver&s;ed with the Sodomites; the believing Wife was not to depart from the unbelievidg hu&s;|band.</HI> Simply the &s;ociety of wicked men is not to be avoided; <HI>for then we mu&s;t go out of the World,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5.10.</NOTE> as &s;aith the Apo&s;tle; only care mu&s;t be taken that we be not the wor&s;e for their company, <HI>that the Name of God be not thereby bla&s;phemed.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 52.5.</NOTE></P>
<P>But let men be con&s;idered <HI>as our Mothers &s;ons,</HI> that is, as Members of &s;ome particular Church; and then before we refu&s;e to communicate with them, the&s;e three Directions would be diligently ob&s;erved and re|membred.</P>
<P N="1">1. Whether the faults imputed to the <HI>Mother</HI> lie not in the wicked lives of the Prie&s;ts and People;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Perk. in Jude.</NOTE> if that appear, to &s;eparate is not lawful; <HI>for the Scribes and Phari&s;ees &s;ate in Mo&s;es &s;eat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.1.</NOTE> and yet Chri&s;t com|manded <HI>that they be heard.</HI> Many evil Prie&s;ts there were in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> yet the people for their &s;akes refrained not from the Sacrifice of the Lord.</P>
<P N="2">2. Whether the Church erre in matter of Religion; then we mu&s;t con&s;ider whether the Errour lie in a more weighty, &s;ub|&s;tantial Doctrine, or el&s;e in &s;ome lighter or circum&s;tantial matter.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, If it be a matter of le&s;s importance, &s;uch as St. <HI>Paul</HI> calls <HI>Hey, Wood and Stubble,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.15.</NOTE> then we may not &s;eparate; for there may &s;alvation be had in &s;uch a Church.</P>
<P>Secondly, Yea, but what if this Error lie in the foundation or &s;ub&s;tance of Doctrine; then it is ea&s;ily to be con&s;idered,</P>
<P N="3">3. Whether this Errour proceed of frailty, and is defended only with a peaceable and docible mind, or el&s;e be pertinaciou&s;ly and ob&s;tinately main|tained.</P>
<P N="1">1. If upon frailty only, it may be &s;uffered with hope that God in his good time will reveal the truth: The Church of <HI>Galatia</HI> was through frailty quickly <HI>turned to another Gospel, and erred in the foundation, expecting ju&s;tification by the works of the Law.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.6.</NOTE> The Church of <HI>Corinth denied an Article, the Re&s;urrection;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.12.</NOTE> yet Saint <HI>Paul</HI> writes to both, as unto Churches of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="2">2. But if the Errour lie in the foundation, and is defended with a perti|nacy and ob&s;tinacy, then a &s;eparation may be made with a good con&s;cience; then we need not e&s;teem them <HI>our Mothers &s;ons:</HI> Then that place of the <HI>Corinths</HI> out of the Prophet is aptly urged,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6.17.</NOTE> <HI>Come out from among them, and be you &s;eparate;</HI> and that coun&s;el which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> gives <HI>Timothy, If any man teach otherwi&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 4.5.</NOTE> <HI>and con&s;ent not to the whol&s;ome Doctrine, from &s;uch &s;epa|rate thy &s;elf:</HI> Yea, his own Example comes home to the purpo&s;e, <HI>Acts</HI> 19.19. Yet before we may pa&s;s this har&s;h cen&s;ure of ob&s;tinacy and pertinacy upon any Church, it is nece&s;&s;ary that there be not a proud and ra&s;h, but an humble and prudent Examination of the Doctrine; not a heady, factious and tumultu|ous, but a di&s;creet, legal and peaceable conviction: La&s;tly, not the Vote of private men, but a grave Cen&s;ure of a lawful a&s;&s;embled Synod.</P>
<P>This being the naked truth, doth ea&s;ily di&s;cover the weakne&s;s and ra&s;h|ne&s;s of tho&s;e Zelots who have departed from <HI>our Mother,</HI> and &s;eparated from her children; for who can with a good con&s;cience fa&s;ten this upon the Church of <HI>England?</HI></P>
<PB N="469" REF="240">
<P>For let the wor&s;t be admitted that can be &s;aid; be it that the lives of the Profe&s;&s;ors were not comely, nor &s;uch as becomes the Go&s;pel; (though it be|comes him that throws a &s;tone, to take heed le&s;t it fall not on his own Noddle) yet our di&s;like and di&s;claiming &s;uch works of darkne&s;s, &s;hews our &s;eparation from them &s;ufficiently: And that there were tho&s;e <HI>who mourned in Zion</HI> for what was ami&s;s in execution, and prayed for, and wi&s;hed, and endeavoured a Reformation, and yet never &s;eparated as much as they who in an un|d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;creet zeal have removed farthe&s;t; rhis may ju&s;tifie us in the fir&s;t ca&s;e.</P>
<P>As for the quarrel that is pretended to the Service, Ceremonies, and Di&s;|cipline, it is but the Structure and Edifice; nay &s;carce that, rather about the Hang<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ngs, Furniture and Government of the Hou&s;e; for which no wi&s;e man ought to contend to a &s;eparation, &s;o long <HI>as all things are done decently,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14.40.</NOTE> <HI>and in order.</HI></P>
<P>In the foundation no Errour can be &s;hewed; a flat Heretick may a&s;per&s;e her as an <HI>An<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ini<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">arian,</HI> an <HI>Arrian,</HI> a <HI>Socinian,</HI> or &s;ome &s;uch Mon&s;ter; but the bare Sectary hath not impeached her; &s;he never yet was for her affir|mative Articles, no not by the <HI>Papi&s;t</HI> convicted, much le&s;s in a lawful Synod cen&s;ured; and therefore there is no ju&s;t cau&s;e given of &s;eparation, nor yet that <HI>her Mothers &s;ons &s;hould be &s;o angry with her,</HI> which yet is the unkindne&s;s &s;he here complains of:</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> My Mothers &s;ons were angry with me.</HEAD>
<P>Man is like a Ship at Sea; Rea&s;on is the Pilot, the Pa&s;&s;ions the Oars and Sails, or rather the Winds that drive it; &s;o long as the&s;e be u&s;eful, and blow fair and gently, on the Ve&s;&s;el pa&s;&s;es merrily, and at la&s;t arrives &s;afely at the Port: But if the&s;e Winds begin to be boy&s;terous and rough, then nor Oar, nor Sail is of any great u&s;e; nor the Pilots hand &s;hall be &s;o far able to &s;tear the Ship, that it fall not upon &s;ome Rock, that it &s;plit not, that it &s;ink not. Now among the&s;e windy pa&s;&s;ions, there is none &s;o tempe&s;tuous, none &s;o furious, as that of anger; for what is anger el&s;e for the time, but a &s;hort madne&s;s? for it doth <GAP DESC="foreign">, turn a man for the time into a Bea&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Clem. Alex.</NOTE> outing him of the u&s;e of Rea&s;on. The people were angry with St. <HI>Paul, they rent their cloa hs, and ca&s;t dirt into the Aire;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 22.22, 23.</NOTE> what could mad Bulls have done more in their Rage? Yea, &s;o far it puts him from his Rea&s;on, <HI>that he violates the Law of ju&s;tice;</HI> for what Judge being blinded with it, ever gave a ju&s;t &s;en|tence? <HI>The wrath of man works not the righteou&s;ne&s;s of God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1.20.</NOTE> becau&s;e the mind of man that is troubled with it, di&s;cerns every fault pre&s;ented to it, as through a Mi&s;t, which tran&s;mits the Object not in its ju&s;t proportion, but far bigger than it is: It did &s;o here, pre&s;ented the <HI>Mothers</HI> &s;pots to the <HI>&s;ons</HI> eyes as blains; and therefore &s;he had Rea&s;on to complain <HI>that they were angry.</HI></P>
<P>Of angry people all are not alike;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ari&s;t. Ethic. lib. <HI>4.</HI> cap. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> hath &s;et them in three Ranks; there be &s;aith he, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Acuti, amari, difficiles,</HI> &s;harp, bitter, implacable people: The fir&s;t of the&s;e &s;ting as Bees, the &s;econd as Wa&s;ps, the third as Hornets: The fir&s;t burns as fire in &s;tubble, the &s;e|cond glowes as fire in Iron, the third lives long as fire raked up in Embers.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t are a &s;ort of Cholerique men, who have a great bag of gall, and yellow choler, into which an occa&s;ion of anger falling by chance, is as a &s;park that lights in powder, that pre&s;ently ri&s;es in your face. The ground of &s;udden heat is commonly envy, emulation, grudging, which hath for its obiect the pro&s;perous and flouri&s;hing e&s;tate of another. This
<PB N="470" REF="241"> fills men to the eyes, and in the eyes it &s;its, and by tho&s;e windows it looks forth, and where&s;oever it &s;ees a ble&s;&s;ing, di&s;pleas'd it is, if God do not cur&s;e. The Elder Brother in the Go&s;pel, when he heard <HI>melody and dancing in his Fathers hou&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 15.28.</NOTE> and heard of the <HI>Ring, and Robe, and fat Calf killed by the Father to welcome home his lost &s;on, he was angry at the matter, and would not go in.</HI> Thus far go the <HI>Acuti,</HI> even good-natur'd men.</P>
<P N="2">2. But the &s;econd &s;ort are far wor&s;e, tho&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>Amari,</HI> who have an equal &s;hare of black and yellow choler; Men that are not very &s;oon an|gry, nor yet very &s;oon plea&s;ed: As their heat is longer kindling, &s;o it is longer ere it go out; much like Old Rotten Wood, which once on fire, will burn Day and Night. This commonly ends in malice and bitterne&s;s.</P>
<P N="3">3. But yet the&s;e bitter men, are not half &s;o bad as tho&s;e who are <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, who have more &s;plene than gall; that once angry, will ne|ver be pacified. In them the cold <HI>Saturnine</HI> humour is not apt to be heat|ed; yet as cold water it may be made to boyle, and then &s;calld as much as fire. This by <HI>Ny&s;&s;en</HI> is call'd <HI>fury;</HI> by <HI>Gregory, The tumour of the heart;</HI> which is not properly <HI>pride,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Thom.</HI> 2. 2. <HI>e.q.</HI> 158. <HI>Art.</HI> 7.</NOTE> but the <HI>endeavor</HI> and <HI>attempt</HI> of a man to be <HI>re|venged.</HI></P>
<P>Of which kinde of the&s;e angry people the Spou&s;e here &s;peaks, it is not ea&s;ie to determine, &s;ince Tran&s;lators differ, and the effects differ al&s;o: For &s;ome reade <HI>inflammati,</HI> &s;ome <HI>incen&s;i;</HI> the vulgar goes farther, <HI>pugnaverunt.</HI> It puts me to think, that the Church might have many ungracious di&s;con|tented Sons, all Opponents to their Mother, yet upon different occa&s;ions; &s;ome who upon envy, &s;ome who on malice, &s;ome who on pride, were inflam'd again&s;t her.</P>
<P>Her Pro&s;perity and Dowry was the object of their envy; Her Di&s;cipline and Order, of their malice and bitterne&s;s; Her Officers or Prelates, of their tumour and pride. Their pride was &s;uch, that it &s;ugge&s;ted a Parity; their malice &s;o great, that it call'd for an Anarchy; their envy &s;o blinded, that it dreamed of a Community. Again&s;t which what&s;oever they &s;aw in practice, made them angry, inflam'd them, incen&s;'d them, brought them to be implaca|ble, <HI>they fought.</HI></P>
<P>How little rea&s;on there was for her Children to be angry for her Di&s;ci|pline, Orders, or Con&s;titutions, with her Officers and Prelates, I &s;hall &s;hew at large in a di&s;cour&s;e by it &s;elf. At this time I &s;hall only ju&s;tifie her Dowry and Maintenance.</P>
<P>This was conferr'd upon her, either by the bounty of Princes and Bene|factors; or el&s;e by the indulgence of Heaven. The fir&s;t was a free gift, and voluntary; &s;he layes no claim to it, till it was given; for <HI>while it was their own,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 5.4.</NOTE> <HI>was it not in their own power?</HI> They might have kept it without &s;inne at plea&s;ure. But being once given, <HI>Ju&s;tinian</HI> tells us, that God was the proprietary, the Goods were his; <HI>&amp; quae in Dei &s;unt bonis, over that which is Gods, man can have no power;</HI> and therefore can not alienate them, nor take them away.</P>
<P>The Dowry which God made over unto her, was Tithes: In that he had right. Right indeed he hath to all; but he is content we enjoy the Nine parts; conditionally, we pay the Tenth to him. In the Prophet <HI>Malachi</HI> he layes his claim,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.8.</NOTE> <HI>All Tithes are mine;</HI> and upon it he calls for payment, <HI>Bring in all Tithes into my &s;tore-hou&s;e;</HI> where he a&s;&s;ignes the <HI>Priest</HI> to be his <HI>Receiver;</HI> and is very angry when they are with-held; <HI>Will a man spoile his God?</HI></P>
<P>Men are very much mi&s;taken, when they conceive a Tenth to be paid as a meere &s;tipend to the Prie&s;t: They &s;hould look further, and remember it
<PB N="471" REF="241"> is Gods Tribute, his due debt, an offering of Thank&s;giving and gratitude, for ble&s;&s;ing the whole Harve&s;t. And is the Prie&s;ts no other way than by Gods A&s;&s;ignation, he Ordaining that he &s;hould receive it in his Name, and take it for his wages, for doing his work.</P>
<P>This Dowry was not denyed our Mother in the Law of Nature;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 14.20. Gen. 28.22.</NOTE> <HI>Abra|ham</HI> paid it, <HI>Jacob</HI> vow'd it, and 'tis very likely that <HI>Abel</HI> before both gave it; for the <HI>Septuagints</HI> Tran&s;lation favours a divi&s;ion, which is more apt for the Quantity, than Quality, <GAP DESC="foreign">. If thou bring thy offering aright, and divide&s;t not aright,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4.7.</NOTE> be qui|et. Under the Law for payment there can be no que&s;tion; and by what Law &s;oever payable, I am &s;ure not by the Ceremonial; for Tithes were no Types. And in the beginning of the Go&s;pel a Command there is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.23.</NOTE> <HI>Haec oportet fieri.</HI></P>
<P>Over and above I &s;hall adde thus much, that even the light of Nature taught the Heathens to pay this part, and no other to their Gods, who yet were no Gods: <HI>Fe&s;tus</HI> &s;hall &s;peak for the <HI>Romans,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cit. ab ip&s;o Seld.</HI> cap. 3. de Dec.</NOTE> <HI>Decima quae&abque; veteres dijs &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">is offerebant: Didymus</HI> in <HI>Har<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ocration</HI> for the <HI>Greeks,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. 'Twas not then to &s;ome Deities, by &s;ome people, and &s;ometimes only, and of &s;ome things only, as the Author of the Hi&s;tory of Tithes would make us believe: But it was to tho&s;e Deities indefinitely, by all people in <HI>Rome,</HI> in <HI>Greece,</HI> among the <HI>Romans &V;eteres</HI> the Ancients did it; and among the <HI>Greeks</HI> it was; not a cu&s;tom in &s;ome parts, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Greek&s;h cu&s;tome; yea, and of all things <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Quae&abque;,</HI> and that which is punctually to the pur|po&s;e; for the <HI>Quota pars,</HI> the oblation or payment was the <HI>Decima,</HI> the <GAP DESC="foreign">, The Tithe. The&s;e two Te&s;timonies were &s;o evident, that the Divine <HI>Scaliger</HI> with his Pupil, knew not what to An&s;wer, till boldly and enviou&s;ly they mended or rather marr'd the Record; the one, for <HI>Dijs,</HI> reading <HI>Uni He<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">culi;</HI> the other, blotted out the Note of Univer&s;ality, <HI>Quae&abque;:</HI> Which cour&s;e let it be granted to any Lawyer, when an Evidence or Record is pro|duc'd, let it but lie in his power to put out or put in what words he plea&s;es, and he may &s;hape any ca&s;e to his own turn. That which I intend to inferre out of the&s;e or the like Te&s;timonies, for they are many, is this, That in the judgement of the Heathen the Tenth was Gods part; that Rea&s;on taught them to pay it, and they did pay it to their Gods; that their Prie&s;ts received it, employed it to Divine u&s;es, and were maintained by it. So that it is not a portion due by a po&s;itive Law only, but by a Dictate of Natural Rea&s;on.</P>
<P>I have re&s;erv'd Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> Argument to the la&s;t, as that in which there is the greate&s;t force, <HI>Heb.</HI> 7.2, 6. The Apo&s;tle is to prove <HI>Melchize|deck</HI> to be a <HI>Priest,</HI> and a greater <HI>Prie&s;t</HI> than <HI>Levi.</HI> His <HI>Mediums</HI> to induce tho&s;e conclu&s;ions are two; <HI>Melchizedecks</HI> Benediction and Decimation of <HI>Abraham; He ble&s;&s;ed him; ergo,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, not took what he would give, but out of his power Tith'd <HI>Abraham,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 6, 7.</NOTE> therefore the greater Prie&s;t.</P>
<P>Whether it were the Spoyles, or all the Spoyles, or the Spoyles alone, or of all his goods (though it is mo&s;t likely to be of this la&s;t;) for <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 2. The Apo&s;tle &s;aith, <HI>He gave a tenth part of all:</HI> and after addes, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 4. <HI>That he gave even the tenth of the Spoyles;</HI> that over and above, I di&s;pute not; for it is enough to my purpo&s;e, that <GAP DESC="foreign">, that out of right he tith'd <HI>Abra|ham,</HI> be they tenth of &s;poyles or other Goods.</P>
<P>For out of this Apo&s;tolical Logique it &s;eems to me, that to Tithe and re|ceive Tithes, belongs to the Prie&s;thood <GAP DESC="foreign"> reciprocally, as if he, that by right receives Tithes, mu&s;t be a Prie&s;t, and none but a Prie&s;t mu&s;t
<PB N="472" REF="242"> receive Tithes. The con&s;equent of which will be, That &s;ince <HI>Melchizedecks</HI> Prie&s;thood remains <HI>for ever,</HI> tho&s;e al&s;o which externally execute that functi|on, &s;hall al&s;o continue to the end of the world, and have right to <HI>Melchize|decks</HI> portion, <HI>the tenth.</HI></P>
<P>Adde to this Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> po&s;ition, <HI>viz. Even &s;o hath God Ordained, that tho&s;e which preach the Gospel &s;hould live of the Go&s;pel.</HI> The whole Scope of the precedent words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.14.</NOTE> is, that the Mini&s;ter have a &s;ufficient mainte|nance. Which le&s;t any man &s;hould interpret an arbitrary &s;tipend or Con|tribution, in this <HI>ver&s;e</HI> he clo&s;es all his in&s;tances with <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Even &s;o God hath ordained,</HI> an Ordinance then, a po&s;itive Law there is for it, not only a deduction out of the principle and equity of Rea&s;on; for no man ever yet call'd that <GAP DESC="foreign">, an Order: But &s;uch a one is not evidently ex|tant in the New Te&s;tament for the <HI>Quota pars;</HI> and therefore that Order and Con&s;titution that God once gave to the Jew for Tithes, mu&s;t be that Order, to <HI>continue for ever;</HI> &s;ince the claim upon which it is demanded, and the end for which it is to be paid, is to <HI>continue for ever.</HI></P>
<P>This plea here put in for my Mothers Dowry, would I know, have been cen&s;ur'd at another time as treading too much inward; but &s;ince he that puts it in, hath no benefit by it, nor is like to have, I hope it will receive the more candid interpretation, as proceeding, which it doth, from a love to Truth, and not to any Intere&s;t. And I hope, that they who were wont to cry &s;o loud again&s;t our Mothers Dowry, will not take this plea in ill part, &s;ince now they live and thrive upon it, and grow thereby as faire and fat, and well liking as any of her former Children. Now I hope they will be no lon|ger angry with her Dowry. The out-cry is &s;till'd, the noy&s;e is over, ever &s;ince it came to their hands.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>CONCL&V;SIO.</HEAD>
<P>God the &s;earcher of all hearts knows that I take no delight in Recrimina|tions; and therefore have but only touch'd this &s;ore with a Ladies hand, <HI>O Lord I know that the way of man is not in him&s;elf,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 10.23.</NOTE> <HI>it is not in man that walks to direct his &s;teps.</HI> The raging flame about our Mothers Dowry, and other priviledges will not be quenched, &s;o long as man con&s;ults with his own corrupt Heart. <HI>God therefore is my witne&s;&s;e, whom I &s;erve with my spirit in the Go&s;pel of his Son,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 1.9. Col. 1.9.</NOTE> <HI>that without cea&s;ing I make mention of the&s;e froward and angry brethren in my prayers, that God would give unto them the Spirit of Wi&s;dom and Revelation in the knowledge of him, and that the eyes of their under|standing may be enlightned.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">In Cant. Serm. 29.</NOTE>That they may lay to heart <HI>Bernards</HI> Note, <HI>viz.</HI> That it is <HI>The Sons by the Mothers &s;ide, not the Fathers who are angry;</HI> I forbear to pre&s;s it in his words.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.22.</NOTE> Next, that their <HI>anger</HI> is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Cau&s;le&s;s,</HI> in this, or other re&s;pects, as the Learned of our Church have abundantly proved. La&s;tly, that this un|kindne&s;s had been better taken, had it come from another. Cruelty and hard mea&s;ure though ever grievous, yet it alwayes receives an aggravation from the quality of the per&s;on that offers it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Suet.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">. A &s;tab from <HI>Brutus</HI> went deeper to <HI>Cae&s;ars</HI> heart, than all the blows of the other Sena|tors;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.49.</NOTE> a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d one <HI>trayte<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ous ki&s;s</HI> from the <HI>lips</HI> of <HI>Judas,</HI> was more unkindly taken, than all the <HI>blows</HI> and <HI>stripes</HI> of the Jews; at tho&s;e, as a Lamb, Chri&s;t he was &s;ilent; at this he expo&s;tulates, <HI>Judas, betraye&s;t thou?</HI> How pa&s;&s;ionately doth <HI>David</HI> complain! <HI>It was not an enemy that reproached me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 55.12, 13, 14.</NOTE> <HI>then I could have borne it; neither was it he that hated me, that did magnifie him&s;elf again&s;t me, then I would have hid my &s;elf from him; But it was thou, a man, my equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance: we
<PB N="473" REF="242"> took &s;weet Coun<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">el together, and walked in the Hou&s;e of GOD as Friends.</HI></P>
<P>Our Mother may in the &s;ame pathetical words melt upon her Children, and melt them if po&s;&s;ible into compa&s;&s;ion. It was not an enemy from <HI>Rome</HI> or <HI>Tiber,</HI> that hath loaded her with reproaches, for then &s;he could have borne it; neither was it a <HI>Cain that imbrued his hands in her Abels bloo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4. &amp; 32.</NOTE> no <HI>E&s;au that hated his brother, or &s;truggled with him before he was born</HI> that ro&s;e up again&s;t me; for then with the Woman in the <HI>R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">velation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 12.6.</NOTE> <HI>I might have took my &s;elf to the Wilderne&s;s, till the anger had been overpa&s;&s;ed:</HI> But they my Children, equally born in my womb, with equal care Nur&s;t up at my brea&s;ts, companions of the &s;ame faith, and the &s;ame Table, tho&s;e <HI>who took &s;weet coun&s;el, and walked in the Hou&s;e of God as friends,</HI> the&s;e are the men who in anger have lift up their heele again&s;t me. My Ma&s;ters words I &s;ee are verified, <HI>Tradet frater fratrem:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.21, 36.</NOTE> <HI>And a mans enemies &s;hall be tho&s;e of his own hou&s;e:</HI> which is that which mo&s;t grieves the Mother, becau&s;e
<Q><GAP DESC="foreign">.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sopho cl.</NOTE></Q> No wound &s;o deep, as is that of an <HI>injurious</HI> friend.</P>
<P>I know the Spirit of the Go&s;pel is a coole, calme, milde, charitable Spi|rit; and therefore far different from that of <HI>Elijah,</HI> being both Legal and Prophetique, whence I willingly pa&s;s by the following <HI>ver&s;e.</HI> The effects which their <HI>anger</HI> hath wrought upon the true &s;ons of this our mother, are No|ble and Chri&s;tian.</P>
<P N="1">1. Their <HI>anger</HI> hath &s;adly &s;et us to think upon a greater and higher, with|out which their wrath and Rage could never have hurt us. Our Father in hea|ven was ju&s;tly angry with us, we acknowledge and confe&s;s it. There were among&s;t us &s;ome that were more bu&s;ie with the fle&s;h-hook, than careful for the Sacrifice. The Key was too ea&s;ily turn'd to let in unworthy per&s;ons;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 2.14.</NOTE> and not turn'd, as it ought to be, upon &s;candalous and unworthy &s;inners. The Sa|cred Laws of our Mother were &s;lighted, neglected, &s;corned. The <HI>Salt we were of the earth;</HI> but <HI>evanuimus,</HI> we became light per&s;ons and un&s;avoury;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.13.</NOTE> and therefore Gods anger hath ju&s;tly taken hold of us; <HI>devi&s;ed he hath a device again&s;t us; hath watched upon the evil, and brought it to pa&s;s:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 1.5.</NOTE> The puni&s;hment an&s;wers the &s;inne, as the Wax the Seale. <HI>Habetis jam con|fitentem reum;</HI> and while you &s;it down and &s;mile, and make your advantage of it, we will &s;it down in the du&s;t, and mourn, and petition our Father in Heaven for pardon and mercy, nothing doubting but he will at la&s;t remove his anger, and our reproach.</P>
<P N="2">2. But then there mu&s;t be a Reformation al&s;o; for our Humiliation without a Reformation, will never avert our Fathers jealou&s;ie. And this, I per&s;wade my &s;elf, all the pious and devout &s;onnes of my Mother have vow|ed, and intend to performe. They re&s;olve to be more careful in their re|&s;pective Callings, more exemplary in their lives, more &s;tudious of their mo|thers peace; in a word, &s;o pa&s;s their time, that the very anger of their enemies &s;hall be turn'd into love.</P>
<P N="3">3. Till this come to pa&s;s, we will &s;ubmit to the wrath of God, and an|ger of men with patience. In the&s;e troubles we have lo&s;t our Wealth, our Dignities, our temporal Goods, but we have not lo&s;t our patience; and &s;o <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ong as we retain that, we are &s;ure to po&s;&s;e&s;s our &s;ouls, <HI>a po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion more pre|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ious than any that the world can give.</HI> And to per&s;wade us to retain this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 21.19.</NOTE> there be divers Rea&s;ons, but the&s;e e&s;pecially.</P>
<P N="1">1. Becau&s;e that <GAP DESC="foreign"> are <GAP DESC="foreign"> that which our impatience hath mi&s;-named a cro&s;s or lo&s;s, is from God. The wi&s;dom of God &s;ends it, hi
<PB N="474" REF="243"> power over-rules it, his providence di&s;pen&s;eth it in what mea&s;ure, and to what per&s;on he plea&s;eth. Fortune, want of good take heed, malice of ene|mies, Revenge, Ambition, or Covetou&s;ne&s;s, are but empty words; it is Ignorance that hath &s;et them in the Rank of prime cau&s;es: For <HI>there is no evil in the City</HI> (be it by War, Oppre&s;&s;ion, or Depopulation) <HI>but God in ju&s;tice hath done it.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 3.6.</NOTE> To that hand <HI>Job</HI> looks, when he was &s;mitten and Robb'd;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1.21.</NOTE> Men did it, but God &s;o order'd: <HI>God,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>hath given, and God hath taken.</HI> To that providence <HI>David,</HI> when <HI>Shimei cur&s;ed; God hath &s;ent Shimei to cur&s;e David.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 16.10. Gen. 45.4, 5.</NOTE> To this eye <HI>Jo&s;eph,</HI> when his Brethren out of malice <HI>&s;old him; God &s;ent me into Egypt.</HI> And this con&s;ideration may exceedingly abate the edge of all that we call evil, that thy &s;ufferings are from <HI>God,</HI> from <HI>thy God.</HI> From <HI>God;</HI> and therefore mu&s;t be, what&s;oever thou thinke&s;t of them, good; for <GAP DESC="foreign"> From thy God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eurip.</NOTE> and therefore mu&s;t be for thy good; <HI>for all things work together for good to tho&s;e which love God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.28.</NOTE> even &s;inners, and all.</P>
<P N="2">2. The <HI>Wine</HI> is indeed <HI>red;</HI> but the Cup is in his hand, and he mea|&s;ures it out by Cups,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 75.8.</NOTE> that every one of his Family may have his portion. The potion may &s;eem very unplea&s;ant in the taking, and trouble&s;ome in the opera|tion, but being temper'd by &s;o skilful a hand, it mu&s;t be whole&s;ome and healthful.</P>
<P>That you may know we drink it with the greater patience, a&s;&s;ured we are that it is admini&s;tred for that end that other Phy&s;ical potions are, <HI>viz. to re|move &s;ome ill humour, that did affect, or rather di&s;affect the &s;oul.</HI> Man is a di&s;ea&s;ed Creature, &s;ick of an infirmity in his under&s;tanding, in his Will, in his affections; and <HI>affliction</HI> is <HI>Medicina animae,</HI> a Soveraign medicine for all the&s;e, upon which <HI>experience</HI> hath &s;et <HI>Probatum e&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>The fir&s;t infirmity is in the <HI>under&s;tanding;</HI> in pro&s;perity &s;o weak-eyed man is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 30 8, 9.</NOTE> that he &s;ees not clearly his way to heaven: <HI>Give me not Riches,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Solomon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 29.15.</NOTE> <HI>le&s;t I forget God.</HI> Now <HI>Schola crucis, &s;chola lucis; the Rod gives wi&s;dome, and affliction gives under&s;tanding.</HI> By experience we finde, that the wits of men are in nece&s;&s;ity &s;harpe&s;t; and no man, I hope, will take it ill to be made <HI>wi&s;er</HI> day by day.</P>
<P>The next defect is in the <HI>Will,</HI> by which men are not only prone to, but wilfully &s;et on mi&s;chief. Now in hard times this Ob&s;tinacy is very much mended: For as the dew falls mo&s;t in the night, &s;o the &s;weet dews of grace de&s;cend mo&s;t frequently in the nights of &s;adne&s;s. Stories a&s;&s;ure us, That the lives of Gods Servants have been then mo&s;t holy, then their words more milde and cha&s;t, their behaviour more mode&s;t, their prayers more frequent and fervent,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> their peace within mo&s;t comfortable, when God hath given them this drink of deadly Wine. And I dare &s;ay, the&s;e have been the effects which our late &s;ufferings have wrought in every pious &s;oul. They may be then the more patiently endured, which have carried away &s;o much perver&s;ene&s;s and wilfulne&s;s.</P>
<P>Our <HI>affections</HI> have their &s;ickne&s;s al&s;o; a &s;oftne&s;s there is in us, whereby we yield to all difficulties; and wantonne&s;s, whereby we thir&s;t after plea&s;ing &s;en&s;ualities; &s;o that our courage for God is cooled, and our love to God aba|ted: But afflictions bring both to the Te&s;t, and make a perfect Trial both of our <HI>&V;alour</HI> and of our <HI>Love.</HI> In them when nor threats, nor prefer|ments can conquer us, we &s;hew our Magnanimity: In them, when nor the &s;pecious baits of plea&s;ure nor gaine can allure us, we &s;hew our Love: Both which,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.12.</NOTE> as Oare in the Mine, lie hid, till the <HI>fiery Tryal</HI> hath pa&s;&s;ed upon it. This flame melts it, purifieth it, &s;ets it in the open view, as it is to be &s;een in this Furnace; there remaining yet a few berries in the top of the Olive, whom nor tribulations have been able to beat down;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 17.6.</NOTE> nor yet anger, nor pro|fits,
<PB N="475" REF="243"> nor delicacies, have been of power to effeminate and &s;often;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.25.</NOTE> <HI>Cho&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n they have rather to &s;uff<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the plea&s;ures of &s;inne for a &s;ea&s;on.</HI> Thanks then to this Soveraign Antidote, that hath freed us from ignorance, hardne&s;s of heart, cowardize, and wantonne&s;s, and hath enriched our &s;ouls with light, with tenderne&s;s, with love, w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">th fortitude, and a patient &s;ubmi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|&s;ion to the Will and Wayes of God, which are the true vertues of the Saints.</P>
<P N="3">3. I know, were it not for your Patience, I had tired you; but pre&s;u|ming on that, I &s;hall adde one word more. Men may wonder, why when &s;ome are &s;o angry, we can be thus Patient. Be it known to you, this is no work of fle&s;h and blood, it proceeds from that Spirit who hath taught us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.10. Phil. 1.29. P&s;a. 73.5. P&s;a. 55 19. Heb. 12.6.</NOTE> that to &s;uffer for Righ<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eou&s;ne&s;s, is a Seal of our Adoption, and a han&s;el of our promi&s;ed Rew<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rd. To come in no mi&s;-fortune like other men, is but an ill &s;ign; to feel no changes, but an uncomfortable happine&s;s, becau&s;e <HI>God &s;courgeth every Son that he receives.</HI> Now to bear this cha&s;ti&s;ement pati|ently in relation to Gods hand, is the property of a childe. This is a &s;eal of our love to God, that as he &s;uffer'd for us, &s;o again we are content to &s;uffer for Him.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, this is an earne&s;t of our future happine&s;s.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8 17, 18,</NOTE> <HI>For if we &s;uffer with him, we &s;hall al&s;o raign with him.</HI> Upon which promi&s;e when the Apo&s;tle ca&s;t his eye, <HI>He endured the Cro&s;s, and despi&s;ed the &s;hame.</HI> The <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.17.</NOTE> the <HI>marks</HI> that he bore in his body, were not con&s;iderable; the afflictions which he had or &s;hould undergo, but light and momentary. The Crown he expected, was weighty; an everla&s;ting weight of Glory: And as the earth to the Tenth Heaven is but as a point: &s;o the troubles of this life to that joy bears no proportion.</P>
<P>The Husbandman ploughs, &s;ows, plants, waters, for hope of fruits: The Merchant at Sea endures many a &s;torm to gain a Pearle of price. All labour is &s;weetned by the end. This joy then that God hath &s;et before us, doth com|fort our &s;orrows here; and the Glory that he hath promi&s;ed, weigh down our di&s;honours now. This is the Handkerchief with which we wipe all Tears from our Eyes, all &s;weat from our face, all the gore blood from our backs.</P>
<Q><L>Per varios ca&s;us, per tot di&s;crimina rerum</L>
<L>Tendimus in coelum,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgil. Aen. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> &s;edes ubi fata quietas</L>
<L>O&s;tendunt.</L></Q>
<P><HI>&V;icibus dispo&s;ita haec res e&s;t.</HI> The world doth now <HI>rejoyce,</HI> and here Gods be&s;t Servants <HI>weep;</HI> but then the world is to <HI>weep,</HI> and the other to <HI>rejoyce.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 16 20.</NOTE> 'Twas &s;o with <HI>Dives;</HI> and F<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ther <HI>Abraham</HI> puts him in minde of it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 16.25.</NOTE> <HI>Re|member, Sonne, remember that thou in thy life-time received&s;t thy pl &s;u e, and</HI> Lazarus <HI>his pain; therefore is he now comforted, and th u ar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> to<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">men|ted.</HI> That's the time of Retribution and Vengeance: Of Reward for the good, of Vengeance for the bad: Of Anger for tho&s;e who have been angry with their Brethren without a c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u&s;e; of joy for &s;uch who for Chri&s;ts &s;ake have &s;u&s;tain'd their anger with meekne&s;s and patience.</P>
<P>The&s;e are the re&s;olutions of our &s;ouls, the&s;e the exerci&s;es of the rema<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nder of our dayes; the&s;e the Arts we intend to u&s;e, with the&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> arms and no other we threaten to fight again&s;t <HI>Amalek;</HI> and if we prevail not to avert their anger and fury, yet we hope &s;o far to pacifie the wrath of our heavenly Fa|ther, that he return and have mercy upon us. I &s;hall clo&s;e up all all I
<PB N="476" REF="244"> have to &s;ay at this time, with an apt and devout Prayer of the Great <HI>Ba&s;il.</HI></P>
<Q><TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="prayer">
<P><HI>O</HI> Long Suffering and Eternal King, who for the condemnation that came by the Tr&eacute;e, wert lifted up on the Tree, and ha&s;t &s;hewed forth thy &s;elf to all that choo&s;e to follow thy &s;teps, a pattern and copy of long-&s;ufferance and patience: Thou who ha&s;t offered up thy interce&s;&s;ion to thy Co-eternal Father, for tho&s;e very Fighters again&s;t God, who crucified th&eacute;e: Do Thou O Lord, Thou the &s;ame Lover of Mankind, indulge thy mercy and pardon to all that are Enemies to us, which either by Treachery, or Reproach, by Fraud, Contumely, or En|vy, or by any other means, through the laying in wait, or deceit of the Divel, that lover of debate, have expre&s;&s;ed their Malice or Mad|ne&s;s again&s;t us. Change their Coun&s;els and Re&s;olutions from a mi&s;|chievous de&s;ign, to the &s;w&eacute;et Chri&s;tian temper of gentlene&s;s. Infu&s;e into their Hearts &s;incere Love and Charity, &s;uch as is &s;ingle, and re|moved from deceit. Bind them fa&s;t to us in the inviolable Bands of &s;piritual Good-will; and by what meanes thou knowe&s;t mo&s;t fit, make them Partakers of thy Divine, Pure, and Holy Way of Life.</P>
<P>As for tho&s;e that love us, or for thy Holy Names &s;ake do admini|&s;ter to our bodily Nece&s;&s;ities, repay them with the Riches and Abun|dance of thy Gifts, and vouch&s;afe them the Lot and Portion of Faith|ful and Wi&s;e Stewards: And for tho&s;e, who out of good affe|ction have remembred our Infirmities, or have made Interce&s;|&s;ion for us, Reward them with the Plentiful Riches of thy Grace.</P>
<P>To tho&s;e that have commanded us mi&s;erable unworthy Creatures to pray for them, gratifie them with tho&s;e things that are profitable; and grant them tho&s;e Reque&s;ts which tend to their Salvation, and &s;end them from thy Holy Place thy Rich Mercies, and Bowels of Com|pa&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>And O Thou Father of Compa&s;&s;ion and Tender Mercy, Pity all tho&s;e who Rely upon Th&eacute;e, and Tru&s;t to Thee; Draw all to the Divine Love of Th&eacute;e, Be Thou Pre&s;ident in all Things, Be a&s;&s;i&s;t|ant and help all; Work together with us thy &s;inful and unprofitable Servants, and make us Heirs of thy Kingdom: For to Th&eacute;e it be|longs to &s;hew Mercy, and to &s;ave us, O our God; for Thine is the Power for ever. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT></Q>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="37" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="477" REF="244">
<HEAD>A Vindication of the Epi&s;copal Power.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Hebr. 13.17.</HI></BIBL>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P>Obey them that have the Rule over you, [or guide] you, and &s;ubmit [your &s;elves] for they wait for your &s;ouls, as they that mu&s;t give an account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief; for that is unprofita|ble for you.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE Apo&s;tle had often in this Epi&s;tle made mention of Legal Sacrifices, and that <GAP DESC="foreign">, they were out of date:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chap. 7.18.</NOTE> Well might the blood of a Bull or a Goat poured forth at the Altar, foretell and repre&s;ent the precious blood of the Son of God to be &s;hed upon the Cro&s;s, <GAP DESC="foreign">, to make a bath for &s;in; but formally to produce &s;uch an effect it was too weak: This was not the end &s;uch a Sacrifice was ordained for.</P>
<P>What then? mu&s;t Chri&s;tians be <GAP DESC="foreign">;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Porphyr.</NOTE> Mu&s;t they offer no Sacri|fice at all? have nothing to be&s;tow upon God? Yes verily, they have their Sa|crifices al&s;o, &s;omething to offer. Fir&s;t, <HI>The Sacrifice of prai&s;e,</HI> Ver. 15. Then <HI>the Sacrifice of almes,</HI> Ver. 16. And la&s;tly, <HI>The Sacrifice of Obedience,</HI> in the <HI>&V;er&s;e</HI> now read unto you. The&s;e three being offered upon the Altar of a pure heart, by and through his Son will delight and pacifie him; <HI>for with &s;uch Sacrifices God is well plea&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. <GAP DESC="foreign">, It plea&s;es him well that we &s;pend &s;ome part of our lives in Devotion, and fet our lips awork to tell of his bounty and graces all the day long. It is the Tribute and Rent we are to pay him, and he is well-plea&s;ed when we come to tender it before his Foot-&s;tool.</P>
<P N="2">2. It plea&s;es him well, when we &s;pend &s;ome part of our means in contri|bution to his poor Members, and &s;et our hands to work to make bread for the hungry, draw drink for the thir&s;ty; to cut out cloth for the naked, and make &s;alves and do&s;es for the &s;ick: The&s;e poor people are parts of that body of which Chri&s;t is the Head; and the Head is plea&s;ed, when the Foot is ea&s;ed.</P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, It plea&s;es him well, when the Elders that are in place Rule well, and they which are under obey, and &s;ubmit to their Rules; when they that go before guide aright, and they that follow are well content to be led and guided: The diligent care of the one, and the ready &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion of the other, give him great content. For the two fir&s;t of the&s;e Sacrifices Saint <HI>Paul</HI> had given direction; but now for that of <HI>Thanks,</HI> and that other of <HI>Almes;</HI> and now he gives an order for the la&s;t, <HI>Obedience,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. To tho&s;e there be that will more ea&s;ily yield; for every man will grant that he is not worthy to live, who will not &s;ay &s;o much as the <HI>Phari&s;ee, God I thank thee;</HI> and that he hath not the bowels of a man in him, whom the mi&s;ery of a man, a man like him&s;elf will not affect: But to the third the &s;ullen nature of man is not e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ily drawn; <HI>to obey and &s;ubmit</HI> are hard Le&s;&s;ons; <HI>Eritis &s;icut Dii;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.5. Mat. 20.21. Mat. 23.6.</NOTE> the Name of a God, and Place of a God is meat to be de&s;ired; and if that cannot be had, yet <HI>the right and left hand will be &s;ought for;</HI> and when there is no hope of the&s;e, yet much &s;hoving, and putting on, and &s;houldering there will be <HI>for the uppermost room, and chief &s;eat.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 11.43.</NOTE> Few men can be content to &s;ub|mit
<PB N="478" REF="245"> and come under, and take the lowe&s;t Room. It was the ob&s;ervation of the Attique Mu&s;e <HI>Xenophon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Xenoph. Cyrop. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> that no great Monarchs, Potentates, and De&s;pots, but even private Ma&s;ters,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. Leg. Leunclan.</NOTE> who had but a &s;ervant or two, <GAP DESC="foreign">; and that Shepherds and Herd&s;|men were in better ca&s;e than Prelates; for their Cattel go whether they were driven, and feed where they are put, and willingly yield the profit of their Wool and Milk to &s;u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h as take pains about them: whereas man is of a more rebellious di&s;po&s;ition; for <GAP DESC="foreign">. A precept then for the re&s;traint of &s;uch an untoward humour was nece&s;&s;ary, and a precept we have from the Spirit of God, <HI>Obedite Praepo&s;itis.</HI></P>
<P>The Subject of this <HI>&V;er&s;e</HI> is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Praepo&s;iti,</HI> tho&s;e that Rule or Guide; and in it we are directed, 1. What is to be done unto them. 2. What is to be done by them.</P>
<P N="1">1. To them two things are due. 1. Obedience. 2. Subjection; <GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">; the Verbals of Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> Verbs, we mu&s;t be per&s;waded by them, we mu&s;t yield unto them.</P>
<P N="2">2. By them likewi&s;e two things are to be done. 1. The one to men. 2. The other to God.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Over men they be &s;et to keep Centinel, <GAP DESC="foreign">, they are to be upon the Wall, and watch, when others are in their Beds; and wake, when ordinary men are a&s;leep; for
<Q><L><GAP DESC="foreign">,</L>
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ihad. &bgr;.</NOTE><GAP DESC="foreign">.</L></Q></P>
<P>And their watch is &s;o much more to be attended, becau&s;e it is for the defence and &s;afety of that which being lo&s;t, all's lo&s;t, <HI>the &s;oul;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>they watch for your &s;ouls.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, To God likewi&s;e they owe a duty; Watchmen they are, but it is <HI>&s;ub &s;ummo imperatore,</HI> under the Lord of Ho&s;ts, to him mu&s;t they be accountable what pa&s;&s;ed in their watch; if ought were &s;tollen by day, or &s;lip't away by night, of their hands will he require it. Hence it is that at the great day of account two &s;everal pa&s;&s;ions may befall them, Joy and Grief, <GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">, and both depend upon you.</P>
<P N="1">1. If none of you be taken for di&s;orderly per&s;ons in their watch, <HI>Their account will be with joy,</HI> and that is their end and aim; <GAP DESC="foreign">: A comfort it will be to them to &s;ay at that day to their Lord, <HI>Of tho&s;e that thou ha&s;t given me have I not lo&s;t one.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. But if you be found in di&s;&s;olute company, at un&s;ea&s;onable times, quar|relling and rioting, and drinking with the Drunken; if you be taken ever now and then &s;tealing away to the Enemy, then we mu&s;t bring you before our Lord, and th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ugh we do it <GAP DESC="foreign">, yet done it mu&s;t be, and afraid we are, le&s;t at the account-day your blood be laid to our charge, that by our default our Ma&s;ter hath been at lo&s;s.</P>
<P N="3">3. Then what&s;oever become of us, you &s;hall be but in an ill ca&s;e; at lo&s;s we may be, have fewer Rayes in our Crowns, but you will be the greate&s;t lo&s;ers. God will hear our ju&s;t Apology, that we watched out our time, and took the be&s;t way we could to Reform your di&s;orders, but Reformed you would not be: With &s;ighs and groans &s;uch a Bill as this mu&s;t be put up by us, and God when he finds it true, will take revenge on you; <GAP DESC="foreign">, and <HI>&s;uch an ac|count will be altogether unprofitabl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> for you.</HI></P>
<P>The points then of this Text are evident.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, the Suppo&s;ition or Subject, <GAP DESC="foreign">, tho&s;e who are to Rule, tho&s;e who are to Guide.</P>
<PB N="479" REF="245">
<P>Secondly, A Mandate or Precept for O edience, for Submi&s;&s;ion, <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Two things to be done by them.</P>
<P N="1">1. One in this W<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rld, <HI>Vigilare,</HI> to &s;tand upon their watch, and look to &s;uch as God hath entru&s;ted them with.</P>
<P N="2">2. The other in the next, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>to give an account of their charge.</HI></P>
<P>Fourthly, The Rea&s;ons to per&s;wade men to yield to them; and in this place the Apo&s;tle hath twi&s;ted a four-fold Cord to tye men in obedience and &s;ubjection unto Prelates.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Becau&s;e they have <HI>Curam animarum, They watch for &s;ouls.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Becau&s;e they mu&s;t <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>account for &s;ouls.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Becau&s;e it is their de&s;ire to pa&s;s <HI>their account with joy, with joy if you obey.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Becau&s;e it is po&s;&s;ible it may be otherwi&s;e a grievous account upon your di&s;obedience; and if it come to that, <HI>it will be unprofitable for you.</HI> In all the&s;e Re&s;pects <HI>Obedite Praepo&s;itis, Tho&s;e that are over you;</HI> and fir&s;t of them.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">.] A word three times u&s;ed in this <HI>Chapter, Ver&s;e</HI> 7, 17, 24. By the Latine Fathers rendred <HI>Praepo&s;iti;</HI> by <HI>Galenus</HI> out of the Syriack, <HI>Antistites;</HI> by the <HI>Rhemi&s;ts, Prelates;</HI> by our Tran&s;latours, <HI>Tho&s;e that Rule, or Guide.</HI> Neither have I read any Expo&s;itour either Ancient or Mo|dern, who have not under&s;tood it of Church-Governours. Take <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom</HI>'s judgment for all;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Chry&s;o&s;t. in</HI> 2 Cor. <HI>Hom.</HI> 15.</NOTE> <HI>As</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>a Civil Obedience to a Temporal Ma|gistrate is commanded, and due by ver<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ue of omnis anima,</HI> Rom. 13. <HI>So al&s;o is there an Obedience Spiritual enjoyned, and to be performed by the expre&s;s letter of the&s;e words,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. And to &s;ay truth, it cannot be conceived that Saint <HI>Pau<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> intends any other; for it is of tho&s;e he &s;peaks, that <HI>invigilant animis,</HI> have <HI>curam animarum,</HI> and mu&s;t ac|count for them; it is of tho&s;e, <HI>V<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r.</HI> 7. <HI>That have &s;poken to us the Word of God;</HI> neither of which can directly agree to a Civil Power. It &s;hall be then my <HI>po&s;tulatum,</HI> that Saint <HI>Paul</HI>'s <GAP DESC="foreign">, is no other than <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>a Prie&s;t;</HI> not the Civil or Temporal, but the Spiritual Eccle&s;ia<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tical <HI>Guide</HI> &amp; <HI>Ruler.</HI> A <HI>Ru|ler</HI> and a <HI>Guide;</HI> for the word carries it &s;elf indifferently unto both; and becau&s;e both could not be well &s;et in the Text <HI>[to guide]</HI> is by our Tran&s;latours pla|ced in the Margent: And I will con&s;ider this <HI>S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ppo&s;itum</HI> in both Notions; either as <HI>Guides,</HI> or <HI>Rul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rs;</HI> and fir&s;t as <HI>Rulers.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Tho&s;e that Rule over you.]</HI> There cannot then either be an Anarchy or Parity in Gods Church; <HI>Rul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rs</HI> will exclude both.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Church of God is a Society or Corporation made up of as ma|ny Limbs as Chri&s;tians; and can any Society hold out long, when there is none to command in chief? Very nature hath <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">aught Birds, Bea&s;ts, and Bees to &s;et a Ma&s;ter over them; ye<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, and tho&s;e who will not admit our Ma&s;ters, wi l have a Ma&s;ter of their own; whence in the Lords Di&s;cipline as they u&s;e to grace it, executed by their Lin&s;ie Wool&s;ie Ve&s;try-Elders, a Lord they will have, a Super|intendent, Pa&s;tors, Doctors, Elders; and whether the Deacon may &s;et his foo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> upon the holy ground, is not yet agreed on; without Government then they acknowledge they canno<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;tand.</P>
<P N="2">2. And if there be Government, then there mu&s;t be Governours: and where the&s;e, &s;ome to Rule, and &s;ome to be Ruled; for Superiority and Subjection are <GAP DESC="foreign">, one cannot be conceived without the other; no Equality or Parity then; <HI>Praepo&s;iti</HI> will exclude that too, and the avoidance of confu&s;ion will require it; for if there be none to <HI>Rule,</HI> then there can be
<PB N="480" REF="246"> none to <HI>Obey;</HI> if none <HI>Po&s;iti prae,</HI> &s;et above others, then there can be none to be under; and then there will be a mixt multitude confu&s;edly packed toge|ther, without any Order, which God di&s;likes, who is the God of Order; and his Apo&s;tle contradicts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14.40.</NOTE> who gives it out for a Rule, <HI>Let all things be done de|cently, and in order.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.41.</NOTE>In Heaven you &s;hall find <HI>Stars of different magnitudes, and different lu&s;tre, Stella &agrave; Stell&acirc; glori&acirc; differt.</HI> Di&s;parity there is among tho&s;e Lamps; in the Hierarchy of Heaven, <HI>Angels in nature equal, in Office unequal; Angels and Archangels,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.21. Colo&s;. 1.16.</NOTE> <HI>Cherubims and Seraphims, Thrones and Powers, &amp;c.</HI> A &s;weet order and obedience among them; if not <HI>ex praecepto,</HI> yet <HI>ex con&s;i|lio;</HI> &s;ome to command, others to execute: Di&s;parity among tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed &s;pi|rits; nay, Hell it &s;elf cannot admit a Parity; tho&s;e damned Gho&s;ts mu&s;t have their Prince of darkne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ga&s;&s;end. exc. in Fludd. Phi. cap. <HI>16.</HI></NOTE> and he his Angels under him, or el&s;e his Kingdom would come to ruine. Our <HI>Fratres Ro&s;eae Crucis,</HI> as if they had lately raked Hell, tell us of nine Cla&s;&s;es of evil &s;pirits: Di&s;parity there is among Divels.</P>
<P>I come yet nearer: In the &s;tate of innocency, <HI>Man was not only &s;et over all Creatures,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.28.</NOTE> <HI>Dominaberis,</HI> &amp;c. but <HI>over his Wife too;</HI> he even then mu&s;t <HI>Rule,</HI> and &s;he mu&s;t <HI>Obey;</HI> when the World con&s;i&s;ted but of two &s;ingle per&s;ons, a Parity might not be admitted. I need not go farther than our own bodies; <HI>Quam impar &s;ibi,</HI> of what different parts is a man made! the head is plac'd in chief, the eyes keep watch, the hands execute, the feet lacky; that I name not our uncomely parts, nor yet how the <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;hould Rule with|in, and command the <GAP DESC="foreign">. And it hath plea&s;ed the Holy Gho&s;t to make choice of this la&s;t Re&s;emblance of our own bodies, to teach us, that as in the Natural,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.14, 15, 16.</NOTE> &s;o al&s;o in the Eccle&s;ia&s;tical body there mu&s;t be a di&s;parity; <HI>the foot mu&s;t not &s;tep into the place of the hand, nor the ear quarrel with the e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e,</HI> nor all the&s;e mutinie again&s;t the head, but remain in an equal concord, though with unequal dignity.</P>
<P>And thus much is confe&s;&s;'d by our advocates for the ve&s;try, who write over|&s;ea unto us, that it is an E&s;&s;ential and perpetual part of Gods Ordinance for each Presbytery to have a cheif among them. So <HI>Beza.</HI> So a learned man &s;ince,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Beza in re&s;p. ad Tract. de mini&s;t. grad. Pet. Moulin. Epi&s;t. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Con&s;titutum e&s;t, ut in una Urbe, unus inter caeteros Presbyteros Epi&s;copus vocaretur qui in &s;uos collegas haberet praeeminentiam, ad vitandam confu&s;ionem quae ex aequalitate na&s;citur,</HI> which he took out of <HI>Calvinn. cap.</HI> 8. <HI>de fide, p.</HI> 52. Preheminence and priority they are content to grant; the que&s;tion on<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y is about the <HI>Per&s;on,</HI> and the <HI>Power:</HI> For we &s;ay that the&s;e <HI>Praepo&s;iti, who are to Rule,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Calv. loc. cit. &s;ect. <HI>42.</HI></NOTE> mu&s;t be Bi&s;hops; they a <HI>Sanedrim,</HI> or Con&s;i&s;tory of Presbyters, Pa&s;tors and Lay-Elders; the&s;e they would have to be the Subject of Eccle&s;ia&s;ti|cal Power, whereas we confine it to the Clergy. It will not then be ami&s;s to enquire what the&s;e <HI>Praepo&s;iti</HI> were in the primitive Church, and how they Ru<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">'d; for by it we &s;hall vindicate our Church from the &s;landers of <HI>Martini&s;m,</HI> and from the Razors of ignorant Innovators.</P>
<P>Our Saviour in his life-time <HI>had many followers, and out of them he made choice of &s;eventy per&s;ons,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.66. Luke 10.1.</NOTE> <HI>whom he &s;ent with a Commi&s;&s;ion two by two to preach where he was to com<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> The&s;e he added over and above, <HI>becau&s;e the Harve&s;t was great,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 9.37. Matth. 10.2.</NOTE> <HI>and the Labourers few;</HI> having <HI>made his fir&s;t Election of twelve others, who being</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>eye-witne&s;&s;es of his Life, Death, and Re&s;ur|rection,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. de Prae&s;. cap. <HI>20.</HI></NOTE> might be <HI>Legati &agrave; latere,</HI> in&s;tructed with gifts from him, and &s;ent by him to plant and govern the Church. A di&s;tinction and imparity here is a|mong our <HI>Praepo&s;iti,</HI> ordained by our Saviour him&s;elf, &s;ome higher, &s;ome lower;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron. ad Fabiol. de <HI>42.</HI> Man&s;ion.</NOTE> the&s;e by a general name called <HI>Di&s;cipuli,</HI> tho&s;e other honoured with the high name of Apo&s;tles. Suppo&s;e that I now have brought you to <HI>Elim, Exod.</HI> 15. where you meet with twelve Wells of water, and &s;eventy Palme Trees, with who&s;e &s;treams you may be refre&s;hed, under who&s;e &s;hadows you may
<PB N="481" REF="246"> re&s;t &s;afely; or if you had rather, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> twelve <HI>Princes,</HI> and his &s;eventy <HI>El<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ers,</HI> de&s;ign'd to be Rulers of the people. Upon tho&s;e it plea&s;ed God to be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ow a part of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;pirit, that they might bear the burthen with Him; and upon the&s;e our Lord took &s;ome part of his power, and put it upon them, that &s;o they might come <HI>in partem &s;ollicitudinis,</HI> &s;hare with him in his loving labour.</P>
<P>The Di&s;ciples Commi&s;&s;ion was not at any time renew'd or enlarg'd for ough<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> we know, but the Apo&s;tles was, when they receiv'd a new Ordinati|on, <HI>John</HI> 20. Their fir&s;t Commi&s;&s;ion had a limitation in it, nay, a flat pro|h bition, <HI>Matth.</HI> 10.. 5 <HI>Ne eatis in viam gentium,</HI> they mu&s;t then have larger power, and ampler in&s;tructions, before they could be Apo&s;tles:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyril. in Jo. lib. <HI>12.</HI> c. <HI>55.</HI></NOTE> Such they had granted them from their Ma&s;ters own mouth, <HI>&s;icut me mi&s;it Pater, &s;ic mitto vos; he &s;ent to be the great Bi&s;hop of our &s;ouls,</HI> &s;o they &s;ent to be in that place under him; he Bi&s;hop, they Bi&s;hops. This was their mi&s;&s;ion, after that they received their Ordination; he breath'd on them &s;aying, <HI>R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ive the Holy Ghost with a faculty to binde and loo&s;e;</HI> and la&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ly, an am|ple Juri&s;diction, <HI>Euntes docete omnes gentes;</HI> the inhibition was cancell'd,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.19.</NOTE> <HI>Ne eatis iu viam gentium,</HI> quite &s;truck out; the world was their Dioce&s;s, every one of them was now made an Oecumenical Bi&s;hop.</P>
<P>Bi&s;hops I &s;ay they were, even as the other &s;eventy were Presbyters; and I blu&s;h not to call them &s;o, for I know I &s;peak the language of Antiquity. <HI>Clemens</HI> was near the time, and he knew what he &s;aid, <HI>Epi&s;copos vicem A|po&s;tolorum gerere, Dominum doc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Clem. Ep. <HI>1.</HI> ad Corinth.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; reliquorum di&s;e pulorum vicem tenere Presbyteros debere;</HI> and he makes <HI>Peter</HI> the Authour of his words; and <HI>Dama&s;us</HI> affirms the &s;ame, <HI>Epi&s;t.</HI> 5. <HI>&amp; Leo. Ep.</HI> 92. &s;ayes it over again. Did I need a Cloud of Witne&s;&s;es, I could produce a faithful,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><P>Sixt. <HI>1.</HI> Ep. <HI>2.</HI> Cyp. lib. <HI>2.</HI> Ep. <HI>10.</HI></P>
<P>Aug. Euthy Hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ron. in <HI>P&s;a. 44.</HI></P>
<P>Chry&s;. Serm. de anathemate. <HI>Act. 1.20.</HI></P></NOTE> con&s;entient Te&s;timony of O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">thodoxal Fathers, who with one mouth &s;hould affirm, That Bi&s;hops were the Apo&s;tles Succe&s;&s;ours; and a man cannot &s;ucceed in that Office of which his Predece&s;&s;our was not &s;eiz'd. Bi&s;hops then the Apo&s;tles mu&s;t be.</P>
<P>But why do I produce humane Te&s;timony, when the Holy Gho&s;t calls the Office to which they were &s;et apart, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Acts</HI> 1. <HI>Judas</HI> filled the Room, and upon the Vacancy a better man was Elected <GAP DESC="foreign">; &s;o is the Apo&s;tle&s;hip call'd there, as if an Apo&s;tle and a Bi&s;hop, in &s;ome &s;ence, were convertible termes. And by the way I pray ob&s;erve that the E|lected Bi&s;hop <HI>Matthias,</HI> was one of the &s;eventy Di&s;ciples;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eu&s;eb. lib. <HI>1. 12.</HI> &amp; lib. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>1.</HI> Dor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">theus &amp; Epiphan hae. <HI>20&punc;</HI></NOTE> a Presbyter then before; which Order had it been equal with the B &s;hop&s;hip, there had not needed a Lot from heaven to promote him to that place.</P>
<P>And the truth is, that the Dignity and Office of an Apo&s;tle and a Bi&s;hop hath no real and e&s;&s;ential difference. Some per&s;onal preheminences there were <HI>Simul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &amp; in &s;olidum,</HI> &s;o annexed to the Apo&s;tolic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l body, that they might not be communicated to their Succe&s;&s;ours; &s;uch were immediate voca|tion, infallibility of judgement, an ability to &s;peak all tongues, and la&s;tly, a generality of Commi&s;&s;ion; (which la&s;t though <HI>in actu primo,</HI> every Bi&s;hop hath: yet <HI>in actu &s;ecundo,</HI> he hath not, being by a Church-law tyed to a particular Sea) But in the ordinary Epi&s;copal power they were and are the &s;ame, <HI>qu&acirc; rector, qu&acirc; o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dinator,</HI> every Bi&s;hop; even he at <HI>Eugubium,</HI> be|ing the &s;ame with the chief Apo&s;tle.</P>
<P N="2">2. This &s;hall &s;uffice for the <HI>Per&s;on;</HI> I next come unto the <HI>Power;</HI> for <HI>&V;t vocaretur Epi&s;copus, Moul. Ep.</HI> 2. Or &s;uch a one, <HI>Cu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> specialiter da|bant titulum Epi&s;copi, Calv. loc. cit. S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ct.</HI> 52. to whom they gave the Name of <HI>Bi&s;hop</HI> will be granted: Upon <HI>ut &s;it,</HI> is the doubt; and how can there be a better <HI>Con&s;tat</HI> that the Bi&s;hop &s;o call'd, was the &s;ame with ours
<PB N="482" REF="247"> now, than by examining in what manner he was &s;et apart to this Dignity, and how he us'd it. For if it &s;hall appear, that they were in a Solemn man|ner ordained to this Office, as ours are, and that being in the place they did di&s;charge tho&s;e Epi&s;copal Acts which ours do, I know no rea&s;on, why any Innovatour &s;hould make ours only titular and nominal, and not real Bi&s;hops.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, No man takes this Honour upon him, but he who is call'd as was <HI>Aaron,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5.4. Exod. 29.35.</NOTE> by a Solemn Ceremony &s;et apart to God; after his Election, an Ordination he mu&s;t have by a Solemn Impo&s;ition of hands; &s;uch the Old Bi|&s;hops had; the Apo&s;tolical Canon enjoines that <HI>ordinetur &agrave; auobus, aut tribus Epi&s;copis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Can. 1.</NOTE> and the 4. <HI>Can.</HI> of <HI>Nice,</HI> if it may be, that it be done <HI>ab omnibus Epi&s;copis in Provinci&acirc;.</HI> Had the Bi&s;hop receiv'd no more than <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>praeeminentiam,</HI> above other Presbyters, what needed here any new impo&s;ition of hands? In the conferring of other eminent dignities this is not done: Not to an Arch-Deacon, not to an Arch-Prie&s;t, not to an Arch-Bi&s;hop, all which are higher <GAP DESC="foreign">, or &s;teps in their &s;everal Orders. Evident therefore it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">That <GAP DESC="foreign"> was <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Vid. Bil|&s;on. c.</HI> 7. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>pag.</HI> 69. <HI>ad</HI> 72. <HI>Calv. de fide. Sect.</HI> 49. 1 Tim. 4.14.</NOTE> that &s;ince he who was in Orders afore, at the receipt of his Epi&s;copal Function needs a new <GAP DESC="foreign">, or rather <GAP DESC="foreign"> (which better avoids the <HI>Geneva</HI> Critici&s;me) a new impo&s;ition of hands, that with it he receives an Order in which he was not before, and <GAP DESC="foreign">, to performe &s;ome &s;pecial Act, with which before he might not inter|meddle.</P>
<P>Hence it is, as our profound <HI>Andrews</HI> hath well ob&s;erv'd, who&s;e &s;teps in this point I tread in, like little <HI>Julus, Haud pa&s;&s;ibus aequis:</HI> The word <HI>Con&s;ecration</HI> in the Creation of a Bi&s;hop,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Winch. opu&s;. pag. <HI>168.</HI></NOTE> was fetch'd <HI>&egrave; pontificali,</HI> out of a New Mint; the Old Church &s;pake more to the point, when they wrote <HI>Clemens &agrave;</HI> Petro <HI>ordinatus,</HI> Jacobus <HI>Epi&s;copus ordinatus,</HI> Cretae <HI>ordi|natus,</HI> which an&s;wers unto the Greek <GAP DESC="foreign">, which le&s;t any Critique &s;hould Cavil at, is by St. <HI>Peter, Acts</HI> 10.41. us'd for <HI>Ordination, Je|&s;us,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>appear'd not to all the people,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">; and tho&s;e were not elected by holding up of hands.</P>
<P>To collect all, an Ordination they had then, an Ordination we have now; by Bi&s;hops only then, by Bi&s;hops only now; impo&s;ition of hands u&s;ed then, impo&s;ition of hands u&s;ed now; by which there was a power given to execute &s;ome &s;pecial Acts, which now only our Bi&s;hops can execute; and therefore why are not our Prelates in Office and Nature the &s;ame with theirs?</P>
<P>Two peculiars were e&s;pecially re&s;erv'd to them; power to Ordain, and power to Rule; which our Prelates ju&s;tly vindicate as their own.</P>
<P N="1">1. The authority of Ordination was in them. The words of the Grant are plain enough,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 20.21.</NOTE> <HI>Sicut mi&s;it me Pater, &amp;c. You I &s;end, and none but you; you therefore may &s;end others, and none but you;</HI> for he never can confer a power, that hath none in him&s;elf; <HI>de jure</HI> then to give Orders was in them.</P>
<P>And will you &s;ee <HI>de facto</HI> how they made u&s;e of this power? At <HI>Sa|maria</HI> upon the conver&s;ion by <HI>Philip,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 8.14, 15.</NOTE> there wanted a Presbytery; and <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>John,</HI> men that had the Commi&s;&s;ion, were &s;ent from <HI>Hieru&s;alem</HI> to do that which <HI>Philip,</HI> though a Presbyter, and one of the Seventy, could not. Tho&s;e two Bi&s;hops being arriv'd by pra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">er,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dorotheus.</HI> Act. 8.17.</NOTE> and a Solemn Impo&s;ition of hands conferr'd upon them the Holy Gho&s;t; <HI>i. e.</HI> bequeath'd to &s;ome power and authority to be Mini&s;ters in the Church of &s;uch holy things of which the Holy Gho&s;t is Authour. And he who &s;hall con&s;ider how ambitious <HI>Simon Magus</HI> was of this power, may le&s;s doubt of it, <HI>ver.</HI> 19. Compare with this <HI>Act.</HI> 11.19, 22.</P>
<PB N="483" REF="247">
<P>No que&s;tion St. <HI>Paul</HI> upon the conver&s;ion of the <HI>Ephe&s;ian</HI> Church or|dain'd many Presbyters; for it cannot be conceiv'd, that he would leave &s;o great a flock without their Shepherds; and yet had any of the&s;e, or all the&s;e joyntly power of Ordination, what need was there to appoint <HI>Timothy</HI> to be their Bi&s;hop, to &s;eparate him to that Office purpo&s;ely, though not only, to impo&s;e hands? The like may be &s;aid of <HI>Titus</HI> in <HI>Cre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.22.</NOTE> 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 5.</P>
<P>This evidence there is out of Scripture; but in Antiquity a whole Cloud of Witne&s;&s;es, that the Apo&s;tles ordain'd not only Presbyters, but Bi&s;hops in e|very Church. <HI>Cl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mens</HI> at <HI>Rome, Polycarpe</HI> at <HI>Smyrna, Timothy</HI> at <HI>Ephe|&s;us, Titus</HI> at <HI>Crete, James</HI> at <HI>Hieru&s;alem, Mark</HI> at <HI>Alexandria, Euo|dius</HI> and <HI>Ignatius</HI> at <HI>Antioch,</HI> &amp;c. Neither did the Apo&s;tles live only to &s;ee this done, but they did it, they approv'd it. <HI>&V;id. Winch. opu&s;c. pag.</HI> 170. <HI>&amp; E|lien&s;. preface to the Sabbath.</HI></P>
<P>And that you need not doubt but what they did was well done, the Ho|ly Gho&s;t de&s;ign'd, con&s;ecrated, and &s;et apart the&s;e Apo&s;tolique men to this Office. <HI>Po&s;uit vos Spiritus Sanctus Epi&s;copos,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 20.28.</NOTE> are Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> words to the Bi&s;hops of <HI>Miletum;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t. Trent. lib. 7. p. 548.</NOTE> out of which words <HI>Anthony Cro&s;&s;et</HI> at the <HI>Trent</HI> A&s;|&s;embly, aptly collects two things. 1. That Bi&s;hops were <HI>de jure divino;</HI> the Commi&s;&s;ion to execute their Office, was not from men; for &s;o they &s;hould be hirelings only, that mans &s;ervants that &s;et them awork; and &s;o care were taken that he might be &s;atisfied and contented, of any accompt to be made to God, the matter were not great. 2. Next, that the Bi&s;hops at <HI>Miletum</HI> were not of that number which were ordain'd by Chri&s;t, but either by St. <HI>Paul,</HI> or &s;ome other of the Apo&s;tles, and yet the Ordination is attributed to the Holy Gho&s;t; what the prime Ordainers did, that the Holy Gho&s;t approv'd; whom they made Bi&s;hops, he made Bi&s;hops; the Act is Attributed to him, and own'd by him, though executed by the Apo|&s;tles hands.</P>
<P N="2">2. This was the prime power granted to, and re&s;erv'd in the Old Bi|&s;hops; but another power they had, and that was <GAP DESC="foreign">, to Rule the Church.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> The di&s;tinction in <HI>Nazianzen</HI> is obvious of <GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign"> He calls the Prie&s;thood <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Calvi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> need not reject the word <GAP DESC="foreign">. In&s;t. lib. ult. Sec<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. 54.</NOTE> and the people <GAP DESC="foreign"> Should a Bi&s;hop &s;peak &s;o in the&s;e dayes, he would be held for a proud Prelate: Yet <HI>Joan. Euchait.</HI> joyns the King and the Pa|triarch, &s;aying, <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign"> then, and <GAP DESC="foreign"> Subjects they had, over whom they did Rule, but not they alone. For this mu&s;t be granted,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Amb. in.</HI> 1 <HI>ad</HI> Tim. 5. <HI>Hier. in</HI> I&s;a. 3.</NOTE> that the Bi&s;hops in divers Churches had their Colledge of Presbyters who did a&s;&s;i&s;t them&punc; in their Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Government.</P>
<P>The&s;e by <HI>Ignatius</HI> are call'd <GAP DESC="foreign">; by <HI>Hieron. Senatus Eccle&s;iae,</HI> in <HI>Tertul. Seniores,</HI> who <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ad <HI>Tral. Apol.</HI> 39.</NOTE> and by their common Advice and Coun&s;el the Church was governed; and I doubt not but the <HI>Presbyterium</HI> of which S. <HI>Paul</HI> makes mention 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 4.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">4. is to be under|&s;tood of this Sacred Senate.</P>
<P>The Bi&s;hop was the <HI>Praepo&s;itus,</HI> &s;et to Rule by God; the Co-Presbyters cho&s;en by him to that purpo&s;e; what power they had they receiv'd from him, and therefore together with him they might &s;it and determine; but without him, or his authority, they might do nothing. Now this power was either preceptive, or corrective; Rule they might either <HI>praecepto</HI> or <HI>virg&acirc;.</HI> The&s;e by <HI>Clem.</HI> are call'd <GAP DESC="foreign"> by <HI>Cyprian, Magisteria.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, A <HI>precept</HI> or <HI>mandate;</HI> he alone, or el&s;e with them, might &s;end out for what was to be done. <HI>Praecipe haec &amp; doce,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 4.11.</NOTE> <HI>praecipe tanquam Epi&s;|copus docendj &amp; praecipiendj potestatem habens;</HI> but it mu&s;t not be what he
<PB N="484" REF="248"> plea&s;e; <HI>haec</HI> it mu&s;t be, tho&s;e things only which St. <HI>Paul</HI> taught him. To make Rules for obedience, or new Articles of Faith, is more than any Bi|&s;hop can warrant: In the e&s;&s;ential points of Faith there is <HI>una &amp; irrefor|mabilis regula;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tert. de vel. vir|gin. cap. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> nor a virtual, nor a repre&s;entative Head hath any power to command in the&s;e; the <HI>Praecipe</HI> of tho&s;e that Rule, mu&s;t not over-rule in this ca&s;e. The more to blame then tho&s;e <HI>praepo&s;itj,</HI> who have given out a <HI>praeceptum</HI> for twelve Articles more,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Trent</HI> Council.</NOTE> and clap'd them to the body, requi|ring obedience and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to the&s;e, as well as to the unalterable Rule for|merly deliver'd.</P>
<P>But parts there are that are acce&s;&s;ory, or rather appurtenances of Gods Wor&s;hip, and in the&s;e we give power <GAP DESC="foreign">, to our Reverend Pre|lates to enjoyn holy Ceremonies for <HI>Decorum</HI> and edification only, or for the beauty of holine&s;s. Yea, but you will &s;ay, <HI>quo warranto?</HI> whence comes this power for this <HI>praecipe?</HI> &s;hew for this <HI>Haec Dixit Dominus,</HI> and we will obey, we will &s;ubmit. An unju&s;t demand is this, to require that of us, which they them&s;elves are not able to &s;hew for their Magi&s;terial Affirmative and Negative po&s;itions. It may &s;uffice therefore rea&s;onable men, that though in <GAP DESC="foreign">, actually and particularly <HI>dixit Dominus</HI> for ge&s;ture, ha|bit, place, and time, cannot be produced; yet in <GAP DESC="foreign">, or a general po&s;iti|on, a warrant there is for the&s;e; and the general Rule or Principle of Scri|pture in which thus much is virtually and potentially contain'd, is, <HI>Let all be done docently and in order.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14 ult.</NOTE></P>
<P N="1">1. <GAP DESC="foreign">, with that <HI>Decorum,</HI> gravity, and mode&s;ty, that becomes actions of that Nature, and with &s;uch Rites and Ceremonies as may &s;tir up devotion.</P>
<P N="2">2. And then <GAP DESC="foreign">, in &s;uch order, that there be times appointed, and places con&s;ecrated for publick &s;ervice, when and where the Prie&s;t mu&s;t pray and preach, and admini&s;ter the Sacraments, and the people hear with a &s;ilent devotion, pray with him, and reverently approach Gods Table. And for the external guiding of this whole action,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Platform of new-Engl. c. 1.</NOTE> tho&s;e that are to Rule in Gods Church, may and mu&s;t &s;end forth a precept and Command; and in ca&s;e their precept be di&s;obeyed, then they have a <HI>Rod</HI> or <HI>Corr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ctive power</HI> to Reform what is ami&s;s; which by St. <HI>Paul</HI> to <HI>Titus, cap.</HI> 1. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 5. is cal|led <GAP DESC="foreign">, or a &s;etting things to right; <HI>For this cau&s;e left I thee in Creet,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>that thou &s;hould&s;t &s;et in order what are l ft undone or wanting.</HI> Now, a man cannot &s;et things in order that hath no Power, and his Power mu&s;t extend to divers particu|lars.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, He mu&s;t have power to hear Complaints, and &s;uch a Bi&s;hop hath; what el&s;e did <HI>Dic Eccle&s;iae</HI> &s;tand for?<NOTE PLACE="marg">As the Con&s;i|&s;torians urge it.</NOTE> what, &s;hall men go tell a Tale to them that have no eares to hear?</P>
<P>Secondly, Next he mu&s;t have authority to convent offenders, and exa|mine, and determine the cau&s;e; otherwi&s;e it were but in vain to receive pe|titions, and give audience; and &s;uch power had the Angel of the Church of <HI>Ephe&s;us,</HI> who was in a &s;pecial manner entru&s;ted with the Government of that Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.2.</NOTE> and commended for his Tryal of the fal&s;e Apo&s;tles, and fin|ding them <HI>lyars.</HI> Tho&s;e that had the light of Nature only to guide them, have di&s;cern'd this truth; and therefore even they had in matters of Re|ligion their Prie&s;ts for Judges, that I &s;ay nothing of the <HI>Rex Sacrorum,</HI> or <HI>collegium Pontificum,</HI> who in Religious Ceremonies ordered all among the <HI>Romans.</HI> In <HI>Greece</HI> there was over their <HI>Eleu&s;inian</HI> my&s;teries, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">He&s;ych. Ly&s;. in Andoc.</NOTE> or <GAP DESC="foreign">, who&s;e Office was <GAP DESC="foreign"> and if any man were found profane and negligent that way, he the next day after the great Fea&s;t, was to call a Court con&s;i|&s;ting
<PB N="485" REF="248"> perchance of the four <GAP DESC="foreign">, and the ten <GAP DESC="foreign">, who were to act their parts in this Solemnity, and to puni&s;h the Offenders. <HI>Andocides orat.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Pollux. Lib.</HI> 8. <HI>Cap.</HI> 8. <HI>S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ct.</HI> 3. <HI>&amp; Sect.</HI> 26.</P>
<P>Look into the 19th. of the <HI>Acts,</HI> and you &s;hall find &s;ome &s;uch order to be ea&s;ily garhered from the Town-clerks Apology. <HI>If</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>Demetrius and the Craft&s;men had any matter of lay-cognizance again&s;t any man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 19.38.</NOTE> <HI>the Law was open,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, they were with a procon&s;ular power, before whom <HI>they might implead one another:</HI> But if the action lay for other matters, as it here did, about <HI>Diana</HI>'s <GAP DESC="foreign">, Diety and Wor&s;hip, whether &s;he were <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, a plain Church-ca&s;e, then <HI>a lawful A&s;sembly there was, in which the matter was to be decided;</HI> and this <GAP DESC="foreign">, was the Ephe&s;ian Con&s;i&s;tory,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vide Selden. Marm. Arund.</NOTE> who had at that time the honour to be <GAP DESC="foreign">, to be the &s;uperintendent for the whole &s;ervice of this Godde&s;s.</P>
<P>Shall men out of the &s;trength of Rea&s;on hold it nece&s;&s;ary to e&s;tabli&s;h a Court, and appoint Judges to decide all matters incident to the external wor&s;hip of their gods? And &s;hall we then hold &s;uch an order more than needs, or &s;uch Officers &s;uperfluous in Gods Church? But I return from <HI>Ephe&s;us</HI> to <HI>Corinth,</HI> and from their Pontifices to an Apo&s;tle; power this way he had, and re&s;erved to him&s;elf;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5.3, 4.</NOTE> he would not have the Presbyters of <HI>Corinth</HI> proceed again&s;t the in|ce&s;tuous per&s;on, but in his &s;pirit; <HI>i. e.</HI> in his Authority, the matter he had fir&s;t heard, and upon hearing, he had decreed to deliver him to Satan.</P>
<P>Thirdly, For after a Trial and a Sentence, then the puni&s;hment mu&s;t fol|low, in regard of which the other two acts do precede; and this puni&s;h|ment re&s;pects either the whole Flock in General, or el&s;e the Clergy in par|ticular.</P>
<P N="1">1. <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>A Reproof doth well,</HI> 2 Tim. 4.2. But if that may not be heard, then a Bi&s;hop mu&s;t go further, <HI>Take the Rod,</HI> and whip an ob&s;tinate impudent &s;inner out of the Church; this to the whole:<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4. ult.</NOTE> But if the Offendor be a Clergy-man, then the puni&s;hment mu&s;t be proportioned to his offence.</P>
<P N="2">2. If he be <GAP DESC="foreign">, one that did not build Hey and Stubble upon the Foundation, but alter the Ground-work quite,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.3.</NOTE> an ab&s;olute pro|hibition mu&s;t be &s;erved upon him, <GAP DESC="foreign">, charge him that he do it not.</P>
<P N="3">3. If he be <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;uch an one who <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;teps up into a Pulpit, <HI>&amp; magno conanime nugas,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.6.</NOTE> though he quotes <HI>Chapter</HI> and <HI>&V;er&s;e</HI> for every word he &s;ayes, yet he is far wide of the Mark; for 'tis to as much purpo&s;e, as the Divel alledged Scripture, <HI>O Timothy, Thou Man of God,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, be about him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2.16.</NOTE> and put him to a &s;trait.</P>
<P N="4">4. If he be <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>a filthy Dreeamer, that will de|&s;pi&s;e Dominion, and speak evil of dignities,</HI> Jude, ver. 8.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Titus 1.9.</NOTE> A Leader of that company <HI>who &s;eparate them&s;elves,</HI> Ver. 19. <HI>and &s;ubvert whole Fa|milies,</HI> Titus 1.11. Then <GAP DESC="foreign">, it is <HI>Timothies</HI> duty, <HI>an oportet</HI> is laid upon him to put him to &s;ilence. And when neither a fair admonition, nor yet a prohibition, nor an inhibition will &s;erve the turn, then either &s;u&s;pen&s;ion, or deprivation, or degradation, which is an utter depo&s;ition from the Mini&s;te|rial Function cannot be un&s;ea&s;onable.</P>
<P>True it is that the Character of the Prie&s;thood is undelible, and therefore Saint <HI>Paul</HI> advi&s;eth <HI>Timothy, Not to have</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>not to be too light finger'd in impo&s;ing hands upon every head;</HI> for what grace was once conferr'd, could
<PB N="486" REF="249"> not be revok'd: Neverthele&s;s the execution of this power may be &s;top't by him that gave it; &s;o that the Orders being taken away, the degraded per&s;on hath no licen&s;e <HI>in foro exteriori,</HI> to execute his Function: Neither is this cour&s;e &s;o har&s;h as it is conceived; for fir&s;t, Thereby the unity of the Church is be&s;t pre&s;erved, which mu&s;t be preferred before any mans intere&s;t. Secondly, Their offence is greater than it is taken to be; for it amounts to <HI>Nolle obedire;</HI> nay, to teach <HI>Nolle obedire</HI> to the Superiours command in adiaphorous points; upon which there follows a Schi&s;me and Di&s;&s;ention, and a Rent in the Church: Why may not I therefore wi&s;h with Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> and the Prelates put to their helping hands to perfect this wi&s;h, <HI>Utinam ab&s;cindantur, Would they were rent off,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.12.</NOTE> <HI>which do thus rend a&s;under Gods people;</HI> for <HI>Non opus e&s;t Eccle&s;iae eo Mini&s;tro qui par&ecirc;re ne&s;cit.</HI></P>
<P>I have been I confe&s;s too tedious upon this point, but it is no more than needs; for it removes the exceptions, which may be put in to di&s;&s;uade obedi|ence to tho&s;e that now Rule; for they carry the &s;ame names that they did, they are ordained in the &s;ame manner that they were, they a&s;&s;ume to them&s;elves no greater power than tho&s;e Ancient Bi&s;hops had, either in Ordinations of Prie&s;ts or Deacons, or for giving precepts for comeline&s;s, and order in Gods wor&s;hip; or el&s;e in hearing, conventing, &s;entencing, and correcting Offen|ders; and therefore Saint <HI>Paul</HI>'s Mandate for obedience, mu&s;t now be of force as well as when he gave it.</P>
<P>'Tis a &s;aucy &s;peech then of any mutinous <HI>Corah</HI> to come and tell his <HI>Aaron</HI> he takes too much upon him, when he a&s;&s;umes neither other Name or Power than the Scripture warrants, and the practice of the Church confirms; and yet there be who hold it a point of con&s;cience to re&s;i&s;t. By a &s;currile kind of <HI>Martini&s;m</HI> with them our Church is <HI>Babel,</HI> our Prelacy an Antichri&s;tian Cor|poration, and the whole &s;tate of our Clergy unruinated Towers of the City of Confu&s;ion; upon the&s;e &s;peculations they grow contumacious, and &s;eparate, and ca&s;t in our Mothers teeth a Name which it grieves her good &s;ons to hear. And would to God this Rebellion had &s;top't in <HI>Corah</HI> the &s;on of <HI>Levi;</HI> like a gangrene it is farther &s;pread; <HI>Dathan</HI> and <HI>Abiram,</HI> and <HI>On</HI> of the Tribe of <HI>Reuben</HI> are joyned with them; three of the people for one Prie&s;t refu&s;e to come up.</P>
<P>I would advi&s;e &s;uch to hearken to the coun&s;el of old <HI>Clemens, the Apo&s;tle</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>of our Lord fore&s;aw that a contention there would be,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. <HI>1.</HI> ad Co|rinth. p. <HI>57, 58.</HI></NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign"> and therefore <GAP DESC="foreign">, or as Mr. <HI>Young</HI> reads it, <GAP DESC="foreign">, they a&s;&s;igned out the Bi&s;hops, Prie&s;ts and Deacons places<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Mr. <HI>Young</HI> in his Notes upon <HI>Clem.</HI> out of an Author which Ma&s;ter <HI>Petty</HI> brought out of <HI>Greece,</HI> &s;aith, that <HI>Peter</HI> was in <HI>Britany,</HI> that <GAP DESC="foreign">. Di&s;tinctly three orders. <HI>Not. ad pag.</HI> 8. <HI>pag.</HI> 53. Matth. 2.7. I&s;a. 30.21.</NOTE>; yea, and de&s;igned to them Succe&s;&s;ors. Thus it was when <HI>Clemens</HI> wrote, and this is with us now the order for Church-government; never go about now after &s;o long po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion to thru&s;t the&s;e out of their Right, to get you a new Brood of Rulers; for <GAP DESC="foreign"> The Laique is bound to obey, and let tho&s;e Bonds hold him; and &s;o I will &s;hake hands with this point, and come to con&s;ider <GAP DESC="foreign"> in the other Notion as they may be taken for <HI>Guides.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, <HI>Obey tho&s;e that guide you.]</HI> The way to heaven is a hard way, and not ea&s;ily hit; there may be many by-wayes and paths, and cro&s;s-wayes in it, and it may well be mi&s;t; had not a wi&s;e man therefore need to take a <HI>Guide</HI> along with him? And who is &s;o fit to be a <HI>Guide</HI> as the Prie&s;t, who&s;e lips ought to pre&s;erve knowledge? at his mouth thou oughte&s;t to ask the way, who&s;e duty it is to &s;tand in the head of the way, and an&s;wer every Traveller that asks, <HI>Haec e&s;t via, ambulate in e&aacute;:</HI> But before we walk any farther, let us &s;it down and pau&s;e a little, and take notice of a direction or two, very u&s;eful for the <HI>Pa&s;&s;engers and Guides.</HI></P>
<P N="1"><PB N="487" REF="249">1. The Pa&s;&s;engers that would be led, ought to hearken to <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI>'s coun|&s;el, <HI>See that they fall not out by the way;</HI> and e&s;pecially about the way, when they are not to point it out, but tho&s;e that guide them: The way they go in, <HI>is the way of peace; fir&s;t pure, then peac<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">able;</HI> and it behoves them to carry them&s;elves peaceably in it. Rubs and doubts if they found any in the way, &s;o that they lie not in the plain beaten path that every man mu&s;t go, (as God be thanked there lies but few in that; for in the mid'&s;t of all di&s;putes that lies fair enough) they need not turn a&s;ide to enquire about them; about other matters that lie a&s;ide of the way, &s;oberly they may enquire, and fairly di&s;cu&s;s, &s;o that they go not out of the way of peace, and &s;ubmit them&s;elves to tho&s;e that have Authority to be <HI>Guides</HI> in the way.</P>
<P N="2">2. To &s;ubmit I &s;ay, <GAP DESC="foreign">, to tho&s;e who are to <HI>guide</HI> them, which is the &s;econd direction for a Traveller, and very nece&s;&s;ary: A Le&s;&s;on of|ten taught, but &s;oon forgot; for the World is come to that pa&s;s, &s;o old, that it needs no <HI>Guide,</HI> of age it is to go alone; or if any <HI>Guide</HI> at all, one of its own choo&s;ing; not <GAP DESC="foreign">, not that hath <HI>Ducatum,</HI> as <HI>Cyprian</HI> &s;peaks.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 17.9, 10.</NOTE> <HI>Let but a young man a Levite, who goes to &s;o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ourn where he can find a place, hired for ten &s;hekels, meat and cloaths,</HI> (a goodly prize to value a <HI>guide</HI> to heaven at) &s;tart up in an odde corner of the way, and cry, <HI>Lo here is Chri&s;t,</HI> or one of <HI>Jeroboam</HI>'s Prie&s;ts cro&s;s him on the other hand, and &s;ay, No,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.23.</NOTE> he is there, the <HI>Guide</HI> &s;et over them by God is for&s;aken pre&s;ently; after tho&s;e they go.</P>
<P>I can think no le&s;s than that the time of which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> foretold, is come, <HI>That men will not endure &s;ound doctrine, but after their own lu&s;ts &s;hall they heap to them&s;elves Teachers, having itching ears;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>and that they &s;hall turn away their ears from the Truth, and &s;hall be turned to Fables.</HI> An <GAP DESC="foreign"> of our times, when as if men were all ears, they would convert their <HI>Guides</HI> into nothing but Tongues; alwayes they mu&s;t be licking the itch that &s;tirs there, and rub they mu&s;t, and &s;cratch, to allay their curio&s;ity,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> not accord|ing to truth; for from that <HI>avertunt,</HI> they turn away; but preach they mu&s;t <HI>ad &s;ua de&s;ideria,</HI> as the Poet made his playes, <HI>Populo ut placerent quas feci&s;|&s;et Fabulas;</HI> Fables to plea&s;e, not Truths to guide Gods people.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Terentius.</NOTE></P>
<P>And this is the true Rea&s;on that <GAP DESC="foreign">, they heap Preacher upon Preacher, and Lecturer upon Lecturer, and <HI>Guide</HI> upon <HI>Guide:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.3.</NOTE> 'Tis not to be &s;atisfied of the way, but to oppo&s;e and thwar't tho&s;e that &s;hould keep them in the way; to pull back, and re&s;i&s;t, rather than to yield and follow; the <HI>Guides</HI> appointed by God will not &s;erve the turn: And why not the&s;e I pray as well as the other? what infallibility of judgment is there in a private Prie&s;t more than in a Bi&s;hop? Or which way went the Spirit of God from the <HI>Guide,</HI> to &s;peak to him that mu&s;t be guided? (for the be&s;t of them all who holds him|&s;elf to be <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;ome goodly Ma&s;ter in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and is con&s;ulted with as the only <HI>Guide,</HI> is under yet, and ought to be guided.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 8.10.</NOTE>) They then take too much upon them, and the people attribute too much to them, when they en|quire of them only, and neglect <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Aaron,</HI> that under God, is to lead and guide his people.</P>
<P>And the&s;e two Directions &s;hall &s;erve for the Pa&s;&s;engers.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That they behave them&s;elves quietly in the way.</P>
<P>Secondly, That they &s;et not over them their own <HI>Guides,</HI> but content them&s;elves with &s;uch <HI>quos praepo&s;uit D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">us.</HI></P>
<P>Now for the <GAP DESC="foreign">; tho&s;e who are to be guides, a Rule or two will not do ami&s;s.</P>
<P N="1">1. That he be well acquainted with the way; for he is never like to lead aright, th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t knows not which way to go; 'tis not for a blind man to take up|on him to lead the dark; for <HI>&s;i coecus, coecum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 15.14.</NOTE> ea&s;ie it is to know where to find
<PB N="488" REF="250"> both. Ignorance in a Traveller may be borne with, but in a Guide it is unexcu&s;eable, whence Saint <HI>Paul</HI> advi&s;eth <HI>Timothy to be attentive to rea|ding;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 4.13.</NOTE> <HI>d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cat prius q<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">od alios doceat,</HI> that he learn before he teach; and continual reading was the w y to make him skilful about the way. And if <HI>Timo|thy,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.15.</NOTE> <HI>that had l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">arn'd t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e way from his youth,</HI> was yet to learn; then certainly other Guides far inferiour to <HI>Timo hy,</HI> mu&s;t ply thei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Book better, and read more: by this means they come to know the way: But to know it is to little purpo&s;e, except he will be <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Guide al<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o in it; and a better way there cannot be to guide aright, than to lead he way in words and works. Saint <HI>P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ul</HI> re|quires in a Guide both; <HI>Be thou an example of the Believers,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>in Word and Conver&s;ati<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 4.12.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. Go before in Word; the Word of God mu&s;t be a Guide to him, other|wi&s;e he never will be a good Guide to them; he mu&s;t be &s;ure that what he de|live<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s, be &s;ound and &s;olid meat, pure and &s;incere truth, not &s;erous and watery &s;tuffe, in wh ch there is no &s;pirit. The Apo&s;tle requires in a good Guide <HI>abi|lity to divide the Word f God</HI> &s;o ri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ht,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 1.15.</NOTE> that every one have his portion; <HI>that the Bab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s have their milk,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.2.</NOTE> <HI>the &s;trong m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">olid meat;</HI> that it be <HI>Lucerna pedibus, a Lanthorn to the wandring foot, and a light to the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lind m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ns eye:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.105.</NOTE> So it &s;hould be, and &s;o a good Guide will u&s;e it. But there be that tur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> it to another u&s;e; from <HI>Rome</HI> we hear of <GAP DESC="foreign">, at home <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Oratores Novi, Stulti Adole&s;centl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> everywhere <GAP DESC="foreign">, that make it their practice to &s;educe: Tho&s;e fal&s;e Guides, if they make the Word any thing be&s;ides a No&s;e of wax, make a dark Lanthorn of it; the&s;e new and vain Guides while they labour among the people <HI>to divide the W<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rd,</HI> make the Word a means to divide the people; all three of <GAP DESC="foreign">, become <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign"> Of <HI>D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ctores, Seductores;</HI> they neither walk aright them|&s;elves, nor any man that w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lks after them; whereas he who hath a care to be a true Leader of Gods people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.17.</NOTE> <HI>mu&s;t labour in the Word and Doctrine;</HI> &s;et his feet by that rule, <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Gal.</HI> 2.14. Fetch his Notes and Ob&s;ervations thence, and not b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing them thither; what he fancies mu&s;t not be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he way, but what God the chief Guide hath taught him; for then he &s;hall be &s;ure to go before his people in truth.</P>
<P N="3">3. But to go before Gods people <GAP DESC="foreign">, is not enough; a Guide mu&s;t adde <GAP DESC="foreign">, his Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ver&s;ati<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n; and good example to; for otherwi&s;e he does but bid others go, he is no Guide, <GAP DESC="foreign">, he leads not. The coun|&s;el <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hen which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> gave at <HI>Mil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tum,</HI> cannot be ill taken, <HI>&amp; Tibi &amp; Gregi;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20.28.</NOTE> <HI>Take h ed to yo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r own feet fir&s;t, an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> to the &s;teps of your Flock af|ter;</HI> for I cannot be per&s;waded that he will have a con&s;cionable care to lead his Flock without Errour, that never c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">res how often, how fouly, how fat he &s;teps out of the way him&s;elf. It was ob&s;erved by <HI>Tertull<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">an, Tum denique auditur Philo&s;ophus cum videtur;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">De Pallio. cap. ult.</NOTE> not &s;o much the po&s;ition, as the di&s;po&s;ition of the Preacher is hearkned to, the life being the &s;tronge&s;t leading Rea&s;on. Your words and doctrine will prevail with the judicious only, and <HI>they are like a Ber<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y or two in the top of an Ol<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ve;</HI> but your <GAP DESC="foreign"> or <GAP DESC="foreign">, Phil. 3. will draw the many after you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 17.6.</NOTE> <HI>Confe&s;&s;or Papa, Confe&s;&s;or Populus;</HI> and there|fore you that are Guides,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyprian.</NOTE> lo k you tread not awry; for the lea&s;t dev<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ation in a Guide, is like the Errour in a principle, <HI>Mille &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">quuntur;</HI> the ab&s;urdity is &s;carce vi&s;ible at fir&s;t, but after it appears &s;o va&s;t, that no Art can cure it. Be|hold <HI>thou art confident that thou art</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>a light to them that are in darkne&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.19, 20.</NOTE> <HI>an in<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ructer of the fool &s;h, a teacher of babes;</HI> glorious titles, and &s;pecious prerogat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ves; <HI>well now, thou that teache&s;t another,</HI> &amp;c. I forbear the re&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eu&s;eb. Hi&s;t. lib. <HI>6&punc;</HI> cap. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> de&s;iring to conceal it for very &s;hame: Pray yet I will, that <HI>Origens Encomium</HI> may be your Crown of Glory, who as he lived, &s;o he taught;
<PB N="489" REF="250"> and as he taught, &s;o he liv'd;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem. lib. 7. Cap. 30.</NOTE> for we know as the Clergy of <HI>Antioch</HI> wrote to <HI>Rome,</HI> that the whole Order of Prie&s;thood ought to be a pattern of good works unto the common people, that &s;o they might <HI>de occur&s;u &s;uo vitia &s;uf|fundere,</HI> as that <HI>African</HI> Ma&s;ter &s;peaks, their very life might put &s;in out of countenance. Now could we find the&s;e duties performed by the Guides,<NOTE PLACE="marg">De pallio cap. ult.</NOTE> it were no hard matter to per&s;wade men to <HI>obedience</HI> and <HI>&s;ubmi&s;&s;ion,</HI> which are the two duties the Apo&s;tle calls for.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">.] I never yet could encline to think there were Tau|tologies in Scripture; the Spirit by which tho&s;e Sacred Oracles were in&s;pi|red, was too wi&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, to &s;peak &s;uperfluou&s;ly; hence it is that I di|&s;tingui&s;h the&s;e duties, and make them two, obedience, and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, in re&s;pect of the objects to which they are referr'd. If tho&s;e that are to Rule, give out precepts and directions for the policy of the Church, or the <HI>Deco|rum,</HI> or Order of Divine &s;ervice, <HI>obedite</HI> then; in this ca&s;e obedience is due. And if they do either <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, then yield to them; here &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion is nece&s;|&s;ary; in a word, obedience active or pa&s;&s;ive, is there due.</P>
<P N="1">1. But fir&s;t <HI>Obedite,</HI> be obedient to their commands; for if you yield that, you &s;hall not need to &s;ubmit to their Cen&s;ures. That &s;everity takes no place, but upon &s;uppo&s;al of your &s;tubborn di&s;obedience: Neither do the Act only, but do it from the heart, willingly do it; the very word of the Apo&s;tle will enforce that; it is not <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, the ordinary words for obedience, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, a choice word, and full weight, be per|&s;waded men to obey; not by a nece&s;&s;ary compul&s;ion, but out of a voluntary &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion; let Rea&s;on and Religion per&s;wade you to it, not the Rod, not the power, not the fear of the Superiour. God loves not that any duty be drawn from us as <HI>&V;erjuice</HI> from a <HI>Crab;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.5.</NOTE> with much pounding and &s;quee|zing. <HI>Non propter iram,</HI> &s;aith he; <HI>ira</HI> is the &s;ervants and hirelings Argu|ment. In the con&s;cience God &s;its as Judge, and con&s;iders what is done, and with what heart it is done; whether <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ad oculum,</HI> or <HI>ex corde;</HI> and if it come freely and chearfully from us, then he is pleas'd with it, and he will reward it; but if otherwi&s;e, it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, away with it, it &s;tinks in his no|&s;trils.</P>
<P>And I pray con&s;ider how nece&s;&s;ary it is, that it be <GAP DESC="foreign">, when to be per|form'd to Prelates. Withdraw your &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to your Soveraign, or any of his Sub&s;titutes, and &s;ome Law or penal Statute &s;hall bring you to it again; either lo&s;s of Liberty, Limb, or Life, or E&s;tate, &amp;c. will force you to &s;ub|mit. But with the Prelacy it is not &s;o; Co-active power they have none, they claim none; compul&s;ion they can u&s;e none; their authority is not <HI>re|galis,</HI> but <HI>pur&egrave; Mini&s;terialis;</HI> per&s;wade they mu&s;t, and exhort they may; and chide they ought, and u&s;e the Church Rod, when any thing is ami&s;s. <HI>In foro coeli,</HI> they can go no further. <HI>In foro &s;oli,</HI> what you are forc'd more than this to endure, is done by vertue of the Civil Sword, put into their hands by the indulgence and favor of the Prince.</P>
<P>Now when the Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Arme will not reach home, if they make u&s;e of the &s;ecular, and give a blow with that, as afore with the other, yet you are bound to &s;uffer and &s;ubmit to both. To the &s;ecular, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y vertue of <HI>om|nis anima,</HI> now put into their hands; to the &s;piritual, by the Apo&s;tles <GAP DESC="foreign"> here, to yield to their Rod, as well as their words;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.1.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign"> requires this la&s;t, <GAP DESC="foreign"> exacts the fir&s;t. To &s;ubmit, is within the Apo&s;tolical charge al&s;o.</P>
<P N="2">2. <GAP DESC="foreign">.] <HI>Subjacete, vulg. lat.</HI> Even put your hands under their feet to do them good; <HI>Concedite, Era&s;m.</HI> give way to their C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">&s;ures; if they require your helping hand, <HI>Ne detrahite,</HI> pull it not a&s;ide. <HI>Oecum.
<PB N="490" REF="251"> &amp; Theophil.</HI> require the mo&s;t exact obedience that can be expected by ver|tue of this word, for it &s;ignifies <HI>cedere, locum dare, &s;e &s;ubmittere, &amp; ob&s;e|quentem praebere.</HI></P>
<P>The Ma&s;ter, (who&s;e &s;eal we have &s;et upon our foreheads, and who&s;e Name I hope is in our hearts) appears before an unju&s;t Judge, was accus'd maliciou&s;ly, condemn'd unju&s;tly, crucified mo&s;t ignominiou&s;ly; and yet, what one ill word fell from his mouth? He revil'd not, but pray'd; <HI>pray'd for them that de&s;pitefully u&s;ed him;</HI> and in a mo&s;t pathetical manner, at the very la&s;t ga&s;pe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.34.</NOTE> <HI>Pater igno&s;ce.</HI> His &s;ervant Saint <HI>Paul</HI> being conven|ted, &s;ayes in his ha&s;te, <HI>Paries dealbate;</HI> but how &s;uddenly, how coolely doth he recant?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 23 3.</NOTE> <HI>Brethren, believe me,</HI> Non novi, <HI>I knew it not that he was the High Prie&s;t; for this,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>ought not to be done;</HI> flat Scripture there is again&s;t it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 22.27.</NOTE> <HI>Non maledices, Thou &s;halt not speak <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">vil of the Ruler of thy p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ople.</HI> Both good examples to be well weighed by our furious &s;pirits; for both the&s;e did nothing ami&s;s, and yet were content to &s;uffer under mal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ci|ous, hypocritical Prelates: Whereas the&s;e men re&s;i&s;t and do harm, and &s;uf|fer too too &s;eldom under a ju&s;t Judge, and yet yield not. <HI>Michael the Arch-Angel</HI> who &s;trove <HI>with the Devil about</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>body,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude Epi&s;t. 9.</NOTE> &s;hall ri&s;e up in Judgement again&s;t them, and condemn them; for he dur&s;t not <HI>b ing any rayling accu&s;ation against him,</HI> no not again&s;t the Devil, that unclean &s;pi|rit: The &s;harpe&s;t word he &s;pake, was, <HI>The Lord rebuke thee;</HI> he refer|red the matter to God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, and to his Tribunal; <GAP DESC="foreign"> becau&s;e he could not repay the whole, he remitted the whole Vengeance.</P>
<P>But the&s;e men do ill, and yet will not &s;ubmit to &s;uffer for it; and are highly guilty of the gain&s;aying of <HI>Corah,</HI> and yet for all that, <HI>are murmu|r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rs and complainers,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude Ep. 16.</NOTE> <HI>walking in the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r own lu&s;ts, and their mouths speak proud &s;w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lling words, having mens per&s;ons in admiration, becau&s;e of ad|vantage:</HI> The Apo&s;tles direction then would be laid to heart by &s;uch, that &s;ince they cannot frame them&s;elves to obey, they would be content <GAP DESC="foreign">, to yield, and &s;ubmit, and frame them&s;elves to undergo that puni&s;h|ment which is due to <HI>gain&s;ayers.</HI> This were the way, could they ju&s;tifie their cau&s;e, to come in the L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t of Martyrs; whereas by their out-cries, and murmurs, their libels, and opprobious words (let their cau&s;e be what it will) they come in the compa&s;s of Revilers, and mu&s;t lo&s;e the Crown of Patience.</P>
<P>Would to God the Authours of the&s;e &s;candalous Pamphlets and Rebel|lious di&s;traction, in the Church, would lay to heart our Saviours words, <HI>&V;ae <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lli per quem &s;candala fiunt:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 18.7.</NOTE> Zeale they would &s;eem to have, and fired it is, but not about that which concer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es their &s;alvation; they are <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.15.</NOTE> too bu&s;ie in the B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;hops Dioce&s;s, where they have not to do; and hence proceed <HI>tongues that a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e &s;et on fire by hell.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 3.6.</NOTE> Before they vent &s;uch &s;curri|lous and &s;candalous Books,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 18.6.</NOTE> they &s;hould do well to weigh <HI>Molam a&s;inariam, the weight of the Mill-&s;tone that were better about the neck than the offence given to Chri&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s little ones.</HI></P>
<P>For this their &s;currility and &s;eparation hath given occa&s;ion to many a wanton Wit, to turn things &s;erious into mockery; and by their hot pur&s;uit of le&s;&s;er Controver&s;ies, to contradict the chiefe&s;t and &s;ettled principles of Religion,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Clem. rom.</HI> 1. <HI>Ep. ad. Corinth. p.</HI> 61. 2 Tim. 4.16.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, to u&s;e <HI>Clemens</HI> words. <HI>God grant that this &s;in be not laid to their charge;</HI> and that it appear not upon the Bill, that the&s;e men who would appear &s;o little in the eyes of the World, would fain be <GAP DESC="foreign"> and that becau&s;e they are in de&s;pair of a Rulers place, therefore they have taught others to di&s;obey, and not to &s;ubmit to Rulers.</P>
<PB N="491" REF="251">
<P>But, they will &s;ay, Is there not a cau&s;e? Pretences they have, and &s;peci|ous Arguments, why they may be <HI>back-&s;liding heifers.</HI> Were the Yoke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 4.16.</NOTE> &s;ay they, of Gods making, then God forbid that we &s;hould &s;trive again&s;t God; the words of many are &s;teep'd in &s;uch <HI>&s;mooth oyle.</HI> But when man in Gods &s;tead will be a Yoke-maker, then he is liable to many exceptions;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 55.21. Act. 15.10.</NOTE> ei|ther his Yoke is too heavy; <HI>nec nos nec patres;</HI> or el&s;e it is too &s;trait; it wrings too much, or el&s;e it is &s;uperfluous, more than needs; it may be laid by, or el&s;e tho&s;e that Rule have no power to put it on. So unwillingly do men obey, and &s;ubmit to their Superiors. To &s;peak a little more plainly, exceptions they have again&s;t&punc; 1. The per&s;on of the Prelate. 2. Again&s;t their injunctions. 3. Again&s;t the manner of impo&s;ition of them. Fir&s;t, &s;ay they, the&s;e Prelates are wicked men. Secondly, Then their injunctions are the Doctrines of men. Thirdly, And yet are impos'd upon nece&s;&s;ity, and to bind the Con&s;cience; and therefore in the&s;e ca&s;es we need neither obey nor &s;ubmit.</P>
<P N="1">1. It is a Note from <HI>Geneva</HI> upon this Text, <HI>Jubet Apo&s;tolus piorum Epi&s;coporum doctrinam obedienter amplecti.</HI> But who taught any man to adde <HI>p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">j</HI> to <HI>Epi&s;copi?</HI> I am &s;ure there is no &s;uch word in the Original. Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaks indefinitely, <HI>obedite praepo&s;itis, good or bad;</HI> and for any man to tie obedience to <HI>piis,</HI> is more than can be warranted. True it is, that the Ho|ly Gho&s;t de&s;cribes here the Office of good Bi&s;hops, that <HI>they &s;hould watch o|ver mens &s;ouls;</HI> that they &s;hould alwayes be ca&s;ting up their Reckonings, and think what accompt they &s;hould make: But he &s;aith not that if they &s;leep when others watch, or be carele&s;s of their <HI>Audit,</HI> that then pre&s;ent|ly every Rebellious <HI>Dathan,</HI> or <HI>Abiram,</HI> &s;hall &s;tep up and &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 16.12, 3.</NOTE> <HI>We will not come up;</HI> or factiou&s;ly revolt, and &s;ay, <HI>What portion have we in</HI> Aa|ron, <HI>or what to do with the Son of</HI> Levi? By this Rule a Servant need not obey a froward Ma&s;ter, nor a Childe a naughty Father; which is contrary to St. <HI>Pauls</HI> Order, and St. <HI>P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ters</HI> too, 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.3. <HI>Servants,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 6.5. Col. 3.22.</NOTE> <HI>be &s;ubject to your Ma&s;ters;</HI> not only to the good, and gentle, but al&s;o to the fro|ward; <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>pravis, moro&s;is,</HI> Ma&s;ters of as an untoward nature as may be.</P>
<P>Let <HI>praepo&s;iti</HI> therefore &s;tand alone, as St. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;et them; <HI>Pii</HI> is more than needs; <HI>vitio&s;a e&s;t glo&s;&s;a &amp; corrumpit textum;</HI> not that the command of a good Prelate is not to be obeyed, but not &s;o, as if his only, and none but his. For to tye obedience to his manners only, is more than ever the Apo&s;tle meant, or our Saviour either, who commanded thus much to tho&s;e <HI>hypocrites which &s;ate in</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>chaire.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.2.</NOTE> It was not our Saviours purpo&s;e in that place, to command the people to obey the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> in all points of Doctrine, or to teach that they could not erre <HI>&egrave; cathedr&acirc;,</HI> but that they &s;hould not, for the evil life of tho&s;e Hypocrites, be offended at that which they might teach well: In <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Chaire they were, and that was enough for <HI>obedite.</HI></P>
<P>Every Prelate were in an ill ca&s;e, if this exception were of force again&s;t him. Take the words in the literal &s;ence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wickliffe.</NOTE> <HI>Praelatus in mortali peccato de&s;i|nit e&s;&s;e Praelatus,</HI> and farewel all obedience. The good man that fir&s;t &s;pake them, meant them not, as they were interpreted at <HI>Con&s;tance.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rivet. in Ho&s;. c. <HI>2.</HI> pag. <HI>61.</HI></NOTE> His mea|ning only was, that a Prelate was no Prelate, that is, he had no power to be a Prelate, or command any mortal &s;inne; or if he did, he was not to be obey'd; not that any man who was under him, upon his Commi&s;&s;ion of any mortal &s;inne, may lawfully withdraw his obedience. For if this were true, what &s;onne of <HI>Belial,</HI> that were di&s;pos'd to draw his &s;houlder from the bur|den, or his neck from the Yoke, would not &s;tep up and cry, <HI>Thou painted Wall, D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">us te percutiet,</HI> and &s;o &s;lide back. The fir&s;t exception then to the
<PB N="492" REF="252"> Per&s;on of the Prelate, is very ill taken.</P>
<P N="2">2. And the next is of no more force, <HI>viz. That their injunctions and Doctrines are from men; meerely humane Traditions, and con&s;titutions; and therefore cannot binde tho&s;e men who mean to wor&s;hip God in Spirit, and in Truth.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 4.24.</NOTE></P>
<P>For fir&s;t, it is an errour in them to call the&s;e injunctions meerely hu|mane con&s;titutions; for how&s;oever, they are not fram'd by an immediate in&s;piration from heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">New <HI>Englands</HI> platform. c. 1.</NOTE> as are tho&s;e precepts found written in the Law and Go&s;pel, yet grounds they have out of the Scripture which make them Di|vine and Venerable. Tho&s;e that make them, are Authoriz'd thereto; &s;uch <HI>quos praep &s;uit Spiritus Sanctus,</HI> Act. 20. In the framing of them they fol|low tho&s;e Rules which the Apo&s;tle requires, <HI>Rom.</HI> 14.19. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14.26, 40. Being made, there is nothing in the general Laws of Nature, or any po&s;itive Law of Scripture to contradict them;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Thom.</HI> 1. 2. <HI>q.</HI> 95. <HI>Art.</HI> 3.</NOTE> and the end for which they are made, is not to adde to the Rule of Faith, or to ca&s;t a new frame of obedience; but only that the Church be well govern'd, and God decently and reverently &s;er|ved; and therefore whether you look upon the Authours giving out the&s;e Laws, or the end for which, or the Rules by which they are made, they can|not well be call'd <HI>Humane Con&s;titutions;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Can. in 1 Cor. 14.40.</NOTE> and this <HI>Calvin</HI> acknowledgeth, <HI>&V;nde colligere promptum e&s;t has po&s;teriores [leges Eccle&s;ia&s;ticas] non e&s;&s;e ha|bendas pro humanis traditionibus, quandoquidem fundatae &s;unt in generali lege Om|nia decenter &amp; in ordine.</HI></P>
<P>It will not be &s;ufficient then to &s;eparate, and cry out <HI>Super&s;tition, Will-wor&s;hip,</HI> or <HI>Doctrine</HI> of men. The Ancient Chri&s;tians did not &s;o, who were obedient, and did &s;ubmit to tho&s;e Con&s;titutions of their Prelates; a Li&s;t whereof we find in <HI>Tertul. cap.</HI> 3. <HI>de coron. militis;</HI> and for which they had no other ground than Tradition and the <HI>Mandate</HI> of Superiours: For till &s;uch time that they prove the&s;e precepts to come within the compa&s;s of <GAP DESC="foreign">, and make them meerly humane additions, this very Text will bind them to obedience, and a comformable ob&s;ervation of them.</P>
<P N="3"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Praefuerunt Ti|motheus &amp; Titus tantum ut bonis &amp; &s;alutaribus con&s;iliis populo p aeirent. <HI>Calv. de fide. c. 8. Sect. 49.</HI> Hook. praef. pag. <HI>7, 8.</HI></NOTE>3. Yea, but &s;ay &s;ome of that &s;ide, &s;o long as &s;o much is done by <HI>coun|&s;el</HI> only, we are content to obey. The&s;e injunctions are not grievous, &s;o long as they leave what they enjoyn, <HI>adiaphorous.</HI> But if you command the ob&s;ervation of any Rite or Ceremony under this peremptory form of <HI>Hoc fac,</HI> then we mu&s;t re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u&s;e. For then our <HI>praepo&s;iti</HI> &s;et a bar upon our Chri&s;tian liberty, and bind the con&s;cience by a bond of nece&s;&s;ary obedience, which no hu|mane Con&s;titution can do.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, It behoves him that &s;hoots a bolt, to take heed that it be not return'd in his own face. For how comes it to pa&s;s that the Humane Con&s;titutions of our Church, as they call them, do more debar their Chri&s;tian liberty, than tho&s;e of their own? Why mu&s;t theirs be nece&s;&s;ary, and ours left loo&s;e and at Randome? <HI>Sana con&s;ilia,</HI> good coun&s;el only, and for every man to em|brace or ca&s;t off at his plea&s;ure. Is it, that there is more authority to prove theirs than ours? I &s;uppo&s;e that when all's done, <HI>Omnia decenter, &amp; in ordine,</HI> mu&s;t bear the burden of both &s;ides.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e that have wre&s;ted the Scripture that way, could never yet finde what they aim'd to collect from thence, farther than by poor and marve|lous &s;light conjectures. The Father of the Con&s;i&s;tory could never conclude in <GAP DESC="foreign">, in every particular circum&s;tance from Scripture what he de&s;ired; po|tentially he confe&s;&s;eth the Platforme he drew, might be there contain'd, but actually he knew it was not. And therefore all he de&s;ired of the <HI>Helvetian</HI> Churches, was no more than a Declaration that his Di&s;cipline was con&s;o|nant unto the Word of God, without any qualifications, cautions, ifs, or ands. And their an&s;wer was as mode&s;t, that it was a Godly Ordinance
<PB N="493" REF="252"> drawing toward the pre&s;cript of Gods Word; that it was there contained, nor he de&s;ired, nor they determined.</P>
<P>Was it not &s;trange then that he at his fir&s;t admi&s;&s;ion &s;hould bind the whole City with a Solemn Oath to live in obedience to &s;uch Solemn and Eccle&s;ia&s;ti|cal Con&s;titutions as the Con&s;i&s;tory &s;hould ordain;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem. pag. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> and a &s;econd time after his Revocation from Bani&s;hment renew this Oath again?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem. pag. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> We are accu&s;ed to lay a &s;nare upon mens con&s;ciences, and to confine into narrow bounds Chri&s;tian li|berty, when we &s;ay that the&s;e Rites and Ceremonies are to be ob&s;erved in Gods Wor&s;hip, and &s;ettle &s;uch a Form of Ari&s;tocracy in the Church, which may be ea&s;ily proved by the perpetual practice of the Church in all Ages, enjoyning in|feriours to obey the Con&s;titutions of tho&s;e whom God hath &s;et over them; and yet he which laid his burden upon their necks with the &s;tricte&s;t Bond that man can be bound in, with the Bond of a double Oath, was never yet impeached for incroaching upon Chri&s;tian liberty; it &s;eems he might do what we may not, and yet with the per&s;on the ca&s;e is quite and clean altered.</P>
<P N="2">2. But the truth is, nor we, nor he can violate any mans Chri&s;tian liberty, nor take from that liberty with which <HI>Chri&s;t hath made us free,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.2.</NOTE> a place by that &s;ide pre&s;&s;ed very much to this purpo&s;e; but will it thence follow, that we may not be commanded to obey an Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Con&s;titution con&s;o|nant to Gods Word? Or if we be commanded, that then our Chri&s;tian-liberty is trampled upon?</P>
<P>Never any &s;ound Expo&s;itour that wrote upon that Text yet thought &s;o; the liberty of which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> there &s;peaks, was from the ob&s;ervation of the Mo|&s;aical Law, out of a Jewi&s;h opinion of Ju&s;tification to ari&s;e from thence: Tho&s;e Ceremonies then by Chri&s;t antiquated, were not to be pre&s;&s;ed upon any mans con&s;cience, as ob&s;ervations nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation; for in that &s;en&s;e they were <HI>mortiferae;</HI> Circumci&s;ion, or any other Rite u&s;ed to that end, made a man a Debtor to the whole Law, and evacuated the vertue of Chri&s;ts blood. Should any Jewi&s;h Pro&s;elyte urge the Ob&s;ervation of a Mo&s;aical Rite unto that end, here a new Convert might plead his Chri&s;tian liberty, &s;tand upon it; and he that &s;hould go about to bow his neck to <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> yoke, was to be accounted an ene|my to his freedom which he had in Chri&s;t. Now what makes all this to withdraw obedience from Church-con&s;titutions, in things indifferent in their own nature, impo&s;ed by a lawful Authority? Men mu&s;t not be forced to ob&s;erve <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Law, therefore not the precepts of tho&s;e that Rule; that is again&s;t Chri&s;tian liber|ty, therefore this, <HI>Arena &s;ine Calce.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Seneca.</NOTE> Did ever any pre&s;s the&s;e as a nece&s;&s;ary means of Ju&s;tification, or a way to purge and aboli&s;h &s;in? Cannot a man be a partaker of that liberty which he hath in Chri&s;t, which is a freedom from the Cur&s;e of the Law, and the Dominion of Sin, and yet ob&s;erve Church-con&s;ti|tutions! It behoves tho&s;e men who with &s;uch zeal pre&s;s the Commandment, <HI>Thou &s;halt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain,</HI> to take heed, le&s;t by putting fal&s;e glo&s;&s;es upon Gods Word, they be not guilty in a high manner of the breach of this precept.</P>
<P>Yea, but &s;ay &s;ome of them, let the&s;e things remain as they are in their own nature, indifferent things, left to every mans judgment to ob&s;erve, or not to ob|&s;erve, and not to be made nece&s;&s;ary; and we will &s;ubmit; marry when they are impo&s;ed upon us with the opinion of nece&s;&s;ity, a burden they prove, and tye the con&s;cience (which is free from every Bond, except it be impo|&s;ed by Gods Law) to a nece&s;&s;ary obedience of the Traditions of men.</P>
<P><HI>Grave crimen Caje Cae&s;ar,</HI> and &s;uch as in their &s;en&s;e cannot be ju&s;tified a|gain&s;t us; Say we &s;hould call the&s;e injunctions &s;ometimes <HI>nece&s;&s;ary and a bur|den,</HI> yet we had good warrant &s;o to do;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 15.28.</NOTE> Caft your eyes upon that Apo&s;to<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ical Decree which Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom</HI> call'd a Lordly Charge&punc; and you &s;hall find it
<PB N="494" REF="253"> about &s;uch things as are in controver&s;ie betwixt us, meer indifferent things, &s;uch as were alterable, and are altered (except you will hold that it is now unlawful for Chri&s;tians to eat any blood, or what is &s;trangled) and yet in this very Decree, we meet with both terms nece&s;&s;ary, and a burden: It &s;eemed good to the Holy Gho&s;t and us, to lay no more burden upon you, than the&s;e nece&s;&s;ary things.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vid. Zanchi. Exp. Mandati 2. The&s;. &s;ecunda.</NOTE> Did we then follow the Apo&s;tles letter, we might call the&s;e indifferent con&s;titutions nece&s;&s;ary, which yet we do di&s;claim, and &s;ay plainly, The&s;e Cere|monies are retain'd for Di&s;cipline and Order, which upon ju&s;t occa&s;ions may be altered and changed, and are not to be e&s;teemed equal with Gods Law: Thus we publi&s;h before the Service-book. Their loud clamour then, or leud &s;lander is more than needs, that they are obtruded upon them as nece&s;&s;ary ob|&s;ervations. Indeed we mu&s;t confe&s;s that there is a nece&s;&s;ity in them, but not &s;uch as they dream of; nece&s;&s;ary they are, and mu&s;t be performed; yet not for them&s;elves, but in regard they are commanded by a Superiour. To illu&s;trate which point, we di&s;tingui&s;h nece&s;&s;ity.</P>
<P>There is a Nece&s;&s;ity of Doctrine, when out of an opinion of Sanctity, Efficacy, or Merit, or Gods E&s;&s;ential Wor&s;hip, any Ceremony is ordained; and what&s;oever is thus decreed, mu&s;t have three E&s;&s;ential Properties.</P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Morton. Epi&s;c. Ce&s;tren&s;. Dif. of the <HI>3</HI> Cer. pag <HI>176.</HI></NOTE>1. It mu&s;t be nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation.</P>
<P N="2">2. It mu&s;t be unalterable by the Authority of man.</P>
<P N="3">3. It <HI>per &s;e,</HI> mu&s;t bind the con&s;cience to ob&s;ervation; What humane pre|&s;cription &s;oever &s;hall be impo&s;ed with an opinion of this Doctrinal Nece&s;&s;ity, is a pre&s;umptuous Act again&s;t the Soveraignty of God, and a manife&s;t in|croachment upon our Chri&s;tian-liberty; <HI>Opinio nec &s;&s;itatis</HI> in this &s;en&s;e, <HI>tollit libertatem.</HI></P>
<P>But there is a Nece&s;&s;ity of Obedience, e&s;tabli&s;hed not by Permi&s;&s;ive or Admonitory, but by Mandatory precepts; <HI>&s;uch as are, Children, obey your Pa|rents;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 6.1. Colo&s;. 3.22.</NOTE> <HI>Servants, your Ma&s;ters; Inferiours,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">; and by vertue of the&s;e commands it is, that po&s;itive con&s;titutions in things of their own nature lawful, tye and bind the con&s;cience to obedience. We look not then upon the precepts of men, as they are meerly &s;uch, when we require obedience to them; for we know that directly and immediatly, <HI>qua talia,</HI> they bind not; but we con&s;ider man as a Superiour, as he that is &s;et in Gods Room over us; and then acknowledge that by this Text, <HI>Obedite praepo&s;itis,</HI> and the like, we are tyed in con&s;cience to obey his commands, and to &s;ubmit to his cen&s;ures.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bonavent. ad &s;ecundum. Di&s;t. <HI>35</HI> Art. <HI>2.</HI> Q. <HI>1.</HI> Con.</NOTE>It is a Rule in the School, that <HI>Voluntas humana eatenus e&s;t bona quate|nus continuatur Divinae Voluntati ut principio moventi, &amp; conformatur ei ut regulae dirigenti;</HI> that the will of man becomes then mo&s;t right and equal, when it conforms it &s;elf to the will of God, as the fir&s;t Mover, as the fir&s;t Di|rector; which Rule if we will here follow, we &s;hall obey, we &s;hall &s;ubmit; for in this one <HI>&V;er&s;e</HI> he is both <HI>principium dirigens &amp; movens.</HI> 1. He directs by his precept, <HI>Obedite praepo&s;itis;</HI> and then he moves by a four-fold Rea&s;on, <HI>They watch for your &s;ouls, they mu&s;t give an account,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>therefore obey;</HI> of which briefly in the la&s;t place.</P>
<P>To command had been more proper for the Maje&s;ty of Heaven; but he vouch&s;afes to give many Rea&s;ons of his Will, that he might find us a willing people; he would not force, but encline and win men to obedi|ence.</P>
<P N="1">1. Con&s;ider the care and employment of tho&s;e that Rule and Guide, it will draw on your obedience; <HI>invigilant animis;</HI> as the Liver in man, which is <HI>Officina &s;anguinis,</HI> is at work, when every &s;en&s;e is fetter'd with a deep &s;leep&punc; &s;o the&s;e our <HI>praepo&s;iti,</HI> are watching, when others are fa&s;t; for that of the King of <HI>Sodom</HI> runs alwayes in their heads;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 14.21.</NOTE> <HI>Take thou the Goods, and give
<PB N="495" REF="253"> me the &s;ouls. Quia tot occidimus, quot ad mortem ire quotidie tepidi &amp; tacentes videmus.</HI> Greg. Hom. in Ezek. 11.</P>
<P>Look into the World, and you may find many men awake, but to little purpo&s;e; watching, when it were better they were fa&s;t in their Beds: <HI>Ad Galli Cantum con&s;ultor,</HI> the Client betime at at the Lawyers door;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Horat. Sat. <HI>1.</HI> Per&s;. Sat. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Chry&s;idis udas Ebrius ante fores extincta cum face;</HI> a drunken wanton knocking at his Mi&s;tre&s;s Clo&s;et before day: Covetou&s;ne&s;s pulls the pillow from that mans head; <HI>Surge inquit avaritia, eja &s;urge;</HI> and which is yet wor&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hor.</NOTE> <HI>&s;urgunt de nocte latro|nes;</HI> all the&s;e ri&s;e early, and too late take re&s;t; but they place their di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">igence awry, and upon a wrong obiect, be it &s;poken to their &s;hame.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.5.</NOTE> There be that are up to a better purpo&s;e, that watch to &s;ave not <HI>ve&s;tra <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ed vos,</HI> you, and the be&s;t part of you, <HI>your &s;ouls; the &s;oul, which wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;o lo&s;eth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.26.</NOTE> <HI>though he gain the whole wo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ld, yet he m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">k s but an ill bargain; the &s;oul, which co&s;t the Son of God his life;</HI> and therefore it fits not well that if they be &s;o careful about you, <HI>and watchful to &s;ave</HI> what is mo&s;t precious in you, that you be di&s;obedient, and untoward to them.</P>
<P>But if you be carele&s;s and regardle&s;s of their great care, yet let meer pity move you to obey, and &s;ubmit; <GAP DESC="foreign">, they poor men mu&s;t give an account for every one of you; for the Lor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s &s;ake pity them when you hear this; good God, what a danger are they in, <HI>to be accountable for every <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oul that is under them!</HI> Oh happy you of the Laity, that mu&s;t give an account only for your &s;elves; our ca&s;e of the Clergy is far more dangerous, that mu&s;t account for you and our &s;elves to; too too much we &s;hall have to an&s;wer, when we reckon for our &s;elves; but the Lord knows what we &s;hall &s;ay, when we mu&s;t put in a reckoning for your lives too; this con&s;ideration did &s;o amu&s;e&s;t <HI>Chr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|stom,</HI> that it made him cry out in a fearful and terrible pang,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Citat E&s;tius in locum.</NOTE> <HI>Miro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> an fieri po&s;&s;it, ut aliquis &egrave; rectoribus &s;alvus &s;it.</HI> Some pity then we beg of you for Gods &s;ake; obey our directions, and &s;ubmit to our cen&s;ures, for by it our ac|count will be the ea&s;ier.</P>
<P N="3">3. Be but &s;uch as you ought to be, a willing and an obedient people, and we &s;hall be glad at heart to an&s;wer for you: To live without &s;in, we expect not from you; <HI>&s;ine &s;candalo, &s;ine querel&acirc;,</HI> that you may; do but &s;o much, <HI>we &s;hall give up our account with joy.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. Whereas if you be a &s;tubborn and &s;tiff-necked Nation, that will nei|ther obey what we teach, nor &s;ubmit to what we order, our <HI>audit</HI> will be with grief: We have <HI>not converted &s;o many as we de&s;ired unto righteou&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 12.3.</NOTE> <HI>and therefore we &s;hall not &s;hine as the Sun;</HI> &s;hine yet we &s;hall, but like &s;ome le&s;&s;er &s;tar.</P>
<P>Our lo&s;s will be great, but nothing to yours; we &s;hall be &s;aved as through fire; whereas you &s;hall go into eternal perdition;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.15.</NOTE> the account we &s;hall make with grief, will be altogether <HI>unprofitable for you;</HI> for what profit will there be <HI>in your blood, when you go down into the pit?</HI> What profit in all things under the Sun, when your &s;ouls are lo&s;t? What &s;orrow and grief to you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 30.9.</NOTE> when your Pa&s;tour and Guide &s;hall &s;tep forth and &s;ay, <HI>&V;oluimus &s;anare I&s;rael, &s;ed &s;a|nari noluit;</HI> Lord, thou knowe&s;t we would have cured this man of the drop&s;ie of covetou&s;ne&s;s, and that man of the tympany of pride, and her of the itch of lu&s;t, and him of the feaver of revenge; but <HI>&s;anari noluerunt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 51.9.</NOTE> <HI>they would not be healed;</HI> &s;uch a Bill as this will <HI>be unprofitable for you.</HI> Now all the&s;e Rea&s;ons brings us about again to <GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">; our care about you, our account for you, our joy if you do well, our grief if you do ill, your own lo&s;s if you be di&s;obedient, are &s;ufficient inducements to move you to obey and &s;ubmit.</P>
<P>And if the&s;e work not upon you, all I can &s;ay el&s;e will be to little purpo&s;e; my Rea&s;ons will be <HI>Tekel, Tekel,</HI> all too light,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan 5.25.</NOTE> where the Holy Gho&s;ts are not
<PB N="496" REF="254"> not of weight enough. I will not therefore pre&s;ume to adde to the&s;e, but leave them with you to ponder; and God grant that they may &s;o far prevail with you, <HI>that you may obey tho&s;e that have the Rule over you,</HI> that you may &s;ubmit to their Directions and Cen&s;ures, that when the day of Reckoning &s;hall come,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.29.</NOTE> <HI>they which have watched over your &s;ouls, may give up their account with joy; for that will be profitable for you:</HI> Profitable indeed, in that for <HI>your obedience and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion here, you &s;hall have a Reward in heaven; a Crown you &s;hall have for your head, a Palme in your hand, a long white Robe on your back, and live in joy, and rest and peace for ever and ever,</HI> Amen, Amen.</P>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>The&s;e Objections had they been put into the Body of the Sermon, would have &s;wollen it to a dista&s;teful length; I thought it fit therefore to di&s;po&s;e them with the an&s;wers in this place; if you judge ought in them wor|thy the light, you may tran&s;po&s;e them to their &s;everal places, or el&s;e ca&s;h them; but I refer the whole to your judgement. <HI>Judicio &s;tatque caditque tuo. Objections put in again&s;t Bi&s;hops an&s;wered.</HI></HEAD>
<P>Object. 1. <HI>THE fir&s;t Objection again&s;t their Ordination, that they only did not ordain.</HI></P>
<P>That Bi&s;hops did ordain is granted, but that not they only; and &s;o this property &s;hall agree <HI>Omni,</HI> but not <HI>Soli.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Re&s;p.</HI> But it &s;eems that only a Bi&s;hop did ordain; for <HI>Ambro&s;e, Chry&s;o|&s;tom,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. ad Evag. <HI>85.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Theodoret</HI> upon 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3. <HI>&amp;</HI> 4. and <HI>Oecumenius</HI> upon 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 5. are re&s;olute, and &s;ay, that it is neither <HI>fas</HI> nor <HI>jus,</HI> that any be&s;ides a Bi&s;hop do it.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><P>Ambr. loc. cit. Epi&s;copus pa|tres generat, Presbyter non ni&s;i filios.</P>
<P>Epiph. Haere&s;. <HI>75.</HI> Synod. Chal. Can. <HI>6.</HI></P>
<P><HI>See Dr.</HI> Ridley<HI>'s view of Civil and Eccle&s;i|a&s;tical Law.</HI> pag. <HI>194, 195.</HI> Vid. Concil. Hi&s;pal. cap. <HI>5.</HI> &amp; Concil. <HI>1.</HI> Con|&s;tant. cap. <HI>6.</HI></P>
<P>Epiphan. Haer. <HI>69.</HI> Athana&s;. Apol. <HI>2. in the ca&s;e of</HI> I&s;chyras.</P></NOTE>And <HI>Hieron,</HI> no friend to Bi&s;hops, confe&s;&s;eth that a Prie&s;t could not or|dain; <HI>Quid enim facit except&acirc; ordinatione Epi&s;copus, quod Presbyter non fa|cit?</HI> and <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom</HI> that they were <HI>Ordinatione &s;uperiores.</HI> A Majority and Superiority here was in re&s;pect of Ordination, and from whence came that? from a Presbyter it could not be taken; for he was <HI>Minor Epi&s;copo; neque fas erat, aut licebat ut inferior ordinaret majorem:</HI> And therefore he mu&s;t have it from one that was Superiour; though therefore, which yet is not pro|ved, it &s;hould be lawful for a Presbyter to ordain a Presbyter, one of his own order; yet a Bi&s;hop he could not ordain, being one Superiour to him; and therefore we mu&s;t utterly take the priority of Bi&s;hops out of the Church, con|trary to all antiquity, or el&s;e admit &s;ome of equal rank and order unto them by whom they mu&s;t be ordained.</P>
<P>Secondly, The Ancient Canon is, That no man &s;hould be ordained at large, or <HI>&s;ine titulo;</HI> but be with his Ordination a&s;&s;igned and confined to a Church; now none but Bi&s;hops had right in Churches, and therefore none but a Bi&s;hop could ordain.</P>
<P>Thirdly, And put ca&s;e that any u&s;urped this power, and did confer Orders, his Act was rever&s;ed by the Church as unlawful; as it appears in the ca&s;e of <HI>Colluthus,</HI> who took upon him, being a Presbyter, to give Orders; but tho&s;e whom he ordered, were held for Lay-men, and him&s;elf cen&s;ured.</P>
<PB N="497" REF="254">
<P>Object. 2. <HI>But did not the</HI> Chorepi&s;copi <HI>ordain? and ye<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> if we will believe</HI> Dama&s;us, Epi&s;t. 5. <HI>the&s;e must be reckoned in the &s;ole order of Presbyters.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Resp.</HI> True it is they did &s;o, but rather by an u&s;urped power, than by any Original Right; <HI>Bal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">aman</HI> in his Ob&s;ervations upon the 14. <HI>Can.</HI> of the <HI>Neoce&s;. Con.</HI> conceives that they were in&s;tituted in the place of the &s;eventy Di&s;ciples, who&s;e charge at fir&s;t was to take care of <GAP DESC="foreign">, which did i&s;&s;ue for the poors u&s;e out of Country-Farms: But <HI>Petavius,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">In animadv. ad Epiphan.</NOTE> that the Bi&s;hops appointed them their Vicars in the Rural part of their Dioce&s;s, being detained them&s;elves in the Cathedral: Well be it how it will, power either they had granted, or u&s;urped to ordain; and it &s;eems they u&s;urped it: For <HI>Dama&s;us</HI> controlls the &s;aucine&s;s of the&s;e <HI>Suffragans,</HI> complaining that being but Presbyters, they pre&s;umed to ordain Prie&s;ts, and Deacons, and do &s;uch things as none but Bi&s;hops ought to do. And the Council of <HI>Ancyra</HI> gives a direct prohibition for their intermedling in this matter,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Can.</HI> 13.</NOTE> <HI>Chorepi&s;copis non licere Presbyteros aut Diaconos ordinare; &s;ed nec Presbyteris civitatis &s;ine praecepto Epi&s;copi, vel literis in unaqu&acirc;que parochi&acirc; aliquid imperare,</HI> &amp;c. For &s;o the Canon is to be read, and not as <HI>Gentian</HI> turns it: But if &s;o be they were true Bi&s;hops, as <HI>Petavius</HI> takes pains to prove, though I fear me to little purpo&s;e, then the Objection falls of it &s;elf, they might or|dain.</P>
<P>But I rather conceive that their power was u&s;urped,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Loc. cit.</NOTE> and that they did what they &s;hould not; as in a corrupt &s;tate there be that invade that power which belongs to their Superiours, by vertue of which they do &s;uch acts which they &s;hould not, which yet being done are of force, though the Doer cannot be ex|cu&s;ed for after; <HI>factum valet, fieri non debuit.</HI></P>
<P>Object. 3. <HI>Yea but &s;ay &s;ome, this may be done; for the</HI> debet, <HI>or</HI> licet <HI>at lea&s;t Saint</HI> Paul <HI>gives warrant;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 4.14.</NOTE> <HI>his words imply a practice of Or|dination by the Presbyters hands; Neglect not the grace of God which was gi|ven thee by the impo&s;ition of the hands of the Presbytery; Presbyters then, and not only Bi&s;hops, impo&s;ed hands upon</HI> Timothy.</P>
<P>This Objection &s;hall receive its an&s;wer out of <HI>Calvins in&s;tit. cap. de fide. Sect.</HI> 50.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> That it was certain none of the Laity, but the Pa&s;tors only did im|po&s;e hands; but whether divers of them did it, or one chiefly among them, is uncertain; notwith&s;tanding <HI>Manus Presbyterii</HI> in this place, yet <HI>Calvin</HI> is re&s;olute, that Saint <HI>Paul</HI> only, and no other impo&s;ed hands upon <HI>Timothy;</HI> and his proof is 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 1.6. <HI>Stir up the grace of God in thee, by the putting on of my hands,</HI> &s;ignanter, <HI>my hands;</HI> and therefore it was not nece&s;&s;ary that in the Creation of <HI>Timothy</HI> a Bi&s;hop there &s;hould be Presbyters admitted to his Ordination.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> By <HI>Presbyterium</HI> is to be under&s;tood, not <HI>per&s;ona,</HI> but <HI>munus;</HI> not the per&s;ons that did ordain, but the Office to which <HI>Timothy</HI> was ordai|ned; &s;o <HI>Calvin</HI> under&s;tands it, <HI>Manum Presbyterii, non de &s;eniorum colle|gio, &s;ed ordinationem ip&s;am intelligo, qua&s;i diceret, Fac ut gratia,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron. Prima&s;. An&s;el. Haymo. Lyra, omnes in hunc locum.</NOTE> <HI>quam per manuum, impo&s;itionem recepi&s;ti, cum te Presbyterum crearem, non &s;it irrita.</HI></P>
<P>But if we &s;hall under&s;tand with the Ancient Expo&s;itors, <HI>per&s;onam,</HI> not <HI>munus;</HI> then <HI>Presbyterium</HI> in this place, is no more than <HI>Collegium Presbyte|rorum,</HI> or <HI>totus Presbyteratus ordo,</HI> which I mentioned before, who might a&s;&s;i&s;t, and impo&s;e hands together with Saint <HI>Paul</HI> in the Ordina|tion of <HI>Timothy;</HI> and yet that the&s;e were of no higher order than Presbyters, will not be &s;o evident out of the name, as &s;hall by and by appear.</P>
<PB N="498" REF="255">
<P>They object in the &s;econd place, <HI>again&s;t the in&s;titution of Bi&s;hops, that they are not of Divine Ordinance; that Munus ejus e&s;t humano &s;en&s;u in|ductum, Calv. Sect.</HI> 52. and to this purpo&s;e, <HI>Hierom</HI> is alledged, <HI>Noverint Epi&s;copi &s;e magis con&s;uetudine, quam Dominicae di&s;po&s;itionis veritate Presby|teris e&s;&s;e majores.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Re&s;p.</HI> 1. As I have &s;hewed before, their in&s;titution was in the Apo&s;tles, and their Ordination <GAP DESC="foreign">, Acts 1. by our Saviour him&s;elf, <HI>John</HI> 20. They were not then <HI>humano &s;en&s;u in|ducti.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, The Church hath ever had them, and honoured them by that name, as is evident by all Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Stories, and Ancient Fa|thers.</P>
<P>Thirdly, That Tradition, were it no more, which hath antiquity, univer|&s;ality, and con&s;ent of Scripture to &s;peak for it, is more than humane; and &s;uch is this; for &s;o ancient it is, that the in&s;titution appears not in any Council, nor indeed can it, becau&s;e it came from Chri&s;ts example, and from the Apo&s;tles dayes hath been &s;o univer&s;ally received, that in the Patriarchal Seas the Cata|logues of the fir&s;t Bi&s;hops are yet extant; and to is <GAP DESC="foreign">, to <HI>po&s;uit vos Spiritus Sanctus Epi&s;copos;</HI> to the &s;even Angels of the &s;even Churches in the <HI>Revelation,</HI> &amp;c. I know not therefore why man only &s;hould be &s;aid to be the Author.</P>
<P>Fourthly, Farther, the Apo&s;tles practi&s;ed what our Saviour began, ordained Bi&s;hops to &s;ucceed them, as I proved before; and if <HI>Calvin</HI>'s own Rule be true touching the Ceremony of impo&s;ition of hands, <HI>Licet nullum extet praeceptum de manuum impo&s;itione, quia vero fui&s;&s;e in perpetuo u&s;u Apo&s;tolis videmus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Loc. cit. &s;ect. <HI>50.</HI></NOTE> <HI>illa tam accurata eorum ob&s;ervatio praecepti vice nobis e&s;&s;e debet;</HI> then it will follow that Bi&s;hops are not <HI>humano &s;en&s;u inducti;</HI> but that there is as &s;trong a proof for their in&s;titution as a precept amounts to, becau&s;e it was in <HI>perpetuo u&s;u Apo&s;tolis,</HI> as I now made good; <HI>Traditio Apo&s;tolica toti orbi manife&s;ta,</HI> as <HI>Iraeneus</HI> calls it, <HI>lib.</HI> 3. <HI>cap.</HI> 3.</P>
<P>Fifthly, True it is that poor <HI>Hierom</HI> hath been pitifully la&s;ed for his ha&s;ty words; <HI>Michael Medina</HI> fetched blood at <HI>Trent,</HI> when he enrolled him for this with <HI>Aerius</HI> in the Catalogue of Hereticks; but he might have &s;pa|red the good old father; for the good mans meaning was not with <HI>Aerius,</HI> to remove out of the Church the order of Bi&s;hops; (for he e&s;tabli&s;heth their power in divers places, and maintains that they are nece&s;&s;ary in the Church for avoiding of Schi&s;mes) he doubted only <HI>quo jure</HI> they exerci&s;ed their Authori|ty; whether <HI>Con&s;uetudine Eccle&s;iae,</HI> or <HI>Divinae dispo&s;itionis veritate;</HI> and po&s;i|tively re&s;olves for the Negative, in which he is to be blamed; if his words be not to be mollified by Bi&s;hop <HI>Bil&s;on</HI>'s interpretation, <HI>Perp. Gov. of the Ch. cap.</HI> 12. <HI>pag.</HI> 236. The truth is, he was a Presbyter only, and no Bi&s;hop; (<HI>Arrius</HI> and <HI>Aerius,</HI> and <HI>Valentinius</HI> &s;tomached that others were above them, men of le&s;s de&s;erts, as they conceived) it might be <HI>Hierom</HI>'s ca&s;e; and if not &s;o, yet we know that he was too much addicted to a Mona&s;tical life, and di&s;plea&s;ed with <HI>John</HI> the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> who as other Bi&s;hops, often|times drew forth &s;ome marks to the &s;ervice of the Church from their Cloy&s;ters; this perchance moved <HI>Hierom</HI>'s blood, whom the World knew to be of a cholerick nature, and in his heat he ea&s;eth his &s;pleen, <HI>Noverint Epi&s;|copi.</HI></P>
<P>Sixthly, But were not this &s;o, but that he &s;pake in cool blood, what rea&s;on is there to believe his &s;ingle word before a full Jury of Orthodoxal Fathers, in whom they might have read pre&s;ently after our Saviours A&s;cen&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vid. Winch. opu&s;c. pag. <HI>170.</HI></NOTE> Bi&s;hops ordained, con&s;tituted, placed in &s;everal Churches by the Apo|&s;tles them&s;elves? it mu&s;t be wilfulne&s;s and partiality in them to pa&s;s by &s;o
<PB N="499" REF="255"> full a Te&s;timony, and pick out, and pre&s;s an incon&s;iderate &s;entence of a ha&s;ty man.</P>
<P>But what now if out of the&s;e very words of <HI>Hierome,</HI> it will appear that Bi&s;hops were ordain'd in the Apo&s;tles dayes? <HI>Antequ&agrave;m,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rent &s;tudia in Religione, &amp; diceretur in populis, Ego &s;um</HI> Pauli, <HI>ego</HI> Apol<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o, <HI>ego</HI> Cephae, <HI>communi Presby<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">erorum con&s;ilio Eccle&s;iae regebantur: po&s;tquam vero unu&s;qui&s;&abque; eos, quos baptizaverat, &s;uos e&s;&s;e putabat, non Chri&s;ti: in toto orbe decre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">um e&s;t, ut unus de Presbyteris electus &s;up<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rp neretur caeteris, ad quem omnis Eccle&s;iae cura pertineret, &amp; &s;chi&s;matum &s;emina tolleren|tur, &amp;c.</HI> Hieron. in 1. Cap. ad Titum, &amp; in Epi&s;tol. ad <HI>Eva|grimu.</HI></P>
<P>Out of which words I thus argue: When Shi&s;mes began, and one &s;aid, I am of <HI>Paul,</HI> then were the Churches committed to the chief care and pre-eminent charge of one; But the&s;e Schi&s;mes aro&s;e in the Apo&s;tles time; therefore. And this one was a Bi&s;hop by <HI>Jeroms</HI> confe&s;&s;ion. And out of Eccle&s;ia&s;tical &s;tory it is evident, who this one was in the Patriarchal Seas. And this one there &s;et <HI>viventibus &amp; videntibus Apo&s;tolis,</HI> and I dare &s;ay, <HI>con&s;tituentibus.</HI> For I &s;ay no more than I will prove by the Anciente&s;t Re|cords of the Church.</P>
<P>Thirdly, They Object, <HI>That no Argument can conclude for Bi&s;hops from the name</HI> Epi&s;copus, <HI>becau&s;e that the name of</HI> Epi&s;copus <HI>and</HI> Presby|ter <HI>in the Scripture are promi&s;cuou&s;ly u&s;ed; and to this purpo&s;e they all<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dge the</HI> 20th <HI>of the</HI> Acts, <HI>where the Presbyte s of</HI> Miletus <HI>are afterward c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll'd Bi&s;hops.</HI> 2. <HI>And the fir&s;t to the</HI> Philippians, <HI>where Saint</HI> Paul <HI>&s;ends his greeting,</HI> Epi&s;copis &amp; Diaconis; <HI>why &s;hould he &s;end greeting to the Bi&s;hops in the plural number, when he writes to one Church only, except the Pre&s;|byters were tho&s;e Bi&s;hops?</HI> 3. <HI>That the precepts which are given to</HI> Timo|thy <HI>touching Bi&s;hops, agree to Presbyters, who&s;e name is there omitted; for from the office of Bi&s;hops, Saint</HI> Paul <HI>de&s;cends to Deacons.</HI> 4. <HI>That Saint</HI> John <HI>calls him&s;elf a Presbyter,</HI> John 2. &amp; 3. Epi&s;t. La&s;tly, <HI>That Saint</HI> Paul <HI>writing to the Hebrews, gives his precept for obedience,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>in the plural number; and therefore there were divers</HI> praepo&s;iti <HI>in the &s;ame Church, not one Bi&s;hop only.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Resp.</HI> We an&s;wer, that <GAP DESC="foreign">, is <GAP DESC="foreign">, an Argument that &s;ets a good face on the matter, and hath no &s;ub&s;tance in it, becau&s;e <HI>quaedam dicuntur de, &s;ed non in&s;unt in.</HI> And therefore as we do not conclude that there were Bi&s;hops in the Apo&s;tles times, becau&s;e there were that bore the name; &s;o neither can they conclude, that the&s;e Bi&s;hops were no more than Presbyters, becau&s;e they were call'd Presbyters. The truth is, that though they might communicate in name, yet they were two really di|&s;tinct Offices, which we prove from their power of Ordination, of juri&s;di|ction to them re&s;erv'd, and not from the names; or at lea&s;t that if there were not <HI>in Ordine Epi&s;copali novus character, certe character Presbyteralis exten&s;ior, vel major factus nova manuum impo&s;itione.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, That their names were confounded we grant: for B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;hops were call'd Presbyters, and Presbyters Bi&s;hops, <GAP DESC="foreign"> but afterward, &s;aith the &s;ame Father, there was a di&s;tinction made.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Chry&s;. in</HI> 1 Phil.</NOTE> The name of a Bi&s;hop properly given to a Bi&s;hop, and that of a Presb<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ter to a Presbyter, the&s;e functions were &s;ubordinate one unto another; the Prie&s;t|hood to the Bi&s;hop&s;hip; that lower, this higher; and in the common phra&s;e of men, it is no ab&s;urdity to give the appellation of the lower orde<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> to him that is in a higher decree. Lawful it is to call a Doctor by the name of Ma&s;ter, or an Earle by the name of Lord or Baron, becau&s;e they are &s;o, the higher Honour including in it the Inferiour. But from hence to ar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ue
<PB N="500" REF="256"> that a Dr. were not Superiour to a Mr. of Art, or an Earl to a Baron, were an ab&s;urd inference.</P>
<P>Object. <HI>But were it not ab&s;urd to call a Baron an Earle, or a Ma|&s;ter a Doctor? Though in re&s;pect of &s;ubordination the Superiour may be call'd by the name of the Inferiour when he hath both capacities in him; yet to put a higher Title upon an Inferiour is not ju&s;tifiable; you may then call Bi&s;hops Presbyters, but not Presbyters Bi&s;hops, except they were &s;o.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Re&s;p.</HI> Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> an&s;wers this Objection, that though now to do it were ab&s;urd; now, when <GAP DESC="foreign">, each hath his proper name; yet then to call them &s;o, was no <GAP DESC="foreign">, becau&s;e it was a common cu&s;tom; <HI>quem penes arbitrium e&s;t &amp; vis &amp; norma loquendi;</HI> and the rea&s;on why they did &s;o, might be this.</P>
<P>Such was the love, and humility, and unity, and alacrity in the Presby|tery of tho&s;e times, to di&s;charge the Office to which they were call'd, that the Bi&s;hop upon the highe&s;t &s;taire, would de&s;cend, and &s;ubmit, if need re|quired, to execute the Office; not only of the Presbyter, but even of the very Deacon too. Then according to our Lords direction, <GAP DESC="foreign">, was in the Family <GAP DESC="foreign">. Then as <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> ob&s;erves, <HI>Apo&s;tolatus non erat dignitas,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">In Act. 3.</NOTE> <HI>non honor Apo&s;toli, &s;ed opus &amp; Ministerium;</HI> and therefore they writ in a low &s;tile, <HI>We your &s;ervants for Chri&s;ts &s;ake,</HI> 2 Cor. 4. and to their brethren, <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Chry&s;. in</HI> 1. <HI>Phil.</HI> St. <HI>John,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> and St. <HI>Peter</HI> to his fellow Presbyters, <GAP DESC="foreign">. No marvel if they took the name to them|&s;elves, when they did execute the Office.</P>
<P>Thirdly, To that place of the <HI>Philippians</HI> that &s;eems to enforce, that ei|ther there were divers Bi&s;hops at <HI>Philippi;</HI> or el&s;e, that they were no other than Presbyters, becau&s;e their name is omitted in the Salutation; it is An&s;wered</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, by <HI>Chry&s;. Theod. Hieron.</HI> and <HI>Ambro&s;e, That in one City there could be but one Bi&s;hop.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Vid. Winch. o|pu&s;c. p. <HI>167.</HI></NOTE> To which purpo&s;e <HI>Bil&s;on, Cap.</HI> 13. produceth 9. Fathers.</P>
<P>Secondly, That under the Name of Bi&s;hops, both the Orders, <HI>&amp; Epi&s;|copatus &amp; Presbyteratus,</HI> may be under&s;tood; the Name being common to both, in that <HI>except&acirc; ordinatione, &amp; juri&s;dictione,</HI> the Offices are common; yet <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome, Theodoret, Oecum. Hierom.</HI> by Bi&s;hops in this place un|der&s;tand Presbyters.</P>
<P>Thirdly, <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> refers tho&s;e words to the Bi&s;hops and Deacons that were with him and <HI>Timothy,</HI> and not at <HI>Philippi,</HI> thus ordering the words, <HI>Paul and Timothy the Servants of Je&s;us Chri&s;t (to all the Saints that are at Philippi) with the Bi&s;hops and Deacons;</HI> making it to be an indirect Syllep&s;is; and the fence to run thus, <HI>Paul and Timothy, and the Bi&s;hops and Deacons, to the Saints at Philippi;</HI> for had he written to Bi&s;hops, he would have named them as he did <HI>Titus</HI> and <HI>Timothy.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, As <HI>Epiph.</HI> hath ob&s;erv'd again&s;t <HI>Aerius, haere&s;.</HI> 75. In divers of the fir&s;t Churches converted to Chri&s;tianity, there might be no Presby|ters at all. For there needed none; the number of the faithful was &s;o &s;mall, that the Bi&s;hop with his Deacon, might very well &s;upply the place. Power he had to do it; for the whole e&s;&s;ential Character of Prie&s;thood was re&s;ident in him; <HI>quicquid enim presbyter facit, &amp; Epi&s;copus facere pote&s;t;</HI> and will he had to do it; for his love and care was &s;uch, that he was wil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing <HI>invi|gilare gregi;</HI> he took his Office to be <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>opus &amp; mini&s;terium,</HI> as but now I alledg'd out of <HI>Chry&s;o&s;t.</HI> And this might be a rea&s;on that Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ends his Salutation to the Bi&s;hops and Deacons, and not the Presbyters at <HI>Philippi.</HI></P>
<PB N="501" REF="256">
<P>We reade of <HI>Greg. Ny&s;&s;en</HI> when he fir&s;t came to be Bi&s;hop of <HI>Neocae&s;a|ria,</HI> the whole Church con&s;i&s;ted but of &s;eventeen Souls;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>E&s;tius in</HI> 1 Tim. 1.3.</NOTE> and what needed he then a Prie&s;t under him to Rule and Guide them? And this might be the ca&s;e of <HI>Philippi;</HI> but I &s;tick to the &s;econd An&s;wer as more pro|bable.</P>
<P>Fourthly, The precepts given to Bi&s;hops in <HI>Timothy,</HI> belong for the mo&s;t part to Presbyters; it had therefore been in vain to repeat them with their names.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, To the Objection taken out of the Text, the An&s;wer is very ea|&s;ie. For fir&s;t Saint <HI>Paul</HI> wrote <GAP DESC="foreign">, to the <HI>Hebrews</HI> di&s;per&s;ed in <HI>P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n|tus, A&s;ia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Pamphylia;</HI> &amp;c. as well as dwelling at <HI>Hieru&s;alem;</HI> not to one particular, but many Churches; and what hinders, but in tho&s;e there might be divers Bi&s;hops?</P>
<P N="2">2. Or el&s;e <HI>praepo&s;iti</HI> is not &s;o to be under&s;tood of the Bi&s;hops here, as that the re&s;t of the Clergy is to be excluded; for every Clergy man is <GAP DESC="foreign">, upon the &s;taire, a degree higher than a Lay-man; and in &s;ome &s;en&s;e or other <HI>praepo&s;itus.</HI> Obedience then to him is due; &s;ubjection accor|ding to his Rank; fir&s;t to the Bi&s;hop, then to the Prie&s;t, after to the Dea|con; becau&s;e every one in his place is a Superiour: Saint <HI>Paul</HI> therefore &s;peaks in the plural number, becau&s;e in the Church there be divers Orders of Rulers. So obey them, that you exclude not the Bi&s;hop; &s;o the Bi&s;hop, that you exclude not the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word">.</P>
<P N="3">3. Or perchance St. <HI>Paul</HI> might under&s;tand the <HI>Collegium</HI> or <HI>Senatum</HI> that I before mention'd, evident it is, that &s;uch a one there was at <HI>Hieru|&s;alem,</HI> Acts 8.14. &amp; cap. 11, 22. &amp; cap. 15.4, 6. and that it continued long; in which were Apo&s;tles, and Elders; and therefore St. <HI>Paul</HI> writing to the Jews, might have an eye unto the&s;e <HI>praepo&s;iti,</HI> among whom there were divers Bi&s;hops.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="38" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>A Vindication of the Eccle&s;ia&s;tical, or Church Cen&s;ure.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 Cor. 4.</HI> ver&s;. ul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>Or as the Greek Scholia&s;ts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Oecum. Theoph.</NOTE> <HI>the fir&s;t</HI> ver&s;e <HI>of the next</HI> Chapter.</BIBL>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P>What will ye? &s;hall I come unto you with a Rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekne&s;s?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>A Word there is in the Text, it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>may I come?</HI> and it &s;uits with the pre&s;ent occa&s;ion. The Apo&s;tle was ab&s;ent at this time; at <HI>Philip|pi,</HI> as &s;ome; at <HI>Ephe&s;us,</HI> as others think; yet he makes a promi&s;e of a jour|ny ere long to <HI>Corinth;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>I will &s;hortly come un|to you;</HI> po&s;itively, at the 19. <HI>ver&s;.</HI></P>
<P>A journey; not of complement, nor yet of plea&s;ure, but of nece&s;&s;ity and profit for the Church. <HI>&V;eniam &amp; Cogno&s;cam;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Cogno&s;cam,</HI> a juridical word. Matters there were in the Church of <HI>Corinth</HI> much out of Order, fit for a &s;piritual <HI>Cognizance;</HI> and therefore he re&s;olv'd to come to them &s;peedily, and keep a &s;piritual Court.</P>
<P N="1">1. That<NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Cap. 3. ver. 3.</NOTE> <HI>carnal</HI> people had their Zealots, who rai&s;ed a faction about their<NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Cap. 1. ver. 12.</NOTE> <HI>Teachers. Apollos,</HI> &s;aith one, <HI>is</HI><NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Act. 18.24.</NOTE> <HI>a very eloquent man, and m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gh|ty
<PB N="502" REF="257"> in the Scriptures:</HI> in compari&s;on of him, <HI>Paul</HI> is but<NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 10, 10. &amp; 1. ver&s;. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Chry&s;. hom. 2. in P&s;alm 50.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>&s;peaks but like another man;</HI> and therefore <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>I am for Apollos,</HI> 1 Cor. 1.12. <HI>Well,</HI> quoth another, <HI>it may be &s;o,</HI><NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.6&punc;</NOTE> Pauls <HI>per&s;on may be weak, and his out&s;ide very meane, yet his l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tters are writ with power, and carry weight with them, and for this,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>I preferre</HI> Paul. <HI>Neither of them both,</HI> quoth a third, <HI>is to be compared to</HI> Cephas; <HI>he is the Rock, he is the Head of all Apostolical power;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>and for that I lean to</HI> Peter. <HI>Scinditur incertum,</HI> &amp;c. This was the &s;tate of the Church of <HI>Corinth</HI> at that time, b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing di&s;tracted by a few, hot, contentious, factious &s;pirits.</P>
<P N="2">2. And, as it falls out in contentions of this Nature, many things in life and the exerci&s;e of Religion, were out of &s;quare.</P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 5,</NOTE>1. An <HI>ince&s;tuous</HI> per&s;on tolerated.</P>
<P N="2">2. Much vexation by unnece&s;&s;ary &s;uits of Law.</P>
<P N="3"><NOTE PLACE="marg">6,</NOTE>3. <HI>Fornication</HI> too much winked at; the Apo&s;tle was fain to pre&s;cribe a remedy, <HI>cap.</HI> 7.</P>
<P N="4">4. Things offer'd to Idols, &s;candalou&s;ly <HI>eaten.</HI></P>
<P N="5">5. Little <HI>reverence</HI> u&s;ed to the ble&s;&s;ed S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">crament.</P>
<P N="6"><NOTE PLACE="marg">8, 11.</NOTE>6. And (that which undermineth the foundation) the Re&s;urrection of the body call'd in que&s;tion, <HI>cap.</HI> 15.</P>
<P>High time you mu&s;t confe&s;s this was for a vi&s;itation, <GAP DESC="foreign">, to &s;et in joynt again what was &s;tarted a&s;ide. Thus much the Apo&s;tles pre&s;ence was like to effect, and that he promi&s;eth.</P>
<P>But yet before he &s;ets one foot forward, he gives an intimation of his Apo&s;tolical power. both for <HI>Cen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ure</HI> and <HI>Indulg<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nce;</HI> A <HI>Rod</HI> he had by Chri&s;t put into his <HI>Hand,</HI> and <HI>Love</HI> he had couch'd in his <HI>Heart;</HI> in their power it was to make choice of either. To them the motion is made, and the <HI>option</HI> referr'd, <HI>Quid vultis? What will ye, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The words are <GAP DESC="foreign">, of one who purpo&s;ed to &s;townd them a little,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Oecum. in loc.</NOTE> and put them in a fear; Very lively, and quick; and &s;o much the quicker and livelier, becau&s;e the phra&s;e is que&s;tion-wi&s;e. The very <HI>figura di|ctionis</HI> puts life and &s;pirit into them. <HI>&V;eniam, I will come,</HI> is but a heavy and flat expre&s;&s;ion, to <HI>Q<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">id vultis ut veniam?</HI> And to me it &s;hews a little of the Apo&s;tles zeal; as if he were heated that they were &s;o hot, &s;o hotly bent to faction, &s;o eagerly enflamed to i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ce&s;t.</P>
<P>You may then, if you plea&s;e, take notice of the manner, and of the matter of this <HI>ver&s;.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. The manner of delivery is pa&s;&s;ionate, by a double Interrogatory, and makes the matter del<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ver'd more tart and piercing.</P>
<P N="2">2. In the matter you may con&s;ider,</P>
<P N="1">1. That he would take a journey for their &s;akes.</P>
<P N="2">2. What he would bring with him when he came, <HI>Meekne&s;s,</HI> or <HI>a Rod.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. And that the reference was made to them, of which the&s;e two he &s;hould make u&s;e of.</P>
<P>So upon the accompt there come to be handled the&s;e points.</P>
<P N="1">1. That a zealous eloquence well becomes Gods Emba&s;&s;adors.</P>
<P N="2">2. That a <HI>veniam,</HI> a vi&s;itation is &s;ometimes nece&s;&s;ary.</P>
<P N="3">3. That the execution thereof be &s;o far as may be, with <HI>love</HI> and <HI>meek|ne&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. That where <HI>love</HI> cannot, there the <HI>Rod</HI> mu&s;t take place.</P>
<P N="5">5. That it re&s;ts in the <HI>vi&s;ited,</HI> which of the two the <HI>vi&s;itor</HI> &s;hall u&s;e; by an <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Apo&s;tle deliberates, and con&s;ults with them what he &s;hould do; <HI>Quid vultis?</HI></P>
<PB N="503" REF="257">
<P>You &s;ee the boundaries of my di&s;cour&s;e: With the manner I will begin, and with what I ob&s;erve from thence, that eloquent expre&s;&s;ions fired with zeal, are fit for &s;uch as are &s;ent upon Gods errand.</P>
<P>That a man &s;hould be <GAP DESC="foreign">, came out of the <GAP DESC="foreign"> at <HI>Athens; Paul</HI> tea|ching in <HI>Tyrannus</HI> Schoole, neither admits, nor practi&s;eth it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lip&s;. Man. ad Stoic. ph. di&s;&s;. <HI>7.</HI> Tul. pro. Murena.</NOTE> angry he may be, and angry he is; and then mo&s;t angry, when God is angred. His own affronts he could ea&s;ily pa&s;s by; but if a brother be &s;candalized, and by that &s;candal Chri&s;t le&s;s &s;et by, or Religion di&s;credited, then <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.29.</NOTE> pure zeal &s;ets him on fire; and the flame cannot be &s;uppre&s;&s;ed, but it breaks out into &s;ome &s;uch pa&s;&s;ionate que&s;tion as this, <HI>Quid vultis? what mean you? will you have a rod on your back for this?</HI></P>
<P>Now the pa&s;&s;ion in my judgment, became the Apo&s;tle well; and the like will well become any di&s;creet zealous Mini&s;ter of God.</P>
<P>For fir&s;t it removes the Objection, <HI>Si vis me flere,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Horat. Art. poet.</NOTE> <HI>dolendum e&s;t Primum ip&s;i tibi.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, Then a &s;peech &s;o enliven'd, hath more activity in it, and works more nimbly upon the Anditory.</P>
<P><HI>You are the Salt of the Earth;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.13.</NOTE> and in Salt there is &s;harpne&s;s by which it pierces, dries up all crudities, and &s;o pre&s;erves. Will <HI>in&s;ul&s;a oratio</HI> e|ver do this, think you? I pray tell me what good he did,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ari&s;toph. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Hom. Il. &bgr;.</NOTE> except rai&s;e a tu|mult, who being <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;tept up, <GAP DESC="foreign">, chatter'd like a Daw, he knew not what!</P>
<P>Words that are either watery in them&s;elves, or runne away like Water apace out of a Preachers mouth, have but a watry fatuous reli&s;h;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 58.7.</NOTE> they coldly affect, and do little good, God wot. <HI>Aculei,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl. 12.11.</NOTE> <HI>Goads</HI> they &s;hould be acutely pointed, if ever we mean they &s;hould <HI>pierce</HI> home. The <HI>Ma&s;ters of the A&s;&s;embly fa&s;ten</HI> none but &s;uch; and &s;uch only are quick and powerful, and &s;harp, and <HI>pierce,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.12.</NOTE> <HI>to the dividing a&s;under both of &s;oul and &s;pirit.</HI></P>
<P>That which I would have, is this, That Sermons be not made to the people in a heavy, in&s;ipid &s;tile, without any Art or Elocution at all; but that they be fram'd by the Prophets and Apo&s;tles mould, to who&s;e Writings the Honey of <HI>Nestor</HI> was but windy &s;tuffe. Take, my Brethren, the Pro|phets for an example, who did not barely teach nece&s;&s;ary Doctrines, but by <HI>Tropes, Figures</HI> of <HI>Diction, Elocution,</HI> and <HI>Amplification:</HI> In a word, by all Rhetorical Artifices did work upon the affections, to embrace what they taught. Neither did our Saviour, or his followers, come &s;hort in this Art.</P>
<P>Go therefore, and do you likewi&s;e: Your zealous reprehen&s;ions will &s;earch deeper, when rubb'd in this Salt; and your loving admonitions be ta|ken down with more delight, when they are per&s;erv'd with this <HI>Sugar.</HI></P>
<P>But I will leave this point, having perhaps pre&s;&s;ed it too far upon &s;o &s;mall an occa&s;ion; I come unto tho&s;e ob&s;ervations which are more perti|nent, and properly i&s;&s;uing from the Text. The fir&s;t of which, is,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Gwae'r mil ni wyl ei berchen.</HI> Wo to the Bea&s;t the Ma|&s;ter &s;ees not. <HI>Prov. Wall. Tert. Apolog. cap.</HI> 9. <HI>&amp; ad uxor. l.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 5. <HI>Lactant. lib.</HI> 5. <HI>c.</HI> 9. <HI>&amp; lib.</HI> 6. <HI>c.</HI> 20. Nonn. &amp; He&s;ych. Ill. in <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> That</P>
<P N="2">2. A <HI>Veniam,</HI> a journey to vi&s;it the Church is &s;ometimes nece&s;&s;ary. What the eye of the Ma&s;ter is unto his Bea&s;t, the eye of a Phy&s;ician to his Patient, or the eye of a Shepherd to his &s;heep, that, and much more is the eye of a Bi&s;hop to his flock; and therefore it is nece&s;&s;ary to come and &s;ee how they do.</P>
<P>To bring forth children, and leave them to the wide World, without ever more ca&s;ting an eye after them, is an Argument of an hard heart. Some Civil Nations have done it, but they have alwayes been branded for it with cruelty. True &s;piritual Fathers know not how to be thus obdurate; but as
<PB N="504" REF="258"> they <HI>have begotten them by the Gospel,</HI> ver. 15. <HI>and travelled with them <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ill Chri&s;t be formed in them;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.19.</NOTE> &s;o are they careful of their Nur&s;ing and Education, and ever and anon will come and &s;ee how they come on, and take their breeding.</P>
<P>This was the Rea&s;on that the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves made journies to the Churches they fir&s;t planted; they did not found them, and &s;o leave them, but went over them again; &s;o that I may &s;afely affirm, that to vi&s;it Churches, began with the Chri&s;tian Church: And every vi&s;itation is either <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">. as the terms were borrowed from phy&s;ick, &s;o was the end to comfort, prevent and cure; in the fir&s;t vi&s;itations we &s;hall find all the&s;e.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Baron. An. <HI>39.</HI> Tom. <HI>1.</HI> n. <HI>26.</HI></NOTE><HI>Baronius</HI> by vertue of tho&s;e words, <HI>Acts</HI> 9.32. <HI>Peter went through all quarters,</HI> will needs have the Apo&s;tle to be the Vi&s;itor General: 'Tis likely the Cardinal, in who&s;e head there &s;wam the dream of a Monarchy, enlargeth his circuit too far; That a Vi&s;itor he was, I ea&s;ily grant, as Saint <HI>Paul</HI> was, <HI>who with Barnabas did vi&s;it the Brethren in every City,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 15.36.</NOTE> <HI>wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re they formerly preached the Word of God:</HI> The&s;e were the fir&s;t vi&s;itations we read of, and they were <GAP DESC="foreign">, wholly for comfort, in the nature of Cordials; the end was <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o &s;ee</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>how they did,</HI> ver. 36. <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>to confirm the Churches,</HI> ver. 41.</P>
<P>To the&s;e there &s;ucceeded another at <HI>Miletus, Acts</HI> 20.17. and this was a <HI>Provincial &V;i&s;itation,</HI> where we may find a fit <HI>Precedent</HI> for &s;uch a Synod.</P>
<P N="1">1. A Vi&s;itor, Saint <HI>Paul.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The vi&s;ited, the Clergy, the chief of the Clergy, Bi&s;hops; for the <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>ver.</HI> 17. were at the 28. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Concio ad Clerum,</HI> a Sermon at the Vi&s;itation, preached by Saint <HI>Paul.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. The end, the &s;afety and well-being of the Flock; that they would take heed <HI>Et &s;ibi &amp; Gregi,</HI> to them&s;elves, and to the Flock; the Synod was wholly <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>ad Cau<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">elam,</HI> to make both Shepherd and &s;heep heed|ful of the Wolf.</P>
<P>Now a man would judge that not Saint <HI>Peter,</HI> as <HI>Baronius</HI> dreamed, but rather Saint <HI>Paul</HI> had been the Vicar-General; for in this place he gives warning of another Vi&s;itation; he had gone through <HI>Syria</HI> and <HI>Cilicia, Derbe, Ly&s;tra,</HI> and <HI>Iconium, Phyrgia,</HI> and <HI>Galatia,</HI> &amp;c. and was now co|ming to <HI>Corinth.</HI> And what to do can you imagine? In the &s;ame manner as &s;ome Ladies and Courtiers u&s;e to vi&s;it their friends more for form, than love; no &s;uch matter, it was no &s;uch idle vi&s;it: When he came he would keep a Con|&s;i&s;tory,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 19. <HI>Cap. hujus.</HI></NOTE> and call tho&s;e that were <HI>puffed up</HI> before him, and he would know what was in them; not <HI>their words,</HI> but <HI>their power;</HI> yea, a <HI>Rod</HI> he had, Authority to puni&s;h, and if nece&s;&s;ity required, they &s;hould feel he would fetch blood; his Vi&s;itation in this place was <GAP DESC="foreign">, to Reform the Schi&s;me, and amend the Manners of the full-fed <HI>Corinthians.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. This was the practice of tho&s;e Virgin-times, and the &s;ucceeding Churches took it up by their example;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tarra. Can. <HI>7.</HI> Epi&s;copi an|nuatim dioece|&s;in vi&s;itent. Toled. Can. <HI>3 5.</HI> Per cunctas d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|aece&s;es &amp; paro|chias &s;uas per &s;ingulos annos Epi&s;copos ire oportet.</NOTE> they &s;uppo&s;ed that might be of u&s;e &s;till, which was of u&s;e then; and that abu&s;es by this means might be prevented or reform|ed, as well as at fir&s;t. Hence the Bi&s;hops were commanded to vi&s;it their Dio|ce&s;s; they had their very name from it, <GAP DESC="foreign"> ab <GAP DESC="foreign">, which is to vi&s;it; their name will put them in mind of their office, which if they forget, the Decrees of divers Councils will pull them by the ear; that of <HI>Tarracon, Can.</HI> 7. enjoyns that it be <HI>annuatim;</HI> the fourth of <HI>Toledo, Can.</HI> 35. that it be <HI>per &s;ingulos annos;</HI> and that of <HI>Trent,</HI> that it be <HI>quolibet &s;altem tri|ennio, Se&s;&s;.</HI> 24. which is the order e&s;tabli&s;hed among us, yea, and before that Council.</P>
<PB N="505" REF="258">
<P>When this order was fir&s;t enacted, it is hard to judge, but it is like to be very Ancient;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Can.</HI> 1. <HI>&amp;</HI> 2</NOTE> for the &s;econd Council of <HI>Braccara</HI> (that pre&s;cribes a Form how Bi&s;hops ought to vi&s;it their Churches) &s;peaks of <HI>&s;icut antiqui Canones <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u|bent;</HI> and I have read in &s;ome Canon, that all is to be done <HI>Secu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">um antiquum ritum &amp; con&s;uetudinem:</HI> An old cu&s;tome then it was, and there were old Ca|nons for it, and foot-&s;teps thereof it is ea&s;ie to trace in the practice of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters">&s;t Ages.</P>
<P>For it is evident that the <HI>Chorepi&s;copi,</HI> either in the ab&s;ence, or &s;ickne&s;s, or peradventure negligence of the Bi&s;hops, &s;upplied this place; and of the&s;e there is often mention made in the Epi&s;tles of <HI>Dama&s;us,</HI> the <HI>Ancyran</HI> and <HI>An<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">iochian</HI> Councils; and by this means there grew &s;uch e&s;timation to tho&s;e Rural Bi&s;hops, and &s;o &s;mall regard of the Epi&s;copal power, that the Councils thought fit to call them to task. The <HI>Ancyr. Can.</HI> 13. that they &s;hould not ordain; for that indeed was a meer u&s;urped power. The <HI>Antiochian, Can.</HI> 10. <HI>Ut modum proprium rec<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gno&s;cant,</HI> &amp;c. that they &s;hould know their place; and the <HI>Laodicean</HI> quite removed them; <GAP DESC="foreign"> mark that word, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Laodic. Can. <HI>57.</HI> Anim<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d. in Epiphan. Meur&s;. Glo&s;&s;ar. Verb. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> you may tran&s;late them with <HI>Pe avius, Vi&s;itatores;</HI> with <HI>Meur&s;ius, Lu&s;tratores,</HI> or el&s;e <HI>C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">itores,</HI> who&s;e Office was, as <HI>Bal&s;omon</HI> glo&s;&s;es that Canon, to ride their Circuit, and vi&s;it all the Churches in that Dioce&s;s, and to enquire of their well or ill being; <GAP DESC="foreign">, as his words are, <GAP DESC="foreign">. The like may be collected out of <HI>Genna<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ius</HI> in h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s <HI>Encyclio,</HI> &s;ave that he placeth them after the <GAP DESC="foreign">, when i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">deed they did, as is evident by the words of the <HI>Laodicean</HI> Council, &s;ucceed in their places: But be it as it will, Vi&s;itors&punc; the&s;e <HI>Circitores</HI> were, and for the Bi&s;hop; whence we may collect that the Vi&s;itors Office was Epi&s;copal at fir&s;t, and very Ancient.</P>
<P N="3">3. But becau&s;e it is impo&s;&s;ible that any con&s;titution &s;hould be &s;o well made, but in the execution thereof there may be much wro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">g done; therefore the wi&s;dom of the Church hath made Vi&s;itors over the&s;e Vi&s;itors,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quaran. Autor. A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">chiep. <HI>28, 29, 30.</HI> &amp;c. Ivo. Ep <HI>182. 1</HI> Conc. Late|ran. cap. <HI>6.</HI> A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">chiep<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">copus E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> coporum p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ps Con. J<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">on. in con&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t. O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hm. cap. d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Off. Ar|chiep. Linwood. de tem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">or. o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">di|n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd. not. f. con&s;tit. Richard. de cen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u. cap. fin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> in <HI>6.</HI> Se&s;&s;. <HI>24.</HI> cap. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> and &s;et an higher eye to over-look them. The Canons have ordained the Metropolitan to be the General-Vi&s;itor in his whole Province, and given him a facul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y to en|quire how his &s;heep are dealt with; ea&s;ie it were to heap up Decrees of Coun|cils to this purpo&s;e. The &s;um of what they deliver is this, That the Arch-bi&s;hop is <HI>Cu&s;tos Canonum</HI> in his whole Province, that he is the univ<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r&s;al Rect fier of all Cu&s;tomes; that <HI>Jure po&s;itivo,</HI> by a Church-Law he is the ordinary Judge; that the Bi&s;hops are &s;ubordinate to him, and have dependance on him; and therefore he may come and vi&s;it his &s;heep, take &s;ome <HI>part of their milk</HI> and wool, enquire in <HI>what pa&s;ture their Sh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">pherds feed them;</HI> call any man to an account who doth <HI>deglubere,</HI> when his Warrant runs only <HI>tondere;</HI> and if he be found faulty that way, or any other, Authority he hath to cen&s;ure or puni&s;h h m; that to him either by Appeal or Devolution any ca&s;e may be referred.</P>
<P>And therefore our new Ma&s;ters of <HI>Trent</HI> were over-magi&s;terial, when they exacted <HI>&agrave; Metropolitanis po&s;t plen&egrave; vi&s;itatam propriam dioece&s;in non vi&s;i|tentur Eccle&s;iae Cathedrales, neque dioece&s;es &s;uorum comprovincialium, ni&s;i cau|&s;&acirc; cognit&acirc; &amp; approbata in Synodo Provinciali.</HI> They might have kept their <HI>ni&s;i</HI> to them&s;elves, the Cla<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;e is too too childi&s;h; by it they would &s;eem to grant a favour, which no Metropolitan is like to enjoy; for who can conceive that the Bi&s;hops within the Province would ever con&s;ent to an inhibiti|on, or approve the Arch-bi&s;hops Rea&s;on, when he meant to vi&s;it them?</P>
<P>They have removed the old Bounds, let us let them alone; the&s;e are the Fence about us; and though they co&s;t us &s;omewhat the keeping, yet the charge
<PB N="506" REF="259"> is not to be valued,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;copus qua&s;i uperspeculator, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uperintendens. <HI>Linwood. fol. 17. 6.</HI></NOTE> in regard of the benefit; did they not over-&s;ee us, we &s;hould perhaps feel other Vi&s;itors, &s;uch as would never make que&s;tion in what manner they &s;hould come; put it to you, wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h a <HI>Quid vultis?</HI> but put it upon you with <HI>Rod</HI> enough.</P>
<P><HI>Veniam in charitate;] I will come in love;</HI> of which in the next place: For however the <HI>Rod</HI> &s;tand fir&s;t, yet it is to be u&s;ed la&s;t; and when taken in hand, even then to be guided by <HI>love;</HI> for <HI>love</HI> &s;tands in this <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> as the point in a circumference, from which all the lines are drawn.</P>
<P N="1">1. His journey to vi&s;it i&s;&s;ued from thence; a matter of much pains it was, and he would never have undertooken it, had it not been out of meer <HI>love.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The lenity and mildne&s;s with which he would proceed when he came, was but a gracious impre&s;&s;ion of the loving &s;pirit; mildly he never would have dealt with &s;uch a froward people, had he not loved them.</P>
<P N="3">3. Yea, but what &s;ay you to the <HI>Rod?</HI> is there love in that? yes love, and great love certainly, which put this In&s;trument into his hand, and not a &s;harper weapon; for however to puni&s;h, &s;eems to proceed from wrath and an|ger, not love; yet when it is executed with a fathers hand, and laid on with a <HI>Rod</HI> only, from the bowels of love it proceeds; <HI>Ca&s;tigat, non quod odio ha|bet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 10.8.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ed quod amet;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, not <GAP DESC="foreign">: for Edification, not for De&s;truction; which moved Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> to ob&s;erve upon this Text, <HI>Et Virga Charitatem habet.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, In his <HI>quid vultis,</HI> there is great fervour of love; that be the of|fence very foule, yet it was in their choice whether they would be whip't for it; that depended upon their carriage <GAP DESC="foreign">; <HI>may I come,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle? he doth as it were ask leave of them.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hebrai&s;. est.</HI> the &s;ubjunctive mood for the indicative; <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> Love then there is in his journey, love in his lenity, love in his <HI>Rod,</HI> love in his que&s;tion; the center love in the mid&s;t of the <HI>Ver&s;e,</HI> makes <HI>fluxus punctorum,</HI> all the points to meet in it.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">, Iron-&s;ides there be in the World, who as if they were of a Forraign Body, have no fellow-feeling of a wounded part; <HI>Quod pereat, pe|reat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 11.9.</NOTE> is their churli&s;h tone; <HI>and that which is cut off, let it be cut off;</HI> ready enough they will be to &s;upplant a man, but &s;taffe he &s;hall have none from them to &s;tay him, that he fall not; nor hand he &s;hall have none to help him up, when he is fallen; what becomes of any be&s;ides them&s;elves, they reg<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rd not; thus the&s;e <HI>&s;ibi nati:</HI> But our Apo&s;tles name cannot be entred in this Roll; they, the <HI>Corinthians,</HI> his children might be what they &s;hould not, a Schi&s;matical, Heretical company, Separati&s;ts, and &s;candalous &s;inners; yet a &s;piritual father he was; <HI>through the Go&s;pel he had begotten them,</HI> ver. 15. and therefore he could never put off the bowels of compa&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>See how all the&s;e ju&s;t occa&s;ions of di&s;like offer them&s;elves in the Church of <HI>Corinth,</HI> for which the Apo&s;tle doth not yet de&s;ert them, as if God by his love would teach us what to do in the like ca&s;e.</P>
<P N="1">1. Here&s;ie they were guilty of, <HI>Haeretici n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;cientes</HI> at le&s;t they were; for they were utterly ignorant of,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. de Re|&s;ur. car. cap. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> if not flatly denied <HI>Fiduciam Chri&s;tiano|rum,</HI> the Article of the Re&s;urrection; our Apo&s;tle is forced at <HI>chap.</HI> 15. to prove it unto them by invincible Rea&s;ons and Demon&s;trations.</P>
<P N="2">2. Their Schi&s;me was grown to a great height; every one had his Ma&s;ter to follow,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.12.</NOTE> <HI>Apollo, Paul,</HI> or <HI>Cephas,</HI> ju&s;t as the wind of his own fancy carried him.</P>
<P N="3">3. As for their &s;in, that was become clamorous and impudent, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5.1.</NOTE> all <HI>Corinth</HI> rung of it again.</P>
<P N="4">4. And to this their &s;piritual father they proved ungracious children: no|thing he could do could plea&s;e them; Not his per&s;on, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 10.10.</NOTE> a weak man he &s;eemed, he carried not Maje&s;ty in his looks; N<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> his office;
<PB N="507" REF="259"> for as if he had not been <HI>Legatus &agrave; latere,</HI> he mu&s;t come in the &s;econd Form, and not be matched with the chief Apo&s;tles: No, nor his preaching;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 12.11.</NOTE> for though his letters were <GAP DESC="foreign">, yet when he came to a Ser|mon, all was <GAP DESC="foreign">, addle &s;tuffe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 10.10.</NOTE> they could make nothing of it.</P>
<P>This they were, and thus they dealt by him; and yet for all this, <HI>Audi &s;anctam in&s;aniam,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Bernard,</HI> in a ca&s;e much like this;<NOTE PLACE="marg">De natura amo|ris Divini. cap. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> with us this were madne&s;s, not love, thus to love, where there appears no cau&s;e; thus to love, where we are not beloved; but be it what it will be, &s;o mad Saint <HI>Paul</HI> will be; <HI>Whether he be be&s;ides him&s;elf, or &s;ob r, the love of Chri&s;t con&s;traineth him; &amp; affirmato e&s;t animo,</HI> ob&s;tinate and &s;tiffe he is in this to do as he does;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.13, 14</NOTE> love <GAP DESC="foreign">, not only tho&s;e that loved him not fir&s;t; but <GAP DESC="foreign">, tho&s;e vhich loved him not again.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE></P>
<P>An excellent pattern for us to work by, that aim at the &s;ame end that he did, to take men, and &s;ave &s;ouls, that nothing bring us into hatred with their per&s;ons; nor unkindne&s;s, nor &s;in; nor here&s;ie, nor &s;chi&s;me &s;hould quench our love; ob&s;tinatly we &s;hould re&s;olve to become yet more vile to do them good; follow them, and pro&s;ecute them even revolted, in the words, St. <HI>John,</HI> forgetful of his years, did his flying young man; <HI>Oh my &s;on, Why fl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;t thou me, thy father unarm<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d, and old? Oh my child, tender my ca&s;e, be not a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">raid;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eu&s;eb. lib <HI>3.</HI> cap. <HI>23.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">x Clemen. Alex.</NOTE> <HI>as yet there remaineth hope of &s;alvation; I will undertake for thee with Chri&s;t, I wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> dye for thee if need be, as Chri&s;t did for us; I will hazard my &s;oul for thine, tru&s;t to me, Chri&s;t &s;ent me.</HI> Love &s;hould transform us into any thing, <HI>make us become all things to all men, to win &s;ome.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.22.</NOTE></P>
<P><HI>Aaron</HI> had a very untoward people to deal with,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.22.</NOTE> and therefore he doth thus apologize for him&s;elf to <HI>Mo&s;es, O my Lord, thou know<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t that this people is &s;et upon mi&s;chief;</HI> which cau&s;ed Saint <HI>Stephen</HI> to &s;et two brands up|on them, and that ju&s;tly; one upon the neck, and the other in the heart; <GAP DESC="foreign">.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.51.</NOTE> And yet was he commanded to carry them in two eminent places about him, <HI>in &s;uperhumerali, &amp; in pectoral<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 28.12. &amp; 21.</NOTE> <HI>upon his two &s;houlders for a mem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rial,</HI> that he might call to mind that the peoples bur|dens were tyed fa&s;t to his back; <HI>and in the brea&s;t-plate beautified with twelv<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;tones, and in every &s;tone the name of a Tribe,</HI> that his eye might pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mp't his heart, how dear the &s;afety of that people was to be unto him. By patience he was to carry them on <HI>his &s;houlders,</HI> by love to lodge them in <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">is bo&s;ome; in &s;inn,</HI> in his bo&s;ome; there where the Nur&s;e carries her child; there where the kind husband layes his wife; there they will be next the heart, and the heart is the &s;eat of love; God will have his people be in the High Prie&s;ts <HI>brea&s;t, upon his &s;houlder,</HI> above the re&s;t.</P>
<P>And a word there is in this Text, though a little one, that being well weighed, will per&s;wade them to accept of the burden; it is <HI>&V;os;</HI> now who were they? Look back to <HI>chap.</HI> 1. <HI>ver.</HI> 2. and you &s;hall find that they <HI>were the Church of Corinth, men that were &s;anctified in Christ Je&s;us, and called to be Saints; &s;anctified</HI> I &s;ay, <HI>and reputed to be Saints,</HI> notwith&s;tanding their Schi&s;me, Here&s;ie, and notorious &s;in; and can any love be too dear for &s;uch? God &s;o loved them that he gave hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Son; his Son &s;o loved them, that he gave his life; and &s;hall the Prie&s;t love the&s;e &s;o little, as not to be&s;tow his pains? The price is that which makes every thing of e&s;teem.</P>
<Q>&mdash; Magis illa juvant quae pluris emuntur.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Juv. &s;at. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE></Q>
<P>And of the higher e&s;teem any thing is, the more eagerly it is affected; let it be &s;o in this ca&s;e, where the price was the blood of the Son of God, and the Church the purcha&s;e; that which was &s;o highly prized, and &s;o dearly bought,
<PB N="508" REF="260"> may well be the object of our love, mo&s;t tender and dear to our affections, ever under our eye, upon our &s;houlder, and laid next to our <HI>Heart.</HI> And put ca&s;e we meet with a di&s;courteous people, and a prophane, &s;editious mul|titude, yet <HI>Eliahs</HI> &s;pirit doth not &s;o well, till we have tryed what we can do by <HI>love,</HI> and with the &s;pirit of <HI>meekne&s;s,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P N="4">4. <GAP DESC="foreign">] And meekne&s;s is one of the wayes that love &s;hews it &s;elf, <HI>Charitas benigna e&s;t,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13.4. Kind it is, and &s;o kind, that it pities tho&s;e that are in mi&s;ery; rejoyceth not over them, but is willing to re|dre&s;s their wrongs, relieve their wants, reform their errours, and procure their welfare.</P>
<P>It becomes not a Superiour to give that command of that bloody Empe|rour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tacit.</NOTE> <HI>Ita feri ut mori &s;e &s;entiat;</HI> rather if he mu&s;t puni&s;h, to be drawn to to it unwillingly, <HI>aculeo ju&s;titiae mi&s;ceat mel clementiae;</HI> and wi&s;h with <HI>Nero</HI> in his golden dayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Seneca de Cle|mentia. lib. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Quam vellem ne&s;cire litteras,</HI> when he is to &s;ign a penal Warrant. Sinnes are &s;ores, and there is great Art in curing them; a <HI>Corro|&s;ive</HI> when it is requi&s;ite, laid on with a gentle and ea&s;ie hand, will be le&s;s felt, and better taken than a <HI>Lenitive</HI> clapt to in a boy&s;terous manner. It is re|ported of the Judges of <HI>China,</HI> that their words are accompanied with &s;uch an incredible &s;weetne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t. of the Court of <HI>China p.</HI> 220.</NOTE> as they are gracious even to tho&s;e whom they Con|demn. For by this kind u&s;age it will appear that all is done <HI>animo medentis potius quam &s;aevientis,</HI> that it is not the purpo&s;e to Torture the di&s;affe|cted party, or to put him to pain, farther than the nece&s;&s;ity of his Cure re|quires.</P>
<P>But this is not a work for every man to undertake. <HI>&V;os qui spirituales, Gal.</HI> 6.1. a <HI>carnal-minded, man</HI> hath no skill of it; <HI>fle&s;h and blood is too proud and in&s;olent,</HI> to re&s;tore in <HI>meekne&s;s</HI> a poor Chri&s;tian-lap&s;ed-&s;oul. 'Tis a task only to be perform'd by &s;uch an heart which is &s;oftned by the Unction of the Divine Spirit. And therefore our Apo&s;tle asks not &s;imply, <HI>whether he &s;hould come in love and meekne&s;s;</HI> but in a new phra&s;e, never to be read in a prophane Author, in &s;uch <HI>love</HI> and <HI>meekne&s;s</HI> as the Spirit of God did breath into him.</P>
<P N="5">5. <GAP DESC="foreign">] Another direction this is to proceed by, pro|per and peculiar to a Chri&s;tian.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Love</HI> is one Rule.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Lenity</HI> another.</P>
<P N="3">3. But <HI>Sp ritus lenitatis,</HI> is a third, and far beyond either of the o|ther two. For <HI>love and lenity</HI> will not be kindly till they come from with|in; and from within they will not come, till the Spirit dwell in the Heart. Get the Holy Spirit thither, or el&s;e his Graces will not come there; moral civil vertues without him you may have, but Graces you &s;hall not have; &s;omething to commend you to the world, but nothing to commend you in the eye of God. Many a Heathen you &s;hall find highly extoll'd for their cle|mency and &s;weet mildne&s;s, who are, being compared with other <HI>Nabals, deliciae generis humani.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Titus Imp. Sue|ton.</NOTE> But becau&s;e this gracious behaviour proceeded <HI>ex|trin&s;ecus,</HI> was taken up for &s;ome worldly re&s;pects, perchance to be &s;een and prai&s;ed of men, or aro&s;e from a natural con&s;titution, or a careful educati|on, it was neither kindly, nor yet con&s;tant; ever now and then you &s;hall find it interrupted and &s;owred with &s;ome Act of cruelty, as it fell out in <HI>Nero,</HI> that did but counterfeit the work.</P>
<P>But when this &s;weet di&s;po&s;ition is breath'd from the Spirit of God that dwells within, you &s;hall &s;ee with what freedome and ingenuity it will flow, and with what con&s;tancy and uniformity it will continue; &s;o that truly <HI>gratum fa|ciet,</HI> a Grace it will be that will make a mans per&s;on, and what he does, tru|ly gracious in the eyes of God and men. The word <HI>Spirit</HI> then, in this
<PB N="509" REF="260"> place is not to be taken <GAP DESC="foreign">, for it is added <GAP DESC="foreign"> it is no &s;uperfluous or paraphra&s;tical terme, but it hath its full weight added for nece&s;&s;ity, in that it in &s;pirits both our love and our lenity; quickens both, and &s;ets both aright.</P>
<P>'Tis not unknown unto you, that all activity is from the Spirit, yea, even in meer natural bodies; take off that, and what remains behinde but <HI>bruta pars,</HI> a meere earthly part, that is better ca&s;t away, than re&s;erv'd. The <HI>Galeni&s;ts</HI> know this well, who of the &s;pirits of Vegetals, and the <HI>Paracel|&s;ians,</HI> that of the &s;pirits of mettals compo&s;e their Do&s;es. By the &s;piritual parts they hope to effect what they de&s;ire. 'Tis thus in natural Phy&s;ique, the &s;pirits do all; but in &s;piritual much more; the Do<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e will never work kindly, except there be &s;ome ingredients of the Spirit in it.</P>
<P>Too too often when a brother is fa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">len, <HI>homo exuit hominem,</HI> he con&s;i|ders not the &s;lippery ground upon which his brothers feet &s;tood, and that he hath the &s;ame &s;eeds of evil in him, that his brother had; and therefore his feet may &s;lip as his brothers have done, and tho&s;e &s;eeds may grow into as rank a &s;talk, and beare as bad fruit as they did in him. Upon the Fact we look, not that the per&s;on that committed it, is like to one of us. Hence we are &s;o far <GAP DESC="foreign"> 'tis Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> word, <HI>Gal.</HI> 6. from &s;et|ting in that which is out of joynt, that if we finde ought di&s;located, or &s;lipt a&s;ide, <HI>indicamus, irridemus, spernimus, homo homines,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. in Cant. <HI>44.</HI></NOTE> <HI>delinquen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es pecca|tor.</HI> We cry with <HI>Pilate, Ecce homo;</HI> we bring forth the bloody Coat, and make &s;how of it openly, and ask in &s;corne, <HI>An haec tunic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> filii,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 37.32.</NOTE> whether &s;uch a men&s;truous Cloth as this, can &s;it well upon a Childs back?</P>
<P>I know not well what to &s;ay to it, but &s;ure I am there is little of the &s;pi|rit of <HI>meekne&s;&s;e</HI> in this cour&s;e; much there is of an <HI>I&s;hmaeliti&s;h</HI> nature in it; neither will all the precepts or per&s;wa&s;ions of Morali&s;ts better it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Beru. loc. cit.</NOTE> <HI>&V;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">run|tamen quod non potest natura, pote&s;t gratia.</HI> That man whom the Spirit of God &s;hall anoint with this gentle oyle, will pre&s;ently recover his huma|nity again; nay more, have a &s;uper-unction of Chri&s;tianity; and &s;o his bro|ther whom he is to re&s;tore, from the <HI>meekne&s;s</HI> of a man, and the <HI>spirit</HI> of a Chr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|&s;tian, &s;hall receive help.</P>
<P>Hitherto every line hath breath'd nothing but <HI>Love;</HI> now you mu&s;t give me leave to call for the <HI>Rod;</HI> and yet I promi&s;e you, <HI>non quod odio h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">beam;</HI> The fault may be &s;uch, that a &s;oure look mu&s;t be put upon the matter, and the <HI>love</HI> that lies in the heart not without danger &s;hown. <HI>Charitatem erga fidel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s Apo&s;tolus animo gerebat, non &s;emper o&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">endebat.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;tius in loc.</NOTE> The Apo&s;tle did not alwayes make &s;how of the good-will he bore; neither may I, nor any o|ther Spiritual Father, but chide we mu&s;t, and fight we mu&s;t, as occa&s;i|on &s;erves; and &s;o I unwillingly betake me to that Taske, <HI>To the Rod.</HI></P>
<P N="6">6. Where fir&s;t I will &s;hew you what the <HI>Rod</HI> is; next,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rupert. in Mat. <HI>c. 10.</HI></NOTE> how it mu&s;t be u&s;ed.</P>
<P>There is in the Scriptures <HI>&V;irga Dominationis, Directionis, &amp; Cor|rectionis.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, The <HI>Rod of domineering power;</HI> but this it is not; it being too much &s;uperciliou&s;ne&s;s in any Prelate how Eminent &s;oever,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 5.3.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, to domineer over Gods Heritage. And yet a man there is, but it is the man of &s;inne that hath made him &s;uch a <HI>Rod;</HI> and as if he were another <HI>Senacherib, virga furoris,</HI> takes upon him to whip the Kings of the Earth at his plea&s;ure. His Para&s;ites have told him, that <HI>in ordine ad &s;p ritualia,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 10.5. <HI>Bell. de Rom. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">on. lib.</HI> 5. <HI>c.</HI> 6. Mat. 20.26.</NOTE> he may domineer, and la&s;h whom he li&s;t; and it &s;eems he believes them, ra|ther than Chri&s;t. His Ma&s;ters prohibition, <HI>&V;os autem non &s;ic,</HI> is out of
<PB N="410" REF="261"> Date; and <HI>Bernard</HI> was but an old doting Monk,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ber. de con&s;. l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>6</HI></NOTE> to tell him <HI>Dominatio inter|dicitur, indicitur Mini&s;tratio;</HI> and the Abbot <HI>Rupert</HI> knew not well what he &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rupert. in Mat. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> when he was &s;o po&s;itive, <HI>&V;irga dominationis non e&s;t conce&s;&s;a Mini|stris Evangelij pacis.</HI></P>
<P>Our Lord had no earthly Scpter.</P>
<P N="1">1. None <HI>jure haereditario,</HI> not by inheritance; he might de&s;cend of the Blood Royal, and yet not be next in blood.</P>
<P N="2">2. None by Election; his que&s;tion carries with it the form of a Nega|tive, <HI>Qu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s con&s;tituit me in judicem? Luke</HI> 12.14. And when the people would have advanced him to the Crown,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 6.15.</NOTE> he <HI>fled, and hid him&s;elf.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. None by Conque&s;t and Victory; for his Warre was not with earth|ly Princes, but with the Prince that compa&s;&s;eth the earth. His <HI>works</HI> he came to di&s;&s;olve, 1 <HI>John</HI> 3.8. His <HI>power</HI> he did &s;poyle, <HI>Col.</HI> 2.15. <HI>By him this P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ince was ca&s;t out, John</HI> 12.32. <HI>Cae&s;ar</HI> was no way di&s;turb'd by him; in this point he gave full &s;atisfaction to <HI>Pilate, Regnum meum non e&s;t hin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 18.36.</NOTE> Upon which place St. <HI>Augu&s;tine, Audite Judaei, audite gentes, audi circumci&s;io; audite omnia terrena Regna, Non impedit dominationem ve&s;tram in hoc mundo.</HI> And therefore it is impudence in his Courtiers, to m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ke the Pope <HI>Lord</HI> of all, at the lea&s;t of the Chri&s;tian World, by a Do|nation from Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Alvar. Pelag. Aug. Triumphus citatus &agrave; Bellar.</NOTE> when Chri&s;t him&s;elf as Man, or Mediatour, was no tem|poral Lord or King; and therefore much le&s;s gave any temporal Dominion to his Apo&s;tles. To put &s;uch a <HI>Rod</HI> into his hand, were to make the Di&s;ci|ple to be above his Lord; <HI>E&s;to ut ali&acirc; quacun&abque; ratione haec &s;ibi ven<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">icet, [viz. Papa] &s;ed non Apo&s;tolico jure;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. lib. cit.</NOTE> <HI>nec enim ille alicui dare po<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uit, quod non habuit.</HI> It was not then this <HI>Rod</HI> of Monarchy, Power, or Domineer|ing tyranny, that our Apo&s;tle here means.</P>
<P>Secondly, A &s;econd <HI>Rod</HI> yet there is, and it is the <HI>Shepherds Pa&s;toral,</HI> by which every wandering Sheep is reclaim'd from the wrong, and directed the right way. Precepts, and whole&s;ome examples, frequent advices, good coun&s;el, and exhortations in &s;ea&s;on and out of &s;ea&s;on, make up this <HI>Rod;</HI> and this our Apo&s;tle had made u&s;e of toward the <HI>Corinthians</HI> now for twen|ty ei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> months; from a bad cour&s;e he had dehorted them, to a right path he had advi&s;ed; but they had this of the Sheep in them, that they would be al|ways &s;tragling; wherefore laying a&s;ide his <HI>Rod of direction,</HI> he calls for his <HI>cor|rective Rod.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly, For as I told you &s;uch a <HI>Rod</HI> there was, <HI>&V;irga correctionis,</HI> and this was it which St. <HI>Paul</HI> threatens to bring with him to <HI>Corinth,</HI> the Di&s;ciplining <HI>Rod,</HI> and therefore the <HI>Rhemi&s;ts</HI> po&s;ition on this <HI>ver&s;e</HI> is not to be rejected.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rhem. annot. in locum.</NOTE> The Apo&s;tles had power of Cen&s;ures and Di&s;cipline again&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ffendors. The word is Metaphorical, and fetch'd out of the School; <HI>Chry|&s;o&s;tom</HI> interprets it in large termes, <HI>Poena, &amp; &s;upplicium. Ambro&s;e</HI> takes in <HI>Correptiones,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><P><HI>Hom.</HI> 14. <HI>in</HI> 1 Cor.</P>
<P>1. <HI>de poenit. cap.</HI> 12. <HI>Chry&s;. hom.</HI> 30. <HI>in</HI> 2 Cor. Amb. l cit c. 14.</P></NOTE> <HI>&amp; increpatoines;</HI> but both at la&s;t &s;peak out for excommunication. <HI>&V;enit in virga, qui &agrave; Communione Sacra convi|ctum removet;</HI> and <HI>E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ius</HI> upon this place is po&s;itive, <HI>&V;irgam nominat non gladium, tamet&s;i gladium ab ci&s;&s;ionis,</HI> i. e. <HI>excommunicationis jam cogi|tans quia Patrem &s;e dixerat; patris enim e&s;t virg&acirc; ca&s;tigare Filium.</HI> And he that &s;hall but reade the next Chapter where he gives order for the ince&s;tu|ous per&s;on <HI>tradi Satanae,</HI> need not doubt, but that it was his intent to come to <HI>Corin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h</HI> with this <HI>Rod</HI> in his hand.</P>
<P>But becau&s;e there be, who are too bu&s;ie with this <HI>Rod, plago&s;i Orbilij;</HI> who, forgett ng that they are Fathers of Gods people, whip any man upon every light occa&s;ion, out of the Temple, fit it will be to &s;et down &s;ome Directions for this <HI>Rod of Correction;</HI> and I know not whence they can be better fetch'd than from this Text, and context of the Apo&s;tle, which we have now in hand.</P>
<PB N="511" REF="261">
<P>For here we &s;hall finde
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. In who&s;e hand the <HI>Rod</HI> is.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That it is a <HI>&s;evere Rod.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. We meet with the per&s;on that mu&s;t feel it.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The quality of the Fact for which he is to be whipt.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. That it may not be taken off at plea&s;ure.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. We have a &s;olemn form to be u&s;ed in the laying it on.</ITEM>
<ITEM>7. The place where the offendor mu&s;t &s;uffer,</ITEM>
<ITEM>8. And la&s;tly, the ends for which all this is to be done.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, The <HI>Rod</HI> is in Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> hand, an Apo&s;tle, a Clergy-man; the Pronoune <HI>Ego</HI> here appropriates to him: For it is not likely that he would terrifie them with that power he had not. This <HI>Rod</HI> in Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> hand, is all one with the Key in Saint <HI>Peters;</HI> there was the &s;ame u&s;e of it in both. By this the chief Apo&s;tle might &s;hut out, and let in; with this the lea&s;t Apo&s;tle might whip out &s;uch as de&s;erv'd it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.8.</NOTE></P>
<P>To them this power was <HI>promi&s;ed;</HI> by name to <HI>Peter, Tibi dabo claves;</HI> but in him to all the Apo&s;tles, <HI>Petrus ge&s;&s;it Eccle&s;iae per&s;onam; quae ergo di|cta</HI> Petro, <HI>dicta univer&s;ae Eccle&s;iae,</HI> Augu&s;t. in P&s;al. 108. For to all it was <HI>bequeath'd,</HI> John 20. by a formal conveyance, <HI>Quorum remi&s;eritis pecca|ta, remittuntur ijs;</HI> and what was <HI>Peter</HI> and his Colleagues at this time? Lay-men, trow ye? not &s;o, for they had their Ordination by vertue of the&s;e words, <HI>Receive the Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> they had their Mi&s;&s;ion, <HI>As my Father &s;en<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> me, &s;o &s;end I you;</HI> and then, and not before, they receiv'd their Com|mi&s;&s;ion, the tenor whereof was <HI>Reten<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ion,</HI> or <HI>Rem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ion of &s;inne,</HI> injuncti|on of <HI>Pennance</HI> and <HI>Ab&s;olution:</HI> So careful our Saviour was before he com|mitted &s;o great power into their hands, to make them capable of it. Nei|ther was this their Commi&s;&s;ion temporary, or to la&s;t only for the Apo&s;tles dayes; becau&s;e when they had run their races, there would be as great &s;in|ners as liv'd in their dayes, who would have as great need of the grace of <HI>Ab|&s;olution</HI> and <HI>Indulgence</HI> from the Prie&s;ts Hand, as they could have. As Prie&s;ts then, and not as Apo&s;tles, they receiv'd this power; to la&s;t for ever, as the Go&s;pel which they preached was to be <HI>aeternum Evangelium,</HI> Rev. 14.6. to endure for ever; and therefore to be a perpetual Legacy to their Succe&s;&s;ours. But in their places none but Prie&s;ts &s;ucceed them, and therefore none but Prie&s;ts can &s;ucceed them in their power and function. The Commi&s;&s;ion to loo&s;e and binde, was granted to none but to them and their Succe&s;&s;ors; and therefore it may be executed by none but by them and their Succe&s;&s;ors. In their Hands it is, and &s;olely in theirs, in <HI>fieri,</HI> in <HI>e&s;&s;e,</HI> in <HI>con&s;ervari,</HI> in <HI>operari.</HI> Let them then in Gods name, quietly enjoy, what by Original grant is theirs.</P>
<P>Hence it follows that a Lay-man, <HI>qua talis,</HI> how eminent &s;oever, nor yet any Corporation of Lay-Elders how godly &s;oever, may wre&s;t this Rod out of Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> Hand; no, nor yet by any means be inve&s;ted with, much le&s;s arrogate to him&s;elf this power, becau&s;e it is a prerogative annex'd to the power of Order.</P>
<P>But this you will &s;ay may ea&s;ily be granted, that a Clergy-man, and none but a Clergy-man, hath the power of the Rod; the que&s;tion is, whether he may not delegate this power unto a Lay-man; by vertue of which delega|tion a Lay-m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n may &s;it in the Temple of God.</P>
<P>To which I an&s;wer fir&s;t, that our Saviour did it not; to the Apo&s;tles on|ly he committed this power, and not to any Laique; now his actions ought to be pre&s;idents, nay precepts to all following ca&s;es.</P>
<P>Next, no man ought to conferre a Grace upon that man of which he is not capable; and of this grace, as I have &s;ufficiently proved, no Lay-man is,
<PB N="512" REF="262"> in that he is not <HI>inspired,</HI> in that he is not &s;ent; and therefore &s;ince he hath not the former grace of <HI>&s;ending,</HI> he may not execute the latter of <HI>binding</HI> and <HI>loo&s;ing;</HI> either the Bi&s;hop mu&s;t &s;end him, and in&s;pire him by Ordination, or el&s;e he cannot give him a Comm<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>I am not ignorant with what fig-leaves they go about to cover this their nakedne&s;s.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Thom. &s;up. 3tiae partis. q. <HI>22.</HI> art. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> The School hath taught them to Apo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ogize by di&s;tinctions. They di&s;tingui&s;h of the Key, they di&s;tingui&s;h of the Court; one Ke<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> they have <HI>or|dinis;</HI> another they have <HI>juri&s;dict<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">onis;</HI> and one Court they have call'd <HI>poe|nitentiale,</HI> but another <HI>litigio&s;um,</HI> or <HI>conten<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">o&s;um;</HI> and though that the Key of Order be alone to be u&s;ed <HI>in foro poenitentiae,</HI> and by none but a Prie&s;t; yet the Key of Juri&s;diction may be exerci&s;ed <HI>in foro cont<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ntio&s;o,</HI> by a Legat, Offi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ial, or Arch-Deacon, that are not in Ord<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rs. Thus they: But <HI>Cre|tice pelluces,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vid.</HI> Hi&s;t. Con. Trent. p. 330, 331.</NOTE> their nakedne&s;s cannot be thus hid. Fir&s;t the di&s;tinction is new, the Bi&s;hops Court being in the prime in&s;titution <HI>forum poenitentiae,</HI> and no|thing el&s;e; O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">iginally the whole <GAP DESC="foreign"> was there decreed and tran&s;a|cted, and the poenitentiary was a Prie&s;t; that <HI>Lites</HI> were there compo&s;ed, and a Trial pa&s;&s;ed upon other matters, proceeded meerly from the indulgence of Princes. That a Lay-man may be deputed by the B &s;hop <HI>in foro exteriori,</HI> or <HI>contentio&s;o,</HI> to hear and decide &s;uch ca&s;es, I deny not; I que&s;tion only whether he hath power to excommunicate. Their di&s;tinction then may &s;erve them to prove their right of Trial, but not their power of Excommuni|cation.</P>
<P>Yea, and their very practice evinceth &s;o much; for grant that the party who hath a ca&s;e to be tryed in the Court, obey not the Monition and Citati|on of the Church, for this he is pronounced <HI>contumax,</HI> and &s;o proceeded a|gain&s;t; but by what Key? <HI>ordinis,</HI> or <HI>juri&s;dictionis?</HI> Not by the latter, for that hath his u&s;e only as they teach, <HI>in foro exteriori,</HI> where <HI>Lis</HI> is <HI>decernen|da,</HI> and his Contumacy is not of that nature. A &s;inne it is, and an high branch of pride, and therefore mu&s;t be brought, and the party for it <HI>in fo|rum poenitentiae,</HI> where the Key of Order mu&s;t teach him to humble him&s;elf, and &s;ubmit unto his Superiour, before he can &s;tand <HI>rectus in curia,</HI> or have his cau&s;e tryed in that Court.</P>
<P>Out of this you may collect thus much, that by their own confe&s;&s;ion they turn no Key upon any man in this Court but for &s;inne: either for &s;ome &s;in committed, or el&s;e for wilful contumacy; and of &s;in only &s;ince a Poeniten|tiary Prie&s;t may be Judge, it follows that he only may binde and loo&s;e. And this Truth <HI>&V;ignerius</HI> &s;aw well enough,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vigner. in&s;t. p. <HI>527.</HI></NOTE> and therefore in h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s Epitome of <HI>Tho|mas,</HI> was forc'd to confe&s;s, that <HI>Non est propri&egrave; actus clavis ea excommu|nicatio, qu&acirc; homo &agrave; con&s;ortio hominum &s;eparatur, &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d magis exterioris ju|dicij q<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">od promulgatur,</HI> and that <HI>non ligat in foro con&s;cientiae, qua ca &s;a aga<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ur int<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r hominem &amp; Deum,</HI> but <HI>ad hominem tantum.</HI> If it be no Act of the Key, then it is nothing; and if it binde not the con&s;cience, nor yet in Heaven, by their own ground it is but <HI>brutum fulm<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n,</HI> it may be con|temned.</P>
<P>Thus have I proved that this key may not be put into a Lay-mans hand. What then? &s;hall the Bi&s;hop keep it only in his own? if he plea&s;e he may. But if he li&s;t not to do it, he may delegate it to a Commi&s;&s;ary, &s;o he be of the Cler<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y. Any Eccle&s;ia&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ical Judge may <HI>decernere excommunicandum,</HI> but a C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ergy-man only pronounce the &s;entence of Excommunication; and the rea&s;on is, becau&s;e the power <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f the K<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ys, in re&s;pect of that internal ef|fect that it hath upon the Con&s;cience, is annexed to the Prie&s;t|hood, both in <HI>fieri,</HI> in <HI>e&s;&s;e,</HI> in <HI>con&s;ervari,</HI> in <HI>oper<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ri,</HI> as I but now &s;aid.</P>
<PB N="513" REF="262">
<P>That they apply it not without a &s;pecial Commi&s;&s;ion <HI>ad Corpus Chri&s;ti vi&s;ibile,</HI> in the injunction of any publick pennance, or reconciliation of any publick penitent, is, becau&s;e they are not Bi&s;hops, have no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> a Dioce&s;s a&s;&s;igned to them, over which they may <HI>jus dicere,</HI> as a Bi&s;hop may; without who&s;e leave were it lawful for every Prie&s;t to execute that power which doth belong unto him <HI>pote&s;tate ordinis,</HI> there would be no uniformity, no unity in the Church: But that <HI>in fieri,</HI> that is potentially; and <HI>in e&s;&s;e,</HI> that is e&s;&s;ential|ly; and <HI>in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">on&s;ervari,</HI> he is made the Keeper; and <HI>in operari,</HI> he may be the in&s;trument to execute this power, the ab&s;olutions which every Parochian Rector and Curate doth publickly pronounce, and the reconciliation of private penitents doth &s;uffi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">iently declare. And therefore the Bi&s;hop may delegate his power to any Suffragan in the Clergy, becau&s;e he was in his Ordination ori|ginally inve&s;ted with it; <HI>Tunc ei Claves datae,</HI> then the Key, and the power of the Key; then the <HI>R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d,</HI> and the Authority of the <HI>Rod</HI> was del<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">vered un<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o him; &s;o that the Bi&s;hop by his Seal gives him not any new Faculty or Au|thority, but only a Liberty to execute that power (which is primarily in him) publickly, and in his &s;tead, without which Licen&s;e for the common good, and peace of the Church, he might not inter|meddle.</P>
<P>Secondly, You &s;ee in who&s;e hand the <HI>rod</HI> is; next take notice that it is a <HI>rod,</HI> the &s;harpe&s;t penalty that can be inflicted. When the good Emperour <HI>Theodo&s;ius</HI> felt it upon his back,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sozom. lib. <HI>7.</HI> c. <HI>24.</HI> Theod l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">b. <HI>5.</HI> cap. <HI>16, 17.</HI></NOTE> he gtoaned at every blow that <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> gave him, and with tears in his eyes, thus be&s;poke his Favourite, <HI>Thou O Ruf|fine, make&s;t but a sp rt of the&s;e things; but the con&s;ideration of the&s;e &s;tripes make me &s;igh and lament; for that whe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eas the doors of Gods hou&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> are op<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n to &s;laves and beggars, &s;o that they may be admitted to pre&s;ent their pe|titions to their Lord, the&s;e are &s;hut again&s;t me; nay, which is wor&s;e, the gates of heaven are fa&s;t locked again&s;t me al&s;o; for I cannot forget the words of my Lord, Quicquid ligaveritis in Terr&acirc;, erit ligatum in Coelo.</HI></P>
<P>A mo&s;t heavy blow this is, and yet you feel not the full weight thereof;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><P>Chry&s;. in <HI>1</HI> Tim. Hom. <HI>5.</HI></P>
<P>Ambr. in <HI>1</HI> Tim. Aug. Cont. Ep. Par. lib. <HI>3.1, 1.</HI> Cypr. Ep. <HI>62.</HI> In&s;t. Calv. cap. <HI>8.</HI> de fide. Sect. <HI>188.</HI></P></NOTE> a wor&s;e matter yet there is behind; it is <HI>Tradi Satanae,</HI> ver. 5. of the next Chapter. I will not affirm with divers of the Fathers, That the per&s;on thus whip't out of the Church, was put into the hands of the Divel, as <HI>Job</HI> was, to be &s;courged by him with a plague or bile in his body; I rather enc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ine to think with Mr. <HI>Calvin, Ideo Satanae tradere dictus est, quia extra Eccle&s;iam Diabolus, quod in Eccle&s;ia Chri&s;tus:</HI> That being by this heavy cen&s;ure driven out of the Church, which is Chri&s;ts Kingdom, and by that means deprived of all graces annexed to that &s;ociety, he is expo&s;ed to the Tyranny and Incur&s;ions of Satan, &s;ubject to the dominion of &s;in, and ready to do as that Prince of darkne&s;s bids him. To this wretched e&s;tate, &s;o much as lies in us, we bring that man upon whom we lay this <HI>Rod;</HI> this therefore is not lightly to be done, except we judge it a &s;mall matter to &s;hut a man out of Heaven, to pull a Mem|ber of Chri&s;ts body from him, and ca&s;t it to the Divel; or a light thing to de|bar a man of the Orai&s;ons, Suffrages, and Sacraments of the Church, which are his buckler of defence.</P>
<P>In the Primitive Times the Exce&s;s of Charity in correcting, did make the Corrector to feel greater pain than the Corrected; &s;o that in the Church no pu|ni&s;hment was impo&s;ed without great lamentation of the multitude, and greater of the better &s;ort; and this was the cau&s;e, why to correct, was to lament; &s;o St. <HI>Paul</HI> rebuking the <HI>Corinthians</HI> for not cha&s;ti&s;ing the Ince&s;tuous, &s;aid, <HI>You have not lamented, to &s;eparate &s;uch a Tran<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gre&s;&s;or from you, Tert. Con. Fol.</HI> 330.</P>
<P>Well be it that this <HI>Rod</HI> be &s;harp and &s;marting; yet a time there is, when it mu&s;t be laid on for all that: In this, that we be not mi&s;taken, the Apo&s;tle &s;ets us a precedent; then it is when we meet with a heinous &s;inner; &s;uch an one
<PB N="514" REF="263"> there was at <HI>Corinth,</HI> ver. 1. not among the Heathen &s;carce the like to be found, one who with <HI>Reuben, had climbed up to his fathers bed;</HI> nece&s;&s;ary it was that &s;uch an offendor &s;hould be well whip't. Sinners would be di&s;tingui&s;hed;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calv. In&s;tit. loc. citato. Sect. <HI>187</HI></NOTE> &s;ome are <HI>delinquentes,</HI> others <HI>flagitio&s;i;</HI> and in <HI>delin|quentes</HI> &s;uch &s;everity is not to be u&s;ed; <HI>flagitia graviori &s;upplicio,</HI> heinous offendors only would be well jerked.</P>
<P>Fourthly, E&s;pecially if the Fact be notorious, &s;uch as this was, <GAP DESC="foreign">, Ver&s;e 1. <HI>Res notior quam negari po&s;&s;it,</HI> it was plainly heard,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><P>Calv. In&s;tit. cap. de fide. Sect. <HI>186.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Mat. 18.15. 1 Tim. 5.20.</HI> Amb. Ep. <HI>64.</HI> l. <HI>8.</HI></P></NOTE> <HI>Rhem.</HI> or all the City rung of it again. The old Rule was, <HI>Up peccator &s;it gravis, &s;candalo&s;us confe&s;&s;us, vel convictus,</HI> before he migh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;mart. <HI>Delicta</HI> there be, <HI>privata, &amp; palam manife&s;ta;</HI> of the fir&s;t Chri&s;t &s;aith, <HI>Ar|gue inter te &amp; ip&s;um &s;olum;</HI> for the la&s;t Saint <HI>Paul</HI> gives direction to <HI>Timothy, Coram omnibus argue. Ambro&s;e</HI> takes up <HI>Syagrius</HI> the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Verona,</HI> That without any ju&s;t ground he had que&s;tioned a Virgin, affirming that this was no legal cour&s;e; <HI>Ubi enim e&s;t haec Cognitionis &s;olennitas? ubi talis judican|di formula? Look</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>into the Imperial Laws, and they require an Accu&s;er; into the Laws of the Church, and then every word m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t stand by the mouth of two or three witne&s;&s;es,</HI> Mat. 18.16.</P>
<P>Fifthly, Now when the per&s;on appears to be &s;candalous, and the Fact no|torious, then the <HI>Rod</HI> mu&s;t be laid on, and laid on till it &s;mart again; it mu&s;t not be taken off at plea&s;ure. <HI>&V;eniam in Virg&acirc;,</HI> was no &s;porting threat of the Apo&s;tle; there was &s;everity in it, and he laid on for all their crying; yet it <HI>never repented him of the blowes he gave them,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>they made them re|pent;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 7.</NOTE> <HI>the Rod that made them &s;orry, made him a glad man,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>it made them &s;orry after a godly manner; it wrought Repentance in them; nay, what Care?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 9, 10.</NOTE> <HI>nay, what Apologies? nay, what Indignation? nay, what Fear? nay, what vehement De&s;ire?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 11.</NOTE> <HI>yea, what Zeal? yea, what Revenge?</HI> The&s;e were the effects of the <HI>Rod</HI> in them; and till we find the&s;e, or &s;ome of the&s;e in the penitents, they mu&s;t &s;mart &s;till.</P>
<P>How childi&s;hly then did the Pope and his Conclave dally with this <HI>Rod,</HI> when the Emba&s;&s;adour of <HI>Henry</HI> the fourth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Bi&s;hop of <HI>Lincoln</HI>'s an&s;w. to <HI>Par&s;ons.</HI> pag. 275.</NOTE> that <HI>Hercules</HI> of <HI>France,</HI> was not whip't at <HI>Rome,</HI> but had a white wand for pennance &s;oftly laid on upon his Cloke! the Whip was here turned into a Wand, and jerking into &s;troak|ing: And 'tis &s;aid that at <HI>Rome</HI> the pur&s;e may do pennance for the Ma&s;ter; the bold <HI>Germans</HI> ca&s;t it in their teeth, and cry out, <HI>M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rces magnae Meretricis,</HI> a Proxy with which the Ancient Chri&s;tians were not ac|quainted.</P>
<P>Should a man ca&s;t his eyes upon the Pro&s;tration and Humiliation of peni|tents in the Primitive Church, he would aver that they felt the <HI>Rod</HI> &s;mart: You &s;hall have it in the words of old <HI>Tertullian,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. de pae|nit. cap. <HI>9.</HI></NOTE> <HI>De ip&s;o quoque habitu &amp; victu mandat</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>&s;acco &amp; cineri incubare, corpus &s;ordibus ob&s;cura|re, animum maeroribus dejicere, illam quae peccavit tri&s;ti tractatione mutare, caeterum pa&s;tum &amp; potum pura no&s;se, non ventris &s;ed animae cau&s;a, plerum&abque; vero jejunijs preces alere, ingemi&s;cere, lachrymari, omnibus fratribus legatio|nes deprecationis &s;uae injungere:</HI> Much more might be read to this purpo&s;e in the Council of <HI>Agatha, cap.</HI> 9. <HI>&amp;</HI> 11. <HI>&amp; Gratian. Di&s;t.</HI> 50. Do you think they felt not the <HI>Rod</HI> &s;mart, who underwent all this? And under this <HI>rod,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, continued &s;ometimes their whole lives, &s;ometimes divers years! <HI>Ba&s;il, Can.</HI> 58. makes mention of 14. <GAP DESC="foreign">. This their &s;everity is not in u&s;e, and that ju&s;tly; yet &s;ure they would be, that it &s;hould be what it was, a <HI>rod,</HI> before they would take it off; they would not with <HI>Mo&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s, turn it to a white Wand, or a Serpent at plea&s;ure.</HI> To remit of this &s;everity, lay in the Bi&s;hops power.</P>
<PB N="515" REF="263">
<P>Sixthly, But I go on; they proceeded to the u&s;e of it with great circum|&s;pection and reverence; they knew that the &s;entence which they pronounced, was <HI>promulgatio &s;ententiae Dei,</HI> Gods &s;entence in their mouths, and therefore they came to do it with fear and trembling, <HI>In the Name of God,</HI> a &s;olemn form borrowed from the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Ver.</HI> 4. <HI>In Nomine Domini no&s;tri Ie&s;u Chri&s;ti.</HI> He begins with his Ma&s;ter; he hath his Lord, whom he daily &s;erves, before his eyes, and under him he executes his office; he dares not in his own name offer a b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ow to the lea&s;t of his fellow-&s;ervants; but by Gods power he does what he does, and &s;trikes him only whom his Ma&s;ter will have &s;triken; this &s;hould put us in fear, le&s;t by giving a wrong blow, <HI>We take Gods Name in vain. Tota actionis &s;olennitas praeter Nominis Dei invocationem eam gravitaetem habere debet, quae Chri&s;ti pre&s;entiam prae &s;e ferat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin. loc. cit.</NOTE> <HI>ut non dubium &s;it quin ip&s;e &s;uo judicio prae&s;ideat:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">The Order of Excom. in the Scotti&s;h Church prin|ted 1571.</NOTE> And if the practice of the Church of <HI>Scotland</HI> an&s;wer unto their Order, &s;uch a &s;olemn cour&s;e is taken in their publick Repentance; would that Elder&s;hip had ever &s;o err'd, and we with them.</P>
<P>Seventhly, And as this is to be done in a &s;olemn form, <HI>In Nomine Domini n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;tri Ie&s;u Chri&s;ti;</HI> &s;o al&s;o it mu&s;t be performed in a &s;olemn place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">See the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Elies</HI> Book of the Sabb. <HI>pag.</HI> 214.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Ver.</HI> 4. Upon the Sunday it was done, and in tho&s;e &s;olemn A&s;&s;em|blies where the Chri&s;tians met to &s;erve God; <HI>Ibidem etiam ca&s;tigationes &amp; cen&s;urae divinae,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Tertullian, Apol. cap.</HI> 39. <HI>Ibidem,</HI> in that place where the <HI>Factio Chri&s;tiana,</HI> or Corps of Chri&s;tians, as that Ancient &s;peaks, did <HI>Coire in Coetum &amp; Congregationem;</HI> there it was where the penances and cen&s;ures of the Church being a fore-intimation of the future judgment, were &s;olemnly pub|li&s;hed and pronounced; and upon this ground it is that <HI>Calvin</HI> gives his di|rection right for the A&s;&s;embly, though awry in the Judges:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calv. In&s;tit.</NOTE> <HI>Non &s;olum &s;eniores &s;eor&s;im id faciant, &s;ed con&s;cia &amp; approbante Eccle&s;ia, in eum &s;cilicet mo|dum ut plebis multitudo non regat actionem, &s;ed ob&s;ervet ut testis &amp; cu&s;tos, ne quid per libidinem &agrave; paucis geratur.</HI> By this means there can be no plea put in, but that the cen&s;ure is ju&s;t; nor fact, nor per&s;on to be defended; as the fact was not kept in a Corner, &s;o the <HI>rod</HI> &s;hould not be lightly laid on in a Chamber; for this is to make it a Wand of Ceremony, not of Cor|rection.</P>
<P>Eighthly, La&s;tly, The ends for which all this is to be done, mu&s;t be well thought on, which either re&s;pect the Church, or the Of|fendor.</P>
<P N="1">1. That the Church may thereby keep up her reputation, that in her there is <HI>the communion of Saints,</HI> that &s;he <HI>w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll not ca&s;t that which is holy to Dogs,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 7.6.</NOTE> <HI>nor &s;et pearls before Swine;</HI> nor willingly admit to her prayers and holy Rites any pro|fane per&s;ons; and in this &s;he follows the Apo&s;tles advice, <HI>Ver. ult. Cap. &s;eq. Put from your &s;elves that wicked per&s;on.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2 Then by this means &s;he exerci&s;es a &s;ingular work of Charity, whiles &s;he declares her care to keep the Flock of Chri&s;t in all purity, le&s;t by their Conver&s;ation with &s;uch wicked per&s;ons, they &s;hould contract a &s;piritual lepro|&s;ie; a &s;candalous leud &s;inner as ea&s;ily infects his Neighbour, as one rotten grape others that grow next; and it were cruelty in our Mother to nouri&s;h &s;uch im|medicable parts, as it is mercy to remove them; for &s;uch leud A&s;&s;ociates are not fit company for Chri&s;tians; Our Apo&s;tle, <HI>Ver.</HI> 11. compares the&s;e <HI>to leaven,</HI> intimating that there is much &s;owrene&s;s in them, and that if there be not great heed taken, they will marre the whole lump; when therefore they will not purge out their old leaven, for their old leaven they mu&s;t be purged out.</P>
<P>The&s;e two ends reflect upon the Church; but two others there are which have reference unto the guilty per&s;on.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="516" REF="264">1. For the bodies &s;ake, or rather <GAP DESC="foreign">, the fle&s;h; fle&s;hly affections then are too much rank blood in that man who is come under the Prelates <HI>Rod;</HI> there was in this ince&s;tuous per&s;on; and this rank blood mu&s;t be let out; <GAP DESC="foreign"> it is, for that end that the fle&s;h be brought low, and mortified, <HI>ver.</HI> 5. <HI>cap. &s;eq.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. But in re&s;pect of the Spirit, another end there is, quite repugnant to the former; that mu&s;t dye, this mu&s;t live; that be de&s;troyed, this edified; that lo&s;t, this &s;aved, <HI>Ver.</HI> 5. For this publick whipping may bring on &s;hame, &s;hame beget godly &s;orrow, &s;orrow bring down and humble, and humility be a means to remove the <HI>rod,</HI> and make a man capable of that place in the Church from whence he was ca&s;t; in regard of the&s;e ends it is, that in the School there be two <HI>rods,</HI> one far &s;harper than the other; and if thou be a Ma&s;ter, no rea&s;on,
<Q>Quod &s;cutic&acirc; dignum horribili &s;ectere flagello.</Q></P>
<P>One cen&s;ure they have, which they call <HI>Eradicans &amp; mortalis,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> it is, a wire Whip, with which they whip't to death; but another there is much milder, it is <HI>medicinalis vel penitentialis,</HI> and it hath more of the <HI>rod</HI> in it. By the fir&s;t, the Church purgeth her &s;elf; by the &s;econd, her chil|dren; her intent in both, is either to root out tho&s;e which will not be reformed, le&s;t they di&s;credit her, and corrupt her children; or el&s;e to mortifie the lu&s;tful affections, and &s;ave the &s;ouls of &s;uch as confe&s;s their fault, de&s;ire to return, and ask pardon.</P>
<P>Thus many Cautions have we in this one <HI>Chapter</HI> for the u&s;e of this <HI>rod.</HI></P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That no man be bold with it, but a Clergy-man.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That the &s;everity thereof be well weighed.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That it be not laid upon the back of any, but a heinous notorious Offender.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. That being on, he be &s;en&s;ible of the &s;mart, and &s;oundly corrected, be|fore it be taken off.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. That we proceed publickly, and in the Name of God, with great Reverence and Solemnity in this matter.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. And that we have alwayes a good end and intention, either to purge the Church, or tho&s;e in the Church; for Edification, and not for De&s;truction.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>The <HI>rod</HI> you have before your eyes, <HI>Et jam quid vultis?</HI> What &s;hall we u&s;e it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Oecum. &amp; Theoph. in loc.</NOTE> or let it alone? which had you rather? it, or love, or lenity? <GAP DESC="foreign">. You are the Lords of this action, you may di&s;po&s;e us to an|ger or love as you plea&s;e; like <HI>Fabius</HI> at <HI>Carthage,</HI> in our Laps we bring War and Peace; the <HI>rod</HI> and <HI>love,</HI> both are before you, make your own choice; if you be <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;upinely negligent, and overflow in your Fun|ction we may then whip you forward; but if we find you <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;oberly at work,, behold then nothing but love, nothing but incouragement.</P>
<P>Were the matter put to us, you &s;hall hear of nothing but <HI>Pax huic domni;</HI> not a word, but &s;uch as were breathed in with a &s;till and &s;oft voice; not a &s;ylla|ble that might cau&s;e the lea&s;t &s;u&s;picion, that we were not in Love and Charity with you: For it is not plea&s;ure to us of the Clergy, to take this &s;harp weapon into our hands and make the jerks given in love, &s;eem the &s;tripes of an enemy; in you it is to &s;tay or &s;tir our hands; and if you &s;mart, blame your &s;elves, not us; if any of our Coat prove <HI>bryars in your fle&s;h, and thorns in your &s;ides,</HI> it is becau&s;e we dwell <HI>with bryars and thorns,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 2.6.</NOTE> and with the froward we may be froward.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="517" REF="264">1. Compare the Times and the Churches, <HI>Corinth</HI> and ours, and you &s;hall find the que&s;tion no more than needs; in the Church of <HI>Corinth</HI> there were factious &s;pirits, &s;uch as had their private Ma&s;ters to take to, <HI>Paul, Apollo,</HI> or <HI>Cephas,</HI> ju&s;t as the wind of their fancy carried them; <HI>At qui viri?</HI> no mean men I can tell you, <GAP DESC="foreign"> they were, either <HI>Apo&s;toli,</HI> or <HI>Apo&s;to|lici;</HI> the wor&s;t of them an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures; and yet a fault it was, worthy to be noted with an Apo&s;tles pen, that they were divi|ded about the&s;e; it was a &s;ign of too much carnality and babi&s;hne&s;s in them, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 3.</P>
<P>Now would not a man judge that a great part of our people were of late &s;hip|ped from <HI>Corinth! Ego Penrei,</HI> &s;aith one; <HI>Ego Cartwrighti,</HI> &s;aith another; nay, &s;aith a third, I prefer <HI>H. Nicolai</HI> with his hou&s;e of love; tru&s;t not one of the&s;e, &s;aith <HI>Simon,</HI> Mr. <HI>Brown</HI>'s the man; ye know nothing at all, quoth <HI>Phil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">umene,</HI> Mr. <HI>Traske</HI> is far a more Reverend Teacher; away, away, quoth <HI>Neophythus,</HI> this people knows not the Law, Dr. <HI>Hethering</HI> is the man of God. Thus do they heap to them&s;elves Teachers, <HI>Et jurant in verba: At qui veri?</HI> neither <HI>Apo&s;toli,</HI> nor yet <HI>Apo&s;tolici;</HI> no nor yet, for all their pretext of Re|velationr and Motions of the Spirit, immediatly taught from heaven; but &s;uch rather as <HI>Tertullian</HI> de&s;cribes, <HI>Omnes tument, omnes &s;cientiam pollicentur, ante &s;unt perfecti, Catechumeni quam edocti;</HI> for &s;o I would point that place:<NOTE PLACE="marg">De pre&s;cript. Cap. <HI>41.</HI></NOTE> They will &s;eem to be perfect Gno&s;tiques, before they be perfect in the Catechi&s;me; or to &s;peak in Saint <HI>Paul</HI>'s words, <HI>They de&s;ire to be Teachers of the Law, yet neither understand what they &s;ay, nor whereof they affirm:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.7.</NOTE> Such Idiots are their Gno&s;tiques; yet the&s;e they contend for, and which is yet wor&s;e, for the mo&s;t part,
<Q>&mdash; Dux faemina facti.</Q> <HI>Quid vultis?</HI> What will you then? what cour&s;e would you have the Prelates take? whether is it fitter they <HI>come with a rod, or in love, and in the Spirit of meekne&s;s?</HI> judge ye.</P>
<P N="2">2. Again, At <HI>Corinth</HI> notorious &s;in was grown common and impudent; <HI>Ince&s;t openly committed,</HI> and fornication accounted of as little <HI>Zoar;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 6.7.</NOTE> it grieves me to &s;peak it, but &s;poken it mu&s;t be; our leudne&s;s in this kind is grown &s;o &s;hamele&s;s, that we may ju&s;tifie our &s;i&s;ter <HI>Corinth,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, there be too many known <HI>Judah</HI>'s, <HI>Lai&s;ses</HI> too too many, be&s;ides a Spawn of Platonical Lovers, lately ri&s;en up among&s;t us; <HI>Et quid vultis?</HI> and what think you now, is not a <HI>rod</HI> fit for &s;uch rankne&s;s?</P>
<P N="3">3. Farther, Yet at <HI>Corinth</HI> there was great irreverence u&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 11.19, 20, 21.</NOTE> <HI>trem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ndis My&s;teriis,</HI> to the Holy My&s;teries; <HI>the people came together not for the bet|ter, but for the wor&s;e; one was hungry, and another was drunken.</HI> The&s;e particular di&s;orders are indeed vani&s;hed at the in&s;tant of the Solemnity, but 'tis po&s;&s;ible to find a Communicant drunken within one houre after. But to let this pa&s;s, the irreverence in another kind remains in mo&s;t places &s;till; <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, as <HI>Ny&s;&s;en</HI> with one breath calls it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ny&s;&s;. de Bapt. Nazianzen. Cyril. Hiero&s;. Cat. My&s;t. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> the Altar, or the Ho|ly Table is de&s;pi&s;ed; and tho&s;e fearful My&s;teries which <HI>Cyril</HI> advi&s;eth none to receive, before he doth <GAP DESC="foreign">, i. e. bow him&s;elf, and ca&s;t his eyes to the ground, as if for very fear he dur&s;t not look upon them, but as it were, with half an eye; and that Sacrament which is of all holies the mo&s;t holy, to which no man might approach in <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom</HI>'s judgment,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;. in <HI>1</HI> Cor. Hom. <HI>24.</HI></NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">&punc; without much fear and reverence, of all parts of Gods &s;ervice &s;peeds wor&s;t; men come to receive it, <GAP DESC="foreign">, at all adventure, carele&s;ly, or in an homely manner: Nay, the matter is come to this, that not only <HI>de facto,</HI> no venera|tion this &s;acred action hath, but <HI>de jure</HI> a matter of con&s;cience is made of it,
<PB N="518" REF="265"> that none it ought to have. You know well who&s;e the&s;e words are, even that great <HI>Andrews,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Andr.</HI> of the powder-trea|&s;on. <HI>pag.</HI> 981.</NOTE> who de&s;erves <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Monumentum aere perennius,</HI> of this our Church.</P>
<P>Fourthly, I mu&s;t go a &s;tep further; a wor&s;e Brood there was yet at <HI>Corinth;</HI> &s;ome of the Whelps of the Ephe&s;ian Bea&s;ts were tran&s;ported thither; by tho&s;e they were taught to deny the mo&s;t comfortable Article of the Chri&s;tian faith; it &s;eemed impo&s;&s;ible to them <HI>that God &s;hould rai&s;e the dead,</HI> Chap. 15. And out of their A&s;hes there is ri&s;en not a Phenix to prove,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. de Re&s;. Car. cap.. <HI>13.</HI></NOTE> but a ba&s;e Worm to &s;mite our Gourd, and make it wither; a Generation of Vipers that labour to extingui&s;h in them&s;elves and others the&s;e nece&s;&s;ary notions, the Immortality of the Soul, Rewards and Puni&s;hments after this Life, and the Bodies Re|&s;urrection.</P>
<P>Trencher-mates the&s;e are, (for &s;uch the mo&s;t of them be) who frame to them&s;elves a way mo&s;t plea&s;ant; a new method they have of turning things that are &s;erious, into mockery; an art of contradiction by the way of &s;corn: This they &s;tudy, this they practice, this they grace with a wanton &s;uperfluity of wit, in&s;ulting over the too much patience of religious minds: Their purpo&s;e is to enjoy in pre&s;ent what &s;en&s;ual plea&s;ure or profit &s;oever the World can af|ford, and this is the very radical cau&s;e of their Athei&s;me. Thus I find the Character of the&s;e Bea&s;ts drawn to my hand, by the learned and judicious <HI>Hooker, Eccl. Pol. lib.</HI> 5. <HI>Sect.</HI> 2.</P>
<P><HI>Quid vultis?</HI> In what manner would you have us deal with &s;uch? it mu&s;t be confe&s;&s;ed that toward the&s;e forlorn creatures we are too patient; <HI>Patimur he|be&s;cere aciem Authoritatis;</HI> a Rod we have, but it is like a Sword in the Scab|bard; drawn forth it would be; for a legal cour&s;e would be taken with &s;uch lawle&s;s people; a Rod at lea&s;t were fit for &s;uch Fools backs, yea, though it were the &s;harpe&s;t, <HI>Eradicans &amp; Mortalis.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cic. Catil. <HI>1. 2 Cor. 12.11.</HI> Plutarch. in Ly|curgo.</NOTE><HI>Cupio me e&s;se clementem;</HI> but the poy&s;oned hearts, and licentious tongues of the&s;e Mi&s;creants have &s;omewhat heated me; <HI>In&s;ipiens factus &s;um, &s;ed hi me coegerunt:</HI> For I will not, I dare not dye cour&s;e Cloth in fine Colours; or guild over ugly vices with the fair and &s;mooth name of Vertue; but with me a Spade is a Spade, Adultery Adultery, Faction Schi&s;me, Extortion plain Extor|tion, and Athei&s;m down-right Athei&s;m; &s;uch a Ru&s;tick am I of the Clergy be|come for your &s;akes; and you of the Laity, did you prize your &s;ouls, would for|give me this wrong. Let then that be lovingly taken, which is lovingly meant; nor I, nor any true Mini&s;ter of God means you any hurt.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 34.7. Job 15.16.</NOTE><HI>Quid vultis?</HI> What will you? Would you have us &s;uffer you <HI>to lie &s;oak|ing in your Broth? Quid vultis?</HI> What, would you have us &s;uffer you <HI>to drink iniquity,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 13.18, 20.</NOTE> as an A&s;s drinks water, with ea&s;e, with delight? <HI>Quid vultis?</HI> Would have us <HI>&s;ow Pillows under mens Elbows? Quid vultis?</HI> Would you de&s;ire us <HI>to make the way to Heaven</HI> wider than God hath made it? and that you run along in that <HI>broad way,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 7.13.</NOTE> till you arrive at <HI>Hell?</HI> This were the way to go to Hell with you for company,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 33.6.</NOTE> and to cau&s;e God <HI>to require your blood at our hands:</HI> And I know you had rather we u&s;e the Rod, than endanger our &s;elves, and your &s;ouls after &s;o gro&s;s a manner; if it chance to &s;mart, I be&s;eech you im|pute it not to rigour in us. Spiritual Fathers we are, and we know not how to be cruel; &s;harp we may be, but it is love and nece&s;&s;ity that per&s;wades this cour&s;e; could you be otherwi&s;e reformed, you &s;hould not ta&s;te of the Rod; our bowels yearn over you when we &s;mite you; for we can love, and fight too.</P>
<P><HI>Quid vultis?</HI> What will you then, will you go on in your beaten Road? Behold then we have a Rod of Reproof, and you &s;hall feel it from our mouths; and if that mend you not, another Rod we have of Correction, and you &s;hall feel it from our hands; not to your de&s;truction, (the love we bear you in
<PB N="519" REF="265"> Chri&s;t Je&s;us prevails too far with us to think of that) but it &s;hall be for your &s;alvation that the &s;oul may be &s;aved in the day of the Lord. The wor&s;t that can happen, is but the mortifying of the fle&s;h; and the deader that is, the Spirit is the quicker; more lively, and more nimble you will be in the way of life, in which if you keep &s;trait on, ye &s;hall at la&s;t arrive at heaven, where with Saints and Angels you &s;hall &s;ing Hallelujah to the Lamb, and to him that &s;its upon the Throne for evermore. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="39" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The Churches affliction and lamentation.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>P&s;alme 137.1.</HI></BIBL>
<P>By the waters of Babylon we &s;ate down and wept, when we remembred thee O Zion.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>AND if ever any people <HI>&s;ate at the waters of Babylon,</HI> we are the men; and therefore if any have occa&s;ion <HI>to &s;it down and weep,</HI> we have ju&s;t Rea&s;on <HI>to &s;it down and weep</HI> with them. <HI>Babylon</HI> is a City of Confu&s;ion, <HI>there God confounded the Languages. Babylon</HI> was a City of different Reli|gions; for thence came the <HI>Oglio</HI> or <HI>Medly</HI> of the <HI>Samaritan Wor&s;hip;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 11.7.</NOTE> that I &s;ay nothing of the Captivity of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 17.33.</NOTE> and hard bondage undergone there: And at the&s;e <HI>Babyolni&s;h waters</HI> we have &s;ate &s;ome years, God ha|ving confounded our Language, and by it our Unity and Religion. We that were wont to meet and pray with one heart, and one tongue, are now divided into more hearts, and more tongues, than were at <HI>Babel;</HI> and have we not cau&s;e then, <HI>to &s;it down and weep?</HI> Can you expect from us <HI>a &s;ong of Zion?</HI> If it be any, it mu&s;t be a Threne borrowed out of the <HI>Lamentations</HI> of <HI>Jere|my,</HI> or that <HI>Song</HI> of <HI>A&s;aph, P&s;al.</HI> 79. or &s;ome &s;uch &s;ad and heavy Ditty as <HI>David</HI> compo&s;ed, when <HI>he was bani&s;hed from the Hou&s;e of God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 84.</NOTE> &s;uch doleful and melancholy Tunes are fit, or none at all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 120.</NOTE> while <HI>we &s;it at the waters of Babylon.</HI></P>
<P>Want is that which &s;ets the true price on any thing; that which men enjoy in abundance, they nau&s;eate; when what is removed or denied, provokes the appetite. Thus it fell out with the&s;e <HI>I&s;raelites;</HI> they were at this time at <HI>Ba|bylon,</HI> under the yoke of the <HI>A&s;&s;yrian</HI> Tyrant, far from their own Countrey, bani&s;hed from the Temple of God, deprived of all Exerci&s;es of Religion, &s;cof|fed and &s;corned by the pride and in&s;ultation of the Enemy, and now they begin to complain and pray; remember what they were, and what they are; what they enjoyed, and what they want; that at <HI>Jeru&s;alem they could freely &s;ing the &s;ongs of Zion,</HI> but <HI>that now at the Rivers of Babylon they mu&s;t &s;it down and weep, and hang up their Harps.</HI></P>
<P>The whole Ode is pathetical, and full of grief, &s;et it is to the Tune of &s;or|row; the Cliffe is <HI>Grave</HI> and <HI>Dorique,</HI> the Mu&s;ick is <HI>Chromatique,</HI> compo&s;ed of two parts.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. A Complaint.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. A Prayer.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. The Complaint is lamentable, aggravated, <HI>ver.</HI> 1.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. From the place of their Captivity, <HI>Babylon.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. From the continuance, <HI>They &s;ate there.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. From their expre&s;&s;ion of grief, <HI>They wept.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. From the cau&s;e of it, <HI>The remembrance of Zion.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="2"><PB N="520" REF="266">2. Yet farther, this their grief is amplified.</P>
<P N="1">1. By the inten&s;ivene&s;s of it; &s;o great it was, that they omitted <GAP DESC="foreign">, and laid a&s;ide their Harps and Mu&s;ical In&s;truments, that might ea&s;e or mi|tigate it, <HI>ver.</HI> 2. <HI>For our Harps, we hanged them up.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. But that which did more break their heart, was the In&s;ultation, and bit|ter Sarca&s;ms of the <HI>Babylonians,</HI> they then their proud Ma&s;ters, the&s;e their Slaves and Captives, to whom in &s;corn they &s;aid, <HI>Sing us one of the Songs of Zion;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 3.</NOTE> <HI>we have heard you boa&s;t much of the&s;e Songs of Zion, Come on now, let us hear a Hymne, a Benedicite, a Laudate.</HI></P>
<P>To this Ironical de&s;ire of the proud in&s;ulting <HI>Babylonian,</HI> the Captive <HI>Jew</HI> returns a double an&s;wer.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Ab impo&s;&s;ibili;</HI> This was a reque&s;t that might not be granted, a thing that could not be done; <HI>the Land was strange, the People Aliens, the Song the Lords,</HI> de&s;tin'd to his Honour, his Service; and therefore <HI>how can we &s;ing, &amp;c?</HI> ver. 4. <HI>The Song is not for this time, this place, this people; we may not ca&s;t p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">arls before Swine.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 7.6.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. By the manife&s;t of their con&s;tant profe&s;&s;ion in Religion, and their hope of better times.</P>
<P N="1">1. They were now in a low e&s;tate, and yet they would never change the fir&s;t intent of the&s;e religious Hymns to plea&s;e their irreligious ears; if &s;uch a forgetfulne&s;s &s;eized upon them, then</P>
<P><HI>Let my right hand forget her cunning, let me never be impowred to touch Harp more,</HI> ver. 5.</P>
<P>If <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> were not fixed in their memory, then <HI>let their tongue cleave to the roof of their mouth.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. But their hope was, that it would be better, and then in their mirth they would prefer <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> ver. 6. then <HI>they were ready to &s;ing a Song of Zion.</HI></P>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>The &s;econd part of the Ode.</HEAD>
<P>The complaint is ended, and now follows an Imprecation again&s;t <HI>Edom</HI> and <HI>Babylon,</HI> both enemies to Gods people.</P>
<P N="1">1. A petition there is to God again&s;t the <HI>Edomites, Remember O Lord the children of Edom;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 2.4, 5.</NOTE> the <HI>Edomites</HI> were Neighbours to the <HI>Jews,</HI> Brethren, and commanded to be &s;pared; but they forgot all humanity, <HI>and helped on the wrath,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zech. 1.15.</NOTE> <HI>when the anger of the Lord did &s;moke again&s;t Jeru&s;alem;</HI> then they encouraged our enemies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 7.</NOTE> <HI>Down with it, Root and Branch, down with it, down with it, even to the ground;</HI> and therefore <HI>O Lord, remember the children of Edom, and reward them &s;even-fold into their bo&s;ome.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. As for <HI>Babylon,</HI> they not only imprecate, but prophe&s;ie, <HI>O Babylon to be de&s;troyed;</HI> which &s;hortly fell out by <HI>Cyrus; and then ble&s;s, and ble&s;s again the Doer.</HI></P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed &s;hall he be that retaliates, that rewards thee as thou ha&s;t &s;erved us,</HI> ver. 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed and happy &s;hall he be that takes thy children, and da&s;heth thy little ones again&s;t the &s;tones.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<Q><GAP DESC="foreign">.</Q>
<P>Thus have I &s;trung and tuned this Prophets Harp, and you &s;hall now hear what Le&s;&s;ons I can expre&s;s unto you from the fir&s;t <HI>ver&s;e;</HI> they may be profitable, but they cannot be plea&s;ant; 'tis no &s;ea&s;on for &s;uch &s;trains while we <HI>&s;it at the Rivers of Babylon;</HI> that was the place in which the <HI>Jews</HI> now were, with which I will begin.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<PB N="521" REF="266">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> At the Rivers of <HI>Babylon.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>Babylon</HI> was the Royal City of the A&s;&s;yrian Monarchy, &s;eated in the armes of <HI>Tigris</HI> and <HI>Euphrates;</HI> The other ten Tribes were di&s;per&s;ed by <HI>Salmana&s;|&s;ar</HI> in <HI>Halah</HI> and <HI>Haber,</HI> and in the Cities of the <HI>Medes.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 17.6. &amp;. cap. 24.25.</NOTE> The Nobles and Craft&s;men of the other two, were the men who were captiv'd by <HI>Nebuchadone|zer,</HI> and placed, as I conceive, upon the banks of the&s;e Babylonian rivers, where they journied in a &s;ad manner, and wore out their dayes in &s;uch Cabines as they could provide, hanging up their Harps upon the willows and other trees which grew on tho&s;e banks.</P>
<P>This was the condition of Gods people at this time, being Captives, &s;laves, pilgrims in a &s;trange Land, oppre&s;&s;ed, afflicted, derided.</P>
<P>Now if you &s;hall ask how this mi&s;ery fell upon them, the an&s;wer is ea&s;ie to any one who hath read the books of the <HI>Kings, Chronicles, Prophets.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.4.</NOTE> <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> laments <HI>that they were a &s;inful Nation, a p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ople laden with iniquity, a &s;eed of evil-doers, children that were corrupt<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rs; they had for&s;aken the Lord, they had provoked the holy one of I&s;rael to anger;</HI> they were alienated or &s;eparated. Their Countrey was his Vineyard, and he had planted them with the choice&s;t Vine, and he look'd for Grapes, and it brought forth wild Grapes; and he pre|&s;ents us with many clu&s;ters, Covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, Drunkenne&s;&s;e, La&s;civiou&s;ne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 5.2.8.9. &amp;c.</NOTE> Im|piety, Inju&s;tice, Contempt of Gods Word. And yet I have not named unto you the Idolatry of <HI>Mana<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;eh,</HI> and the innocent blood which he &s;hed, a&s;&s;igned as another cau&s;e, 2 <HI>Kings</HI> 24.3, 4. What &s;hould I &s;ay, that in the dayes of the la&s;t Kings God &s;ent his &s;ervant <HI>Jeremy</HI> unto them, but they abu&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 32.</NOTE> impri&s;oned him, and would not hear! A &s;tubborn, and rebellious people they were, un|circumc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ed in heart and eares, <HI>that alwayes re&s;i&s;ted the holy Gho&s;t;</HI> and is it any wonder then to &s;ee them &s;it at the rivers of <HI>Babylon?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 7.51.</NOTE> <HI>Daniel</HI> in the time of their captivity, confe&s;&s;eth thus much in his pa&s;&s;ionate prayer, <HI>O Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 9.5, 6.</NOTE> <HI>we have &s;inned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and re|belled, even by departing from thy precepts, and from thy judgements. Nei|ther have we hearken<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d unto thy &s;ervants the Prophets which spake in thy Name to our Kings, our Princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the Land.</HI></P>
<P>That which we are to collect out of this, is, that a National &s;in hath at the heeles a National puni&s;hment: And that the &s;in of the Nation is then mo&s;t great and ripe for the &s;ickle, when the Prophets of God may not be heard, when abu&s;ed, mocked, contemned, impri&s;oned, innocently &s;laine.</P>
<P>To what height the &s;in of this Land was arrived, I am not able to &s;ay; for I take no del<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ght to rake in dunghils; &s;hould I do it, I mu&s;t pre&s;ent you the ugly fa|ces of Oppre&s;&s;ion, Sacriledge, Inju&s;tice, Impiety, Athei&s;m, Perjury,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezra 16.56.</NOTE> reeling and vomiting in the &s;treets, and that our &s;i&s;ter <HI>Sodom</HI> was not mentioned by us in the day of our pride. This is evident, that <HI>a wonderful and horrible thing was committed in the Land; the Prophets prophe&s;ied fal&s;ely,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 5.30.</NOTE> <HI>and the Prie&s;ts bore rule by their means, and the people loved to have it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o;</HI> If any P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ophets aro&s;e, who prophe&s;ied after their own hearts, who were bold to daub with un|tempered motter, and had skill to &s;ow pillows under all armholes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech. 13.2, 11, 18.</NOTE> he was a Prophet for this people. But for tho&s;e who were truly &s;ent unto them, <HI>they came as the people comes, and &s;ate before them as Gods people,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech. 33.31.32</NOTE> <HI>and they heard their words, but they would not do them; for with their mouth they &s;hewed much love, but their heart went after their covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e. And lo, they were unto them as a very lovely &s;ong of one that hath a plea&s;ant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they heard their words, but they did them not.</HI> At la&s;t the matter came to this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 30.10.</NOTE> that <HI>The command was to the Seers See
<PB N="522" REF="267"> net; and to the Prophets, prophe&s;ie not unto us right things, &s;peak unto us &s;mooth things, prophe&s;ie deceits,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 11.21.</NOTE> <HI>or el&s;e prophe&s;ie not in the name of the Lord, that thou dye not by our hand.</HI> This is it which hath brought us to <HI>Babel,</HI> to confu&s;ion, to the waters of <HI>Babel,</HI> to tho&s;e floods of trouble, from which we &s;hall never be de|livered till the Truth of God from tho&s;e Prophets which he hath commi&s;&s;ion'd and &s;ent, may be heard.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 2.</NOTE>I never ca&s;t my eyes upon that pa&s;&s;age in Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> but my bowels yerne over my deceived and &s;educed brethren, the Cata&s;trophe is &s;o &s;ad, <HI>that they all might be damned who believed not the Truth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 12.</NOTE> <HI>but had plea&s;ure in un|righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI> And if you will know how this was effected, con&s;ult the for|mer words; Satan the adver&s;arie of all divine truth and mans &s;alvation, &s;hall rai&s;e up his mini&s;ter and in&s;trument, that &s;ame <GAP DESC="foreign">, that lawle&s;&s;e per&s;on Antichri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 9, 10.</NOTE> who by power and lyes, by fraud and inju&s;tice &s;hall work &s;o power|fully, that he &s;hall draw many into fal&s;e and erroneous opinions, and debauch them with all kinde of iniquity and impiety; the end is, <HI>that they may pe|ri&s;h.</HI></P>
<P>Yea, but why doth not God re&s;traine this his power? why doth he not eva|cuate this his purpo&s;e? This is done out of a ju&s;t revenge, of their incredulity, their vanity, their levity, and malicious contumacy, <HI>Becau&s;e they received not the love of the truth, that they might be &s;aved; and for this cau&s;e &s;hall God &s;end them &s;trong delu&s;ion, that they &s;hould beleeve a lye.</HI> Becau&s;e that &s;uch men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 10, 11.</NOTE> who de&s;ire e&s;pecially to be called the Church, &s;hall fall wilfully from the Truth of the Go&s;pel, which they had heard, and in which they were in|&s;tructed, and &s;hall wor&s;hip their own imaginations and meere inventions of men; therefore &s;hall God &s;end upon them an erroneous delu&s;ion, and this de|lu&s;ion &s;hall work &s;o powerfully and effectually, that they &s;hall beleeve fal&s;e things for true, take vice for vertue, hypocri&s;ie for piety, wicked emulation for zeale, rapine and &s;acriledge for piety; in a word, gain for godline&s;&s;e. This, this is an act of divine ju&s;tice, that they &s;hould be &s;trucken blind, who would not &s;ee the light; that they &s;hould give credit to lyes, who would not continue in the truth; that they &s;hould peri&s;h, who would not be &s;aved.</P>
<P>The&s;e be the cau&s;es why the Church &s;ometimes is brought to the waters of <HI>Babylon.</HI> Gods ju&s;tice, the Divels malice, and mans vanity, de&s;ultory faith, and itching after novelties in Religion.</P>
<P><HI>But &s;hall not the Judge of all the world do right? Will God puni&s;h the righteous with the wicked?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.25.</NOTE> Shall tho&s;e, who did and would be glad to &s;ing the &s;ongs of <HI>Zion,</HI> be brought to the floods of <HI>Babylon,</HI> with them who are guilty of the &s;in?</P>
<P N="1">1. I an&s;wer, that many of tho&s;e, who now &s;ate at the&s;e waters, and re|pented, might yet have given too much pa&s;&s;age to this water at the beginning; they might &s;ee it ri&s;ing, and &s;topt it not, they might help to encrea&s;e it, and therefore it is but ju&s;t they &s;hould al&s;o &s;uffer by the flood.</P>
<P N="2">2. In National puni&s;hments, &s;uch as are famine, the &s;word, pe&s;tilence, and removing the Candle&s;tick,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 2.5. Gen. 12.10. Gen. 14.12. Gen. 42. Exod. 5. Numb. 14.23.</NOTE> u&s;ual it is with God to bring the calamity on good and bad,; <HI>Abraham</HI> and <HI>Jacob</HI> &s;u&s;taine famine with the Canaanites. <HI>Lot</HI> is carried away captive with the Sodomites. The good and bad I&s;raelites carry burdens in <HI>Egypt. Caleb</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;huah</HI> with the Rebels, wander in the Wilder|ne&s;&s;e for fourty years.</P>
<P N="3">3. Farther yet a difference is to be put, both in the puni&s;hment, and tho&s;e men who &s;uffer the puni&s;hment. The puni&s;hments of good men, are <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">xerci|tia, &amp; cu&s;todia virtutis.</HI> The affliction of <HI>Job</HI> was the exerci&s;e of his pati|ence. The thorne in the fle&s;h to Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> was the pre&s;ervative of his hu|mility; And to this end God &s;uffers his deare&s;t Saints to be afflicted. Again, the men which &s;uffer, are either ve&s;&s;els of wrath, or ve&s;&s;els of mercie. To rhe
<PB N="523" REF="267"> fir&s;t, not only the puni&s;hments, but the favours of God are de&s;tructive. But to the la&s;t, <HI>all things work together for their good.</HI> To the&s;e he &s;peaks tho&s;e comfortable words, <HI>For a &s;mall moment have I for&s;aken thee,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 54, 7.8.</NOTE> <HI>but with g<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eat mercies I will gather thee; in a little wrath I hid my face from thee, for a moment: but with everla&s;ting kindne&s;se will I have mercie on thee, &s;aith the Lord thy Redeemer.</HI> But as yet involved they were in the common calami|ty, and therefore they &s;ate them down with their brethren and wept.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Sedentes.</HEAD>
<P>They &s;ate them down, as if they would pau&s;e upon their calamity, and &s;eri|ou&s;ly examine the cau&s;es of it, without which the tears will never fall kindly; &s;uch is the power of a &s;troke from Gods hand. When they were in their own Land at ea&s;e, full of corne, wine and oyle, at re&s;t from their enemies round a|bout them, no promi&s;es, no mercies could win them to obedience; no woes, no threats of the Prophets could work any amendment, or draw one penitent tear from them. <HI>They harned their heart as a rock,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 5.8.</NOTE> <HI>and made their ore-head as a flint, and would not return.</HI> But being led away captive to <HI>Babylon,</HI> &s;eated <HI>&s;ub Dio,</HI> in the open aire, they begin to con&s;ider their de&s;erts, and Gods ju&s;tice, upon which they bemoan them&s;elves, and &s;et to the work in earne&s;t.</P>
<P>To turn an eye back, and glance now and then (perhaps to pa&s;&s;e away the time, and &s;atisfie our curio&s;ity) upon the works of Gods hands, I meane the examples of &s;in, wrath and mi&s;ery, is not ro much purpo&s;e. The &s;ole reading of the&s;e may bring knowledge; but it is the pau&s;ing and dige&s;ting of the&s;e which will make them beneficial. To benefit then hereafter by what we read or &s;uf|fer, is <HI>vacare &amp; videre,</HI> To take &s;ome time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 46 10.</NOTE> and meditate upon what God hath done in the earth. This is the chafing of the Pomander which may &s;weet|en the aire about us, and may keep us from infection. This hath God done, and he may do it again; he did it to him, and he may do it to me. Such a &s;ad thought may cau&s;e a man to withdraw till the dew ari&s;e from the limbeck of the heart, and di&s;till by the eyes &s;ome drops of tears. Thus it was w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">th the&s;e captive Jewes; they &s;ate down before they wept; they laid to heart, where <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hey were, and how they came thither, and then the tears fell in abundance, even by their own confe&s;&s;ion.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Etiam at&abque; etiam flevimus.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Junius.</NOTE></HEAD>
<P>God who hath made the eyes the Organ of &s;ight, hath made them al&s;o the Conduit of teares. That &s;o a flood from them mingled with Chri&s;ts blood, might wa&s;h away the &s;inne that too often enters by them. The de&s;ire of the Apple entred by the eye, <HI>Achans</HI> &s;acriledge by the eye,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen 3.6 Jo&s;h. 7 21. Mat 5.28. Ezek. 24.21. Jer. 9.21.</NOTE> wa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ton|ne&s;s by the eye; Idols were the de&s;ires of the&s;e mens eyes; &s;o that <HI>D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ath</HI> may well be &s;aid <HI>to climb up by the&s;e windows;</HI> and out by the&s;e <HI>win|dows</HI> it may be &s;aid <HI>to be ca&s;t,</HI> when Floods of Penitent Teares expel it.</P>
<P>The&s;e teares are of two &s;orts; of <HI>Compunction,</HI> and <HI>Compa&s;&s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n;</HI> and what &s;hould hinder us to think that the&s;e Jews &s;hed of both kinds, &s;ince they wept <HI>etiam at&abque; etiam,</HI> again and again?</P>
<P N="1">1. I cannot but think, that they were Prodigal of their teares of con|trition, without which Gods anger could not be appeas'd, and his goodwi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l recover'd.</P>
<P>Their example is for our practice; that &s;ince we have not hearkned to the Prophets as <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> that then we <HI>weep</HI> with <HI>I&s;rael;</HI> and <HI>weep</HI> now e&s;pe|cially; &s;ince as they then, &s;o we now <HI>&s;it at the waters of Babylon.</HI> The &s;ame cau&s;e would produce the &s;ame effect; in this was theirs, in this mu&s;t be our hope. Who can tell, <HI>if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his
<PB N="524" REF="268"> fierce anger,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jon. 3.9.</NOTE> <HI>that we peri&s;h not!</HI> In the&s;e &s;howres of <HI>&s;orrow,</HI> the Servants of God have had good Hope, and good Succe&s;&s;e. This thought wrought &s;o far with <HI>Peter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.75. Luke 7.38.</NOTE> <HI>that he went out and wept bitterly;</HI> bitterly for a bitter &s;in. This made &s;o deep an impre&s;&s;ion in <HI>Mary Magdalen, that &s;he made a Laver of her teares, and wa&s;hed her Saviours feet.</HI> This made the Pro|phet <HI>David</HI> to &s;ea&s;on all his provi&s;ion with teares;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 42.3. P&s;a 6 6. P&s;a. 126.5.</NOTE> <HI>he had teares for his meat, he had teares for his drink, he had teares in his bed,</HI> and <HI>he had teares in the field;</HI> for <HI>he &s;ow'd in teares: Largo humectat flumine vultum.</HI></P>
<P>And yet for all the&s;e teares, he cryes out <HI>Amplius Lava, wa&s;h me throughly,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 51.2.</NOTE> <HI>yet and yet wa&s;h me.</HI> A Ve&s;&s;el that hath been tainted, will not be &s;weet with once wa&s;hing; often &s;calded, and baked, and &s;unn'd it mu&s;t be: And thus our Ve&s;&s;els being &s;owred with iniquity, mu&s;t be wa&s;hed and wa&s;hed again, and &s;coured, and rubb'd <HI>etiam at&abque; etiam,</HI> with this penitential Sope and Nitre.</P>
<P>And yet when all's done, the&s;e tears will not merit a pardon; they may be <HI>legati doloris,</HI> me&s;&s;engers &s;ent before to Heaven to te&s;tifie our dolorous and griev'd &s;ouls, and &s;o <HI>impetrare,</HI> &s;peak and prevail with God to look to|ward us; but <HI>per modum &s;olutionis,</HI> &s;atisfie him they cannot, nor yet make amends for the lea&s;t offence. And yet they &s;peak a Language with which God is &s;o well ac<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uainted and plea&s;ed, that he hears, and enclines, and grants a Remi&s;&s;ion. <HI>The Lord,</HI> &s;aith <HI>David, hath heard the voice of my weeping.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 6.8.</NOTE></P>
<P>But how can we hope that he &s;hould hear this voice, who want the&s;e powerful Oratours to &s;peak for us? We &s;inne daily, but we &s;carce &s;hed a tear for &s;inne in all our dayes: We pollute our &s;elves, but take not this water to clen&s;e us; we wallow in our filth and &s;hame, but wa&s;h not; were it not then that there is an indulgence for the&s;e teares, we were all in a heavy ca&s;e. Be it then when men have done all they can, that teares w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll not fall, it mu&s;t not be forgotten, what God expects and looks for; It is that you do what you can; and thus much (with Gods a&s;&s;i&s;tance) you can do.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Mourn you can; Rea&s;on commands that; and this is the fir&s;t part of the indulgence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 2.12.</NOTE> <HI>that you mourn yet, when you cannot weep;</HI> for this is <GAP DESC="foreign">, that exchange which God will accept for teares. By this you rate what &s;inne de&s;erves, though you have it not to lay down, that in your judgement &s;inne de&s;erves more teares to be &s;pent upon it, than ten &s;onnes; and you would &s;pend them upon it, had rea&s;on the command over your eyes, your &s;en&s;e. And this inten&s;ive &s;orrow will be <HI>dolor appreciativus,</HI> a price that God will accept.</P>
<P>Farther yet, wi&s;h we can, wi&s;h with the Prophet, and &s;o let us wi&s;h, <HI>Oh that my head were a well <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f water,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 9.1.</NOTE> <HI>and my eyes a Fountaine of teares,</HI> that we might do the work as it ought to be done: This we can.</P>
<P>And pray we can al&s;o, that he <HI>which turns the flint-&s;tone into a &s;pring|ing w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 114 8.</NOTE> would vouch&s;afe to our Hearts harder than a flint <HI>gratiam lachryma|rum,</HI> &s;ome drops of this grace to that end.</P>
<P>And complaine we can, and bemoane our &s;elves, that we have &s;uch <HI>&s;tones</HI> in our <HI>hearts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 31.18.</NOTE> &s;uch <HI>Rocks</HI> in our <HI>brea&s;ts,</HI> that will yield no Water.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.12. Luke 18.13.</NOTE>And &s;it down we can, and beat, and &s;mite, and rend our Brea&s;ts, judge, condemn, execute, and be revenged upon our hearts for this hardne&s;s.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, one thing more we can do, <HI>viz.</HI> humbly be&s;eech our Hea|venly
<PB N="525" REF="268"> Father, that where the reckoning for our teares falls &s;hort, that he would accept of the &s;trong cryes and bitter teares,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5.7.</NOTE> which in the daies of his fle&s;h, his Ble&s;&s;ed Son &s;hed for us: If our grief for &s;inne be truly in|ten&s;ive, we will ri&s;e by the&s;e &s;teps; Complaine we will, and mourn; mourn and pray, pray and wi&s;h, that our Hearts were &s;ofter; and if they will not melt and mollifie, &s;mite and beat them, that &s;ome penitential wa|ter may if po&s;&s;ible, flow from them, as from a Rock.</P>
<P>I would have all this under&s;tood of regenerate per&s;ons rai&s;ed by grace, with which that they do co-operate, I am &s;ure is con&s;onant to Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> command, <HI>Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.12.</NOTE> But what now if the&s;e teares ari&s;e out of a &s;en&s;e of Gods Hand upon us, that he hath brought us to <HI>&s;it at the waters of Babylon,</HI> will they be the wor&s;e? There are who condemn them, conceiving that they mu&s;t flow out of pure love, and that the waters of <HI>Babylon</HI> &s;hould have no influence upon them. But this is a foul mi&s;take; for as the pangs of Child-birth do nece&s;&s;arily pre|cede the Birth of a &s;on, &s;o al&s;o in this &s;piritual birth, we never bring forth Ma&s;culine thoughts, except we fir&s;t travel with many pains, and throbs, and throws of a tender con&s;cience, to which Gods anger and the con&s;equent judgements and affliction is a ready way to bring us. <HI>A dol<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re parturivi|mus &s;alutem,</HI> I&s;a. 26.18.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jon. 3. I&s;a. 38. Mat. 3.</NOTE> <HI>Jonah</HI>'s <HI>Thunder</HI> brought <HI>Nineveh</HI> to <HI>Sack|cloth; I&s;aiah</HI>'s <HI>Morieris Hezeki<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h</HI> to <HI>tears:</HI> The Bapti&s;ts axe and fire the guilty people, the couzening Publicans, and rough hewen Soldiers, to come and ask with one voice, <HI>What &s;hall we do?</HI></P>
<P>For puni&s;hments, however they be not the intrin&s;ecal principles and for|mal cau&s;es of our conver&s;ion, yet from without there are powerful and mo|ving cau&s;es, that we return. They are as the Needle that makes way for the thread; as a bitter portion, that by accident procures Health; or as the &s;harp Knife of a Chyrurgeon, that doth let out the rank and corrupt blood, that &s;o the vital Spirit within may comfort and recover the Patient. I con|demn not then the teares of the&s;e poor Captives, though they were occa&s;ion|ed out of a &s;en&s;e of what they &s;uffer'd, and why they &s;uffer'd; a heavy bondage laid upon them by a ju&s;t God for their &s;in.</P>
<P N="2">2. But then again I mu&s;t needs commend them, that they mourned and wept, not only for them&s;elves, but for <HI>Zion</HI> al&s;o. In their contrition and com|punction they might reflect upon them&s;elves; but in their teares of Sympathy and Compa&s;&s;ion they &s;hewed their love to God and Religion. They forgate not <HI>Jeru&s;alem, they remembred Zion.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Zion</HI> is a type of the Church, and the Church is the body of Chri&s;t, of which Body all Chri&s;tians are members; and in the body &s;hall one member &s;uffer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.26.</NOTE> and another not &s;uffer with it? The wrong that is done to the foot &s;hould af|fect the hand, and the hurt of the hand may affect the heart. And would to God the hurt had been only in the hand or foot; but the wound is yet deeper and more dangerous; even the very vital parts, the head and heart of this My|&s;tical Body have received well nigh their deaths wound, and do you yet &s;tand by with dry eyes?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 1.12.</NOTE> Remember the complaint of <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> in the mid&s;t of her affliction, <HI>See if there be any &s;or<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ow like my &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rrow:</HI> and have you no regard all ye that pa&s;&s;e by? It &s;eems it was not the affliction that &s;o much, troubled her, nor her enemies hands that lay heavie upon her, which cau&s;ed the&s;e great &s;earchings of heart; That which was &s;o unkindly taken, was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 5.16.</NOTE> that &s;he &s;hould be thus bitterly wounded in the hou&s;e of her friends, and &s;o little pity taken of her.</P>
<P><HI>To weep with them that weep,</HI> is a duty which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> layes upon us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.15.</NOTE> and he impo&s;eth no more than he him&s;elf performs. <HI>Who,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>is weak,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.29.</NOTE> <HI>and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?</HI> For as it is with
<PB N="526" REF="269"> &s;trings, that joyne and accord in the &s;ame uni&s;on, if you &s;trike the one, the other will &s;hake and move: &s;o al&s;o it &s;hould be with men, that meet in the &s;ame har|mony of Faith and Religion; when one is &s;mitten with the hand of trouble, the &s;ound and motion &s;hould reach to the other, and make a kindly impre&s;&s;i|on of grief and &s;orrow upon them. So it ought to be when any one &s;ingle member of the body is di&s;tre&s;&s;ed; what then ought our compa&s;&s;ion to be, when the whole is in paine? Above all things, it is our duty to pray for the peace and pro&s;perity of <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 122.6.</NOTE> Though then our own particular &s;tate be never &s;o good, yet it mu&s;t be our grief to &s;ee the Church of God in trouble. Gods Saints and &s;ervants have been tender-hearted, and tenderly affected in the day of <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI> How was the wife of <HI>Phinehaz</HI> grieved for the Arks captivity!<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 4.21, 22 Nehem. 2.3.</NOTE> How &s;ad was the countenance of <HI>Nehemiah,</HI> even when he was full, and enjoyed what royal favour could ca&s;t upon him, when the City and place of his fathers Sepulchre lay wa&s;te, and the gates thereof were con&s;umed with fire!<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 9.1, 2.</NOTE> <HI>Paul</HI> had great &s;orrow and heavine&s;&s;e of heart for his brethren; and <HI>Jeremy</HI> breaks upon his thought into a pa&s;&s;ion, <HI>Let my eyes run down tears day and night,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 14.17.</NOTE> <HI>let them not cea&s;e; for the Virgin of my people is broken with a grievous breach, with a very grievous blow, &amp;c.</HI> But why do I produce the tears of &s;ervants,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 19.41.</NOTE> when I finde a river of this water in the eyes of our Lord him&s;elf upon the fore&s;ight of the ruine to fall upon <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> and the Tem|ple! <HI>When he &s;aw the City, he wept over it.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e are all patterns for us to exemplifie, and were there in us &s;uch bow|els, there would be &s;uch pa&s;&s;ion, and compa&s;&s;ion. <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> &s;hould not be afflict|ed, but we would pity him: <HI>The glory not depart from I&s;rael,</HI> but we would name every child <HI>Icha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">d:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos. 6.6. 1 Sam. 4.22. Jer. 31.15.</NOTE> <HI>Rachel</HI> not weep for her children, but we would bear a part with her. So it &s;hould be; but how is it? We pa&s;&s;e by and regard it not, we turn a&s;ide as if it were nothing to us; we drink wine in bowles, and remember it not. We eate, and drink, and buy and &s;ell, pull down, and build as freely, as luxuriou&s;ly, as &s;umptuou&s;ly, as if <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> &s;tood in her former glory, and God were prai&s;ed in <HI>Zion.</HI> I wi&s;h we had &s;tay'd here; for all this might be imputed to incon&s;ideration; what follows mu&s;t be imputed to mali|cious wickedne&s;&s;e; for farther there be that go, and adde affliction to affiiction; that now when God is a little di&s;plea&s;ed, help forward the affliction, per&s;ecu|ting them whom God hath &s;mitten; nay, which is yet wor&s;e, trample and in|&s;ult upon <HI>Zions</HI> mi&s;erie, as if they had learned to &s;peak no other language than that of <HI>Edom, Down with it, down with it.</HI></P>
<P>I know not what to make of it, nor what to &s;ay to it. Surely this &s;ame <GAP DESC="foreign">, is but a diveli&s;h quality. Were men living members of the Chri&s;ti|an Body, it would be otherwi&s;e. That they &s;ympathi&s;e not, that they are not compa&s;&s;ionate, that they melt not, that they relent not, is an argument that they are joyned to the body as a wodden legge, or an eye of gla&s;&s;e, which ne|ver partake of grief or pain, becau&s;e they partake not of life and blood. But they who help on the affliction, have learned it of Satan, who thought that <HI>Job</HI> was never low enough, till he was &s;craping his &s;ores upon the dunghill.</P>
<P>The Lord hath afflicted his people, the Lord hath cau&s;ed <HI>Zion</HI> to drink deep of his cup of mixed wine; pa&s;&s;e not then any longer by without beholding; or if you cannot command your eyes to ca&s;t a pitiful look that way, yet pa&s;&s;e by without reviling, &s;mite not them whom God hath &s;mitten. Be not Babylonians, call not to her &s;ons in &s;corn, <HI>Sing us one of the &s;ongs of Zion.</HI> If there be in you the bowels of men, or charity of Chri&s;tians, forbear the&s;e Sarca&s;mes, the&s;e contumelious reproaches. You &s;hall an&s;wer for your want of pity and com|pa&s;&s;ion, for your want of tears: What Apology can be made for bitterne&s;&s;e, for per&s;ecution, for your in&s;ultation over our mi&s;ery, God only knows. Say what you can, This is to you. It concerns you that <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> is in the du&s;t, that
<PB N="527" REF="269"> the &s;tones of <HI>Zion</HI> are pull'd one from another, that her &s;ons are captives at the waters of <HI>Babylon,</HI> that&mdash;But I &s;pare you. Were you as you ought to be, truely compa&s;&s;ionate, you would &s;it down with the&s;e <HI>Jews</HI> and weep, <HI>etiam at|que etiam,</HI> again and again; you would Pathetically cry out with the Prophet <HI>Jeremy, O that my head were full of water,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 9.1.</NOTE> <HI>and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the &s;lain of the daughter of my people!</HI> So he for the Children, but the <HI>Jews</HI> here for the Mother.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> We wept when we remembred thee O Zion.</HEAD>
<P>Li&s;ten I pray. You may hear the deepe&s;t &s;trings of the Prophets Harp, like the Ba&s;es of a Theorbo humming yet in your ear, <HI>O Zion.</HI> Heark again, and it may &s;eem to your &s;en&s;e the double Aire of a <HI>Sackbut</HI> or <HI>Organ</HI> holding out, <HI>O Zion.</HI> Thus it &s;ounds in my ears &s;till. And me thinks, I behold all the pious <HI>Jews</HI> &s;itting round about tho&s;e waters weeping, and groaning, and ecchoing back with a mournfull voice, <HI>O Zion.</HI> Let us then examine a little, what was in <HI>Zi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n</HI> more than in any other place.</P>
<P><HI>Zion</HI> was fir&s;t a Fort of the <HI>Jebu&s;ites;</HI> this King <HI>David took from them,</HI> and therein erected a &s;trong hold; <HI>and Sol<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mon after built the Temple.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 5.7. 2 Chron. 3.1.</NOTE> So that it was <HI>Sedes Regni &amp; Sacrarij,</HI> the &s;eat of the Kingdom and Sanctuary. Who then can blame their tears, when they thought of the ruine of their King|dom and Religion! Their Laws with <HI>Zion</HI> were made void, their Govern|ment overthrown, their Temple con&s;um'd with fire, their holy ve&s;&s;els pro|phan'd, the Ark of God was taken, their Prie&s;ts &s;lain with the &s;word, their Sacrifices cea&s;ed, their new Moons and Sabboths polluted, the Tables broken, the Records of God the Scriptures cancell'd. Cruelty, Sacriledge, Impiety, Oppre&s;&s;ion had &s;pared nor <HI>fanis</HI> nor <HI>profanis:</HI> All that was in the Church, all that was without it, that could be dear and precious unto them, was made a prey to the great <HI>A&s;&s;yrian</HI> Monarch.</P>
<P>Fair po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, and much wealth they no que&s;tion lo&s;t in this fatal over|throw of their City and Countrey. But we read not a word of complaint for the&s;e: that which fil'd their hearts with &s;orrow, and their eyes with tears, was the ruine of <HI>Zion.</HI> For this place as it was the foundation of their peace and welfare, &s;o it was the burden of their lamentable threne.</P>
<P><HI>Zion</HI> is a Type of the Catholick Church, of which every National is a mem|ber; and the ruine of this draws with it the tuine of any Common-wealth; though then that be deplored, yet let the ruine of this, of <HI>Zion,</HI> be lamen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|ed with a fountain of tears, becau&s;e with <HI>Zions</HI> fall, all the outward means of our &s;alvation are removed from Gods people.</P>
<P>Pardon and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in all men &s;tand in need of.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. Chap. 1. Chap. 2. Chap. 3.</NOTE> To that end God or|dained the propitiatory Sacrifices to be in <HI>Zion;</HI> Prie&s;ts to offer the&s;e in <HI>Zion; Aaron</HI> and his &s;ons to take their Cen&s;ers and &s;tep in, <HI>and make an atonement in Zion, to blow the Trumpet, to &s;anctifie a fa&s;t, to call a &s;olemn A&s;&s;embly in Zion;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joel 2.17.</NOTE> in a word, <HI>to weep betwix<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the Porch and the Altar, and &s;ay, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach.</HI> To the &s;ame end hath Chri&s;t now ordained the preaching of his Word, the Sacraments, the Keys, and Mini&s;ters to be Emba&s;&s;adours of peace. Now how &s;hall we have this pardon made known, tendered to us and &s;ealed, if <HI>Zion</HI> be brought to ruine!</P>
<P>Our nece&s;&s;ities are great and urgent, and there is no way to have them &s;up|plyed but by petition. This poured forth in the Clo&s;et will do well: But yet this is not <HI>domus orationis,</HI> the hou&s;e of Prayer.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 19.46. I&s;a. 56.7. P&s;al. 122.4. 1 King. 8 30. 2 King. 19.14.</NOTE> The place which God hath cho&s;en for all fle&s;h to that purpo&s;e is the Temple; <HI>thither the Tribes went up, there they offered their prayers,</HI> there God promi&s;ed to hear. It was in the hou&s;e of the Lord <HI>that Hezekiah &s;pread Senacheribs letter,</HI> and upon it he re|ceived
<PB N="528" REF="270"> a gracious an&s;wer. Prayer wants much of the force being &s;ingle, which it will have being united; many hearts and votes being joyned, do as it were combine and con&s;pire to pierce the Clouds, and offer a &s;acred violence to the throne of grace. And where can &s;upplicants unite, where combine, how con|&s;pire to wra&s;tle with God, if the walls of <HI>Zion</HI> be demoli&s;hed and razed? Again, mens receipts are many, gifts be&s;towed upon the Church, upon the Nation, for which the Father of all good gifts expects his Tribute of thanks, and where &s;hall the receivers meet to pay their due, if <HI>Zion</HI> lie in the du&s;t?</P>
<P>In private no que&s;tion the&s;e religious <HI>Jews</HI> did all this at <HI>Babylon;</HI> they meditated, they read, they pray'd, they prai&s;ed God. But all this would not give them content; the &s;ongs of <HI>Zion</HI> they de&s;ired to &s;ing in <HI>Zion,</HI> or el&s;e they thought that all would not &s;ucceed well with them. And this ap|pears in this, that when after the Commi&s;&s;ion was extant to rebuild the Temple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezra 3.10, 11.</NOTE> <HI>they laid the foundation with &s;o much joy and gladne&s;s.</HI> Thither, when the fir&s;t Temple &s;tood, <HI>they were wont to go up with a pipe, there they burnt In|cen&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 30.29. Deut. 15.</NOTE> <HI>there th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y kept their &s;olemn Feasts, there they rejoyced before the Lord,</HI> &s;o that till that day came again, re&s;olved they were to &s;it down and weep. The memory of <HI>Zion</HI> was bitter unto them, becau&s;e they could not &s;erve God in <HI>Zion.</HI></P>
<P>I de&s;ire your patience, that I may proceed one &s;tep farther. With a fained breath to &s;ay, <HI>Laus Deo,</HI> is but cold &s;atisfaction; this rent is be&s;t paid, when men make <HI>his prai&s;e to be glorious.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 148.1. P&s;al. 66.2.</NOTE> The glory of all things is, that, in which their highe&s;t perfection doth con&s;i&s;t; and the glory of God the highe&s;t eminency, whereby he is above all things in power, in knowledge, in holine&s;&s;e, in mer|cy, in ju&s;tice, in eternal being. God is then glorified by us, when &s;uch his Excellency, and Eminency is with due admiration &s;et forth with heart and tongue; Which is nece&s;&s;ary, not in re&s;pect of God, for he knows what we can or will &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 13.11. and 17.13.</NOTE> before we &s;peak; but in re&s;pect of men, that if it were an act of ju&s;tice, as that upon <HI>Pharaoh in the red Sea,</HI> that others may hear and fear, and do no more &s;o wickedly: if of <HI>mercy and deliverance,</HI> his children may with the more confidence rely upon him.</P>
<P>The <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> (I mean while they were the I&s;rael of God) were no mutes; they did <HI>dicere, &amp; bene dicere,</HI> &s;peak, and &s;peak well of him, their talking was <HI>of his Truth, and his Salvation;</HI> and lea&s;t their tongues &s;hould be any way defective,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 71.24.</NOTE> they &s;ang to. To which purpo&s;e they had their <HI>Mizmor, Tehilla<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> and <HI>Schir,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.17.</NOTE> an&s;werable to which three we have <HI>P&s;alms, and Hymns, and Spi|ritual Songs.</HI> And to make all &s;ure, that it &s;hould be <HI>Gloria in alti&s;&s;imis,</HI> when they thought their voice could not reach high enough, nor the tongue not be loud enough, they brought into the Temple, <HI>Cornets, Trumpets, Harps,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 150.</NOTE> <HI>ten &s;tring'd In&s;truments, loud Cymbals and Organs,</HI> that &s;o <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 6.</NOTE> <HI>every thing that hath breath, might prai&s;e the Lord.</HI> This is at the fourth ver&s;e of this P&s;alm called the Lords Songs. And the <HI>Babylonians</HI> it &s;eems, having only heard of it, de&s;ired much to hear it. And little intreaty had &s;erv'd their turns, had they been at <HI>Zion;</HI> but poor &s;ouls being in captivity they could not &s;ing them with any comfort, therefore they hang'd up their Harps. But when once God &s;hould <HI>turn again the Captivity</HI> of <HI>Zion,</HI> then they vowed, <HI>that their right hand &s;hould not forget her cunning,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 126.1.</NOTE> <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> &s;hould be remembred in their mirth: No man need to intreat them to it.</P>
<Q><L>&mdash;&V;ltro longa cur ve&s;te &s;acerdos</L>
<L>Argutis citharam digitis pul&s;aret eburnam!</L></Q>
<P>It is our fate to have liv'd in an age of di&s;cords, Men having &s;uch inharmo|nious
<PB N="529" REF="270"> &s;ouls, that the melody of <HI>Zion</HI> &s;ounds wor&s;e in their ears than the hoar&s;e noats of the croaking Ravens. The mu&s;ick of Harps, Viols, Organs, Voi|ces, and lowder In&s;truments, u&s;ed in the &s;ervice of God; is as plea&s;ing in their heavy ears, as the braying of an <HI>Arcadian</HI> bea&s;t. Beyond a plain P&s;alm (which &s;ome will not allow neither) to &s;ing prai&s;e, is in their judgement a Popi&s;h, a Super&s;titious, an unlawful cu&s;tom. And would not this bring a &s;ad thought of the waters of <HI>Babylon?</HI> cau&s;e a man to &s;it down there and weep <HI>when he remembers thee O Zion!</HI> Thee O <HI>Zion,</HI> in which the Lords &s;ongs were wont to be &s;ung with &s;weete&s;t voices, and In&s;truments of <HI>David!</HI> Thee O <HI>Zi|on</HI> in which <HI>Te Deum laudamus, Maries Magnificat, &amp; Zacharies Benedictus,</HI> and the Angels <HI>Glory to God on high,</HI> did make a &s;trange impre&s;&s;ion on an humble, faithful, thanful, fervent heart, and &s;ometimes fetch tears from the eye of a contrite &s;pirit! And that there was no error in this, &s;hall appear by the&s;e &s;olid Rea&s;ons.</P>
<P N="1">1. To &s;care us from this heavenly melody, with the formidable <HI>Mormo</HI> of Roman Super&s;tition, and will-wor&s;hip, as if we were yet children in Scrip|ture, in Antiquity, in Rea&s;on, is an over confident attempt; <HI>Non obtu&s;a adeo ge&s;tamus pectora.</HI> For what is there Popery, Super&s;tition, Will-wor&s;hip practi|&s;ed in heaven? There St. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> doubts not to affirm, that the Angels &s;ing all the Hymns with us; that it is little better than fury to throw this piece of heaven out of the Church. Or grant, that in the <HI>Revelation</HI> (where there is &s;o often mention made of this heavenly mu&s;ick) the Church below on earth is to be under&s;tood, then the Argument is &s;tronger. For then it will follow undeniably, that it may be done here. Be it Heaven or Earth, we find the <HI>four living Creatures, and the twenty four Elders falling down,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 5.5.</NOTE> <HI>having Harps in their hands, &amp;c.</HI> And they who had gotten the victory, <HI>with their Harps of God harping with their Harps, and &s;inging the &s;ong of Mo&s;es, and of the Lamb,</HI> Rev. 14.2. and 15.3.</P>
<P>What were the Jews before Chri&s;t, Popi&s;h and Super&s;titious! and yet they had all variety of In&s;truments, and that in the Temple. 'Tis but in vain to tell us that this was a Legal Ceremony, &s;ince we read not a word of it in <HI>Mo|&s;es.</HI> Brought it was in by <HI>David,</HI> by <HI>A&s;aph,</HI> by others.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chro. 29.25, 26.</NOTE> Say they were Pro|phets; yet what Prophet ever ordained aery thing in Gods &s;ervice which was unlawfull? The truth is, it was Religious prudence from whence it had its ri&s;e; and the rea&s;ons which per&s;waded them to make u&s;e of it in Gods &s;ervice, are as pregnant yet for the continuance.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t was to expre&s;s their joy. <HI>Is any man merry,</HI> &s;aith St. <HI>James, Let him &s;ing P&s;alms.</HI> In heaven there is nothing but rejoycing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jac. 5.13.</NOTE> there is no|thing but &s;inging, and that the In&s;trument be not condemned, <HI>it was the Harp too.</HI> Since therefore we have our times of joy as they had,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14.2.</NOTE> we may have our &s;ong and Harp to expre&s;s our joy as well as they had.</P>
<P N="2">2. Again this was done to Edifie. Men I conceive are then mo&s;t edified in Religious wor&s;hip, when their affections are ordered as becomes pious and de|vout men. Now there is not any thing of more power than is a mu&s;ical harmony, whether by In&s;trument or voice to bring a compo&s;ed temper to a di&s;compo&s;ed &s;oul: to quicken a heavy &s;pirit, to allay that which is too eager; to mollifie and &s;often a hard heart, to &s;tay and &s;ettle a de&s;perate: In a word, not any &s;o forcible to draw forth tears of devotion, if the heart be &s;uch as can yield them. Six noats being curiou&s;ly varied and carried from the ear to the &s;pi|ritual faculties of the &s;oul, are able to move and quiet, to rai&s;e and moderate all affections:
<Q><PB N="530" REF="271">
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dubartas.</NOTE>And with Divi&s;ions of a choice divi&s;e,</L>
<L>The hearers &s;oul out by his ears enti&s;e.</L></Q> And can there then be any art of more u&s;e in Divine Wor&s;hip, in which the mind ought to be &s;ometimes enclined to heavine&s;s, &s;ometimes rai&s;ed to a &s;piritual exta&s;ie of joy, &s;ometimes to a holy zeal and indignation, ever carried with &s;uch affections as is &s;uitable to the pre&s;ent occa&s;ion! Men therefore may &s;peak their plea&s;ure, but let rea&s;on be heard, and then the &s;ongs of <HI>Zion</HI> will much edifie: If not the under&s;tanding, becau&s;e, &s;ay they, the&s;e teach not, yet the affections very much, which are the prime wheeles in this work. And he that doubts it, let him remember <HI>Eli&s;ha's pa&s;&s;ion allay|ed by a Min&s;trel,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 3.15. 1 Sam. 16.16.</NOTE> and <HI>Sauls madne&s;&s;e calmed by Davids Harp.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. And yet I do not grant, nor dare not &s;ay that Mu&s;ick doth not teach. For are there not good in&s;tructions in P&s;alms? not many profitable le&s;&s;ons in Anthyms? which yet by the &s;weetne&s;s of melody find the ea&s;ier entrance, and the longer entertainment. Hear the judgement of the great <HI>Ba&s;il.</HI> When the holy Spirit &s;aw that mankind is unto vertue hardly drawn,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il <HI>in</HI> P&s;al.</NOTE> but is propen&s;e to what delights, it plea&s;ed the wi&s;dom of the &s;ame Spirit to borrow from melody that plea&s;ure, which being mingled with the heavenly My&s;teries, might by the &s;oft and &s;mooth touch of the ear conveigh as it were by &s;tealth the trea&s;ure of good things into the mind. To this purpo&s;e were tho&s;e h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r|monious tunes of P&s;almes devi&s;ed for us, that they who are yet in knowledge but Babes, might when they think they &s;ing, learn. Oh the wi&s;e concep|tions of that heavenly teacher, which hath by his skill found out a way, that doing tho&s;e things wherein we delight, we may al&s;o learn that wherein we may profit.</P>
<P N="4">4. This the le&s;&s;on that may be learned from the Ditty: Now from the &s;weet co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ent and agreement of the&s;e voices and In&s;truments, Chri&s;tians may learn to agree better. One Viol or Harp out of tune, abates the &s;ym|phony of the re&s;t; and one jarring Chri&s;tian mars the mu&s;ick of the whole Church. Oh how melodious was the prai&s;e of God, when it came from men of one heart, and and one mind, as plea&s;ing then, as is to us the Symphony of well tuned In&s;truments! and ever &s;ince the&s;e were laid a&s;ide, we never were in tune. It were then worth labour to call for them again, and hearken to one of the &s;ongs of <HI>Zion</HI> expre&s;&s;ed on them; &s;ay it were the 133. P&s;alm, <HI>O quam bonum &amp; quam jucundum,</HI> and by it to learn to come in tune again; thus the fuges and divi&s;ions would be &s;weetned; and as in mu&s;ick the falling from a di&s;|cord to a cord &s;trangely ravi&s;heth the ear: &s;o all the&s;e di&s;agreements in affecti|ons might perhaps knit and plea&s;e be&s;t after many di&s;likes. This the God of Unity and Concord grant, who loves not any odious and continued di&s;cords in his &s;ervice.</P>
<P>Upon the&s;e Rea&s;ons the Primitive Chri&s;tians &s;ang their prai&s;es to God. In <HI>Pontus</HI> and <HI>Bithynia, Pliny</HI> tells us, that all which could be laid to their charge was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. Apol.</NOTE> that <HI>Antilucanis coetibus,</HI> before day they met to pra&s;e, One Je&s;us with Hymns as God, <HI>&s;ecum invicem,</HI> quire-wi&s;e. In <HI>Nitria Philo</HI> and <HI>Palla|dius</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Philo Pallad.</NOTE> deliver, that they were accu&s;tomed in their Temples with Hymns and P&s;alms to honour the Divine Maje&s;ty, &s;ometime exalting their voices toge|ther, and &s;ometime one part an&s;wering the other, wherein twas thought they &s;werved not much from the pattern of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Miriam.</HI> At <HI>Antio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h</HI> near the Apo&s;tles time <HI>Ignatius</HI> began it: <HI>Flavianus</HI> and <HI>Diodorus</HI> continued it. And among the Grecians <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> having brought it into his Church of <HI>Neo|ce&s;area,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il. ad Neocae&s;.</NOTE> to avoid any thoughts of &s;ingularity and novelty, pleads for his war|rant the practice of the Churches of <HI>Egypt, Lybia, Theb s, Palest<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">na,</HI> the
<PB N="531" REF="271"> <HI>Arabians, Phenicians, Syrians, Me&s;opotamians,</HI> among&s;t them the cu&s;tom was &s;uch, to give power to one call'd <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Chaun|ter you may name him, to begin the Anthymn, and then the whole Quire came in, <GAP DESC="foreign">, and in variety and de&s;|cant of &s;inging P&s;alms they &s;pent the night.</P>
<P>The&s;e were the &s;ongs of <HI>Zion</HI> which our Fathers u&s;ed, and it is, and ought to be our grief, that they are not heard to this day. <HI>Licet irrideat, &s;i quis vult, plus apud me valebit vara <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ntio, quam vulgi opinio.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cicero</HI> Paradox</NOTE> I will &s;it down and weep to be deprived of that harmony, with which the Angels and Sai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ts are delight|ed, which &s;o many Chri&s;tian Churches have received, &s;o many ages kept on foot; that which entunes the affections; that which teacheth &s;o many good le&s;&s;ons; fills the mind with comfort and heavenly delight; teacheth us to be of one heart, one mind, and makes the prai&s;e of God to be glorious; and which is more, &s;o fitly accords with the Apo&s;tles Exhortation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.16.</NOTE> <HI>Speak to your &s;elves with P&s;almes, and Hymnes, and &s;piritual Songs, making melody and &s;inging to the Lord in your hearts,</HI> which &s;hould not be, me thinks, &s;o lightly thrown a&s;ide. A grief it &s;hould be rather to think it &s;hould be &s;o; and with the&s;e poor <HI>Jews</HI> mourn you ought, that we are forced to hang up our Harps.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The Conclu&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>It is a trouble to me to be kept, and to keep you &s;o long at the waters of <HI>Ba|bylon.</HI> I &s;hall therefore only add a few words more, and &s;o di&s;mi&s;s you. Wi&s;h I do that I could &s;end you away as <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> did <HI>Naaman, Go in peace.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 5.19.</NOTE> But this the&s;e <HI>Jews</HI> enjoyed not. This we enjoy not, nor this we are not like to en|joy. <HI>For what peace &s;o long as</HI>&mdash;&s;o long as we &s;it at the&s;e floods of confu&s;ion?<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 9.22.</NOTE> O <HI>Zion,</HI> how beautiful were thy walls, how glorious thy Palaces, when men were of one heart, and one mind! O <HI>Babylon,</HI> how bitter are thy waters, how violent thy &s;treams, when there is nothing but noi&s;e and divi&s;ion!</P>
<P>At <HI>Salem is Gods tabernacle,</HI> and <HI>Salem</HI> is peace; provide that place for him, and he will &s;ay, <HI>here is my rest, here will I dwell, for I have a deligh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> therein.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 76.2. P&s;al. 132.14.</NOTE> What a grief then mu&s;t it be to the people of God to be where God hath no delight to be! To be in <HI>Babel</HI> a name of confu&s;ion, to be at the Rivers of <HI>Ba|bylon</HI> where the continual water deeps, and roaring of the &s;treams &s;ounded d &s;|cords. Had they put their Harps in tune, and begun to &s;ing, the <HI>Catadupes</HI> and noi&s;e about them had marred the mu&s;ick. Sit down with them we mu&s;t, and re&s;olve to weep till God bring us from tho&s;e Rivers.</P>
<P>Neither is it a liberty granted to every di&s;&s;enting judgement that will ever do this. He that will &s;ing <HI>Zions</HI> &s;ongs, mu&s;t have <HI>Zions</HI> peace, a p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ace well grounded, which will never be, where there is no Order; and Order there never was, nor never will be in <HI>Babel;</HI> That only mu&s;t be be expected in <HI>Zi|on.</HI> The City in which this fort &s;tood,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 122.3.</NOTE> was builded as a City that is at unity in it&s;elf. The Temple to which they a&s;cended was but one. The &s;ervice there uniform. Their Harps were all in tune, and tuned one to another. To them they &s;ang the &s;ame P&s;alms of <HI>David,</HI> of <HI>A&s;aph. Mo&s;es</HI> was obey'd, and <HI>Aaron</HI> was heard. Deformity and confu&s;ion was a child of <HI>Babel.</HI> And at the birth, all that loved <HI>Zion wept bitterly. Angeli pacis amar&egrave; flebant,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 33.7.</NOTE> and ever &s;ince <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u&s;t occa&s;ion there hath been to &s;it and weep. To &s;it down and &s;tay, and feed upon tears, becau&s;e we have little el&s;e left us to feed on.</P>
<P><HI>Jacob</HI> had two wives <HI>Leah</HI> and <HI>Rachel,</HI> which were &s;i&s;ters;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 29.17.</NOTE> <HI>Leah</HI> was blear-eyed, but fruitful; <HI>Rachel</HI> fair, but barren; this bred the quarrel, neither was <HI>Jacob</HI> able to compo&s;e it. I will not be an Interpreter; But I can tell how this matter might be mended, if all animo&s;ities laid a&s;ide, the &s;i&s;ters would re|member they were conceived in one womb, and &s;ucked the &s;ame brea&s;ts,
<PB N="532" REF="272"> they mu&s;t acknowledge it their duty to honour their Mother. It was the younger pre&s;uming on her beauty that grew contentious, and with what words &s;he hath reviled her Mother, I forbear to &s;peak, I wi&s;h or pray rathe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> that God would give her repentance, and that with her elder &s;i&s;ter &s;he would &s;hake hands, and joyn with her to &s;ing the &s;ongs of <HI>Zion,</HI> and that that Exhortation of the Apo&s;tle might be heard:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.3.</NOTE> Study to <HI>keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.</HI></P>
<P>By his Spirit it is, that Chri&s;t unites all the parts of his body together in one communion, how different &s;oever they are in qualities, conditions, functi|ons; how di&s;tant &s;oever in places, yet knit they are, I &s;ay, together in one body by one and the &s;ame &s;pirit. It is then required of us, that we labour to pre&s;erve this unity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.1.</NOTE> the ready way to which is, <HI>that every one walk in that vo|cation to which he is called.</HI> In the body natural, the <HI>eye</HI> mu&s;t not invade the <HI>office of the ear,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.15, 16, &amp;c.</NOTE> <HI>the ear of the hand, the hand of the foot, the foot of the head:</HI> So it mu&s;t be in this &s;piritual body; every part, eye, ear, hand, foot, and head, &s;et in a higher, &s;et in a lower place, mu&s;t not invade anothers Office, but &s;weetly con&s;pire to the harmony of the whole. Under Chri&s;t we are all as the univer&s;al Head, and his influence it is that makes us one body. Say now whether di&s;cord more becomes you, than apo&s;tacy nad rebel|lion the parts. What, hath Chri&s;t &s;hed his blood, given his Spir<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t to unite us, and can we not keep our &s;elves together? <HI>A hou&s;e divided cannot stand;</HI> and a body divided cannot live:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 12.25.</NOTE> In&s;truments out of tune will make no good mu|&s;ick. Either then be at one, or you cannot continue; either continue one, or you cannot la&s;t long. Tune your Harps to tho&s;e of <HI>Zion,</HI> or you will never &s;ing in tune the &s;ongs of <HI>Zion.</HI></P>
<P>St. <HI>Paul</HI> in the forecited place mentions a Bond, <HI>and that Bond is peace,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Necto.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.3.</NOTE> It knits together, without which the unity of the Spirit will not be pre&s;erved. And this word <HI>peace</HI> is a &s;weet plea&s;ing &s;yllable, whether you have it with God <HI>being ju&s;tified by faith;</HI> or in your own bo&s;oms, having beat down that Rebel your own will.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.1.</NOTE> Both the&s;e are comfortable; but there is yet an Eccle&s;ia&s;tical peace, which is a &s;weet harmony of judgements, of Do|ctrines, of charitable actions, and to this you are called in this place, which if it may be attained, after we have &s;at &s;o long at <HI>Babylon,</HI> it will be the wel|comer.</P>
<P>And of this I have yet good hope; becau&s;e I read that a <HI>Lamb &s;tood upon Mount Sion,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14.1.</NOTE> <HI>and with him an hundred fourty and four thou&s;and, among whom there was fir&s;t heard a voice as of many waters, next the voice of a great thun|der, and la&s;t a voice as of Harpers with their Harps.</HI> The voice of waters is confu&s;ed, a hideous murmur, much like the Rivers of <HI>Babylon.</HI> The voice of thunder is fearful. The voice of Harpers plea&s;ing and delightful. The con|fu&s;ed voice of the Rivers of <HI>Babylon</HI> we have long heard. The voice of thunder al&s;o hath fill'd and almo&s;t deafed our ears. And when the&s;e di&s;or|derly roaring voices are pa&s;t, I hope to drink in the plea&s;ing melody of the Harpers with their Harps, every one chanting a &s;ong of <HI>Zion.</HI> I will not de&s;pair, but that of <HI>Nazianzens</HI> may fall out true,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. Ep. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> that after the chattering of Swallows, tho&s;e hou&s;e-birds, the &s;weet and &s;now white Swans may &s;ing again.</P>
<P>This is my hope, and &s;ee it be your prayer, and I will joyn with you in it. So may we learn tho&s;e &s;ongs of <HI>Zion,</HI> which we &s;hall hereafter &s;ing in <HI>Zion.</HI> So tune our voices in this Church Militant, that we may &s;ing in tune with the Church Triumphant for ever and ever, <HI>Amen</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="40" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="533" REF="272">
<HEAD>The Communion of Saints.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>EPHES. 4.16.</HI></BIBL>
<P>From whom the whole body fitly joyn'd together, and compacted by that which every joynt &s;upplies, according to the effectual working in the mea|&s;ure of every part maketh increa&s;e of the body, unto the edifying of it&s;elf in love.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>VVHen I read that tho&s;e who glory in the name of Saints, &s;hould yet ca&s;t an ill eye upon tho&s;e words of the Creed, <HI>the communion of Saints;</HI> no little wonder and a&s;toni&s;hment (&s;uch is I profe&s;s my dulne&s;s and ig|norance) hath affected me; I ca&s;t about to know the cau&s;e of this di&s;like; what might be the crime of this clau&s;e? how it had offended? that it mu&s;t now in the fagg end of the world come under the &s;punge! E&s;pecially &s;ince this is &s;o con&s;onant to the&s;e Scriptures, 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 1.3. 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.4, 5. <HI>Heb.</HI> 12.22, 23. <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 2.19, 20. and be&s;ides others, this very place I have read unto you; out of all which places Interpreters with one voice have collected <HI>the Commu|nion of Saints.</HI></P>
<P>What then &s;hould be the cau&s;e this clau&s;e &s;hould be exploded, I could not conceive, till at la&s;t I remembred that <HI>Donatus</HI> was ri&s;en again, and with his breath had poi&s;oned the multitude, who out of blind zeal and fancy they bore to particular and &s;eparate Congregations, that &s;uppo&s;e the name of Saints could not agree to the Catholick Church, neither might any be of that Com|munion, who were not admitted vvithin the vvalls of their Meeting-hou|&s;es. To believe then a Catholick Church, and in it a Communion of Saints, who vvere not members of their Congregations, is in their judgement to believe a lye.</P>
<P>See vvhat &s;elf-love will do, not only make men high-minded, to think too vvell of them&s;elves, but al&s;o to di&s;dain and judge uncharitably of others, even to excommunicate them, and hold them no better than Heathens and Publicans, becau&s;e they will not forfeit their wits, captivate their under&s;tand|ings, &s;it down and break bread with them. Were this their &s;everity to be ad|mitted, what would become of all the Saints departed before they were born! what of greater number of Chri&s;tians in the <HI>Eea&s;tern</HI> and <HI>We&s;tern</HI> Churches? all which died in the bo&s;ome of the Catholick Church, and believed the Com|munion of Saints, being utterly unacqainted with the nece&s;&s;ity of collected Churches in their &s;en&s;e for the attaining of &s;alvation.</P>
<P>A&s;&s;ured they were, that Chri&s;ts body was but one, the parts whereof were <HI>knit together by tho&s;e bonds</HI> our Apo&s;tle mentions in the former ver&s;es,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 4, 5, 6.</NOTE> and therefore doubted not to e&s;teem the&s;e in the &s;ociety of Saints who profe&s;&s;ed <HI>one Lord, one Faith, one Bapti&s;me</HI> with them; whether &s;incerely, or fainedly, they left it to God to judge. Yet if among the&s;e they found any corrupt, &s;canda|lous members, by the power of the keys, they ca&s;t them out as unfit for their communion.</P>
<P>The re&s;t in charity they held to be of the body of the Church; And if it may not offend &s;ome uncharitable ears, Saints; and I conceive it an error to think otherwi&s;e: which mi&s;take doth I know ari&s;e out of heat of zeal, but not well grounded as it ought to be upon knowledge; for were that di&s;tinction of Saints by calling, and Saints by a true faith and life, well heeded, the mi&s;take would ea&s;ily vani&s;h, and the offence taken, not given, be removed.</P>
<P>This di&s;tinction is clear in the Scripture, the fir&s;t part of it in St. <HI>Paul.</HI>
<PB N="534" REF="273"> For doth he not &s;end greeting to the <HI>Romans</HI> in this manner <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.7. 1 Cor. 1.2. 2 Cor. 1.1. Col. 1.2.</NOTE> <HI>called to be Saints?</HI> The <HI>Corinthians,</HI> who yet were carnal, <HI>he calls Saints;</HI> and the <HI>C llo&s;&s;ians he calls S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ints,</HI> who yet were leavened with Traditions, wor&s;hipping of Angels, and Legal Ceremonies. And all the&s;e &s;o called belong to the vi|&s;ible body of Chri&s;t, becau&s;e they are admitted by Bapti&s;me, which imports two things. Fir&s;t, a clean&s;ing from all impurity, and &s;econdly, a &s;pecial ap|plication and con&s;ecration to Divine wor&s;hip; for in Bapti&s;me, the baptized enters into a &s;olemn Covenant with God. He then takes us into his tutelage and &s;ervice, and we again renouncing all other, take him to be our Lord. We are then to think and &s;peak charitably of all tho&s;e who have en|tred this Covevant with us, and promi&s;cuou&s;ly to call them as the Apo&s;tle doth, Saints, till by plain and manife&s;t deeds they &s;hall &s;hew them&s;elves to be Apo&s;tates or Hypocrites. For as in tho&s;e things which belong to Faith, we mu&s;t &s;peak and judge according to the Scripture: &s;o in tho&s;e things which belong to Charity, it is &s;afe to think and &s;peak according to probability: Which Rule may, I confe&s;s, fail us, but w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">thout any dammage or danger of his, who thought better of another than he did de&s;erve; but not without the damnation of that Hypocrite, who was not the man he &s;eemed to be. T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll then it manife&s;tly appears otherwi&s;e, all outward profe&s;&s;ors may without any &s;cruple be e&s;teemed of <HI>the communion of Saints.</HI></P>
<P>Formally, truely, really, inwardly, I willingly acknowledge they are not &s;uch, and therefore no true members of Chri&s;ts My&s;tical Body; which is the other patt of the di&s;tinction, to which the Apo&s;tle &s;eems to have an eye in the former place to the <HI>Collo&s;&s;ians,</HI> for having in general named the Saints, he adds, <HI>and faithful,</HI> as if he would di&s;tingui&s;h betwixt the one and the other: Tho&s;e who &s;eem to be &s;o, and tho&s;e who really are &s;o. The&s;e la&s;t are the faithful, truely &s;anctified by the imputation of Chri&s;ts Righteou&s;ne&s;s, and ac|cording to the mea&s;ure of this life having holine&s;s inherent in them. If then it be now demanded of which of the&s;e it is, or whether of both the Creed &s;peaks? I an&s;wer, that primarily, and in the fir&s;t intention it is to be under&s;tood of the&s;e la&s;t, &s;uch who are truely and really Saints; and of the other no otherwi&s;e than by the judgement of charity they may be pre&s;umed to be &s;uch, which &s;ober rule of charity for any man out of heat, giddine&s;s, zeal, prejudice, &s;elf-conceit to tran&s;gre&s;s, is the guilt of a Phari&s;ee, and damnable. And thus having fir&s;t removed what might be ca&s;t in my way, I come to open the words which I now read unto you; in which I willingly grant, that the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks only of that <HI>communion of Saints,</HI> who truely, pro|perly, and formally are Members of Chri&s;ts body, to which he is truely the Head, and to whom they are joyn'd by his Spirit.</P>
<P>The &s;ubject of the&s;e words is the Church or &s;ociety of Saints pre&s;ented unto us under the notion of a Natural Body, both for the frame, the union, the operation, the growth and increa&s;e of the whole and the parts; which Points that we may the more di&s;tinctly and clearly apprehend, ob&s;erve</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t and main Principal of this Body, it is Chri&s;t, <GAP DESC="foreign">, from whom it proceeds as from a Fountain, and from whom all the Members receive life, motion, faculties of nutrition, as the parts of a natural body from the head.</P>
<P>Secondly, that this My&s;tical Body hath two excellent properties.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. It is <GAP DESC="foreign">, fitly joyned together, in that there is Beauty and Order.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. It is <GAP DESC="foreign"> clo&s;ely compacted and knit, in this there is unity, con&s;ent, and agreement.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Thirdly, we have here taught us the manner how this harmony and beauty, unity and agreement of the whole, and the parts is wrought and continued,
<PB N="535" REF="273"> it is done <GAP DESC="foreign">, by many &s;piritual ligaments; though the joynts of the body be many, yet they meet and touch, that &s;o they &s;upply to their fel|low-part what it wants. In this there is mutual help.</P>
<P>Fourthly, which help is effectually to be given: So that no part of this bo|dy is to be dead or idle, but operative and doing good to his fellow members. Every part of the body, &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, mu&s;t have <GAP DESC="foreign"> an effectual working.</P>
<P>Fifthly, Wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch work yet is to be done in proportion. According to the gift, and mea&s;ure of the gift be&s;towed upon the part, &s;uch mu&s;t the work be, &s;uch the &s;upply; it mu&s;t be done in the mea&s;ure of every part.</P>
<P>Sixthly, The <GAP DESC="foreign">. The &s;mall cau&s;e of this help, working &s;upply; it is not that the &s;ingle parts &s;eek their own good, but the benefit of the whole body. It is for the increa&s;e and edifying of the body.</P>
<P>Seventhly and la&s;tly, we have here the impul&s;ive cau&s;e whence every part of this body is moved to this &s;upply of nouri&s;hment. It proceeds, and ought to proceed from love and charity. <GAP DESC="foreign">, the love fir&s;t that the parts bear to the head, and the charity which they owe to their fellow-members, quick|ens them effectually to &s;upply nouri&s;hment for the encrea&s;e of the whole. This is the thread I mean to follow for the di&s;covery of the Trea&s;ury hidden in the Bowels of this rich Text. And the fir&s;t piece I meet with is of incompa|rable price, that who&s;e influence gives worth to the whole, without which the body, the ligatures, the &s;upply, the encrea&s;e were not worth talking of, no nor to &s;peak properly were at all; For as of Chri&s;t is the body, &s;o from him al&s;o is the &s;ymmetry, agreement, the quick pul&s;e, and motion of the parts, the help which they mutually afford, the gifts which they effectually work to the &s;upportation and encrea&s;e of the whole. And therefore following our Apo&s;tle, I &s;hall begin with Chri&s;t, and con&s;ider him in that relation as he &s;tands to the body, <HI>viz.</HI> that he is the Head.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. From wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m is the whole Body.</HEAD>
<P>The Head is the Notion the Apo&s;tle made choice of to repre&s;ent him unto us in the former ver&s;e, and by it under&s;tands not a Political head, &s;uch as a King is in relation to his people, but a natural head, &s;uch as every man car|ries above his &s;houlders, becau&s;e this re&s;emblance was mo&s;t apt to &s;hew that clo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e union that is betwixt Chri&s;t and his Church; and then again the Church as a body united to this head, was to pre&s;erve a communion among them&s;elves.</P>
<P>This Po&s;ition then is &s;ound, and I &s;hall I lay it in the foundation, <HI>that Chri&s;t and the E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ect are united.</HI> The Elect I &s;ay, <GAP DESC="foreign">, the faithful, as <HI>Photius</HI> expounds <GAP DESC="foreign">, the whole Body; for Hypocrites and wicked men &s;ince they live not in Chri&s;t, and increa&s;e not in Chri&s;t, are truly no parts of this Body. The Elect, the Faithful, the Regenerate only are truly united to him. And this union is neither by imagination, as the mind is united to the object upon which man &s;ets his thought: Nor yet by affection, as one friends heart is united to another by love: Or by compo&s;ition of &s;ub&s;tances, as it falls out in mixt bodies: But it is a true and real union, &s;uch as we &s;ee betwixt the Head and the parts; for by it all the faithful and Chri&s;t become <GAP DESC="foreign">, one Body: So that fir&s;t, as from the Head and all the Members there re&s;ults one man; &s;o from the Per&s;on of Chri&s;t and all the Elect united and conjoyned to him, there is fra|med <HI>one my&s;tical Body,</HI> which partakes of the &s;ame Name,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.12.</NOTE> both together be|ing called Chri&s;t: And then again, as the body of man, if one part only be wanting, is a maimed and imperfect body; &s;o Chri&s;t is plea&s;ed to think him|&s;elf maimed and imperfect, if any one of his Elect &s;hould be wanting,
<PB N="536" REF="274"> whence the Apo&s;tle &s;tiles this Body <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.23.</NOTE> <HI>his fulne&s;s.</HI> O the dig|nity and honour of a true Chri&s;tian, without whom Chri&s;t is plea&s;ed to e&s;teem him&s;elf no full Head, no perfect Chri&s;t! O the &s;ecurity of that mans &s;alva|tion that is a part of this Body, &s;ince one Member of this Head can never peri&s;h.</P>
<P>And that I may yet give &s;ome you &s;ome further light about this My&s;tery; in it are to be con&s;idered
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>The things united.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>The Root of this union.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1">1. The things united is not the &s;oul of Chri&s;t with our &s;oul, nor the fle&s;h of Chri&s;t with our fle&s;h alone, but the whole per&s;on of every faithful man is verily conjoyned with the whole Per&s;on of our Saviour God and Man, yet in a Spiritual manner; which what it is, I &s;hall &s;hew you when I come to &s;peak of the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the <HI>Commi&s;surae</HI> or <HI>ligamenta,</HI> the couplings, or joynts. He &s;aveth both parts, body and &s;oul, and thetefore mu&s;t be united to both parts, body and &s;oul; for Chri&s;t &s;aves not any part that is not his.</P>
<P N="2">2. As for the Root of this union, it hath the Original in the fle&s;h; a faithful man being fir&s;t united to the Humane nature of Chri&s;t by faith, and afterward by the intervenience of the Humanity to the Word, or Di|vine Nature. We can apprehend, elect, and choo&s;e, but as we know; for the will is never mov'd to de&s;ire an unknown good. But by the Humanity we come to the knowledge of Chri&s;t as he is a Mediatour, and therefore in the order and nature of Faith, his fle&s;h is the fir&s;t thing we reflect on, to which in our thoughts and de&s;ires we joyn. Thus God fir&s;t propo&s;ed him, <HI>The &s;eed of the woman.</HI> Thus the Church de&s;ired him, <HI>O that thou wert my Brother!</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15. Cant. 8 1. I&s;a. 7.14. Chap. 9.6. Chap. 11.1. Joh. 1.14.</NOTE> Thus the Prophets made mention of him, he was to be <HI>Imman<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">el, God with us, a child born to us, and for us, a &s;hoot from the Root of Je&s;&s;e.</HI> St. <HI>John</HI> confe&s;&s;eth that <HI>they &s;aw his glory, as of the only begotten Son of God;</HI> but yet this was not &s;een till he came and dwelt in us, that is, till Incarnate; <HI>primo noverunt hominem, deinde Deum.</HI> For how&s;oever his eternal generation did in Nature, Truth, and Time precede his b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rth from the Virgins womb, yet when we apprehend him a Redeemer, a Mediatour, we fir&s;t reflect upon his Manhood, becau&s;e without effu&s;ion of blood he could not Redeem, he could not Mediate.</P>
<P>What &s;hould I &s;ay, that the Patriarchs before he was Incarnate, were in this &s;en&s;e united unto him, and Members under this head? Not as if they were joyn'd to his Humanity as actually exi&s;tent, but joyned to it as really exi&s;tent to their Faith. <HI>He was the Lamb &s;lain from the beginning of the world,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.19, 20. Rev. 5.12.</NOTE> in Gods decree for his pa&s;&s;ion, in his own voluntary offer; and &s;uch the Fathers apprehended him, <HI>and Abraham rejoyced to &s;ee that day;</HI> as much,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 8.56.</NOTE> that he was to be <HI>Incarnandus,</HI> as we now that he is <HI>Incarnatus,</HI> be|cau&s;e without this Incarnation they knew he could not break the Ser|pents head.</P>
<P>If then the Que&s;tion be moved, according to what Nature Chri&s;t is the Head unto his Body? The an&s;wer mu&s;t be, according to both. For the Church mu&s;t have &s;uch a Head, which &s;hould be able to infu&s;e a &s;piritual life into the body, which power is proper to the Deity. And again, the Church mu&s;t have &s;uch a Head that mu&s;t have a conformity of Nature with the parts, which is proper to the Humanity. So that in the Per&s;on of Chri&s;t, God and Man, both the&s;e conditions are found conjoyn'd. And form the Deity, the life of grace is infu&s;ed, as from the fir&s;t Agent; but from the Humanity, the &s;ame life and grace comes, as from the Organ and In&s;trument joyn'd to the fir&s;t Cau&s;e. As therefore it doth no way derogate from the honour of the head, the head even of this natural body, that it imparts life, &s;en&s;e, and
<PB N="537" REF="274"> motion to the other parts, not immediately, but by other nerves and arte|ries: So is it not any way derogatory to the dignity of this my&s;tical Head, that by his Humanity, as by a pipe or channel, he conveys grace and life to eve|ry member of his Body. Primarily then, and principally the influence comes from that Deity that dwelt in our nature; but &s;econdarily and in&s;trumentally by that fle&s;h of ours, which he was plea&s;ed to take upon him.</P>
<P>I will &s;ay it over again. The Deity is the fountain from whence &s;prings this our &s;piritual life and being: The Humanity the Organ that conveys it to us. By man it was that &s;in entred; and by man came righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e; By man came death, by man came life; By man entred condemnation, by man remi&s;&s;ion. Hence Saint <HI>John</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Qui edit carnem,</HI> i. e. <HI>qui credit carnem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 6.53, 54.</NOTE> <HI>in me ma|net.</HI> He that eats my fle&s;h, that is, who believes that I came in the fle&s;h, is uni|ted to me, and remains in me. The fle&s;h of the Son of God is for our &s;to|mach, and mu&s;t fir&s;t by faith be dige&s;ted, before he can be bread of life. What grace &s;oever comes to us, comes through the Son of <HI>Mary.</HI></P>
<P>And in the Sacraments, as in two Chri&s;tal gla&s;&s;es this ttuth is very appa|rent: In both which there be two parts; the vi&s;ible &s;igne, and invi&s;ible grace; the elements from the earth, but the effect from heaven. A faithful &s;oul ap|proacheth preparedly, and takes a &s;hare of both. But in what order? is it not in the &s;ame order as they are propo&s;ed by Chri&s;t? Fir&s;t, the vi&s;ible, put ca&s;e the water, bread, and wine: Then remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in, and whole Chri&s;t. As in this divine di&s;pen&s;ation the material part is received fir&s;t, and after under that, and by that the &s;piritual: So al&s;o in this Union you mu&s;t fir&s;t reflect upon Chri&s;t as a perfect man, and in that Nature be conjoyned to him, before you can be of his Body, and have any benefit of the divine nature. Blood you mu&s;t know he mu&s;t have, before he can be a Redeemer. Fle&s;h, in which he may be united, before he can be the Head to this Body.</P>
<P>The&s;e two points being cleared, becau&s;e the Apo&s;tle here teacheth, that from this Head it is, that the whole Church becomes one body; in the next place let us examine in what &s;en&s;e Chri&s;t is &s;aid to be the head to this Body; and &s;ince this is a Metaphor transfer'd from a Natural Head to this my&s;tical, the meaning will be very ob&s;cure, till we under&s;tand in what this Analogy betwixt the Head and Chri&s;t, the Body and the Church doth con&s;i&s;t. This being known, will give light to what follows.</P>
<P>This Similitude drawn from a phy&s;ical Body, doth admirably agree to Chri&s;t, both in re&s;pect of that prerogative which the Head hath over the members, and al&s;o the convenience and coherence which the Head hath with the mem|bers. The prerogatives of the Head are three. 1. To be above. 2. to govern. 3. To have an influence upon every part of the Body. All which belong to Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Head mu&s;t be in the mo&s;t eminent place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.21.</NOTE> and mo&s;t eminent in per|fections. Thus is Chri&s;t placed above all principalities and powers, and in perfections far above all men and Angels. For when in the&s;e we finde a divi|&s;ion of Graces, &s;o that one wants that gift in which another abounds, in Chri&s;t all the gifts of Grace do concurre; Adde to this, that all the Members of this Body, have the&s;e gifts with a limitation, and in a remi&s;s degree, but in Chri&s;t all the&s;e graces were exten&s;ively, and inten&s;ively, both for the kinds of Grace, and the highe&s;t degree that could be imagined. For thus it is written, and thus we read; <HI>In him are all the trea&s;ures of wi&s;dome and knowledge:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.3. Joh. 3.34.</NOTE> <HI>The Spi|rit being not given unto him by mea&s;ure:</HI> In which re&s;pect he may be well &s;aid to have the Dignity and preheminence of the Head, in which is the &s;eat of the &s;oul and minde adorned with tho&s;e eminent faculties of Under&s;tanding, Will, Memory, Prudence and Wi&s;dome.</P>
<P N="2">2. The next preheminence of the Head is, to have Lord&s;hip and com|mand
<PB N="538" REF="275"> over the Members. The Head is to direct and govern, the parts to be di|rected and governed: So Chri&s;t is to be Lord over his Body, and the Body to be obedient to him, as the wife to the husband; if the Apo&s;tle may be heard to &s;peak, thus it mu&s;t be, for thus he pre&s;cribes, <HI>Wives, be &s;ubject to your own husbands,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.22.</NOTE> <HI>as the Church is &s;ubject to Chri&s;t.</HI> It were prepo&s;terous and pre|&s;umptuous for the feet to attempt to rule, or the hand to command.</P>
<P N="3">3. The la&s;t prerogative of the Head, is, that from it as a common fountaine, proceeds life, motion and being, which it imparts and communicates to every part; which is hence mo&s;t evident; for upon the &s;eparation of the Hea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> from the Body, it becomes &s;en&s;ele&s;&s;e, nor lives, nor moves. Such a Head is Chri&s;t, &s;uch a Fountaine to this his Body; in him is the Well of life, and from him we receive Grace after Grace.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 36.9.</NOTE></P>
<P>Life he hath in him&s;elf, and life he imparts to us, whence &s;aith our Apo&s;tle, now <HI>I live,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 2.20.</NOTE> <HI>yet not I, but Chri&s;t lives in me;</HI> Chri&s;t now is the &s;uppo&s;ite; by him it is that we are quickened, and expre&s;&s;e all the effects of a living man. Motion al&s;o we have from him, when our motions are conformable to his mind; which conformity lies in two chief points. Fir&s;t, in a conformity to his death, that as he died for &s;in, &s;o every part of his body be mortified, and dead to &s;in.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.3, 4.</NOTE> Then in a conformity to his Re&s;urrection, that as he ro&s;e from the grave, &s;o they ri&s;e to newne&s;&s;e of life. As for their being al&s;o, that the members have from this Head; there is a being of Nature, and a being of Grace; the fir&s;t way a creature of God, a man may be without any relation at all to Chri&s;t; but in Grace a man hath no being at all, if Chri&s;t be ab&s;ent. The pre&s;ence of this Head, and the continuance of this Head with us, is that which makes us what we are, true Chri&s;tians. Whence <HI>Zanchy</HI> aptly ob&s;erves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zanch. in loc.</NOTE> that the Apo&s;tle &s;aith not <HI>A quo totum corpus,</HI> but <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>ex quo.</HI> For of him as from the fir&s;t cau&s;e are all creatures, that is a <HI>quo:</HI> But from him the Church is, and hath its being, as the Members in a Natural Body from the Head, which live, move, and increa&s;e from it. And this &s;aith he is, <HI>Ex quo;</HI> From which if &s;eparated, they are de&s;titute of life, &s;en&s;e, motion, being &s;tupid and dead.</P>
<P>You have &s;een how apt this Metaphor is in re&s;pect of the three prerogatives the Head hath over the Members; I &s;hall now acquaint you that it is altogether as fit in re&s;pect of that convenience and coherence, which the Head hath with the Members; and that al&s;o lies in three re&s;pects. 1. In conformity. 2. In order to the end. And 3. In the harmony of the Head and Members.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Head mu&s;t have conformity with the Members. It is not enough that it be corporeal, for &s;o a painter may clap, a Foxes, A&s;&s;es, or Lions head up|on a mans &s;houlders, but it mu&s;t be of the &s;ame &s;pecies, of the &s;ame nature. Now in this re&s;pect, there was and is a very great agreement betwixt this Head, and the parts of his body; <HI>for he was in all things like us, &s;in only excepted. Bone of our bone, and fle&s;h of our fle&s;h; for he took not on him the nature of An|gels,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.15.</NOTE> <HI>but he took on him the &s;eed of Abraham. Fora&s;much as the children were par|takers of fle&s;h and blood,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 2.14.15.</NOTE> <HI>he al&s;o was a partaker of the &s;ame.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The next agreement of Head and Members is that they both aime at the &s;ame end, which is the con&s;ervation of the whole, and the happine&s;s of the per&s;on. The faculties of the &s;oul take up their re&s;idence in the Head, and their whole &s;cope and labour is, that the little Common-wealth of man receive no detriment, but be furthered in his way of felicity. And this is the labour of this our Head; he &s;u&s;tains, quickens, and wi&s;ely moderates all things: He is touched with our evils, hears us, &s;peaks for us, and being our Advocate pleads for us. 'Tis the care of this Head to bring every Member of his own body to glory and Beatitude.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.23. Joh. 17.12.</NOTE> <HI>He is the Saviour of his body,</HI> and he &s;afely pre&s;erves the meane&s;t part, <HI>&s;o that not one of them &s;hall peri&s;h,</HI> but participate an eter|nal and happy life together with their Head.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="539" REF="275">3. The members and head of a natural body agree in this, that their extreams are coupled with a common term, and that they all receive their activity, and are informed by the &s;ame &s;oul. So al&s;o this My&s;tical Head, and all the B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dy are continued and united one to the other, receiving their &s;piritual life and in|formation from the &s;ame Principle. The power and un&s;peakable force of his Spirit, notwith&s;tanding the di&s;tance of place, doth mo&s;t truly and effectu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lly joyn together the Saints to this own Head, <HI>vivificans ea &s;ingula, &amp; vincens univer&s;a,</HI> quickning every &s;ingle part, and uniting them all, and that in &s;uch a beautiful order, and clo&s;e manner, that the whole Body is <GAP DESC="foreign">, fitly joyned together and compacted.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. Joyn'd together.</HEAD>
<P>You &s;ee how at unawares I am fallen upon the fir&s;t Attribute of this Body, which is that this body be fitly joyn'd; For as the Body of man mu&s;t not be compo&s;ed of mon&s;trous, di&s;&s;onant and uneven parts, but of &s;uch pieces which are congruous to the whole: So al&s;o mu&s;t this My&s;tical Body of Chri&s;t be knit together by fit proportions, that one part aptly an&s;wers to the other, and all agree very well to the Head. And this condition will &s;erve to di&s;|cover the Errors of three &s;orts of men, the Hypocrite and prophane per&s;on, the Heterodox Chri&s;tian, and the factious Pragmatick.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Hypocrite is no fit member, nor yet the prophane. Not the Hypo|crite, becau&s;e he hath only the paint and colour of a part, and not the ani|mal &s;pirit by which the part lives and moves. Not the profane, for he is but an excrement and a noxious humour, fitter to be purged out, than joyn'd to the Body. Both the&s;e are <GAP DESC="foreign">, and have no harmony at all with the Head, which is perfect, pure, and holy.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Heterodox Chri&s;tian, is either a &s;wollen part, or withered; &s;wollen with pride and exce&s;s of Traditions, and Doctrines of men. Or &s;o &s;hrunk and hidebound, that he cannot admit, if only for decency and Order, a prudent Ceremony. And while the one is ambitious to exceed, the other &s;o peevi&s;h to fall &s;hort, one for too much, the other for too little, the harmony of the parts is marred, and the body rendred deformed.</P>
<P N="3">3. But the Poly-pragmon is the man that di&s;locates every part, and therefore is the greate&s;t enemy to the comely Order of this Body; of him therefore I &s;hall &s;peak a litle more fully.</P>
<P>In a Natural body, that Order mu&s;t be ob&s;erv'd that every part be con|tinued in his proper place, and in that place perform its work. The Organs of &s;en&s;e are &s;et in the Head, the power of dige&s;tion in the &s;tomack, of &s;angui|fication in the liver; the hands keep their &s;ite, and the feet their po&s;ition. And thus it mu&s;t be in this My&s;tical body, every member mu&s;t keep its place and order, and do its office, and not u&s;urp upon his fellow member; otherwi&s;e the benefit and beauty of the whole will be di&s;turb'd.</P>
<P>Order then can never be, where there is not <HI>&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">b &amp; &s;upra.</HI> That there be in the Church &s;ome of a Superiour, others of an inferiour rank; &s;ome as eyes, other as hands; &s;ome as ears, others as tongues, is nece&s;&s;ary; for other|wi&s;e the &s;ociety of Saints could never re&s;emble a body fitly put together. But if you &s;hall now ask, why it plea&s;ed Chri&s;t the Head to honour one member, and humble another; to make him an eye, or tongue, and that man an ear, a hand, or foot; no rea&s;on can be given, but his wi&s;dom,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor 12.11. Rom. 9.21.</NOTE> <HI>who di&s;tri|butes to every one as he will: The Potter hath power over the clay;</HI> more cannot be &s;aid, and that mu&s;t content. For the Order we can give you a rea|&s;on, becau&s;e he is the God of Order and not confu&s;ion: Which that it may be kept, he ordains &s;ome to be Princes, &s;ome &s;ubjects; &s;ome Lords, &s;ome
<PB N="540" REF="276"> &s;ervants; &s;ome to be Apo&s;tles, &s;ome Evangeli&s;ts; &s;ome to be Teachers, others to be taught; &s;ome Shepherds, &s;ome to be &s;heep; as he diver&s;ly di&s;tributes his Talents, &s;o he de&s;igns divers men to &s;everal places and Functions; and ac|cording to the mea&s;ure and variety of their gifts, their Offices are &s;et out. This is the beauty, this the apt and admirable order of this My&s;ti|cal Body.</P>
<P>The more too blame they then, who&s;e labour it is to di&s;locate the parts; endeavour they do to put the ears into the place of the eyes, and the eyes into the place of the feet, while they make the lowe&s;t of the people Prie&s;ts, and the Prie&s;ts the lowe&s;t of the People. Is not this to di&s;turb the Order which God hath &s;et? Is not this to bring a deformity on the whole body? <HI>Cyclops</HI> was held for a Mon&s;ter, becau&s;e he had but one eye, and yet it was in his fore|head; what a &s;trange creature &s;hould that man be, who &s;hould have his eyes in his heels? I can &s;ay little to it, and I know not how to mend it, except that coun&s;el of the Apo&s;tle may be heard and obey'd,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 7.17, 20.</NOTE> <HI>as the Lord ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h di|&s;tributed to every one, as the Lord hath called every one, &s;o let him walk: and &s;o I ordain in all Churches:</HI> and again, <HI>Let every man abide in the &s;ame calling wherein he was called.</HI></P>
<P>For this &s;ame encroachment upon other mens Functions and u&s;urpation of a calling that belongs not to them, hath &s;poiled the uniformity of the body. In it there can be no comely feature, when the <HI>Cobler</HI> will go be|yond his La&s;t, and the <HI>Smith</HI> farther than his Anvile. <HI>What is Saul among the Prophets?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 10.11.</NOTE> was once a wonder. But now you may find the &s;ons of <HI>Cis</HI> that are fit only to &s;eek A&s;&s;es, to lead the people. <HI>Qui hodie Laicus, cras Presbyter,</HI> he who was this day an ignorant Layman, next becomes a grave Elder.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> This is not to remain, and be content with his vocation.</P>
<P>No, nor that neither, when <HI>Sus Minervam,</HI> the Swine will teach <HI>Mi|nerva</HI> to plough, and the A&s;s in&s;truct <HI>Orpheus</HI> to touch his Harp. My mean|ing is, when illittered men, unacquainted with language, elocution, or Lo|gique, which threee are in&s;trumental and nece&s;&s;ary for any Interpreter, will yet take upon them to interpret, and direct tho&s;e who are skilful in all the&s;e, to interpret and divide the word of God.</P>
<P>'Tis a wi&s;e ob&s;ervation of a wi&s;e man, that the Spirit of God hath be&s;towed upon every man &s;ome peculiar ability to one Art, Trade, Profe&s;&s;ion or other, of which if men would take notice, and bend them&s;elves that way e&s;pecially, there would be a better proficiency in all Sciences and Profe&s;&s;ions than there is. The true rea&s;on then that &s;o few prove excellent in their wayes, is, becau&s;e they do not follow God, who hath given to every part of this Bo|dy a proper faculty; but are <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>are bu&s;ibodies in other mens mat|ters,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.15.</NOTE> a&s;piring to that, to which they have no aptne&s;s nor &s;ufficiency.</P>
<P>Well then, nece&s;&s;ary it is, that every one remember that he have &s;ome place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> &s;ome Vocation or other; for <HI>quo ordine re&s;urgent, qui nullo vixerunt,</HI> in what Rank or Order &s;hall they ri&s;e that lived in none? Next that he main|tain and keep his place and &s;tation, that he encroarh not upon, and &s;eek to in|vade, and &s;huffle into his fellows place.</P>
<Q><NOTE PLACE="marg">Horat.</NOTE>Metiri &s;e quem&abque; &s;uo modulo, &amp; pede verum e&s;t.</Q>
<P>For this will continue that Harmony and Congruity <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">at ought to be in the parts of this Body, which who&s;oever di&s;turb, do &s;o m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch as lies in them, make the beautiful Body of Chri&s;t, a deformed, a confu&s;ed piece. And &s;o much of the fir&s;t Attribute.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<PB N="541" REF="276">
<HEAD>3. <GAP DESC="foreign">. The &s;ame word is u&s;ed, <HI>Col.</HI> 2.19. which the Greek Scho|lia&s;t interprets <GAP DESC="foreign">, made mild and &s;et in peace to it &s;elf and Chri&s;t, which Expo&s;ition is apt; for <GAP DESC="foreign">, is, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>He&s;ych.</HI> to reconcile, or make friends, or draw to amity.</HEAD>
<P>Chry&s;. <HI>Apud Oecum.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>agglutinatum &amp; unitum.</HI></P>
<Q><P><HI>Tremel.</HI> Ab eo totum corpus componitur.</P>
<P><HI>Beza.</HI> Ex quo totum corpus compactum.</P></Q>
<P>By the judgement then of all Interpreters, the &s;ociety of Saints ought to be an united Body. For as the parts of this Body ought to keep their places, and continue in that Order which God hath &s;et them: So al&s;o under the &s;ame Head they ought to be joyn'd and linked together in peace, as clo&s;e compa|cted and united as joynt is to joynt, or limb to limb in an Organical body, in which the connexion is &s;o indi&s;&s;oluble, that the head cannot be torn from the members, nor the members from the head, nor yet they from one another without the appar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nt detriment, and &s;ometimes ruine of the whole: One thing I am &s;ure of, that the part di&s;united, and di&s;joyn'd, how &s;mall &s;o|ever, dies.</P>
<P>And the like happens to the member &s;eparated from this My&s;tical B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dy; it cannot live, becau&s;e it partakes not of the vital &s;pirit by which it is quickned. From a particular Church it may &s;eparate, or be &s;eparated, and yet have life in it; but if it depart from the whole, it is dead. If it be &s;eparated, I will &s;up|po&s;e the cau&s;e is ju&s;t, which was <HI>Theodo&s;ius</HI> ca&s;e, and then I &s;hall for a time appoint this per&s;on a place among the Penitents, and pray that God would give him repentance that he may be again joyn'd to the body. But if he &s;epa|rate him&s;elf, let him be &s;ure the cau&s;e be ju&s;t, lea&s;t by &s;eparation from a particu|lar Church, he be cut off from the communion of Saints.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Thom. <HI>2.</HI> 2ae. q. <HI>39.</HI> Art. <HI>3.</HI> in Corp.</NOTE> For Schi&s;me is a damnable &s;in, being a voluntary &s;eparation from the unity of that charity, whereby all the members of the Church are united, glued together, and compacted.</P>
<P>Now what Errours in Doctrine may give ju&s;t cau&s;e of &s;eparation, I will not venture to &s;et down in particular, lea&s;t i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the&s;e times of di&s;cord, I might be thought to open a door to Schi&s;me, which &s;urely I will never do, unle&s;s it be to let it out; and that I &s;hould be glad to do, for it is <HI>ingens flagitium,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Optat. lib. cont. Pa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">men. Chry&s;.</NOTE> a huge offence, of which they who are gu lty, &s;hall be puni&s;h'd no le&s;s than they who tore Chri&s;ts Natural Body: &s;ince he gave his Natural Body to be torn upon the Cro&s;s, that his My&s;tical Body might be but one. The &s;ad thought of which might give ju&s;t occa&s;ion to tho&s;e words of that Father who had his name from Peace, that God would judge tho&s;e men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iren. lib. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>62.</HI></NOTE> who being cru|el men, and depo&s;ing the love of God, were the promoters of Schi&s;me; ra|ther hunting after their own profit than the unity of the Church, and there|fore &s;peaking of peace, and making war, &s;training at Gnats, but &s;wallowing Camels, <HI>propter modicas &amp; qua&s;libet cau&s;as,</HI> for trifling and &s;mall cau&s;es do rend and divide the glorious Body of Chri&s;t, by whom <HI>nulla tanta po<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;t fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ri correptio</HI> (what if we read <HI>correctio?) quan<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">a e&s;t Schi&s;matis pernicies,</HI> by whom there can be made no Reformation of any &s;uch importance as to countervail the mi&s;chief of a Divi&s;ion, as indeed there is not.</P>
<P N="1">1.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.4. P&s;al. 131.1.</NOTE> For fir&s;t it is too evident that &s;uch men <HI>are lovers of them&s;elves more than God;</HI> a great conceit they have of their own witts, and therefore deal with matters too high for them. After that God had appeared to <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and given him
<PB N="542" REF="277"> a Mi&s;&s;ion, yet in humility he replies, <HI>who am I?</HI> yea after that God had given him <HI>power to work miracles,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 4.</NOTE> and by that confirmed his calling, yet he holds back, &s;o affraid was he to begin the alteration. To head then ra&s;hly a Faction, proceeds out of pride and &s;elf-love; and pride is mo&s;t pernicious; for it ca&s;t Satan out of Heaven, <HI>Adam</HI> out of Paradi&s;e.</P>
<P N="2"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.21. Chap. 3.19.</NOTE>2. <HI>Sua quaerunt, They &s;eek their own, not the things which are Chri&s;ts,</HI> and &s;o <HI>their god is their belly,</HI> which becau&s;e they will be &s;ure to fill, they lead or follow the multitude. 'Tis known whae made <HI>Valentius</HI> and <HI>Marcian</HI> Gno|&s;tiques, <HI>Tertullian</HI> a Montani&s;t, <HI>Aerius</HI> and <HI>Arrius</HI> Heretiques. 'Twas bitterly &s;aid, but truly, by a Di&s;ciplinarian (who had he liviv'd to have &s;een his Di&s;ciples works, I believe he would have been more wary in his words) They (he &s;peaks of his own) care not for Religion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;cipl. Eccl.</NOTE> &s;o they may get the &s;poil. They could be content to crucifie Chri&s;t, &s;o they might have his garments. This <HI>Auri &s;acra fames,</HI> or rather <HI>&s;acri auri fames</HI> is too often a motive to di&s;unite the body, and then it mu&s;t needs be pernicious.</P>
<P N="3">3. What &s;hould I tell you, that Schi&s;me very &s;peedily degenerates into He|re&s;ie; for there is no Schi&s;me which doth not feign &s;ome Here&s;ie to it&s;elf, that &s;o it may &s;eem to have departed from the Church upon good rea&s;on, which when it is pertinaciou&s;ly, and ob&s;tinately defended, the Schi&s;matick becomes an Heretick, and &s;o is involv'd in a double guilt; of oppo&s;ing the verity of Faith, which denominates him an Heretick; and breaking from the unity of the body, which makes him a Schi&s;matick; and if either of the&s;e &s;ins &s;ingle be enough to &s;end a man to hell, then &s;ure both conjoyn'd will be a talent of lead to &s;ink a man deeper to that bottomle&s;s pit.</P>
<P N="4">4 La&s;tly, there is not any &s;in <HI>ex diametro</HI> &s;o oppo&s;ite to that <GAP DESC="foreign">, to all tho&s;e Ligaments and joynts by which our Apo&s;tle in this place, and that of the <HI>Colo&s;&s;ians,</HI> affirms this body to be united, as in this of Schi&s;me, and voluntary &s;eparation.</P>
<P>What the&s;e are, may be learned out of the former ver&s;es, to all which the Apo&s;tle adds that amiable Epithite of Unity.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 4, 5, 6.</NOTE> There is but one Body, <HI>i. e.</HI> one Catholick Church; there may be &s;ixty Queens, and eighty Concubines, and a nu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ber of other Dam&s;els, <HI>yet Chri&s;ts Love and Dove is alone.</HI> As then in the Natural body there is <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 6.8.</NOTE> a great amity and agreement of the parts how Heterogeneous &s;oever, &s;o ought it to be in the My&s;tical, where we are all members one of another. What, fellow-members and quarrel, fel|low members and fight? 'tis contrary to nature and rea&s;on. When therefore any man makes a rend in the Church, 'tis all one, as if a man &s;hall buffet and tear his own brea&s;t with his own hand. This is the Argument that is fetcht from the Subject united, the Body, and it is of great force to per|&s;wade to unity, and di&s;wade a &s;ci&s;&s;ure. But the <GAP DESC="foreign"> are of more force.</P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.</NOTE>1. The fir&s;t of the&s;e <HI>is t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e Spirit of Chri&s;t,</HI> of which all living members of this body participate. This is but one, and yet it animates, quickens, and moves them all. Members of a civil &s;ociety, though nevet &s;o different, go|vern'd by one Prince and one Law, are yet but one. And the Spirit of Chri&s;t it is that makes the Church but one: if therefore we will but follow the gui|dance of this Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.12.</NOTE> which is alwayes uniform, and never irregular in its dire|ctions, 'tis impo&s;&s;ible that Chri&s;tians &s;hould ever be but one. Let them then who &s;ow and ripen Divi&s;ions in the Church, lay to heart, by what &s;pirit they are guided. Were it by the Spirit of God, there would be nothing but peace, nothing but love; for his property is to collect and gather, nor to divide and &s;catter. For when this Spirit is infu&s;ed into all the joynts of the Church, he inflames every member with that admirable gift of Charity, which is the &s;trong|e&s;t bond of cohe&s;ion and union.</P>
<P N="2">2. The material part is but one, <HI>viz.</HI> The body, the formal part but one,
<PB N="543" REF="277"> <HI>viz.</HI> the Spirit. Next con&s;ider al&s;o that the end is but one. Called we are, but all to one hope. We are all called to the communion of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1 26, 27</NOTE> and the one &s;cope we all aim at, is eternal life. Since then we hope to meet in heaven, fit it is that we meet on earth.</P>
<P N="3">3. But we are as yet in the way thither, in which we live under one Lord, &s;ervants of Je&s;us, who was exalted to be Lord and Chri&s;t. Now &s;ervants under one Lord, ought to agree; Since therefore we all live under the command of one Ma&s;ter, who&s;e command is love, who&s;e legacy is peace, it behoves us to be children of peace, <HI>and if it be po&s;&s;ible, to have peace with all men.</HI> This is an <GAP DESC="foreign">, a touch that cannot choo&s;e but touch us near, and a ligament, that being &s;adly thought on, mu&s;t needs tye us together.</P>
<P N="4">4. But as they who are earne&s;t that a thing be done, never think that they have &s;ufficiently per&s;waded it: So our Apo&s;tle being zealous for this unity, pre&s;&s;eth us yet further, and be&s;ides the unity of the body, the unity of the Spirit, the unity of our hope, the onene&s;s of our Lord, minds us of another <GAP DESC="foreign"> of another Ligament, that gives a notable touch to this; it is the nerve and &s;inew of our religion and profe&s;&s;ion, which is but one and the &s;elf &s;ame. There is but one faith; And is it then fit that we quarter and divide it, or be rent into pieces about it?</P>
<P>Faith is taken for the grace by which we believe, or that object which we believe; and the old rule was that This could not be enlarged, this could not be dimini&s;hed: It is overmuch pride then in <HI>Rome</HI> to double the&s;e Articles; 'tis pre&s;umption in any Noveli&s;t to impare them, and make them fewer: 'tis per|ver&s;ene&s;s and peevi&s;hne&s;s in factious &s;pirits to &s;eparate for acce&s;&s;ories.</P>
<P>And yet the&s;e are the cau&s;es that have divided Chri&s;tendom. How ea&s;ily yet might this di&s;united body be compacted, if men would let go di&s;putes, fan|cies, opinions, acce&s;&s;ories, and <HI>contend,</HI> or rather yield to, and not contend,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude 3.</NOTE> <HI>for that faith that was once delivered to the Saints.</HI> For the foundations of faith ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, are one and the &s;ame; and how&s;oever by way of paraphra&s;e they may be delivered in divers words, and &s;ometime improper expre&s;&s;ions, yet &s;ince the Harmony of confe&s;&s;ions falls in the &s;ame Diapa&s;on, Charity w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uld ca&s;t a cloak over &s;ome inconvenient phra&s;e, rather than divide and exclaim about it. <HI>Turpe e&s;t eadem credentes, animis &amp; &s;tudiis e&s;&s;e inter &s;e divi&s;os.</HI> A di&s;credit it is for tho&s;e, who for &s;ub&s;tance believe the &s;ame things about unnece&s;&s;aries in their minds and affe|ctions to be thus divided. Will ye hear what comes of it? You Chri&s;tians,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Clem. &s;trom. l. <HI>7.</HI></NOTE> &s;ay tho&s;e without, di&s;&s;ent among your &s;elves, and have &s;o many &s;ects, all claim|ing the title of Chri&s;tian Religion, that cur&s;e and condemn each other; and therefore our Religion is not true, nor hath its Original from God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t. Hom. <HI>33.</HI> in Act.</NOTE> The Infidel and Heathen comes and &s;aith, I would willingly become a Chri&s;tian, but I know not to whom I &s;hould adhere, there is &s;o much &s;trife, &s;o much di&s;&s;ention, &s;o much tumult among you; every one &s;aith, I &s;peak the truth; <HI>quos fugiamus habemus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Melanct.</NOTE> <HI>quos &s;equamur non intelligimus.</HI> We &s;ee whom to flee, but whom to follow is hard to know. This is that &s;owre hedge-Grape that hath &s;harpned the teeth of &s;o many to bite and devour the parts of this body, neither &s;hall I hope they will ever cea&s;e from this raven, till they &s;adly remember that the man &s;o devoured is a member of that Body to which they are, if at all, united by one and the &s;ame Faith.</P>
<P N="5">5. And that I may put them in mind of one <GAP DESC="foreign">, of one tye and per&s;wa&s;ive more to unity; As is their Fai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h, &s;o is their Bapti&s;me one too; <HI>&V;num Bap<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;ma.</HI> There may be different Rites, there may be different Bapti&s;ts, but the Sacrament is the &s;ame. <HI>Unum ad unum, unum in unum, unum quia per unum.</HI> One to one man, to be once received, and therefore not to be re|peated; one into o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e, becau&s;e all are baptized into one Faith: and one by one, becau&s;e all are baptized in one water, and in one form of words.
<PB N="544" REF="278" MS="y"> The Apo&s;tle then draws this per&s;wa&s;ive from the Unity of this di&s;tingui&s;hing mark that Chri&s;t &s;ets upon his. In another place he doth it of the Euchari&s;t; <HI>For we being many are one bread and one body;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.17.</NOTE> and in this place from the Unity of Bapti&s;m;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.13.</NOTE> What <HI>were you baptized into the name of</HI> Paul <HI>or</HI> Cephas? into the name of <HI>Donatus,</HI> or <HI>Brown,</HI> or any Sectary? No, no: it was into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Gho&s;t, which being three in Per&s;ons, are but one in E&s;&s;ence; as much as to &s;ay, you ought to be his followers, in who&s;e Name you received your Bapti&s;m, which being nor <HI>Paul,</HI> nor <HI>Cephas,</HI> you ought not to unite to them, but to that Body to which the whole Trinity did then unite you, and not &s;eparate from it, out of an opinion and affection you bear to men.</P>
<P N="6">6. La&s;tly, behold yet another <GAP DESC="foreign">, another ligament or Nerve of love; You all have but one Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 6. <HI>E&s;tius in loc.</HI> Cap. 2. 10.</NOTE> all wor&s;hip one God. The &s;ame God requires unanimous wor&s;hippers; the &s;ame Fathers &s;ons joyn'd in Brotherly love. This argument is thus twi&s;ted by the Prophet <HI>Malachy; Have we not all one Father? hath not one God created us? why then do we deal treacherou&s;ly every man against his Brother?</HI> doth this become children of one Father? this, wor&s;hippers of one God?</P>
<P>This God is the Father of Chri&s;t by nature, of Chri&s;tians by adoption, of all men and all things by creation, above all, and through all, and in you all. Above all in command, excellency, and dignity, through all, for his eyes go through the world by his providence and Maje&s;tical pre&s;ence; but in you all, you who are Members of this Body, by the inhabitation of his Spirit, and the gifts of this Spirit. Say then now, whether is it fit for you, who are thus a|dopted, thus joyn'd by him to one another, in a peevi&s;h and froward manner, thus to di&s;-unite, to &s;eparate, to fall a&s;under?</P>
<P>I have now done; for if the&s;e &s;even bonds will not hold you together, all I can add will be to little purpo&s;e; Any one of the&s;e is enough, but altogether po&s;&s;ibly may twi&s;t you into love. Since all of us have been born in one and the &s;ame Church: all have been comforted by one and the &s;ame Spirit: all of us expect one and the &s;ame crown; all acknowledge one and the &s;ame Lord: all of us profe&s;s one and the &s;ame Faith: all of us are &s;anctified by one and the &s;ame Bapti&s;m: all of us adore one and the &s;ame God: all of us ask ble&s;&s;ing of one and the &s;ame Father: Let us all <HI>keep the &V;nity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="41" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The Second Sermon of the Communion of Saints.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>EPHES. 4.16.</HI></BIBL>
<P>From whom the whole body fitly joyn'd together, and compacted by that which every joynt &s;upplies, according to the effectual working in the mea|&s;ure of every part, maketh increa&s;e of the body, unto the edifying of it &s;elf in love.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THat which the Apo&s;tle aims at here, is the growth and perfection of a Chri|&s;tian; his intention is, that no part &s;tand at a &s;tay, but increa&s;e together with the whole; without which growth, it will be no fitter member for this, then the arm or leg of a child would be for the body of a man. The Organical Body in the cour&s;e of nature admits not of any dry and &s;inew-&s;hrunk part, nei|ther doth Chri&s;t approve that in his Body there be any one limb which thrives not, be dwarf'd and di&s;proportionable. Which to prevent, look what influ|ence
<PB N="545" REF="278"> the Natural Head affords to all parts of the body, the &s;ame al&s;o this Spiri|tual Head Chri&s;t graciou&s;ly be&s;tows upon his.</P>
<P>As then in the Natural and Organical Body of man before it hath ob|tain'd its ju&s;t &s;tature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Beza.</NOTE> the vital faculty flowing from the Head doth in&s;inuate it &s;elf into every part; and by di&s;tribution of fit nouri&s;hment &s;upplies to every joint what is nece&s;&s;ary and fit for it, that thereby it may grow to &s;uch a quantity, proportion, and vigour, as is requi&s;ite for the Body: So al&s;o is it in this ca&s;e; Chri&s;t the Head of the Church, which is his My&s;tical Body, be&s;tows upon e|very part &s;uch power and vertue, &s;o much nouri&s;hment and grace as is needful for the life, vegetation, and increa&s;e of every limb, that it may arrive at its full mea&s;ure, and the whole be perfected.</P>
<P>To that end this Body is joyned together no otherwi&s;e than our Natural is, that hath <HI>varias juncturas &amp; commi&s;&s;uras,</HI> many and divers ligaments; it hath tendons, &s;inews, nerves, arteries, mu&s;cles, veins, and &s;o hath this too, divers bonds to tye it together, and various ve&s;&s;els to convey the vital &s;pirit and nou|ri&s;hment, which yet all depend upon the Head, and yet they touch and move one another. One indeed is joyn'd to this part, and another to that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Photius.</NOTE> but they all &s;erve for the &s;upply of the whole. Whence the Apo&s;tle &s;aith here, <HI>that the body is fitly joyn'd and compacted.</HI></P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, By every touch of &s;upply.</HEAD>
<P>Of the&s;e Ligaments I &s;pake the la&s;t day, as they were u&s;eful to pre&s;erve the unity of this Body: But I &s;hall now look upon them, as they promote the growth and increa&s;e of it, as they &s;upply what is wanting and needful, till part di&s;tributes to part that portion which it hath received from the Head, that &s;o the whole Body may grow together into a ju&s;t &s;tature.</P>
<P>Now the&s;e Ligaments, by which we are joyn'd to Chri&s;t the Head, and by which the influence of Chri&s;t is derived to us, and from us to one another, are many. For the Apo&s;tle puts here <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Every</HI> to <HI>joynt;</HI> Now we know that <HI>Omnis</HI> All or Every is a Di&s;tributive, and therefore mu&s;t of nece&s;si|ty have under it more than one. This &s;upply then for increa&s;e proceeds from many Ligaments. They are indeed all tho&s;e &s;ix I named before; I &s;hall now only repeat the chief of them.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t and principal of the&s;e, is the Spirit of Chri&s;t; for by this we are joyn'd to the head, and by the power of this Spirit, we work to the bene|fit of a fellow-member. For who is it that collects this Body? is it not the Spi|rit of Chri&s;t? who is it that gives it increa&s;e being collected? is it not the &s;ame Spirit? Paul <HI>may plant, and</HI> Apollos <HI>may water,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.7.</NOTE> <HI>but the increa&s;e is from his Spirit.</HI> Though then he u&s;e the Mini&s;try of men in gathering, in joyning, in fitting, in feeding his Body, yet the power they have, and the efficacy they have is from him. In this work, there is nothing done but by the Spirit. Be it but an admonition, it will work nothing except it proceed from <HI>the Spirit of meekne&s;s.</HI> The word by which we are regenerate is but a dead Letter, and the Sacraments by which we are made one with him, but a bare &s;ign,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.1.</NOTE> till the Spirit of Chri&s;t come to both. The Pa&s;tor admini&s;ters bread and wine, but he it is who by his Spirit gives his fle&s;h and blood. The Mini&s;ter brings to your ears the word of life, but that it edifies any part of the body, is from his Spirit. I was not then mi&s;taken, when I called his Spirit the fir&s;t and principal <GAP DESC="foreign"> the main Touch from whence the &s;upply for the increa&s;e of the Body porceeds.</P>
<P>And that we &s;hould not be ignorant of this, the Apo&s;tle here for Supply makes u&s;e of a choice peculiar verbal <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">. Now <GAP DESC="foreign">
<PB N="546" REF="279"> was among the Heathens, that man who out of his own &s;tore did furni&s;h all things nece&s;&s;ary in their fe&s;tivals for their &s;ports and &s;olemnities,<NOTE PLACE="marg">He&s;ych.</NOTE> &s;o that <GAP DESC="foreign"> is <GAP DESC="foreign">, a free gift given in an abundant and ample manner. So that they who take the&s;e words in a pa&s;sive &s;en&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Syriac. Beza.</NOTE> make the Spirit of Chri&s;t to be the Agent, and his Body the patient, <HI>viz.</HI> that all things are by him &s;upplyed to his Church, which are nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation. For whether they be <GAP DESC="foreign"> or <GAP DESC="foreign">, Gifts, or Graces, gifts or abilities which make able to perform any function, or Graces that make a man an Holy per&s;on, they are &s;upplied from his Spirit. For the fir&s;t &s;ee, <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.10. &amp; 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 8.9. For the latter, 1 Cor. 12.7. &amp;c. and this chapter, <HI>v.</HI> 11; 12.</P>
<P N="2">2. But among the fir&s;t kind of Graces, the cheif is Faith: this is the gift of God, and it is given for an e&s;pecial help al&s;o. For by this the Grace of the Go&s;pel is derived to us. The obedience of Chri&s;t, active and pa&s;&s;ive, is nothing to us, till we believe it; and the pardon of &s;in, which he hath promi&s;ed, empty words till apprehended by Faith. <HI>For faith is the confidence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not &s;een,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.</NOTE> with which the Fathers being animated, did and &s;uffered all tho&s;e things the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of. By this nerve then al&s;o any part of this body being moved makes its increa&s;e. And any augmentation what&s;o|ever is made without it, is but a tumour, nothing profitable to this body; Profi|table did I &s;ay? nay altogether unprofitable; a &s;pecious &s;in, though to us it &s;eems a good work,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.5.</NOTE> &s;ince it proceeds not from an <HI>heart purg'd by Faith.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. And yet there be other <GAP DESC="foreign">, other &s;inews and nervs of &s;upply, there be &s;everal Fu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ctions and Vocations in the Church as there are parts of the Natural Body; the Apo&s;tle give us in a Catalogue of them at the eleventh and twelfth ver&s;es, <HI>Prophets, Apo&s;tles, Evangeli&s;ts, &amp;c.</HI> all which are given for &s;upply too, <HI>for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Mini&s;tery, for the edify|ing of the Body of Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. Though I ha&s;ten, yet among the&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, I mu&s;t not omit the Sacra|ments. For the&s;e are Corroboratives and Cordials; they give &s;trength, and they refre&s;h, &s;trengthen again&s;t &s;in, and quench the raging flames of a di&s;quiet &s;oul. For in the blood of Chri&s;t conveighed by the&s;e pipes, there is an Artery by which the vital &s;pirit is derived al&s;o, which will quicken, revive, and cheer up any fainting and dying &s;oul. The&s;e ligaments then as tho&s;e before, are for &s;upply and increa&s;e of the Body. The&s;e are all Church-bonds; and &s;o ma|ny holy Nerves, all which have their power and operation from the fir&s;t bond; <HI>viz.</HI> that of the Spirit, for he is to give the fir&s;t touch and &s;troke to the&s;e, and then the pul&s;e will convey the &s;upply even and right.</P>
<P N="2">2. And might it not &s;eem a little out of the way, my rea&s;on tempts me to put you in mind of a &s;uccout and help even from Natural bonds to this very work. That men are of the &s;ame fle&s;h, Kin&s;-men and of the &s;ame blood, Ci|tizens, and of the &s;ame Countrey, dwellers in the &s;ame hou&s;e, Husband and Wife, Parents and Children, Ma&s;ters and Servants, may be notable Motives as for Unity, &s;o al&s;o for aid to this end. For Chri&s;t hath not taken off from our necks the&s;e bonds of love, but rather laid them on in a &s;tricter manner, and ble&s;&s;ed them. The bond of Nature, Relation, and Affinity calls upon us now for this duty, not only becau&s;e is is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he voice of rea&s;on and policy, but becau&s;e it is the voice of Chri&s;t, who commands and expect it from us; or he came not to di&s;&s;olve the Law, but to fulfil it. Every bond of Religion, of Nature, of the Spirit, of Rea&s;on, is u&s;eful for this end. And the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">efore the faithful make u&s;e of all; they wait for the impul&s;es of the Spirit, be it in the Word or Sacra|ments, to increa&s;e their Faith. They are not the Authors of divorces betwixt Husband and Wife; of di&s;&s;en&s;ion betwixt Father and Son; of di&s;obedience betwixt Superior and Inferior; but <GAP DESC="foreign"> by all kind of bonds, by which they find them&s;elves linked in this Body, they will be &s;ub&s;idiary, well knowing
<PB N="547" REF="279"> that it is the duty of every part of this Body to his fellow part, to impart, to communicate, to contribute what &s;upply it can, in which regard,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zanch. in loc.</NOTE> they who take the verbal <GAP DESC="foreign"> in an active &s;en&s;e, are not mi&s;taken.</P>
<P>There be three ends of the Nerves, Sinews, Tendons in the Natural Body. 1. That all the parts be by them join'd together, and to the Head. 2. That by the&s;e the vital &s;pirits, blood, and nouri&s;hment be received from the head. 3. That by the&s;e what is received, be convey'd and imparted to the whole Bo|dy, which the Apo&s;tle e&s;pecially intends in this place, and therefore he &s;tiles them <HI>commi&s;&s;urae &s;ubmini&s;trationis,</HI> joynts of help and &s;upply.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Juucture vulg.</NOTE></P>
<P>The <HI>memorandum</HI> from hence is, that we receive not for our &s;elves only, but al&s;o for our fellow-members. <HI>Nemo &s;ibi na&s;citur, &amp; nemo &s;ibi rena&s;citur.</HI> No man is born, nor reborn for him&s;elf, but <HI>as he hath received the gift,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.10.</NOTE> <HI>&s;o he is to mini&s;ter.</HI> Any parr then of the body is not to aim at the private welfare, but to &s;ee that the &s;upply redound to the common good. Ju&s;t as do the members of the Natural Body, in which every one confers its &s;everal gift, office, work, to the general benefit of the whole. Under the Law, &s;ome brought gold, &s;ome &s;ilk, others fine linnen, and &s;ome goats hair,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 35.20, 21, 22.</NOTE> but all to the furniture of the Tabernacle: &s;o we are to lay together all graces, all places, all works that we have, and to imploy them to the advancement of the common faith, and to the &s;etting forward the common &s;alvation.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. According to the effectual working.</HEAD>
<P>And this help is vigorou&s;lly and effectually to be afforded: for &s;o long it mu&s;t be admini&s;tred, that &s;o much as lies in us, &s;omewhat come of it. It mu&s;t be an effectual working. Such as we by experience find in the body of man, where the &s;tomach dige&s;ts effectually, and the livet turns effectually the &s;weet juice into blood, and vigorou&s;ly conveys it into, and by the veins to every part: that I &s;ay not, how <HI>vi intus agente,</HI> as <HI>Beza</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Beza.</NOTE> reads this place, by the active power, which nature hath be&s;towed, and inwardly pre&s;erved in every one of the&s;e parts; there is a &s;eparation made of what is unfit for nouri&s;hment, which is &s;ent into ba&s;er ve&s;&s;els, and by them effectually and powerfully ejected, that they hinder not the health and increa&s;e of the Body. This &s;ame <HI>vis intus <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|gens,</HI> as I but now &s;hew'd, is the Spirit of Chri&s;t, and it is given for help; it mu&s;t not be idle, but active; active in every part, till it have if po&s;&s;ible, an ef|fect in every part; tran&s;mit the &s;weet juice of nouri&s;hment and vitals of grace, and &s;eparate what may be offen&s;ive to a &s;piritual increa&s;e, and then by Gods ble&s;&s;ing the effect will follow, the member will grow and increa&s;e in a ju&s;t pro|portion for the Body.</P>
<P>Di&s;couragements I confe&s;s there are great &s;tore to retard and hinder the &s;tomach to concoct, or the liver to &s;uck and di&s;per&s;e this vital blood: be&s;ides the members of late have been very unkind to the ligaments, and the parts of this body injurious to the arteries and &s;inews; are they yet then bound to a &s;upply? Yes they are; for we mu&s;t look what we ow, and not what the parts de&s;erve. <HI>What th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">refore we do, we will do,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.12.</NOTE> <HI>that we ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> cut off occa&s;ion from them that de&s;ire occa&s;ion;</HI> we will take down and dige&s;t for you the food of life; we will tran&s;|mit it for your nouri&s;hment, <HI>and we w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll gladly in this work spend our &s;elves and be spent for you, though the more abundantl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> we love y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u he le&s;s we are b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">loved.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.15.</NOTE> The Merchant having &s;uffer'd &s;hipwrack at &s;ea, yet again repairs his Ship, in hope of a better voyage; And the Husbandman by an un&s;ea&s;onable year ha|ving lo&s;t his crop, yet puts into the earth his Plough again in hope of a better harve&s;t; and that fi&s;h is &s;ometimes taken by the Fi&s;herman, when he is gathe|ring up his net, that hath e&s;caped all night. We will not then de&s;pair upon our
<PB N="548" REF="280"> ill &s;ucce&s;s, but we will yet put to &s;ea, we will yet &s;pread our nets, we will yet plough up the fallow ground of your hearts, and ca&s;t in our &s;eeds, hoping that in time it may <HI>bring forth in &s;ome an hundred,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13.</NOTE> <HI>in &s;ome &s;ixty, in &s;ome t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">irty.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Clem. Alexand. in Protr.</NOTE>For we are a&s;&s;ured that the Go&s;pel hath <GAP DESC="foreign"> efficacy, and a lively power in it; able it is to change <GAP DESC="foreign">, the fierce&s;t bea&s;ts into Lambs, and to alter mens &s;ouls, lives, and manners: and for a&s;&s;urance of this we have Gods promi&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 55.10,</NOTE> <HI>As the rain comes down, and the &s;now from heaven, and re|turneth not thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give &s;eed to the &s;ower,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">11.</NOTE> <HI>and bread to the eater: &s;o &s;hall my word be that goeth forth of my mouth: It &s;hall not return unto me void, but it &s;hall acc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mpli&s;h that which I plea&s;e, and it &s;hall pro&s;per in the thing whereto I &s;end it.</HI> This is that which wings our labour; this is that which wipes off our &s;weat; this is that which makes us &s;o ready to &s;upply; and though it be not our happine&s;s to pro|duce effects an&s;werable to our de&s;ires, yee we give not over the work, but la|bour to the utmo&s;t of our power to that end. More the Head from whom we derive our power and activity, expects not; more our fellow-members who&s;e nece&s;&s;ities we &s;upply,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> may not expect; for <HI>curam exigimur, non curationem,</HI> care is expected, from us, not a cure; that according to the mea&s;ure we have received, we pour in our wine and oyl; that it purge and heal mu&s;t be left to the great Phy&s;itian above.</P>
<P>To take care then of the fellow-member is our duty; to pour in as we have received, whether much or little, yet accordingly to communicate, to contri|bute. <HI>Qui duo Talenta, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uo; qui tria, tria.</HI> Be it but <HI>One Talent, it mu&s;t not be wrapt up in a napkin.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.26.</NOTE> He hath his Mea&s;ure. Others may have more gra|ces, more gifts, but he hath that which his head thought fit for him, and ac|cording to that he mu&s;t &s;upply: &s;o &s;aith our Apo&s;tle, <HI>the effectual working mu&s;t be</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>or</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>as &s;ome read it.</HI> In the mea&s;ure of every part.</HEAD>
<P>Before at the &s;eventh ver&s;e our Apo&s;tle informs us, <HI>that unto every one of us is given Grace acording unto the mea&s;ure of the gift of Chri&s;t.</HI> The word in the Original is <GAP DESC="foreign">, which the Greek Scholia&s;t glo&s;&s;eth <GAP DESC="foreign">, a Gift; for the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of tho&s;e Gifts, with which the Spirit of Chri&s;t adorns the mem|bers of the Body, for the edification of the whole; and that the parts be not too proud of the&s;e abilities and endowments, that they are not from them&s;elves; confer'd they are, given; <HI>Given</HI> he &s;aith, <HI>to every one that hath them.</HI> In the world we find very unequal partitions; to &s;ome all, to &s;ome ne're a whit; whereas the Spirit of God gives to every part of this body a fit &s;hare of this Di|vident; to one in this kind, to another in that: The great Giver &s;o ordering the matter, that as in the Natural Body, the eye &s;hould not have the gift to go, but to &s;ee; and the foot not to &s;ee, but to walk; the hand not the gift to &s;peak, but the tongue; and the tongue noe the power to work, but the hand: So in this Spiritual Body, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> is made a god to <HI>Aaron: Aaron Mo&s;es</HI> his tongue to <HI>Pharaoh;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 4.16. Acts 20.28. Acts 6. Acts 18.24.</NOTE> one is an eye to over-&s;ee, another a hand to &s;erve Tables: one is deeply learned, but rude in &s;peech; another is eloquent, but not deeply learn|ed. In this divi&s;ion then every one hath his part, b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t every one hath not all; He that hath mo&s;t, hath but a mea&s;ure; be it five, be it two, be it one, yet the portion is given in proportion, &s;o much, to &s;uch a quantity, to &s;uch a number and no more.</P>
<P>It is then the equity and indulgence of this great doner not to exact a duty be|yond his Gift, nor to impo&s;e upon us a &s;upply beyond that ability with which
<PB N="549" REF="280"> he hath empowred the part. If he hath given much, then we are bound to &s;upply much: if little, little; <HI>it mu&s;t</HI> &s;aith our Apo&s;tle, <HI>be done in the mea&s;ure of every part. To one is given the Spirit of wi&s;dom,</HI> as <HI>Luminare majus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor 12.8.9, &amp;c.</NOTE> the great light: <HI>To another the word of knowledge,</HI> as <HI>Luminare minus,</HI> the le&s;s light: <HI>to another proph<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cy, to another faith, to another diver&s;ity of language,</HI> as le&s;&s;er and darker &s;tars in the Firmament of the Church; and all the&s;e ought to take their turns, and &s;hine and move in their proper orb, time, and order in the mea&s;ure they are gifted.</P>
<P>Now if this voice were well thought on, it would keep an excellent temper in the Body. The parts would neither be envious, nor over-bold to &s;tretch them&s;elves beyond their mea&s;ure. The Prerogatives and Ligaments mentio|ned at the fourth, fifth, &s;ixt ver&s;es, were all in common; for all were equally made parts of one b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dy, all united and animated by one Spirit, all partakers of one Hope, &amp;c. Tis not &s;o with the Gifts; every &s;ingle member hath a &s;ingle and peculiar beque&s;t given and graunted to him in a mea&s;ure, that he envy not, that he invade not the place and Office of another part.</P>
<P N="1">1. In the Body every part receives not the &s;ame dignity, nor the &s;ame gifts. There is a <HI>Hin</HI> for one, and a <HI>Gomer</HI> for another; and yet one member envies not the other, but is well plea&s;ed and content with its receipt: So it &s;hould be in the Church: there be different places, and d fferent graces, all communicated from the &s;ame head, and that &s;hould content. For <HI>non licet?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.15.</NOTE> <HI>Shall it not be lawful for our Head, to do what he will with his own?</HI></P>
<P>All have Faith, but not in an equal mea&s;ure. All have &s;ome Vocation or other, yet not in the &s;ame degree of Honour. What, <HI>Are all Apo&s;tles?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.29.</NOTE> <HI>are all Prophets?</HI> &s;hall then this various di&s;tribution breed heart-burning, grudges, emulation, and envy? nothing le&s;s; but rather thankfulne&s;s to this great <GAP DESC="foreign">, this Gracious Lord, who by this wi&s;e donation intended to link us the clo&s;er together, that by the &s;en&s;e of the want in our &s;elves, and the &s;upply he ordain|ed we &s;hould receive from another, we &s;hould the more love one the other.</P>
<P N="2">2. As this mea&s;ure is good again&s;t Envy, &s;o al&s;o it is a notable Retentive again&s;t <GAP DESC="foreign">, which is &s;aucine&s;s, boldne&s;s, pre&s;umption, (I know not well by what name to call it) u&s;urpation and intru&s;ion inro any Office of another part. There are who think them&s;elves fit for any places; <HI>Dathan,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 16. Jer. 18. 2 Chron. 26. 2 Sam. 6.</NOTE> <HI>Corah</HI> and <HI>Abiram</HI> to be Princes and Prie&s;ts, <HI>Hananiah</HI> to prophe&s;ie, <HI>&V;zzi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h</HI> to offer incen&s;e, <HI>Uzzah</HI> to &s;tay the Ark; well it were that &s;uch men before they act, would look upon the place that God hath put them in, and the gift be|&s;tow'd on them, mea&s;uring them&s;elves by them&s;elves. Mean places are fit for men of mean gifts; though the Apo&s;tle allows men <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 10.13, 14, 15.</NOTE> yet he grants no leave <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;tretch him&s;elf a man may to the utmo&s;t of his mea&s;ure, but he is not to tenter him&s;elf beyond the &s;cantling of that place he is allotted in the Body. Tho&s;e whom I but now &s;pake of, paid well for it: <HI>Corah</HI> and his com|pany, <HI>Uzzah,</HI> and <HI>&V;zziah.</HI> That mutinous company would have all the con|gregation holy, but they peri&s;hed in their gain&s;aying: <HI>Uzzah</HI> was a <HI>Levite,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 16. 2 Sam. 6.7. 1 Sam. 6.19.</NOTE> he might wait upon the Ark, but he would be touching it, and it co&s;t him his life, as it did the fifty thou&s;and <HI>Beth&s;hemites</HI> that looked only into it. <HI>&V;zziah</HI> was a King, but he would offer incen&s;e, a work proper only for the prie&s;t, and for it he died a Leper. <HI>Hananiah</HI> &s;entenced to death that year.</P>
<P>An evil &s;ickne&s;s there is under the Sun, that provokes men to break their Techers, and to meddle with other mens Vocations. Believe it, every work is not for every hand; if &s;o, what needed &s;o accurate a di&s;tribution, a fit mea&s;ure to every part? And where this order is tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed, it is as great an ab&s;urdity, as if the parts of the body &s;hould invade each others Functions and Offices. In the body of man there is the &s;pirits, blood, choler, and
<PB N="550" REF="281"> other humours, and the&s;e are to contain them&s;elves within their own proper ve&s;&s;els, as &s;pirits in the brain or heart, blood in the veins, choler in the gall: and if once they be out of them, the &s;pirits heat &s;o fa&s;t, that they produce Fe|vers, and Phren&s;ies: Blood out of the veins cau&s;es Apo&s;tumes, Choler out of the Gall brings a Jaundi&s;e over the whole body. And the like happens in Body of Chri&s;t the Church; the gifts be&s;towed in mea&s;ure upon every part being kept within their ve&s;&s;els, and &s;o implyed, do well; but if once they pa&s;s their bounds, &s;ome unkind heats, or &s;welling Apo&s;tumes, or Jaundi&s;e, or vio|lent and dangerous di&s;ea&s;es overrun the body of the Church, by which the end for which they were given, and for which they were thus wi&s;ely and order|ly di&s;po&s;ed and mea&s;ured out, is wholly evacuated, which the Apo&s;tle tells us here was for an encrea&s;e of the body, that it may</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> Make an increa&s;e of the body unto the edifying it &s;elf.</HEAD>
<P>Growth and increa&s;e in Grace and Godline&s;s, is an in&s;epar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ble companion of a &s;piritual life. The ble&s;&s;ing of God in the fir&s;t creation upon the creature was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.28. 2 Cor. 9.10. 1 The&s;. 3.12. Col. 1.10.</NOTE> <HI>Increa&s;e and multiply;</HI> and the ble&s;&s;ing of God in the &s;econd, is, <HI>Increa&s;e in knowledge, increa&s;e in faith, increa&s;e in true religion multiply in the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ervice of God, and practice of piety.</HI> Among the Heathen, to continue in the &s;ame &s;tate they were, was accounted an high &s;tep of goodne&s;s; but in the School of Chri&s;t, <HI>non progredi e&s;t regredi,</HI> not to increa&s;e is to decrea&s;e; So that a Chri&s;ti|an mu&s;t not be like a top that turns round and round in the &s;ame place, or if it removes t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">is forced to it by the violence of the whip; But like the part of a natural Body, which freely receives a &s;upply of nouri&s;hment, and kindly thrives by it till it increa&s;e to a ju&s;t proportion and full &s;trength; &s;o mu&s;t a Chri&s;tian make u&s;e of this &s;upply, <HI>till he come unto a perfect man, unto the mea&s;ure of the stature of the fulne&s;s of Chri&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.13.</NOTE></P>
<P>Have you ever ob&s;erv'd a Tree planted by the rivers of waters? how fre&s;h, how green, how full of &s;ap and moy&s;ture is it? The leaves wither not, and the boughs are loaden with fruits. Have you taken notice of the corn in your fields? at fir&s;t it &s;prings up in the blade, mode&s;tly conceals the tender juice in the ho&s;e, boldly after &s;hoots out and fils in the ear,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 4 2.</NOTE> and at la&s;t hardens and ripeneth to the harve&s;t. I pre&s;ume you have read of the golden Candle&s;ticks, wherein through &s;even pipes of gold, the oyl was continually carried from the two Olives. The&s;e are all lively repre&s;entations of a good Chri&s;tian; of the growth of a good Chri&s;tian; who blo&s;&s;oms, knits, and is loaden with fruits, that comes up, comes on, and ripens in good works, that fils with &s;weet odours of Grace, till <HI>his light may &s;o &s;hine before men,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.16.</NOTE> <HI>that they may &s;ee his good works, and glori|fie his Father which is in heaven.</HI></P>
<P>And that I may not recede from the Text, our Apo&s;tle teacheth us, that this <HI>increa&s;e mu&s;t be unto edifying.</HI> The Metaphor is drawn from building, and thence it mu&s;t receive light. In every building there is a foundation, the Ar|chitects, the matter, the progre&s;s of the work, the end: All which we find here.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.20, 21, 22.</NOTE> The foundation is <HI>Christ, who is the chief corner-&s;tone;</HI> the Architects and workmen under him, the <HI>Prophets and Apo&s;tles;</HI> the matter are men, <HI>who are lively &s;tones, who are fitly framed, that they may grow unto a Holy Temple; and the end is, for an habitation of God through the Spirit.</HI></P>
<P>And will God then dwell with men? yes he will, when their Body &s;hall become a Temple.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 8.27.</NOTE> This will never be, till as &s;tone is added to &s;tone in a build|ing, &s;o there be an edifying in Grace, a growth in piety, an increa&s;e in an holy life. Then through the power of his Spirit, we may call every part of this our Body <GAP DESC="foreign">, Gods building, and the whole the Habitation of the Deity. God dwels there,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6.15.</NOTE> it mu&s;t not then be <HI>the hou&s;e for Belial, for Idols.</HI> The clean
<PB N="551" REF="281"> Spirit of God inhabits it, it mu&s;t not then be <HI>polluted with &s;urfeits,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.13.</NOTE> <HI>and drun|kenne&s;s, riot, and exce&s;s.</HI> There is not any one of the&s;e and the like &s;ins, e&s;pe|cially per&s;i&s;ted in, that, (be&s;ides the pollution they bring upon the con&s;ecra|ted place) doth not pull a &s;tone out of the &s;acred building, which, if not look'd to in time, and repaired, will draw a ruine and dilapidation upon the whole hou&s;e.</P>
<P>I with greif acknowledge how &s;ubject this holy building is to winds, to floods, to &s;torms; for the violent gu&s;ts of temptations de&s;cend and beat upon it: the Chri&s;tian, who is this Hou&s;e, being expo&s;ed to the weather. He hath his faint|ing and falling, his decrea&s;e and increa&s;e, his decaying and renewing. He hath his fall of the leaf, he hath hfs winter; but he makes the&s;e the occa&s;ion of his Spring. For by the&s;e fals and decays his growth is more advanced, in as much aa they work in him a greater hatred of &s;inful corruption, and a more earne&s;t de&s;ire of grace, by which he may &s;tand and grow. By ca&s;ting her Bill the Eagle renews her youth; and by &s;lipping off the old &s;poil the Serpent recovers his vigour. Thus our good man, by rejection of what he is &s;en&s;ible will hin|der his increa&s;e and growth &s;prouts and &s;hoots up higher, and approach|eth neer to a full age.</P>
<P>About this point the Apo&s;tle hath thus expre&s;&s;ed his own endeavour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Philip. 3.13.</NOTE> <HI>I for|get that wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch is behind: and labour to th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t which is before;</HI> Where we meet with two &s;teps and degrees to bring forward this increa&s;e.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>To forget that which is behind.</HI> True it is, we may remember what is be|hind to lament, to loath, to amend, to for&s;ake it; for there is not &s;uch ano|ther help to this increa&s;e as a &s;erious thought, and a &s;udden remembrance of our former cour&s;e. <HI>Paul</HI> increa&s;eth in zeal upon the memory that he had former|ly been a per&s;ecutor. But we may not remember a &s;in, as rhe Dog doth his vomit, to turn back to it. The wicked and godly both make u&s;e of their me|mory about &s;in, but to a different end. The wicked for their delight and practice: The Godly for their &s;orrow and amendment. For the godly fell for|ward and ro&s;e, the wicked backward and die. He that remembers his &s;in to hate it, and leave it, with <HI>Abraham</HI> fals upon his face; but he that remembers it to rejoyce in it, and turn to it, with the Jews fals back to his confu&s;ion. Look not then back to <HI>Sodom;</HI> be not the Dog, the Sow;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19. 2 Pet. 2. Numb. 11.5,</NOTE> feed not upon your thoughts the <HI>Onions, the garlick, the fle&s;h-pots of Egypt.</HI> Such quickne&s;s of memory I cannot allow you.</P>
<P>No nor yet that with pride and confidence you remember your vertues: Be not always gazing and wond<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing at them, as the Peacock at her wheel: make them not miracles to admire; pre&s;ume not upon thy &s;even and &s;even al|tars with <HI>Balaac; Blow no trumpet; boa&s;t not of thy fa&s;ts as the Phari&s;ee.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 23.29. Mat. 6.2.</NOTE> Of the&s;e the art of forgetfulne&s;s is better then the art of memory. Becau&s;e what in this kind can be done, is but a duty, and when thou ha&s;t done all thou can&s;t, and to the utmo&s;t endeavour thou can&s;t, <HI>thou art but an unprofitable &s;ervant.</HI> Saint <HI>Paul</HI> was <HI>not inferior to the chief Apo&s;tles,</HI> yet forgets it:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 17.10.</NOTE> <HI>labours more then they all,</HI> yet forgets it: <HI>&s;peaks more tongues then most at Corinth:</HI> yet for|gets it: <HI>was more abundant in labours, in &s;tripes above mea&s;ure, in pri&s;ons more frequent, in death of ten,</HI> yet forgets it: <HI>circumci&s;ed the eighth day,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.23, 24, &amp;c. Philip. 3.5&punc; 6.</NOTE> <HI>an Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the Law a Phari&s;ee, hot in zeal, and for the Legal righteou&s;ne&s;s blamele&s;s,</HI> and yet he forgets to be proud of it. <HI>I forget</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>that which is behind.</HI> Far he was from the humour of our Supererogators, by whom if any good be done, they are apt to prai&s;e, to plea&s;e them&s;elves, &s;up|po&s;ing they have done enough, and oft enough as if there were no more to be done. Both the&s;e are great ob&s;tacles and impediments to the increa&s;e of the Body. We mu&s;t then forget our &s;ins, forget our good deeds in the &s;en&s;e above-named, and yet this is but one &s;tep; another there is: <HI>viz.</HI></P>
<P N="2"><PB N="552" REF="282">2. To endeavour to that which is before, which no man can do, that either &s;its &s;till, or is idle. Remember we mu&s;t that we are but in the way, and then mu&s;t be going on till we come to our journeys end: that we are but in our growing condition, and therefore mu&s;t make an increa&s;e till we come to be perfect and full limbs of this body. In heaven we cannot find any pattern for idlene&s;&s;e, or loytering. Nor the Father, nor the Son are idle, <HI>I and my Fa|ther work,</HI> &s;aith our Saviour: No nor the Angels, but are alwayes about their mini&s;tery.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 5.17. Gen. 22.12. Revel. 14.4. Jer. 48.11.</NOTE> In <HI>Jacobs</HI> ladder, &s;ome were a&s;cending, &s;ome de&s;cending, not one at re&s;t. As for the Saints, they <HI>follow the Lamb where&s;oever he goeth.</HI> In earth man may take liberty for his ea&s;e; and with <HI>Moab,</HI> &s;ettle upon his lees, but God never gave him a <HI>Quietus est.</HI> For in this world no man is rich enough, I meane in &s;piritual trea&s;ure, and therefore he mu&s;t hunger and thir&s;t and labour for more.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 28.10. Exod. 16.21.</NOTE> Line would be added to line, and line to line; every day <HI>Manna</HI> would be gathered. The graces of God, as flowers in a Garden, day after day not only cropt, and kept by us, but watred, and dre&s;&s;ed, improved, propagated, and multiplyed, that they may not only have <GAP DESC="foreign">, an abode with us, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, abound in us.</P>
<P>We pray let <HI>thy Kingdom come,</HI> but it comes not by gaping and gazing up|on it; we pray, let <HI>thy will be done,</HI> but done it will not be, if we do nothing. <HI>Charles</HI> the fifths Motto was <HI>Ulterius,</HI> and a Chri&s;tians ought to be <HI>Superius,</HI> &s;it up higher;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 2.52.</NOTE> which le&s;&s;on he may learn from his Ma&s;ters example, who <HI>increa&s;ed in wi&s;dome and knowledge.</HI> So the Head, and &s;o the members mu&s;t grow and increa&s;e too, or el&s;e there will be a mon&s;trous Body, one part &s;tarv'd, and lit|tle, and urchin-like, when the other is full and perfect: Which, &s;hould it &s;o fall out, would fru&s;trate the end of this &s;upply; for the Apo&s;tle tells us, that the true intention of this Order, of this Unity, of this touch and pul&s;e of the Ligaments, is, not only that the parts encrea&s;e, but that they uniformly in|crea&s;e all together; &s;o it follows,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. To the edifying of it &s;elf in love&punc; <HI>i. e.</HI> The Body.</HEAD>
<P>It mu&s;t be for the complement of the Body; You &s;ee then, what every man is to aime at, even in the increa&s;e of him&s;elf, it is a common good, <HI>viz.</HI> that the building of the whole Church &s;hould be promoted. The final cau&s;e then of our proceeding in grace and goodne&s;&s;e, mu&s;t be not only our own par|ticular, but the promotion and complement of the whole Body.</P>
<P>True it is, that in all parts there mu&s;t be a ju&s;t increa&s;e, otherwi&s;e there can be no ju&s;t proportion; Legs, thighs, feet, armes, hands, heart, &amp;c. mu&s;t all grow up together: which rule mu&s;t be ob&s;erved in the &s;piritual increa&s;e; in eve|ry faculty and part of the man of God there mu&s;t be an even &s;preading of the &s;upply from the head; in the mind there mu&s;t be an increa&s;e of knowledge, in the heart of love and charity; in the affections, of fear, reverence, humility; in the tongue, of truth; in the hands, of good works; in the feet, of for|wardne&s;&s;e to walk in the wayes of God.</P>
<P>But the maine thing in this increa&s;e, we are to reflect on, is, that in our in|dividual and &s;ingular increa&s;e, it is but one member of Chri&s;ts Body that in|crea&s;eth; our labour then mu&s;t be, that our fellow-members increa&s;e al&s;o. Hence we have often tho&s;e commands laid upon us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 3.13. 1 The&s;&s;. 5.11.</NOTE> <HI>exhort one another, edi|fie one another.</HI> Chri&s;t is plea&s;ed to call us into the fellow&s;hip of the work, and by us, as in&s;truments to build and complete his own Body. That is the object upon which we are to work, and every &s;tone we bring and lay, ought to be placed and cemented with &s;ome &s;uch thought at this. This I do <GAP DESC="foreign">
<PB N="553" REF="282"> <GAP DESC="foreign">, for the building of Chri&s;ts body. And out of love I do it, for &s;o it is to be done.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="6" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>6.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. In love.</HEAD>
<P>The love I bear to the Head, the love I bear to my &s;elfe, the love I bear to my fellow-member moves me to this work; For in edifying him I edify my &s;elf, and in edifying him and my &s;elfe, I do as much as is in me compleat and perfect Chri&s;ts Body. I know not what &s;trange influence this one &s;yllable <HI>Love</HI> hath up|on all the touches, all the &s;upply that the parts of this body afford each other, &s;o that if they be not done in love, they are nothing worth, This our Apo&s;tle 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12. dicour&s;es of the &s;piritual gifts, acquaints us that they are many, and di|vers, &s;hews that they are given for decency, for &s;ervice, for &s;uccour of the &s;ame Body. He names al&s;o many functions, Apo&s;tles, Prophets, Teachers, Workers of miracles, gifts of healings, helps, governments, diver&s;ities of tongues, inter|preters, but in the clo&s;e he tells them, he would yet &s;hew them a more exellent way, and what was this way, that was mo&s;t exellent? It was the way of love and charity, without which the gifts how exellent &s;oever, were nothing worth. Should a man be indued with all knowledge, could he &s;peake all tongues, and all truths,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.</NOTE> yet were they not &s;ea&s;oned with charity, in Gods ear the man were but as a &s;oun|ding bra&s;s, and as a tinkling cymbal; this, this one is the bond of perfection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.14.</NOTE> it conjoins and links together all the vertues, and puts the life of Chri&s;tianity into their Acts; It unites all the members of this body together, and makes every part, willingly, chearfully, readily to communicate their mutual endeavours for the encrea&s;e and con&s;ervation of the whole. As then the perfection of the natural Body ari&s;eth from the union and connexion of the parts, &s;o that the Bo|dy is pre&s;ently imperfect, and defective, if joint be pulld and &s;evered from joint; So al&s;o the Body of the Church is perfect and entire while all the members are united and coupled together with the bond of charity; but upon the breach of that one link, mercy, and humility, and meekne&s;s, and patience take the wing and fly away, upon which there enters cruelty, and pride, and frowardne&s;s and impatience into this Body, which makes it weak and imperfect.</P>
<P>It were to draw a line after <HI>Apelles,</HI> to enter upon an Encomium of this ver|tue, &s;ince our Apo&s;tle hath &s;et it forth to us in fifteen lively colours; I meane tho&s;e Attributes, partly negative, partly affirmative; what it doth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.</NOTE> what it doth not, that this body may not be di&s;tracted, but be kept together. It doth not en|vie the felicity or preheminence of another part. It is not peevi&s;h, and fro|ward, and ra&s;h in cen&s;uring its fellow-members. It is not puff'd up as a bladder with a qui<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l, upon the conceit of greater gifts be&s;towed upon it, than on ano|ther limb. It behaves it &s;elf not un&s;eemly either through pride or immode&s;ty; 'tis not &s;o immode&s;t as to &s;candal any, nor &s;o proud as to domineere over the meane&s;t part of the body. It &s;eeks not her own, it doth nothing out of &s;elf-love or filthy lucre, but con&s;iders how it may &s;upply the want of another part. It is not ea&s;ily provoked, not to wrath, not to revenge; or if it be, 'tis again&s;t &s;ome corrupt humour in the member, not the member. It thinks no evil; for it is not &s;u&s;pitious, ready to cen&s;ure that to the wor&s;t, which may admit of a can|did interpretation. It rejoyceth not in iniquity, is not glad to do a mi&s;chief to its fellow members. Hitherto you have &s;eene what love and charity will not do; for by all the&s;e Saturnine influences the &s;upply, the increa&s;e, the building up this body will be hindered, and therefore Charity will be &s;ure to be free from them.</P>
<P>And now you &s;hall &s;ee what it will do for the increa&s;e of the body. Fir&s;t, <GAP DESC="foreign">, it is patient, it will bear long, and much; much it will endure, and long it will bear, before it will be heated with any animo&s;ity, again&s;t an eye,
<PB N="554" REF="283"> or a vital part, which yet if it break forth, the Sun &s;hall not &s;et upon its wrath. For it is kinde not only in bearing an injury, but in the readine&s;&s;e to forgive and forget it. And it rejoyceth in or with the truth; glad it is at heart, when truth and ju&s;tice flouri&s;h, and take place: as it is apt to weep with the part that weeps, &s;o it will rejoyce with any member, that hath cau&s;e to rejoyce. <HI>I bear|eth all things;</HI> Bears all things that may be born; Bears pro&s;perity without pride, adver&s;ity without di&s;content and murmur. <HI>It beleeves all things,</HI> believes that parts of the body are &s;uch as they &s;eeme to be; &s;uch in words, &s;uch in deeds, till it finde a manife&s;t evidence to the contrary. But if it happen, which too often falls out, that &s;ome part be <HI>laxatum,</HI> broken or di&s;-joynted, <HI>it will hope all things,</HI> it will hope that it may be re&s;tored, &s;trengthned, and joynted again. And to that end la&s;tly, <HI>it endures all things,</HI> any injury, any affront with a qui|et and compo&s;ed minde, out of that infinite de&s;ire and affection it bears to peace.</P>
<P>Oh then that the God of love, and Spirit of unity would but gift the parts of this body with rhis admirable vertue! for then I would not doubt of the en|crea&s;e, I would hope better of the edifying of it, which now by di&s;cord I finde much to be impair'd, through debate and di&s;&s;ention weakned, di&s;tracted, I had almo&s;t &s;aid ruin'd.</P>
<P>Is God love? are we &s;ons, and can we no better agree? Is Chri&s;t our Head? Are we his members? and do we yet fall foul one upon ano<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her? Is it his Spirit that unites, joynes, moves this body, and &s;hall we grieve him at his work? Nothing ought to be more dear to us in the world, than the Church of Chri&s;t; And every one of us, were we true members of it, to our utmo&s;t endeavour we &s;hould defend it. help to encrea&s;e it, build it, and pre&s;erve the unity of it when it is built. The Nerves by which it is united and con&s;erv'd, are not Rites and Ceremonies, but true Faith, and brotherly love. How then do I what I can, to pre&s;erve this Communion of Saints, when with di&s;cord, &s;e|paration, and peevi&s;hne&s;&s;e, as with a &s;word I divide and di&s;&s;olve the bond with which it is united!</P>
<P>Yea, but perhaps there be who will pretend, Is there not a cau&s;e? are we not bound to &s;peak the Truth? No love of peace mu&s;t be &s;o great, that we contend not earne&s;tly for the Truth once delivered to the Saints;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude 3.</NOTE> for righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e and peace mu&s;t ki&s;&s;e each other,</P>
<P>To contend for the Truth, is a noble quality; But then men mu&s;t be &s;ure it is the Truth they contend for, and then too, &s;uch a Truth which is worth conten|tion, by which this Body may be encrea&s;ed, this building promoted, not hin|dred, not cooled in devotion, of which nature the mo&s;t part of tho&s;e points are, which as &s;uppo&s;ed truths are on all hands contended for by the di&s;&s;enting party from the e&s;tabli&s;hed Doctrine of the Church at this day. Yet &s;uppo&s;e they were Truths, which they are not: our Apo&s;tles direction mu&s;t not be forgotten,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.15</NOTE> delivered in the former ver&s;e, <HI>Speak the truth in love.</HI> Truth then mu&s;t be followed and admini&s;tred with its true corrective, love. Now love teacheth us, that though we &s;peak the Truth, yet to be patient and courteous, patiently to hear what is objected, and mildly to reply. 'Tls reported of the Philo&s;ophers, who were alwayes quarrelling about their principles, that they had a &s;word, but wanted a buckler; but a buckler becomes a Chri&s;tian better than a &s;word. For we mu&s;t not beat every dogge that barks at us in the way, <HI>but with patience run the race that is &s;et before us.</HI> Wi&s;e <HI>Solomon</HI> hath left written,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.1. Prov. 15.1. Acts 23.5.</NOTE> that <HI>a &s;oft an&s;wer pacifieth &s;trife;</HI> &s;uch a one we find dropping from Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> lips; <HI>Brethren, I knew not that he was the high Prie&s;t;</HI> and &s;o &s;atisfied a mi&s;take.</P>
<P>Adde to this, that Love, as I but now &s;aid, <HI>envies not, &s;wels not, deals not f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">owardly.</HI> It envies not a Truth in the mouth of any man, it is not puff'd up
<PB N="555" REF="283"> with tho&s;e truths it knows, nor out of a froward humour thwarts and cro&s;&s;es any truth what&s;oever, being ready without grief and repining, to yeild where it &s;ees an apparent evidence. A vertue it is compounded of, truth and ingenu|ity; Truth moves it to believe that only which is certaine; ingenuity con&s;trues all to the be&s;t &s;en&s;e, even that which is doubtful; whereas &s;u&s;picion and jea|lou&s;ie is tran&s;ported with heat, and forgetting the bounds of mode&s;ty, is mi&s;led with fal&s;e, probable, vulgar and uncertain reports.</P>
<P>I be&s;eech you now, let it be con&s;idered, whether the great pretenders and zealots of truth, &s;tand not in great need of this corrective. Where is their Love? What is become of their Charity? are not we members of their body? Are we not all under one Head? Are we not united with the &s;ame Nerves? Do we not all hope to meet in heaven? Have we not all one Chri&s;t? Serve we not all one Father? How is it then that they &s;o unkindly &s;eparate from their fellow-members, or rather &s;eparate the members from them? Is this to build? is this to edifie? is this to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">fford &s;upply for the encrea&s;e of the Body? If envy, and anger, and peevi&s;hne&s;&s;e, and froward u&s;age can contribute to this &s;piritual work, then the&s;e are excellent architects, rare helps. For envious they are at any part above them, angry with every &s;ound limb, peevi&s;h and froward to all the &s;inews and arteries; they do not only think, but &s;tudy an in<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">urie: So far from patience and courte&s;ie, that as a ne&s;t of angry Hornets and Wa&s;ps, they &s;ting all that come in their way. To produce their &s;cornful, bitter, and uncha|ritable invectives, were to rake a Dunghil, in which you &s;hall finde the poy&s;on of A&s;pes; few, I had almo&s;t &s;aid, not one feather of the Dove.</P>
<P>My hearty de&s;ire is, that they would fir&s;t learn <GAP DESC="foreign">, to &s;peak truth: of which &s;ince I de&s;pair, yet that they would give over this gall of bitterne&s;&s;e, and &s;ay what they fancie for Truth in Love and meekne&s;&s;e. This might make &s;ome impre&s;&s;ion upon us to think, that the work proceeded from that &s;pirit to which they &s;o much pretend, the Loving Spirit; Whereas when we meet with no|thing but bitterne&s;&s;e, &s;cofs, &s;candals, violence, invectives and libels in their Pulpits, in their Pamphlets, we are a&s;&s;ured that the &s;ugge&s;tion is from another Author. Truth needs no Cyniques, nor her dictates &s;uch Patrons who &s;leep their pens in Vine-acre.</P>
<P>O that our Di&s;&s;enting Brethren would think they were men, and therefore not impo&s;&s;ible for them to erre. O that they would lay to heart that they are Chri&s;tian men, and therefore bound <HI>to &s;peak the truth in love:</HI> Were there an impartial &s;ifting of the&s;e debates and differences, found it would be,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.15.</NOTE> that it is not &s;trength of rea&s;on, but vehemency of affection, &s;elf-love, &s;elf-ends, or &s;ome di&s;content, which fir&s;t bred, and doth yet feed the&s;e debates among&s;t us. Far more comfort it were for us (&s;o &s;mall is the joy we take in tugging at one end of this Saw) to labour under the &s;ame yoke, as men who look for the &s;ame eternal reward of our labours; and being joyned in that in|di&s;&s;oluble bond of love and amity, to live as if our per&s;ons being many, our &s;ouls were but one: It is a Corro&s;ive unto us to live in this di&s;membred condition, and to &s;pend our few and wretched dayes in a tedious pro&s;ecution of endle&s;&s;e contentions; the end whereof, if they have not &s;ome &s;peedy end, will be heavie on both &s;ides. I am no Prophet, nor &s;on of a Prophet, but I have liv'd to &s;ee the troubles of &s;ixteen yeats, out of which, he, who can|not conclude the &s;ad con&s;equences that follow upon contentions in Religion, and &s;eparation from confe&s;&s;ed and ancient Truths, mu&s;t needs be a man of a ve|ry &s;hallow under&s;tanding.</P>
<P>By this &s;trife the lives of men are become deboy&s;ed, the devotion of many is cooled. Grown we are to be a &s;corn and a proverb of reproach to the men of <HI>Gath,</HI> and the inhabitants of <HI>Askelon,</HI> they &s;tand by,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 1.20.</NOTE> behold our quar|rels, clap their hands, and inflame them, little doubting thereby to make their
<PB N="556" REF="284"> own advantage, as indeed they do daily: that I &s;ay not, how by the&s;e Schi&s;mes, with the wi&s;er and better &s;ort of our own, our credit is quite lo&s;t. God Al|mighty allay the&s;e &s;tormes, and &s;et a period to the&s;e turbulent and &s;welling a|nimo&s;ities, that we may all at la&s;t &s;peak the Truth, and &s;peak the Truth in love: That we all lay to heart, that we are all but one body, fitly joyned and joynted under one head; that we are all moved by one and the &s;ame Spirit, and there|fore are bound to &s;upply to every part; in that mea&s;ure that the Spirit hath &s;up|plied to us help and nouri&s;hment. By this means there will be an increa&s;e in the Communion of Saints, and every particular will grow to be a perfect man in Chri&s;t Je&s;us. A perfection he will attain to, &s;uch as the &s;tate of pa&s;&s;engers and wayfaring men doth admit in this life, which will be made exact, ab&s;olute, and down-right, when he &s;hall be joyn'd to this Head in heaven; That is the Man&s;ion of the Church triumphant, this the place prepared for the Church militant; both are but parts of one Society; that perfect, this in the way to perfection; that crowned already, this to be crowned. In hope of which, let us unite, and love, and live together; &s;o the God of peace will ble&s;&s;e us, the Prince of peace will protect us, the Spirit of love and unity will take a de|light to dwell with us, and we &s;hall dwell with this Trinity in Unity, and with all tho&s;e Saints with whom we have continued in unity, for ever and ever: Which God grant for Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;ake, &amp;c.</P>
<P>The Sermons following are intended for the Explanation of the Article
<Q>I beleeve the Remi&s;&s;ion of Sinne.</Q></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="42" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>God is a&s;&s;erted to be light.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 John 1.5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Ver&s;es.</HI></BIBL>
<P>This is the me&s;&s;age we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;e at all.</P>
<P>If we &s;ay that we have fellow&s;hip with him, and walk in darkne&s;&s;e, we lye, and do not the truth.</P>
<P>But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">llow&s;hip one with another; And the blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t his Son clean&s;eth us from all &s;inne.</P>
<P>If we &s;ay that we have no &s;inne, we deceive our &s;elves, and the truth is not in us.</P>
<P>If we confe&s;&s;e our &s;innes, he is faithful and ju&s;t to forgive us our &s;innes, and to clean&s;e us from all unrighteou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>IN this Epi&s;tle of Saint <HI>John</HI> all Expo&s;itors finde a great difficulty; and that which encrea&s;eth it, is, becau&s;e they have not well ob&s;erved the &s;tile a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d forme in which it is written. For the Syntax of this Epi&s;tle is not as &s;ome o|ther books, where the whole is by a perpetual connexion linked and filed toge|ther; it being <GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">, containing &s;hort, brief and compen|dious &s;entences, out of which the whole web, as of divers &s;trings and threads is made up, con&s;i&s;ting of certaine precepts of Doctrine and Rules of life, <HI>that the man of God may</HI> thereby <HI>be made perfect.</HI> Here then we &s;hall meet with many golden Aphori&s;mes to informe our judgement, and direct our manners: Theological conclu&s;ions to cure our ignorance, and Moral precepts to mend our Ethicks; our Apo&s;tle being like the learned Ma&s;ters of Phy&s;ick in the one,
<PB N="557" REF="284"> and the Teachers of Morality in the other. Both the&s;e have their Aphori&s;ms to cure di&s;ea&s;es and vices: He his, to remove mi&s;takes and Here&s;ies; and to &s;hame licentious Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P>In his time there were who boa&s;ted very much of their fellow&s;hip they had with the Saints, of their Society with God the Father, and his Sonne Je&s;us Chri&s;t. That there was &s;uch a Society, he grants; but then pre&s;&s;eth them with divers other con&s;equences, as undeniable Notes and Characters, by which it might be known whether they were of this Society; for example,</P>
<P N="1">1. They mu&s;t not walk in darkne&s;&s;e, <HI>for God is light,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 5.6, 7.</NOTE> <HI>and in him there is no darkne&s;&s;e at all.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. They mu&s;t not &s;ay, they have no &s;inne; and de&s;ire pardon,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 8.10, 9.</NOTE> for el&s;e they deceive them&s;elves, and are lyars.</P>
<P>For there are two e&s;pecial works of a good Chri&s;tian; the &s;tudy of a pure and holy life, that he may be like God; and a &s;en&s;e and confe&s;&s;ion of his &s;inne, that the blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t may clean&s;e him. To the&s;e two endeavours there be two very great impediments; a vitious cour&s;e of life, and an over-weening pre&s;umption of his own perfection and goodne&s;&s;e. Now in Saint <HI>Johns</HI> dayes, &s;ome there were that thru&s;t them&s;elves into the &s;ociety of both kinds. Fir&s;t, there were inordinate walkers, that lived in darkne&s;&s;e and the &s;hadow of death, who yet no nay, would be e&s;teemed of this Communion;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 6.</NOTE> to the&s;e Saint <HI>John</HI> gives the flat lye. <HI>If we,</HI> even we the Apo&s;tles, <HI>&s;ay that we have fellow&s;hip with him, and walk in darkne&s;&s;e, we lye, and do not the truth.</HI> Then there were di&s;&s;emblers and hypocrites, a &s;ort of people pure in their own eyes, who took upon them not to be like other men; holy creatures they would needs be, and not as other Publicans; other men they knew to be &s;in|ners, but they for&s;ooth were free. Now Saint <HI>John</HI> tells &s;uch Saints, that they gave God the lye. <HI>If we &s;ay that we have no &s;inne, we make God a lyar,</HI> and his Word, that is, his Doctrine, <HI>hath no place in us.</HI> A great error then and mi&s;take there is on both hands. The &s;afe way lies in the midde&s;t, <HI>viz.</HI> To avoid &s;in as darkne&s;&s;e, and to confe&s;&s;e our &s;ins to God, as becomes mi&s;era|ble wretehes. The one will keep us from profane&s;&s;e, the other from &s;piritual pride.</P>
<P>The <GAP DESC="foreign">, then, or main que&s;tion in the&s;e Ver&s;es, is, how we &s;hall know whether we have fellow&s;hip ot no with God and his Saints? and for clearing a point of &s;o great con&s;equence, Saint <HI>John</HI> &s;ets down the&s;e infal|lible Characters; Two of which are of &s;incere Chri&s;tians: Two of Hypo|crites.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Good Chri&s;tians walk in the light.<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;e 7. ver&s;e 9.</NOTE></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Good Chri&s;tians confe&s;&s;e their &s;ins.
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Hypocrites walk in darkne&s;&s;e.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Hypocrites &s;ay they have no &s;in.<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;e 6. ver&s;e 8.</NOTE></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>The re&s;olution then of the whole context con&s;i&s;ts in the&s;e Aphori&s;mes, or &s;hort Propo&s;itions, of which the fir&s;t &s;ort concern Almighty God, who is in his Nature mo&s;t pure, in his Attributes mo&s;t perfect.</P>
<P N="1">1. In his nature &s;o pure, that <HI>He is light, that in him there is no dark|ne&s;&s;e, ver&s;e</HI> 5.</P>
<P N="1">1. In his Attributes mo&s;t perfect and ab&s;olute: for,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. He is faithful, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 9.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. He is ju&s;t. <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 9.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. He is of great mercy, authority and power. For <HI>he forgives &s;innes, He clen&s;eth from all unrighteou&s;ne&s;se. ver&s;e</HI> 9.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>The &s;econd &s;ort of Aphori&s;ms concerns men
<LIST>
<ITEM>Badde</ITEM>
<ITEM>or Good.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1"><PB N="558" REF="285">1. Badde men have two ill conditions.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. They walk in darkne&s;&s;e, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 6.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. They &s;ay they have no &s;in, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 8. For which doing and &s;aying they are lyars, they do not the truth, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 6. they deceive them&s;elves, the truth is not in them, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 8. Nay, as much as is in them, they make God a lyar, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 10.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="2">2. Good men have two contrary properties.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. They walk in the light, <HI>as God is light,</HI> and con&s;equently have fel|low&s;hip with God and the Saints, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 7.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. They confe&s;&s;e and acknowledge their &s;ins, upon which there follows a purgation and a pardon.
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. A Purgation, for <HI>the blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t clean&s;eth from all &s;inne,</HI> ver&s;e 7.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. A Pardon and Remi&s;&s;ion; for God who is faithful and ju&s;t, for|gives their iniquities, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 8.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Thus have I gathered for you the harve&s;t of this whole Scripture, &s;ome &s;heaves of which I &s;hall only thre&s;h out for you at this time. But here it mu&s;t not be forgotten, that the corn is Gods, and the labour only mine. For the me&s;&s;age I have heard from him, I do only report and declare it to you; it pro|ceeds not out of mine own head, it comes from his mouth. Saint <HI>John,</HI> no not Saint <HI>John</HI> who was his beloved Di&s;ciple, and lay in his bo&s;ome, would not a&s;&s;ume &s;o much to him&s;elf, and therefore I dare not, neither may any other of Chri&s;ts Emba&s;&s;adors; with him we ingenuou&s;ly acknowledge, that the me&s;&s;age is his, and we only declare it &s;o. So he begins, and &s;o will I.</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Ver&s;e 5.</HI></BIBL> This then is the me&s;&s;age we have heard of him, and declare unto you.</Q>
<P>A me&s;&s;age is that which a man receives from another, and is to impart unto another; and &s;uch ought to be all our Sermons; me&s;&s;ages heard from God, and reported to men. So that fir&s;t the matter mu&s;t be received from the Lord, and the manner by way of declaration.<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;e 1.3.</NOTE> Thus much we heard but now from Saint <HI>Johns</HI> mouth; <HI>That which we have heard and &s;een, and looked on and han|dled, that we declare unto you;</HI> a man would think it was needle&s;&s;e &s;o pre|&s;ently to inculcate it again. Howbeit this repetition is needful and u&s;eful, ve|ry profitable for the Me&s;&s;engers, and very profitable for them to whom the me&s;&s;age is &s;ent, that the fir&s;t remember them&s;elves, that they are but Me&s;&s;en|gers, and therefore declare no more than they have heard; the other, that they are Me&s;&s;engers from God, and therefore hear them.</P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 8.16. Joh. 3.17. Joh. 1.6.</NOTE>1. The highe&s;t in the Church was but <HI>Apo&s;tolus,</HI> that is, a man &s;ent from God, and it is not for a Me&s;&s;enger to fal&s;ifie the errand of him that &s;ent him: If he be, as he &s;hould be, faithful, his report will be no more, nor le&s;&s;e, but ju&s;t that he hath heard. And how dangerous is it for a Me&s;&s;enger of God to ex|ceed the bounds of his Commi&s;&s;ion by taking words into his mouth, which God never brought to his eares; or el&s;e in falling &s;hort, or fal&s;ifying any of that coun&s;el which his Ma&s;ter hath di&s;clo&s;ed to be made known; let that fear|ful commination in the end of the Book te&s;tifie to the world.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 22.18, 19.</NOTE> <HI>I prote&s;t to eve|ry man that hears the words of the Prophe&s;ie of this Book, If any &s;hall adde unto the&s;e things, God &s;hall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this Book. And if any man &s;hall take away from the Word of the Book of this Prophe&s;ie, God &s;hall take away hid part out the Book of life, and out of the holy City, and from the things which are written in this Book.</HI> A pro|te&s;tation of weight enough without any help of Art, to &s;inke into the heavie&s;t brains of &s;uch who fal&s;ifie, adde and dimini&s;h, wre&s;t as a no&s;e of wax the
<PB N="559" REF="285"> Scriptures at th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ir plea&s;ure, &s;peak that which they never heard, nor any w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;e man before them. Do they not tremble at this threat? Are they not amazed at this fearful &s;entence? Will nor plagues, nor addition of plagues! Cannot the era&s;ion of their names out of the Book of Life, nor their Exile from the ho|ly City of Heaven &s;tartle them!</P>
<P>Would tho&s;e Cacevangeli&s;ts of our age, who preach them&s;elves, and come in their own names, and &s;ay, <HI>The Lord hath &s;aid, when he never &s;aid it&punc;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 23 16, 31, 32. I&s;a 30.10. Jer. 23.25.</NOTE> that have &s;weet tongues, <HI>and pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">phe&s;ie &s;mooth things, that cry out, I have dreamed, I have dreamed,</HI> when what they deliver is indeed but dreams: who &s;ell the Word of God for gain, and make merchandi&s;e of the pearl of price: would to God, I &s;ay, &s;uch Preachers and Me&s;&s;engers would lay to heart this fearful threat of the Angel. For then there would not be &s;o many that &s;tart up in the Church as the Gyants children in <HI>Samuel, with a finger and a toe too many,</HI> nor with <HI>Adonibezeks</HI> captives, <HI>with a thumb too little;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 21.20. Judg. 1.7.</NOTE> not &s;uch who fall &s;hort, or exceed; not who adde, or dimini&s;h. But God &s;hall adde to their plagues; and one he hath added to the amazement of all wi&s;e men, that they who have varied from what they have heard, are come to that vari|ance, that they know not where to fix, being as far from union as they are from unity. They tugg and pull as <HI>P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">inies amphisbaena;</HI> they rend the very bowels of their Mother, &s;trugling to bring to light their unheard of phancies; what the i&s;&s;ue will be I cannot divine; but they who are skilful, take upon them to pre&s;age, that they who divide Chri&s;ts &s;eamle&s;s Coat, &s;hall in the end rend and tear their own bowels.</P>
<P>Let them plea&s;e them&s;elves then with their &s;truglings, let them draw and pull every one his own way: It is but ju&s;tice, when a Me&s;&s;enger will pre&s;ume to be wi&s;er than he who gave him his in&s;tructions, &s;hould &s;plit upon a Rock. The true Amba&s;&s;adours of the King of heaven never dur&s;t be &s;o pre&s;umptu|ous, they dur&s;t not fal&s;ifie nor alter their me&s;&s;age, nor &s;ay more, nor le&s;s than they had heard. <HI>Balaam,</HI> though a Hireling, yet told the King in plain terms, if <HI>Balak would give me his hou&s;e full of &s;ilver and gold,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 24.13.</NOTE> <HI>I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or evil of my own mind; but what the Lord &s;aith, that will I &s;peak.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 22.13, 14.</NOTE> The Me&s;&s;enger &s;ent for <HI>Michaiah</HI> to fetch him before <HI>Ahab,</HI> &s;p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ke him very fair: <HI>Behold now the Words of the Prophets declare good unto the King with one accord</HI> (a Synod of Prophets here was, but yet of lyars, and among them a full vote) and is it now any wi&s;dom in thee, being but one, to be &s;ingular and to contradict? <HI>Let thy word I pray thee, be like the word of one of the&s;e, and &s;peak thou good.</HI> But the man might &s;ooner have craved his head, and obtained it, than the fal&s;ifying of his me&s;&s;age; for the Prophet knowing that that &s;peech is be&s;t which plea&s;eth not the humours of men, but plea&s;eth God, an&s;wers &s;toutly and wi&s;ely; <HI>As <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">e Lord liveth,</HI> though I dye for it my &s;elf, <HI>what&s;oever the Lord &s;aith unto me <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t will I &s;peak.</HI></P>
<P>And the Apo&s;tles were every whit as co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ciencious in this, as were the Prophets. St. <HI>John</HI> &s;peaks not here for him&s;elf, but for the whole Colledge: That which we, we in the plural number, <HI>we have heard, that we decl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 1.1.</NOTE> though di&s;per&s;ed into &s;everal Countries, and &s;cattered among many peo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">le, yet they preached one and the &s;ame thing; and to that end, antiquity teacheth, before they parted from <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> they compo&s;'d the Creed, which to th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s day bears their name. And he, St. <HI>Paul</HI> I mean,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.8 1 Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. 11.23. 1 Tim. 6.20.</NOTE> who was plea&s;ed to &s;peak of him|&s;elf, <HI>as one born out of due time,</HI> profe&s;&s;eth <HI>that what he receiv'd from the Lord, that he d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">livered;</HI> and this tradition is left with <HI>Timothy,</HI> and com|mands him <HI>to k<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ep that wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch was comm<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters">ed to his tru&s;t, avoiding prophane and vain bablings, and o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">po&s;itions of &s;cience fal&s;ly &s;o call'd.</HI></P>
<P>Upon which words <HI>Vincen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ius Lyrinen&s;is</HI> moves this que&s;tion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ent. L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ri|nen. cap. <HI>27.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Quis e&s;t hodi&egrave; Timotheus?</HI> who is at this day this <HI>Timothy?</HI> who el&s;e but the univer|&s;al
<PB N="560" REF="286"> Church, the Corps of Pa&s;tors, Doctors, Prie&s;ts; and what are they to keep <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>Depo&s;itum, quod tibi creditum, non &agrave; te inventum;</HI> the gage, the pledge commit|ted to them, not invented and found out by them; received, not devi&s;'d, <HI>rem non ingenij, &s;ed doctrinae,</HI> a matter not of wit, but doctrine, not privately catch'd up, but univer&s;ally taught, of which they may not be Authours, but Keepers; not prime Ma&s;ters but Schollars; not &s;o properly Guides, as followers. Gold thou ha&s;t receiv'd, bring forth gold; good &s;ilver, let it not be emba&s;'d with thy tin; allowed it is, that any cunning <HI>Bezaliel</HI> do cut and &s;et, and give a right water to any pearl of price; he may give grace, and beauty, comline&s;s and lu&s;tre by all art, wit, indu&s;try to any word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, but he mu&s;t not exchange the Jewel, and for a Diamond, foi&s;t in a Chri&s;tal; what he hath learn'd, he mu&s;t teach, and &s;o teach, that <HI>cum dicat nov&egrave;, non dicat nova,</HI> when he &s;peaks in a new manner, he &s;peak not new things. Let his eloquence be what it will, yet it mu&s;t immutably remain <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dem dogma, idem &s;en&s;us, eadem &s;ententia;</HI> the &s;ame po&s;ition, the &s;ame &s;en&s;e, the &s;ame &s;entence.</P>
<P>Every Pa&s;tour may learn thus to preach from his own body, which is con&s;tant even from his cradle to his grave in the &s;ame parts. By proce&s;s of years the&s;e grow bigger and &s;tronger, but in number and proportion they are &s;till the &s;ame. A great difference there is betwixt the verdure and &s;pring of youth, and the Autumn and Winter of old age; and yet the old man hath the &s;ame eyes, hands, arms, head that he had when he was a child; he hath the &s;ame nature, and is the &s;ame per&s;on. So &s;hould it be al&s;o in out Doctrines; &s;till they ought to remain for &s;ub&s;tance, one and the &s;ame, although they be flouri&s;h'd with eloquence, and &s;trengthened by time, and ripened and matured by age, yet they may not &s;uffer any e&s;&s;ential per|mutation, but retain the &s;ame properties, the &s;ame principles, the &s;ame parts that they had at fir&s;t: and the rea&s;on is, becau&s;e it is the me&s;&s;age which we have received from God, who being immutable, the Word which he hath put into his &s;ervants mouthes is immutable al&s;o. New light then is a notion of a hot brain,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.8, 9.</NOTE> and twice accur&s;ed by St. <HI>Paul.</HI> Incon&s;tant minds as Larks at a glaring gla&s;s, may &s;toop to it, and be taken in the net, but all wi&s;e men know,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull.</NOTE> that <HI>Quod primum, verum,</HI> what me&s;&s;age was fir&s;t de|livered was true, and all after light to be a counterfeit. That which they have heard then from the beginning, that, and that only they deliver, knowing well that it was not put into their mouthes to dye there, but to be declared, in&s;i&s;ting in the &s;teps of St. <HI>John,</HI> who &s;aith here, <HI>the me&s;sage which we have heard of him,</HI></P>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> That we declare unto you. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Annunciamus.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.13.</NOTE>It was laid to the Apo&s;tles charge, <HI>that they were full of new wine;</HI> with the ve&s;&s;els being fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">'d, the &s;pirit is &s;o active, that it labours to vent it &s;elf: and &s;o it fared here with them; being fil'd with the &s;pirit, they could not co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|tain them&s;elves from &s;hewing what was within; for what they heard, they declar'd.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 10.10.</NOTE> <HI>The little book which</HI> St. <HI>John eat in the Revelation, was in his mouth &s;weet as honey, but in his &s;tomack bitter as gall.</HI> Such is the go&s;pel of Chri&s;t, a &s;weet Doctrine being reli&s;h'd and well ta&s;ted, but dige&s;ted it is bitter in the bowels where it conte&s;ts with corruption, and the errours of fle&s;h and blood: and a Me&s;&s;enger that hath received it, can no more conceal it, then a man who hath taken down &s;ome di&s;plea&s;ing food, which will beget a tumult in the bowels till it be up again. <HI>I held my tongue and &s;pake nothing,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 39.2, 3.</NOTE> <HI>but this was pain and grief to me, at la&s;t the fire kindled, and I thus
<PB N="561" REF="286"> &s;pake with my tongue.</HI> In this &s;en&s;e it was that <HI>Jeremy</HI> prote&s;ts, <HI>that the Word was like fire in his bowels, which could not be &s;mothered,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 20.9. Job 32.18, 19.</NOTE> <HI>nor kept from break|ing forth. Elihu</HI> al&s;o tells <HI>Job, that his womb was like a ve&s;&s;el full of new wine, which will bur&s;t if it have not vent.</HI> Thus it was with fhe Apo&s;tles, <HI>they were fil'd,</HI> they &s;pake &s;o;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.4.</NOTE> In all their names St. <HI>John</HI> profe&s;&s;eth
<Q><GAP DESC="foreign">, Annuntiamus.</Q> <HI>Annuntiamus</HI> is the con&s;tant word u&s;ed by all Tran&s;latours, and it &s;hews what they were, and what all their &s;ucce&s;&s;ors mu&s;t be, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Nuncij.</HI> Gods Nuncio's of the Go&s;pel, the &s;ubject whereof is glad tidings, and they are bound being commi&s;&s;ion'd to report it.</P>
<P N="1">1. Commi&s;&s;ion'd I &s;ay; for if Nuncio's, they then mu&s;t have their Commi&s;|&s;ion, and not run of their own head, for &s;o may not Nuncio's; they alwayes under &s;eal bring their letters of Credence with them. <HI>Here am I,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 6.8.</NOTE> &s;aith the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah, &s;end me;</HI> though he &s;hews a ready mind, yet go he would not till &s;ent.</P>
<P>Where then are they who boa&s;t much of their private motions, and make them|&s;elves Nuncio's without a warrant! The Prophet might have &s;aid, O now I feel a motion from the Spirit, therefore I will go and preach! But notwith&s;tanding a Se|raphim flew, and with a live coal from the Altar touch'd his tongue, mouth, and lips; notwith&s;tanding his iniquity was taken away, and his &s;in purged,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 9.</NOTE> yet he &s;ate &s;till, and &s;taid till God &s;aid to him, <HI>Go and tell this people.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. And then, and not till then, he mu&s;t deliver his me&s;&s;age.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.3.</NOTE> For Nuntio's mu&s;t not be mutes. To the&s;e Nuncio's the &s;pirit of God <HI>appeared in fiery tongues,</HI> in fire to make them zealous, in tongues to make them eloquent. And this ability in them is not to be &s;ilent, when God bids them &s;peak to <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> or cry again&s;t <HI>Nineveh,</HI> as occa&s;ion required. Me&s;&s;engers they are both of War and Peace; when &s;in is the Tyrant, and reigns,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea 8.1.</NOTE> then they <HI>&s;et the Trum|pet to the mouth,</HI> and proclame War; where &s;in is the &s;ervant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.12, 13.</NOTE> their Commi&s;|&s;ion is to &s;ay, <HI>Peace be to this hou&s;e.</HI> As old <HI>Fabius,</HI> then the Emba&s;&s;ador for the <HI>Romans</HI> at <HI>Saguntum,</HI> opening the Lap of his Robe, told them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Silius. Ital.</NOTE> <HI>That in it he brought them War and Peace, and wi&s;hed them to make their choice:</HI> So do we, who are the Me&s;&s;engers &s;ent from God to you, offer a fair option; con|tinue to War again&s;t Heaven, and you &s;hall have nothing but War, Wrath, An|ger: But &s;ubmit and come in, and by penitent tears indeavour to pacifie your God, and you &s;hall be forgiven; <HI>your heavenly Father is faithful, and ju&s;t to forgive your &s;ins, and to clean&s;e you from all unrighteou&s;ne&s;s:</HI> Which is a main point of St. <HI>Johns</HI> Me&s;&s;age in this place, and is to be a great part of our Decla|ration al&s;o.</P>
<P N="3">3. Which that it may the better be under&s;tood, we are to open Gods mind to you by way of Declaration, in which all ought to be plain and clear, and powerful. Plain, clear, and evident our Declaration mu&s;t be; for how el&s;e <HI>&s;hould the unlearned man perceive his faul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s di&s;covered?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14.9, 23, 24, 25.</NOTE> And powerful it mu&s;t be; for el&s;e <HI>how &s;hould the unbeliever be convinced?</HI> The commendation then of one of the&s;e Declarations is not the Rhetorique, the &s;weet cadence of the periods, the quaint phra&s;e, or the deep learning; but to &s;peak &s;o plainly to the capacity, and yet &s;o powerfully to the con&s;cience of the Auditor, that he may fall down, and confe&s;s, Out of doubt God &s;peaks, and not the man.</P>
<P>But what I pray hath been the reward of this plain dealing? what the i&s;|&s;ue? &s;carce is there a Declaration, which is not received with cen&s;ure, with in|dignation: To declare, as after I mu&s;t, for confe&s;&s;ion, may be will be thought Popery; to declare that all men are &s;inners, perhaps cen&s;ured for a po&s;ition con|trary to purity. Dangerous &s;ure it will be to tell our new-lights, that they walk
<PB N="562" REF="287"> in darkne&s;s, and have not fellow&s;hip with God and Chri&s;t; unmannerly 'twill be thought to give Profe&s;&s;ors the lye, and to examine what's done in darkne&s;s by the light. This &s;imple and hone&s;t dealing hath made the true Prophets of God odious.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 21.8. Acts 24.5. Jer. 20.7. Ver. 14.</NOTE> <HI>I hate him,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Ahab,</HI> of <HI>Michajah, becau&s;e he &s;peaks no good;</HI> and he is <HI>a pe&s;tilent Fellow,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Tertullus</HI> of <HI>Paul, becau&s;e he declared for Chri&s;t. Jeremy</HI> for this uncivil and barbarous u&s;age, laments his own ca&s;e; be|cau&s;e <HI>I cryed out of wrong, and proclaimed de&s;olation, therefore the Word of the Lord is made a reproach to me, and had in deri&s;ion daily.</HI> And the injury for this he &s;uffered was &s;o intolerable,<NOTE PLACE="marg">15,</NOTE> <HI>that he cur&s;ed the day of his birth, and the man that brought newes to his father,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">16,</NOTE> <HI>that a Man-childe was b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rn,</HI> wi&s;hing, <HI>that he had rather been a Me&s;&s;enger to one of tho&s;e Cities that God had over|turned,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">7.</NOTE> <HI>than unto &s;o stubborn, &s;ullen, &s;elf-willed a people.</HI> Po&s;&s;ibly, had he lived before as <HI>Jonah,</HI> and been &s;ent to <HI>Nineveh,</HI> where the King put on &s;ack-cloth, he might have found more kindne&s;s; like enough, had he lived after, as <HI>Daniel,</HI> to have interpreted <HI>Mene Tekel</HI> to <HI>Bel&s;hazzar,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 5.25.</NOTE> he might have been had in ho|nour: But it was his fate to declare the Will of God to a rebellious Nation, to be undone, and &s;corned, and ca&s;t into a Dungeon by them. This made him cry out,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 15.10.</NOTE> <HI>Woe is me my mother that thou ha&s;t born me a contentious man, and a man that &s;triveth with the whole Earth; every one doth cur&s;e me.</HI></P>
<P>We that live now are the Succe&s;&s;ors of tho&s;e Prophets that lived in former times; we were born to be contentious, we &s;trive and &s;truggle with the whole Land; for this we are de&s;pi&s;ed, de&s;pighted, ca&s;t a&s;ide, hated, cur&s;ed of mo&s;t men; becau&s;e we freely declare what we have heard, every mans hand is almo&s;t again&s;t us; becau&s;e our tongue is again&s;t every vice, the tongue of the mo&s;t is inveno|med with hatred again&s;t us; <HI>linguam habent ad maleloquium, aures ad recep|taculum maleloquii;</HI> without probability, witne&s;s, ju&s;t cau&s;e, men cry <HI>Belzebub, Samaritan, Glutton.</HI> Our plain Declarations are called Raylings, Scoldings, Clamorous Invectives, and our &s;harp and con&s;cientious Reproofs cen&s;ured for &s;editious and pe&s;tilent.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.13.</NOTE>O you who are of the &s;ame &s;ociety of Saints with us, I be&s;eech you <HI>forgive us this wrong:</HI> Do not think but the Grave, Learned and Pious Divines that as yet remain alive, could be as cautelous and wi&s;e as any of the people: They could no doubt be as mute as fi&s;hes, and &s;wim with the &s;tream, could they an|&s;wer for their &s;ilence to Him who hath &s;ent them on His Me&s;&s;age. A nece&s;&s;ity is laid upon us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.16.</NOTE> and as it is our woe that our Mothers hath born us to &s;o quarrel|&s;ome a vocation; &s;o it is another and a greater woe, if we preach not the Go|&s;pel, if we declare not the Law al&s;o. <HI>Woe to</HI> us, <HI>if we bring not the glad ty|dings of joy</HI> to tho&s;e who rejoyce in our Me&s;&s;age:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.15.</NOTE> <HI>Woe to</HI> us, <HI>if we thunder not the terrours of judgement</HI> to tho&s;e <HI>who walk in darkne&s;s; if we pipe not to tho&s;e who will dance,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 11.17.</NOTE> <HI>and mourn not to tho&s;e who will not weep.</HI></P>
<P>If we be the light of the World, we mu&s;t di&s;cover and make faults mani|fe&s;t; if Voices, we mu&s;t be vocal, and heard to &s;peak; if Seers, we mu&s;t not be blind; if Cryers, we mu&s;t not be Tongue-tyed; if Emba&s;&s;adours, we mu&s;t declare our Me&s;&s;age; out of love we &s;peak, whatever we &s;peak. We are your friends, and as friends we will go along with you, &s;o far as we may, and the Law of fr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">end&s;hip will &s;uffer, <HI>u&s;que ad Aras;</HI> and he is no friend to God or him&s;elf, who will pre&s;s us farther. <HI>Compell us to go a Mile with you, we will go twain;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.40, 41.</NOTE> <HI>ask our Cloak, and take our Coat al&s;o;</HI> &s;mite us on the left Cheek, we will turn the right: But leave us our God, our Soul, our Religi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">, our Con&s;ci|ence; for he that demands of us either of the&s;e, &s;hall receive this round an&s;wer, <HI>It is better to obey God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 5.29.</NOTE> <HI>than man.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 13.17.</NOTE>God hath &s;et us upon the Watch, and we <HI>watch for your &s;ouls, as tho&s;e who mu&s;t give an account;</HI> and if any &s;oul through our default peri&s;h, our &s;oul mu&s;t go for his. Read but the thirty third <HI>Chapter</HI> of <HI>Ezekiel, His blood will I re|quire
<PB N="563" REF="287"> at thy hands.</HI> What did we write tho&s;e words? Dare any of you blot them out? Let any of this Company undertake to do it, and he &s;hall &s;leep in his &s;in without di&s;turbance, and never more hear a word from us again&s;t him. But if this be beyond your power, then pity, and forgive us; Be not offended that we &s;tand on our watch, and give warning; that we <HI>lift up our voyc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s like Trumpets,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 58.1.</NOTE> <HI>and tell the Hou&s;e of Jacob of her tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, and the Hou&s;e of Judah of her &s;ins.</HI> Let it not di&s;plea&s;e, that we thus frame all our Declarations.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>That God is light, and in him there is no darkne&s;s at all.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>That if we &s;ay we have fellow&s;hip with him, and walk in darkne&s;s, we lye, and do not the Truth.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>That if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellow|&s;hip one with another; and the blood of Je&s;us Christ his Son, will clean&s;e us from all &s;in.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. <HI>That if we &s;ay, we have no &s;in, we deceive our &s;elves, and there is no truth in us.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>5. That it is our Duty, <HI>to confe&s;s and for&s;ake our &s;in.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>6. Which if we do, <HI>God is faithful and ju&s;t to forgive us our &s;ins, and to clean&s;e us from all unrighteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>The&s;e are the Heads of our Declaration, and the&s;e will you have patience, and hear me, I &s;hall in order open unto you. The fir&s;t whereof is:
<Q><BIBL><HI>Ver. 5.</HI></BIBL> God is light, and in him is no darkne&s;s at all.</Q></P>
<P>Two things there are in this Propo&s;ition.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. What God is, <HI>He is light.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. What he is not, <HI>In him is no darkne&s;s at all.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Many wayes there are, by which God reclaimes man from &s;in, and per&s;wades to obedience: He allures him by the hope of li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e, <HI>Do this and live:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.28. Gen 3.3. John 14.6.</NOTE> He di&s;|&s;wades by the fear of death, <HI>In the day thou eate&s;t, thou &s;halt dye:</HI> He takes upon him many names, that we may a&s;&s;imilate, and be like him, as <HI>the Way, the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ruth, the Light;</HI> then which there is not any thing more amiable,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 8.12.</NOTE> nor any thing more oppo&s;ite to the <HI>filth</HI> and <HI>darkne&s;s of &s;in.</HI></P>
<P>In the Apo&s;tles time there were, who boa&s;ted of their &s;ociety with God, and yet lived an impure and unholy life; which in the Apo&s;tles judgment was an impo&s;&s;ible thing; for oppo&s;ites and contraries will never meet and join i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> one. Such men were <HI>darkne&s;s,</HI> and <HI>God</HI> was <HI>light;</HI> when then you can make Night and Day, <HI>light</HI> and <HI>darkne&s;s,</HI> Purity and Corruption, <HI>holin &s;s</HI> and <HI>unholine&s;s</HI> meet together, then you may imagine a &s;ociety and fellow&s;hip betw xt a mo&s;t pure &s;ub&s;tance, and &s;uch a foule &s;oul. Who&s;oever therefore intends to have any communion with God, mu&s;t not think to walk in the <HI>thick darkne&s;s of &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n,</HI> but give him&s;elf to the &s;tudy and practice of a holy life; for <HI>God is light.</HI> This is the &s;trength of our Apo&s;tles Argument: And his <HI>Medium</HI> is of great force; <HI>For what fellow&s;hip hath righteou&s;ne&s;s with unrighteou&s;ne&s;s? and what co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|munion hath light with darkne&s;s?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6.14, 15, 16.</NOTE> VVhen there can be a concord betwixt <HI>God</HI> and <HI>Belial,</HI> then there may be an agreement betwixt the <HI>Temple of God,</HI> and a profane wicked man. There is a four-fold <HI>light.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. The <HI>light</HI> of Natu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e, that wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch God fir&s;t created, a great part of which was afterward embodied in the Sun, Moon and Stars, being the mo&s;t glorious of his Creatures.</P>
<P N="2">2. The <HI>light</HI> of Rea&s;on infu&s;ed into all men in &s;ome mea&s;ure, but in the learned eminent, by which they di&s;cover what is hid from the unlearned.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="564" REF="288">3. A third <HI>light</HI> there is of the Word of God, by which holy men being illuminated, &s;ee the wonderful things of Gods Law.</P>
<P N="4">4. The la&s;t is an eternal and uncreated <HI>light,</HI> having nor beginning of dayes, or end of time; and &s;uch <HI>a light</HI> we call <HI>God;</HI> not that he is &s;o in Na|ture and E&s;&s;ence, but becau&s;e there is a great Analogy and Re&s;emblance betwixt <HI>God</HI> and <HI>light,</HI> which is expre&s;&s;ed in this manner.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Light</HI> is the mo&s;t excellent of all Gods Creatures; the fir&s;t, the pu|re&s;t, that which in an in&s;tant di&s;per&s;eth it &s;elf over the whole Horizon; and God is the mo&s;t perfect of all Entities, the fir&s;t and Father of the re&s;t; who, quicker than a thought, pa&s;&s;eth into all places, into all hearts, there being no|thing hid from his eye.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Light</HI> again, though mo&s;t vi&s;ible, yet is harde&s;t to under&s;tand; not any one que&s;tion hath and doth more trouble the Philo&s;ophers, than to re&s;olve this one Probleme, <HI>Quid e&s;t lux?</HI> what the nature of <HI>light</HI> &s;hould be? Nor in Divinity, though for the <HI>quod &s;it,</HI> there be nothing more apparent than that <HI>God</HI> is; yet for the <HI>quid &s;it,</HI> if you pre&s;s us to define what he is, we are at a &s;tand, and re&s;olve it be&s;t, when we tell you, we cannot tell. The light of the Sun dazleth the eyes of them that too much gaze upon it: and &s;o the Divine Ma|je&s;ty dwelling in the <HI>light that no man can app<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oach,</HI> confounds the apprehen|&s;ions of &s;uch who over-curiou&s;ly pry into it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.16.</NOTE> <HI>De Deo vera di&s;cere periculo|&s;um; melius &s;cit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r ne&s;ciendo.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. In a light body, there is <HI>luminare, lumen, lux,</HI> the&s;e three; the body, the beam, the &s;plendour or &s;hine i&s;&s;uing from it: In &s;ome &s;ort &s;o it is in the Deity; the Father as the great Luminar, the Son as the Beam, the Holy Gho&s;t as the Splendour of both. The&s;e three concur to one effect, and the&s;e three to make one <HI>light.</HI></P>
<P N="4"><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.9.</NOTE>4. Or la&s;tly, He is <HI>light,</HI> becau&s;e he is <HI>the Father of all lights,</HI> and by tho&s;e illuminates every one that is enlightned in this World; the light of Prophe&s;ie, the light of the Word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.32.</NOTE> the Go&s;pel, <HI>that light ordained to lighten the Gentiles, and his people I&s;rael,</HI> is from him: As we cannot &s;ee things on Earth without light; &s;o had we never di&s;cerned the things of Heaven, unle&s;s this <HI>light</HI> had &s;hined into our minds, and enlightned our hearts. And as upon the ri&s;ing of the Sun, all the darkne&s;s of the Night is di&s;pell'd, and if it &s;hines forth in its beauty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.79.</NOTE> then the thick Mi&s;ts and Clouds are cha&s;ed away; &s;o at the ri&s;ing of this day-&s;tar in our hearts, the Night of ignorance and &s;in, the Clouds and Mi&s;ts of a wicked Conver&s;ation are put to flight. For</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> In him there is no darkne&s;s at all.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Darkne&s;s</HI> is oppo&s;ed to <HI>light;</HI> and as contraries, they &s;erve well to illu&s;trate one another; all our light in this World hath its Defects and Eclip&s;es; but in this <HI>light</HI> there is no Defect, no Eclip&s;e at all.</P>
<P N="1">1. He is full of knowledge clearly and intuitively, under&s;tanding him&s;elf, and in him&s;elf all things;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 4.13.</NOTE> <HI>for all things are bare and naked, and open to his eye;</HI> &s;o that he can never be &s;aid to &s;uffer the lea&s;t defect in his In|tellect.</P>
<P N="2"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 1.13.</NOTE>2. He is goodne&s;s, ju&s;tice, holine&s;s it &s;elf; <HI>for he is a God of pure eyes,</HI> and can no more communicate with iniquity, than <HI>light</HI> with filth; which though it be ca&s;t upon impure places, as Sinks and Dunghills, yet is not defiled with them; he &s;uffers no defect in his holine&s;s.</P>
<P N="3"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 3.12.</NOTE>3. No nor in his life neither; <HI>for he is the living God, not &s;ubject to mor|tality,</HI> no kind of <HI>darkne&s;s is to be found in him.</HI></P>
<P>But with us it is quite otherwi&s;e; naturally there is gro&s;s <HI>darkne&s;s</HI> in our un|der&s;tanding by ignorance and errour; a Night of hatred and malice of the true
<PB N="565" REF="288"> good upon our will; clouds and mi&s;ts of perver&s;ne&s;s upon our affections. And this inward darkne&s;s expo&s;eth us to tho&s;e <HI>ex teriores tenebras,</HI> that outer dark|ne&s;s, where there is no manner of light at all, none to be &s;een, none to be felt.</P>
<P>It is then the purpo&s;e of Saint <HI>John</HI> in this place, not &s;o much to expre&s;s unto us, what God is in him&s;elf, as what he is to us, and in us. That as in him|&s;elf he is a pure light, &s;o al&s;o in us he is the fountain of all light, that is, of all truth, all goodne&s;s, all ju&s;tice which is in us; he expels the darkne&s;s of igno|rance from the mind, and purgeth the will from the love of &s;in. He en|lighteneth the under&s;tanding, and teacheth us what is to be done, and effectually and powerfully excites the will to choo&s;e and embrace it: As in him, &s;o al&s;o in that light he holds forth, there is no darkne&s;s at all, no ground for error, no countenance for wickedne&s;s; no nor in us neither, if we have any fellow-&s;hip with him; no &s;uch palpable darkne&s;s as will de&s;troy the light of Truth, nor &s;uch malicious wickedne&s;s as can no way con&s;i&s;t with his holine&s;s.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>The APPLICATION.</HEAD>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Is God light? Is he the father of lights?</HI> is he &s;uch a Father in which <HI>there is no &s;hadow of darkne&s;s?</HI> then it behoves us to take heed of all dark works becau&s;e they are oppo&s;ite to him, the Mother of them being our own concu|pi&s;cence, and the father the prince of darkne&s;s. Many are the names in Scripture given to &s;in, by which we may be warned to abhor it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 6.4. Jer. 5.25. Zach. 6.7. Lev. 13.</NOTE> T'is a <HI>cloud</HI> that hinders our prayer: T'is a <HI>wall</HI> that makes a partition betwixt God and man: T'is a <HI>weight of lead,</HI> that hanging at our hearts, puls them downward: T'is a <HI>lepro&s;ie,</HI> a &s;oul di&s;ea&s;e, that pollutes the fle&s;h, the hou&s;e, the man. But there is not any, that expre&s;&s;eth the nature of it &s;o fully as this of dark|ne&s;s. For as in darkne&s;s all things lie confu&s;'d and heap'd up together, as in the <HI>chaos;</HI> when light was created, every thing was put in his his right place: &s;o it is in &s;in; there is nothing but confu&s;ion, but di&s;order; It is the light of truth and equity, that mu&s;t &s;et all right. Again, cold is the companion of darkne&s;s, as heat of light. The fro&s;ts fall in the night, at the approach of the light they give and thaw; &s;o in a dark &s;oul there be but cold, heavy, fro&s;ty af|fections; the more of God, the more light; and the more light, the more warmth of love. Or la&s;tly &s;in bears this name of darkne&s;s, becau&s;e it is at re&s;t in a dark &s;oul; begotten there by the father of darkne&s;s, and leads to the place of eternal darkne&s;s. Take it in what &s;en&s;e you will, enough there is in it to make you hate it, if you love God; for he is a God of pure eyes, and cannot behold the foulne&s;s and pollution of wickedne&s;s; he is the God of Or|der, and hates confu&s;ion. His light warms the heart, and therefore will not dwell with fro&s;ty affections. Nothing &s;o oppo&s;ite to him as deeds of darkne&s;s, which ari&s;e from the father of darkne&s;s, and therefore he will not cohabit with him in a black &s;oul.</P>
<P>Go to now then you workers of iniquity, plead your priviledge, boa&s;t of your fellow&s;hip with the Father, with Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and with his Saints, &s;o that you know all this while, you do but deceive your own &s;ouls. For although &s;uch &s;pecious and out&s;ide Profe&s;&s;ors, do out-mouth as I may &s;o &s;ay, true believers in bragging of familiarity with God, and his Son; yet the truth is, &s;o long as they walk in darkne&s;s, it is impo&s;&s;ible they &s;hould be children of the light: For in God is no darkne&s;s, nor &s;o much as a &s;hadow of it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jac. 1.17.</NOTE> But of this more hereafter.</P>
<P>Secondly, Since <HI>God is light,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.20, 21.</NOTE> it behoves us to take heed what we do in his eye; for every thing when it comes to the light, <HI>will be manife&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 29.15.</NOTE> <HI>Wo to them who &s;eek to hide their coun&s;els in the dark, and &s;ay, Who &s;ees us, who knows it?</HI> for let the doors be &s;hut, the windows &s;topp'd, the chambers wall'd up;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Senec.</NOTE> <HI>e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">o
<PB N="566" REF="289"> nemo te videat, non tamen nullus;</HI> yet the bad Angel &s;ees what's done, the good Angel &s;ees what's committed; and that eye of God, which is far brighter then good or bad, is in thy Hou&s;e, in thy Chamber, in thy Bed, in thy Bo&s;ome, by Night and Day he beholds all. Say not then in thy heart, <HI>How &s;hould God know it?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 73.11.</NOTE> <HI>Is there knowledge in the mo&s;t High?</HI> Wipe not thy mouth, and &s;ay, <HI>I did it not,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Pindar.</NOTE> <HI>I &s;pake it not;</HI> for God is a pre&s;ent witne&s;s; <GAP DESC="foreign">. If a man works ill, and hopes to lie hid, he is mi&s;taken. Wor|king ill did I &s;ay? nay, if he do but think to do it. Be not deceived, thy very thoughts go for works in the pre&s;ence of this <HI>light;</HI> he is as near to the &s;peech of the one, as to the voice of the other, and will one day bring all to <HI>light,</HI> and reprove all by it.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 2.9. Ezek. 8.7, 8.</NOTE><HI>Behold he stands behind the Wall, he looks through the Window, through the Latice.</HI> He is pre&s;ent at every Pew in the Church, at every Seat, and attends how you hear, how you pray; what &s;ervice then you do, do it as in his eye; hear as in his pre&s;ence;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Martial.</NOTE> pray as in his pre&s;ence; and when you are gone, practi&s;e as in his pre&s;ence; &mdash; <HI>Suo terretur vultu filius &amp; fruitur.</HI> A good &s;on, as he doth enjoy the light of his fathers eye, &s;o al&s;o he is frighted from evil by it. That <HI>Ab&s;olon</HI> did act his villany in the &s;ight of the Sun, did very much aggravate his offence;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 16.22. Cap. 12.11, 12</NOTE> and that we &s;hould commit and ju&s;tifie our leud cour&s;es in the &s;ight of a Father, who&s;e eyes are ten thou&s;and times brighter than the Sun, mu&s;t needs make us more culpable.</P>
<P>Remember then before whom you &s;tand, who is the Supervi&s;or, the Wit|ne&s;s of your actions;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plaut.</NOTE> <HI>quem quia <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">spicit omnia &s;olus, vere po&s;&s;is dicere &s;olem;</HI> and blu&s;h, that he &s;ees thee, and forbear; let not the eye of man be more awful, than that of Heaven. Before a friend, before the people, in the pre&s;ence of a multitude, the leude&s;t &s;trumpet will not pro&s;titute her &s;hame; &s;hew not le&s;s Re|verence, where thy God is pre&s;ent, &s;ees, looks on, and will puni&s;h what he likes not.</P>
<P><HI>My Ma&s;ter</HI> (&s;ayes the <HI>ill-&s;ervant) is gone from home into a far Countrey, and delayes his coming:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.45. Prov. 7.19.</NOTE> <HI>The good-man</HI> (&s;aith the <HI>Harlot) hath taken a journey,</HI> and upon it the one began to fall foule upon, and to beat his fellow-&s;ervants, and the other to intice the fool; &s;ee what the thought of ab&s;ence may do. A fair warn|ing, that you imagine not your Lord ab&s;ent, your Lord removed from you; that he hath not the knowledge, the in&s;pection of your wayes; for no man can then &s;ay, what may follow. Better it is to remember, that he is at hand, that <HI>all the wayes of man are before his eyes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 5.21.</NOTE> and that he <HI>pondereth all his goings;</HI> &s;o that it mu&s;t be a great folly to plea&s;e him&s;elf with a hope of being hid; &s;ooner you may conceal what's done in the open Sun, than any thing you do from him. For the <HI>light,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 8.17.</NOTE> which <HI>he i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> will di&s;cover all, even <HI>the &s;ecret thoughts of the heart.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.20.</NOTE>To conclude all, <HI>You who would be taken for Kings and Prie&s;ts to God, let no man deceive you, deceive not your &s;elves; he that doth righteou&s;ne&s;s, is righteous; he is the King, he is the Priest, he is con&s;ecrated to God, and from him he &s;hall re|ceive his reward. Light from the God of light; light in his under&s;tanding, light in his will, light in his affections, light of grace, light of glory: For as God is light, &s;o al&s;o is his Son light; a light that enlightens both Hemi&s;pheres, this below, and that above; in his light we &s;hall &s;ee light; we &s;hall have the light of grace to guide us through the darkne&s;s, while we walk upon this Globe, and &s;hall after this life en|joy with him the light of glory.</HI></P>
<P><HI>To which light he brings us, who hath redeemed us with his blood, our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> Amen, Amen.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="43" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="567" REF="289">
<HEAD>A Good Chri&s;tian walks in the light.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 John 1.6, 7, Ver&s;es.</HI></BIBL>
<P>If we &s;ay that we have fell<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">w&s;hip with him, and walk in darkne&s;&s;e, we lye, and do not the truth.</P>
<P>If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellow&s;hip one with another; And the blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t clean&s;eth us from all &s;inne.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>IT hath alwayes been the work of Satan to dim the light of true Religion; for he being darkne&s;s him&s;elf, labours to have all others dark and black like him.</P>
<P>Hence it was, that Light no &s;ooner appeared in the world, but his labour was to extingui&s;h it. The Chri&s;tian name was no &s;ooner given at <HI>Antioch,</HI> but he ca&s;t &s;candals and calumnies upon it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 8.22.</NOTE> His work it was that this &s;ect was everywhere &s;poken again&s;t. His work that the Profe&s;&s;ors were &s;candalized for <HI>Bl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ph<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mers, Troublers of Citie<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, Troublers of the world:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 6. Acts 16. Acts 17.</NOTE> And afterward &s;tiled by the Jews in contempt <HI>Nazari<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es;</HI> by <HI>Julian, Galilaeans;</HI> by <HI>&V;lpian,</HI> Im|po&s;tors; by <HI>Demetrian,</HI> Pe&s;ts.</P>
<P>All this while Satan roared as a Lion, but finding that violence was not the way to work his ends; he chang'd his cour&s;e, and takes that of the Serpent; what by cruelty he could not &s;uppre&s;s, he &s;tudies by &s;ubtilty to &s;tain. His po|licy now was to infu&s;e an opinion into mens heads, that a man may live as he plea&s;e, and yet be Chri&s;tian good enough. This damnable conception was hatched betime; for in Saint <HI>Johns</HI> time there were the <HI>Nicolaitans,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.15. <HI>Iren. l.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 23, 24, 25.</NOTE> from whom aro&s;e tho&s;e impure bea&s;ts the Gno&s;tiques. <HI>Simon Magus</HI> was the wicked Author of this School: <HI>Ba&s;ilides</HI> and <HI>Carpocrates</HI> followed; at la&s;t the matter came to this pa&s;&s;e, that among them, the determination was, <HI>per fidem &amp; charitat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m &s;al|vari,</HI> that bare Faith, and &s;uch impious charity as they u&s;ed would &s;ave. <HI>Reli|qua indifferentia cum &s;int, &s;ecundum opinionem hominum, quaedam quidem bona, quaedam mala vocari: cum nihil natur&acirc; malum &s;it.</HI> That other things were ind<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">fferent, &s;ome good, &s;ome bad, according to mens opinions; when by na|ture nothing was evil. Certainly the Ranters of this age are their off-&s;pring. This gave occa&s;ion to Saint <HI>Augustine</HI> to conceive,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug. de fide &amp; operibus, c. <HI>14.</HI></NOTE> that one rea&s;on that mo|ved Saint <HI>John</HI> to write this Epi&s;tle, was than he might beat down that perver&s;e and pernicious opinion of &s;ome, who &s;aid that faith without works would &s;uf|fice to &s;alvation. The chief of whom, &s;aith he, was <HI>Simon Magus.</HI> And would to God; this impiety had been buried with tho&s;e damned Hereticks, or ra|ther Demoniacks, that it might never more have been brought to light again; &s;ure then we &s;hould not have &s;een in this dotage of the world, &s;uch &s;warms of Apo&s;tates, Athei&s;ts, Bla&s;phemers, high-fl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">wn men, Quakers,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aug.</HI> Jud. 4. Rev. 3.2.</NOTE> <HI>qui Chri&s;tianum nomen ad <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">udici<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m habent, non ad remedium;</HI> who <HI>have turned the Grace of God into wantonne&s;s, having a Name that they live, when they are indeed dead.</HI></P>
<P>The Church of God is compared to a Kingdom, in which there be <HI>filii re|gis &amp; filii regni;</HI> S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ns of the King who &s;ucceed and are like their Father; or Sons of the Kingdom, who &s;ubmit indeed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 18.45.</NOTE> but as &s;trange children do di&s;&s;emble with their King. So in the Church, there be <HI>filii regis,</HI> true children of the King of heaven, born to be heirs of an eternal inheritance. And <HI>filii regni</HI> who make a &s;hew of obedience, but are indeed di&s;&s;emblers, who&s;e portion is the Kingdom of darkne&s;s. It were happy for the&s;e men, could they learn in time to
<PB N="568" REF="290"> &s;ubmit to the Laws of the Kingdom; <HI>for not every one that cries Lord, Lord, &s;hall be an heir of the crown.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.21. Rom. 2.28.</NOTE> <HI>He is not a Jew which is one ou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ward, but he is a Jew, which is one within.</HI> Now, that the difference may be apparent betwixt the&s;e, and it may be evidently di&s;cerned, who are the Kings true &s;ons, and who only &s;ons of the Kingdom: Saint <HI>John</HI> in the&s;e ver&s;es &s;ets down the&s;e Notes of both.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t Note of tho&s;e who are in the kingdom, is, thar <HI>They &s;ay they have fellow&s;hip with God: that they are of the family, of the hou&s;e, of the Society of Saints.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The next note is, <HI>that in manners and conver&s;ation they are far from it; They walk in darkne&s;s.</HI> Their words and works are &s;o far a&s;under, <HI>that they lye, and do not the truth.</HI> Tho&s;e are the two Notes belonging to tho&s;e who are the Sons of the Kingdom.</P>
<P>One Note there is, which belongs to tho&s;e who are true Sons of the King, viz. <HI>They walk in the light:</HI> upon which there follows two remarkable favours, Fir&s;t an honour, then a Benefit.</P>
<P N="1">1. An Honour, that they are admitted to the Communion of Saints; <HI>They &s;hall have fellow&s;hip one with another.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. A Benefit one of the greate&s;t that may be; Remi&s;&s;ion. <HI>The blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t clen&s;eth them from all &s;in.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>If we &s;ay we have fellow&s;hip with him; Qui &s;upponit, ponit.</HI> He that &s;uppo&s;eth, takes for granted that &s;ome &s;uch thing there may be. Po&s;&s;ible then it is, that there may be &s;uch men, who walk in darkne&s;s, and yet will not &s;tick to &s;ay, that they have fellow&s;hip and &s;ociety with God. And indeed too many there are, who &s;ay it. For it hath been an evil which hath always too much troubled the Church, bad no le&s;s then good, di&s;&s;emblers as well as true Believers; nay tho&s;e e&s;pecially have boa&s;ted of their Society with God and his Son;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 8.33. Revel. 3.9.</NOTE> <HI>We are of God, we are the children of</HI> Abraham, <HI>we are Jews, when yet they are of the Synagogue of Satan.</HI></P>
<P>Vertue is in it &s;elf amiable, vice odious. Whence the mo&s;t wicked would yet &s;eem to be a good man; for &s;hould he appear in his own ugly &s;hape, every man would fly from him. The very locu&s;ts that came out of the bot|tomle&s;s pit, yet appeared like han&s;om creatures; <HI>they had the faces of men, and hair of women;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 9.7.</NOTE> they would be taken for pieces of beauty, when yet they were dangerous Bea&s;ts, Scorpions in the tail, Lions in their teeth. It is one of <HI>Machiavels</HI> Maxims, that, Whether vertue it &s;elf be &s;ought for, is not material; yet the appearance is nece&s;&s;ary, without which men &s;hall never compa&s;s their end. And this Politique of their helli&s;h Ma&s;ter his Scholars have followed, taking upon them to be what they are not. A Wolf to be a Lamb in a woollen coat;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.15. Zach. 13.4. 2 Cor. 11.14.</NOTE> and a Lyar to be a Prophet in a rough garment; an Oppre&s;&s;or to be a Saint, and a Devil to be Angel of light; One that hath nothing to do with the &s;ociety of Chri&s;t, yet to be in it, and of it, that he may deceive. Let but his <HI>Dixit,</HI> his word be taken for it, and affirm he will that he is a cheif of the company. Well then that you be not couzened with &s;uch a Lye, and &s;uch a Ly|ar, from his Tongue look to his feet, and find you &s;hall that <HI>he walks in dark|ne&s;s.</HI> That's the fir&s;t Note.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> He walks in darkne&s;s.</HEAD>
<P>What darkne&s;s Saint <HI>John</HI> means, is not hard to gue&s;s: <HI>viz.</HI> Ignorance, love and practice of &s;in, with Impenitence.</P>
<P N="1">1. As Chri&s;t rai&s;eth his Kingdom by light, &s;o doth Satan advance his by this darkne&s;s.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.3.</NOTE> In the fir&s;t Creations God began at the Light: <HI>Fiat Lux:</HI> and in the &s;econd Creation he doth the like; opens the eyes, heart, under&s;tanding
<PB N="569" REF="290"> of tho&s;e, who&s;e &s;alvation he will promote. Satan on the contrary is careful fir&s;t to blind his Captives, to deal by them as the <HI>Phili&s;tims</HI> by <HI>Samp&s;on,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 16.27.</NOTE> pull out their eyes that they &s;hould not know &s;in to be a work of darkne&s;s, nor the wages thereof to be the blackne&s;s of darkne&s;s. For this would &s;tay their walk, and cau&s;e them to turn back their feet. Take heed then of ig|norance.</P>
<P N="2">2. And much more beware of the effects of ignorance, the love, the practice of &s;in, and irrepentance;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.5.</NOTE> for <HI>an impenitent heart heaps up wrath again&s;t the day of wrath.</HI> To this pitch who&s;oever arrives, out of doubt he is the man that walks in darkne&s;s.</P>
<P><HI>Zanchy</HI> ob&s;erves rightly upon the&s;e words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zanch. in loc.</NOTE> that there is a great difference betwixt <HI>e&s;&s;e in tenebris,</HI> and <HI>ambulare in tenebris,</HI> to be in, and to walk in dark|ne&s;s. In darkne&s;s the be&s;t man is: For no man knows what he &s;hould, nor no man knows what he would. But a good man will labour to &s;ee what he knows not, and to turn back when he di&s;covers his error: Whereas a bad man &s;till walks on his way, as the blind blunders in the dark, pre&s;uming that no harm &s;hall happen to him. To <HI>walk</HI> in the Hebrew Dialect is a common expre&s;&s;ion, whether in the way of vice or vertue, and it &s;ignifies a perpetual and con&s;tant motion, &s;uch as is in a walk for plea&s;ure, or a way for progre&s;&s;ion. Heed then mu&s;t be taken, that though we &s;tep into the darkne&s;s of wickedne&s;s, yet we neither make it our walk, or our way, neither take delight in it, nor proceed, nor labour about it. For this is a Note of one who hath no fellow&s;hip with God. This our Apo&s;tle teacheth in plain terms; <HI>if we &s;ay we have fellow&s;hip with him, and yet walk in darkne&s;s,</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> We lye, and do not the truth.</HEAD>
<P>We lie in our profe&s;&s;ion; we do not the Truth in our Manners; There is a doing of the Truth, as well as talking of it; and that man who&s;e life doth not an|&s;wer to his profe&s;&s;ion, is but a lying Chri&s;tian. Which when &s;ome of the enemies of the Go&s;pel beheld, in deri&s;ion they &s;aid, <HI>Aut hoc non e&s;t Evangelium, aut hi non &s;unt Chri&s;tiani,</HI> either this is not the Go&s;pel in which is taught &s;o much goodne&s;s, or the&s;e are no Chri&s;tians, in whom there is no good at all. You &s;ee now, what comes of walking in darkne&s;s, in affected and wilful ignorance, in wilful and ob&s;tinate rebellion; it thru&s;ts a man out of the Communion of Saints and convinceth him of a grand lye.</P>
<P>There is not &s;o great Lyar, as a profane Chri&s;tian; for he lyes to God, he lyes to Chri&s;t, he lyes to man, and he lyes to him&s;elf.</P>
<P N="1">1. To God he lyes fir&s;t; for he promi&s;ed him, when he became his, to for&s;ake all works of darkne&s;s, when yet he walks in them: He cals him&s;elf Gods child, when he carrieth the image of Satan, as if it were po&s;&s;ible for God to beget children to another image.</P>
<P N="2">2. He lyes to Chri&s;t; for <HI>Chri&s;ti nomen induere, &amp;c.</HI> to put on Chri&s;ts name, and not to walk in the way of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyprian. de zelo.</NOTE> what is it el&s;e <HI>qu&agrave;m praevaricatio divini n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nis,</HI> then to preva<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">icate, and abu&s;e the Divine Name! In effect, he gives out this fal&s;e te&s;timo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y again&s;t Chri&s;t, that there is no power in his death, no vertue in his re&s;urrection, no renewing grace of power to &s;anctifie tho&s;e who are his. The lye of the tongue is nothing &s;o dangerous as that of the life. For let the walk be as it will, where the feet wander after impiety, there is a real abrenunciation of the Faith.</P>
<P N="3">3. He lyes to man; for man &s;eeing his outward Communion in the Word and Sacraments, in charity takes him for a friend, a Brother, one of the &s;ocie|ty of Saints, when all the while he is but the Devil in <HI>Samuels</HI> mantle, or like the apparition of a &s;pirit: have but patience, and I will open to you the re&s;em|blance.
<PB N="570" REF="291"> Fir&s;t, the&s;e &s;pirits for a time a&s;&s;ume bodies; they &s;eem to eat, to drink, to &s;peak, to do what other men do, but they are not nouri&s;hed nor thrive by it. So the&s;e fair-faced Chri&s;tians do all the actions of the mo&s;t &s;incere; they eat with us at the Lords Table, and drink with us in the &s;ame Cup: They talk of the Words of God, they hear, they pray, they read, they preach, but yet they are not nouri&s;hed, or are ere a whit the better for it; becau&s;e all's done in &s;hew, nothing in Truth. Again the motion of that body a&s;&s;umed by a Spirit is not Natural, or from an inward e&s;&s;ential principle; The Spirit a&s;&s;i&s;ts it, in|forms it not: Such are all the motions of tho&s;e who are the <HI>&s;pectra</HI> or puppets of religion. Their eyes are made to rowl, their heads hang down, their lips are made to wag, their brea&s;ts to &s;hake, and &s;igh; and &s;ometimes fear, and &s;ometimes prai&s;e, and &s;ometimes policy, and &s;ometimes philo&s;ophy, but mo&s;t often gain, a&s;&s;i&s;t, and do the work; when none of the&s;e worldly re&s;pects give any impul&s;e or a&s;&s;i&s;tance, the motion is at an end. For this is another property of a&s;&s;umed bodies, that the Spirits which take them, lay them down at plea&s;ure: &s;o is it al&s;o in the&s;e counterfeits, they are never religious long, but incon&s;tant and fickle; to day an Anabapti&s;t, the next a &s;haker. La&s;tly, what actions &s;o|ever the &s;pirits perform in the&s;e borrowed out-&s;ides, they are only fictions; Such are the actions of the&s;e hypocrites, appearances only: An apparence of a fa&s;t, a mask of devotion, an Act of prayer, a Scene of Alms, <HI>ad Plaudite u&s;que vivunt;</HI> they pre&s;ent the interlude till the <HI>Plaudite,</HI> and that b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing given, the hangings are taken down, and the play is done. Say now, whether &s;uch white Angels be not great lyars to men.</P>
<P N="4">4. To them&s;elves, as the end will &s;hew; they lye abominably; fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> they &s;ay no harm &s;hall happen to them; they promi&s;e to them&s;elves life and happine&s;s however they live; general Grace &s;hall &s;ave all, when yet their doom is extant, <HI>Depart from me all ye that work iniquity; for I know you not.</HI></P>
<P>Truth is but only one, and &s;imple without doubling, but fal&s;hood is full of folds: Of true Chri&s;tians there are but one kind; men who are <HI>re &amp; nomine Ortho|doxi,</HI> Orthodox in name and life; and it is to be wi&s;h'd, as there is but one Chri&s;t, &s;o al&s;o there were but one kind of Chri&s;tians. But be&s;ides tho&s;e hy|pocrites I now named, there be other profane people, whom we need not &s;tick to call apparent lyars; for the&s;e we know walk in darkne&s;s; in this black book are the names of all tho&s;e who live di&s;&s;olute lives; fornicators, drunkards, proud, bla&s;phemers, all tho&s;e, <HI>qui ad palatum applicant religionem, who make their belly their God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.19.</NOTE> Tho&s;e who live di&s;&s;olutely, and boa&s;t of, and glory in their &s;hame, &s;hall have their names enrolled in the head of this book; and tho&s;e &s;hall be regi&s;tred in the foot of it, who take up their Chri&s;tianity upon the &s;tock of their fore-Fathers, as they do their land; &s;uck it in with their fir&s;t milk, &amp; never inquire farther into the power and force of it. Would to God there were not ju&s;t rea&s;on for me to make this partition: I had rather to have &s;aid, you had been all one, all true, all &s;incere, all upright men, nor hypocrite, nor profane <HI>E&s;au</HI> among&s;t us. But I have done it, to make the Good cautelous; the prophane fearful; which are the two u&s;es of this point.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, &s;ince there be &s;o many, who profe&s;s Communion with the Saints, and yet walk in the dark, it behoves Chri&s;tians to be wary and circum&s;pect, le&s;t they be not circumvented, le&s;t they take a vizard for a man, and a Wolf in &s;heeps clothing for a &s;heep.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 2.15.</NOTE> <HI>Jehu</HI>'s que&s;tion is fit to be propounded to &s;uch as <HI>Jehu</HI> was, before we give him the right hand of fellow&s;hip, <HI>Is thy heart up|right?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.5.</NOTE> and that he give &s;ome manife&s;t of this, before we admit him to our &s;o|ciety. For there be many, <HI>who will come in Chri&s;ts name and deceive many.</HI> It is not good to wrong any man upon a groundle&s;s &s;u&s;pition, neither is it wi&s;dom to wrong our &s;elves by over-ea&s;ie credulity. The &s;ame Spirit that &s;aith <HI>charity be|lieveth
<PB N="571" REF="291"> all things;</HI> &s;aith al&s;o, <HI>that a fool believeth all things;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.7. Prov. 14.15.</NOTE> and charity is not fooli&s;h; as not prone to be &s;u&s;picious, &s;o not lightly credulous; that then many lyars and hypocrites may be of this fellow&s;hip, 'tis a good caution, <HI>That we be not ea&s;ie of belief, and give credence to every spirit.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 4.1.</NOTE></P>
<P>Secondly, And as we ought to be circum&s;pect and wary, that we be not de|ceived by others; &s;o we ought to be as careful, that we be not deceived by our &s;elves: For there is no flattery &s;o dangerous, as is that of a mans own heart, which is apt to per&s;wade, that a Chri&s;tians life need not be &s;o pure, &s;o &s;trict, &s;o &s;evere as is call'd for. Hence there be who live profane and unholy lives, and yet take upon them to be good Chri&s;tians; this is that &s;piritual whoredom &s;o much complained of by the Prophets, cau&s;ing <HI>a divorce betwixt God and his people:</HI> For as the ca&s;e is of her who hath play'd the Harlot, that for it is put from her husband with &s;hame; &s;uch is his, who follows his own corrupt heart, and <HI>walks in darkne&s;s;</HI> his union with God is quite broken off, &s;o long as he remains &s;uch, he hath no fellow&s;hip with him.</P>
<P>Satan hath two Arms with which he wre&s;tles with man, and labours to over|throw him; de&s;pair &amp; pre&s;umption; and if he cannot thru&s;t him down to hell with de&s;pair of Mercy, he will labour to mount him to a higher fall by pre&s;umption on Mercy. Talk with &s;uch a pre&s;umptuous &s;oul, and he will be ready to boa&s;t, that he is &s;ecure of Heaven, that he is a partaker of the Divine Nature, one of the Members of the Holy Society; when indeed this is but <HI>infidelis fiducia,</HI> a confident boldne&s;s, not grounded upon Faith, but Arrogance; for can a man <HI>have f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">llow&s;hip with God who is light,</HI> and &s;till <HI>walk in darkne&s;s?</HI></P>
<P>Do but hearken to the voyce of Nature among the Philo&s;ophers; among them, they were accounted the be&s;t men, who did what they &s;aid; for the re&s;t, that <GAP DESC="foreign">, they taught Philo&s;ophy as far as their words might be taken. Such was <HI>Ari&s;tippus,</HI> who for his wording only of Philo&s;ophy, and practi&s;ing the Court-manners, was u&s;ually &s;tiled <HI>Canis Regius, the Court-dog.</HI> Again, in Nature there is nothing feigned, nothing counterfeit, but every thing is what it &s;eems to be; we know the Nightingale by her Tune, the Crow by his Throat, the Lyon by his Roaring, the Fox by his Barking; &s;o a man may with no great labour know a counterfeit Chri&s;tian from a true, by his life, and by his works; let his words be never &s;o &s;mooth, if his works corre&s;pond not to his words, there can be no congruity; for as in Mu&s;ick there is the be&s;t Harmo|ny; when there is a right proportion ob&s;erved betwixt the upper and the lower &s;trings; &s;o al&s;o in our Chri&s;tianity there is the be&s;t Mu&s;ick made, when our manners an&s;wer to our profe&s;&s;ion, and our words keep time and tune with both.</P>
<P>Hence our Saviour often condemns the&s;e out-&s;ide Chri&s;tians; at <HI>prayer,</HI> he will not that they be <HI>tedious,</HI> and <HI>babble;</HI> at <HI>fa&s;ting,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.</NOTE> that they be &s;owre-fa|ced, and <HI>look like leven;</HI> at <HI>almes,</HI> not <HI>vain-glorious,</HI> as were the <HI>Phari&s;ees:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.</NOTE> But that they be <HI>zealous and fervent, peaceable, poor in spirit, humble, meek, patient, hunger af<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">er righteou&s;ne&s;s, &s;uffer pe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ecution, be merciful, be perfect, as their Father in Heaven is perfect.</HI> Let all them then plea&s;e them&s;elves, they I mean, who boa&s;t of their communion with God and Chri&s;t, yet divorce Re|ligion, and a holy life: For upon a &s;econd thought they will find an impo&s;&s;ibili|ty in it, <HI>that they lye, they do not the truth,</HI> &s;o long as <HI>they walk in darkne&s;s.</HI> The true Note of a ch<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ld of God is,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> To walk in the light, as he is the light.</HEAD>
<P><HI>As,</HI> notes to us a &s;imilitude, not an equality, as in other places, <HI>Be perfect,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.</NOTE> <HI>as your Father in Heaven is perfect: Be merciful, as your Father in Heaven is merciful;</HI> the meaning is, that though we cannot equal his perfection, his
<PB N="572" REF="292"> mercy, yet we endeavour in &s;ome mea&s;ure to repre&s;ent it, to imitate it; So hereof Light, though it is not po&s;&s;ible to attain to that light and purity which is in him, yet we take his light for our example, <HI>and walk in light, as he is in the light.</HI></P>
<P>There be <HI>Sicuts</HI> for this in other luminous bodies, but they are not perfect. A <HI>Sicut</HI> for this in the Sunne, but that light &s;uffers an eclip&s;e. A <HI>Sicut</HI> for this in jewels and gemmes that receive light into the whole body, but they al&s;o have their terrene parts which darken them. Another <HI>Sicut</HI> for it in rotten wood, fi&s;h-bones and skins, but this is meerly outward, &s;ome gli&s;ning and &s;hin|ing rather than properly light; &s;o Hypocrites &s;hine. But our patterne is more perfect, it is God him&s;elf, in whom there is no eclip&s;e, no dark part, no ap|pearance; and to him it is, that we mu&s;t, &s;o far as we can, labour to be like. And the more we re&s;emble him, the more</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>We walk.</HI> Walking is a progre&s;&s;ive motion; in goodne&s;&s;e then there is no &s;tanding &s;till, no giving over. In our walk of Chri&s;tianity, the motion mu&s;t be continual and con&s;tant; we are bound to grow and increa&s;e, to go on from vertue to vertue, and &s;o long to continue in this cour&s;e, till we attaine all po&s;|&s;ible perfection. But of this before.</P>
<P N="3">3. In the <HI>Light.</HI> And this our progre&s;&s;e mu&s;t be in the Light. There is the Light of Knowledge, The Light of Faith, The Light of good works. And in the&s;e we walk, when we know what to do, and do what we know: when in that vocation and condition of life to which God hath call'd us, we labour to expte&s;&s;e our inward light of Faith by good works to the glory of God, and edi|fication of our neighbour. In a word, then we walk in the Light, when our &s;oul is enlightned with Knowledge and Faith, our life is glorious by &s;anctity and purity.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.8.</NOTE>Give me leave to put you in mind of that which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> inculcates to the Ephe&s;ians, <HI>Ye were darkne&s;&s;e, but you are now children of the light, walk there|fore as children of the light.</HI> And that you be not to &s;eek in your walk, I &s;hall teach it out of the &s;ame Apo&s;tle, who in the &s;ame place pre&s;cribes you the&s;e three &s;tations;
<LIST>
<ITEM><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 10, 11.</NOTE>1. <HI>That you prove that which is good and acceptable to the Lord.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>That you have no fellow&s;hip with the unfruitful works of darkne&s;&s;e.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>That you do reprove them.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, He that will walk in the light, mu&s;t know the light by which he will walk, for a fal&s;e may &s;educe him. To the Law then and the Prophets &s;uch a man mu&s;t go, and learn what light God hath hangd forth therein; there he &s;hall finde what's good, what's acceptable, what plea&s;eth, what di&s;plea&s;eth. You &s;ee then whence to fetch your te&s;t, and by it be &s;ure not to make a &s;uper|ficial trial, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, make a full &s;earch and experiment, and you never &s;hall be mi&s;taken, but be &s;ure to know what work will plea&s;e him, what he will accept.</P>
<P N="2">2. Which I am &s;ure is a holy and good life; this he expects, this he will ac|cept, which will be much help'd on, when a man hath no commerce, nothing at all to do <HI>with the unfruitful works of darkne&s;&s;e.</HI> A quality to be learned from the Light al&s;o, who&s;e property it is to joyne it &s;elf, and to commingle its beams with the mo&s;t impure things; and yet partakes not with their impu|rity. So al&s;o it cannot be avoided, but the &s;ons of light in their walk will meet with the impure&s;t men, for el&s;e they mu&s;t go out of the world, but in their way they may not be defiled and foul'd with them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5.3, 10.</NOTE> they may not communicate with the works of darkne&s;&s;e, from which they &s;hall reap no fruit, except that of death and darkne&s;&s;e, the &s;ame that <HI>Adam</HI> did for eating of the forbidden fruit.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="573" REF="292">3. La&s;tly, light detects and brings into open view the fowle&s;t, the ba&s;e&s;t things, and by detection brings an odium, an hatred upon them. And it be|hoves a Chri&s;tian to walk in that light, which will detect any action, and &s;how of what nature it is; which if it appear to be foul, he will reprove and condemne it, and labour to make the doer a&s;ham'd. Which is done two wayes.</P>
<P N="1">1. Either by words, as <HI>Lot</HI> did the Sodomites; <HI>O my friends, do not &s;o wickedly.</HI> Thus Chri&s;t commands, <HI>If thy brother &s;inne again&s;t thee, go and tell him his fault betwixt thee and him alone.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Or el&s;e by deeds, by a &s;potle&s;&s;e life, and a holy conver&s;ation, which is of the two the mo&s;t effectual. For every one, who walks in the light,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19.7. Matth. 18.15.</NOTE> doth con|vince wicked men in their con&s;ciences, and &s;hame them in their ungodly cour|&s;es. So walk then in the light of holine&s;&s;e and purity, that vvhen a drunkard &s;ees thee live a &s;ober life, and when a wanton beholds thee to walk cha&s;tely, he may be &s;uffic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ently convicted, that his riotous and leud cour&s;e is not good.</P>
<P>Now the high favour and honour that will en&s;ue upon this walking, may not be forgotten; 'tis not long &s;ince I in&s;i&s;ted at large upon it; how&s;oever it will not be ami&s;&s;e to rub up your memory a little about it, becau&s;e our Apo&s;tle comes over it again. Your honour is, <HI>that if ye walk in the light,</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> Ye have fellow&s;hip one with another.</HEAD>
<P>There will follow upon it a mutual fellow&s;hip, a firme league and &s;ociety; A Society with us, us the Apo&s;tles, and the Church of true Saints, and con&s;equently a Society with God and Chri&s;t, which he mentioned before <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> 3. Similitude of manners as it is a &s;trange motive to beget love and friend&s;hip, &s;o al&s;o it is a fa&s;t bond and tye to continue it. Like will be&s;t agree with its like, good men with good, bad with bad. Hence good men are called the friends of God, wicked men his enemyes.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 15.14. Rom. 5.10.</NOTE> Continue then in holine&s;&s;e, goodne&s;&s;e and light, and ye &s;hall be his friends; But if you fall once from this, and walk in darkne&s;&s;e, he e&s;temes you not any of his company, his Society, you are his enemyes. Neither can the Church e&s;teme you of her company, for &s;he is Holy, and all that are truly hers are holy ones, a holy Prie&s;thood. <HI>Ne impii van&egrave; de &s;ocietate Dei,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 19.6.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; de Ec|cle&s;iae amicitia &s;ibi plaudunt.</HI> Wicked men do in vaine boa&s;t of their fel|low&s;hip with God, of their friend&s;hip with the Church.</P>
<P>Behold then you black Swans, the Dignity, the Honour, <HI>the high calling to which you are called, and walk worthy of it. You were far off,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.</NOTE> <HI>but now you are brought near; you were &s;trangers, but now are made of the hou&s;hold; you were enemies, but now you are reconciled; you were dark, but now are made light; you were aliens, but now are made fellow-Citizens with the Saints.</HI> A new honour calls upon you to be new men, a new condition, new deportment and behaviour. One kinde of life becomes a common man, and another him that is enobled: any him who lives in ob&s;curity and darkne&s;&s;e: but a man re&s;erved and circum&s;pect, that man walks in the light and eyes of all. You are called to honour, you are rai&s;ed to great dignity, to be friends, to have fellow&s;hip with God and Chri&s;t, and with his Saints; take care then your life be an&s;werable to your &s;tate and condition, and be an evidence to your &s;elf, and to the world, that you &s;et a price upon this fellow&s;hip. How you can prove that you are of this corpora|tion, is not vi&s;ible to me, except it be by your walking in the light, and therefore walk worthy of it.</P>
<P>Good coun&s;el, perhaps you will &s;ay; but who is able to hear and follow it? Not to wander, not to &s;lip and fall, and foul our &s;elves, is an higher perfection
<PB N="574" REF="293"> than our nature can attain to. Being men, and carrying this fle&s;h about us, the corruption of which is &s;o well known, and walking in this world, the wayes whereof are &s;o dark and dangerous, we cannot choo&s;e but erre and mi&s;take, be the light never &s;o re&s;plendent. And to confe&s;&s;e the truth in <HI>multis omnes,</HI> the be&s;t of us one while or other follow a fal&s;e light; and if any man &s;ay to the contrary, our Apo&s;tle in the very next ver&s;e tels him, not that he is proud, and wants humility, but that he is a lyar and hath no truth in him.</P>
<P>Our e&s;tate then needs &s;ome Scripture that may help us in our walke, and comfort us when in the dark we fall. For if our &s;ociety with God be broken off, when we cea&s;e to walk in the light, our ca&s;e, God help us, is very lamen|table. Behold then a text that offereth Grace, 'tis the comfortable&s;t clo&s;e that ever ended ver&s;e. Call for this light, hunger and thir&s;t after the &s;plendor of it, walk along in the way; by it feele an unfeined de&s;ire to put away that very work of darkne&s;&s;e in which &s;ometimes you are involved, and your falls, your failings will not break the knot of amity; a pardon then is purcha&s;ed and &s;ealed for all with the Sonne of Gods own blood. So &s;aith Saint <HI>John</HI> here,</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> The blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t his Sonne clean&s;eth us from all &s;inne.</HEAD>
<P>This is the &s;umme of the Go&s;pel, the Anchor of our hope. Every word drops like an honey-comb, and were it not that I had fully pre&s;&s;ed out this Nectar in my Expo&s;ition of the former Articles, I would not touch it &s;o light|ly. However I &s;hall pre&s;ent you with the&s;e ta&s;ts of it.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Laver, or Purgation, <HI>Blood.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The Per&s;on, who&s;e blood it is, <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That which gives it vertue and force to purge, 'tis the blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, his, that is, <HI>Gods Sonne.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The power and vertue it &s;elf, <HI>It clean&s;eth.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>5. That on which the vertue is operative, <HI>Sinne.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>6. The extent of this vertue, <HI>It clean&s;eth from all &s;inne,</HI> Original, and Actual.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. Sin is a foul thing, a &s;taine, a running &s;ore, a Lepro&s;ie; conceive what loath&s;ome thing you will, that is filthy in your eye; that and much fouler is &s;in in Gods. It &s;tains the infant in his mothers womb, and fouls every man af|ter in his way of life. Now to wa&s;h off this filth, God hath provided a La|vor; but not of water, nor of Fullers &s;ope, but that which pa&s;&s;eth all other Lavers what&s;oever, a Laver of blood. Not the blood of Bulls or Goats pou|red forth in their legal &s;acrifices. No nor the blood of the fir&s;t-born neither; for this was not available for the &s;in of the &s;oul.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mich. 6.7.</NOTE> And if not the&s;e, then &s;ure not other Lavers of an inferiour degree; not the legal and often purifications of the Phari&s;ees,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;tius in loc.</NOTE> nor the frequent Baths and Lotions of the Judaizing Ebio|nites, (whom 'tis not improbable, Saint <HI>John</HI> aimes at in this place) nor the &s;orrow of the Socinians, nor the naked faith of the Gno&s;ticks, no nor the Indulgences of <HI>Rome</HI> are ever able to purge this uncleanne&s;&s;e. It mu&s;t be the blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.14. Col. 1.14.</NOTE> This alone can purge <HI>the con&s;cience from dead works.</HI> This alone can clean&s;e the &s;oul from &s;ins. <HI>In him we have redemption by his blood,</HI> viz. remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in. <HI>In him,</HI> then by no other, redemption we have, that is, remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in, which was not effected by a gracious manumi&s;&s;ion, as when a ma&s;ter frees his &s;lave; nor by a commutation, as when one pri&s;oner of War is &s;et free for another;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 30.18.</NOTE> nor yet by force of armes, as when <HI>David</HI> freed his captives from the Amalekites; but it was by laying down a &s;ufficient price, a price of blood, by the effu&s;ion of which in ju&s;tice he paid our debt, for it was the blood of</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<PB N="575" REF="293">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Je&s;us Christ his Sonne.</HEAD>
<P>In which words fir&s;t our Apo&s;tle gives a blow to three Here&s;ies at once; of the Manichees, who denyed the truth of his humane nature; Blood he had,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;tius in loc.</NOTE> and then he mu&s;t be perfect man. Of the Ebionites, who denied him to be God; that cannot be true, for he was the Son of God, &s;aith our Apo&s;tle. And of the Ne&s;torians, who divided his per&s;on; that may not be; for it is the blo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d of Je&s;us Chri&s;t his Son, his Son and Je&s;us Chri&s;t are but one per&s;on.</P>
<P>But then &s;econdly, it is not without great rea&s;on that the Apo&s;tle addes his Son to Je&s;us Chri&s;t. For this univer&s;al purging vertue belongs not to it, be|cau&s;e it is blood, nor becau&s;e it is the blood of man; that conceit is heathen|i&s;h, <HI>Sanguine placa&s;tis ventos &amp; virgine cae&s;&acirc;.</HI> The true rea&s;on is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgil.</NOTE> becau&s;e it is the blood of the Sonne of God, this gave it a tran&s;cendent power, and made it a &s;ufficient price. The Sonne of God; <GAP DESC="foreign">, is our Redeemer. This work required that he be God, that he might conquer death; and man, that he might die. As God, a property he had in, and undertook the work to redeem his creatures: And as man he, became our kin&s;man in the fle&s;h,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Goel. Job 19.25.</NOTE> and under|took the work to redeeme his brethren. Not the Deity, not the humanity a|lone could performe this great work of Redemption, but only the Sonne of God. His humanity was the in&s;trument, his Divinity the principal Agent in this great work of our clean&s;ing. Whence the Apo&s;tle excellently, God hath purcha&s;ed the Church with his own blood.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20.28.</NOTE> It was not the blood of the Sonne of <HI>Mary,</HI> but that blood which hypo&s;tatically was united in his per&s;on, that made it a Catholique purge. For &s;uch is the vertue of this blood, that it</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Clean&s;eth. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</HEAD>
<P>There is in &s;in <HI>Macula &amp; reatus.</HI> More than a &s;pot there was, there was a guilt; A &s;pot, and &s;oyl, that makes us loath&s;ome in Gods eye; and a guilt that &s;ubjects us to puni&s;hment; water may do one, wa&s;h off the &s;pot, but blood only can do the other, remove the puni&s;hment; that then our clean&s;ing might be perfect, our per&s;ons nor loath&s;ome,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 19.34.</NOTE> nor guilty when we &s;hould be call'd to the Bar, <HI>He &s;hed out of his &s;ide both water and blood;</HI> water to wa&s;h away the &s;pots, and blood to &s;atisfie the guilt and puni&s;hment.</P>
<P>And the power of this clean&s;ing blood is not only operative upon what is pa&s;t, but powerful and effectual upon him who is clean&s;ed by it, through his whole life. For it is not only &s;aid to clean&s;e in that &s;en&s;e, as if it took away the guilt of our former &s;ins, but it purgeth the will from all affection and love to &s;in, conferring at the &s;ame time a true conver&s;ion of the heart, a love of righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and the practice of vertue. For it brings with it a Communion with God in the Light of Faith, and a &s;ociety with Chri&s;t for our ju&s;tification and &s;anctification.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> It clean&s;eth us.</HEAD>
<P>But that no man be too pre&s;umptuous upon the purging power of this blood, and vaunt that he is clean&s;ed by it, when he is not; The Apo&s;tle tells us here, <HI>that it clean&s;eth us.</HI> Us who have fellow&s;hip with God and Chri&s;t, us who walk in the light; as for tho&s;e who have no &s;ociety with God, tho&s;e who walk in darkne&s;&s;e, the&s;e are not like to have any benefit by it, nor remi&s;&s;ion, nor purgation. The&s;e are mercies that belong to the &s;ociety of Saints, the&s;e it will purge from</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<PB N="576" REF="294">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> All &s;inne.</HEAD>
<P>For as for that &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t, which is never to be clean&s;ed, tho&s;e who are of this Society &s;hall never be fouled with it. Into all other they may and do fall; yet &s;o often as they are &s;en&s;ible of their filth, and bemoan them&s;elves for it, and flie penitently to this Lavor, it is at hand ready prepared for them to clean&s;e them from all &s;in. From all &s;in original, and actual; from that of the womb, from that of the way; from the errour, from the &s;lip, from the fall; I go farther, from the vomit, from the wallow after the fall.</P>
<P>Find me now if you can &s;uch another Bath, any that will clean&s;e from &s;in, any that from all &s;in, to all per&s;ons, at all times; this hath, doth, and will do it: Our Apo&s;tle &s;peaks in the pre&s;ent Ten&s;e; it is not <HI>emundavit,</HI> nor <HI>emundabit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zanch. in loc.</NOTE> but <HI>emundat;</HI> it is alwayes pre&s;ent to tho&s;e who are of the Com|munion, and doth clean&s;e Men, Women, Children, Ma&s;ters, Servants, Kings, Subjects from every kind of offence: <HI>David</HI> from <HI>blood-guiltine&s;s; Peter</HI> from <HI>Apo&s;ta&s;ie; Mary</HI> from <HI>&s;even deadly &s;ins; Paul</HI> from <HI>per&s;ecution of the Saints;</HI> what foule penitent &s;inner can you name, who hath not had his purging from it?</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>The APPLICATION.</HEAD>
<P>Fir&s;t then, we &s;hall do well to take notice of our own pollution, and what we are without Chri&s;ts blood. A &s;inners ca&s;e, how gloriou&s;ly &s;oever he or &s;he gli&s;ters in the eyes of men, being in Gods eye, but as the ca&s;e of a foul di&s;ea&s;ed per&s;on; and we thereby &s;o taught to conceive of &s;ins, as of foule &s;pots with|out, or as of &s;uch excrements and ill humours within, which pa&s;s from us by pur|ging,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 7.1.</NOTE> <HI>inquimanenta &s;piritus &amp; carnis,</HI> pollutions which defile both fle&s;h and &s;pirit; and unle&s;s they be purged away, there is no entring into the heavenly <HI>Hieru&s;alem;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 21.27.</NOTE> for into that holy City, <HI>no unclean thing &s;hall enter.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, Next, that you who are of this fellow&s;hip, do not think too highly of your &s;elves, even you have your &s;pots and bad humours &s;till; though you <HI>walk in the light,</HI> yet you have your Defects, your Eclip&s;es; even you a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|&s;o have need of the blood of Chri&s;t to clean&s;e you: The Apo&s;tle tells us in the next words, <HI>That if any man think he hath no &s;in, he deceives him&s;elf.</HI> Being a &s;inner then, he needs the common receit to purge him, <HI>viz.</HI> the blood of Chri&s;t, no le&s;s than he who is foule&s;t.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Yet here is a whol&s;ome Bath for a timerous trembling con&s;cience, which when it finds about it an unclean thing, is pre&s;ently quite ca&s;t down, ut|terly di&s;heartned, as if fot the&s;e blains and blotches the man &s;hould for ever be ca&s;t out of Gods eye: Rai&s;e up thy &s;pirit, O thou dejected &s;oul; it was for thy &s;ake that Chri&s;t &s;hed his blood, it was for thee he made a Lavor of it; <HI>pec|catum non nocet, &s;i non placet;</HI> the &s;in that foules thee, and plea&s;eth not, &s;hall not hurt thee;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.18.</NOTE> <HI>though it be a &s;carlet &s;in,</HI> yet upon thy conver&s;ion, <HI>it &s;hall be as white as wool;</HI> though it be a <HI>crim&s;on</HI> offence, twice dyed, dyed in the wool, and dyed in the cloth, it &s;hall be <HI>as white as &s;now.</HI></P>
<P>Fourthly, But the greater &s;ort by far are in the other extream, who are no|thing timerous; &s;o far from that, that they are di&s;&s;olutely wicked; they never care how many bloches and biles they contract; the blood of Chri&s;t they pre|&s;ume is able to purge all; and &s;o indeed it is; but whether it will clean&s;e any &s;tains of a pre&s;umptuous &s;inner, may be well doubted. Read over this Text, and mark it well, and you &s;hall find, that it is thus written, <HI>It clean&s;eth us; &V;s,</HI>
<PB N="577" REF="294"> and who are tho&s;e? I but now told you, tho&s;e, who&s;e &s;tudy it is, <HI>to walk in the light;</HI> tho&s;e, who are careful to retain their fellow&s;hip with Chri&s;t. The&s;e are the men, who have his blood applied to them for the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r Ju&s;tification; <HI>his Name was called Je&s;us, becau&s;e he &s;hall &s;ave his people from their &s;ins.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 1.21.</NOTE> Now his people they alone are, which walk as they have him for an Ex|ample. Whereas, if men be de&s;titute of faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.1.</NOTE> and walk in the dark|ne&s;s of ignorance; be de&s;titute of holine&s;s, and walk in the foule wayes of &s;in, the blood of Chri&s;t will not profit for their remi&s;&s;ion, for their clean&s;ing.</P>
<P>The Lord in his whole Book hath not &s;poken one &s;yllable that can be wre|&s;ted for hope of pardon to an impenitent, pre&s;umptuous &s;inner; to the repen|tant, to him th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t comes in, laments for, and for&s;akes his &s;in, there be &s;tore of comfortable Texts; he is often in the&s;e, and the like cordial promi&s;es; <HI>When a wicked man &s;hall turn from his wickedne&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 18. Prov. 28.23.</NOTE> <HI>and do that which is lawful and right, he &s;hall &s;ave his &s;oul alive: He that co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">fe&s;&s;eth, and for&s;akes his &s;in, &s;hall find mercy;</HI> and as it fol<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">owes in this <HI>Chapte<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, If we confe&s;s our &s;ins,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 9.</NOTE> <HI>God is faithful and ju&s;t to forgive us our &s;in.</HI> But where is it written,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 9.</NOTE> where to be found upon Record, that men living in their &s;in, &s;hall find mercy, pardon, forgivene&s;s? where that &s;uch an one <HI>as goeth on &s;till in his wickedne&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 68.21.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall &s;ave his &s;oul alive?</HI></P>
<P>It is then the divinity of the Father of divinations, that the blood of Chri&s;t will clean&s;e men, though they pre&s;ume ob&s;tinately and wilfully to foule them&s;elves. Our Saviour teacheth another Le&s;&s;on, <HI>Behold thou art made whole, &s;in no more; Behold you are wa&s;hed;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 8.10.</NOTE> upon which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> thus com|ments, <HI>You are wa&s;hed, you are clean&s;ed, you are &s;anctified, you are purified; defile not then your &s;elves with Drunkenne&s;s, with Fornication,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.11.</NOTE> <HI>with Adultery,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Return not to your vomit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2.22.</NOTE> <HI>wallow not again in the Mire.</HI></P>
<P>So Chri&s;t, which hath wa&s;hed you with his blood of the Cro&s;s, will by ver|tue of the &s;ame blood yet farther clean&s;e you;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 2.14.</NOTE> and <HI>having purified you a pe|culiar people to him&s;elf, will at his &s;econd coming take you to him&s;elf, that where he is, you may be al&s;o; &s;eated with him in a Throne of glory,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.3.</NOTE> <HI>and live with him for evermore.</HI> Amen.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="44" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The denial of &s;in a deceit.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 John 1. Ver. 8.</HI> &amp; <HI>10.</HI></BIBL>
<P>If we &s;ay we have no &s;inne, we deceive our &s;elves, and the truth is not in us. <HI>And</HI></P>
<P>If we &s;ay we have not &s;inned, we make him a lyar, and his Word is not in us.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>I Have joyned the&s;e two Ver&s;es together, becau&s;e they are not altogether di&s;|joyned in &s;en&s;e; <HI>&s;in</HI> we find in both, and pre&s;umptuous &s;inners in both; in the eighth <HI>ver&s;e,</HI> &s;ome who are apt to &s;ay, <HI>They have no &s;in;</HI> in the tenth, tho&s;e who were bold to maintain, <HI>That they never had &s;in:</HI> The fir&s;t <HI>deceive them&s;elves;</HI> the la&s;t, rather then they would be found guilty, would <HI>make God a lyar,</HI> that is, accu&s;e the Word of God of a lye, which &s;aith plainly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.23.</NOTE> <HI>That all men are &s;inners.</HI></P>
<PB N="578" REF="295">
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Clem. Alex. <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE>There were, who gave out, that the Apo&s;tles after our Saviours A&s;cen&s;ion were &s;o far advanced by the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit, that they were no more &s;ubject to common pa&s;&s;ions and infirmities. This opinion Saint <HI>John</HI> here di&s;avowes, both for him&s;elf and his fellowes; to &s;uch impiety they never came, as to <HI>make God a lyar;</HI> of &s;uch folly they would not be held guil|ty, as to <HI>deceive th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m&s;elves;</HI> ingenuou&s;ly they confe&s;&s;ed, that they had &s;inned, and as yet they did &s;in: If a contrary thought &s;hould come into their heads, or a word to the contrary drop from their tongues, <HI>the Truth were not in them, the Word of God were not in them.</HI></P>
<P>But the Apo&s;tles are in their Graves, and what they dur&s;t not, &s;ome after them have been over-bold to affirm; &s;ome among us are come to this pa&s;s, <HI>that they have no &s;in;</HI> and &s;ome again, <HI>That they have not &s;inned.</HI> The <HI>Pelagian</HI> de|nies original &s;in in infants. The <HI>Papi&s;ts</HI> deny this to be a &s;in in Regenerate per&s;ons. The old <HI>Cathari</HI> with the Rabble of <HI>Novatians, Antimonians,</HI> and many new Sectaries, applaud them&s;elves, and boa&s;t that they are <HI>perfect, pur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, holy, without &s;in in this life;</HI> and therefore they have no u&s;e of that petition, <HI>Dimitte nobis debita no&s;tra, Forgive us our tre&s;pa&s;&s;es.</HI></P>
<P>To all three we oppo&s;e the&s;e words of Saint <HI>John,</HI> profe&s;&s;ing th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t <HI>we have &s;inned</HI> in our father <HI>Adam,</HI> and we <HI>have &s;in,</HI> and yet carry it about us; we dare not <HI>make God a lyar,</HI> we dare not <HI>deceive our &s;elves;</HI> both which we &s;hould do, <HI>&s;i dixerimus, if we &s;hould &s;ay</HI> to the contrary; and to convince them of de|ceit and fal&s;hood, that I &s;ay no wor&s;e, I &s;hall &s;et down, and in&s;i&s;t upon the&s;e Propo&s;itions.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That even Infants have &s;inned; again&s;t the <HI>Pelagians.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That Concupi&s;cence in the Regenerate, is a &s;in; again&s;t the <HI>Papi&s;ts.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That no Regenerate per&s;on is &s;o heightned by grace, but he &s;ins daily; again&s;t the <HI>Sectaries.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. That tho&s;e who &s;ay the contrary, <HI>Do</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>Deceive them&s;elves.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>They make God a lyar.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>The Truth, his Word is not in them.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>The&s;e Di&s;cour&s;es I confe&s;s are fitter for a Profe&s;&s;ors Chair, than a Prea|chers Pulpit; and were I in the School, I would enlarge my &s;elf upon them. Howbeit, having &s;o ju&s;t occa&s;ion given me, I &s;hall with what brevity I may, &s;ay &s;omewhat of them. I begin with the fir&s;t, and prove unto you, that even In|fants are guilty of &s;in from the womb, taking my hint from the la&s;t <HI>ver&s;e</HI> of this <HI>Chapter.</HI></P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> If we &s;ay that we have not &s;inned, we make God a lyar, and his Word is not in us.</HEAD>
<P>Who they were that &s;aid this in Saint <HI>Johns</HI> time, is not evident, but in all pro|bability the Judaizing <HI>Corinthians</HI> were the&s;e bold men, who came to that ra&s;h|ne&s;s, that they denied the perver&s;ne&s;s of our corrupt nature, affirming that they had never <HI>&s;inned;</HI> who afterward trode in the&s;e &s;teps, is well known. <HI>Pelagius,</HI> and his Scholar <HI>Cele&s;tius</HI> were of opinion, that <HI>&s;in</HI> was not &s;ubjectively inherent in our nature, nor by propagation tran&s;mitted to us, but only by example and imitation of our parents taken up by us, &s;o that children were not guilty of it from their birth.</P>
<PB N="579" REF="295">
<P>An here&s;ie which <HI>Bellarmine</HI> endeavours to fa&s;ten upon us, becau&s;e we af|firm with Saint <HI>Paul, That the children of faithful parents are holy:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 7.14.</NOTE> But again&s;t the old Heretick, and maltcious Adver&s;ary, we profe&s;s, <HI>That holine&s;s is not in us by nature, but by grace;</HI> that it is not our fir&s;t, but &s;econd birth, which makes men good: For <HI>what&s;oever is born of the fle&s;h, is fle&s;h; and that by nature we are the children of wrath;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 3. Ephe&s;. 2.3. Job 14.4. P&s;al. 51.5. Ezek. 15.6.</NOTE> that even <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>the new born babe is conceived of unclean &s;eed,</HI> and warmed in a <HI>&s;inful womb. In the conception,</HI> I &s;ay, <HI>polluted</HI> no le&s;s <HI>with &s;in</HI> than <HI>blood. Adam</HI> repre|&s;ented all mankind; and as in the loins of <HI>Abraham Levi</HI> paid tythes, &s;o al&s;o in the loins of <HI>Adam</HI> every mothers &s;on that de&s;cended from him, is a di&s;obedient per&s;on; Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith it in plain words, <HI>In him,</HI> that is, in <HI>Adam all &s;inned.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.10.</NOTE></P>
<P>Should I hold my peace, even the very children would cry this abroad; a man might <HI>find enough out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings to &s;till the enemy;</HI> for the&s;e &s;illy, harmle&s;s, <HI>Pelagian</HI> Innocents can no &s;ooner &s;peak,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 8.2.</NOTE> but you &s;hall &s;ee in them a crafty lying di&s;po&s;ition, an inclination to revenge, &s;tub|borne&s;s again&s;t their parents, with the like enormities. The&s;e blo&s;&s;omes &s;hew what the Tree is, and by what &s;ap it is nouri&s;hed; neither can they learn the&s;e ill qualities by imitation of their parents bad example, before they know what it is to imitate. The truth is, that &s;ame &s;in which dwells in the nature of man, which is by Bapti&s;m wounded, but not wholly healed; <HI>imminuta,</HI> but not <HI>&s;ublata,</HI> weakned, but not removed, produceth the&s;e effects.</P>
<P><HI>David</HI> acknowledgeth him&s;elf infected and defiled with this univer&s;al contagion: <HI>Behold I was formed in iniquity,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.5.</NOTE> <HI>and in &s;in my mother conceived me.</HI> He fetcheth the cau&s;e of his actual Murder and Adultery from that Ori|ginal, and in this common fate he doth lament his own; two words he u&s;eth to expre&s;s it by: The fir&s;t <HI>Cholel,</HI> &s;ignifying to <HI>create</HI> or <HI>form;</HI> the other <HI>Ja|cham,</HI> to <HI>warm;</HI> whereby he declares, that even in his forming in the womb he was defiled, while he was fo&s;ter'd, warm'd, nouri&s;h'd in his mothers belly, he was polluted with this Original uncleanne&s;s; which being &s;tirred up, and brought to flame by a beautiful object, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gg'd him on to commit that outra|gious &s;in;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 11.3.</NOTE></P>
<P>For which, he was in Law but a dead man; and from the very root, whence his &s;in did grow, all other Infants are obnoxious to death; to their Graves it brings them; and dare any man &s;ay then, that they have no &s;inful quality in their nature? This were to tell us of an effect without a cau&s;e, and to make God puni&s;h &s;uch as never de&s;erved it; <HI>for the wages of &s;in is death;</HI> nay, <HI>the wa|ges of</HI> this <HI>&s;in, is death; for one mans offence,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.23. Rom. 5.18.</NOTE> God wrote this &s;entence <HI>of con|demnation again&s;t all:</HI> And when we &s;ee death raign, and his will executed up|on Infants as well as others, what rea&s;on is there to conceive, that any one put to death by this righteous Judge, &s;hould be an Innocent. Innocents indeed we call the&s;e, and well we may in compari&s;on of our &s;elves, which are &s;uch noto|rious Nocents; but if they, or any for them &s;ay, <HI>they have no &s;in, they make God a lyar, and his Word is not in them;</HI> for in his Word he hath &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.23.</NOTE> <HI>that all have &s;inned, and fall &s;hort of the glory of God.</HI></P>
<P>But <HI>Pelagius</HI> for the better colour of his Errour, hath ranked Infants in|to two &s;orts: Some that are de&s;cended of parents who beleive not the Go&s;pel; and the&s;e he confe&s;&s;eth obnoxious to &s;in and corruption: Other, who are the Off-&s;pring of the godly and faithful; <HI>The&s;e godly parents</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>being holy them&s;elves, cannot bring forth an ungodly child;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 14.4. 1 Cor. 7.14.</NOTE> <HI>no more than an un|clean thing can come out of a clean;</HI> and to give &s;trength to this &s;hift, he ap|plies the Apo&s;tles words, <HI>Your children are holy.</HI></P>
<P>True it is, that &s;ome are the i&s;&s;ue of believing, &s;ome of unbelieving pa|rents; but as untrue, that there is in the fir&s;t an exemption from original &s;in,
<PB N="580" REF="296"> as it is true that the latter are guilty; for Saint <HI>Paul</HI> affirms, that this &s;in is in all alike, nor more, nor le&s;s, becau&s;e <HI>by the offence of one, many were dead</HI> alike,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.14. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI></NOTE> <HI>even tho&s;e who had not &s;inned after the &s;imilitude of Adams tran&s;|gre&s;&s;ion;</HI> that is, <HI>propriae voluntatis actu,</HI> by an act of their own will, as did <HI>Adam,</HI> and he means Infants: <HI>All dye,</HI> and therefore no difference betwixt a child of a believer, or an unbeliever; of a <HI>Jew,</HI> or a <HI>Gentile,</HI> in re&s;pect of natural corruption: And indeed how was it po&s;&s;ible, when the child of <HI>Jew</HI> and <HI>Gentile</HI> was unborn at the commi&s;&s;ion of <HI>Adams</HI> &s;in, that one &s;hould be guilty of the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion of the Law in Paradi&s;e more than the other? If they equally &s;inned in the loyns of <HI>Adam,</HI> as they did, either then exempt both, or exempt neither; for free the one, and you mu&s;t free the other. <HI>Pela|gius</HI> di&s;tinction then of children of good and bad parents, to this purpo&s;e, is al|together frivolous.</P>
<P>And that he collects from it, is as fal&s;e, That the children of good men are without &s;in, confirming his a&s;&s;ertion by that of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Your children are holy.</HI></P>
<P>For holy they are not, as if de&s;cended from holy parents, they had an in|herent holine&s;s from the birth; yet holy they may be &s;aid to be, becau&s;e the children of believing parents have this Prerogative above Infidels, that they are born within the pale of the Church, and therefore have a pre&s;ent right and in|tere&s;t to tho&s;e means, whereby the Ordinance of Chri&s;t is, that his Church &s;hould be &s;anctified.</P>
<P>And this Laver their good Mother the Church be&s;tows upon them, becau&s;e they are polluted; what do you at the water? why hath there been &s;uch care taken to wa&s;h little children? In vain were they wa&s;hed in this Laver of Regeneration, were they without the &s;pots and filth of &s;in. Go and wa&s;h your &s;potted dirty-tail'd Sheep there; Lambs the&s;e are, and if <HI>Pelagius</HI> Doctrine be true, I ask, What have they done?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.19.</NOTE> What have they done? They have <HI>&s;inned in him,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>in whom all have &s;inned,</HI> they art involved in that great offence, <GAP DESC="foreign">, of which all are guilty; and therefore they are all wa&s;hed in that water, <GAP DESC="foreign">, in which all mu&s;t be wa&s;hed; this very Bapti&s;me of the Church is an evident Argument, that they are &s;oil'd with the &s;tain and pollution of the womb.</P>
<P>Yea, but <HI>Pelagius</HI> goes on, and layes hold on this an&s;wer as advantageous for him:<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.13.</NOTE> <HI>For</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>are they wa&s;hed? are they by it &s;anctified? then it will follow, that the children begotten by them, are not born of blood, and the will of the fle&s;h; but coming from regenerate loyns, are a holy &s;eed.</HI></P>
<P>Suppo&s;e that were true, which this wi&s;e man takes for granted, <HI>viz.</HI> That grace did &s;o far elevate our nature, that it rai&s;ed it to the fir&s;t integrity; that a father were as holy and clean, as <HI>Pelagius</HI> would have him; (which yet is not &s;o, &s;ince in Bapti&s;me there is a remi&s;&s;ion of the guilt of &s;in, the ill quality re|maining) Yet &s;uppo&s;e all this true, this will not make holine&s;s hereditary; for piety and holine&s;s, and other Chri&s;tian vertues are adventitious forms, not na|tural to any man; the&s;e belong not to the nature of a man; for a man is a man without them; the&s;e then the Father begets not. That a good man beget a man, is natural; but that he beget a ju&s;t, a holy man, is no wayes nece&s;&s;a|ry, becau&s;e he begets not a child as he is ju&s;t, but as he is a meer man: And, &s;ince now to the nature of man &s;in cleaves, it is no wonder, that together with his nature, the corruption is infu&s;ed into the po&s;terity.</P>
<P>This is ea&s;ie to be &s;een in <HI>Adam</HI> him&s;elf, to him God made a promi&s;e of pardon, his faith relying upon <HI>the &s;eed of the woman to break the Serpents head,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.</NOTE> ju&s;tified him in the &s;ight of God: And yet this believing <HI>Adam</HI> begets his elde&s;t &s;on, and <HI>Eve</HI> brings him forth a <HI>Cain,</HI> no Saint I am &s;ure, no heir of his fathers faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4.</NOTE> and imputed ju&s;tice.</P>
<PB N="581" REF="296">
<P>Go now <HI>Pelagius,</HI> and &s;ay, <HI>That good parents mu&s;t have good children; that &s;anctified per&s;ons mu&s;t needs bring forth Saints;</HI> when ju&s;tified <HI>Adam</HI> begets an impious <HI>Cain:</HI> And why &s;hould any man wonder at this, &s;ince every dayes experience can teach us, that a circumci&s;ed <HI>Jew</HI> begets an uncircumci&s;ed In|fant, and the pure&s;t grain of Wheat thre&s;h'd, and winnow'd, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">nn'd from the Chaffe, growes up, and ripens in the Ear with the husk about it; what the fore-skin is to the circumci&s;ed <HI>Jew,</HI> or the Chaffe to the pure&s;t grain, that &s;in is to our nature, it &s;ticks &s;o fa&s;t on, that it will appear with it.</P>
<P>It was the Prerogative of Chri&s;t alone to be free from this blot;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 4.15.</NOTE> he deri|ved not from his mother original &s;in; for he was not from <HI>Adam,</HI> as from the Agent principal, and from the &s;eminating power;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.35.</NOTE> but from the <HI>&V;irgin</HI> he took that matter, which by <HI>the over-&s;hadowing power of the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> was freed from the common contagion with which all other are polluted: <HI>Et fic actum e&s;t de Pelagio.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> That Concupi&s;cence in the Regenerate is a &s;in, again&s;t the Papi&s;ts:</HEAD>
<P>One of the main Rea&s;ons that per&s;waded the <HI>Romani&s;ts,</HI> that the vicious nature of original &s;in in Regenerate per&s;ons, is &s;o far unrooted, that they are not guilty of it, is, becau&s;e the <HI>Me&s;&s;alians</HI> were by <HI>Theodoret</HI> condemned for Hereticks, in that they thought Bapti&s;me as a Razour to &s;have away pa&s;t &s;ins; but that it took not away the root, concupi&s;cence remaining behind: But our Adver&s;aries are partial in relation of the <HI>Me&s;&s;alian</HI> Here&s;ie; they thought indeed Bapti&s;me did not unroot original &s;in, but they added, that it did not de|liver men from the tyranny of Satan, nor yet conferred grace to the re&s;i&s;tance of &s;in: This la&s;t we di&s;claim; the fir&s;t part of their a&s;&s;ertion hath &s;ome truth in it. Now tho&s;e of <HI>Rome</HI> explain them&s;elves about it one way, and we another.</P>
<P N="1">1. The <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> grant, that this original corruption is in all men at their conception; which yet &s;o far by Bapti&s;me is taken away, that it cea&s;eth to be properly &s;in; that yet it is &s;o called, they confe&s;s, becau&s;e it is the incentive to &s;in, being much like Tinder, which though it be not formally fire, yet it is very apt to catch the flame; they liken it al&s;o to &s;ome hereditary di&s;ea&s;e, put ca&s;e the Stone or the Gout, which being received even with the &s;eed from the Progenitours, di&s;affects the &s;ons body.</P>
<P N="2">2. We agree with them in this, that it remains in our nature after Ba|pti&s;me, that al&s;o it is a provocation to wickedne&s;s: but withall we &s;ay, which they deny, that it is a &s;in, and leaves a blot upon the &s;oul.</P>
<P>I know very well that original &s;in extends farther than concupi&s;cence; yet &s;ince <HI>Thomas, Lombard,</HI> and the other School-men &s;peak of both as one, I in this place will not &s;eparate them; e&s;pecially &s;ince the di&s;tinction of concu|pi&s;cence will give great light and &s;atisfaction in this controver&s;ie: Concupi&s;|cence is to be con&s;idered three manner of wayes.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, As it is a power and faculty of the &s;oul, by which we are &s;tirred and moved from within, to de&s;ire &s;omewhat without; and this power is like the vi&s;ual faculty of the eye, or the prime ability of the ear, both natural and in&s;epa|rable; neither is the motion any more &s;inful, when it moves the &s;oul to de&s;ire any thing lawful, than that of the eye, or the ear are, when they are &s;tirred up to behold their proper object. Concupi&s;cence then in this &s;en&s;e is a natural fa|culty in&s;eparable from the &s;oul, and it offends <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ot, when it de&s;ires any thing for quantity or quality as it ought, and in that decent order as it &s;hould; the fault is when things tran&s;itory and &s;en&s;itive, are inordinately and overmuch, and eter|nal and &s;piritual matters too little de&s;ired.</P>
<PB N="582" REF="297">
<P>Secondly, Concupi&s;cence is taken then for an inordinate motion, deviati|on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.3. Gen. 8.21. Rom. 1.24. Tit. 1.15. Rom. 7.23.</NOTE> or ataxie, either in the minde, or in the heart, or in the will, or in the af|fections, or in the con&s;cience, making a man rebellious to the Law of God, and &s;olliciting to evil. This in the Scripture is call'd <HI>the law of fle&s;h,</HI> becau&s;e it is in the fle&s;h as the &s;ubject; <HI>the Law of the Members,</HI> becau&s;e it makes an active rebellion in all parts;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bonav. in <HI>2.</HI> Sent. di&s;t. <HI>30.</HI></NOTE> <HI>fomes peccati,</HI> becau&s;e from this &s;cum all filth of &s;in is fomented; <HI>languor naturae,</HI> becau&s;e it infeebles a man to do the good he would, and as he would. This is not &s;o properly Original &s;in, as it is an ill con|&s;equent accompanying Original Sin. For in Original Sin there be two things.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Thom.</HI> 1. 2ae <HI>q.</HI> 82. <HI>Art.</HI> 3.</NOTE>The One is a privation of, and a defect in Original righteou&s;ne&s;s, or as <HI>Tho|mas</HI> teacheth, an Aver&s;ion from good, which is the formal part of it: The other is a prone&s;&s;e to evil, and a difficulty to do good, which is the Material part thereof. Both the&s;e are in Original &s;in. For as &s;ickne&s;s is not only a privation of health, but al&s;o an ill affection of the body ari&s;ing from the di&s;temper of the blood and humours: &s;o al&s;o this hereditary &s;tain is not only the want of righteou&s;nfes, but al&s;o an exorbitancy and a de|fection to iniquity. This la&s;t ptoceeding from the former, as the act from the habit.</P>
<P>For thirdly, Concupi&s;cence is taken for the effects them&s;elves, which fol|low upon it; blindne&s;s in the mind, perver&s;ene&s;&s;e in the will, a tumult in the appetite, the lo&s;s of &s;upernatural endowments, and the corruption of tho&s;e which are natural.</P>
<P>To apply this; Let Concupi&s;cence be taken in the fir&s;t &s;en&s;e, for the af|fection naturally ari&s;ing from the &s;oul, whereby it is carried to de&s;ire its proper object in an orderly way, and we grant it is no &s;in. But take it in the &s;econd and third acceptions, as it provokes to evil, averts from good, and &s;ets us to de&s;ire unlawful and forbidden things, and &s;o it is a &s;in: and the rea&s;ons to prove this are very pre&s;&s;ing.</P>
<P N="1">1. Is it not a breach of the la&s;t Commandment? hath God in vain &s;aid, <HI>Thou &s;halt not covet?</HI> In which, that not actual concupi&s;cence is condemned, but original, is evident; becau&s;e the act was prohibited before in the other com|mands; nece&s;&s;ary then it is, that in this there be &s;omewhat forbidden, which was not before, except we will make but nine Commandments. Which what it &s;hould be except original concupi&s;cence, I &s;ee not: to which <HI>Zanchy</HI> adds ma|ny other rea&s;ons, <HI>Tom.</HI> 4. <HI>lib.</HI> 1. <HI>cap.</HI> 5. <HI>the&s;.</HI> 4?</P>
<P N="2">2. But the confe&s;sion of the Apo&s;tle is plain; for five times he calls it &s;in in the &s;ixth chapter to the <HI>Romans,</HI> and &s;ix times in the &s;eventh, and thrice in the eighth; and were it not truly and properly &s;uch, he never would &s;o much for it have lamented in his own per&s;on the e&s;tate of a regenerate man, dete&s;ted it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7. Ver. 17, 16, 19, 20, 24.</NOTE> and him&s;elf for it. This he confe&s;&s;'d <HI>dwelt in him.</HI> This he confe&s;&s;'d made <HI>him do that which he would not.</HI> Again&s;t this <HI>he fought and &s;trugl'd,</HI> but could not be rid of it. For this he judged him&s;elf to be a <HI>mi&s;erable man.</HI> And is it not then &s;in? Let any man &s;hew, what more &s;in is able to do.</P>
<P N="3">3. Farther yet, that vitious quality which lu&s;ts again&s;t the &s;pirit, and by lu&s;ting tempts, and in tempting allures, and by alluring draws the heart to &s;in, is in na|ture &s;in it &s;elf.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5. James 1.14. Mat. 15.19.</NOTE> But concupi&s;cence in the regenerate <HI>lu&s;teth again&s;t the Spirit.</HI> It tempts: It draws away as well as allures: there is a conception from it, and the birth is &s;in. <HI>For from within come murders, thefts, fornication, adultery, &amp;c.</HI> Now <HI>&s;uch as the fruit is, &s;uch the tree is like to be;</HI> but the fruit is naught, &s;owre and bitter, and then tree cannot be good and &s;weet.</P>
<P N="4"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bellar. de pec. <HI>5. 10.</HI> &amp; <HI>12.</HI> Stapl. de Ju&s;t. lib. <HI>3,</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE>4. But after all the heat of di&s;pute, our Adver&s;aries me thinks break the ve|ry neck of their own cau&s;e by their own conce&s;&s;ion; for they grant that it is prohibited by divine Law, and repugnant to the &s;ame. What's this I read! prohibited by divine Law! repugnant to the &s;ame! and yet no &s;in. <HI>Opus e&s;t
<PB N="583" REF="297"> Oedipo,</HI> this a Sphinxes riddle for <HI>Oedipus</HI> to interpret; for it far pa&s;&s;eth my capacity.</P>
<P>I could be tedious in this P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">int; but it is, as I &s;aid, an intricate di&s;cour&s;e, fitter for the School then the Pulpit. I w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll therefore &s;hut up all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. contra Julian. lib. <HI>5.</HI> cap. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> with that excellent determination of Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine; Sicut coecitas cordis &amp;c.</HI> As the blindne&s;&s;e of the Heart is both a &s;in, in that by rea&s;on of it men believe not in God; and a puni&s;hment of &s;in, by which the proud heart of the &s;inner is wor|thily puni&s;h'd: and the cau&s;e of &s;in, &s;ince by it man becomes ob&s;tinate, and does that which is evil: So concupi&s;cence again&s;t which the Spirit doth &s;truggle, is a &s;in; becau&s;e there is in it a di&s;obedience again&s;t the Law of the mind; and a puni&s;hment of &s;in it is, it being ju&s;t, that tho&s;e who rebel again&s;t God, &s;hould have within a rebel to ri&s;e and rebel again&s;t them; and it is a cau&s;e of &s;in, in that wicked men do con&s;ent and yield unto it.</P>
<P>But at the&s;e la&s;t words of Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> our Adver&s;aries ha&s;tily catch, ho|ping to make their advantage by them; for &s;ay they, the con&s;ent indeed is &s;in, but not till that be had; and to this purpo&s;e they ca&s;t in tho&s;e words of Saint <HI>James, Lust when it hath conceiv'd, brings forth &s;in.</HI> It is not, &s;ay they, &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rhem. in Rom. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> till it brings forth, which without con&s;ent it will never do.</P>
<P>We an&s;wer, fir&s;t that the very conception of &s;in is a &s;in, though it have not out con&s;ent,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;odor. de diff. Spir. lib. <HI>2.</HI> cap. <HI>27.</HI></NOTE> becau&s;e it is a filthy motion of the &s;oul in the affection of an un|clean lu&s;t. Then &s;econdly, that the argument follows not; for one Serpent may bring forth another, and yet that not hinder the fir&s;t to be a Serpent; and &s;o concupi&s;cence, that conceives and brings forth &s;in as the mother, may be no le&s;s a &s;in then the daughter. The inference to my under&s;tanding were far more &s;trong to the contrary and for us, that &s;ince lu&s;t brings forth &s;in, therefore it &s;elf is a &s;in; becau&s;e the fruit declares the root.</P>
<P>The <HI>Pelagians</HI> then that deny the corruption of Nature, and the Papi&s;ts who teach that Grace doth &s;o far free us from this corruption, that the contrariety betwixt the fle&s;h and the Spirit, and the pronene&s;s to de&s;ire inordinately things tran&s;itory, &s;en&s;ible, and outward, are not &s;inful, are by this Text found to be De|ceivers and Lyars.</P>
<P>A third &s;ort there are, who yer go one &s;tep farther, and free tho&s;e who are born of God, from all &s;in, original and actual. They boa&s;t, that they are puri|fied, &s;anctified, wa&s;hed; all other men are a &s;ort of impure, unholy creatures; they them&s;elves only exempted from the condition of &s;inners; which is <HI>ex di|ametro</HI> contrary to Saint <HI>Johns</HI> words; for &s;aith he,
<Q><BIBL><HI>Ver. 8.</HI></BIBL> If we &s;ay we have no &s;in, we deceive our &s;elves.</Q></P>
<P>That they are better then other men, let them ble&s;s God for it. I envy not their holine&s;s, but will pray that it may be far greater, and that God would add to it, how much &s;oever it is. But perhaps while in the arrogance of their heart they exalt them&s;elves above other men, they may for this their &s;piritual pride be far wor&s;e in the eye of God. <HI>The Publican that &s;tood afar off,</HI> and <HI>begg'd money,</HI> was dearer unto God, then the in&s;olent <HI>Phari&s;ee:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 18.13.</NOTE> when he &s;hould have pray'd, <HI>he prai'&s;d him&s;elf, he thanked God for what he was not,</HI> when he &s;hould have confe&s;s'd, and a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">k'd pardon for what he was. And &s;o &s;hould the proude&s;t Sectary that lives now; for if he, or any man el&s;e &s;ay they have no &s;in, they de|ceive, and are deceiv'd.</P>
<P>A man is &s;aid <HI>Haber<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> peccatum,</HI> to have &s;in three wayes: 1.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;tius in loc.</NOTE> <HI>Propter affectum peccati,</HI> for the affection he bears to &s;in; and there is not a man to be found, who&s;e affections are not inordinate and vicious; for every man bears too much love and goodwill to &s;in, being in one part carnal. In a mans own bo&s;om a Saint &s;hall find what he may reprove.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.14.</NOTE></P>
<PB N="584" REF="298">
<P>Secondly, A man is &s;aid to have &s;in, <HI>propter peccati reatum,</HI> for the guilt of a &s;in newly contracted by him; there being <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ot a man living who daily &s;ins not. For if our affections to &s;in be not purg'd away in this life, the work one time or other will be committed, even by the mo&s;t regenerate man; upon which there will follow a guilt, which that it may be removed, our Saviour hath taught us daily to pray, <HI>Forgive us our tre&s;pa&s;ses.</HI> One rea&s;on perhaps, why tho&s;e pure &s;ouls di&s;like that form.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.12.</NOTE></P>
<P>Thirdly, Sin a man may to be &s;aid to have, <HI>propter actum peccati,</HI> becau&s;e he is a continual and daily actor in &s;in; for which Saint <HI>John</HI> appoints him Con|fe&s;&s;ion, and upon it comforts him with the blood of Chri&s;t, which will clean&s;e him; and in the next chapter a&s;&s;igns him an Advocate; <HI>If any man &s;in, we have an Advocate;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 2.1.</NOTE> <HI>Who&s;oever therefore &s;aith that he hath no &s;in,</HI> that is, that he bears not too much love to &s;in, that he contracts no guilt of &s;in, that he acts not &s;in, <HI>he deceives him&s;elf.</HI></P>
<P>In Bapti&s;m there is Grace conferr'd for the non-imputation of &s;in, but not for the non-exi&s;tence of it: for this cau&s;e we &s;ay, that God vouch&s;afeth two ble&s;&s;ings in Bapti&s;m; Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in, and Mortification. He then remits the guilt of &s;in, &s;o that the iniquity thereof &s;hall be no more imputed to the condemnation of him that is born again. The guilt that is afterward con|tracted by an actual &s;in, rhough it needs not a new Laver, yet it needs a new repentance. As for the power of Mortification then be&s;towed, it goes further; and were it perfect, it would wholly aboli&s;h &s;in in the mind, w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll, and affecti|ons, that &s;o no corrpution, no not vitious concupi&s;cence &s;hould remain behind; But becau&s;e it is begun only, and not accompli&s;hed till death, therefore the bitter root &s;till remains, though the fruits it brings forth, be not im|puted.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Synod. Dordr.</NOTE>We di&s;claim then the whole extirpation of corruption. Yet we &s;ay, that Grace in the very act of regeneration doth work very powerfully upon the &s;oul; that the tyranny of &s;in is thereby much allaid and &s;til<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">'d, and continually brought to a kind of re&s;t and &s;leep. The rage then of &s;in, the dominion and reign is ve|ry much abated in the regenerate per&s;ons, but nor the root, nor the branches are quite taken away. This is a work for death, which God brought into the world, lea&s;t &s;in &s;hould be immortal.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Method. apud Epiphan. Her. <HI>64.</HI> Sect. <HI>27.</HI></NOTE>A skilful Arti&s;an frames a &s;tatue of the gold of <HI>Ophir,</HI> which &s;ome mali|cious hand envying the glory of the workman, batters, and brui&s;es, and defaces &s;o much as lies in his power: The workman brings this to the file and the ham|mer; but when he finds that no art will reduce his Statue to the fir&s;t lu&s;tre, in pieces, he breaks it, and melts it anew, that &s;o it may recover its fir&s;t beauty: God did thus with man, fram'd him to his own likene&s;s, a goodly creature, which the envy of the devil pre&s;ently defaced. And God perceiving that no skill or power would ever remove from him the brui&s;es and &s;cars, that he had re|ceived from that envious &s;pirit, re&s;olves to bring him into the du&s;t of death, that &s;o his blemi&s;hes might not remain for ever, but that they might be by the fur|nace of death as it were melted out. and never appear more.</P>
<P>Hence you may &s;ee, that in the judgment of antiquity, that &s;in doth &s;o far deface our Nature, that the image of God fir&s;t impre&s;s'd upon us, can never be fully repaired, till we be di&s;&s;olv'd, and as a &s;tatue newly melted.</P>
<P>The cracks and blurs in a Statue may be perhaps &s;topped up, and &s;coured off, yet to a curious eye they will appear. And &s;o Grace may and doth very much mend the flaws of our corrupt fle&s;h, but <HI>cicatrix manet,</HI> the &s;cars of that wound we fir&s;t received, yet remain behind; and though the indiligence of man may pa&s;&s;e by them, yet they are apparent to the eye of God.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 12.15.</NOTE>Saint <HI>Paul</HI> acknowledgeth &s;o much, that in the Hebrews <HI>there was a root of
<PB N="585" REF="298"> bitterne&s;s,</HI> and that in him&s;elf there were too manife&s;t fruits of this bitter root. By which texts it is manife&s;t, that the bitter root of &s;in yet remains in the re|generate, and that it is not dead, but living; and that the operation thereof is only kept in, and re&s;train'd from prevailing in &s;uch &s;ort as it did before, but it is not wholly taken away. If the faithful would do Gods will on earth, as the Saints in heaven, they cannot; <HI>for the fle&s;h lusteth against the Spirit;</HI> if they would &s;in maliciou&s;ly and ob&s;tinately as the Devils, bla&s;phemou&s;ly as <HI>Ju|lian,</HI> they &s;hall not; becau&s;e the Grace of Gods Spirit doth allay the power and tyranny of this inbred enemy.</P>
<P><HI>Zanchy</HI> hath well ob&s;erved upon this place, that there is a va&s;t difference betwixt the &s;ins of the Regenerate, and tho&s;e who are not born again. Both &s;in, but not both in the &s;ame manner. Tho&s;e he cals <HI>deambulationes,</HI> walks in &s;in: The&s;e, <HI>Lap&s;us,</HI> &s;lips only.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, the wicked walk in darkne&s;s; <HI>their ways be dark and &s;lippery,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 35.6.</NOTE> and yet they voluntarily and freely continue in them. 2. Then they take great de|light in this walk; &s;in is no burden to them, but a plea&s;ure; &s;o that the works of darkne&s;&s;e give them great content; according to that of our Saviour, <HI>Men love darkne&s;s more than light, becau&s;e their deeds are evil.</HI> 3. La&s;tly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.19.</NOTE> they give not over till they have walkt out their walk, and brought their &s;in to the <HI>Con&s;ummatum e&s;t,</HI> to be perfect.<NOTE PLACE="marg">James 2.15.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. But with a regenerate man it is quite otherwi&s;e. For fir&s;t, &s;in may &s;urrep|titiou&s;ly and in a cunning way &s;teal upon him in his walk, but he will never give it the right hand of fellow&s;hip. The purpo&s;e of his Will is always en|tire, fixed as the centre immoveable, that God be King, that his Law be his guide. That he makes his &s;cope, though by the practice of the fle&s;h again&s;t the Spirit, <HI>de&s;truit in particulari, quod in generali intentione est con&s;titutum;</HI> He doth that he would not. For &s;econdly, he rejoyceth not in doing evil, but <HI>rejoyceth in the truth.</HI> He finds <HI>&s;in a burden too heavy for him to bear,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.6. P&s;al. 38.4.</NOTE> and therefore hates, and is willing to ca&s;t it off. A full plea&s;ure he takes not in the Act, and le&s;s after; <HI>peccat remurmurante con&s;cienti&acirc;,</HI> his con&s;cience mur|murs and ri&s;eth again&s;t that he does, and mutters that it &s;hould be done; His heart hath little re&s;t within, comes and goes, and di&s;ciplines him, and puts him to pain even when he yields; <HI>di&s;plicet &s;ibi quia di&s;plicet Deo,</HI> he is di&s;plea&s;ed with him&s;elf becau&s;e he hath di&s;plea&s;ed his God. La&s;tly, having &s;lipt, he reco|vers, if po&s;&s;ible, or if his hard hap be to take a foul fall, he lies not along, and tumbles in his filth, but ri&s;es quickly and goes to his God, and complains of his own heart, and of his enemy. He pours in &s;alt tears to his &s;weet &s;in, and pays for his plea&s;ure with brine. And ever after is afraid of &s;in, as of the plague, he flyes from it <HI>cit&ograve;, long&egrave;, tard&egrave;.</HI> His departure from it &s;peedy, his remove far, his return is very &s;low, or never. He looks to every rub, to every &s;tone, every rock again&s;t which he may da&s;h his foot; and goes on his way with fear and trembling. He never awakes this &s;leepy Lion, nor &s;tirs the&s;e dregs in the bottom by &s;ome tempting object let in by the ear, or any al|lurement from the eye; knowing well that the&s;e provocations will be like <HI>Jacobs</HI> pil'd &s;ticks in the troughs and gutters;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 30.38, 39.</NOTE> the heart that beholds them with delight, will bring forth no other but &s;peck'd and &s;potted births:</P>
<P>The&s;e then are the differences betwixt a good and a bad man about &s;in.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The one offends freely, the other with reluctancy.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The one loves his &s;in, the other hates it.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The one continues on his cour&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 4.27.</NOTE> the other breaks it off by repen|tance, flyes from it, and takes care, that he provoke it no more.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<Q>Why God was plea&s;ed that &s;in &s;hould remain in regenerate per&s;ons.</Q>
<PB N="586" REF="299">
<P>Yea but now &s;ome will ask, Could not God have utterly de&s;troy'd &s;in, root and branch, &s;o that it never &s;hould have &s;ent forth a blo&s;&s;om, nor born the&s;e &s;owr and hedge-grapes in the regenerate? Yes, no que&s;tion he could have unrooted &s;in as well as have pruned it, but he hath left this root and &s;ap in our nature, and permits it to be free and luxuriant even in his choice&s;t vines, for divers weighty rea&s;ons.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t is, to take down their pride, and to humble them. Man is too apt to have too high a conceit of his own per&s;on, his own wit, power, grace: So that there is not &s;uch a dangerous enemy to the &s;oul as &s;pi|ritual pride.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.11.</NOTE> The Phari&s;ee becau&s;e he was a little better, in his own conceit, than the Publican, contemn'd him. That a man therefore might de&s;cend in|to his own heart, and know him&s;elf, God lets the be&s;t of his &s;ervants be ob|noxious to this poy&s;on and the effects of ir, and &s;o makes &s;in a remedy to &s;lay pride, that invincible Mon&s;ter which otherwi&s;e would &s;lay the &s;oul. Saint <HI>Paul for his abundance of Revelations, was in danger to be puffed up;</HI> to a&s;&s;wage this tumour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12, 7.</NOTE> <HI>there was given to him a thorn in the fle&s;h, the mini|&s;ter of Satan to buffet him.</HI> The heart in the body is &s;o full of heat, it would &s;tifle it &s;elf, and us al&s;o, were it not that God hath provided the lungs to cool it: Semblably in the &s;oul grace is full of heat and &s;pirit, were it not, that God had ordained the&s;e infirmities to cool it, and keep it in temper, to awake our care, and provide that we pre&s;ume not too high.</P>
<P N="2">2. Again, God &s;uffers his &s;ervants to have &s;in about them, and to fall into it, that thereby he may quicken and revive tho&s;e graces which lie hidden in their hearts;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 5. Joh. 20.28.</NOTE> Saint <HI>Peter</HI> is more bold after his denial; <HI>Thomas</HI> more &s;trong in faith, after his infidelity: The good husbandman cuts his Vines, not with a purpo&s;e to kill them, but to make them bear more fruit. In the <HI>Canticles,</HI> when Chri&s;t left his Spou&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 4.4, 5, 6.</NOTE> then <HI>&s;he ri&s;eth out of her bed; &s;he opens the door;</HI> then <HI>her hands drop myrrhe upon the Bar;</HI> then <HI>&s;he &s;eeks,</HI> then <HI>&s;he calls for him,</HI> but not before.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.25.</NOTE> No man is crowned, except he &s;trive; and therefore the Lord, who hath prepared for us a Crown, hath al&s;o &s;uffered &s;ome enemies to remain, that by the battel and conflict with them, our faith, our patience, our per&s;eve|rance might be tryed and increa&s;ed; no otherwi&s;e than the <HI>Canaanites</HI> were left in the Land,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 2.22.</NOTE> <HI>that his people might thereby be proved, whether they would walk in the way he &s;et them, and keep it.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. But there is another Rea&s;on beyond all the&s;e; that is, that by feeling our wants, we may &s;eek for help, and petition for more grace; partly to &s;upply what is wanting, partly to cover what is ami&s;s.</P>
<P N="1">1. Did not men by experience find how powerful &s;in is to over-rule them, they would never be &s;o &s;en&s;ible of their own bondage, and &s;ins tyranny; for if the remains only of it in the allay and weakne&s;s produce in us &s;o &s;trong and re&s;t|le&s;s remptations and exorbitances, how would it tyrannize, were it in its full &s;trength and vigour? That which abates it, and takes it down, is grace; and grace de&s;cends not down upon us, till our prayer a&s;cends up, and fetches it down: Being then, even out of the abatement, &s;en&s;ible of the Tyrannical power, it behoves us to call for help, for armour to re&s;i&s;t.</P>
<P N="2">2. But when we have fought, wre&s;tled, re&s;i&s;ted to the utmo&s;t, yet we &s;hall be foil'd. A cover then is nece&s;&s;ary, that will hide all; and &s;uch a one there is; a long white Robe, made of our Saviours righteou&s;ne&s;s, which is able alone to cover all. He that is truly &s;en&s;ible how much he wants it, will alone petition for it; and it is this &s;ame root and &s;tock of &s;in in the Regenerate, that forceth them to &s;ue for it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 16 7.</NOTE> Chri&s;t told his Di&s;ciples, <HI>it is expedient for you that I go away;</HI> and &s;o it is expedient that Chri&s;t &s;ometimes withdraw him&s;elf, and leave man in the hands of his own coun&s;els, leave &s;in in him to provoke, to tempt, to a&s;&s;ault, to conquer him: that being pur&s;ued, and in danger of undo|ing, he may flie to him for remedy.</P>
<PB N="587" REF="299">
<P>We &s;ee it in the common cour&s;e of life; it is good for &s;ome men, that their meat be taken from them, yet meat is the &s;taffe of life; that from &s;ome it is good that blood be taken, yet blood is the Nur&s;e of life; that from men with &s;ore eyes light be removed, and yet light is the comfort of life. Loth I am to &s;ay it, yet it is for our good that Chri&s;t ab&s;ent him&s;elf; for upon his re|ce&s;s, <HI>men will &s;eek him the more diligently;</HI> the people did &s;o;<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.24.</NOTE> the want of any thing being that which will &s;et the true price upon it. This &s;ame home-bred, inbred di&s;ability will deject a pious &s;oul; this &s;ame &s;ad apprehen&s;ion how little we can do without the help of our good Lord, the &s;en&s;e we have of our fail|ings in his ab&s;ence, w ll batter a religious heart to a flat nothing; and yet again inflame his affections to gra&s;p his Saviour with all his merits, that he may be <HI>Wi&s;dom, Righteou&s;ne&s;s, Sanctification, Redemption, Light, Life, good works,</HI> in a word, <HI>all in all unto him.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.30.</NOTE></P>
<P>Evident hence it is why God hath &s;uffered &s;in to dwell with good men, <HI>viz.</HI> to humble them, to perfect his graces in them, to drive them to Chri&s;t, &s;uch is his love, &s;uch is his goodne&s;s; <HI>He that cau&s;ed light to &s;hine out of darkne<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s,</HI> hath out of the poy&s;on of &s;in made a Cordial, by which he will make it appear, <HI>That all things,</HI> even &s;in and all, <HI>&s;hall work together for the be&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.28.</NOTE> <HI>to tho<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e who love God.</HI></P>
<P>Thus much of the <HI>Hypothe&s;is, If we &s;ay we have no &s;in;</HI> which &s;uppo|&s;eth the <HI>The&s;is,</HI> that there be &s;ome who &s;ay &s;o; well, who&s;oever they be that &s;ay it, they are but in an ill ca&s;e; for,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>They deceive them&s;elves;</HI> &s;o are fal&s;e people.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>They make God a lyar;</HI> and &s;o are impious.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>There is no truth in them;</HI> and then are not to be tru&s;ted.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>Not to detain you long, <GAP DESC="foreign">, we wander, and erre, and put a meer fallacy upon our &s;elves. Wi&s;e men love not to be deceived, or if by any, yet not by one they tru&s;t, and lea&s;t of all by him they mo&s;t tru&s;t, the Coun&s;ellour that lies in the bo&s;ome: But <HI>he who &s;aith he hath no &s;in, is deceived</HI> by his own heart, his neare&s;t Friend, his deare&s;t Coun&s;ellour; of all other Errours then, let us take heed of this: For fir&s;t, no man will pity us, rather turn upon us the Proverb, <HI>Self-do, Self-have:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.3.</NOTE> Then by this over-&s;welling a man bur&s;ts to nothing, and by his <HI>nothing, thinking him&s;elf &s;omething, he deceives him|&s;elf.</HI> But the greate&s;t Paralogi&s;me or Fallacy, is, <HI>That he deceives him&s;elf of a Saviour;</HI> for Chri&s;t &s;aves none but &s;inners; his blood clean&s;eth from &s;in; he that <HI>hath no &s;in,</HI> hath no load; and he that hath no load, feels it not; and who &s;o feels not his burden, is not called by Chri&s;t. Beware then that pride entice you not into the company of the <HI>Cathari;</HI> for by it you cou&s;en your &s;elves of &s;alvation, and a more dangerous deceit and cou&s;enage there can|not be.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> We make God a lyar.</HEAD>
<P>But this is not all, behold a greater impiety, <HI>We make God a lyar!</HI> What's this I read! <HI>God a lyar!</HI> The Father of Truth to become the Authour of a lye! <HI>Horre&s;co referens:</HI> And yet this is done by him <HI>who &s;aith he hath no &s;in;</HI> for God hath plainly delivered his te&s;timony in this matter, <HI>All we like &s;heep have gone a&s;tray; there is not one that doth good, no not one;</HI> not the Infant of a day old is clean, <HI>All have &s;inned;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.6. P&s;al. 4.1, 2.3. Gal. 3.22.</NOTE> and God hath &s;hut up all under &s;in, that he might have mercy upon all. To exempt our &s;elves from the com|mon condition of &s;inners, is to make a fal&s;e conclu&s;ion, and to bla&s;pheme God to his face. <HI>All men are &s;inners,</HI> &s;aith God; nay, &s;ay the&s;e pure &s;ouls, &s;tay there, <HI>We are not &s;o;</HI> and what is this but to give <HI>God the lye?</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<PB N="588" REF="300">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> The Truth is not in him, and his Word is not in him.</HEAD>
<P>But let this lie re&s;t with tho&s;e that devi&s;ed it; let <HI>God be true, and all men lyars,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.4.</NOTE> as it is written; for he that &s;aith it, <HI>is a lyar, and the Truth is not in him.</HI> God is without &s;in; for he is ju&s;tice and integrity it &s;elf: The Son of God is without &s;in;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.9.</NOTE> for <HI>there was no deceit found in his mouth:</HI> The Angels with|out &s;in; for <HI>they &s;tood in their integrity:</HI> But what man &s;oever affirms this of of him&s;elf, contradicts Gods <HI>Word, Truth there is none in him.</HI> They who have &s;aid the <HI>Truth,</HI> have &s;aid to the contrary: <HI>Pettr</HI> confe&s;&s;eth, <HI>I am a &s;inful man. Paul</HI> an Elect Ve&s;&s;el,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 5.8. 1 Tim 1.15. &s;a. 6.5.</NOTE> <HI>That he was the chief of &s;inners:</HI> I&s;aiah, <HI>That he was of polluted lips.</HI> But what do I trouble you with In&s;tances in this kind, &s;ince they are as many as men, who are, have been, or &s;hall be; either then a mortal mu&s;t depo&s;e the nature of man, or confe&s;s him&s;elf to be a &s;inner, except he will <HI>deceive him&s;elf,</HI> and <HI>deceive oth<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rs;</HI> except he will <HI>make God a lyar, and his Word a lye.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>The APPLICATION.</HEAD>
<P>That coun&s;el then of <HI>Solomon</HI> is good, <HI>Be not righteous over-much, neither make thy &s;elf over-wi&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 7.16.</NOTE> <HI>why &s;houldest thou destroy thy &s;elf? Righteous over|much?</HI> Who can be &s;o? He that rhinks he is &s;o, that tru&s;ts in him&s;elf, and ima|gines he is not like other men; for ever, where there is the greate&s;t &s;incerity, there is the greate&s;t humility; and where the lea&s;t <HI>truth,</HI> there is the greate&s;t pride.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.4.</NOTE> <HI>I know nothing by my &s;elf,</HI> &s;aith Saint <HI>Paul, and yet am I not thereby ju&s;tified:</HI> Guilty he was not of any malicious wickedne&s;s, nor to be convicted of any &s;candalous offence, and yet he dur&s;t not &s;tand for, and plead his ju&s;tice; for he confe&s;&s;ed <HI>there was a Law in his memb<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rs which r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">belled, and led him captive to the Law of &s;in.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 7.23.</NOTE> Let's have no boa&s;ting then, &s;ince this cho&s;en Ve&s;|&s;el dur&s;t not boa&s;t, not of his Pedigree, not of his Phari&s;ai&s;m, not of his &s;tripes, not of his preaching,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.4, 5, 6.</NOTE> not of praying, not of his Fa&s;ts, his pennance: In his e&s;teem all the&s;e, and all that might be added to the&s;e, <HI>in compari<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">n of Chri&s;t were but dung:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.22, 23, &amp;c.</NOTE> In the eye of man of &s;ome worth, but at Gods Tribunal not worth talking of; for when all's done, the be&s;t man is but <HI>qua&s;i ju&s;tus,</HI> the re|&s;emblance of a ju&s;t man; he may fall, as did <HI>David;</HI> he may &s;in, as did <HI>Pe|ter,</HI> he carries fle&s;h about him, that doth and will pollute his be&s;t actions: Wa&s;h in <HI>Abanah</HI> and <HI>Parphar,</HI> and all the Rivers of <HI>Dama&s;cus:</HI> Dow&s;e thy &s;elf in <HI>Jordan</HI> &s;even times,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 5.</NOTE> yet this lepro&s;ie of &s;in will not off, it &s;till cleaves to, and will yet dwell to the fle&s;h. What vain confidence then is this, in which the&s;e walk|ing Gho&s;ts of the old Gno&s;tiques tru&s;t? Is there not a <HI>lye</HI> in their right hand? It is a vanity to &s;ay, <HI>We have not &s;inned, we do not &s;in;</HI> and they that <HI>tru&s;t to the&s;e lying vanities,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jonah 2.8.</NOTE> <HI>for&s;ake their own mercy.</HI></P>
<P>What the &s;in of this Land was, that thus hath rai&s;ed the anger of God into a flame, is not hard to di&s;cover; what it is that continues it, we know: <HI>We &s;in,</HI> and yet we &s;ay, <HI>We do not &s;in; we are deceived,</HI> and yet will not be brought to confe&s;s it. O holine&s;s, the beauty of the old Saints, whether art thou fled? in what Corners are we call'd upon to &s;eek thee? And thither when we come, there we are pre&s;ented with thy Shadow and Name; but thy Self, in a foul Garment, and deformed face; woe is me, it pities me to &s;ee what thou wert, and what thou art.</P>
<Q><L>&mdash; Quae cau&s;a indigna &s;erenos</L>
<L>Faedavit vultus, aut cur haec vulnera cerno!</L></Q>
<P>Wounded by ambition, wounded by &s;edition, wounded by covetou&s;nes, wound|ed by &s;acriledge, wounded by ob&s;cenity, by cruelty, confu&s;ion; wounded by
<PB N="589" REF="300"> ignorance, by errour, by darkne&s;s, by here&s;ie, by &s;chi&s;me, by hypocri&s;ie, and yet thy venerable Name fa&s;tned upon all the&s;e; the&s;e which were wont to be branded with the name of helli&s;h &s;ins, now are pre&s;ented to us for the beauty of holine&s;s.</P>
<Q>Aevi longa valet tantam mutare vetu&s;tas.</Q>
<P>Men may well &s;ay <HI>they &s;in not,</HI> when they own the&s;e for vertues; but this gild|ed Copper moves us not farther than to pity the &s;inners, and wonder at their pride and darkne&s;s.</P>
<P>Back then we retire, and &s;eek for holine&s;s, where we are &s;ure to find her in the Word of God; there we find her as old as the Ancient of dayes; there we behold her clad in meekne&s;s, courte&s;ie, charity, humility, ju&s;tice; about her we find the fruit of righteou&s;ne&s;s, peace, repentance, and the love of God and man; and a great Train of old Saints in a mourning weed attending on her, lamenting that they have &s;tain'd her beauty by their weakne&s;&s;es and infir|mities.</P>
<P>And in the &s;teps of the&s;e holy men we mean to walk. While they &s;ay, <HI>they have no &s;in,</HI> we will acknowledge we are &s;inners; while they defend their &s;in to be no &s;in, we will confe&s;s it, and lament for it; nothing doub<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing but that God who &s;ees the&s;e tears, will put them into his Bottle, and will cover our imperfect holine&s;s with the long Robe of his Sons righteou&s;ne&s;s, in which when we &s;hall appear before him, we &s;hall be clean&s;ed from all &s;in: When they who &s;ay they <HI>have no &s;in,</HI> &s;hall be found to be <HI>lyars,</HI> and have the reward of <HI>lyars. From which our good God deliver us, for his Son Je&s;us Christs &s;ake.</HI> Amen.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="45" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The publick and private Confe&s;&s;ion of &s;in.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 John 1.9.</HI></BIBL>
<P>If we confe&s;s our &s;ins, he is faithful and ju&s;t to forgive us our &s;ins, and to clean&s;e us from all unrighteou&s;ne&s;s.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THat all men were &s;inners, we may learn in the <HI>ver&s;e</HI> before; that to &s;ay the contrary, is to be Impo&s;tors, Bla&s;phemers, Lyars. Impo&s;tors; for <HI>we &s;hall deceive our &s;elves.</HI> Bla&s;phemers; for <HI>we make God a lyar.</HI> Lyars; for <HI>there is no tru<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h in us; vidi&s;tis vulnera, nunc in&s;picite medicamenta:</HI> You have &s;een the wound, now behold the plai&s;ter; for in this Saint <HI>John</HI> pre|&s;cribes a remedy for the di&s;ea&s;e, to wit, <HI>Repentance:</HI> For &s;ince we have not <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;o much fore-wit to prevent &s;in; nece&s;&s;ary it is, that we have <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;o much after-wit to &s;orrow, and for&s;ake &s;in. To this a man is not like to come, till he acknowledge him&s;elf to be a &s;inner; and therefore Saint <HI>John</HI> pre&s;cri|bing Repentance to tho&s;e who are guilty of &s;in, names only <HI>Confe&s;&s;ion,</HI> which ari&s;eth from grief and &s;hame, implies a hope of obtaining mercy, and a ready mind to do &s;uch things as God requires of penitents.</P>
<P>Note then, tho&s;e nece&s;&s;ary preparatives to repentance, <HI>viz.</HI> the &s;en&s;e of &s;in, &s;orrow or contrition for &s;in, re&s;olution again&s;t &s;in, are not here excluded, but are included, and pre&s;ented to us under this name of <HI>Confe&s;&s;ion;</HI> for it is nece&s;&s;ary, that he be truly affected with the odious nature, and the danger of &s;in; that he be truly contrite for &s;in, that he di&s;claim, for&s;ake, and re&s;olve again&s;t &s;in, who will be a true <HI>Confe&s;&s;ionist.</HI> Saint <HI>John</HI> then under this one word &s;uppo&s;eth all the
<PB N="590" REF="301"> re&s;t, and &s;o &s;hall I; but that I may the more methodically proceed in the ope|ning of this great Chri&s;tian duty, I will in&s;i&s;t on the&s;e heads.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. I will &s;hew what <HI>Confe&s;&s;ion</HI> is, and wherein it con&s;i&s;ts.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The nece&s;&s;ity of it, becau&s;e without it there is no remi&s;&s;ion.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The motives to it; Gods fidelity and ju&s;tice; <HI>God is faithful and ju&s;t.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The end or benefit received by it; Remi&s;&s;ion and Purgation; <HI>If we confe&s;s our &s;ins, God is faithful and ju&s;t to forgive us our &s;ins,</HI> &amp;c.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P><HI>Confe&s;&s;ion</HI> is an act of a contrite heart, by which he doth acknowledge &s;ome offence committed by him, appears to dete&s;t it, hate it, and grieves for it; is a&s;ham'd for what he hath done, deprecates the due puni&s;hment, and renoun|ceth the &s;in for ever. This is to be done either to God, to the Church, or to our Neighbour; to God daily, either publickly or in private; to the Church, when enjoyned by Authority to remove a &s;candal; to Man, when our Brother hath ought again&s;t us.</P>
<P>Of that which is to be made to God, our Apo&s;tle &s;peaks here e&s;pecially; to him <HI>to confe&s;s,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>he is to forgive:</HI> He is the &s;earcher of the heart, and knows every &s;in, and circum&s;tance of it, whether we confe&s;s or no; to his eye there is nothing hid, from his ear there is nothing conceal'd; nece&s;&s;ary then this acknowledgment cannot be in re&s;pect of him&s;elf, and yet he calls upon us for this duty, that he might make us pa&s;s &s;entence upon our &s;elves. Before we pa&s;s judgment upon a &s;in, we &s;eem as it were to vote for it, as if good: But to come and ask pardon, is the confe&s;&s;ion of our errour, of the mi&s;take of our judgment; for by it we condemn the &s;in, and our &s;elves, that both are naught.</P>
<P>And that this duty be rightly done, every man mu&s;t as it were erect a Court in his con&s;cience, and there examine, arraign, accu&s;e, endite, judge, and pa&s;s &s;entence again&s;t him&s;elf: The gro&s;&s;er &s;ins mu&s;t be attached, and the le&s;&s;er not pa&s;&s;ed by, and of all other the bo&s;ome-&s;in not &s;pared; the&s;e mu&s;t be pre&s;ented naked and bare, with all the deformity about them, without any extenuation, without any defence: This is to follow the Prophets advice, <HI>Poure out thy heart like water.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 2.19.</NOTE> <HI>Effunde,</HI> Poure it out; it would be fully and amply done, not &s;paringly, drop after drop; and poured out like water, not like wine, not like oyle; for wine in the Ve&s;&s;el leaves a &s;ent behind it, and oyle a fat and clammy tincture, that will not be gotten out; it would be done as water, when every drop drains out, or quickly dries up, leaving nor ta&s;te, nor dregs behind it: But becau&s;e to make this full confe&s;&s;ion is impo&s;&s;ible; for who knows the Errours of his life? to annex &s;ome &s;uch form as this to the Enditement, will be a great part of wi&s;dom,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.12.</NOTE> <HI>O clean&s;e thou me from my &s;ecret faults.</HI></P>
<P>And if this Enditement be fully and well drawn, it will extort from the man con&s;cious to his own guilt, &s;hame, &s;orrow, and anger; &s;hame, that he &s;hould be &s;o foul a creature in the eye of a pure God; &s;orrow, that he &s;hould &s;o gro&s;ly offend &s;o kind a Father; and anger again&s;t him&s;elf, that he &s;hould be &s;uch an ungrateful wretch.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Periit cui periit pudar;</HI> pa&s;t &s;hame, pa&s;t grace. He is never like to confe&s;s that he hath offended, who is not a&s;hamed of his offence. The true &s;en&s;e of &s;in, will annihilate, confound, and deject the &s;pirit of a true penitent, and force him to ca&s;t his eyes to the ground,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.13.</NOTE> and cry, <HI>Lord be merciful:</HI> So it was with <HI>Ezra, Oh my God, I am a&s;hamed and confounded, and blu&s;h to lift up my eyes to heaven:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezra 9.4. Dan. 9.7. Jer. 3.3.6.15.8.12.</NOTE> So <HI>Daniel</HI> in his confe&s;&s;ion, <HI>To us belongs &s;hame and confu&s;ion of face:</HI> For faith, however it be confident, yet it is not impudent; that being a Note that the Prophet hath &s;et in the fore-heads of an ob&s;tinate and lo&s;t people, <HI>That they had a whores fore-head, and could not blu&s;h;</HI> and again, <HI>Were they a&s;hamed?</HI></P>
<P N="2"><PB N="591" REF="301">2. Now &s;hame will bring on contrition and &s;orrow,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.17. Acts 2.37. &amp; Matth. 3.7.</NOTE> which is the &s;ole &s;acrifice that God will accept. Prick'd &s;uch a man will be to the heart, that he hath &s;o unkindly grieved and provoked &s;o good a God, &s;o compa&s;&s;ionate a Father, &s;o gracious a Redeemer, &s;o ble&s;&s;ed a Sanctifier. Tho&s;e threats, and that wrath to come that bring &s;ome men to attrition, may begin his &s;orrow, and &s;often his heart; but it will be improved farther even into a &s;orrow for di&s;plea&s;ing God, and de&s;pi&s;ing his mercy, and from thence into a real re&s;olution to amend and for&s;ake &s;in.</P>
<P N="3">3. For with it he will be angry. He will fall out with him&s;elf, that he hath fal|len out with God. This is that anger which <HI>Solomon</HI> prefers before laughter;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 2.2.</NOTE> a holy anger, when a man grows fretful and techy with his &s;in, and not Gods Law. This indignation the old Penitents expre&s;&s;ed by their <HI>Chimarchi in colpa,</HI> as the Italians call it, the beating of their brea&s;ts, and crying <HI>mea culpa, me&agrave; culpa, mea maxima culpa;</HI> intimating, that if the hand could come at the heart, it would take revenge of it; which becau&s;e it cannot do, it &s;mites the bo&s;ome, the place next it.</P>
<P>And there is not any affection &s;o e&s;&s;ential to Confe&s;&s;ion as this. Shame hath been, and is in moral men; even the love of vertue, and light of rea&s;on will make men blu&s;h upon the view of &s;ome fore-pa&s;t error. Sorrow hath al&s;o at|tended tho&s;e, at lea&s;t Attrition, who were not true penitents; <HI>E&s;au</HI> we finde &s;eeking a ble&s;&s;ing with teares; <HI>Ahab</HI> a pardon in &s;ackcloth. But this fretting,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.17. 1 Kings. 21.27.</NOTE> this anger, this indignation of a &s;inner again&s;t his &s;in, is the true&s;t and mo&s;t proper &s;igne of true repentance. It pricks the heart, and lets out the impo|&s;tumate-matter of &s;in that lies there, being never &s;atisfied til it hath taken a pro|per revenge upon it: Of Luxury and Riot by Ab&s;tinence and Fa&s;ting: of Wan|tonne&s;&s;e by a Cha&s;te life; of Oppre&s;&s;ion by Re&s;titution; of Prophane&s;&s;e by the practice of Piety; of all di&s;order by a &s;trict and &s;evere cour&s;e of life.</P>
<P>Well now, after the Endictment is fully drawn, and with &s;hame, &s;orrow and anger confe&s;&s;ed, then a true Confe&s;&s;ioni&s;t mu&s;t &s;et him&s;elf at the Bar, and give &s;entence again&s;t him&s;elf, acknowledging what he hath de&s;erved.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 1.18. Job 42.6. Prov. 30.2. 1 Tim. 1.15. 1 Cor. 15.9. Luke 15.19.</NOTE> That God is righteous; and he and his wayes are wicked; that with <HI>Job</HI> he is vile; with <HI>A|gur,</HI> that he hath not the under&s;tanding of a man in him. That with Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> he is the chief of &s;inners, the lea&s;t of the Apo&s;tles, the wor&s;t of Saints, not worthy to be called a &s;on, and &s;o &s;tand before Gods Tribunal as a guilty per&s;on, and begge for a P&s;alme of mercy.</P>
<P>For when we have gone over all our faults, and our de&s;ert, that's all we have to do, or can do, with &s;trong cries to crave pardon, as the poor pri&s;oner at the Barre, who when the Judge is ready to pa&s;&s;e &s;entence, pleads for favour; which plea yet ought to be deeply &s;erious. The poor man &s;peaks &s;upplications;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 18.23.</NOTE> and the true penitent being poor in &s;pirit, &s;upplicates; and in his petition the be&s;t flowers are eloquent &s;ighs, &s;obs, groans and cries; <HI>Hoc negotium plus gemiti|bus qu&agrave;m verbis agitur.</HI> Some have more words than matter in their Con|fe&s;&s;ion; &s;ome again more matter than affection; but a true penitent in his af|fection is copious, what ever his words be. So was <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 12.13. Luke 18.13.</NOTE> &s;hort in his expre&s;|&s;ion, <HI>I have &s;inned.</HI> The Publican brief, <HI>Lord be merciful,</HI> but they made it out in their affection, and their grief; being very like unto ve&s;&s;els which run not full tap at the fir&s;t piercing, or fle&s;h that in deeper wounds gu&s;heth not out blood in&s;tantly.</P>
<P>Hitherto I have &s;hewed you, what Confe&s;&s;ion is, and how to be perform|ed; and now I will teach you the nece&s;&s;ity of it, by occa&s;ion of the&s;e words.</P>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> If we Confe&s;&s;e, he is ju&s;t to Forgive.</HEAD>
<P>Saint <HI>John</HI>'s propo&s;ition is Conditional. <HI>Si,</HI> If we do it, then the effect
<PB N="592" REF="302"> will follow, Remi&s;&s;ion upon Confe&s;&s;ion; And the con&s;equence will be as &s;trong in the Negative; If we confe&s;&s;e not, there's no pardon to be expected. A|mong men the ca&s;e is this; Where the Condition is not perform'd, the party is not bound to grant the favour. In rea&s;on it ought to be thus betwixt God and us. The &s;ins which we commit by the breach of Gods Law, are the hand-wri|ting again&s;t us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.14.</NOTE> which God hath promi&s;ed to blot out, when we confe&s;&s;e the debt; no rea&s;on then we cancel the Bond, if we performe not the Condition. But this being done, plea&s;ed he is to engage him&s;elf to us, as he is a faithful and a ju&s;t God, we &s;hall have a pardon. And can there be any &s;tronger rea&s;on to enforce the Nece&s;&s;ity of Confe&s;&s;ion? Could this pardon be obtained without it, I would leave you at full liberty, whether you would confe&s;&s;e your &s;ins or no: But &s;ince without it, there is no forgivene&s;&s;e to be had, you mu&s;t Con|fe&s;&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>David</HI> profe&s;&s;eth, that nor in &s;ilence, nor in roaring he could finde any ea&s;e, till he came to confe&s;&s;ion; But no &s;ooner was he upon his knees, humbly con|fe&s;&s;ing his &s;ins,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al, 32.5.</NOTE> but his God was as merciful. <HI>I &s;aid I will confe&s;&s;e, and thou forgavest.</HI> In the Courts of men it is otherwi&s;e. Confe&s;&s;e, and &s;uffer. Judges then if they finde a Fellon, or a notorious per&s;on, try him not to ab&s;olve, but to condemne him, e&s;pecially <HI>&s;i habeant confitentem reum.</HI> But in the Court of heaven it is otherwi&s;e; for our good Lord calls upon a wicked man to con|fe&s;&s;e, not that he may &s;entence him to death, but that he may pa&s;&s;e by his of|fence, and pardon him. O the &s;ingular and &s;trange ordinance of this kinde and merciful Judge! for that end he de&s;ires to draw from the mouths of the guilty a confe&s;&s;ion, that he may finde no ju&s;t occa&s;ion to take revenge. After Con|fe&s;&s;ion among men, there follows condemnation; but here Confe&s;&s;ion and Ju|&s;tification go together. If we confe&s;&s;e, he will forgive.</P>
<P>Not that this Confe&s;&s;ion merits Remi&s;&s;ion; but as it is a nece&s;&s;ary Condition to prepare the man for pardon; it dejects him, and ca&s;ts him down, and &s;o makes him a fit &s;ubject for mercy. It is then pre&s;umption to &s;natch at the Pro|mi&s;e before we have performed the Condition. For God deals by his children, as <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> did by his brethren;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 42.6.</NOTE> he would not at fir&s;t make him&s;elf known to them, but &s;peaks roughly, and threatens the pri&s;on. After they were cru&s;hed with great &s;traits,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 45.3.</NOTE> he graciou&s;ly tells them, <HI>I am Jo&s;eph your brother:</HI> So till we be prepared by confe&s;&s;ion, God will nor make him&s;elf nor our pardon known to us, but &s;peaks roughly, and threatens the pri&s;on of Hell. But upon the lay|ing open our mi&s;demeanours unto him, he will no more refraine him&s;elf, than <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> did; &s;ay he will to our oppre&s;&s;ed con&s;ciences, <HI>I am your father, be of good comfort,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.48.</NOTE> <HI>you &s;ins are forgiven.</HI></P>
<P>This is a &s;pecial &s;ervice, and therefore may not be omitted. <HI>David</HI> after his &s;in of numbring the people, a&s;&s;umes the title of Gods &s;ervant, becau&s;e he confe&s;&s;ed his fault. <HI>Take away, O Lord, the trespa&s;&s;e of thy &s;ervant.</HI> What was he a &s;ervant, that had &s;o proudly and lately offended his Ma&s;ter? Not a &s;ervant in his fault, but a &s;ervant in acknowledging his fault. <HI>For I have done exceeding fooli&s;hly.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 31.</NOTE> As if he had &s;aid, Though I am no &s;ervant in commit|ting folly, yet a &s;ervant in confe&s;&s;ing it to be fooli&s;hly done. <HI>Job</HI> al&s;o, a|mong many other proofs, that he was Gods &s;ervant, reckons this for one, that he had not hid his &s;in as <HI>Adam.</HI> After <HI>Adam</HI> had &s;inned, God had pity on him, &s;ought him in the Garden, and called after him; <HI>Adam, ubi es? Where art thou Adam?</HI> 'tis the voice of a merciful God, that was loth to de&s;troy his creature; he call'd to him therefore, that he might blot out that &s;in by con|fe&s;&s;ion, which by his tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion he had contracted. But <HI>Adam</HI> gets fig-leaves about him, hides what he can, ca&s;ts it upon the woman, the woman upon the Serpent. This did not <HI>Job;</HI> he &s;eeks no cover, no excu&s;e for his &s;in, but ac|knowledgeth the bare truth before his God. He that in the old Law was in|fected
<PB N="593" REF="302"> with the Lepro&s;ie, was to have his garment torne, his head bare, his face covered with a cloth, and to cry, <HI>I am unclean, I am unclean.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 13.</NOTE> Sinne is this Lepro&s;ie, every &s;ervant is defiled with it; di&s;cover it we mu&s;t, even when we cover our faces for &s;hame, and cry aloud, and complaine, <HI>we are un|cleane:</HI></P>
<P>Neither yet be a&s;hamed to do it. <HI>Non pudet peccare, &amp; poenitere pudet?</HI> 'Tis a &s;hame to &s;in, never to &s;ay, <HI>I have &s;inned.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.</NOTE> The confe&s;&s;ions of Gods &s;er|vants are extant upon record, and they are exemplary, <HI>Davids</HI> e&s;pecially. A pitiful thing it is, that whereas God hath ordered that &s;hame &s;hould accompa|ny &s;in, and boldne&s;&s;e confe&s;&s;ion, that the matter &s;hould be &s;o diverted, that men &s;hould be impudently bold in &s;inning, and yet a&s;ham'd to confe&s;&s;e that they have &s;inned. They hide, they extenuate, they mince, they daub all over with untempered morter. Shamele&s;&s;e men, who will not be per&s;waded to &s;hame them&s;elves, before God put them to &s;hame before the whole world.</P>
<P>For be it known to them, Let their &s;in be hid with all the Art and cunning that may be, yet God will one day produce it with all the circum&s;tances, when, where, with what minde, how oft committed, and &s;o recover his glory, which &s;hamele&s;&s;e &s;inners labour to take from him. To &s;inne, and think to be hid, is exceedingly to di&s;honour God in his Attributes; but after we have &s;inned, to fall down and confe&s;&s;e it, is to make him &s;ome amends for that di&s;honour. Whence <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> thus &s;peaks to &s;acrilegious <HI>Achan, My &s;onne, I pray thee give glory to the Lord God of I&s;rael, and make conf<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ion unto him.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 7.19.</NOTE> For in con|fe&s;&s;ion of &s;inne we glorifie God divers wayes. We give him the glory of ju|&s;tice, acknowledging, that if we continue in &s;in, God ought to puni&s;h us. We give him the glory of wi&s;dom, that no &s;ecret is hid from him; we yeild him the glory of power, that there is no flying from him; and we atttibute to him the glory of mercy, when we believe, that if we confe&s;&s;e he will forgive.</P>
<P>Having &s;inned then, lay not in the way of Gods mercy the &s;tumbling-block of neglect or contumacy; &s;tand not out with him, ju&s;tifie not thy &s;elf. Re|member the Phari&s;ee, remember the Publican; with this poor wretch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.13.</NOTE> &s;hame thy &s;elf; By this thou &s;halt prevent that fearful accu&s;ation of the Divel. For when thou ha&s;t accu&s;ed thy &s;elf, what hath that impudent accu&s;er of the bre|thren to &s;ay to thee? By this thou &s;halt take off the File the Endictment of a a clamorous con&s;cience, which if ever it be produced, will bring thee to a de&s;pe|rate ca&s;e. By this thou &s;halt &s;ave thy Judge a labour, for 'tis his promi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11.</NOTE> he who judgeth him&s;elf &s;hall not be judged. La&s;tly, by this thou &s;halt return unto him that he expects, and will recover, his own glory.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> De exomologe&s;i, <HI>or publique confe&s;&s;ion.</HI></HEAD>
<P>Now &s;uch as the &s;in is, &s;uch ought the confe&s;&s;ion to be. Private to God alone, for what is done in private. Publique for what is notorious, &s;candalous, and done in the &s;ight of the Sun. As by this there is a publique wrong done un|to the Church, &s;o al&s;o ought the &s;atisfaction be made in publique. And this is no Popery.</P>
<P>In the Primitive Church there was a godly di&s;cipline, that &s;uch per&s;ons as were notorious &s;inners were put to open penance, and puni&s;hed in this world, that their &s;ouls might be &s;aved in the day of the Lord; and that others being admoni&s;hed by their example, might be afraid to offend. This began with the fir&s;t times, and it continued very long,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il. Concil. A|gath. Tertul. de poen. c. <HI>9.</HI></NOTE> and the penances in &s;ome Churches were &s;harp and tedious, fourteen years; in other from the fir&s;t day of <HI>Lent,</HI> till <HI>Maundy Thur&s;day,</HI> in which <HI>&s;acco &amp; cineri incubare, &amp;c.</HI> I tran&s;late <HI>Tertul|lians</HI> words, to lye in &s;ackcloth and a&s;hes, to darken the beauty of the body with a &s;ordid garment, to deject the mind with &s;adne&s;&s;e, to change tho&s;e things
<PB N="594" REF="303"> in which they had offended by a &s;ad meditation; and for the mo&s;t part to che|ri&s;h their prayers with fa&s;ting, to &s;igh, to weep, to &s;ob day and night to their good Lord, to fall down before the Prie&s;ts, and to bend their knees before tho&s;e who were dear to God, and to employ Emba&s;&s;ages to all the Brethren to pray for them, was their cu&s;tome.</P>
<P>This they call'd <HI>Exomologe&s;is,</HI> or the Act of penitence, and they would not grant it to any the &s;econd time; of which <HI>Tertullian</HI>'s words are to be under|&s;tood, <HI>Iteranda non e&s;t poenitentia.</HI> For they are not to be under&s;tood of re|pentance at large, but of this Church-penance. This they would not grant the &s;econd time to a notorious lap&s;ed &s;inner, le&s;t they &s;hould pro&s;titute and make it too cheap. And hence the di&s;tinction of <HI>remi&s;&s;ibile,</HI> and <HI>irremi&s;&s;ibi|le peccatum,</HI> had its ri&s;e; for they yet kept that poor &s;oul, whom they would not admit to the indulgence of the Church, from &s;plitting upon the Rock of de|&s;pair, by informing him, that no que&s;tion upon his confe&s;&s;ion and contrition he might receive a pardon from God; to him they left him therefore, to him they refer'd him: But the cha&s;te mother (the Church) would grant no further in|dulgence; yet by her prayers, by her tears &s;he would not cea&s;e to intercede for them, that God would give them Repentance. This was the practice of the Ancient Church;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Conc. Trid.</NOTE> but as <HI>Soderino</HI> told Pope <HI>Adrian, He that would intro|duce it again into the Church, mu&s;t bring back the old charity, &s;incerity, and humility of tho&s;e fir&s;t Saints.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> De confe&s;&s;ione auriculari.</HEAD>
<P>This publick confe&s;&s;ion was in proce&s;s of time turn'd into private; and that &s;in which was to be confe&s;&s;ed in the ear of the Church, was to be told in the ear of the Prie&s;t. This cour&s;e the Court of <HI>Rome</HI> finding advantagious, have retain'd, and enjoyn'd as a nece&s;&s;ary point of &s;alvation; and that except it be done, when it may, or otherwi&s;e, <HI>in voto,</HI> there can be no Remi&s;&s;ion; but this Doctrine is injurious many wayes.</P>
<P N="1">1. When they go about to impo&s;e this upon mens con&s;ciences as nece&s;&s;a|ry to &s;alvation, out of the Word of God, which cannot be found in it; for where is it written, Go and open thy &s;in in the ears of a Prie&s;t! The <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> have much &s;treined their wits to find it in the Scriptures; and at la&s;t, that they may put off their Errour with the fairer colour, they put us in mind of the people that came to <HI>John, confe&s;&s;ing their &s;ins;</HI> but the Text tells us not, whether to <HI>John,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 3.</NOTE> or to God; or if it were to <HI>John,</HI> yet it was not in his ear, but before the whole company; and then may well be pre&s;&s;ed to prove publick confe&s;&s;ion in notorious and &s;candalous &s;ins, but it will never bear up Auricular. La&s;tly, that all tho&s;e who do de&s;ire Bapti&s;m, do acknowledge them&s;elves pollu|ted Creatures, and &s;tand in need of that Laver: For brevity &s;ake I omit other Texts wre&s;ted by them to this purpo&s;e; wre&s;ted I &s;ay, becau&s;e in the judgment of many (the be&s;t learned among them) there is no manife&s;t Authority, either of the Old or New Te&s;tament extant, that ever God or Chri&s;t command|ed us to confe&s;s our &s;ins to a Prie&s;t.</P>
<P>To make that then an Ordinance of God, which at the highe&s;t is but an Order of the Church, is very injurious. E&s;pecialiy to impo&s;e it upon the con&s;cience with this tyrannical nece&s;&s;ity, that there be a particular enumerati|on of all mortal &s;ins, with all the circum&s;tances which may aggravate it, once at lea&s;t every year unto the Prie&s;t, or el&s;e God will not forgive; This is a Doctrine which lays a yoke upon the necks of Chri&s;ti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ns, heavy and impo&s;&s;ible. There may be policy in it, and is, but there is no Truth: and much le&s;s, when they make it meritorious, and &s;uch an act of religion which <HI>ex opere operato</HI> procures remi&s;&s;ion. Yea, put ca&s;e, that he who thus confe&s;&s;eth his &s;in, be brought to it
<PB N="595" REF="303"> meerly out of the &s;en&s;e of the ax laid to the root of the tree,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. Ham. pract. Catech.</NOTE> and the wrath to come, and &s;o only is an Attrite per&s;on yet by the power of the Prie&s;ts key, that is, his Ab&s;olution, his attrition is turned into contrition. This is a mo&s;t ridiculous deceit of &s;ouls; for the Prie&s;t never can make him contrite that is not, or cau&s;e God to accept that which he hath &s;aid he will not. A conrite heart is only his &s;acrifice, which this being not, the Prie&s;t tels the pe|nitent a lye, that God will accept him for his attrition only.</P>
<P N="2">2. But now let this injunction of nece&s;&s;ity, the opinion of merit, the de|ceit that follows upon it be taken off, together with that nece&s;&s;ary enumeration of all mortal &s;ins: Let the&s;e abu&s;es, I &s;ay, be di&s;claim'd, and the wi&s;e&s;t Di|vines of the Reformed Church acknowledge, that confe&s;&s;ion to a Prie&s;t or Mi|ni&s;ter of Gods Word, may be of &s;ingular u&s;e and benefit both for in&s;truction, coun&s;el and comfort.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t of great u&s;e it may be for in&s;truction, partly in the Faith, partly about our &s;in. To go to a Lawyers reading, and hear it, &s;erves us not in our worldly doubts: Nor to hear the phy&s;ick Lecture for the di&s;ea&s;es of our Bo|dies; No, no; we call the learned in both &s;ciences to us; we que&s;tion them in particulars, and have private conference about our &s;tate, and e&s;tates. If the like cour&s;e were taken in the bu&s;ine&s;s of our &s;ouls, great profit would ari&s;e from it. Every man is blinded with &s;elf-love, which makes him judge that often to be no &s;in which is, or that to be well done which is not, or at lea&s;t the &s;in not to be &s;o great as he is made to believe. In the&s;e and the like ca&s;es, would he but call to him &s;ome learned and pious Pa&s;tor, he might find &s;omewhat whereon to &s;ettle, either to go on in a good way, or to repent and de&s;i&s;t in a bad, and have an apt and fit remedy pre&s;crib'd him. Be&s;ides a man is oftentimes through ignorance, negligence, or iniquity of the times, blinded or perverted in many fundamentals of religion; to rectifie which, though books and Sermons are very good helps; yet an information in private, and a retired conference is far more powerful. Then the rea&s;ons are more narrowly &s;ifted, and the doubts cleared, which in general applications are either omitted, or but light|ly touched. In private then the acknowledgement of a mans own weakne&s;s to a knowing and judicious Phy&s;ician of thy &s;oul may be an excellent means to &s;tay thee, tht; thou &s;tagger not in the faith. To what purpo&s;e el&s;e are the&s;e words, <HI>The Prie&s;ts lips &s;hall pre&s;erve knowledge,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 2.7.</NOTE> <HI>and thou &s;halt require the Law at his mouth!</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Again of great u&s;e this may be for coun&s;el; Advi&s;es in general are but as general pre&s;criptions in Phy&s;ick; they have not that effect that particular do&s;es have. The Quantities or Ingredients mu&s;t be varied according to the particular con&s;titution, or condition of the party. The &s;ame variety there is of di&s;ea&s;ed &s;ouls; and in general only we can pre&s;cribe, till we are acquainted with this or that mans imperfection. Then we can take away, or add to the do&s;e, as we &s;ee occa&s;ion. It were then a wi&s;e way, when thou find&s;t thy &s;oul di&s;ea&s;ed, to go to &s;ome approved and experienced Doctor, and to ask his coun|&s;el how to be cured of tho&s;e &s;ickne&s;&s;es of &s;oul, to which thou art inclined. Behold how <HI>John Bapti&s;t</HI> the penitentiary,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 3.10, 11, &amp;c.</NOTE> applyes the parts of his Sermon of repentance to every penitent that came to him; they had all their &s;everal an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">wers. To the people, who asked, <HI>What &s;hall we do?</HI> he returns an&s;wer, <HI>He that hath two coats, let him part to him that hath none.</HI> To the Publicans, who &s;ought <HI>what they &s;hould do,</HI> he gives in charge, <HI>Exact n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> more but that ap|pointed.</HI> To the Souldiers, who demanded, <HI>what they were to do?</HI> upon them he laid this apt command, <HI>Do violence to no man, out of fear accu&s;e no man fal&s;ly, be content with your wages.</HI> When he had opened to him their nece&s;&s;ities, he pre&s;cribes apt and fit remedies. One do&s;e &s;erved not all.</P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, this private Confe&s;&s;ion is u&s;eful al&s;o for Comfort. <HI>God</HI> &s;aith the
<PB N="596" REF="304"> Prophet, <HI>hath given me the tongue of the learned, to &s;peak a word in due &s;ea&s;on. And he that is a good and wi&s;e Steward,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 50.4. Luke 12.42.</NOTE> <HI>will give to every one his portion of meat.</HI> Which cannot be &s;o well done, except he know what meat every &s;tomach re|quires. A Pa&s;tor may propound the mercies of God in general to repentant &s;inners, but then they are mo&s;t cordial, when he declares it to that &s;in with which a man finds his con&s;cience loaded; and the load he cannot know, till it be made known to him. Then he can turn the key, which Chri&s;t hath put into his hand, to the comfort of a poor &s;oul, and &s;ay with confidence, <HI>Thy &s;ins are forgiven thee.</HI> That then a penitent may have apt con&s;olation, &s;olid infor|mation, and &s;ound advice, wi&s;dom it were to repair to tho&s;e who are &s;et o|ver him, and appointed to give it: And there are as great rea&s;ons to per&s;wade it, as that we repair to the learned in the Law, when the Title to our Land is que&s;tioned, or that we &s;end for the Phy&s;ician in any de&s;perate di&s;ea&s;e. Ca&s;es of Con&s;cience, are nice points, and they are to be re&s;olved only by the wi&s;e.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The CONCL&V;SION.</HEAD>
<P>To this kind of Confe&s;&s;ion I &s;hall not farther pre&s;s you; for I know it is arbitrary. But for the other that which is to be done to God, it may not be omitted. Done it mu&s;t be, if ever you expect remi&s;&s;ion. Hence God cals for it, commands it, and exhorts to it. After your &s;hipwrack in &s;in, he hath left you only this board to &s;wim to &s;hore. Therefore, O thou &s;inner like to me, nay far better; for I am the cheif of &s;inners; catch after and lay hold on this plank as a man at &s;ea ready to peri&s;h, &s;eizeth on &s;ome broken piece of the Ship; for this will bear thee up being almo&s;t drown'd in the waves of Gods an|ger, and &s;et thee &s;afe on the &s;hore of Gods Mercy.</P>
<P>Neither let the difficulty of this Duty deterre thee; unplea&s;ant I know it is to fle&s;h and blood. For if it be a di&s;credit to a man to err, and be deceived, a hard matter it will be to bring a man &s;o far to di&s;credit him&s;elf as to confe&s;s that he hath err'd, and is deceiv'd. Yet thus it mu&s;t be, this hard task mu&s;t be undertaken, the error mu&s;t be confe&s;&s;'d, the deception acknowledged, and by &s;orrow retracted; for without it there is no hope of pardon.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;eph. lib. <HI>26.</HI> Antiq. c. <HI>7.</HI> &amp; <HI>8.</HI></NOTE>When <HI>Herod</HI> had accu&s;ed his &s;on <HI>Alexander</HI> to <HI>Cae&s;ar,</HI> the young Prince in the&s;e words &s;peaks to his angry Father; Sir, how kindly affected you are to me, this your &s;entence declares; For if it were your purpo&s;e to de&s;troy me, you would never have remitted me over to <HI>Cae&s;ar,</HI> the common pre&s;erver of men. E&s;pecially when you might by either right, or that of a King, or that of a Father have dealt with me at your plea&s;ure; but &s;ince you have made <HI>Cae|&s;ar</HI> to be the Judge, <HI>&s;ervare volentis argumentum e&s;t:</HI> This is an argument you de&s;ire to &s;ave me. For no man &s;ends him to a Sanctuary, whom he will de|&s;troy. In the &s;ame manner may we &s;ay of our heavenly Father and Confe&s;&s;i|on; How kind is Almighty God to us, this his ordinance doth well &s;hew: For had his purpo&s;e been to de&s;troy us, he never would have &s;ent us to take Sanctuary by Confe&s;&s;ion. When he might ju&s;tly have taken away our lives, to bid us Go, confe&s;s and be &s;aved, is an evidence beyond exception, how willing he is to &s;ave us.</P>
<P>Tell me, who is there that ever betook him to this Sanctuary, that hath not been the better for it? <HI>O Lord, I confe&s;s that I have &s;inned,</HI> is the power|fulle&s;t Rhetorick in Gods ear, it charms, and changeth and alters his heart, turns him from an angry Judge to a merciful Father. And therefore all who have come to ask pardon, have &s;erved them&s;elves of it; &s;till they begin with confe&s;&s;ion of &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 18.17.</NOTE> according to that of <HI>Solomon, ju&s;tus in initio &s;ermonis e&s;t accu|&s;ator ip&s;ius.</HI> It &s;eemed to me to be delivered by Tradition, and ecchoed from ear to ear to all po&s;terity.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 9.17.</NOTE> It was the voice of <HI>Pharaoh, I have &s;inned:</HI> The
<PB N="597" REF="304"> voice of <HI>Balaam, I have &s;inned;</HI> The voice of <HI>Saul, I have &s;inned;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 22.34. 1 Sam. 15.24. Job 7.20. 2 Sam. 12.13.</NOTE> The voice of <HI>Job, I have &s;inned;</HI> The voice of <HI>David, I have &s;inned.</HI> Good and bad you &s;ee have &s;erved them&s;elves of the argument to obtain a pardon. And good and bad have been the better for it. <HI>Pharaoh</HI> is re&s;pited, <HI>Balaam</HI> and <HI>Saul</HI> deferred, <HI>David</HI> pardoned, and <HI>Job</HI> in his la&s;t days, ble&s;&s;ed more than the fir&s;t. So powerfully are three &s;yllables, <HI>p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ccavi,</HI> in the ears of an of|fended God; they can turn him from anger to pitty, and win him to &s;et his hand to a pardon, as he is faithful and ju&s;t.</P>
<P>The fury of Gods indignation hath been long poured out upon this Land, and as yet we drink up the dregs thereof. This &s;eems to be marvelous in our eyes; but the rea&s;on is evident, we have not been at confe&s;&s;ion as we ought; &s;ome &s;light acts perhaps of this duty have been from &s;en&s;e of our &s;ufferings extorted from us, but truly a&s;hamed of our &s;ins we are not; for we continue in them; nor contritely &s;orrowful for them we are not; for they are not for|&s;aken; nor religiou&s;ly angry with out &s;elves, that we have commi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ted them; for we &s;hew them too much love, and is it any wonder then, that we cannot obtain a remi&s;&s;ion?</P>
<P>Down, down then O you ob&s;tinate and rebellious impenitents, fall on your knees and confe&s;s with &s;hame, <HI>we have &s;inned, and have committed iniqui|ty, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled in depa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ting from thy precepts and from thy judgements.</HI> He expects that we be contrite and humbled out of a quick &s;en&s;e of the offence and di&s;honour done to him, but attrite only we are from the &s;en&s;e of what we &s;uffer; whereas we ought to chafe and fret, and &s;mite upon our thigh, and &s;ay to our &s;ins, as repenting <HI>Ephraim</HI> to his Idols,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 31.19. Ho&s;. 14.8. I&s;a. 30.22.</NOTE> <HI>fie g<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t ye hence:</HI> angry we are with his ju&s;t proceedings, and are apter to accu&s;e him then our &s;elves, and retain our Idols &s;till. And is this to be Confe&s;&s;io|ni&s;ts? is this to be true Penitents?</P>
<P>O you who&s;e happine&s;s I tender as my own,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 1.3.</NOTE> <HI>Turn unto the Lord that he may turn unto you:</HI> take up tho&s;e words of the Prophet <HI>Jeremy,</HI> and pour them out before your God; <HI>Ha&s;t thou utterly rejected Judah?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 14.</NOTE> <HI>hath thy &s;oul loathed Zi|on? why hast thou &s;mitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">19, 20,</NOTE> <HI>but there was no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble. We acknowledge, O, Lord our wickedne&s;s, and the iniquity of our fore-fathers; for we have &s;inned again&s;t thee. Do not abhor us for thy Names &s;ake;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">21.</NOTE> <HI>do not di&s;grace the Throne of thy glory; remember, break not thy Covenant with us:</HI> Pre&s;umption, and continuance in your &s;in, will continue his anger and fury; &s;ome &s;uch real &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, and humble confe&s;&s;ion, may reduce his love and pity.</P>
<P>Defer it not then, but go about it; cry mightily to heaven, <HI>Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jon. 3.8.</NOTE> <HI>be mer|ciful to us poor &s;inners;</HI> ye are but men, call therefote upon God; &s;inful men, pray then to a merciful God. It is no &s;hame to be &s;orrowful; cry aloud, O God; It is no di&s;credit to beg grace and pardon, pray him to be merciful; It is no di&s;honour to confe&s;s a fault; acknowledge then, that you are &s;inners. If your &s;ins pa&s;t do utterly di&s;plea&s;e you, your God will return in mercy to you. Your merciful Father when he &s;ees that you weep, will wipe off all tears from your eyes. Deal he will by you, as the kind Father did by his Prodigal,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15,</NOTE> give you a robe, a ring, and a ki&s;&s;e; a ring as a &s;ign that he takes you for his; the robe of his Sons righteou&s;ne&s;s to cloath your nakedne&s;s; and a ki&s;&s;e of peace, love, and reconciliation. You &s;hall be taken into favour again, and at la&s;t by his favour rewarded with an immortal crown of glory, <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="46" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="598" REF="305">
<HEAD>Gods Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 John 1.9.</HI></BIBL>
<P>He is faithful and ju&s;t to forgive us our &s;ins, and to clean&s;e us from all un|righteou&s;ne&s;s.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>WITH what affection you heard your la&s;t Le&s;&s;on, I cannot tell; I dare &s;ay it will content you to hear this; for every man will be glad to hear of a pardon, and that he may be forgiven, when he hath offended; which yet may not be obtained, except you make your &s;elves capable by confe&s;&s;ion of the Fact. Charity then per&s;wading me that you have, and are willing to per|form your duty, at this time I &s;hall acquaint you with Gods mercy, that he will forgive you, that he will clean&s;e you. About which point, that you may have the more comfort, taking my direction from the Apo&s;tle, I &s;hall in&s;i&s;t upon the&s;e two chief heads.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The a&s;&s;urance given us for a pardon, from the&s;e two Attributes of God, <HI>That he is faithful, and ju&s;t.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The pardon it &s;elf, &s;et down in the&s;e words, <HI>He will forgive, he will clean&s;e,</HI> making u&s;e of his Attributes to that end, <HI>to forgive, &amp;c.</HI> In the con&s;ideration of which, there will fall in other circum|&s;tances.
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The per&s;on remitting, <HI>God.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The per&s;ons to whom the Remi&s;&s;ion is granted, <HI>Us.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The matter of the pardon, <HI>for &s;in;</HI> and the extent of it, <HI>from all un|righteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> He.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 2.7.</NOTE>To God it is that we mu&s;t confe&s;s, and from him alone to expect our par|don: <HI>For who can forgive &s;ins, but God only?</HI> Truly and properly this power belongs to him;<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 43.25.</NOTE> this he challengeth as his Prerogative, <HI>I am he, I am he, who blots out thine iniquities.</HI> No not Chri&s;t him&s;elf could have forgiven &s;ins, had he not been God; this the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> knew well, and therefore inferr'd from our Saviours words to the &s;ick of the Pal&s;ie,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark. 2.7.</NOTE> <HI>Son, thy &s;ins are forgiven thee,</HI> that he had <HI>spoken bla&s;phemy.</HI> Ignorant they were not, that there was power in the Prie&s;t for Remi&s;&s;ion; they knew one brother might remit an offence to his brother; but to grant a pardon with Authority, properly and truly to &s;et the Seal to it, was in their judgment an act that belonged to the Deity; and therefore looking upon our Saviour as meer man, they charged him with <HI>bla&s;phemy.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Ver&egrave;,</HI> Truly only God can do it, &s;ince there can be no errour in his pardon; whereas in a remi&s;&s;ion from man there may be a fallacy, the per&s;on being perhaps not capable of a pardon; and therefore the Rule is, that an ab&s;olution from man is good, <HI>Clave non Errante.</HI> Then again, in &s;in there is the guilt and the puni&s;hment; in both the&s;e con&s;i&s;ts the whole debt, which the Creditor only can truly remit; for &s;hould any other take upon him to do it, he commits a double fraud. One to the Creditor, who&s;e Authority he takes upon him; forgiving that debt in which he hath no right: And a &s;econd to the debtor, making him believe his debt is remitted, when it is not.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="599" REF="305">2. <HI>Propri&egrave;,</HI> Properly it belongs to him, becau&s;e he is the &s;ole Superiour: Man then having not ab&s;olute Authority, cannot of his own power grant an ab&s;olution. Be&s;ides, the offence is not alwayes committed again&s;t him; what then hath he to do to remit the injury offered to another!<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.14, 15.</NOTE> A wrong that is done unto him, he may and mu&s;t forgive; but truly, properly, authoritatively to remit a &s;in committed again&s;t heaven, he mu&s;t leave to him that dwells there.</P>
<P>But how God will have this pardon made known to us, re&s;ts in his own brea&s;t; for he doth it &s;ometimes immediatly: But the ordinary way to receive it, is from the hand of the Mini&s;ter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.19. Rom. 10.6.</NOTE> to whom <HI>he hath committed the Word of Reconciliation.</HI> Say not thou then in thy heart, <HI>Who &s;hall a&s;cend up to Hea|ven,</HI> to fetch my pardon from thence! for he hath erected an office on Earth, whither we may come, and <HI>find grace in the time of need.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 4.16.</NOTE> It plea&s;ed him out of his plenary power to grant a Commi&s;&s;ion to men, and in his &s;tead to delegate them to forgive &s;in. That ye &s;tagger not at it, their Power and Patent is extant, <HI>Who&s;e &s;ins you remit, they are remitted.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 20.23.</NOTE></P>
<P>The Apo&s;tles fir&s;t had it, and their Succe&s;&s;ours have it al&s;o, becau&s;e tho&s;e who live in the Church to the end of the World, do as much need remi&s;&s;ion, as tho&s;e who liv'd then;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.20.</NOTE> and therefore it ought to continue <HI>unto the end of the World.</HI></P>
<P>Of which we may not &s;o conceive, as if God ab&s;olutely without them cannot be&s;tow a pardon, or that he is bound to this way alone, and cannot work with|out it; for the grace of God is free, and can work, as without the Word, &s;o without Mini&s;ters: But if we look to that which is common and ordinary in the cour&s;e e&s;tabli&s;hed by him, this is an Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Act, committed, as the re&s;t of the Mini&s;try of Reconciliation, to Eccle&s;ia&s;tical per&s;ons: To the&s;e, when we te&s;tifie our Faith and Repentance, they have power to remit, and what they do, is confirmed by him; for &s;o he hath promi&s;ed, <HI>Who&s;e &s;ins you remit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 20.23.</NOTE> <HI>they are remitted.</HI></P>
<P>Note only here this great difference in this power; for the power of God is Ab&s;olute, theirs is limited; his is Primitive, theirs derived; his Imperial, theirs only Mini&s;terial. This power being &s;olely inve&s;ted in God, he might have kept it, without any wrong to any, in him&s;elf; but it plea&s;ed him to com|mit it to the hands of men, that from them al&s;o it might be &s;ought.</P>
<P>This little I have &s;aid, that the power be not de&s;pi&s;ed, and that men take not them&s;elves to be wi&s;er than God, and chalk to them&s;elves a way of &s;alvati|on which he never taught. That Faith and Repentance may procure a pardon, I deny not; but that, he, who &s;hall deride, and out of contempt &s;corn and ca&s;t a&s;ide this delegated power, I &s;hall not ea&s;ily believe, that he is endued with the&s;e conditions; and therefore may ju&s;tly doubt whether God out of fidelity and ju&s;tice is bound to remit his &s;in: To tho&s;e who &s;hall &s;ubmit to his wayes, a par|don he will grant; for <HI>he is faithful and ju&s;t.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> He is faithful, <GAP DESC="foreign">.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Faithful he is,</HI> and he will keep his word; gracious in his promi&s;es, and firm and con&s;tant in his performance. <HI>Fides dicitur,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cic. Off. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>eo quod fiat quod dictum e&s;t.</HI> The Con&s;uls bade <HI>Hanno be bold, and never fear; the faith of our City frees thee.</HI> The &s;ame &s;ay I to every penitent &s;inner, <HI>Fear not,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 23.19.</NOTE> <HI>the Faith of our God frees thee:</HI> For <HI>God is not as man, that he &s;hould lye; he is faithful,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2.13.</NOTE> <HI>and he cannot deny him&s;elf;</HI> and <HI>among his faithful &s;ayings, this is one, and wor|thy of all acceptation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.15.</NOTE> <HI>that Je&s;us Chri&s;t came into the World to &s;ave &s;inners.</HI></P>
<PB N="600" REF="306">
<P>Why was it that his Son was incarnate, but that his word was pa&s;&s;ed for it &s;o &s;oon as man had &s;inned;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15. Matth. 1.21.</NOTE> <HI>the &s;eed of the woman &s;hould break the Serpents head?</HI> Why did he take the Name <HI>Je&s;us,</HI> but <HI>to &s;ave his people from their &s;ins?</HI> Why did he turn in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 9.11.</NOTE> teach, conver&s;e and <HI>eat with Publicans and &s;inners,</HI> except for their conver&s;ion? Why did he ordain his Word to be preached, his Sacra|ments to be admini&s;tred?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 11.28. Matth. 18.11. Luke 1.70, 71, 72. Rom. 8.3.</NOTE> Why doth he call to him <HI>all that labour, and are hea|vy-laden,</HI> except it were to make it evident, that he <HI>came to &s;eek and &s;ave that which was lo&s;t?</HI> His Word for this <HI>was pa&s;&s;'d to the Patriarchs and old Pro|phets, and he &s;ent his Son in the &s;imilitude of &s;inful fle&s;h to perform it.</HI></P>
<P>This is the Rock on which a di&s;tre&s;&s;ed &s;oul may &s;afely Anchor. Say the winds of temptations ri&s;e high, and the waves roar to &s;plit thee on the Rock of de&s;pair; look from thy &s;elf to God: Thou in a moody fit may&s;t &s;ay, <HI>I am ca&s;t out of the &s;ight of thy eyes:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jonah 2.4. P&s;al. 102.27. Ezek. 18.32, 21, 22. Zach. 1.3.</NOTE> But <HI>he is the &s;ame God, and his promi&s;es cannot fail; he hath &s;aid it,</HI> nay, <HI>&s;worn it, As he liveth, he will not the death of a &s;inner; let but the wicked man turn from all his iniquities, and he will not remember them:</HI> They are his own words; and therefore he calls, <HI>Turn unto me, and I will turn to you.</HI></P>
<P>Let it but be &s;hewed what one promi&s;e he ever made that was not perform|ed, and then I am content that you di&s;tru&s;t him for this. He promi&s;ed to <HI>I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rael</HI> deliverance from bondage; to the <HI>Jewes,</HI> a return from captivity; to <HI>Abra|hams</HI> po&s;terity the Land of <HI>Canaan;</HI> with thou&s;ands of this kind, all which he performed in their due time. <HI>He is the &s;ame God &s;till, immutable, unchange|able,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 23.19.</NOTE> <HI>verus &amp; verax; and hath he &s;aid it, and &s;hall he not do it?</HI> Is his word pa&s;|&s;ed to a penitent, and can you think, that <HI>he who is faithful,</HI> will break it? <HI>Th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Earth may &s;hake and reel too and fro;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 1.10, 11, 12.</NOTE> <HI>the Mountains may fall, and crumble to no|thing; the Heavens &s;hall be wimpled up as a garment; but not one word, not one Iota that he hath &s;poken,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.18.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall be di&s;anull'd.</HI></P>
<P>As long as we are compa&s;&s;ed with this body of &s;in, our heart will be affrighted with di&s;tru&s;ts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.5.</NOTE> with fears, with doubts; need we have to pray, <HI>Lord increa&s;e our faith.</HI> That which can e&s;pecially keep us from de&s;pair, is the me|ditation of this Attribute,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 1.12.</NOTE> <HI>God is faithful; I know whom I have bel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eved;</HI> neither can I be di&s;appointed of my hope, unle&s;s the Lord &s;hould fail in his truth. This is the fir&s;t Rea&s;on why we may hope for a pardon, which is drawn from Gods truth and faithfulne&s;s; and yet there is another drawn from his ju&s;tice.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> And ju&s;t.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Ju&s;t to forgive!</HI> Man would have made a clean contrary conclu&s;ion, <HI>ju&s;t</HI> to puni&s;h, <HI>ju&s;t</HI> to take revenge: Sin going before, and following, more proper it had been that &s;everity than mercy &s;hould have followed. And &s;o it had been, were it not for <HI>confiteamur,</HI> confe&s;&s;ion that preceded; for where this goes be|fore, there pardon attends upon it, which is highly con&s;onant to the ju&s;tice of God, except we &s;hould call him ju&s;t and unju&s;t with the &s;ame breath. Thus then the ca&s;e &s;tands.</P>
<P>The &s;ins of all penitent &s;inners he hath once puni&s;hed in his Son; from him he received a full price, an ample &s;atisfaction for them; and upon it, was plea&s;ed to cancel the Bond,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.14.</NOTE> and <HI>to blot out the hand-writing again&s;t us:</HI> So that now if we confe&s;s our &s;in, and acknowledge the debt, yet truly by faith in Chri&s;t plead it to be paid, his ju&s;tice doth much more embolden us to be confi|dent of Remi&s;&s;ion, then drive us upon the Rock of diffidence and di&s;tru&s;t: For God forbid but <HI>the Judge of all the World &s;hould do right.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.25.</NOTE> When there|fore he is a ju&s;t God, he cannot in ju&s;tice impute and puni&s;h tho&s;e &s;ins, which were once over and above puni&s;hed in his Son. <HI>Non factum</HI> then we may not plead; <HI>confiteamur,</HI> &s;tands flat again&s;t that; but full payment and &s;atisfaction we
<PB N="601" REF="306"> may plead, which if with a penitent and faithful heart it be put in, the Judge will be pacified, and his ju&s;tice will &s;ave thee.</P>
<P>There is then in this Attribute great comfort to an afflicted &s;oul; He may at fir&s;t &s;ight think it makes again&s;t him, but being rightly examined, it makes much for him. For &s;ay his enemy catch him by the throat, and cry <HI>Pay what thou owe&s;t,</HI> his an&s;wer may be, that he owes nothing;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 18.28.</NOTE> for his Saviour that was en|gaged for him hath paid the whole debt, taken up and cancelled the Bond. And &s;o in equity being bound to proceed no farther, he will forgive.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> To clean&s;e. To forgive.</HEAD>
<P>This terme <GAP DESC="foreign"> is borrowed from &s;uch as are in a &s;trait. The other <GAP DESC="foreign"> from men that are foul and defiled. In &s;in there &s;eemes to be great liber|ty; whereas yet the man is but a &s;lave or pri&s;oner. In &s;in there &s;eemes to be great purity, <HI>the wayes of a man being clean in his own eyes,</HI> whereas there is nothing more foul and filthy.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 16.2.</NOTE> Now to him that feeles him&s;elf in the&s;e &s;traits, God hath promi&s;ed remi&s;&s;ion; for him that feels him&s;elf polluted, God hath provided a Bath, a Purgation.</P>
<P>Not this to Divels or damned &s;pirits. The lap&s;ed Angels &s;inned volunta|rily having no temptation, but from them&s;elves it came to rebel. The damned &s;ouls maliciou&s;ly refu&s;ed the pardon offered them;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 3.19, 20</NOTE> and therefore <HI>are re&s;er|ved to the judgement of the la&s;t day.</HI> But with man, with a living man it is not &s;o; he may confe&s;&s;e his &s;in, and ask pardon; which if he do, a free pardon &s;hall be &s;ealed to him.</P>
<P>And a free pardon I call it, becau&s;e remi&s;&s;ion is a wonderful favour proceed|ing from the meere grace of God, procured by the death and pa&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, whereby the guilt and puni&s;hment of &s;in is freely remitted. Terme it Grace, Mercy, Love, by what name you will, 'tis the &s;ame thing; we de&s;erve it not. <HI>The zeal of the Lord of Ho&s;ts hath done it.</HI> A <HI>gratuito</HI> it mu&s;t be,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.7.</NOTE> or no|thing. For we have not wherewith to buy it, the be&s;t work that ever we do, being his gift; and therefore &s;uppo&s;e the pardon were to be purcha&s;ed by it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.7.</NOTE> yet it mu&s;t be imputed to Grace, &s;ince from his favour we had wherewith to pur|cha&s;e it. But God help us, &s;o far we are from that, that <HI>non &s;umus &s;olvendo,</HI> we are not able to &s;atisfie for the wrong we do him dayly, the injury being in|fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ite, and our works few, finite, imperfect. As for our &s;ufferings,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.18.</NOTE> <HI>non &s;unt condignae,</HI> they are not worthy; for <HI>paena nulla hominis nocentis e&s;t peccati de|letiva,</HI> no puni&s;hment of a guilty per&s;on can blot out &s;ins. We mu&s;t then rely only upon his favour and free good-will for our di&s;charge. 'Tis a pardon of Grace. So much he hath taught us in the Parable of the two debtors, <HI>One ought two hundred pence, the other fifty; when they had nothing to pay,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>he freely forgave them both.</HI> His mercy, his free grace <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ore the Bill. But yet more clearly, and in no Parable, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.41. Col. 2.13. Deut. 3.5. Ezr 36.22, 23. I&s;a. 43 25.</NOTE> <HI>he hath forgiven you all trespa&s;&s;es.</HI> He hath gratified you in this, that he hath taken as it were a &s;punge and blotted out your &s;ins for his oath &s;ake, for his promi&s;e &s;ake, for his name &s;ake, for his own &s;ake, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>freely, freely by his grace,</HI> Rom. 3.24.</P>
<P>Yea, but here the Socinian &s;teps up and asks, How was this pardon freely granted, when he required and accepted a price for us, <GAP DESC="foreign">, his Sonnes blood for our redemption? Doth he a courte&s;ie gratis,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 2.6.</NOTE> that takes a recom|pence and ran&s;ome for the doing of it?</P>
<P>I confe&s;&s;e a ran&s;ome he had, and a full recompence; he took the blood of his dear Sonne, without which we never had obtained a pardon. And yet it is a free gift for all this. For fir&s;t, what cau&s;e did we give God to love us, or Chri&s;t to die for us? What rea&s;on can be given of Gods <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.14. Tit, 3.4.</NOTE> good plea|&s;ure, or his Sonnes <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>love to mankind?</HI> Then again it is another
<PB N="602" REF="307"> degree of grace to accept of the &s;atisfaction of another per&s;on for us; To pu|ni&s;h him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech. 18.20.</NOTE> and let us go. In common ju&s;tice <HI>the &s;oul that &s;ins mu&s;t die,</HI> but here the &s;oul that &s;ins is &s;et at liberty, and the per&s;on that never &s;inned is put to the death. This is another <HI>Gratuito.</HI></P>
<P>Con&s;ider then the ca&s;e betwixt the Father and the Sonne, and no man dare call it a free remi&s;&s;ion; for the purcha&s;e was dear, and the price ine&s;timable. But con&s;ider again the per&s;ons whom Chri&s;t pardoned, &s;inners; The per&s;on who put him&s;elf to &s;atisfie, never being reque&s;ted to do &s;o much; Or God ordain|ing his Sonne to &s;atisfie,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.23.</NOTE> and that he would accept the payment, though made by another; and we mu&s;t needs conclude with Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> that in the remi&s;&s;i|on of &s;in <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 2.12.</NOTE> <HI>The grace of God appeared.</HI> His Son given for us a free gift, his Son given to us a free gift; that we are given to his Son and pardoned in him, and for him, another free gift proceeding from his meere grace and favour.</P>
<P>Well yet, &s;ay &s;ome, let it be granted, that it is a pardon of Grace, for tho&s;e re&s;pects before named, yet in regard of &s;ome other it cannot. For are not they who receive it, tyed up to hard conditions? mu&s;t they not confe&s;&s;e? mu&s;t they not repent? mu&s;t they not believe? are they not tied in the bonds of new obedience? mu&s;t they not become new creatures? are they not tied to put off the old man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.12. Eph. 4.22, 24.</NOTE> and to put on the new, and to &s;erve him in righteou&s;n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;e and holine&s;&s;e all the dayes of their lives? without which the pardon can never be obtained, or being obtained, forfeited, and of none effect: Will you call that then a free pardon, which is granted upon &s;uch termes?</P>
<P>Yes, yes, free enough it is for all this. For I hope when it lay in Gods power, whether he would grant any pardon upon any conditions, that he would grant it upon the&s;e, was a gracious offer, and came freely from him, and therefore he might put into it, and binde us, if we would be benefited by it, to what lawes and conditions he plea&s;ed. Secondly, The&s;e conditions being performed, are not the cau&s;es of the pardon, that was freely purcha&s;ed and freely granted: It was neither for the merit of the&s;e, nor yet their worth and dignity that God pardons the &s;inner. The&s;e are only <HI>cau&s;ae &s;ine quae non,</HI> without which the &s;inner &s;hall not be pardoned. For God grants not the pardon for the&s;e, but freely be&s;towes it where the&s;e are found. A King offers to a poor man who hath offended him, a pardon, and withal tells him, that he will give him Honour and a Crown; only he binds him to confe&s;&s;e his fault, that he tru&s;t to him, that he offend him no more, and to perform that, he will give him abi|lity: Will he not acknowledge this to be a gracious and Princely courte&s;ie? Or &s;hall he &s;ay, that it was for his own worth and merit that he was thus par|doned and honoured?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 18.32.</NOTE> The King of heaven deals thus by poor &s;inners; he forgives the whole debt, <HI>quia rogamus,</HI> becau&s;e we aske; and he gives a Crown, becau&s;e we aske. And therefore every where the Scripture attributes this Re|mi&s;&s;ion to the meere mercy of God, who freely promi&s;ed the pardon to the merits of Chri&s;t, who freely died to &s;atisfie his ju&s;tice. Tho&s;e conditional ex|pre&s;&s;ions then, <HI>If you confe&s;se, if you repent, if you beleeve, &amp;c.</HI> rather put us in minde to whom the Remi&s;&s;ion is granted, then for what it is granted. For even the&s;e al&s;o are the free gifts of God, and therefore for the&s;e, if performed, we cannot de&s;erve it. Now where there is no merit, there the effect mu&s;t be a meere <HI>Gratuito,</HI> and of mercy.</P>
<P>But could not God, without the&s;e conditions, have remitted &s;in? Out of his ab&s;olute power he could,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 26.53.</NOTE> by the &s;ame power, that he could command twelve Legions of Angels to his a&s;&s;i&s;tance; but he would not do it, becau&s;e it was not for the honour of his ju&s;tice, or mercy; it was not compatible with his decree of Election, no nor yet profitable for mankind.</P>
<P N="1">1. Sutable it had not been to his ju&s;tice; For ju&s;tice will never endure,
<PB N="603" REF="307"> that ob&s;tinate, rebellious, contumacious, and impenitent per&s;ons receive a pardon. It rather cries aloud, Let &s;uch be &s;everely puni&s;hed. To have grant|ed a pardon then to &s;uch as wilfully and maliciou&s;ly go on in wickedne&s;s, had been to violate all proceedings of ju&s;tice.</P>
<P N="2">2. This al&s;o had been a great wrong to Grace and Mercy; for is it fit that a par|don of Grace be offered to him that rejects it, and ca&s;ts it off? which that man doth which is not penitent. For what is it el&s;e to &s;ay, I will not confe&s;s my fault, I will not repent, I will not be a New creature, but in effect, I will none of Gods Grace, I will have no pardon? Be&s;ides, Mercy mu&s;t be a di&s;tinct act from ju&s;tice. But if impenitents &s;hould not be puni&s;hed by ju&s;tice, but &s;hould re|ceive a pardon equally with the penitent, what difference could be found be|twixt mercy and ju&s;tice?</P>
<P N="3">3. This cour&s;e would clearly overthrow the Decree of Gods Election.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.5.</NOTE> Cho&s;en &s;ome are to life, and in Chri&s;t they are cho&s;en, in which decree Faith and Repentance are included. For none are in the number of the redeemed, but &s;uch who are tyed to the conditions of Redemption. Promi&s;cuou&s;ly then to conferr a pardon, is again&s;t the nature of Gods election, which made choice of &s;ome to life, and expre&s;ly &s;et down upon what conditions it is to be ob|tained.</P>
<P N="4">4. La&s;tly, this had been to deboi&s;t the world, and con&s;equently unprofi|table to mankind. For the fear of God had been taken away:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 20.11.</NOTE> The doors had been opened to all villany, and a flood of wickedne&s;s had over-&s;pread the face of the earth. Who would have &s;tood in aw and feared to &s;in, had he been (whether penitent or no) &s;ecure of a pardon. For if our ingeminating in mens ears,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 15.16.</NOTE> that there is no pardon to be had by tho&s;e <HI>who drink iniquity as an A&s;s drinks water,</HI> that is, with ea&s;e, with delight, and yet this will not keep men from &s;inning again&s;t heaven with a high hand: in what ruff, height, impudence &s;hall we conceive would malice have &s;hewed her face, had God ordained a pardon for the impenitent? It was then the goodne&s;s and wi&s;dom of God for the&s;e cau&s;es to enjoyn, <HI>That if we confe&s;s our &s;ins, he would for|give,</HI> not el&s;e. And here you mu&s;t give me leave to pau&s;e, and wonder, and to cry out with <HI>David, O Lord, who is like unto thee!</HI> Offend but a man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 71.19.</NOTE> who&s;e breath is in his no&s;trils, and tis a marvail, if he grow not implacable, if he rage and &s;wels not as the troubled &s;ea. Will he &s;tudy, and invent a way of reconciliation? will he admit of any Mediation, or Mediator? Such may be the fury of a mortal &s;oul, that no Me&s;&s;enger or me&s;&s;age will be accepted, all offers of peace rejected;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 18.17.</NOTE> and the man no better thought on then a Heathen or Publican. What a good Lord then do we &s;erve, that though he be offended day after day, yet if we will confe&s;s our fault, repent,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 27.4. P&s;al. 103.9.</NOTE> return and ask pardon day after day, we &s;hall find it true, that <HI>furor non e&s;t illi, he will not keep his an|ger for ever, he will forgive.</HI></P>
<P>To this purpo&s;e he hath exalted his &s;eat of mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 108.4. Mat. 11.28.</NOTE> and &s;et it above all his works, on which being &s;et, he proclaims, <HI>Come ye all unto me,</HI> and gives us under an oath a&s;&s;urance to come, prote&s;ting, <HI>I will not the death of a &s;inner.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech. 33.11.</NOTE> Weigh but his ways well, and you &s;hall find this true. Why was it that his Son came down from heaven? why born &s;o meanly? wrapp'd &s;o homely? why was he baptized? why was he tempted? why did he hunger and thir&s;t? why betrayed, arraigned, crucified? why did he bear our iniquities? was it not that we might be freed, di&s;charged, forgiven? Say now that he will not pardon, who would not &s;pare his Son, that he might find a means to pardon.</P>
<P>And that for this we might find the greater &s;ecurity, to his Mini&s;ters he hath committed the Word of reconciliation; and there is nothing in their Tru&s;t, be it either the Word, the Sacraments, their Prayers, the Keys, but ve|ry neerly relates to Forgivene&s;&s;e.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="604" REF="308">1. He hath made us his mouth to the people, &s;o that preach we mu&s;t; and what mu&s;t we preach?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 24.47.</NOTE> <HI>Repentance and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins.</HI> That is our main Text, the re&s;t but expo&s;itions upon it. All that we can &s;ay, is but to humble you, make you &s;en&s;ible of, and &s;orry for your &s;in; that being contrite and penitent, you may be a fit &s;ubject for mercy and favour, that is, capable of a pardon.</P>
<P N="2">2. But our Office is not only to preach. Pray we mu&s;t al&s;o for you; and that we are to pray for e&s;pecially, is, forgivene&s;&s;e. As we are to put you in mind of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 2 17. P&s;al. 106.30. I&s;a. 38.4. Numb. 21.7. Job 42.8, 9, 10. Numb. 16.46. James 5.14.</NOTE> &s;o to put God in mind of you. Stand we mu&s;t betwixt the Temple and the Altar, and cry, <HI>Spare thy people, O Lord, &s;pare thy people;</HI> to &s;tand in the gap with <HI>Phinehaz,</HI> to lift up our voice with <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> for the remnant that are left; to intreat God, as <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> as <HI>Iob;</HI> to make an atonement, with <HI>Aaron,</HI> and being called to pray over the &s;ick per&s;on, that the &s;in he hath committed, may be forgive<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</P>
<P N="3">3. Come to the Sacraments, of which we are the Mini&s;ters; Two they are, and both have Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in annexed to them. To water at the Font: To blood at the Lords Table forgivene&s;s is promi&s;ed. That is the &s;pecial Grace a&s;&s;ured by the&s;e &s;eals. <HI>Go and baptize all nations f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins,</HI> that's the promi&s;e made to Bapti&s;m:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.28. Mat. 18.28.</NOTE> <HI>This is my b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ood of the New Te&s;tament &s;hed for you, and for many, for the Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in,</HI> that is, the Grace received in the Euchari&s;t. Both Mini&s;ter then, and holy Rites for this end.</P>
<P N="4"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 18.18. Joh. 20.23.</NOTE>4. La&s;tly, into the Prie&s;ts hand God hath delivered a Key; and to what u&s;e doth it more &s;erve, than to &s;ecure a pardon? Lock out the Pa&s;tor doth, and mu&s;t, but that's not his prime intention; tis with a hope to open the door, and let in again, when he &s;hall &s;ee the offendor truly penitent and &s;orrowful, that gave him ju&s;t occa&s;ion to turn him out, and &s;hut the door upon him. To ab&s;olve, to remit, to forgive, is his aim and end, even then, when he doth not forgive.</P>
<P>Ca&s;t but up all this, and you &s;hall &s;ee to what it amounts. The Total will pre&s;ent unto us the free Grace and Mercy of our good God, and his readine&s;s to grant a pardon, in that he gave his Son to purcha&s;e a free Remi&s;&s;ion: and to pa&s;s &s;ecurity of it to us, he hath made known to us his word, in&s;tituted Sacra|ments, ordained Prie&s;ts, left the keyes in their hands, that by the word dropt from their lips, by the prayers offered by their devout hearts, the Sacraments con&s;ecrated by their hands, and the keys kept in their Office, the full pardon and remi&s;&s;ion <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f &s;in, might be obtained, &s;ealed, and delivered over unto us. Hitherto of the fir&s;t favour pa&s;t over unto us upon Confe&s;&s;ion, which is a Par|don; but be&s;ides that, there is another, which is the clean&s;ing; for</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>5.</HI> To clean&s;e us from all iniquity.</HEAD>
<P>It is the Apo&s;tles meaning, that there is nor only upon confe&s;&s;ion a free pardon granted, but there is a purgation that goes along with it, that carries a|way the malicious filth of &s;in. The pardon is available for our ju&s;tification, but the purgation hath an influence upon our lives. By it we come to be new crea|tures, and are by little and little freed from the pollution of &s;in. For together with the action of God in forgiving &s;in concurreth another action of divine Grace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Whites Orthod. cap. <HI>1.</HI> par. <HI>1.</HI> ob&s;. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> enabling a man to for&s;ake and mortifie every greater &s;in which God pardoneth. The filthine&s;s of the fle&s;h and &s;pirit is taken down.</P>
<P>That we may under&s;tand this point the better, and be practitioners in it, know we mu&s;t that there is a twofold purging: One that is made by the blood of Chri&s;t; this is perfect even now; for they to whom the merit of Chri&s;t is im|puted, have in&s;tantly the Guilt of their &s;in remitted, &s;o that it hath no power to condemn. The other purging away &s;in, is by the &s;pirit of Chri&s;t, which
<PB N="605" REF="308"> will never be brought to perfection, while it works upon this our fle&s;h. For his Spirit begins only this work in this life by the mortification of our earthly members, weakens and &s;ubdues the power of &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Micah 7.18, 19</NOTE> &s;o that though ir remain in mo|tion and act, yet the dominion is removed; for not any one &s;in raigns in us to command as it was wont to do.</P>
<P>Men then do but deceive them&s;elves with hope of a pardon, except they find in them&s;elves the effect of the purgation al&s;o. The blood of Chri&s;t is ap|plyed to no man, but by his Spirit; and upon whom the Spirit works, he will be clean&s;ed; &s;o that if after confe&s;&s;ion a man ob&s;tinately and wilfully remains in tho&s;e foul and enormous &s;ins which he did confe&s;s, and lets them reign in him, his pardon is evacuated, and of none effect. For whom the blood of Chri&s;t frees from condemnation, his Spirit rai&s;eth and quickneth to Sanctification.</P>
<P>I know well, that while we are in this life, we never can be clean&s;ed from frailties and infirmities; in purging, all the noxious humours pa&s;s not away at once, but yet there is &s;till a di&s;charge of them, they are le&s;&s;ened, they decay, they flow away &s;till; &s;o it mu&s;t be in this &s;piritual putrefaction, although we cannot be rid of it all at once, yet care mu&s;t be taken, that it be le&s;&s;ened and weakned, purged out as much as may be. <HI>Minim&egrave; bonus e&s;t, qui m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lior non vult fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ri.</HI> He is no good man, that would not be better; <HI>for the light of the righteous &s;hines more and more to the per|fect day.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 4.18.</NOTE></P>
<P>And to that end the&s;e three A&s;&s;ays would be made towards perfection, the&s;e three degrees of a&s;cent and proficiency ob&s;erv'd.</P>
<P N="1">1. There would be a barring up of all the inlets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Ham. Serm.</HI> 6.</NOTE> and an ob&s;truct|ing the avenues again&s;t the future breakings in of the old polluters, tho&s;e old profane polluted habits of &s;in, and a re&s;i&s;tance made to all new and fre&s;h temptations.</P>
<P N="2">2. A daily recour&s;e by prayer to the finger of God, which alone can clean&s;e Lepers, that he would make us clean, and pre|pare us for new <HI>Jordans</HI> of grace, in which we may wa&s;h, and by that vertue be clean&s;ed.</P>
<P N="3">3. That when he hath prepared them, we go down and wa&s;h in them, acting with his grace, and co-operating with it to the utmo&s;t of our &s;trength and indeavour; which directions, were they taken out, and put in practice, no que&s;tion there would be greater proficiency in our clean&s;ing; from iniquity, from all malicious iniquity we would be clean&s;ed at lea&s;t.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>The APPLICATION.</HEAD>
<P>Did you ever read of the Well which the Angel &s;hewed to <HI>Hagar,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 21.19.</NOTE> when &s;he and her <HI>I&s;mael</HI> were ready to peri&s;h for thir&s;t in the Wilderne&s;s? Have you ever heard of the <HI>I&s;raelites Manna?</HI> the Rock of water which followed them? the bunch of Figs that cured <HI>H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">zekiah?</HI> the <HI>Spou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es</HI> Apples,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 16. Exod 17. I&s;a. 38.21. Cant. 2.5.</NOTE> and the Flagons in the <HI>Canticles?</HI> All this, and much more is Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins, to a &s;oul pre&s;&s;'d down with the weight, and &s;corch't with the &s;en&s;e of Gods wrath; for till &s;uch time he hears the&s;e gracious words, <HI>Remi&s;&s;a &s;unt peccata,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 7.48, 50.</NOTE> <HI>Thy &s;ins are forgiven, go in peace.</HI> He knows that he is more odious in the eyes of God, than the creature we mo&s;t hate is in ours; &s;ubject to what penalty the Maje&s;ty of Heaven plea&s;eth to inflict,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 28.9.</NOTE> and that <HI>his very prayer is abominable.</HI></P>
<P>View but the mi&s;ery of him who&s;e &s;in is not covered, in that mirrour of &s;orrow our <HI>Saviour, in the Garden, and upon the Cro&s;s:</HI> See if ever there were man in &s;uch a ca&s;e praying with &s;uch fervour, <HI>Let this Cup pa&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.42, 44.</NOTE> &s;weating
<PB N="606" REF="309"> <HI>blood,</HI> complaining with &s;o much &s;en&s;e, de&s;erted of God, Men and Angels. What was the cau&s;e of this blood, this &s;weat, this &s;orrow, this complaint? Sin it was, not yet remitted; yet not his own, but the &s;in of the whole World: He &s;aw God upon the Throne, ready to take vengeance, and to damn man for it. He &s;aw how odious the pollution of &s;in was to his holine&s;s; how offen&s;ive the iniquity of &s;in was to his ju&s;tice; and this was it that made him pray &s;o earne&s;tly for a pacification, melted him into &s;weat, a &s;weat of clotted blood, and cau&s;ed him to complain, <HI>That he was for&s;aken.</HI></P>
<P>Could we but &s;ee what he did feel, the wrath, the fiercene&s;s of wrath; the anger, the heat of anger of Almighty God again&s;t that &s;inner, who&s;e &s;in is not remitted; we would hate that &s;in which cau&s;ed and moved it, and think our &s;elves mo&s;t happy, when we are out of the danger; for every thing that befell him, might have befallen us, and one more, eternal damna|tion, had he not purcha&s;ed, and taught, and left us a way to &s;ue out a pardon.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 6.1.</NOTE>But there are too many who <HI>are at ea&s;e in Zion,</HI> a &s;ort of carele&s;s and ob&s;ti|nate, and malicious &s;inners, who flatter them&s;elves with hope of a pardon; but take not the way to procure it: They heap up &s;in, and yet never doubt of Re|mi&s;&s;ion. This Age hath produced a Mon&s;ter, the World never &s;aw the like be|fore; it hath two hearts, many heads, more than a hundred hands, the teeth of Lyons, a Sword for a tongue, feet of clay, the face of a woman, a tayle of a Scorpion, a garment dip't in blood, the talents of an Eagle, and the name is Bla&s;phemy; there attends upon it Hypocri&s;ie, Sacriledge, Here&s;ie, Schi&s;me, Per|jury, Murder, Extortion, Oppre&s;&s;ion; this is the de&s;cription of the great Whore; It is a compo&s;ition of all things, but the under&s;tanding of a man; and when that &s;hall return, I will confe&s;s <HI>remi&s;&s;ibile peccatum,</HI> but till then, <HI>major iniquitas.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4.13.</NOTE></P>
<P>God forgives no &s;in, till it be confe&s;&s;ed and for&s;aken, at lea&s;t in di&s;like or hatred. What hope then can remain for them which do not repent? Our A|po&s;tle tells us here re&s;ervedly, <HI>He forgives us, he purgeth us:</HI> Not then a par|don for all hand over-head; but for <HI>us,</HI> who are true Confe&s;&s;ioni&s;ts and Peni|tents. There were many Lepers in the days of <HI>Eli&s;ha,</HI> and many Widows in <HI>I&s;rael</HI> in the days of <HI>Elijah;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 5. 1 Kings 17.</NOTE> yet none clean&s;ed that we read of, but <HI>Naaman;</HI> nor no Widow relieved, but &s;he of <HI>Sareptha,</HI> to whom the Prophet was &s;ent: 'Tis &s;o in this ca&s;e, none purged, none pardoned, but to whom the pardon is &s;ent and offered.</P>
<P>Beware then how you would be of the company of tho&s;e penitents, who for the guilt and puni&s;hment, would be glad to hear from Chri&s;ts mouth, <HI>Thy &s;ins are forgiven thee;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 8.</NOTE> but cannot endure that other coun&s;el, <HI>Go &s;in no more, lea&s;t a wor&s;e thing fall unto thee;</HI> which certainly to all ob&s;tinate and rebellious &s;in|ners will fall. A wor&s;e thing indeed, no le&s;s than eternal damnation, e&s;pecial|ly if they fall into that &s;in which never &s;hall be remitted: For &s;uch a &s;in there is; I cannot now &s;tand to di&s;pute what it is; I &s;hall only acquaint you with the&s;e pro|perties of it. 1. Inward impenitence. 2. De&s;pair of a pardon. 3. To call evil good, and good evil, &amp; to defend it. 4. Ob&s;tinately to per&s;evere, and impugne the truth. 5. Every day to grow wor&s;e and wor&s;e. 6. And to bear the marks of Antichri&s;t. I leave it to every mans con&s;cience to judge who are guilty; but this gives me leave to put you in mind of, that every &s;uch man is in a mo&s;t lamentable con|dition; for to omit what may befall him in another world; in this either <HI>So|doms fire,</HI> or <HI>Noahs flood, Egypts plagues, Pharaohs de&s;truction, Corah</HI> and <HI>Abirams ruine, Ahab</HI> and <HI>Jezabels end, Herods Lice, Judahs,</HI> or <HI>Achitophels Haltar, Ab&s;aloms Oak, Ananias &s;udden death</HI> may pur&s;ue and overtake him; for untill he hath his pardon &s;ealed in heaven by the blood of Chri&s;t (which in
<PB N="607" REF="309"> a malicious cour&s;e of &s;in he never &s;hall) &s;ubject he is to any one of the&s;e plagues.</P>
<P>The Lord hath not &s;o much as promi&s;ed, nor &s;poken one &s;yllable that can be wre&s;ted for favour to tho&s;e who do not for&s;ake their &s;ins; he is often in the&s;e promi&s;es, <HI>He that confe&s;&s;eth, and for&s;akes his &s;ins, &s;hall find mercy; Turn to me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 28.13. Zach. 1.3.</NOTE> <HI>and I will turn to you,</HI> with thou&s;ands to the &s;ame purpo&s;e; but where is it writ|ten, in what line is it to be found, That he that goes on in his wickedne&s;s, &s;hall &s;ave his &s;oul? The clean contrary is extant; <HI>They &s;hall dye in their &s;ins,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 8.21. James 2.13. Rom. 2.5.</NOTE> <HI>they &s;hall have judgment without mercy, they heap up wrath again&s;t the day of wrath.</HI> It is then out of the Divels mouth, not Gods, that men learn and per&s;wade them&s;elves they &s;hall be forgiven, though they be great proficients in &s;in, and multiply their tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, as they increa&s;e their dayes, neglecting all whole|&s;om admonition that might induce them to break off their &s;in by Repentance. O let it not be forgotten that here is a pardon, here is a purgation indeed pro|mi&s;ed in this <HI>ver&s;e;</HI> but that <HI>confitemur</HI> goes before it. The pardon then is but conditional, not ab&s;olute; confe&s;s then, and lay hold of it, you have right to &s;ue it out; but if you confe&s;s not, there is no hope; the pardon then &s;hould make men better, not wor&s;e; not pre&s;umptuous to &s;in, but fearful to offend.</P>
<P N="2">2. And &s;uch an effect it will work in the heart of every one that effectu|ally &s;ues it out; for he will thus &s;ay to him&s;elf, <HI>What &s;hall I &s;in,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.1.</NOTE> <HI>that grace may abound? God forbid.</HI> For out of abundance of love he will adhere to Chri&s;t his Saviour, as one who is the Author of this great grace, as one who hath me|rited it, and purcha&s;ed it for him.</P>
<P>Should a man who is in a great debt, beyond his ability to pay, find his Creditor &s;o merciful as to forgive him all, would he not magnifie his bounty, would he not love him, be thankful to him! God, when the debt was infinite, we bankrupts, that had nothing to pay, freely forgives us; nay, puts into our hands a &s;tock of grace, that we may employ for our advantage; and can we do le&s;s than love him for this? This is all he looks for; we can, we may pay it by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of his grace; and &s;hall we then &s;tick with him for, and deny him that, &s;o little?</P>
<P>Remember the ca&s;e propo&s;ed by our Saviour to <HI>Simon</HI> the <HI>Phari&s;ee: There was a certain Creditor had two Debtors; the one ought five hundred pence,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.11.</NOTE> <HI>the other fifty; and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, which of them will love mo&s;t?</HI> Of their love you &s;ee he made no que&s;tion, but of the quantity of their love. To which <HI>Simon</HI> an&s;wered, <HI>I &s;uppo&s;e to he to whom he forgave most;</HI> which an&s;wer our Saviour exemplifies for good, in that poor woman <HI>Mary Magdalen; Dilex it multum;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 47.</NOTE> her love was corre|&s;pondent to her pardon; much forgiven her, and therefore in her much love: In va&s;t &s;ums of &s;in we are all engaged, and God knows what we had to pay; &s;ome ow'd more, &s;ome le&s;s; but not one who had any thing to lay down; yet our gracious God forgave us all; for the pardon is univer&s;al, a pardon for &s;in in|definite; no &s;in for number or greatne&s;s in the Text excepted: Be they for tale as the hai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> of the head, or for number as the &s;ands, yet there is a pardon for them: Be they for weight <HI>Talents, ten thou&s;and Talents,</HI> yet for the&s;e there is a Remi&s;&s;ion; <HI>for he will clean&s;e us from all iniquity,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 18.24.</NOTE> &s;aith our Apo&s;tle: And if all freed, and freed from all &s;in, pence, pounds, Talents, then all mu&s;t love him; and he mo&s;t, to whom he hath forgiven mo&s;t; but that man love him al&s;o, to whom he hath forgiven little.</P>
<P>But I know not how it falls out, he that is the greate&s;t debtor, is the le&s;t lover. After a di&s;charge, he runs mo&s;t on the &s;core, and boldly increa&s;eth his &s;in, becau&s;e God hath frankly and freely wiped it out: This is a high kind of in|gratitude,
<PB N="608" REF="310"> of which <HI>Mary</HI> was not guilty; <HI>for &s;he loved much,</HI> and &s;he conti|nued in her love;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.39. John 12.3. Mark 16.1.</NOTE> <HI>for &s;he after &s;ate at his feet, and heard his words, and &s;he brought her box of Nard, and poured it every whit on his head;</HI> and intended to do as much at the Sepulchre, &s;uppo&s;ing that &s;he could never &s;hew her love &s;uf|ficiently to him who had given her a pardon. Go thou and do likewi&s;e, anoint his feet, poure Nard on his head, love him in his death, honour him in his re|&s;urrection; one way or other &s;hew thy love, becau&s;e he hath forgiven thee a va&s;t debt of &s;ins.</P>
<P>Thirdly, la&s;tly, becau&s;e though thy love be never &s;o perfect, yet thy perfor|mances will be imperfect;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.11, 12</NOTE> therefore be &s;ure <HI>daily to ask for forgivene&s;s;</HI> &s;up|plicate as Chri&s;t hath taught, <HI>forgive us our tre&s;pa&s;&s;es.</HI> Pray for it as for thy bread, beg it as food; for indeed it is more nece&s;&s;ary than <HI>daily bread:</HI> For this then let us renew our &s;uit day by day, be earne&s;t and importunate with him; this being obtained, other reque&s;ts will be &s;peeded the ea&s;ilier.</P>
<P>For &s;in &s;eparates from God; and till it be remitted, we cannot expect audience,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 9.31.</NOTE> and a grant of what we ask; for <HI>God hears not &s;inners;</HI> that is, ob|&s;tinate, rebellious, malicious &s;inners; &s;uch who live in &s;in, delight in &s;in, plot &s;in, and practice &s;in; all the time that &s;acrilegious <HI>Achan</HI> was in the Camp, <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> could not prevail again&s;t <HI>Ai.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 7.</NOTE> When <HI>Saul</HI> had &s;inned, he could get no an&s;wer from God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 28.6.</NOTE> either <HI>by &V;rim, by &V;i&s;ion, or Prophet.</HI> Ask we may, and not have; &s;eek, and not find, &s;o long as we remain in our &s;ins; <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">or the prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord:</HI> Whereas if we begin our petitions with confe&s;&s;ion of our unworthine&s;s, and &s;eriou&s;ly re&s;olve to for&s;ake that which makes us unworthy, we &s;hall obtain pardon for what's pa&s;t, and be heard in our reque&s;ts.</P>
<P>This is the form of the Covenant which God hath made with man, <HI>They &s;hall confe&s;s their iniquities,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 28.9. Lev. 26.40, 41. Job 33.26. P&s;al. 32.5. Matth 18.38. P&s;al. 56.</NOTE> <HI>then will I rememb<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r my Covenant; he &s;hall pray unto God, and he will be merciful; I confe&s;&s;ed my &s;in, and &s;o thou forgave&s;t:</HI> But yet this is clear in the New Te&s;tament, <HI>Did I not forgive thee, becau&s;e thou asked&s;t?</HI> For according to that of <HI>David, God cannot be angry with his people that prayeth.</HI></P>
<P><HI>To be heartily &s;orry that we ever offended him, to confe&s;s, and be&s;eech him to remit the offence; to be wary how we offend again, by a lively faith to pre&s;ent him with the ran&s;om of our offence, and to thank him that he would provide this ran&s;om for us, and that he hath left in his Church a means to di&s;pen&s;e it, will pacifie our God, and expedite our &s;uits. This, this alone may quiet the con&s;cience, and give re&s;t and peace to our troubled &s;ouls while we live here, and &s;eal unto us an a&s;&s;urance of an eternal rest with him hereafter.</HI></P>
<P>The three Sermons following occa&s;ioned by the Article
<Q>I believe the Re&s;urrection of the body.</Q></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="47" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="609" REF="310">
<HEAD>The Character or De&s;cription of a true Chri&s;tian.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Phil. 3. Ver&s;. 20, 21.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For our Conver&s;ation is in Heaven, from whence al&s;o we look for the Saviour, the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t;</P>
<P>Who &s;hall change our vile body, that it may be fa&s;hioned like unto his glori|ous body, according to the working whereby he is able even to &s;ubdue all things unto him&s;elf.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>VVISE men live by Rules and Precepts; the many by precedents and examples; &s;o generous, &s;o ingenuous, of &s;uch heavenly mould are the few; &s;o blind, &s;o vain, of &s;uch pliable wax or temper to ill are the mo&s;t: Saint <HI>Paul</HI> well knowing that in the Church of <HI>Philippi</HI> were both, gives in this <HI>Chapter</HI> directions to both, that nor learned, nor unlearned; &s;trong nor weak, &s;hould want either Rule or Example to live by. At the third <HI>ver&s;e</HI> he gives them a Rule; Not to have any confidence in the fle&s;h; that is, not to hope for &s;alvation by the righteou&s;ne&s;s that comes by the Law, as they of the Circum|ci&s;ion, or rather of the conci&s;ion did, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 2. which Rule he exemplifies in him&s;elf, propo&s;eth his priviledges, his exact performances, and yet could not find them gainful for his ju&s;tification; and therefore in compari&s;on of Chri&s;ts righteou&s;ne&s;s, <HI>reckons them as dung, ver&s;e</HI> 8. He acknowledgeth his imper|fection, yet withall, &s;hews his contention and endeavour to win the prize: This mind he wi&s;hes to be in them, and therefore again at the 17th. <HI>ver&s;e,</HI> he propo&s;eth him&s;elf, and others for example to walk by; of others not at large; for there were many unruly walkers, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 18, 19. but of tho&s;e which walk &s;o, as they had <HI>us,</HI> him&s;elf, and the other Apo&s;tles for an example; <HI>for their Conver&s;ation was in Heaven.</HI></P>
<P>In which words we have the character of a true Chri&s;tian, who may well be known by his hope and good behaviour. He is an expectant, and looks for a Saviour; and therefore thou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h he walk, and conver&s;e with &s;inful men here be|low, yet his whole mind and aim is above; and therefore his actions are Saint-like, &s;utable to &s;uch as live in heaven. He is <HI>Coele&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i donatus Civitate,</HI> a Burge&s;s of that heavenly City; and as he hopes to enjoy the priviledges and immuni|ties, &s;o he takes care to ob&s;erve tho&s;e Laws,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 5.4.</NOTE> <HI>The fools of this World hold his life madne&s;s,</HI> but he knows he takes a wi&s;e cour&s;e; were their expectation like other mens, their Conver&s;ation would be like other mens; but they look for a Judge to come from thence; though a Saviour, yet that Saviour to be a Judge, who &s;hall examine all their actions, nay words and thoughts, and this keeps them in awe.</P>
<P>In the words then we are to con&s;ider
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The Character of a true Chri&s;tian, <HI>Our Conver&s;ation is in Heaven.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. His hope or expectance, <HI>Whence we look for the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. What it is that he expects at his appearing, which in brief is, <HI>the Re|&s;urr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ction of the body.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>Which Article of Faith that we may under&s;tand the better, we are to con|&s;ider a double &s;tate of this body; What it is now; What it &s;hall be.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="610" REF="311">1. Now for the pre&s;ent it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, a body of humility, a vile body; cloath it with the entrails of worms, feed it with all the Tribute of Sea and Land, yet it is but <HI>vile corpus,</HI> a poor carca&s;s for all that, a matter little worth.</P>
<P N="2">2. But then it &s;hall be other, <HI>a glorious body;</HI> a body like our Saviours, transfigured on the Mount; a body like his, when he &s;hall be in the Throne of his glory; the Apo&s;tles <HI>Antithe&s;is</HI> is worth ob&s;ervation; here of no e&s;teem, there &s;omewhat worth; here <HI>vile,</HI> there <HI>glorious.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. The manner, how this glory is acquired; it is by mutation, not tran|&s;ub&s;tantiation; <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>He &s;hall change;</HI> change, not the &s;ub&s;tance, not the lineaments of our bodies, but the qualities; corruption being changed into incorruption, ba&s;ene&s;s into glory, infirmity into power.</P>
<P N="4">4. The cau&s;e of this change, the Divine power, <HI>He &s;hall change. He,</HI> our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t by his omnipotent power, whereby <HI>he is able to &s;ubdue all things to him&s;elf.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. de Re|&s;ur. carnis.</NOTE><HI>Fiducia Chri&s;tianorum, Re&s;urrectio Mortuorum;</HI> the hope and confidence of Chri&s;tians, is the Re&s;urrection of the dead. If then we have this hope, <HI>our Conver&s;ation m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t be in Heaven,</HI> which is the fir&s;t point.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Our Conver&s;ation is in Heaven.</HEAD>
<P>All the men of the World belong to two Cities; either <HI>ad Civitatem Dei,</HI> or <HI>Civitatem Mundi;</HI> the di&s;tinction is Saint <HI>Augu&s;tins; the compa&s;s of the World is the extent of the one, and all that walk in it; the amplitude of the Church is the latitude of the other, and in the circumference of it are comprehen|ded, Chri&s;t, Angels and Men:</HI> But the&s;e men within this City are not of one kind; for &s;ome there be, who are &s;uch as our Apo&s;tle de&s;cribes in the former <HI>ver&s;es, Enemies to the Cro&s;s of Chri&s;t, who&s;e god is their belly, who&s;e glory is their &s;hame,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 19.</NOTE> <HI>who mind earthly things;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, Politicians they are, <GAP DESC="foreign"> They bend their wits,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gennad.</NOTE> and beat their brains to &s;atisfie their lu&s;ts, and fill their pur&s;es; and as if their &s;ouls were of the &s;ame mould that their bodies, their bellie is glued to the du&s;t.</P>
<P>But it was well ob&s;erved by <HI>Plato,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, to live like the mo&s;t, is the mo&s;t di&s;hone&s;t life; for <HI>the policy of the World, is en|mity with God;</HI> and therefore tho&s;e who belong to that other City, <HI>who&s;e builder is God,</HI> conform not them&s;elves to the Rules of the&s;e Politiques. Live among them they mu&s;t, as <HI>Lot</HI> did in <HI>Sodom,</HI> their body forceth them to that; but they hold not them&s;elves any of their Corporation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, they e&s;teem them&s;elves from their people, and out of their Countrey; and therefore as &s;tran|gers they behave them&s;elves quietly and peaceably, &s;ubmitting them&s;elves even for con&s;cience &s;ake to hone&s;t Laws, but yet live by the Laws of their own City. <HI>I</HI> (&s;aith Saint <HI>Paul</HI>) <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>have &s;erved God in all good con&s;cience to this day.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 23.1.</NOTE></P>
<P>And I know no City in the World which hath &s;o &s;trict, &s;o holy, &s;o ju&s;t Laws. Read over the Politiques of <HI>Plato</HI> or <HI>Ari&s;totle;</HI> peru&s;e the Laws of <HI>Draco</HI> writ in blood; examine the con&s;titutions of <HI>Lycurgus, Solon, Minos, Zamolxis,</HI> and &s;ay whether you find any State &s;o ju&s;tly, &s;o &s;traitly tyed and ordered: Even the <HI>I&s;raelites,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 19.8.</NOTE> who fir&s;t were the free Denizons of this City, <HI>for the hardne&s;s of their hearts,</HI> had an indulgence, of which Chri&s;tians dare not make u&s;e. They were <HI>&s;uffered to give a Bill of Divorce,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.43, 27.</NOTE> which we may not: They took liberty <HI>to hate their enemies,</HI> &s;o <HI>they loved their friends;</HI> and thought they might look and long after a maid without &s;in, &s;o they &s;hewed no further folly.</P>
<P>Whereas in the Chri&s;tian &s;tate, <GAP DESC="foreign">, an action lies again&s;t a man in this City-court,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> not only for the commi&s;&s;ion of
<PB N="611" REF="311"> evil, but for a wicked purpo&s;e, the intent being no le&s;s puni&s;hable than the act. A bloody hand, and a murderous heart, is &s;o heinous a crime in a Citizen,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.22.27, 28.</NOTE> that even an angry thought, if moro&s;e, and a di&s;graceful word is a foul out-rage; and a mode&s;t and maiden-like behaviour is &s;o far enjoyned, that a wanton eye is ut|terly prohibited. I need not tell you how hateful among the&s;e perjury is, &s;ince that our Ma&s;ter hath engraven this command in fair Characters on the City gate, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Swear not at all.</HI> Many among the&s;e Citizens are not rich,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.34. 1 Cor. 1.27, 28 Gen. 13.2. Job 1.3. Mark 10.24. Luke 12.42.</NOTE> <HI>God having cho&s;en the poor and weak things of this World to confound the mighty.</HI> An Age perhaps may produce a rich <HI>Job,</HI> and a wealthy <HI>Abraham;</HI> but none of the&s;e tru&s;t in their riches, make them their Patron, their Idol, their God; &s;o far they are from any &s;uch confidence, that at the mo&s;t, they hold their place to be that of the &s;teward of Gods City, entru&s;ted only with their Ma&s;ters trea&s;ure, and bound to di&s;pen&s;e it to tho&s;e that need. Tell me, in what &s;tate did you ever hear of the&s;e injunctions? <HI>To do good to them that hate you;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.44. Luke 6.27, 28.</NOTE> <HI>to ble&s;s them that cur&s;e you; to pray for them that despitefully u&s;e you, and per&s;ecute you:</HI> In a word, to overcome cruelty, pride, impiety, with humility, meekne&s;s, patience, except in the Chri&s;tian-Common-wealth! Here indeed we have an order for all the&s;e; and tho&s;e who truly ob&s;erve it, may &s;ay truly with Saint <HI>Paul, Our Conver&s;ation is in Heaven,</HI> their wayes being of another fa&s;hion, than the mo&s;t who walk on Earth. In Heaven they are by their contem|plations, in Heaven by their affections, in Heaven by their wayes and works.</P>
<P N="1">1. The &s;oul of a good Chri&s;tian is repo&s;ed in Heaven, and therefore he doth alwayes contemplate, and <HI>&s;eek the things above.</HI> His thoughts being bu|&s;ied not about the objects of the eye, but the objects of faith: <HI>He is ever look|ing, not upon the things which are &s;een, but upon the things which are not &s;een;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.1.</NOTE> <HI>knowing, that the things which are &s;een, are temporal;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 4.18.</NOTE> <HI>but the things which are not &s;een, are eternal.</HI> To contemplate the Earth, and things of the Earth, he leaves to Earthly-minded men, while he &s;oars higher, and by faith beholding, what <HI>Peter</HI> &s;aw with his eye, cries out, <HI>It is good to be here;</HI> here, if anywhere,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 9.33.</NOTE> he will make his Tabernacle.</P>
<P>This is a heavenly bu&s;ine&s;s, and therefore pro&s;ecuted by tho&s;e only who are bent to Heaven; by this we make u&s;e of all good means, fit our &s;elves for all good duties; by this we get more light of true knowledge, more fervour of af|fection, more life of devotion; by this we look &s;trange upon things on earth, and &s;olace and plea&s;e our &s;elves with invi&s;ible comforts; we &s;ee our Saviour with <HI>Stephen,</HI> we talk with our God as <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.56. Num. 11.17. 2 Cor. 12.2.</NOTE> we are ravi&s;h'd with Saint <HI>Paul</HI> into Paradi&s;e.</P>
<P>And becau&s;e we never can contemplate aright, without &s;it objects to fix on, therefore hath Chri&s;t in his Word propo&s;ed to us great my&s;teries on which to meditate; by reading his Word, and other holy and pious books, we are mo|ved to pray, to prai&s;e God, to give him thanks, to exalt him with P&s;almes and Hymns, and &s;piritual Songs, in all which while we &s;pend our houres, <HI>Our Con|ver&s;ation</HI> may be well &s;aid <HI>to be in Heaven.</HI></P>
<P>But this is a work beyond our own power; <HI>for no man can come unto me,</HI> (&s;aith our Saviour) <HI>except the Father draw him.</HI> The grace of God to call,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.44.</NOTE> to draw, to help, to bring us into the&s;e Cellars of heavenly and &s;piritual dain|ties and refections, is nece&s;&s;ary. Although <HI>Mary cho&s;e the better part,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.4. Luke 10.42.</NOTE> yet of her &s;elf &s;he cho&s;e it not, till mov'd and call'd by Chri&s;t; that then we be prompt and ready for this work, divers things are to be done by us.</P>
<P N="1">1. We mu&s;t implore the Divine help and a&s;&s;i&s;tance with vehement and earne&s;t prayers, breaking forth with <HI>David</HI> in fervency of &s;pirit, <HI>O &s;end forth thy light and thy truth: Let them lead me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 43.3.</NOTE> <HI>let them bring me unto thy ho|ly
<PB N="612" REF="312"> hill, and to thy Tabernacles, ducant, adducant, introducant,</HI> let them lead, bring,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> bring me into tho&s;e dwellings of plea&s;ure and repa&s;t, &s;eated on thy holy hill,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 11.9.</NOTE> to which by my own &s;trength I can never a&s;cend. To which fervent eja|culations, we have this comfortable promi&s;e annexed, <HI>Aske and ye &s;hall have, &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eke and ye &s;hall finde, knock and it &s;hall be opened unto you. Aske, &s;eeke, knock.</HI> We aske what we want; we &s;eek with labour what is di&s;tant, or hid; we knock when we are near the doore. Aske then with importunate prayers, that ye may have help, and you &s;hall receive. And upon help given, &s;eek, and co|operate with that help, and you &s;hall finde more and more a&s;&s;i&s;tance. Which having found, now you are near the doore, and therefore now knock with more vehement importunate de&s;ires, &s;ighs, fa&s;tings, prayers, <HI>and it &s;hall be opened unto you:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.4.</NOTE> The King will bring you into his wine-cellars of comfort.</P>
<P N="2">2. Before we can thus conver&s;e with God, there mu&s;t be in us be a great quie&s;cence and tranquillity of &s;pirit. <HI>Mary</HI> was at re&s;t, and &s;itting at Chri&s;ts feet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.39. Habac. 2.1.</NOTE> when &s;he heard his words. <HI>I will &s;tand upon my watch, and &s;et me upon the fenced place,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>and I will watch to &s;ee what he will &s;ay to me.</HI> For when the minde is full of tumult and anxiety, which carries a man to another matter, it is not apt to meditate on the things of God. All impediments then mu&s;t be removed, and the minde at re&s;t. And the&s;e impediments are four e&s;pecially. <HI>The fear by night, the arrow that fleeth by day, the pestilence that walketh in the darkne&s;&s;e, and the de&s;tru|ction that walk<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">th at noone-day;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 91.5, 6.</NOTE> From all which God promi&s;eth his a pro|tection.</P>
<P N="1">1. That which fir&s;t hinders men in their contemplations, and &s;piritual con|ver&s;e with heaven, is this &s;ame <HI>Timor nocturnus,</HI> the &s;pirit of pu&s;illanimity, of fear, of carele&s;ne&s;&s;e, of tediou&s;ne&s;&s;e, which brings a terrible night upon the &s;oul,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 53.3.</NOTE> <HI>and makes it fear where no fear is, fingit laborem in praecepto,</HI> it pre|&s;ents a command involved with a thou&s;and difficulties full of many dangers, be&s;et with powerful enemies, expo&s;ed if ob&s;erv'd to &s;coffs, hurtful to our health, trouble&s;ome to the body. O &s;aith this ignorant and dark fear, <HI>There's a Lion in the way;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 26.13. Num. 13.28.</NOTE> the &s;ons of <HI>Anak</HI> are there; and will any wi&s;e man upon the view of this danger, de&s;ire to &s;et foot in this Land? better then &s;till to &s;ojourne in the De&s;ert, than by endeavouring to conver&s;e wirh heaven, to be thus di&s;quie|ted on earth. He then, who will have his conver&s;ation above, mu&s;t be as bold as a Lion, and not be frighted with this fear by night.</P>
<P N="2">2. From which when he is e&s;caped, yet he is not &s;afe, for he is in danger of the arrow that fleeth by day: This is the &s;pirit of pride, vain-glory, boa&s;ting, pre&s;umption, over-much curio&s;ity; and well it is &s;aid to flie by day, for it wounds mo&s;t, when the light of knowledge, or at lea&s;t &s;o &s;uppo&s;ed, is in the <HI>Zenith.</HI> They meditate, They contemplate, They &s;pend their time in devotion? What needs that? they have greater matters to &s;earch, the &s;ecret judgements of God to pry into, to con&s;titute Churches, to gather Saints. Meditation and Contemplation, and pious devotions are for &s;imple &s;ouls, their imployments are for higher matters. This is the arrow that flies and wounds the heart of many by day, and turns the light into dark night. Of the&s;e, tho&s;e words of <HI>Ho&s;ee</HI> may be verified,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 12.1.</NOTE> <HI>Ephraim feeds on the winde, and followeth the Ea&s;t winde;</HI> For when they &s;hould feed their &s;ouls with Meditation and Devoti|on, they feed upon windy aiery &s;peculations, vain chimera's and fancies, heats of zeal and pride, and by imploying over-much time in empty and long-winded di&s;cour&s;es to bol&s;ter up Schi&s;me and Separation, they neglect in them|&s;elves, and coole in others the maine duties of a Chri&s;tian, piety, devotion, contemplation, prayer, by which a man may be truly &s;aid to have a great part of his conver&s;ation in heaven. This is a &s;harparrow, and it wounds farre and deep. God keep every good Chri&s;tian out of the reach and danger of it.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="613" REF="312">3. <HI>Nu&s;quam &s;ecuritas.</HI> Man that lives on earth can never be &s;ecure, for yet there is another enemy that will di&s;turb him in his practice of piety; it is the pe&s;tilence that walketh in darkne&s;&s;e, an infectious and deadly are that he draws in from his near approaches to the bu&s;ine&s;&s;es and negotiations of this life; while he is over-&s;olicitous of temporals, and walks after honours, great dignity, riches, plea&s;ures, his heart is di&s;quieted, di&s;tracted, and with cares &s;o oppre&s;&s;ed, that he cannot take time for heavenly contemplations. Lea&s;ure he hath none to conver&s;e above,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2.4.</NOTE> becau&s;e he conver&s;eth &s;o much be|low. Whence Saint <HI>Paul</HI> advi&s;eth, <HI>That no man who is a &s;ouldier in this spiritual war<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">are, entangle him&s;elf with the affairs of this life.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 3.3.</NOTE> When <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;aw the bu&s;h burning, and not con&s;umed, he &s;aid, <HI>I will go and &s;ee this great &s;ight;</HI> a generous re&s;olution! I will turne a&s;ide from this place, I will leave my &s;heep, I will &s;ee this great &s;ight, and enquire the cau&s;e, why the bu&s;h &s;hould be on fire, and yet not con&s;umed! But when he came thither, fir&s;t, he is taught to approach near God with reverence, <HI>Draw not nigh hither.</HI> Then how to be di&s;po&s;ed; <HI>Put off thy &s;hooes from thy feet:</HI> The&s;e are but made of the skins of dead bea&s;ts, they are a burden to thy feet; away then with the&s;e dead affections; the&s;e as thy &s;hooes joyne thee to earth; a man to contem|plate great &s;ights, mu&s;t be free from the&s;e. Be&s;ides, at this time, I meane to take thee to my &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lf, to be my peculiar &s;ervant; renounce therefore the &s;ervice of <HI>Jethro,</HI> this pa&s;toral office in taking care of feeding rhy father-in-lawes &s;heep, and become wholly mine. A &s;ign whereof was a putting off the &s;hooe: By which Ceremony a di&s;claim to any title in land was pa&s;t, <HI>Ruth.</HI> 4.7. And when we come to contemplate heavenly things, we mu&s;t approach bare-footed, without earthly affections, pa&s;&s;ions, perturbations; the&s;e as &s;hooes being put off, and laid a&s;ide, ultimate, that we are no longer <HI>no&s;tri juris,</HI> at our own di|&s;po&s;e, but wholly at the will of him to whom we approach. Secular occa&s;i|ons will mole&s;t and di&s;tract our pious intentions, and therefore they mu&s;t then be laid a&s;ide, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;hooes.</P>
<P N="4">4. But there is one evil &s;pirit more, which is a greater enemy to Contem|plation and Devotion than the other three; it is <HI>daemonium meridianum,</HI> a de&s;tructive Divel that walks abroad at noon-day. At noon-day cattle betake them&s;elves to &s;hady places, to avoid the heat of the Sun; at noon-day the wea|ry labourer takes his re&s;t for awhile; and in the heat of temptation, and af|ter his wearied &s;pirits tired out with unce&s;&s;ant pains,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.7.</NOTE> the active Chri&s;tian be|takes him&s;elf to Meditation and Devotion, in which Chri&s;t makes his flock to re&s;t at noone. But then appars this noone Divel, transforming him&s;elf into an Angel of light, that he may deceive tho&s;e who intend to pray and contem|plate. <HI>Heu rara hora, brevis mora! nam tarde venit, cito recedit.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. in Cant. Ser. <HI>32.</HI></NOTE> This hour &s;eldome comes, and is quickly gone. He per&s;wades that the duty be ei|ther omitted, or lightly performed; and to that end he &s;ugge&s;ts &s;ome hone&s;t and lawful action that may call us off; &s;ome obedience at that time to be per|formed to a Superiour, or &s;ome nece&s;&s;ary office to be done for our &s;elves, or our neighbour; he pre&s;ents things that are true and pious in their &s;ea&s;on, that he may &s;teale from us the&s;e &s;ea&s;ons of conver&s;ing with God.</P>
<P>The&s;e enemies and impediments euery pious man well knows, and there|fore he takes the truth of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 91.4.</NOTE> that &s;hield and buckler which God hath left him; that nor the fear by night, nor the arrow by day affright him, nor the pe&s;tilential negotiations of the world infect him, nor the noone-Divel can a|vocate him from his devotions; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">otwith&s;tanding all the&s;e, by his dayly and pi|ous thought and contemplations, his conver&s;ation is in heaven.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> A Chri&s;tians conver&s;ation in heaven by his affections.</HEAD>
<P>Now out of the&s;e happy and heavenly contemplations, there ari&s;eth a true
<PB N="614" REF="313"> affection, by Divines called <HI>amor unionis,</HI> by which the &s;oul de&s;ires to be uni|ted and joyned to God. For love is that verge and inclination of the &s;oul, by which it joins it &s;elf to the object it loves; or to &s;peak more truly, ongeth to be mingled and made one with it. That therefore which gravity and weight is to heavy bodies, that is love to our &s;ouls, it moves them forward <GAP DESC="foreign"> to the place of their re&s;t and contenrment, that &s;o <HI>ab amore de&s;iderii,</HI> they may come <HI>ad amorem fruitionis,</HI> from de&s;ire they may come to enjoy what they love.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5.8.</NOTE> This love was in Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> who was wel-plea&s;ed <HI>to be ab&s;ent from the Body, that he might be pre&s;ent with the Lord.</HI> Hence <HI>he de&s;ires to be di&s;&s;olved;</HI> for &s;o long as he was in this Tabernacle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 1.23.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, he did groan for that burden which kept him and his Saviour a&s;under. Chri&s;t was always with <HI>Paul</HI> by the power of his Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.4.</NOTE> but Paul <HI>de&s;ired to be with Chri&s;t</HI> to &s;ee his glory and partake of it. For as two loving &s;ouls, that are kept a&s;under, are alwayes in perpetual fear and di&s;comfort; <HI>quod ardentius de&s;ideres, cares aegrius:</HI> what a man ardently de&s;ires, he never wants without trouble: &s;o is it with the &s;oul that truly loves God, it ponders all the impediments that may withold it from God, ca&s;ts up the dangers that may encounter it in the way, and upon it thinks the time long till it come to appear in the pre&s;ence of God; it laments, it mourns, it &s;ighs, it weeps, it grieves, till it be fully united to the God of love.</P>
<P>It cannot be unknown to you, that Chri&s;t in the Scripture is called the Husband of his Church, &s;he then mu&s;t needs be his Spou&s;e. What affection then every good Woman bears to her Husband, there is no good Wife but knows; &s;he grieves at his departure, fears in his ab&s;ence, longs for his return; the rea&s;on is, becau&s;e the &s;oul is <HI>ubi amat, non ubi animat,</HI> not where it lives but where it loves. Hence it is, that every good &s;oul who truly bears an af|fection to Chri&s;t, though in the Word and Sacraments &s;he enjoys many com|forts from him, yet the&s;e give her not full content; &s;he knows that &s;he &s;till is ab&s;ent from her Lord, and therefore is full of fear, and full of &s;orrow. Which grief for his ab&s;ence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 2.5.</NOTE> the Spou&s;e in the <HI>Canticles</HI> hath thus expre&s;&s;ed; <HI>&s;he &s;ought, and &s;ought, and when &s;he could not find him whom her &s;oul loved,</HI> &s;he fell into a Lipothymie, wanted cordials and &s;piritual comforts to chear her up; for <HI>&s;he was &s;ick at heart with love,</HI> being overcame with a longing expectation of her future delayed glory.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. Ger&s;on.</NOTE>And yet ob&s;erve here, that <HI>languet amor,</HI> &s;he was &s;ick and feeble; it was an infirmity in her, that &s;he could love him no more: Her love though fervent, was not in that degree it &s;hould be, being too often cooled by the over-much earthyne&s;&s;e of the neighbouring body: For how&s;oever her affection &s;tood firm and entire to God, yet &s;he hath too many allurements to draw her downward; &s;ometimes the beauty of the world, &s;ometimes the glittering of riches, &s;ome|times the incentives of plea&s;ure, that I name not the Pandari&s;m of the Devil, make her to entertain many an adulterous thought; &s;o that her be&s;t love is but <HI>languor amoris,</HI> weakly dividing it &s;elf betwixt God and the world.</P>
<P>What then happens to other qualities, the &s;ame happens to this of Love; it is either heightned or abated, heated or cooled by certain degrees or &s;teps. There is <HI>Tepor,</HI> there is <HI>fervor</HI> in it. And yet this <HI>Tepor,</HI> this lukewarmne&s;s in|clines rather to fervour, or the utmo&s;t degree of heat, than abates to the fir&s;t of coldne&s;s; for it can never be put out, or cool'd by the copious inundation of wickedne&s;s; but rather as fire by the a&s;per&s;ion of water, it recovers &s;trength, and breaks out into the greater flame.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 8.7.</NOTE> <HI>Many waters canot quench love, nei|ther can the floods drown it;</HI> nor the watery temptations from the fle&s;h; nei|ther the raging floods or waves of per&s;ecution, are ever able to put out this flame.</P>
<P>There is indeed a kind of <HI>Tepor,</HI> verging and inclinable to cold; &s;uch was
<PB N="615" REF="313"> that <HI>Laodicean</HI> temper, which a little water will quench,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 3.15.</NOTE> a wicked temptati|on, or an ea&s;ie per&s;ecution alters his love. This degree is to be found in an hypocrite, whom you would think to be reaking hot in zeal, as the wind of the time blows up his coal; but all this zeal and courage is da&s;h'd out with the lea&s;t water that is da&s;h't upon it, or rather goes out of it &s;elf. We are not to &s;eek for examples of this kind, <HI>Et &s;i nolim dicere, quis me coget?</HI> When time &s;erved,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Senec.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. Claudii.</NOTE> who &s;o hot! but time was, and time is, and they have &s;erved the time. Then their Conver&s;ation &s;eem'd to be in heaven, but after their heaven was on earth, and their Conver&s;ation is &s;utable.</P>
<P>But there is another <HI>Tepor</HI> or warmth in religion which the godly nouri&s;h by prayers, fire by their pious endeavours, and never cea&s;e till they make it burn and flame out by their religious works and conver&s;ations; for they think it not enough that they be &s;hining, except they be burning Lamps, by which they give an evident te&s;timony of their love, and &s;hew clearly that their con|ver&s;ation is in heaven.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> Our Conver&s;ation is in heaven, in re&s;pect of an holy and heavenly life.</HEAD>
<P>Which Saint <HI>Paul</HI> principally in this place profe&s;&s;eth in his own, and in the name of the Primitive Chri&s;tians: For while the Church remained a Virgin, &s;he had the conditions and qualities of a good Maid, Mo|de&s;ty Sobriety, Cha&s;tity. No adulterous lu&s;t, or immode&s;t thought, or be|witching gift could corrupt her to pro&s;titute her &s;elf to the world, or wed her to the earth. I &s;peak of her better and greater part; for if any proved other|wi&s;e, <HI>de&s;inunt apud nos fieri Chri&s;tiani,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Tertullian,</HI> in their Apology,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tert. apol.</NOTE> they cea&s;e to be e&s;teemed Chri&s;tians among us.</P>
<P>Hence it was, that as with us <HI>the Tree may be known by his fruits,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.17, 18, 19.</NOTE> the &s;un by his light, or the fire by the heat: &s;o in tho&s;e Primitive golden days, a Chri|&s;tian might be known by his life and conver&s;ation: As their Faith and Doctrine were different from other mens, &s;o al&s;o their life and conver&s;ation were more holy then all other mens. <HI>Pliny</HI> an Heathen, gives them this Te&s;timony, <HI>That they were a &s;ort of harmle&s;&s;e, innocent people, that ro&s;e before day,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;ang prai&s;e and hymns to the honour of one Je&s;us.</HI> And when &s;ome virulent tongues &s;et a fire by hell ca&s;t upon them &s;ome foul a&s;per&s;ions, <HI>Ju&s;tin Martyr, Athenagoras, Cyprian, Minutius Faelix,</HI> ro&s;e up in their defence, and a&s;&s;erted their innocency by books dedicated unto their per&s;ecutors.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. Apolog. c. <HI>39, 40,</HI> &amp;c.</NOTE> Hear <HI>Tertullian</HI> for all, who de&s;cribes their practice to the life: <HI>Before we ta&s;te our meat, we take a ta&s;te of prayer; we eat as much as men that &s;till are hungry; we drink as much as is profitable for them who live chaste: &s;o we fill our &s;tomacks as we remember, that we mu&s;t ri&s;e to pray at midnight; &s;o we talk and devi&s;e, as who know God hears all: we &s;ing P&s;alms and prai&s;es to God, and thereby declare how much eve|ry man hath drunken; prayer endeth our banquet as it began it; the very name of our banquet argueth, that we meet rather for piety and charity, then good chear; for we call it</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>love; and &s;o loving, &s;o officious &s;o ho&s;pital, &s;o charitable we are one toward another, that even you Heathen note us for it; for what is more com|mon in your mouths then this,</HI> Vide ut invicem &s;e diligunt, &amp; pro alterutro mori parati &s;unt! <HI>&s;ee how the&s;e Chri&s;tians love one another, being ready to die one for the other!</HI> This was the charity, this the cha&s;tity, this the &s;obriety, this the pi|ety, this the innocence of the fir&s;t Chri&s;tians. And this ju&s;t defence and vin|dication of their conver&s;ation &s;erves well for two u&s;es; to inform us in our wayes, and to reform and &s;hame our lives.</P>
<P N="1">1. It is of great u&s;e to in&s;truct us what the lives and behaviour of Chri|&s;tians ought to be in this world, <HI>viz.</HI> &s;uch, that though <HI>vivant corpore in terra,</HI>
<PB N="616" REF="314"> yet <HI>corde habitant in coelo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> in the world with their bodies, but in heaven with their hearts, u&s;ing the &s;trength and youth of their bodies to the conquering of &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.19.</NOTE> but never <HI>yielding their members as weapons of unrighteou&s;ne&s;s</HI> to fight for &s;in. Ye may well compare them to a wheel, which in one part of the circumference toucheth the earth, whereas the greate&s;t part of the orb either points or mounts toward heaven; &s;o true Chri&s;tians, though by rea&s;on of the provi&s;ions for the fle&s;h, they are forced to look toward the earth, yet their cheife&s;t and highe&s;t thoughts have re&s;pect to heaven; and that part which carries them downward, yet is not glued, and fix'd and fa&s;tened to this ba&s;e and dirty element, but quick|ly a&s;cends, and looks to heaven again.</P>
<P N="2">2. Thus it is with the true Chri&s;tian. But let a man look into the world, and he &s;hall find him as rare as a Winter Ro&s;e, or a Summers Snow; were Saint <HI>Paul</HI> now alive, he mu&s;t alter his words; for it could not be &s;aid of the genera|lity of Chri&s;tians <HI>Their conver&s;ation is in heaven.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ca&s;talio de Au|lico.</NOTE> A Cardinal hired the Duke of <HI>Urbans</HI> Painter to draw the <HI>effigies</HI> of <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Paul</HI> upon a Table, to be placed in the Popes Chappel; the picture being perfected, the Cardinal blamed the workman, that he had overlaid their faces with too red and high-colours: but the witty Painter replyed, that true it was, when they were alive, they looked pale and wan by fa&s;ting and preaching, and other exerci&s;es of mortificati|on, but now they were become red and high coloured by blu&s;hing at the wickedne&s;&s;e of their Succe&s;&s;ors, &s;o that very &s;hame had altered their colour. <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Naz. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> Could. the eyes of tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Spirits that behold the face of God, look down from that &s;eat of glory, and take a full view of our acti|ons, who profe&s;s to live by their directions, how would they blu&s;h and colour for &s;hame of our impure, un&s;avoury, and corrupted lives! So far fall we &s;hort of their rules and example.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 58.7.4. Prov. 26.18, 19. I&s;a. 5.20.</NOTE>If to <HI>opper&s;&s;e the innocent, and turn from our own fle&s;h,</HI> if to ca&s;t abroad fire-brands, and yet &s;ay I am in je&s;t, <HI>if to vitiate virgins and defile the marri|age-bed, if to fa&s;t, and &s;mite with the fi&s;t of iniquity, if to call good evil, and evil good,</HI> if to drink, &s;pue, and reel in the &s;treets, if to violate oahts and &s;wear fal&s;ly and vainly, if to corrupt the truth, and introduce here&s;ies, if (for I want breath to &s;ay all) in a word to violate not upon infirmity and weakne&s;s, but upon malice and wickedne&s;s, all Gods holy Command|ments, may be characters of Profe&s;&s;ors of Religion, then indeed we may be &s;aid to be good Chri&s;tians. For the&s;e works, and greater abominati|ons appear in our lives; and if &s;uch a life be the life of Saints, then our con|ver&s;ation is Saint-like in heaven indeed.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15.16.</NOTE>I appeal to your con&s;ciences, whether the&s;e be not your &s;ins? and whe|ther the&s;e like tho&s;e of the <HI>Amorites,</HI> are not grown to the full among you:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 23.10.</NOTE> <HI>Omne in praecipiti vitium stetit. Becau&s;e of oaths,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>the land groaneth;</HI> and what a burden then doth this our land &s;u&s;tain, which is not only loaded with oaths and perjuries, but with adulteries, fornications, drunkenne&s;&s;e, oppre&s;&s;ion, covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, prophanene&s;s, and a whole <HI>chaos</HI> of iniquity. Would to God men were not fallen almo&s;t with one con&s;ent from religion to Athei&s;m, from Chri&s;t to <HI>Belial,</HI> &s;aying, (if a man may judge by their wicked actions) with a wicked heart, and a &s;hamele&s;s face, <HI>There is no God:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 4.1.</NOTE> The Sacred Name of Je&s;us Chri&s;t is made but a je&s;t and a fable among the Jews and Heathens by rea&s;on of us, &s;o that bla&s;phemou&s;ly they have judged the Chri&s;tians God to be the wor&s;t of all Gods, who hath &s;uch wicked Servants. What &s;hall we think of our &s;elves, when our ini|quities are grown to &s;uch an height, that they have (becau&s;e unrepented) &s;carce left us any room with God to obtain mercy? how can we do other then expects the vials of Gods wrath to be poured down upon us, &s;ince now men &s;in with the <HI>whores forehead that cannot blu&s;h,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 3.3.</NOTE> and &s;o openly and impudently trangre&s;&s;e, as if &s;in were their honour, not their &s;hame?</P>
<PB N="617" REF="314">
<P>Is this O you who have given up your names to Chri&s;t, to have your con|ver&s;ation in heaven? Is this that holine&s;s that will make you Saints of that City? Can you expect a Saviour from thence the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, when you &s;hew your &s;elves to be &s;uch vile &s;ervants? I know and you know, that the conditions and Laws, upon which you were admitted into his fa|mily were other. And except you perform your duty and keep your vow to your Lord, why &s;hould you expect that he &s;hould perform with you? except you ob&s;erve and live by the &s;tatutes and injunctions which he hath enacted for the government of his hou&s;e, how can you hope to enjoy the priviledges and immunities of it? If you live like Chri&s;tians, and die like Chri&s;tians, you &s;hall have the reward of Chri&s;tians; but if profe&s;s the Name of Chri&s;t, and live like Infidels, you mu&s;t expect the puni&s;hment of Heathens.</P>
<P>Live like Infidels did I &s;ay? I &s;aid too little, you live wor&s;e; I wi&s;h the&s;e my words might be blurr'd with a black coal, and this im|peachment were a meer &s;lander. Which of the Nations have robbed their God? <HI>yet ye have robbed me.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.8.</NOTE> Among the <HI>Scythians</HI> adultery is not heard of; for
<Q><L>Metnens alterius viri certo foedere ca&s;titas,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Horat.</NOTE></L>
<L>Et peccare nefas, aut pretium mori.</L></Q> To do as they would be done by, is their rule of life; ju&s;t they are in their dealings and contracts, punctually con&s;cientious to ob&s;erve their leagues. Yea to go one &s;tep farther in their devotions and prayers, which they offer to their fal&s;e gods, they &s;hew &s;uch reverence, &s;uch &s;ilence, &s;uch humility, &s;uch pious behaviour in their Mo&s;chees and Temples, as if they meant to ri&s;e up in judgement again&s;t us Chri&s;tians at the la&s;t day, and condemn our profane, carele&s;s, irreligious irreverence.</P>
<P>That God which &s;earcheth the &s;ecrets of all hearts, knows how un|willingly I have broken into this bitter but over-true complaint, which proceeds rather out of compa&s;&s;ion toward your mi&s;erable &s;ouls, then any de&s;ire to di&s;clo&s;e your faults.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eu&s;eb.</NOTE> I had rather with that great <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> take my mantle, and cover all, could they by it be covered from the eyes of God. But when you and I mu&s;t both appear before him, and I mu&s;t an&s;wer for my &s;ilence, as well as you for your leudne&s;s, I held it profi|table for neither, to palliate that which you di&s;cover, commit in the &s;ight of the &s;un, and boa&s;t, and glory in, and boldly defend. He who&s;e con&s;cience is guilty, let him carry home this di&s;covery, and lay it next his heart. It may perhaps have that effect upon him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2.37.</NOTE> that <HI>Peters</HI> Sermon had upon the traiterous and murdering Jews, prick and wound him to the &s;oul; cau&s;e him to grieve that his life hath been no better, and move him hereafter &s;o to frame his con|ver&s;ation as one that means to come to heaven. And he that can wa&s;h his hands, his heart I &s;hould &s;ay, let him ble&s;s God who hath &s;o far &s;u&s;tained him with his Grace, that he hath fixed and directed his feet to walk in that path which will bring him unto that heavenly <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="48" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="618" REF="315">
<HEAD>The hope or expectation of a true Chri&s;tian.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Phil. 3.20.</HI></BIBL>
<P>From whence al&s;o we look for a Saviour, the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>MAN of all Gods Creatures, was framed with his face upward, that he &s;hould look to Heaven: And of all men, a Chri&s;tian &s;hould mo&s;t bend his eyes that way, becau&s;e from thence he looks for a Saviour. Before you have heard what his Life and Conver&s;ation ought to be; now you &s;hall &s;ee what his Hope and Expectation is; an Expectant he is, and he <HI>looks for the Redemption of his body.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.23.</NOTE> Content he is not with his pre&s;ent e&s;tate, and therefore waits and longs for a better: Two dayes he knows there are which will make him a hap|py man; the fir&s;t, the day of his death; the other, the day of Chri&s;ts appear|ing, and therefore he waits for both. With patient <HI>Job, All the day<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s of his life he waits till his change come;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 14.14.</NOTE> <HI>and his Conver&s;ation is in Heaven, becau&s;e he waits for his Saviours &s;econd coming.</HI> With Saint <HI>Paul, He believes that for him there is laid up a Crown of righteou&s;ne&s;s; and not for him alone, but for all tho&s;e who love Chri&s;ts &s;econd appearing.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.8.</NOTE> This rich grace was be&s;towed upon the <HI>Co|rinthians, They waited for the appearance of Chri&s;t.</HI> This grace was be&s;towed upon the <HI>Philippians,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.7.</NOTE> in who&s;e name, and all the faithful, the Apo&s;tle profe&s;&s;eth, <HI>Our Conver&s;ation is in Heaven, whence we look for a Saviour.</HI> In which words I commend unto you two things.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The condition of good Chri&s;tians, that they are Expectants, <HI>they look for, they wait.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. What it is they expect, <HI>A Saviour from Heaven, which is Chri&s;t the Lord.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> We look, <GAP DESC="foreign">.</HEAD>
<P>God doth not pre&s;ently &s;atisfie the de&s;ires of his children, becau&s;e he would have them wait upon him; he defers <HI>Abrahams</HI> &s;eed four hundred &amp; thirty years, before he would give them livery and &s;ei&s;in of the promi&s;ed Land.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 12.40.</NOTE> And puts off the &s;uits of his Saints in Heaven, though they &s;eem to complain of an <HI>&V;&s;que quo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev 6.10.</NOTE> <HI>How long Lord, how long?</HI> to make a true proof of their pa|tience.</P>
<P>For man is of an over-ha&s;ty &s;pirit, he loves not to be delayed; what he would have, he would have it pre&s;ently, or el&s;e 'tis not worth thanks. Let God but carry the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> abour in the Wilderne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 11. Exod. 17.4. Prov. 13.12.</NOTE> <HI>they'le murmur at it,</HI> and be rea|dy to &s;tone their Governours; <HI>for a gift that is deferred, breaks the heart;</HI> this is the humour of fle&s;h and blood: But the Spirit infu&s;eth other thoughts, and therefore they are willing to &s;tay Gods plea&s;ure and lea&s;ure, knowing well, <HI>That the &V;i&s;ion is for an appointed time, and in the end it will not lye; though therefore it tarry,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Abac. 2.3.</NOTE> <HI>they will wait for it;</HI> and &s;trong Rea&s;ons there are which move them to it.</P>
<P N="1">1. Gods fidelity and promi&s;e, <HI>Who&s;e gifts and calling are without Repen|tance.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.29.</NOTE> Three things there are in us that cau&s;e Repentance: Mutability, and unwillingne&s;s of mind to perform what we have promi&s;ed: Ignorance, which cau&s;eth new con&s;ultations: Impotency, to effect our promi&s;es; none of which being to be found in God, he cannot repent, he cannot revoke his Word; having therefore &s;aid <HI>he will come and &s;ave us,</HI> we may, and mu&s;t &s;afely continue in our expectation.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="619" REF="315">2. But another Rea&s;on there is, that may in gratitude moves us to it; he hath waited long at the door, and &s;tood, and knock'd, and call'd, <HI>Open to me; waited there till his head is filled with the dew,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 5.2.</NOTE> <HI>and his locks with the drops of the night;</HI> 'tis but rea&s;on then we wait and expect for his promi&s;e, who hath waited and expected thus long for us; more dayes and houres for our Conver&s;ion, than we have done years for our Reward and Crown.</P>
<P N="3">3. And yet there is another, that when he comes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 35.4.</NOTE> <HI>He will come with a recompence;</HI> he will bring that with him, which we mo&s;t want, and will be mo&s;t beneficial to us; <HI>viz.</HI> Salvation; our God will come and &s;ave us; that we need, that we expect, and that he will give; for &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>He is a Sa|viour</HI> who &s;hall free from all evil, and e&s;tate us in all good; change what is ba&s;e and little worth, into that which is glorious, and of e&s;teem; free the bo|dy from di&s;honour, and inve&s;t it with power.</P>
<P>Lord, how heartle&s;s and dead all our labour of Chri&s;tianity would be, were it not for this expectation! The expectation of this glory in Heaven, is that alone which makes <HI>our Conver&s;ation to be in Heaven:</HI> This is the Cork that keeps up the Net, that the cold and heavy lead of impediments &s;ink it not; this is the Helmet that keeps off many a knock; to leave the <HI>broad way</HI> of &s;in, and to enter and <HI>walk along in the narrrw path that leads to life,</HI> is labour &s;ure,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.13, 14.</NOTE> and very great labour; and labour is but an unplea&s;ant thing. That which makes us go on plea&s;antly, and tread under all difficulties, and break through all enemies we meet by the way, is this daughter of hope, expectation, which bids us, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Live in all good con&s;cience before God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 23.1. 1 Pet. 5.4. 2 Tim. 4.8.</NOTE> <HI>becau&s;e there is a Crown of immortality laid up for us.</HI> In every place of Scripture, where we are exhorted to wait and expect Chri&s;ts &s;econd coming, &s;till the benefit we &s;hall have by it, and the greatne&s;s of the reward is propounded, as a Motive to encourage us to wait and abide with patience under this hope &s;till.</P>
<P>The Worldlings Motto is, <HI>A Bird in the hand;</HI> but the Chri&s;tians Symbol, <HI>Spero meliora.</HI> Now between hope and having, there is want of the thing de|&s;ired, which being delayed, is trouble&s;ome. Now for this want, delay, faint|ing, patience is nece&s;&s;ary, who&s;e daughter expectation per&s;wades us to be con|tent; <HI>for in a fit time we &s;hall reap, if we faint not:</HI> Faint not at our work,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.9. 1 John 3.3. 1 The&s;&s;. 2.12.</NOTE> never <HI>give over to purifie our &s;elves. Walk worthy of God,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle; why &s;o? <HI>for you are call'd to his own Kingdom of glory.</HI> And he infers mortification meerly out of this <HI>Po&s;tulatum, When Chri&s;t &s;hall appear,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.3.</NOTE> <HI>you al&s;o &s;hall appear with him in glory; mortifie therefore your earthly members:</HI> And not to &s;earch fur|ther than this very Text, Saint <HI>Paul</HI> profe&s;&s;eth, <HI>Our Conver&s;ation is in Heaven,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>from thence we look for a Saviour.</HI></P>
<P>Upon this confidence it was, that <HI>Abraham</HI> left his Countrey; his expecta|tion of a City, <HI>who&s;e builder is God,</HI> made him undervalue his Kindred,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.8, &amp;c.</NOTE> and his Fathers hou&s;e. Upon this ground it was, that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> di&s;e&s;teemed all the plea|&s;ures of <HI>Egypt, Choo&s;ing rather to &s;uffer affliction with the people of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 24, 25.</NOTE> <HI>than to enj<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y the plea&s;ures of &s;in for a &s;ea&s;on.</HI> But what &s;pake I of Gods &s;ervants, when his <HI>own Son endured the Cro&s;s, and de&s;pi&s;ed the &s;hame,</HI> out of this expectation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 12.2.</NOTE> <HI>of that glory which is &s;et bef<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re him.</HI> Should it be inquired, why at this day ma|ny wi&s;e and pious men <HI>hav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> for&s;aken Hou&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s, and Brethren, and Si&s;ters,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.29.</NOTE> <HI>and Fa|thers, and Mothers, and Wives, and Children, and Lands, and Lives,</HI> no other Rea&s;on can be given, but that they are per&s;waded, that Chri&s;t prepares cloaths of Immortality to inve&s;t them, and holds a Diadem of glory in his hand to crown them, and this they expect. To &s;ee a <HI>Stephen</HI> in a &s;howre of &s;tones, an <HI>Ignatius</HI> in the Theatre compa&s;&s;ed with Lyons, a <HI>Lawrence</HI> lying upon the Gred-iron, a <HI>Pelagia</HI> &s;inging <HI>Te Deum</HI> in the burning <HI>Phalaris,</HI> a <HI>Tiburtius</HI>
<PB N="620" REF="316"> walking on the glowing Coals, as on Ro&s;es; a <HI>Marcus</HI> to be anointed with ho|ney, hanged in the Sun, to be devoured and &s;tung by Wa&s;ps; to behold a <HI>John</HI> in a Ve&s;&s;el of &s;calding oyle, or a <HI>Peter</HI> hanging on the Cro&s;s; what a &s;trange &s;pectacle is this? The Tormentor threatneth, the Martyr fears not; the Tor|ment or heaps pains upon pains, the Martyr &s;hrinks not; whence comes this courage? whence this &s;trength, but from the hope and expectation of a reward in heaven?</P>
<P>The glory of this World dazles mens eyes; the readie&s;t way to remove the&s;e glimmerings, is, the meditation of the glory above; the labour and travel of a Chri&s;tian-conver&s;ation weakens mens knees; all the &s;trength they gather, is from the a&s;&s;urance of refre&s;hing above. The expectation of a tran&s;itory Kingdom, when it is but once dige&s;ted, and devoured by hope, makes men ne|glect Lives, Lands, Friends, Oaths, Souls and all. <HI>Violatur jus regnandi cau&s;a; ca&s;titas, pietas, fides, privata bona &s;unt, &amp;c.</HI> The Merchant out of an expecta|tion of &s;ome gain, commits his life to a plank not three inches thick; con|temns the anger of the Sea, and the rage of the &s;editious winds; hope of earth doth thus much, nay more; for what is it that wings all our profe&s;&s;ions, but an expectation of &s;ome profit, &s;ome in-come by them? This &s;tears the Ship, this &s;tirs the ground, this turns the book, this &s;heaths and un&s;heaths the Sword. Remove an expectation of a reward from labour, and you &s;hall have labour and labourers accordingly. 'Tis fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> in Religion; Men may frame to them&s;elves what &s;peculations they plea&s;e, but hope of a reward in heaven is it, when all's done, that bows every knee, that keeps open every eye, that knocks every brea&s;t, that <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, that gives &s;o many black and blue eyes to the <HI>body,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.27.</NOTE> <HI>that beats it down, and keeps it under.</HI></P>
<P>Saint <HI>Paul</HI> keeps his Audit, Ca&s;ts up his &s;ufferings on one &s;ide, and what was coming to him on the other;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.18.</NOTE> and then after a ju&s;t reckoning collects, that one bore no proportion to the other. As if he had &s;aid, I have &s;uffered all kind of cro&s;&s;es, hunger, thir&s;t, cold, nakedne&s;s; in all places, at Sea, at Land, in the City, in the De&s;ert, many per&s;ecutions; by all &s;ort of men, <HI>Jews, Gentiles,</HI> fal&s;e Brethren;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.23, 24, &amp;c.</NOTE> but yet <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>and yet I reckon that the afflictions of this pre&s;ent time are not worthy to be c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mpared with the glory that &s;hall be revealed in us.</HI> Much he did &s;uffer, but he valued it not, becau&s;e it was with him, as with other Crea|tures, he had an <GAP DESC="foreign">, he did as it were thru&s;t forth his head, and look &s;till, when he &s;hould be freed from this &s;ervice of corruption, and be &s;eated in the glorious liberty of the &s;ons of God. This is the Chri&s;tian Anchor to &s;e|cure his Ve&s;&s;el upon every &s;torm, this is a Chri&s;tian Armour to ward off all a&s;|&s;aults; Finally, this is the only re&s;t &s;et up in the heart of a vertuous man, that come life, come death, come health, come &s;ickne&s;s, come wealth, come pover|ty, come what will, or may come, <HI>Expectamus</HI> &s;weetens all.</P>
<P>Say that a Chri&s;tian hath but a faint heart, and his treadings are well nigh gone,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 27.13. P&s;al. 55.5. P&s;al. 73.2.</NOTE> <HI>when he &s;ees the pro&s;perity of the wicked, and the flouri&s;hing e&s;tate of the ungodly;</HI> admini&s;ter to him a dram of this Cordial, put him in mind of a Sa|viour, whom he expects from heaven, and his &s;pirit will pre&s;ently come again: Say a man grow weary of his Conver&s;ation, hath le&s;s life and alacrity in the way of godline&s;s, there is no better way to enlive the&s;e his dying affecti|ons, and bring them back to their fir&s;t temper, than this daughter of hope.</P>
<P>Yea, but who hath not this hope? Ask the verie&s;t Varlet that can be found in all <HI>Christendom,</HI> and he will face you out, that he expects a Saviour, hopes to be &s;aved as well as the be&s;t. Though he never &s;erve God &s;carce an houre in his whole life, yet he hath heard that God is merciful, and Chri&s;t is bountiful; and if therefore he can but &s;ay, <HI>Mi&s;erere mei,</HI> at the la&s;t ga&s;p, he never doubts to go to heaven.</P>
<PB N="621" REF="316">
<P>But is not the expectation of the ungodly like thi&s;tle-down,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 5.14. I&s;a. 28. Job 8.14.</NOTE> purling in the wind, or like a thin bubble, which breaks and vani&s;heth? <HI>Is there not a lye in their right hand?</HI> and dwell they not in the Spiders hou&s;e? Mark but the A|po&s;tles connexion here, of <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">&punc; They which had their <HI>Conver&s;ation in Heaven,</HI> the&s;e <HI>looked for a Saviour;</HI> as much as to &s;ay, there could be no good to be hoped for, no Saviour to be looked for, if there were not a heavenly Conver&s;ation going before. The endeavour of a good life, is the main ground upon which we mu&s;t build our a&s;&s;urance of &s;alvation in hea|ven; the purging of the life and heart from &s;in is it that makes men with com|fort capable of the promi&s;es of Chri&s;t, <HI>He that hath this hope,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 3.3.</NOTE> <HI>this hope to &s;ee him as he is, purifieth him&s;elf:</HI> And <HI>David</HI> asking the que&s;tion, <HI>Who &s;hall dwell in Gods holy hill?</HI> re&s;olves it thus, <HI>He that hath clean hands,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 15.2, 3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>and a pure heart.</HI></P>
<P>For however the truth and power, and mercy of God, be the foundation upon which we build our <HI>expectamus;</HI> and the active and pa&s;&s;ive obedience of the Son of God the meritorious cau&s;e, why God &s;hould make good his truth, make u&s;e of his power, and apply his mercy for our good; yet the fruits of the Spirit are the earne&s;t of our inheritance; we &s;hall never be a&s;&s;ured that we are his, or that we &s;hall have our &s;hare of what is his, except we find in our &s;elves tho&s;e graces to which he hath annexed his promi&s;es; they who make u&s;e of the&s;e, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">re tho&s;e &s;ervants, <HI>that have th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ir loyns girded about,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12.35.</NOTE> <HI>and their lights burn|ing:</HI> The&s;e are the men who are ready, and wait for the Lord; and whereas others at his coming &s;hall find him a Judge to condemn them, they &s;hall find him their good and gracious Lord to &s;ave them; as they look for, &s;o they &s;hall have him a Saviour.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> We look for a Saviour.</HEAD>
<P><HI>A Saviour?</HI> why what needs that? &s;ome will &s;ay: &s;hall a mans <HI>Cover&s;ation be in heaven,</HI> and yet <HI>a Saviour</HI> nece&s;&s;ary? &s;uch an one a man would think were fit for tho&s;e who&s;e Conver&s;ation is in Earth, <HI>who were of rebellious &s;pirits, and followed their own lu&s;ts; who&s;e god was their belly, who&s;e glory their &s;hame;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.19. P&s;al. 119.59.</NOTE> and not for &s;uch <HI>who were no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> afraid of all their wayes,</HI> and were of a Cele&s;tial and Angelike Conver&s;ation. But even the&s;e need a Saviour, this Saviour al&s;o; for there is nothing men can do, which is worth heaven, no works which they can perform that will &s;ave them. I find one in this <HI>Chapter,</HI> that could &s;ay more for him&s;elf, than any <HI>Jew</HI> of them all; <HI>touching righteou&s;ne&s;s which is in the Law, he was blamel &s;s; but tho&s;e things which were gain to him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.4, 5.</NOTE> <HI>he counted lo&s;s for Chri&s;t: Yea doubtle&s;s I</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>count all things but lo&s;s for the excellency of the knowledge of Chri&s;t Je&s;us my Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 6, 7, 8,</NOTE> <HI>for whom I have &s;uff<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">red the lo&s;s of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Chri&s;t, and be found in him;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">9,</NOTE> <HI>not having mine own righteou&s;ne&s;s, which is of the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteou&s;ne&s;s which is of God by faith:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">10.</NOTE> For this legal righteou&s;ne&s;s is defective and imperfect in many re&s;pects, and therefore needs the righteou&s;ne&s;s of another to help it out; when the Lord &s;hall appear, it may not be pleaded, for the&s;e Rea&s;ons.</P>
<P N="1">1. Man is Gods Covenant &s;ervant; let him do what he can, he can but do his duty, no nor that neither; <HI>for unprofitable he is, when he hath done all;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 17.10.</NOTE> which plain confe&s;&s;ion of nece&s;&s;ary duty, and defect in every holy action, open|ly proclaims that the man &s;tands in need of a Saviour.</P>
<P N="2">2. Be&s;ides, all the good he doth, is but <GAP DESC="foreign">, an ability proceeding from the free favour of God, who enabled him: If he have a good thought,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.7.</NOTE> he mu&s;t not call it his own, God put it into his heart; if he &s;peaks gracious words, they are Gods, not his; if he do a good work, that's not his neither, God put it into
<PB N="622" REF="317"> his hand; but when the Spirit of God hath thus enabled him, yet this grace pa&s;&s;eth through an impure pipe, and &s;o contracts much &s;oile. In re&s;pect then of the principal Agent, the work may be perfectly good; but in re&s;pect of the in&s;trumental Actor, a leak it hath of manifold infirmities; for the&s;e then, bring the be&s;t work-man before Gods Bar, and then he will need one to &s;ave him from the defects and pollutions of tho&s;e thoughts, words and works.</P>
<P>When that wi&s;e, that glorious, that powerful, that holy, that angry Judge &s;hall &s;it upon the Bench, who is it that dares appear in the confidence of his own innocence? let the proude&s;t <HI>Phari&s;ee</HI> that &s;tands &s;o much in the confi|dence and performance of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Law; or that forward Lawyer, who boa&s;ted, <HI>All the&s;e things have I kept from my youth;</HI> or that arrogant brood of the new <HI>Phari&s;ees,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 19.20.</NOTE> in who&s;e mouths there is nothing el&s;e but merit, and works of &s;uper|erogation: Let I &s;ay, any of the&s;e appear before Chri&s;t at his &s;econd coming, and then they will find in their guilty and amazed con&s;ciences more matter of fear than confidence; more glad they will be to hear of a Saviour, than a Judge.</P>
<P>A worth I confe&s;s this <HI>Conver&s;ation in heaven</HI> hath, and a reward accor|dingly it &s;hall have; but the worth depends meerly upon Gods acceptation, and the reward upon his promi&s;e, who waits that he may have mercy upon us: Our Saviour commands us to put this into our prayers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 21.36.</NOTE> <HI>Pray that ye may be ac|counted worthy;</HI> out of which words Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tem</HI> lends us this di&s;tincti|on, of <GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp; <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Dignitas &amp; dignatio;</HI> worthine&s;s in it &s;elf, or a thing &s;o far dignified that it may be held for worthy. In the fir&s;t &s;en&s;e put our holy Life and Conver&s;ation into the Scale, and weigh it with the Crown of glory, and it will be too light; but put it into the Scale again, and weigh it with the allowance that God grants, and then <HI>&s;at dignus, quem Deus dignatur,</HI> that holy Life and Conver&s;ation is worthy, which God de&s;igns and accepts for worthy.</P>
<P>And this it &s;eems they, who in the School plead &s;o earne&s;tly and proudly for merit, yet at their parting with the World, acknowledge and teach; Then they confe&s;s they need a Saviour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bellar.</NOTE> and that it is the &s;afe&s;t way to repo&s;e their whole confidence in the &s;ole mercy and goodne&s;s of God.</P>
<P>Let then tho&s;e of the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> fill and feed them&s;elves and Pro|&s;ylites with this empty aire, that their holy Conver&s;ation will &s;ave them; while the be&s;t &s;ervants of God upon the view of their own lives, crave pardon, and call for mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 143.2.</NOTE> praying with <HI>David, Enter not into judgment with thy &s;ervant;</HI> and confe&s;s with <HI>Job, If I wa&s;h my &s;elf with &s;now-water, and make my hands ne|ver &s;o clean,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 9.30, 31.</NOTE> <HI>yet &s;halt thou plunge me in the Ditch, and my own cloaths &s;hall make me to be abhor'd; for he is not as man, that I &s;hould an&s;wer, &s;hould we come toge|ther in judgment; neither is there any day&s;-man betwixt us, that might lay his hands upon us both.</HI></P>
<P>How! <HI>no Day&s;-man,</HI> no Umpire! what means the&s;e la&s;t words? The&s;e be words of worm-wood; for if the Conver&s;ation of tho&s;e who live in heaven be yet unclean, how mi&s;erable is the ca&s;e of all, &s;ince all mu&s;t appear to hear the final &s;entence! Behold, here &s;tand a company of poor pri&s;oners at the Bar, to abide the verdict of the Judge! no man is able to open his mouth for him&s;elf, the Angels dare not plead for them; the matter being come to this pa&s;s, the good-will and love of Chri&s;t our Saviour appears; he lends them his long white Robe to cover their deformities,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Titus 2.11. I&s;a. 61.10. Revel. 6.9. &amp; 7.9, 14. I&s;a. 2.10.</NOTE> and his blood to wa&s;h away their uncleanne&s;s; and opens the wounds in his &s;ide, and his hands to let them in, and hide them, till the anger be pa&s;t; &s;o that all who have had their <HI>Conver&s;a|tion in heaven,</HI> &s;hall with comfort &s;ay, <HI>We have looked for,</HI> and we have found <HI>a Saviour.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<PB N="623" REF="317">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> The Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HEAD>
<P>So he writes in his &s;tile, and &s;uch we mu&s;t expect him; the Lord is a name of power; Je&s;us of love, Chri&s;t of office; and all we need at that day; and of all the&s;e he will make u&s;e for our benefit; of his power, to rai&s;e us; of his love, to &s;ave us; of his office, to redeem, to deliver us. Were it not for his power, we mu&s;t lie in our graves for ever; were it not for his love, we mu&s;t ri&s;e to condemnation; were it not for his chri&s;me or unction, we knew not what to an&s;wer; well therefore it is for us, that the Judge before whom we mu&s;t appear, is the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Princes often u&s;e to take many Epithits of vanity and arrogance in their titles to them&s;elves, &s;welling and glorious, but of little u&s;e for their people, becau&s;e they aim more at their own honour, than their Subjects profit: But the honourable titles of our good Prince, <HI>vel &s;onant Maje&s;tatis potentiam, vel pie|tatis gratiam;</HI> either expre&s;s the power of his Maje&s;ty, or the grace of his af|fection; and that power employed for our good, and that grace appearing in our &s;alvation.</P>
<P>Of the&s;e powerful and &s;weet names I &s;hall now &s;ay the le&s;s, having before been &s;o copious upon them; yet out of tho&s;e full &s;heaves, I &s;hall take liberty to collect the&s;e few ears, which I will thre&s;h out, and make into &s;everal loaves for our pre&s;ent repa&s;t.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> The Lord.</HEAD>
<P>And this is the fir&s;t notion in which we are to reflect upon him, and to ac|knowledge him by way of Empha&s;is, <HI>The Lord,</HI> not a Lord qualified, or con|fined to this or that Seigniory, but the Lord paramount; The Lord that can do what he will in heaven and earth, help the infirme, cure the di&s;ea&s;ed, rai&s;e the dead, performe what we expect from him, ea&s;ily change and make our vile bodies like his glorious body.</P>
<P>Now to this Lord&s;hip he hath a threefold right; by inheritance, by pur|cha&s;e, and by dowry. For fir&s;t, the inheritance was his, as he was the eternal Sonne of God, he was the right and &s;ole heire of all.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 1.2.</NOTE> Had he never become Je&s;us to &s;ave, nor Chri&s;t to redeem, this dominion and title had belong'd to him. Then again he was plea&s;ed to purcha&s;e it at a dear rate; he paid for it with his life, and bought it with his blood; and what one buys and truly payes for, of that he is the true Lord. And after the purcha&s;e, he was put into po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ion of it by way of dowry, God the Father giving unto him the utmo&s;t parts of the earth for his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, he then being exalted by him to be Lord and Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>And now con&s;ider what an influence this title may have upon your conver|&s;ation, and expectation; For can your life be other than heavenly, when you reflect upon this Lord? Can you do other than expect a Saviour in your graves, when you con&s;ider his power? This title Lord is <GAP DESC="foreign">, a meere relation, and it impo&s;eth upon us the duties of obedient creatures, of good &s;ervants, of loving wives. <HI>The Lord he is that made us,</HI> it is fit we do him homage,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 95.6.</NOTE> and bear his image. <HI>The Lord he is that bought us,</HI> we mu&s;t then be his &s;ervants. <HI>The Lord he is our hus and,</HI> we ought then to be obedient wives,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2.1. I&s;a. 54.5. 1 Pet. 3.6.</NOTE> and live in &s;ubjection, <HI>as Sarah did to Abraham, calling him Lord.</HI> Re|flect upon the title in what &s;en&s;e you plea&s;e, it will charge you with &s;ervice, whether created or purcha&s;ed by him, or e&s;pou&s;ed to him. And a greater Lord you cannot &s;erve, for there's no end of his greatne&s;s;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 145.3. P&s;al. 52.2.</NOTE> and a better Lord you cannot &s;erve, for there's no end of his goodne&s;&s;e; and when great and good meet in the Lord, it mu&s;t be both honour and profit to a &s;ervant. And here they meet, for this Lord is</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<PB N="624" REF="318">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Je&s;us.</HEAD>
<P>This is an Hebrew word, and the Apo&s;tle interprets it by the Greek <GAP DESC="foreign">, which comes from a root that &s;ignifies to &s;ave.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 19.10.</NOTE> Now to that purpo&s;e he fir&s;t came into the world, and to that end he will come again, to &s;ave all tho&s;e who have had their conver&s;ation in heaven, and expect him for a Saviour.</P>
<P>When that great day of wrath comes, men will truly under&s;tand the power of this Name. While men here flow in plea&s;ures, and wallow in plenty and pro&s;perity, they care not much to know what Je&s;us and his &s;alvation means. But in that terrible day, <HI>when the heavens &s;hall pa&s;&s;e away with a great noi&s;e, and the elements &s;hall melt with fervent heat, the earth and al&s;o the works which are therein &s;hall be burnt up;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 3.10.</NOTE> <HI>when men &s;hall &s;ay to the rocks and mountains Fall on us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 6.36.</NOTE> <HI>and hide us from the pre&s;ence of him that &s;its upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:</HI> Then they will judge tho&s;e only happy, that have &s;erved this Lord, and expected him a Je&s;us. Since he that is a Lamb to his own, will look to the wicked like a devouring Lion. The&s;e mockers in their ruffe &s;coffed and ask'd, <HI>Where is the promi&s;e of his coming?</HI> but they &s;hall then &s;ee that the day of his wrath is come,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 3.3.</NOTE> the day that they de|&s;pi&s;ed and &s;corned, and thought would never be; in which, what will be mat|ter of terror and amazement to the wicked, will be an occa&s;ion of joy and refre&s;hing to the godly, becau&s;e the one &s;hall find a Lamb turned into the ter|rible face of a Lyon; but the other &s;hall find him, what they looked and ex|pected, <HI>a Je&s;us, a Saviour,</HI> one anointed to that end, for he was <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> The Lord Je&s;us Christ.</HEAD>
<P><HI>The Lord</HI> is a name of terrour; for he may u&s;e his ab&s;olute power for our de&s;truction: But if he be <HI>Je&s;us, a Saviour,</HI> he is not like to do it to &s;uch who expect &s;alvation from him, much le&s;s, if he be Chri&s;t anointed for that purpo&s;e; &s;urely he will not de&s;troy, who&s;e main office and end is to &s;ave. O happy com|bination, when the Lord and Je&s;us, Je&s;us and Chri&s;t, Chri&s;t the Lord meet in one per&s;on, and happy the men for who&s;e &s;ake they were &s;o conjoyned!</P>
<P>Saint <HI>Bernard</HI> upon that Text of the <HI>Canticles, His Name is an oyntment poured forth,</HI> finds an Analogy betwixt him and oyle in three re&s;pects; oyle, <HI>lucet, pa&s;cit, &amp; ungit;</HI> and &s;uch in effect is Je&s;us Chri&s;t, <HI>lux, cibus, &amp; medici|na;</HI> light, meat, health.</P>
<P N="1">1. By him it is we have light; by him to the <HI>Gentiles</HI> that &s;ate in darkne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.32.</NOTE> light ro&s;e up; and when it was put into the Apo&s;tles Lamps, and car|ried into the World, many Nations that &s;ate in darkne&s;s, came clearly to &s;ee by it; and when they &s;hould appear, what an&s;wer to put in.</P>
<P N="2">2. In the mean time, as oyle feeds the Lamp, &s;o al&s;o he feeds the &s;oul, and keeps it alive, which otherwi&s;e would de&s;pair, and dye. What doth &s;o much &s;trengthen the mind! what &s;o much revive ovr wearied indeavours! confirm in us all vertues! quicken our cele&s;tial Conver&s;ation! nouri&s;h our affections, as this anointed and perfumed Name <HI>Je&s;us!</HI> 'Tis well therefore we &s;hall ap|pear before him who was anointed to be a Prophet to in&s;truct, a Prie&s;t to in|tercede, and a King to defend us.</P>
<P N="3">3. La&s;tly, Him it is that we expect, <HI>who hath healing in his wings,</HI> in which he re&s;embles the medicinable vertue of oyle;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 4.2.</NOTE> for in this Name is balm to heal the Nations. Phy&s;itians tell us of <HI>Panacea</HI>'s, Catholick Receits, that cure all di&s;ea&s;es, but they do but talk of them, there cannot be a <HI>Probatum e&s;t</HI> &s;et upon any, but this Name; for this is a Catholick-cure for all &s;oul-&s;oars, both original and actual &s;ins; the foule&s;t Conver&s;ation hath been cured by it; from
<PB N="625" REF="318"> an earthly, turned into an heavenly; from an impure, to a pure cour&s;e of life; in which if they indeavoured to walk, they might with a good con&s;cience <HI>ex|pect the Saviour, the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>Saint <HI>Paul</HI> had no &s;tronger Argument to move his <HI>Philippians</HI> to continue in their heavenly Conver&s;ation, than to put them in mind that they had a <HI>Savi|our</HI> alive, and that this <HI>Saviour</HI> was the <HI>Lord,</HI> one able enough to &s;ave them, and that this Saviour was Je&s;us by nature, and Chri&s;t by office, one anointed to &s;ave them; &amp; therefore they &s;hould make no doubt of &s;alvation in the great and fearful day; <HI>what God hath joyned together, let no man put a&s;under;</HI> apply to your &s;elves &s;uch <HI>a Saviour</HI> as God hath &s;ent, divide not this Name, but let this <HI>Je|&s;us</HI> be to you <HI>Lord</HI> and <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 26.19.</NOTE></P>
<P><HI>Lord</HI> he is; you that <HI>&s;it in the du&s;t, ari&s;e and &s;ing;</HI> for do your duty, and you &s;hall &s;ee one d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y, that <HI>bonum habetis Dominum,</HI> you &s;erve a good <HI>Lord;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 3.15. 1 Cor. 2.8. Matth. 25.21.</NOTE> for he will impart to you of what&s;oever he is <HI>Lord</HI> him&s;elf. He is <HI>Lord of life,</HI> and <HI>life</HI> he be&s;tows. He is <HI>Lord of glory,</HI> and <HI>glory</HI> he gives. He is <HI>Lord of joy,</HI> and <HI>joy</HI> he imparts. He will &s;ay to you, as he did to that good &s;ervant, <HI>Enter into the joy of thy Lord.</HI></P>
<P>And this <HI>Lord</HI> is <HI>Je&s;us;</HI> you that at the &s;ight of your &s;ins give your &s;elves for lo&s;t, take heart again, for here is good news for you;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 19.10.</NOTE> <HI>Dominus venit cum &s;a|lute, the Lord Je&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s did come once to &s;eek<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> and &s;ave that which was lost;</HI> and he will come once again to revive and glorifie the body as good as lo&s;t. And you that were &s;ick to death, ga&s;ping and giving up the Gho&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.5.</NOTE> for fear of that death of death, In whom there was nothing but &s;oars and ulcers, <HI>the whole head &s;ick, and the whole heart faint;</HI> ble&s;s God for the means of you recovery; the Son of God became Chri&s;t; that is, was anointed to heal your broken and contrite hearts with the &s;weet bal&s;ome and oyle of mercy.</P>
<Q><L>It is Je&s;us that ju&s;tifi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">th, who &s;hall condemn?</L>
<L>It is Chri&s;t that heals, who dare wound?</L>
<L>It is the L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rd that exalts, who can ca&s;t down?</L></Q>
<P><HI>Believe that Je&s;us Chri&s;t is the Lord of glory, and you &s;hall be &s;aved, you &s;hall be healed, you &s;hall be crowned:</HI> For Brethren, <HI>the Lord you &s;erve, is the heir;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 21.38.</NOTE> <HI>devoutly entertain him, &s;ubmit your &s;elves to him, be at his &s;ervice, tru&s;t, depend,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.17, 32.</NOTE> <HI>and rely upon him, and you &s;hall be co-heirs with him. The Father which hath given you his only Son to be your Saviour, will no doubt with him be&s;tow all things upon you. All things that &s;hall be nece&s;&s;ary for this life, while you are his &s;ervants here; and for your good and faithful &s;ervice, a Crown of glory in the life to come.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="49" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>The Re&s;urrection of the Body.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Phil. 3.21.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Who &s;hall change our vile body, that it may be fa&s;hioned like unto his glori|ous body, according to the working whereby he is able even to &s;ubdue all things un<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o him&s;elf.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><HI>FIducia Chri&s;tianorum Re&s;urrectio Mortuorum:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull.</NOTE> A confidence which the wi&s;e men of the World derided, and at the report whereof they &s;top't their ears.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 17.18, 19, 20.</NOTE> The news of the <HI>Re&s;urrection</HI> was to the <HI>Athenians</HI> (who had ears rea|dy prepared to drink in all other news) &s;o &s;trange a report, that <GAP DESC="foreign">,
<PB N="626" REF="319"> they draw their lips a&s;ide at it, as at a harange. The a&s;&s;ertion of the <HI>Re&s;urrecti|on</HI> &s;eemed to <HI>Fe&s;tus</HI> that wi&s;e <HI>Romane,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 32. Acts 26.24.</NOTE> <HI>manife&s;ta phrene&s;is,</HI> a phren&s;ie of Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> brain; and the Apo&s;tle, when he preached upon this Theme, was for his pains accounted no better than <HI>a babler,</HI> and his di&s;cour&s;e, <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 17.17.</NOTE> <HI>words that had nothing in them.</HI></P>
<P>What yet hath &s;eemed to the wi&s;e fooli&s;hne&s;s, and to the world a matter of &s;corn, is to us Chri&s;tians an Article of faith, preached fir&s;t by Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, and after by us on the hou&s;e-tops. It cannot be denied by any, who believe the Scriptures, but there &s;hall be a <HI>Re&s;urrection of the body;</HI> and after it is ri&s;en, an alteration of it from corruption to incorruption, from mor|tality to immortality, from ba&s;ene&s;s to glory, which is the &s;um of that the A|po&s;tle delivers to us in the&s;e words, the &s;ubject whereof is the <HI>body,</HI> which is to be con&s;idered in two &s;tates, one here, the other hereafter.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Here it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>a vile body,</HI> of a ba&s;e alloy, humbled ma|ny wayes.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Hereafter it &s;hall be in a better condition, not ba&s;e, not humble, but exalted, and <HI>glorious.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. And glorious in no mean degree, but in a very high manner, the pat|tern for the glory being no other than <HI>Chri&s;ts glorified body,</HI> it &s;hall be like his.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The manner how this glory &s;hall be acquired, it <HI>&s;hall be a change;</HI> a change of what was imperfect; no new created body; in it then there &s;hall be no tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, but an alteration.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. And if this &s;eem impo&s;&s;ible to fle&s;h and blood, yet let a man think what God can do; to him nothing is impo&s;&s;ible, and by his power this &s;hall be done; <HI>he &s;hall change this vile body into a glorious body, by that mighty working whereby he is able to &s;ubdue all things unto him|&s;elf.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>My di&s;cour&s;e then &s;hall be confined in the&s;e Propo&s;itions.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That the pre&s;ent e&s;tate of our bodies, <HI>is vile</HI> and humble.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That the future e&s;tate of them, <HI>&s;hall be glorious:</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That the&s;e our bodies &s;hall remain the &s;ame for &s;ub&s;tance, but altered in qualities.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. That the cau&s;e of this alteration in glory and honour, is the working, ability, and power of Chri&s;t.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Our vile body, <GAP DESC="foreign">. Corpus humile, <HI>Beza.</HI> Corpus humilitatis, <HI>Tremel.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>A vile</HI> or <HI>humble body</HI> it is now; but &s;o it was not at the fir&s;t, it being the mo&s;t curious piece that ever God made below. Other Creatures were made by his Word only,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.3.2.26. E&s;dras 3.5.</NOTE> but man by deliberation and coun&s;el; his hand (as I may &s;o &s;ay) went upon him, and he formed and framed the clay into an upright &s;hape, as might &s;et forth the Maje&s;ty of that Creature which he ordained to be Lord of all. Objected often indeed it is to this part, that it is fetch't from the earth, that ba&s;e and lumpi&s;h, and heavie&s;t of the Elements; earth and a&s;hes, and du&s;t and clay, being everywhere in the Scripture ca&s;t in the face of proud man: But if we would con&s;ider that it is the Art of the workman gives e&s;teem and honour to the matter, we could not choo&s;e but think that body honourable which was immediatly framed by God: The skill of &s;ome curious Arti&s;an, put ca&s;e <HI>Phi|dias</HI> or <HI>Polycletes,</HI> frames out of Ivory, or &s;ome knotty piece of wood, an Idol
<PB N="627" REF="319"> in the fa&s;hion of a man, overlays it with vermilion, and beautifies it with the choice&s;t colours; This is thought no longer to be tooth of a &s;low bea&s;t, or the &s;tock of a Tree, but perhaps &s;ome reverent Deity. <HI>Non quia Elephantus, &s;ed quia Phidias tantus.</HI> And &s;hall the work be of &s;o great e&s;teem,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul,</NOTE> becau&s;e it hath pa&s;&s;ed under the hand of a skilful man, and that which hath been framed by the coun&s;el of the whole Trinity, be of little regard? It is no longer now du&s;t, but another thing; no longer earth and a&s;hes but man. Man framed after the image of God, and the image of God &s;tampt upon any matter, mu&s;t needs make it Hon<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rable. Be&s;ides it is no longer inanimate earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.7.</NOTE> but a living &s;oul; For <HI>God breathed into the earth,</HI> which he took, made it vigorous by his own Spirit, which Prerogative he would no more be&s;tow upon that, had it been to continue a ba&s;e and a vile clod, then we will commit our choice&s;t jewels to the tru&s;t of ru&s;ty, vile, and abject caskets.</P>
<P>Our Body then at the fir&s;t creation was an honourable piece, frame by Gods own hand, and in&s;pired by his own breath. How then you'le ask,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Oecumen. in loc.</NOTE> came it deba&s;ed and humbled! <HI>M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">thodius</HI> in <HI>Oecumenius</HI> &s;hall tell you: <HI>Adams</HI> tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion did it, this brought in corruption, and &s;hame, and mi&s;ery, and trouble, and infirmity, and deformity, and &s;orrow, and death, and ca&s;t it up|on the man whom God hath made. Before this, the body though from the heart was glorious; for el&s;e now it could not be &s;aid to be a body of humility; <GAP DESC="foreign"> for what was fir&s;t glorious, if humbled, is humbled by a fall. It was tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion then which brought it low: At fir&s;t it was immortal, but now it can no more continue then be free from wicked|ne&s;s. At fir&s;t though it had tho&s;e which we call uncomely parts, yet they needed no cover, now for very &s;hame we are to wear a vail to hide them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.7.</NOTE> At fir&s;t nor crookedne&s;s deformed, nor blindne&s;&s;e di&s;graced, nor lamene&s;s hinde|red, nor di&s;ea&s;es humbled, nor nece&s;&s;ities tired, nor lu&s;ts di&s;tained, nor pa&s;|ons di&s;quieted this rich piece of Gods making. Whereas upon the entrance of &s;in, there entred <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ari&s;tophanes.</NOTE> all the&s;e and many more incumbran|ces, which did deflowr the Body, and humble it in a vile and abject manner.</P>
<P>It is well ob&s;erved by <HI>Zanchy,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zanch. in loc.</NOTE> that the Apo&s;tle &s;aith not our humble bo|dy, but the body of our humility; for from us this proceeds. The body is from God, but the humility and deba&s;ement from our &s;elves. We peri&s;h by our own darts, by our own folly. Varieties of di&s;ea&s;es, &s;udden death, all in|cident calamities, bani&s;hment, poverty, per&s;ecution, pri&s;ons: That &s;ince that dwels in us, which rai&s;eth the perpetual war betwixt the fle&s;h and the Spirit, all tho&s;e pro&s;titutions of the body to vile lu&s;ts and affections, renders it to be a body <HI>humilitatis no&s;trae</HI> of our humbling. For to this low condition it could not, it n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ver had been brought, had we, or could we keep it in that Glory in which God fir&s;t form'd it.</P>
<P>It is now a Body of &s;in, and is it then any wonder that it &s;hould be a body of humility? Pamper it up with the Tribute of &s;ea and land,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.6.</NOTE> feed it with the choice&s;t meats, attire it with the entrals of worms, &s;wathe it with the linnen of <HI>Egypt,</HI> and crown it with the buds of ro&s;es, yet it is but <HI>vile corpus,</HI> a ba&s;e and humbled body all this while. Yea for the mo&s;t part the ba&s;er, the more curiou&s;ly attired, and deliciou&s;ly fatted: For what do tho&s;e powdred frizles, and plai&s;tred cheeks, tho&s;e errant looks, tho&s;e &s;pots and wanton hair, tho&s;e new-fangled dre&s;&s;es, and rich jewels? what tho&s;e <HI>extructae men&s;ae,</HI> that pile of di&s;hes, and variety of &s;auces, but increa&s;e the bodies &s;in? and look how far &s;in is in|crea&s;ed, &s;o far &s;till the body is emba&s;ed and humbled. They then who go a|bout mo&s;t to grace the&s;e bodies, may deba&s;e them mo&s;t. The ready way to free them from this vility, is to cea&s;e from &s;in. Every &s;in that is refrain'd, is a recovery of &s;ome part of our prime Nobility. For he grows neer|e&s;t
<PB N="628" REF="320"> to his original beauty, who is mo&s;t righteous, mo&s;t holy, mo&s;t &s;ober, mo&s;t ju&s;t.</P>
<P N="2">2. Which when he hath done to the utmo&s;t, yet he &s;hall be &s;ure to carry about him too much &s;in &s;till; and this will never leave, as &s;ome evil humour in the body, never I &s;ay leave operating, till it make him acknowledge, that his Body is but vile, and hath de&s;igned him to corruption. Even <HI>we,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, we <HI>who have our conver&s;ation in heaven,</HI> carry about us but a vile body. The ways of God are wonderful and full of equity. Princes do often command the very hou&s;es of rebellious Subjects to be demoli&s;hed, and &s;ome in&s;cription upon an Obelisk to be there engraven, to te&s;tifie to po&s;terity their ba&s;e attempt and trea&s;on: And the God of heaven &s;eems to deal thus with his rebel Man; he demoli&s;heth and brings to the Grave the hou&s;e of his body, and &s;ets this In&s;cription upon it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19.</NOTE> <HI>Du&s;t thou art, and to du&s;t &s;halt thou return:</HI> upon which no man can fa&s;ten his eye, but he mu&s;t needs confe&s;&s;e, that he hath but a vile body.</P>
<P>But behold the goodne&s;s of Almighty God, in the mid&s;t of judgement he remembers mercy; of a puni&s;hment he makes a remedy, and of poy&s;on a &s;overaign medicine. He &s;uffered not this body to be ba&s;e, that it &s;hould be emba&s;ed for ever, but hath ordered that the humility &s;hould be a &s;tep to Glo|ry. Take a view of the ways and works of God, and you &s;hall find this his cour&s;e, to give Grace to that which is humble. At the fir&s;t Creation, his Me|thod was to proceed from the more imperfect creatures to the more perfect: Nothing was before &s;omething,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.</NOTE> darkne&s;s before light, inanimate creatures, the light, the heavens, the elements before the plants and bea&s;ts; bea&s;ts and plants before Man: And thus it is in his ways of Grace; he brings low before he exalts; to the du&s;t of death, before he &s;ets up. To the body here, we find a promi&s;e of Glory, but there is no claim to that, till it hath been in the grave.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.42.</NOTE>The Apo&s;tle reckons of it, as we do of our &s;eed, which you know mu&s;t be ca&s;t into the earth, plough'd in, and harrow'd, nay be chang'd and die, before it &s;often, and move, and quicken, and appear above ground: before it be green in the herb, &s;hoot in the blade, grow &s;trong in the &s;talk, and be crown'd in the ear:<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 43.</NOTE> Thus it is with the Body, <HI>&s;own it is in corruption before it be rai&s;ed to incoruption; &s;owen in di&s;honour, before it be rai&s;ed in glory: &s;own a meer Na|tural,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 47.</NOTE> a meer earthy body, before it can be either heavenly or <HI>spiritual.</HI> The fir&s;t <HI>Adam</HI> from the earth did emba&s;e it, before the &s;econd <HI>Adam</HI> the Lord from heaven will exalt it.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazianz. Apo|log.</NOTE>That great Divine <HI>Nazianzen</HI> gives two rea&s;ons why it would plea&s;e God to &s;end down into the Body the &s;oul of man, being of it &s;elf <GAP DESC="foreign"> from God, and <GAP DESC="foreign"> and of a divine nature, and humble it by the Conjunction to &s;o ba&s;e a peice; This, &s;aith he, was done,</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, that this Divine part by little and little might mend and better the earthy; that what God is to the &s;oul, that the &s;oul might be to the Body, impart life, and &s;en&s;e, and motion and in&s;truction to it, and after a fit prepa|ration might at la&s;t be rejoyned to it, and &s;eat it in heaven with it.</P>
<P N="2">2. But the other was, that together with the body it &s;hould be in conflict before it were crown'd; fa&s;t, and pray, and watch, and labour, all which are works of humility, before it could bring the Body its fellow-&s;ervant to Glory.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE>Can but the &s;oul at the la&s;t day put in &s;ome &s;uch plea as this in behalf of the Body: Lord, when I thy &s;ervant was &s;ent by thy command to &s;ojourn in a hou&s;e of clay, I met with a companion hat did &s;ubmit unto me, that bowed the knee with me, that &s;pared no pains or me, that wore out it &s;elf for my good, in much fa&s;ting, in often labour, in
<PB N="629" REF="320"> watchings above mea&s;ure, in hunger, and thir&s;t, and cold: Remember there|fore this my fellow-&s;ervant, let it not lie in the du&s;t, let it not putrifie and rot there for ever, but rai&s;e it from thence, and joyn it once more to me, that we both may be joyned in thy glory, which were once joyned in thy &s;ervice. Such an Apology as this of the &s;oul; will be of great force to the Body, that of a vile, humble and ignominious body, it may be made Glorious like Chri&s;ts: which is the &s;econd &s;tate in which we are to con&s;ider it.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> It &s;hall be like Chri&s;ts Glorious Body.</HEAD>
<P>As tho&s;e who never were in a &s;trange Country, after much hear-&s;ay tra|vailing that way, ask before they arrive, what manner of land it is? how it is &s;ituated? what commodities, what plea&s;ures, what profit it yieldeth? So we in this our pa&s;&s;age to Gloty, becau&s;e we are pilgrims, and onward in the way, are &s;till de&s;irous to know what our e&s;tate &s;hal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> be in that &s;tate of happine&s;s. This the learned have taught us &s;hall con&s;i&s;t in the beauty of a double robe, that then &s;hall be be&s;towed upon us; one upon the &s;oul, another upon the Body. The &s;tole or robe which &s;hall then inve&s;t the &s;oul, &s;hall be compo&s;ed fir&s;t in the ma|nife&s;t vi&s;ion of God, which is to &s;ucceed our faith;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.12.</NOTE> <HI>for we &s;hall &s;ee him face to face:</HI> then in the perfect fruition of God, which compleats our hope; <HI>for we &s;hall nor hunger nor thirst any more:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 7.16. 1 Cor. 13.8.</NOTE> And in the perfect love of God, which will &s;atisfie our Charity; <HI>for charity &s;hall never fall away.</HI> To &s;ee God, to enjoy God, perfectly to be joyned to God in love, mu&s;t needs be a greater happine&s;s then heart can conceive or tongue expre&s;s.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Greg. Moral.</HI> 27, 26.</NOTE> So true is that of <HI>Gr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gory, Cum homo mortalis de aeterna gloria disputat, coecus de luce di&s;serit.</HI></P>
<P>But for that Stole and Robe put upon the Body, the Apo&s;tle hath &s;aid e|nough to &s;atisfie any &s;ober mind; <HI>It &s;hall be like Chri&s;ts glorious Body,</HI> and would you have more: he that &s;hall he like Chri&s;t, &s;hall be glorious enough. The particulars of this Glory, cannot be truly known by us in this life, yet may be gathered by Chri&s;ts words comparing them to the brightne&s;s of the Sun; and affirming them to be e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ual with the Angels;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 20.36.</NOTE> by the &s;tory of the Re&s;urrection and A&s;cen&s;ion of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 9.28. 1 Cor. 15. 1 The&s;. 4.17.</NOTE> and his transfiguration on Mount <HI>Ta|bor;</HI> as al&s;o out of Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> Epi&s;tles to the <HI>Corinthians</HI> and <HI>The&s;&s;alonians,</HI> that they &s;hall be very glorious. And the wi&s;e&s;t Divines and Schoolmen con|ceive their glory &s;hall con&s;i&s;t in the&s;e excellencies. In Immortality, Beauty, Impa&s;&s;ibility, Agility, Subtilty.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t is Immortality; <HI>For this mortal &s;hall put on immortality,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor, 15.43.</NOTE> <HI>and this corruptible incorruption;</HI> and if Chri&s;t by his death, de&s;troyed &s;in and death, then the life of the Saints mu&s;t be immortal. Be&s;ides, how could the reward of their works be eternal life, except they &s;hould live for ever to en|joy them? evident then it is, that this body which now dies, &s;hall be no more &s;ubject to the &s;troke and &s;orrows of death, after it is once rai&s;ed from the grave.</P>
<P N="2">2. The &s;econd endowment of the&s;e glorified bodies, is Beauty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.18.</NOTE> ari&s;ing from that &s;plendor, brightne&s;s, and clarity that &s;hall be revealed in them. How &s;ingular this &s;hall be our Saviour him&s;elf declares, when he &s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13.43.</NOTE> <HI>that the ju&s;t &s;hall &s;hine like the Sun,</HI> that is, &s;ome of the ju&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.41, 24.</NOTE> for others &s;hall &s;hine as the Moon and Stars; all &s;hine then, but not all in a like degree. A wonder|ful and &s;trange thing, that this clod of earth, &s;o thickned and compacted, that it is opacous, &s;hould become &s;o light and tran&s;parent, as is the mo&s;t Chri&s;tal gla&s;&s;e, or cleare&s;t Diamond. Of this our Saviour gave us a pattern in the Mount, when <HI>his face did &s;hine as the Sun,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 17.2.</NOTE> <HI>and his rayment was white as the Light.</HI></P>
<P N="3"><PB N="630" REF="321">3. And as the&s;e Bodies &s;hall be beautiful, &s;o &s;hall they be impa&s;&s;ible al&s;o. Tho&s;e trouble&s;om affections of grief, and fear, or what el&s;e here di&s;turb, &s;hall not fall upon glorified Saints. It is true, they have love and joy in their greate&s;t perfections; for they could not be perfect withou them. But look as God is &s;aid to love, and hate, and joy, but in a manner far ab&s;tracted from humane &s;en&s;e, &s;o do his Saints al&s;o in imitation of him, but far from all infirmity and pa&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>Of affections and pa&s;&s;ions there is not the &s;ame judgement to be given. For &s;ome there are of a froward nature, which do pine away and trouble the body, as hunger, and thir&s;t, and di&s;ea&s;es, and grief, &amp;c. From the&s;e and the like incumbrances the Saints in heaven &s;hall be freed. For they cannot be di&s;tempered with heat and cold, nor tormented with hunger and thir&s;t, nor af|flicted with &s;ickne&s;&s;e and infirmity. <HI>Caro in patria &s;ecundum naturam erit, non &s; cundum de&s;ideria pa&s;&s;ionum:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> Our fle&s;h is there, but not our de&s;ires, and pa&s;&s;ions; for we can no more be mole&s;ted, then we can die; But other pa&s;&s;ions there are, which do rather help and perfect, then hurt, as the information of the &s;en&s;es, as the eye is not offended with a beautiful colour, nor the ear with har|mony, and the&s;e &s;hall remain in our glorified bodies, becau&s;e our happine&s;s could not be perfect without them; but yet &s;o ordered and regulated, that the man from them &s;hall receive no prejudice.</P>
<P N="4">4. The next endowment of a glorified body, is Agility, nimblene&s;&s;e, and quickne&s;s, whereby the fle&s;h is freed from all lumpi&s;h heavine&s;&s;e, with which it is now hindered. The body and the parts &s;hall be &s;o &s;ubjected to the &s;oul, that <HI>ubi volet Spiritus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> Rev. 14.4.</NOTE> <HI>protinus ibi erit corpus.</HI> No motion &s;hall be quicker. For <HI>they &s;hall follow the Lamb, where&s;oever he goeth;</HI> which motion in him being very &s;peedy, the motion of their bodies mu&s;t be very &s;peedy al&s;o: &s;o that no gravity or pondero&s;ity of the fle&s;h &s;hall be able to retard them. Which were it not &s;o, they never could ri&s;e with &s;uch &s;peed, <HI>to meet the Lord in the air, and to be ever with the Lord.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 4.17.</NOTE></P>
<P N="5">5. To the&s;e in the la&s;t place, they add Subtilty, which is not &s;o to be under|&s;tood, as if the Bodies of the Saints were converted into a Spirit, or were to be very aery or like the wind, but that their perception of any thing by the &s;en&s;es &s;hall be exqui&s;ite, &s;harp, and &s;ubtile, acute; all feculency and gro&s;&s;ene&s;s which migh hinder the operation of the &s;oul, being removed, which I conceive is Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> meaning, when he &s;aith, <HI>It is &s;own a Natural, it is rai&s;ed a Spiri|tual Body,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.44.</NOTE> that is, a body coming as neer the nature and activity of a Spirit, as a Body can do, both in its knowledge and affections. <HI>Ad vitam excitati li|berabimur &s;ervitute animae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Epiph.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; Spiritus admini&s;tratio continua &s;uc|cedit.</HI></P>
<P>Hitherto as in a gla&s;s, I have pre&s;ented you with the pro&s;pect of the future Glory; in the &s;peculation of which if you have taken any content, without que&s;tion the enjoyment will far more delight you. For all this is as a noi&s;e brought afar off to your ear; that will be a plea&s;ing object to ravi&s;h your eye. To behold the change, and be partakers of the alteration, will ravi&s;h you with &s;o much joy, that you will forget all your labours and &s;orrows: Of which that I may give you &s;ome certainty, give ear again to our Apo&s;tle, and he will in|form in what manner and by who&s;e hand this &s;hall be done; the manner is by a Change, the power that of Chri&s;t; which are the two remaining points, of both which I will now &s;peak in order. Fir&s;t of the Manner.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>transformabit, transfigurabit:</HI> Who &s;hall change, tran&s;|form, transfigure, or <HI>reformabit,</HI> &s;hall reform.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Oecumen. in loc.</NOTE><GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. The Apo&s;tle here gives us a &s;trange
<PB N="631" REF="321"> and indubitable argument, that <HI>this vile body &s;hall be changed and made confor|mable to his glorious body;</HI> for if our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t comes for that end, who can doub<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> but it &s;hall be done?</P>
<P>A change there &s;hall be in the qualities, not the &s;ub&s;tance of the body; &s;uch as was in our Saviours body in Mount <HI>Tabor,</HI> which was not in the linea|ments and proportions, or parts, but in the fa&s;hion:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 9.29.</NOTE> and our body at that day &s;hall be <GAP DESC="foreign">, conformable to that change. The word u&s;ed by Saint <HI>Matthew</HI> and Saint <HI>Mark</HI> in that transfiguration. The &s;elf &s;ame corp&s;e that dyed and was di&s;&s;olved, and laid up either in the womb of the earth, or the maws of wild bea&s;ts, or the depth of the Ocean, or any whereel&s;e, &s;hall be &s;et up with the &s;ame bones, enlived with the &s;ame blood, moved with the &s;ame &s;inews, mu&s;cles, arteries, and covered with the &s;ame skin. What&s;oever only was imperfect, &s;hall be done away; what was here vile and ba&s;e, &s;hall be there glorified.</P>
<P>Let not then the Philo&s;opher tell me any more of natures ignorance and di&s;ability to make a dead man live; for our Chri&s;tian profe&s;&s;ion hath taught me that which will make Nature and Death amazed: Nature; that living men &s;hould ri&s;e out of the du&s;t and a&s;hes &s;cattered and varyed into a thou&s;and forms: Death, that life would be born out of its bowels. And Death and Nature both &s;trucken with amazement, to behold the &s;ame man <HI>Virbium,</HI> twice born; fir&s;t a weakling and an infant, then again firm and perfect; fir&s;t an heir of cor|ruption, and at la&s;t a &s;on of glory.</P>
<P>Nor let tho&s;e wicked off-&s;pring of the old Sadducees, pretend no more the defects or deformities of the body as a colourable argument to &s;coff down the Truth of the Bodies Re&s;urrection; as if a lame leg, or a blind eye, or a gow|ty foot, or an infected liver, or putrified lungs, or other imperfections of a di&s;ea&s;ed man were &s;ufficient allegations to confine the body to an eternal im|pri&s;onment. What, &s;ay they, &s;hall the body ri&s;e again to be vexed with all the&s;e? to be anhelous, and dark, and apo&s;temated, and diver&s;e ways ne|ce&s;&s;itated? Better lie in the grave for ever, then to ari&s;e to &s;uch inconveni|ence; Better indeed; for,
<Q><LG>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign"></L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign">.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sophocl. Ajax.</NOTE></L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>No man de&s;ireth many days to &s;ee</L>
<L>In which from mi&s;eries he's nere &s;et free.</L>
</LG></Q> But how fooli&s;h and blind the&s;e Objectors are,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 22.29.</NOTE> not under&s;tanding the Scri|ptures! For the Apo&s;tle &s;aith here <GAP DESC="foreign">, that Chri&s;t at that day &s;hall make a change, a change like to that of his own body, glorious like his, per|fect like his; all then which was decayed, imperfect, weak and ruinous, &s;hall be changed into &s;uch perfection as may beautifie a glorified body. The com|po&s;ition &s;hall be the &s;ame, not the deformity.</P>
<P>But they reply, How is it then the &s;ame body?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. de re|&s;urrect. carnis.</NOTE> as if a &s;ick man recovered were not the &s;ame man; or a repaired hou&s;e or &s;hip, the &s;ame ve&s;&s;el or edifice. Will any man &s;ay that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> hand when it was leprous, white as &s;now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 14.4.</NOTE> and when it was re&s;tored and full of blood, was not the &s;ame hand? If a man &s;hould &s;et his &s;lave at liberty, becau&s;e he carries about him the &s;ame body, mu&s;t he of nece&s;&s;ity be &s;ub<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ect to the &s;ame la&s;h, the &s;ame torments, the &s;ame injuries, or el&s;e not be the &s;ame man? Give God but the &s;ame liberty, that men u&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rp over their &s;laves, and then I hope he may ea&s;ily alter the con|dition, though he change not the &s;ub&s;tance of our fle&s;h; he may make a man <HI>aliu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s,</HI> though not <HI>aliud;</HI> another man, though not another thing; take a|way he may the imperfections, and be&s;tow upon it integrity: make that,
<PB N="632" REF="322"> which of its own nature is pa&s;&s;ible, become impa&s;&s;ible, becau&s;e it is manumi&s;|&s;ed by him.</P>
<P>Nay it mu&s;t be &s;o; for how otherwi&s;e &s;hould it be re&s;tored to its fir&s;t inte|grity, how to immortality? Is not the contu&s;ion or infirmity, or defect to a|ny part, a kind of death to that part? do we not call that a dead hand, which in a pal&s;ie is of no u&s;e, and dead fle&s;h, that cannot be recovered and made u&s;eful? Now if the univer&s;al &s;entence of death over the body be rever&s;ed, &s;hall it remain in force upon &s;ome part? &s;hall an indulgence be granted to the whole,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.52.</NOTE> and &s;hall any one Member &s;uffer? <HI>The dead &s;hall ri&s;e incorruptible,</HI> &s;aith our Apo&s;tle, but how incorruptible, if a hand be dead, or the back be brui&s;ed, or a foot be full of ulcers? As we mu&s;t be changed into Glory, &s;o we mu&s;t be changed from corruption.</P>
<P>Again, al the maims of the body are but adventitious and outward ca&s;u|alties; Nature intends them not, God made them not; it was the defects, or exce&s;s of the matter, or &s;ome outward or inward impre&s;&s;ions which cau&s;ed the&s;e exorbitances. An entire body was intended by the fir&s;t Cau&s;e, and &s;o God made man perfect after his own image. <HI>Prius e&s;t genus quam ca&s;us.</HI> In what perfection then life was be&s;towed, in the &s;ame it &s;hall be re&s;tored; <HI>naturae non injuriae reddimur,</HI> we &s;hall be renewed after the model of our fir&s;t generati|on, not to the pattern of our degeneration; ri&s;e we &s;hall as we were fir&s;t crea|ted in <HI>Adam,</HI> not with tho&s;e hurts, and wounds, and blows, and defects and deformities which &s;in hath given us.</P>
<P>Further yet, <HI>&s;i non ni&s;i integros Deus &s;u&s;citat, non &s;u&s;citat mortuos;</HI> If God &s;hall rai&s;e none but entire men, and without defects, he mu&s;t rai&s;e no dead at all. For what man is there lies entire and uncorrupted in his grave, let him die never &s;o entire and complete in every part? What body is there that receives not &s;ome maim, when the &s;oul parts from it, when it lies cold, and pale, and wan in the grave! even tho&s;e embalmed carka&s;&s;es in the <HI>Egypti|an</HI> Pyramids laid up with the greate&s;t co&s;t and care again&s;t the teeth and inju|ries of time, are not yet &s;o ab&s;olute and beautiful, as when the &s;oul enliv'd them. If then the deformities and decayes of the body &s;hould hinder its re&s;urrection, it mu&s;t needs follow that none &s;hould ari&s;e, when there is not one, which either alive or dead, contracts not deformity.</P>
<P>But this is contrary to the Apo&s;tle, who &s;aith, <HI>he &s;hall change our vile Bo|dy, and make it glorious.</HI> Which how could it be done, &s;hould it not ari&s;e? The &s;oul is indeed Chri&s;ts Spou&s;e, and the body is ca&s;t in for the dowry: <HI>Dot is nomi|ne &s;equetur animam caro:</HI> He that marries the wife, hath right to the portion, and may call for it. The Body then as the dowry laid up in the&s;e receptacles below, &s;hall in good time be called for again, and joyned to the &s;oul, and both together be pre&s;ented to Chri&s;t, never to be divorced either from each other, or from him for ever.</P>
<P>And there be the&s;e weighty rea&s;ons that per&s;wade it.</P>
<P N="1">1. The &s;oul is but the half of man, though the better half. The other half is the Body: &s;o that &s;hould Chri&s;t be a Saviour of the &s;oul only, and leave the Body in the grave, that great work were done by halfes, and &s;o he &s;hould not be a whole Redeemer, which is quite contrary to the order in which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e works, who never did any thing but he made it full, perfect, com|pleat.</P>
<P N="2">2. This out of doubt is the &s;ouls de&s;ire. The&s;e two old friends that live &s;o ma|ny years together, do not part without great reluctancy, never but upon a&s;|&s;ured promi&s;es, and expectation to meet again. The a&s;hes of the dead were not re&s;erved in urns for nothing, nor rheir bodies embalm'd, or their bones carefully laid up to no purpo&s;e. It &s;hews that they, for whom this charitable act was done, had a mind this way: One that while he was yet in the body, <HI>de|&s;ired
<PB N="633" REF="322"> to be di&s;&s;olved,</HI> yet in another place corrects or interprets him&s;elf thus,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Philip. 1.23.</NOTE> <HI>We that are in this Tabernacle, do groan being burdened: not for that we would be uncloathed, but cloathed upon.</HI> And this de&s;ire &s;hall not be fru&s;trate;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 3.4.</NOTE> for God hath decreed that the graves &s;hall open, and Chri&s;t hath promi&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.13. Joh. 8.51, 52. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;t.</HI></NOTE> <HI>That if a|ny man keep his word, he &s;hall not &s;ee death for ever, but &s;hall pa&s;s from death to life. Moritur ergo, moritur omnis, &amp;c.</HI> Every man, every man dies who is born of a mortal condition; but every man &s;hall live for ever, who is re-born of an immortal &s;eed.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Suppo&s;e the Body &s;hould not ri&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epiphan. in in Ancor.</NOTE> the &s;entence of the Judge at the great day might be evacuated; For if the &s;oul &s;hould appear alone, it might an&s;wer to the accu&s;er of the brethren; The &s;in charged upon me ro&s;e not from me, but from that corruptible and earthly body; that committed the adulte|ry, that &s;tole, &s;landred, lived intemperately; for &s;ince it was &s;eparated from me, it cannot be found that I have committed any &s;uch thing; An hone&s;t Apology, and &s;ea&s;onable to &s;tay the Judges &s;entence. On the other &s;ide, &s;hould the Body appear without the &s;oul, it might plead, It is not I &s;inned, but the &s;oul; for I never committed any villany &s;ince it departed, and to<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">k leave of me. To remove then all excu&s;e and Apology, God hath decreed to con|joyn both parts of man, &s;oul and Body together again, and &s;et them before his Tribunal, that they who laboured in the ways of holine&s;s, receive a good reward from him; and they who have wearied them&s;elves in the works of wicked|ne&s;s, be judged accordingly; the body together with the &s;oul,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 5.7.</NOTE> and the &s;oul to|gether with the body.</P>
<P>Fourthly, I add, that this is mo&s;t agreeable to Gods ju&s;tice; For &s;hall both parts be co-workers in good and bad, and not both partake in pain and joy? What rea&s;on is there that the body &s;hould fa&s;t, &s;hould kneel, do penance, be in want, in torment, in peril, and the &s;oul only rewarded? again the &s;oul draws the body to act her wicked de&s;igns, and &s;hall it only be puni&s;hed?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. de re|&s;urrect. carnis.</NOTE> <HI>Deum non licet inju&s;tum credere Judicem, aut inertem.</HI> But unju&s;t he &s;hould &s;eem, if he kept the co-partner in the work from the reward: and neglectful, if he &s;hould &s;eparate the companion of evil from the de&s;erved puni&s;hment. Oh be it far from the Judge of the world, but to do right; far from him to take the work of his own hands, the image of his own body, that part which he hath wa&s;hed with his holy water and Spirit, and &s;et his own &s;eal in Bapti&s;m, which &s;ometime fights for him, &s;ometimes dies for him, and ca&s;t it to the worms ne|ver to be &s;een again.</P>
<P><HI>La&s;tly, this argument fetcht from Gods ju&s;tice, is as powerful for the Identity of the Body: thar mu&s;t ari&s;e the &s;ame that was conquered by Death, and no other. The Body with the &s;ame eyes, the &s;ame lips, the &s;ame knees, the &s;ame back, the &s;ame skin. For what ju&s;tice were it for one back to be beaten, and another to receive the reward? for one pair of eyes to drop down tears day and night, and another couple of eyes to have the tears wiped from them? Meet it is one would think, that the pay be re&s;erved for that Body, that did the &s;ervice. Either then flatly deny the re&s;urrection, or grant this indu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gence al&s;o. But that no Chri&s;tian doubt of either, the Scriptu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es &s;peak fully and expre&s;ly for both. The Body &s;hall ri&s;e, and not at large, but indi|vidually. This Body, <HI>This corruptible &s;hall put on incorruption.</HI> The&s;e eyes &s;hall &s;ee, and no other.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.53. Job 19.26, 27. 1 Cor. 15.36, 37. Luke 24.5, 6. <HI>Epiphan. in Ancor.</HI> Heb. 11.5. 2 Kings 2.11. cap 4.34. Joh. 11.44. <HI>Tertul. de Re|&s;ur. carnis, cap. ult.</HI></NOTE> The &s;ame grain, that whole grain which was ca&s;t into the earth, not another kind nor a part of it only: as it was with our Saviours Body, which after three dayes was rai&s;ed whole and the &s;ame, which was embalm'd and wrapt up by <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> in fine linnen, to which ours, &s;aith our A|po&s;tle, mu&s;t be <GAP DESC="foreign">, every way conformable, and then mu&s;t ari&s;e the &s;ame, and entirely the &s;ame; For what rea&s;on can there be given, that God who is no accepter of per&s;ons, &s;hould rai&s;e one part, and ca&s;t a&s;ide another? <HI>Enoch</HI> was tran&s;lated vvholly in his Uncircumci&s;ion, <HI>Elijah</HI> vvholly in his Circumci&s;ion; <HI>Enoch</HI> a Husband, <HI>Elijah</HI> a Virgin. The <HI>Shunamites</HI> Son vvas re&s;tored to life, the &s;ame, and entire; and <HI>Lazarus</HI> fetcht from his Sepulchre even vvith his grave-clothes about him. But vvhy do I &s;eek proofs for this, &s;ince our Apo&s;tle teaches us, that</HI> it &s;hall be only <GAP DESC="foreign">, a change only? now, that is, when the qualities of a body are altered, and not the &s;ub&s;tance: and therefore I &s;hall conclude with <HI>Tertullian; Re&s;urget igitur Caro, &amp; quidem omnis, &amp; quidem ip&s;a, &amp;
<PB N="634" REF="323"> quidem integra.</HI> The fle&s;h &s;hall ari&s;e, all fle&s;h, the &s;ame fle&s;h, and that entire. Are you ready to ask with <HI>Mary</HI> in admiration, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>How can this thing be?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.34.</NOTE> The Apo&s;tle hath put an an&s;wer in my mouth, almo&s;t the &s;ame which the Angel in that place gave, <HI>Virtus alti&s;&s;imi, the power of the mo&s;t High &s;hall do this!</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 35.</NOTE> There it was <GAP DESC="foreign">, here it is <GAP DESC="foreign">? there it was the power, here it tis the working of that power; <HI>He &s;hall do it,</HI> &s;aith our Apo&s;tle.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>4.</HI> According to the working whereby he is able to &s;ubdue all things unto him&s;elf.</HEAD>
<P>Chri&s;t &s;hall do it, and he &s;hall do it by that power <HI>whereby he is able to &s;ubdue all things,</HI> and then he mu&s;t be God again&s;t <HI>Arrius.</HI> This power <HI>to &s;ubdue all things,</HI> can be no le&s;s than the power of the Deity, among which this is a chief to rai&s;e the dead. That Chri&s;t was the Exem|plar of our <HI>Re&s;urrection,</HI> ye have heard before; for it was expre&s;&s;ed in him, and begun in him, our body being to be reformed according to his bo|dy, and to be <HI>glorified according to his body.</HI> Now we are to look upon him as he is the efficient cau&s;e, one that hath power to do it.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 28.18.</NOTE><HI>All power was</HI> after his Re&s;urrection <HI>given unto him,</HI> and therefore he hath power to &s;ubdue Death; and well doth the Apo&s;tle u&s;e the word <GAP DESC="foreign"> for &s;omething there is which doth carry a great &s;way in the World, and brings all things out of order; among which Death is chief, which &s;ubdues all things, and brings them to that place where there is no|thing but confu&s;ion. Well then death it &s;elf &s;hall be ordered; as it hath &s;ubdued all things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.26.</NOTE> &s;o it &s;elf mu&s;t be &s;ubdued; 'tis our <HI>la&s;t enemy,</HI> and it &s;hall la&s;t be <HI>de&s;troyed.</HI> Nothing is able to bind this King of fear, but the power of Chri&s;t:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Albert. magnus. in <HI>4.</HI> Senten. Di&s;t. <HI>43.</HI></NOTE> Three great works there are of God, in which he doth manife&s;t his power e&s;pecially. The Creation of all things; the Re-creation of man, and the Re&s;urrection. The Creation was a work of power; for he &s;aid the word only, and all things were created. The Regeneration is a work of power;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 14.4. Acts 2.2.</NOTE> <HI>for who can make a clean thing of an unclean,</HI> but the power of his Spirit, that came in a mighty ru&s;hing wind? And to rai&s;e a dead body from the Grave, can be done by none, but by him that hath power, in which Chri&s;t &s;hall come again: <HI>The &s;ound of the Trumpet, the voyce of the Archangel,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;&s;. 4.16.</NOTE> <HI>which they in their Graves &s;hall hear, and ri&s;e,</HI> being of this evident te&s;timonies; for at the la&s;t day this potent and unruly Tyrant death &s;hall deliver up her Captives, and bring forth her pri&s;oners, and &s;et every one of them before the Judge; the power of the Lord of Ho&s;ts &s;hall do this.</P>
<P>That the body &s;hall ari&s;e from the Grave again, and the &s;ame body that was laid up in the Grave, there be proofs to be fetched as you have heard, from the ju&s;tice of God, with whom it is a righteous thing to joyn them in reward, who have been yoked in the work: But it is not an act of ju&s;tice to rai&s;e a dead body, to change a rotttn body, and to glorifie a vile body; there mu&s;t be power to do this. Ju&s;tice may reward after it is ri|&s;en, but power it mu&s;t be that mu&s;t fir&s;t rai&s;e. And power it is, that <GAP DESC="foreign">, is working here, <HI>the voyce and Trumper of the Archangel,</HI> by which the Son of God works;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;&s;. 4.15.</NOTE> that being heard by all the&s;e &s;leepers in their Beds, awakes them, and calls them up.</P>
<P>He that doubts of this change, let him but con&s;ider what God can do, and it will &s;tay his diffidence.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4.19. Numb. 17.8.</NOTE> <HI>Sarahs</HI> dead womb to conceive a childe; the &s;hrivel'd Rod of <HI>Aaron</HI> to bud forth in a Night, and bear Almonds; children
<PB N="635" REF="323"> to be rai&s;ed to <HI>Abraham</HI> out of &s;tones; a Prophet to be kept alive in, and fetch't out the belly of a Whale, were all effects of his power,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 3.9. Jonah 2.10.</NOTE> and every whit as &s;trange as this can be. What is any thing impo&s;&s;ible to him who is Almighty? He made the whole World out of nothing, and what cannot he do that did that? <HI>Plus e&s;t f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ci&s;&s;e, quam refeci&s;&s;e.</HI> More it is to make, than re-make; more to build an hou&s;e, than to repair it. No que&s;tion then, but God is able to repair his building when it is de&s;troy'd, to &s;et it up again, when it is di&s;&s;olv'd; to beautifie it, when it is defac'd; otherwi&s;e we &s;hall at unawares confe&s;s, that it is a harder matter to rai&s;e a dead body from the Earth, which is &s;omewhat, than to make the World out of nothing. I know well that from h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s power to the effect, nece&s;&s;arily the Argument will not follow, except there be an evi|dence of his will al&s;o: But this he hath &s;ignified to us by a Cloud of witne&s;&s;es, all which have taught us, that he will do it; &s;o that being certain of his will as well as his power, there can be no doubt made of the event.</P>
<P>Ca&s;t but an eye upon the examples of Gods will and power conjoyned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull. de Re&s;. carnis. cap. <HI>12.</HI></NOTE> and you will cea&s;e to wonder how this can be done; for we have in nature ob|&s;cure &s;ignifications, and pawnes as it were of the bodies upri&s;ing. The day dies every Evening, and is buried in a pitchy darkne&s;s, which Funeral as I may &s;o &s;ay, of the Sun, is &s;olemnly ob&s;erved, every Creature being a Mourner; for all co&s;t|ly ve&s;tments are depo&s;ed, all creatures are &s;ilent, as in the lamentation of <HI>Tham|muz.</HI> There is everywhere a vacation from labour, and a ce&s;&s;ation from work;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 8.14.</NOTE> and yet within the compa&s;s of a few houres, this dead and entomb'd day ri&s;es again; and &s;hews to the World it &s;elf perhaps in more beauty and lu&s;tre; in brighter beams and rayes than it departed the night before, taking revenge on the former night that murdered it, and breaking a&s;under the grave of darkne&s;s, in which it was impri&s;oned. What doth the Moon el&s;e, but every Moneth &s;uffer (as I may &s;o &s;ay) a Re&s;urrection, when the dar|ker parts are again enlightned, and the eclip&s;ed Orb filled up with a full light.</P>
<P>I de&s;cend lower; <HI>Quippe Terrae de Coelo Di&s;ciplina e&s;t;</HI> the earth is di|&s;ciplin'd by the heaven above to revive and &s;hew her youth; in which every Tree after a Winters nakedne&s;s, appears in a Summer fre&s;h &s;uit; every flower puts forth in a party coloured ve&s;t; the earth is mantled w th green; corn that was bu|ried, &s;hoots toward the blade and ear, and Dame Nature, like a careful Nur&s;e, returns back again tho&s;e &s;eeds and fruits, and &s;u&s;tenance which was exhau&s;ted: O wonderful work, this provident mother defrauds us for awhile of the&s;e things, that &s;he may pre&s;erve them for us the next year; takes them away, that &s;he may return them; devoures, that &s;he may keep; vitiates, that &s;he may make them more entire; &s;eems to wa&s;te and de&s;troy, that &s;he may increa&s;e them; for in the next year &s;he pre&s;ents them again in a better hew, and greater plenty than &s;he laid them up, paying us manifold u&s;e for our fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">bearance, and large intere&s;t for the wrong &s;he &s;eems to do in the burial, and detaining our &s;eeds a great part of the year.</P>
<P>Th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s annual revolution of all worldly things, is no other than a natural em|blem of the Re&s;urrection of our Bodies; God writing this Article in fair let|ters upon his works, before it was book'd in his Word; he would have us fir&s;t take out this le&s;&s;on from nature, before he would in&s;truct us by Scripture, that when his Prophets &s;hould reach us that of which he had before given us &s;ome <HI>praecognita,</HI> we might the ea&s;lier yield our a&s;&s;ent. A good Scholar in Nature will not ea&s;ily deny that principle in Scripture which he hath learned before; but mu&s;t needs judge that po&s;&s;ible, which he &s;ees daily feazable; and upon the &s;elf-&s;ame ground of Gods omnipotency and power that this is to be done, doubt he will not, but the &s;ame hand of God is able, and will rai&s;e the body, which
<PB N="636" REF="324"> can and doth revive all other th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ngs: It is not ea&s;ie to imagine, that when all things be&s;ides have their revolutions and vici&s;&s;itudes, and innovations for the &s;u&s;tenance of mans body, that that body for which they were ordained, &s;hall fall and dye, and peri&s;h for ever.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>The APPLICATION.</HEAD>
<P>The comfort of this Doctrine is very cordial, even to that part to which we wi&s;h well. Death may wra&s;tle with, ca&s;t down, trample upon, and make a prey of this our body; but devour'd by death it &s;hall never be, <HI>for it &s;hall be changed;</HI> &s;o that our very body may re&s;t in hope, that it &s;hall be re&s;tored again, and <HI>made like to Chri&s;ts glorious body.</HI> Certain it is that death is a fall, but not like that of a &s;tone into the Sea, that falls, and falls, and falls, and mounts no more. It is more like to that of the &s;eed in our Gardens, which &s;hoots the next Month; or that of our bodies into our Beds, from whence we hope to a|ri&s;e at the appearing of the next Sun. Now that this our hope &s;hould be <HI>An|chora &s;pei,</HI> Anchor-hope, fa&s;t, firm, &s;table, our Saviour hath &s;ecured us by a pawn or a pledge. He hath taken a body upon him, humble like ours, mortal like ours, and carried it to heaven, and glorified it there; that this of ours, of the &s;ame mould and condition with his might have acce&s;s thither.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.50.</NOTE>Say no more then, <HI>fle&s;h and blood &s;hall not inherit the Kingdom of heaven;</HI> for fle&s;h and blood &s;hall, and fle&s;h and blood doth inherit that Kingdom. The impur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ry and corruption of neither &s;hall ever come there, but the &s;ub&s;tance &s;hall.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 1.9.</NOTE> A man like unto us, &s;in excepted, is a&s;cended thither, is now there glo|rified; and therefore why may not we come thither in good time al&s;o? For if Chri&s;ts body be glorified, then there is a glorifying of the body; and if a glo|rifyifig of one, then fle&s;h and blood can be no impediment, but there may be the glorifying of another. If he be glorified in our nature, then is our nature glorified; and if our nature be, why not our per&s;ons al&s;o?</P>
<P>O Death, how bitter is thy remembrance to a meer &s;on of nature? which disjoyn'&s;t the deare&s;t friends tyed in the links of love; &s;eparate&s;t the nearer brothers cemented by the flow of blood. I have felt thy malice when thou &s;natched'&s;t away half my &s;oul, when thou gave&s;t a Bill of Divorce to her in my bo&s;ome; when thou did&s;t pull away my dear Infants hanging at the brea&s;ts; when thou removed&s;t from me my wife, my learned, my &s;weete&s;t coun&s;el: In a word, when thou tooke&s;t from me my &s;weete&s;t &s;oul, and laid&s;t up my body in a dark&s;ome Dungeon; this was thy Tyranny, &s;uch thy rage.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 1.31. Matth. 12.41.</NOTE>But behold, <HI>all thy &s;trength is become as Towe, thy fury as flax;</HI> all thy nerves are weakned, and thy &s;inews &s;hrunk, ever &s;ince thou ha&s;t devoured that <HI>Prophet greater than Jonah,</HI> whom again&s;t thy will thou returne&s;t to life. <HI>O Death,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.55.</NOTE> <HI>where is thy &s;ting? O Grave, where is thy victory? We know now that our Redeemer liveth, and that we &s;hall &s;ee God;</HI> that is, the power of God in our fle&s;h.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t is now glorified, <HI>&s;olus, non totus;</HI> glorified he is with all kind of hap|pine&s;s, e&s;&s;ential, acce&s;&s;ory; but he is not glorified whole, or all Chri&s;t; for his Church bears his Name, and is a part of the whole; till then the&s;e bodies of his Saints &s;hall be glorified al&s;o, he may be &s;aid to be glorified but in part; and that he may be wholly glorified, all we that are members of his body, mu&s;t be changed from this humbled body, and be glorified al&s;o. A type of this he gave us in <HI>Enoch,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.12. Hebr. 11.5. 2 Kings 2.11.</NOTE> <HI>whom he tran&s;lated,</HI> and &s;ecurity for it in <HI>Elijah, whom he mounted in a fiery Chariot to Heaven;</HI> both the&s;e were <HI>umbrae futurorum,</HI> &s;hadows of
<PB N="637" REF="324"> things to come; but &s;hadows are but empty things; that therefore we &s;hould have real dealing from him, he hath pa&s;&s;ed over to us for performance of this a greater &s;ecurity, the body of his Son. His body in heaven is our &s;ecurity that our bo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ies &s;hall come thither.</P>
<P>Neither can the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the vility, ignominy, meanne&s;s, lowne&s;s, ba&s;e|ne&s;s, humility (call it be what name you plea&s;e) of the fle&s;h hinder our glo|ry; for can there any fle&s;h and blood be more humbled, more ignominious than his was? The God whom the heavens cannot contain, in a childs body of a &s;pan long, array'd in Clouts, hou&s;ed in a Stable, laid in a Manger; This was his be|ginning; as he grew up, &s;o his &s;orrows: In his body he &s;uffered cold and heat, hunger and thir&s;t, fainting and wearine&s;s. But all this was nothing to his end; then we &s;hall find &s;uch a body &s;o rent, &s;o torn, &s;o black with &s;tripes, &s;o blew with blowes, &s;o bloody with whips, &s;o &s;cratched with thorns, &s;o pierced with nails, that even they who were by, <HI>for very &s;hame turned away their faces from him: His vi&s;age was more marr'd than any man;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.2. I&s;a. 52.14.</NOTE> <HI>and his form more than the &s;ons of men.</HI> Sure I am that you will confe&s;s, that here was a body of humility, and yet this was no let or impediment to the glorification of it, neither &s;hall the like be to yours; for the body, which was thus di&s;grac'd and vilified, is the very pattern for your glory. <HI>In heaven,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>like to this body yours &s;hall be,</HI> and no other.</P>
<P>To conclude then, <HI>Enter into tho&s;e Chambers of the dead, and look upon their Beds with comfort; See where thy Father, thy Mother, thy Husband, thy Wife, thy Child, thy Friend is at re&s;t, and weep for him, yet weep not without hope;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;&s;. 4.13.</NOTE> <HI>for the&s;e are all but a&s;leep, there is a Trumpet that will awake them, there's a voyce that will call them up, when they &s;hall be cloathed again, and &s;uited with a clearer skin than they put off; 'twill do you good to behold their glory, and they'le be glad at heart to &s;ee yours. Both will &s;tand amazed at each others perfections, and both will joyn together to prai&s;e the God of glory.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Look upon death then, not as it is in it &s;elf, with a bare skull, hollow eyes, a pale face, and a bony Sceleton; but as thy Saviour hath made it,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.55.</NOTE> <HI>Death without a &s;ting, Death without the Trophies of Death. At that day it will not be &s;o terrible as comfortable; for it will reduce the &s;oul back to the body, men to their friends, children to their parents, husbands to their wives, all the&s;e to the Angels, when the Angels will pre&s;ent them to Chri&s;t, Chri&s;t to God, with whom they &s;hall live for ever and ever.</HI> Amen.</P>
</DIV3>
<TRAILER>This Sermon is applicable to the clo&s;e of the Creed.</TRAILER>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="50" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="638" REF="325">
<HEAD>The life Everla&s;ting.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Matth. 25.46.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But the Righteous into life Eternal.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>A Good Conclu&s;ion, for it hath life in it, and will put life into us, if any thing will, to live a good life. The woman of <HI>Sam<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ria</HI> heard our Saviour no &s;ooner mention <HI>the water of life,</HI> but &s;he petitions pre&s;ently, <HI>Oh Sir, give me this water:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 4.14.</NOTE> And the <HI>Jewes</HI> had but intimation of that <HI>bread</HI> that &s;hould give life to the World,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.33, 34.</NOTE> but they become earne&s;t Suiters for it, <HI>Lord, evermore give us this bread;</HI> for both knew, that this was the ready way never to hunger and thir&s;t more.</P>
<P>Such bread at this time I &s;et before you, with &s;uch water I now pre&s;ent you, living bread, and living water; and I dare &s;ay it will be the more welcome, becau&s;e the bread I &s;et before you the la&s;t day, was bread of tears. The former part of this <HI>ver&s;e</HI> guided me unto it, and I could not avoid it: <HI>The&s;e,</HI> &s;aith our Evangeli&s;t, <HI>i. e. The Goats &s;hall go away into everla&s;ting puni&s;hment;</HI> this is <HI>pa|nis lapido&s;us,</HI> bread of &s;tones, that will make the teeth of all tho&s;e ake and gna&s;h, who&s;e misfortune it is to grind it; &s;uch as feed upon it are in the depths of hell; God grant that none of us ere come thither to ta&s;te and eat it. At this time I pre&s;ent you with more plea&s;ant bread, bread that will chear your counte|nance, and &s;uch as will glad your hearts; 'tis bread of life, and by occa&s;ion of the la&s;t words of our Creed, and the la&s;t of this <HI>Chapter,</HI> I &s;hall &s;et it before you.</P>
<P>From the 31. <HI>ver&s;e</HI> to this <HI>Chapter,</HI> a De&s;cription we have of the <HI>la&s;t judgment.</HI> The <HI>Judge,</HI> is the <HI>Son of man;</HI> the per&s;ons to be judged, call'd here <HI>Sheep and Goats,</HI> that is, good and bad; the good &s;et in the be&s;t place, <HI>at the right hand;</HI> the wor&s;t in a wor&s;e, <HI>at the left hand;</HI> tho&s;e ab&s;olv'd, the&s;e condemn'd; and in this <HI>ver&s;e</HI> we meet with the execution of the &s;en|tence upon the one, and the other: <HI>The&s;e &s;hall go into everla&s;ting puni&s;hment, but the Righteous into life Eternal.</HI></P>
<P>My meditations then upon this whole Context, have been of <HI>Mercy</HI> and <HI>Judgment.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.13. 2 The&s;. 1.8.</NOTE> <HI>Judgment</HI> to the Reprobate, <HI>Mercy</HI> to the Righteous. The judgment &s;hall be without mercy; <HI>for it is to be revealed by fire;</HI> by <HI>fire</HI> that torments univer&s;ally, unce&s;&s;antly, everla&s;tingly; and I li&s;t not to repeat what then with much horrour I &s;pake of it. But the mercy &s;hall be without any mixture of judgment; for it &s;hall be life accompanied with joy, and joy increa|&s;ed by glory, and glory that never &s;hall have an end; for it &s;hall be everla&s;ting.</P>
<P>In one word, here we have &s;et down the exceeding reward of good men in another life; of which that we may take the fuller view, I &s;hall hold out to you
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The term under which this great reward is propo&s;ed and expre&s;&s;ed, <HI>It is life.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The continuance and perpetuity of it; not like ours, &s;hort and fading, but long and la&s;ting, nay <HI>everla&s;ting.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. To whom it is promi&s;ed, and who &s;hall inherit it, <HI>the Righ|teous.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<PB N="639" REF="325">
<HEAD><HI>1.</HI> Into life.</HEAD>
<P>The gift is everywhere an&s;werable to the giver;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.4. Acts 3.28.</NOTE> the Lord of life be&s;tows that he is Lord of, <HI>life:</HI> A benefit of that great e&s;teem, that men will do and &s;uffer any thing to purcha&s;e and prolong it. Be it but this of nature, which is pe&s;ter'd with &s;o many di&s;contents, &s;owr'd with &s;o many troubles and di&s;ea&s;es, yet I know not how we de&s;ire to protract it, and eeke it out. Is <HI>Davids</HI> life in hazard? he cries, <HI>O spare me:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 39.13.</NOTE> Is <HI>Hezekiah</HI> threatned to leave the Land of the living, <HI>he mourns and prayes, and weeps, and petitions?</HI> It was a great truth proceeded out of the mouth of a great lyar, <HI>Skin for skin,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 38.2, 3. Job 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>and all that a man hath will he give for his life.</HI> Go but to the Bed-&s;ides of &s;ick men, and judge of what I &s;ay; with what charge is the Phy&s;itian &s;ent for, and retain'd! with what irk&s;omne&s;s and loathing is many a bitter pill, and nau&s;eous drug taken down! what cutting and launcing, and cauterizing, and di&s;membring is there undergone, and all to keep a poor mortal carka&s;s alive for a few dayes longer! &s;o &s;weet a thing is life; &s;o that if any man voluntarily ca&s;t away this, as &s;ome di&s;contented per&s;ons do, we e&s;teem them as poor, mi&s;erable, abject, and &s;edu|ced wretches, who &s;o ea&s;ily throw away that which the meane&s;t worm de&s;ires to &s;ave. Under that then which is &s;o dear to us, God hath thought good to &s;et forth our felicity in another World; partly out of nece&s;&s;ity, partly for our greater content.</P>
<P N="1">1. A nece&s;&s;ity there is in it; for nece&s;&s;ary it is that every thing &s;hould be, before it can be capable of the lea&s;t favour. To omit other in&s;tances, man mu&s;t be before he can be ble&s;&s;ed, to which every kind of being would not &s;erve neither; not that of inanimate creatures, not that of plants, not that of a Bea&s;t; and therefore the Almighty, becau&s;e he intended him the Subject of happine&s;s, breathed into his no&s;tri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s, <HI>&s;piraculum vitarum, the breath of lives;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.7.</NOTE> of all life and perfection that could proceed from the vegetative, &s;en&s;itive, or rational &s;oul. The glory we expect, the joy, the re&s;t, the Crown are but empty words, if man live not; or which is all one, be not; for <HI>vita e&s;t ip&s;um e&s;&s;e viventis;</HI> life is the very being of the living.</P>
<P N="2">2. But to l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ve is not much, even the poore&s;t Bugg that crawls on the Earth, enjoys that with the greate&s;t Monarch. This may be be&s;ieged with &s;o many pre&s;&s;ures and &s;orrows, that it may prove <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>vita non vitalis,</HI> a life that hath no life in it; and then a man had as good be under ground: O|ther appurtenances then it mu&s;t have to bear it up, and &s;weeten it, or el&s;e by having life we can ne're be happy. A life the very damned &s;ouls in hell retain, and an eternal life too; but becau&s;e it wants the acce&s;&s;ories, we more u&s;ually and properly call it death. Men mu&s;t be free from &s;orrow, trouble, pain, they mu&s;t be endued with a rea&s;onable portion of wealth, have &s;ome good &s;ociety, liberty, health, with many other outward accoutrements; or el&s;e they will in a moody fit exclaim with <HI>Rebeccah, What good will this life do me?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 27.46. 1 Kings 19.4.</NOTE> or break out with di&s;contented <HI>Elijah, Lord take away this life from me.</HI></P>
<Q><L>&mdash; Mene Iliacis occumbere campis</L>
<L>Non potui&s;&s;e? &mdash;</L></Q>
<P>To give us then content, God hath provided for us in this life what&s;oever may plea&s;e. Fir&s;t, a freedom from what&s;oever may di&s;quiet us; and next, an enjoyment of what&s;oever may advance our happy e&s;tate. In it all evils &s;hall be removed, and we &s;hall be &s;etled in all good. The fir&s;t of which we call a Privative, the &s;econd a Po&s;itivive Hap|pine&s;s.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="640" REF="326">1. The fir&s;t part of our future ble&s;&s;edne&s;s is Privative or Nega<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters">e, there being a total abolition and bani&s;hment of every thing that might aba<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">, allay, or retard our happine&s;s;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 22.3, 5. Chap. 21.4. Chap. 7.16.</NOTE> even &s;o &s;aith the Spirit, <HI>There &s;hall be no cur&s;e, no night, no more death, nor &s;orrow, nor crying, neither &s;hall there be any more pain; they &s;hall hunger no more, nor thir&s;t no more; neither &s;hall the Sun light on them, no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> any heat; and God &s;hall wipe every tear from their eye,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, every tea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>in &s;ingulari,</HI> not one left.</P>
<P>In this World, tho&s;e that belong to Chri&s;t e&s;pecially, have experience o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;ome,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 16.33.</NOTE> or all the&s;e; for our Saviours words mu&s;t be verified, <HI>In the World yo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;hall have affliction;</HI> but in heaven there is nor per&s;ecutor, nor per&s;ecution, nor afflicted, nor affliction; nothing to grieve, nothing to vex or torment: And then this ble&s;&s;ing mu&s;t needs be the more grateful, the experiences of &s;adne&s;&s;es and dangers having this peculiar, that being e&s;caped, it makes alwayes the pre|&s;ent happine&s;s to be more acceptable. Thus have I heard a Mariner with great content relate in the Harbour the &s;torms at Sea, Billow encountring Bi&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ow, and Wave mounting upon Wave, to the hazard of his life at every &s;hock.</P>
<Q>&mdash; Olim haec memini&s;&s;e juvabit.</Q>
<P>With what plea&s;ure will a Shepheard point to the Lamb that he pulled out of the mouth of the Wolf, or paw of the Bear! An an&s;wer to the &s;ame purpo&s;e the Elder gave to <HI>John,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 7.14.</NOTE> <HI>The&s;e are they that came out of great tribulation.</HI> After then &s;o much trouble and &s;orrow, to come into a place of joy and re&s;t, mu&s;t needs be a great acce&s;&s;ion of content and happine&s;s; and to make a long narra|tion to his Fellow-Saints of the temptations and dangers they have e&s;caped, and are &s;ure to e&s;cape for ever.</P>
<P N="2">2. But all this is not comparable to the po&s;itive happine&s;s of that life; for as a clear Ayre follows a tempe&s;tuous, the day the night, and Summer &s;uc|ceeds a fro&s;ty Winter; &s;o comfort follows tho&s;e tears, and eternal happine&s;s this mi&s;ery. You mu&s;t not expect that my tongue &s;hould expre&s;s unto you that <HI>which nor ear hath heard,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.9.</NOTE> <HI>nor eye hath &s;een;</HI> I &s;hall only entertain you with what the Spirit hath been plea&s;ed to teach.</P>
<P N="1">1. The place in which this eternal life is enjoy'd, is heaven, <HI>the &s;eat of Gods glory,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.34.</NOTE> <HI>the Throne of his Maje&s;ty,</HI> the Paradi&s;e of delights; the dwellers in it are God, Chri&s;t, Angels Saints; and if each one of tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Spirits, be more beautiful to behold than this vi&s;ible World; what a &s;ight will it be to &s;ee thou&s;and thou&s;ands of tho&s;e beautiful Spirits,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 1.16. Ephe&s;. 1.21.</NOTE> and to under&s;tand the perfections and offices of every one of them? There be Angels to be &s;ent on Emba&s;&s;ages; Archangels to mini&s;ter and &s;erve; Principalities to triumph; Powers to rejoyce; Dominions to govern; the Vertues &s;hine, the Thrones gli&s;ter, the Seraphims abound in love, the Cherubims give light; and all together as in a Quire, &s;ing land and prai&s;e to God: And if the company of good and vertuous per&s;ons be even among us amiable, and to be de&s;ired; what a felicity will it be to con|ver&s;e daily with &s;o many ble&s;&s;ed Angels, to &s;ing prai&s;es with the Apo&s;tles, to &s;peak with the Prophets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 12.23.</NOTE> to communicate with the Martyrs, and to have a per|petual familiarity with all the Elect!</P>
<P>Farther yet, if it be &s;o great a happine&s;s to enjoy the company of the good, what &s;hall it be to be in the pre&s;ence, and &s;ee the face of him who is the Author of all goodne&s;s? to &s;ee him, who being but one, is all things, and compre|hends in him&s;elf the perfections of all things? If to hear and &s;ee King <HI>Solo|mon</HI> were thought &s;o great a matter, that the Queen of <HI>Saba</HI> &s;aid, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he men,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 10.8.</NOTE> <HI>and ble&s;&s;ed are the&s;e thy &s;ervants that &s;tand in thy pre&s;ence, and hear thy <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;|dom:</HI> What &s;hall it be to behold the Creator of <HI>Solomon,</HI> that eternal wi&s;dom, that infinite greatne&s;s, that ine&s;timable beauty, that exceeding goodne&s;s, and
<PB N="641" REF="326"> to enjoy the &s;ame for ever and ever? This is the e&s;&s;ential felicity of the Saints, and o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ht to be the la&s;t end of our de&s;ires.</P>
<P>Man is of a curious, prying, &s;earching di&s;po&s;ition, ever inqul&s;itive in|to the nature of this or that; he reads much, and asks much, and tries many an experiment; and becau&s;e he cannot be &s;atisfied, he is anxious, di&s;|contented, re&s;tle&s;s. By that Beatifical Vi&s;ion he &s;hall have his full de&s;ires &s;atisfied; in God &s;ee he &s;hall what he de&s;ires to behold;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.28.</NOTE> <HI>for God &s;hall be to him all in all.</HI> He &s;hall &s;ee here the power of the Father, the wi&s;dom of the Son, and goodne&s;s of the Holy Gho&s;t; <HI>Totam Trinitatem, licet non to|taliter;</HI> he &s;ha l apprehend the whole Trinity, though he &s;hall never be able wholly to comprehend it. He &s;hall behold all the goodne&s;s and per|fect<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ons of worldly things compacted and united in God, as in the fir&s;t cau&s;e, beginning, and end of all. In him he &s;hall behold all the My&s;teries of Faith, all the Secrets of Nature, all the Admini&s;trations of Providence &s;o far forth as may give any contentment to the &s;oul, or add any help to our pre|&s;ent happine&s;s.</P>
<P N="3">3. I de&s;cend now to the Acce&s;&s;ories, being all tho&s;e Con&s;equents to this Beatifical Vi&s;ion, without which, yet this life could not be a life of hap|pine&s;s; the fir&s;t of which is love.</P>
<P N="1">1. For upon this perfect knowledge which we &s;hall have of God, and of all things in God, the will of man will be &s;o affected, that it will love nothing but God, and what is his expre&s;s. Our love is ever accord|ing to our knowledge; what we know not, we de&s;ire not; what we de&s;ire not, we love it little, and in a greater mea&s;ure where we know more. In this world <HI>we know but in part,</HI> and therefore we love God but in part.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 13.12.</NOTE> In heaven, becau&s;e we know God perfectly, we &s;hall love God perfectly: And this is <HI>Loves</HI> prerogative, that it lives,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 13.</NOTE> when her other two Si&s;ters are extinct; for <HI>Faith and H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">pe</HI> have their periods, but <HI>Love</HI> never falls away: For when we are po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of the truth of Gods promi&s;es, then faith is at an end; and when we are en&s;tated in that we hoped for, then hope is of no u&s;e: But love la&s;ts even then; in heaven the Saints love God, and they love one another; and this love &s;ets &s;uch an extraordinary price upon what is loved, that they joy to have it alwayes in their &s;ight, and would think it their great|e&s;t mi&s;ery to be deprived of it.</P>
<P N="2">2. So that the &s;econd Acce&s;&s;ory to their happy life, is <HI>joy.</HI> The good &s;ervant in the Go&s;pel is call'd to come and take it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.21, 23. P&s;al. 16.11.</NOTE> <HI>Enter into thy Masters joy;</HI> and becau&s;e it is <HI>our Ma&s;ters joy,</HI> this is it which makes it <HI>the fulne&s;s of joy;</HI> were it not our <HI>Ma&s;ters,</HI> it would not be <HI>full:</HI> For all the joyes of our fellow-&s;ervants in this World have been, and are &s;ubject to their di&s;con|tents; This World being at the be&s;t but the Region of the dead, in which there is crying and dying, and cro&s;&s;es, and di&s;ea&s;es, all which will abate of our joy, and keep it from being full: But in that life all tears being wi|ped off, there &s;hall be a merry heart, and a chearful countenance, joy, and fulne&s;s of joy to all the parts and faculties of &s;oul and body.</P>
<P>What a day of joy will it be to the &s;oul of man, when loo&s;ed from the pri&s;on of this body,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.22.</NOTE> <HI>it &s;hall be conducted by the Angels unto the Taber|nacle of heaven,</HI> received there by the honourable Citizens of that place, and pre&s;ented there by that Princely company, before that Seat and Ma|je&s;ty of the ble&s;&s;ed Trinity, with a large and full Declaration of all thy good works, thy prayers offered, thy labours and &s;ufferings &s;u|&s;tain'd, the houres and minutes &s;pent in the love and &s;ervice of this God!</P>
<P N="3">3. No marvail then, if from clear knowledge, and perfect love, and ex|cellent
<PB N="642" REF="327"> &s;ociety, their &s;ouls being ravi&s;h't with joy, they labour with their tongues to expre&s;s it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 4.10, 11. Chap. 5.13, 14 Chap. 11.17. Chap. 15.3.</NOTE> for this is another addition to their happine&s;s, that they &s;hall &s;pend their time <HI>in &s;weet &s;ongs of prai&s;e and thanksgiving.</HI> In this World the Saints do nothing but weep; weep for their own &s;ins, weep for other mens &s;ins, weep for what they &s;uffer: But in that life above they &s;hall do nothing but &s;ing, Hallelujahs and Holannahs &s;hall be their Cele&s;tial Anthymns; and becau&s;e they could not &s;ing truly <HI>Peace on Earth,</HI> they &s;hall &s;ing <HI>Glory to God on High.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. Now to the&s;e Hallelujahs they will be the more encouraged, when they &s;hall look about them, and view their own glory, which al&s;o mu&s;t needs add very much to their happy e&s;tate. What here on earth is more e&s;teemed than glory? &s;o precious it is to men of &s;pirit, that it makes them prodigal of their blood. Without doubt thus ambitious were the ble&s;&s;ed Martyrs, which made them lay down their lives in the flames! They were a&s;&s;ured of the Crowns in heaven, and this made them gain-&s;ay the Crowns on earth; they believed the Robes and Scepters, and Thrones, and Palaces above, which &s;o much rai&s;ed their thoughts, that nor threats, nor blows, nor fire, nor tortures could hinder them from attaining this glory.</P>
<P>Wonder as much as you may at this honour, and in compari&s;on thereof contemn this earth;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 30.28.</NOTE> 'tis but a place of flies and fleas. In our Paradi&s;es the Gardens of our plea&s;ure, we meet with worms; and in the Pre&s;ence-chamber we take down the Spiders hou&s;e; and when you meet with du&s;t and Cobwebs, and the Lords of both, can you properly call this a place of glory? How you are blinded now I cannot tell; but &s;ure I am, that if ever you come to have a &s;hate of glory in heaven, you will have other thoughts. One day when you &s;hall be &s;et upon Thrones,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lucian.</NOTE> and ca&s;t your eyes from that height of glory, viewing the muck-worms here upon earth, creeping on this Mole-hill, as &s;o many Ants, and digging &s;o many holes in their Mothers bowels, to fetch thence her hidden trea&s;ures; how will you then laugh at and condemn your &s;ometimes inglorious wayes? Then you will be apt to think, alas, how ba&s;ely I once liv'd, how poor|ly I dwelt! what ba&s;e Company I kept! how meanly I was e&s;teemed! was yonder Dunghill the place I &s;o much loved, and was &s;o loth to leave! Think all this before hand; and &s;ince of heaven thou can&s;t not, yet judge of earth as it is worthy; and of what is it worthy, except of thy contempt, except of thy neglect? e&s;teem it as it is, an Inne, which no man yet did equal with a Palace: Hold it but for a Tabernacle, which no man hath <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hought a glorious hou&s;e: But of heaven make an higher account,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.5. John 4.2. Hebr. 13.14. P&s;al. 24.10. 1 Per. 5.4. 2 Cor. 4.17.</NOTE> think of it as <HI>of a Kingdom,</HI> as <HI>of a Man|&s;ion, a continuing City,</HI> where <HI>the King of glory, the Crown of glory, the Thrones of glory, the exceeding weight of glory</HI> only remains.</P>
<P>This is the glimps of our future life and happine&s;s, where the joy is ab&s;o|lute, the glory exce&s;&s;ive; you &s;hall not meet with any di&s;temper, any lo&s;s, any pre&s;&s;ure, any complaint which may make that life unplea&s;ant. You &s;hall per|fectly then know God, and be joyned to him in love, and what would you yet more to make your life happy? there can be but one thing wanting, and yet that you &s;hall have, eternity; for &s;uch this is.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>2.</HI> Eternal life.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 11.7.</NOTE><HI>The light is a plea&s;ant thing, and it is good to the eyes to &s;ee the Sun;</HI> but when an Eclip&s;e, or a dark night comes upon it, there is a general &s;adne&s;s. Than life nothing more plea&s;ing; yet when temporal is added to life, I know not how it abates much of the content: For they which joy to think of life, yet grieve to think it will not la&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero de Se|nect.</NOTE> One of the aggravations with which old Age is charg|ed, is, that <HI>hand procul abe&s;t &agrave; morte,</HI> that the life of an old man borders upon
<PB N="643" REF="327"> death&punc; Riches al&s;o are of high e&s;teem; but when we &s;ay they are uncertain, high and flie from us in our greate&s;t need,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.17.</NOTE> men are much vexed and troubled that they &s;hould be &s;uch &s;ickle and <HI>mi&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rable comforters.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 16.2.</NOTE> The like is to be &s;aid of glory and honour, which we would affect better, if we might be &s;ure of their continuance: So loth are we, that any thing which &s;hould give us content, &s;hould vani&s;h &s;o ea&s;ily. And yet this is the conditi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n of this life it &s;elf, and all that &s;hould make it vital, which we can love, which we can enjoy, be they riches or honour, or glory, tran&s;itory they are, and their end borders upon their be|ginning.</P>
<P>In that other life it is that we mu&s;t expect all the&s;e to be permanent and eternal, which addition of eternity is it which makes this life of knowledge and love, love and joy, joy and glory to be the more &s;weet, becau&s;e it is la&s;ting; for joy and glory would not make us happy, were they not perpetual. To be happy is not &s;o plea&s;ing an e&s;tate, as it is mi&s;erable to have been happy: <HI>Fui|mus T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oes,</HI> is but a poor comfort; to have worn a Crown, as <HI>Adonibezek,</HI> and to be brought to that low &s;ervility, <HI>to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">at Crumbs of bread under a Table,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 1.7.</NOTE> will even break the mo&s;t noble heart: To &s;it upon a Throne, and after to draw a Chariot with <HI>Se&s;o&s;tris;</HI> to &s;wim in wealth, and after to be &s;et upon a pile with <HI>Cr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;us,</HI> would make a wi&s;e man bur&s;t into a pa&s;&s;ionate complaint, and cry out,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Herod. Plu|tarch. Solon.</NOTE> <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Solon, Solon.</HI> So mi&s;erable it is to have fallen from the top of honour, to a ba&s;e e&s;tate, and to have liv'd a better life than now we do. In great pa&s;&s;ion it was &s;poken,
<Q><L>I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;e ignotus, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gens, Lybi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> de&s;erta peragr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Virg. Aen. 1.</NOTE></L>
<L>Europ&acirc; atq <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> A&s;i&acirc; pui&s;us.</L></Q></P>
<P>Should then the Saints in heaven not be &s;ecur'd of the continuance of their glory to be perpetual, and their po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion to be eternal, their joy mu&s;t needs be le&s;s; lea&s;t therefore ought &s;hould be wanting, behold their felicity knows no <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd, feareth no intermi&s;&s;ion, is not &s;ubject to the teeth of time; but is as eter|nal for continuance <HI>a parte po&s;t,</HI> as he who had no beginning, and &s;hall know no end.</P>
<P>But &s;hall now the &s;on of a woman be capable of an eternal being? &s;hall mortal put on immortality? and a creature be of the &s;ame continuance with the Creatour: this is a priviledge wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch belongs <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>to the King <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f Ages, im<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ortal, eternal, invi&s;ible, the only wi&s;e God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.17.</NOTE> Not the &s;oul, be the &s;ub&s;tance thereof never &s;o &s;piritual&punc; nor the whole man, be he never &s;o excel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ent a piece, can challenge or a&s;&s;ume to its &s;elf an everla&s;ting exi&s;tence.</P>
<P>True indeed; but to &s;atisfie the doubt, this word <HI>everla&s;ting</HI> is to be taken in two &s;en&s;es.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>Simpliciter, ab&s;olute, per &s;e, &amp; &s;u&acirc; natur&acirc;;</HI> and thus God alone is eternal; for being the fountain of life, he mu&s;t live forever; he is as St. <HI>Paul</HI> hath taught us, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the King of all time;</HI> and therefore mu&s;t raign for all time, having dominion over death; for could death domineer over him, death &s;hould be the great God, and not he, who hath not beginning of days, no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> yet end of life.</P>
<P>But &s;econdly, <HI>everla&s;ting</HI> hath another meaning; that though any thing of its nature being a creature, it may return into that of which it is made, yet by the will of God it nor dies, nor can die; and in this &s;en&s;e everla&s;ting belongs to the &s;oul, and the life it is to live; for if God had &s;o ordained, it might peri&s;h with the body, as the &s;oul of other creatures, becau&s;e the power of God, that made it of nothing, could return it to nothing; but it was his will to have it otherwi&s;e, and to make a creature immortal, that in him he might &s;hew his ju&s;tice and his mercy&punc; His ju&s;tice to the bad; <HI>for they &s;hall go into eternal pain:</HI> His mercy to the good; <HI>for the righteous &s;hall go into eternal life.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<PB N="644" REF="328">
<HEAD><HI>3.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. The Righteous.</HEAD>
<P>Life is the reward, everla&s;ting the Quality of it: now let us con&s;i|der to whom it belongs, which is not to all promi&s;cuou&s;ly, but to the Ju&s;t and Righteous only. <HI>The Righteous &s;haell go into Everla&s;ting Life.</HI></P>
<P>Should righteou&s;ne&s;s be taken for &s;uch exact ju&s;tice that hath no unrighteou&s;ne&s;&s;e admixt with it, &s;uch righteous men may not be found, &s;ince <HI>in many things we &s;in all.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">James 3.2.</NOTE> Or &s;hould a compari&s;on be made with that ju&s;tice which is in God, this in a creature may not be expected;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 4.17.</NOTE> for <HI>&s;hall mortal Man be more ju&s;t then God? &s;hall a man be more pure then his maker?</HI> But let ju&s;tice and righteou&s;ne&s;s be examined and mea&s;ured according to the condition of this life, &s;o all the elect that are de&s;tined to eternal life, may in &s;ome &s;en&s;e be called Righte|ous and ju&s;t men.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.30.</NOTE>Fir&s;t and e&s;pecially for the imputation of Chri&s;ts Righteou&s;ne&s;s; for he to them is made ju&s;tice. Secondly, Becau&s;e a compari&s;on being made of their lives and actions with the ways and works of the mo&s;t men, they may well be honoured with the name of Righteous; &s;uch was <HI>Noah, Job, Zachary,</HI> and his Wife <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> both ju&s;t before God. Or thirdly, Righteous they may be &s;aid to be for their &s;incerity, being far from all hypocri&s;ie, deceit, and guile. Or la&s;tly, in re&s;pect of their works, which are the fruits of their faith informed by cha|rity, according to which they &s;hall be judged, (as appears, ver&s;es 35, 36.) and for the doing of the&s;e accounted and accepted for righteous.</P>
<P>It was a que&s;tion wi&s;ely propo&s;ed by the young Phari&s;ee, that came to our Saviour;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.16.</NOTE> <HI>Good Ma&s;ter, What &s;hall I do to inherit eter|nal life?</HI> that &s;omething was to be done, he knew, without which eter|nal life could not be had, and gladly he would know what that was; Now our Saviour &s;ends him and the Lawyer to <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.28.</NOTE> <HI>Do</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>what the Law pre&s;cribes, and live.</HI> Not intending thereby that he &s;hould obtain Life; for Chri&s;t knew that his performance would fall &s;hort, but to humble the pride of the young man and the Lawyer, by &s;etting them a task which they mu&s;t labour to perform, if ever they meant to, at|tain to life. A life lead by the pre&s;cript of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Law, an hone&s;t and a godly conver&s;ation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.8.</NOTE> <HI>fruits worthy of Repentance,</HI> mu&s;t be brought forth by that man, whom God will denominate Righteous. For how&s;oever we &s;hall not be ju&s;tified for them, yet God will never reckon us for ju&s;t and Righteous men without them. Talk no more then of <HI>faith without works;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">James 2.17, 18.</NOTE> for what &s;hall it profit a man, to &s;ay he believes in God who is in heaven, when he &s;o leads his life as if there were no God in hea|ven? Is this man, do you think, one of tho&s;e righteous that &s;hall inherit eternal life? No, no, The life of Grace is the way to the life of Glory.</P>
<P>A life of Nature there is, when our &s;oul dwels in this Body, and informs, and enlivens, and moves this earthly burden. A life of Grace there is, when the Spirit of God dwels in the &s;oul, and frees it from the command and dominion of &s;in. And a life of glory there is, when the Body united to the &s;oul, or the &s;oul alone &s;hall be united to God. The fir&s;t is common to all, the la&s;t proper unto tho&s;e who in this life &s;hall follow tbe conduct of Grace, and live a righteous, &s;ober, and god|ly
<PB N="645" REF="328"> life. For this is Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> chain; <HI>Tho&s;e whom he did fore-know, tho&s;e he did prede&s;tinate to be conformable to the image of his Son; whom he did prede&s;tinate,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.29, 30.</NOTE> <HI>them he called; whom he called he ju&s;tified; whom he ju&s;tified, he glorified.</HI> Glo|rified is the la&s;t link, Prede&s;tination is the fir&s;t, and that limited by Con|formity to Chri&s;ts image; the intervenients are Ju&s;tification, Vocation: Out of which we may collect, that if we mean to arrive at the life of Glory, by the way we mu&s;t take heed to our calling, have a care to be a&s;&s;ured of our ju&s;tification; which a&s;&s;urance <HI>quoad nos,</HI> will ari&s;e by a life conformable to the image of Gods &s;on. In a word, we mu&s;t endeavour to &s;erve God in righteou&s;ne&s;s and true holine&s;&s;e, which alone can qui|et our con&s;ciences, and a&s;&s;ure men that we are righteous before God.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>&V;SE.</HEAD>
<P>Tis an error then that is hatched in profane mens brains, who &s;up|po&s;e they &s;hall come to the life of Glory, though they never walk in the way of Grace. Let their life here be never &s;o di&s;&s;olute, never &s;o licentious, yet they make no que&s;tion to arrive at heaven, and live there for ever. This were to go to heaven <HI>per &s;altum;</HI> for doth not Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ay, tho&s;e who will be glorified, mu&s;t be conformable, &amp;c? doth not Saint <HI>John</HI> &s;ay, <HI>He that hath this hope, purifieth himelf?</HI> that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 3.3.</NOTE> is every day in his progre&s;s, endeavour, &s;tudy of Sanctification. If this benefit and reward were common to all, and not proper to tho&s;e who live the life of Grace, le&s;s care might be had of it: But &s;ince it is peculiar to &s;ome alone, to the regenerate, to the &s;anctified, to the conformable, to the Righteous, let our greate&s;t labour be to be found among the&s;e per&s;ons, and &s;ince we have &s;uch promi&s;es,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 7.1.</NOTE> <HI>let us clean&s;e our &s;elves from all filthine&s;&s;e of the Fle&s;h and Spirit.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart, for they &s;hall &s;ee God: ble&s;sed are they which hunger and thir&s;t after righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, for they &s;hall be &s;atisfied.</HI> See God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.6, 8.</NOTE> I know you all would; to be &s;atisfied and ble&s;&s;ed, not a man alive but de|&s;ires to be; but this de&s;ire will be utterly fru&s;trate, except an earne&s;t and con&s;tant hunger and thir&s;t after righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, except purity of heart do accompany it: Of which if you fall &s;hort, &s;ee God you &s;hall not; ad|mitted within tho&s;e cele&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">al courts you never &s;hall be; But you &s;hall &s;tand <HI>withou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> among the Dogs,</HI> that is, the contemners and &s;narlers at Holy things, <HI>among inchanters, and murtherers, whore-mongers and Idolaters,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 22.25.</NOTE> <HI>among th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ives, covetous per&s;ons, and extortioners, &amp;c.</HI> for all the&s;e are without the gate of the City.</P>
<P><HI>Be not deceived; for they which do &s;uch things,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.9, 10.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall not inherit the king|dom of God.</HI> I &s;ay not, all that have done the&s;e things, but only &s;uch as do, which notes a pre&s;ent and continual act of doing wickedly. As if the Spirit &s;hould have &s;aid, All they who do this, and die thus in their &s;in, with|out remor&s;e and amendment, &s;hall never inherit eternal life. He then who means to live in heaven, mu&s;t begin his life of heaven upon earth; he mu&s;t have his conver&s;ation with Saints there, though he live and conver&s;e with &s;in|ners here; like to an Eagle, he mu&s;t ca&s;t his beak,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 103.5. Col. 3.9, 10.</NOTE> or a Serpent &s;lip off his old skin, that is, he mu&s;t <HI>put off the old man that is corrupt, and put on the new man which is after God,</HI> and &s;o he &s;hall &s;ee God at la&s;t in his fle&s;h, and live for ever.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The CONCL&V;SION.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Behold I have &s;et before you good and evil, ble&s;&s;ing and cur&s;ing,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 30.19.</NOTE> <HI>life and
<PB N="646" REF="329"> death,</HI> a Kingdom in heaven repleni&s;hed with re&s;t, with joy, with glory &s;uch as <HI>fades not,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.4.</NOTE> &s;uch as fails not: as I did the la&s;t day the torments of hell, which &s;hall univer&s;ally afflict, unce&s;&s;antly torture, everla&s;tingly puni&s;h, in a word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.41.</NOTE> a <HI>torment prepared for the Devil and his Angels;</HI> and for &s;uch malici|ous &s;pirits, you cannot imagine the torments to be ea&s;ie. And if neither of the&s;e, nor joys, nor &s;orrows, nor glory, nor &s;hame, nor life, nor death, nor reward, nor puni&s;hment, nor heaven, nor hell can work upon you, I am at a <HI>Non plus;</HI> what words &s;hall I u&s;e to do you good?</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.21. cap. 6.27. 2 The&s;. 1.8.</NOTE>I have power to <HI>charge you here in the pre&s;ence of God the Father, and of the Lord Je&s;us Christ, who &s;hall &s;hew him&s;elf from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire, rendring vengeance not only to them that know not God, but to them al&s;o that obey not the Go&s;pel of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> that you do as you are taught, become new creatures, and live holy lives, if you mean to e&s;cape the wrath to come.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.19. Rom. 12.1.</NOTE> But I rather choo&s;e to <HI>speak to you after the manner of men.</HI> I know Men, good natur'd men are mo&s;t ea&s;ily drawn on by love and kindne&s;s, by honour and rewards. <HI>By the mercies of God</HI> then, even the mercies of God the Father: By the Meritorious death and bitter pa&s;&s;ion of the Son,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 2.20.</NOTE> that Son of God, <HI>who loved us, and gave him&s;elf for us:</HI> By that joy and glory, by that life, that everla&s;ting life he hath prepared for us, I be&s;eech you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.16.</NOTE> that you would be righteous, you would be pure, you would be holy.</P>
<P>Look not on me who commence this petition, but look upon your own &s;ouls for which I commence it, and have pity on them. The benefit will be yours, the life yours, I &s;hall but &s;hare with you. Only the greater &s;hare I &s;hall have, the more of your &s;ouls enter into heaven. T'is my humble &s;uit to God, that they may all come thither: For thither, if they come not, they mu&s;t go to a wor&s;e place: it grieves me to &s;ay whither, the torture of that place is &s;o extreme.</P>
<P>Surely rhere is a heaven, there is a hell; and as &s;ure there will be a day, when the Judge &s;hall be &s;et, the books opened, &s;heep and goats appear, and enquiry be made,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 62.6. Ezech. 33.6, 7.</NOTE> whether we the Watchmen of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> have &s;tood upon our watch, and given you warning, and whether you of the Laity have been con|tent to be warned. Deceive not your own &s;ouls; think not when the&s;e words are ended, they &s;hall &s;catter and vani&s;h in the air, and never be called for a|gain. For the day will come, when for the&s;e, and all the re&s;t, an accompt mu&s;t be made. It will be told you then how the rejection and malediction, the pain and perpetuity of pain, tho&s;e four E&s;&s;ential parts of helli&s;h torments, were pre&s;ented at large unto you, and all for no other end, but that <HI>you come not into that place of torment.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.28.</NOTE> You will be put in mind then, that a Kingdom, a Crown, a ble&s;&s;ing, a life full of joy and honour; honour at Gods right hand, that was durable and la&s;ting, nay everla&s;ting was prepared for you; and yet how much you did undervalue all the&s;e for &s;ome petty profit or plea&s;ure. The accompt will be &s;trict, the an&s;wer I fear me, will be very cold and faulty.</P>
<P>That which may be for your advantage, will be, that while you have time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d, 1.12. Jer. 5.31.</NOTE> you no longer &s;eek death in the error of your life, but &s;it down, and &s;adly bethink your &s;elves, whar will become of you <HI>in Novi&s;&s;imo,</HI> at the la&s;t Day. Yet you have Hell before you, tremble you not at the Name! quake you not at the torments? See, the fire burns, the &s;moak a&s;cends, and the Gho&s;ts roare; The mouth is open, and if you come once within it, there is no getting out, but you &s;hall be burnt, and tortured and tormented for ever.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Den. 1.6.</NOTE>I know your knees are ready to &s;mite together at this report. So many of you then as intend to lead a new life, and to enter your names in the ca|talogue
<PB REF="329"> of the Righteous, Lift up your heads,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 21.28.</NOTE> and behold a more comfortable &s;pectacle; Your Saviour at the right hand of God, the Saints your brethren &s;inging <HI>Hallelujah,</HI> life prepared for you, a Kingdom of which you are heirs, Crowns for your heads; palms for your hands, robes for your backs,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 7.9.</NOTE> a mo&s;t glorious &s;tate which will never come to an end.</P>
<P>I cannot leave you in a better place and better company; be righteous, and enjoy it; &s;erve God, and be thus happy. Now that God who hath pre|pared this place for our &s;ouls, prepare our &s;ouls for this place. Prepare them in holine&s;s; prepare them in de&s;ire, that when this life of Nature, which is but a bubble, a &s;moak, a &s;hadow, &s;hall vani&s;h away, we may be partakers of this joyful, glorious everla&s;ting life in heaven;
<Q>Which God Almighty grant unto us all for his Son Je&s;us Chri&s;ts &s;ake, to whom with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, three per&s;ons, and one God, be a cribed all glory, honour, prai&s;e, power, and Dominion, this day pre&s;ent and for ever, <HI>Amen.</HI></Q></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
<HEAD>Books Printed or &s;old by <HI>William Leak,</HI> at the &s;ign of the Crown in <HI>Fleet-&s;treet,</HI> betwen the two Temple-Gates.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM>A Bible of a very large Roman Letter, 4.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Book of Martyrs, <HI>f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Adams</HI> on <HI>Peter,</HI> fol.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Willet</HI> on <HI>Gene&s;is</HI> and <HI>Exodus,</HI> fol.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Elton</HI> on the <HI>Colo&s;&s;ians,</HI> fol.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Yorks</HI> Heraldry, <HI>fol.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Orlando Furio o.</HI> fol.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Wilkin&s;ons</HI> Office of Sheriffs. 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Par&s;ons</HI> Law. 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Mirror of ju&s;tice. 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Topicks in the Laws of <HI>England.</HI> 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Delamans</HI> u&s;e of the Horizontal Qua|drant.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Wilbeyes</HI> &s;econd &s;et of Mu&s;ick, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Parts. 4.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Corderius</HI> in Engli&s;h. 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Dr. <HI>Fulks</HI> Meteors, with Ob&s;ervati|ons. 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">thus</HI> Artificial Fire-works.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Nyes</HI> Gunnery and Fire-works.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Cato Major,</HI> with Annotations.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Mel Hel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">conium,</HI> by <HI>Alex. Ro&s;s.</HI> 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>No&s;ce teip&s;um,</HI> by Sir <HI>John Davis.</HI> 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Animadver&s;ions on <HI>Lillies</HI> Gram|mer. 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Hi&s;tory of <HI>Vienna</HI> and <HI>Paris.</HI> 4.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Hi&s;tory of <HI>Lazarillo de Tormes.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Hero</HI> and <HI>Leander,</HI> by <HI>George Chap|man,</HI> and <HI>Chri&s;topher Marlow.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>The Po&s;ing of the Accidence.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Gullians</HI> Heraldry, <HI>fol.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Herberts</HI> Travels, <HI>fol.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Man become guilty, by <HI>John Francis Senalt;</HI> and Engli&s;hed by <HI>Henry</HI> Earl of <HI>Monmouth.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Aula Lucis,</HI> or the Hou&s;e of Light.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chri&s;ts Pa&s;&s;ion, a Tragedy by the mo&s;t learned <HI>Hugh Grotius.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Callis</HI> learned readings on the Stat. 21. <HI>Hen.</HI> 8. Chapter 5. of Sewers.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Rights of the People concerning Impo&s;itions, &s;tated in a learned Ar|gument, by a late eminent Judge of this Nation.</ITEM>
<ITEM>An exact Abridgment of the Records in the Tower of <HI>London,</HI> from the Raign of K. <HI>Edward</HI> the &s;econd, to K. <HI>Richard</HI> the third; of all the Parliaments holden in each Kings Raign, and the &s;everal Acts in e|very Parliament, by Sir <HI>Rob. Cotton</HI> Kt. and Baronet.</ITEM>
<PB REF="330">
<ITEM>Methematical Recreations; with the Horological Dyal, by <HI>William Oughtred,</HI> 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Garden of <HI>Eden</HI> both parts, or an accurate de&s;cription of Flowers and Fruits now growing in <HI>England,</HI> by Sir <HI>Hugh Plat,</HI> Knight.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Solitary Devotions with man in glory, by the Arch-bi&s;hop of <HI>Canterbu|ry,</HI> 12.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Exercitatio Schola&s;tica.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>The &s;everal opinions of &s;undry Anti|quaries, <HI>viz.</HI> Mr. Ju&s;tice <HI>Dodridge,</HI> Mr. <HI>Ager, Francis Yate, William Cambden,</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;eph Holland,</HI> touching the Antiquity, Power, and proceeding of the High Court of Parliament in <HI>England.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>The Idiot in four Books; fir&s;t and &s;e|cond, of Wi&s;dom; third of the Mind; fourth, of the experience of the balance.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Life and Raign of <HI>Hen.</HI> 8. by the Lord <HI>Herbert,</HI> fol.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>France</HI> painted to the life, in four Books; the &s;econd Edition.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sken. de &s;ignificatione verborum.</HI> 4.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Fort Royal of holy Scripture, by <HI>I. H.</HI> the third Edition. 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM>An Apology for the Di&s;cipline of the ancient Church, intended e&s;pecially for that of our Mother the Church of <HI>England,</HI> in an&s;wer to the <HI>Admo|nitory Letter;</HI> lately publi&s;hed by <HI>William Nicol&s;on</HI> Arch-Deacon of <HI>Brecon.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Le Prince d' Amour,</HI> or the Prince of Love, with a collection of &s;everal in|genious Poems and Songs by the wits of the Age.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Solemn league and Covenant Arraigned and Condemned by the &s;entence of the Divines of <HI>London</HI> and <HI>Che&s;hire,</HI> delivered in their re|&s;pective Queries and defen&s;ive Doubts and Rea&s;ons, touching the Oath printed with an [&amp;c.] by the mi&s;take of the Tran&s;criber: The rea&s;on of the fir&s;t writing, and the pre&s;ent publication is rendred to the Reader in the Epi&s;tle. By <HI>Law&punc; Wo|mock,</HI> D. D. and Arch-deacon of <HI>Suffolk.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>The re&s;ult of fal&s;e Principles, of Er|ror convicted by its own Evidence, &amp;c. Now in the Pre&s;s.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="330" MS="y">
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
