sinne outfacing of such challenge as was made to King Dauid and excusing sometimes of the fact most vsually of themselues are the best pleas which are stood vpon by offenders though many exceed King Dauid in the infirmities which appeared in this fall yet where is the man that commeth neere the least degree of his ingenuitiâ— in confessing of his fault Where such stupiditie is and men hide their sinnes like Adam it is a signe that the Principles of Conscience are dull and dead as it is a signe that they liue and are quicke where contrarie ingenuitie doth appeare Which you the Penitents should consider well and let the Church see in your humble confession what true Contrition there is in your soule whether your Conscience bee senslesse or feeling of that state whereinto you are brought by sinne to worke this degree of penitencie in you I will somewhat enlarge a point which I did but glance at before Know then that there are two sorts of the laying open of the malignity of sinne the one is Voluntarie the other is Compulsorie the Voluntarie is that whereof I haue spoken which is medicinall and prepares Miserie to receiue Mercy for therefore doth God put a distance betweene our ill dealing and faring ill that Grace husbanding that distance thriftily and wee iudging our selues before we are iudged might preuent that faring ill which is due vnto our ill deseruing Add hereunto that if we willingly ser forth the Malignitie of our sin the Obiect will be proportionable to our sight and we shall so bee confounded therewith that we shall not bee confounded our Godly sorrow shall haue an happie issue But if we will not doe this willingly we shall be constrained to doe it happily in this world certainely in the world to come but whether now or then the obiect will bee too strong for our sight and our soules will be ouerwhelmed therewith In this world it falls out very often that Satan which tempts many vnto sinne doth tempt them afterwards to despaire and how doth hee doe it but by representing vnto them the malignity of their sinne the euill whereof proueth so vexing that it maketh some as restlesse as Cain and some as vnnaturall to themselues as Iudas and both of them that spared to let their tongues confesse penitently did not spare desperately to publish their owne shame but if happily God doe not permit so much power vnto Sathan in this world yet in the world to come he will force all the wicked vnto this Confession the worme then will so bite and the Bookes of their Consciences will be so legible God will so set their sinnes before them that they shall power forth a full Confession and giue Glory vnto God though little to their owne comfort as it is excellently set forth Wisd 5. Wherefore this penitentiall Confession enioyned by the Church should not seeme irkesome vnto you seeing it is so behoofefull for you for you doe by this preuent a worse preuent an vncomfortable one that will be forced vpon you by this Medicinall one if you performe it Voluntarily out of a godly sorrow for your sinne But I conclude ipartit Hist b. 9 c. 15. Non peccare vltra humanam naturam cognoscitur it is not to bee hoped that wee should runne the race that is set before vs and not take any fall before wee die least therefore we should so fall as not to rise againe God hath prouided a remedie he will spare vs if we doe not spare our selues if we take notice of our sinne God will not enquire into it if it be grieuous vnto vs God will neur greiue vs for it neither shall we euer be forced to confesse to our Confusion if we bee willing to confesse it to our Saluation seeing then God hath giuen vs our choyce whether our confession shall be a Medicine or a Torment let vs not reserue our selues for the Torment by despising of the Medicine But let vs not be Like vnto those that behold their naturall face in a glasse Nes 1.23 and going away presently forget what manner of persons they were that will make out Repentance but like a Morning cloud which quickly passeth away And no wonder if men often relapse into sinne if they so quickly forget their former sinnes hee that will hold himselfe in must imitate King Dauid his humiliation must be as lasting as his Life we should neuer forget what wretches we haue beene least withall we forget how much wee are bound to God the presence of our sinne forgiuen will make vs more sensible of the forgiuenesse of our sinne Wherefore if at any time we finde grace in Gods eyes as which of vs doth not often finde it in this life let it not greiue vs to say with Saint Paul that wee are chiefe of sinners 1. Tim. 1.15 though God should doe vs the like honour he did to him and make vs chiefe Apostles in a word though we haue sped of our pardon as Dauid did from the mouth of Nathan let this be our constant Confession vnto death I doe know mine owne wickednesse and my sinne is euer before me LOrd I haue proued that Satan is a Serpent and that hee is a Lyon he hath besotted my wits he hath enraged mine Affections when he did this he transformed an Angel of darkenesse into an Angel of Light and cloathed a foe vnder the habit of a friend thâ—s was I deluded and he entertained but now hee appeareth in his owne likenesse the light is gone the darkenesse remaineth and my counterfeit frend is an apparant foe these fraudes disquiet my thoughts and how is my Heart afflicted by this vnexpected danger I finde no Remedie but to make knowne my Case to thee to lay open these diseases of my Head of my Heart before thee Grant that I may so feele them that thou mayst vouchsafe to cure them that thou mayst vouchsafe to couer them also let me neuer be ashamed to discouer them let me whet the dull sense that I haue of thy Mercy by the quicke sense of mine owne Misery Let this neuer die that that may liue euer So shall I by a godly sorrow speed of a heauenly ioy and by a Medicinall Confusion in the Church Militant make my selfe Capable of eternall Saluation in the Church Triumphant AMEN PSAL. 51. The first part of the 4. VERS Against thee thee onely haue I sinned and done this euill in thy sight KIng Dauid in this Penitentiall confessing that sinne which himselfe had contracted obserueth the Naturall properties and Supernaturall euent thereof The Naturall properties are two a Malignitie and an Impietie which are in Sinne Of the Malignitie I spake last I come now to the Impietie We must then obserue That in all sinne besides the offence there is a partie offended and the partie offended setteth the Measure to the offence as he is so is that he maketh it to be greater or lesse therefore in a full Confession
Esay 6. Esayes lips were touched with a coale from the Altar before he could receiue his message When we come before God wee must endeuour to bee like vnto him Leiuit 11.44 Holy as hee is holy for God is a God of pure eyes Habak 1 13. and can behold no iniquitie such as bee wicked cannot stand before him Wherefore clense your hands Iames 4.8 yee sinners and purge your hearts yee double-minded If he that was inuited to the mariage was challenged for wanting his wedding garment how shall God take it at his Spouses hand if she come vnprepared We reade Ezech. 16 how God trimmed her against that day the day of Espousals and how he will trimme her against the mariage day we may reade Reuel 21 But I cannot stand to amplifie these things To draw to an end I will put you in minde to doe that to a good purpose which you vsually dâ—e You put on cleane linnen your best clothes and how often doe you looke in a glasse to see that all bee handsome before you shew your selues in the Church to your Neighbours I was about to say that they may see how gay you are but I will hope in Charitie you doe it out of good manners to God You that will not come slouenly before your betters should doe well not to come stouenly before the Lord of Heauen and Earth But remember that God that approueth this outward decencie requireth the inward much more he will haue you lift vp to him not only cleane hands but pure hands also hee will haue you not only to heare his Word Luke 8. v 15. but also to receiue it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into an honest and good heart A neat outside and a slouenly inside is like a painted sepulchre full of dead mens bones And most Churches are full of such painted sepulchres They are a generation cleane in their owne eyes but not washed from that filthinesse Prou. 30. I wish better to you and I hope better of you Therefore I exhort you I exhort my selfe in the words of the Prophet Esay Goe out of her expounded by the Apostle 2. Cor. 7. or briefly in the words of the Apostle Let vs clense our selues from all vncleannesse both of flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the feare of God And that this exhortation may succeed with vs no worse then Moses did with the Israelites for they did as they were commanded Verse 14. and obserued the first stipulation 1. Thess 5 23. Verse 5. The very God of peace sanctifie vs throughout in spirit soule and bodie and keepe vs blamelesse to the comming of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ At what time hauing had our fruâ— here in Holinesse our end shall be euerlasting life This God grant vs for lesus Christ his sake To whom c. Blessed are the pure in heart 〈◊〉 8. for they shall see God The ninth Sermon EXODVS 19. VERS 12.13.21.24 12. And thou shalt set bounds vnto the people round about saying Take heede to your selues that yee goe not vp into the Mount or touch the border of it whosoeuer toucheth the Mount shall surely be put to death 13. There shall not a hand touch it but he shall surely be stoned or shot through whether it be beast or man it shall not liue when the Trumpet soundeth long they shall come vp to the Mount THat branch of Gods order which prepared the Israelites â—o receiue the Law required their Puritie and their Modestie I spake last of their Puritie I come now to speake of their Modestie It is deliuered in those words that now I haue read vnto you Therein we must obserue that Moses had his charge and the Israelites had theirs Moses charge is to make a fence betweene the people and the Hill hee must set bounds round about the people The Israelites charge is they must not breake through the fence made by Moses They must not goe vp into the Mountaine The Israelites must not But they are diuided into common People and the Priests the Prohibition is laide vpon them both vpon the People in this 12. verse and in the 24. verse it is laid vpon the Priests Moses is to bid both take heede vnto themselues Neither to themselues onely but to their beasts also they are put into the number verse 13. Besides this in the Prohibition the text doth lead vs to consider the stricktnesse wherewith the Israelites were to obserue it and the sharpnesse of the punishment which they were to vndergoe if they presume to violate it The stricktnesse is great for they might not transgresse the bounds set them either Cominùs that is at hand by so much as touching the border making the very first and least approach vnto it there can be no lesse then touch and the first touch is in the border As they must not transgresse Cominùs so must they not Eminus aloofe they must not gaze on the Hill and you know the eye can goe whether the foote cannot come God will haue the first Inlet and the first Out-let of sinne to be heeded And hee will haue them both heeded vnder a Paine a sharpe Paine it is no lesse then death the Transgressour must die But obserue touching this death that it is such as is inflicted vpon an execrable thing and the doome thereof is vnpardonable See both these points in the text First the execrablenesse of the Transgressour all must abhorre him for No hand may touch him and yet all must be against him for they must stone him with stones or shoote him through with Darts And he that dieth so dieth as an execrable thing He that Transgresseth must die that death without remission Moriendo morietur he shall certainely die Non viuet he shall not liue both phrases are peremptorie they leaue no place for pardon Not for the pardon of any one for the text saith Quicunque Whosoeuer shall presume to transgresse be hee of the People or bee he of the Priests be he a reasonable creature or be he a beast the doome is vnchangeable They must die Die certainely for though they scape the hands of men yet they shall not scape God will breake out vpon them as we read verse 24. especially vpon the greatest of them which are otherwise most likely to scape He will breake out vpon the Priests Finally obserue that the charge of the Israelites is often repeated and limited to a time you haue it in my Text and you haue it againe and againe in the 21 22 23. and 24. verses what God will haue carefully obeyed of that he will haue vs often remembred But our obedience is limited Though in morals our dueties are euerlasting yet our ceremonials doe last but for a time When the Trumpet soundeth long then the Israelites may goe vp into the Mount You haue heard the particulars whereof I meane to intreate on this text they all Preach vnto vs Modestie to bee
carried in a Cart but vpon mens shoulders and for neglecting that was he stricken dead as you may gather by the correcting of that fault in the very same Chapter Neither would Dauid haue beene displeased with Vzaes death if he had sooner knowne this 1. Sam. 6. nor the Bethshemites would neuer haue asked this question Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God when that more then fiftie thousand were slaine for looking into the Arke For God had prouided Numb â— that the Leâ—ites that bare it should not come neere till the sonnes of Aaron had wrapt it in three or foure couerings if before that they touched it they were to die How much lesse might the promiscuous multitude behold it and not suffer for their presumption Two affections there are Loue and Feare which must order our respect towards God and the lesse we are apt to loue God the more doth God take order we should feare him And Seueritie is neuer more seasonable then when the first foundation of a State is laid as this of Israel now was for if Lawes be then slighted they will neuer be obeyed and awe well begun in the people is like to be the longer liued Therefore will God haue Iustice so quicke in this case But here is not only death denounced but such a death as belongeth to an execrable thing For first all men must abborre the person so I vnderstand the phrase No hand shall touch it Though some conceiue thereby that all rescuing of the malefactor is forbidden But that sense though it bee good yet is not so naturall to my text This rather is meant that no man must desile himselfe by touching him who by his presumption had made himselfe abominable For as hee that being himselfe impure touching holy things in the Law maketh them prophane and abominable so he that being otherwise pure intrudeth vpon holy ground or â—surpeth holy things makes his owne person abominable And none is reputed of God more abominable then he that is sacrilegiously presumptious Though no man must touch him yet euery mans hand must be against him they must stone him with stones or shoot him through If neare then must they stone him with stones if farther off from them then they must shoot him with darts euery hand must trie euery meanes rather then they must suffer the malefactors to scape And hee must needs be an execrable person against whom God doth arme the hands of all the people with iustice Finally note that this doome is vnpardonable the very phrase importeth as much Moriendo morietur non viuet these words note a peremptorinesse in the sentence You haue the like in Ezech. 18. as the contrarie thereunto in that place He shall liue hee shall not die noteth a certaintie of life We must take heed of corrupting the phrase as Eue did Gen. 3. who when God told Adam At what time thou shalt eate of the forbidden fruit moriendo morieris Thou shalt surely die she turned the phrase which was vndoubted into a peraduenture and told the Serpent lest yee die And see our weaknesse Commonly in doubtfull cases wee incline to the worst she did but doubt she might not doe it the Deuill putteth her out of all doubt and telleth her shee may doe it It is not good therefore for vs to play the wantons with Gods threatnings if we meane to hold in our vntoward nature from sinning we must vnderstand them in that rigour as God doth deliuer them Euery man must For here is Quicunque no respect of persons none of the people none of the Priests as many as are forbidden to sinne so many are threatned the doome Neither haue the great any priuiledge to doe ill and farewell all shall fare as they doe Neither only men but beasts also you haue heard before they were forbidden to transgresse so here you see if they doe transgresse they are doomed to die The master shall bee punished in the losse of his beast because hee looked not better to him and the beast shall bee punished because it had ventured to prophane holy ground for I told you before that euen beasts were tied to doe reuerence to the Sanctuarie Man and beast must die if they transgresse die by the hands of the Israelites But a malefactor may yet hope that the people will bee foolishly pitifull at least great ones may thinke they may find as much fauour as Agag did at the hands of Saul What then shall they escape shall Gods doome bee reuerst it shall not bee reuerst they shall not scape The Lord shall breake forth against the greatest of them Gods iustice is fenced with mercie and his mercie is as it were a bulwarke betweene vs and his iustice but if so bee our sinnes grow to this height it will not be held in And when it rusheth forth it is like an ouerbearing flash of lightning which flieth not abroad without a fearefull clap of thunder it terrifieth and destroyeth together But more of that hereafter There remaine two points more which I will touch in a word The first This prohibition is often repeated here we haue it in my text and we haue it once and againe towards the end of this Chapter you would thinke this superfluous Moses himselfe thought so he seemeth somewhat discontented with God for inculcating it so often But Moses was but a Nouice in gouernment therefore he thought once telling was enough Dan 7 9. God which is the ancient of dayes and throughly acquainted with mans infirmitie knowes that his forgetfulnesse his vntowardlinesse needeth be remembred he must be vrged more then once and often is not more then enough to worke our care and keepe vs in awe See then Gods clemencie that doth not hold his tongue in warning that hee may hold his hand in striking Wee are no better then the Israelites neither doe wee lesse neede reiterated warnings then the Israelites did the Minister therefore must not bee secure of his charge but suspect these defects in them and redouble his admonitions to them As Moses added a Deuteronomie to the former Bookes of the Law though he repeated but the same thing and the Euangelists added Gospel vpon Gospel of the same argument and the Apostles added Epistles to Epistles not much varying their doctrine So it must not grieue vs to write and speake the same things to the people and for them it is a sure thing as the Apostle teacheth Philip 3. v. 1. The last point sheweth how this prohibition is limited in time When the Trumpet soundeth long then shall they come vp to the Mount It is disputed whether these words point out the time wherein the Israelites must come out to meete God and then come vp the Hill is but to come to the foot of the hill whether Moses brought them Or whether it point the time when God would goe from the Mount and leaue it free to be resorted vnto by man and beast This
the Trumpet sounding in his eare Surgite mortui venite ad iudicium I will not stand to allegorize the two siluer Trumpets still sounded while the Sacrifice was burning at the Altar Verse 7. I will only bid you remember Saint Iudes note of Sodome and Gomorrah whose perpetuall burning God hath left as a remembrance of the euerlasting fire of Hell Some are yet more desperate and call for the Day of the Lord Let it come Let vs see it as you may read in the Prophets Foole hardie wretches that desire that which they will neuer be able to endure Luke 23.30 Vpon the first ouerture of it their hearts will faile them they will bee at their wits end they will call to the Hils and Rockes to couer them The Kings of the earth the great men the mightie men bond and free all sorts of men shall then crie out The great day of the Lambes wrath is come Reue. 6 1 Pet. 4.18 and who is able to stand And indeed If the righteous scarcely be saued where shall the wicked and vngodly appeare But to leaue them The last obseruation that I will giue vpon this dreadfull state shall be That wee are much bound vnto God that wee liue not vnder the Old Testament but vnder the New that God hath brought vs not vnto Mount Sinai but vnto Mount Sion Where God appeares in our nature and commeth meeke and in the forme of a seruant so sensible of our infirmities that hee cryeth not Esay 42.2 his voice is not heard in the street hee will not breake a bruised reed nor quench smoking flaxe He putteth vpon vs a light yoke and an easie burden his doctrine is a Gospel their feet are beautifull that bring it Esay 52 â— 7 this yeara is an yeare of Iubile his Trumpet soundeth nothing but deliuerance his Light is comfortable like the Sunne Psal 45.2 Cant. 5. v. 16 for he is the Sonne of Righteousnesse his lips are full of Grace his Mouth is most sweet In this Hill all things are louely there is nothing dreadfull at all And why God hath giuen vs the Spirit of Adoption which is the Spirit of Loue Rom 6 2. Tim 1. and of a sound minde so that wee can indure the very top of Mount Ston whereas they could not endure the bottome of Mount Sinai Time will not giue me leaue to pursue this comparison you may amplifie it out of Saint Paul 2. Cor. 3. Heb. 12. And if you will haue it to the full you must paralell the whole Oeconomic of the New Testament with that of the Old Only let me giue you this note for a farewell to this point That as the Patriarkes that were brought vnto Mount Sinai did beare themselues out vnder those terrors by casting their eyes forward vnto Mount Sion the place of comfort So wee lest we grow carnally secure during our abode at Mount Sion and surfet vpon the comforts thereof must cast our eyes backward vpon Mount Sinai and rowse our selues with the terrours thereof The solace of Sion is to none so pleasant as to him that commeth newly from Sinai their soules doe best rellish the Gospel whose consciences haue first sinarted from the Law or that haue beene exercised by that hopefull feare the point that commeth next to be handled in my text Hopefull feare then is the impression that was made on the Israelites by the dreadfull Harbingers of God First Feare Feare is argued from quaking For wee vsually say that men quake for feare And indeed what is quaking of the bodie but a consequent of feare in the soule For the spirits are conueyed by the arteries the sinewes and the veines into the outward parts to sustaine confirme them inable them to their functions and the vitall parts send them forth abundantly while themselues are secure But while we are or suppose our selues to be in any great danger all those forces repaire vnto and endeuour to safegard those principall inward fortresses especially the heart Whereupon the outward parts being vnfurnished fall as it were into a shaking Palsie and so Quaking is a consequent of feare But let vs fit this impression vnto the apparition and so you shall find that it followeth thereupon If there were nothing in these Harbingers but an Image of Gods Maiestie yet you shall not find in all the Bible that euer any man had any extraordinarie glimpse of Gods glory that did not vpon the apprehension thereof become as it were dead and giue himselfe ouer for a dead man Reade the storie of Gedeon and Maneah in the Booke of Iudges and of the Prophets whose inspirations were accompanied with Visions Ezechiel Daniel others the generall rule is Si te nouerim Domine me ipsum nouerim I shall neuer know how vile how fraile I am by any thing so well as by presenting my selfe before the glorious Maiestie of God Let vs descend to the second Image that is to bee beheld in these dreadfull Harbingers the Image of the Law and let vs see how that worketh feare The Image of the Precept I told you it is scarching and you cannot therewith search a man but you make him feare Aske Saint Paul he tried it and will tell you so he found by surueying himselfe That the Law was spirituall and hee was carnall and out of a sensible acknowledgement that his strength was nothing proportionable to the Law 〈◊〉 7. 〈◊〉 19. he brake out into those passionate words O wretch that I am who shall deliuer me from this bodie of death King Dauid surueyed the Law and the excellent properties of the Law but what is the vpshot of his meditation Euen this Who knoweth how oft he offendeth Lord cleanse me from my secret faults keepe thy seruant from presumptuous sinnes lest they haue dominion ouer me And verily no man can behold himselfe in that glasse and consider what manner of person he is but hee will bee driuen to that prayer in the last Penitentiall 〈◊〉 143 Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant O Lord for in thy sight shall no flesh liuing be iustified The Precept then maketh afraid And doth not the Sanction also Certainly it doth The Prophets that had a sight of God armed with vengeance against sinners how doe we find them affected and affrighted Câ—ap 6. Esay saw the Lord sitting vpon a Throne high and lifted vp his traine filled the Temple aboue it stood the six winged Seraphins c. it is a Vision of iudgement and it made Esay crie out Woe is me for I am vndone 〈◊〉 3.2.16 c. Habakuk had a Vision of the like argument which he describeth more at large and heare what was the effect When I heard it my belly trembled my lips quiuered at the voice rottennesse entred into my bones Psal 119 Dauid confesseth of himselfe My flesh trembleth for feare of thee O Lord and I am afraid of thy iudgements But you will say
for they that trust in the Lord are like vnto mount Sion which shall neuer be remoued LOrd guide vs by thy Counsell support vs by thy Power that wee be neyther circumuented nor quelled but by thy direction and protection we may escape both the craft and the force of all our Enemies So shall we euer glorifie thee as our admirable Counsellour and our most mighty God THE FIFTH SERMON The euerlasting Father the Prince of Peace THe Excellencie of Christs Person consists in the indowments thereof which are Regall but Spirituall That they are Regall appeares in his two first titles whereof I haue already spoken and that they are Spirituall it will appeare by the other two whereof I am now to speake Whereof the first sheweth that Christs Kingdome is not of this world He is the Father of eternity the second sheweth that the condition of his people is not worldly Christ is Prince of Peace To begin with the first In the Originall the first of these two titles is so exprest as I haue read it The Father of eternity And the words beare a double sense for either Aeternity is made the Attribute of the Father and so by an Hebraisme The Father of eternity is no more than the eternall or euerlasting Father so some Translations reade it or Aeternity may note that which is subiect to the Father and so the title imports that he is a Father of eternall things and so some Translations reade The Father of the world to come We need not to bee troubled with this variety for the words will beare eyther Translation and both these things concurre in the same person He that is the euerlasting Father is a Father of euerlasting things We will therefore handle both and first shew you that Christ is an euerlasting Father The phrase doth distinguish betweene our Father and our Father the Father of our flesh and the Father of our spirits of whom St. Paul speaketh Heb. 12. Of these two the first is Temporall the other is Aeternall that the first is but temporall wee may gather out of the fift of Genesis where are reckoned vp the longest liued Fathers that euer were in the world but of them all it is said that they begat children and then they dyed they left their children to the world And as they so their posterity come within the compasse of that of Iob Man that is borne of a Woman is but of a short time or as Dauid speakes His dayes are but a spanne long When he hath serued his course he goeth the way of all flesh and sleepes in his graue Neyther is he temporall only in regard that he must dye but also in regard that his affection is mutable Some parents destitute their children inforced by death but not a few put off the affection of Fathers euen in their life and they in that respect also may be termed but temporall Fathers Our Sauiour Christ speaking of the later times telleth vs that the Father shall rise against the Sonne as the Sonne against the Father Saint Paul speaking of former times Rom. 1. amongst other wicked ones reckoneth vp persons that were without naturall affection and it were an easie matter out of Histories to report that many haue dis-inherited many haue murdered many haue deuoured their own children so farre vnnaturall haue they beene In opposition vnto these two cases which apparantly conclude that the Parents of our flesh are temporall temporall in regard that they are mortall in their nature and temporall in that they are mutable in their affections our Sauiour Christ is termed an euerlasting Father death cannot take him from vs for euen in his death wherein notwithstanding his abode was so little that hee saw no corruption the hypostaticall Vnion which made him a father did not cease And as for his affection it is immutable Whom he loueth hee loueth vnto the end of the perpetuitie of his being excellent is that place Esay 63. Doubtlesse thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of vs and Israel acknowledge vs not Thou O Lord art our Father and our Redeemer thy name is from euerlasting And touching the perpetuity of his louing the Church there speaketh also Looke downe from heauen and behold from the habitation of thy holinesse and of thy glory where is thy zeale and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercy towards me 〈◊〉 9. â—â—al 27. are they restrained No they cannot bee restrained For as God in this Prophet speaketh elsewhere Can a Mother forget her child If she can yet will not I forget thee saith the Lord And King Dauid When my father and my mother forsooke me the Lord tooke me vp This is the reason why our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell biddeth vs Call none father vpon earth for that we haue but one father which is in heauen hee liueth when the other dye and when the other hateth he continueth his loue and therefore is deseruedly called the euerlasting Father Two good Lessons are implyed herein the one teaching Piety the other Charity We are taught Piety when we are taught that he whom we obey is our Father for if I be a Father saith the Lord where is mine honour Mal. 1. and Moses to Israel Deut. 32. Doest thou so reward the Lord O thou foolish people and vnwise is not he thy Father that made thee c. And as the very name of Father teacheth Piety so doth the name of Euerlasting teach it much more St. Paul argueth so Heb. 12. If so bee wee honoured the fathers of our flesh which are mortall as is our flesh how much more should we honour the father of our spirits which is immortall as is our spirits Great reason haue we to reuerence this Father that neuer ceaseth to be our Father that hath prouided that euen when we lose our fathers we should yet stil haue our Father haue him for our Father which is the Father of Orphanes It is no small comfort nor weake pillar of our faith that we neuer want a Father yea our double birth readeth vs this Lecture For as we come out of our mothers wombe by the help of our mortall Parents so to signifie that we haue immortall parents we are then borne againe in the Churches wombe Neither doth this title teach vs only Piety but Charity also charity one towards another For whereas our mortall parents extend their consanguinity and affinity but to a few this euerlasing father extends his vnto all Malachy worketh vpon this Haue we not all one Father Cap. 2. wherefore then do you iniury one to another The blood should neuer be cold seeing wee are all kinne in the first degree all brethren sonnes of one father euen of him that is here called the euerlasting father But how commeth Christ to be called father who otherwise is called our brother he being the sonne of God and God being his father as hee is ours If you respect the Communion of
man dyed innocently not the whole Congregation which followed but they which led the Congregation were to be guiltie of his death Secondly The imposing of hands vpon the Malefactor was the making of him as it were a politicke Sacrifice for mundi expiatio est malorum occisio as the Priest so the Prince hath his Sacrifice to offer as the CHVRCH so the Common weale the execution of Malefactors is a propitiating of GOD. And GOD in the Common-weale of Israel in cases wherein he refused the Ceremoniall was well pleased to haue this Sacrifice and to admit it as expiatorie of the Common-weale I told you of the thing before but of the deuoting of the person to pacifie GOD I could not speake till I came to this place You the Penitent may hereby see how zealously the State should be bent against you and how much it concernes vs to see Iustice done vpon you Hauing thus sufficiently opened the punishment I come now to shew you vpon whom it must be executed Quicunque vpon him whosoeuer he be that curseth or blasphemeth here must be no respect of persons high or low rich or poore be he what he may be he is liable to punishment if he curse his God Though it be a false-one yet if it be his the Law saith plainly he shall beare his sinne The words may be vnderstood either as a relation or as a commandement As a relation what other Nations doe how zealous they are for the honour of their Gods In the Storie of the wonders which GOD wrought in deliuering the children of Israel out of Aegypt we find that when Pharaoh would haue the Israelites sacrifice to their GOD in the Land of Aegypt Exod. 8. Loe said Moses shall we sacrifice the abhomination of the Aegyptians before their eyes and will they not stone vs How did Nebuchadnezzar cause the Furnace to be heated to consume those that would not worship his golden Image What a doe kept Demetrius the Siluer-Smith when St Paul was thought to blaspheme Diana Protagoras was banished Socrates was put to death for disgracing the gods of Athens The Mahumetans lay on many stripes vpon them that disgrace their Alearon I will omit the solemne Bellum sacrum of the Graecians Thus the words may be conceiued by way of relation and then see how GOD argues Doe the Heathen punish those who dishonour or curse those that are onely gods in their erroneous reputation Much more then ought he to be punished that blasphemes the true GOD. Thus doth GOD oftentimes shame his owne people for their Impieties by setting before their face the Pietie that is in Infidels Hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods Ier. 2. But my people hath changed their glorie for that which doth not profit And againe Mal. 3. Will a man rob God Yet ye haue robbed me So that the punishment cannot be denied to be iust by true Religion which is held most iust by the glimmering light of Reason But the words may haue in them more then a bare Relation they may containe a commandement also a commandement that whosoeuer curseth God though it be but his God that is a false God shall be punished for conscientia erronea ligat so long as any man in his conscience is perswaded that he is the true God he must worship him as if he were such It is true that when he commeth to the knowledge of his error Esay 8. Esay 2. he may then curse his false gods he may cast them to the Bats and to the Moles But so long as his vnderstanding is clouded with error his Reuerence must follow the Rule of his Conscience It is good Diuinitie that is deliuered in the Booke of Wisdome touching Idolatrous periured persons They shall be iustly punished Cap. 14. both because they thought not well of God giuing heed vnto Idols and also vniustly swore in deceit despising holinesse â—or it is not the power of them by whom they sweare but it is the iust vengeance of sinners that punisheth alwayes the offence of the vngodly And no maruell for were it a true GOD they would vse him so their ignorance is not antecedent but concomitant and such ignorance doth not excuse the quantitie much lesse doth it excuse the qualitie of sinne But to leaue his God and come to the Name of the Lord. Here Quicunque must be repeated againe we may lesse admit exception of persons amongst them that blaspheme the Name of the Lord then amongst them that curse their God But here we meet with a markable distribution of quicunque whosoeuer Whether saith the Text he be a Stranger or borne in the Land Though morally all men are bound and may be perswaded by Ministers and others to acknowledge and worship the true GOD yet politickly Infidels cannot be compeld And why It is a worke that needeth the assistance of supernaturall grace which is not annext vnto the Sword Notwithstanding the Ciuill Sword may take vengeance vpon all euen Strangers Infidels that openly blaspheme the Name of the Lord though they may be tollerated in their false yet may they not open their mouthes against the true Religion Quicunque whatsoeuer Stranger doth so he must be stoned And if a Stranger much more he that is borne in the Land for he is tyed to honour GOD by a double obligation a natiue a votiue as a man as a member of the Church Now the more obligations the more guilt the more guilt the more iust the punishment therefore Quicunque whosoeuer borne in the Land blasphemeth the Name of the Lord he must be stoned to death I must carrie Quicunque a little farther the root of Blasphemie may be without vs or within vs Without vs the Diuel who may suggest it and then it is no sinne of ours though a sinne except we consent vnto it and delight in it Within vs it may be three-fold First Ignorance Secondly Infirmitie Thirdly Malice There is great odds betweene these to GOD-ward St Paul blasphemed but he did it ignorantly he did not beleeue that IESVS was the CHRIST St Peter blasphemed but he did it of infirmie he did it being ouertaken with feare of death The Pharisees they also blasphemed but they did it out of malice they did it against their owne conscience Now of these three Rootes the two first leaue place for repentance St Peter and St Paul are ensamples thereof Math. 12. Not so the third it is the sinne against the Holy Ghost not to be forgiuen in this world nor in that which is to come But howsoeuer there is this odds to GOD-ward yet in regard of the Magistrates sword there is no difference Quicunque be the root ignorance be it infirmitie be it malice he must be stoned to death his body must be made an expiatorie Anathema or Sacrifice by the State whose Soule notwithstanding vpon repentance may be saued in the day of the Lord. And verily the Blasphemer
pleasurably with sinne as it shall bee feeling when it is affected with all kind of woe This is our condition after death and such is the Iudgement where at we must appeare euen the first Iudgement Demie-Atheists though they would not hold an absolute imortalitie of their Soule yet for a time till the day of Resurrection they dreamt their Soules should bee as senslesse as their bodies but it was but the diuels Sophistrie to comfort the wicked with a Soules sleepe from the houre of death vntill the generall Assises of the world as hee did with hope of a generall pardon after some yeares of torment which made Origen to thinke that at length the diuels themselues should be released from paine But blessed Apostle I belieue thee I wil not flatter my self I do not more certainly expect death then I doe looke instantly thereupon to come before my Iudge I know that there is a Iudgement before a Iudgement a priuate before the publike I belieue as truly that euen now Diues burneth in Hell as that Lazarus is in Abrahams bosome and I doe no more doubt that Iudas went to his owne place then that the good thiefe was that day with Christ in Paradise no sooner doth the soule leaue the body but God doth dispose it to rest and paine O euer liuing God vnpartiall Iudge both of quicke and dead thy decree is past vpon my life for my arraignment I am here but a soiournour and yet accomptable for what so euer I doe here Let not this decree be vnknowne passe vnregarded of me if health if prosperitie promise a longer terme a carelesse life let me trie their perswasion by thy infallible word For there shall I learne that heauen and earth shall passe the greater how much more this litle heauen and earth of mine and that thy word onely endureth for euer Yea I see that all things come to an end but thy Commandement is exceeding broad and it is this Commandement that thou hast laid vpon my bodie and laid vpon my Soule a heauie Commandement that sounds nothing but that which is vnsauorie to flesh and bloud Death vnsauorie but Iudgement much more skin for skin and all that euer a man hath hee will giue for his life but life it selfe who would not part with that he might bee free from Iudgement My soule and body are loth to part but much more loth to appeare before thee it is grieuous to forgoe that which I loue but to feele that which I feare is much more grieuous if I die I want what I would haue but if I come to Iudgement then I must indure that which I abhorre death ends the pleasure which I take in life but Iudgement reckoneth for the inordinatnesse thereof And it is a double griefe to be so stripped to bee so tried but what shall I doe Thy word must stand and seeing it must stand let me not doubt let me not neglect let those two be euer before mine eyes let me vse this world as if I vsed it not seeing the fashion therof doth passe away and I change faster then it The little world hast thou proposed as a glasse wherin we may behold what will become of the great world both appeare subiect vnto Vanitie thou hast subiected both the frame of both must be dissolued so deepely is sinne rooted in either that nothing can extirpate it but the dissolution of the whole But the case of the greater world is better then that of the little that is dissolued but this must be arraigned also arraigned for it selfe arraigned for the great world also If that haue any euill it hath it from man man infected it and it is dissolued because of man but man for himselfe his owne sinne maketh himselfe and others mortall also good reason that he which hath baned the world so ruined the frame of all Gods creatures should account for it vnto the owner therof If a subiect trespasse against the King or his Image the Law doth challenge him it calleth for an amends and can the King of heauen and earth be wronged in his creatures be wronged in his owne Image and not challenge the offender No Lord there is great reason as for man to die that hath made all things mortall so for man to bee iudged that hath done it by sinne no reason that other things should suffer and he scape nay great reason why the blame of all should bee laid vpon him He deseruedly must be exposed to shame and blush for whatsoeuer himselfe hath deformed and what hee hath made to groane hee must sigh for it The maske must be plucked off where vnder in this life wee hide our selues and our sense must be rectified wherewith in this world wee excuse our selues we that would not iudge our selues must be iudged of the Lord. And his iudgement shall bee without respect of persons This Iudge standeth at the doore his Assizes are proclaimed no sooner are we quickned but wee are informed of death and Iudgement no sooner come we out four mothers wombe but we witnes our knowledge thereof euerie day of ourlife is a Citation day But as it wanteth not a date so it prefixeth not a day euerie one must dye once but the time of his death no man knoweth euerie man must be iudged no man knoweth how soone This vncertainety maketh death and Iudgement more terrible And it should make vs more watchfull watchfull for that which we are sure will come but when it will come wee are vnsure when it commeth it is fearefull but it commeth suddainely Did it concerne my temporall state I would take great care if the good-man of the house knew when the theife would come he would surely watch and not suffer his house to bee surprised And care wee more for our goods then for our selues For that which may be repaired then for that which being past hath no recouerie So senslesse are we so vsually are we ouer-taken Let it not be so with me O Lord let me euer meditate vpon Death and let me euer be prouided for Iudgement Before Sicknesse prouide Physicke and Righteousnesse before Iudgement A Meditation vpon Philippians 1. VERSE 21. Christ is to me life and death is to mee aduantage I Haue beene at Mount Sinai I haue heard the thunder I haue seene the lightning I haue felt the shaking thereof it hath put mee in mind of my mortalitie at it I haue learned what it is to bee arraigned before my Iudge Were there no other Hill I were in wofull case woe is mee if I haue no succour against death which I cannot auoid against iudgement which is so strict But blessed be God I haue a succour though God bring mee to Sinai in my passage out of Egypt yet is it not his pleasure that I should stay there the Cloud is risen and goeth before me I will vp I will follow it And see it bringeth me to another Hill it resteth me vpon Mount Sion I no sooner
this chastisement seeme not for the present to bee ioyous but grieuous yet afterward it yeildeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse vnto them which are exercised thereby See a great gaine in this death by it I which serued God at first only in the law of mind come thereby to serue God also by the same law working in my members Somthing I get by it but not so much as I would for my mortification leaueth too much life in my flesh and the old man is too strong irrecouerably to die by my strokes Therefore what I cannot doe should I not be glad when God is pleased to doe it pleased so to dissolue this bodie of sinne that it may cease from sinning yea be brought to that case that it may be fit for a glorious Resurrection And is not this a great Gaine the happiest seed time that promiseth the best Haruest that euer man can looke for When I die I sowe my bodie in corruption but when I rise I reape the same bodie againe in incorruption when I die I sow my bodie in weaknesse when I rise I reape it againe in power when I die I sow my bodie in dishonour when I rise I reap it againe in honour finally when I die I sowe it a naturall bodie but when I rise I reape it a spirituall And is not this gaine and this is the gaine of death Foolish were that Husbandman that would spare his seed and lose his Haruest but much more foolish were I if I should bee vnwilling to die that know death is the seed of such a Resurrection You see what my bodie gaineth by death my soule gaineth much more the grace I haue doth but set an edge vpon the desire of that I shall haue and hope deferred is the languishing of the soule but a desire accomplished is as a tree of life If I delight to behold Christ in the Looking glasse to heare him in the Riddle of his Word how shall I bee rauished with him when I shall see him face to face and heare him speake without Parables O my soule when thou thinkest hereon canst thou do lesse then break forth into Saint Pauls words I desire to be dissolued and to bee with Christ which is much better for mee It is good I confesse to bee in the Kingdome of Grace but much better to be in the Kingdome of Glorie Suffer mee sweet Iesu to desire the best I know the best should bee the vpshot of my desires I heare King Dauid say O how plentifull is thy goodnes which thou hast laid vp for all them that feare thee and that thou hast prepared for them that trust in thee before the sonnes of men Lord I hunger I thirst for these things to bee satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house I would drinke my fill out of the riuers of thy pleasures And seeing my soule cannot come to these except it come to thee for the good of my soule I desire for a time to bee freed from my bodie that my soule may attaine that blessednesse by which my bodie also in her due time shall be more blessed If my bodie gaine and my soule gaine when death putteth them so asunder how great will the gaine be when after death they shall both conioyne their gaines together and each shall communicate his good vnto the other When death approacheth mee it shall not be accounted either a thiese or a murtherer Let wicked men who haue their portion in this life and beyond this life expect no other good so account of death And well they may for it robbeth them of all that they account good and bereaues them of that which they account life But death cannot deale so with mee for it hath no power ouer my goods and ouer my life I lose nothing but that which I am willing to leaue I will at all times leaue the flesh pots of Egypt to bee fed with Manna and forsake the muddie waters of Nilus to drinke of that water that streamed from the Rocke it shall neuer grieue me to change the food of men for Angels food And for this mortall life why should it bee pretious vnto me that hindreth mee from that which is immortall No let this life die that death may be my entrance into that life that life which is indeed life the life of Saints yea the life of God By death I gaine this life because by death I come to Christ who by grace is my life here and when I die will be my life of glorie The yong mans Meditation vpon Death grounded vpon Wisdome 4. VERSES 7 8 9 10 11. Though the righteous be preuented with death yet shall he bee in rest For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time nor that is measured by number of yeares But wisdome is the gray haire vnto men and an vnspotted life is old age c. He pleased God and was beloued of him so that liuing amongst sinners he was translated Yea speedily was he taken away lest that wickednesse should alter his vnderstanding or deceit beguile his soule WE would be immortall wee cannot be all sinners are doomed to die yet of a mortall life who doth not desire the longest tearme who would haue his Spring to proue his Autumne and be gathered before he is ripe It is vnpleasing enough to nature that it must bee dissolued but then to bee dissolued when soule and bodie begin each most comfortably to enioy the other must needs be most bitter It is now my case in the quicknesse of my sense must I taste of that potion mine eies must be closed when they doe but begin to iudge of colours and my eares doe but begin to iudge of sounds and they must be shut vp also my pallat hath but tasted and set an edge vpon my desire and I must away and leaue these delicates to others others must enioy whatsoeuer worldly thing I haue and the wormes must enioy me enioy my bodie And for my soule scarce hath it beene initiated with knowledge after which it thirsteth naturally scarce hath it giuen proofe of her vertue wherein it delighteth principally but I am taken from this Schoole wherein I thought to prooue wise from this Theater whereon I hoped to bee exemplarie but vnlearned as I am and vnrenowned I must yeild and my name must be buried with my Coarse What shall I say to all this and against this euill what is my comfort Surely I must calculate mine age a new and iudge better of Gods intent herein Gods Kalender is not like mans a thousand yeares to him are but as one day and one day to him as a thousand yeares Let a wicked man liue a thousand yeares because he is a wicked man his thousand yeares are but a day nay the worst part of a day that is the night for the euening and the morning did make the first day Let a good man liue but a day and because he is good he
hath liued a thousand yeares for he is readie for God and the longest time of our Pilgrimage if it be Methusalems age it can but make vs readie I will then enquire not how many dayes I haue spent but how much I haue profited profited in the waies of God And I haue profited so farre as to acknowledge that of my selfe I am but an vnprofitable seruant what I should I cannot doe but I doe that which I should not so that if I guesse at my readinesse by mine owne worth I am most vnreadie But I haue another valuation by my being in Christ my faith is stedfast in him my Hope hath cast an anchor in Heauen I feare not Gods iudgement against which my faith doth hearten mee I expect a Kingdome which my Hope doth promise mee And as for my loue though the world doth wooe me and my flesh doth often yeild to dally there with yet hath it none to whom it is deuoted with whom it is contented in comparison of God And what greater readinesse can I desire my Audit is made my arrerage paid I haue a Quietus est why doe I feare to come to my triall Nay the bargaine is made Heauen is purchased for mee I haue the Conueyance why doe I stay from taking possession Am I so senslesse as to affect the worse that am offered the better shall I dote vpon this house of clay my youth maketh it seeme better then clay though indeed it is no better a glased pitcher notwithstanding the lustre is but a pitcher and the verdure of youth is but a glosse set vpon a lumpe of earth cunningly wrought by the hand of the Potter age that weareth that glosse will discouer this clay And why should I murmure at God that is pleased to let me see quickly what in time I must needs see That I am brickle Neither am I onely brickle but the world is fraile also and all the things of this life whatsoeuer they promise they performe no perpetuitie to me Seing then sooner or later the world must leaue me and I must leaue the world let me leaue it rather sooner then later the lesse acquaintance the lesse griefe at the parting and indeed the longer I liue the more vnwilling shall I be to dye Now peraduenture I leaue behind me a father and a mother and leaue griefe vnto them for the losse of a child but I cannot so feelingly grieue as they when I depart from my parents because loue descendeth more then it ascendeth If I liue I may marrie and marriage doubleth the bitternesse of death when they that of two became one by death of one are made two againe And if God blesse me with posteritie how much more vnwilling shall I bee to die How hardly shall I indure to be rent from mine owne bowels I say nothing to the common infirmitie of Age which seemeth to haue appropriated vnto it selfe couetousnesse and who knoweth not how hardly the loue of money and death consort together But these are the weakest holdfasts that the world hath on me there are much stronger the hookes of sinne which where they catch so fasten euen vpon the Will which is in it selfe most free that it maketh men desire rather to bee slaues vnto Pharoah so they may feed on the flesh pots of Aegypt then to endure the difficult passage into Canaan though when they come there they shall be Princes of a land which floweth with milke and honie God then that knoweth what may alter me and of readie make me vnreadie dealeth more mercifully with me hee preuenteh that euill that might stay me from him and hauing prepared me calleth me vnto him Lord all seasons are in thy hand and thou hast appointed vnto me this season I blesse thee for it I submit my selfe to it if I bee ripe in thy Iudgement gather me though in mine owne Iudgement I am greene And thou which feest that although I now stand yet I may fall least I fall take me whilst I stand It doth not grieue me I am most willing to change earth for heauen to haue those windowes of my senses all broken downe that my Soule may be at libertie hauing no agent for the world to sollicite me from God I shall more freely more fully giue my selfe vnto him my vnderstanding to know him my heart to loue him and more shall I learne in one daies sight of God then in many thousand yeares I could haue gathered out of the Glasse of the world or Riddle of the Scripture And how base spectators are men on earth in comparison of the Saints in heauen who shall witnesse my seruice and behold my glorie Doe I loue my Parents I goe to better my best Father is in heauen and my best Mother is Hierusalem aboue the ioy that I foretaste for seeing them maketh me insensible of the heauie farewell I take of these I am not moued with their wealth which they haue stored vp for me and the land which they haue purchased is as nothing in mine eyes I shall haue a more induring substance a lot is fallen vnto me in a more pleasant place I haue a more goodly Heritage And why The Lord is the portion of mine Inheritance and of my cup the Lord maintaines my lot Lord then teach me so to number my daies that I may measure them by righteousnesse and let me so interpret this thy summons by death as a warning to take shelter before a storme Hasten me on by grace that I be not long on my way to heauen and in my way lest I decline shorten more and more my passage so shall I be as willing in this morning of my age as I should be in the euening thereof to change my state and come to thee to passe from earth to heauen * ⎠* The old Mans Meditation PSALME 91. VER 16. With long life will J satisfie him and shew him my saluation EVerie man if a child of God is a double man and so leadeth a double life and longeth for a double good a corporall a spirituall that hee may hold out long in regard of the life of nature and withall be ponest of the life of grace Thus doubly happie would euerie one be but it is not the portion of euerie one Many haue shortned either the one life or the other if they haue liued vnto God their dayes in the world haue beene but few and of those which haue liued many dayes in the world how few of them haue they liued to God O my Soule then how blest art thou whom God hath blessed both wayes Blest thee in thy naturall life thou art growne till thou art ripe blest thee in thy spirituall life thy eyes haue seene the saluation of God The greatest blessing that God bestoweth vpon earth he hath bestowed on thee thou hast experienced the truth of the Apostles speech Pietie hath the promise of this life and of that which is to come For this life God
sinne hath abridged what had no bounds it hath brought our life within a short compasse it is measured by dayes and dayes are aâ— the first so the least part of Time which thou hast made And these dayes are not infinite in vaine should a man desire to number that which cannot bee numbred Iacob said his dayes were few Dauid that his were but a span long Saint Iames that no mans life is more lasting then a bubble a man would thinke a litle Arithmeticke would cast vp so small an account a man seemes to need no better a master then a man for what man is he that is ignorant of this principle That man is mortall and that it cannot be long before he returne to dust And yet Moses that was learned in all the sciences of the Aegyptians amongst which Arithmeticke was one desireth to learn this point of Arithmetick onely of thee O Lord why Is it because as Iob speaketh thou hast determined the nuÌ„ber of his dayes Would Moses haue thee reueale to euerie man the moment of his end Such speculations may wel beseeme an Aegyptian an Israelite they doe not beseeme Thy children O Lord know that it is not for them so to know times and seasons which thou keepest in thine owne power and are a secret sealed vp with thee we should not prie into that counting house nor curiously inquire into that summe It is not then a Mathematicall numbring of daies that Moses would be schooled in but a morall he would haue God not simply to teach him to number but to number so and so points out a speciall manner a manner that may bee vsefull for the children of God And indeed our petitions must beare this mark of profitable desires and we should not aske ought of thee but that by which if we speed wee may become the better he that so studieth his mortalitie learnes it as he should and it is onely thou O Lord that takest him out such a lesson But what is the vse O Moses that thou wouldest haue man make of such a knowledge Euen to applie his heart vnto wisedome O happie knowledge by which a man becomes wise for wisedome is the beautie of a reasonable soule God conereated him therewith But sinne hath diuorced the soule and wisedome so that a sinfull man is indeed no better then a foole so the Scripture calleth him and well may it call him so seeing all his carriage is vaine and the vpshot of his endeauours but vexation of spirit But though sinne haue diuorced wisedome and the Soule yet are they not so seuered but they may be reunited and nothing is more powerfull in furthering this vnion then this feeling meditation that wee are mortall For who would not shake hands with the world that knows we must shortly appeare before God Yea who would not prouide for that life which hath no end that seeth that this hastneth so fast vnto an end Finally who would suffer the arrowes of Gods wrath that summon vs vnto Iudgement to passe vnregarded seeing the due regard thereof is able to turne a Tribunall into a Throne of grace Surely affliction if we discerne the hand that infflicts it is the best schoole of wisedome yea of the best sort of wisedome the wisedome of the heart it turneth knowledge into practise and maketh vs more tender hearted then we are quicke sighted it doth not onely discerne that God is a consuming fire but melts at the very sight of him it doth not onely know that Gods word is a hammer but feeleth the force thereof in a broken and contrite spirit it conceiue feares so soone as it heareth threats and is no sooner touched but it is reclaimed And this is Wisedome the true wisedome of a mortall man whose best helpe against mortalitie stands in the awful regard of Gods offended fauour Seeing then O Lord this is the fruit of that desired knowledge and hee is best seene in the length of his dayes that is most humbled with the sense of thy wrath and he needs least to feare death that doth as hee ought most feare thee vouchsafe to bee his master that desireth to bee thy scholler and let grace teach what nature doth not discerne that I moulder into dust because I corrupt my selfe with sinne so shall I bee wearie of my naturall folly that negotiates for death and affect true wisdome that is the Tree of life with this I shall endeauour to furnish not onely my head but my heart also and that which now is the seate of deaâ—h shall then become the receptacle of life that life which beginnes in thy feare which is the onely in-let of euerlasting ioy A Meditation vpon Lament 5. VERSE 21. Turne thou vs vnto thee O Lord and we shall bee turned renew our dayes as of old WEe are mutable and what wonder Seeing we are creatures we cannot know that we were made of nothing but wee must acknowledge that to nothing we may returne againe and indeed thither we hasten if we bee left vnto our selues For marre our selues we can but we cannot mend our selues wee can dedestroy what God hath built but we cannot repaire what we doe destroy Wretched power that is onely able to disinable vs and hath no strength but to enfeeble him whose strength it is I read of Adam the first monument of this vnhappie strength but I may read it in my selfe I as all his sonnes inherit as his nature so this selfe ruining power But when experience hath made me see how valiant I haue been against my selfe inflicting deadly wounds precipitating my person and misguiding my steps I become disconsolate and helplesse in my selfe what then shall I doe To whom then shall I seeke To the fiends of hell that sollicited me to sinne To the worldly vanities by which my lusts were baited Well may they adde to my fall raise mee againe they cannot they will not such euill trees beare no such good fruit and if they did they would rather haue me a companion in their sinne and in their woe then seeke to free mee from or ease me in either of them But happily the good Angels as they are more able so they are more willing to pittie to relieue mee but they behold thy face O Lord and stirre not but when thou sendest them and they only to whom thou sendest can be the better for them these heauenly spirits that attend thy Throne moue not but at thy becke and doe no more then thou commaundest I see then that if I stray it is thou that must fetch me home it is thou Lord that must lift me vp when I am slipt downe to the gates of death and my wounds will be incurable if thou bee not pleased to heale me Thou Lord hast made me know in what case I am and onely canst redresse my wofull case I seeke to thee and to thee onely To thy wisedome I commend my head illighten it shew me thy way thou that of nothing
done which haue denied Originall Sinne. Their Sobrietie is tolerable who supposing the vndeniable truth of that Radicall sinne seeke only the waies of clearing Gods Iustice in this propagation wherein as in such darke and doubtfull cases it often falls out Saluà fide holding the fundamentall point they differ about that which is not necessarie vnto Saluation That which is most vsefull for vs is to know rather how we may be rid of it De Moribus 〈◊〉 c. â— 1. c. 22. â—pis 29. then how we doe contract it which Saint Austin expresseth in a fit Parable of a man fallen into a ditch to whom hee that findeth him there should rather lende a hand to helpe him out then tire him with inquiries how he came in Wee see that our ground is ouergrowne with briars thornes yet we know that God made the earth to beare better fruits doe good husbands mispend their time in reasoning how they came there or doe they not rather with their plough and other instruments seeke to rid them thence surely they doe and we in the case of our soules should imitate them so doing That Originall Sinne is in vs no man can doubt that seeth how children die euen in their mothers wombe or so soone as they come out of it and the wages of sinne is death in them of Actuall it cannot be Rom. 6.23 it must bee then of Originall if they liue wee make hast to baptize them and what doth Baptisme implie but that they need a new Birth vnto life seeing their first was no better then a Birth vnto death Add hereunto that our Sauiour Christs Conception had not needed to be by the Holy Ghost if so bee naturall generation did not enforce necessarily the propagation of Originall Sinne which they should consider that magnifie ouer much the Conception of the blessed mother of Christ Let it suffice vs that the Church Catholique of old and the Reformed Churches haue resolued vniformly that we are sinners so soone as we begin to bee and this Leprosie is hereditarie to vs all that our worser part hath gotten the vpper hand of our better and we are by nature no better then a masse of Corruption and the Serpents brood the sense whereof should make vs all cry out with the Apostle O wretch that I am Rom. 7.24 who shall deliuer mee from this Body of Death King Dauid doth not onely confesse that there is such a Sinne but also that himselfe is tainted therewith I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne my mother conceiued me The words must not be wrested some haue mistaken them as if Sinne were the cause of Generation That opinion though it bee found in some Ancients yet it is so grosse that it is not worth the refuting for we reade Gen. 1. Multiplie and increase Vers 28. spoken to mankind before euer Adam and Eue committed sinne except happily this were their meaning that before the Fall the lust of generation was in the power of man to fulfill or restraine it as reason saw fit but after the Fall reason became subiect vnto lust and man fulfilled it not when reason would but when lust vrged him and this opinion is not improbable A second mistake is that Dauid should lay the blame of his Sinne vpon his Parents and taxe their sinfull lusts in the act of generation but besides that he could not conceiue so ill of his vertuous and chast Parents this were to make Dauid a Cham and so to deserue a Curse while hee seeketh a Pardon for his Sinne. The Father 's abhorred this sense and obserue that King Dauid here speaketh not of the personall sinne of his Parents but the naturall which deriued from them he had in-herent in himselfe and that he was in the state of sinne before he saw light But this is strange his Parents were members of the Church circumcised not onely outwardly which is most certaine but inwardly also which is very probable and if circumcised then discharged from Originall Sin and in the state of Grace how commeth it about then that they should engender Children in the state of Corruption Saint Austin answereth briefly Parentes non ex principijs nouitatis De. Peecata Merit Remis L. 2. C. 2. sed ex reliquijs vetustatis generant liberos they that are regenerated doe beget Children not according to the new Adam but according to the old not according to Grace but according to nature for Grace is personall the corruption is naturall and God will that they shall only communicate their nature and leaue the dispensation of Grace vnto himselfe Saint Austin illustrateth it by those who being circumcised begat Children vncircumcised and Corne which being winnowed from Chaffe brings forth eares full of Chaffe And yet notwithstanding a Prerogatiue the Children of the faithfull haue Verse 16. which Saint Paul toucheth at Rom. 11. If the Roote be holy so are the branches But this Holinesse is in possibilitie rather then in possession and there is a distance betweene naturall Generation and spirituall Regeneration though by their naturall birth-right the Children of the faithfull haue a right vnto the blessings of Gods Couenant yet doe they not partake them but by their new birth which ordinarily they receiue in Baptisme â—it 3.5 which is therefore called the Bath of Regeneration Where hence we may gather the truth of Saint Hieromes saying Christiani non nascuntur sed siunt wee may not vainely boast with the Iewes we haue Abraham to our Father Ioh. 8.39 as if hee could not beget children in iniquitie but it must be our comfort that God corrects Nature by Grace and thereby maketh vs liuing members of the Church whereas such the best of naturall Parents cannot make vs to bee Wee owe this blessing to our Father in Heauen who conueieth it vnto vs by our Mother the Church our naturall Parents can yeeld no such benefit they yeeld the contrarie rather as is cleare in this Text. Ruffinvs giueth another good note hereof Qui ad munditiae locum iam peruenit c. He that is in the state of Grace must not forget the state of Nature if we remember whence we come we shall the better esteeme the estate whereunto we are brought No man can be so proud as to arrogate vnto himselfe the praise of that which he is if hee mind well what without Gods grace he was But King Dauid was long before Regenerated how comes he now to make mention of Originall sinne How comes hee now to lay the blame of his Actuall vpon that Surely not without good cause Circumcision in the Iew as Baptisme in the Christian did absolue from all the guilt of Originall sinne by meanes of Iustification and by meanes of Sanctification did impaire much of the strength thereof Much I say but not all there are still in vs reliques of the Old man a Law in our members rebelling against the Law of our mind Rom. 7.23
other was but a shadow Which must the rather be noted because the Holy Ghost doth often times taxe the Iewes for either wholy diuorcing the Morals from the Ceremonialls or for that they were at least preposterously zealous preferring the Ceremonials before the Morals but our rule must bee to obserue whatsoeuer God commands but so that we value euery thing according to the rate which God sets vpon it we are freed from the Ceremoniall Law of Moses yet are we not left altogether without Ceremonies for we haue Sacraments in participating whereof we must obserue Saint Ambrose his rule We must not neglect the visible Signes wherewith God sustaynes our Faith yet must we pierce farther into the inuisible grace and that must be the principall comfort of our Soules So likewise in prayer we must fall low with our bodies but much lower with our Hearts lift vp our eyes but soare higher with our Affections in a word Hoc oportet facere illud non omittere neglect not Ceremonies but intend Moralities chiefly in all the seruice of God But whereas I told you that the sense of these words is double Ceremoniall and Morall before I can informe you in the Morall I must first resolue you what is the Ceremoniall sense And here wee find not all agreed some finde the Ceremonie in the booke of Exodus some in Leuiticus C. 12.22 some in Numbers In Exodus we read that the Children of Israel were commanded to sprinkle their dore-posts with the blood of the Paschall Lambe that so when the punishing Angel came to destroy the first borne of Egypt he might passe by them Chrysostome apprehends that King Dauid in these words prayeth against Gods wrath and desireth by such a sprinkling to bee sheltered from that And indeed though God forgaue Dauids sinne yet did hee by Nathan foretell That the sword should neuer depart from his House 2. Sam. 12.10 therefore well might he deprecate plagues But though wee find mention of Hysope in that Law yet none of sprinckling the person but the dore-postes nor finally any mention of purifying but of preseruing Therefore other of the Fathers find this Ceremony in Leuiticus 14.4 in the Law of clensing the Leper And surely the words of my Text speaking rather de malo culpae then poenae as appeareth by those Phrases I shall bee cleane I shall be whiter then snow may haue good cognation with that Ceremony the rather because the Fathers not vnfitly make Leprosie a liuely representation of the nature of sin But in that Ceremony though Hysop were vsed for clensing of the Leper yet the clensing of the Leper there was declaratory rather then operatory wherupon S. Hierome doth parallel it with the absolution of the Priest who doth not remit sin but declare that it is remitted of God As the Priest saith he did not make the Leper cleane but vpon examination pronounce him to be cleane But my Text speaketh not of a Declaratorie onely but an operatorie Purification Ciâ—â—l 〈◊〉 wherfore we must seeke farther into the booke of Numbers in the 19. thereof wee shall sinde a Ceremonie that exactly sitteth my Text sitteth it in the phrase as they that are skild in the Originall doe know and sitteth it in the matter as you may perceiue if you reade the Chapter there God commandeth the burning of a red Cow slaine by the Priest Vâ—â— 6. with which was to be burnt Scarlet Cedar wood and Hysop and of the ashes which came hereof and running water was to be made a holy water wherewith hee was to be purisied that touched the dead Vâ—â— 18. a clean person taking Hysop dipping it in the water and sprinkling it vpon the vncleane C. 9.13 Saint Paule to the Hebrewes moralizing that Ceremonie speaketh thus if the bloud of bulls and goates and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the vnclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the Eternall Spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serue the liuing God Out of which words we may learne to giue a true Commentary vnto this Text and obserue a good correspondency betweene the Ceremoniall and the Morall part thereof Which that we may the better do obserue that the whole Text is a Petition wherein wee must obserue first seuerally what King Dauid beggeth and of whom then ioyntly how confident hee is of the successe of his Petition which he maketh to that person That which he beggeth is Purge Wash the person to whom he directeth this Petition is God for to him he praieth but he would haue him doe this through Christ for Christ is meant by Hysop If God grant this request as he doubteth not but that hee will grant it for it is Prophetica or atio he prophesieth in praying he then vndoubtedly assures himselfe of a double effect that shall be wrought vpon him Innocencie I shall be cleane and Beautie incomparable Beautie I shall bee whiter then Snow Let vs looke into these particulars and carrie along the Ceremoniall with the Morall First then see what he beggeth purge wash but these words presuppose some thing that is not here exprest and that is from what he would be purged and cleansed Read the 19. of Numbers there you shall see the Ceremonie it was from the impuritie that was contracted from touching the dead and this impurity did exclude them from accesse vnto the Tabernacle Saint Paul Heb. 9. teacheth vs the Moral of this Ceremonie Vers 14. and that the touching of the dead did figure our intermedling with dead workes that is sinnes for they that are infected with them are sayd Ephesians 2.5 to bee dead in them and our Sauiour meaneth as much by the Prouerbe Let the dead burie their dead Mat. 8.22 And indeed Sinnes are fitly termed dead workes Iâ—b 1. for they had their originall from him that hath the power of death that is the Diuel Heb. 2.14 and they are in vs the sting of death so venoming our vnderstanding 1. Cor. 15.16 and our wil that they bereaue vs of the Life of God to whom we liue only by the true knowing of him and louing him as we ought finally Rom. 9.23 the wages of Sinne is death and death in sinne bringeth vpon vs death for sinne the spirituall death in this world an euerlasting in the world to come As hee that hath to doe with sinne hath to doe with Death so hee that hath the contagion of Death cleauing to him is vnfit for the House of the liuing God for that is the House of the liuing for God by Couenant is not the God of the Dead but of the Liuing Mat. 22.32 they that are planted in the House of the Lord saith the Psalmist shall flourish in the courts of our God Marke then in what case a sinner is Psal 92.13 Iob. 2.4 in the state
if my text did not expressely affirme yet would it by consequence inferre that God maketh no accompt of this Ceremoniall worship But this is a Paradoxe for Sacrifices are the peculiar of God and no man euer offered them but only vnto him who was or at least was reputed to bee God neither any that haue accepted them esteemed themselues lesse nor would goe for lesse in the opinion of the Offerers Men and Diuels that haue robbed God of his honour haue to that end chosen this kind of Sacriledge by Sacrifices they haue entiled themselues vnto the glory of God and doth not God out of his iealousie make it death for any man to sacrifice to any other but himselfe Exod 22 20. and for himselfe hee giueth this expresse Law Exod. 23.15 Thou shalt not appeare before the Lord empty and what is that but Thou shalt sacrifice vnto him But to come more close vnto the point Wee find directly in the Law Gods both precept and promise concerning Sacrifice His precept for in Leuit. to name no other place how curiously doth God distinguish the kindes set downe the circumstances of all Sacrifices and the accessories thereunto and that by way of command The Patriarches before Moses did sacrifice and can we be so absurd as to thinke they did it without the direction of God No verily for they had a spirit of Prophesie As the Precept is cleare so is the Promise also you shall find it in the same place where you find the Precept in the first and second of Leuit. you shall find it called a sweet sauour vnto the Lord in the 4. and 8. c. it is called an Atonement Genes 4. the first Sacrifice that wee read of was Abels and the Text saith plainly that God had a respect vnto Abel and vnto his offering the second was that of Noah and of that the text saith Genes 9. that God smelt a sauour of rest Iob sacrificed for his friends Chap. 42. and the Lord accepted him and when Aaron offered his first Sacrifice God testified his acceptance by fire from heauen Leuit. 9. so that it is as cleare that God delighteth in Sacrifices as that hee doth require them and the promise can be as little doubted as the precept What shall wee say then to my Text how shall wee make it agree with the rest of the Scriptures surely we may doe it easily and fairely God is All-sufficient and God is a Spirit being all-sufficient hee cannot need them and being a Spirit hee cannot bee sustained by them both these points are cleare in the fiftieth Psalme where God sheweth that there can be no colour that he should need them seeing all the beasts of the Forrest are his and so are the cattell vpon a thousand mountaines and God casteth off the absurdity of his being sustained by them with that pressing and conuicting question Thinkest thou that I eate buls flesh and drinke the blood of Goates Lucian scoffingly bringeth in the Heathen Gods as if they tooke great content in the nidour of the sacrifices but it were prophane to thinke so of the true God The occasion then of instituting Sacrifices was not from God and that is the first thing we must learne Whence then was it taken surely from man We consist of bodies and soules and wee need by our bodies to bee put in minde of those things which concerne our soule and therefore did God institute them hee did institute them to helpe our infirmities But what did hee intend to remember vs of by them First of our Ransome Galat. 4.4 Christ came not vntill the fulnesse of time but his death was to worke presently vpon the Fall and in that respect he is called Reuel 13.8 the Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world That before Christ came men should not forget by whom they had their redemption and the remission of sinnes God instituted Sacrifices Secondly we were to be remembred of our Homage we were to acknowledge that what we held we had of God and were to seeke vnto God for what we did want And in remembrance hereof did God institute Eucharisticall and Votiue Sacrifices Some thinke that they should haue beene offered if man had neuer sinned but the Scripture is silent and I will not be so curious as to dispute it Let it passe inter pie credibilia and it is as possible there might haue beene Sacrifices as there were Sacraments before the Fall witnesse the two Trees the one of Life and the other of the knowledge of good and euill You may adde a third reason which is obserued by the Fathers and that is That God therefore instituted by Moses the Sacrifices to keepe his people from Heathenish Idolatrie and distinguish them from other Societies which reason must bee warily vnderstood for it cannot bee meant that God took occasion from the Heathen to institute Sacrifices amongst the Iewes for the Heathen had it by tradition from the Patriarches and God himselfe was the first Author of Sacrifices But this is true that the Heathen had corrupted foure things in a Sacrifice First The Materials for they vsed to sacrifice those things which God forbad Secondly the Forme for they corrupted it with many superstitions of their owne Thirdly the Ende they knew not wherefore they were ordained and fourthly the Owner they did not know to whom they did belong From these deprauations God did clense the Sacrifices in the Law of Moses and so did distinguish his people from other nations not by sacrificing but by sacrificing as they ought The last end of instituting Sacrifices was the prouision for the Priests and the sacred Feasts whereat the poore were relieued These bee the reasons why God instituted Sacrifices wherein you see that they all import a reliefe vouchsafed man But yet we haue not found out the true ground why God doth not desire nor delight in sacrifice and burnt offerings for put the case hee did institute them out of compassion towards men yet may hee desire what himselfe had commanded and delight in that whereunto hee hath annext the promise of acceptance Wee must therefore goe on and obserue that Sacrifices are bona quia praecepta non precepta quia bona they are things in their owne nature indifferent but they become more then indifferent they deserue the name of Good in vertue of the commandement of God but they lose this worth if so be wee place it in the Sacrifice and not in Gods Ordinance no sooner doe wee so misdeeme them but presently God doth not desire them God doth not delight in them But to wade farther into their estimate and to discouer more neare grounds of that truth which is in my text â—t 〈◊〉 Dei lib. 10 cap. 5. in the Ordinance of Sacrifices there are two things considerable opus operatum and opus operantis Chap. 10. the Offering and the Offerer Touching the Offering S. Austin hath a true rule Omne
the Israelites abound both with meate and drinke there that wildernesse was to them as commodious as a paradise they had showres of bread from heauen and streames of water from the rocke God that prouided so for their bodies in so desolate a place prouided no worse for their Soules whose condition was by nature as barren as the wildernesse They were to conceiue that his Law was to bee vnto them a spirituall Manna and a spirituall Drinke that streamed from the rocke Christ they were to repute it the bread and water of life Learne the Allegorie out of Esay The wildernesse and the solitarie place shall be glad for them Cap 35. v. 172. the Desert shall reioyce and blossome as the Rose it shall blossome abundantly and reioyce euen with ioy and singing the glorie of Lebanon shall be giuen vnto it the excellencie of Carmell and Sharon Cap. 44. ver 3. they shall see the glorie of the Lord and the excellencie of our God And againe more plainely I will powre out water vpon him that is thirstie and flouds vpon the drie ground I will powre my spirit vpon thy seed and my blessing vpon thine off-spring I will adde one reason more Reuel 12. Heb. 11. the Church is oftentimes by Tyrants driuen to flee into the wildernesse Gods children are made to wander in Deserts and in Dennes and Caues of the earth but God giuing his Law in the wildernesse biddeth vs bee of good courage for there is no place so desolate in worldly respects but God will not onely be there with his but will there also open vnto them the treasures of his wisedome and receiue their Deuotions Wherefore though I walke in the middest of the valley of the shadow of death I will feare no euill thou O Lord wilt be with me thy rod and thy staffe shall comfort me Psal 23. It was not onely a wildernesse wherein God gaue his Law but the wildernesse of Sinai there were more wildernesses then one through which they passed all the countrie from the Red-Sea to the Holy-land is wildernesse therefore in their Trauels wee read of the wildernesse of Sur of Sin of Pharan and here of Sinai which was in Madian for there Moses dwelt and fed his Father in-lawes sheepe when God first appeared vnto him Gal. 4. ver 25. But more distinctly we learne of Saint Paul that Sinai is a Mountaine in Arabia And whereas there are three Arabia's Felix Deserta and Petraea this was the last of the three and it was through that their way lay into Canaan that compasseth the South and South-east part of the Holy-land Sinai a Mountaine in this Arabia did denominate the wildernesse that lay about it But whence was it denominated it selfe Surely the word in the originall signifieth a bramble bush Some histories report that there are such brambles there that a Bird cannot light on them but hee will loose all his feathers I leaue the truth of that to the reporter Of this we are sure that there was a Bush there wherein God appeared to Moses in a flame of fire and from that bush it is most likely that this hill was named as all the rest of their stations beare Hebrew names For from whom should they learne how to call them that had no body there besides themselues But God was pleased that that hill should keepe a perpetuall remembrance of his apparition in the bush because the bush was such an excellent embleme of his Church A double embleme First noting that though we by nature are as fruitlesse and hurtfull as brambles Heb. 12.19 and God is a consuming fire Yet that consuming fire can bee so gracious as to abide in this vnworthy plant of the wildernesse and not to consume it Secondly what himselfe will not consume abiding in it that no fierie triall shall consume be the wicke I neuer so much enraged against it I will not trouble you with the tradition that you shall read in some that there are stones to be found about this Hill which if you breake in memorie of this bush you shall find in them the print of a bush Of this we are sure Exed 3 ver 4. Antiq lib. 2. that in honour of this bush Moses calleth the Hill though vnder another name Horeb which was a part of Sinai Montem Domini in honour I say of this bush Although Iosephus saith that before God appeared there to Moses vulgari rumore creditum numen ibi habitare it was commonly reported that God frequented that place and so was it inâ—â—â— ssâ—â—â—lis propter Religionem men durst not ascend into the top of it not onely because it was an exceeding high mountaine so high that men could not see to the top of it but also for the reuerence that men did beare to some Diuine power that was thought to abide there This conceit though it may haue some colour from the third of Exodus because it is called the Hill of God before the storie is reported of Gods appearing in the bush yet we must know that anticipations in giuing names are vsuall in Scripture especially where stories are written long after the euents are past and Moses seemeth to controule that conceite of Iosephus in the blessing which he giueth to the Tribe of Ioseph Deut. 33. ver 16 for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush let the blessing come vpon the head of Ioseph dwelt he saith not dwelleth teaching vs that it was a transient not a permâ—â—ent abode Exod. 2 5. And God meaneth no more when he biddeth Moses put off his shoes because the ground whereon he â—â—ood was holy ground Holy when God was present but when God departed the holinesse ceased although the title continued euen in the dayes of Elias but that was in a mysterie that God 1. Reg. 19. â—er 8 would in the very same place haue the Prophet report the foule breach of his couenant where his couenant was first made with Israel This maketh little for any countenance of pilgrimage to the Holy-land for God himselfe said that of an holy he would make it a prophane place because the Israelites had polluted it with their sinne But I will not trouble you with that point This I may not omit that God gaue his Law vpon a Hill As Hell was shadowed in the valley of Hinnom which was a very deepe place so heauen is vsually figured by hils places lifted vp high aboue the earth And such places were anciently designed for sacred vses whether God reuealed himselfe to men or men performed their deuotions to God The places are obuious in the Old Testament and in the New Sion Gibeon in the old the mount where Christ made his Sermon where he was transfigured in the New Testament c. To speake a little to the day Christ ascended this day in his Person and we in good time shall ascend in ours But there is an ascension which must goe
to loose all those that will make vse of the flight amongst which these Iewes were none For who hath forewarned you saith Saint Iohn vnto them Before I come to the question I must a little describe the persons they were Sadduces and Pharisees There are but two extremities of Religion into which men run Superstition and Atheisme these fell the one that is the Pharisees into the one extremitie and the other that is the Saduces into the other extremitie Now sinnes are of two sorts some whose nature is in opposition to the flying from the wrath to come and some which are such as they doe not exclude the same A Drunkard an Adulterer a Murderer are grieuous sinners and in danger of the wrath to come but the Principles are not corrupted vpon which the forewarner must worke when hee perswadeth then to flie they doe beleeue the iudgement to come and in cold bloud will easily belieue that there is euill in their liues therefore vpon such good counsell may worke and wee see daily that many such are reclaimed But there are many whose sinnes are opposite vnto this counsell of flying either because they thinke there is no wrath to come as the Saducee or that they are out of danger of it as the Pharisee vpon such it is hard working Now come to the question Who hath forewarned you I am not ignorant that sundrie Writers ancient and later suppose that this is Quaestio admirantis and make Saint Iohn Baptist who receiued all others quietly when these persons came to stand amazed and wondring Is it possible hath Gods grace preuailed with Saduces with Pharisees and will they also bee Christs Disciples Is Saul among the Prophets Can hee that thought there was no Hell be brought to flie from Hell and hee that thought himselfe righteous prouide against the Iudgement day Surely such examples are rare not that God doth not yeil◠some to shew nothing is impossible to his grace but he yeildeth but few because men should take heed of such sinnes and wee see by experience how Pharisaisme in Papists and in Atheists Saducisme frustrate the labours of many painfull Forewarners the corrupt Principles of their conscience hinder their preuayling Who forewarne them to flie from the wrath to come But I take the Question rather to bee Negatiue and that as Christ often so Saint Iohn here doth detect their hypocrisie and telleth them that they aimed little at that which was intended by Baptisme The Kingdome of God happily in their sense they could bee content to enter into by the Baptisme of Saint Iohn for their Messias was to bee a worldly King or if so be they thought vpon wrath which they desired to escape it was wrath present not wrath to come the wrath of men not the wrath of God they would shake off the yoke of the Romanes they feared not the paines of Hell when they perceiued that Saint Iohns Baptisme sorted not with their desire it is obserued that they despised it to their destruction and when Christ asked them Whether it were of heauen or of men they durst not answere him from Heauen least Christ should come vpon them with Why did you not then belieue it Adde hereunto that it is not likely Saint Iohn would haue reproched them with these words generation of Vipers had there not bin hypocrisie in them I conclude then that the Question containeth a negation and that S. Iohn herein doth set forth the second euill of these Iewes They wanted meanes of forewarning which might apply to them the Remedie which God hath appointed against the wrath to come Matth. 21. v 25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 31. p. 501. Nazianzen obserueth well It is not the Nation but the disposition that maketh a Pharisee euery Countrie may haue Pharisees and Saduces for it is not the name of a Nation but a conuersation and therefore this question may concerne vs and we must inquire into our selues whether wee haue either a Pharisees or a Saduces disposition And indeed wee shall find too many of both Heretickes Atheists vpon whom Forewarners cannot worke and if we be better disposed wee must acknowledge Gods great mercie that as hee hath appointed wrath so hee hath appointed a Remedie wee must learne both of our Forewarners and so learne both that we be the better for them and scape the vengeance that is to come The summe of all is sinnes and punishments are not inseparable God hath set a space betweene them and appointed a Remedie to the one for the auoyding of the other for the knowledge hereof hee referres vs to our spirituall Pastors and we must take heed we haue neither Saduces nor Pharisees eares which may make vs vncapable of their forewarnings O Lord that hast appointed Forwarners to thy Church so blesse their paines that they may fixe our thoughts on and resolue our reason of that wrath which is to come not only the sight of it but also the flight from it Let vs not despise the riches of thy goodnesse forbearance and long-suffering nor with hard and impenitent hearts treasure vp vnto our selues wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2. Eccles 18. but knowing that thy goodnesse leadeth vs to repentance let vs so thinke vpon the wrath that shall be at the end that we may flie from sinne to grace and so bee thought worthy to escape this euill and stand in the last day with comfort before the Sonne of man stand for euer to giue glorie vnto thee the Father of mercie through Iesus Christ our only meanes to obtaine this mercie in the Communion of the holy spirit who only teacheth vs to make the right vse of this mercie Amen The third Sermon LVKE 3. VERSE 8. Bring forth therefore fruites worthy of Repentance SAint Iohn Baptist hath in his Sermon hitherto shewed the Iewes of their bad case in regard both of sinne and woe If he had here ended he should rather haue seemed to bee a minister of Moses then an harbinger of Christ and although happily he might haue awakned the worme of Conscience to bite them with the terrours of the Law yet should hee not haue answered his fathers prophecie by giuing light to them that sit darknesse Luke 1. and in the shaddow of death and guiding their feete into the way of peace wherefore to shew that hee came indeed in the spirit of Elias and meant to turne the hearts of the fathers towards their children Malachi 4.6 and the children towards their fathers before the Lord came and smote the earth with cursing as he vnpartially gaue the Iewes to vnderstand the euill of their case so doth he carefully endeauour to set them in a better course The ground and scope of his words is in effect this Euerie Iew is to haue a double being in the Couenant an hereditarie a possessorie in that he is the of spring of Abraham he hath a title to the promises but possession of that whereunto
was stung by the Serpent so in Paradise was hee cured by the seed of the Woman The Patriarchs in their order Heb. 11. not onely knew but felt the vertue of this Childe this Sonne St. Paul comprehends it in a short Rule Iesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same for euer Hee was a Lambe slaine not onely borne from the beginning of world Neither onely did the efficacie of his person worke but in a sort his presence also was vouchsafed vnto the world It is an ancient opinion of many of the Fathers and not a few of the worthiest late Diuines approue it that all apparitions of God in the Old Testament were of the second Person In the eighth of the Prouerbs himselfe saith that his delight was to be amongst the Sonnes of men Yea and to say nothing of other shapes how often did hee appeare in the shape of a man which apparition the Fathers call Praeludium incarnationis It was a faire intimation of that which in time hee should bee for euer after hee had once taken vpon him the nature of man which death it selfe should neuer seuer from him O Lord that wouldest not only become Man but also bee Gods gift to Man thou which wert before all time wouldest be bestowed in time bestowed vpon Iewes bestowed vpon Gentiles and make them both one Israel of God Notwithstanding there was nothing in them to demerit thee much in them to prouoke thee yet hast thou out of thine own goodnesse so tendered Man as to satisfie thy Iustice that it might bee no hinderance vnto thy Mercy but that thy Mercy might remedy both our Woe and Sinne We beseech thee that wee may all be new borne by vertue of thy Sonnes birth and giue our selues to Thee as he is giuen to Vs that so we may be in the number of those which with the Prophet may say Tovs a Childe is borne to vs a Sonne is giuen Which grace he vouchsafe vs that is giuen vnto vs To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be giuen all honour and glory now and for euer Amen THE THIRD SERMON The Gouernment shall be vpon his shoulders THe Doctrine of this Scripture containes the Truth and Excellencie of Christs Person and State Of the truth of Christs Person I haue already spoken and shewed you both the Natures wherein it subsisteth and the People to which it belongs The Natures wherein it subsists are two The Nature of God and of Man which haue a most streight vnion in one Person and yet without the least diminution of eyther nature This Person belongs vnto the Iewes not according to the flesh but according to the spirit euen to the whole Israel of God which consists of beleeuing naturall both Iewes and Gentiles To this People doth Christ belong But of what degree is hee amongst them For euery companie that consists of many persons if they bee incorporate hath men of sundry degrees by the Ordinance of God and the common rules of discretion there are superiours there are inferiours some which command some which are commanded Of which ranke is our Sauiour Christ Of the highest it appeares in his State The Gouernment shall be vpon his shoulders Although then the Scripture affirm that Christ appeared in the forme of a seruant and himself said That he came not to be ministred vnto but to minister et must we not mistake his Ministery was not of the foote but of the head it was not an obeying but a commanding Ministeric The Head ministers and so doth the Foote in our body naturall but they minister not both alike The head ministreth to the foote by way of commanding the foote ministreth to the head by way of obeying Christs Ministery was of the former not of the later kinde his Foes and his Friends in the Gospell both salute him by the name of Rabbi or Rabboni which is by interpretation Master And our Sauiour Christ telleth his Disciples in St. Iohn You call me Master and Lord and you say well for so I am And elsewhere he calleth himselfe The Heire of the Vineyard The Lord of the Sabaoth The Name of Christ or Messias is a most cleare proofe hereof for none were anointed but to be superiours and the Acts which Christ did exercise beare witnesse hereunto which were all of them eyther Propheticall when hee taught or Priestly when hee sacrificed or Kingly when hee wrought Miracles These bee the things which were done by him and the Gospell relates no other kinde of acts or at least none in comparison And all these are commanding acts they are acts of a Superiour exercised in the dayes of his flesh in the dayes of his greatest humiliation So that the forme of a Seruant and the ministring of Christ shew that he had not the attendance for worldly respect that was due to such a Superiour hee had not so much as a house to hide his head in much lesse had hee any Princely pompe But they deny him not to haue been a Superiour they deny him not that which was giuen him in my Text and my Text giueth him the State of a Superiour To come then vnto it There are two things to bee obserued in the words 1. Of what sort the Gouernment was 2. and Wherewith Christ did sustaine it The Gouernment was of the best sort it was Regall it appeares in the next Verse where Christ is said To sit vpon the Throne of Dauid And this Gouernment he sustaines by his owne carefull Power for it is layd vpon his shoulders These two Points we must at this time looke into briefly and in their order I beginne with the Gouernment If wee looke backe to the Story of Genesis we shall finde that when God promised Isaac which was a Type of Christ he changed both his Fathers and his Mothers name shee was called Sarai but God new named her Sarah which is a Princesse and Abram was new named Abraham a Father of many Nations And me thinks when I reade these words here in the Prophet and those that follow wherein Christ is described I see the application of those names to this Person I see the Principality I see the Posterity I see in Christ the truth of Sarah and of Abrahams name And surely the word which here signifieth Gouernment hath great affinity with the name of Sarah But of Gouernments some are subordinate some are absolute Some so command as the Centurion in the Gospell I am a man set vnder authority though I haue diuers vnder mee and I say to one come and hee commeth and to another go and he goeth But some so command as Salomon speaketh of a King against whom there is no rising vp whose Lawes must not bee disputed on earth and his Commandements bee obeyed by all that are his Subiects Christs Gouernment is not of the subordinate but the absolute sort it appeares by the Throne by the Kingdome vpon which he sitteth places of absolute power especially if
came the Nations should beat their swords into plough-shares Esay 21 and their speares into pruning hookes Nation shall not lift vp sword against Nation neyther shall they learne warre any more cap. 11. the same Prophet by an allegorie doth elsewhere teach that where Christ commeth and is entertained he doth ciuilize the most barbarous Nations The Wolfe shall dwell with the Lambe the Leopard lye downe with the Kid the sucking childe shall play on the hole of the aspe and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice denne they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountaine for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters couer the sea Worthily therfore doth the Apostle call Christ our peace whose kingdome is righteousnes Ephes 2.14 Rom. 14.17 peace and ioy in the holy Ghost Moreouer obserue that to whom we owe our glorie to him wee owe our peace the blessings of God doe much affect vs as being good but except we haue securitie in the possession of them wee lose most of our content for it is a great accession to miserie once to haue been happy and plus refert vndè quà m quò cadas he that taketh a downe-fall from an high place is more sensible of that which he hath lost than of that which he suffers Therefore the addition of peace vnto glory doth import no small comfort which Esay also foretold cap. 4. Vpon all the glory shall be a defence The Apostle speaketh significantly Phil. 4.7 The peace of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall bee as a Court of guard to keep our hearts and mindes in the state of grace whereunto we are brought by Christ They that are rich and are to conuey their goods by sea or land haunted with theeues pyrants doe thinke themselues to be so much more or lesse bound to those that will secure their passage as their goods are more or lesse precious Goods of greater price than is the glorie of the house before specified there cannot be how great then is our debt vnto Christ who safe conducts vs with our glorie through the wildernesse of this world maugre the might and malice of the Serpent and the Lion of all our deadly foes You haue heard who settleth the peace in the place you must now heare how Hee giueth it And it is truly tearmed a gift for whereas there are two kindes of peace one made betweene parties whereof each is able to make good his quarrell against the other yet they are contented to auoyde trouble to agree vpon reasonable conditions the other kinde of peace is that which a conqueror out of his goodnesse vouchsafeth to persons subdued which are at his mercie and whom by the law of armes he might make slaues Our peace is of this later sort we all deserued to bee captiues to the diuell for wee were all become children of wrath by Adams sinne Ephes 2.3 When we lay thus weltring in our bloud no other eye pitying vs then God said vnto man Thou shalt liue Ezech. 16. Hee gaue him this peace therefore is peace a free gift Neyther a free gift onely but a stable also they are not induciae but pax not a cessation from armes for a time that admitteth a returne to warre againe but a reconciliation for euer a couenant of salt Gods mercie shall not depart and this couenant shall not be remoued Esay 54.10 Ezech. 37. Prou. 1. v. vlt. You haue heard what the peace is the place where it resteth by whom and how they are ioyned together what remaineth but that euery man enquire whether he haue this peace or not in this enquirie we must proceede ascendendo not descendendo the lower must assure vs of the vpper degree The abolishing of the guilt of our sinne is the darkest branch of our peace which wee know onely by faith But for the triall of this point of faith we must haue recourse to our conscience and inquire what peace we find there For the peace of our conscience is the looking glasse of that peace which we haue with God if we finde none there we haue none with God and we may be sure we haue it with God if we finde it truly there Truely I say for a man may be deceiued in the triall of his conscience many haue quiet consciences but it is because they are seared Wherefore we must looke one steppe lower and iudge of the second degree of our peace by that which we finde in the third we must see it in our mortification and subiection of the flesh to the spirit for iustification which doth quiet the conscience is inseparable from sanctification which doth reforme our nature Finally to remoue all doubt concerning sanctification we must looke to the effects thereof for a good tree bringeth forth good fruit and our conuersation will testifie our sanctification if our deeds be seasoned with charitie the spirit of God doth rest in our soules This inquirie is most behoofe full in these daies wherein more talke of peace than doe partake thereof partake I say of that true and full peace which here is meant by Haggai Yet lest men stumble by ouer great curiosity and dis-hearten themselues for the diuell is apt to make men as well despaire that they haue not peace when they haue it as to presume that they haue it when they haue it not wee must distinguish inter pacem viatoris and comprehensoris the peace of the Church militant and that of the Church triumphant Touching the Church militant it hath outward crosses and inward conflicts We doe not alwaies apprehend the light of Gods countenance it is often ouercast and hee is despleased with vs but it is as a father with his childe of whom the Poet Sit licet in natos facies austera parentum Aequa tamen semper mens est amica voluntas Therefore the cloud will dissolue and the light will cheere vs againe The worme is not so dead but if we sinne it will giue vs a remembrance a happy remembrance for it awakeneth vs to repent and beleeue which so soone as we doe the smart is at an end The law of our members will often times rebell against the law of our mindes and carrying vs captiue vnto sin will make vs cry out with St. Paul Rom. 7. O wretch that I am who shall deliuer mee front this body of death but the conclusion is comfortable Thanks be to God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Finally very often when we speak vnto men of peace they will prepare themselues to war for except we will riot communicate with them in their sin they will hate vs so that we must redeeme our inward peace with an outward war In this case let it be our comfort that much happier is the war that keeps vs close to God than that peace which will separate vs from him Psal 23. Though I walke in the middest of the valley of
the shadow of death yet will I feare no euill if thou O Lord art with me thy rod and thy staffe shall comfort me c. In all assaults of our peace wee shall at last bee conquerors And this is enough ad pacem viatoris to the peace of the Church militant that wee shall neuer so be deiected but we shall haue strength enough to rouse our selues with King Dauid and say as Psalme 42. Why art thou cast downe O my soule and why art thou disquieted within mee hope in God for I shall yet prayse him who is the health of my countenance and my God and be as resolute as St. Paul Rom. 8. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that iustifieth c. who shall condemne it is Christ that is dead c. with the temptation God will make a way for vs to escape that wee may be able to beare it 1 Cor. 5. Wee may expect no more than this in the Church militant because as Christ came to preach peace so hee came also to send a sword and if the worke of the house prosper in the hand of Zorobabel and Iosua Tobia and Sanballet will impugne it no sooner doth Christ rest gloriously in his Church but there wil be many that will professe enmity against it But the time commeth when all enmitie shall cease all enemies shall be put downe wee shall be fitted for and admitted vnto the sight of God when our glorie shall be consummated and withall our peace bee made perfect so perfect as that it shall be euerlasting What shall we say then to these things Liuie When the Romanes by conquest might haue giuen law to the Grecians at Corinth in the solemne time of the Istmian games their Generall by an Herauld vnexpectedly proclaimed freedome to all the Cities of Greece the proclamation did at first so amaze the Grecians that they did not beleeue it to bee true but when it was proclaimed the second time they gaue such a shout that the very Birds flying in the ayre were astonished therewith and fell dead to the ground Ps 126. Or if you will haue a better storie take that of the Iewes who when at first they heard of Cyrus proclamation and that the Lord thereby had turned the captiuitie of Sion they confesse that at first hearing they were like men that dreamt but afterward their mouth was filled with laughter and their tongue with singing Now the peace that the Grecians and the Iewes had was but a temporall a corporall peace how much more reason is there that our affections should bee strained to the highest pitch of ioy and thankes when wee heare the proclamation of our peace which is so true so perfect peace the peace not of our bodies but of our soules a peace not of our earthly but of our heauenly state a peace that shall so be begun here that it shall endure for euer Wherefore let vs acquaint our selues with God Iob 22. that he may giue vs peace Christs peace Iob 5. which maketh God at peace with vs reconciles vs to our selues and maketh vs at concord with all the world So may we lay our selues downe in peace and take our rest and God which onely can will make vs dwell in safety Psalme 4. NOw the Lord of peace himselfe giue you peace alwaies 2 Thes 3.16 by all meanes Amen THE SIXT SERMON Thus saith the Lord of Hostes. THese words thus saith or saith the Lord of Hosts haue often come in my way since I first beganne the vnfolding of this Text and I still past by them you may thinke I did forget or neglect them but it is not so they are of greater moment than that I should doe the one or the other I reserued them to the last because then I thought I might handle them best For they are the warrant of Gods vndoubted truth and a warrant is then seasonably opened when that whereunto it is annext hath beene fully declared You haue heard of the blessed presence of Christ in Zorobabels Temple of the preparation thereunto of the description thereof the description of the person that should come of the good that he should doe his bountie in giuing set forth first absolutely then comparatiuely the security of his gift consisting in a foure-fold peace These be many they be great blessings lest we should feare that they are too good to bee true our eye must bee vpon the warrant that will ascertaine vs that nothing is promised which shall not be performed In opening of this warrant I shall informe you of two things What it is and Why it is reiterated so often It is the signature of a most powerfull Person There is a double power Internall Externall this Person is mighty in regard of both in regard of the Internall for he is the Lord in regard of the Externall for he is the Lord of Hostes. As for his signature it is such as beseemes so great a Person plaine and peremptorie thus he saith And these words taken ioyntly are the full warrant of the preachers message and the peoples faith He saith enough to assure and command if he say only Thus saith the Lord of Hosts and they must neither dis-beleeue nor disobey if hee say no more The reason why the words are reiterated so often is the weightinesse of the matter expressed in the reiteration The holy Ghost hereby would worke in vs a regard answerable to the matter which hee hath declared to vs and cause vs to ponder it as it deserues Let vs then in the feare of God listen to the vnfolding of those particulars which I haue pointed at whereof the first is the power of the person The first branch of his power is his internall power it is noted by the name Lord. In the originall it is Iehouah and Iehouah is that name which signifieth the first moment of Gods nature for it noteth his being and being goeth before liuing as likewise doe the attributes of being goe before the attributes of liuing the later doe necessarily suppose the former Mistake mee not I meane not that Gods nature is compounded but wee cannot conceiue the onenesse of all his perfections therefore wee helpe our selues in our contemplations by distinguishing them as they are in the creatures which are a shadow of the Creator a shadow like a body which receiues distinct beames from the Sunne all which in the Sunne are but one for so those perfections are but one in God which grow manifold as they come from him to vs. But to our purpose When Moses was desirous to know Gods name the first that he exprest vnto him was this I am or I am that I am the meaning is all one with the title of Iehouah which is here rendred Lord and giueth vs to vnderstand that all other things in comparison vnto God indeed are not though they seeme to be for they haue not the two characters
Exod. 34. the fare Esay 22. both apparrell and fare in Ioel Ioel 2. Ionah 2. and in Ionas the couch is added to them Amos 6. We must then note that euery thing hath his appointed time Eccles 3. and it is not a sinne to be drowsie for nature requireth refreshing but to bee drowsie at an vnseasonable time when grace doth not ouerrule nature and the body is not made seruiceable to the soule willing to do her duety to God this is a sinnefull drowsinesse And such was the drowsinesse of the Apostles and it was extraordinarily in them for the Text doth amplifie their sinne by two circumstances first of the time then of the persons the time the space of one houre When God requireth that our bodies should attend our soules though he did require more time in that attendance than reason conceiueth can stand with the strength of nature we should not sticke at it because the same God that strengthened Moses in the Mount twice to fast forty dayes and forty nights and Elias not onely to fast but also to walke so many dayes without eyther sleepe or meate can support vs employed in his seruice so long as therein hee is pleased to employ vs. But if he limit the time within the strength of our fraile nature what excuse haue we if we faile in our duety the time required of the Apostles was but an houre and who doth not vpon all occasions of profit and pleasure put off his sleepe more than an houre The couetous man riseth early and goeth late to bed to increase his wealth the voluptuous man in gaming and rioting is well content to adde the night vnto the day and though it be a winter night the ambitious will be contented to trauaile in it rather than misse the preferment whereunto he doth aspire And doth not then the naturall man condemn the spirituall when the one watcheth so long and the other cannot watch so short a time But why seeke I so farre the Apostles are condemned by their very enemies Vt iugulent homines surgunt de nocte latrones Vt teipsum serues non expergisceris the high Priests sate vp all this night in consultation Iudas and their seruants were busie all night about the execution of their wicked designes the Apostles cannot watch no not an houre will not their enemies rise vp against them condemne their drowsinesse They will especially if this houre were the very first houre of the night which might best be spared for the farther the night goeth on the more weaknesse commeth on and lesse blameable is drowsinesse in the dead than in the beginning of the night now happily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an Hebraisme and is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 elsewhere so that it noteth not onely the space of an houre but also pointeth out which houre it was but howsoeuer wee vnderstand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is out of all question that the Disciples drowsinesse ouertooke them the very first houre which addeth much to the aggrauating of their fault As the circumstance of time so also of persons makes to the amplification of the sinne as well the persons who are drowsie as his person in whose company they were so First of the drowsie persons they were the Apostles all the Apostles were drowsie but Christ singled out three Peter Iames and Iohn to accompany him vnto that place in the Garden in which himselfe chose to pray wherein Christ shewed that hee had more than an ordinary conceit of them and did expect more than ordinary seruice from them And well might it be so for hee had shewed them more fauour than the rest they onely were with him when hee was transfigured in the Mount and saw his glory As he shewed them most fauour so they were most forward to offer their seruice St. Peter Mat. 16.33 Though all the world be offended with thee yet will not I be offended Iames and Iohn Matth. 20.22 Wee 〈◊〉 drinke of the Cup whereof thou shalt drinke and bee baptized with the Baptisme wherewith thou shalt be baptised Had they been only Disciples they were bound to doe what their Master commanded but the more trust he reposed in them the lesse were they to faile him especially seeing they were so farre indebted for extraordinary fauour and had vowed their liues in his defence all these things are included in the drowsie persons necessary voluntary obligations but neither worke though there was so much reason why they should yet did not these Apostles Watch nothing is remarkeable in their persons that makes not their drowsinesse more inexcusable And if their sinne bee amplified by their owne persons how much more by the person of Christ it was a fault not to watch in danger a greater fault not to watch the space of one houre especially seeing they were Apostles such Apostles but what accesse is made to this sinne when they neglect to watch in the company of their Sauiour Had Christ sent them alone to the place then because of Vaesoli this fall had not been strange for it is not strange to see a man disheartened with danger and ouerwhelmed with woe but Christ went with them his presence was enough to keepe them in heart Though I walke saith Dauid in the middest of the valley of death I will feare no euill for thou art with mee O Lord thy rod and thy staffe shall comfort mee Psal 23. and this good Shepheard was now with the Apostles why then were their hearts heauie Nay he was not onely with them but he was watching and praying and was not his example a strong meanes to keep them from being drowsie As iron whetteth iron so doth the face of a friend quicken his friend Had he been onely a companion in the work their eyes should haue been on him they should haue blushed not to imitate him but hee was their Captaine their Master and what a shame for a Seruant to sleepe when his Master waketh and when his Master watcheth to shew himselfe drowsie And yet this commeth not home enough for this Companion yea this Captaine did watch did pray for them it was for them that he stood out he presented himselfe to God and prepared himselfe for the Crosse but he did both for them himselfe needed neither we wretched sinners needed both God layed our burthen vpon him our teares our sighes our groanes our stripes our death It is a generall rule of Piety that we should weepe with them that weepe how much more should we be affected with the like passion if any one bee distressed for vs It was a strange stupidity in Ionas when God pursued him with a tempest to get vnder hatches and there sleepe securely while the poore Mariners toyled out their bodies in rowing and brake their hearts in praying to their gods to free them from the tempest how much more stupid are these Apostles who lay them downe to rest
Reuerence Reuerence is a vertue compounded ex timore amore of feare and loue it is eyther an awfull loue or a louing awe Christ expresseth both these affections in his prayer Feare in his humiliation for he did prostrate himselfe before his Father Loue in his compellation for the words are childe-like or childelikely affectionate wherein he speaketh to his Father But more distinctly you may obserue in them two excellent points of Rhetoricke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sweete insinuation in My Father they are melting words and stealingly are able to alter the constancy of a resolute Father and an importunate feruency in Abba Pater or as the Syriac Father Father these are forcing words the redoubling sheweth that hee meant to make his way by spirituall force and breake into the eares and heart of his Father by an acceptable violence So doth hee direct his prayer But what doth he expresse in it surely veleitatem naturae voluntatem gratiae a wish of nature and will of grace The wish of nature is against the Crosse but the will of grace is for it More distinctly The Crosse is noted by two words hac Hora hic Calix this Houre this Cup which words import the same things onely the Houre expresseth the time and vnderstandeth the Crosse the Cup expresseth the Crosse and vnderstandeth the time both containe the determinate Passion of Christ And against this determinate suffering is the wish of Nature bent it appeareth in those words transeat aufer the Cup hasteneth to me Let it passe by or if that be not to be hoped because I haue vndertaken as a surety yet aufer interpose between it and mee and suffer it not to stay vpon me This is the wish of Nature But it is a modest wish therefore it commeth in with a Si If it be possible Things are possible eyther to Gods Power or to his Will to his Power all things are possible that are not contrary to his Nature but by his Will many things are impossible which otherwise may bee done by his Power So that Possible and Impossible must be vnderstood in respect of Gods will and therefore doth St. Luke in stead of If it be possible put in If thou wilt so that Christ doth not desire to speed if there be any impediment from Gods will This appeareth more plainly in the will of Grace exprest in the last words Not what I will but what thou wilt wherein you must marke a distinction of Wills and a submission of the one to the other There is a will of God and a will of Christ by Gods Will is meant his Decree and by Christs Will is meant his Desire these agree not and therefore there must be an yeelding And as it is meete Christ doth here submit his Desire vnto the Will of God Not my will but thine be done Finally compare the wish of Nature and the will of Grace and marke that the wish is conditionall but the will absolute wee may not presse our desires without this restraint If God will but wee must surrender our selues wholly vnto Gods will without any limitation from our owne will And so haue you such particulars as I apprehend in this Text I will now God willing vnfold them more particularly I pray God I may doe it effectually also that we may so heare as to learne learne to follow those steps which Christ hath trod out before vs. Let vs come then to them and begin at the Circumstances whereof the first is when Christ prayed that circumstance is rather gathered out of the contexture of the Chapter than exprest in the Text yet may it not be omitted We must obserue that Christ prayed before he suffered and why it was the accomplishment of a Ceremony and a Prophesie A Ceremony for the Leuiticall Sacrifices were first consecrated by praier before they were burnt vpon the Altar and Christ comming to bee the truth of Sacrifices did first deuote himselfe vnto God before hee was nailed vnto the Crosse As he did herein accomplish a Ceremony so did hee a Prophesie also Oblatus est quia ipse voluit saith Esay hee dyed not of constraint but willingly and this Prayer doth testifie that his bloudy suffering was a free-will offering Neither indeede could his death haue beene meritorious for vs if it had not willingly beene vndertaken by him But the words that Christ speaketh as they are a Prayer so is that Prayer a feeling representation of the Crosse whereupon this circumstance will yeeld vs another lesson and that is of religious policie Christ put himselfe into an agony before he was rackt vpon the Crosse and suffered from himselfe before he suffered from others Why so such a preparation did fore-arme him against his Passion and he vndauntedly tooke downe the draught after he had sowred his mouth with this foretaste of the Cup neyther doe we finde after this hee being taken by the Iewes crucified by the Gentiles that till immediately before he gaue vp the ghost hee shewed any signes of a perplexed man What wonder if we be leether when calamities ouertake vs and faint in the day of affliction In prosperity we thinke not of aduersity neither doe we by mortification inable our selues to bee more patient of mortalitie Hee that resteth his bones daily vpon a downe-bed and pampereth his flesh delicately euery day hee that neuer pincheth his body with fasting nor afflicteth his soule with spirituall sorrow how should he beare hunger thirst nakednesse tortors anguish c. when God leaueth him to the will of his Enemies Euils feelingly premeditated doe lesse molest wherefore after the example of Christ we must still be ready to meete them and then if they come we shall be lesse distressed with them You haue heard when Christ prayed you must now heare where As he prayed timely so he prayed priuately in a retired place of the Garden of Gethsemane the place was a Garden that Garden was Gethsemane and in Gethsemane he chose out a retired place euery one of these hath something remarkable in it The place was a Garden There bee many things wherein we may parrallel the first and second Adam amongst other things this may goe for one the first fell in a Garden and it is in a Garden that the second beginneth to suffer in a Garden did Adam lose Gods image and incurre Gods displeasure and in a Garden Christ did sorrow for the losse and tremble at the danger The Place was not only a Garden but also the Garden of Gethsemane and Gethsemane was a Garden at the foote of Mount Oliuet set as it seemeth by the name with Oliue trees yea and therein was Torcular an Oliue presse wherewith the oyle was strained out of the oliues for these reasons was it called Gethsemane and that is by interpretation Vallis pinguium a Valley of fat things Behold an excellent Embleme of our Sauiour Christ who is the true Oliue spoken of by Zacharie
we exceed a proportion stinted vnto vs in the vse of the Creatures so they disproportion the harmonie of our bodies that are guiltie of this abuse and God doth in the end separate vs from them because wee for them separated our selues from God And this death we call the giuing vp of the Ghost But after these parts are dissolued there should seize on eyther of them a penall condition On the body for the graue is not only Sheol but also Shacath it doth not onely couetously swallow but digest it also verè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therein death gnaweth vpon this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this rotten mouldring house this earthly Tabernacle of ours The Reason of it is because sinne is inherent and this leprous house cannot be purged except it be dissolued dust it is and to dust it must returne againe This is the penall condition of our body And as corruption seazeth on our body so should torments on the soule there is a worme to bite it a fire to scorch it vtter darkenesse to distresse it finally fiends that execute Gods vengeance on it being exiled from the ioyes of Heauen whereunto it was created and adiudged to the paines of hell which it hath deserued This is the penall condition of the soule Of these two penall conditions consists the second death for sinne By that which you haue heard concerning death you may easily ghesse what is Resurrection it is nothing but a recouerie from death for this is an infallible principle What riseth that dyed Resurrection then is as manifold as Death to the double death the Scripture opposeth a double resurrection The first Resurrection is from death in sinne and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nyssen when Grace quickens the soule and the soule is transformed formed into the Image of God the Image of being and doing good which the Scripture cals the Life of God and the partakers thereof new men The second Resurrection is from death for sin whether it be the dissolution or the penall condition Whatsoeuer the Heathen thought it is plaine that after the dissolution there is an habitude in the soule towards the body and a naturall desire againe to inhabit it yea it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were trauaile with that appetite appetitus non est frustra Rom. 8. such a desire is an euidence of Gods purpose The soule shall againe bee re-vnited to the body But to bee free from the Dissolution is not the vttermost of mans desire he desires also to be free from the Penall condition Non est viuere sed valere vita better these parts neuer meete than not meete to their mutuall comfort and therefore the last branch of the Resurrection is the endlesse vnion of body and soule in beatitudine plenâ securâ in qua nihil concupiscet nihil metuet so throughly so vnchangeably blessed that they shall haue their hearts desire and bee free from all feare of euill I insist no longer hereon because this point must be resumed againe Let vs come on then and apply what hath beene said to the different subiects And here first wee must take for our guide a receiued rule Talia sunt praedicata qualia permittuntur esse à subiectis suis Death and Resurrection must be limited differently according to their different subiects And the first subiect is Christ Death in sinne would not agree with Him it will not stand with the grace of his holy vnction much lesse of his personall vnion he was the Holy one of God Luke 1. yea the Holy of Holies Dan. 9. Adde hereunto that a sinner implies a contradiction to a Mediatour neyther can they both consist in one for such a high Priest it behoued vs to haue that was holy harmelesse vndefiled separate from sinners Hebr. 7. therefore could he not dye that death As he could not dye the death in sinne no more could hee vndergoe all the death for sinne hee could not vndergoe either part of the penall condition Not that of the Graue his body saw no corruption and why though it had sinne imputed yet had it none inherent and it is only sinne inherent that subiects vs to that part of death And if his body were free from corruption much more was his soule from torment it left the body to take possession of Heauen purchased and Hell conquered vpon the Crosse therein his meritorious power after conflict brake the knot wherewith the dissolution of body and soule came fast clasped with the penall condition and this he proclaimed in his last speech Iohn 19. Consummatumest the passion is now at a full end There remaines then no part of death for Christ to suffer but onely the dissolution the separation of his soule and body and to that he yeelded himselfe as an Offerer that could not be inforced as a Sufferer When hee had triumphed ouer principalities and powers the fiends of Hell and shewed his murdering crucifiers by the supernaturall Earth-quake and Eclipse how hee could rescue himselfe from death he laid downe his life in testimony of his loue to vs and presented that sacrifice of a sweete smell to God which only was able to redeeme vs. This being the limitation of his death the limitation of his Resurrection must needes be answerable it must be restrained to the re-vnion of his body and soule 〈◊〉 Serm. 1. de Resurrect and it is no more in effect than Quod potestate diuisit potestate copulauit with what power he laid downe his life with the same he tooke it againe Though the soule were seuered from the body yet was the God-head from neither the hypostaticall vnion persisted still his body continued vitae sacrarium Ambros Rom. 1. he declared himselfe mightily to be the Sonne of God by the Resurrection from the dead But farther to open the Resurrection of Christ These words seeme to be a bare assertion and indeed a bare assertion vttered by them that are witnesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were enough to warrant an Article of Faith But the words imply a manifold proofe and the proofe lyes in the word CHRIST Acts 10. For Christ signifieth Annointed annointed as the Scripture speakes with the Holy Ghost and with power This vnction is with grace and that eyther gratis data or gratum faciens of Edification or Adoption The grace of Edification designed Christ to a threefold office to be a Prophet a Priest and a King and euery one of these implies a proofe of his Resurrection His Prophesie for his Resurrection was a principall argument of that whether you looke vpon the types prefiguring or the words foretelling it he was to make both good or else his Prophesie were liable to exception As the Prophesie so the Priesthood inforceth the Resurrection How could it appeare that the obligation was cancelled the Law fulfilled God pacified sinne purged if hee had not risen from the dead
What had become of his merit Finally how could his Kingdome subsist without this Resurrection when could he haue receiued the keyes of Death and of Hell made all knees bowe to him in heauen earth and vnder the earth been inuested with absolute power if hee had not risen from the dead He had neuer been honoured as a King The grace then of Edification argues his Resurrection And so doth the grace of Adoption also yea that former proues onely the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereof that resolues strongly that it must be so but this why it must so be for the Resurrection is not debitum carnis but sanctitatis it cannot be challenged by flesh but by holy flesh God will not suffer his Holy one to see corruption Psal 16. The Prince of this world came and had nothing in Christ Iohn 14. therefore it was impossible that he should be detained of the sorrowes of death Holinesse and Happinesse are inseparable as in God so in Christ the latter may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee for a time suspended but because of the former they could not be long seuered But the name of Christ doth not onely note the Truth but the Condition also of his Resurrection for it must bee such a Resurrection as doth answer his double vnction First that of Edification for it must answer the Prophesies Bruise the Serpents head Gen. 3. be the death of death Osea 13. yea by death ouercome him that had the power of death which is the Diuell Hebr. 2. It did so for he led captiuity captiue Ephes 4. It must answer the Priesthood there must neede no more sacrifice for sinne with that which he hath offered he must enter Heauen and finde eternall redemption He did so for hee sits at the right hand of God for euer to make intercession for vs. Finally it must answer his Kingdome and he must raigne as Lord of lords he must haue the Key of Dauid shut and no man open open and no man shut He doth so in that state he walketh in the midst of the golden Candlestickes Reuel 1. cap. 19. These bee things wherein his Resurrection is answerable to his first vnction But it must also be answerable to his second Though we haue known Christ after the flesh yet we must now know him so no more all mortalitie and misery did end at his Resurrection For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de laud. Constant was not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rursum sursum he not onely rose againe but rose to an heauenly life he brought to light life and immortality Hilar. in Psal 41. Id quod fuit in id quod non fuit surrexit nec amisit originem sed profecit in honorem the same body arose but not in the same state hee retained his nature but added glory to it The Lord shewed him the path of life Psal 16. in whose presence there is fulnesse of ioy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for euermore Therefore when he did eate and drinke after he rose and retaine the prints of the nailes wherewith hee was crucified all this was but dispensatio as the Fathers well obserue it serued onely to settle the Apostles faith as also did the concealing of his glory when he appeared vnto them But to conclude this point Non magnum est credere quia Christus mortuus est saith St. Austin It is not hard to beleeue that Christ dyed the Gentiles and Iewes plotters and actors of his death doe boastingly report it Sed fides Christianorum est resurrectio Christi Christians goe beyond them when they beleeue that Christ is risen and risen so The Priests bribed the Souldiers to deny it Euseb the Heathen abolished the Sepulchre that gaue testimony of it the Diuell raised vp euen in the Apostles dayes Heretickes to oppose it but maugre all this truth stands Christ is risen from the dead And thus much of the first subiect I come now to the second That is noted by Dormientes those that slept which is equiualent to Mortui and as manifold in sinne for sinne as it is vnderstood spiritually of the soule and body I need not put you in mind that the tense is no limitation of the subiect for in generall arguments the Holy Ghost indifferently vseth all tenses because all times are as one in God he giueth vs to vnderstand so much in his word But to come to the matter Marke a suddaine change while hee spake of Christ he vseth the word Dead no sooner hath hee taught that Christ is risen but he changeth the Dead into Sleepers Surely then Christs Resurrection made a powerfull alteration it turned death into sleepe In Marc. lib. 〈◊〉 cap. 5. and therefore Mos Christianus obtinet saith Bede It is vsuall in the Christian Dialect in acknowledgement that we beleeue the Resurrection to call the dead Sleepers hence are the places of sepulture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dorters But are Dormientes all or some Surely the word will reach all mankinde and the Scripture applyes it indifferently vnto all take one place for many Dan. 12. Many of those that sleepe in the dust shall awake which words compared to the like Iohn 5. appeare to bee a description of the generall Resurrection The death then of all is but a sleepe But wee must not mistake this fauours not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it cast not the soule but the body into a sleepe and makes the receptacle thereof not of the soule to bee but a temporarie habitation The Sadducees of all ages thinke otherwise because they would haue it so you may read their dreames in the Booke of the Preacher and of Wisedome together with the refutation of them I will say no more to them but what this word warrants me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is none though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there bee their soules and bodies are to continue by Gods ordinance immortally mortall and God will vnite them againe neyther part shall cease to bee because neyther part shall cease to suffer The body shall not As the suggestions and actions of sinne were ministred and acted by it so the vengeance of sinne shall be endured therein And for the soule it is disquieted euen with the sleepe of the body while that rots the soule forecasts what racks what tortures are prepared for it and this hath it for an accessorie to its owne paine Sleepe then in this sense belongs to the wicked But in my Text by those that slept are meant the faithfull It is of them onely that this Chapter intreats 1 Thes 4. of those that sleepe in Christ their death is compared vnto a quiet a sweet sleepe because whereas in this life they are subiect to the Crosse impos'd or voluntary mortification in death they rest from their labours and sleepe without any terrours of euill so that this
more tentations no more foyles no more reproches euea when we shall fall asleepe we may lay our selues downe in peace and take our rest for Christ which only can will make vs dwell in safety As securely as himselfe rested in the graue so shall our flesh rest in hope there is the first taste of our victorie But when wee awake wee shall drinke our fill of it and shall with the Saints in the Reuelation yea in this Chapter insult and say O death where is thy sting O graue where is thy victorie Thankes bee vnto God which hath giuen vs victory through Iesus Christ our Lord. But he is Typus not only victoriae but vitae also and that of grace and glorie Fulgent p. 714. Of grace in Baptisme and of glorie at the last day so the Fathers distinguish Resurrectio carnis Christi gratiam nobis corporalis spiritualis resurrectionis attribuit it raiseth out of both sleepes the spirituall and corporall and they doe it by the direction of St. Paul for he makes him a Type of both but in a different fashion Of the first he is Typus analogicus of the second exemplaris Wee are buried with Christ in Baptisme that as Christ dyed and rose againe from the dead so should we walke in newnesse of life Rom. 6.3 Christ then in his Resurrection doth first preach vnto vs rising from sinne And indeed if the name Christus did imply the cause of his Resurrection the name of Christians must imply the cause of ours no hope of an answerable resurrection if we haue not a part in the vnction for the first resurrection doth fit vs for the second If we haue saith St. Paul Phil. 3 our conuersation in heauen we may looke for our Sauiour which shall change our vile bodies and make them like vnto his glorious body This all should thinke vpon that little intend the first and yet looke for the second Resurrection whereas a spirituall body can be the Tabernacle of none but a spirituall soule and wee must feele the answer of a good conscience to Godward before we can bee begotten to a liuely hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ Nyssen de opif. hom c. 22. yea wee must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foretaste glorie by the vse of grace And if a man haue the Spirit of grace Theophylact comforts him well Ne angaris animo quod mort ali corpore cinctus sis c. bee not disheartned when thou lookest vpon thy house of clay the Spirit of life that is in Iesus freeth vs from the Law as of sinne so of death for if the spirit of him that raised Iesus from the dead dwell in thy mortall body he that raised Iesus from the dead will also quicken thy mortall body by the spirit that dwelleth in thee Rom 8. There is one thing more noted by the first fruits Leuit. 1. they were put on the Altar but not burnt to note that they were ready for God without fire The Crosse of Christ hath made an end of all affliction there remaines nothing for vs but acceptation that wee bee presented vnto God in his Temple and receiued into those heauenly Tabernacles These be the things that the First fruits doe teach and whereof we may not doubt for therefore the Fathers tell vs that Christs resurrection is not only Auspex and Examplar but also fidei iussor Theodoret. yea chirographum nostrae resurrectionis they make a faire demonstration of it Primitiae habent cognationem cum vniuerso eo cuius sunt Primitiae the first fruits and that whose first fruits they are must needes be of the same kinde The cognation then is betweene Christs manhood and ours in that he opened vnto vs the new and liuing way Heb. 9. Non est dubit andum de consortio gloriae sicut non est dubit andum de consortio naturae And therefore the Fathers in the Primitiue Church testified their faith by standing vpright this day and many following daies while they prayed not onely to remember themselues whither their desires should tend but also to testifie that this day is quodammodo imagoventuri saeculi a representation of our blessed rising from the dead It is true that as the Easter first fruits were presented before those at Whitsontide so God hath put a distance between Christs resurrection ours we must stay our time yet the first fruits wils vs to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee as sure as if wee were already risen The last note that I will giue vpon Primitiae is that they are Primitia dormientium the first fruits of them that slept the same flesh awakes which slept that first slept in sinne and then for sinne And is not this a wonderfull mercie This flesh if you looke to the basenesse of it how much more if to the sinnefulnesse may seeme vnworthy of so great glorie but God doth vouchsafe it and leaues vs to stand and wonder at it He that could haue created new bodies chooseth rather to repaire our old that this our vnworthinesse might the more commend his goodnesse hee will make these quondam Iustfull eyes itching eares bloudy hands c. fit to doe him seruice in the kingdome of Heauen But it is time to conclude I will shut vp all with a few admonitions that spring from the Text. There is in euery man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a naturall querulousnesse against death This Text will silence it for the remembrance of the Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Athanasius speakes furnisheth vs with a shield to quench that fiery dart it will make vs resolue that death is better than life because the passage to a better life For the Resurrection is Pascha Transitus death is not meta but via not our iournies end but the passage thereunto but it is to them that are Christians that are according to the inner man Temples of the holy Ghost for where grace is Leo de Pasch Serm. 13. there is the passage vnto glorie Quare appareant nun◠quoque in Ciuitate sancta i.e. in Ecclesia Dei futurae Resurrectionis indicia quod gerendum est in corporibus fiat in cordibus Let our renued hearts bee vnto vs a pledge that our bodies shall be renued But grace must be Paschall transitus sine reditu wee must so rise from sinne that we returne not like dogges to our vomit 1 Pet. 2. and like swine to our wallowing in the myre Serm 10. de Pasch St. Bernard complained of many in his dayes Qui sacram Domini Resurrectionem Paschae priuabant nomine to whom it was not Transitus but Reditus that though they kept the Feast for a day and did partake the Sacrament also yet after all this turned as good fellowes as euer they were before I would it were not so with vs also That it is so with the vulgar people the Tauernes can witnesse that are neuer better furnisht
than about this time I would they did not witnesse the like again â—vs also whose breeding should remember vs of a better course and teach vs that Easter must be transitus sine reditu as in Christ so in Christians Whereupon it followeth that this meditation must make euery day to bee vnto vs an Easter day and if it bee to our soules it will hearten vs to hope well of our bodies also so that euery one of vs may boldly say with St. Bernard Declam de bonis deser Requiesee in spe caro misera My flesh fraile flesh bee still and rest in hope he that came for thy soule will come also for thee and he that reformed that will not forget thee for euer O Lord that art the life and resurrection illighten all our darkenesse that we sleep not in death of sin or for sin let vs all awake vnto righteousnesse and sin no more so shall wee in thy light see light and by the life of grace be brought vnto the life of glorie Which God grant for his Sonne Christ Iesus sake to whom with the Holy Ghost all honour glory might and maiesty be ascribed both now and euer Amen Awake thou that sleepest stand vp from the dead and Iesus Christ shall giue thee light A SERMON PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRALL Church of Wells on EASTER DAY MATTH 26. Vers 26 27 28. And as they were eating Iesus tooke bread and blessed it and brake it and gaue it to the Disciples and said Take eate this is my Bodie And he tooke the Cup and gaue it to them saying Drinke ye all of it For this is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sinnes Supply out of LVKE 22.19 This doe in remembrance of mee And out of St. Paul 1. COR. 11.25 As often as you doe it you shew forth the Lords death till his comming againe OVR Sauiour Christ being ready to dye and by his death to redeeme his Church the whole Church that began in Adam and was to continue vntill the end of the World immediately before honoured a Sacrament of either Testament the Passeouer that was an annexe of the Old and the Eucharist that was to be the annexe of the New Testament Of the Passeouer St. Matthew speaketh in the words that goe before of the Eucharist in these that I haue read vnto you The Argument then of my Text is the Eucharist the originall thereof And of that fitting the present * The receiuing of the Communion occasion my purpose is to giue you a very plaine and a very short Exposition Wee may resolue then the Originall of the Eucharist into the Author and the Institution The Author is here called Iesus Touching the Institution we are to see 1. When and 2. How he did institute it When while they were eating How partly by practice and partly by precept In the practice wee are taught What Elements were chosen and What was done with them The Elements were two Bread and Wine Christ chose these He tooke Bread he tooke the Cup. In opening what was done with them the Euangelist informes vs of two workes first Iesus his worke and secondly the worke of his Disciples And eyther of their workes is double Iesus worke is first to consecrate and then to distribute the Elements In the Consecration we must see first How Christ did it and secondly Why. How he did it by blessing and thanksgiuing blessing of the Creature thanksgiuing to the Creatour Why that the Elements might be the bread the Body and the wine the Bloud of Christ so saith Iesus after Consecration of the bread this is my Body and of the wine this is my Bloud My is a markable word for it improues the Body and the Bloud in that they are his which is Iesus Secondly about this Body the Text instructeth vs in two other things first How it must be considered then Whereunto it was ordained Though they bee the body and bloud of Iesus Christ that is glorified in Heauen yet must they be considered as he was crucified on earth the body as it was broken vpon the Crosse and there giuen for the Church the bloud as it was shed and let out of his body on the Crosse The body and bloud so considered were ordained to establish a New Couenant therefore are they in the Text called the bloud of the New Testament this was the first end A second is to assure the Church of remission of sinnes the whole Church for the bloud is shed for many and the good that the many were to haue thereby is the remission of their sinnes Besides this first Act of thus consecrating the Elements Christ performes another Act he distributeth that which he consecrateth In the distribution wee haue two things first hee diuideth the Elements he brake the bread and the like is to bee conceiued by Analogie touching the wine for though not actually yet vertually he did diuide that in that he would haue euery one drinke but a part of the whole Hauing thus diuided he deliuereth the parcels of the bread and the wine to bee drunke by parts In this sense saith the Text he gaue the bread he gaue the cup he gaue both and both consecrated Besides this worke of Iesus we haue here a worke of his Disciples of the Disciples for none might doe the worke but they and all of them must doe it That which they must doe is they must take that which Christ giues and what they take they must eate and drink as it was consecrated Eate this which is my body drink this which is my bloud c. And they must eate and drinke it to the same end for which it was consecrated the doing of this is not arbitrary it is enioyned by the commandement of Christ Take Eate I haue shewed you Iesus his Practice which was the first mannerof instituting the Eucharist There is a second and that is by Precept that precept is here but implyed for the act being Sacramentall must continue so long as the Doctrine doth whereunto the Sacrament is annext the Sacrament of the New Testament vntill Christs comming againe for so long must the Gospell continue But the precept that is here onely implyed is in Saint Luke exprest and repeated by St. Paul with some exposition added to it The precept is Doe this in remembrance of mee which words require the Churches imitation and commemoration Imitation Doe this the Pastors the People both must performe their worke they must doe Secondly that which they must doe is this they must strictly obserue the patterne that is giuen in this place Besides their imitation here is enioyned them a commemoration what they doe they must doe in remembrance of Christ St. Paul openeth the phrase They must set forth the Lords death Finally whereas Christ did it now once and hee would haue them doe it againe wee may see a difference between Baptisme and the Eucharist this
may be reiterated though the other may not And so haue I laid before you as many particulars as I thinke obserueable in this Text which I will now vnfold briefly and in their order First then of the Author He is here called Iesus Saint Paul calleth him the Lord Iesus Though Sacraments be Ceremonies yet are they Ceremonies of efficacie Were they onely of significancie the Church might haue some power to ordaine them but being of efficacie their ordination belongeth onely to God because the efficacy floweth from his Spirit and of his Spirit none can dispose but himselfe As onely God is the Author of Sacraments so did hee institute them by the second Person by him that is the Sauiour of the world doth hee institute the Sacraments of sauing grace the Sacraments are his most liuely picture therefore he was fittest for to draw them He was fittest as Iesuâ— for to draw them and as the Lord to enioyne the obseruation of them therein especially stands his Kingdome in his Church to prescribe the meanes vnto eternall Life But how doth he do it you shall learne that in the Institution I therein obserued the time and the manner The time while they were eating saith St. Matthew after Supper saith St. Luke Saint Paul the same night that he was betrayed St. Paul and St. Luke are easily reconciled for the Passeouer was solemnized at the same time and St. Luke meaneth when they had done with that so far as concerned the Paschal Lamb but were not yet risen for that there was another Ceremony to be performed as the Iewish Ritualls obserue and that Ceremony was this The Master of the Family after the Passeouer was eaten distributed with solemne words concerning the deliuerance out of the Egyptian captiuity bread and wine before that was done Christ instituted the Sacrament and so it might be while they were eating though it were after Supper Where out of St. Pauls addition that it was the night wherein Christ was betrayed we may obserue that for the terrour of the Crosse which he fore-saw Christ did not omit to doe any thing which concerned his office and was to be for the comfort of his Church Secondly obserue that they were not at a prophane but a sacred Banquet which hindered not but they might be meete guests for Christs holy Supper while they receiued one Sacrament they were not vnfit for another And this teacheth vs the reason why though Christ gaue the Sacrament to the Apostles while they were feasting the Church commands vs to take it fasting For their feast was sacred the Church forbids that which is prophane so doth St. Paul 1. Cor. 11. yea the Iewes were to sanctifie themselues before the receiuing of the Passeouer How may we then come vnprepared to ours that the meate of our soules may the better be receiued we must not be prepossest with the food of our bodies Where by the way you may learne how to answer the cauill against our Liturgie which saith that the Diuell entered into Iudas after his vnworthy receiuing of the Sacrament For put the case he were not at the Eucharist which notwithstanding will not easily be proued because the best Harmonists are against the conceipt and so are the Fathers Greeke and Latine But put the case he were not there yet was he at the Passouer that is plaine in the Euangelists and the Passeouer was a Sacrament and so in effect the matter is all one Secondly obserue on these words While they were eating that before the Sacrament of the Old was abolished for it was not abolished but by the death of Christ Christ instituted the Sacrament of the New that because we haue alwayes so much need of grace wee might neuer be without the meanes thereof So did he substitute Baptisme to Circumcision the Ministry of the Gospell to the Priesthood of the Law the Lords Day to the Iewish Sabbath Seeing then Christ hath been so carefull of vs we must not be wanting to our selues if we want grace the blame must not be laide on him but on vs. Thirdly Christ abolished the Ceremoniall Law but not all Ceremonies We consist of a body and a soule and God doth conuey grace vnto the soule by the body which cannot be done without Ceremony But ours are fewer in number than were the Iewes Austin though they are not inferiour in power yea they are much more commodious though they be lesse burthenous Our charge being easier and our comfort greater our sinne is lesse excusable and our neglect more challengeable if we doe not practise such easie meanes to compasse so great a benefit Enough of the Time I come now to the Manner of the Institution where wee must first see what Elements were chosen and here we finde bread and wine Of this choice the reason is inquired Some thinke it occasionall because the Father of the Family did after the Passeouer distribute bread and wine Some thinke Christ tooke an occasion from that ceremony to institute this by this Truth to accomplish that Type Others thinke the reason to be Propheticall Cap. 1. Malachy foretold that from the rising of the Sun vnto the going downe of the same Gods Name should be great amongst the Gentiles and in euery place incense should be offered to his Name and a pure Offering the word is Mincah and so doth import an accessory to the ancient Sacrifice that was made commonly of fine flower and wine this accessory might in some cases be a principall as appeares in the Law Some rise higher vnto the dayes of Melchisedech and because hee offered bread and wine and Christ was a Priest after the order of Melchisedech therefore hee made vse of his Sacrifice and perpetuated it to this heauenly vse Now the bread and wine which Melchisedech brought out when hee met Abraham are by many of the Fathers thought to be a Sacrifice I might adde a fourth Originall that is Manna and the water out of the Rocke wherewith God sustained the Israelites in the wildernesse St. Paul calleth them spirituall meate and drinke 1. Cor. 10. But to leaue these points which are subiect to dispute I will come to that which is more cleare and that is Bread and Wine are the choisest of food bread strengtheneth mans heart and it is the sustenance of all other sustenances the Psalmist giueth Wheate as it were kidnies of fat not onely alluding to the forme of the graine but also to the effect thereof and God by the Prophet when he threatneth a famine expresseth it by breaking the staffe of bread as if without it all food were heartlesse As for wine the Psalme teacheth vs that it was made to cheare vp mans heart The Parable of the Trees telleth vs it cheareth both God and man Iudges 9. In the Probleme Esdras 3. What is strongest wine is brought in as one Ecclesiasticus hath made almost a whole Chapter of it and holdeth that there is no life without it be
that should trouble vs Therefore let vs keepe our eyes on him and we shall bee vndauntedly patient of any disgrace or danger that wee must passe in performing our charge Againe though we bee naturally proud and thinke our selues worthy of high preferment and sufficient for great employment yet when wee are called to these supernaturall Acts we are farre from being ambitious yea we are plaine incredulous that euer such things can be done by vs or that we are fit to be vsed in doing them wee can then plead our imperfections the imperfections of our head the imperfections of our heart it is strange then to see how vile we will be in our own eies and be glad that any one should haue the honour of this seruice rather than our selues we see this truth in Moses Ieremie and others But this is a mis-placing of our eyes Christ taketh them off from this contemplation and placeth them vpon himselfe Behold I am with you it is my spirit my wisedome my grace that produceth these heauenly effects I doe you the honour to make you my Instruments but I will be the principall Agent regard not your weaknesse but my power and doubt not but that I will doe by you whatsoeuer I shall giue you in charge Let this be your encouragement Christ would neuer send vs to baptize with water but hee meaneth to baptize with the holy Ghost hee will neuer send vs to dispence bread and wine but hee will bee present to giue vnto beleeuers his body and blood if he send vs to binde and loose on earth himselfe will binde and loose in heauen finally the foolishnesse of Preaching which he vttereth by our mouths himselfe doth accompany with a demonstration of his Spirit Ecce Behold this Behold how I am with you how I cooperate with you The last particular which I obserued is contained in the last word Amen and this must second Ecce Behold So soone as euer our eyes are vpon the right obiect and wee see what shelter what succour wee haue who doth support vs who doth worke by vs we must fall to our Amen we must vndoubtedly beleeue the truth of Christs promise and heartily desire the accomplishment thereof the word Amen implieth both and we must say Amen both waies Christ doth promise I am with you I will not leaue you nor forsake you whensoeuer or whithersoeuer you goe in my seruice we must answer Amen Lord I am assured it will be so I am sure it will be so also when thou sayst Loe I am with you by you to giue light to them that sit in darkenesse and in the shadow of death and guide their feete into the way of Peace And seeing what thou Lord sayst shall bee what is my desire but that it should bee Da Domine quod iubes inbe quod vis Lord be thou with me and I care not what charge thou dost impose vpon me thou biddest me goe into all the world Amen so bee it I will goe thou promisest to be with me wheresoeuer I goe Amen so be it Thus should Ecce Behold set a-work Amen and Amen So be it should euer attend this Ecce Behold I haue done with my Text and with the particulars which I pointed out therein lay those particulars together and see how many things there are to be obserued by you that are to enter into Holy Orders Here you may see that the Originall of your calling is from Christ that Christ calleth you to bee his Embassadours the errand whereupon you are sent is the gathering of Gods children into his Church Hee trusteth you with the seales of his Couenant his Sacraments He maketh your mouthes his Oracles vnto the people his presence maketh your persons secure and sacred whether hee bee pleased that you be Patients or Agents his presence shall make you conquerours vnder the Crosse and conuerters of sinnefull men And this hee will doe by you and those that shall bee honoured with the like calling vntill the number of the Elect are fulfilled and we all meete comfortably after our seruice is happily ended to raigne with him for euer in his Kingdome of Glory HEe that giueth you this Charge grant you this Comfort and make you so behold it that you may say Amen vnto it Amen Amen IHS A SERMON PREACHED AT A VISITATION At BATHE ZACHARY 11. vers 7. And I tooke vnto me two staues the one I called Beautie and the other I called Bands and I fed the flocke THis Chapter containes the last and worst destruction of the Iewes the manner and the cause is contained herein The Manner is most wofull for it is Libellus Repudij God will haue no more to doe with them and they were to be Lo-gnammi no longer the peculiar people of God no degree of person was to bee exempted from this plague neyther were they euer to recouer their state againe Of so wofull a manner the cause was most iust Curati noluerunt curari God gaue the Iewes ouer Pastors and People to a totall to a finall desolation because in their day the last of their dayes they would not know they did not regard those things that belonged vnto their peace What those things were for the most for the best part wee are taught in these words that now I haue read vnto you The whole text is a Parable wherein a ghostly shepheard is resembled to a bodily and the care of the one is represented in the others care This is the summe of the whole text But more distinctly In moralizing the Parable wee are to make two enquiries first Who it is that speaketh these words secondly What that is which he meaneth by this speech By laying together the parts of this Chapter you shall finde that he that speaketh is our Sauiour Christ it is he that saith I tooke to my selfe two slaues c. As it is he that speaketh so that which hee speaketh concerneth himselfe the contents of his words are his owne exemplarie pastorall care In opening this care the text will teach vs 1. how hee did furnish himself sutably to his calling 2. how he did employ his furniture to the good of his charge His furniture was Authority and Ability Authority noted by the staues for Padum insigne Pastoris a Shepheard is designed by his crooke and the crooke is an embleme of Authoritie Authority is not enough he hath Abilitie also his Ability is noted by the propertie of the staues The properties are two and so the abilitie groweth to be twofold the first is noted by Beauty by which is meant Veritas Euangelica a Shepheards skill in the couenant of Grace the second is noted by Bands whereby is noted Charitas Christiana the Shepheards care of the Churches peace With these doth the Shepheard furnish himselfe so hee saith I tooke vnto my selfe I tooke he receiued this furniture from his Father so I gather out of the fourth verse and what hee tooke therewith he qualified himselfe
his authoritie should hold them in when they would run riot if he doe not he offends grieuously How grieuously then doth that father offend which giueth an ill example to his child Allureth her to such detestable sinne Yea doth act the sinne with her If Incest be of it selfe haynous your fatherhood maketh it much more haynous And as for you that are the daughter no small accesse is made vnto your sinne by being the daughter of your mother for sinnes are improued by their persons that act them If it had beene an enemie that had done me this wrong I could haue borne it saith DAVID but it was thou my familiar friend c. Whosoeuer had wronged your mothers bed it had beene a wickednesse but to be thus wronged by her owne daughter wherein it is hard to say whether she haue more cause to lament in regard of her owne or of your person it cannot but adde much to your sinne These things should you that are the Penitents take to heart and adde them to the measure of your sinne for of haynous they make it much more haynous I passe at length from the sinne to the doome giuing you by the way this note That GOD addeth doomes to sinnes grieuous doomes to haynous sinnes that we may be held in by the feare of the one when we would not forbeare vpon the fight of the other for such is our weaknesse that though a sinne be represented vnto vs as most vgly most odious yet sensualitie doth so preuaile that we are caried away with the pleasure without any regard of the filthinesse thereof if any thing stay or stagger vs herein it must be paine which often maketh vs to bethinke our selues and take heed when we are euen ready to rush into sinne But touching the doome here in my Text we must first take notice that there is no respect of persons with God both must be punished the man and the woman and punished alike You would thinke that the case of the one were more fauourable then the other the Temptedst more fauourable then the Temptors The daughter may plead the power which her father had ouer her whom she durst not resist and thereby seeme to deserue fauour But this is no Plea at GODS Barre for children must remember that they haue an heauenly as well as an earthly Father and that they may not offend the one to pleasure the other A second thing obseruable in the Doome is that both the women are subiected to the same punishment which may seeme verie rigorous For what hath the lawfull wife deserued Therefore some vnderstand the words by a Synecdoche and by the women vnderstand either of them that shall be found guiltie whether it be the mother that defileth the daughters bed or the daughter that defileth the mothers bed But it may be that both may well deserue death If the mother be the wife and consent that her daughter should goe in to her father or if the daughter be the wife and consent that her mother should goe in to her husband such consent yea if it be but conniuency and patience it is abominable wickednesse How farre the mother was priuie to this daughters sinne I know not but if she were in any sort she deserueth to be punished no lesse then her child and the child with the father are to be punished most seuerely they are to be burnt with fire And here consider first how well the doome is fitted to the sinne the doome is fire and so is the sinne also If I haue beene deceiued by a woman saith IOB this were a fire that would burne to destruction Cap. 31. Prou. 6. And SOLOMON speaking of adulterie moueth this question Can a man take fire in his bosome and not be burnt He that is a fornicator in the body of his flesh saith the sonne of SYRACH will not cease till he haue kindled a fire Cap. 23. 1 Cor. 7.9 Finally St PAVL giueth this rule It is better to marrie then to burne burne in the lust of Incontinencie Seeing then this lust is a fire GOD doth punish a sier with a sier a sinfull with a painfull fire But the Iewish Rabbins or Antiquaries doe obserue that the Iewes had two kinds of burning of malefactors one was by opening their mouthes and pouring in moulten Lead this was called Combustio animae saluo corpore it tooke away the life of the partie and yet left no marke of the fire in the outward lineaments of his body The other was by laying of fewell round about the body which set on fire did presently consume it into ashes and is the burning meant here in my Text for it saith they should be burnt with fire And indeed this kind of burning of Incontinent persons is verie ancient Gen. 3â— Before the giuing of MOSES Law IVDAH would haue practised it vpon his daughter in Law TAMAR The Prophet MICAH alludeth hereunto in his first Chapter and EZEKIEL in his 16. St IOHN in his Reuelations speaking of the Whore of Babylon Cap. 17. 18. prophesieth that she shall perish by fire So that fire seemeth to haue beene the punishment of Whores not onely if she were the Priests daughter but whosoeuer she were the allusion else would not be so frequent And yet we read that adulterers were to be stoned to death whether after stoning they were also burnt is worth the inquirie for sometimes they were both practised vpon the same malefactors as it is cleere in the storie of ACHAN In the former degree of Incontinencie specified before my Text the Holy Ghost is silent and doth not specifie any particular kind of punishment by meanes whereof Interpreters doubt what punishment was to be inflicted Some conceiue that stoning mentioned in the beginning of the Chapter must be extended to all that follow the Iewes they limit it thus where the Law saith they shall dye the death and their blood shall be vpon them there stoning is meant but if it be onely they shall dye the death then the partie was to be strangled But I will not trouble you with these Antiquities onely this I will obserue vnto you that the specifying of a particular punishment here and not in the former degree of Incontinencie may well import some extraordinarie haynousnesse in this sinne especially if you consider the sharpenesse thereof they shall be burnt with fire Viui comburentur saith the Vulgar they shall be burnt aliue now you know that fire is a bitter tormenter and an vtter consumer it afflicteth extreamly while the partie liueth and it vtterly abolisheth the being of the body together with the life both which proue the punishment to be verie sharpe verie seuere it giueth no rest while we are and abolisheth vs as if we neuer had beene But this was a politike Law of MOSES what is that to vs We haue no such Law and that Law doth not bind our State True it doth not and happy is it for
of Austria It is true that in Electiue States men are absurd that make choyce of a woman but in States that are inherited Municipall Lawes she was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the transgression she past the bounds which GOD set her and broke a Law which was ordained to be a rule of her life Ioyne she was deceiued with she was in the transgression and then you shall see how the Serpent instils sinne into man we are not constrayned but allured to doe ill we swallow euill that is branched with the shew of good so did Eue and so doe all But how doth the Apostle deny that Adam was guiltie as well as Eue We must obserue that he doth not deny that Adam was in the transgression for then he should contradict himselfe who saith elsewhere that by man came sinne into the world yea he should contradict Adams owne confession Rom. 5. who acknowledged to GOD that his wife gaue him and he had eaten of the forbidden fruit Some therefore answer that not Adam but Eue was first in the transgression posterior in factura prior in culpa saith St HIEROME and because she was so forward not he but she was to beare the blame Some cleare the place by vnderstanding the words comparatiuely as if Eues sinne were so much greater then Adams that Adams deserued not the name of sinne in comparison of hers she was deceiued by the Serpent he by his Wife by how much more vnreasonable it is for a woman to be guided by a Serpent then for a man to be guided by his wife by so much was her sinne more soule then his But neither of these two answers fits the argument It lyeth rather in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eue was deceiued and not Adam she made tryall of her wisedome in reasoning with the Serpent Adam did not she deceiued Adam Adam did not deceiue her consider her passiuely consider her actiuely she shewes her selfe vnfit to be a teacher wherefore she must be contented to be a scholler Semel docuit saith St Chrysostome omnia perturbauit she taught once and disordered all the world let her neuer be allowed to teach againe And indeed GOD so doomes her Gen. 3. Thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule ouer thee If this subordination be not kept the course of nature will be depraued saith St HIEROMI and faults will be multiplyed in the world But we may not mistake and thinke that sinne was the first cause of womans subiection and that she was made inferiour quia abus◠est parilitate because she abused that coequalitie which she had with man which was the opinion of some ancient and moderne Diuines that conce it is refuted by the first Reason But as man before the Fall was to husband the ground which after the Fall was imposed vpon him to be done with the sweat of his browes so women were to obey before but after the Fall their obedience was made more harsh and vnpleasant yea and a verball ordination is added to the reall But I will conclude with reference of all this vnto our present occasion Adam and Eue liue still their weaknesse liues in their posteritie if you doubt it behold here spectacles of it I mistake Eue is away but here are many of Adams children Eue shewed the frailtie of the whole nature of her sexe and if her daughter were here I would let her see how like she is to such a mother but because she is not I will direct the rest of my speech vnto these sonnes of Adam Those that are blind seeke such guids as can see and they will be sure they haue better sight then themselues before they will commit themselues vnto them we chuse the best Lawyers for our Cases the best Physitians for our Bodyes but to supply the defect of our Soules to guid our Iudgement and our conscience in Religion we trust we know not whom certainly you haue and shewed your selues vnworthy to be men that could be so weake as to become Schollers to a woman I cannot tell how better to resemble your humor then to the distemperate appetite of girls that haue the Greene-sicknesse their Parents prouide for them wholsome food and they get into a corner and eat chalke and coales and such like trash so you that may in the CHVRCH haue graue and sound instructions for the comfort of your Soule in Conuenticles feed vpon the raw and vndigested meditations of an ignorant vsurping Prophetesse You may happily thinke that your fault is but small but it is no small fault to violate the orders set down by GOD for women to lift themselues aboue their ranke or men to fall below theirs it is lesse lawfull to doe so then for men to weare womens apparell or women to weare mens Put you on their Vaile and be you their glorie and let them put it off and be the glorie of GOD contrarie to St PAVLS rule or if you be loath to make such an exchange hence-forward let euerie man keepe his ranke and be forrie that you haue broken it yea be sorrie that you haue raised a scandall against your Soueraigne and your Pastors Conuenticles make shew that you haue not freedome of Religion and thereby you derogate from the honour of his most Christian gouernment and you haue wronged your Pastor by your Conuenticle casting an imputation vpon him that he cannot or he will not instruct you as he ought These things are included in your fault and you are to be sensible of these things confesse them and aske GOD and his CHVRCH forgiuenesse for them And God grant that you and we all may remember that it is our greatest honour to obserue Gods Order and that no woman presume to be an Eue no man abase himselfe to be an Adam to imitate either of them in that wherein they inuerted their ranke but that euerie one may abide in that whereunto he is called of God Amen A SERMON PREACHED AT St ANDREVVS IN WELLES WHEN ONE DID PENANCE FOR BLASPHEMIE LEVIT 24. VERSE 15 16. 15 And thou shalt speake vnto the children of Jsrael saying Whosoeuer curseth his God shall beare his sume 16 And he that blasphemeth the Name of the LORD he shall surely be put to death and all the Congregation shall certainly stone him as well the stranger as he that is borne in the Land when he blasphemeth the Name of the LORD shall be put to death COmmon-weales are gouerned by two kind of Lawes fundamentall and occasionall Fundamentall I call those by which the Common-weale was first framed Occasionall such as are from time to time added vpon emergent occasions you may resemble them by our Common and our Statute Lawes If men did liue as they ought according to the former I meane the fundamentall Lawes there would be no great need of the Lawes which I called occasionall But because they doe not Ex malis moribus bonae leges the enormous behauiour of some
one hath occasioned many a wholsome Law to hold in others that would sall into the like sinne And GOD by MOSES giues an excellent patterne to all good Gouernours of making such occasionall Lawes in cases Ecclesiasticall Ciuill and Criminall Ecclesiasticall Numb 9. Ciuill Numb 27.36 Criminall Numb 15. and in this Chapter We haue now to doe with a criminall case the case of Blasphemie concerning which we find reported in this Chapter an haynous fact seuerely punished by GODS Commandement and an excellent prouisionall Law grounded thereupon to preuent the like sinne The fact with the punishment thereof you may read in the verses that goe immediately before the Law is set downe in these that now I haue read vnto you Wherein we will consider two things first what this Law contayneth secondly to whom it was giuen It contaynes the two maine parts of a Law for it opens the sinne and prouides a punishment In opening the sinne it sheweth vs against whom and how it is committed The person against whom is GOD. But the name of GOD is taken either for one that though he be not yet is reputed to be such or for him which is GOD indeed which is the true GOD. Both are here mentioned the reputed GOD in these words his God the true in those other the Name of the Lord. The sinne against either of these persons is committed by mentioning and vilifying them those two things must be vnderstood in either of these words curse and blaspheme If this sinne be committed here is a punishment prouided for it the Text will teach vs what it is and vpon whom it must be inflicted What it is we learne here first in generall he must beare his sinne by sinne is meant punishment the offender must beare it the Gouernour must put it vpon him least the State suffer for him In speciall the punishment is here set downe that it must be Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill Ecclesiasticall for he must be cast out of the Tents which was a kind of Excommunication Ciuill it must be vltimum and ignominiosissimum it must be no lesse then death he shall dye and that death must be most ignominious two wayes ignominious first for that he was stoned to death which is mors eminùs illata they that executed him stood a sarre off as if they did abhorre him Secondly he was to haue no eye to pittie him for euery one was to be his Executioner All the Congregation shall stone him This is the punishment And this punishment must be inflicted vpon all without any indulgence no person must be excepted quicunque whosoeuer doth blaspheme must suffer And because amongst the Israelites there were natiues and aliens both are giuen to vnderstand as well he that is borne in the Land as the stranger that the Law concernes them if they presume to blaspheme they must suffer yea and suffer so they must surely dye certainly be stoned they must looke for no commutation no mitigation of their punishment This is the Law And this Law was giuen to the children of Israel so saith the entrance into my Text Thou shalt speake vnto the children of Israel Israel was GODS peculiar people and it beseemed them to be the more zealous for his glorie I haue broken vp the Text that this Penitent may be made sensible of his grieuous sinne and we may be warned to take heed of the like man reaped where he did not sowe gathered where he did not scatter These are affirmatiue blasphemies And vnto these you may referre false Prophets false Apostles Hereticks yea and Schismaticks too which come vnsent speake vnwarranted make GOD the Author of their owne deuices these are all more or lesse affirmatiue blasphemers yea and they also that without warrant curse in the Name of GOD or by GOD any other person or thing Besides these there are negatiue and they are those which either wholy deny or much lessen the perfections of GOD. Ps 94. Some put out the eye of his Wisedome they say Tush the Lord doth not see and is there any vnderstanding in the Highest Some bridle his Power 2 Kings â—â— What God is he that can deliuer out of my hand saith the proud Sennacherib God is the God onely of the Hils say the King of Syria's Captaines Epicures strip him of his Prouidence Scilicet is superis labor est ca cura quietos Sollicitat God will doe neither good nor euill These and such like Chryfoct we may call negatiue Blasphemers and the rule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that would be bad would haue nothing good in GOD. Vnto these you may referre them that giue to the creature that which is proper to the Creator that implyes a denyall for if they be common to others they are not onely his it is blasphemie to auer it And such Blasphemers are all that make and worship false Gods yea and Christs also Finally by reason of Reference vnto GOD sacred Persons and Things are exposed to both kinds of blasphemie the affirmatiue and the negatiue Wherefore the Dragon is said to blaspheme not onely the Name of GOD but also his Tabernacle that is his CHVRCH and the Inhabitants of Heauen Well whether the blasphemie be affirmatiue or negatiue by this time I thinke you conceiue that it is a fearfull thing and if you doe not certainly you will if you take notice of these three points which issue all of them out of that which you haue heard First Whereas sinne may be committed either onely against the Law or also against the Law-giuer this is committed immediately against the Law-giuer and you know that though he make bold which breaketh the Law of the Prince yet his presumption is most intolerable that layeth hands vpon his Person And what thinke you then of him that dares set himselfe against him that is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Secondly A mans tongue was made to glorifie GOD therefore DAVID cals it his glorie and the best member that he hath And how intolerable is it for a man to abuse that to GODS dishonor which was giuen him to set forth his prayse Not his tongue onely but any part of his body for a man may blaspheme by writing by painting by caruing sundry other wayes whereas man whole man and onely man of all creatures in this visible world was made to vnderstand GODS Word and his Workes that as he had the benefit of them so he might giue him the glorie of them both Thirdly the mischiefe that man doth himselfe by this spirituall folly Cap. 27. He that casts a stone vp saith the sonne of Sirach it will fall downe vpon his owne head Cap 35 Our sinnes our righteousnesse neither helpe nor hurt GOD as speaketh Elihu in Iob if we reuerence GOD the comfort is not his but ours as the discomfort is not his but ours if we dishonour him Doe we blaspheme affirmatiuely GOD will vindicate his owne glorie Ps 50. and
lest the place of their habitation should be polluted by them The same GOD that would not indure that persons though but ceremonially polluted should abide in the Campe could much lesse endure the flagitious amongst his people Num. 5. his Tents are holy and onely for holy persons And we that beleeue in our Creed that the CHVRCH is holy should remoue from amongst vs all profane all blaspheming persons Whereby you the Penitent must vnderstand what you deserue at the hands of the CHVRCH And let this suffice for the spirituall punishment I come now to the Temporall And that I told you is vltimum and ignominiosissimum supplicium Vltimum for it is no lesse then death the partie must be put to death GOD held him vnworthy to breathe whose impious mouth breathed out such hellish contumelies against GOD. By GODS Law seuerall sinnes haue seuerall punishments and the punishments are proportioned to the sinnes we may argue strongly when GOD is the Law-giuer that if the punishment be great vndoubtedly the sinne is haynous GOD doth often punish citra but neuer vltra condignum Blasphemie therefore is indeed a deadly sinne that must be so accounted by GODS Iudgements not onely in foro poli in case of conscience but also in foro soli at the Tribunall of a mortall Iudge whose eye cannot discerne as doth the eye of GOD surely that must needs be verie foule which must be so foule in his eye Euen in this also may you the Penitent take the scantling of your sinne The punishment is not onely vltimum but ignominiosissimum most ignominious and that whether you looke vpon the Execution or the Executioners The Execution for the malefactor was to be stoned to death and that was mors not cominus but eminus illata the Executioners stood aloofe as if they did abhorre to touch the person with their hands and therefore pursued him with stones Adde hereunto the circumstances wherewith they were to doe it no sooner did they heare the Blasphemie but they rent their cloathes stopt their eares gnashed with their teeth threw dust in the ayre cryed out with their voyces and ran against the malefactor with a kind of furie yea and they afflicted their soules with fasting also these circumstances shall you find in the execution of St Stephen and Naboth misaplyed indeed but yet I suppose they set forth the right manner of proceeding because we find some of them in the storie of Hezekiah Ier. 36. when he heard the blasphemie of Rabsache and the Princes of Iudah are taxed for that they neither sorrowed nor rent their cloathes when Iehoiakim the King burnt the Prophesie of Ieremie In the storie of Naboth it appeares that if the Father were stoned for blasphemie all his children also dyed with him But that seemeth to be a straine beyond the Law because by the politike Law of the Iewes the child was not to dye for the sinne of his father and yet in the storie of Achan you haue a precedent of a larger extent for his sacriledge was punished not onely in his owne person but also in his whole Family all the liuing were stoned to death and their dead bodyes with all their goods were afterward consumed by fire A fearefull Iudgement and yet was his sinne lesse then Blasphemie for Blasphemie is the highest degree of Sacriledge There is no proportion betweene earthly things consecrated to GOD and the Nature the Attributes the Workes of GOD of how much sorer punishment then is he worthy that robbeth GOD of the latter then he that robbs him of the former Heare this and tremble you that stand here guiltie of that great Sacriledge Surely if the Execution doe not make you tremble at the ignominie that is due vnto you the Executioners may Let vs come then to them And who are they We haue here set downe their number all the Congregation Prince and people none must thinke himselfe too good when the case so neerely concernes GOD not onely the most but euen the best also must stoope to that which is otherwise thought to be base as it is but an ignoble profession to be an Executioner when GODS glorie must be vindicated and the wrong done thereunto must be reuenged all must shew that they are sensible of GODS dishonor GODS did I say yea their owne which is enwrapt in GODS for all are wronged by a Blasphemer because GOD which is reproacht is honoured by them all And can any man be patient to heare him so blasphemed whom himselfe doth honour Adde hereunto that this multitude of Executioners was to strike the greater horror and confusion into the Blasphemer for when he saw himselfe conuicted of all iudged of all how could he but giue glorie vnto GOD and confesse that his sinne was most haynous of a truth Finally the number was to be a bridle vnto all GOD would haue euerie one really obliged neuer to dare to commit the same sin for which he had so publikely punished another and that with his owne hand Out of all that hath beene said concerning the number of the Executioners we learne this good lesson That though it be a pious thing for a man to forgiue his owne disgraces and reproaches yet it is impious to forgiue GODS GOD is well pleased with the former because he can make vs amends for our patience and is able to blesse when others curse vs but patience in GODS wrongs can haue no excuse for what amends can be made him or what Superiour is there that can counteruaile that wrong Though this be an vndoubted truth see notwithstanding the peruerse disposition of the world how sensible are we of our owne wrongs how eagerly doe we endeauour to right our selues and our reputation by Law yea and against Law pretending the Lawes of honour we pursue euen but seeming yea and oftentimes fained disgraces with duels vnto death to the vtter ruine of those which haue disgraced vs But of GODS honour we are most senselesse let Varlets and miscreants for they deserue no better name that haue such foule mouthes profane the sacred Name of GOD hellishly rent in pieces as a vile thing the precious ransome of the CHVRCH the sacred person and parts of our Sauiour CHRIST how many be there that laugh at them but as mad fellowes and where is he that thinketh that the reuenge of this doth concerne him Certainly farre off is our Congregation from ioyning altogether to stone him But lest you should thinke that this was a tumultuary proceeding I must supply out of former words the order which was obserued therein For the witnesses that heard the Blasphemie were to be Leaders in this proceeding they were first to impose their hands vpon him and set their hands against him This ceremonie though practised in other Iudgements as appeares in the 13 and 17 Chapters of Deuteronomie yet seemeth to haue its originall here and imports two things first the truth of their testimonie so that if the
be no worse then this that it is Vanitie that it is a Lie For what doe wee abhorre more in nature then vanitie which is the emptinesse of nature What in good manners more then a Lie which is the counterfeit of good manners We thinke nothing ought more to be endeauoured then sollidnesse in Being and sinceritie in Appearing and abhorre nothing more then the contrarie to them both So that to haue our state not onely paralleld with but to become Vanitie and a Lie we may deeme the greatest debasement that can be thereof And yet it is not the comparison doth vs too much honour we are not worthy to bee matched with these though these bee of so small waight yet they ouer-waigh vs in the scales of God if we both bee waighed our lightnesse will soone discouer the inequalitie And indeed no wonder for vanitie is nothing in comparison of sinne and a naturall Lie in comparison of a morall To be mortall taketh away much of that substance which we had in our Creation but to bee sinfull taketh away much more the Maxime Quod efficit tale illud ipsum est magis tale holdeth most true betweene sinne and vanitie for man becommeth subiect vnto vanitie through sinne and who doth not know how much lower sinne doth carrie vs then doth vanitie Vanitie lodgeth vs in the earth sinne tumbleth vs into hell and that is lightest that carrieth vs lowest the more sollid euery thing is the neerer to God and the farther from God it carrieth vs the lighter it must needs be And behold a Paradoxe Here grauia tendunt sursum and Leuia deorsum so that they that are light in the scales are out of the scales very heauie they sinke downe into Hell and they that are in the scales heauie are out of the scales verie light they so are as high as Heauen But it may be thought if men of low degree bee singled by them selues or men of high degree by themselues their waight is no greater yet if they bee ioyned each will helpe to augment the others waight and what they cannot a part they may doe going together at least counterpoyse if not ouerpoyse Vanitie and a Lie No verily for as a Cipher added to a Cipher maketh but a Cipher so Vanitie is no whit the heauier by the addition of a Lie nor a Lie by the addition of Vanitie Put high men and low men all sorts of men yea all persons into Gods ballance and you shall find that if they haue no other waight then that which is in men they cannot hold waight no not with vanitie it selfe then which you would thinke nothing can haue lesse waight and indeed nothing hath but sinne wherin standeth the chiefe lightnesse of man O Lord thou hast appointed a Day wherein thou wilt waigh all both things and persons and trie how much they haue lost of that sollidnesse which thou hast bestowed vpon them I confesse that I had lost much yea all true sollidnesse I brought none with me out of my mothers wombe but it hath pleased thee againe to repaire it in part and promise it in whole Grant that of whatsoeuer Degree I am I may thinke no better of my nature then it is and may value thy grace according to its worth make me which am a sonne of Adam a child of God and so free me from vanitie And if thou bee pleased to prosper me on earth yet Lord prosper mee much more towards Heauen and free my greatnesse from a Lie So shall I not be light in thy scales with that lightnesse that descends to Hell but heauie with that sollidnesse that ascends to Heauen Amen A Meditation vpon Hebr. 9. VERSE 27. It is appointed for all men once to die and after death commeth Iudgement O My Soule what now thou art thou canst not continue long and what thou shalt bee it is good thou timely doe consider Thou now dwellest in a body made of clay and daily mouldring into dust thou canst haue no surer prognostication that it will haue an end then thy continuall experience that it is mortall Were there nothing but Age that wrought vpon it it would wither but when sicknesse which speedeth sooner and spends faster conspires with Age to ruine thy habitation how canst thou be vnmindful of the fall thereof How canst thou but euery houre expect it But there is a higher remembrancer one of whom thou mayst lesse doubt in this case then of either sicknesse or Age and that is God hee hath decreed it All must die thou art one of that All and of All not one that can exempt himselfe from or except against Gods decree Especially so iust a decree no lesse iust then peremptorie no lesse peremptorie then iust God peremptorily threatned death before thou sinnedst and since thou hast sinned Iustice can doe no lesse then giue sentence against thee the sentence of death The Soule that sinneth must die thou art a sinfull soule and therefore thou must taste of death Thou must not looke that those eyes of thine which haue beene the windowes of lust shall alwayes gaze vpon this besotting world thou must not thinke that those eares of thine by whose gates haue entred so much vanitie shall still be inchaunted with the flatteries of thy deceitfull friends thou must not thinke that this taste of thine importunate sollicitor of thy appetite shall still serue to pamper thy body with delicacies These things haue had their time and it is but a time that is allowed them they were and the more they doe the lesse shall they be able to doe dimnesse casts a vaile vpon thine eyes and deafnesse lockes vp the doores of thy eares and thy taste forgets to discerne thy meates And iustly become they so infeebled that kept no measure in their strength what they should haue done they delighted least to doe though by doing it they might haue lasted long and what they should not haue done in doing that they tooke their greatest solace though in doing of it they wrought their owne decay Had not Eue beheld the forbidden fruit more willingly then God hadshee not listned to the Serpent more attentiuely then to his word had shee not tasted the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Euill more sweetly then the tree of life I had had immortall eyes eares and taste But because shee abused them I must loose the vse of them But why doe I deriue my fault vpon others Why doe I vncouer my Parents nakednesse Are my teeth set on edge onely because they did eate sower Grapes My selfe did eate in them and after them my selfe haue eaten like vnto them I doe not so much resemble them in nature as concupiscence what so euer they planted I haue watered and watered that often which they planted but once And as if I feared that their ill husbandrie would not proue fast enough my selfe haue beene a toylesome Husbandman in cherishing the briers and thornes that haue choked euen all
those few cornes of good seed which I deriued from them At least if their leprosie ouer-spred my whole man yet was it not so deepe rooted or so strongly setled as by my ill diet it hath since beene What then may this house of my body this garment that couereth my Soule expect but to be vsed as the leprous house the leprous garment which in a fretting leaprosie were the garment to bee burnt the house to be plucked downe And indeed as impossible is it for the Iuie that springs and ouer-spreads a wall to be killed without taking in sunder of all the stones and separating them from the morter which knitteth them together as for the natiue sinne wherein I was borne branching it selfe ouer euery part of my body and power of my soule to be purged except I be dissolued my Soule part from my bodie and the parts of my bodie loose that knot wherewith each is linked to the other I doe not then complaine of the Decree it is iust it is necessarie my sinne maketh it iust and that this sinne be dispossest it becomes necessarie necessarie for All and then for me I would yeeld vnto it I would be contented with it blessed Apostle the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken were good I would obey it I would yeeld to death though death be bitter were there not a heauier thing that followeth death more terrible then death it selfe Let me feele Gods hand so I come not into Gods presence into the presence of the Iudge to giue an accompt for my life Blessed Apostle is it not enough that my Soule can no longer enioy her bodie no longer by her bodie enioy those things wherein shee hath placed her soueraigne good that shee can no longer solace her selfe with her mate take comfort in her of-spring eate the fruit of her labours receiue honour from others bestow fauours at pleasure bee an Oracle vnto many and to as many be a terror Blessed Apostle is it not enough that these things faile and I must part with them No thou sayest no when thou hast lodged my bodie in the the Graue thou sufferest not my soule to rest thou callest her to a straight accompt thou tellest her of a Iudgement How vainely haue I beene abused by heathenish prouerbs that told me death ends all and yet all is not at an end When I come to death I must come before my Iudge I must answere the Law the Law must trie my life how well I haue obserued it how answerable my carriage hath beene to it And Lord what a fearefull thing is this When thou blessed Apostle didst reason of these things thou madest Foelix a great man a heathen man to tremble and a greater then Foelix the King of Niniuie did tremble also when hee heard Ionas And yet how little did they know thy Law How much did their ignorance excuse their transgression thereof And what then will become of me that know so much and haue so little to plead Can I chuse but tremble O Lord while I liue I often heare of thy Law and the accompt that must be giuen thereof but I neuer had so much grace as Foelix or the King of Niniuie no not when I read the storie of Foelix and the King of Niniuie Neither of them onely but of good King Iosias also whose heart did melt at the reading of thy Law when he saw how vnanswerable the liues of his people were thereto And what wonder that Iosias heart did melt when Moses himselfe did quake at the receiuing of the Law Surely these all felt the terror of the Iudgement they knew what it was to come before their Iudge And I the more in my life I was senslesse the more sensible shall I bee hereof in my death vnexpected euils afflict the more especially if they bee great their impression must needs be deepe But bee I affected neuer so wofully I must appeare I must be tried hee that gaue the Law will inquire into the obseruance of his Law While we liue many couer our faults which when wee are dead they will not sticke to amplifie and he that liuing goeth for a Saint after his death is traduced as a diuell A heauie Iudgement yet how many vndergoe it But this is their comfort that of this Iudgmēt they haue no sense how their name fareth in this world in death they know not But against the other Iudgement there is no shelter all the stormes of it must light vpon vs in our owne persons we must answere for our selues and we are not so well knowne to our selues as to him that sifteth vs. Yet so much we know that we shall trauerse no Indictment we shal plead guiltie to euery Bill our owne conscience is a true counterpart vnto Gods Booke we shall bee charged with nothing out of the one which we shall not read distinctly in the other To read it were enough for the vttermost confusion for what man knoweth and doth not abhorre himselfe Had we a true looking glasse wherein wee might behold the manifold enormous sinnes of our life neuer could any thing be more vgly neuer would any thing be more abominable neuer were we so much in loue with our selues when we acted sinne as wee shall detest our selues when we see the staines of sinne But detestation and confusion are but the first part of this Iudgement the worme the sting bitter tortures euen before we are sentenced for Hell make vs to be wofull wretches Adde hereunto that which is the hight of shame the depth of paine Were no body priuie to our sinnes but our selues the knowledge of them wil confound vs but when they become knowne to others if they be but men sinners like our selues and therefore more likely to be temperate in their censure the shame groweth double but how manifold then will it be when the Angels shall bee witnesses to it the holy Angels whose puritie will the more illustrate it Nay God himselfe whose Image wee should beare and to whom how vnlike we are his presence wil make most manifest So that our shame will bee out of measure shamefull Our paine will bee no lesse painefull For here in this world the remorse of sinne euen in those that haue not a seared conscience is many wayes delayed in sleepe by feasts with companie many other outward helps but especially the putting farre off the euill day and the weake information that our distracted vnderstanding giueth our Heart and the hardnesse that doth benumme the senses thereof all these more or lesse doe mitigate our paine But after death these lenitiues are withdrawen from vs our eyes will be kept waking our stomacke fasting our friends farre from vs our wits that were wise to doe euill and to doe good had no vnderstanding at all shall then be wise onely to know our euill but good of ours it shall haue none at all to know and our heart was neuer so waxie to be wrought
lift vp mine eies vnto that Hill but from thence commeth my saluation And no maruell that Hill is the Hill of the Lord it is lifted vp aboue all Hils the Hill of Mercie is higher then the Hill of Iudgement there the punishing Angell that with his sword drawne pursueth the sinnes of men is commanded for to sheath it It is Hieâ—usalem indeed The Vision of Peace there is the Altar there is the Sacrifice whereat God will be worshipped wherewith he will be pacified Yea where Abraham shall haue his Jsaac redeemed and a Father greater then Abraham will giue a Sonne dearer then Isaac that Isaac may liue and indeed to bee an Isaac that is a matter of true gladnesse vnto Abraham There Dauid shall find a truer Dauid Dauid out of loue to his people would haue yeilded his life to end their plagues but he findeth there a Dauid that is more louing and more beloued and which indeed there doth what Dauid was but willing to doe but was willing in vaine for no man can by any meanes redeeme his brother or giue a ransome to God for him No man if he be no more then a man can doe it it is a worke of God of Dauids Lord he it is that is the Resurrection and the Life it is his bloud that speaketh better things then the bloud of Abel Abels bloud called for vengeance euen the vengeance of eternall death and so doth all sinne which shed the bloud of a more righteous one then Abel euen the bloud of Christ himselfe it should call for vengeance vnto God But see how the voice thereof is changed and how Christ excuseth sinne before hee sacrifice for sinne Father forgiue them they know not what they doe euen in the act of his Passion he maketh this intercession when hee felt their wrongs see how he excuseth them to his Father that they may find mercie hee pleadeth for them that they doe it ignorantly How much more did hee in his Oblation for sinne speake for remission of sinnes when in his Passion hee was so indulgent vnto sinners This person doe I find on this Hill and I find him able and readie to calme all the stormes that were raised in me at Mount Sinai The storme of Death the storme of Iudgement for must I die I feare it not I am assured of life Christ is to mee life Is death the gate that leadeth to Iudgement I will enter it it shall turne vnto my gaine for the Tribunall of God is but the Theater whereon I shall bee crowned Yea Christ hath so altered both death and Iudgement that well may I say Perijssem nisi perijssem I had neuer tasted of such a life had I not beene subiected vnto death And how much of my glorie should I haue lost if I should neuer haue beene brought vnto Gods Barre O Iesuâ— how wonderfull is thy vertue what strange effects proceed from thee The Alchymists boast much of their skill that they can turne baser metals into better lead into siluâ—r copper into gold but this is their presumption whereupon they build that these baser metals are in their nature in the way to the better and they doe but perfect that which is imperfect and which by the course of nature of imperfect would haue become perfect if they had nouer laboured it But they neuer aduenture to turne drosse into siluer or dirt into gold Thou dost more much more of so base a one as I am for who is more base then a sinner who is indeed seruus seruorum a slaue of slaues for sinne is nothing but seruitude and the Master whom a sinner serueth who is it but the Deuill then whom there is none more slauish of so base a one thou makest a vessell of gold euen where there was no disposition to become such thou hast giuen so excellent a nature and makest death to become life Thou hast quickned me which was dead I that was dead in sinne am quickned by thee the fountaine of grace my vnderstanding liueth my will liueth my affections liue they liue their true life they know God they loue God they long after him they discouer the euill of sinne they hate it because it is euill and what they hate that they abhorre Are not these Euidences of life I cannot be dead so long as I feele these things in mee I feele them in me but I confesse they spring not from mee they haue a better Fountaine that is Christ He is this life of mine it began in him when he became one with mee by his personall Vnion then the Vnderstanding then the Will the Affections of man which had beene long dead began to liue As this began in part when Christ became one with mee by personall vnion so did it streame forth into me when I became one with him by Mysticall Vnion then the beames of his light cleared my darknesse the comfort of his Heate warmed my chilnes then was I quickned by the influence of his life I doe not count that life which I liued before though it goe for such with men and it seemed such to me I thought as the world thinketh that if my soule dwelt in my bodie I was aliue but alas if Christ be from my soule my soule is dead and how can a dead soule quicken my bodie the bodie of a man of such a man as should bee of the same societie with Angels Well may it make my bodie vegetable and so range it with the Planets and yet therein I shall come short of many of them It may doe more my bodie by it may become sensible and I may be of the condition of beasts and yet therein how many of them will ouermatch me Happily or vnhappily rather it may boast of more it may boast that it maketh me reasonable and indeed such faculties haue I but corrupt in that I haue a reasonable soule But this aduanceth me no higher then Deuils and herein the Deuils incomparably surmount me But that life which is the chiefe life the life which is proper to the children of God I liue not except I liue by Christ and if once I liue that life I liue indeed And heare a Paradoxe I desire to die this life maketh mee most desirous of death of any death sauing that which is opposite to this life I would not die the death in sinne but the other death I will die most gladly I would be dissolued I would lay aside this Tabernacle of my bodie Not that grace maketh me vnnaturall to my flesh No it maketh mee loue my flesh the more the more but the more truly I would haue my bodie doe aswell as my soule and therefore I mortifie it that it may bee holy as my soule is holy Flesh and bloud thinketh that fasting and watching and other castigation of the flesh is a hatefull austeritie of the soule but well may the soule replie Castigo non quod odio habeam sed quod amem and though
madest me something vouchsafe to make me somthing that haue brought my selfe to nothing Yea worse then nothing for sinne is so it doth not onely abolish that good which thou hast giuen me but it filleth me with euill that is opposite to good yea to God And how much better is it at all not to be then to be a sinner To bee nothing then to be a feind of hell Neuer to haue seene the Sunne then to bee at enmitie with God This is the state where into I haue cast my selfe and thus farre haue I estranged my selfe from thee And how restlesse am I vntill I returne to thee O Lord Sinne forfeits many things besides God but let a man recouer all all besides will yeeld no content except a man recouer God And why Lord Thou art the soueraigne good and without thee nothing is good If I doe not partake the creature in reference to my Creator well may I haue it I shall haue no true comfort in it Take then all from me and leaue me God though I haue nothing yet shall I enioy all things for God is all in all Wherefore though I am sicke I doe not desire health I desire God and it is God that I desire when I am poore I doe not desire wealth I am senslesse of all other wants I hunger and thirst onely after God Seeing then thou Lord onely canst quiet canst satisfie my Soule if thou vouchsafe to turne me turne me vnto thee let me not make a stand before I come so far neither let me thinke my selfe recouered vntill I haue recouered thee Let others rest contented with the drosse of the earth or with the pompe of this world my originall is from heauen and I can find no rest vntill my affections rest there Therefore returne me vnto him from whom sinne hath estranged mee euen to thy selfe O God I beg this of thee because I can expect it from none but thee and from thee I am sure I shal not expect it in vaine For be I neuer so farre gone I cannot goe out of thy reach I can bee no more out of the reach of thy Grace then of thy Power as thou canst smite me so canst thou heale me and thou canst bring mee home as well as thou canst cast me out Lord I make no doubt of the successe if thou vouchsafe thy will for Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole onely thy power is equall to thy will and thou canst doe whatsoeuer pleaseth thee Be pleased then good Lord to put to thy helping hand that thy prodigall Child that by the first step of thy grace is come home to himselfe by a second step may come home to thee I desire no new blessing no such blessing as thou hast not vouchsafed to the sonnes of Adam yea to mee Thou madest Adam after thine owne Image and me in him holy and happie diddest thou make vs such sun-shine dayes were our former dayes cleare and warme without corruption without mortalitie though now we are both sinfull and wofull all our dayes are such euill dayes But thou O Lord that commandest at first light to shine out of darkenesse and dost continually exchange the night for day shine vpon mee let the Sunne of righteousnesse arise vnto me become my father make mee thy child giue me grace to serue thee and vouchsafe thou to blesse me create a new heauen and a new earth in this little world of mine wherein let righteousnesse dwell Yea and happinesse also let them rest on my bodie let them rest on my soule let them rest on both all the daies of this life vntill thou bee pleased to remoue both hence and consummate this thy fauour in the life to come Wherein my daies shall be though like yet much better then my dayes of old by so much better as glorification shall exceed the creation Thou seest O Lord the vpshot of my desire Now let my desire be a comfortable Prophesie of thy fauour disappoint me not of that for which thou hast made mee long so change me by grace here on earth that I may be what I hope to be by glorie in heauen where all things are made so new that they neuer can waxe oâ—d AMEN Meditation vpon Ecclesiast 41. VERSE 1. O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liueth at rest in his possessions vnto the man that hath nothing to vexe him and that hath prosperitie in all things and is yet able to receiue meate WEe haue no abiding place on earth none haue but of those that would haue there are many Many there are O Lord that though they must die cannot indure to mind death nothing more vnsauorie to some then that their memorie should be exercised with the memorie thereof And who are they Surely they whom the earth most fauoreth are they that are best affected thereto where their goods are there they thinke it is good being And how should any bee willing to part from that wherein he findeth content and whereupon hee hath set his rest He it is that is not onely in but of the world not onely vseth but enioyeth the same and from that which is our ioy if we be seuered we cannot be seuered without paine Heauen is a blessed place and blessed is the state which all are promised that shall come thither But this truth we belieue we doe not see it surely the worldly happie man doth hardly credit it because he hath no sense thereof Sense that hath immediately to doe with the world as it is pleasured so doth it iudge thereof it iudgeth it the onely place of happinesse If it may be so happie as to be fed to the full with that which it desires if we haue goods and haue the vse of them what saith flesh and bloud should I wish for more And indeed what fuller definition can an earthly mind make of a blessed life then secure store and a comfortable vse of such goods which are the goods of this naturall life Although in themselues they are fleeting vanities yet sensuall reason honoureth them with the glorious title of substance it thinketh they are and are what they seeme because it iudgeth according as it wisheth and what it would haue them to be it holds them to be such And if man bee so vnhappily happie as to hold them without the opposition of enuie or malice and their wings are clipt from flying away the more proprietie we thinke we haue in them the more are we confirmed in our erroneous iudgement of them Nothing doth more roote a mans heart in the world then an ouer great calme wherin he sayles and rides at Anchor in the world worldly peace doth much helpe forward a worldly mind Especially if we bee lulled a sleepe by both charmes of this peace Securitie and Plentie if no bodie disturbe vs no bodie impaire what we haue gathered no casualtie no calamitie cloud the Sun shine of our day or sowre the
liue amongst Beasts and vpon his acknowledgement of the Lord of Heauen and Earth was restored againe maketh this cleare Canutus a King of this Land when flatterers magnified his power and did almost deifie him to confute them caused his chaire to bee set by the Sea shore at the time of the floud and sitting in his Maiestie commanded the waues that they should not approach his Throne but when the tyde kept his course and wet his garments Lo saith hee what a mighty King I am by Sea and Land whose command euery waue dareth resist Though then they are mighty yet there is much weakenesse ioyned with their might Not so Christ It appeares in the Epithite that is added vnto El which is Gibbor importing that he is a God of preuailing might In Daniel he is called El Elim The Mighty of mighties whereupon Moses magnifying his might saith Who is like vnto thee Exod. 15. O Lord amongst the gods Which words abbreuiated the Maccabees in their wars against their enemies did bear in their standard and therehence as the learned obserue did take their name of Maccabees Certainely this Epithite is a lust ground of that which King Dauid perswades Psalme 29. Ascribe vnto the Lord O yee mighty ascribe vnto the Lord glory and strength But there are two Eminences in Christs might by which hee is aduanced aboue all Creatures The first is that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mighty of himselfe The second is that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 almighty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other Creatures haue their power from him and therefore their power depends vpon him so that he can at his pleasure intend or remit theirs but his owne continueth euer the same Secondly they can doe but euery one so much as is permitted him and neuer was there any creature to whom God imparted all his power I speake not of the degree but the parts thereof some things he committeth to Angels which Men cannot doe and some things to Men which Angels cannot doe the earth hath not the power of the heauens nor the heauens of the earth but God is the fountaine of all power there is nothing done by any of these which without these he cannot doe Ier. 23. Nothing is hard vnto him and the Angel Luke 1. Nothing is impossible vnto God therefore hee hath wrought the same effects without these creatures What he doth by his Angels ordinarily he extraordinarily hath done by himselfe and what doth hee by Man which without Man hee hath not done And as for the Sunne and the Starres he hath illightned the ayre without them and without the earth hath he prouided both bread and flesh yea at his pleasure he hath stript all those of their power in an instant in a word He doth whatsoeuer he will both in heauen and earth he cannot will that which he cannot doe nothing resisteth his will but all things readily do serue him If this title be carried through the Gospell euery point of the Gospel will witnesse the truth thereof in Christ it will witnesse that hee hath a preuailing power and that he is therefore worthily called a mighty God When God promised him hee promised him in these words I haue layd helpe vpon one that is mighty Psalme 89. When God exhibits him Luke 1. Zacharie proclaimes him thus God hath raised vp a mighty saluation vnto vs in the house of his seruant Dauid Christ himselfe Mat. 28. All power is giuen to mee both in heauen earth to say nothing of like titles that are remembred in the Reuelation But I chuse rather to obserue vnto you out of both Christs Regall titles how well they fit vs what comfort they doe yeeld vnto vs. Our enemie the Diuell is compared to a Serpent to a roaring Lion hee is full of craft and of great strength and so are his instruments the wicked subtill and violent but wee are silly and we are feeble If we compare our selues to them how can we but feare to be deceiued to bee opprest See how God hath prouided for vs see how hee hath furnished Christ whom hee sendeth vnto vs Hee is a Counsellour and it was a Counsellour that wee needed that â—ight discouer vnto vs the Serpents policie in his end and Sophistrie in his meanes wherewith he setteth vpon vs He pretends that we shall be like vnto Gods when he meaneth to make vs Diuels and by setting an edge on our desire of the Tree of the knowledge of good and euill he would depriue vs of the Tree of life but Christ is at hand to discouer his purposes and to giue vs timely caueats that we bee not abused by them Secondly he still compasseth the world seeking Whom he may deuour and is mighty to destroy And certainely none should escape him were it not that we haue on our side a mighty God the seed of the Woman that shewed himselfe so much mightier than the seed of the Serpent by how much breaking of the head is more than bruising of the heele Wee haue a Dauid for that Goliah and a stronger man that hath entred that strong mans house bound him rifled him and diuided his spoyle So that if now it be doubtingly asked Shall the prey be taken from the mighty or the lawfull captiue bee deliuered we may answer with the Prophet Esay 49. Thus saith the Lord Euen the Captiues of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall bee deliuered for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee and will faue thy children and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Sauiour and thy Redeemer the mighty One of Iacob Wherefore seeing Christ is become our Counsellour let vs not leane vnto our owne wisedome but be counselled by him It is the second degree of wisedome when wee cannot aduise our selues to bee aduised by others if we faile herein the Philosopher himselfe will censure vs for fooles And remember withall that of the Sonne of Syracke Bee in peace with many neuerthelesse haue but one Counsellour of a thousand cap. 6. hee giues the reason at large cap. 37. And well may we rely vpon the iudgement of this Counsellour who much better than Elizeus can detect vnto vs the plots of the King of Aram of all our Enemies that we may prouide against them yea he can take them all in their owne wilinesse and infatuate their Counsels as he did Achitophels Reade Esay 19. 8. So did Christ deale with the old Serpent and with the broode of the Serpent in all ages our age our country hath had proofe thereof As this must encourage vs to rely vpon his Counsell so must the other title encourage vs to rely vpon his power his preuailing power We walk in the middest of our enemies and they vse the vttermost of their strength to ruine vs yet though we are in the middest of the valley of the shadow of death let vs feare none euill