which must not be left out unless we will dimidiare Christum 1 John 1.7 take Christ by halfs by Purging and clensing us from all our sins And all by the virtue of this price For he did not buy us that we should sell our selves He did not pay our debts that we should run on in arrears He did not buy us out of the power of Satan to leave us there He did not satisfie for sins to make us greater sinners And what Purgation is that which leaveth us more unclean beasts then before Christ doth both or he will do neither He freeth us from the condemnation of sin and he freeth us from the tyranny and dominion of sin His bloud speaketh better things then that of Abel It speaketh for pardon but speaketh for repentance it distilleth sweetly to wash out the guilt of sin and to wash out the pollution of sin In a word Christ did not pay down a price for our liberty to leave us still in bonds he did not come down from heaven to carry us thither with all our sins that is with Hell about us But when he buyeth us out of prison he looketh and waiteth to see with what chearfulness we will come forth When he calleth us to liberty he calleth to us as the Angel did to S. Peter Gird your selves cast your sins from you and follow me FACIO UT FACIAS as it is in the Law Ye are bought with a price that is Christ's act But our act also is required which may bear a fair correspondence and analogy with his Ye are redeemed that is the Benefit and a great one and Therefore glorifie God our Duty is the inference And our Duty should as naturally issue from a Benefit as Light doth from the Sun or a Conclusion from its Principles If Christ begin and pay down the price we must and right reason will have us conclude Therefore glorifie God in our body and in our spirit which are God's This I say is our Duty and commendeth it self in the next place to your consideration It is the nature of a Benefit to bind us to the performance of that which shall make it a benefit to establish a Law which shall establish that and make it beneficial Love will empty it self but it will not lose it self but deriveth its influence upon the heart it shineth on to work something in it which may bear some similitude and likeness to its self which indeed is Glory When God speaketh to us in love he expecteth that it should echo back again upon him in glory For why should so great love be lost And lost it is and even dead in us if it work no life nor spirit in us to magnifie his name if we look upon it as that which will deliver us whether we will or no and save us though we slight it God loveth us that we may love him and so love our selves And all his commands all our duties and obligations are founded on his love Therefore as he hath a bright and piercing so he hath a jealous eye His name is Jealous Exod. 34.14 And if we will see his likeness and representation we may behold it in the Prophet's vision where he presenteth God like unto a man made of amber Ezek. 8.2 whose upper part did shine and his lower was of fire Which representeth God unto us as a Lover and a Jealous Lover The appearance of brightness did express the purity and vehemencie of his Love And it never shined brighter then in our Redemption And the fire downward his Jealousie and Anger which will smoke against those that dishonour him after such a favour Of all the attributes of God this of Love seemeth to have the dominion and preeminence and sheweth and declareth it self by most manifest signs and notorious effects And this Love in God as in Man is alwayes accompanied with Jealousie which cannot endure a rival or an enemy or that that which he bought with a price should be snatched out of his hands Nec adversarium patitur nec comparem He can neither endure an adversary nor a sharer A sharer is no better to him then an adversary His Love carrieth the resemblance of the love of a husband to his wife And so he speaketh to Jerusalem as to his espoused wife Thy beauty was perfect which I put upon thee But thou playedst the harlot Ezek. 16. and hast poured forth thy fornications on every one that passed by Where we may conceive God to be as it were in trouble and in rage in such a passion as a man is when he taketh his wife in the act of adultery And his anger is the greater because his love was so great For Jealousie which is nothing at first but the vehemencie of Love when it hath an image of jealousie set up to provoke it groweth hotter and hotter and at last burneth like fire God's Love is jealous and would not be cast away and here in this his buying us it shineth most brightly wherefore if it work nothing in us by its beams it will become a fire to consume us For shall Christ call us to glory and we dishonour him Shall his Love make up the Premisses and shall we against nature deny the Conclusion Shall the benefit come towards us and we run from our duty Shall he redeem our souls from hell and our bodies from the grave and shall we prostitute and pawn and sell them to the Destroyer No The Glory of God is like Himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Beginning and the End the first wheel and the last Take the whole subsistence of a Christian in the state of Grace and in the state of Glory and it is nothing else but one continued and constant motion of glorifying God For why hath God done these great things for us why did he buy us with a price but ad laudem gloriae suae as S. Paul repeateth it again and again Ephes 1. to the praise of his glory and S. Peter that we shew forth his praise 1 Pet. 2.9 Herein is my Father glorified saith Christ that you bear much fruit Joâ—n 15.8 So you see our Redemption principally dependeth upon the glory of God Eph. 3.10 In that it beginneth For it was his manifold wisdom that made way for it For that it is furthered and promoted For we are strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man according to the riches of his glory Eph. 3.16 Then it is completed to his Glory The same word in Scripture includeth both Revel 19.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salvation and the Glory of our salvation It is the voice of the people in Heaven Hallelujah salvation and glory and honour and power to the Lord our God The choicest and last end which God proposeth to himself in the work of our salvation is the manifestation of his perfection that is his Glory Which consisteth in
brought forth a Regulus a Cato a Fabricius and many other Worthies who shewed to posterity the possibility of keeping this Law so far as to be Just and do as yet teach and upbraid us Christians By this Law and by no other then this were the Aediles or Clarks of the market in Rome directed to lay it down as a Law That whosoever sold any commodity was to disclose to the buyer what fault what defect what imperfection it had If he sold an house in which the plague had been he was to proclaim it by the common cryer Pestilentem domum vendo I sell an infectious house If he sold a horse he was to make known the diseases if a piece of cloth the falshood of it For if he did not this there lay an action against him actio redhibitoria by which he was constrained to take back his wares again or make good the damage to the buyer Solebant Aediles malas merces in flumen jactare Plin. Nat. Hist p. 638. By this they flung all false and deceitful wares into the river This hath been done in Gath and Ashkelon what a strange sight would it be in Jerusalem This hath been done amongst Heathens aliens from the grace of God and is it not pity it should appear as ridiculous amongst us Christians who make our boast of Gods grace all the day along Should we put it in practice what objects of scorn and laughter should we be made to the men of this world who would call us fools or set us down for none of the wisest or which is the easiest censure place us in the number of those who may be wise perhaps but will not be wise for themselves Hier. ad Eustoch Amittit meritò proprium qui alienum appetit Vide Auson Epiced in patrem vet Interp. in Sat. Juvenal Deut. 27.17 Qui terminum exarasset ipse boves sacri Fest in verbo Terminus But S. Hierome goeth further and addeth Aliena appetentes publicae leges puniunt The publick Laws did punish even those who did but seek after or desire another mans possessions perhaps alluding to that custome of the Antients who straitly forbad that any man should add to or diminish that which he possest Lastly this was it that made them sacrifice Deo Termino to the God of bounds And as God laid a curse upon him that removed the land-mark so did Numa by the light of Nature even upon him who though by chance had plowed it up Such is the tye of Nature so great an obligation doth it carry with it For whatsoever is done against Nature all men saith Tertullian esteem as monstrous but Christians sacrilegious against God who is the Lord and Authour of Nature And further we press not this consideration For in the second place Justice and Honesty have yet a fairer pillar more polished and beautiful more radiant and manifest to the eye Besides the Law of Nature or Humane Laws which are but the extracts and resultations from it we have a Law written the Law of God who is the God of truth Deut. 32.4 Hab. 1.13 and of pure eyes that cannot behold deceit and violence and the Law of that great Law-giver the Prince of Righteousness in whose mouth there was found no guile 1 Pet. 1.22 And this maketh our obligation to do justly the stronger De relig c. 6. Lex prohibens omnia delicta congeminat saith Augustine The superaddition of a Law to the Law written in our hearts aggravateth and multiplieth a sin because after the open promulgation of a Law we do not onely that which is unlawful in it self but also that which is by supreme authority forbidden Now when we speak of a Law we do not mean the Law of Moses although that commandeth to make our Hin right and our Ephah right Levit. 19.36 Leges 12 Tabul Nè Agrum defraudanto Nè frugem aratro quaesitam noctu furtâ—m depascunto Puberes si secanto Cereri eos suspendunto Impuberes arbâ—trio Praetoris verberanto Ac noxae tal onem decernunto Plin. Nat Hist l. 28. c 3. That that should be restored which was either violently or deceitfully taken away Levit. 6.4 That that which goeth astray or is lost should be restored Deut. 22.1 2 3. That the hired servant be not oppressed Deut. 24.14 15. That he that killeth a beast shall restore it Levit. 24.21 That he that smiteth a man so that he keepeth his bed shall pay for the loss of his time and cause him to be throughly healed Exod. 21.18 19. That if a man feed his beast in another mans field he shall make restitution out of his own field Exod. 22.5 That in buying and selling they should not oppress one another Levit. 25.14 but legem Evangelicam the Law which was preached and promulged by Righteousness it self the best Master Christ Jesus And by this Christians are obliged above all the men in the world because they are Disciples of a better Testament For Christ came not to destroy the Law of Nature but to establish and improve it And though Christs Law propose some duties to which peradventure by clear evidence we are not obliged by the Law of Nature yet they who have most improved and perfected their Reason even by the light of Reason will subscribe to them that they are just and good and as they concern our conversation with men most fit to be done and most worthy of observation Innocentiam perfectè nôrant Christiani perfecto Magistro revelatam Apolog. saith Tertullian That Innocency of life which beateth down all violence checketh and confuteth all Sophistry and deceit in dealing is most exactly learnt by Christians from the best and perfectest Master that ever was Who that we may not kill hath taught us not to be angry that we may shut out uncleanness hath shut up our eyes that we may not do evil hath prohibited us to speak or think it and is so far from permitting his disciples to do any injury that he hath expresly and straitly commanded them with patience to bear any that is offered Quis illic sicarius quis manticularius quis sacrilegus What Christian saith he is a murderer or a theif or a sacrilegious person Or will he steal thy coat who by his profession is bound to give thee his and his cloak also It was a common saying amongst them Bonus vir Caius Seius Caius Seius was a just good man certainly and there was but one fault in him and that was that he was a Christian When the Souldiers askt John the Baptist What shall we do Luk. 3.13 14. he returned an answer which did not disarm them but bound their hands from violence and wrong Do no violence accuse no man falsly and be content with your wages The Publicanes were odious even to a proverb yet he vouchsafeth them an answer Exact no more then is appointed you Will you hear our Saviour from the mount You cannot but
the infusion of Grace I know it was decreed at the Council of Carthage and other Councils 1. That every man ought to say Forgive us our trespasses 2. That he ought to say it not for others alone but for himself also 3. Not ex humilitate sed vere not out of humility confessing what they were not but truly what they were And all these Decrees may well stand and be as unchangeable as those of the Medes and Persians and pass for everlasting truths and yet no necessity of fixing up this doctrine of the Impossibility of not sinning on the gates of the Temple and proclaiming it as by the voice of a trumpet in the midst of the Congregation This doctrine is the sweetest musick flesh and blood can hear This sounding in the ears of men which delight in wickedness lulleth them in a pleasant sleep till they dream for they dare not speak it that they are bound to that Law which they are made to break and that it is one part of their duty to sin It is most true and if we deny it the truth is not in us that we have all sinned But who ever read in the Scripture that we cannot but sin We are bound to ask forgiveness of our sins and that veraciter truly because as S. James speaketh in many things we offend all But this petition is put as in relation to sins past not in relation to sins not yet committed unless conditionally onely And who will build a supposition upon that which infallibly will come to pass Nè peccemus is in order before Si peccamus We are commanded first Not to sin and then followeth the supposition If we sin So that NE PECCEMUS and SI PECCAMUS That we sin not and If we sin make up this one conclusion That we may or may not sin And this suiteth best with the Precept or Command Sin not at all and this in the Text Sin no more with our Promise made in Baptism where we solemnly bid defiance to the World the Flesh and the Devil and with our Prayer for forgiveness which we cannot accent and pronounce as we should but with a firm resolution to sin no more For how dareth he ask pardon for his sins who is resolved to sin again and again upon hope of pardon So then we may truly and humbly beg pardon of sins past But it is neither Truth nor Humility to make God a liar who proposeth himself a pattern of Perfection Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect to make him a Tyrant in first crippling us and then sending us about his business in commanding us to do what he knoweth cannot be done in giving us that flesh which our spirit cannot conquer in letting loose that Lion whom we cannot resist in laying us naked to those temptations which we cannot subdue No. 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithful saith S. Paul who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able above that which he will make us able if we seek him It is not said God is merciful or God is gracious as being a more indifferent and arbitrary thing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is faithful So that we cannot bring in a Necessity of sinning without prejudice to the Truth and Sincerity of God But then as God is faithful and true not to let in an enemy stronger then his Grace can make us so is he also gracious and merciful si peccemus if we sin if in the midst of so many enemies inter tot errores humanae vitae if in such slippery ground we step aside and fall as Jonathan in the high places to reach forth his hand and lift us up again But with this proviso That we look better to our steps and be more careful how we walk hereafter The one keepeth us from presumption the other from despair For we do not ask forgiveness of our sins upon these terms that we cannot but sin but we beg pardon with this promise that we will sin no more But further yet if this doctrine were true That Sin is absolutely unavoidable and that we are so fettered and shackled with an impossibility of performing our duty that the Grace of God cannot redeem us as indeed it hath neither Reason nor Scripture to countenance it yet sure it cannot be but very dangerous to tell it in Gath and publish it in Askalon to urge and press it to the multitude who are too prone and ready to make an Idol of that Serpent which is lifted up to cure them Omnes homines nostris vitiis favemus quod propriâ facimus voluntate ad Naturae referimus necessitatem saith S. Hierome We are all too apt to favour and speak friendly to our sins and are glad when we cannot but sin that we may sport and play in the wayes which lead unto death and sin with less remorse and regret Gaudemus de contumelia nostra We make that our triumph which is our shame proclaim our Will as innocent whilest we arraign our natural Constitution and lay all the guilt on a fatal Necessity of sinning We are indeed bound to acknowledge our sin and without it there is no remission but a bare acknowledgement is not enough We are ready to say We have sinned and ready to say We cannot but sin that we may sin again We are ready to acknowledge our sins especially in a lump and body Oh would we were as ready to forsake them This thought of the Not-possibility of avoiding sin followeth us I fear in all our wayes and standeth between us and those sins we have left behind us And if at any time we cast an eye back upon them we look on them with favour through this imagination of Weakness as through a pane of painted glass which discoloureth them and maketh the greatest sin appear in the hue and shape of a sin of Infirmity Then those Furies of lust are not so terrible those monsters of sins are not so deformed those sins which devour have not a tooth For how should they feel a bruise who are so just as to fall and sin not seven but seventy times seven times in a day To conclude this Let us take Christ's words as near as we can as they lie They are plain Sin no more And they were no Prescript at all if there lay upon us a necessity of sinning again if by the power of Christ we could not quit our selves of those sins which cannot consist with the Gospel and Covenant of Grace This Doctrine concerning the Possibility of keeping this Prescript of Christ men that are willing to sin are not willing to understand Flesh and bloud runneth from it as from an errour of a monstrous shape and that they may be yet more wicked they count it as an heresie But flesh and bloud shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven And we cannot think but our Saviour meant as he spake and would not have laid it
man thus qualified is fitted for the highest imployment in the Church even for the glory of Martyrdom Yea he is a Martyr already sine sanguine though he come not under the sword nor shed his bloud This is an addition indeed greater then that in kind This maketh our very poverty as rich as the greatest wealth a dungeon more honourable then the highest place and that a heaven upon earth which carnal men tremble at and run from even into hell it self In a word this blesseth our store promoteth our counsels maketh profit it self profitable this taketh away the name of Rich and Poor and maketh them both the same For betwixt Rich and Poor in this world in respect of our last landing as it were and entrance into our haven it is but as in S. Paul's broken ship Acts 27.43 44 Some by swimming some on broken parts of the ship some this way some that some in one condition some in another but all by the conduct of Righteousness come safe to land rich and poor high and low weak and strong the brethren of low degree and they in the highest seat all at last meet together in the haven in the Kingdom of heaven For conclusion then You have seen Righteousness what it is and that it is desireable in it self that it is desireable before all things and that it draweth all things after it not onely the dew of heaven but the fatness of the earth in her womb like Rebecca bearing twins a Jacob and an Esau spiritual and temporal blessings the Kingdom of heaven and the world with all that therein is as an appendix or addition This is the Object And this is Christ's method that Righteousness should be first in our desires because it is all in all and bringeth the rest along with it And this method we must exactly follow For why should not we think Christ a perfect Methodist Why should the Flesh and the World so prevail with us as to persuade us that Wisdom it self may be deceived Our own experience might easily confute us For we see men are never more fools never more foully fail of their ends then when they will be wiser then God and prescribe to Wisdom it self then they seek out many inventions follow their uncertain providence through the many turnings and windings and mazes and labyrinths which it hath made please themselves in their own wayes dream of happiness and in the end meet with ruine and destruction They seek for meat and are more hungry then before they pursue Honour and lye in the dust they are greedy of Riches and become beggers they cry they fight for Liberty and are made slaves Their craft deceiveth them their policy undoeth them their wisdom befooleth their strength ruineth them They think they are making a staff to lean on and when they have shaped and fashioned it behold it is a rod to scourge them This we have seen with our eyes folly shamed and defeated in her own wayes and confounded in her method and course of proceeding The thoughts of men are perverse and their method contrary to that which true Wisdom prescribeth For it proceedeth ab apparentibus ad vera from apparent good things to real evils from that which may satisfie my Envy or feed my Covetousness or flatter and fulfil my Lusts to that which â—ill destroy both body and soul It beginneth in honour and endeth in dishonour it beginneth in pleasure and endeth in torment it beginneth in visions and dreams and pleasant speculations of what may be and endeth in bitterness and horrour and amazement The method of this world is no method and the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God And it would appear so to us too if it had not first blinded us and put out our eyes For how do the children of this world who are wise in their generation every day fail under their own wisdom fall under their own strength and that before the sun and the people Let us then forsake our own wayes and method and follow that which is prescribed by Wisdom it self which proceedeth ab asperis ad laeta from that which appeareth irksom to that which is truly delightful which leadeth us through rough and rugged wayes into a paradise of pleasure through the valley of death into the land of the living through many tribulations into heaven This one would think were a strong motive and inducement to follow it But there is more yet Our Saviour doth even blandiri condescend to flatter our infirmity and provideth for our bodies as well as our souls For the same method will serve both The love of Righteousness is our purveyour here for these things and our harbinger for the Kingdom of God Would you see this miracle wrought It is daily wrought And if it be not wrought on you it is because of your unbelief Faith is required as a condition not onely for the working of miracles but also for the procuring of every blessing of God And if we believe if we distrust not if we question not the providence and promise of God it will be made good upon us and we shall have enough here and more then we can desire hereafter we shall receive these things and make of them such friends as when all these things shall fail will receive us into everlasting habitations Which God grant unto us for Jesus Christ's sake The Eight and Twentieth SERMON PART I. GALAT. VI. 7. Be not deceived God is not mocked For whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap WE shall not take these words in that reference they bear to the foregoing verse in which they that are taught in the word are exhorted to communicate to those who teach them in all good things For this is a Doctrine not so sutable to these times And were S. Paul now alive to preach it he would be set to his old trade of making of Tents his practice would be turned upon him to confute his doctrine and that made a duty which was but a charitable yielding and condescension for the Churches sake If for their sakes and to take off all scandall and offense from the Gospel of Christ he will labor with his hands this his voluntary submission shall be made a Law to bind him and his posterity for ever Teach he should and labor he should with his hands He that teaches must labor and every laborour may teach Every man may teach and none communicate So that Text of communicating is lost quite and the duty of Teaching left to every one that will take it up Every man may be a teacher every man a S. Paul though he never sate at the feet of Gamaliel We will not then take our rise here but call your thoughts rather to a view of my Text as it looks forwards to the next verse He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption which presents the shew of a reason but is indeed no more
they neglect that rule by which they were to walk the one upon the rock of Superstition the other as it oft falls out in disputes of this nature not onely from the errour they oppose but from the Truth it self which should be set up in its place Between these two we may walk safely and guide our selves by the Womans voice and the Angels voice and call her Blessed and Saint though not God and we may place her in heaven though we set her not in the throne BLESSED as the occasion of so much good For when we see a clear and sylver stream we bless the Fountain And for the glory and quickning power of the beams some have made a God of the Sun Whatsoever presents it self unto us in beauty or excellency doth not onely take and delight us but in the midst of wonder forceth our thoughts to look back to the coasts from whence it came For Virtue is not onely glorious in it self but casts a lustre back upon generations past and makes them blessed it blesseth the times wherein it acts it blesseth the persons wherein it is and it blesseth all relations to those persons and the neerest most We often find in Scripture famous men and women mentioned with their relations Arise Barak thou son of Abinoam Blessed shal Jael be Judg. 5. the wife of Heber the Kenite David the son of Jesse Solomon the son of David Blessed was Abraham who begat Isaac and blessed was Isaac who begat Jacob and then thrice blessed was she who brought forth the Blessing of the world JESVS CHRIST a Saviour Therefore was Barrenness accounted a curse in Israel because they knew their Messias was to be born of a woman but did not know what woman should bring him forth Again if it be a kind of curse to beget a wicked son or as Solomon did the foolishness of the people Eccl. 47.23 The Historian observes that many famous men amongst the Romans either died childless or left such children behind them that it had been better their name had quite been blotted out and they had left no posterity And speaking of Tully who had a drunken and a sottish son he adds Huic soli melius fuerat liberos non habere It had been better for him to have had no child at all then such an one Who would have his name live in a wanton intemperate sâ—t who would have his name live in a betrayer of his countrey in a bloudy tyrant If this curse reflect upon those who have been dead long ago and is doubled on the living who look upon those whom they call affectus their affections and caritates their love as their greatest grief and torment then certainly a great blessing and glory it is for a parent to have a virtuous child in whom he every day may behold not onely his own likeness but the image of God which shines in the face of every looker on and fills their hearts with delight and their mouths with blessings If it be a tyrant a Nero we wish the doors of his mothers womb had been shut up Job 3.10 and so sorrow and trouble hid from our eyes Ventrem feri saith the mother her self to the Centurion who was sent to kill her Strike strike this cursed belly that brought forth that monster But if it be a Father of his country if it be a wise just and merciful Prince if he be a Titus we bless the day wherein he was born we celebrate his Nativity and make it a holy-day and we bless the rock from whence he was hewen the very loynes from whence he came And therefore to conclude this we cannot but commend both the Affection of this Woman and her Speech the one great and the other loud For the greatness the intention of the affection is not evil so the cause be good and it cannot move too fast if it do not erre If the sight of virtue and wisdome strike this heat in us it is as a fire from heaven in our bowels And such was this womans affection begot in her by Wisdome and Power and both Divine It rose not from any earthly respect secular pomp or outward glory but she hearing Christs gracious words and seeing the wonders which he did the fire kindled and she spake with her tongue And she still speaketh that we may behold the same finger of God as efficacious and powerful in Christ to cast out the devil out of us the devil which is dumb that we may speak his praises and the devil that is deaf that we may hearken to his words the devil that is a serpent that we may lay aside all deceit the devil that is a lyon that we may lay aside all malice the devil that wicked one that we may be freed from sin that so we may put on the affection of this Woman and with her lift up our voice and say Blessed is the womb that bare Christ and the paps which he sucked And further we carry not this consideration We come next to our Saviours gentle Corrective IMO POTIUS Yea rather And this Yea rather comes in seasonably For the eye is ready to be dazled with a lesser good if it be not diverted to a greater as he will wonder at a storm that never saw the Sun We stay many times and dwell with delight upon those truths which are of lesser alloy and make not any approch towards that which is saving and necessary we look upon the excellencies of Christ and find no leisure to fall down and worship him we become almost Christians and come not to the knowledge of that truth which must save us and make us perfect men in Christ Jesus The Philosopher will tell us that he that will compare two things together must know them both What glory hath Riches to him who hath not seen Virtue as Plato would have her seen naked and not compassed about and disguised with difficulties disgraces and hardships What a brightness hath Honour to bind that hath not tasted of the Favour of God What a Paradise is carnal pleasure to him that a good Conscience never feasted What a substance is a Ceremony to him that makes the Precepts of the Law but shadows How doth he rely on a Priviledge who will not do his duty How blessed a Thing doth she think it to bring forth a Son that can work miracles who knows not what it is to conceive him in her heart who can save her Therefore it is the method of Wisdome it self to present them both unto us in their just and proper weight not to deny what is true but to take off our thoughts and direct them to something better that we may not dote so long on the one as to neglect and cast off the other From wondring at his Miracles Christ calleth us to the contemplation of the greatest miracle that was ever wrought the Redemption of a sinner from his Miracles to his Word for
purged from all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness Vers 21. And in the third place to drive it home he urgeth them to the Practice and full Obedience of what they hear and believe His first reason is Because to hear and not to do is to put a cheat upon our selves to defraud our selves of the true end of Hearing which when we do we must necessarily fall upon a worse end If we hear and not do we shall do that which will destroy us His second reason is taken ab utili from the huge advantage we shall reap by it For Blessedness is entailed not upon the Hearers but the Doers of the Word as you find it in my Text But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein c. In which words you have I. the Character of a true Gospeller of a Christian indeed He looketh into the Gospel and he continueth in it by frequent meditation and by constant obedience by not forgetting and by doing the work which the Gospel enjoyneth This is his Character II. his Crown He shall be blessed in his deed So that here the Apostle taketh the Christian by the hand and pointeth out to him his end namely Blessedness And that he may press forward to it he chalketh out his way before him the Gospel or the doctrine of the Gospel of Christ Here if he walk and make progress here if he remain and persevere the end is Blessedness and it is laid up for him and even expecteth and waiteth to meet him Thus we see it and thus we set forward towards it Doing is the Duty and Blessedness is the Reward These are the Parts In the first the Character of a true Christian you have the Character of the Gospel it self and that one would think a strange one For who would look for Law in the Gospel or who would look for liberty in a Law The Gospel is good news but a Law is terrible we cannot endure to hear that which is commanded And one would think that the Law were vanished with the smoke at mount Sinai And Liberty is a Jubilee bringeth rest and intermission but a Law tieth and fettereth us to hard tasks to be up and doing to labour and pain And yet there is Law in the Gospel and there is Liberty in the Gospel and these two will friendly joyn and comply together and the truest way to liberty is by this Law The Gospel then or the Doctrine of the Gospel is 1. a Law and so requireth our obedience 2. a perfect Law and exacteth a perfect and complete obedience 3. a Law of liberty that our obedience may be free and voluntary And these if we continue to the end will draw on the reward which is the end of all the end of this Law the end of our obedience We shall be blessed in our work We begin with the Character of the Gospel or the doctrine of the Gospel And first we see the Apostle calleth it a Law And though it may seem an improper speech to say the Gospel is Law yet it will bear a good and profitable sense For there is a new Law as well as an old Et lex antiqua suppletur per novam saith Tertullian The old Law receiveth addition and perfection by the new Take it in what sense you please in the best and most pleasing signification it implieth a Law If you take it for a Testament as it is called that is the Will of the Testator Hebr. 7.22 and his will is a Law It is called so mandatum a command an injunction contestatio mentis saith Gellius a declaration of our mind John 17.14 I have given them thy word saith Christ I have delivered all thy mind and will which we are bound to observe as a Law Take it for a Covenant It is called so the new covenant And what is a Covenant but a Law It was a Law upon Christ to do what belonged to his office and it is a Law upon us to do our duties unless we can think that Christ onely was under the Law that we might be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lawless and do what we please Take it as the name importeth for Good news Even that pleasing sound the Angels Anthem the Musick of Heaven may conveigh a Law For what was the good news That we should be delivered from our enemies That is but an imperfect narration but a part of the news The Law is tied as fast to it as we are to the Law That we should serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our life Take it in the Angels words To you is born a Saviour And though TO YOU may take all mankind within its compass and be as large as the whole world yet it is a Law that appropriateth and applieth these words and draweth them down to particulars For though they take in all yet they do not take in a Libertine or lawless person To you a Saviour is no good news to the impenitent sinner to him that will not be obedient to this Law to the Gospel of Christ Facit infidelitas multorum ut non omnibus nascatur qui omnibus natus est saith Ambrose To you a Saviour is born is universally true but Infidelity and Disobedience interpret it against themselves He is not your Saviour unless you receive him with his own conditions and his conditions make a Law and are obligatory For in the last place look upon his promises of Expiation and Pardon and Remission of Life and Eternity look upon them in all their brightness and radiancie and even from thence you may hear a Law as the Israelites did from the thick cloud and thunders For Love may have a Law bound up in it as vvell as Terrour Love hath its commands Indeed it is it self a Law especially the Love of the God of Love who is equal to himself in all his wayes vvhose promises are made as all things else vvhich are made by him in order number and weight vvhose Love and Promises are guided and directed by his Justice and Wisdom He doth not promise to purge those vvho vvill vvallow in the mire or to pardon those vvho vvill ever rebel or to give them life vvho love death or eternal pure spiritual joy to those vvho seek eternity onely in their lusts No his promises are alwayes attended with conditions fitted to that Wisdom that made them and to our condition that receive them He doth not ex conditionibus facere promissiones as some have been bold to say condition vvith us to do his vvill and then turn the condition into a promise but rather ex promissionibus facere conditiones make conditions out of promises For every promise in the Gospel is loaded vvith its condition Thou shalt be saved but it is if thou believe There is lex Fidei the Law of Faith I will give thee a crown of life but it is if thou be faithful
unto death There is lex Factorum the Law of Works For they are not all Credenda in the Gospel all articles of Faith there be Agenda some things to be done Nor is the Decalogue shut out of the Gospel Nay the very articles of our Creed include a Law and in a manner bind us to some duty and though they run not in that imperial strain Do this and live yet they look towards it as towards their end Otherwise to believe them in our own vain and carnal sense vvere enough and the same faith vvould save us vvith vvhich the Devils are tormented No thy Faith to vvhich thou art also bound as by a Law is dead that is is not faith if it do not vvork by a Law Thou believest there is a God Thou art then bound to vvorship him Thou believest that Christ is thy Lord Thou art then obliged to do what he commandeth His Word must be thy Law and thou must fulfill it His Death is a Law and bindeth thee to mortification His Cross should be thy obedience his Resurrection thy righteousness and his Coming to judge the quick and the dead thy care and solicitude In a word in a Testament in a Covenant in the Angel's message in the Promises of the Gospel in every Article of thy Creed thou mayest find a Law Christ's Legacy his Will is a Law the Covenant bindeth thee the Good news obligeth thee the Promises engage thee and every Article of thy Creed hath a kind of commanding and legislative power over thee Either they bind to some duty or concern thee not at all For they are not proposed for speculation but for practice and that consequence vvhich thou mayest easily draw from every one must be to thee as a Law What though honey and milk be under his tongue and he sendeth embassadours to thee and they intreat and beseech thee in his stead and in his name Yet is all this in reference to his command and it proceedeth from the same Love which made his Law And even these beseechings are binding and aggravate our guilt if we melt not and bow to his Law Principum preces mandata sunt the very intreaties of Kings and Princes are as binding as Laws preces armatae intreaties that carry force and power with them that are sent to us as it were in arms to invade and conquer us And if we neither yield to the voice of Christ in his royal Law nor fall down and worship at his condescensions and loving parlies and earnest beseechings we increase our guilt and make sin sinful in the highest degree Nor need we thus boggle at the word or be afraid to see a Law in the Gospel if either we consider the Gospel it self or Christ our King and Lord or our selves who are his redeemed captives and owe him all service and allegeance For first the Gospel is not a dispensation to sin nor was a Saviour born to us that he should do and suffer all and we do what we list No the Gospel is the greatest and sharpest curb that was ever yet put into the mouth of Sin The grace of God saith S. Paul hath appeared unto all men teaching us that is commanding us Tit. 2.11 to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Libertas in Christo non fecit innocentiae injuriam saith the Father Our liberty in Christ was not brought in to beat down innocency before it but to uphold it rather and defend it against all those assaults which flesh and bloud our lusts and concupiscence are ready to make against it Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world He taketh away those sins that are past by remission and pardon but he setteth up a Law as a rampire and bulwork against Sin that it break not in and reign again in our mortal bodies There Christ is said to take away not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sins but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin of the world that is the whole nature of Sin that it may have no subsistence or being in the world If the Gospel had nothing of Law in it there could be no sin under the Gospel For Sin is a transgression of a Law But flatter our selves as we please those are the greatest sins which we commit against the Gospel And it shall be easier in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah then for those Christians who turn the grace of God into wantonness who sport and revel it under the very wings of Mercy who think Mercy cannot make a Law but is busie onely to bestow Donatives and Indulgences who are then most licencious when they are most restrained For what greater curb can there be then when Justice and Wisdom and Love and Mercy all concur and joyn together to make a Law Secondly Christ is not onely our Redeemer but our King and Law-giver As he is the wonderful Counsellour Isa 9 6. Psal 2.6 so he came out of the loyns of Judah and is a Law-giver too Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion The government shall be upon his shoulder He crept not to this honour Isa 9.6 but this honour returned to him as to the true and lawful Lord With glory and honour did God crown him and set him over the works of his hands Heb. 2.7 As he crowned the first Adam with Understanding and freedom of Will so he crowned the second Adam with the full Knowledge of all things with a perfect Will and with a wonderful Power And as he gave to Adam Dominion over the beasts of the field so he gave to Christ Power over things in heaven and things on earth And he glorified not himself Heb. 5.5 but he who said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee he it was that laid the government upon his shoulder Not upon his shoulders For he was well able to bear it on one of them For in him the Godhead dwelleth bodily And with this power he was able to put down all other rule autority and power 1 Cor. â—5 24 to spoil principalities and powers and to shew them openly in triumph to spoil them by his death and to spoil them by his Laws due obedience to which shaketh the power of Hell it self For this as it pulleth out the sting of Death so also beateth down Satan under our feet This if it were universal would be the best exorcism that is and even chase the Devil out of the world which he maketh his Kingdom For to run the way of Christ's commandments is to overthrow him and bind him in chains is another hell in hell unto him Thirdly if we look upon our selves we shall find there is a necessity of Laws to guide and regulate us and to bring us to the End All other creatures are sent into the world with a sense and understanding of the end for which they come and so without particular direction and yet unerringly
from all eternity but in the fulness of time made like unto us But we viles pulli nati infelicibus ovis were miserable naked sinners enemies to God at such a distance from him and so far from the least participation of the Divine nature that we were fallen from our own integrity and first honor and facti similes made like indeed but if a Prophet and a King if David draw our picture similes jumentis quae pereunt Psal 49.20 Let our sorrow and shame interpret it like to the beast that perish But now by Christs assimilation to us we are made like unto God we are exalted by his humiliation raised by his descent magnified by his minoration we are become candidati Angelorum lifted up on high to a sacred emulation of the Angelical estate Yea with songs of triumph we remember it and it is the joy of this Feast we are fratres Domini the brethren of Christ With a mutual aspect Christs Humility looks upon the Exaltation of our nature and our Exaltation looks back again upon Christ and as a well-made picture looks upon him that looks upon it so Christ drawn forth in the similitude of our flesh looks upon us whilst we with joy and gratitude have our eyes set upon him Each answereth other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are parallels Christ made like unto Men and again Men made like unto him so like that they are his Brethren Christ made like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all things which fill up the office of a Redeemer and Men made like unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all things which may be required at the hands of those who are redeemed His obedience lifted him up to the cross and ours must lift us after him and be carried on by his to the end of the world And as we find that Relatives are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is a kind of convertency in these terms Christ and his Brethren Christ like unto his Brethren and these Brethren like unto Christ Christ is ours and we are Christs 1 Cor. 3.23 saith the Apostle and Christ is God's In the next place the Modification It behoved him carries our thoughts to those two common heads or places the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Convenience and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Necessity of it And these two in civil acts are one For what becomes us to do we must do and it is necessary we should do it What should be done is done Impossibilitas juris and it is impossible it should be otherwise say the Civilians because the Law supposeth obedience which is the complement and perfection of the law Now this Debuit again looks equally on both on Christ and on his Brethren If in all things it behoved Christ to be like unto his brethren which is the Benefit Heaven and Earth will conclude Men and Angels will infer That it behoveth us to be made like unto Christ which is the Duty My Text ye see is divided equally between these two terms Christ and his Brethren That which our devotion must contemplate in Christ is 1. his Divine 2. his Humane nature 3. the Union of them both First his Divine nature For we cannot but make a stand and enquire Who he was who ought to do this Secondly his Humane nature For we find him here flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones made like unto us in our flesh in our souls Da siquid ultrà est What can we say more Our Apostle tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all things And then thirdly will follow the Vnion exprest in the passive fieri in his assimilation and the assumption of our nature All these fill us with admiration but the last raiseth it yet higher and should raise our love to follow him in his obedience that it behoved him that the dispensation of so wonderful and catholick a benefit must be thus transacted tanquam ex officio as a matter of duty The end of all is the end of all our Salvation the end of our Creation of our Redemption of this Assimilation and the last end of all the Glory of God This sets an oportet upon Man as well as upon Christ and then his Brethren and He will dwell together in unity Only here is the difference Our obligation is the easier It is but this to be bound and obliged with Christ to set our hands to that bond which he hath sealed with his blood it is no heavy Debet to be like unto him and for his condescension so low to us to raise our selves neerer to him by a holy and diligent imitation of his obedience This will make up our last part and serve for application In the first place in an holy extasie we cry out with the Prophet Isa 63.1 Quis ille qui venit Who is he that cometh Quis ille qui similis Who is he that must be made like unto us Quis fecit is but a resultance from Quid factum est What is done and Who did it are of so neer relation that we can hardly abstract one from the other If one eye be leveld on the fact the other commonly is fixed on the hand that did it Magnis negotiis ut magnis Comoediis edecumati apponuntur actores saith the Orator Great burthens require great strength to bear them Matters of moment are not for men of weak abilities and slight performance nor every Actor for all parts To lead captivity captive to bring prisoners to glory to destroy Death to shut up the gates and mouth of Hell these are Magnalia wonderful things not within the sphere of common activity We see here many sons there were to be brought unto Glory v. 10. but in the way there stood Sin to intercept us the fear of Death to enthral us and the Devil ready to devour us And we what were we Rottenness our mother and worms our brethren lay us in the balance Psal 62.9 lighter then vanity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men fallen below the condition of Men lame and impotent not able to move one step in these wayes of glory living dead men Quis novus Hercules Who will now stand up for us who will be our Captain We may well demand Quis ille who he is Some Angel we may think sent from heaven or some great Prophet No. Inquest is made in this Epistle and neither the Angels nor Moses returned The Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in no wise Glorious creatures indeed they are celestial spirits but yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministring spirits o Nazianz. Orat 43 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 103.21 in all purity serving the God of purity saith Nazianzene not fit to intercede but ready at his beck with wings indeed but not with healing under them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but second lights too weak to enlighten so great a darkness Their light is their obedience and their fairest elogigium
narrow understandings could receive it would not add one hair to our stature and growth in grace That Christ is God and Man that the two Natures are united in the Person of thy Saviour and Mediatour is enough for thee to know and to raise thy nature up to him Take the words as they lye in their native purity and simplicity and not as they are hammered and beat out and stampt by every hand by those who will be Fathers not Interpreters of Scripture and beget what sense they please and present it not as their own but as a child of God Then Lo here is Christ and there is Christ This is Christ and that is Christ Thou shalt see many images and characters of him but not one that is like him an imperfect Christ a half-Christ a created Christ a phansied Christ a Christ that is not the Son of God and a Christ that is not the Son of Man and thus be rowled up and down in uncertainties and left to the poor and miserable comfort of conjecture in that which so far as it concerneth us is so plain easie to be known Do thoughts arise in thy heart do doubts and difficulties beset thee doth thy wit and thy reason forsake thee and leave thee in thy search at a loss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Justine Martyr Thy Faith is the solution and will soon quit thee of all scruples and cast them by thy Faith not assumed or insinuated into thee or brought in as thy vices may be by thy education but raised upon a holy hill a sure foundation the plain and express word of God and upheld and strengthned by the Spirit Christian dost thou believe Thou hast then seen thy God in the flesh from Eternity yet born Invisible yet seen immense yet circumscribed Immortal yet dying the Lord of life yet crucified God and man Christ Jesus Amaze not thy self with an inordinate fear of undervaluing thy Saviour wrong not his Love and call it thy Reverence Why should thoughts arise in thy heart His Power is not the less because his Mercy is great nor doth his infinite Love shadow or eclipse his Majesty For see he counteth it no disparagement to be seen in our flesh nor to be at any loss by being thus like us Our Apostle telleth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was a Decorum in it and it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren That Christ was made like unto us is the joy of this Feast but that he ought to be so is the wonder and extasie of our joy That he would descend is mercy but that he must descend is our astonishment Oportet and Debet are binding terms words of duty Had the Apostle said It behoved us that he should be made like unto us it had found an easy belief the Debuit had been placed in loco suo in its proper place on a sweating brow on dust and putrefaction on the face of a captive All will say it behoved as much But to put a Debet upon the Son of God and make it a beseeming thing for him to become flesh to be made like unto us is as if one should set a Rubie in clay a Diamond in brass a Chrysolith in baser metall and say they are placed well there as if one should worry the lambs for the woolf or take the master by the throat for the debt of a Prodigal and with an Opertet say it should be so To give a gift and call it a Debt is not our usual language On earth it is not but in heaven it is the proper dialect fixed in capital letters on the Mercy-seat It is the joy of this Feast the Angels Antheme SALVATOR NATVS A Saviour is born And if he will be a Saviour an Undertaker a Surety such is the nature of Fidejussion and Suretiship DEBET he must it behoveth him he is as deeply engaged as the party whose Surety he is And oh our numberless accounts that engaged God! Oh our prodigality that made him here come sub ratione debiti Adam had brought God in debt to death to Satan to his own Justice and God in Justice did ow us all to the Grave and to Hell Therefore if he will have us if he will bring his children unto glory he must pay down a price for us Heb. 2.14 he must take us out of his hands who hath the power of death if he will have his own inheritance he must purchase it And let us look on the aptness of the means and we shall soon find that this Foolishness of God as the Apostle calls it is wiser than men 1 Cor. 1.26 and this weakness of God is stronger than men and that the Debuit is right set For medio exsistente conjunguntur extrema If you will have extremes meet you must have a middle line to draw them together And behold here they meet and are made one The proprieties of either Nature being entire yet meet and concentre as it were in one Person Majesty putteth on Humility Power Infirmity Eternity Mortality By the one our Saviour dyeth for us by the other he â—â—seth again By the one he suffereth as Man by the other he conquereth as God by both he perfecteth and consummateth the great work of our Redemption This Debuit reacheth home to each part of the Text First to Christ as God The same hand that made the vessel when it was broken and so broken that there was not one sherd left to fetch water at any pit ought to repair and set it together again that it may receive and contain the water of life Qui fecit nos debuit reficere Our Creation and Salvation must be wrought by the same hand and turned about upon the same wheel Next we may set the debuit upon Christ's Person He is media Persona a middle Person the office therefore will best fit him even the office of Mediatour Further as he is the Son of God and the Image of his Father most proper it may seem for him to repair that Image which was defaced and well near lost in us We had not onely blemished God's Image but set the Devil's face and superscription upon God's coyn For righteousness there was sin for purity pollution for beauty deformity for rectitude perversness for the Man a Beast scarce any thing left by which God might know us Venit Filius ut iterum signet The Son cometh and with his blood reviveth the first character marketh us with his own signature imprinteth the graces of God upon us maketh us current money and that his Father may know us and not cast us off for refuse silver sheweth him his face Indeed the Father and the holy Ghost dignified the Flesh but took it not filled it with their Majesty but not with their Persons wrought in the Incarnation but were not Incarnate As three may weave a garment and but one wear it as Hugo And as in Musick saith St.
spiritual wisdome which is that Salt which every Teacher should have in himself Matth. 5.13 Mark 9.50 to urge and press it to the multitude who are too ready to make an idol of that Serpent which is lifted up to cure them For how many weak hands and feeble knees and cowardly hearts hath this made How willing are we to hear of weakness and impossibilities because we would not keep the Law How oft do we lye down with this thought and do nothing or rather run away with it even against the Law it self and break it What polluted blind impotent cripled wretches are we ready to call our selves which were indeed a glorious confession were it made out of hatred to sin But most commonly these words are sent forth not from a broken but a hollow heart and comfort us rather than accuse us are rather flatteries then aggravation the oyl of sinners to break their heads and to infatuate them not to supple their limbs but benum them And they beget no other Resolution in us but this Not to gird up our loins because we are weak To sin more and more because we cannot but sin Not to do what God requireth because we have already concluded within our selves that it is impossible To conclude this The question is not Whether we can exactly keep a Law so as not to fail sometimes as men for I know no reason why this question should be put up but Whether we can keep it so far forth as God requireth and in his goodness will accept Whether we can be just and merciful and humble men And if this be impossible then will follow as sad an impossibility of being saved For the not doing what God requireth is that alone which shutteth the gates of Heauen against us and cutteth off all hope of eternal happiness And this were to unpeople Heaven this were a Dragons tail to draw down all the stars and cast them into hell But the Saints are sealed and have this seal That they did what God required And it is a thing so far from being impossible that the Prophet maketh but a But of it It is not impossible it is but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God Secondly it is so far from being impossible that it is but an easie duty My yoke is easie Matth. 11.30 saith our Saviour and my burden light For it is fitted to our necks and shoulders and is so far from taking from our nature or pressing it with violence that it exalteth and perfecteth it All is in putting it about our necks Prov 1.9 and then this yoke is an ornament of grace as Solomon's chain about them And when this burden is layd on then it is not a burden but our Form to quicken us and our Angel to guide us with delight in all our waies And this the beloved Disciple suckt from his Master's bosome 1 John 5.3 This is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous For here is Love and Hope to sweeten them and make them easie and pleasant Nor doth he speak this as an Oratour to take men by craft by telling them that that which he exhorted them to was neither impossible nor difficult and so give force to his exhortation and make a way for it to enter and work a full perswasion in them to be obedient to those commands but as a Logician he backeth and establisheth his affirmation with an undeniable reason in the next verse For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and so his commandments are not grievous to those who have the true knowledge of God He that is born of God must needs have strength enough to pass through all hindrances whatsoever to tread down all Principalities and Powers to demolish all imaginations which set up and oppose themselves and so make these commands more grievous then they are in their own nature And this he strengthneth with another reason in the next verse For he that is born of God hath the help and advantage of Faith and full perswasion of the power of Jesus Christ which is that victory which overcometh the world So that whosoever saith the commandments are grievous with the same breath excommunicateth himself from the Church of Christ and maketh himself an hypocrite and professeth he is that which he is not a Christian when Christ's words are irksome and tedious unto him that he is born of God when he hath neither the language nor the motion of a child of God doth not what God requireth but doth the works of another father the Devil When men therefore pretend they cannot do what God requireth they should change their language for the truth is they will not If they would there were more for them then against them Salvian Totum durum est quicquid imperatur invitis To an unwilling mind every command carrieth with it the fearful shew of difficulty Mavult execrari legem quà m emendari mentem praecepta odisse quà m vitia A wicked man mavult emendare Deos quà m seipsum saith Seneca had rather condemn the Law then reform his life rather hate the precept then his sin Continence is a hard lesson but to the wanton Liberality to a Miser Temperance to a Glutton Obedience to a Factious and Rebellious spirit All these things are hard to him that loveth not Christ But where there is will there is strength enough Cant. 8 6. and Love is stronger then Death What was sweeter then Manna Isid Pelus 2. ep 67. what sooner gathered yet the children of Israel murmured at it What more bitter then Hunger and Imprisonment yet S. Paul rejoyced in them Nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wickedness in its own nature is a troublesome and vexations thing Vitia magno coluntur saith Seneca Scarce any sin we commit but costeth us dear What more painful then Anger what more perplext and tormenting then Revenge what more intangled then Lust what can more disquiet us then Ambition what more fearful then Cruelty what sooner disturbed then Pride Nay further yet How doth one sin incroch and trespass upon another I fling off my Pleasure and Honour to make way to my Revenge I deny my Lust to further my Ambition and rob my Covetousness to satisfie my Lust and forbear one sin to commit another and so do but versuram facere borrow of one sin to lay it out on another binding and loosing my self as my corruption leadeth me but never at ease Tell me Which is easier saith the Father to search for wealth in the bowels of the earth nay in the bowels of the poor by oppression then to sit down content with thy own night and day to study the world or to embrace Frugality to oppress every man or to relieve the oppressed to be busie in the Market or to be quiet at home to take other mens goods or to give my own to be
observe that most of those precepts delivered there tend to Honesty and Sincerity of conversation with men Blessed are the merciful Blessed are the peace-makers Be not angry Let your Yea be yea and your Nay be nay These short precept leave no room for Fraud and Deceit for that which is called Dolus malus when our Yea is Nay and our Nay Yea one thing is said and another meant one thing is pretended and another done The Apostles are frequent in urging this duty For Christianity was so far from disannulling those precepts of Morality and mutual conversation which the Philosophers by the light of Nature delivered and transmited to posterity that the ancient Christians as learned Grotius observeth Proleg ad 1. de Jure belli pacis though they were not devoted to any one Sect of them yet observing that as there was no Sect which had found out all truth so also there was not one of them which had not discovered some did take the pains to collect and gather into a body what was here and there diffused and scattered in their several writings and did think this a fair commentary on the practick part of the Gospel and a sufficient expression of that discipline which Christians by their very title and profession were bound to observe You may read them in the Philosophers but they are the precepts of Christ And this is the true face of Christianity See Serm 20. For no other foundation can any man lay then that which is laid Christ Jesus 1 Cor. 3.11 Now every foundation should bear something not Wood and Hay and Stubble but Gold and Silver and Pretious stones Fraud and Violence and Injustice cannot lye upon that foundation which is laid in Truth and in Mercy and in Justice 2 Cor. 5.21 nor upon that Saviour who knew no sin who had this Elogium from his very enemies Mat. 7.37 Joh. 18.38 19.4 6. That he had done all things well and that there was no fault to be found in him No upon this foundation you must lay such materials as are like unto it Innocency and Truth and Righteousness That these might grow up and flourish amongst the sons of men Christ watered them with his blood which was shed for the Oppressour that he might be merciful for the Dissembler that he might speak truth for the Deceitful person that he might be just in all his wayes and righteous in all his dealings for the Violent person that he might do no more wrong And if it have not this effect it is his blood still but not to save us but to be upon us to our condemnation For it is strange that Christs blood should produce nothing but a speculative and a phansied and an usurped faith a faith which should keep those evils in life which he dyed to take away a faith which should suffer those sins and irregularities to grow and grow bold and pass in triumph which he came to root out of the earth and to banish out of the world Hebr. 11.1 Faith is the substance and expectation of a future and better condition but we do not use to expect a thing and have no eye upon the means of attaining it Can we expect to fly without wings or go a journey without feet No more can we hope ever to enter those heavens wherein dwelleth Righteousness if we have no other conduct but Faith Faith so poorly and miserably attended with Fraud Deceit Injustice and Violence For who shall dwell in the holy hill Psal 15. He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart He that doth no evil to his neigbour that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not It is strange then that there should be so many Oppressours in the world and so many Saints that so many should forfeit their Honesty and yet count their Election sure that they who are like enough to do as the Jews did crucifie Christ if he were on the earth should yet hope to be saved by his blood For if you should ask me what the true property of a Christian were Faith alway supposed which is the ground and foundation of all I could not find any virtue which doth more fairly decipher or more fully express him then Sincerity and Uprightness of conversation Which saith Climachus Seal Paradisi grad 1. is virtus sine varietate a virtue which is ever like unto it self and maketh us so which doth not look divers waies at once both towards Samaria and Jerusalem doth not profess a benefit when it studieth ruine cloath hatred with a smile and a purpose to deceive with fair language and large promises make up words of butter which at last prove to be very swords but is like the Topaz Si polis obscuras if you polish it you obscure and darken it but if you leave it as Nature presenteth it it casteth the brighter lustre And if you ask me the embleme of a Christian Matth. 10.16 our Saviour hath already given one the Dove whose feathers are silver white not speckled as a bird of divers colours whose eyes are single and direct not leering as a Fox nor looking divers waies animal simplex non felle amaâ—um non morsil us saevum saith Cyprian an innocent and harmless bird no bird of prey without gall not cruel to fight having no talons to lay hold on the prey so far from doing wrong that he knoweth not how to do it Quintilian observeth Lib. 1. Insti c. 14. de Grammat off Inter virtutes Grammatici est nescire quaedam that it is to be summed up amongst the virtues of a Grammarian to be ignorant of some particular nice impertinences So is it a part of a Christians Integrity and Simplicity not to be acquainted with the wiles and devises and stratagemes of the world to be a non proficient in the Devils Politicks to hear the language of the children of this world as a strange tongue and understand it not not to know what cannot make him better and may make him worse not to know that which we may wish buried in oblivion and darkness never to be seen or known of any For what glory can it be to be well seen in the arts of Legerdemain What praise is it to be that which I cannot hear from others with patience an unjust and deceitful and dishonest man For to conclude this it is far worse to do unjustly then to be reproached for doing so far worse to be dishonest then to be called by that name far worse to be a thief or a traytour then to be hanged for it For between the evil of Action and the evil of Passion there is no comparison The evil of Passion may have a good end it may be medicinal cure the sinner if not set an end to his wickedness but the evil of Action hath no end but damnation no wages but death and that too hath no
reipub ut quis re suâ bene utatur Private diligence is a publick good and the careful managing of every mans estate is advantageous to the whole And last of all he robbeth his own soul of the service and ministery of his body which was made a servant to it He robbeth his soul of his soul of all the power and activity it hath which serveth for no use but to carry him to a feast and from thence to his bed where he lyeth the picture and representation of himself of what he was when he was awake And he will be yet more like himself when he is in his grave For here he is but a walking talking breathing shadow nay dead compassed about with stench and rottenness whilst many evil spirits hover over his grave many temptations are ready to seize on him and we may say of him as Seneca did of his friend Vatia Epist 55. Hîc situs est In this world he doth not live but is buried I might here bring to this bar those cloystered Monks and Friars who leave the World as men do Virtue and Learning not because they loath and detest it but because the way thereunto is hard and rugged leave the World to enter into a Paradise where all things grow up of themselves Of many of them that of Martine Luther who was himself once a Monk is true Monachos ignavia fecit Idleness hath made more Monks then Religion who leave not the World for Christ but shadow themselves under their Coul and his Name that they may the more quietly enjoy it But to pass by these as none of the Horizon a sort of Christians there are and they think themselves of the best sort We may call them Monks at large as idle as they but not cloystered up Who though they labour for the things of this world because they love them well yet look not upon their labour as any acceptable service to God but break it off many times most unnecessarily and leave their duty behind them to go up with the Pharisee into the Temple not to pray but to hear a Sermon and then return back to their shop and commend and confute it hear and do not but do the contrary They call it Devotion but it is the Itch and Wantonness of the Ear which wasteth their Devotion and sometimes their estates This they delight in and this is their Religion nothing but words and noyse To this they sacrifice their time which is due to their calling and then too oft redeem it with fraud and cousenage which hath so often been presented to them as the gall of bitterness even in the dish which they love The word of God can we hear it too oft Yes if we do not practice it or if we practice the contrary if we can go from the Mount and break the Law whilst yet the thunder is in our ear I may ask with the Apostle Is all the body Hearing Doth all Religion dwell in the Ear Nay 1 Cor. 12.17 I will add further Doth all Religion consist in Prayer For what I must answer these men as S. Augustine did the Monks in his time are we not bound alike to all the precepts of God De Oper. Monach or may we lay out all our time in the performance of one duty and leave none for the rest Shall the Ear rob the Tongue and the Tongue the Hand Shall one duty swallow up another Si ab his avocandi non sumus nec manducandum est If we may not sometimes break off our devotion we must break another precept which bindeth us to work with our hands Sudaus messor psalmis se avocat curva attundens vites falce vinitor aliquod Davidicum canit Hieron Marcell And yet we need not so break it off but that we may carry it along with us even carry the savour of it which may mingle it self with the actions of our calling and so perfume them and make them pleasing and acceptable to God Arator stivam tenens Hallelujah cantat saith S. Hierome The Husbandman may pray and praise the Lord and sing an Hallelujah at the plough-tail and so may the Smith with the hammer in his hand And certainly if we would entertein them Religion and Devotion would wait upon us even in our shops and be the best attendants we have would make us honest and make us rich Palladius in his Lausiaca telleth us of a certain virgin who said seven hundred prayers in a day Take the gloss in the margent for it much took me when I first read it Decem orationes constitutae publicis rebus occupato non minoris pretii sunt quà m tercentum nihil agentis Ten prayers saith the Gloss made by a man imployed in publick affairs or in his own private calling are of as high an esteem and of force as available as three hundred conceived or uttered by him who doth nothing but pray I may be bold to adde He that heareth but one Sermon and meditateth thereon and repeateth and acteth it over in his life labouring painfully and honestly in his calling is more pleasing and acccptable to God then he that neglecteth his calling and if it were possible in one weak heareth an hundred And if you will not take my word I doubt not but you will give some respect to S. Augustines reason Citiùs exauditur una obedientis oratio quà m decem millia contemptoris One prayer of an obedient man who walketh in his calling according to the rule shall be sooner heard of God then ten thousand from him who maketh his Diligence to keep one commandment a priviledge and warrant to break the rest For what folly is it ut quod bonum est frequentiùs audiatur ideò facere nolle quod auditur under pretense of having time to hear to take no time at all to practice that truth which is heard But the devout Sluggard may perhaps find something in Scripture which may serve him as a pillow to sleep on For as the Covetous person can cull out certain thrifty Texts to countenance his Covetousness as that 1 Tim. 5.8 He that provideth not for his family is worse then an infidel and Let not him that laboureth not eat 2 Thess 3.10 Matth. 6.25 34. John 6.27 De Jejunio so hath the Idle and negligent person his as Take no care for the morrow Take no care for your life Labour not for the meat that perisheth Thus as Tertullian speaketh they can draw the Scripture either way ut haec restringere fraenos illae laxare videatur either to give a check or to let loose the reins to Idleness and Sloth But the Scripture is truth in every part and one part cannot contradict another For we may work with our hands and yet care no more for the morrow then if it were no part of time then if it were nothing and for ought we know it is so for who can say
as a Command and as S. Pauls Command First it cometh under command Which leaveth it not to us to do when and how we please but maketh it necessary to be observed as necessary for us to do as to Believe in Christ For howsoever we may count these as petty duties and of a lower form yet our blessed Saviour putteth an high esteem upon them yea upon the least title and Iota of them Matth. 5.19 and telleth us plainly that if any shall break one of these least commandments which regulate our conversation with men he shall be called the least in the kingdome of heaven that is shall be of no esteem at all shall be shut out of that Kingdom And indeed a strange thing it may seem that Faith and Hearing and Prayer and Fasting and many times but the formality of them should make up the main Battalia in our spiritual Warfare Judg. 7.6 7. as those three hundred did in Gideon's army and those homiletical virtues Silence Peaceableness Honesty Meekness Doing our own business Industry in our calling like those who lapped not should be left behind as not fit for service Matth. 16.18 It is true the Church is founded upon a rock upon Faith in Christ but then Faith implyeth Practice even the practice of those virtues which concern us as members of the Commonwealth as well as of the Church For the Commonwealth is not in the Church but the Church in the Commonwealth for every Commonwealth is not Christian 1 Tim. 3.5 And as S. Paul telleth us that he that knoweth not how to rule his own house is not fit to take care of the Church no more can he who at pleasure breaketh these tyes and ligaments with which Nature and Religion have linkt him in a body politick and that many times under pretense of Religion boast or comfort himself in his relation to Christ He that is not a good member of the Commonwealth is not a true member of the Church He that is not a good Servant or a good Master a good Governour or a good Subject he that is not a Just dealer an honest Tradesman a faithful Labourer he that loveth not his neighbour as himself he that is not quiet and peaceable and industrious let him deceive himself as he please can have nothing but the name of a Christian For what will Hearing onely or Praying or Fasting lye upon this foundation 1 Cor. 3.10 11. Was Jesus Christ laid as the foundation onely to bear up speculative and phansiful men onely to bear up Pharisees and Hypocrites Will not Discretion and seasonable Silence and Honesty and Diligence in our calling concurre to that superstructure which must rise up as high as heaven Will our Eye or Tongue or Ear or Knee or Phansie bow and incline God and will he not once look down upon our Order upon our peaceable and honest Conversation with men Is Religion turned Anchorete and shut up within our selves there onely to listen after words and sounds and breathe them out again and must not she come forth to order our steps amongst men May she not be seen in a settled Mind and Eye in a labouring Hand as well as in an open Ear and a busie Tongue which speaketh loud and oft of Gods Kingdom when we do those things which will shut us out Let us not deceive our selves To be quiet to meddle in our own business to labour with our hands are sub praecepto under command and binding tendred to us and prescribed as a Law Indeed Nature and Reason one would think should bind us and guide our motion in that sphere or place wherein we are fixt For why should not every man be what he is made to be And although I do not think that every command in the Gospel is juris naturalis and so made known to us by the light of Nature for Nature certainly could not teach us to dye for our brethren 1 John 3.16 which yet the Gospel doth yet there is nothing commanded there which carryeth not with it a natural dignity and beseemingness Vide Grot. l. 1. de Jure Belli pacis c. 12. §. 6. to which with a little instruction and upon serious consideration we shall willingly subscribe And these duties which we now speak of may seem clearly to issue from those dictates of Nature That we should do to others as we would be done to That all things should be done decently and to edification That nothing should be done against conscience which had been of force for the ordering of mens actions of this nature though the Scripture had never expressed them and were of force before the Gospel was written and did bind us not onely because they were written but because they were just For why should he who would not be spoiled himself rob another Why should he who maketh his house his castle be so ready to invade and break into his neighbours Why should he who is even sick of a cheat be so ready to put one upon another Why should he that would be quiet at home be so troublesome abroad Why should not Ahab be as willing to part with his crown as to take Naboths vineyard But Christ the best Master and Lawgiver that ever was came not to destroy but to perfect Nature not to blot out those common notions which we brought into the world with us but to make them more legible to improve them and so make them his Law And if we look upon them as not belonging to us we our selves cannot belong to the Covenant of grace for even these duties are weaved in and made a part of the Covenant and if we break the one we break the other and not onely if we believe not but if we live not peaceably Heb. 3.18 if we stretch beyond our line if we labour not in our calling Rom. 12.18 we shall not enter into his rest For these also are his Laws 2 Cor. 10.14 15. and these doth our blessed Apostle teach and command And to conclude such a power hath Christ left in his Church conferred it first on his Apostles and then on those who were to succeed and supply their place who were to speak after them in the person and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ We will not dispute now what power it is It is sufficient to say it is not an earthly but a heavenly power derived from Christ himself the Fountain and Original of all Power whatsoever As Christs Kingdom is not of this world Joh. 18.36 so is not this Power of that nature as to stand in need of an army of souldiers to defend and hold it up but it is like the object and matter it worketh upon spiritual a power to command to remember every man of his duty in Church or Commonwealth For the Church and Commonwealth are two distinct but not contrary things and both powers were ordained to uphold and defend
spring and beginner of all motion towards it Lord what Rhetorick what Commanding eloquence is there in that which is but probable nay many times in that which is most improbable if it carry any shew of probability with it Nay if it do not our ardent affections supply all deficiencies in the object and hurry us along to do that which when the heat is over we could easily see could not be done How doth Love carry us as it were on the wing to lay hold on that which we must needs know is out of our reach It is but probable that Industry will make us rich How do we toyl and sweat It is but probable that Flattery will lift us up on high and making our selves little will make us great Lord how do we strive to mishape and disguise and contract our selves What dwarfs what minims will we appear How do we call contumelies favours and feed on injuries onely because we are told that Potentates will make them Lords that make themselves their slaves Probability is the hand that turneth every wheel the Intelligence which moveth every sphere and every man in it Hearken to the busie noise of all the world behold the hollow look the pale and careful countenance the speaking and negotiating eye and the active hand see men digging sweating travelling shouldring and treading one another under foot and if you would know what worketh all this behold it is nothing but that which hangeth in Futurition that which is but probable and uncertain And if Probability have such Power and force in other things why should it not in this especially the evidence being so fair and clear that it is impossible to find out or set up any better against it which might raise any doubting in us and make us disbelieve it To a true believer DOMINVS VENIET The Lord will come is enough Nor need he seek any further A further inquiry to be assured of the time is but inquieta inertia a troublesome sloth and busie negligence like Ixion's wheel to turn us about where we shall never fasten and rest but be circled about in a giddy and uneffective motion Thirdly the knowledge of the very hour can be of no use at all to forward and carry on that which we are now to do Non prodest scire sed metuere futura saith Tully To know that which is to come is of no use but to fear it If I know it and not fear it I do but look upon it as to come And that doth but leave us setled in our lees This leaveth the Covetous in the mine the Revenger in his wrath the Wanton in the strumpets arms If we confess he will come and are not startled what a poor squib would that be if we should be told he would come at such an hour what a long hour should we make it how should we extend and thrust it back to all eternity Prov. 6.10 Yet a little sleep a little slumber For Poverty is in arms and coming but not yet come Yet let me grind the poor saith the Oppressour Yet let me crown my self with roses saith the Luxurious Yet a little more dalliance saith the Wanton Yet let me boast in mischief saith the Man of power Whilest we consider things in the future fit ut illud futurum semper sit futurum imò fortassis nunquam futurum saith the Father that which is to come will be alwaies to come nay peradventure we shall think at last that it will never come All futures are contingents with us and at last are nothing Time flieth away and will stay its course neither for the delaier nor the uncautelous and therefore our Lord who knoweth what is sufficient and best for us would not let us know any more Quod à Christo dicitur totum est That which he hath taught us is all that we can learn If the knowledge of the precise hour of his coming would add but one cubit to our stature and growth in grace Christ would have left it behind written in the fairest character but it is hid from our eyes for our advantage that by the doubtful and pendulous expectation of the hour our Faith might be put to the trial whether it be a languishing and dead faith or fides armata Tert. de Anima c. 33. a faith in arms and upon its watch ut semper diem observemus dum semper ignoramus that whilst we know not when it will be it may present it self unto us every moment to affront and aw us in every motion and be as our task-master to over-see us and bind us to our duty that we may fulfill our work Phil. 2.12 and work out our salvation with fear and trembling that our whole life may be as the Vigils and Eve and the hour of Christs coming the first hour of an everlasting Holy-day Lastly there is no reason why it should be known neither in respect of the good nor of the evil For the good Satìs est illis credere It is enough for them that they believe 2 Cor. 5.7 They walk by faith saith the Apostle and in their way behold the promises and comminations of the Lord and in them as in a glass behold heaven and hell the horrour of the one and the glory of the other And this sight of the object which they have by the eye of faith is as powerful to work in them obedience as if Heaven it self should fly open and discover all to them To the true believer Christ to come and Christ now coming in the clouds are in effect but one object for Faith seeth plainly the one in the other the last hour in the first the world at an end in the prediction But to evil and wicked men to men who harden themselves in sin no evidence is clear enough and Light it self is Darkness What they naturally know Jude 10. and what they can preach unto themselves in that they corrupt themselves and give their Senses leave to lead them to all uncleanness whilst Reason which should command is put behind and never hearkned to These are as brute Beasts in spite of all they have of Man within them And if they believe Christ's coming and will not turn back and bow and obey their Reason they would remain the same beasts or worse though they knew the very hour of his coming After all those judgements Pharaoh was still the same After the Rivers turned into blood after Frogs and Lice after the Plague on man and beast after every plague which came thick as line upon line precept upon precept after all these the effect and conclusion was Pharaoh hardned his heart was Pharaoh still the same Tyrant Exod. 10.27 Num 22. 2 Pet. 2.15 till he was drowned in the Red sea Balaam though the Ass forbad his folly and the Angel forbad it though the sword was drawn against him and brandisht in his very face that he bowed on the
corruption of our hearts findeth something in Faith her self to abate and weaken her force and power and to take off her activity and so maketh the very object of Faith an encouragement to evil and which is a sad speculation the Mercy of God a kind of temptation to sin Merey is a precious oyntment and mercy breaketh our head Mercy blotteth out sin and Mercy reviveth it Mercy is our hope and Mercy is made our confusion We should sin no more Psal 136. but we do sin more and more because his mercy endureth for ever We are the worse for the Goodness of God We post to destruction because he is said to make hast to help us We turn the grace of God into wantonness and make this Queen of his glorious Attributes to wait on our lust Of a covering a purging a healing a saving I tremble to speak it we make it a damning Mercy For had we not abused it had we not relied upon it too much had we not laid upon it all our uncleanness our impenitency our wilful obstinacy in sin it would have upheld us and lifted us up as high as heaven but our bold presumption layeth hold on it and it flingeth us off and we fall from it into the bottomless pit This then we may take for a sufficient reason why our Apostle putteth not Faith into his description of pure Religion In the next place as he doth not mention Faith so he passeth by in silence rather then forgetteth those other excellent duties Prayer and Hearing of the Word For whatsoever high esteem we put upon these two howsoever we magnifie them till they are nothing till our selves are worse than nothing worse than the beasts that perish yet are they not the end And their end is perdition who make them so and who think that to ask a blessing is to have it when they put it from them or that to hear of God is to love him and to hear of that happiness which he hath laid up is to be in Paradise The perfection of the creature saith the Philosopher is ad naturae suae finem pervenire to attain to the end for which he was made And the end of the Christian is to be like unto Christ that where he is he may be also That is his end John 14.3 that is his perfection Now to draw this home these two to Hear and to Pray do not make us like unto Christ but are means to renew the image of God in us that so we may resemble him They are not the haven to which we are bound but are prosperous and advantageous windes to carry us to it Quod per se bonum est semper est bonum That which is good in it self and for it self is alwayes good as true Piety true Religion but those duties which tend to it have their raward or punishment as they reach or miss of that end What is Hearing if it beget not obedience what are Prayers if they be but the calves of our lips Oh it is a sad question to be asked when we shall see Christians full of malice and deceit Have they not heard Rom. 10.18 They have heard that Malice shall destroy the wicked that Deceit is an abomination that Oppression shall eat them up yet will be such monsters as if they had never heard Oh it is a sad expostulation to the wicked Have they not heard And as sad a return may be made to prayers We may stretch out our hands Isa 1.15 and God hide his eyes from us we may make many prayers and he not hear We may lift up our hands and voice unto heaven and our minds stay below wallowing in the mire of foul pollutions mixt and ingendred with the vanities of the world For as we may fast to strife and debate Isa 58.4 so we may pray to strife and debate As there may be a politick Fast so our Prayer may have more in it of craft than devotion We may make it a trade a craft an occupation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stoutly labour and hold out Rom 12.12 Matth. 11.12 23 14. not to take the kingdome of heaven but to devour widows houses We may make this Key of the gates of heaven become a picklock to open chests and so debase it to most vile offices which is a sin cujus non audeo dicere nomen for which I have no name bad enough And what is Prayer then What are the Means if we rest in them as in the end what are they if we draw and force them to a bad end what are they if we make no use of them at all or make this sad and fatall use of them if our Prayers bring down a curse if our Hearing flatter us in our disobedience if we hear and pray and perish These and whatsoever else of this nature have all their worth and efficacy from Religion from Charity to our selves and others These are the wings on which our Prayers ascend and mount up to the presence of God to bring down a blessing from thence These sanctifie our Fasts These open the ears of the deaf Matth. 13.14 that hearing they may hear and understand These consecrate our Pulpits and are the best panegerycks on our Sermons making them indeed the word of God Hebr. 4.12 powerful in operation Without these our Prayers are but babling and the Sermons which we hear are but so many libels against us or as so many knells and sad indications that they that hear them are condemned and dead already To visite the fatherless and widows in affliction that is To be full of good works to renounce and abstain from the pleasures of the world for those pleasures we dote on those riches we sweat for are those that bespot us is a far harder task then to say a hundred Pater nosters to continue our prayers as S. Paul did his preaching until midnight Acts 20.7 or to hear a Sermon every day Bid the wanton leave the lips of the harlot bid the ambitious make himself equal to them of low degree Rom. 12.16 1 Tim. 6.18 bid the mammonist be rich in good works and if they do not openly profess it yet the conjecture will be easy and probable that the wanton will chuse rather to fast twice in the week with the Pharisee than to make himself an eunuch for the kingdome of heaven Luke 18.12 Matth. 19.12 the ambitious and covetous will rather say their prayers for such can but say them then to stay themselves in the eager pursuit of their ends but so long as to give an almes the ambitious will pray and hear and do any thing rather than fall lower and the Miser will chain his ears to the pulpit rather than open them to the complaint of the poor Orat. ad Ditescentes S. Basil observed long since 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that he knew many who without
on them If his gracious and earnest call his Turn and his Turn will not turn us he hath placed Death in the way the King of terrours to affright us If we be not willing to dye we must be willing to turn If we will hear Reason we must hearken to his Voice And if he thus sendeth his Prophets and his voice from heaven after us if he make his Justice and Mercy his joynt Commissioners to force us back if he invite us to turn and threaten us if we do not turn either Love or Fear must prevail with us to turn with all our hearts And in this is set forth the singular mercy of our most gracious God Parcendo admonet ut corrigamur poenitendo Before he striketh he speaketh When he bendeth his bow when his deadly arrows are on the string yet his warning flieth before his shaft his word is sent out before the judgment the lightning is before his thunder Ecce saith Origen antequam vulneramur monemur When we as the Israelites here are running on into the very jaws of Death when we are sporting with our destruction in articulo mortis when Death is ready to seise on us and the pit openeth her mouth to take us in the Lord calleth and calleth again Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes And if all this be too little if we still venture on and drive forward in forbidden and dangerous wayes he draweth a sword against us and setteth before us the horrour of death it self Why will ye die Still it is his word before his blow his Convertimini before his Moriemini his praelusoria arma before his decretoria his blunt before his sharp his exhortations before the sentence Non parcit ut parcat non miseretur ut misereatur He is full in his expressions that he may be sparing in his wrath He speaketh words clothed with death that we may not die and is so severe as to threaten death that he may make room for his mercy and not inflict it Why will ye die There is virtue and power in it to quicken and rowse us up to drive us out of our evil wayes that we may live for ever This is the sum of the words The parts are two 1. an Exhortation 2. an Obtestation or Expostulation or a Duty and a Reason urging and inforcing that Duty The Exhortation or Duty is plain Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes The Obtestation or Reason as plain Why will ye dye O house of Israel I call the Obtestation or Expostulation a Reason and good reason I should do so For the Moriemini is a good Reason That we may not dye a good Reason why we should turn But it being tendred to us by way of expostulation it is another Reason and maketh the Reason operative and full of efficacy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reason invincible and unanswerable For this very Expostulation is an evidence fair and plain enough that God would not have us die and then it is as plain that if we die we have killed and destroyed our selves against his will Of these two in their order And first of the Exhortation and Duty In which we shall pass by these steps or degrees 1. We will look up upon the Authour and consider whose Exhortation it is 2. Upon the Duty it self and 3. in the last place upon that pugnacem calorem that lively and forcible heat of iteration and ingemination Turn ye turn ye the very life and soul of Exhortation And first we ask Quis Who is he that is thus urgent and earnest And as we read it is Ezekiel the Prophet And of Prophets S. Peter telleth us that they spake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet 1.21 as they were moved by the holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bas in Isai 1. And they received the word non auribus sed animis not by the hearing of the ear but by inspiration and immediate revelation by a divine character and impression made in their souls So that this Exhortation to repentance will prove to be an Oracle from heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine and celestial remedy the prescript of Wisdome it self and to have been written with the finger of God And indeed we shall find that this duty of Turning the true nature of Repentance was never taught in the School of Nature never found in its true effigies and image in all its lines and dimensions in the books of the Heathen The Aristotelians had their Expiations the Platonicks their Purgations the Pythagoreans their Erinnys but not in relation to God or his Divine goodness and providence Tert. De poenit Aratione ejus tantum abfuerunt quantum à rationis autore They were as far to seek of the true reason and nature of Repentance as they were of the God of Reason himself Many useful lessons they have given us and some imperfect descriptions of it but those did rise no higher then the spring from whence they did flow the treasure of Nature and therefore could not lift men up to the sight of that peace and rest which is eternal They were as waters to refresh them and indeed they that tasted deepest of them had most ease and by living 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the directions of Nature gained that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that peace and composedness of mind which they 〈…〉 Happiness and which was all they could attain to Tully and Câ—â—â—â—â— not such divided and distracted souls as Cataline and Cethegus Aristot l. 1. Eth. c. 13. 〈◊〉 had not those ictus laniatus those gashes and rents in his heart 〈◊〉 had Even their dreams were more sweet and pleasant then those of other men as being the resultancies and echos of those virtuous actions which they drew out in themselves by no other hand then that of Nature which looked not beyond that frailty which she might easily discover in her self and so measured out their happiness but by the Span by this present life Or if she did see a glimpse and faint shew of a future estate she did but see and guess at it and knew no more Reason it self did teach them thus much that Sin was unreasonable Nature it self had set a mark upon it omne malum aut timore aut pudore suffudit had either struck Vice pale Tert. De poenit or died it in a blush did either loose the joynts of sinners or change their countenance and put them in mind of their deviation from her rules by the shame of the fact and the fear they had to be taken in it These two made up that fraenum naturae that bridle of Nature to give wicked men a check and make them turn but not unto the Lord. For were there neither heaven nor hell neither reward nor punishment yet whilst we carry about with us this light of Reason Sin must needs have a foul face being so unlike unto Reason And if
to shun the least suspicion of offense Hitr. ad Pammach Marcel nè quod fortuitò fecit consultò facere videretur lest what might formerly be imputed to chance or infirmity may now seem to proceed from wilfulness So when we turn and God is pleased so far to condescend as to take us to his favour and of enemies not onely make us his servants but call us his friends it will then especially concern us to abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thess 5.22 to suspect every object as the Devil's lurking-place in which he lieth in wait to betray us lest we may seem to have begged pardon of our sins not out of hatred but out of love unto them and to have left our sins for a time to commit them afresh We are bound now not onely in a bond of common duty but of gratitude For God's free favour is numella as a clog or yoke to chain and fetter and restrain us from sin that we commit not that every day for which we must beg pardon every day A reason of this we may draw from the very Love of God For the Anger of God in a manner is the effect and product of his Love He is angry if we sin because he loved us he is displeased when we yield to temptations because he loved us and his Anger is the hotter because his Love was excessive As the Husband who most affectionately loveth the wife of his youth Prov. 5.19 and would have her be as the loving hinde and pleasant roe but to himself alone will not allow so much love from her as may be conveyed in a look or glance of an eye is jealous of her very looks of her deportment of her garments and will have her to behave her self with that modesty and strangeness ut quisquis videat metuat accedere that no man may be so bold as to come so near as to ask the question or make mention of love and all because he most affectionately loveth her So much nay far greater is the love of God to our souls which he hath married unto himself in whom he desireth to dwell and take delight and so dearly he loveth them that he will not divide with the World and the Flesh but is straight in passion if we cast but a favourable look upon that sin by which we first offended him if we come but near to that which hath the shew of a rival or adversary But if we let our desires loose and fall from him and embrace the next temptation which wooeth us then he counteth us guilty of spiritual whoredome and adultery his jealousie is cruel as the grave Cant. 8.4 and his jealousie which is an effect of his Love shall smoke against us First it was Love and Jealousie lest we might tender our service to strange Gods cast our affections upon false Riches and deceitful Pleasures and now we have left Life for Death preferred that which first wounded us before him that cured us it is Anger and Indignation that he should lose us whom he so loved that we should fling him off who so loved us that he should create and then lose us and afterwards purchase and redeem us and make us his again and we should have no understanding but run back again from him into captivity For in the Second place as our sins are greater after reconcilement so if they do not cancel the former pardon as some are unwilling to grant yet they call those sins to remembrance which God cast behind his back For as good works are destroyed by Sin and revive again by Repentance so our evils which are covered by Repentance revive again by Sin Not onely my Almes are devoured by my Oppression my Chastity defloured by my Uncleanness my Fasting lost in my Luxury but my former sins which were scattered as a mist before the Sun return again and are a thick cloud between me and the bright and shining mercy of God Not that there is any mutability in God No God doth not repent of his gifts but we may of our Repentance and after pardon sin again and so bring a new guilt upon our souls and not onely that but vengeance upon our heads for the contempt of God's Mercy and slighting of his former pardon For nothing can provoke God to anger more then the abuse of his goodness and mercy nor doth his wrath burn most violently then when it is first quencht and allaid with the tears of a sinner and afterwards kindled again by his sin Then he that was well pleased to be reconciled will question and condemn us and yet make good his promise he that forgat our sins will impute our sins and yet be Truth it self For remission of sins is a continued act and is and remaineth whilst the condition which is required remaineth but when we fail in that the door of Mercy which before was wide open unto us is shut against us For should God justifie and forgive him who breaketh his Obligation and returneth to the same place where he stood out against God and fought against him Shall he be reconciled to him who will be again his enemy Ezek. 18.21 2◠If the righteous relapse his righteousness shall not be mentioned nor shall the wickedness of the wicked be mentioned if he repent The change is not in God but in our selves Aliter aliter judicat de homine aliter aliter disposito He speaketh in mercy to the penitent but in anger to the relapsed sinner The rule of Gods actions is constant and like himself And in this particular this is the rule this his decree To forgive the penitent and punish the relapsed sinner So he forgiveth the sinner when he repenteth and punisheth him when he falleth away And why should it be put to the question Whether God revoke his first Pardon Quid prodest esse quod esse non prodest as Tertullian speaketh If we think he did it not or cannot do it yet what profit is it that that should remain which doth not profit nay which doth aggravate our sin Or what Pardon is that which may remain firm when he to whom it was given for his revolt may be turned into hell Matth 18. When the servant falleth down the Lord is moved with compassion and looseth him and forgiveth him the debt But when he taketh his fellow-servant by the throat he delivereth him to the tormenters till he pay the utmost farthing God is ever like unto himself constant to his rule and he forgiveth and punisheth for this reason because he is so and cannot change As we beg pardon upon promise so doth God grant it upon supposition of perseverance He doth not pardon us our sin that we should sin again If we break our promise we our selves make a nullity of the Pardon make it of as little virtue and power as if it had never been The Schools tell us that the Sacraments are
Moses turn his back who will not be afraid to come near to the mount If men of more reserved conversation who keep themselves unspotted of the world tremble and dare not come nigh how many weak Christians who hope here to receive their additional strength be struck with terrour and so refuse to come and think of these mysteries as the Germanes in Tacitus did of those offices which they performed to their Goddess Hertha De morib Germanor the Earth The Goddess was washed and they who ministred unto her were swallowed up in the same lake Arcanus hinc terror sanctáque ignorantia saith the Historian quid sit illud quod tantùm perituri vident Hence a secret terrour and holy ignorance possest them who wondred what that Divine power should be which none could see but they who were to perish in the sight For to minister to it was to dye I know we cannot give too much reverence unto the Sacrament we cannot give enough But that servant doth but little honour his master who will bow and cringe and kiss his hand and keep at distance and yet sleep in his service Obedience and Reverence are twins they are born and grow up and dye together I am not truly reverent till my Obedience speaketh and publisheth it If I obey not my Reverence is but a name and profiteth nothing as S. Paul spake in another case If I be a breaker of the law Rom. 2.25 my circumcision is made uncircumcision If I do not come as Christ commandeth I may call it Reverence but he will count it a great dishonour to his love We complain much of the Superstition of the Romish party we are angry with their Altars their vestments their bowings and cringes and count it a kind of theatrical Idolatry and I think without breach of charity we may for as they make it it is one of the greatest Idoles in the world But we must take heed how we cry down Superstition in others whilst we suffer it to lye at our own doors how we condemn it for a monster as it walketh abroad when we hug and cherish it in our own breasts Superstitio error insanus est amandos timet quos colit violat Quid enim interest utrum Deos neges an infames Sen. ep 123. For what is Superstition but a groundless fear what is it but a fear where no fear is or if there be a fear which we are bound to abolish A fear to do our duty is something worse then superstition If we do not make the Sacrament an Idole yet by this kind of lazy reverence we make it nothing in this world and as much as in us lyeth frustrate the Grace of God which in these outward Elements is presented in a manner to the eye I have dwelt the longer on this subject because I see this duty so much neglected Some not fit to come others not so much unfit as unwilling Some so spiritual or rather so carnal and profane that they contemn it some so careless that they seldome think of it but suffer their soul to run to ruine not to be raised and repaired till it be taken from them Some pleading their own infirmity others the high dignity of these mysteries The best of which pretenses is a sin which one would think were but a hard and uneasie pillow for a sick conscience to rest on Not come because I care not not come because I will not not come because I dare not Not come That utterly is a fault and Neglect doth aggrandize it Contempt doth make it yet greater and Infirmity and Conceit of our unworthiness is another fault and our high Esteem of the ceremony cannot wipe it out but it sheweth it self even through this Reverence and sheweth us guilty of the Body and Bloud of Christ though we eat not this Bread nor drink this Cup. We pretend indeed we cannot but the truth is we will not come Let us not then bring in our Unworthiness as an excuse For such an Apology is our doom which we pass against our selves which removeth and setteth us far off from any relief of that mercy which should seal our pardon because we say we need it not We ought not to do what we ought to do and We are unworthy to do our duty is brought in as an excuse but it is our condemnation Let us then do it and let us do it often And in the last place let us do it to that end for which Christ did first institute and ordain it Let us do it in remembrance of him And now we may imagin that this is a thing soon done a matter of quick dispatch For as the Jews had Moses Acts 15.21 so have we Christ read in our Churches every Sabbath-day He is the story and the discourse of the times We name him almost as often as we speak too often name him because not with that reverence which we should But thus to remember him may be a greater injury then forgetfulness Better we never knew him then thus to remember him And therefore we must remember that this Remembrance consisteth not in a bare calling back into our mind every passage of his glorious oeconomy by bringing him from his cratch to his cross and from his cross to his grave For words of Knowledge in Scripture evermore imply the Affections When Joseph desired Pharaohs Butler to remember him his meaning was he should procure his liberty Gen 40.14 Neh. 13.22 When Nehemiah prayeth to God to remember him he interpreteth himself and pardon me according to the multitude of thy mercies When the Thief on the cross bespeaketh Christ to remember him when he came into his kingdome he then begged a kingdome Luke 23.42 Indeed such a benefit deserveth to be had in everlasting remembrance For what is a jewel of a rich price in the hands of a fool who hath no heart to receive and keep it Prov. 17.16 What were all the glory of the Stars and of the Sun and of the Moon which God hath ordained if there were no eye to behold them How can seed be quickned if the womb of the Earth receive it not What a pearl is the Gospel if the Heart be not the cabinet and what is Christ if he be not remembred We must then and upon this occasion especially open the register of our soul and enroll Christ there in deep and living characters For the Memory is a preserver of that which she receiveth But it is not enough for us to behold these glorious phantasmes and carry them about with us as pretious antidotes Cont. Faust. Manic l. 6. c. 7. unless we bring them ab intestino memoriae ad os cogitationis as S. Augustine speaketh from the inward part of the Memory to the mouth and stomach of the Cogitative faculty which is our spiritual rumination and chewing of the cud unless we do colloqui cum fide hold a colloquie within us
see the pit opening her mouth and even speaking to them to fly and save themselves from destruction I may appeal to your eye and tender you that which your observation must needs have taken up before both at home in your selves and abroad in others for he that doth but open his eyes and look into the world will soon conceive it as a common stage where every man treadeth his measures for approbation and applause where every man acteth his part walketh as a Parasite to himself and all men one to another that is do the same which the Israelites did after the molten calf slay every man his brother Exod. 32 27. and every man his companion and every man his neighbour every man being a ready executioner in this kind and every man ready and willing to die We will therefore in the next place search this evil humour this desire of being pleased And we shall be the willinger to be purged of it if either we consider the causes from which it proceedeth or the bitter effects which it produceth And first it hath no better original then Defect then a wilfull and negligent Fayling in those duties to which Nature and Religion have obliged us a Leanness and Emptiness of the soul which not willing to fill it self with Righteousness filleth it self with air with false counsels and false attestations with miserable comforts In time of necessity when we have nothing to eat Luke 15.16 Prov. 28.1 we fall to with the Prodigal and fill our belly with husks The wicked flie when none pursueth fly from themselves to others and from others to themselves chide themselves and flatter themselves are troubled and soon at rest fly to the Rule which condemneth them to absolve them and suborn one Text to infringe and overthrow another as he that hath no good Title is bold on a false one Citò nobis placemus It is a thing soon done and requireth no labour nor study to be pleased We desire it as sick men do health as prisoners do liberty as men on the rack do ease For a troubled spirit is an ill disease not to have our will is the worst imprisonment and to condemn a mans self in that which he alloweth and maketh his choice Rom. 14.22 is to put himself upon the rack We may see it in our civil affairs and matters of lesser allay When any thing lyeth upon us as a burden how willing are we to cast it off how do we strive to pluck the sting out of every serpent that may bite us how do we study to work out the venom out of the worst of evils When we are poor we dream of riches and make up that which is not with that which may be Prov. 23.5 When we have no house to hide our hâ—â—ds we build a palace in the air When we are sick this thought turneth our bed That we may recover and if the Physician cannot heal us yet his very name is to us as a promise of health We are unwilling to suffer but we are willing nay desirous to be eased Basil telleth us of young men that when they are alone or in some solitary place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feign unto themselves strange Chimeras suppose themselves Lords of countreys and favourites of Kings and which is yet more though they know all this to be but phansie and a lye yet please themselves in it as if it were true indeed We all are like Aristotle's young man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of hope Rhetor. l. 2. c. 14. and when there is no door of hope left we make one And so it falleth out in the managing of our spiritual estate we do as the Apostle exhorteth though not to this end cast away every thing that presseth down but so cast it away as to leave it heavier then before prefer a momentary ease which we beg or borrow or force from things without us before that peace which nothing can bring in but that grief and serious repentance which we put off with hands and words as a thing irksome and unpleasing For could we be sick we might be well did not we love our disease we might shake it off But we are sick and will be so There is something wanting and a supply is our shame being an argument of that defect which we are unwilling to acknowledge A Physician doth but upbraid us and Truth doth but rob us of our content and therefore we please our selves in our disease as in health it self and had rather languish and dye then be told we are sick And this in the second place proceedeth even from the force and power of Conscience within us which if we will not hearken to as a friend will turn Fury and pursue and lash us and if we will not obey her dictates will make us feel her whip This is our Judge and our Executioner She whippeth the Sluggard stoneth the Adulterer hangeth and quartereth the Traytour bloweth upon the Misers store and maketh the lips of the Harlot bite like a cockatrice Psal 139.7 Whither shall they go from her spirit and power whither shall they flie from her presence The Philosopher will tell us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they flie from themselves Aristot. l. 9. Eth. c. 4. yet carry themselves about with them whithersoever they go Now every thing that is oppressed doth naturally desire ease and so do we but finding it a laborious thing to quiet the Conscience and that it cannot be done but by yielding and bowing our backs to her whip by running from our selves and from those sins which pleased our Sense but enraged our Conscience we seek out many inventions and advance our sins against her till they prevail and even put her to silence For in evil men the worst part doth the office of the better corrupteth the records mitigateth the sentence pronounceth life in death The Sensual part is their Conscience their God It biddeth them do this and they do it and when it is done it is a ready Advocate to plead for it and defend it It conceiveth and bringeth forth the Monster and then giveth it what name it please It was a crying sin it hath now lost its voice It was Uncleanness it is now Frailty It was Treason it is now the love of our Countrey It was Perjury It is now Prudence Riches commend Covetousness Honour Treason Pleasure Wantonness That which begetteth Sin nurseth it up till it grow up to strength to oppose it self to Conscience and degrade and put her from her office and bring in a thousand sory excuses to take her place in the midst of which she cannot be heard not heard against Riches whose Sophistry is preferred before her Demonstrations not heard against Beauty which bewitcheth us and makes us fools not heard against Honour which lifteth us up so high that we cannot hear her not heard against Power which is the greatest Parasite in the world and
out of the deformed body of Sin and to turn their glory into shame who dishonour him For Sin and Punishment are nothing of themselves but in us they are something the one voluntary the other penal The voluntary is a foul deformity in nature and therefore the penal is added to order and place it where it may be forced to serve for the grace and beauty of the whole where the punishment of sin may either chase it away or else wipe off the dishonour of sin If we sin he correcteth us but if we sin again a worse thing will certainly fall unto us A worse thing then his eight and thirty years sickness nay a worse evil then any of those which change the countenance wither the body and burn up the bones as a hearth an evil that withereth up the soul maketh it impotent and unable to help it self and less capable of the help of Grace For as pardon doth nullifie former sins so it maketh those we commit afterwards more grievous and fatal For those sins which we commit after reconciliation are of a higher nature then those we committed before And as it is observed that it is the part of a wise friend after reconcilement etiam leves suspiciones fugere to shun the lest suspicion of offense nè quòd fortuitò fecisset consultò facere videretur lest what might formerly be imputed to chance may now seem to proceed from wilfulness so when God is pleased so far to condescend as to take us into his favour to work a miracle upon us and of enemies not onely to make us his servants but to call us his friends it will then especially concern us to abstain from all appearance of evil to suspect every object we behold as the Devil's lurking-place in which he lieth in wait to betray us and not commit that any day of which we beg pardon every day lest we may seem to have begged pardon of our sins not out of hatred but love unto them and to have left our sins to commit them afresh We are bound now not onely in a bond of common duty but of gratitude For God's free favour is numella a kind of clog and yoke to chain and fetter and restrain us from sin A reason of this we may draw from the very love of God For the Anger of God in a manner is the effect or product of his Love He is angry we sin because he loved us He is displeased when we yield to temptations because he loved us And his anger is the hotter because his love was excessive As the husband which most affectionately loveth the wife of his youth would have her not allow another so much love from her as may be conveyed in a look or glance of the eye is jealous of her very looks of her deportment of her garments and will have her so behave her self ut quisquis viderit metuat accedere that no man may be bold to approch so near as to make mention of love and all because he affectionately loveth her So much nay far greater is the love of God to our souls which by pardon he hath married unto himself in whom he desireth to dwell and take delight So dearly he loveth them that he will not divide with the World and the Flesh but is straight in passion if we cast but a favourable look or look friendly upon that sin by which we first offended him if we come but near to that which hath the shew of a rival or adversary But if we let our desires loose and fall from him and embrace the next temptation that wooeth us then he counteth us guilty of spiritual whoredom and adultery his Jealousie is cruel as the grave and the coals thereof are as the coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame And this Jealousie which is an effect of his Love shall smoke against us First it was Love and Jealousie lest we might tender our service to strange gods and cast our affections upon false riches and deceitful pleasures but now when we have left Life for Death and preferred that which first lamed us before him that cured us it is Anger and Indignation that he should lose us whom he so loved that we should fling him off who so loved us that he should create and then lose us and afterwards purchase and redeem us and make us his again and then we should have no understanding but run back again from him into captivity For in the second place as our sins are greater after reconcilement so they cancel the former pardon and call those offences to remembrance which God had cast behind his back For as good works are destroyed by sin and revive again by repentance so our evil works which are covered by repentance revive again by sin Not onely my Alms are devoured by Oppression my Chastity deflowred by Uncleanness my Fasting lost in Luxury but my former sins which were scattered as the mist before the Sun return again and are as a thick cloud between me and the bright shining mercy of God Not that there is any mutability in God God repenteth not of his gifts But we may repent of our repentance and after pardon sin again and so bring a new guilt upon our souls and not onely that but vengeance also upon our heads for the contempt of his mercy and slighting of our former pardon Irascitur enim Deus contumeliis misericordiae suae Nothing provoketh God to anger more then the abuse of his goodness and mercy Nor doth his wrath at any time burn more violently then when having been first quenched and allayed with the tears of a sinner it is after kindled again by his sin Then he that was well pleased to be reconciled will question and condemn us and yet make good his promise he that forgat our sins will impute our sins and yet be Truth it self If the righteous relapse his righteousness shall not be mentioned Ezek. 18.21 24. nor shall the wickedness of the wicked be mentioned if he repent For the change is not in God but in our selves Aliter aliter judicat de homine aliter aliter disposito He speaketh in mercy to the penitent but in anger to the relapsed sinner The rule of God's actions is constant And in this particular this is his rule this is his decree To forgive the penitent and to punish the relapsed sinner So he forgiveth the sinner when he repenteth and punisheth him who falleth away Why should we ask whether God revoke his former pardon Quid prodest esse quod esse non prodest If we think he did not yet what profit is it that that should remain which doth not profit nay which doth aggravâ—te our sin What pardon is that that leaverh us When the servant falleth down the Lord is moved with compassion and looseth him Matth. 18. and forgiveth him the debt But when he taketh his fellow-servant by the throat he delivereth him
is not Reason if the Church say it They that will not believe their Sense how can they believe their Reason And how can they believe their Reason who have debauched and prostituted it and bound it to the high Priests chair Do they give that honour unto the Saints which is due unto God alone and call upon them in the time of trouble Psal 50.15 It is very right and meet and our bounden duty so to do for the Church commandeth it Must there be a fire more then that of Hell The Church hath kindled it Must the Merits of the Saints be drawn up into a common treasury and thence showred down in Indulgences and supplies for them who are not so rich in Good works The Church is that treasury and her breath hath called them up Whatsoever is said or done must have a Bene dictum and a Bene factum subscribed under it is Truth and Righteousness if the Church say and do it So the Church is let down as the Tragedians used to do some God or Goddess when they were at a loss or stand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as by slight and engine to solve the difficulty and untie the knot and so make up the Catastrophe Or it serveth them as Anaxagoras his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Metaphysicks to answer and defeat all arguments whatsoever And this prejudice of theirs they back and strengthen with many others Of Antiquity making that most true which is most antient and the Truth it self a lie if it shewed it self in glory but yesterday And yet omnia vetera nova fuere that which is now old was at first new and by this argument Truth was not Truth when it was new nor the Light Light when it first sprung from on high and visited us Truth though it find Professours but in its later age yet is the first born because Errour is nothing else but a deviation from it Errour cometh forth last and layeth hold on the heel of Truth to supplant it They have another prejudice of Councels as if the most were alway the best and Truth went by voices Nazianzen was bold to censure them as having seen no good effect of any of them And we our selves have seen and our eyes have dropped for it what a mere name what prejudice can do with the Many and what it can countenance Besides these they have others Of Miracles which were but lies Of Glory which is but vanity Of Universality which is bounded and confined to a certain place With these and the like that first prejudice That the Church cannot erre is underpropped And yet these depend upon that Such a mutual implication there is of Errours as in a bed of Snakes If the first be not true these are nothing And if these pillars be once shaken that Church will soon sink in its reputation and not sit so high as to dictate to all other Churches in the world And these are soon shaken for they are but problemes and may justly be called into question and brought to trial For if they have any thing of Truth it is rather verisimile then verum rather the resemblance of Truth then Truth it self And this a foul errour may have And to fix my judgement upon a resemblance is most prejudicial For a thing may be like the Truth and appear in that likeness which is not true and therefore must needs be false A resemblance or likeness participateth of both and may be either true or false I have looked too long abroad upon this Queen of Churches but it was to set her up as a glass to see our own She saith we are a schismatical we are bold upon it that we are a Reformed Church and so we are But may not Prejudice find a place even in Reformation it self May we not dote upon it as Pygmalion did upon the statue and so please and flatter and laugh our selves to death Illiacos intra muros peccatur extra Hor. l. 1. Ep. 2. Rome alone is not guilty of Prejudice but even some members of the Reformation also who think themselves most nearly united to Christ when they run furthest from that Church though sometimes by so doing they run from the Truth For what is this else but prejudice to judge all is well with us because the lines are fallen to us in so pleasant a place as a purged Church to be less reformed because that is Reformed or to think that an heaven and happiness will be raised up and rest upon a word a name What is this but to run round in a circle and to meet the Church of Rome where we left her What is this but to speak her very language That to be in this Ark this Church is to be safe and when a floud of Sin and Errour hath overwhelmed us to think we are securely sailing to our Ararat our eternal rest Or what hope is there that he should grow and encrease in grace who if he be planted once in this Church or that Sect counteth himself a perfect man in Christ Jesus Almost every Sect and every Congregation laboureth under this prejudice and feeleth it not but runneth away with its burden Oh unhappy men they that are not fellow-members with us though it be of such a body as hath but little Charity to quicken it and no Faith to move it but a phansie Yet these cannot but do all things well these cannot erre and they who will not cast in their lot with them Prov. 1.14 and have the same purse are quite out of the way can speak nothing that is true nor do any thing that is good Matth. 23.5 Do ye not see the Pharisees spread their phylacteries do ye not hear them utter the same dialect Luk. 18.11 We are not as those Publicanes I might enlarge my self but I know ye understand me and can tell your selves what might be said further by that which hath been said already To be yet more particular The Lutherane Church doth grant indeed that every particular Church may erre and so doth not exempt it self But do not many of them attribute as much to Luther as the other do to their Church Are they not ready to subscribe to whatsoever he said upon no other reason or motive but because he said it Do they not look upon him as upon a man raised up by God to redeem the Truth and shew it to the world again after it had been detained in unrighteousness and lost in ceremony and superstition And is not this Prejudice equal to the former Do not they depend as much upon a person as the Papists do upon their Church so that to them whatsoever he said is as true as an article of faith and whatsoever is not found in him is heretical quasi fas non sit dicere Lutherum errâsse as if it were unjust and an injury to think that Luther could erre in any thing I accuse him not of errour yet
on heaven and having an eye fixed and buried in the earth And that he is a Spirit of truth And it is the property of Truth to be alwayes like unto it self to change neither shape nor voice but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak the same things He doth not set up one Text against another doth not disannul his Promises in his Threats nor recall his Threats in his Promises doth not forbid Fear in Hope nor shake our Hope when he biddeth us fear doth not command Meekness to abate my Zele nor kindle my Zele to consume my Meekness doth not preach Christian Liberty to take off Obedience to Government nor prescribe Obedience to infringe and weaken my Chiristian Liberty Spiritus nusquam est aliud The holy Spirit is never different from it self never contradicteth it self And the reason why men who talk so much of the Spirit do fall into so gross and pernicious errours is from hence that they will not be like the Spirit in this but upon the beck of some place of Scripture which at the first blush and appearance looketh favourably on their present inclinations run violently on this side animated and posted on by those shews appearances which were the creatures of their Lust Phansie never looking back to other testimonies of Divine authority that army of evidences as Tertull. speaketh which are openly prest out marshalled against them which might well put them to an halt deliberation which might stay and drive back their intention and settle them at last in the truth which consisteth in a moderation O that men were wise but so wise as to know the Spirit before they engage him to look severely impartially upon their own designs as seriously consider the nature of the blessed Spirit before they voice him out for their abettor or make use of his name to bring their ends about Not to do this I will not say is the sin though perhaps I might but sure I am it is a great sin even Blasphemy against the holy Ghost But I must conclude Let us then as the Apostle speaketh examine our selves and bring our selves and our actions to trial Prove your selves and prove the Spirit Are your steps right and your wayes straight Do your actions answer the rule and still bear the same image and superscription Are you obedient to the Church and do you not think your selves wiser then your Teachers Are you reverent to God's word and receive it with all meekness without respect or distinction of those persons that convey it To come close to the Text Do you not divorce Jesus from the Lord riot it upon his mercy and then bow to him in a qualm and pinch of conscience Do you not fear the Lord the less for Jesus nor love Jesus the less for the Lord Are you as willing to be commanded as to be saved and to be his subjects as his children Are you thus qualified And are you still the same not making in your profession those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crooked and unsteddy bendings those staggerings of a drunken man now meek as Lambs and anon raging like Lions now hanging down the head and anon lifting up your horn on high at the altar forgiveness and in your closet revenge courting your brother to day and to morrow taking him by the throat Are you as ready to bow the knee in Devotion and stretch forth the hand in Charity as you are to incline your ear to a Sermon Are you in all things in subjection unto this Lord Is this proposition true and dare ye subscribe it with your bloud JESUS IS THE LORD Then have ye learnt this language well and are perfect Linguists in the Spirit 's dialect Then let the rainfall and the flouds come let the winds and waters of affliction beat thick upon us and the waves of persecution go over our soul let the windy sophisms of subtil disputants blow with violence to shake our resolution in the midst of all temptations assaults and encounters in the midst of all the busie noise the world can make we shall be at rest upon the rock even upon this fundamental truth That the Spirit is the best teacher and That Jesus is the Lord. In which truth the Spirit of truth confirm us all for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake The Nineteenth SERMON ISA. LV. 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near THE withdrawing of every thing from its original from that which it was made to be is like the drawing of a straight line which the further you draw it the weaker it is nor can it be strengthned but by being redoubled and brought back again towards its first point Now the Wiseman will tell us Eccles 7.29 That God hath made man upright that is simple and single and sincere bound him as it were to one point but he hath sought out many inventions mingled himself and ingendered with divers extravagant conceits and so run out not in one but many lines now drawn out to that object now to another still running further and further from the right and from that which he should have staid in and been united to as it were in puncto in a point and so degenerated much from that natural simplicity in which he was first made This our Prophet observeth in the people of Israel that they did their own wayes Chap. 58.13 Chap. 63.17 and erred from God's wayes run out as so many ill-drawn lines one on the flesh another on the world one on idolatry another on oppression every man at a sad distance from him whom he shoud have dwelt and rested in as in his Centre Therefore in every breath almost and passage of this Prophesie he seemeth to bend and bow them as it were a line back again to draw them from those objects in which they were lost and to carry them forward to the rock out of which they were hewen to strengthen and settle and establish them in the Lord. All this you have here abridged and epitomized Seek ye the Lord while he may be found The words are plain and need not the gloss of any learned interpreter If we look stedfastly upon the opening of them we shall behold the heavens open and God himself displaying his rayes and manifesting his beauty to draw men near unto himself to allure and provoke them to seek him teaching dust and ashes how to raise it self to the region of happiness mortality to put on immortality and our sinful nature to make its approches to Purity it self that where he is we may be also The parts are two 1. A Duty enjoyned Seek ye the Lord. 2. The Time prescribed when we must seek him while he may be found But because the Object is in nature before the Act and so to be considered we must know what to seek before we can seek it and because we are ready to mistake and to think that we
not in their heart or hand but onely in their ear Who for fear they should not find it get them a heap of teachers as S. Paul prophesieth of them but it is according to their own lusts teachers whom they must teach as a master doth his scholar that lesson which he must but repeat again The Preacher and the hearers may seem to abound in charity for they are alwayes of the same mind in all things He is our Preacher we have made him ours And then how do we love his errours how do we applaud his ignorance how do we cry up those frivolous toyes and that witless wit which little conduce to Râ—ghteousness and are far below the majesty of the word of God! O pudor would the Father have cried What a shame is this Can we conceive any thing more ridiculous Nay what a grief is this that so many should take such pains and be at such charge to be deceived that so many should please and flatter themselves to their own destruction I will therefore grow further upon you and be bold to conclude that in this formality of hearing I say in this formality of hearing because I would not be mistaken for hearing of it self is the ordinary means of salvation but in this formality we betray more vanity then we do in any other action of our life For tell me is it not a vain thing to take up water in a sieve to let in and out nay to let in and loath and in this reciprocal intercourse of hearing and neglecting to spin out the thread of our life and at the end of it to look for the kingdom of heaven to come so oft to hear of Righteousness with a resolution to let it pass no further then the ear to give Righteousness no larger place to breathe in then from the pulpit to our pew from the Preacher's mouth to our ear to come in all our vanity to hear a declamation against Vanity nay to make a Sermon of Righteousness a prologue to that unrighteousness which an Heathen would have cursed to have the ear full of Righteousness and the hands full of bloud Certainly if those actions be vain which are not driven to a right end then this Hearing is in vain Did I call it a vain action of our life I will yet increase upon you and be bold to pronounce it a Sin and that of the greatest magnitude Will you have it in plain terms It is no less then a mockery of God For do we not in a manner tell God to his face for our very thoughts are words to him Lord we will come into thy courts to hear of Righteousness and leave that and the Church together behind us We will hear the burthen of pride and make it a garment to cloath us of Temperance and drink down the thought of it of Chastity and defile it We will hear of Righteousness and set up all the faculties of our souls and all the members of our bodies against it except the Ear. What is this but to be learning our Alphabet all the dayes of our life and never put the letters together to make up one word or syllable towards Righteousness What is this but to think to please God with a piece of service vvhich doth most please our sense What is this but to mock God Be not deceived God is not mocked Righteousness is res morosa a coy and severe thing and will not dwell in the hollow of the ear but must be seen in the world in our houses in the education of our children in the streets in our modest deportment in the Church in our reverence in the Commonwealth in our peaceable conformity Every place must be a shrine for Righteousness nor is she confined to the Church alone Therefore S. Basil will tell us that Hearing in Scripture is of another nature from that which we so much delight and pride our selves in For when God biddeth us hear his meaning is we should obey He that hath ears to hear saith our Saviour let him hear Why Speak Lord and thy servant must needs hear But let him hear that is let him seek Righteousness Bare Hearing then will not reach home There is yet a third thing behind Though our Profession and frequent Hearing do not yet the Breathing forth of our Prayers and Supplications to God may reach home As I do not derogate from Hearing but Hearing only so I cannot attribute enough to Prayer Hearing may seem to be a duty conditional and respective in respect of the weak condition of our nature If we could obey without it Hearing were of no use at all But Prayer is absolute and necessary to which we should be bound were we again in Paradise For even the Saints and Angels tender their Prayers And Christ himself in whom there was no sin in the dayes of his flesh offered up strong supplications and doth yet intercede and pray for us This then may come near it When we are on our knees and breathe forth our desires to God we may seem to be like the dry and parched ground and to open our selves that the dew from heaven this Righteousness may distil upon us and fill us But yet we must not be too hasty to determine and conclude this is it For that may befall Praying which doth Hearing It may be alone and our prayers may be loud and frequent vvhen our desires are asleep nay our Desires may run contrary to them and deny our Prayers We may ask for fish when we would have a serpent ask for Righteousness when we desire riches and beg for eternity in heaven when we had rather dwell and delight our selves with the children of men Many times we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wander from our selves and follow our flying thoughts to that vanity which we pray against Our understandings are taken up with two contrary objects Now a sigh anon a burning thought now an eye lifted up to heaven anon full of the adulteress now a strong abjuration of sin and before the Amen be said as strong a resolution to retain it We grind the face of the poor and desire God to instill thoughts of mercy into us We every day break his Law and are every day earnest with him that we may keep it We pray for Righteousness which God is readier to give then we to ask and upon the fairest proffer turn our backs and which is an extremity of folly will not have that which we so oft beg upon our knees We are then yet to seek what it is to seek Righteousness For our Profession we may carry with us when we run from Righteousness our frequent hearing is but a listning after it or rather after something which may be as musick to the ear and last of all we may pray for it and seek the contrary You will ask then What is it to seek Righteousness I deny not but there may be great use of these but these do
and Desolation This phansie pleaseth me now this thought ravisheth me this action is my crown my joy it is sowen in honour in pleasure in applause but what will it be vvhen it riseth again what vvill it be at the harvest Will a gloss or pretense alter the nature of the seed and change it as vve our selves shall be in a moment and in the twinkling of an eye Let us never build a resolution but upon this of the Apostle What a man sows that shall he also reap O quanta subtilitas judiciorum Dei saith Gregory Oh the subtile and exact method of the Justice of God vvhich gives to every seed it s own body The Eye vvhich vvould not look upon God shall be filled with horrour The Understanding vvhich vvould not receive Light shall receive no impression but of Darkness and everlasting separation And the Will vvhich made the sin shall it self be made a punishment It is now a vvanton Thought it well then be a gnawing Worm It is now Lust it will be a burning Flame It is now Blasphemy it will be Howling and Gnashing of Teeth We must now conclude and we cannot better conclude then with that of S. Peter Brethren if these things be so if you believe there be such things be deligent that at the great harvest you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless free from Self-deceit walking and trembling before your God not plowing the Wind to reap the Whirlwind but sowing seed in Righteousness and Sincerity that you may reap Peace and Joy in this life a fair promising Spring which gives a full assurance of a rich Harvest of Glory and Immortality in the life to come Both which God grant us through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Thirtieth SERMON PART I. THESS IV. 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words THe words are plain and easie They are as the Use of that Doctrine of the Coming of the Lord which is set down at large in the precedent verses For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout c. a doctrine seasonably opened and applied to the Thessalonians now hanging down their heads with grief and weeping over the graves of their friends as men without hope inter praecepta virtutum spem resurrectionis even then when S. Pauls doctrine and the hope of the Resurrection should have armed them against all assaults even then languishing and falling away and bating from their spiritual growth as if they had almost forgotten that article of their Belief the Coming of the Lord and lost not onely their friends but their faith It was fitted for them and in this case but it may serve for any Meridian for any who are brought low by oppression evil and sorrow It was preacht in the first age of the Church when she began to be militant which was as soon as she began And it is an antidote as it were put into her Hands which she may use even in her last age which she must use till she be triumphant And therefore we will not bind and confine it to this present case of the Thessalonians but propose it as a preservative against all evil whatsoever And since the two affections which weigh down the afflicted are Sorrow and Fear we will set up this to remove them both For be sorry why should they Let the Heathen be so who are without Hope And fear what need they Have they lost their friends they do but sleep Have their goods been torn from them They shall receive an hundred fold Is their life in jeopardy It is in his Hands who is coming who shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voyce of the Archangel and the dead in Christ shall rise first wherefore comfort one another with these words These words I called a Use of that Doctrine which S. Paul had formerly preacht at Thessalonica and it lieth in the form of an exhortation in these black and gloomy dayes in these last and perilous dayes in these dayes of misery and mourning most necessary when so many weak hands are to be Hâ—ld up and so many feeble knees to be strengthned Herein briefly I observe the Matter and the Manner the Action and the Rule or square of that action The Matter Comfort you one another the Manner how this duty must be performed with these words But for our more plain and orderly proceeding we will speak first of the Object or Persons ALII ALIOS one another And these we shall look upon first in their common nature and condition as they are of the same passions Wis 7.3 subject to the same infirmities falling upon as the Wiseman speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the earth which is of like Nature All men have the like entrance into life and the like going out and I may say are subject to the same depressions and miscarriages which even Life that we are so unwilling to part with hath wrapt up in her and carries as in her womb a short life and full of misery Next we will look upon them in that near relation which they have one to another and that as they are either Men or Christians For the second doth not take away but establish the first Grace doth not destroy Nature but perfect it and if the last be upheld the former can never fall to the ground And this alii alios the Persons will afford us Comfort you one another Secondly this Habitude and mutual Dependance doth even invite the Act which will be our next consideration What it is to comfort one another And this in the third place requires the Rule and Method how we should perform it with these words with the words of Truth with the words of the Gospel Which is indeed to draw the waters of Comfort out of the wells of Salvation You have then 1. the Persons one another 2. the Act Comfort 3. the Method with these words Wherefore comfort one another with these words First of the Persons one another And indeed one man is the image of another because the same image of God is on all Every man is as the Text and every man is as the Commentary Every man is what he is and yet one man interprets another and declares what he is We be as glasses each to other and one sees in another not onely what he is but what he may be The Beggar is a glass for a King and a King for a Beggar The Sheephook hath been turned into a Sceptre and the crowns of mighty Kings have been cast to the ground These things I write to thee saith Plato of Man who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by nature and condition mutable now on the wing for heaven anon cleaving to the dust now sporting in the Sunshine of prosperity and anon beaten down with a storm now rejoycing with his friends and anon bewayling them now vvith a shining anon vvith a cloudy countenance novv vvith a cheerful anon
Piety to act their parts on Here is water Act. 8. saith the Eunuch to Philip what now hindereth but that I may be baptized Here is a fair opportunity here is a Lazar at the gates what hindreth why doth not Compassion break forth as the morning and Comfort spring forth suddenly Here are sores why do we not dress them Here is an empty mouth why do we not fill it Here is a naked body why do we not part with our vain superfluities I might say with our own garment to cover it Here God speaks and Man speaks and Misery speaks and are our Hearts so hard that they will not open and so open the Mouth and open the Hands Shall our Pride and Scorn and not our Piety make an answer Beloved God hath laid many Lazars at our Gates presented us many sad and bleeding spectacles laid them down at our feet before our very eyes it is pity we should not be as much affected with them as we are with those we never saw that a relation from a far should pierce us and the lamentations which bring in our cares should leave us such rocks as no Moses no Prophets of the Lord can force one drop of water from that we should gush out in the one and be dry in other I could shew you many such spectacles I need not shew you for you see them every day I could shew you naked and miserable men I could shew you a naked and miserable Church stript of all her ornaments of all the glory wherewith her Mother the persons Charity of former times had clothed her Her light is well-neer put out yet the apple of our eye resteth God hath thundred but our earth is not melted he hath powred forth his indignation yet his arm is not revealed unto us Where are our sighs and lamentations Who hath sat down and wept at the remembrance of Sion Nay where was not the Garment of joy the bed of Ivory and the sound of the viol Where hath Vanity more displayed it self then in the midst of those evils which were sent from God to pull it down When were our eyes more wanton then in the midst of those ruthful objects which might put them out When were we worse then under that discipline which should make us better And indeed vvhat comfort can vve look for here from proud covetous vvanton men You may look as vvell for Liberty in a prison or for joy in hell Beloved let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus and then and not till then are you fit for this duty Shake off the Love of the vvorld vvhich he came to overcome Crucifie the Flesh for vvhich he vvas crucified and then you vvill love those men for vvhom he died Then vvill you vveep over Jerusalem as he did strive to make up the breaches of it and cement it even with your tears and bloud Then will you have so much piety as to bewayl the decay of it Then will you be ready to reach forth the hand to them who lie in the dust And if ye cannot help them up ye will at least pity them And where we cannot help Compassion is comfort Then shall we lay hold on every occasion of doing good and bless God for it Then shall we live together as Men as Brethren as Angels pouring forth this oyl and receiving it watering as Solomon speaketh and being watered again And in this mutual dispensation of blessings and comforts helping and supporting one another we shall be carried along in the same stream towards the Haven where we would be and press forward as it were hand in hand to those joyes and comforts which are laid up for those who comfort one another by the God of consolation in the Kingdome of heaven And now I should pass to my last part the Rule or Method we must use in this Duty but of that in the afternoon The One and Thirtieth SERMON PART II. 1 THESS IV. 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words WE have spoken of the Persons one another and of the Duty comfort We pass now to our last part the Manner or Method how the Duty must be performed with these words Hence we may gather 1. That we must observe a rule and method in this Duty Every box will not yield us Physick we cannot find this balm in every place nor draw 〈◊〉 water of comfort out of every well 2. That this is methodus de coelo that this method is taught not in the school of nature but of Christ No words will produce comfort but the words of Wisdome it self To take it more generally and by way of deduction We shall find it in the Word of God and more particularly in these words concerning the coming of Christ and the Resurrection of the dead So we shall draw the waters of Comfort out of the wells of salvation With these we shall exercise your Christian Devotion at this time First in every action we must look to the manner and observe a right method in our proceeding For he that is out of the way though he walk and walk on all the daies of his life shall never come to his journeys end He that begins amiss is yet to begin and the further he goes the further he is fâ—om the end As S. James speaks of Prayer Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss so we seek Comfort and find not because we seek amiss Lord in what errours and perplexities do we entangle our selves what mazes and labyrinths do we toyl in what dangerous praecipices do we venture on how do we mistake poyson for physick hell for heaven a prison for paradise how many evils do we run and bruise our selves upon to fly the face of one and yet carry it along with us Quà m operosè perimus What pains do we take to ease that is to trouble and vex and undo our selves When we are in restraint we seek liberty and more enslave our selves When we are in pain we seek ease and our torment is increast When we are sick we take physick and dye Our eyes run to and fro through the earth we seek comfort in every place and under every leaf and under every leaf we find a serpent Our Phansy is our Physician and other mens phansies are our physicians We ask our selves counsel and they are fools that give it We ask other men counsel and they are deceitful flattering miserable comforters We would be at ease and seek out many inventions and pass by that which is so easie to be found For want of method and a right progress in our waies our life is nothing else but a continuation of errour Nec tam morbis quà m remediis laboramus nor do our diseases trouble us so much as our remedies And as they will say Lo here is Christ and Lo there is Christ so they will say Lo here is comfort and there is comfort But as those are false Christs so
Church and we grope as in darkness and follow meteors and illusions and false lights That we should read of Joseph's Chastity and be caught with every smile of Mose's Meekness and storm at every breath that crosseth us of Job's Patience and when calamity is but in the approch roar as upon a rack of Paul's Beating down his body and pamper ours of Paul's Keeping a good conscience and lay down ours at every beck That we should read of the acts of so many Saints and do contrary and yet hope to be as good Saints as they That we should do the works of the Father of lyes and yet call him our Father who is the Good of Truth Beloved if we look upon the command we shall find that every man should be a Joseph a Moses a Job a Paul For it looketh alike upon all The same Law bindeth us the same reward inviteth us the same promises allure us the same heaven openeth to receive us if we obey Our God is the same and we are the same and heaven is the same Our great mistake is that we conceive that a demensum a certain measure of saving and sanctifying grace is given to every man and so no man can be better then he is that God hath set a bound to Piety as he hath done to the Sea Hitherto it shall go and no further Hereupon we lye down and comfort our selves and turn the grace of God into wantonness as if it were our duty not to be the best and God would take it ill at our hands if we were as good as S. Paul Be not deceived We are called here to follow S. Paul not as Peter did Christ a far off but to come up close to him as near as we can in all holiness and righteousness to stretch our endeavours to the farthest and with him to press on towards the mark We may come too short it is impossible we should exceed For though there be degrees of Holiness and the Saints as the Stars differ from each other in glory yet his light will soon be put out that maketh it not his ambition to be one of the greatest magnitude If we come short God will accept us but not if we fall short because we thought it as needless as troublesom to mend our pace consulting with flesh and bloud which soon concludeth It is enough and will teach us to ask our selves that unprofitable question What should we be as good as S. Paul Fear not It is no presumption to follow Paul in all the wayes of holiness it is no presumption to exceed him Not to follow him and expect the same crown is great presumption But to strive to follow him to the highest pitch is that holy Ambition which will fit our heads for a diadem And it was his wish whilst he was on earth that every man were as he was except his bonds To conclude then Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise in any Saint let us think on these things Let us chew and digest and turn them into good bloud let us shape and fashion them in our hearts till they break forth into the like actions that we acting the Saints and following them here on earth may with them follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth that our good works by which we resemble them whilest we live may follow us when we are dead and make us like unto the Angels of heaven blessed as they are and blessing God for evermore But so it is Good examples glitter in our eyes and we look up and gaze upon them as little children do upon a piece of gold which they are ready to exchange for a counter We are swift enough to follow the Saints of God in their errours and deviations but are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ill expressers of their piety and religion And there is as great danger in their examples where they betray themselves to be men as there is profit where they are led by the Spirit of God Therefore S Paul putteth in a Caution commendeth Imitation but limiteth it exhorteth the Corinthians to follow him but withall restraineth them with a SICUT Be ye followers of me but even as I also am of Christ My last Part Of which briefly Those things which degenerate are so much the worse by how much the more useful they had been if they had been levelled by the rule Therefore in Imitation besides the Persons we must also consider What it is we must imitate in them We must no farther follow them then they do the Rule Ut in pessimis aliquid optimi ita in optimis aliquid pessimi saith St. Hierom. The best men are not priviledged from sin and errour And as in the most men there is some good thing though clouded with much corruption so in the best Saints of God there may be something amiss though scarcely seen because of the splendor of those many vertues with which it is incompassed For as many vices do darken one single vertue so many vertues may cast a colour upon some one sin and errour and make it in appearance fair and beautiful even like unto them and commend it to our imitation Here then is need of a SICUT of a Caution and Limitation For proclivis malorum imitatio Men are too prone to follow that which is evil especially where the person by his other better endowments not onely palliateth but addeth authority to his fault or errour Examples of famous men are like unto two-edged swords which cut deep both wayes both for the good and for the bad Against good examples we too oft hold up some buckler of defence that they may not reach us but evil examples we receive toto corpore with an open body and with a willing mind and are well pleased they should wound us unto death The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many times of good men those actions which fall from them by chance or inadvertency we are more ready to take out then their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the works which made them famous to all the world and canonized them for Saints Saepe vitium pro exemplo est If there be any thing irregular in them that we set up for a patern and example Tully telleth us of Fusius that he fell short of those sinews and strength of eloquence which was in Caius Fimbria and atteined nothing but a bad gesture and the distortion of his countenance And Quintilian observeth that there were many in his time who thought they had gained a Kingdom in Eloquence if they shut up every period and clause with esse videatur But that is most remarkable which Gregory Nazianzene relateth of divers who were admirers of Basil that they did imitate in their behaviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his corporal defects and blemishes his paleness
conditions of life to all sexes to all actions whatsoever It may be fitted to Riches as well as to Poverty it will live with Married men as well as with Votaries it will abide in Cities as well as in a Cell or Monastery Why should I prescribe Poverty I may make Riches my way Why do I enjoyn Single life I may make Marriage my way Why should I not think my self safe but when I am alone I may be perfect amidst a multitude Whether in riches or poverty in marriage or single life in retiredness or in the city Religion is still one and the same And in what estate soever I am I must be perfect as perfect as the Evangelical Law requireth In every estate I must deny my self and take up the cross and follow Christ I fear this tying Perfection to particular states and conditions of men hath made men less careful to press toward it as a thing which concerneth them not For why should a Lay-man be so severe to himself as he that weareth a gown Why should a Knight be so reserved as a Bishop It is a language which we have heard But I conclude this with that which the Wise-man spake on another occasion Say not thou Why is this thing better then that For every thing in its time is seasonable Poverty or Riches Marriage or Single life Solitude or Business And in any of these we may be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect For conclusion then Let this perfect Law of Christ be alwayes before our eyes till Christ be fully formed in us till we be the new creature which is made up in holiness and righteousness Let us press forward in whatsoever state we are placed with all our strength to perfection from degree to degree from holiness to holiness till we come ad culmen Sionis to the top of all Art thou called a Servant Be obedient to thy Master with fear and with singleness of heart as unto Christ Art thou called a Master Know that thy Master also is in heaven Let every man abide in that calling wherein he was called to be a Christian and in that calling work out Perfection Place it not on the Tongue in an outward profession For the Perfect man is not made up of words and air and sounds If he be raised up out of the dust out of filth and corruption it must be in the name that is in the power of Christ. There be many good intentions saith Bernard and it is as true There be many good professions in hell Place it not in the Ear. For we may read of a perfect Heart but we have not heard of a perfect Ear. If there be such an attribute given to it it is when it is in conjunction with the Heart Faith cometh by hearing It is true it cometh The perfect man may pass by through this gate but he doth not dwell there Neither place it in thy Phansie The Perfection which is wrought there is but a thought but the image of Perfection the picture of a Saint And such Images too oft are made and set up there and they that made them fall down and worship them Neither let us place it in a faint and feeble Wish For if it were serious it were a Will but being supine and negligent it is but a Declaration of our mind a Sentence against our selves that we approve that which is best and chuse the contrary turn the back to heaven and wish we were there It was Balaam's wish but it was not his alone Oh let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his And let us not interpret Scripture for and against our selves and when we read BE YE PERFECT make it our marginal note Be ye perfect as far as you are able as far as your lusts and desires and the business of this world will permit That is Be ye imperfect I will not say If one of our Angels and such Angels there be amongst us but If an Angel from heaven bring such a Gloss let him be Anathema Neither let us because we are taught to say when we have done all that is commanded us that we are unprofitable servants resolve to be so unprofitable For we are taught to say so that we may be more and more profitable For it is not the scope of that place to shew us the unprofitableness of our Obedience but rather the contrary Beacuse when we have made ready and girded our selves and served it shall be said to us also Luk 17.8 that we shall afterward eat and drink Much less doth it discover our weakness and impotency to that which is good and our propensity to evil For the Text is plain We must say this when we have done all that is commanded us And if we have done it we can doe more Nor is it set up against Vain-glory and Boasting but against Idleness and careless neglect in preforming that which remaineth of our duty Because that which remaineth is of the same nature with that which is done already as due to the Lord that commandeth it as our first obedience when you have gone thus far you have done nothing unless you go further When you have laboured in the heat of the day it is nothing unless you continue till the evening Something you have done which is commanded behold God commandeth more and you must do it Continue to the end and then he will bid you sit down and eat He that beginneth and leaveth off and bringeth not his work to an end he that doeth not all hath done nothing Thus let us make forward to Perfection and not faint in the way Let us not be weary of well-doing as if we were lame and imperfect but let us press forward to the end stand it out against tentations fight against the principalities and powers of this world and resist unto bloud Let us make up our breaches and strengthen our selves every day take in some strong hold from the adversary beat down the flesh and keep it in subjection that it may be a ready servant to the Spirit weaken the lust of the eyes humble our pride of life and abate the lust of the flesh be more severe and rigid to our fleshly appetite and never leave off whilest we carry this body of sin about us And then as S. Peter exhorteth let us give diligence to adde to our faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and let these abound in us more and more that we be not barren and unfruitful And when we have thus begun and prest forward though with many slips and failings which yet do not cut us from the covenant of grace nor interrupt our perseverance and at last finished our course we shall come unto mount Sion and to the City of the living God and to an innumerable company of Angels and to the spirits of just men
Apolinarius 12. Apostles The Spirit was given them but in measure and by degrees and not without using of means 61. Apparel vain and superfluous an argument of a ragged and ill-shapen soul better sold given to the poor 897. Modestie must be our tire-woman not Pride 1101 1102. Appearances deceive and draw us into sin 261 c. 268. The way not to be deceived by them is to compare them with things that are real 269. Appetite v. Inclination Aquinas's answer to his sister 89. Archimedes how honoured for his great skill 292. Arians their opinion of Christ 5. 8. Their errour occasioned by their love 762. Aristippus 508. Aristotle 496. What Alexander would have him teach him 497. Arius 12. 65. Ark. The Ark in a manner idolized by the Israelites taken by the Philistines 300 c. Arts and trades whence 889. Ascension v. Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the antient Fathers what and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who 68. Assurance of some ill-grounded 578 579 608. 691. 742. 975. 993. A child of God may want Assurance and a wicked man may have it 344 c. 396. 400. Sin and Assurance will not dwell together 351 352. 494. How Assurance is to be gotten 351. 608. v. Despair Athanasius 12. He is commended for his diligent imitation of worthy men 1021. Atheists 41 42. 46. None becometh an Atheist on a sudden 922. Augustine 526. How far he granted Possibility of perfection 110. His errour about Baptism 81. Authority of Superiours to be obeyed 639 c. The AUTHOUR forbidden to exercise his function 1127. His Benediction and Farewel to his Auditours 1128 1129. B BAlaam 253. 549. Baptism not absolutely necessary 81. Barrenness why accounted a curse in Israel 987. Basil 1025. His counsel about Alms 145. and to duty 743. Beasts far better then sinful Man 378. Beauty Honour Riches mean objects for the Soul of man 648. Beauty of Man wherein 107. Begardi 392. Beginnings of grace and goodness should be carried on to the end 555. 578. Believe and Repent the summe of the Gospel and of our duty 60. 61. Benefits bind us to our benefactours 105. 578 579. 590. Birds in India of a strange nature 91. Bishop An Universal B. not expedient 233. Blessedness what and whence to be had 985. 990. 1127 1128. Where B. will not be found 1127 1128. B. is promised to several Virtues but not to be obteined but by all 831 832. Blessedness it is that exciteth us to obedience 1123. B. is entailed on the godly not ex rigore justitiae but ex debito promissi 993. 1126. Our B. beginneth here and is compleated in heaven 1123 1124. Blessings What use we ought to make of God's B 590 591. 598. v. Benefits A good child is a blessing 987. Boasting is not the language of true Saints 882. Body God made our Bodies food and rayment for them which his will is that we make use of 896. A tricked-up B. is a probable argument of a naked soul 897. A speech of an Abbot upon the sight of a woman who had curiously attired her B. 928. He that pampereth his B. destroyeth his soul 562. To beat down the B. is indeed to honour it 886 887. It is not for fornication 750. v. Fornication The B. is the worst master the best servant 753. It is to be kept under by fasting 752 c. We must serve God with our B. as well as with the soul 634 635. 745 c. 749. 980 981. v. Reverence Worsh Our service is not complete if it be not of the whole man 746. 981. What it is to glorifie God in our B. 749 c. We glorifie God in our B. by Voice Gesture reverent Deportment 755. c. Christian duties are performed by the ministery of the B. 746. 756. In which respects Angels themselves may seem to come short of us 746. We glorifie God in our B. when we suffer for his sake 553 554. Brother Every man ought to do his endeavour to save his brother's soul 576 c. Busie-bodies how dangerous in Church and State 212-215 v. Meddling Though they hap to do what is good yet it is not good from them 215. They who are most busie in other mens matters are most negligent at home 216. Fortunate Busie-bodies v. Prosperous Villains C CAin 175 176. the first founder of Cities and the first finder-out of Weights and Measures 889. Callings Diversity of gifts infer a difference of C. 214. 657. God hath assigned every man his Calling 213. Christianity imposeth no particular C. on any but directeth and sanctifieth all 521. No man how great soever ought to live without a C. 223. The meanest C. is honourable 213. 216. Every one ought to keep within the bounds of his own C. 211. 216. 640. This is a lesson of Christianity 213. 224. 521. and also a dictate of Nature 214. This is comely 216. advantageous 216. necessary 217. Devotion may mingle it self with the actions of our Callings 221. Industry in our C. is a special fense against the Devil 223. When we walk honestly in our Callings Christ walketh with us and we walk in him 522. 528. v. Trades Calvine taxed 25. v. Maldonate He and Luther too much admired by their followers 526. 682. v. Kneeling Camp v View Care for children some alledge to excuse their Covetousness and Fraud 127. Cases of conscience how to be decided 1077. Catholick v. Church Cato 868. His politie in his family 564. Tullie's censure of him 295. He is blamed for killing himself 705. Ceremonies Religion brought forth Ceremonies but the Daughter oft devoureth the Mother 1057. Ceremonies are arbitrary and may be dispensed with Moral laws not so 1024. Ceremonial religion is not the true service of God 70 c. The most Ceremonious persons commonly the greatest sinners and why 74 c. v. Formality Many are afraid of a Ceremony and rejoyce in a sin 883. Ceres both frugifera and legifera 219. Cerinthus 11. Chance and Fortune unfit words for a Christian's mouth 573. Changes especially of Religion are still with difficulty 968. Charity hard to be found either in Commonwealth or Church 491. How little Charity some content themselves withal 822 823. 862 863. Charity is a coupling virtue 242. Faith and Hope if without Charity are false 242. 275 276. It is a necessary qualification of a Communicant 490 c. It maketh a man avoid giving offense to others 639. 1102. and to be peaceable and obedient in the Church 59 60. 1077. Charity and Prudence are to be our guides in things indifferent 639. 1077. 1102. Works of Charity fill the heart with great joy 1125. 1126. Charity maketh a man resemble God 279. Deeds of Ch. 278. Our Charity to others must be joyned with Purity in our selves 281. Acts of Ch. how to be performed 942 943. Occasions and objects of Ch. ever frequent 943. Arguments to move us to be charitable one to another 938 c. St. John in a whole Sermon
Reformed Church 401. Regeneration v. Resurrection Regenerate men may sin with a full consent 439 c. Relapses into sin how dangerous 380 c. 614. Whether they cancel God's former pardon 381 c. 613 614. How apt men are to relapse 383. Religion much talked of little understood 273. Religion indeed what it is not and what it is 70 c. v. Piety It s essential parts are To do good and To eschew evil 274. Why St James in his description of pure Religion doth not mention Faith 275. nor Prayer nor Hearing of the Word 276 277. True R. is pure simple solid ever the same 282. undefiled 282 283 It hath God alone for its Authour 284. From the corruption of mens lives proceed the corrupt mixtures in Religion 283. Popish R. is the invention of men 284. and so is that of hypocritical Zelots 284. Religions that comply with the Sense are to be abhorred 650 751. R. is to be taken up upon better inducements then Law and Custome and Education 756. 760. How shameful and sinful it is not to love and embrace the R. which hath its original from God 285. The perswasion of God's almighty Power the first rise to R. 313. True R. is never the less true though none profess it 286. 298. If it were in power it would put an end to wars and contentions 286. It should direct us in all our wayes 653. It is the same in Riches or Poverty in Marriage or Virginity in a Cell or a City 1091. v. Godly All sorts of men may be Religious if they will 88. Religion cannot suffer with the professors of it 298. If it could suffer it would suffer more by the sins of its professours then by the sword of its enemies 298 299. Why R. hath many professours but few friends 75. 77. Many of the Reformed Church make R. serve their corrupt ends 651. Some mens R. dwelleth only in the ear 221. Against such as place R. in Fasting Prayer Hearing and Formalities 1060. Religion sometimes made a pretense for most irreligious practices 287. 1060. Of such as alter their R. according to the times 98. Alterations of Religion difficult 968. The world is wont to judge of R. by its state and spreading 298. v. Church Remembrance of Christ at the Communion what 463. If we remember him he will be sure to remember us 466. The Word must be remembred by us 1116. Remission Great difference among Christians about it 811. The Heathen counted it a folly in Christians to believe it 811. It is not the effect of our Merits but of God's free Mercy in Christ 811 c. How comfortable how inestimable a favour 813. Into what posture we must put our selves to receive it 813. It most strongly obligeth us to duty 822 c. Repentance a lesson too high for the School of Nature and the books of the Heathen 324. Tully thought it impossible 325. Julian scoffeth at it 326. It is God's own invention and injunction 325. Nothing pleaseth God like it nothing without it 325. It is a precept not absolute but upon supposition 352. He is best who needeth it least 350. R. is a Turning from our evil wayes to the Lord 328. 374 375. v. Turning Knowledge of Sin and a necessary ingredient of R. 329 c. and so is Grief 331. and Confession 333. and Desire to be rid of sin 333 334. and a serious Endeavour to leave off sinning and to live well 334. What true Repentance is 335. 340 341. It includeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 335. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 336 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 336. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 336. In R. the main Turn is of the Will 336 c. Many aim at R. few hit it 339 340. There is an outward and an inward part of R. and we must perform both 340 341. Why God calleth so earnestly for it 341 c. Two great lets of R. Despair and Presumtion removed 342 c. How late and false and lame most mens R. is 354. We must repent without delay 335. 360. 1002 c. v. Advise Delay Opportunity To do otherwise is to be guilty of extreme folly 356. 366 367. Delay maketh the duty more difficult 356 357. 366 367. 793. Yea if the present time be not taken a time may come when thou mayest not be able to repent 359. 794. Arguments to make the opinion probable that such a time there is 357. 360. 365. 795 c. Though it be an errour it may be happy for thee to believe it 359 c. 795. Now even now without procrastination let us repent 361. 366 c. 373 c. 1001. We must hearken to good motions that God stirreth in us and not check and choke them 361 c. 798 799. Better to repent when God shineth upon us then when he thundereth against us 363. 799 800. But if that acceptable time have been let slip yet at least let us turn to him in our trouble 364. 800 801. v. Judgements God hath promised a blessing to R. at all times but not power to repent when we list 797. What use we are to make of the example of the good Thief and other late Penitents 797. It is just with God to punish continuance in sin with final impenitency 797. Our R. must be sincere 369 c. Feigned R. hath its rise from false grounds may make a fair shew but is soon at an end 370 371. It is worse then no R. 372. An Ahab's an Herode's a S. Magus's R. will not must not serve our turn 372 373. Our R. must be total and universal 373. 600 c. It must be lasting and hold out to the end 380. Relapses into sin after R. very grievous 380 c. v. Relapses The course God taketh to bring us to R. 385. Fear first setteth us on repenting 389. How necessary a qualification R. is of a worthy Communicant 489. Some make R. an occasion of sinning more 614 615. The doctrine of R. to be preached warily 349 350. Whether the Papists do well to make R. a Sacrament 340. Reprehension is a duty incumbent on all 293. Neglect hereof interesteth a man in the sins of others and also in their plagues 293 294. Reproof seemeth to be against us but its end is peace 841. Resolution The mighty force of a well-setled Resolution 839. We are for the most part resolute in evil but weak and wavering in good things 852 853. Respect No Respect of persons with God 213. Resurrection v. Christ Christ's Resurrection an examplary and efficient cause of ours 719 720. Our dead bodies notwithstanding all alterations and dispersions shall be raised again 720. R. of the dead is the very life and soul of a Christian 995. Deny this all is vanity and vexation 995. The R. of the Soul that was dead in sin by the power of Christ's Resurrection described 721. In this we must do something though we are meerly passive in that of our Bodies 722