consider first the miseries of war and then the benefits and comforts of peace The former of these may be talk't of but can never be thoroughly conceived by any but those that have felt them I could tell you of sieging and famishing sacking and spoiling and killing and ravishing and burning of weltring in blood and a thousand such tragicall calamities of war but I had rather the spirit of God should describe them in his own expressions These Sword without terrour within shall destroy both the Young-man and the Virgin the suckling also with the Man of gray haires Deut. 32.25 And Jeremy Every battle of the warriour is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood but this shall be with burning and with fenell of fire Jer. 9.5 Not to presse those passionate descriptions of Esay and Nahum that one of the Prophet Azariah the Son of Obed shall shut up all Chro. 15.6 In those times there was no peace to them that went out nor to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the Inhabitants of the Countreys and Nation was destroyed of Nation and City of City for God did vex them with all adversity Mark but the foot of this report upon the mention of war straight it followes God did vex them with all adâ—ersity surely there is no adversity incident unto a Creature which doth not inevitably attend a war and as all wars are thus wofull and hideous so much more the intestine and domesticall those that are raised out of our own bowels these are beyond all conceit dreadfull and horrible As therefore we do in our ordinary prayers put all these together which are the effects and concomitants of war From plague pestilence and famine from battail and murder and from suddain death good Lord deliver us so good reason have we to put them into the tenor of our hearty thanksgiving that God hath graciously delivered us from the fury of all these in that he caused wars to cease to the ends of our Earth As for the benefits of peace if we were not cloyed with them by their long continuance we could not but be heartily sensible of them and know that all the comforts we enjoy either for Earth or for Heaven we owe to this unspeakable blessing of Peace whereto if we add the late accession of further strength by the union of our Warlick neighbours and the force of a strong and inviolable league for the perpetuation of our peace and unity there will need no further incitements to a celebration of this day and to our hearty thankfulness unto the God of peace who whiles he hath made wofull desolations in all the Earth besides yet hath caused wars to cease unto our ultima the ends of our Earth and hath broken the bow and cut the spear in sunder Oh then prayse the Lord O Jerusalem prayse thy God of Sion for he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates and blessed thy children within thee Ps 147.12.13 He maketh peace within thy borders and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat To that good God of all glory peace and comfort Father Son Holy Ghost one infinite God in three most glorious persons be given all praise honour and glory as is due from Heaven and Earth from Angels and Men from this time forth and for evermore Amen THE MISCHIEFE OF FACTION And the REMEDIE of it Laid forth in a SESMON Before his MAJESTY In the COURT-YARD AT WHITE-HALL On the Second Sunday in Lent 1641. By JOS. EXON PSALM 60.2 Thou hast made the Earth to tremble thou hast broken it heal the breaches thereof for it shaketh MY text is a complaint and a suit a complaint of an evill and a suit for a remedy An evill deplored and an implored redresse The evill complained of is double the concussion or unsettlement of the state of Israel and the division of it For it hath been the manner of the prophets when they would speak high to expresse spirituall things by the height of naturall allusions fetcht from those great bodies of Heaven Sea Earth the most conspicuous and noted pieces of Gods Almighty workmanship It were to no purpose to exemplifie where the instances are numberlesse Open your Bibles where you will in all the Sapienciall or Propheticall books your eyes cannot look beside them And thus it is here I suppose no man can be so weak as to think David intends here a philosophicall history of Earthquakes although these dreadfull events in their due times and places are worthy of no lesse then a prophets either notice or admiration But here it is not in his way It is an Analogicall morall or politicall Earth-quake that David hear speaks of and so our usuall and ancient Psalter Translation takes it well whiles for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Earth it reads the Land by a just Synecdoche and for making the Earth to tremble reads moving the Land and for broken reads divided and for breaches sores so as by comparing of both translations The Earth is the Land the tremblings are the violent motions of it whether by way of action or passion the divisions thereof are breaches and those breaches sores which the hand of God both makes and heals Shortly then here is first an Earth-quake such as it is 2ly The effects of that Earth-quake breaches or sores 3ly The authour of both Thou hast made the Earth to tremble thou hast broken it 4ly The remedy of both with the authour of it Heal thou the Sores or breaches and Lastly the motive of the remedy for it shaketh The Text falls into these parts so naturally that there is none of you who hear me this day but were able to divide it for me which I shall desire to follow with all perspicuous brevity and profitable enforcement And first hear and consider that the motions of the distempers or publick calamities of States are Earthquakes either or both For this Earthquake is either out of a feare or sense of judgment or out of the strife of contrary affectations the one we may call a passive the other an active Earth-quake Earth-quakes we know are strange and unnaturall things There is no part of all Gods great Creation save the Earth that is ordained for rest and stability The waters are in perpetuall agitation of flux and refluxes even when no wind stirs they have their neap and spring tides The air cannot stand still whiles the Heavens whirle about The Heavens or any part of them never stood still but once since they were made but the Earth was made for fixednesse and stability Hence ye find so oft mention of the foundations of the Earth and the stile of it is nescia moveri the Earth that cannot be moved and that stands fast for ever And therefore for the Earth to move it is no lesse prodigie then for the Heavens to stand still Neither is it more rare then formidable If we should see the Heavens stand still but one houre
we should as we well might expect a dissolution of all things neither hath it lesse horrour in it to feel the Earth stagger under us Whose hair doth not start up at this trepidation and the more a man knowes the more is his astonishment He hangeth the Earth upon nothing saith Job Job 26.7 For a man to feel the Earth that hangs upon nothing but as some vast ball in the midst of a thin yielding air totter under him how can his soul choose but be possessed with a secret fright and confusion Me thinks I tremble but to think of such a trembling Such are the distempers and publick calamities of States though even of particular Kingdoms but so much more as they are more universall they are both unnaturall and dreadfull They are politickly unnaturall For as the end of all motion is rest so the end of all civill and spirituall agitations is peace and settlednesse The very name of a State implies so much which is we know a stando from standing and not from moving The man riding upon the red Horse which stood upon the myrtle trees Zachar. 1.11 describes the condicion of a peacefull government Behold all the Earth sitteth still and is at rest and Micah They shall sit still every man under his vine and figtree Micah 4.4 and none shall make them afraid Particular mens affayres are like the Clouds publick government is as the Earth The Clouds are alwayes in motion it were strange for any of them to stand still in one point of the air so it were to see private mens occasions void of some movings of quarrells or change the publick State is or should be as the Earth a great and solid body whose chief praise is settlednesse and consistence Now therefore when publick stirs and tumults arise in a well ordered Church or Common-wealth the State is out of the socket or when common calamities of war famine pestilence seize upon it then the hearts of men quake and shiver within them then is our prophets Earth-quake which is here spoken of Thou hast made the Earth to tremble To begin with the passive motions of publick calamities they are the shakings of our Earth So God intends them so must we account them and make use of them accordingly what are we I mean all the visible part of us but a peece of Earth besides therefore that magneticall vertue which is operative upon all the parts of it why should or can a piece stand still when the whole moveth Denominations are wont to be not from the greater but the better part and the best part of this Earthen World is man and therefore when men are moved we say the Earth is so and when the Earth in a generality is thus moved good reason we should be so also we must tremble therefore when God makes the Earth to do so What shall we say then to those obdured hearts which are nowhit affected with publick evils Surely he were a bold man that could sleep whiles the Earth rocks him and so were he that could give himself to a stupid security when he feels any vehement concussations of government or publick hand of Gods afflictive judgment But it falls out too usually that as the Philosopher said in matter of affaires so it is in matter of calamities Communia negliguntur Men are like Jonas in the storm sleep it out though it mainly concern them surely besides that we are men bound up each in his own skin we are limbs of a community and that body is no lesse intire and consistent of all his members then this naturall and no lesse sensible should we be of any evill that afflicts it If but the least toe do ache the head feels it but if the whole body be in pain much more do both head and feet feele it Tell me can it be that in a common Earth-quake any house can be free or is the danger lesse because the neighbours roofes rattle also Yet too many men because they suffer not alone neither are singled out for Vengeance are insensible of Gods hand Surely such men as cannot be shaken with Gods judgment are fit for the center the lowest parts of the Earth where there is a constant and eternall unrest not for the surface of it which looks towards an Heaven where are interchanges of good and evill It is notable and pregnant which the prophet Esay hath hear it all ye secure hearts and tremble In that day did the Lord of Hosts call to weeping and mourning and baldnesse and girding with sackcloth and behold joy and gladnesse slaying of Oxen and killing of Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine And what of that Surely this iniquity shall not be purged till you die saith the Lord God of Hosts What shall we say to this honourable and beloved wherefore hath God given us his good creatures but that we should injoy them Doth not Solomon tell us there is nothing better then that a man should Eat and Drink and make his soule injoy good in his labour Eccles. 2.24 And why is God so incensed against Israel for doing what he allowes them Know then that it is not the act but the time that God stands upon Very unseasonableness is criminall here and now comforts are sins to be joviall when God calls to mourning to glut our maw when he calls to fasting to glitter when he would have us sackcloth'd and squalid he hates it to the death here we may say with Solomon Of laughter thou art mad and of mirth what is this thou doest He grudges not our moderate and seasonable jolities there is an Ope-tyde by his allowance as well as a Lent Go thy wayes Eat thy Bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart for now God accepteth thy work Lo Gods acceptation is warrant enough for our mirth Now may his saints rejoyce and sing but there is a time to mourne and a time to daunce It was a strange word that God had to the Prophet Ezekiel that he would take away from him his wife the comfort of his life and yet he must not mourne but surely when he but threats to take away from us the publick comforts of our peace and common welfare he would have us weep out our eyes and doth no lesse hate that our hearts should be quiet within us then he hates that we should give him so just cause of our disquiet Here the Prophet can cry out Quis dabit capiti meo aquas And how doth the mournfull prophet now pour out himself into Lamentations How hath the Lord covered the doughter of Sion with a cloud in his anger and cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty of Israel Lament 2.1 Oh that our hearts could rive in sunder at but the dangers of those publick Judgments which we have too well deserved and be lesse sensible of our private concernments then should we make a right use of that dreadfull hand of God of
one house at once nothing to be reserved or carried out For the first you finde it not so in any other cookery or provision of this kind many a Lamb did the Jewes eat in all the year besides these were halved and quartered as occasion served but for the paschal Lamb it must be set on all whole the very entrayles must be washed and put into the roast and brought to the board in an entire dish whosoever would partake of Christ aright must take whole Christ not think to go away with a limme and leave the rest that he should dividere mendacio Christum as that Father speaks as in Gods demands of us he will have all or none so in his grant to us he will give all or none He would not have so much as his coat divided much lesse will he abide himself shall There have been hereticks and I would there were not so still that will be sharing and quartering of Christ one will allow of his humanity not his eternal deity another will allow his humane body but not his soul that must be supplyed by the deity another will allow a divine soul with a fantastick body One will allow Christ to be a Prophet or a Priest but will not admit of him as a King In vain do all these wretched mis-belevers pretend to partake of Christ the passover whiles they do thus set him on by peecemeal They are their own monstrous fancies which they do thus set before themselves not the true paschal Lamb whom we do most sacrilegiously violate instead of receiving if our faith do not represent him to us wholy God and Man soul and body King Priest and Prophet here he is so exhibited to us and if we do thus beleeve in him and thus apply him to our souls we do truly receive him and with him eternal salvation Two particulars follow yet more in the manner then the persons allowed to this banquet no uncircumcised might eat thereof Then in the next place we should descend to the second head of our discourse that Christ is our Passover Then that he is our Passover sacrificed and sacrificed for us Ye see what a World of matter yet remains and offers it self as in a thronge to our meditations but the long business of the ensuing Sacrament forbids our further discourse and calls us from speaking of Christ our Passover to partaking of him For which he prepare our soules that hath dearly bought them and hath given himself to be our true passover To whom with the Father and the blessed Spirit one infinite and incomprehensible God be all Praise Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen A SERMON Preacht at HIGHAM NEAR NORWICH ON SUNDAY July 1. 1655. By JOS. HALL B. N. The first Epistle of the Holy Apostle Peter the first Chapter and the 17th verse If ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear WHen our blessed Saviour called Peter and Andrew his Brother to their disciple-ship he did it in these termes Follow me Math. 4.17 and I will make you Fishers of Men And indeed this was their trade and professio◠which they practised constantly John 19.11 and effectually Neither doubt I to say that the great draught of Fish which Peter took up when he cast forth his net at the command of Christ after his resurrection was a type and embleme of that great Capture of souls which he should make soon after Act. 2.41 when at one Sermon he drew up no less then three thousand Souls every exhortation that he made was an Angle or a casting net to take some hearers but these two holy Epistles are as some scene or large drag-net to enclose whole Shoales of believers and this Text which I have read unto you is as a rowe of meshes knit together and depending upon each other First you have here that our life is a sojourning on Earth Secondly this sojourning hath a time Thirdly this time must be passed Fourthly this passage must be in fear Fifthly this fear must be of a Father Sixthly he is so a Father that he is our Judge Lastly his judgment is unpartiall for he judgeth without respect of persons according to every mans work all which may well be reduced to these two heads A charge and an enforcement a duty and a motive to perform it The charge or duty is To pass the time of their sojourning in fear the motive or enforcement If we call on the Father c. The duty though last in place yet is first in nature and shall be accordingly meditated of First therefore our life is but a sojourning here our former translation turnes it a dwelling not so properly the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to dwell as a stranger or sojourner so the French hath it seiour temporel so near together is the signification of words of this nature that in the Hebrew one word signifies both a dweller and a stranger I suppose to imply that even the indweller is but a stranger at home But this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here doth both imply an home and opposes it The condition of every living soul especially of every Christian is to be peregrinus as out of his own Country and Hospes as in anothers Think not this was the case of St. Peter onely who by the exigence of his Apostleship was to travell up and down the World for both it is apparent that Peter after the shifts of our Jesuiticall interpreters had an house of his own to reside in Matth. 8.14 and that he writes this to his Country-men the Jewes amongst whom notwithstanding their dispersion there were doubtless many rich owners as there are still in many parts of the World after all their disgracefull eliminations the Father of the faithfull was so Hebr. 11.13 and the Sons of that Father were so after him Jacob speaks of the dayes of his Pilgrimage David was a great King yet he confesses himself a stranger upon Earth and that this was hereditary to him for he adds as were my Fathers He had more Land then they They had some few fields in Bethlehem he ruled from Dan to Beersheba yet a professed stranger wherein as he was a type of Christ so an example of all Christians as strangers and pilgrims saith the Apostle abstain from fleshly lusts The faithfull man is according to that of Bernard the Lords servant his neighbours fellow and the Worlds Master All things are yours saith the Apostle yet is he the while but a sojourner upon his own inheritance no worldly respects can free-denison a Christian here and of peregrinus make him civis No it is out of the power of all earthly commodities to naturalize him for neither can his abiding be here if he should love the earth never so well neither shall he finde any true rest or contentment here
free man neither hath any man free-will to good but he Be ambitious of this happy condition O all ye noble and generous spirits and do not think ye live till ye have attained to this true liberty The liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free So from the liberty we descend to the perogative Christs liberation Here is the glorious prerogative of the Son of God to be the deliverer or redeemer of his people They could not free themselves the Angels of heaven might pitty could not redeem them yea alas who could or who did redeem those of their rank which of lightsome celestiall spirits are become foul Devils Only Christ could free us whose ransome was infinite only Christ did free us whose love is infinite and how hath he wrought our liberty By force by purchase By force in that he hath conquer'd him whose captives we were by purchase in that he hath pay'd the full price of our ransom to that supream hand whereto we were forfeited I have heard Lawers say there are in civill Corporations three wayes of freedom by Birth by Service by Redemption By Birth as St. Paul was free of Rome by Service as Apprentises upon expiration of their years by Redemption as the the Centurion with a great sum purchased I this freedom Two of these are barred from all utter possibility in our spiritual freedom for by Birth we are the sons of wrath by service we are naturally the vassals of Satan It is only the precious redemption of the Son of God that hath freed us Whereas freedom then hath respect to bondage there are seven Egyptian Masters from whose slavery Christ hath freed us Sin an accusing Conscience danger of Gods wrath tyranny of Satan the curse of the Law Mosaicall Ceremenies humane Ordinances see our servitude to and our freedom from all these by the powerfull liberation of Christ 1. It was a true word of that Pythagorean Quot vitia tot domini sin is an hard master A master Yea a tyrant let not sin reign in your mortall bodies Rom. 6 14. and so the sinner is not only servus corruptitiae a drudge of corruptions 2 Pet. 2.19 but a very slave sold under sin Rom. 7.14 So necessitated to evill by his own inward corruption that he cannot but grind in this Mill he cannot but row in this Gally For as posse peccare is the condition of the greatest Saint upon earth and Non posse peccare is the condition of the least Saint above so non posse non peccare is the condition of the least sinful unregenerate as the prisoner may shift his feet but not his fetters or as the snail cannot but leave a slime track behind it which way soever it goes Here is our bondage where is our liberty Ubi spriritus domini ibi libertas where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.7 Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank my God through Jesus Christ So then Christ hath freed us from the bondage of sin An accusing conscience is a true task-master of Egypt it will be sure to whip us for what we have done for what we have not done Horrour of sin like a sleeping Mastive lyes at our door Gen. 4.7 when it awakes it will fly on our throat No closer doth the shaddow follow the body then the revenge of self-accusation followes sin walk Eastward in the morning the shadow starts behind thee soon after it is upon thy left side at noon it is under thy feet lye down it coucheth under thee towards even it leaps before thee thou canst not be rid of it whiles thou hast a body and the Sun light no more can thy soul quit the conscience of evil This is to thee instead of an Hell of Fiends that shall ever be shaking fire brands at thee ever torturing thee with affrights of more paines then thy nature can comprehend Soeva conturbata conscientia Wisd 17.11 If thou look to the punishment of loss it shall say as Lysimachus did how much felicity have I lost for how little pleasure If to the punishment of sense it shall say to thee as the Tyrant dream'd his heart said to him out of the boiling caldron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the cause of all this misery Here is our bondage where is the liberty Having our hearts sprinkled from an evill Conscience Heb. 10.22 Sprinkled with what Even with the blood of Jesus vers 19. This this only is it that can free us It is with the unquiet heart as with the troubled Sea of Tiberias the Winds rise the Waters swell the billowes roar the ship is tossed Heaven and Earth threat to meet Christ doth but speak the word all is calme so Christ hath freed us Secondly from the bondage of an accusing conscience The conscience is but Gods Bayliff It is the displeasure of the Lord of Heaven and Earth that is the utmost of all terribles the fear of Gods wrath is that strong winde that stirrs these billowes from the bottom set aside the danger of divine displeasure and the clamoâ—rs of conscience were harmless this alone makes an Hell in the bosome The aversion of Gods face is confusion the least bending of his brow is perdition Ps 2. ult but his totus aestus his whole fury as Ps 78.38 is the utter absorption of the creature excandescentia ejus funditur sicut ignis His wrath is poured out like fire the rocks are rent before it Nahum 1.6 whence there is nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fearfull expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries Heb. 10.27 Here is the bondage where is the liberty Being just fyed by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then Christ hath freed us thridly from the bondage of the wrath of God As every wicked man is a Tyrant according to the Philosophers position and every Tirant is a Devil among men so the Devil is the Arch-tyrant of the creatures he makes all his Subjects errand vassals yea chained slaves 2 Tim. 2. ult That they may recover themselves from the snare of the Devil who are taken captive by him at his will lo here is will snares captivity perfect tyranny Nahash the Ammonite was a notable Tyrant he would have the right eyes of the Israelites put out as an eminent mark of servitude so doth this infernal Nahash blind the right eye of our understanding yea with the spightful Philistim he puts out both the eyes of our apprehension and judgment that he may gyre us about in the Mill of unprofitable wickednesse and cruelly insult upon our remedilesse misery And when he hath done the fairest end is death yea death without end Oh the impotency of earthly tyranny to this the greatest blood-suckers could but kill and livor post fata as the old word is but here is an homicida ab initio and a fine
others small and scarce visible in the Galaxy of the Church but all are Stars and no Star is without some light If but the Second there are large Tapers and Rush-candles one gives a greater light then the other but all give some Never let them go for either Stars or Candles that neither have nor give light And wo is me if the Light that is in us be darkness how great how dangerous is that darknesse Blessed be God we have a learned able and flourishing Clergy as ever this Church had or I think I may boldly say any other since the Gospel look't forth into the World there have not been clearer Lamps in Gods Sanctuary since their first lighting then our dayes have seen yet why should we stick to confesse that which can neither be concealed nor denyed that there are some amongst so many whose wicke is too much for their Oyle yea rather whose snuffe is more then their Light I mean whose offensive lives shame their holy Doctrines and reproach the Glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ these as we lament so we desire to have top't by just censures but hear you my worthy brethren do not you where you see a thiefe in the Candle call presently for an extinguisher for personal faults do not you condemn an holy calling Oh be you wisely charitable and let us be exemplarily holy Lastly for you Christian hearers think not that this Light may be put off to publick and eminent persons only Each of you must shine too at the least tanquam faces Philip. 2. If they be as Cities up-an Hill the meanest of you must be as Cottages in a Vally though not high-built yet wind-tight and water tight If they be Beacons you must be Lanterns every one must both have a light of his own and impart it to others It is not a charge appropriated to publick Teachers that the Apostle gives to his Hebrewes Exhort one another dayly while it is called to day least any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3.13 Even the privatest person may shine forth in good counsell he that is most obscure may and must do good works in his place and improve his graces to others good These these my beloved are the light which we must both have and give not to have were to have no fellowship with God to have and not to give it were to ingrosse and monopolize grace which God cannot abide Hath any of you Knowledge Let him communicate it and light others Candle at his Hath any man worldly riches let him not be Condus but Promus to do good and distribute forget not Hath any man Zeal Zeal I say not fury not frenzy let him not glow only but shine let him say with Jehu Come see my Zeal for the Lord Hath any man true piety and devotion let him like a flaming brand enkindle the next thus thus shall we approve our selves the Sons of that infinite and communicative Light thus shall we so have fellowship with the God who is Light that shining like him and from him here in Grace we may shine with him hereafter above in everlasting glory which the same God grant to us for the sake of the Son of his love Jesus Christ the righteous to whom with thee O God the Father and thy blessed Spirit one infinite and incomprehensible Lord be given all praise honour and glory now and for ever Amen A SERMON Preacht in the Cathedral at EXCETER UPON The solemn Day appointed for the CELEBRATION OR THE PACIFICATION Betwixt the Two KINGDOMS Viz. Septemb. 7. 1641. By JOS. EXON PSAL. 46.8 Come behold the Works of the Lord what Desolations He hath made in the Earth He maketh warrs to cease unto the ends of the Earih c. IT was doubtless upon the happy end of some warr and the renovation of an established peace that this gratulatory Psalme was penned and therefore fits well with our occasion My text then is an earnest invitation to a serious and thankfull consideration of the great works of God in his contrary proceedings with men Desolations of warr and restaurations of Peace we are called first to a generall survay of Gods wonderfull works and then to a speciall view of the works of his justice first what desolation he hath made upon Earth then of his mercy in composing all the busie broils of the World He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the Earth These must be the subject both of our eyes and of my tongue and your ears at this time We must then behold the works of the Lord but that we may behold them we must come and that we may both come and behold them we are invited to both Come and behold We are naturally full of distractions ready to mind any thing but what we should unless we be called we shall not come and unlesse we come and behold we shall behold to no purpose that which our Saviour saith of Martha is the common case of us all we are troubled about many things One is carking about his household affaires another is busying his thoughts with his law-suits another is racking his mind with ambitious projects another is studying which way to be revenged of his enemy and some other perhaps rather then want work will be troubling themselves with matters of State or other mens affaires that concern them not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 busie Bishops in other mens diocess we had need to be call'd off from these vain unmeet avocations ere we offer to behold the works of God else it will fall out with us as it doth ordinarily with our bodily sight that whiles we have many objects in our eye we see nothing distinctly at all Away therefore with all the distractive yea divulsive thoughts of the World and let us Come and behold the works of the Lord as the Vulgar hath it in the next verse vacate videte Come then from thy counting house thou from thy shop-board thou from thy study thou from thy barr thou from the field and behold the works of the Lord. Indeed how can we look beside them What is there that he hath not done What thing is it that he hath not created or what event can befall any of his Creatures which he hath not contrived Or what act can fall from any Creature of his wherein he is not interested So as unlesse we will wilfully shut our eyes we cannot but behold the works of the Lord But there is more in this charge then so as these works are not meant of the ordinary occurrents so it is not a mere sight that is here called for but a serious and fixed contemplation It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I remember Beza distinguishes upon an other occasion a bending of our eyes upon this holy object Solomon the Son interprets his Father David Eccles 7.13 Consider the work
and his Host in the sea for his mercy indureth for ever which smote great Kings and slew mighty Kings for his mercy indureth for ever Sihon King of the Amorites and Og the King of Basan for his mercy indureth for ever Ps 139. Neither is there a greater demonstration of his mercy in his strokes then in his warnings for surely God intends by these examples of his just vengeance to deterr all others from following the footsteps of those wicked men whom he thus plagues as good Princes and Magistrates do so order their executions that paena ad paucos terror ad multos some may smart all may fear It is excellent and pregnant which the Apostle hath 1 Cor. 10.11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come See I beseech you God hath further drifts in his executions of judgments then we can imagine he intends them not only for acts but patterns he means not so much to punish as to teach every judgment 't is a new lesson and to teach not the next successions but all generations of men to the end of the World and if we do not make this use of his terrible proceedings we shall be much wanting both to him and our selves and no marvell if we be whipt for dull non-proficients in Gods School if we be not taught fear and obedience by his so many judgments We need not cast our eyes much back to the view of former ages though there we may meet with worlds of examples let us but look at the present estate of our miserable neighbourhood of the wofull ruines of Germany once and in our time one of the most rich and flourishing countreys of the Christian world famous for goodly Cities for a plentifull soyl for frequence of trafique for the seat of the Empire now wasted with the miseries of a long and cruell warr wallowing in blood buried in rubbidge and dust Oh see the desolations that God hath wrought in this part of the earth and pick out of them as we well may pitty fear thankfulness Pitty and just commiseration of the grievous sufferings of that desolate Nation fear of that just hand of God which hath thus humbled them and might no less deservedly have fal'n as heavily upon us thankfulness for those gracious immunities which he hath given us hitherto from their evills and mercifull respites of repentance for those sins which have called down these judgments upon them And this is the former particular object which the Psalmist calls our eyes unto worthy of our view but yet not the main and intended subject of this dayes discourse rather the other that now followes the cessation of armes and the blessing of peace He makes Wars to cease in all the World c. however the sight and due meditation of the miseries of war and the vastations that follow upon it may be a good preparative to us for setting a true value upon the benefit of peace For us Alas we had rather a threatning then a sense of war our neighbours entred into our borders not with a publick denunciation of an offensive war but with a profession of defence And if some blood were mutually shed in the passage it was not out of a professedly hostile intention on either part which had it been might easily have proceeded to a far greater slaughter but out of the suddain apprehensions of the intervening crosses of each others purposes And if the long abode in those our quarters have been not a little chargeable to us yet it hath been without any violent and bloody prosecution on either part and now thanks be to God they are passed away in peace But even this little glimpse of a dry war is enough to show us the wofull misery of a war denounced prosecuted executed to the height of cruelty where there are nothing but intentions of killing spoiling desolation The anguish of this very touch is sufficient to make us sensible of the torment of the full shock of a destructive war Out of the sense whereof let us look at this great work of contrary mercy which is here set forth unto us He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth Wherein we have an intimation no lâ—sse of the wonder then the benefit of peace It is a work of power mixed with mercy that he so restraines the spirits of men that they are composed to peace Desolation is not a work of so much power as peacemaking is naturally every man hath the seeds of war and quâ—rrell sown in his heart and they are apt to come up on every occasion Through pride men make contention saith Wise Solomon From whence are wars among you come they not from hence even of your Lusts that war in your Members saith St. James 4.1 Lo the outward wars come from the inward The unquiet thoughts of the heart arising from ambition from malice and envy and desire of revenge are those which are guilty of these generall affrayes and bloodsheds of the World and what heart is free from these Every man naturally hath a tyrant in his bosome We are all by nature thornes or nettles and cannot be touched without some stinging or pricking when there were but two Brothers in the World one of them rises up against the other and dashes his brains out Surely as we do all partake of Adam our Grandfather so we have too much of our great Uncle his Eldest Son Cain naturally affected to violence slaughter Hence in the next age after the deluge Nimrod was a mighty hunter Gen. 10. pursuing men doubtlesse no lesse in his tyranny then beasts in his game And ever since Lord how hath the World been over-run with battails and murder Here one Prince findes his Territories too straight and hath a minde to enlarge himself with the Elbow-room of the neighbouring Region There another scornes to be incroached upon by an injurious usurpation and repells a lesse violence with a greater Here one pretends to the title of a Crown wherein he hath no more interest then he can hew out with the sword There another under colour of ayd thrusts himself into that throne which he pretended to succour here one picks quarrells with the defect of justice done to his subjects and makes sudden embargoes and unwarned inroads into the adjoyning Country There another takes advantage of the violation of leagues and coulours his ambition with the fair name of a just Vindication Here one if he can have no other ground will make religion a stalking horse to his covetous and ambitious intrusion it is bellum Domini a sacred war that he manages for the reducing of Hereticks to the unity of the Church or punishing their perfidiousnesse There another will plant the Gospell with the sword-point amongst Infidels and massacres millions of Indians to make room for Christianity It is a rare thing if where great Spirits and
great power are met in any Prince he can be content to fit still and not break forth into some notable breaches of publick peace And where once the fire of war is kindled it is not easily quenched yea it runs as in a trayn and feeds it self with all the combustable matter it meets withall on every side and therefore t is a marveilous work of the power and mercy of God that he makes war to cease And this he doth either by an over-powering victory as in the case of Hezekiah Sennacherib which should seem to be the drift of this Psalme whereof every passage imports such a victory and triumph as the conquered adversary should never be able to recover Or by tempering and composing the hearts of men restraining them in their most furious carriere and taming their wild heats of revenge and inclining them to termes of peace This is a thing which none but he can do the heart of man is an unruly and head strong thing it is not more close then violent as none can know it so none can over-rule it but he that made it It is a rough sea he only can say here shalt thou stay thy proud waves Shortly then publick peace is the proper work of an Almighty and mercifull God His very title is Deus pacis the God of peace Rom. 15.33 and 16.20 Heb. 13.20 so as this is his peculium yea it is not only his for he owes it but his for he makes it I make peace and create evill I the Lord do all these things Esa 45.7 That malignant Spirit is in this his profest opposite that he is the great make-bate of the World Labouring to set all together by the ears sowing discord betwixt Heaven and Earth betwixt one peece of Earth against another Man against Man Nation against Nation hence he hath the name of Satan of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Diabolus of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as whose whole indeavour is enmity and destruction Contrarily the good God of Heaven whose work it is to destroy the works of the Devill is all for peace he loves peace he commands it he effects it He maketh wars to cease This is his work in the kinde and so much more his work in the extent To the ends of the Earth by how much more good any work is by so much more it is his and by how much more common any good is by so much better it is Even the pax pectoris the private and bosome peace of every man with himself is his great and good work for the heart of every man is naturally as an unquiet sea ever tossing and restlesse troubled with variety of boistrous passions he only can calme it the peace of the family is his he maketh men to be of one minde in an house without whose work there is nothing but jarres and discord betwixt husband and wife parents and children masters and servants servants and children with each other so as the house is made if not an hell for the time yet a purgatory at the least the peace of the neighbourhood is his without whom there is nothing but scolding brawling bloodsheds lawing that a City is at unity in it self not divided into sides and factions it is the Lords doing for many men many mindes and every man is naturally addicted to his own opinion hence grow daily destractions in populous bodies That a Country that a Nation is so is so much more his work as there are more heads and hearts to governe But that one Nation should be at unity with another yea that all Nations should agree upon an universall cessation of armes and embrace peace A domino factum est hoc est mirabile it must needs be the Lords doing so much more eminently and it is marveilous in our eyes Faciam eos in gentem unam was a word fit only for the mouth of God who only can restrain hands and conjoyne hearts as here He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the Earth Now wherefore serves all this but for the direction of our recourse for the excitation of our duty and immitation for the challenge of our thankfulnesse In the first place are we troubled with the fears or rumours of wars are we grieved with the quarrells and dissensions that we finde within the bosome of our own Nation or Church would we earnestly desire to finde all differences composed and a constant peace setled amongst us we see whether to make our addresse even to that omnipotent God who maketh warrs to cease unto the ends of the earth who breaketh the bow and snappeth the spear in sunder And surely if ever any Nation had cause to complain in the midst of a publick peace of the danger of private destractions and factious divisions ours is it wherein I know not how many uncouch Sects are lately risen out of Hell to the disturbance of our wonted peace all of them eagerly pursuing their own various fancies and opposing our formerly received truth what should we do then but be take our selves in our earnest supplications to the God of peace with an Help Lord never ceasing to solicit him with our prayers that he would be pleased so to order the hearts of men that they might encline to an happy agreement at least to a meek cessation of those unkinde quarrels wherewith the Church is thus miserably afflicted But secondly in vain shall we pray if we do nothing Our prayers serve only to testifie the truth of our desires and to what purpose shall we pretend a desire of that which we indeavour not to effect That God who makes wars and quarrels to cease useth means to accomplish that peace which he decrees And what are those means but the inclinations projects labors of all the well-willers to peace It must be our care therefore to immitate yea to second God in this great work of peace-making The phrase is a strange but an emphaticall one that Deborah uses in her song Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to help the Lord to help the Lord against the mighty Judg. 5.23 Lo what a word here is To help the Lord what help needs the Almighty or what help can our weaknesse afford to his omnipotence Yet when we put our hands to his and do that as instruments which he as the authour requires of us and works by us we help that Lord which gives us all the motions both of our wills and actions so must we do in the promoting of peace and the allaying of quarrells when an house is on fire we must every one cast in his pail-full to the quenching of the flames It is not enough that we look on harmlesly with our hands in our bosomes No we add to that burning which we indeavour not to quench We must contribute our utmost to the cessation of these spirituall and intellectuall wars which shall be
whom our prophet here thou hast made the Earth to tremble This for the passive Earth-quake of publick calamities now for the active of publick stirs and tumults with these the land is moved too and this quaking is so much more unnaturall for that men are here the immediate troublers of themselves whereas in the other they are moved by the immediate hand of God And here alas what shall we say to those men that take pleasure in the embroyling of States that with Nero can sing to see the City on fire that love to daunce upon a quaking earth Yea that affect to be actors in these unkindly motitations That great Mathematician braggart could vainly say give me a place where to set my foot and I will move the earth that which that proud Engineer would do by Art these men will do by wickedness that and more for they will be moving that earth which they cannot but tread upon I remember Georgias Agricola who when I was a young man was noted for the most accurate observer of these under ground secrets of nature tells us most probably that the secondary and immediate cause of an Earth-quake is a certain subterraneous fire kindled of some sulphureous matter within the bowels of that vast body and increased by the resistance of the ambient coldnesse the passages whereof being precluded and blocked up by the solid and cold matter of the earth it rages and roars within those dark hollowes and by the violence of it as murmuring to be thus forceably imprisoned shakes the parts about it and at last makes way by some dreadfull Vesuvian-like eruption Such is the mis-kindled heat of some vehement spirits this when it lights upon some earthy proud sullen head-strong disposition and findes it self crossed by an authoritative resistance growes desperately unruly and in a mad indignation to be suppressed is ready to shake the very foundations of government and at last breaks forth into some dangerous rupture whether in Church or State Let no man think I intend to strike at a wise holy well-govern'd zeal no I hugge this in my bosome as the lively temper of grace as the very vitall spirits of religion I wish there were more of that in the World I speak of the unruly distempers of male-contented persons and of the furies of Anabaptism and Separation Let such men think what they will of themselves Solomon has past his doom upon them Prov. 6.14 Homo nequam miscet contentiones as Tremelius turnes it He is no better then a wicked man that hatcheth divisions how ever they may sleight this contentious humour I dare confidently say a private murderer shall make an easyer answer then a publick disturber even Apostolicall charity can wish would to God they were cut off that trouble you And more then so whereas they would not be more stirring then their neighbours if they did not think themselves wiser he that is wiser then they gives them their own It is an honour for a man to cease from strife but every fool will be medling Prov. 20.3 So then a quarrelsome man in a parish especially if he have gotten a little smattering of law is like a cholick in the guts that teares and wrings and torments a whole township but a Seditionary in a State or a Schismatick in the Church is like a sulphureous fiery Vapour in the bowels of the Earth able to make that stable element reele again worse then that Monster of Tyrants who could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when I am dead Let Earth and fire jumble together but this man sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let me live to see the earth totter and with that shaking torne and divided which is the usuall effect of the Earth-quake and the second head of our intended discourse Thou hast broken or divided it I come not hither to astonish you with the relation of the fearfull effects which Earth-quakes have produced in all ages as it were easy to do out of histories and Philosophical discourses where you may see Rocks torne in pieces Mountains not cast down only but removed Hills raised not out of Vallies only but out of Seas Fires breaking out of Waters Stones and Cinders belched up Rivers changed Seas dislodged Earth opening Towns swallowed up and many other such hideous events Of which kind our own memory can furnish us with too many at home although these colder climates are more rarely infested with such affrightfull accidents It is more properly in my way to shew you the parallell effects of the distempers and calamities in States and Churches To begin therefore with the active breaches whom should I rather instance in then that wofull heart-burning of Corah the Son of Levi and of Dathan and Abiram the Sons of Reuben No sooner were they enflamed with an envious rage against Moses and Aaron then 250. Princes of the Assembly famous in the Congregation men of renown rise up in the mutiny against their Governours and these draw with them all the Congregation of Israel to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation What is the Issue After Moses his proclamation the people withdraws from their tents the earth opens her mouth swallows up Corah and his Company withall that pertained to them and they go down quick into the pit What a shriek do you think there was when they found themselves sinking into that dreadfull gulfe as for the 250. Reubenites fire came out from the Lord and consumed them Lo the two terrible effects even of materiall Earth-quakes opening and burning which we shall find spiritually happening in all commotions of this nature Look at the rebellion of Jeroboam the male-contented multitude when their petition speeds not cries out What portion have we in David neither have we inheritance in the Son of Jesse to your tents O Israel took to thine own house David What was the effect Israel departed to their tents only Juda stuck to Rehoboam there is the division The stones fly about the ears of Adoram and become his suddain Tomb and drive their Leige Soveraign to his chariot there is the fire of violence So upon the harsh proceeding of Innocent the 4th against Frederick the Emperour Maxima partialitas populorum subsetuâ—a est as Tritemius tells us There was such a division of the people as lasted in the computation of that Author no lesse then 260. years not without the effusion of much blood those which took the Popes part were called Guelfes those which took the Emperours Gibellines here was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed with this Roman Earth-quake What should I overlay you with instances Will ye see the like effects in the Church I could tell you of those Eastern Earth-quakes caused by the Arrians Donatists Circumcellians of those of Province and the bordering parts wherein so many thousand honest and inoffensive Albigenses were overwhelmed I could tell you of the Parisian massacres and many other such tragicall acts take that one whereof
claim to eternal glory For what is that but the inheritance of the Saints Colos 1. Who should have your Lands but your heirs and Lo these are the heirs of God and none but they Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you saith our Saviour Matth. 25.34 Many a one here is borne to a fair estate and is strip't of it whether by the just disherson of his offended Father or else by the power or circumvention of an adversary or by his own mis-government and unthriftiness here is no danger of any of these On our Fathers part none For whom he loves he loves to the end On our Adversaries part none None shall take them out of my hand saith our Saviour The gates of Hell shall not prevaile against his On our part none For whereby can we lavish out our estate but by our sins and he that is borne of God sinneth not sinneth not so as to incurr a forfeit he may so sin as to be frowned on for the time to be chid yea perhaps to be well whipped of his Father not so as to be unsonned or dis-herited For the seed of God remains in him Lo whiles he hath the Divine seed in him he is the Son of God and whiles he is a Son he cannot but be an heir Oh then the comfortable and blessed priviledges of the Sons of God! enough to attract and ravish any heart for who doth not effect the honour of the highest parentage not under Heaven but in it who can be but eagerly ambitious of the title of the Lord of the world so closely yea to be interessed in the great God of Heaven and Earth by an inseparable relation to be attended on by those mighty and majesticall Spirits and lastly to be feoffed in the all-glorious Kingdome of Heaven and immortal crown of glory None of you can be now so dull as not desire to be thus happy and to ask as the blessed Virgin when she was told of her miraculous conception Quomodo fiet istud How shall this be How may I attain to this blessed condition This is a question worth asking Oh the poor and base thoughts of men How may I raise my house how may I settle my estate How may I get a good bargain how may I save or gain how may I be revenged of mine enemy whiles in the mean time we care not to demand what most concerns us which way should I become the child of God But would we know this to which all the World is but trifles surely it is not so hard as useful whose Sons we are by nature we soon know too well It is not enough to say our Father was an Amorite and our Mother an Hittite or to say we are the children of this world Luke 16.8 or a seed of falsehood Esay 57.4 or yet worse the children of the night and darknesse 1 Thess 5.5 worse yet we are filii contumaciae the sons of wilfull disobedience as the original runs Ephes 2.3 and thereby yet worse the sons of wrath Ephes 2.2 and which is the height of all miseries the Sons of death and eternal damnation how then how come we to be the Sons of God It is the Almighty power of Grace that only can make this change A double Grace the Grace of Adoption the Grace of Regeneration Adoption God hath predestinated us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ Ephes 1.5 Regeneration So many as received him he gave them this power or right to be made the Sons of God those which are borne not of blood or the lust of the flesh but borne of God John 1.12 13. and that which referrs to both Ye are all the Children of God by faith in Christ Jesus Galat. 3.26 Shortly then if we would be Sons and Daughters of God for the case is one in both the soul hath no sexes and in Christ there is neither male nor female we must see that we be borne again not of water only so we are all sacramentally Regenerated but of the Holy Ghost If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 we must not be the men we were and how shall that be effected In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospell saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.15 He hath begotten us by the word of Truth Jam. 1.18 This word is that immortal seed whereby we are begotten to God let this word therefore have it's perfect work in us let it renew us in the inner man mortifying all our evill and corrupt affections and raising us up to a new life of Grace and obedience then God will not shame to own us for his and we shall not presume in claiming this glorious title of the Sons of God But if we be still our old selves no changlings at all the same men that we came into the World without defalcation of our corruptions without addition of Grace and Sanctification Surely we must seek us another Father we are not yet the Sons of God But me thinks ere I was aware I am falling to anticipate my discourse and whiles I am teaching how we come to be the Sons of God am showing how we may know that we are so which is the drift of this Scripture in the qualification here mentioned So many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God It is not enough for us my beloved to be the Sons and Daughters of God unlesse we know our selves to be so for certainly he cannot be truely happy that doth not know himself happy How shall we therefore know our selves to be the Sons of God surely there may be many signes and proofes of it besides this mentioned in my Text or rather many specialties under this general As first Every Child of God is like his Father It is not so in carnall Generation we have seen many Children that have not so much as one lineament of their Parents and as contrary to their dispositions as if they had been strangers to their loines and womb In the spiritual son-ship it is not so every Child of God carries the true resemblance of his Heavenly Father as he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation Because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Well then my Brethren trie your selves by this rule our Heavenly Father is merciful are we cruel Our Father is righteous in all his wayes are we unjust Our Heavenly Father is slow to anger are we furious upon every sleight occasion Our Heavenly Father abhors all manner of evill do we take pleasure in any kind of wickednesse certainly we have nothing of God in us neither can we claim any kindred with Heaven Secondly every Child that is not utterly degenerate bears a filial love to his Parents answering in some measure that naturall affection which the parent bears towards him we cannot but know that the love of
be and be acknowledged the sons of God Let us put on as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindnesse humblenesse of mind meeknesse long-suffering forbearing one another forgiving one another if we have a quarrell against any even as Christ forgave us and above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectnesse Colos 3.12 13 14. And lastly forsaking the mis-guidance of Satan the World and our corrupt nature which will lead us down to the chambers of death and eternal destruction let us yield up our selves to be led by the holy Spirit of God in all the wayes of righteousnesse and holynesse of piety justice charity and all manner of gracious conversation that we may thereby approve our selves the sons and daughters of God and may be feoffed in that blessed inheritance which he hath laid up for all his to the possession whereof may he happily bring us who hath dearly bought us Jesus Christ the righteous to whom with the Father and the blessed spirit one infinite God be given all praise honour and glory now and for ever Amen THE MOURNER IN SION ECCLESIASTES 3.4 There is a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance I Need not tell you that Solomon was a wise man his wisdom as it was in an extraordinary measure put into him by him that is wisdom it self so was it in a more then ordinary way improved by his diligent observation his observation was Universal of times things persons actions events neither did he look his experiments up in the closet of his own brest but by the direction of Gods Spirit laid them forth to the World in this divine sermon which not as a King but as a Prophet he preach't to all posterity Every sentence here therefore is a dictate of the holy Ghost it is not Solomon then but a greater then Solomon even the holy Spirit of the great God that tells you there is not a time onely but a season too for every thing and for every purpose under Heaven that is as I hope you can take it no otherwise for every good thing or indifferent as for evill things or actions if men find a time yet sure God allowes no season those are alwayes damnably-unseasonable abuses of times and of our selves not to meddle with other particulars our thoughts are now by the divine providence pitch't upon a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance or rather onely upon the time to weep and mourn for our time of laughing and dancing is past already and perhaps we have had too much of that in our former times which makes the causes and degrees of our now weeping and mourning as more uncouth so more intensive we must be so much deeper in our mourning by how much we have been more wild and wanton in our laughter and dancing To fall right down therefore upon our intended discourse without any previous circumlocutions There is a threefold time of just mourning 1. When a man is sensible of his punishments 2. Of his sins 3. Of his dangers Of his punishments first or rather which is more general of his afflictions for all afflictions are not intended for punishments some are fatherly chastisments onely for our good whereas all punishments are afflictive when we are whip't then when we smart with the rod we have cause to weep and if in this case we shed no tears it is a sign of a gracelesse heart It is time therefore to mourn when we are pressed by sufferings whether from the immediate hand of God or mediately by the hands of men whether by private or publique calamities are we smitten in our bodies by some painfull and incurable diseases Doth the pestilence rage in our streets Hath God forbidden us the influence of Heaven and curst the Earth with barrennesse Hath he broken the staffe of bread and sent leannesse into our souls Hath he humbled us with the fearfull casualties of fire or water by wracks at Sea by lightnings and tempests by land hath he sent murrain amongst our cattle and destroying vermine into our barnes and fields now God tells us it is a time to mourn are we disquieted in our minds by some over-mastering passions of griefe for the miscarriages of children for the secret discontents of domesticall jars for unjust calumnies cast upon our good name are we molested in our mindes and spirits with impetuous and no lesse importune then hatefull Temptations now it is a time to mourn do we find in our souls a decay and languishment of grace a prevalence of those corruptions which we thought abated in us Do we find our selves deeply soul-sick with our sinfull indispositions Shortly do we find the face of our God for the time withdrawn from us Now now it is a time to mourn If we turn our eyes to those evils which are cast upon us by the hands of men Do men find themselves despoyled of their estates restrained of their Liberties tortured in their bodies Do they find the wofull miseries of an intestine war killings burnings depopulations do they find fire and sword raging in the bosom of out Land now it is a time to mourn Were these evils confined to some few persons to some special families they were worthy of the tears of our compassion for it is our duty to weep with them that weep but where they are universal and spread over the whole face of any Nation there cannot be found tears enough to lament them Punishments then are a just cause of our sorrow and mourning but to a good heart sin is so much greater cause of mourning by how much a moral evil is more then a natural and by how much the displeasure of an Almighty God is worthy of more regard then our own smart Doth thine heart then tell thee that thou hast offended the Majesty of God by some grievous sin now is thy time to weep and mourne as thou wouldest for thy only son Zechar. 12.10 now it is time for thee to be in bitternesse as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne Thy soul is foul wash and rince it with the tears of thy repentance go forth with Peter and weep bitterly Dost thou finde in the place where thou livest that sin like some furious torrent bears down all before it now it is time for thee to mourne for the sins of thy people and to say as the holy Psalmist did Psal 119 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men keep not thy law Lastly as our sufferings and our sins make up a due time for our mourning so do our dangers also for fear is no lesse afflictive then pain yea I know not whether there can be a greater pain then the expectation of imminent mischiefs Do we therefore see extremities of judgments hovering over our heads ready to fall down like Sodoms fire and
therefore putting both together we must rejoyce in him with trembling Droop not despair not O Man thou hast a Father in Heaven all the bowels of mortall and Earthly parents are straight to his If Fathers if Mothers may prove unnaturall there is no fear that God should cast off his mercy for it is himself Presume not O Man for this Father is a most just Judge It is for sinfull flesh and blood to be partiall Fond parents are apt so to doat upon the persons of their children that they are willing to connive at their sins either they will not see them or not hate them or not censure them or not punish them thus many a son may according to the Apologue bite his Mothers ear when he is climbing up to the gallowes but the infinite justice of the great and holy God cannot be either accessary or indulgent to the least sin of his dearest darling upon Earth it is a mad conceit of our Antinomian Hereticks That God sees no sin in his elect whereas he notes and takes more tenderly their offences then any other Hear what he saith to his Israel Thee onely have I chosen of all the families upon Earth therefore will I punish thee for all thine iniquities Amos. 3.2 But let this be enough to be spoken of the conjuncture of these two titles of God A Father and a Judge we cannot hope in the remainder of our hour to prosecute both of them severally let us onely touch at the former it is a dear name this of a Father and no less familiar It is the first word of our Lords prayer and in the first clause of our Creed that which is there the title of his personality in Divine relation is the same here in his gracious relation to us Our Father so he is in the right of Creation He made us not we our selves in the right of adoption we have received the adoption of sons Galat. 4.5 In the right of regeneration In that we are made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 I could here lose my self and yet be happily bestowed in the setting forth of those infinite priviledges that we receive from the hands of our God by vertue of this happy son-ship but I shall balk this theme for the present as that we not long since largely prosecuted in your ears and shall as my Text invites me rather put you in mind how vainly we shall pretend a right to this Father unless we own him for the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If ye call him Father as Beza and our former translation turnes it or as it is being a compound word more properly rendred in our present version If ye call upon the Father where you have a short but true Character of a faithfull Christian laid forth to you He is one that calls upon the Father he saith not upon God absolutely in the relation to that infinite power which made and governes the World so Jewes and Turks pretend to do but in the relation to his blessed paternity as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in him ours Thus he that calls upon the Father professes himself a true Christian so St. Paul makes this one of the mottoes of Gods great Sâ—al Let every one that calls upon the name of the Lord depart from iniquity and David makes this the pitch-brand as it were of wicked wretches they call not upon God surely there is no act we can do argues more grace then holy invocation or that equally procures it There are three motives of our calling upon the Father Our duty our need and our benefit Our duty for that God injoyns it and accounts it an especiall part of his worship They shall call upon me in the day of their trouble and I will hear them saith God Our need for as we are of our selves destitute of all good things so they are onely to be derived to us from Heaven by our prayers Our benefit for we are assured of all blessings for suing for Ask and have In these regards I may truly say that man hath no grace nor goodness in him that prayes not both by himself and with his family let him never plead his disability to express himself in his devotion I never knew begger yet that wanted words to express his wants were we equallly sensible of our spirituall defects we should find language enough to bemoan them this indevotion plainly bewraies a Godless heart careless of his duty insensible of his need regardless of his benefit and wholly yielded up to an atheous stupidity On the contrary to pray well and frequently is an argument of a pious and graciously disposed soul Others may talk to God and complement with him perhaps in Scripture termes which they have packt together and this may be the phrase of their memory and elocution but to pour out our souls in our fervent prayers with a due apprehension of the majesty to whom we speak and a lively sense of our necessity with a faithfull expectation of their supplies from Heaven is for none but godly and well affected suppliants these cannot call upon the Father without a blessing It is a notable and patheticall expostulation which the holy Psalmist uses to the Almighty How long wilt thou be angry with thy people that prayeth intimating clearly that it were strange and uncouth that a praying people should lie long under any judgment and should not find speedie mercy at the hands of God Oh then that we could be stirred up to a serious and effectual performance of this duty for our selves for our Brethren for the whole Church of God certainly we could not have been thus miserable if we could have heartily called upon the Father of mercies and if we could yet ply Heaven fervently and importunately with our faithfull devotions we should not fail of an happy evasion out of all our miseries and find cause to praise him for his gracious deliverance and his fatherly compassion renewed upon us and continued to our posterity after us which our good God for the sake of the Son of his love Jesus Christ the righteous vouchsafe to grant unto us Amen THE WOMENS VAIL OR A DISCOURSE Concerning the NECESSITY or EXPEDIENCE OF THE CLOSE-COVERING OF THE Heads of Women Intended to have been Preach't in the Cathedral at Exceter upon 1 Cor. 11.10 Occasioned by an offence unjustly taken at a Modest Dresse 1 COR. 11.10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the Angels AS the Sacred Councels of the Church had wont to have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substantial canons and rituall constitutions so hath our blessed Apostle as in all his Epistles so in this and as in other parts of it so in this Chapter here are main Canons for the essence of Gods service in the matter of the Eucharist here are Rules of order for the outward fashion of praying and
not better have been spared Surely had those Godly Emperours Kings Princes Peers Gentry been of the minde of many moderne Christians they had forborne this care and cost and turned their magnificence into another channel But if this bounty of theirs were holy and commendable as it hath been justly celebrated by all Christians till this present age how are those of ours shamefully degenerated who affect nothing but homlinesse and beggery in all that is devoted to the Almighty and are ready to say contrary to the man after Gods own heart 2 Sam. 24.24 I will offer to the Lord my God of that which shall cost me nothing With what great state and deep expence God was served under the Law no man can be ignorant for who knowes not the costly furniture of the Tabernacle the rich habiliments of the Priest the precious vessels for the sacrifices and after that the invaluable sumptuouâ—ness of the Temple both without and within In the marbles cedars almuggim trees brasse silver gold in the curious celatures and artificial textures in regard of all which for matter and forme what was this other then the glory of the whole earth and as for the very altar alone Gods Ariel that which went up there from in smoke both in the daily sacrifices and the solemn Hecatombs upon special occasions what man could value Besides the treble tithes first fruites oblations which were perpetually presented to God for the maintenance of his Priesthood O the costly services of God under the Law And do we think the same God is now of a quite other diet then formerly Is all this meer ceremony Is there not so much morality in it as that it is meet the great God who is the possessour of Heaven and Earth should be served of the best that it is not for us to affect too much cheapnesse and neglective homeliness in our evangelical devotions Surely nature it self calls to us for this respect to a deity even the very savage Indians may teach us this point of religion amongst whom we find the Mexicans a people that had never had any intercourse with the other three parts of the World Eminent in this kinde what sumptuous and stately Temples had they erected to their Devils How did they enrich their mis-called Gods with Magazins of their treasure And even still the most barbarous and brutish of all those people that bear the shape of men have this principle bred in them that if they have ought better then other it is for their God a principle so much advanced by imperfect Christianity that the Abassins hold it piacular to build their own houses of the same matter which is reserved for their Churches Jo. Pories descript of Africk to the very fabrick and use whereof they yield so much reverence as that their greatest Peer alights from his horse when he comes but within view of those sacred piles And if from those remote parts of the world we shall think fit to look homewards how just cause shall we finde to wonder at the munificent piety of our predecessors who so freely poured out themselves into bountiful expence for raising of the houses of God in our Island and endowing them with rich patrimony that the prime honor of this Nation all the world over hath ever been the beauty of our Churches Neither was it otherwise in all those parts of the World where Christianity had obtained How frequent was it for a wealthy matron with Vestina and for a great Nobleman with the Roman Tertullus Regna potius quam coenobia vir sanctis posteris reliquit c. Volaterran to make God their heir Ex lâ—bro Portifie Innocent 1. and to enrich his houses and services with the legacies of their jewels and possessions Whereupon it came to passe that those structures and vessels which at the first were but of mud and meaner mettals according to the poverty of the donors soon after exchanged their homeliness for so glorious a magnificence as bleared the eyes of the heathen beholders See saith that enemy of Christ in what vessels Maries son is served and Ammianus is ready to burst with spight at the liberal provision of Gods ministers in comparison of their neglective Paganisme Ut ditenter oblationibus matronarum c. There may have been some in all ages that out of a misgrounded humility and pretended mortification have affected a willing disrespect of all outward accommodations both in their own domestick provisions and in the publick services of God such were St. Gallus of old and in later Times the two famous Franceses of Assise and of St. Paul The first whereof Gallus Wolafrid Strab. c. 18. as the history reports when a great Duke out of a reverent opinion of his sanctity had given him a rich and curiously carved peece of plate Magnoaldus his Disciple who had the carriage of that pretious vessel moving that it might be reserved for the sacred use of Gods table received this answer from him Son remember what Peter said Gold and Silver have I none let this plate which thou bearest be distributed to the poor for my blessed master Saint Colomb was wont to offer that holy Sacrifice in chalices of brasse because they say our Saviour was with brazen nailes fastned to his cross thus he in more humility then wisdome Lep rosis ulcerosarum plagarum ruebat in Oscula lib. Confor Fructu Separatur And for the other two never man more affected bravery and pride then they did beggery and nastiness placing a kind of merit in sticks and clay in rags and patches and slovenry S. Franciscus circa mortem suam in testamento suo scribi voluit quod omnes cellae domus fratrum de lignis luto essent tantum ad conservandam melius humilitatem paupertatem Libr. Conform p. 218. lib. 2. Fructu 4. Conform 16. Let these and their ill-advised followers pass for Cynicks in Christianity although now what ever the original rule of their sordid founder was even those of that order can in their buildings and furnitures emulate the magnificence of Princes as if they affected no less excess in the one extreme then their patron did in the other Fratres omnes vilibus vestibus induantur possunt earepeciare de saccis aliis peciis cum benedictione Dei. Conform l. 1. Fructu 9. p. 116. Wise Christians sit down in the mean now under the Gospel avoyding a carelesse or parcimonious neglect on the one side and a superstitious lavishnesse on the other As for this Church of ours there is at this time especially little fear of too much and if we be not more in the ablative then our Ancestors were in the dative case yet we are generally more apt to higgle with the Almighty and in a base niggardliness to pinch him in the allowances to his service wherein we do not so much wrong our God as our selves for there is not in all the World so sure
a motive for God to give largely unto us as that we give freely unto God 2 Sam. 11 16. David did but intend to build God an house and now in a gratious retribution God tells him by Nathan The Lord will build thee an house and will establish thine house and thy kingdome for ever before thee and contrarily in this it holds as in all other pious bequests 2 Cor. 9.6 He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly if some particular wayes of the conveighance of our bounty were anciently ceremonial Prov. 3.9 yet we are sure this charge is perpetual Honour the Lord with thy substance Had our blessed Saviour been of the mind of these drye and pinching Devotionists he had surely chid Mary Magdalene for the needlesse wast of that her pretious ointment and have agreed with Judas how much better it migh have been employed for the relief of many poor soules that wanted bread then in such a complement of unnecessary delicacy Mat. 26.13 but how kindly this seasonable expence was taken by our Lord Jesus appears in that the memorial of this beneficence is ordained by him to have no narrower bounds of Time or Place then this blessed Gospel it self Shortly as the honest and learned Gerson long since distingushed in matter of Doctrine so must we learn to distingush in matter of practise some things are of the necessity of devotion others of the piety of devotion and yet further in this second ranke some things are essential to the piety of devotion without which it cannot be at all others are accidental without which it cannot be so well under this latter sort expedience and decency both of cleanliness and cost challenge a due place and cannot justly be denyed it As it is in our own case some things are requisite out of the necessity of nature without which we cannot subsist other things are requisite for the convenience of our estate without which we cannot maintain a well being He that hath Bread and Drinke and Cloathes may live but he that hath not his Linnen washed and his meat cleanly dressed and change of warme suits will hardly live with comfort To the great marriage of the Kings son in the Gospel all comers are invited yea the guests are fetcht from the very high waies Mat. 22.9.10 and hedges where there could be no probability of any choice Wardrobe yet when the King comes in and finds a man without his wedding garment he in displeasure asks Friend how camest thou in hither sufficienty intimating that even comlinesse of fashion and meet complement are worthily expected in the solemn entertainments of God To conclude if we have rightly apprehended the dreadful and glorious Majesty of the great God we shall never think we can come with reverence enough into his holy presence and it is no small appendance of reverence to have our very bodies decently composed before him and if we have well weighed the absolute soveraignty of this great King of Glory and the infinite largess of our munificent God who hath given us our selves and all that we have or are or hope for that hath not grudged us ought in earth or heaven no not the dear son of his love and eternal essence but hath sent him out of his bosome for our redemption we cannot think all our little enough to consecrate to his blessed name and service and shall hold that evil eye worthy to be pulled out which shall grudg the fattest of his flocks and heards to the altar of the Almighty Now the appâ—ication of this whole discourse I leave to the thoughts of every reader who cannot but easily finde how too much need there is of a monitor in this kind whiles the examples of a profane indecency so abound every where to the great shame of the Gospel and scandall of all ingenious mindes I forbear to particularize a volume would be too straight for this complaint It is not the blushing of my Nation the derision of Foraigners the advantage of adversaries that I drive at in these seasonable lines it is the reformation of those foul abuses gross neglects outward indignities notorious pollutions which have helpt to expose the face of this famous Church late the glory of Christendom to the scorne of the nations round about us who now change their former envy at her unmatchable beauty into a kinde of insulting pity of her miserable deformity Returne dear brethren returne to that comly order and decency which won honour and reverence to your goodly forefathers After the main care of the substance of divine worship which must be ever holy spiritual answerable to the unfailing and exact rule of the eternal word of God let the outwatd carriage of Gods sacred affairs be what may be sutable to that pure and dreadful Majesty whose they are let his now neglected houses be decently repaired Nequid pâ—ofanum Templo Dei insâ—ratur â—oâ—feâ—sus sedâ—m quâ—m inhabitat deâ—eâ—inquat Cyprian de habitâ— virg neatly kept reverently regarded for the owners sake and inviolably reserved for those sacred uses to which they are dedicated let his holy table be comly spread attended with awful devotion let them be clean both within and without that bear the vessels of the Lord let the maintenance of his altar be free liberal chearful let Gods chair the pulpit be climb'd into by his chosen servants with trembling and gravity briefly let his whole service and worship be celebrated with all holy reverence this is the way to the acceptation of God and to honour with men Good Security A Comfortable DISCOURSE OF The Christians Assurance of Heaven Grounded upon 2 Pet. 1.10 Give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure IT shall be my onely drift and endeavour in this discourse to settle the hearts of those who profess the name of Christ in a main case of Christian resolution concerning their present and final estate the mean whereof is no lesse comfortable and useful then the extremes miserably dangerous whiles one is causelesly confident and dyes presuming another is wilfully careless and perisheth through neglect both fearfully mis-carry and help to fill up hell I shall desire to guide the wise Christian in a midway between both these and teach him how to be resolute without presumption and to be awful without distrust how to labour for an holy security and modest confidence Ere we descend to the matter Three termes require a little clearing what this calling is What election What the sure-making of both As to the first this cannot be taken of an outward calling For we are sure enough of that wheresoever the Gospel is preached we are called outwardly neither are we much the nearer to be sure of that for many are called few chosen yea certainly this not answered shall aggravate our damnation It is therefore an inward and effectuall calling that we must endeavour to make sure a call not by the sound of the word only
both 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us Lo the promise was past before vers 20. and then yet more confirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 21. and now past under seale 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 22. Yea but the present possession is yet more and that is given us in part by our received earnest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earnest is a binder wherefore is it given but by a little to assure all In our transactions with Men when we have an honest Mans word for a bargain we think it safe but when his hand and seale infallible but when we have part in hand already the contract is past and now we hold our selves stated in the commodity what ever it be And have we the promise hand seale earnest of Gods Spirit and not see it not feel it not know it Shortly whom will we believe if not God and our selves No Man knowes what is in Man but the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Man that is in him as St. Paul to his Corinthians Ye have heard Gods Spirit hear our own out of our own mouth Doth not every Christian say I believe in God c. I believe in Jesus Christ I believe in the holy Ghost I believe the Communion of Saints the forgiveness of sins and life Everlasting And doth he say he believes when he believes not or when he knows not whether he believe or no what a mockery were this of our Christian profession Or as the Jesuitical evasion commonly is is this only meant of an assent to these general truthes that there is a God a Saviour a sanctifyer Saints remission salvation not a special application of these several articles to the soul of him whose tongue professeth it Surely then the devil might say the creed no less confidently then the greatest Saint upon Earth There is no Devil in hel but believes not without regret that there is a God that made the World a Saviour that redeemed it a blessed Spirit that renewes it a remission of sins an eternal Salvation to those that are thus redeemed and regenerate and if in the profession of our faith we go no further then Devils how is this Symbolum Christianorum To what purpose do we say our creed But if we know that we believe for the present how know we what we shall do what may not alter in time we know our own frailty and ficklenesse what hold is there of us weak wretches what assurance for the future Surely on our part none at all If we be left never so little to our selves we are gone on Gods part enough there is a double hand mutually imployed in our hold-fast Gods and ours we lay hand on God God laies hand on us if our feeble hand fail him yet his gracious and omnipotent hand will not fail us even when we are lost in our selves yet in him we are safe he hath graciously said and will make it good I will not leave thee nor forsake thee The seed of God saith the beloved disciple Joh. 3. remaines in him that is born of God so as he cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trade in sin as an unregenerate not lose himself in sinning so as contrary to Card. Bellarmines desperate Logick even an act of infidelity cannot marr his habit of faith and though he be in himself and in his sin guilty of death yet through the mercy of his God he is preserved from being swallowed up of death whiles he hath the seed of God he is the Son of God and the seed of God remaines in him alwayes That of the great Doctor of the Gentiles is sweet and cordiall and in stead of all to this purpose Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I am fully perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ â—esus our Lord. Rom. 8.39 O divine oratory of the great Apostle Oh the heavenly and irrefragable Logick of Gods Pen-man it is the very question that we have now in hand which he there discusses and falls upon this happy conclusion That nothing can separate Gods elect from his everlasting love he proves it by induction of the most powerfull agents and triumphes in the impoâ—ence and imprevalency of them all and whiles he names the principalities and powers of darkness what doth he but imply those sins also by which they work And this he saies not for himself only least any with Pererius and some other Jesuites should harp upon a particular Revelation but who shall separate us he takes us in with him and if he seem to pitch upon his own person in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet the subject of this perswasion reacheth to all true believers That nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Us not as it is over-stretched by Bellarmine and Vasquez indefinitely for those that predestinate in generall but with an implyed application of it to himself and the believing Christians to whom he wrote The place is so clear and full that all the miserable and strained Evasions of the Jesuiticall gainsayers cannot elude it but that it will carry any free and unprejudiced heart along with it and evince this comfortable truth That as for the present so for the future we may attain to be safe for our spirituall condition What speak I of a safety that may be when the true believer is saved already already past from death to Life already therefore over the threshold of Heaven Shortly then our faith may make our calling sure our calling may make sure our election and we may therefore confidently build upon this truth that our calling and election may be made sure Now many things may be done that yet need not yea that ought not to be done This both ought and must be indeavored for the necessity and benefit of it This charge here as it implies the possibility so it signifies the convenience use profit necessity of this assecuration for sure if it were not beneficiall to us it would never be thus forceably urged upon us And certainly there needs no great proof of this For nature and our self-love grounded thereupon easily invites us to the indeavour of feoffing our selves in any thing that is good this being then the highest good that the Soul of Man can be possibly capable of to be ascertained of Salvation it will soon follow that since it may be done we shall resolve it ought it must be indeavored to be done Indifferent things and such as without which we may well subsist are left arbitrary to us but those things wherein our spirituall well-being consisteth must be mainly laboured for neither can any contention be too much to attain them such is this we have
children as such Not as men not as witty wise noble rich bountiful useful but as Christians showing it self in all real expressions These these are excellent and irrefragable proofs and evictions of your calling and election Seek for these in your hearts and hands and seek for them till ye finde them and when ye have found them make much of them as the invaluable favours of God and labour for a continual increase of them and a growth in this heavenly assurance by them What need I urge any motives to stir up your Christian care and diligence Do but look first behinde you see but how much pretious time we have already lost how have we loitered hitherto in our great work Bernards question is fit still to be asked by us of our souls Bernarde ad quid venisti Wherefore are we here upon earth To pamper our Gut To tend our hide To wallow in all voluptuous courses To scrape up the pelf of the World As if the only end of our being were carnal pleasure wordly profit Oh base and unworthy thoughts What do we with reason if we be thus prostituted It is for beasts which have no soul to be all for sense For us that have ratiocination and pretend grace we know we are here but in a thorowfare to another world and all the main task we have to do here in this life is to provide for a better Oh then let us recollect our selves at the last and redeem the time and over-looking this vain and worthless World bend all our best indeavours to make sure work for eternity Look secondly before you and see the shortness and uncertainty of this which we call a life what day is there that may not be our last what hour is there that we can make account of as certain And think how many World 's the dying Man would give in the late conscience of a careless life for but one day more to do his neglected work and shall we wilfully be prodigall of this happy leasure and liberty and knowingly hazard so wofull and irremediable a surprisall Look thirdly below you and see the horror of that dreadfull place of torment which is the unavoydable portion of careless and unreclaimable sinners consider the extremity the eternity of those tortures which in vain the secure heart sleightly hoped to avoid Look lastly above you and see whether that Heaven whose out-side we behold be not worthy of our utmost ambition of our most zealous and effectuall endeavours Do we not think there is pleasure and happiness enough in that region of glory and blessedness to make abundant amends for all our self-combats for all our tasks of dutyfull service for all our painfull exercises of mortification Oh then let us earnestly and unweariably aspire thither and think all the time lost that we imploy not in the endeavour of making sure of that blessed and eternall inheritance To the full possession whereof he that hath purchased it for us by his most precious blood in his good time happily bring us Amen A Plain and Familiar Explication OF CHRIST'S PRESENCE IN THE SACRAMENT OF HIS Body and Blood Out of the Doctrine of the Church of ENGLAND For the satisfying of a Scrupulous Friend Anno 1631. THat Christ Jesus our Lord is truly present and received in the blessed Sacrament of his body and blood is so clear and universally agreed upon that he can be no Christian that doubts it But in what manner he is both present and received is a point that hath exercised many wits and cost many thousand lives and such as some Orthodox Divines are wont to express with a kind of scruple as not daring to speak out For me as I have learn'd to lay my hand on my mouth where God and his Church have been silent and to adore those mysteries which I cannot comprehend so I think it is possible we may wrong our selves in an over-cautious fear of delivering sufficiently-revealed truths such I take this to be which we have in hand wherein as God hath not been sparing to declare himself in his word So the Church of England our dear Mother hath freely opened her self in such sort as if she meant to meet with the future scruples of an over-tender posterity Certainly there can be but two wayes wherein he can be imagined to be present and received either corporally or spiritually That he should be corporally present at once in every part of every Eucharistical Element through the World is such a Monster of opinion as utterly overthrowes the truth of his humane body destroyes the nature of a Sacrament implies a world of contradictions baffles right reason transcends all faith and in short confounds Heaven and Earth as we might easily show in all particulars if it were the drift of my discourse to meddle with those which profess themselves not ours who yet do no less then we cry down the gross and Capernaitical expression which their Pope Nicholas prescribed to Berengarius and cannot but confess that their own Card. Bellarmine advises this phrase of Christs corporall presence should be very sparingly and warily taken up in the hearing of their people but my intention only is to satisfie those Sons of the Church who disclaiming from all opinion of Transubstantiation do yet willingly imbrace a kind of irresolution in this point as holding it safest not to inquire into the manner of Christs presence What should be guilty of this nice doubtfulness I cannot conceive unless it be a misconstruction of those broad speeches which antiquity not suspecting so unlikely commentaries hath upon all occasions been wont to let fall concerning these awful mysteries For what those Oracles of the Church have divinely spoken in reverence to the Sacramental union of the signe and the thing signified in this sacred business hath been mistaken as literally and properly meant to be predicated of the outward Element hence have grown those dangerous errors and that inexplicable confusion which hath since infested the Church When all is said nothing can be more clear then that in respect of bodily presence the Heavens must contain the glorified humanity of Christ untill his return to judgment As therefore the Angel could say to the devout Maries after Christs resurrection seeking for him in his grave He is risen he is not here so they still say to us seeking for his glorious body here below He is ascended he is not here It should absolutely lose the nature of an humane body if it should not be circumscriptible Mar. 16.6 Glorification doth not bereave it of the truth of being what it is It is a true humane body and therefore can no more according to the natural being even of a body glorified be many wheres at once then according to his personal being it can be separated from that Godhead which is at once every where Let it be therefore firmly setled in our souls as an undoubted truth That the humane body of Christ