homo God put not on the person of a Revengâ—r before man put on the person of an Offendor saith S. Ambrose Neminem coronat antequam vincit neminem punit antequam peccat he crowns nonâ— bâ—fore he overcoms and he punisheth no man before his offence Et qui facit miseros ut misereatur crudelem habet misericordiam He that puts man into misery that he may pitty him hath no kinde but a cruell pity And so I come to the third branch I delight not in the death of a sinfull man God could not delight in the Death of a sinner who parted with his Delight to save a sinner Old Iacob when he should part from his yongest son Benjamine Gâ—n 42. ult. he told Simâ—on that he had as lieve part with his life Ye will bring my gray head with sorrow to the grave yet Iacob had many Sons more alive But to part with a Son an only Son a beloved Son this is more bitter then death it selfe ye shall see it plaine in Gods temptation of Abraham Take thy Son thine only Son thy Son Isaac whom thou lovest and offer him up to me upon the Mount And when as Abraham did but offer to offer him God cried from heaven Sufficit It is enough as if he should have said Thou being Man canst do no more for God But he being God did more for Man and sinfull Man too For he tooke his Son his only Son his beloved Son Math. 3. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and he did not offer to paâ—â— with him but did part with him not in the Mount but in Golgotha the Valley of skuls and that which all the world doth wonder at God himselfe was Pater Sacrificulus The Father the Sacrificer too For he slew him in heaven ere the Iews slew him on Earth Hic â—st Agnus Dei immolatus ab origine mundi This is the Lamb of God slaine from the be beginning of the World And so God brought up Death from Earth into Heaveâ— that iâ— might bring down Life from Heaven into Earth Nolo mortem peccatoris qui moÌ„râ— volui pro peccatoribâ—s saith S. Bernard Well maist thou say thou willest not the death of a sinner who diest thy selfe to save a sinner O mors vulneratus est prâ— me qui morte sua fecit ut vinoamiâ—e saith S. Austin O Death he hath been wounded for me that made me by his death to overcome thee Pastor i'lle magnus vicinis Angelis c. saith S. Gregory That great Shepheard of heaven was so full of joy that he could not keep it in but out it must among his Angels Et quae causa saith he And what was the cause of such a shout in Heaven Drachâ—a inventa est the lost Groat is found Tantum gaudii de re tantilla saith he so great joy for so small a thing How then could he joy to have it lost that so much rejoyced to have it found O Lord the holy Angls in Heaven are thy Witnesses that Thou delightest not in the death of a sinner The fourth branch of Gods protestation is I delight not in the death of a wicked sinner In the 7. of Matth. there are sins that are motes and sinâ— that are beams In the Epistle of Iude there are spots in Feasts in the 64. of Esay there are menstruous cloaths In the Canticles there are Matulae stains And Esay 1. there be sinners of skarlet dye If our sinnes be as moats in our eyes and cause them to water God hath his handkerchiefe wherewith he wipes away all tears from our eyes Apoc. 7. If they be Menstruous he hath his hysop Psal. 51. If they be of skarlet Dye he hath his Fullers Sope Esay 1.18 Shall we then sin saith the Holy Ghost that Grace may abound God forbid Yet if sin chance to abound Grace hath over-abounded it hath the Superlative of sinne and doth superabound Abundat delictum superabundat gratia Sinne doth abound but Grace hath abound above it it doth superabound There is a Sinne so strong that it doth pierce the Heavenâ— and that is the sinne of the men of Sodome that would not stay till God came downe unto it but it came up and rang in the eares of God it peirced the Heavens At Misericordia supra omnia opera manuum ipsius Psal. 145. The Mercy of God is above all his workes And Sinne is mans proper handy-worke it waâ— the reaching of an Apple that first brought sinne into the world When our Saviour Christ sweat bloud in the Garden it was but a preparative to his potâ—on on the Crâ—sse for there he sweat not like unto bloud but Bloud and Water Water to wash away the staines of our dayly infirmities Bloud to wash away our sins in graine and a deeper colour then bloud our sinns cannot beare If God could have delighted in the death of a sinfull wicked man he must needs have delighted in the death of Ahab for he sold himselfe to worke Wickedness and that before the Lord but God was so farre from such delight that he tooke great delight in his feigned humiliation and withdrew his hand from the plague he had devised against him Venit salvare non Baptistam Magdalenam Matrem suam sed peccatores quorum ego sum primus saith S. Basil Our Saviour Christ came into the world to save not Iohn Baptist Mary Magdalen or Mary his Mother but sinners that wore Pauls colours and fought under his banner and he bare in his banner fire sword and persecutions menaces revilings railings blasphmies sins of the upper house borne as high as Lucifer himselfe Perpendo Petrum considero Latronem intueor Zachaeum aspitio Mariam Apostatum Furem Vsurarium Meretricem I think upon Peter I consider the Thiefe I behold Zachaeus I looke upon Mary saith St. Gregory and I see that an Apostate a Theife an Vsurer an Harlot these are Christs favorites and such darlings unto him that some of them must needs sup with him in Paradise at his instalmeâ—t Hac nocte this very night shalt thou be with me in Paradise Fiftly the last branch of Gods protestation is I delight not in the death of any sinfull wicked man Si non impii nullius saith S. Ierome if not in the death of a wicked sinner not in the death of any sinner And therefore lest we should deem God like King Saul that spared the fairest and the fattest of the Amalekites and put the least and worst to the Sword S. Peter makes it plain 2 Epist. 3.9 non vult aliquem perire God would not have any one to perish but to come to the knowledg of the Truth Unnaturall Cain when he had slain his brother Abel and that his conscience so stung him as that he feared every one that met him would have done as much to him God set a marke upon him that he should not die Treacherous Iudas when he had sinned in betraying
Indeed it once stood as a Book open wherein it pleased Almighty God to impress the visible Characters of his Sons Resurrection but now the chief leaves are perished For as I shewed you this Truth was written in the Linen-cloaths so that now it may almost be said of this testimony as before of Christ himselfe Surrexit non est hic that 's gone too for it is not here VVhence Gregorie Nyssen hath confessed ingeniously that he returned from the Sepulchre the very same man he came without any either abatament or increase of Faith 't is in his Oration Of them that go to see Ierusalem And indeed what needs so painfull so dangerous an Expedition For Faith hath her eyes too and as the case now stands The best way to see the Sepulchre is to believe the Gospel a Truth able to supply what either Art hath altered or Malice defaced VVhat needs that place inflame devotion his heart 's of stone that melts not to think upon the Grave and he is worse then dull who then frames not as many pious thoughts as he here reads circumstances Christian believest thou the Scriptures I know thou belivest Come see the place where thy Lord was layd Consider his dead Corps were there once inclosed and then think they were thy sinns that slew him The nails had no power to pierce nor the Speare to wound him had not they beene sharpened by thy transgressions 'T was the Stoicks meditation upon an Earth-quake only Ingens mortalitatis solatium est Terram quandoque videre mortalem T is a strong comfort against the feare of mortality to think that the Earth it selfe may become mortall But I shew you a more weighty incouragement t is a small thing to have the Earth a Partner behold here he lay dead who was Lord both of Heaven and Earth Remember the Grave lay ordered in a Princely fashion it was the first honour which ere the world did thy Saviour it was to teach thee that Death is the beginning of thy chiefest Glory that thou mightest hence learne to neglect this Conqueror and rather to imbrace thy captivity then to feare it For it is thy advantage to lose and thine onely way to triumph is to be overthrown Dost thou think it disgracefull that this Place shewes thy Saviour was once mortall or seemed he then overcome when he here lay buried my Text informs otherwise He reigned even in the arms of Death and was the Lord though in his Sepulchre which is my third part The Person enclosed {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} he was still the Lord What Dead and yet the Lord too did his power out-live his life or could he then rule others when he had lost himselfe If he yet lived why did they then intombe him if he was vanquished by the Powers of the Grave how was he still the Lord Why thus Because his Corps was then personally conjoyned with his Divinity for so inseperable was the hypostaticall union that Death it selfe could not unloose it She might perhaps have full power upon the Son of Mary but not against the Saviour of the World she might for a time destroy the Man but not the Mediator A Truth founded upon the first Principles of Christianity for so our Creed runs I believe in the Son of God who was crucified dead and buried If it be true a God was buried then still was the Corps joyned to the divinity otherwise the Sepulchre had contayned the Man Iesus perhaps but not Christ the Lord You know to be dead and buried are attributs proper to the body only and yet the Christian Faith hath taught us to say Deus mortuâ—s Deus Sepultus it was a God that died and a God that was buried VVe must confess then that these extremities could not violate the hypostaticall union for it is by vertue of this conjunction that we truly apply those things to the whole person of Christ which indeed do properly belong but to one nature only True if he were not a man how could he then here lye buried And if he were not still the Lord whence had he power to raise himfelfe againe yet so he testifies Destroy this Temple and I will raise it up in three dayes Iohn 2.19 were he not a Man he could not have here layn dead were he not then the Lord too he could not hereby have merited for the person must needs be infiniâ—e who was to give satisfaction for our boundlesâ— offeneâ—s Both Churches have subscrided to this Conclusion For the Greeke Damascen in his third Book of the Orthodox Faith at the 27. chapter {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Although he died indeed and his body was then divided from his soulâ— yet his Divinity remained still insepâ—rable both with his soule and his body S. Austin for the Latine in his 14. chapter Contra Felicianum Sic in Sepulcro carnem suam moriendo non deseruit Sicut in utero Virginis connascendo formavit As Christ made his flesh in the Virgins Womb so he did not forsake it in the Sepulchre he was there said to be born and hâ—re to dye with it But was his Corps still joyned with his Divinity why then moved he not why did he shew no signes of life Is there more power in a Soule then in a Diety Can that quicken a body and cannot this inliven it That he still lived I deny not for my text cals him Lord whilst as yeâ— his Grave inclos'd him He lived Vitam Personae for that must be perpetuall yet not Vitam Naturae as Biel hath it upon the third of the Sentences the 21. Distinct and no doubt his Divinity was able to supply the life of Nature For in him we live and move and have our being Acts 17.18 Notwithstanding where that doth personally reside it doth not streight follow that the actions of a Naturall life must needs be there No there is a great difference between a Soule and a Deity the Soule is a necessary Agent and in what body that is there must be Life the Deity is Voluntary and works nothing but what it pleaseth It might have giveâ— motion to the Corps of our Saviour but it therefore would not lest perhaps the Disciples might have imagined that their Master had rather feigned a death then suffered it And therefore that admirable ejaculation My God my God c. is not so to be understood as if our Saviour had then feared the loss of his Divinity for it would thence follow that the God-head then left him when he was yet a live because his complaint runs in the Praeterâ—â—nse Thou hast forsaken me S. Austin is far more orthodox in his 120. Epistle at the 6. Chapter In eo derelinquitur deprâ—cans in quo non auditur He was therefore only forsaken because he waâ— not heard when in the anguish of his Soule he poured out that sad Petition Father if it be possible let thiâ— Cup passe from
mâ—e Matth. cap. 26. verse 39. Or as the Master of the Sentences hath closed that Text Seperavit se foris Divinitas ut non adesset ad Defensionem sed non intus defuit ad Vnionem 't is in his 36. and 21. Distiâ—ct The Divinity was ever a Companion to the Manhood but not alwayeâ— an Hâ—lper it nevâ—r ceased to be with our Saviour it did to aid him The Sun you know may be present although it shines not So might the Divine Nature be personally here united yet no effects seen of so great a Majesty 'T is true then God hath forsaken him so farre as to suffer his Body to bee torne from his Soule yet not his Manhood from his Divinity I must therefore alter that voice of Pilate Behold the man {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} behold him who in despite of the Grave did still remaine both God and Man wonder and joy together For our Saviour lived when he was dead and Behold he liveth for evermore Amen Daughters of Ierusalem VVorship instead of Weeping for the Sepulchre is as yet a Throne and not a Corpâ— only but the Lord he is in it And let us begin to tremble at the might of our Redeemer to think how unresistable is his power in Heaven whâ—se glorious title the â—rave it selfe could not abolâ—sh because he was the Lord strong and mighty even the Lord mighty in battle At thy name O Iesus shall every knee hence â—ow both of things in Hâ—aven and things in Earth and things under the Earth and let all tongueâ— confess that thou O Christ wert still the Lord unto the Glory of God the Father Come Worâ—â—ip and fall downe before this Lord our Saviour Let our hearts be filled with gladâ—esse and our tongueâ— with that victorious noyse O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory Pharâ—oh could insult while he was yet in the Court of Egypt and Nebuchadnezzar bâ—ast himselfe within the compass of his own Palaces but let the Sea shut her mouth upon the falfe Aegyptian let Bâ—bel's King be gathered to his Fathers and their glory become as the morning-Dew both their thoughts and their honours are Perished That then Christ should leave his own heavenly mansion that Death should seize upon him the Grave inclose him and yet he still retaine the honour oâ— his former Majesty this shews he was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} King of Kings and Lord of Lords because he there remained both Lord and Kâ—ng where all Princes lay downe their Scepters and all Lordâ— their dominion The Grave pâ—rceivâ—d their Power and soon resigned her Name and Him for instead of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a Sepâ—lchre it is here called but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a Place and retaining nothing of Christ except the memory of his absence only {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The Lord did lie there which is my last part Our discourses of Christ are then most pâ—oper when they imitate his person when they treat together as well of his Manhood as of his Divinity For the Divine Nature without that other iâ— like the Law without the Gospel more full of power then comforâ— and seems rather to terrâ—fie then incourage us You have heard of his Godhead {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} He was still the Lord It followes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} He did lie here He was then contained in som certain place and that shews his Manhood Indeed what was spoken of Crassus Factus est morti suae superstes is much more true of Christ's Humane nature It hath survived his Death and is now become as free from mortality as before from sinne yet still it retaines the truth of it 's native properties and contents it felfe with the circuit of one place {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} it did lie there but now t is gon it was once in the Grave and it is now in Heaven The iniquity of these last times hath made this Truth become questionable so that it doth now as well concern us to Proove as to Believe it I am ingag'd to undergoe this burthen my Text hath now imposed and anon will rase it When God fore-saw that Man would rebel and by an affectation of Knowledg would forfeit his integrity it pleased him in his eternall Councel that the same Nature which caused our Fall should worke our Restauration that as we lost our selves by presuming of Men to bâ—com as Gods so the meanes of our recovery should be this alone God himselfe must become Man Hence the Word took flesh and Christ was made in all things like to â—is brethren Heb. 2.17 He was made a Man He was conâ—ined thereâ—ore within the compass of our own limits and as Experience hath taugh us that we cannot be here and yet possessors of another place So the Scripture doth direct us to judge of Him for the Text is evident He was made in all tâ—ings like unto uâ— sinne only excepted and therefore to ascribe Ubiquity to the body of Christ what is it buâ— to cancell Gods owâ—Dâ—cree For he had then delivered us perhaps yet not by a Man not by â—ne that 's like unto our selves Christs owne mouth hath disclaimed this Fancy Lazâ—ruâ— is dead and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there Iohn 11.14 He was not you see at the same instant both beyond Iordan and yet in Bethâ—ny But that was spoken in his exinanition only while he as yet went in the forme of a Servant Behold him therefore upon mounâ—Tabor when accompanied with Moses and Elias his â—ody becamâ— so gloriously transfigured and yet Peter is so far from conceiving Ubiquity that â—you know hee counsels to inclose hâ—â— in a Tabernâ—cle If that Apostle knew not whaâ— he said then here this Angel spake and 't is of Christ too when he now was in glory He is â—ot here for he iâ— riâ—en as he said and in my Text {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} He did lie here but now he is risen Mâ—rk his words are Come and see he makes their eyes the Judges of their Mâ—sters presence and so concludes where Christ's body is not vâ—sible 〈◊〉 is not present Indeed their sigâ—t may sometimes be holden perhaps that they cannot know him notwithstanding either this Angels proofe is frivolus or els where his body is it must needs be visible In this point that of doubting Thomas becomes most Christian Except I see I will not believe I see no body present and I believe it not And yet there are who thinke to doe Christ honour by being injurious as if the only way to increase his Glory were to destroy his Manhood They maintaine 't is every where and attriâ—ute that which nature is not able to beare they clap their hands at his Vniversall presence and call it Christ's Majesty Speciose quidem errant indeed at first
sight it seems a goodly Error and being cloathed in so glorious a title it may be thought impiety to question it for is it not Treason to oppose a Majesty Romani ubi solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant saith he in Tacitus where the Romans make a desolation they call it a Peace And upon just inquiry we shall find our selves no lesse abused by this appellation To be every where this they call the Majesty of Christ's Human Nature when indeed 't is no whit better then its destruction For to devest an Essence of its propper attributes is to dissolve it and so he thâ—t leaves a man no Place lâ—aves him no Body Tell me Is silver of no value except it be changed into Gold Is the Manhood of Christ despiseable except it be made Infinite and so transformed into a Deity He that will needs add Reâ—son to a Beast instead of a Panegyrâ—que frames a Metamorphosis for while he thinks to commend he does quite change his nature so he that ascribes Vbiquity to a perfect man is more injurious then bountifull because hâ— subverts his essence and while he hopes to do him honour hee makes himselfe no lesse then guilty of his overthrow Seems not our Saviour glorious enough except he become All God To please these men must he needs lose his Manhood Tanti non est ut place at vobis perire Nor do we so strictly confine Christ to Heaven as if the Earth might not in some sort pertake of his Humanity He did and he doth lie here but yet in a different manner If you respect a corporeall position my Text is most infallible the Grave is a place where the Lord did lie But if you admit of other Exceptions Christ's Manhood hath an universall presence 't is every where as well by a Virtuall co-operation with his Deity as by an Hipostaticall union His Humane nature makes one person with his Godhead as therefore this is truly every where because it is infinite so may That be said to be because 't is no where severed from that nature which is in it selfe infinite Againe Christ works every where for All power was given to him in the â—8 vâ—rse of this chapter 'T was given saith the Text and therefore to his Manhood Yet is this one Government exercised by both his natures and he rules every where as God by his essentiall presence as Man by the co-operation with that which is essentially present Hence are his actions mixt and the Scepter of his Regency no less pleasing then powerfull â—here is Pitty and strength together that we might in every place as well Love him in his Manhood as Feare him in his Divinity But if you respect his corporall presence it is not here Christ is so like us that he cannot so be with us And in this regard I know not whether his presence be more full of Glory or such absence of Consolation For what is the God of Heaven so very a Man what confined to some one place flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone take courage then thou wounded Soule approach with boldnesse for this thy Brother is become thy Iudge and he sits to heare thee who hath born thy griefs and pittied thy infirmities It is expedient for thee that He is not here he is gon to prepare a place for thee Cease to seek thy Saviour carnally begin to imitate him and thinke it not enough to Die except thou Rise againe We are buried with Christ in baptisme saith S. Paul Rom. 6.4 See! the Font 's a Sepulchre and we are no sooner Borne then Buried but we must now Rise to newness of life 't is enough that we did lie there our future time must be a Resurrection Thus have I led you into Ioseph's Garden where instead of common delights you have seene a Conquest our Enemie the Grave made empty and thereby forced to confesse an overthrow The Resurrection hath now seised upon it and like a mighty Conqueror shews his Vassall in signe of Triumph The Victory must needs lose much honour when an unskilfull Tongue supplies an Angels place What 's therefore wanting in Speech I 'le strive to supply in prayer Belive and so See the place And thou O God of Comfort do unto thy people as thou didst unto these women returning to the Sepulchre Fill their hearts with great joy To God c. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} A FUNERALL SERMON The Text 1. CORINTH: 15.29 If the Dead rise not at all why are they then baptized for the Dead ONe good meanes to armâ— us against the feare of Death is daily to think that we must needs die For Necessity is the Mistress of Patience and by often meditations teacheth us to account those things Easie which we once held insufferable In illis quae morbo finiuntur magnum ex ipsa Necessitate solatium est as Pliny writes to a friend of his where our Losse comes by sickâ—ess the same Necessity doth both wound and releive us when neither strength can resist the stroke of death nor Art avoid it 't were madness to be too solicitous in preventing it folly to fearâ— it Yet were our hopes built only upon this foundation we should be like other men Confidently miserable Seneca might then contend with S. Paule and a Philosopher perhaps grow more resolute then a Christian But our consolation is far more surely founded besids these Sands it hath a Rock too besides the certainty of death the infallibility of a Resurrection Thou errest Stoick Natural Quaest. lib. 6 cap. 1. Non majus est mortalitatis solatium quam ipsa mortalitas yes majus solatium immortalitas 't is indeed a strong encouragment against mortality to think that we must needs die but yet t is a far greater that we should live again that may cause us to neglect the stroak of Death but this to imbrace it So comfortable and therefore fit for this occasion is this Article of our Beliefe That we must rise againe For what discuorse yeilds more content in a painfull seeds-time then to talke of an Harvest what more cumfort at a Funerall then to treat of the Resurrection By the vertue of this faith we triumph though sure to be overcome this fils our hearts with gladness and our tongues with that victorious noise O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory Thus these happy Captives deride their Conqueror for his bonds are their inlargement and their only way to obtaine a Crown is by thiâ— great Captivitie Did this Text then but intimate a Resurrection only S. Austin's Judgment would approve my choice Curatio Funeris vivorum solatium 't is in his 1 de Civ. Dei cap. 12. The dead are to have the last part in their own Funerals for they are then only bâ—st performed when the living are most comforted yet that I may not be thought singular this Scripture is more apposite Here is comfort for the Living and honour for the Dead too
they should be right welcome to his Fathers house and that he hath provided roome and diet for them all and yet the Noble man his Father hath a purpose to welcome but one or two and hath provided roome and diet but for one or two and shuts up the Gate against the rest Having so solemnly invited them all would they now then think this Noble man had dealt nobly with them It s our case beloved The joyes of Heaven are a feast of joy and the King of Heaven hath sent no less a personage then his onely Son and Heire to invite us thither and he tels us in his Fathers name that the King his Father had provided roome and meat enough for us and that the Angels of Heaven will be glad to see us at their Masters house and that there will be a great Iubile in Heaven at our comming thither and yet the King his Fâ—ther saith this new device hath a purpose to entertaine but one or two and hath provided cheere and roome but for one or two and shuts up the everlasting doores against the rest though solemnly invited eternally Is this the royall word of a King and here they come in with Bellarmines dreaming that is Christ offers Grace to all sufficiently but it is not effectuall or saving Grace This is verily as drowsy a dreame as ever dropped from that Phlegmatique head First there is nothing sufficient for any thing which is not efficient to that use too Then whereas we teach and say that our Saviour Christ offers saving Grace effectually to all we plainly meane that Grace which hath power strength and virtue to save all though all in effect are not saved by that Grace and the want is not in the â—race but in them who despise and abuse the Grace it 's a beame of the same brightnesse that falls upon a cleare and upon a bleere-ey'd man yet both do not see a Talent of the same weâ—ght wrap't up in a Napkin and put to use yet both doth not yield increase Seed of the same goodnesse sowne among Thornes and in good ground yet both do not bring â—orth fruit the cause is not in the Beame the Talent the Seed but in the Eye the Napkin the Ground For the very same kernell of seed choaked of Thornes sowne in good Ground would have brought forth fruit the very same Talent wrapt up in a Napkin put to use would yield increase the very same Beame that dazeled the bleere-eye would have made the clean eye see and the very same saving Grace that is a savour of Life unto one is the savour of Death unto another no oddes in the Grace but in the Man We all ten have Lamps and Light alike to light us to the Kingdome of Heaven yet but five of us with wise usage shall keep our Lamps and Light and enter in and five of us by foolshnesse shall let our Lamps out and stand without The Kingdome of Heaven saith our Saviour in the same place is like a man that went into a farre Countrey and he committed to his servants to one five Talents to another two to another one some ods in the number but none in the nature of the thing For he that had least had a Talent and by all rules of proportion had as much ability to produce a Talent as two to gaine two or five to beget five and he that had it had as much liberty to use it as he that had two or five and if he had used it and gained a Talent he had been as sure of a City in the Kingdome of God as either of the other and if he had had a City he had been well For a disciples reward is but a bare place without either cap or covert upon it Ioh. 14.2 I goe to prepare a place for you If thou blowest the sparke saith the wise man Eccles. 28.12 thou shalt have fire and if thou spit upon it it will go out and both these came out of the same mouth I am come saith our Saviour Christ to send Fire oâ— the earth and what is my desire but that it may bee kindled so he that hath least of this Fier hath a sparke at least And there was never man so desperately wicked but at some time or other he felt this sparke of Gods Spirit glowing in his heart He that blowes that sparke may have a flame to light him to the Kingdome of Heaven and he that spits upon it makes himselfe a brand fit to increase the fire of Hell The Apostle Paul therefore had a speciall care of this very thing 1. Thes. 5.19 Quench not the Spirit Sixtly our last consequence is that contempt and neglect of Grace is the cause why any man doth not come into Heaven and not any privative decree councell or determination of God God quits himselfe of our destruction by an universall assertion against which upon the Genevian supposition the house of Israel might have said and answered with ease O God of our Fathers what meanest thou to say unto us why will ye die when thou hast from all eternity decreed that we cannot but die Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem saith our Saviour thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thee â—ogether as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings and ye would not there is Ego volui I would salus ex me thy salvation is wrought by me tu noluisti thou wouldest not perditio ex te destruction is willed by thy selfe Now whereas it is devised by some that our Saviour should weep over these Iews as man and laugh at them as God himselfe having decreed their destruction from all eternity this is a very bad and prophane device For it would make our Saviour Christ to shed Crocodiles teares to laugh and lament both at once And if this fancied decree of eternall designement to Hell without sin had any sooth in it then must it needs be that our Saviour Christ was at that holy counsel in Heavâ—n when as this decree was pronounced and made for God the Father in wisdom could not make a decree but by him who is the Wisedom of the Father and if he was in the bosom of his Father at this decree and himselfe gave his voyce and consent unto it that these Iâ—ws should never come to heaven neither by the death nor mediâ—tion of our Saviour Christ then would he not of his goodnesse thus come downe on the earth and weep and lament that they would not be saved And the tenour of our Saviours deploration must then needs have beene this Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathâ—red thee together as an â—en gathereâ—h her chickens under her wingâ— but ye could not For I and my Father have sate in councell in Heaven and from all eternity have made a decree that ye