reads those words speaking of the Christian Church here It is the house of all them who do as it were rejoyce who come nearest to true joy And so when the Lord turned againe the Captivity of Sion Facti sumus sicut consolati We were as it were comforted Quare sicut sayes that Father Why is it so modified with that diminution as it were Quia hic etiam in Sanctis non perfecta consolatio Because sayes he in this world even the Saints themselves have no perfect joy Where the Apostle compares the sorrow and the joy of this world then the Quasi lyes upon the sorrows side it is but a halfe sorrow Quasi tristes We are as it were sorrowfull but indeed rejoycing but compare the best ioy of this world with the next and the Quasi will fall upon the ioy of the world For though we be sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance and this is the Tropique of Joy the farthest that Spirituall Joy goes in this Zodique in this world yet this carries us no farther but Vt ex arrabone aestimetur haereditas That by the proportion of the earnest we might value the whole bargaine For what a bargaine would we presume that man to have that would give 20000 l. for earnest what is the Joy of heaven hereafter if the earnest of it here be the Seale of the holy Ghost God proceeds with us as we do with other men Operariis in Saeculo cibus in opere merces in fine datur In this world we give labourers meat and drink by the way but wages at the end of their work God affords us refreshing here but joy hereafter The best Seale is the holy Ghost and the best matter that the holy Ghost seales in is in blood in the dignity of Martyrdome and even for that for Martyrdome we have a rule in the Apostle Rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings That as he suffered for you so you suffer for him but in what contemplation That when his glory shall be revealed ye may be made glad with exceeding Joy not with exceeding Joy till then For till then the Joyes of Heaven may be exceeded in the addition of the body There is the rule and the example is Christ himself Who for the joy that was set before him endured the Crosse in contemplation of the Propterea exaltatus that therefore he should be exalted above all in heaven Rejoyce and be glad why for great is your reward but where in heaven And therefore Ask and you shall receive Pray and you shall have answer but what answer but what answer That your joy shall be full It shall be in heaven For Quis sic delectat quam ille qui fecit omnia quae delectant In whom can we fully rejoyce but him who made all things in which we rejoyce by the way In thy Name shall we rejoyce all the day says David Si in nomine suo non tota die St. Augustine says not that to any particular person nor any particular calling but to any man to every man Any Prince any Counsellor any Prelate any Generall any Discoverer any that goes in any way of joy and glory Si nomine suo non tota die If they rejoyce in their own names their own wisdome their own strength they shall not rejoyce all the day but they shall be benighted with darke sadnesse before their dayes end And their sunne shall set at noon too as the Prophet Amos speaks And therefore that shall be Christs expressing of that joy at the last day Enter into thy Master Ioy and leave the joy of Servants though of good Servants behind thee for thou shalt have a better Joy then that Thy Masters Ioy. It is time to end but as long as the glasse hath a gaspe as long as I have one I would breathe in this ayre in this perfume in this breath of heaven the contemplation of this Joy Blessed is that man qui scit jubilationem says David that knowes the joyfull sound For Nullo modo beatus nisi scias unde gaudeas For though we be bound to rejoyce alwayes it is not a blessed joy if we do not know upon what it be grounded or if it be not upon everlasting blessednesse Comedite amici says Christ bibite inebriamini Eat and drink and be filled Joy in this life Vbi in sudore vescimur where grief is mingled with joy is called meat says Saint Bernard and Christ cals his friends to eat in the first word Potus in future says he Joy in the next life where it passes down without any difficulty without any opposition is called drink and Christ calls his friends to drink but the overflowing the Ebriet as animae that is reserved to the last time when our bodies as well as our souls shall enter into the participation of it Where when wee shall love every one as well as our selves and so have that Joy of our owne salvation multiplied by that number wee shall have that Joy so many times over as there shall bee soules saved because wee love them as our selves how infinitely shall this Joy be enlarged in loving God so far above our selves and all them Wee have but this to add Heaven is called by many pretious names Lifeâ— Simply and absolutely there is no life but that And Kingdome Simply absolutely there is no Kingdom that is not subordinate to that And Sabbaâ—uÌ„ex Sabbate A Sabbath flowing into a Sabbath a perpetuall Sabbath but the Name that should enamour us most is that that it is Satietas gaudâ—orum fulnesse of Joy Fulnesse that needeth no addition Fulnesse that admitteth no leake And then though in the Schoole we place Blessednesse in visione in the sight of God yet the first thing that this sight of God shall produce in us for that shall produce the Reformation of the Image of God in us and it shall produce our glorifying of God but the first thing that the seeing of God shall produce in us is Joy The measure of our seeing of God is the measure of Joy See him here in his Blessings and you shall ioy in those blessings here and when you come to see him Sicuti est in his Essence then you shall have this Joy in Essence and in fulnesse of which God of his goodnesse give us such an earnest here as may binde to us that inheritance hereafter which his Sonne our Saviour Christ Jesus hath purchased for us with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood Amen FINIS 51. 1. Psal. 128. 3. ◠〈◊〉 Egerton 〈◊〉 Chancellor grandfatheâ— to the Bridâ— Divisio 1 Part. Resurrectio Zech. 10. 8. Psal. 150. 6. Non nubent Luke 20. 35. Gen. 2. 23. Mat. 17. 3. Luke 7. 15. Acts 9. 41. Gen. 15. 1â— Deut. 32. 50. Luke 1. 41. Luke 16. 23.
nor Land is our surety but our surety is one who is already crown'd with that Resurrection Num in hominibus terrae legeneraâ— quae omnia regenerat sayes Saint Ambrose will the earth that gives a new life to all Creatures faile in us and hold us in an everlasting winter without a spring and a Resurrection Certainly no but if we be content so to depart into the wombe of the Earth our grave as that we know that to be but the Entry into glory as we depart contentedly so we shall arise gloriously to that place where our eternall Rest shall be though here there be not our Rest for he that shoots an arrow at a mark yet means to put that arrow into his Quiver again and God that glorifies himselfe in laying down our bodies in the grave means also to glorifie them in reaffirming them to himselfe at the last day SERMON XI Preached at Lincolns Inne preparing them to build their Chappell Gâ—N 28. 16 17. Then Iacob awâ—ke out of his sleep and said Surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware And he was afraid and said Now fearfull us this place This is none other but the House of God and this is the gate of Heaven IN these verses Iacob is a Surveyor he considers a fit place for the house of God and in the very next verse he is a Builder he erects Bethel the house of God it selfe All was but a drowsinesse but a sleep till he came to this Consideration as soon as he awoke he took knowledge of a fit place as soon as he found the place he went about the work But to that we shall not come yet But this Text being a preparation for the building of a house to God though such a house as Iacob built then require no contribution yet because such Churches as we build now doe we shall first say a little of that great vertue of Charity and then somewhat of that vertue as it is exercis'd by advancing the house of God and his outward worship And thirdly we shall consider Iacob's steps and proceedings in this action of his This vertue then Charity is it that conducts its in this life and accompanies us in the next In heaven where we shall know God there may be no use of faith In heaven where we shall see God there may be no use of hope but in heaven where God the Father and the Son love one another in the Holy Ghost the bond of charity shall everlastingly unite us together But Charitas in patria and Charitas in via differ m this That there we shall love one another because we shall not need one another for we shall all be fullâ— Here the exercise of our charity is because we doe stand in need of one another Dives pauper duo sunt sibi contraria sed iterum duo sunt sibi necessaria Rich and poor are contrary to one another but yet both necessary to one another They are both necessary to one another but the poor man is the more necessary because though one man might be rich though no man were poor yet he could have no exercise of his charity he could send none of his riches to heaven to help him there except there were some poor here He that is too fat would fain devest some of that though he could give that to no other man that lack'd it And shall not he that is wantonly pampered nay who is heavily laden and encombred with temporall abundances be content to discharge himself of some of that wherewith he is over-straighted upon those poor souls whom God hath not made poor for any sin of theirs or of their fathers but onely to present rich men exercise of their charity and occasions of testifying their love to Christ who having given himselfe to convey salvation upon thee if that conveyance may be sealed to thee by giving a little of thine own is it not an easie purchase When a poore wretch beggs of thee and thou givest thou dost but justice it is his But when he begs of God for thee and God gives thee this is mercy this was none of thine When we shall come to our Redde rationem villicationis to give an accompt of our Stewardship when we shall not measure our inheritance by Acres but all heaven shall be ours and we shall follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes when our estate and term shall not be limited by years and lives but as we shall be in the presence of the Ancient of dayes so our dayes shall be so far equall to his as that they shall be without end Then will our great Merchants great practisers great purchasers great Contracters find another language another style then they have been accustom'd to here There no man shall be call'd a prodigall but onely the Covetous man Onely he that hath been too diligent a keeper shall appear to have been an unthrift and to have wasted his best treasure the price of the bloud of Christ Iesue his own soule There no man shall be call'd good security but he that hath made sure his salvation No man shall be call'd a Subsidy man but he that hath relieved Christ Jesus in his sick and hungry Members No man shall be call'd a wise Steward but he that hath made friends of the wicked Mammon Nor provident Merchant but he that sold all to buy the pearle Nor a great officer but he that desires to be a dore-keeper in the kingdome of Heaven Now every man hath a key to this dore of heaven Every man hath some means to open it every man hath an oyle to anoint this key and make it turn easily he may goe with more case to Heaven then he doth to Hell Every man hath some means to pour this oile of gladnesse and comfort into anothers heart No man can say Quid retribuam tibi Domine Lord what have I to give thee for every man hath something to give God Money or labor or counsail or prayers Every man can give and he gives to God who gives to them that need it for his sake Come not to that expostulation When did we see thee hungry or sick or imprisoned and did not minister Nor to that Quid retribuam What can I give that lack my selfe lest God come also to that silence and wearinesse of asking at thy hands to say as he sayes in the Psalme If I be hungry I will not tell thee That though he have given thee abundance though he lack himselfe in his children yet he will not tell thee he will not ask at thy hands he will not enlighten thine understanding he will not awaken thy charity he will not give thee any occasion of doing good with that which he hath given thee But God hath given thee a key yea as he sayes to the Church of Philadelphia Behold I set before thee an open dore and no man can shut it Thou hast a
say they so as that wee shall use them or so as that we might But this sight that Iob speaks of is onely the fruition of the presence of God in which consists eternall blessednesse Here in this world we see God per speculum says the Apostle by reflection upon a glasse we see a creature and from that there arises an assurance that there is a Creator we see him in aenigmate says he which is not ill rendred in the margin in a Riddle we see him in the Church but men have made it a riddle which is the Church we see him in the Sacrament but men have made it a riddle by what light and at what window Doe I see him at the window of bread and wine Is he in that or doe I see him by the window of faith and is he onely in that still it is in a riddle Doe I see him à Priore I see that I am elected and therefore I cannot sinne to death Or doe I see him à Posteriore because I see my selfe carefull not to sin to death therefore I am elected I shall see all problematicall things come to be dogmaticall I shall see all these rocks in Divinity come to bee smooth alleys I shall see Propheâ—ies untyed Riddles dissolved controversies reconciled but I shall never see that till I come to this sight which follows in out text Videbo Deum I shall see God No man ever saw God and liv'd and yet I shall not live till I see God and when I have seen him I shall never dye What have I ever seen in this world that hath been truly the same thing that it seemed to me I have seen marble buildings and a chip a crust a plaster a face of marble hath pilld off and I see brick-bowels within I have seen beauty and a strong breath from another tels me that that complexion is from without not from a sound constitution within I have seen the state of Princes and all that is but ceremony and I would be loath to put a Master of ceremonies to define ceremony and tell me what it is and to include so various a thing as ceremony in so constant a thing as a Definition I see a great Officer and I see a man of mine own profession of great revenues and I see not the interest of the money that was paid for it I see not the pensions nor the Annuities that are charged upon that Office or that Church As he that fears God fears nothing else so he that sees God sees every thing else when we shall see God Sicuti est as he is we shall see all things Sicuti sunt as they are for that 's their Essence as they conduce to his glory We shall be no more deluded with outward appearances for when this sight which we intend here comes there will be no delusory thing to be seen All that we have made as though we saw in this world will be vanished and I shall see nothing but God and what is in him and him I shall see in carne in the flesh which is another degree of Exaltation in mine Exinanition I shall see him In carâ—e suâ in his flesh And this was one branch in Saint Augustines great wish That he might have seen Rome in her state That he might have heard S. Paul preach That he might have seen Christ in the flesh Saint Augustine hath seen Christ in the flesh one thousand two hundred yeares in Christs glorifyed flesh but it is with the eyes of his understanding and in his soul. Our flesh even in the Resurrection cannot be a spectacle a perspective glasse to our soul. We shall see the Humanity of Christ with our bodily eyes then glorifyed but that flesh though glorifyed cannot make us see God better nor clearer then the soul alone hath done all the time from our death to our resurrection But as an indulgent Father or as a tender mother when they go to see the King in any Solemnity or any other thing of observation and curiosity delights to carry their child which is flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone with them and though the child cannot comprehend it as well as they they are as glad that the child sees it as that they see it themselves such a gladnesse shall my soul have that this flesh which she will no longer call her prison nor her tempter but her friend her companion her wife that this flesh that is I in in the re-union and redintegration of both parts shall see God for then one principall clause in her rejoycing and acclamation shall be that this flesh is her flesh In carne meâ in my flesh I shall see God It was the flesh of every wanton object here that would allure it in the petulancy of mine eye It was the flesh of every Satyricall Libeller and defamer and calumniator of other men that would call upon it and tickle mine ear with aspersions and slanders of persons in authority And in the grave it is the flesh of the worm the possession is transfer'd to him But in heaven it is Caro mea My flesh my souls flesh my Saviours flesh As my meat is assimilated to my flesh and made one flesh with it as my soul is assimilated to my God and made partaker of the divine nature and Idem Spiritus the same Spirit with it so there my flesh shall be assimilated to the flesh of my Saviour and made the same flesh with him too Verbum caro factum ut caro resurgeret Therefore the Word was made flesh therefore God was made man that that union might exalt the flesh of man to the right hand of God That 's spoken of the flesh of Christ and then to facilitate the passage for us Reformat ad immortalitatem suam participes sui those who are worthy receivers of his flesh here are the same flesh with him And God shall quicken your mortall bodies by his Spirit is that dwelleth in you But this is not in consummation in full accomplishment till this resurrection when it shall be Caro mea my flesh so as that nothing can draw it from the allegiance of my God and Caro mea My flesh so as that nothing can devest me of it Here a bullet will aske a man where 's your arme and a Wolf wil ask a woman where 's your breast A sentence in the Star-chamber will aske him where 's your ear and a mouths close prison will aske him where 's your flesh A fever will aske him where 's your Red and a morphew will aske him where 's your white But when after all this when after my skinne worms shall destroy my body I shall see God I shall see him in my flesh which shall be mine as inseparably in the effect though not in the manner as the Hypostaticall union of God and man in Christ makes our nature and the God-head
might get into that feast without his wedding garment so a man may get into the Church to bee a visible part of a Christian Congregation without this acceptation of reconciliation that is the particular apprehension and application of Christ but hee is still subject to a remove and to that question of confusion Quomodo intrasti How came you in That man in the Gospell could have answered to that question directly I came in by the invitation and conduct of thy servants I was called in I was led in So they that come hither without this wedding garment they may answer to Christs Quomodo intrasti How camest thou in I came in by faithfull parents to whom and their seed thou hast sealed a Covenant I was admitted by thy Servants and Ministers in Baptisme and have been led along by them by comming to hear them preach thy word and doing the other externall offices of a Christian. But there is more in this question Quomodo intrasti is not onely how didst thou come in but how durst thou come in If thou camest to my feast without any purpose to eate and so to discredit to accuse either my meat or the dressing of it to quarrell at the Doctrine or at the Discipline of my Church Quomodo intrasti How didst thou how durst thou come in If thou camest with a purpose to poison my meat that it might infect others with a determination to goe forward in thy sinne whatsoever the Preacher say and so to encourage others by thy example Quomodo intrasti How durst thou come in If thou camest in with thine own provision in thy pocket and didst not relie upon mine and think that thou canst be saved without Sermons or Sacraments Qvmodo intrasti How durst thou come in Him that came in there without this Wedding garment the Master of the Feast cals Friend but scornfully Friend how camest thou in But he cast him out God may call us Friends that is admit and allow us the estimation and credit of being of his Church but at one time or other hee shall minister that Interrogatory Friend how came you in and for want of that Wedding garment and for want of wearing it in the sight of men for it is not said that that man had no such Wedding garment at home in his Wardrobe but that hee had none on for want of Sanctification in a holy life God shall deliver us over to the execution of our own consciences and eternall condemnation But be ye reconciled to God embrace this reconciliation in making your use of those means and this reconciliation shall work thus it shall restore you to that state that Adam had in Paradise What would a soule oppressed with the sense of sin give that she were in that state of Innocency that she had in Baptisme Be reconciled to God and you have that and an elder Innocency then that the Innocency of Paradise Go home and if you finde an over-burden of children negligence in servants crosses in your tradings narrownesse penury in your estate yet this penurious and this encumbred house shall be your Paradise Go forth into the Country and if you finde unseasonablenesse in the weather rots in your sheep murrains in your cattell worms in your corn backwardnesse in your rents oppression in your Landlord yet this field of thorns and brambles shall be your Paradise Lock thy selfe up in thy selfe in thine own bosome and though thou finde every roome covered with the â—oot of former sins and shaked with that Devill whose name is Legion some such sin as many sins depend upon and are induced by yet this prison this rack this hell in thine own conscience shall be thy Paradise And as in Paradise Adam at first needed no Saviour so when by this reconciliation in apprehending thy Saviour thou art restored to this Paradise thou shalt need no sub-Saviour no joint-Saviour but Caetera adjicientur no other Angel but the Angel of the greas Councell no other Saint but the Holy One of Israel he who hath wrought this reconciliation for thee and brought it to thee shall establish it in thee For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled shall we be saved by his life This is the summe and the end of all That when God sends humble and laborious Pastors to souple and appliable Congregations That we pray and you receive us in Christs stead we shall not onely finde rest in God but as it is said of Noâ—hs sacrifice God shall finde the savour of rest in us God shall finde a Sabbath to himself in us and rest from his jealousies and anger towards us and we shall have a Sabbatary life here in the rest and peace of conscience and a life of one everlasting Sabbath hereafter where to our Rest there shall be added Ioy and to our Ioy Glory and this Rest and Ioy and Glory superinvested with that which crownes them all Eternity SERMON XLI Preached at Saint Pauls Crosse. 6 May. 1627. HOSEA 3. 4. For the Children of Israel shall abide many dayes without a King and without a Prince and without a Sacrifice and without an Image and without an Ephod and without Teraphim SOme Cosmographers have said That there is no land so placed in the world but that from that land a man may see other land I dispute it not I defend it not I accept it and I apply it there is scarce any mercy expressed in the Scriptures but that from that mercy you may see another mercy Christ sets up a candle now here onely to lighten that one roome but as he is lumen de lumine light of light so he would have more lights lighted at every light of his and make every former mercy an argument an earnest a conveyance of more Between land and land you may see seas and seas enraged with tempests but still say they some other land too Between mercy and mercy you may finde Comminations and Judgements but still more mercy For this discovery let this text be our Mappe First we see land we see mercy in that gracious compellation Children the Children of Israel Then we see sea then comes a Commination â— Judgement that shall last some time many days shall the Children of Israel suffer But there they may see land too another mercy even this time of Judgement shall be a day they shall not be benighted not left in darkenesse in their Judgement many dayes all the while it shall bee day Then the text opens into a deep Ocean a spreading Sea They shall bee without a King and without a Prince and without a Sacrifice and without an Image and without an Ephod and without Teraphim But even from this Sea this vast Sea this Sea of devastation wee see land for in the next verse followes another mercy The Children of Israel shall returne and shall seeke the Lord their God and David their King and