and hope believe what here they saw that such a thing there was a Star lighted up on purpose to lead the Gentiles to Christ hope what here they felt within them some spiritual ray and guidance to him both believe and hope that as an outward visible Star there was to them so an inward and invisible Star still there will be to us by the light of which we may all come to the knowledge of Christ. We are next to see it what it is what it is to them what it is to us how this star looks to them how it looks to us To them this Star was a material Star to us 't is a spiritual and both bring their joy with them The Psalmist seems to be ravish'd with joy upon the sight of the Stars of Heaven when he considered the Heavens the works of Gods fingers the Moon and the Stars that he had ordained Psal. viii 3. Then in a kind of Extasie he cries out Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him That thou thus spanglest the Heavens with Stars for him That thou thus visitest him by the Stars Methinks the very beholding of that golden Canopy now our covering hereafter to be our footstool the casting up of our eyes to heaven in a bright starry night and considering that all those glorious Lamps are for the use of us poor men here and for our glory too hereafter cannot but raise a sweet delight and pleasure in the devout and pious soul and force out an ejaculation of thankfulness and joy to God that made them for us Sure I am that when neither Sun nor Stars appeared Acts xxvii 20. it follows presently that all hope of being saved was then taken away O the joy of a Star then the appearing of a Star would have made them then have leapt for joy We see them commonly that makes us so little to regard them If we behold them seriously we would sing together with them as Iob says they do together Job xxxviii 7. and praise him together as the Psalmist speaks with those stars of light But yet if we should have a Star made on purpose for us we would be gladder that God should descend to so immediate and special a care of us as to light up one of those bright Candles for some particular intent and service to us and such an one this is great reason therefore sure to rejoyce in it So much the more in that commonly the new raised Stars portend mischiefs and misfortunes to us but this was as all the Astrologers and Wise men then observed a healthsom gladsom star that brought health and happiness and saving in its wings never any such or like it before or since When God thus vouchsafes to make heaven dance attendance on us make all the Stars and Lights speak good to us some of them more than others those heavenly Creatures thus wait upon earth dust who is now so dull and earthy as not to rejoyce and glory in it Yet if the star not only portend happiness but eternal happiness besides if it foretell not only earthly but heavenly blessings too if it be a Star that leaves us not till it have brought us to the Child Iesus till it hath brought us to God himself there is matter indeed of great exceeding joy So a fourfold ground of joy you have in this very Star First Gods general providence over man to make even the heavenly Creatures serve him Secondly God's special Providence in it now and then sending a Star some special token to forewarn or guide him Thirdly God's comfortable Providence in so doing sometimes to bless and comfort us to uphold and chear us Fourthly Gods saving Providence thus to make all things though never so distant from us signally instrumental to our eternal happiness and salvation making the Stars and Heavens thus minister unto us For these four we may well take up St. Paul's resolution Phil. i. 18. We therein do rejoyce yea and will rejoyce And yet I must give you a fifth ray of this Star God's particular Providence over the Gentiles strangers from the Covenant of Promise aliens from the Comman-wealth of Israel men without promise without hope that had neither promise nor hope of mercy Eph. ii 12. that to them this Star should appear for them be made and sent is such a ground of joy to us that are of the same stock and lineage that without it we had had no joy at all who ever had 'T is upon this title we have our share in this happy Star upon this particular dispensation of thus gathering the Gentiles to him by it as by a Standard or Ensign for them to flow in unto him as the Prophet Phrases it This is the fifth ray of the material Star and it may go for a sixth That the Gentiles not then only but even to this day still enjoy the benefit of that Star have oftentimes material and sensible convoys unto Christ are often by the things of sense by sensible blessings drawn and perswaded to his service Thus you have the six Rays of the Star six comfortable Rays to ground our joys upon in the material Star We come now to the mystical or spiritual those Stars and Lights which yet remain even to this day to guide us to the same Iesus For more than one there is of this sort and all sufficient grounds of Ioy. 1. The first sort of Stars are devout and holy men shining as Daniel represents them like the Stars Dan. xii 3. Stars they are in this world whilst they live burning and shining Lights the very light and life and glory of the earth while they are upon it and Stars they shall be in the heavens when they come thither Here they go before us with the light of good examples to lead us to Christ and his righteousness to all holy and heavenly conversation And for it they shall one day shine as Stars for ever and ever A ground of joy it is to us that this Star we have that such guides we have by whose examples to conform our selves to the obedience of Christ in whose light to walk to him 2. A second sort of Stars are the Bishops and Pastors of the Church For however men now reckon them or however now much darkned in their heaven in this our Church in our Hemisphere Stars they are in the hand of Christ Rev. i. 16. in his right hand too the vision so interpreted v. 20. the seven Stars the seven Angels of the Churches the Church it self crown'd with twelve such Stars Rev. xii 1. the twelve Apostles All crowned Churches all that are compleat and perfect are crowned with such Stars with Bishops Pastors and Teachers And a solid ground of joy it is that we have such Stars to guide and direct us into the knowledge of Christ into the ways and means of salvation Let Hereticks and Schismaticks think their pleasure an exceeding joy it is to all that
may be perfect thorowly furnished unto all good works 2 Tim. iii. 16 17. Inspir'd purposely by this Spirit to be a way to guide us into all truth and goodness But this may all pretend to and every one turns it how he lists We must adde a second And the second is the Church for we must know this says St. Peter know it first too 2 Pet. i. 20. That no Scripture is of any private interpretation There are some things so hard to be understood both in St. Pauls Epistles and also other Scriptures says he that they that are unlearned and unstable wrest them unto their own destruction 2 Tim. iii. 16. and therefore presently his advice follows to beware least we be led away with that error the error as he calls it of the wicked and so fall from our own stedfastness ver 17. When men unlearned or ungrounded presume to be interpreters or even learned men to prefer their private senses before the received ones of the Church 't is never like to produce better The pillar and ground upon which truth stands and stays is the Church if St. Paul may be allowed the judge 1 Tim. iii. 16. The pillar and ground of truth In matters of discipline when a brother has done disorderly tell it to the Church says Christ St. Mat. 18. 17. and if he neglect to hear that let him be unto thee as a heathen man and as a Publican He is no Christian. In matters 2. of doubt and controversie send to the Church to Hierusalem to the Apostles and Elders there conven'd in Counsel and let them determine it so we find it done Acts xv 2 28. In a lawful and full assembly of the learned Fathers of the Church such shall be determined that 's the was to settle truth In matters 3. of Rites and Ceremonies the Spirit guides us also by the Church If any man seem to be contentious about them St. Pauls appeal is presently to the Churches Customs We have no such custom neither the Churches of God that 's answer enough full and sufficient thinks the Apostle 1 Cor. xi 16. If the Churches custom be for us then 't is good and true we think or speak or do If against us 't is all naught and wrong whatever purity or piety be pretended in it Nay so careful was the Apostle to preserve the publick Authority of the Church and beat down all private ways and fancies by which ways only Schism and Heresie creep in that he tells Timothy though a Bishop and one well read and exercised in the Scriptures from a child 2 Tim. iii. 14. of a form of sound words he would have even him hold fast to 2 Tim. i. 13. and the Romans he tells of a form of Doctrine to be obeyed Rom. 6. 17. so far was that great and eloquent Apostle from being against forms any forms of the Church though he could have prayed and preached ex tempore with the best had tongues and eloquence and the gift of interpretation to do it too so far from leaving truth to any private interpretation or sudden motion whatsoever Nor is this appeal to the Fathers any whit strange or in Christian Religion only first to be heard of it was Gods direction from the first For ask now says Moses of the days that are past that were before thee Deut. iv 32. Stand you in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way says God Ier. vi 16. As if he had said Look about and see and examine all the ways you can yet the old way that 's the good one For enquire I pray thee of the former Age and prepare thy self to the search of their Fathers for we are but of yesterday and know nothing Iob viii 8. See how slightly things of yesterday new interpretations new devices new guides are accounted of And indeed in it self 't is most ridiculous to think the custom and practice and order and interpretation of all times and Churches should be false and those of yesterday only true unless we can think the Spirit of truth has been fifteen or sixteen hundred years asleep and never wak'd till now of late or can imagine that Christ should found a Church and promise to be with it to the end of the World and then leave it presently to Antichrist to be guided by him for above fifteen hundred years together Nor can I see why the Spirit of truth should now of late only begin to move and stir except I should think he were awak'd or delighted with noise and fury Nor is it reasonable to conceive a few private Spirits neither holier nor wiser than others for ought appears nor arm'd with Miracles to confirm their Doctrines should be more guided by the Spirit of truth than the whole Church and succession of Christians and Christian Fathers especially wherein at any time they agree Yet 3. not always to go so high Thou leadest thy people like sheep says the Psalmist by the hand of Moses and Aaron Psal. lxxvii 20. Moses and Aaron were the Governours of the Church the one a Priest the other a Prophet by such God leads his People by their lawful Pastours and Teachers The one the Civil Governour is the cloud to cover them from the heat The other the Spiritual is the light to lead them in the way The first protects the other guides us and we are bid to obey them those especially that watch for our souls Heb. xiii 17. Such as labour in the Word and Doctrine 1 Tim. v. 17. By such as God sets over us in the Church to teach and guide us into truth we must be guided if we will come into it In things unlawful nor one nor other is to be obeyed In things indifferent they always are In things doubtful 't is our safest course to have recourse to them provided that they be not of Corahs company that they exalt not themselves against Moses and Aaron nor draw us to it If they do we may say to them as Moses did to those Ye take too much upon you you Sons of Levi. God leads his People like a flock in peace and unity and by the hands of Moses and Aaron Thus 3. the Spirit guides into all truth because the Spirit is God and God so guides You have heard the way and means the first part of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Spirits guiding The Second follows his act and motion 1. He leads or guides us only he does not drive us that 's not the way to plant truth by force and violence fire and fagots not the Spirits sure which is the Spirit of love 2. Yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is we told you in it Some Act of the Spirit He moves and stirs up to it enlightens our understandings actuates our wills disposes ways and times occasions and opportunities to it that 's the reason we hear the truth more willingly at some time than other Paul
Common Service Every Magistrate that is every Governour of a Country every Maior of a City every Master of a Company every Father of a Family Some of these have their Statutes to be kept all of them their commands to be obeyed These are Secular Powers you have besides Spiritual such as take order for your Souls as the other for your Bodies and Estates your Bishops and Clergy Bishops are Fathers by their Title the Fathers of the Church so the first Christians so all since till this new unchristian Christianity started up Fathers in God 't is their stile however some of late Sons of Belial would make them Fathers in the Devil Antichrists perhaps that they might make them like themselves Strange Antichrists to whom Christ hath left the Governing of his Church these 1500 years 1. If you value them by their Antiquity they are Fathers for that their enemies being judges who would fain distinguish between their Offices and their Names that they might have some pretence to disobey them though more commonly they fill their mouth with scoffs and calumnies the language of the Devil than their books with the language of Antiquity truly understood 2. Fathers secondly for their Authority Time was when their Commands their Councils and Canons were Laws to Christians none of the least neither when their breach inferred the greatest punishment spiritual malediction 3. Fathers lastly for their tenderest Care over the tenderest part your Consciences Such who would quickly set all in order would you not listen too engagedly to by-respects Such whose commands you cannot complain of when you have examined them A hat a knee a reverent posture of the body are no such tyrannies as some please to fancy them You would do more in a great mans presence more for a small temporal encouragement A habit a Hood a Cap a Surplice a Name are wonderful things to trouble a devout Conscience You have more Ceremonies in your Companies and Corporations and you observe them strictly You will find it if you compare them If thus Fathers now their Precepts then certainly are to be obeyed Yet with this Rule ever both for them and all other inferiour Magistrates beside So far as they contradict not the Supreme Authority 'T is a rule in natural reason In two contrary commands the Superiours is to be obeyed Now to the King as Supreme we told you out of St. Peter to Rulers as sent by him that is as far as they are sent by him no further no further than their Commission from him Else Obedience can find no bounds nor Consciences no rest if the Supreme be not enough to terminate and guide all obedience into Your Father There is an argument in that word may make you obey him above all the world besides The tenderness of a Father Never could any challenge this name with greater justice never any so far condescended to his children to part with his own priviledges maintenance conveniences provision attendance He hath done as much for his Sons as the Rechabites for their Father left all even his houses for them lest by the insolence of some tumultuous spirits he should be forced to punish them What natural Father like this Father But whether he hath been used like a Father indeed you used him lately in your entertainment like a Conqueror and are justly honoured for it but whether by others like a Father let the affronts at his own Palace gate the sawcy Language in every rascal mouth the rebellious Sermons the seditious Libels cast abroad his own words where he is fain to proclaim to the world He is driven from you let these speak I say nothing Your Inferiour Magistrates have almost every where found disrespect And whether your Bishops and Clergy have been used like Fathers if the usage they have had of late the tumults about their houses the riots upon their Persons the daily insolencies the whole Clergy have met with in your streets never seen till now in a Civil Common-wealth in any ordered City upon the most contemptible men if the injuries done their Persons in the Churches at the very Altars once Sanctuaries against violence now thought the fittest places for it in the very administration of the Sacraments in their Pulpits both among you and abroad the Kingdom in a word so many slanderous malicious accusations without ground entertain'd with pleasure besides the blasphemies upon the whole Order if these cannot tell you after-ages will determine and in the interim let the world judge Our Fathers imperfections are not to be divulg'd though true much less false ones to be imposed upon them This is a reverence but due to Fathers 'T was cursedly done of Cham and he paid for it he and his with an everlasting curse to uncover his Fathers nakedness 'T was wretchedly done of Absalom to tell the people there was no man deputed of the King to hear them no justice in the Land and he thrived accordingly And let all the enemies of my Lord the King be as that young man is says Cushi Yet say we 't were well it were no worse How is all this made Religion too Oaths and Protestations intended certainly to better purposes abused to maintain rebellion and prophaneness Construed so in Pulpits and professed by their Scholars in the face of God and man pray God it go no higher and dare you after all this look for a blessing Alas you must lay by those thoughts till you have learned the Rechabites Lesson They used their Ionadab like a Father so reverenced his memory so preserved his name so obeyed him in all his several authorities so punctually so constantly so couragiously so sweetly so universally so sincerely so really so carefully with that contentedness without grumbling that humility without disputing that patience that readiness that full content of every Age Sex and Condition no weakness tenderness or priviledges pretended against it that God himself presently upon it promiseth a full reward Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel c. I am now at the Reward and 't is a full one full of 1. honour full of 2. proportions full of 3. blessings Full of 1. honour at the first Therefore thus as if their Obedience deserved it or God at least would seem so far to honour it He had promised length of life in the Commandment for it and God is not unjust It deserves therefore by the Covenant of his Promise yet by the interpretation of his mercy And 2. full of proportions it is Proportionable to the three Acts and Objects of Obedience You have obeyed your Father therefore you shall want no Sons there 's one You have kept his commandments therefore shall your Sons stand in them and by standing in them stand before God there 's a second You have kept all and done according to all that hath been commanded you fail'd in nothing therefore shall you have a reward all of you not a man of you fail for
encouraged and confirmed him in it 4. His profession at it Behold said he I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God In those words he professed his faith and proclaimed his vision of it By this manner of considering it we shall do St. Stephen right and Christmas no wrong remember St. Stephens Martyrdom and yet not forget Christs being at it celebrate St. Stephens memory and yet no way omit Christs He being here to be lookt on as encourager of St. Stephens Martyrdom as much as St. Stephen for his Professor and Martyr By all together we shall fully understand the requisites of a Martyr what is required to make one such to be full of the Holy Ghost to look up stedfastly into heaven to look upon Christ as there and as boldly to profess it to be full of Grace and Spirit full of Piety and Devotion full of Faith and Hope full of Courage and Resolution all proportionably requisite to the spiritual Martyrdom of dying to the world and leaving all for Christ requisite too all of them in some measure to dye well at any time the very sum of the Text to be learn'd hence and practis'd by us If I add all requisite to keep Christmas too as it should be kept with Grace and Devotion with Faith and courage also against all that shall oppose it that our Christmas business be to be filled with the Spirit and not with meats and drinks to look up to Heaven to look up to Iesus and never to be afraid or ashamed to profess it there is nothing then in the Text to make it the least unseasonable I go on therefore to handle it part by part The first is St. Stephens accommodation to his Martyrdom how he stands fitted for it And surely he could not be better Full of the Holy Ghost Ghost is Spirit and what more necessary to a Martyr then a spirit The dreaming sluggish temper is not fit to make a Martyr he must have Spirit that dares look Death soberly in the face Yet every Spirit neither will not make a Martyr there are mad spirits in the world they call them brave ones though I know not why that rush headily upon the points of Swords and Rapiers yet bring these gallant fellows to a Scaffold or a Gibbet the common reward of their foolish rashness which they mis-reckon'd valour and you shall see how sheepishly they die how distractedly they look how without spirit The spirit that will bear out a shameful or painful death without change of countenance or inward horrour must be holy Where the Spirit is holy the Conscience pure the Soul clean the man dies with life and spirit in his looks as if he were either going to his bed or to a better place 'T is a holy life that fits men to be Martyrs But spirit and a holy Spirit is not enough to make a Martyr neither though the Martyrs spirit must be a holy one yet to dispose for martyrdom the holy Spirit must come himself with a peculiar power send an impulse and motion into the soul and spirit that shall even drive it to the stake And every degree of power will not do it it must be a full gale of holy wind that can cool the fiery Furnace into a pleasing walk that can make death and torments seem soft and easie Full of the Holy Ghost it is that Stephen is said to be e're we hear him promoted to the glory of a Martyr The Spirit of holiness will make a man die holily and the holy Spirit make him die comfortably but the fulness of him is required to make him die couragiously without fear of death or torment cruelty or rage By this you may now guess at Martys who they are not they that die for their folly and their humour not they 2. that die without holiness not every one 3. that dies as we say with valour and spirit not they that die upon the motion of any spirit but the holy one that one holy Spirit not they that die in Schism and Faction against the unity of this Holy Spirit the peace of his Holy Church none of these die Martyrs die Souldiers or valiant Heathen or men of spirit they may but men of the holy Spirit Martyrs they die not They only die such that have lived holily die in holy Cause in a holy Faith and in the peace of holy Church as in the Faith of one Holy Spirit ruling and directing it into unity upon good ground and warrant and a strong impulsion so to do without seeking for or voluntarily and unnecessarily thrusting themselves into the mouth of death And yet there are strange impulses I must tell you of the spirit of Martyrdom which ordinary souls or common pieties cannot understand Only we must know that the spirit of Martyrdom is the spirit of Love the very height of love to God which how that can consist with the spirit of Schism whereby we break the unity of Brethren or how a man can so highly love God as to dye for him and hate his Spouse the Church or his Brethren is inimaginable Some other engines there may be as vain-glory an obstinate humour of seeming constant to a false principle an ignorant and self-willed zeal which may sometimes draw a man to die but if the fulness of peace and charity does not appear there is no fulness of the Holy Ghost and they make themselves and their deaths but Martyrs that is witnesses of their own folly He that pretends to be a Martyr must have more then a pretence to the Spirit of charity II. And not to charity only but to devotion too He must 2. prepare himself for it stedfastly look up to Heaven nay into Heaven too fill his Spirit with divine and heavenly provision for it with St. Stephen here Who 1. looks up to Heaven as to his Country whither he was a going He longs earnestly to be there His soul with holy David's has a desire and longing to enter thither He that looks but seriously up to Heaven and beholds that glorious Building those starry Spangles those azure Curtains those lustrous bodies of the Sun and Moon that vast and splendid circumference of these glistering dwellings cannot but thirst vehemently to be there soul and flesh thirst for it O how brave a place is Heaven how brave even but to look on But if he can look as here it seems St. Stephen did into heaven too and contemplate the happy Choirs of blessed Saints and Angels the ineffable beauty of those inward Courts the ravishing Melody and Musick they make the quiet peace and happiness that pleasure joy and fulness of satisfaction and contentment there the majestick presence and blessed sight of God himself with all the store-houses of blessedness and glory full about him his very soul will be even ready to start with violence out of his body to fly up thither He that looks thus stedfastly looks
either understand Religion or practice it that God still allows us the glory of these Stars though one differing in glory from another that he hath not yet totally darkned our heaven upon us nor removed our true lawful and faithful Pastors clean away that we wander not from Sea to Sea and from the North even to the East that we run not to and fro to seek the Word of God to see a Star and cannot find it but have them yet standing over us and directing us It will be a thousand to one but we miss of Christ when we lose this Star a thousand to one that we go into the wrong house instead of his when we lose our Bishops and Teachers the days we now see tell us so already For his House being undoubtedly the Church and the Church not to be seen or found but by the light and brightness of successive Bishops and Ministers who are the Churches glory and its Crown and joy nothing but sad and giddy errors can be expected where they are not A third Star is the Word of God and there first the sure Word of Prophecy a light as St. Peter stiles it shining in a dark place to which he tells us we do well if we take heed 2 Pet. i. 19. Then secondly the sure Promises of the Gospel of Grace and Truth and Pardon the comfortable and glorious light by which we are led to the knowledge of Christ full glad and merry with the hopes of such pardon and forgiveness of such grace and favour A fourth Star is inward Grace the light of the holy Spirit by which we are not only led to the place of this new-born Child but this Child it self even new-born in us This is a Star that rises in the very heart the Day-star rising there 2 Pet. i. 19. without which we should sit in perpetual shades the day never dawn upon us All the former Stars good Examples and Instructions and spiritual Predictions and Promises Pastors and Teachers can teach little without this Star St. Paul may plant and Apollos water and no increase the Preachers speak and preach into the air nothing stay behind good example be spilt as water on the ground divine Prophesies and Promises only strike the outward ear to little purpose all of them together unless the Spirit speak within and warm and lighten the soul with its fiery tongue and comfort it vvith invvard light and heat Hence is the joy that is unspeakable and full of glory which the Apostle speaks of 1 Pet. i. 8. A fifth Star which is heavenly glory a bright morning Star it is that Christ promises to give him that continues and holds out unto the end Rev. ii 28. I will give him the morning star that is eternal life the Star of glory This is a Star will shew us Christ as he is bring us to him not in his Cradle but in his Throne not in his Mothers lap but in his Fathers bosom A Star that will lead us both here and hereafter to his presence Here the great Star that most surely brings us and most effectually perswades to Christ and Christian Piety is the hope of Heaven the promise of Glory In the strength of this hope we suffer any thing for him we hunger and thirst endure cold and nakedness poverty and scorn whips and fetters halters and hatchets racks and tortures ignominy and death whilst this Star seems to open heaven unto us thus it brings us to him here and hereafter it fills us with the beatifical vision of him for ever I need not tell you this is a very sufficient ground of the greatest joy it self being almost nothing else And yet there is a sixth Star the Star that was foretold should come out of Iacob Num. xxiv 17. I am the bright morning Star Rev. xxii 16. I Iesus says he himself am the root and off-spring of David and the bright and morning Star He the Star that leads us to himself his own beauty the great attractive to him his mercy the sure convoy to himself his humility his being the root so low and humble the conduct to his Highness his Incarnation and Nativity his becoming the off-spring and Son of David being made man the only way above all to bring us unto himself Here 's the ground the very ground indeed of all our joy and comfort that he thus came into the World to save Sinners thus clouded his eternal brightness his starry nature his glorious Godhead with the dark rays of flesh and matter appearing at best but as a sublunary Star the Doctor and Bishop of our souls that we might so the easier come unto him and be comforted not confounded in his brightness Thus we have multiplied the Star in the Text by the perspective of the Spirit into Six or shew'd you the six spiritual rays which issue from it which reach to us and even shine God be thanked still though that be gone or shut up in the Treasuries of the Almighty all of these signal grounds of true Christian joy Good Examples good Teachers a good Word of God the good Spirit of Grace the good hope of glory the good of goods our good and gracious Saviour so good Stars and so good occasion of rejoycing that there can be no better 3. And yet a degree may be added from the third Consideration of the time when this Star appeared Indeed it had long before this day been seen had led the Wise men all the way comforted and cheer'd them up all their long journey through only at Hierusalem there it left them there where one would think the Star should shine the brightest But 1. What need Star-light when the Sun of righteousness is so near Or what 2. should need a Type when the Substance was so hard by Or what necessity 3. of a Star when they were now in a surer and brighter light so says St. Peter 1 Pet. i. 19. the Law and Prophets at hand to point out him they sought Or how 4. should we expect any special favour from the God of Heaven while we stay in Herod's Courts in Satan's territories in wicked company Or why 5. should we think the Star should stay upon us when we leave it That God should help us when we as it were renounce his direction to enquire for mens Go to the Iews and Herod for it How should we but lose God's grace if we neglect it 'T is the great ground here then of their rejoycing that after they had lost it they here recover it that they are now got out of Herods Court a place of sin and darkness and are now refresh'd again with the heavenly Light No joy in the World like that of recovering Heaven when it is almost lost No joy to the womans for finding again the Groat that she had lost No rejoycing like the Shepherds for the lost sheep when he has found it The joy reacheth up to heaven says Christ the very Angels rejoyce
to nothing For certainly did they either seriously think him true God or true man we should see it by their bodies especially seeing we cannot see any thing by their spirits to the contrary Even men us'd to be thus worshipped 1 Kings i. 31. and Prophets 2 Kings ii 15. So that did they confess him any thing they would certainly fall down and worship him not deny it to be sure whether do it or no. For all falling down is not adoration It is the mind that makes that the intention of the soul that turns this outward expression of the body into adoration that makes it either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either a religious or a civil worship as it pleases This is the reason together with the Authority of the Fathers St. Augustin St. Leo St. Bernard and others that I make adorârunt here this word worship to relate to the soul as procidentes falling down to the body Though I am not ignorant that both in the School and Grammar sense it is seldom or never found without the interest and posture of the body yet must it of necessity most refer to the soul that being able only to specifie the worship and give it both its nature and its name by either intending it religiously as to God or civilly only as to a creature where it gives it the outward posture being oft the same indifferently to God and man That these Wise men intended it as an act of Devotion and Religion as to an incarnate God not a meer carnal man is the general opinion of the Church and not without good ground For first Wise men who ever propound some end to all their motions would not have undertaken so long and tedious and troublesom a journey to have seen a child in a Cradle or in the mothers lap no not a Royal babe they were Kings themselves so the Antients delivered them to us and the 72 Psalm foretells them by that name and they had often seen such sights in as much pomp and glory as they could expect it in Iudea At least cui bono what good should they get by it that 's a thing Wise men consider by any King of Iudea what was such an one or his child to them who had nor dependance nor commerce with him or if they had needed not make such a needless journey themselves to no more purpose than in a complement to visit him But 2. They tell us they had seen his Star now we and they knew well enough that the Kings of the earth though they have the Spangles of the Earth have not the Spangles of the Heaven at their command though they have Courts and Courtiers beset with sparks of Diamonds and Rubies they have not yet one spark of Heaven in their attendance No King of Stars but the King of Heaven none under whose command or dominion they move or shine none that can call them his but God that made them to worship one then who not only can alone call all the Stars by their names but by his own too is certainly in any Wise mans language to worship God Our very Star-gazers who confess no King and for ought we can see worship no God will yet confess that in the Latin they have regit Astra Deus that the Stars are only Gods and though a Wise man may by his wisdom divert their influence he can in no wise either command or direct their motion 3. They tell us too they came to worship their whole business was nothing else and we would think they had little indeed if they came so far only to give a complement to a child that could neither answer them nor understand them We must certainly take them not for Wise men but very fools to do so And if worship be the end of their coming we may quickly understand by the phrase of Scripture that it is divine worship that is meant Of worship indeed and adoration we may read in other senses there but it is never made a business said to be any ones aim or purpose but when it is referr'd to God and his House The Eunuch is said to come to Ierusalem and worship Acts viii 27. David invites us to fall down and worship Psal. xcv 6. St. Paul comes to Ierusalem to worship Acts xxiv 11. and certain Greeks are said to come up to worship St. Iohn xii 20. but all this while it is to worship God never made a work to worship man To fall down before or bow or reverence to any man how great soever is but an occasional piece of business on set purpose never When we come before Kings and Princes we do it but never come before them to this end only for to do it 4. Had they conceived no other of him than as man or a Child of man that poor contemptible condition and unworshipful pickle they found him in the rags of poverty the place they saw him in would have made them have forborn their worship quite they would have been so far from procidentes adorârunt that it would have been dedignantes abiêrunt instead of falling down and worshipping they would have gone their ways disdaining at him But so powerful was his Star and so had the day-Star risen in their hearts so had the eternal light shined to them that they could see what others could not in carne Deum God in the Child He that led them without taught them within both whom they worshipped and how to worship And indeed he that knows and considers whom he worships will worship both in Spirit and in truth with his soul and with his body in truth else he does not worship Adorare adoration consists of both nay cannot be well conceived if you take away either the one or the other The word it self in its primitive signification is manum ad os admovere concerns the body and is no more than to kiss the hand and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is just the same So was the fashion of the Greeks to worship and it seems ancient through the East for it is an expression of holy Iob chap. xxxi 21. If I have beheld the Sun when it shined c. or my mouth hath kissed my hand that is if he had worshipped any other God But it falls out with this as with other words they enlarge their signification by time and custom and so adoration is come to be applied to all worship of the body bowing the head bending the knee falling on the face kneeling at the feet according as each particular Country perform their reverence Time yet hath enlarged it further and our Saviour that eternal word and therefore the best Expositor of any word hath applied it also to the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Iohn iv 23. nay more calls them the truest worshippers that worship in Spirit And indeed the Spirits the Souls part is the chiefest the worship
him only before to tell her so to tell her he would be with her by and by himself This makes it Annunciation day the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary as the Church calls it and the Annunciation to her as we may call it too The Annunciation or announcing and proclaiming of Christ unto her that he was this day to be Incarnate of her to take that flesh to day upon him in the womb which he was some nine months hence on Christmass-day to bring with him into the world And 2. the Annunciation or announcing that is proclaiming of her blessed among above women by it by being thus highly favoured by her Lords thus coming to her A day upon these grounds fit to be remembred and announced or proclaimed unto the World Indeed Dominus tecum is the chief business the Lord Christs being with her that which the Church especially commemorates in the day Her being blessed and all our being blessed highly favoured or favoured at all either mens or womens being so all our hail all our health and peace and joy all the Angels visits to us or kind words all our Conferences with heaven all our titles and honours in heaven and earth that are worth the naming come only from it For Dominus tecum cannot come without them He cannot come to us but we must be so must be highly favoured in it and blessed by it So the Incarnation of Christ and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin his being incarnate of her and her blessedness by him and all our blessednesses in him with her make it as well our Lords as our Ladies day More his because his being Lord made her a Lady else a poor Carpenters Wife God knows all her worthiness and honour as all ours is from him and we to take heed to day or any day of parting them or so remembring her as to forget him or so blessing her as to take away any of our blessing him any of his worship to give to her Let her blessedness the respect we give her be inter mulieres among women still such as is fit and proportionate to weak creatures not due and proper only to the Creator that Dominus tecum Christ in her be the business that we take pattern by the Angel to give her no more than is her due yet to be sure to give her that though and that particularly upon the day And yet the day being a day of Lent seems somewhat strange 'T is surely no fasting work no business or occasion of sadness this What does it then or how shall we do it then in Lent a time of fast and sorrow Fast and feast too how can we do it A Feast it is to day a great one Christs Incarnation a day of joy if ever any and Lent a time of sorrow and repentance a great one the greatest Fast of any How shall we reconcile them Why thus The news of Joy never comes so seasonable as in the midst of sorrow news of one coming to save us from our sins can never come more welcome to us than even then when we are sighing and groaning under them never can Angel come more acceptably than at such time with such a message as All Hail thou art highly favoured blessed art thou 'T is the time that Angels use to come when we are fasting So to Daniel Dan. ix 3 21. So to Cornelius Acts x. 30. the time when we best hear a voice from heaven and best understand it with St. Peter Acts x. 13 15 16 20. the time when God himself vouchsafes to spread our Table as he did there of all kinds of beasts and fowls to St. Peter all heavenly food and mysteries 'T is the very time for gratia plena to be fill'd when we are empty the only time for Dominus tecum for our Lords being with us when we have most room to entertain him So nor the Church nor we in following it are any whit out of order Dominus tecum Christ is the main business both of our Fasts and Feasts and 't is the greatest order to attend his business in the day and way we meet it be it what it will Though perhaps it seem stranger too to hear of an Angel coming into a Virgins Chamber at midnight as is conjectured and there saluting her But no fear of those Sons of God if they come in unto the daughters of men Angels are Virgins may be with Virgins in the privatest Closets are always with them there to carry up their Prayers and to bring down blessings No strange thing then to hear of an Angel with any of them whom God highly favours with whom himself is too no wonder to hear of an Angel or Ave to any such The only wonder indeed to us will be to hear of an Ave Mary Indeed I cannot my self but wonder at it as they use it now to see it turn'd into a Prayer 'T was never made for Prayer or Praise a meer Salutation the Angels here to the blessed Virgin never intended it I dare say for other either to praise her with or pray unto her And I shall not consider it as such I am only for the Angels Ave not the Popish Ave Marie I can see no such in the Text. Nor should I scarce I confess have chosen such a Theam to day though the Gospel reach it me but that I see 't is time to do it when our Lord is wounded through our Ladies sides both our Lord and the mother of our Lord most vilely spoken of by a new generation of wicked men who because the Romanists make little less of her than a Goddess they make not so much of her as a good woman because they bless her too much these unbless her quite at least will not suffer her to be blessed as she should To avoid both these extremes we need no other pattern but the Angels who here salutes and blesses her indeed yet so only salutes and blesses her so speaks of and to her as to a woman here though much above the best of them one highly favoured 't is true yet but favoured still all her grace and blessedness and glory still no other meer favour and no more and Dominus tecum the Lords being with her the ground and source and sum of all Virgin and Day both blessed thence The better to give all their due Angel and Lord and Lady and you the better understanding of the Text the scope and matter and full meaning of it we shall consider in the words these two Particulars The Angels Visitation and the Angels Salutation I. His Visitation or coming to her in these words And the Angel came in unto her II. His Salutation to her or saluting her in these Hail thou that art highly favoured The Lord is with thee Blessed c. In the Visitation we have 1. The Visitor 2. The Visited 3. The Visiting The Angel the Visitor He. The blessed Virgin this the Visited Her And
all these Titles The first is Grace Gratiâ plena 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that always the ground of Gods favour and all our blessedness So she tells us in her Hymn Respexit humilitatem It was the humility of his Hand-maid that God in this high favour of the Incarnation of his Son respected in her Humility the ground of all grace within us all grace without us of Gods grace to us of his graces in us the very grace that graces them all too Humility makes them the most lovely pride disgraces them all be they never so many though indeed they can be truly none that are not founded in and adorned with humility The second ground of blessedness is in the Text too Dominus tecum the Lords being with her From Christs being with her and with us it is that we are blessed From his Incarnation begins the date of all our happiness If God be not with us all the world cannot make us happy much less blessed From this grace of his Incarnation first riseth all our glory So that Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the praise must she sing as well as we and they do her wrong as well as God that give his glory unto her who will not give his glory to another though to his Mother because she is but his earthly Mother a thing infinitely distant from the heavenly Father Nor would that humble Hand-maid if she should understand the vain and fond and almost idolatrous stiles and honours that are given her some where upon earth be pleased with them she is highly favoured enough that her Lord and Son is with her and she with him she would be no higher sharer You may see it in the last particular the bounds and limitations of her titles and blessedness For first how full soever she be of Grace 't is yet but grace and favour 't is no more Gods meer favour so exalted her respexit only his respect to her his free looking on her no merit or desert 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath highly favoured her indeed but he has done done it in the praeter before she could conceive or imagine it 2. The salutation here except the titles given her by the Angels is not much more than what he gave to Gideon or what Boaz to his Harvesters enough to make the Papists afraid one would think of those extravagant at least if not blasphemous titles they give her of their closing their Books and Studies with Laus Deo Virgini Maria joyning her in partnership with God as if they were as much beholding to her as him I am sure they learn'd not this from the Angel he brings no divine but humane titles and salutations to her And he knew how to give titles though not flattering ones as Elihu speaks in Iob. 3. All her honour and blessedness is from Dominus tecum the Lords being with her He is her Lord as well as ours More indeed he is with her than with us or with Angels either plus tecum quà m mecum as some gloss it but he is her Lord still for all that and she is content so to acknowledge it and leave us a penn'd Hymn in witness of it to give him the sole honour of her magnifying and being magnified Lastly Though it be Benedicta 't is but inter mulieris among women all this is and they are but creatures a creature-blessedness a blessedness competible to the creature All to shew us that when we exceed this way of honour to her or this way of blessing her we are all out in our Aves we know not what we say And 't is well for some that their ignorance excuses them that they understand not what they speak Give we her in Gods name the honour due to her God hath stil'd her blessed by the Angel by Elizabeth commanded all generations to call her so and they hitherto have done it and let us do it too Indeed some of late have over-done it yet let us not therefore under-do it but do it as we hear the Angel and the first Christians did it account of her and speak of her as the most blessed among women one highly favoured most highly too But all the while give Dominus tecum all the glory the whole glory of all to him give her the honour and blessedness of the chief of Saints him only the glory that she is so and that by her conceiving and bringing our Saviour into the world we are made heirs and shall one day be partakers of the blessedness she enjoys when the Lord shall be with us too and we need no Angel at all to tell us so Especially if we now here dispose our selves by chastity humility and devotion as she did to receive him and let him be new-born in us The pure and Virgin Soul the humble Spirit the devout Affection will be also highly favoured the Lord be with them and bless them above others Blessed is the Virgin Soul more blessed than others in St. Paul's opinion 1 Cor. vii blessed the humble spirit above all For God hath exalted the humble and meek the humble Hand-maid better than the proudest Lady Blessed the devout affection that is always watching for her Lord in Prayer and Meditations none so happy so blessed as she the Lord comes to none so soon as such Yet not to such at any time more fully than in the Blessed Sacrament to which we are now a going There he is strangely with us highly favours us exceedingly blesses us there we are all made blessed Maries and become Mothers Sisters and Brothers of our Lord whilst we hear his word and conceive it in us whilst we believe him who is the word and receive him too into us There Angels come to us on heavenly errands and there out Lord indeed is with us and we are blessed and the Angels hovering all about to peep into those holy mysteries think us so call us so There graces pour down in abundance on us there grace is in its fullest plenty there his highest favours are bestowed upon us there we are fill'd with grace unless we hinder it and shall hereafter in the strength of it be exalted into glory there to sit down with this Blessed Virgin and all the Saints and Angels and sing praise and honour and glory to the Father Son and Holy Ghost for ever and ever Thus by being full of grace and full of those graces we also become Maries and the Mothers of our Lord so he tells us himself he that so does the will of my Father he is my Mother Let us then strive to be so that the Angels may come with heavenly errands to us our Lord himself come to us and vouchsafe to be again born in us and so bless us fill us with grace receive and set us highly in his favour and fill and exalt us hereafter with his glory and with this Blessed
Christ Crucified and to teach him and not to know any thing but in order to it at least not to profess any thing above or equal with it that may swallow up the time which ought to be spent in divine employments Thus this not knowing is first determined by the person Persons wholly interessed in the business of Heaven not to turn their studies into a business of the world persons design'd to an extraordinary office not to deal in it by extraordinary means but guide all according to that rule and way and work that God has set them But the not knowing the secular Sciences is not only limited to spiritual persons there are limits within which all must keep as well their ignorance as knowledge When at any time they will determine not to know it must be 1. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by judgment and discretion not promiscuously such things as sound judgment propounds unnecessary dangerous or unfruitful It must be 2. by a non judicavi quicquam whatsoever knowledge we have of humane Sciences we must judge and reckon it as nothing determine it to be no or her than dross and dung than building with hay and stuble in respect of the knowledge of Iesus Christ not any thing to that It must be 3. too without putting any estimate upon our selves for any such knowledge we must still think we know nothing whilst we know no more Moses a man as St. Stephen stiles him Acts vii 22. mighty in words and deeds and learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians yet when God would send him of his errand considering that tells God he was not eloquent neither heretofore nor since he had spoken to his servant but slow of speech and slow of tongue And Isaiah that Seraphick Prophet cries out he is a man of unclean lips Isa. vi 5. so little valued they all their knowledge when they had but a glimpse of that great knowledge God was now imparting to them How much soever we think we know before when we once come to the knowledge of Christ or but our thoughts to come to know a taste of the riches of the fulness of the knowledge of Christ we then know we know nothing count our selves dolts and ideots meer fools and blocks for squandering away so much time and cost and pains upon those empty notions whereby we are not an inch the nearer Heaven and it may be the further from God after all our labour Then only we begin truly to know when we can pass this sentence upon our selves that we know not any thing when we are so humble that we think so at least think not any thing of our selves for all we know 4. We must determine not to know any thing at all of humane Sciences or natural reasonings rather than to determine our selves by it renounce it rather all knowing and turn all to believing not fix our faith upon natural principles or believe no further than we can know rather than so we had far better know nothing set it up for a resolution however in the matters of faith not to know that is not to go about to determine them by reason for the natural man he understands them not ver 14. they are foolishness unto him a foolish thing to him to talk of a God Incarnate of a Crucified Saviour of a Religion whose glory is the Cross and reward he knows not where nor when Or 5. he is only not determined to know any thing so the negative is truly joyn'd not to his knowledge but to his determination not determined if he know it he counts it but by the by his main business is something else humane knowledge is but by the way and obiter he intends them not for his doctrine nor yet to prove or stablish his doctrine upon them as upon foundations nor pearch moral and natural Philosophy for Divinity but to advance both the one and the other all Philology Language and History to the Service of Christ and the glory of his Cross to use our Rhetorick to set forth his sufferings the merit and benefit and glory of them our natural Philosophy to find us out the God of Nature in all his works moral Philosophy and History to disswade Vice and encourage Vertue even by the light of nature the knowledge of the Heavens and heavenly Spirits to declare his excellent and wondrous works our Criticisms to sift out truth and our Languages to express it in a word not so much to know any of them as God through them not them properly but Christ Iesus by them There is no fear of humane Sciences thus determined Yet there is one way more to determine our not knowng by by the persons with whom we have to do Our Doctrines for so we told you and for the chief meaning here we tell you now again to know here signifies to teach our Doctrines are to be proportioned and fitted for the auditory It was no meaner a mans practice than St. Pauls to the weak to become as weak to gain the weak to the weak and simple not to speak mysteries and speculations to them that were without Law as without Law plain honest dealing not quirks and quillets to gain such not to know any such thing among such as they Yet sometimes upon the same ground to do quite contrary to confound the wisdom of the world by that which that counts foolishness the strength of the world by that it reckons weakness the honourable things of the world by things which that esteems base and ignominious The Corinthians gloried in their learning and eloquence St. Paul to confute their vanity undertakes to do more by plainness and rudeness of speech and ignorance than they all of them can by all their wisdom and rhetorick among them he will make no use of any thing but the contemptible knowledge of the Cross of Christ and yet do more then all their Philosophers and Orators Where Learning will serve but to ostentation and the ear only tickled by it or humane applause not edification Schism not peace the issue of it among them not to know any such thing is best of all for let all things be done says the Apostle to edification 1 Cor. xiv 26. and if that will be done best by plainness to use plainness if by learning to use that as the you are that are to be edified so the I the Minister to deal with them if they be puft up with humane knowledge to humble them to the Abc of the Cross to exalt and preach up that above all knowledge whatsoever if divided into Schisms by the several Sects of Philosophy or the Masters of them to unite all again into one as so many pieces into one Cross among them to cry up no knowledge but thence or thither So then now to sanctifie all our secular knowledges and ignorances thus we are to determine them to know our times and place and persons for them to keep
rest of the Apostles Euseb. l. 5. c. 26. The great difference about the time of keeping Easter between the Eastern and the Western Churches was grounded upon the different keeping of it by the two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Iohn St. Iohn keeping it after one reckoning St Peter after another St. Iohn keeping it after the Jewish reckoning upon the fourteenth of the month Abib St. Peter much after the accompt as now it stands upon the Sunday following but all the controversie was about the time not about the keeping it none denied or questioned that but Aerius none left it at liberty but the Cathari both registred for Hereticks about it So confident were they 't was from the Lord. And that from him at least by the Apostles Constantine in Eusebius is direct 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which day says he ever since the first day of his Passion we have kept untill this present We have received it of our Saviour says he a little after And again which our Saviour deliver'd to us Thus Dominus fecit then indeed And that so it was either from his own command or from his Apostles the whole practise of the Church is ground enough in all Ages still observing it even in the hottest times of persecution some in Caves and some in Woods and some on Shipboard and some in Barns and Stables and some in Goales keeping it as they could says Eusebius so scrupulous were they of omitting that day upon any hand that the Lord had made them and the great contentions about the time of keeping it shews as plain they thought it more than an humane institution they might else have easily ended all the Controversie and laid down the day But they had not then so learned Christ had not learned the trick of lightly esteeming days and places and things and persons and offices dedicated to Gods service which God had made or were made to him 5. Especially made upon such an occasion as this day was This day What day is this The day wherein the Stone that was disallowed by Men was approved of God and exalted to the head of the corner Wherein the chief corner stone of Sion was laid and Sion begun to be built upon it when we had ground given to build upon and stones to build with by Christs Resurrection that 's the ground and occasion of the day And a good one too For had he not risen we had had no ground to build upon we had perish'd in our sins been swept all away like so many houses builded upon the sand We had had neither place for faith nor ground for hope nor room for preaching our preaching vain your faith also vain all vaine all come to nothing His being delivered for our offences had been nothing if he had not been raised again for our Iustification as it is Rom. iv 25. 'T is to this day we owe our Justification 't is from this day we are made just and holy from this Stones being made the head stone of the corner we made lively stones built up into a spiritual house or building as St. Peter speaks 1 Pet. ii 5. From his becoming this day the chief corner stone it is in that we now have confidence as St. Iohn speaks and creep not into corners to hide our faces that we dare boldly look up to heaven and come unto him and that we call not to the Hills to hide us or to the Mountains to cover us from the presence of God or the face of man or devil Our faith and hope our souls and spirits are all raised by this days raising we are all made by this days being made we had else better never have been made for we had been marr'd and undon for ever 6. But by this day it seems we are not for this rejoycing and gladness that now follows close upon it shews what a kind of day it is for what 't is made even to be glad and to rejoyce in a Feast or Festival God is no enemy to the Churches Feasts whoever be calls to us to blow up the Trumper for Feasts as well as bid us to proclaim a Fast. Indeed he more properly makes the Feast and we the Fast for he only gives the occasion of the one and we of the other he benefits and we sins Deus nobis haec otia fecit So no wonder that the day that he has made be a good day a day of good things such as we may well rejoyce in a Festival Yea and a set one too His making you heard was an appointing or instituting it Though God would sometimes have free-will Offerings he will not always trust to them If he leave all to the wills of men the fires will oft go out upon his Altars his house stand thin enough of people and his Priests grow lean for all the fall of his Sacrifices if he come once to the mercy or courtesie of men They would quickly starve him and his Religion out of doors But set Feasts he always had set Services and offerings would not leave himself or his Worship to mans devotion for he knew what was in man He made this day made it a Feast a day of joy and gladness Let us now therefore to our Office to rejoyce and be glad in it that 's the second General thither now are we come Three Points we told you we would consider in it Exultemus laetemur and in eâ Three parts in our Office rejoycing gladness and the right ordering both Outward expression inward gladness and right placing them Both words I confess 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint eâ—ultemus laetemur in the Latine have something outward in them yet exultemus is more for the outward laetemur somewhat more within a joy of the heart with some dilatation only of it Laetitia quasi latitia a stretching out the heart and sending forth the Spirits exultatio of saltatio a kind of skipping or leaping for joy the Spirits got into all the parts and powers ready to leap out of them for joy Being thus both involv'd one in the other I shall not trouble my self to distinguish them but only tell you hence that first The joy that God requires in the things that he has made or any time makes for us is not only inward it must out into outward acts Out into the mouth to sing forth his praise in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs Eph. v. 19. Out into the hands to send portions to the poor for whom nothing is prepared Nehem. viii 10. Out into the feet to go up to the House of God with the Posture as well as the voice of joy and gladness to go up with haste to worship with reverence to stand up chearfully at the Hymns and Songs of Praise Our very bones as David speaks to rejoyce too the very clatter'd bones to clatter together and rejoyce all the parts and powers of
a cold sweat to think of it before 't was built Gen. xxviii 17. Will the Lord dwell on earth Is it true says Solomon Can it be so Lord What am I says Holy David and my people that we should but offer to it Lord What is it that we should be allow'd to touch so holy ground with our unhallowed feet look upon so holy a sight with our unholy eyes that such a glo-worm as Man should be set upon a Hill But above all 3. Lord what is man Lord what is man that thou should'st so regard him as to advance him also into the holy Hill of Heaven too Lord what can we say what can we say Shall corruption inherit incorruption dust Heaven a worm creep so high What he that lost it for an Apple come thither after all he in whom dwelleth no good thing be let stay there where none but good and all good things are He that is not worth the Earth worth nought but Hell be admitted Heaven Lord What is Man or rather what art Thou O Lord how wonderful in mercies that thus priviledg'st the sons of men Admirable it is worth the whole course of your days to admire it in and you can never enough It will appear yet the more by the glory that accompanies it It is a glorious priviledge indeed even admirable for its glory Even in all the senses we take the words 't is 5. a Glorious Priviledge Glorious to be Sains they are heirs of Glory Glorious to be Saints in Churches for the Angels that are there 1 Cor. xi 10. to wait upon us and carry up our Prayers for the beauty of holiness that is seated there for the God of Glory whose presence is more glorious there But it is without comparison to be Saints in Glory Grace is the portion of Saints that 's one ray of Glory The Church the House of God is the Gate of Heaven Gen. xxviii 17. that 's the entrance into Glory What then is Heaven it self What is it to enter there into the very Throne of the King of Glory Lift up your heads O ye Gates lift up your heads and let us poor things in to see the King of Glory the Hill of the Lord can be no other then a Hill of Glory His holy place is no less than the very place and seat of Glory And being such you cannot imagine it 6. but hard to come by the very petty glories of the World are so This is a Hill of Glory hard to climb difficult to ascend craggy to pass up steep to clamber no plain campagnia to it the broad easie way leads some whether else St. Mat. vii 13. the way to this is narrow ver 14. 't is rough and troublesome To be of the number of Christs true faithful servants is no slight work 't is a fight 't is a race 't is a continual warfare fastings and watchings and cold and nakedness and hunger and thirst bands imprisonments dangers and distresses ignominy and reproach afflictions and persecutions the worlds hatred and our friends neglect all that we call hard or difficult is to be found in the way we are to go A man cannot leave a lust shake off bad company quit a course of sin enter upon a way of vertue profess his Religion or stand to it cannot ascend the spirtual Hill but he will meet some or other of these to contest and strive with But not only to ascend but to stand there as the word signifies to continue at so high a pitch to be constant in Truth and Piety that will be hard indeed and bring more difficulties to contrast with And yet to rise up to keep to that Translation that is to rise up in the defence of holy ways of our Religion is harder still to bloud it may come at last but to sweat it comes presently cold and hot sweats too fears and travels that 's the least to be expected Nor is it easie as it often proves to gain places to serve God in Temples are long in building that of Hierusalem 64 years together Great preparation there was by David and Solomon to that before and no little to the rearing of the Tabernacle It was 300 years and upward that Christianity was in the World before the Christians could get the priviledges of Sanctuaries and Churches The more ought we sure to value them that we come so hardly by them We would make more of the priviledge if we considered what pains and cost and time they cost how unhandsom Religion looks without them how hard it is to perform many of the holy offices where we want them how hard it would be to keep Religion in the minds of men if all our Churches should be made nests of Owls and Dragons and beds of Nettles and Thistles Yet I confess it is hard too to enter into those holy places with the reverence that becomes them to rise up holy there Every one that comes into the Church does not ascend he leaves his soul too oft below comes but in part his body that gets up the Hill the mind lies grovelling in the Valley amongst his Grounds and Cattel Nor may every one be said to rise up or stand in his holy place that stand or sits there in it unless his thoughts rise there unless his attention stands erect and stedfast up to Heaven when he is there he is indeed in the place but he unhallows it it is no longer holy in respect of him He must ascend in heart and soul raise up eyes and hands voice and attention too that can be properly said to ascend into the Hill of the Lord or rise up in his holy place Which how hard it is the very stragling of our own thoughts there will tell us we need not go to the Prophet to find a people that sit there as if they were Gods people and yet are not that hear his Word and stand not to it that raise up their voices and yet their hearts are still beneath We can furnish our selves with a number too great of such enow to tell us how hard it is to ascend into the Hill of the Lord and rise up in his holy place so few do it And if these two ascensions be so hard what 's the third the very righteous are scarcely sav'd 1 Pet. iv 18. If by any means I may says St. Paul 1 Cor. ix 27. supposes he may not he is afraid at least after all his Preaching he should become a cast-away fall short of the goal miss the Crown come short of the top of the Hill of the holy Place So hard a thing is Heaven so clogg'd are the wings of our soul so heavy and drossie are our spirits and our earth so earthy that it is hard to ascend so high We feel we find it and they but deceive themselves that think 't is but a running leap into Heaven a business to be done wholly or easily upon our Death-beds when we can
to unty our selves for that we use to do when we are entangled as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intimates we are or if you please to take the Verb to the Participle Deponentes curramus to lay it aside and run away So then when a temptation at first presents it self clad in adulterate beauties reject it bar it out 2. But if it have got in before thou be aware give it no entertainment fix not thy thought upon it with curiosity or delight but presently cast it out of doors 3. If thine unhappy negligence have won thee to a delectation delay at least thy consent withdraw thy self awhile and divert thy thoughts to some other object Death Judgment Hell or Heaven But if thou be fallen to consent too the only remedy left thee is to unty thy resolutions to unravel thy thoughts thy admitting thy delighting thy consenting to undo all and fly away In brief thus Temptations thus to be avoided 1. The suggestion by repelling 2. The delight by casting out the thought 3. The Consent by withdrawing 4. The defence by flying 1. The surest way when all is done is to take these untimely brats and dash them against the stones against that corner stone Christ Iesus 2. The safest way to hide thee in the holes of that rock the wounds of his side 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reponentes laying your souls up there and recondentes burying your sins in the meditation of his passion and sufferings 3. The securest way exponere to lay them open to thy Ghostly Counsellour thou shalt find them vanish in the air 4. The wariest way to flee all opportunities whatsoever Indeed if the devil fight against thee by troublesome and piercing thoughts stand to him and resist him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thrust him from thee if he besiege thee with delights deponentes curramus run away from him It is not cowardize but wisdom He that fights against pleasures may overcome he that runs from them is sure he does Take this lastly for a general rule If temptations rise so many that they swarm about thee like Bees fight not against all at once they are too many but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The principal that single hand to hand Nor is this all This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Article seems to point at some special 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something yet more adequately opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cloud a cloud of Martyrs good company what more answers to it than a dark thick mist of ill Companions What more opposed than good and bad examples What temptation more deserves an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name of sin or sooner brings us thither Or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the title of easily besetting us What hangs more fast upon us What clings more near us What more ensnares us And what more needs a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Article against it We 'll sum up all in the advice of that mighty Counsellour If thy right hand thy Counsellour oâ— whom thou leanest or thy right eye thy friend by whom thou seest offend thee give me leave to make a Parenthesis to go on with the interpretation if thy right eye offend thee if thou canst not look upon a woman though with no ill intention but lust will arise if the eye of thy reason dim thy faith if thy right eye of contemplation become an offence and puff thee up â—râ—e projice out with it cast it from thee Better it is to go into heaven lame and blind and ignorant and poor and friendless and alone than to go down to hell with company Remember 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here and then as I have now done with peccatum circumstans so shall you that you may answer your Lord in St. Peters phrase Ecce nos reliquimus omnia Behold we have left all our sins possessions honours pleasures occasions our dearest friends our very thoughts sequuti sumus to follow thee to run after thee Curramus per patientiam that 's next to Deponentes to cast off sins then run from them And can we less I will run the way of thy commandments cries holy David when thou hast set my heart at liberty Set him but at liberty from these weights and snares and you cannot stay him Yet why so fast No less than running Give me but a man once throughly freed from these heavy chains he 'll tell you so No hast enough from these miseries says he that felt them And 't is but just for run we did before the wicked his feet are swift but that 's down hill ours is a Race upon even ground that Well but the World has its certamina its Races too and such as are abjecto pondere cast away all Riches and Possessions That 's for Gallants ours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a race for Christians How 's that Please but to joyn it to several words within the verge of the Text and you shall see Joyn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the words before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a race that is a running from sin certantes contra peccatum ver 4. and it will prove certamen justitiae the race of righteousness St. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the keeping under of his body by fasting and abstinence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so ran he 1 Cor. 9. 26. Match it with the words that follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it be such a one that looks to Iesus then you have certamen fidei St. Paul call's it the the good fight where he tells us he has finish'd his course he has kept the Faith 2 Tim. iv 7. and it seems the very intent of St. Paul here who had reckoned up so many Per fidems in the Chapter next before to which this seems but a concusion Yet you may lay it to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then it will be the Race of Martyrdom Certamen fidei oft times proves so Ver. 4. Nondum certastis sometimes turn'd to Certastis usque ad sanguinem Per patientiam so close shews some affliction towards and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together cannot well be less than to an agony A Race this that crowns the Victor with a Diadem the brightest of all created glories brighter than the Sun And yet even this if propositum be wanting will be thankless If it be taken up of our own heads and not proposed Nay if it be proposed in general to be good if it be not propositum nobis so to us if God propound it not to us as most convenient for the time the cause the persons Else when they persecute you in one City flee to another 't was his counsel whose the Martyrs are St. Mat. x. 23. But if be at any time Propositum nobis set before us so propounded then good luck have you with your honour ye blessed of the Lord run on and your right hand shall teach you
commission to call us to it or command it for his service or his Churches and we not to undertake it till we find our selves truly enabled rightly called and uprightly intending in it To joyn now the two Points of the Text together to know our right grounds and settle our obedience right upon them that we may know what we undertake when we undertake to follow Christ and do accordingly not pretend above our strength but keep Advent and St. Andrew both We are 1. to provide by St. Andrews obedience for Christs Advent that he when he at any times comes to us either in his Spirit or in his Word in humility or glory in our lives or at our deaths may find us ready straight to follow him No so acceptable entertainment for him no so fit preparation for him as a ready entire well guided obedience none so fit to receive him as St. Andrew the Soul so fitted and resolved to all obedience Thus we are to make our way for Advent by St. Andrew And to keep St. Andrews Feast to give our selves up to this obedience we must remember Christs Advent to us that we cannot follow till he first come to us acknowledge all our motion is from his Look he first upon us and speak to us and we straightway run but if he come not there is no following to be expected much less hast to do it All is from him to him therefore be all the praise if at any time or wherein at any time we follow him 't is his grace that does it that comes first before we follow And then thirdly to keep time to joyn both Feasts together in our hearts all the days of our life as well as in this day of the year Magnifie we him in his Saints follow we St. Andrew as he did Christ follow him to Christ chearfully without delay to day whilst it is day begin our course let us not think much to part with any thing for him Lay our honours riches souls and bodies at his feet and with pure and unmixt intentions study we wholly his service not our own Let not any be discouraged that perhaps he has nothing worth the leaving nothing but a few old broken nets Be it never so little we have left if we have left our selves nothing but given our selves and all to Christ we have given much he that with these Saints here leaves nothing but a few knotty threds if he has no more to leave has left as much as he that leaves most for he has left all and he that leaves most can do no more It is the mind not the much that God values Remember the poor Widows mites accepted by Christ above far greater gifts for they were all she had and who could give more The poor mans all is as much to him and as much all to God as the rich mans all his tatter'd Nets as much all his living as the others Lands and Seas are his and the poor man can as hardly part with his rags and clouts his leather bottle his mouldy bread and clouted shoes as the rich man with his silks and state and dainties so much perhaps the hardlier in that they are more necessary Yet that I may not seem to leave you upon too hard a task to scare you from following Christ I shall now tell you you may keep all and yet leave your nets You may keep your honours you may preserve your estates you may enjoy your worldly blessings only so keep a hand upon them or upon your selves that they be not nets and snares unto you let them not take your hearts or ensnare your affections or entangle your souls in vanities and sins let them not hold you from following Christ and keep them while you will Cast but off the Networks the catching desires of the flesh and world and so you also may be said to have left your nets And having so weaned your souls from inordinate affections to things below Let Christ be your Business his Life your Pattern his Commands your Law Be ye followers of Christ and let St. Andrew this day lead you after him into all universal obedience ready pure and sincere think not much to leave your Nets for him that left heaven for you you will gain more by following him than all the nets and draughts of the world are worth You may well throw away your Nets having caught him in whom you have caught glory and immortality and eternal life and by following him shall undoubtedly come at last out of this Sea of toil and misery where there is nothing but broken nets and fruitless labours or but wearisom and slippery fruits of them into the Port and Haven of everlasting rest and joys and happiness And that it may be so let us pray with the holy Church in the two Collects for Advent and St. Andrew Almighty God which didst give such grace to thy holy Apostle St. Andrew that he readily obey'd the calling of thy Son Iesus Christ and followed him without delay grant unto us all that we being called by thy holy Word may forthwith give â—ver our selves obediently to fulfil thy holy Commandments that we may cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the armour of light now in the time of this mortal life in the which thy Son Iesus Christ came to visit us with great humility that in the last day when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and the dead we may rise to the life immortal through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost now and ever A SERMON Preached At St. Pauls COL iii. 15. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also ye are called in one body and be ye thankful HOw little or much soever the Colossians needed this advice I am sure we do more than a little and much need there is to press it close For I know not but methinks as much as we talk of peace and write it in the front of our Petitions and Projects I am afraid our hearts are not right to it it rules not there And as much as we pretend our thankfulness to God for bringing us again into one body we see but slender expressions of it And yet we have the same Arguments both for thankfulness and peace to be thankful for our late recovered peace and to be at peace if we would be thought to be thankful as the Colossians had or could be imagined to have here our being called again into one body who were not long since in several ones united now under one head who were of late under many Gods Call and our own Callings Gods present mercies and our late miseries calling to us to perswade both There wants indeed some St. Paul to mind us of it to preach it home that we would be what we pretend that men would be honest once and either say no more