the day of adversity your strength is small Prov. 24.10 Hard weather tryes what health hot service what courage Verse 32. Behold the hour cometh c. So bladder-like is the soul that filled with earthly vanities though but winde it grows great and swels in pride but if prickt with the least pin of piercing grief it shriveleth to nothing Verse 33. These things I have spoken This Sermon of our Saviour then would be read in time of trouble It hath virtutem pacativam if mixt with faith That in me ye might have peace Though surcharged with outward troubles Josiah died in peace according to the promise though slain in warre True grace like true gold comforts the heart Alchymy gold doth not In the world ye shall have tribulation There 's no avoiding of it 'T is not a paradise but a purgatory to the Saints It may be compared to othe straits of Magellan Heyl. Gâ—og pag 80â— which is said to be a place of that nature that which way soever a man bend his course he shall be sure to have the winde against him I have overcome the world Therefore we are more then conquerours â—om 8.37 because sure to overcome afore-hand We are triumphers 2 Cor. 2.14 We need do no more then as those in Joshuah set our feet on the necks of our enemies already subdued unto us by our Jesus CHAP. XVII Verse 1. And lift up his eyes to Heaven THis and the like outward gestures in prayer as they issue from the fervency of the good heart so they reflat upon the soul whose invisible affections by these visible actions in the Saints are the more inflamed Howbeit hypocrites though they have their hands elbow-deep in the earth will seem to pierce Heaven with their eyes lift up in prayer videntur torvo aspectu coelum ad se attrahere saith Calvin somewhere they so fix their eyes in publike prayer as if they would leave them on the roof of the Church when as all is but histrionicall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be seen of men Matth. 6. theatricall counterfeit The eagle when she soareth highest hath ever an eye to the prey below so hath the hypocrite to profit credit c. The hour is come q. d. I aske not before the time is come and ripe and ready for thy kingdom Some would be in Heaven ere they have done their worke upon earth But what said that Ancient Domine si tibi sim necessarius non recuso vivere Lord if thou have any further service for me to do I am willing to live longer When we come to Heaven the reward will be so large that we shall repent us if it were possible there to repent for any thing that we have done no more worke It is not lawfull saith one to wish for death simply neither to be set free from the troubles fears and cares of sin Capell of Tempt par 3. nor that we would not conflict nor wrestle any longer for this were to serve our selves and seek our own ease and ends but in hatred to sin as it is sin c. Verse 2. That he should give eternall life And what more free then gift Note this against our Merit-mongers who not only cry with Novatus Non habeo Domine quod mihi ignoscas I have done nothing that thou shouldst forgive me but with Vega. Vitam aeternam gratis non accipiam I will not have heaven for nothing How much better S. Auguctine Homo ignoscat saith he ut Deus ignoscat And William Wickam Act and Mon. founder of New-Colledge who though he did many good workes yet he professed that he trusted to Jesus Christ alone for salvation Verse 3. That they may know thee To know God in the face of Christ is Heaven afore-hand Qui non habet Christum in horoscopo Bucholcer non habet Deum in medio Coeli By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many saith God concerning Christ Isa 53.11 that is by faith which infolds assent of the judgement consent of the will and affiance or assurance of the heart Papists place faith in the will only and exclude knowledge Nay Bellarmine affirmeth that faith may be better defined by ignorance that mother of devotion then by knowledge They dig out mens eyes as they dealt by Samson and then make sport with them they confine faith to the will that they may doe what they will with the understanding and the heart as the Friers send men on pilgrimage that they may lie with their wives the while Heyl. Geog. 288 Verse 4. That thou gavest me to doe Our Saviour counts his work a gift So should we take it for a favour that he employes us that we may have any office about him that we may magnifie him with our bodies whether by life or death Act. and Mon. Phil. 1.19 As an heretike I am condemned said Mr Bradford and shall be burned whereof I ask God heartily mercy that I doe no more rejoyce then I doe having so great cause as to be an instrument wherein it may please my dear Lord God and Saviour to suffer And the greatest promotion said Latymer that God giveth in in this world is to be such Philippians to whom it is given Ibid. 1565. not only to believe but also to suffer Ignatius professed he had rather be a Martyr then a Monarch Ibid. 1831. John Noyes took up a Fagot at the fire and kissed it saying Blessed be the time that ever I was born to come to this The Apostles rejoyced that they were graced so to be disgraced for Christ Act. 5.41 Verse 5. With the glory which I had c. Our Saviour then is no up-start-God and of a later standing as the Arians and Mahometans would make of him Mahomet speaks very honourably of Christ except only in two things First he denied that he was crucified but that some other was crucified for him Secondly he took up the opinion of the Arians to deny his Divinity Arius at Constantinoply sitting upon the close-stool purged out his guts Mahometisme is now there in that place as it were the excrements of Arius Verse 6. I have manifested thy name The Jews seek to detract from the glory of our Saviours miracles by giving out that he did them by I know not what superstitious or Magicall use of the Name Jehovab Bern. But that name of God that he is here said to manifest is that nomen Majestativum that holy and reverend name of God set down Exod. 34.6 7. A name that would fill our hearts with heaven and answer all our doubts had we but skill to spell out all the letters in it Verse 7. Now they have known c. That the Gospel is a plot of Gods own contriving and no device of man as that Evangelium regni was set out by the Family of Love and those Fanatikes mentioned by Irenaeus that were so besotted with an opinion of
lye hath been alwayes held hatefull but equivocation is now set forth of a later impression The Jesuites have called back this pest from hell alate for the comfort of afflicted Catholicks as Arch-Priest Blackwell and Provinciall Garnet shamed not to professe Est autem satanae pectus semper faecundissimum mendacijs saith Luther He began his kingdom by a lye and by lyes he upholds it as were easie to instance See my Notes on Genesis chap. 3. ver 5. Verse 48. That thou art a Samaritan And why a Samaritun trow but that they thought the worst word in their bellies good enough for him Malice cares not what it faith so it may kill or gall and these dead dogs as he calleth Shimci will be barking 2 Sam. 16.9 The Primitive Persecutours used to put Christians into bears and doggs skins or other ugly creatures and then bait them so doth the wicked put the Saints into ugly conceits then speak against them Verse 54. It is my father that honoureth me 1 Sam. 2.30 According to that Them that honour me I will honour this is a bargain of Gods own making Fame follows vertue as the shadow the body or if not yet she is proprio contenta theatro content with her own applause Verse 55. Yet ye have not known him There is a two fold knowledge of God 1. Apprehensive 2. Affective or cognoscitiva standing in speculation and directiva vitae Verse 59. Then took they up stones This is merces mundi the worlds wages Let 's look up with Stephen and see Heaven as he did thorow a showre of stones c. CHAP. IX Verse 1. He saw a man which was blinde THis was enough to move Christ to mercy the sight of a fit object When God sets us up an Altar be we ready with our sacrifice Verse 2. Who did sinne this man Imbuti era â—r Iuâ—ai dogmate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza How could he sinne before he was borne But the Disciples dream't of a Pythagoricall transanimation hence this foolish question Verse 3. But that the works of God c. Hinc Alexander Ales Paena inquit duplicem habet ordinationem Vnam ad culpam quae praecedit alteram ad gloriam quam praecedit God sometimes afflicts for his own glory but sinne is never at the bottome And though God doth not alwayes afflict his for sinne as Job Job 11.6 yet Job shall do well to consider that God exacteth of him lesse then his iniquity deserveth as Zophar telleth him Verse 4. Whiles it is day As other men do Psal 104.22 None can say he shall have twelve houres to his day And night death is a time of receiving wages not of doing worke On this moment depends eternity on the weakest wier hangs the greatest waight Verse 6. Made clay As he did at first in making Man the Poets tell us some such thing of their Prometheus to shew that this cure was done by that Almighty power that he put forth in the Creation Verse 7. He went his way and washed He obeyed Christ blindling He looked not upon Siloam with Syrian eyes as Naaman did upon Jordan but passing by the unlikelihood of a cure by such a means he beleeveth and doeth as he was bidden without sciscitation Verse 16. This man is not of God True if he had indeed made no conscience of keeping the sabbath Sanctifying the Lords day in the primitive times was a badge of Christianity When the question was propounded Christianuâ— suâ—â—intermittere non possum Servasti Dominicum Hast thou kept the Sabbath the answer was returned I am a Christian and may not do otherwise The enemies and hinderers of sanctifying the Sabbath are called unbeleevers vagabonds and wicked fellows Acts 17.2 5. B. White Act and Mon. Sometipsum detestatus est quòd Regi poitùs quam Deo studuisset placere Sâ—uitet Sueton Dio in Veâ—pas That late great Antisabbatarian Prelate so much cast off by the rest after he had served their turns might well have cryed out with Cardinal Wolsey Surely if I had been as carefull to serve God as I was to please men I had not been at this passe How can a man that is a sinner Yes that he may by divine permission or at least he may do something like a miracle as the false prophets and Antichrist Suetonius tells us that Vespasian cured a blinde man by spetting upon his eyes And Dio testifieth that he healed another that had a weak and withered hand by treading upon it And yet Vospasian lived and died a Pagan This therefore was no convincing argument that the Jews here used Verse 17. He is a Prophet The more the Pharisees opposed the truth the more it appeared Veritas abscondi erubescit saith Tertullian The Reformation was much furthered in Germany by the Papists opposition Among many others two Kings wrote against Luther viz. Henry 8th of England and Ludovicus of Hungary This Kingly title being entred into the controversie made men more curious And as it happeneth in combats that the lookers on are ready to favour the weaker and to extoll his actions though they be but mean so here it stirred up a generall inclination toward Luther saith the Authour of the hist of the Councell of Trent Luther also in an epistle to the Electour of Saxony Hist of Count. of Trent fol. 16. triumpheth and derideth the foolish wisedome of the Papists in causing him and the other Protestant Princes Scultet Annal. 274. to rehearse the confession of their faith in a publike Assembly of the states of Germany and in sending copies thereof to all the Courts of Christendome for advice whereby the Gospel was more propagated and the cause of Christ more advanced then if many preachers had been sent out and licensed Verse 21. He is of age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Felix ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Etymologists ut felix sit homo floridae vegetae aetatis Becman corpore animo valens Verse 22. Put out of the Synagogue This was that kinde of excommunication they called Niddui or separation and such were by the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There were two other more heavy kinde of excommunications in use among the Jews Cherem and Samatha or Maranatha which they derive as low as from Henoch Jude 14. The Heathens also had their publike execrations not rashly to be used against any Est enim execratio res tristis mali ominis saith Plutarch who therefore highly commends that Athenian Priest that being commanded by the people to curse Alcibiades refused to do it That Archflamen of Rome the Pope is like a wasp Cum pontisex Rom. diras in â—u livic 12. Gall. Regem evomeret Atqui aâ—t rex Precandi ille non imprecandi causa pontisex constitutus est Firron lib. 2. de gest is Gallor no sooner angry but out comes a sting an excommunication which being once out
hearers that were not Latine to the end that they might understand him Verse 15. I am glad for your sakes If the confirmation and increase of faith in his be so great a joy to Christ how acceptable must it needs be unto him that we beleeve at first in his name we cannot do him a greater honour a more pleasing service None greater in the fathers house then the prodigall returned And what an high price did our Saviour set on the Centurions faith Verse 16. Let us also go that we may die with him A blunt speech and as some think over-bold He would die with Christ and so would Peter yet none so shamefully forsook him when it came to the proof as these two Thomas was to seek when he should have seen Christ risen he had not yet recovered his fright at our Saviours apprehension Verse 17. That he had lien in the grave four dayes So that he might seem now to come too late The faith of the two sisters must needs be much shaken to see their brother dead though Christ had sent them word he should not die Hold out faith and patience God will be seen in the mount he usually reserves his hand for a dead lift when our faith begins to flag and hang the wing when our strength is gone and we have given up all for lost Isa 33 10. Now will I arise saith the Lord now will I be exalted now will I lift up my selfe Verse 19. To comfort them A pious office and yet never thought of by the superstitious Papists amidst all those vain fopperies they prescribe to be done about the dead Only what the Ancients used for the comfort of the living is perverted by them to the pretended service and helpe of the dead Verse 20. But Mary sat still in the house So while faith sits at the centre love walkes the round Dicit Fides Parata sunt mihi omnia Dicit Spes Mihi ista servantur Dicit Charitas Ego curro adilla saith Bernard Verse 21. Lord if thou hadst been here c. Was she sure of that but why was he dead if Christ would not though he were not there We are all too much fastened to his bodily presence howbeit we never come to beleeve indeed till we are well perswaped of his omnipotency But how fitly may many a poor soul say to the bloody Non-resident Sir if thou hadst been here my brother childe husband had not been dead in his sinnes Verse 22. Whatsoever thou wilt aske This is our comfort that our Advocate is all in all with his Father and may have what he will of him What need we any other Master of requests then Christ If David will hear Joab for Absolom and Herod Acts 12. Blastus for the Tyrians what may not we hope Verse 23. Thy brother shall rise again Let this consideration comfort us in the decease of our dearest friends they are not lost but laid up with Christ who will bring them back with him at his coming 1 Thes 4. As the same divine hand that buried Moses that lockt up this treasure and kept the key of it brought it forth afterwards glorious in the transfiguration The body that was hid in the valley of Moab appeared again in the hill of Tabor Verse 24. In the Resurrection The Syriack hath it Benuchama in the Consolavion So the Resurrection was ever to the disconsolate beleevers of both Testaments Dan. 12 2. Heb. 11.35 In the Primitive Church when they repeated that Article of the Creed I beleeve the refurrection of the flesh they would point to their bodies and say etiam hujus carnis even of this very flesh Verse 25. He that beleeveth in me though c. O the wonderfull force of faith M. Sa. Ward Questionlesse saith a Reverend man justifying faith is not beneath miraculous in the sphere of its own activity and where it hath warrant of Gods word c. Verse 26. Beleevest thou this He saith not Understandest thou this For the mysteries of Christian religion saith Rupertus are much better understood by beleeving then beleeved by understanding Verse 27. I beleeve that thou art the Christ What could Peter say more Mat. 16.16 Damar is may be as dear to God as Dionysius Rupert Abbas Turciensis a woman of no note otherwise as an Areopagite Acts 17. ult Verse 28. Called Mary her sister secretly By Christs command and secretly belike she did it lest any should tell the Pharisees and Christ thereby be brought into danger Be wise as serpents Verse 29. She arose quickly Love is winged and a ready heart makes riddance of Gods worke His people art free-hearted Psal 110.3 Where the carcase is there will these Eagles be they scour to his presence as the Doves to the columbary they flee as the clouds c. Isa 60.8 Verse 30. Was not yet come into the town To eat and refresh himself after his long journey he would do his work first as Abrahams servant Gen. 24.33 Verse 31. She goeth unto the grave That Niobe-bike she might weep herself into a tomb-stone Ex corum more qui luct is sut irrname la querunt Cal. Such a hearthenish custome it seems they had amongst them and many other funerall rites forbidden by the Law But what should droppsy-men do eating salt-meats Verse 32. She fell down at his feet Giving him divine honour before all the Jews that were present So did not Martha that we read of Mary had been more diligent in hearing and meditation of the Word hence her greater love and respect to Christ Verse 33. When Jesus saw her weeping Tears are our most effectuall oratours to Christ when he was going to the Crosse he could finde time to look back and comfort the weeping women And was troubled So as for the present he could not utter himself Yet these passions in Christ were as clear water in a crystall glasse without sin Verse 35. Jesus wept He wept with those that weep And the same tondernesse he retains still toward his afflicted As Aaron Levit. 10. though he might not lament his two sonnes slain by Gods hand in the sanctuary yet he had still the bowels of a father within him So hath Christ now in the heavenly sanctuary he hath lost nothing by heaven Verse 37. Behold how he loved him What for shedding some few tears for him oh how then did he love us for whom he shed the dearest and warmest blood in all his heart Ama amorem illius c. saith Bernard Verse 37. And seme of them said Thus our Saviour is diversly interpreted and censured and so it is still with his Ministers When we see our Auditours before us little do we know with what hearts they are there not what use they will make of their pretended devotion Doeg may set his foot as far within the Tabernacle as David If some come to serve God others come to observe their teachers and pick quarrels yes
opportunity before time in laying hold upon eternall life but fools are semper victuri saith Seneca they will and they will c. so they trifle and by futuring fool away their own salvation Amend before the draw-bridge be taken up Charles King of Sicily and Jerusalem was called Cunctator not in the sense as Fabius because he stayed till opportunity came but because he stayed till opportunity was past Too many such Manna must be gathered in the morning or not at all and not kept till the morrow lest it stinke Verse 38. That the saying of the Prophet These unbeleevers were not such because the Prophet had so foretold it but the Prophet therefore foretold it because they should be such Like as Joseph's foretelling the famine was no cause of it but an antecedent only Verse 39. Therefore they could not beleeve c. They could not because they would not saith Theophylact out of Chrysostome who yet extolleth mans free-will more then is meet Contra Julian l. 1 c. 2. Pelagianis nondum litigantibus Patres securiùs loquebantur saith Augustine Verse 40. He hath hardned their hearts With a judiciary hardnesse This is in some respect worse then hell sith besides that God inflicts it as a punishment of former obstinacy it is one of the greatest sins and so far greater in evil then any of the greatest punishments Hence it was the saying of a Reverend man If I must be put to my choice I had rather be in hell with a sensible heart then live on earth with a reprobate minde Verse 41. When he saw his glory His train only in the Temple Isa 6.1 where the Seraphims are said to hide their faces with two wings as with a double scarfe before Gods glorious brightnes that would put out their eyes else they clap their wings on their faces as men do their hands when the lightning flasheth in their eyes Verse 42. Lest they should be put out c. which would redound to their disgrace and this these Ambitionists could not away with But what saith a Reverend Divine Bravely contemne all contumel es and contempts for thy conscience taking them as crowns and confirmations of thy conformity to Christ Verse 43. They loved the praise of men Which what is it else but a little stinking breath These have their reward Mercedem suam non Dei saith Hierome How much better Luther Haud velim Erasme gloriâ aut nomine vehi Epist ad Nic. Hansm Major est mihi timor in laudibus gaudium verò in maledictis blasphemijs Verse 44. Jesus cryed c. As being now to cry his last to them and is therefore so earnest in his contestation This was the Conclamatum est to this perverse people his farewell-Sermon c. Verse 45. Seeth him that sent me For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself Col 2. and in him the God-head dwelt bodily So that in all our addresses we must fix the eye of faith on the humane nature of Christ and there speak as to our God Like as where I see the body of a man there I know his soul is and therefore I speak to his understanding when and where I see his body because they are not severed so viewing by faith Christs manhood now glorified I there see and speak to the great God because I know he is there personally united Verse 46. I am come a light into the world Not by participation only as the Apostles were the lights of the world Mat. 5.14 but by nature How prodigiously blasphemous then was that Bishop in the Councell of Trent that in his oration there made Câ—r el. Episcop Bipontan applied this text to the Pope who at that time was Paul the third an odious hypocrite That whosoever beleeveth in me c. And he that this way seeks the Kingdom of Heaven must with him in Justin Stratonis servus ap Justin l. 18. look for this Sun of righteousnesse in the West that is dying upon the altar of his crosse so shall he become King of Heaven Verse 47. I judge him not viz. Whiles I am here on earth I sustain another person now that men may come apace to me without fear Some ancient hereticks hold that God in the time of the Law was a severe Judge and now in the dayes of the Gospel he was all made of mercy and mildnesse But the Apostle saith somewhat otherwise Heb. 2.1 2 3. God is more peremptory in his judgments now then ever of old Verse 48. The word that I have spoken If the word shall judge us then ought it much more to be a Judge of our doings now said Mr Philpot Martyr Therefore let it be president in all Assemblies and judgements saith Beza as in the Nicen Councell Constantine caused the Bible to be set upon a desk as Judge of all controversies Verse 49 50. For I have not spoke of my self The divine authority of Gospel-doctrine is here in the close of this last Sermon ad populum most gravely asserted by our Saviour as that which is undoubtedly authentick because it comes from the Father Sic de Virgilio Sâ—aliger dc Tacito Peacham e cujus ore nil temerè excidit David saith one sets the 119 Psalm as a Poem of commendation afore the book of God The sonne of David say I sets this Text as his Imprimatur his authoritative License at the end of the Gospel And as a friend once wrote to Aegidius Abbot of Norinberg concerning the 119 Psalm that they were verba vivenda non legenda words not to be read but lived the same may I affirme of our Saviours Sermons and I know that his commandement is life everlasting CHAP. XIII Verse 1. That he should depart c. THis definition of death Calv. in loc saith Calvin pertains to the whole body of the Church It is to the Saints no more then a passage to the Father an in-let to eternall life Whether a Christians death be a burnt-offering of Martyrdome or a peace-offering of a naturall death whether it be by a sudden change as Eliah's or a lingring sicknes as Elisha's it is a sweet sacrifice ascending to God as Manoah's Angel ascended in the smoke This made Basil when the Emperours Lieutenant threatned to kill him cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioa. Manlij loc com 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would he would for so should he soon send me to my heavenly father to whom I now live and to whom I desire to hasten This made Velcurio a Dutch Divine when he lay upon his death-bed break out into these sweet words Pater est amator Filius Redemptor Spiritus Sanctus Consolator quomodo itaque tristitiâ affici possim The Father loves me the Son redeemed me the holy Ghost comforts me how then can I be cast down at the approach of death And the like triumphant words were uttered to me by my late Reverend good friend and