desires it may be freed Bring my Soul c. First then it is well and rightly directed not to Saint or Angel or any creature else in Heaven or Earth but unto the Creator of Earth and Heaven and Angles and all to him that made them and is Lord over them He cried unto the Lord this cry Bring my Soul c. He well knew what Isâ—iaâ— wrote afterwards Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel knows us not And if they should know and understand him and his prayers yet he well understood they could not help him in his distress for which reason amongst an hundred and fifty Psalms which he wrote one hundred whereof at least are prayers you shall not find one directed to Cherub or Seraphim to Gabriel or Raphael Abraham or Moses or any other whatsoever but still his cry is unto the Lord He was sure he could hear his complaints and no less able than willing to relieve him when he complained It is he only that is Lord indeed of Death and Hell of sin and affliction too who alone hath the Keys of all these Prisons who opens and no Man shuts who shuts and none shall ever open that hath power and strenght in his holy arm to break the Gates of Brass and smite the bars of Iron asunder and so make way for the Captives that are fast bound in misery and iron either in the Iron chains of sin or the misery of distress and affliction To him therefore must this prayer come of all others Bring my soul out of prison that of all others can break it up at his pleasure And however in small and petty grievances we may cast about for humane succours and strain our wits for stratagems to relieve us neglecting the Lord in the mean time yet cùm dignus vindice nodus inciderit in great and overwhelming calamities especially if sudden too when neither head nor hand counsel or force can provide a remedy when it is once come to Davids case in this Psalm that we have no place to flee unto nor any Man that careth for our Souls tunc Deus intervenit then we run readily whether Papists or Protestants leave all they their Papois and Pictures we our projects and devices whatsoever and betake our selves only unto the Lord the Lord alone of deliverance and in Davids cafe approach with Davids petition deliver thou my soul out of prison So then the object was right and his prayer well directed And the manner was answerable devout and fervent he cried it out Deliver my soul out of prison And yet it is not likely he cried with his voice he now lay hid in a cave and it was not safe for him to make any loud cries saith Theodoret and Austin It was not therefore the outward sound of the lips but the inward affection of the heart that sent forth this the cry of this voice as those Authors observe for as St. Bernard hath it Desiderium vehemens clamor magnus a strong and earnest desire cries loud though the lips say nothing And this is the cry the cry of the heart that gives acceptance to our prayers and deliverance too from our Prisons The prayer of the Just availeth much if it be fervent saith St. James otherwise even the prayers of the Just if they be cold and of custom rather than Devotion and Piety may hurt but they profit nothing The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him faithfully saith David not formally if as those Jews we draw near only with our lips when our heart is far from him he may draw near unto us with plagues and miseries but his heart will be as far from our supplications and distresses when you stretch forth your hands I will hide mine eyes and though you make many prayers I will not hear you saith the Lord in Isa. i. The reason is there your hands are full of blood the reason to us may be your hearts bleed not Your Altar is without fire your prayer without heat how should I accept your sacrifices The very wooden Priests of Baal may be an instruction to us They called saith the Text on the name of their god from morning till noon and when they had no answer they cried loud nay they themselves with knives and lances till they prayed not only in tears but in blood that they might be heard and I would the children of light were as zealous in their generations though not so foolish But yet rather let us receive directions here at home from our own Prophet You saw how zealous he was in praise and he is as well affected in Prayer it was his darling this and delight of his Soul and it is hard for any Man ever to pray well that hath not learnt it of him No Man ever so frequent so fervent in this holy exercise I will pray saith he at Morning Noon and Night yea seven times a day will I pray and that instantly with the inwardst and deepest affections of his mind His bleeding heart may easily be discerned at his weeping eye which every night washt his Bed and watered his Couch with tears He mingled his bread with weeping nay made weeping his bread tears were his meat and drink Sure he had a strange fire within him that made him run over so fast or at least he was watered plentifully with the dew of Heaven that could minister such continual fountains to his eyes We why we go to prayers as if our Souls and tongues were strangers like the right hand and the left in the Gospel one seldom knows what the other doth as if we gave God an Alms and not prayed for our own necessity Our Bodies peradventure are in the Church but our affections abroad our lips utter prayers our hearts are on our penny and then no marvel if our eyes be dry when our devotions are so drousie But this is not it that can do it such faint and feeble prayers will break open no Prisons He must cry louder and deeper that will be heard in his distress when we can say with David è profundis out of the deep have I called on the Lord when the depth of our sins calls for the depth of our sorrow and both upon God for the depth of his mercies when Abyssus Abyssum shall call one upon another then with David we shall be sure to be heard and have our Souls brought out of Prison which is the matter of the Prayer our last point but hath many points in it Bring my Soul out of prison For it is not a Prayer only for one penn'd up in a Cave but whatsoever doth any way inclose and straiten the Soul as was said afore may not unfitly be termed the Souls Prison and for ought we know intended in this Scripture at least applyable to it And of these things that thus besiege and shut up the Soul though they are infinite almost in themselves yet they may be reducible to
deserve thy frequent cogitations and prayers and tears to consider and bewail it thoroughly crying out with him in the Gospel Lord I believe help my unbelief And never think it helped till thou findest it reforming thy affections and lusts not led and ruled by them till thou perceivest it working powerfully in all the thoughts of thy heart and actions of thy hands and the whole course of thy life For this is the true test and tryal and to these marks our Saviour himself sends thee to make full proof of it These are the signs saith he that shall follow them that believe In my name shall they cast out devils they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them and when they lay their hands on the sâ—â—k they shall be healed If those signs follow not thy Faith it is vain and thou art yet in thy sins But thou wilt say the time of Miracles is past and these days require them not Neither do I require them as then neither then and in those times were they common unto all Believers But the saying of our Saviour is universal and in the spiritual sence is ever true that these signs follow them and all them that unâ—â—ignedly believe For every Man naturally hath Devils enough within him to be thrown forth and unless thy Faith have power and virtue enough to dispossess and cast out the impure spirits of luxury and avarice of envy wrath malice and hypocrisie and the like foul Fiends wherewith our nature is full unless it be able to give thee a new tongue and a new language and cleansing thy mouth of all oaths and blasphemies of slanders and reproaches of deceit and scurrility can teach thee to speak the words of sobriety and sanctity and of truth every Man unto his Neighbour unless it can embolden thee to take up Serpents to receive and lovingly embrace thy mortal enemies and make treacle of them too drinking up all the deadly venome which their poysoned stomachs can disgorge against thee not only without hurt but even as thy physick that so lifting up pure and innocent hands upon them with prayers and benedictions though they revile and curse they may yet at length be won from it and cured of the malice wherewith they were sick and others also by thy example of their several diseases who seeing thy good works may glorify thy Father which is in Heaven Until I say thy Faith hath power to work these things unless our Saviours signs be false it is never current and effectual If you say these things are too high and hard for us we cannot attain unto them you do withal say and confess that you do not truly believe For true Faith is not dead or droâ—zy but powerful and operative working even wonders unto flesh and blood which St. Paul proves by a full cloud of witnesses in the 11. to the Hebâ— producing a whole Catalogue of the antient Wâ—â—thies who all through Faith aspiring to the promises were mighty and marvellous in their actions overthrowing Kingdoms working righteousness and doing such great things as we cannot consider without admiration And whence all this but because their Faith was stirring and active not lazy and languishing like ours which is only a Carkass of belief without any soul of life and vigor in it otherwise we should soon find in our selves what the same Author elsewhere affirms that nothing is available like Faith when it is working working by love which is ever impatient and restless till it attains what it desires Who then or what power is able to resist it not the power of the whole world this is it that overcometh the world even your faith John v. 3. no nor the power of any thing else credenti omnia sunt possibilia to him that believes all things are possible saith our Saviour And therefore if ever these things be impossible to thee if thy Faâ—th be so weak that it cannot dispossess thee of thy wicked spirits and work those spiritual miracles on thy Soul it is a greater miracle if ever it save thy Soul For true Faith purifies the heart and cleanseth the very reins and is assuredly dead if it do not work powerful effects within us If of unclean and covetous of malitious envious and deceitful persons it doth not make us pure and temperate mild and merciful upright and just in our actions it is unprofitable and shall never justify with God In whose account whatsoever you think none are taken for believers any farther than they are practisers of his word He that says he knows God and hateth his brother is a lyer saith St. John and sure he that says he believes in God and yet forsaketh not his sins lyes as loudly and doth but abuse his own Soul vainly dreaming of Faith when he hath but the shadow of it without truth or substance and will be found at last but in that poor Mans case who dreamt all night of treasure and in the morning when he awoke was not worth a farthing With that Church in the Revelation they have a name that they live and conceit they are rich whenas there it is said they are blind and poor and naked and miserable and shall so understand themselves in the end for however now we please our selves for a while with the vain opinion of our imaginary Faith yet when we have slept our sleep and dreamt our dreams in the morning when we shall all awake from our graves and come unto Judgment it will be found far otherwise than we conceived When the son of man cometh saith our Saviour himself shall he sind faith upon the earth surely yes such as ours for the most part is Faith enough such a speculative fancy that floats only in the brain never affecting the heart such a presumptuous confidence that can seize on mercies neglecting commands lay hold on the passion and death of a Saviour but neither obey his precepts nor imitate his life of such Faith we doubt the Christian world will be then and now is full as it can hold he shall every where find it But of that true and real Faith rooting out sinful affections of that high and mighty Faith inthroned in the very heart of the Soul and from thence commanding all the powers and faculties which it hath of that prevalent and victorious Faith conquering Sin and Satan and treading under foot the glory and vanity of the whole world of this solid and substantial Faith which only deserveth the name of Faith and he only looks for of this he shall then find but little in the world as indeed there is very little now Some scattered sparks of it only there are in a few of our bosoms but raked up in a great deal of embers and if we take not heed like enough to be stifled ere we are aware O preserve and collect them carefully blow upon them with thy
said in the loss of his friend is most true in her case Her bowels were pluckt from her and she could not but feel the wound and therefore if for nought else but her sorrow and afflictions sake she might well pray educ animam c. But other troubles she had besides and distractions in the world that often called her meditations from Heaven where they delighted wholly to converse especially in her later time wherein she so inured her Soul unto blessed contemplation as she had almost freed her self from this prison ere she was freed from the body that indeed was still in the world but her mind and affections were usually with her Maker So that those earthy cares which hang at the heels of other mens Souls like talents of lead hung at hers only but as a line that usually gave her leave to soar aloft only humane necessity that held the end of it had power now and then to draw her down to the grief and sorrow of her heart I am a witness of her complaint and of her tears too that any worldly occasions though never so necessary should trouble and interrupt her spiritual devotions and therefore I am sure in this regard it was her frequent prayer Bring my Soul out of prison And besides afflictions and cares sins she had too no question for what Soul is without them but yet so few and so far from habit as I think no man can easily tell what they were Infirmities and omissions it may be though for my part I know them not yet this I know that her goodness esteemed them as the greatest sins and bewailed them with sorrow enough to suffice one that had murdered his Father or betrayed his Country never ceasing to send forth her fervent supplications in this behalf unto the last gasp Her tongue her hands her heart all prayed this prayer her tongue as long as it could move and when that failed her hand spake and when both were gone yet questionless her heart cried this cry deliver my soul out of this prison the prison of sin But yet until the body be severed from the Soul the Soul can never utterly be severed either from sin or care or sorrow of affliction And a body she had it is now you see a carkase but sometimes was a goodly frame a well built and comeâ—y maniâ—on and even cut out of an antient Quarry but unto her whose thoughts were on another habitation above as it was in it self by reason of the corruption whereunto it was subject so she esteem'd it but a prison unto her Soul and that did at last trouble her peace with pains and delay her from those joys that are pure and know no mixture of sorrow No marvel therefore if in the desire of these she could make that her prayer which others tremble to think on deliverance from her Prison But yet there needed no earnest Prayer for this death comes fast enough on of it self without hastning it more concerns us to die well and with the comforts of God in our bosomes that may shield us from our spiritual enemies that are then busiest and guide and conduct us through the dark valley of death that is terrible in it self And therefore in this respect I rather conceive she that was so careful of her Soul could not but make it her humblest and heartiest prayer that when the time should come the Lord of his mercy would be pleased to lead it out of Prison So fit was it every way and in many regards so good a choice did she make of her prayer whilst she lived and the Lord from his holy habitation heard her cry and at last accomplisht and fulfilled it all in her death Though before he pleased to lay sorrows enough upon her yet now in the midst of them all his comforts did refresh her Soul Now he comes to it in his dearest loving kindness and leads it forth indeed with his choicest consolations and graces to make her a full recompence for all her former afflictions How doth it now rejoice others about her even in the depth of their sorrow to see her full of the Spirit and out of the abundance of it sometimes pouring down blessings on her children and childrens children and every one his several blessings like Jacob sometimes stirring up and exhorting to the fear and service of the Lord with holy Joshuâ— sometimes again solacing her self in the sweet peace of a good Conscience as blessed Samuel and lastly sometimes venting out her strong hope and stedfast confidence with St. Paul but in the words of Job I know that my Redeemer liveth and I shall see him with these eyes as she often repeated But what may be said enough of her fervent praying she was ever pious and frequent in this holy exercise through the whole course of her life thrice a day at the least at morning at noon and at night besides her times of publick prayer so five times a day she prayed and I doubt not but instantly too But now when her prison began to ruine and death to appear within ken how assiduous is she now it is not Davids seven nor twice seven times a day that can suffice but she plies it as if she had meant to fulfil the Apostles precept pray continually I told you but now her heart tongue and hand prayed to the last gasp and I think that gasp was a prayer too when her understanding failed and she could neither hear nor see others yet others might see and perceive that she prayed So perfectly had she taught her tongue to pray that when her senses were locked up it could run of it self And if such a Soul as this be not whose shall ever be led forth with comfort and peace But yet before her leading forth being remembred of it she willingly made confession of her Faith acknowledging all the Articles of her Belief and adhering only unto the blood of Christ Jesus for her hope in these she had lived and in them she would die but die in charity too forgiving and desiring to be forgiven of the whole world as at other times she did not refuse to ask it even of her own Servants when she had but uttered a word with a little more earnestness than ordinary And this solemn profession made that she might farther yet fulfil all rights she gladly makes her Son her Father and receives his absolution And not long after the God of all mercies on whom she continually called answered her gently and opening the Prison eduxit animam led forth her blessed Soul full of gracious comforts unto everlasting glory for with this all the other prisons are utterly dissolved No more afflictions now nor sin nor death for ever all tears are wiped from her eyes and sorrow from her heart all pain from her Body and sin from her Soul which now in the highest Heavens compassed about with the righteous sings the songs of praise and honour and
so the clashing of Truth and Errour indeed truth and truth errour and errour being silenced Righteousness and peace may meet and kiss each other the more freely And that sure will be found the right and best way too at the last For most assuredly when all contestations are terminated when all these Sophismes and subtilties of the Schools Subtilitates ultramundanae plusquam Chrysippeae Subtilties as he said beyond the Moon and such as Chrysippus never dreamt on shall vanish into air leave and forsake us utterly it will be righteousness only that shall do us good in the end this righteousness of God and our faithful endeavour in it that shall be able to give peace and comfort to the Soul in death and through death lead and light it into immortality and life No way in the world no Righteousness thither but this only the good way the way which the Prophet Samuel long since discovered I will shew you the good and the right way fear the Lord and serve him in truth and consider how great things he hath done for you A good and a right and therefore a right good way Not that every way which is good is presently right some may have the zeal of God but not according to knowledge but than undoubtedly it cannot be right unless it be good Whatsoever way it be if it cross or part with goodness it will in the same place certainly part with verity where it leaves rightousness we may be sure it leaves truth the true Doctrine being always as the Apostle testifies of it Doctrinâ— secundum pietatem a doctrine according unto piety I Tim. So Rectum est index sui obliqui That which is right doth both discover it self and other things that are crooked But be the doctrine never so right and righteous yet if the man be not so to what purpose is it Had he all truth and were endued with the knowledge of all mysteries yet if he detain that truth in unrighteousness it should profit him nothing but to augment that wrath of God which saith the Apostle is already revealed from Heaven against him When on the other side did he know nothing else nothing but Christ and him crucified as St. Paul desired to know no more yet walking faithfully in that path of Righteousness which he hath taught and â—rodden out before him his ignorance of other controvertible truths or suspension either I think would hurt him but little For Righteousness naturally doth lead into truth and unless men did first forsake it they could hardly run into dangerous errour For were not the Soul depraved with unrighteous lusts and the judgment of the mind perverted by corrupt affections it could not easily resist apparent truth or not discern manifest falshood But when the will gives it self over to be ruled by the appetite no marvel if the intellect naturally subject unto the willâ— be as easily wrapt in errour Ambition and Avarice and desire of sinning with sting of Conscience having once seized upon the Scribes and Pharisees of old what strange leaven were they soon brought to mingle with the bread of life And how mightily have the same affections since wrought in many more Hence as from the Trojan Horse so many impious but profitable deceits and devices have issued forth upon ignorant people on the one side dispensing with them for their own sins and dispensing to them other mens merits the imaginary treasure of the Church that the Church might be filled with real Hence what strange positions and unto Piety most dangerous have been formed on the other side establishing justification even in the loss of sanctification presumptuously cloathing themselves and their disciples with the righteousness of another even then when they are wilfully unrighteous in themselves And so not content upon repentance to be justified by imputation but have found out even then whilst they sin an imputative indeed a meer putative sanctification that by this means amidst the works of darkness in the paradise of conceit they may still remain Children of light But be not deceived saith St. John he that doth righteousness is righteous All which though spisse and palpable hallucinatious on both parts yet so long as the eye is not single as our Saviour speaks but blear'd with mists of profits and pleasures they may not easily be deceived less easily redressed in either They may term themselves as they please but so long as impure desires are seated in the Soul nothing shall be able to tie them to the purity of that truth which opposeth or withhold them from contending for such falshoods as sute with those desires Itching ears and lusts in the spirits neither will nor can endure sound Doctrine saith the Apostle But rather than fail will raise up unto themselves Teachers after their own lusts and at their own charge raise preserments for them too that so their hired tongues may tickle their ears when they itch smooth or smother their sins In this case who shall prevail or what shall give Men light if in favour of their evil ways they love darkness more than light It is only the search and study of Righteousness that can bring us into the way of truth and dissolve errours and their controversies by taking away their causes by removing those gross and earthly affections that like Foggs at noon darken and benight the judgment The pure and cleansed heart shall see God saith our Saviour see him perfectly hereafter see of him and his truth more clearly in the present as he doth elsewhere assure us If any man doth the will of my Father he shall know of my doctrine But besides the nature of Righteousness leading into truth the protection and providence divine seems specially to assist and direct it The very secrets of the Lord saith King David are upon them that fear him who himself having respect unto the Commandment became wiser than his Teachers But however secrets yet light enough sure shall ever spring up unto the righteous who have undoubted interest in the promise of that Comforter which unto the worlds end shall lead into all truth all that is necessary for the leading of them when this world ends into the glory of a better yea and teach them mildness in truths of less consequence for the present For did we follow righteousness and not pride and passion we should easily learn to enter on mysteries warily and to maintain our opinions soberly And when the strife is peradventure but about a crackt pane in the Window or a loose tyle in the Roof as he said well not to raise such stirs and outcryes as if the Foundation were presently endangered It is only the judgment which Righteousness hath cleared from perturbations that can discern the necessity of points and direct our prosecution accordingly instructing us not to call every problematical question by the name of necessary and infallible truth but agreeing in fundamentals either to leave superedifications to the
and dy the Soul of the Receiver which must be made partaker or shall be made guilty either partaker of the vertue or guilty of the shedding thereof to his endless destruction that receives it unworthily The guilt you have in the precedent Verse He shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. The destruction in the subsequent he eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body The exhortation in my Text lies between both that it might be the more vehemently enforced and every man might know how much it behoveth him diligently to examine himself before he eat of that bread and drink of that Cup But let a man examine c. Wherein you see there are two general parts first a preparation then an admission unto the blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of our Saviour The Admission in the latter part Let him eat and the preparation in the former but first let a man examine c. Of the holy Sacrament it self and an admission unto it hereafter at this time only of the preparation that should go before it Wherein you may consider 1. The Act wherein it consists Examination and then the object of that Act himself Let a man c. But we shall run both together and out of both draw these points which we will commend to your observation 1. Because the end of examination is to prepare our selves we will shew the necessity of this preparation 2. That we may know wherein to examine our selves we will consider the quality and extent of that preparation which is necessary for the making and constituting of a worthy Receiver 3. We will shew that the best means to attain unto this due preparationâ— or qualification is the study and knowledge of our selves and our own ways 4. Because the heart of man is deceitful above all things and we are all apt to deceive our selves in judging of our selves that it is not a superficial view but a strict examination that must give the just and true knowledge of our selves 5. And lastly we will make and practise this examination in those points we have found necessary that after it they who are approved in their own Consciences may chearfully approach unto the sacred Mysteries and eat of that bread and drink of that Cup to their endless comfort and others that are not so as I think few are may first reform themselves lest they eat and drink as the Apostle here threatens damnation to themselves So these five The necessity of preparation and what the prepation is that is so necessary That the best means to attain it is the knowledge of our selves and the best way to come to this knowledge examination which examination because it is the chief point we will strictly make in the last place that according to it we may either approve or reform our selves before we presume to come to the dreadful Sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord These 5. I say we shall at this time as God shall inable prosecute in their order but plainly as desirous to leave you rather better than more learned And first of the first the necessity of preparation But let a man examine c. The end of examination is preparation for to examine and not to prepare our selves were but to see our own foulness and refuse to cleanse it to inquire into our Lords will and neglect it when we have done and that will only make us worthy of more stripes And therefore he that commands the one doth in the same words of necessity injoin the other And indeed holy and Divine Mysteries as in reason they require an holy and sanctified preparation so in Scripture hath it ever been prescribed and exacted at their hands that shall draw near unto them yea the very Heathen Priests would not enter upon their Superstitious Ceremonies to their false Gods without first proclaiming a procul este profani all profane and unhallowed persons be ye far away And it was the use in the Primitive Church for the Minister as it is in St. Basils Liturgy or the Deacon his Assistant as Chrysostom hath it To cry with a loud voice before the Communion Sancta Sanctis holy things pertain unto holy people And for this cause it was that the Lord gave such strict command in Law that no uncircumcised person should presume to eat of the Paschal Lamb nor yet any circumcised neither under four days preparation and sanctification of themselves With what reverence then and awful regard should we draw near unto the true Passover in the blessed Sacrament which succeeds in the room of that other and exceeds it too no less than the substance doth the shadow than the body and blood of the Son of God doth the flesh and blood of a Lamb taken from the flock To shew this our Saviour himself at his last supper ariseth from the Table takes the Bason and the Towel washes and wipes his Disciples feet before he would institute his blessed Sacrament or suffer them to be Communicants at it Now by the feet in holy Scripture are meant the affections of the heart for as by the feet the body walks so by the affections the Soul moves to whatsoever it desires They are the springs and Fountains of all her vital operations and as the Fountains are such are the streams if those be troubled these will be foul if they be cleansed the other will run clear And therefore these feet these affections of the heart being once washed the meditations of the head the words of the mouth and the actions of the hand which are but rivers flowing from the abundance of the heart and the hearts affections cannot but partake of the same purity For which reason when Peter who at the first was not willing to be washt at all afterwards was desirous to have all washt his head and his hands as well as his feet our Saviour replies he that is washed needeth not to wash save his feet only for then he is clean every whit Joh. xiii 10. The feet then the affections of the Soul on whose cleanness doth depend the purity of the whole man and all his actions these are they that our Saviour by this act of his own doth instruct us carefully to wash and cleanse before they tread a step towards his holy Table How can they there expect to be partakers of him who himself in that place told Peter that without this washing he could have no part in him They frustrate the end and benefit of the holy Sacrament they prostitute the blessed mysteries themselves they dishonour both them and the Majesty of that God who is present at and in them who presume with unwasht feet unhallowed affections to enter upon the sacred Symbols sanctified with the peculiar presence of the precious body and blood of the Son of the everliving God No marvel therefore if such profaners of this blood are held as guilty of the
is it possible for this knowing faculty of our Souls to discover those sins and hypocrises which her self with all her wits seek to hide even from her self as well as from others And therefore unless we vindicate the intellect from this thraldom and deliver it from the power and tyranny of the will and that will 's corrupt affections that it may be a free Umpire and Judge within us unless laying aside all love of our selves and sins we deal truly and impartially with our selves Nay unless we be jealous of our own souls and take our selves as we well may for the greatest enemies of our selves and so deal with our hearts as we would do with felons and other offenders that is search and examine them with all strictness and diligence we shall never throughly discover the truth of our own bosoms For the heart is a sly and subtle malefactor he will not quickly confess he must be tript with many questions often taken in contradictions nay have evident proofs brought in against him or he will never acknowledge his error nothing but manifest truth can extort it from him Unless it be the rack on that indeed he will sometimes confess on the rack of some sudden Judgment on the rack of a tormenting Conscience you shall hear it then cry out before any body examines them like Judas I have sinned in betraying innocent blood and hang themselves when they have done and to sin worse in shedding their own But this of the rack is confess and be hang'd that which we seek by examination is confess and be forgiven If we confess our sins God is faithful to forgive them saith St. John though most men had as lieve be hang'd as confess and out of a stubborn Pride had rather excuse than acknowledge their crimes So losing the benefit of remission for want of seeing how much they deserved punishment which nothing but a true inquiry and a faithful examination can set before their eyes For want whereof it is that so many think well of themselves now and are as sure of heaven as if they had possession already who God knows shall never come there Only this benefit they gain by their false security that without any murmuring of Conscience they go merrily to Hell for as Solomon hath it there is a way that is right in a mans eyes but it leads down unto death In this way the Pharisee in the Gospel seemed to walk I thank God saith he I am not as other men no Adulterer no Covetous Extortioner no unjust person as that Publican but he gave Almes to the poor he fasted every week and payed Tithes of all that he had He was right indeed in his own eyes and why but because his eyes looked only outwards upon other wicked men whom he found himself unlike or if at any time inwards it was through the false spectacles of pride and self-love which can present him with nothing but seeming goodness and that multiplyed much more than it was But as he was right in his eyes had his eyes also been right in his head he might upon better examination have seen what our Saviour easily discerned the hypocrisy of his heart which did but cover it self with Sheeps cloathing being inwardly more ravenous than a wolf under pretence of religion and long prayers eating up the substance of poor women and devouring Widows houses and therefore he tells them Publicans and Sinners that is the most lewd and dissolute people should sooner enter into the Kingdom of Heaven For the foulness of their Crimes past all excuse leaves some hopes they may in time come to see and detest them whereas the other whose sins being deep and secret are not so easily discerned and his wounds though they fester and putrify at the bottom as being never searched to the depth yet because they are skinned over at the top with an outward formality of Religion he pleaseth himself with a conceit he is throughly cured and so of necessity nourisheth his death within him without ever looking after the Chirurgion These Pharisees are not yet all dead they still live and will do in many a bosome and in theirs especially that live most civilly and least think they are harbored there For who almost is there amongst us that is not right in his own eyes who is there that looking on the outward surface of his actions how justly he lives and free from aspersion how diligently he frequents the Church hears Sermons receives the Sacrament and the like doth not secretly in his heart thank God he is not like other men when if he look into it a little better he may peradventure find it for all this as empty of true piety unto God or charity unto his Brother as that false Pharisee was We do not yet know nor shall we till we undestand our selves better how apt we are to deceive our selves and flatter our Souls out of their salvation The very gross and palpable offender can shrowd you see his crimes under such fair titles as they seem to him little or none at all nay vertues sometimes instead of vices The Covetous man is but thrifty and the Drunkard a good fellow the quarrelling Ruffian a man of valour and the prodigal Spendal kind and freehearted How much more easily then shall the civil hypocrite slide away under the false pretences of a goodly outside Wherewith he is so industrious to cosen others that at length vâ—luing his goodness by their opinions whom he hath abused he cheaâ—s himself ere he is aware of his own Soul That therefore in so dangerous a case we may take care we do not deceive our hearts any longer but every man deal faithfully and truly with himself where it so highly concerns him Let us come at length to the examination it self For this hitherto is but to shew how necessary it is to examine we will now endeavour to make that examination and we will make it not in all things we might but only in that preparationâ— and those qualifications of it which erewhile we found necessarily required in a worthy Communicant that accordingly we may condemn and reform our selves before we approach unto the holy table Wherein because I desire to deal impartially with mine own Soul and yours I shall intreat your patience if I come as near your Consciences as may be which you cannot afford without finding the comfort of it in your selves for assuredly the more willing the heart is to be furrowed and plowed up the better ever it takes the immortal seed and the sooner and surer sends forth fruit to eternal life To enter on it then The qualifications of our preparation wherein we are to examine our selves I have shewn you to be four especially Knowledge Faith Repentance and Love But before we deal upon them it will not be amiss briefly to reflect on the examination and preparation of our selves and see and consider how much heretofore we have failed
meditations and ferventest prayers never cease till they break forth into a flame that may even scorch thy heart with compunction and penitent remorse and fire thy Soul with ardent and burning affections of love unto God and charity to thy Brother which are the rest of the qualifications wherewith you are to prepare your selves and wherein if we should proceed to search and continue a strict examination I am sure we should find them every way and every one as false as our Faith For Faith is the root and if that be corrupt these which are the branches cannot possibly be sound Such as our belief is such is our Love such ever our Repentance all these but Cakes of one piece of Dough and seasoned with the same leaven hypocrisy our repentance being but meer formality our love only verbal and our charity for the most part but pride or disguised malice Repentance sincere and true we may well say is fled with Astraea to Heaven or rather doubt whether there be any such matter Sure it is but a meer word that hath nothing to answer it Search thy self try others by their actions and see if thou canst almost any where find it A Man of an humble and a contrite heart broken and bruised with the sight and sense of his sins groaning and bleeding under the weight and burdens of his iniquities changed truly converted regenerate and reformed in the whole disposition of his Soul cast as it were in a new mould and become a new Man a new Creature such a one were worthy the seeing but our eyes may even look till they fail and no where behold him Behold indeed we may every where new things enough but not new men At these solemn feasts they can have all things new but their Souls these they can permit to go in their old cloaths yea to grow old in the same sins which they learnt and grew up with them in their youth The antient swearer we see is a swearer still receive he never so often The covetous man takes the Sacrament and goes away no less covetous than he was The malicious man can drink the blood of Christ which he shed for his enemies and yet continue in the same gall of bitterness as before lupi veniùnt lupi receduni Wolves they come though in Sheeps cloathing and Wolves they depart saith St. Austin For indeed they do but put on a seeming sanctity for the time and presently reassume again their old ways And do generally deal with their â—â—â—lice and the rest of their sins as men do with their beards shave them against a good time but leave the roots behind which afterwards shoot out the thicker And this is the repentance this is the love of which these times are full as the Moon but for that which is serious and sincere knock at your hearts and see if they do not sound as hollow as empty Casks And for the last our love and affection to Godâ— it is no less verbal than that unto our Brother is feigned or our repentance formal It is in every Mans mouth but no where else they draw near him with their lips but their heart is far from him that is wholly taken up with pleasure pride and profit the Trinity which the world worships that generally knows no other God but Mammon as it will appear if they search their thoughts for where our treasure is there are our cogitatlons But the due examination of these points will require a fuller discourse than this time will afford which is run out already and therefore we must refer it to another In the mean while beseeching God of his great goodness to give us clear eyes and understanding Spirits to discern and abhor the hypocrisie of the world and the deceitfulness of our own hearts that we be not counted amongst those formal Pharisees wherewith these times abound professing godliness but denying the power thereof in their actions which can have no part or communion with Christ but being inspired with a true and a living Faith rooted in love and built up in charity unfeigned we may be reckoned amongst those few which shall be held for worthy receivers of those pledges of his love in the holy mysteries now and be esteemed worthy to be received into the pleasures of his everlasting Kingdom hereafter whereunto the same God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe to bring us all c. Amen Laus Deo in aeternum A SERMON ON CHRISTMAS Day SERMON IX Upon LUK. ii 10 11. And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring you tydings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. IN the verses precedent the Nativity and birth of our Lord and Saviour is described in these here it is proved and publisht descried in them by an Evangelist preached and published in these by an Angel by an Angel unto Shepherds by an Angel the highest and most excellent workmanship of God unto Shepherds the meanest and sillyest people amongst all the fons of men So you see already the three general parts into which my Text doth branch it self The Preacher the Audience and the Sermon The Messenger They to whom the Message is sent and the Message it self The message or Sermon for so the Angels word imports Evangelizo vobis I preach or publish unto you is the birth of our Lord and Saviour The Audience Shepherds the messenger or publisher of it an Angel These are the main or principal parts Two other there are which are accessary for his message is high and of great importance his Audience mean and fearful affrighted with his presence the one deserves a preface of honour the other a word of comfort first therefore he chears up the Shepherds and magnifies his message before he will deliver it he chears up them Fear not and magnifies that behold I bring you tydings of great joy which shall be to all people So have you these Five 1. A. Message 2. And that Message magnified 3. An Auditory 4. And that Auditory comforted 5. Both performed by an Angel And the Angel said unto them c. there is the Preacher and his audience Fear not c. there is the Audience and their comfort Behold I bring c. there is the extolling of the Message For unto you is born this day there is the message it self And this message again hath divers parts some more substantial as the Birth it self and the Titles and Attributes of the person born Three in Number a Saviour Christ the Lord. Others it hath that are Circumstantial as the time when hodie to day the place where in the City of David and the persons for whom For you vobis for unto you c. These are the parts of the message and the Preface that magnifies it hath no fewer particulars 1. It is News 2. News of joy 3. Of great
glory unto him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb for evermore Who now shall mourn who shall weep for such a Soul none can sorrow for her unless they envy her happiness foelix illa anima imitationem desiderat nâ—n planctum that blessed Soul is no subject of grief but a pattern for imitation And therefore if any weep in her death they must be tears of joy not of sorrow and if they be of sorrow they must not be for her but for our selves and our own loss This indeed is great and invaluable and when you think on it weep a Gods name Quis natum in funere matris flere vetat he were barbarous that would forbid it you yet you shall not have all to your selves we 'll bear you company for she was a publick loss Such a Wife such a Mother such a Friend such a Mistriss such a Neighbour such and so good a Woman and so great an example of Virtue cannot should not go to the grave with dry eyes in whose loss so many have interest I would praise her if I could to make you weep more but she is beyond my commendations A Woman of her Wisdom and Judgment of her Wit and discourse so free and liberal and yet so prudent and provident withal for she was so in her self though misfortunes befel her so sweet so kind so mild so loving and respective to all and withal so charitable to the poor a Chirurgeon to the hurt and a Physician to the sick she eat not her morsels alone and their loins were warmed with her wooll as Job speaks such a Woman so well born and bred and of such a strain beyond ordinary as she seemed with the blood to inherit too the virtues of all her Ancestors so upright and clear and innocent in her whole course that the eye of envy nay were all the malice of the world infused into one eye it could not find any just stain to fasten on her such a one so every way compleat surely no Man unless he had her own or the wit and tongue of an Angel can sufficiently commend neither can we if we regard our own loss sufficiently bewail But the truth is she is not lost non amissa sed praemissa sent before she is lost she is not And therefore you whom it most concerns though you mourn mourn not as those without hope It is but a short separation and the time will come when you shall see her again though not with these earthly affections Pay the due tribute unto nature but then shut up the sluces for graces sake And the God of all grace give you comfort the Holy Ghost the Comforter himself replenish your heart with consolations And the blood of Jesus Christ wash us all from all our sins and strengthen us with the power of his might that we may so live whilst we remain here in this Prison of the Body that when it shall be dissolved we may obtain mercy from him to lead forth our Souls To lead them with his grace and then as he hath done to this blessed Saint receive them unto glory There with her and all the company of righteous spirits that are gone before us to sing praise and honour unto his holy name for evermore To this God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost c. Laus Deo in aeternum THE Second FUNERAL SERMON FOR THE DAUGHTER SERMON XIII Upon ROM viii 10. And if Christ be in you the Body is dead because of Sin but the Spirit is life because of Righteousness MAN of all Gods Creatures is the strangest compounded the most marvellous mixture that ever was a very fardel of contrarieties wonderfully united and wrapt up in one bundle Heaven and Earth light and darkness Christ and Belial may seem to dwell together and man the house of their habitation what can be more directly opposite than Flesh and Spirit Life and Death Sin and Righteousness and lo all of them united here in one verse nay in one man For the Text is but the Anatomy of man and must therefore be composed of and divided into the same parts man himself is As his body is composed of contrary Elements heat and cold fire and water So his person is composed of contrary Natures Corporal and Spiritual Body and Soul His Natures again of contrary qualities Life and Death the Body is dead the Soul lives and lastly these qualities issuing from contrary causes sin and righteousness death from sin and life from righteousness The Body c. And though the sin by which the body dies is our own yet that we may know that the righteousness whereby the Soul lives is not of our selves but received from our Saviour there is a caution given in the entrance of the verse If Christ be in you So then here are three couples a Body and a Soul Sin and Righteousness Life and Death The body with her two attendants sin and death the Soul with her two endowments righteousness and life The former is universal and common to all the Sons of Adam according to the flesh the latter particular and proper only to the Children of the second Adam begotten by the Spirit If Christ c. I begin with the first part which is a meditation of death and our chief Christian comforts against death But yet before the Apostle brings in his consolations he premises a conditon If Christ be in you To teach us that the comforts of God belong not indifferently to all men He that is a stranger from Christ hath nothing to do with them What hast thou to do to take my Covenant into thy mouth so long as thou hatest to be reformed saith God in the Psalm I. When our Saviour commanded his Disciples to proclaim peace unto every house they came to he foretold them it should rest only on the Sons of peace He forbad them in like manner to give those things which were holy unto doggs or to cast pearls before Swine This stands a perpetual Law to all his messengers that they presume not to proclaim peace to the impenitent and unbelieving but as Jehu said unto Jehoram's horsman what hast thou to do with peace so are we to tell the wicked who walk on still in their sins that they have nothing to do with the peace or promises or priviledges of the Gospel If Christ be in you c. Secondly if we compare the verse immediately precedent or that which is subsequent with this between both you shall easily perceive after what manner Christ dwells in his Children Sometimes we are said to be in Christ and sometimes Christ is said again to be in us and both in effect come to one we are in Christ by faith and Christ is in us by his Spirit For so it follows If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies It is
memorable and exemplary couple I may well join them in my speech they were so many ways joined in themselves They were joined in affinity and alliance they were joined in affection and love they were joined in the quality and nature of their Disease and would not be severed till death did it in the time of their sickness they were joined in the comforts of death and now they are joined in the glory of an everlasting life But the formers rites are passed yet they might not be now passed over I cannot but give her a touch she desired it from me and I am sure she deserved it For the latter here now in your sight I shall not speak much because I can hardly speak enough with her former times I have had no acquaintance and therefore can make no relation of it only I assure my self that she who was so patient and penitent in her sickness so devout and cheerful in her death could not but be well and religiously disposed in the course of her life But for the latter part of her days them I have known and in them been an eye-witness of the expression of more goodness than I have often seen or from a Woman of her quality could have expected The things of note which I especially observed in her and shall commend unto you are principally these her willingness to entertain death and her deadness unto the world and worldly affairs her joy in spiritual discourses and her frequency and fervency in devout prayer For the first if we consider the impediments it was much she should do it so cheerfully she was but young and entring upon the prime of her years She had small and tender Infants of her own that went near her she was well bestowed where she found both youth and love and means too wanted nothing nor was likely to want haec sunt quae faciunt homines invitos mori and these are the things that make Men unwilling to die could the Philosopher say Yet notwithstanding all these she gently submitted her self unto it she resolutely went forth to meet it and lest he should miss her she call'd it unto her Come gentle death and even held forth her arms to receive and embrace it For the second I was with her often yet never heard a word of worldly matter or secular affair so much as fall from her tongue Her heart was bent on Heaven which made it delight so much in heavenly contemplations they came down upon her as the Scripture speaks like rain into a fleece of wooll and as a shower upon a thirsty land With what an open and greedy ear did she suck in celestial comforts which she shortly after vented out again in devout supplications wherein the mercy of the Lord did not forsake her even to the last gasp And then at last when her hands forsook her tongue and her tongue had almost forsaken her heart yet her heart did still adhere unto God in uncessant prayer and therefore she intreated others to hold her fainting hands that her tongue failing they at least might testify that her Soul did commune with her Maker It calls to mind the story of Moses having Aaron and Hur to support his arms for whilst he prayed Amalek fled and Joshua conquered Sure I am whilst she did in like manner the true Joshua conquered all the spiritual Amalekites and enemies of her Soul who only could batter down the prison of her body that her spirit being loose and at liberty might freely clear the air and mount up to the desired place of everlasting rest where she now is and where may she still in peace remain till another day shall invest both Body and Soul with unspeakable glory Who can now mourn who can weep for such a Soul if ye do they must be tears of joy not of sorrow at least they must be for your selves not for her You may bewail your own loss you cannot grieve at her death unless you envy her happiness foelix iss a anima imitationem desiderat non planctum that happy Soul is no subject of sorrow but a pattern of imitation And therefore I now leave the dead and conclude to the living that their Spirits may live in death as hers hath shown them the example For this should be the chief endeavour this should be the principal care of a Christian in his whole life that when his life shall end yet the life of his Soul may not end with the death of his body It little matters how it fares with us in the rest of our time so it go well with us here when if wrath overtake us it shall eleave unto us for ever but if peace end our days our days afterwards of peace shall never end For as the tree falleth there it shall lie Wretched Men that can willingly think of any thing save this that infinitely concerns them above all things else that can wish with Balaam let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his but never endeavour themselves in the works of righteousness whereby they may procure it as if they might be like them in their death whom they refused to imitate in their actions But they may wish like Solomons fool till their tongue cleave to their gums for so long as they live the life of Balaam loving the wages of iniquity they shall never die the death of the righteous nor have their last end like his whom they are nothing like in conversation No if the Soul then live it must be as my Text hath it for righteousness sake Set thy self therefore to it seriously and speedily Wise Princes make many days preparation for a field that must be fought in one Beloved let us be wise too and lay up something every day for the last when we shall wrestle with death If we win that skirmish we have enough but where or when or how soon we shall be called to the conflict who can tell be not secure therefore and presume not on the last hour it may come suddenly upon thee flatter not thy self and thy sins and frame not delay unto thine own Soul Send not Religion before thee unto thine old age whither peradventure thou shalt never come or else come hardned through the deceitfulness of sin Give not thy youth and strength unto Satan and then when thou art low drawn and upon the lees think to present God with the dregs of thy life What a folly were it for thee to adventure thy surest thy everlasting weal or wo making or marring on so sandy and sinking a foundation how much better were it for thee to remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth before the evil day come and thou say I have no delight herein that thy Creator may not forget thee in thine old age when strength faileth and Man returneth to his long home Sure in these great water-floods we shall hardly come nigh him and therefore let
sins now or the Kingdom of Heaven hereafter thou art more than faithful even foolishly presumptuous yet in the promises which pertain unto this life we are all for the most part though Christians in profession yet in truth and practice gross and palpable Infidels Thou beginnest thy Creed with I believe in God the Father Almighty wherein thou dost acknowledge him thy Father and therefore willing Almighty and therefore able to relieve and succour thee in all thy wants and distresses but from the teeth outwards for let want or distress approach though but afar off how art thou presently perplexed what anxious and heart-breaking care doth instantly vex and discâ—ciate thy very Soul how are thy thoughts lost and distracted this way and that and every way searching and bending thy will upon all humane helps and succours that may be imagined with such fear and distrust as if there were no God in Heaven or providence of his upon earth Tell him how of his Father Almighty that knows whereof he shall need and will not fail if he first seek his kingdom and the righteousness thereof to add and supply all other things that are necessary and you shall give him as much comfort as if you had cast water in his Shooes He is clear out of his belief now and Pater noster too when if you shew him the plain Text in Mat. Take no care that is no anxious and solicitous care what you shall eat or wherewith you shall be cloathed or in David do good and verily thou shalt be fed he will sooner laugh at their promises than believe them Nay which is strange a Man whom God hath well blest that hath 〈◊〉 want within ken nor likely to have any yet scrapes and scratches on every side as if poverty were coming on him like an armed Man as Solomon speaks who if urged to relieve the necessities of his poor Brother without a small piece of Silver though the King intreat and the King of Heaven command and his Ministers perswade yet it may not be wrâ—ng from him He can presently cast doubts who knows whether himself or his Children may not live to want Shew him the promises of God in the Scripture assuring the contrary that it shall be a means to prosper and multiply the rest tell him that of the Wiseman Cast thy bread upon the waters and after many days thou shalt find it or that of another be that giveth to the poor lendeth unto the Lord yet nothing can move him which manifestly argues either he doth not believe God when he says it or at least not believe he is a good paymaster yet this Man thinks he hath Faith nay many of them are so far from relieving as they can find in their hearts to oppress and grind those that are poor enough already and as if they conceived that honest courses and Gods blessing on them were too weak means to provide sufficiently for themselves and Children they can shift and shark project and undermine screw themselves into testaments and deceive trusts buy over their Brothers head that imploys them for himself and use all their wits and fraudulent devices to compass an estate and root their possession in it for ever madly supposing to establish their Generations by those ways for which God never fails as he every where threatens to weed them or their posterity out of the Inheritance so purchased it being his glory ever to destroy the wisdom of the wise and to ruine the house built in fraud or on the ruines of others For the hope of the wicked saith Job is as the spiders web cunningly spun out with a great deal of labour all night and suddenly swept away in the morning What Faith then is there in this or indeed what is it else but a wild branch of meer Gentilism and infidelity if not absolute Atheism For did he truly believe God or his comminations it were not possible one that loves his Children so well could run so direct a course to destroy them But assuredly he doth not believe and whatsoever we pretend yet for the most part we secretly say in our hearts with that Fool in the Psalm if not there is no God yet at least there is no knowledge in the most high or else with those wicked ones in Job tush God careth not circa cardines coeli perambulat his walk is about the hinges of Heaven he doth not trouble himself to behold or regard the things upon Earth Do not suppose I wrong you search your own Consciences truly and I believe the best of you all will find even this infidelity lurking in them For wert thou absolutely assured in thy Soul of the omniscience and omnipresence of the Lord didst thou faithfully believe that he is every where and beholdeth every action and operation of thine though never so secret that he is about thy path and about thy bed and spyeth out all thy wayes and seeth thy thoughts more clearly than thou thy self how were it possible for thee in his presence and under those eyes so often and deeply to dissemble with thy Brother with thine own heart and with God himself Couldst thou imagine a window in thy bosome and thy Neighbour permitted now and then when thou dreamest not of it to look in upon thy impure and fraudulent thoughts and see how thy cogitations are busied how would thy Soul shame and blush to be taken tardy in such base and unworthy imployments which yet thou canst freely exercise and continue without any trouble or interruption at all though God himself and his pure eyes behold them whereunto thy breast is transparent as glass and more open than the air what doth this shew but that thou believest it not for to believe his presence truly and so much contemn it is meerly impossible It is beyond imagination to conceive were thy Faith firm in this point how it possibly can be that the sight of God and his holy Angels should not deter thee not only from thinking but from acting those secret works of darkness which the coming in but of a little child can utterly interrupt and hinder Of necessity thou must be driven to confess either that thy Faith is asleep and thou dost not believe it or thy reverence utterly dead that thou esteemest of a child more than thy Maker Assuredly could we fortify our perswasions but in this one Article of Faith and strongly apprehend the truth of it nothing could be of greater power to purge our hearts and our hands too from all evil and uncleanness Thus if thou carefully examine thy faith by the effects and judge of it as thou shouldst by thine actions for the tree is known by her fruit thou wilt easily find notwithstanding thy former conceipt of thy self how full of infidelity thy false heart is and how little thou believest either threats or precepts or promises or providence or any thing else sincerely and as thou shouldest Well therefore it would