the heart to offend still a LORD so charitable so admirable How is it that His so divine beneficence doth not transport our spirits doth not win to His service all the thoughts and affections and motions that we have Christians all the acknowledgement He demands of you for so much good done you is but that you live holy Refuse Him not so just and so reasonable a due He hath made you to partake of the inheritance of Saints Be not ye so ingrateful as to mix with the profane Be ye separate from them and have no communion with the impurity and ordure of their vices Despise not as Esau the title you have to so precious an inheritance Let it be dearer to you than all the perishing provisions and delights of the earth none of which is better than that pittiful pottage of Lentils for which the profane man did truck away His birth-right This inheritance is in light Live then as children of light Let your conversation be all radiant with those divine and heavenly vertues which the Gospel of your Saviour recommendeth unto you The darkness is now passed The Sun of righteousness is at his full height Let that infamous power of darkness under which you sometime groaned have no more authority over you Open all your understanding that you may perceive the glory of the LORD and suffer no more abuse by the illusions of errour Labour to encrease your light being still at the Scriptures of GOD the living spring of all spiritual illumination the inexhaustible treasure of saving knowledge But let this light shine also in your manners For it 's to no purpose to renounce the darkness of superstition if you remain in that of vice 1 Joh. 2.11 He that hateth his Brother saith St. John is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth for darkness hath blinded his eyes Remember you are no longer in the School of Satan the Prince of darkness You are in the Kingdom of the Son of GOD. Have thoughts and do actions worthy of so glorious a condition Let it purifie your life of all stench and sordidness Let it elevate your hearts above mortal things and set them in Heaven the residence of this Divine royalty But Dear Brethren as this Text doth oblige us to a singular studious pursuit of Sanctification so openeth it to us a living source of consolation and joy For if we knew our blessings and that wonderful grace which the Father hath shewed us what were there more happy than we We have part in the heritage of Saints The kingdom of the beloved Son of GOD hath been given us O great and magnificent portion Let the world boast of and adore its gold its honours and its delights as much as it listeth we have that better part which alone is sufficient to make us eternally happy though we should be deprived of all the rest Christian if the world bereave you of what you have in its fee and jurisdiction consider it cannot take from you the inheritance of Saints If it deny you its Leeks and Onions and Flesh-pots it shall not be able to debarr you from that divine light which shineth on you and which in spight of all its attempts shall conduct you to your bliss-ful Canaan If it take from you its honours if it drive you even out of its earth it shall not be able to wrest the Kingdom of the Son of GOD from you nor sequester that dignity and glory which you possess in it This is not a corruptible Kingdom it 's not like those of the earth that are subject to a thousand and a thousand disgraces miseries and mutations It 's an immortal Kingdom firmer than the Heavens so abundant in glory and in goodness that it changeth all those who have part in it into Kings and Priests Faithful Brethren content we our selves with so advantageous a portion Let us enjoy it for the present by a lively and an establisht hope sweetly bearing the incommodities of this small journey we take to get to it and patiently expect that blessed day on which our Heavenly Father having finished the work of His grace will raise us all up into His glory and put on our heads the crownes of life and immortality which he hath promised us in the eternal Communion of His well-beloved Son To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit the true and only GOD blessed for ever be all honour and praise to Ages of Ages Amen THE VI. SERMON COL I. Ver. XIV Vers XIV In whom we have redemption by His blood to wit the remission of sins DEar Brethren As the true and thorough knowledge of that great Redeemer whose remembrance we are at this day to celebrate is the only foundation of the piety and salvation of men in like manner on the contrary ignorance of His person of His offices and of His benefits is the source of those errors and abuses which have corrupted religion and consequently of that unhappiness into which the unbelieving the profane the superstitious and the heretical do fall We may say to all these people Joh. 4.10 as our LORD sometime did to the woman of Samaria If you knew who He is that speaks to you in our Gospel you would ask of Him the refreshment and consolation of your souls and He would give you living water 1 Cor. 2.8 springing up to everlasting life And as St. Paul said of the ancient Jews that if they had known the wisdom of GOD they would never have crucified the LORD of glory So may we say to all the enemies of Godliness in general that if they knew JESUS the Wisdom and Word of the Father they would not wrong either His truth or those that make profession of it JESUS rightly and throughly known believed and apprehended is enough to expell errour doubt superstition vice and death from our hearts and to establish truth peace joy holiness and salvation in them Accordingly you see that Paul the master of the whole world the Minister of truth the teacher of life and happiness for the executing of this high commission and opening the eyes of His gentiles and bringing them from the power of Satan unto GOD protesteth he determined to know nothing among them but JESUS CHRIST Crucified He findeth in this rich and inexhaustible subject all that was necessary for him to convert Infidels to confirm believers to comfort the afflicted to reduce the strayed and recover such as had erred He finds in it wherewith to confute the Philosophy of the Pagans wherewith to abase the presumption of the Jews wherewith to instruct the ignorant and to convince the intelligent It 's with the sole science of this JESUS that He plucketh men off from idolatry and sets them free from the slavery of vice It 's with the same again that he reformeth the abuses and cureth the wounds which errour hath caused in the Church It is his weapon against enemies without
doth whatsoever He will The Son hath all power in Heaven and in Earth and there is nothing but is facile to Him The Father is super-eminently good hating evil and loving rectitude and justice The Son is the Saint of Saints entirely separate from sinners goodness and justice it self The Father is merciful and inclined to pity The Son is the bottom of His compassions The Father maketh His Sun to shine on and His Rain to bedew even the men that blaspheme Him The Son dyed for His enemies and prayed for those that crucified Him In short the Father hath not any other essential quality but the Son hath it likewise and in the same measure with the Father I come to His Works Certainly the Son Himself informeth us how perfectly He represents the Father in this respect Joh. 5.19 saying in general that what thing soever the Father doth the same doth the Son likewise The Father created the Universe The Son founded the Earth Heb. 1.10 Joh. 1.3 and the Heavens are the work of His hands All things were made by Him and without Him nothing was made of all that was made The Father conserveth the world by His providence the Son sustaineth all things by His mighty word The Father hath set up the Princes and Magistrates who govern mankind Prov. 8.15 and there is no power but of Him It 's by the Son that Kings Reign and Princes decree justice The Father saved and redeemed the Church the Son is our righteousness our wisdom and our redemption The Father loved us and delivered up His Son to death for us the Son gave Himself a ransome for our sins If the Father raised up the Son the Son also raised again His own Temple when the fury of the Jews had beaten it down If the Father quicken the dead the Son quickneth them likewise and the last judgment the punishing of the wicked in Hell the glory of the Faithful in Heaven and all that refers to it is the work both of the one and the other The Father hath elected us so likewise hath the Son Joh. 13.18 I know saith He whom I have chosen It is the same in all the other actions and operations of the divine nature If you read the Scriptures exactly you shall not see any of them attributed to the Father but is likewise attributed to the Son And as for that right and soveraign authority which accreweth unto GOD over all things from these great and high qualities and operations this glory shineth in the person of the Son as it doth in the person of the Father If the Father be Judge of the earth King of ages and Monarch of the world the Son is in like manner the LORD of glory the head of the Armies of Heaven the Prince of men and Angels the Judge of all flesh If the Name of the Father be great and dreadful that of the Son is above every name which is named in this world or in the world to come If all creatures both superiour intermedial and inferiour do owe a soveraign homage to the Father and cast down themselves before Him adoring His Majesty with the profoundest respect they are capable of so it is clear that before JESUS every knee doth bow both of things in Heaven and things on earth and things under the Earth the Father Himself proclaiming when He bringeth Him into the world Let all the Angels of GOD worship Him So you see Dear Brethren that the LORD JESUS is truly the image of His Father since He hath and discovereth perfectly in Himself the Nature the Properties and the Works of the Father An admirable a singular and a truly Divine image which possesseth the whole form of its original without any variation and faithfully and naturally representeth all the features of it in their true and just greatness measure and nature I confess there are among men sons that resemble in some sort their Fathers but there are none in whom such resemblance is comparable with that of the Son of GOD to His Eternal Father If our Sons represent our nature and manners it is always with some difference which a piercing and a clear-sighted eye may easily observe and after all there are none that in their life do express the lives of their fathers totally entire with every one of their actions and operations Whereas the Son of GOD is a most complete image both of the nature and the life of His Father if we may speak in this manner of these mysteries all the works of the one whether small or great being also the works of the other This sacred Verity taught here by the Apostle overthroweth two heresies which though contrary and opposite to one another did sometime equally trouble the Church of GOD. I mean that of the Sabellians and that of the Arians The former confounded the Son with the Father the latter rent them on sunder Those took from the Son His person these His nature For the Sabellians did dogmatize that the Father and the Son were but one and the self-same person who according to the divers wayes and ends of his manifestations did assume sometimes the name of Father sometimes the name of Son So as in their account it is the Father who suffered on the Cross and it 's the Son who sent Him that suffered St. Paul breaketh their errour by saying that JESVS CHRIST is the image of the Father For no one is the image of himself and how great and exact soever the image's resemblance of its original be it 's of necessity that it be another subsistence than its original A child hath the same nature with the Father whose image it is said to be but nevertheless the person of the Father is one and that of the child another Since then the Apostle declareth here and elsewhere that JESVS CHRIST is the image of GOD that is to say of the Father we must either desert His doctrine or acknowledge that JESUS CHRIST is another person than the Father But if you distinguish their persons it doth not follow that you must divide their nature as did the Arians who made it their position that the nature of the Father is another than that of the Son the one increated and infinite the other created and finite These are two shelves which we must equally avoid steering our course straight in the midst shunning on one side the confusion of Sabellius and on the other the division of Arius JESVS CHRIST saith the Apostle is the image of GOD His Father He could not be the image of Him if He were one same person with Him He could not be His Perfect image if He had a nature differing from the nature of the Father How should He represent His eternity if He had been created in time How His immensity if He had a limited essence How His Majesty and glory if He were but a creature Let us then hold fast this truth full and entire
elected and imploy'd to compass it or the love of the Son who for our welfare spared not his own blood Sinner approach the Throne of GOD with boldness He is no longer environed with flames and Lightning flashes He is full of grace and clemency Fear not His indignation or His severity Peace is made Your Rebellions are expiated your sins are purged GOD requires nothing of you but Faith and Repentance His Justice is contented and doubt not but the satisfaction it hath received is sufficient He that made it for you is the Well-beloved of the Father the Lord of glory in whom all fulness dwelleth You will find abundantly in Him all the good things that are necessary for your felicity the light of wisdom to dissipate your darkness and illuminate your understandings unto a perfect knowledge of Divine things a righteousness most compleat and of proof every way to justifie and exempt you from the Curse of the Law and to open the entrance of the Tribunal of GOD to you A most efficacious Sanctification to mortifie the lusts of your flesh and fill you with Charity Honesty and Purity And a most plentiful Redemption to deliver you from death and from all the evils that have connexion with it and put you in Eternal possession of Immortality Make your advantage of this Divine Well of Life Give no ear to them that call you any otherwhere You are happy enough if you possess the LORD JESUS He is the only Prince of Salvation the Way the Truth and the Life And as for Creatures whether Earthly or Heavenly fear them not If you are JESUS CHRIST's they shall do you no evil He hath reconcil'd them all to you He hath taken out of them all the will and all the power they had to hurt you They desire your good and secretly favour you owning you for their Friends and Allies Heaven looks down on you in peace and calleth you up into its holy place The Angels bless you and direct all your ways This Earth will hold you no longer than your common LORD shall judge expedient for His own glory and your salvation But if this general peace which you have now with GOD and the World do rejoyce you the means by which it was procured should no less ravish you even that blood of CHRIST shed out upon a Cross the grand Miracle of GOD the price of your Liberty the Salvation and the Glory of the Universe What and how ardent was that love which gave so rich and so admirable a Ransom for you What will He deny you who hath not kept back His own blood from you who to make you happy abhorred not a Cross the most infamous of all punishments who to raise you up to the most eminent Contentments underwent the extremest Dolours the lowest disgrace to bring you unto highest glory the Malidiction of GOD to communicate to you His Benediction O over-happy Christians if you could discern your blisses Where is the anguish of Spirit or the trouble of Conscience or the loss or the suffering or the reproach which the meditation of this love should not consolate Who shall condemn us since the Son of GOD dyed to merit our Absolution Who shall accuse us since His Blood and His Cross defend us Who shall take from us the Benevolence of the Father since He hath obtain'd it for us and conserves it towards us Who shall pluck out of our hands a life He hath given us a Salvation that He hath so dearly bought But dear Brethren these considerations which open to us so rich a Source of Consolation oblige us also to a singular Sanctification For how great will be the hardness of our hearts if these great evidences which GOD hath given us of His love do not affect us if they kindle not in us an ardent affection towards a GOD who hath so loved us a sacred and inviolable respect towards a Redeemer who hath done so much for us He hath reconciled and reunited all things in Him both Terrestrial and Celestial Let us live then henceforth in such sort as may answer this happy alliance Let us no more afflict heaven no more scandalize the earth by the impurity of our deportments Let us labour in conjunction with all the Creatures for the service and to glory of our common LORD Imitate we the purity the zeal and the obsequiousness of those Celestial Spirits into whose Society we are entred by the benefit of this Reconciliation Let us be cloathed as they are with a beautiful and pleasing light Our lot is to be one day like them in Immortality let us be so for the present in Sanctity Our peace is made with GOD. Let us not make war upon Him any more He hath pardoned us all the exorbitancies and rage of our Rebellion never turn we to any of them again He will be our good LORD and gracious Master Be we His faithful Subjects and obedient Servants Let the Blood of CHRIST wipe away both our guilt and our filth Fasten we our old man to His Cross Let the nails that there pierced His flesh pierce also the members of ours Let the Cross that made Him dye make to dye all our lusts and extinguish by little and little in us that earthly carnal and vicious life which we derive from the first Adam to regenerate and raise us up again with the second unto a new an holy and spiritual life worthy of that Blood by which he He hath purchas'd it for us and of that Spirit by whom He hath communicated the beginnings of it to us and of that Sanctuary of Immortality where He will fully finish it one day to His own glory and our eternal blessedness Amen THE XI SERMON COL I. Ver. XXI XXII Vers XXI And you who were somtime estranged from Him and who were His enemies in your understanding in wicked works XXII Yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh by death to render you holy and without spot and unreprovable before Him DEar Brethren It was long since observed by Philosophers and we still find it by experience that general things do move the spirits of men very little The cause is that being naturally glewed up too close every one to his particular interests they mind only that which toucheth the same and are not sollicitous about a common concern till they are made some way smartly sensible that themselves have part in it The ministers of the Church therefore should not content themselves with proposing the maxims of heavenly doctrine in gross and in general only to the souls whose edification is committed to them that they may get hold of them and produce some good effect upon them they must apply to them in particular each of those Divine verities St. Paul whose example should serve for a rule to all the true servants of GOD takes this course in divers places of His Epistles and particularly in the Text we have now read you For
the other Even such is the case of true Believers and such as are but temporary Persecution and offence do not make the difference which is seen between them when the former do retain the Gospel and the others quit it This event only sheweth that the one were GOD's wheat and the others but chaff according to what S. John saith of Apostates They went out from us because they were not of us 1 John 2.19 that it might be made manifest that all are not of us The same is to be further seen evidently in the Parable of the Sower where the LORD saith expresly Mat. 13.13 19 21. that he that persevereth had heard the word and understood it and receiv'd it in an honest and good heart Whereas He saith of them who do revolt that one heard but understood it not another had no root in himself An evident sign that their disposition was different at first before the perseverance of the one and the fall of the others Whence appears how impertinent the Argument is which our Adversaries draw from the Apostacy of the latter to prove that the faith of the former may fail and on the contrary For if the wind carry away the chaff it doth not therefore follow that it shall also bear away the corn and if the storm beat down an house that 's planted on two or three stakes it is not to be said it may do as much to an House that 's founded on a rock If the blade that shoots forth and grows up suddenly in the sand without any bottom happen to wither at the first extreme heat that smites it this implieth not that the like may betide the corn which is deeply rooted in a good and fertile soil The other point which we have to observe is the assurance of true faith excellently represented here by the Apostle in these words which are full of a singular Emphasis If you continue in the faith being founded and firm contrary to what is taught in the Church of Rome that faith is in a continual agitation so as a Believer can have no assurance that he is for present in the state of Grace and much less yet that he shall persevere in it for the future In Conscience can it be said of these people as the Apostle saith here of the LORD 's true Disciples that they are firm and founded How may it be seeing they incessantly float in doubt and uncertainty and are miserablely in suspence between the hope of heaven and the fear of bell I pass by that other error of theirs which is yet more contrary to the Apostle's Doctrine namely their maintaining that the choicest faith may fail If it be thus how can it be affirm'd that those that have it are founded and firm Let us then hold fast the truth that 's taught us here and in divers other places of Scripture to wit that true faith abideth always and being founded on the Merit and the Death and the Intercession of JESUS CHRIST doth never fail The wind makes but the chaff to fly away it prevails not upon good grain It overthrows only the trees that are feeble and ill grounded It leaveth in their place those that stand upon good and deep grown roots And as an Ancient sometime said Tertul. de Paersc We may not account them prudent or faithful whom Heresie hath been able to change None is a Christian but he that persevereth to the end But I return to the Apostle who for the fuller Explication of this firm and not to be shaken faith which he requireth in us for the obtaining of salvation addeth further And if ye be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Justly doth he joyn Hope unto Faith these two virtues being so straitly link'd together that they mutually succour each other and one cannot be had or lost without the other For first Hope is the suit of faith expecting with assurance the fruition of the the things that we believe so as when the perswasion that we have of them comes to totter it is not possible but the hope which was founded on it must come to ruine Again in the combats which we sustain for the faith hope is one of our principal supports while it is firm and vigorus in us it repelleth without difficulty all the strokes of the Enemy opposing to the fear of the evils wherewith he threatneth us and to desire of the good he promiseth us the incomparable excellency of the glory and felicity which we look for in the other world He that hopes for heaven cannot be tempted by the paintings and appearances of the earth For this cause the Apostle in another place compares hope to an Anchor which penetrating within the vail fastned and grounded in Heaven holdeth our vessel firm and steady amid the waves and agitations of this tempestuous Sea whereon we sail here below And it 's this in my opinion which the Apostle aims at here that the faithful might be established in the faith he willeth them to have still in their hearts the hope of heavenly bliss and never to suffer this Sacred and Divine Anchor to be taken from them They are in safety while it holds them fast But for the better expressing it he calleth it peculiarly The hope of the Gospel that is the hope which the Gospel hath wrought in us the expectation of those good things which it promiseth And so you see he referreth Hope to the Gospel as to its true and genuine object All the hopes that we conceive from other grounds are vain and failing There are none but those which embrace the promises of JESUS CHRIST that are firm and solid and such as never confound them that wait for them The Gospel promiseth us first the entire expiation of our sins and the peace of GOD in JESUS CHRIST His Son They therefore that seek this benefit in the Ceremonies and Shadows of the Law as the Galatians somtime did and the false Teachers who would have seduced the Colossians or that seek it in their own merits and the merits of Creatures they all I say and all that are like them let themselves be carried away from the hope of the Gospel Then again the Gospel promiseth us eternal life in the heavens by the grace of GOD in His Son Those therefore quit the hope thereof also who seek their felicity either in the earth or in heaven otherways than by the sole mercy of the LORD Whereby it doth appear how very pertinently S. Paul doth recommend this hope of the Gospel unto the Colossians For in the combat wherein they were engaged it was sufficient to preserve them from all the attempts of the Impostors What have I to do saith this Hope with the observation of your Disciplines or the quirks of your Philophy since I abundantly have in my Gospel all the good things which you vainly promise me But because it is ordinary with false Teachers to abuse the name
in old time that your holy life might be new As your knowledge is greater than that of other ages so let your holiness surpass theirs The dimness of their light doth in some sort excuse their faults faults committed in the mistakes of childhood and in the obscurity of shadows With what pretext can you palliate yours you to whom GOD hath communicated all His counsel How will you defend that ardent and unruly passion which you have for the earth you whom by the Gospel he hath made to see all the beauties of Heaven How will you justifie the love and the adherence you have one to the pleasures of the flesh another to the heaps and honours of the world you to whom He hath shewed the riches and the glory of eternity in His Son JESUS CHRIST Sure to sin in such light is not an infirmity nor simply a naughtiness It is an impudence and an execrable insolency Take heed then Beloved Brethren that this great grace which GOD hath shewed you do not turn to your condemnation If you desire it should be saving to you purifie your selves and cleanse your selves from all filthiness and pollution For the mysteries of GOD are only for Saints Renounce the world's behaviour as well as its belief Walk in the wayes of Heaven in an Honesty and Purity worthy of the vocation wherewith GOD hath honoured you Let His mystery shew forth the wonders of its glory among you potently changing your whole life into its brightness and transforming you into the image of that JESUS CHRIST who hath vouchsafed to dwell in you and to take your hearts for His temple that after you have wisely managed His talents here below and happily travailed in His work He may crown you one day in the Heavens with that soveraign and eternal glory which He hath promised us and we hope for from His grace So be it THE XV. SERMON COL I. Vers XXVIII XXIX Vers XXVIII Whom we preach admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may render every man perfect in CHRIST JESUS XXIX Whereunto also I labour combating according to His efficacy which worketh in me powerfully DEAR Brethren There is a great difference between the Law and the Gospel both in regard of their own nature and in regard of the manner of their dispensation For to omit other things the Gospel is a mystery that is a verity so hid in GOD as if He had not vouchsafed to discover it to men Himself by a supernatural revelation no creature either earthly or heavenly had been ever able to bring it forth from the bottomless deeps of GOD's wisdom or to acquire any solid and distinct knowledge of it by the contemplation of the things of the world But the Law is a verity suitable to the sentiments of nature and so open to the view of Angels and men that if sin had not dulled and corrupted the strength of our understanding we should have easily comprehended it of our selves without any extraordinary manifestation from Heaven Accordingly you see how deplorate and how blind soever men be yet they fail not to discern the things of the Law and the rectitude and justice of the most of that which it commands us But if you consider the dispensation of these two doctrines you will find that whereas the Law was given by Moses to the Jewish nation only the Gospel of our LORD and Saviour was preached to all people on earth indifferently there having been no part of mankind to whom the benefit of this new light was not presented by the Apostles and their Schollars S. Paul if you remember informed us of it in the foregoing text where he affirmed first that the Gospel is a mystery sudden during all the ages and generations which had passed but now manifested to the Saints of GOD and secondly that the LORD hath made known the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles that is to say among other people of the world beside the Jews This he further confirms in the Text now read unto you by the extent of his preaching protesting that he declareth this Divine word to all men For having intimated before the subject of this great mystery of the Gospel and declared that it consisteth wholy in CHRIST JESUS alone who is the author and the matter of this coelestial doctrine he addeth whom we preach admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may render every man perfect in JESVS CHRIST And because his labours and his sufferings were one of the most glorious marks of the truth and the Divine authority of his Apostleship he maketh mention of them also in the following verse Whereunto I also labour saith he combating according to His efficacy which worketh powerfully in me For his design is to justifie what he had before told the Colossians namely that he was a Minister of the Church set up to fullfil the word of GOD among the Gentiles and this to the end he might establish the Colossans in the doctrine which he preached and secure them from the seductions of false Apostles who endeavoured to corrupt it by immixing with it the errors which they went to and fro a sowing in the world and did pretend that besides Faith in JESUS CHRIST there was a necessity of observing the ceremonies of the Law of Moses and of practising divers superstitions as the worshipping of Angels which they recommended and hugely exalted as S. Paul will shew us in the following chapter It was for the setting up of his own Ministry and teachings above these evil workers that he urged his heavenly call before It is for this end again that he exalted the Gospel in so lofty a manner and it 's for the same end that he here sets forth the exercise of his Apostleship which consisteth in two things one whereof is the preaching which he describes in verse 28. The other is the labour and conflict which accompanied his preaching declared in the verse following the last of this chapter These are the two points which we will treat of by the will of GOD in the present action the Preaching and the combats of S. Paul noting upon each of them what we shall judge apt for your edification and consolation which is the only mark that all the labour of this great Apostle tended to and the true end both of our word and your faith As for the Apostles Preaching we shall have four things to consider which he saith of it First the subject of it to wit JESVS CHRIST whom saith he we preach Secondly the manner of it which he expresseth in those words admonishing and teaching every man Thirdly the object to which this preaching of his was directed namely every man admonishing every man saith he and teaching every man and in the fourth and last place the end and aim to which it tended to wit the perfecting of those to whom it was directed that saith he we may
death he there suffered was the true and only cause of his triumphs 'T was the Tree of this Cross that bore the Palms and Laurels he hath been crowned with 'T is there that all the causes and originals of all his glory are found It is this Cross that opened his Sepulcher and brought him out from thence and raised him up in Immortality 'T is it also that a little after opened Heaven to him and seated him on the right hand of the Most High 'T is it that loosed the tongues of his Apostles and changed the world in a short time that defeated Paganism that is the greatest part of Satan's Empire that threw down Idols and drew all people to the service of that Divine crucified Person whom it bore It is the same likewise that will pluck us one day out of the hands of death and lift us up into the Sanctuary of Eternity Lastly 'T is it hath founded that glorious Throne whereon JESUS shall sit and both the one and the other his Subjects and his Enemies see him truly triumphing the one with eternal joy the other with a confusion that shall never end Since the Cross of our LORD and Saviour is the cause of so many triumphs who sees not that it is not only with truth but also a great deal of elegance that the Apostle here saith he triumphed on it over his Enemies Let us Dear Brethren adore the mystery of it and look upon it notwithstanding the sad appearances of its infirmity as the only cause of the glory of our Head and of the liberty of his people If the Jew do stumble at and the Greek deride it 't is an effect of their ignorance and infidelity For our part who know its virtue let us say with the Apostle GOD forbid that we should glory save in the Cross of our LORD JESVS CHRIST Gal. 6.14 It hath taken us out of the mortal bonds of the Devils and put us into the liberty of the sons of GOD. It hath spoiled our old Tyrants and broken their Iron yoke and overthrown those infernal principalities and powers Let us not fear them After the blow they have received from the Cross of CHRIST they are but back-broken Serpents that do but hiss and crawl along the dust I grant they yet stir and wind about us and do not cease to threaten us But they can no longer hurt us if we keep fast to the Cross of our Saviour by which the world is crucified unto us and we unto the world They are our Enemies they are no more our Masters We are to wrestle with them we are under their yoke no longer And if GOD do sometimes permit them to strike us in our goods or in our bodies and what we have on earth yet he preserveth our persons and doth not suffer them to take from us any thing that his Son hath purchased in Heaven for us And he so governeth these Combats that they ever turn unto our glory and their confusion as that of Job's yer while did GOD permits them to attaque us that we may overcome them or to say better that the Cross of JESUS may stand up once more victorious in each of us and bruise Satan under our feet Rom. 16.26 as it hath already bruised him under his Let us with good courage follow the victory of our Head and stoutly march on in his steps Let us pursue the vanquished Enemy and not quit him till we in this holy warr do bear away the Laurel and the honour of a Triumph Take heed he rally not his dissipated Forces and do us some affront For henceforth there is nothing but our wretchlesness that can give him the advantage Our Victory is as sure as may be if we have so much courage as not to destroy our selves For what can he do to us if we watch if we pray if we keep upon our guard and under the Ensign of the Cross of our LORD Will he accuse us GOD doth justifie us and his Son doth defend and intercede for us Will he batter us with the curse of the Law The Cross of CHRIST hath annulled that Will he stir up against us the hate and persecutions of the world In these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us and that can so turn and change them in favour of us as they shall all work together for our good Will he take hold of us on the other side by the baits of sin and pleasures and benefits of the present world Our Saviour's Cross hath extinguish'd and mortified the desire of them in our hearts shewing us that all this beauteous figure of the World is but a vanity that passeth away and endeth in eternal misery Will he menace us with death He may but the Cross of JESUS hath disarmed it of all its stings and so altered its whole nature that whereas it was of it self the wages of sin and an effect of our Judge's wrath and the beginning of Hell it is now a token to us of the grace of GOD the end of our Combats and the entry of our Paradice Let us therefore my beloved Brethren live in repose and take fruition with humble thankfulness of the good things which the LORD JESUS hath obtained for us by the merit of his Cross serving and religiously adoring him consecrating all our life to his glory as he gave his for our salvation and assuring our selves amid all the storms of this generation that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature shall be ever able to separate us from the love of GOD which he hath shewed us in JESVS CHRIST our LORD So be it The Twenty-seventh SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER XVI XVII Ver. xvi Let no man condemn you in meat or in drink or in the distinction of a festival day or of a new moon or of sabbaths Ver. xvij Which things are shadows of those that were to come but the body of them is in CHRIST DEar Brethren Our LORD JESUS CHRIST doth excellently shew us the difference of that Evangelical service which he hath instituted in his Church from the Legal service which had place in Israel under the Old Testament when speaking of it to the Samaritan he saith Woman John 4.21 23 believe me the hour cometh that neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem shall ye worship the Father But the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth Under the Law the service of GOD was affixed to certain places as the Temple at Jerusalem and the Land of Canaan to certain times as Sabbaths New Moons and those great Feasts of the Passover Pentecost and Tabernacles to certain corporeal things as Beasts and other Kinds which were offered upon a material Altar with divers ceremonies and to certain sorts of Meat it being not permitted at that time to eat of any
CHRIST hath given us in raising us again with Himself doth oblige us These thoughts and works of Heaven are necessary productions of the principles and faculties of that life unto which we have been raised up You can neither be Christians without having part in the resurrection of our LORD nor have part in His resurrection except you walk with Him and wear that lightsome robe of sanctity wherewith He vesteth all the associates of His resurrection He Himself calleth us hereto from that lofty Throne whereon He sitteth at the right hand of GOD Faithful soul saith He to each of us look unto me and I will give thee light Fear not for I govern the Heavens and the earth Only fix thine eyes thy thoughts and thine heart on me and I will guide thee by my counsel and receive thee one day into my glory Dear Brethren this He doth promise us and of this He will give us earnest next LORD's-day at His holy table Let us do what He demands of us or to say better let us pray Him to do it in us and He will assuredly do what He promiseth us Unto Him unto the Father and unto the Holy Spirit the true and only GOD blessed for ever be honour praise and glory to ages of ages Amen THE THIRTY THIRD SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP. III. VER III IV. Verse III. For ye are dead and your life is hid with CHRIST in GOD. IV. When CHRIST who is your life shall appear then shall ye also appear with Him in glory DEAR Brethren The LORD JESUS being not only the author and the cause but also the pattern and exemplar of that great Salvation which GOD of His infinite mercy offereth to mankind in the Gospel it is not possible that we should have part in it or assuredly enter into this rich possession without having in us a resemblance of the same soveraign LORD and being as so many copies of this Divine Original where all His features and lineaments may appear though in a form and measure much less perfect and eminent than His. Rom. 8.28 Of this the Apostle expresly informeth us in his Epistle to the Romans saying that those whom GOD did fore-know that is love and discriminate from the rest of men according to His good pleasure to communicate really faith and eternal salvation unto them He did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son Heb. 2.12 13. For this cause He doth us the honour to call us sometimes His children and sometimes His brethren by reason of the resemblance we have with Him the nature the condition the quality and as 't is commonly termed the fortune of children following the fathers and of brethren being like their elder brothers Whence the Apostle concludes in the Epistle to the Hebrews that He who sanctifyeth that is the LORD JESUS Heb. 8.11 and they who are sanctified that is the faithful are all of one that is of one and the same mass of one and the same form and nature And to make it plain to us the Scripture compareth Him sometimes to a Vine-stock Jo. 15. Rom. 11. otherwhile to an Olive-tree of each of which we are branches all of them things between which there is by nature a strict communion the one and the others having the same constitution and qualities And thence again it is that Saint Paul calleth Him our first-fruits when speaking of our death and the resurrection which is to succeed it he saith that CHRIST was made the first fruits of them that slâ—ep 1 Cor. 15.20 the first-fruits as you know being of the same condition and nature with the rest of those things out of the mass whereof they are taken Now although this consormity of the faithful with the LORD JESUS be of a large extent yet it doth principally appear in two heads wherein the Scripture doth particularly consider it to wit in His Death and in His Resurrection the happy remembrance whereof we have celebrated this morning For the death of JESUS CHRIST hath produced a death like it in all true believers reducing them by its efficacy and virtue unto a state conform to His when He was stretched out on the Cross and lay in the Sepulchre In like manner His Resurrection transmitteth into them a life like that which He resumed when having overcome death He issued out of His grave His Death is not only the cause but also the pattern of ours and likewise His Life is both the principle and exemplar of ours It 's of this death and this life Dearly beloved Brethren the effect and the image of the Death and Resurrection of the LORD that we make account to entertain you in this action For after our having celebrated the memory of the death and resurrection of this Great Saviour and participated of the one and the other by the vertue of His Spirit and our Faith what can we more pertinently meditate than the precious fruit which each of them produceth in us and the images of the one and the other of these mysteries which this Divine dead and again risen perâ—â—â— doth draw and form in us inasmuch as He changeth us after a sort into Himself by an impression of His omnipotent vertue so as if we have truly receiv'd Him we are become dead and risen again with Him St. Paui teacheth us this excellent and saving truth in the series of our ordinary Texts by these words which we have read for the subject of this exercise In those that preceded which we expounded eight daies since this great Apostle drew us from the earth that he might elevate us to Heaven where JESUS sitteth at the right hand of the Father Seek saith he the things which are above and not the things which are on the earth But because he knew how difficult such a transportation would be for persons who are still so many waies fastned to the earth to work so high a design thoroughly into us besides the reasons already represented which were taken from our resurrection with the LORD and from His presence and glorious soveraignty in the places he would elevate us to he further proposes two more for that end in this passage The one taken from our death For saith he ye are dead and the other from that new life which we have received a life hidden it 's true for the present in GOD but such as will be plainly and plenarily discovered one day at the manifestation of the LORD JESUS Your life saith he is hid with CHRIST in GOD. When CHRIST c. These are the two principal points we will treat of in this action the grace of our LORD assisting and Him we invocate praying that this word of His may be effectually in us His power to salvation throughly changing us into the similitude both of His salutary death and of His glorious life that being dead unto our selves we may not live henceforth but in Him unto His honour and the edification
good thing so necessary for you If you have it not hitherto ask it of GOD incessantly with prayers and tears and quit Him not before you have obtained it If you have it thank Him for it more than for all the goods of the Universe and make account that in giving you charity He hath given you the Life the Kingdom and the Crown of Heaven Exercise this precious gift continually let there be none of your neighbours without feeling of it Do good to all Communicate what you have received the light of your knowledge to the ignorant the succour of your good offices to the afflicted the sweetness of your patience to enemies the consolation of your visits to the sick the assistance of your alms to the needy the example of your innocence to all with whom you converse But have a particular care of Saints the members of the LORD JESUS who serve Him here with you and how poor soever they be have yet been redeemed with His blood and predestinated to His glory as well as you Dear Brethren your labour shall not be in vain Your charity shall bring forth it's fruits in their season with a most abundant usury For terrene and perishing good things which you shall have sowed here below you shall one day reap on high those that are celestial and immortal for a little bread and a little money that you shall now give to JESUS CHRIST you shall receive from His liberal hand the delights of Paradice and the treasures of eternity This is the hope which is reserved for you in the Heavens It is not the word of weak and vain men that hath promised it to you You have heard by the Gospel the Word of Truth which cannot lye And as so magnificent an hope should enflame our Charity so should it comfort our patience and render it invincible under the Cross to which the Name of CHRIST doth subject us Consider a little what the men of the world do and suffer for uncertain hopes that whirl in the Air flote on the Sea and depend upon the Wind and Fortune to how many dangers they expose themselves to what travail and disquiet they condemn themselves Voluntarily passing nights and dayes in a most laborious servitude for an imaginary good that neither yet is nor perhaps shall ever be and which how happy soever the success of their designs may be they shall not enjoy at most but during some years only Christian shall it be said that you have less zeal for Heaven than these people have for Earth Their hope is doubtful Yours is assured Theirs dependeth on the will of men and the inconstancy of elements Yours is in Heaven Pursue then generously so high and glorious a design And since your hope is in Heaven have incessantly heart affection and thought there Regard no more either flesh or earth it is not here your bliss is JESUS CHRIST hath seated it on high at the right hand of the Father in the Palace of His holiness Let this excellent hope sweeten all the evil you suffer here below If you be not at ease here if you be despised if you have no part in the wealth or honours of the world think that in like manner neither is it here that JESUS CHRIST hath promised you the rewards of your piety That Heaven which you see so constant and immutable keeps them faithfully for you You shall there receive one day the honour the glory and the dignities you now breath after not to possess them during some miserable moneths as worldlings enjoy their pretended riches but eternally with a perfect and unspeakable contentment in the blessed communion of Saints of Angels and of JESUS CHRIST the Lord of the one and the others To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit the only true GOD blessed for ever be honour and glory to ages of ages Amen THE II. SERMON COL I. Ver. VI VII VIII Vers VI. The Gospel which is come unto you as also it is into all the World and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day you heard and knew the Grace of GOD in truth VII As also you have learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant who is a faithful Minister of CHRIST for you VIII Who also hath declared unto us your charity which you have in the Spirit DEar Brethren the Gospel of our LORD JESUS CHRIST is the most excellent and most admirable Doctrine that was ever published in the Universe It is the grand mysterie of GOD the wisdom of Angels and men the glory of Heaven and the happiness of the Earth It is the only seed of immortality the perfection of our nature the light of our understandings and the sanctity of our affections There is no Philosophy or other Discipline but this alone that is able to deliver us from the slavery of Devils and make us Children of the most High It is this solely that truly purifieth us from the filth of sin and clotheth us with a complete righteousnes that plucketh us out of the hands of death and hell and giveth us access to the Throne of GOD there to receive of His bounty life and supreme felicity All other religions invented and followed by flesh and blood are wayes of perdition disciplines of errour and vanity that present themselves to poor men in the thick darkness of their ignorance as those seducing fires that sometimes abuse Travellers during the obscurity of the Night leading them into the deeps of death and eternal malediction The Law it self though come from on high is nevertheless as much beneath the dignity of the Gospel as Sinai is beneath Heaven and Moses beneath JESUS CHRIST The Law affrighteth Consciences the Gospel assureth them The one slayeth the sinner the other raiseth Him up again The one maketh grace be desired the other makes it be enjoyed The one presented the shadows and figures of the truth the other giveth us the lively image and very body thereof Whence you may judge my Brethren how much it concerneth us to know so saving and Divine a Doctrine that we may embrace and obey it since the repose and happiness of our souls stand on it which we shall unprofitably seek any other where It is to enflame us with an ardent desire of this holy and blessed knowledge that the Apostle St. Paul proposeth to us so often in His Epistles the praises of the Gospel scarce ever naming it without adding presently something to its commendation as the custome is of those that love ardently never to speak of that they love without giving it some Elogy that testifies both its excellency and their passion Such is the manner of Our St. Paul towards the Gospel of his Master He hath his soul so full of the love and admiration of this Heavenly doctrine that He can neither pronounce nor write the name of it but He accompanies it with praises as the just and due marks of its dignity We have
in Darkness after the Spirit or after the Flesh and other like Phrases which all signifie a certain form and condition of life good or evil as it is qualified According to the stile of Scripture the Apostle saith here to the end that you may walk meaning that you may live that you may direct and form your lives But how will he that we walk worthily saith he as is seemly towards the LORD It is word for word in the Original worthily of the LORD or in a fashion worthy of the LORD But our French Bible hath faithfully represented the sense of these words it being evident that the Apostle intendeth we should lead a life that answereth to the honour we have of being Children and Disciples of JESUS the LORD His co-heirs and heirs of His Father He else-where often useth this manner of speaking or others altogether like it As when he exhorteth the Philippians to converse in such sort as may be worthy of the Gospel Phil. 1.28 Eph. 4.1 1 Thes 2.12 and the Ephesians to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith they had been called and when in like manner he adjureth the Thessalonians to walk worthy of GOD who hath called them to His Kingdom and Glory The teachers of merits have drawn from these passages that proud name which they ordinarily give them calling them merits of condignity pretending that to walk worthy of GOD signifies meriting of life by their works properly and in the accompt of exact justice But they are evidently deceived For not to speak of the vanity of this presumption which Scripture and reason it self do thunder-strike a thousand wayes it is clear that to be worthy of any thing signifieth not at all in these passages the meriting it properly and exactly For who is there that would thus interpret the Apostles saying walk worthy of GOD that is lead a life that merits GOD There are people found that have opinion of themselves good enough to imagine they merit Heaven and the glory of the life to come There hath none been yet seen that I know who vaunted Himself to merit GOD. This language would be monstrous and surpass the pride of Devils themselves It 's too much presuming but to affirm that any merit the gifts of GOD. Common sense permitteth not a man to think or say that he merits GOD. As ill doth what the Apostle saith elsewhere suffer this gloss Converse in a fashion worthy of the Gospel and live in a fashion worthy of the Vocation of GOD. For who ever heard say that our works do merit either the Gospel or the Vocation of GOD a thing past and which we have already received from the liberality of the LORD before the having done any one good work It is clear that in all these places the worthiness whereof the Apostle speaketh is nothing else but a certain well-beseemingness arising from the correspondence that is found between us and the subjects whereof he saith we are worthy Just as when St. John Baptist exhorteth the Jews to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance he meaneth not that merit repentance but that answer thereto that are suitable to the sense we have of our own sin and of the Grace of GOD. In like manner here a life holy and full of piety and of good works is worthy of GOD not because it merits Him but because it hath some suitableness with His sanctity and glory It is worthy of the Gospel because it is correspondent to it and conform to what it requireth of us It is worthy of the Vocation of GOD because carried to things to which He calleth us and produceth the fruits which He demandeth of us Would you then know Christian what your life should be let it be worthy of the LORD St. Paul hath comprised all in these few words And as sometime a Prince faln into the hands of his enemy who demanded of him how he should treat him answered as a King signifying by that one word all the moderation and generosity he desired should be used towards Him So the Apostle in these two words embraceth the whole form of our carriage How shall we live Lead saith he a life that may be worthy of the LORD This is enough to let us understand that neither avarice nor cruelty nor hatred nor envy nor any other of the passions of the world must have any place in our manners but that justice charity and all other pure and celestial affections should shine forth in them that there should be mixed in them nothing base nor abject but that all should be great and generous and elevated above the dunghills of the Flesh Have then Believer this supream LORD continually before your eyes Interrogate your Conscience upon each of the things that are presented to you whether they be worthy of Him and do not any that may not be put in this rank Flee all that crosseth the quality of His disciple all that swerveth from the rule which He hath given you all that diverts you from the Kingdom to which He conducteth you This LORD is purity and sanctity it self He is entirely separate from sinners He never had any communion with vice This LORD is soveraignly good He hateth no man He prayed even for them that Crucified Him and did infinite benefits to them that injured and blasphemed Him This LORD neither possessed nor coveted the honours and grandeurs of the earth All His glory is divine and His grandeur celestial His discipline is like His life He enjoyneth us throughout nothing but a singular innocency sanctity and goodness and the good things He promiseth us are spiritual and not carnal the inheritance He hath purchased for us and to the possession whereof He leadeth us is in Heaven and not on the earth Upon this it's easie to judge what is this form of life worthy of Him which the Apostle commandeth us It is a life that hath resemblance with His wherein shine forth both the examples of His Divine Vertues and the marks of His doctrine and the badges of His house and the first fruits of His glory It is a life that treadeth under foot the baseness of all vices that disdaineth what the flesh and the world do promise to their slaves and beholding with contempt all that the earth adore hath no passion but for Heaven It 's a life sweet and humble and innocent that obligeth all men and injures none at all that without turning to the right hand or the left runs on and advanceth incessantly towards the mark of the supernal calling It 's thus you must live faithful soul if you would satisfie the light you have received of the knowledge of GOD. I confess it is an high design But neither is it for low and common things that GOD hath given you His Son and His Spirit If our infirmity makes fear let the power and the might of the LORD assure us And if there escape us sometime any act unworthy of Him as in
into Apostles which beats down the proudest fierceness and preserves invincible the most despicable weakness which hardneth the bodies of it's humble Warriours as Steel maintaineth them in the flames and confounds with their lowness the fury of Elements of Men and of Devils For this is that the Sacred Writers ordinarily call glory even an abundance of beauty of power and perfection so rich as it over-bears our senses and makes to bend under it all the vigour of our Spirits reducing them to admiration and astonishment And St. Paul somewhat frequently useth this word in this sense as when he saith that CHRIST was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father that is by His great and unspeakable power Whence it appeareth that the Vertue which converteth us to GOD and that which conserveth us in His grace is not a common and ordinary might but an invincible efficacy which nothing can resist Seek it not in your own nature Christian soul seek it in GOD and acknowledging your weakness ask of Him the remedy of it If it betide you to resist the enemy and to remain victorious in any combate render all the glory of it to this Soveraign LORD without attributing ought of it to your self But the Apostle sheweth us in what follows what is the use and effect of the succour which the glorious power of the LORD giveth us who strengthneth us unto all suffering saith he and patience of mind with joy These are the two productions of the Spirit of GOD in a faithful soul patience and long waiting in which principally our strength consisteth These are as the two hands of Heaven that sustain us in perils and keep us from sinking under the weight of those evils wherewith we often find our selves surcharged And though both the two are of a very like nature yet they have each of them something particular Sufferance beareth the evil without bending submitting to it at its inflicting humbly and standing firm under this rude load The Spirit patient or long-waiting for so the term used here in the Original doth properly signifie lends it the hand afterward and attendeth without murmuring for deliverance from the evil it suffers and for enjoyment of the good it hopeth Sufferance respecteth the very weight and heaviness of the affliction The long-waiting of the patient Spirit respects the duration of it These two vertues are absolutely necessary for a Christian For without them how should he support either the chastisements of GOD or the persecutions of the world How should he be firm in the exercise of other vertues to discharge the Offices of them against the impediments that thwart them every hour Tertull. de patient Patience saith an Ancient is the Superintendant of all the affairs of GOD and without it it is not possible to execute His commands or to wait for His promises 'T is it that defeateth all its enemies without toil It s repose is more efficacious than the motion and action of others 'T is it that makes healthful to us things of their own nature most pernicious It changeth for us poisons into remedies and defeats into victories It rejoyceth the Angels it confoundeth Devils it overcometh the world It mollifieth the hardest courages and converteth the most obstinate hearts It is the strength and the triumph of the Church according to the saying of the ancient Oracle By keeping you quiet and by rest you shall be delivered your strength shall be in silence and in hope But the Apostle to shew us what this patience is to which the Spirit of GOD formeth His children saith that it is with joy This is the true Character of Christian patience The Hypocrite suffers sometimes but it is murmuring And the Philosophers yere while made a great shew of their patience but it was only an effect either of their stiffness or of their stupidity which was no wayes accompanied with the joy which the Holy GHOST sheds into the souls of those that suffer for the name of GOD. Not that they are insensible or that they receive the evil on them without grief But if the evil they suffer do sad them this very thing rejoyceth them that by the grace of their LORD they have the strength and the courage to suffer it and do know that their suffering shall turn to their good and that from these thornes they shall one day reap the flowers and fruits of blessed immortality To which may be added the sweetness which is then shed into their heart by the vive and profound impression of that only Comforter who communicates himself to them on such occasions more freely than ever and can by the ineffable Vertue of His balm their most bitter wounds This is that Dear Brethren which we had to say to you on this Text of the holy Apostle Let us receive his doctrine with faith and religiously obey his voice He sheweth us what our task is here below Let us acquit our selves in it with care GOD of His Grace hath raised up among 〈◊〉 a great light of knowledge let us employ it to its true use and walk with it in such a sort as may be worthy of so holy and merciful a LORD whose name we bear Let this great Name awaken our sences and affections let it pluck them off from the Earth and elevate them to Heaven where He reigneth who hath given it to us Let this Name put into our hearts a secret shame to do or think ought that may be unworthy thereof Faithful Sirs remember you are Christians as oft as flesh or earth sollicits you to evil Put the world by 'T is not to please it that you have been regenerated by the Spirit from on high The World is so unjust so humorous and so changing that 't is impossible to content it See in what pain and torment they continually live that attempt it And though you should compass it the success would cost you dear By pleasing the world you would displease your own Conscience the contenting whereof is infinitely more important to you than any thing else But with GOD it is quite otherwise His will is constant and still the same without any variation or change Nothing is pleasing to Him but what is just and reasonable Your Conscience will find in it its entire satisfaction and never reproach you for having served so good a Master Not to alledge to you that the World after you shall have killed your self to serve it will pay you only with ingratitude and contempt as experience daily shews us whereas the LORD will magnificently reward the care you shall have taken to do His will comforting and blessing you in this world Crowning and glorifying you in the other If you demand what must be done to please Him the Apostle shews you in a word Fructifie saith he in every good work As often as the LORD shall cast His eyes on this Vineyard let Him see it still laden with good fruits Let Him never
have cause to complain of it as He yerst did of that of Israel I expected saith He it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes Sure He hath had no less care of ours than of theirs He hath planted it in like manner with choice Vines He hath also environed it with a brave and admirable hedge He hath watered it with the rain of His Clouds and made the beams of His Sun of Righteousness to shine on it and may justly say of it What was there more to be done to my Vineyard that I have not done to it Be we not ungrateful to so sweet a Master Let not our sterility confound His expectation Let our fruits be answerable to His cares and our secondity to His husbandry Let there be no soul barren and unprofitable among us Let each one Fructifie of that He hath each one improve the dressing and sap the LORD hath given us Let the sinner present Him his repentance the Just his Perseverance the Rich his Almes the Poor his Praises Old Age its Prudence Youth its Zeal Let the Knowing abound in Instruction the Strong in Modesty the Weak in Humility and all together in Charity And since it is the good pleasure of our Heavenly Father that we have here divers combats as none may live piously without persecution prepare we also for this other part of our duty and supplicate the LORD with the Apostle that He do strengthen us with all strength according to the power of His glory that He do give us a firm and unmoveable patience to persevere constantly in the Holy Communion of His Son so as neither the promises nor the threatnings of the World neither the Lusts nor the fears of Flesh may be ever able to debauch us from His Service O GOD our task is great and we are feeble Our enemies are Giants and we but Dwarfes Therefore thy self work in us merciful LORD the work which thou commandest us Perfect thy glorious power in our weaknesses Strengthen our hands and confirm our hearts that we may combat vigorously and atchieve great things in thy Name and after the trials and tentations of this life may one day receive in the other from the Sacred and Sweet hand of thy Son the glorious Crown of immortality which we breathe after So be it THE V. SERMON COL I. Ver. XII XIII Vers XII Giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us capable to partake of the inheritance of Saints in light XIII Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of His well-beloved Son DEar Brethren Though the first Creation of man be a most illustrious master piece of the goodness power and wisdom of GOD this great worker then making Adam of the dust and forming Him after His own image to live and reign on earth in a soveraign felicity Yet it must be confessed that our restauration of JESUS CHRIST is much more excellent and admirable For whether you consider the things themselves which have been given us or have respect to the quality of those to whom they have been communicated or to what the LORD did for the communicating of them you will see that the second of these two benefits of His doth surpass the first every way The first gave us an humane nature the second hath communicated to us a divine one The first made us a living soul the second maketh us a quickning spirit By the one we had an earthly and animal being by the other we receive a spiritual and heavenly one The one seated us in the garden of Eden the other elevateth us to the Heaven of Glory There we had a Lordship over living Creatures and the Empire of the Earth here we have the fraternity of Angels and the Kingdom of Heaven There we enjoyed a life full of delight but infirm and depending as that of other living Creatures on the use of meat and drink and sleep Here we possess one full of vigour and strength which like that of blessed spirits is sustained by its own vertue without need of other nourishment The one was subject to change as the event hath declared the other is truly immortal and immutable and above the accidents that altered the first The advantage of the first man was that he might have not dyed the priviledge of the second is that he cannot dye But the difference will appear no less in the disposition of the persons to whom the LORD hath communicated these benefits if you attentively consider it I confess that dust which GOD invested with an humane form merited not a condition so excellent and received it from the meer liberality of the Creatour But if it were not worthy of such a savour at least it had nothing in it which rendred it uncapable thereof in the rigour of justice Whereas we not only have not merited the salvation which God giveth us in His Son but have over and above merited that death which is opposite to it If the matter upon which the LORD wrought in the first creation of man had no disposition for the form He put in it so neither had it any repugnancy thereto whereas in our second Creation that is in our redemption by JESUS CHRIST He findeth in us souls so far from complying with His operation that they potently resist it So you see that to effect the first work He employed only the single out-going of His will and word whereas for creating the second it was necessary He should shake the Heavens send down His Son to earth deliver Him up to death and do miracles that astonished men and Angels It 's with this grand and incomprehensible mysterie of GOD that the Apostle entertaineth us my Brethren at this time in the Text which you have heard For having finished the exordium that is the Preface of this Epistle and intending from thence to enter on His principal subject to slip the more gently into it after representing to the Colossians the Prayers he made to GOD for them he now adds the thanks he offered Him for their common salvation and by this means opens the entry of his dispute touching the sufficiency and inexhaustible abundancy of JESUS CHRIST for saving of believers which leaves no need of making any addition to his Gospel Giving thanks unto the Father saith he who c As this Text consists of two verses so it may be divided into two articles In the first the Apostle giveth thanks unto GOD for His making us capable of entring into the inheritance of His Saints In the second is proposed what he hath done to make us capable of this happiness namely delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son These are the two points we will handle if it please the LORD in this action humbly beseeching Him to guide us in meditating so excellent a mysterie and touch our hearts so vively with it as that it
and Powers let us conclude that it must be taken as in other places where it is couched after the same manner simply and absolutely that is to say taken for the first and not the second Creation If there be liberty to do otherwise and to give it any where the sense we please without other reason then that of our own fond imagination who seeth not but that by such an overture there will be no longer any thing certain or assured left in Scripture For as these Hereticks by this cavilling gloss would deprive the LORD JESUS of the glory of the first Creation another might bereave the Father of it by the same means interpreting the passages of Scripture which affirm that GOD created the world not of its first Production by which it came out of nothing into being but mearly of a Reparation or a Renovation of the Universe and in consequence hereof pretend with some Philosophers that it was surely long before it was created but not in the condition and the form it afterward obtained But GOD forbid that Christians should ever suffer impiety to have such a licence over the Word of GOD. Let us keep religiously to the truths which the Scriptures teach us and receive their language with a candid and and sincere belief Let Heresie rise in commotion and be as unquiet as it will since the Apostle the mouth of Heaven and the trumpet of GOD proclaimeth That all things were created by the LORD JESVS receive we this sacred Verity believe it and confess it so much the rather for that it is not here alone but in divers other places beside that the Scripture teacheth it us For not to repeat here that which we touch'd afore out of the Epistle to the Ephesians where it is said That the Father created all things by JESVS CHRIST what can be said more expresly or directly then that we read in the beginning of S. John where this Divine Author speaking of the Word which was made flesh and whose glory himself and his Fellow-brethren saw and who was in the beginning with GOD saith aloud That all things were made by Him and without Him was not any thing made that was made and that the world was made by Him What can be uttered or conceived more clear than what we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews where the Apostle not content to have said at the entrance That the Father made the Worlds by his Son doth say of the Son a little after what the Prophet singeth LORD thou hast founded the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the works of thine hands Hebr. 1.10 Certainly this proof is so firm that all the Devils of Hell shall never be able to pluck it from us And nothing can be imagined more bruitish than that evasion which despair hath here inspir'd the Hereticks withal Though say they the Apostle have alledged these words of the Psalm yet his intention was not to apply them to CHRIST but the following words only Thou remainest and art the same and thy years shall not fail For is not this a plain giving the Apostle the lye who directly affirmeth that it is to the Son the holy Spirit saith LORD in the beginning thou hast laid the foundations of the earth Besides if this alledging of the Psalm do infer nothing else but that the Son is permanent and shall not fail it will be impertinent and not at all suffice for the Apostle's design in this place For his aim is to exalt the Son above the Angels but if the passage he brings for this purpose do conclude only that the Son is immortal and immutable who sees not that by this reckoning he attributes nothing to Him but what agreeth to the Angels also whose nature is likewise incorruptible and immutable Since then the Scope of the Apostle is to shew that JESUS CHRIST hath qualities which appertain not to the Angels and since on the other side the passage he alledgeth doth represent nothing of that kind but the creating of the world it must of necessity be acknowledged that it is the holy Apostle's intention to apply to the LORD principally this first part of the place wherein is said That He hath founded the earth and that the heavens are the work of His hands And so you see that the Supreme Wisdom begotten of the Father before all Ages which neither is nor can be any other than the LORD JESUS doth protest in the Book of Proverbs that it was with GOD its Eternal Father Prov. 3. when He created the World to shew us that it was the Governess and Superintendant of that great work And Moses represents it to us in the beginning of Genesis as far as the nature of the time and of the Old Testament would suffer For he reporteth GOD not creating any thing but by his Word He sheweth Him speaking at every part of His Work GOD said Let there be light GOD said Let there be a Firmament GOD said Let the waters be divided and let the day land appear and so in all the rest Whence comes it that so sage a Writer makes this Supreme and unspeakable Nature speak thus for the creating of each of His Works Let the Jew toil himself to the utmost he will never be able to give us a good and pertinent reason of it John 1.1 such as may content our minds But S. John calling the Son of GOD the Word unvails this secret to us shewing us that it is by this His Word the Father did create the world And Moses to signifie it mystically and in such sort as became that time represents GOD not creating ought but by speaking Be it then concluded against the obstinate fury of Hereticks that the LORD JESUS is the Creator of all things And this is so clear that the most part of those very men that deny His Eternal Divinity have not refused to acknowledge it as they in particular who after the name of their old Leader are commonly called Arrians these avouching that it is by Him the Father created the Universe at the beginning yet forbear not to deny that He is Eternal GOD of the same Essence with the Father Wherein as I confess they shew more modesty than the rest not having the forehead to reject what the Scripture doth so clearly exhibite So I must needs say they discover less perceivance and acuteness admitting a truth incompatible with the error which they hold For if the LORD JESUS did create the world as they say in concurrence with the Scripture do confess it must of necessity be granted that He is very JEHOVAH whom in time past Israel did adore which notwithstanding is the thing that they oppose This consequence appears first from what we noted afore That the Scripture never ascribes the action of Creating to any but GOD only Secondly from that in Isaiah the title of Creator is given to the true GOD to distinguish Him from creatures
the same infirmities and to the same necessity of dying and indeed they dyed after they had lived again awhile Their death was rather deferred than abolished Their bodies did corrupt and in the end return to that dust from which they were preserved for some years But with JESUS CHRIST it is not so He in coming forth from the dead retook not the life He had quitted that is the life of the first Adam that infirm natural and earthly life a life still subject unto death He left it in the Sepulchre where it must remain as in eternal oblivion He put on a new life and nature such as is spiritual and celestial as the Apostle elsewhere termeth it a life wholly full of strength and glory that is not subject either to the use of meat or sleep not subject to dolour or death a life appropriate to the second world and not to the first a nature peculiar to the future age not to the present Accordingly you see that being vested therewith he remained not on the earth This is the old Adam's element the habitation of corruption and death But having only sojourned there fourty days so long as was needful to assure His Apostles of the truth of His resurrection and to shew them in His own person the first-fruits of the mystical Canaan He ascended up above the Heavens to the true element of the new man and the Sanctuary of eternity Conclude we then that He is truly the beginning and the first-born from the dead since He is the first of all the dead that was born and raised again in incorruption But these titles signifie yet another thing namely that it shall be He who shall raise again all the members of the Church in like glory that He is the master and the Lord of the dead for the investing them one day in their order with a nature resembling His own according to what St. Paul elsewhere saith that He will make our vile body Phil. 3. like unto His own glorious body For He would not be the first-born from the dead if He did not communicate the priviledge and the possession of this second birth to all His brethren that is to say all the faithful The Apostle adds to the end that He might have the first place in all things Those that are well versed in the reading of these divine Books do know that the word to the end that is often put in them for so as that or in such a sort as even to signifie the event and consequence of an action rather than the intention or design of the agent I account that it must be so taken in this place For the intention of our LORD in being made Head of the Church and the beginning of the new life was rather to Save us and glorifie His Father then to obtain unto Himself the first place in all things Yet true it is that such was the success of this His undertaking as He actually hath the first place in all things For there are but two sorts of things one of those that pertâ—â—â—â—o the first world and its creation the other of those that are of the second world and of the regeneration CHRIST therefore being already the Master and Creator of the former it is evident that having been also established Head of the Church which is the State that consists of the latter and the beginning and first-born of the resurrection of the dead He doth obtain by this means the first place in all things that is to say both in those of the first creation whereof He is the author and in those of the second whereof He is the Head This is the conclusion which the Apostle deduceth from his whole precedent discourse there he said that the LORD is the image of the invisible GOD the first-born of every creature the Creator of the Elements and the Angels and moreover the Head of the Church the principle and the first-fruits of the new Creation now he addeth so as He hath the first place in all things This being as seems to me from hence clear enough there is no necessity we should make any longer stay upon the exposition of this Text. It remains that to conclude we do briefly touch at the duties to which the doctrine of the Apostle doth oblige us and the comforts which it doth afford us JESUS CHRIST saith he is the head of the body of the Church These few words if we meditate them as we ought will teach us all that we owe both of obedience to the LORD and of charity to our brethren and of care and respect to our selves As for the LORD since He hath vouchsafed to become our Head it is evident we ought to honour Him with utmost devotion and submit all the actions of our life to His conduct See with what promptitude the body obeyeth the head and with how absolute a submission it follows all its movings The body neither stirreth nor resteth but as the head ordereth It depends entirely on its guidance and never crosseth its orders or resisteth its commands The head hath no sooner conceived a thing but the spirits forthwith present themselves at the place it desireth and each of the members employeth all the vigor and strength it hath to execute its will This is an image of that obedience which the LORD our mystical Head demands of us and this is that which the Apostle meaneth elsewhere Eph. 5.24 when he saith that the Church is subject to Him It 's in vain therefore that they boast themselves to be the Church who do contrary to what the LORD ordaineth who are subject to another beside Him and instead of His orders follow the will of a mortal man owning another head adoring another oracle keeping what He hath forbidden Blessed be His Name for that He hath granted us to disclaim their errour and to hang all our religion upon His sacred lips believing only that truth which He hath revealed to us in His Gospel and engraven in our hearts by His Spirit But what will it profit us to follow Him in our faith if we resist in our manners How can he avouch for His Church a body subject to Mammon to pleasure to ambition and other idols of the world a body wholly bended down to the earth whereas this divine Head is lift up above the Heavens Dear Brethren let us not deceive our selves We cannot be the Church of CHRIST except we be His body and we cannot be His body except we depend absolutely on Him except we cast out of our members the spirit of the Flesh and of the world and take in His to follow it's light and obey it's movings Henceforth then let us so compose our life that it do not contradict our profession Let the LORD JESUS be truly our Head let Him be still above us let Him preside in all our designs let Him conduct our steps and govern all our motions and inspire into us
Son is not Eternal and co-essential with the * As the whose Church believeâ— Fathers but created and made by the will and good pleasure of the Father For the Apostle doth not speak here of the original of the perfections that are found in CHRIST but of their being united and met together in one and the same subject I acknowledge it is by the good pleasure of the Father and by the order of His will that the Godhead of the Son dwelleth in the Mediator But it thence follows that this Godhead of His is an effect of the Fathers will It was before it filled the Mediator The same Father who by His will united it to our flesh for the making up together with that flesh the person of CHRIST had communicated it to His Son from all Eternity by a natural act of His Eternal understanding that is to say by a Divine Generation Now it is not in vain that the Apostle here advanceth this assertion That it was the good pleasure of the Father all fulness should dwell in HIS CHRIST But he doth it with design to * Or settle confirm our Consciences in the Religion of the LORD JESUS only For these Colossians as we shall see hereafter were tamper'd with by Seducers who mingled the Mosaical Ceremonies with the Gospel and the worshipping of Angels with the service of the LORD the Apostle therefore doth here timely fortifie these Believers against this error and that by two excellent Reasons the first taken from the dwelling of all fulness in JESVS CHRIST Poor men saith he what seek you for either in Moses or in Angels we have all in JESUS CHRIST There is no good no perfection nor excellency either in GOD or in the Creature but dwelleth in this Soveraign LORD Having Him we have no need at all to go unto others since in Him we find all The other Reason is taken from the Will of GOD the supreme rule of Religion the only thing that is sufficient to settle the agitation and natural distrust of our Consciences As for JESUS CHRIST saith he it was the good pleasure of GOD that in Him should all fulness dwell The Father hath set up Him to be the spring of our salvation But as for Moses and Angels we do not see that ever it was the will of the Father to give them such a dignity Dear Brethren now that our faith is fought against with the like errors let us arm it also with the same reasons If the Adversary send us to Angels and Saints let us answer him that the LORD JESUS sufficeth us that having Him we can want nothing since all fulness dwelleth in Him I will not enquire for the present what these Angels and Saints are whom you recommend to me whether they have indeed that merit and that righteousness and that authority which I need for the expiation of my sin and for opening the house of GOD to me How rich and how abounding soever you represent them to me I may let pass their store this CHRIST whom I embrace having all fulness dwelling in Him Let them be all that you please they will want however some part of that infinite plentifulness which overfloweth in our CHRIST And how zealous soever you be for their glory yet you durst not presume to say that all fulness dwelleth in them How great is your imprudence to go hither and thither a groping in pits and cisterns while you have near you such a living and inexhaustible fountain Grant that the worshipping of Saints is not criminal which yet it evidently is it is notwithstanding superfluous forasmuch as it hath nothing in it but we find the same better in the fulness of JESUS CHRIST But the other consideration which the Apostle sets before us here is of no less force That it was the good pleasure of the Father all fulness should dwell in His CHRIST My Faith yea our Adversaries attends on the will of GOD. This will is its object and its rule I cannot rellish either Doctrine or Service that is not conform thereto Tell me how you know it is the good pleasure of GOD that this fulness of merit and power which you ascribe somtimes to Saints departed somtimes to your Pope and his Ministers doth indeed dwell in them As for the LORD JESUS whom I adore and in whom I seek all my bliss the Father hath proclaimed from Heaven That He is His welbeloved Son His Scriptures declare That He hath committed all judgment to Him and That all fulness dwelleth in Him But as for those others whom you have taken for objects of your Devotion and to whom you have recourse for your salvation you cannot shew me any thing semblable of them Certainly then it must be vouched that all your Devotion in this behalf is but a Will-worship founded only on your own passion and the fancy of your Leaders not upon the good pleasure of the Father It is strange fire that hath issued out of the earth and not been kindled from Heaven Such as cannot without crime either enter into or be used in the Sanctuary of GOD. But I return to the Apostle who having said That it was the good pleasure of the Father all fulness should dwell in CHRIST doth add And by Him to reconcile all things in Himself both those that are in Heaven and those that are in the earth This is the great Master-piece of the good pleasure of GOD the end for which His will was that the fulness of all Divine and Humane perfections should be seated in CHRIST And this is that which the particle and used by the Apostle doth signifie It doth not meerly connect the two parts of his discourse but importeth moreover the consecution and the dependance of the latter on the former as if He had said It was the good pleasure of the Father that in JESUS CHRIST should all fulness dwell and so reconcile or to the end that He might reconcile all things by Him For all this fulness which the Father would that His CHRIST should have dwelling in Him was necessary for His effecting this Reconciliation There needed he should have the power and the holiness and the wisdom of the Divinity and together with it the humility and the obedience and the meritorious sufferings of the Humanity that he might finish this design He could not have been able to re-unite Heaven and Earth with less preparations Let us see then what this work is this Reconciling the Apostle speaks of of all things Terrestrial and Celestial in GOD by JESVS CHRIST It is clear by the Scriptures that JESUS CHEIST hath by His death reconciled men unto GOD so as He hath appeased His wrath and opened to us the Throne of His grace as the Apostle teacheth us in divers places and particularly in the Epistle to the Romans Rom. 5.10 11. 2 Cor. 5.18 where he saith That we have been reconciled to GOD by the death of His Son and
that was born of the blessed Virgin and reciprocally the sufferings the qualities and the actions of the Flesh that was born of Mary are attributed to the Eternal Son of GOD as when the Scripture saith That GOD hath redeemed the Church with his own blood that the Lord of Glory was crucified that JESUS CHRIST is before Abraham was that he founded the Earth at the beginning and the Heavens are the work of his hands and other like expressions Dear Brethren such is the sense of these divine words of the Apostle Admire ye the force and the richness of the Scripture which hath in so few words blasted and beaten down all the inventions and dogmatizings of Error against the Truth both of the two Natures of our LORD and Saviour and of the union of them in His Person First These words do overthrow the impiety of those who bereave JESUS CHRIST of his Divinity and reduce Him to the degree and condition either of a meer Man or of a Person raised indeed above man yet made notwithstanding and created at the beginning as well as other Celestial and Terrestrial Creatures How can such blasphemy subsist before this Sacred Oracle which proclaimeth not simply the Divinity but that the Godhead and not this simply neither but that the fulness of the Godhead yea to omit nothing that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily If He be but a Man and no more no part of this fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him neither its Power nor its Wisdom neither its Goodness nor its Justice neither its Glory nor its Eternity For none of these Divine qualities do dwell in one who is but a man We must avouch that he hath in him verily those Perfections that fill up the Godhead that is the Divine Nature or deny that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him But if you grant me as deny it you cannot without giving the Apostle the lye that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him you must of necessity confess also that he is GOD no one if he be not GOD being capable of receiving holding and having in himself the fulness of GOD. For this fulness being infinite there is none but GOD that can contain it since there is not any but he alone who is infinite Now it dwelleth all in our LORD JESUS CHRIST It must therefore of necessity be confessed That He is GOD of a Nature infinite Whereby the frigid and frivolous evasions of those impious men are refuted who taking away from JESUS CHRIST the reality and true glory of Divinity do leave him the name of it and make a titular GOD of him a GOD as they speak created and raised up a while since who hath but the title of GOD not the nature the office not the essence Who can sufficiently detest the audaciousness of these Wretches that by this impiety of theirs do overthrow all the ground-work of the Scripture which hath insinuated nothing more clearly or more expresly than the one-ness of the true GOD Who is too so jealous of his glory as that he forbiddeth us upon pain of death to give his Name or his Worship or his Attributes unto any Creature of what quality soever If JESUS CHRIST be not the true Eternal GOD Creator of the Heavens and the Earth how will you miserable men avoid this condemnation you that give him the name and the adoration of the true GOD But S. Paul lays all their subtilty in the dust by saying formally here that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily The fulness of the Godhead is not an empty name or a titular dignity It is that which fills it it is that gloriousness it is that light it is that nature that truth and that perfection wherewith the Godhead is full It 's this therefore that dwells in JESUS CHRIST the substance of a true and real Divinity not an hollow and a vain shadow it 's the thing and not the title of Deity But as the Apostle doth by these words convince the impiousness of such as bereave our LORD and Saviour of the glory of his Divinity so doth he likewise confound the extravagancy of others who deprive him of his human nature foolishly affirming that he had but a false appearance in that kind For here are two subjects clearly represented to us one that dwelleth to wit the fulness of the Godhead another in which this fulness dwelleth to wit JESUS CHRIST the one is the Temple the other is the GOD that resideth in the same the one our Saviours Human nature the other the Eternal Son of the Father Two real and veritable subjects by the wonderful uniting whereof this sacred and adorable Sanctuary of GOD is made up and composed To take away the truth either of his Godhead with the former or of his Flesh with the latter is to destroy the Fabrick Again these words of the Apostle do in like manner overthrow the error of those who have corrupted the union of these two natures in JESUS CHRIST on one hand by dividing them as did the Nestorians on the other by confounding them as did the Eutycheans For if we sever JESUS CHRIST into two Persons the fulness of the Godhead will not dwell bodily in his Flesh This Man will have but gifts of the Divinity which are as it were some draughts and lineaments of it He will not have the Truth and the very Body of it Neither may it be reply'd That the Temple in which GOD resideth is a substance different from his Person For the Body is the residence of the Soul yet Soul and Body have but one and the same subsistence and do constitute but one and the same Person So as the dwelling of the Son in his Human nature as in his Temple doth not hinder but that this Human nature of his doth subsist with him in one and the same Person Yet though we may not divide these two Natures of our LORD it doth not follow that we must mix and confound them as they do who define the union of them by the Human nature its being made equal with the Divine and will have it to be become infinite and immense and endowed really in its self with all the properties of the Divine nature The Apostle saith indeed that the fulness of the Godhead dwells in CHRIST but he saith not that his Flesh was really chang'd into the Godhead The body by being personally united to the soul doth not thereby become soul It conserveth its own nature and hath only this advantage by that strict conjunction which knits it with the soul that they subsist together and make up but one and the same person Just so the Flesh of our LORD by the Word 's dwelling in it becomes one self-same Person with it being truly the body and the soul and in one word the nature of the Son of GOD yet it still keeps its original beeing and essential properties
the New Testament were then but fore-told and promised not fully and clearly revealed as now by their accomplishment they have been by means whereof it was meet that during all that time they should be exercis'd in the observing of these typical rites and held in and kept under the Pedagogie of Moses until the fulness of time according to the Apostle's Doctrine in the Epistle to the Galatians Now that JESUS CHRIST hath openly exhibited the very body of truth and fully brought to light all the causes and motives of true sanctification these exercises of the Church's infancy are no longer seasonable and they that still stick to them are no less ridiculous than he that would still keep up the centries of a vault or the models of a building even after the Fabrick is finish'd and brought to its perfection or retain under a School-master's Ferule and in the restraints of childhood a man grown up and come to ripeness of years This is that we had to say for the exposition of this Text. It remaineth for a conclusion that we extract those instructions and consolations which if we meditate on it attentively it will afford us First Since the Apostle assureth us that we are compleat in CHRIST you see how vain those mens pretensions are who set forth certain rules of perfection as they call them beyond the Gospel Let us content our selves with our LORD's fulness and seek our perfection in him alone And instead of amusing our selves about the inventions of men embrace and practise CHRIST's Discipline advancing daily towards the utmost degree of perfectness For we may not flatter our selves with an imagination that a man may nevertheless appertain to him though he lead an wholly vicious and corrupt life S. Paul here protesteth plainly to us that all such as are in him are made compleat Whence it necessarily follows that such as are not compleat are without his communion and by consequence should not promise themselves any share in his salvation it being prepared for those only that are in him If this Doctrine do trouble us let us impute it to our vices and our loosness and taking once this truth to heart with all our might endeavour after that perfection which is in JESUS CHRIST accounting that without it we cannot possess either his grace in this world or his glory in the world to come I well know that to speak absolutely no one is perfect and that if we compare our condition on earth with that in heaven all our perfections are but weaknesses Yet it is true that JESUS CHRIST doth even in this life in some sense compleat his faithful ones and this perfection which he giveth them is not a vain name or an imagination It 's a thing and a most real truth it is a piety and charity sincere and free and without hypocrisie which though it sometimes fail doth notwithstanding produce true fruits and works quite different from those of Worldlings and Hypocrites according to what our LORD said even that if your righteousness do not exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven Object not that you are yet on earth and that perfection is not to be found but in heaven and that to live as an Angel one should be without a body It is not the perfection of Heaven that we demand of you The LORD will not reject you for having not had in this life the transcendent brightness of the next But though a child be not obliged to conduct his life with as much prudence and reason as a man of years it doth not follow that he hath licence to live without rule and in the debanches and disorders of slaves Every Age hath its bounds and its measures and its perfection Our childhood here below must not be without discipline under the pretence that it is not come to full growth Christians I complain not that there are defects in your knowledg and practice which have no place in Heaven but that there are in you vices which ought to have no place on earth I blame you not for that there is a great difference between you and Angels but that there is none between you and worldly men I require not what is above the strength of your age but what is worthy of your profession and doth not at all exceed your light I beseech you only to labour as much for JESUS CHRIST as the children of this generation do for the interests of their lusts This doth not exceed the capacity of our nature since you see what the servants of sin do and it s necessarily your duty except you imagine that we owe less to JESUS CHRIST than Worldlings do to their foolish and vain passions The first piece of that compleatness which we have in him is this Divine Circumcision which is not made with hand but by the efficacy of his Spirit Without it we can have neither place in the communion of his people nor right to his Inheritance It 's a Circumcision of which we may truly say that every soul that shall not have receiv'd it shall be cut off from his people The Apostle shews us wherein it consists to wit in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh JESUS CHRIST hath put the sword in our hand that 's necessary to cut away this wretched flesh namely his sacred word wherein he discovers the horridness of sin and infernal venom of vices and the vanity and iniquity of all the lusts of the flesh He hath shew'd us the perdition which they that serve it fall into and hath put it to death on his Cross and buried it in his Sepulcher He hath spread before our eyes the wonders of GOD's love and the eternity of the Kingdom appointed for faithful servants He hath given us rules and examples of this part of our sanctification in his Gospel and in his life and offereth us the lights and consolations of his Spirit to lead us in this work Grasp we then this Divine Knife of his Gospel Thrust it hardily in to our hearts and cut out thence all the impurity of the vices that are there Let us rid our selves of them and cast them behind us Exterminate all the productions of the flesh as execrable things Leave not one of them in our selves Having subdued Avarice combat Ambition Pluck out Luxury and all its passions from our inward parts Root up Hatred and Wrath and Cruelty and spare the life of none of these Monsters Let us not rest until we have cleansed our hearts of all this cursed brood For it is not enough to have cut off some of them One sole Enemy abiding in our bosome is able to destroy us The body of the sins of the flesh must be put off saith the Apostle and not one or two of its sins only I confess the labour is hard but it is necessary and that at all times for it is the
confess I have done wrong to accuse you of crossing the doctrine of S. Paul But who knows not that it is a devotion for dayes and not the profit of men that makes you observe them You believe you do GOD service in this very thing that you feast one day and fast another You give it to the dignity of the day and not to the necessity of order or to your edification neither do you esteem dayes alike Those which you observe you set up very high above others not only by reason of the Church's command but because they have the honour to represent and signify some mysterious thing Accordingly you hold that besides the use which Festivals may be of for your instruction and your having time for works of piety your very solemnizing of them is a Religious act such as makes up a part of Divine service and is as you say meritorious in the sight of GOD which is exactly the opinion and the practice of those whom the Apostle in this place doth oppose For they condemned Christians not for absence from the assembly of the Church on the day appointed for it or for having profaned such howers in the world as were destin'd unto the service of GOD or for having scandaliz'd their neighbour by this kind of fault but only and precisely as you do for not having celebrated a Festival-day What shall I say of the other point to wit the use of and abstinence from meats The Apostle saith Let no man judge you in eating In conscience dare you affirm that you judge none of the faithful in this behalf What mean then those so rigorous laws of yours against them that eat any flesh those laws of yours that deprive Christians of this liberty for more then one third of the year and condemn that man who during all this time shall tast one bit of Bief or Mutton to as heavy penalties as if he had committed a deadly sin You are come so far as you look not upon those who violate these fine laws as sinners You abhorr them as proâ—ne persons and Atheists and count them not for Christians Is not this a grave and holy discipline and well worthy of S. Paul and JESUS CHRIST to make the service of GOD consist in meat whereof neither abstinence Matth. 15. 1 Cor 8 8. Rom. 14.17 nor use as reason sheweth every one and as our Saviour and His Apostle do teach doth pollute or sanctify doth bring loss or gain it being a thing purely indifferent in it's self good or evil only as it hurts or helps the interests of temperance and charity But we shall have shortly a fitter occasion to speak unto you of this subject more at large For the present Beloved Brethren make your profit I beseech you of S. Pauls instruction Use the liberty which the LORD JESUS hath obtained for you as His Apostle doth declare It is not reasonable that men should take from you what GOD hath given you and bought with the precious bloud of His Son Only see Gal. 5.13 that you take not this liberty for an occasion to live after the flesh Lay by shadows since you are no longer children But embrace the body which is in JESUS CHRIST His Kingdom is neither meat nor drink and no one will He condemn for having eaten any of the things which he hath created for the faithful to use with thanksgiving If He otherwhile prohibited some of them it was to deliâ—â—ate and figure out by this fleshly abstinence that which is mystical and spiritual whereunto He hath shaped you by His cross Your abstinence Christian is to renounce the meat that perisheth to loath the passions and productions of vice whereon the world doth feed It nourisheth it's self with the works of sin Avarice and ambitions and injustice and luxury and the ordures of wantoness and the infamous sweets of revenge are the aliments it runs after and cannot live without This is O ye faithful that flesh the usage whereof is forbidden you This is the Lent which JESUS CHRIST and His Apostles have in truth enjoyned a Lent to be observed not fourty dayes only but all the year long even that we abhorr what is evil that we eschew vice as poison that our lives be pure and innocent and clean from all the filthines of the flesh This is in truth that abstinence that makes a Christian and without which no man can have place among the members of CHRIST Gal. 5.24 6.14 For they that are His have crucify'd the flesh with the affections and lusts therefore The world is crucify'd to them It 's provisions it's pleasures it's allurements are had in execration of them Whoever he be that fasteth this Lent exactly he shall have part in the resurrection of CHRIST JESUS Not a man shall attain thereto otherwayes Prosecute it in good earnest Christian Souls and powerfully mortify in your selves all the lusts of this accursed flesh which perisheth it's self and will make all those perish too that desire it's delights and cannot wean themselves from it's deadly dainties See what JESUS CHRIST hath done and suffer'd for the destroying of it See the excellency of that other divine food on which He would have you live Your true food is to fulfil the will of His Father This is the food of the Prince of glory and of all His Angels food that is holy and immortal which will leave in your Souls a divine relish and contentment much better then all the feasts on earth and after the consolations wherewith it will solidly strengthen your consciences in this life eternally repast you in the Heavens with the delights of blissful immortality Brethren this is the body whereof the abstinence of the Jews was the shadow and delineation only As for their festivals they were also figures verily not of those in Rome which to say true are meer shadows and weak repesentations themselves no less then these of the Jews only they are instituted by men whereas the Jewish were ordeined of GOD they were I say figures of the resting and spiritual contentment of the faithful Origen against Cels s. l. 8. p. 404. Our festival as one of the ancients heretofore answered a Pagan that reproached Christians for their having none our festival is to do our duty to worship GOD and offer Him the unbloudy sacrifices of our holy supplications to rest from our own works and entirely sequester our selves to the work of GOD to exterminate from among us that really servile and mechanick labour of vitious actions and spend our lives in the truly noble and divine exercise of Sanctification Our Passeover is to eat the flesh of the Lambe to make use of His bloud to pass out of Egypt unto Canaan out of the world unto GOD and from Earth to Heaven leaving the things that are behind and advancing daily towards the mark and prize of our calling Our Pentecost is to converse with CHRIST in heavenly places
of Christians and the corruption of their manners Therefore the Apostle St. Paul having refuted in the precedent Chapter as you have heard the pretended services and mortifications of the false Teachers of his time that the faithful to whom he writes might utterly be disgusted at and turned away from the same does now lay before them the just offices and legitimate exercises of Christian piety the body of holiness instead of shadows the solid doctrine of the LORD JESUS instead of the vain and childish lessons of superstition the true mortifying of the flesh instead of the seducers unprofitable macerations and an abstinence from sin and the lusts thereof instead of abstinence from certain meats in fine Heaven instead of the earth As a prudent gardiner who after he hath pluck'd up the bad or unprofitable herbs of his garden and well cleans'd the ground casts in good seeds that are worthy to take up the earth and capable of yielding fruits useful for the food of men Withal the Apostle by this means prevents an objection that superstition usually makes For being not able to maintain its petty services as holy and necessary in themselves it hath been wont to alledge that whatever they be otherwaies it is yet better for Christians to employ themselves in them than to abide idle The Apostle takes from it this vain colour shewing the faithful that they have another task which is much more worthy and much more noble to wit the study and practise of true sanctity so that superstition is guilty not only of a superfluous diligence but of a pernicious temerity in diverting Christians from their legitimate and necessary work by those voluntary exercises wherewith it pretends to charge them Let us then Dearly beloved Brethren keep off from the vain institutions of superstition whether ancient or modern and keep to the discipline of St. Paul Let us meditate let us study and practise what he enjoyneth us and assure our selves that in following and observing his rule exactly we shall have neither time nor will nor need to busie our selves after the rules of men He employes all the remainder of this Epistle in these Divine documents and in the beginning of this Chapter after he hath raised our hearts to Heaven he represents unto us the general duties of sanctification that are necessary for all Christians thence passing unto particulars he instructeth married persons children fathers servants and masters in what they owe to one another as you shall hear if GOD please in the sequel of these actions For the present to explain the exhortation which he hath plac'd at the head of this excellent tract and the words whereof we have read to you we will consider by the grace and assistance of the Holy Ghost first the precept it containeth that we do seek the things which are above and then in the second place the two reasons upon which he foundeth it one taken from our being risen again with CHRIST and the other from J. CHRIST His sitting on high at the right-hand of GOD and we shall observe upon each particular as briefly as we may the instructions and lessons they afford us either for our edification and consolation in general or particularly for our preparation to that holy and mystical repast unto which the LORD JESUS invites us against the next LORD'S Day The ancient Greeks e're-while ascribed to that Philosopher of theirs whom they most esteemed the glory of having brought down wisdom from Heaven to the earth because he was the first that fixed the minds of his Scholars on the considering of their own nature and what we owe either to our selves or to other men whereas the Sages that liv'd before him busied themselves in nothing but the contemplating of Heaven and its motions and the natural things that depend upon the same But the LORD JESUS the true Prince of Wisdom and Verity instructs us quite otherwise than that man did who verily was but a blind leader of the blind For all the Philosophy of JESUS CHRIST is to loosen us from the earth and lift us up to Heaven and so fix our minds and affections there as we may dwell even for the present and converse and have our souls incessantly there how far distant so-ever our bodies be from that happy habitation It is very true as that poor Pagan judged that the contemplating of the Sun and the Planets and the other Stars and the searching out of their motions and the admiring of their beauty their light their greatness and other qualities which was all the employment of the Heathens first Philosophy doth not much conduce to the perfection of our manners and the felicity of our lives But neither is it upon that that JESUS CHRIST doth fix us He hath discovered to us other things on high within that nobler part of the World which are infinitely more excellent and more necessary and such as if that Pagan had seen them he would have made no difficulty to confess that true wisdom consisteth not in staying ones self here below on the earth but in ascending up to Heaven for the viewing the loving and admiring of them continually For first He hath revealed to us there an holy and a glorious City seated above nature and all its elements a City not mutable and subject to perish as inferiour things but founded permanent and eternal the sanctuary of life and immortality which GOD hath builded and in which He hath displayed all the wonders of His power and wisdom the dwelling place which He hath prepared for such among men as embracing His promises by Faith shall live here below in His fear and obey His commandments and where He hath aleady gathered in and consecrated in His rest the spirits of such of the faithful as He hath fetch'd out of the present World CHRIST hath made us see that it is there those blessed ones do dwell with the armies of holy Angels and that it 's thither He went Himself when He had finished the work of our redemption upon earth It 's in this mystical Paradise that the true Tree of Life doth grow It 's there that the rivers of pleasure do run There shineth the true Sun that never sets There are kept those divine flowers that can neither be fouled nor fade with which the piety and patience of Saints shall be one day crowned It 's there that GOD manifesteth himself to His servants and shews them the mervails of His countenance unveiled and feeds them and fills them with joy and transforms them by this vision into so many living images of His eternal and blessed nature It 's there is true glory and true pleasure an honour a felicity and a magnificence the idea whereof never entred either into our senses or into the very thoughts of our heart in comparison whereof all the pomp of the Earth and the glory of this Heaven in which we see the Sun and the Stars go their rounds is but a shadow
and a vapour Again as the creatures there possess true glory so do they exercise true sanctity All of it that 's seen here below is but a little sparkle of the perfection of those blessed inhabitants of that coelestial City The love they bear to their LORD is there perfect as well as the knowledge they have of Him Charity towards our neighbour concord union truth do there reign absolute Their souls have neither affections nor desires but which are conform unto the will of GOD. The light of his face governeth all their motions and shedding abroad its self continually upon them maintains them in an eternal holiness peace and blessedness The LORD JESUS hath discovered to us all these wonders above the Heavens having brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel But further He hath certified us to that these are things which concern us and pertain to us and opened by His cross and resurrection the way that will most assuredly bring us to them If we have the courage to follow Him of what condition or quality so-ever we may be He will congregate us to this holy company of His servants receiving our souls into His bosome upon their departure from this earth and raising up our poor bodies themselves one day revested with His immortality and His glory These be Dear Brethren the things which are above that the Apostle willeth we do seek in the same sense that our Saviour commands us in the Gospel Matth. 6.33 to seek the Kingdom of GOD and His righteousness signifying by that term First that we propose Heaven and Eternity to our selves for the utmost end of our whole life and place our supreme happiness in this rich possession that we make it our grand and only design And secondly that we employ in this noble persuit all the might we have seriously using all the means that the Word of GOD prescribeth us faith invocation piety sanctity and flee as a mortal pest every thing that keeps us off or turneth us aside from this mark For Prov. 21.25 as to the slothful who does nothing all day but desire and sets not his hand to the work he hath no part in those heavenly things His desire kills him saith the wise man as one that feeds on nothing but wind there must be knocking there must be seeking there must be working out our salvation with fear and trembling This treasure is not for cold and languid wills that evaporate altogether in vain wishings It shall be that man's prize who shall take it with an ardent and a generous courage and impulsed with a violent affection spare neither pain nor watching nor labour to obtain it That which the Apostle commandeth us in the following verse namely to mind the things which are above doth amount to well-neer the same sense For the word he useth comprehends the two actions of our souls towards objects we love the one a considering them and thinking on them the other a desiring and embracing them in our affections So you see he obligeth us first to list up our hearts to Heaven where the LORD JESUS is and to have that blessed Kingdom continually before our eyes which GOD hath there prepared for us together with all those great eternal good things wherein it consisteth He requireth that this thought do fill our souls day and night that it be the thought that hath superiority in them that governs all the motions of them the thought that regulateth our resolutions and decideth all our doubts That in all things which shall present themselves we ever reflect hereon to see how they refer unto it and whether they be compatible with it Such was the practise of the Father of the faithful He looked saith the Apostle for a City that hath foundation And Moses the grand legislator of the Jews He had regard saith the same Apostle unto the recompence that is as he explains himself in the Text They minded the things which are above And this thought as you see is also necessarily conjoynt with affection with an ardent desire of possessing such amiable and excellent things and with a stedfast hope of enjoying them at length This is then my Brethren the first of those two duties which the Apostle requireth of us to wit that we seek the things which are above Now unto it he annexeth a prohibition which follows necessarily from it namely that we seek not the things which are upon the earth Heaven and earth being so opposite as it is is not possible but they who seek the things of the one must renounce the things of the other The things of the earth are as you know the goods of the World riches gold silver honours pleasures and the like all that which earthly men the children of this generation do esteem and passionately love He does not mean we should have no care at all about the necessaries of the present life for the good things that refer thereto being gifts of GOD which we cannot be without one may both acquire and serve himself of them with thanksgiving yet not cleave unto them and use them yet not abuse them And the Apostle you know other-where commands us to have care of our families and to do every one his own business and to labour with our hands that we may carry our selves honestly towards them that are without and that we may have lack of nothing But he forbids us to seek the things of the earth in the same sense that he commanded us to seek those of Heaven that is to place our chief good in them and to desire them with choicest affection and prefer them before any other consideration It 's thus that those men sought the things of the earth Phil. 3.12 Luke 14. of whom the Apostle saith elsewhere that the belly was their God and they gloried in their shame and those in the Gospel-parable who preferred the care of their fields and of their oxen and the love of their wives before the call of Heaven Such a one in the Old Testament was that Esan who chose a little pottage of lentils rather than his primogeniture Such in the New were those sordid Gadarens who would have the Son of GOD be gone because He had made them lose their swine and those that love their fathers or mothers or brethren or other alliances or their worldly possessions more than the LORD JESUS or that prefer the praise of men before the praise of GOD. Such a one also was that besotted rich man who thought himself happy enough because he had goods laid up for many years and dreamt of nothing but enjoying them Now though the bare dignity of heavenly things and the meer meanness and unprofitableness of earthly things should be sufficient to recommend the former and to disgust us at the latter yet the Apostle for the swaying of us to duties so just as these sets before us two excellent reasons the first whereof is drawn from our
with so rich a portion not envy any of the creatures the perfections and happiness they have Our whole life would be a perpetual feastival whereon free from the travail and turmoil of worldlings contemplating in spirit the glory of the Palace of our LORD meditating His promises breathing after His benefits and enjoying them for the present by faith and Hope we should in repose wait for the blessed day of our glorious triumph But alas how far are we from such a felicity This wretched and perishing earth is the sole object of our minds Our souls are no less fastned to it than our bodies It swalloweth up all our thoughts it possesseth our affections it takes up our cares and our labours and hath the use of all our time We have no desires and love but for the false goods which it sheweth us nor fear and horrour but for the evils wherewith it threatneth us As for Heaven and the things it comprehendeth we are so far from seeking them that we not so much as think of them except it be dreamingly or in manner of a divertisement when we are told of them in this place looking on the stately representations which JESUS CHRIST hath drawn us of them as an empty picture fair indeed and pleasing but good for nought saving to feed our eyes with a short and bootless pleasure not attracting nor engaging our desires This is the cause why our whole life is miserable full of griefs and fears of weaknesses of regrets and infelicities The least strokes overturn us the least losses and slightest afflictions bear us down because not being fastned to Heaven the only firm and sure place of the World we fluctuate exposed to the mercy of all that comes against us And as children cannot be appeased when their puppets are taken from them because they have set all their affection on them so are we seized and do take on when we come to lose some of these toyes of the earth There is no way to comfort us because we have fastned our hearts to them And to say truth our condition is worse than other mens they at least are subject but to the evils that either the infirmity of nature or as they call it the inconstancy of fortune do bring with them whereas besides these the bad Christian who is not a Christian but in name is moreover exposed to the persecution of the World so as to say plainly there is nothing more foolish nor more wretched than he who hath part in the temporal sufferings and hardships of true beleevers and none at all in their consolation or blessedness inasmuch as his profession exposes Him to the hatred of the World and his vice excludes him from the Kingdom of GOD. Awake then ye that are worldly and come once out of so dangerous an errour Let not the trumpet of Heaven the voice of our great Apostle have founded now in your ears in vain Do not add this contempt to your other crimes He hath advertised you of your duty He hath declared the reasons that oblige you to it Take heed lest if you shut your ears against JESUS CHRIST who speaks by His mouth you perish in the end with this earth and the things you seek on it How do you not perceive that you shall never find there the happiness you seek Why hath not the experience of so many millions of persons who daily spend themselves in this vain labour taught you that the things of the earth are all of them but vanities and illusions transient figures which promise pleasure honour and contentment but afford none which do not cure the maladies of the body nor of the soul which infinitely toil out those that seek them and never fill the hearts of those that possess them multiplying their desires and their fears inflaming and envenoming their passions instead of extinguishing them which are subject to infinite mutations which men and elements may bereave you of every moment and which considering the short and uncertain duration of the life we lead here below you can enjoy but a very little time supposing that nothing does deprive you of them before death At that time Matt. 16.26 What will it profit a man to have gained the whole world and lose his own soul It is sure a blindness incredible to one that saw it not I do not say that a Christian who hath hopes of the world to come but that even any reasonable man should adhere with so ardent and obstinate a passion unto such wretched and fruitless things We perceive it and confess it and make the bravest discourses in the World upon it and after all that false lustre which we behold in these things hath such a faculty to bewitch our senses that not a person but lets himself be caught thereby But the worst is that besides errour and vanity there 's in it a tendency to eternal damnation For men may not slatter themselves None can serve two Masters nor look on Heaven and earth both together He that seeks the one must of necessity renounce the other it being no more possible to seek than it 's to find at once the things beneath and those which are above Faithful Brethren choose you and take the better part and leaving worldly men to labour in vain after the things of the earth and to seek in it what they shall never find turn you your hearts and eyes towards Heaven as the Apostle calleth you to do There Christian is the felicity you desire There dwelleth rest and joy and immortality and the perfection of both soul and body These are the only things that are truly worthy of your prayers and your pains Seek them and mind them night and day Give your selves no rest till you have found them and do feel the first-fruits and beginnings of them in your hearts Let these thoughts sweeten your sufferings and consolate your losses T is in vain that you threaten me ye people of the World You cannot deprive me of what I possess nor hinder me from finding what I seek since upon the things of Heaven you have no power Whatever you bereave me of the best part of my treasure and the only part that deserves that appellation will still remain entire to me Let the same thought arm us against all tentations Thou Tempter promisest me the things of the earth but I seek those of Heaven which thou canst not dispose of Though I should lose all I have here below even to this flesh its self yet shall I find it again with a thousand-fold increase in Heaven Let this thought again keep us continually busied in the good and worthy actions of piety charity and honesty Let our manners resemble those of the inhabitants of that divine City which wee seek Let the light of their knowledge the ardency of their love the purity of their affections shine forth now betimes in our lives 'T is that to which that new nature JESUS
here that CHRIST is our life doth not simply signifie that He is the cause and author of our life but that it fully and wholly dependeth upon Him that without Him and separate from Him we have not a drop nor spark of life and that it is in Him alone we have all the being all the moving and all the feeling that respects the life of Heaven In very deed it is He that hath merited it for us by His death It is He that hath brought it to light by His Gospel It 's He hath shewed us a most accomplish'd pattern of it in His person at His issuing out of His sepulchre It 's He that hath given us the first-fruits of it by His word and Spirit and conserveth and increaseth them in us by His benediction It is He that keeps the fulness of it for us in His treasury on high as being the true Father of eternity And lastly it is He that taking this glorious life out of His heavenly cabinet one day will put it on us with His own hand Besides we do possess neither the beginnings nor the perfection of it but in Him and by the benefit of our communion with Him in that we are members and branches of His which cannot live but united with their head and incorporated in their vine The Apostle therefore saith that when this soveraign and only author of our life shall appear then we also shall appear in glory He hath appeared once already but in the flesh as the Apostle sayes GOD was manifested in the flesh He shall appear again a second time but in glory It 's this second appearing he doth mean when the LORD JESUS descending from the Heavens with the host of His Angels and seating Himself on a judicial Throne shall openly shew to all the creatures of the World His Glory and Godhead which the Heavens that contain his flesh on high and the weaknesses that cover His mystical body here below do now hide from the earth as we lately said Then saith the Apostle shall you also appear with Him in Glory At the coming of this sweet and happy season you as plants in the spring shall receive your life which from that sacred stock wherein it is now conserved shall be diffused into you and into all the other branches of this vine of GOD and crown you at an instant with its eternal verdure The glory whereof he speaks doth signifie the light the perfections the wonders and the pomp of blissful life perfect knowledge of GOD love and sanctity and joy the immortality of our bodies their beauty their brightness their strength and impassibility and in fine all the pieces of that infinite good the grandeur and excellency whereof we shall never distinctly comprehend untill the time that we possess it We shall then appear in this glory first because beside the first-fruits of it which we have JESUS CHRIST shall give us the fulness of it which we have not this undoubtedly the greatest and most illustrious part of His glory which now remaineth hidden in Him being then to be shed abroad upon us Secondly because the World which now despiseth and treads us under foot shall then see us in this glorious estate And as CHRIST our head shall be seen with astonishment by those that sometime pierced Him so they that now outrage His members shall then see them in their glory and be constrained to change their opinion and to acknowledge those for children of GOD and Saints of His whom in the present World they do deride and make by-words of Wisd â— 3 as saith the Book of Wisdome Thus you see Beloved Brethren what kind of life it is which JESUS CHRIST doth promise and communicate unto His faithful ones to wit the fruit of our faith and of that divine food which we have taken this morning the life of Angels the crown of Saints a super-eminent and eternal felicity in conjunction with a super-eminent and immortal glory It 's the rich treasury the living and inexhaustible spring of our consolation and sanctification Judge I beseech you what manner of persons they should be that have so high and so divine an hope and if it be not reasonable we should withdraw our thoughts and our affections from the earth to elevate them unto Heaven since it is there our life is and thence that we expect our chief happiness Christian are you not asham'd to long for earth you that have title for Heaven to labour for the meat that perisheth you that are destinated to a life which perisheth not to run after shadows you that in JESUS CHRIST have the substance of true and solid happiness How much more generous and constant are the children of this generation in their vanity Those of them that are of noble extraction and especially they that are brought up in hope of a Crown would not for any thing have a mechanick trade or foul themselves in sordid actions and even nations there are among whom they totally refrain from commerce with other men and account themselves defiled and profaned by having but touched a plebeian And you that are the issue of Heaven a child of the most High a brother of His Angels and an Heir of His kingdom you that are bred up with divine manna in the hope of an heavenly life and an immortal crown how have you the heart to grope in the mud and heap up dung to intermix with the miserablest bond-men of the earth and the profanest workers of iniquity A King's son heretofore refused to contend in the publick games because he saw no Kings do it Christian remember the dignity of your name separate your self from the exercises and divertisements of the people of the world Leave them the earth out of which they come and unto which they shall return Enter not into so ignoble and fordid a race in which you see none run but children of the earth the race of Mammon and the brood of vipers and serpents Purifie your hearts and your bodies let it never betide you to defile them with base and terrene either thoughts or actions Say not what shall we eat what shall we drink wherewithal shall we be clothed These are the thoughts and cares of bond-men These are the discourses of Pagans This is all they seek You that are Christians and whose life is hid in JESUS CHRIST seek His kingdom and His righteousness Let this be your ambition and all the passion of your souls Let this divine life and the glory wherewith it will one day crown you in the fight of Heaven and earth be night and day the object of your thoughts Take it away even at the present with an holy impatiency Begin betimes to live as you shall live eternally Let the contemplating of GOD let the love of His beauties let the meditating of His mysteries let the considering of and a conversing with His CHRIST be your employment and your refreshment in the present World
old man are left sound and whole to stretch out the one upon the ground and lye in ashes while the others are in pleasure It is not by an hair-cloth nor a whip that vices are subdued These things incommodate the body but do not sure amend the soul They humble the out-side they hurt not within But leave the old man there at full liberty with his thoughts and lusts And it is not without reason the Apostle advertiseth us else-where that bodily exercise profits little 1 Tim. 4.8 Experience hath justified his words the lives of those that addict themselves to such exercises being no better yea sometimes worse than the lives of others And it is not long ago The Jesuit Tetavius l. 5 c. 3. de la penit publique since Truth drew this confession from the penn of one of our greatest adversaries that such exercises do many times much hurt even mens spiritual advancement because of a secret opinionativeness and pride which they beget and feed in some spirits who become arrogant and haughty upon them and take occasion from them to contemn those that lead a more moderated life The Apostle therefore would have us instead of these childish and poorly profitable exercises to lay our our labour upon the mortifying of the members of the old man that is our 〈◊〉 And it is to the same intention of his that I referr what he addeth namely that these members are upon the heart which is a thing excellently noted what way soever you consider it For first these vices are all upon the earth if you respect either their rise or their business or lastly their end and desires It 's clear they all spring up out of the earth from admiration and coveting of earthly things they all creep on the earth in its excrements or in its fruits and rise no higher than its fumes and vapours wretchedly cleaveing to these sordid vanities which they feel to fleet away and perish between their hands while they gripe them and are enjoying them Where is covetousness Where is luxury Where is gluttony and ambition What seek they for What desire they For what do they toil themselves Sure you plainly see that the earth is their only element that the metal which the one desires and the flesh which the other longeth for and the messes that the third breaths after and the vanities that are the passion of the latter I say you plainly see that all this is but earth or fruits and productions of the earth They are then to say true these members of the old man that fasten us to the earth and not the members of this body it is sin and not simply this flesh For as to our body it needs but a little for its conversation during that little time we pass here below whereas the desires of vice are infinite Whence it follows according to the Apostle's conception that it is vice we are to mortifie and not the body the members of the old man and not those of the body Then again if you consider the place destinated to be the abode of the one and the other nature you will further see that the members of the old man that is vices are not but upon the earth It 's there they make their spoyl and exercise all their tyranny there they live there they dye there they rot unprofitably consuming themselves in their own wretched filthinesse They have no place in Heaven where enters nothing but what is pure where perfect sanctity liveth and reigneth eternally crowned with immortal glory But the members of our bodies which superstition fastens ou◠and ridiculously afflicts though they also be for present on the earth and have need of its elements yet they shall not remain there alwaies They shall be one day lifted up into the Heavens and enter into the Sanctuary of GOD and live on His manna and partake of the fruits of the coelestial tree of life Knowing now the meaning of this exhortation of the Apostle's you may easily of your selves without my saying any thing of it comprehend the connexion it hath with the precedent words which imported that we are dead and that our life is hid with CHRIST in GOD and that we shall one day appear with Him in glory For since we be dead to the world and called to the hope and the fruition of an heavenly life which is hidden on high in JESUS CHRIST and shall be one day manifested and given to each one of us who sees not that all this doth most strictly oblige us to draw off all our affections from the earth and to cut all the ties that fasten us unto it that is to mortifie our members which are on the earth all the vices that engage us and ensnare us in the things of the earth It remaineth that we consider the vices or members of the old man which the Apostle does particularly name and expresly injoyn us to mortifie He nameth five in all fornication uncleanness inordinate appetite evil concupiscence and covetousness I conceive that the four first are related to one and the same head and be but divers branches of one and the same stock to wit luxury or sensuality Fornication is the principal species of them the disorders whereof are so evident and so well known that no one can be ignorant of the nature of it Uncleannesse comprehendeth all the other ordures and pollutions that are contrary to the chastity and honesty of our bodies as incests violations and those other abominable furies of carnal passions which transgress even the laws of nature as corrupt as it is The word which we have translated inordinate appetite doth signifie literally perturbation or passion in the original tongue But it is frequently used to express the passion of lubrieity and the filthy disposition of a voluptuous and esseminate heart that easily receives the impression of all lascivious objects and abandons its self to these kind of pleasures and runs out and pours forth its self in a sort entirely to them Evil concupiscence which the Apostle addeth in the fourth place is the source or the root of all the vices of this sort For though concupiscence be often taken in general for all irregular appetites and desires whatever the objects are to which they are unduly carried yet it sometimes signifies those in particular which respect the pleasures of the flesh and we often use the word concupiscence in this sense in our vulgar language Nevertheless I grant that in this place it may be taken in a larger extent as importing inordinate coveting either of pleasures or of profits and riches because the Apostle speaks here of covetousness also and not of sensuality alone He calls this concupiscence evil to distinguish it from that which keeping within its just bounds desireth things lawful in a due manner and measure The last of the vices here touched by the Apostle is Covetousnesse a vice no less known than the fore-going Only
spirit and knit together by one and the same Faith Hope and Charity No one hath part in the Kingdom of Heaven who lives not in the communion of this body Sure then it 's one of our greatest concernments to maintain peace among our selves and to put it as the Apostle gives us order in the highest place of our hearts that it may govern with supremacy all our thoughts all our motions and sentiments For there are no natural bodies but their members do conspire and live with one another in a perpetual and inviolable peace The societies of States and Families which are bodies but of another kind namely political and oeconomical are governed in the same manner their primary and most sacred law is that all the orders and persons of which they are compos'd have peace with one another Now if this hath place both in nature and in the societies of mankind how much more ought it to be observ'd in the Church which is a divine a coelestial and supernatural body Our own interest doth naturally require it For as war doth weaken and ruine the States into which it thrusts its self and whose members it divideth so on the contrary Peace establisheth fortifieth and conserves them according to that saying of our Saviour Matt. 12 2◠Every kingdom divided against its self shall be brought to nought and every City or house divided against it's self shall not stand The Apostle addeth in the close and be ye thankful which some referr to the same scope that the rest of the Text hath as if he intended that those thanks we owe to GOD for the free favour He hath shewed us in receiving us unto peace with Him do also evidently oblige us to maintain peace with our brethren And I acknowledge the argumentation is good and pertinent Yet it is better to take this clause for an exhortation he maketh us in general to be thankful towards GOD and towards men For as ingratitude is one of the blackest and most detestable vices expresly enrolled by the Apostle among the marks of those wretched times whose extreme corruption he foretells in the second Epistle to Timothy so is it sure that gratitude 2 Tim. 3.2 or thankfulness is a vertue most necessary of any and in my opinion he went not very wide from the truth who called it the mother of all other vertues Cicers It enkindleth piety in our hearts raiseth up the love of GOD and of His CHRIST and carrieth us to serve and obey Him and by consequence to exercise all honesty and vertue It is certain that upon this account no man sins without ingratitude Add hereto that thankfulnesse is the source of all the services and duties we persorm to our Princes to our Countrey to our Parents to our Superiors and all that have obliged us offices as you know that have an huge extent in 〈…〉 it's with a great deal of reason that the Apostle 〈…〉 give us charge also touching Thackfulnesse Dear Brethren These are the three Vertues which he tells us of in this Text. Let us not neglect any one of them But embrace them all three and deck our lives internally and externally with them In the first place above all let us put on Charity as the soul of Christianity the perfect bond of your union the mark of GOD's children the abridgement of all our duties and the mother of all Vertues Having it you have all and without it you have nothing Without it all the profession you make of the Gospel your prayers your religion and your services are but an empty noise a sounding brass 1 Cor. 13.1 as the Apostle speaks and a tinkling cymbal Because the Israelites wanted this GOD had all their devotions and all their sacrifices in abomination How much more will He reject yours if you have the impudence to present Him any without Charity Now that His Son JESUS hath so magnifically discovered to you the necessity and excellency of it For what can you alledge any longer for excusing your selves from this duty Nature it self verily sufficiently obliged you afore to love your neighbours since that they are your brethren even after the flesh issued from the same Adam and the same Noah animated by the same Spirit clothed with the same body born and bred upon the same earth and if you devest your selves of all the difference that vanity and opinion hath created you will see that in truth there is none at all between you and them You are subject to the same accidents they are and the death that at last brings them down will no more spare you than it does them Having so strict a conjunction with them you ought to look upon them as your other selves and love them as your neer relations and not account any thing that betides them forein or indifferent The Heathen who knew no more had the understanding to draw this conclusion from it But the Cross of our LORD and Saviour hath discovered to us other reasons of Charity that are much more excellent and much more pressing For He so loved men that He died to save them Christian how can you hate or despise persons whom your Master hath so much loved and esteem'd upon whom you see His blood whereby they have been wash'd and purified together with your selves His Spirit with which they have been sealed as well as you The first-fruits and earnests of that heavenly inheritance unto which they and you are called to live eternally together in the same It 's by that they are to be considered and not by what they are upon this earth which with the whole heap of all its pomps and riches and nobility and honours and other pieces of vanity is but a figure that passeth away and perisheth If your neighbour hath nothing on the earth if he be despised and accounted the filth and off-scouring of the world as the Apostle speaks remember that he hath his share in Heaven that he is an heir of this eternal Kingdom the child of GOD and brother of JESUS CHRIST Let this dignity of his which is so high and so precious in the sight of GOD and His Angels induce you to love him to tender him and apply your self to him let it mitigate your resentments if he hath offended you let it stretch for your hands to a ready communicating of the succour of your alms of your consolations and of your good offices if any necessity of his does call for them For such is the nature of true Charity it loves not in word and with the tongue but indeed and in truth Let ours then abound in alms and in beneficence unto the poor in consolations of and in good offices to the afflicted Let it be firm and constant Let not our brethrens ill successes no nor their offences if it befall them to do us any be ever able to break this sacred bond of perfectnesse which spiritually joyneth us and them together in our
His last breath with a spirit clear and a soul calm speaking to us of His approaching happiness and of the present grace of His LORD with so much efficacy as it stopped Your tears and in such manner forced the resentments of your grief that how just soever they were You had nevertheless a secret shame to make them appear in the presence and on the occasion of so vertuous a person as if Laments and Plaints should have in some sort offended His piety and dishonored the victory of his faith The same GOD that loosed Him so miraculously from earth to raise him up to heaven granted You to support the affection of His departure with a patience worthy Your vocation After so rude a blow He hath yet sustained You and conducted You to an honourable old age that few persons do attain And now I doubt not but Your principal consolation and the agitations of the present world and the infirmities of this age is the assured hope you have of arriving also one day at the port of that blessed immortality where contrary to the ordinary course of nature You have seen this dear Son enter before You. If in the holy exercises of Piety by which You daily prepare You for it the reading of these Sermons may find place and be of any use for Your consolation I shall therein have extream satisfaction at least I can well assure You it is one of my most ardent desires who pray GOD to preserve you with all your Family in perfect prosperity and remain inviolably From Paris April 1. 1648. SIR Your most humble and most obedient Servant DAILLE Imprimatur Tho. Tomkins Ex. AEd. Lambeth May 15. 1671. SERMONS ON THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS THE FIRST SERMON On the I II III IV V. VERSES Verse I. Paul an Apostle of JESVS CHRIST by the Will of GOD and the Brother Timothy II. To the Saints and faithful Brethren in CHRIST which are at Colosse Grace be unto you and Peace from GOD our Father and from the LORD JESVS CHRIST III. We give thanks for you unto GOD who is the Father of our LORD JESVS CHRIST praying alway for you IV. Having heard speak of your faith in JESVS CHRIST and of the love you have to all the Saints V. For the hope which is reserved in Heaven for you whereof you have heretofore heard by the Word of Truth to wit the Gospel THE Apostle St. Paul's Assertion is verified in the afflictions of the faithful by constant experience Rom. 8.27 and they ever work together for good to them that love GOD. Beside the excellent fruit which the afflicted themselves receive from them such as they sooner or later acknowledge with the Psalmist That it was good for them to have been afflicted Psal 119.71 they are also serviceable to the edification of others For as Roses the fairest and sweetest of Flowers do grow on a rough and thorny stock so from the afflictions of the faithful rugged and piercing to the flesh spring forth examples of their Vertue and instances of their Piety sweetest and most salubrious productions See what a rich store of benefits the tryals of Job and of David have yielded us It 's to them we owe that admirable Book of the Patience of the former and a good part of the Divine Hymns of the latter Had it not been for their afflictions we should not now enjoy after so many Ages that inestimable treasure of Instructions and Consolations What shall I say of the sufferings of St. Paul which did spead the Gospel all abroad and convert the world unto knowledge of the true GOD. His imprisonment at Rome alone under the Empire of Nero hath done the Church more good than the peace and prosperity of all the rest of the faithful that then were It gave reputation to the Gospel and made it gloriously enter into the stateliest Court in the world It inspired an heroick courage into Preachers of the truth It awakened the curiosity of some and inflamed the charity of others and filled all that great City with the Name and Odor of JESUS CHRIST Nor was it of use unto the Romans only It imparted its celestial fruit unto the remotest Regions and Generations For it was in this very confinement that this holy man wrote several of his Divine Epistles which we read with so much edification to this day as those to Philemon to Timothy to the Ephesians and that directed to the Philippians the Exposition whereof we last finished and the following to the Colossians which we have chosen to explain henceforth unto you if GOD permit Paul's Prison was a common receptacle whence have issued out those living Springs which water and rejoyce the City of GOD and will furnish it even to the end of the world with the streams it needs for its refreshment Having then already drawn from the one of these sweet Springs that Divine Liquor wherewith we have endeavoured according to the Ministry committed to us of GOD to irrorate the heavenly plants of your faith and love we now turn us my Brethren to the other a no less quick and plentiful one than the former Bring ye to it as the Lord requires souls thirsting for His grace and He will give you as He hath promised living water which shall quench your drougth for ever and become in each of you a Well springing up to eternal life The Church of the Colossians to whom this Epistle is addressed having been happily planted by Epaphras a faithful Minister of CHRIST the enemy failed not to sow forthwith his Tares within it by the hands of some Seducers these men would mingle Moses with our Saviour and together with the Gospel of the one retain and observe the Ceremonies of the other To make their error the more pleasing they painted it over with colours of Philosophy subtility of Discourse curiosity of Speculations and other such like Artifices Epaphras seeing the danger whereinto this prophane medly did cast the faith and salvation of his dear Colossians advertiseth St. Paul of it then Prisoner at Rome The Apostle to withdraw them from so pernicious an error taketh Pen in hand and writeth them this Letter wherein he sheweth them that in JESUS CHRIST alone is all the fulness of our salvation in such manner as that we should deeply injure Him to seek ought of it out of Him since in His Gospel we have abundantly wherewith to inform our Faith and form our manners without adding thereto either the shadows of Moses or the vanities of Philosophy At the entrance He saluteth them and congratulates them for the Communion they had with GOD in His Son Next he draweth them a lively pourtrait of the Lord JESUS wherein shine forth the dignity of His person and the inexhaustible abundance of His benefits Upon that he undertaketh the Seducers and refutes the unprofitable additions wherewith they sophisticated the simplicity of the Gospel Afterwards from dispute he
case as none of Creatures do more need the offices of our Charity neither is there any object worthier of the affection and succour of a good and generous soul than innocence hated and oppressed unjustly therefore it is that the Apostle noteth here by name the Charity of the Colossians towards all the Saints He joyneth these two Vertues together Faith and Charity because in effect they are inseparable it being neither possible nor imaginable whatsoever error list to say of it that man should believe and truly embrace GOD as his Saviour in JESUS CHRIST without loving Him and His neighbours for His sake or that he should love Him sincerely without believing in Him He puts Faith before Charity not for that it is more excellent on the contrary he elsewhere openly giveth the advantage unto Charity but because it goes first in the order of things requisite to salvation It is the blessed root whence Charity springs forth 1 Cor. 13. and all other Christian Vertues It is the foundation of the spiritual building the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven the first fruits of the workmanship of GOD and the beginning of the second Creation As in the old Creation Light was the first thing He created so in the new one Faith is the first thing He produceth which the Apostle divinely expresseth to us elsewhere 2 Cor. 4.6 GOD saith he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of GOD in the face of JESVS CHRIST After the Faith and Charity of the Colossians the Apostle adds in the third place the Happiness that was kept for them in the Heavens For the hope saith He which is reserved in Heaven for you Some knit these words with what he had now said of the Faith and Charity of the Colossians and understand that these faithful people laboured with alacrity in the exercise of these Vertues for the hope they had of the celestial Crown and reward according to what the Apostle saith elsewhere of Moses that He chose rather to be afflicted with the People of GOD Hebr. than to enjoy for a little time the delights of sin and esteemed the reproach of CHRIST greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt because saith he he had respect to the recompence And he teacheth us in general of all those that come to GOD that they must believe that GOD is and that He is a rewarder of them that seek him Ibid. v. 6. And from hence it followeth not at all either that our works do merit the glory of Heaven or that our affection is mercenary If we should not hope but for what we merit our hopes would be very miserable But knowing that GOD is faithful and constant we hope with assurance for the bliss which He of His meer grace promiseth us and the less we merit it the more love we conceive towards GOD who giveth it to us and the more acknowledgement and service ought we to render Him for the same And for this gratuitous salary which He promiseth us we look not on it as a prey after which we hunt and without which we would have no love for the LORD but as an excellent evidence of His infinite goodness as a testimony of His admirable liberality that love of GOD which shines forth in it is the thing pleaseth and ravisheth us most of all and which enflameth our faith our zeal and our affection to the service of so good and amiable a LORD though then we should bind what the Apostle saith of the Charity of the Colossians with the hope they had of the heavenly glory there would be nothing in this but what were conform to Evangelical Truth Yet it seems to me more simple and fluent to refer it to the third Verse where he saith that He giveth thanks to GOD for the Colossians having understood their faith and charity for the hope He addeth now which is reserved in Heaven for you For to consider the condition of these believers on the earth it seems there was no great cause to congratulate them for their faith and charity the afflictions which they drew on them rendring them in appearance the most miserable of men But though the flesh make this judgement of it the Spirit that seeth above visible things the Crown of glory prepared for the faith and charity of the faithful holdeth them for the happiest of all Creatures congratulates them and rendreth thanks to GOD for the inestimable treasure he hath communicated to them I know saith the Apostle that your piety hath it's tryals and exercises in this world But I forbear not to bless the LORD affectionately for that He hath given it to you I know the bliss that is prepared for you on high in the Sanctuary of GOD. He takes the word Hope here as often elsewhere for the thing we hope for to wit the blessed immortality and glory of the world to come I confess we possess it not yet for hope is the expectation of a good to come Rom. 8.23 That we are saved saith the Apostle is in hope but hope that a man seeth is not hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for But this good though absent and to come is as assured to us as if we had it already in our hands The Apostle shews it when he addeth that this Hope is reserved in Heaven for you It is a treasure which GOD hath set apart having fully prepared it already keeping it faithfully for us in His own bosome Whence it is that we make an assured account thereof for He hath deposited it in the hands of JESUS CHRIST in whom is hid our life and immortality so as if we make an assured account of things which a man of probity and honour keepeth in trust for us how much more certain should we be of the life and glory to come seeing GOD hath put it for us in the keeping of so faithful and powerful a depositary The place where this rich treasure is kept deposited for us confirms yet more the hope and excellency of it to us for saith the Apostle it is reserved for us in the heavens Fear not ye Faithful Your bliss is not on earth where the Thief steals or infidelity and violence make spoil where time it self ruineth all things where Crowns the best establisht are subject to a thousand and a thousand accidents Yours is on high in the Heavens in the Sanctuary of eternity lifted up above all the odd variations and inconstancies of humane things where neither our changes nor the causes that produce them have any access But this same place sheweth you besides the excellency and perfection of the bliss you hope for inasmuch as all celestial things are great and magnificent Weakness poverty and imperfection lodge here below Heaven is the habitation of glory and felicity In fine the Apostle toucheth briefly in the
last words of this Text whence it is that the Colossians had conceived so high an hope Of which saith he you have heard heretofore by the word of truth to wit the Gospel This Soveraign bliss which is reserved for us in the Heavens is so highly raised above nature that neither subtility of sense nor vivacity of reason nor even the light of the Law could discover it to us much less give us the hope thereof 2 Tim. 1.10 That same JESVS CHRIST who hath destroyed death hath brought to light life and immortality by the Gospel Before this they were either entirely unperceived or imperfectly known and hoped for It 's therefore precisely from the Gospel that we draw both the faith and the hope of them He calleth the Gospel the word of truth not as some will have it because it is the Word of JESUS CHRIST who is the Truth and the life for this exposition is more subtil than solid but because it is the most excellent of all Verities those that are learned in the School of Nature and of the Law being mean and unprofitable in comparison of those which the Gospel doth discover to us It may well be that the Apostle would also secretly oppose the doctrine of the Gospel to those of the seducers which still recommended shadows and figures as we shall hear in the following Chapter whereas the Gospel presenteth us the substance and the truth of things And it seems to be in this sense that St. John after he had said The Law was given by Moses addeth in form of opposition John 1.17 But grace and truth came by JESVS CHRIST because the Law had only dark lineaments and shadows whereas the LORD JESUS brought us the lively image the body and the truth of celestial things The Apostle remindeth the Colossians that they had already heretofore heard this Word of truth as it were to protest unto them that he would promote no novelty among them having no other design but to confirm them more and more in the holy doctrine they had already received with faith from Epaphras and other Ministers of the LORD See well beloved Brethren that we had to say to you for the exposition of this Text. It remaineth that we briefly touch at for you the principal points we should gather of it as well for the instruction of our Faith as the edification of our Charity and the consolation of our souls As for Faith 't is for it's security that St. Paul telleth us at the entrance He is an Apostle of JESVS CHRIST by the will of GOD advertising us by this quality He assumeth to receive no doctrine into our belief which hath not been annunciated by these great and highest Ministers of the LORD Let us examine the Spirits and admit only the word of the Apostles If any one Evangelize beyond what they have preached let us hold him for an Anathema We have their Scriptures Let us assuredly believe all that we read in them Let the doctrine which appears not there be suspected to us and praised be GOD that according to this rule we have banished from our Religion that which error and superstition had thrust into Christianity You know that the GOD the CHRIST the Heaven the Worship and Sacraments we preach have been given us by the Apostles of the LORD established by the Will of GOD and do appear throughout in their Gospels and in their Epistles Whereas the Mediators whom our Adversaries invocate the High Priest they acknowledge the Traditions they maintain the Purgatory they fear the greatest part of the Sacraments they celebrate the adoration of the Host the veneration of Images and the voluntary Worships which they practise are not found at all either in the Old or the New Testament Let us therefore firmly retain our Religion as instituted by the Will of GOD and constantly reject what is beyond it as come of man and not of the LORD from the Earth and not from Heaven But it is not enough to make profession of it we must plant this doctrine in our hearts by a lively belief in such sort as we may be able to say with truth That we have faith in JESUS CHRIST and charity towards all the Saints We render thanks to GOD with the Apostle for that of His great mercies He hath vouchsafed to communicate this treasure of His Gospel to us and not in vain since there are among us that have truly made their profit of these spiritual riches But the life of the greater part renders them unworthy of the praise which St. Paul here giveth the Colossians For is this to have Faith in JESUS CHRIST to serve Him so loosely as we do and testifie so little zeal for His glory so little respect to His Commandments so little belief of his documents and so little affection for the interests of His Kingdom As for Charity I am ashamed to speak of it so cooled is ours For if we loved all the faithful should we leave the life of some of them and the reputation of others without succour Should we injure them instead of defending them Should we take away their substance instead of communicating to them our own Should we black their honour instead of preserving it Would their prosperity offend us Would their miseries content us Faithful Sirs remember they are the Saints of GOD His Children and the Brethren of His CHRIST Respect those so sacred names and spare persons that have the honour to belong so nearly to your LORD He will judge you by the treatment you shall give them and write on his account the good and the evil which they shall receive from your hands recompensing it or punishing in the very same manner as if you had honoured or violated Him in His own person He will cut you off from His communion if you do not carefully regard and practise theirs and will never avouch you for His Children if you acknowledge them not for your Brethren And here alledge not to me I beseech you that you have faith I know well that this divine light cannot be in souls which are cold and destitute of Charity But suppose that this were possible I tell you and declare that all your pretended faith should you have the highest degree thereof that may be in the world without charity would be but a shadow an Idol and an illusion and as St. James saith a stinking carkass James 2.26 Do all you will Have as much faith and knowledge as you please if you have not charity you are not a Christian you are but a false and deceitful image of one Charity is absolutely necessary to the perfection of a Christian It is the badge of this holy Discipline it is the honour and the glory of it and the Apostle as you see sets it down here among it's essential parts Faith shall cease in Heaven when we shall see instead of believing But charity shall remain for ever Have then a
are those mouths of Hell that inspire nothing but hatred and kindle nothing but animosity envy and revenge in the souls of those whom they can breath upon who busie themselves in making dissentions among brethren in dividing and arming one against the other such as nature or grace hath most strictly united But it is time henceforth to conclude this action that which you have heard may I think suffice for your understanding of this Text and so nothing remains for me but to conjure you to make in good earnest your profit of it and to draw from this Meditation the holy uses it containeth whether for the correction of your manners or the consolation of your souls The Gospel of JESUS CHRIST is come unto you the same Gospel which yerwhile changed the Universe which abolished Idolatry and Paganism and made the knowledge and service of the true GOD flourish every where The LORD hath raised you up Epaphras's faithful Ministers of His Word who have published it to your Fathers and to you with exquisite sincerity and truth entirely so as Paul preached it to the Nations without any leaven of superstition or error acquitting themselves in their Stewardship with so upright a conscience with so much zeal and ardour as I assure my self that the great Apostle were he now on earth would do them the honour to own them for his dear fellow-labourers You have seen this sacred doctrine renew the proofs of its divinity by the swiftness of it's course and efficacy of its vertue as which in little time flew through all Christendome and in spight of the oppositions of Hell and Earth rais'd up every where fair and flourishing Churches to the LORD We may say particularly of yours that the Gospel fructified in it from the day it was heard there The blood and the sufferings of so many faithful ones as gloriously sealed its truth therewith their charity their zeal their good and holy works of which memory remaineth still among us are unreproachable witness of it But I know not whether I may justly add what the Apostle saith here of his Colossians that the Gospel bringeth forth fruit still in you For those few fruits which it produceth here are choaked up with so many thorns and bryars so many sins and vices that they scarce deserve to be considered Not that the Gospel is changed in its self It hath still that immortal force which GOD gave it to bud and thrust forth and produce the fruits of righteousness and life It is ever the incorruptible seed of GOD His Word living and abiding for ever full of efficacy and vigour Whence then cometh this sterility Dear Brethren it cometh from the bad disposition of our ground and not from the weakness of the heavenly seed The Gospel fructifieth not among us because it falls in stony places and by the High-ways or among thorns upon souls either full of worldly lusts and carnal cares or exposed to the feet to the going to and fro of Devils or frozen up and hardned with the fear of temporal evils This is Faithful Sirs the true cause of our barrenness Let us then purge our hearts Hos 10 12 Jer. 4.3 and as a Prophet saith break up our fallow grounds Let us pluck up the thorns which the world hath planted there avarice the desire and deceitfulness of riches ambition and the love of our flesh sensuality and vanity When you shall receive the Gospel into souls so prepared it will not fail to shew it's fecundity It will bring forth it's fruit abundantly in some an hundred for one in others sixty in others thirty Without this it is in vain that we boast us of JESUS CHRIST and of His Word His Word is not given us but to fructifie If we abide barren far from serving us it will aggravate our condemnation and draw upon us a judgement so much the more terrible by how much the more plentifully it was communicated to us Remember that dreadful threatning justified by so many sad and lamentable experiments which the Apostle denounced to the Hebrews The earth that bringeth forth thorns and thistles is rejected and nigh unto cursing and it's end is to be burned 'T is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living GOD who is so much the more severe to punish the contempt of His Word by how much the more liberal He was in imparting it to men These same Colossians whose faith and charity the Apostle praiseth here and their neighbours the Laodiceans and those of Hierapolis for not having continued to bear fruits worthy their Vocation saw some years after their Cities ruined and swallowed up in an horrible earthquake And all those fair Churches of Asia so much celebrated in the Acts and the Apocalyps are at this day entirely desolate for not having made their profit of the Gospel GOD hath already begun too to avenge this contempt of His Word in divers places of Christendome which the bryars and thorns of the old superstition do cover once again instead of the Gospel that lately flourished there GOD forbid Dear Brethren that we should fall into the like condemnation To prevent it let us recover the zeal of our Fathers let us do the first works Let the Gospel fructifie again in the midst of us Let it bring forth and make to grow up abundantly charity meekness honesty peace humility patience alms prayer fasting sobriety chastity and the other fruits of the Spirit and above all a spiritual love of St. Paul and the other Apostles who report the Gospel to us to respect them and walk in their doctrine concord and mutual love in one towards another If we make this use of it GOD will take pleasure in the midst of us He will daily visit us He will cherish us as His Paradice His Heritage the Garden of His delights He will pour out upon us here below all kind of graces and blessings in abundance and after having seen us fructifie on Earth He will one day transplant us into Heaven to live and flourish there for ever in the Courts of His own blessed and eternal habitation Amen THE III. SERMON COL I. Ver. IX Vers IX And for this cause we also since the day we heard it cease not to pray for you and to make request that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding THE love of beauty and excellency is so natural to us that we cannot discover so much as the beginnings and buddings of it any where but we take pleasure in them and the secret content we thence receive usually causeth us to wish their growth and their perfection unless envy or some other maligne passion do check the moving of our hearts Thus when we see towardly Children and that promise well there is no soul that hath ever so little of humanity but is delighted and maketh the like apprecation for them as Joseph did sometime for Benjamin when
spiritual prosperity of the Colossians As there is nothing on earth more grateful to the LORD than this divine consort of many souls thus mingling their voices and supplications together so there is nothing more effectual to draw down His blessing and obtain His graces in the behalf of our neighbours Matâ—h 1â— 1â— If two of you agree on earth concerning any thing they shall ask saith our LORD it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven But beside that the Apostle's prayers were conjoyned with those of some other believers that prayed unanimously with him for the Colossians they had also two other qualities which gave them much force assiduity and the devotion of heart whence they did issue He expresseth the assiduity of them when he saith that he ceaseth not to pray for them since the day he heard of their piety of their zeal in the Gospel As soon as he received the news of it he deferred not this duty to another time He set himself on praying presently for them demanding of GOD the compleating of their faith so ardently did this holy soul affect all that bore the badges of his LORD But he contented not himself with praying once or twice for the salvation of these dear Disciples of his Master He went on constantly and ceased not still to sollicite the goodness of GOD for them For it is not enough that Moses do lift up his hands once or twice for Joshua's victory To defeat Amalek entirely this holy man must hold his hands still stretched out towards Heaven Whence it comes that Isaiah commandeth the Gards of Jerusalem that is it's Pastors Isaiah not to hold their peace nor give the LORD any rest until He re-establish and set Jerusalem in an estate of renown on the earth And our Soveraign Master teacheth us expresly in one of His Evangelical Parables that we ought alwayes to pray and not faint Luke 18.1 Col. 4.2 Rom. 12.12 1 Thess 5.17 And His Apostle enjoyneth us here beneath to persevere in prayer and elsewhere also to continue instant in prayer and again in another place to pray without ceasing So you see he very carefully practised himself what he commanded others Think not under shadow of this that this holy man was on his knees from Morning to Evening without addicting himself to ought but the reciting of prayers as was the use of a certain Sect of Hereticks in time past named the Messalians or Euchites noted and condemned by the ancient Church who made profession of being alwayes in prayer and under this fair mask did hide a most profound and infamous laziness As the greater part of the Monks of the Communion of Rome at this day who in the Cloysters whither they retire as in so many refuges of idleness pass their time in saying Litanies and Orisons most commonly without any attention or devotion under pretext of this vain service which they pretend to do the publick drawing unjustly the Tribute of huge Alms due of right to the true poor and not to them that are so only of their own will by a Vow directly contrary to the command of GOD. The prayer of a faithful man doth not cross his other duties The same LORD that commands him to pray orders him also to labour To oblige him to the one He doth not dispense with him for the other He intends that he acquit himself of them both Let prayer begin guide and end his labour let his labour seal follow and accompany his prayer Let him pray with his hand upon his work let him work with heart and eyes lift up unto prayer Let these two exercises fill up his whole life parting the dayes and hours thereof between them and keeping faithful and indissoluble company all along St. Paul prayed but this devotion did not hinder him from preaching to the present from writing to the absent from instructing the teachable from reprehending transgressors from confirming them within from drawing those without from fortifying the faithful from convincing the adversaries from employing his time in a multitude of good and holy actions What means he then by saying that he ceaseth not to pray for the Colossians He would only say that he is very assiduous at it that he doth it as often as time and place permit it that there passeth neither day nor night but he doth them this charitable office not to alledge here Augustine in Psal 37. what an Ancient elegantly saith that our desires being prayers these are continual when our desires are continual This example of the Apostle teacheth Pastors in particular that beside preaching the Word they owe also to their flocks the succour of their prayers not only the publick but their private ones also For how can they without crime forget persons that are so strictly united to them Their Crown and their Glory The ground of their joy and the subject of their most precious labour But the Apostle besides the assiduity of his prayers for the Colossians shews us also the ardour and devotion of them when he saith that he prayeth and demandeth for them For the first of those words signifieth the elevation of the soul to GOD when fixing its eyes on the greatness of this supream Majesty it adores Him and gives Him the glory of a perfect goodness power and wisdom This is as the exordium and Preface of Prayer to move the LORD that He do give us favourable audience After which comes that which the Apostle calls here The demand that is the very request we make the LORD beseeching Him to give liberally to us or to our brethren the benefits we have need of From which we have to observe by the way the order we should keep in our prayers that they may be legitimate and grateful unto GOD namely that at the entrance we present Him an heart full of humble and affectionate respect to Him that reveres Him as Almighty and All-wise that loves Him as infinitely good and praiseth and glorifieth Him as perfectly blessed The requests which are presented to Him otherwise heedlesly and without this preparation are more apt to provoke His wrath than attract His beneficence After this first motion we should next make our requests with a great and ardent desire and a filial confidence It 's thus the Apostle prayed for the Colossians Let us now come to the third point and see what was the matter to subject of his Prayer We cease not saith he to demand of GOD that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdome and spiritual understanding It sufficiently appears by the praises he gave the Colossians before that they were already much advanced in the knowledge of GOD and of His Gospel therefore he doth not simply demand of the LORD that they may be made partakers of this knowledge but that they might be filled with it For there are great differences in knowledge First in regard of its extent
and next in regard of its degrees For its extent it comprehends the things themselves that we can know which being almost infinite it is evident a man may know some who yet knoweth not others And as for its degrees one self-same thing is known more clearly and more distinctly by one more obscurely and confusedly by another It 's the same in this as it is in seeing One seeth and discovereth more objects than another and of those that see one and the same object one seeth it much more clearly and purely than another and whatever be the cause of this diversity whether the inequality of their eyes or the difference of their attention or that of the light which brightens them so it is that their seeing is very different that of the one being imperfect and defective in comparison of the other's The Apostle therefore beseeching the LORD that the Colâ—ssians might be filled with knowledge intendeth that they might obtain of His goodness a perfection both of the one and the other sort first that if there were any points of the Gospel not yet come to their knowledge He would grant them the grace to observe and apprehend them and secondly that if they did not purely enough apprehend the things they knew already He would so shine on them by the light of His spirit that they might clearly and distinctly perceive them For it is in these two points that the fulness or perfection he wisheth them in this place doth consist the one not to be ignorant of any of the necessary particulars of the mysterie revealed to us by the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST The other to know each of these particulars clearly and distinctly seeing the truth of them as in a great and resplendant light Besides we must remember that as the estate of a believer is of one sort here below where he travails for a time and after another on high in Heaven where he shall live in the bosome of GOD so the perfection of his knowledge is of two sorts the one earthly and the other heavenly This same is his last and highest perfection that same is but the disposition and beginning of it the one is the perfection of his infancy the other of his full age And though the first may be in a sense and in some respect truly termed fulness and perfection yet in regard of the other it 's imperfect Whence it comes that the Apostle elsewhere putting these two knowledges in parallel one with the other saith that now we know 1 Cor. 13.9 10 11 12. but in part and see but darkly in a glass whereas in the other World we shall see face to face and know as we have been known And in the same place he compareth the knowledge we have here below to the thoughts of a child and that which we shall have on high to the thoughts and judgement of a perfect man Then all the arguments of the truth of the Gospel shall be so magnificently displayed before our eyes that doubt of it shall not be able to take place any more and whereas now we see but the images of things then we shall touch the substance of them besides that the light of our understandings shall be incomparably more clear and pure than it is here below But though considering the thing in its self one may call perfect only the knowledge of a believer enjoying the vision of his LORD on high in the Heavens yet referring and ajusting it to the state we are now in there is also on earth a sort of knowledge which in this respect may be called perfect namely the highest measure a faithful person can attain while he is here beneath As though the knowledge of a child be far below the lights of a perfect man yet this hinders not but there is a certain form and measure of knowledge proportionate to the capacity of this age which when the Child is come to we say it is an accomplished Child yea most accomplished For every age hath its perfection and every greatness its full height T is then of this second sort of perfection and fulness the Apostle intends to speak when he prayes the LORD that the Colossians might be filled with knowledge that is not that they might see the LORD face to face this is not given but in the other world but that they might receive of his goodness all the light necessary for the estate we are in here below and as high and rich a measure of knowledge as may and should be had on earth for getting one day to the upmost degree in the Kingdom of Heaven And note here by the way the holy artifice of the Apostle By praying GOD that the Colossians might be filled he secretly advertiseth them that they yet wanted something that he might render them teachable and attentive to the instructions he will hereafter give them For those that think they are perfect and have an entire and accomplished knowledge do disdain what any one would add thereto as a thing superfluous and unprofitable Therefore he timely takes away this imagination from the Colossians that they may patiently suffer him to instruct them and finish in them what was only rough-drawn To the same end doth that tend which he addeth that they might be filled with the knowledge of the will of GOD. For by this word he rejecteth and removeth far from this subject all the inventions and doctrines of men the disputes and subtilities of Philosophy the voluntary devotions and superstitions which had been sowed among the Colossians by the false teachers as things rather contrary than useful to the perfection and happiness of man and restraineth all the knowledge he desireth for them to the sole will of God as its true object and its just measure Upon which we have first to remark that the word here used by the Apostle in the Original and which we have translated knowledge signifieth properly a great and ample knowledge and these holy Authors employ it ordinarily to express that knowledge of GOD which is given us by the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST For the Law of Moses and the Doctrine of the Prophets doth indeed teach what is the will of GOD. But it hath not designed to declare it so purely and so fully as the Gospel Whence it comes that St. 2 Pet. 2.19 Peter compareth the light of the Prophets to that of a candle shining in a dark place and that of the Gospel to the brightness of the day And it s hereto St. John hath respect when he saith Joh. 1.18 that no man hath seen GOD at any time and that the only Son which is in the bosome of the Father He hath revealed Him Because the knowledge which was of Him before the manifestation of the LORD JESUS was so weak as it is scarce considerable in comparison of that which is given us It 's therefore properly this Evangelical and Christian knowledge which the Apostle wisheth
will in wisdom and understanding but in ALL wisdom and understanding that is to say very abundantly and in so great and 〈◊〉 a measure as none of the parts none of the operations of this divine ability be wanting to them after the same manner as when He saith elsewhere have all faith to signifie so high and raised a measure of it as no kind and no degree of faith is wanting Such is well-beloved Brethren the ardent and affectionate Prayer which the Apostle made continually for these Colossians That they might be filled with the knowledge of the will of GOD in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that is in such sort as this knowledge might form in them an exquisite sageness and spiritual prudence It Remaineth that to end we briefly touch at the principal lessons we are to take out of it for the instruction of our faith and the amendment of our manners First you see how far the judgement of the Apostle is from the doctrine and practice of Rome The Apostle willeth that the faithful do know the will of GOD that they be filled with this knowledge Rome teacheth that their faith is better defined by ignorance than by knowledge and that it is sufficient for them to have and I know not what implicite faith as they call it which without knowing ought its self referrs its self to the faith of another The Apostle willeth that the faithful be endowed with all wisdom and spiritual understanding Rome seareth nothing so much as this and desireth that without knowing or understanding ought themselves they leave this whole study to their Curates contenting themselves with saying they believe what the Church believes not knowing mean time what it believeth indeed Darkness is not more contrary to Light than this pretended faith to wisdom and understanding Their practice is conform to their doctrine For they hide the Scripture from their people the sacred and authentick evidence of the Will of GOD the living and teeming source of all wisdom and heavenly understanding and if in their service they repeat any passages of it they repeat them in a strange language that their people may hear it and not understand it Faithful sirs thank GOD for that He hath withdrawn you from this Kingdom of darkness Enjoy with gratitude the light He hath set up in the midst of you Learn in the brightness thereof what is the will of the LORD the head and the foundation of true wisdom Make account that this knowledge is the gate of Heaven the entrance of eternity the seed of the divine nature and the principle of Celestial life Without it how will you love GOD since none loves what he knows not Without it how will you obey GOD since to obey Him is no other thing but to do His will Without it how will you resist the enemy how will you free your selves from his wiles how will you discern his impostures from divine truth Judge what account the Apostle maketh of it since it 's the first thing he asks of GOD for these Colossians whom he so ardently affected If you will attain the salvation to which he directeth them have that which he with so much passion desireth in them Remember you are the people of the Sun of righteousness of the eternal wisdom and word the workmanship of His Comforter who is a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding Deut. 33. Isai 1. and that one of the greatest reproaches GOD ever made to His Israel is the calling them a foolish people and unwise that hath neither knowledge nor understanding And since you see that the Apostle demands of GOD this divine wisdom for the Colossians address your selves also to that Father of lights from whom cometh down hither every good gift Press Him importune Him quit Him not till He have revealed His mysteries to you till He have lightned your eyes and your hearts to make you see the wonders of His wisdom But unto prayer add also study Read and hear His word carefully meditate it both here and at home render it familiar to you commune of it with your neighbours and instruct your Children in it As I grant this labour is unprofitable without the grace of the LORD so I maintain that with it it is most efficacious Paul would Preach to Lydia in vain if GOD did not open her heart But if GOD set to His hand it is not in vain that Paul labours for it And to attract this saving hand of the LORD joyn unto prayer the Offerings of your alms the perfume of a good and holy life Make use of what you know Mannage these first fruits of light which you have received already Employ the Talent that hath been given you and the Master will give you on it others greater How would you He should communicate new graces to people that so vilely abuse the first You know His will and do that of the Devil and the Flesh He â—â—th made you a present of the Gospel and you drag it in the dirt He hath marked you with His seals and you foul them in the ordures of vice You impudently bear His Liveries into the debauches of the world and the Disciples of Heaven are as ardent as the Children of this Generation after the dissoluteness of the time GOD forbid that wisdom and spiritual understanding should lodge in hearts so profane It 's a jewell too precious to shine otherwhere than in Heaven that is in pure and holy souls So far will you be from encreasing your light if you change not manners that GOD will take away this little which remaineth and let you return into Aegypt to live once more in its miserable darkness But GOD keep us from so great an unhappiness my Brethren well-beloved and to prevent it let us in good earnest convert us unto Him renouncing the lusts of the world and the filth of the flesh living in an exemplary purity and honesty that the LORD may take pleasure in the midst of us that He may make the knowledge of His will abound in us in all wisdom and spiritual understanding and after the faith and hopes of this life receive us in the eternity of the other unto the Vision and fruition of His glory So be it and unto Him Father Son and Spirit the true GOD blessed for ever be all honour and praise Amen THE IV. SERMON COL I. Ver. X XI Vers X. That ye may walk worthily as is beseeming the LORD unto the pleasing of Him in all things fructifying in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of GOD. XI Being strengthned with all might according to the power of His glory unto all sufferance and patience of mind with joy PHilosophers both Pagan and Christian do commonly divide the Sciences into two sorts The Speculative which seek only the knowledge of their subject resting in it when they have once acquired it without pretending any further and the Practical which aim at action and consider things
in like manner hath not only the shadow or the appearance of the authority and power of his Predecessor He hath the whole substance and reality of it Gen. 5.3 Thus it is that Moses saith Adam begat Seth his son in his own likeness and after his image He signifies thereby that Seth had a nature the same in all things with Adam's own Now the question is in which of these two senses must we take the word Image when the Apostle saith here and also elsewhere that JESVS CHRIST is the image of GOD. 2 Cor. 4.4 The very quality of the subject in question sheweth us so clearly that we must apprehend it after the second way and not the former as even those that quarrel it dare not say that JESUS CHRIST is an imperfect image of His Father For where is the Christian ear that could suffer a blasphemy so horrible and so contrary to all the Scripture Sure when the Apostle saith of our LORD that He is the image of GOD he thereby meaneth quite another thing then what he signifies elsewhere when he saith that man is the image of GOD. For intending here to exalt the LORD JESUS and to demonstrate that His dignity is so high as capacitateth Him to save us He would ill suite this design if he attributed nothing to Him but what agreeth to any man whoever he be And yet if you do not understand it that JESUS CHRIST is a perfect image of GOD the Apostle will affirm no other thing of Him here then he asserts elsewhere of man when he saith he is the image of GOD. Beside the Apostle's end the thing it self he speaks of doth evidently shew it us also For our LORD informeth us that He who hath seen Him hath seen the Father and that Joh. 14.9 12.45 who beholdeth Him beholdeth Him that sent him Where is the pourtrait of which it may be said that he who hath seen it hath seen the subject which it representeth It 's clear this is not found but in such an image as is most perfect and containeth fully in it all the being of its original Whence it appears that it is in this sense that JESVS CHRIST is the image of GOD. And to make us conceive it the better the Apostle hath a passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews the scope the terms and sense whereof have very much resemblance with this here there he saith Heb. 1.3 that JESVS CHRIST is the resplendency of the glory of His Father and the Character or engraven Stamp of His person Terms exceeding elegant and expressive and such as clearly decide this case that the LORD is the image of GOD in another manner than man and that the same glory which shineth in the Father is respendent also in the Son and that the same nature which is in the person of the one is likewise in the person of the other Say we therefore according to the Analogie of this Doctrine and the reason of the thing it self That JESUS CHRIST is the image of GOD His Father but a perfect one yea the most perfect that an image may be An image which exhibiteth unto us and representeth not the colour or the shadow but the truth and substance of the Deity The Scripture our only guide in these high mysteries teacheth it clearly And to aid you in the comprehending of it though the GOD-head be most simple in it self exempt from all mixture and composition yet speaking of it according to the weakness of our understanding to which GOD hath not disdained to accommodate Himself in His word we will consider three things of Him the nature the properties or qualities which Divines commonly call His Attributes and His works As for His Nature it is most perfectly represented in JESUS CHRIST forasmuch as He hath really and veritably the same being and same substance with GOD the Father As a child whom we call the image of His Father hath the same nature with Him being truly of mankind as He. The Scripture teacheth us this truth in very many places where it saith Joh. 1.5 Tit. 2.13 Rom. 9.5 1 Cor. 10.9 Joh. 12.41 that JESUS CHRIST is GOD that He is the true GOD. Our great GOD and Saviour GOD blessed above all Jehovah yerst tempted by the Israelites in the desart He whose glory Isaiah saw in the vision described at the sixth Chapter of His Prophecy It layeth down the same thing also as often as it represents Him to us a due object of our adoration saying that all ought to honour Him as they honour the Father Joh. 5.23 Heb. 1.6 and that the very Angels worship Him it being evident that according to Scripture there is nothing but a nature truly divine to whom adoration may be lawfully given But the LORD JESUS no less perfectly represents the Father in His Properties then in His Nature The Father is eternal so is the Son and Isaiah calleth Him upon this account The Father of eternity Before Abraham was He is Joh. 8.58 He was from the beginning with GOD and before the world was created even then He was in the bosome of the Father His love and His delight The Heavens shall perish but He is permanent The Heavens shall wax old as a garment and be folded up as a Vesture and be changed But JESUS is the same Heb 1.11 12. and His years shall not fail The Father is immutable without ever receiving any alteration or change Heb. 13.8 either in His being or in His will The Son is the same both yesterday and to day and for ever The Father is infinite filling Heaven and earth neither is there any thing within or without the world that boundeth the presence of His being Joh. 3.13 The Son is in like manner infinite He is in Heaven whiles He speaketh to Nicodemus on earth He is here below on earth in our hearts and in our assemblies the same instant that He is fitting at the right hand of the Father in the highest room of the Universe and though the Heavens contain that body and humane nature which He did assume yet they do not enclose His Majesty and all-present Divinity The Father hath a soveraign understanding knowing all things present past and to come The Son is Wisdom it self He knoweth all things and if He say somewhere that He knoweth not the day of Judgement this is not to be understood but in respect of His humane nature and not in respect of His divine intelligency Rev. 2.23 He soundeth the reins and knoweth the heart of man a quality which the Scripture noteth to us as the character and specifique mark of the knowledge of GOD asserting that there is none but He only who knoweth the hearts of men The Father knoweth Himself and no man or Angel to speak properly ever saw Him The Son so perfectly knoweth Him that He hath even declared and revealed Him unto men The Father is almighty and
grant likewise that JESUS the Son of GOD is the true and single Author of this second Creation But to this I adjoyn two things first That though this passage might be understood of this Reformation of the World yet it would of necessity infer That JESUS to whom it is attributed is the true Eternal GOD. For since this work is no less nay since it is greater than that of Creation it is evident that none but a true GOD could be the Author of it It being clear as we shall say anon that Creation is set before us in Scripture as an Argument of true and eternal Divinity And the thing speaks of it self For since a Divine and Infinite Vertue is requisite to regenerate men and destroy the servitude of Sin and Satan it must of necessity be acknowledged That JESUS the Author of this great work hath an infinite power that is to say is truly GOD no finite subject being capable of an Infinite power and none being infinite but GOD alone Thus you see it is in vain that the Hereticks do toil them their own Interpretation though it were admitted necessarily inferring the thing which they oppose to wit That JESUS is true GOD Infinite and Eternal and subsisting before all ages But I say in the second place that this Text cannot be understood of the Reparation or second Creation of the World First because the Apostle will by and by speak of that in the three Verses immediately following where He loftily describeth it saying That JESVS CHRIST is the head of the body the Church the beginning and the first-born from the dead By whom the Father hath reconciled all things to Himself as well Celestial as Terrestrial having made peace by the blood of His cross By means hereof unless we will render S. Paul guilty of vain babling and useless repetition we must confess that as in this second place he speaks of the Reparation and Renovation of things so in the former he spake of their first Creation Secondly this same appears again from his reckoning the Angels expresly among the things created by JESUS CHRIST yea he insisteth on them more than on the rest as we shall see hereafter saying That by Him were created things in heaven Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers But the Angels were not renewed nor repaired by JESUS CHRIST since that sin neither ruined their nature nor made it wax old nor subjected it to vanity It must therefore be concluded that the Apostle speaks here not of the reparation of things but of the first creation of them it being most certain that the Angels were created their nature though holy yet being not for all that eternal and without beginning I grant that by the Salvation which we have receiv'd from JESUS CHRIST the Angels have been re-united to us and settled again in peace and good intelligence with us from whom our sin had separated and estranged them and this is that the Apostle meaneth when he saith here beneath Col. 1.20 Epâ—hs 1.10 That GOD hath reconciled things in heaven and things in earth by the death of JESVS CHRIST and elswhere that He hath recapitulated or gathered together again in CHRIST both that which is in heaven and that which is on earth But this is not to be called a creating of the Angels nor can any example of such extravagant language be produced that creating of persons was put to signifie a reconciling them with those they hated and whose communion they avoided Otherwise since JESUS CHRIST reconciled us also with GOD the Father incorporating us into His family so as He is thereby become our Father and we His children in the same manner that we are brethren with the Angels it might to express this be also said That JESUS CHRIST created GOD the Father which no ear I say not Christian but that is ever so little rational could possibly endure Finally the contexture it self of the Apostles words doth evidently shew that they must be understood necessarily of the first and not of the second creation of things I confess the Holy GHOST sometimes useth the word Create 〈◊〉 signifie the Production of the second work of GOD that is the work of His grace in JESUS CHRIST But He never doth it without some addition and restriction that evidently limitteth the word to such a sense as for example Isa 65.17.18 when He saith in Isaiah that he is about to create new heavens and a new earth and that he is about to create Jerusalem to be a joy and her people gladness The very form of this language ordered in the Future Tense as you see and those New Heavens and that Jerusalem which He saith he is about to create do evidently shew that it is not of the first creation of the world He intended to speak So when the Apostle saith that GOD hath created them both that is the Jews and the Gentiles in Himself into one new man This latter word New leaveth no place for doubt but that he meaneth here the second Operation of God by which Jews and Gentiles were united into one onely people and not of the first whereby they were brought forth into their natural existence And likewise when he saith in the same place Eph. 2.15 26. that we are created in JESVS CHRIST unto good works which GOD hath prepared that we should walk in them The persons of whom he speaketh Vs that is the faithful distinquish'd from other men and the end of this work of GOD to wit good works these do sufficiently clear it that the Creation there meant is the second and not the first Nor can any reasonable man doubt of it In these places and others like them if there be any the word Create is still limitted and circumstantiated Otherwhere when it is used simply and absolutely it is not to be taken but for the first Creation as when Isaiah saith Isa 42.5 Rev. 4.11 that GOD hath created the Heavens and S. John in the Revelations that the LORD created all things and in a multitude of the like places Neither can there be brought so much as one to the contrary For as to that which the Adversaries alledge out of the Epistle to the Ephesians where they pretend that the Apostle's saying Ephes 3.9 GOD created all things by JESVS CHRIST must be expounded of the second and not the first Creation in this they do not prove but presuppose the thing in question nothing obliging us to depart in this place more than in the others from the common signification of the Word Forasmuch then as in this Text upon which we are this term Create is used simply and indefinitely without any limitation or restriction the Apostle saying and twice repeating that all things were created by the Son of GOD nay adding to shew the extent of this subject more fully both things which are in heaven and things which are in earth visible and invisible Thrones Dominions Principalities
as being incommunicable to any other besides Him Isa 42.5 45.12 48.13 51.13 It is I saith He who have made the earth and who have stretched out the Heavens Finally the thing speaks of it self For the Power requisite for the creating the world that is to make it of nothing is so great and so infinite that the Philosophers with all the light of their Reason could not comprehend it but were so far from attributing it to any Creature that they deny'd it unto GOD Himself Whence it follows that if there be any part of Divine Glory proper and essential unto GOD it is this same without all doubt Seeing then it is found in the LORD JESUS we must necessarily confess that He is in truth the Great GOD most High Eternal and Blessed for ever above all things As for the distinction they advance to cover their error alledging that the Son was but the Instrument and Minister of the Father in the work of Creation not the first and principal cause it is vain and frivilous For this creative vertue being infinite it cannot be but in an Infinite subject and in a Soveraign and principal Agent It cannot be communicated to an Instrument seeing that every Instrument being finite is consequently uncapable of receiving and containing an Infinite vertue so as since it is in the person of the Son it unavoidably follows that He is not the instrumental as they say but the first and the principal cause in the work of Creation Rev. 1. And S. John clearly shews it in the Revelation where he saith That He is Alpha and Omega the first and the last a thing that cannot be said of an instrumental cause which hath necessarily above it another Agent of a diverse nature The Apostle also clearly refuteth this gloss when he appropiates that to JESUS CHRIST which the Prophet uttered evidently of the first the principal and supreme cause of the Creation LORD thou hast founded the earth at the beginning and the Heavens are the works of thy hands An Application which would be evidently false and impertinent if JESUS CHRIST were only the instrmental cause of the Creation The observation upon which they pretend to ground this distinction is no whit more solid to wit that the Scripture saith indeed the world was created by the Son but not that the Son did create the world For first S. Paul saith in express terms that the Son founded the earth and though he had not said it who sees not but that the one and the other do amount to the same thing and that His saving All things were created by the Son is all one as if he had said That the Son created all things But if this form of Speech would infer that the Son is not the first and principal Efficient of the Creation the same must be concluded also of the Father since S. Paul speaking of Him saith in like manner That All things are of Him and by Him and for Him But that which he saith here of JESUS CHRIST in the second place That all things were created for Him doth further demonstrate the same truth very clearly For these words do signifie that the Son is the last and supreme end of the Creation of things a matter which pertaineth only to the principal cause and not to the instrument it useth for the effecting of its work Sure it is clear that it 's the true GOD who is the ultimate end for which all things were created that the glory of His Divine Vertues might be manifested so as He might be known and served as He is worthy This falls not under contest Since therefore it is for the Son that all things were created it must be acknowledged that He is the true Eternal GOD it being not possible that a Creature should be the end for which all things were created From thence the Apostle concludes in the third place That JESVS CHRIST is before all things For since He created them all it must of necessity be that He should subsist before they were And he noteth it expresly that none might suspect Him of novelty as if he He had not been but since Moses under colour of His having not been manifested till the fulness of time John 8. He is not only before Moses and Abraham as Himself saith in S. John but before all things from the beginning before there was any thing created before the mountains were settled Prov. 8. and before the hills As saith Wisdom that is the Son himself in the Book of the Proverbs But the Apostle after having thus given to the LORD JESUS the glory of creating all things passeth on further and attributeth to Him the preservation of them All things saith he subsist by him It 's this which he expresseth otherwhere in other terms when he saith Hebr. 1.3 That he sustaineth all things by His powerful word that is to say He preserves them by His Providence as He created them by His vertue their being their life and their motion so depending on Him that when He hideth His face they are troubled and fail utterly and return unto their dust or their nothing as the Prophet singeth Whence yet again appears Psal 104.29 that He is the true GOD the Eternal one blessed for ever with the Father forasmuch as this preservation of the Universe is one of the highest and most incommunicable glories of the Deity Let us now consider what are those things whose Creation and Conservation the Apostle doth attribute to the Son of GOD All things saith he were created by Him those that are in heaven and those that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers He leaves not any Creature of higher or of middle or of lower rank without the reach of his assertion and for the enclosing of them all within it he makes use first of a division taken from their elements I mean the places where their natural abode is saying Things in heaven and things in earth The Scripture speaketh often of them in the same manner As when we are forbidden in the Decalogue to make Religious use of any Image or the likeness of any thing whatever Thou shalt not make thee saith the LORD any image of things that are in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth By Heaven he meaneth not only that vast Region where we see the Sun and the other Stars to be lifted up But also Paradise the Habitation of Angels and of the souls of Saints above and this void space where the Fowls do fly and where the Showers and the Thunders and the other Meteors are formed below By Earth he meaneth this whole Globe wherein we live with the waters that run in stream or do float here There being then no creature but is in one of these two places it is evident he doth comprize them all by saying
The things that are in heaven and those that are in earth But he addeth yet another division no less general taken from the quality of the things themselves which all are either visible as the Heavens the Elements the Plants and the living Creatures or invisible as the Devils and the Angels and the souls of men And to the end none might imagine that the good Angels by reason of the excellency of their admirable nature were excepted from this number the Apostle makes expressest mention of them giving a touch at the false Teachers thereby who taught the worshipping of Angels as he will shew hereafter To refute this error he ranketh them by name among the things that were created by JESUS CHRIST and that depend on Him and were made for Him For there is no doubt but they are the holy Angels whom he calleth here Thrones Rom 8.37 Ephes 1.21 Dominions Principalities and Powers And he useth these words so often in this sense as in the Epistle to the Romans and to the Ephesians and elsewhere that I wonder not a little at some Expositors who give them here another reference There is great likelihood that this diversity of names doth signifie a great difference among the Angels Indeed there is no sort of Creatures in the whole Universe but an admirable variety is found among them that Soveraign Wisdom which hath formed them having pleased to set forth the infinite riches of His power and understanding in the diversity of those ranks qualities and functions by which He hath distinguish'd things which are otherwise of a like yea of the same nature To pass by the rest who can reckon up the differences of estates of conditions of temperaments and inclinations which are observed among men All of them have the same nature none have the same form nor the same countenance We may not doubt but that there is somthing semblable among the Angels and that in their intelligible World there is some image of that variety which renders our visible one so beautiful and so mervellous The Apostle to express this difference of their Orders useth the names of those divers degrees which are found in the States and Polities of the world where are Thrones that is Monarchs and Kings Dominions that is Dignities which though very high yet art beneath Kings as Dukes and Archdukes then Principalities as the Governors of Cities and Provinces and lastly Powers such as inferior Magistrates are whom the Latines in the Apostle's time did call by the very name that we read here and it is yet in use * Il podestà among the people of Italy From whence in my opinion it may be with reason concluded that there is a diversity of charges and Ministries among the Angels If you ask me what the Orders of them be and how many and what the difference between them is and whether it consist in qualities of their nature or only in the employments GOD hath given them I am not ashamed to confess unto you freely with * Exchirâ—d c. 58. S. Augustine that I cannot tell the Scripture which alone could inform us having declared nothing about it to us As for that which the Roman Schools do sound withal upon this matter of nine Orders of the Celestial Hierarchy it is but the fansyings of a man that having overmuch leisure amus'd himself to fashion the same with the least unhandsomness he could in imitation of some fond Jewish imaginations of like nature and to make them weigh the more did set them forth under the holy and venerable name of Dionysius the Areopagite the frigid frothiness of his pufft-up stile his quirks and his vanity and his whole air being infinitely far from the gravity modesty and simplicity of the Apostles Scholars do sufficiently shew that he is nothing less than what he affirms himself to be and indeed long since some testimonies urged out of his Books by Hereticks Concil tom l. 855. Ep. Joan. Maroâ—ia Ep 〈◊〉 A. C. â—32 have been rejected by the Orthodox as Apocryphal and uncertain and such as were not S. Denys's at all Laying aside therefore beloved Brethren the empty and vain Authorities of an humane spirit let us content our selves with what the Apostle hath told us in this subject and let us diligently make our profit of His Divine instructions Let us learn from them first to adore the LORD JESUS as Creator of the Universe and to acknowledge by this work of His His true and eternal Divinity Let no objection or carnal difficulty let no Heretical subtilty ever pluck up this sacred truth out of our hearts Let us oppose the Apostl's Authority against all that men and Devils can say or invent to the contrary And admire we constantly the goodness and the wisdom of the Father who gave us such a Saviour as our necessity did require For none was able to repair us but He that first made us and the hand alone which created us could restore us to that blessed state from whence we had fallen by sin And since GOD hath given us for Mediator and the Prince of our Salvation the same whom this great frame had for its Creator let us embrace Him with a firm belief Be we content with His fulness and regard none beside Him in heaven or in earth The Angels how sublime soever their nature and their dignity be after all are but creatures not to speak of men who beside the infirmity of their being were all conceiv'd in sin But it is not enough to confess that the LORD JESUS is the Creator of all things and to acknowledge Him for our only Saviour and Mediator this Faith must work and fructifie in us it must spread it self into all the parts of our life must sanctifie our affections and actions arm us against all the temptations of the enemy comfort us in affliction and assure us against every fear For since JESUS hath created this grand Universe since Thrones and Dominions are the work of His hands since it is by His Providence that this All subsisteth in the state it is who seeth not with what Devotion we should serve so Puissant a Monarch This earth that beareth you this air that you breath these heavens that shine on you these plants and these living creatures that nourish or refresh you and these Celestial Powers which encamp about you all these things are productions of His power and presents from His bounty In like manner your own nature this body so skilfully composed and that soul which enliveneth it are works of His Providence which neither were created nor do now subsist but by Him Is it not reasonable that you should consecrate to His glory what you do hold only from His Grace Remember also what the Apostle addeth That as all things were created by Him so they were made for him Do not frustrate your Creator of His intentions Live for His glory since it was for it you were created For
if the Heavens and the Elements and the Winds and the Meteors and the Plants things deaf and dumb and inanimate do preach and celebrate the wonders of their LORD all of them obeying His voyce and faithfully serving His designs what will our ingratitude be if with these senses and this excellent reason He hath given us we alone of all His creatures should cross His counsels and dishonor His Name instead of glorifying it The glory He requireth of us is only that we walk in His Commandments that we abound in good and holy works that we depart from all evil and live in such manner as may oblige our neighbours to acknowledge that this JESUS whom we serve is truly a great GOD. Acquit we us then faithfully of these duties and assure our selves that if we advance His glory He will provide for our bliss and guard us from all that opposeth the same For since all things Celestial and Terrestrial visible and invisible were created and do still subsist by Him there is nothing in the whole world that should make us afraid All the Armies of Heaven of the Elements and of Nature are in our Masters pay and neither war nor work but for His interests and by His order These very Thrones these Principalities these Powers and these Dominions which He hath exalted above all His other creatures do not employ the mightiness and the glory of their nature but for Him and for those that fear Him They are ministring Spirits sent forth to serve for their sakes that shall receive the inheritance of Salvation They keep us in all our ways They defend us in life they assist us at death and convey us up into the bosom of our true Abraham Let us live in assurance under the protection of so good and so great a LORD that we may one day receive at His hand blissful Immortality the great and last Donative His Benignity conferreth To Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit the true GOD blessed over all things be for ever Honor Glory and Praise Amen THE IX SERMON COL I. Ver. XVIII Vers XVIII And it is He who is the head of the body of the Church and who is the beginning and the first-born from the dead to the end He might have the first place in all things IT is not without just cause Beloved Brethren that the Apostle St. Paul speaking of the union of JESUS CHRIST and His Church which was represented at the beginning of the world Eph. 5.32 by the marriage of Adam and Eve doth pronounce it aloud to be a great secret For in effect there is nothing in this mysterie which way soever you take it but is very great and worthy the admiration of men and Angels First if you weigh the thing it self is it not wonderful strange and unheard of in the world that the Creator should unite Himself with the creature The LORD of glory with worms The King of Heaven with dust and ashes The Saint of Saints with sinners Then again if you consider the foundation of this Union what can be conceived of a more ravishing nature than the birth and the death of the Son of GOD upon which this Divine alliaâ—â—e was contracted this mystical Spouse having had so vehement a passion for the Church that to make her His He made Himself a man like us and shed out all His blood upon a Cross If you contemplate the form and manner of this Union it is so strict and intimate that it perfectly mingleth together the parties whom it doth unite and makes them one only body one flesh and one Spirit joyning both their persons and their affairs and in such manner confounding their interests that JESUS CHRIST is wholly His Churches and the Church wholly Her CHRIST's The firmness of this Union is no less admirable being such as all the powers of the Earth of Hell or of Heaven are not able to dissolve it and whereas Nature hath bound nothing in the whole Universe but time doth lose it in the end the sacred clasps of this the Churches eternal Union with her LORD shall never be undone either in this world or in that which is to come by any of those innumerable ages that shall roul forth Finally if you respect the effects of it what can be mentioned of more glorious and saving import than the fruits this Union doth produce It filleth our understanding with light it purifies our affections it sanctifies our hearts it keepeth the peace of GOD in them it changeth slaves of Devils into Children of the most High it transformeth Earth into Heaven and instead of that death and curse which we deserved it giveth us eternity and glory For 't is from it alone that all those Divine graces do flow down which we enjoy in this world and all the advantages and felicities we hope for in the other It need be no wonder therefore that the Scripture doth make use of so many different resemblances to figure out to us so excellent and so rich a subject there being to be found no one so accomplished as might singly suffice to represent us all the marveils of it For this cause it borroweth to express this same one all the unions that nature or art or humane society doth afford us comparing it sometimes to the Union of a Vine with its branches or of an Olive with the graffs that are set into its slock sometimes to the knitting of a Foundation with the building which it beareth or of a corner stone with the two walls which it binds together sometimes to the conjunction of a Prince with His subjects or of an elder brother with the younger or of an husband with his wife But among all these sacred pictures of our union with the LORD there is hardly any more proper or more genuine than the two similitudes which the LORD my Brethren now sets before you the one in those words of His Apostle which we have read to you and the other on that sacred Table whither you are invited to the feast of His Lamb. The first is drawn from the natural union of the head with its members and the second from the union of bread and drink with the bodies which are nourished thereby By reason of the one CHRIST is our head and we His body By reason of the other He is called our bread our meat and our drink and we the creatures whom He feedeth and quickneth And though in other respects these two images be very different yet in this particular they agree that they excellently represent to us both our union with the LORD and the life which is thence derived to us it being clear that as well the head as the food doth each of them give life to the bodies with which they are united This hath induced me to believe that the meditation of this Text will be useful for the Sacrament of the LORD's Supper for which we prepare our selves since for the main
be restrained to this matter and we are precisely to understand that He is the beginning of this second work of GOD. JESUS CHRIST the eternal wisdom may say in respect of this second creation what it saith of the first that the Father possessed Him in the begining of His ways and that it is the same wisdom that projected prepared and executed all this great design of the renovation of the world First it is the Son of GOD who intervening at the beginning in the counsel of the Father took upon Him the expiating of Sin without which it was not possible to found this second Frame And though he actually did it not till the fulness of time yet His engaging His word for it being once accepted of the Father it had as much efficacy as if the thing it self had been then already executed and performed which makes the Apostle elsewhere say that JESVS CHRIST is the same both yesterday and to day and for ever He hath the same efficacy always as well before as after His manifestation Without this not a man could have been called into the state of Grace Therefore St. Paul saith in another place that GOD hath chosen us in JESUS CHRIST considering Him as the foundation of our election because out of Him there could not be salvation or happiness for any one of us He is therefore truly the beginning of this work since His merit is the foundation of the counsel GOD hath taken to make and form it as St. Peter also observes when speaking of the redemption wrought by the blood of the Lamb he saith expresly that He was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world But beside the merit of His Cross which was from all time present in the counsel of GOD He is further the beginning or the principle of the Church another way even by the operation and efficacy of His power having called unto GOD all the faithful that ever were It 's He that brought Abraham out of Chaldea It 's He that appeared to the Patriarchs and that led Israel in the desert and that inspired the Prophets Psal 110.1 Whence it comes that David calls Him his LORD He builded and kept up that whole ancient Church as well as the latter by the vertue of His word and Spirit But He is again the beginning of the Church in the quality of a pattern and an exemplary cause the faithful of all ages having all been as it were cast into His mould as the Apostle teacheth at the eighth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans saying that all those whom GOD hath fore-known He hath predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son And it 's to no purpose to object that this cannot be said of that time when He had not yet assumed that humane nature tempted on earth and crowned in Heaven unto which we are conformed For to this I answer first that though that nature were not really yet in being it is enough that its idea and image was in the mind of GOD for the assimilating and conforming His work thereto This sufficeth to shew that He is the beginning and principle of it But I adjoyn in the second place that this work the Church may be considered two wayes either in its beginnings while it is yet but forming or in its perfection as finished when it hath all the touches requisite to set it in the highest degree of excellency which it must abide in I confess the Church under the first consideration had its being before the Son of GOD was made man and raised up to Heaven But if you take it under the second it is evident that in this respect He is truly the beginning of this Divine work For no one was perfect before Him He is if I may so say the first piece fully ended that ever came out of the Fathers hand and His own No one of the rest is absolutely completed Their bodies are yet under the power of Death the last of our enemies CHRIST is the only one that hath altogether broken its bonds and raised up His body from the grave and clothed it with glorious immortality He is the first man of the new world that the universe ever saw and it 's in Him hath been shewed us the true form of that second nature which we hope for in the time to come but which none hath or shall have for the present save JESUS CHRIST alone It seems to be this properly that the Apostle here intendeth when he calleth Him the beginning or principle because he addeth the first-born from the dead which words as you see do evidently correspond with this sense St. John also giveth this quality to the LORD Rev. 1.5 Grace be unto you and peace saith he from JESVS CHRIST who is the faithful witness 1 Cor. 15.20 23. the first-born from the dead And St. Paul illustrates this expression elsewhere saying to the same purpose that JESVS CHRIST being raised from the dead was become the first-fruits of them that sleep And a little after In JESVS CHRIST saith he shall all be made alive But every man in his own order CHRIST the first-fruits afterwards they that are CHRIST's And otherwhere yet Act. 26.23 in the Acts he saith it was necessary that CHRIST should be the first that rose from the dead who might shew light to the people From all these places doth sufficiently appear what the Apostle signifieth when he saith that JESVS CHRIST is the beginning and the first-born from the dead to wit that He is the first of all mankind who was raised from the state of the dead and setled in glorious immortality that He is the first ear of this blessed harvest that was carryed up into the Sanctuary and offered in due season to the eternal Father untill the rest do become ripe This truth is throughly evident For of what other man but the Lord JESUS was it ever heard say that he arose from the dead and ascended into Heaven I know the Scripture telleth us of some dead that were raised before the resurrection of the LORD But this deprives Him not at all of the glory which the Apostle here giveth Him For that I may not alledge that those persons were raised from the grave not by their own force and vertue as JESUS CHRIST but by the touching or prayer of Eliah and Elishah and by GOD's command I say that the resurrection which St. Paul understandeth is the rising again unto glory and immortality It 's a being born again not to the former life which is terrene and fading but to the other which is celestial and incorruptible Who seeth not that in this sence there never was nor yet is any raised again except the LORD JESUS alone For the Son of the Shunamite Lazarus and the others of like quality at their coming forth of the grave did reassume that same natural and perishing life which they had laid down a life subject to
all the sentiments we have Let there appear nothing in our words in our affections or our works but what is His. But this lesson of the Apostles doth no less recommend to us charity towards our neighbour than submission towards JESUS CHRIST For since the Church is a body and even the body of CHRIST that is the fairest and most perfect body in the world judge ye what ought to be the union and the love of all the faithful that compose it Look upon the body of man from which this resemblance is taken how great is the zeal of all the parts for the conservation of the whole How do they love it and conspire for it's good how do they do and suffer all things and each in it's rank expose their life and being for it Such ye Faithful ought to be your affection for the Church this Divine body of the LORD whereof you are members It s peace its preservation and its glory should be the object of your highest and most urgent defires There is nothing that should not be cheerfully employed in so brave a design Wo to them that have no feeling of the wounds of this sacred body that are not affected with its bruises and look upon the breaches of it unmoved who are so far from groaning at them and endeavouring to repair them that themselves make more rending with extream impiety and inhumanity the most innocent body in the world and most beloved of GOD the body of His Son which He hath redeemed at the price of His own Blood But besides the affection we ought to have for the Church in general this similitude advertiseth us also to love ardently each of the faithful in particular St. Paul toucheth at and treateth of this advice expresly in another place There is no division in the body 1 Cor. 12.25 26. saith he the members have a mutual care one of another and if one of the members suffer any thing all the members suffer with it or if one of the members be honoured all the members rejoyce together in it Now ye are the body of CHRIST and His members each one on his part O GOD how great would be our happiness and our glory if the union and concord of our flock did answer this fair and rich picture if knit together by an holy and inviolable love and having but one heart and one soul as we have but one Head we did amiably converse together tenderly resenting the good and evil of each other and each of us putting forth his power to conserve and encrease the good of our brethren and to comfort and cure their evils But alas instead of this sweet and grateful spectacle which would ravish heaven and earth we behold nothing among us but quarrels and coldness and hatred and animofities The welfare of our brethren displeaseth us and their ill case toucheth us not at all The former raiseth our envy and the latter stirreth not our compassion Vanity and the love of our selves make us either disdain or hate all others There are no bonds which our fierceness doth not break it equally violates both those of nature and those of grace Is this that great name of the body of CHRIST which we glory to be called by CHRIST is nothing but sweetness and love He hath laid down His life for His enemies How are we His we that hate and persecute our brethren And how are we His body since we rend one another Were ever the members of the same body seen at war together the hand assaulting the foot and the teeth falling on the hand If any such thing appear is it not taken for the effect of an extream rage or for an horrible prodigy Oh! how ordinary is this rage and this prodigy among us who being members of the same body and which infinitely augmenteth our shame of the body of CHRIST the Saviour of the world have yet no horrour at the biting and consuming of one another as if we were an herd of Canibals and not the flock of the Lord JESUS I well know we do not want plausible reasons to palliate each of us our faults passion it self making us witty in the defence of this bad cause But let our own conscience be our judge let it remember it hath to do with JESUS CHRIST and not with men if it beguile us it cannot deceive GOD. Renounce we then unfeignedly all this kind of vices and cordially loving our Brethren succouring the afflicted assisting the poor comforting the sick and living in concord with all let us truly be as we say we are the body of our LORD JESUS CHRIST It 's this in particular that the bread and the wine of our LORD the sacred embleme of our mystical union do require of us they mind us that we are but one bread and one body as the Apostle represents it Chap. 10. in the first Epistle to the Corinthians Finally this doctrine further sheweth us with what purity and sanctity we ought to keep our own persons since all being the body of CHRIST we are each one members of Him Against every temptation that sin shall let fly at us let us take up this consideration for our succour say shall I take the members of CHRIST to make of them members of Satan Shall I defile that body in the ordure of incontinency or of drunkenness or any other debauches which the Son of GOD hath cleansed with His blood which He hath united and joyned to Himself and whereof He is become their Head Far be it from me to commit so vile a fact It 's thus My Brethren that we ought to regulate our whole life for the being truly the body of CHRIST And if we so be this Divine Head doubt it not will love us and tenderly preserve us For no one ever yet hated his own flesh He will feed us and set us at His own Table and give us the bread and wine of Heaven and after the combats and trials of this life will clothe us with His own glory and immortality as being the first-born from the dead To Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit the true GOD blessed for ever be honour and glory to ages of ages Amen THE X. SERMON COL I. Ver. XIX XX. Vers XIX For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell XX. And by Him to reconcile all things to Himself having made peace by the blood of His cross viz. as well the things that are in Earth as those that are in Heaven EVen as in the frame of Nature GOD hath set up one only principle of light namely the Sun and hath united in the body of this admirable luminary all the brightness that was spred through the universe that it might enlighten the Heavens and the earth and that from it as from a common source might stream forth into all things all the flame and warmth they do receive so likewise in the Kingdom of
Grace the same GOD hath given us one JESUS CHRIST alone the true Sun of righteousness whom He hath filled with all the treasures of wisdom and life that He might be as an exceeding abundant and inexhaustible fountain of joy and immortality whence are diffused upon all the parts of the new world which is created in righteousness and in holiness all the spiritual perfections and benedictions they have This is that Dear Brethren which the Apostle divinely teacheth us in the Text you have now heard wherein speaking of the LORD JESUS he saith it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell He represented to us in the precedent words the excellency of the Lord JESUS's person in that He is the Image of GOD the Lord and the Creator of all things visible and invisible then next His dignity in that He is the Head of the Church the beginning and the first-born from the dead concluding that He hath the first place in all things The Apostle now produceth the reason of it taken from the decree and will of the Eternal Father For it was His good pleasure saith he that in Him should all fulness dwell And that we might discern the wisdom of the Father in this disposal of the thing he sets before us in the words following the work for the effecting whereof He defigned and sent His Son a work so great and so wonderful as it is evident that without this fulness which He caused to dwell in Him it was not possible it should be brought to an end For it is by Him that He purposed to reconcile and actually did reconcile all things in Himself as well those that are in Heaven as those that are in earth And for the more full discovery of the greatness of this Divine master-piece he toucheth also at the means by which it was accomplished to wit Peace which he made by the blood of His Son's Cross It was not possible to reunite Heaven and Earth and reconcile these parts of the Universe that were divided each from other but by making peace by extinguishing their hate and removing the cause of their enmities Neither was it any more possible to procure this peace otherways then by the shedding of a Divine blood and the offering up a sacrifice of infinite worth and by the intervention of a Mediator who should have in him all the perfections and excellencies of the parties that were to be reconciled The greatness of the work shews us the quality of the means that was requisite to finish it and the quality of the means doth regulate the faculties and nature of the person that was necessary to do it To reconcile earthly and heavenly things in GOD there was need to make peace To make peace there was need of a blood and a sacrifice of infinite value To offer such a sacrifice there was need of a person in whom all fulness dwelt that is who had in Him fully and perfectly all the graces and excellencies of Heaven and Earth Certainly then it was an order highly reasonable and most worthy of the Divine wisdom of the Father to make all fulness dwell in His CHRIST for the reconciling of Heaven and earth by making peace through the blood of His cross That we may have the fuller view of it for His glory and our own consolation we will consider by His grace in this action those three points that are distinctly proposed us in the Apostles Text. First the good pleasure of the Father that all fulness should dwell in CHRIST Secondly the work He hath wrought by the hand of His CHRIST thus furnished namely the reconciling of all things in Himself as well those that are in earth as those that are in Heaven and finally the means by which He hath executed this great design to wit making peace by the blood of the cross of His well-beloved Son For a right understanding of the first of these three points we must enquire at our entrance what this fulness is which the good pleasure of the Father hath made to dwell wholly in CHRIST especially seeing that Interpreters do not well accord about it Some referring it to the Divinity of our LORD others to the graces which were accumulated on Him after His manifestation in our flesh It is certain that the word Fulness is variously taken in the Scripture and not to speak of other senses it hath which are beside our purpose it is somtimes referred to the greatness of things and signifies their just their whole and due measure As when it is said that Saul fell on the earth to the fulness of his stature that is all along 1 Sam. 28 2â— so as his whole body lay stretcht out on the ground and it is very likely that it is thus that St. Paul calleth the Church the fulness or the compleatness of CHRIST Eph. 1.23 forasmuch as being His body 't is in it that His just and due magnitude consisteth Without the Church He would be an Head without a body that is withot a magnitude and a stature proportionate to His supereminent Majesty It seemeth we might so take the Fulness mentioned in this Text even as signifying all the graces and excellencies requisite to the full and entire greatness that becomes the CHRIST of GOD but the word Dwell which is annexed to it doth not comport with it For it would be an harsh phrase and without example in any language to say that a man's stature dwelleth in him Upon the same consideration I exclude hence another sence which else would sute not ill with the matter I mean that which the term fulness hath when it is put for a full and whole measure and such as wanteth nothing We are to observe therefore beside what hath been said that the word fulness doth very commonly in Scripture set forth that which filleth any thing as when one Prophet calleth men and other creatures which the earth is full of the fulness of the earth and another the fulness of a City all the people Psal 24. â— Amos 6.8 Isa 4â— 10 that dwell in it and again another the fulness of the sea the Isles whereof it is full with all their inhabitants And because the forms of things as Philosophers speak their perfections and qualities do fill them up and give them all the beauty they have like as plants and living creatures are the ornament of the earth people the glory of Citys and Isles so many crownes of the Sea thence it comes that by a very elegant figure the graces and perfections of such or such a subject are termed the fulness thereof for that without them it would be empty and of such a condition as that rude and uncouth mass that Moses describeth in the beginning of Genesis the earth saith he was without form and void Gen. 1.2 before the LORD clothed it with these stately ornaments and filled it with that rich abundance which
elsewhere That GOD hath reconciled us to Himself by JESVS CHRIST But it seems that this is not precisely that Reconciliation which S. Paul meaneth here First because the things in heaven which he expresly puts among the parties reconciled have no part therein the Angels that dwell in the Heavens pure and holy as they are having never fallen into any alienation from GOD. Secondly because of that Reconciliation the Apostle will speak instantly in the words immediately following in which he saith Having made peace by the blood of His cross so as the former words must of necessity be referred to some other Reconciliation except we will render the language of this Divine Writer culpable of a vain and fruitless repetition The truth is they that understand these words of Reconciliation with GOD do find themselves much intangled in the matter and have recourse to divers means for clearing them of this difficulty Some affirm that though the Angels be holy and blessed yet they were not exempt from needing the death of JESUS CHRIST to merit and obtain their confirmation and perseverance in the estate they had a bold Doctrine and such as it is hard to find any foundation for in the Scripture For by this reckoning JESUS CHRIST should also be the Mediator of Angels a thing that seems to cross the end and the true nature of this Office First because a Mediator should partake of the nature of the parties whom he reconcileth as you see that JESUS CHRIST the Mediator between GOD and men is GOD and man whereas He took not the nature of Angels Secondly because every Mediator interveneth between parties that are at difference whereas the Angels are and ever were at perfect accord with GOD holily obeying His will Lastly because the blood of JESUS CHRIST was shed only to wash away sin and the Scripture every where represents the people of GOD's Covenant His redeemed ones and those whom He hath saved as justified and cleansed from their filth for which there was no place in the nature of Angels they being pure and clean from all sin For as to that of Job That GOD putteth no trust in His servants Job 4.18 and doth set light by his Angels it is evident and acknowledged by all Christians that this is not said to accuse those blessed Spirits or to suggest that if they were tried by the ordinary and legal justice of GOD they would be found guilty and have need of pardon but rather to signifie either that the Authority of GOD over His creatures is so great and so absolute as He oweth nothing to the Angels themselves how exquisite soever their Sanctity be the light of glory wherewith He crowns them being a gift from His own bounty and not the due reward of their merit or else that the infinite purity of this Supreme Majestie is so splendid and so glorious that the light of the most holy Spirits fadeth before Him and is found dusky and defective in comparison of Him as the shining of our lights and of the Stars themselves doth disappear at the brightness of the Sun Others therefore not able to savour and for just cause I think this Doctrine that the Angels were reconciled to GOD by JESUS CHRIST to exclude them from this passage do restrain the Apostle's words to men only understanding by the things that are in Heaven the already hallowed spirits of the faithful which death had taken out of this world and by the things that are on earth the faithful that yet live here beneath in flesh But not to dissemble this Exposition seemeth both forced and frigid Forced because the Scripture by things in heaven ordinarily meaneth the Angels whose element and natural habitation as you know the heavens are whereas souls separated from their bodies are receiv'd in and lodged there by a Supernatural grace and dispensation Frigid because the sense it attributeth to the Apostle no way answers the sublimity and dignity of his words For if his aim were to express nothing but that the faithful are reconciled to GOD what need was there to divide them into two ranks some that are on the earth others that are in the heavens Who doubts but He reconciled these as well as those But without question he purposed to magnifie this work of GOD by JESUS CHRIST and to this end saith that it extendeth not to men alone that are reconciled to the Father by the efficacy of the cross of the LORD but that it hath effect in heaven it self re-uniting and reconciling the things that are there What shall we say then to these difficulties and in what sense shall we take the Apostle's words That GOD hath reconciled all things in Himself both those that are on earth and those that are in heaven Dear Brethren we will leave them in their genuine and ordinary sense and say that these expressions do signifie the recomposing and re-uniting of the creatures both Terrestrial and Celestial not with GOD but among themselves with each other For as in a State the Subjects have a twofold union one with their Prince on whom thy all depend another among themselves being as members of the same Political Body joyned together by the bond of mutual concord amity and correspondence In like manner is it with things Celestial and Terrestrial the two principal parties of this great State of GOD's which we cal the Universe Besides the union they have with GOD as their Soveraign Monarch from whose bounty they receive the being and the life they enjoy they have another alliance and conjunction one with the other as parts of one Corporation having been formed and qualified for mutual commerce It 's in this relation and in this union that the beauty and perfection of the Universe doth consist when Heaven and earth have amicable entercourse and conspire to one and the same end with an holy and a reciprocal affection Sin having broken the first union and separated man from his Creator by the same means dissolved the second loosning us from the creatures For as again in a state when one part of the Subjects riseth against the Sovereign the rest that remain in their duty presently break with the Rebels and instead of the commerce they held before with them do make cruel and implacable war upon them while they continue in their disobedience Such hath the event proved in the world Man had no sooner rebell'd against GOD but heaven and all that remained in His obedience brake with man Whole Nature took up arms against this Rebel and would have even then utterly ruin'd him if the Counsel of GOD who would not destroy us had not hindred it And as from one disorder there never fail to spring up divers others this first rupture of man with GOD and the good Creatures brought forth divers others indeed rending mankind it self into several pieces the one divided from the other by diversity of Religions and the aversions and animosities that attend it
Such was the sad and dismal estate of the world the end whereof could be nothing else but ruine and eternal perdition Therefore GOD to restore its primitive beauty yea to raise it to a perfection higher than that of its first original reconciled all things by His CHRIST both Terrestrial and Celestial He took away the wars the hatreds and the aversions that divided them and reduced them all into that union which they ought to have for His glory and their own good As to things on earth you know what was the enmity and the separatedness of the Jews and Gentiles whom the Law as a partition wall did bar off from the fellowship of the people of GOD. CHRIST laid this enterclose even with the ground and recalling the Gentiles associated and rea-allyed them with the Jews to make them thenceforth one only and the same people He did as much to the distinctions that separated the more Polite Nations from the Barbarous the Latines from the Greeks the East from the West the North from the South He removed all these marks and differences and united all Nations Sects and conditions into one only people into one only body namely His Church It 's thus that things on earth were reconciled As for things in heaven it was the good pleasure of the Father to reconcile them also by His Son For the Angels the true Citizens of heaven were our foes after sin whereas they are henceforth our Friends and our Allies united with us under JESUS CHRIST our common Head Aforetime they were armed against us with flaming sword now they fight for us and encamp about us They did drive us off from the entrance into Paradise Now themselves do bear our souls thither at their departure out of this life They take part in our interests they are sad at our disasters and rejoyce at our amendment And to testifie how delightful this Reconciliation is to them they saluted the birth of our Lord who came to make it with their songs and melodies For it they glorified GOD and blessed and congratulated men But as the mischief of our sin communicated it self to all the parts of the Universe even those that are without life putting them all in disorder and subjecting them unto vanity so I account that this blessed Reconciliation must be extended even to them also The will of GOD was to comprehend them also in it re-uniting the heavens with our earth and all the Elements with us For heaven which had nothing but Lightnings and Thunder for us and that would rather have been reduc'd to nothing than receive us into its courts is now liberal towards us of its comfortable light and openeth to us the most secret Sanctuaries of its glory Life is at accord with us Immortality is in good intelligence with our flesh the Grave is no longer our enemy the Elements shall be serviceable to our welfare they shall work no more against us And so you see how the will of GOD was to reconcile things on earth and things in heaven by His Son and reduce all the parts of the Universe unto good terms each with other This great work is begun the foundations of it are laid the pledges of it are given us But it will not be perfectly accomplished until the latter day when the world freed from the bondage under which it yet groaneth shall appear entirely changed its new heavens and its new earth and its new elements with the Angels and the Saints and all its other parts conspiring together in an eternal concord and an inviolable correspondence to the glory of their common Creator who shall then be all in all 1 Cor. â—â— as the Apostle elsewhere saith And it 's this in my opinion which he meaneth in this place when he saith That the Father would reconcile all things in Himself as the Original precisely runneth For these words signifie not the term but the end and event of this Reconciliation that is to say that it shall be made not with GOD as the greater part of Expositors have understood it but for the glory of GOD. For it is plain that heavenly things were not reconciled with GOD for they never were at odds with Him But it is no less evident that their Reconciliation with us in the sense we have explained it will redound to the glory of GOD when this whole Universe shall return entirely to its true and due union It 's this therefore the Apostle intendeth when he saith That it is the good pleasure of the Father to reconcile all things in Himself that is for Himself It remains now that we speak of the means which GOD made use of to bring this great work of the Reconciliation of the world to its end S. Paul shews it us when he addeth Having made peace by the blood of the cross of CHRIST The war that man had with GOD in consequence of his sin was as we said afore the true and only cause of the bad intelligence we were in with the Angels and the other parts of the World Whence it is clear that to make the latter cease there needed only an extinguishing of the former that is to reconcile us with the Creatures there needed only a recovering us to the favour of the Creator This is the means that the Father in His Soveraign Wisdom made use of And it 's this the Apostle meaneth when he saith That He made peace that is ours having pacified His own Justice and quenched all the burning of His wrath against us 'T is by the Sacrifice that JESUS CHRIST offer'd on His Cross that this miraculous change was wrought This precious blood contented the Justice of the Father and the odour of this Divine Burnt-offering sweetned His Spirit and of severe and inexorable as He was rendred Him propitious and favourable to us Instead of fulminating His avenges He tenders us the arms of His love and no man is so wretched but He is ready to receive him provided he accept the promise of His mercy with an humble faith It is not long since that upon one of the Texts foregoing we treated of the reality the worthiness and necessity of this Satisfaction by which the Lord JESUS made our peace with the Father through the shedding out of his blood on the Cross and the voluntary suffering there for us and in our room the curse which our sins deserved Therefore we will dispense with our selves for speaking more of it at this time and to conclude the Exercise will content our selves with the noting briefly upon each of the three Points explained the principal heads of Consolation and Edification which they contain And here dear Brethren which shall we most admire the goodness of the Father and the will He had to raise us up from our fall and to reconcile us with the whole Creation whose hatred and aversion we had incurred or His unspeakable wisdom in the ordering of this great work and in the means he
having before represented to the Colossians the reconciliation of things on earth and things in heaven by means of the peace which was made through the blood of CHRIST according to the good pleasure of the Father he now descendeth from general things to particular cases and to excite in the hearts of these faithful persons a more lively feeling of this grace of GOD he puts them by name in mind of the part they had in it forasmuch as the efficacy of this goodness of His had been displayed upon them and drawn them out from perdition and advanced them to highest happiness And you saith he who were somtime estranged from him and who were His enemies in your understanding in wicked works Yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh by death to render you holy and without spot and unreproveable before Him In these words as you see to heighten the excellency of the benefit GOD had done them he first sets before their eyes the miserable estate they were naturally in before the Gospel was preached unto them You were saith he somtime estranged from GOD and His enemies in your understandings in wicked works Next he sets forth the favour GOD had shewed them in the sequel notwithstanding all their unworthiness And yet now saith he he hath reconciled you in the body of His flesh by death Finally to sway them unto the pursuance of an exquisit sanctification he represents unto them the purpose or end of their reconciliation with GOD. To render you holy saith he and without spot and unreproveable before Him These are the three points we will handle GOD willing in this action distinctly one after the other The first and natural estate of the Colossians before grace Their reconciliation with GOD made in the body of the flesh of CHRIST by His death And the end of this reconciliation to be holy and unreproveable before Him Certainly since the sin of Adam corrupted and infected our nature there are no men born into the world but their condition of it self is most wretched Yet their misery is no where so clearly discovered as in the Heathen who are born and live without the Covenant of GOD. For as to those whom He preventeth with His grace breeding them up in His Church from the beginning of their life His light and His goodness encompassing them from their nativity do hinder the discerning so fully in them the horrid corruption of our nature Whereas Heathens having no other guide but that nature in them its state and strength is to be manifestly seen The Colossians to whom St. Paul writeth were of this rank Gentiles by extraction by religion and in manners before JESUS CHRIST enlightned them Let us behold in them an image of the condition which we should be in if GOD had not separated us from the rest of men and timely drawn us out of our original misery The Apostle saith first that somtime that is before their conversion they were estranged alienated namely estranged from GOD from His covenant and from His people as he explaineth it more largely elsewhere Remember saith he to the Ephesians that at that time Eph. 2.12 ye were without CHRIST having no communion with the common-wealth of Israel being strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and being without GOD in the world They had no communion with the true GOD were so far from adoring Him that they not so much as thought on Him and did deride the only nation in the world that knew Him and served Him This is clear by the Books of the ancient Heathens that have remained to our time as also by the ignorance and idolatry of the modern But the Apostle goes further yet and adds that at that time they were enemies of GOD which comprehends two things the one that they hated GOD and warred against Him the other that GOD accounted them and pursued them as His enemies For the first St. Paul speaks it expresly of the Heathen in the Epistle to the Romans where among other characters He giveth them He sets down this for one they are saith he full of envy murder debate Rom. 1.29 30. deceit malignity whisperers back-biters haters of GOD upon which a question ariseth how it is true that the heathen hated GOD For either they knew Him or they knew Him not If they knew Him not how did they hate Him since love and hatred are two passions which cannot be exercised but towards objects known it being no more possible to hate than it is to love what we know not And if they knew Him seeing He is the cheif good how is it possible they should hate Him since our will is not capable of hating good known To this I answer first that when the Scripture says the Heathen hated GOD it meaneth not that GOD was the proper and formal object of their hatred For it is certain that in this sense the Deity can neither be hated by them that are ignorant of it nor unloved by those that know it But the Holy GHOST thus speaketh for that these wretches do altogether as if they hated GOD It 's a manner of speaking familiar enough to say the cause for signifying the effect and the antecedent for expressing of the consequent Now these people in their blindness defaced the glory of GOD the most they could They battered down the most illustrious marks of His GOD-head They blasphemed His Providence They reviled His nature They robbed Him of the honour of creating and conserving the Universe and gave it to monsters They despised His Will and contraried all His orders They passionately loved what He most abhorred and abhorred what He is best pleased with Are not these ordinary and natural effects of hatred It 's therefore with much reason that the Scripture to set forth this impiety and fury of the Heathens saith that they hated GOD since they treated Him in the very same manner as if they had directly hated Him As when the Wise man saith somwhere Pov. 29.24 8.36 that the wicked hate their own soul or their own life it is not to signifie that their will hath properly in it any aversion for their own life on the contrary they but too much love it But to declare that they carry themselves just as if they expresly hated it affecting and practising with an extream vehemency the things that cause their ruine and neglecting and abhorring those that would lead them to salvation Secondly I say That though the Heathen have some knowledge of GOD yet because they phancy Him quite another then in effect He is they may be said in propriety of speech to hate Him For though it be not possible for us to hate good so far as it is good nevertheless it often happens that error representing things to us quite otherwise than they are in themselves we love what is indeed worthy of hatred and we hate what is in truth most worthy to be
of the Gospel and to give it to the Fopperies and Vanities which they preach S. Paul to put the Colossians out of all doubt and ambiguity indicateth expresly to them what this Gospel is of which he speaketh That saith he which you have heard namely of Epaphras who had preached it among them and to whom he gave before an excellent Testimonial for fidelity and sincerity I mean saith he the Gospel which you receiv'd at the beginning from the mouth of true Servants of GOD and not these vain and dangerous Doctrines which evil workers would make to pass with you for the Gospel of CHRIST though they be nothing less then so But to confirm them the more in the faith he sets before them in the second place an excellent encomium of the Gospel which containeth a clear proof of its truth saying That it is the Gospel which was preached to every creature under heaven It is not the Doctrine which these false Apostles sowed here and there in some out quarters whispering and privily advancing the same among light and unstable spirits It is the true Word of the Son of GOD which had been proclaimed through the whole Universe by His command and according to the Oracles of His ancient Prophets That Word which going forth from Jerusalem did spread its self every way in a very little time and being accompanied with the power of its Author made it self be heard and believed in all the Provinces of the habitable earth in spight of the contradictions of Hell and the world His assertion that the Gospel was preached to every creature which is under heaven may be expounded two manner of ways but both of them amounting to the same sense First by a Figure very common in Divine and Humane speech the word Creature may be taken for Man the noblest and most excellent of all the Creatures And the LORD had so used the word before in the same matter when He commanded His Apostles to do what S. Paul doth magnifie in this place Go ye forth said He to them into all the world and preach the Gospel unto every creature Where it is evident that by every creature He understandeth men who alone are capable of hearing and receiving what is preached In this sense when S. Paul saith that the Gospel was preached to every creature it is as much as if he had said to all mankind and among all sorts of men agreeably to what he saith here a little after speaking of himself that he admonisheth every man Col. 1.28 and teacheth every man in all wisdom Secondly these words To every creature may in my opinion be taken also as signifying in all the world and this the rather because it is literally in the Original in all the creature with the Article the and not simply to every creature Now that S. Paul sometimes useth this term the creature to signifie the world this great body and collection of all things which GOD hath created this is manifestly to be seen in the Epistle to the Romans where he saith Rom. 8.19 20 21. That the great and ardent desire of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the children of GOD and again That the creature was made subject to vanity and more a little after That all the creature groaneth and travelleth in pain together until now where it is clear and confessed by the greatest part of Interpreters that the creature signifies the world and our Bibles to make us understand it the better do change the singular number into the plural rendring it les creatures and toutes les creatures the creatures and all the creatures whereas the Original readeth simply the creature and all the creature Taking it thus therefore in this place when the Apostle saith the Gospel was preached in all the creature which is under heaven he meaneth in all the world wherein we dwell wherein GOD hath seated mankind beneath the heavens I will make no stay here now to shew you how it might be truly said in S. Pauls time that the Gospel of our LORD was then preached to all mankind or in all the habitable world or how this event is a clear and solid proof of its truth We have already heretofore handled both the one and the other of these two particulars in expounding if you remember the sixth Verse of this Chapter which affirmed that the Gospel was come unto all the world Upon that Text which signifies no other thing than what the Apostle saith here namely that the Gospel hath been preached in all the creature which is under heaven We shewed first by good and irrefragable testimonies of Ancient Writers both Christian and Pagan that the heavenly Word had been preached within the Apostles days in all Countreys then known either to Greeks or Romans and receiv'd for the most part with fruit so as taking the word World according to the stile of all Languages not simply and absolutely for all the parts of the Terrestrial Globe but only for those which at that time were known to men and which they understood to be inhabited it might be said with truth and without any over-reaching Hyperbole as S. Paul declareth here that the Gospel had been preached in all the creature which is under heaven that is in all the world And in the second place we proved both by the importance of the thing it self and by the respect it hath to the Oracles of the Old Testament which had predicted it many ages before its event that this so swift so sudden and so admirable running of the Gospel through all the world in so few years is a certain and infallible evidence of the verity and divinity of this holy Doctrine obliging consequently both the Colossians heretofore and us at present to hold fast and persevere in the faith which we have given to it without suffering our selves to be ever mov'd away from it either by the cheating arts of false Teachers and their crafty Seducements or by the Threatnings and Persecutions of the world These things having been heretofore largely deduced and opened to you lest the repition of them should be irksome I will pass to the third head of our Text wherein the Apostle sets before the Colossians another Character of true Christian Doctrine to wit that it is the Word the Ministery whereof was committed to him It is saith he the Gospel of which I Paul have been made a Minister He opposeth his heavenly call to the temerity of the false Teachers who ran without having been sent and preached not what Heaven commanded them but what earth inspir'd them with their impulsions and instructions being from flesh and blood and not from the LORD JESUS It was otherwise with Paul all the faithful knew him to have been called from heaven and suddenly changed by the efficacy of Divine power from a Wolf into a Pastor made an Herald and witness of the Gospel immediately by the LORD JESUS instructed in His
which we trust and the Worship we give Him in Spirit and in truth and the Heaven we hope for and the Sacraments we celebrate and all the other Articles of our Religion do they not every where appear in the Books of Paul and of the other Apostles Are they not to be seen in all the Monuments of these great men as well in their Writings as also in the Churches which they planted through the earth Let us therefore my Brethren abide firm in this faith since it most assuredly is the Gospel which was heretofore preached in all the world and was commited to S. Paul's ministring And if those of Rome do alledge to us their Devotions and Traditions let us boldly tell them that if those things were any part of the Gospel they would appear in what the Apostles preached to whom JESUS CHRIST gave the Ministry thereof And in the mean time there is not found any one of them in the Sacred Volumes which they have left us to be the rule of our faith Neither the adoration of the Hoast nor the veneration of Images nor the invocation of Saints departed nor the other points for which they have Excommunicated us And herein their Head doth evidently discover how Apostolical he is to banish those from his Communion whom S. Paul here expresly declares to be at peace with GOD holy and unreprovable before Him For to have this happiness he doth not oblige us to believe or practice this pretended Gospel of Rome He requireth us only abide firm in the belief of his the Gospel which he preached to the faithful and left in his Epistles In them our Religion is to be seen full and whole But not one Article of that which Rome would by all means constrain us to receive But there is no need we should make further stay upon this matter the truth of that Doctrine which we embrace being so clear that no man who understands Christianity and owns the Divinity of it can call it into question And on the other hand the absurdity of the Doctrine we reject is so palpable and so rudely beats against the foundations of Reason and Scripture that it s very difficult for a man who hath had any taste of the Gospel ever to yield up his consent to the errors we contest except GOD have blinded him in punishment of his ingratitude The great combate which we have most cause to fear is that of the passions of our flesh It 's these properly that enfeeble faith that darken its light that hide the truth from its view and paint up error These are the true causes of their change who desert us and of the offence of many that are infirm among us Experience shews it us daily And accordingly you see Matth. 13.21 22. our Saviour hath advertis'd us of it having said in one of His Parables that it is either the fear of persecution or the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches that makes the seed of heaven unfruitful in the hearts of men and obstructs their perseverance And S. Paul somwhere imformeth us 2 Tim. 1.19 that they that reject a good conscience make shipwrack also in respect of faith When a man is once sold over to pleasure or avarice or ambition it is no wonder if in the sequel he disgust the truth and fall into error The passage is easie from the one to the other Besides the slaves of sin not finding the contentation of their passions in the profession of Truth which is for the most part under the cross their interest carries them to seek their satisfaction in the world this gives an huge shake to their minds and brings them by degres to relish the worlds side and party as it is natural to us to believe easily the things we desire Here therefore it is dear Brethren that we must put to our might and fight in good earnest if we would continue firm in the faith Give me a man that embracing JESUS CHRIST hath cast off the lusts of the flesh and of the world and I will be secure of his perseverance Take me away the colours wherewith avarice and ambition and vanity do paint-over error in the thoughts of the worldly-minded and I will not fear its seducing of any Cleanse your Conscience and your Faith will be out of danger The Devil without doubt made use of his best weapons against our LORD and you know that having represented to Him the hunger and the necessity he was in he omitted not to spread before His eyes the pomp of the Grandeurs and riches of the world It is a wile he still puts in practise and his Ministers do not forget this piece of his play they fail not to tell such as they would destroy that they will give them wonders Faithful Brethren let us fence our selves seasonably against this tentation Mortifie we in us all the lusts of Flesh and Earth accustom our selves to a not-dreading the Cross and the sufferings of our LORD suffer not the world to dazle our eyes Look we upon it as a deceitful shew unable to content its own adorers To the false goods wherewith it feedeth its bond-servants let us oppose the true ones which the Gospel promiseth Let the sweet and noble hope of these enflame our souls with an ardent desire of heaven and its immortality Let it sweeten all the bitterness that attends our profession and make execrable to us all that tendeth to turn us away from so blessed a design Courage Christian yet a little patience and you have overcome Your faith if you abide firm in it will open in your heart for the present a living spring of such joy as is a thousand times sweeter than all the pleasures of Worldings And it shall be crowned one day with that supereminent and immortal glory which the Gospel that you have believed doth promise to all those which shall constantly persevere in the Vocation of the LORD JESUS To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit the true and only GOD blessed for ever be all honor and praise to ages of ages Amen THE XIII SERMON COL I. Ver. XXIV Vers XXIV Whereupon I now rejoyce in my sufferings for you and to fill up the remainder of the afflictions of CHRIST in my flesh for His body which is the Church THE Gospel of the LORD JESUS hath many admirable evidences of its divinity and among them the sufferings of its Confessors and Martyrs are in my opinion not the least illustrious For if you seriously consider them you will find that there never was any doctrine in the world that drew more persecutions upon its followers or that inspired them with so much courage and resolution to undergo the same or was in effect sealed with such a deal of blood and patience Other religions as being sprung from the earth are welcome there and the world that well knoweth its own blood and its own spirit shews them kindness and
called him saith he had been made not the Master or the Prince or the Judge or the Monarch or the High-priest but the Minister of the Church Whereby you see on the one hand how very farr from the mind of this holy man the doctrine and practise of those is who qualifie themselves with those vain and haughty titles which are not heard of in the Scriptures among the names of the Apostles and Pastors there and who are not ashamed to say and to write openly that Bishops are Judges Masters and Princes of their flocks That he of Rome in particular is the Monarch of the Church its King and its Soveraign Lord on earth whose feet it ought to kiss the lowest homage a vassal can do to his Master that he hath power to impose laws on the Church which shall bind the Conscience so as it can have no faith or salvation out of his obedience that he hath though indirectly even power and dominion over the temporalities of the Church not so much as the Scepters and Crowns of the Soveraign powers of the earth excepted Judge by this if it be not a mocking of the world to strive that they may be taken for true heirs and successors of S. Paul and S. Peter S. Paul calleth himself a Minister of the Church These men say they are the Lords and Monarchs of it S. Paul protesteth that he hath no dominion over our faith These men pretend that they have an absolute empire 2 Cor. 124. such as every man is bound under pain of damnation to believe all that they command for this very reason because they command it S. 1 Pet. 5.1.2 3. Peter stiles himself a Presbyter that is an Elder with the Presbyters or Elders These men say they are their Soveraigns and Kings S. Peter ordereth the Pastors to feed the flock of CHRIST not as having Lordship over his heritages And these men attribute to themselves a direct and a supream dominion over them In sine JESUS CHRIST both Paul's and Peter's Master saith expresly to His Ministers Mat. 20.25 You know that the Princes of the Nations are Masters over them and exercise authority upon them but it shall not be so among you And these men exercise both upon people and Pastors in sum on the whole Church a mastership and a dominion much more absolute more rough and rigorous than ever did any Monarch upon his subjects and such as wanteth neither the pomp of dignity nor the splendor of riches nor arms nor guards nor any other of the ordinary and visible marks and badges of a worldly royalty But you have to observe here also on the other hand how false and unjust the derision is which our adversaries make of the name of Minister which Pastors among us do assume imputing in a manner their modesty to them as a crime and almost accusing them that they are not arrogant I know well that the word here rendred Minister is often used in the language of Scripture and the Church to signifie the ministry of those who have the care of the poor and of the stock of the Church and we have reteined it in this sense in our vulgar tongues in which they that are put into such charges are called in French Diacres in English Deacons as you know which is precisely the Greek word here used by the Apostle But however since S. Paul hath not stuck to use this name Col. 1.23 2 Cor. 3.6 6.4 for the expressing of his office calling himself here as you see a Minister of the Church and before a Minister of the Gospel and elsewhere yet a Minister of the new Testament and again in another place a Minister of GOD and Minister of CHRIST it seems to me that no one can blame us for having followed the example of his humility us who are so far beneath him and that the taxing of us for calling our Pastors Ministers is evidently a reviling this great Apostle who hath so often used this name in this sense yea even to signifie the highest dignities that be in the Church such as without contradiction his Apostleship was For it is evident that he meaneth this here when he saith he was made a Minister of the Church He adds in the second place According to the dispensation of GOD which hath been given me Hereby he sheweth first that it was not man but GOD the supream Master and Lord of the whole universe who called and consecrated him to the Ministry of the Gospel You all know the history of it it being told us at length in the book of the Acts it is full of so many wonders that the vocation of this holy man ought to be counted very singular many circumstances meeting in it which do not occur in the call of any other Apostle JESUS CHRIST had called the rest during the dayes of His flesh He called S. Paul after His resurrection and His sitting at the right hand of the Father He conversed with the rest on earth To this person He spake from Heaven The others were invited by our Saviour and won by little and little Him He overcame and subdued at once by an extraordinary exercising of His Divine power seizing him sodainly by the miraculous force of His right hand If the rest before their call had no affection for the LORD at least they had no hatred nor aversion for Him Paul burned with a furious zeal against JESUS CHRIST and all His and made warr upon Him and had weapon in hand when he was plucked by coelestial power out of the bonds of iniquity and in a moment changed from a persecutor to a Minister of the Church But beside the Author of his call he further discovers to us here the nature of his Ministry by saying that this dispensation of GOD was given him I am not ignorant that the dispensation of GOD may be taken for the conduct and wise disposel of the Providence of GOD who governeth all things and particularly the things of the Church by His eternal counsel And if the Apostle had said simply that he had been made a Minister according to or by the dispensation of GOD it might have been so understood But he addeth expresly that this dispensation of GOD was given him and this necessarily obligeth us to understand it not of the LORD's conduct which was not given him but of the divine office of a steward in His Church to which S. Paul was called and which was commited to him For that the quality and condition of his Apostleship was such 1 Cor. 4.1 he teacheth us expresly elsewhere Let every one saith he account of us as Ministers of CHRIST and stewards of the mysteries of GOD. Whence it clearly follows since the Apostle was a steward or a dispenser that his Office was a stewardship or a dispensation as he calleth it here And from thence it appears again how false the opinion of those is who attribute a
render every man perfect in CHRIST JESVS For the first when he saith that he preacheth JESVS CHRIST his meaning is not simply that he speaks of JESUS CHRIST to those whom he instructed There never was an heretick but made some mention of Him and for the colouring of his dreams did mingle with them somewhat of the mystery of JESUS CHRIST even Mahomet himself the desperatest of all impostours that ever debauched men from the Gospel doth nevertheless speak of Him with honour and acknowledge in gross the truth of the call and doctrine of JESUS But the Apostle signiâ—ies that he declareth JESUS CHRIST alone preacheth none but Him that He is the only subject of His preaching and the filling up of his teachings according to the profession he expresly maketh elsewhere that he determined to know nothing among them 1 Cor. 2.2 whom he taught but JESUS CHRIST crucified His Epistles in which he hath left us a lively and a true picture of his preaching do sufficiently justifie his speech For such as have read those divine writings see that they are filled from the beginning to the end with JESUS CHRIST alone This adorable name shines out every where in them and there is no tract or chapter but it is engraven on it There are scarce two periods found together in which it doth not appear If he be to teach he proposeth no other secrets but those of the nature or the offices or the actions or the passions or the promises of JESUS CHRIST If he must combat error he wields no other weapons in it but the Cross of JESUS CHRIST If he aim to clear the obscurities either of nature or of the Law JESUS CHRIST alone is the light he useth to dissipate all kind of shadows and clouds From Him he fetcheth consolation for souls cast down either by the sense of their sins or by the heaviness of affliction In Him he finds all his motives and arguments for our sanctification JESUS CHRIST alone furnisheth him with all that 's necessary to pacifie our consciences to make glad our hearts to raise our hopes to confirm our faith to enflame our charity to inkindle our zeal to stiffen our constancy to encourage our patience to purifie our affections to loosen us from the earth and lift us up to heaven JESUS CHRIST is all his Logick and all his Rhetorick He is the rise of his arguments the magazin of his arms the great motive of his perswasions the soul of all his discourses In the determinations of this holy Doctor you no where meet with either Pope or Mass or devotions to Saints and Angels or Purgatory or auricular confessions or so much as one of those pretended mysteries that fill up the modern Theology He was fully content with JESUS CHRIST He believed it enough to preach Him and that he needed no more either to discharge his own duty or to advance our edification and truly he had reason For what is there I do not only say necessary and useful but any way good or great and excellent which is not in JESUS CHRIST Though other things which are recommended in religion were as true as they are false and as innocent as they are pernicious yet it is evident that in comparison of CHRIST JESUS they are miserably poor and childish In Him alone is found such true solidity as is able to content the soul in Him alone is wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption all the fulness of the Godhead all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge as S. Paul will tell us hereafter In this LORD alone is grace truth and life There is no salvation in any other Acts 4.12 No other name hath been given under Heaven unto men whereby they must be saved And yet alas though this be a truth so clear in it self and so authentically confirmed by the practice of our great Apostle there are people that professing to believe it do for all seek that elsewhere which is to be found in JESUS CHRIST only and having this living and overflowing spring of grace opened to all believers by the loving kindness of the Father yet go digging in the poor Cisterns of the creatures for the water of salvation They acknowledge that the merits of JESUS CHRIST are infinite His righteousness absolutely perfect His grace inexhaustible His power supereminent but they are not content with it however They adjoyn their satisfactions unto His the prayers of Angels and Saints to His intercession and do mingle the sufferings of men with the blood of the Son of GOD. But if the lusts of the world or the false blaze of error or the corrupt inclinations of the flesh do induce them to approve or to bear with so dangerous a mixture let us for our part Dear Brethren whom GOD hath delivered from such prepossessions adore the fulness of JESUS CHRIST Let us content our selves with his richness and never seek any true good any otherwhere than in Him Bless we GOD that from the Pulpits erected among us we hear no name sounded forth but His. Since S. Paul preacheth none but Him it is greatest reason that He alone should take up the mouth of Preachers and the faith of their hearers But the Apostle having declared the subject of His preaching addeth the matter of it We preach CHRIST saith he admonishing and teaching in all wisdom These are the two parts of the office of a good Preacher to wit admonition and instruction The first compriseth all the remonstrances that are made to sinners whether to reprehend their faults or to excite their diligence or to comfort their sorrows or to advertise them of any other part of their duty The second conteineth all the lessons of heavenly doctrine the exposition of each of the articles of the mystery of godliness Admonition reformeth manners teaching informs faith The one moveth the will and the affections the other instructeth the understanding The Apostle protesteth elsewhere Act. 20.21 31. that he carefully joyned these two offices together not contenting himself with teaching and testifying of faith in JESUS CHRIST but moreover incessantly admonishing every one with tears And you see these two wayes meeting thoughout his Epistles in which he not only expoundeth the mysteries of faith but ever and anon descendeth to the applying of those instructions to the carriage of those whom he instructeth reproving them chiding them comforting them encouraging them as they had need And as he practis'd thus himself so he gave order for the like procedure to others whom GOD had called to the holy ministry 2 Tim. 4.2 1 Tim. 3.2 2 Tim. 2.24 Tit. 1.9 2 Tim. 3.16 17. Preach the word saith he to Timothy be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all sweetness of spirit and doctrine And elsewhere he wills in general that every Pastor be not only apt to teach but also able to admonish by sound doctrine and to convince gainsayers Indeed these two offices are
bind what He hath loosed If GOD will save us without belief of the Mass or of Purgatory the Church would do well to will the contrary would she not GOD will judge us by His own will and word and not by the fantastical conceits or imaginations of men But I return to the Apostle who sheweth us also in this Text and it 's that which we are to consider in the third place what the object of this his Preaching is when he saith that he admonisheth every man and teacheth every man It 's very probable that the false Teachers who would seduce the Colossians for the colouring of that observation of the Law which they recommended did alledge that the Apostles themselves left the Jews the use of Circumcision and the practice of legal abstinences and that if S. Paul did otherwise it was but towards some only I account it is to this properly that we must referr and oppose his saying here three times that he admonisheth every man that he teacheth every man and that he might render every man perfect in CHRIST He thus repeats this word to them to shew that his Preaching was the same and uniform throughout that he declared to all men but one sole JESUS CHRIST and that he Preached Him indifferently both to Jews and Gentiles Greeks and Barbarians GOD having given for them all but one and the same Gospel as He hath set up but one Sun in the Universe to shine on all mankind I declare saith he the same CHRIST unto all as Saviour and Redeemer of the world There is no man to whom I Preach any other thing Whereby he gives a secret blow to the doctrine of these Seducers which was particular and not Preached either by the holy Apostle or by any of his fellows It may well be also that he aimed to shew here in his way the extent of his charge which enclosed all men on earth within its compass there being no one of them to whom he had not authority to Preach the Gospel and to admonish and teach him According to his saying elsewhere that he is debter Rom. 1.14 both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians both to the wise and to the unwise for the seasonable establishing of the power he will use anon to admonish the Colossians and condemn the Seducers For he shews thereby that there is no person how knowing soever he may be otherwayes but is his Scholler for this Heavenly wisdom and ought in this respect to be subject to his instructions and to learn of Him the mysteries of the same As if he had said that GOD hath raised him to the Doctoral Chair of the universe and made him His publick and universal Herauld who should be hearkened to by all the men of the world Whence it follows that these pretended Masters of the Colossians who would intrude to teach them after their mode did thwart the institution of GOD and that before they did put themselves upon the instructing of others they should first have learned of the Apostle the true mysteries of the wisdom of GOD. I acknowledge there is not any one of the Ministers of GOD who hath now this great extent of Authority that the Apostle here ascribeth and with truth to himself Nevertheless each of them ought to do in his district what the Apostle did in his even admonish and teach every man whoever he be in all wisdom have but one and the same Gospel for all not pleasing doctrine and as is commonly said a Velvet Gospel for the rich and another quite different for the poor but treat them all without respect of persons not conceal ought from the one which hath been discovered to the others each one ought to teach the small as well as the great to admonish the great as well as the small to edifie them all in common without despising the littleness of the one without fearing the greatness of the other But let us now see what the end of this Preaching JESUS CHRIST is We declare Him saith the Apostle admonishing and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may render every man perfect in JESVS CHRIST This was the Apostle's aim this was the design of his labours even to present all those that heard him holy and unreprovable unto JESVS CHRIST to put them into such an estate by his Preaching as that they might appear before the Throne of Grace without confusion He expresseth it elsewhere in other terms namely when he saith to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 11.2 in particular that he had appropriated them or knit them or as it were espoused them to one husband that I might present you saith he as a chaste Virgin unto CHRIST where he useth precisely the same word which he placeth here and which we French have translated in the one of these places rendre render and presenter present in the other You know there are two sorts of perfection one of a believer's minority the other of his full age according as the Apostle distinguisheth our times in the first Epistle to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 13.11 The one that which we have here below during the course of our Pilgrimage The other that which we shall not have but in Heaven our true Countrey This latter is a perfection every way compleat such as comprehendeth all the degrees of knowledge holiness and glory which our nature is capable of The former is a perfection begun having all the parts of sanctification and consolation that are necessary in our present frailty but not yet brought up to the top and highest degrees The one is simply and absolutely called Perfection the other is so named but in some respect and in comparison either of the estate which we were and other men not regenerate are still in or of the condition of our age The Apostle means the first Phil. 3.12 15. when he confesseth that he is not already perfect He speaks of the second when he faith Let us all that are perfect be thus minded The one and the other is the end of the Preaching of the Gospel For the design of Paul and of all true Ministers of the LORD is to guide the faithful to eternal salvation that is to the last and highest of these two kinds of perfection by means of the first And so the nearer effect of their Preaching and which immediatly follows it is the believer's perfection on earth The further and more remote effect of it which necessarily and infallibly results from the first is his perfection in Heaven Moreover this first perfection to which Preaching immediately tendeth consisteth of two parts chiefly Knowledge and Sanctification Faith and Charity And though there be many defects both in the one and the other if you compare them with the vision and glory of Heaven yet the one and the other are even at present perfect in some sort to wit in as much as the true believer wanteth not any of the knowledges and habitudes
the senses or the reason of men yet the truth of them is so evident so beautiful and so well marked that as soon as the clouds of those passions and prejudices which hide it from us are removed from before the eyes of our understanding by the hand of the holy Spirit â—t beams forth and shines into our hearts with exceeding brightness and makes it self to be believed and embraced for what it is indeed Thus must it be known with certainty and not with doubting that we henceforth be no more children Ephes 4.14 wavering and carried to and fro with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and by their cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive as the Apostle speaks elswhere Whereby you see how false the opinion of Rome is which makes the belief of Christianity to depend upon the authority and testimony of her Prelates I pass by the extream weakness and vanity of this pretended foundation which hath been verify'd by a thousand experiments Whatever it be in other respects this is manifest that since they fasten the people's knowledg there they must of necessity confess that their faith ought to change if any change do happen in the doctrine of their Prelates whence it follows that then it is not certain nor assured nor such a knowledg as the Apostle requireth in us whose property is such that though Paul himself or Angels from heaven should come and preach the contrary it would abide not withstanding even under such a supposal still firm and unmoved and rather anathematize Apostles and Angels from heaven than let go that Divine verity which it hath believed and known so strong is the sense it hath of its excellency But the Apostle having thus described the nature of true faith or a Christian's understanding doth lastly confine it within the bounds of its true subject when he adds the knowledg of the Secret of our God and Father and of Christ This restriction is necessary because seducers do boast of their traditions too as if they were a piece of wisdom worthy of our faith and it may not be doubted but that the false teachers against whom the Apostle intends to dispute did deal in such manner To arm us against their vanity he declares expresly that the understanding he requireth of us is a knowledg not of what Philosophers do talk in their Schools about the nature of the world nor of what Seducers do bring forth from their vain imaginations but only of the Gospel of our LORD JESUS CHRIST without which there is nothing but error and folly He calls it a Secret or a Mystery because it was a verity hidden with GOD and incomprehensible to our minds as we have said otherwhere He saith that it is the Secret of GOD our Father both because He is the Author of it who hath reveal'd it to us of His Grace and because He hath manifested Himself therein discovering to us in the Gospel all that we need to know of His nature and will for attaining to Salvation He adds in the end and of CHRIST for the same reasons it being evident that it is the LORD JESUS who brought this holy doctrine from the bosom of the Father and set it in our view by the Ministry of His Servants and that also it is He who is the principal Subject of it as our only Mediator without whose conduct and merit it is impossible to have any part in true happiness It s of this mystery of CHRIST JESUS that the Apostle desired the Colossians might have a full firm and distinct knowledg for to abide knit together by charity and by this means enjoy a true and solid consolation This is the treasure which he is afraid least they should lose It 's to preserve it to them that he undergoâ—th so much pain and so many combats Dear Brethren his desire teacheth us our duty Since we aspire to the same happiness that the Colossians afore us have done since we serve the same Master and live under the same Discipline let us labour to get and keep for ever the same good things which the Apostle wisheth them GOD of His great mercy offereth them liberally to us and the fault will be ours if we do not partake of them â— for the Knowledg of his Mystery He presenteth us the treasury of it in His hoâ— Scriptures This source of light is not shut up and inaccessible unto you as it to a great part of the world and even to many that call themselves Christians but opened and made obvious Draw out of it the wisdom of heaven reading studying and searching those Divine books night and day We do not envy you this sweet and happy communication as the Pastors of our adver saries dea with their flocks We could wish as yerwhile Moses did that all GOD's people werâ— Prophets It 's a science that admitteth all ages all sexes and all conditions of men the Author of this holy doctrine having so temper'd it as it is accommodated to the capacity of every sort of persons There are in it deeps to exercise and humble the greatest Spirits there are facilities to instruct and content the least It is an abyss where Elephants may swim and a shallow where Lambs may wade But as all are capable of this science so there is no person but it is necessary for It 's the key of the Kingdom of heaven the spring of piety the root of sanctity the seed of true life Study it carefully Hearken to the teaching of it here meditate on it at home with deep intentiveness beseeching GOD with prayers and tears to open your hearts and write His doctrine in them Content not your selves with having learned some points of it Take no rest till you know all its wonders till you have attained not simply understanding but all riches of understanding as the Apostle here speaketh Urge not to me that vain and cold excuse which is in the mouths of many that you are not Ministers and therefore need not be so knowing These Colossians were Ministers no more than you and yet you see what the Apostle doth desire for them and afterwards he will enjoyn that the word of CHRIST do dwell plenteously in them in all wisdom Why are you less exposed to temptations for your not being Ministers are the Devil and the World less ardent or less obstinate in setting upon you We are all engaged in the same war and have all need of the same arms Is it Captains only and Officers that ought to be armed Is it not necessary for private Soldiers The knowledg of the Mysteries of the Gospel is the armor of all Christians and the Scripture is the publick Magazine whence both one and the others should fetch it But that it may do you service at your need this knowledg must be also deeply radicated in your hearts you must have it with a full assurance as the Apostle saith It should not sleightly
in the matter before us as well as worth I deny not but that some of these precious Verities are hid in the world and in man himself and that by attention and meditation they may be thence drawn out as appears by what the Pagans had learned who read no other book I grant moreover that the ancient Tabernacle of Mâ—ses afforded a yet greater store But what is all this in comparison of that abundance of them which JESUS CHRIST presenteth us Certainly there 's none but He to say true in whom this Divine treasure is found And for the fuller discovery of the unmeasurable abundance of His inexhaustible riches to us the Apostle contents not himself with calling it a treasure He sayes treasures in the plural so great and vast is the opulency of this Divine subject Yea he saith not simply treasures but all the treasures to shew us that there is nothing fair or exquisite or precious but is found in Him Now S Paul subjoineth in the progress of His speech what those treasures be which are in CHRIST The treasures saith he of wisdom and knowledg Away ye covetous who never hear speak of treasures but do fancy those of the world which to say the truth are but piles of dung heaps of clods of earth a little otherwise formed and coloured than other parts of this vile and low element be The jewâ—â— which the treasury of JESUS CHRIST is full of is of an infinitely more precious nature than the metals you adore It is saith the Apostle wisdom and knowledg The term wisdom is honourable among men and though they are ignorant of the thing nevertheless they respect the name of it confessing that it properly agreeth only to such knowledges as are at once both sublime and useful divine and salutiferous Surely to stick in this definition which themselves give of it it is clear that not one of all the Sciences that they have learned in the world by the strength of their own spirit doth deserve to be call'd wisdom For either they are low and of things of small elevation as the skill of their trades which have no employment but on the earth or at least they are vain and unprofitable as that which they tell us of the Heavens and their motions of nature and its mutations of numbers and figures and the measuring of bodies For what service doth that science do them whereof they vaunt with so much insolence Are they any whit the happier for it or ought the more assured by it Themselves do vilifie it when they are in a good mood and confess that all of it yields those that excell most in it but a very slender profit Will you call an useless industry Sapience and count him a wise man that busieth himself to no purpose On the contrary is it not the character of a fool to amuse himself in things of nought and toil about that which affords him no benefit as children that run after their shadow and course butter-flies What is the wisdom then which is truly worthy of so glorious a name Dear Brethren it is evidently the knowledg of Verities necessary to our Salvation those Verities that can make us happy and conserve peace and consolation in our Souls and conduct us through the accidents of this life to the possession of that supream felicity which all men naturally desire It 's this kind of knowledg that the Apostle meaneth here It s this which by way of excellence he calleth wisdom as alone deserving the name while all other kinds of knowledg do lie far beneath it As for Science which he doth adjoin I think we need not strive to sever it from Sapience as if they must necessarily be two different things I know well there are they that subtilly distinguish them some affirming that Sapience is the knowledg of GOD and of things divine Science the knowledg of Man and of things humane Others resolving that Sapience signifies the knowledg of things to be believed and Science of things to be done But not to dissemble I much doubt whether the Apostle ever thought upon these petty subtilities For the word Science in the Original generally signifies all knowledg and there is no reason to restrain it to the knowledg of things either humane or moral I judg it therefore more accordant with the simplicity of these Divine Authors to take the words Sapience and Science in well nigh the same sense and to say that the latter was added only to enlarge and enrich one and the same conception as if the Apostle had said that there is neither Sapience nor Science nor any true and Saving knowledg but it is in our Lord JESUS CHRIST In fine it must be observed that he saith These treasures are hid in CHRIST This is a very apt prosecution of his metaphor For treasures are not exposed to every one's view They are lockt up in some close cabinet and many times those that have them hide them in remote places or lay them under ground to keep off the eyes and hands of men from them Forasmuch as this is usually done the Apostle hath very gracefully used this word in the matter before him and the more gracefully for that something semblable may be observ'd in the dispensation of JESUS CHRIST Not that GOD hath any such design as avaricious men have or that He fearing lest people should see and seize His treasure hath directly hid it from them to prevent their sharing it Far be it from us to entertain a thought so injurious to the goodness and liberality of this Soveraign LORD who sent not His Son into the world but to save the world and delights in nothing more than in seeing us search into His treasuries and enrich our selves with His good things Who likewise hath clearly and magnificently laid forth in His CHRIST all His heavenly wealth by reason whereof that Son of His is called the Sun of Righteousness that is the most visible and most remarkable object in the Universe He hath sent His Servants every way to discover Him unto Mankind and from the tops of the highest places to call all men to a participation of this treasure of light Now both His brightness and their voice hath spread abroad so gloriously that it may be justly said Light hath been in the world Joh. 1.10 but the world perceived it not Wherefore our Apostle saith elswhere That if his Gospel be yet hid it is hid to them that are lost 2 Cor. 4.3 4. and whose understandings the GOD of this world hath blinded to wit the unbelieving that the light of the Gospel of the glory of CHRIST might not shine into them Where you see he attributes all the fault of worldlings not discerning the excellency of this treasure to their own blindness caused by the darknings and malice of Satan and not to the obscurity or hiddenness of the treasure it self which he gives a quite contrary name to calling it light
both of the desire he had to see them persevere still in so good a course and of the advice he gave them not to suffer themselves to be beguiled by the perswasive words of seducers as likewise of the adding that preservative of meditating incessantly upon the treasures of wisdom which are in JESUS for the saving themselves from this mortal danger It 's now our concernment to make a good improvement of so excellent a lesson We are as much environ'd or more than the Colossians sometimes were with people that endeavour to deceive us with words of perswasion that daily make all kind of attempts upon our faith and do not forget the sophisms of subtilty or the charms of eloquence presenting error to us farded with divers specious colours For the securing of our minds from their illusions let us tell them as the Apostle teacheth us That all the Treasures of wisdom are hid in that JESUS CHRIST whom we have embraced that He sufficeth to make us wise to salvation and that we need to know none but Him to obtain happiness If with fair and artificial words they represent to us the necessity of an expiatory Sacrifice for the recommending that of their own Altars or the utility of Satisfactions to make us receive theirs or the horror of fin which hath no entrance into the Kingdom of GOD to perswade us upon their Purgatory or the need we have of an Intercessor to oblige us to have recourse to the mediation of Angels and of departed Saints or of an Head to set up their Pope Let us answer them That we have all this most fully in JESUS CHRIST that His Cross is our Sacrifice His Sufferings our Satisfactions His Blood our Purgation That while we possess Him we shall need neither an Intercessor to open the Throne of the Grace of GOD to us and render both our persons and our prayers acceptable to Him nor an Head to govern and conserve us Let us account all that would turn us aside from Him or place any part of its Treasure elsewhere than in Him to be a seduction and an illusion And as good Physicians do not only preserve from poysons but also draw profit from them by making them Remedies so let us not content our selves to keep the venom of Seducements from hurting us let us manage them in such sort as that they may serve us Let the ardency they have for Error enflame our zeal for the Truth Let their pains-taking and industry sharpen our diligence and care Let us employ that acuteness and eloquence to the defence of the Gospel which they prophane in the service of an Imposture Let us have no less affection for the Cause of GOD than they have for the matters of flesh and blood And instead of the extravagancy of some who love ignorance and rudeness because Error doth abuse Knowledg and Eloquence let us on the contrary thence take occasion to labour in adorning and embellishing of Truth that even in this respect Falshood may have no advantage above it But if the examples of enemies should be of use to us much more ought the examples of Brethren be so which wholly and solely tend to our edification Let us make our profit of that of the Colossians whose faith and order the Apostle praiseth that we might imitate it Let us put our Church into such an estate as may give joy to the LORD to His Angels and to His Ministers I may not deny but that your saith and order may be in some degree praised without flattery since by the Grace of CHRIST my Brethren you persevere in His fear and assiduously rank your selves under His Ensigns no tentation having been able hitherto to make you desert these holy Assemblies But you are not ignorant that together with this well-doing there are many miscarriages among us that there pass divers things in our Congregations smally comporting with the dignity of the House of GOD and that the hardness of some doth stiffen it self against Discipline the only Bond of Order and if our Faith be constant against Error it is too too yeilding unto Vice Dear Brethren I had rather leave the examination of it to your own Consciences than here publish our sin and shame and will content my self with telling you 1 Cor. 6.10 that the Apostle banisheth out of Heaven the vicious as well as the idolatrous GOD who hath granted us to persevere in the profession of His Truth be pleased powerfully to amend by the virtue of His Gospel the defects which His gentleness hath hitherto born with in us and sanctifie us so efficaciously that after we have glorified Him on Earth by the good order of our conversation and the fruirs of a firm and unmoved Faith we may one day receive in the Heavens from His merciful hand the Reward and Crown of blissful immortality in His Son JESUS CHRIST who in the Unity of the Father and of the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth the only GOD blessed for ever Amen THE NINETEENTH SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER VI VII VI. Therefore as you have received the Lord JESVS CHRIST so walk in Him VII Being rooted and built up in Him and established in the Faith as you have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving FOrasmuch as man naturally loveth novelty and variety it cometh to pass that he disgusteth the best and most wholsom things when he is held any long time to the usage of them What food was there ever in the world better more savoury more nourishing and more miraculous than that Manna wherewith GOD fed the Israelites in the Wilderness pouring it down daily from Heaven upon them by the Ministry of his Angels whence it is called the Bread of Heaven and the Bread of the Mighty that is of the Angels Nevertheless this wretched people were soon discontented at it disdaining that precious gift of GOD Numb 11.6 and sottishly regretting the fruits and fish of Egypt Our soul said they is dried up there 's nothing here our eyes see nought but Manna Dear Brethren this History is a fit emblem of what hath betided men in reference to JESUS CHRIST and His Gospel the true Bread of Heaven sent down from GOD into the Wilderness of this World for the eternal nutriment of Mankind of which that ancient Manna as you know was the figure according to what Himself teacheth us in the sixth of S. John For our nature is no less delicate nor hath an appetite less extravagant in respect of the Doctrines that are necessary to seed our Souls than it hath in respect of the Meat that is ordained for the refection of our Bodies The truth of the LORD JESUS is embraced at the first with hungring and heat every one admiring the wonderfulness of this heavenly food which wholly exceedeth the productions of the earth But because though it be throughout holy and salutiferous yet it is simple and uniform the vanity of man in desiring change and variety
Paul's or the other Apostle's preaching can they ever shew us that Mass and that Purgatory and that worshipping of Saints and in one word any of those other Articles which they retain and we have relinquished Every one seeth how all these things do vary from the Lord JESUS CHRIST and make void his Cross and his Kingdom causing men to seek the expiation and purging away of their sins other-where than in His Sacrifice and attributing to Creatures the honour of Invocation and of presiding over the whole Church which belongs to Him alone But that other mark which S. Paul gives of the Doctrine which ought to be held fast doth less yet accord with them namely its having been receiv'd from the Apostles it being manifest that not one word of them is found in those holy mens writings which are the publike and authentick records of what they preached and that those traditions of Rome grew up in after-ages some at one time some at another issuing by little and little out of the forges of men according as error gathered strength as they know that read the Volumes of Antiquity without prejudice and prepossession Let our adversaries therefore leave these odious accusations They must either shew that those Doctrines of theirs which we have relinquish'd are Apostolical or confess that we had reason to relinquish them This very command of S. Paul's which they are not ashamed to object to us necessarily obliging us to adhere to that LORD JESUS CHRIST alone whom he preached and whom the Colossians believed on according to his preaching And it may not be insisted on that the Doctrine we contest with them hath been their belief for a thousand years or more Time is no prescription against any truth and least of all against the truth of CHRIST and his Apostles That which he hath pronounced continues in force for ever If any one preach ought as Gospel to you Gal. 1.8 9. besides what we have preached were it my self were it an Angel from Heaven let him be an anathema I enquire not of what date your opinions are It is sufficient for me to anathematize them that were not preached as Gospel by the Apostle Time cannot have conferred on them the advantage of being true which they had not at their rise What is not now veritable or Apostolical will never be so You are not the only men among whom Error hath grown old that gross one of Idolatry liv'd among the Pagans well nigh Two thousand years and their Rome hereto alledg'd * Symmachus her hoary hairs as well as yours doth at this day and said as now again Rome doth that it is an Undertaking ill-timed to correct old age and that to charge it with error is to affront those years It 's a thousand years and more since Mahomet's perfidy hath been up yet is never a whit the better for that You your selves observe Errors in the same antiquity whose authority you cry up so loud and you cannot deny but that those which you condemn in the communions of the Grecians of the Armenians of the Jacobites and of the Cophties are very old It 's an extreamly bad defence when men are convict of error to say that they have been a long time of that opinion How ancient soever your Doctrine is it 's young in comparison of S. Paul's since it was born after his days Neither its pretended antiquity nor any other consideration can secure it from his fulmination Since he would have us keep to that which he preached without receiving ought beside how stale and mouldy soever with age your traditions can be they all ought to perish under pain of an anathema seeing they are without the compass of S. Paul's preaching We are at this day in the same case the Colossians yer while were They stood bound by this exhortation to reject the worshipping of Angels the distinction of meats justification by the Law all that any way tended to add to that LORD JESUS CHRIST whom they had received from the hand of Paul and who had been taught them by him Let us then also freely reject the same things keep we constantly to that JESUS CHRIST whom we have received of him who did fill up all his Sermons and doth still fill up all his Epistles Content we our selves with that primitive and truly ancient Doctrine and boldly despise all the novelties that the world hath presum'd to add thereto in after-times Let us walk as the Apostle gives us order in this LORD JESUS Let Him be our only way the rule of our faith and of our manners You know the Scripture ordinarily useth this term to signifie the ordering and conduct of our life It compareth the various Disciplines and Perswasions which men follow unto Ways which lead some to one end some to another For it speaks of the way of sinners and of the way of the righteous meaning thereby the apprehensions and maxims by which they lead their lives Therefore it saith walk to signifie living or leading and ordering the life As therefore our Lord and Saviour saith that He is the Way so his Apostle enjoineth us to walk in Him that is to lead our lives both in regard of knowledg and perswasions of mind and also in respect of affections and actions according to his holy Gospel without any forsaking it to take another course judging all that varies from it to be folly how plausible soever it may appear otherways And as a prudent and advised traveller never leaves his road but puts on in it constantly till he come to his journey's end how smiling soever the Meadows look how green and fresh soever the shades be how fair and large soever the ways are that lye in view In like manner are we ordered to keep continually to the Doctrine of our Lord and Saviour and not relinquish it or assume any other of what nature or colour or appearance soever it be still resolving in our selves that whatsoever is without the dimensions of this model of Truth cannot but be dangeorus and apt if we follow it to lead us to perdition I pass by the observation which some make namely That the Apostle commanding us to walk in CHRIST doth intimate we should advance still and make progress therein For though this conception be for substance veritable it being the duty of each true believer to go forward and not pass a day without improvement 〈◊〉 piety yet it seems to me to be without the reach of the Apostle's words 〈◊〉 scope of which is simply to oblige us unto perseverance in the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST Beside what he addeth in the following verse doth sufficiently 〈…〉 commend this duty to us where he shews us after what manner we are to 〈◊〉 in JESUS CHRIST Being rooted saith he and built up in him and 〈◊〉 the faith as you have been taught and abounding therein with thanksgiving In these words he prescribeth us three things Firmness of faith the abounding
CHRIST the Prince of Life and with that fulness of grace we have received and the holy Apostles preached Mix nothing forreign with it To add to it is to accuse it of imperfection and insufficiency Instead of losing time in the inventions of Error and in the laborious but childish exercises of Superstition Let us employ all hours in good and holy works walking in JESUS CHRIST rooting and building up our selves more and more in him establishing our selves and abounding in faith and testifying and proving the truth of it by a pure piousness towards GOD and an ardent love towards our Neighbour by the fervency of our Prayers the liberality of our Alms the humility of our Deportments the modesty of our Persons the honesty justness and integrity of all our Words and Actions to the glory of the LORD JESUS whom we serve and own for our Master to the edification of men and our own salvation Amen THE TWENTIETH SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER VIII Ver. VIII Beware lest any man make prey of you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after CHRIST OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST comparing the society of his faithful ones in the tenth Chapter of S. John to a Flock of Sheep doth advertise us that there are Thieves who coast about this mystical Fold and do come only to steal to kill and to destroy as also that there are Wolves which take away and scatter the Sheep You are not ignorant dear Brethren that under the names of these spiritual Thieves and Wolves he doth represent unto us evil Spirits and the false Teachers whom they set on work who both together earnestly promote the same design though by divers means namely the debauching and alienating of the faithful from the Communion of JESUS CHRIST their only Pastor getting them and appropriating them to themselves as the Thief who takes what is another's and makes it his own Whence ensues their death and destruction For as the Wolf kills the Sheep he hath seized so these Ministers of Satan do bereave of life those whom they pull away from the Flock of Christ out of whose communion there is nothing but death and perdition But these wretched workers do employ as I said many different means to compass their cruel and bloody design Some they take away by downright force making them leave the bosome of the Church by the violence of persecutions or drawing them into the world by the pleasures of the flesh and do bring them even to a renouncing of the very Name of JESUS CHRIST the Prince of Life Against others they make use of fraud training them forth and distancing them by little and little from JESUS CHRIST under fair and plausible pretences so as in the end they have nothing of his left them but a name and a vain unprofitable profession remaining indeed under the power and in the possession of his Enemy It 's against these mystical Thieves and Robbers that the Apostle doth awaken the Colossians in the Text we have read exhorting them to take heed of ' em Before he prayed them to establish to build up to root themselves more and more in the Communion of the LORD JESUS acknowledging with humble gratitude the excellency of his gift mâ—de them 〈…〉 ensure this Treasure to them he adviseth them to watch against th◠〈…〉 ambushes of their Enemies who sought to surprise them and pluck by 〈…〉 tifice of their subtilities and fair discourses JESUS CHRIST out of their hearts and render themselves Masters of them and of their life Beware saith he lest any man make prey of you c. For it is the duty of a good Pastor such a one as the Apostle was not only to seed the mystical Sheep which the chief Shepherd hath committed to his care by giving them the pure and wholsom doctrine of the Gospel the only pasture of souls but also to preserve them with all his power from the paws of Wolves and the hands of Robbers advertising them of the danger and dextrously delivering them out of it by the saving-tone of his voice But as your Pastors are obliged to this care so you see dear Brethren that it is your duty to watch for your own safety to open your eyes and senses that ye may discern a stranger from a domestick a thief from the shepherd the hand of a robber from that of a friend Beware saith the Apostle to you He would not have the faithful be silly sheep that let themselves be led away by the first commer and indifferently embrace all that is offer'd them His will is that we have our senses exercised and habituated in discerning between truth and falshood able to prove all things that we may hold fast what is good and not suffer our selves to be surprised either by the dignity of a Robe or the blaze of Wit or some appearances of Deportment seeing that Angels of Satan do sometimes clothe themselves with light The prudence of the Beraeans is praised by the Holy Ghost Acts 17.11 who examined S. Paul's preaching comparing what he had spoken to them with the Scriptures that they might assuredly know the state of the matter The salvation of our souls is too precious for us to trust any other than GOD in it Whence appears how dangerous that security of implicit faith as they call it is which without any scruple receives all that its Teachers deliver and is so far from examining it that it vouchsafes not so much as to understand it believing it true without knowing it provided only that the mouth which publisheth it hath been opened by the Pope's hand If the question were only of a title those of whom the Apostle adviseth the Colossians here to take heed were Teachers and he contesteth not with them about their dignity in any part of this Epistle He deals with them only about their Doctrine Accordingly the case is concerning Doctrine whether we ought to believe it or no and whatever may be the hand that delivereth it to us if it be false it will not fail to destroy us as poyson doth not forbear to kill though he that prescribed it hath taken his degrees with all the formalities requisite S. Paul too elsewhere with one word overthrows all the prepossessions that might be for any Preachers upon any ever so eminent quality of their persons when he proclaims twice together If we our selves Gal. 1.8 or an Angel from heaven do preach another Gospel to you beside what we have preached let him be an Anathema Be you all that you will you cannot be more than S. Paul or an Angel of Heaven Since their Doctrine ought to be examined by the Gospel for its having reception or being accursed as it should be found conform or contrary thereto it will be no wrong done you if yours be put to the same trial But consider I pray with what emphasis the Apostle recommendeth to us
known of Him Rom. 1.19 20 and that His eternal Power and Godhead invisible in themselves are yet visibly seen by the creation of the world they being considered in His works But the misery is that the Philosophers being carried away with that vanity and curiosity which was natural to them broke those bounds and would needs define things which are beyond that compass and about which Reason in the state we now are sees not one jot And here it is they necessarily fell into error and extravagancies as persons born blind would do should they intrude to discourse to us of colours Such are the Fancies of Plato and his Scholars concerning the estate of the souls of men departed from their bodies concerning the purifications he devised to convey us near the Supream Good concerning the interposition of Daemons is he calleth them that is Angels as the Scripture terms them to present our supplications to GOD and concerning the service which he ordained to be done them in consequence of this good office and a thousand other such like things Such also was the mistake of Aristotle when not content to understand the present establishment of the World he would know what it was in the beginning wherein he had no light at all concluding because in the state things now are of nothing nothing is made that therefore it was never otherwise and thereupon affirming for a certainty that the World is eternal As if we must needs judg of the first beginning of a thing by those Laws under which it lives after its settlement and should limit the power of a free Agent to the measure of the effect wrought that is as if because GOD in this frame of the World doth make now nothing without Matter therefore it followed that absolutely he could make nothing another way which is as impertinent a reasoning as if you should inferr that because a Painter hath wrought his pieces with three or four colours only it were impossible for him to draw or represent any thing any otherways In this particular Philosophy hath offended by excess undertaking more than it could compass It often erreth likewise by defect when it rejects the revelation of GOD as resolved to admit nothing that is above its own sense and reason as if a man that had never seen any other than the shining of our Fires and our Candles should contest there was no other light in the world Pride hath made the greatest part of the old Philosophers to fall into this impiety It seemed to them an abasing of their glory to acknowledg there was another School more knowing than theirs and that it was an injury to tell them GOD had discovered secrets to others which he had hid from them It was this vanity that spurr'd them on so violently against the Gospel of our LORD and Saviour at the beginning If Philosophy do modestly keep its rank if it be content with its bounds and not thrust away nor injure divine Revelation if it acknowledg it as its Mistris and be subject to it as Agar yerwhile was to Sarah welcom be it it may be received and may abide with us But if it usurp if it will needs be Mistris and command in a Family where it hath only the quality of a Bond-woman let it depart and be treated according to Sarah her speech to Abraham Drive out the bond-woman and her son GOD hath vouchsafed to reveal unto us by his Prophets and in the last times by his own Son all the Articles of Religion Philosophy ought to adore them with us It hath nothing to enjoin us in the matter From the mouth of GOD not from the mouth of Philosophy do we receive Religion As often therefore as Teachers of Error shall use the authority or artifice of the Philosophers to render their inventions plausible or probable in our eyes let us boldly despise all their subtilty Let not the names of Aristotle and Plato make us afraid let not their petty subtilties dazzle our sight We may hear them when question is only of men and of nature When GOD and his service is concern'd we ought to give ear to none but GOD and the Son of his love about whom he hath proclaimed from Heaven to us This is my beloved Son hear him It 's this the Apostle doth intend when he saith here Let no man make a prey of you by Philosophy But provided the Doctrine of our Lord and Saviour do remain sound and entire without diminution without augmentation or mixture we are not prohibited the service of Philosophy but may employ its Physicks and its Ethicks to confirm and illustrate as far as they can the truths of the Gospel its Logick to defend them against the Sophisms and Sleights of gain-sayers and in sum to adorn and embellish them we may use ought of worth that Philosophy doth afford as the Israelites heretofore adorned the Sanctuary of GOD with the Gold and Silver and Jewels of Egypt Whence you may see how in the disputes of Religion which we have with those of Rome they for their part do evidently abuse Philosophy whereas we duly employ it they abuse it For not to say that they make Aristotle reign in their Divinity-School regarding his Edicts and cherishing much jealousie of his reputation as if he were a Pillar of Religion they found Articles of their Faith upon the authority of the Sages of the world as when they prove their Purgatory by the testimony of Plato and the veneration of Images by the custom of Nations and Free-will by Philosophy and divers other things of like nature which being not to be found in the Scriptures of GOD they go seek them in the Writings of men As for us it is evident we have no positive Article in our Faith but what is in the Gospel Only when our Adversaries urge their Transubstantiation upon us having shewed that GOD hath no where revealed it to us in his word but even clearly contradicted it we call in Philosophy its self to our succour to evidence the absurdity thereof We produce its testimony in a case which clearly is of its cognizance namely the nature of an human body the place it takes up the quantity to which it is extended the quality of substantial mutations of which kind they pretend this is Whether a body made and formed Sixteen hundred years ago may still be every day substantially produced But it is high time to come to the two other Sources of the deceits of false Teachers The second is the Tradition of men as the Apostle calls it Take heed saith he that none do make prey of you by Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men The Scripture commonly gives the name of Traditions to those instructions which we receive from some other And it frequently useth the word deliver whence in the Latin Tongue that of Tradition is derived for to instruct or teach I received of the LORD saith the Apostle that
or avarice or any of those loathsome defilements that do disfigure the whole life of worldlings The LORD JESUS who hath given us this excellent Divine Doctrine who hath founded it by his death and set it up by his resurrection who also hath in these latter times purged it afresh both of the vanities of Philosophy and of the traditions of men and of the elements of the world please to confirm us in it for ever by his good Spirit and to make it so efficacious for the sanctification of our life that after we have finished this earthly pilgrimage we may receive one day at our going forth of this vale of tears from his merciful hand the Crown of immortality which he hath promis'd and prepar'd for all true observers of his Discipline Amen The Twenty-first SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER IX Ver. IX For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily AS the Christian Religion doth consist in Principles and Practises incompably more sublime and salutiferous than any that the world ever learned in the Schools of Nature and the Law so was it delivered and instituted by an Author infinitely more excellent than any of those were who ever erected other Disciplines among men I will not insist upon the Authors of those various Religions which bore sway heretofore in the time of Paganism who though they were in esteem among Nations and raised to an high reputation of wisdom and vertue yet had the taint of an extream ignorance and vanity as their own Institutions sufficiently discover to any one that will take the pains to examine them in the light of Reason It would be injurious to the LORD JESUS the Founder and Prince of Christianity to compare him with such people But even Moses himself the great Teacher of the Hebrews and the Prophets who commented on explained and confirmed his Law are all insinitely beneath the dignity of this new Law-giver They were I grant Ministers of GOD the Mouth and Organs of his Majesty the Interpreters of his Will and Heralds of his Truth being endued as was suitable to so high Offices with an excellent sanctity a rare and extraordinary Wisdom and an heavenly Power which evidenced it self in them by miraculous effects But after all they were men and never pretended to be ranked above that feeble nature which was common unto them and us nor did receive any of those Honours which belong to the Divine whereas the LORD JESUS is so Man as he is likewise GOD blessed for ever and was so far from refusing Divine Honours that he hath expresly required them at our hands and enjoined us to adore him with the Father and to acknowledg him his Eternal Son This same difference the Apostle observes between the LORD JESUS and those other Ministers which GOD made use of in the former Ages God saith he having at sundry times and in divers manners in time past spoken unto the fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son Ebr. 1.1 Moses and the rest were Prophets of GOD JESUS is his Son The others were his Ministers JESUS is his Heir The others were faithful as Servants Ebr. 3.5 6. JESUS as Son is over the whole House In the others there did shine forth some marks of the commerce they had with GOD that Soveraign Majesty imprinting on their faces as upon Moses's in particular some sparklings of his glory But JESUS is His very Light the resplendency of his glory and the character of his Person Dear Brethren it doth highly concern us to know rightly this great dignity of our LORD and Saviour not only for the rendring to his Person the worship we owe him and of which we may not fail without offending the Father as himself hath told us John 5.23 He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father who hath sent him but also for our embracing with so much the more zeal the Religion he hath delivered us without ever admitting the perswasion that either men on earth or even Angels from Heaven can add any thing to the light the goodness and the perfection of the discipline of so great and so perfect an Author For this cause doth S. Paul here hold forth to the Colossians the Divinity of our LORD JESUS CHRIST In the precedent Verses he exhorted them to constant perseverance in the belief of his Gospel confirming themselves in it more and more and taking heed they gave no car to Philosophy and the vain traditions of seducers who endeavoured to corrupt sound doctrine by the mixing of divers inventions which they would add to it as if it were not perfect enough of it self to guide us to salvation The Apostle to bereave Error of this pretext and shew the faithful not only the sufficiency but even abounding of the Gospel represents unto them the soveraign perfection and divinity of its Author For in him saith he dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Since you have JESUS CHRIST saith he there is no need of recourse to others In Him as in a living and inexhaustible spring is all good necessary to your happiness a divine Authority to found your Faith an infinite Wisdom to direct you in all truth an incomprehensible Goodness and Power to give you grace and glory a quickning Spirit to sanctifie and comfort you All other things compared to Him are but poverty and weakness See how the Apostle fortifies the faithful in the doctrine of the LORD and in few words overthrows all that the presumption of flesh and blood may dare to set up beside or against his perfect truth For a right understanding of his words we must consider them exactly For though the number of them be small their weight is great they are rich and magnifick in sense and do contain within their narrow compass one of the noblest and fullest descriptions of JESUS CHRIST that is found in Scripture Let us see then first what all this fulness of the Godhead is whereof the Apostle speaketh And then in the second place how it dwells in JESUS CHRIST to wit bodily The LORD please to conduct us by the light of his own Spirit in so high a Meditation that of his fulness we may receive grace for grace and draw from it what may fill our souls with that life and salvation which overfloweth in him and can be no where found at all but in him As for the subject it self whereof S. Paul speaketh and in which he saith that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth none can doubt but that it is our LORD JESUS CHRIST For having said at the end of the verse immediately foregoing that the traditions of men and rudiments of the world are not after CHRIST he now addeth For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead Whence it is clear that the LORD JESUS CHRIST whom he had even then named is the Person of whom he speaks and to whom he attributes
The LORD is a true Divinity dwelling in a true Flesh and true Flesh dwelt in by a true Divinity There is a Divinity and an Humanity truly distinct the one of them from the other and each of them retaining its own beeing and proper qualifications but there is one only and the same Person who takes His Name sometimes from the one and sometimes from the other and sometimes jointly from them both For we call Him the Son of Mary and the Seed of David by reason of His Flesh The Everlasting GOD and the Word of the Father and the Lord of Glory by reason of His Divinity Immanuel that is to say GOD with us and GOD manifested in Flesh by reason of these two natures together I confess it is a mystery that surpasseth our comprehension and a wonder that hath no parallel But neither must we measure the verities of Religion by the Ell of our understandings especially when question is of GOD whose Nature Reason it self doth confess to be infinite and incomprehensible It sufficeth that the word of the LORD informeth us it is so And though our reason cannot discern the manner how yet it being once illuminated by Divine revelation it acknowledgeth a kind of necessity of it For presupposing what the Scripture doth discover and reason approve of the desert of sin and of the infinite punishment that is due to it as also of the inflexible constancy of Divine Justice which cannot let sin pass unpunished it evidently follows that man could not have been reconciled to GOD unless his Justice were satisfied nor his Justice have been satisfied without a Sacrifice of infinite worth and merit So as it being the office of CHRIST to reconcile men unto GOD it is clear that for the effecting of this great design he must offer to the Father a Sacrifice of infinite value and consequently be GOD since nothing can proceed from a finite subject but what is also finite and none is infinite but GOD alone It was necessary therefore that all the fulness of the Godhead should dwell bodily in our Mediator Not to speak of other emoluments which this admirable union of our Nature with the Divine in the Person of JESUS CHRIST doth afford us as the assurance it gives us of the infinite love of GOD and of our salvation the title it procureth us to the merits of our Saviour whom it hath made our Brother and consequently our selves capable of being his co-heirs the consolation it sheds into our hearts of his whom we serve having an infinite power and wisdom to defend us in our combats to strengthen us in our weaknesses to preserve us against all the assaults of Hell and the World and redeem us from death the last of our enemies it being evident that if we had but a meer man for a Saviour how holy and excellent soever he might be there would remain unto us still very great and just causes of diffidence and fear Therefore blessed for ever be the Father of our LORD blessed be his love and that great mercy which induced him to send us so excellent and admirable a Mediator as hath all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily Let us receive him with faith and adore him with devotion and serve him with zeal Neither let his flesh be an offence to us It is very flesh I grant but the flesh of an Eternal GOD who under this Pavilion of his visible abasement of himself which the world otherwhile so insolently despised hath lodged all the glory of Heaven and all the fulness of the Divinity Nor let his Majesty and this fulness of the Godhead which dwelleth in him affright us He 's a great God I confess but a GOD manifested in flesh dwelling in our nature descending and humbled even to our degree and partaking of our flesh and our blood that he might bring us to himself Let us embrace with reverence that most sacred Religion which he hath brought us from Heaven And indeed iâ— the World hath followed and held fast and still in divers places doth with so much earnestness follow and hold Religions invented and erected by vain men who were full of ignorance and error what respect do we not owe to this same one that hath been given us by the hand and mouth of a person in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead Moses was but GOD's Servant and you see what respect the ancient people bore him and with what severity all disobediences and rebellions against his Ordinances were punish'd and how that poor Nation doth still at this day in vain adore the Sepulcher and Reliques of the Law which dyed and was abrogated long ago What penalties then must we expect if we despise the Doctrine of the Son who is eternally blessed with the Father Heb. 2.3 This great salvation as the Apostle elsewhere calls it which began to be declared first by the LORD All other Disciplines are perished or will in time perish Even that of Moses's did wax old and in the end was abolished But the Institutions of CHRIST shall remain for ever all-holy and all-perfect immutable and unalterable nor do they need any reformation or addition or amplification After the LORD we do not at all look for any other new Teacher to come into the world Moses promis'd another Prophet after his death to the people of GOD. JESUS CHRIST the Prophet so promised may have no Successor He doth not promise us any but only threatens us with divers seducers that would usurp His Name and counterfeit his Voice and put on sheeps cloathing to debauch his Disciples Whereupon we ought to take all those for suspicious that pretend to add any thing whatever to his sacred doctrine Besides our LORD and Saviour's own quality doth oblige us to content our selves with him and give no ear to any other For in him saith the Apostle dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Seeing he hath fulness the man can want nothing that possesseth him according to what S. John saith He that hath the Son hath life that is eternal salvation which is all that we desire This short sentence of the Apostle's is enough to secure us against the artifices of all seducers if they set before us the delicacies and subtilities of Philosophy colouring their fond imaginations with a vain semblance of wisdom let us arm our selves with this consideration That we have in CHRIST JESUS all the true wisdom that is since in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead If any man offer us ancient traditions let us remember that the Authors of them were but men who how great and holy soever they may be are all liable to error whereas the Gospel which we do embrace is his doctrine in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily and by consequence pure and divine verity As for those Ancients and those Bishops and Pontiffs whose names and authority you our Adversaries do urge
fetter'd fast for ever You shall see not Arrows broken and Cuirasses batter'd and Arms cut in pieces but Sin abolish'd and Death destroy'd You shall see the spoils not of an Army or a Countrey but of the Lords of the world and of the Governours of the darkness of this Age. Lastly You shall behold in it not the image of some petty Fortress taken by assault or composition or of some River forced or some Province subdued but Hell finally beaten Heaven gained and an Eternal World brought under the power of our victorious LORD Let us apply our selves to the fruition of this magnificent spectacle and afford it all the sense and attention that we have To this end consider we First What these Principalities and Powers are which JESUS CHRIST hath spoiled And then see in the second place how he made a shew of them and triumph'd over them on the Cross These are the two Heads we will treat upon if the LORD please in this action The Apostle ordinarily makes use of the words Principalities Powers Dominions Thrones Col. 1.16 Rom. 8.37 Eph. 1.21 and Virtues to signifie the Angels as for instance in the first Chapter of this Epistle in the eighth of the Epistle to the Romans and in the first of that he wrote to the Ephesians He gives those spiritual beeings these names both because of the strength and power they are endowed with which mightily surpasseth the virtue of material and elementary things and also by reason of the divers orders into which GOD hath distinguish'd them according to the difference of their ministrations placing some of the Angels as it were Chiefs in a superiority to others And though the sin of Devils hath corrupted the perfections of their nature yet it doth appear by divers places of Scripture that it hath not quite destroyed this Order among them Satan being set forth to us as the Head of this black band and as having other evil Angels under him so as they may in this respect be still reâ—med Principalities and Powers Nevertheless there is another reason which the Apostle had his eye principally upon in giving them these names as he himself intimateth in the sixth Chapter to the Ephesians We wrestle not saith he against flesh and blood Eph. 6.12 but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high-places Here you plainly see he calleth them Principalities and Powers by reason of that Imperiality they exercise in this world under its present state of subjection unto sin and vanity Not that such a superiority doth of right belong unto them for having rebelled against their Creator they have lost all true and lawful dignity But the sin of man having â—uslav'd him to those evil spirits hath withall made these elements subject to them whereof he was the true and natural Lord. And GOD hath permitted it so to be for the executing of his justice against sin For since that man shook off the yoke of GOD having wretchedly preferr'd the pernicious counsel of his Eneâ—y before the just commandment of his Master it is but reason he should be subject to him to whom he did betray his own liberty Such then is the order or rather the confusion of the world since the fall to wit that the Devil exerciseth an insupportable â—yranny in it governing it at his pleasure as if he were Lord of it For First He worketh upon all the ungodly with wonderful force swaying their souls unto brutal passions setting on fire their lusts and by that thick smoak which he raiseth from their hearts blinding their minds and depriving them of all the light that 's necessary for distinguishing of truth and falshood Eph 2.2 of good and evil as the Apostle doth elsewhere inform us saying that this unclean spirit doth work effectually in the children of disobedience and in another place 2 Tim. 2.26 he telleth us that he hath the wicked in his snares and makes them do his will Not that he compelleth them to evil by co-active force and how much soever they dislike it but their nature being corrupted as it is he never tempteth them without effect their souls voluntarily surrendring themselves to his pernicious perswasions Moreover he disposeth of material things turning and changing them at his pleasure raising tempests in the air seditions and warrs among men putting in commotion all that murtherous violence that makes havock of mankind and presiding over all the instruments of the creatures damage and death Heb. 2.14 By reason whereof the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews calleth Satan Him who hath the power of death And although he executeth none of his bad purposes without the permission of GOD as the Scripture clearly shews us in the History of Job where you see he toucheth neither the goods nor the children nor the person of that holy man until leave had of this Supream Majesty nevertheless because he worketh commonly in the world the greater part whereof is depraved and rebellious against GOD he seems Master of it and himself doth glory in it as when he said to our Saviour in temptation after he had shewed him all the Kingdoms of the Earth Luke 4.6 All the power and glory of these things will I give thee for to me it is delivered and I give it to whom I will And indeed for these reasons doth our Saviour stile the Devil John 12.31 and 14.30 2 Cor. 4.4 the Prince of this world as when he says Now the Prince of this world shall be cast out and so elsewhere and S. Paul calls him in the same sense the GOD of this world Represent unto your selves the world as it was under the darkness of its old Heathenism when GOD left all Nations to walk in their own ways In it the Devil absolutely domineered All those poor multitudes held he under his tyranny He had put out the eyes of their minds and in this blindness made them commit all kind of vileness and abominations He inspired into them hatred of the true GOD and of his Service and so effectually beguiled them by his fallacious illusions that he caused them to adore himself under the forms of divers Idols These same spirits are they that the Apostle intends here by those Principalities and Powers he speaks of For though the Scripture doth particularly mark out one of them whom it calleth Satan as the Head of this abominable Monarchy yet it rangeth under him a vast multitude of Spirits who all travelling upon the same design and setting on work in it all the might and industry they have do bear a part in his accursed Empire And there is great probability too that they are divided into certain bands each of which are drawn up under their particular Chiefs and do all of them depend upon Satan as their General For which reason it is that the Apostle calls them in the plural number Principalities
absurd and ridiculous The spirits in prison 1 Pet. 3 20. of whom S. Peter speaks cannot upon any better ground be taken for the souls of the faithful detâ—ined in Limbus since those spirits were sometimes rebellious or disobedient in the time of Noah and perished in their sin which cannot be said of the Patriarchs and the Faithful In fine the Apostle's saying that the way into the holy places was not manifested while the first Tabernacle was standing signifies indeed that the High-Priest of the Church our LORD JESUS CHRIST did not carry not introduce our nature into Heaven in soul and body nor discover and make manifest the way to our Mansion of Immortality until the veil of the first Tabernacle was rent which is very true But thence it follows not that the spirits of the faithful consecrated before our Saviour's coming did not feel the fruit of his death and much less that they were detain'd in Hell But besides that this Tradition hath no foundation in the Scripture it doth plainly cross the same For our LORD promised the good Thief Luke 23.43 that the very day he was crucified he should be with him in Paradice where yet according to our Adversaries supposition he should not have entred till the forty-third day after And the Parable of that bad rich man doth plainly shew us that at that time as the souls of impenitent sinners were cast into the torments of Hell-fire so the spirits of the faithful were carried up into the repose and felicity of Paradice For that bosome of Abraham wherein Lazarus rested Luke 16.22 25 26. was not a pit without water as the pretended Limbus is counted to have been but a place of refreshment and consolation not situate in the vicinity of Hell but severed from it by a great gulf set between them And in truth since the faithful did even then drink of the Mystical Rock as well as we were sprinkled with his blood did partake of his sufferings why would any one imagine that our Saviour's Sacrifice had less virtue to introduce them into Heaven after their death than it had to justifie and sanctifie and comfort them in the days of their life As they bore a part with us in the same faith and conflicts on the earth so had they share of our repose and joy in Heaven neither is there any reason for our being admitted if you will needs have them excluded Accordingly certain it is that those elder Christian Writers who did barr the souls of the faithful that deceased under the Old Testament out of Heaven did as well deny reception there to the souls of Christians not assenting that either the one or the other were admitted till after the resurrection so as our Adversaries rejecting as they have reason to do the one half of this error and confessing that Christian souls sufficiently purged are received into Heaven it is nothing but pure obstinacy in them to retain the other half thereof and pretend that the condition of the faithful departed under the Old Testament was otherwise than under the New Be it then concluded that all this pretended deliverance of souls brought out of Limbus is but the fiction of an human spirit not only beside but even against Scripture and Reason But I add in the second place that though it were as certain as it is dubious and as true as it is false yet it would not be possible to refer this passage of the Apostles unto it First The spirits of the faithful departed this life are not at all in the power of Satan but in the hands of GOD to whom they recommend them at their death so as though JESUS CHRIST had brought them out of Limbus yet it could not be said that he had therein spoiled the Devils since that to spoil them is to take from them what they were possess'd of and its clear that though the souls of the faithful had been in this imaginary Limbus yet they would have been there out of the Devil's possession Secondly The word here used which the French hath translated mener en montre that is lead about for a shew is always taken in an ill sense for a shameful and ignominious shew such as that of Malefactors is when they are led through the City and publickly executed that the sight of their shame and punishment may keep men in their duty Now if our LORD had delivered the souls of the faithful out of such a Limbus it could not be said that he had made a shew of them in this sense it being evident that in this case they would have accompanied his Triumph by way of honour and that it would not have been any ignominy but a glory for them to have followed his victorious Chariot Moreover the Apostle's words are so placed in the Original that the spoiling and making a shew of and triumphing over which he speaks of do necessarily respect the same persons that is those whom he spoiled are the same he made shew of and triumph'd over Now he spoiled not the spirits of the Fathers he on the contrary did enrich them sure then it is not them he made a shew of neither can the action which the verb importeth be referr'd to them without depraving the Apostle's whole Context This is all spoken of one and the same subject to wit those Powers and Principalities that is the Devils as we have demonstrated and as all do accord They are the Devils whom JESUS spoiled It is the same that he publickly made a shew of and it 's they again whom he triumphed over As for the Latin Interpreter his saying Zanchy the LORD triumphed of them in himself I acknowledg that divers Greek Copies do read the Text in that manner and some of our Writers have so expounded it conceiving that our Saviour upon his crucifixion did bring the Devils whom he had overcome out of their Hells and shew them to the Angels and the Spirits made perfect bound and chained up as a glorious token of the victory he had gotten over them and they add that this triumph did continue too until his ascension into Heaven But the Scripture telling us nothing of this matter I think it dangerous to affirm the same it being better and more safe to keep to that which GOD hath revealed in his word than to take liberty to follow our own imaginations how plausible soever they appear And the reason which seems to have moved those men to advance this conjecture is exceeding slender For they have been induc'd to do it only by conceiving it absurd to say that JESUS CHRIST triumphed over his Enemies on the Cross seeing that to speak properly he overcame them on the Cross but it seems he triumphed only at his resurrection and ascension But first though there were in this some inconvenience yet nothing would enforce us to assert what they propose It would be sufficient for the avoiding thereof to say that our Saviour
pleasuâ—â— by an humility of spirit and the service of Angels intruding into things which be hath not seen being rashly puffed up with the sense of his flesh Dear Brethren Here is a notable sentence pronounced which overthrows in express words all the worship that the superstition of men whether ancient or modern doth attribute unto creatures it being clear that there is not any one of them whom we may lawfully serve in Religion since the Apostle forbiddeth us to serve the Angels themselves who are without difficulty of all creatures the most excellent You know the interest we have in this cause those of Rome anathmatizing us in it under colour that content to adore and serve GOD our Creator and Redeemer only we refuse to render unto Angels and Saints departed that Religious Worship and those Divine honours which they decree and deferr daily to them to the great prejudice of the glory of GOD and the irreparable offence of men Let us therefore exactly consider this Oracle of the holy Apostles and that we may leave nothing in it behind us we must see first what the Doctrine of those Seducers is which he condemneth He expresseth it in these words Let 〈◊〉 man master it over you by an humility of spirit and the service of Angels and then we are to examine in the second place the marks he gives these false Teachers which are contained in the following words intruding into things he hath not seen being rashly puffed up with the sense of his flesh and not holding the head But we will satisfie our selves for this time with the former of these parts remitting the second to another opportunity by reason of the cavils and inventions our adversaries make use of to corrupt this passage which we must refute as briefly as we can The word that S. Paul useth at the entrance and which we have translated Master it is difficult and seldom found in the Authors of the Greek Tongue S. Hierom one of the learnedst of the ancients sayes Ep. ad Alg. 9 10. it was peculiar to the Country of Cilicia whereof S. Paul was as being born at Tarsus the Capital City of that Proviâ—ice However it be the derivation of the word is clear and doth sufficiently discover what is well-nigh its signification For such as understand the Greek do know that this term comes from another which signifies the reward that was given to those who won the victory in those games or combats for prize at which certain Judges and Moderators did at that time preside who had the superintendance of the whole action regulating and bounding the race assigning the ground and receiving the Champions into it judging of their courses and combats proclaiming that man victorious to whom they yielded the advantage and solemnly putting a Crown upon his head Whence it comes that themselves were called by a name that signiâ—ies Givers of the reward and the term which signifies what they did on such occasions is generally used to express governing regulating ruling and having the superintendance of a matter It is expresly from this term that that which the Apostle useth here is formed saving that it seems to signifie governing and ordering not simply but to the prejudice and damage of the concerned Therefore some have thought that S. Paul comparing here the Faithful unto Racers or Combatants as he very often doth elsewhere does exhort them not to let the prize or reward of the Victory to be taken from them by the artifice of Seducers who made it their business to turn them out of the true and lawful lists of their race which are no other than believing and obeying the doctrine of the Gospel and make them enter into another carriere to wit that of their own inventions and services in the same sense that he elsewhere said to the Galatians who were abused by a like imposture Gal. 5.7 Ye did run well who did turn you aside that you should not obey the truth If this exposition were adapted as well as to the Apostles phrase as it is to his sense it would be excellent shewing us that I may say it by the way how this serving of Angels here forbidden us is an error of no small importance since it maketh those who turn aside unto or employ themselves in it to lose the prize of their Heavenly calling The Latin Interpreter Canonized by those of Rome having respect to the effect of such false doctrine which is a driving of the faithful out of the right way doth Translate it simply Let no man seduce you There is no need to report the thoughts of all others But I do affirm that there can be hardly found an expression more proper more commodious and according better with either the term or the scope of the Apostle then that of the French Bible Let no man master it over you which doth naturally express the magisterial authority that these Seducers assumed to themselves enjoyning and commanding their fancies to the faithful as if they had been installed Superintendants of their Religion and their lives and willing them to understand that without practising what they prescribed it was not possible to obtain the prize of their high calling Wherein the Apostle giveth them a blow and renders them ridiculous as men who having in truth no lawful authority would yet make it be believed that they had and did speak and command with as much confidence as if it belonged to them to distribute the Crown of Heaven at the last day or that they had it already in their hands to impart it to whom it should seem them good But that which S. Paul addeth doth discover their folly much more let no man saith he master it over you at his pleasure or at his will which may be referred either to their office or to their Doctrine or as I think to them both To their Office meaning that they are voluntary Superintendents and that their own will alone not the voice of GOD or men did elevate them to this pretended Mastership well night as the Roman Orator calls a certain man a Voluntary Senator who did thrust himself into the rank of the Senators but had no right to be there having been elected only by himself But this respects also their Dectrine and signifies that the serving of Angels which they commanded was founded meerly on their own good-pleasure and not upon any precept of GOD that their will alone was the reason and ground of it not the will of the LORD that it was nothing but an imagination of their own head and a fruit either of their melancholy or their malice Whence we may observe by the way That those that teach in the Church ought to set forth nothing but what is founded on the word of GOD. Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony but if they speak not according to this word of a truth there shall be no morning for them This rule is enough to
when to represent his modesty Psal 131.1 he saith that he hath not walked in great things and too high for him Dear Brethren we have no need to ascend so far back as the Apostle's time for examples of this vanity Our Adversaries of the Communion of Rome do afford us a sufficient store who as they retain the errour of those whom the Apostle here taxeth serving Angels as they did so do inherit their temerity intruding into things they have not seen They do magisterially pronounce that men must serve and invoke Angels and Saints departed They boldly define the Religious Worship that is to be given and divide it us into its kinds naming one of them Dulia and the other Hyperdulia all with as much confidence as if they spake of things most obvious to sence I urge not for the present that Scripture doth blast this whole errour every where intimating that we ought to serve no one in Religion but GOD alone and with loud voice anathematizing the Worship of any creature I pretermit what it saith particularly against the Adoration and Worshipping of Angels as also that S. Paul doth expresly prohibit it in the Text. I keep singly to the rule he here gives me that no belief be afforded those who intrude into things they have not seen and do demand of these hardy Doctors in what Region in what part of Divine Revelation have they seen these Services these Dulia's and these Hyperdulia's of which they so positively speak Where is it that the Holy Ghost hath shewed them these brave Doctrines To what Prophet hath He revealed them To what Apostle hath He signified them Of what Evangelist have themselves learnt them Sure they must here be husht of necessity They have not seen one of these pretended mysteries in the Book of GOD. They cannot shew us any track of them any where except it be in the fancies of Plato and of the Heathen Philosophers the Disciples of Daemons and not of GOD men taught in the School of errour and not in that of truth They proceed further yet and make us discourses about the Orders of Angels and distribute to them their business and cut them out their Ministrations they rank the Saints and give to them each his Charge and employment And if you ask them how these Spirits being in Heaven do hear our Prayers and requests and by what means they see the secret motions of our hearts They answer some of them that the mirrour of the Trinity upon which they incessantly have their eyes doth present them all the Idea's of them others that GOD reveals them to them some other way But whence do they know this It is neither sense nor natural reason that hath shewed it them If therefore they have seen it any where it must be in the Revelation of GOD. Yet it is clear and they cannot deny it that neither this pretended mirrour nor any one of their other conjectures do appear there at all Cajetan in 22. q. 88. a. â— And one of their most famed Authors sufficiently declares it We do not know saith he by any certain reason whether the Saints do perceive our Prayers or no although we do piously believe it as if it were piety and not pittiful credulity to believe things of which we have no assurance But let him make what account of it he pleases This is evident that since he confesseth they have no assurance of these things it must of necessity be confessed also that it is extreamly ill done of them to intrude into them except he will reject the Authority of the Apostle in his condemning those here most expresly who intrude into things they have not seen This vanity doth further shew it self in the things they give out concerning the state of Souls in their fabulous Purgatory the scituation the structure and partitions whereof they represent together with the fire and torments of the Spirits that are there imprisoned with such a deal of confidence as if they were just now come from thence after many years stay in the place Nevertheless the truth is that neither they nor their Ancestors euer saw one jot of it either in the Scriptures of GOD or in the nature of things there being not a word any where of any one of these imaginations That which they say of their Transubstantiation with its conditions and circumstances and of the manner how the body of CHRIST is present in every crumb of their Hoste and in every drop of their Chalice Their positions likewise concerning their pretended Sacrifice of the Mass and concerning the relative or Analogical adoration of Images and concerning the Characters which some of their Sacraments do imprint upon the souls of men and in one word all the points of doctrine that we contest with them are of the same nature All of them are things they have not seen they intrude into them walk in them and strout vainly commanding the belief or practice of them under pain of damnation how doubtful and uncertain soever they be and furiously anathematizing all those who make the least doubt to receive them As for us Dear Brethren who through the grace of GOD have learned to preferr His voice before the imaginations of men and to fear the thundrings of Heaven more than the fulminations of Rome let us leave them in this vain humour or to say better pray to GOD to bring them out of it and give them to distinguish their own dreams from His declarations And for our further acquitting of our selves let us religiously keep to the Apostles direction Intrude we never into things we have not seen Neither be so simple as to follow those that do or to suffer our selves to be mastered over by them Let us rest in the things which GOD hath clearly revealed to us in His word which He hath so set before our eyes in that Divine Treasury of His truth as very children may there behold them This portion is sufficient for us if we cultivate it well we shall find in it abundantly wherewith to inform our understandings wherewith to calm our Consciences and sanctifie our hearts and perfect all the faculties of our souls Let no man presume above that which is written 1 Cor. 4.6 Rom. 12.3 Take heed of being wise above what is meet but be wise to sobriety Let the word of GOD be the rule of our science and His Book the bound of all our curiosity All knowledge is had without knowing any thing beyond it This consideration alone is enough to preserve us from all the errours of Rome For since the intruding into things we have not seen is a temerity condemned here by the Apostle and in matter of Religion we can have seen none but such as GOD hath revealed in His Word it evidently follows that we are obliged not only to forbear believing but also to proceed to the rejecting of all the Doctrines about which we are in contest with Rome
Scriptures of GOD they plead to us that they are voluntary services which are performed with a good intention and do tend to humble the Spirit Their Fastings and Abstinences their Watchings and Pilgrimages their Whippings and Disciplines and all the odd exercises of their Monks are not in the least commanded of GOD. But what skills it The more voluntary they are say they the more meritorious and then on the other hand they mortifie the body which they spare not at all having no regard to the satisfying of its desires There 's nothing but they might make pass for good and godly with this specious pigment I might justly plead against these vain pretexts that GOD's will ought to be the rule of ours and that it is dangerous to trust our intentions in matter of Religion seeing it often comes to pass that GOD hath that in abomination which does most please our thoughts as also that it is a proud and an extravagant humility to give men a power over our Consciences which it is the prerogative of GOD alone to have and that if the not sparing of the body do serve for the mortifying of it it follows not that we must place divine service therein I might alledge these and many other things and found them by the Scripture to demonstrate the vanity of their pretexts But for this time I content me with the Apostle's example and authority He acknowledgeth that the Doctrines of those Seducers whom he doth oppose had these three very colours and that the same gave them a shew of wisdom And yet for all this he doth not forbear to reject them making so little account of that shew of theirs that he vouchsafes not to spend one word upon the refutation of it How specious soever their Doctrines be it 's enough for his condemning them that they were instituted and taught by men and not by the LORD clearly presupposing by this procedure of his that all Christians should hold it for an undoubted maxime that Religious service must be measured by the will of GOD and not by ours by His order and not our phansie and that the foundation of our humility is the respect we owe him not to submit our Consciences to any besides Him Let then the Traditions of Rome in other regards be of what quality you please let them have all the colours of wisdom let them be voluntary and humble and meet to mortifie the flesh You will do much by setting all this pompous shew in view You will gain much by laying it forth before mine eyes and declaiming to me of the advantages of those things I cannot receive them except you shew me that it is GOD hath instituted them and not the will of man The Apostle hath taught me to make so little account of these kind of reasons as that I should not vouchsafe so much as to amuse my self to consider them After having heard you it sufficeth me to tell you as he saith here to the Seducers of his time that if your Doctrines have this shew of wisdom which you attribute to them they are in conclusion but humane things since GOD hath not at all commanded them in His word Yet upon thorough examination it will be found My Brethren that the most of their inventions do want not the reality alone but the colour and the very shew of wisdom For I beseech you what shadow of wisdom is there in this Lent for instance which they began the other day after the ordinary Preface of their Carneval What reason or common sense is there that can affirm if it be free that it is wisdom after license taken for all kind of debauches and fooleries to imagine an handful of ashes will efface it all That it is wisdom to believe the eating of Fish is fasting That it is wisdom to think the eating Herbs or Salmon or Green-fish is a sanctifying ones self and that to taste but a bit of Bief or Mutton during these forty days is to defile ones soul with a sin mortal and meriting eternal fire as if the whole nature of things were changed in a moment and the living Creatures of the earth from being good and wholsome as they were but four dayes ago became contagious and deadly Is it wisdom to tye up Christianity to an observance which hath so little reason in it and to say as they do that such as eat any flesh within this time are not Christians There is no understanding how ordinary soever but may easily judge that all this hath no shew of wisdom in it to say no worse And it is to no purpose to tell us that it 's not the nature of the things themselves but the commandment of their Church that makes them be of this opinion For if these things be not true in themselves their Church does ill to authorize them and besides that it contravenes the rules of wisdom evidently violates those of charity also as straitning the way to Heaven and augmenting the difficulty of entring there and damning men for things which without its commandment would be free and indifferent Let us lay aside then I beseech you my Brethren all these humane Commandments which are so far from being just and necessary that they have not for the most part so much as that vain shew of wisdom which the Apostle granted the Doctrines of the Seducers of his time had Hold we to the Sacred and saving institututions of our LORD JESUS which all are just all reasonable all full of deep Mat. 16.11 and truly Divine wisdom Let us believe as he hath taught us that 't is not what enters in at the mouth that doth defile a man but what cometh out of the heart and that the Kingdom of GOD Rom. 14.17 is not meat or drink but righteousness peace and joy of the Holy Ghost Serve we Him according to His own rule and not according to the imaginations of men Let our will be bound up to His let it count it self happy in following the same and not presume to guide it self Let it learn of Him what it oweth Him not be so arrogant as to define it after its own phansie The task He hath given us is great enough for our employing all the time and strength we have without diverting ought of the same any other way It 's in this that true humility consists even in submitting absolutely to JESUS CHRIST in refusing no particular of what He would have in attempting nothing beyond His orders He it is clear would have us to love GOD with all our heart and our Neighbour as our selves and that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in the present world looking for His glorious appearance This Beloved Brethren is the rule of the Israel of GOD that was delivered by JESUS CHRIST Preached by His Apostles confirmed by their Miracles and by the Conversion of the World Peace and Mercy be to all that shall
us unto so just a duty Seek the things which are above where CHRIST saith he sitteth at the right hand of GOD. For it as our LORD sometime said where our treasure is there be our hearts also where should our souls be but in Heaven since it is in that blessed dwelling place that their treasure doth reside JESUS their good their life and their joy in whom is hidden all our felicity In time past under the Mosaical Law the faithful alwaies turned their eyes and thoughts towards the Temple at Jerusalem because it was the abiding place of the pledges of GOD's covenant with them and of the most precious symbols of His presence and glory Judge what our affection and earnestness should be for Heaven which containeth the true Ark of GOD where all the fulness of His Godhead dwelleth not in shadow and figure but really and bodily But there is more yet JESUS CHRIST is our Head and we His members How can we conserve this honour but in keeping close to Him and following Him faithfully without ever separating from Him or withdrawing from that Sanctuary where He dwelleth And indeed He expresly assures us in the Gospel that He willeth we should be where He is and that where the dead body is there also the Eagles gather together so as if we be truly of the number of His Eagles it is not possible but we should take our flight to Heaven since this divine body of our LORD and Saviour is there And hereby you see dear Brethren to note it by the way how distant the doctrine of St. Paul is from that of Rome For whereas the Apostle elevateth our hearts from earth to Heaven Rome brings them down as far as in her lyeth from Heaven to the earth fastning the hearts of her zealots on her material altars and ciboires which she pretends the LORD is enclosed in against the suffrage of the whole Church who hath ever constantly applied these words of the Apostle particularly to the Sacrament of the Eucharist exhorting the faithful when they celebrate it to have their hearts above Sure if JESUS CHRIST be here below as Rome would have it the Apostle does ill to command us to mind the things which are above and worse again in urging for a reason of it that it 's above that JESUS CHRIST resideth If for that the LORD is in Heaven we ought according to the Apostles instruction not to seek any thing on earth how much less I beseech you ought we to seek the LORD Himself there I do not advertise you that this is to be understood of the presence of the humane nature of JESUS CHRIST For you know that He is every where as to the essence and providence of His Divinity And as to the grace of His Spirit and the efficacy and virtue of His will and institutions we readily confess that the same is not confined to the Heavens and doth extend and shew its self wheresoever He pleaseth according to the promise He hath made us to be in the midst of us when we are assembled in His Name But the Apostle doth not barely say that JESUS is in Heaven He adds that He sitteth at the right hand of GOD. Divers Doctors have belaboured themselves much in the explicating of these words and at length there are some that have strangely disguised them as if they signified that our LORD 's humane nature had been invested with all the properties of the Divinity which would be no other thing but that it was transform'd into a Divine nature a conceit which all true Christians have horrour for confessing that the two natures do remain each of them in its integrity having been united in JESUS CHRIST but not blended together nor confused The Apostle if we please to hear him will tell us in two words what it is to sit at the right hand of GOD. For in the 15th Chapter of the first Epist to the Corinthians speaking of the estate to which JESUS CHRIST hath been exalted in the Heavens and in which he shall abide constantly unto the end instead of its being said by the Prophet from whom the expression was taken in Psal 110. that the LORD should fit at the right hand of the Father he saith simply that He shall reign till He hath put all His enemies under His feet an evident sign that this sitting at the right hand of the Father is nothing else but that supreme dominion which hath been given Him over all things and which He doth and shall exercise unto the end of all ages inasmuch as GOD hath made Him LORD Acts 2.36 and CHRIST as St. Peter speaks And this consideration doth again mightily strengthen the holy Apostle's exhortation For since Heaven is the throne on which the Prince of the Universe doth sit and from which He dispenseth and governeth all things at His will there is great reason we should turn our eyes thither-ward and have this Royal Court of our Soveraign in mind night and day to comfort our selves under the trouble that either the iniquity of men and devils or the intemperateness of other creatures does give us and to form our manners and all the parts of our life after the will and by the example of so great and so holy a Monarch Behold the Lesson Beloved Brethren which the Apostle gives us at this time that we seek not low but high things not those of the earth but the things of Heaven since we are risen up with JESVS CHRIST who is sat down on high in Heaven at the right hand of GOD. What would there be in all the World more happy than we if we took up a good and a firm resolution to obey Him and practise the thing He enjoyneth us These fears and these desires and so many other vain passions which trouble our whole life would have no more place in us We elevated far above that which men unprofitably covet or possess or apprehend should with Angels enjoy a Divine contentment From that glorious Heaven where we should be we should despise the vanities and variations of the earth and see its seasons pass on and its elements roul about and its idols perish and its pleasures fleet away without any perturbation being secure that none of its storms can ever reach that high and inaccessible region where our hearts and lives would be We should look upon death without terrour knowing that it could not take any of those things from us which we possess on high We should suffer all the accidents of this life without emotion because they can change no part of the things we have in Heaven The charms also and illusions of the World would touch us as little as its menaces and raging because the fruition of a greater good would render us insensible for lesser ones as the presence of the Sun puts out the shining of the stars Being content with Heaven and its eternity we should covet nothing more and satisfied
flesh for indeed it is the pattern of that life we live here below after our regeneration He sought not either the glory or the pleasures or the riches of the World He adhered not to any one of those things but used what was necessary for His food and raiment with great sobriety and frugality not tasting the fruition of it and so little fearing to be deprived of the fame that instead of the glory of the world He voluntarily suffered extreme ignominy poverty and nakedness instead of riches torments and the cross instead of pleasure And so you see my Brethren how the consideration of our being dead in CHRIST JESUS should turn us aside from the affecting and the seeking of earthly things But the life we also have in Him should no less set us at distance from the same and this is that the Apostle sets before us in the second place You are dead and your life saith he is hid with JESVS CHRIST in GOD. When CHRIST who is your life shall appear then shall you also appear with Him in glory It seems that the first words do tend to prevent an objection which might be made to the Apostle upon his saying that we are dead For how doth this consist with that which he asserted afore namely that we are risen again with CHRIST If we be risen we live and if we live it is not true that we are dead But this difficulty is easily resolv'd For first the life unto which we are dead is the life of sin and of the flesh as we have explicated it whereas the life unto which we be risen in JESUS CHRIST is the life of CHRIST and of His Spirit The one is the life of the old Adam and the other of the new Now it is not incompatible that one and the same person be deprived of the former and possessed of the latter Nay on the contrary it is not possible that such as live in the former manner should also live in the latter and as in nature the generation of one thing doth naturally presuppose the corruption of another so likewise in grace the life of the second Adam doth of necessity inferr the death of the first so that from our being risen again with CHRIST it is so far from following we are not dead to the flesh that quite on the contrary it thence necessarily follows we are dead to the flesh it not being possible to affirm the former without supposing the latter nor to place the life of CHRIST in us otherwise than by the death of Adam in us An inevitable necessity requires the one do dye that the other may live in us As for that life which we acquire by our resurrection with JESUS CHRIST the Apostle grants that it pertaineth to us and that in this behalf it may be said of us that we live as he doth say frequently both of other beleevers in general and of himself in particular Yet notwithstanding he shews us again that this life of CHRIST is not manifested and compleated in us that it is yet for the present hidden in GOD with JESUS CHRIST so as in this respect it might be said of us while we are on the earth that we live not and that we have not yet the life unto which CHRIST hath raised us after the same manner Rom. 8.22 23. as he spares not to say else-where that our being saved is in hope and we yet wait for the adoption as if we had not hitherto receiv'd the salvation and adoption of GOD. For the right understanding of this mysterie we must consider briefly what the Apostle here saith of it and first what that life is which he calleth ours Secondly how it is hid in GOD with JESUS CHRIST and then lastly what shall be that manifestation of this life which he promiseth us at the appearing of CHRIST The life of the faithful is that same which JESUS CHRIST doth give them instead of the life He taketh from them when He receiveth them into His communion This which he takes away was impure and vicious the other was pure and holy This was natural and earthly the other is spiritual and heavenly The principle of the former was a carnal mind and an irregular concupiscence the principle of the latter is a divine saith and a just and reasonable love The one consisted in a vicious fruition of the flesh and of the earth the other is a sweet and a legitimate possessing of the Spirit and of Heaven And as the former was mortal and perishing no less than the flesh and the earth from which it drew its nutriment so the other is incorruptible and eternal according to the nature of the Spirit that quickens it and of Heaven that maintains it The fruits of the former were sin and shame and damnation The fruits of the latter are righteousness honour joy and immortality That first life therefore to say true was a death rather than a life being such as after a short and feaverish agitation could not terminate but in eternal sufferings And this other on the contrary is alone truly worthy of the name of life which name also the Scripture does oft-times purely and absolutely give it â— Joh. 5. as when it saith that He that hath the Son hath life and He that hath not the Son hath not life and that He that believeth in the Son is passed from death to life But then you will say since we do believe how is it that the Apostle says our life is hid with CHRIST in GOD as if it were not in our selves Dear Brethren I answer it is very certain that the LORD JESUS doth even at present give all His true members the seminals and principles of this blessed life the which He casteth into their hearts by His Gospel and that He preserveth augmenteth and fortifyeth them there gradually by the vertue of His Spirit and by the usage of His Word His Sacraments and his Disciplines unto the making them bring forth the excellent fruits of charity and sanctity By reason of these beginnings and of the sure title they bring them to the plenitude and perfection of that life they are said in Scripture to live and to have eternal life at present even as we attribute to a plant the name and life of the kind which it is of when it hath once taken root and thrust forth some bud and verdure though it hath not yet its whole extent and perfection Yet it must be acknowledged too that the compleat form of this life which consists in perfect sanctity rob'd with glorious immortality resembling that which JESUS CHRIST our elder brother brought up out of His sâ—pulchre at His rising again and carried into Heaven with Him forty daies after will not be communicated to us but in the world to come For here below as you know both our knowledge is imperfect and our sanctity infirm as the Apostle saith else-where declaring that now we see but in
Sanctifie this earth during the time you tarry on it and change it as much as may be into Heaven adorning it with an Angelick life and conversation This is the way to make sure your crown For it will not be given in Heaven but to those that have desired and sought it in the time of their abode on earth None shall reap eternal life but they that have sowed to the Spirit No man shall have fruition above but he that hath hoped here below and no man hopeth here below but he that cleanseth himself from the filth of vices He that hath this hope in JESVS CHRIST purifieth himself saith St. John Represent incessantly unto your selves this glorious coming of the Son of GOD. Consider that He will not long delay Yet as little a while as may be and he that should come will come Consider that He will come on the sudden as lightning which in an instant shines out from the clouds and as the thief that comes at the point of time he was least looked for How much will our confusion be if He should surprise us in the disorder of our worldly affections and occupations But GOD forbid that this should betide us He hath waited sufficiently for us Let us employ that little time which is left us with so much the more care the less we have had for that which is past Let us watch let us pray let us be doing Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling Let us lead lives worthy of the name of Christians which we bear worthy of the Master whom we serve and of the food He hath given us and of the love He hath born us and of the glory He keeps for us cleansing our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and waiting with an holy joy and setled patience for the revelation of this great GOD and Saviour to His Glory and our Salvation Amen THE THIRTY FOURTH SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP. III. VER V. Verse V. Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication unclearness inordinate appetite evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry DEAR Brethren In all the designs of our lives the End is the principle that moveth us to act and the rule of our actions The fair aspect it gives us is the thing that inslameth our hearts and kindleth in them the desire of possessing it which thereupon awakeneth the powers of our souls and causeth each of them to employ what ability and industry they have in the pursuit the understanding its light to find out and make a due choice of means fit to conduct us in it the will and affections and other faculties of our nature which depend upon them their motions to get these means and set them on work All this is done as you know and experiment it daily only to attain that End we have proposed to our selves The ends which men aim at are infinitely different and oftentimes even contrary to one another and consequently their courses very different also as if some went East and others West or some took their way Southward and others their march Northward Yet notwithstanding such diversity of intentions and prosecutions they are all incited and led on in the self-same manner there being not one of them but the desire of some end he loveth hath seized and swayed unto action and at length induced to take the course he steers according to the passion he hath for the attainment of it and the judgement his understanding makes of means proper to bring him to it The end therefore being the first spring that setteth us a going the principle of our motions and as it were the North of our course the guide and measure of our actions You see My Brethren that it infinitely concerneth us to take it right and having once taken it to have it continually before our eyes for the referring and addressing of all our travails to the same Wherefore our LORD condemns those as unadvised and injudicious persons who enterprise a design without having first duly considered it without having sate down and taken their counters in hand and exactly calculated all the cost that is without having maturely and composedly examin'd what the thing is which they desire and what abilities they have to compass it as that ridiculous builder who laid the foundation of a Tower and was then constrained to give over not having wherewithal to finish it For this reason also the Masters of Moral Philosophy that they might rightly form their scholars to it have been wont to set before their eyes the felicity of man that is his End for the enkindling a love and desire of it in their hearts and then they propose to them the means that are to be used to attain it Such is the method that the holy Apostle hath followed in this part of his divine discourse which we are explicating to you He shewed us at the entrance Heaven and JESUS CHRIST who reigneth there sitting at the right-hand of His Father together with that life and immortality and glory which He keeps for and promiseth to His faithful ones This is the end we should tend unto Seek said He the things which are in Heaven and I perswade my self there is not a man so stupid and savage but an object so good and so desirable does make impression upon and possess with love of it and a secret passion to obtain it Now though the splendor of so noble and so sublime an happiness should as soon as it appears put out all that fallacious appearance of the things of the earth wherein the children of this world do vainly seek their good and which they foolishly take for the end of their lives yet the Apostle to preserve us from this error and fully inform us of our true end hath further expresly advised us not to place it in things here below Mind not the things saith he which are upon the earth Having therefore each of you setled this divine end of your lives in his heart according to the Apostles doctrine look at it continually Let it be night and day before your eyes This thought alone is capable to direct all your steps to govern all your actions to purifie your souls to render you invincible against all your enemies to conserve the peace and the joy of GOD in you and maintain His consolations in you amid the greatest storms Yet this doth not satisfie our Apostle He not content with having mark'd out our aim to us and shewed in general what we ought to decline doth particularize us the means we are to use for arriving one day at that blessed Heaven whither he had elevated our hearts He discovers to us and tells us one by one the shelves and dangerous passages of our course and finally goes over the most part of our duties in the conduct of this grand design He begins with vices of the flesh and of the earth the two pernicious pests of
a perpetual disorder which displaceth every thing and overturns all yet all hath its certain causes It 's therefore with a great deal of reason and elegance that the Apostle compares this strange convention of so many evils which are so divers and do all work with some sequel and dependance unto a body and each of those vices of which it is composed as covetousness fornication and the like unto the members of a body He calleth them our members because that old man which is made up of them is wholly ours and does invest all the principles of our life from their root and invelope them and mingle so deeply with them that it all in a sort is nothing but corruption and malady this venome infecting all the actions and all the motions of our nature its understanding its affections and passions together with the thoughts words and actions which flow from them so that as our animal and natural life consisteth in the exercising of our members and in their actions in like manner our moral life is all of it nothing but a continual exercising of these vices and of the sins they produce as is to be clearly seen if you consider the lives of profane and unregenerate persons For they are nought else but a continual exercise of vices of ambition of vanity of covetousness of luxury and sensuality as they are addicted more or less to the one or the other of these sins the perpetual running of a foul and muddy stream which a corrupted spring doth daily thrust forth that you cannot observe so much as one of its swellings or rollings exempt from its filthiness And this may suffice for comprehending the reason why the Apostle calls these parts of the old man our members For as to that consideration which some do propose in this matter namely that the members of our bodies having been created of GOD they are not ours but in regard of use and not in regard of their original whereas the members of the old man are ours all manner of waies having been made and formed in us by our own fault and naughtiness and not by the hand of GOD who created man upright and pure man distorting and depraving himself this conceit I say seems to me more subtil than solid For though the matter of it be very true yet it is so wide from the Apostles design in this place that there is little likelyhood he thought upon it when he called the vices here of our corrupt nature our members Without doubt he so doth only because it is in the exercising and acting of these vices that the carnal life of men doth consist For the rest if you remember what we said upon the precedent Text of the death of the old man in us you will not think it strange that the Apostle after having said that we are dead does not yet forbear to exhort us to mortifie the members of this same life which we have put off in JESUS CHRIST For our being dead in this respect doth not import that the life of the flesh is entirely and absolutely extinct in us this will not be effected untill we shall quit it at our leaving of the earth and put on coelestial and spiritual bodies at the day of the resurrection but the Scripture doth thus speak first because JESUS CHRIST hath by His death His resurrection and His ascension into Heaven destroyed and abolished all the causes that gave nutriment and sustenance to the life of the old man and secondly because the old man 〈◊〉 receiv'd his deaths wound in each of us by the faith that ingrafted and incorporated us into JESUS CHRIST so as if we persevere it is not possible that he should recover But this death of His as we said doth not arrive all at once It 's executed by little and little and the exercise of a believer during his stay here below is to busie himself incessantly about it daily to weaken and wound that flesh of his which is already nailed to the cross of his LORD to entinguish by little and little all the life it hath remaining that is to mortifie his members as the Apostle here speaks In this sense you see these two conceptions are so far from having ought that 's contrary or incompatible in them that quite otherwise the one doth evidently and necessarily follow from the other For since we are dead in JESUS CHRIST since the arrest of the death of our old man is past since JESUS CHRIST hath done on His part all that was necessary to execute it since this flesh condemn'd is already fastened to His cross it is evident that it ought to live no longer and that by consequent each of us should incessantly bestirr our selves to put it to death by mortifying its members beating down and weakening their vigour driving deep into them our Saviour's nails and thorns untill they be effectually reduced unto that state of death unto which they were condemned having no more either motion or sentiment or force or life at all in us Lo My Brethren the thing the Apostle means by these words mortifie your members To say it in a word he would have us weaken and extinguish the vices of our old man and put them in such a state of death as hath no more strength nor vigour nor stirring But as this holy man's whole language is full of profound wisdome I am of opinion he thus speaks to give a further blow to those seducers whose error he had been refuting in the fore-going chapter These men to recommend their disciplines gave out that they did not at all spare the body that they had no regard to the satiating of the flesh that they oppos'd its pleasures and humbled and mortified it And you know that this is at this very day the language of those votaries who place Christianity in such exercises They speak of nothing but their mortifications St. Paul therefore doth here correct the vain conceits of this error and sheweth us what true mortification is and that that is worthy of the study and exercise of the faithful It is saith he the members of the old man we are to mortifie and not those of the body It is vices It 's fornication and covetousness and pride that we must quell and kill with blows and not our body And as one of the Prophets sometime said to the superstitious of his age who fasted and afflicted themselves and rent their clothes Rend your hearts and not your garments Joel 2.13 in like manner the Apostle here opposeth the internal mortification of sins as only necessary and truly worthy of a Christian unto the external mortification of the body unto which error did and still doth tye up its self For in truth to what purpose is it to beat a man's breast and rend his back while sin mean time reigneth in his heart To what purpose is it to afflict the members of this body while the members of the
hath been wont to discharge his avenging strokes upon men Others understand it of the punishment He will inflict for them at the last day and indeed the Scripture doth frequently so speak of that great judgement and the things which shall be done in it saying that it cometh elegantly signifying by that word the certainty and infallible coming to pass of a thing which 't is true as yet is not but will not fail to be as if it were a person that travelled and were already on the way to go to the place where he would arrive But I conceive the Apostle doth enclose within this word the execution of both those kinds of judgments signifying by it those great and dreadful torments into which God will plunge the wicked on the day of His anger which will be the last effect of His wrath against fin and also all the chastenings wherewith He scourgeth them in this life which are as it were the first-fruits of His wrath and so many samples and fore-runners of His final vengeance St. Paul compriseth all this in his saying that the wrath of GOD cometh But this form of speech even that the wrath of GOD cometh upon men is graceful and eximious importing that the evils which arrive on earth do not happen at adventure nor spring out of the earth it self and their inferiour causes simply but do issue from another source to wit from Heaven which pours them down here below as a storm or deluge for the inevitable enveloping and overwhelming of those for whom they are appointed They set forth from Heaven they travel towards us and fall whom in the end upon the heads of evil-doers by the order of the most High who marks out the whole course they are to take and dispenseth them with the same judgment that He doth thunders and tempests and rains which come upon us from on high by the guidance of His providence And as you see it is for the most part in the works of nature that these meteors do not come on a sudden but after some signs that precede and presage their approach in like manner is it ordinarily with the judgments of GOD. The thunder of His wrath as well as that of nature doth roar before it falls GOD threatens the guilty before He strikes them down and well-nigh alwaies sendeth men some advertisements that are as the van-coureurs and harbingers of His wrath to prepare us that we may either divert it by preventing it through our repentance or take it to abide with us Matt. â—4 Thus you see in St. Matthew our LORD and Saviour predicteth that the last judgment should be preceded by many great and terrible signs for the daunting of the ferocity of sinners and the reducing them if it might be unto repentance and in the same place He describeth the prognosticks of that dreadful vengeance which GOD was soon after to pour forth upon Jerusalem and the whole nation of the Jews and which failed not to arrive in a little time punctually as He had fore-told He observes the same order still in His chastising of families and nations scarce ever involving them in any calamity but He signified to them the coming of it before He executeth it which may be noted among others in those horrible scourges which have made havock in Christendome for these eight and twenty or thirty years But the Apostle addeth who they are upon whom the wrath of GOD doth come upon the children saith he of rebellion It 's an Hebrew manner of speech familiar in the Scriptures of the one and the other Testament to call that man the child of a thing who is addicted to it and hath in him the impression and tincture of it as they call Antichrist the Son of perdition that is to say a lost man one devoted and abandoned to perdition who destroys himself in destroying others And the Grecians whose language is extremely polisht and perfectly well formed have not however disdained this form of expression saying often the children of the Grecians for to signifie Greeks themselves and the children of Physicians for Physicians In like manner here these children of rebellion of whom the Apostle speaks are the rebellious such as disobey the will of GOD and His advertisements fiercely despise His counsel such who as St. Peter saith do stumble at the word who whatever care GOD takes to declare His holy will unto them and to call them to repentance will not hearken but obstinately settle and harden themselves in their sins Whereby they render themselves guilty of two hainous faults unbelief and disobedience For they reject â—â—e testimony of GOD and hold it for a fable sometimes even openly mocking at it which is an horrible outrage against the truth of GOD. Then next they disobey His voice confirming themselves in doing what He forbids them and in neglecting what He doth command them Such were those profane ones before the Flood who stubbornly despising the preaching of Noah the herald of righteousness continued impudently in the track of their corrupt waies taking no heed to the advertisements of GOD and His servant And St. Peter by reason of this insolent contempt terms them unbelieving or disobedient They did eat saith our Saviour they drank they married and gave in marriage 1 Pet. 3.20 and perceived not the flood untill it came and bore them all away Afterward Gen. 19.14 the people of Sodom and Gomorra did as much who took the holy and humble remonstrance which GOD's servant Lot made them of thinking on themselves and the notice He gave them of the destruction of their Cities for a rallerie or a phrâ—nsie They remained obstinate in this profane security untill a deluge of fire and brimstone pouring in a moment out of Heaven upon them and upon their abominable Countrey forced those dreams of their incredulity out of their heads and taught them that there is nothing more true than the word of GOD nor more false than an imagination of the security of sinners In fine it is the crime of all those upon whom the wrath of GOD doth fall They are children of rebellion to whom may be applied though to some more to others less what a Prophet sometime said unto the Jews Zech. 7.11 They would not understand but have pulled away the shoulder and made their ears heavy that they might not hear and have hardned their hearts as an adamant that they might not hearken to the law and the words which the LORD of Hosts sent by His Spirit I acknowledge that this is properly the crime first of those who reject the Gospel of the Son of GOD the true word brought in by the Holy Spirit and secondly of them that living under the Mosaique covenant rebelled against the word of GOD preached to them by Moses and the Prophets But I affirm that even they are not exempt of it who have sinned or do sin in the darknesse of Paganism For though these
not to be doubted but that the precipitaâ—ed deaths and ruines of so many great ones whom the world hath seen and still doth see perish with astonishment are for the most part from the same source even the debauches they have been carried into The accidents of particular houses and persons infected with this leaprousie are less marked yet are they nevertheless very remarkable And he that shall look narrowly into them shall find in them admirable examples of the justice of GOD upon these kind of sins and this in special that He commonly takes away His covenant from houses where such disorders reign I might easily let you see like foot-steps of the wrath of GOD upon the covetous whose unrighteousnesse He often punisheth with loss of senses of health of honour and of that very wealth which they love much better than their bodies and their souls themselves not to speak of the infamy which GOD sometimes poureth out upon them and the horrible miseries into which He lets them fall in their persons and in their posterity But I must pass to the other part of this Text and speak a few words of it and conclude For the Apostle after this wrath of GOD which he hath represented as falling from Heaven upon the children of rebellion because of their pollutions and avarices reminds the Colossians that themselves had sometime been in the same condition in which saith he you also walked other-while when ye lived in these things To live in these sins is to have the principles of our life infected with the venome of them To walk in them is to produce the actions of them The one is the power and faculty of life the other is the exercise and function of it For the having in ones self the principles and faculties of life this the Apostle termeth living and by walking he understands a putting forth the actions of the same as appears plainly by his saying elsewhere If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit For a man that Gal. 5.25 for instance is asleep does nevertheless live and hath life though he performeth not the actions of it As therefore to live in the Spirit is no other thing but to have the faculties and powers of our nature renewed and as it were new-east and regenerated by the vertue of the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST so on the contrary to live in sin is in like manner to have our understanding and will and the other powers of our nature putrified and corrupted and as it were empoisoned with Adam's sin by the contagion of his flesh And again as those do walk in the Spirit who exercise piety and sanctity and do conduct all the actions and motions of their lives according to the will of the Spirit so they on the contrary walk in sin who follow and fulfill the lusts thereof and employ themselves in no other exercise but the serving it and doing those evil works which naturally flow from the habitudes of it But we have spoken largely heretofore if you remember of this first life of old Adam which the grace of the LORD JESUS hath destroyed and mortified in us We have only to observe in our way that since the exercise of man in his state of nature before grace is to walk in vices and in grossest pollutions it must be an huge error to imagine that he should be able in such a state to produce works either meritorious as some say or preparatory to grace as others do pretend All he doth for this time if you believe the Apostle in the case is not good but to prepare for Hell and merit the wrath of GOD and to have any other opinion of it will be a diminution of the greatnesse of the grace of GOD towards us Let us think then Beloved Brethren on that shameful and miserable estate in which we naturally were and should have continued for ever with the children of rebellion living and walking in sins the wages and fruit whereof could be no other than eternal death if the LORD through His abundant grace had not delivered us from such a condemnation And resenting as we ought the greatness of the benefit He hath conferr'd upon us let us incessantly bless His mercy and goodness Thanks be ever rendred unto thee O holy and merciful LORD for that we being servants of sin thou hast made us free by Thy Son and given us by thy Spirit Rom. 6.17 to obey that express form of doctrine which hath been delivered us by thy servants But as heretofore the vices in which we lived did continually produce all kind of pollutions and sins and henceforth since the cross and grace of our LORD hath dried up this source of impurity let there no more appear any track of them in our manners Let the holyness of that new man whose name and blood we boast of shine forth in all the actions of our lives Above all let us banish thence those two capital and accursed pests of luxury and avarices for which you have heard here before all the mouths of Heaven opened to fulminate against the rebellious that serve them the curses of this world and of that which is to come And if the ignorance of such as lived in error withheld not the wrath of GOD heretofore from coming on them for these two kinds of sins what must those expect now who commit the same crimes in the light of JESUS CHRIST Sure as much as the disobedience and the rebellion of the one is more grievous and more enormous than that of others so much more terrible will be the wrath that shall pour from Heaven upon them than all the judgements of GOD the world hath seen in time past Your ingratitude Christian who so ill brook your name and your disobedience surpasseth in horridnesse all the unbelief both of the first world and of ancient Israel they rejected but the preaching of Noah and the ministry of Mâ—ses whereas you outrage the Gospel of the Son of GOD and as much is in you is make Him a lyer Yet you know how they were punished you know the deluges which the fault of the one brought upon all the earth You know the abysse opened its mouth to swallow up the others alive Heaven and earth and the elements were armed against them If their punishment makes you tremble why do you imitate their faults yea why commit you such as are more hainous and blacker than theirs GOD is good and merciful I acknowledge but to sinners repenting To those that mock at His instruction and make a jest of His menaces He is severe and inexorable And if they amend not they shall know sooner or later to their cost that it 's a fearful thing to fall into His hands But the LORD JESUS whom we invocate please to give us better things so reforming this Church by the power of His Spirit and of His voice that henceforth these crying sins be no more seen
the sole infelicity of their extraction The men of Rome are at this day no wiser as who do not define Christianity but by an adherence to the See of their City The Apostle here doth thunder-strike the vanity of the one and the others proclaiming that neither the Jew nor the Greek and by consequent not the Roman or Italian are of any consideration in godliness so as to confer upon us or deprive us of the new Man And S. John Baptist had aforehand advertis'd the Jews of it Mat. 3.9 Presume not so say within your selves We have Abraham to our Father And it 's this our Saviour meant when he told Nicodemus That to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Joh. 3.3 he must be born again signifying that all that dignity of this carnal birth which did so mightily puff up the hearts of the Pharisees and Jews was but a thing of nought and contributed not at all to the entring them in his Communion Joh. 8.39 And elsewhere the Jews crying out that Abraham was their Father he answers them That if they were the children of Abraham they would do his works an evident sign that the children of the Saints are they that do their works as said one of the Ancients * Hierome Act. 10 35. and not they that take up their place and that as S. Peter said Of whatsoever Nation you be you shall be accepted of GOD if you fear him and work righteousness That which the Apostle adds a little after of Barbarians and Scythians tendeth also to take away all difference of people in matter of godliness against the vanity of the Greeks who despised all other Nations and called them Barbarians making no account but of their own because of the great politeness of their language and the civility of their manners and the study of Philosophy and Eloquence which flourished among them S. Paul denounceth them that this vain excellency is of no value in Christianity and that the illiteratness and political defects of Barbarians do not alienate them from GOD provided that putting off the old Man they put on the New The Scythians are those whom we call Tartarians and he makes particular mention of them either because of the ferity and extream rudeness in as much as they were accounted the most gross and least polite of all Barbarians or because of their probity justice and moral innocency as some think After nations he speaks also of the difference of ceremonies and conditions To the former referrs his saying that in Christianity there is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision comprising under this one species all other semblable observations of things external and not commanded of GOD in religion signifying that men are neither furthered towards the kingdom of Heaven by being circumcised nor set back by wanting of it and likewise that as he faith else-where if we eat we have not the more and if we eat not we have not the less Whence appears how ill founded the ridiculous opinion of those is who put an higher eâ—â—mate upon themselves by far than upon others in point of holiness by reason of thâ—se external and voluntary devotions as for instance because they were a cowl or a certain particular habit because they abstain from flesh either alwaies or so a certain daies and do other like things in which they are not ashamed even to place Christianity What the Apostle addeth in the last place concerning the bond and the free doth also comprehend nobility and peasantry riches and poverty dignity and inferiority and in fine all that diversity of conditions which divideth men in the present world Though these qualities put a difference between them on earth they put none between them in Heaven nor in the mystical body of our LORD and Saviour into which GOD receiveth us all indifferently if He see the new man in us and doth equally exclude those in whom He finds it not The pomp of riches and honours and the glory of great birth doth recommend no one unto Him loâ—â—ness of extraction or of condition and the misery of poverty doth not 〈◊〉 Him to reject any He strips all men of that habit that makes up no part of them and judgeth of them only by that form of the old or new man which they bear within them Now having excluded all these things from the true constitution of piety he informs us for a conclusion wherein its whole force and vertue doth consist In this renovation of man there is saith he neither Greek nor Jew neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision neither Borbarian nor Seythian nor bond nor free but CHRIST is all and in all That which the Jews promise themselves in vain from their birth and they that Judaize from their circumcision and the Greeks from their Philosophy and Great ones from their dignity JESUS CHRIST alone doth give abundantly to all that are in Him He is all to them For in Him the Gentile finds Judaism and the nobility of Israel all they that are of faith Gal. â— being children of Abraham In Him the uncircumcised have the true circumcision which is not made with hands Barbarians Divine Philosophy and the Bourgeship of Heaven bond-men freedom of spirit poor men the treasures of eternity abject persons the glory of GOD and the excellency of His Kingdom And as He hath in Him an abundance of all sacred and salutiferous things so hath He them for all shutting not up the bosome of His grace against any who ever he be and conferring on all those of His communion universally righteousness wisdom sanctification and redemption and in a word all graces requisite for conducting them unto and putting them in the eternal possession of supreme beatitude Dear Brethren It 's this same blessed LORD the fountain and the fulness of all good that GOD presenteth to you at this time in His word and in His Sacrament Come ye all to Him seeing He is so bountifully offered unto you Let no one imagine either that he may do well enough without Him or that He may not enjoy Him He is both necessary for the greatest and accessible unto the least The dignity of Masters the abundance of riches the extraction of the noble the observances of the devout and such other advantages will be of no use at all to save those that have them so that JESUS CHRIST is no less necessary for them than if they had them not The low estate of servants the distressedness of the poor and the like other disadvantages do hinder no one from approaching and receiving of Him And as the brazen Serpent which sometime figured him in the desert was communicated indifferently unto all great and small poor and rich noble and ignoble and equally cured all those that looked on it and again as there was no remedy to be had against the biting of the fiery Serpents but that alone neither riches nor nobility nor science nor any other quality could cure any
of them So is it with our LORD JESUS He is equally both necessary and approachable for all He offers Himself to the great He disdaineth not the least He gives Himself to the one and to the others and saves them all indifferently Come ye thâ—n all unto Him what-ever in other respects your condition or extraction be Lift up your eyes on Him and behold Him stretched out for you upon Moses's pole crucified for your sins and wounded for your iniquities His flesh pierced with nails His blood spilt on the ground presenting to you in this scandalous but salutiferous infirmity the treasure of life and happiness Bring unto Him souls full of faith respect and love and prepare for the receiving of Him not your bodily mouth or stomach places what-ever superstition say unworthy to lodge Him but your hearts your minds your understandings and affections that is the nobler part of your being There it is that He takes pleasure there it is that He would dwell Accordingly it's there that He should operate and display His vertue unto the extinguishing of the old man and the engraving of His own image As the body is not the object of this operation of His so neither is it the seat of His presence nor the throne of His Majesty But you plainly see My Brethren that this incomparable favour He placeth on you in being willing to come and dwell in your hearts doth oblige you to put off His enemie the old man and clear your selves of all His pollutions eradicate the habitudes of all his vices smother all his desires and cleanse your whole life from all his deeds This old man is the disgrace of your nature the poison of your soul the death of your life the cause of your unhappiness It 's he that destroyed you that banish'd you out of Paradise that bereav'd you of your true delights that made you subject unto vanity and the wrath of GOD and the hatred of His Angels and the tyrannie of Devils Devest your selves of this accursed and funestous habit Give your selves no rest till you be rid of it Tell me not that he holds too fast that you feel him sticking in your inward parts and in your marrow Where eternal salvation is concerned there 〈…〉 is to be taken If you cannot rid your selves of him other 〈…〉 better to pluck out your very bowels than spare them and pe 〈…〉 the truth is we slatter our selves and that to keep this pleasing enemie with us we makes our selves believe he is part of us as if we could not be mâ—n without fouling our selves in the dung of his vices Be not afraid of hurting oâ— outraging your selves by driving him from you It 's but the pâ—st and poison of your nature as we said afore Your life will be not as you imagine incommodated but discharged more free and more happy by it thâ—n it was Besides after the victory over him which CHRIST hath won upon the Cross it ill becomes us to complain of the strength of this enemie All his strength consisteth only in our cowardice in our feebleness and effeminacy JESUS CHRIST hath taken from him all the true strength he had He hath crucified him and overthrown all the foundations of his tyrannie and of his life discovering to us the horridness thereof and opening us the way to liberty and the gate of the house of GOD. Instead of this wretched and fordid and shameful form of life let us put on that new man who now presents and gives Himself unto us Let us have Him night and day before our eyes as the only exemplar of our true nature Let us copy Him all out and faithfully engrave upon our souls all the features of His Divine and glorious form Let the image of this new Adam shine forth in our whole life in our souls and in our carriages Dear Brethren it must be acknowledged that hitherto we have greatly failed in this duty For what is more unlike than we and this JESUS CHRIST to whose image we should be conformed He is humble and meek and pâ—tient as a lamb We are fierce and proud and cholerick as Lions He did good to His enemies and we hardly spare our friends He lov'd the greatest strangers and we hate our neerest neighbours He was most pure and holy and we are polluted with the ordures of intemperance He sought only His Father's glory and the salvation of men We muse upon nothing but earth and consider only our own interests With this dissimilitude or to say better contrariety how can we pretend to have put on the new man which is created after the image of JESUS CHRIST And how can it be thought but that we rather bear the image of His enemie Yet you are not ignorant what depends upon it and do well know that it is not possible to have part on high in the glory of the new man except we put him on here below In the name of GOD Beloved Brethren and as your own salvation is dear to you travel on this great and necessary design Repair the negligences of the time pass'd and discharging for the future with good fidelity what the Apostle's word and the Sacrament of this mystical table do equally require of you put off the old man who hath destroyed you Put on the new man who hath sav'd you renewing you in the knowledge and unto the likeness of this sweet and merciful LORD who died and is risen again for you that after you have born on earth the image of His holiness and charity you may bear it eternally in the Heavens together with that of His glory and immortality Amen THE THIRTY NINTH SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP. III. VER XII XIII Verse XII Put on therefore as * Elected of Gods Saints c. chosen of GOD holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindness humility meekness patience XIII Bearing with one another and pardoning one another if one hath a quarrel against the other even as CHRIST pardoned you so also do ye DEAR Brethren That which the Sacrament of the LORD 's holy Supper requireth of us and which it effecteth and produceth in us when we duly receive it is the very thing which the Apostle commands us in this Text and unto which he formeth us by these words of his He willeth that we be merciful kind humble meek patient and facile to pardon one another And the end and effect of the Sacrament is to make us so For it communicateth the LORD JESUS CHRIST unto us not that the substance of his Body may enter into ours nor that his flesh may be touched by our mouths and stomacks a thing both prodigious and impossible and which is moreover unprofitable and superfluous but indeed to transforms us into his Image and render us like him that is humble meek patient kind and merciful as he is forming these divine vertues in us by the essicacy of his Death which is celebrated in this Mysterie Whereby you see a
notable difference between the heavenly food which we receive in this Sacrament and the earthly meat we daily take for whereas the latter is for the nourishing of our bodies chang'd into their nature the former on the contrary for the enlivening of our souls transform them into its own Thus since we have participated this Morning of this precious Sacrament we cannot better employ the present hour than in meditating these words of the Apostle which contain and represent one of its principal effects Consider them therefore my Brethren attentively And that we may discern whether or no we have truly communicated of the bread of Heaven let us examine whether it hath produced and formed in our hearts that humility and kindness and all those other vertues which the Apostle enjoyns us in this place and reckon we that without this neither the LORD's favour in inviting us unto his Table nor the heavenly food there presented us will benefit us at all and that remaining far from contributing to our salvation it will aggravate our condemnation according to the Apostles saying in another place That whoever cateth of the bread of the LORD and drinketh of his cup unworthily eateth and drinketh his own judgment S. Paul if you remember having in general exhorted the Colossians to mortifie the members of the old Man did particularly nominate and specifie to them some of his principal Vices as covetousness fornication malignity wrath and such others expresly injoyning them to put them away But because it is not enough to forbear evil there must also be a doing good and it sufficeth not that we abstain from vice if we do not exercise the actions of vertue This great Apostle having forbidden the lusts and fins of the old Man commands us first in general to put on the New as you heard a week since and then in the progress of his speech he pointeth at some of the principal parts of this new Man by name It is precisely at the Verses we have read that he begins this discourse Put on then saith he as elected of GOD Saints and Beloved bowels of mercy c. This exhortation he infers from the precedent Verses and proposeth us at the entrance a reason that obligeth us unto this pursuit taken from the honour GOD hath done us to choose us for his Saints and his Beloved Next he commands us compassion benignity humility meekness patience five Vertues that refer as you see to the manner after which we are to carry our selves towards our neighbours and particularly towards those of them that suffer evil or do us any Afterwards he pointeth out two acts of patience and benignity the one is a bearing with and the other the pardoning of one another and to incite us to them he adds the example our LORD and Saviour hath given us of them So we shall have three Points to treat of in this action if the LORD will First the quality of elected of GOD Saints and Beloved which the Apostle gives us at the entrance to sway us to our duty Secondly the five Vertues which he recommends unto us and the exercising of them in the matter of that forbearance and mutual forgiveness which we owe one another And finally in the third place the example of JESUS CHRIST which he sets before our eyes as an accomplisht pattern and a most effectual argument of our sanctification Dear Brethren hear meditate and duly put in practise that Divine Lesson which the LORD JESUS gave you this Morning in the Mysterie of his Table and now repeats by the mouth of his Apostle The Apostle deduceth it from what he had generally asserted in the precedent Verses namely that we have put on the new Man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him who created him Thence he now concludes Put on then bowels of mercy kindness humility meekness patience The consequence is evident For since we do put on the new Man in JESUS CHRIST it is clear that these Vertues being as they are members and parts of this new Man it 's a duty of ours to put them on and that in defect of them this new Nature which makes us Christians would remain imperfect in us Brethren Mark well this reasoning and learn by it how hugely they deceive themselves who pretend without these Vertues unto the name and inheritance of Christians imagining that they are not necessary for all but only meet for such as will be perfecter and more excellent than the commonalty of the faithful It 's a principle laid down in divers places by the Apostle and acknowledged by the whole Church that no man is in CHRIST except he be a new Creature And himself teacheth us here that whoever is a new Creature must put on compassion and those other Vertues he nameth in order sure it follows then that whosoever hath not put them on is not a new Creature nor by consequent a Christian If therefore you will be Christians if you will aspire to salvation which GOD gives to none but those that are so renounce that pernicious error and embrace the pursuit of all these Vertues with vigorous resolution travelling incessantly in it until you have vested your souls with their habitudes sentiments and affections and fill'd your whole life with their actions It 's the thing to which you are also evidently obliged by the dignity of being the Elect the Saints and the beloved of GOD which you are stated in and the Apostle in this place minds you of Put on saith he compassion kindness as elected of GOD Saints and beloved The Hebrew Grammarians have noted that the word as is used in that language two manner of ways sometimes to signifie the analogy and resemblance of one thing to another and this they call the as of likeness For instance when our Saviour saith Be wise as Scrpents and simple as Doves Sometimes to signifie that the subject we speak of hath not the resemblance but the reality of that particular which we attribute to it and this they term the as of verity As when S. Joh. 1.14 John saith of our LORD JESUS CHRIST We beheld his glory to wit a glory as of the only begotten of the Father His meâ—ning is not that JESUS CHRIST was like the only Son of God but that he was so indeed and in truth and that the glâ—â—y which he and his companions beheld in him was just such as the glory of GOD's true Son should be An as of the first kind compares one thing with another An as of the second compares a thing with its self The first is a comparative Particle as the Grammarians speak and the second a rational one The as here used by the Apostle is of the second kind not of the first For he doth not mean that we should addict our selves to those Vertues which he enjoyns us as do certain other persons elected of God but that we do addict our selves unto them because we have
LORD Let us also heedfully keep as committed to our trust that peace which JESUS CHRIST hath let us at His death and unto which He calleth us in one body by all His religious mysteries This saith the Apostle is the peace of GOD and he that keeps it may be sure to have GOD with him according to the promise which the same Apostle does else-where make us Live in peace saith he to us and the GOD of love and of peace shall be with you Object not those petty reasons which flesh and blood inspires Nothing must be heard against the Peace of GOD. The Apostle requires that it have the prime place in our hearts that it be the Governesse and Super-intendant of them Account then every thought that would disturb it as rebellious drive it out of your hearts and crush it as an infernal thought which cannot come but from the enemie since it is contrary to the peace of CHRIST Now here Dear Brethren I might make large complaints upon that rebelling whereof the most of us are guilty against this Peace of GOD which the Apostle sets up to rule in our hearts We have shaken off its yoke Flesh and blood and their interests have driven it out from among us It is so far from possessing the first place here that it hath scarce any at all and it seems that offended with our contempt it hath quitted the Church as well as the world and is altogether retired into Heaven For all among us is full of divisions and discord of suits of quarrels of little wars which we make upon one another with a scandalous eagernesse and obstinacy In the name of GOD let us recall Beloved Brethren into our communion this holy and blessed Peace of GOD unto which JESUS CHRIST and His Gospel with so much instance invite us and henceforth give it that place in our hearts which the Apostle assigneth it This is the best thanks we can render this great Saviour for the kindnesse He hath shewed us And if we deny Him that peace He demands of us for our Brethren I know not how we can ask of Him His for our selves or clear our selves of the fowlest ingratitude that ever was But I hope better things and do beseech the LORD that Himself would shed abroad His peace into our hearts and absolutely settle it in them that hereupon we may see all His blessings abound in the midst of us both those of the present life and those of the life to come Amen THE FORTY FIRST SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP. III. VER XVI Verse XVI Let the VVord of CHRIST dwell in you richly in all VVisdom ye teaching and admonishing one another by Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs with grace singing from your hearts unto the LORD DEAR Brethren Experience sheweth us that most things are sustained by usage of the same means that gave them being Thus in nature we see that nothing doth more confirm nor better conserve the habits of Arts and Sciences than those very actions and exercises which sormed them and that nothing doth better maintain Estates than the same prudence and valour that raised them Also as frequenting the converse of vertuous persons doth commonly enkincle in our hearts a love of and an aim at probity So do's it advance our constant persevering in the same Semblably in Religion the Word of GOD which produceth faith and holiness in our Souls is the very thing that conserves and perpetuates it there This Word is the power of GOD both to form the piety of His Elect at first and to keep it in them for ever after it is formed It is both the Parent and the Nurse and Gardienne of the new man It administreth both the seed of our Regeneration and the milk of our spiritual nutrition 'T is it that gives us spiritual life 't is it that conserves the same 'T is upon it that both the beginnings and the progressions both the production and the perseverance thereof do depend Wherefore the Holy Apostle having afore exhorted the Colossians unto Christian Sanctification and pointed at the principal pieces of it as mercy benignity patience charity and peace now to abridge this discourse and comprise all in few words does recommend to them the Word of GOD as the only means not only to maintain and conserve but even to perfit and compleat all the parts of their piety as a living and a plentiful spring whence they might draw both those vertues which he had nominated and all others that were necessary for the persecting of their Christianity There is no need saith he I should take the pains to reckon up particularly to you all the graces that ought to beam forth in your actions nor recommend one by one each of those perfections which the name and profession of JESUS CHRIST obligeth you unto You have a good Master near you that will teach you them and excellently form them in you I mean The word of CHRIST which I count it sufficient for me to recommend to you Hear it and practice it and let it be familiar with you To direct you to it is to say all You will want nothing if you hear and study and believe its intimations with that heedfulness and respect you owe it Let it dwell richly in you in all wisdom c. This is the advice Beloved Brethren that the Apostle heretofore gave the Colossians Advice so much the more necessary for us now because beside the negligence and disgust of our nature there are people found in this unhappy age who decry the Word of GOD and do all they can to make Christians suspect it and to wrest out of their hands this precious treasure of faithful Souls An attempt unheard of in all the first ages of the Church and not to be believ'd did not our eyes and senses testifie of it Therefore if you have any zeal for your Masters Glory upon whose wisdom all the blame that is laid upon His word doth evidently reflect if you have any charity for the edification of your Neighbours in fine if you have any affection for your own Salvation Christians hear with attention the Apostle's instruction Take home to you and keep with you this Heavenly Word which he would lodge and have to dwell there Defend these Divine springs of life which all our Fathers drank of against the injuriousness of these new Doctors who would by all means stop and fill them up doing the House of JESUS CHRIST such wrong as the Philistines sometime did the Family of Isaac Gen. 26.15 whose Wells they clos'd up and fill'd with earth to render them useless as the Sacred Story telleth us Now to guide you in this Meditation I will if please GOD consider in order the two parts that offer themselves in the Apostles Text First that wherein he recommends unto us the studying of the Word of GOD in these terms Let the Word of CHRIST dwell in you richly in all Wisdom Secondly that
wherein he represents to us some of the principal uses we ought to make of it Ye teaching saith he and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs singing from your heart unto the LORD All the terms he useth in the first part are worthy of not a little consideration First his calling the Word of GOD which was deliver'd by the Prophets and Apostles and is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament the Word of CHRIST The Word of CHRIST both because He is the subject and the end of it as also for that He is the Author of it who inspir'd it by His Spirit into His servants in the same manner as the Apostle elsewhere termeth all the afflictions of the new and of the ancient Church Hebr. 11. even to those which Moses and the Israelites suffered in Egypt the afflictions and reproach of CHRIST because CHRIST is both the cause for which the faithful are afflicted and also the Director of their afflictions who sends 'em them and governs them by His Providence Whence it clearly follows that He is GOD since all Scripture is by inspiration of GOD and that He did subsist in the time of the Patriarchs and of all the ancient Church against the impiety of those Hereticks who deny the Divinity of our LORD and pretend that He had no subsistence in Nature until He was born of the Blessed Virgin Further in the next place we are to weigh in what manner the Apostle recommends unto us the study of this Word He saith not Let it be among you let it be read let it be known of you but using a term of much more force and efficacy than all that amounts unto he willeth that this Word of CHRIST do dwell in us Dwelling you know is properly affirmed of men and doth import their making their abode in this or that place their living and being ordinarily and almost alwayes there R. Moses Ben. Maim in More Nevo Chim l. 1. c. 25. Hence it comes as the the Learnedst of the Jewish Doctors hath well observ'd that the Scripture useth this word figuratively to signifie the constant and setled abiding of one thing in another though the thing which is said to dwell in the other be not animate and that other which it is said to dwell in be not properly a place or a space that containeth it As when Job execrating the day of his birth wisheth among other things that clouds may dwell upon it meaning that that day be continually covered with clouds that it never be without that sable and sad veil and as he explains himself that darkness and the shadow of death do for ever pollute it Though to speak properly it cannot be said that clouds which are inanimate things do dwell any where and much less dwell in a day or upon a day which is not a place or comprehensive space but a part of time And it is also in this figurative way that we must take all those passages of Scripture in which GOD His dwelling somewhere is spoken of as when He protesteth in Exodus and elsewhere often Exod. 29.45 Lev. 26.12 1 Cor. 6.16 that He will dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel a particular which the Apostle applyeth also to the Church of the New Testament the meaning is that His Majesty and His Providence should alwayes be with the faithful and never forsake them though to speak properly the LORD who is an infinite Essence and filleth Heaven and Earth without being enclos'd by them dwelleth no where It 's in this figurative sense that the Apostle here doth use the word dwell and verily with much grace and emphasis when He saith Let the Word of CHRIST dwell in you His intention is that it be constantly and setledly in you that it be an inmate with your hearts and lips that it never leave them And as our Souls dwell in our Bodies to quicken them and to govern all their motions in like manner that this Divine Word be the soul of your hearts abiding day and night there to conduct and regulate all your actions that it be as well known and as familiar to you as the persons that dwell at your house and pass their whole time with you But the Apostle not content with so vivid an expression addeth yet another term to signifie more fully how studiously we ought to fill all the faculties of our Souls with this Word of the LORD Let it dwell in you saith he richly that is abundantly and as the French Bibles have it plentiously in such sort as there may be neither any part of its mysteries which is not found in you its promises its commands its assertions its prophecies its instructions being all entertained and not one of them excluded nor any part of your selves but this Divine gâ—est is admitted to lodge and abide in your understandings memories wills affections deportments that it appear in your whole life and shine forth there in such a manner as every one may perceive it It 's also hereunto that the last words which he addeth in all Wisdom do refer wherein he shews us the end and the immediate effect of this dwelling of the Word of GOD in us namely the rendring us wise unto salvation and the giving us all the wisdom that 's necessary to glorifie GOD and obtain eternal happiness He would have it dwell so abundantly in us that we might derive from it all the knowledge it gives both of the things we should believe and of things we should do to be sav'd For it 's this he usually meaneth by that Wisdom which he recommendeth unto us And because this knowledge hath many parts of which some are useless without the rest thence it comes that he saith not simply let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in Wisdom but in all Wisdom to shew us that it is not enough to study some part of this Heavenly knowledge This it may be might have been sufficient for men under the Old Testament who were but in a minority a Christian being come to mature and full age ought to know all the will of GOD all His counsel and all that admirable Wisdome which He hath revealed to us by His Son and unfolded in His Scriptures Thus you see Dear Brethren what the meaning is of this precept of the Apostle In it now we have a great many things to observe And first his procedure in that having begun discourse of our Sanctification and not inclining to enlarge upon it further for the present he remits the faithful for learning the rest not to the voice of the Church but to the Word of CHRIST an evident sign that it 's not the Church as those of Rome pretend but Divine Scripture which is supream directress of the faithful It is true that Pastors are serviceable unto their instruction but it is as Ministers only and not as Masters nor do they Minister of
dignity of them the union of Husband and Wife is the most excellent and that upon which the others do depend or if you regard their rise Man was an Husband before a Father or a Master GOD gave Adam a Wife before He gave him Children or Servants Now though in this prime union the Husband possesseth the first place yet the Apostle beginneth at the Wife and doth the like in the two following orders instructing Children before Fathers and Servants before Masters either for that the subjection to which Wives and Children and Servants are obliged is more difficult and displeasing to our nature than the love and government of Husbands and Fathers and Masters is or for that the subjection of the one is the foundation upon which the others good government doth depend We will handle at the present no more but the lesson which he gives to Wives and Husbands contained in the Text that you have heard reserving that which concerns Children and Fathers Servants and Masters to another time The Wife's lesson is for words short but for sense of great weight and large extent Wives saith the Apostle to them be subject to your own Husbands as is meet in the LORD In which words first he commands Married women that subjection which they owe to their own Husbands and next shews them the manner of that subjection as is meet in the LORD As for subjection it 's an order that GOD hath established generally in all things which constitute any kind of body whether it be in nature or in either Angelical or humane society that some should depend on others Thus you see in plants the other parts depend upon the root and in animals upon the heart and they all upon the soul that makes them live Among men there 's no estate without a superiour that governs and inferiours that are governed In the composition of the world it self as it is one total you know that earthly things depend upon the heavens it 's they that govern all the rest neither is there any union or any body or natural compacted frame in the whole universe all whose parts are entirely equal GOD whose wisdome is infinite hath so ordered it for the benefit of things themselves those that are feeble and imperfect finding their perfection in the conduct of such as are more perfect and the more perfect reaping commodity and dignity from the subjection of those that are less This induced the Apostle to say in another place that GOD is not a GOD of confusion or of disorder but of peace Whence followeth that to resist subjection when persons are called to it is a thwarting of His will and a perturbing of His order a mark also not of fortitude and courage but of folly and malignity to oppose it conform to that which experience taught the Heathen themselves to observe even that good men are easie to be governed and that those that most unwillingly endure a superior are alwaies such as have least worth It having therefore pleased GOD according to this general disposition of His wisdom that in marriage man should be the head it 's with good reason that the Apostle exhortâ—th married women to be subject That word compriseth all the duty of the condition to which GOD calleth them and therefore the Holy Spirit useth it almost alwaies in this matter as in the Epistle to the Ephesians Eph. 5.22 Tit. 2.5 where these self-same terms occur and in the Epistle to Titus That saith he they be discreet chaste keepers at home good subject to their own husbands 1 Pet. 3.1 and in the first Epistle of St. Peter Ye wives saith he be in subjection to your own husbands I know well the expression doth displease our nature which in the corruption that sin hath brought upon it hateth all even the most lawful subjection And perhaps it is upon this accont that the Apostles have so often recommended it to Christian women that they might instruct them to combat this sentiment of our depraved nature and submit themselves unto GOD's order But certainly setting aside the word and the disorders which our sin doth sow in every condition there is no harshness in this conjugal subjection there 's nothing in it but is sweet and beneficial and advantageous both to the wife her self and also the whole family For it 's an error to think that all subjection is hard and vexatious That which the body oweth to the soul and the members to the head that which the air and earth do render to the heavens hath nothing of constraint nothing shameful in it on the contrary 't is in it that the glory of the body and the members and the elements does consist Among the Angels themselves whose being is full of perfection and of glory there wanteth not some kind of subjection the inferior Angels having dependance upon their chiefs And in the terrestrial Paradise if sin had not banished us thence amid the delights and perfections of an happy state the wise would not have been exempt from being subject to her husband an evident sign that this subjection is not incompatible either with her felicity or with her glory and that all the bitterness now found in it comes not from the thing it self but from sin which hath altered it as it hath all the other parts of our life and nature For in reality what does this subjection signifie but a just and rational a sweet and amiable dependance of the wife upon the husband like that of the body upon its head or upon its soul Of this subjection the first part which is as the root and stock of all the rest is a sentiâ—ent and disposition of heart when the wife acknowledgeth in her soul that the husband GOD hath given her is her head and as the wise man saith her guide who in the due order of their life ought to have the first place and that she is inferior to him since she is his wife whatever advantage she hath other-waies above him be it in wealth or in nobility yea even in prudence and abilites of spirit If she hath once setled this holy and respectful perswasion in her heart she will no more find ought of harshness or difficulty in all that subjection which she oweth her husband This sentiment alone is sufficient to form her unto it and bow without any violence all the actions of her life that way And it 's this in my opinion Eph. 5.33 that the Apostle meaneth when he saith else where that the wise should reverence her husband 1 Pet. 3.6 Such was the sentiment of Sarah whom St. Peter proposeth unto Christian women for a pattern of their demeanor She called Abraham her Lord as that Apostle doth expresâ—y note declaring by such respectful language in what esteem she had her husband and that she held him for her superior for the guide and governour of her life After this reverence the wives subjection comprehendeth also
either by defect or excess do not render to their servants what is right as for instance those that overbear them with toil or strokes and they that quite contrary let them live idle and in debauches those that diet them ill or too well and lastly they that defraud them of their wages which is one of the most horrid and cruel acts of injustice that can be committed But besides right the Apostle would have Masters render also to their servants equity The word he makes use of in the original properly signifies a certain equality and correspondence that should appear between the offices of the one of them and the deportment of the other so that as the servant obeyeth in singleness of heart and in the fear of GOD the Master likewise do command holily and religiously and that as the one serveth with joy and respect in like manner the other do govern with mildness and affection In a word right comprehends all that refers to justice and equity all that pertains to Christian Charity and gentleness For the reducing of the faithful unto this holy moderation he orders them to remember that they also have a LORD in the Heavens His meaning is that the dominion they have over their servants is not absolute but dependant on GOD and by consequence such as ought to be regulated by His word and will If they have people beneath them they have a Master and a Soveraign above them who is the common LORD of them all and unto whom they are to give account of the treatment which their servants shall receive at their hands He says particularly that this LORD is in the Heavens to hold them the better to their duty by the consideration of so redoutable a Majesty who is not here beneath on earth the place of misery and vanity but on high in Heaven sitting on an eternal throne and from that glorious habitation of light and immortality doth consider and govern all things at His pleasure nothing coming to pass in His whole Empire but He plainly perceives and most justly judgeth of This great LORD is above all and there is neither Master nor Prince of such elevation among men but is under His feet He is superlatively holy just and good He loveth all His creatures and concerns Himself in the wrongs of the meanest and most contemptible ones hating nothing more than injustice and insolence outrage and cruelty possessing withal an infinite wisdome and an almighty power which none is able to resist Sure then consideration of the Empire and soveraign dominion that He hath over us is very proper to keep us within bounds and to restrain us from abusing the power He hath given us over persons subject to us nor could the Apostle put those that have servants in mind of any thing more pertinently that should oblige 'em to render them right and equity Thus we have explained his instructions It 's now for you Beloved Brethren to make your profit of them and to gather the fruits he offers you in them for the amendment of your lives and the consolation of your souls First Ye Christians whom the meanness of your birth or as they call it of your fortune hath reduc'd to the condition of serving rejoyce ye at the the honour done you by this great Minister of CHRIST who disdaineth not to address his holy voice unto you Set the care he hath of you against the contempt that men cast upon you Let his speaking to you comfort you and raise your hopes of the inheritance of GOD. Think well upon the report he makes you that the persons to whom ye are subject are not your Masters but in reference to the flesh Your servitude will not be eternal Nay it will not be very long nor extend further at most then to the end of that carnal life which ye lead upon the earth When this earthly tabernacle is once dissolved you shall enter into the glorious liberty of the children of GOD and then there will no more be any difference between you and your Masters For the present your better part is already in possession of this liberty namely that spirit which GOD hath formed in you after his own image and which maugre all the outrages of men will ever remain master of it self if you give it to JESUS CHRIST the great freer of mankind who doth faithfully and speedily enfranchise every one that receiveth and embraceth His truth Only take heed that ye abuse not His grace as if the spiritual liberty He hath gratify'd you with did discharge you from doing faithful service to your Masters after the flesh The more He hath illuminated you in the knowledge of Himself the more fidelity and love do you owe. For besides other reasons the fear of GOD and the will of JESUS CHRIST doth now oblige you to obey them so that the serving them makes up a part of your piety According to your acquitting your selves therein well or ill GOD will give you or deny you his inheritance But besides your own interest the glory also of the Gospel is concerned in the case For your faults defame our religion and make it believ'd to be a licentious discipline whereas your fidelity will produce us praise Every one will be constrained to acknowledge the sanctity of our doctrine when they shall see it reform the deportment even of man and maid-servants And this the Apostle doth expresly represent unto you elsewere Tit. 2.9 10. Let servants saith he be obedient to their masters pleasing them well in all things not answering again not purloyning but shewing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of GOD our Saviour in all things Object me not the ill humour and rigour of your Masters Remember the words of St. Peter 1 Pet. 2.18 who obligeth you to serve not only such as are good and equitable but also the froward Take their ill treatment for an occasion by which GOD would exercise and refine your faith Receive those strokes of the rod from His hand and not from theirs making them matter for your patience and a tryal of your faith Let the eye of JESUS CHRIST who looketh on you let His favour and benediction which always accompany conscionable sufferings let the hope of his inheritance for your Salary sweeten all the pains of your servitude How ingrateful soever men be to you your patience shall not be left unrewarded if ye persevere in it constantly for CHRIST'S sake And you Masters who so much desire to have faithful and obedient servants render ye to them that right and equity which the Apostle commands you Though your extraction or estates set you above them in humane society yet your nature is no other then theirs Ye are subject to the like infirmities with them One and the same death will consume you both nor will there be any difference between your dust and theirs You shall appear before the same Judge and the tribunal
at which you shall be examined will have no more complacency for you then for them That LORD whom you see over you is their Creatour and Redeemer as well as yours He hath put them under you but to govern them not to tyrannize over them to have care of them as his creatures and children not to tread them under foot as worms Remember He will treat you as ye shall have treated them You are his servants as they are yours or to say better they are your brethren and ye are not worthy to be so much as His Vassals You and they are one and the same flesh that came out of the earth and unto earth shall return but neither they nor you have any thing in common with GOD. He is in the Heavens and you crawl in the dirt He is the King of Glory and ye are but dust and ashes Yet such is His goodness that notwithstanding this infinite inequality He hath not disdained your nothingness He hath pardoned you your sins He hath washed you in the bloud of his Son He hath forgiven you all your debts He hath communicated to you His divine nature Respect His graces and have no less gentleness and goodness for your own flesh and bloud then this Soveraign LORD hath had for you who were His enemies With what face will you beg mercy of Him if ye be inexorable to your people How can you hope for the grace of your Master if you have none for your Servants I beseech you both have these holy thoughts night and day fore your eyes to the end you may faithfully discharge those mutual duties which the Apostle enjoyns you the one subjection and obedience the others justice and equity both of you living in such an holy correspondence as that the loyalty the respect the humility the submission and the diligence of servants may go in conjunction with the gentleness the gravity the liberality and benevolence of Masters If ye so do you will be happy the families where you live together in this manner will become the wonder of the earth and the honour of the Church The blessing of Heaven will fall continually on them and besides the contentment and repose which this kind of life will give you abundantly for the present it will also bring you hereafter into the possession of the heavenly inheritance But Dear Brethren it is not enough that those Masters and Servants to whom St. Paul particularly speaks do make their profit of his instructions We all have in them what to learn of whatever quality and condition we be For since he would have servants render so exact and so frank an obedience to their Masters according to the flesh judge ye what kind of obedience we owe to that Highest LORD whom we all have in Heaven The Master according to the flesh gave not his servant the being he hath and if he redeemed him he redeemed but his flesh and that at the price of a sum of money only Ours did make us and it 's by His liberality alone that we hold all the being life and motion that we have Nor hath He only created us He hath also redeemed the whole of us our soul and body flesh and spirit not with silver and gold which are corruptible things but with His own precious bloud having voluntarily sacrific'd His life to preserve us from death and give us an happy immortality Never Master had so much right to command His servants as He hath in reference to us Let us obey Him then in all things without reservation and consecrate this whole life of ours to His service the whole whereof we have once and again received from His grace Neither is it with this LORD as with Masters according to the flesh These oftentimes command things unjust or unhonest things contrary to our salvation which we cannot do without destroying our selves He commands us nothing but what is just what is honest and reasonable what is worthy both of Himself and of us Wherefore the most abject bond-servant owes his Master but a limited obedience whereas we owe ours such as is absolute and infinite His yoke is easie and His burthen light He demands no other thing of us but that we love Him and our brethren for His sake that we live honestly and holily that is be happy O ingrateful and execrable creatures that we are if we deny a Master to whom we owe so much so just and so reasonable so beneficial and so blessed an obedience Again judge ye Faithful if the bond-servant ought to obey his Master in singleness of heart with courage and affection as the Apostle says with what ardour promtitude and devotion should we serve ours who is not only allmighty and all-wise but also goodness love clemency and beneficence it self Then as for the bond-man though he ought to serve his Master at all times and in every place yet his Master sees him not always whereas we are ever under the eye of ours He hath a full view of us sees us within and without nor can we hide our selves in any place where He is not present We cannot speak a word nor form the least thought in the secret of our hearts but He 's a witness of it knows the whole assoon as our selves Now sure there is no slave so sottish and shameless but the Master's eye will keep in order and compel unto obedience It such a one be idle or exorbitant he is not so but in the other's absence Since then we have ours alway present what remaineth but that we be never idle that we employ all our time in His service bearing respect to His Divine eye that looketh on us and is over us both day and night Again even when the serving of a man is in question the Apostle would have the slave not serve to please the man meerly so great an integrity and probity doth he require in all our performances Judge then how much more holy and how much more pure from all interest that obedience should be which we render to the LORD JESUS GOD blessed for ever Undoubtedly they that serve Him to please men to gain their esteem and acquire a reputation for sanctity among them or to draw thence any other profit they I say beside their being ridiculous and vain do commit also an huge and an inexcusable sacriledge profaning the Name of GOD and the sacred acts of religion Matt. 6.2 and most unrighteously abusing them for worldly ends Such are those hypocrites that fast and pray and hear the word of GOD and celebrate His Sacraments and give alms to be seen and had in honour that in short serve not GOD but to please men They saith CHRIST have their wages They are paid they have nothing more to look for at GOD's hands For such vain and deceitful service they shall have no other reward but that vain and deceitful breath which they have coveted and sottishly preferred to the glory of
GOD. Let us eschew at once these peoples miscarriage and their misery and according to the Apostle's prudent and divine injunction whatever we do whether the action be addressed unto GOD or respect our neighbour do it all as unto GOD and not as unto man Let us seek for neither other spectator nor other remunerator than Him alone Be we content with his approbation and with the testimony of our own consciences whatever censure men do pass upon us being assured as St. Paul here adds that if we serve the LORD if it be Him we obey if it be to His will and glory that we consecrate and direct the course of our lives we shall infallibly receive from His bountiful hand the reward of the inheritance and on the contrary that they that do unjustly and despising His truth are injurious either to His Majesty or His creatures shall receive what they have unjustly done without respect of persons Looking for so great and dreadful a judgement at which the least of our actions whether they be good or evil shall be examined in presence of the assembly of the whole universe what manner of persons 2 Pet. 3.11 I beseech you ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness Let us search our hearts and make inspection into all the parts of our life let us cleanse our souls and bodies from all filthiness and impurity and timely judge our selves wounding and cutting off with the righteous sword of a lively and serious repentance all the evil we find in our selves and living henceforth justly soberly and religiously without scandal before men and with all good conscience in the sight of GOD that we may next week present our selves at His holy Table to our edification and comfort and appear at the last day before His sacred and dreadful tribunal without confusion to the glory of JESUS CHRIST who hath redeemed us and our own eternal salvation Amen THE FORTY SIXTH SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP. IV. VER II III IV. Verse II. Persevere in Prayer watching in it with thanksgiving III. Praying together also for us that GOD do open us the door of the word to publish the mysterie of CHRIST for which also I am prisoner IV. That I may manifest it as I ought to speak DEAR Brethren Prayer is the Christian's sacrifice the holiest exercise of his devotion his consolation in troubles his stay in weaknesses the principal weapon he useth in combats his oracle in doubts and perplexities his safety in perils the sweetning of his bitternesses the balm of his wounds his help in adversity the support and ornament of his prosperity and in a word the key of the treasury of GOD which opens it to him and puts in his hand all the good things that are necessary for the one and the other life this of the earth and that of heaven Hence it is that the holy Apostles give it us in charge with so much affection and diligence in all those divine instructions of theirs which are come to our hands Not to seek further off for instances of it you see how St. Paul being upon the point to conclude this excellent Epistle to the Colossians after he had informed their faith and regulated their manners and explained their duty both in general towards all men and towards certain sorts of men in particular within the societies in which they live sets an exhortation to prayer at the head of some other documents which he addeth before he makes an end Persevere in prayer saith he watching therein with thanksgiving And in truth it 's with a great deal of reason that he reminds us of so important and so necessary a duty For since GOD is the Father of lights from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift how can we without His favour and benediction either acquire or conserve the faculties and habits of this divine life unto which the holy Apostle would form us together with the vertues that relate to it Since then prayer hath the promise of obtaining from His liberality whatsoever it shall ask of him in faith it 's upon good ground that the Apostle wills the Colossians to address themselves continually to GOD by prayer for the meet and faithful discharging of those duties he prescribed them After this he further adds two advertisements more the one of conversing wisely with those that are without and the other to season their speech the principal instrument of conversation with the salt of grace Whereupon he concludes this Epistle with the praises of Tychicus and Onesimus who were the bearers of it and with salutations he makes them on the behalf of some then with him adjoyning his own to the Colossians themselves and likewise to the faithful of Laodicea This is the summ of this last Chapter of his letter as you shall here more particularly by the will of GOD in the following actions At present we purpose His grace assisting to entertain you with what he saith of prayer in those three Verses we have read and to do it in order we will treat one after another of the two points that offer themselves in the same first of prayer in general Persevere in prayer watching therein with thanksgiving Secondly of their praying particularly and expresly for him which he requireth of them Praying together also for us c. Man being in some sort secretly conscious of his own weakness and knowing how little succour second causes can afford him for the conservation and the happiness of his life is in a manner naturally inclin'd to call unto his aid by prayer that veiled and invisible Deity whose Providence he scenteth in every thing though he perceiveth not its form All religions in the world do give clear and very express testimony to this truth there never having been any known but that had its prayers and letanies addressed to GOD and greatest idolaters and the deplorablest wicked men are wont to cry out when a danger surpriseth them O LORD help me O GOD deliver me lifting up their eyes at that time to Heaven as if nature in that case did its self compell them to do homage to that Majesty which they outrage or blaspheme through the rest of their lives But what Nature doth too too imperfectly teach us we learn plainly and fully from the Scripture where we have both express commands to call on GOD and promises of favourable audience and examples of all holy men under the one and the other Covenant whose orisons the Holy Spirit hath taken care to keep up for us in these sacred registers of the Church St. Paul presupposing therefore here that the Faithful he wrote to had this exercise of prayer familiar among them according to that common principle of nature and of Scripture does only regulate them in the manner of performing it advising them to persevere in it to watch in it and to accompany it with thanksgiving As for perseverance in prayer 't is not without reason that
he expresly gives it us in charge For though the duty be not only very just but even most necessary yet we are of our selves so cold and sluggish and so indisposed to the performance of it that we all need the heavenly voice of this Minister of GOD to excite us unto it Presuming that we have the things we need in our own power or shall find them in the sufficiency of nature and not considering how they all depend upon the hands of GOD we remit the assiduous invocating of him and make not use of prayer but on extraordinary occasions when humane succour faileth us as the manner is in tragedies where the Deity is not brought in but at some difficulties which no created power or prudence is able to clear On the other hand we are so proudly delicate and tender that if we are not heard as soon as we have spoken we flye off and are ready to say as that King of Israel once did Why should I wait on the LORD any longer 2 Kings 6.33 For the curing our selves of so pernicious an humour and that we may persevere in prayer according to the Apostle's advice let us consider in the first place the continual need we have of GOD's assistance For since it is in Him that we have being life and motion since it is He who sendeth poverty and maketh rich who sets up and puts down who dispenceth health and sickness who bringeth to the grave and reduceth thence who governs the hearts of men and the elements of nature Since it is He again who beginneth who polisheth and perfecteth all the work of grace and crowneth it with glory who effectually produceth in us both the will and the deed of his good pleasure it is evident that without the help of His holy and most happy hand we can never come to possess any good either in our own persons or in our families either in the State or in the Church nor be preserved and secured or freed and saved from any evil of any kind whatever You cannot refuse belief of this great truth without imputing falshood at once to the Scriptures of GOD and the depositions of Nature both which do harmoniously report and averr it to us on all hands Yet if thou credit it why do you not consider what it necessarily inferrs namely that having continual need of GOD's assistance you are by your own interest obliged to implore it continually And that as you cannot pass a day without His favourable succour so neither should you spend a day without calling on His Name Look I beseech you upon poor beggars with what earnestness with what indefatigable perseverance they spend whole daies nay their whole life a petitioning of us It 's a sense of their necessity that gives them this constancy and inspires this courage into them Dear Brethren we have infinitely more need of the succours of GOD than these poor people have of ours Why are not we at least as earnest as constant and assiduous in beseeching Him as they are in asking alms of us As for them our flintiness is such that for the most part they reap little or no fruit of their perseverance in praying of us whereas the LORD according to the riches of His infinite goodness and power never sends away ashamed such as persevere in prayer to Him He hath so promised He doth daily so perform and the Church's experience in all ages assures us of the truth of the word He hath given us in that behalf I confess He doth not alwaies presently give us what we crave But if we be constant if undismayed at His first denials we press Him with a vigorous and an ardent faith there 's nothing but perseverance will draw it from His bounty Gen. 32.25 26. Hos 12.4 in the end It was thus that Jacob obtained the blessing he desired He wrestled stoutly with GOD all night and had power over Him he wept and begged favour and constantly holding fast his LORD I will not let thee go said he to Him untill thou bless me The Canaanitish woman in the Gospel took the same course and was heard in like manner She bore our Saviour's first put-offs without dismay and those hard words It is not good to cast the childrens bread to dogs Matt. 15.26 astonish'd her not She receiv'd this great blow without giving over and her holy importunity came off victorious having drawn from our LORD's mouth that sweet and desirable answer O woman great is thy faith Be it unto thee as thou wilt Imitate this violence It offends not GOD. It appeaseth Him The LORD Himself commands it us expresly and teacheth us that we ought to pray alwaies and not faint by the parable of that poor widow whose importunity overcame the obdurateness of the unjust Judge and drew that from him in the end which neither fear of GOD nor respect of men could sway him to This Judge was wicked and cruel yet the perseverance of a woman conquered him How much rather shall ours bear away what we desire of GOD who is goodness and clemency its self As for that Judge it was his nature and the disposition of his heart that rendred him cruel and inexorable But if the LORD grant not our first requests 't is not that He means indeed to be sparing of His benefits towards us To say true He is more willing to give them than we are to receive them This in total is but a mysterious act of His wisdome and by such delays He would exercise our faith enflame our desires and make tryal of our constancy He hides himself that we might seek Him He retires that we might press after Him and holds back His blessing that we might pluck it from Him His favours are no boons that should be faintly desired We do not know the value of them if we do not esteem them worthy to be asked with instancy The favours we sue for at the Courts and Palaces of men are verily but terrene things things of little value and of a short and uncertain duration Yet what do we not do to obtain them We besiege their gates in the morning early we abide there till late at night we suffer their put-offs and disdains and oftentimes even their reproaches and the outrages of their domesticks They drive us from them they call us troublesome people they accuse our hardiness of impudence or insolency We swallow all these affronts and after all forbear not to come on again inventing if it be possible some new submission to soften them so great and pressing is our desire of those things which we petition them for Christians do ye not blush at having more passion for things of the earth then for things of Heaven Are you not ashamed to sollicite the justice or the favour of men with more earnestness then the grace of GOD To have more patience and perseverance in seeking to win the heart of a worm of the
your children and servants in the same devotion That there may not be a person within your doors but understands and exerciseth himself in this divine liturgie of all Christians Then take heed to acquit your selves in this duty as you ought that is to perform it with fervency attention vigilancy and perseverance to wash your hands in innocence to purifie your souls and bodies for the presenting them unto this supreme and most holy Divinity without offending His sight Ye know what the Prophets say of those whose hands are full of blood even that they are an abomination to the LORD that He is weary to bear them that He abhorreth their devotions and disdaineth their vain oblations that He hides His face from them when they dare stretch out their polluted hands unto Him and will not hear their prayers though they should multiply them to the utmost Wash you saith he make you clean Isa 1.11 seq take away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgement relieve the oppressed do right to the orphan debate the ease of the widow This Christians is the incense wherewith the LORD would have you persume your offerings of prayer that they may be pleasing to Him Hearken to His voice if you desire He should hear yours Obey the word of His Gospel if you would have Him receive the words of your supplications We complain that we have long prayed in vain But let us not disparage His veracity rather confess we have not prayed as we ought that is with such faith such repentance and amendment of life as necessarily should have accompanied these sacrifices Henceforth then for it is yet time turn ye unto Him with all your heart and lift up pure hands without wrath and doubting and vigorously persevere in this holy exercise with assurance that He will hear you But Dear Brethren among other things which you shall crave of GOD pray Him also for us that He would open us the door of the word to the end we may declare the mysterie of CHRIST and manifest it to you as we ought For if Paul a chosen vessel made and formed immediately by the hand of Heaven consecrated by CHRIST's own voice and fill'd with the treasures of His Spirit in all abundance did notwithstanding require the assistance of the Colossians prayers in the administration of this charge how much more is the succour of yours necessary for us for us I say who in comparison of him are but children We conjure you therefore both by the glory of our common Master and by the interest you have in His work that you never fail to remember us in your sacrifices of prayer but alwaies beseech this supreme LORD to perfect His strength in our weakness to give us a mouth fit to declare His mysteries and to purifie our lips as He sometime did His Prophets and untye our tongue as He did Moses's and fill our souls with that Divine fire which heretofore did in a moment form His Apostles clearing up our minds unto a distinct knowledge of His Gospel wisdom inflaming our hearts with the zeal of His house and cleansing them from the filth of all humane passions Now if the LORD inclined by the ardency and constancy of your prayers do vouchsafe to conferr upon us some small portion of His grace look ye on it as a thing that pertains to you a thing given to your prayer and for your edification Use it and make advantage of it Let it not be said that this great mysterie of CHRIST was declared unto you in vain and that it being manifested to you as it ought ye received it not as you should GOD keep you from such an unhappiness For how weak soever our preaching be it is notwithstanding sufficient My Brethren to render every one inexcusable who shall not have received it with faith neither your ears nor consciences being able to deny but that we declare unto you all the counsel of GOD in His Son JESUS CHRIST Let us all in common beseech Him to deal so graciously with the one and the others of us that all may rightly discharge their duty we speak unto you ye hearken unto us as is meet and that being knit together by a firm and indissoluble Charity we may prosperously advance His work in all sanctity innocence patience and constancy to the glory of His Name the edification of those among whom we live and our own salvation Amen THE FORTY SEVENTH SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP. IV. VER V VI. Verse V. Walk wisely towards those that are without redeeming the time VI. Let your speech be alwaies with grace throughly tempered with salt that ye may koow how ye ought to answer every one DEAR Brethren while the Church of CHRIST is here on earth it 's condition is to sojourn for the most part amid people of another profession For though the merit of our LORD and Saviour be sufficient to bring all mankind unto the communion of GOD and though his salvation be tender'd by His own will and order to all those that have His Gospel preached to them yet so horrible is the obduration and blindness of our nature that the most of men abide out of the covenant of GOD wickedly and foolishly rejecting the great honour He offers them Divers whole Nations there are that irritated with the same fury have utterly shut the door against JESUS CHRIST refusing to suffer any of His servants within their coasts And even of those in which He hath some reception it is commonly but a little part that doth acknowledge Him the greatest and most considerable in the world persecuting Him or deriding His mysteries Not so much as private families but the Gospel sometimes makes this partition in The same roof often covereth persons of different religions 'T is a division which JESUS CHRIST hath raised in the world not that He positively willed and design'd it or that such is the nature of His doctrine neither of those doth properly tend but to unite all things and recombine Earth with Heaven in an eternal peace but it grows from the naughty and the cruel disposition of men who despise His counsel and disdain their own salvation Once by this means it com's to pass that the Kingdom of CHRIST remains as it were inlock'd with forcin States and His faithful ones mingled among persons of a contrary religion with whom this commune habitation doth of necessity oblige them to have much commerce This is the reason why the Apostle having regulated afore most of the duties of our life do's here in a few words point out in what manner we should converse with these aliens as to faith among whom we are dispersed And this advertisement was at that time the more necessary for that Christians in those beginnings which were as the nativity of the Church saw themselves environed on all sides with Jews and Pagans the two religions which then took
the will of the LORD is and elsewhere again he commandeth us to prove it The necessity of the other point Rom. 12.2 our LORD JESUS CHRIST sheweth us when He saith in the Gospel according to St. Matthew Not every one that saith unto me LORD LORD shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.21 I acknowledge that while the beleever is here below there want many degrees both in his knowledge of the will of GOD and in the obedience he renders Him of that ultimate and supreme perfection which he shall one day attain unto in Heaven 1 Cor. 13.12 according to the Apostle's assertion in 1 Epist to the Corinthians that now we see through a glass darkly and know but in part but then we shall see face to face and know as we are known Yet this hinders not but that setting this comparison aside that measure of faith and holiness which the faithful do at present attain unto may be termed a perfection and compleatness because it is without hypocrisie reaching to internals and externals and doth include all the parts of true piety and chastity not one left out And it 's in this sense that the truly faithful are oft-times in Scripture called perfect and compleat to wit in reference to the state and measure of the present life for a distinguishing of them not only from prophane and brutish men who take up no part of the will of GOD at all but also from hypocrites and carnal Christians who consider but a part thereof halting between two and are throughly and absolutely neither in CHRIST nor of the world Epaphras had reason to desire this perfection for his Colossians since that no one without it can inherit everlasting life And they who dogmatize that it is not universally necessary for the obtaining of salvation and that it is a matter of counsel as they call it not of command they I say are grievously mistaken and do by this pernicious errour open a door of licence unto wicked men and furnish them with pillows to sleep upon in mortal security For our parts dear Brethren follow we the prayer of Epaphras and take good heed we never count that thing superfluous or unnecessary which he so instantly beg'd of GOD for his flock and sheep And knowing that they shall have no part in Heaven whose righteousness doth not exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and that JESUS CHRIST will receive in thither none but them that have done the will of GOD His Father let us apply our selves with all our might â—o know it and fulfil it Let us give our selves no rest untill by prayers and tears and by continual labour and exercise in the Gospel we have attained to be perfect and compleat in all the will of GOD. Yet it is not enough to attain hereto we must abide and stand firm in it as the Apostle here says persevere constantly to our last breath in this brave and blessed undertaking neither the menaces nor the caresses of the world neither the Sophisms of seducers nor the scandals of false brethren nor the weaknesses of our own flesh ever prevailing over us to make us vary For you know that the crown of salvation is for them alone that persevere It 's thus that Epaphras strove to obtain of GOD by his ardent and assiduous prayers that the Colossians might abide perfect and compleat in all the will of GOD. But because the Apostle knew how much it concerned this people to be firmly perswaded of the affection of their Pastor that he might assure them fully of it he alledgeth to them the authority of his own testimony For saith he I bear him witness that he hath a great zeal that is a very ardent affection for you and for them of Laodicea and of Hierapolis These were two Cities of Phrygia neighbouring on Colosse where the LORD JESUS had Churches that served Him in the faith of His Gospel And that of Laodicea is one of the seven to whom He caused to be written by St. John those excellent Epistles which are read in the first Chapters of his Apocalypse You see what care the Apostle takes to set Epaphras right in the Spirit of his flock Whence you may judge how execrable is the rage or envy of those who quite contrary to this holy man do by their detractions and ill offices endeavour to alienate or slacken the inclination of Churches towards their Pastors and in so doing render their ministry unprofitable to them But to proceed After the salutation of Epaphras the Apostle presents them that of Luke and Demas Luke the beloved Physitian saluteth you saith he and also Demas It 's the constant opinion from all antiquity that the first of these two is the same St. Luke that wrote the third of our Gospels and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles two of the most excellent pieces that we have in the Divine writings of the New Testament And verily besides the name of Luke his own history as seems to me leads us to it For himself relateth that he embarqued with St. Paul when he was carried prisoner into Italy and that he came with him to Rome as you may see in the two last Chapters of the Acts where he describes this voyage Therefore being there with the Apostle there is all the probability in the World that he 's the person St. Paul speaks of in this place it being not found that mention is made in Scripture of any other faithful man of that name He calls him Physician because of his former profession as you see that St. Matthew is sometimes termed a Publican because he e'rwhile was so before his conversion But that same heavenly call that had changed Matthew from a Publican into an Apostle and afore-time of a keeper of sheep made David a Pastor of Nations wrought a like miracle in St. Luke and of a Physician to the body made him a Physician of souls His two books shew us how able he was in this Divine art and as often as you read them at home or hear them publickly here where because of their excellency they are both of them explained to you make account that they are a quantity of wholsome medicines presented you to be applied to your souls as you have need I well know that there are some modern Expositors who referr what the Apostle saith here unto another Luke but they produce no valuable reason For whereas they alledge that the Apostle would have adorned this person with some more illustrious Elogie if he had spoken of Luke the Evangelist this is extremely feeble Is it not a very glorious qualifying of him to call him his well-beloved It 's a great honour to have the love of so holy an Apostle and an assured testimony of piety and vertue Withal it is not alwaies necessary to accompany the names of illustrious persons
with all the Elogies they merit Surely the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews naming Timothy whose praise and great advantages in the work of the ministry and in all vertue every one sufficiently knows calls him simply his brother Timothy The other on whose behalf he salutes the Colossians is Demas In the Epistle to Philemon written at the same time with this and in which he maketh mention or most of the persons here named he placeth Demas with Mark and Aristarchus and St. Luke among his fellow-labourers whence it appears that he was a Minister of the word of GOD of the order of those who served for helpers to the Apostles and are stiled Evangelists But after he had for a space ran well after he had appeared with praise among the lights of the Church alas he lost in the end this fair crown of glory St. Paul who vouchsafed to give his name such an honourable rank in two places of his Epistles in a third tells this lamentable story Demas saith he hath forsaken me having lov'd this present world 2 Tim. 4.10 and is departed unto Thessalonica From this doleful example let us all learn Dear Brethren and particularly such of us as GOD hath called to the holy Ministry to stand on our guard and to mortifie in our selves worldly lusts as avarice the love of life and pleasures ambition and such like passions which ruined Demas And if the Dragon cast down some of the stars that shined in the heaven of our Churches if the flesh and the earth the food and the fulness of Egypt and the false grandeurs of Chaldea cause them unworthily to quit the design and the hopes of mystical Canaan let us not be scandalized at it We are not better then the Apostles If all the light of their wisdom and miracles could not keep Demas from becoming bankrupt of the truth we ought not to think it strange if there happen to be among us some whom belly and vanity do precipitate into the like fault notwithstanding the clearness and evidence of our holy doctrine But it is time to pass into the second part of our Text in which the Apostle orders the Colossians three things first to salute those of Laodicea on his behalf secondly to communicate this Epistle of his to them and thirdly to advertise Archippus of his duty Salute saith he the brethren that is the Christians which are at Laodicea and Nymphas and the Church which is in his house This Nymphas dwelt either in the City of Laodicea it self or in the Countrey near it as some in my opinion do without necessity suspect The Apostle names him in particular because doubtless he was one of the most considerable persons of the flock at Laodicea and St. Paul's affirming that he had a Church in his house doth sufficiently testifie the zeal of his piety This Church was not a place in his house where the Assemblies for religious exercises were for the Scripture never useth the word Church in this sense which is now common among Christians but it is his houshold and the persons whereof it consisted who all made profession of Christianity with him and were confirmed and edified therein by his instructions and good examples Whence appears the vanity of the pretension of those at Rome who acknowledge no Church to be but which braves it in the world and carries with it the pomp of multitude and prosperity The Church of JESUS CHRIST is found where ever He is known and served and adored according to His Gospel within the enclosure of the walls of an house in the very caverns of mountains and coverts of the wilderness whither the Holy Spirit expresly foretelleth us that the Spouse of the Lamb shall be sometimes constrained to retire The second order which the Apostle gives the Colossians is considerable When this Epistle saith he hath been read among you cause that it be also read in the Church of the Laodiceans and read ye also the Epistle from Laodicea First his willing that this Epistle of his be publickly read in the assemblies of these two Churches doth shew us that the Scriptures of GOD were given us to the end all the people of CHRIST Clerks and Laicks small and great should hear and read them and not to be put into the hands of one certain sort of persons only as if this treasure did belong to none but them And hence appears the abuse of those who read the Scriptures to their people but in a language they understand not which is as bad yea in my opinion worse then if they read them not at all For not to read them is simply to bereave the people of the profit they might make of them whereas to read them in an unknown tongue is not only to deprive them of their edification but moreover to mock them and no less offend GOD by perverting His word in such a manner from its due tâ—e and end What shall I say of their outrage who accuse these Divine books of ambiguity of obscurity of seeming contradictions and errours Who say that the reading of them is dangerous and more apt to corrupt and embroil the faithful then to instruct or edifie them O holy Apostle why didst thou put so dangerous a book into our hands a book full of thorns and void of fruit Why didst thou order them to read it in their assembly to impart it unto neighbouring Churches and enjoyn them to read it also Why didst thou not fear the infecting the Spirits of thine innocent Disciples and the insnaring of them in some heresie by the darkness of thy riddles or the sowing of some disorder in their hearts by the ambiguity of thine expressions Dear Brethren the Apostle answers that his Gospel is clear that it is not covered but to unstable spirits and such as are engaged in some evil passion that this Epistle is not any seed of errour but a remedy against seduction a vessel full not of poysons but of preservatives and antidotes But I perceive what the matter is The Scriptures seem to these Gentlemen dangerous because saying nothing of their Pope nor of their Mass nor of the worship of their Saints and Images nor of their Purgatory and such other points nay saying many things which are evidently contrary unto them they easily induce those that read them with respect to beleeve that these doctrines have been invented by men and were never taught by JESUS CHRIST and His Apostles This book troubles them because they find not their reckoning in it it is obscure because what they love do's not there appear It is ambiguous because it pronounceth nothing clearly or expresly for the opinions which they are resolved never to forsake Furthermore this imparting of St. Paul's Epistle unto the Laodiceans unto which the Colossians were obliged by his order shews us that there ought to be an holy and charitable commerce between the Churches of JESUS CHRIST in reference to spiritual things
the Scripture calleth simply the one and the other of these two persons man because of their advantage and their holding the first and principal rank each of them in his kind For the same reason again it gives the one and the other of these two persons the name Adam because they are each of them the Adam that is to say the Father and author of his order the one of sin and death the other of righteousness and life But to distinguish them it cals the one 1 Cor. 15.47 the first man and the first Adam the other the second man and the last Adam The former him who having corrupted himself by his disobedience hath also infected us leaving us vice and the curse for an inheritance The latter Him who having repaired our sault by His obedience hath given us righteousness sanctity and immortality Adam is stiled the first man and JESUS CHRIST the second for that the one's corrupting preceded the other's repairing and reforming Adam first defiled and poisoned his nature by sin and then JESUS CHRIST manifested His full of grace and truth It 's upon the same consideration that Adam is called the old man and JESUS CHRIST then ne Taking in withal that the first Adam shall be destroyed whereas the second remains for ever For its the custome of Scripture to call that old which is ready to be done away and that new which is firm and lasting But because each of these two men doth communicate to those that are his the form and condition of his nature according to that Scripture-principle that what is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit thence it comes that St. Paul giving the effect the name of its cause by a figure ordinary in all languages calls that form and condition of nature which each of us receives from the first Adam by carnal birth the old man and likewise that form and condition which the faithful receive from JESUS CHRIST by spiritual regeneration the new man This is that he means here when he speaks of putting off the old man and putting on the new and else where in a passage like to this the truth saith he which we have learnt in JESVS is that we put off the old man concerning the former conversation who is corrupted by the lusts that seduce him and that we put on the new man created after GOD in righteousness and true holiness Now as to that form of nature which we all receive from the first Adam by our carnal birth every one well knoweth what it is and in what it consisteth For the Scripture declareth and all mens experience also teacheth that the nature of the children of Adam is extremely corrupt and vicious smitten in the understanding with an horrible ignorance and blindness and full of errors and false and pernicious maxims infected in the will with violent and enraged love of a man's self of the flesh and of the earth with bruitish affections and passions This nature is nothing but pride ambition injustice avarice luxury envy hatred malignity imprudence furiousness cruelty and inhumanity Such are all Adam's progeny while without the communion of JESUS CHRIST There are no others born upon the earth and whatever difference is between men in regard of climate and colour and external appearance of life the blood they come of imprinteth this wretched form upon them all in common which seizing them at their birth groweth up and is augmented with age and exercise rooting its self in them and thrusting forth the habitudes of divers sins which in the end render them unsufferable unto GOD and their neighbours And if the providence of Heaven for the conservation of mankind did not represss the cursed secondity of this evil the disorder and the waste it makes would be much greater than it is and proceed to infinite It is then this mass of corruption this Hydra of vices that the Apostle calls the old man because it is the production of Adam our old and first stock in every one of us Hence it is easie to understand on the other hand what the new man is that is to say the form which JESUS CHRIST the principle of the second creation doth put upon each of them that are His. For it 's directly contrary to that of the first Adam and comprehends in it all graces and vertues in opposition to the other's vices as faith wisdom piety charity justice sweetness honesty temperance and in one word a sanctity like that of JESUS CHRIST the image of which it is also called It 's this that St. Paul here stiles the new man because it is the work and likewise the pourtraict of the LORD JESUS our new Adam And he describes it thus himself in this place For as to the old man he only names it without saying any more of it But as for the new he occasionally explains us the nature of it saying that it is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created it In which few words he teacheth us first that it is created in us that is produced by the operation of a Divine power by reason whereof we are called the workmanship and the creatures of GOD and the Apostle saith else-where Eph. 2. â—â— that we were created in JESVS CHRIST whereas the production of the old man in us is not a creation but a natural operation For as it is indeed in our power to kill a man but there is none save GOD alone that can raise him up again so it was easie for Adam to destroy himself and us all with him but to recover and re-establish us belongs to GOD alone Adam could corrupt and deform our nature But neither he nor any of his 〈…〉 to repair or reform it into a new man This appertaineth to none but the Creator It 's the work of a Divine power Then again the Apostle shews us here who it is that createth this new man in us saying that it 's the same person after whose image it is created For it is clear that the new man is after the image of JESUS CHRIST It is then JESUS CHRIST that createth it in us Vain man give not the glory to your pretended free-will It appertaineth wholly to the LORD And we may truly say of this second generation what the Psalmist singeth of the first that it is the LORD the eternal word of the Father Psal 100. â— who hath made us and not we our selves But the Apostle in saying that this new man is renewed doth teach us a further very considerable thing to wit that this piece of our regeneration or the production of the new man is polish'd and perfected by little and little in us the Spirit of CHRIST working upon it during the whole course of our life on earth and adorning this its own creature by divers reiterated operations with the graces and spiritual beauties it ought to have until it attain to the
utmost and highest point of its perfection in the Heavens when there shall be seen a compleat and Angelical sanctity to shine forth in it with glory and blessed immortality In fine the Apostle doth also briefly touch at both the manner after which and the pattern by which this renovation is wrought in us For the manner of it he saith That this new man is renewed in knowledge thereby shewing that JESUS CHRIST for the communicating of this new Nature which is in Him as in its source unto us doth give us and day by day augment the knowledge of his truth in us for as ignorance and error is the first and principal deformity of the old Man and the cause of all the rest so on the contrary Wisdom and Knowledge is the first and principal lineament of the new Man whereby are formed in us all the other vertues in which it doth consist as Love of GOD and Charity towards men and all the other holy habitudes which depend upon them it being manifest that we love none but the things we know and proportionably to the knowledge we have of them Wherefore the LORD begins the admirable work of his grace hereat And we have an excellent image of this method of his in the first Creation of the World where Moses expresly observes that the first thing GOD created by his Word was Light which is the symbol of Knowledge as darkness is of Ignorance This the Apostle plainly pointeth at elsewhere GOD saith he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness 2 Cor. 4 6. hath shined into our hearts This light of Knowledge once lighted up in our souls by the Spirit of the LORD doth presently expel Vices out of them and shewing us the holy and glorious face of GOD in JESUS CHRIST transforms us into his likeness as saith the same Apostle 1 Cor. 3.18 We all beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD with open face are transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the LORD It 's this he meaneth in the Text when he saith of the new Man that it is renewed after the image of him who created it that is of JESUS CHRIST our LORD For he properly is the Pattern by which that new Nature we are made partakers of is formed He is both the Author and Exemplar of it and 't is for this that it is called by his Name to wit the new Man Therefore the Apostle elsewhere to express the end and effect of his Ministry toward the Galatians Gal. 4.19 saith That he travelleth in birth until CHRIST be formed in them He had no other design but to revest them with the new Man Certainly then the new Man is nothing else but JESUS CHRIST formed in us that is nothing else but the form of this holy and blessed LORD engraven and imprinted on us by the seal of his Word and Spirit which is precisely the thing he here calls his Image If you know JESUS CHRIST you cannot be ignorant what this his form and image is JESUS CHRIST is the Saint of Saints a man full of all purity righteousness charity patience constancy and truth and in sum of all the lights of holiness Sure then his form and image can be no other than a genuine representation of these Divine qualities a soul in which appears a goodness an humility an honesty I say not equal for it is not possible to arrive unto so high a perfection but at least semblable and proportionate to his And this is that which S. Paul elsewhere compriseth expresly in two words saying That the new man is created after GOD in righteousness and true holiness Thus you see Brethren what that Old and what this new Man is which the Apostle speaks of in this place The one is the image of the first Adam and the other of the second He commandeth us to put off the old Man with his Deeds and to put on the New a manner of speaking no less elegant than familiar in Scripture which is wont to say of all the things that are found in this or that subject that it is clothed with them As when the Prophets say that GOD is clothed with strength with Glory and with Magnificence that he is cloathed with Justice that he will cloath his Priests with salvation and their enemies with shame that he will cloath the Heavens with darkness and so in a multitude of other places where it is evident that the term Cloathing is taken figuratively to express simply the putting of any thing in such or such a Subject whether it be internally or externally Whence it follows that to put off on the contrary is simply to quit a thing which one had and rid himself of it Thus to put off the old Man is nothing else but to rid our selves of his Vices and of his corruptness to pluck up for instance out of our hearts his covetousness and his ambition and the habitudes of his other sins But the Apostle expresly addeth that we put him off with his deeds that is to say that we not only pluck up out of our hearts the habits of Vices which are as it were the roots and stocks of it but that also we cut off from our lives all the actions whether interior as desires and lustings or exterior as other sins which proceed from the same and are as so many fruits of this accursed plant For to speak properly the old man is one thing and the act of sin that issues from it another The one is the corruptness it self of our nature the other is the effect it produceth The one is as the Plant and the other as its Fruit. For example cruelty or covetousness is one of the very members of the old Man murder or stealing ing are acts of it The Apostle would have us put off the one and the other that neither Vice nor its acts might have any place in us In like manner to put on the new Man is on the other hand to deck and adorn our understanding our will our affections and all the parts of our life with those excellent vertues in which the new man consisteth as we have said afore to endeavour it studiously and take no rest till we have them formed in us and our whole nature be covered and enriched with them But though these two words to put off and to put on be in this passage figuratively taken yet do they shew us notwithstanding against the gross and sensless error of some that as well the old Man as the New do both of them signifie the form and disposition not the substance and very essence of our nature For when a thing is utterly destroyed we do not say it puts off what it had but that it is perisheth And when the substance of a thing is produced altogether of new we say not that it 's cloathed but created so as the Apostle here commanding us to