nothing in his house but what was great great Servants and great Vessels of Silver calceos etiam majores Shoes also too great for him And from this fantastick humor he took his name and was called SENECIO GRANDIO Senecio the Great Yet for all this he added not one hairs breadth unto his stature Beloved if we would measure our selves aright we should find that that is not Greatness which the World calls by that name outward state and pomp and stateliness to cast men on their knees with a frown or to raise an army with a stamp of the foot We are the less for these and to think our selves greater for these is to run upon the same error which Senecio Grandio did Again it is but a phansie and a vain one to think there is most ease and most content in worldly greatness or that we sleep best when our pillow is highest Alass when our affrighted thoughts shall awake each other and our conscience put forth her sting when those sins shall rise up against us by which we have climb'd to this pitch all the honor of the World will not give us ease Will a legg or a cap think you still this noyse Will the obsequious cringe and loud applause of the multitude drown the clamour of our Conscience which like an awaked Lion will roar loud against us No Beloved not all the pomp not all the pleasure of the world not the merry Harp and the Lute and the Timbrel no not a triumph will be able to slumber the tempest within us no more then the distressed weather-beaten Mariner can becalm a boysterous Sea with his whistle or a wish We read of a Souldier who being to sleep upon a hollow piece of steel complained his pillow was hard but stuffing it with chaff he thought it much the lighter Just so it fares with ambitious men When they have run on in the wayes of Honor when they have attained their ends they shall find that their pillow is steel still only they filled it with more chaff then other men Besides Honor doth not make him greater that hath it but him that gives it For if it proceed from virtue bonum nostrum non est sed alienum it is not our virtue but his that honors us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sign saith the Philosopher of another mans good esteem and opinion which opinion is raised not from the person but his virtue And therefore the Apostles counsel is In giving honor go one before another as if he were truly honorable not who receives honor but who gives it and all precedency were in this And indeed Honor is if not a virtue yet a strong argument of it in him who bowes himself in a just veneration of Goodness Scias ipsum abundare virtutibus qui alienas sic amat saith Pliny You may be sure he is full of virtue himself who loves to see the splendor of it in other men Lastly Greatness and Honor adds nothing to Virtue Nothing accrews to a Good man when he rises and comes on in the world nothing is defaulked from him when he falls and decayes The Steed is not the better for his strappings nor doth the Instrument yield sweeter musick for its carved head or for the ribbon which is tyed unto it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Virtue in the open ayre naked destitute and afflicted is of as fair a presence as when she sits under a canopy of state David in the wilderness as honorable as on his throne Job on the dunghil as in all his wealth and Joseph in the stocks as when he was a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house When God speaks by his Prophet he tells us that his wayes are not our wayes nor our wayes his and here where Christ speaketh to his Disciples by his answer it appears that his judgment and theirs were not the same When God sent Samuel to anoint David Jesse brought forth Elias and Samuel said Surely this is the Lords annointed But God corrected his error and bade him not look upon his countenance nor the height of his stature for God seeth not as man seeth Beloved if with the Disciples here we have a thought that Christs Kingdome is a temporal Kingdome God hath not chosen that thought If we look upon the countenance of men and think them the greatest who are of highest stature and in honor and dignities are taller then their fellows by the head and shoulders we are deceived and the God of this world hath blinded our eyes that this Pygmay in Christs Kingdome appears to us as big as a Colossus But there is a little one a child behind an humble and low Convert And whosoever shall humble himself as this little child the same shall be the greatest in the kingdome of heaven To conclude all Let us seek for Honor but seek for it in its own coasts On earth it is nothing or it signifieth nothing and most commonly it is given to them who signifie as little Therefore let us look up to the highest Heavens where the seat of Honor is Let him who put us into the Vineyard give us our wages and let the King of glory bestow honor upon us Let us make him alone our Spectator him alone our Judge and He will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing Rom. 2. 6 7. seek for glory and honor and immortality eternal life Which God grant us all through Christ our Saviour The Eighth SERMON 1 COR. XIII 7. hopeth all things AT the very reading of this Chapter the true Christian cannot but think himself in a kind of Paradise and conceive he sees Charity growing up like a tree of Life spreading its branches full and hanging down the head inviting him to gather such fruit from every one of them as may be pleasant to his taste and abound to his account At this time I have laid hold but on one of them but such an one as will give you a taste of all the rest For in true Hope there is Long-suffering and Kindness there is Patience and Meekness there is no Envy no Malice no Pride no Suspition And if we take down this and digest it the rest will be sweet unto our taste and pleasant as honey to our mouth The tree is a tree of Life and every branch of it is beautiful and glorious and the fruit thereof excellent and comely to them that Isa 4. 2. are escaped of Israel It is truly said that Charity doth virtually contein within her self all other Graces St. Paul calls it the greatest virtue and the complement and fulfilling of the Law If there be Liberality Charity in largeth the heart if Temperance she binds the appetite if Chastity she makes the Eunuch for the kingdome of heaven if Patience she works it if Resolution she makes us valiant Charity saith one is as the Philosophers stone that turns all into Gold It
it can be no other Spirit that guideth him but such a one as was sent from Rome in a cloak-bag If we cry down Idolatry and commit Sacriledge we mistake the Spirit Nor can he lead us to both for he that pulls down Idols will not also beat down his own Temple to the ground If we receive the Sacrament and make it a seal to shut-up Treason we have prophaned the Spirits seal and made as St. Augustine speaks that which was a sacrament of piety a bond of iniquity If we look and fix our eyes upon the earth and like that bad Actor cry Oh Heavens if we run to Honor and Riches and whatsoever our boundless lusts have set up with a GLORIA PATRI Glory to God in our mouth it is not the Spirit but a Legion of Devils that speaks in us for both acknowledge Jesus but withal ask What have we to do with thee If the World be the hinge we move upon the Spirit is not in our company If the Wheel be not lift up from the earth you may be sure no Cherubin moveth with it Therefore to conclude let us as Job speaks be afraid of all our works and actions and if we find the impress of the World or Flesh upon them cast them from us as refuse silver and adulterate coyn Never think that when our walk is toward the Tents of Kedar the Spirit will bring us within the Curtains of Solomon Never think that a pretense will make him our Companion when in our walk we grieve resist and quench him or when we are the Devils Captives that the Spirit of God leads us He loaths Uncleanness but he did not lead those brethren in evil to the murther of the Shechemites He looks for the performance of a Vow but he did not lead Absalom to Hebron He will take a gift in his Temple but not to enrich a Pharisee He accepts what is given to the poor but not that Judas should put it in his purse O what an easie matter is it for flesh and bloud to call-in the Spirit to countenance it and when it follows its own natural swinge to draw it along with it to carry it with more ease and applause to its end How soon can we perswade our selves that is lawful which we would have done Let us not deceive our selves Let not Honor or Riches or Pleasure or Power deceive us For be the pretense what it will if our eye be on the World the Spirit leads us not for he leads us out of the World even into the wilderness to be sequestred from the World to be alone from the World by abstinence and meditation and denyal of our selves to fight against it And this is the victory which overcometh the world even our Faith Which is the substance the expectation not of Riches or Honor or Pleasure but of things hoped for the evidence of things which are not seen nor can be seen in this world but shall be seen and enjoyed in the world to come The Five and Twentieth SERMON PART III. MATTH IV. 1. Then was Jesus led-up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil WE pass from the circumstance of Place to that of Time Then was Jesus led to be tempted Then when Jesus was baptized Then when the heavens were opened unto him and when the Spirit had descended like a Dove and lighted upon him Then when his Commission was sealed as it were by a voice from heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Then when he enters upon his office he enters upon temptation Then when he was washed did the Devil attempt to soyl him Then when the heavens were opened unto him was hell opened against him when the good Spirit descended was the evil spirit at hand and in whom God was well pleased in him was the Devil ill pleased and so made forward against him By this we may learn that as God hath his time so hath the Devil his As God hath his NUNC his Now of showring down graces from above so hath the Devil his TUNC his Then of drying them up NUNC TEMPUS ACCEPTABILE Now is the acceptable time Now is the day of salvation saith God and NUNC TEMPUS DESTRUCTIONIS Now is the expected time Now is the day of destruction saith the Devil Time in it self is nothing Per se non intelligitur nisi per actus humanos All the knowledge we have of it is by those acts which are done in it When we say This was now done this then this will be done we have exprest as much as we can of Time God works in time and the Devil hath his time Then when God hath wrought upon his creature the Devil who is a great observer of Time takes that TUNC that Then to destroy his work You see our Saviour comes no sooner out of the river but the Devil sets upon him And as he used the Lord so will he the Servant Christus speculum Christiani Christ is as a Looking-glass in which every Christian may view himself behold himself in his altitudes and in his depressions in the favour of God and in the danger of the enemy take notice how God opens heaven upon him and how the Devil even then opens his mouth to destroy him consider that when God is most loving the enemy is most raging that he is never more in danger then when he is most safe that he shall find his adversary most fierce when God is his strength Nunc animis opus est Now we have most need of courage and resolution of care and circumspection when the Devil comes and finds nothing in us but all that was his washed off by Repentance and Baptism When we wallow in our own bloud when we are taken in the Devils snare circumspection is too late for we cannot properly be said to be in danger of the enemy when we are taken but when we have openly renounced him and bid defiance to him by the profession of a new life then we stand as it were upon the top and brink of the pit a mark for the Devil to shoot at that so our spirits may fail us and we fall back again into the bottom of it When the danger is past then is it nearest and when we are out of the pit then are we most ready to fall back again No wise Captain is ever so confident of peace so emboldened with the flight of his enemy as not to prepare for war which is at his doors when it makes no noyse Here we may discover the enemies policy Primordia boni pulsat tentat rudimenta virtutum sancta in ipso ortu festinat exstinguere He beats upon the very beginning of Goodness he assayes the very rudiments and principles of Piety and makes it his master-piece then to extinguish the light of Grace when it is first kindled in our hearts This he practised upon Christ And in the same manner he
as their argument It is plain we must not understand here Moses 's Heaven the Ayr for the Firmament but St. Pauls third Heaven This is the City of the great King the City of the living God the Psal 48. 2. Hebr. 12. 22. Hebr 1 10. 1 Tim. 6 16. Psal 103. 19. heavenly Jerusalem a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God Here our Father dwelleth in light inaccessible unconceivable Here he keepeth his glorious residence and here he hath prepared his throne Here he keepeth his glorious residence and here he hath prepared his throne Here thousand thousands minister unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stand Dan. 7. 9. before him Here he still sheweth the brightness of his countenance and to all eternity communicateth himself to all his blessed Angels and Saints Beloved the consideration of this stately Palace of the King of Kings should fill our hearts with humility and devotion and make us put-up our petitions at the throne of Grace with all reverence and adoration Is our Father Psal 104. 1. Gen. 18. 27. in heaven clothed with honor and majesty Then let us who are but dust and ashes vile earth and miserable sinners when we make our approaches to this great and dreadful God not be rude and rash and inconsiderate vainly multiplying Dan. 9 4. words before him without knowledge and using empty and heartless repetitions but let us first recollect our thoughts compose our affections bring our minds into a heavenly frame take to our selves words fit to Hos 14. 2. express the desires of our souls and then let us worship and bow down and Psal 95. 6. kneel before the Lord our Maker and let us pour forth our prayers into the bosome of our heavenly Father our Tongue all the whiâ—e speaking nothing but what the Heart enditeth This counsel the Preacher giveth us Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before Eccl. 5. 2. God For God is in heaven and thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few Again is our Father in heaven Then our heart may be glad and our Psal 16. 9 10. glory rejoyce and our flesh also rest in hope God will not leave us in the grave nor suffer us to live for ever under corruption but in due time we shall be brought out of that bonaage into a glorious liberty and be admitted into those Rom. 8. 21 happy mansions in our Fathers house He will have his children like unto John 14. 2 3. himself Therefore we may be assured that as now he guideth us with his counsel Psal 73. 25. so he will afterwards receive us into glory Our elder Brother who is gone before and hath by his ascension opened the gate of Heaven and prepared a place for us will come again at the end of the world and awake us John 14. 3. Psal 17. 15. Mat. 25. 21 23. 1 John 3. 2. 1 Cor. 15. 49. out of our beds of dâ—st and receive us unto himself that we may enter into the joy of our Lord for ever behold his face see him as he is be satisfied with his likeness and as we have born the image of the earthy so bear the image of the heavenly And now Beloved having this hope in us let us purifie our 1 John 3. 3. selves even as our Father which is in heaven is pure While we remain here below and pass through this valley of Tears let us ever and anon lift up our Psal 84. 6. Psal 121. 1. Isa 57. 15. eyes unto the hills even to that high and holy place wherein dwelleth that high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity yet not boldly to gaze and busily to pry within the veil For Heaven is too high and bright an object for our Eye to discern and discover for our Tongue to discourse and dispute of But SURSUM CORDA Let us look up to heaven that we may learn not to mind earthly things but to set our affections on those things which are above to Col. 3. 2. have our conversation in heaven and our heart there where our everlasting Phil. 3. 20. Matth. 6. 21. treasure is Let us still wish and long and breathe and pant to mount that holy hill and often with the Spirit and the Bride say Come Come Lord Rev. 22. 17 20 Jesus come quickly and sigh devoutly with the Psalmist When shall we come Psal 42. 2. and appear before God And in the mean time let us sweeten and lighten those many tribulations we must pass through with the sober and holy contemplation Acts 14. 22. of that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory of the fulness of joy 2 Cor. 4. 17. that is in Gods presence and of those pleasures for evermore that are at the Psal 16. 11. right hand of OUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN To whom with the Son and the Holy Ghost be all honor and glory now and ever Amen The Two and Thirtieth SERMON PART IV. MATTH VI. 9. Hallowed be thy Name WE have past the Preface or Frontis-piece and must now take a view of the Building the Petitions themselves We find a needless difference raised concerning the number of them Some have made seven Petitions and have compared them to the seven Stars in heaven to the seven golden Candlesticks to the seven Planets to the river Nilus which as Seneca tells us per septena ostia in mare effunditur ex his quodcunque elegeris mare est is divided into seven streams and every stream is an Ocean Others have fitted them to the seven Gifts of the Spirit Those we will not call with A. Gellius nugalia or with Seneca ineptias toyes and trifles but we may truly say Aliquid habent ingenii nihil cordis Some shew of wit we may perhaps descry in them but not any great savor or relish of sense and judgment What perfection there can be in one number more than in another or what mystery in the number of seven I leave it to their inquiry who have time and leasure perscrutari interrogare latebras numerorum as the Father speaks to search and dive into the secrets of Numbers who by their art and skill can digg the ayr and find precious metal there where we of duller apprehension can find no such treasure I confess men of great wits have thus delighted themselves numeros ad unquem excutere to sift and winnow Numbers but all the memorial of their labor was but chaff The number of Fourty for Christ after his Resurrection staid so long upon earth they have divided into four Denaries and those four they have paralleld with the four parts of the World into which the sound of the Gospel should go The number of Ten they have consecrated in the Law and the number of Seven in the holy Ghost Perfecta lex in Denario numero
sense which men use to take it As the Poet tells us when he speaks of Rivers and Mountains that men called them thus or thus but the Gods had other names for them The Gold of this Kingdome is the Religiousness and Obedience of the Saints the precious Stones are Truth and Sanctity In mundo tantò quisque melior quantò pecuniosior In the world every man is esteemed so good as he is rich Like a fruitless tree tanti est in pretio quantum lignum ejus in trunco he is valued only by his bulk and trunk But in this Kingdome the only Riches is Obedience Men may have the riches of the world and yet be poor But this Kingdome makes Poverty it self riches Disgrace honor Death life Here we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation here we are begotten to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away but is reserved in the heavens for us till that time that we shall receive the end of our faith the salvation of our souls Having now made the comparison the choice is easie And a great folly it were to prefer the World to the Church In the world the Laws are mutable here everlasting In the world they have tongues many times to speak but not hands to strike here they both thunder and lighten there Power beats the ear here it pierceth the very heart The Kingdoms of the world are bounded by place and time this is unconfinable More scope in the Church than in the world The Riches of the one are fading and transitory of the other everlasting And of this just and mighty and large and rich and everlasting Kingdome we cannot but say ADVENIAT Let it come I need make no further discovery of this Kingdome For who knows not what that Kingdome is where the King is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both God and Man Where the Subjects are of the earth earthy and yet born to an Angelical estate and having their conversation in heaven perigrini deorsum cives sursum strangers where they live and fellow-citizens with the Saints Phil. 3. 10. Where the King speaks to the eye by his wonders and to the ear by his word and yet leads and guides his people like sheep by a powerful but invisible hand A Kingdome which is not of this world but yet in this world raised up and built upon flesh and bloud upon frail and mortal men begun John 18. 36. here but to be made perfect and consummate in the world to come In a word where the King shall deliver up his kingdome and yet remain 1 Cor. 15. 34. still a King Take the Mapp of the whole world and if you find no such Kingdome no such parts no such subjects no such government then look up and lift up your heads let not your contemplations grovel on the earth for the Kingdome of heaven is at hand This is the sum of that we formerly delivered concerning the Object of this Petition We pass now to the Petition it self to the Verb ADVENIAT Let it come Which breaths it self forth in an earnest desire to draw this Kingdome nearer Whether you take it for the Gospel which is the manifestation of Gods will or for the receiving of the Gospel which is the performing of his will Whether you take it for the Kingdome of Grace here or for the Kingdome of Glory hereafter ADVENIAT Let it come That is the language of every true Christian Where it is not yet come let it come it cannot come soon enough And when it is come let it come nearer When it is within us let it be establisht there and when it is establisht let it be eternized there Remove all obstacles supply all helps ut adveniat that it may come that thy Kingdome of Grace may entitle us to thy Kingdome of Glory A Petition fitted indeed to the times wherein it was first prescribed but most necessary for all Christians to the worlds end when time shall be no more Though the Angels had sounded forth their GLORIA IN EXCELSIS Glory to God in the highest good will towards men though Christ were come in the flesh yet this Kingdome of the Gospel was not yet come but was rather in voto than in ministerio rather desired than known by its several offices and ministeries The Law and the Prophets saith our Saviour were until John since that time the Kingdome of Luke 16. 16. God is preached and every man presseth unto it By this preaching cannot be meant the kingdome present first because when Christ sends his Disciples Matth. 10. forth he commands them to preach The kingdome of heaven is at hand Secondly he tells us that From the time of John the Baptist the kingdome Matth. 11. of heaven suffereth violence not that the Kingdome of heaven was then invaded and taken but because from that time men did burn with ardent affection and desires to have it come not able to bear the burthen of expectation beholding it at hand yet thinking it not near enough As in those good things we desire omnia solemus faciliùs perpeti quà m moram we can endure any thing better than delay And that this is the true meaning of those words may appear by our Saviours elogie of John the Baptist That among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John Matth. 11. 11. the Baptist notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdome of heaven is greater than he MINOR the least not Angel in heaven as St. Augustine nor LEAST that is of fewer years to wit Christ himself as Rupertus nor LEAST that is he that is most humble as others will have it but the least in the Church of Christ the least and meanest subject in the Kingdome of the Gospel is greater than John Where Christ puts a manifest Antithesis and opposition between the Law and the Gospel and between those persons which are under the Law and those which obey the Gospel which had it been then in force our Saviour had made John Baptist greater than himself Most plain it is the Law was yet in force the Ceremonies not disannulled Christ himself observed them The old Tabernacle was yet standing because our high Priest was not yet entered into the true Sanctuary And therefore in crepusculo Evangelii in this dawning of the Gospel when the Sun of righteousness had not yet climb'd up to the proper Horizon of the Church in this interstitium this interposition of Jesus preaching who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzene calls him placed in the middle between the Law and the Gospel this Petition was most fit and opportune fitting the time and opportune for the persons who would be disciples of this Kingdome ADVENIAT REGNUM TUUM Thy Kingdome is at hand and let it come And as it fits the time so is it necessary in respect of the Gospel it self which though it be commentum
Piety and that then they reign as Saints when they wash their feet in the bloud of their brethren that call every opinion that is not theirs Blasphemy and that are not so hot against a foul pollution in the heart as against an error in the understanding nor so angry with a crying sin as with a supposed mistake If these be Saints then certainly our Saviour is not so meek as he hath told us or we must believe what is past understanding that our meek Saviour as he once had Judas so may now have these men of Belial for his Disciples If these men be Saints why may not Lucifer recover his place What a Saint with fire and sword with axes and hammers with fire devouring before him and a tempest round about him like the bottomless Pit sending forth smoke as out of a fornace smoke out of which come Locusts to devoure the earth a covetous malicious deceitful treacherous adulterous murderous Saint Such Saints peradventure may walk on earth or under that name but sure they will never follow the Lamb nor appear in those new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness Let us I say not be like these For they say and do not they say and do the contrary What profit what honour will it be to be such an Angel as appears here in light and is reserv'd to be kept in chains of darkness for ever such a Saint as shall be turned into a Feind Let us rather take upon us the yoke of Christ who was meek and bear the burdens of these contentious men as St. Paul exhorts Let us not assault one another with lyes in the defense of Truth nor break the bonds of Charity in the behalf of Faith nor fly asunder in defense of the Corner-stone nor be shaken in pieces to secure the Rock If they separate themselves let not us withdraw our affection from them Si velint fratres si nolint fratres If they will let them be our brethren and if they will not yet let them be our brethren And in these times of hurry and noise in the midst of so many divisions and sects let us look upon every man with an eye of Charity and Meekness or as Erasmus speaks with an Evangelical eye and leaving all bitterness and rancor behind us let us walk on in a constant course of piety and holy contention with our selves not answering reviling with reviling but beating down every imagination which is contrary to Meekness doing that upon Sin in our selves which we cannot do upon Errour in others When they spurn at our Meekness and defie our silence and rebuke our innocence let us be meek and silent and innocent still When they will kill us be as silent as they who have been dead long ago that so we may possess our souls when they are ready to take them from us and be like the people of Nazianzum who by their peaceable behaviour in times of great dissention gained a name and title and were called The Ark of Noah because by this part of spiritual Wisdom they escaped that deluge and inundation of fury which had wel-near overflowed and swallowed up all the Christian world In the last place let us level our Wrath and Indignation against Sin but spare the Sinner since our selves so often do call upon God to spare us And if he did not spare us where should the righteous where should the best Saints appear It is one mark of Antichrist that he sits as God in the 2 Thess 3. 4. Temple of God shewing himself that he is God thundring out his excommunications canonizing damning absolving condemning whom he please Thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to overlook our brother thus to look down upon our brethren and dart a heavy censure at them for that which we should shed a tear is so far to follow Antichrist as to take the seat and place of God nay to put him out of his seat and to do his office nay to do that which he will not do to sentence him to death whom God for ought we know hath chosen to eternal life Nay though it doth not make a man the Antichrist yet it makes him so much Antichrist as to place him in a flat opposition to Christ himself For he is not such an angry Bishop such a proud High Priest as cannot be touched with the feeling of our sins but one who being meek and tempted himself is able and willing to compassionate those that are tempted Did we feel the burden of our brethrens sins as he did Did we apprehend the wrath of God as he did we should rather offer up prayers and supplications with Psal 69. 26. strong cryings and tears for them then tell of the misery of these wounded ones that is speak vauntingly and preach thereof as the word signifieth then let our Anger loose against them and beat upon them with all our storms I confess prudent and discreet Reprehension is as a gracious and seasonable rain but rash and inconsiderate Anger as a tempest a hurricane to waste a soul and carry all before it and dig up Piety by the root As it is truly said that most men speak against Riches not out of hatred but love unto them so do many against Sin not out of hatred to sin but love of themselves which may be as great a sin as that which they are so loud against Signum putant bonae conscientiae aliis maledicere They count it a sign of a good conscience in themselves to be angry with and speak evil of others They think themselves good if they can say others are evil Whereas true Righteousness speaks alwaies in meekness and compassion but that which is false and counterfeit breaths forth nothing but wrath reviling and indignation O beloved what soloecismes what contradictions may we observe in the School and Church of Christ men raging against Sin and yet raising a Kingdom from it in themselves loathing it as poyson and yet drinking it down as water angry with it and loving it whipping it with scorpions and yet binding it about them as a garment Jacob's sons declaiming against Uncleanness with the instruments of cruelty in their hands Absalom bewailing the Injustice of the times when himself was a Traytor Judas angry with Mary's ointment when he would have it sold and put into his bag What a pageant is it to see Sacriledge beating down Idolatry Covetousness whipping of Idleness Prophaneness pleading for the Sabbath Gluttony belching out its fumes against Drunkenness Perjury loud against Swearing and Hypocrisie riding in triumph and casting out its fire and brimstone on all And what is a groan or a sigh from a Murderer What is a Satyre from a Sodomite or a Libel from a man of Belial If Hell hath any musick this is it and the Devil danceth after it after the groans and sighs and prayers and zeal of a Pharisee And do they then well to be angry Yes they say
and Preferments in the Kingdome of Christ Let us not fit Religion to our carnal desires but lay them down at the foot of Religion Make not Christianity to lacquey it after the World but let Christianity swallow up the World in victory Let us clip the wing of our Ambition and the more beware of it because it carries with it the shape and shew of Virtue For as we are told in Philosophy In habentibus symbolum facilior transmutatio amongst the Elements those two which have a quality common to both are easiliest changed one into the other so above all Vices we are most apt to fall into those which have some symbolizing quality some face and countenance of Goodness which are better drest and better clothed and bespeak us in the name of Virtue it self like a strumpet in a matrons stool Let us shun this as a most dangerous rock against which many a vessel of burden after a prosperous voyage hath dasht and sunk By Desire of honor and vain glory it comes to pass that many goodly and specious monuments which were dedicated rather to Honor then to God have destroyed and ruined their Founders who like unfortunate mothers have brought forth beautiful issues but themselves have dyed in the birth of them They have proved but like the ropes of silk and daggers of gold which Heliogabalus prepared to stab and strangle himself withall adding pretiosiorem mortem suam esse debere that his death ought to be more costly then other mens and they have served to no other end but this ut cariùs pereant that the workers of them might dye with greater state then other men and might fall to the lowest pit as the sword-players did in the Theater with noyse and applause I have spoken of the Occasion of the Question and of the Persons who put it Come we now in the last place to the Question it self Who is the greatest in the kingdome of heaven The Disciples here were mistaken in terminis in the very terms of their Question For neither is Greatness that which they supposed nor the Kingdome of heaven of that nature as to admit of that Greatness which their phansie had set up For by the Kingdome of heaven is meant in Scripture not the Kingdome of Glory but the Kingdome of Grace by which Christ sits and rules in the hearts of his Saints When John the Baptist preacht Repentance he told the Jews that the Kingdome of heaven is at hand When our Saviour tells us that it is like seed sowen in good ground like a net cast into the sea like a pearl like a treasure hid in the field what else can he mean but his Kingdome of Grace on earth not his Kingdome of Glory in heaven So that for the Disciples to ask Who is greatest in this kingdome was to shape out the Church of God by the World Much like to that which we read in Lucian of Priams young son who being taken up into heaven is brought-in calling for milk and cheese and such country cates as were his wonted food on earth For in the Kingdome of Grace that is in the Congregation of Gods Saints and the elect Members of Christ there is no such difference of degrees as Ambition taught the Disciples to imagine Not that we deny Order and Government in the Church of God No without these his Church could not subsist but would be like Aristotles army without discipline 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unprofitable rout To this end Christ gave Apostles and Teachers and Pastors for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ His Teachers call us his Governors direct us to this Kingdome But the Disciples being brought up in the world thought of that Greatness which they saw did bear the sway amongst men Much like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who thought that God bare the shape of a Man because they read in Scripture of his Feet and Hands and Eyes and the like But that it was not so in Christs Kingdome may appear by our Saviour's Answer to the Question For he takes a Child and tells them that if they will be of his Kingdome they must be like unto it By which he choaks and kills in them all conceit of Ambition and Greatness For as Plato most truly said that those that dye do find a state of things beyond all expectation diverse from that which they left behind so when we are dead to the World and true Citizens of the Kingdome of Christ we shall find there is neither Jew nor Greek neither bond nor free neither male nor female but all are one in Christ Gal. 3. 28. Jesus God looks not what bloud runs in thy veins he observes not thy Heraldry If Greatness could have purchased heaven Lazarus had been in hell and Dives in Abrahams bosome Earl and Knight and Peasant are tearms of distinction on earth in the Kingdome of heaven there is no such distinction Faith makes us all one in Christ and the Crown of glory shall be set upon the head of him that grindeth at the mill as well as upon his that sitteth on the throne Christ requires 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the nobility of the Soul and he is the greatest in his Kingdome who hath the true and inward worth of Honesty and Sanctity of life though in this world he lye buried in obscurity and silence Here Lazarus may be richer then Dives the beggar higher then the King and a Child the least is greatest in this Kingdome A main difference we may see between this Kingdome and the Kingdomes of the world if we compare them First the Subjects of this Kingdome are unknown to any but to God himself The foundation of the Lord standeth sure saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 2. 19. having this seal The Lord knowes who are his And if they be unknown who then can range them into orders and degrees Secondly of this Kingdome there is no end Thirdly the seat of this Kingdome is the hearts of the faithful Cathedram habet in Coelo qui domat corda His chair is in heaven that rules the hearts of the sons of men here on earth This earth that is this body of clay hath God given to the sons of men to the Princes of the earth under whose government we live But our Heaven our better part our inward and spiritual man he reserves to himself Kings and Princes can restrain the outward man and moderate our outward actions by their laws and edicts Illa se jactat in aulâ Aeolus Thus far can they go They can tye our Hands and Tongues and they can go no further For to set up an imperial throne in our Understandings and our Wills belongs to Christ alone He teacheth the lame to go and the blind to see and recovers the dry hand He makes us active in this Kingdome of Grace Lastly as their Subjects and Seat are different so are
soon discover and though interest omnium rectè facere it concerns every man though there were no cord of Love to draw him to do that which is right and just yet if the Sword be not as ready to protect the innocent as to devoure the wicked if there be not Praise for the one as well as Punishment for the other the best will soon fail in their duty and sink and fall in the performance wanting that Spirit which should cheer them up and keep them in life and action The King and his Governours as they scatter and fan away evil with their eyes so do Prov. 20. 8. they derive a kind of influence on Goodness to make it grow and flourish Authority is both a Sword and a Buckler a Buckler for the innocent and a Sword to cut off the wicked from the earth And in this respect Synesius in his 12. Epistle tells us that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this publick Sword of Justice is as necessary for the purging of a City for the scouring of all mischief out of it as the great Basons which were wont to be set at the entrance of Temples were for the cleansing of their hands who were to enter And therefore it is an axiome in Policy subscribed to long since That it is better to live sub durâ lege quà m sub nullâ under the hardest Law then under none at all to live in a State where the least apparency of offence is punisht with rigour than under such an one where every man may do what is pleasing in his own eyes without restraint For Severity or Tyranny as one observeth is but like a Tempest or Whirle-wind that throweth down here and there a fruitfull tree and here and there peradventure a tall Cedar but Confusion and Anarchie like a Deluge sweepeth away all before it all the fatness of the earth all the increase of Cattel beats down Towns and Countrys and makes of walled Cities a Wilderness Whilst Justice and Authority prevails He that soweth soweth in hope and he that Joh. 4. thresheth thresheth in hope that he may be partaker of his hope as the Apostle speaks but in Confusion the proverb is fulfilled One soweth another reapeth and as it is said of that community of the first Christians No man can say that that which he possesseth is his own Now the proper work of the Magistrate is not onely to cut off the wicked from the earth but to divide to every man his own possessions to break the jaw of the ungodly and to take the prey out of his mouth to be a wall of brass to the innocent and terror to the wicked And this will usher in a myriad of blessings and make up that Hymne that Angelical Antheme Peace on earth good will towards men and glory to God in the highest heaven For to punish evil persons is to do a cure upon those who have broke the Laws and upon others also that they may not break them And the Magistrate like God himself doth de perverso sanare govern us by that which is adverse to us and in the way of the transgressour he placeth contrarium aliquid impedicus sets up something to stop his course to check his violence to curb him in his full carreere to wit the execution of penal Laws which is the execution of the very anger of God Nor doth he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simply will the affliction and torture of the offendor nor rests in the evil of Punishment but he looks forward to the good of Amendment For this is the very end of Punishment To destroy that proclivity and proneness which is in evil men to break their bounds To take off the illecebrae the inticement and allurement of Sin To wash off its paint To pull the hony-comb from the lips of the Harlot To wipe the oyle from off her mouth To sowre the sweetness of stoln waters and by the sharpness of external terror to take away the savour and complacency of some habitual delightfull Sin that so every man may sit under his own vine and under his own fig-tree and drink waters out of his own cistern that Peace may shadow the Common-wealth and Plenty crown it that Oppression grind not the face of the poor nor Lust climb up to an unlawfull bed nor Deceit remove the landmark nor Sacriledge destroy the Temple ut peccare non liceat that evil-minded men may not be so miserable as to carry a Licence about with them to commit sin nor a Protection in their bosom from the stroke of punishment Thus doth not onely the Hand but the Eye the Counsel and Wisdom of the King who is supreme and of the Governours which he sends scatter away all evil fight against corruption in Religion in Manners in Doctrine that Truth and Peace may kiss each other Thus are they sent out to watch over us for our good This they do for us And we cannot do less than submit unto them if not for the Lords sake yet for our own whose affairs they manage whose estates they secure whose sleep they make sweet and labour fruitfull by whose means we enjoy much peace Parce tibi si non Carthagini if we will not submit unto them for the Common-wealths sake yet let us do it for our own if not submit unto them yet at least to our own Good to that which is our Wealth our Safety our Happiness And let us not only submit unto them but bow the knee and fall down before that God by whom Kings reign and Governours decree justice and offer up strong cries supplications to him that he would preserve our most pious and religious King Charles and bind up his Soul in the bundle of life that he would give his judgments to the King and his righteousness to those Governours which are sent by him that so the Lord may speak peace unto us and and to our Land that we be not led into captivity and that the enemy be never able to shoot an arrow amongst us that whatsoever the King doth may please the people and whatsoever the people do may be for the safety of the King that God would bless and protect both King and Nobles and the Governours which are sent and the People for evermore The Fourteenth SERMON Psalm LXVIII 1 2. Let God arise let his enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him As smoke is driven away so drive them away as wax melteth before the fire so let the wicked perish at the presence of God I Will not stand to reconcile opinions which may arise concerning the title and occasion of this Psalm whither it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Psalm of Davids composing or A Psalm made for him and delivered per manum David by the hand of David to him that excelleth or the Master of Musick Whosoever composed it at the first hearing of the words you cannot
to beat on who have been viri perpessitii as Seneca speaks of Socrates men of great sufferance who have suffer'd not only their goods to be torn from them by oppression and wrong but their reputations to be wounded with the sharp rasor of detraction and have withstood the shock of all spectantibus similes with the patience of a looker on should be raised and comforted with a promise of that which their Meekness gave up to the spoil and that by the providence of God which loves to thwart the practice of the world they should be made heirs even of those possessions which the hand of Violence hath snatched from them It is a common proverb in the world Cum lupis ululandum That amongst a company of Wolves we must howl as loud as they for he that amongst Wolves will make himself a Sheep shall be sure to be eaten Vim vi repellere To arm our selves with force against violence and with Circumspection against deceit To be ready to strike with one hand whilst we defend ourselves with the other are lessons written upon every post the neglect of which will entitle us to Folly though in other things we be as wise as Solomon What though we speak with the tongues of men and angels What though we understand all mysteries and all knowledg What though we have all faith even to remove mountains yet if we want this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this quickness and dexterity of wit in removing those obstacles and retardances which are laid in our way to honour and wealth we are but as sounding brass or tinckling Cymbals not to fright our enemies but to make them sport and melody But St. Hierome will tell us Aliud est judicium tribunalis Christi aliud anguli susurrorum that there is great difference between the Judgment of the world and the Tribunal-seat of Christ What a vain fellow was David to day sayth Mich. when he danced before the Ark. He did it as a man after my own 2 Sam. 6. 20. heart saith God He is a weak man saith the world and knows not to tread those paths which lead to honour and preferment but He is my Souldier sayth Christ and will take the kingdom of heaven by force It is a very small thing to be judged of the world or of mans judgment O let 1 Cor. 4. 3. me even wear that fools coat which shall be changed for a robe of glory The language of the world is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that will be rich must ask council of his wits must betake himself to violence must sometimes lurk like a serpent and at other times roar like a lion For this sheepish virtue of Meekness is like the equus Sejanus a certain horse which none could ever thrive that kept him This Divinity goes for Orthodox in the world But David a man of war of whom it was sung that he killed his ten thousands tenders us a doctrine of another strain shews yet a more excellent way by so ridiculous and contemptible a virtue as Meekness to purchase the inheritance of the Earth And indeed if we look nearer upon Meekness and behold the beauty of her countenance we shall even fall in love with her as with the most thriving virtue as with a virtue which will place us in a more firm and setled possession of that which is ours then all the Engins of deceit then all the weapons of the mighty But because most men are hard of belief when they are told that Godliness is great gain and that we may encrease our stock by loosing it with Patience and rely on their own brain and reach as a surer staff to walk with then the Providence of God I will make this yet plainer by reason and lay it open and naked to the very eye To this end we may observe two divers and contrary dispositions in the nature of Man by which we may divide and distinguish almost all the world The one rough and stern and contentious which is most remarkable in evil men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Demosthenes For wickedness is commonly bold and daring and contentious I never yet saw the Face of brass but the Heart was adamant Take it in St. James expression The wisdom which descendeth not from above is earthly sensual and divilish full of tumult and confusion The other that which the Philosopher calls â—â—m 3. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a soft and sweet and flexible disposition which is the common character of a good man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayth the same Orator For Goodness is peaceable and gentle easy to be intreated ready to be diminished and brought low by oppression evil and sorrow Now take a survey of them both The first naturally produceth Fear Fear as naturally begetteth Hatred which is longer-lived than Fear Hatred raiseth up Contention saith Solomon which seldom endeth but in the destruction of those we hate whom we cease not to hate till they cease to be But Meekness is her own safeguard and castle of defense Rerum tutela suarum Certa magis and keeps us in quieter possession of that which is ours then the Law can do Whoever yet took up arms against the Meek Who will pursue a fly or a dead dog Who will strive with him that will not fight I confess we have of late seen a generation I cannot say of Christians I cannot say of Men I know not what to call them whose word is Kill and Slay not only those who are in arms against us but those damned Neutrals For so they call them who will not help them kill and slay But this is not natural and common but monstrous and unusual All that Meekness probably can expose us to is contempt Et quot contemptu tuti How many have made themselves contemptible to keep themselves safe Sure I am Brutus was never wiser then when he put on the person of a fool I know it is a very hard matter to perswade the world of the truth of this which I have taught For as St. Peter tells us there shall come mockers who will say Where are the promises of his comming and do not all things continue alike since the creation So there may be who will ask Where is the promise of the possession of the earth made good unto the Meek Is it not with them as it is with other men Nay is it not worse with them than with any men Is any man poor and they are not poor Is any man weak and they are not weak Is any man persecuted and they are not persecuted Are not the Meek every day driven out of their possessions And are they not driven out because they are Meek He that shall look into the state and condition of Meek men will peradventure be fully perswaded there is just cause of these complaints And therefore to drown and silence them we must remove some errors which are cast as a cloud
to the haven where we would be And we have winds from every point the prayers of the whole Church to drive us We have already shewed you what may raise our hope and confidence when we pray even the name of Father For what will not a father give to his children But we must now present God in his Majesty to strike us with fear that so our Fear may temper our Hope that it be not too saucy and familiar and our Hope may warm and comfort our Fear that it be not too chill and cold and end in Despair I dare speak to God because he is our Father but I speak in trembling because of his Majesty because he is in heaven And these two make a glorious mixture There be many things which in themselves may be hurtful yet being tempered and mixt together are very cordial and wholesome Fear and Hope which in their excess are as deleterial as poyson being compounded and mingled may be an antidote Fear bridles my Hope that I do not presume and Hope upholds my Fear that I do not despair Fear qualifies my Hope and Hope my Fear Hope encourageth us to speak Fear composeth our language Hope runs to God as a Father Fear moderateth her pace because he is in heaven We are too ready to call him Father to frame unto our selves a facile and easie God a God that will welcome us upon any terms but we must remember also that he is in heaven a God of state and magnificence qui solet difficilem habere januam whose gates open not streight at the sound of Pater noster Deum non esse perfunctoriè salutandum as Pythagoras speaks that God will not be spoken to in the by and passage but requires that our addresses unto him be accurate with fear and reverence Hope and Fear Love and Reverence Boldness and Amazement Confusion and Confidence these are the wings on which our Devotion is carried and towres up a loft till it rest in the bosome of our Father which is in heaven And now let us lift-up our eyes to the hills from whence cometh our salvation even to the throne of God and seat of his Majesty but not to make too curious a search how God is in heaven but with reverence rather to stand at distance and put-on humility equal to our administration not to come near and touch this mount for fear we be struck through with a dart Nunquam verecundiores esse debemus quam cùm de Diis agitur saith Aristotle in Seneca Modesty never better becomes us then when we speak of God We enter Temples with a composed countenance vultum submittimus togam adducimus we cast down our looks we gather our garments together and every gesture is an argument of our reverence Where the object is so glorious our eyes must needs dazle Gods Essence and Perfection is higher then heaven what canst thou do deeper than hell what canst thou know The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the Sea Job 11. 8 9. What line wilt thou use De Deo vel verum dicere periculum We dangerously mistake our selves even when we speak the truth of God That God is that he is infinite and imcomprehensible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even our Fye will teach us and the very law of Nature manifest But how he is in heaven he is on the earth how every-where no mortal Eye can discern no Reason demonstrate If we could perchance utter it yet we could not understand it saith Nazianzene Crat. 34. if we had been ravisht with St. Paul into the Third heaven yet we could not utter it Indeed it is most true what Tertullian urgeth against Hermogenes Alium Deum facit quem aliter cognoscit He maketh another God who conceives of him otherwise then as he is But no river can rise higher than its spring and fountain nor can we raise our knowledge above that light which is afforded us God is infinite and the most certain kdowledge we have is that he iâ— infinite The light which we have is but lightning which is sudden and not permanent enough to draw us after him because we conceive something of him and enough to strike us with admiration because we conceive so little It fares with us in the pursuit of these profound mysteries as with those who labor in rich mines When we digg too deep we meet with poysonous damps and foggs instead of treasure when we labor above we find less metal but more safety Dangerous it is for a weak brain to wade too far into the doings of the Most high We are most safely eloquent concerning his secrets when we are silent How great God is What is his measure and essence and How it is in any place or every place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basile as it is not safe to ask so it is impossible to answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My sheep hear my voice saith Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THEY HEAR saith he not DISPUTE Yet how have men attempted to fly without wings and wade in those depths which are unfordable to dispute of Gods Essense his Immensity his Ubiquity of the Nature of Angels of their Motion of their Locality nay de loquutione Angelorum of their Language and how that they communicate their minds one to another When we ask them how the Body of Christ is seated in the Eucharist they will tell us that it â—s there as the Spirits and glorified Bodies are in the place which they possess Tertius è caelo cecidit Cato Have these men lately descended like a second Paul out of the third heaven and from thence made this discovery By what means could they attain to this knowledge What light have they in Scripture to direct them to the knowledge of the manner of location and site which Spirits and glorified Bodies have St Paul hath long since past his censure upon them They thrust themselves into things they have not seen and upon a false shew of knowledge abuse easie hearers and of things they know not adventure to speak they care not what The Philosopher will tell us that men who neglect their private affairs are commonly over-busie in the examining of publick proceedings They will teach Kings how to rule and Judges how to determine and are well skilled in every mans duty but their own The same befalls us in our pursuit of divine knowledge Did every man walk according to that measure of knowledge he hath we should not be so busily to find out more light to walk by Did we adde to our faith virtue and to our knowledge temperance we should not multiply questions so fast which vanish into nothing and when they make most noyse do nothing but sound quae animum non faciunt quià non habent which can give us no light and spirit because they have it not Did we enter that effectual door which lyeth open unto us our Curiosity would not
our Christian Philosophy We read no Acroamatical lectures but open all truths as far as it hath pleased the King of heaven to reveal them Nor must any man take them as things out of his sphere and above his reach Besides it is our duty to take from you all gross and carnal conceits of God And we have just cause to fear that some are little better perswaded of God than the ancient Anthropomorphites who thought that God hath hands and feet and is in outward shape proportioned unto us If you yet doubt of the use of this the Prophet David shall most pathetically apply it for me Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither Psal 139. 7. shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me Now nothing can be of greater force to restrain us from sin then a strong perswasion and assurance that whatsoever we do or think lyeth open to the view and survey of some Eye that is over us Secrecy is much desired amongst men and there is no such fomenter of evil actions as it is For what no man knows is accounted as not done But magna necessitas indicta probitatis saith Boetius There is a kind of necessity of doing well laid upon us when we know that God is a witness and observer of our actions What rocks canst thou call to cover thee what hills to hide thee from his eyes What night can veil thee Propè est à te Deus tecum est intus est saith Seneca God is near thee is with thee is within thee Cui obscura lucent muta respondent silentium confitetur saith Leo To him Darkness is as light as the Day the Dumb speak and Silence shriveth it self Think not because God is in heaven he cannot see thee at such a distance For he fills both the heaven and the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He beholds all things and heareth all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Basil calls him From heaven he beholds the children of men and considereth all Psal 33. 13 14 15. their wayes To him thy Complement is a lye thy Dissimulation open thy Hypocrisie unmaskt thy Thoughts as vocal as thy Words thy Whisper as loud as Thunder and thy Secresie as open as the Day All things are written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Gods Book Nay he keeps a Book in the very closet of thy soul the only Book of all thy Library saith Bernard which goes along with thee into the world to come He sees the Title of the Book SINS and the Dedication of it To the Prince of Sin The several Chapters so many several Sins and every Letter a character of Sin Quid prodest inclusam habere conscientiam patemus Deo saith Lactantius Why do we shut-up this Book God can read it when it is shut-up Why do we bribe our Conscience to be quiet God understands her language when she faulters Why do we lay these pillows to rest on We are awake to God when we are fast asleep The very strumpets of Rome who were wont to dance naked upon the stage to make the people sport yet would not do it whilst Cato was present Behold not Cato but God himself is in presence qui omnia novit omnia notat who knows all things and marks and observes all things Which are the two acts of his Providence We have still over us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Basil speaks a super-intending Eye which tryeth the sons of men and pondereth all their thoughts Therefore the Father said well Ubi est Dei memoria ibt peccatorum oblivium malorum interitus the very memory of God is an antidote against sin For the most secret Sin we commit is as open to him as that which is committed before the Sun and the People We read in Velleius Paterculus of Livius Drusus a great Gentleman of Rome who being about to build him an house his work-man told him that he could so cunningly contrive the windows the lights the doors of it that no man should be able to look in and see what he was a doing But Drusus answered him If you desire to give me content then so contrive the lights of my house that all may look in and see what I do St. Hilary doth make the application for me In omnibus vitae nostrae operibus circumspecti ad Deum patentes esse debemus This is the right fabrick of a Christian mans soul which being innocent still opens and unfolds it self unto God and is so much the better contrived by how much the more liberally it admits of light ut liberis per innocentiam patulis cordibus Deus dignetur lumen suum infundere that innocencie having broken down all the strong holds and fenses of Sin and laid open the gates of the Heart the King of glory may enter in and fill it with the light of his countenance Oh what a preservative against Sin is it to think that all that we do we do in Divinitatis sinu as the Father speaks in the bosome of the Divinity When I fast and when I surfet when I bless and when I curse when I praise God and when I blaspheme him I am still even in his very bosome When we behave our selves as in the bosome of our Father God handles us then as a Father as if we were in his bosome He gives us an EUGE Well done good children But when our behaviour is as if we were in a Wilderness or Grot or Cave or Theater rather rhen in the bosome of God majori contumelià ejus intra quem haec agimus peccamus we are most contumelious to him in whose bosome we are We have seen now some light in this cloud and have gained this observation That Gods all-seeing Eye will find us out when our curtains are drawn That what we dare not let others behold he looks upon That what we dare not behold our selves he sees ad nudum as the Schools speak naked as it is You will ask now Is not God in every place and if he be in the earth in hell beyond the seas why then are we bound to say Our Father which art in heaven Not because heaven doth contein him but because his Majesty and Glory is there most apparent God calls heaven his seat his holy habitation and he is every where in Scripture stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 66. 1. Deut. 26. 15. heavenly We will not here spin-out any curious discourse concerning Heaven as those did in St. Augustine who did so intently dispute of the caelestial Globe ut in coelo habitare se crederent de quo disputabant that to themselves they seemed to dwell there and to have made Heaven their Kingdome as well
an episcopal an overseeing Eye an Eye watchful and careful to keep evil at a distance or else to order and master it to summon a Synod in our soul to raise up all the forces and faculties we have to make canons and constitutions against it and to say unto it as God doth to the Sea Thus far shalt thou go and no further to say unto Poverty comming towards us like an armed man It may strip us naked but it shall not make us desolate It may thrust us into prison but it shall not shut us in hell It may drive us about the world but it shall not banish us from God This Beauty which flourisheth in my eye shall wither in my heart and for flattering my Sense shall be disgraced by my Reason These Riches shall buy me but food and rayment They shall not be employed by my Phansie to attend upon Gluttony or Wantonness or Revenge Nor will I lay them out upon that purchase whose appurtenance is Damnation And this is our humane Providence which in some degree is proportioned to the Providence of God Which consists of these two parts his Wisdom and his Power His Wisdom runneth very swiftly through the world and sees what is to be done and his Power at his word is ready to do it Thus is our spiritual Providence made up of these two Wisdom to see and foresee evil and a firm resolution to avoid it If you ask me What is the light of the body It is the Eye What is the Eye of the Soul It is this Wisdom And if you ask me Wherein our great strength lyeth I cannot shape you a fairer answer then to tell you In Resolution Quicquid volui illico potui What I will do what I resolve to do is done already These two our Wisdom to discern and our Resolution to chuse or reject make us wise as Serpents and bold as Lions as Serpents against the old Serpent the Devil and as Lions against that roaring Lion that seeks to devour us By our Wisdom we defeat his craft by our Resolution we abate his strength And greater is he that is in us then he that is in the world But now because our Eye-sight is dim and our Fore-sight not great and our Oversight slender and imperfect and all our strength but Resolution and our Resolutions many times but faint we look-up unto him who dwelleth with Wisdom who is Wisdom it self and knoweth all things and to that God of Hosts who doth whatsoever he will in heaven and in earth who telleth the number of the stars and calleth them all by their names who telleth the number of our hairs so that not one of them can fall without his will who telleth the number of our tears and lets not one fall beside his bottle who calleth things that are not as if they were who when there is plenty bringeth-in a famine and when famine hath broken the staff of bread as he goes drops fatness who sees every thing in its causes operations effects ends what it is what it may be what it doth what it may do the works of all flesh saith the Son of Sirach the intents of all men the thoughts of all hearts the motions and inclinations of all creatures nay that which we call Chance and Fortune is before him He can deliver us with means and he can deliver us without means Our trust only is in him For without him alass our Knowledge is full of ignorance We cannot tell what will be the next day the next hour the next moment We know not how to propose any thing to our selves and when we have proposed it we are to seek how to execute it because there are many impediments divers changes and chances of this mortal life the knowledge and disposing of which comes not within the reach of humane Providence And as men in the bottom of a Well are able to see no greater space of the heavens then the compass of the well so neither can we see more then the bounds which are set us will give leave The Eye sees to such a distance but then it fails And we see no further then our humane frailty will permit we see something near us something about us yet many times we stumble even at noon-day at that which was visible enough I am but Man not God and have not the perfect knowledge of Good and Evil. And my Power is not great The largest power that is is sub regno under a greater power For have I an arm like God or can I thunder with a voice like him And then my Patience which is the best fense I have against evil is but froward For is my strength the strength of stones or is my flesh of brass And therefore we look-up unto the hills from whence cometh our salvation upon God himself who sees all actions all casualties all events to whom things past and things to come are present who seeth all things ad nudum as the Schools speak naked as they are and can set-up this to pull-down that cross this intent that it never come into action or cross the intent in the action by driving it to a contrary end to that which was proposed Who when we offend can hiss for the fly for forreign incumbrances and when we repent can make our very enemies our friends Who is wonderful in all his works and whose wayes are exalted above ours as far as the heaven is above the earth But this doth not sufficiently express it Isa 55. For they are infinitely exalted farther then the Heaven is above the Earth But the Prophet could not better express it then by such a distance then which we know no greater That we may not rob God of his honour nor sacrifice to our own nets or clap our hands and applaud our selves in our imaginations and say Is not this Babel which I have built It is my right hand that hath done it That I was not taken in a snare it was my Will That I beat my enemies as small as the dust before the wind it was my Valour That every sensible evil made me not truly evil it was my Free-will This is a greater evil and more dangerous then all those which we avoided This is a glance of the Devils dart in his flight to overthrow us with our victory Therefore as we confess our selves to be under Gods Dominion and commit our selves to his Protection so must we attribute all JOVI LIBERATORI to Him who is the great Deliverer from evil not give him part but all not make him our Partner but our Lord. Nemo saith the Father à Deo se adjuvari vult sed salvum fieri We do not desire help only at Gods hand but we desire to be saved by him That which is the subject of our Prayer must be the burden of our Song If we pray for Salvation we must imitate those who stood before the Throne who though they had Palms
heaven c. Serm. 31. Matth. VI. 9. Our Father which art in heaven Serm. 32. Matth. VI. 9. Hallowed be thy Name Serm. 33. Matth. VI. 10. Thy Kingdom come Serm. 34. Matth. VI. 10. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Serm. 35. Matth. VI. 10. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Serm. 36. Matth. VI. 11. Give us this day our daily bread Serm. 37. Matth. VI. 11. Give us this day our daily bread Serm. 38. Matth. VI. 11. Give us this day our daily bread Serm. 39. Matth. VI. 12. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors Or as Luke XI 4. And forgive us our sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us Serm. 40. Matth. VI. 12. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors Or as Luke XI 4. And forgive us our sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us Serm. 41. Matth. VI. 13. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Serm. 42. Matth. VI. 13. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Serm. 43. Matth. VI. 13. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Serm. 44. Matth. VI. 13. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Serm. 45. Matth. VI. 13. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Serm. 46. Matth. VI. 13. But deliver us from evil Serm. 47. Matth. VI. 13. But deliver us from evil Serm. 48. Matth. VI. 13. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever Amen TWO SERMONS Preached at the Parish-Church OF St. MARY MAGDALENE Milk-street LONDON By a Friend of the AUTHORS Upon his being in the late Troubles Silenced LONDON Printed by Tho. Roycroft for Richard Marriott MDCLXXIV The First SERMON JEREM. XII 1. Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk or reason the case with thee of thy Judgments Wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously THE most general Question which hath troubled the world almost ever since it began is that great Dispute concerning the just and equal distribution of temporal blessings how to reconcile the prosperity of the wicked and the miseries of the righteous with those common Attributes which we assign unto God how it can consist with the Divine Wisdom and Justice to promote the designs of the ungodly whom he abhors at the very Soul and to crush and bear down those whom he calls by his own Name stiles his peculiar people and whom he esteems as the Apple of his Eye For this objection hath gone through all degrees and qualities of men high and low rich and poor miserable and happy good and bad the glorious flourishing and lofty sinner whom God smiles upon as Job speaks he proves there is no Providence from his own success because he goes smoothly on in his wickedness without the least check or interruption Therefore pride compasses him therefore he sets his mouth against heaven and Psal 73. 9. his tongue walks through the earth scorning both God and Man And not only they but the very people of God too seeing this unequal dispensation even they say How does God know and is there knowledge in the most v. 11. high v. 11. Nay David himself professes the thought of this came so cross him as it had almost beat him down My feet were almost gone my v. 2. steps had well-nigh slipt v. 2. of the same Psalm and he very hardly recovered himself but breaks out into this amazement Behold these are the ungodly Psal 73. 12. who prosper they encrease in riches as if he had said I lookt to see the righteous upon thrones and the vertuous gay and flourishing but contrary to all expectation Behold these are the ungodly who prosper they increase in riches which makes him cry out in the next verse Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain in vain have I washed my hands in innocency a most desperate speech and means thus Let who will stand upon forms and niceties hereafter let who will betray his being and livelyhood to a timorous conscience I will be scrupulous no longer no longer shall the formality of Laws and Religion tye me to be undone if wickedness only thrives I can be wicked too Thus David thus Habakkuk and thus the Prophet Jeremy in this Chapter complains who seeing the falsness and treachery both of his friends and enemies still prevail against him and seeing the conspiracies of those Priests of Anathoth where he was born too never fail though God had told him in the first Chapter He had made him a defenced City an iron Pillar a brazen Wall and that he would enable him by his Divine assistance to oppose the whole Nation whilest he alas found himself but a Reed shaken with the wind blown into a prison with every breath of a base Informer Seeing and considering this cross-dealing and debating within himself what this should mean falls out into this Exclamation Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee c. Where you have a Proposition or Doctrine laid down as certain and then an Objection rais'd against this Doctrine The Proposition Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee The Objection which seems to oppose it in these words Yet let me talk with thee of thy Judgments Wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously I begin with the Proposition it self Righteous art thou O Lord when I Proposition plead with thee Where you may observe the most singular piety and resolution of the Prophet though Gods design look't never so strange unto him and seem'd as it were a meer contradiction yet still he held fast to his Principle That God was just whatsoever became of him or his Cause That whensoever he did plead and argue with God concerning his Dispensations He assured himself thus much before hand that God would overcome when he was judg'd and that his Righteousness like a glorious Sun would break through all the clouds of opposition cast about it Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee The Prophet did not preposterously conclude God just from the justice of his action but arguing backwards inferred his proceeding to be just because he himself is righteous He does not first examine Gods wayes and then pronounce him just because he finds him so but first takes this as granted that God is true be the action what it will and then afterwards inquires into the Reason of it And whosoever in reasoning about Gods actions shall argue otherwise or use any other method will run himself upon many rocks and perplexities and at last find blasphemy in the conclusion For we read of many actions commended in Scripture so horrid in themselves as no Orator can invent a colour to excuse them
ignorant that he knows not whether the ground he treads upon stands still or moves God whose Thoughts do as far exceed our Thoughts as the Heavens do the Earth nay more for the distance between us and the highest Star is known and calculated but the distance between us and God passes all Arithmetick It is infinite Why then should we sawcily pry into the hidden Councels of God If he hath let down a Veil before his Holy of Holies how should we dare to tear it asunder and prophanely break into his Mysteries What must we know before we will believe have a Demonstration for all God does to give us satisfaction Why perhaps we shall never answer Zeno's argument against Motion and shall we therefore sit still all the days of our life and say we cannot stir perhaps it is impossible to solve Pyrrho's objections against Reality shall we therefore fondly conceit that every thing we see is but an appearance only that it is but your fancy that I seem now to speak and nothing but your imagination that you think you hear me aâ—â—f our whole life were but one continued Dream And is it not as much madness to mistrust the truth and faithfulness of God confirmed by so many Clouds of Witnesses evinced by so many Ages of Instances because we cannot answer this one objection against It because we cannot see through this one single particular of Providence Why then should we think it any indiscretion with Abraham to believe against Hope or to be sure though we have least reason to expect it That the only way for a man to become a great Nation is to kill his only Child and the means to overcome Canaan was to go alone and a stranger into it Pray why should we not believe our Saviour that to save is to loose and to preserve is to destroy Why should we imagine our selves any wiser then St. Paul who committed his body to God until the last day and perswaded himself that God was able to keep it until that day 2 Tim. 1. 12. though it past through so many transmutations and changes into beasts fowl and fish nay though it became part of another Man which is to rise together with him in the same Body Yet this seeming contradiction did not startle the Apostle He was sure of the thing though he knew not how it could come to pass I know whom I have believed says the Apostle in the same place Yet though Almighty God might challenge our Obedience without giving us account of his matters though we ought to conclude the Lord righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works when to our eye of flesh he appears neither holy nor righteous but rather the contrary though our understandings be shallow and Gods Judgments profound though the Well be deep and we have nothing to draw yet God like a most gracious Prince when he might absolutely command vouchsafes a reason why we should obey submitting himself to our slender capacities he appears at our Barrs and to settle our wandring thoughts to leave us quite without excuse exposes himself to be impleaded by us to be judg'd by us to be examined by us Which leads me to the Objection which seems to overthrow the Righteousness of God Wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously The occasion of this Question I told you was because the Prophets adversaries did continually prosper and had power to do him hurt not simply because the wicked prosper'd but that by this their prosperity they had means and opportunity to mischief him to smite him with their tongue by secret whisperings and smite him with their fists to hurry him from one prison to another and at last clap him up in the Dungeon sealing him up there unto unevitable destruction Now the Prophet demands of God in this Question why he did not disappoint the plots and contrivances of all those who had designed his ruine being God had sent him as an especial Ambassador to his people So as we may resolve the Question into this Why does God suffer the wicked to have any Power to oppress the righteous A Question if we consider the time in which the Prophet lived not altogether idle or impertinent for he lived under the Law a Covenant of Works unto which God had annexed Blessings and Cursings in outward appearance altogether temporal Deut. 28. But on the contrary this Prophet found by sad experience that he fled from his Enemies and not they from him that not they but he groped at noon days being cast into a Dungeon which was only a larger Sepulchre and that the Iron yoke was put upon his not their necks all which was contrary to the express words of the promise as you may read at large in that Chapter Which made him think God had forgotten to be gracious and to ask wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously Nevertheless had the Prophet consider'd with himself rightly he would not have thought this so strange a thing even under the Law where God seems to set bounds and terms even to his Almighty power and to confine his absolute Dominion and Royalty over the Creature by making Promises Oaths and Contracts with his People Yet he never pass'd away the Land of Canaan or any thing in it so absolutely but that still he reserv'd the title and propriety of it to himself All souls are mine saith the Lord And the Land shall not be sold for ever for the Land is mine and ye are sojourners and strangers with me Levit. 25. 23. God granted the use of it to them yet kept still the Right and full disposal of it to himself for the Lord calls them for all this Grant but sojourners and strangers who held what they possest under God and continued in it no longer then he gave them leave from whom he might take it away and bestow it on whom he pleased And truly if we allow God the power but of a temporal Prince and grant him to be King of Israel only we must allow him the liberty of changing altering and dispensing with his own Laws For we read how Nebuchadnezzar might slay whom he would and whom he would he might keep alive within his own Realms set up whom he would and whom he would he might put down Dan. 5. 3. And least you might imagine such an unlimited power over the Subject unlawful God is said to give him this power in the same verse and can we think for all his promises the Lord of the whole Earth may not challenge as much Soveraignty as a Prince but of a single Shire enjoyes As then he in whom the Supream power of a State resides when he grants out property of life liberty and estate to his Subjects does not by this Charter debar himself the liberty of taking them away again if the use of
should not feel what he endured to wake a condemned man and tell him he must dye Evasit says the Tyrant of one who had prevented his fury by a timely death Evasit in dying quickly he has made an escape he got away and has out-run me now for there in the Grave the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary are at rest Job 3. 13. The prisoner and the oppressor there lye quiet both together and there every one is free in the next verse and therefore if we consider Death only as a Rest from labour the Apostle had no reason to be solicitous with what to preserve his life any longer For we mistake exceedingly if we think life as life is desirable for there are some that dig to find a Grave as much as they would do to discover a Mine as Job speaks and God when he would reward some memorable act of piety Job 3. 21. in a man takes him out of the way before his Judgments come which made the Prophet when he could not turn away Gods wrath utterly pray'd the women might have miscarrying wombs and the Apostles seeing the persecution begin to rage advises the Christians not to marry lest they should 1 Cor. 3. only bring forth to the Sword and Faggot Now not to be born and death are in effect all one they are both equally alike not to be here Again Imagine the world had treated and dealt kindly with the Apostle yet then he needed not much care for means to keep up his life any longer for he calls himself now Paul the aged a time when we might choose death Philem. 9. meerly out of satietie because it is tedious to do the same things over and over again so often to eat and be a hungry and then eat again to sleep and then wake and then sleep again to see things still go about in the same circle to behold peace breeding luxury luxury war and war smooth into peace again for is there any thing whereof it might be said this is new Solomon Eccl. 1. 10. asks the Question who had proved all things and at last concludes by a particular Induction the surest Demonstration of any whatsoever That as the Sun goes round as the rivers hasten to the Sea from whence they came as the wind goes round the points of heaven and whirls about continually so the actions of men have their circuits too and whatever you wonder at in this or that Age you may find the same in another for there is no new thing under the Sun The Apostles years therefore he being now grown old might induce him not to be much concern'd how he should live being now full of days as the Scripture most elegantly expresses it having taken a perfect view now of whatever this world can afford which requires no long time to look over for Christ saw it all in a moment Luke 4. 14. and then I know not what a man has to do but to despise it and leave it with no more regret then he would walk out of garden where he found nothing that liked him But there is a far higher Contemplation not only to render living inconsiderable to a Christian but likewise to ravish our thoughts up from hence and that is the the promises of the Gospel where we behold Heaven open and those eternal Joyes revealed there which have lain hid ever since the foundations of the Earth If there were one that killed himself at reading Plato's immortality of the Soul If it be true that there are yet some Heathens who usually make away themselves upon no other account but because they would be in heaven If natural Reason can cast meer Gentiles into such admiration of that Bliss What will you say to St. Paul who was wrapt up alive into the Third Heavens and saw what the Saints enjoyed above though he could not express it when he came back with what scorn do you think he trod upon the ground afterwards when the Angel set him down again here Who was fain to have a thorn run into 2 Cor. 3. his flesh before he could find himself to be a Man can you imagine he would petition for liberty whose very body seemed a prison to him till he returned to Christ again Or would he sue for a supply to detain him from that which became his wish his dissolution how would you fret at him who should lengthen the race when you had almost won it or stake the prize yet farther off when you had almost caught it Just such a courtesie is it to relieve him who would dye any way that he might quickly enjoy his Saviour 't is but deferring and putting off his happiness the longer as if an unexpected supply should renew the fight then when we thought we had now gotten the day Take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink says Christ surely this precept is needless to the Matth. 6. 25. Disciples of Christ Me-thinks he should rather allay our desire then fear of death who do expect such great things after it Me-thinks he should rather advise us that we should not out of hasty longing to be in Heaven neglect the means of continuing our being in this life But O you of little faith to talk of the blessedness the Saints of God enjoy above and yet use the most base abject and sordid means to live here and to keep your selves from it If then we cannot apprehend the Apostles here as a necessitous person nor any way concern'd to prolong his days by shifting about for maintenance but rather obliged to leave this world as soon as he could that he might enjoy a better We must think of some other Reason why St. Paul entertain'd their Benevolence with such joy Which leads me to the Consideration under which he accepted their Liberality viz. for their sakes not his own But I desire fruit that may abound to your account c. Fruit as fruit of their Patience that they durst own one whom the world had not only laid by as useless but tyed up as dangerous and fruit of their Love that they would acknowledge him and fruit of their Constancie that they persevered still to admire the glory of the Gospel though clouded with so much opposition as the whole world had now set it up as a mark to shoot at and as the fruit of their Zeal for in sending part of their substance to supply him they gave testimony that they would part with the whole and lives and all to advance the Kingdom of Christ and lastly as fruit of his Ministery wherein he saw he had not run in vain suffered in vain or scattered his seed amongst stones or thorns for in this he perceived that neither the fears nor love of the world had choaked it because as he tells the Galatians they neither despised nor spued him up again Gal. 4. 14. as the word imports
Filiation Riches and the things of this world are not to be found in that Charter but an incorruptible Crown and eternal Life These later indeed are demised unto us by our new birth but the things of this world we hold by another tenure jure Creationis by the right of Creation as we are Men from him who hath made the earth and given it in possession to the children of men Therefore in the second place by this light of Nature we may condemn our selves when any bitterness towards our brother riseth in our hearts and allay or rather root it out with this consideration That it is inhumane and most unnatural That we cannot nourish it in our breasts and not fall from our creation and leave off to be Men. How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer saith the Prophet and cut down to the Isa 14. 12. ground How art thou fallen from being a minister of light to be a Prince of darkness from being so filled with the Grace of the Divinity to be a foul receptacle of malice from waiting on God in all his Majesty to be thrust down into the foulest pit there to be his executioner And how art thou faln O Man whosoever thou be that hatest thy brother from heaven for in earth there is no other heaven then what Love makes to hell it self to be a place for those foul spirits Malice and Envy to reign and riot in How art thou fall'n from thy conversing with Angels to wallow in bloud from the glory of thy creation to burning fire and to blackness and darkness and tempest from being a Man to be worse then the beasts that perish Oh what a shame is it to our royal and high discent Oh what a shame is it that Man who was formed and fashioned by the hand of Love by the God of Love by Love it self for it is Divine Love that laid the foundation of the World that breathed a soul into Man and stamped that image of God upon him that Man I say so elemented so composed so compassed about with Love should delight in war in variance and contentions that this creature of Love should be as a hot fiery furnace sending forth nothing but sulphur and stench but malice and the gall of bitterness that he who is candidatus Angelorum made to be a competitor with the Angels and in time to be equal to them made to be conformed with Christ and to be transformed into his image as the Apostle speaks should make himself a companion with Devils and for a malicious man though he be not possessed yet may be sure he carries a Devil about with him whithersoever he goes that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this honorable creature as Synesius calls Man should turn Savage should be a Beast nay a Devil to accuse deceive and destroy We use indeed to stand much upon our honor and repute But none can dishonour us more then our selves do even then when we are in our altitudes when we glory in our shame when one man hath trodden down another as the clay in the streets when we think our selves great men by making our brethren little when we contemn and despise hate and persecute them then in this height in this glory in this triumph we are the most despicable creatures on the earth in his sight who being the God of Love and having made us Men and linkt us together as Brethren cannot but look upon us as the basest and vilest creatures in the world when being grown savage we hate one another And further we carry not this consideration but pass now to view the Galatians as Brethren in that other capacity as they were Christians professing the same Faith Which our Apostle in this place might more particularly and especially mean For as they were Brethren by Nature so were they also by Grace and their coelestial Calling having one spirit one hope one faith one baptisme one calling being all brought out of the same womb of common Ignorance heirs of the same common salvation partakers of a like precious faith sealed with the same Sacraments fed with the same Manna ransomed with the same price comforted with the same glorious promises Et major fraternitas Christi quà m sanguinis saith the Father The Brotherhood we have by Christ is a greater and nearer tie then that we have by bloud or nature Hereupon Justine Martyr and Optatus have been so far charitable as to call Judaizing Christians and Donatists by the name of Brethren And we may observe that our Apostle who in all other his Epistles calleth them he writes to Saints To the Saints at Corinth To the Saints at Ephesus To the Saints at Coloss To the Saints at Philippi Grace be with you c. yet in this whole Epistle he never calls the Galatians Saints because from being Christs Disciples they had well-neer degenerated to be Moses 's Scholars and had joyned the Law with the Gospel Yet nevertheless though he will not honour them with the name of Saints yet he is very willing to call them Brethren as professing the same Christ though with an unsavory mixture and dangerous addition This may soon be gathered by any who will but take so much pains as to read this short Epistle And upon so plain an Observation as upon a foundation we shall build this Doctrine That there is such a relation such a Brotherhood betwixt all those who profess the same Faith that neither Error nor Sence nor Injury can break and dissolve it For if any or all of these had been of force enough to do it then certainly our Apostle would never have been so free as to have called the Galatians Brethren And first to Error though it have a foul aspect and bear a distastful and loathed name yet it carrieth no such monstrosity no such terror with it as to fright Brethren so far asunder as not to behold one another in that relation not to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace For if there were any such power about it the name of Brethren must needs be quite wiped out from amongst the children of men there being almost as many several opinions in the world as men and most of them erroneous For Man being subject to passion cannot improve his wisdom so far as to preserve it safe and untoucht of all errour So that no reason can be given but such as Uncharitableness or Ambition or Pride or Self-conceit use to frame and throw as fire-balls about the world to consume and devour all Brotherhood and these are no reasons but carnal pretenses why men may not be divided in opinion and yet united in charity why they may not draw opposite conclusions and yet conclude in peace why they may not have different conceptions and yet be of the same mind one towards another why they may not erre and yet be brethren For first Error may be the object of my Dislike but not of my
him This is to be like unto God and to be partaker of his spirit And to be Christs Disciple is to be one with him and to be ingrafted into him Here is the Christians highest pitch his Ascension his Zenith his Third heaven And therefore it is said to be a speech of Christ which the Nazarene Gospel hath recorded though our Bibles have not Nunquam loeti sitis nisi cum fratres in charitate videritis No spectacle of delight nothing that a Christian can take pleasure in nothing of virtue and power hath enough to raise a Disciples joy but to see his fellow-disciples his Brethren embracing one another in love For if the ground of all Pleasure be agreement and proportionableness to the temper and constitution of any thing then certainly nothing so agreeing so harmonical so consonant to our reasonable nature and to the ingenuity of our kind and consequently so universally delightful to all who have not put off the bowels and the nature of Man and are by the love of the world swayed and bended to a brutish condition as that which may as well go for a Reward as for a Duty the Loving of the Brethren that language of Love which we must practice here that we may chant it in heaven with the congregation of the first-born and the spirits of men made perfect by love eternally And indeed Charity is the prime ingredient of the glorified Saints Of whose state we understand no more but that they are in bliss and love one another and that they are for ever blessed because they for ever love one another Their Charity never faileth saith St. Paul and then their bliss is everlasting What is Paradise saith the Father but to love God and serve him And the best love we can shew him the best service we can do him is to love and serve the Brethren The end of the Gospel is love 1 Tim. 1. 5. that is other doctrine tendeth to strife and contention but the whole doctrine of the Gospel tendeth to love and unity So that no doctrine that naturally and of it self worketh wrath and uncharitableness can be Evangelical For the wisdome that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without judging James 3. 17. and without Hypocrisie Beloved Envy malice debate contention strife are the delight and joy of them who have tasted of the powers of no other world then of this which shall be consumed or rather they are the delight of the infernal spirits as it is a torment to them to be restrained from doing mischief Art thou come to destroy us to torment us before our time saith the unclean Spirit Art thou come to curb and hinder us from vexing and destroying those we hate for this is torturing this is sending them again into the deep confining them to their Luke 8. 31. Hell As the lower pit is said to be opened in the Revelation when they have liberty to vex and torment mankind so it is as much Hell to them not to punish others as it is to be punished And none but evil spirits and Men of their constitution and temper can make a Heaven in Hell it self by doing mischief And indeed Delight it is not properly but it is called so because it is proportionable and satisfactory to their malice and pernicious nature and disposition No if we hear LAETENTUR COELI Let the Heavens rejoyce it is because Peace is here on earth If we hear LAETENTUR ANGELI Let the Angels rejoyce it is for the tears and repentance of some sinner here below If we hear LAETENTUR SANCTI Let the Saints rejoyce it is in their union and communion in those mutual offices of bearing and supporting one another and as so many Angels by prayers and exhortations and by the reciprocal activity of their love lifting and conveighing one another into Abrahams bosome Thus we see that that love which makes and keeps us Brethren is the pleasantest thing in the world and that all other joy is no better joy then the Damned have in hell A Joy I must not call it A Complacency we may call it But that is too good a name It is the feeding the filling the satisfying the Malice of an ugly and malicious Fiend But in the next place we shall the sooner fall in love with this Love if Profit also be brought-in to commend and enhance the price and value of this Pleasure And here if we ask with the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What profit is there we may answer Much every manner of way For from this we have all those helps those huge advantages which are as so many heaves and promotions and thrustings forward into Happiness By my brother I may see that which before I could not discover He may clear up my Affections from storm and tempest and my Understanding from darkness and confusion of thoughts He may cast out infinitatem rei as the Civilians speak that variety that kind of infinity of appearances in which every thing useth to shew and present it self He may be as Moses said to Hobab to me instead of eyes to guide and direct Numb 10. 31. me by his counsel and providence By him I may hear as Samuel did for Ely what the Lord God will say By him I may feel and taste how gracious the Lord God is He may do those offices for me which the Angels of God those ministring Spirits cannot do because they have no body He may be my Servant and I may wait upon him He may be my Supporter and I may uphold him He may be my Priest and I may teach him He may be my Guard and I may protect him He may be my Angel and I may go with him and be his conduct He may be made all things to me and I may be made all things to him Thus we may grow up together in Grace for in this Nursery in this Eden in this Fraternity the nearer and closer we grow together the more we spread and flourish COMPLANTATI grafted together in the similitude of Christs Death and Rom. 6. 5. CONSEPULTI Buried together with him in Baptism and CONRESUSCITATI v. 4. risen together with Christ No Grafting no Burying Col. 3. 1. no Rising but together No profit no advantage no encrease but in love Speaking the truth in love we grow up into him in all things Eph. 4. 15 16. which is the Head even Christ By which the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted as a House by that which every joynt supplyes by that spirit and juyce which every part conveighs according to the effectual working in the measure of every part according as it wants sustentation and increase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the body which is the Brotherhood may be edified that is more and more instructed and improved by mutual love and the duty and offices of Charity which
Rain upon the grass Nescio quomodo tangimur tangi nos sentimus We are water'd with this rain and we know not how We feel the drops are fallen but how they fell we could not discern And we are too ready to ask with the Virgin Mary How cometh this to pass But the Angel nay God himself telleth us The Holy Ghost doth come upon us and the power of the Most High overshadows us and that Holy thing which is born in us shall be called the Son of God Non deprehendes quemadmodum aut quando tibi prosit profuisse deprehendes That the power of Gods Grace hath wrought we shall find but the retired passages by which it hath wrought are impossible to be reduced to demonstration Res illic geritur nec videtur The Rain is fall'n and we know not how We saw not Christ when he came down but it is plain that he is come down And he comes down not into the Phansie alone That commonly is too washy and fluid of it self and brings forth no better a Christ then Marcions a Shadow or Phantasme Nor into the Understanding alone For thither he descends rather like Light then Water and he may be there and the grass not grow He may be there only as an absent Friend in his picture But he commeth down in totum vellus into the whole fleece into the Heart of man into the whole man that so he may at once conceive Christ and yet be presented a pure and undefiled Virgin unto Christ and be the purer by this new conception And he cometh down in totam terram upon all the ground upon the whole Little World of Man that so he may be like a well-water'd Garden even a Paradise of God A strange Jer. 31. 12. complaint the world hath taken up yea rather not a complaint but a pretense a very cloak of maliciousness to hide our sins from our eyes That Christ doth thus come down but at pleasure only sometimes and but upon some men some who like Mary are highly favour'd by God and call'd out of all the world nay chosen before the world was made And if the earth be barren it is because this Rain doth not fall As if the Grace of God were not like Rain but very Rainie indeed and came down by seasons and fits and as if the Souls of men were not like the Grass but were Grass indeed not voluntary but natural and necessary Agents Thus we deceive our selves but we cannot mock God His Grace comes not down as a Tempest of Hayl or as a destroying Storm or as a Floud of many Waters overflowing but as Rain or Drops He poureth it forth every day and renews it every morning And he would never question our barrenness and sterility if he did not come down nor punish our unfruitfulness if he did not send Rains If before he came into the world this Rain might fall as it were by coasts in Judaea alone yet now by the virtue of his comming down it drops in all places of his Dominion Omnibus aequalis omnibus Rex omnibus Judex omnibus Deus Dominus As he came to all so he is equal and indifferent to all a King to all a Judge to all and a God and a Lord to all And his Grace manat jugiter exuberat affluenter flows continually and falls down abundantly Nostrum tantùm sitiat pectus pateat Let our hearts lye alwaies open and the windows of Heaven are alwaies open let us continually thirst after righteousness and this Dew will fall continually Let us prepare our hearts let us make them soft as the Fleece let us be as Grass not Stubble as Earth not Brass and the Son of God will come down into our hearts like rain into the fleece of wooll or mowen grass and like showers that water the earth And now we have shewed you this threefold Descent We should in the next place contemplate the effect which this great Humility wrought the Fruit which sprung upon the fall of this gracious Rain upon Gods Inheritance the Spring of Righteousness and the Plenty of Peace and the Aeternity of them both But I see the time will not permit For conclusion therefore and as the present occasion bespeaks me I will acquaint you with another Descent of Christ into the blessed Sacrament I mean into the outward Elements of Bread and Wine Into these also he comes down insensibly spiritually ineffably yet really like Rain into a fleece of wooll Ask me not how he is there but there he is Eia fratres ubi voluit Dominus agnosci In fractione panis saith St. Augustine O my brethren where would our Saviour discover himself but in the breaking of bread In his Word he seems to keep a distance and to speak to us saith the Father by way of Letter or Epistle but in the Sacrament of his Body and Bloud he communicates himself that we who could not see him in his flesh may yet eat that flesh we cannot see and be in some kind familiar with him I need not busie my self in making the resemblance Theodoret in one of his Dialogues hath made up the parallel between the Incarnation of Christ and the Holy Sacrament In Christ there are two Natures the Divine and the Humane and in the Sacrament there are two Substances the heavenly and the earthly 2. After the union the two Natures are but one Person and after the consecration the two Substances make but one Sacrament 3. Lastly as the two Natures are united without confusion or coalition of either in Christ so in the Sacrament are the Substances heavenly and earthly knit so together that each continueth what it was The Bread is bread still and the Body of Christ is the body of Christ and yet Christ is the Bread of Life and the Bread is the body and the Wine the bloud of Christ It is panis Domini the Bread of the Lord and panis Dominus the Lord himself who is that living Bread which came down from Heaven And to a believing John 6. 51. Virgin soul Christ comes nearer in these outward Elements then Superstition can bring him beyond the fiction of Transubstantiation For as he by assuming our Nature was made one with us made flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones so we by worthily receiving his flesh and his bloud in the Sacrament are made one with him even partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. Per hunc panem ad Dei consortium preparamur saith Hilary By this Bread we are united to him here and made fit to be with him for ever And to drink this Cup the Bloud of Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Clemens to be made partakers of the incorruptibility of God And now to conclude This quiet and peaceable committing of Christ to us should teach us the like behaviour one to another For shall he come down like rain and shall we fall like
teach us that all this may be done without malice or rancor to their persons whose error we strive against and that the Lords battles may be fought without shedding of bloud Surely Meekness is the best Director in these wars where he gains the greatest conquest who is overcome The Physician is not angry with him whom he intends to cure but he searcheth his books and useth his art and all diligence morbum tollere non hominem to remove the disease and not to kill the man How much more should we be careful how we handle our weak and erring brother lest we make him weaker by our rough and unskilful usage and cure him indeed but in the Tyrant's sense in Suetonius who boasted he had done a cure when he cut off a mans head or otherwise put him to death who had offended him We read that Paul and Barnabas were at some difference about the choice of their Acts 15. companion the one determined to take Mark with them the other thought it not good From whence sprung that paroxysme as the Evangelist terms it which divided them the one from the other Yet St. Hierom will tell us Quos navigatio separavit hoc Christi Evangelium copulavit Though they sailed to several Coasts yet they were both bound for the same negotiation even the preaching of the Gospel Paul withstood Peter to his face yet in Gal. 2. 11. the same Chapter he calls him a Pillar of the Truth A Father may differ from his Son and the Wife from the Husband in opinion yet this difference breaks not the bond of that relation which is betwixt them but the Father may nay must perform the office of love and the Son of duty And why may not Christians be diversly perswaded in some points of Religion in earth and yet the same Heaven hold them both That which deceives us are those glorious things which are spoken of Zeal We read of Phinehas who was blest for thrusting his Javelin through the adulterous couple of the austerity of Elijah the zeal of Simon the Canaanite the severity of Peter which struck Ananias and Sapphira dead the constancy of Paul who struck Elymas the Sorcerer blind And we are told Non est crudelitas pro Deo pietas That in God's cause the greatest piety is to be cruel But we willingly mistake our selves for neither here is the cause alike nor the person the same We know not of what Spirit we are Every man is not a Phinehas an Elijah a Paul a Peter Nor did Elymas loose his sight and Ananias his life for their errors but for their witchcraft and grand hypocrisie Nor are times the same We cannot but commend Zeal as an excellent quality in man but as Agarick or Stibium being prepared and castigated are soveraign Physick but crude and unprepared are dangerous so Zeal which so many boast of seasoned with discretion is of singular use and profit but taken crude and in the Mineral it oft-times proves deleterial and unfortunate Zeal is a light but by occasion it troubles the eye of the understanding and being by degrees enraged by our private ends and phansies at last it puts it quite out and leaves us fighting in the dark 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unlearned Zeal and supine Negligence are both so bad that it is not easie to determine which is worst only Negligence lets inconveniencies slily steal into the Church but unguided Zeal much plies those errours which Negligence letteth in and as if error were indeed a Hydra it never strikes off the head of one error but two arise in the place And therefore St. Bernard in his forty ninth Sermon on the Canticles will tell us Semper zelus absque scientia minùs utilis invenitur plerumque etiam perniciosus sentitur Zeal without knowledge is alwaies unprofitable many times most dangerous And therefore the more hot and fervent it is and the more profuse our Charity with the more care and diligence should we set our Knowledge and Reason as a Sentinel quae Zelum supprimat spiritum temperet ordinet charitatem which may abate and cool our Zeal temper our spirit and compose and order our Charity For if we do not keep our souls with diligence and carry a strict and observant eye upon our Zeal our Meekness will be consumed in this fire and with it the whole crop and harvest of spiritual Wisdom lost We shall be heady and high-minded lovers of our selves unwilling to pardon one error to our brethren and to acknowledge any of our own This is it which hath been the mother and nurse too of all those outrages in the Church of Christ that Story hath transmitted to Posterity and those too which later and our present times have been too guilty of that men will neither subscribe to the opinion of others lest they may be thought not to have found the Truth but have borrowed it nor will yet retain so much meekness as to give their brother leave to erre but when they cannot convince him by Argument fall heavy upon him with Reproach A fault sometimes in him that errs and sometimes in him who holds the truth the one obstinate the other indiscreet both ready to maintain with violence what they cannot perswade by reason The Arians betook themselves to this guard and called in the temporal Sword to defend their Cause against the Orthodox and when they could not prevail by Argument they made use of outward force And so this faction saith the Father plainly shewed quà m non sit pia nec Dei cultrix how destitute it was of piety and the fear of God The Donatists stiled themselves filios Martyrum the off-spring of Martyrs and all other Christians progeniem traditorum the progeny of those who basely delivered up the sacred things They broke the Chalices demolisht the Altars ravisht Virgins and Matrons flung the holy Eucharist to the Dogs slew those who were not of their faction beat down the Bishop Maximinian with batts and clubs even as he stood at the Altar and did those outrages on Christians which Christian Meekness would have forbidden them to commit on a Jew or Infidel the Monks of Aegypt were indeed devout and religious men but for the most part Anthropomerphites holding that God had hands and feet and all the parts that a Man hath and was in outward shape and proportion like unto one of us That having got Theophilus a learned Bishop of Alexandria into their hands so roughly used him that he could not get out of their fingers till he made use of his wits and sophistry and told them in a kind of complement that he had seen their face as the face of God Nor did this evil rest here amongst the vulgar and discontented persons quibus opus erat bello civili as Caesar spake who could not subsist but in times of noise and hurry but it blasted the fairest plants in all the Church
they do well to be angry even to death but not at their sin of themselves but their brethren For Meekness and cruelty cannot harbor in the same breast Nor will it come near the habitations of Covetousness Ambition and Hypocrisie for where these make their entrance Meekness takes the wing and flyes away Therefore to conclude let us mark these men and avoid them as the Apostle counsels And though they bring us into bondage though they smite us on the face though they take from us all that we have let us pity them and send after them more then they desire our prayers that God will open their eyes that they may see the snare of the Devil which holds them fast while they defie him and all his works and what a poor and narrow space there is betwixt them and Hell while they think they are in the presence and favour of God In a word though they curse let us bless though they rage let us pray and as the Apostle counsels Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from us with all Eph. 4. 31 32. malice And let us be kind and meek one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us The Third SERMON PART III. MATTH V. 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth WE cannot insist too long upon this subject yet we must insist longer then at first we did intend For this holy oyl like that of the Widows increaseth under our hands and flows more plentifully by being powred out That which our last reached unto you was the Object of Meekness which we found to be as large as the whole world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Paul Let your moderation be known unto all men For Meekness is not cloyster'd up within the walls of one Society nor doth it hide it self behind the curtains of Solomon but looks further upon the tents of Kedar upon Bethel and Bethaven We could not nor was it necessary to gather and fetch in all particulars but we then confined our meditations to those which we thought most pertinent and within their compass took in the rest which were Error in opinion and which is the greater error nay the greater heresie saith Erasmus Error in life and conversation Where we took off those common pretenses and excuses which Christians usually bring in as Advocates to plead for them when they forget that Meekness without which they cannot be Christians For what is in Error or in Sin which may raise my anger against my brother Errantis poena est doceri saith Plato If he erre his punishment is to be taught and if he sin we must molest and pursue him and beat upon him with line upon line with reprehension upon reprehension till we convert him If he erre why should I be angry and if he sin why should I hate him The way to uphold a falling House is not to demolish it nor is it the way to remove Sacriledge to beat the Temple down When we fight against Sin and Error we must make Christ our patern qui vulnus non hominem secat qui secat ut sanet who levels his hand and knife against the disease not against the man and never strikes but where he means to heal And now to add something which the time would not before permit Let us but a while put upon our selves the person of our adversaries and ours upon them and conceive it as possible for our selves to erre as for them and if we do not thus think we fall upon an error which will soon multiply and draw with it many more For we cannot erre more dangerously then by thinking we cannot erre And then to this let us joyn a prudent consideration of those truths wherein we both agree which peradventure may be more and more weighty then those in which we differ that so by the lustre and brightness of these the offence taken by the other may vanish as the mist before the Sun For why should they who agree in those truths that may lift them both up together to Heaven fall asunder and stand at distance as enemies for those which have no such force and activity This is to hazard the benefit of the one for the defense of the other and for the love of a truth not necessary to abate our love of that which should save us to forfeit our Charity in a violent contention for Faith and so be shut out of Heaven for our wild and impertinent knocking at the gates Therefore in all our disputes and debates with those whom we are so ready to condemn of error let us walk by this rule which Reason and Revelation have drawn out to be our guide and direction That no Text in Scripture can retain the sense and meaning of the blessed Spirit which doth not edifie in Charity Knowledge puffeth up swelleth us beyond our sphere and compass but it is Charity alone that doth edifie which in all things dictates what is expedient for all and so builds us up together in a holy Faith We cannot think that Doctrine can be of any use in the Church which exasperates and envenoms one man against another It is St. Bernards observation And therefore Moderation and Meekness is that Salt which Christ requires to be in us that wise and prudent seasoning Mark 5. 90. of our words that purging of our affections amongst which Ambitions and Envyings are the most violent Have this salt in your selves and then as it follows you shall have peace one with another And this Peace will beget in you a holy emulation to work out your eternal peace together with fear and trembling Secondly for Sin why judgest thou thy brother or so much forgettest that name as to be enraged against him The judgment is the Lord's who seeth things that are not as if they were What though he be fallen upon a stone and sore bruised he may be raised again and be built upon that foundation which is sure and hath this zeal The Lord knoweth who are his This open Profaner may become a zealous Professor this false witness may be a true Martyr this Persecutor of the Church may at last be a glorious member of it and a stout Champion for the Truth He that led the Saints bound to Jerusalem did himself afterwards rejoyce in his bonds and suffer and dye for that truth which he prosecuted The Apostle where he erects a kind of discipline amongst the Thessalonians thus 2 Thess 3. 14. draws it forth If any man obey not our word that is be refractory to the Gospel of Christ have no company with that man that he may be ashamed that seing others avoid him he may be forced to dwell at home to have recourse unto himself to hold colloquy with his own soul and to find out the plague in his heart which makes him thus like a Pelican in
Isa 11. 6. the Kid and the Calf with the young Lyon but it is when they are so cicurated and tame that a little Child shall lead them It is true the visible Church is made up of both For not only without as St. John speaketh but within are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murtherers and idolaters Rev. 22. 15. as there were in the Ark of Noah both clean and unclean beasts In this Church is Cain as well as Abel Esau as well as Jacob Judas as well as Peter but they are no parts of that general Assembly no parts of the Church of the first-born which are written in heaven nor to be numbred amongst the spirits of just men made perfect That part of the Church which is thus militant in Earth shall never be triumphant in heaven Cruel Dives shall never be seen in Abraham's bosom nor the bloud-thirstie man in his armes who shed no bloud but his own and that for the sins of the world The Church which shall be saved was not planted in bloud or if it were it was in the bloud of a Lamb. It was built upon the Faith of Peter not upon his Sword When he used his sword he was commanded to put it up but his Faith was to be published to the whole World And if he had any grant or title to be the Head of the Church it was not for cutting off Malchas's ear but for laying down his own life for the Faith Many Notes have been given of the true Church by those who acknowledge none but their own notes which shew her not Multitude of true believers Why the number is but small Infallibility It is an error to think so Antiquity The Church that is now ancient was once new and by this note when it was so it was no Church Continuance to the end of the world We believe it but it is no note for we cannot see it Temporal felicity This is oftner seen in the Tents of Kedar than at Jerusalem in a band of Souldiers than in the Church which winneth more conquests in adversity than in prosperity and worketh out her way to glory in her own bloud These are Notes quae nihil indicant which shew nothing Trumpets that give an uncertain sound But if I should name Meekness as a note of the true Church I should have a fairer probability to speak for me than they For meek men if they be not of the Church yet are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven But a meek Christian is entitled not only to the earth but to heaven also The Church is a Church though her Professours be but of yesterday and though they fall into error And though it be in tribulation yet still it is a Church yea it is never more glorious then in persecution But without meekness it cannot be a Christian Church no more then a man can be a man without a soul For Meekness if it be not the essence of the Church yet is a property which floweth from its very essence For that Faith is vain which leaveth malice or rancour in the heart A Christian and a Revenger if they meet together in the same person the one is a Box of poyson the other but a title Again in the second place our Reason will tell us that Meekness is most proper to Christianity and the Church because humane Reason was too weak to discover the benefit the pleasure the glory of it Nor was it seen in its full beauty till that Light came into the world which did improve and sublime and perfect our Reason To humane Reason nothing can seem more unreasonable more unjust then To love an enemy To surrender our coat to him that hath stript us of our cloak To return a blessing for a reproach and anoint his head with oyl who hath stricken us to the ground This is a new Philosophy not heard of on earth till she was sent down from heaven On earth it was A blow for a blow and a curse for a curse Dixerit insanum qui me totidem audiet If injuries be meted out unto us we mete them back again in full measure pressed down and running over Revenge is counted an act of Justice the Pythagoreans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reciprocation of injuries And what need any other law then our Grief or our Anger or where should Justice dwell but on the point of our Sword 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was the law of Rhadamanthus It is equity that he that doth should suffer what he doth and he that suffereth should return it in the same kind When those brethren in evil having slain Hamor and Shechem and spoiled their City were rebuked by their Father Jacob they were ready with this plea Should he deal with our Sister as with a Harlot No sooner is the blow given Gen. 34. 31. but the first thought is to second and return it and Nature looks upon it as upon an act of Justice In the world it goeth thus All Power and Dominion and Justice is tyed to the hilts of our Sword which if we can wield and manage dextrously with skill and success that which otherwise had been an injury is made a law The Turk to settle and establish his Religion as he first built it in bloud so giveth way to every thing that best sorteth with humane corruption to make it easie that men may not start back for fear of difficulties and as he wrought it out with his Sword so his best argument for it as it is most times in a bad cause is his Sword The Philosophers cryed down Revenge yet gave way to it chid their Anger yet gave it line thus far And both Tully and Aristotle approve it But Munit nos Christus adversus Diaboli latitudines saith Tertullian Christian discipline is a fense to keep us from these latitudes and exspatiations and pointeth out to the danger of those sins which the Heathen commended for virtues Many indeed have dealt with these precepts of our Saviour as skilful cooks do by some kind of meats which of themselves are but harsh and unpleasant cooked and sawced them to make them savoury dishes For when we see our journey long and full of rubs and difficulties we phansie something that may both shorten and level it and make it more plain and easie then indeed it is Christ our Master is so great an enemy to Murder and would have us so far detest it that he hath not suffered us to be angry Now the interpretation is We must not be angry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without a cause And this emboldneth us to plead for our Wrath as Jacob's sons did when it is cruel and upon this very colour that there is good reason we should be angry For be the storm never so high be our anger never so raging yet we can pretend a cause and that cause we pretend as just otherwise we would not pretend it For who would pretend
vent it not in language to imagine I may vent so I do not strike and when I strike to comfort my self because anothers little finger is greater than my Loyns to commend the Rod because it is not a Scorpion to say of those sins which surprise me because I do not fear them as Lot did of Zoar Are they not little ones may I not commit them and yet my soul live to make my Not doing of evil an apology for my Not doing of good my Not thrusting my Neighbour out of his own doors a sufficient warrant for my Not receiving him into mind to think that any degree of Meekness is enough is to forfeit all and loose my title to the inheritance of the earth It is I confess a sad observation but too manifestly true that if Meekness be a virtue so proper so essential to the Church then the Church is not so visible as we pretend but we must seek for the Church in the Church it self For if Meekness have yet a place it must be which is very strange in the hearts of men in the inward man For to the eye every hand is lifted up every mouth open and they who call themselves the Members of the Church are very active to bite and devour one another And it is not probable that their hearts should melt within them and their bowels yearn whose mouths are as open Sepulchres and whose feet are swift to shed bloud Is Meekness a note of the Church Certainly we may distinguish Christians from the World by nothing surer then by Malice in which they surpass both the Turk and the Jew And where most is required least is found ODIUM THE OLOGORUM The Malice of Divines was in Luther's time a Proverb but now the Proverb is enlarged and will take in the greatest part of Christendome The Papist breatheth nothing but curses and Anathema's and maketh his way with sire and sword where Reason and Religion shut him out Others who are no Papists yet are as malicious and bloudy as they and persecute their Brethren under that name call them Papists and spoil them as the Heathen did of old who put Christians into the skins of Beasts and with Dogs baited them to death If you think not if you act not if you look not if you move not as they do you are a child of perdition devoted to ruine and death If you preach any other Doctrine then that which they receive then you are accursed though you were an Angel from Heaven Forgive you that were a sin not to be forgiven Heaven and Earth shall pass away rather then one tittle and jot of what they have set up shall fail I have much wondred with my self how men could so assure themselves of Heaven and yet kindle such a Hell in their breasts how they could appropriate a meek Saviour to themselves and even claim him as their peculiar as the Heathen did their Deities and yet breathe nothing but hailstones and coles of fire how they should call themselves Evangelicos the only Gospellers and yet be such strangers such enemies to that virtue which is most commended in the Gospel how they should forgive none on earth and yet so boldly conclude that their pardon is sealed in Heaven that they should expect so much mercy from that God whom they proclaim so cruel as to damn men as they destroy their Brethren for no other reason but because he will I cannot here but wonder and lament and pray that this malice of their heart may be forgiven them for we cannot but perceive that they in the very gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity And I bespeak you as our Saviour did his Disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees For if a little leaven will leaven the whole lump what will such a lump of malice do Even infect the whole body of your Religion Your Hearing your Prayers your Fasts will taste of bloud Let us then mark and avoid them Let us devest our selves not of all power but of all will to hurt Let that alway sound in our ear which is as good Gospel as That Christ died for the World That if we forgive not we are in the number of Unbelievers and are condemned already Let us reserve nothing to our selves but that which is ours Meekness and Patience and leave to God that which is his Judgment and Retribution Commit all Jovi Vindici to the God of Revenge For he is the best Umpire for our patience If we put our injury into his hands he is our revenger if our loss he can restore it if our grief he is our Physician if our death he can raise us up again Quantum mansuetudini licet ut Deum habeat debitorem Lord what a power hath Meekness which maketh God our debtour for our losses for our contumelies for our reproaches for our death for all who hath bound himself to repay us with honour with riches with advantage with usury with the inheritance of the earth and with everlasting life The Fourth SERMON PART IV. MATTH V. 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth I Have bestowed many words upon this Virtue of Meekness But I have not yet said enough neither indeed can I licèt toto modio dimensum darem as he speaketh though I should give it you out by the bushel full measure pressed down and running over Nunquam nimis dicitur quod nunquam satìs discitur We cannot repeat that Lesson too often which we can never be so perfect in as we should And he certainly is no friend to Meekness who is impatient at her name though it sound never so often in his ear For can he love Meekness that is afraid of her picture and description Or can he stand out the shock of those evils which wait upon and follow every motion of his life who cannot bring a few hours patience to hear of that virtue which is the only buckler to quench those darts I would I could give you her in a full and compleat piece the whole Signature every line all her Dimensions I would I could present her naked before your eyes in all her rayes with all her beauty and glory her power in conquering her wisdom in defeating those injuries which press hard upon yea overthrow and triumph over all the power and policy of the world that so you might fall in love with her and fasten her to your souls and make her a part of them For then indeed we should see concurrere bellum atque virum every man strong against a battaglia every man chasing his ten thousand we should see a meek soul in contention with the world and by doing nothing treading it under foot And this we have attempted formerly to do but we have not done it in so full and fair a draugh as we desired Yet though you have not had the one half told you you have heard enough to move you with the Queen
of Sheba to draw near unto it and prove it in your selves And when you shall have practiced it in your selves you will say it was true indeed that you heard but you will feel more then you have heard or could hear by report We will therefore yet awhile longer detain you You have beheld the face of Meekness in her proper Subject which is every private man and in her proper Object which is as large as the whole world and takes in not only the Israel of God but the Amorite the Hittite the Amalekite not only the Christian but the Turk the Jew and the Pagan any man that is subject to the same passions any man that can suffer any man that can do an injury For Meekness runs round the whole circle and compass of mankind and binds every evil spirit conjures down every Devil she meets with Lastly we presented unto your view the Fitness and the Applicableness of this virtue to the Gospel and Church of Christ and told you that it is as it were the very breath of the Gospel the echo of that good news the best gloss and comment on a silent weeping crucified Saviour the best explanation of his last Prayer Father forgive them For the notes and characters of a Christian as they are described in the Gospel are Patience are easie putting up and digesting of injuries Humility a preferring of all before our selves And St. James tells us that the wisdom which is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated where he giveth the first place unto Purity It would be a sin almost to compare Christian virtues together and make them strive for precedency and place yet he that shall mark how every where the Scripture strives to commend unto us Gentleness and Meekness and that Peace is it quam nobis Apostoli totis viribus Spiritûs Sancti commendant as Tertullian speaks which the Apostles endeavour with all the strength and force of the Holy Ghost to plant amongst us might be bold a little to invert the words of St. James and read them thus The wisdom which is from above is first peaceable gentle easie to be intreated then pure For the Son of God who is the Wisdom of the Father and who for us men came down from above first and above all other virtues commended this unto the world At his birth the Song of the Angels was Peace on earth and Good-will towards men All his Doctrine was Peace his whole life was Peace and no man heard his voice in the streets And as Christ so Christians For as in the building of Solomons Temple there was no noise of any hammer or other instrument of iron so in the spiritual building and frame of a Christian there is no sound of any iron no noise of weapons nothing but Peace and Gentleness and Meekness Ex praecepto fidei non minùs rea est Ira sine ratione suscepta quà m in operibus legis Homicidium saith Augustine Unadvised Anger by the law of Faith and the Gospel is as great a sin as Murder was in the Law of Moses Thus you have seen how proper Meekness is to the Gospel and Church of Christ Now in the last place we shall draw this Virtue forth to you as most necessary to the well-being not only of a Church but of every particular member of it necessary to lift us up to the Reward the inheritance of the earth Which whither you take for that Earth which is but earth or that Earth which by interpretation is Heaven ad omnia occurrit mansuetudo Meekness reacheth both both the Footstool and the Throne of God it gives us title to the things below and it makes us heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven Without this we can have no mansion in Heaven nor any quiet and peaceable possession of the earth And thus with our last hand we shall set you up that copy which you may draw out in your selves For Meekness in character in leaves of paper in our books is rather a shadow than a picture and soon vanisheth away but being drawn out in the soul and practice of a Christian it is a fair and lasting piece even the image of Christ himself which the Angels and God himself desire to look upon And with these we shall exercise your Christian Devotion at this time And first Meekness may seem most necessary to Christians if we consider the nature of Christianity it self which stands in opposition to all other Professions in the world confutes the Philosopher silenceth the Scribe strikes Oracles dumb cryes to every man in the world to go out of it Behold saith our Saviour to his Disciples I send you forth as sheep in the Matth. 10 16. midst of wolves which will tear you to pieces for no other reason but because you are sheep It is a disease very incident to men to be jealous of every breath which blows in opposition to that which they have already received to swell against that which is contrary to them and though it be true to suspect it to wonder what it should mean to be troubled and affraid of it as Herode and all Jerusalem were when the new Star appear'd and though it be as visible to any wise man as the Star was in the East yet to seek to put it out or if they cannot to destroy those over whom it stands And therefore Tertullian tells us Cum odio sui coepit that Christianity was hated as soon as known and did no sooner shew it self in the world but it found enemies who were ready to suppress and cast it out men that could hate it for no other reason but because it taught to love that could be angry with the Christian because he was meek and destroy him because he made it his profession to forgive men who counted Revenge no sin as the ancient Grecians did sometimes Theevery because it was so commonly practis'd amongst them Again as it was planted in rerum colluvie in the corruption of men and manners so it doth in a manner bid defiance to the whole world It tells the Jew his Ceremonies are beggerly the wise man of this world that his Philosophy is but deceit and his wisdom madness It plucks the Wanton from the harlots lips tumbles down the Ambitious from his pinacle disarms the Revenger strips the Rich. It writes over the Rich mans Gates Blessed are the poor over the Doctor 's Chair Where is the disputer of this world over the Temple NON LAPIS SUPER LAPIDEM That not a stone shall be left upon a stone which shall not be thrown down For a NON OCCIDES it brought down a NE IRASCARIS and made Anger Murder for a NON MAECHABERIS a NON CONCUPISCES and made Desire adultery It brought down sin to a look to a thought and therefore no marvell if there arose against Christians tot hostes quot extranei as many enemies as there were Heathen or Jews
the next place as the observance of this duty hath promoted the Gospel so the neglect of it hath hindred the growth of Christianity and made those rents and schisms in the Church which good men may lament with tears of bloud but the wisest cannot make up again with all their care and endeavour which most times we see in stead of closing and healing such wounds do make them wider then before We see the undiscreet and unseasonable defense of the truth doth but call in more company to side with the opposer draws down even Zelotes themselves to an indifferency in which they do not long stand wavering but soon fall into error It is not noise but silence that prevaileth It is not the rough but tender hand that binds up these wounds It is not power nor subtilty of wit not disputation nor consultation not the tongue of the eloquent nor the pen of the ready writer which can compose these differences in the Church We cannot but observe that after all the labour and travel of the learned there is yet Altar against Altar Religion against Religion and Christ against Christ and the wounds the Church hath received bleed still afresh and are every day more inflamed more incurable What have all our prisons and whips and fire and sword done What one hair have they added to the stature of Christianity Is she not rather contracted and shrunk Is she now of so large a size and proportion as she was in her infancy and cradle Is she as powerful in her Catholick extent and universality as she was in a few Fishermen Certainly the best balm is this Wisdom of our Saviour by which we are directed to forgive injuries and errors to yield so far to our brethren as not to hate them not to be angry with them because they are not of our opinion The want of this temper of this softness and sweetness of disposition was the true Mother of Schisme which Meekness hath not edge enough to make It is but taking it up again and all this business will be at an end and conclude in peace Yet do I not here derogate from Counsels or Disputations These are the means appointed by God himself to settle men who doubt We must consult before we give sentence and he that instructs disputes No these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pillars and tropheys where all Heresies are hung up engraven and shewen openly to the Sun and the People I know they may be Antidotes against the poyson of the Serpent who is as ready to cast his mist about the Understanding part as to infect the Will and I may subscribe to that of Isidore Ideo Christi veritas in diversas haereses est scissa c. That Origin 6. Christianity had formerly been divided into so many Sects because before the times of Constantine and those halcyon-dayes the Bishops durst not meet together to consult This indeed may be a reason but not all the reason which may be given For even in Constantine's time did the Arian Heresie shew and vaunt it self and after the Council of Nice so famous over the world did so prevail that it was a doubt which way the Church did look and incline whether to the Arian tenents or the determination of that Councel because the Arians did almost equal the Orthodox in number and in eloquence and learning far exceed them Afterwards this Heresie was revived though with another name in the Origenists and not long after tot erant symbola quot professores there were almost as many Creeds as Professors And one main reason thereof I suppose was the want of Meekness and Moderation when the noyse and violence of the one party would not give the other so much leasure as to bethink themselves when men would raise tempests only for a thought which did not please them and most men were like Scaurus in the Oratour qui nullius unquam impunitam stultitiam transire passus est who would not suffer a soloecisme or any error to pass without a heavy censure when as Luther speaks for the omission of a syllable or of a letter they would novos infernos cudere make another Hell and devote their brethren to the Devil thundring out Anathema's one against the other which many times both deserved rather for their heat and bitterness then for their errors For the Church may erre but if she drive Charity and Meekness out of her quarters she is no longer a Church Ambition and Covetousness these break down her hedges and Malice is the wild Boare which destroyeth and eats up her grapes When this fire is once kindled in her bowels then ruit Ilium then her Pillars shake and she is ready to fall But as I remember I have spoken at large of this heretofore You see Beloved then that Meekness is necessary to the Church ad bene esse to keep its parts together from flying asunder and so to every Christian to keep him compact and at unity with himself and others But now in the next place I may say it is necessary to the very being of the Church as without which no man can be admitted into the Congregation of the first-born which are written in Heaven With wanton Christians that trifle away their souls and would walk to Heaven with earthly members and unwashen feet there is but unum necessarium one thing necessary and that is Faith which because it doth alone justifie we leave it alone naked and destitute or take it along with us as a comfort to us whilst we labour and sweat in a world of wickedness For what title to Heaven can the most Christians shew but this CREDO I believe The rest of the copy is Malice and Envy and Covetousness the black lines of reprobation Poverty and Mourning and Meekness are no part of their claim But let us look upon our Charter again and we shall find Meekness to be one of those paucissima necessaria of those few things necessary to give us right to our inheritance and that Faith is nothing is dead and so cannot give life if it do not work by Love even work out all our venom and malice and so leave us liable and open to receive reproaches and blows but without tongues or hands to return them as so many dead marks for every dart to stick in till by the power of Meekness they drop from us or by the hand of the highest are plucked out and shot back upon our enemies A truth so plain that I dare boldly say there is not a plainer in the whole Scripture For what can a guilty condemned person plead for himself that he should enter into this inheritance but forgiveness For this is the object of our Faith That God will be reconciled to us in his Son And then this is plain English I am sure That if we forgive God will also forgive us But if Mat. 6. 14 15. we forgive not men their trespasses neither
Grace doth not puff up but humble a man It shews him unto himself The more a man tasts of these spiritual vanities the greater is his hunger and he will leap for joy to eat them at any table Therefore it was a good rule of St. Hirome Omnium simus minimi ut omnium fiamus maximi Let us in our own opinion be the least of all and then we shall strive forward and forward and by a willingness to follow others example grow up to be the greatest of all This Self-conceit works in us a Prejudicate opinion and makes us undervalue and detract from the worth of our brother Which is the second hinderance We may see it in the Scribes and Pharisees They were forsooth Moses disciples and were swelled up with the thought of that chair As for Jesus he was not known unto them from whence he was And how crafty were they being cheated themselves to deceive others They buzze into the peoples ears that he was but the Carpenters Son that none of the rulers believed on him And so daily in themselves they encreased a willing and obstinate ignorance and at last not knowing him they crucified the Lord of life Therefore the Apostle speaking of the diversity of gifts and offices of the members of Christ gives this counsel In Rom. 12. 10. giving honor go one before another Our honor our preferment our precedencie is to honor our brother If we honor him for those good gifts which God hath bestowed upon him we shall strive to benefit our selves by them lumen de lumine accendere to light our candle at his to borrow of his lustre to sit at that heavenly fire which warms his breast When Naaman was to be healed of his Leprosie Elisha bad him wash himself seven times in the River of Jordan but at this the Syrian was wroth and his 2 Kings 5. thoughts were at home Abanah and Pharpar Rivers of Damascus were better with him then all the waters of Israel And if he after had not been better advised he had still remained and died a Leper Beloved if thy brother hath tasted of Gods graces If the river of God hath made his heart glad and God hath appointed that thou shouldst wash at this river that thou shouldst amend by his fruitful example and thou then esteeming him to be dry and barren thinkst of a fountain at home of thine own ability take heed that thou still retain not thy leprosie of sin take heed thou perish not in thy sin and that it may not truly be said of thee He that is a scholar to himself hath a fool to his master To this end let Charity possess thy heart that excellent gift of Charity quae se consiliis suis non credit which trusts not her self to her own counsels as Ambrose speaks which envieth not which thinketh not evil Whose contemplation blesseth it self with the 1 Cor. 13. Patience of Job the Sincerity of David the Courage of Nehemiah the Industry of Paul Which writes in our memories these good examples and teacheth us to turn them over every day Which will not suffer us to undervalue our brother but makes us nourish the least spark of goodness in him and if we can blow it and enliven it into a flame both in his breast and ours The third and last hinderance of Christian Imitation is spiritual Drowsiness The Schoolmen call it Acedia the Devils dormitory and sleepy potion by which each faculty of the soul is laid in a deep sleep so that though God call never so loud by his cryers the Preachers of his word by the open and visible examples of good men yet we hear not we stir not we walk not or if we do it is but like those that walk in their sleep our phansie is troubled and we know not whether we do or no. If we stir and move it is but like the Sluggard in the Proverbs to fold the hands to lye down and sleep again in sin like Eulychus in the Acts whilst Paul is a preaching whilst the example of good men is vocal we are fast asleep in danger to fall down and break our necks By this we suffer our souls to gather rust which should shine and glister with the continual exercise of good works which should be rub'd and furbished as it were with the frequent meditation of the good life of others By this we are utterly deprived of that great help in our warfare the Imitation of others Rowse then up your selves Beloved and remove this hindrance awake from this sleep and stand up Let the quire of Angels and the joyes of Heaven wake you Let the howling and gnashing of teeth the noise of the damned stir you As ye have heretofore drunk nothing but the top of the cup the sweet of sin so now take and drink the dregs of it that it may be bitter to your soul and that your spirit may be wounded and then yee will not be able to bear it then yee will stir and move and be active then yee will make use of the examples of good men and do any thing to be rid of this cup. Thus we have opened the door and removed the barr and are now as it were in the plain field in our walk In the second place we must take heed how we walk and observe the Rules of Imitation And first we must not take our patern upon trust no not St. Paul himself He brings it in indeed as a Duty Be yee followers of me but he adds 1 Cor. 11. 1. this direction as I am of Christ For in imitation besides the persons there is also to be considered saith Quintilian quid sit ad quod efficiendum nos comparemus what it is we must imitate in the persons We must no further follow them than they follow the rules of Art And he tells us of many in his age who thought themselves perfect Ciceronians if they could shut up a period with esse videatur Some there were quibus vitium pro exemplo erat saith Seneca who imitated nothing but that which was bad in the best It is so in our Christian profession We must view and try and understand what we are to imitate We must not make use of all eyes but of those only which look upon the Lord. We must not walk as it were upon other mens feet unless we know what paths they tread We must not follow all guides for some may be blind and lead us into the ditch To this end God hath bounded and limited us in our walks and drawn out as it were certain lines In the Scripture he tells thee Thus far shalt thou go Thus far shalt thou follow and no further If any do transilire line as as Tertullian speaks leap over the lines pass the limits thou must leave him there and keep within thy bounds All other waies are dangerous all others paths slippery all other imitation damnable This the Church of
which a Minister may be arraigned no Sermons more applauded then those that strike at the Ephod nothing that the peoples ears do more itch after or more greedily suck in than the Disgrace or Weakness of their leaders I will speak it and as Salvian spake in another case utinam mentirer I would to God in this I were a liar I would you might accuse I would you might justly reprove me no news more welcome especially to the wicked then that which carrieth with it the sin of a Teacher No calling more spurned I mean by the wisest then that of Priesthood As Job speaketh they whose fathers he refused to set with the dogs of his flock mockt him so the children of fools more vile then the earth make their Pastours their song and the greatest sinners the most debaucht sinners when they have outcries within them when they have a tempest within them when their conscience affrights them with doleful alarums will still the noise will becalm the tempest will drown the cryes with this breath with this poysonous blast with a defamation of the Messengers and Ministers of the Lord. But let these men know that a day will come when no excuse shall lull them asleep when their conscience shall awake them when the billows shall rise higher when the tempest shall be louder when the cry shall be more hideous when they shall know that though God will require their bloud at their Pastors hand yet it is a poor comfort to them to dye in their sin whenas he shall be punished for giving and they for following a bad example But as this concerns most especially the Ministers of the Lord and those that serve at the Altar so in the next place it concerneth the people too and that nearly as nearly as the safety of their souls concerns them For Beloved the womb of Sin is not barren but she is very fruitful and brings forth too without sorrow or travel The Devil hath his Crescite multiplicate Increase and multiply It is enough for Sin to shew her self and be delivered And therefore most true it is Plus exemplo peccatur quà m scelere We sin more against God by example then by the sin it self Adultery whilst it lyes close in the thought is only hurtful at home but if it break forth into act it spreads its contagion and it seizeth upon this Christian and that Christian and in them it multiplies and like the Pestilence goeth on insensible invisible inavoidable If the father be given to that great sin of Taking Gods name in vain it will soon be upon the tongue of the little infant and he will speak it as his own language nay he will speak it before he can speak his own language before he knows whether it be a sin or no he will be as by birth so by sin a child It was held a miracle that Nicippus Sheep did yean a Lion and almost impossible it is that he should swear that never heard an oath before that the child should be like a Lion greedy of the prey and the father as innocent as a Lamb that so many should trace the paths of Death the broad way to Destruction without a leader Hence it is that in punishing of sin God looks not only with the eye of Justice upon it as it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression of the law but as it is exemplary as it hinders the edification of the body of Christ and the gathering together of the Saints and is the milstone that hangs upon the neck of the sinner and sinketh him not only for the particular sin it self but because he hath been an occasion of his brothers fall Thus then you see we must be careful in the performance of this duty in respect both of our selves and of others also of our selves in removing the lets and observing the rules of Imitation of others in so going before them that we lay not a stumbling-block for them in the way And thus much the general doctrine of Imitation implyed here hath afforded us Behold now the love of a good Father the tender care of our best Master He will not only set his best Scholars over us and teach us by others but he will read the lecture himself and be a patern for our Imitation And so I come to the more especial Object of Imitation here proposed and that is GOD Be yee followers of God The Soul of man as it takes not the infection of original sin before its union with the Body so makes the Body her minister as it were and helper to abate Corruption to keep down Concupiscence to make the shafts of the Devil less mortal She sees with the eyes and hears with the ears and reacheth forth the hands and walks with the feet But yet all this is an argument of weakness and imperfection that we stand in need of these helps that I must learn of him whose pedigree is the same with mine who is an Adamite as well as I who was conceived in sin as I was nay more that a rational and immortal creature must be sent to School to an Ox and an Ass nay to the Pismire Therefore Isa 1. 3. Prov. 6. 6. the Soul is then most her self and comes nighest to her former estate when forgetting the weight and hinderance of the body she enjoyes her self and takes wings as it were and soars up in the contemplation of God and his goodness cùm id esse incipit quod se esse credit as Cyprian speaks when she begins to be that which she must needs believe her self to be of a celestial and heavenly beginning When the inward man lifts it self up with the contempt of the outward then we are illuminated with blindness we are cloathed with nakedness we see without eyes we walk without feet we hear without ears and we encrease our spiritual wealth by not making use of those outward gifts which seem to enrich us Hence it is that God so often calls upon us to take up our thoughts from the earth and imploy them above and to have our conversation in heaven And to this end he speaks to us in Scripture after the manner of men and tells us that he is gracious and merciful and long-suffering And when he calls that cruel servant to account for pulling his fellow by the throat he condemns him by example O thou wicked servant I forgave thee all that debt because Matth. 18. 32 33. thou desiredst me Oughtest not thou also to have had pity on thy fellow-servant even as I had of thee Not that these virtues are in God as accidents To say this were to be blasphemous and to deny him to be God They are so indeed in Man and admit degrees of perfection and imperfection but in God they are essential He is Justice he is Mercy he is Truth he is Wisdom it self And therefore the Schoolmen call them as they are in God exemplares virtutes no
otherwise Virtues then as they are exemplary because these Divine virtues which are essential to him must be exemplary to us We must make him the rule of Goodness in all our actions we must be just to observe the Law valiant to keep down our passions temperate to conform our wills to the rule of Reason and wise to our salvation But there is no virtue that makes us more resemble God then this the Apostle here exhorts the Ephesians to and that is Mercy For although all virtues are in the highest degree nay above all degrees most perfect in him yet in respect of his creatures none is so resplendent as Mercy If thou callst him Health I understand thee saith St. Augustine because he gives it thee If thou call'st him thy Refuge it is true because thou fliest unto him If thou saist he is thy Strength it is because he makes thee strong But if thou namest his Mercy thou hast named all for whatsoever thou art thou art by his mercy His Goodness is infinite and looks over all even his Justice hath a relish of it It is extended unto the very damned for their torments are not so great as God could inflict or as they deserve And in respect of us it exceeds his Justice For his Justice hath a proportional object to work upon we being children of wrath and worthy of punishment but his Mercy hath none at all we deserve not to fly to its sanctuary to be covered under its wings When we lay weltring in our bloud there could no reason be given why God should take any of us out He did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. James because he would There were none then that could have interceded and pleaded for us as the Elders did for the Centurion They are worthy that thou Luke 7. shouldst do this for them Mercy is the Queen and Empress of Gods Virtues It is the bond and knot which unites Heaven and Earth that by which we hold all our titles our title to be Men our title to the name of Christian our title to the profession of Christianity our title to Earth our title to Heaven I could loose my self in this Paradise I could build a Tabernacle upon this Mount Tabor I could still look upon this Mercy-seat Even to speak of it is great light But from the contemplation of God's Mercy I must descend lower and lead you to the imitation of it and with the Apostle here exhort you to be followers of God to forgive one another to walk in love even as Christ loved us and when God reacheth out his hand of mercy to you not to draw in yours to your brother And here I see three paths as it were to follow God in three things required to this Imitation 1. the Act of Imitation it self 2. That this Act be performed ex studio imitandi out of a love of God's Mercy and a desire to imitate him 3. A Conformity of the act of imitation to the patern followed In the first place then as God forgiveth us so we must forgive our enemies It will not be enough to have Gods Mercies on our tongues or to speak of them with admiration with joy to go over the bridge and then pull it up to our brother We account him not a good Painter who can only commend a Picture and not use the Pencil himself to draw a line Neither is he fit to be governour of a ship that having past a tempest doth only praise the Pilate but scarce knows the Rudder himself Good God! what a soloecisme in Christianity is it to have a cruel heart and a tongue speaking nothing but Mercies to be in the gall of bitterness and most devilishly malicious and yet to cry out Taste and see how gracious the Lord is Hierome censureth Virgil for his Foelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas for calling him happy that knew the cause of things Apparet ipsum ignorâsse quod laudat He was ignorant and knew not that happiness which he commended So these merciless Patrons of Mercy ignorant quod laudant they praise they know not what They talk of Forgiveness and cloth themselves with malice Their tongue is smooth and their heart is rugged They speak in a still voice but in their breast is thunder Their words are more soft then butter but they think of swords In the second place as we must forgive so Gods Mercy must be the motive we must do it ex studio imitandi out of a desire to imitate God Not out of propension of nature out of meekness of disposition For we cannot say the child doth imitate his father in eating because eating is natural Not out of a Stoical affectation contumeliam contumeliae facere to think it revenge enough to beat off an injury with a witty jest Not out of love of peace and fear of trouble Nor lastly out of necessity therefore to forgive because thou canst not revenge Quod necessitas facit depretiat ipsa For as he told the Emperour that wearied Cruelty is not Clemency so an inability or an impossibility of revenge is not Mercy A Lion though within the grates is a Lion still as fierce as wild as ravinous as before and a Bear is a Bear still still greedy of blood though without a tooth without a paw Thou sayst thou doest forgive thy enemy with all thy heart But O quà m cuperes tibi ungues esse thou wantest but fangs thou wantest but ability to revenge If the lines were loosed and thy teeth sharp thou wouldst grinde thine enemy to powder thou wouldst triumph in thy revenge thou wouldst shew what thy Forgiveness was Though a wall be placed between thee and thy enemy that thy Artillery cannot reach him and thou canst not be revenged yet voto jugulasti as St. Hierome speaketh thou hast performed it in thy wish And thus to forgive Beloved is so far from following God that we run away from him God forgives not because he is not able to destroy thee No as Caesar once spake and nobly too Facilius est facere quà m dicere It was easier for him to be revenged than to talk of it So did not Gods Mercy restrain him he could with a word destroy the whole World He hath a Sword and Fire and a Quiver a glittering Sword a Sword that shall eat flesh and a Fire kindled in his wrath that shall burn unto the bottom of hell and a Quiver full of arrowes of arrowes that shall drink bloud yet he will in mercy sheath Deut. 31. his Sword he will quench his fire he will hide his arrowes in his Quiver that when we feel the operation of the sweet influence of his Mercy within our selves we may also with an upright and sincere heart derive it to our brother Lastly we must conform our Imitation to the Patern He with one act of mercy wipes out all scores so must we When he forgives our sins he is said to
Earth to Fortune that she would love us to the World that it would favour us and never thought of Gods Love 2. It is a Purging Love It washes away our corruption and filth and sets us upon our leggs that we may walk in love 3. It is an Overflowing Love nimia charitas as the Apostle speaks exceeding great too much Love larger then our Thoughts or our Desires passing our Understanding Sermo non valet exprimere experimento opus est Speech cannot reach it Experience must express it Feel it we may discourse of it we cannot 4. Lastly it is a Bountiful Love and it is Perpetual With an everlasting love have I loved thee saith God and He hath loved us and Jer. 31. 3. given us everlasting consolation and He hath prepared for his children a crown ◠Thess 2. 16 and they are heads destinated to a diadem saith Tertullian His common gifts his earthly goods quae nec sola sunt nec summa sunt which are neither the greatest goods nor yet alone but have alwaies a mixture and taste of evil he gives unto his bastard children as Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his Gen. 25. Concubines but the heritage to Isaac the Kingdom and the Crown to the children of promise Nay further yet His Love is there greatest where it appears least In our misery and affliction in the anguish of our soul when we think he frowns upon us and is angry his love attends and waits upon us his wings are over us we alwaies carry his protection about us Suppose it be an Asp or a Basilisk we shall walk upon it a Lion or a Dragon we shall tread it under foot a Red-sea it shall divide it self a hot fiery furnace we shall be bathed in it a Lions den thou shalt be as safe in it as in thy private Chamber Suppose it poyson it shall not hurt thee a Viper thou shalt fling it off the wittiest and most exquisite torment thou shalt not feel it For martyres non eripuit sed nunquam deseruit he took not the Martyrs from the stake but did he forsake them No his love was with them at the stake and in the fire And this heat of Love did so enflame them that the fire burnt not the rack tormented not because the pain was swallowed up in Love Nay all shall work for the best to the children of God Be they Afflictions We miscall them they are but tryals but lessons and sermons Be they tears he puts them in his bottel Be they enemies and that a mighty host Behold they that 2 Kings 6. be with us are mo then they that be with them The mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha Or if not our Patience is revenge and our Sufferance heaps coals of fire upon the head of our adversaries Be it the World We so use it that we may enjoy God saith St. Augustine Be it the Flesh by Gods power we beat it down Be it the Devil himself In striving to take away he encreases our glory Be it Death It is but a passage What though we be here in disgrace the very off-scouring of the world the by-word and song of the people accounted the cause of all evils as the Christians were in the primitive times no hail no great thunder no inundation but the Christians were accused for it what though we be never so vile never so contemptible in this world we are here strangers the world knows us not because it knows not God No marvel if a 1 John 31. King unknown in another Country be coursly or injuriously used because he is unknown and in another Country Let then the world esteem of Gods children as it please They are here in an unknown place peregrini deorsum cives sursum like mountains or high hills as Seneca speaks of his Philosopher Their growth and tallness appears not to men afar off but to those who come nigh At the Day of Judgment there will another account be made When God appears we shall be like unto him Then the note will be changed and the cry alter'd We fools thought their life madness and their end without honour but now they are counted amongst the children of Wisd 5. God and their portion amongst his dear Saints And are God's children dear unto him Sure this benefit hath a tye and this encrease of God's love calls for an increase of gratitude He expects that he should be dear to us For though God's love be not as Man's love negotiatio as Seneca speaketh a kind of a market-love with which we traffick and from it expect gain yet he expects that we should love him again Not that our Love can profit him but for our own sakes He will not love at randome he will not cast away his Love nor his Mite but he will have it repayed But if his ten Talents be laid up in a Napkin laid aside as not worth the using then his anger riseth and his indignation is high and he will not only take away his Talents but will bind thee hand and foot and cast thee into Prison and punish thee as an unprofitable servant It is so even with us Men. No wound greater to us then that which Ingratitude giveth If it bad been my enemy I could have borne it saith David but it was my familiar friend with whom I took sweet counsel that did me this wrong When Cassius and the rest set upon Caesar with their Poniards in the Senate-house he defended himself with silence but when Brutus struck he covered his face with his robe with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What thou my son Brutus That Brutus stab'd him this was the Steletto at his heart It is so with God We cannot offend him more then by unthankfulness Ingratum si dixeris omnia dixeris For in it are all sins Infidelity begets it and we cannot name a greater sinner then an Infidel A sin this is so hateful and detestable to God that we find him complaining to the Heavens and to the Earth of the Jews ingratitude Hear O Heavens and hearken O Earth Isa 1. for I have nourished rebellious children And he might well complain The Jews were his peculiar people culled out of the whole world graced with the Title of Populus meus They were his people his dear people like Gideons fleece full of the dew of heavenly benediction when all the earth was dry besides a Signet on God's right hand a Seal on his heart and as the Apple of his eye his Vineyard which he hedged about planted with the best plants built a Tower in the midst of it and spared no diligence to better it a Nation which he raised and increased and defended with wonders How can he then now bear with their ingratitude How can he be pleased with these wild grapes of Disobedience and Stubborness and Rebellion Surely as he hath threatned he will pluck off
Gods Messengers do lift up their voice like a trumpet against Sin and whip the vice of Security out of the Temple although our Pulpits ring and sound again with the Doctrine of Good works and not one of our Writers that ever I could see except some few hare-brained Lutherans did ever let fall from their quills one word that might prejudice the necessity thereof yet they cry out as men at great fires as yet were the only incendiaries and Religion were now a laying on the pile and the whole Christian world by us to be set on combustion It is true Beloved we could pay them with their own coyn we could cast before their eyes their Hay and their Stubble stuff fit for the fire their Indulgences and private Masses their Pardons for sins not yet committed pillows indeed and true dormitories to lay men asleep on But Recrimination is no remedy and Silence is the best answer to Impudence Our best way to confute them is by our practice as Diogenes confuted Zeno that believed there was no such thing as Motion by walking over the room So if Christ say unto us Your sins are forgiven you let us then take up our beds and walk Let him that lies on the bed of Security arise from that bed on the bed of Idleness awake from that sleep from that slumber and unfold his hands and stand up and walk before God in the land of the living For Beloved what are we believers are we faithful Why then we must nay we cannot chuse but be obedient For Faith and Assurance of forgiveness is the ground and foundation not only of Christian Charity but also of all other virtues of all true Obedience having its residence not only in the Understanding but also in the Will not floating in the brain but enflaming the heart and thereby gaining dominion and a kingdom over the affections Hence Faith is called obedience 2 Thess 1. 8. where Paul saith that there is a flaming fire provided for those who obey not the Gospel of Christ For as he obeys his Physician not who believes he is skilful but who observes his prescripts who takes the Recipe and is careful of his own health and his Physicians honor so he is truly faithful that obeys the Gospel of Christ who doth not only believe that Christ is a most able Physician of his soul and that the Gospel is the best Physick the best Purgation but he who takes this Physick although there be Wormwood or Gall or Aloes in it who embraceth and receiveth Christ being offered unto him although he bring grief and afflictions along with him who observes his rules although he prescribes Diligence and Industry and Carefulness who doth therefore the more hate Sin because it is forgiven him lastly who doth the more love God because through Christ he is made a son worthy to be beloved For as Seneca saith well Non est res delicata Vivere It is nothing of delicacy and delight to Live but even in this afflictions and sorrow will make us wish for death So it is not all pleasure all content to be a Christian There are thorns as well as roses there are the waters of Marah as well as those flowing with milk and honey there are sorrows within and fightings without there are the marks of Christ Jesus to be born there is a book of Lamentations like that of Ezekiels to be devoured Gal. 6. and digested too In thy way to Heaven there lies a sword saith Chrysostome and fire and contumelies and disgrace and thou canst not go about but this Sword must prick thee this Fire scorch thee these Disgraces light on thee And before thou go thy journey thy very bosome friends thy old acquaintance thy Sins are to renounced I have cast away all worldly desires saith Nazianzene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since I came to be of the order of Christ and to rank my self amongst Christians And Pity it is saith Cyprian that frons cum Dei signo pura that forhead which was signed with the sign of the Cross should ever be compassed about with the Devils Garland And The Apostles of Christ saith he were tryed by afflictions and torments and the Cross it self nè de Christo esset delicata confessio that the tryal might be solid and the confession then made not when there was a calm when the brim of the water was smooth and even not in the sun-shine but in the storm and tempest when Persecution raged and the Sword glittered and the Enemy was terrible This was the true tryal of a Christian And indeed Beloved the Gospel of which when we hear we think of mercy not of grace is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bitter-sweet a potion indeed and more cordial then we can imagine but not without its bitterness Nay further yet the Gospel holdeth us with a stronger bond then the Law For although it add nothing to the Law in respect of innovation as if that were defective yet it doth in respect of illustration and interpretation Our Saviour proposed non nova sed novè not new commands but after a new manner It was said of old Thou shalt not steal but thou mayest do this by denying an almes for that is furtum interpretativum theft by way of interpretation because thou keepest that from the poor man which is due unto him In the Law it is written Thou shalt not commit adultery under the Gospel an Eunuch may commit it for he may fabulari cum oculis as St. Augustine speaks And he who hath looked upon a woman to lust after her is guilty of this sin saith our Saviour The language of the Law was An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but now it is Good for evil Bless for a curse And plus lex quà m amisit invenit the Law was a gainer not a loser by this precept of Christ I say unto you Love your enemies Therefore the Schoolmen well call the Gospel onus allevians a lightning burden much like the Wing of a bird which maketh the bird heavier but yet it is that it flies with Beloved to shut up all in a word As he spake of Victory It is not gotten sedendo votis by sitting still and wishing for it so our spiritual Conquest flies not down into our bosome whilst we sit folding of our arms Nor will Balam's wish be the chariot to carry us to heaven Let me dye the death of the righteous Neither will the walls of Sin fall down with good desires with religious wishes as the walls of Jericho did with rams horns No the World is deceitful still and the Devil is a Devil still and we are yet in the flesh and a wonder it were that we alone amongst other Christians should tread the paths of life and never sweat in them that this way should be a way of bloud when the Apostles walkt in it and strowed with roses now for us Or can we expect
at Christs Matth. 20. 21 right hand the other at his left in his kingdome And can Christ do this and thus submit himself Can he be a King that thus pays tribute Some fit and pang of this distemper did no doubt trouble the Disciples minds at this time They had been often troubled with it and had sundry times discust amongst themselves as we have observed who should be the greatest And now upon this occasion seeing Christ bowing to Autority and submitting to them whom they thought he came to destroy the fire burned and they spake with their tongue Seeing the Lord of heaven and earth thus challeng'd for tribute and thus gently yielding to pay it they lost the sight of his Power in his Humility they forgot the miracle of the Money in the fishes mouth because it was tribute And being struck with Admiration they began to enquire what Honors and what degrees of Greatness were in his Kingdome which is his Church and observing the King of Heaven himself thus subject to command instead of learning Humility they foment their Pride they awake their Ambition and rowse it up to seek the glory of this world they are bold to ask him who was the Master and patern of Humility Who is the greatest in the kingdome of heaven This I take to be the Occasion of this Question And so I pass from it to the Persons who moved it The Disciples came unto Jesus And the Disciples we doubt not had been well and often instructed that the Kingdome of Christ was not of this world but spiritual yet the prejudicate conceit they had of the Messias did shut up their understanding against this truth the shape they had drawn in their minds of Christ made Christ less visible in his own shape So hard it is homini hominem exuere for a man to put off himself for a man that looks for a Pearl to interpret it Grace for a man that is ambitious of Honor on earth to look for it in heaven Such a damp and darkness doth Prejudice cast upon the minds and understandings even of the best men even of Disciples of Christ For the Devil fits himself to the nature and disposition of every man What he said of the Jesuite JESUITA EST OMNIS HOMO a Jesuite is every man to every man can apply himself to all humors all dispositions is most true of our common enemy Satan He is in a manner made all things to all men If he cannot cast us down into the mire of carnal and bruitish sin he is very active and cunning to lift us up on the wings of the wind and to whiff us about with the desire of honor and priority Etiam in sin◠discipulorum ambitio dormit saith Cyprian Ambition finds a pillow to sleep on even in the bosome of Disciples themselves There she lyes as in a shade lurks as in a bed-chamber and at last she comes forth and you may behold her raising of palaces and measuring out kingdomes and you may hear her asking of questions Who shall be the greatest Multimoda Satanae ingenia saith Hierome the craft of Satan is various and his wiles and devises manifold He knows in what breast to kindle Lust into which to breathe Ambition He knows whom to cast down with Sorrow whom to deceive with Joy whom to shake with Fear and whom to mislead with Admiration He searcheth our affections he fans and winnows our hearts and makes that a bait to catch us withal which we most love and most look upon He fights as the Father speaks with our selves against our selves he makes snares of our own desires and binds and fetters us up with our own love If he overcome us with his more gross tentations he insults but if he fail there he then comes towards us with those tentations which are better clothed and better spoken He maketh curious nets entangles our phansie and we strait dream of Kingdomes If our weakness overthrow us not tropheis triumphisque succumbemus saith the Father our own tropheys and triumphs shall destroy us Like a wise Captain he plants all his force and artillery at that place which is weakest and most attemptable We see the Disciples hearts were here weakest and here lay most open hither therefore the Devil directs his darts here he placeth his engines to make a breach So dangerous a vice is Ambition and so hard a thing it is even for good men for mortified persons for the Disciples of Christ to avoid it Who shall be the greatest they are not alwaies the worst men that put up that question Tully observes of the Philosophers that though they wrote books of the Contempt of Glory yet they would set their names to those books and so seek for Glory by oppugning it and even woo it in the way of a bold defiance And Plutarch speaking of the Philosopher whose Dictor it was LATENTER VIVENDUM That a concealed life was best yet adds withal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he would not have it concealed that this Dictor or speech was his What speak we of the Heathen Philosophers The Philosophers of God the Prophets of God have been much infested herewith Look upon Baruch When he thrived not in the King of Judah's Court he fell into discontent and repining so that the Prophet Jeremy is sent unto him with express message Seekest thou great things for thy self seek them not For I will bring evil upon the whole earth saith the Lord. Behold Jonah under his gourd What Jer. 45. 5. a pett and chafe is he in How irreverent to his God How doth he tell God even to his face that he did well to be angry even unto death And all this Anger from what fire was it kindled Certainly from no other then an overweaning conceit of his own reputation lest the sparing of Niniveh against which he had denounced ruin and destruction should disparage him with the people and lose him the name of a true Prophet And this we need not much marvail at if we consider the nature of this vice For first of all it is a choice vice preserved on purpose by the Divel to abuse the best nor will it grow in every soil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great and Noble natures the best capacities the most able wits these are the fat soil in which this weed grows Base and sordid natures seldom bear it What cares the Covetous person for Honor who will bow to durt What cares he for rising in repute who hath buried himself alive in the earth What cares he for a name that had rather see other mens names in his parchments then his own in the Book of Life What cares the Wanton for renown who had rather be crowned with roses then with a Diademe or will he desire to rise higher whose highest step is up to the bed of Lust and the embraces of a Strumpet These Swine love not such water as this nor such an oyntment as
a Good name but will wallow still in their own mire And therefore you may observe it Matth. 4. that the Devil sets not upon our Saviour with Lust or Luxury or Covetousness or any such vulgar and inferior vice but carries him to an exceeding high mountain and from thence shews him the kingdome of the world to see whether he will stoop at the prey Secondly It is a vice to which the world is much beholding and therefore finds more countenance then any Look upon the works of mens wits their Books and Writings look upon the works of mens hands their Charity and Alms-deeds and Hospitality and we shall quickly discover that Honor and Desire to transmit their names to posterity have been in many for to say in all were the greatest uncharitableness in the world but in many they have been the chiefest fires to set these alembicks a work We will not now dispute the truth of that which the Schools teach That Evil could not subsist if it were not founded in Good but we may be bold to say that this evil of Ambition could hardly subsist if it were not maintained and rooted in Virtue Other weeds will grow of themselves finding matter within us to feed and nourish them Murder is but the ebullition of our Choler Luxury a very exhalation of our Flesh Lust boyles in our very bloud But this vice like unto Ivy or Woodbind will hardly grow unless it fix it self upon the Oke upon some strong and profitable matter If you see Absalom in Hebron paying his vow it is to gain a kingdome If 2 Sam 15. 7. the Pharisee fast and pray it is to be called Rabbi if he gives alms it is with a trumpet If Simon Magus desire to turn Apostle it is to be some great one If Diotrephes be of the Church it is to have the praeeminence Last of all it is a vice which amongst many men hath gained the reputation of Virtue And if it be not a virtue saith the Orator yet it is many times the cause of it Ambition and Aemulation have ever been accounted the nurses of wit the kindlers of industry the life of studies and the mothers of all famous actions And this is it which hath raised their price and estimation But it here falls out as it doth with bodies which are nourisht with unwholsome meats They are in a short time corrupted with diseases and dye by those meats they lived on Wit and Industry which are mainteined by these vices do at last run to ruin by those vices which maintein them How many an alms is blown away with the breath of the Trumpet How many a Prayer is the shorter for its length is not heard for its noyse and is lost in the open streets How many a Fast is buried in a disfigured face How many a Good deed had been registred in heaven if it had not been first written on the walls But as we read in the Historian that Thievery and Piracy were so commonly practised amongst the Grecians that men made publick profession of them neither were they taken to be vices so we find it by daily experience that Ambition is so like to Virtue that the world hath even taken her to be one and made much of her and extolled her because she is so common Disciples themselves will be talking of Kingdomes and Greatness will be asking the question Who is the greatest in the kingdome of heaven And yet it is as impertinent a question as could have been put to Christ And of this we are to speak in the next place But first we will draw such inferences out of that which hath been spoken as may be useful for our instruction And first if we look back upon the Disciples we cannot but look into our selves and seeing what it was that kept them so long from the true knowledge of the Messias who had been so long with them with whom they ate and drank and conversed and whose miracles they were eye-witnesses of we cannot but search and ransack our inward man empty it of all extravagant and heterogeneous matter dispossess it of every evil spirit of every carnal conceit which may shut out Christ sweep and garnish it that the Truth may enter and dwell there Prejudice puts â—ut the eye of our Judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Opinion is a great retarder of proficiency it being common to men to be jealous of every word that breaths in opposition to what they have already received as of an enemy and though it be truth to suspect it because it breaths from a contrary coast Moab is setled on his lees hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel therefore his Jer. 48. 11. taste remained in him and his sent is not changed He hath ever the same taste and the same sent and this makes every thing promises and threatnings judgments and blessings doctrines and miracles relish and taste and sent as he doth He is the same under the rod and the same under blessings the same in a calm and the same when it thunders He is setled on his lees and no change can change him It is a world to see what power Prejudice hath to change the face and countenance of objects and shape them like unto it self It makes a shadow a man and a man a hobgoblin it mistakes a friend for an enemy It puts horror upon Virtue and makes Vice it self of a ruddy countenance It makes God the Author of sin and the Devil a worker of miracles It makes the Prince of peace a man of war beholds a poor Christ and makes him a King receives him in the form of a servant and builds him a Throne dreams of Kingdomes in the house of mourning and of triumph in persecution makes Christs Humility an occasion of pride makes a new Religion a new Christ a new Gospel and thus gropes at noon-day is deaf to thunder is surly against good counsel and thrusts him away that gives it is an enemy to a friend is a fiery furnace to devour those that minister unto it When God opens the gates of heaven this shuts them when he displayes his rayes of mercy this puts them by when he would enter this shuts the door when he is ready to let fall his dew this will not suffer him to be good unto us will not suffer him to bless will not suffer him to teach will not suffer him to save us This killed the Prophets and stoned them that were sent This whipped and spet upon and crucified the Lord of Life himself For all mistakes is from the Eye all error from the Mind not from the Object If the Eye be goggle or mis-set if the Mind be dimm'd with Malice or Ambition and Prejudice it puts upon things what shape it pleaseth receiveth not the true and natural species they present but views them at home in it self as in a false glass which renders them back again as it were by reflexion which
their Laws In the Common-wealth of Rome the Laws were the works of many hands Some of them were Plebiscita the acts of the people others Senatus Consulta the decrees of the Senate others edicta Praetorum the verdicts of their Judges others Responsa prudentum the opinions of Wise men in cases of doubt others rescripta Imperatorum the rescripts and answers of their Emperors when they were consulted with Christiani habent regulam saith Tertullian Christians have one certain immoveable rule the Word of God to guide and rule them in their life and actions Besides the Laws of the Kingdome of Christ are eternal substantial indispensable But the laws made by humane autority are many of them light and superficial all of them temporary and mutable For all the humane autority in the world can never enact one eternal or fundamental law Read the Laws that men have made and lay them together and we shall observe that they were made upon occasion and circumstance either of Time or Place or Persons and therefore either by discontinuance have fallen of themselves or by reason of some urgent occasion have been necessarily revoked But the Laws of our Great King are like himself everlasting never to be revoked or cancelled but every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and tittle of them to stand fast though heaven and earth pass away Thus you see the Kingdome of Christ and the Kingdomes of this world have not the same face and countenance the Subjects of the one being discernable of the other unknown their seat and place and lawes are different So that our Saviour as he answered the sons of Zebedee Yee know not what yee ask so he might have replied to his Disciples here Yee know not what yee speak My kingdome is not of this world The kingdome of heaven is within you Why ask you then Who is the greatest in the kingdome of heaven That you commit no more such soloecisms behold here a little child let him teach you how to speak and become like him and you shall be great in the kingdome of heaven We see then that the Disciples of Christ were much mistaken in this question of greatness And a common error it is amongst men to judge of spiritual things by carnal of eternal by temporary When our Saviour preached to Nicodemus the Doctrine of Regeneration and New life what a gross conceit did he harp upon of a Re-entry to be made into his mothers womb When he told the Samaritane of the water of life her thoughts ran on her pitcher and on Jacob's well When Simon Magus saw that by laying on of hands the Apostles gave the holy Ghost he hopes by money to purchase the like power For seeing what a kingdome Money had amongst men he streight conceived Coelum venale Deumque that God and Heaven might be bought with a price Thus wheresoever we walk our own shadow goes before us and we use the language and dialect of the World in the School of Christ we talk of Superiority and Power and Dominion in that Kingdome wherein we must be Priests and Kings too but by being good not great The sense which the Disciples through error meant was this Who should be greatest Who should have most outward pomp and glory Who should have precedency above others But the sense which as appears by our Saviours answer they should have meant was Who is the greatest that is Who is of the truest and reallest worth in the kingdome of heaven This had shewed them Disciples indeed whose eyes should be the rather on the Duty then on the Reward and who can have no greater honor then this that they deserve it Though there be places of outward government of praeeminence and dignity in the Church yet it ill becomes the mouth of a Disciple to ask such a Question For though they all joyntly ask Who is the greatest yet it appears by the very question that every one of them did wish himself the man An evil of old very dangerous in the Church of Christ but not purged out in after ages Per quot pericula sath St. Augustine pervenitur ad grandius periculum Through how many dangers and difficulties do we strive forward to Honor which is the greatest danger of all Ut dominemur aliis priùs servimus saith St. Ambrose To gain Dominion over others we become the greatest slaves in the world What an inundation had this desire of Greatness made in the Church how was it ready to overwhelm all Religion and Piety had there not been banks set up against it to confute it and Decrees made to restrain it The Deacon would have the honor of the Priest the Priest the Consistory of the Bishop The Bishops seat was not high enough but he would be a Metropolitane and to that end procured Letters from the Emperors which the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which they obteined that where there was formerly but one there might now be two Metropolitanes And all these no doubt were Disciples of Christ if for no other reason yet for this QUIS EST MAXIMUS for their affectation of Greatness And now what followed As one well observes Ex religione ars facta Religion was made a trade and an art to live by Till at last it was cried down in divers Councels at Chalcedon at Trullum in Constantinople and others And in the Councel of Sandis a Bishop is forbidden to leave the government of a small City for a greater Of all men Ambition least becomes a Disciple of Christ And therefore Christian Emperors did after count him unworthy of any great place in the Church who did affect it Quaeratur cogendus rogatus recedat invitatus effugiat Being sought for let him be compelled being askt let him withdraw himself being invited let him refuse Sola illi suffragetur necessitas recusandi Let this be the only suffrage to enthrone him that he refus'd it Maximè ambiendus qui non est ambitiosus For it is fit that he that doth not seek for should be sought for by preferment And to this purpose it was that our Saviour answers the Disciples not to what they meant but to what they should have meant to divert them from all thought of dominion And withal he implyes that that is not Greatness which they imagined but that Humility and Integrity of life was the truest Greatness and greatest Honor in his Kingdome And to speak the truth this only deserves the name of Greatness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Goodness is not placed in Greatness but Greatness in Goodness To go in costly apparel to fare deliciously to have a troup to follow us perhaps wiser then our selves this we may call what we please but Greatness it cannot be We read in Seneca the Orator of one Senecio an Orator who affected much grandia dicere to speak in a lofty stile and great words Which affectation in his art after turn'd to a disease so that he would have
who hath made himself to every good work reprobate It is not a feeble thought it is an active Charity that is the foundation of Hope Run to and fro through Jerusalem go about the streets thereof muster up together all that name the Lord Jesus and you shall find every man is full of Hope and then you may conclude that every man is charitable Whatsoever the premisses be whatsoever the actions of our life be most men make this the conclusion and dye in hope assure themselves of happiness by no better experience then that which Flesh and Bloud and the Love of our selves are ready to bring in They fill themselves with Hope when they are full of nothing but Malice and Envy and Uncleanness of which we are told that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdome of heaven And what Hope what assurance is this An assurance without a warrant an Hope which only we our selves have subscribed to with hands full of bloud a Hope which is no hope but a cheat a delusion presenting us nothing but heaven when we are condemned already It is true that Hope is a fair tye and pledge of what we shall enjoy hereafter but it is not then the work of the Phansie but of the Heart to be wrought out with fear and trembling and not to be taken up as a thing granted as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we cannot set up a pillar of Hope where there is no basis no foundation for it but a weak and feeble thought I know it is put up by some as a question Whether we ought to be assured of our salvation but it is but an impertinent question and not well put up For will any man ask Whether we ought to be in health and not rather Whether we ought to feed on wholsome meats and keep a temperate diet Beloved let us have Charity and Hope will as certainly follow and as naturally as Growth and Health do a moderate diet Otherwise to hope is a sin it is not Hope but Presumption For what Hope is that which looks towards Liberty and leaves us in chains that which promiseth life when we are children appointed to dye Let us then possess our hearts with Charity and Hope will soon enter in for they love to dwell and breathe together But it will not enter a froward and perverse heart for that will not receive it nor the heart of a Nabal for that is stone and will beat it back nor a heart that is fat as grease for it slips through it nor a Pharisee's heart for that is hollow and doth nothing but sound every thought is a knell and proclaimeth the fall of some in Israel None have less hope of others then they who presume for themselves None condemn more to hell then they whose feet are swift to shed bloud and who delight in those wayes which lead unto death Their very mercies are cruelty To put on the New man with them is to put off all bowels Every word they speak is clothed with Death And if Malice and Deceit and Uncharitableness lead not thither I may be bold to say There is no Hell at all They who make God as cruel as themselves do destiny men to destruction only because he will and to build up men on purpose to ruin them for ever that make the Wickedness of men depend on the antecedent will of God absolutely and irresistibly efficacious They are their own words that say that God doth work all things in all men even in the reprobate that the Induration and Incredulity of men is from the Praedestination of God as the effect from the cause that God calls men to salvation who are condemn'd already that though the elect which are themselves fall into adultery murder treason and other crying sins yet they fall not from grace but still remain men after Gods own heart when they do the works of their father the Devil These are they whose words are as sharp swords to cut off their brethren from the land of the living These men breathe forth nothing but hailstones and coals of fire but death and destruction These make a bridge for themselves to Happiness but pluck it up to their brethren These are in heaven already and shut it up that none else may enter Certainly a new way to heaven never yet discovered by the King of Heaven who hath put the keys into the hand of Charity who may boldly enter her self and who also is very willing to let in others who brings forth a Hope a Hope for our selves and a Hope for others Whoso makes haste to perfection is very willing to forward others in the way he calls upon them he waits on them he expects when they will move forwards and though they move not yet he hopes still Charity which brought down Christ from heaven lifts us up unto that holy place and we are never carried with more delight then when we go with most company there to joyn with the quire of Angels and to sing praises to the God of Love for evermore We love God because he loved us first and for his loves sake we love every man And now what is our Hope but that together with others we may have our perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soul in his eternal and everlasting glory The Ninth SERMON PSALM LI. 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation IN these words we have 1. an Act Restore 2. an Agent God Restore thou 3. the Person suing David unto me 4. the blessing sued for the joy of God's salvation Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation David as the Title sheweth us being awakened by Nathan out of the slumber wherein he had long layn after his foul fact with Bathsheba penned this Psalm and published it a truly Penitential Psalm full of humble and hearty acknowledgments of sin and of earnest petitions for mercy and for assurance of God's favour His great fall had so bruised him that he felt no ease or comfort all was discomposed and out of tune his soul cast down and disquieted within him his heart broken his spirit wounded And a wounded spirit who can bear Hence it is that he prayeth with such vehemence Prov. 18. 14. and fervencie that God would be pleased in great merey to blot out all his transgressions and to wash and cleanse him from his sins and iniquities that he would not cast him away from his presence nor take his holy spirit from him and here in my Text that he would restore unto him the joy of his salvation But however these last expressions may seem to be the breathings of a disconsolate spirit and of one even out of hope yet we must not think that this man after God's own heart this great Saint though grievously fallen was quite fallen from grace and that his faith had now utterly failed and was extinguished No Faith can never be lost Or rather if it
unto us and make it not Gods gift but our own conquest What suckling in Religion knows not to distinguish between perfection of Parts and perfection of Degrees We know our Sanctification is universal not total in every part but in part Our Understanding is enlightned yet there remains some darkness our Will rectified yet some perversness our Affections ordered and subdued yet prone to disobedience our whole man sanctified but not wholly We propose to our selves not this or that but every commandment to observe We compose and order our life to the rule and shun whatsoever is repugnant to it but we do but begin not finish We make Perfection our prayer not our boast and expect it not here but in heaven One while we have need of the cords of love to lead us another while of the thunderbolts of Gods judgments to terrifie us One while the thought of hell must beat us from sin another while the love of heaven must lead us in the paths of righteousness Now his promises now his threatnings must excite us Let Fulgentius conclude this point Perfecti sumus spe futurae glorificationis imperfectionere corruptionis It is in his Book ad Monimum We are perfect in respect of the hope of future Glory imperfect if we consider this body of death this burden of corruption perfect in expectation of the reward the crown of glory imperfect as we are in the battel in the race fighting and running to obtain this Crown And this was St. Pauls Perfection Let as many as be perfect that is in some degree and Phil. 3. 15. in respect of others For v. 12. he accounts not himself to have obtained or to be already perfect And v. 13. he professeth Brethren I account not my self that I have attained one thing I do I forget that which is behind and endeavour my self to that which is before Now then let not Frailty and Infirmity dispute with its Creator He that once was taken up into the third heaven had so much earth about him as to feel the combat between the Flesh and the Spirit He that was a chosen vessel had some cracks in him and had fallen to pieces and lost that heavenly treasure had not God preserved it Job's answer best fits a Christian's mouth Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee Job 40. 4. I will lay my hand upon my mouth Yet look up too Let not Desperation keep thee down but let the power of godly Sorrow lift thee up again Know that to confess thy sin and to repent is as it were to make the Angels a banquet and to send more joy to heaven Let Repentance reconcile thee with God then though the Devil strive to cover thee over in the grave of sin yet thou shalt come forth though thy bones be broken yet they shall rejoyce and to thee now as to David then the joy of thy salvation shall be restored The last part the Object Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation Davids request is for Peace of conscience the joy of Gods salvation that which St. Paul calls joy in the holy Ghost The Septuagint render it by the Rom. 14. 17. Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies more then joy even exultation and rejoycing and triumphing for joy like that of the Church Psal 126. When the Lord brought again the captivity of Sion we were like them that dream Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with joy It is the highest degree almost excess and surfet of Joy God may let me feel it but express it I never can Tell me Christian or indeed canst thou tell me what joy thou conceivest at this spiritual banquet Doth doubt arise within thee because Christ is not present See here he hath left a pledge and pawn behind him his blessed Sacrament Take eat this is his body Thou shalt never hunger Take drink this is his bloud Thou shalt never thirst Dost thou believe Believe then he is nearer to thee in these outward elements then the Papists would make him beyond the fiction of Transubstantiation When the Priest delivers to thee the sanctified Bread let thy meditation lead thy Saviour from his Cradle to his Cross His whole life was to lead thy captivity captive And now with the eyes of faith behold him stretcht out upon the Cross and think thy self unburdened and that heavy weight laid upon thy Saviours shoulders and then thou canst not chuse but suppose thou heardst him groan It was a heavy burden that fetcht that groan from him A strange thing thy sins which were not yet committed pierced him Yet let not despair take thee Anon thou shalt hear that triumphant and victorious noise It is finished A voice which rent the vail of the Temple in twain clove the stones made the earth to quake and was able to have changed not that place alone to what once it was if we may believe some Geographers but the whole world into a Paradise When the Priest offers thee the Cup think then thou seest Christ bleeding and pouring out non guttam sed undam sanguinis not drops but streams of bloud Think thou seest per vulnera viscera through his wounded side the bowels of Compassion And then think thou art partaker of his promise already and that now thou drinkest with him in his Fathers kingdome Tell me now Where art thou Is not this to be rapt into the third heaven Now thou canst call God Father now thou art sure of thy perseverance now thou canst think of hell without fear and horror Thou canst make thy bed of sickness look sorrowful only to thy friends and whilst they stand weeping and howling by thy bed side thou shalt have no other cause of lamentation but that they lament thee And then in the midst of shreeks and outcryes when with trembling hands they close up thy eyes as if they close up their hopes thy soul shall pass away and settle it self in Abrahams bosome If this be not joy indeed and exultation and triumphing for joy if this be not above an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tell me What Paradise shall we search for it where shall we find it When my cogitations settle upon this blessed object methinks I see a Christian in his white and triumphant robes walking upon the pavement of heaven laughing at and scorning the vanities of the world looking upon them as an aged man would on childrens toyes beginning with Nazianzene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be a fellow-citizen with the Angels and with Cyprian miserere saeculi to look down upon the world with pity and compassion being even now a type of a glorified Saint and the resemblance of an Angel I could loose my self in this Paradise I could build a Tabernacle upon this Mount Tabor for even but to speak of it is delight My Conclusion shall be in Prayer O thou who art the Father of this joy and God of all consolation whose
letter in this sense also Who would look to find the Law in the Gospel But we must remember that there is Lex evangelica an evangelical Law that the grace of God as it excludes the Law sub ratione foederis as it is a covenant so admits it sub ratione regulae as it is a rule The rigor of the covenant is abolisht but the equity of the rule is as everlasting as the Lawgiver It is our happiness by Grace to be freed from the covenant and curse of the Law but it is our duty and a great part of our Christianity to square our lives by the rule of the Law Therefore Religion was called in her purer times Christiana lex the Christian Law and the Bishops Episcopi Christianae legis Bishops of the Christian Law Evangelium commentum Divinitatis saith Tertullian The Gospel was the invention of the Deity And God did not set up the Gospel to destroy but to reform the Law No saith Nazianzene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Gospel of Christ is more laborious then the Law Pythagoras is reported to have commanded his Scholars when they saw a man burdened not to go about to ease him but add rather unto his load So our Saviour was so far from easing our burden that he seemeth rather to add weight and make it much heavier then it was before For whether he did advance and encrease the strictness of the Law as the Ancients did conceive or whether he did but only clear the Law from those corrupt glosses with which the Jewish Doctors had infected it certainly in shew and appearance he leaves it much heavier then it had formerly been understood by the Jew Innocency and obedience to the Law hath alwaies been the badge of a Christian Look into our Prisons saith Tertullian you find no Christian there If you find a Christian there the fault that laid him there is but this That he is a Christian We sail with you we traffick with you we go to war with you Plus nostra misericordia insumit vicatìm quam religio vestra templariò Our Charity spendeth more on the poor in our streets then your Superstition on your Gods in your Temples Nihil Christiano foelicius nihil laboriosius Nothing is more happy then a Christian nothing more painful Thus the grace of God presents us with two things quite contrary with Comfort and Labor that Comfort might not puff us up nor abundance of pain deject and throw us down For the Grace of God appeared not to enfeeble our hands or with a dispensation from the works of Piety nor to make us more indulgent to our selves but that we might abound more and more in virtuous actions I will not say with Socinus that upon the very receiving of this Grace we receive also afflatum quendum Divinum a kind of Divine inspiration which toucheth the heart and raiseth our hope and warmeth our affections and setteth our hands to work For every one that receives this grace doth not work Nor can I think that all the world is damned for infidelity But a strange thing it may seem that after we have given up our names unto Christ after this certainty of knowledge and conscience of the truth our ingratitude should kick with the heel and despise these promises though an Angel from heaven should perswade them It is a good saying of St. Augustine's Nemo sibi permittat quod non permittit Evangelium Let no man make the promise larger then the Gospel hath made it nor presume too much on the Grace of God For such is the nature of Grace that it will not be fashioned to our actions but we must proportion our actions to it It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a buskin to be indifferently drawn on upon any design It will not fit my Ambition in the eager pursuit of honor nor my Covetousness in the grasping of wealth nor my Luxury in doting on pleasures But if I shape my actions to it it is my honour my wealth my pleasure my ALL. We are told by those who have written in the praise of Musick that it holdeth great sympathy with the nature of Man that it applies it self to all occasions of Mirth of Sorrow of Company of Solitude of Sports of Devotion And such is the wonderful harmony of Grace that it fits it self to all estates all degrees all sexes all ages all actions whatsoever It will labor with thee at the Plow trade with thee in the Shop study with thee in thy closet fight with thee in the Field and it keeps every man within the bounds of his calling and honesty But if I make it a pandar to my Pleasure a stirrop to my Ambition a steward to my unbounded Avarice if I make it my Parasite to flatter me and not my Counsellor to lead and direct me I am injurious to that Grace for the publication of which the Lord of life was crucified I receive this grace but in vain and by my ungrateful receiving turn my antidote into poyson We cannot better conclude then with that of St. Hierome in his Epistle to that noble Matron Celantia Illi terrena sapiant qui coelestia promissa non habent Let them grovel on the earth who have not received these exceeding great and precious promises Let the Epicure be wanton and the Atheist profane 2 Pet. 1. 4. and the Philosopher vain glorious Let them perish to whom the Gospel is hid But let Christians imitate their Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus and as he was crucified for us so let us crucifie our selves even our lusts and affections that we may receive him and not receive him in vain but as we receive him here and with him his Grace his Gospel his glorious Promises so we may receive him at the last day when he shall come to judge the quick and the dead according to this Gospel and with him glory immortality and eternal life The Eleventh SERMON LUKE XXI 28. And when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh IT was my labor the last day to arm you against the glittering sword and terrors of Persecution and I have now thought it fit to lead you further in these wayes of Horror and to raise and build up in you a holy constancy and resolution against those fearful signs and affrightments which shall usher in the end of the world Then I strengthen and establish you against the Sons of men who are set on mischief and whose right hand is full of bloud Now I am to prepare you against the coming of the Son of Man and Son of God to judge both the quick and the dead to plead the cause of the innocent but to punish the hypocrite and oppressor with unquenchable fire that is to set the world at rights again and to bring every man to his own place Our Saviour in this Chapter foretelleth the dreadful signs and
never forsake his creature whilst there is any hope of return O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O Judah what shall I do Hos 6. 4. unto thee Canst thou find out any thing Alass what canst thou find out who art as a silly dove without heart But whatsoever my Wisdome my infinite Hos 7. 11. Wisdome can find out whatsoever may forward thy conversion whatsoever may be done I will do it And therefore as Sin and Iniquity have increased so have the Means to reclaim it As Wickedness hath broken in as a floud so hath Judgment been poured forth and doth swell wave upon wave line upon line judgment upon judgment to meet it and purge it and carry it away with it self and so run out both together into the boundless ocean of Gods Mercy This is Gods method who knows whereof we are made and therefore must needs know what is fittest to cure us For as when our bodies having been long acquainted with some gentle kind of Physick and the disease at last grows too strong for it it commends the art of the good Physician to add strength to his potion that so at last he may conquer the malady So Mans sinful disease in the last age of the World being much increased it pleaseth God to use stronger means to cure it If his little army of Caterpillars if common calamities will not purge us he brings in Sword and Famine and Pestilence to make the potion stronger If the enemies Sword cannot launce our ulcers he will make us do it with our own If fightings without cannot move us he will raise terrors within He will pour down hailstones and coals of fire that we may thirst for his dew and gentle rain He will set us at variance with one another that we may long to be reconciled to him and by the troubles of one Kingdome learn to pray and pray heartily for that other which is to come That so if possible he may save some and pull them as brands out of the fire singed and scorcht but not consumed That if men will repent them of their evil wayes he may repent him of the evil he imagined against them as he sometimes told his people by the mouth of his Prophet Ezekiel Our third general part was the consideration of the Behaviour which our Saviour commends unto us in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Look up and lift up your heads words borrowed from the behaviour which men use when all things go as they would have them When we have what we desire when success hath fill'd our hopes and crowned our expectation then we look up and lift up our heads As Herbs when the Sun comes near them peep out of the earth or as Summer-Birds begin to sing when the Spring is entred so ought it to be with us when these things come to pass This Winter should make us a Spring this noise and tumult should make us sing Wars Famines Plagues Inundations Tumults Confusion of the world these bring in the Spring of all true Christians and by these as by the coming of Summer-Birds we are forewarned that our Sun of Righteousness draws near Indeed unto Nature and the eye of the World such are sad and uncouth spectacles sights far from yielding comfort or being taken for authors of welcome news and therefore our Saviour pointing out to the behaviour which in this case the world doth use tells us in the words foregoing my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men should be ready to sound for fear ARESCENTIBUS HOMINIBUS saith the Vulgar men should dry and wither away for fear as Leaves smitten with mildew or blasting or fading away with unreasonable heat Lest therefore our hearts should fail us upon the sight of these signs our Saviour forewarns us that all these ostenta these apparitions bode us no harm nor can bring any evil with them but what we our selves will put upon them that for all these signs in the heaven for all this tumult and confusion upon earth even then when the foundations are shaken and the world is ready to sink we may lift up our heads When you see these things come to pass look up lift up your heads Let us a little weigh these words For they are full and expressive talent-weight They are a prediction and they are an admonition which is saith Clemens as the diet of the soul to keep it in an equal temper and a setled constitution against those evils and distempers of the mind which as Tully speaks do tumultuantem de gradu dejicere cast it down with some kind of disorder and confusion from that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that quietness and silence which is the best state and condition of the soul as Fear and Sorrow the unhappy parents of Murmuring and Repining which press down the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the gross and bruitish part which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fall of the Soul the symptomes and indications whereof are a cast-down Look and a Head bowed down like a bull-rush For 1. Fear is a burden that maketh us not able to look upwards towards that which might rid and ease us of it but towards something that may hide and cover us When Adam had sinned God comes toward him in the cool of the day in a wind as it is rendred by some and as the word signifies in such a sound as he never heard before and he presently runs into the thicket hides himself amongst the trees of the garden If the King of Jericho pursues Joshua's spies they run under the stalks of flax and if Saul pursues David he betakes himself to some cave Fear may make us look distractedly about with a wandring inconstant unsetled eye but not to look up it may make us hide our heads but not lift them up If an Evil bite Fear is the tooth and if it press down Fear is the weight Behold here this tooth is broken and this weight is taken away by Wisdome it self in these words Look up lift up your heads 2. Grief is another weight that presseth down Why art thou cast down O my Soul saith David And Psal 42. Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop saith Solomon Sorrow Prov. 12. 2◠kept Aaron from eating the sin-offring cast Job on the ground and David on the ground and Ahab on his bed An evil disease it is under the Sun but here you have a medicine for it a medicine to make a merry heart Look up lift up your heads 3. These two Fear and Sorrow are the mother and the nurse the beginners and fomenters of all Murmuring and Repining For as Fear so Sorrow is nothing else but a kind of distaste and grudge of the mind Imperari dolori silentium non potest The Murmurer cannot be silent He will complain to any man to any thing to the Night to the Day to the Sun to the Moon as he in the Comedy
must dry them And can we do all this If we be truly Christians we can yea in all these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be more then conquerers not only be undaunted but even joy in them as if now and never till now the world went as we would have it What manner of men think you must they be who do thus Do not put on wonder let not your hearts be troubled For Truth it self will tell you that if you be the men whose name you bear if your eyes your ends your hopes be fixed upon Christ alone then are you all such persons as I have now described Tantum distat a Christiano Look how much every man is defective and wants in this kind of constancy and resolution and so much he comes short and wants of his Christianity What are all the pleasures what are all the terrors of the world to him that is made one with Christ who conquered also That therefore this doctrine may pass the better which at first sight is but harsh and rugged we will shew you 1. That it is possible to arm our selves with such courage and resolution in common calamities 2. That it is great folly not to do so 3. What impediments and hindrances they be which overthrow our courage and take our hearts from us when such things as these come to pass And first of the Possibility of this doctrine And if we look a little upon the manners of men we shall find them very apt and ready to plead impossibilities and difficulties where their own practice confutes them One saith he hath bought five yoke of Oxen and Luke 14. must go to try them another saith he hath married a wife and therefore he cannot that is he will not come Haec omnia dura invitis saith Hierome All things seem hard and difficult to them who have no heart which easily perswade themselves that cannot be done which they will not do Go to a Rich man and require him to lay down his wealth at the feet of the poor or otherwise to sacrifice it to the service of Christ how hard a lesson is it how ill sounding how ridiculous and absurd a proposal What a fool will he soon conclude you be and how prodigal of your good counsel when you advise him to be wise But yet let some flattering Pleasure come in the way or some spleen against his neighbour or some suit of Law or the like or something that may forfeit his soul and how easily shall all go to the final hazard and undoing of him and his posterity I see he can do that for his spleen his humor his strumpet which when he is to do for his God he startles at as a thing impossible In the one is his desire in the other death To gain the earth with him is to enter Paradise but to knock and strive to enter into heaven is as terrible as hell it self Go to one of our painted Gallants and require him to do but what an ethnick man can do by no better help then the light of Nature even rather to lay down his life then to do any thing that common Reason checketh at and which a good man thinks a shame to speak of rather to leave off to be a man then in that shape and likeness to become a beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how great a request do you move Yet how prodigal will he be of his life when his lust or some drunken quarrel shall call for it To fetch home a phansie a fashion a toy we will go as far as France or to the Indies for a clod of earth or a piece of glass but to visit the fatherless and widows a Sabbath-days journey is too far Every thing that may make us happy is hard but we never boggle at that which leadeth to destruction Heaven with all its allurements with all its beauty and glory with all its everlastingness cannot win us to that which the glistering of a diamond which the shadow of a trifle which the dream of a shadow will do God with all his beseeching and entreaties and rich promises shall not move us when the cringe of a flatterer the only tongue of a parasite the smile of a courtesan shall carry us about the world Nor is Glory so eloquent to prevail with us for it self as Shame and Dishonour is to our confusion Nemo non in causa sua potest quod in causam Dei dubitat Every man can do that in his own cause which he cannot in Christs can do that for the Devil which he cannot for himself So that the reason why many suppose this behaviour here required by our Saviour to be a matter so hard and difficult is from the same error Now to manifest the possibility of this I think I cannot do it better then by an ensample and I will give you one and that too of an Ethnick man that knew not Christ nor his rich promises nor ever heard of the Glory of the Gospel There is a Hill in Italy Vesuvius they call it which is wont sometimes to break out in flames of fire to the terror and amazement of all that dwell nigh unto it The first time that in the memory of man it fired was in the dayes of Vespasian the Emperor at which time it break forth with that horrible noise and cry with that concussion and shaking of the earth near about it with that darkness and stench that all within the compass thought of nothing now but aeternam illam novissimam mundo noctem that Time was ended and the World drawing to its dissolution Pliny the great Philosopher and the Author of the famous History of Nature lay then at Misenum not far off and out of a desire he had to inform himself he drew near to the place where he thought the fire begun And in the midst of that horror and confusion so undaunted and fearless was he that he studied and wrote and eat and slept and omitted nothing of his usual Course His Nephew a great man afterwards with Trajane the Emperor out of whom I take this history reports of himself that being there at that time notwithstanding all the terrors and affrightments yet he called for his books he read he noted as if he had not been near the Mountain Vesuvius but in his study and closet and yet was at that time but eighteen years of age I have been somewhat the more large besides my custome in opening the particulars of this story because it is the very embleme the very picture of the Worlds dissolution and of the behaviour which is here enjoyned Christians when that time shall come All these fearful signs which here our Saviour reckons up if we but follow the ensamples which I have now proposed ought not so much prevail with us as once to make us break our sleep much less to torment and amaze us much less to take off our chariot-wheels to retard and cripple
cause Let Wisdom direct your hand and courage strengthen it With the one pierce thorough to the Truth even through those black mists of Trade and Overture and false accusations and crafty Undermining and those mists which either the Lawyer or Witness or Informer shall cast and those fogs which the corrupt heart of man may send up of Ambition Covetousness Pride Uxoriousness and then like good archers having found your mark be men and draw up your arrow to the head End not where you began with a fair intent and good resolution but crown it with performance March forward to the end go on in that strength O thou man of Power Let not a gift out of the bosom stay thee nor a letter divert thee nor a frown from Greatness tyre thee till thou come ad terminum till thou hast taken Justice and drawn her out of these mists and dispersed these fogs and led her thorough those retardations and incumbrances till thou hast cloath'd thy self with her and canst say thou hast finish'd thy course And to this end give me leave Right Honourable by way of conclusion to be to you à memoria not à consiliis for this time to be your Register and to reach into your hands the book of Records And I find therein a Curse enrol'd for the sowering of Justice for turning Judgment into wormwood by corrupting and into vinegar by delaying it and I find a Day of Visitation for not executing the judgment of the fatherless But then in this book too I find as many Blessings in a fair and legible character for executing of judgment and destroying the wicked Take read them to your Comfort For the Non Frustrà of bearing the Sword many Jer. 5. Non Frustra's a Non Frustrà upon the Church peace within her walls and prosperity within her palaces a Non Frustrà upon the Common-wealth gold there as silver and silver as brass a Non frustrà upon the Laws they shall now be seen and heard they shall lighten and they shall thunder and a Non frustrà upon your selves To you that thus bear the Sword it shall not be in vain but in life it shall be your crown and garland and in death when the Sword falls out of your hand no crys of orphans no tears of the widdow no groans of the oppressed will disquiet your peace but having resigned your Power delivered up your Sword Jovi vindici to the the God of Revenge having Curtius like given your selves for your Country sacrificed your selves all your selves your Covetousness your Ambition your Self-love he will receive his own his Deputy his representation and the Non frustrà shall be seated with an Euge not only Not in vain but Well done And for a tribunal on earth you shall have a mansion in heaven Your circuit shall be enlarg'd you shall judge not some Shire or County but the world and be arrayed in whole robes of Innocence even of that Innocency which you have protected And for Mortality you shall receive Eternity for Power Glory for a Sword a Crown Which God grant us all for his Son Christ Jesus sake The Thirteenth SERMON 1 Pet. II. 13 14 15 16. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whither it be to the King as Supreme Or unto Governours as unto them who are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of them that do well For so is the will of God that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men As free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God LET every soul be subject to the higher Powers saith St. Paul the Doctor of the Gentiles Submit your selves Rom. 13. 1. to every ordinance of man saith St. Peter here the Apostle of the Circumcision So this precept of Obedience to Governours reacheth home unto all There is neither Jew nor Gentile neither bond nor free but cometh under this Law We have two Apostles one whereof in another case withstood the other to the face Gal. 2. 11. both joyntly standing up for the higher Powers even for that Authority which struck off the head of the one and nayl'd the other to the cross Both deliver what they received from Christ For what they lay down concerning Authority is but an exposition and Commentary upon Christs Give unto Caesar those things which are Caesars Obedience Submission and Subjection take in all all even to a penny Above all we cannot but observe how wisely and fully both the Apostles press this doctrine how they fight with the same weapons to defend the King on his throne how they bring the same Arguments Arguments as irresistable as that Power which they defend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Peter to the higher Powers saith the one to Kings and to Governours sent by them saith the other And they both walk by the same rule ground their precepts upon the same reason All power as from God saith St. Paul and Submit for the Lords sake saith S. Peter They both hold up the same Sword terrible to evil doers and which shall win praise to them that do well Again not for wrath but for conscience sake saith the one for so is the will of God saith the other And the Will of God is in a manner the essence of every Duty It brings it home to the inward man and to the very conscience and leaves it not as matter meerly arbitrary but which must be performed upon pain of Death and Damnation Hitherto both these glorious Apostles as they minded the same thing so speak almost the same words scarce any difference between them But St. Peter seems to be more particular and at large to unfold what is more briefly wrapped up by St. Paul First he strives to take off a foul imputation which was laid upon Christianity That it made men disobedient and refractorie to Government in these words That by well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men Secondly he taketh away all pretence from the Christian which might shake his Loyalty or make him cast a favourable eye on that Disobedience which might open the mouth of an Infidel not onely against the Christian but even against Christianity it self in these words as free and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness Take the conclusion of the whole matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must needs be subject The King is placed in his throne his Governours set abroad by him and we must submit 1. propter Dominum because the Lord hath so commanded it 2. propter nos ipsos for our own sakes that we may live a Godly and peaceable life whilst the wicked are punisht and the good praised 3. Propter imprudentes for those fools sake qui hominum vitam rebus assignant who are very ready to draw an Argument from the
dispositions and tempers which are very apt to take it No sooner is the word gone out of the mouth but it enters the heart of the standers by who saith Mr. Hooker are very attentive and favourable hearers to suck in any poyson which is breathed forth against the King or the Governour which are sent forth and anon it multiplies and every valley and obscure corner is ready to echo it back again Lastly as we must submit the Tongue and the Hand so the Thought also Else the Tongue will be a sharp sword still and the Hand ready to reach at every weapon and instrument of cruelty it finds Bene subactum cor a Heart well subdued and conquer'd will nayle the Tongue to the roof of the mouth and make the Hands hang down as not able to strike But if the Heart be not hammer'd and softned and kept under then the Tongue will be loose and run through the earth and the Hand will be lifted up to pull the King and his Governours on the ground and lay their honour in the dust That Disobedience which at last is talkative and proves as violent as a tempest was at first but a whisper in the heart and an army drawn out in the field was at first muster'd up in cogitatorio as Tertullian speaks in the Phansy which is the shop and elaboratory of the Thoughts and sets up a whole family of them in the Soul Kingdoms have been ruin'd Magistrates have been slain States have been distracted seditions raised and all these had no more solid foundation at the first than a Thought That we may therefore truly submit to the King and his Governours we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostom speaketh Slumber all vain and absurd imaginations lest that pleasure which we do not repress in the Phansy do at last break forth and domineer in action lest that which is now but a discontented thought may gather strength by degrees and at last break forth into open impatience and disobedience And if our own Safety and Security if the Peace of the Common-wealth if Plenty and Prosperity be not of force enough to shackle our Hands to shut up our Lips and to keep down our Thoughts from rising in our hearts if these be weak motives let him that shakes the heaven and the earth move us and let us submit to at least Governours for the Lords sake Which is the first Motive drawn from the Authority of God himself and comes now to be handled And this is a Motive indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest and most winning Motive For the Will of God is the rule of all our actions Man who is a reasonable creature made after Gods own image must hearken to Gods voice bow down to his Authority and amongst all his attributes especially look upon his Will If he had no Eye to see us no Hand to strike us no thunder to destroy us yet what he willeth we must do because we are his creatures and the work of his hands Hath Discontent drawn thy Sword Let the will of God sheath it Do thoughts arise in thy heart Let the remembrance of this slumber them Art thou now ready to sinite the Magistrate and those who are in authority with the tongue Seal up thy lips for the Lords sake not for fear of the whip or the keen edge of Authority which commonly cuts through the heart of those who rise up not because the Magistrates hand is too heavy for thee and keeps thee under but submit for the Lords sake Now we may be sure it is to be done for the Lords sake For all power is from God saith the Apostle all Authority is his Ille regna dispensat cujus est orbis qui regnatur homo qui regnat He disposeth of Kingdoms who made the world which is govern'd and the men that govern Indè Imperator unde homo antequam Imperator The King receives his power from that Hand which made him and his Commission from that mouth which first breath'd into him the breath of life For the Emperor to say mihi hoc Imperiumpeperi This Sword hath gained me the Crown is foul ingratitude And for the Pope to say Mihi data est potestas All power is given to me to root up and plant as I please is high treason against the Majesty of Heaven and Earth Indeed St. Peter calls the King the ordinance or creature of man and so he may be and yet the creature of God also For though this power be communicated by the consent of men yet notwithstanding it is also from God as water is from the fountain in what channel soever it is carried along Behold then It is Gods power and if thou look'st upon the Man who is thy fellow dust and ashes if thou look'st upon his Weakness and infirmities which peradventure thou mayst discover in the midst of all his Glory and Majesty and thereupon art unwilling to submit for the Mans sake who is of like frailty and passions with thee or for the Kings sake who is but a man or for Authorities sake which hath no pleasing aspect yet do it for the Lords sake and because the Authority is his For his sake do it though it be to a Man though it be to a Man of infirmities though it be to Authority which sometimes speaks better things It may peradventure be a sin for thee to obey but it shall never be laid to thy charge if thou submit This I say is a strong motive And indeed that is true Submission which draws à Jove principium its beginning from God which is from heaven heavenly which is brought about by Religion and Conscience That Obedience is a Sacrifice which I offer up for the Lords sake That Obedience more resembles God and his Eternity because it is constant and lasting but that Submission which like Pharaoh's is driven on with an East-wind passeth away with that wind or moves like the wheels in a Clock no longer then the plummets are on no longer than Fear or Hope or other humane considerations stirr it about When these are taken off or fall to the ground PROPTER DOMINUM for the Lords sake will little avail though God speak once and again yet we lift up our heads and stand stiff against Authority And therefore though this be a Motive one of a thousand one that may stand alone by it self our Apostle here backs it with another not so powerfull in it self indeed but to flesh and bloud more perswasive which he draws ab utili from the Good and Benefit we receive from Kings and Governours in the punishment of evil doers and praise of them that do well With which we will conclude These two Reward and Punishment are as two pillars to uphold the body politique For though we ought as the Orator speaks virtutes propter seipsas gratis deligere to love every Virtue for it self and for that native beauty which the eye of reason doth
If we taste the forbidden fruit we are ready to say The Woman gave it us Again it is some gift some profer that prevaileth with us something pleasant to the eye something that flattereth the body and tickleth the phansie something that insinuateth it self through our senses and so by degrees worketh upward and at last gaineth power over that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and should command our Reason and Understanding Whatsoever it is it is but a Gift and may be refused Homo potest peccare sed si nolit non facit saith St. Augustine Man may fall into sin but if he will not he doth not What though it be pleasant I may distast it What though it flatter I may frown upon it What though it be Honour I may look down upon it What though it be Wealth I may cast it upon the waters or fling it into the sea What if Eccles 11. ◠the Devil say All these things will I give thee If we will not reach out Mat. 4. 9. the hand they are not a gift No insinuation no flattery no smiling tentation no argument no rhetorick is of more power and activity then the Will which may either take or refuse the gift as it please Further as it is something presented in the manner of a gift which overcometh us so commonly it is but an Apple something that cannot make us better but may make us worse something offered to our Hope which we should fear something that cannot be a gift till we have sold our selves nor be dear to us till we are vile and base to our selves at the best but a guilded temptation an Apple with an Inscription with an ERITIS SICUT DII upon it with some promise some shew and but a shew and glimpse of some great blessing but earthy and fading yet varnished with some resemblance of heaven and eternity Look upon those gifts which are most welcome unto us and which we run after as unwilling to stay till they be proferred and ye shall find an ERITIS SICUT DII upon them There is upon Honour such an Inscription For Honour either maketh us God's or at least maketh us think we are so There is the like upon Wealth for when our chests are full how do we worship ourselves and sacrifice to Habac. 1. 16. our own net Nay ye may see it written in the dresses and paint and forehead of the Harlot for are not the strumpets smiles the wantons paradise are not her embraces his heaven in a word it is written upon every thing that is offered as a gift and being received is a sin For when we sin volumus Divinam excellentiam imitari saith the Father we emulate the Majesty of the Highest we acknowledg no superior but would be as Gods to do what we please Lastly the TU DEDIST I will come in too For be it the World God created it be it Wealth he openeth his hand and giveth it be it Honour he raiseth the poor out of the dust be it our Flesh he fashioneth it be it our Soul he breathed it into us be it our Understanding it is a spark of his Divinity be it our Will he gave it us be it our affections they are the impressions of his hand But be it our Infirmity we are too ready to say that that is a Woman too of God's making But God never gave it For suppose the Flesh be weak yet the Spirit is strong si spiritus carne fortior nostrâ culpâ infirmiora sectamur saith Tertullian If the Spirit be stronger than the Flesh it is our fault if the weaker side prevail And therefore let us not flatter our selves saith he because we read in Scripture that the flesh is weak for we read also that the Mat. 26. 41. spirit is ready that we might know that we are to obey not the flesh but the spirit Of all discourses those of our own infirmity prove many times most dangerous For this indeed is the Woman which giveth us the Apple If we blaspheme God's name it is our infirmity if we revenge our selves it is our infirmity if we steal it is our infirmity if we taste of forbidden pleasures it is our infirmity when our greatest infirmity is to talk so much of infirmity and still to alledg it as an excuse of our faults Inevery sin we commit we renew this antient storie and Eve continually overcometh Adam Nay further yet as Adam excused himself by Eve so do we excuse our selves by Adam we lay all our sins on his shoulders and hide all our actual transgressions within the folds of original corruption When God cometh to question us and to ask us Where and In what state we are we cannot but be guilty and conscious to ourselves of sin we cannot but say that we have eaten and done that which was forbidden But then nolumus esse nostrum quia malum agnoscimus though the sin be ours we are unwilling to own it because of its deformity We carry Sin about us Nay saith Luther unusquisque infernum in se habet every man hath an Hell within himself and therefore he casteth-in this water these cold excuses to cool and allay it And thus ye see what a near resemblance and likeness there is between Adam and his posterity that we are so like him in this art of apologizing Ut sit tam similis sibi nec ipse that we cannot easily tell whether had most skill to paint Sin with an excuse the Father or the Children Adam behind the bush Adam with a Mulier dedit is a fair picture of every sinner but it is not easy to say that it doth fully express him But now to draw towards a conclusion that we may learn exuere patrem to cast off the old man and to avoid that danger that was fatal to him we must remember that we are not only of the first Adam but also of the second not only of the earth earthy but also 1 Cor. 15. 47. 49. of the Lord from heaven and as we have born the image of the earthy so we must also bear the image of the heavenly We must remember that we are born with Christ that we are baptized and buried with Christ and that we must rise with Christ that the Woman was given to be in subjection the Flesh to be subdued by us and the World to be troden under our feet that we must not count these as enforcements and allurements before sin lest we take them up as excuses after sin that we must not yield to them as stronger than ourselves that we may not need to run to shelter ourselves under them in time of trouble A strange weakness it is to talk of Weakness when we are to sight for this is to yield before we strike a stroke and no wonder si vincantur qui jam victi sunt if they fall by conquest who in their own opinions are already overcome And as
and Enemies to Peace of Willing and Obstinate hearers of this Message 2 That this Peace will rest on none but those who are fit to receive it 3 That though it do not rest yet it is not lost but will return to those who publish it And with these we shall exercise your Devotion at this time In the first place that a difference there will alwaies be of Good and Evil not only in the world but also in the Church not only amongst those who have not heard of the name of Christ but among those also who have heard the Salutation of Peace sound in their ears our Saviour himself hath shewed us in the parable of the Good seed and the Tares and of the Draw-net which being cast into the Sea draweth of every kind Puto me non timere dicere sayth St. Augustine alios sic esse in domo Dei ut sint domus Dei Mat. 13 47. alios sic esse in domo Dei ut non pertineant ad compaginem domus It is no rashness to say that some are so in Gods Church that they are Gods Church and others are so in the Church that they are not so much as a part of the building Some are sons of peace and some there are on whom Peace cannot rest Some there are to be amended and brought to repentance as Peter some to be suffered and born with as Judas and some who lye hid and unknown to the world till that great day of manifestation till the day of gathering the Corn from the Tares till that day of separation of severing the Goats from the Sheep Boni nusquam soli sunt nisi in coelo mali nusquam soli sunt nisi in inferno saith Gregorie the good are never alone but in Heaven and the bad are never alone but in that place where they are tormented together The Earth as it is placed in the midst between Heaven and Hell so is it a common receptacle both of those who are citizens of Heaven and of those who are to have their portion with the Devil and his Angels Nor doth this proceed from any decree of God but that of Permission For nothing is more contrary to the Will of God than Sin Yet the Permission of sin is a positive act of his Will For God decreeth to permit it For as he made Man upright so he made him also mutable so that he might incline to either side either embrace evil or resist it And though we cannot say that by the Providence of God it comes to pass that some men are evil for he speaks peace to every man yet the providence of God orders and directs the actions of the wicked He circumscribes them in their time and duration that they last no longer than his Wisdom shall think fit He bounds them in their encrease and greatness Hitherto they shall go and no further He directs and limits them from that object to which they are carried to something else and makes them serve not to that end which the Sinner proposes but to that which he himself hath set up Out of that Sin which the Sinner commits to satisfie his lust will God manifest his glory Upon his Unrighteousness he will build up the glory of his Justice By that sin which was a Tempest to beat down and overthrow will God establish his Church and by those evil men whom the Devil placeth as thorns and pricks in the eyes of the righteous will God try and purge his chosen ones In a word God makes not Sin but he makes it useful and advantageous And to this end he suffereth and permitteth this mixture and composition of Good and Evil he suffers the Tares and the Corn to grow together till the time of the Harvest Qui semel aeternum judicium destinavit non praecipitat discretionem saith Tertullian He who hath appointed and ordained a day of separation doth not make that separation until that day And this he doth not only to magnifie his Justice and Wisdom which out of so great darkness can draw wondrous light and can ex malis faecundare bona make use of Sin as the Husbandman doth of Dung to manure and fatten his ground that it may bring forth a more plentiful harvest but for other reasons also which Christ hath laid open in his Gospel I. To shew his patience and longanimity towards sinners who fight against him towards those who are offended with his Salutation that they may yield at last and become sons of Peace For the long suffering of God is Salvation sayth the Apostle He doth not say it worketh or 2 Pet. 3. 1◠brinketh forth but positively it is Salvation It is for this end and if it be not hindred it will produce this effect That we prolong our dayes on earth that we number more sins than days nay then hours than minutes is not from any want of knowledg in God that he sees us not or from want of strength that he cannot put the hook into our nostrils but from his patience and longanimity who gives us many times the longer life that we may at last recal ourselves and turn back unto him Non ille perdidit potentiam sed malos reservat ad paenitentiam He hath not lost his power but he keeps evil men to the day of repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He first exhorts then promises then threatens then chides then prepares his deadly weapons then puts them up again and then again he threatens but he never strikes till he hath opened an effectual door and made a way for us to safety As he is Lord of hosts in regard of his strength so he is in this respect also that as an Host or Army he comes on but slowly by degrees in his march and makes a shew before he strikes nec accedit ad decretorium stilum nisi plus sit quod timet quà m quod damnat He doth not bid battel till there is no hope of reconcilement Nor doth he punish till that be more which he fears than that which he blames He makes no end of his suffering till he sees there will be no end of Sinning II. Gods suffers this mixture of Evil with Good that the evil may be reformed by the Good For as he is able out of stones to raise up children unto Abraham so by the sons of peace he gains more children unto peace there proceeding a kind of virtue from their good example as there did from Christs garment to cure those who were diseas'd Aristotle in his Problemes makes a question Why Health doth not infect as well as Sickness Why men grow sick many times by unwary conversing with the diseases but no man grows well by accompanying the healthy And indeed it is so with the healthiness of the Body It hath no transient force on others But the strength and healthiness of the Mind carries with it a gracious kind of infection and common experience teacheth us that
of peace who is docile and not averse from it who is willing to hear of it For as Pothinus the Bishop of Lions being ask'd by the President of the place Who was the God of the Christians made no other reply but this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You shall know if you be worthy so may we say of this Peace They who are worthy who are fitted and prepared shall receive it And if you ask on whom it will rest I answer It will rest on them that love it Where is the place of my rest saith God The Isa 66. 1. Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool All these things hath my hand made But to this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word He that created all things and made the Heaven and the earth will not chuse out of these his seat but leaves them all and will rest no where but in a contrite and broken heart which divides and opens it self and makes a way to receive him And certainly as we see in Nature we cannot put any thing into that which is full already no more will peace enter that heart which is filled with Satan with malice and with the very gall of bitterness The Gospel will find no place in that Soul which is already filled and praepossessed with prejudice against the Gospel Into a malicious Soul Wisdom shall not enter saith Wisd 1. 4. the Wiseman Or if it do enter it shall not dwell there not dwell there as a Lord to command the Will and Affections no not as a friend to find a welcome for a time but be thrust out as a stranger as an enemy What is the place for peace to rest in Not in a Nabals heart which is as stone Not in the Wantons heart which is as a troubled Sea not on the Fool who hath no heart whose conscience is defiled and judgment corrupted by many evil and vitious habits ubi turpia non solum delectant sed placent who doth not only delight in that which is opposite to this Peace but approves it as that without which he cannot be at Peace No the spirit of Peace and the unclean spirit may seem in this to agree They will not enter the House before it be swept and garnished Ill weeds must be rooted out before you can sow good corn Every valley must be filled and every mountain and hill must be brought low all that inequality and repugnancy of our life must be taken away and all made smooth and even For as the Prince of peace so Peace hath a way to be prepared before it will enter What is the reason that all the seed which the Sower sowed brought not forth fruit Because some fell in stony places where there was not much Mat. 13. earth where the Soul did not sympathize and bear a friendly correspondence with the Word as good ground doth with the seed and some fell by the way-side which was never plowed nor manured and the fouls of the air those sly imaginations which formerly prepossessed the Soul devoured it up Nothing can be well done when the mind is already taken up with something else What room for the Gospel in the Jew who maketh his boast of the Law What room for Religion where it is accounted the greatest piety to be prophane What room for Righteousness when we rejoyce in impiety When the Prince of this world hath blinded our eyes with covetousness ambition and lust what room is there for Peace Non magìs quà m frugibus terrâ sentibus rubis occupatâ as the Orator speaks and they are the very words of our Saviour No more than there is for good corn in the ground which is full of bryars and thornes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whither dost thou cast thy seed thy good precepts saith the Philosopher to one that read a lecture of Philosophy to a scornful person Thou flingest it into a foul and stinking vessel which corrupts every thing it receives and takes no savour from it but makes it relish of it self Lord what a rock is a prepossessed mind What an adamant is a Stubborn and perverse heart How harsh and unpleasant is this Salutation of Peace to those who are hardned against it How Stoical and rigid and peremptory are they against their own Salvation Obstrepunt intercedunt nè audiant They are so far from receiving the Salutation that they are troubled and unquiet at the very name of Peace and desire they may not hear that word any more The complaint in Scripture is They will not understand and The waies of Peace they will not know Experience will teach us that it is too common in the world to stand stiff upon opinion against all evidence whatsoever though it be as clear as the Day And it is the reason which Arnobius gives of the Heathens obstinacy to whom this Salutation of Peace was but as a fable Quid facere possumus considerare nolentibus secumque loqui What can we do or say or how can we convince them who will not be induced once to deliberate and consider nor can descend to speak and confer with themselves and their own reason A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump and so doth a prejudicate opinion the whole mind of man All our actions and resolutions have a kind of taste and relish of it Whatsoever comes in to strengthen an anticipated conceit whatsoever walks within the compass of our desires or lustful affections we readily embrace and believe it to be true because we wish it so But if it thwart our inclination if it run counter to our intendments though it be Reason though it be Peace though it be a manifest truth though it be written with the Sun-beams we will not once look upon it It is an easy matter saith Augustine to answer a fool but it is not so easy to satisfie him It is easy to confute but not to reform him For his Folly barreth him from seeking the meanes of understanding and when light is offered it shuts up his eyes that he cannot receive it We have many domestick examples of this obstinacy and I wish they were not so near us of men who may be overcome but cannot be perswaded who will not yield to any strength of reason nec cùm sciant id quod faciunt non licere no not though they cannot be ignorant that the course of their life runs with more violence and noyse than is answerable to the Peace of the Gospel who know what they are and yet will be what they are And these we meet with quocunque sub axe in every place in every corner of the earth These multiply and increase every day For it cannot be but the greatest part of men will be the weakest We have troops and armies of these and the regiment consists of boys and girls and women led away captive by their ignorance and
lusts And if there be aged men amongst them you may soon discover that their greatest wisdom is their grey hairs And will Peace rest upon these It will rest as soon in a whirlwind or in St. Judes cloud without Water or in St James wave of the Sea tossed up and down with every wind But I forbear for I list not to be too particular We read in our Books of one Timotheus an excellent Musician that he was wont to require a greater pay from those who had been taught by others before than from those who came unto him rude and untaught And his reason was Dedocendi officium gravius prius quà m docendi That it was a greater task to unteach them what they had already ill learnt and a necessity to be done before he could teach them his skill Beloved it is so with those who are to instruct others in the way of Peace Geminatur onus Whatsoever their reward is their burden is doubled It is not only enough to say Peace be unto this House but they must cleanse and purge the house that Peace may enter It is not enough only to salute but they must make way for the Salutation The Jew must be untaught his beggerly elements and rudiments of the world before he can be taught and instructed for the kingdom of Heaven His Ceremonies and the Law must be rased out before he can be the Apostle of Cbrist before the Gospel of Peace can be written in his heart The Gentile must be untaught those lessons which even Nature is ashamed of before he can receive the doctrine of Grace The Carnal man must learn to crucifie the flesh before he can become spiritual False principles must be destroyed before you can build up true ones in their place Whilst we please our selves in the errors of our life whilst we rejoyce in our selves and as the Apostle speaks measure our selves by our selves we are not fit for this Evangelical Salutation Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ No These strong holds must be pulled down these imaginations cast to the ground and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God every thought must be brought into captivity 2 Cor. 10. 5. unto the obedience of Christ Scio quibus viribus opus sit saith St. Augustine I know what power it must be that must perswade proud men that Humility is a virtue And I know what power it must be that must perswade a carnal man that there is no peace but where the spirit fights and overcomes the Flesh But non aliter haec sacra constant This Salutation will not pass where this preparation is not made This Peace will not enter into that Soul where there are tumults and thunders noyse and destruction Never did any plant grow up and flourish in the field of the Church which was not ramus propendens as Nazianzene speaketh of his Father a branch or bough hanging over and looking that way Nor doth Gods saving Grace bring Peace till his exciting and preparing Grace hath made a way for it When we are Sons of Peace when we have some title to the inheritance of Peace when our hearts are hammer'd and softned and subjugated when we are willing hearers then this Salutation is brought home to our doors and Peace will enter and rest upon us If the son of peace be there your peace shall rest upon him if not it shall return to you again And so I pass to my last Position That though it do not rest yet it shall not be lost but shall return to those that publish it The word is spoken the Salutation past Peace be to this house On the sons of peace it will rest but on others it will not And this is enough to take the word out of the Disciples mouths and stop the message for there is in every one of us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of flitting humour which will not hold out long but faints and falls to the ground at the sight of some gross event which may fall out What plow the winds and sow the rocks bring Peace to them who will not receive it bring it thither where it will not rest Who would willingly be employed in such a Message For all this the word must be spoken and the Salutation given And that no groundless fear may seal up the Disciples lips they are told that even there where the Salutation will not rest it is not lost but will return again as David Psal 35. 13. spake of his prayer for his malicious enemies Though peradventure it do not prevail yet it will return into their bosom And this is it which stays and upholds us in the performance of all the duties of our life the Assurance that nothing that we do is lost Commonly upon a pretense of doing little Good we affect a kind of intempestive prudence and unseasonable discretion in performing that little good we do which shews it self in us like the Sun in winter long ere it arise and quickly gone We are unwilling to bear the Salutation and at the first rub and opposition we are weary of it If all be not Sons of Peace we will no longer be preachers of Peace But this Return of the Salutation adds spirit and courage to us and makes us venture into every house even into his who is an enemy to Peace First then for our comfort lost this Salutation cannot be For every good deed pays it self in the very doing And therefore saith the Orator Interest omnium rectè facere It concerns every man to do his duty and when he can reap no other fruit to content himself with the very doing of it Do not say the Word is cast away because it met not with a son of Peace It cannot be spoken and cast away For when it is spoken all is done Fac quod debes eveniat quod vult it is an Arabick Proverb Do that which thou shouldest and let the Event be what it will In the second place to do our duty is all that is required at our hands We are but to plant and water the increase is from another hand We can but say Peace be to this House It is not in our power to make it rest there Laus imperatori victo A skilful and wise Captain may deserve high honour and commendations though he fall before his enemy and an Orator may be famous for his eloquence though his Client be condemned The Philosopher in his Topicks will tell us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not exacted from an Orator that he perswade but that he frame those arguments and motives which are perswasive nor of a Physitian to heal those who are ill affected but to prescribe those medicines which are soveraign If the earth be brass we cannot say the dew of Heaven hath no virtue nor if we put out our eyes can we say the Sun doth
not shine Son of man saith God to his Prophet if thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wicked Ezek. 3. 19. way he shall die in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thine own Soul There is the Return of his Prophecy Whether the Salutation rest or not it doth not vanish Numquid consecrata perdimus For can we think that lost which we consecrate to God Still the Apostles incense smells even when it is out We are unto God saith St. Paul a sweet 2 Cor. 2. 15. savour in them that are saved That we doubt not of But it follows and in them that perish For neither Death nor Hell can take away the sweet and fragrant smell of this incense Though many that heard St. Paul did wax wanton against Christ though many had their consciences 1 Tim. 5. 11. seared with an hot Iron though many made shipwrack of their Faith 1 Tim. 4. 2. yet St. Paul is bold to proclaim it to the whole world I have fought 1 Tim. 1. 19. a good fight I have finisht my course All that is required at our hands is that we speak the Word though we be not heard For though we speak and be not heard yet no other thing befalls us than what befalls our Lord and Master who knows and sees that his Sunshine and Rain is every day abused and yet the Sun becomes not as a Sack nor the earth as brass Who calls and calls aloud and again and again to those deaf Adders which will not hear Whose providence many times watcheth over those who deny his Providence and in a manner cast him out of the World And therefore as he saith Demus etiamsi multa in irritum demus Let us give though we give many things in vain so let us speak the word let us preach the doctrine of Peace though the event prove not answerable to our hopes For in the third and last place in vain it cannot be though it be in vain and lost it cannot be though it be buried Though it find not the effect to which it was principally ordeined yet an effect it will have Aut fiet in illis aut de illis It shall be accomplisht either in those to whom it is spoken or upon them For it is not the Disciples word but the Masters and when it is gone forth out of his mouth it shall not return unto him voyd it shall not fall to Isa 55. 11. 1 Sam. â— 4. 1â— the ground Quicquid condidit virtus coelum est sayth the Poet Whatsoever is done by the hand of Virtue is as lasting as the Heavens But that which we do at the command of our Master in the name and person of Christ is more lasting than the Heavens Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away Luk. 21. â—â— The Heavens shall be gathered together as a scrowle but one iota or title shall in no wise pass from Gods word That Word which we contemn and tread under our feet shall rise up again and rise up against us That Word which we laught at is still in being and shall appear again to make us cry and howl That Word for which we stoned the Prophets and killed those that brought it shall be quick and active and vocal to condemn us That Word for which Micah was smitten on the face shall make that face as the face of an Angel That Word which brought St. Paul unto the block shall return and bring him into Heaven and put a crown upon his head Whether it meet with honour or dishonour with stripes with imprisonment with persecution with death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will certainly return again Cast thy Eccl. 11. 1. bread upon the waters sayth Solomon for thou shalt find it after many dayes even find it there where it might be thought to perish and be lost The wiseman seems to allude to the nature and property of some Rivers which when they have run on sweetly and watered some few Provinces hide themselves under the earth and at last break forth again and rise and appear in other coasts Cast thy bread venture all thy dutys upon these waters which though they seem to run out of thy sight and to bury themselves in the bowels of the earth though they be covered over with calumnies and disgraces with misery and affliction yet will break forth and have their course again and bear thee before the Sun and the People to the land of the living To shut up all in a word Publish Peace and whether thy Salutation meet with a son of Peace or an enemy of Peace whether it be entertained with reverence or rejected with scorn whether it meet with a prepared heart or a heart of stone whatsoever the event be thy labour is not in vain in the Lord. For though it seem to be lost yet it will return again It will return to thee in this life with an olive-branch with peace of Conscience and joy in the holy Ghost Nor will it leave thee so but when thou art dead it will follow thee to those new heavens and that new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness and peace and joy unspeakable for evermore The Eighteenth SERMON Rom. XI 20. Well because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith Be not high minded but fear MAN being a reasonable Creature one would think he should need no other conduct to lead him in his way to bliss than the light of those precepts which are most reasonable Be not high-minded Why should we but fear Why should we not the one posting us one till we bulg on the rocks the other warily steering our course till we are brought unto the Haven What need there any more incitements to the fulfilling of a Law then Knowledg of it that it is just and faculty and ability to perform it Indeed good reason it is that our Reason and Will should incline to that which is reasonable but Man as he is endued with Reason so is he also with Passion by which he becoms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 various and manifold and mutable in his wayes Nullum morosius animal nullum majori arte tractandum could the Philosopher say No creature more froward and headstrong none more intractable than Man And therefore God also condescends in mercy and is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 various and manifold in his instruction teaching us to avoid those evils which bring desolation on our Souls not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his written word but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the examples of other men so visible that we may run and read them He hath painted out every Sin with the very bloud of the offendor He hath beat out the teeth of oppression in one whipt Idleness in another Stricken Pride in a third So that Sins are not better known than the Punishment of Sins nor Gods Precepts more remarkable than his Judgments Now
all these things happen'd unto them for ensamples and are written for our admonition on whom the ends of the world are come And as Clemens speaks of the pillar of salt into which Lots 1 Cor. 10. 11. wife was turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was not a meer heavy and lumpish Statue but had life and activity enough to season and preserve us from recidivation so may we say of all the fearful and terrible examples of Gods wrath in Scripture they are not only the marks of his Justice but the characters of his Love silent Sermons but of more efficacy many times than those that we preach Our blessed Apostle here presents us 1 Pet. 3. 1. with one and that the most remarkable we find not the cutting off of some wicked person from the city of the Lord but the casting away of a whole nation even the Israel of God The Israelites were Gods peculiar nation culâ—'d out of the whole world like Gedeon's fleece full of the dew of heavenly benediction when all the world was dry beside To them were committed the oracles of God They had the Law and the Prophets Rom. 4. 1. Illis apud Deum gratia saith Tertullian they were in great favour with God that God taught them by word of mouth God taught them by his Wonders and by his Prophets and by those many Ceremonies which were as pictures saith Melanchthon and ocular Sermons praenunciativae observationes saith St. Augustine so many prophecies of Christ By these they might have been prepared and qualified for the receiving of the Messias But these high Prerogatives which should have level'd their minds and carried them on in an even course to the fulness of time when their Redeemer should come wrought a contrary effect and swelled and lifted them up to the admiration of themselves that they could not stoop to entertain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Messias so poor and naked and inglorious as Christ Fiduciâ patrum inflati sayth Tertullian they were puft up with the conceit that Abraham was their Father that God had raised up many famous men amongst them Quasi naturalem jactabant se habere justitiam sayth Augustine They thought righteousness came to them by kind and was derived unto them from the loins of their glorious predecessors Well saith the Apostle for all this for all they were branches of the good Olive-tree and did partake of the root and juice and fatness thereof by which they might have grown up and been transplanted into the Paradise of eternity yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were broken off and scattered and dispersed coeli soli extorres driven about the earth banished from their own country as well as from Heaven made the scorn of the world and the contempt of nations not suffered to stay so much as in the borders of their own land 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No man must dwell with them under the same roof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in the greatest sickness or extremity take Physick of them None must wash in the same bath not talk with them It is a Canon of a Council in Trull They are shut out sayth Crusius from the City in a place called Pera by an arm of the Sea nor are permitted to come to Constantinople to traffick but by ship In a word they are become a Proverb of obstinate impiety so that when we call a man a Jew we think we have rayled loud enough Our Apostle comprehends all in this one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were broken off or if this will not serve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will They were not only branches lopt off but cast away A sad exsample and now fresh and bleeding in the eyes of V. 15. those primitive Christians in quos gratiam transtulit Deus pleniorem on whom God had powred forth more plentiful and abundant Grace who had been cut out off the wild olive and grafted contrary to nature into the good V. 24. olive-tree And the most fit and opposite example it was they could look upon What better spectacle for the Church than the Synagogue in whose ruines and desolation she may read the dangerous effects of spiritual Pride and Haughtiness of mind and thence learn not to insult but tremble Therefore our Apostle hath drawn the picture of her ruine with this Impress or Motto NOLI ALTUM SAPERE Be not high minded but fear In which words you see we have a negative precept Be not high-minded and a positive and affirmative but fear The first is a Caution the second a Prescript The first gives us notice of a dangerous disease Haughtiness of mind the second presents us an antidote Fear For as spiritual Pride may cut us off with the Jew from the favour of God so Fear is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a preservative Be not high-minded It cut off the Jew But Fear that being grafted into the good Olive thou mayst grow and blossom and bring forth fruit and flourish for ever Of these in their order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Noli altum sapere is good counsel and I find it often given in the writings of the learned to men of lofty eyes who exercise themselves in great matters and in things too high for them men of curious speculation Psal 131. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nyssine speaks who being busy in the pursuit of things out of reach unhappily pass by and oversee those more necessary things which are at hand qui omittunt quod possunt videre dum quod non possunt intuentur as Hilary who loose the sight of those truths which are visible and easy whilst they make too steddy a gaze on those which are past finding out with the children of Benâ—amin learning to fling stones at a hairs breadth and yet not able to see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wide and open and effectual Door of Faith A Judg. 20. 16. disease indeed very dangerous and which strikes and hinders us in our spiritual growth But this is rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not so opposite to our present purpose and the intent of the Apostle The Malady here aimed at is an overweening conceit of our own worth whether in respect of the knowledg of divine truths or the practise of those virtues which are commended to us as the marks and characters of men in the favour and love of God A disease mortal and fatal to the Jew and to which the Christian was most obnoxious He was newly come out of the valley and shadow of Death into the land of the living and by the others fall and loss was entitled to great riches as our Apostle speaks V. 12. and therefore he was more subject to this Disease of Haughtiness of mind For the Orator will tell us Nihil insolentius novitio divite Men suddenly graced with favours and prerogatives are most insolent and proud And the
perhaps if they could have been dishonest of whom the world is not worthy Nay many a soul and thy own soul too is shackled and manacled with many sins and perturbations of the mind wallowing in the filth and mire of lust which is not to be in prison only or to sleep between two souldiers but in the Platonicks phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be asleep in hell it self Here here is matter for thy Piety to work on here pour out thy bowels of compassion here drop thy tears the only aqua fortis to eat these chains asunder here spend thy devotion thy intention thy zeal that it may increase like the Widows oyl in the pouring out and cast such a savor on thy actions ut opera ipse somnus sit oratio that every work nay thy very sleep may be a kind of prayer You have the example of the Church here and of the Church in following ages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and part of their Letany They prayed for men diseased for prisoners and captives And they prayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with great earnestness and intention with their eyes lifted up and their arms spread abroad not only to express the passion of our Saviour but to manifest also the heat of their devotion You have the same incouragement the same God much more attentive in hearing then you are intent in praying who will hear you when you call who will hear you before you call and upon your earnest and continued prayers for any St. Peter for any sick afflicted Saint for your own souls will make some light of comfort shine in the very prison will call back his destroying Angel and send a messenger of comfort unto you who will take thy soul out of prison and deliver it out of the hand not of Herode but of the Devil and from all the expectation of his evil Angels and will set thy feet at liberty to walk before him in the land of the living The Twentieth SERMON Psal XXXVII 11 12. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be yea thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be But the meek shall inherit the earth THese words are like the Pillar of the cloud a cloud Exod. 14. 19. 20. and darkness to the Wicked but giving light to the Meek in the night in the darkest night that Affliction can make They are words of terror and they are words of comfort of terror to the Wicked Why boastest thou thy self in mischief thou mighty man The goodness of God endureth Continually His eye watcheth every thought and imagination it follows thee in all thy wayes and yet a little while and his hand will tumble thee down into the pit which thou hast made And they are words of comfort to the Meek which now sigh and groan and cry unto the Lord as the Souls under the Altar How long Lord how long dost thou not avenge our cause Rev. 6. 9 10 how long shall the wicked triumph Why wait on the Lord ADHUC PAULULUM yet a little while and this night will pass and the day will break and you shall see the Salvation of the Lord. Yet a little while and the wicked which flourish like a green bay-tree shall wither and shrivel and be cut off He that thought he had built himself up an everlasting habitation shall have no being and he that made the world his own shall have no place And yet a little while and the meek who have not a foot of ground shall inherit the earth and they whose Sorrows were multiplied every day shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace And as these words bring comfort to the one and terrour to the other so they plead strongly for the Providence of God against them both Against the Wicked who fight against Heaven it self and strive to put out the eye of Gods Providence and are as bold and daring in their proceedings as if God had no eye And against the Meek who when God doth but touch them as Job speaketh thinks he will destroy them and when he doth but withdraw himself to call them after him are too ready to forget that even then his wing of protection is spread over them For behold the providence of God is awake when they both sleep is then working to the end when they see it not is then preparing a sword to enter the bowels of the one and a shield to defend the other when the one thinketh he can never be moved and the other is in the dust And though it move along in hidden and obscure wayes that we can no more perceive it than the passage of a Ship in the Sea or of an arrow in the air yet it alwayes comes home to the mark and is most evident in the destruction of the one and the Salvation of the other For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be c. We shall not need to stand any longer upon descant or to use any curiosity in the division of the Text Which many times is but like the long tuning of an instrument which diferreth the Musick and makes it shorter or as Musick it is heard and perhaps delights and that is all I never yet loved to put a tune to Divinity The Notes which my Text doth naturally yield are these three First we may observe Gods Patience and Delay both towards the Wicked and towards the Meek ADHUC PAULULUM yet a little while he bears with the one and helps not the other Secondly his justice on the Wicked which strikes at last though it strike not so soon For the Wicked himself NON ERIT he shall not be and for his Place NON EXSTABIT it shall not be found 4. Lastly his Goodness and Mercy to the Meek Though they be driven from place to place though they have no place yet HAEREDITABUNT TERRAM they shall inherit the Earth And with these we shall exercise your Christian Patience and Devotion at this time And first of the first ADHUC PAULULUM Yet a little while And a little while is too long to men in misery For who would stay so long as to salute Affliction in the way Who can think of it and not be afflicted with the very thought And yet a little while is too long to men who make their Strength the Law of unrighteousness Their reign is too long though it be but an hour But God is not slack concerning his coming as some count slackness Not 2 Pet. 3. slack to the Wicked for vengeance hovers over his head Not slack to the Meek for his Salvation is nearer than he can believe In this little while coals of fire are kindling which must fall upon the head of the Wicked and leave him without excuse and in this little while God is hearkning to the cryes and groans of his Meek ones and even in this stay doth make haste
before our eyes that we cannot see the truth of this promise the meek shall inherit the earth And first we must not look for certainty in moralibus in matters of this nature as we do in natural Philosophy and in the Mathematicks This and the like propositions may be true although that which they affirm fall not out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at all times and in every place It is a Topick proposition and shews what if we consider the nature of the terms and of the things themselves is likely to be we have the very same almost Prov. 2. 21. The just shall live in the land and the righteous shall remain in it And yet no doubt there have been just men who have been driven up and down in the world and not had a hole to hide their heads in And again Mercy doth establish the Throne And yet we have read of Kings who have lost their crowns and that by being too merciful And in another place He that is diligent in his wayes shall stand before Kings Yet we cannot think but that there have been many industrious men who never saw the inside of a Court. There is a fair applicability and correspondency between these Mercy in a King and a long Reign Industry and Honour Meekness and the quiet possession of the earth but there is not so necessary a connexion as there is between these a Man and a living Creature If the world were dissolved yet this proposition is everlastingly true Man is a living Creature But many cross accidents may intervene to make Mercy malevolent which of its own nature is a preservative to keep industry in a corner which of it self doth raise the dilligent out of the dust and to drive the Meek out of possession who carry about with them the strongest title to an Inheritance A second error there is and it is this We are too prone to mistake the nature and quality of God's Promises and when we read that God will preserve and continue the Meek in their estates we presently conceive that God is oblig'd by this promise to exempt us from common casualties and to alter the course of things for our sakes When common calamities like an inundation break in and overflow the world we expect that God who fits in Heaven and looks upon the children of men should bow the Heavens and come down and work a miracle for us even do by us as he did by Noah at the Floud build us an Ark to float in till the waters abate Which is no less then to dictate to the Wisdome of God and to teach him who made the world how to govern it Beloved God never promised to exempt the Meek from the common casualties of the world but he hath promised to uphold them in all and to take care for them in such a sort as the world never useth to do Will you take a line and measure out the circuit of the promise and St. Hierome is ashamed to do it in his Epistle to Dardanus Pudet dicere latitudinem terrae promissionis He was ashamed to draw the map lest he should give occasion to the Heathen to blaspheme For from joppa to Bethlehem are but six and forty miles and yet God made his people there a mighty nation multiplied them as the stars of Heaven and made them a fear and terror to the nations round about them Folow them into captivity and the Psalmist tells us that he gave them favour in the eyes of their enemies and made all those who led them away captive to pitty them And Psal 1â—6 46. it is more to find favour from an enemy than to have no enemy at all more to be pittied of our enemies than to tread them under our feet for this is to gain a conquest even in our chains Whether in captivity or liberty whether in riches or poverty the Meek person is still in manutenentia Divina in the hands of a powerful God who makes good his promise even then when it seems to be broken For in the third place many times God's promise is made good unto us when we believe it not for as the Jews would not receive Christ himself because he came not in that pomp and state in which they lookt for their Messias So if God come short of our desires we are ready to except against and question the truth of his promises We are at a stand and begin to think that Meekness is not so thriving a virtue as the Scripture hath made it Whereas we rather ought to consider that be it much or little that falls unto us it is sufficient to make good Gods promises For that a Meek man thrives at all is meerly from God For consider the malice and craft of the Wicked how his eyes are privily against the Meek with what humility and crouching he waits for the prey and what a Lion he is when he hath caught it how he pretendeth that God himself is his Second and a-better and though the Devil be his leader yet he falls on in the name of the Lord of Hosts consider this and you cannot but cry out Digitus Dei est hic That what part soever the Meek man hath in the earth it is measured to him by the finger of God himself who is miraculous in his preservation Again in the last place this promise is cum conditione not absolute but made over to us upon condition The Inheritance of the earth is given to us as an handmaid to wait on us to a better Inheritance even to an abiding city whose builder and maker is God This is the full extent of the promise And therefore if God see that earthly possessions will be as mountains in our way to the heavenly Jerusalem we have no reason to complain if he romove them His mercies are renewed every morning and he remembreth us in our low estate because his mercy endureth for ever But if the case so stand that my portion shall be in this life only then Nolo Domine hanc miserecordiam saith St. Bernard Lord I will have none of this kind of mercy If this be the case I had rather God should frown than smile on me I had rather he should wound than kiss me and break me on a wheel than lay me in a bed of roses I had rather have no place on earth than loose my mansion in Heaven If we ask God bread should he give us a stone if we ask him fish should he give us a Serpent This bread we ask may be a stone this Fish a Serpent liberalis est Deus dum negat God is very liberal if he deny us what we expect as a promise for the promise is fulfilled though he deny us Still it is true The meek shall inherit the earth To look back and sum up all and so conclude We have first seen the Wicked in his rise followed him with our eye to his very Zenith where like a
but dust He knows our frame he remembreth we are built up of flesh as he was And he knoweth what impressions Sorrow can make in flesh He remembers that Man in the best estate is but vanity that when he is strongest he is ready to fall And then if he falls as a Man out of frailty and not as an Angel as Lucifer 's presumtuously his Compassion is ready to lift him out of the dust And this is a part of Christ's Priestly office which he begun on earth and in heaven performs for us even to the end of the world This lasts even after the Consummatum est when all was finished Christ Jesus is an Intercessor yesterday to day and for ever Behold saith Saint Stephen Acts 7. 56. I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God And every Christian by the eye of faith may see him there also even at the right hand of God interceding for us Father behold here I am and for my sake behold the children which thou hast given me It is true they have sinned for even I was tempted They have fallen but by my help are risen again They have received many spots from the world but they have been willing to wash them off with their tears that I might wash them with my bloud They have profaned thy name but they have called on thy name Oh give ear unto their cry hold not thy peace at their tears Or if thou wilt not hearken to the tears of a sinner yet behold the sighs the tears the bloudy wounds of a man that did never sin And now Father forgive them as men forgive them as my brethren To these sinners I have given the glory which thou gavest me that they may be one even as we are one And the Father of Mercy receives us and embraceth us in his arms puts upon us the best robe puts immortality upon our mortality impeccability upon our peccancie and all at the intercession of his Son who being himself tempted learnt to succour them who are tempted The Four and Twentieth SERMON PART II. MATTH IV. 1. Then was Jesus led-up of the Spirit into the wilderness c. HEre we have the Field where our Saviour coped with our adversary the Devil and the Manner how he was brought thither He was led-up of the Spirit Which motion excludeth both all violence in the person leading and all rashness and inconsiderateness in the person lead The Spirit leads gently and the quiet and gentle leading of the Spirit is as a document to us not to follow unadvisedly or indeed rather not to out-run the Spirit For when we run thus in haste we commonly run our selves out of breath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianzene Every man is commonly very hot in the beginning but the nearer and nearer he comes to the object the fainter and fainter he grows and when he meets it he falls down for want of spirit now a zelote anon a Laodicean now consumed with zeal anon chill and cold now a Seraphim but by and by a stone The reason hereof is from the Will of man which may easily be inclined and carried to any object though never so terrible whilst there is nothing to move the Sense and by the Sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the irrational part of the soul because there the Reason doth but fight with a shadow and representation of evil but here with the evil it self full of horror and affrightment naked as it is Which now hath a double force both upon the Sense and Apprehension and by its operation on the one multiplies its terror on the other and the more it is felt the more it is understood far more terrible in its approach then in our books or contemplation And therefore it will not be safe for us to challenge and provoke a temptation but to arm and prepare our selves against it to stand upon our guard and neither to offer battel nor yet refuse it Sapiens feret ista non eliget It is the part of a wise man not to seek for evil but to endure it And to this end it concerneth every man to exercise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his spiritual wisdome that he may discover Spiritûs ductiones diaboli seductiones the Spirit 's leadings and the Devil's seducements lest he do not only seek tentations but create them and make that a provocation to evil which bespeaketh only his obedience or patience lest I conceive that the Spirit sendeth me when I resist him when I do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fall cross with him and run violently against him And this we have gained by the Spirit 's Leading We descend now in campum certaminis into the place of tryal the Wilderness For thither Jesus was led amongst the wild beasts saith St. Mark into the most forsaken and solitary desart as some have made the discovery a mountainous place between Jerusalem and Jericho not far from Galgala the place where he that fell amongst thieves was wounded where Luke 10. 20. John Baptist was before he baptized And their conjecture is probable because that desart is neer unto Jordan So that the journey was not long from Jordan where Christ was baptized to this desart where he was tempted We will not stand much upon the place or curiously search whether it were this or any other but rather modestly inquire the reasons why our Saviour would withdraw himself into a solitary place there to be tempted And here as we cannot be so unreasonable as to think that Christ had no reason to induce him to withdraw himself for a while for this were to conceive that he was led thither by chance and not by the Spirit so we must not coin reasons of our own and then set his image and superscription upon them not frame conclusions and then make his actions which are nothing like them the premisses out of which they are naturally drawn For this hath been the mother of all Error and Superstition And as Martin Luther says Nihil periculosius Sanctorum gestis Nothing is more dangerous then the actions of the Saints when they are mistaken so may we of Christs For whilst we dote upon our own phansies and then gaze and look to find them in the action of this Saint or that or of Christ himself by a kind of justice it falls out that we lose our sight and walk in the dark and think when we have buried our selves alive in idleness and a fruitless solitude that even then we are with John Baptist or with our Saviour in the Wilderness The resolution of Tertullian is most safe malo minùs sapere quà m contra It is better a great deal to know less then amiss And not to know every reason which moved our Saviour to this retiredness then for some ends of our own peremptorily to conclude this or that was the reason which is none at all Divers conjectures are given by the
reason at home in our own breasts and St. James hath shewn us how we should find it chap. 4. 2 3. Ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye fight and war yet ye have not because ye ask not Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss We pray for Peace and lift up hands full of bloud and oppression We pray to God to settle the pillars of the Kingdome when our study is to shake them to be favourable to Sion when we fight against it And therefore saith God When you spread your hands I will hide mine eyes from you and when you make many prayers I will not hear for your hearts are full Isa 1. 15. of bloud Will we have our prayers effectual We must take the Prophets counsel in the next verse Wash you make you clean from oppression cruelty and deceit This is the best preparation to Prayer If we will hearken unto God he will incline his ear to us and if we love Peace and pursue it the God of peace will give it Thus if we we call upon him he will hear and thus if we cry unto him he will answer here I am Here I am as ready to crown you with blessings as you are to ask them as ready to send peace within your walls as you are to desire it ready to crown you with external peace here and with eternal hereafter Again when we pray we must follow our Saviours example and withdraw our selves and retire When he had sent the multitude away he went Matth. 14. 23. up into a mountain apart to pray And he went forward a little and fell Mark 14. 35. on the ground and prayed In Gethsemane he withdrew himself from his Disciples that he might more freely pour forth his soul unto God Retiredness is most fit for passionate and affectionate prayers Then our passions may best vent themselves Then our Indignation our Fear our vehement Desire our Zeal our Revenge may work freely upon the whole man 2 Cor. 7. 11. may force tears from our eyes and sobs from our tongues may beat our breasts and cast our bodies on the ground Then Ingeminations and Reiterations and Expostulations are more seasonable That which peradventure Modesty would stifle in company in our secret retirements is the true eloquence of a wounded soul There God will hear us when we speak and he will hear us when we do not speak He will understand us when we express our selves and he will understand us when our sorrows and tears are so great that we cannot express our selves There every sigh is a prayer every groan a loud cry and though our language be imperfect and come short of our wants yet is it easie and plain to him because it comes from a broken heart And therefore what here by ensample Christ teacheth us he giveth us a rule To pray in private To pray in our closet and he promiseth Matth. 6. 5 6. that our Father that seeth that heareth in secret wilâ— reward us openly He will lead us through the wilderness of this world into a paradise of pleasure where all tears shall be wiped from our eyes where there shall be no more sorrow no more travel no more fighting but peace and rest and joy and glory for evermore We have done now with the two first reasons or conjectures rather why our blessed Lord and Master went into the wilderness We come now to the third which was That by this his Retirement he might draw out to us the resemblance of a Christian mans life which is nothing else but a Secession and holy Pilgrimage out of the world For as the Wilderness is indeed a part of the world and yet in a manner out of the world so is Christ in the wilderness a fair representation of a Christian who lives in the world yet is not of the world who is a part of the world yet separate from it who is no sooner born into the world but is taught to renounce it As Joseph is called a Nazarite in the Latin Translation not that he was of Gen. 49. 26. that order or observed their Law which was made many ages after but that by his strictness and severity of life by his piety and innocency he was severed and removed from others whose lives were irregular and therefore he is said to be separate from his brethren Or as Macarius calls a virtuous man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stranger a barbarian to the World in St. Pauls sense because he understands not the World nor the World him The 1 Cor. 14. 11. Apostle repeats it again and again that the Patriarchs were but strangers Heb. 11. in the land which was given them in their own land yet strangers Howsoever God had promised them an inheritance in Canaan yet they took his word in another and higher sense of the spiritual Canaan They abode in the land of promise as in a strange country looking for a city having a foundation whose builder and maker is God Which was to make a wilderness in Canaan nay to make the land of Promise it self a Wilderness Hence St. Hierome is positive and peremptory That the Saints in Scripture are no where called inhabitatores terrae the Inhabitants of the Earth or of the World but that it is a name alwayes given to sinners and wicked persons to those of whom it is written Wo to the inhabitants of the earth St. Augustine Rev. 8. 13. saith the wicked do only habitare in mundo dwell and have their residence in this world and may pass into a worse but never into a better place but the righteous can only be said esse to be there to have a being and existence there to be there as the Angels are said by the Schoolmen to be in uno loco quod non sint in alio to be in one place not circumscriptively but because they are not in another to be in the world but not of the world to be in this world because they are not yet in the other to be on earth because they are not yet in heaven It is a hard saying this and an unwelcome doctrine to flesh and bloud to the children of this world That we should be sent into the world ideo ut exeamus to this end that we should go out of it be placed in Jerusalem and then bid to go out into the wilderness be seated in such a paradise and then driven out of it even whilst we are in it be set to till the ground from whence we are taken to digg and labor as in a mine and then be taught to be afraid and run from the works of our own hands to see Beauty which we must not touch Fruit which we must not taste Riches and Treasure which we must tread under foot It is indeed a hard saying but even Scripture and Reason have made it good and seal'd and ratifiâ—d it
an angry Power and an offended Majesty Inviderat quia doluerat saith Tertullian He did envy us because he was grieved and his Pain increaseth with his Malice The first desire which threw him down was That he might be God and the next when he was fallen That there should be no God at all And being now in chains of everlasting darkness he hates that light which he cannot see And since God himself is at that infinite distance from him so full of power and majesty that his Malice cannot reach him he opposeth himself to the works of his hands and seeks to destroy him in his image as the poor man when he could not get his enemy into his hands whipt his statue Being much troubled saith Tertullian that God had given Man dominion over the works of his hands in Dei imagine quo sit in Deum odio ostendit he manifests his hatred to God in his image which he strives to deface Some think he envied the Hypostatical Union but this conjecture is not probable Most certain it is his extreme Misery enrageth his Malice and his Malice whets his Will and endeavors and maketh him very subtle to invent strange stratagems by which if we be not very wary he will steal our names from Christ to whom we have given them up and put them in his roll Nor is the working of his Malice hindred by the bad effect it produceth For the more he suffers the more malicious he is and the more malicious he is the more he suffers He grieves and is troubled that Men built up of flesh and bloud should keep the love of God on earth which he being a glorious Spirit lost in heaven that mortal Man should ascend to that pitch of happiness from whence he being an immortal Angel was flung down And though he know that his pains are increased by the condemnation of those whom he hath prevailed with to sin yet he strives to increase the number though with the increase of his pains and is content to suffer more so that more may suffer with him Nor need we wonder that the Devil who is so subtle a Serpent fails in such a point of wisdome For as his Subtlety and Wisdome is great so is his Malice which even in Man doth darken the eye of Reason and makes the Devil every day more a Devil to himself so that though he be very cunning to bring souls unto punishment yet he hath no wisdome to keep off the increase of it from himself Very busie he is to frame his accusations though when we come to the barr he must also be condemned as accessory Now as these two Malice and Envy which we have joyntly handled and together because they are so like are as inward incitements unto the Devil to accuse us so also is his Pride For he is king over all the children of pride as Job speaketh And this may be one cause though not the chief why he cannot repent Hoc vitio misericordiae medicina respuitur This is the sin which shuts down the portcullis to Mercy So that if God should have provided a plaster for his Malice his Pride would have refused it Infelix superbia dedignatur sub praeceptis coelestibus vivere Such is the infelicity of Pride that it can never be induced to be brought unto obedience of the heavenly commandments This was the sin which pluckt off his Angels wings and flung him down from heaven For not content to be no greater then he was he was made less then he was Ob hoc minus est quà m fuit quòd eo quod minus erat frui noluit saith Augustine Being not content to be an Angel of light he became a Devil and when heaven would not hold him unless he might be a God he was thrown into hell Nor is his Pride the less because his Malice is great For the Schools conclude that he preserved his naturals entire as his subtilty and agility He was a Spirit still and Pride as Malice proceeds from infirmity from decay And though we say that Pride as a moth will breed even in Humilities mantle yet it rather proceeds from our unnecessary gazing on it and misconstruing it then from the virtue it self The Devil is a spirit of an excellent essence and it cannot be said unto him saith the Father as it may be to Man Why art thou proud Dust and Ashes Again there be many sins which Men are subject to of which he cannot be actually guilty as Adultery Luxury Covetousness and the like therefore he is the bolder to accuse us And to this he incites us thinking his sin more hurtful to us then his punishment And this he is ready to lay to our charge that we as he have an ambition to be like unto the Highest and in every sin affect a kind of equality with God Still he would be as God our ruler and king the God of this world to lead or drive us at his pleasure And as God commands obedience that it may be well with us so doth he proclaim us rebels and since he cannot be our judge takes a pride in being our accuser Here his Art and Skill magnifieth it self that he can destroy what God was willing to save that he can make him hate what naturally he loved Here his Will and Eloquence is seen in drawing out arguments to which Man cannot answer in making our Sins our unrepented Sins cry louder then the Bloud of Christ in laying before Gods eyes those wounds which his mercy cannot heal Here he striveth to pluck God out of his throne by telling him he cannot be God and pardon such offenders Here he is wise and just still that Angel which would be equal with God Variis quisque causis ad accusandum compellitur There be divers causes saith Seneca which move men to accuse one another Some are spur'd on by Ambition others by Hatred some by Hope of reward But the Devils motives are his Malice and Envy to mankind and that which made him a Devil his Pride And now having shewed you the Devil as an Accuser we pass to the Application That we may learn to hate and detest that sin of Defamation lest if we leave our Brotherhood with our Advocate we get no better a Father then the Father of lies For we must not think the Devil is an Accuser only in defaming of us but also in teaching us to defame and accuse one another in speaking by us as he did by the Priests of his Temples and through our mouths breathing forth slanders as oracles He was an Accuser in the Jews and taught them to call Christ a wine-bibber a companion of publicanes and sinners to disgrace his Miracles and call them the works of Beelzebub He taught Elymas his own child as St. Paul calls him to pervert Acts 13. 10. the right wayes of the Lord. He taught the Heathen to call the first Christians Impostors and Traytors and Atheists to lay to
starved for want of good preaching And I can hardly see how it should be otherwise since their Pastours feed them with nothing but their own idle phansies which are no better then the husks which the Swine and the Prodigal fed on Others who can but make eight of the Hundred of their moneys can make Two hundred drunkards of less then Eight peradventure of none And though they are in Porters frocks they are willing to believe that they are Priests Not but that their Covetousness may be as great as their Malice but they find it easier to multiply Faults then their Money In a word some condemn their Pride others their Idleness and many their Covetousness Which were it true of them all yet they were but like many of them and especially those that accuse them Et certè magìs nos amarent si tales essemus essemus enim de armento suo And certainly if they were all such as they say they would love them more then they do for they might well meet and go together as beasts of the same herd Amongst the Romans they used to brand all calumniators and false accusers and mark them with the letter K to make them infamous for defaming of others that so they might find no man to accuse but their own fortunes alone I will never wish any infamy to these men who thus delight in the infamy of others For then I should be like unto them and triumph in that which I should lament But I perswade my self that if this Roman Law should be put in execution amongst us we should see plures literatas frontes many a head letter'd without which hath little wit and less learning within I had rather they would remember whose profession it is to accuse and for his sake learn to detest it or if they will accuse their brethren let them accuse them as God doth them not till they are forc't to it In omnibus accusationibus hoc agendum est nè ad eâ—s lubenter descendisse videamur All accusations must be put up with an unwilling hand and we must make it appear that we were forc't to enter our action Therefore that of Cassius Severus Dii boni vivo quo me vivere juvat Asprenatem reum video Oh you Gods I live and my life is more pleasant unto me because I see Asprenas arraigned was a speech which did much offend Quintilian a good Orator and a judicious Advocate But so it is many times defamers have this advantage of their fulfilling a malicious will they find some ease and delight in it For as it is in other passions so is it in Malice it brings ease in the vent It is a flame in our bones but when we have breathed it forth at our mouth it is light A strange thing it is to observe what content some men receive in the sharp and severe censuring of their brethren how they lay their hand to their mouth and wipe it when they lay the whip on their back and lash them how it is health unto them to say their brother is sick Maledicere omnibus signum bonae conscientiae arbitrantur saith St. Hierome of some of his time They count it a sign of a good conscience to speak against all men Remedium poenae putant si nemo sit sanctus and they esteem it as a remedy of their smart if no man be holy and hope to escape punishment by anothers sin He that wears the patrimony of the poor on his back will forget the sin quickly after a volley of curses discharged against the Clergy He that walks and talks away his life may be very confident that he is Gods child because a great part of that talk was against lazy Ministers He that prodigiously spends more at a supper then will keep a Colledge a moneth yet thinks himself a very pious man because he hates drones and therefore is well minded to pull them all down and if any will joyn with him he is ready with a Petition against them Oh what a garment of righteousness would these men think they had put on if they could take from Paul both his cloak and his parchments How do many sit down together and sigh and cry down the sins of the times and then say in their hearts O how holy are we Oh what a rare art hath the Devil taught us to extract a cordial out of our brothers disease How have we learnt to stuff a pillow with other mens sins and sleep upon it and dream of the Kingdom of Heaven How doth this man hide his Covetousness with that mans Pride How is the Profaneness of the Atheist lost in the Superstition of the Idolater and the Luxury of the Lay-man forgot in the Idleness of the Clergy But let men flatter themselves as they please By this we know whose Disciples they are and whose side they take Imitando eum siunt ex parte ipsius saith St. Augustine even his whom they imitate They may call themselves what they please the Elect the Saints of God But if they delight in the defamation of others and build up their faith upon the ruins of their brethren and think themselves holy because they can call their brother Ungodly the Scripture hath given them a mark which is as the letter K in their forehead FILII DIABOLI SUNT They are the children of that great Adversary that Accuser the Devil Unusquisque cujus opera exercet in hoc seculo illius erit in altero Every man shall be his in the next world whose works he doth in this He that will be his brothers Advocate will plead for him will pardon will forgive him will make his compassion as a mantle to cover him shall follow Christ shall follow that meek Lamb whithersoever he goes But he that delights in the ripping up of the bowels of his brother in mangling his name and murdring him alive he that measureth his Piety by the curiosity of his Malice and makes it his Religion to say such a one hath none he that is a false accuser and a calumniator of his brethren shall follow but I tremble to speak it and had rather beseech God for his infinite mercies sake to give them grace that they may search their own hearts diligently that they may learn to be judges of themselves and advocates for others that they may lash their own sins and weep for others that they may accuse themselves which brings on absolution and not slander others which hastens condemnation and we conclude this point with that which hath been the prayer of the Church From all blindness of heart from pride vain glory and hypocrisie from envy hatred and malice and all uncharitablebleness Good Lord deliver us And let all the people say AMEN Now to make some application of what hath been delivered Since this desire to accuse and defame others is a property so natural to the Devil that from it he hath his name so that the
Accuser and the Devil are the very same it will concern us to be very wary that we calumniate not our brethren lest we resemble him our Enemy rather then Jesus our Advocate When Michael the Arch-angel contended with this Devil and disputed with him about the body of Moses he brought no rayling accusation And why should one Jude 19. Christian do that to another which an Arch-angel would not do to the Devil himself Why should not our words rather kindle at the fire of Heaven then of Hell In the second place let us take heed to our own wayes that this Enemy throw us not down and then accuse us for falling Let us watch over our own steps that when he makes his approach he may find nothing in us no malice no bitterness nothing which he may put into his Bill Let us say within our selves when he comes to tempt us This language is fair but if we hearken to it he will change his dialect and be that Lyon which shall roar against us He smileth in this Beauty but this Beauty will be a snare He courts us in this Honor but if we go up with him to the pinacle he will tumble us down He shines in these Riches but if we come near we shall find him a consuming fire The fairest speech he gives is but a kind of prologue or preface to an Accusation and when he speaks friendly to us we may be sure he will strike us through the fifth ribb Let us then say with Joseph How can I commit this wickedness and sin against God who would save me and how can I commit this and help the Devil my enemy to accuse me In the affairs of this world we are very sly and cautelous and will not give any advantage to those whom we suppose to be no well-willers unto us Nay many times we abstein from things not unlawful in the presence of those we do not love because we fear whatsoever we do will be misinterpreted and can expect no better gloss then that which Malice will make And shall we be so confident on the greatest enemy of mankind as to help his Malice and to further and promote the desire which he hath of our ruines Shall I fill this Accusers mouth with arguments against my self and even furbish and whet the sword of my Executioner This is a folly which we cannot but be ashamed of and yet in every sin we commit we commit this folly But yet in the last place as St. John saith If we sin we have an Advocate so say I If we sin and the Devil put up his bill of Accusation against us as most certainly he will let us learn to accuse our selves and that will make his Accusation void and cancel his Bill From a broken and a contrite heart let us say We have sinned and he hath nothing to say Let us confess our sins and we have put the Adversary to silence Let us plead Guilty and Christ is ready to blot out the hand-writing which is against us and to take it away and nayl it to his cross When I slander my brother I do the Devils office When I yield to him I help him When I sin I do but prompt him what he should say against me and as much as in me is make the Devil no lyar But when I rip up my heart and lay it open to God when I breathe forth my sins and my sorrows before him when I tender up a Bill against my self a Bill of my sins bedewed with my own tears and coloured with my Saviviours bloud the Devil may roar but not prevail he may accuse me but not be heard because I am quit already by proclamation They that believe and repent shall be saved Confessio poenarum compendium Our serious acknowledgment makes a short work prevents our Enemy sets a period to Sin and Punishment If we accuse our selves no accusation shall hurt us and if we judge our selves no sentence shall pass upon us and whatsoever libel this Accuser shall put up against us JESUS shall cancel who is our Advocate To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all honour and glory for evermore The Seventh and Twentieth SERMON PART I. MATTH XXII 11 12. And when the King came in to see the guests he saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment And he saith unto him Friend how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment And he was speechless GReat Feasts have their solemnities great Not such attendance at the marriage of a Peasant as of a Prince not such noyse and pomp at Nabal 's sheep-shearing as when Ahasuerus feasted his Nobles in his palace at Shushan Ever as the person is such is the state of celebration and ceremony We have here the Feast of a King at the marriage of his son the dinner prepared the fatlings killed the viands and dainties on the table all things ready A royal Feast not to some few provinces but to every nation and to all people not to the Nobles and Princes and Captains alone to honorable men of high place and employment but to the Farmer and the Merchant men taken up and drowned in worldly affairs to those in the broad streets and high-wayes men that walk and talk away their life men that have little to do and to those in the by-lanes of the city men that can do little to the halt the maimed the blind to men knit and revitted to the world and to men little better than cast out of the world to all sorts to as many as could be found both bad and good The King invites all because the Feast concerns all And that the house may be filled and the wedding furnisht with guests he takes the cup of blessings the cup of salvation and drinks a Health to all the world A royal Feast indeed where the gates lye open to all commers And as it is a royal Feast so it is a lasting a standing Feast perpetuae incorruptibilitatis saith Fulgentius not as the King of Persia 's for a hundred and fourscore dayes but as the Marriage is for ever As Desponsabo Hos 2. 19. te mihi in aeternum so Feriabitur in aeternum The Marriage is not to be cut off by a divorce nor the Feast by time It is an everlasting Marriage and an eternal Holiday IN PRINCIPIO In the beginning there it begun and if we take in the purpose of the King ANTE PRINCIPIUM before the beginning before there was a Before before the foundations of the Eph. 1. 4. world were laid But take the calculations we hear of it In Paradise the symbolum is cast in and notice given The Seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head After Abraham is plainly invited to this Feast I will be Gen. 17 7. thy God and the God of thy seed To this give all the Prophets witness Acts 10. 43. Isaiah composeth the Epithalamium or Marriage-song
spake of Philosophy is as true of Religion and Devotion Fuit aliquando simplicior inter minora peccantes When men were truly devout there was no contention but this one Who should be most devour All the noise was in their Temples little in their Schools All men then did joyn together with one heart and mind in prayer and not as now fly asunder and stand at distance and then give laws to one another or which is worse in their hearts denounce a curse against those who will not follow their example that is set the countenance tune the voice roll the eye pray at adventure and in all things do as they do or which is equivalent to a curse esteem them at best but meer moral men would they were so good but unsanctified men and void of saving Grace and so nourish that venome and malice in their hearts against their Brethren which certainly cannot lodge in the same room with true Devotion and leave them only fit to act a prayer And then what a Roscius is a Pharisee Beloved Prayer was a Duty but is become a Probleme and men who cannot gain the reputation of Wise but by doing that for which they deserve another name and title have been bold to put it to the question When and How and In what manner we may pray as if this Form came short which our Saviour hath prescribed have lookt upon all other Forms and this of Christs by which they were made as upon a stone of offense and out of it have struck the fire of Contention Nihil tam sanctum quod non inveniat sacrilegum There is nothing so sacred so set apart which a profane hand dare not touch and violate no Manna which may not be loathed nothing so profitable to advance piety which may not be trod under foot If you cast a pearl to a Swine he will turn upon you and rent you if he can A set-Form That is a chain and binds the holy Ghost to an Ink-horn Meditation without which we will not speak to our fellow mortal That stints the blessed Spirit It is their own language They bring Sermons and Prayers of Gods own making because they themselves takes no pains in framing them Multa sunt sic digna revinci nè gravitate adorentur saith Tertullian Many exceptions may be taken which are not worth the excepting against and many are so ridiculous that to be serious and earnest in confuting of them were to honour them too much We cannot but pity the men because we are Christians otherwise we could not but make them the object of our laughter We have probability enough to induce us to believe that some of those who have so startled at a Form would for the very same reason have complained had there been none at all For he that looks for a fault will be sure to find one or if he do not find will make one They would have been as hot and angry had the Church been naked as they are now they see her glorious in all her embroydery Ceremony or no Ceremony Form or no Form all is one to him whose custome whose nature whose advantage it is to be contentious What no reverence in the Church of Christ as lyable to exceptions as What too much What turn the cock and let it run one would think more obnoxious to censure then by meditation to draw waters out of the fountain the Word of God What speak we know not what Such an accusation in all reason should sooner raise a tempest then to pray after that manner which our best Master hath taught us When it concerns us to be angry every shadow is a monster every thing is out of order every thing nothing is a fault I have not been so particular as I should because we live among fanatick spirits with men who as David speaketh are soon set on fire who can themselves at pleasure libel the whole world yet put on the malice of a Fiend and clothe themselves with vengeance at the sound of the most gentle reprehension Imbecilla loedi se putant si tangantur You must not lay a finger upon that which is weak If you but touch them they are inraged and will pursue you as a murderer Yet we may take leave to consider what degrees and approaches the Arch-Enemy of the Church and Religion hath made to overthrow all Devotion and to digg up Christianity by the roots First men are offended with Ceremony though as ancient as the Church it self and at last cry down Duty First no Kneeling at the Sacrament and then no Sacrament at all First no Witnesses at the Font and then no Baptism First no Ordination and then no Minister and he is the best Preacher who hath no calling though he be fitter to handle the Flayl then the Bible First no Adorning of Churches and presently they speak it plainly A Barn a Stable is as good as a Church And so it may be for such cattle as they First no set-Form of Prayer and within a while they will teach Christ himself how to pray Thus Error multiplyes it self and striking over-hastily at that which is deemed Superstition leaves that untoucht and wounds Religion it self and swallows up the Truth in victory in the unadvised and heedless pursuit of an error This is an evil humor and works upon every matter it meets with and when it hath laid all desolate before it it will at last gnaw upon it self as in the bag of Snakes in Epiphanius the greatest Snake eat up the lesser and at last half of himself For we commonly see that they that strike at whatsoever other men set up are at last as active to destroy the work of their own hands and they who quarrel with every thing do at last fall out with themselves Oh what pity is it that Religion and Piety should be thus toyed withal that men should play the wanton with those heavenly advantages which should be as staves to uphold them here on earth and as wings to carry them up to heaven that there should be so much noise and business about that Duty which requireth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the quietness the tranquility the stillness of the soul that Praying should become begging indeed I mean as Begging is now-a-dayes an art and trade that all Devotion should be lost in shews that men should hate Ceremony and yet be so much Papists as they are that they should cry Down with Babylon even to the ground and yet build up a Babel in themselves But beloved we have not so learned Christ Therefore let us lay hold on better things and such as accompany Piety that Piety which brings with it salvation Let us not be afraid of a good duty because it hath fallen into evil hands Let us not leave off to pray in that Form which our Saviour hath taught us or in any other Form which is conformable to that because some men love to play the wantons and
and slow of Understanding When we have spent our selves in study and searching of natural things yet with all this sweat with all this oyl we purchase not so much knowledge as to tell why the Grass which grows under our feet is rather green than purple and can we then hope to dive into supernaturals and find out those causes which God hath lockt-up in his secret treasures It ought to be betwixt God and us as it was between St. Augustine and his Scholar Who having opened many points unto him tells him that if he had given him no reason at all of such things as he had written yet the authority and credit which he ought to have with him should so far prevail with him as to make him take them upon his word without any further question It was a wise saying of Terentius in Tacitus to the Emperor and it saved him both his life and goods Non est nostrum aestimare quem supra caetera aut quibus de causis locaveris tibi summum rerum judicium nobis obsequii gloria relicta est It is not for subjects to examine whom thou hast raised or for what causes the judgment of things belongs unto Majesty but duty and obedience commend a Liege-man The same consideration must poise and ballance a Christian that he totter not in the doubtful and uncertain circumvolution of things It is sufficient for us that we know God hath made Wisd 11. 20. all things in number weight and measure and whatsoever he saith or doth must be taken for true and just although we can assign no reason nor probability why he doth it The whole Book of Job doth drive at this very Doctrine For when Job was on the dunghil full of sores and botches his friends instead of bringing comfort put-up a question and instead of helping him ask the question Why he should be thus handled as to stand in need of their help His friends through ignorance of the Providence of God lay folly and iniquity to his charge Job stoutly defends his innocencie and is as far to seek as his friends why Gods hand should be so heavy on him At last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God himself comes down from heaven and puts an end to the question He condemns both Job and his friends of ignorance and imbecility and tells him that it was not for them to seek a cause or call his judgments in question For this were to darken counsel by words without judgment Canst thou saith God bind the sweet influences of the Pleides or loose the bands of Orion Canst thou send lightnings Job 38. 2. that they may go and say Here we are If the Emperor will be higher than God saith Tertullian coelum debellet captivum ducat vectigalia imponat let him conquer heaven lead it captive and put a tribute upon it If any man will trace out those wayes which are past finding out let him also command God himself and teach him to govern the world if not let him lay his hand on his mouth and proceed no further It concerns not us to know how Gods Providence worketh It is enough that we know he is our Father although he discover not his love by any outward token of distinction When he heals his children he is a Father when he wounds them he is a Father and when he kills them he is a Father Manet dissimilitudo passorum etiam in similitudine passionum saith St. Augustine Where the penalties are alike the patients are not God sees a difference though the world do not distinguish them The Gold and the Dross lye both in one fire yet the Artist puts the one into his treasury and flings the other on the dunghil The Wheat and the Chafs are both under one Flayl yet the one is for the granary the other for the fire It is the wisdome and providence of our heavenly Father not to manifest his love by these outward tokens of distinction nor as Jacob to give that son which he loves best a gayer coat then the rest It is his property 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to find means when all mens inventions do fail and to bring great things to effect by those wayes which flesh and bloud may think would hinder them to bring light out of darkness and good out of evil to take his children out of that mass of evil where they seemed to be wrapt up eternally A day will come quae malè judicata rejudicabit wherein aâ— crooked judgments shall have justice against them when secret things shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as naked and open as an Ox which is cut down the back when we shall plainly see what we are bound to believe That in this confusion God can distinguish That in misery and affliction and in death it self he is our Father In most things the consideration of a fatal Necessity brought the very Heathen to this moderation that they either did lay-down the opinion of evil or else put-on a patience which was equal to it but Christians have a better help to remove Opinion not Necessity but the Will of their Father What cup can be bitter which he drinks to us What can be Evil which his Goodness consecrates What matter is it what labyrinths and windings we find in the course of our life when God doth lead us Do we ask whether he leads his children He leads them unto himself Do we ask by what wayes Why should we ask the question The traveller is not bound to one path nor the mariner to one point Salebrosa est via sed vector Deus The way perhaps is rough and uneven but God is our guide and wheresoever we are we are still in the hand of our Father I have dwelt too long upon this one word But I could not but somewhat enlarge my discourse upon the Providence of God because I see a secret kind of Atheism lurks in the world that many men call God their Father but prefer their low and sordid cares before his Providence as if â—e were a Father indeed but such a one as doth not provide for his children The rich man thinks none miserable but the poor and the poor meets with his humor and thinks none happy but the rich Riches is become the God of this world and hath so blinded mens eyes that they cannot look up unto their Father which is in heaven I will give you a plain demonstration That for which any thing is esteemed must needs be of an higher estimation it self Now experience will teach us Caelum venale Deúmque that men daily venture their souls and God himself for riches and plenty that Virtue is not lookt upon in raggs and that Vice is even adored in purple that the one is placed in a good place at the upper end of the table when the other must stoop and sit down under the foot-stool I will not conclude with St. James Are you not partial in your selves but
rather That he who thus loveth riches may cry as loud as he will but cannot call God his Father Ye have heard of the Goodness and Love of God a Love infinite as Himself It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perpetual circle beginning proceeding from and ending in himself All which is wrapt up and comprehended in this one word Father This is Gods peculiar title and all other fathers in comparison are not fathers Hence Christ saith Call no man your father upon the earth for one is your Father which is in heaven Yet some there have been found who have made God not a Father but a Tyrant a mighty Nimrod to destroy men for delight and pleasure perinde atque injuriam facere id demum esset imperio uti as if to set-up his children for a mark and to kill them with the same liberty a hunter doth a Deer were to be a Father What is become of Gods Goodness now Or shall we call him Father whose hands do reek in the bloud of his own children Or is it possible that his Goodness should make them to destroy them We should call it cruelty in Man whose Goodness is nothing and can we imagine it in God whose Goodness is infinite Doth a fountain send-forth at the same place sweet water and bitter saith St. James What can this James 3. 11. argue but a dissolution of that internal harmony which should be in Nature All men are made after Gods own image Now to hate some and love others of his best creatures would infer as great a distraction in the Indivisible Divine Essence as to have a Fig-tree bear olive berries or a Vine figs and imputes a main contradiction to his infinite Goodness All things were made out of meer love and to love the work of his hands is more essential to God then for Fire to burn And Gods Love being infinite extends to all for even All are less then Infinite God cannot hate any man till he hate him nor indeed can any man hate God till he hate himself God is a Fountain of Love he cannot hate us and he is a Sea of Goodness we cannot hate him Tam Pater nemo tam pius nemo No such Father none so loving none so good He that calls him Father hath answered all arguments that can call his Goodness into question But yet there is a devise found out and we are taught to believe that God is a Father though he damn us that the reprobate must think he hath done them a kind of favor in condemning them that they are greatly indebted to him and bound very much to thank him for appointing them to death and for casting them into hell-fire for ever with the Devil and his Angels Imò neque reprobi saith one habent cur de Deo conquerantur sed potiùs cur ei gratias agant The Reprobate have no cause to complain but rather heartily to give God thanks A bloudy position and which these men would not run away with such ease but that they have made a shift to perswade themselves that they are none of the number of those on whom God hath past such a sentence For should God reveal it to them that he had past such a decree upon them to damn them to hell and withal that he did it to manifest his power and glory I much doubt whether they would for their own particular in judgment and resolution be well-pleased or be so grateful as to thank him or so submissive as to call him Father Melius est matulam esse quà m simplex lutum It is better to be a vessel of dishonor than bare clay It is better to be miserable eternally than not to be are thoughts which they only can entertain who are too secure of their honorable estate here and of their eternal happiness hereafter Our Saviour who knew better than these men spake it of such a one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simply and without such qualification by distinction that it had been good for that man that he had never been born I will not build a controversie upon such a word of Love as FATHER but rather admire and adore Gods Love which he hath pledged and pawned bonis suis malis suis not only doing us good but suffering evil for us buying us with his bloud his labor his death not that we were of any worth but that we might be so even worthy of the Gospel of Christ worthy of immortality and eternal life We proceed now from the contemptation of Gods Goodness and Providence to that which we proposed in the next place the Liberal diffusion of it on all his children by which we are enjoyned to call him ours God is Christs Father peculiariter saith St. Ambrose and there is no Pater noster for him but Ours communiter by a full communion of himself unto all and therefore we are taught to pray Our Father For by the same Goodness by which he hath united us unto himself by the same hath he linkt us together amongst our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianzene with spiritual ligaments From the same fountain issue our Union with Christ and our Communion with one another Therefore if we diligently observe Christs institution as we are bound then as often as we pray so often must we exercise this act of Charity towards our brethren and that in gradu supremo in the highest and greatest extent as far as concerns their good And we must do it often because every good man every disciple of Christ must make it his delight and practise to speak to the Father in the language of his Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianzene How long do we hear of Mine and Thine in the Church It is not Paul is mine and Gospel is mine and Christ is mine but Paul is ours and The Gospel is ours and Christ is ours and Christ Gods Where there is Charity there MEUM and TUUM are verba frigida but icy words which melt at the very heat of that celestial fire If the Church be a Body then must every Rom. 12. 5. member supply The Foot must walk for the Eye and for the Ear and the Eye must see and the Ear hear for the Foot saith Chrysostom If a House then must every part every beam and rafter help to uphold the building If she be the Spouse of Christ then is she the mother of us all The Philosopher building up his Commonwealth tells us Civis non est suus sed civitatis Sure I am Christianus non est suus sed ecclesiae As a Citizen is not a Citizen for himself but for the whole Commonwealth so each action of a Christian in respect of its diffusive operation should be as catholick as the Church Without this friendly communication the Christian world would be as Caligula spake of Seneca commissiones merae arena sine calce stones heapt together without morter or as pieces of boards without
any thing to tye and knit them together But Christ there teacheth us to call God our Father and by Gods Providence and fatherly Goodness we are incorporated as it were and kneaded together that by softness of disposition by friendly communication by mutual praying we may transfuse our selves one into another and receive from others into our selves And in this we place the Communion of Saints Secondly in the participation of those Priviledges and Charters which Christ hath granted and the Spirit sealed calling us to the same faith baptizing us in the same laver leading us by the same rule filling us with the same grace sealing to us the same pardon upholding us with the same hope Lastly in those Offices and Duties which Christ hath made common which God requires of his Church Ubi communis metus gaudium labor Where my Fear watcheth not only for my self but stands centinel for others my Sorrow drops not down for my own sins alone but for the sins of my brethren my Joy is full with others joy and my Devotion is importunate and restless for the whole Church I cry aloud for my brother and his prayers are the echo of my cry We are all joyned together in this word NOSTER when we call God Our Father Nazianzene recording the Martyrdome of Cyprian not the Bishop but Deacon of Antioch crys out as in an ecstasie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am with him in the martyrdome I triumph in his bloud which was shed for Christ I am carried to heaven in the same fiery chariot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let others fight and overcome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am one of the same body of the same family of the same Church and the victory and crown is mine This is it which Tertullian may perhaps mean when he saith Non praeteritur ecclesia In our prayers we do not pass-by the Church of Christ Nay every man when he prays when he says his Pater noster is as it is said of general Counsels a kind of representative Church for he prays in personâ ecclesiae in the person of the whole Church Nor can one pray for himself but he must pray for others also Though the Church be scattered in its members throughout all the parts of the world yet as our eyes meet every day in looking upon the same Sun and every night upon the same Moon and Stars so our hearts meet in the same God even in our Father and our prayers are sent up for the Church and the Church for every man If I shut my brother out of my prayers I do as bad as excommunicate him nay worse For this private excommunication is more terrible then the Church hath any For though she shut-out the notorious sinner from the Church yet she leaves him a room in her devotions and poureth forth prayers for the most despicable member she hath even for that member which she hath cut off When the sinner contemns admonition she strikes him virga pastorali with her Pastoral rod rather to direct than destroy him But to deny our prayers to our brother is to strike him virgâ ferreâ with a rod of iron and as much as in us lyes to break him to pieces How were it to be wisht that we rightly understood this one article of our Faith The Communion of Saints or but the very first words of our Pater noster But it fares with us in our devotion as it did with Euphrainor the Painter in his art who when he had spent his best skill on Neptune came short and failed in the drawing of Jupiter Our Love is so chain'd to our selves that she cannot reach forth a hand to others She is active and vocal at home but hath the cramp and cannot breathe for the welfare of our brethren impetu cogitationis in nobis ipsis consumpto having consumed and spent her self at home To speak truth our Creed hath devoured our Pater noster and Faith hath shut Charity out of doors As we believe for our selves so we pray for our selves It is my Christ and My virtue and My kingdom My riches and My eloquent man and My preacher and My Father too Our Father is a word of compass and latitude and cannot find room in our narrow breasts But we little remember that if it be not Ours it cannot be Mine For by appropriating the graces of God we lose all right and title to them Wo be to him who is alone saith the Wise-man for when he falls he Eccl. 4. 10. cannot help himself and hath neither God nor Man to help him We may say perhaps that we know well enough that God is our Father and we would not meet in publick but to pray for the whole world Indeed there is nothing sooner said we may do it in a Pater-noster-while But tell me Canst thou pray for him whom thy Malice hath set up as a mark Canst thou include his name in thy prayers which thou makest thy daily bread at thy table and whose disgrace thou feedest on more than thy meat Can prayers and curses and reviling proceed out of the same mouth St. James asks the James 3. 10. question and doth not answer it only concludes My brethren these things ought not to be Ought not so to be Nay cannot so be For he that prays without Charity doth but intreat God to deny him yea doth force him to punish him Our union to the Father is shewn by our communion with one another And when I see this backwardness in communion I must needs doubt of the union which requires not only a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we be of the same mind with Christ but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also that we have the same will They who are in charity imitate Christ and bare one anothers burdens as feelingly as their own A great priviledge it is to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a child of the Church as Justine Martyr speaks to have the Church for our Mother and God for our Father a great prerogative if we were willing to conceive it to be of the Communion of Saints But I know not how on one side it is scarce thought upon and on the other made advantage of for politick ends Some shrink it up into too narrow a room and others wire-draw it to make it plyable to fit well to their Ambition and Pride So that as the Oratour spake of the word Tyrannus and the like Malis moribus henesta nomina perdidimus so may we of the Church and Catholick and communion of Saints We have spoiled good words with our bad manners and rob them of their proper signification to make them lackey it to our private humors What the Church is and what the Communion of Saints is open to every eye even of the dullest understanding But instead of practising what we know we love aetatem in tyllubis ferere to spend our time in nothing but words to cast a mist where there
by which we may do it our selves That it is not enough to pray for blessings or against evils unless we be careful and industrious to procure the one and avoid the other HALLOWED BE THY NAME is soon said But every man that says it doth not hallow Gods Name Else what a sanctified world should we have We should hear no blasphemy see no uncleanness meet with no profaneness but every man would be holy as our heavenly Father is holy and the earth which is over-run with weeds would become a Paradise of perfection The reason of this may be that when we pray for these graces we imagine that so soon as we kneel God will come down from heaven and sow this seed of holiness in our hearts whilst we are asleep that though we every day corrupt our selves he will purge and refine them though we breathe out blasphemies against him he will take us at a time when he will strike us to the ground as he did St. Paul and make us holy on the sudden And this is an epidemical error which hath long possest the hearts of men mentis gratissimus error an error with which we are much taken and delighted Our beloved bosome error which whoso strives to remove shall have no better reward than St. Paul had of the Athenians when he preacht of the Resurrection of the dead He shall be accounted a setter-forth of strange Doctrines But the weak conceit of our hearers must not make us leave off to call upon them and put them in mind of the danger they are in and remember them in the words of the Father Deum orare ut nobis prestet quod nos facere recusamus ridiculum est imò ludibriosum in Deum To pray to God that he will do that for us which we refuse to do our selves is a great folly in respect of our selves and contumelious to God We mistake our selves if we think Holiness and Obedience are such tares as will grow up in our hearts whilst we sleep They are indeed the gifts of God but they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens speaks not so easily atchieved as we suppose For howsoever the things of this world are then best purchast when they cost least yet these gifts of God are taken up upon the best terms when we do pay most for them Laetiùs est magno quoties sibi constat honestum They are cheapest when they are dearest For in this our labor we never fail God alwayes working with us and blessing the work of our hands Indeed to think our Prayers are but matter of complement or to deny the assistance of God in every good work were not only to be Pelagians but worse then the Heathen Nulla bona mens sinè Deo saith Seneca No man is good but with the help of God Ille dat consilia magnifica recta All good counsels and heroick thoughts are from him When Pliny had the day against Regulus he professeth openly Sentio mihi Deos affuisse I perceive the Gods were present to help me And it was a common Proverb amongst them VIRTUTE DEORUM ET NOSTRA What they did they did by the help of the Gods The Greek Fathers who did so highly extoll the Martyrs and other Saints and it may be elevated the power of Nature beyond the sphere of its activity yet referred all these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these powers unto God as the first fountain and did acknowledge every where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the grace of God did all and whatsoever the best of men did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the gift of God that no man might boast All this is true and it is impossible we should attribute too much to God Our fault is that we shrink and contract his Grace and shorten his hand where he hath stretched it forth We pray for Grace and can we think that God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Goodness it self who is emissivus as the Schools speak liberal and free of himself and doth naturally send forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beams of his goodness every where will deny us that which he commands us to ask nay which he gives us that we may ask We are dead and Grace is the breath by which we live We are blind and Grace is the eye by which we see We are lame and Grace is the staff by which we walk God knows that without his grace our hearts are but styes of sin and pollution It is likely then he will take his Grace from Man and so make himself if not the author yet the occasioner of sin Is it justice with God to put out our eyes and then punish us for stumbling Or is God delighted to try conclusions to see what Men will do if Grace be not with them God doth not take our souls as Chirurgeons do dead bodies to practise on No when we pray he hears us nay he hears us before we pray And if we do not hallow his Name it is not for want of grace but of Will You will say perhaps that God is an omnipotent Agent can unty our tongues to speak his praise and lead us on in the wayes of holiness though our feet be shackled though we have no feet to go But the Proverb will answer you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If God will you may sail over the Sea in a sive But we must remember that God as he is a powerful Agent so is a free Agent and works and dispenseth all things according to the pleasure of his will He will not lead thee if thou wilt not go He will not whisper Holiness into thee whilst thou sleepest nor enlighten thee when thou shuttest thine eyes Proposuit pulcherrimo cuique operi difficultatem He that placed some rubs and difficulties in that way between us and Holiness that we should digg out our way with the sweat of our brows to find this rich treasure Frequent and hearty Prayers daily Exercise of virtuous actions a kind of Violence offered to our selves these are a sign that Grace worketh kindly and hath its natural operation in us Holiness is a treasure but we do not find it as we may find some kind of treasure It may be we read the examples of some who have not paid so dear for it but without any great labor have attained to those virtues which they afterwards constantly improved to their own end Pontius the Deacon tells us of St. Cyprian Praeproperâ velocitate pietatis penè antè caepit perfectus esse quà m disceret At his first setting-out for piety and Christianity he used such incredible speed that he was almost perfect before he began Tam maturâ coepit fide quà m pauci perfecerunt Few men ended in that perfection in which he began Be it so But this is no good argument for me to put my hands into my bosome and sit still and expect the good hower Christian virtues are gifts but are not
knock as Fortune is said to have done at Galba's gates till he be weary Wilt thou not move unless with the hand of violence he drive thee before him Wilt thou still be evil and pretend he will not make thee good What a dishonor is this to thy King to entitle him to thy disobedience and make him guilty of that treason which is committed against himself Beloved this is to be ignorant of the nature of this Kingdome and injurious to the King himself and the highest pitch of rebellion to make him if not the author yet the occasioner of it No he helps us he doth not force us He leads not drives us He works in us but not without us For these two Grace and Free-will are not co-ordinate but subordinate Non partim gratia partim liberum arbitrium saith St. Bernard Grace and Free-will do not share our obedience between them sed totum singula peragunt but each of them doth perform the whole work Grace doth it wholly and Free-will doth it wholly sed ut totum in illo sic totum ex illa as it is wholly wrought by the Free-will of man so is the Free-will of man wholly enabled thereunto by the Grace of God which helps to determine the Will Attribute what you will to Gods Grace every good work and word and thought You cannot attribute too much you cannot attribute enough But when you have set God at this height in that proper Zenith where his natural Goodness hath placed him oh then draw him not down again to the mire where you ly wallowing to be partaker with your filth Do not weaken him by giving him an attribute of Power Say not when he doth not reign in your hearts that it is because he will not The voice of his Psal 77. 18. thunder is in the heaven The Vulgar renders it VOX TONITRUI IN ROTA The voice of his thunder is in the wheel It is heard of men who are willing to walk in the wheel and circle of Discipline and Virtue which have their thoughts collected and raised from the sensual vanities of this word And then by the power of this voice by the Power of Gods Grace like a wheel they are rowled about and are lifted up and do touch the earth but in puncto as it were but in a point having not the least relish of the world And this is the power and virtue of the Kingdome of Grace We pass now to the third head of difference which consists in the Compass and Circuit of this Kingdome which is as large as all the world In this respect all Kingdomes come short of it every one having its bounds which it cannot pass without violence A foolish title it is which some give the Emperor of Rome as if he had power over the most remote and unknown people of the world Bartolus counts him no less than an he etick who denies it But his arguments are no better than the Emperors Title which is but nominal They tell us that he calls himself MUNDI DOMINUM The Lord of all the world and that Rome hath the appellation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the whole world given it by Writers of latter times So the Poet Orbem jam totum victor Romanus habebat But these are but hyperboles spoken by way of excess and excellency So Jewry is also called in Scripture For Jerusalem is said to be placed in the midst of the earth that is in the midst of Judaea as the City Delphi is called orbis umbilicus the Navel of the world because it is scituate in the midst of Greece But without hyperbole Christ is the Catholick and universal Monarch of the whole world He seeth and ruleth all places All places are to him alike We need not vow a pilgrimage to Rome or to Jerusalem we need not take our scrip and staff to go thither De Britannia de Hierosolymis aequaliter patet aura coelestis The way to this Kingdome is as near out of Britanny as out of Hierusalem saith St. Hierome to Paulinus Totius mundi vox una CHRISTUS Christ is become the language of the whole world The Prophets are plain the Psalms full of testimonies In thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed saith God to Abraham Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance Psal 2. 8. and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession saith God to Christ The Gospel must be preached to all nations saith our Saviour But as the Sun hath its race through all the world but yet doth not shine in every part at once but beginneth in the East and passeth to the South and so to the West and as it passeth forward it bringeth light to one place and withdraweth it from another so is it with the Sun of righteousness he spreads his beams on those who were in darkness and the shadow of death and makes it night to them who had the clearest noon Not that his race is confined as is the Suns but because of the interposition of mens sins who exclude themselves from his beams And now to proceed to our fourth head of difference As this is the largest of all Kingdomes so it is the most lasting Other Kingdomes last not Quibus evertendis una dies hora momentum sufficit Though they have been many years a raising to their height yet a day an hour a moment is enough to blow them down and lay them level with the ground And while they last they continue not uniform but have their climacterical years and fatal periods Though they grow up like the tree and be Dan. 4. strong and their height reach unto heaven yet there may come an Angel some messenger from heaven and hew down the tree and cut off his branches and scatter his fruit and not leave so much as the stump of its root in the earth Justine hath calculated the three first Monarchies and Sleidan all four and we have seen their beginning and their end But the God of heaven hath set up a Kingdome which shall never be destroyed and it shall break to pieces and consume all those Kingdoms but it self shall stand fast Dan. 2. 44. for ever We will conclude with the Riches of this Kingdome If Money were virtue and earthly Honor salvation if the Jasper were holiness and the Sapphire obedience if those Pearls in the Revelation were virtues then that of our Saviour would be true in this sense also The Kingdome of heaven would be taken by violence The Covetous the Ambitious the Publicanes and Sinners would all be candidati angelorum joynt-suiters and competitors for an angels place Behold then in this Kingdome are Riches which never fail not Money but Virtue not Honor but Salvation not the Jasper and the Sapphire but that Pearl which is better than all our estate For God and the Saints when they speak of Profit and Gain take it not in that
the Comming of this Kingdome The Four and Thirtieth SERMON PART I. MATTH VI. 10. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven THIS is the last Petition of those three which look up directly unto heaven upon the very face of God without any reflexion upon the earth or the temporary blessings of this present life Which as they are terminated in the glory of God and our spiritual good so they carry with them that nearness and affinity to each other that it is not easie to distinguish them And most men in their discourses although they tell us that they are three as they are indeed yet in their illustrations and amplifications before they wind up their discourse in effect do make them but one and the very same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle Some things there are of that nature and which bear such resemblance one to the other that it is not easie to distinguish them especially Moral and Theological Duties as they are level'd to one end so are they linkt as it were in one and the same chain that you cannot touch upon one but you must also glance upon the rest and move them all The Sanctification of Gods Name is annexed to his Kingdome and the fairest part of his Kingdome as it is said to come to us is the fulfilling of his Will He that hallows Gods Name doth advance his Kingdome and he that advanceth his Kingdome doth fulfill his Will and this last seems to conclude and comprehend both the other And this we heretofore told you was true in sensu quem faciunt in that sense which every one of these Petitions will bear but in sensu quem fiunt in that sense in which our Saviour spake and taught them they must necessarily have their proper bounds and limits And thus you may remember we did confine the first Petition Hallowed be thy Name to our words and writings and outward gestures and deportment by which we do most expresly and visibly honor God and hallow his Name as it were before the Sun and the People The second Thy Kingdome come to the preaching and promulgation of the Gospel of which when himself speaks he tells us The kingdome of heaven is at hand as also to the Heart of man which is to receive it when it is promulged which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the House of God in which he delights to dwell and his Throne in which he sits And take this interpretation from Christs own blessed lips The Kingdome of God Luke 17. 21. is within you The last of which we are now to speak not only to our outward Obedience to our actions and works of Piety by which we do facere voluntatem Dei do what God would have us but also to a general Submission and conformity of our wills to his in all things by doing what he commands and by suffering with all humility what he doth Whither his countenance shine or he clothe himself with judgment whether he speaks peace or thunder from heaven whether he lift us up or cast us down the language of every Christian must be Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven This Petition points out to us Rem Modum first the Thing it self we must pray for and that is That Gods will may be fulfilled by us in all things and secondly the Manner how this must be accomplisht in earth as it is in heaven We begin with the Petition In the unfolding of which we shall pass by these lines First we will consider the Petition in a generality and therein the weight and energy of the words Secondly we will lay open the sense of the words by shewing what is meant by the Will of God Lastly we will draw forth some few conclusions which naturally issue from the consideration of the Will of God as from a rich fountain and may lead us at once to the full understanding of the Petition and be useful for our instruction Of these in their order And first of all this Petition follows the other in a right order and method For he that desires that the Kingdome of heaven should come must make it his petition also that he may lay hold on the means which must draw it near unto him Qui vult finem vult media ad finem saith the Philosopher Naturally our desires are thus carried First we behold the mark the Kingdome of heaven and then we press forward and reach forth unto it by doing the Will of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle The end in this respect is the beginning and as the first wheel which sets all the rest a going As we can never set our hands to work and do Gods will unless we have some sight of a Kingdome that is comming so this Kingdome will never come unless we do his Will I will not stand to determine on which our affections should be carried with most eager violence whether on the Means or on the End whether on the Kingdome or fulfilling of Gods will For I take it to be a question not so necessary because we know not how to divide the Desire where it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wound up to the highest pinn And God out of the love he hath unto our good is willing to apply himself to our infirmity and so that we do his will accepts of our conformity though it be wrought out of us by a greater love we have unto the End which is full of beauty and glory to allure then to the Means which carry with them pain and difficulty to dull and slugg the affection Only we must be careful to avoid that strange 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that want of method and order which is common in the world to be ravisht with the beauty of Gods Kingdome and never busie our thoughts with the performance of his will that we do not dimidiare Christum receive Christ by halves receive him with a reward but not with precepts cry out Thy Kingdome come with a loud voice and a fervent affection clarè ut audiat hospes that all the world may hear us but Thy will be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between the teeth burying it in such a lazy silence that none can take notice of us that we look with any great affection towards it We may desire Glory but not without Grace and Gods Kingdome but not without a FIAT not unless we do his will Simplicius in his Comments upon Aristotle moves a question Whether youth in reading of Aristotles Book◠should begin with his Logick where he teacheth to dispute and reason or with his Morals where he teacheth to live honestly If they begin with Logick without Morals they will prove but wrangling Sophisters and if they begin with Morals without Logick they will prove but confused The question may be soon resolved in that particular But in the study of Christianity there can no such doubt be raised Our
all his will This was an office for the Son for Christ himself â—â—lly to declare and publish his last Will and to teach us to subscribe to it with our bloud with a FIAT VOLUNTAS TUA If I must deny my self if I must be torn on the rack if I must through many afflictions enter into thy Kingdome FIAT Thy will be done The Five and Thirtieth SERMON PART II. MATTH VI. 10. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven IT may be perhaps expected that I should frame some Apologie this day for my absence the last But indeed I was never over-much in love with Apologies in this kind and therefore first I may say with Seneca Si noluero quis coacturus est If I will not who can compel me Secondly I have already rendred my reason and it was accepted there where it was especially due From others who love ire in opus alienum to be over-busie in other mens matters and who are least pleased with the greatest diligence I expect but thus much that they will give me leave not to be troubled much with what they think or say who give them full liberty to think and say what they please Abundat sibi locuples testis conscientia saith St. Ambrose It is not much material what foul weather is abroad when all is quiet at home and when the Conscience hath received no wound all the censures of the world are but noise which can shake none but those who are vilissima popularis aurae mancipia who walk along in the strength of that applause which Ignorance breaths forth and when that wind ceaseth are on the ground I will mis-spend therefore no more time in an unnecessary Apologie for that fault of omission which borrowed nothing from my will but I proceed to shew what conformity we owe to Gods Will in its several kinds either as Absolute or as Natural and Antecedent or as Consequent and Occasioned or as barely Permissive or lastly to that Will of his which we call voluntatem praecepti his Law and Command And so having said something of them in several we will draw up all at last in this one conclusion That every Christian who will truly say this petition Thy will be done must bring with him an heart that will yield ready obedience to do whatsoever God commands and a chearful patience to suffer what his hand shall lay upon him And first for Gods Absolute Will by which he created the world and doth what he pleaseth both in heaven and earth common Reason will teach us that this Will of his will be fulfilled whether we pray or no. For who hath resisted his will And if he shut up or cut off or gather together who Job 11. 10. can hinder him saith Zophar Prayer and intreaty are then used when without prayer and intreaty we cannot prevail But this Will of God shall take effect whether we set-to our FIAT or no. He giveth snow like wooll and scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes He casteth forth his ice like morsels He causeth his wind to blow and the waters flow And what he Psal 46. will do he doth Nor can all the prayers of the world draw him from action or help him in his work Yet notwithstanding we may say FIAT Thy will be done to testifie our consent and conformity to his Will We must idem velle et idem nolle will and nill the self-same things with God that so we may be his friends Non pareo Deo sed assentior ex animo illum non quia necesse est sequor saith Seneca Obedience may be constrained and therefore we must not only obey God because Necessity forceth us but we must with joy and readiness intreat him to do his will and even begg it at his hand as a favour Now this our conformity to Gods Absolute will quot ramos porrigit quot venas diffundit it hath many branches and veins by which it spreads and conveighs and manifests it self It is seen in our Admiration of his infinite power and of those his works which no hand but that of Omnipotencie could produce For though Augustine somewhere calls Admiration a vice yet he retracts it lib. 1. Retract c. 3. And certainly it is a good argument of our assent unto Gods Will when the contemplation of his works transports us beyond our selves strikes us into a kind of silence and leaves that deep impression in our souls that no finite power could compass them and forceth us to subscribe after the ancient form Donum factum That whatsoever God doth is well done and withal to confess that he is ita magnus in magnis ut minor non sit in minimis that as his hand is great in the greatest works so is it no less great and mighty in the least and that his Power which hath made so many things unlike one to the other yet in all these is still like it self and perfect and absolute in every one To question with Hermogenes and the Materiarii Whether the world were made of praeexistent matter with others Whether it were coaeternal with God with the Gnosticks Whether it were made by God or by his Angels to quarrel with the Creation with Alfonsus King of Arragon who was perswaded he could have made and ordered the world better than it is to ask whether God might not have made more worlds are bad symptomes and prognosticks of a profane heart evaporations of sick and loathsome brains doubts of men unwilling to subscribe and who have not wrought their will to that conformity which they owe to the Absolute Will of God Secondly this our assent is seen in our songs of Thanksgiving Great is the Lord and most worthy to be praised and again Who can speak the greatness of the Lord or shew forth all his praises are fair commentaries upon this Petition He that magnifieth Gods name for that which he hath done he which rejoyceth and triumpheth in every work of God who can find matter for a Jubilee not only in the Sun and Moon and Stars but in the Lilies of the field and in every herb that groweth there hath set-to his seal and approbation and saith his PATER NOSTER not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the lips outward but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his very soul God 's works are made whether we will or no whether we pray or no And for us they were thus made And our Magnificats our Jubilees and our Gratitude are our FIAT and plainly speak our conformity to Gods Will. A sullen silence and a lazy ingratitude scatter our prayers before the wind and make it too plain and evident that we are not willing that God should do what he will Again our conformity to this his Absolute Will dwells as it were and takes up its residence in a heart which frequently meditates in the works of God For Meditation is that hand-maid which follows God at a distance in all
off that yoke which Custome hath put on but I cannot conceive how it should reign ad necessitatem so to necessitate our damnation as to take off that last comfort we are capable of which is hope The Church when she strikes the sinner with the spiritual sword of Excommunication doth not with that blow cut off Hope Vulnus non hominem secat secat ut sanet She strikes rather at the wound which is already made than at the man to wound him deeper She strikes him to heal him Delivers him to Satan to deliver him from Satan She shuts him out to keep him in Abstention Pulsion Exclusion Exauctoration Ejection Ejeration all these phansies we find in the ancients for Excommunication yet all these are not of so malignant power as to shrivel up all our Hope but rather they beget a hope that the excommunicated person will run back to the bosome of that Church which did therefore cast him out that she might receive him again more fair and healthful than before Did Love dwell in us continually we should not be so willing to hear nor so ready to talk of the everlasting destruction of our brethren Malo non credere sit falsum omne quod sanguinis est as St. Hierome spake in another case We should rather not believe that it were so and wish it false though it were most probably true It hath been therefore the practise of the ancient Church and it is in present use with our own to pray for all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks for all those to whose blindness the light of the Gospel is not yet known that they may be drawn out of the darkness of ignorance and be converted and see the beauty of that truth which may save them even to those whose damnation sleepeth not For this is most agreeable to that Will of God which is known and which is therefore known that it may be the rule of our actions Nor do we herein offend against that secret Will of his For most true it is that we may bonâ voluntate velle quae Deus non vult saith St. Augustine will and with a very good will those things which God will not And our prayers thus sent up though they prevail not in that against which God hath secretly determined yet shall prevail to draw down a blessing upon our heads for thus conforming our selves to Gods Natural and Known Will And this leads us one step further to the consideration of God's Occasioned and Consequent Will by which he punisheth those that obstinately continue in sin And to this Will of his we are bound to conform although for the reasons but now alledged we are not bound to pray that all unrepentant sinners may be damned but rather that they may repent God will proceed to punishment He hath whet his sword and he will make it drunk in the bloud of his enemies whether we pray that he will do it or not To this Will of his they who have made themselves the children of perdition must conform even against their will And our conformity consists but in this to rest contented herewithal and to admire Gods uncontroulable Justice which no Covetousness can bribe no Power affright no Riches corrupt no Fear bend and to cry out with the Father O quanta est subtilitas judiciorum Dei O quà m districtè agitur bonorum malorumque retributio O the infinite wisdome of the judgments of the Lord O how exactly and precisely will he reward the good and punish the impenitent sinner Every thing that God will do is not a fit object for our devotion nor are we bound to pray for every thing that he will do Nay in some cases as it hath been shewed we may pray against it God may perhaps purpose the death of my father For me to will the same is no less sin than Parracide God upon fore-knowledge of Judas his transgression did determine that Judas should go to his own place but Judas was not bound to will the same No his greatest sin was that he so behaved himself as if he had willed it indeed In a word I am not bound to say FIAT to all that God will do but when he hath done it to sit down and build my patience upon this consideration That whatsoever he will do or hath done must needs be just Absolutio difficultatum in his ipsis requirenda est è quibus videtur exsistere saith Hilary We must see the resolution of doubts which may hence arise even from that which raised them or from whence they were occasioned And we cannot be at any loss in our conformity if we do not first mistake that Will of God to which we should conform The Schoolmen who are very apt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make ropes of sand or rather with little children to blow-up those bubbles which are lost in the making amongst many other empty and unnecessary questions have started up this as of some bulk and substance when indeed it is but very airy They ask Whether if God should reveal to a particular person that he should be damned he were bound to conform his will and give assent and not pray against it A vain speculation like that of Buridans Ass which stood between two bottles of hey and starved because he knew not which to chuse Men may suppose what they please the Heavens to stand still and the Earth to move and wheel about as Copernicus did They may suppose that God will send his Angel with a revelation who would not send Lazarus with a message to Dives his brethren But let me also suppose that men are wise unto sobriety and then I will move one question more and that is What reason possibly they can imagine to move this doubt God doth not send any such revelation We have Moses and the Prophets we have the Gospel of Christ If we look for any revelation we must find it there There as in a glass we may see either the regularity or deformity of our wills There we may hear that voice which speaks comfort to the penitent and denounceth vengeance on obstinate offenders Nolo ut mihi Deus mittat Angelos saith Martin Luther I would not that God should send down his Angel with a revelation For he that brings any revelation to me which is not in Scripture shall find no more credit than the Puck in the Church-yard And if it be in Scripture the message though of an Angel is but superfluous Suppose God will do that which he never will and you may raise as many doubts and questions as you please Again if God did reveal it yet it might be lawful nay thou art commanded to pray against it God revealed to David that the child which was born to him in adultery should surely dye yet David besought God for the child and fasted and lay all night upon the earth And his reason is Who can tell whether God will be 2 Sam. 12.
gracious to me that the child may live But when the child was dead he arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself Which was a lively expression of his submission to the will of God God revealed the destruction of Niniveh the Ninivites repent and he destroyed it not A sure rule it is Promissa obligant minae non obligant God binds himself more by his promises than by his threatnings In what he promises he never fails but what he threatens doth not alwayes come to pass But they tell us there be some persons whom God will not suffer us to pray for as he forbad Samuel to mourn and pray for Saul and the Prophet Jeremiah Pray not for this people To which it might easily be replyed that the case is not the same but differs as much as a temporal loss from a spiritual and the loss of a kingdome and captivity from the loss of a soul and eternal separation from God But I will rather make use of that excellent passage of Tertullian in his book De Idololatria who being urged with the example of Moses lifting up the Serpent in the wilderness maketh answer that it was an extraordinary precept and a type of the Cross and therefore stood in no opposition with that command Thou shalt not make any graven image nor did God forbid what he commands nor command what he did forbid Well saith the Father Si eundem Deum observes habes legem ejus If thou serve the same God which Moses did thou hast his law that Thou shalt not make a graven image but if thou look upon the precept in obedience to which the Serpent was set up tu imitare Mosem nec facias adversùs legem simulacrum aliquod nisi tibi Deus jusserit do then also imitate Moses and set no image up till God commands thee In like manner if thy error lead thee to this perswasion That there be some for whom thou oughtest not to pray because Samuel and Jeremy were forbid to pray for the King and People of the Jews look not upon the two Prophets but upon the Law and the Rule which makes our prayers oecumenical and our Devotion as large as the whole world But if their example still run in thy eyes then stay the doing of it till thou mayest do it as they did it Do it by command These are indeed but scruples and they weigh no more And we may say of these and many the like doubts raised by the Schools as Tully did of the Latine tongue in his time Non tam praeclarum scire Latinè loqui quà m turpe nescire It advantageth not us at all to know these doubts and questions but perhaps it may be some disparagement not to know and assoil them We therefore leave this point and proceed to God's Permissive Will by which he is resolved not to intercede by his Omnipotencie and hinder those sins which if he permitted not could not once have being And to this Will of his we cannot but yield conformity unless we forget that we are Men and Christians and destined to a crown of happiness For if Sin were not permitted what use were there of our Passions and Reason or why hath Man a Will Christianity were indeed but fabula as the Heathens terms it a very sigment and Obedience nothing For it is impossible that he should be obedient who cannot possibly disobey And what reward is due to him whose actions are meerly natural who doth what he doth and cannot do otherwise Permission of Sin is that which makes a way to virtue The Devil and outward Temptations and the World we count enemies but they are such enemies as the unrighteous Mammon in the Gospel we may make friends of them Chrysostome hath a tract upon this subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why God doth not take the Devil out of the world but suffers him to walk about and he resolves the question thus That it is for our good For we who perhaps would be evil if there were no Devil at all have now opportunity to resist and vanquish him and so to gain an everlasting crown of glory So for the World I may so use it that I may enjoy God the Flesh I may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father speaks fight against it and make it my slave and captive Temptations They are materiam virtutum the very matter out of which we shape those works which we call Virtues The Devil He is indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wickedest and most malitious enemy we have but we may make him as profitable and useful to us as any friend And if all these dangers and this opposition from the World the Flesh and the Devil be of purpose placed in our way that we may struggle with them and conquer and be crowned he that is a Man a Christian candidatus aeternitatis who sues for any place in heaven will readily say FIAT VOLUNTAS DEI Let the will of God be done in this respect and conform himself to this his Permissive Will For by yielding our assent to this Will of God we assent only to this that it is necessary that Sin should be permitted But we do not therefore pray that wicked men may take their swinge and run-on in the wayes of wickedness without controul No our Devotion is set to a contrary key We pray and we are bound to pray that God will put a bit into the mouth of every wicked person that he will rule the raging of the sea and the madness of the people that he will put a hook into the nostrils of that great Leviathan For as there is permissio so there is rectio and moderatio As God permits Sin so by his wisdome and moderation it comes to pass that all the intents of wicked men do not take effect Scelera semper festinant quasi contra innocentiam ipsam festinatione praevaleant saith Gregory Wickedness is ever on the wing but it doth not alwayes fly to the mark It makes haste as if haste would prevail against Innocency but God that God who rideth upon the cherubim and flyeth upon the wings of the wind overtakes it and sets up a bulwark against it to stop it in its course Pharaoh i◠in his chariot and drives furiously after the Israelites but God takes off his chariot-wheels and drowns him in the sea Haman procures a decree against all the Jews the Posts to go out and are hastned by the King But God by his over-ruling Providence crosseth the bloudy design the Kings heart is turned Haman is hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai and a gracious Edict issueth out in favour of Gods people The Scripture is full of instances of this kind All which may teach us to yield our assent that it is convenient and necessary that sin should be permitted and to interceed by our frequent prayers and devotion that although God in his wisdome hath left every man
in manu consilii sui in his own hands and disposing yet in his goodness and mercy to his chosen ones he would set bounds to wicked persons that he would shackle though not their wills yet their hands that he would cut off the designs infatuate the counsels scatter the imaginations of all those who like serpents were only born to do mischief and to sin against heaven and earth So much of this point Now that we may say something of that which we call voluntatem praecepti of God's Law and Precept and Command which every where in Scripture is called his Will and indeed doth most of all concern us we will draw and wind up all in this main conclusion That every Christian who will truly say this Petition Thy will be done must bring with him a heart prepared to yield ready obedience to do whatsoever God commands and a chearful patience to suffer what his hand shall lay upon him THY WILL BE DONE is the thing we pray for And that we may do his will God hath opened and revealed his will and made it as manifest as the day Jam autem praecipitur quià non rectè curritur si quò currendum sit nescitur saith St. Augustine He hath taught us before-hand because he runs not well that knows neither his way nor journeys end Therefore God did as it were evaporate and open his will writ his eternal law in our hearts engraved it in tables of stone publisht it by the voice of Angels by the sound of that trumpet which the Evangelists and Apostles did blow declared it fully and plainly that we may run and read it and not turn aside to seek any other rule but conform our selves unto it by a voluntary Obedience which like an hand-maid may wait upon his Will and by an humble and obedient Patience which alwayes hath an eye not upon the blow but the hand that gives it and bows under it when he speaks or when he strikes returns no answer but this FIAT VOLUNTAS TUA Thy will be done This is the sum of this Petition and indeed of all Religion For if we level our actions by that rule which is naturally right we can do no evil and whatsoever befalls us judicio bonitatis ejus accidit saith Hilary befalls us not by chance but by the judicious Providence of Gods goodness and therefore we can suffer no evil And this one would think were enough What can God teach us more than to pray that we may do his will We might now well pass to the next Petition and not once glance upon these words In earth as it is in heaven But the word of God as it is no way defective so hath nothing redundant and superfluous not a versicle not a clause which doth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostome which carries not its weight with it and presents us with plenty and riches of wisdome If we do Gods will we can do no more the Angels can do no more Yet if we look upon our selves and reflect a while upon our own tempers and dispositions we shall find that what is in it self enough and sufficient is not enough and sufficient for us and that this clause In earth as it is in heaven was a necessary addition put in by our Saviour by way of caution and prevention It is not enough for us to be taught to pray that we may do God's will we shall fall short in our obedience if we be not taught also the manner how this must be accomplished For we are naturally prone jussa magìs interpretari quà m exsequi to boggle at every duty that is enjoyned and if we be left at loose instead of executing what is commanded to sit down and seek out shifts and evasions and inventions of our own and so to do it by halves to do it as St. Basil saith either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unseasonably or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disorderly or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scantly and not in that measure which is required to content our selves with Agrippa's modicum When indeed we are subjects to every duty we become Justitiaries and set it bounds and limit and restrain it Do his will As Men made up and composed of weakness and infirmities as Men bruised and maimed with the fall of our first parents as Men in terris dust and ashes But sicut in coelis to do the will of God as it is done in heaven our contemplation would never have set it at this altitude Nullum morosius animal est nec majore arte tractandum quam homo saith Seneca There is not a more waiward and curious creature than Man nor to be handled with more art He must be taught not only what to do but how and how far to do it He must be instructed in each circumstance he must have a pattern as well as a duty otherwise he will start and slip aside he will neither do it constantly nor equally he will do it and omit it Were he not taught to do it as it is done in heaven he would not do it at all Were he not commanded to be like the Angels in heaven he would degenerate from himself and become worse than the beasts that perish You see then this clause was not added in vain but is operatoria as the Civilians speak carries with it great force and efficacy And whether we interpret it of the material Spheres quae iterum eunt per quae venerant as Seneca speaks which are alwayes in motion yet never alter their course or of those super-coelestial Powers the Angels those mystical wheels as Dionysius calls them turning themselves about in an everlasting gyre of obedience it must needs lift up our thoughts to this consideration That the performance of Gods will by us must be most exact and perfect heavenly and angelical That we must make it our endeavour to be like them as Angels here on earth who make it our ambition to be equal to them in heaven I will not take those several interpretations I find although I censure none of them especially since none of them swerve from the analogy of faith nor from that doctrine which was delivered to the Saints and all of them are profitable to instruction You may take earth and heaven for the Flesh and the Spirit with St. Cyprian or for Men which are of the earth earthy and those coelestial Orbs for the Just and Wicked with others and thence extract this Christian duty To pray for your enemies All these may be useful and with St. Augustine I condemn no sense upon which any good duty may be raised and built But I rather understand with the same Father by heaven the Angels and by earth Men because the words do best bear it and we cannot take a better pattern than the Angels And in this sense we pray ut sint homines similes Angelis That Men may be as obedient to Gods will here in earth as those
blessed Spirits are in heaven who readily fulfill all his commands And this is an holy ambition in the performance of our duty to look upon the best Ambitio non respicit saith the Philosopher True Ambition and Christian Aemulation never look down upon those who are in the valley below but on those who are in culmine Sion in the top of perfection Optimi mortalium altissima sapiunt The best men look highest Go to School to the Pismire is a reproach as well as a precept To learn of the Lilies of the field is a task for those who will not take notice of Gods providence at home in themselves The examples of good men are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helps and supplies to us in our way and it is good to have them continually before our eyes But yet the best men being full of imperfections Luther tells us Nihil est periculosius gestis Sanctorum That there is nothing more dangerous than the deeds and actions of the Saints because we are so prone to mistake them Safer it is to take those actions of theirs which were done beyond and without the authority of Scripture for faults than to set them up for examples We may learn of Beasts of the Ox and of the Ass we may learn of Men of the same mould with our selves but the safest and most excellent pattern we can take is from Heaven the blessed Angels whose elogium it is that they do God's commandments and hearken unto the voice of his word that they Psal 103. are his hosts and ministers of his to do his pleasure I will not trouble you with any of those nice speculations of the Schools concerning the Nature Motion Locality Speech of Angels For I alwayes accounted it a grave and judicious censure of Hilary Stultum est calumniam in eo disputationis intendere in quo comprehendi id unde quaeritur per naturam suam non potest Lib. 3. de Trin. It is a great folly to make any anxious inquisition after that which before we set out we know cannot be found Of the Nature and Motion and Locality of those blessed Spirits we have no light in Scripture And if we carry not this light along with us we do but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make search for that which is past finding out We win no ground at all but tantum deerit discere quantum libuerit in quirere the more we search the more we are at loss But because the Philosopher and common Reason teach us that he who will compare two things together must necessarily know them both and since we are in this Petition taught to level our Obedience by this heavenly form by the obedience of Angels though we cannot gain any certain knowledge of their Nature Motion Locality and Manner of conveighing their minds one to another which notwithstanding the Schools with more boldness than warrant have defined yet we shall find light enough to walk by and to direct our obedience that it may be like theirs that we may strive forward to perfection and do Gods will in earth as it is in heaven First we are taught that the word Angel is a name of office not of nature Spirits they are alwayes but they cannot alwayes be called Angels but then only when they are sent saith Gregory And this office of theirs they execute speedily and without delay We will not positively say with Parisiensis that their motion from place to place upon command is instantaneous as sudden as their Will by which alone they move But many expressions of their Swiftness we have in Scripture Zech. 1. 10. they are said to stand as ready to hear and dispatch Gods will Isa 6. to have wings and to fly They are said to go forth like lighning Which note their prompt alacrity in executing all Gods commands Unum corum solidúmque officium est servire nutibus Dei their office is ever to be ready at Gods beck This is a true and perfect pattern of a Christians obedience Festina fides festina charitas saith Ambrose Faith and Charity are on the wing Devotion is active Obedience is ever ready to run the way of Gods commandments Though advice and deliberation commend other actions yet in this of Obedience counsel is unreasonable neither can there be any reason of delay Delicata est obedientia quae transit in causae genus deliberativum saith Petrus Blesensis It is a nice obedience which takes time of deliberation For when the command is past every moment after the first is too late nor can there be any need of deliberation in that action wherein all the danger is not to do it Fac quod tibi praeceptum est saith St. Cyprian to the magistrate now ready to pass sentence of death upon him but counselling him to advise better Do saith he what you have commission to do In so just an action as this there is no need of consultation Those that write of Husbandry have a common precept and Pliny calls it an oracle SERRERE NE METUAS Be not afraid to cast thy seed into the ground Delay not time And their reason is full of wisdome Villicùs si unam rem serò fecerit nihil proficit The Husbandman if he do but one thing too late hath endangered the expectation of the whole year nor can he recover that loss Negligentia enim multò operosior diligentia For neglect makes more business and trouble than Diligence and that which in time might have been done with ease and a quick hand being put off to a longer time will either not be done at all or require treble diligence It is so in our spiritual Husbandry If our Obedience had wings or feet readily to put in execution what is commanded we should find that of St. John to be most true His commands are not grievous But Procrastination and Delay doth bemire and clog us makes the command more horrid than that Death which is threatned to disobedience and we are ready to cry out it is impossible He who defers to do Gods will till death would not do it saith Basil if he were made immortal But this is not to do his will here in earth as it is in heaven Further the obedience of the heavenly host is orderly Qui minima nuntiant Angeli qui summam annuntiant Archangeli vocantur There be Angels which are sent on messages of lesser moment and there be Archangels which declare greater things as Gabriel to the blessed Virgin Nec tamen invident Angeli Archangelis saith Augustine in his last book De Civitate Dei yet no Angel doth envy an Archangel nor an Archangel a Cherubim or Seraphim nor desire they to change offices no more than my Finger desires to be an Eye In respect of the diversity of their ministery saith Hilary the Angels and Archangels and Thrones and Dominations have the observances of divers precepts laid upon them And they differ not only in name but in
office The Angel intrudes not into the office of an Archangel nor doth an Archangel usurp the place of a Cherubin or Throne but every one is perpetually constant in his office and never fails We cannot say our Pater noster but we must needs conceive that these blessed Spirits do their duties orderly For there can be no confusion in heaven Nor indeed should there be any disorder in the Church of Christ whose government by Bishops Priests and Deacons St. Maximus calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an imitation and fair resemblance of the coelestial Hierarchy As it is in the Church triumphant in heaven so should it be in the Church militant here on earth Order doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preserve and keep together both heaven and earth saith Nazianzene And therefore we may observe that all duties do not concern all men Some duties there are which are as oecumenical as the whole world others more personal Some which if Corah attempt to do he shall be buried alive if Uzzah he shall be struck dead Why should Sheba blow a trumpet or Absalom pull at his Fathers crown Why should every artisan meddle in matters of Divinity every Mechanick teach Bishops how to govern and Divines how to preach Why should he that handles the awl or the shuttle stand up and controul the Miter Private persons who converse within a narrow sphere must needs be unskilfull in things which fall not within the compass of their experience Men that meddle but with few things must needs be ignorant of much and therefore can never frame canons and rules Paucorum est ut literati sint omnium ut boni Few men are fit for government but there is scarce any of so shallow conceit but he may be an honest man Doth any man go to a Physician to ask advise in a point of Law or to a Lawyer when he is sick Episcopus episcopum non conculcet That one Bishop should not usurp or meddle in another Bishops Diocess was one of the ancient Canon of the Church and ought never to be antiquated Than Peace will crown the Church and Plenty the Commonwealth when every man understands what is his place and station and is not ready to leap over it and start into anothers function when every Star knows his own magnitude and sphere This indeed were sicut in coelo a heaven upon earth For the least place in the Church of Christ is a high preferment Nor is there any so low who may not be an Angel in his place to do Gods will an Angel though not for power and dominion yet an Angel for obedience And it is not much material if I do the will of God whether I do it as a Lay-man or as a Clergy-man as poor Lazarus or as rich Abraham as a Peasant or as a Prince at the Mill or in the Throne Only here is the difference That duty which concerns the Clergy-man the Lay-man must not tamper with nor must the Peasant teach the King to reign and govern Remember what I told you out of St. Augustine Angelus non invidet Archangelo The Angel doth not envy to see another Angel more glorious nor doth he desire a higher place No Superné omnia serena sunt in inferioribus fulminatur All is serene and quiet above Thunders and disorders are in the lower region here in terrâ on the earth And we have too much reason in the last and worst dayes to pray and pray again Fiat volunt as tua sicut in coelis That God's will may be done on earth in that peaceable order and quietness as it is in heaven Will you know the reason of these tumults and disorders The reason is evident and plain No man is content with an Angels place but would be an Archangel a Throne a Cherubim and yet neither Angel nor Throne nor Cherubim for their obedience but only for their power Men desire saith Austine to imitate those deeds of Angels which beget wonder but not that piety which gains eternal rest Malunt enim superbè hoc posse quod Angelus quà m devotè hoc esse quod Angelus Lib. 8. De Trinit c. 7. Their Pride affects to do that which Angels do but their Devotion hath not strength enough to beget any desire in them to be what the Angels are humble reverent obedient Such Angels they would be as may be Devils but not such Angels as stand about Gods throne to praise him for evermore We conclude and contract all in one word If we bring weak desires of doing Gods will and think he will be well content with them we have as good reason to think that all the reward which we shall have from God will be only a desire to do us good If we be not active and speedy in the performance of his will why should he make haste to help us Our Inconstancie is his repentance and when we fall from him he is forced to break his word If we do it by halves we have no reason to look for a full reward If our obedience be disorderly we cannot hope to be companions of those Angels who do hate confusion But if we be chearful and constant and perfect in our obedience if we abide in our own callings and do the will of God orderly in that place where he hath ranked us the Lord will come and make no long tarrying he hath sworn nor will he go from it and he will bring his reward with him MERCEDEM NIMIS MAGNAM an exceeding great reward and at last translate us from earth to heaven where we shall be made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to the Angels in equality of grace though not of nature I might have drawn-in many more particulars concerning the Angels by which to direct our Obedience But I never loved to lease out a discourse malens totum dicere quam omnia desiring rather to speak that which is most fit and pertinent than to take in all that might be said I shall now pass to the next Petition Give us this day our daily bread The Six and Thirtieth SERMON PART I. MATTH VI. 11. Give us this day our daily Bread WE pass now from the three first Petitions which looked up directly into heaven upon the face of God unto the three last which look up indeed to heaven also upon the Giver of all things but withal reflect upon our selves and on our present necessities The first whereof is that I have read unto you GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD Before we come to handle which words be pleased to take notice of the method here laid down by our Saviour for us to regulate our Devotion by Order and Method as it makes the way easie and plain to every design we take in hand so it poises our Devotion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Historian There is nothing so fair nothing so commodious for use as Order This is it which hath given praeeminence to Aristotle above all
we derive it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sum it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore we rather draw it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eo and the participle from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence most probably comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which we note SUPERVENIENTEM SUCCEDANEUM SEQUENTEM PANEM our following our succeeding our next Bread So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Synesius is taken for the morrow and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Demosthenes for the next hour And this takes in the Syriack interpretation where it is called PANIS NECESSITATIS NOSTRAE the Bread which we have need of And this interpretation is most probable 1. Because we are too ready to favour our selves and under the name of Bread to understand all superfluities whatsoever Therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our next bread is a word which boundeth our desires Hitherto shall you go and no further 2. It is drawn by that rule of Hilarie Dictorum intelligentia ex praepositis aut consequentibus exspectatur We best understand the Scripture by that which goes before and that which follows after Now under the name of Bread without this epithite we may comprehend the Bread of Life Super-substantial Coelestial Sacramental bread or any Bread whatsoever And that which follows is indeed nothing else but an interpretation of this form of Prayer and the latter part of this Chapter is a full exposition of this word and shews what it is we ask when we begg our daily bread when we are forbidden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as St. Luke hath it chap. 12. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spes nostras cogitationes in longinquum mittere as Seneca speaks to let our thoughts and hopes loose and send them after uncertainties to extend them farther than a day and our present necessities Therefore our Saviour here adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Give us our daily Bread this day This I take to be the meaning of this word And though we cannot give exactly the etymon of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet with Tertullian Malo in scripturis minùs quà m contra sapere I had rather understand less than fix any sense against the Scripture and where we cannot reach the fountain-head let us keep the chanel as clear and unmudded as we can Our daily Bread then is our next Bread or that Bread which is needful and sufficient for us which takes off our care and solicitude for the morrow And this best fits a Christians mouth who is not made for a day or a year or an age sed in magnis aeternae beatitudinis exemplis constitutus as Hilarie speaks built up for eternity and everlasting bliss peregrinus deorsum civis sursum as Augustine speaks a stranger on earth and a citizen of that Hierusalem which is above What should he be solicitous for to morrow whose aim is Eternity What should he think of the next day who consisiders every moment as his last Semper ad mortem omnia disponere Christianum oportet A Christian mans care and study must be not how to live but how to dye Therefore Tertullian amongst other characters of Christian men gives this for one That they are morti expeditum genus a kind of men who are alwayes ready and prepared to dye And Petrarch tells us of an holy and religious man who being invited to come the next day to a feast made this reply That if they had any request for the present he was ready but what should be done to morrow he left to them to think of who had leasure Nam ego à multis annis crastinum non habeo for I for these many years have had no morrow but made every day my last O felix si vera memorasti saith my Author How happy a man was this if he spake the truth And Seneca gives the reason Cui vita sua quotidie fuit tota securus est He may breathe securely who counts every breath his last And in this appears the provident mercy of God who would not let us know how long we have to live that we may not busie our selves about what we may do to morrow who may dye to day that we may check our wandring thoughts with the sight of Death Latet ultimus dies ut observentur omnes saith St. Augustine Our last day is hid from our eyes that we may be more intentive to observe all our dayes That wealth that abundance those honours those delights which we hugg and embrace as friends are but thieves which rob us of that rich treasure of Time which we might more wisely lay out in the purchase of Eternity What should Poverty fright me my journey is to Paradise where the poor more often enter then the rich What should Hunger afflict mee I may feed on the Bread of Life when I have not one morsel to eat Fides famem non timet saith Tertullian Faith fears not famine fears not poverty fears not disgrace thinks them not worth a thought and the time but lost in which we strive against them In what weakness is not a Christian man strong In what solitude hath not he troops to guard him Or indeed when is he poor who possesseth all things when is he alone who hath Piety and Christ himself for his companions when is he cast out whose conversation is in heaven when is not he beautiful who frames himself to the similitude of Christ Let the morrow care for it self His care is for Eternity But this may seem an uncouth speculation as indeed all discourses which fall cross with our covetous desires are taken for no other and we are ready to oppose Scripture to Scripture Care not for to morrow True But He that laboureth not must not eat and He that provideth not for his family is worse than an Infidel This we may use to mollifie the former but not to abolish it to beat down Sloth but not to build up Covetousness as the former doth not take off all Care but bound and limit it Our daily bread we ask but we must not lengthen this Day into an Age. He that bids us Care not for the morrow forbids not all Care for he commands us to pray for it And he that enjoyns to labor for our Bread forbids us to love it So that Care not for to morrow slays the Covetous that he sweat not too much and the other pulls the Sluggards hand out of his bosome Dividat haec siquis faciunt discreta venenum Antidotum sumit qui sociata bibit Take them asunder and naked as they lye and they are poyson The one strikes the Sluggard with a Lethargy the other the Covetous with a Dropsie But take them mitigated take them together Care not for the morrow but yet labour Labour but care not thus mixt and blended together they make a precious antidote against these two dangerous evils
Sloth and Covetousness But because it is a matter of some difficulty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep in an even and streight line between them both and not to swerve to the right or to the left and because men are too ready to devour and swallow up one duty in another and to forget the one by too often remembring of the other we will determine all ad Christi regulas by those rules which Christ hath set down in this Chapter to poyse and direct us that our paths may be equal and streight And they are two 1. the consideration of the Providence of God 2. of our Duty and that bond which Christianity layes upon us We must desire but our next Bread or that Bread which is necessary for our sustentation that we seem not to distrust Gods Providence And our care must be but for the day lest we fall short in our duty Victûs exemplum habemus aves vestitûs lilia saith Tertullian We need not be solicitous for our food for God feedeth the Fowls of the air nor for our raiment for he clotheth the Lilies And for the second as we depend upon Gods Providence so must our care be no hindrance to us in our obedience to the Gospel of Christ Non exiguâ mercede sumus Christiani The reward is great which is proposed to Christians and we must not forfeit this Pearl for false riches nor surrender Christ for Mammon And first the consideration of Gods Providence is enough to pull in the rains and to curb our immoderate desire of the things of this world Therefore saith Hilarie Fidei nostrae inviolabilem confidentiam exemplorum autoritate confirmat ut tantò majoris periculi res sic ambigere quantò impensiore curâ omnem occasionem infidelitatis abstulerit Christ himself useth this method and builds up a strong bulwark for our faith by the authority of so many examples that the danger of distrust may be there the greater where the wayes of his Providence are so manifest And that we may not be so diffident on God as to sacrifice to our own nets he hath set us to school to the Fowls of the air to the Grass and the Lilies of the Field that unreasonable creatures yea insensible creatures which we tread under our feet might teach us to look up upon him who is the giver of all things Our Saviour tells us v. 32. that the Gentiles seek after all these things that they are on the wing for honour that they make haste to be rich that they bath themselves in the pleasures of this world And how could it be otherwise For these were they who did excaecare Dei providentiam as Tertullian speaks put out the eye of Gods Providence either plainly holding with the Epicureans Deos neque propitios cuiquam esse solere nec iratos denying that the Gods did either favour or were angry with any and instead of Providence bringing in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fatal Necessity or else confining and limiting Providence making it fall no lower than the sphere of the Moon as Aristotle in Epiphanius or else tying it to two or three Favorites alone as some are of opinion in Isidore Pelusiote or else beholding fools on horsback whilst themselves are on the ground thinking that God seeth not and that he hath no bridle of Providence as Nazianzene speaketh to guide and govern the world as Diogenes in Tully said of Harpalus a wicked but happy man that he did contra Deos testimonium dicere that he was a strong argument against the Gods in that he lived so long All these things do the Gentiles seek who denyed the Providence of God And is there not a tincture of this poyson yet runing in the veins and lurking in the hearts of Christians For from whence is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that insatiable desire of wealth From whence are those ambitious thoughts those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incorporeal hands with which we catch at honours From whence hath Covetousness gain'd the name of Thrift and Fraud of Wisdom From whence are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sensual and sensless lusts From whence comes it that to be Rich carries with it a greater splendor and beauty than to be Good Is it not even from this that either we think there is no eye of Providence watcheth over us or that we are willing to forget it which is in effect to deny there is any at all For who else would struggle for that which he knows will be put into his mouth Who would send his thoughts so far for that which is at hand Or would we be so active in the world did we not think that the hand of God were shortned PANIS QUOTIDIANUS Daily Bread might well satisfie him who knows that God is all-sufficient the same to day and to morrow and for ever Therefore Covetousness hath this brand and mark set upon it by the Apostle That it is Idolatry That she denyeth the true God who watcheth over all and sets up Mammon not secundum speciem saith Aquinas not accounting Gold as God but secundum similitudinem yielding all obedience to it and trusting on that which is but as a reed before Gods Providence which is a sure and everlasting foundation To remove this seed of Gentilism we may say with the Father Humane Weakness is a bad interpreter of the Providence of God That must needs be a cursed gloss with Flesh and Bloud which our sensual lusts and affections do make No man can judge of Art but he that is a skilful Artificer Besides as we find it in Common-wealths that there are none more ready to complain of the times or to think they are not so well governed as they ought to be then those who by their own negligence and default have brought themselves upon some hard distress and because they cannot thrive in peace will blow the coals of Sedition that they may sit down at that fire and warm themselves So we may observe in the world that none more murmur against the Providence of God than they who are most improvident themselves For when they miss of their hopes because they have stretcht them beyond measure their seed yields them but seventy-fold where they did expect a hundred they begin to say in their hearts There is no God and at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sight against Heaven it self But let us rest assured that nothing can come amiss to us which Gods hand consecrateth that whether in wealth or in poverty with him we have enough that wheresoever we are we are still in the hands of God To conclude this point Thus if we judge of Gods Providence if we lift up our eyes to him that dwelleth in the heavens and like servants look upon the hands of our great Master and wait patiently upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we shall cast out all that insatiable appetite of the wealth and pomp of the world our desires
not that alone which is enough for a day but that which may suffice for many generations may be PANIS QUOTIDIANUS our daily Bread And so at last we have presented you with all that is material in this Petition The Nine and Thirtieth SERMON PART I. MATTH VI. 12. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors Or as LUKE XI 4 And forgive us our sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us HAving lifted up our eyes to him that filleth all things living of his good pleasure we here fall down on our knees for mercy and forgiveness before the Father of mercies who is as ready to forgive as to open his hand and as willing to receive us into his bosome and favour as to give us our meat in due season on the earth which is but his foot-stool Having adored his Liberality we beseech his Clemencie And as Tertullian well observes it was most necessary that we should observe this methode For first unless we be heard in this Petition we have no reason to be confident in commencing the other nor to expect that God should feed us as a Father till we be reconciled unto him and called his Sons What man is there which if his son ask him bread will give him a stone saith our Saviour Which implies we must be sons before we put up our petitions For God never denies us without a cause and the cause many times is no other but this that we deny him Was the Lord angry against the Rivers saith the Prophet Habakkuk when he sent a tempest or is he angry with the earth when he sends barrenness Is he angry with our Basket when he fills it not No Peccatum homicida est Sin is the murderer and the thief to spoil and rob us Sin makes the beasts of the field and the stones of the street at enmity with us terram eunucham the heavens as brass and the earth as iron not able to bring forth in due season Sin dislocates and perverts the course of Nature and changeth it saith Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into contrary tempers This puts supernatural aspects upon events which have natural causes If it be a comet it makes it ominous if a cloud that is the cataclysm if a vapor that damps it into a plague This sets up all the creatures in arms against us and makes us like Cain no better then Vagabonds and Runnagates upon the earth REMITTE NOBIS must be put up else DA NOBIS will return empty We must sue out our pardon or else the windows of heaven will not open to rain down Manna upon us Again though our corn and our wine abound for we cannot entail these temporal blessings on the righteous alone yet our Bread will be turn'd into a stone and our Wine will be as bitter as gall nor can they feed our hungry souls sed ipsam esuriem animarum pascere as St. Bernard speaks bring that Leanness into them which is the forerunner of death Blessings we may call them and so they are but till we be reconciled to God they are such blessings as will stop up our way to true happiness and stand as a barricado between us and those everlasting habitations Laqueus in auro viscum in argento saith St. Ambrose There will be a snare in our Gold to entrap us and aviscosity in our Silver to retard us The rust of them shall be as a witness against James 5. 3. us and eat our flesh as it were fire Et quid alimenta proderunt si illis reputamur quasi taurus ad victimam What is Gold to Piety What is Wealth to Grace What is a Palace to Heaven What is our Food and Nourishment if we be fed and fatted only as the Oxe is to be sacrificed What are all the Riches of the world but as the Tyrants ropes of silk and daggers of gold or what use do they serve to but this ut cariùs pereamus that we may tread those paths which lead unto death with more state and pomp than other men do I would have spared this observation although it be a Fathers and one as learned as the best but that the general love to Riches and the things of this Life which now reigns and rageth in the world may raise a jealousie and just suspition that some there are who as they have excluded others and made themselves proprietaries of all and that by no other title than this That they are the children of God so again when they have with Ahab killed and taken possession when they have by unjust means filled their coffers they begin to clap their hands and applaud themselves and to make their being rich an argument that they are good and the beloved of God And though with great zeal they dare call the Pope Antichrist yet they joyn hands with the Papists in this in making Temporal happiness a true note of the Church and counting Poverty a curse and the just punishment of a wicked conversation Indeed ask them their opinion and they will deny it as heretical we may be sure because it hath no shew of reason to commend it But surely even their 's it is For their speech and behaviour bewrayeth them For do they not lye down and sleep on their heaps Do they not batten in their wealth Do they not flatter themselves when such a golden showre falls into their laps and think that it cannot be but God himself is in it And do they not flourish like green olive-trees in the house of the Lord when they have nothing but this dung about them Do they not count them as smitten of God who stay below in the valley and are there content to dwell with Poverty rather than to climb up that ladder and with these seeming Angels to aspire to that height from whence they are in danger to break their necks And this is a dangerous error But there is nothing more easie than thus to erre than to say nay than to think that we are in the favour of God when his Sun doth shine upon our tabernacle to say AVE Hayl to our selves as highly favoured when the world smiles upon us and flatters us and to draw this conclusion from no other premisses than a full Purse and large Possessions So that the Apostles axiome is inverted quite For to these men Godliness is not great Gain but Great Gain is Godliness And therefore that we dash not against this rock let us put up this Petition also in Gods Court of Requests Let us be diligent to make our election sure and not only with Esau lift up our voyce and howl after our Bread after plenty of wheat and wine but with the Publican lift up our hearts and smite them that the sound of a broken heart may go up into the ears of the Almighty and return with this delightful echo REMITTUNTUR PECCATA That our sins are forgiven us For being thus reconciled we
stand upright at the great day of tryal Neither did these monsters only blemish this doctrine but it received some stain also from their hands who were its stoutest champions Not to mention Clemens Alexandrinus Theophilus Cyprian Hilary and others St. Augustine that great pillar of the truth and whose memory will be ever pretious in the Church though he often interpret the word Justification for Remission of sins yet being deceived by the likeness of sound in these two words JUSTIFICARE and SANCTIFICARE doth in many places confound them both and make Justification to be nothing else but the making of a man just So in his Book De Spiritu Litera c. 26. interpreting that of the Apostle Being justified freely by his grace he makes this discant Non ait PER LEGEM sed PER GRATIAM He doth not say by the Law but by Grace And he gives his reason Ut sanet gratia voluntatem ut sanata voluntas impleat legem That Grace might cure the Will and the Will being freed might fulfill the Law And in his Book De Spiritu Gratia he saith Spiritus Sanctus diffundit charitatem quâ unâ justi sunt quicunque justi sunt The holy Spirit powers out his love into our hearts by which Love alone they are just whosoever are just And whosoever is but little conversant in that Father shall soon observe that where he deals with the Pelagian he makes the grace of Justification and of Sanctification all one Now that which the Father says is true but ill placed For in every Christian there is required Newness of life and Sanctity of conversation but what is this to Justification and Remission of sins which is no quality inherent in us but the act of God alone As therefore Tully speaks of Romulus who kill'd his brother Peccavit pace vel Quirini vel Romuli dixerim By Romulus his good leave though he were the founder of our Common-wealth he did amiss So with reverence to so worthy and so pious a Saint we may be bold to say of great St. Augustine that if he did not erre yet he hath left those ill weighed speeches behind him which give countenance to those foul mishapen errours which blur and deface that mercy which wipes away our sins For Aquinas in his 1 a 2 ae q. 113. though he grant what he cannot deny because it is a plain Text That Remission of sins is the Not-imputation of sins yet he adds That Gods wrath will not be appeased till Sin be purged out and a new habit of Grace infused into the soul which God doth look upon and respect when he forgives our sins Hence those unsavory tenets of the Romish Church That Justification is not a pronouncing but a making one righteous That inherent holiness is the formal cause of Justification That we may redeem our sins and puchase forgiveness by Fasting Almes-deeds and other good works All which if she do not expose to the world in this very garb and shape yet she so presents them that they seem to speak no less so that her followers are very apt and prompt to come towards them and embrace them even in this shape And although Bellarmine by confounding the term of Justification and distinguishing of a Faith informed with Charity and a Faith which is not and by putting a difference between the works of the Law and those which are done by the power and virtue of the holy Spirit and by allotting no reward but that which is freely promised and promised to those who are in the state of grace and adoption though by granting that the Reward doth far exceed the dignity of our Works he striveth to bring the Church of Rome as near to St. Paul as he can and lays all the colours he hath to make her opinion resemble his yet when he tells us that the Good works of the Saints may truly satisfie the Law of God and merit eternal life when he makes our Satisfaction go hand in hand with Christs and that Fasting and Prayer and Alms are satisfactory not only for punishment but for all punishment and which is more for the guilt it self he hath in effect unsaid what formerly he had laid down concerning the free Remission of our sins and made so wide a breach between St. Paul and their Church as neither St. Peter nor all the Saints they invocate are able to close In a word he speaks as good sense as Theodorus Antiochenus doth in Photius his Bibliotheca who makes a twofold Forgiveness of sins the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those things which we have done the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Impeccancie or Leaving off to Sin So that we may say with Photius What this Forgiveness is or from whence it is is impossible to find out No doubt God taketh notice of the graces he hath bestowed on his children and registreth every good work they do and will give an eternal reward not only to the Faith of Abraham the Chastity of Joseph the Patience of Job the Meekness of Moses the Zeal of Phinehas the Devotion of David but even to the Widows two mites cast into the treasury to a cup of cold water given to a thirsty Disciple Yet most true it is that all the righteousness of all the Saints cannot merit forgiveness And we will take no other reason or proof for this position but that of Bellarmins Non acceptat Deus in veram satisfactionem pro peccato nisi justitiam infinitam God must have an infinite satisfaction because the sin is infinite Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul Shall I bring the merits of one Saint and the supererogations of another and add to these the treasury of the Church All these are but as an atome to the infinite mass of our Sin Shall I yet add my Fasting my Alms my Tears my Devotion All these will vanish at the guilt of Sin and melt before it as wax before the Sun We must therefore disclaim all hope of help from our selves or any or all creatures in earth or in heaven It is only the Lamb of God who taketh John 1. 29. away the sins of the world the Man Christ Jesus is the only Mediatour between 1 Tim. 2. 5. God and Man He alone is our Advocate with the Father and the 1 John 2. 1 2. propitiation for our sins His bloud cleanseth us from all sin In him we have 1 John 1. 7. Eph. 1. 7. Eph. 3. 12. redemption through his bloud the forgiveness of sins In him we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him In his name therefore who taught us thus to pray let us put up this Petition Forgive us our debts and our prayer will be graciously heard and we shall be accepted in the Beloved Eph. 1. 6. all our Debt will be remitted through the merits of our Surety who hath
deliver'd them to Satan to be tormented Which power though they had from Christ yet Christ would never exercise it himself but was as patient as a Lamb though he had the strength and power of a Lion And as his comming was in great humility so hath he left it as a charge to those who will be his disciples to follow him in that way which himself was pleased to tread before us He hath set-up Remission of sins but with a SICUT upon condition that we will be as patient and humble and as ready to forgive as he that Humility which brought him down to earth to suffer for us may lift us up to heaven to reign with him for ever Therefore this doctrine of Forgiveness è coelo descendit came down from heaven with Christ and is most proper to the Gospel For reckon-up all the precepts which the Heathen Sages have given all the examples which they have shewn and we may find enough perhaps to shame us but not that measure of goodness which is required of a Christian As Aristides was led to punishment one spat in his face but this disgrace could move him no further than contumeliam contumeliae facere to revenge this contumely with a jest Socrates rails not at Anytus in prison but being to die discourseth of the Immortality of the Soul Magna certè exempla grande testimonium These are great examples and bear witness to the doctrine of Christ But Tertullian at the beginning of his book De Anima hath past a judicious censure on them That the Heathen did and suffer'd many things non de siduciâ compertae veritatis not from any confidence that this virtue would make them everlastingly happy sed ex industria consultae aequanimitatis but from a setled and strong resolution that nothing should drive them to discontent And this proceeded rather from affectation than from a disposition raised by the celestial discipline and that doctrine which came down from heaven Munit nos Christus adversùs diaboli latitudines The Gospel of Christ is a fense to keep us from these latitudes and expatiations and extravagancies and discovers the danger of those actions which the Heathen approved for virtuous But what talk we of the Heathen quorum religio pro certo non est cùm Dei eorum non sint pro certo who being not well assured of their Gods must needs also be as uncertain and unstable in their religion This doctrine of Forgiveness of sins was not understood of those who were domestica Dei gens the peculiar and familiar people of God to whom he gave his statutes and testimonies and who were entrusted with his Oracles The Jews indeed do challenge the commandments of God tanquam propria haereditaria saith Hilary as proper to them and their peculiar inheritance but yet they never understood this command of Christ To forgive an enemy Whatsoever Moses required of the Jew that doth Christ exact of the Christian and more more Patience more Compassion more Tenderness to our enemy because the heavenly promises are more clearly proposed in the Gospel than they were under the Law Multa sunt facienda non jubente lege sed liberâ charitate saith St. Augustine Many things are to be done not because the Law commands but because Charity perswades them quae cùm liceret non impendere tamen dilectionis causâ impendimus Many offices are done which we do out of love not upon command when as Love it self is a command Behold saith our Saviour I give unto you a new command that you love one another When Volusian urgeth the objection of Julian That Christianity stands in opposition to polity and government the Father replyeth by parallelling of a sentence of Salust with those precepts of our Saviour Romanos Remp. ex parva magnam fecisse quòd acceptâ injuriâ ignoscere quà m prosequi maluerint That the Romans had raised themselves to that greatness not by revenge but by forgiving injuries We know there is a righteousness most proper to the Gospel which the Jew for the most part saw but darkly and in a cloud even that righteousness of Faith which justifies an unrighteous person And indeed in this very respect as the Christian hath more day and light more helps than the Jew so his task should be greater Our Saviour hath told us Of him that hath much much shall be required To forgive our enemies is a Condition and a Law and lies heavier upon us than it did upon the Jew Lex ligat a Law is an obligation and therefore where it binds not it is not a Law but where it is proposed as a Law it binds When God saw the Jews would not be kept within those bounds in which his wisdom first had set them he was pleased so far to condescend as to give them line least too strict a curb and charge might have enraged them Yet in all those tolerations his will did shew it self and did shine forth Even the very Permission was a commentary upon it self In that he did forbid them to practice Usury upon their brethren he gave them a fair intimation that it was far better not to practice it on strangers When he gave them leave upon slight occasions to put-away their wives he made a kind of exposition upon that Law saith St. Augustine in that he commanded them also first to give them a bill of divorce For he doth not say Let whosoever will put away his wife but in a manner tells them he would not have them do it though it were permitted cùm hanc interposuerit moram when by making this delay he gave them time of deliberation that so their wrath might be appeased before the bill was writ Besides they were first to go unto the Scribes to whom alone it was lawful to write the Hebrew letters as St. Augustine tells us who were men of great wisdom and interpreters of the Law men famous for their piety and justice that they might dissuade them Lastly for that law of Retaliation it was permitted not as if it were good but for avoiding of greater evil ut furoris non fomes sed limes saith St. Augustine not to excite and provoke but to bound their malice Nor did they saith Josephus receive an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth but for it took a pecuniary mulct Which was also practiced amongst the Romans as Favorinus observes in Gellius For God did not approve of these as commendable to be done but permitted them as lawful for them who would not endure a sharper bit to be put into their mouths For even this law of Forgiving every man his trespasses in equity concerned them as well as us but the permission and dispensation doth not concern us as it did them Between the Precepts of Christ and these Permissions there is no repugnancy but a diversity only For he that shall not put away his wife he that shall remit a private injury is
so far from doing any thing against the Law that he doth that which the Law especially intends The very Heathen could tell us aliqua esse quae non oportet fieri etiamsi licet that there be some things which indeed may lawfully be done but it is far better and more praise-worthy not to do them And therefore God often chargeth the Jews with the hardness of their hearts calls them a stubborn and stiffnecked people and by many tokens made it evident that he did not approve of that which he did permit He forbids them to hate their brother in their heart He commands them to do many common offices to their enemy Lev. 19. 17. to bring back his oxe that went astray to help him whose asselyeth under his burden and the like He permits Revenge but of lighter injuries and of greater only by the hand of the Magistrate And had they been capable he would have yet shewed them a more excellent way I leave this point and come to speak of our third and last reason why our Saviour annexed this Condition to this Petition and enforced it afterwards It is indeed the nature of Flesh and Bloud to be exasperated and enraged by injuries and to thirst after revenge But Christians have learnt a quite contrary lesson in the School of their Master To put-up injuries with patience and to requite them with courtesies To love their greatest enemies and to pray for them who make it their business to seek and to work their destruction This our Saviour hath taught his followers both by his precept and example this we oblige our selves to perform as oft as in this Prayer we beg forgiveness of our sins This lesson the primitive Christians had well learnt and still observed And nothing was of greater avail both to themselves and to their profession than this Hereby they overcame their enemies and possessed their own souls in prison they found liberty in the greatest storms a clam in torments and death hope and joy Meekness and Patience made them in all their trials and sufferings more than conquerers Neither was the observation of this rule advantageous to Christians alone but also to Christianity it self which got ground by this means took root and spread exceedingly Crudelitas vestra illecebra est magis saith a Father your cruelty whereby you seek to destroy us is a kind of invitation to draw-on more company and to make us more numerous The more you cut us down we grow-up the faster and the more you lop-off our branches the more they multiply and by driving us out of the world you plant new colonies of Christians For our Bloud is as seed which will bring-forth an hundred-fold The blessed Martyrs knowing this when they were led to death did not onely forgive their enemies but pray for them not onely pray for them but give them thanks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Justine Martyr Lucius replied not but thanked them And thus those torments which were invented to restore Paganisme did much weaken it and strengthen Christianity every martyr like Samson killing more Idolaters at his death than he did in his life VIDE UT SE INVICEM DILIGUNT See how they love one another was a strong motive but See how they forgive their enemies and pray for their persecutors was a stronger a plain convincement which prevailed with the wisest men with great men and sometimes with the executioners themselves Non omnia potest potentia potentior est patientia What Power cannot do that Patience absolves And this is the onely strength and power that a Christian hath with which he subdues his enemies and makes a way to victory by death it self and gains a crown against all opposition We might expect perhaps that God should break the jaws of the ungodly and rise-up against those who rise-up against us that he should send divers sorts of flies to devour them and frogs to destroy them that he should knock-off their chariot-wheels that they might drive but heavily after us and at last put them to utter confusion But there needs no miracle where our Saviour hath let down this Ancile this buckler from heaven nor extraordinary help where the ordinary means will suffice For Patience if we will take it up and use it will be our Angelus custos our Angel to protect us and lead us through the enemies land to that city which we would come to If we observe the condition here there be more with us than against us And by yielding we may overcome by forgiving an enemy not only conquer him but make him ours that he may praise God in the day of visitation I have in another place spoken at large upon these three Questions 1. What Debts we must forgive our brother 2. How we must forgive them 3. What dependance there is between Gods Forgiving of us and our Forgiving one another I shall forbear to repeat but will only add a word or two and conclude You will say perhaps This is durus sermo a very hard Condition That no Forgiveness of sins is to be expected unless we forgive all debts It is true it is so but to such only who so dote on the world that they grow vile to themselves not to them whose conversation is not in earth but in heaven Totum durum est quicquid imperatur invitis saith Salvian Every thing is hard and difficult to an unwilling mind Covetous and Ambitious men had rather mend the Law than their lives and hate the precepts rather than their sins But what if the Condition were in it self hard and did not onely appear so to flesh and bloud What though I did loose by it my good name my peace my possessions Yet minora incommoda praemiis the Condition is not so hard as the reward is great These incommodations are nothing in respect of that peace and plenty which they purchase Durum grande difficile sed magna sunt praemia It is hard to forgive all debts but without this no cancelling of our own It is a sad and heavy Condition laid upon sinful man but without this without shedding of our bloud without emptying our selves of all rancour and desire of revenge there is no Remission of sins To stir us up to the performance of this Condition let us consider that this virtue of Forgiving others is never alone It supposeth Faith which is sigillum bonorum operum as Chrysologus calls it the seal to every good work to make it current and authentick He whose mind is thus subact as to bear another mans burden to raise up virtue out of the ruines of himself and create out of injury and contempt cannot be far from the kingdom of heaven nor destitute of those sacrifices wherewith God is well pleased Not that we affirm or absolutely determine that there is nothing more required than a mind thus tender soft and equally poysed But we rather suppose that all other virtues are joyned with it Which
not be taken in the snare flee one tentation and yet not be driven upon another So that though the word INDUCAS doth seem to import that God doth sometimes lead us into tentations and give them a kind of possession of us yet we must conceive no such thing of God Therefore St. Augustine explains NE INDUCAS by NE PATIARIS INDUCI Lead us not that is Suffer us not to be led into tentations Which makes God not a party in Tentations but a Deliverer out of them and forbids all jealousie of God and teacheth us to call upon him as upon our Buckler our Strength our Salvation For conclusion We may thus paraphrase this Petition Heavenly Father if it be thy will that whilst we strive to serve and please thee the World and the Devil fight against us and even for this cause because we strive to serve and please thee If pleasures shew themselves to delay us and Afflictions beat upon us to drive us back from the prize and price of the high calling we murmur not we repine not But we beg this favour of a just and gracious God That thou wilt not in a manner throw us into tentations or cast us upon them so that we be held or detain'd by them but rather grant thy help and assistance that we may make an escape that leaving these pleasures behind us and bearing these afflictions about us and even trampling upon the necks of our enemies and treading them down under our feet we may run with joy the race which is set before us and pass from one degree of perfection to another and so fit our Heads for that crown which thou wilt give to all those who overcome And this I conceive is the sense of these words Of which we shall speak now at large The Three and Fourtieth SERMON PART III. MATTH VI. 13. And lead us not into tentation but deliver us from evil WE have discoursed in general concerning the Ground of all Tentations that they are as natural to Man as the faculties of his Soul We will now give some particular Reasons why God doth permit them why he leaves the world so full of snares so full of stumbling blocks and layes Man thus open and naked to temptations and sets him up as Job speaketh as a mark for the Devil to shoot his fiery darts at And first herein God acteth the part of a Father when by tentations he maketh tryal of our faith in him and of our love and obedience to him The skill of a Pilot is best seen in a tempest and the sincerity of a Christian in the midst of tentations He who either yields to the flattery of pleasure or falls under the burden of affliction he who either by fair weather is enticed or by foul weather is driven from the right way behaveth himself neither like a son nor a servant Probandus prius quam laudandus Christianus A Christian must be tried first and not till then be commended Habendo tentationem habet probationem Being tempted he is proved and tryed as Gold in the fire Then are the chosen and golden vessels of God known when they are brought to the touchstone of Temptation Thus doth God exercise his servants in the spiritual conflict of Temptations And thus the evils of this world usu bono vertuntur in bonum by well managing of them are made good whilst they do not increase our concupiscence but exercise our patience Therefore God hath placed a difficulty which is a kind of tentation upon every thing that is truly desirable The object of our Faith are things not seen the object of our Hope happiness at a distance the object of our Charity that Enemy that persecutes us And the Invisibility of the object the Distance of the object the Unloveliness of the object these are as so many temptations to shake my Faith to dead and wither my Hope and to destroy my Charity And to believe upon this probability is the merit of my Faith to hope on earth for that which is laid up in heaven is the life of my Hope and to love that which my very bloud riseth at is the crown and perfection of my Charity Again as God doth permit Temptations and exercise us with afflictions ad probationem fidei for the tryal of our Faith so doth he also many times even send them upon us ad emendationem labilis vitae as St. Augustine speaks for the amendment of our sinful lives that being foil'd by one temptation we may be raised by another being wounded by pleasure be cured by grief that the bitterness of affliction may sowre those sins which we drunk-down as the Oxe doth water and make us distast them Productior est poena quà m culpa saith St. Augustine nè parva putaretur culpa si cum illa finiretur poena Our sins were no longer then they were a committing but their guilt still remains And lest we should let them sleep with small notice lest they should put-on a lovely shape and so deceive us when the sin is past the rod is on the back which maketh us turn our countenance and behold our sins in their own ugly shapes O beatum servum cujus emendationi instat Dominus cui dignatur irasci saith the Father O blessed and happy servant upon whom God takes such pains whose amendment he thus urgeth and forceth whom he honours so highly as to vouchsafe to be angry with him We may think indeed that when God thus brings on his armies and changes of sorrows that he comes to fight against us that he sticks his arrows in our sides to destroy us that he brings these evils upon us to make us worse and layes us on our beds of sickness to fling us upon that impatience which will sink us into hell that he pursues us as an enemy But this is to make those Temptations which should destroy Sin to be exceeding sinful this is not to savour the things which are of God For even those smiling temptations if we had not been willing to be deceived might have helpt to increase that joy which is real Had we frowned on them we had had no sin But having sinned God comes towards us in blackness and darkness in the horror of temporal afflictions to see whether we have more patience towards these temptations of his left hand then those of his right hand not to sink us deeper but to draw us out of the pit He writes bitter things against us and makes Job 13. 26. us possess the sins of our youth as Job speaks So to possess them that we may drive them out so to look upon them that we may loath them He placeth them in order before us that we may read and detest them and wipe and blot them out with our tears and draw a new copy in the reformation of our lives They are indeed Temptations but if we please they are invitations to mercy They give indeed but an
as we commit so many persons and resemblances we put-on sometimes of a Fox sometimes of a Wolf sometimes of a Lion The holy Father layes it as an imputation upon Man Solum hoc animal jura naturae transgreditur Of all the creatures Man alone breaks those bounds which are set him that law of Nature which was written in his heart and makes Reason which should fence and secure him from these dangers an agent for the Flesh to promote that which it opposeth And we are so much worse than the Beasts by how much the better we might have been No Fox to Herode no Wolf to the Oppressor no Horsleech to the Miser When Man hath thus renounced his Reason he is worse than a Beast that never had any Tertullian gives it as a rule in his Book De anima Naturalium scientia nè in bestiis quidem deficit The knowledge of that which is natural to them is never lost in any creature no not in Beasts The Lion saith he may forget his ferity and fierceness and in time be tamed and brought to that meekness that he may be made the delight of some Bernice some wanton Queen and innocently lick her cheek with his tongue Mores bestiam relinquent scientia naturalium permanebit His manners may leave him but not his apprehension of things natural to him Si de piscibus si de placentis regina ei obtulerit carnem desiderabit si languenti theriacam composuerit simiam requiret si nullum illi venabulum obfirmabit gallum tamen formidabit If the Queen offer him a fish or some junket he will leave it for flesh if she make an antidote for him when he is sick nothing will cure him but an ape and though he fear not the dart or hunting-pole yet he is afraid of the crowing of a Cock Every Creature follows on in that way which Nature hath chalked out and doth seldome or never turn aside or look back The Sun knoweth his setting and the Moon her seasons Onely Man when he sins setteth where he should rise and riseth where he should set begins his time in pleasure where he should but end and ends in sorrow where he should but begin riseth in the spirit and setteth in the flesh forgets his very naturals For to avoid the infections of the world to shake off all these tentations of the flesh which we Christians call the effect of Grace with the Philosophers is nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to live according to the dictate and prescript of Nature For even Nature and the very structure and composition of Man teacheth us that we are ad majora nati born to greater matters then these born not to be so familiar with that which perisheth not to be ready to give every vanity a meeting at a call to converse and trade with it not to complement with Beauty when it smiles or bow down to Gold when it shines no nor to be afraid of the smart of that sorrow which doth but afflict that part of us which must be turned to dust and ashes I cannot but think there is as great an antipathy between Sin and the nature of Man especially renewed in Christ as there is between the Lion and the crowing of a Cock If I mistake St. Basil hath deceived me who in in his Hexameron tells us that there needs no instructer to teach us no orator to perswade us to hate a loathsome disease For by the common principles of Reason we commend Justice and Temperance and condemn that which is evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is saith he in the soul of man an aversness from evil which he never learnt but brought with him into the world Therefore when we yield to tentations we forget from whence we are sprung that we are made according to the image of God For can this image be seen in a Wolf or a Fox or a Lion Can we say we are made after his image who have transformed our selves into the similitude of so many beasts who have in a manner forgotten our naturals and are afraid of that which Reason teacheth us to desire and desire that which we have reason to fear who when Honor is set-up are upon the wing but when Heaven is proposed flag and fall down to the ground who will run to hear the melody and jollity of the world and are afraid at the voice of the living God Nor can we give any reason why we should thus debase and vilifie our selves thus bespot and defile our selves thus put our selves under the yoke and harrow sell our selves out to such base and loathsome imployments to follow and wait upon every tentation that offereth it self to be servants to sin and slaves to Satan and help them to destroy us Oh that we did know our selves what we are and to what end made and created made not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in diem vivere to extend our thoughts no further than the present to our next food the next delight and the next pleasure not to trade on earth but to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks Phil. 3. 20. our conversation in heaven not to be made like unto the beasts that perish but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like unto the Angels in heaven not to converse with those delights which as Scorpions will sting us to death but with holy thoughts and divine contemplations which are the best companions we can have not to labour for the meat that perisheth but through delights and terrors through good report and ill report through all the tentations and retardations of the world strive forward to eternity of bliss We may now exalt this consideration a little higher and out of this commend unto you the knowledge 1. of your own Strength 2. of your own Weakness By which later I understand that particular inclination which ariseth from the temper of every particular man by which one is more inclinable and obnoxious to this or that sin than another by which one man is easily seduced by a temptation which another doth withstand with ease And first the reason why we fall into so many tentations is this That we know not our own strength that we are very willing to entertain a conceit that every tentation is too hard for us Nec mirum si vincamur qui jam victi sumus No marvel if we fail in the day of tryal who in our own opinion are already overcome We lay all the blame upon Original sin and the weakness of our nature and attribute our full growth in sin to that seed of sin which we should have choaked For let us with Aquinas admit of that double process and derivation of Original sin from the Flesh into the Soul and from the essence of the Soul into every power of it let us take it in the Body which they call vehiculum the instrument and conduit to convey it and we shall quickly find that we
contemplemur talem se nobis unaquaeque species exhibeat qualem eam cogitando formemus It is natural to the mind of man to put shapes and forms upon things which exhibit that species and representation to it which it self hath already made It may conceive of Gold as of earth and it may conceive of it as of a God It may look upon Beauty as upon a flower that fades and it may consider it as a lasting heaven upon earth It may think of Honour as of that which makes us Gods and it may esteem it but as a bubble which is lost in the making And as we transform things so do they transform us For talis quisque est qualibus delectatur inter artificem artificium mira cognatio Our minds are even fashioned like unto those things which we most delight to converse with and a great correspondence there is between the Work and the Artificer Wheresoever the Workman goes he carries about with him the Idea and Representation of his work along with him Where St. Peter gives us a character of prophane and unclean persons amongst other marks he sets this as one that they have eyes full of adultery but in the Greek it is more significant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of the Adulteress as if the Wanton carried her about in his very eyes and had alwaies her image before him The Covetous person converses with his Gold as with a God he speaks of it he dreams of it he commits Idolatry with it Si tacet hoc loquitur and when he is silent he talks of it within himself And in this very shape which we have given them in this dress which we have put upon them they deceive us But if we do search into their nature and study them throughly we shall not be deceived by their outward appearance We shall find there is truly and indeed no content from Riches no pleasure from Beauty no horrour from Affliction If we ask them for themselves our Saviour may well return us that answer which once he gave to his disciples Ye know not what you ask The Beauty of women what is it It is but colour and proportion which a light Agne will soon wipe out and which Age will so dissolve that we cannot believe there was ever any What is Honour but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sign and signification of mans good esteem and many times but a bare sign and no more a leg to Haman when we wish him on the gallows a cabinet of air to which every man even the worst man hath a key to open and shut it as he pleases What are the Pleasures of the world Neither true nor lasting and like painted Curtesans as Hierome speaks id solum oftendunt quod placere potest they only lay that open to the eye which may please it We read in St. Hierom of an Heathen who was wont to say to Pope Damasus Facito me Romana urbis Episcopum protinus ero Christianus Make me but Bishop of Rome and I will presently be a Christian We may be sure he knew not well what the Christian was and saw no more of the Bishop than his pomp and outside otherwise he would rather have given a Bishoprick nay sold all that he had that he might have been a Christian What do we undergo what do we attempt at the sight of a temptation What Rhetorick is there in a piece of Gold or in Beauty or in Honour What do they not force us to because we will not look neerere unto them but are so amazed at their first apparition that we can look no further But how vast a difference is there between these things and spiritual and heavenly blessings What is Beauty to Virtue Gold to Grace Honour to Glory Spiritual things in the mouth are bitter but in the belly as sweet as honey They are favourable to us and benevolent and admit at once satiety and desire But earthly things when we have them not kindle in us a desire and being enjoyed quench that desire with loathsomness But the other are never loathed but when we have them not for when we have them we ever desire them more The more we feed the more we are hungry and yet when we are most hungry we are full and satisfied In illis appetitus placet experientia displicet in istis appetitus vilis est experientia magìs placet saith Gregory In the one our Appetite pleaseth us but Experience is distastful They are honey in the desire but in the tast gravel But to the other the Appetite is commonly sick and queasie but when we have chewed them they are sweeter than the honey or the honey-comb they are Gall to the appetite but to the tast Manna The one brings a shew of pleasure but ends in grief the other brings a seeming distast but ends nay never ends but is immortal Et quis tam parvis oblectare animum in vitâ possit si vera cognoverit And who will ever delight himself in those vain and transitory things who hath had a full view of those which are real and eternal Nonne melius est brevi tempore dimicare ferre vallum arma sumere posteà gaudere viotorem quà m impatientiâ unius horae servire perpetuos saith St. Hierome Better fight a while and get a glorious victory than be slaves to sin and Satan for ever Did we thus compare the Devils offers with Gods we should quickly pull-off the visour from Tentations and discover their deformity we should be full of shame and grief for having so long vouchsafed familiarity to such loathsom solicitors Then we should be able to call them all by their names and to say This Beauty is a deceiver This Wine is a mocker This Strumpet is a deep ditch These Riches have wings and will fly away Non obvia occupant Videt aurum scit hoc terrae limum esse videt gemmas meminit esse aut montium aut niaris calculos videt illicem ad lasciviam vultum scit tanquam avibuc coeli ex his sibi laqueis evà dendum saith Hilary A good man is not taken with obvious and ordinary objects He sees gold and know it is but the slime of the earth He beholds pearls and diamonds and knows they are but stones taken from the rocks or sea He sees the bewitching countenance of the wanton and on chast desires and resolutions as on the wings of a Dove he fleeth swiftly away from the snares And thus as I said before Not to yield to Tentations is to overcome them so I say now To know Tentations and to strip them of their disguise and false appearance is the ready way to victory We have prescribed unto you two remedies against Tentations the Knowledge of Our selves and the Knowledge of the Tentation If we knew our selves we would not converse and trade and be so familiar with Tentations as we are And if we knew Tentations
Atheism by which we doubt of Gods approach because we cannot find-out his wayes and rely not upon his Power because we see not how it works but is many times as invisible as himself because this omnipotent and wise King never presents himself to the eye of mortal men nor doth so evidently manifest his power as to leave no place for doubting because he suffers fools to ride on horsback and wisemen to lacquey it by their sides because he thunders not upon the wicked but lets them rain-down hailstones and coals of fire upon the just And these are the complaints of weak and ignorant men who though they see miracles every day will not believe nor are content with those evident marks and impressions of Gods Power which are as legible in his works as if they had been written with the Sun-beams but must have him in a manner condescend to be incarnate again to become like unto themselves and perform his actions as a Man Now to these men qui contra se ingenio suo utuntur who use their wit and reason against themselves to destroy in themselves that Confidence without which they are worse than the beasts that perish we need say no more than this That in this dispute they do betray their ignorance of the nature of Faith upon which true Religion is builded For the force efficacie of Faith is seen where there be sufficient reasons to move us to believe but not such which will leave no room for doubting if men of a wicked stiff-neck do violently oppose the truth For that is true Religion which is freely and willingly enterteined by us not that which is forced upon us or extorted from us Therfore God doth not make himself visible to man For Majesty is no fit object for a mortal eye Nor doth he always follow the wicked with his rod that every man may see him strike nor fills he the righteous with good things before the Sun the people For thus to take away all occasion of doubting were in effect to take away Faith it self quae non nisi difficultate constat whose merit it is to believe more then can be seen or known by evidence of demonstration and by leaving no place for Infidelity leave no matter for our Faith Since God hath taught us more then the beasts of the field since that which may be known of God is manifest in the Creature since he hath made the World a book and each Creature a leaf wherein are written the lively characters of a Deity since he hath even shapen himself unto us as a God of mercy in his manifold blessings since many times he comes with a tempest and a fire before him that we may even see him in that tempest and that fire since he hath shewn himself in those effects of which we can give no reason but must cry out DIGITUS DEI EST HIC the finger of God is here since he hath given us so many strange deliverances from sins which we might have committed and from punishments which we might have suffered that we cannot but say MANUS DEI EST HIC the hand of God is here his right hand his powerful hand since he inspires us with so many good thoughts that enter into our souls invisibly insensibly that we must needs confess EST DEUS IN NOBIS God is even in us let us not make it a reason to doubt of his Power when our Reason is at a stand and cannot resolve every doubt or conceive he is not a powerful King because we do not touch and feel and handle him He is near unto us though we see him not he is about our paths when we perceive it not when we rove about the world he is our King and when we are in the dust he is as powerful as when he lifts us up into a throne It concerns not us to know how his Providence worketh It is enough for us to know that he is our King and our powerful God Which if we weigh it as we should will work in us that Assurance which is the stay and prop of our devotions Here we may rest and need seek no further This knowledge is sufficient for me when I know not the manner how he works to know that he worketh all in all and that wheresoever I am I am still under the protection of that King who governs the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the law of his Providence and of that God who is omnipotent Hence we may conclude with the Prophet Whatsoever we desire or request if it be marvellous in the eyes Zech. 8. 6. of the people yet there is no reason it should be marvellous in the eyes of the Lord of hosts And if those cursed Hereticks which Epiphanius calls the Satanicans who were almost the same with the Massalians were forward to worship the Devil upon no other motive than this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they conceived he was great and powerful and the Romans did worship their Goddess Febris ut minùs noceret because they thought she had power to hurt them then much rather let us make our address to the God of heaven who hath the Devil in a chain and hath beat down his temples and destroyed his altars and laid his honor in the dust and let us commence our suits unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly Eph. 3. 20. above all we can ask or think and in full assurance present our wants unto him who is our King and powerful God that as the kingdom and power is his so he may have the glory And having thus acknowledged the Kingdom and Power to be his we cannot but end in GLORIA ALTISSIMO Glory be to God on high and take them all three together and make up the-Doxologie Thus we must conclude But I told you that this Conclusion was but the collection of so many reasons or motives to make Prayer it self a conclusion The Glory of God is Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End This is it which makes us cry ABBA Father And when He hears us and grants us our requests this is the end this is the first wheel and this is the last So that take the whole subsistence of a Christian in the state of Grace and the state of Glory and it is but one continued and constant motion of Glorifying God GLORIA DEO Glory and God these two you cannot separate them because He is our King and our Lord. If we take Glory to our selves we loose it and our glory is our shame And this is a lesson which we learn from God himself and the first lesson that ever he taught For no sooner had he made the Creatures but he says of them that they were good that is he saw his own glory in them And if we pray as he commands our Prayers are his creatures and he will say of them that they are good and behold his glory in
them For we must not think that all is done in a Gloria Deo or that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of spell in the very words For what is more easie than a song of praise what is sooner said then a Doxologie If to draw near to God with the mouth and the lips be to honor him we are Angels all No as St. Paul tells us that the Woman is the glory of the Man when she is subject to him so are we the glory of God when we are obedient to his will And if our Prayers and our Praises flow from a grateful heart which is truly his fashioned and prepared as he would have it then are they sacrifices of a sweet smelling favour unto God Not that from hence there accrues to him any thing by way of access or addition For no quire of Angels can improve no roaring Devil can diminish his glory Ille quod est semper est sicut est ita est What he is he alwayes is and as he is so he is in the midst of the noyse of Seraphim and Cherubim of Men or Devils But because it cannot but be well pleasing unto him to see his creature answer to that pattern which himself hath set to be what it should be and what he intended For as every Artificer is delighted in his work when he sees it finished according to the rule he wrought by and as we use to look upon the works of our hands or wits with favour and complacencie as we do upon our children when they are like us so doth God look upon his creature especially upon Man when he appears in that shape and form of obedience which he prescribed when he is what God would have him be when he doth not change the glory of God into an image made like unto corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things when he doth not take the member of Christ and make it the member of an harlot not prostitute that Understanding to folly which should know him nor that Will to vanity which should seek him nor fasten those Affections to the earth which should seek the things which are above when he falls not from his state and condition but is holy as God is holy merciful as he is merciful perfect as he is perfect Then God doth rejoyce over him as over the work of his hands as over his image and likeness not corrupted nor defaced Then is the Man nothing else but the glory and praise of his Maker Then the bowing of his Knee is worship the lifting up of his hands is prayer and his prayers and his praises are musick in the ears of God like unto that which the Angels and Archangels the Cherubim and Seraphim do make And to this end God hath done these great things for us to the praise of his glory as St. Paul repeats it again and again and that we may shew forth Ephes 1. 1 Pet. 2. 9. his praises that the Soul as Athanasius gives the resemblance may be as a skilful Musitian and the Body as a Harp or Lute which she may tune and touch till it yield a celestial harmony that the whole man may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and make up a GLORIA DEO in a compleat and perfect harmony that the love of Gods Glory may be so intensive and hot within us ut emanet in habitum eructet à conscientia in superficiem ut forìs inspiciat quasi supellectilem suam that the Soul may not be able to contein her self within the compass of the heart but evaporate from the mind into the outward gesture and break forth out of the conscience into the voice open her shop and wares and behold her own provision and furniture abroad that so she may make-up that circular motion which the Father speaks of first look upon God then draw back into her self then after some reverent pause collect her self then call all her faculties together and at last take-in and command all the members of the body and make her Doxologie perfect and compleat This must be our constant practice here on earth that our praise may continually ascend for us into heaven If we leave-out Gods Glory we lose the benefit of assurance we might have of the other two God will be our King indeed but not protect us and we shall feel his power but to our destruction We deceive our selves if we think there is no Anthem to be sung but in heaven nor Hallelu-jah to be chanted-out but by the Angels or that we cannot glorifie God till he hath glorified us It is indeed the Angels work But candidati Angelorum nos ediscimus canticum laudis when we learn and study this we stand in competition for an Angels place And our Glorifying God here in our earthly members is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a prologue and preface to that which we shall be and act hereafter It was a phansie which possessed many of the Heathen That men after death should much desire and often handle those things which did most take and affect them in their life-time So Lucian brings in Priams young son in heaven calling for milk and cheese and such country-cates as he most delighted in on earth Even now saith Maximus Tyrius Aesculapius ministreth Physick Hercules tryes the strength of his arm Castor and Pollux are under sail Minos is on the bench and Achilles in arms And this indeed is but a phansie for when our breath departeth these our thoughts perish and all things shall end with the world War and Navigation and Physick Yet it is a fair resemblance of a Christian in this respect whose life is Grace and eternity Glory Which is nothing else saith Gerson but gratia consummata nullatenus impedita Grace made perfect and consummate finding no opposition no temptation to fight with For though there will be no place for Alms where there is no poverty no use of Prayers where there is no want no need of Meekness where there can be no injury yet to Praise and Glorifie and Worship God are everlasting offices to be performed here by us on earth and to be continued by us in heaven when we shall be made equal to the Angels This is a duty without which Prayer cannot subsist but breaths it self into the air and vanisheth or rather ascends to pull-down a curse for a blessing Therefore it is fitted to all sorts of men As indeed the best and most excellent parts of Religion are common to all without exception of Quality Age Time Place or Sex as a Hymn set to every voice The Jews were wont to give out the books of holy Scripture to be read respectively to the abilities of men Some were permitted to the Vulgar the rest were lockt-up and permitted only to be read by the Learned This Doxologie admits no such restraint Arator ad stivam The plowman at the plow may sing Hallelujah as well as the greatest Clerk and profoundest Doctor Again when the Athenians met together in their Senate it was not lawful for men of all ages to speak therefore it was proclaimed by a publick cryer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is there any above fity years of age let him speak But here it is Young men and maids old men and children all must praise the name of the Lord. Young or old it skils not in our sacred Senate and holy Assemblies Yea children adhuc dimidiata verba tentantes as yet scarsly able to apply their tongue to the roof of their mouth must practise this duty For as earthly Fathers think loquelam liberorum ipso offensantis linguae fragmine dulciorem as Minutius speaks their little childrens first broken and imperfect prattle pleasantest so to our heavenly Father who opens the mouths of babes and sucklings it is a thing very pleasant to hear parvulorum adhuc linguas balbutientes Christo Hallelujah resonare as St. Hierom speaks to hear even children in their imperfect language sing his praise Thirdly amongst the superstitious ceremonies of the Heathen there were many things which might not be said or done but in their Temples and at solemn Meetings and therefore Alcibiades was called in question at Athens for no less then his life because he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 utter amongst his companions such things as he had seen in their sacred mysteries falsly so called But this duty is not restrained to any place The Church or our private house or whatsoever place else are all alike Ecce Rhodus ecce saltus Every place we stand in is holy ground Again some Nations have shewed themselves so superstitious that as if Words were like Garments some peculiar to Men some to Women they ordained that some things ought not to be spoken by Men some by Women So amongst the Romans it was not lawful for Men to swear by their Goddess Ceres nor for Women by their God Hercules But as this Doxologie admits of no difference of Place or Person so neither of Sex but is a duty which concerns all Kings of the earth and all people young and old rich and poor And it is very meet right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord holy Father eternal King almighty and everlasting that thy praise should be in our mouth continually even IN SECULA SECULORUM for ever and ever AMEN And with this we end and shut-up all our Meditations upon this excellent Form of Prayer ascribing to this our King even to the King of Kings God the Father God the Son and God the holy Ghost all honour and majesty and power and dominion and glory now and for evermore Errata of the two Sermons PAge 3. l. 3. r. and. l. 9. r. natural obliquity l. 50. add with Reverence p. 4. l. 46. r. when p. 7. l. 21. r. self-love p. 15. l. 43. add to p. 16. l. 1. r. Rome l. 2. r. before there was a law to punish paricide ib. l. 55. r. which p. 18. l. 8. r. Then p. 23. l. 51. r. Give Alms of such things as you have and behold all things are clean unto you p. 25. l. 26. dele again FINIS
their faith quos in magnis aeternae beatitudinis constituet exemplis whom he means to place amongst the few but great examples of eternal happiness Semper diem observant cum semper ignorant quotidie timeant quod quotidie sperant saith Tertullian in that excellent Book of his De Anima For whilst men are alwayes ignorant they are also alwayes observant and fear that may come this minute which they hope and are assured will come at last Lastly this ADVENIAT as it is the language of our Hope and Faith so is it the dialect olso of our Charity and Love both to God and our Brethren Thy Kingdome come Why certainly it will come Certus esto veniet Nec solum veniet sed etsi nolis veniet saith St. Augustine You may be sure it will come nay it will come whether we will or no Our prayers perchance may hasten it but no power in heaven or in earth or in hell can keep it back But this ADVENIAT this prayer of ours that it may come is a kind of subscription to the eternal decree of God that it should come By this we testifie our consent shew our agreement and make it appear that we are truly his subjects since we would have that which our King would have and are of the same mind with him We usually say that they who are true friends have idem Velle idem Nolle will and nill the self-same things It is said of Abraham that he was the friend of God And not only Abraham 2 Chron. 20. 7. Isa 41. 8. James 2. 23. but every true son of Abraham that feareth the Lord doth also inherit Abrahams title and is the friend of God If therefore we will be counted Abrahams Children and the Friends of God we must will and nill the same things with God or else we shall not continue long friends Non pareo Deo sed assentior ex animo illum non quia necesse est sequor saith the heathen Seneca We do not so much obey God because he hath authority to command as because we acknowledge that what he will have is just and good and we assent to him not of necessity but of a willing mind We intreat him to do his will and begg it at his hand as a great favour We cry unto him ADVENIAT Thy Kingdome come though we know that he is already resolved that it shall come And so in this one word ADVENIAT we may see the motion of our Faith the activity of our Hope and the humble plyability of our Love And thus we may totâ fidei substantiâ incidere as Tertullian speaketh we may with these three go forth to meet the King as with the whâ—le armour and substance of our faith Now our Desire must needs be carried on â—n a swift and eager course where these three do fill the sails where Faith awakes it Hope spurs it on and Love upholds and countenances it It must needs be more than an ordinary heat of affection which is kindled by all these These three will set ADVENIAT to the highest pinn to the highest elevation of our thoughts Let thy Kingdome come yet not till the appointed time yet let it come Though many thousands of years are to pass over before it come yet let it come not now but when thou wilt and when thou wilt yet now It cannot come soon enough if thou wilt and if thou wilt not now it cannot come too late It was a famous saying of Martyn Luther Homo perfectè credens se esse haeredem filium Dei non diu superstes maneret Did a man perfectly believe that he were a child of God heir of this Kingdome of Glory he would be transported beyond himself and dye of immoderate joy We read EXSPECTATIO MEA APUD Psal 39. 7. TE My hope is even in thee but the Vulgar renders it SUBSTANTIA MEA APUD TE My substance my being is in thee as if David were composed and made up and elemented of his Hope as if all that he had all that he was were only in expectation And indeed they who affect a future life and look forward towards eternity are truly said nè tunc quidem tùm vivunt vivere not to be where they are not to live when they are alive To conclude No wonder to hear an ADVENIAT for a Christians mouth who lives so as if he thought of nothing else but the Comming of this Kingdome For this ADVENIAT is as a spark from that fire as a beam of that Glory which shall be hereafter Nor can he ever with a perfect desire sound an ADVENIAT who hath not some imperfect knowledge of the melody of the Angels and the musick of the Cherubims He cannot say Thy Kingdome come who hath not a glimpse of that glory which is to come The Philosophers tell us that there is nothing which can be nourishing to our bodies but we have a kind of fore-taste and assay of it in our very tempers and constitutions The Child when he is hungry desires milk because he hath a kind of praegustation of milk in his very nature Nihil penitus incongruum appetitur Nothing is desired by us which disagrees with our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and disposition The wickedst Christian living may say his PATER NOSTER but he cannot pronounce the ADVENIAT with that accent and emphasis and heartiness that he should Thy Kingdome come Nay rather let mountains fall on me and hills cover me And all this because the Glory of Gods Kingdome is against his very nature What taste can he have of the Water of life who is in the gall of bitterness What relish can he have of the Bread of life who surfets on the world Or can he have any praegustation of Heaven whose very soul by covetousness is become as earthy as his body Can he desire eternal Glory whose glory is in his shame No Vita Christiani sanctum desiderium The life of a true Christian is nothing else but a holy desire and an expectation of the comming of this Kingdome of Christ Which he hath a taste and relish of even in his very temper and constitution which he received at his regeneration For so St. Paul calleth our regeneration and amendment of life a taste of the heavenly gift of the good word of God and of the Hebr. 6. 4 5. powers of the world to come For as God commanded Moses before he dyed to ascend up into the mountain that he might see afar off and discover that good land which he had promised So it is his pleasure that through holy conversation and newness of life we should raise our selves above the rest of the world and even in this life time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzene speaks as from an exceeding high mountain discover and have some sight of that good Land of that Crown of glory which is laid up for all those who watch and wait for