attributes he hath he is called the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.15 the Spirit of Faith 2 Cor. 4.13 the Spirit of Grace of Love of Joy of Zeale for where he worketh Grace is operative our Love is without dissimulation our Joy is like the joy of heaven as true though not so great our Faith a working faith and our Zeal a coale from the Altar kindled from his fire not mad and raging but according to knowledge he makes no shadowes but substances no pictures but realities no appearances but truths a Grace that makes us highly favoured a precious and holy Faith full and unspeakable Love ready to spend it self and zeal to consume us of a true existence being from the spirit of God who alone truly is but here the spirit of Truth yet the same spirit that planteth grace and faith in our hearts that begets our Faith cilates our Love works our Joy kindles our Zeal and adopts us in Regiam familiam into the Royall Family of the first-born in Heaven but now the spirit of Truth was more proper for to tell men perplext with doubts that were ever and anon and sometimes when they should not asking questions of such a Teacher was a seal to the promise a good assurance they should be well taught that no difficulty should be too hard no knowledge too high no mystery too dark and obscure for them but Omnis veritas all truth should be brought forth and unfolded to them and have the vayle taken from it and be laid open and naked to their understanding Let us then look up upon and worship this spirit of Truth as he thus presents and tenders himself unto us as he stands in opposition to two great enemies to Truth as 1. Dissimulation 2. Flattery and then as he is true in the lessons which he teacheth that we may pray for his Advent long for his coming and so receive him when he comes And first dissemble he doth not he cannot for dissimulation is a kind of cheat or jugling by which we cast a mist before mens eyes that they cannot see us it brings in the Divel in Samuel's mantle and an enemy in the smiles and smoothness of a friend it speakes the language of the Priest at Delphos playes in ambiguities promises life As to King 〈◊〉 who a 〈…〉 slew when death is neerest and bids us beware of a chariot when it means a sword No this spirit is an enemy to this because a spirit of truth and hates these in volucra dissimulationis this folding and involvednesse these clokes and coverts these crafty conveyances of our own desires to their end under the specious shew of intending good to others and they by whom he speaks are like him and speak the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 3.12 in the simplicity and godly sincerity of the spirit not in craftinesse not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 handling the Word of God deceitfully 2 Cor. 4.2 Eph. 4.14 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not in the slight of men throwing a Die what cast you would have them noting their Doctrine to men and the times that is not to men and the times but to their own ends telling them of Heaven Wisdom 1.5 when their thoughts are in their purse This holy spirit of Truth flies all such deceit and removes himself far from the thoughts which are without understanding and will not acquit a dissembler of his words there is nothing of the Divels method nothing of the Die or hand no windings nor turnings in what he teacheth but verus vera dicit being a spirit of truth he speaks the truth and nothing but he truth and for our behoof and advantage that we may believe it and build upon it and by his discipline raise our selves up to that end for which he is pleased to come and be our teacher And as he cannot dissemble so in the next place flatter us he cannot the inseparable mark and character of the evill spirit qui arridet ut saeviat who smiles upon us that he may rage against us lifts us up that he may cast us down whose exaltations are foiles whose favours are deceits whose smiles and kisses are wounds for flattery is as a glasse for a fool to look upon and so become more fool than before it is the fools eccho by which he hears himself at the rebound and thinks the wiseman spoke unto him and it proceeds from the father of lies not from the spirit of truth who is the same yesterday and to day and for ever who reproves drunkennesse though in a Noah adultery though in a David want of faith though in a Peter and layes our sins in order before us his precepts are plain his law is in thunder his threatnings earnest and vehement he calls Adam from behind the bush strikes Ananias dead for his hypocrisie and for lying to the holy Spirit deprives him of his own Thy excuse to him is a libell thy pretence fouler than thy sin thy false worship of him is blasphemy and thy form of godlinesse open impiety and where he enters the heart Sin which is the greatest errour the grossest lye removes it self heaves and pants to go out knocks at our breast and runs down at our eyes and we hear it speak in sighs and grones unspeakable and what was our delight becomes our torment In a word he is a spirit of truth and neither dissembles to decieve us nor flatters that we may deceive our selves but verus vera dicit being truth it self tells us what we shall find to be most true to keep us from the dangerous by-paths of errour and misprision in which we may lose our selves and be lost for ever And this appears is visible in those lessons and precepts which he gives which are so harmonious so consonant so agreeing with themselves and so consonant and agreeable to that Image after which we were made to fit and beautifie it when it is defaced and repaire it when it is decayed that so it may become in some proportion measure like unto him that made it for this spirit doth not set up one precept against another nor one text against another doth not disanul his promises in his threats nor check his threats with his promises doth not forbid all Feare in confidence nor shake our confidence when he bids us feare doth not set up meeknesse to abate our zeale nor kindles zeale to consume our meeknesse doth not teach Christian liberty to shake off obedience to Government nor prescribes obedience to infringe and weaken our Christian liberty This spirit is a spirit of truth and never different from himself never contradicts himself but is equall in all his wayes the same in that truth which pleaseth thee and that which pincheth thee in that which thou consentest to and that which thou runnâ—st from in that which will rayse thy spirit and that which will wound thy spirit And the reason why men who
way and through all the surges of this present world brings us to the presence of God who is truth is self a truth which leads us to our Originall to the Rock out of which we were hewen and brings us back to our God who made us not for the vanities of this world but for himself an Art to cast down all Babells all towring and lofty imaginations which present unto us falshoods for truths appearances for realities plagues for peace which scatter and divide our soules powre them out upon variety of unlawfull objects which deceive us in the very nature and end of things For as this spirit brought life and immortality to light 2 Time 1.10 for whatsoever the prophets and great Rabbies had spoken of immortality was but darknesse in comparison of this great light so it also discovered the errors and horror of those follies which we lookt upon with love and admiration as upon heaven it self What a price doth luxury place on wealth and riches what horror on nakednesse and poverty How doth a jewell glitter in my eyes and what a slurr is there upon virtue what Glory doth the pomp of the world present and what a sad and sullen aspect hath righteousnesse How is God thrust out and every Idol every vanity made a God but the truth here which the spirit teacheth discovers all pulls off the vayle shewes us the true countenance and face of things that we may not be deceived shewes us vanity in riches folly in honour death and destruction in the pomp of this world makes poverty a blessing and misery happinesse and death it self a passage to eternity placeth God in his Throne and man where he should be at his footstoole bowing before him which is the readiest way to be lifted up unto him and to be with him for evermore In a word a truth of power to unite us to our God that brings with it the knowledge of Christ the wisdome of God which presents those precepts and doctrines which lead to happinesse a truth that goes along with us in all our wayes waits on us on our bed of sicknesse leaves us not at our death but followes us and will rise again with us unto judgement and there either acquit or condemn us either be our Judge or Advocate For if we make it our friend here it shall then look lovely on us and speak good things for us but if we despise it and put it under our basest desires and vile affections it will then fight against us and triumph over us and tread us down into the lowest pit Christ is not more gracious then this truth to them that love it but to those who will not learne shall be Tribulation and anguish the Sun turn'd into Bloud the world on fire the voyce of the Archangel the Trump of God the severe countenance of the Judge will not be more terrible then this truth to them that have despised it For Christ Jesus shall judge the secrets of the heart acquit the just condemn the impenitent according to this truth which the spirit teacheth according saith Saint Paul to my Gospel Rom. 2.16 The large extent of this lesson This is the lesson The spirit teacheth truth let us now see the extent of it which is large and universall for the spirit doth not teach us by halves doth not teach some truths and conceal others but teacheth all truth makes his disciples and followers free from all errors that are dangerous and full of saving knowledge For saving knowledge is all indeed that truth which brings me to my end is all and there is nothing more to be known I desired to know nothing but Christ and him crucified saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 2.2 here his desire hath a Non ultra this truth is all this joyns heaven and earth together God and man mortality and immortality misery and happiness in one drawes us neer unto God and makes us one with him This is the Spirits lesson Commentum Divinitatis the invention of the divine Spirit as faith is called the gift of God not onely because it is given to every believer and too many are too willing to stay till it be given but because this spirit first found out the way to save us by so weak a means as Faith And as he first found it out so he teacheth it and leaves out nothing not a tittle not an Iota which may serve to compleat perfect this Divine Science In the book of God are all our members written All the members yea and all the faculties of our soul and in his Gospel his Spirit hath framed rules and precepts to order and regulate them all in every act in every motion and inclination which if the Eye offend pluck it out if the Hand cut it off which limit the understanding to the knowledg of God which bind the will to obedience and moderate confine our Affections level our hope fix our joy stint our sorrow which frame our speech compose our gesture fashion our Apparel set and methodize our outward behaviour Instances in Scripture in every particular are many and obvious and what should I more say for the time would faile me to mention them all In a word then this truth which the spirit teacheth is fitted to the whole man fitted to every member of the body to every faculty of the soule fitted to us in every condition in every relation it will reign with thee it will serve with thee it will manage thy riches it will comfort thy poverty ascend the throne with thee and sit down with thee on the dunghill it will pray with thee it will fast with thee it will labour with thee it will rest and keep a Sabbath with thee it will govern a Church it will order thy Family it will raise a kingdome within thee it will be thy Angel to carry thee into Abrahams bosome and set a crown of glory upon thy head And is there yet any more or what need more than that which is necessary There can be but one God one Heaven one Religion one way to blessednesse and there is but one Truth and that is it which the Spirit teacheth and this runs the whole compass of it directs us not onely ad ultimum sed usque ad ultimum not onely to that which is the end but to the means to every step and passage and approch to every help and advantage towards it and so unites us to this one God gives us right to this one Heaven and brings us home to that one end for which we were made And is there yet any more Yes particular cases may be so many and various that they cannot all come within the compass of this truth which the spirit hath plainly taught 't is true but then for the most part they are cases of our own making cases which we need not make cases sometimes raised by weakness sometimes by wilfulness sometimes even by sin it self which
they concern'd us not can see Majesty in a lump of flesh in those that cannot save themselves sooner then in him we call our Saviour But then canst thou discover Majesty in him now Majesty in his discipline Wisdom in the foolishnesse of Preaching his power in weaknesse now in this life when he is whipt and spit upon and crucified again when he lies cover'd over with disgraces and contumelies when his Precepts are dragged in Triumph after flesh and blood and whatsoever it dictates when for one Hosanna he hath a thousand crucifige's for one formal Hypocritical acknowledgement a thousand spears in his sides when the truth is what we will make it the Gospel esteemed no more then a fable and Christ himself if we look into mens lives the most disesteemed thing in the World when thou seeâ—st him in this cloud in this disfiguration in this Golgotha where is thy faith what eyes hast thou doth he not still appear a worm and no man a man of sorrows when thou seest him thus is there any forme that thou shouldest desire him Or dost thou even now see his Glory as the glory of the onely begotten Son of God 1 Joh. 1.14 Colos 2. doth he now appear to thee as the head of all principality and power canst thou see him in that naked Lazar that persecuted forlorn imprisoned Saint doth his majesty shine through the vanities of this World and make them loathsome through they labour of Charity and make it easie through persecution and make it joyful in the midst of rage and derision of fury and contumely is he still to thee the King of glory then thou dwellest in him even in the beauty of holinesse 2. Secondly if we dwell in him we shall be under his Command For they who command us do in a manner take us into themselves do possess and compasse bound and keep us in on every side and if we dwell in him we shall be within his reach and power not have our excursions and run from him into the streets and high-wayes again into Bethaven a house of vanity I say we shall be under his command we shall be his possession his propriety For man is a little world I may say he is a little common-wealth Ter. de Resurrect carn c. 40. Tertullian calls him Fibulam vtriusque substantiae the clasp or button which ties together his divers substances and natures the soul and the body the flesh and the spirit and these two are contrary one to the other saith Saint Paul are carried divers wayes the flesh to that which pleaseth it and the spirit to that which is proportioned to it looking on things neither as delightful nor irksome but as they may be drawn in to contribute to the Beauty and perfection of the soul Gal. 5.15 These lust and struggle one against the other and man is the field the Theater where this battle is fought and one part or other still prevails Many times nay most times God help us the flesh with her sophistry prevailes with the will to joyn with her against the spirit and then sin takes the chair the place of Christ himself and sets us hard and heavy tasks sets us to make brick but allows us no straw bids us please and content our selve but affords us no means to work it out See how Mammon condemns one to the mines to dig for Metals and treasure for that money which will perish with him See how lust fetters another with a look with the glance of an eye binds him with a kisse Rom. 11.12 a kiss that will at last bite like a Cockatrice see how self love drives us on as Balaam did his beast on the point of the sword thus sin doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exercise its force and power Lord it and King it reign in our mortal bodies Again sometimes and why but sometimes but sometimes the will sanctified and upheld and encouraged by the spirit of Christ takes the spirits part determines for it against the flesh chuseth any thing which the spirit commends though it be compaâ—st about with terrours and fearful apparitions though it be irksome and contrary to the flesh and then we depose Mamman crucifie the flesh deny our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate our selves from our selves Math. 16 24 from our wilfulnesse and stubbornnesse and Animosities and so place Christ in his throne reinstate our selves into his house his family Eph. 3. into his kingdom that Christ may be all in all And thus it is whilst this fighting and contention last in us which will be as long as we last in our mortal bodies something or other will lay hold on us will have command over us for there is no such aequi librium in a Christian mans life no time when the scales are so even or when he hangs as Solomon is pictured between Heaven and Hell but one side or other still prevailes either we walk after the flesh when that is most potent or after the spirit when that carries us along in our way against the sollicitations and allurements of the flesh one of them is alwayes uppermost It will therefore concern us to take a strict account of our selves impartially to consider to which part our will inclines most whether it be hurried away by the flesh or lead sweetly and powerfully on by the spirit to weigh it well which of these bears most sway in our hearts whether we had rather be led by the spirit or obey the flesh in the lusts thereof whether we had rather dwell in the world with all its pomp and pageantry in a Mâ—hometical Paradise of all sensuall delights or dwell with Christ though it be with persecutions Suppose the devil should make an overture to thee as he did once to our Saviour of all the Kingdoms of the world and the flesh should plead for her self as she will be putting in for her share and shew thee honour and power all that a heart of flesh would leap at in those Kingdoms and on the other side the spirit thy conscience enlightned should check thee and pull thee back and tell thee that all this is but a false shew that death and destruction are in these kingdoms vail'd and drest up with Titles of honour in purple and state that in this terrestrial Paradise thou shalt meet with a fiery sword the wrath of God and from this imaginary painted heaven be thrown into Hell it self Here now is thy tryal here thou art put to thy choice if thy heart can now say I will have none of these if thou canst say to thy flesh what hast thou to do with me who gave thee authority who made thee a Ruler over me if thou canst say to the spirit thou art instead of God to me if thou canst say with thy Saviour avoid Satan I know no power in Heaven or in earth no dominion but Christs then thou art in his house in his service
World thus to play with danger To seek Death first in the Errors of ourlife and then when we have run out our Course when Death is ready to devour us to look faintly back upon light For the Endeavors of a man that hath wearyed himself in sinne can be but weak and faint like the Appetite of a dying man who can but think of meat and loath it The later we Turne the lesse able we be to Turne the further we stray the lesse willing shall we be to look back For sinne gathers strength by delay devotes us unto it self gaines a dominion Over us holds us as it were in Chaines and will not soon suffer us to slip out of its power when the will hath captivated it self under sinne a wish a sigh a Thought is but a vaine thing nor have they strength enough to deliver us One Act begets another and that a Third many make up a habit and evill Habits hold us back with some violence What mind what motion what Inclination can a man that is drown'd in sensuality have to God who is a Spirit A man that is buried in the Earth for so every Covetous man is to God who sitteth in the highest heavens He that delights in the breath of Fools to the Honor of a Saint Here the further we go the more we are In That which is done once hath some affinity to that which is done often and that which is done alwayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Rhet. c. 11. saith Aristotle when an arme or Limbe is broke it may have any motion but that which was naturall to it and if wee doe not speedily proceed to cure it will be a more difficult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to set it in its right place againe that it may performe its natural functions now in sinne there is a deordination of the will there is a luxation of that faculty hence weakness seiseth upon the will and if we neglect the first opportunity if we doe not rectifie her betimes and turne her back againe and bend her to the rule it will be more and more infeebled every day move more irregularly and like a disordered clock point to any figure but that which should shew the Houre and make known the time of the day Wee may read this truth in Aged men saith Saint Basil Orat. ad Ditescentes when their body is worne out with Age and there is a generall declination of their strength and vigour the mind hath a malignant influence on the body as the body in their blood and youth had upon the mind and being made wanton and bold with the Custome of sinne heightens and enflames their frozen and decay'd parts to the pursuit of pleasures past though they can never overtake them nor see them but in Essigie in their Image or Picture which they draw themselves They now call to minde the sinnes of their youth with delight and act them over againe when they cannot Act them as youthfull as when they first committed them They have milk they thinke in their Breasts and marrow in their bones they periwigg their Age with wanton behaviour Their Age is Threescore and Ten when their speech and will is but Twenty They boast of what they cannot Act and would be more sinfull if they could and are so because they would It is a sad contemplation how we startled at sinne in our youth and how we ventured by degrees and engaged our selves how fearfull we were at first how indifferent afterwards how familiar within a while and then how we were setled and hardened in it at the last what a Devill sinne was and what a Saint it is become What a Serpent it was and how now we play with it we usually say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Ibid. Custome is a second Nature and indeed it follows and imitates naturall motion It is weake in the beginning stronger in the Progresse but most strong and violent towards the end Transit in violentiam voluntas antiqua That which we will often we will with eagernesse and violence Our first on-set in sinne is with feare and Reluctation wee then venture further and proceed with lesse regret we move forwards with delight Delight continues the motion and makes it customary and Custome at last drives and bindes us to it as to our Center vitia insolentiora renascuntur saith Seneca Sin growes more insolent by degrees first flatters then commands after enslaves and then betrays us First gains consent afterwards works delight at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shamelesness in sinne Jere. 6.15 Were they ashamed They were not ashamed nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nihil magis in naturâ suâ laudare se dicebat quam ut ip sius verbo utar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suet. Caligula a senselesnesse and stupidity in sinne and Caligula's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stubbornnesse and perverseness of disposition which will not let us Turne from sinne For by neglecting a timely remedy vitia mores fiunt Our evill wayes become our manners and common deportment and we look upon them as upon that which becomes us upon an unlawfull Act as upon that which we ought to do Nay peccatum lex sinne which is the Transgression of the Law is made a Law it self Saint Austin in his Confessions calls it so Lex peccati est violentia consuetudinis That Law of sinne which carries us with that violence to sinne is nothing else but the force of long Custome and Continuance in sinne For sinne by Custome gaines a Kingdome in our soules and having taken her seat and Throne there Lex alia in membris meis repugnavit legi mentiâ—… 〈◊〉 Româ— Lex n. peccati est violentia consuetudinis quâ trahitur tenetur etiam invitus animus eo merito quo in eam volens illabitur Aug. l. 8. Confess c. 5. promulges Lawes If she say Goe we goe and if she say Doe this we doe it Surge inquit Avaritia she commands the Miser to rise up early and lie downe late and eate the bread of sorrow she sets the Adulterer on fire makes him vile and base in his owne eyes whilst he counts it his greatest honor and preferrment to be a slave to his Strumpet She drawes the Revengers sword she feeds the intemperate with poyson And she commands not as a Tyrant but having gain'd Dominion over us she findes us willing subjects shee Holds us Captive and we call our Captivity our liberty Her poyson is as the poyson of the Aspick she bites us and we smile and Die and Feele it not 2. The danger of delay in respect of God Secondly It is dangerous in respect of God himself whose call we regard not whose counsels we reject whose patience we dally with whose Judgements we slight to whom we wantonly turn the back when he calls after us to seek his sace and so tread that mercy under foot which should save us
is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one and the same God in all his commands not forbidding one sin and permitting another as his wayes are equal so must our turn be equal not from the right hand to the left not from superstition to prophanesse not from despising of prophesie to Sermonhypocrisy not from uncleannesse to faction not from Riot to Rebellion but a turn from all Extreams from all evil a collection and levelling the soul which before lookt divers wayes and turning her face upon the way of truth upon God alone If we turn as we should if we will answer this earnest and vehement call we must turn from all our evil wayes we use to say that there is as great a miracle wrought in our conversion as in the Creation of the world but this is not true in every respect for man though he be a sinner yet is something hath an understanding will affections to be wrought upon yet as it is one condition required in a true miracle that it be perfect so that there be not onely a change but such a change which is absolute and exact that it may seem to be as it were a new Creation that water which is changed into wine may be no more water but wine tht the blind man do truly see the lame man truly walk and the dead man truly live so is it in our turn and conversion there is a total and perfect change the Adulterer is made an Eunuch for the kingdom of Heaven the intemperate comes forth with a knife at his throat the revenger kisseth the hand that strikes him when we Turn sinne vanisheth the Old man is dead and in its place there stands up a new Creature In the 15. to Galatians Saint Paul speaking of the works of the flesh which are nothing but sins and having given us a catalogue reckoned up many of them by which we might know the rest at last concludes Of which I tell you before as I have told you often that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God where the Apostles meaning is not that they who do all these or most of these or many of these or more then one of these but they who die possest of any one of these shall have no place in the kingdom of God and of Christ for what profit is there to turn from one sin and not all when one sin is enough to make us breakers of the whole Law and so liable to eternal death It is a conclusion in the Schools that whosoever is in the state of any one mortal sin and turns not from it whatsoever he doth do he pray or give almes bow the knee before God or open his hand to his brother be it what it will in it self never so fair and commendable it is forth with blasted and defaced and is so far from deserving commendations that it hath no other wages due to it but death I cannot say this is true for so far as it is agreeable with reason so far it must needs be pleasing to the God of reason so far as it answers the rule so far is it accepted of him that made it nor can we think that Regulus Fabricius Cato and the rest who do convitium facere Christianis upbraid and shame many of us Christians were damned for their justice their integrity their honesty Hell is no receptacle for men so qualified were there nothing else to prepare and fit them for that place but yet most true it is that if we be indued and beautified with many vertues yet the habit of one sin is enough to deface them to draw that night and darknesse about them that they shall not be seen to put them to silence that they shall have no power to speak or plead for us in the day of trial though they be not sins not bright and shining sins for I cannot see how darknesse it self should shine yet they shall become utterly unprofitable they may peradventure lessen the number of the stripes but yet the unrepentant sinner shall be beaten For what ease can a myriad of vertues do him who is under Arrest nay what performance can acquit him who is condemned already Reason it self stands up against it and forbids it for what obedience is that which answers but in part which follows one precept and runs away from another and then what imperfect monsters should the kingdome of Heaven receive a liberall man but not chast a Temperate man but not honest a Zealous man but not Charitable a great Faster and a great Impostor a Beadsman and a Theese an Apostle a great Preacher and a Traytor such a Monsterous mishapen Christian cannot stand before him who is a pure uncompounded Essence the same in every Thing and Every Where One and the same even Unity it self For againe every man is not equally inclin'd to every sinne This man loves that which another loathes and he who made the Devil fly at the first Encounter may entertaine him at a second he that resisted him in lust may yeeld to him in Anger He who will none of his delicates may fayle at his Terrors and he that feared not the roaring of the Lyon may be ensnared by the flattery of the Serpent For the force of Temptations is many times quickned or Dull'd according to the Naturall Constitutions and severall complexions of men and other outward Circumstances by which they may work more coldly or more vehemently upon the will and Affections A man of a dull and Torpid disposition is seldom Ambitious a man of a quick and active Spirit seldome Idle the Cholerick man not obnoxious to those evills which melancholly doth hatch nor the Melancholick to those which Choler is apt to produce As hard a matter it may be for some men to commit some one sinne as it is for others to avoid it as hard a matter for the Foole in the Gospel to have scattered his Goods as it was for the other Foole the Prodigall to have kept them as hard a matter for some to let loose their Anger as it is for others to curbe and bridle it some by their very temper and Constitution with ease withstand lust but must struggle and take paines to keep down their Anger Some can stand upright in Poverty but are overthrown by wealth some can resist this Temptation by slighting it but must beat and macerate themselves must use a kind of violence before they can overcome another which is more sutable and more flatters their Constitution And this we may find by those darts which we cast at one another those uncharitable Censures we passe For how do the Covetous condemne and pity the Prodigal and how doth the Prodigal loath and scorne the Covetous How doth the Luke-warme Christian abominate the Schismaticque and the Schismaticque call every man so if he be not as mad as himself How doth this man bless himself and wonder that any should fall into such or
therefore have need of this kind of remedy as much need certainly as our first Parents had in Paradise who before they took the forbidden fruit might have seen Death written and engraved on the Tree and had they observ'd it as they ought to have done had not forfeited the Garden for one Apple had this Feare walked along with them before the coole of the Day before the rushing wind they had not heard it nor hid themselves from God in a word had they Feared they had not fell for they fell with this Thought that they should not fall that they should not die at all Imperfection though it be to Feare yet 't is such an Imperfection that leads to perfection Imperfection though it be to Feare yet I am sure it is a greater Imperfection to sin and not to feare It might be wished perhapps that we were tyed and knit unto our God quibusdam internis commerciis as the devout School-man speaks with those inward ligaments of Love and Joy and Admiration that we had a kind of familiar acquaintance and intercourse with him That as our Almes and Prayers and fasting came up before him to shew him what we do on earth so there were no imper fection in us but that God might approach so nigh unto us with the fulness of Joy to tell us what he is preparing for us that neither the Feare of Hell nor the Hope of Heaven and our Salvation but the Love of God and Goodnesse were the only cause of our cleaving to him That we might love God because he is God and hate sinne because it is sinne and for no other reason that we might with Saint Paul wish the increase of Gods Glory though with that heavy condition of our own Reprobation But this is such an Heroick spirit to which every man cannot rise though he may at last rise as high as Heaven this is such a condition which we can hardly hope for whilst we are in the flesh we are in the body not out of the body we struggle with doubts and difficulties Ignorance and Infirmity are our Companions in our way and in this our state of Imperfection contenti simus hoc Catone Dictum Augusti cum hortaretur ferenda esse praesentia qualiacunque sunt Suet. Octav. August c. 87. we must be content to use such means and Helpes as the Law-giver himself will allow of and not cast off fear upon a Fancy that our Love is perfect for this savours more of an Imaginary Metaphysicall subtility of a kind of extaticall affectation of Piety then the plaine and solid knowledge of Christian Religion but continue our Obedience and carry on our perseverance with the Remembrance of our last end with this consideration That as under the Law there was a curse pronounced to them that fulfill it not so under the Gospel there is a flaming fire to take vengeance of them that obey it not 2. Thess 1.8 It was a good censure of Tully which he gave of Cato in one of his Epistles Thou canst not saith he to his friend love and Honor Cato more then I doe but yet this I observe in him optimo animo utens summâ fide nocet interdum Reip. he doth endammage the Common-wealth but with an Honest mind and great Fidelity l. 2. ad Attic. ep 1. for he gives sentence as if he lived in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Platonis non in faece Romuli in Plato's Common-wealth and not in the dreggs and Rascaltry of Romulus And we may passe the same censure on these seraphical Perfectionists who will have all done out of pure Love nothing out of Feare They remember not that they are in fraece Adami the off-spring of an Arch-Rebell that their father was an Amorite and their mother an Hittite and that the want of this Feare threw them from that state of Integrity in which they were created and by that out of Paradise and so with great ostentation of love hinder the Progresse of Piety and setting up to themselves an Idaea of Perfection take off our Feare which should be as the hand to wind up the Plummet which should continue the motion of our Obedience the best we can say of them is summâ fide pio animo nocent Ecclesiae If their mind be pious and answer the great shew they make then with a Pious mind they wrong and trouble the Church of Christ For suppose I were a Paul and did love Christ as Cato did Virtue because I could no otherwise Nunquam recte fecit ut faces videretur sed quià aliter facere non poterat Vell. ratere l. 2. Hist suppose I did feare sinne more then Hell and had rather be damned then commit it suppose that every thought word and worke were Amoris foetus the issues of my Love yet I must not upon a speciall favour build a general Doctrine and because love is best make Feare unlawfull make it sinne to feare that punishment the Feare of which might keep me from sinne for this were in Saint Pauls phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to put a stumbling-block in our Brothers way with my love to overthrow his feare that so at last both Feare and Love may fall to the ground for is there any that will fear sinne for punishment if it be a sinne to Feare What 's the language of the world now we heare of nothing but filiall feare and it were a good hearing if they would understand themselves for this doth not exclude the other but is upheld by it we are as sure of happinesse as we are of Death but are more perswaded of the Truth of the one then of the other more sure to goe to heaven then to die and yet Death is the gate which must let us in we are already partakers of an Angelicall Estate we prolong our life in our own Thoughts to a kind of Eternity and yet can feare nothing we challenge a kind of familiarity with God and yet are willing to stay yet a while longer from him we sport with his Thunder and play with his Hayl-stones and Coales of fire we entertain him as the Roman Gentleman did the Emperor Augustus Macrobius in Saturnal coenâ parcâ quasi quotidianâ with course and Ordinary fare as Saul in the 15. of the first of Sam. with the vile and refuse not with the fatlings and best of the sheep and Oxen Did we dread his Majesty or think he were Jupiter vindex a God of Revenge with a Thunder-bolt in his hand we should not be thus bold with him but feare that in wrath and Indignation he should reply as Augustus did Non putaram me tibi fuisse tam familiarem I did not think I had made my self so familiar with my Creature I know the Schools distinguish between a servile and Initial and a Filial feare there is a Feare by which we feare not the fault but the punishment and a feare which feareth the punishment
Pharaohs heart was hardned 3. God hardned Pharaohs heart and now let us Judge whether it be safer to interpret Gods induration by Pharaohs or Pharaohs by Gods for if God did actually and immediately harden Pharaohs heart then Pharaoh was a meer patient nor was it in his power to let the people go and so God sent Moses to bid him do that which he could not and which he could not because God had hardned him but if Pharaoh did actually harden his own heart as 't is plain enough he did then Gods Induration can be no more then a just permission and suffering him to be hardned which in his wisdom and the course he ordinarily takes he would not and therefore could not hinder sufficit unus Huic operi one is enough for this work of induration and we need not take in God for to keep to the letter in the former hakes a main principle of truth that God is in no degree Author of sin but to keep to the letter in the latter cleeres all doubts prevents all objections and opens a wide and effectual door to let as in to a cleer sight of the meaning of the former For that man doth harden his owne heart is undeniably true But that God doth harden the heart is denied by most is spoken darkly and doubtfully by some nor is it possible that any Christian should speak it plainly or present it in this hideous monstrous shape but must be forced to stick and dresse it up with some far fetcht and impertinent limitation or distinction For lastly I cannot see how God can positively be said to do that which is done already to his hand For induration is the proper and natural effect of sin and to bring in God alone is to leave nothing for the devil or man to do but to make Satan of a Serpent a very flie indeed and the soul of man nothing else but a forge and shop to work those sins in which may burn and consume it everlastingly God and nature speak the same thing many times Aristot l. 7. Eth. c. 1. though the phrase be different that wihch the Philosopher calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ferity and brutishnesse of nature that in Scripture is called hardnesse of heart for every man is shaped and formed and configured saith Basil to the actions of his life whither they be good or evil one sin draws on another and a second a third and at last we are carried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our own accord and as it were by the force of a natural inclination till we are brought to that extremity of sin which the Philosopher calls Ferity a shaking of all that is man about us and the holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reprobate minde And such a minde had Pharaoh 1 Rom. 2.8 who was more and more enraged by every sin which he had committed as the Wolf is most fierce and cruel when he hath drawn and tasted blood For it is impossible that any should accustome themselves to sin and not fall into this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this hardesse of heart and indisposition to all goodnesse and therefore we cannot conceive that God hath any hand in our death if we die and that dereliction Incrassation excaecation hardnesse of heart are not from God further then that he hath placed things in that order that when we accustome our selves to sin and contemn his grace blindnesse and hardnesse of heart will necessarily follow but have no relation to any will of his but that of permission and then this expostulation is real and serious Quare moriemini Why will ye die And now to conclude I have not been so particular as the point in Hand may seem to require nor could I be in this measure of Time but onely in Generall stood up in defence of the Goodness and Justice of God for shall not the Judge of all the Earth doe right shall he necessitate men to be evill and then bind them by a Law to be good shall he exhort beseech them to live when they are dead already shall his Absolute Dominion be set up so high from thence to ruine his Justice This indeed some have made their Helena but 't is an ugly and ill-favoured one for this they fight unto Death even for the Book of life till they have blotted out their names with the Blood of their Brethren This is Drest out unto them as savoury meat set for their palate who had rather be carried up to heaven in Elias fiery Charriot then to pace it thither with Trouble and paine That GOD hath absolutely Decreed the salvation of some particular men and passed sentence of Death upon others is as Musick to some eares like Davids Harpe to refresh them and drive away the Evill Spirit Et qui amant sibi somnia fingunt mens desires doe easily raise a belief and when they are told of such a Decree they dreame themselves to Heaven for if we observe it they still chuse the better part and place themselves with the sheep at the right Hand and when the Controverly of the Inheritance of Heaven is on foot to whom it belongs they do as the Romanes did who when two Cities contending about a piece of Ground made them their Judge to determine whose it was fairly gave sentence on their own behalf and took it to themselves because they read of Election elect themselves which is more indeed then any man can deny and more I am sure then themselves can prove And now Oh Death where is thy sting The sting of Death is sin but it cannot reach them and the strength of sinne is the Law but it cannot bind them for sinne it self shall Turne to the good of these Elect and Chosen Vessels and we have some reason to suspect that in the strength of this Doctrine and a groundless conceit that they are these particular men they walk on all the daies of their life in fraud and malice in Hypocrisy and disobedience in all that uncleannes and pollution of sinne which is enough to wipe out any name out of the Book of Life Hoc saxum defendit Manlius Sen. Controv. hic excidit For this they rowse up all their Forces this is their rock their fundamentall Doctrine their very Capitol and from this we may feare many thousands of soules have been Tumbled down into the pit of Destruction at this rock many such Elect Vessells have been cast away Again others miscarry as fatally on the other hand for when we speak of an absolute Decree upon particulars unto the vulgar sort who have not Cor in Corde as Austin speaks who have their Judgement not in their Heart but in their sense they soon conceive a fatall necessity and one there is that called it so Fatum Christianum the Christian mans Destiny they think themselves in chaines and shackles that they cannot Turne when they cannot be predestinate not to Turne but
Novatian de cib Judacicis and those Birds of prey ut Israelitae murdareatur pecora culpatasunt to sanctifie and cleanse his people he blames the Beasts as unclean which they could not be of themselves because he made them and laies a Blemish upon his other Creatures to keep them underfiled and for to keep our Idolatry he busied them in those many ceremonies 1 a. 1 ae which he ordeined for that end ne vacaret Idololatriae servire saith Aquin. that they might not have the least leisure to be Idolaters So that to draw up all they might learn from the Law they might learn from the Priest they might learn from the Sacrifice they might learn from each Ceremony they might learn from men and they might learn from beasts to Turn from their evil ways Isal 5.4 and God might well cry out Quid facerem quod non fecerim what could I have done that I have not done and speak to them in his grief and wrath and indignation Quare c. why will ye die Oh House O house of Israel But to passe from the Synagogue to the Church which excells merito fidei et majoris scientiae in respect of a clearer faith and larger knowledge to come to the time of Reformation Heb. 9.10 in which all things which pertain to the full happinesse of Gods people was to be raised to their last height and perfection to look into the Law of liberty which lets usnot loose in our own evil wayes but makes us most free by restraining and tying us up and withholding us from those sins which the Law of Moses did not punish and here Why will ye die if it were before an obtestation it is now a bitter Sarcasme as bitter as death it self It is here improved and drove home a minori ad majus by the Apostle himself for if that which should be abolisht was glorious 2 Cor. 3 11. much more shall that which remaines whose fruit is everlasling be glorious And again If they escaped not who resused him who spake on earth from mount Sinai by his Angel Acts. 7.38 how shall not we escape if we turn away from him who spake from Heaven by his Son For the Church is a house but far more glorious built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the head corner stone in whom all the building coupled together groweth into a Temple of the Lord. Colos 2.20.21 the whole world besides are but rubbage as bones scattered at the graves mouth The Church is compact knit and united into a house and in this house is the Armory of God ubi mille clipei armatura fortium where are a thousand Bucklers and all the weapons of the mighty to keep off death the helmet of Salvation the sword of the Spirit and the shield of Faith to quench all the Fiery Darts of Satan as they be delivered into our hands Eph. 6. And as it is a House Eph. 3.5 so is it a Familie of Christ of whom all the Family of heaven and earth is named who is M 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Master of the Houshold For as the Pythagorean fitting and shaping out a Familie by his Lute required 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the integrity of all the parts as it were the set number of the strings 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an apt composing and joyning them together as it were the Tuning of the instrument and lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a skilful touch which makes the harmony So in the Church if we take it in its latitude there be Saints Angels and Archangels if we contract it to the Militant as we usually take it there be some Apostles some Pastors some Prophets some Teachers Eph. 4. there be some to be Taught and some to teach some to be governed and some to rule which makes up the integrity of the parts and then these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle coupled and and knit together by every joynt by the bond of charity which is the coupling and uniting vertue as Prosper calls it by the unity of faith by their agreement in holinesse having one faith one Baptisme one Lord and at last every string being toucht in its right place begets a harmony which is delightful both to heaven and earth For when I name the Church I doe not meane the stones and building some indeed would bring it downe to this to stand for nothing but the walls but I suppose a subordination of parts which was never yet questioned in the Church but by those who would make it as invisible as their Charity Not the foot to see and the eye to walke and the Tongue to heare and the Eare to speake not all Apostles not all Prophets not all Teachers but as the Apostle sayes it shall be at the Resurrection Every man in his own Order Naz. Or. 25. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Order is our security and safe-guard in a rout every man is a Child of Death every throat open to the Knife but when an Army is drawn out by Art and skill all hands are active for the Victory Inequality indeed of persons is the ground of disunion and discord but Order draws and works advantage out of Inequality it self when every man keeps his station the common Souldier hath his Interest in the victory as well as the Commander and when wee walke orderly every man in his owne place wee walk hand in Hand to Heaven and Happinesse together For further yet In the Church of God there is not onely a union an Order but as it is in our Creed a Communion ef parts The glorious Angels as ministring Spirits are sent to guard us and no doubt doe many and great services for us though we perceive it not The blessed Saints departed though we may not pray for them yet may pray for us though we heare it not and though the Church be scattered in its Members through all the parts of the world yet their hearts meet in the same God Every man prayes for himself and every man prayes for every man Quodest Omnium esi singulorum that which is all mens is every mans and that which is every mans belongs unto the whole For though we cannot speak in those high Termes of the Church as the Church of Rome doth of her self yet we cannot but blesse God and count it a great favour and priviledge that we are filii Ecclesiae as the Father speaks Children of the Church think of our selves as in a place of safety and advantage where we may find protection against Death it self Wee cannot speak loud with the Cardinal si Catholicus quisquam labitur in peccatum and Bellarm praefar ad Controv If a Catholique fall into a sinne suppose it Theft or Adultery yet in that Church he walketh not in Darkness but may see many helps to salvation by which he may soon quit
voluntate with an imperfect with an half will we know not how There may be indeed a kind of velleity and inclination to that which is good when the will hath embraced that which is evil there may be a probo meliora a liking of the better when I have chosen the worser part which is not a willing but an approbation an allowing that which is just which ariseth from that light of our minde and Law of our understanding from that natural Judgement by which we discern that which is evil from that which is good and is an Act of our reason and not of our will and thus I may will a thing and yet dislike it I may embrace and condemn it I may commend Chastity and be a wanton Hospitality and be a Nabal Clemency and be a Nero Christianity and be worse then a Jew I may subscribe to the Law that it is just and break it I may take the cup of Fornication and drink deep of it for some pleasant taste it hath when I know it will be my poyson And therefore in the second place this renitency and resistancie of Conscience is so far from Apologizing for us as for such as sin not with a full consent that most times it doth adde weight to it and much aggravate our sin and doth plainly demonstrate a most violent and eager consent of the will which would not be restrained but passed as it were this Rampier and Bulwark which was raised against it to the forbidden object which neither the Law nor the voice and check of Conscience which to us in the place of God could stop or restrain and that we play the wantons and dally with sin as the wanton doth with his strumpet that we do opponere ostium non claudere put the door gently to Senec. N Q. l. 4.2 but not shut and lock it out which is welcom to us when it knocks but more welcome when it breaks in upon us and so frown and admit chide embrace bid it farwel when we are ready and long to joyn with it make a shew of running from it when we open our selves to receive and lodge it in our heart For again if the pravity and obliquity of an act is to be measured and judged by the vehement and earnest consent of the will then the sin which is committed with so much reluctancy will prove yet more sinful and of a higher nature then those we fall into when we heard no voice behinde us to call us back For here the will of the sinner is stubborn and perverse and makes hast to the forbidden object against all opposition whatsoever against the voice of the Law which is now loud against him against the motions of the spirit which he strives to repell against the clamors of Conscience which he heares and will not hear even against all the Artillery of Heaven it doth not yeeld to the tentation when no voice is heard but of the tempter nothing discover'd but the beauty and allurement of the object nor upon strategeme or surprisals but it yeelds against the thunder of the Law and dictate of Conscience admits sin not in its Beauty and glory when it is drest up with advantage and comes toward us smiling to flatter and wooe us but it joyns with it when it is clothed with death when it is revealed by conscience and hung round about with all the curses of the Law Swallows down sin not when it is as sweet as honey but when it hath a mixture and full taste of the bitternesse of Gall and so though our sin be against our conscience yet it is not against our will and therefore is the more voluntary Besides in the last place this is a thing which almost befalls every man that is not delivered over to a reprobate sense whose eye of reason is not quite put out who is not unman'd and hath any feeling or sense of that which is evil and that which is good nay it was in Cain it was in Judas it is in every despairing sinner or else he could not despair These pauses and deliberations these doubtings and disputes and divided thoughts are common to the righteous and to wicked persons Duplici in diversum scindimur Hamo Hunccine an hunc sequemur Most men are more or lesse thus divided in themselves and as Plautus observes it is the humour of some men when they are at a feast to dislike the dishes but no whit the more abstain Culpant sed comedunt tamen they finde fault with their meat and did eat it up so it is with us we too oft disrelish sin and swallow it down we cannot but condemn sin and we are as ready to commit it and with him in the Comedy Ask Quid igitur Faciam When shall we now do when we are knocking at the harlots door and are ready to break forth into Action And therefore this Conceit that a regenerate man doth not sin with a full consent in that his conscience calls after him to retire in the very adventure is very dangerous and may be mortal to the heart that fosters it for when this conceit hath filled and pleased us we shall be ready with Pilate to wash our hands when they are full of blood and cry out we are Innocent when we have released Barrabas let loose our Sense Appetite and Affections to run riot and delivered Jesus the just one to be scourged and crucified deliver'd up our reason to be a slave and ministerial to all those evils which the flesh or devil can suggest and delivered up our affections to be torn and scattered as so many straws upon a wrought sea and never at rest in a word contemnere peccata quià minora putamus to slight and passe by our sinnes in silence because we will not behold them in their just shape and proportion in that horror that Terror and deformity which might fright us from it And this conceit is a greater Tentation then that which hath first taken us for it brings on and ushers in the Tentation Takes from it all its displacency that it may enter with ease and when it hath prevail'd shuts out Repentance which should make way for that mercy and forgivenesse which alone must make our Peace Every man favours himself and is very open to entertaine any Doctrine which may cherish and uphold this humour and make him lesse wicked or more righteous then he is and though at first we find no reason which commends it to us and craves admittance for it yet because it speaks so friendly to our Infirmities and helps to raise up that which we desire to see in its height we take it upon Trust and beleeve it to be true indeed and stand up and contend for it as a part of that Faith which was once delivered to the Saitns and having this mark of the Righteous That we sinne but check our selves in it we take our selves to be so righteous
ought to come and here quicken their Faith improve their Charity strengthen and fix their Resolutions and they who are so severe and over-rigid as to drive them from it do shut themselves out though not from the table yet from the feast and are more unfit then they because they want that charity which is required of a guest even that charity which will not bruise the broken reed nor quench the smoaking flaxe It was a pious wish of Moses Numb 11. would God all the Lords people were Prophets and it were as much piety to wish and with his spirit would all Christians were perfect that every one were as Saint Paul and knew nothing by himself But we are in via and as travellours on the way one man makes more hast then another walks with more ease and delight slips not falls not so often another walks after though not with the same speed and cheerfulnesse because he meets with rubs and difficulties which he every day contends with and both at last by the guidance of the same spirit and by the power of a compassionate Saviour come to their journeys end and he that goes before and he that comes more faintly and slowly after meet at last and sit down together in the same heaven And now in such variety of tempers such diversity of temptations amongst so many errors which some men quit themselves of with lesse some with more trouble we may applaud those who are neer the top of perfection but we must not despise those who are in their ascent and labouring and striving forward after them not quench the spirit in any man though it burn not so brightly in some as it doth in others who are more fully enlightned not shut them out as unclean beasts because they discover something of the frailty of man even such as these 't is plain Saint Paul admitted in this chapter and he pleads for them Galat. vi.i. as for those who are to be restored with the spirit of meeknesse and we cannot shut them out from his table or presence whom Christ is so willing to meet when being weary and heavy laden they come unto him Nor doth this admitting weaker Christians open a door to let in wilfull offenders nor a gap to let in the goates to feed in the same green pastures with the sheep These Beasts if they come too neere will be thrust through with a dart But then all sinnes are not of the same malignity and we must put a difference between Judas's fall and Peter's All sinnes do not strike us out of the covenant and therefore do not drive us from Christs table where we are to renew and confirm it there be some sinnes which are devoratoria salutis and swallow up all hope of salvation whilest they remain in us there be peccata fortia Amos 5.12 boisterous and mighty sinnes which do urge the Justice of God and even weary and conquer his clemency there be others which weaker Christians through frailty fall into even in the state of grace and which God will not be extreame to punish though in Justice he might but remaines a Father still of those who seriously endeavour yet sometimes times faile for his covenant sake which he made in his Sonne Jesus Christ and of these sinnes Saint John speakes 1 John 2.2 If we sinne we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is a propitiation four our sinnes In a word if all that sinne were excluded the feast were at an end and if some that sinne were not excluded the table were no more a table but an Altar for Theeves and murderers to fly to Feare then of infirmity is no excuse but we should shake it off with our sinne it is an evil spirit of our own raysing and we must conjure it down But there is another pretense and it is drawn from a high conceit of the Sacrament and an apprehension of an excessive and angelicall kind of perfection which some conceive is necessary to the due celebration of it and so they are going towards it but make no speed are in action but do nothing are coming but never come This may seeme to be great humility but as Bernard speaks Ista Humilitas tollit humilitatem this humility puts true humility from its office for it is she alone that takes us by the hand and leads us to this supper Dicendo se indignum fecit se dignum saith the same Father of the Centurion in the Gospel if we can truly say we are unworthy we make our selves worthy and thus we set forward towards it But groundlesse scrupulosity which many times is rather the issue of pride then the daughter of humility sees the way and then sits down in it and then makes every pibble a mountain puzzles and perplexes us sets us a framing and fashioning dangers to our selves and inconveniences and summing them up like the man in Lucian who sat on the Sea shore numbring each wave as it came towards him till at last the waves driving one another beat on and wrought themselves over his head and drown'd him In a word it weakens and disenables us in the performance of our duty and with it we are so good that as the Italian proverb is we are good for nothing This is but a scruple iudeed and it weighs no more and the least breath is strong enough to blow it away For upon the same inducement we must seale up our lips and never pray we must stay at home and not go to Church for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what mortall is fir for these things how can dust and ashes speak to the majesty of heaven what eare is purged enough to hear his word whose feet are clean enough to tread his courts And why do we pretend weaknesse or unworthinesse are we too weak are we too unworthy to do his will or can Christ command us that which our unworthinesse will make a sin for us to do when the trumpet hath sounded when the law is promulged this fear must vanish when our Saviour hath once spoken it take eat this is my Body shall we neglect to do it and make this our plea that we are not worthy to do it when he would cleanse and purge us shall we cry we are unworthy unfit to do his will but not unfit to break it unfit to be redeemed but not unfit to perish unfit to empty our selves of our pollution but not unfit to settle on our lees Oh 't is ill thus to apologize and dispute and fret our selves to destruction to lye sick and bed-rid in sin and say we are unfit and unworthy to be healed And what Reverence is that to Christ which crucifies him again and tramples his blood under our feet for not to receive it not to be purged and better'd by it I am sure is in the highest degree to dishonor it I shall insist the longer upon this for I see too many withdraw and put
illa quaecunque deflexa tanquam exquisitiora mirabantur and that was cryed up with admiration which had nothing in it marvellous or to be wondred at but its deformity We have a proverb that It is ill going in procession where the devil sayes masse but most certain it is there be too many who never move nor walk but where he is the leader If the Prince of the ayre if the God of this world go before we follow nay we fly after If any child or slave of his hold out his scepter we bowe and kisse it The world the world is the mint where most mens religion is coyned and if you well mark the stamp and superscription you may see the Prince of the ayre on one side and the world on the other the devil on the side like an Angel of light and the world on the other with its pomp and glories And then when we have brought our desires home to their ends when we have raised our state and name how good how religious are we when the purse is full the conscience is quiet when we are laden with earthly blessings we take them as a faire pledge of eternall we say to our selves as Michah did Judges 17.13 Now I know that the Lord will do me good because I have a Priest said he because we have great possessions say we as great Idolaters as Micah for what are our shekels of silver but as his graven and molten image and thus we walk on securely all the dayes of our life not as the children of this world but as the children of light and out of our great abundance sometimes drop a penny we wast away and sicken and make our will and seale it and doubt not but the spirit will do his office and seale our redemtion at last the rich man dyes and is buried and some hireling will tell you The Angels have carried his soul into heaven A strange conceit and if true would be of force to pluck Lazarus out of Abrahams bosome and to bring back Dives through the gulph and place him in his roome But if this be not true may it never be true onely let us not deceive our selves but search and try our hearts and root out all such vain such groundlesse such pernicious imaginations which may be raised up in time of prosperity and multiply like flyes in the Sun Let us not seek our peace in those false fictitious spurious deceitfull Goods but in the true and full and filling Good the Good here in the Text and because God hath fitted and proportioned it to us let us fit and apply our selves unto it and since he hath built us up after his own Image let us adorn and beautifie it with Justice and Mercy and Humility and not blur and deface it with the craft of a Fox the lust of a Goat and the rage of a Lion for what should the mark of the Beast doe upon the Image of God Again being fitted to us and to all sorts and conditions of men Let young men and maids old men and children Scribes and Idiots Noble and ignoble Priest and people cleave and adhere to it and so praise and magnifie the Name of the Lord sic laudant Angeli for so the Angels and Arch-angels praise him And thirdly being lovely and amiable let us make it our choice and espouse our wills to it love and embrace it not kisse and wound it approve and condemne it worship it in our hearts and persecute it in our brethren And since it is a filling and satisfying good here let us let down our pitchers and draw waters out of this well of salvation even those waters which will sweeten our miseries and give a pleasant taste to bitternesse it self To conclude behold here is the object that which is Good faire and beautifull to the eye Jer. 5.1 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see of you can find a MAN and he is the spectator and cannot but see it But what went you out into the wildernesse to see saith our Saviour why the eye is never satisfyed and all would go out to see some would see soft raiment and that you may see on every back some gaze upon beauty and that 's a burning-glasse to set the soul on fire Others love to see the rednesse of the wine look not on it saith Solomon It is a mocker Some would behold a shew of pomp and glory and we see though justice can never faile but hath the best even when she is worsted yet injustice hath had more triumphs then she When Julius Caesar triumpht over his country and Pompey rid in with the spoiles of Asia the ceremony the pomp the glory was the same But the eye with which we behold these spectacles is not fit for this object we have another eye a spirituall eye we call it the eye of our reason and we call it the eye of our faith which many times is but as an eye of glasse for shew but no use at all and serves to hide a deformity but not to see with but if it be a quick and living eye then here is a fit object for it worth the looking on in which we may see all other things in a fairer dresse in a celestiall forme in the Beauty of Holinesse being made usefull and subservient to it like that Speculum Trinitatis that feigned Glasse in which they tell us he that looks sees all things If we see it not then are we blind 2 Pet. 1.9 or if not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purblind not seeing afar off those things which are laid up in heaven for those who look upon this Good and love it and then I am unwilling to say what we are but certainly we are but infidels And indeed there is something of infidelity in all our aversions and turning away from this good for what 's the reason that covetous men make riches an Idol and sacrifice to their own net but want of faith and their distrust in God for when God doth not answer their desires they run with Saul to the devil at Endor Tâ—rtull adv Judaens c. 1. pâ—aeâ—sset eis bubalum capul c. or with the Israelites in a pet chuse to themselves Bubulum caput as Tertullian expresseth it a calves head to be their leader I say there is a degree of infidelity in all these aversions from this good all that can be said is but what many say within themselves after they have consulted with flesh and blood that this good is not shewn so clearly nor made so plain as it is said to be which is indeed to remove their own prop and pillar to demolish their own Idol and to drive faith quite out of the world believe they do in God yet will not trust him and they are perswaded of the truth of things not seen yet will leave the pursuit of them to follow vanity because they are not seen He hath
by changing the preposition In into Cum God is with every place Others conclude that the essence of God is most properly in heaven others have shut him up there and excluded his presence from this lower world The heaven they will tell you is his Throne but then is not the earth also his footstoole why may he not then be in earth as well as in heaven For the Argument is the very same nor must we conceive of God as we do of great Potentates whom we do not entertain in a Cottage but in a Palace nor can his Majesty gather soyl by intermingling it self with the things of the earth a most carnall conceit for the very Poet will tell us Tangere tangi nisi corpus nulla potest res That nothing but a body can be touch'd much lesse defiled We cannot think the Angel impaired his beauty by being in prison with Peter or in the den with Daniel unlesse we will say he was scorch't in the furnace when the three men did not so much as smell of the fire The heavens themselves are unclean in his sight saith Job c. 15. yet he remains saith the Father pure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a most wonderfull exuberance beyond all Hyperbole No pitch can defile him no sinne pollute him No deformity on earth can sully his beauty Our cursed oathes do even blast his name yet his name is the same the Holy of Holyes his eyes beheld us weltring in our blood yet they are ten thousand times brighter then the sunne and therefore he is truly called Actus primus an act or essence as free from contagion as composition We take perfection from him he receives no imperfection from us he sits in heaven yet his Majesty is not increased he walks on the earth yet his Majesty is not diminished he rides on the wings of the wind yet his Majesty and glory is still the same He is in darknesse makes darknesse a Pavillion round about him yet is light it self he is in our corrupt hearts yet is purity it self Nusquam est ubique est he is no where because no place can contain him he is every where because no body no place no substance whatsoever can exclude him And as he is present with us and about our paths so he sees and knows every motion and action of ours Our inclinations our thoughts when they are risen whilest they were arising before there was either object or opportunity to raise them or any temptation to draw them up He sees our habits our vices and virtues before we ventured on that action which did lead the way and begin them I know him saith God of Abraham Gen. 18.19 and that he will do Justice and Judgement He knows our dispositions And found some good thing in Jeroboams child 1 Kings 14.13 He sees all our actions long before they are done our thoughts before they are conceived our deliberations before we ask counsel and our counsels before they are fixt Of what large extent were many of the prophesies how many yeares how many crosse actions how many contingencies what numberlesse swarms of thoughts inconsistent and not understood and yet concurrent and introductory to that which was foretold came between the prophesie and the fullfilling of it yet God saw through all these and saw all these and how they were working to that end of which he was pleased to give the prophets a sight The prophet Daniel foretells the succession of the Monarchies the division of Alexanders kingdomes the ruine of the Jews and that so plainly that Prophyry a great enemy to the Christians to disgrace and put it off said That it was a discourse much like Lycophrons Cassandra written after the things were done and so publisht to caiol and deceive the people who are soon pleased so soon taken with a cheat Malè nôrunt Deum qui non putant illum posse quod non putant Tert. de Resurr Carn c. 38. saith Tertullian They have but little knowledge of God who do not think that he can do yea and doth know and see what they cannot think For he that made the eye shall not he see He that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know Psal 94.9,10 He that fashioneth the heart shall not he consider all our works Psal 33.15 He sees us when we fall down before him he sees us when we harden our faces and he sees us in our teares and he sees us in our blood and yet he remaines yesterday and to day and the same for ever For as it is an argument of his infinite perfection to understand all things so is it of his Judiciary and infinite power to see and know and observe those motions those offers those inclinations which are against his Law and by which we are said to fight against him I may know Adultery and yet be chast I may see malice and debate in the City and yet be peaceable I may heare blasphemy and yet tremble at Gods name For sinne doth not pollute as it is in the understanding but in the will not as it is known but as it is embraced and not by any physicall but a morall contagion which first infects the will alone If the bare knowledge of evil could pollute then he that makes himself an Eunuch for the kingdome of heaven may be an Adulterer and the Judge that sits to condemn the sinne may be a Parricide God then may be present every where and this is the poorest exception that can be made against it I have waved you see that more subtile and intricate disputes and there be too many for men are never weary of doing nothing that which hath been spoken is as plain as necessary and no man can take it as a thing out of his sphere and reach Let us passe to that which we proposed in the second place and for which we proposed this of the Omnipresence and Omniscience of God For the consideration of this is the best preservative of Mercy and Pillar to uphold Justice Septum Legis a fence a hedge set about the Law that no unclean beast be so bold to break in and come so neer as to touch it The Prophet David makes this use of it Psal 139.7 Quò ibo à spiritu whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I fly from thy presence If I go into heaven thou art there If I make my bed in hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shalt thou find me out Now nothing can be more forcible to make us walk reverently and humbly with our God then a firm perswasion that God walks with us that he sees and observes us that whatever we do or think lyes open to the view and survey of that all-seeing eye For secresie is the nurse of sinne that is done often which is done without witnesse and done with more delight in
powerfull Lord shall be lifted up and crowned with glory and honour for evermore Which God grant c. HONI â—…T QVI MAL Y PENSE A SERMON Preached on Whitsunday JOHN 16.13 Howbeit when He the spirit of truth is come he will lead you into all truth WHen the spirit of truth is come c. and behold he is come already and the Church of Christ in all ages hath set apart this day for a memoriall of his coming a memoriall of that miraculous and unusuall sound that rushing wind those cloven tongues of fire And there is good reason for it that it should be had in everlasting remembrance For as he came then in solemn state upon the Disciples in a manner seen heard so he comes though not so visibly yet effectually to us upon whom the ends of the world are come that we may remember it though not it a mighty wind yet he rattles our hearts together though no house totter at his descent yet the foundations of our souls are shaken no fire appears yet our breasts are inflamed no cloven tongues yet our hearts are cloven asunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every day to a Christian is a day of Pentecost his whole life a continued holy-day wherein the Holy Ghost descends both as an Instructer and a Comforter secretly and sweetly by his word characterizing the soul imprinting that saving knowledge which none of the Princes of this world had not forcing not drawing by violence but sweetly leading and guiding us into all truth When He the spirit of truth is come c. In which words we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Epiphany or Apparition of the blessed Spirit as Nazianzen speaks or rather the promise of his coming and appearance and if we well weigh it there is great reason that the Spirit should have his Advent as well as Christ his that he should say Lo I come Psal 40. For in the volume of the book it is written of him that the spirit of the Lord should rest upon him Es 11.2 and I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh Joel 2.28 Christus legis Spiritus Sanctus Evangelii complementum Christs Advent for the fulfilling of the Law and the Spirits for the fulfilling and compleating of the Gospel Christs Advent to redeem the Church and the Spirits Advent to teach the Church Christ to shed his blood and the Spirit to wash and purge it in his blood Christ to pay down the ransome for us Captives and the Spirit to work off our fetters Christ to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and the Spirit to interpret it for we may soon see that the one will little availe without the other Christs Birth his Death and Passion Chists glorious Resurrection but a story in Archivis good newes sealed up a Gospel hid till the Spirit come and open it and teach us to know him Phil. 3.10 and the vertue and power of his Resurrection and make us conformable to his death This is the summe of these words and in this we shall passe by these steps or degrees First carry our thoughts to the promise of the Spirits Advent the miracle of this day cùm venerit when the spirit of truth comes in a sound to awake them in wind to move them in fire to enlighten and warm them in tongues to make them speak Secondly consider 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work and employment of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall lead you into all truth In the first we meet with 1. nomen personae if we may so speak a word pointing out to his person the demonstrative pronoune ille when he shall come 2. Nomen naturae a name expressing his nature he is a spirit of truth and then we cannot be ignorant whose spirit it is In the second we shall find Nomen officii a name of office and administration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word from whence comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a leader or conducter in the way for so the Holy Ghost vouchsafed to be their leader and conducter that they might not erre but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keep on in a strait and even course in the way And in this great office of the Holy Ghost we must first take notice of the lesson he teacheth it is Truth Secondly the large extent of this lesson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he leads into all truth Thirdly The method and manner of his discipline which will neerly concern us to take notice of it is ductus a gentle and effectuall leading he drives us not he drawes us not by violence but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word here he takes as it were by the hand and guides and leads us into all truth Cùm venerit ille spiritus veritatis When He the spirit of truth c. And first though we are told by some that where the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added to fo there we are to understand the person of the Holy Ghost yet we rather lay hold on the pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ille when he the spirit of truth shall come he shall lead you which points out to a distinct person For if with Sabellius he had onely meant some new motion in the Disciples hearts or some effect of the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been enough but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He designes a certain person and ille he in Christs mouth a distinct person from himself Besides we are taught in the Schools Actiones sunt suppositorum actions and operations are of persons now in this verse Christ sayes that he shall lead them and before he shall reprove the world and in the precedent chapter he shall testifie of me which are proper and peculiar operations of the blessed Spirit and bring him in a distinct person from the Father and the Son And therefore S. Augustine rests upon this dark and generall expression The Holy Ghost communicates both of the Father and the Son is something of them both whatsoever we may call it whether we call him the Consubstantiall and Coeternall communion and friendship of the Father and the Son or with Gerson and others of the Schools Nexum Amorosum the Essentiall Love and Love-knot of the undivided Trinity But we will wave these more abstruse and deeper speculations in which if we speak not in the Spirits language we may sooner lose than profit our selves and speak more than we should whilest we are busie to raise our thoughts and words up to that which is but enough It will be safer walking below amongst those observations which as they are more familiar and easy so are they more usefull and take what oare we can find with ease than to dig deeper in this dark mine where if we walk not warily we may meet with poysonous fogs and damps instead of treasure We will therefore in the next place enquire why he is called the Spirit of Truth for divers