Spirits and then they reach the taper to another and as the hours of yesterday can never return again so neither can the man whose hours they were and who lived them over once he shall never come to live them again and live them better When Lazarus and the widows son of Naim and Tabitha and the Saints that appeared in Jerusalem at the resurrection of our blessed Lord arose they came into this world some as strangers onely to make a visit and all of them to manifest a glory but none came upon the stock of a new life or entred upon the stage as at first or to perform the course of a new nature and therefore it is observable that we never read of any wicked person that was raised from the dead Dives would fain have returned to his brothers house but neither he nor any from him could be sent but all the rest in the New Testament one onely excepted were expressed to have been holy persons or else by their age were declared innocent Lazarus was beloved of Christ those souls that appeared at the resurrection were the souls of Saints Tabitha raised by Saint Peter was a charitable and a holy Christian and the maiden of twelve years old raised by our blessed Saviour had not entred into the regions of choice and sinfulnesse and the onely exception of the widows son is indeed none at all for in it the Scripture is wholly silent and therefore it is very probable that the same processe was used God in all other instances having chosen to exemplifie his miracles of nature to purposes of the Spirit and in spirituall capacities So that although the Lord of nature did break the bands of nature in some instances to manifest his glory to succeeding great and never failing purposes yet besides that this shall be no more it was also instanced in such persons who were holy and innocent and within the verge and comprehensions of the eternall mercy We never read that a wicked person felt such a miracle or was raised from the grave to try the second time for a Crown but where he fell there he lay down dead and saw the light no more This consideration I intend to you as a severe Monitor and an advice of carefulnesse that you order your affairs so that you may be partakers of the first resurrection that is from sin to grace from the death of vitious habits to the vigour life and efficacy of an habituall righteousnesse For as it hapned to those persons in the New Testament now mentioned to them I say in the literall sense Blessed are they that have part in the first resurrection upon them the second death shall have no power meaning that they who by the power of Christ and his holy Spirit were raised to life again were holy and blessed souls and such who were written in the book of God and that this grace happened to no wicked and vitious person so it is most true in the spirituall and intended sense You onely that serve God in a holy life you who are not dead in trespasses and sins you who serve God with an early diligence and an unwearied industry and a holy religion you and you onely shall come to life eternall you onely shall be called from death to life the rest of mankind shall never live again but passe from death to death from one death to another to a worse from the death of the body to the eternall death of body and soul and therefore in the Apostles Creed there is no mention made of the resurrection of wicked persons but of the resurrection of the body to everlasting life The wicked indeed shall be haled forth from their graves from their everlasting prisons where in chains of darknesse they are kept unto the judgement of the great day But this therefore cannot be called in sensu favoris a resurrection but the solennities of the eternall death It is nothing but a new capacity of dying again such a dying as cannot signifie rest but where death means nothing but an intolerable and never ceasing calamity and therefore these words of my Text are otherwise to be understood of the wicked otherwise of the godly The wicked are spilt like water and shall never be gathered up again no not in the gatherings of eternity They shall be put into vessels of wrath and set upon the flames of hell but that is not a gathering but a scattering from the face and presence of God But the godly also come under the sense of these words They descend into their graves and shall no more be reckoned among the living they have no concernment in all that is done under the Sun Agamemnon hath no more to do with the Turks armies invading and possessing that part of Greece where he reigned then had the Hippocentaur who never had a beeing and Cicero hath no more interest in the present evils of Christendome then we have to do with his boasted discovery of Catilines conspiracie What is it to me that Rome was taken by the Gauls and what is it now to Camillus if different religions be tolerated amongst us These things that now happen concern the living and they are made the scenes of our duty or danger respectively and when our wives are dead and sleep in charnel houses they are not troubled when we laugh loudly at the songs sung at the next marriage feast nor do they envy when another snatches away the gleanings of their husbands passion It is true they envy not and they lie in a bosome where there can be no murmure and they that are consigned to Kingdoms and to the feast of the marriage-supper of the Lamb the glorious and eternall Bride-groom of holy souls they cannot think our marriages here our lighter laughings and vain rejoycings considerable as to them And yet there is a relation continued still Aristotle said that to affirm the dead take no thought for the good of the living is a disparagement to the laws of that friendship which in their state of separation they cannot be tempted to rescind And the Church hath taught in generall that they pray for us they recommend to God the state of all their Relatives in the union of the intercession that our blessed Lord makes for them and us and Saint Ambrose gave some things in charge to his dying brother Satyrus that he should do for him in the other world he gave it him I say when he was dying not when he was dead And certain it is that though our dead friends affection to us is not to be estimated according to our low conceptions yet it is not lesse but much more then ever it was it is greater in degree and of another kind But then we should do well also to remember that in this world we are something besides flesh and blood that we may not without violent necessities run into new relations but preserve the affections we bear to our dead when
is There is a yet in the Text For all this yet doth God devise means that his banished be not expelled from him All this sorrow and trouble is but a phantasme and receives its account and degrees from our present conceptions and the proportion to our relishes and gust When Pompey saw the Ghost of his first Lady Julia who vexed his rest and his conscience for superinducing Cornelia upon her bed within the ten moneths of mourning he presently fancied it either to be an illusion or else that death could be no very great evil Aut nihil est sensus animis in morte relictum Aut morsipsa nihil Either my dead wife knows not of my unhandsome marriage and forgetfulnesse of her or if she does then the dead live longae canitis si cognita vitae Mors media est Death is nothing but the middle point between two lives between this and another concerning which comfortable mystery the holy Scripture instructs our faith and entertains our hope in these words God is still the God of Abraham Isaak and Jacob for all do live to him and the souls of Saints are with Christ I desire to be dissolved saith S. Paul and to be with Christ for that is much better and Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord they rest from their labours and their works follow them For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God a house not made with hands eternall in the heavens and this state of separation S. Paul calls a being absent from the body and being present with the Lord This is one of Gods means which he hath devised that although our Dead are like persons banished from this world yet they are not expelled from God They are in the hands of Christ they are in his presence they are or shall be clothed with a house of Gods making they rest from all their labours all tears are wiped from their eyes and all discontents from their spirits and in the state of separation before the soul be reinvested with her new house the spirits of al persons are with God so secured and so blessed and so sealed up for glory that this state of interval and imperfection is in respect of its certain event and end infinitely more desirable then all the riches and all the pleasures and all the vanities and all the Kingdoms of this world I will not venture to determine what are the circumstances of the aboad of Holy Souls in their separate dwellings and yet possibly that might be easier then to tell what or how the soul is and works in this world where it is in the body tanquam in alienâ domo as in a prison in fetters and restraints for here the soal is discomposed and hindered it is not as it shall be as it ought to be as it was intended to be it is not permitted to its own freedom and proper operation so that all that we can understand of it here is that it is so incommodated with a troubled and abated instrument that the object we are to consider cannot be offered to us in a right line in just and equal propositions or if it could yet because we are to understand the soul by the soul it becomes not onely a troubled and abused object but a crooked instrument and we here can consider it just as a weak eye can behold a staffe thrust into the waters of a troubled river the very water makes a refraction and the storm doubles the refraction and the water of the eye doubles the species and there is nothing right in the thing the object is out of its just place and the medium is troubled and the organ is impotent At cum exierit in liberum coelum quasi in domum suam venerit when the soul is entred into her own house into the free regions of the rest and the neighbourhood of heavenly joyes then its operations are more spiritual proper and proportioned to its being and though we cannot see at such a distance yet the object is more fitted if we had a capable understanding it is in it self in a more excellent and free condition Certain it is that the body does hinder many actions of the soul it is an imperfect body and a diseased brain or a violent passion that makes fools no man hath a foolish soul and the reasonings of men have infinite difference and degrees by reason of the bodies constitution Among beasts which have no reason there is a greater likenesse then between men who have as by faces it is easier to know a man from a man then a sparrow from a sparrow or a squirrel from a squirrel so the difference is very great in our souls which difference because it is not originally in the soul and indeed cannot be in simple and spiritual substances of the same species or kind it must needs drive wholly from the body from its accidents and circumstances from whence it follows that because the body casts fetters and restraints hindrances and impediments upon the soul that the soul is much freer in the state of separation and if it hath any any act of life it is much more noble and expedite That the soul is alive after our death S. Paul affirms Christ died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him Now it were strange that we should be alive and live with Christ and yet do no act of life the body when it is asleep does many and if the soul does none the principle is lesse active then the instrument but if it does any act at all in separation it must necessarily be an act or effect of understanding there is nothing else it can do But this it can For it is but a weak and an unlearned proposition to say That the Soul can do nothing of it self nothing without the phantasmes and provisions of the body For 1. In this life the soul hath one principle clearly separate abstracted immaterial I mean the Spirit of grace which is a principle of life and action and in many instances does not all at communicate with matter as in the infusion superinduction and the creation of spiritual graces 2. As nutrition generation eating and drinking are actions proper to the body and its state so extasies visions raptures intuitive knowledge and consideration of its self acts of volition and reflex acts of understanding are proper to the soul. 3. And therefore it is observable that S. Paul said that he knew not whether his visions and raptures were in or out of the body for by that we see his judgement of the thing that one was as likely as the other neither of them impossible or unreasonable and therefore that the soul is as capable of action alone as in conjunction 4. If in the state of blessednesse there are some actions of the soul which doe not passe through
God for vengeance scarce two are noted by the publick eye and chastis'd by the hand of Justice it must follow from hence that it is but reasonable for the interest of vertue and the necessities of the world that the private should be judg'd and vertue should be tyed upon the spirit and the poor should be relieved and the oppressed should appeal and the noise of Widows should be heard and the Saints should stand upright and the Cause that was ill judged should be judged over again and Tyrants should be call'd to account and our thoughts should be examined and our secret actions view'd on all sides and the infinite number of sins which escape here should not escape finally and therefore God hath so ordained it that there shall be a day of doom wherein all that are let alone by men shall be question'd by God and every word and every action shall receive its just recompence of reward For we must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in the best copies not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The things done in the body so we commonly read it the things proper or due to the body so the expression is more apt and proper for not only what is done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the body but even the acts of abstracted understanding and volition the acts of reflexion and choice acts of self-love and admiration and what ever else can be supposed the proper and peculiar act of the soul or of the spirit is to be accounted for at the day of Judgement and even these may be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because these are the acts of the man in the state of conjunction with the body The words have in them no other difficulty or variety but contain a great truth of the biggest interest and one of the most materiall constitutive Articles of the whole Religion and the greatest endearment of our duty in the whole world Things are so ordered by the great Lord of all the creatures that whatsoever we do or suffer shall be call'd to account and this account shall be exact and the sentence shall be just and the reward shall be great all the evils of the world shall be amended and the injustices shall be repaid and the divine Providence shall be vindicated and Vertue and Vice shall for ever be remark'd by their separate dwellings and rewards This is that which the Apostle in the next verse cals the terror of the Lord it is his terror because himself shall appear in his dresse of Majesty and robes of Justice and it is his terror because it is of all the things in the World the most formidable in it self and it is most fearfull to us where shall be acted the interest and finall sentence of eternity and because it is so intended I shall all the way represent it as the Lords terror that we may be afraid of sin for the destruction of which this terror is intended 1. Therefore we will consider the persons that are to be judged with the circumstances of our advantages or our sorrowes We must all appear 2. The Judge and his Judgement seat before the Judgment seat of Christ. 3. The sentence that they are to receive the things due to the body good or bad according as we now please but then cannot alter Every one of these are dressed with circumstances of affliction and afrightment to those to whom such terrors shall appertain as a portion of their inheritance 1. The persons who are to be judged even you and I and all the world Kings and Priests Nobles and Learned the Crafty and the Easie the Wise and the Foolish the Rich and the Poor the prevailing Tyrant and the oppressed Party shall all appear to receive ther Symbol and this is so farre from abating any thing of its terror and our dear concernment that it much increases it for although concerning Precepts and Discourses we are apt to neglect in particular what is recommended in generall and in incidencies of Mortality and sad events the singularity of the chance heightens the apprehension of the evill yet it is so by accident and only in regard of our imperfection it being an effect of self-love or some little creeping envie which adheres too often to the infortunate and miserable or else because the sorrow is apt to increase by being apprehended to be a rare case and a singular unworthinesse in him who is afflicted otherwise then is common to the sons of men companions of his sin and brethren of his nature and partners of his usuall accidents yet in finall and extreme events the multitude of sufferers does not lessen but increase the sufferings and when the first day of Judgement happen'd that I mean of the universall deluge of waters upon the old World the calamity swell'd like the floud and every man saw his friend perish and the neighbours of his dwelling and the relatives of his house and the sharers of his joyes and yesterdaies bride and the new born heir the Priest of the Family and the honour of the Kindred all dying or dead drench'd in water and the divine vengeance and then they had no place to flee unto no man cared for their souls they had none to goe unto for counsell no sanctuary high enough to keep them from the vengeance that rain'd down from heaven and so it shall be at the day of Judgement when that world and this and all that shall be born hereafter shall passe through the same Red sea and be all baptized with the same fire and be involv'd in the same cloud in which shall be thundrings and terrors infinite every Mans fear shall be increased by his neighbours shriekes and the amazement that all the world shall be in shall unite as the sparks of a raging furnace into a globe of fire and roul upon its own principle and increase by direct appearances and intolerable reflexions He that stands in a Church-yard in the time of a great plague and hears the Passing-bell perpetually telling the sad stories of death and sees crowds of infected bodies pressing to their Graves and others sick and tremulous and Death dress'd up in all the images of sorrow round about him is not supported in his spirit by the variety of his sorrow and at Dooms-day when the terrors are universall besides that it is in it self so much greater because it can affright the whole world it is also made greater by communication and a sorrowfull influence Grief being then strongly infectious when there is no variety of state but an intire Kingdome of fear and amazement is the King of all our passions and all the world its subjects and that shricke must needs be terrible when millions of Men and Women at the same instant shall fearfully cry
makes intercession for us with groans unutterable and all the holy men in the world pray for all and for every one and God hath instructed us with Scriptures and precedents and collaterall and direct assistances to pray and he incouraged us with divers excellent promises and parables and examples and teaches us what to pray and how and gives one promise to publique prayer and another to private prayer and to both the blessing of being heard * Adde to this account that God did heap blessings upon us without order infinitely perpetually and in all instances when we needed and when we needed not * He heard us when we pray'd giving us all and giving us more then we desired * He desired that we should aske and yet he hath also prevented our desires * He watch'd for us and at his own charge sent a whole order of men whose imployment is to minister to our souls and if all this had not been enough he had given us more also * He promised heaven to our obedience a Province for a dish of water a Kingdome for a prayer satisfaction for desiring it grace for receiving and more grace for accepting and using the first * He invited us with gracious words and perfect entertainments * He threatned horrible things to us if we would not be happy * He hath made strange necessities for us making our very repentance to be a conjugation of holy actions and holy times and a long succession * He hath taken away all excuses from us he hath called us off from temptation he bears our charges he is alwaies before-hand with us in every act of favour and perpetually slow in striking and his arrowes are unfeathered and he is so long first in drawing his sword and another long while in whetting it and yet longer in lifting his hand to strike that before the blow comes the man hath repented long unlesse he be a fool and impudent and then God is so glad of an excuse to lay his anger aside that certainly if after all this we refuse life and glory there is no more to be said this plain story will condemn us but the story is very much longer and as our conscience will represent all our sins to us so the Judge will represent all his Fathers kindnesses as Nathan did to David when he was to make the justice of the Divine Sentence appear against him * Then it shall be remembred that the joyes of every daies piety would have been a greater pleasure every night then the remembrance of every nights sin could have been in the morning * That every night the trouble and labour of the daies vertue would have been as much passed and turned to as very a nothing as the pleasure of that daies sin but that they would be infinitely distinguished by the remanent effects 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Musonius expressed the sense of this inducement and that this argument would have grown so great by that time we come to dye that the certain pleasures and rare confidences and holy hopes of a death-bed would be a strange felicity to the man when he remembers he did obey if they were compared to the fearfull expectations of a dying sinner who feels by a formidable and afrighting remembrance that of all his sins nothing remains but the gains of a miserable eternity * The offering our selves to God every morning and the thanksgiving to God every night hope and fear shame and desire the honour of leaving a fair name behinde us and the shame of dying like a fool every thing indeed in the world is made to be an argument and an inducement to us to invite us to come to God and be sav'd and therefore when this and infinitely more shall by the Judge be exhibited in sad remembrances there needs no other sentence we shall condemn our selves with a hasty shame and a fearfull confusion to see how good God hath been to us and how base we have been to our selves Thus Moses is said to accuse the Jewes and thus also he that does accuse is said to condemn as Verres was by Cicero and Claudia by Domitius her accuser and the world of impenitent persons by the men of Nineveh and all by Christ their Judge I represent the horror of this circumstance to consist in this besides the reasonablenesse of the Judgement and the certainty of the condemnation it cannot but be an argument of an intolerable despair to perishing souls when he that was our Advocate all our life shall in the day of that appearing be our Accuser and our Judge a party against us an injur'd person in the day of his power and of his wrath doing execution upon all his own foolish and malicious enemies * 2. Our conscience shall be our accuser but this signifies but these two things 1. that we shall be condemned for the evils that we have done and shall then remember God by his power wiping away the dust from the tables of our memory and taking off the consideration and the voluntary neglect and rude shufflings of our cases of conscience For then we shall see things as they are the evill circumstances and the crooked intentions the adherent unhandsomenesse and the direct crimes for all things are laid up safely and though we draw a curtain of cobweb over them and few figleaves before our shame yet God shall draw away the curtain and forgetfulnesse shall be no more because with a taper in the hand of God all the corners of our nastinesse shall be discovered And secondly it signifies this also that not only the Justice of God shall be confessed by us in our own shame and condemnation but the evill of the sentence shall be received into us to melt our bowels and to break our heart in pieces within us because we are the authors of our own death and our own inhumane hands have torn our souls in pieces Thus farre the horrors are great and when evill men consider it it is certain they must be afraid to dye Even they that have liv'd well have some sad considerations and the tremblings of humility and suspicion of themselves I remember S. Cyprian tels of a good man who in his agony of death saw a phantasme of a noble and angelicall shape who frowning and angry said to him Pati timetis exire non vultis Quid faciam vobis Ye cannot endure sicknesse ye are troubled at the evils of the world and yet you are loth to dye and to be quit of them what shall I do to you Although this is apt to represent every mans condition more or lesse yet concerning persons of wicked lives it hath in it too many sad degrees of truth they are impatient of sorrow and justly fearfull of death because they know not how to comfort themselves in the evill accidents of their lives and their conscience is too polluted to take death for sanctuary and
the second is irremediadle the first proclaims our folly and the second declares Gods finall justice in the first there is no comfort in the latter there is no remedy that therefore makes us miserable and this renders us desperate 3. This great truth is further manifested by the necessary and convenient appendages of prayer requir'd or advis'd or recommended in holy Scripture For why is Fasting prescribed together with prayer For neither if we eat are we the better neither if we eat not are we the worse and God does not delight in that service the first second and third part of which is nothing but pain and self-affliction But therefore fasting is usefull with prayer because it is a penall duty and an action of repentance for then onely God hears sinners when they enter first into the gates of repentance and proceed in all the regions of sorrow and carefulnesse and therefore we are commanded to fast that we may pray with more spirituality and with repentance that is without the loads of meat and without the loads of sin Of the same consideration it is that almes are prescribed together with prayer because it is a part of that charity without which our soules are enemies to all that which ought to be equally valued with our owne lives But besides this we may easily observe what speciall undecencies there are which besides the generall malignity and demerit are speciall deleteries and hinderances to our prayers by irreconciling the person of him that prays 1. The first is unmercyfulnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said one in Stobaeus and they were well joyned together He that takes Mercy from a Man is like him that takes an Altar from the Temple the Temple is of no use without an Altar and the Man cannot pray without mercy and there are infinite of prayers sent forth by men which God never attends to but as to so many sins because the men live in a course of rapine or tyranny or oppression or uncharitablenesse or something that is most contrary to God because it is unmercifull Remember that God sometimes puts thee into some images of his own relation We beg of God for mercy and our Brother begs of us for pity and therefore let us deal equally with God and all the world I see my selfe fall by a too frequent infirmity and still I beg for pardon and hope for pity thy brother that offends thee he hopes so too and would fain have the same measure and would be as glad thou wouldst pardon him as thou wouldest rejoyce in thy own forgivenesse I am troubled when God rejects my prayer or in stead of hearing my petition sends a judgement Is not thy Tenant or thy Servant or thy Client so to thee does not he tremble at thy frown and is of an uncertaine soule till thou speakest kindly unto him and observes thy lookes as hee watches the colour of the bean coming from thy box of Sentence life or death depending on it when he begs of thee for mercy his passion is greater his necessities more pungent his apprehension more brisk and sensitive his case dressed with the circumstances of pity and thou thy selfe canst better feel his condition then thou doest usually perceive the earnestnesse of thy own prayers to God and if thou regardest not thy brother whom thou seest whose case thou feelest whose circumstances can afflict thee whose passion is dressed to thy fancy and proportioned to thy capacity how shall God regard thy distant prayer or be melted with thy cold desire or softned with thy dry story or moved by thy unrepenting soul If I be sad I seek for comfort and goe to God and to the ministry of his creatures for it and is it not just in God to stop his own fountaines and seal the cisterns and little emanations of the creatures from thee who shuttest thy hand and shuttest thy eye and twistest thy bowells against thy brother who would as fain be comforted as thou It is a strange Iliacall passion that so hardens a mans bowells that nothing proceeds from him but the name of his own disease a Miserere mei Deus a prayer to God for pity upon him that will not shew pity to others We are troubled when God through severity breaks our bones and hardens his face against us but we think our poor brother is made of iron and not of flesh and bloud as we are God hath bound mercy upon us by the iron bands of necessity and though Gods mercy is the measure of his justice yet justice is the measure of our mercy and as we doe to others it shall be done to us even in the matter of pardon and of bounty of gentlenesse and remission of bearing each others burdens and faire interpretation Forgive us our trespasses as wee forgive them that trespasse against us so we pray The finall sentence in this affair is recorded by St. James Hee that shews no mercy shall have justice with out mercy as thy poor brother hath groan'd under thy cruelty and ungentle nature without remedy so shalt thou before the throne of God thou shalt pray and plead and call and cry and beg again and in the midst of thy despairing noyses be carryed in the regions of sorrow which never did and never shall feel a mercy God never can heare the prayers of an unmercifull man 2. Lust and uncleannesse is a direct enemy to the Praying man and an obstruction to his prayers for this is not onely a prophanation but a direct sacriledge it defiles a Temple to the ground it takes from a man all affection to spirituall things and mingles his very soul with the things of the world it makes his understanding low and his reasonings cheap and foolish and it destroys his confidence and all his manly hopes it makes his spirit light effeminate and fantastick and dissolves his attention and makes his mind so to disaffect all the objects of his desires that when he prays he is as uneasy as an impaled person or a condemned criminall upon the hook or wheel and it hath in it this evill quality that a lustfull person cannot pray heartily against his sin he cannot desire his cure for his will is contradictory to his Collect and he would not that God should hear the words of his prayer which he poor man never intended For no crime so seises upon the will as that some sins steale an affection or obey a temptation or secure an interest or work by the way of understanding but lust seises directly upon the will for the Devil knows well that the lusts of the body are soon cured the uneasynesse that dwels there is a disease very tolerable and every degree of patience can passe under it But therefore the Devill seises upon the will and that 's it that makes adulteries and all the species of uncleannesse and lust growes so hard a cure because the formality of it is that it will not be cured the
up his soul is one that hath no charity no love to God no trust in promises no just estimation of the rewards of a noble contention Perfect love casts out fear faith the Apostle that is he that loves God will not fear to dye for him or for his sake to be poor In this sense no man can fear man and love God at the same time and when St. Laurence triumph'd over Valerianus St. Sebastian over Diocletian St. Vincentius over Dacianus and the armies of Martyrs over the Proconsuls accusers and executioners they shew'd their love to God by triumphing over fear and leading captivity captive by the strength of their Captain whose garments were red from Bozrah 3. But this fear is also tremulous and criminall if it be a trouble from the apprehension of the mountains and difficulties of duty and is called pusillanimity For some see themselves encompassed with temptations they observe their frequent fals their perpetuall returns from good purposes to weak performances the daily mortifications that are necessary the resisting naturall appetites and the laying violent hands upon the desires of flesh and bloud the uneasinesse of their spirits and their hard labours and therefore this makes them afraid and because they despair to run through the whole duty in all its parts and periods they think as good not begin at all as after labour and expence to lose the Jewell and the charges of their venture St. Austin compares such men to children and phantastick persons afrighted with phantasmes and specters Terribiles visu formae the sight seems full of horror but touch them and they are very nothing the meer daughters of a sick brain and a weak heart an infant experience and a trifling judgement so are the illusions of a weak piety or an unskilfull unconfident soul they fancy to see mountains of difficulty but touch them and they seem like clouds riding upon the wings of the winde and put on shapes as we please to dream He that denies to give almes for fear of being poor or to entertain a Disciple for fear of being suspected of the party or to own a duty for fear of being put to venture for a crown he that takes part of the intemperance because he dares not displease the company or in any sense fears the fears of the world and not the fear of God this man enters into his portion of fear betimes but it will not be finished to eternall ages To fear the censures of men when God is your Judge to fear their evill when God is your defence to fear death when he is the entrance to life and felicity is unreasonable and pernicious but if you will turn your passion into duty and joy and security fear to offend God to enter voluntarily into temptation fear the alluring face of lust and the smooth entertainments of intemperance fear the anger of God when you have deserved it and when you have recover'd from the snare then infinitely fear to return into that condition in which whosoever dwels is the heir of fear and eternall sorrow Thus farre I have discoursed concerning good fear and bad that is filiall and servile they are both good if by servile we intend initiall or the new beginning fear of penitents a fear to offend God upon lesse perfect considerations But servile fear is vitious when it still retains the affection of slaves and when its effects are hatred wearinesse displeasure and want of charity and of the same cogrations are those fears which are superstitious and worldly But to the former sort of vertuous fear some also adde another which they call Angelicall that is such a fear as the blessed Angels have who before God hide their faces and tremble at his presence and fall down before his footstool and are ministers of his anger and messengers of his mercy and night and day worship him with the profoundest adoration This is the same that is spoken of in the Text Let us serve God with reverence and godly fear all holy fear partakes of the nature of this which Divines call Angelicall and it is expressed in acts of adoration of vowes and holy prayers in hymnes and psalmes in the eucharist and reverentiall addresses and while it proceeds in the usuall measures of common duty it is but humane but as it arises to great degrees and to perfection it is Angelicall and Divine and then it appertains to mystick Theologie and therefore is to be considered in another place but for the present that which will regularly concern all our duty is this that when the fear of God is the instrument of our duty or Gods worship the greater it is it is so much the better It was an old proverbiall saying among the Romans Religentem esse oportet religiosum nefas Every excesse in the actions of religion is criminall they supposing that in the services of their gods there might be too much True it is there may be too much of their undecent expressions and in things indifferent the very multitude is too much and becomes an undecency and if it be in its own nature undecent or disproportionable to the end or the rules or the analogy of the Religion it will not stay for numbers to make it intolerable but in the direct actions of glorifying God in doing any thing of his Commandements or any thing which he commands or counsels or promises to reward there can never be excesse or superfluity and therefore in these cases do as much as you can take care that your expressions be prudent and safe consisting with thy other duties and for the passions or vertues themselves let them passe from beginning to great progresses from man to Angel from the imperfection of man to the perfections of the sons of God and when ever we go beyond the bounds of Nature and grow up with all the extention and in the very commensuration of a full grace we shall never go beyond the excellencies of God For ornament may be too much and turn to curiosity cleanlinesse may be changed into nicenesse and civill compliance may become flattery and mobility of tongue may rise into garrulity and fame and honour may be great unto envie and health it self if it be athletick may by its very excesse become dangerous but wisdome and duty and comelinesse and discipline a good minde and eloquence and the fear of God and doing honour to his holy Name can never exceed but if they swell to great proportions they passe through the measures of grace and are united to felicity in the comprehensions of God in the joyes of an eternall glory Sermon X. The Flesh and the Spirit Part I. Matt. 26. 41. latter part The Spirit indeed is willing but the Flesh is weake FRom the beginning of days Man hath been so crosse to the Divine commandements that in many cases there can be no reason given why a man should choose some ways or doe some actions but onely because they are
appetites of its own that must be served I pray to be forgiven as I forgive others but flesh and bloud cannot put up such an injury for know that no infirmity no unavoidable accident no necessity no poverty no businesse can hinder us from the love of God or forgiving injuries or being of a religious and a devout spirit Poverty and the intrigues of the world are things that can no more hinder the spirit in these duties then a strong enemy can hinder the sun to shine or the clouds to drop rain These things which God requires of us and exacts from us with mighty penalties these he hath made us able to perform for he knows that we have no strength but what he gives us and therefore as he binds burdens upon our shoulders so he gives us strength to bear them and therefore he that sayes he cannot forgive sayes only that his lust is stronger then his religion his flesh prevails upon his spirit For what necessity can a man have to curse him whom he cals enemy or to sue him or kill him or do him any spite A man may serve all his needs of nature though he does nothing of all this and if he be willing what hinders him to love to pardon to wish well to desire The willing is the doing in this case and he that sayes he is willing to do his duty but he cannot does not understand what he sayes For all the duty of the inner man consists in the actions of the will and there they are seated and to it all the inferiour faculties obey in those things which are direct emanations and effects of will He that desires to love God does love him indeed men are often cousened with pretences and in some good mood are warm'd with a holy passion but it signifies nothing because they will not quit the love of Gods enemies and therefore they do not desire what they say they doe but if the will and heart be right and not false and dissembling this duty is or will be done infallibly 2. If the spirit and the heart be willing it will passe on to outward actions in all things where it ought or can He that hath a charitable soul will have a charitable hand and will give his money to the poor as he hath given his heart to God For these things which are in our hand are under the power of our will and therefore are to be commanded by it He that sayes to the naked be warm and cloathed and gives him not the garment that lies by him or money to buy one mocks God and the poor and himself Nequam illud verbum est bene vult nisi qui bene facit said the Comedy It is an evill saying he wishes well unlesse he do well 3. Those things which are not in our power that is such things in which the flesh is inculpably weak or naturally or politically disabled the will does the work of the outward and of the inward man we cannot cloath Christs body he needs it not and we cannot approach so sacred and separate a presence but if we desire to do it it is accounted as if we had The ignorant man cannot discourse wisely and promote the interest of souls but he can love souls and desire their felicity though I cannot build Hospitals and Colledges or pour great summes of money into the lap of the poor yet if I incourage others and exhort them if I commend and promote the work I have done the work of a holy Religion For in these and the like cases the outward work is not alwaies set in our power and therefore without our fault is omitted and can be supplied by that which is in our power 4. For that is the last caution concerning this question No man is to be esteemed of a willing spirit but he that endevours to doe the outward work or to make all the supplies that he can not only by the forwardnesse of his spirit but by the compensation of some other charities or devotion or religion Silver and gold have I none and therefore I can give you none But I wish you well How will that appear why thus Such as I have I will give you Rise up and walk I cannot give you gold but I can give you counsell I cannot relieve your need but I can relieve your sadnesse I cannot cure you but I can comfort you I cannot take away your poverty but I can ease your spirit and God accepts us saith the Apostle according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not Only as our desires are great and our spirits are willing so we shall finde wayes to make supply of our want of ability and expressed liberality Et labor ingenium misero dedit sua quemque Advigilare sibi jussit fortuna premendo What the poor mans need will make him do that also the good mans charity will it will finde out wayes and artifices of relief in kinde or in value in comfort or in prayers in doing it himself or procuring others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The necessity of our fortune and the willingnesse of our spirits will do all this all that it can and something that it cannot You have relieved the Saints saith St. Paul according to your power yea and beyond your power Only let us be carefull in all instances that we yeeld not to the weaknesse of the flesh nor listen to its fair pretences for the flesh can do more then it sayes we can do more then we think we can and if we doe some violence to the flesh to our affairs and to the circumstances of our fortune for the interest of our spirit we shall make our flesh usefull and the spirit strong the flesh and its weaknesse shall no more be an objection but shall comply and co-operate and serve all the necessities of the spirit Sermon XII Of Lukewarmnesse and Zeal OR SPIRITVALL TERROVR Part I. Jer. 48. 10. vers first part Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully CHrists Kingdome being in order to the Kingdome of his Father which shall be manifest at the day of Judgement must therefore be spirituall because then it is that all things must become spirituall not only by way of eminency but by intire constitution and perfect change of natures Men shall be like Angels and Angels shall be comprehended in the lap of spirituall and eternall felicities the soul shall not understand by materiall phantasmes neither be served by the provisions of the body but the body it self shall become spirituall and the eye shall see intellectuall objects and the mouth shall feed upon hymns and glorifications of God the belly shall be then satisfied by the fulnesse of righteousnesse and the tongue shall speak nothing but praises and the propositions of a celestiall wisdome the motion shall be the swiftnesse of an Angell and it shall be cloathed with white as with a garment
Paul * the zeal of souls * St. Paul's preaching to the Corinthian Church without wages remitting of rights and forgiving of debts when the obliged person could pay but not without much trouble * protection of calamitous persons with hazard of our own interest and a certain trouble concerning which and all other acts of zeal we are to observe the following measures by which our zeal will become safe and holy and by them also we shall perceive the excesses of Zeal and its inordinations which is the next thing I am to consider 1. The first measure by which our zeal may comply with our duty and its actions become laudable is charity to our neighbour For since God receives all that glorification of himself whereby we can serve and minister to his glory reflected upon the foundation of his own goodnesse and bounty and mercy and all the Allellujahs that are or ever shall be sung in heaven are praises and thank givings and that God himself does not receive glory from the acts of his Justice but then when his creatures will not rejoyce in his goodnesse and mercy it followes that we imitate this originall excellency and pursue Gods own method that is glorifie him in via misericordiae in the way of mercy and bounty charity and forgivenesse love and fair compliances There is no greater charity in the world then to save a soul nothing that pleases God better nothing that can be in our hands greater or more noble nothing that can be a more lasting and delightfull honour then that a perishing soul snatched from the flames of an intolerable Hell and born to Heaven upon the wings of piety and mercy by the Ministery of Angels and the graces of the holy Spirit shall to eternall ages blesse God and blesse thee Him for the Author and finisher of salvation and thee for the Minister and charitable instrument that bright starre must needs look pleasantly upon thy face for ever which was by thy hand plac'd there and had it not been by thy Ministery might have been a â—ooty coal in the regions of sorrow Now in order to this God hath given us all some powers and ministeries by which we may by our charity promote this Religion and the great interest of souls Counsels and prayers preaching and writing passionate desires and fair examples going before others in the way of godlinesse and bearing the torch before them that they may see the way and walk in it This is a charity that is prepared more or lesse for every one and by the way we should do well to consider what we have done towards it For as it will be a strange arrest at the day of Judgement to Dives that he fed high and sufferred Lazarus to starve and every garment that lies by thee and perishes while thy naked brother does so too for want of it shall be a bill of Inditement against thy unmercifull soul so it will be in every instance in what thou couldst profit thy brother and didst not thou art accountable and then tell over the times in which thou hast prayed for the conversion of thy sinning brother and compare the times together and observe whether thou hast not tempted him or betrayed him to a sin or encourag'd him in it or didst not hinder him when thou mightest more frequently then thou hast humbly and passionately and charitably and zealously bowed thy head and thy heart and knees to God to redeem that poor soul from hell whither thou seest him descending with as much indifferency as a stone into the bottome of a well In this thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a good thing to be zealous and put forth all your strength for you can never go too far But then be carefull that this zeal of thy neighbours amendment be only expressed in waies of charity not of cruelty or importune justice He that strikes the Prince for justice as Solomons expression is is a companion of murderers and he that out of zeal of Religion shall go to convert Nations to his opinion by destroying Christians whose faith is intire and summ'd up by the Apostles this man breaks the ground with a sword and sowes tares and waters the ground with bloud and ministers to envie and cruelty to errors and mistake and there comes up nothing but poppies to please the eye and fancy disputes and hypocrisie new summaries of Religion estimated by measures of anger and accursed principles and so much of the religion as is necessary to salvation is laid aside and that brought forth that serves an interest not holinesse that fils the Schooles of a proud man but not that which will fill Heaven Any zeal is proper for Religion but the zeal of the sword and the zeal of anger this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bitternesse of zeal and it is a certain temptation to every man against his duty for if the sword turns preacher and dictates propositions by empire in stead of arguments and ingraves them in mens hearts with a ponyard that it shall be death to beleeve what I innocently and ignorantly am perswaded of it must needs be unsafe to try the spirits to try all things to make inquiry and yet without this liberty no man can justifie himself before God or man nor confidently say that his Religion is best since he cannot without a finall danger make himself able to give a right sentence and to follow that which he findes to be the best this may ruine souls by making Hypocrites or carelesse and complyant against conscience or without it but it does not save souls though peradventure it should force them to a good opinion This is inordination of zeal for Christ by reproving St. Peter drawing his sword even in the cause of Christ for his sacred and yet injured person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Theophylact teaches us not to use the sword though in the cause of God or for God himself because he will secure his own interest only let him be served as himself is pleased to command and it is like Moses passion it throwes the tables of the Law out of our hands and breaks them in pieces out of indignation to see them broken This is the zeal that is now in fashion and hath almost spoyl'd Religion men like the Zelots of the Jewes cry up their Sect and in it their interest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they affect Disciples and fight against the opponents and we shall finde in Scripture that when the Apostles began to preach the meeknesse of the Christian institution salvations and promises charity and humility there was a zeal set up against them the Apostles were zealous for the Gospell the Jewes were zealous for the Law and see what different effects these two zeals did produce the zeal of the Law came to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they stirred up the City they made tumults they persecuted this way unto the death they got letters from the
in order to his amendment * by an authorized person * in the limits of a just reproofe * upon just occasion * and so as may not doe him mischief in the event of things For so we finde that our blessed Saviour cal'd his Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foolish and S. James used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vain man signifying the same with the forbidden raca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vain uselesse or empty and St. Paul calls the Galatians mad and foolish and bewitched and Christ called Herod Fox and St. John called the Pharisees the generation of vipers and all this matter is wholly determined by the manner and with what minde it is done If it be for correction and reproofe towards persons that deserve it and by persons whose authority can warrant a just and severe reproofe and this also be done prudently safely and usefully it is not contumely But when men upon all occasions revile an offending person lessening his value sowring his spirit and his life despising his infirmities tragically expressing his lightest misdemeanour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being tyrannically declamatory and intolerably angry for a trifle these are such who as Apollonius the Philosopher said will not suffer the offending person to know when his fault is great and when 't is little For they who alwayes put on a supreme anger or expresse the lesse anger with the highest reproaches can doe no more to him that steals then to him that breaks a Crystall Non plus aequo non diutiùs aequo was a good rule for reprehension of offending servants But no more anger no more severe language then the thing deserves if you chide too long your reproofe is changed into reproach if too bitterly it becomes railing if too loud it is immodest if too publick it is like a dog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the man told his wife in the Greek Comedy to follow me in the streets with thy clamorous tongue is to doe as dogs doe not as persons civill or religious 4. The fourth instance of the calumniating filthy communication is that which we properly call slander or the inventing evill things falsely imputing crimes to our neighbor Falsum crimen quasi venenatum telum said Cicero A false tongue or a foul lye against a mans reputation is like a poysoned arrow it makes the wound deadly and every scratch to be incurable Promptissima vindicta contumelia said one To reproach and rail is a revenge that every girl can take But falsely to accuse is spiteful as Hel and deadly as the blood of Dragons Stoicus occidit Baream delator amicum This is the direct murther of the Tongue for life and death are in the hand of the tongue said the Hebrew proverbe and it was esteemed so vile a thing that when Jesabel commanded the Elders of Israel to suborn false witnesses against Naboth she gave them instructions to take two men the sons of Belial none else were fit for the imployment Quid non audebis perfida lingua loqui This was it that broke Ephraim in judgement and executed the fierce anger of the Lord upon him God gave him over to be oppressed by a false witnesse quoniam coepit abire post sordes therefore he suffered calumny and was overthrown in judgement This was it that humbled Joseph in fetters and the iron entred into his soule but it crushed him not so much as the false tongue of his revengefull Mistresse untill his cause was known and the Word of the Lord tryed him This was it that flew Abimelech and endanger'd David it was a sword in manu linguae Doeg in the hand of Doegs tongue By this Siba cut off the legs of Mephibosheth and made his reputation lame forever it thrust Jeremy into the dungeon and carryed Susanna to her stake and our Lord to his Crosse and therefore against the dangers of a slandering tongue all laws have so cautelously arm'd themselves that besides the severest prohibitions of God often recorded in both Testaments God hath chosen it to be one of his appellatives to be the Defender of them a party for those whose innocency and defencelesse state makes them most apt to be undone by this evill spirit I mean pupils and widows the poore and the oppressed And in pursuance of this charity the Imperiall laws have invented a juramentum de calumniâ on oath to be exhibited to the Actor or Plaintiff that he beleevs himself to have a just cause and that he does not implead his adversary calumniandi animo with false instances and indefencible allegations and the Defendant is to swear that he thinks himselfe to use onely just defences and perfect instances of resisting and both of them obliged themselves that they would exact no proofe but what was necessary to the truth of the Cause And all this defence was nothing but necessary guards For a spear and a sword and an arrow is a man that speaketh false witnesse against his neighbour And therefore the laws of God added yet another bar against this evill and the false Accuser was to suffer the punishment of the objected crime and as if this were not sufficient God hath in severall ages wrought miracles and raised the dead to life that by such strange appearances they might relieve the oppressed Innocent and load the false accusing Tongue with shame and horrible confusion So it happen'd in the case of Susanna the spirit of a man was put into the heart of a childe to acquit the vertuous woman and so it was in the case of Gregory Bishop of Agrigentum falsely accused by Sabinus and Crescentius Gods power cast the Devill out of Eudocia the Devill or spirit of Slander and compelled her to speak the truth St. Austin in his book De curâ promortuis tels of a dead Father that appeared to his oppressed Son and in a great matter of Law delivered him from the teeth of false accusation So was the Church of Monts rescued by the appearance of Aia the deceased wife of Hidulphus their Earle as appears in the Hanovian story and the Polonian Chronicles tell the like of Stanislaus Bishop of Cracovia almost oppressed by the anger and calumny of Boleslaus their King God relieved him by the testimony of St. Peter their Bishop or a Phantasme like him But whether these records may be credited or no I contend not yet it is very materiall which Eusebius relates of the three false witnesses accusing Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem of an infamous crime which they did affirming it under severall curses the first wishing that if he said false God would destroy him with fire the second that he might die of the Kings evil the third that he might be blind and so it came to passe the first being surprised with fire in his owne roofe amaz'd and intricated confounded and despairing paid the price of his slander with the pains of most fearfull flames and the second
while his nets were drying slept upon the rock and dreamt that he was made a King on a sudden starts up and leaping for joy fals down from the rock and in the place of his imaginary felicities loses his little portion of pleasure and innocent folaces he had from the sound sleep and little cares of his humble cottage And what is the prosperity of the wicked to dwel in fine houses or to command armies or to be able to oppresse their brethren or to have much wealth to look on or many servants to feed or much businesse to dispatch and great cares to master these things are of themselves neither good nor bad but consider would any man amongst us looking and considering before hand kill his lawful King to be heire of all that which I have named would any of you choose to have God angry with you upon these terms would any of you be a perjured man for it all A wise man or a good would not choose it would any of you die an Atheist that you might live in plenty and power I believe you tremble to think of it It cannot therefore be a happinesse to thrive upon the stock of a great sin for if any man should contract with an impure spirit to give his soul up at a certain day it may be 20. years hence upon the condition he might for 20. years have his vain desires should we not think that person infinitely miserable every prosperous thriving sinner is in the same condition within these twenty years he shall be thrown into the portion of Devils but shall never come out thence in twenty millions of years His wealth must needs sit uneasie upon him that remembers that within a short space he shall be extreamely miserable and if he does not remember it he does but secure it the more And that God defers the punishment and suffers evil men to thrive in the opportunities of their sin it may and does serve many ends of providence and mercy but serves no end that any evil men can reasonably wish or propound to themselves eligible Bias said well to a vitious person Non metuo ne non sis daturus paenas sed metuo ne id non sim visurus He was sure the man should be punished he was not sure he should live to see it and though the messenians that were betrayed and slain by Aristocrates in the battle of Cyprus were not made alive again yet the justice of God was admired and treason infinitly disgraced when twenty years after the treason was discovered and the the traitor punished with a horrid death Lyciscus gave up the Orchomenians to their enemies having first wished his feet which he then dipt in water might rot off if he were not true to them and yet his feet did not rot till those men were destroyed and of a long time after and yet at last they did slay them not O Lord lest my people forget it saith David if punishment were instantly and totally inflicted it would be but a sudden and single document but a slow and lingring judgement and a wrath breaking out in the next age is like an universal proposion teaching our posterity that God was angry all the while that he had a long indignation in his brest that he would not forget to take veangeance and it is a demonstration that even the prosperous sins of the present age will finde the same period in the Divine revenge when men see a judgement upon the Nephevvs for the sins of their Grand-fathers though in other instances and for sinnes acted in the dayes of their Ancestors We knovv that vvhen in Henry the eighth or Edvvard the sixth dayes some great men pulled dovvn Churches and built palaces and robd religion of its just incouragements and advantages the men that did it were sacrilegious and we finde also that God hath been punishing that great sin ever since and hath displaied to so many generations of men to three or four descents of children that those men could not be esteemed happy in their great fortunes against whom God was so angry that he would show his displeasure for a hundred years together When Herod had killed the babes of Bethlehem it was seven years before God called him to an account But he that looks upon the end of that man would rather choose the fat of the oppressed babes then of the prevailing and triumphing Tyrant It was fourty years before God punished the Jews for the execrable murder committed upon the person of their King the holy Jesus and it was so long that when it did happen many men attributed it to their killing S. James their Bishop and seemed to forget the greater crime but non eventu rerum sed fide verborum stamus we are to stand to the truth of Gods word not to the event of things Because God hath given us a rule but hath left the judgement to himself and we die so quickly and God measures althings by his standard of eternity and 1000 years to God is but as one day that we are not competent persons to measure the times of Gods account and the returnes of judgement We are dead before the arrow comes but the man scapes not unlesse his soul can die or that God cannot punish him Ducunt in bonis dies suos in momento descendunt ad infernum that 's their fate they spend their dayes in plenty and in a moment descend into hell in the meane time they drink and forget their sorrow but they are condemned they have drunk their hemlock but the poison does not work yet the bait is in their mouths and they are sportive but the hook hath strook their nostrils and they shall never escape the ruine And let no man call the man fortunate because his execution is deferd for a few dayes when the very deferring shall increase and ascertain the condemnation But if we should look under the skirt of the prosperous and prevailing Tyrant we should finde even in the dayes of his joyes such allayes and abatements of his pleasure as may serve to represent him presently miserable besides his final infelicities For I have seen a young and healthful person warm and ruddy under a poor and a thin garment when at the same time an old rich person hath been cold and paralytick under a load of sables and the skins of foxes it is the body that makes the clothes warm not the clothes the body and the spirit of a man makes felicity and content not any spoils of a rich fortune wrapt about a sickly and an uneasie soul. Apollodorus was a Traitor and a Tyrant and the world wondered to see a bad man have so good a fortune But knew not that he nourished Scorpions in his brest and that his liver and his heart were eaten up with Spectres and images of death his thoughts were full of interruptions his dreams of illusions his fancie was abused with real troubles and
man that suffers sorrow and persecution ought to be relieved by us but needs not be pitied in the summe of affairs But since the two estates of the world are measured by time and by eternity and divided by joy and sorrow and no man shall have his portions of joyes in both the durations the state of those men is insupportably miserable who are fatted for slaughter and are crowned like beasts for sacrifice who are feared and fear who cannot enjoy their purchases but by communications with others and themselves have the least share but themselves are alone in the misery and the saddest dangers and they possesse the whole portions of sorrows to whom their prosperity gives but occasions to evil counsels and strength to do mischief or to nourish a serpent or oppresse a neighbour or to nurse a lust to increase folly and treasure up calamity And did ever any man see or story tell that any tyrant Prince kissed his rods and axes his sword of justice and his Imperiall ensignes of power They shine like a taper to all things but it self but we read of many Martyrs who kissed their chains and hugged their stakes and saluted their hangman with great endearments and yet abating the incursions of their seldom sins these are their greatest evils and such they are with which a wise and a good man may be in love And till the sinners and ungodly men can be so with their deep groans and broken sleeps with the wrath of God and their portions of eternity till they can rejoyce in death and long for a resurrection and with delight and a greedy hope can think of the day of judgement we must conclude that their glasse gems and finest pageantry their splendid outsides and great powers of evil cannot make amends for that estate of misery which is their portion with a certainty as great as is the truth of God and all the Articles of the Christian Creed Miserable men are they who cannot be blessed unlesse there be no day of judgement who must perish unlesse the word of God should fail If that be all their hopes then we may with a sad spirit and a soul of pity inquire into the Question of the Text Where shall the ungodly and sinner appear Even there where Gods face shall never shine where there shall be fire and no light where there shall be no Angels but what are many thousands yeers ago turned into Devils where no good man shall ever dwell and from whence the evil and the accursed shall never be dismissed O my God let my soul never come into their counsels nor lie down in their sorrows Sermon XII THE MERCY OF THE DIVINE IVDGMENTS OR Gods Method in curing Sinners 2. Romanes 4. Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance FRom the beginning of Time till now all effluxes which have come from God have been nothing but emanations of his goodnesse clothed in variety of circumstances He made man with no other designe then that man should be happy and by receiving derivations from his fountain of mercy might reflect glory to him And therefore God making man for his own glory made also a paradise for mans use and did him good to invite him to do himself a greater for God gave forth demonstrations of his power by instances of mercy and he who might have made ten thousand worlds of wonder and prodigy and created man with faculties able onely to stare upon and admire those miracles of mightinesse did choose to instance his power in the effusions of mercy that at the same instant he might represent himself desireable and adorable in all the capacities of amability that is as excellent in himself and profitable to us For as the Sun sends forth a benigne and gentle influence on the seed of Plants that it may invite forth the active and plastick power from its recesse and secresie that by rising into the tallnesse and dimensions of a tree it may still receive a greater and more refreshing influence from its foster-father the prince of all the bodies of light and in all these emanations the Sun its self receives no advantage but the honour of doing benefits so doth the Almighty Father of all the creatures He at first sends forth his blessings upon us that we by using them aright should make our selves capable of greater while the giving glory to God and doing homage to him are nothing for his advantage but onely for ours our duties towards him being like vapours ascending from the earth not at all to refresh the region of the clouds but to return back in a fruitfull and refreshing shower And God created us not that we can increase his felicity but that he might have a subject receptive of felicity from him thus he causes us to be born that we may be capable of his blessings he causes us to be baptized that we may have a title to the glorious promises Evangelicall he gives us his Son that we may be rescued from hell and when we constraine him to use harsh courses towards us it is also in mercy he smites us to cure a disease he sends us sicknesse to procure our health and as if God were all mercy he his mercifull in his first designe in all his instruments in the way and in the end of the journey and does not onely shew the riches of his goodnesse to them that do well but to all men that they may do well he is good to make us good he does us benefits to make us happy and if we by despising such gracious rayes of light and heat stop their progresse and interrupt their designe the losse is not Gods but ours we shall be the miserable and accursed people This is the sense and paraphrase of my Text. Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse c. Thou dost not know that is thou considerest not that it is for further benefit that God does thee this the goodnesse of God is not a designe to serve his own ends upon thee but thine upon him The goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance Here then is Gods method of curing man-kind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First goodnesse or inviting us to him by sugred words by the placid arguments of temporall favour and the propositions of excellent promises Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the same time although God is provoked every day yet he does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he tolerates our stubbornnesse he forbears to punish and when he does begin to strike takes his hand off and gives us truce and respite For so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies laxamentum and inducias too Thirdly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still a long putting off and deferring his finall destroying anger by using all meanes to force us to repentance and this especially by the way of judgements these being the last reserves of the Divine mercy and
is a law for sons not for servants and God that gives his grace without measure and rewards without end and acts of favour beyond our askings and provides for us beyond our needs and gives us counsels beyond commandments intends not to be limited out by the just evennesses and stricken measures of the words of a commandment Give to God full measure 〈◊〉 together pressed down heaped up and running over for God does so to us and when we have done so to him we are infinitely short of the least measure of what God does for us we are still unprofitable servants And therefore as the breaking any of the laws of Christianity provoks God to anger so the prevaricating in the analogy of Christianity stirres him up to jealousie He hath reason to suspect our hearts are not right with him when we are so reserved in the matter and measures of our services and if we will give God but just what he calls for by expresse mandate it is just in him to require all of that at our hands without any abatement then we are sure to miscarry And let us remember that when God said he was a jealous God he expressed the meaning of it to be he did punish to the third and fourth genoration Jelousie is like the rage of a man but if it be also like the anger of God it is insupportable and will crush us into the ruines of our grave But because these things are not frequently considered there are very many sins committed against religion which because the commandment hath not marked men refuse to mark and think God requires no more I am entred into a sea of matter which I must not now prosecute but I shall onely note this to you that it is but reasonable we should take accounts of our lives by the proportions as well as by the expresse rules of our religion because in humane and civil actions all the nations of the world use so to call their subjects to account For that which in the accounts of men is called reputation and publick honesty is the same which in religion we call analogy and proportion in both cases there being some things which are besides the notices of laws and yet are the most certain consignations of an excellent vertue He is a base person that does any thing against publick honesty and yet no man can be punished if he marries a wife the next day after his first wives funeral and so he that prevaricates the proportions and excellent reasons of Christianity is a person without zeal and without love and unlesse care be taken of him he will quickly be without religion But yet these I say are a sort of persons which are to be used with gentlenesse and treated with compassion for no man must be handled roughly to force him to do a kindnesse and coercion of laws and severity of Judges serjeants and executioners are against offenders of commandments But the way to cure such persons is the easiest and genteliest remedy of all others They are to be instructed in all the parts of duty and invited forward by the consideration of the great rewards which are laid up for all the sons of God who serve him without constraint without measures and allaves even as fire burns and as the roses grow even as much as they can and to all the extent of their natural and artificial capacities For it is a thing fit for our compassion to see men fettered in the iron bands of laws and yet to break the golden chains of love but all those instruments which are proper to enkindle the love of God and to turn fear into charity are the proper instances of that compassion which is to be used towards these men 2. The next sort of those who are in the state of sin and yet to be handled gently and with compassion are those who entertain themselves with the beginnings and little entrances of sin which as they are to be more pitied because they often come by reason of inadvertancy and an unavoidable weaknesse in many degrees so they are more to be taken care of because they are undervallued undiscernably run into incovenience when we see a childe strike a servant rudely or jeere a silly person or wittily cheat his play-fellow or talk words light as the skirt of a summer garment we laugh and are delighted with the wit and confidence of the boy and incourage such hopeful beginnings and in the mean time we consider not that from these beginnings he shall grow up till he become a Tyrant an oppressor a Goat and a Traytor Nemo simul malus fit malus esse cernitur sicut nec scorpijs tum innasâ—untur stimuli cum pungunt No man is discerned to be vitious so soon as he is so and vices have their infancy and their childe-hood and it cannot be expected that in a childs age should be the vice of a man that were monstrous as if he wore a beard in his cradle and we do not believe that a serpents sting does just then grow when he stricks us in a vital part The venome and the little spear was there when it first began to creep from his little shell And little boldnesses and looser words and wranglings for nuts and lying for trifles are of the same proportion to the malice of a childe as impudence and duels and injurious law-suits and false witnesse in judgement perjuries are in men And the case is the same when men enter upon a new stock of any sin the vice is at first apt to be put out of countenance and a little thing discourages it and it amuses the spirit with words and phantastick images and cheape instances of sin and men think themselves safe because they are as yet safe from laws and the sin does not as yet out cry the healthful noise of Christs loud cryings and intercession with his Father nor call for thunder or an amazing judgement but according to the old saying the thornes of Dauphine will never fetch blood if they do not scratch the first day we shal finde that the little undecencies and riflings of our souls the first openings and disparkings of our vertue differ onely from the state of perdition as infancy does from old age as sicknesse from death It is the entrance into those regions whether whosoever passes finally shall lie down and groan with an eternal sorrow Now in this case it may happen that a compassion may ruine a man if it be the pity of an indiscreet mother and nurse the sin from its weaknesse to the strength of habit and impudence The compassion that is to be used to such persons is the compassion of a Phisitian or a severe Tutor chastise thy infant-sinne by discipline and acts of vertue and never begin that way from whence you must return with some trouble and much shame or else if you proceed you finish your eternal ruine He that means to
one and he whom I serve is obliged to feed and to defend me in the same proportions as I serve and justice is a relative terme and supposes two persons obliged and though fortunes are unequal and estates are in majority and subordination and men are wise or foolish honoured or despised yet in the entercourses of justice God hath made that there is no difference and therefore it was esteemed ignoble to dismisse a servant when corn was dear in dangers of shipwrack to throw out an unprofitable boy and keep a fair horse or for a wise man to snatch a plank from a drowning fool or if the Master of the ship should challenge the board upon which his passenger swims for his life or to obtrude false moneys upon others which we first took for true but at last discovered to be false or not to discover the gold which the merchant sold for alchimy The reason of all these is because the collateral advantages are not at all to be considered in matter of rights and though I am dearest to my self as my neighbour is to himself yet it is necessary that I permit him to his own advantages as I desire to be permitted to mine Now therefore simplicity and ingenuity in all contracts is perfectly and exactly necessary because its contrary destroys that equality which justice hath placed in the affaires of men and makes all things private and makes a man dearer to himself and to be preferred before Kings and republicks and Churches it destroyes society and it makes multitudes of men to be but like heards of beasts without proper instruments of exchange and securities of possession without faith and without propriety concerning all which there is no other account to be given but that the rewards of craft are but a little money and a great deal of dishonour and much suspicion and proportionable scorn watches and guards spies and jealousies are his portion But the crown of justice is a fair life and a clear reputation an inheritance there where justice dwells since she left the earth even in the kingdome of the just who shall call us to judgement for every word and render to every man according to his works and what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when the Lord taketh away his soul Tollendum esse ex rebus contrahendis omne mendacium That 's the sum of this rule no falshod or deceit is to be endured in any contract 5. Christian simplicity hath also its necessity and passes obligation upon us towards enemies in questions of law or war Plutarch commends Lysander and Philopaemen for their craft and subtilty in war but commends it not as an ornament to their manners but that which had influence into prosperous events just as Ammianus affirms nullo discrimine virtutis ac doli prosperos omnes laudari debere bellorum eventus whatsoever in war is prosperous men use to commend But he that is a good souldier is not alwayes a good man Callicratidas was a good man and followed the old way of downright hostility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But Lysander was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a crafty man full of plots but not noble in the conduct of his armes I remember Euripides brings in Achilles commending the ingenuity of his breeding and the simplicity and noblenesse of his own heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The good old man Chiron was my Tutor and he taught me to use simplicity and honesty in all my manners It was well and noble But yet some wise men do not condemn all souldiers that use to get victories by deceit Saint Austin allows it to be lawful and Saint Chrysostome commends it These Good men supposed that a crafty victory was better then a bloody war and certainly so it is if the power gotten by craft be not exercised in blood But this businesse as to the case of conscience will quickly be determined Enemies are no persons bound by contract and society and therefore are not obliged to open hostilities and ingenuous prosecutions of the war and if it be lawful to take by violence it is not unjust to take the same thing by craft But this is so to be understood that where there is an obligation either by the law of nations or by special contracts No man dare to violate his faith or honour but in these things deal with an ingenuity equal to the truth of peacefull promises and acts of favour and endearment to our relatives Josephus tells of the sons of Herod that in their enmities with their Vncle Pherora and Salome they had disagreeing manners of prosecution as they had disagreeing hearts some railed openly and thought their enmity the more honest because it was not concealed but by their ignorance and rude untutor'd malice lay open to the close designes of the elder brood of foxes In this because it was a particular and private quarrel there is no rule of conscience but that it be wholly laid aside and appeased with charity for the opennesse of the quarrel was but the rage and indiscretion of the malice and the close designe was but the craft and advantage of the malice But in just wars on that side where a competent authority and a just cause warrants the arms and turns the active opposition into the excuse and licence of defence there is no restraint upon the actions and words of men in the matter of sincerity but that the laws of nations be strictly pursued and all parties promises and contracts observed religiously by the proportion of a private Christian ingenuity We finde it by wise and good men mentioned with honour that the Romans threw bread from the besieged Capitol into the stations of the Gauls that they might think them full of corn and that Agesilaus discouraged the enemies by causing his own men to wear crowns in token of a Navall victory gotten by Pisander who yet was at that time destroyed by Conon and that Flaccus said the city was taken by Emilius or that Joshua dissembled a flight at Ai and the Consul Quinctius told aloud that the left wing of the enemies was fled and that made the right wing fly or that Valerius Levinus bragged prudently that he had killed Pyrrhus and that others use the ensigns of enemies colours and garments concerning which sort of actions and words Agesilaus in Plutarch said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is just and pleasant profitable and glorious but to call a parley and fall in upon the men that treat to swear a peace and watch advantage to entertain Heralds and then to torment them to get from them notices of their party these are such which are dishonorable and unjust condemned by the laws of nations and essential justice by all the world and the Hungarian army was destroyed by a divine judgement at the prayer appeal of the Mahumetan enemy for their violating their faith and honour
and there is no instance in Scripture of the Divine forgivenesse but in such instances the misery of which was a fit instrument to speak aloud the glories of Gods mercies and gentlenesse and readinesse to forgive Such were S. Paul a persecutor and S. Peter that forswore his Master Mary Magdalene with seven Devils the thief upon the crosse Manasses an Idolater David a murderer and adulterer the Corinthian for incest the children of Israel for ten times rebelling against the Lord in the wildernesse with murmuring and infidelity and rebellion and schisme and a golden calf and open disobedience and above all I shall instance in the Pharisees among the Jews who had sinned against the Holy Ghost as our Blessed Saviour intimates and tels the particular viz. in saying that the Spirit of God by which Christ did work was an evil spirit and afterward they crucified Christ so that two of the Persons of the most Holy Trinity were openly and solemnly defied and God had sent out a decree that they should be cut off yet 40. yeers time after all this was left for their repentance and they were called upon by arguments more perswasive and more excellent in that 40. yeers then all the Nation had heard from their Prophets even from Samuel to Zecharias And Jonas thought he had reason on his side to refuse to go to threaten Nineveh he knew Gods tendernesse in destroying his creatures and he should be thought to be but a false Prophet and so it came to passe according to his belief Jonah prayed unto the Lord and said I pray thee Lord was not this my saying when I was yet in my countrey therefore I fled for I knew thou wert a gracious God and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse and repentest thee of the evil He told before hand what the event would be and he had reason to know it God proclaimed it in a cloud before the face of all Israel and made it to be his Name Miserator misericors Deus The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious c. You see the largenesse of this treasure but we can see no end for we have not yet looked upon the rare arts of conversion nor that God leaves the naturall habit of vertues even after the acceptation is interrupted nor his working extraregular miracles besides the sufficiencie of Moses and the Prophets and the New Testament and thousands more which we cannot consider now But this we can when God sent an Angel to pour plagues upon the earth there were in their hands Phialae aureae golden phials for the death of men is precious and costly and it is an expence that God delights not in but they were Phials that is such vessels as out of them no great evil could come at once but it comes out with difficulty sobbing and troubled as it passes forth it comes thorow a narrow neck and the parts of it croud at the port to get forth and are stifled by each others neighbourhood and all strive to get out but few can passe as if God did nothing but threaten and draw his judgements to the mouth of the Phial with a full body and there made it stop it self The result of this consideration is that as we fear the Divine judgements so that we adore and love his goodnesse and let the golden chains of the Divine mercy tie us to a noble prosecution of our duty and the interests of religion For he is the worst of men whom Kindnesse cannot soften nor endearments oblige whom gratitude cannot tie faster then the bands of life and death He is an ill natur'd sinner if he will not comply with the sweetnesses of heaven and be civill to his Angel guardian or observant of his Patron God who made him and feeds him and keeps all his faculties and takes care of him and endures his follies and waits on him more tenderly then a Nurse more diligently then a Client who hath greater care of him then his father and whose bowels yern over him with more compassion then a mother who is bountifull beyond our needs and mercifull beyond our hopes and makes capacities in us to receive more Fear is stronger then death and Love is more prevalent then Fear and kindnesse is the greatest endearment of Love and yet to an ingenuous person gratitude is greater then all these and obliges to a solemn duty when love fails and fear is dull and unactive and death it self is despised but the man who is hardened against kindnesse and whose duty is not made alive with gratitude must be used like a slave and driven like an ox and inticed with goads and whips but must never enter into the inheritance of sons Let us take heed for Mercy is like a rainbowe which God set in the clouds to remember mankinde it shines here as long as it is not hindered but we must never look for it after it is night and it shines not in the other world if we refuse mercy here we shall have justice to eternity Sermon XXVIII A FVNERAL SERMON Preached at the Obsequies of the Right Honorable and most vertuous Lady The Lady FRANCES Countesse of CARBERY Who deceased October the 9th 1650. at her House Golden-Grove in CARMARTHEN-SHIRE To the right Honorable and truly Noble RICHARD Lord VAVGHAN Earl of Carbery Baron of Emlim and Molinger Knight of the Honorable Order of the Bath My Lord I Am not ashamed to professe that I pay this part of service to your Lordship most unwillingly for it is a sad office to be the chief Minister in the house of mourning and to present an interested person with a branch of Cypresse and a bottle of tears And indeed my Lord it were more proportionable to your needs to bring something that might alleviate your sorrow then to dresse the hearse of your Dear Lady and to furnish it with such circumstances that it may dwell with you and lie in your closet and make your prayers and your retirements more sad and full of weepings But because the Divine providence hath taken from you a person so excellent a woman fit to converse with Angels and Apostles with Saints and Martyrs give me leave to present you with her picture drawn in little and in water-colours sullied indeed with tears and the abrupt accents of a real and consonant sorrow but drawn with a faithful hand and taken from the life and indeed it were too great a losse to be deprived of her example and of her rule of the original and the copy too The age is very evil and deserved her not but because it is so evil it hath the more need to have such lives preserved in memory to instruct our piety or upbraid our wickednesse For now that God hath cut this tree of Paradise down from its seat of earth yet so the dead trunk may support a part of the declining Temple or at least serve to kindle the fire on the altar My