19. We cannot discern his track by reason of their tumultuous doings These are they that are to be prepared and stilled and quieted the Soul calm'd and laid and smooth'd that Christ may come into it But this is the way into which and not by which he comes The way by which he comes or we meet him is first the way of Faith Faith is the way by which he comes into the souls of men the way in which St. Paul worshipped the God of his Fathers Acts xxiv 14. in and by which we first come unto our Lord and worship him as did our fathers Prepare your hearts for it prepare them for him that when he comes he may find faith upon the earth in this earth of ours where e're else he miss it And here as Faith is the way so the several Articles of it may pass for the paths God grant we keep them right and streight and our selves streight to them in this perverse and crooked generation 2. The way secondly by which we meet him is the Law Mandata Legalia says another Not much distant from St. Paul's stiling it Schoolmaster to Christ the way to bring us to him The terrors and threatnings of the Law a good way to prepare us for his coming the Types and Figures a good way to lead us to him that we may see he is the same that was and is and is to come the Saviour of all that were and are and shall be sav'd the same the Patriarchs promised the Sacrifices prefigured the Prophets prophecied of the Iews expected the Apostles preach'd of the world believed on and all must be saved by With such thoughts as these then are we to set upon our preparation 1. To break our high and haughty spirits by the consideration of the terrors of the Law the curses due to them that break it and alas who is it that does not so to make way to let him in Then 2. by the Types and Figures to confirm our faith and make them so many several paths to trace out his foot-steps and know his coming 3. The third way by which we are prepared or which we are to prepare for him is Repentance The very way St. Iohn Baptist came to preach His Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand being the same with this Prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths streight Those words of the Prophet the Text and his the Comment No way indeed to Christ but by this way No way but by Repentance to begin it Turn ye turn ye says the Prophet we are all out of the way God knows from the beginning If we will into the way again into the way of our Lord turn we must repent we must of our former ways and doings get us into better ways And then paths here will be the streight and narrow ways the rigours and austerities of repentance the streightning our selves of all our former liberties and desires making our paths so streight and narrow that no tumour of pride no swellings of lust no pack-horses or heavy carriages of the world or Devil may pass by that way any more nothing but Christ and his little flock of humble vertues such as can enter at the streight state none else henceforward to walk in it Prepare we repentance and all its parts and paths for the third way and its paths A fourth is Baptism the way St. Iohn Baptist came in too a way that nam'd him so the way that was always thought to lead all to Christ and his Kingdom that came there in any ordinary way Arise and be baptized Acts xxii 16. that 's the way to the Lord Iesus The way he sent his Disciples in to bring in the world unto him St. Mark xvi 16. whatever shorter way our new men of late have found for their Disciples The Articles and conditions of the Covenant of Baptism promised and undertaken by the baptized either in their own persons or by proxy are the title paths of this great way the several tracks that make it up the ways and paths we are to walk in if we intend ever to meet the Lord. The fifth way is Gods Commandments a way that we all must make ready for him his own way indeed drawn out by his own hands and fingers a way of which himself professes that he came not to destroy it as some vainly delude themselves but to fulfil it to perfect to exalt it to a greater height from the outward act to the inward thought from the lower degree of vertue to the highest of it from bare precepts to additional counsels from meer external performances to right and regular intentions in them And here as the moral Precepts are the great plain way so the Christian Enhâ—â—sements of them to the highest pitch the regulations of them to right intentions and Christian counsels are the paths the narrow and straiter paths The sum and short is this Holy Christian life and conversation in all its parts according to our powers and capacities is the fifth way to be prepared by them that seek the Lord and expect to see his face And yet if there be room and leave for a private conjecture the way of Gods providence in his judgments and mercies towards Ierusalem the way of his mercy in saving the believing and destroying the unbelieving Iew now near at hand may come in for a sixth way of the Lord A way indeed past finding out in all its secret paths yet to be prepared for and more then pointed at by the Prophet Isaiah in that place whence the words are taken and by St. Iohn in this God there bids comfort his captive people for their deliverance from Babylon was now nigh at hand and their enemies near destruction calls to them therefore to prepare themselves for it to make ready and expect it And here S. Iohn Baptist tells the people the Kingdom of Heaven is now at hand S. Matth. 3. 2. which by comparing it with that wrath to come threatned to the Pharisees and Sadduces v. 7. with his exhortation to flee from it and by the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord mentioned by the Prophet Malachi iv 5. in the place where S. Iohn Baptists coming is foretold and the dreadfulness of it exprest Chap. iii. 2. where he is said to come to prepare his way before him but ver 1 c. S. Iohns inviting to repentance to divert or shun it can be no other than Christs coming in Judgment against Ierusalem to execute vengeance upon his enemies and deliver his faithful servants vengeance and deliverance the two great manifestations of his Power and Kingdom and sure no more then need to cry out to us to prepare and make right paths against that coming make way for his judgments to pass by us and his mercies to come to us Thus you have the way and paths observe them many several paths but one only way to Christ and Heaven
Observantiis in Ceremoniis the several translations of the words again shall serve to head them Nehemiahs good deeds First To the Officers Secondly To the Offices Thirdly To the Ceremonies of the House these three shall be the Heads 1. Misericordias in Custodiis taking the Abstract for the Concrete His mercies to the Officers and Keepers of the House those who are set to watch and keep it them we take the first And indeed the Officers and Ministers they had need of them first and last need all the mercies that Nehemiah or any of you can shew them For not only unless the Lord keep the House but unless Nehemiah the Magistrate do so too you the Reveverend Iudges you the renowned Governours of the City the Watchmen the Priests and Levites will all labour but in vain Tobiah by his acquaintance and alliance Sanballat by his subtilty and pretences Geshem by his wealth and power will down with the Walls ere they be well dry and out with the Officers ere they are warm in their work and business Nehemiah therefore like a stout Governour sticks to them against those enemies of Sion and Hierusalem of peace and order whether open or conceal'd ones The first of them Chap. v. the other here ver 10. Against all that have ill will at Sion that envy the prosperity of the House of God he stands to them and protects them He Secondly disposes and settles them in their proper places ver 30. of this Chapter descends to take care even of the Singers and Porters or Vergers of the house Chap. xii 45. He calls home thirdly the poor Levite who had been forced to forsake the house for want of maintenance Chap. xii 11. delivers him from the oppression of such whose policy it was then and we know is still to starve the Levite or Minister out of the House that so they may either have no Minister at all and so scandalize the Government or none but such as will say and do what they would have them and so preach it down again He fourthly restores them all to their rights and dues establishes them to them too by a Law for time to come Chap. x. 32. and so on Lastly For their better maintenance and the readier performance of of the holy Office he commands the holy things and Vessels meat-Offerings and Oblations to their proper Chambers in custodias to be reserved in their several Wards Chap. xiii 9. And these in brief are Nehemiahs Misericordiae in Costodiis his good deeds to the Officers or Ministers of the House of God He defends them against their Enemies He confirms them in their Places He delivers them from their Oppressors He establishes them in their Rights He Orders all things to their best convenience Mercies never to be forgotten and I would our Age would remember them 2. Yet not them only but these that follow too And Misericordias in Observantiis are the next His Mercies to the Offices themselves Trace we him as we did before and we shall find him 1. restoring the observing of the solemn Fasts and Feasts in their due seasons Chap. viii 9 10 14. Vindicating 2. the Sabbath from prophanation Chap. xx 19. Making them 3. a solemn Form of Prayer Chap. ix 5. Setling 4. solemn Musick Hymns and Anthems of thanksgivings Chap. xii 27. Setting up 5. the publick reading and teaching of the Law of God Chap. viii 1. and ix 3. Re-establishing 6. the whole Office of Gods Publick Worship and Service according to the commandment of David the man of God Chap. xii 24. according to the ancient form and fashion 3. Follow we him a little further and you will see him 3. at Misericordias in Ceremoniis too how he behaved himself in the Ceremonies what good then And if you consider how reverently his people demean themselves at holy work how devoutly they all stand up at the reading of the Law Chap. viii 5. how unanimously they answer Amen at the Prayers and Blessing how they lift up their hands and bow their heads and worship the Lord with their faces to the ground ver 6. how content they are to be bound to the Statutes and Iudgments as well as the Commandments of God that is to the Ceremonials and Iudicials for so the words Statutes and Judgments do import as well as to the Moral Law and how he solemnly binds them to it by an oath Chap. ix 29. You cannot but say he has wrought a good work indeed upon them and by this Mercy kept them from disorder and confusion Mercy I say for there is none greater than to preserve the Sheep within the Fold than to keep all in peace and order and oblige men by Laws and Oaths to do their duties to attend the holy Offices diligently in a comely uniformity who otherwise would some of them never think of it and others under pretence of Christian Liberty run every day into all unchristian licentiousness and prophaneness and wander up and down in eternal errors and perish in them And sure to save them though against their wills is a mercy they need not quarrel with These now are the several Mercies of Nehemiah to the House of God and to the Offices thereof You will understand them better by his Bounty Misericordias fuller by Beneficentiam which is the second sort of his good deeds And the first kind of his Bounty is his own and his servants labour freely bestowed upon the Work For 't is no matter now whether we divide or joyn the House and Offices In effect it is no less than the whole Revenues of his Command and Government whilst refusing the Pay of the Governour Cha. v. 15 18. he suffered it so to run on towards the repairs It seems he was resolved not to enrich himself however by the Church but as the Phrase is rather lay out himself upon it The second Expression of it is the free entertainment of one hundred and fifty of those that laboured in the Work at his own Table at his own charges ver 17. of that cited Chapter He would neither grow rich upon the Churches charge or spare his own to enrich or at least recover that to its former greatness The third Manifestation of his Bounty is his voluntary gift of one thousand Drachmes of Gold to the Treasury of the House Chap. vii 70. a kind of springing stream of supplies unto it Add now the fifty Basins and Gold or Silver they must be the five hundred and fifty Priests Garments and they were no little cost as the Priests Garments then were made Exod. xxviii 40. for beauty all and glory the charging himself besides and all the people with a yearly Tax or Publick Revenue for the repair and service of the House and you will confess it a bounty beyond expression Especially if you consider not only that and what but when and how as the Story will inform you you will say Misericordias and Beneficentiam are lean and
able to hold and here it is that some have desir'd God to depart a while to hold a while least they should over-flow at least and lose so pretious a liquor if not break in pieces and lose themselves in so vast a depth or at so forciblee a pouring in of heavenly pleasures upon them But I am too high now for that lean meagre creeping goodness which is only to be found among the sons of men in these latter days where we meet with this desire in a lower key if at all Our souls you know are the vessels of divine grace old crazie ones God wot and there is a danger least the new liquor of celestial grace should cause them to crack and break at its approach There is something which we are not able to bear away at first Christian Profession must come in to us by degrees Christ must come a little and go a little or come a little and hold a little line upon line precept upon precept here a little and there a little not all at once no go away a little turn aside a little O Lord and require not of us all at once but by degrees visit us and bear with us With this kind of entreaty we may desire him to withhold now and then in mercy from us for we are sinful men and not able to endure other fuller dealings with us And lastly in humility we may desire God to depart from us when he approaches to us in thunder and lightning when he comes armed like a man of war then we may cry and not without cause O come not to us or go from us for we are sinful men O Lord have thou therefore mercy up-upon us and forbear us We have seen by this time how we may use St. Peters words and how we must not use them We may in humility desire God to withdraw his Judgments to proportion his Mercies and to distill them by degrees to forbear to overthrow our nature or overwhelm our souls with a happiness above our mortal capacity We may lastly by such a kind of speech declare the sense of our own unworthiness to receive so glorious a Guest home to us so even wishing him to chuse a better house to be in or make ours such But we must not through natural imperfection or impatience draw back our selves from the service of God or desire him to draw back from us nor must we at any time by sin cause him to depart or by perverseness and iniquity thrust him out of doors nor yet lastly grow weary of the gracious effects and tenders of his Presence in his Sacraments Word and Worship For so we do not so much confess as profess and make our selves to be sinful men in humility you may sometimes use the words in impatience never We cannot now you see say always he does well that with St. Peter says to Christ Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord yet there is something to make the desire at least seem reasonable and often be so when he says it as St. Peter did And the first Reason why St. Peter desires Christ to depart here is for that he is a man and the first Reason why we are all so willing to have God gone from us is because we are men 1. mutable and inconstant pieces which are neither well when God is with us nor when he is from us If he be with us then presently Fac cessare sanctum Israel à nobis Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us Isa. xxx 11. We cannot away with that strictness and exactness he requires of us his ways are not pleasing to us As soon as he is departed then we are at another cue Thou turnedst away thy face and I was troubled Psal. xxx 7. Why art thou absent from us so long Why hidest thou thy face from me And the like Secondly Man is a mortal nature a piece of clay Now earth cannot contain heaven We cannot endure the thunder as it roars or lightnings as they glister much less him whose Presence is more terrible whose Voice more dreadful who even shakes the Wilderness with his breath at whose Presence the Earth removes and hail-stones and coals of fire tumble down Thirdly Flesh is grass we are but hay and stubble and God is a consuming fire well may mortality then desire him to depart lest it should consume it in a moment Fourthly It was the opinion of the Iew that man could not see God and live as apears by Manoah's speech Iudg. xiii 22. and several other places St. Peter it may be had such an imagination whence it is he desires Christ to depart from him being no other than God himself after whose sight he was perhaps afraid he had seen his last Thus man as man thinks he can spare the Presence of his Lord as feeling his earthly Cottage altogether unable in it self to entertain him But 2. reflecting upon his sin whereby he is yet made far more unfitting and undeserving such an honour he desires the absence of God by reason of his sin He loves his sin and is loth to forgo it and knows God will not be content to dwell with it so he wretchedly chuses rather the company of sin than of his God this is the way that men of the World only speak the Text. 2. Sin even bids defiance to the Almighty and turns him out of doors that 's the reason men so readily bid God depart from them 3. Sin so dis-enables the powers of soul and body to any handsom attendance upon heaven that neither of them know how to receive him if he should come and besides such a stench and filth there is from it in all the soul that the Divine Purity cannot endure them Thus sinful man bids God go from him because he is a sinful man Now comes the last reason why God is entreated to depart because he is the Lord our God A reason not readily conceived yet this it is Thou art the Lord a God of pure eyes a strickt Master over thy servants a person far above the reach and quality of thy Vassals under thee They are therefore no fit company for thee Thou so infinitely transcendest them These are the Reasons which St. Peter seems to alledge to perswade Christ from his poor wretched company because both his natural imperfections and his sinful weaknesses made him unfit for the company and unworthy the favour of his Savionrs glorious Presence If we consider the same Reasons they will serve to humble us as low as St. Peter did himself to think our selves unworthy of the least glance of our Saviours eye we will confess if we remember that we are but men that our frail inconstant corruptible nature is not answerable to the glory of so great a blessing we will acknowledge if we recollect we are sinful men that we are not worthy that those eyes should look upon us that infinite beauty come near
observe that too and though many ways I shewed you they all come into one Law and Gospel Baptism and Repentance Faith and Obedience Mercy and Judgment Precepts and Counsels all into one 'T is way in the singular to shew that peace and unity is the only way of the Lord the only way of Christ. Yet 2. both paths and way it is We must descend to particulars every one to cleanse his own his own private paths Not only shew me thy ways O Lord says David but teach me thy paths too Psal. xxv 3. Not only to rectifie the outward action but the inward thoughts not to content our selves with a general profession but to come to a particular practice of Religion of the way of Christ. Observe that too Particular practice I say and yet 3. of the general way of the way generally and Catholickly held by all and 2. of all things generally in that way all the several tracks of vertue none to be omitted seeing the paths indefinitely one as well as another none as I hear excepted are here to be made strait that 's a third thing I wish observed But lastly the way first prepared then the paths made streight Christs way is a way of order First a general resolution to make all streight and ready then a particular entring into every path to do it Resolve first upon the way of Piety then take the paths that lead best to it parate first then facite prepare good resolutions then set to do them Nothing done well before them nothing well done without them And viam first then semitas the plain way of the Commandments for beginners the harder and streighter way of Counsels for great proficieâ—ts and perfect men II. The way and path thus now found out we are next to enquire whose it is or to whom it leads Viam Domini the Lords it is so the Septuagint and Evangelists all render it in the Genetive and Domino it is too so the Hebrew in the Dative to him it is or for him it is to him it is it leads for him it is prepar'd the preparation all for him Viam Domini 1. His way first and not our own Non sunt viae meae viae vestrae Isa lv 8. His ways are not ours ours are Lust Covetousness Ambition Hypocrisie meer superficial and external Works Vanity and Error The ways we spoke of Mercy and Truth Faith Hope Charity Obedience and all good ways are his not ours we have no good ones of our own Nay even our Souls those ways too into which he comes are his his and not our own the Soul of the Father and the Soul of the Son of all Fathers and Sons all mine says God Ezek. xviii 4. Our Bodies too they are Gods 1 Cor. vi 20. bodies and spirits all his made and prepared for his own way and Service all again to be prepared by us that they may be fit for him to walk and be in For 2. Viam Domino it is To him all our ways and paths must be directed to his Glory and Worship all lead to him as to the end of all from him all good ways come to him all good ways tend he is Alpha and Omega is and must be the beginning and end of them They are Domini Domino both of the Lord and to the Lord all our ways and preparations or all are wrong To him as to my Lord the King visiting us in mercy and gracing us with his presence and to him as to my Lord Judge to visit us in judgment and punish all offenders as a Lord to us or a Lord against us as our own King in triumph or another King in fury and to him in each consideration there is a proper way and a proper way of preparing it III. And now 3. Be it what way it will and to the Lord under what notion or way we will a preparation there is due a preparation next enjoyn'd us Indeed there is no meeting him unprepar'd better meet a Lion in the way or a Bear robb'd of her Whelps than him unprepar'd Prepare your hearts unto the Lord says the Prophet Samuel 1 Sam. vii 3. And make streight paths for your feet says the Apostle Heb. xii 13. Law and Gospel both for preparation If thou come to serve the Lord prepare thy soul says the Son of Sirach Ecclus. ii 1. 2. If thou goest into his house prepare thy foot keep it keep an eye over it that it slip not there says the Son of David Eccles. v. 1. go not in rashly and in haste 3. Prepare thy mouth too that it be not too hasty to utter any thing says he ver 2. 4. If thou goest any where to pray before thou prayest prepare thy self Ecclus. xviii 23. they that fear the Lord will do so Ecclus. ii 17. will prepare their hearts yea and ponder their paths too for so Solomon advises us Prov. iv 26. Ponder the paths of thy feet and let all thy ways be established Nay ponder them and all thy ways shall be established so it may be read and so Iotham found it became mighty says that Text 2. Chron. xxvii 6. because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God No way to become great mighty and powerful with God or Man like preparing Gods way in righteousness keeping our selves streight to the ways of God a reward sufficient to establish it for a duty That we may do it as we should we are now next to enquire what is meant by this preparing and making streight and how we are to do it The word in the Original is either from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 panim facies and may be construed either by faciem date h. e. speciem make the way look fair give it a handsom face and so to prepare the way will be to cleanse the way or by faciem obverter or a facie amovere change the face of it or remove things off the surface of it and so to prepare it will be to clear the way of rubs and blocks to remove our sins out of the way Or 2. from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 angulus a corner and may be rendred Angulate corner it out and lay it to the line and rule And then to prepare will be to make it smooth regular and equal Put them together and to prepare the way will be to remove all soil and filth all blocks and impediments all roughness and unevenness out of our ways which are like any ways to hinder our Lords coming to us so to put all by that he may have way to come to us and we the easier and fullier receive him when he comes Thus to prepare his way will be to remove all hindrances and to make his paths streight will be to bring all furtherances to his coming To remove our sins by repentance which else would hinder him from coming is to prepare the way to regulate and order our paths to the rule of his Commandments
cannot but afflict us at his coming so it is we must see him See we must though but to see the justice of our own damnation Nothing can be more certain then this sight sight it is the surest sense and to see him at his coming is to be certain of it at the least but to see the Son of man at his coming is certainly with evidence and to be bound to see it to have such a tie upon us such a condition on us that we shall see it whether we will or no is a certainty with a necessity upon it That so no man may doubt of a final retribution whilst he is certain he shall one day see him who will reward every man according to his work Let not then the unjustly oppressed innocent let not the less prosperous godly spirit droop or the glorious and yet triumphing sinner the prosperous Rebel or thriving Atheist pride himself in the success of his Sins for he is coming that shall come and make the just mans eyes run over with joy and happiness for his fore-passed tears and fill the others eyes with shame and confusion for all their glory It may be long before he comes but come he will at last and his reward is with him 5. But who is this that comes so the Prophet once so we now or in what shape will he appear God is the Judge of all the earth and who is it that can see God Or if he has committed all judgment to the Son as it is S. Iohn iii. Yet who can see him either being of one substance with the Father the same individual and invisible Essence That therefore he may be seen he comes in the form of the Son of man This was that which Daniel foresaw in his night visions Dan. vii 13. one like the Son of man coming with the Clouds of Heaven that which S. Peter told Cornelius that he it was who was ordain'd to be the judge of quick and dead Acts x. 42. Not as he was Lord of Heaven and Earth or as he was the eternal off-spring of the Deity for so he could not be ordain'd he himself being from all eternity but as the Son of man for he hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of man St. John v. 27. That was it by which he obtain'd the Throne of Judgment having in that form both done and suffered all things for our salvation God thinking but just that he should be our Judge who came to save us from judgment that he should judge us who had been partaker of our infirmities and knew our weaknesses and would by the compassion of nature easier acquit us or with more evidence of justice condemn us himself having once been subject to the like humane though not sinful passions This is the form in which all eyes may see him all Nations behold him nor shall the scars of his wounds be covered but that even by them we may acknowledge our crucified Saviour is become our Judge Who whilst he judges us in the form of man will condemn us for nothing above the power of man And yet even by his actions as he was man will he condemn ours His Humility our Pride his Abstinence our Gluttony and excess his Patience our Impatience his Chastity our Lusts his paying Caesar beyond his due our undutiful with-drawings from him in a word his Goodness Piety and Devotion our ungodliness impieties and prophaneness And as it is a mercy thus to be judg'd by one who is sensible of our frail condition so is it a glory besides that our nature is so high exalted as to be the Judge of the world not of men only but Angels too What favour may we not expect when he is our Judge who is our Saviour who will not lay aside our nature in his Glory that he may retain that sympathy and compassion to us which was taken with it when he took it from us 6. I shall not here need to spend much time to tell you 6. what he comes for who have told you so often of a day of Judgment and the Son of man to sit on the tribunal His coming is to Judgment for he comes with power and that power of a Judge Only I must tell you 2. that his motion is no faster then an easie coming So loth is he to come to Judgment so unwilling to enter into dispute with Flesh and Blood that he delays the hasty prayers of the afflicted Saints under the Altars of Heaven seems a little to with-hold the full beams of mercy which he has laid up for the Saints rather then to post to the destruction of the wicked Yet for the elects sake to hasten he does a little and therefore he makes a Cloud the Chariot of his Power that when he once begins to come he may come quickly And not so only but come in Glory which is the last observable in his coming in a Cloud with Power and great Glory In a Cloud he ascended Acts 1. and the Angel told the Disciples there that he should so come as they saw him go In the Clouds say the other Evangelists they speak of more then one His cloud is not a single cloud there are attendant clouds upon it Angels surround his Throne S. Mat. xxv 31. the Trumpet of the Archangel sounds before him 2 Thess. i. 7. his Throne is a throne of Glory S. Mat. xix 28. and his Apostles Thrones are round about him and all things are in subjection under his feet 1 Cor. xv 27. Thus is he rewarded with Majesty and Glory for his meekness and humility that we seeing the recompence of those despised vertues may learn to embrace them by so strong incentives and allurements What will ye one day say O ye obstinate Iews when you shall see his Glory whose poverty you so despised What will ye do at his Throne of Judgment who would not receive him in his Cradle of Mercy How will his enemies bemoan themselves with them Wisd. v. We fools thought his life madness and his end without honour How is he now numbred among the children of God the first born amongst many brethren Fools indeed to count him what we did for he shall come again with Majesty and Glory Glory is a word by which Christ seems as it were ever and anon to refresh the fainting spirits of his Disciples which are ready to betray their Masters to despair upon the apprehension of the fears and terror which their Lord had told them should precede and accompany the latter day This word recalls their spirits that they begin to look up again and lift up their heads For having thus as it were amaz'd their thoughts and unhing'd their patience he setles them again with some special comfort that when these things begin to come to pass they should look up and lift up their heads for however it fall out to others their Redemption draweth nigh Never
known It were strange to hear of equity or civility or modesty or moderation that could not be seen ridiculous to call him merciful or equitable that shews it not by some condescension to stile him civil whose behaviour is nothing less him modest who shews nothing but immodesty him meek who expresses nothing but fury and impatience These are vertues we must needs see where e're they be It is reported of S. Lucian the Martyr that he converted many by his modest cheerful and pious look and carriage and of S. Bernard that In carne ejus apparebat gratia quaedam spiritualis c. There appeared a kind of spiritual grace throughout his body there shone a heavenly brightness in his face there darted an Angelical purity and Dove-like simplicity from his eyes so great was the inward beauty of his inward man that it poured out it self in his whole outward man abundantly over all his parts and powers No motion in them but with Reason and Religion Where such vertue is it will be known must be too must so be exprest that men may know and feel the benefits and effects 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let your moderation speak for you whose servants you are what Lord you are under what is your expectation and your faith 3. Nor is it thirdly enough to have it known to one or two to a few or to the houshold of faith alone To all men says the Apostle Iew and Gentile Friend and Foe Brethren and Strangers the Orthodox and Hereticks good and bad Christian and Infidel Condescend to men of low estate the very lowest says our Apostle Rom. xii 16. Provide things honest in the sight of all men ver 17. live peaceably with all men ver 8. do all possible to live so having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that by your good works which they shall behold they may glorifie God in the day of visitation 1 Pet. ii 12. full of equity that they may not speak evil of you as rigorous and unmerciful full of courtesie and civility that the Doctrine of Christ be not blasphem'd for a Doctrine of rudeness and incivility full of modesty that the adversary speak not reproachfully of the word of truth have no occasion to do so by your immodesty full of moderation that all good men may glorifie God for your professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ to those hard points in hard times to meekness and moderation when your adversaries are so violent and immoderately set against you Known must our moderation be in all its parts that all may know the purity of our profession the soundness of our Religion the Grace of God appearing in us the adversary be convinced the Christian Brethren incited by our examples to the same grace and vertue One note especially we are to carry hence that it is no excuse for our impatience harshness or any immodest or immoderate fierceness against any that they are men of a contrary opinion we use so ill Men they are and even under that notion moderation to be used towards them much more if we acknowledge the same Lord or his being any way near either to reward or punish And so I pass to the second General the Christians comfort that holds up his head in the bitterest storms and makes him moderate quite through them all The Lord is at hand Now the Lord is several ways said to be at hand many ways to be near us He is at hand or near us by his divine essence not far says S. Paul from every one of us Acts xvii 27. he is every where we therefore no where but that he is near us He is near us 2. by his Humanity The taking that upon him has brought him nigh indeed to be bone of our bone and flesh of our slesh He is nearer us yet 3. by his Grace One with us and we with him one Spirit too he in us and we in him S. Iohn xiv 20. He is at hand and nigh us 4. in our Prayers So holy David The Lord is nigh unto them that call upon him all such as call upon him faithfully He is nigh us 5. in his Word in our Mouths and in our Hearts by the word of Faith that is preached to us Rom. x. 8. we need not up to heaven nor down to the deep says the Apostle to find out Christ that eternal word is nigh enough us in his word He is nigh us 6. in the Sacraments so near in Baptism as to touch and wash us especially so near in the Blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood as to be almost touched by us there he is truly really miraculously present with us and united to us 'T is want of eyes if we discern not his Body there 1 Cor. xi 29. in that or see not his power in the other He is at hand 7. with his Iudgments Behold the Iudge standeth at the door S. James v. 9. Just before he had said the coming of the Lord draweth nigh but at the second look he even sees him at the door Now of this coming two sorts we find expected even in the Apostles times his coming in judgment against Ierusalem to destroy his Crucifiers the unbelieving Iews and the Apostate Christians the Gnostick Hereticks that together with the Iews persecuted the Church of Christ and his last coming at the general Judgment We may add a third his being always ready at hand to deliver his faithful servants out of their troubles and to revenge them in due time of all those that causlesly rise up against them The first kind of his coming to Judgment that against Ierusalem is the coming by which the Apostle comforts his Philippians that the Lord was now coming to deliver the persecuted Saints out of their hands The third is that by which our drooping spirits are supported in all distresses that he is near to help us in them all The second his coming at last in the general Judgment then howsoever to make a full amends for all is the great stay of all our hope all Christians from first to last No great matter how we are here from time to time driven to our shifts the time is coming will pay for all Nor do any of the other comings want their comfort 'T is a comfort that God is so near us in his essence so that in him we live and move and have our being our life and being are surely the better by it 2. 'T is a great comfort that our Lord would vouchsafe us so great an honour as to become like one of us to walk and speak and eat and drink and be weary and weep and live and die like one of us 3. 'T is an inward and inexpressible comfort that he will dwell in us by his Grace and Holy Spirit make us Holy as himself is Holy 4. 'T is a gracious comfort that he suffers us so ordinarily to discourse with him in our Prayers 5. 'T is an especial
Drunkard see him in his cups and revels and what see you there but a strange disfigured countenance staring eyes disordered gestures words and looks and actions all disguised ugly and deformed Behold next the lascivious Wanton in but the addresses to his great sin his antick postures his affected follies his empty discourses his religious I should say irreligious approaches to his adored Idoll to say nothing of the sin it self that darkness covers and tell me if you can what is handsom in any of his applications View thirdly the passionate fierce and angry man and what is there lovely in his flaming eyes his furrowed brows his distracted looks his frantick carriage in his loud rantings and raving furies Call ye the pale and meager look of the envious or malicious comely Is the high carriage of the proud or ambitious pleasing Is the close and sowre visage of the covetous person lovely Nay has not the face of every sinner surprized in his sin or afterward reflecting on it a kind of guilt and horror that sensibly discomposes and disorders it Then and that then is in the Text then to be sure you will find all things in that disorder you must be vain to expect any thing handsome or lovely there Sin it self is nothing else but a deordination or swerving from order and beauty Bonum and pulchrum are convertible That only which is truly good is truly fair and that again only truly fair which is truly good 'T is the fault of our eyes if we see otherwise For if sin were lovely God would love it but he hates nothing so much nothing indeed but it Sin is that only from whence all ugliness and deformity in things or actions Wheresoever is deformity or whatsoever is deformed 't is sin that caused it or sin that is it And is not sin now think you a lovely piece that thus disorders the Universe and deforms the whole Creation That brings neither pleasure nor profit nor honour with it to its unhappy servants 'T is an evil and bitter thing says the Prophet Ieremy Jer. ii 19. There is no pleasure in it They that commit it do but hatch Cockatrices eggs and weave the Spiders web says the Prophet Isaiah Isa. lix 5. There 's no profit in it For he that eateth of their Eggs dieth and that which is crushed breaketh out into a Viper Their webbs shall not become garments neither shall they cover themselves with their works they whose works are works of iniquity ver 6. What fruits I pray are these Or will you call them fruits If you will it may be I may help you to some more such groping for the wall as if you had no eyes stumbling at the noon day as in the night roaring sore like bears and mourning like doves in the fore-cited Chapter Isa. lix 10. 11. Blindness and weakness and sorrow and mourning even to roaring horrours and stings of conscience in abundance and inability to do good or help our selves such fruits as these you may have enow Our Apostle tells us besides of a sad slavery it brings us to ver 17. The Psalmist of a rain of snares fire and brimstone storm and tempest that falls upon the sinner by it Psal. xi 7. Crosses and afflictions punishments and judgments we every where read to be the issues of it In Gods hot displeasure and mans scorn and even in the very next words shame also are the only fruits if we will allow them that name of those unfruitful works of darkness as St. Paul justly stiles them Eph. v. 11. Well may we now with him ask What fruits have ye or ever had ye in such things as those What at all or what worth if any at all from those kinds of courses Nay what then had ye What had you in the very enjoying in the very transactions of your sins Did they either satisfie or content you fully even then Were ye not either first tired with the pursuit or fell much short of your expectations or distasted by some circumstances or unsatisfied presently when you had accomplish'd your unhappy and wretched work But what however have ye now left of any of them but the shame Call it what ye will that ye have gotten by the most advantageous or pleasing wickedness say as well of it as you can give us but leave to discover and rifle it to your faces and your blushing cheeks and down-cast eyes and disordered answers and vain subterfuges and excuses will witness to your teeth that 't is nothing but what ye are now next indeed asham'd of II. And shame now 2. is the next Property of sin we are to speak of the true genuine Issue of it For no sooner had Adam tasted the forbidden fruit and sinn'd but both he and his co-partner are both presently asham'd and run away to hide themselves among the Thickets of the Garden Oh! how they blush to look upon one another when they had once but eaten done what they should not the die and colour of the forbidden fruit had got presently into their faces they are ashamed of themselves though there were none but themselves in the World to see them O whither should they run what should they do to cover their nakedness and their shame Nakedness was no shame at first till sin came on it but then they are ashamed even of their nature so strange a confusion had one single sin brought with it Nor could all the fig leaves of Paradise nor all the shades of the trees and bushes nor the shadows of the approaching Evening cover their new-risen blushes nor the cool of it allay the heat that raised them in their faces Shame and sin are inseparable companions there is no parting them Shame 1. to be seen of God they run from him the saddest effect that can be that so parts and hurries us from our Maker as far as possibly we can go Shame 2. to be seen of men We dare not look upon one another when we have sinned and are discovered Shame 3. to look upon our selves we presently get what fig-leaves we may make what excuses we can imagine to cover our own weakness and infirmity Shame 4. to be seen by any Creature afraid as it were of every whisk of wind every stirring of a bush ashamed any creature should come nigh us for fear it should laugh at our folly deride our infirmity trample upon our weakness scorn our acquaintance and despise our authority if it should once behold the deformity of our sin Thus shame from the very first prest close upon the heels of sin And ask the most impudent sinner still him whom custom has made insensible and whose face continual sinning has braz'd and harden'd against the tenderness of a blush yet ask him I say why he yet seeks corners for the accomplishment of his sin or the contrivance of his wicked Plots Why does he not act it without doors and before the Sun Why when he has done
among the leaves that nurses a worm to consume it when we least think of it Nay though we had coronam militum a Crown an Army of men as thick as the spires of Grass to encompass and guard either our honours wealth or pleasures yet they would all prove in a little time but as the Grass all men are nothing else Sr. Iames i. 11. but particularly the rich man so says that Apostle ver 10. the rich man as the flower of the grass he shall pass away He shall not stay for a storm to blast or blow him away even the Sun of prosperity shall do it Mole ruit suâ his own weight and greatness shall throw him down For the Sun is no sooner mark but that no sooner risen with a burning heat but it withereth the grass and the flower of it falleth and the grace of the fashions of it perisheth so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways Mark that too in his very ways his own very ways shall bring him to ruine and destruction 'T is so with the leaves of honour 't is so with the leaves of pleasure the very Sun no sooner rises upon them but it withers them the very Sun-shine and favour of the Prince ruines them the burning heat of their pleasures waste them away make their pleasures troublesome and burthensome in a little while and a while after vanish and confound them with shame and reproach leave them nothing upon their heads but ill coloured and ill seated leaves ignominy and dishonour nothing in their souls but driness and discomfort their estates too oftentimes drained dry scarce any thing but the Prodigals Husks to refresh them or dry leaves to cover them But the Christians Crown is nothing such 't is a flourishing Crown Psal. cxxxii 18. a Crown of pure Gold Psal. xxi 3. a Crown of precious Stones Zech. ix 16. a Crown of Righteousness 2 Tim. iv 8. a Crown of Life St. Iames i. 12. a Crown of Honour Psal. viii 5. a Crown of Stars Rev. xii 1. a Crown of Glory 1 Pet. v. 4. a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away in the same verse eternal everlasting A flourishing not a withering Crown a Crown of Gold not of Grass of precious Stones not of Leaves of Righteousness not unjustly gotten of Life not unto Death of Honour not to be ashamed of of Stars not Stubble of Glory not vanity that never so much as alters colour but continues fresh and flourishing and splendid to all eternity An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us says St. Peter 1. Pet. i. 4. And having now compared our Crowns and finding so vast so infinite a difference between them Can we think much to do as much for this incorruptible Crown of Glory as the other do for their vain and corruptible one Shall they that strive for petty masteries for toys and trifles for ribbands and garlands be so exact in their observances so strict in their diet so painful in their exercises so vigilant in their advantages so diligent in providing strengthning and enabling themselves for their several sports and undertakings and shall we that are to strive for no less than Heaven it self be so loose in our performances so intemperate in meat and drink so sluggish in our business so careless of advantages so negligent in all things that make towards it Are leaves worth so much and the fruit of eternal peace so little Is a little air the vain breath of a mortal man to be so sought for and is the whole Heaven it self and the whole Host and God of it the praise of God and Saints and Angels that stand looking on us to be so slighted as not worth so doing doing no more than they Where is that man Dic mihi musâ virum shew me the man that can that takes the pains for eternal glory that these vain souls do for I know not how little enough to stile it But if we compare the pains the ambitious man takes for honour the voluptuous for his pleasure the covetous man for wealth meer leaves of Tantalus his Tree that do but gull not satisfie them the late nights the early mornings the broken sleeps the unquiet slumbers the many watches the innumerable steps the troublesom journeys the short meals the strange restraints the often checks the common counterbuffs the vexatious troubles the multitude of affronts neglects refusals denials the eager pursuits the dangerous ways the costly expences the fruitless travels the tortured minds the wearied bodies the unsatisfied desires when all is done that these men suffer and run through the one for an honour that sometimes no body thinks so but he that pursues it the other for a pleasure base oftentimes and villanous the third for an estate not far from ruine nay oftentimes to ruine his house and posterity If I say we compare these mens pains and sufferings with what we do for Christ and God and Heaven and happiness true real immoveable happiness and glory Good Lord how infinitely short do we come of them shall not they rise up against us in judgment and condemn us nay shall not we our selves rise up against our selves in judgment who have done many of these things suffered many for a little profit vain-glory or vain hope which we thought much to do for eternal glory This we do we strive and labour and take pains for vanity we are temperate in all things restrain and keep in our selves for the obtaining sometimes a little credit sometimes a little affection or good opinion from some whose love or good opinion is worth nothing or if it be is as easily lost as soon removed changed from us is commonly both corrupt and corruptible without ground and to little purpose But for Gods Judgment Christs Affection the Holy Spirits good Love to us for the praise of good men of Saints and Angels the whole choire of Heaven rejoycing over us nay for Heaven it self and blessedness and glory all which we might obtain with the same pains and lesser trouble and in the same time 't is so little that we do so far from all that I may without injury stile it nothing But for Gods sake for Christs sake for our own sake let it not be so for ever let us not always prefer Glass before Diamonds Barley Conrs before Pearls pleasure or profit or honour before Heaven and Happiness and Glory There are in Heaven unspeakable pleasures whole Rivers of them there There are in Heaven infinite and eternal riches which we can neither fathom nor number there is glory and honour and immortality and eternal life There are all these Crowns made incorruptible and everlasting all running round encircling one another like Crowns encircling our souls and bodies too like Crowns without end without period If we would have any Crowns Honour or Riches or Pleasure let us there seek them where they are advanced to an
to let down the Net confident now by the power of his Word only to obtain what neither his Art nor labour could procure before nor reason perswade him to at any time nay what all they perswade him now against This is the right rule of faith and obedience even against hope to believe in hope to believe his Word above our Reason to neglect all petty under-scruples to rely wholly upon his authority It was Abrahams glory that he considered not his own body now dead nor the deadness of Sarahs Womb considered not the strength of nature when Gods Promise came above it Rom. iv 19. that he was so ready to offer up Isaac in whom God had promised him to call his Seed as if he believed God could raise him up again being dead or else some way or other make good his Promise which was made in Isaac and that he would do it to though Isaac were made a Sacrifice and so no natural or reasonable possibility left him for any such hope Yet nevertheless do he would as God commanded offer up Isaac at his word as readily here as St. Peter let down his Net Nevertheless lastly at thy Word we will whether that is he please to bless us according to our wish or not whether we shall bring up fish or no whether he will have us take or not we will let down the Net because he bids us To the former confidence is to be added resolution As we know and are confident he can by his Word do what he will so whether he will do it yea or no yet for his Word because it is his will that we should still continue on our labours and work we will do so we will let down the Net come what will come of it Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear Preach we must for Woe is me says the Apostle if I preach not the Gospel the command is hard upon us And whether your works be like to prosper in your hands as you desire or whether not labour still you must and not be idle To toil all night and catch nothing is uncomfortable yet to toil all night and catch nothing and yet to toil again is constancy and resolution and may challenge the reward of no petty vertue at his hands who so esteems and accepts it You shew as much daily in temporal affairs Ye work and toil and lose your labour yet you try again you plow and sow and sometimes bring home little yet you plow and sow again Be we but as resolute in our spiritual affairs and work and they will succeed at last to pupose to make a recompence for all former misfortunes If your Prayers after a whole night return empty if your endeavours to repentance and amendment if your wrestling with temptations or strugling for mastery with your passions and sins be not presently answered with success but you yet groan under the dominion of them not yet fully able to resist temptations nor to leave off your sins or break off your transgressions if you cannot by some nights and days of exercise and endeavour obtain yet those graces and vertues you desire endeavour yet again strive and pray and labour yet again and in his name and word pursue your work In his name you cannot miscarry at the last your Net will come at length full fraught with grace and glory You see the very Apostles of Christ are in the like condition many nights and days toil and labour brings them nothing home yet they still fish again and so must we if at last we may gain but one poor soul into the Net of the Kingdom nay though but save our own And if none but that yet we most let down the Net for more not despair of more there may come more at length We must preach and you must hear again and again line upon line line upon line here a little and there a little cast on this side cast on that in season and out night and day with all patience and long suffering as the Apostle speaks if so be at last that Jesus will deign to come unto us that he will vouchsafe to speak effectually to his servants and make them hear that he will please to stand by and call the fish into the Net Master we have now at thy word let down the Net O speak the word only and thy Servants shall hear thee and hasten to thee and obey thee and be wholly taken by thee Our labours are vain without thy blessing nothing in them but weariness and toil have mercy upon this our sad and uncomfortable condition and relieve us both the Fishers and the Fish and lift us up out of this Sea of misery this depth of iniquity catch us all together in thy Net and us unto thy self into thy Kingdom where there is no more toil or labour no more â—ight at all no more tempestuous Seas or weather where we are sure to catch that which is above all our labours all our toil a full and sufficient recompence for them all the over-ful infinite and unspeakable rewards of eternal glory A SERMON UPON THE Transfiguration St. LUKE ix 33. And it came to pass as they departed from him Peter said unto Iesus Master it is good for us to be here and let us make three Tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias not knowing what he said AND St. Peter when he thus said he knew not what was in the Mount with Iesus Moses and Elias and saw their glory One cannot blame him for crying out 't was good being good building there though somewhat there was in it that was amiss it seems when St. Luke tells us he knew not what he said But methinks the words would sound nothing amiss at all if they had been taken up by us upon our late being with Christ in the holy Mount at the holy Table or if used still in reference to that good meeting Master it is good for us to be here in thy holy presence let us build Tabernacles tarry here go down no more henceforward in our affections to earth or earthly things Let us build here Tabernacles for thee for Moses and Elias that neither thy Gospel Law nor Prophets may go from us never henceforth depart out of our hearts and mouths Sure there is no error in such a speech of ours whatever was in St Peter's Indeed somewhat there was faulty in St. Peter's as there is commonly in the most of our best words and actions somewhat more or less at least then should be in rigor if God should enter into judgment with them The sudden apprehension of unexpected or extraordinary joy or happiness be it spiritual or be it temporal makes many affections and expressions arise in the best of us somewhat irregular sometimes Our business at this time and upon these words is to rectifie them by considering what was here short or over in St. Peter's what
fomenting all distates no reviving those wretched Principles and pretences that first ruin'd all our peace and quiet no scattering Libels and wonders up and down to amuse the people so to hinder them from reunion with the Church and keep them in perpetual discontent for they know not what These are not the words of such as seek the peace of Sion or heartily pray for the peace of Hierusalem They are not the words of peace my Brethren not the ways of it nor do they become the Messengers or Servants of the God of peace To raise needless scruples to canvase every word and tittle to make a noise and puther about every trifle to flutter and keep a stir as if we had much to say to make it out in number where it wants in weight to write and scrible over old objections answered over and over a thousand times to talk of peace and thus make ready for the battle if it must pass for peace 't is a peace that passeth all understanding in another sense than the Apostle meant we cannot conceive it we cannot understand it Would we but lay down our interests our envies our animosities our prejudices our pride our humours the justifying our selves and doings the glory we take in a false constancy that Magisterial conceit we have of our own judgment and that Popularity that undoes all were these out of the heart peace would be quickly in But if we stand upon punctilio's and will not pray but in our own words will not worship God unless we may do it in what Form we list our selves will no◠appear in the Congregation unless it be in one of our own gathering or choosing will quit the Church rather than an humour if the Church musick and harmony must drive all concord and agreement out of doors if the garments emblems of peace and purity affright us if order scare us if Uniformity drive us out of the Church if kneeling at the Altar and Feast of Peace must go for a reason to keep us from it if the very sign of the Cross of Christ by which we were reconciled for by his Cross it was says the Apostle must needs be made an Argument against all reconcilement 't is a sign we have no hearts for peace our hearts are not at all for it who may have it at so easie a rate upon so handsom terms and yet thus rudely thrust it from us as if we had sworn covenanted against it and all the ways that can lead to it Fain would we see some better expressions of it if it be otherwise Let 's try the Apostles in the next particular examine it by our ordinary deportment behaviour whether that be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mild and gracious as it should 5. What our common Translation here renders grati thankful St. Chrysostom and St. Ierom I told you and from them Erasmus turns gratiosi gracious In this sense we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. v. 4. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. xi 16. Both senses the word may bear and the Connexion will bear them too And to do both right we will balk neither we will take both Gratiosi first Be we mild and gracious kind and amiable The Apostle says it fuller in ver 12 13. beseeches us to be tender and compassionate meek and humble patient and long-suffering forbearing and forgiving These are the best symptomes and expressions of peaces ruling The words of peace are smooth and sweet they are no swords the looks of peace are mild and chearful they are not sower or dogged the hands of peace are soft and open they are not rugged or close they are easie and stretched out to all that come in to them These are the ways of peace and the best means to draw it on To look always austere and muddy to carry scorn and superciliousness in the countenance to be unsociable and untractable to run as far contrary as is possible to receive or joyn with none but upon our own conditions and reject all that look and speak and understand not just as we do our selves is so far from the paths of peace that I shall not stick to call it an open defiance of all the World Yet such men there are some that add to all a renunciation of all the forms and words and signs of civility and make it Religion to be unmannerly and sullen I know not what sense these men can have of peace who come not so near as the salutation of it addresses to it And truly I have but little to say for them neither who after so many condescensions from their Soveraign so great compliances so long forbearances so much forgiveness so fair a time given them to consider and come in and resolve all petty scruples for there are no other are not yet composed for peace who the more is yielded the less they are satisfied the more graciously they are dealt with the more averse and froward they are to a reconcilement the nearer we come the further they fly from us Only I know I am bound by St. Paul here to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to think and speak as mildly and gently of them as the thing will bear I would they would do so too Yet methinks if they like not Gratiosi they might do Grati if they like not to be gracious they might however to be thankful thank God and thank the King and thank the Church for their graciousness and forbearance be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second sense in that of thankfulness 'T is the last Motion I have to make out of the Apostles that ye would be thankful 6. 'T is a duty Ill assure you that lies upon us For it becometh well the just to be thankful Psal. xxxiii 1. I cannot tell you any thing more becoming No not more becoming us in regard of the mercies mentioned in the Text the Peace of God and the calling us to it in one body Each of them so ample subjects for our thankfulness that we cannot shew thankfulness enough for either Peace so great a blessing that Nil dulcius audiri nil delectabilius concupisci nil utilius possideri as one under St. Augustines name expresses it a blessing than which there is none more pleasant to be heard none more delightful to be desired none more profitable to be possessed And Gods calling us to it in one day calling us into one Church calling us then when we were almost out of call some of us in very remote parts of the earth some of us in dark corners at home some of us in dungeons some in dust almost ready to go down into it and be covered with it calling us all together out of our several graves as it were into a new life restoring us our head and uniting it to the members is so transcendent a mercy to us that we can never be sufficiently thankful Yet that we may be somewhat thankful
Obedience This then is the sum of that part of Gods commendation from their Persons that Rechabites Princes by their Tribe Holy by descent women and children after so many ages past over Ionadab neither pleaded their Descent nor their honour nor their claim to the Covenant nor their Age nor their Sex nor the Abrogation of Laws for Antiquity but without any contrary Plea whatsoever generally submitted to all Obedience Thus says God for them What say we for our selves In Civil Affairs Laws they say are Cobwebs Great men great flies that easily break through them mean men little enough to slip out at any hole women do what they please children are not old enough for any thing but sin and disobedience In Ecclesiasticals it is worse Though it be a matter of Reverence enjoyn'd to God himself Great ones are too good Others too perverse Women too tender Children not of age All too weakly to bend the knee or bare the head in Gods service so that what was said of Moses that God talked with him as man doth with his friend I may invert and say Man now talks with God as man doth with his friend so fellow-like that though our Fathers had not commanded the contrary all the world would say There is nothing like Reverence or Obedience in this Let me ask now Had the Rechabites the Law of Nature to guide them and have not we Were not they a righteous off-spring as well as we Had not they the tenderness of Wives and Children to plead for weakness of constitution and complexion greater hinderances to their strict kind of life as well as we Could not they have pleaded antiquated Laws as truly we Yet says God You have done all that was commanded you done it when others have not not mine own people he may add now not my Christian people Thus our negligence commends their Obedience We that have no more to excuse our selves than they not so much our task being easier our helps greater yet we have not They have Let that be an addition to their first Commendation raised a little by comparison with us You Rechabites I may almost say now You only have obeyed I pass now to the second ground of the Approbation The Expression of their Obedience Three Acts there are of it 1. Obedistis 2. Custodistis 3. Fecistis you have obeyed kept and done what was commanded you The first belongs to the Inward the two other to the outward man I begin with the Inward For without that Outward Obedience is of short service no continuance Four Acts flow from it To 1. Hear to 2. Hearken to 3. Submit to to 4. Acquiesce in the Commands of our Superiours All point blank against those Four grounds of Disobedience 1. Vntractableness 2. Impatience 3. Pride and 4. Murmuring To hear that against Untractableness that will not so much as endure the hearing To hearken that against Impatience that will not take pains to hear it out To submâ—t that against Pride that will veil to none To acquiesce or rest in that against murmuring that is never content with any thing imposed upon it Let me but ponder the word as I go I shall find all those and not go from the word In all three Languages the word whence comes Obedience comes from Hearing In auditu auris obedivit is King Davids Psal. xviii 43. The first duty God ever requires Hear O my people The Rechabites stumble not here They hear their Father speaking even out of his dust They are far enough from Untractableness that hear so easily Promptitudo Obedientiae that 's the first commendation of their Obedience the Readiness of it Yet he will give you little that will not give you the hearing The Son in the Gospel that did not mean to go and the Son that meant not to go both went thus far heard their Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies more to attend and listen with a desire to it How this is you may understand out of Psal. xlv 11. Hearken O daughter and consider Hearken first then consider weigh and ponder the words then forget thine own people and thy Fathers house thy kindred and companions that alliance that uses by a kind of faction to draw too often from obedience those private and mutual interests that under a pretence of obedience beguile us of it To hearken then is to assent to in Gods own phrase 1 Sam. viii 9. to leave all private relations and intentions out of the meer desire of Obedience Thus the Rechabites hearkned neither to the tenderness of their Wives nor the cries of their Children nor their own commodities and conveniences to hearken to their Father This is Obedientiae Patientia the Approbation of their Obedience by their Patience This is a ready passage to the next To submit their judgments affections persons and estates to the will of their Father 'T is a hard Theme and I had best prove it to be Obedience before I venture to approve them for it The Latine and Greek words to obey sound nothing more than sub and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all under 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subditi estote subjicimini the soul it self under that submitted Let every soul be subject Rom. xiii 1. As if St. Paul had foreseen the distinction the Body not the Soul The Soul says he not the Body alone and therefore put them in mind of it Tit. iii. 1. As if every body knew it well enough no no body were no body could be ignorant of it only want one to remember them Put them in mind therefore Wherefore We may gather something from the Reason he adds For we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts Tit. iii. 3. First foolish then disobedient none else are so how wise soever they think themselves Yea and deceived for just it is that he that will not trust his Superiours judgment especially where his own is as well inferiour as himself should be deceived by himself or those who have no power over him but to deceive him And he that will not obey their will just it is he should be given up to serve his own lusts And so they are mark it when you will nataral brute beasts says St. Peter None more sensual proud devillish so St. Iames finds them Iam. iii. 15. than those that thus proudly cast off the yoke of submission and obedience Their bodies then and passions scorn to obey them who by their own disobedience have taught their inferiour powers to rebell 'T is no wonder then if that follow in the verse Living in malice envy hateful and hating one another I need call nothing else but the dismal experience of these last tumultuous rebellious times to witness it wherein Tongues and Pens and Actions too have so horribly exprest it And give me leave a little to reason with you Authority us'd to be a Logical Argument to guide our reason and have we lost our Logick too as
well as our Obedience The consent of wise grave learned Fathers till you know where to find better with any man not too high in his own conceit is certainly of a value somewhat above his private imagination For who tells you they are deceived Your private Minister And are you sure he is not and are they deceived And is it not as likely that you and he should be Were they not as wise as you As just as you As devout as you Have you reason and had not they Do you use Scripture and did not they Had they interests and have not you That all should be deceived till you and your new Ministers came into the World is morally impossible That they should purposely deceive you you have nor ground nor charity to imagine To think then that you may not as easily be deceived does it not look like pride And is not Pride enough to blind you from seeing truth 'T is true your Governours are not infallible no more are you Yet certainly there is more certainty in their united judgments than your simple fancies And I am sure many might with less hazard have erred with them suppose they erred than sometimes gone right That they might at any time in simplicity of heart This seldom without Faction Schism or Pride You mistake me all this while if you suppose I require a blind Obedience No I know God would not be served with a blind sacrifice His service is a reasonable service Clear sighted as you will but no curious inquisitive observance Know you must if possibly you can that it is not ill you go about and the Power just that commands it But to enquire into every circumstance as it is beyond the power of most so it is more than the duty of any 'T is this creates you so many difficulties suspicions controversies till you have lost your reward your Church and Country the profit of your virtue Were the judgment thus once submitted our affections would the sooner follow though they indeed are the cause commonly that we submit not our judgments Our affections set so strongly upon honours profits liberty pleasure make us take up opinions to keep them Yet Nature will tell you thus much Partem Patria partem Parentes Your King and Country and Church too claim a portion in your affections persons and estates I leave now de Iure for de Facto the Justice for the Practise of it to shew you all this done by the Rechabites How easily else might they have vied reason with their Father What drink no Wine All Creatures are good nothing to be refused with thanksgiving No Houses neither Must we thus be made the talk of the world Turn heirs to Cain's malediction Vagabonds upon the face of the earth Must our Wives and Children too suffer all the hardships of a kind of perpetual banishment No mercy to be had of our selves none of them What no Lands neither No earing nor harvest Must we leave our Children beggars our Wives unprovided for purchase nothing for them Thus and more they might have argued but all these notwithstanding how harsh soever they conceived it they rather trusted their Fathers judgment than their own But is their Reason only submitted are not their Affections too They neither contend for honour nor stickle for riches nor grudge at any inconvenience but submit their desires to their Fathers tread under their own natural propensions to obey him Would he have them drink no Wine They will not drink though the Prophet bid them ver 5. Would he have them poor They have no Lands Would he forbid them houses They will have no abiding place be everlasting Pilgrims What would he have them do that they will not do They submit judgments affections estates persons their own and their Posterities as much as in them lies that they may satisfie their Fathers This if any thing is Obedientis summa humilitas the exceeding Humility of their Obedience with so much approbation so oft reiterated through the Chapter They go one step higher Not only submit to his Authority but resolve into it Make no further Queres upon it nor murmur at it but as the Hebrew root sometimes signifies Acquievistis rest fully contented with it You may call this Obedientiae hilaritas Their chearful delight in their Obedience Thus far the Rechabites now again to our selves And first have we heard the King our Father Have we not rather with the deaf Adder stopped our ears One with the earth that 's our profit the other with our tail that 's our pleasures That we might not hear him charm'd he never so wisely The Fathers of the Church have had less at our hands Next how have you hearkned Much that way given Hearkened to find fault to cavil at to plot against to undermine This hath been the peoples course of late so to destroy those by whom God would save them The Civil Magistrate hath not been in much better case Your Judgments they have been submitted too But to whom To the factious and discontented decisions shall I call them or ravenings rather of ignorant and malicious Teachers who have exercised more tyranny upon your consciences than the most clamorous can prove ever Bishop did durst ever accuse him to do while they thus both belie God and abuse you by exacting an infallible assent to their unreasonable seditious unchristian frenzies under the name of the Word of God Thus while you refuse to submit your judgments where you are bound you captivate your reason to them who have lost their own and are therefore angry that others should have any How in the interim you have believed the sincere Declarations of your Sovereign how submitted to what he thought best or fittest for you How to the intire intentions of your right Spiritual Fathers let the general slighting and undervaluing their judgment we hear in every Shop as we pass along testifie for both In a word how you delight in the Laws and Statutes of State and Church and rest contented with them I would the general practice and countenance of Disobedience and Prophaneness did not even tell it in Gath and publish it in the streets of Askalon Thus we serve again to exalt the Rechabites while our sins condemn our selves For while our untractableness Impatience Pride and Murmurs banish Obedience they have heard their Father readily hearkened to him carefully submitted humbly and rested contentedly in his sole Authority without the least reluctancy or contradiction And by the way I may point out the reason They lived temperate mean and humble lives had no thoughts of raising houses but in heaven Now the riots riches pride and a desire of raising Families have made many of you forget 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep under Yet let these men take heed lest while with Corah and his company they cry out to Moses and Aaron You take too much upon you keep us under keep us