if he be angry we have provoked him if he come in a Tempest we have rais'd it if he be a consuming fire we have kindled it we force him to be what he would not be we make him Thunder who is all Light Tert. advers Marc. l. 2. c. 11. Bonitas ingenita severitas Accidens Alteram sibi alteram rei Deus praestitit saith the Father his goodnesse is Naturall his severity in respect of its Act Accidentall for God may be severe and yet not punish for he strikes not till we provoke him his Justice and severity are the same as everlasting as himself though he never speak in his wrath nor draw his sword If there were no Hell yet were he just and if there were no Abrahams Bosome yet were he Good if there were neither Angel nor men he were still the Lord blessed for evermore in a word he had been just though he had never been Angry he had been mercifull though man had not been miscrable he had been the same God just and good and mercifull though sin had not entred in by Adam nor Death by sinne God is active in Good and not in Evill he cannot doe what he doth detest and hate he cannot Decree Ordaine or further that which is most contrary to him he doth not kill me before all time and then in time aske me why I will die He doth not Condemne me first and then make a Law that I may break it He doth not blow out my Candle and then punish me for being in the dark That the conviction of a sinner should be the onely end of his Exhortations and Expostulations cannot consist with that Goodness which God is who when he comes to punish Isai 28.21 sacit opus non suum saith the Prophet doth not his owne worke doth a strange work a strange Act an Act that is forced from him a worke which he would not doe And as he doth not will our Death so doth he not desire to manifest his Glory in it which as our Death proceeds from his secondary and occasion'd will For God saith Aquinas seeks not the manifestation of his Glory Aquin. 2.2 q. 132. art 1. for his own but for our sakes His glory as his Wisdome and Justice and Power is with him alwayes as eternall as himself no Quire of Angels can improve no raging Devil can diminish his Glory which in the midst of all the Hallelujahs of Seraphin and Cherubin in the midst of all the Blasphemies of men and Devills is still the same and his first will is to see it in his Image in the conformity of our wills to his where it strives in the perfection of Beauty rather then when it is decay'd and defaced rather then in a Damned Spirit rather in that Saint he would have made then in that Reprobate and cursed soul which he was forced to throw into the lowest pit and so to receive his Glory is that which he would not have which he was willing to begin on Earth and then have made it perfect and compleat in the highest Heavens Tert. ibid. Exinde admortem sed ante ad vitam The sentence of Death was pronounced against man almost as soon as he was man but he was first created to life we are punished for being evill but we were first commanded to be good his first will is That we glorify him in our Bodies and in our soules but if we frustrate his loving expectation here then he rowseth himself up as a mighty man and will be avenged of us and work his Glory out of that which dishonor'd him and write it with our blood In the multitude of the People Prov. 14.28 is the Glory of a King saith the wisest of Kings and more Glory if they be obedient to his laws then if they rebell and rise up against him That Common-wealth is more glorious where every man fills his place then where the Prisons are filled with Theeves and Traytors and men of Belial and though the Justice and wisedome of the King may be seen in these yet 't is more resplendent in those on whom the Law hath more Power then the sword In Heaven is the glory of God best seen and his delight is in it to see it in the Church of the First-borne and in the soules of just men made perfect it is now indeed his will which primarily was not his will to see it in the Divel and his Angels For God is best pleased to see his Creature man to answer to that patteâ—e which he hath set up to be what he should be and what he intended And as every Artificer glories in his work when he sees it finish't according to the rule and that Idea which he had drawne in his minde and as we use to look upon the work of our hands or witts with that favour and complacency we doe upon our Children when they are like us so doth God upon man when he appeares in that shape and forme of Obedience which he prescrib'd for then the Glory of God is carried along in the continued streame and course of all our Actions breaks forth and is seen in every worke of our Hands is the Eccho of every word we speak the result of every Thought that begat that word and it is Musick in his eares which he had rather heare then the weeping and howling of the Damned which he will now heare though the time was when he us'd all fitting meanes to prevent it even the same meanes by which he raised those who now glorify him in the Highest Heaven God then is no way willing we should die not by his Naturall will which is his prime and antecedent will for Death cannot issue from the Fountaine of Life and by this will was the Creature made in the beginning and by this preserved ever since by this are administred all the meanes to bring it to that perfection and happiness for which it was first made for the goodness of God it was which first gave a being to man and then adopted him in speâ—… regâ—…i design'd him for immortality and gave him a Law by the fulfilling of which he might have a Tast of that Joy and Happinesse which he from all Eternity possest And therefore secondly not voluntate praecepti not by his will exprest in his command in his precepts and Laws For under Christ this will of his is the onely destroyer of Death and being kept and observ'd swallows it up in victory for how can Death touch him who is made like unto the living Lord or how should Hell receive him whose conversation is in heaven Ezek. 16. â—1 13.21 If we do them we shall even live in them saith the Prophet and he repeats it often as if Life were as inseparable from them as it is from the living God himself by which as he is life in himself so to man whom he had made he brought life and immortality to light
alone but would not but wrought him out of the Earth and was the Potter which formed and shaped him out of the Clay with his own hands so in the great work of our Redemption he did not send a Moyses an Angel a Cherubin or Seraphim but tradidit proprium filium delivered up his own Son in this delivery gave a price infinitely above that which he brought motal sinfull men which were of no value at all but that he made them and he payes down not a Talent for a Talent but a Talent for a Mite for Nothing for that which had made it self worse than nothing his Son for those who stood guilty of Rebellion against him and his love for the world which was at enmity with him And thus he was pleased to buy his own will and love in us and by this his infinite love to bound as it were his infinite power his infinite wisdome and his illimited will for here his power his wisdome his will may seem to have found a non ultra he cannot do he cannot find our he cannot wish for us more than what he hath done in the delivery of his Son And now if we ask what moved his will not sure any lovelinesse or attractivenesse in the object there was nothing to be seen but loathsomnesse and deformity and that enmity which might sooner move him to wrath than compassion and make him rather send down fire and brimstone then his Son That which moved him was in himself not to be found in the world which stood out against him and when he did come would not receive him but was bound up in his own bowels of mercy and compassion he loved us in our blood and loving us he bid us live and that we might live delivered up his own Son to death For his mercy was the Orator to move his will and being mercifull he was also willing to help us Mercy is all our plea and it was his motive and wrought in him a will a cheerful will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint James it rejoyceth against Judgement though we had forgot our Duty yet would not he forget his Mercy but hearkned to it and would not continere misericordias Psâ—l 77 â— shut up his tender mercies in Anger which is a Metaphor taken from martiall affaires for in a siege an Army doth compasse in a Town or Castle that they may play upon it in every place the Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shut it up as in a net This is it which the Prophet David calls claudere or continere to shut up his mercy in anger the Septuagint renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make a trench about it and besiege it Now the goodnesse of God and his love to his Creature would not suffer him thus to shut up his tender Mercies as a Fort or Town is shut up to be undermined and beat upon and overcome but as the besieged many times make sallyes upon the enemy so the love and mercy of our God brake forth even through his anger and gained a conquest against the legions of his wrath Let the World be impure let Men be sinners let Justice be importunate let Power be formidable and Vengeance ready to fall yet all must fall back and yield to the Mercy and Love of God which cannot be overcome nor bound nor shut up but will break forth and make way through all opposition through sin and all the powers of darknesse which besiege and compasse it about and will raise the siege drive off and chase away these Enemies and to conquer Sin will deliver up his Son for the Sinner And this was aenigma amoris saith Aquinas this was the riddle or rather the mystery of his love to pose the wisdome of the world I may say being Love and infinite it is no riddle at all but plain and easie for what can love doe that is strange what can it doe amisse that which moved him to do it shewes plainly that the end for which he did it was very good Dilexit nos he loved us is the best commentary on Tradidit Filium he delivered his Son for us and takes away all scruple and doubt for if we can once love our Enemies it is impossible but that our Bowels should yern towards them and our will be bent and prone to raise them up even to that pitch and condition which our love hath designed and if our love were of that nature Heavenly as he is Heavenly or but in some forward degree proportioned to his we should see nothing that were difficult nothing that were absurd nothing that might misbecome us which might promote or advantage them if our Love have heat in it our Will will be forward and earnest and we shall be ready to lay down our lives for them For Love is like an Artificiall Glasse and when we looke through it an Enemy appears a Friend Disgrace Honour Difficulties Nothing When he saw us weltring in our blood his love was ready to wash us when we ran from him his love ran after us to apprehend us when we fought against him as enemies his love was a Prophet Loe all these may be my children What speak we of Disgrace his Love defends his Majesty and exalts this Humility of his son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. saith Plato Love hath this priviledge that it cannot be defamed and by a kind of Law hath this huge advantage to make Bondage Liberty Disgrace Honourable Infirmity Omnipotent who can stand up against Love and say why didst thou this Had Marciou and Photinus and Arrius well weighed the force and priviledge of Love their needlesse fear I may say their bold and irreverent fear would have soon vanished nor would they have denied Christ to be the Son of God quia tradidit because he delivered him up for us but have seen as great glory in his Humility as in his Glory and would have faln down and worshipt God and man even this crucified Lord of life Christ Jesus Love will doe any thing for those whom it looks and stayes upon If you ask a coat it gives the cloak also if you defire her to goe a mile she will goe with you twaine and is never weary though she passe through places of horror and danger if you be in the most loathsome dungeon in the valley and shadow of death she forsakes you not but will go along with you Must the Son of God be delivered Love sends him down Charitas de coelo demisit Christum it was Love that bowed the Heavens when he descended must he suffer Love nayles him to the Crosse and no power could doe it but Love Must he be sacrificed Love calls it a Baptisme coarctatur how is Love straitned till the Sacrifice be slain Must he dye Must the Son of God dye Love calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his perfection Heb. 2.10 So though he be the Son of
and Attire Clothed he was with a garment down to the foot which was the Garment of the High Priest and his was an unchangeable Priesthood Heb. 7.24 and he had a golden Girdle or Belt as a King v. 13. for he is a King for ever and of his kingdome there shall be no end Righteousnesse shall be the girdle of his loynes and Faithfulnesse he girdle of his reines Es 11.5 His head and his haires were white as wooll v. 14. and as white as snow his Judgement pure and uncorrupt not byassed by outward respects not tainted or corrupted by any turbulent affection but smooth even as waters are when no wind troubles them His eys as a flame of fire piercing the inward man searching the secrets of the heart nor is there any action word or thought which is not manifest in his sight His feet like unto fine brasse sincere and constant like unto himself in all his proceedings in every part of his Oeconomy his voyce as many waters v. 15. declaring his fathers will with power and authority sounding out the Gospel of peace to all the world and last of all out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword v. 16. not onely dividing asunder the soul and the spirit but discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart and taking vengeance on those who persecute his Church His Majesty dazled every mortall eye his Countenance was as the Sun shining in his strength and now of him who walks in the midst of his Church whose Mercy is a large Robe reaching down to the feet who is girt with Power who is clothed with Justice whose Wisdom pierceth even into darknesse it self whose Word is heard from one end of the world to the other whose Majesty displayes its beams through every corner of it we cannot but confesse with Peter This is Christ the Sonne of the living God And can the Saviour of the world the desire of the Nations the glory of his Father can Beauty it self appeare in such a shape of Terrour shall we draw out a mercifull Redeemer with a warriours Belt with eyes of Fire with feet of Brasse with a voyce of Terrour with a sharp two-edged Sword in his mouth Yes such a High Priest became us who is not onely mercifull but just not onely meek but powerfull not onely fair but terrible not onely clothed with the darknesse of Humility but with the shining robes of Majesty who can dye and can live again and live for evermore who suffered himself to be judged and condemned and shall judge and condemne the world it self S. John indeed was troubled at this sight and fell down as dead but Christ rouzeth him up and bids him shake off this feare for he is terrible to none but those who make him so to Hereticks and Hypocrites and Persecutors of his Church to those who would have him neither wise nor just nor powerfull non accepimus iratum sed fecimus he is not angry till we force him 't is rather our sins that turn back again upon us as furies than his wrath that makes him clothe himself with vengeance and draw his sword To S. John to those that bow before him he is all Sweetnesse all Grace all Salvation and upon these as upon St. John he layes his right hand quickens and rouzeth them up Feare not neither my girdle of Justice nor my eyes of fire nor my feet of brasse nor my mighty voice nor my two-edged sword for my Wisdom shall guide you my power shall defend you my Majesty shall uphold you and my Mercy shall crown you Fear not I am the first and the last more humble than any more powerfull than any scorned whipped crucified and now highly exalted and Lord of all the world I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I live for evermore c. Which words I may call as Tertullian doth the Lords Prayer breviarium Evangelii the breviary or summe of the whole Gospel or with Austin symbolnm abbreviatum the Epitome and abridgement of our Creed and such a short Creed we find in Tertullian which he calls Regulam veram immobilem irreformabilem the sole immutable unalterable rule of Faith and then The articles or parts will be these 1. The Death of Christ I was dead 2. The Resurrection of Christ with the effect and power of it I am he that liveth 3. The duration and continuance of his life which is to all eternity I live for evermore 4. Power of Christ which he purchased by his death the power of the keyes I have the keyes of Hell and of Death And these 1. Are ushered in with an Ecce Behold that we may consider it 2. Sealed ratified with an Amen that we may believe it That there be not in any of us as the Apostle speaks an unbelieving heart to depart from the living God I am he that liveth and was dead And of the death of Christ we spake the last day Par 1. we shall onely now look upon it in reference to the Resurrection consider it as past for it is fui mortuus I was dead and in this we may see the method and proceeding of our Saviour which he drew out in his blood which must sprinkle those who are to be saved and make them nigh unto him to follow in the same method à morte ad vitam Luke 24.25 Heb. 2.20 from suffering to glory from death to life Tota ecclesia cum Christo computatur ut una persona Christ and his Church are in computations but one person he ought to suffer and we ought to suffer they suffer in him and he in hem to the end of the world nor is any other method either answerable to his infinite Wisdome and Justice which hath set it down in indelible characters nor to our mortall and frail condition which must be bruised before it can be healed must be levelled with the ground before it can be raised up quicquid Deo convenit Tetuil homini prodest that which is convenient for Christ is profitable for us that which becometh him we must wear as an ornament of grace unto our head there is an oportet set upon both he ought and we ought first to suffer and then to enter into glory to die first that we may rise again And first it cannot consist with the wisdome of God that Christ should suffer and die and we live as we please and the reign with him and so pass à deliciis in delicias from one paradise to another that he should overcome the Divel for those who will be his vassals that he should foile him in his proud temptations for those who will not be humble beat off his sullen temptation for those who will distrust and murmure that he should make his victorious death commeatum delinquendi a licence and charter for all generations to fling away their weapons and not strike a stroke If he should have done this
flesh a withering dying arm avail us shadow us to day and leave us to morrow raise us up now and within a while let us fall into the dust and at last fall down and perish with us Man is weak and dieth man given up the ghost and where is he where is I will not say Alexander or Caesar but where is Moses that led his people through the red sea where are his lawes where is David S. Peter speaks it freely that he was both dead and buried and that his Sepulchre was with them unto that day but the son of David is ascended into Heaven is our Priest for ever and lives for evermore And this title of eternity is wrought in his Girdle and Garment may be seen in his Head and Eyes of fire adorns his burning feet is engraven on his sword may be read in his countenance and platted in his crown and doth well become his power his wisdome his justice his goodnesse for that which is not eternall is next to nothing what power it that which sinks what wisdome is that which failes what riches are they that erish what mercy is that which is as the morning dew which soon falls and is as soon exhaled and dryed up again Vertue were nothing Religion were nothing Faith it self were nothing but in reference to eternity Heaven were nothing if it were not eternall Eternity is that which makes every thing something which makes every thing better than it is and addes lustre to light it self I live evermore gives life unto all things Eternity is a fathomlesse ocean and it carries with it powâ—r and wisdome and goodnesse and an efficacious activity a gracious and benevolent power a wise and provident goodness for if he live for evermore then is he independent if he be independent then is he most powerfull and if he be most powerfull then is he blessed and if be blessed then is good He is powerfull but good good but wise and these Goodnesse and Care and Wisdome and a diligent care for us meet in him who lives for evermore and works on us for our eternall salvation And first as he lives for evermore so he intercedes for us for evermore and he can no more leave to intercede for us than he can to be Christ for his Priesthood must faile before his Intercession because this power of helping us is everlastingly and inseparably inherent in him St. Paul joyns them together his sitting at the right hand of God and his interceding of us Rom. 8.34 so that to leave interceding were to leave the right hand of God where he looks down upon us is present with us and prepares a place for us his Wounds are still open his Merits are still vocall his Sufferings are still importunate his everlasting presenting of himself before his Father is an everlasting prayer Jesus at the right hand of the father more powerfull than the full vials the incense the prayers the grones the sighs the roarings of all the Saints that have been or shall be to the end of the world and if he sate not there if he interceded not they were but noise nay they were sins but his intercession sanctifies them and offers them up and by him they are powerfull and by this power the sighs the breathing the desires of mortall fading men ascend the highest heavens and draw down eternity And this is a part of his Priestly office which he began here on earth and continues for us makes it compleat holds it up to the end of the world Again this title of eternity is annexed to his Regality and is a flower of his Crown not set in any but his Thou art a King for ever cannot be said to any mortall Did he not live for evermore he could not threaten eternall death nor promise everlasting life for no mortall power can rage for ever but passeth as lands do from one Lord to another lyes heavy on them and at last sinks to the ground with them all nor can the hand that must wither and fall off reach forth a never-failing reward Infinitude cannot be the issue and product of that which is finite and bounded within a determined period And this might open a wide and effectuall door unto sin and but leave a sad and disconsolate entrance for Vertue and Piety which is so unsatisfying to flesh and blood that the perseverance in it requires no lesse a power than that which Eternity brings along with it to draw it on How bold and daring would men be before the Sun and the People what joy and delight would fill them did not the thought of a future and endless estate pierce sometimes through them and so make some vent to let it out when the evill that hangs over them is but a cloud which will soon vanish few men are so serious as to look about and seek for shelter Post mortem nihil est Ipsaque mors nihil there is nothing after death and death it self is nothing sets up a chair for the Atheist to sit at ease in from whence he looks down upon those who are such fools as to be vertuous and smiles to see them toil and sweat in such rugged and unpleasing wayes carried on with a fear on the one side and a hope on the other of that which will never be And indeed how weary and how soon weary would men be of doing good if there were not a lasting recompence if they were not half perswaded for a ful perswasion is but rare that there were something laid up in everlasting habitations Honour Repute and Advantage these may bring forth a Hypocrite these may bind on the phylacteries on a Pharisee but nothing can raise up a Saint but eternity nor can that which fleeteth and passeth away build us up in a holy faith and then there would be no such ship as Faith which might feare a wreck 2 Tim. 1.19 no such anchor as Hope our faith were vain our hope were also vain and we were left to be tossed up and down on the waves of uncertainty having no haven to thrust into but that which is as turbulent uncertain as the sea it self and with it ebbs and flowes and at last will ebb into nothing But vivo in aeternum I live for evermore derives an eternity to that which in it self is fading makes our actions which end in the doing of them and are gone and past eternall our words which are but wind eternall and our thoughts which perish with us eternall for we shall meet them again and feel the effect of them to all eternity It makes Hell eternall that we may flie from it and Heaven eternall that we may presse towards it and take it by violence Christs living for ever eternizeth his threatnings and makes them terrible his promises and makes them perswasive and eloquent eternizeth our faith and hope eternizeth all that is praise-worthy that they may be as a passe or letters commendatory to
Samuel told Eli every whit and kept nothing from him And He said It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him Good THe words are the words of old Eli the Priest and have reference to that message which yong Samuel brought him from the Lord such a message as did make both the ears of every one that heard it tingle ver 11. Come see the work of sin what desolation it makes upon the Earth Ophni and Phinehas the two prophane and adulterous Sons must die old Eli the indulgent Father the High Priest must die Thirty four thousand Israelites must fall by the sword of the Philistines The Arke the glory of Israel must be taken and be delivered up in triumph unto Dagon this was the word of the Lord which he spake by the mouth of the child Samuel and not a word of his did fall to the ground at the 19. verse for what God foretells is done already with him that calleth the things that are not as if they were as the Prophet speaks there is no difference of times Nothing past Nothing to come all is present So that old Eli did see this bloody Tragedy acted before it was done saw it done before the signal to Battle was given did see his Sons slain whilst the Fleshook was yet in their hands himself fall whilst he stood with Samuel the Israelites slain before they came into the field the Arke taken whilst it was yet in the Tabernacle a fad and killing presentment whether we consider him as a Father or a High Priest a Father looking upon his Sons falling before the Ark which they stood up and fought for as a High Priest beholding the people slain and vanquisht and the Ark the Glory of God the Glory of Israel in the hands of Philistines But the word of the Lord is gone out and will not return empty and void for what he sayes shall be done and what he binds with an oath is irreversible and must come to pass and it is not much material whether it be accomplisht to morrow or next day or now instantly and follow as an Eccho to the Prediction nam una est scientia Futurorum Hier. ad Pammach adversus errores Joann Hierosol saith S. Hierome for the knowledge of things to come is one and the same And now it will be good to look upon these heavie Judgments and by the terror of them fly from the wrath to come as the Israelites were cured by looking on the Serpent in the Wilderness For even the Justice of God when it speaks in thunder makes a kinde of melody when it toucheth and striketh upon an humble submissive yeelding heart Behold old Eli an High Priest to teach you who being now within the full march and shew of the Enemy and of those judgments which came apace towards him like an Armed man not to be resisted or avoided and hearing that from God which shook all the powers of his soul settles and composes his troubled minde with his consideration That is was the Lord in this silences all murmur slumbers all impatience buries all disdain looks upon the hand that strikes bows and kisseth it and being now ready to fall raiseth himself up upon this pious and Heavenly resolution Dominus est It is the Lord Though the people of Israel fly and the Philistines triumph though Ophni and Phinehas fall Though himself fall backward and break his neck Though the Ark be taken yet Dominus est It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Which words are a Rhetorical Enthymeme perswading to humility and a submissive acquiescience under the Hand the mighty Hand of God by his power his justice his wisdom which all meet and are concentred in this Dominus est It is the Lord. He is omnipotent and who hath withstood his power He is just and will bring no evil without good cause He is wise whatsoever evil he brings he can draw it to a good end and therefore Faciat quod bonum in oculis let him do what seemeth him good Or you may observe first a judicious discovery from whence all evils come Dominus est It is the Lord. Secondly a well-grounded resolution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to behave our selves decently and fittingly as under the power and justice and wisdom of God Let him do what seemeth him good The first is a Theologicall Axiome Dominus est It is the Lord There is no evil in a City Which he doth not do The second a conclusion as necessary as in any Demonstration most necessary I am sure for weaknesse to bow to Omnipotency In a word The Doctrine most certain Dominus est It is the Lord ... All these evils of punishment are from him and the resolution which is as the use and application of it most safe Faciat quod bonum in oculis Let him do what seemeth him good Of these we shall speak in their order and in the prosecution of the first for we shall but touch upon and conclude with the last that you may follow me with more ease we will draw the lines by which we are to passe and confine our selves to these four particnlars which are most eminent and remarkeable in the story First that Gods people the true professors may be delivered up to punishment for sinne Secondly that in these general judgements upon a people the good many times are involved with the evil and fall with them Thirdly that Gods people may be delivered up into the hands of Philistines and Aliens men worse then themselves Fourthly that the Ark The glory of their profession may be taken away These four and then fix up this inscription Dominus est It is the Lord and when we have acquitted his Justice and wisdom in these particulars cast an eye back upon the inscription and see what beams of light it will cast forth for our direction Dominus est it is the Lord c. And in the first place of Ophni and Phineas the Text tels us That they hearkened not unto the voice of their Father because the Lord would destroy them which word Quia is not casuall but illative 2 Ch. v. 25. and implyes not the cause of their sinne but of their punishment they did not therefore sin because God would punish them but they hearkened not to the voice of their Father therefore the Lord destroyed them as we use to say the Sun is risen because it is day for the day is not the cause of the Suns rising but the Sun rising makes it day They were sons of Belial vessels already fitted for wrath as we may see by their many fowl enormities and therefore were left to themselves and their sinnes and to wrath which at last devoured them Gods Decree whatsoever it be is immanent in himself and therefore could not because of that disobedience and wickednesse which was extrameous and contrary to him nor could there be any action of Gods either positive or negative
are but as one day so in the case we now speak of a thousand a million a world of men are with him but as one man and when the Lord Chief Justice of Heaven and Earth shall sit to do judgement upon sinners what Caligula once wantonly wished to the people of Rome all the world before him have but as it were one neck and if it please him by that jus pleni Dominii by that full power and Dominion he hath over his creature A Platone dicitur Deus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide Plutarch quaest convival l. 8. q. 2. He may as he welneer did in the Deluge strike it off at a blow His judgements are past finding out and therefore not to be questioned He is the great Geometrician of the World which made all things in number weight and measure and hath infinitely surpast all human inventions whatsoever and therefore we cannot do him less honour then Hiero King of Sicily did to Archimede the great Mathematician for when he saw the Engins which he made and the marvellous effects which they did produce he caused it to be proclaimed that whatsoever Archimede did after affirme how improbable soever it might seem yet should not once be called into question but be received and entertained as a truth Let the course of things be carried on as it will let death passe over the door of the Egyptian and smite the Israelite let Gods Thunder misse the house of Dagon and shiver his own Tabernacle yet God is just and true and every man a liar that dares but ask the question why doth He this Look over the whole Book of Job and you shall see how Job and his Friends are tost up and down on this great deep For it being put to the question why Job was thus fearfully handled his Friends ground themselves upon this conclusion that all affliction is for sin and so lay folly and hypocrisie to his charge and tell him roundly that the judgement of God had now found him out though he had been a close irrigular and with some art and cunning hid himself from the eye of the World but Job on the contrary as stoutly pleads and defends his innocencie his justice his liberality and could not attain to the sight of the cause for which Gods hand was so heavy on him why should his Friends urge him any more Job 30.32 or persecute him as God they dispute in vain for in their answers he sees nothing but lies At last when the controversie could have no issue C. 21.34 Deus è machina God himself comes down from Heaven and by asking one question puts an end to the rest Job 38.2 who is this that darkneth Counsel with words without knowledge condemns Iob and his Friends of ignorance and weaknesse in that they made so bold and dangerous attempt as to seek out a cause or call his judgement into question 2. It may be we may save the labor that we need not move the question or seek any reason at all for in these common calamities which befall a people it may be God doth provide for the Righteous and deliver him though we perceive it not Some examples in Scripture make this very probable the old World is not drowned till Noah be stript and in the Ark the shower of fire falls not on Sodom till Lot be escaped Daniel and his fellows though they go away into captivity with rebellious Judah yet their captivity is sweetned with honours and good respects in the Land into which they go and which was a kinde of leading captivity captive they had favour and were intreated as friends by their enemies who had invaded and spoiled them And may not God be the same upon the like occasions How many millions of righteous persons have been thus delivered whose names notwithstanding are no where recorded some things of no great worth are very famous in the world when many things of better worth lie altogether buried in obscurity caruerunt quia vale sacro because they found none who could or would transmit them to posterity Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona no doubt but before and since millions have made the like escapes though their memory lies rak'd up and buried in oblivion But then suppose the righteous do taste of the same cup of bitternesse with the wicked yet it hath not the same taste and relish to them both for calamity is not alwayes a whip Calamitas non est poena militia est minus Foe lix nor doth God alwayes punish them whom he delivers over to the sword to lose my goods or life is one thing and to be punisht another it is against the course of Gods providence and justice that innocency should come under the lash Gen 28.23 shall not the Judge of all the earth do right yes he shall and without any breach of his justice take away that breath of life which he breathed into our Nostrils though we had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression for he may do what he will with his own and take away our goods or lives from us when and how he pleaseth because he is Lord over them and we have nothing which we received not from his hands God is not alwayes angry when he strikes nor is every blow we feel given by God the avenger for he may strike as a Father and therefore these evils change their complexions and very natures with the subject upon whom they are wrought they are and have the blacknesse of darknesse in the one but are as Angels and messengers of light to the other and may lead the righteous through the valley of death into the land of the living when the wicked are hewen down by the sword to be fuel for the fire What though they both be joyned together in the same punishment as a Martyr and a Thief in the same chain August de civitate Dei l. 1. c. 8. yet manet dissimilitudo passorum in similitudine passionum though the penalties may seem alike yet the difference is great betwixt the patients though the world perhaps cannot distinguish them and death it self which is a key to open the gates of Hell to the one may be no the other what the Rabbles conceive it would have been to Adam had he not fallen but osculum pacis a kisse of peace a gentle and loving dismission into a better state to conclude this then a people a chosen people a people chosen out of this choice Gods servants and friends may be smitten Josiah may fall in the battle Daniel may be lead into Captivity John Baptist may lose his head and yet we may hold up our inscription Dominus est it is the Lord. And now let us but glance upon the inscription and so passe to the third particular and the first sight of it may strike a terror into us and make us afraid of those sins which bring these general judgements upon
Million what digladiations what Tragedies about these and if every particular Fancy be not pleased the cry is as if Religion were breathing out its last when as true Religion consists not principally in these and these may seem to have been passed over to us rather as favours and Honours and Pledges of his Love then strict and severe Commands That we must wash and eat are Commands but which bring no Burden or hardship with them the performance of them being more easie as no whit repugnant to flesh and blood It is no more but wash and be clean Eat in remembrance of the Greatest Benefit that ever man-kinde received All the difficulty is in the performance of the vow we make in the one and the due preparation of the soul for the other which is the subduing of the lusts and Affections the Beatifying of the inward man which is truely and most properly the service of Christ which is the Ark of our Ark the Glory of our Glory and the Crown of all those outward Advantages which our Lord and Master hath been pleased to afford us Mic. 6.6 we may say with the Prophet Micah wherewith shall we come before the Lord or bow our selves before the High God will he be pleased with the diligence of our ear with our Washing and Eating and answer with him at the eighth verse He hath shewed thee oh man what he doth require to do justly and to love mercy and to walk Humbly with thy God Ite ad locum meum Siolo Goe to my palace in Silo and there learn to disdeceive your selves by their Example lest if all your Religion be shut up with theirs in the Ark all in outward Ceremony and Formality God may strike both us and the Ark we trust to recover and call back those Helps and Gracious advantages from such prodigal usurpers For when all is for the Ark nothing for the God it represents when we make the Pulpit our Ark and chain all Religion to it when the lips of the Preacher which should preserve knowledge and be as a Ship as Basil speaks to conveigh that Truth which is more precious then the Gold of Ophir Orat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brings nothing but Apes and Peacocks loathsome and ridiculous Fancies when the Hearers must have a Song for a Sermon and that too many times much out of Tune when both Hearer and Speaker act a part as it were upon a stage even till they have their Exit and go out of the World when we will have no other Laver but that of Baptisme no bread but that in the Eucharist when we are such Jewish Christians as to rely on the shell and outside on External formalities and performances more empty and lesse significant lesse effectual then their Ceremonies we have just cause to fear that God may do unto us as he did unto Shilo or as he threatened the same people Amos 8. Send a Famine into the land not a Famine of bread but of Hearing the word and such a famine we may have though our loaves do multiply though Sermons be our dayly Bread that he may deprive us of our Sacraments or deliver them up to Dagon to be polluted by superstition or to be troden under foot by prophaners which of the two is the worst that we may even loath and abhor that in which we have taken so vain so unprofitable so pernicious delight and condemn our selves and our own foul ingratitude and with sorrow and confusion of Face subscribe to this Inscription Dominus est It is the Lord. Concl. And now we have setled the inscription Dominus est it is the Lord upon every particular which may seem at first not so well placed but as the head of Jupiter upon the body of a Tyrant a merciful God plucking up and destroying his own people fighting for the Philistine against the Israelite as if a dead Israelite were of a sweeter savour in his Nostrils then a dead Philistine and the Ark were better placed in the House of Dagon then in his own Tabernacle but look again and consider it aright and you will say it was rightly fixed For the wayes of God are equall Ezek. 18.29 but ours are unequal and nothing but the inequality of our own makes his seem so whilest he remaines the same God in the fire and in the Earth-quake which he was in the still voice the same when he slew them and when his light shined upon their his Justice takes not from his Mercy nor his mercy from the equity of his Justice but he is just when he bindes up and merciful when he wounds us his justice his wisdom his mercy are over all his works The same God that overthrew Pharaoh in the Red sea that slew great and mighty kings did deliver up his own people good and bad did deliver them into their Enemies hands did deliver up the Ark to Dagon for his Justice his wisdom and mercy endure for ever And now having gone along with old Eli in his discovery we cannot but take up his resolution let him do what seemeth him good and we called it Elies use or application of his Doctrine and let us for conclusion make it ours and learn to kisse the Son lest he be angry nay to kisse him to bow before him when he is angry to offer him up a peace-offering our wills of more power then a Hecatomb then all our numerous Fasts and Sermons to appease his wrath and to bring peace and order again into the World that our wills being his being subdued by his Spirit and delivered up into that blessed Captivity to be under his Beck and Command they may stand out against all our natural and carnal desires and check and quiet them which is the truest surrendry we can make and makes us of the same minde with Christ who would not saith Hilary Quod vult of fice did ipsum concedi sibi non vult De Trin. l. 10. have the granted which he would have done did not refuse the Cup but desired it might passe from him that as Saul when he was struck to the ground cryed out Lord what wouldst thou have me do so may we when his hand is upon us in our trembling and astonishment say Lord what wouldst thou have us to suffer Fiat voluntas Thy will be done though it be in our destruction By this we testifie our consent with him this is our friendship with God and they who as Abraham was are Gods friends have idem velle iâ—em nolle will and nill the same things with him are ready Sequi Deum to follow God in all his wayes when he seems to withdraw and when he comes neer us when he shines upon us and when he thunders in what he commands and what he permits in what he absolutely will do and what he makes way for and will suffer to be done to follow him in all Sen. ep 96. and bow before
if we do not dwell in him if we be not united with him we shall joyn our selves with somthing else with flesh and blood with the glory and vanity of the world which will but wait upon us to carry us to our grave feed us up and prepare us for the day of slaughter Oh who would dwel in a Land darker then darknesse it self who would be united with death But then if we dwell in him and he in us if he call us my little children and we cry Abba Father then what then who can utter it the tongue of men and Angels cannot expresse it then as he said to the Father all thine are mine and mine thine so all his is ours and all that is ours is his our miseries are his and when we suffer we do but fill up that which was behinde of the affliction of Christ Col. 2.24 He is in bonds in disgrace in prison with us and we bear them joyfully for we bear them with him who beareth all things our miseries nay our sins are his he took them upon his shoulder upon his account he sweat he groaned he died under them and by dying took away their strength nay our good deeds are his and if they were not his they were not good for by him we offer them unto God by his hand in his name he is the Priest that prepares and consecrates them our prayers our preaching our hearing Heb. 13.15 our alms our fasting if they were not his were but as the Father calls the Heathen mans virtues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a faire name a title of health upon a box of poison Nazianz. the letter Tan written in the forehead of a reprobate Again to make up the reciprocation as all ours are his so all his are ours what shall I say his poverty his dishonour his sufferings his Crosse are ours yes they are ours because they are his if they had not been his they could not be ours none being able to make satisfaction but he none that could transfer any thing upon man but he that was the Son of man and Son of God and his Miracles were orus For for us men and for our Salvation were they wrought His Innocency his purity his Obedience are ours For God so deales with us for his sake as if we were as if we our selves had satisfyed Let St. Paul conclude for me in that divine and heavenly close of his third Chap. of the 1. Ep. to the Cor. whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the word or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods and if we be Christs then be we heires joynt heires with Jesus Christ as he is heire so have we in him right and title to be heires and so we receive eternal happinesse not onely as a gift but as an inheritance in a word we live with him we suffer with him we are buryed with him we rise with him and when he shall come again in glory we who dwell in him now shall be ever with him even dwell and reign with him for evermore THE FIFTH SERMON EZEKIEL 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked Turne ye Turne ye from your evill wayes For why will you die oh House of Israel WEE have here a sudden and vehement out-cry Turne yee Turne yee and those events which are sudden and vehement the Philosopher tells us doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe leave some notable mark and improssion behind them an Earthquake shakes and dislocates the Earth a Whirlwinde rends the Mountaines and breakes in pieces the Rocks what is sudden at once strikes us with feare and admiration Certainly reverenter pensandum est saith the Father Greg in leâ— This call of the Prophet requires a serious and reverend Consideration For if this vehement ingemination be not sharpe and keene enough to enter our Soules and divide asunder the joynts and the marrow here is a quare moriemini a Reason to set an edge on them if his Gracious and Earnest call his Turne and his Turne will not Turn us hee hath placed Death in the way that King of Terrours to affright us If we be not willing to dye wee must be willing to Turne If wee will heare Reason wee must hearken to his Voice and if hee thus sends his Prophets after us sends forth his voice from Heaven after us if he make his Justice and mercy his joynt Commissioners to force us back If hee invite us to Turne and threaten us if wee doe not Turne either Love or Feare must prevaile with us to Turne with all our Hearts And in this is set forth the singular Mercy of our most Gracious God parcendo admonet ut corrigamur poenitendo before he strikes hee speakes When he bends his Bow when his deadly arrowes are on the string yet his warning flyes before his shaft his word is sent out before the judgement the lightâ—ing is before his Thunder Ecce saith Origen antequam Vulneramur monemur when we as the Israelites here are running on into the very Jawes of Death when we are sporting with our Destruction in articulo mortis when Death is ready to selfe on us and the pitt opens her mouth to take us in he calls and calls againe Turne yee Turne ye from your evill Wayes and if all this be too little if wee still venture on and drive forward in forbidden and dangerous wayes he drawes a Sword against us sets before us the horror of Death it self Quare moriemini Why will you die still it is his word before his blow his Convertimini before his moriemini his praelusoria arma before his Decretoria his blunt before his sharp his Exhortations before the Sentence non parcit ut parcat non miseretur ut misereatur he is full in his Expressions that he may be sparing in his wrath he speakes words clothed with Death That we may not die and is so severe as to threaten Death that hee may make roome for his Mercy and not inflict it Why will you die there is Virtue and Power in it to quicken and rowse us up to drive us out of our Evill wayes that wee may live for ever This is the summe of these words The parts are Two 1. An Exhortation and Secondly an Obtestation or Expostulation or a Duty and a Reason urging and inforcing that Duty The Exhortation or Duty is plaine Turne yee Turne ye from your Evill wayes The Obtestation or Reason as plaine Quarè moriemini Why will yee Dye oh House of Israel I call the Obtestation or Expostulation a Reason and good Reason I should doe so for the Moriemini is a good Reason That wee may not Dye a good Reason why we should Turne but tendered to us by way of expostulation is another reason and makes the reason operative and full of efficacy makes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Crucified his death for sinne with our Death to it his Resurrection with our Justification For he bore our sins that he might cast them away He shed his blood to melt our Hearts and he dyed that we might live and turn unto the Lord and he rose againe for our Justification and to gaine Authority to the doctrine of Repentance Our convertimini our Turne is the best Commentary on the consummatum est it is Finished for that his last Breath breathed it into the world we may say It is wrapt up in the Inscription Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jewes for in him even when he hung upon the Crosse were all the Treasuries of Wisdome and Knowledge hid 2 Coloss 3. In him Justice and Mercy are at Peace for to reconcile us unto God he reconciled them one to another The hand of Mercy was lifted up ready to seale our Pardon we were in our Blood and her voice was Live we were miserable and she was ready to relieve us our heart was sick and her bowells yearn'd but then Justice held up the Sword ready to latch in our sides God loves his Creature whom he made but hates the sinner whom he could not make and he must and yet is unwilling to strike If Justice had prevail'd Mercy had been but as the morning Dew and soon vaâ—…sh'd before this raging heat and if Mercy had swallowed up Justice in victory his hatred of sinne and fearfull menaces against it had been but bruta fulmina and had portended nothing Deus purgari homines à peccato maxime cupit ideoque agere poenitentiam jubet Lact. l. 6. c. 24. had been void and of no effect If he had been extreme to marke what is done amisse men had sinned more and more because there could be no hope of Pardon and if his Mercy had seal'd an absolute Pardon men would have walked delicately and sported in their Evill wayes because there could be no feare of punishment And therefore his wisedome drew them together and reconciled them both in Christs propitiatory Sacrifice and our Duty of Repentance the one freeing us from the Guilt the other from the Dominion of sinne and so both are satisfy'd Justice layes downe the sword and Mercy shines in perfection of Beauty God hates sinne but he sees it condemned in the flesh of his Sonne and fought against by every member he hath sees it punisht in him and sees it every day punisht in every repentant sinner that Turnes from his evill wayes beholds the Sacrifice on the Cross and beholds the Sacrifice of a broken Heart and for the sweet savour of the one accepts the other and is at rest his death for sinne procures our Pardon and our death to sinne sues it out Christ suffers for sinne we turne from it his satisfaction at once wipes out the guilt and penalty our Repentance by degrees Tert. de anima c. 1. destroyes sinne it self Haec est sapientia de scholâ caeli This is the method of Heaven this is that Wisedome which is from above Thus it takes away the sinnes of the world And now wisedome is compleat Justice is satisfyed and Mercy triumphs God is glorified man is saved and the Angels rejoyce Tert de poenit c. 8. Heus tu peccator bono animo sis vides ubi de tuo reditu gaudeatur saith Tert. Take comfort sinnner thou seest what joy there is in heaven for thy returne what musick there is in a Turne which begins on earth but reaches up and fills the highest Heavens A repentant sinner is as a glass or rather Gods own renewed Image on which God delights to look for there he beholds his wisedome his Justice his mercy and what wonders they have wrought Behold the shepherd of our souls see what lies upon his shoulders you would think a poor Sheep that was lost nay but he leads sinne and Death and the Devill in Triumph and thou mayst see the very brightnesse of his Glory the fairest and most expresse Image of these Three his most glorious Attributes which are not onely visible but speake unto us to follow this heavenly Method His wisedome instructs us his Iustice calls upon us and Mercy Eloquent mercy bespeaks us a whole Trinity of Attributes are instant and urgent with us To Turne à viis malis from our evill wayes And this is the Authority I may say the Majesty of Repentance for it hath these Three Gods Wisedome and Iustice and Mercy to seale and ratify it to make it Authentique The 2. part Turn ye Turn ye We come now to the dictum it self and it being Gods and it being Gods we must well weigh and ponder it and we shall find it comprehends the Duty of Repentance in its full latitude For as sin is nothing else but aversio à Creatore and conversio ad creaturam and aversion and Turning from God and an inordinate conversion and application of the soul to the Creature so by our Repentance we doe referre pedem start back and alter our course worke and withdraw our selves a viis malis from evill waies and Turne to the Lord by cleaving to his Lawes which are the minde of the Lord and having our feet enlarged run the way of his Commandements We see a streight line drawne out at length is of all lines the weakest and the further and further you draw it the weaker and weaker it is nor can it be strengthened but by being redoubled and bow'd and brought back againe towards its first point Eccles 7.20 The Wise man will tell us That God at first made man upright that is simple and single and syncere bound him as it were to one point but he sought out many Inventions mingled himself and Ingendered with Divers extravagant Conceits and so ran out not in one but many lines now drawne out to that object now to another still running further and further sometimes on the flesh and sometimes on the world now on Idolatry and anon on Oppression and so at a sad Distance from him in whom he should have dwelt and rested as in his Center and therefore God seeing him gone so farr seeing him weak and feeble wound and Turned about by the Activity of the Devill and sway of the Flesh and not willing to loose him ordained Repentance as a remedy as the Instrument to bend and bow him back again that he might recover and gain strength and subsistencie in his former and proper place to draw him back from those Objects in which he was lost and so carry him on forward to the Rock out of which he was hewed whilst he is yet in viis malis in his evill wayes all is out of Tune and Order for the Devil who doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. de poenitent invert the order of things placeth shame upon repentance and boldness and senlessness upon sinne but Repentance is a perfect Methodist upon our Turne we see the danger we plaid
Love for as my Joy is to have so my Grief is to want what I love and ours may have no better principle then the love of our selves and then it comes à Fumo peccati from the troublesome smoake which finne makes or rather from the very Gall of Bitternesse a Grief begot betwixt Conscience and Lust betwixt the Deformity of sin and the pleasure of sinne betwixt the apprehension of a reall evill and the flattery of a seeming good when I am troubled not that I have sinned but that it is not lawfull to sinne much disquieted within me that that sin which I am unwilling to fly from is a Serpent that will sting me to death That there is Gravell in the Bread of deceit That that unlawfull pleasure which is to me as sweet as Honey should at last bite like a Cockatrice That the wayes in which I walk with delight should lead unto Death That that sinne which I am unwilling to fling off hath such a Troope of Serjants and Executioners at her heels and so it comes à Fumo Gehennae from the smoke of the bottomlesse Pitt from feare of punishment which is farre from a Turne but may prepare mature and ripen us for Repentance But then it may come from the Feare of God wrought in us by the apprehension of his Justice and Mercy and Dominion and Power to Judge both the quick the dead and this Griefe is next to a Turn the next and immediate cause of our Conversion when out of the admiration of his Innocence Majesty and Goodness I am willing to offend my self for offending him and offer up to him some part of my substance the Anguish of my soul the Groanes of Contrition and my teares Anastas Bib. pairum which are ex ipsa nostrâ essentia sicut sanguis martyrum from our being and essence and are offer'd up as the blood of Martyrs Confession of sinne 3. And this Grief will in the third place open our mouthes and force us to a Confession and acknowledgement of our sinnes I mean a sad and serious Acknowledgement which will draw them out Bas in Ps 37. and not suffer them to be pressed downe and settle like foule and putrifyed matter in the bottome of the soule as Basil expresseth it For the least grief is vocall the least displacencie will open our mouthes yea where-there is little sense or none we are ready to complaine and because St. Pauls Humility brought him so low look for an Absolution if we can say what we may truly say but not with St. Pauls Spirit That we are the chiefest of sinners For nothing more easy then to libell our selves where the Bill takes in the whole world and the Best of Saints as well as the worst of sinners How willing are we to confesse with David That we are conceived in sinne and borne in Iniquity how ready to call our selves the Children of wrath and workers of all unrighteousness what delight doe we take to miscall our virtues to finde Infidelity in our Faith wavering in our Hope Pride in our Humility Ignorance in our Knowledge coldness in our Devotion and some degrees of Hostility in our very love of God what can the Devil our great Adversary and Accuser say more of us then we are well pleased to say of our selves But this Acknowledgement is but the product of a lasy knowledge and a faint and momentary disgust and it comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Stoicks speaks not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epict. Art c. â— c. 15.1 it is but the calves of our lips not the Sacrifice of our Hearts we breath it forth with noise and words enough we make our sinnes Innumerable more then the haires of our head or the Sands of the Sea-shore but bring us to a particular account and we find nothing but Ciphers some sinnes of daily Incursion some of sudden subreption some minute scarce visible sinnes but not the Figure of any sinne which we think will make up a Number he that will confesse himselfe the chiefe of Sinners upon the most gentle remembrance upon the meekest reprehension will be ready to charge you as a Greater or peradventure Take you by the Throat But this is not that Confession which ushers in Repentance or forwards and promotes our Turne it is rather an Ingredient to make up the Cup of stupefaction which we take downe with Delight and then fall asleep and dreame of safety even when we are on the Brinke and ready to fall into the pitt David 't is true Aug. Hom. 4.1 In his Tribus Sâ—llabis Flammâ— sacrificii ecram â—emino ascenctit in coelum said no more but peccavi and his sinne was Taken away Tantum valent Tres syllabae saith St. Aust such force there was in Three Syllables and can there be virtue in Syllables no man can imagine there can but Davids Heart saith he was now a sacrificing and on these three Syllables the name of that sacrifice was carryed up before the Lord into the highest heavens If our knowledge of our sinnes be cleane and affective if our Grief be reall then our confession and acknowledgement will be hearty our Bowells will sound as a Harpe our Inwards will boyle and not rest our heart will tremble and be Turned within us our Sighes and our Groanes will send forth our words as sad messengers of that Desolation Is 16.11 Job 30.27 which is within Our heart will cry out as well as our Tongue My heart my heart is prepared saith David which is then the best and sweetest Instrument when 't is broken 4. Desire 4. And these three in the fourth place will raise up in us a desire secondly an endevour to shake off these feares and this weight which doth so compasse about and infold us Heb. 12.1 for who is there that doth see his sinnes and weep over them execrate them by his Teares Fletus humanarum necessiatum verecunda execratio Sen. Câ—nt 8.6 and condemn them by his Confession that shall see sin clothed with Death The Law a killing letter the Judge frowning Death ready with his Dart to strike him through who would be such a Beast as to come so neere and Hell opening her mouth to take him in who will not long and groane and travaile in paine and cry out to be delivered from this body of Death Quissub tali conscientiâ c who would live under such a Conscience which is ever galling and gnawing him what Prisoner that feels his Fetters would not shakethem off certainly he that can stand out against all these Terrours and Amazements he that can thwart and resist his knowledge wipe off his Teares and fling off his sorrow and baffle and confute his owne acknowledgement he that can slight his own conscience mock his Distaste Trifle with the wrath of God which he sees neer him and play at the very gates of Hell he that is in profundis in
many woes he pronounced against sinners perhaps he would not have fallen into that impious conceit of two Gods for though the dispensation have not the same aspect under the Law as under the Gospel yet God is the same God still 2 Cor. 5.11 as terrible to sinners that will not Turne as when he thundred from Mount Sinai and if we will not know and understand these Terrors of the Lord if we make not this use of them to drive us unto Christ and to root and build us up in him the Gospel it self will be to us as the Law was to the Jews a killing Letter For again as Humane Laws so Christs precepts have their force and life from reward and punishment and to this end we finde not onely scripta supplicia those woes and menaces which are written in the Gospel but God hath imprinted a fear of punishment in the very hearts of men Esse aliquos manes subterranea regna Juvenal That there remained punishments after life for sin was acknowledged by the very Heathen and we may easily be perswaded that had not this natural domestick fear come in between the World had been far more wicked then it is we see many are very inclinable to deny that there is either Heaven or Hell and would believe it because they would have it so many would be Atheists if they could but a secret whisper haunts and pursues them This may be so there is an appointed time to die and after that judgement may come There can be no danger in obedience there may be in sinne and this though it do not make them good yet it restraines them from being worse quibus incentivum impunitas timor taedium freedom from punishment makes sin pleasant and delightsome and so makes it more sinful but the fear of punishment makes it irksome brings those reluctancies nd gnawings those rebukes of Conscience for without it there could be none at all till the whip is held up there is honey on the Harlots lips and we would taste them often but that they bite like a Cockatrice 1 Pet. 5.6 non timemus peccare timemus ardere it is no sin we so much startle at but Hell fire is too hot for us And therefore Saint Peter when he would work repentance and Humility in us placeth us under Gods hand Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God which expresseth his power his commanding Attribute his Omniscience findes us out his Wisdom accuseth us his Justice condemns us potentia punit but 't is his hand his power that punisheth us Psal 78.34 Take away his hand and who feareth his Justice or regardeth his wisdome or tarrieth for the twi-light to shun his alseeing eye but cum occidat when we are told that he can kill and destroy us then if ever we return and seek God Early Again as the fear of death may be as Physick to purge and cleanse our souls from the contagion of sin so it may be an Antidote and preservative against it it may raise me when I am fallen and it may supply me with strength that I fall not again It is a hand to lift me up and it is an hand to lead me when I am risen inter vada freta through all the dangers that attend me in my way as it is an introduction to piety Tract 1. in Psalm c. 8. so is it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Gr. Nyssen a watch a guard upon me to keep me that no temptation no scandal no stone of offence make me turn back again into my evil waies For we must not think that when we are Turned from our evill wayes we have left feare behind us no she may goe along with us in the wayes of Righteousnesse and whisper us in the eare that God is the Lord most worthy to be feared she is our Companion and she leaves us not nor can we shake her off till we are brought to our Journeys end Our love such as it is may well consist with Feare Chrysost l. 1. de compunct c. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Feare of Judgement Look upon the blessed Saints David a man after Gods own heart yet he had saith Chrysost the memory of Gods Judgements written in his very heart his thoughts were busied with it his Meditations fixt here and it forced from him à Domine nè in furore Correct me not O Lord in thy angeer nor chastise me in thy wrath Hezekiah one of the best of the Kings of Judah yet walkt in the bitterness of his soul did mourne like a Dove Isa 38.14 and chatter like a Crane Saint Paul builds up a Tribunal and calls all men to behold it Rom. 14.10 Wee shall all stand before the Judgement seat of Christ Saint Hierom had the last Trump alwayes sounding in his eares and declaring to Posterity the strictnesse of his life his Teares his fasting his solitarinesse confesses of himself Hier. 1. Tom. ep 141. Ille ego qui ob Gehennae metum tali me carcere damnaveram Scorpiorum tantum socius ferarum I that condemned my self to so straight a prison as to have no better companions then Scorpions and wild Beasts for fear of Hell and Judgement did all this and was not ashamed to acknowledge that not so much the love unto it nor the Author of it as the dread of Hell and punishment confin'd and kept him constant in the practise of it And what should I say more for the time would faile me to tell you of other Saints of God who through feare wrought Righteousness obtained Promises out of weakness were made strong Behold love in its highest elevation in its very Zenith behold it when it was stronger then Death look upon the Glorious Army of Martyrs they had tryall of cruell mockings and scouragings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonment they were stoned and slaine with the sword And greater love then this hath no man saith our Saviour then this that a man lay downe his life for his friend and yet Saint Ambrose upon the 118. Psalme will tell us that this great love was upheld and kept in life by this gale of wind by Feare That the feare of one Death was swallowed up in the feare of another the feare of a temporall ion the feare of an Eternal The bloody Pagans to weaken their faith Pont. Diac. vit Cypr. urged the feare of present Death Consule tibi Noli animam tuam perdere favour your self cast not away your life Reverence your age and these they thought suggestions strong enough to shake their Constancy and Resolution but the consideration of the wrath of God and eternall separation from him did strengthen and establish them what is my breath to Eternity what is the fire of Persecution to the fury of Gods wrath what is the rack to hell sic animas posuerunt and with these Thoughts they laid down their lives and were
withdraw his grace that we might fall from him and perish And therefore Hilarie passeth this heavy censure upon it impiae est voluntatis it is the signe of a wicked Heart and one quite destitute of those graces and riches which are the proper Inheritance of beleeving Christians to pretend they therefore want them because they were not given them of God A dangerous errour it is and we have reason to fear hath sunk many a soul to that supine carelessnes to that deadnesse from whence they could never rise again for this is one of the wiles of our enemy not onely to make use of the flying and fading vanities of this world but of the best Graces of God to file and hath hammer them and make them snares and hath wrought temptations out of that which should strengthen us against them Faith is suborn'd to keep out Charity the spirit of truth is named to lead us into errour and the power of Gods Grace hath lost its authority and Energie in our unsavorie and fruitlesse Panegyricks we hear the sound and name of it we blesse and applaud it but the power of it is lost not visible in any motion in any Action in any progresse we make in those wayes in which along grace will assist us floats on the Tongue but never moves either heart or hand For do we not lie still in our graves expecting till this Trump will sound do we not cripple our selves in hope of a miracle Non est honae solidae fidei omnia ad volumatem Dei referre ut non intelligamus aliquid esse in Nobis ipsis Tertul. Exhort ad Castitatem do we not settle upon our lees and say God can draw us out wallow in our blood because he can wash us as white as snow do we not love our sickness because we have so skilful a Physitian and since God can do what he will doe what we please This is a great evil under the Sun and one principal cause of all that evil that is upon the earth and makes us stand still and look on and delight in it and leave it to God alone and his power to remove it as if it concern'd us not at all and it were too daring an attempt for us mortals the sons of Adam to purge and clense that Augaean stable which we our selves have filled with dung as if Gods wisdom and Justice did not move at all and his mercy and power were alone busie in the work of our salvation busie to save the adulterer for though he be the member of an Harlot yet when God will he shall be made a member of Christ to save the seditious For though he now breath nothing but Hail-stones and coals of fire yet a time will come where he shall be made peaceable whether he will or no to save them who resolve to go on in their sin for he can check them when he please and bring them back to Obedience and holinesse in a word to save them whose Damnation sleepeth not I may say with the Father utinam mentirer would to God in this I were a lier but we have too much probability to induce us to beleeve it as a truth that they who are so ready to publish the free and irresistible power of Gods Grace and call it his Honour dishonour him more by the Neglect of their duty which is quite lost and forgot in an unseasonable acknowledgement of what God can and a lazy expectation of what he will work in them and so make God Omnipotent to do what his Wisdom sorbids and themselves weak and impotent to do what by the same wisdom he commands and then when they commune with their heart and finde not there those longings and pantings after piety that true desire and endeavour to mortifie their earthly members which God requires when in this Dialogue between one and himself their hearts cannot tell them they have watched one houre with Christ flatter and comfort themselves that this emptinesse and nakednesse shall never be imputed to them by God who if he had pleased might have wrought all in them in a moment by that force which flesh and blood could never withstand And thus they sin and pray and pray and sin and their impiety and devotion like the Sun and the Moon have their interchangeable courses it is now night with them and anon 't is day and then night again and it is not easie to discern which is their day or which is their night for there is darknesse over them both They hear and commend vertue and piety and since they cannot but think that vertue is more then a breath and that it is not enough to commend it they pray and are frequent in it pray continually but do nothing pray but do not watch pray but not strive against a temptation but leave that to a mightier hand to do for them and without them whilst they pray and sin call upon God for help when they fight against him as if it were Gods will to have it so for if he would have had it otherwise he would have heard their prayers and wrought it in them and therefore will be content with his Talent though hid in a napkin which if he had pleased might have been made ten and with his seed again which if he had spoke the word had brought forth fruit a hundred fold Hence it comes to passe that though they be very evil yet they are very secure this being the triumph over their Faith not to conquer the world but to leave that work for the Lord of Hosts Himself and in all humility to stay till he do it for they can do nothing of themselves and they have done what they can which is nothing and now they are heartlesse feeble and if I may so speak this do-nothing devotion which may be as hot on the tongue of a Pharisee and tied to his Phylactery must be made a signe of their election before all times who in time do those things of which we have been told often that they that do them shall not inherit the kingdome of Heaven I do not derogate from the power of Gods grace they that do are not worthy to feel it but shall feel that power which shall crush them to pieces they rather derogate from its power who bring it in to raise that obedience which comming with that tempest and violence it must needs destroy and take away quite for what obedience is there where nothing is done where he that is under command doth nothing vis ergo ista non gratia saith Arnobius this were not grace or royal favour but a strange kinde of emulation to gain the upper hand We cannot magnifie the Grace of God enough which doth even expect and wait upon us John 1. ep 2 c. 27. v. wooe and serve us it is that unction that precious ointment Saint Iohn speaks of but we must not poure it forth upon the
we will sinne but he that tells the Sinner Thou art the man shall not be received as a Prophet but be defied as an Adversary Sinne is of a Monstrous appearance who can stand before it and therefore we either cloud and hide it with an excuse or dresse it up in the mantle of Virtue in the Habit and Beauty of Holiness as Pompey to commend the Theater which he built call'd it a Temple And these are the causes which beget and nurse up this evill Humour in us This desire to be pleased this unwillingnesse to be Troubled though it be to be pluckt out of the fire 1. A defect in our selves cannot fill up with righteousness we doe with the shadow of it Secondly The Power of Conscience which when we cannot quiet we slumber and cast into a deep sleep and lastly the Glory and Beauty of Goodness which forceth from us though not a Complacency yet an approbation and makes them lay claime unto her who have violently Thrust her out of doores He that loves to erre loves not to be told so He that is not righteous will Justify himself and the worst of men desire to beare up their Head and Esteem with the best Let us now see the danger of this Humour and the bitter effects it doth produce And first This desire to be pleased placeth us out of all hope of succour leaves us like an Army besieged when the Enemy hath cut off all relief It is a curse it self and carries a train of curses with it it makes us blinde to our selves and not fit to make use of other mens eyes it maketh our raine powder and dust Deut. 28. corrupts all that Counsel and instruction which as moisture should make us fruitful it makes us like to the Idols of the Heathen to have eyes and see not to have ears and not to hear living dead men such as those to whom the Pythagoreans set up a Sepulchral Pillar such as Plato sayes do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sleep in Hell men made up of contradictions in health and therfore desperatly sick strong and therefore weak and never more fools then when they are most wise plus quà m oportet sapiunt plus quà m dici potest desipiunt saith Bernard they are wiser then they should be and more deceived then we can expresse Look on the Galatians in this Epistle and you shal see how this humour did bewitch them and what fools it made them They had received the spirit by the hearing of faith but this spirit did shake and trouble them frowned upon that which they too much inclined to and therefore they turn the ear from Saint Paul and opend it to let in the poyson of Aspes which the lips of those false Apostles carried under them and for no other reason but because they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 C. 6. v. 12. make a fair shew in the flesh make them put on the form and shape of a Jew to avoid the fury of the Roman who did then tolerate the Jew but not the Christian and how many have we now adayes who do Galatizari as Tertullians phrase is who are as foolish as the Galatians and make this humour the onely rule by which they frame and measure out their Religion who make it as their Mistris and love it most then when it is exploded who will hear to teacher but that Pharisee who hath made them his Proselytes Every man is pleased in his Religion and that is his Religion which pleaseth him that he will relie upon and Anathema to Saint Paul or any Angel that shall preach any other Gospel but that Our two Tables are not written with the finger of God our Religion is not framed in the Mount but here below in the Region of Phantasmes by flesh and blood which must not be despleased but swells against every thing that doth not touch it gently and flater it and so makes us like to the beasts that perish who have no principle of motion but their sense nay worse then they for they have no reason but we have reason indeed Seneca sed quae suo malo est atque in perversum solers but which is made instrumental against it self taught to promote that which it condemns to forward that which it forbids and serves onely to make us more unreasonable For again in the second place this humour this desire to be pleased doth not make up our defects but makes them greater doth not make vice a vertue but sin more sinful for he is a villain indeed that will be a villain and yet be thought a Saint such a one as God will spue out of his mouth And what is it to acknowledge no defect and to be worse and worse to feign a Paradise and be in Hell to have a name that we live and to be dead and what content is that which is more mortal then our selves and will soon end and end in weeping and lamentation Better far better were it that a sword did passe through our heart that the hidden things of darknesse were brought to light 1 Cor. 4.5 and the counsels of our heart made manifest to us then that it should be dead as a stone senslesse of its plague better we were tormented into health then t hat we should thus play and smile and laugh our selves into our graves look to upon those sons of Anack those Giantlike sinners against their God who have bound up the Law and sealed up the testimony which is against them who will do what they please and hear what they please and nothing else who deal with the Scripture as Caligula boasted he would with the Civil Law of the Romans Sueton Calig c. 34. take care ne quid praeter eos loquitur that it shall not speak at all or not any thing against them look upon them I forget my self for I fear we look upon them so long till our eyes dazle at the sight and we begin to think that is not truth which these men will not hear but yet look upon them not with an eye of flesh but that of faith an Evangelical eye and it will rather drop then dazle pitty then admire them Oh infaelices quibus licet peccare Oh most unhappy men of the World who have line and liberty to destroy themselves whom God permits to be evil as in wisdom he may and then in justice permits to defend it whose Chariot wheels he strikes not off 'till they are in the Red-sea whom he suffers when they would not hearken to his voice to be smothered to death with their own power and the breath and applause of fooles Oh 't is the heaviest judgement in the world not to feel and fear a judgement till it come It may be said perhaps what in all ages hath been said and not without mur mur and complaining Behold these are the wicked Psal 73.6,7 yet they prosper in their wayes their pride compasseth them about as
mixture of a Sacrificer and an Oppressor of a Christian and a Deceiver of a Faster and a Blood-thirsty man And as he was most enraged and impatient a◠Tertullian tells us to see the works of God brought into subjection under man who was made according to his image so is it his pride and glory to see man and Religion it self brought under these transitory things even made fervants and slaves unto them O! to this hater of God and man it is a kind of heaven in hell it self and in the midst of all his torment to see this man whom God created and redeemed to do him the greatest service in Christs livery to see him promote his Interest in the name of Christ and Religion to see him under his power and dominion most when he waits most diligently and officiously at the Altar of God The Pharisee was his beloved disciple when he was on his knees with a dissigured face These Jews here were his disciples who did run to the Altar but not from their evil waies who offered up the blood of beasts to God and of the innocent to him he that fasts and oppresses is his disciple for he gives God his body and the Devil his soule He that prayes much and cozens more is his disciples for he doth but flatter God and serves the enemy speaks to a God of truth with his lips but hearkens to the Father of lyes and deceit I may say the divel is the great Alchymist of the world to transelement the worst things to make them more passible to add a kind of esteeme and glory to them We do not meet with Counterfeit Iron or Copper but gold and precious stones these we sophisticate and when we cannot dig them out of the mine or take them from the rock we strive to work them by art out of Iron or Copper or glasse and call them gold and diamonds Thus doth the Devil raise and sublime the greatest impiety and gild it over with a sacrifice with a fast with devotion that it may appeare in glory and deceive if it were possible the very elect we see too many deceived with it who having no Religion themselves are yet ready to bowe down to its Image wheresoever they see it and so fix their eye and devotion upon it that they see not the theef the oppressor the Atheist who carries it along with him to destroy that of which it is the Image but take it for that which it represents as little children and fooles take pictures and puppets for men Is he unclean who sees that when he is at the Altar doth he defraud his brother who would say so that should see him on his knees hath he false weights and ballances It is impossible for you may see him every day in the temple are his feet swift to shed blood It cannot be for he fasteth often behold how he hangs down his head like a bulrush The veine of gold is deep in the earth and we cannot reach it but with sweat and industry true piety and that which is good is a more rare and precious thing then gold and the veines of it ly deep its originall is from heaven in Christ at a huge distance from our carnall desires and lusts and so requires great anxiety strong contention and mighty strivings to reconcile it to our wills This pearle is as it were in a far country and we must sell all to purchase it the whole man must lose and deny it self to search and find it out we must lay down all that we have our understandings our wills and affections at his feet that sells it And therefore that we may not trouble nor excruciate our selves too much that we may not ascend into heaven or go down into hell for it that we may not undergoe so much labour and endure so much torment in attaining it e take a shorter way and work and fashion something like unto it which is most contrary to it and transelement impiety it self and shadow it over with devotion and publish it to others and say within our selves this is it For what Seneca said of Philosophy is true of Religion Adeo res sacra est ut siquid illi simile sit etiam mendacium placeat It is so sacred and venerable a thing that we are pleased with its resemblance and that shall soone have its name that hath but its likenesse that shall be the true pearle which is but counterfeit and by this means all Religion is confined to the Altar and that shall consecrate that which is not good and make it appeare so That piety which came from the bosome of the Father and was conveighed to us by the wisdome of the Sonne must be shut up in outward worship in formality and Ceremony and shew and that which quite destroyes it and tramples it under our feet must go under that name and make us great on earth though it make us the least in the kingdome of heaven so that we shall have no place there but be tumbled down into the lowest pit As the Prophet Isaiah speaks in his first chapter Argentum nostrum versum est in scoriam our silver is become drosse our wine is mixt with water nay our best silver our most refined actions are drosse our wine is gall and bitternesse or as he speaks in another place c. 30. all our Righteousnesse and he means such formal counterfeit righteousnesse is as a menstruous cloth Again in the last place This formality and insincerity is most opposite to God who is a God of truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unissimus a most single and uncompounded essence with whom there is no variablenesse nor shadow of changing saith Saint James no mixture nor composition of divers or contrary things His justice doth not thwart his mercy nor his mercy disarme his justice his providence doth not bind his power nor his power check his providence what he is he alwaies is like unto himself in all his waies Tertullian gives him these two proprieties Tert. de Bapt. c. 2. simplicitatem potestatem simplicity or uncompoundednesse and power He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the singlenesse of all that are of a pure and single heart Dionrs de Divin Nomin and hence the strictest Christians in the first times were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Father viri singulares men that were one in themselves of a single heart who did strive and presse forward as far as mortality and their fraile condition would suffer them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the divine unity to be one in themselves as God is ever most one and unity it self For God who gave us our soul looks that we should restore it to him one and entire not contemplating heaven and wallowing in the mire not feeding on Ceremony and loathing of purity not busie at the Altar and more busie in the world The Civilians will tell us dicitur res non reddita
fitted to times of peace and fitted to times of tumult establisht and mighty against all occurrences all alterations all mutations whatsoever There is no time wherein a man may not be just and honest wherein he may not be merciful and compassionate wherein he may not be humble and sincere A Tyrant may strip me of my possessions but he cannot take from me my honesty he may leave me nothing to give but he cannot sequester my compassion he may lay me in my Grave but my Humility will raise me up as high as Heaven The great Prince of the Aire and all his Legions of Devils or men cannot pull us back or stop us in the course of our obedience to the Will and Law of God but we may continue it and carry it along through honour and dishonour through good report and evil report through all the terrors and affrightments which Men or Devils can place in our way What he requires he required and it may be done yesterday and to day and to the endof the world And as his Wisdome is seen in giving Lawes so it is in fitting the Means to the End in giving them that virtue and force to draw us to a neerer vision and sight of God whose wisdome reacheth from one end to another mightily and doth sweetly order all things Wisd 8.1 For which way can frail Man come to see his God but by being like him what can draw him neere to his pure Essence but simplicity and purity of spirit what can carry us to the God of love but Charity what can lead him into the Courts of Righteousnesse but Justice what can move a God of tender mercies but Compassion For certainly God will never look down from his Mercy-seat on them that have no Bowells In a word What can make us wise but that which is good Those virtues Temperance Justice and Liberality which are called the Labours of wisdome Wisd 8.8 what can bring us into Heaven but this full Taste of the powers of the world to come so that there is some Truth in that of Gerson Gloria est gratia consummata Glory is nothing else but Grace made perfect and consummate For though we cannot thus draw Grace and Glory together as to make them one and the same thing but must put a difference between the Meanes and the End yet Wisdome it self hath written it down in an indelible character and in the leaves of eternity That there is no other key but this Good in the Text to open the Gates of the Kingdome of Heaven and he that brings this along with him shall certainly enter Heaven and Glory is a thing of another world but yet it begins here in this and Grace is made perfect in Glory And therefore in the last place his Absolute will is not onely attended with Power and Wisdome but with Love and these are the Glories of his Will He can do what he will and he will do it by the most proper and fittest meanes and whatsoever he requires is the Dictate of his Love When he sent his Son the best Master and wisest Lawgiver that ever was on whose shoulders the Government was laid he was usher'd in with a Sic dilexit so God loved the world Iohn â— and his love seems to have the preeminence and to do more then his power which can but annihilate us but his love if we embrace it will change our soules and Angelifie them and change our bodies and spiritualize them and endow us with the will and so with the power of God make us differ as much from our selves as if we were not Annihilated which his power can do but which is more made something else something better something neerer to God which is that mighty Thing which his Love brings to passe We may imagine that a Law is a meer indication of power that it proceeds from Rigor and Severity that there is nothing commanded nothing required but there is Smoke and Thunder and Lightning but indeed every Law of God is the Naturall and proper effect and Issue of his Love from his power 't is true but his power mannaged and shewn in Wisdome and Love For he made us to this End and to this End he requires something of us not out of any Indigency as if he wanted our Company and Service for he was as Happy before the Creation as after but to have some object for his Love and Goodnesse to work upon to have an Exceptory and vessel for the dew of Heaven to fall into as the Jews were wont to say Propter Messiam mundum fuisse conditum That the world and all mankind were made for the Messias whose businesse was to preach the Law which his Father said unto him Psal 2.7 and to declare his will And in this Consists the perfection and Beauty of Man for the perfection of Every Thing is its drawing neere to its first principle and Originall and the neerer and liker a thing is to the first cause that produced it the more perfect it is as the Heat is most perfect which is most intense and hath most of the Fire in it And Man the more he partakes of that which is Truly Good of the Divine Nature of which his soul is as it were a sparkle the more perfect he is because this was the onely End for which God made him This was the End of all his Lawes that he might find just Cause to do him Good That man might draw neere to him here by Obedience and Conformity to his will and in the world to come reign with him for ever in Glory And as it is the perfection so is it the Beauty of a man for as there is the Beauty of the Lord Psal 27.4 so is there the beauty of the subject The Beauty of the Lord is to have will and power and Jurisdiction to have power and wisdome to command and to command in love So is it the beauty of a man to bowe and submit and conforme to the will of the Lord for what a deformed spectacle is a Man without God in this world which hath power and wisdome and love to beautifie it Beauty is nothing else but a result from perfection the beauty of the Body proceeding from the symmetrie and due proportion of parts and the beauty of the Soule from the consonancy of the will and affections to the will and law of God Oh how beautifull are those feet which walk in the wayes of life how beautifull and glorious shall he be who walks in love as God loved him who rests on his power and walks by his wisdome and placeth himself under the shadow of his love And thus much the substance of these words afford us What doth the Lord require Let us now cast an eye upon them in the Forme and Habit in which they are presented and consider the manner of proposing them and the Prophet proposeth it by way of Interrogation And as he ask'd
and every man is bound to all there is an instrument and obligation drawn between them a kind of counterbond to secure one from the other and it is written and sealed up in every heart and by the hand of God himself To do to others as we would have others to do to us if men would be but men would be what it was made for the security of the whole world thirdly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how unblameably in respect of himself and his personall conversation for though we sacrse believe it or consider it as little as if it were not true we our selves are bound unto our selves and in all the assaults we make either against God or our neighbour the first injury we do is to our selves we are bound to our bodies not to make them the instruments and weapons of unrighteousnesse and we are bound to our soules not to pawn or sell them to our lusts we are bound to our flesh as a magistrate is in his office to beat it down and subdue it and so rule and govern it and we are bound to our reason not to enslave it or place it under the vanities of this world and if we break these obligations we are the first that rise up against our selves the first man that condemns a finner is the sinner himself se judice nemo nocens absolvitur In himself he beares about with him a court a seat of Justice from which no appeal lies his Reason is his Judge his Conscience is his accuser and he himself is his own prisoner and he crucifies and hangs himself up every day though no forreign authority arrest him And these three are linkt together as in a chain For when we make good our obligations to God and our selves we never fail in that which is due unto men and he that failes in doing justly to men hath ipso facto forfeited his obligation to God and himself for to do justly is a duty which he owes to God and himself as well as to others he that is not just is not holy and he that is not holy is an enemy to God and himself for God made him to this end and God requires it at his hands so that an unjust man at once breaks this threefold cord and is injurious to God to men and himself If we misse in one we are lost in all and are in a manner out-law'd from men banisht from our selves and so without God in this world We have a large field here to walk in but we must limit and confine our selves and passe by the justice of the publique Magistrate whose proper work it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stand in the midst between two opposite sides till he draw them together and make them one to keep an equality even in inequality to use his power rescindendo peccatori in cutting off the wicked from the earth and taking the prey out of his mouth or else communi dividundo in dividing to every man his own possessions in giving Mephibosheth his own Lands for this is neither meant here in the text nor can it concern this Auditory Read the 10 11 12. v. of this chapter and you will see what Justice it is the Prophet here speaks of 10. Are there yet treasures of wickednesse in the house of the wicked and the scant measure that is abominable 11. Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances and with the bag of deceitfull weights 12. For the rich men thereof are full of violence and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lyes and their tongue is deceitfull in their mouth Is there yet the house of the wicked built by oppression and cemented with blood and will he not restore what he hath unjustly gained after so many warnings and threats Adhuc ignis in domo Impii so the vulgar Is there yet a fire in the house of the wicked not a Treasure but a Fire which will consume all so that Facere judicium to do justly in this place is not onely the duty of the magistrate and yet publick Justice is both a serpent and a rod not onely to bite and sting the guilty person but a rod or measure to measure out to every man his own measure but to do justly is to give every man his own not to lay hold on or alienate or deceitfully withdraw or violently force from any man that of which he is a lawfull possessor for quicqutd jure possidetur injuriâ aufertur that which I possesse by right cannot be taken from me but by injury And this is it which we call common honesty or private Justice and it binds my hand from oppression and robbery it seals up my lips from guile and slander it checks and fetters my fancy from weaving those Nets of Deceit which may catch my Brother and entangle him it limits my Hands my Wit my Tongue not to doe not to imagine not to speak that which may endamage him not to touch not to undermine his estate not to touch not to wound his reputation for Slander is a great injustice a kind of Murder jugulans non membra sed nomina saith Optatus to the Donatists not cutting off a limbe or member but mangling and defacing a good and fair name and even treading it in the dirt Private Justice is of a far larger extent then that which is Publique and speaks and acts from the Tribunall For Publique Justice steers by no other Compasse but the Laws of Men but this by the Laws of Nature and Charity which forbid many things which the Laws of Men mention not and restrain us there where Humane Authority leaves us in nostro mancipio to dispose of our selves as we please Nec enim quicquid honestum est legibus praecipitur for this Justice and Honesty binds us to that which no Law exacts for Law-givers are not Diviners or Prophets and they see little more then what is passed by them already or now before their eyes or which Probability hath brought so neere that they even see it as a thing which if not prevented will certainly come to passe They have not the knowledge of all that is possible nor of all things that are under the differences of times past present and to come nor can they fathome the depth and deceitfulnesse of their own hearts much leste of the hearts of other men which are fruitfull in evil and every day find out new inventions and multiply them every day For as Saint Austin spake of the Lawyers of his time Angust deved Dan. Imm. 19. Nulla Causa sine causa There was not a Cause brought to them which they could not so handle as that it should multiply in their hands and beget as many as they pleased so there is no fraudulent act Usu â—…atum est 〈◊〉 apu 〈…〉 c. Thras Paet apod Taâ—…t Annal. 15. which is not a step to another and that to a third and that is now a teeming ready to bring forth
the plummet and have recourse to the Law and the Prophets not stand gazing upon the practice of the world and actions of men but look upon the rule by which a diligent eye may easily discover all particular swervings and deviations though they be as many as the Atomes before the Sun For as Seneca well Difficile est animam suam effugere It is a hard matter for a man to fly from himself or to divest himself of those principles with which he was born or so to fling them from him as that they shall never return to restrain and curb him or at least to molest him when his flesh and lusts are wanton and unruly and violent to break their bounds And now what doth the Lord require But to do justly That is but to do that which first the Law of nature requires secondly that which he at sundry times by holy men and his Prophets hath taught and in the last daies hath urged and improved by his Son Christ Jesus the Prince of Peace and righteousnesse So that Justice doth raise it self upon these two pillars Nature and Religion which are like the two pillars in the porch of the Temple 1 Kings 7.20 Jachin and Boaz and do strengthen and establish Justice as that doth the pillars of the earth or as the legs of the bridegroome in the Canticles 5.15 which were as pillars of marble set upon sockets of pure gold for the wisdome and strength of Christ and Christianity consists in the adorning and improving of Nature and settling a true and perfect Religion and the sockets the bases are of pure gold Basis aurea timor plenus disciplinae saith Ambrose the golden Basis which upholds all is a well disciplined fear by which we walk with circumspection and carefully observe the Law of nature and the Law of Christ and by the Law of nature and the brighter and clearer light of Scripture so steere our course that we dash not against thosedangerous rocks of deceit and violence of oppression and wrong that we may not spem nostram alienis miseriis inaugurare not increase our selves by diminishing others not rise by another mans ruine not be enriched by another mans losse not begin and inaugurate and crown our hopes and desires with other mens miseries nor bath our selves with delight in the teares of the widow and the fatherlesse but rather suffer wrong then do it rather lose out coat then take away our brothers vitamque impendere vero rather lose that we have and life it self then our honesty and so by being Men and by being Christians ful fill all right eousnesse And first Nature it selfe hath hewn and squared all Mankind as it were out of the same Quarry and Rock hath built them up out of the same Materials into a Body and Society into a City compact within it self For the whole world is but as one City and all the men therein in respect of mutuall offices of love are but of one Corporation Respicite zur Es 5.1 Look unto the rock out of which you were hewen and the hole of the pit where you were digged Look unto the common seed-plot out of which you were all extracted and there you shall discover that neer Relation and Fraternity that makes every man a Neighbour a Brother to Every man how they are not onely together Children of Corruption and kin to the worm and Rottennesse but the same workmanship of an immortall hand and an illimited power the Brethren of one Bather who hath built them up in his image and according to his likenesse which though it may be more resplendent more improved in one then in another yet it is that impression which is made and stampt on all From the same rock are hewed out the weak and feeble man and Ish the man of strength who hath milk in his breasts and marrow in his bones From the same hand is that face we turne away from and that face we so much gaze on the scribe and the Idiot the narrow understanding that receives little and the active and piercing wit which runs to and fro the earth that plain simple man that hath no ends and the subtile Politician who multiplies his every day and can compasse them all Of the same extraction are the purple Gallant and the Russet Pilgrime and he that made them casts an equall eye on them all and binds every hand from violence and every heart from forging deceit makes every man a guard and protection to every man gives every man a guard and conduct for himself and others and to every man the word is given touch not another and do him no harm Thus hath he fenced us in and taken care that the strong man bind not the weak that the scribe over-reach not the Ideot that the Politician supplant not the innocent that the experienced man defraud not the ignorant but that every mans strength and wit and experience and wisdome should be advantageous and not hurtfull to others that so the weak man may be strong with another mans strength and the ignorant man wise with anothers experience and the Ideot be secured by the wisdome of the Scribe For who hath made all these have not I the Lord and then if he made them and linkt them together in one common tye of nature quis discernet as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 4.7 who shall divide and separate them who shall divide the rich and the poore that he should set him at his footstool and despise him The strong from the weak that he should beat him to the ground The wise from the ignorant that he should bassie and deceive him Indeed sme distance some difference some precedency of one before the other may shew it self to an eye of flesh but yet even an eye of flesh may see how to reunite and gather them together as on and the same in their Originall Respicite zur Look unto the rock the vein out of which you were taken and then what Moses spake to the Israelites when they strove together may be spoken to all the men in the world Sirs you are brethren why do you defraud or use violence why do you wrong one to another Acts 7.26 But in the next place Besides this our common extraction the God of Nature who hath built us out of the same materialls hath also imprinted those Principles those Notions those Inclinations in the heart of every man which may be as so many Buttresses and supporters to uphold this frame and to make us dwell together in all simplicity and innocency of coversation not in envy and malice in fraud and deceit but with courtesie and affability helping and supporting one another which is that justice which God requires at our hands Nulla anima sine crimine quia nulla sine Boni semine saith Tertullian No soul can plead Not guilty here because no soul is destitute of this seed of Goodnesse And thus we see in Rom. 1. where Saint