exact to be imitated amongst the men of this Generation then this good Bishop especially in these three things First in making his whole life an example of his doctrine an example in word in Conversation in Love in Spirit in faith and in purity Many there were who in that respect Reverenced him though of the Romish Synagogue as Herod did John the Baptist knowing that he was a just and an holy man This blessed Preacher did Live all his Sermons and had learned of Jesus who began both to do and to teach Nazianzens Epitaph on the life of Basil was true in him His words were Thunder his Life Lightning Secondly in making Christ and the Apostles the pattern of his preaching this great Master in Israel was the most self-denying man in the pulpit and the most Reverend and Christ-advancing Preacher He preached with great Authority as did our Saviour to the Conscience his speech was not with enticing words of Mans wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that their faith might not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God How oft have I seen my self and heard from others whilst be thus prophesyed some that believed not coming to hear him go away Convinced of all Judged of all and the secrets of their heart made manifest and so falling down on their face they have worshipped God and reported that God was in him of a truth He was an Apollos an Eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures He was another Paul in the preaching that did compare Scripture with Scripture and so make demonstrative Proofs from the spirit speaking in them Some that affected a frothy way of preaching by strong Lines as they call them after they heard him in Oxford decry that Corinthian vanity were much ashamed and took up a more profitable way of preaching Those words of his in a Sermon at the Court before the King are worthy to be printed in Letters of Gold And oh That God would print them in the hearts of all the Ministers in the World Great Scholars said he possibly may think it standeth not with their Credit to stoop so low c. But let the Learnedst of us all try it when ever we please we shall find that to lay this ground-work right that is to apply our selves to the Capacity of the Common Auditory and to make an ignorant man to understand these mysteries in some good measure will put us to the tryal of our skill and trouble us a great deal more then if we were to discuss a Controversy or handle a subtil point of Learning in the Schools Thirdly In condescending publiquely and privately to the Capacity of the meanest that heard or conversed with him herein his wisdom was like unto Solomons stiled the Preacher because he was wise he did still teach the people knowledge yea he gave good heed and sought out and set in order many Proverbs the Preacher sought to find out acceptable words and words of truth and as our Saviour that was greater then Solomon he would let truths substantially proved into the understanding with apt similitudes and would Encourage any to move their doubts unto him in private So that notwithstanding his greatness good Christians might be very familiar with him visit them in their sickness supply their wants beg their prayers and Countenance them in whatsoever Condition all might see his delight was in the Saints and that he was as that King after Gods own heart a Companion of all them that feared God in a word he was a great proficient in that Lesson of our Saviour Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart This I say was the reason he grew so high in favour with God and man He honoured God and therefore God honoured him A great and good draw-net he was that fished for souls and catched many and let two sorts of Ministers gather from hence their respective Instructions First let all those that list not follow him in those paths of holiness painfulness and Humility take notice of Gods Justice in dealing with them as they have done with him His Covenant is with Levi of Life and Peace and he gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared him and was afraid before his name The Law of truth was in his mouth and Iniquitie was not found in his lips he walked with God in peace and equity and did turn many away from iniquity for the priests lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts But saith the Lord ye are departed out of the way ye have caused many to stumble at the Law ye have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of hosts Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people according as you have not kept my ways but have been partial in the Law Had we all the means in the World to make us great if we either do not teach or do not make our selves Examples of what we teach 't is just with God that we should grow contemptible and vile for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Thy teachers have transgressed against me therefore have I prophaned the rulers of my Sanctuary The Lord giveth this for a general Rule as those that honour him he will honour so they that despise him shall be despised Secondly Let all holy painful and humble Ministers who make it their design as this fair Copy did before them to advance God and fulfil the work of their Ministery trust to his faithfulness for vindicating their esteem No sort of men have greater promises for provision protection from and in trouble and for revenge of wrongs done unto them then they have What a dreadful and prophetical prayer is that Moses made for Levi smite through the Loins of them that rise against him and of them that hate him that they rise not again What though a generation of men Call even the best of such Antichristian Lyars False Prophets And what not did they not after this manner use Christ and his Apostles before them They speak evil of the things they know not None of Gods blessed truths and holy Ordinances have been otherwise used by them their general outcry is upon all truths Ordinances and ways of Religion among us as Antichristian The Apostacie of the present age makes men fall from all things in Religion and with an impudent face to deny and deride them all But did God leave these Jewels amongst men to be trodden under feet by such Swine Shall they not dearly pay for it Oh! That they would remember what words came out of the mouth of him that is the very promptuary of all sweetness and how highly he is provoked when such words are drawn from his blessed lips that drop honey Let
but in use so that which was but now a common bread becomes as far different as Heaven is from earth being altered in its use For instance the wax whereby the King passes over an inheritance to us and by which conveyances of our estates are made that wax is but as another piece of wax differing nothing from that which is in the shop till the King hath stampt it with his Seal But being once sealed one would not give it for all the wax in the Kingdom for now it serves to another use so is it here in these elements but still know the difference is not in the matter or substance but in the use And this is the reason why this blessed bread and wine is termed a communion namely because it is an instrument whereby Christ inflates me into himself and whereby I have fellowship and communion with him In the words then we have these particulars viz. 1. A sin If any man shall presume to eat that bread or drink that cup unworthily It s a dangerous thing a great sin to eat and drink at the Lords Table in an unworthy manner 2. A punishment He eats and drinks damnation or judgment unto himself So that now what was ordained to life and appointed to be a seal and confirmation of Gods love and favour is now changed and become a seal and confirmation of Gods anger and indignation The unworthy receiving of it makes it prove clean contrary to what it was intended 3. A reason because he discerns not the Lords body but takes them as ordinary things deeming the elements not different from the bread and wine which we have at our Tables not knowing that they are the dishes wherein Christ is served in unto us that by these the greatest gift is given us and nourishment conveyed for the maintenance of our spiritual life This life was given us in baptism but in and by these signs is conveyed spiritual nourishment for the continuance and maintenance of it for the strengthning of our faith and making us daily stronger and stronger to fight the Lords battles Now when we discern not this nor by the eye of faith see Christ Jesus crucified for us and by these elements conveyed unto us but take them hand over head without any consideration we receive them unworthily and a fearful indignity is offered unto Christ which he will certainly revenge I 'le then 1. Shew in general what it is to eat worthily 2. What it is to eat judgment and then 3. I l'e come to the particulars how this sin may be avoided and what the particulars are wherein the sin consists 1. Concerning the first What it is to eat unworthily Obj. And here may some say is there any of us who can avouch that he eats and drinks at the Lords Table 〈◊〉 is any so presumptuous to say that he is worthy to eat Christs flesh and drink his blood As for bodily food and entertainment we are unworthy to present them to him The Centurion could say I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof How then comes this to pass that he which eats and drinks the Lords body unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself If we are not worthy to present bodily food unto him can we be worthy to receive spiritual food from him Sol. But here understand what is set down worthiness is not alwayes taken for a matter of merit or proportion of worth between the person giving and receiving but in Scripture it 's often taken for that which is meet fitting and beseeming And in this sense the Apostle uses it 1 Cor. 16.4 If it be meet that I go also they shall go with me If it be meet The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or worthy which is here rightly translated meet so in that Sermon of Saint John Baptist Mat. 3.8 bring forth fruits meet for repentance that is fruits beseeming amendment of life And in this sense are we said to walk worthy of God who hath called us to his Kingdom and glory Worthy of God that is worthy of that calling God hath imparted to us 1 Thes. 2.12 And therefore to use the similitude as I have elsewere If the King should vouchsafe to come into a Subjects house and find all things fit and beseeming so great a Majesty that Subject may be said to give the King worthy entertainment not that a Subject is worthy to entertain his Prince But the meaning is he provided all things which were meet and fit for the entertainment of him So is it here if we prepare our selves with such spiritual ornaments to entertain the King of glory as are requisite for those who approach his Table though our performances come far short of the worth of his presence yet we may be said to eat his body and drink his blood worthily When the King in the Gospel had prepared his feast two sorts of guests there were who where unworthy 1. Those that made light of the invitation who had their excuses when they should come to the feast One must go to his farm another to try his Oxen c. Luk. 14.18 2. Others there were who came and yet were unworthy guests for coming unpreparedly for in the midst of the feast the King comes in to view his guests and beholds a man that did not refuse to come but yet came without his wedding garment and so came unworthily for not coming preparedly Ye see then there may be an unworthiness in those that do come since they come unfitted and in a dress unbeseeming such a banquet They are unworthy receivers of the Lords body and he accounts it an irreverent usage of him In like manner may some say touching the Ministery of the Word May not I read a good Sermon at home with as much profit What needs all this stir Why here 's the advantage and priviledge you get in the publick Ministery of the Word God himself comes down as a King amongst us he views his guests and considers who comes with his wedding garment who comes preparedly Christ comes and looks on us and where two or three are gathered together in his name there he hath promised to be in the midst of them Math. 18.20 He walks in the midst of the golden Candlesticks The Ministers of his Word he takes a special view of those that come and frequent his Ordinances and is ready ever to reward them You see then what it is to eat worthily it s to do it with that reverence that is requisite where the King of Heaven is the Master of the Feast Now this being the sin unmannerliness and unprepared approaching his Table we come to the second thing viz. 2. The punishment And that 's a terrible one He that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself Damnation that 's somewhat hard the word in the Margent is better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judgment True there are such as so come
to find by experience what it is What a woful thing is it that many men should take more pains to come to this place of torment then would cost them to go to hâ—aven that men should wilfully run themselves upon the pikes not considering how painful it is nor how sharp those pikes are And this I shall endeavour to my power to set forth unto you This Text declares unto us two things 1. Who they are for whom this place is provided 2. The place it self and the nature of it 1. For whom the place is provided The Text contains a Catalogue of that black Roll though there are many more then are expressed but here are the grand crimes the ring leaders to destruction the mother sins And here we have in the first place the Fearful whereby is not meant those that are of a timorous nature for fear simply is not a sin those that are simply fearful but such as place their fear on a wrong object not where it should be That fear not God but other things more then God Such as if affliction and iniquity were put to their choice will rather choose iniquity then affliction Rather then they will have any cross betide them rather then they will incur the indignation of a man rather then they will part with their life and goods for God's cause will adventure on any thing choosing iniquity rather then affliction Job 36.21 being afraid of what they should not fear never hearing the great and mighty God This is the fearful here meant See how Elihu in Job expresses it Job 36.21 This hast thou chosen This that is iniquity rather then affliction to sin rather then to suffer Christ biddeth us not fear poor vain man but the omnipotent God that is able both to kill and to cast into Hell The man that feareth his Landlord who is able to turn him out of his house and doth not fear God who is able to turn him into Hell this dastardly spirit is one of the Captains of those that go to hell those timerous and cowardly persons that tremble at the wrath or frowns of men more then of God But what 's the reason men should thus stand more in fear of men then of God Why it is because they are sensible of what men can do unto their bodies but they cannot with Moses by faith see what that is that is invisible They are full of unbelief for had they faith they would banish all false fears See what the Lord saith Esa. 41.14 Fear not thou worm Jacob I will help thee saith the Lord. He saith not Fear not ye men or thou man for then perhaps thou mightest be thought to have some power to resist but fear not thou worm A worm you know is a poor weak thing apt to be crushed by every foot yet be this thy case be thou a worm unable to resist the leâ—st opposition yet fear not thou worm Fear not why For I will help thee saith the Lord. Couldst thou but believe in God this would make thee bold and hadst thou faith thou wouldst not fear When word was brought to the house of Jacob that two Kings were come up into the Land to invade it Esay 7.2 it is said his heart was moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind But what is the remedy of this fear See Esay 8.12 Fear not their fear nor be afraid that was a false and a base fear sanctifie the Lord in your hearts and let hin be your dread Esay 51.12 there is an object of our faith and comfort and a remedy against fear proposed I even I am he that comforteth thee who art thou that shouldst be afraid of a man that shall dye and the son of man that is as grass What art thou one that hast God on thy side how unworthy art thou of that high favour if thou fear man The greatest man that lives cannot shield himself from death and from a covering of worms and wilt thou be afraid of a man and forget the Lord thy Maker The more thou art taken up with the fear of man the less thou fearest God and the more thou remembrest man the more thou forgettest thy Maker You have seen the Main the Ring-Leaders which are these fearful faithless dastardly unbelieving men Now see what the filthy rabble is that followeth after and they are Abominable Murtherers c. Abominable that is unnatural such as pollute themselves with things not fit to be named but to be abhorred whether it be by themselves or with others They are the abominable here meant such as Sodom and Gomorrah who were set forth to such as an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude v. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such are abominable being given up to unnatural lust Let them carry it never so secretly yet are they here ranked amongst the rest and shall have their portion in the burning Lake After these come Sorcerers Idolaters Lyars Though these may be spoken fairly of by men yet cannot that shelter them from the wrath of God they shall likewise have their part in that lake when they come to a reckoning If there be I say a generation of people that worship these say what you will of them when they come to receive their wages they shall receive their portion in that burning lake with hypocrites Those that make so fair a shew before men and yet nourish hypocrisie in their hearts these men though in regard of the outward man they so behave themselves that none can say to them black is their eye though they cannot be charged with those notorious things before mentioned yet if there be nothing but hypocrisie in their hearts let it be spun with never so fair a web never so fine a thread yet they shall have their portion in the lake they shall have their part their portion c. Then it seems these of this black guard have a peculiar interest unto this place And as it is said of Judas Acts 1.25 that he was gone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his proper place So long as a man that is an enemy to Christ and yields him not obedience is out of Hell so long is he out of his place Hell is the place assigned to him and prepared for him he hath a share there and his part and portion he must have till he is come thither he is but a wanderer The Evangelist tells us Mat. 23.15 that the Scribes and Pharisees went about to gain Proselytes and when they had all done they made them seven times more the children of hell than themselves filios Gehennae So that a Father hath not more right in his Son than Hell hath in them He is a vessel of wrath filled top full of iniquity and a child of the Devils So that as we say the Gallows will claim its right so hell will claim its due But mistake me not all this that I speak concerning hell is
easie indeed were there nothing but saying the word to make man and Wife there are terms and conditions to be agreed upon God casts not his Son away he looks there shall be conditions on thy side he must be thy King and Head if thou wilt have him to be thy husband But what shall I get by him then saith the wife Get there is no end of thy getting All is thine Paul Apollos Cephas Life c. Thou art Christ's and Christ is God's 1 Cor. 3.22 23. Every man will take Christ thus for the better but there is somewhat else in the match If thou wilt have him thou must take him for better for worse for richer for poorer Indeed there are precious things provided for you It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luk. 12.32 Rom. 8.17 You shall be Heirs with Christ but for the present while you are in the Church Militant you must take up your Cross you must not look for great things in this world In this world you must have tribulation you must deny your selves and your own Wills What would you have Christ the wife and you the husband No if you think so you mistake the match Christ must be the Husband and the Head and as the wife promises to obey her husband to stick to her husband in sickness and in health and to forsake all others so Christ asketh wilt thou have me if thou wilt thou must take me on these terms thou must take my Cross with me thou must deny thine own Will yea it may be thine own life also Let a Christian consider all these things these are the words and these are the benefits and then compare them together and then if he can say I will have Christ however for I shall be a saver by him I will take him with all faults and I know I shall make a good bargain therefore I will have him on any terms come what will when a man can have his will so perpendicularly bent on Christ that he will have him though he leave his skin behind him there is a true acceptation of him We must not here distinguish with the Schools about Velleities a general wishing and woulding and true desires after Christ Wishers and Woulders never thrive but there must be resolution to follow Christ through thick and thin never to part with him a direct Will is here required And therefore Christ bids us consider before-hand what it will cost us If any man come to me and hate not Father and mother Wife and Children and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Luk. 24.26 Do not think that our Saviour here would discourage men from love Doth the love teach us hatred The phrase in the Hebrew is loving less as it is said Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated Deut. 21.15 that is loved less If a man hath two wives one beloved and the other hated and they have born Children both the beloved and the hated By hated is not meant that the man hated one wife but less loved her than the other So if any man come to me and hate not father and mother that is if he love not all less than me and that it is so we may see it expounded by our Saviour Mat 10.37 He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me There Christ expounds it He that will follow Christ in calm weather and not in a storm is not worthy of him Luk. 14.28 Which of you intending to build a Tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it What is that to the purpose See vers 33. So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my Disciple It is a small matter to begin to be a Christian unless you consider what it will cost you Do you think it a small matter to be a King's Son 1 Sam. 18.23 think not on so great a business without consideration what it will cost you It will be the denying of your own wills You must be content to follow naked Christ nakedly follow him in his persecution and tribulation in his death and suffering if thou wilt be conformable to him in glory When this case comes it makes many draw back as the rich man in the Gospel when he must forsake all he drew back When troubles arise many are offended so when it comes to a point of parting they go back Now we come to speak one word of the sealing of the Text. After that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise This sealing which is a point of feeling is a distinct thing of it self from faith no part of faith If I have faith I am sure of life though I never have the other these are two seals We put to our seals to the counter-part that is drawn betwixt God and us The first seal is our faith I have nothing but God's Word and indeed I have no feeling yet I venture my salvation and trust God upon his bare Word I will pawn all upon it He that hath received his testimony that is in effect he that believeth saith John hath set to his seal that God is true Joh. 3.33 If men doubt and trust God no further than they see him it is not faith But when God gives me a good word though I am in as much distress as ever yet I trust though it be contrary to all sense or outward seeming yet I put to my seal and trust him still Then comes God's counter-part God being thus honoured that I believe his Word though contrary to all sense and feeling even his bare Word then God sets to his seal and now the Word comes to particularizing Before it was in general now it comes and singles out a man Say thou unto my soul that I am thy salvation Psal. 35.3 that is as I did apply the generality of God's Word unto mine own case to bear me up against sense and feeling then comes the Spirit of God and not only delivers generalities but saith unto my soul I am thy salvation This is called in Scripture a manifestation when God manifests himself unto us as in Isa. 60.16 Thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles and shalt suck the breast of Kings and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer c. that is when we have made particular application by Faith God will put to his seal that I shall know that God is my strength and my salvation I shall know it Joh. 14.21 He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will manifest my self unto him Christ comes and draws the Curtains and looks on with the gracious aspect of his blessed countenance When this comes it chears the heart and then there are secret love-tokens pass betwixt Christ and his beloved Rev. 2.17 To him that overcometh will I give to eat
entire soul that hath no blot that one that hath no spot should be purged after final grace hath made him clear and whole this is against reason and common sense They might have learned better of their own Thomas all the fire in the world will never put away sin without the infusion of grace This by the way concerning them I shewed besides that these two being both righteousnesses the Church of Rome confounds them both together Saint James his justification with Saint Pauls They confound inherent righteousness which is begun and shall be perfected in final grace with the other so that the point is not between us and Rome Whether faith justifieth by works or no but Whether it justifieth at all In truth that is the state of it The question is this whether there be such a grace as justification that is distinguished from sanctification or whether there be another grace of sanctification Do not think that we are such block-heads as to deny faith and sanctification yet faith is but a piece or part of that train of vertues There justification is taken for sanctification we acknowledge a man is justified by faith and works but the question is between us and them whether there be any justification besides sanctification i. e. whether there be any justification at all or no we say sanctification is wrought by the Kingly office of Christ he is a King that rules in our hearts subdues our corruptions governs us by the Sceptre of his Word and Spirit but it is the fruit of his Priestly office which the Church of Rome strikes at i. e. whether Christ hath reserved another righteousness for us besides that which as a King he works in our hearts whether he hath wrought forgiveness of sins for us we say he hath and so saith all the Church till the new Spawn of Jesuits arose They distinguish not remission of sins from sanctification Bellarmine saith remission of sins is the extinguishing of sin in the soul as water though it be cold yet the bringing in of heat extinguishes the cold and so remission of sins is the bringing in of inherent righteousness which extinguisheth all sin which was before A strange thing and were it not that the Scripture does speak of a cup in the hand of the Harlot of Rome whereby she makes drunk the Inhabitants of the earth with the wine of her fornication Rev. 17.4 18.3 except the men of her communion were drunk it were impossible that a learned men should thus shake out an Article of our and their Creed which hath ever been believed by all the Churches When the Scripture speaks of forgiveness of sins see how it expresseth it Ephes. 4.32 Be ye kind one to another Brethren tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Observe in the Lord's Prayer we pray that the Lord would forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us Let him that hath common understanding judge Do we forgive our Neighbours by extinguishing sin in the subject I forgive you i. e. I take away the ill office you did me Doth he forgive thus Alas no! forgiveness is without a man I have an action against you perhaps an action at Law I will let fall my suit my charges I will forgive this is forgiveness God justifieth who shall condemn Though God has just cause to proceed against me as a Rebel yet he is content to let fall his action to fasten it upon the Cross of his Son there to fix the Chirographum the hand-writing against us Colos. 2.14 He will let fall that which was the ground of a suit against us all that he could say against us That you may understand the thing the better there are two things two kinds of righteousness the one of justification the other of sanctification The Holy Ghost distinguisheth them by several terms 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who is made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption You see here are two distinct graces righteousness and sanctification they make them but one sanctification and remission of sins Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 8.30 Here justification and glorification are nothing else but justification and sanctification St Paul speaks of a thing past not of the glory to come them he glorified not shall glorifie he means sanctification which is inchoate glory For what is the glory we shall have in heaven but the enlargement of those inherent graces God begins in this world Here is the seed there is the crop here thou hast a little knowledge but there it shall be enlarged now thou hast a little joy there thou shalt enter into thy Master's joy here some knowledge but there thou shalt have a full knowledge and a full measure Here glory dwelleth in our Land but there we shall with open faoe behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord and be changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 i. e. we are more and more conformed to the image of Almighty God by obedience and holy qualities infused into us that we grow from one degree of sanctification unto another And so you see how these are distinguished by their terms Justification and glorification justification and sanctification There is another place in St. John an hard place but yet as I take it these two righteousnesses that have the same name for justification and sanctification are righteousnesses both of them to be distinct in their terms in that place it is said Joh. 16.8 That when the Spirit shall come he shall reprove or as we should translate it and as you read it in the margin he shall convince the world concerning sin righteousness and judgment Thus I say it should be translated for it is of no sense to say that God should reprove the world of righteousness on what occasion this was spoken we must not stand to speak but righteousness and judgment is justification and sanctification And the drift of the place is this when the Spirit shall come how not upon me or thee but the Spirit here spoken of is that Spirit that should come upon the Apostles it shall begin at the day of Pentecost and these 1. should set forth like twelve Champions to conquer the world and to bring them unto the Sceptre of Christ. He shall convince the world i e. when the Spirit shall come on you and your tongues be tipped with that spiritual fire which shall be active it shall convince the world of three particulars of sin righteousness and judgment Of the point of humiliation for sins the point of justification by righteousness imputative and the glory of sanctification in judgment and righteousness inherent This method St. Paul useth in the Romans to stop every man's