gone thus far they can go no farther But to rule the inward man in our hearts and souls to set up an Imperial throne in our understandings and wills this part of our government belongs to God and to Christ These are the subjects this the government of his Kingdom men may be Kings of Earth and Bodies but Christ alone is the King of Spirits and Souls Yet this inward government hath influence upon our outward actions For the Authority of Kings over our outward man is not so absolute but that it suffers a great restraint it must stretch no farther then the Prince of our inward man pleases for if Secular Princes stretch out the skirts of their Authority to command ought by which our souls are prejudiced the King of Souls hath in this case given us a greater command That we rather obey God then men The second head wherein the difference betwixt these Kingdoms is seen is in their Laws for as the Kingdoms and the Law-givers so are their Laws very different First in their Authours The Laws by which the Common-wealth of Rome was anciently govern'd were the works of many hands some of them were Plebiscita the acts of the people others were Senatus consulta the Decrees of the Senate others Edicta Praetorum the Verdict of their Iudges others Responsa Prudentum the opinions of Wise-men in cases of doubt others Rescripta Imperatorum the Rescripts and Answers of their Emperours when they were consulted with But in the Kingdom of Christ there are no Plebiscita or Senatus-consulta no People no Senate nor Wise-men nor Judges had any hand in the Laws by which it is governed Onely Rescripta Imperatoris the Rescripts and Writs of our King run here these alone are the Laws to which the Subjects of this Kingdom owe obedience Again the Laws of both these Kingdoms differ in regard of their quality and nature For the Laws of the Kingdom of Christ are Eternal Substantial Indispensible but Laws made by humane Authority are but light superficial and temporary For all the humane Authority in the world can never Enact one eternal and fundamental Law Let all the Laws which men have made be laid together and you shall see that they were made but upon occasion and circumstance either of time or place or persons in matters of themselves indifferent and therefore either by discontinuance they either fell or ceased of themselves or by reason of alteration of occasion and circumstance were necessarily revoked Those main fundamental Laws upon which all the Kingdoms of the world do stand against theft against murther against adultery dishonouring of Parents or the like they were never brought forth by man neither were they the effects of any Parliamentary Sessions they were written in our souls from the beginning long before there was any Authority Regal extant among men The intent of him who first Enacted them was not to found a temporal but to bring men to an eternal Kingdom and so far forth as they are used for the maintaining of outward state they are usurp'd or at the best but borrowed So that in this work of setling even the Kingdoms of this world if we compare the Laws of God with the Laws of men we shall find that God hath as it were founded the Palaces and Castles and strength of them but men have like little children built houses of clay and dirt which every blast of wind over-turns The third head by which they may be seen is in the notes and marks by which they may be known For the Kingdoms of the world are confin'd their place is known their subjects are discernable they have badges and tokens and Arms by which they are discovered But the Church hath no such notes and marks no Herald hath as yet been found that could blazon the Arms of that Kingdom AEsculus the Poet in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 describing the Captains that came either for the seige or defence of the City of Thebes in Beotia brings them in in their order every one with their sheild and upon his sheild some device and over that device a Motto or word according to the usual fancies of men in that kind but when he comes to Amphiarus he notes of him that he had no device in his sheild no impress or word and he gives the reason of it Because he affected not shew but to be that which others profest But to carry marks and notes and devices may well beseem the world which is led by fancy and shew but the Church is like Amphiarus she hath no device no word in her sheild mark and essence with her are all one and she hath no other note but to Be And but that learned men must have something to busie their wits withall these large discourses de notis Ecclesiae of the notes and marks by which we may know the Church might very well lie by as containing nothing else but doctas ineptias laborious vanities and learned impertinences For the Church is not a thing that can be pointed out The Devil could shew our Saviour Christ all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them I hope the Church was none of these It is the glory of it not to be seen and the note of it to be invisible when we call any visible company of professours a Church it is but a word of courtesie out of charity we hope men to be that which they do profess and therefore we so speak as if they were indeed that whose name they bear where and who they are that make up this Kingdom is a question unfit for any man to move for the Lord onely knoweth who are his It is but Popish madness to send men up and down the world to find the Church it is like unto the children of the Prophets in the second of Kings that would needs seek Elias or like the Nobles in Hierusalem that would needs go seek Ieremie the Prophet but could not find him because the Lord had hid him For in regard of the profession the Church as our Saviour speaks is like a City set upon an hill you may quickly see and know what true Christianity is but in regard of the persons the Kingdom of Heaven is as our Saviour again tells us like a treasure hidden in a feild except the place of their abode and their persons were discernable who can tell we go thus to seek them whether we do not like false hounds hunt Counter as the Hunters phrase is and so go from the game When Saul went to seek his father's Asses he found a Kingdom let us take heed lest the contrary befall us lest while we seek our Father's Kingdom thus we find but Asses Will you know where to find the Kingdom of Christ our Saviour directs you in the Gospel The kingdom of heaven saith he cometh not by observation neither shall ye say Lo here or Lo there but the kingdom of heaven is within you Let
every man therefore retire into himself and see if he can find this Kingdom in his heart for if he find it not there in vain shall he find it in all the world besides The fourth head wherein the difference of these Kingdoms is seen is outward state and ceremony for outward pomp and shew is one of the greatest stays of the Kingdom of this world Some thing there must be to amaze the people and strike them into wonderment or else Majesty would quickly be contemned The Scripture recounting unto us King Solomon's Royalty tells us of his magnificent Buildings of his Royal Throne of his servants and his attendants of his cup-bearers of his meats and these were the things which purchased unto him the reputation of Majesty above all the Kings of the earth Beloved the Kingdom of Christ is not like unto Solomon in his Royalty it is like unto David when he had put off all his Royalty and in a linen Ephod danced before the Ark and this plain and natural simplicity of it is like unto the Lilies of the field more glorious then Solomon in all his royalty The Idolatrous superstitions of Paganism stood in great need of such pompous Solemnities Vt opinionem suspendio cognitionis aedificent atque ita tantam majestatem exhibere videantur quantam praestruxerunt cupiditatem as Tertullian tells us For being nothing of themselves they were to gain reputation of being something by concealment and by outward state make shew of something answerable to the expectation they had raised The case of the Kingdoms of the world is the same For all this State and Magnificence used in the managing of them is nothing else but Secular Idolatry used to gain veneration and reverence unto that which in comparison of the Kingdom we speak of is mere vanity But the Sceptre of the Kingdom of Christ is a right Sceptre and to add unto it outward state and riches and pomp is nothing else but to make a Centaure marry and joyn the Kingdom of Christ with the Kingdom of the world which Christ expresly here in my Text hath divorced and put asunder A thing which I do the rather note because that the long continuance of some Ceremonies in the Church have occasioned many especially of the Church of Rome to think that there is no Religion no Service without these Ceremonies Our Books tell us of a poor Spartan that travelling in another Countrey and seeing the beams and posts of houses squared and carved ask'd If the Trees grew so in those Countreys Beloved many men that have been long acquainted with a form of worship squared and carved trick'd and set out with shew and ceremony fall upon this Spartan's conceit think the Trees grow so and think that there is no natural shape and face of God's service but that I confess the service of God hath evermore some Ceremony attending it and to our Fathers before Christ may seem to have been necessary because God commanded it But let us not deceive our selves for neither is Ceremony now neither was Sacrifice then esteemed necessary neither was the command of God concerning it by those to whom it was given ever taken to be peremptory I will begin the warrant of what I have said out of St. Chrysostom for in his comments upon the x. to the Hebrews he denies that ever God from the beginning requir'd or that it was his will to ordain such an outward form of Worship and asking therefore of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how then seems he to have commanded it he answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by condescending onely and submitting himself unto humane infirmity now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this condescending of God wherein it consisted Oecumenius opens For because that men had a conceit that it was convenient to offer up some part of their substance unto God and so strongly were they possess'd with this conceit that if they offered it not up to him they would offer it up to Idols God saith he rather then they should offer unto Idols required them to offer unto him And thus was God understood by the holy men themselves who lived under the shadow of those Ceremonies for David when he had made his peace with God after that great sin of his opens this mystery For thou requirest not sacrifice saith he else would I have given it thee but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit a troubled and a contrite heart O God dost thou not despise After the revolt of Ieroboam and the ten Tribes from the House of David there were many devout and religious persons in Israel and yet we find not that they used the outward form of Worship which was commanded Elias and Elizaeus two great Prophets in Israel did they ever go up to Hierusalem to worship Obadiah a great Courtier in King Ahab's Court and one that feared the Lord exceedingly the seven thousands which bowed not their knees to Baal when came they up to the Temple to offer a thing which doubtless they would have done if they had understood the commandment of God in that behalf to have been absolute indeed If we live in places where true religious persons do resort and assemble for the service of God it were a sin to neglect it But otherwise it is sufficient if we keep us from the pollutions of that place to which we are restrain'd Quid juvat hoc nostros templis admittere mores Why measure we God by our selves and because we are led with gay shews and goodly things think it is so with God Seneca reports that a Panto-mimus a Poppet-player and Dancer in Rome because he pleased the People well was wont to go up every day into the Capitol and practised his Art and dance before Iupiter and thought he did the god a great pleasure Beloved in many things we are like unto this Poppet-player and do much measure God by the People by the World A SERMON On 1 SAM xxiv 5. And it came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt TEmptation is the greatest occasioner of a Christian's honour indeed like an Enemy it threatens and endeavours his ruine but in the conquest of it consist his Crown and Triumph Were it possible for us to be at league and truce with this Enemy or to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without danger of Gun-shot out of its reach like the Candle in the Gospel that is put under a bushel the brightest part of our glory were quite obscured As Maximus Tyrius spake of Hercules if you take from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the savage beasts that he slew and the Tyrants whom he supprest his journeys and labours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you lop and cut off the manifest Arms and Limbs of Hercules's renown So take from a Christian his Temptations his Persecutions his Contentions remove him from the Devil from the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
that by reason of their calling they debar themselves of many the thriving Arts of the world it must needs be that if riches do come upon them that God himself doth extraordinarily pour them on Wherefore good men must not consider how much or how little it is they have but the means by which it comes unto them All the Prophets and Apostles which were hungry had not that offer which St. Peter had all kind of flesh let down from heaven and free choice to eat of what they listed When Daniel was in Babylon in the Lions Den God sends his Angel into Iewry takes a Prophet by the hair of the head carries him into Babylon and all to carry but a mess of pottage for Daniel's dinner Daniel's fare is meaner then St. Peter's but the miracle is as great and the care of God is the same The righteous man that hath much is as St. Peter he that hath least is as Daniel the word and promise of God is alike made good unto them both And thus much of these two Errours of which the due avoiding shall keep us from mistaking of those promises and charging God foolishly Now because much of that which we have formerly spoken was spent in proving that God doth force the world many times even in a very eminent sort to serve the necessities and purposes of those that are his yet since ordinarily the case of good men in the things of this world is meaner then that of the world's children their riches are many times small if they be any at all and promotion looks little after them That we may a little the better content our selves and know in what case we stand give me leave to shew you how it comes about that the wicked though they have no promise yet have a larger portion in the world's blessings then the godly Where it shall appear that it cannot otherwise be except it should please God to alter the ordinary course of the world The first cause therefore that the sons of this world thus usually climb aloft above the sons of God and nest themselves in the tallest Cedars is their infinite and importunate Ambition From this root hath sprung forth both that infinite mass of wealth which private men and that boundless compass of Government which great princes have attain'd unto Nothing was ever more unjust then the raising of these great Kingdoms and if the Laws of equity and moderation might have taken place they had never been St. Austin saw no difference between the Roman Empire and Spartacus his conspiracy onely the one lasted a little longer and this makes no difference in the thing it self And hence it is that God gave limits and bounds unto the Kingdom which his people had and having poured out the vials of his wrath upon the usurping people that held the Land of promise from them to whom it was due he permitted not the Iews to grate too much upon the bordering Nations And this is the reason why the Iews that in all other respects went side by side or rather before the rest of the world onely in latitude of Kingdom yeilded to the Monarchs of the earth For the one made the will of God the other their own ambition the measure of their desires The most moderate and wisest kind of men are many times slowest in giving entertainment to these great thoughts of heart In Iotham's parable in the Book of Iudges where the Trees go forth to chuse a King the Olive would not leave his fatness nor the Vine his fruit nor the Fig-tree his sweetness no not for a Kingdom Onely the Brier the basest of all shrubs no sooner had the Trees made the motion to him but he is very apprehensive of it and thinks himself a goodly creature fit to make a King of Sober men who best understand the nature of business know well how great a charge extraordinary wealth◠and places of Authority bring with them There is none so poor but hath his time to make an account of were there nothing but this what a sum would this amount unto Add unto these our Words unto Words Actions unto all these Wealth and Ability and last of all Honour and Authority how do each of these successively like places in Arithmetick infinitely increase the sum of our accounts No marvel then if wise and considerate men are slow in tasking themselves so heavily and rather content themselves quietly at home Let the world go well or ill so it be not long of them The second thing that makes them come on in the world is their spacious wide and unlimited conscience which can enlarge it self to the swallowing of any means that bring gain and preferment with them he that once hath cauterized and seared his conscience and put on a resolution to gain by all occasions must needs quickly grow rich But good men are evermore shie and scrupulous what they do though there be no apparent occasion Evil is of a slie insinuating nature it will creep in at every little passage all the care and wariness we can possibly use to prevent it is too little When David had cut off the lap of Saul's garment the Scripture tells us that his heart smote him because he had done this thing I have often wondred with my self what it was that in an action so innocent and harmless done with so hohourable intent onely to bring a testimony of his innocency and righteousness might thus importunately trouble his conscience He intended no wrong unto Saul not so much as in his thought yet had he but a little advised himself through scruple and tenderness of conscience he would not have used so harmless a witness of his innocency Common reason told St. Paul that the labourer is worthy of his hire and by instinct of the holy Ghost himself learn'd and taught that it was but justice and equity that men that labour in the Gospel should live by the Gospel Who feeds a flock eats not the milk and clothes not himself with the wooll of it yet notwithstanding that he might take away all occasion of evil that lazie and idle drones who suck the sweet of other men's labours might not take example by him to live at other mens cost that he might make the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free without any charge that men that have no silver might come and buy and eat might come I say and buy the wine and milk of the Word without money that the Gospel might not be slandered as a means of gain he would not use that liberty that God and men gave him neither would he eat the milk or wear the wooll of his own flock but with his own hands and labours purchas'd himself his necessary maintenance What hope of these mens extraordinary thriving who are so nice and scrupulous of what they finger What then must we think of those that abuse godliness unto gain that refuse to do deeds of charity except
from all imputation of unnecessary rigour and his Justice from seeming Injustice and Incongruity and on the other side it is a noble resolution so to humble our selves under the hand of Almighty God as that we can with patience hear yea think it an honour that so base creatures as our selves should become the instruments of the glory of so great a Majesty whether it be by eternal life or by eternal death though for no other reason but for Gods good will and pleasures sake The Authours of these conceits might both freely if peaceably speak their minds and both singularly profit the Church for since it is impossible where Scripture is ambiguous that all conceits should run alike it remains that we seek out a way not so much to establish an unity of opinion in the minds of all which I take to be a thing likewise impossible as to provide that multiplicity of conceit trouble not the Churches peace A better way my conceit cannot reach unto then that we would be willing to think that these things which with some shew of probability we deduce from Scripture are at the best but our Opinions for this peremptory manner of setting down our own conclusions under this high commanding form of necessary truths is generally one of the greatest causes which keeps the Churches this day so far asunder when as a gracious receiving of each other by mutual forbearance in this kind might peradventure in time bring them nearer together This peradventure may some man say may content us in case of opinion indifferent out of which no great inconvenience by necessary and evident proof is concluded but what Recipe have we for him that is fallen into some known and desperate Heresie Even the same with the former And therefore anciently Heretical and Orthodox Christians many times even in publick holy exercise converst together without offence It 's noted in the Ecclesiastick stories that the Arrians and Right Beleivers so communicated together in holy Prayers that you could not distinguish them till they came to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gloria Patri which the Arrians used with some difference from other Christians But those were times quorum lectionem habemus virtutem non habemus we read of them in our books but we have lost the practise of their patience Some prejudice was done unto the Church by those who first began to intermingle with publick Ecclesiastical duties things respective unto private conceits For those Christian offices in the Church ought as much as possibly they may be common unto all and not to descend to the differences of particular opinions Severity against and separation from Heretical companies took its beginning from the Hereticks themselves and if we search the stories we shall find that the Church did not at their first arising thrust them from her themselves went out and as for severity that which the Donatists sometimes spake in their own defence Illam esse veram Ecclesiam quae persecutionem patitur non quae facit She was the true Church not which raised but which suffered persecution was de facto true for a great space For when Heresies and Schisms first arose in the Church all kinds of violence were used by the erring Factions but the Church seem'd not for a long time to have known any use of a Sword but onely of a Buckler and when she began to use the Sword some of her best and cheifest Captains much misliked it The first Law in this kind that ever was made was Enacted by Theodosius against the Donatists but with this restraint that it should extend against none but onely such as were tumultuous and till that time they were not so much as touch'd with any mulct though but pecuniary till that shameful outrage committed against Bishop Maximian whom they beat down with bats and clubs even as he stood at the Altar So that not so much the errour of the Donatists as their Riots and Mutinies were by Imperial Laws restrained That the Church had afterward good reason to think that she ought to be salubrior quam dulcior that sometimes there was more mercy in punishing then forbearing there can no doubt be made St. Austin a man of as mild and gentle spirit as ever bare rule in the Church having according to his natural sweetness of disposition earnestly written against violent and sharp dealing with Hereticks being taught by experience did afterward retract and confess an excellent use of wholesome severity in the Church Yet could I wish that it might be said of the Church which was sometimes observed of Augustus In nullius unquam suorum nccem duravit He had been angry with and severely punish'd many of his kin but he could never endure to cut any of them off by death But this I must request you to take onely as my private wish and not as a censure if any thing have been done to the contrary When Absolom was up in arms against his Father it was necessary for David to take order to curb him and pull him on his knees yet we see how careful he was he should not die and how lamentably he bewail'd him in his death what cause was it that drove David into this extreme passion Was it doubt of Heir to the Kingdom that could not be for Solomon was now born to whom the promise of the Kingdom was made Was it the strength of natural affection I somewhat doubt of it three years together was Absolom in banishment and David did not very eagerly desire to see him The Scripture indeed notes that the King long'd for him yet in this longing was there not any such fierceness of passion for Absolom saw not the Kings face for two years more after his return from banishment to Hierusalem What then might be the cause of his strength of passion and commiseration in the King I perswade my self it was the fear of his sons final miscarriage and reprobation which made the King secure of the mercies of God unto himself to wish he had died in his stead that so he might have gain'd for his ungracious child some time of repentance The Church who is the common Mother of us all when her Absoloms her unnatural sons do lift up their hands and pens against her must so use means to repress them that she forget not that they are the sons of her womb and be compassionate over them as David was over Absolom loth to unsheath either sword but most of all the Temporal for this were to send them quick dispatch to Hell And here I may not pass by that singular moderation of this Church of ours which she hath most Christianly exprest towards her adversaries of Rome here at home in her bosom above all the reformed Churches I have read of For out of desire to make the breach seem no greater then indeed it is and to hold eommunion and Christian fellowship with her so far as we possibly can we have
or by some means or other unfit for such an end Thus fares it with the Honours of the world they seem to participate of envy or melancholly and are of a solitary disposition they are brightest when they are alone or but in few make them common and they lose their grace like Lamps they may give light unto few or to some one room but no farther But the Honours in the Court of the great King of Heaven are of another nature they rejoyce in being communicated and their glory is in the multitude of those that do partake in them They are like unto the Sun that rises non homini sed humano generi not to this or that man but to all the world In the Court of God no difference between Ieroboam and Barzillai none too old none too young no indisposition no imperfection makes you uncapable of Honours there Be but of his Kingdom and you are necessarily of his Court Every man who is a subject there is a Courtier yea more then a Courtier he is a Peer he is a King and hath an army of Angels at his service to pitch their tents about him to deliver him a guard of ministring Spirits sent out to attend him for his safety It shall not therefore be unseasonable for the meanest person that hears me this day to hear as it were a Lecture of spiritual policy and courtship for no Auditory can be unfit for such a Lesson Aristotle was wont to divide his Lectures and Readings into Acroamatical and Exoterical some of them contained onely choice matter and they were read privately to a Select Auditory others contain'd but ordinary stuff and were promiscuously and in publick exposed to the hearing of all that would Beloved we read no Acroamatick Lectures the secrets of the Court of Heaven as far as it hath pleased the King of Heaven to reveal them lie open alike to all Every man is alike of his Court alike of his Councel and the meanest among Christians must not take it to be a thing without his sphere above his reach but must make account of himself as a fit hearer of a Lesson in spiritual and saving policy since if he be a subject in the Kingdom of Christ he can be no less then a Courtier Now the first and main Lesson to be learned by a Courtier is how to discover and know the disposition and nature of the Lord whom he is to serve and the quality of that Common-wealth in which he bears a place ad consilium de republica dandum caput est That therefore our heavenly Courtier may not mistake himself but be able to fit himself to the place he bears I have made choice of these few words which but now I read words spoken by the King of that Common-wealth of which I am to treat unto such as mean to be his Liege-men there words which sufficiently open unto the Christian Polititian the state and quality of that Court in which he is to serve My kingdom is not of this world for if it were then would my servants fight which words seem like the Parthian Horsemen whose manner was to ride one way but to shoot another way they seem to go apace towards Pilate but they aim and shoot at another mark or rather like unto the speaker of them unto our Saviour himself when he was in one of the Villages of Samaria St. Luke the ix where the text notes that though he were in Samaria yet his face was set towards Hierusalem so beloved though these words be spoken to a Samaritane to an infidel to Pilate yet their face is toward Hierusalem they are a Lesson directed to the subjects of his Spiritual Kingdom of that Hierusalem which is from above and is the Mother of us all In them we may consider two general parts First a Denuntiation and message unto us and secondly a Sign to confirm the truth of it For it is the manner and method as it were which God doth use when he dispatches a message to annex a Signe unto it by which it may be known When he sent Moses to the Israelites in Egypt and Moses required a sign he gave him a sign in his hand in his Rod when he sent Gideon against Madean he gave him a sign in the fleece of Wool which was upon the floor when he sent the Prophet to Hieroboam to prophesie against the Altar in Bethel he gave him a sign that the Altar should rend and the ashes fall out when he sent Esay with a message to King Ahaz he gave him a sign Behold a Virgin shall conceive So Beloved in these words There is a Message there is a Sign The first words are the Message My kingdom is not of this world c. The next words For if it were then would my servants fight c. These are Moses 's Rod and Gideon 's Fleece they are the Sign which confirm the Message The first part is a general Proposition or Maxim the second is an Example and particular instance of it For in the first our Saviour distinguishes his Kingdom from the Kingdoms of the world and from all the fashions of them In the second amongst many other he chuses one instance wherein particularly he notes that his Kingdom is unlike to earthly Kingdoms for the Kingdoms of the world are purchased and maintain'd by violence and bloud but so is not his The reason why our Saviour fastens upon this reason of dissimilitude and unlikeness is because in gaining and upholding temporal Kingdoms nothing so usual as the sword and war No Kingdom of the world but by the sword is either gotten or held or both The sword in a secular Common-wealth is like the rod in a Schole remove that away and men will take their liberty It is the plea which the Tarquins used to King Porsenna in Livie Satis libertatem ipsam habere dulcedinis nisi quanta vi civitates eam expetant tanta regna reges defendant aequare summa infimis adesse finem regnis rei inter Deos hominesque pulcherrimae The taste of liberty is so sweet that except Kings maintain their authority with as great violence as the people affect their liberty all things will run to confusion and Kingdoms which are the goodliest things in the world will quickly go to wrack when God gave a temporal Kingdom unto his own people he sent Moses and Ioshua before them to purchase it with their sword when they were possess'd of this Kingdom he sends then Gideon and Sampson and David and many Worthies more to maintain it by the sword But now being to open unto the world another kind of Kingdom of Rule and Government then hitherto it had been acquainted with he tells us that he is a King of a Kingdom which is erected and maintained not by Ioshua and David but by St. Peter and St. Paul not by the sword but by the Spirit not by violence but by love not by striving but
by yeilding not by fighting but by dying Pilate had heard that he was a King it was the accusation which was fram'd against him that he bear himself as King of the Iews but because he saw no pomp no train no guard about him he took it but as an idle report To put him therefore out of doubt our Saviour assures him that he is a King but of such a Kingdom as he could not skill of My Kingdom is not of this world c. For the better unfolding of which words first we will consider what the meaning of this word Kingdom is for there lies an ambiguity in it Secondly we will consider what Lessons for our instruction the next words will yeild Not of this world First of this word Kingdom Our Saviour is a King three manner of ways and so correlatively hath three distinct several Kingdoms He is first King in the largest extent and meaning which can possibly be imagined and that is as he is Creatour and absolute Lord of all creatures Of this Kingdom Heaven Earth and Hell are three large Provinces Angels Men and Devils his very enemies every creature visible and invisible are subjects of this Kingdom The glory and strength of this Kingdom consists least of all in men and man is the weakest part of it for there is scarcely a creature in the world by whom he hath not been conquer'd When Alexander the Great had travell'd through India and over-ran many large Provinces and conquer'd many popular Cities when tidings came that his Soldiers in Grece had taken some small Towns there he scorn'd the news and in contempt Me-thinks said he I hear of the Battel of Frogs and Mice Beloved if we look upon these huge Armies of Creatures and consider of what wonderful strength they are when the Lord summons them to Battel all the Armies of men and famous Battels of which we have so large Histories in the comparison of these what are they but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Homer's tale a Battel of Frogs and Mice Infinite Legions of Angels attend him in Heaven and every Angel is an Army One Angel in the Book of Kings is sent out against the Army of the Assyrians and in one night fourscore thousand persons die for it Base and contemptible creatures when God calls for them are of strength to conquer whole Countreys He over-runs Egypt with his Armies of Frogs and Flies and Lice and before his own people with an Army of Hornets chases the Canaanites out of the Land Nay the dull and senseless Elements are up in Arms when God summons them He shoots his Hail-shot with his Hail-stones from Heaven he destroys more of the Canaanites then the Israelites can with their swords As for his Armies of Fire and Water what power is able to withstand them Every creature when God calls is a soldier How great then is the glory of this Kingdom of which the meanest parts are invincible Secondly again our Saviour is a King in a more restrain'd and confin'd sense as he is in Heaven attended on by Angels and Archangels Powers Principalities and all the heavenly Hosts For though he be Omni-present and fills every place both in Heaven and Earth yet Heaven is the Palace Throne of this Kingdom there is he better seen and known there with more state and honour served and therefore more properly is his Kingdom said to be there And this is called his Kingdom of glory The Rules and Laws and admirable Orders of which Kingdom could we come to see and discover it would be with us as it was with the Queen of Saba when she came to visit Solomon of whom the Scripture notes that when she heard his wisdom and had seen the order of his servants the attendance that was given him and the manner of his table There was no more spirit left in her Beloved Dum Spiritus hos regit artus whilst this Spirit is in us we cannot possibly come to discern the Laws and Orders of this Kingdom and therefore I am constrain'd to be silent Thirdly our Saviour is a King in a sense yet more impropriated For as he took our nature upon him as he came into the world to redeem mankind and to conquer Hell and Death so is there a Kingdom annext unto him A Kingdom the purchase whereof cost him much sweat and Bloud of which neither Angels nor any other creature are a part onely that remnant of mankind that Ereptus titio that number of blessed Souls which like a brand out of the fire by his death and passion he hath recovered out of the power of sin and all these alone are the subjects of that Kingdom And this is that which is called his Kingdom of Grace and which himself in Scripture every where calls his Church his Spouse his Body his Flock and this is that Kingdom which in this place is spoken of and of which our Saviour tells Pilate That it is not of this world My Kingdom is not of this world Which words at the first reading may seem to savour of a little imperfection for they are nothing else but a Negation or denial Now our Books teach us that a Negative makes nothing known for we know things by discovering not what they are not but what they are yet when we have well examin'd them we shall find that there could not have been a speech delivered more effectual for the opening the nature of the Church and the discovery of mens errours in that respect For I know no errour so common so frequent so hardly to be rooted out so much hindring the knowledge of the true nature of the Church as this that men do take the Church to be like unto the World Tully tells us of a Musician that being ask'd what the Soul was answered that it was Harmony is saith he à principiis artis suae non recescit He knew not how to leave the principles of his own Art Again Plato's Scholars had been altogether bred up in Arithmetick and the knowledge of Numbers and hence it came that when afterward they diverted their studies to the knowledge of Nature or Moral Philosophy wheresoever they walked they still feigned to themselves somewhat like unto Numbers the World they supposed was framed out of Numbers Cities and Kingdoms and Common-wealths they thought stood by Numbers Number with them was sole Principle and Creatour of every thing Beloved when we come to learn the quality and state of Christ's Kingdom it fares much with us as it does with Tullie's Musician or Plato's Scholars difficulter à principiis artis nostrae recedimus Hardly can we forsake those principles in which we have been brought up In the world we are born in it we are bred the world is the greatest part of our study to the true knowledge of God and of Christ still we fancy unto us something of the world It may seem but a light thing that I shall say yet
frigido corpore his body was now grown pale and meagre and cold but yet his heart burnt with unlawful desires Again they are sins of quick and easie dispatch they are done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Basil notes in a moment of time without labour of body without care of mind One wanton look makes us guilty of Adultery one angry conceit guilty of Murder one covetous conceit guilty of Robbery Whatsoever is outwardly committed either with difficulty of circumstance or labour of body or danger of Law that is inwardly committed in the soul without any trouble at all Thirdly consider but the strength of your thoughts and you will see there is great reason to keep them low for there was no man yet that ever was foil'd but by them and not by the outward acting of sin For the outward action is but the Cortex the bark of the sin but the very body and substance of sin is the wicked thought Beware of men saith our Saviour when he gave his Apostles counsel how to provide for their safety in times of outward danger but if you will provide against inward dangers we shall not need to beware of men or of any outward force whatsoever Let every man beware of himself for in this case every man is his own greatest enemy To draw then to a conclusion That sins of thoughts prevail not against us our way is by a jealous care first to prevent them and to this hath the greatest part of my discourse hitherto tended Secondly if we have suffered them to gain a little ground upon us let us betimes take the reins into our own hands and pull them back again and cast out our Adversary whil'st he is yet weak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostom such are the souls of holy men their recovery is so quick that they may seem to have risen before they fell It is a great sign of spiritual life in us to be quickly sensible of the first track and footing of sin For as bodies of the best and purest complexion have their senses quickest so that soul which soonest perceives the first scent of sin is of the divinest temper Our Books tell us that Dionysius the Tyrant was grown so gross and fat that though men thrust bodkins into him he could not feel it Beloved there is a sinner like unto this Dionysius David tells us of him when he describes unto us a sinner whose heart is fat as brawn That we fall not therefore into that like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stupidity and senselesness our way is to catch those young Foxes and strangle them in the nest Nolo sinas cogitationem crescere saith St. Hierom suffer not your thoughts to increase and gather strength upon you For as the man that touches onely at hot iron and stays not on it burns not his hand so the first glances of evil thoughts harm us not the harm is if by consent though never so little you stay upon them To be free from all on-set of evil thoughts is a matter impossible whil'st we have these hearts of flesh Ille laudatur qui ut coeperit cogitare sordida statim interficit cogitata allidit ad petram petra autem est Christus That man is praise-worthy who assoon as any unclean thought any child of Babylon is born in his heart straight-way strangles it in the birth and dashes it against the rock which Rock is Christ. Thus c. A SERMON On JOHN xiv 27. Peace I leave unto you My peace I give unto you THis portion of Scripture Beloved contains a Legacy which our Saviour gave to his Apostles and in them to all that are his when he was about to take his leave of the world The less shall I need seriously to commend it to your considerations or to take much pains in wooing your attention The words of dying men though neither the speeches or the persons concern us at all yet they usually move us much we hear them with a kind of Religion and we suffer them to take impression in us With what affection then would this speech deserve to be heard delivered by a Person the worthiest among the sons of women and concerning you near yea very near as near as your own souls concern ye as being the Saviour of them and now breathing his last and spending the little remainder of his breath in gracious promises and comforts concerning the whole state and weal of your souls And yet to raise your attention a little higher Such things as we are made present possessours of though they be of meaner value we prize higher then things of better worth if we live onely in expectation if we have onely a promise of them Now this last most excellent and comfortable Sermon of our Saviour though in it are many special arguments of his Love many Gifts and Legacies bestowed on his Church yet were they almost all assured unto his Disciples but by way of Promise onely this everlasting gift of Peace of which alone they are made the present possessours that as at his coming into the world he brought Peace with him for at his Birth there was peace throughout the whole world so now at his departure he might leave peace again unto the world though after another manner And this order of disposition seems to be observed not without peculiar reason It seems that all other blessings the Apostles might be without yea that Grand and Mother blessing the miraculous coming of the Comforter they did for a time expect but this blessing of peace they might not they could not want It is transcendent to all other blessings and reciprocal with a Christian man it flowes essentially from the very substantial Principles of our profession Seneca that saw something as it were in a dream concerning a wise man could tell us Securitas proprium bonum sapientis Inward and solid peace is a good appropriated to a wise man We that know Christianity alone to be truly wisdom know likewise that once a true Christian then truly peaceful and no true peace but in the true Christian. Yea it hath pleased God to characterize himself his Kingdom and his Servants by this term of peace as by a stamp and seal to be known by He styles himself the King and Father of peace his Kingdom the Kingdom of peace his Servants the Sons of peace the fruits of his Kingdom love and peace and joy in the holy Ghost The Church therefore anciently that by this as by a badge she might be known whom she served every where throughout the publick Form of Divine Service interlaced this comfortable manner of salutation Peace be with you all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostom When the Bishop came into the Church or Temple he came like Noah's Dove into the Ark with an Olive branch of peace in his mouth and his first words were Peace be with you all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he began his
in commendation that constancy and unswayedness in our lives and actions that Rock which no tempest can move that perpetual and habituated goodness which no hard fortune can dant no felicity can corrupt that to which our Saviour hath promised Salvation he that continues to the end shall be saved All this is contained in this word Dixi I am resolv'd Again from whence comes that main imperfection of our lives Vnsettledness and flitting from one thing to another frequent relapsing into sins once forsaken Whence are we so easily carried with every wind of Fear of Hope of Commodity All is because we have not yet learned our Dixi are not yet resolv'd we know not what to will or nill till present occasion take us we have not advisedly decreed set down before hand what we will follow in our lives in our conclusions And without that Dixi a man is but like a Ship without a Ballast easily overturn'd with every blast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways The kingdom of Iudah was full of such men for amongst twenty two Kings who sate in the Throne nine of them totally relaps'd and fell away to Idolatry and all the Priests and People with them But we need not go to fetch Examples so far so long since our own Kingdoms and latter times are able sufficiently to store us How easily were the branches of Popery lop'd under Hen. 8. and and the very stumps of it rooted up under Edw. 6. How easily did it recover again under Queen Mary both Top and Cut and yet with the same facility was it again lop'd rooted up under the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Certainly were Religion a matter of conscience and not of formality undertaken first with Dixi custodiam out of Love and Conscience it could not be that so often so easie so general a change could be made from one Religion to another The like we may see in all moral courses interrupted by inconstancy mutability and change He that can comply and peice in with all occasions and make an easie forfeiture of his honesty makes it a custom to relapse into sins formerly repented of may well impute it to this that he hath not taken up a resolution that he hath not made his Dixi custodiam like unto the Laws of Medes and Persians which alter not and without which a man is like the Sea moved and troubled with every wind that blows upon it For would he say the word this Dixi custodiam would quit him from the greatest part of his follies and sins too How said I would he but speak the word Nay I fear me most men think these two words Dixi custodiam a greater difficulty then so and more indeed then they have For first for Dixi It is not a word of such strange and unknown sound which we that are aliens by nature from the Covenant of Grace utter strangers to the language of God can never learn rightly to pronounce Are we able to sound it in our hearts throughly to take up this resolution Resp. I see no reason but that I may say We are able For first David did it not by any spirit peculiar to himself as that by which he Prophecied and did those things which lay not within the rule of common persons 2. David did it who was by nature as great a stranger to the Covenant of Grace as we 3. David did this for example to us and it is here recorded that we might learn to do the like But all this were labour lost if it were impossible to do it 2. Custodiam this is enough to prove Dixi feasible But yet there is a greater doubt for custodiam Having learn'd this language taken up this resolution are we able to stand to it to make it good Was there ever man who had so setled his resolution custodire vias but that he was sometimes constrained to leave his right way and wander in spite of all his custodiam careful watch he kept Resp. For answer to this question I must confess I am in a streight For me thinks 't is no good argument to say we know of none that have so kept their ways Therefore it is impossible they should be kept Yet if I should say it were possible whether I should offend the truth I cannot so easily pronounce but sure I am I should offend the times For many learned men can delight themselves in discoursing of the weakness of man's nature of the difficulty yet impossibility of keeping the Laws of God 2. Again on the contrary side should I say that we are bound to take up this Dixi custodiam Resolution with David but with reservation that in this life we can never be able to make it good I do not see what I could do more to dishearten to deter men from entertaining this lesson of Christian Resolution which above all lessons in the world I would have commended unto them For what wise man will attempt that which he knows before-hand to be impossible To those who enquire whether it be possible to bring this Dixi into Fieri make it good in practise I answer as the Angel doth Revel vj. Veni vide try and make experience an possibile For many things have been thought impossible till experience hath proved them possible It is observed by those who writ the Acts of Alexander the Great that he enterprized many things with good success which no man else would ever have attempted because they doubted of the possibility of the enterprise Let us be like Alexander and attempt impossibilities It may be experience will discover that to be possible which fear never could They are ill discoverers that think there is no Land where they can see nothing but Sea How many of late times have ventured their persons their purses by Sea and Land in new Discoveries and new Plantations of the good success whereof they have had little or no assurance before hand How much better and surer adventure were this whereof we now treat which if we attain unto the honour and profit is infinite If we fail of it the very missing of it cannot be without a great and rich return We read of a Father who dying commanded his sons to dig in his Vineyard for there they should find much Gold Accordingly they did so and Gold they found none yet the digging and moving of the earth about the roots of the Vine caused it to bring forth so abundantly that it yeilded them a rich revenue What if God do so by us Suppose he commands us to dig for Gold to keep his Laws which yet he knows we cannot yet the labour it self though it miss the end intended cannot but infinitely benefit us for our very endeavour in this kind is much set by Est aliquid prodire tenus He that by striving to keep all hath kept most hath done himself an happy turn And now lastly by so much the more
Infideles damnabuntur non solùm ob infidelitatem sed etiam ob omnia alia peccata sua tam originalia quà m actualia Because they say that from thence may be inferred that original sin is not remitted to all who are baptized which opinion hath been by more than one Council condemned as heretical they have therefore at their request put it out so I know now of no matter of disagreement among us worthy the speaking of To morrow there is a Synod one way or other we shall determine what shall become of the Canons what we do your Lordship by God's grace with the first occasion shall understand I have here sent your Lordship my Speech made in the Synod I know your Lordships experience will pardon the imperfections of a discourse delivered upon less than two days warning Now my Lord to write a History of Dr. Goad his journey and mine own between Roterdam and Dort that night on which we came from your Lordship would move too much pity especially if you should make relation of the same to my Lady the compend of it is this that a little after five a clock in the afternoon we took Ship at Roterdam and about a little after one of the clock in the night we arrived at Dort but could get no entrance and therefore until half an hour past five in the Morning we sometimes lay in the Ship sometime walked on the Bulwark if we were not sufficiently assaulted with cold and watching we know our selves Mr. Downs's wooing in Greek was never so cold as we were that night Letters I have received from England the summe of the news are that the Spanish Navy is dissipated and that it never exceeded 60. sayls The King of Spain hath written large Letters with his own hand to our King in which he protesteth that he never intended any thing against England nor any Christian Kingdom The talk of the Spanish match hath of late been very fresh again in England but this is certain that the other day at Theobalds the King asking a Gentleman of good note what the people talked of the Spanish Navy received of him this answer Sir the people is nothing so much afraid of the Spaniard ' s powder as of their match My Lord I can but thank your Lordship for all your courtesies especially your Lordships great kindness at my last being with you which since my fortune will not give me leave to requite I must take leave to acknowledge With the remembrance of my best duty and service to your Lordship and your worthy Lady and my faithful wishes for both your happiness I take my leave hoping your Lordship will believe that there liveth no man of whom you may more freely dispose than of Dort this 4 1◠of April Your Lordships most faithful and respectful in all true service Walter Balcanqual My very good Lord DOctor Davenant his coming to your Lordship saveth me the writing of any News here for he will perfectly relate them to your Lordship We are full of trouble about things altogether unnecessary they are so eager to kill the Remonstrants that they would make their words have that sence which no Grammar can find in them upon Tuesday in the Afternoon we had a Session in which were read the Canons of the first and second Article and were approved except the last of the second Article which we never heard of till that hour and the second heterodox in that same Article what they were Dr. Davenant will inform your Lordship The last was such as I think no man of understanding would ever assent unto On Thursday Morning we had another Session in which was nothing done but that it was reasoned whether that last heterodox should be retained our College in that whole Session maintained dispute against the whole Synod they condemned the thing it self as a thing most curious and yet would have it retained only to make the Remonstrants odious though they find the very contrary of that they would father upon them in their words That day in the Afternoon was another Session in which were read the Canons of the third fourth and fifth Articles and were approved the particular passages of these Sessions I will send your Lordship by the next occasion there were no great matters in them yet when I send your Lordship the next Sessions in which it is like that something will be done I will send a note of them too yesterday there was no Session but the Deputies met for taking order about the Preface and Epilogue of the Canons and mending those things in the Canons which were thought fit to be amended and have sent them worse than they were in case we stand and what need of counsel we have this worthy Doctour will sufficiently inform your Lordship My Lord I have had a great deal of talk with Mr. Douglas about the Controversies in this Church and find him unquestionably sound in them also that there is no fear of his Opinions if otherwise he be found sufficient I much wonder that we do not hear of my Lord of Doncaster There is here in the Synod a report of our King his mortal disease it cometh from Scultetus but I hope it is but the Gout With the remembrance of my best duty and service to your good Lordship and my Lady I take my leave and rest ever Dort this 9 1◠of April Your Lordships in all true respect and service Walter Balcanqual My very good Lord NOw at last we have made an end of our business of the five Articles what trouble we have had in these last Sessions none can conceive but those who were present at them and what strange carriage hath been in them especially on the President his part it is too palpable he hath deceived all mens hope of him very far This mater of the personal censure which was a thing of great consequence we were never made acquainted with before the very instant in which it came to be read and because the Delegates must not be stayed from their going to the Hague therefore all the Synod must say Amen to it between the Forenoon and the Afternoon Session there was strange labouring with the Exteri for getting their consent to it yet we medled not with it all I can say is me thinketh it is hard that every man should be deposed from his Ministery who will not hold every particular Canon never did any Church of old nor any Reformed Church propose so many Articles to be held sub poena excommunicationis but had it not been then cruel if all had gone for Canons which they would have had gone v. g. that of an absolute necessity of similitude of nature for working our redemption None of us have the Canons yet neither shall till the Estates have approved them a note of such Sessions as have passed since my last notes which your Lordship had I do now send your Lordship our Sessions have been
footing Did piety afford us nothing else but its company brought it no improvement to our estate but onely taught us to be content with it whatsoever it be yet this were profit enough if men could see it But because profit and gain is that which the world so much doats on and hard if not impossible it is to wean men from the love of it it hath pleased God to annex unto piety such a force that it shall increase and enhance what estate soever it shall apply it self unto When Cyrus the King was gathering his Army he made a proclamation to this effect That whosoever would put himself into his service should doubtless find great advancement of his estate were he possessor of a little Mannor he would make him Governour of a City were he the Governour of a City he would make him Lord of a Province were he Lord of a Province he would make him a King of many Nations This which here our Apostle tells us that Godliness is profitable that Godliness is profitable to all things is indeed the very drift of his proclamation For it gives us to understand that look what estate it is to which piety adjoyns it self it shall receive not onely security but even great increase and improvement from it Thus hath appeared unto you both the profit that comes by Godliness and likewise the exceeding largeness and compass of the profit But for our further instruction something yet is there by occasion of this Text farther to be learn'd For lest any man of upright life and conversation should upon the reading of this or the like Texts of Scripture forthwith expect that the world should come in upon him that he should receive Grace and Honours and Preferments and finding himself to fail in his expectation and instead of all these to meet with disgrace and reproach should begin to call in question the truth of these promises and charge God foolishly let us a little consider the nature of God's promises in this kind Wherefore we are to note that God although he be a most free and liberal Giver yet notwithstanding most of his promises are conditional The gift of God is eternal life saith St. Paul Salvation is a meer and free gift yet nevertheless God gives it to none but to those that live either uprightly or penitently As it is with the things of the life to come so is it much more with the things of this life they are a meer Donative a Gift an Alms and wheresoever God bestows them he bestows them freely For do we all we can do yet is not God a debter to us for the least and meanest temporal blessing And it is not to be thought that he that out of his meer grace and liberality gives us Heaven a thing of that inestimable value would set a price upon the things of this life and so sell them unto us which are indeed things of no worth at all Yet notwithstanding he gives them not no not to those that are his without conditon It 's worth noting which St. Basil hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. As Farmers and Tenants that Rent lands of other men till the ground according to the will of him that lets it them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the care and manage of this flesh of ours is committed unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon Obligation upon Indenture or Lease that so husbanding this flesh of ours according to the conditions upon which it is let us we may make it fruitful unto him that let it Not our flesh onely but all things that pass between God and us upon conditions they are let unto us by Indenture Let us therefore like careful Tenants look into our Lease and see what Conditions they are which God requires at the hand of those who look to take of God the things of this world who claim a promise of him of the things of this life These shall not find in other places of Scripture where the same Doctrine is taught but with some restraint which here the holy Ghost seems to deliver absolutely For this is the best way of interpreting of Scriptures when as what is in one place breifly and concisely delivered is expounded by another place where it is more largely taught Our Saviour therefore in the sixth of St. Matthew treating of the things of this life and our care for them bids us first seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of him and all these things shall be added unto us That which here in my Text our Apostle calls Godliness is by our Saviour exprest by the terms of seeking the kingdom of God and the righteousness of him that which our Apostle calls profit our Saviour calls these things Where our Saviour seems to me to speak with some kind of scorn and indignation that our infirmity should force him to name the things of this life as we commonly say the same day with the things of the life to come Wherefore having expresly named the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of him he passes over the rest as disdaining to name them otherwise then by the general name of These things As Ezekiah pulling the brazen Serpent calls it no otherwise but by the scornfull name of Nehushtan brazen Stuff so Christ willing to pull down in us the things of this life after which we run a whoring more then ever the Iews did after the brazen Serpent telling us of Divine matters wills us first to seek the Kingdom of God and then shall these things this Trash this Nehushtan this Leaden Pâ—wter or at the best Brazen stuff of the world be cast in upon us Here then is the prime and principal condition to be kept by us if we will claim a promise of the things of this life at the hands of God Where we are to note that not quomodolibet simply unto Godliness is there made a certain promise of profit and the things of this life but unto Godliness upon condition if it be first of all studied and sought out by us If the first stone of our building be Godliness the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of him then will the things of this life come in otherwise no or if they do they come not in because of God's promise but for some other cause As it is with those who build some things they provide for main walls and foundation some things onely for ornament and furniture that Building must needs prove weak where that is laid for a foundation which was provided onely for garnishing These outward things are but a seeming kind of furniture for this life but the main wall is Godliness Her foundations saith the Psalmist are in the holy Hills St. Paul telling us of some builders who having laid a good foundation built upon it hay and stubble shews what great dammage they shall sustain by so doing If this be the case of those builders whose foundation is supposed to be
good what think we shall be the loss of those builders whose very foundation is hay and stubble as is theirs who have laid the things of this life as their prime and corner-stone First seek ye the Kingdom of God First is a word of order and order is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Theon in his Comments upon Ptolomy it is a Divine thing a thing of wonderful force and efficacy For cost may be laid out matter may be provided labour may be bestowed and all to no purpose if there be not a set course an order observed in the business The experience of the meanest Tradesman amongst you is able to tell you thus much For whosoever he be amongst you that goes to practise his Trade he cannot begin where he list something there is that must be done in the first place without which he cannot go unto the second something in the second place which will not be done except something be done afore it Some order there is which prescribes a law and manner to his action which being not observed nothing can be done As in all other business so in this great business of Christianity we may not think that we may hand over head huddle up matters as we list but we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must keep a method and order a set course in our proceedings Not First these things and then the kingdom of God and the righteousness of him but First the kingdom of God and Then these things We have amongst our Books an Authour who commending unto us the great use of Method and Order in our studies tells us that if a man could assure himself thirty years of study it would be far more profitable for him to spend twenty of them in finding out some course and order of Study and the other ten in studying according to this order then to spend the whole though it be in very diligent study if it be with misorder and confusion Howsoever it be with Method and Order in these Academical studies certainly in our studies which concern the practise of Christianity it cannot chuse but be with great loss of labour and industry if we do not observe that Method and Order which here our Saviour prescribes Simplicius in his Comments upon Aristotle makes a question Whether Youths in their reading of Aristotle's books should begin with his Logicks where he teaches them to dispute and reason or with his Moral books where he teaches them to live civilly and honestly If saith he they begin from his Logick without Morals they were in danger to prove wrangling Sophisters if from his Morals without Logick they would prove confused Thus indeed it fares in the knowledge of Nature where all things are uncertain thus it is with Students in the Vniversity who have Aristole for their God Scarcely will all their Logick do them so much service as to shew them where they would begin or where end But in the studies of Christianity it is nothing so Christ is our Aristotle he hath written us a Spiritual Logick he hath shewed us a Method and Order what first to do what next and how to range every thing in its proper place He that shall follow this may be secure of his end it is impossible he should lose his pains But if we follow our own conceits if we like best of our own courses God deals with us no otherwise then parents do with their children For so long as children follow the direction and advice of their parents so long it is fit that their parents should provide for them but if once children like best of their own courses then it is but meet they should take the event and fortune of them Yea so much the more dangerous is our errour of not observing the order and method that Christ hath given us because it cannot afterward be remedied we have for ever lost the claim to God's promises in this kind As Cato said of errours committed in Battel In aliis rebus si quid erratum est potest postmodum corrigi praeliorum delicta emendationem non recipiunt quia poena statim sequitur errorem Errours in other things may be again amended but the errour of a Battel cannot possibly be remedied because the inconvenience immediately follows upon the mistake For if we have not observed this Method of our Saviour if any thing have possess'd our thoughts before or above the thought study and care of Godliness we have mist of our Method we have broken out condition and therefore now for ever can we claim no promise of God in this kind Here therefore is a most certain touch by which we may come to examine our claim unto these promises for if at any time we shall perceive our selves overtaken with passion and discontent upon consideration that we be disgraced and impoverished When as men who as we suppose have nothing so much care of God and the things that are his do flourish in grace and favour with the world Let us presently examine our selves whether or no we have kept the conditions viz. sought first the kingdom of God and the righteousness of him or have given somewhat else the first room in our thoughts Thus if we do our own conscience will presently tell us what part we have in these promises For which of us can say that with Samuel we have been dedicated to God from our first and tender infancy What do I say from our first nay how many of us are there who can scarcely spare the latter end of our days for God When the world hath crop'd the prime of our age of our labour of our industry when it hath sifted and bolted out the flower when our health and youth is spent in the world's service with much ado can we be content to bestow our old decrepit sickly and unprofitable part of our age upon God and the study of Godliness How then can we claim this promise at God's hands that have thus grosly neglected our conditions To conclude When God in the Book of Kings made a covenant with Solomon he tells him plainly what he and his people must trust to 1 Kings ix 4. If thou wilt walk before me as David thy father walked in integrity of heart and uprightness to do according to all that I have commanded thee and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments 5 Then will I establish the Throne of thy Kingdom upon Israel for ever as I promised to David thy father saying There shall not fail thee a man upon the Throne of Israel 6 But if you shall at all turn from following me you or your children and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you but go and serve other gods and worship them 7 Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them and this house which I have hallowed for my Name will I cast out of my sight and Israel shall