bore the pains and found a few hours bearing them to be too heavy for him is most evident His Agonies will give you a relation beyond the skill of Lazarus that saw the Torments or of all that suffer them Look but into the Garden and see if you do not behold there a more dismal Landshape than that which Lazarus had beyond the Gulf and was desir'd to give account of there you shall find Christ at the first approaches saying my Soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death Matth. xxvi 38. As if the onely apprehension of his sufferings had inflicted them and he could not live under the thoughts of them and then he went a little farther and fell upon his face and prays saying O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me And what was there in this Cup which so empoyson'd it as to make it dreadful to the Son of God Oh 't is the Sinners potion that he must swill to everlastingness and when he was in this condition there appeared an Angel from Heaven strengthning him Luke xxii 43. yet v. the 44. we find him still in an Agony Angels cannot comfort one that is sensible of the guilt of sin upon him and he prays more earnestly in that same place Abha Father all things are possible with thee take away this Cup from me He does not leave an Attribute unattempted he does adore the Majesty for he falls upon his Face and Prays A Person of the Trinity prostrated in the dust to deprecate those pains he wooes him to it Abba Father canst thou deny thy well beloved onely begotten Son thy Son that is thy self when he comes to thee with such tender compellations of kindness with words of so much bowels Abba Father he takes hold too of his Omnipotence all things are possible with thee and he does it with all the earnestness possible to such a Person for saith St. Luke there he does it more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of Blood falling to the ground and what Agony is there in the Torment when there is Agony in the deprecation of them such a Passion could not be prayed against with earnestness enough but that that very earnestness will prove a Passion Yea and he goes again the third time and prays the same words as if if nothing else importunity should prevail and when we shall consider that the Person doing this is the Son of God to whom nothing could be truly insupportable yet that he should not be able to bear sin the weight of that we see makes him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me as if God could forsake that Person in whom the Godhead was of his Person Or indeed as if the condition did even separate between him and himself And now could any from the dead have given such a frighting account is there not as much warning in this prospect as if our selves had tasted all of it for is it not more that these Torments should be so terrible to him than that they should be insupportable to us Blessed Saviour if the first apprehensions did assault thee with such killing fury can we resolve to stand the storm if we do not resolve that then if all this will not scare us but notwithstanding all these fears we will have our delightful yea and our tormenting sins what other method will be able to reclâ—im us they that hear not Moses and the Prophets nor yet Christ neither will they be perswaded sure though any other come unto them from the dead And so I fall on my last part in these words If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Here the expression should be first taken notice of For that is chang'd it should go regularly thus as in the proposal Nay Father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent so in his answer if they repent not for Moses and the Prophets neither will they repent though one rose from the dead But here 't is otherwise as if to repent and be perswaded yea and to hear Moses and the Prophets were the same things And if it were our Age had got a fair pretence for bringing all Religion to the Ear but sure Repentance costs the eyes and heart more than it does that part and yet the Scripture useth oft the like expression So in 1 Tim. iv 16. it is said of Timothy that by continuing in his Doctrine he should save them that hear him So also 1 Cor. xv 2. by which ye are sav'd if ye keep in memory the things which I have Preach'd unto you 'T is pity when the Ear and Memory are so priviledg'd that the Tongue hath not the like advantage but not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven yet to know hath as great for this is Life eternal to know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John xvii 3. Which Life Eternal and the being sav'd or justified we may not think are so attributed to these as if to hear or to remember or to be perswaded that is to believe or know any or all of these alone shall be rewarded so or that these necessarily do produce all the rest that is necessary to attain those ends But onely that it is so reasonable that they should produce them that the Scripture does presume they will and therefore affirms He that says he knows God and keeps not his Commandments is a Lyar. 1 John ii 4. and he that sinneth hath not seen him neither known him 1 Joh. iii. 6. Nor heard of him it seems by the Text here For it is so irrational that they who have had notice of the advantages of serving God and the sad issues of Iniquity should not reform that the Scripture does not suppose them guilty of it but does chuse to word it thus they hear not A sharp rebuke for them all whose Religion is much hearing without doing the men whose Soul dwells in their Ear and that dwells by the Pulpit that these should be adjudged as men that never heard and so they shall in every respect indeed but in the innocence of not having heard that they do hear so much shall aggravate their Sentence and yet their Crime is that they hear not Moses and the Prophets and then neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Where I note Secondly that our Saviour does not intend here to commit Prophecy and Miracles and set them one against the other to shew which were most efficacious in begetting Faith for Predictions being Gods exerting of his Omniscience as raising from dead is the exerting of his Omnipotence the one a miracle of Knowledg as the other is of Power Prophecy therefore is not to be oppos'd to Miracle because it works meerly as one indeed it is a miracle in Expectation or at
bliss which to conceive is to be as God and to enjoy is to be one with him And O thou Blessed Jesu the eternal Lord of all those comforts be favourable unto us thy servants that turn to thee with weeping and with mourning that do with hearty bewailing for our hardness desire thee to teach our souls with some compunction for those iniquities that did put thee to death and would ruin us to break our rocky hearts that they may stream out tears for those our sins which shed thy bloud and would cast us into eternal wailings and as thou hast humbled us into the dust and prostrated our very souls unto the ground to grant unto us to sit down in that dust and to bewail our own demerits which our very ruin can neither equal nor amend O suffer us not to be so obdurate as to prove unmoveable by all thy pressures insensible of our own miseries and sufferings and such as amidst the pains of sin do still retain the malice and the obstinacy and then at last by these thy methods and our greifs recover us from the follies of our lives close our eyes and withdraw our affections from the temting lightnesses and vanities of our conversations and fix our thoughts and appetites upon thy serious comforts those heavenly refreshments after so much sadness that we being reckon'd amongst them whom thou dost chasten put into the number of thy mourners whose share of sorrows are dispenc't in this life may have title to the inheritance of Sons the joys of blessedness and the portion of eternal consolations in the land of everlasting pleasures with thee the Lamb that wert slain and art therefore worthy to receive all honor power praise might majesty and dominion with the Father and the Holy Ghost now and for evermore SERMON VII OF THE CLEANSING POWER Of Christian HOPE 1 John 3. 3. Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure HOPE is of all others the most active passion setting all the rest of them and the whole man on work for who would ever do or desire any thing if he did not hope for some good by it It is this hope alone that employs all the men and all the professions of the world it is the wings of the Desires and Actions carrying them thro the greatest difficulties with courage and alacrity with Confidence and an unwearied Constancy Ad bonas spes pertinax animus est Never will a man leave so long as he does hope and of all hopes that of the Christian should be the most active because it aims at the highest good in comparison of which all other good things are but shadows For what are the pleasures of earth to the things of God not worthy to be the expressions no nor the foils of them Now we see the greater the hopes the more active men are in the pursuit of them for who is there that will take so much pains for a Cottage as for a Crown And is it not then a wonder that of all Hopes yet this Hope of Heaven should be the least effectual in the minds of men and of all pleasures those of God should least invite and least imploy us For what one is there that does not with more eager and constant industry pursue the hopes of profit or the hopes of pleasure than he does the hopes of Immortality and of Blessedness How few are there that do not spend more time and more endeavors take more and longer pains in their Sports than in their Religion which could not certainly be if they had not surer and greater hopes of joy from their sports than from Heaven for the greater hope would certainly set them the more on work No Heaven is a thing of no tast carries no profit no pleasure in the meaning of it for if it did it would employ them in the gaining of it and every one that had this hope would purify himself as he is pure Matth. 5. 8. If the inheritance of the Kingdom of God were as some were upon earth entail'd so that do they what they will they could not be put by it there were then some reason not to wonder wherefore we see men live in the broad way to Hell and yet then hope to come to Heaven and certainly nothing but such a perswasion as that can possibly lull men into such a wretchless security as they are possest with in a thing of this eternal consequence For if we should examin them the most sinful wretch of them all hath hopes to be sav'd yea he would not be able to stand under the burden and the horror of his own killing thoughts if he should but once despair of that so that hope he will and yet if he believe one jot of Scripture it is impossible for him to hope it For that bids him not be deceiv'd neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor theeves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God So that he dares not not hope and yet if he do but ask himself he knows he cannot hope and what then makes him do it Certainly the opinion that such and such the inheritance is entail'd upon and be they what they will they shall have Heaven But alas they are mistaken in the nature of the inheritance we may read of many that were cast off and the Heir must be a servant as long as he is a child if he do not obey no hopes of his arriving at his inheritance when he is come to age St John here will dash all those vain hopes and will tell them as they cannot justly hope for none such as they can be possest of that inheritance and therefore 't is to no purpose for them to hope it So also that they do not indeed hope for if they did ever expect to arrive at Heaven they would not run on in a course that leads a clean contrary way The Apostle here propounds five Arguments to exhort them to the study of Piety to press after Holiness and to leave off their courses of sin I shall name them backwards First in the tenth verse if we be Christians we not onely will not but cannot sin Yea secondly we are indeed Children of the Devil if we do v. 8. Neither thirdly have we any Communion with Christ possibly or interest in his Righteousness v. 6 7. Nay fourthly they destroy the very end of Christ's coming into the world v. 5. Lastly in the front of all these neither can they hope to enjoy any of those glorious promises that God hath made to his Children those of giving them glory and immortality For he that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure In the handling of these words I shall shew you what it is to purify himself Secondly what kind of purity he is to strive after as he is pure Thirdly what the
in He becomes something without a body and above the Earth who for a preparative must be taken up to Paradise and call'd from all commerce and all intelligence with his own body Saint Paul was call'd from Heaven to preach the Gospel but he was call'd to Heaven to qualifie him for this higher separation to an Apostle and Church-Governour And now you see your calling Holy Fathers And to pass by such obvious unconcerning observations as at first sight follow that those who are not qualified are not call'd I shall only take notice hence of the counter-part of this call the charge God takes upon him when he calls to this charge and that is he owns and will protect whom himself calls 'T was that he promised to the Founder and God of your Order I the Lord have call'd thee and I will hold thine hand and I will keep thee Isai. 42. 6. And when he said of Cyrus I have call'd him he said also be shall make his way prosperous Isai. 48. 15. And so he shall be the way what it will for thus he said to Jacob I have called thee when thou goest through the Water I am with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee Isai. 43. 1 2. There was Experience of all this in one of the chief Princes of your Order when the Apostles were scarce safe within their Ship they were so toss'd with waves and fears yet if our Lord will call him Peter is confident he shall be safe even in the Sea Lord if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the Water saith he and the Lord did but call him and he went down and walked on the water safely As if the swelling billows did only lift themselves to meet his steps and raise him up from sinking And when his own doubts which alone could were neer drowning him and he but call'd the Lord immediately he stretched out his hand and caught him He answers his call if we answer ours if we obey when he says come then will he come and save when we call to him And so Peter receiv'd no hurt but a rebuke O thou of little faith why didst thou doubt couldst thou imagin I would not sustein thee in the doing what I bid thee do In answering my call But why seek we experience of so old a date There is a more encouraging miracle in these late calls themselves Had God sustein'd the Order in its Offices and dignities amidst those waves that rack'd the Church of late it had been prodigy of undeserved Compassion to our Nation But whenas all was sunk to bid the Sea give up what it had swallowed and consumed this is more than to catch a sinking Peter or to save a falling Church The work of Resurrection is emphatically call'd the working of God's mighty power and does out-sound that of his ordinary conservation And truly 't was almost as easie to imagination how the scattered Atomes of mens dust should order themselves and reunite and close into one flesh as that the parcels of our Discipline and Service that were lost in such a wild confusion and the Offices buried in the rubbish of the demolisht Churches should rise again in so much order and beauty Stantia non poterant tect a probare Deum This calling of the Spirit is like that when the Spirit moved upon the face of the abyss and call'd all things out of their no-seeds there or like the call of the last Trump Thus by the miraculous mercies of these calls God hath provided for our hopes and warranted our faith of his protections yet he hath also sent us more security hath given us a Constantine if his own be not a greater Name and more deserving of the Church for which it is well known to some he did contrive and order when he could neither plot nor hope for his own Kingdom and did with passion labour a succession in your Order when he did not know how to lay designs for the Succession of himself or any of his Fathers house to his own Crown and Dignity Nor is the secular arm all your security God himself hath set yet more guards about his consecrated ones he hath severe things for the violaters of them Moses the meekest man upon the Earth that in his life was never angry but once at the rebellious seems very passionate in calling Vengeance on those that stir against these holy Offices Smite through the loins of all that rise against them and of them that hate them that they rise not again The loins we know are the nest of posterity so that strike through the loins is stab the succession destroy at once all the posterity of them that would cut off this Tribe and hinder its Succession Nor was this Legal Spirit Gospel is as severe Those in Saint Jude that despise these Governours that do as Corah and his Complices did who gathered themselves against Moses and Aaron and said You take too much upon you ye Sons of Levi since all the Congregation is holy every one of them and the Lord is among them wherefore then lift you up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord words these that we are well acquainted with and which it seems St. Jude looks on as sins under the Gospel these perish in the gainsaying of Core whom God would not prepare for punishment by death but he and his accomplices went quick into it He would not let them stay to dye but the Lord made a new thing to shew his detestation of this sin and the Earth swallow'd it in the Commission and all that were alli'd and appertain'd to them that had an hand in it And truly they may well expect strange recompences who do attempt so strange a Sacrilege as to pull stars out of Christ's own right hand From whence we have his word that no man shall be able to pluck any but if they shine thence on their Orbs below and convert many to righteousness their light shall blaze out into glory and they shall ever dwell at his right hand To which right hand He that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus that great Shepherd and Bishop of the Sheep and set him there He also bring you our Pastors and us your flock with you and set us with his sheep on his right hand To whom with the same Jesus and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all blessing honour glory and power from henceforth for ever Amen A SERMON PREACHED AT HAMPTON-COURT ON The Twenty Ninth of May 1662. Being the Anniversary of His Sacred Majesties Most happy Return BY RICHARD ALLESTRY D. D. and Chaplain to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed by John Playford in the Year 1683. TO THE Right Honourable EDWARD Earl of CLARENDEN Lord high Chancellour of England and Chancellour of the University of Oxford My LORD TO vouch your Lordships commands for the publishing this Discourse I might
FORTY SERMONS WHEREOF Twenty one are now first publish'd The greatest part preach'd before THE KING AND ON SOLEMN OCCASIONS By RICHARD ALLESTREE D. D. Kings Professor in the Chair of Divinity in the Vniversity of OXFORD Provost of ETON and Chaplain to his MAJESTY To these is prefixt an account of the Author's Life Printed at the THEATER in Oxford and in London for R. Scott G. Wells T. Sawbridge R. Bentley M.DC.LXXXIV THE PREFACE IN all endeavors of persuasion the credit of the Speaker being of as great moment as the inherent truth and evidence of what is spoke it will be reasonable that there should go along with this large collection of Sermons some account of the Person who was the Author of them for if it be made out that they came from one of integrity and knowledge who neither would deceive others nor was likely to be deceiv'd himself one who practic'd what he taught and preacht to his own soul what he deliver'd to his Auditory his discourses must carry with them a proportionable weight and value That this narrative may be the more satisfactory by being entire and particular it shall take the Author from his infancy and bring him to his grave without the vain additions of flattery and ostentation which he abhorr'd while alive and therefore needs not being dead He was the Son of Robert Allestree a Gentleman of an ancient family in Darbyshire who being decai'd in his fortune by the profuseness of his Predecessors retain'd unto Sr. Richard Newport afterward created Lord Newport Baron of high Arcol in the quality of his Steward and being married settled himself at Uppington near the Wreken in Shropshire where Richard Allestree the person of whom we write was born in March An. 1619. He being grown up to be capable of institution was sent to a neighbouring country free Schole and from thence to another somewhat more celebrated at Coventree where he remain'd till he became fit for the Vniversity In the year 1636 he was brought to Oxford by his Father and plac'd a Commoner in Christ-Church having for his Tutor Mr. Richard Busby who since is Dr. Busby the eminent Master of Westminster Schole and Prebend of that Church Six moneths after his settlement in the Vniversity Dr. Samuel Fell the Dean observing his parts and industry made him Student of the College which title he really answer'd by great and happy application to study wherein he made remarkable emprovements as a testimony and encouragement of which so soon as he had taken the degree of Batchelor of Arts he was chose Moderator in Philosophy and had the emploiment renew'd year by year till the disturbances of the Kingdom interrupted the studies and repose of the Vniversity putting them into Arms. His Majesty in the year 1641 being by tumults driven from London and issuing out his Commission of Aray into the several parts of the Nation did also direct it to the Vniversity of Oxford where it found an active and a ready obedience as by the generality of the members of that place so particularly by Mr. Allestree who engag'd in the service and continued in it till Sr. John Biron afterwards the Lord Biron who was sent with a party of horse to support and countenance the Scholars in arms there withdrew from thence He after a short stay was call'd off to join with Prince Rupert and by the assistance of the loial Gentlemen of Worcestershire was receiv'd into that City where he was prest by the Rebels forces but the Prince came up seasonably to reinforce him and thereupon follow'd the sharp fight in Poyick field near the aforesaid City the unexpected success of which gave great consternation to the Rebels who being Masters of the Mony Forts and Magazeens of the Kingdom hop'd to have carried all without a stroke As many of the Scholars as could furnish themselves for a suddain march went along with Sr. John Biron from Oxford the others among whom was Mr. Allestree staied behind and return'd to their Gowns and Studies Soon after this the Lord Say with a party of the Rebels forces drew into Oxford and plunder'd the Colleges of such plate as had not bin before sent to his Majesty making enquiry after those who had bin forward to promote the King's service on which occasion and also a particular accident that then happen'd Mr. Allestree was call'd in question The occasion was this at Christ-Church some of the Rebels attemted to break into the Treasury and after a daies labor forced a passage into it but met with nothing except a single groat and a halter in the bottom of a large iron chest enrag'd with that disappointment they went to the Deanery where having ransackt what they thought fit they put it altogether in a chamber lockt it up and retir'd to their quarters intending the next morning to return and dispose of their prize But when they came they found themselves defeated and every thing remov'd to their hand Vpon examination it was discover'd that Mr. Allestree had a key of the Lodgings the Dean and his family being withdrawn and that Mr. Allestree's key had bin made use of in this enterprize hereupon he was seiz'd and notwithstanding all the defence he could make had bin severely handled but that the Earl of Essex call'd away the forces on the suddain and so redeem'd him from their fury In October following the King having strengthned himself at Shrewsbury with the supplies that came from the North and Wales and the Loial Gentlemen of other parts of the Nation began his march towards London and was met by the army of the Rebels commanded by the Earl of Essex in Keinton field in Warwickshire where both armies engag'd at this battail Mr. Allestree was present after which understanding that the King design'd immediatly to march to Oxford and make his Court at the accustomed place the Deanery at Christ-Church which was in part left to his care in the absence of the Dean hasting thither he was taken Prisoner by a party from Broughton house which was garrison'd by the Lord Say for the Parliament His confinement here was very short the Garrison surrendring it self to the King's forces who summon'd it in their passage The war being now form'd and the King being return'd from the fight at Brainford having made Oxford his head quarter Mr. Allestree settled himself again to his study and in the next Spring took his degree of Master of Arts after which he was in great hazard of his life being seiz'd by the pestilential disease which rag'd in the Garrison and which was fatal to very many eminent men of all emploiments and conditions and fell more severely upon him by reason of a relapse which doubled the calamity and danger Having recover'd a little strength he was engag'd to employ it in military service the exigence of his Majesties affairs calling for the aid of all his Loial Subjects and in particular the Scholars and accordingly a Regiment of
those few that allow it not Sardanapalus and yet place the Prophet Jonah not long after him must be put hard to it to find out then so great a City as he tells you Niniveh then was and so great a King of it But he altho as men of his vice possibly are apt to be somtimes a little tender hearted easily affected on some sudden passionate occasion yet that being as it mostly is a fit of penitence returning to his old abominable practices after a short Reign his Kingdom was quite rent in pieces and the City utterly destroied himself beginning it He had before inflam'd it with his lust then he set fire to it and left nothing after him besides his Epitaph a greater and more lively character of sensuality than his whole life had bin and so that City tho it did lay hold upon the time of acceptance seize the day of salvation yet it quickly let it go again And as for persons I shall need to give one onely instance since 't is of more than six hundred thousand men and each in their personal capacity All whom Males able to go out to war God brought from Egypt with a mighty hand on purpose to conduct them to the Land of Canaan and possess them of it every one of whom saw more of God's immediat presence and his Glory had more express miracle of grace and favor and forbearance also than yet ever any People in the world had yet these had their time of favor limited had their day for God's performance which time while it lasted he endur'd their provocations of the highest measure even when they made another God to lead them But when that day came and they were at the point to enter and he bid them go in and possess it and they would not make use of it being scar'd with news of Enimies taller than they and so distrusting God's help they repin'd they had not staid in Egypt rather then as I live saith God because all these men have seen my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and have temted me now these ten times surely they shall not come into the Land concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein neither shall any of them that provoked me see it Num. 14. 22 23 30. And of all that number but two onely who provoked him not Joshua and Caleb enter'd it This very instance and the Prophe Davids application of it also Psalm 95. to the Jews of his time that they would not be as their Forefathers stubborn and untractable to all God's methods standing out against them till it was too late but that to day if they would hear his voice they should be flexible and plaint this I say St Paul in the third chapter to the Hebrews urges to the Christians that they should also be so while 't is called to day while that their â—odie their day that was allow'd them lasted least they should outstand it and they also be excluded from the everlasting rest in the Heavenly Canaan And he presses further in the sixth how God do's finally withdraw his grace from those who in the day of it resist it and makes no more tender of it to them and illustrates this in the twelfth chapter with the history of Esau who to satisfy a present appetite did sell his Birth-right and the Privileges and the Blessing that of course attended it and altho he sought it afterwards he was rejected and â—ound no place of Repentance nothing that could make his Father change his mind altho he sought it carefully with tears and with the Parable of ground which if when 't is long water'd with the dew of Heaven and hath drank that fatness which the clouds drop down it shall bring forth onely briars or continue barren 't is no longer cultivated but rejected reprobated no more fit to be water'd with the shours of Heaven but burnt up with scorching heat Our Savior's Parable about the Fig-tree too hath the same Apologue which if with three years husbandry it bear no fruit and in the fourth too being manur'd more expresly it fail also cut it down then least it cumber the ground Whether the term that limits this accepted time be meted out by years and months so much time I will bear with them and expect as the instance of the old world gives some color for or whether it be not set to days and hours but measured by their reckonings of iniquity when they have made up and filled the Epha their time shall be out as the Amorites example and the Israelites in the wilderness would evince or whether both ways as Jerusalems and Ninivehs seem plain for 't is not for me to determin Each or any of them does assure us that the time is bounded beyond which there is no term no day left if we do outstand that O that thou hadst known in this day saith he but that being expir'd then is the hour of darkness now they are hidden from thine eyes nor are they onely hidden from their eyes but God also shuts their eyes sends them the spirit of slumber on them that they may not see not perceive not understand nor be converted least he heal them The Predeterminations that do limit out the Age of mens Repentance seem much more unalterable than those are that bound the Age of Life Good Hezekiahs tears and praiers got him fifteen years accession to his days time did go back for him and he liv'd part of his Age over again But when the life that is allotted for the possibilities of Repentance is spun out when the day of God's expectation is once gon we have no instance to produce that he will call back or protract it to us death may let go its hold but obstinacy in sin does not marble Monuments have heard and bin obedient yielded up but the stony hard heart will not And indeed to be innexible arises from the very nature of that course and progress in sin that does weary out God's forbearances outstands all his offers wasts the whole day of salvation For to pass by the instances of the old World and of the Amorites of which we have no more account but that these Amorites were given up so to unnatural sin and uncleanesses that the Land spued them out in the other that the Daughters of men had effac'd all the thoughts and knowledg of God out of the very Sons of God that the wickedness of man was so great that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was onely evil continually But in Israel whom St Paul represents to us for caution thus their state was they had set their hearts on present satisfactions so eagerly and impotently that whenever there was the least want of any they repin'd that God had brought them out of Egypt that their Jehovah should be at that distance from them as in Heaven and their sustenance
of darkness If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness THE Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field Matth. 13. 44. a field this much richer than it shews for that provides for several uses of our life that furnisheth with food and wealth too and is both granary and treasury and just such is the word of the Kingdom also it hath in it more than it promises to sight there are still hidden treasures besides the food that grows before our eies if we search we shall find still more and more furniture for life more wealth yet in the bowels of it These words give us experience of this from which tho we have had several spiritual entertainments provisions for divers cases of our life yet have we not exhausted them for we shall find that yet in another sense The light of the body is the eie c. To the two interpretations I have given of these words the first of which that by a single eie should be meant a single intention an intire honest meaning an heart like that of Jacob plain simple and upright such as may therefore stile a man an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile no doubling but such an one as laies alwaies to it self good ends and intends to take in no ill means to compass them hath bin generally adhered to by almost all Expositors The second that by the single eie should be meant the pure clear good conscience which to me indeed seems much more proper than the other to neither of them have I any objection but this that they do not at all relate to the matter of the discourse which our Savior hath in hand and 't is not imaginable why Christ should in the midst of a Paragraph concerning mortifying the desire and love of wealth the beginning of which commands laying up treasure in heaven and the end tells us we cannot serve God and Mammon should interpose any thing of conscience or intentions and therefore tho what we have delivered of them be exactly consonant to the words and built upon other certain Scripture and be the sense of most men yet we will view one other which tho it be assign'd but by one Expositor that I know of yet being exactly pertinent to the matter in hand and having a surer plea for its being the sense of the place than any of the rest have it shall not escape us tho no more have lighted upon it Now the way of finding out the meaning was not to consider what may be compar'd to a single eie or an evil eie for possibly so many things may be but by seeing what those words do constantly signify in Scripture and so what light and darkness also do and then put them together and see whether they will so here and we shall take those grounds 1. Then what a single eie and evil eie do use to signify in Scripture and for the evil eie we find it often Prov. 23. 6 7. Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eie neither desire thou his dainty meats for as he thinketh in his heart so is he eat and drink saith he to thee but his heart is not with thee which means eat not the meat of him that is a niggard who tho he do invite thee to it yet he do's grudge it thee and grieves thou eatest it his heart do's not speak in his invitations but he had rather thou wouldest spare and he computes thy morsels So again Prov. 28. 22. He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eie that is is covetous he envies every other man's prosperity so most Translations render it here is troubled to see another flourish and thinks their gain his loss So Matt. 20. 15. Is thine eie evil because I am good he saies to them who tho they had contracted for a penny by the day for labor yet when they saw those that had wrought but a little part receive so much strait entertain'd desires and hopes of more than they had bargain'd for and when they saw they should have nothing but their due they murmur'd to whom the Master do's reply Friend I do thee no wrong didst thou not agree with me for a penny be thou content with that which comes to thy share This man that came last to work it being not his fault that he came no sooner but his not being sooner call'd and he having labored honestly and cheerfully ever since he came shall by me who accept the will for the deed be rewarded with the same reward that thou hast and sure thou hast no reason to complain that I dispose of my own as I see cause what reason is there that my bounty to others should be matter of envy and discontent to thee So that an evil eie signifies unsatisfiedness with ones own condition and envy at anothers an eie that grieves to see any thing go besides it self in one word an illiberal covetous envious mind You have its perfect character Ecclesiasticus 14. from v. 3. to 10. Riches are not comely for a niggard and what should an envious man do with mony He that gathereth by defrauding his own soul gathereth for others that shall spend his goods riotously he that is evil to himself to whom will he be good he shall not take pleasure in his goods There is none worse than he that envieth himself and if he doth good he doth it unwillingly The envious man hath a wicked eie he turneth away his face and despiseth men a covetous man's eie is not satisfied with his portion and the iniquity of the wicked dries up his soul a wicked eie envieth his bread and he is a niggard at his table Next for the single eie that certainly is set as opposite to the evil eie as meaning liberality and chearful bounty and we shall see accordingly that singleness do's signify for so our Bible almost alwaies translates the word 2 Cor. 8. 2. Their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality the riches of their singleness it is in the Original So chap. 9. 11. being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness to all singleness again v. 13. liberal distribution singleness of distribution the Greek do's say and so in many places which others have observ'd and Rom. 12. 8. He that giveth let him do it with simplicity or singleness for 't is the same word still and there our Margent tells you that it means liberality Single therefore do's in Scripture signify bountiful and we shall find that coupled with the eie Prov. 22. 9. He that hath a bountiful eie shall be blessed for he giveth of his bread to the poor And so we have the Scripture sense of these two words the single eie do's signify a liberal mind and the evil eie a niggardly uncontented envious disposition And here let us stop a little and say a word on these expressions why these things to
them use to pursue them as far as they are able and set no bounds to themselves but those of possibility will not be limited in their prosecutions by considerations of a vertue as this man's are and therefore he is too strong for these temtations and so hath overcome the world And now if we consider the advantages of this conquest either in gross it is a victory over such Enemies as were in Christ's opinion almost invincible such as did so block up all passages and avenues to blessedness that he affirms and repetes it is impossible for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Let men think what they will of those occasions of sin which their dislikes of a low condition or of poverty makes them believe it do's abound with but I tell you there are such ineluctable temtations to vice in an estate of plenty as that without a greater measure of God's grace than is sufficient for any other state of life a man will never overcome them It is so insuperable a temtation to have that which will furnish him with all his heart or lust can wish for to have every thing that is in his desires put into his power and so impossible to part with that which serves all his inclinations when God calls for it as he do's when we cannot at once keep the estate and obey Christ which was the occasion of our Savior's words and wealth it do's so sawce and invite every vice it do's so dress objects for lust and feed with those full plenties that heat men into it and strengthen for it do's so pour in provocatives by idleness and excesses it do's so fill with insolence or pride or ostentation and vain glory it do's so swell and so puff up with heights and scorns makes men contemn others and oppress them think any thing almost is lawful in their usage of them yea become careless of Religion and by degrees contemn it too wax insolent with God scoffers at piety rude in profaness any thing forsooth they may do and a whole shole of other such like qualities are the almost certain appendages of men in estate at least in some degree In a word it takes off the heart quite from the Love of God and those things that relate to him it fixes them so to these worldly satisfactions yea when it comes to such a pinch that a man must either wound his conscience do some great deliberate sin or part with this so forsooth happy utensil his estate break with all the duty in the world rather than part with that which furnisheth him with such convenience of sins that 't is no wonder if it be impossible for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And then for a man to have overcome the General of this great Army of ruinous vices the only leader that can draw them up against him to have cut off the source that feeds this inundation of mischeifs these overflowings of ungodliness from the heart is a good strong evidence to a man's heart that he is well resolv'd against the vices when that he do's resolvedly deprive himself of the instrument of them the thing that do's advance them and hath perfectly divorc'd from them he needs not doubt but that if it please God to bring him to straits that he shall rather be content to part with a good portion of his estate than part with a good conscience who is content to give away good part of his estate merely to exercise a vertue in obedience to God He will give it if Christ call for it who gives it if the poor call for it He is well secur'd from feeding pride excesses and the other sins of fulness with his plenty who gives all superfluities away to feed the hungry his wealth is otherwise emploied than in ministring to vice and however 't is certain his heart is taken off from the sins that are occasioned by riches who heartily gives away the occasion of those sins and tho the gate of Heaven be as strait as any needle's eie yet this wealthy Man this Camel in one sense of the word as it do's signify a cable rope when his wealth is divided thus and scattered when the rope is separated into little threads then it will go thro the straitest needle's eie and this rich man enter inter into the Kingdom of Heaven And here were argument enough for the triumphs of comfort to an heart that can discern this sign of his Election this fruit of the Holy Spirit this instance of like-mindedness to Christ this assurance of his conquest over that same Enemy which is the Fleshes auxiliary and the Devil's instrument without which neither of them could much prevail upon us for they do it by the aids the World do's bring by the temtations and the baits which it do's minister A consequent fit for Christ to glory in I have overcome the World saith he Matt. 16. 33. and truly if any man the religiously sincerely bountiful man hath don so to a great degree He hath unglued his heart from it they part with ease you see how he distributes it and throws it from him and this is sure incouragement enough to set you upon searching whether you can find this Evidence within you if it were not a certain sign also of more things a sign of particular evidences and effects of having overcome the world For first it is a sign of a perfect contentedness in ones condition for apparently he is not unsatisfied with what he hath who not only is content but who contrives to have less and gives away good part of what he hath He cannot be discontented that he hath no more than he hath who is resolved not to have so much but searches for occasions to distribute what he hath And if this be an infallible sign of a contented mind still I speak of the liberal heart not only of a scattering hand it is an evidence of the greatest happiness in this world for God hath prescribed one certain remedy for all the evils in the world a contented heart This is the only aim of all the arts and all the plenties of the world it is for this alone men dig the mines of treasures search the whole circuit of delights run thro the hurry of an universe of pleasures wherein God knows they seldom find it but all intend only content Whether they would be great or rich or be luxurious or every thing it is because they seek content in these things which he that hath in whatsoever state he be he hath the scope the price of all the treasures in the world he hath the sum and comprehension of its felicities which therefore the liberal heart hath the sure sign of yea in this he hath the certain evidence of S. Pauls temper that he so much exults in Phil. 4. 11 12 13. I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I know both how
words but they do them not And if they flash in Hell against their Vices in torrents of threatning Scripture they concern themselves no more than they would in the story of a new Eruption of Mount Aetna or Vesuvius Yea they do quench the Spirit and his fires do not like the deaf Adder stop their ears against his whisperings and the charms of Heaven that were a weaker and less valiant guilt but are Religious in hearing them curious that they may be spoke with all advantages to make it harder not to yield and live that so they may express more resolution to perish and with more courage and solemnity may sin and dye Nay more when God hath found an Art to draw themselves into a League and Combination against their Vices bound them in Sacraments to Virtue made them enter a Covenant of Piety and seal it in the Blood of God and by that foederal Rite with hands lift up and seizing on Christ's Body and with holy Vows oblige themselves to the performances or to the Threats of Gospel which they see executed in that Sacrament before their eyes see there death is the wages of iniquity they shew themselves its damned consequences while they behold it tear Christ's Body spill his Blood and Crucifie the Son of God yet neither will this frightful spectacle nor their own ties hold them from sin and ruine they break these bonds asunder to get at them The Wiseman says that wicked men seek death and make a Covenant with it and so it seems But sure they are strange wilful men that seek it at Gods Table in the Bread of Life that will wade through an Ocean of mercy to get at Perdition and find it in the Blood of Christ will drink Damnation in the Cup of blessing men that poyson Salvation to themselves They that contract thus for Destruction and tye it to them at the Altar with such sacred Rites and Articles are sure resolv'd and love to dye Fourthly God had provided other Guards to secure men from sin and Death the Censures of the Church of which this Time was the great Season and the discipline of abstinence we now use is a piteous relique all that the World will bear it seem But as the Lord appointed them they were so close a fence that our Saviour calls them Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven as if they lock'd us in the Path of Piety and Life and we must pick or break all that the Key of Heaven can make fast burst Locks as well as Vows before we can get out have liberty to sin God having bounded in the Christians race as that among the Grecians was which had a River on one side and Swords points all along the other so that Destruction dwelt about it on the borders And God hath mounded ours with the River of Hell the Lake of Fire and with these spiritual Swords as S. Cyprian and S. Hierome call the Censures But yet a Mound too weak alas to stand the Resolution and assaults of Vices now adays which do not onely make great breaches in the Fence but have quite thrown it down and slighted it and the Church dares not set it up again should she attempt it they would scoff it down Men will endure no bar in the way to Perdition they will have liberty of Ruine will not be guarded from it so far from brooking Censures they will suffer no Reproof nor Admonition not suffer one word betwixt them and Death eternal But Fifthly Though we will not let Almighty God restrain us with his Censures yet he will do it with his Rod and set the sharp stakes of Affliction in our walk to keep us in thus he makes sins sometimes inflict themselves and then we straight resolve to break off from them and while we suffer shame and feel destruction in the Vice we shrink and uncling And now the Sinner would not dye especially if his Precipitance have thrown him to the confines of the grave and while he took his full careers of Vice the fury of his course did drive him to the ports of Ruine and Death seemed to make close and most astonishing approaches when standing on the brink of the Abyss he takes a prospect of the dismal state that must receive him and his Vices then he trembles and flyes his apprehensions swoon his Soul hath dying qualms caused as much by the Nausea of sin as by the fear of Hell he is in agonies of passion and of Prayer both against his former courses he never will come near them more and now sure God hath catch'd him and his will is wholly bent another way now he will live the new life if God will grant him any But alas have we never seen when God hath done this for him stretch'd out his Arm of Power hal'd him from the brow of the Pit and set him further off how he does turn and drive on furiously in the very same path that leads to the same Ruine and he recovers into death eternal And now this Will is grown too strong for the Almighties powerful methods and frustrates the whole Counsel of God for his Salvation neglects his Calls and Importunacies whereby he warns him to consult his safety to make use of Grace in time not to harden his heart against his own mercies and perish in despight of mercy And when he can reject Gods Graces and his Judgments thus defie his Conscience and his own Experience too there is but one thing left wherein this Resolution can shew its courage and that is Sixthly His own present Interests All which the Sinner can break through and despise to get at Death It is so usual to see any of the gross wasting Vices when it is once espoused murder the Reputation and all those great concerns that do depend upon a mans Esteem eat out his Wealth and Understanding make him pursue pernicious ways and Counsels besot him and enslave him fill his life with disquiet shame and neediness and the sad consequents of that Contempt and all that 's Miserable and unpitied in this Life and yet the sin with all these disadvantages is lovely not to be divorc'd nor torn off from him that I were vain should I attempt to prove a thing so obvious I shall give but one instance of the power of the Will the violence and fury of its inclinations to Ruine The man who for anothers inadvertency possibly such as their own rules of Honour will not judg affront yea sometimes without any shadow of a provocation meerly becaue he will be rude does that upon which they must call one another to account and to their last account indeed at Gods dread Judgment-seat whither when he hath sacrific'd two Families it may be all their hopes and comforts in this Life two Souls which cost the Blood of God having assaulted Death when it was arm'd and at his heart and charged Damnation to take Hell by Violence he comes with his own
all that does pretend to God or Vertue in him Where 't is thus let no man flatter or persuade himself he does what he would not when it is plain he does impetuously will the doing it Let him not think that he allows not but hates that which he does when it is certain in that moment that he does commit not to allow that which he does resolve and pitch upon and chuse to hate what with complacency he acts or to do that unwillingly which he is wrought on by his own Concupiscence to do and by his inward incitations by the mutiny of his own affections which the Devil raises and when it is the meer height and prevailency of his appetite that does make him do it as it must be where there is reluctancy before he do it his desires and affections there are evidently too strong for him or at last to hate the doing that which 't is his too much love to that makes him do are all impossibilities the same things as to will against the will desire against appetite But do but keep thy self sincerely and in truth from being willing and thou must be safe For God expects no more but that we should not voluntarily yield to our undoing He hath furnish'd us with his own compleat Armour for no farther uses of a War but to encourage us to stand Take unto you the whole Armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil And again Put ye on the whole Armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand There is no need to do more than this not to be willing and consent to fall for no man can be beaten down but he that will fall It were very easie for me to prescribe you how to fortifie against those Engines of the Devils battery which I produced to you But that I may not stay upon particulars directing those whom he prevails upon through want of Imployment to find out honest occasions not to be idle and sure it is the most unhappy thing in the World for any man to be necessitated to be vicious by his having nothing else to do and because while the World accounts it a Pedantick thing to be brought up by Rules and under Discipline he cannot learn how to imploy himself to his advantage to pass by these I say the universal strength against this Enemy is Faith Your adversary the Devil like a roaring Lion goeth up and down seeking whom he may devour whom resist stedfast in the Faith And that not onely as it frustrates all that he attempts by means of Infidelity but it also quenches all his fiery darts whatsoever bright Temptation he presents to draw us from our Duty or whatever fiery trial he makes use of to affright and martyr with For the man whose Faith does give him evidence and eye-sight of those blessed Promises eye hath not seen and gives substance present solid being to his after-hopes and whose heart hath swallowed down those happy expectations which have never entred in the heart of man to comprehend what is there that can tempt or fright him from his station To make all that which Satan gave the prospect of prevail on such a Soul the Kingdoms of the Earth must out-vie Gods Kingdom and their Gauds out-shine his Glory and the twinkling of an eye seem longer than Eternity For nothing less than these will serve his turn all these are in his expectations Or what can fright the man whose heart is set above the sphere of terrours who knows calamity how great soever can inflict but a more sudden and more glorious blessedness upon him and the most despiteful cruel usage can but persecute him into Heaven 'T is easie to demonstrate that a Faith and Expectation of the things on Earth built upon weaker grounds than any man may have for his belief of things above hath charg'd much greater hazards overcome more difficulties than the Devil does assault us with For sure none is so Sceptical but he will grant that we have firmer grounds to think there is another World in Heaven than Columbus if he were the first Discoverer had to think there was another Earth and that there are far richer hopes laid up there in that other World for those that do deny themselves the sinful profits and the jollities of this and force them from their inclinations than those Sea-men could expect who first adventur'd with him thither For they could not think to gain much for themselves but onely to take soism of the Land if any such there were for others covetous Cruelty could get little else but only richer Graves and to lie buried in their yellow Earth Nor are we assaulted in our Voyage with such hazards as they knew they must encounter with the path of Vertue and the way to Heaven is not so beset with difficulties as theirs was when they must cut it out themselves through an unknown new World of Ocean where they could see nothing else but swelling gaping Death from an Abyss of which they were but weakly guarded and removed few inches onely And as if the dangerousest shipwrecks were on shore they found a Land more savage and more monstrous than that Sea Yet all this they vanquish'd for such slender hopes and upon so uncertain a belief A weak Faith therefore can do mighty works greater than any that we stand in need of to encounter with our Enemy It can remove these Mountains too the golden ones that Covetousness and Ambition do cast up Yea more it can remove the Devil also for if you resist him stedfast in the Faith he flies which is the happy issue and my last Part. Resist the Devil and he will Fly from you And yet it cannot be denied but that sometimes when the messenger of Satan comes to buffet though S. Paul resist him with the strength of Prayer which when Moses managed he was able to prevail on God himself and the Lord articled with him that he might be let alone yet he could not beat off this assailant 2 Cor. xii 7 8 9. When God either for prevention as 't was there v. 7. or for exercising or illustrating of Graces or some other of his blessed ends gives a man up to the assaults of Satan he is often pleased to continue the temptation long but in that case he does never fail to send assistances and aids enough against it My grace is sufficient for thee â—aith he to S. Paul there And when he will have us tempted for his uses if we be not failing to our selves he does prevent our being overcome so that there is no danger in those Trials from their stay But yet it must not be denied but that the Devil does prevail sometimes by importunacy and by continuance of Temptation so that Resistance is not always a Repulse at least not such an one as to make
Clouds of Heaven When this Cross shall usher in the great Assize When they shall look on him that they have pierced and Crucified upon it And when that Crucified offended Enemy shall come there to be their Judge That takes himself to be offended much more in his kindness than his Person and will judge this more severely that we would not let his Cross and Passion do us any good than that we Crucified him on it Let us then be caution'd in the fear of God to be no longer Enemies to that which is to reconcile our judge to us If we have his Friendship on the Cross we may be sure to have it on the â—udgment Seat He that on the Cross parted with Godhead and with Life for us will on the Bench adjudge us that Inheritance which his Cross did purchase for us He sits there to pronounce happiness upon all faithful 〈◊〉 Christians to proclaim Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you To which c. SERMON XV. WHITE-HALL Novemb. 15. 1668. MARK X. 15. Verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child he shall not enter therein THE Kingdom of God especially as it is concerns the forepart of the Text signifies nothing else but that of the Messiah or in one word Christianity and that both as to the profession and the practise the Doctrine and the life of it For so the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which Theophylact expounds the words the Preaching of the Doctrine is it self called the Kingdom of God by our Saviour Mat. 21. 43. 'T is not delivering of a message onely in weak empty words 't is Jurisdiction and exercise of Soveraignty And the Commission that authoriz'd to it was the delegation of the Powers of Omnipotence All Power saith our Lord is given to me both in Heaven and in Earth And which the Syriack adds in that place also as my Father sent me so send I you go ye therefore and teach all Nations teaching them to observe whatsoever I have Commanded you As if this were execution of the greatest and most Kingly Power and every Doctrine had the force of Proclamation every denunciation were Sentence as it will be certainly to them that do not give obedience to it Which obedience is Secondly and that most properly entitled the Kingdom of God Rom. 14. 17. for by that he Reigns without this our great universal Lord were a Prince of no Subjects had a Kingdom but of Rebells onely So that to receive the Kingdom of God is by the obedience of Faith to submit to the Gospel to receive the Doctrines of it by believing and the Precepts by obeying them The duty which our Saviour here directs and which with such severity he threatens non-performance of even with exclusion from that blessed Immortality of Joyes which the Kingdom of God imports which is that sense it bears in the last words of my Text. In which we must consider First the Object both of the Duty and the Threat a Kingdom and that the Kingdom of God Secondly our concern and duty in relation to that Kingdom we have onely to receive it Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God Whatever bustlâ— men are well content to make to gâ—t possession of any Earthly Dignity or Power sometimes to wage War with their Conscience and all obligations violate all Rights both Humane and Divine and assault greatest difficulties and yet greater guilts to invade mens Crowns and other rights there 's no such need in this we have no more to do but let this Kingdom come and not resist the having it For therefore also Thirdly the manner we are by our Saviour here prescribed to receive this Kingdom in is as a little Child Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child as one that cannot stand against the power of a Kingdom when it comes that hath not strength nor malice neither force nor will to oppose which they that do must needs keep themselves out of it Which is Fourthly the thing threatned they shall not enter therein there being neither reason nor indeed a possibility men should possess that which they will not receive Lastly Christ's asseveration is added to all this Verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child hâ— shall not enter therein But because the main thing Christ intended in the Text which he so oft repeated upon several occasions was by the significative emblem of a little Child visibly to inform us of some dispositions that are absolutely necessary to the entertaining Christianity either in our minds by Faith or in our lives by practice I shall therefore wholly attend that design of his in the words and handle them particularly as they seem here to be spoken in relation to the Doctrine of it This being most of use now in an Age when men not only tear Religion with disputes but aim to baffle it with reproaches quite out of the World Now against such the Text is positive Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God the Doctrine of Christianity as a little Child be cannot enter therein neither into the possession of the Promises of Christianity nor indeed into the profession of it And here I need not labour much to find that in a Child which Christ requires of those that come to be Disciples in Religion for it is plain that Children being impotent unable to sustain or to direct themselves they give themselves up to the aids and the directions of others those especially whom they are committed to and with whose cares of them they are acquainted to whose guidance they resign themselves entirely laying hold on them in any dangerous appearance and not trusting to themselves at all And when their Age first makes them capable of having any thing infus'd into them being empty and unseason'd Vessels they will easily receive all and sincerely without taint And being neither fill'd before-hand with prejudicate opinions nor with windy vain conceits of their own skill or knowledge they must needs take in without any let 〈◊〉 hindrance whatever is infus'd and submit themselves to be directed wholly by their teachers without contradiction or dispute for they Judge not nor examin but receive Now such a resignation seems the proper disposition which our Saviour expects in a Disciple It is plain that his pretended Vicar and that Church expect it that men shall submit their Faith entirely to the Church believe whatever she proposeth as reveal'd by God meerly on that account as she proposeth it for otherwise it is not a right faith Yea she requires that men give their assent to the determinations of her head the Pope in matters of fact also where they are as competent to Judge as he and though with all their industry and using the same means they cannot find the fact to be as he determins yet they are oblig'd
the Gospel Luke 4. 18. And when he comes to ordain succession he says as my Father sent me so send I you And he breathed upon them and said Receive the Holy Ghost Joh. 20. 21. And after bids them tarry at Jerusalem 'till they should be endued with power from above Luk. 24. 47. That is endued with the Holy Spirit Act. 1. The present Barnabas and Saul were sent by his Commission in the Text and v. 4. And Saint Paul tells the Elders of the Churches of Asia the Holy Ghost made them overseers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 20. 28. Timothy had his Office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by immediate designation of the Holy Ghost 1 Tim. 4. 14. Clemens Rhomanus saith the Apostles out of those they had converted did ordain Bishops and Deacons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having first try'd them by the Holy Ghost and so taught by his revelation who should be the men And Clemens Alexandrinus says John after his return to Asia ordain'd throughout all the regions about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as were signified and design'd by the Holy Ghost So that Oeâ—â—menius pronounces in the general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishops that were made they made not inconsiderately on their own heads but such whom the Spirit did command Chrysostom said as much before and Theoplylact Nor can we doubt that he maintains his interest in this affair even at this day But that our Veni Creator Spiritus come Holy Ghost eternal God does call him to preside in these so concerning Solemnities For Christ when he commission'd his Apostles assuring them behold I am with you even to the end of the World which promise he performs only vicriâ Spiritûs prasentiâ by the presence of the Holy Ghost who is his Vicar as Tertullian expresses nor can the Spirit be with them till then but by making them be till then which being done by Ordination that Ecclesiastical procreation for so they derive themselves to the Worlds end upon the strength of that promise we may assure our selves he does assist as truly though not so visibly as when he said here separate The Ghost's concernment being thus secured I have this one thing only to suggest that they who set themselves against all separation to these Offices and Orders in and for which the Holy Ghost hath so appear'd what they be I dispute not now they â—ight against the Holy Ghost and thrust him out of that in which he hath almost signally interessed himself And they that do intitle the Spirit to this opposition do not onely make Gods Kingdom divided against it self or raise a faction in the Trinity and stir up division betwixt those Three One Persons but they set the same Person against himself and make the Holy Spirit resist the Holy Ghost You know the inference prest upon them that did this but interpretatively in the Devils Kingdom and did make Satan cast out Satan And is 't not here of force And they who make the Spirit cast out the Holy Ghost contrive as much as in them lies Gods Kingdom shall not stand I will not parallel the guilts Those Pharisees blasphemed the Holy Spirit in his Miracles ascribing that to Beelzebub which was the immediate work of the Holy Ghost and such indeed do sin unpardonably because they sin irrecoverably for Miracles being the utmost and most manifest express wherein the Holy Ghost exerts himself they who can harden their understandings against them have left themselves no means of conviction and cannot be forgiven because they cannot be rectified or reclaimed These others do blaspheme the Spirit in his immediate inspirations and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ascribing to the spirit of Antichrist all those Offices and Orders which these gifts of the Holy Ghost were power'd from Heaven immediately to qualifie for and separate to things in which he hath as signally appeared as in his Miracles and as he made these means to convince the World so he made those the Officers of doing it and set them to out last the other Now in the same nearness that these two guilts come up one towards the other just to the same degree these sin the sin against the Holy Ghost For the Holy Ghost said separate So I pass to the second to those whom this Injunction is directed to And thence I do observe in general that Notwithstanding all the interest and office that the Holy Ghost assumes in these same separations yet there is something left besides for Man to do Although he superintend they have a work in it He is the Vnction but it must be apply'd by laying on of hands I have call'd them saith he in the Text and yet to them that ministred the Holy Ghost said do ye separate I do not now examin what degree and order of men they were whom the Holy Ghost here commissions for this Office The Judgement of the Antient Church in this affair is enough known by the condemnation of Aerius and by the Fate of Ischyras and Colluthus and for the present instance in which they are call'd Doctors that are bid to do it there hath enough been said to prove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Title of a Bishop to which I shall only add that it was a variation of Name that stuck by them untill Bede's age in which what Bishops signified does come under no question for he does say that Austin call'd together to the Conference Episcopos sive Doctores the Bishops or the Doctors of the Province Besides that there was then in Antioch a Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the time of Claudius Emperour of Rome and of Euodius whom the Apostle Peter had ordain'd at Antioch those that before were call'd Nazarenes and Galileans were call'd Christians A thing which happen'd a little before this separation in the Text as you find Chap. 11. 26. But who they were that us'd to separate for every Execution of these holy Offices will appear from the Instances that I shall make to prove the present Observation that besides that of the Holy Ghost there was an outward call And whom soever the Spirit sent he commanded that they should have Commission from Men. And all my former Testimonies for the Holy Ghost bear witness for this too The Text is positive here was a Congè d'estire for Barnabas and Saul Timothy had his Office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be designation of the Spirit 1 Tim. 4. 14. yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with laying on of hands ibid. yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the laying on of my hands 2 Tim. 1. 6. And Timothy was plac'd at Ephesus as Titus also left at Creet to ordain others in the same manner St. Paul providing for the succession of the Rite and Ceremony as well as of the Office And in St. Clement's Testimony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit try'd but the Apostles constituted And down as low as