it hath neyther limits of place nor period of time The Hebrew word beareth both and so doth the Syriacke which Luke 1. is vsed in the same argument In the Hebrew Text the word Marbe hath contrary to the vsuall orthography Mem clausum for Mem apertum some impute it to the errour of the Scribes but the vniformity of all copies disproues that seeing it is not like that all should commit the same errour especially seeing they wrote not all out of one copy Whereupon the Diuines suppose that there is some mystery therein what the mystery is they are not agreed some would haue it to be but a circumstance a circumstance of the time when Christ should bee borne Mem vnderstood numerally signifieth 600. and about 600. yeares after this prophesie Christ was borne othersome not content with this circumstance seeke for a mystery in the substance of the description of Christ and here their iudgements vary also for some respect Christum naturalem and some Christum mysticum They that respect Christum naturalem suppose that the strangenesse of the character signifieth the strangenesse of Christs birth which was not to be after the ordinary course of man They that respect Christum mysticum obserue that the squarenesse of Mem pointeth out the foure quarters of the world and the closenesse of Mem the perpetuity of time for that you cannot see in the letter where it ends And if there bee any mysterie this is the likeliest for seeing this letter falleth out to be in those words wherein the Prophet speaketh de Christo mystico it is like the mysterie concerneth Christum mysticum and noteth the boundlesse increase thereof in place and time But to leaue this mysterie The phrase doth plainly obserue a difference between the Church in the Old Testament and the Church in the New that had bounds this hath none The bounds of the old Church were the limits of the holy Land which you may reade in Moses and in Iosuah the like difference is obserued in the old and in the new Ierusalem the old Ierusalem had wals but Zachary cap. 2. saith that the new should bee inhabited without wals And indeed here wee see the truth of the promise made to Abraham He is a Father of many Nations As in Sarahs name we saw the royalty of the King so in Abrahams the amplitude of the Kingdome We may likewise apply hereunto the story of Iacobs two sonnes Iuda a type of the King and Ioseph of the Kingdome his very name soundeth the increase thereof and Iacob describeth in his blessing this blessing of increaso But to come to the plaine cuidences In thy seed said God to Abraham shall all nations of the earth be blessed And Psalme 2. Aske of mee saith God to Christ and I will giue vnto thee all nations for thine inheritance and the vttermost parts of the earth for thy possession I omit the rest of the Prophets the Psalmes haue Texts enow All nations shall remember themselues and be turned to the Lord. reade Psalm 45.72.89 Come to the New Testament Many shall come from the East and from the west from the North and from the South saith Christ and shall sit downe with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdome of Heauen Matth. 8. 13. He maketh the whole world the field wherein God soweth his seed and speaking of the end of the world he giueth vs the meaning of that Parable saying That the Gospell must be preached to all nations But most excellent is that Acts 2. where when the holy Ghost descended it pleased God that there should be of all nations vnder heauen some that should hear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wonderfull workes of God euery one in his owne languagne So that the Gospel was preached to all nations before the Apostles stirred from Ierusalem And who can tell whether they were not harbingers vnto the Apostles to prepare a people for Christ against their comming thither The place also in the Reuelation cap. 7. is very cleare where after the sealing of those that were Israelites Iohn saw a multitude of all nations which none could number triumphing as members of this Kingdome Finally St. Paul compares the circuit of the Sunne of righteousnesse Rom. 10. vnto the circuit of our corporall Sunne both compasse the world no place is hid from the light or heat of eyther of them You see it hath no bounds of place neyther hath it any bounds of time As it is the largest Monarchie that euer was for none of these foure notable ones euer tooke vp halfe so much ground so is it the most lasting also Iesus Christ yesterday to day and the same for euer You haue it in the type of Dauid and Saul whereof the Kingdome of the one was temporall but of the other eternall as it is 2 Sam. 7. The Angel repeateth the same promise Luke 1. The Psalmes doe often vrge it Psalme 45.72.89 So doe the Prophets Esay especially they all concurre in this that the Kingdome shall haue no end Christs words are short but they are full The gates of hell shall neuer preuaile against it And behold here another excellent difference between mortall Kingdomes and this heauenly Mortall Kingdomes are not lasting and while they last they continue not vniform they haue their clymactericall years and commonly determine within certaine periods The Politicians write of it Bodin by name and he out of others and the Stories are cleare that it is so Iustin hath calculated the three first but Slèidan all foure and wee see their beginning and their ending And as they are not lasting so while they last they continue not vniforme The Planters of great states are commonly Heroicall men but the Prouerb is Heroum filij noxae The Parents were neuer so beneficiall as the children are mischieuous oppressing by tyrannie or wasting by vanity worldly peace breedeth plenty plenty breedeth luxury and luxurie breedeth warre wherewith commeth ruine This being the condition of mortall Kingdomes how blessed is this Kingdome that is boundlesse in place and time both for gouernment and for peace If a man would choose himselfe an habitation would he not pitch there where he might haue the most commerce and the safest harbour See then our vanity that for the most part wrong our selues herein and preferre the world before the Church desire to bee of that corporation rather than this where wee haue lesse scope and more trouble doe wee rather choose to make our abode than where the bounds are wider and the peace is neuer interrupted I say there is more scope in the Church than in the world not only more lasting peace because though there bee few that shall bee saued yet those few are all at one But of those that perish it is true Quot capita tot sensus there are as many factions almost as persons they iarre as much between themselues as they doe with the godly and in that respect the godly may be said
sight of the eye is the sight of the whole bodie but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in possession it was neuer Basil lib â— de Baptismo Aug de Ciuit Deiliâ— 20 cap. 10. Leo de anniuersaria assumptione Serm. 3. no more then the whole bodie could euer see Wee must not then confound the Hierarchicall and the Mysticall Priesthood no more then we may the externall and the internall Kingdome each must keepe within his bounds And as we must in our priuate be religious as Priests in seruing God so wee must not without a lawfull calling and a mans lawfull calling is not as Anabaptists dreame his owne conceited abilitie but a Mission and Commission from lawfull Superiours without such a Calling I say we may not intermeddle with Pastorall Functions Finally the publike Kings and Priests must neither of them abuse these titles neither of them must wrest this place The Romanists are carefull to remember Kings that they play not Priests they amplifie Vzziahs example that was stricken with Leprosie for being so presumptuous I would they did aswell remember Christs speech whose Vicar the Pope claymes to be Iohn 18.36 Luke 12.14 My kingdome is not of this world and that Man who made me a Iudge to diuide inheritances they would not so often being Priests vsurpe vpon the sword But let them take heed Christ told Saint Peter Math. 26.52 and they will find it one day true The Priest that medleth with the sword shall perish by the sword the Kings ouer whom the Pope hath long tyrannized shall one day worke his ruine And thus much of the Eminencie of the Churches state I come now to the Sanctitie of their persons Israel shall be an holy nation and indeed Kings who are Priests such as you haue heard described how can they chuse but bee Holy especially seeing the persons that communicate in those titles are the First-borne Exod. 13. for the First-borne by the Law were holy to the Lord. And what is the oyle wherewith they were anointed Exod 30. Cap. 2 Cap. 1 18. but oleum sanctitatis holy oyle what are their persons but Temples of the Holy Ghost Ieremie calleth them Gods first-fruits and Saint Iames telleth vs that all Christians are a kind of first-fruits to God 2 Cor. 11.2 Ephes 5 27. The Church is by the Apostle said to be a chast virgin without spot or wrinkle in the Reuelation the Spouse is clothed in fine white linnen Reuel 19 8. Esay 26. which is the righteousnesse of Saints in the Prophet she is called The land of righteousnesse finally in our Creed the holy Catholike Church â—sal 101. King Dauid required vertue in his seruants He that walketh in a perfect way he shall serue mee how much more God To whom the Psalmist speaketh thus Lord who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle who shall abide vpon thy holy hill God answereth Hee that leadeth an vncorrupt life c. But what is Holinesse Origen will teach vs the holinesse of a man must be conceiued as the holinesse of a beast a vessell a vestment now those things were separated from prophane vses and dedicated to sacred so must a man be first seperated from earth and earthly things he must not set his affections vpon them though he be in the world Col. 3.2 Iohn 17. yet hee must not be of the world hee must not loue the world nor the things in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life 1. Iohn 2.15 Ephes 5.11 he must haue no fellowship with the vnfruitfull workes of darknesse This is his separation the first branch of Holinesse The second is Dedication his life must be deuoted vnto God Christianitie is an imitation of the Diuine Nature a reducing of himselfe to the Image of God in which he was created 2. Pet. 1. Ephes 4. 1. Pet. 2. to righteousnesse and holines of truth a shewing forth of the vertues of him that hath called vs into his maruellous light If a man professe himselfe to be a Painter and take vpon him to make the picture of a King and mis-shape him doth hee not deserue iust blame yes surely for hee occasioneth strangers to thinke meanly of the Kings person because of his ill fauoured portraiture and shall a Christian escape punishment whose life is to be a visible representation of Christ if Infidels blaspheme Christ while they iudge of him according to his counterfeit hee shall not Wherefore faciamus de terra coelum faith Saint Chrysostome In Matth. 12. Tem. 2 p. 332. let vs represent Heauen in earth let vs so liue as that men may say that God is in vs of a truth Let our light so shine before men that they may see our good workes and glorisie our Father which is in Heauen Holinesse is the true characterizing qualitie of a Christian it distinguisheth betweene the faithfull Iust Martyr ad Diognâ—t p. â—97 〈◊〉 in Apolog. p. 61. and infidell they differ not in place in apparell in diet c. but in charitie in pietie in obedience in patience in euery Christian vertue whatsoeuer shew a man make if he want these vertues he is but like the Iuglers Ape which being attired like a reasonable creature and dancing curiously to his Masters instrument deceiued the people of Alexandria vntill one espying the fraud threw a few Dates vpon the Stage which the Ape no sooner espied but he tore all his vizard and fell to bis victuals to the scorne of his Master which gaue occasion to the Prouerbe An Ape is an Ape though hee bee clad neuer so gaily Nyssen applies it vnto men that call themselues Christians professe that they know God Tom. 2. de professione Christiana and that their hope is in Heauen but no sooner doth any vanitie come in their way but their heart doth betray where there treasure is but let them remember the Prouerbe It is a snare for a man to deuoure that which is holy Origen applies it to the sacriledge that a man committeth that vowed himselfe in Baptisme to the Lord and giueth himselfe vnto the World I conclude this point with Gods words in the Law Lenit 11.44 Math. 5 4â— Be yee holy for I am holy and with Christs words in the Gospell Bee yee perfect as your Father in Heauen is perfect sinne must not raigne in our mortall bodies because we are an holy Nation You see how the Good which God offereth to Israel is specified you must next heare how it is amplified that appeares in the words Eritis mihi As the Proprietarie is so doth the value of a thing rise hee addeth to the worth at least to the esteeme thereof though man only to the esteeme yet God also to the worth for hee can proportion the creatures worth answerable to his esteeme he whose glorie shineth in the heauens and handie worke in the firmament doth declare his glorie much more in the
sit hominem scire arbitror neminem nisi forter cui spiritus diuinitus estenderet Austin de Ciuit. Des lib. 2. cap 16. Non quareâ—dum vbi Gebennae ignis situs sit sed magis quo pacto enitari possit Chrysost Hom. do prâ—mys sanct â—om 1. pag 443. Cyril Alexanâ—in p. 710. and worse Historiographie haue deliuered a great deale of vngrounded stuffe concerning the nature and place of this sire but wee shall doe well to follow the sobrietie of the Fathers Greeke and Latin Touching Hell fire what kind it is of and where in what region of the earth I thinke no man can tell except hee to whom God will bee pleased to reueale it saith Austine and Chrysostome We must not be curious to know where is the place of Hell fire but studie rather how is auoid it Only let vs learne of Nazianzen that there is a double vse of fire for therewith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men are doomed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or they are purified We haue not now to doe with the purgatiue but with the correctiue vse of fire and seeing that fire is the symbol of plagning we must from our fire learne two properties of fire it searcheth most and spareth least it leaueth no part vnseized vpon and looke whereon it seizeth it afflicteth to the vttermost which Nabuchadnezer knew that chose that wherewith to torment the seruants of God yea God himselfe doth shew who therewith destroyed Sodome and Gomorra certainly in the Valley of Hinnom it was so dreadfull that the Holy Ghost was pleased to vse it as a symbole of the tortures of Hell which leaue no part of the tormented vnpained and paineth euery part extreamely Only when we looke vpon our fire wee must obserue two differences betweene that and the fire of Hell First Hell fire goeth farre beyond it in degree well may the torments be like they are not equall Secondly they are vnlike in durance for ours consumeth and is consumed but Hell fire neither wasteth his fuell nor is wasted it selfe both are euerlasting so that let ours afflict neuer so painfully Sie perit â—t possit saepe perâ—â—e Horaque erit tant is vltima nulla malâ—â— it cannot afflict long but hee that is in Hell fire endureth an euerliuing death The tree that growes in the field growes for fuell and it is no wonder to see it proue so but a heauie thing it is for a tree to to become fuell that grew to beare fruit But in this case the case of a barren fruit tree is worse then a tree of the field because a tree of the field may bee cut downe not for fuell but for building but fruit trees are not fit for building and nature hath made this their ineptnesse a priuiledge against the Axe when for the building of stately Palaces the trees of the field goe downe they stand and are not cut downe vntill they giue ouer-bearing fruit and then they are cut downe only for fuell for they are good for nothing else Ezechiel hath a whole Chapter of it wherein as in a glasse wee may behold the condition of a sinner If you put these parts of the Iudgement together you may easily perceiue that they amount to a totall a finall eradication It is totall for if a tree bee cut vp by the roots there is no hope of the branches because the branches haue no life but deriuatiue from the root cut a tree as close to the root as you will Iob will tell you there remayneth still hope of him but it is past hope when the root is dead As the Iudgement is totall so it is finall Chap. â—4 we neuer heard of the second grasting of a tree certainly not of these trees The Parable of the foolish Virgins sheweth that there is no getting in when the doores be shut and that there is no passage from Hell to Heauen Mâ—t. 25. Lâ—â—e 17. Abraham telleth the rich Glutton burning in those flames But of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reprobation of and Bill of Diuorce giuen to to the Iewes I spake enough when I spake of that which they were willed to flie which in former words of this Sermon is called wrath to come wherefore I forbeare to enlarge this point any farther only wishing vncurable Impenitents herein to behold what a feare full thing it is to sall into the hands of the liuing God You haue heard of the persons and the Iudgement that the one of them doth denounce against the other But the Iudgement is not onely threatned but threatned that it shall come vppon them speedily and ouertake them vniuersally the speed is intimated in the first word Now now is the Axe laid to the roote of the tree all the words are present Now is put Now is cut which carrie with them an Emphasis and hasten the repentance of the hearer Before it was calied Wrath to come least therefore they should put it farre from them as the wicked in Amos and the bad seruant in the Gospel and grow Atheisticall scoffers as some doe in Esay and others 2. Peter 3 he is instant wiih them and proposeth this Iudgement as imminent But this seemeth to be a Paradox Iohn was the Harbinger of Christ and with Christ began the Kingdome of grace and how doth he then make it the time of Iudgement so terrible a Iudgement We must therefore obserue that God neuer did any publike remarkable good to magnifie his mercie but he did withall shew the world some notable spectacle of his wrath therein to magnifie his Iustice when Noah was saued the world was drowned and fiue Cities burnt when Lot was deliuered how were the Egyptians destroyed when Israel was set free And when the Gentiles were receiued into the Church what a desolation did hee bring vpon the Iewes God will haue feare and hope still to liue in the hearts of the sonnes of men Adde hereunto that Christs comming is the last offer of Grace both to Iewes and Gentiles he that refuseth now shall neuer speed marke this point pressed by the Apostles both to the Iewes and to the Gentiles This is the reason why the Baptist Christ his Apostles beginne their Preaching with Repent Aâ—â— 13 Acts 14 17. this is as the greatest so the last manuring the tree that proueth not now must needs downe needs into the fire But is not God alwayes putting the Axe to the tree yea verily he maketh daily spectacles of them but to whole Nations he putteth not the Axe euery day hee forbeareth them vntill they haue filled vp the measure of their sinne But if they abuse his patience and long-suffering whereby hee laboureth to draw them to Repentance then they shall find that they haue treasured vnto themselues wrath against the day of wrath Rom 2 the Axe shall goe vnto the root But in this Iam there are two other remarkable things the one is noted by Saint Ambrose Hine disce quà m Philanthroâ—os
and giue the world a good testimonie that we are the subiects of the Prince of peace I will set God before mine eyes and I will try how mine eyes can behold God and if I finde that mine eye delights to behold him that his countenance puts gladnesse into my heart when I doe behold him I am sure we are at Peace For were wee not eyther I haue no eyes and doe not see him or when I doe I shall be confounded with the sight of him I will open mine eares and I will heare God in his Word and if when I heare him the Law of his mouth is sweeter vnto mee than hony and the hony combe I know we are at peace were we not I must needs be like Adam heare and fly And if in the dayes of my mortality I can attaine this Peace of Perfection I doubt not but in the dayes of my immortality I shall attaine vnto that higher peace the peace of Retribution all teares shall be wiped from mine eyes all sickenesse from my body all blindnesse from my vnderstanding all vntowardlinesse from my will This ciuill discord of the flesh and the spirit and that greater betweene my conscience and God how much more these lesser discords that are between me and other men shall fully cease and be abolished for euer the Prince of Peace shall consummate my peace And so haue you those two titles of Christ which shew that we must vnderstand spiritually those two former titles which you heard before doe royally belong vnto him I should now farther shew you that the Scripture giues Christ many names because one or few cannot fully expresse him or at least we cannot fully sound the depth of that name when it is giuen vnto him The name of Iesus is a rich name and so is the name of Christ the vsuall names by which our Sauiour was called but the riches of those names are vnfoulded vnto vs in these particular titles and wee must take these as Commentaries vpon those for as it is in the eleuenth of this Prophecie The spirit which rested vpon Christ was manifold how manifold the holy Ghost doth there describe in abstracto but here to like purpose he speaketh of Christ in concreto The time will not suffer me to parallel these and the like places this is our Rule That as our nature delights in variety so there is a variety in Christ to giue full content vnto our nature and wee must not lightly passe by any one of his titles seeing euery one of them promiseth so much good vnto vs. O Lord that being my Lord art pleased to be my Father such a Father as that I neede not feare that I shall euer be an Orphan and hast prouided me an inheritance that shal be as lasting as my selfe that when all other fayle mee shall bee enioyed by mee an inheritance most comfortable because therein consists my Perfection and thy Retribution the Retribution of glory wherewith thou dost crowne the Perfection of grace grant that I neuer want that piety which I owe vnto my Father that charity which I owe vnto my Brethren Let my heart goe where my best treasure is and let that peace which passeth all vnderstanding haue the vpper hand in me Let me feele it let me practise it so in heart that I may haue the fulnesse of both sense and practice of it in the Kingdome of Heauen Amen THE SIXTH SERMON Of the increase of his Gouernment and Peace there shall bee no end vpon the Throne of Dauid and vpon his Kingdome to order it and to establish it c. IN Christ whom the Prophet describeth here vnto vs I obserued a double excellencie one of his Person and another of his State The first I haue already handled I come now to the second the excellencie of the State Which stands in a boundlesse growth of the Kingdome and a constant policie of the King that is the effect wherof this is the cause But more particularly in the effect obserue that there is a growth the Prophet calleth it an increase a growth of the gouernment and a growth of the peace both partake of the same increase And the increase of both is boundlesse there is no end of it no bounds of place it ouerspreadeth all no bounds of time it endureth for euer the word beareth both Of this effect or boundlesse growth of the Kingdome the cause is the constant policie of the King Which consisteth in the exercise of his two roy all indowments of his wisedome Hee shall order and to order is nothing else but to employ that wisedome which Christ hath as a wonderfull Counsellour of his power He shall support and to support what is it but to employ his power the power that he hath as he is a mighty God hee employeth them both his wisedome his power But they may bee employed eyther well or ill according as the rule is by which they proceed Christ employeth them well his rule is good it is iudgement and iustice he cals all to an account and measures to all as they are found vpon their triall This is the policie And herein he is constant he continueth it without ceasing from henceforth euen for euer So that of the euerlasting effect there is an euerlasting cause You see what is the summe or substance of this second excellencie but that you may see it better let vs runne ouer the parts briefly and in their order And first we are to obserue how answerable the excellencie of the state is to the excellencie of the person one goeth not without the other Christus naturalis will haue Christum mysticum conformable vnto him the body to the head Where he vouchsafeth an vnion of persons he vouchsafeth a communion also in the dignity of the persons It appeares in the name he is called Christ which is annoynted with oyle of gladnesse and we are called Christians we partake of the same oyle His name is but an oyntment poured out as it is in the Canticles Cap. 1.3 poured out like that precious oyle vpon Aarons head which ranne downe to the skirts of his garment Cap. 60. All Christs garments and the Church in Esay is compared to a garment smell of Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia as it is Psalme 45. This is taught by diuers Similies Of the wiues communicating in her husbands honour and wealth The branches partaking of the fatnesse and sweetnesse of the roote The members deriuing of sense and motion from the head So that our King is not like the bramble that receiueth all good and yeelds none to the state but hee is like the Fig-tree the Vine the Oliue they that pertaine to him are all the better for him they are conformable to him if he haue an excellencie they shall haue one also A good patterne for mortall Kings and Gouernours who should herein imitate the King of Heauen that as when a man seeth an excellent work he ghesseth that the
his workes which we haue sauour of so great Mysteries for he was an Egyptian and from the Egyptian Priests had the Platonists their more than heathenish Theologie But when the tenne Tribes were carried into Assyria and after them the Iewes into Babylon this mysterie was spread much more by the dispersed of the twelue Tribes whereof there were some dwehing in all Nations vnder heauen as you may gather by comparing St. Lukes words Acts 2. with the entrance to the Epistles of St. Iames and 1 Peter It could not bee but that by these the world should haue some notice of a Messias to come especially after the Bible was translated into Greeke Surely the Sybils wrote so plainely hereof that not onely the Fathers alledge them against the Heathens to proue the comming of Christ but the Latine Poets also relate what they finde in them though they mis-apply it witnesse that Verse Iam noua progenies Coelo demittitur alto Yea they so misapplyed it Baron apparat ad Annal. that sundry did affect a Kingdome in the Common-weale of Rome onely working vpon the common opinion that was in the hearts of men that a great King about that time should be borne into the world Thus farre wee finde in histories that there was an indefinite report of a Messias to come whom the world therefore had an indefinite desire to see But this will not yet satisfie our Prophet and indeede his words are a prophecie rather of that which should be vpon the comming of Christ than a report of that which should be before And not he only but other Prophets testifie that Christ should bee no sooner reuealed vnto but hee should be receiued by the world that the Nations should flocke to him as if they had formerly longed for him The Nations I say in opposition to the Iewes Luke 1. Mat 8. not but that many of the Iewes did looke for him and entertaine him but few in comparison of the Gentiles themselues therefore he was rather the expectation of the Gentiles The Gentiles entertained what the Iewes refused as appeares Acts 13. Rom. 11. and it was foretold Deut. 32. Matth. 8. The propagation of the Gospell amongst the Gentiles was strangely sudden the Psalme compares it vnto the dew Psal 110. The fruit of thy wombe is like the morning dew Malachie to the rising of the Sunne And you know Cap. 60.49.11 that both of them as it were in an instant couer the face of the earth Esay's similies are of a Woman that is deliuered before she is in trauell and of the flocking of Doues vnto their house Zachary tels vs that they should come so fast that the City could not containe them Christ that the kingdome of heauen should suffer violence In Apol. Tertullian reckons vp the Nations which in his daies beleeued and shewes that Christianity had out-spread the Romane Empire Which was the more to be maruelled because the conquest was made by so meane men and that not ouer the bodies Iustin Martyr Dial. cum Tryphon but ouer the soules of them with whom they dealt They subdued the soules of the greatest Potentates and brought them vnder Christ and made the simple pesants that followed the plow to sing hymnes and psalmes vnto his praise And no maruell for the Apostles were inabled to speake to euery Nation in their owne language and their tongues were tipt with the fire of Heauen which suddenly illightned their vnderstandings to whom they preached and filled their hearts with a deuout zeale by this efficacie Christ became the desire of all Nations And vntill wee come thus farre we haue not the full meaning of our Prophet though I haue brought you hereto by many degrees all comprehended vnder common desire A common desire there could not bee except God had purposed that Christ should be a common good neyther could it be that this common good should take place except there were a propension thereunto in men And this propension is euident in the miserie of mans state without Christ more euident in the feeling that man hath thereof the euidence increased when men discouered but an indefinite hearkning after him but it is made compleate when they distinctly discerne him and their affections desire ardently to be partakers of him There is one point more which I may not omit and that is the strange construction of the words in my Text they are desiderium venient the desire they shall come a nowne singular and a verbe plurall There is a mysterie in it As the Articles of our Faith are beyond the strength of nature so doth the holy Ghost often times in vttering them vary from the prescript of Grammar rules I will shew it you in the two first Articles of our Creed The first is of the Trinity of Persons wherein there is an Vnitie of Nature to note this in the beginning of the Bible you haue a plurall nowne ioyned with a verbe singular Elohâ—m bara The second Article is this is Christs incarnation wherein though there bee but one Person yet are there two Natures and to note these two Natures in one Person doth the holy Ghost vse this phrase desiderium venient A significant phrase and puts vs in minde that eyther nature in Christ will not satisfie our desire if hee come only as God his maiestie will be too great for vs to endure if onely as man his infirmity will bee too weake for to relieue vs he that comes must bee both God and man Againe though the natures that come bee two yet is our desire but one because it apprehends them both in one person and it is the vnitie of the person whereupon our desire doth finally rest it selfe But I will conclude This Text doth checke our cold zeale and should make vs blush when we try our selues by it or by them that in the Primitiue times did iustifie the Truth of it their early flocking to pray and to heare their long perseuerance at it and often returnes to it shewed that they delighted to sit vnder the tree of life and that the fruit thereof was sweet vnto their soule they were euen loue-sick with the spouse and their thirstie soules did with King Dauids Cant. 2. Psal 42. like the chased hart breathe as it were and bray after the water brookes Euen in our Fathers daies vpon the reuiuing of Gods truth amongst vs some of this heauenly fire burned in the hearts of our people but it is long since quenched and our liues manifest the difference betweene factus Tertull. and natus Christianus when a man first becomes a Christian hee is at the best and then if euer his soule will poure out those passionate speeches In the way of thy iudgements O Lord haue I watted for thee Esay 26. the desire of my soule is to thy Name and the remembrance of thee with my soule haue I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me
to the testimonie vnto Israel to praise the name of the Lord. Neither was it onely sedes Religionis but Imperij also it was the Kings royall Chamber and there he kept his residence there were the Thrones of iudgement euen the Thrones of the house of Dauid as it followeth in the same Psalme By the way Out of that which you haue heard you may gather the reason why when the ten Tribes reuolted from the house of Dauid Beniamin and the Leuites continued stedfast to it Beniamin had a great interest in Ierusalem and the Leuites maintenance depended on the Temple whereunto their seruice was confined To goe on Fiftly you must obserue that though these two places onely are named yet the whole Kingdome is vnderstood for this was the mother Citie though the honour of the prerogatiues belonged vnto her yet from her was the benefit both of Pietie and Policie to be deriued vnto the whole land yea vnto the whole nation for in whatsoeuer Countrie an Israelite dwelt he was free of Ierusalem you may perceiue it by the answere made by the Reubenites â—shua 22. Gadites and halfe Pribe of Munasses when they were challenged for idolatrie because they erected an Altar vpon the bancke of Iordan before they passed ouer into their owne in heritance It is more cleare Acts 2. where we reade that there were Iewes dwelling at Ierusalem of all Nations vnder Heauen there are reckoned some of Africa some of Asia some of Europe And further to make good this assertion Philo Iudaeus in his embassie to Claudius the Emperour maketh this a motiue why he should be good vnto Ierusalem because in so doing he should preserue many nations amongst whom the Iewes liue dispersed Finally these places as it hath been by many Diuines obserued were seated in the midst not only of the holy land but also of the whole world the whole world I say that was then known Gent. 2. so that as the tree of life in the middest of Paradise so Ierusalem in the midst of the whole World might easily bee repaired vnto by those that did desire it and it had fit opportunitie to spread it selfe into the knowledge of all the world These things are to bee obserued in those places according to the Historie But all things came to the Iewes in types therefore wee may not thinke that King Dauid had an eye onely to the corporall places his eye pierced farther euen to that which was figured therein hee looked to the Kingdome of Christ And indeede the Church is in the Scripture called by these names I might referre you to the vision of Ezekiel which taketh vp the last eight Chapters wherein all agree that the Church is delineated or the vision of Saint Iohn in the last of his Reuelation wherein there is more perspicuitie but both of those places are darke I will point you out plainer one in Saint Peter 1. Pet. 2. Behold I put in Sion a chiefe corner stone c. hee alleageth the words out of Esay and sheweth it was a plaine prophesie of Christ and his Church Saint Paul affirmeth as much of Ierusalem Ierusalem saith he that is aboue Gal. 4. or from aboue is mother of vs all and in the Epistle to the Hebrewes both places are conioyned in this signification Chap. 12.22 You are come saith he to mount Sion to the Citie of the liuing God to the heauenly Ierusalem c. I will not trouble you with more places there are store in the Prophets I come to more profitable matter Ecce typum Ecclesiae behold the correspondencie that must bee betweene the Church and those places Those places were Hilly and had the valley of Gehinnon vnder them Chap. â—5 I cannot giue you a better Morall then is contained in that Prouerbe of Solomon The way of life is aboue to the wise that hee may depart from Hell beneath or if you will take that of Saint Paul Coloss 3.7 Set your affections on those things that are aboue not on those things that are below thoughts groneling vpon the earth bend towards Hell God will haue vs raise our thoughts and testifie that our treasure is in Heauen The second correspondencie is taken from Moriah where the Church is there is God to be seene Psal 76. In Inda is God knowne his name is great in Israel in Salem is his Tabernacle and his dwelling in Sion without the Chureh though God bee yet he is not by any gracious reuelation not by that transforming reuelation whereby God shining vnto vs in the face of Icsus Christ doth transforme vs into the same image both of Grace and Glorie 2. Cor. 3.18 The third correspondencie standeth in the Vnion wherevpon S. Austen and others obserue the incorporation of the Gentile into the Church of the Iewes it may bee Saint Paul meaneth as much when he speaketh of Christs taking downe the partition wall Ephes 2.14 for while Sion and Ierusalem were diuers Cities there was no open passage out of the one into the other as afterwards there was Cap 3. v. 6. howsoeuer to the Ephesians hee teacheth that they became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one body and partaked of the same prerogatiues I meane the Iewes and Gentiles The fourth correspondencie stands in the prerogatiues of this Citie for it was sedes Regni Religionis the Citie of God and of the King and what is the Church but Regnum and Sacerdotium Exod. 19. Reuel 5. first a Kingdome of Priests or a royall Priesthood The Church beareth a Kingly mind free from Coertion yet following the Direction of the Law whereunto accordeth that of Saint Paul Lex non est posita iusto 1. Tim. 1 9 Righteous men are not led with the spirit of bondage to doe things out of feare but they are led by the spirit of adoption they will doe well though they haue no Law And indeed this is a true Kingly mind But as our mind must be Kingly so must it be Priestly also all our seruices must be Sacrifices we must prefent them at Gods Altar and wee must offer them with the fire of heauen for therefore doth God separate his Church from the world that hee may deuote it vnto himselfe neither would God euer doe vs the honour to make vs Kings except he did expect honour from vs as we are his Priests The fifth correspondencie standeth in the extent of these prerogatiues though they were bestowed vpon Ierusalem yet they were to redound vnto the whole Land yea the Nation of the Israelites Act. 10. Saint Peter hath moralized this to our hand Of a trueth I perceiue that there is no respect of persons with God but in euerie nation whosoeuer feareth him and worketh righteousnesse is accepted of him wheresoeuer we liue we may bee of the Israel of God and partake the prerogatiues of the Heauenly Ierufalem The last correspondencie standeth in the situation Ierusalem was in the
my mouth if I preferre not Ierusalem before my chiefest ioy GOd grant vs all such a disposition so will our dayly prayer bee vnto God Doe well O Lord vnto Sion build thou the wals of Ierusalem PSAL. 51. VERSE 19. Then shall they be pleased with the Sacrifices of Righteousnesse with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings then shall they offer bullockes vpon thine Altar THe later of King Dauids Vowes that which hee made for his Kingdome doth present vnto vs a Desire and a Promise I haue opened the Desire I am now to open the Promise vnto you In vnfolding whereof I shall God willing shew you First What it containeth Secondly When it taketh place It containeth a double vndertaking of King Dauid Hee vndertaketh first for God vnto the Kingdome in these words Thou shalt be pleased with the Sacrifices of righteousnesse with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings Secondly he vndertaketh for the Kingdome vnto God in the words that follow They shall offer bullockes vpon thine Altar But more distinctly In King Dauids vndertaking for God obserue a Deuotion and the Acceptance thereof the Deuotion is noted by the name of Sacrifice And touching this Deuotion we are moreouer taught that it is solid and full solid as appeares by the qualitie for it is a Sacrifice of Righteousuesse and righteousuesse maketh Deuotion to bee solid As it is solid so it is full I gather that from the varietie for it consisteth of burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings and these two as anon you shall heare will make vp a full Deuotion If the Denotion be so solid so full it will find Acceptance with God it will find acceptance for it will please and he that is pleased is no other then God to him Dauid saith Thou shalt be pleased with the Sacrifice of righteousnesse In the second vndertaking the Kingdome is noted by this word They for it repeateth Sion and Ierusalem which were mentioned before That which for them Dauid vndertaketh is that they shall be verie thankefull vnto God verie thankfull for they shall offer Bullockes and they shall not misplace their thankfulnesse because they shall offer vpon Gods Altar But when shall all this bee The Text doth tell vs in this word Then Then shalt thou be pleased Then shall they offer When God hath fulfilled the Desire whereof you heard in the former verse Then shall follow the accomplishment of the Promise whereof you shall heare on this Dauid vndersaketh this for if you marke hee speaketh without all peraduenture he affirmeth considently Thou shalt bee pleased They shall offer Finally lay together the many parts of the Text and behold a blessed Accord betweene God and his Church God graceth the seruice of his Church and the Church acknowledgeth the bountie of her God a better accord we cannot wish And we may haue our part therein if we listen to that which shall be said as attentiuely as affectionately as I hope we will I am sure we ought Before we fall vpon the particulars we must take by the way this rule The Promise must be vnderstood sutably to the Desire that had a double sense a litterall and a spirituall and so must this haue also This rule must be carried through the particulars of my Text Whereof the first is Sacrifice A Ceremoniall word and importeth a Legall seruice whereof the most part was performed at the Altar either the brasen or the golden Altar But God was pleased to shadow a Morall in that Ceremoniall seruice as you may gather out of Ezekiels last Vision which is a Prophesie of the New Testament Saint Peter speaketh it plainely when he telleth vs that we must offer spirituall Sacrifice through Christ to God 1 Pec. â— 5 And indeed what is a Sacrifice but a visible prayer Neither is prayer ought else but an audible sacrifice Yea looke how many kinds of prayers there are so many kinds of Sacrifices was God pleased there should be Saint Paul reckoneth vp foure kinds of Prayers whereof the first 1 Tim. 2.1 is f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deprecation when the conscience of sinne maketh vs endeauour to pacifie Gods displeasure vnto this answered the Propitiatorie sacrifice The second kind of Prayer was z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Petition wherein man seeketh to God for supplie of his want vnto this answered the Votiue sacrifice Either of these Deprecation and Petition may be made for others as well as for our selues whereupon Prayer receiueth a third fashion and name which is called a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intercession whereunto there was an answerable Sacrifice as you may reade in the first and last of Iob where hee Sacrificeth for his Children and for his friends Finally when wee haue receiued that which we seeke at the hands of God by any of the three former kinds of Prayer then come we to him with a fourth and that is a c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thanksgiuing wherevnto did answere the Eucharisticall sacrifice Seeing then there is such a correspondencie betweene Morall deuotion and Legall sacrifices the one may very well note the other and I did not without cause tell you that Deuotion was meant by the name of sacrifice But touching this Deuotion we are moreouer taught first that it must be solid for it must be a sacrifice of righteousnesse And indeede it is righteousnesse that maketh our Deuotion solid But there is a double righteousnesse a righteousnesse of the Offerer and a righteousnesse of the Offering I will shew you both first in the Ceremoniall then in the Morall seruice First for the Offerer There was about Salomons Temple a Court which was called Prophane beyond which no vncircumcised or vncleane person might come neither of them were deemed worthie to come into the Court of Israel or offer at Gods Altar except he were first circumcised if a Gentile and if an Israelite defiled except he were first Ceremonially purified Whereby the Holy Ghost did giue vs to vnderstand Morally that neither Insidels nor vnrepentant Christians are fit to serue God their sacrifice wanteth that righteousnesse that must bee in the Offerer which is Faith and Repentance without which no man is worthie to come into his presence There is a second righteousnesse and that is of the offering In the Law God commanded that no vncleane beast should bee sacrificed vnto him Nuâ—â— 18 15. and in those that were allowed for sacrifice he endured no blemish either inherent or adherent 〈◊〉 3 6. they must not bee blind lame or diseased these were inherent blemishes neither must they bee ill gotten for God would not receiue the hire of an harlot Applie this Morally And then yee must obserue that all impure thoughts and lusts must be excluded from our Deuotion they are more abhominable then vncleane beasts a man may not begge of God that hee may speede in his adulterous his murderous his treacherous designes wee may begge nothing of God but that which
to the Legall Sacrifice God did testifie it to the corporall Sion and Ierusalem by fire from heauen which consumed the Sacrifice but vnto the spirituall Sion and Ierusalem 1. Chron 7. he doth testifie it by the sensible comfort which by his Spirit he doth infuse into their soules while they are Militant and hee will testifie it more plentifully by the light of his countenance which shall shine vpon them when in the Church Triumphant they shall stand before his Throne Marke here a Correction of that which was said before you heard that Sacrifices and burnt offerings were neither required nor accepted here you find the contrarie And yet not the contrarie for there they bee refused in Casu in a Case wherein no sacrifice was allowed and they be also refused opposite if the Morall be not ioyned with the Ceremonial but here wee haue no such case no such opposition God did accept them vnder the Law as exercises of faith and he will accept the truth of them for euer for that is most agreeable vnto his nature a spirituall seruice to God which is a Spirit And let this suffice for King Dauids first vndertaking I come now to the second his vndertaking for the Kingdome The Kingdome is vnderstood in this word they it referreth to Sion and Ierusalem mentioned in the former verse they that haue the benefit are they that shal make the acknowledgement Before it was Ego the King spake in his owne person I will shew forth thy praise I will teach the wicked c. Now it is Illi my Kingdome Priest and people both shall be as religions as my selfe And indeed the Kingdome as well as the King ought to be thankfull vnto God when God is good to both Dauid vndertaketh for his Kingdome that it shall be very thankfull for they shall offer Bullocks A Bullocke is a faire Embleme of a spirituall Sacrihce for it fignifieth an heyfer that is come to the age of beng fruitfull or it commeth of Parah and yet it hath not borne the yoake nor beene put to any drudgery And such should euery one bee that serueth God he should be fruitfull and not seruile abounding in good workes but not be the slaue of sinne There are two other things to be obserued in this word first it was the fairest of Offirings Secondly it was the fittest for the Offerers Amongst the Sacrifices the fairer were the Beasts and of the beasts the fairest was the Bullocke God commanded no Sacrifice thet was greater then that S. Paul out of Hosea doth moralize this Sacrifice Heb. 13. Hos 19. calling it the Calues of our lippes for by Calues are these Bullocks meant We may adde that seing Bullockes were the greatest of Sacrifices we must thinke that nothing we haue is too good for God and we must make our Offerings of the best The Bullocke was not onely the fairest Offering but the fittetst for these Offerers you shall read Leutt. 3. that whether it were the whole Congregation or the Priest that had offended either of them was to reconcile himselfe to God by the oblation of a Bullocke and seeing they are meant in this place such a Sacrifice doth best beseeme them but that the propitiatorie is turned into a gratulatorie But to whom shall they be thankfull surely to him that doth deserue it to God they shall offer vpon his Altar he that fulfilleth the Desire hath iuterest in the Promise they shall confesse that it is He that doth good to Sion that it is He that butldeth the wals of Ierusalem Secondly note that he saieth not that they will offer vnto him but vpon his Altar the Altar that was erected by his appointment For though it be true that where the Altar was there was God yet it followeth not that where God is there is his Altar God is pleased to confine not onely the substance but the circumstance of our seruice also Deut. 12.33 hee would not bee worshipped euery where The Ceremoniall Altar is gon but the Morall thereof abideth where Christ is thither must we bend our seruice he is the Altar that halloweth our Sacrifice on him and by him must we present it vnto God Againe the Altar doth note that it is not enough for vs priuately to recount Gods blessings we must divulge them publikely though the Heathen had their priuate Altars yet God had none but in a publike place therfore the setuice must needs be publike that is done vpon the Altar Adde the Bullocke and the Altar together and then you shall find that this was Operaria gratitudo the hand should testifie the thankfulnesse of the heart and the Kingdome would be thankfull not in word onely but indeed also And indeed God doth good to Sion and buildeth vp the wals of Ierusalem that they may offer him such Sacrifice To conclude this poynt as Dauid in his owne Vow made Gods praise the vpshot of his promise so doth hee in the Vow of the People And indeed the Church must not desire prosperity otherwise then that God may haue the glory of it God made all things for himselfe and we must subordinate all things vnto him otherwise we substitute the Creature in stead of the Creator and cannot excuse our selues from Idolatry from which Dauid doth free his Kingdome in saying They shall offer at Gods Altar You haue heard of Gods acceptance and the Kingdomes thankfulnesse that these things shall bee performed Dauid vndertakâ—th for both he vndertaketh to each of them for the other for marke how resolutely he speaketh Thou shalt be pleased They shall offer Vox fidei fiduciae hee beleeueth it assuredly and therefore doth confidently affirme it Neither can their be any doubt but if our seruice be the sacrifice of righteousnesse God will accept it for he will neuer refuse what himselfe commanded And it can as little be doubted that the Kingdome will bee thankfull if God doe it that good for it is a speciall effect of Grace to make vs so thankfull so that we may not doubt of either I haue sufficiently opened the Promise vnto you one thing remaineth the circumstance of time when this Promise shall take place it is exprest in this word Then which is set before either of the vndertakings Then shalt thou be pleased Theu shall they offer c. except God fulfill the Desire there is no hope of the Promise but the performance of the Promise will not be farre behind if the Desire bee fulfilled Touching the Ceremonie wee find it in the Dedication of the Temple when many thousands of Bullocks were offered 1. King 8. and God appearing vnto Solomon told him how well he was pleased therewith And touching the morall though in figuratiue termes yet it is fairely set downe Ezek. 20. and Malac 3. you haue it in a short sentence Psal 110. The people shall be willing in the day of thy power Math. 18.20 and the beauties of holinesse And Christ is as briefe
then they would put it off and say it was but his priuate conceipt The like Stratagem doth the Church of Rome vse they publish their opinions by single men whom we haue refuted they tell vs they are not bound no not to the writings of Bellarmine himselfe As for the Pope he is carefull to resolue few doubts out of his Chaire And so they prouide that they will not be refuted no not when they are refuted But Chrysostome giueth them a good Item Leuis est consolatio si quis in seipso confusus est quod ab alijs ignoratur it is but a cold comfort for a man to set a good face vpon a businesse when the conscience is sensible of its owne confusion Although the Person were but one yet was he no ordinary one hee is set forth here two wayes first as very great in shew great for his learning for he was a Lawyer S. Marke calleth him a Scribe And here I must open one Antiquity more If we looke into the originall of the Iewes Religion which is Moses Law we shall find that God committed the teaching of his people vnto the Priests and Leuites Whereupon is grounded that saying of Mâ—lachi The Priests lips should preserue knowledge Chap. 2.7 and the people should aske the Law at his mouth And to that end were the Priests and Leuites not onely to minister in the Temple and teach in the Synagogues but to be of Councell also in the Synedrion at Ierusalem and in the inferiour Senates throughout the whole holy Land But when corruption had ouer-flowen the Church of the Iewes and the Priests and Leuites had degenerated then started vp certaine vsurpers that tooke vpon them the doctrinall part of their function Of whom Christ speaketh in the Gospell The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses Chaire Matt. 23. Which two seemed to differ as Genebrard thinketh no otherwise then the Canonists and the Schoolemen in the Church of Rome Or to speake more properly to the Iewish aniquities the Scribe was a Textuarie and the Pharisee a Traditionarie Diuine Vnderstand me not exclusiuely for the Pharisee did allow the Text and the Scribe the Traditions but it should seeme they were not both alike studied in or zealous for them both Neither must you thinke that all Scribes were Vsurpers for if they were of the Tribe of Leuie as was Esdras their calling was lawfull But they did vsurpe Moses chaire if they were of any other tribe Much like vnto the orders of Fryers which started vp in the night as it were of Christendome and taking aduantage of the ignorance of ordinarie Pastors encroach't vpon their function and ingrost all Deuotion into their hands When you heare this questionist called a Lawyer you must vnderstand that he was by degree a Rabbin or a Doctor of the Law For there were Nouices which were brought vp at the Doctors feete as Paul at the feete of Gamaliel Yea they had Lay-followers as the Friers haue lay Dominicans lay Franciscans and lay Iesuites who hold it no small ghostly comfort to weare the badge of any of those Fraternities and to be partakers of their merits And the Fraternities doe gladly imbrace such followers they thriue not a little by their Almes and their countenance But such followers are called Disciples they haue not the honour to bee called Rabbins neither come they vnder the name of Lawyers or Scribes Whereupon it followeth that this man was great for his learning But this greatnesse was onely in shew for though they were accounted Doctors by their Nouices yet were they but ill seene in Gods Law Legis verba tenent hi Scribae saith Saint Ambrose vim ignorant they were readie at the Text but altogether ignorant of the sense like Anabaptists and Brownists Christ obserueth two notable defects in them the one was that they did reatch the Ceremoniall Law too farre and the other that they did shrincke the Morall Law too much So that their Key of knowledge did open the Kingdome of Heauen neither to themselues nor others Wherupon Saint Paul doth not without cause moue the question Where is the wise Where is the Scribe 1. Cor. â— Where is the Disputer of this world So wee may conclude of this Scribe that hee was great for learning but that greatnesse was onely in shew He was not great onely for learning hee was great for holinesse also for he was a Pharisee and Pharisees were Saints among the Iewes For they did supererogate liued not onely according to the written Law but according to the traditions also Whatsoeuer did concerne solemne prayers or religious worship was learned from them and they were a Law vnto the people Auiâ—â—â—â— 18 cap. 2. lib 17. cap. 13. â—â—de â—eâ—â— Iudâ—â—â—â— lib. 2 cap. cap 7. Flauius Iosephus saith that they had gotten such Authority by their holinesse that though they did oppose King or Priest yet the people would giue credit to them I wil not trouble you with particularizing their superstitions they were as apish as the Friars are And they were as great busie bodies as either the Iesuits or our precisians are But all this holinesse was but in shew if the things themselues did not speake it our Sauiour Christ in the Gospel doth paint out the vanity thereof Saint Paul after hee had beene a Pharisee and was become a Christian telleth vs that he accounted all his Pharisaisme was no better then losse and dung Phil 3. Heres 16. Epiphanius passeth a very true censure vpon it when he telleth vs that it was spontanea superflua Religio nothing but a packe of will-worship and that which setteth a man neuer a whit forward towards Heauen nay it set them backward rather Christ giueth the reason they made the commandements of God of none effect by their Traditions Mat. 15.6 or at least they leauened them So that when I say he was a great man whom they made their Champion I meane great in their eyes but not indeed or in Christs eyes What he was indeed and what he appeared to Christ is intimated by that which followeth he came with a sword in his heart hee was a Tempter what is that but a Diuell It is one of the Titles which Saint Paul giueth vnto him and all Tempters doe resemble him Tempters in that sense which is here meant for God is said to tempt not as ignorant of vs but to make vs to know and shew our selues and not with any ill meaning towards vs but intending our good But diuelish Temptation proceeds either from Infidelitie when it is bent against God and sheweth that wee doe not beleeue that which wee ought to acknowledge in God namely his Wisedome his Power his Holinesse c. so the Iewes are said to haue tempted God in the Wildernesse or else it proceeds from malice when it is bent againstman and seeketh some aduantage to worke his destruction The temptatation that in my Text is bent against Christ is
the pitie there are but few that answere it but let vs take heed this is our danger hee that is not a King in grace shall neuer bee a King in glorie You see the first aduancement of the Churches state which is to bee Kings The second aduancement is to be Priests and a Priest was he that offered sacrifice and euerie member of the Church must offer hee must offer at both the Altars At the Altar of Incense Prayers and Prayser Prayers Psal 141. Dauid prayeth that his Prayers may come vnto God as the Incense Prayses Psal 50. we are willed to sacrifice praises And as they must offer at the Altar of Incense so must they at the Atar of Burnt offerings also Psal 51. a sinner repenting becommeth a Priest because a broken and contrite heart is the sacrifice of God such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacrificing of mans owne selfe is a speciall act of Christian Priest-hood And so is in generall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well doing Heb. 13. Cap. 12. Be not wearie saith Saint Paul of well doing for with such sacrifices God is well pleased and he exhorteth the Romanes to offer vp their bodies a liuing sacrifice holy and acceptable vnto God which is their reasonable seruice of him A Priest saith Origen is mens Deodicata and he is called a Leuite which doth continually attend God In Leuit. 25. and minister to his will in this sense Esay saith of the Church you shall be called the Priests of the Lord and they shall say vnto you the Ministers of God This second title of honor putteth vs in mind religiously to serue God for it is a plaine contradiction for a man to be a Priest and not to attend the Altar he that neuer prayeth vnto God neuer praiseth him for his benefits hee that neuer repenteth of his sinne nor crucifieth his sinfull flesh he that doth not exercise himselfe in good workes doth really renounce the Christian Priest-hood And here by the way let me obserue vnto you how senselesly they cast durt into their owne faces that vilifie Gods Ministers in the name of Priests forgetting that it is one of the honourable titles which themselues are vouchsafed of God and it is their dignitie in Gods word to be stiled Priests But happily they would be such Kings as are no Priests absolute in themselues and acknowledge no superiour which was the head-long pride of Angels and of Adam Put this title of Priest to that of King and then you shall find that this doth temper that for it teacheth that our Eminencie is subordinate for a King is he that hath inferiours a Priest is he that hath a superiour for a Priest doth honour those aboue him as a King is honoured by those that are below him the name of a King must not make vs thinke so highly of our selues but the name of a Priest must teach vs to bee humble we must so carrie our selues Masters of our selues as that in all things wee be the dutifull sernants of God Well then Kings we are and Priests but how in Christ The name of Christ is as much as anointed and Christ was anointed to bee the the King of glorie and a Priest after the order of Melchisedecke and we in Baptisme put on Christ we are grafted into him Aug de Ciuit. Dei lib. 10 c 10. and so become Christians partakers of his vnction and if of his vnction then of his Kingdome and Priestood Whosoeuer therefore doth seperate himselfe from Christ doth withall depriue himselfe of his Royaltie and his Priesthood for we are not Kings nor Priests but in him and by him who is the soueraigne both Priest and King so Saint Iohn teacheth in the first yea all the Saints professe in the fift of the Reuelation You haue heard hitherto much of a King and a Priest but these titles must not be misconstrued they fauour not the rebellion of Corah Numb 10. Dathan and Abiram nor Anabaptisticall anarchie not the wrest of those words in Daniel The Kingdome shall be giuen to the Saints Cap 7. as all are Kings so are all Priests and as all are Priests so are all Kings all are both spiritually without preiudice to Ciuill or Ecclesiasticall gouernment The case is cleere both in the Old and New Testament Deut. 33.5 for notwithstanding this promise Moses continued a King so hee is termed in Israel and Aaron with the Leuites did minister in the Tabernacle and the rebels against both were fearefully swallowed vp by the earth that cleft vnder them And though the Apostles giue vnto Christians the same honourable title that God by Moses giueth to Israel yet doe they require them to be subiect to higher Powers Rom. 13. Heb 13. and obey them that watch for their soules and threaten vengeance and damnation to such as are disobedient Wherefore that we be not carried away with the errour of the sonnes of Belial let vs obserue First touching our Roialtie that regnum Dei est intra nos the kingdome here spoken of is a kingdome within vs and Rex est qui se regit the King in this kingdome is he which ruleth himselfe well the sphere of this soueraigntie extendeth not farther then a mans owne person wee may not confound it with the kingdomes of this world with those Powers that are ordaind of God for the peace and benefit of Church and Common-weale if we doe we doe misconstrue Gods words and are vsurpers of the Ciuill Sword So likewise must we conceiue of the Priesthood for there is Sacerdos in persona sua a Priest that acteth only his owne person and there is Sacerdos in persona aliena a Priest that doth act the person of another Lay men are Priests if they bee Christian men but they act no bodies person but their owne they performe no other sacred duties but such as euery man doth owe to God the Cleargie they are Priests but they are so in persona aliena they represent the persons of others you may perceiue it in their forme of speeches they speake in the plurall number We beseech thee O Lord Wee praise thee O God c. and all the people saith thereunto Amen confessing in that word that the Minister is but their mouth not that hee deriueth his power from them as if they had it habitually and communicated it actually to him for neuer can it be proued that Holy Orders were at any time in the multitude it hath euer beene either Natiue or Donatiue still by the appointment of God who made it Natiue only to the first-borne at first and then to the seed of Aaron and after their Priesthood determined it became Donatiue Christ gaue it to his Apostles and by his Apostles tooke order to continue a succession but so as to deriue the power of Holy Orders still from them that were in Holy Orders so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in vse it was euer the whole Churches as the
promise Let vs come then to it The first Obseruation that I made vpon the reference of If and Then was this We may not exspect what God doth offer except we performe what God requires In conceiuing the mysterie of our Redemption we must obserue a double method of God the one according to which he resolu'd on it the other according to which he was pleased to communicate it If you looke vnto the first method that was first in Gods intention which was last in his execution he resolued first vpon the End to manifest his Mercie and Iustice in sauing a certaine number out of the Masse of perdition and leauing others to perish therein through their owne default and he made choice of and proportioned such meanes as in his wisedome might seeme fitest to compasse this End If we denie this we make Gods prouidence more indiscreete then is vsually that of well aduised men for in all their deliberations they begin at the end and according to the rule of wisedome Finis praescribit speciem mensuram mediorum they dispose all things answerable thereunto But as when men haue done their deliberations and giue order for their worke they prescribe first the meanes in their order and by those meanes will haue such as they imploy to compasse those Ends euen so doth God setting men in time on the way to their saluation wherevpon he was eternally resolued lead them first to the meanes without which it is not his pleasure they should euer come vnto their happie End These two methods must not be confounded the method of publishing the Gospell with the method of Gods making the first Decree thereof The Decree of sauing men did not runne the same way with the Decree of bringing men to saluation I would not obserue this darke point vnto you but that our English Anabaptists are become plaine Arminians as their Pamphlets shew which they scatter abroad to corrupt the people The ground of the errour of both as the learned may perceiue in ripping vp their discourses is the confounding of these different Decrees and Methods when they studie the mysterie of our saluation But let vs come to plaine matter God from the beginning though he were Lord of all and might at his pleasure giue Law to any yet hath he proceeded with his reasonable creatures by way of Couenant now a Couenant consisteth of mutuall stipulation or promise Gods to Vs and ours to God so runneth the Law Hoc fac viues to doe Gods will was to be our promise and Gods promise was to giue vs life so runneth the the Gospell Crede saluus eris we must yeeld Faith vnto God and God will bestow saluation vpon vs It is the first thing children learne in their Catechisme as they are taught that by Baptisme they are made children of God members of Christ and heires of the Kingdome of heauen so likewise are they taught that by their suerties they haue vowed to renounce the diuell and all his workes the pompe and vanities of this wicked world to beleeue the Articles of the Creed and keepe Gods holy Commandements There is then a mutuall conditioning betweene God and man man with God so Iacob Genes 28. which is generally to be obserued in all votiue Prayers God with man here and elswhere Deut. 28. And yet we may not mistake for there is great odds betweene these Conditionings for when God conditioneth with man hee asketh nothing but what was due to him before all the obedience wee can performe is due by our natiue allegeance the allegeance which a Creature oweth to his Creatour but we in our conditioning with God may not desire ought of God which he hath not first promised for no Creature may carue to himselfe hee must be contented with that which God will vouchsafe him and whatsoeuer he offers vnto vs is such as whereunto we haue otherwise no right Adde hereunto that we may bee sure of God that what he offers he will performe for with God there is no variablenesse nor shadow of change Scio cui crediderim Iam. 1. But he cannot bee so sure of vs Omnis homo mendax we neuer abide stedfast in our Couenant But Gods conditioning with vs I must open vnto you a little more fully Know then that though what God requires wee must performe yet performe it out of our owne strength we cannot originall sinne hath dâ—â—inabled vs and by adding actuall vnto it wee are made lesse able though in regard of their natural gifts there is inequalitie betweene men yet a bono caelesti omnes aequè auersi nisi discriminet gratia God requires that we should heare his voice 1 Cor. 2.14 beleeue in him but a naturall man cannot perceiue the things of God yea hee will winke with his eyes and stop his eares least â—ee should see and heare returne and bee saued God requires that we keepe his Couenant 〈◊〉 8. but the wisedome of the flesh is enmitie against God it is not it cannot be subiect to his Law Yea so impotently are we giuen to spirituall fornication that though God graciously wooe Vs yet gracelesly we reiect him Thereis no remedie then but the condition which God requires on our part must remaine vnperformed except he giue vs grace wherewith to performe it he must giue vs supernaturall power to performe this supernaturall worke 1. Cor 47 Quis te discernit Quid habes quod non accepisti He biddeth vs heare his voice beleeue in him whereas faith is his gift he must purifie our hearts by faith He biddeth vs keepe his Couenant and loue him but Charitie is a fruit of the Spirit Acts 1â— and this fire must be kindled from heauen God must circumcise our hearts and make vs keepe his lawes Dat non tantum nouas reuelationes sâ—d bonas voluntates for no man can come to the Sonne except the Father draw him Ex nolente faciens volentem as saith Saint Austin But if God giue that which we must giue to God how is the worke ours Surely thus though God giue the abilitie yet hee will haue vs make vse of it vse the eye of faith which he doth illighten and so obey his voice vse the Charitie wherewith he doth seasen our hearts and set our affections vpon him let it be our chiefest care to hold fast vnto him if we doe so we shall be reputed performers of the condition for grace doth not take away the libertie of our will though it giues new qualities working vpon it not onely Physically but morally also Yet here againe remember that we need a second grace that we may make vse of the first for our vnderstanding though enlightned may bee circumuented with Sophistrie and our will may bee transported with vanitie euen after God hath sanctified it though otherwise the Will doth tend naturally to good when it is sanctified as the vnderstanding to truth It is cleare in Adam and Eues case
commeth from Edom and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Thankesgiuing in the Reuelation But I draw to an end The conclusion of all my Text is this If at any time wee bee distressed and not relieued the fault is not in God it is in vs for our Deuotion is tired ouer-soone wee are all modicae fidei men of little faith and though the spirit be willing yet the flesh is weake and the weaknesse of the flesh preuaileth more then the willingnesse of the Spirit Wherefore we must all pray vnto God to giue vs the Spirit of Grace and Prayer ANd Lord we beseech thee helpe our vnbeliefe and increase our faith yea Lord pray thou that our faith faile not and the more thou doest exercise our patience the more earnest let vs be for thy deliuerance deliuerance from our corporall deliuerance from our spirituall foes that well ouercomming our Militancie here on earth we may bee Triumphant with the Saints in Heauen where wee shall turne our Prayers into Prayses and sing day and night honour prayse strength and power bee vnto him that sitteth vpon the Throne and to the Lambe for euermore AMEN SVNDRIE SERMONS DE TEMPORE PREACHED VPON SEVErall Occasions by the Right Reuerend Father in God ARTHVR LAKE D. of Diuinitie Lord Bishop of Bathe and Welles LONDON Printed by R. Young for N. BVTTER 1629. יהוה EIGHT SERMONS ON THE NINTH CHAPTER Of the Prophecie of ISAIAH ISAIAH 9. VERS 6 7. For vnto vs a Childe is borne vnto vs a Sonne is giuen and the gouernment shall be vpon his shoulders and his Name shall bee called The wonderfull Counsellour The mighty God The euerlasting Father The Prince of Peace Of the increase of his Gouernment and Peace there shall bee no end vpon the Throne of Dauid and vpon his Kingdome to order it and to establish it with Iudgement and Iustice from henceforth euen for euer The zeale of the Lord of Hosts shall performe this THis is the first Lesson appointed for this Morning Prayer and appointed fitly For the Argument well fits the Time We are now met to praise God for the Morning of the Church Zacharie Luke 1. doth so call the Birth of Christ saying The day spring that is the Morning from on high hath visited vs Yea Christ himselfe Reuel the last vers 16 doth call himselfe The bright Morning starre And verily his Birth was the most blessed Morning that euer the Church saw whether you respect the Night that went before or the Day that followed after it was the blessedest Morning that euer the Church saw The Night was long and darke a Night of want of warre so wee reade in the last of the former and the first verse of this chapter But the Day that followed was a cleare and lasting Day a Day of haruest a triumph Day so we are taught in the foure verses that goe immediately before my Text. A great alteration Who could worke it who could turne that night into this day what Sunne shone forth in so great strength In such a case man was like to moue such a doubt therefore the holy Ghost hath resolued it and his resolution of that doubt is my Text. Loe here is one that can vndertake that work who he is How excellent he is we are taught here and that in regard of his Person and of his State For of his Person here are the Natures wherein it subsisteth here is the People to whom it belongs It subsists in two Natures 1. The Nature of Man Hee is a Childe 2. The Nature of God Hee is the Sonne The Person subsisting in these two Natures belongeth vnto whom To Vs was hee borne he was giuen to Vs saith the Prophet Esay and Esay was a Iew. Christ then belongeth to the Iewes though the Iewes must not bee vnderstood according to the flesh but the spirit To these Iewes was he vouchsafed by taking and giuing Natus he tooke his nature from them and Datus what he tooke he with aduantage bestowed vpon them But of what degree was he amongst them here commeth in his State He was a King The Gouernment shall be vpon his shoulders The Gouernement that was Royall for verse 7. it is called The Throne The Kingdome of Dauid He shall sit vpon that and that is the Gouernment that shall bee layd vpon his shoulders And happy are the People that haue such a King You will confesse it if you consider his Excellencie The Excellencie both of his Person and of his State Of his Person that appeares in his endowments Of his State that appeares in his managing thereof The Endowments of his Person are Royall Reade his Titles He shall bee called and what he is called that he certainely is Hee shall be called by those names that expresse such vertues as most beseeme a King our King For a King ouer and aboue the Vertues which are common to him with his Subiects must haue more than ordinary Wisedome and Power And see this King is called for his Wisedome The wonderfull Counsellour for his Power The mighty God But mistake not his Kingdome it is not of this World He that is our King is The Father of Eternity that is Of the World to come And as his Kingdome is not of this World so is not the condition of his People worldly it is Peace and Peace is not the portion of this world but of that which is to come Our King is the Prince of this Peace You see how the Person is endowed and thereby how excellent the Person is There is an Excellencie in his State also it appeares in the Effect in the Cause The Effect for of this Kingdome there are no bounds and the felicitie of the Subiects is also boundlesse so saith the Text Of the increase of his Gouernment and Peace there shall be no end Such an Effect must haue an answerable Cause it hath Iustice and Iudgement are the Pollicie of this State with these as a wonderfull Counsellour he doth order as a mighty God he doth support his State And he doth it vncessantly From henceforth and for euer As the Effect so the Cause this is eternall therefore that These Truthes concerning Christs Person and State are not onely affirmed in the body of the Text but also assured in the close thereof Much you haue heard and yet no more than shall bee He that hath promised can doe it such is his Power Hee is the Lord of Hosts Nay hee cannot but doe it such is his Loue for his Loue is Zeale So concludes the Prophet The zeale of the Lord of Hosts shall performe this You haue heard the summe of this whole Text and therein see a most exquisite picture of our Sauiour Christ certainely it is the fullest the liueliest that euer the holy Ghost in so few words exprest in any part of the Old Testament For here Christ is not only drawne from top to toe but drawn also with those varieties that befell him from eternity to eternitie
they be Natiue and not Electiue they must needs haue a most free absolute Power And such Christs is Natus Rex it is the expresse letter of my Text And the Wisemen that came to present him Matth. 2. asked for him that was borne King of the Iewes Nay Christ himselfe when Pilate asked him whether he were a King replyed for this cause was I borne And Pilate set vp this stile ouer his Crosse Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes which he would not alter though he were much importuned by the Scribes and Pharisees The places of the Prophets are very cleare Esay 32. Ier. 23. but specially Dan. 7. all of them beare witnesse to the Kingdome of Christ So that wee must acknowledge in Christ a Kingly power such a Power as none must dare to dispute the verity of his Word as curious and scoffing Atheists and Epicures doe or resist his Authority as proud Pharaohs and Senacheribs Christ can brooke neyther But as Christ is called a King so here is an addition vnto his Title his Throne and Kingdome are termed the Throne and Kingdome of Dauid And indeed Christs Pedegree is by St. Matthew and St. Luke fetched from King Dauid Himselfe calleth himselfe in the Reuelation The roote and generation of Dauid The Apostle telleth vs that be was of the seed of Dauid according to the flesh And how often in the Gospell is he called The Sonne of Dauid In the Prophets euen Dauid himselfe sometimes and sometimes The branch of Dauid Finally the Angell in the first of Luke telleth the Virgin Mary That Christ shall sit vpon the Throne of his Father Dauid But how can that bee seeing that which Dauid had Christ had not and what Dauid had not Christ had Christ had not the Temporall state of Dauid that was fallen into the hands of Herod the great and the Spirituall state of Christ Dauid had not His Kingdome was Temporall How then could Christ be said to sit vpon his Kingdome Although it were granted that by succession Christ was the right heire to the Crowne of Israel yet seeing the Scepter was departed and the Law-giuer gone the Tabernacle of Dauid was downe we cannot finde a Truth of these words we cannot if wee vnderstand them literally but if mystically wee may And St. Pauls rule is our guide All things yea and persons too if they were eminent came to the Israelites in Types 1 Cor. 10. they had shadowes of good things to come St. Bernards rule is true This Throne of Dauid which Christ sate on was not sedes Typica but Vera not Corporalis but Spiritualis not Temporalis but Aeterna yet so that Illa was huius Imago the Temporall of the Eternall the Corporall of the Spirituall the Typicall of the true Throne Dauids state of the state of the Church And indeed there is an excellent Analogie betweene the Person of Dauid and Christ as both were Kings Dauid was anointed to be a King long before hee was possessed of his Kingdome and so was our Sauiour Christ anointed with the holy Ghost long before he entred into his Glory For though he did many acts of a Gouernour Propheticall and Priestly yet few Regall acts before his Resurrection and those which hee did hee did them rather with the efficacie than in the Maiestie of a King for his outward Man represented nothing lesse But after his Resurrection and Ascension Efficacie and Maiestie conioyned and he sate him downe at the right hand of God and now doth he gouerne in the glory of his Father Secondly as there was a distance betweene Dauids Vnction too and Possession of the Crowne so was that a troublesome time few quiet dayes had he being persecuted both abroad and at home by Saul by his Seruants Euen so our Sauiour Christ entred not into his glory but by many afflictions all kinde of Enemies pursue him with all kinde of malice so that his life was a continuall Crosse And as Dauid so Christ the nearer he drew to his Crowne the sharper was his Crosse Thirdly as King Dauid first possessed only the Tribe of Iuda and after some yeares the ten Tribes euen so our Sauiour Christ at first possessed only the Iewes and after some time inlarged his Church vnto the Gentiles Fourthly Dauid being possessed of his Kingdome spent many years in repressing the Foes of his Kingdome Philistines Amonites Syrians c. and at length fate downe in peace and ruled with Iustice and Iudgement in much Prosperity euen so our Sauiour Christ though ascended into Heauen and reigning there yet shall he be vntill the generall Resurrection subduing his Enemies vnder his feete and freeing his Church from troubles and calamities when that is done then shall he rule and reigne with his Church in much peace and ioy These and such like Analogies are obseruable in comparing of Christ and Dauid which are the cause why the Kingdome of Christ is called The Kingdome of Dauid But yet in the letter of the storie which is the ground of this comparison you shall finde many Hyperboles reade the 89. Psalme the 72. Psalm the 132. to say nothing of diuers places of the Prophets which seeme to exceede the truth if they be applyed to King Dauid whereby the holy Ghost giueth vs to vnderstand that they must bee applyed to a greater than Dauid And indeed the phrases that are in these reall Allegories or Types must be vnderstood of the Corporall part but Quodammodo in a measure answerable vnto them the fulnesse of their truth appeares in the Spirituall And some Diuines obserue Ezâ—k 21.26 37 that The Throne of Dauid is not that which Dauid possessed but that which was promised to Dauid for his sonne And indeed in 2 Sam. 7. the Promise though it be made vnto Dauid yet is it made for his sonne his sonne is Christ It was not meant of his immediate Sonne otherwise than in a Type but it was meant of his Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Messias or Sauiour of the world As also the Promise made to Abraham was made for his Sonne which in appearance seemed to be Isaac but St. Paul to the Galathians telleth vs that that seed is Christ Well then this Kingdome is the Church and therein Christ sitteth as in his Throne it is the Gouernment thereof that is committed vnto him And here wee may not dreame of a corporall Kingdome and turne the truth into a Type St. Paul hath told vs that The Kingdome of God is neyther meat nor drinke but righteousnesse and peace and ioy of the holy Ghost And Christ in the Gospell The Kingdome of God is within you The Parables of the Kingdome if you looke to their Morall imply as much all sound things and persons spirituall Grosse then is the vsurpation of the Bishop of Rome who in Christs name contrary to Christs rules combines both Swords the Spirituall and the Corporall And they that vnderstand The Kingdome of Christ carnally as if all
for euer Amen THE FOVRTH SERMON And his Name shall be called The wonderfull Counsellour The mighty God THe Nature and Excellencie of Christs Person are those two Points of Doctrine which haue beene obserued in this Text The first I haue ended you haue beene taught what Christs Person is what is his State I come now to the excellencie of both Each hath an excellency there is an excellencie of the Person and an excellencie of the State The excellencte of Christs Person is to be seen in the endowments thereof which are contained in his stile but the excellencie of his state appeares in his managing thereof I beginne at the excellencie of the Person which consists in the endowments and the endowments are exprest in the style As mortall Kings so this immortall hath his style proclaimed And his name shall be called his style expresseth indowments which are Regall but Spirituall Regall they are Two vertues are peculiar vnto Kings ouer and aboue those which they must haue in common with their Subiects they are Wisdome and Power Wisedome to prouide for and Power to sustaine their estate This King hath both he hath Wisedome for hee is The wonderfull Counsellour and he hath Power for he is The mighty God But as his indowments are Regall so are they Spirituall for they must be proportionable to the Kingdome His kingdome is not of this world for he is the Father of eternity Neyther is the condition of his people worldly it is Peace it is an heauenly not an earthly portion Hee is Prince of this Peace These be the endowments of his Person and of these we are to speake distinctly and in their order And first they are giuen him in his style Herein hee answereth mortall Kings in that he proclaimeth his style lest his people should faile in their respect For the greatnesse of respect ariseth with the greatnesse of the style we vse to looke vpon them with a more awfull eye in whom there are more grounds of awe This hath made Monarches in all ages to straine their Titles to the vttermost as hee that reades the Story of the Assyrian the Persian the Romane Monarches of old and the moderne histories both of barbarous and Christian Kings may easily perceiue But here is the odds that their styles doe commonly shew rather what they should be than what they are They are giuen them propter spem in hope they will proue as their Titles import or else they shew what they would seeme to haue done rather than what they haue done indeed And here flattery amplifieth beyond truth and maketh mountaines of mole-hils yea substituteth fables in stead of verities as might easily be proued if we would insist vpon their particular styles You may reade the title of Augustus giuen vnto such Emperours as did not enlarge but diminish the Empire of Pater patriae to those that were so far from being Fathers that they were plaine Tyrants of Pontifex Maximus giuen to them which were so farre from seruing the gods that they did sacrilegiously canonize themselues for gods and yet propter spem the Senate gaue them these titles and by flattery they did amplifie in the rest He that had but a small conquest encreased his style as if he had conquered a whole Kingdome as appeares in the styles of Germanicus Illiricus Brytannicus c. To omit the fabulous styles of the easterne Monarches he that will may read them in their stories and see how ridiculous they are in claiming kindred of the gods of the starres and of what not which might amplifie their Maiestie In a word Hope and Flattery are the best ground wherupon all mens worldly titles are built especially great mens and Kings most of all But it is not so with our King the truth in him is answerable to the titles that are giuen him They are not giuen him propter spem but propter rem Hee is that which he is called neyther is there in them any flattery yea his titles do come short of they do not exceed those perfections that are in him So that we may not measure the style of Christ as we doe the styles of mortall Kings but conceiue rather more than lesse when we heare his style Marke also another difference between the style of Christ and the style of mortall Princes Mortall Princes amongst other amplifications of their style are spoken vnto in abstracto you seldome heare of any salutations giuen to them but they are so conceiued Maiestie Dominion Celsitude Grace and the like as if they were framed of Plato's Idea vpon which Diogenes played wittily Scyathum video Scythietatem non video and another applying it to Princes obserues That before this style began vertues were in concreto the Persons and the Vertues met in one subiect but since they haue been separated and as we heare the vertue abstracted from the subiect so doe we commonly see the subiect voyd of the vertue But it is not so with Christ but whereas he may iustly and doth sometimes not only to note the eminency of his vertue but also to note his Godhead call himselfe by abstract names Wisedome Truth Righteousnesse Life c. yet doth hee vsually receiue his style in concreto to note that his Manhood is endowed with these qualities from his Godhead and that the subiect and the vertues goe in him both together Lastly wee must not beginne Christs being this which he is called at the time when he is first called and so with Seruetus question the Godhead of Christ as if it were no more ancient than this solemne proclamation of his style For though then his endowments began to be manifested and communicated to his Manhood yet as God hee had them from euerlasting from euerlasting was he the wonderfull Counsellour the mighty God the father of eternity But to leaue the preface and come to the indowments to the Regall indowments The first imports his Wisedome hee is called The wonderfull Counsellour Some seuer these words and make two titles of that which I reade but as one one title of Wonderfull and another of Counsellour and so it may bee Wonderfull may well bee a title of Christ nay a transcendent title which goeth through all his titles for not one of them is there in which we must not conceiue him to be wonderfull and wee cannot haue a better preparation to those meditations which we haue on the eminencie of Christ than if we begin at wonderfull Admiration is but broken knowledge but it is the seed of perfect knowledge so perfect as we are capable of It maketh vs when we study vpon the nature of God and of Christ and the excellencies of both to conceiue a good rule which is That though God speakes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet we must vnderstand him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and euer rise higher in our thoughts than we are led by the signification of the words We must adde a degree of eminencie wherin they
for they that trust in the Lord are like vnto mount Sion which shall neuer be remoued LOrd guide vs by thy Counsell support vs by thy Power that wee be neyther circumuented nor quelled but by thy direction and protection we may escape both the craft and the force of all our Enemies So shall we euer glorifie thee as our admirable Counsellour and our most mighty God THE FIFTH SERMON The euerlasting Father the Prince of Peace THe Excellencie of Christs Person consists in the indowments thereof which are Regall but Spirituall That they are Regall appeares in his two first titles whereof I haue already spoken and that they are Spirituall it will appeare by the other two whereof I am now to speake Whereof the first sheweth that Christs Kingdome is not of this world He is the Father of eternity the second sheweth that the condition of his people is not worldly Christ is Prince of Peace To begin with the first In the Originall the first of these two titles is so exprest as I haue read it The Father of eternity And the words beare a double sense for either Aeternity is made the Attribute of the Father and so by an Hebraisme The Father of eternity is no more than the eternall or euerlasting Father so some Translations reade it or Aeternity may note that which is subiect to the Father and so the title imports that he is a Father of eternall things and so some Translations reade The Father of the world to come We need not to bee troubled with this variety for the words will beare eyther Translation and both these things concurre in the same person He that is the euerlasting Father is a Father of euerlasting things We will therefore handle both and first shew you that Christ is an euerlasting Father The phrase doth distinguish betweene our Father and our Father the Father of our flesh and the Father of our spirits of whom St. Paul speaketh Heb. 12. Of these two the first is Temporall the other is Aeternall that the first is but temporall wee may gather out of the fift of Genesis where are reckoned vp the longest liued Fathers that euer were in the world but of them all it is said that they begat children and then they dyed they left their children to the world And as they so their posterity come within the compasse of that of Iob Man that is borne of a Woman is but of a short time or as Dauid speakes His dayes are but a spanne long When he hath serued his course he goeth the way of all flesh and sleepes in his graue Neyther is he temporall only in regard that he must dye but also in regard that his affection is mutable Some parents destitute their children inforced by death but not a few put off the affection of Fathers euen in their life and they in that respect also may be termed but temporall Fathers Our Sauiour Christ speaking of the later times telleth vs that the Father shall rise against the Sonne as the Sonne against the Father Saint Paul speaking of former times Rom. 1. amongst other wicked ones reckoneth vp persons that were without naturall affection and it were an easie matter out of Histories to report that many haue dis-inherited many haue murdered many haue deuoured their own children so farre vnnaturall haue they beene In opposition vnto these two cases which apparantly conclude that the Parents of our flesh are temporall temporall in regard that they are mortall in their nature and temporall in that they are mutable in their affections our Sauiour Christ is termed an euerlasting Father death cannot take him from vs for euen in his death wherein notwithstanding his abode was so little that hee saw no corruption the hypostaticall Vnion which made him a father did not cease And as for his affection it is immutable Whom he loueth hee loueth vnto the end of the perpetuitie of his being excellent is that place Esay 63. Doubtlesse thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of vs and Israel acknowledge vs not Thou O Lord art our Father and our Redeemer thy name is from euerlasting And touching the perpetuity of his louing the Church there speaketh also Looke downe from heauen and behold from the habitation of thy holinesse and of thy glory where is thy zeale and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercy towards me 〈◊〉 9. â—â—al 27. are they restrained No they cannot bee restrained For as God in this Prophet speaketh elsewhere Can a Mother forget her child If she can yet will not I forget thee saith the Lord And King Dauid When my father and my mother forsooke me the Lord tooke me vp This is the reason why our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell biddeth vs Call none father vpon earth for that we haue but one father which is in heauen hee liueth when the other dye and when the other hateth he continueth his loue and therefore is deseruedly called the euerlasting Father Two good Lessons are implyed herein the one teaching Piety the other Charity We are taught Piety when we are taught that he whom we obey is our Father for if I be a Father saith the Lord where is mine honour Mal. 1. and Moses to Israel Deut. 32. Doest thou so reward the Lord O thou foolish people and vnwise is not he thy Father that made thee c. And as the very name of Father teacheth Piety so doth the name of Euerlasting teach it much more St. Paul argueth so Heb. 12. If so bee wee honoured the fathers of our flesh which are mortall as is our flesh how much more should we honour the father of our spirits which is immortall as is our spirits Great reason haue we to reuerence this Father that neuer ceaseth to be our Father that hath prouided that euen when we lose our fathers we should yet stil haue our Father haue him for our Father which is the Father of Orphanes It is no small comfort nor weake pillar of our faith that we neuer want a Father yea our double birth readeth vs this Lecture For as we come out of our mothers wombe by the help of our mortall Parents so to signifie that we haue immortall parents we are then borne againe in the Churches wombe Neither doth this title teach vs only Piety but Charity also charity one towards another For whereas our mortall parents extend their consanguinity and affinity but to a few this euerlasing father extends his vnto all Malachy worketh vpon this Haue we not all one Father Cap. 2. wherefore then do you iniury one to another The blood should neuer be cold seeing wee are all kinne in the first degree all brethren sonnes of one father euen of him that is here called the euerlasting father But how commeth Christ to be called father who otherwise is called our brother he being the sonne of God and God being his father as hee is ours If you respect the Communion of
those things whereof we both partake he is our brother but if the Communication or deriuation of them he is our father for he is the second Adam as the Church is the second Eue and as we are termed the sons of the Church or of Hierusalem the Spouse so are we also of Christ the Bridegroome who begetteth vs in and by his Church Wee beare the image of this second Adam as wee doe of the first and his children are we whose image we beare therefore Christ that saith I will declare thy name vnto my brethren Rom. 14. saith Esay 8. Behold here am I and the children which thou hast giuen vnto me As hee is so he calleth himselfe sometimes brother sometimes father And so haue you heard how he is The euerlasting father But the words beare also another interpretation which is That hee is the father of euerlasting things As hee is so are those things that are subiect vnto him both euerlasting And this distinguisheth betweene this world and that which is to come making Christ King of the later St. Paul telleth vs Heb. 2. that God hath subiected vnto him the world to come That temporall and eternall doe distinguish betweene these two worlds it is cleare in St. Paul teaching that those things which are seene are temporall but those which are not seene are eternall And touching the things which are seene the Preacher hath pronounced peremptorily vanity of vanities all is but vanity One generation passeth and another commeth and nothing abideth stedfast in the world 1 Cor. 7. St. Paul biddeth vs vse the world as if we vsed it not because the fashion of this world passeth away St. Iohn biddeth vs not to loue the world nor the things that are in the world Psal 102. for this world passeth away and the lusts thereof The Psalmist telleth vs that they all waxe old like vnto a garment and St. Peter 2 Pet. 2. Rom. 8. that the heauens shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes thereof shall be burnt vp they shal be dissolued For all are subiect vnto vanitie But in the very same places where the temporalty of this present world is set down there is mention made of the eternity of that world which is to come you heard it out of the place to the Corinths and the words in the Psalme are very cleare 2 Cor. 4. Psal 102. 1 Iohn 2. The children of thy seruants shall continue and their seed shall stand fast in thy sight and St. Iohn Hee that fulfilleth the will of God abideth for euer St. Peter intimateth as much and so doth Salomon in the Preacher This our Prophet that in the fortieth is willed to cry All flesh is grasse and the glory thereof is as the flower of the field the grasse withereth the flower fadeth is willed also to cry That the Word of the Lord endureth for euer 1 Pet. 1. And this Word is the incorruptible seede by which wee are new-borne it is the food by which wee are nourished which endureth for euer it is the riches which ney ther rust can corrupt nor theeues spoyle vs of Iohn 6. it setteth vpon our heads an immarcessible Crowne and placeth vs in a Kingdome that cannot be shaken All the graces wherein stands the life of Christianity they are eternall graces they possesse vs of that which is eternall and make vs eternall possessours thereof Therefore well doth Christ in this respect also receiue this title of The father of eternity But eternity must be vnderstood à parte post not à parte ante The eternity à parte ante is Gods prerogatiue to be so eternall is to bee without beginning A creature hath his beginning and so farre is temporall but he may be continued for euer and so be eternall And in this sense doth the Prophet in this place speake of eternity and maketh Christ The father thereof And well may hee be called the father that was the Author and is the Disposer thereof for in his owne Person hee first gaue being vnto this both grace and glory and from his person doth it streame vnto vs wee no otherwise enioy it than as wee haue vnion with him And these three interests of Christ in these things doe make him to be termed the father of this eternity But now this title must looke back vnto the two formertitles and then wee shall see the sweetnesse that is in it In the Regall titles wee heard of that Wisedome and Power which wee may admire and adore but when I heare that the wonderfull Counsellour the almighty God is my father this sweetens these two glorious titles and maketh them the more comfortable to mee For whom doth the wisedome of a father prouide but for his childe and for whom so readily as for his childe doth a father vse his power I presume then of Christs prâ—uidence of Christs supportance because Christ is my father Hee that is the king is my father and what I might not presume of a king of a father I dare presume yea and presume it constantly for he is vnchangeable My immortall father is not like my mortall that his wisedome or his power should steed me but for a time they will sticke to me for euer no death can take them from mee neither will they bee estranged vpon any dislike Can there bee greater comfort for a feeble for a sinfull soule than this assurance of such an euerlasting father The comfort is great that appeares in the person but in the inheritance there appeares much greater for wherein hath or doth this my euerlasting father spend his euerlasting wonderfull wisedome and mighty power hath he spent them to prouide me a momentany estate is his inheritance like that which is left by my mortall parents such as I may lose or must leaue No it is like himselfe his workes be are the image of his person they are eternall like himselfe Let then the world faile me let all earthly things be taken from me let them be vnto me as my parents naturall parents were but temporall yet shall I not want I can as little be poor as bee an Orphan My father neuer dyeth and the portion he giues mee endureth for euer When I reade of what stuffe Moses made the Tabercle Salomon the Temple much more when I reade St. Iohns description of the heauenly Ierusalem I now perceiue Gods meaning it is to let me vnderstand so farre as earth can shadow heauen how much more stable my inheritance of heauen is than the best inheritance I can get here on earth if it be of earth though on earth I may haue euery childe of God hath the earnest the first fruits of that which wee exspect in heauen And so haue you the first of these two titles which teach that Christs royall endowments are also spirituall I come now to the second which sheweth that as Christs kingdome is not of this world because it is as hee is
thereof withhold ought that should be subiect vnto thee eyther in soule or body And let our whole soule our whole body bee comforted with thy peace Finally let them last as they grow both Gouernment and Peace in all in euery one of vs and that world without end Let neyther end in this world where they are subiect to danger So shall both last for euer in that world that is to come where they shall be free from all danger Amen THE SEVENTH SERMON To order and to establish it with Iustice and with Iudgement for euer THe Excellencie of Christs State standeth in a boundlesse growth of the Kingdome and a constant policie of the King Of the boundlesse growth I haue already spoken I come now to the constant policie This is the cause whereof that was the effect and as the effect is answerable to the cause so the cause is not inferiour to the effect it must bee such as is likely to produce it and so is this Let vs consider it The policie is the exercise of the royall endowments of the Kings wisedome and of his power of his wisedome for hee doth order and to order what is it but to shew himselfe the wonderfull Counsellour of his power for he doth support and what is it to support but to shew himselfe the mighty God But both these may be done ill or well Christs are well done for in doing both he followeth a good rule his rule is Iudgement and Iustice Hee calleth all to an account and hee deales with all vnpartially And this hee doth constantly from henceforth and for euer For of an endlesse effect the cause must also be endlesse These be the particulars which now we must handle I beginne at the first And the first thing that I obserue herein is That as Christ hath endowments so hee vseth them to that end for which hee receiued them No creature though destitute of reason but keepeth his course they let vs see in their working wherefore they were ordained the Sunne giueth his light the Fire his heat the Water moistnesse the Earth beareth fruit in all creatures you may reade this lesson Deus Natura nihil faciunt frustra And if creatures voyde of reason deale so much more should those that are indued with reason they should not be like the vuprofitable seruant that wrapped his talent vp in a napkin and hid it but as St. Peter aduiseth Euery one as he hath receiued the gift 1 Pet. 4.10 so must hee dispose it as a good Steward of the manifold graces of God Certainly Christ doth so and hee is a good Precedent vnto euery one of vs especially vnto those of place and authority bee it in Church or Common-weale their gifts must not be idle seeing there was an end for which they were bestowed vpon them As they must not be idle so must each be applyed vnto his proper end for praestat otiosum esse quam nihil agere to busie our gifts and not intend that whereat euery one must ayme is an vnprofitable businesse And much businesse of this nature there is in the world which is the cause why St. Paul doth blame certaine persons whom he calleth busie bodies 1 Tim. 5.13 Mark then that our Sauiour doth employ his endowments and employ them fitly Wisedome is appointed to order and hee doth order by his wisedome Power is appointed to support and he doth support by his Power But let vs looke further into eyther of these Christ doth order order his Kingdome therefore it was out of order The Physitians medicine doth intimate the Patients disease and wee doe not vse to set in order that which was not out of order And indeed this Kingdome of Israel was out of order In the temporall state it was when Christ came as it was when Dauid came to the Crowne When Dauid came to the crown he professed All the Land is dissolued I beare vp the Pillars thereof it was much more so when Christ came in the dayes of Herod as hee that readeth Flauius Iosephus writing of the life of Herod may easily perceiue At what time Iacobs prophesie appeared true The Scepter was gone Cap. 9. the Law-giuer ceased whereupon ensued that which Amos foretold The Tabernacle of Dauid fell to the ground It was so with the temporall State But Christ meddled not with that hee left vnto Caesar that which was Caesars his endeauour was that God might haue what was due to God As the temporall State was out of order so was the ecclesiasticall much more it appeares in the Gospel where Christ layeth open the abuses of the Priests and of the Scribes of the Pharisees and of the Saducees it was their abuses that he came to reforme to set in order Secondly this word remembreth vs of the Apostles rule 1 Cor. 14. God is not the God of confusion but of order Confusion is from the Diuell but order is from God especially in the Church which St. Paul resembleth to our body wherein the parts are fitly disposed and euery one keepeth his place the eye the head the hand the feete one vsurpeth not the function of the other in answerablenesse whereunto the Apostle telleth vs that All are not Prophets all are not Apostles 1 Cor. 12. and Cap. 7. exhorts all men as God hath called them so to walke A good rule for these dayes wherein the hands yea and the feete too take vp the roome of the head and euery man thinketh himselfe fit to bee a Teacher both by his penne and tongue whose place notwithstanding is amongst the learners Christ came to reforme such disorders But the order that Christ setteth in his Kingdome must bee learned from that order which wise Kings set in their temporall Kingdomes they doe order their subiects two wayes inter se and ad bonum commune they take care that there shall be a variety of professions and that all those shall bend themselues to procure the common good Euen so should it be in the Church Christ bestoweth diuers gifts but all for the edification of his Church And as in the Common-weale a man doth not liue orderly if he only follow a Trade except the Common-weale be the better for it no more doth he liue orderly in a Church that doth ought by which the whole Church is not benefited The last thing that is to bee obserued in this order and which indeede is the chiefest of all is the ordering of each man in himselfe In the Creation God set in man an excellent order subiecting as the whole man to himselfe so in man the body to the soule the appetite to reason whatsoeuer inferiour faculties to their superiours But time put all these things out of order and man which from his better part should be denominated spirituall is from his worser part called carnall and more vsually doth the Scripture call him sensuall than rationall The holy Ghost meaneth thereby to intimate the disorder that is grown by sinne
and the order that we are to expect from Christ who commeth to set vs in frame and to vse the Apostles words Ephes 4. to set vs in ioynt that euery part of man should keepe his order and none in working exceed his measure It is one of the curses that God in Esay threatneth to the Kingdome of Israel that the vile person shall set himselfe against the honourable And it is no small curse in euery one of vs to haue the worser part command the better and command it will except Christ doe order except he doe vse his first royall endowment But as he vseth the first so must he vse the second also for as the Kingdome is out of order so is it weake also and the establishing presupposeth this weakenesse yea indeed weakenesse is the cause of disorder men fall to disorder through weaknesse The weakenesse of the ciuill State of Israel is cleare in the Storie for the Israelites were become enthralled to the Romanes and had no power to relieue themselues though they were exposed to all kinde of ignominie and cruelty as he that readeth Flauius Iosephus will confesse It was bad with them in the Assyrian captiuity but in the Romane much worse and it was this weakenesse that the Iewes thought their Messias should support who reiected Christ because hee came not into the World as a likely person to doe this to crush their enemies and to make them a mighty nation according to the Prophecies which not only affirme they should be so but set it out in diuers Similies as you may reade in Esay in Zacharie and in others that they should thresh all Nations as a heauy stone should grinde them should bee as a soporiforous cup and as fire working vpon stubble These places they vnderstood literally which indeed should haue been vnderstood spiritually Another weakenesse for they had another kinde of weakenesse was disability to doe well whereby they were carried captiues vnto sinne as St. Paul speaketh Rom. 7. and that was it which enfeebled them as God had threatned Deut. 28. and gaue their enemies power ouer them Christ came to remedy this weaknesse Esay 35. to strengthen these weake hands and feeble knees as you may perceiue in that excellent description thereof which Zacharie hath cap. 2. where God promiseth power to all the house of Israel and sheweth that the feeblest of them shall be like vnto Dauid and the house of Dauid like vnto the Angels St. Paul Ephes 6. describeth the armour wherewith wee are strengthened and telleth vs that it is The power of the Lord and cap. 3. he telleth vs that therewith we are strengthned in the inward man and to the Hebrewes cap. 11. telleth vs that by Faith many of weake became strong euen so strong that St. Paul saith of himselfe Phil. 4. Hee could doe all things through him that strengthned him which is Christ Finally this is the strength for which he so often prayeth when he prayeth for the Church it is the strength whereby we may be able to encounter our chiefe enemies which are ghostly and to performe the duties which concerne a Christian life The substance of our faculties was not abolished by sinne but the sinewes were enfeebled as wee hold in the question of Free-will Try it in the particulars and you may perceiue it Our vnderstanding had proportionable strength to the obiect thereof the truth of God to apprehend it and the will to the obiect thereof our soueraigne Good to embrace it so had all the affections the strength that was expedient for such attendance vpon the will to further our possession of the obiect thereof But now euery one of these is disabled by sinne and it is Christs grace that enableth them againe giuing vs such wisedome such holinesse such courage and desires as are expedient for a childe of God to bring him vnto and keepe him in enioying of his finall end And this power is that power by which wee must ouerthrow our enemies if they be irreconcileable as the diuell and his angels are we foile them when they can fasten no sinne vpon vs then we break the Serpents head when his craft cannot delude vs and his taile too when we continue starres in the firmament notwithstanding his violent striking at vs and though he roare like a Lion yet we continue stedfast in the faith whether both these be vsed immediately by himselfe or mediately by his instruments And if the enemies be reconcileable then the conquest of them by this power is not the foyling of their bodies or spoyling of their goods but the casting downe in them of all imaginations 2 Cor. 10. and euery high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringing into captiuity euery thought to the obedience of Christ And in this manner did the Apostles conquer and the Christians in the Primitiue Church taking-in all these holds that were possessed by Sathan and imposing the easie yoke of Christ vpon the wits and wils of all Nations And in this sense should the Iewes haue vnderstood the Prophets and made Dauids Kingdome a type not of historicall correspondencie but of mysticall presignificancy for other power they meant none none that should appeare in this world And the Popes of Rome are Iewish that herein stand for a temporall power ouer Kings direct or indirect whereby they may ouer-top the scepters and dispose of the crownes of Princes Christ left vnto his Church no other sword than that which commeth out of his mouth which elsewhere is called the breath of his mouth Heb. 4. and the Word of God which is sharper than any two-edged sword and workes in it by no other power as it is a Church though hee hath not abolished the ciuill sword nor rebated the edge thereof in peace or warre but strengthned it rather in proceeding vpon lawfull and legall grounds But the ciuill power is not to bee confounded with the power of the Gospell the power of the Church and the power of the Common-weale distant in toto genere and it is the power of the Church that is meant here that is the power which Christ established And marke it is not enough for Christ to order except he establish It was the case of Adam hee was well ordered but hee was not established and thereupon the good order became mutable and all the gifts of God be they not well rooted and founded in vs will come to nought and fall to disorder So that stability signifieth the preseruation of that good order which wisedome sets and is the principall blessing of the Gospell wherein standeth the prerogatiue of Adam regenerated aboue Adam created and it is that which Christ promiseth in the Gospell and for which the Apostles doe pray in their Epistles namely for prescruation and stedfastnesse in the truth and Christ in his prayer before his passion doth specifie it expresly If we consider the mutability of our nature which comming of
Temple then building by Zorobabel Some haue thought that the Temple which was standing when Christ was incarnate was not the Temple built by Zorobabel but another which Herod built But we must take heede of that opinion for it hath two euils in it 1. Flauius Iosephus it giueth the holy Ghost the lye in this place 2. and it cherisheth the Iewes vaine expâ—ctation of their Messias It is true that Herod enlarged that Temple and added many buildings to it but he did not demolish the old neither indeed could he and this prophecie continue true for God promised that Christ should come euen into this Temple that now was building And seeing that Temple with all the additions of Herod hath many hundied yeares since according to Christs prophecie beene so destroyed that there remaineth not one stone vpon another the Iewes doe more than vainely yet looke for a Messias especially seeing God hath manifested to the world that it was not only totally but sinally also destroyed The Iewes had good proofe hereof in the daies of Iulian the Apostata when Euseb hist l. 4. Chrys orat 2. in Iudaeos notwithstanding that wicked Emperour encouraged and furthered them to re-edifie it fearefull tempests from heauen destroyed in the night what they did in the day God then making good against Iacob what in Malachie hee spake against Esau Thus saith the Lord of hosts Mal. 1. they shall build but I will cast downe they shall call them the border of wickednesse the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for euer But I will leaue them to God whom God hath left to the world as a spectacle of stupiditie and a bridle to hold vs in from like contempt It is plaine the place here meant was Zorobabels Temple vpon that place was the glory conferred Malachie cap. 3. said it should bee so hee said that the Lord should come into his Temple and he should sit downe there and refine the sonnes of Leui and rectifie the diuine worship The Gospel teacheth vs that it was so for hee was not onely presented in that Temple when he was a babe and when hee was twelue yeares old a disputant there with the doctors but also when he was solemnely inaugurated he first purged the Temple of buyers and sellers then he reformed the doctrine and the discipline at seuerall times when he resorted thither at solemne feasts there he made his sermons and wrought his miracles so that he might truly say to the high Priests when he was arraigned before them I sate daily with you teaching in the Temple Mat. 26. I will adde one text more which may serue in stead of all when his parents that had lost 〈◊〉 found him in the Temple they expostulated with him in these words Sonne why hast thou serued vs thus Luke 2. thy father and I haue sought wee sorrowing Christ replyes vnto them Why sought yee me did you not know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee render it Wist yee not that I must goe about my fathers businesse but the words may well beare another sense also Wist yee not that it was sit for mee to bee in my fathers house for so he calleth the Temple elsewhere and so speaketh St. Paul Heb. 13. Iohn 2. Christ as a sonne was ouer his owne house Some referre hither that speech of Christ touching the paying of tribute Mat. 17.26 The sonnes are free because that money is thought to haue beene originally a taxation for the Temple and by the Romanes conuerted to other vses when they collected it But enough of the place only take this note out of the coniunction of the place and the gift That Christs comming to be the glorie of the Temple giueth vs to vnderstand that his Kingdome was not temporall but spirituall he came not to raise an earthly Monarchie but to gather a people vnto God The next point that I obserued is the amplification both of the place and the gift of the place in regard of the meannes which is noted in the word this house The Iewes had two Temples one built by Salomon a glorious one this built by Zorobabel a poore one The Iewes wept when they saw the foundations of it and God testifieth that it was as nothing in their eyes and this nothing as it were moued Herod to make those additions before specified that it might become like something Marke Christ came not vnto Salomons Temple but vnto Zorobabels so that the Temple which had most of earthly cost had nothing in it but the type of Christ and that Temple that had least of earthly glory had most of heauenly it had the truth Christ came thither in person God regardeth not outward pompe neyther doth he tye his presence thereunto as if he would not be where there is no worldly state nay commonly where there is least of the world Heb. 11. God is there most and they haue greatest familiarity with him who haue worst entertainement in the world Did not our Sauiour Christ giue vs an excellent representation hereof in his own person Col. 2.9 Phil. 2.7 2 Cor 4.7 the Godhead dwelt bodily in him but that body bare the shape of a seruant the Apostles carried about the world heauenly treasures but they carried them in earthen vessels An ancient Father obserues wittily that when the Church was so poore that it had but wooden chalices it had golden Priests wee may adde People too and when the ornaments of the Church became golden then the Priests and People became wooden Gods Word was heard more reuerently hee was serued more deuoutly when the Church met in caues in woods in deserts than euer he was in townes and cities and these most stately fabricks This must be obserued in the question of the visibility of the Church or rather conspicuity The Aduocates of Rome seeme to triumph much against the reformed Churches as if the obscurity wherein sometimes they lay hidden Cont. Auxent did preiudice the truth which they profest they forget St. Hilaries admonition Male nos cepit parietum amor c. We are ill aduised to measure faith by multitude of professors Epist 48. or by goodly temples where the profession is made St. Austine will tell vs Ecclesia aliquando obscuratur aliquando obnubilatur multitudine scandalorum The glory of the Church is subiect to Eclypses it was so in the Old Testament as appeares by Elia's complaint 1 Reg. 19. They haue slaine all thy Prophets and throwne downe thine altars Cont. Lucifer and I am left alone It hath beene no better vnder the New Testament witnesse St. Hierome Ingemuit totus mundus se Arianum factum miratus est Arianisme so got the vpper hand that the Orthodoxe faith scarce durst be known in the whole Catholick Church In the Old Testament God promised by Zephanie cap. 3. I will leaue in the middest of thee an humble and poore people and they shall trust in
Iosephus reports The fourth and the last inequalitie stands in the materials vsed about the fabricke to say nothing of their qualities certainely those that were vsed about the first Temple did in quantity farre exceede those that were vsed about the second For what comparison could there be between the riches of poore captiue Iewes and of King Salomon that was the most glorious Monarch in the world 1 Chron. 22.14 2 Sam. 8. Adde hereunto the prouision that his father King Dauid made in his time a hundred thousand talents of gold and a thousand thousand talents of siluer and brasse and iron without weight besides what he gaue out of his owne peculium or priuate Treasurie for the former were dedicated out of the spoyles of kingdomes which he conquered three thousand talents of gold of the gold of Ophir and seuen thousand talents of refined siluer besides great abundance of all sorts of precious stones Whereunto adde the offering of the Fathers of Israel fiue thousand talents and ten thousand drammes of gold and of siluer ten thousand talents of brasse eight thousand talents and a hundred thousand talents of iron besides precious stones And put all this together and therewith increase Salomons wealth the totall will bee a summe of infinite value farre exceeding that wherewith Zorobabel was furnisht eyther by the Persian Kings or by his owne countrey-men yea although you adde what afterward was bestowed eyther by Alexander the great or his successours Kings of Syria and those of Egypt Neither will the additions of other benefactors no not that of Herod make vp the summe I dare say boldly that if all the Christian Kings of the West for so many yeares as the Temple was a building by Salomon should contribute their treasures they could not raise a summe answerable to that which was expended vpon the first Temple and reserue to themselues their Kingly ports as Dauid and Salomon did Neither neede wee out of the incredulitie of the summe as some learned doe question the signification of the word talent as if it signified a lesser summe than commonly it is taken for For to say nothing that it is the same Authour that wrote both the 22. and the 29. of the first of Chronicles and that it is not likely he would vary the sense keeping himselfe to the same word they doe not marke that Dauids offering was the spoyle of many Kingdomes that God promised that Salomon should bee the richest King in the world that the vessels of gold and siluer vsed in the Temple were many thousands as appeares by Iosephus and that there was great store of treasure layd vp there besides 2 Chro. 5. I neede say no more to proue that if we compare fabricke with fabricke we cannot finde therein the truth of these words of Haggai Let vs come then to the furniture that is eyther typicall or spirituall such parts of the furniture as were figures of diuine things and that by Gods owne ordinance were typicall Vpon Diana's Temple at Ephesus Apollo's at Delphi the Capitoline Temple at Rome and many other heathenish Temples there was much gold and siluer bestowed yea and precious stones also but they wanted a typicall relation and therein did the temples of the Iewes infinitely exceede them In these types if we compare Salomons temple with Zorobabels Galatinus Chrysost orat 3. aduersus Iudaos Zorobabels commeth farre short of Salomons The Iewes confesse that fiue eminent things were wanting in the later temple which were in the former 1. the Cloud wherein God resided betweene the Cherubims 2. the Arke with the contents therein whereon the Cloud rested 3. the fire kindled from heauen wherewith all their sacrifices were to be offered 4. the Vrim and Thummim on the breastplate of the high Priest by which hee was inabled to giue out diuine Oracles and ordinarily resolue the Iewes perplexing doubts in peace and warre the fifth was the spirit of prophecie wherewith God furnished diuers other persons whom he sent as messengers vnto the kings and people of Iuda and Israel Now these fiue were the chiefe of all the typicall furniture if Zorobabels temple came short in these fiue there can be no doubt but it was inferiour in types vnto that of Salomons temple What remaines then but that the greatnesse of the glorie here meant must consist in the spirituall and heauenly furniture of the later temple or else there was none at all And indeede it is that which wee finde there we finde Christ in person as in former sermons I haue shewed you and hee is the truth of all those types Of the Cloud for in him God dwelt visibly on earth Cyril l. 4. in Ioh. c. 2. 1 Pet. 2. Rom. 8. Ind. Of the Arke by him God shewed mercie vnto men Of the Fire for by his spirit all sacrifices must be offered that are acceptable vnto God Of the Vrim and Thummim for hee is the word the wisedome of God Finally of the spirit of prophecie for he is the Prophet that was to come into the world and the Reuelation of Iesus Christ is the spirit of prophecie Reuel 1. What shall I say of the table of shewbread Christ is the bread of life of the golden candlesticke Iohn 6. Iohn 1. Reu. 5.8 Christ is the light of the world of the altar of incense it is Christ that putteth sweet odours into the prayers of the Saints of the altar of burnt offerings Psalme 40. Heb. 10. Iohn 1.29 1 Iohn 1.7 sacrifice and offerings God did not desire but he opened Christ eare and gaue him a body hee was the Lambe of God that tooke away the sinnes of the world and his bloud cleanseth from all sinne And what comparison betweene this truth and those types certainely no more than betweene earth and heauen therefore when the truth appeared the type vanished Ier. 3.16.17 It must needs follow then that the glorie of the later temple must needs be greater than the glorie of the former Greater if we insist only vpon Christs apparition in the materiall temple of Zorobabel L. 3. Epist 11. De ciuit Dei l. 18. how much more if with the Fathers St. Ambrose and St. Austine wee enlarge it to the Christian Church in whom Christ abideth And indeed Zorobabels temple beeing voide of the types did represent the Christian Church as Salomons full of them did represent the Church of the Iewes and then marke what St. Paul saith if these two Churches be compared 2 Cor. 3. Euen that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth for if that which was done away was glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious that whole Chapter is a good commentarie vpon my text the Epistle to the Hebrewes is much fuller So then wee must reade and consider this text as directed vnto vs it concernes vs for wee are partakers of that glory And see how God dealeth both with
the Iewes and vs we haue enuious eyes and ambitious hearts we would not only be great but greatest we would not willingly that any should bee in better case than our selues Gods promise then goeth very farre which hee maketh to the Iewes and in them to vs when hee saith that they shall not onely haue great glory but also great in comparison in comparison to that which was very glorious So that if fertilior seges est c. and wee couet after the best gifts 1 Cor. 12. the very phrase did put them and doth put vs in minde how deeply they were wee are bound to God for the honour that hee did them in Christ 1 Reg. 8. and doth to vs. we should both ioy more therein than euer the Israelites did at the dedication of Salomons Temple But wee must not mistake and vnderstand the comparison made betweene the Old and the New Testament in an anabaptisticall sense as if they in the Old Testament had only corporall glorie and they in the New Testament spirituall the glory of both is spirituall But theirs of the Old Testament was veiled with ceremonies ours in the New Testament is vnueiled they had Christ but they saw him not but through sacrifices and darke rites but we with open face doe behold the glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. therefore the Apostle teacheth Ephes 2. that of two we are made but one new man and Rom. 11. we are grafted into that â—liue from whence they sprang Secondly we must distinguish the meanes as they are offered of God and as they are receiued of men the glory of the New Testament is greater in regard of the meanes offered of God Blessed are the eyes that see that which you see saith our Sauiour Christ to his Apostles Luke 10.24 and the eares that heare that which you heare for I tell you many Kings Prophets and righteous men haue desired to see those things which you see and haue not seene them and to heare those things which you heare and haue not heard them But in regard of entertainement of the meanes the glory of the Patriarches faith vnder the Old Testament may well bee thought to haue equalled if not to haue gone beyond the glory of most of their faiths that liue vnder the New And why the darker their meanes were the stronger was their faith that built vpon them and our faith though in worke equall is in worth vnequall because our meanes are clearer clearer than was afforded any of those Worthies which are chronicled Heb. 11. Whereupon will follow a third thing which is that seeing in heauen men shall fare not according to the meanes which God affordes them but according to their vse of the meanes we may not so aduance the glory of the New Testament aboue that of the Old as to thinke that in the life to come all that liue vnder the New Testament shall haue precedencie of all those that liued vnder the Old Well it will bee with many if not most of vs if wee may haue a place in Abrahams bosome and sit down with him and with Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdome of God I haue done with the points of my Text as they were to be opened seuerally I haue shewed you what Christ can doe what he will doe it remaines that in very few words I shew you what instructions they will yeelde vs if we ioyne them both together Obserue then that the Prophet doth first set downe Christs power and then his will in so doing the holy Ghost doth helpe the infirmities of men Were we such as wee should bee wee would neuer question Gods promise through doubt of his power But the best of Gods children haue taken exception to Gods promises and exprest their distrust God promised Abraham a childe in his old age Gen. 18. Sarah laugheth at that and obiects her dead wombe and Abrahams decrepit bodie God promised Moses that the children of Israel should eate flesh a moneth together in the wildernesse Num. 11. Moses thus reasons against God The people amongst whom I am are sixe hundred thousand footemen shall all the flocks and the heards be slaine to suffice them c. You will not wonder to heare a Prince of Samaria dis-beleeue the vnexpected plenty promised by Elizeus 2 King 7. nor Ahaz distrusting the despaired deliuerance of Ierusalem from the armies of the King of Israel and Syria Esay 7. It is not strange to see flesh and bloud so backeward in beleeuing God seeing they which are a good part spirit are not so forward as they should bee It is not then without cause that the holy Ghost prefixeth Christs power before his will lest the ignorance of the power should make vs thinke that the Prophet doth lauish in expressing his will Wherefore the holy Ghost taking vs for no better than we are encourageth vs to hope well of Christs promise out of the consideration of his sufficiencie And this is the reason why the first Article in the Creede is prefixt before all the rest it preuents the scruples that would rise in our distrustfull nature A second instruction that the coupling of Christs power and his will will yeelde is that Christ doth giue his gifts not according to the narrownesse of our desires but the width of his owne power St. Paul Ephes 3. telleth vs that Christ is able to doe exceeding abundantly aboue all that wee aske or thinke and here the Prophet telleth vs that he is willing to deale so The Iewes would haue had a Temple glorious but they did not wish it more glorious than that of Salomon Christ will haue the glory of the later house greater than that of the former Abrahams wish was Oh that Ismael might liue in thy sight God heard him and promised to multiply Ismael exceedingly but he added a promise of an Isaac too Gen. 17. in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed and whose off-spring should multiply as the sand of the sea and the starres in the firmament which are innumerable Salomon begged onely wisedome 1 King 3.11 God gaue him that in the highest degree but ouer and aboue and that in no low degree he heaped vpon him honour and wealth How many came to Christ for the helpe of their bodies and beyond their desire went away cured in their soules If wee in our prayers make the like triall of Christ wee shall finde no worse successe I will conclude all with two good remembrances taught vs by King Dauid The first is grounded vpon the consideration of Christs power When wee cloathe the naked feede the hungry doe any good deede giue any thing to any good vse we must with that religious King confesse 2 Chro. 29. Omnia exmanu tua accepta offerimus tibi Wee haue nothing which wee haue not receiued and we could not haue offered it to him except he had first bestowed it on vs for the siluer is his
into the lowest part of the earth not onely to the earth the lowest part of the world but euen to the lowest part of the earth for wee say in our Creed He descended into Hell he tooke his rising from the lowest place to ascend into the highest And herein doth Christ reade a good Lecture to vs hee teacheth vs that Humility is the way to glory and the more we are humbled the more wee shall be exalted Adam and Angels were both ambitious both did desire to climbe but they mistooke their rising and so in climbing tooke grieuous falls If wee would climbe without a fall wee must learne to climbe of Christ so shall wee bee sure to tread the steppes of Iacobs Ladder which from earth will reach as high as heauen I may not omit to obserue that the Apostle speakes significantly when hee saith that He that ascended is the same also that descended Non ascendit alius licet aliter Nestorius was condemned for an Hereticke who distracted Christs two natures and made of them two persons but as it is Gods truth so it is our great comfort that the person is but one and these are the workes of one and the selfe same person they both concerne the same person in the nature which hee tooke from vs Hee that was humbled is the same person that was exalted And so will God deale with vs crowne no other person than him that doth conflict and in the depth of our Humiliation euery one of vs may say with Iob Chapt. 19. Though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God Non alius Sed aliter though the same person of Christ ascended which descended yet hee ascended otherwise than hee descended for hee descended Metaphysically ascended Physically hee descended not by changing of place but of state the Godhead that is infinite could change no place but it could exinnanite it selfe and become of a worse condition than it was But in the Ascension the person changed place the manhood remoued from earth to heauen hee that in his Incarnation being onely God became man in his Ascension went into heauen God and man hee that to make way to his passion suspended the influence of his Godhead into his Manhood did in his Ascension permit the one to indowe the other so far as a Creature was capable of the influence of his Creatour And wee shall ascend though not other men yet otherwise than wee descend wee descended morally but wee shall ascend physically in our descending wee put on other affections than before wee had wee exchange our naturall pride for Christian humility but in our Ascension wee shall change our place remoue out of this wildernesse into Canaan from earth to Heauen and the same God that is pleased here for a time to make vs sowe in teares will then yeeld vs a plentifull haruest which wee shall reape in ioy wee shall then see the fulnesse of his loue towards vs which too vsually wee misdeeme by reason of the Crosse which hardly can wee conceiue that it can stand with his good will towards vs Castigo te non quod odio habeam sed quod amem is a proposition more true than euident the combination is so strange that it is no wonder if we be hard of beleefe but God will then cleare it and we shall confesse we had no reason to discredit it One Note more and so an end Before you heard of Grace now you see that grace is a spoile a spoile taken from that enemy that tyrannized ouer vs and this is no small improuement of grace Before you heard that grace did fill vs but now you see that wee were captiues and the condition of captiues is to endure hunger nakednesse all kinde of miserie and how welcome is that grace that fils such empty persons Before you heard that this grace was a gift but here you finde that Christ payed dearely for it the more it cost him the more precious should it bee in our eyes What shall I say then to you but wish you to couple this third Sermon with the first that you may bee more feeling of the loue of God in Christ O Lord that wouldest descend before thou diddest ascend grant that wee may make our way through Humility to Glory giue vs grace to consummate thy Triumph by manfully resisting and conquering of Sathan Let vs not feare to tread on him whom thou hast disarmed yea enrich vs wee beseech thee with the spoyles which thou hast taken from him and make vs euer willing and deuout captiues of thine Let it neuer grieue vs to serue thee who hast so mercifully saued vs Let vs now ascend in heart whither we hope to ascend in place and so prepare vs on earth by a holy conuersation that wee may partake with Christ of a happy condition in the kingdome of Heauen Amen IHS A SERMON PREACHED IN WESTMINSTER BEfore his Matie the Lords and others of the vpper House of Parliament at the opening of the Fast Iulie 2. 1625. 1 KINGS cap. 8. vers 37 38 39 40. If there bee in the Land famine if there bee pestilence blasting mildew locust if there bee Caterpillers if the enemie besiege them in the Lund of their Cities Whatsoeuer plague whatsoeuer sickenesse there be What prayer and supplication soeuer bee made by any man or by all thy people Israel which shall know euery man the plague of his own heart and spread forth his hands towards this House Then heare thou in Heauen thy dwelling place and forgiue and doe and giue to euery man according to his wayes whose heart thou knowest For thou euen thou onely knowest the hearts of all the children of men That they may feare thee all the daies that they liue in the Land which thou gauest to our Fathers THese words are a Clause of that Prayer wherewith King Salomon did dedicate the Temple and expresse that vse thereof which commeth very neare our present case Our case is twofold we suffer from Gods wrath wee are suppliants to Gods mercy And lo two like cases are presented in these words the case of Sufferers verse 37. and in the three next verses the case of Suppliants But more distinctly to rip vp the Text We will consider therein first the manner of the deliuerie and secondly the matter that is deliuered The Manner it is a Prayer the words are conceiued in that forme In the Matter we shall see 1. Whom these words concerne and 2. Wherein they doe concerne them Those whom they concerne are the inhabitants of Canaan the children of Israel the People of God this you may gather out of the 37. and 38. Verses And they concerne them in two maine Points for they shew first that they may vnderlye the heauie hand of God secondly that they must then haue recourse vnto the Throne of Grace The heauie hand of God is here set downe first definitely it may afflict Israel eyther only in
them all I begin with Christs right Wee are first to enquire of what sort it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word vsed by the Euangelist doth signifie an Eminency now that may be either in Ability or in Authority in men these are often times seuered some haue abilities that haue no authority some haue authority that haue no ability some haue good gifts that are in no place of gouernement and some are in place of gouernment that haue no sutable gifts But in God and Christ it is not so both concurre in them and in them both are equall the Authority to the Ability and the Ability to the Authority And it should be so in those that serue them it is pity but that those which haue good gifts should bee set in good places but it is a shame for them that are set in good places to be without good gifts Wherefore let this be your sacred ambition who are now to receiue holy Orders neuer to let your preferment out-steppe your indowments labour to bee as able to serue as you are willing to be employed Something we haue said of Christs power but not that which is principally intended here To make you see that I must remember you of a Logicke Rule Talia sunt praedicata qualia permittuntur esse à subiectis suis when any attribute or title is giuen to a person it must bee conceiued in such extent as the person is capable of Now in Christ there are two capacities for he is God and he is also Man If we looke vpon him as hee is onely God so hee hath an infinite and an eternall power hee is as Almighty a Gouernour as Maker of all things This is potestas innata not data But becomming Man hee had another capacity and power proportioned thereunto a power fitting to a Mediatour a Mediatour that should recouer man fallen and reconcile him vnto God gather a Church and establish a Kingdome of Heauen Of this power our Sauiour Christ speaketh when he confesseth vnto Pilate that he is a King but addes My King dome is not of this world Iohn 18. and St. Paul the Kingdome of Heauen is not meate and drinke it standeth not in any earthly thing but in Righteousnesse and Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 The Scepter of this Kingdome is the Gospell the seate of it is the Conscience of man it is as Christ speaketh in St. Luke chapt 17. Regnum Dei intra nos a Kingdome of God within vs a spirituall Kingdome mannaged with a spirituall power Such is the power of Christ the Mediatour But this power doth not in Christs person exclude the other power of a Creatour nor the Deriuatiue therefrom the power of Scepters and Crownes which are all subiect thereunto they are by Christs Ordinance and he that is Mediatour hath power ouer them and doth dispose of them as is best for his Church But hee doth not doe this as a Mediatour Kingdomes are founded vpon another ground a ground that went before the Fall vpon Paternall Authority though in time it hath receiued many variations yet did not the Mediatour intermeddle with those humane policies he erected no power ouer those powers but left them to the former Prouidence of God neither would hee haue them any way preiudiced or impeacht by the entertainment of the Gospell This Christ testified in his time the Apostles in theirs the Primitiue Church for many hundred yeares as our Writers haue clearly proued against the Vsurpation of the Bishop of Rome who claimeth by some of his Aduocates directly by other some indirectly a power at least ouer all Christian Scepters and Crownes But this is to confound that which God hath distinguished the power which the Church deriueth from a Mediatour which is a spirituall power with the power which Kings deriue from the Creatour and Founder of humane policy Obserue then in few words how Princes and Pastors are superiour and subiect in seuerall respects one to the other In Foro Poli in cases of Conscience and things that belong to ghostly counsell and comfort those things that belong to the saluation of the soule the Prince must be ruled by the Pastor so long as he is a faithfull Minister of Christ But in Foro Soli in the Iurisdiction that is annext to the sword the Pastor must submit to the Prince and obey his command This you may learne out of the Titles which are giuen them For as Princes are Children of the Church and Pastors reputed their ghostly Fathers so Pastors are Children of the Kingdome Ezechias calleth the Leuites his Sonnes 2. Chron. 24. and the Prophet calleth Princes nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers of the Church Esay 49. Constantine the Emperour distinguished well in his speech to the Prelates Vos estis Episcopi ad intra ego ad extra you are Bishops seruing for the administration of sacred things and mannaging of the Keyes but I also am a Bishop of the Church to see it well gouerned countenanced and protected While they serue God Princes are as it were Sheepe of the Fold but they are Shepheards also and must see God well serued This I obserue the rather because that you seeing the fountain of your Calling may keepe your selues within the Boundery thereof and not with either Papists or Schismatickes encroach vpon the Princes Sword deny vnto him his Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall or vsurpe vpon his Temporall two diseases which raigne much in this age which a man may more wonder at that readeth the New Testament wherein the Iewes dreame of their Messias worldly Kingdome is so plainly discouered and the ambition of the sonnes of Zebeaee Iames and Iohn who would sit one on Christs right hand and the other on Christs left hand in his Kingdome is checked so discreetly and that generall rule giuen Matth. 20. the Kings of the Nations beare rule they that are great men exercise authority but it shall not be so with you you shall receiue a spirituall but no temporall Iurisdiction you shall haue power not of the Sword but of the Keyes not ouer mens bodies but their soules in them must I raigne you must erect my Kingdome there And thus much of the kind of Christs power This power of Christ is lawfull because giuen to him giuen by his Father as elsewhere we learne And here wee must first obserue that if data Iohn 3. Daniel 7. Esay 49. Psal 2.48.13 Rom. 14. then it is not rapta that which is giuen is not vsurpt the Prince of this world hath power euen in the consciences of the children of disobedience and their soules are captiued to his pleasure God hath permitted this but he hath made him no grant of this power onely hee is contented to leaue men to his will by reason of their sinne though the Diuell be so arrogant vpon this permission that hee told Christ himselfe The Kingdomes of the earth and the glory thereof are mine and theirs to whom
I will giue them Luke 4.6 notwithstanding he is but an Vsurper Neither is Antichrist any better who sitteth in the Temple of God and carrieth himselfe as God 2. Thos 2. taking vpon him that power ouer the consciences of the people which Christ neuer gaue him the particulars are many you may meete with them in the Casuists and in the Controuersie Writers I will not trouble you with them Our Sauiour Christs power is iust For it was giuen vnto him But when First in his Incarnation for no sooner did he become man but he was annointed with the Holy Ghost and with Power therefore the Angels that brought the newes of his Birth to the Shepheards said that to them was borne a Sauiour which was the Lord Christ No sooner did the Sonne of God become man but hee was inuested with this power the eternall purpose of God and Prophesies of him began to be fulfilled the Godhead communicated to the manhood this power not changing the manhood into God but honouring it with an Association in his workes the manhood is of counsell with the Godhead in his gouernment and Christ from the time of his Conception wrought as God and man who before wrought onely as God Of this gift speaketh the Psalmist Thou art my Sonne this day haue I begotten thee aske of mee and I will giue thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance c. Psal 2. and in Daniel chapt 7. one like the sonne of man is brought vnto the Ancient of dayes and to him was giuen a kingdome c. But though this gift were bestowed at Christs Conception yet was the execution thereof for the most part suspended vntill his Resurrection some glympses he gaue of it and shewed his glory in his Miracles but for the most part he appeared in the forme of a seruant and his Humiliation was requisite that he might goe through with his Passion his power though it were not idle before yet was the carriage of it veiled and therefore acknowledged but by a few But after his Resurrection God gaue him this power manifestly and the world was made to see it clearly for Christ did then not onely cloath his person with Maiestie but shewed himselfe wonderfull in the gouernement of his people Therefore the time of the gift is by the Holy Ghost limited to the Resurrection and declared to be a reward of his Passion so saith the Psalme Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels that thou mightst crowne him with glory and honour Psal 8. St. Paul applyeth it vnto Christ Heb. 2. Rom. 14 and tells elsewhere that Christ dyed and rose againe that hee might be Lord both of quicke and dead The same he teacheth the Ephesians and the Colossians Cap. 1. Cap. 2. but especially the Philippians Christ being in the forme of God took vpon him the forme of a seruant and did exinanite himselfe and became subiect to death euen the death of the Crosse therefore God exalted him and gaue him a Name aboue all Names c. This gift or manner of giuing is properly meant in this place the gift of power in reward of Christs merit for by this merit did he enter into his Glory and into his Kingdome And from this must Ministers deriue their power which Christ hath right to conferre vpon them not onely by the gift of his Conception but also by the reward of his Passion As Christs power is lawfull so is it full also for hee hath all power a plenary power The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth note sometimes a passiue power sometimes an actiue a passiue power as in those words of the Gospell to them that receiued Christ hee gaue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power to bee the sonnes of God Iohn 1.12 actiue when Christ sent his Disciples hee gaue them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power ouer vncleane spirits Matth. 10.1 that is to cast them out According to this double acception of the word is the fulnesse of Christs power diuersly expounded Some say it is full passiuely before Christs Resurrection Christ was obeyed but per nolentes by those that serued him against their will and so hee was serued but to halfes but afterward hee gathered Populum spontaneum an ingenuous willing people Psal 110. a people that should serue him readily not with a mixt will halting between two or between willing and nilling but with all their heart and cheerfully not like luke warme Laodiceans for the Kingdome of Heauen suffereth violence and the violent take it Matth. 11. This is the Interpretation of some true in it selfe though not so proper to my Text. Therefore we must vnderstand it of an actiue power that power which by allusion out of the Prophets words is specified in the Reuelation Cap. 3. He hath the Key of Dauid that shutteth and no man openeth openeth and no man shutteth he hath both Keyes of the Church Clauem Scientiae and Clauem Potestatis the Key of Doctrine and the Key of Discipline hee giueth all men their Talents and calleth them to an account for the vse of them It is he that separateth the Sheepe from the Goates and from his mouth proceedeth as well Goe ye cursed as Come ye blessed But if you will haue it to the full it is comprehended in those three offices whereunto Christ was annointed he was annointed to be a Prophet a Priest and a King all by an Excellency all Heauenly and what power is there belonging vnto spirituall gouernment which is not reduced vnto these three And they were all three in him without exception without restriction and so he had all power or as I told you a power vnlimited in it selfe And yet marke the phrase it is omnis Potestas not Omnipotentia though in Christ as he is God there is Omnipotency yet that power which hee hath as Mediatour is of a middle size it is greater than any Creature hath Angell or Man but yet not so great as is the infinite Power of God that extends ad omnia possibilia to all that possible may bee But the power which God hath giuen to the Mediatour is proportioned not to scientiae simplicis intelligentiae but visionis it extends as farre as the Decree which God made before all times of all that shall be done in due time especially concerning the Church it hath an hand in mannaging all that Prouidence and mannaging it in an heauenly manner As the power is vnlimited in it selfe so it extends to all places Hee hath all power in Heauen and in Earth Heauen and Earth are the extreame parts of the world and in the Creed are vsually put for the whole but in the Argument we haue in hand we must restraine it to the Church which consisteth of two parts one Triumphant in Heauen the other Militant on Earth Christ hath power in both for both make vp his body and he hath reconciled both vnto God In Earth he giueth men Grace in Heauen he giueth
saith the Apostle that you are the Temple of God speaking of our whole person But lest question should be made of any part in the sixth Chapter he distinctly expresseth both Body and Soule He that is ioyned vnto the Lord is one Spirit with him that is cleere for our soule And lest we should vnder-value our worser part Know you not saith he that your bodyes are the Temples of the Holy Ghost So that no question can be made of either part of our person both are liuing stones 1 Pet. 2. and built vp into a Spirituall House And if we be Spirituall Houses then God is in vs of a truth 2 Cor. 6. for so the Apostle collecteth Ye are the Temples of the liuing God saith GOD and I will dwell in them and walke in them St Peter is not afraid to say 2 Pet. 1. We are made partakers of the Diuine nature and the Fathers that we are deified Although there be no personall vnion betweene vs and GOD as there is in CHRIST yet such a mysticall one there is that Philo Iudaeus his words are verie true Deus est animae bonorum incola malorum tantum accola though GODS generall influence be wanting to no Creature yet his gratious inhabitance is the prerogatiue of the Church And all they to whom GOD commeth so neere haue presently erected in them an Oracle and an Altar the Spirit by the Word reuealeth their eyes to see the maruailous things of GODS Law they are all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They haue an vnction that teacheth them all things 1 Iohn 2. 1 Cor. 2. yea they haue the verie mind of Christ yea the same Spirit that erecteth the Oracle erects an Altar also an Altar of Incense in their hearts which sendeth forth Prayers intelligibiliter suaueolentes Spirituall but acceptable vnto GOD. as Origen answereth Celsu◠obiecting to the Christians that they had no Altars And how can we want an Altar of burnt sacrifice when our broken and contrite hearts offer vp our bodies a liuing sacrifice holy and acceptable to GOD which is our reasonable seruice of him This is enough to let you vnderstand that we are if we are Christians Houses of God answerable vnto Christ I would it were enough also to perswade vs so to esteeme our selues as such grace requireth at our hands for what an improuement is this to our persons and what a remembrance should this be to euerie one to keepe his Vessell in honour but more of that anon I must first speake a little of the description of the Market it is in my Text called an House of Merchandize GOD that made vs Men made vs also sociable and vsed our wants as a Whetstone to set an edge vpon that propension but we should liue together as Merchants ordered by commutatiue Iustice whose Standard is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it requireth that men barter vpon euen tearmes otherwise one man will deuour another and the Common weale cannot continue To preuent this mischiefe GOD hath appointed distributiue Iustice the vertue of the Magistrate who dispencing praemium poenam Reward and Punishment should set euerie man a thriuing but suffer no man to thriue to the preiudice of others The euill of the dayes wherein we liue doe giue me occasion to complaine not onely that there is varietie of corruption in Trades dangerous because some are ouer-thriuing but also of the decay of Trades no lesse dangerous because there are so many thousands that haue no meanes to thriue at all Gouernours giue order for Houses of Correction and no doubt but if they were better vsed vagrants might be restrayned thereby but there must be moreouer an increase of Trades that must employ the Common-people multiplying as they doe in this blessed time of peace while the Gentleman depopulates the Countrey and the Vsurer and Victualer are become the chiefe Trades-men of Incorporations what wonder if contrarie to GODS Law and the Kings the whole Land be filled with miserable poore There is no true at least no full remedy for this euill but they to whom the care of distributiue Iustice is committed must reuiue and quicken the Commutatiue and make our Land according vnto that good opportunitie which GOD hath giuen vs an House of Merchandize This by the way vpon occasion of the phrase where out you may gather that in the Market the world taketh vp most of our thoughts and our dealing there is for worldly things Hauing sufficiently opened the description of the Temple and the Market The difference betweene them is euident to a meane conceit he will easily apprehend that the one place is Heauenly the other Earthly the one for the Communion of Saints the other for the Common-weale in the one place we need be no more then Men in the other we must shew our selues to be the Children of God And is it not a great fault to confound these things which GOD hath so distinguished Surely it is and it was the Iewes fault CHRIST doth open it as he doth forbid it for if we may beleeue the Rabbines the Law was pronounced in the eares of Malefactors while stripes were layed vpon their backes and it is most likely that while CHRIST expelled the Merchants with his whip he spake these words vnto them Make not my Fathers House an house of Merchandize Let vs come then to this Prohibition The best places are subiect to abuse Heauen was and so was Paradise no wonder then if the Temple be And seeing abuse can be excluded no where we must be watchfull euerie-where yea the better a place is the more doth the Diuel solicit vs to abuse it because he will doe GOD the more despite and worke man the more mischiefe Therefore the better the place is the more circumspect must we be It is a soule fault to dishonour GOD any where but specially in his owne House In estimating our owne wrongs we aggrauate them by this circumstance Esay 26 Ier. 11. and shall we neglect it when we ponder the sinnes we commit against GOD Nay rather the greatnesse of our contempt ariseth with the greatnesse of his Maiestie which appeareth in that place and the more gratious he sheweth himselfe there the more gracelesse are we if we yeeld him not a due regard Now what doth that due regard require at our hands Surely that we bring not so much as the world into the Temple we may not doe legitima in illegitimo loco saith St Austin we may not doe lawfull things in a place appointed for better vses Caelum est Caelum ingrederis Nilus the Temple is Heauen as you are taught before when thou entrest the Temple thou must suppose thou art entering into the Kingdome of Heauen Now in Heauen there is neither eating nor drinking marrying nor giuing in marriage buying nor selling therefore we must neither thinke of nor meddle with these things while we enter into that place 1 Cor. 11 Haue you not
hath liued a thousand yeares for he is readie for God and the longest time of our Pilgrimage if it be Methusalems age it can but make vs readie I will then enquire not how many dayes I haue spent but how much I haue profited profited in the waies of God And I haue profited so farre as to acknowledge that of my selfe I am but an vnprofitable seruant what I should I cannot doe but I doe that which I should not so that if I guesse at my readinesse by mine owne worth I am most vnreadie But I haue another valuation by my being in Christ my faith is stedfast in him my Hope hath cast an anchor in Heauen I feare not Gods iudgement against which my faith doth hearten mee I expect a Kingdome which my Hope doth promise mee And as for my loue though the world doth wooe me and my flesh doth often yeild to dally there with yet hath it none to whom it is deuoted with whom it is contented in comparison of God And what greater readinesse can I desire my Audit is made my arrerage paid I haue a Quietus est why doe I feare to come to my triall Nay the bargaine is made Heauen is purchased for mee I haue the Conueyance why doe I stay from taking possession Am I so senslesse as to affect the worse that am offered the better shall I dote vpon this house of clay my youth maketh it seeme better then clay though indeed it is no better a glased pitcher notwithstanding the lustre is but a pitcher and the verdure of youth is but a glosse set vpon a lumpe of earth cunningly wrought by the hand of the Potter age that weareth that glosse will discouer this clay And why should I murmure at God that is pleased to let me see quickly what in time I must needs see That I am brickle Neither am I onely brickle but the world is fraile also and all the things of this life whatsoeuer they promise they performe no perpetuitie to me Seing then sooner or later the world must leaue me and I must leaue the world let me leaue it rather sooner then later the lesse acquaintance the lesse griefe at the parting and indeed the longer I liue the more vnwilling shall I be to dye Now peraduenture I leaue behind me a father and a mother and leaue griefe vnto them for the losse of a child but I cannot so feelingly grieue as they when I depart from my parents because loue descendeth more then it ascendeth If I liue I may marrie and marriage doubleth the bitternesse of death when they that of two became one by death of one are made two againe And if God blesse me with posteritie how much more vnwilling shall I bee to die How hardly shall I indure to be rent from mine owne bowels I say nothing to the common infirmitie of Age which seemeth to haue appropriated vnto it selfe couetousnesse and who knoweth not how hardly the loue of money and death consort together But these are the weakest holdfasts that the world hath on me there are much stronger the hookes of sinne which where they catch so fasten euen vpon the Will which is in it selfe most free that it maketh men desire rather to bee slaues vnto Pharoah so they may feed on the flesh pots of Aegypt then to endure the difficult passage into Canaan though when they come there they shall be Princes of a land which floweth with milke and honie God then that knoweth what may alter me and of readie make me vnreadie dealeth more mercifully with me hee preuenteh that euill that might stay me from him and hauing prepared me calleth me vnto him Lord all seasons are in thy hand and thou hast appointed vnto me this season I blesse thee for it I submit my selfe to it if I bee ripe in thy Iudgement gather me though in mine owne Iudgement I am greene And thou which feest that although I now stand yet I may fall least I fall take me whilst I stand It doth not grieue me I am most willing to change earth for heauen to haue those windowes of my senses all broken downe that my Soule may be at libertie hauing no agent for the world to sollicite me from God I shall more freely more fully giue my selfe vnto him my vnderstanding to know him my heart to loue him and more shall I learne in one daies sight of God then in many thousand yeares I could haue gathered out of the Glasse of the world or Riddle of the Scripture And how base spectators are men on earth in comparison of the Saints in heauen who shall witnesse my seruice and behold my glorie Doe I loue my Parents I goe to better my best Father is in heauen and my best Mother is Hierusalem aboue the ioy that I foretaste for seeing them maketh me insensible of the heauie farewell I take of these I am not moued with their wealth which they haue stored vp for me and the land which they haue purchased is as nothing in mine eyes I shall haue a more induring substance a lot is fallen vnto me in a more pleasant place I haue a more goodly Heritage And why The Lord is the portion of mine Inheritance and of my cup the Lord maintaines my lot Lord then teach me so to number my daies that I may measure them by righteousnesse and let me so interpret this thy summons by death as a warning to take shelter before a storme Hasten me on by grace that I be not long on my way to heauen and in my way lest I decline shorten more and more my passage so shall I be as willing in this morning of my age as I should be in the euening thereof to change my state and come to thee to passe from earth to heauen * ⎠* The old Mans Meditation PSALME 91. VER 16. With long life will J satisfie him and shew him my saluation EVerie man if a child of God is a double man and so leadeth a double life and longeth for a double good a corporall a spirituall that hee may hold out long in regard of the life of nature and withall be ponest of the life of grace Thus doubly happie would euerie one be but it is not the portion of euerie one Many haue shortned either the one life or the other if they haue liued vnto God their dayes in the world haue beene but few and of those which haue liued many dayes in the world how few of them haue they liued to God O my Soule then how blest art thou whom God hath blessed both wayes Blest thee in thy naturall life thou art growne till thou art ripe blest thee in thy spirituall life thy eyes haue seene the saluation of God The greatest blessing that God bestoweth vpon earth he hath bestowed on thee thou hast experienced the truth of the Apostles speech Pietie hath the promise of this life and of that which is to come For this life God
temporall Iurisdiction should be swallowed vp in the Ecclesiastical State sauour not of the things of God but of the things of this world yea they sow dangerous seeds of discord betweene Princes and Pastors and seeke to breed iealousies vpon which what will follow but that the one will seeke to ruinate the other Christs Kingdome then is of his Church and it is a spirituall Gouernment of his Church Notwithstanding these words must not bee vnderstood exclusiuely as if Christ were so confined to his Church as that he had nothing to doe with those that were without the Church As King Dauid ruled in Israel but so that the Philistines Ammoniâ—es Moabites and all the bordering Countries were subiect vnto his Scepter and hee layd tribute vpon them and commanded them at his pleasure Euen so our Sauiour Christ not only ruleth in his Church but commandeth them also that are without it not onely men but euen the powers of Hell also He hath the keyes both of death and hell and euery knee boweth to him at of things in heauen and of things in earth so euen of things vnder the earth also And it is our comfort that hee which is our King hath so great a Power ouer our Foes the more power hee hath ouer them the lesse wee neede to stand in feare of them the more securely may wee obey him And so haue you heard of what sort Christs Gouernment is The next Point is Wherewith he sustaines this Gouernment it is here said that it shall be vpon his shoulders Morall Princes vnburden themselues vpon the shoulders of others the wits the power of their Officers in peace and warre doe beare vp the greatest part of their state It is not so with our King he beareth all himselfe euen when hee vseth meanes those meanes are but Instruments whose abilitie and efficacie are both from him The Minister speaketh words and dispenseth Elements but in vaine doth he both except Christ bee with him and his spirit make effectuall that which is done by him if there bee not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will be indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And what likelihood was there that a few Fishermen and those vnlearned should euer haue subiected the crownes of Princes the wits of Philosophers the stomacks of the Mighty the desires of the Ambitious finally all kinde of dispositions vnto the Scepter of Christ had not Christs spirit wrought with them A second thing that is to bee obserued in this Word is that as Christ is highest in degree so is hee deepest in care and so should Kings bee The Great world the Little world both preach this Lesson vnto temporal Kings The Great World hath many parts whereof it doth consist and of them one is placed aboue another The higher any part is placed the more it laboureth for the rest by motion and influence Witnesse the Sun the Moone the Starres compared to the inferiour Bodies all which labour for the Earth the basest of all In the Little World of our Body is not our Head set aboue our Hands and our Feete And how painefully doth the Eye watch the Eare heare and euery sense employ it selfe for the direction and preseruation of the Hands and Feete If it bee so in the Creatures that are destitute of Reason betweene reasonable Creatures it should bee much more so The Gouernour must lesse take his ease and lesse be idle than those which are gouerned nay his care his paine must farre exceede theirs he must partake of euery one of theirs Doe wee not see it so in our Body The hand hath his peculiar worke so hath the foote and euery other in feriour part employes it selfe about some particular function but the directiue and commanding parts in man are Architectonicall they resemble the Master of the works in a Building whose presence and guidance runneth through all the seuerall kinde of Labourers appointing what they must doe and caring that they doe it well whether they hew stones or lay them square timber or coâ—ple it whatsoeuer other worke is to bee done the Master hath though not his hand yet his head working with them No otherwise should the Magistrate carry himselfe in his charge nor be lesse prouident in the Common-weale the influence of his care must quicken must order must further whatsouer functions of the people and make them tend to the common good The 72. Psalme compares our Gouernour I meane Christ of whom this Text speaketh vnto a showre of raine and wee see that a showre of raine waters carefully all the plants of the fields the rose the lilly the violet the cedar and the pine all of them do fare the better for the watering of the raine And the grace of Christs spirit is no otherwise showred downe vpon euery member of the Church euery one is nourished therewith Malachie compares him to the Sunne he calleth him The Sun of Righteousnesse And who knoweth not how common the warmth of the Sunne is and how effectuall it is also The Raine yeelds matter to the earth but that it may become prouing matter the earth is beholding to the Sunne which workes the moisture and distributeth it through the whole body of the herbs and plants Christs grace supplyeth both Rain and Sunne from him wee haue both Posse and Velle nay the Apostle saith He worketh in vs both to will and to doe euen of his own good pleasure So that we may well say The Gouernment lyeth vpon his shoulders Vpon his shoulders Princes on earth beare the Ensignes of their Gouernment some in their hands as Scepters some on their heads as Crownes but Christ weareth his on his shoulders The Fathers generally vnderstand this of Christs Crosse some looking to the History related in the Gospell that Christ was made to bear his own Crosse vpon his shoulders when he went vnto his death which they say was prophesied of in the 95. Psalme Dicite in gentibus quia Dominus regnauit à ligno So saith St. Austin it was anciently read though it be not found so read now ordinarily in the Septuagint The Iewes in malice razed it out as hee thinkes But because the Hebrew Text hath it not wee neede not stand vpon so vncertaine a ground Wee may take a better eyther from the type of Aaron bearing the twelue Tribes ingrauen vpon his shoulders when he went into the Temple or from Eliakim Esay 22. vpon whose shoulders the key of the house of Dauid was layd or from the shepheard bearing the lost sheepe vpon his shoulders or if you will haue it of the Crosse take it from Christ himselfe speaking to the Disciples that went to Emmaus Ought not Christ to haue suffered these things and so to enter into his glory or from St. Paul also Christ triumphed ouer Powers and Principalities in his person but then when this Person suffered vpon the Crosse So that Christ reigned in his passion and because in his passion therefore had he his Gouernment