John 12.31 1 John 3.8 for this purpose the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil The works of the Devil are sin and death for by him came sin into the world and death by sin Again we are hereby freed from the punishment of sin which is death He did bear our griefs and carried our sorrows Isa 53. He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his striper we are healed He poured out â—is soul to death and bare the sin of many Now we are freed from the punishment of sin two wayes 1. Directly because his passion was a sufficient and superabundant satisfaction for the sins of the whole world Wherefore Thomas-Aquin Exhibita satisfactionâ— sufficienti tollitur reatus paenae saith Aquinas upon the exhibition of a sufficient satisfaction the punishment is quite taken away So that God cannot punish that again in his servant that he hath already punisht in his Son 2. Indirectly Ambros super Beati immacalati in as much as the passion of Christ is the cause of the Redemption of sin which is the cause of punishment Ille suscepit mortis servitutem ut tibi tribueret aternae vitae libertatem Moreover by the sufferings of Christ our reconciliation with God is wrought and our peace is made with him for ever We were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.10 and that two wayes 1. By removing of sin whereby we were made his enemies Ephes 5.2 2. By offering up himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Lastly hereby the gate of heaven is open for us We have boldness to enter into the holyest by the blood of Jesus Hebr. 10.19 for he went before us to prepare a place for us that where he is we might be also So that now he hath obtained for us eternal salvation By way of desert he hath deserved that by him we should be saved By way of satisfaction for the greatness of his love out of which he suffered for the dignity of his life which he laid down for us it was the life of God and man and for the generality and weight of sorrows and paines that he suffered for us hence he is a sufficient satisfaction called the Propitiation for our sins Heb. 9.26 Verse 15. At Paris ut vivat regnetque beatus cogi posse negat Hor. Epist 1. 1 Joh. 2.2 By way of sacrifice which was meritorious deserving life for whom he suffered death In the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself And by way of redemption for he was engaged for us and paid the utmost farthing for which end he was sent into the world God sent not his Son into the world to condemne the world but that the world through him might be saved Joh. 3.17 Saved from sin from the power of Satan from death Hence called our Redemption and we come to be at peace with God and in that peace we enter into heaven to be partakers of those joyes that are at Gods right hand for evermore Having waded thus farre I seale up this discourse with a pathetical conclusion in way of application O how far is the love of God extended to us miserable sinners He was provident before our fall to find out away whereby to be saved after we fell His Son must die to save us from death He must fall into the hands of sinners that we may not fall into the hands of Satan And if he have thus given us his Son how shall he not with him give unto us all things We may conclude for certain we shall want nothing for the furtherance of our salvation since that he with-held not his onely Son from us Let this love of God to us extract love from us to God As he bought us dear with the losse of his Son so must we think nothing too deare to part withal to gain our God We must be content to lose our life and all than to lose our God who is all in all for the gaining of life and all Seeing that Christ ought to have suffered for our sins we may well grieve that we should be the authors of his death and yet rejoyce that we have escaped Gods fearful vengeance by his sufferings Grieve then my beloved for your sins for which Christ died Royard in Postill and go and sin no more And let your soules magnify the Lord and rejoyce in God your Saviour Non gaudere ingratitudinis est non dolere crudelitatis saith Royard not to be glad for Gods mercy and Christ's love in redeeming us is a point of ingratitude not to grieve that we gave occasion of his death is a point of the greatest cruelty Let us then grieve together with him that we may reigne and rejoyce together with him Gods decree is unutterable he ordained that Christ should die and Christ did die He promist it and 't is fulfill'd He revealed it and 't is so come to passe He is as good as his word Heaven and earth shall passe away but not the least tittle of his word shall go unfulfilled What therefore soever God hath determined concerning any one shall certainly fall out so there is no avoidance What he hath denounced against sinners let them expect it for they shall surely have it Our God is a God of truth You may collect out of this discourse that Christ is a perfect and sufficient Redeemer Heb 10.14 on whom alone dependeth our salvation For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified As Moses said to the children of Israel the Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace So I may say that Christ onely fought for us we did nothing whereby to acquire a life that is endless Wherefore if we will be perfectly saved rely upon the Redeemer of Israel for he is onely the Captain of our salvation Look up as sometimes the Israelites on the brazen serpent upon him stretched out upon the crosse where he is ready to receive all that come unto him and beleeve in his name Caput Christi inclinatum ad osculandum cor apertum ad diligendum brachia extensa ad amplexandum totum corpus expositum ad redimendum August lib. de virginit he hath his head bended down to kisse you his heart opened to love and affect you his armes stretched forth to embrace you his whole body exposed to redeem you Consider of what great consequences these things are that Christ hath done for your soules weigh them in the ballance of your hearts Vt totus vobis figatur in corde qui totus pro vobis fixus fuit in cruce that he may be wholly fastned to you in your hearts who was wholly fastned for you on the crosse Let us go forth therefore unto
And therefore we will begin with Civil Peace The Heathen Philosopher tells us that man by nature is a sociable creature Arist Polit. because reasonable who indeed is rather so when guided by Religion for that labours to preserve unity which being broken society is dissolved Hence it is the speech of a Father Debemus ut corpori sanitatem puritatem cords sic fratri pacem We are indebted as to our bodies for health to our hearts for purity so for peace to our brother The noblest weapon man can conquer with is love and gentlest courtesie it gets the victory without ere a blow given Geometricians teach that Sphaerical bodies touch not but in puncto in a point Ram. Geomet and therefore more subject to fall Thus haughty spirits sweld up with over-weening self-self-love when they meet together by a proud touch soon over-turn one the other Whereas all of us great and small should be like hollow spheeres the one within the other the greater in love embracing the lesser Without peace the frame of nature cannot stand Mundus amissa pace Gregor Nazian mundus esse desinit saith Gregory Nazianzene the world which is chain'd together by intermingled love would all shatter and fall to pieces if charity would chance to die if peace were alwayes disturbed by discords Monarchies degenerate into Anarchies or Tyrannies Cities lie level with the ground Kingdomes are depopulated Nations wasted whose memories lie buried in the dust families consumed whose names are perished and glory rotted Whereas Peace that bringeth prosperity Salustius would have preserved all Concordia res parv◠crescunt discordia res magnae dilabuntur saith Salust It is the inscription of the Dutch coin verified in them little things by concord increase and grow great by discord great things become little and decline apace Scylurus the Scythian lying on his death-bed knew well the power of Peace by giving unto his sons a bunch of arrows to break which being bound fast together they could not do but being taken asunder they did with ease a witty Emblem of the strength of Peace wherewith the Gentiles were so much enamoured Cicero as that the Heathen Orator could say Iniquissimans pacem justissimo bello antefero in his opinion the unjustest Peace is to be prefer'd before the justest warre But I am not of his mind I know the Apostles limiting condition Rom. 12.18 If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men There must be nothing wanting that 's good on our part whereby either to procure or preserve Christian Peace Herein the Serpents wisdom and the Doves innocencie are to be inseperable We may not consent with any wherein they dissent from God for in so doing we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fight against God and work our selves to nothing Wherefore the Apostle writing to the Hebrews Heb. 12.14 joyns in his holy exhortation Holinesse and Peace follow peace with all men and holinesse without which no man shall see the Lord. Melior est talis pugna quae Deo proximum facit Gregor Nazian quà m pax illa quae separat à Deo infinitely better is that dissention which makes a man near to God than that Peace that separates from God for ever It is not the Peace the world giveth but that sacred Peace that God giveth we must embrace Wherefore saith the Apostle let the peace of God rule in your hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sit certaminis Moderator to the which also ye are called in one body Colos 3.15 Out of which words we may collect That a godly Peace is to be entertained Where we have the office of Peace to which we must submit our selves and that is to rule in our hearts and the motive thereunto which is twofold Gods Ordination and our spiritual affinity to which we are called in one body First It must rule in our hearts The heart is the proper seat of the affections Arist de Generet Corrups and if the Philosopher be to be credited it is the Metropolis of the soul If there be any combustion in man raised by the tumultuous passions of anger hatred malice and revenge it is begun in the heart there they have their habitation To aswage therefore the impetuous sury of these rebellious humours and to prevent the fearful mischief that comes by their unrulinesse the peace of God must bear sway there the whole man will be the better brought into good order when the heart is well governed and never till then Many may make a fair pretence of friendship but it is never unfeigned unlesse hearty the words of their mouth may be Psal 55.21 as the Psalmist speaketh smoother than butter but warre may be in their hearts their words may be softer than oyle yet may they be drawn swords Erasmus that cut smoothly Aliud corde aliud ore hypocritically and basely they think one thing they speak another Of this smooth-fac'd malice Nazianzene complains in his twelfth Oration Pax ab omnibus laudatur à paucis servatur Orat. 12. all praise peace but few keep peace Wherefore did peace but rule in the heart all heart-burnings and sullen contention would soone come to a final Period and all outside dissimulation would be quickly all out of fashion As we have seen the office of Peace note now the motive thereunto You are called unto it in one body When Christ came into the world he became the corner-stone that joyns Jew and Gentile together who before were divided for now both by him making up one mystical body according to that Ephes 2.14 He is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partion between us so that by this act Christ hath bound us all to the peace and to good behaviour that so we may keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace There is no member of the body that will do any ill office to any of his fellow-members so we being called to be members of the Church of Christ 1 Cor. 12.25 should make no division in the body but should all have the same care one of another This was Prophetically foretold by a pithie Embleme by beating of swords into ploughshares Isa 2.3 and spears into pruning-hooks in the time of the Gospel And it is notably prefigured by the peaceable habitation of wild beasts and tame together Isa 11.6 as the Wolfe and the Lamb the Leopard and the Kid the Calfe and the young Lion the Cow and the Beare It is a sweet harmony that the sympathy of affections and peace begets in us whom the Spirit unites together And in whom this sympathy and peace is not Aut stupida sunt membra Daven in Colosens aut ne omnino quidem membra hujus corporis cujus caput Christus saith Reverend Davenant either they are senceless and stupid members or no members at all of that
ye use the best means by an honest vocation to acquire what may be communicated to your wives necessity And thus much for the precept commanding love As love is enjoyned so is bitternesse prohibited The obligation that women have on men in wedlock is that they are bound to good-behaviour towards them Their conversation and society must be ever sweetned with the best delights that pious souls and affectionate hearts can afford This bitternesse that is to be abandoned doth discover it self in the 1. Affections 2. Speeches 3. Actions In the affections when men grounding an advantage on trifling matters take occasion to grow exasperate and harsh to the weaker vessels which frequently ends either in a deadly hatred or in a languishing and remisse love whereas our love ought to be the same still rather more than lesse like Christs love to his Church ever nourishing and cherishing it In speeches when mens words aim at the reproach and contumely of their wives A thing repugnant to peaceful content and wounds a tender nature worse than a sword and strikes deeper into the heart than poisoned arrowes to which reproachful language is by the Psalmist compared Rather than be of another temper moderate your passions and your tongues Pleasing words best befit those lips that often greet one another with an holy kisse Good words if there be but the least spark of grace extant in the heart will make them pliable to the utmost of your desires and their loves reciprocal In action there is a discovery of bitterness And that is when men shall bear an heavy and tyrannical hand over to their wives either by removing them from their oeconomical government or subjecting them unto their vassals or withdrawing from them what their necessity pleads for or the support of their dignity requires These are symptomes of no candid dealing And yet there is a worse expression of bitterness than all this which is when men through impatience shall lay violent hands upon them But for a man to use her discourteously with blowes whom he hath selected out of all the world to be his familiar causing her to forsake all friends for his sake is flat opposite to reason to amity to nature to civility To beat her is to beat himself than which there cannot be a more unreasonable unfriendly unnatural uncivil part Beside Eve was not made of the foot of man to be troden under but of the rib of man that he might hold her as dear as himself Right dear therefore unto you ought to be your wives upon whom the principal part of your temporal felicity hath certain dependance Love your wives and be not bitter unto them And thus much for the second head the head of the woman which is the man Having thus run over the reciprocal duties of man and wife a word and but a word of the third head And the head of Christ is God God is the head of Christ in regard of his 1. Divinity 2. Humanity In regard of his Divinity and that by eternal generation because he is the generative principle of the Son according to that nature he is God of very God being consubstantial and coessential with the Father So that here is a kind of subjection whence the Arrians assume an inequality of essence whose assumption is most blasphemously untrue for here is only a subjection in regard of order which imports no inequality of nature as the woman is not inferiour unto man in nature which is the same in both but in order only by divine constitution so neither Christ to God God is the head of Christ in regard of his humanity and that foure wayes 1. In respect of perfection the perfection of God is infinite the perfection of Christ as man proceeding from the Father is finite 2. In respect of eminency so God is above Christ as man as the Creator above the creature 3. In respect of influence all the divine graces in the humane nature of Christ were originally derived from God from whom every good and perfect gift doth descend 4. In respect of government for he was anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellowes whereby with the more alacrity he did the will of him that sent him He was fill'd full with the Holy Ghost and so fulfilled all righteousness And thus much concerning these three heads the head of the woman which is man the head of man which is Christ and the head of Christ which is God THE ROYAL REMEMBRANGER OR PROMISES Put in Suit PSAL. 132.1 Lord remember David and all his afflictions AS for the Penman of this Psalme who he should be Expositors aâ—e at variance notwithstanding we may with them are soundest safely Father it on the Father or the Son David or Solomon If on David as Lyra doth the Son put the Fathers work to the Fathers use Faelicis faelix filius ille patris if on Solomon he was thereby his own Fathers Son following his steps happy father happy son David loved God 1 King 2.3 so did Solomon David had a care to instruct his son in the wayes of God Solomon loved the Lord walking in the statutes of his father A president for Kings and their sons For Kings to bring up their sons in the fear of God 1 King 3.3 for Kings sons in the fear of God to obey the King their father Few Kings and few Kings sons are now adayes of this nature happy therefore are these Kingdomes of great Britaine and Ireland that have such a King the son of such a King witnesse daily experience God grant us to make good use of it Well then whether it be David or Solomon the father or the son which was the Author of this Psalm it matters not he was a King and inspired by God yet it seemes rather to be Solomon As for the title of this Psalme it is called Shir Hamagnoloth a song of degrees There is a new song Psal 33.3 there is a song of triumph or thanksgiving for deliverance past such as Moses song after the Israelites had passed through the red sea Exod. 15. Such a song was Deborah's and Baraks after they had delivered Israel from Jabin and Sisera Judg. 5. There is a song of mourning Such a song was Davids for Saul's death 2 Sam. 1. Such a song if we may call it a song is Jeremies Lamentation There is a song of loves whereof we may read Ezek. 33.32 there is a song of joyes such was Hannah's 1 Sam. 2. Such was Elizabeth's John's Mother such was Maries the Mother of Christ such was Zacharies Luk. 1. such was the Angels to the shepheards in the field such was old Simeons Luk. 2. There is Shir Hashirim 1 King 4.32 a song of songs which is Solomons Cant 1. this is but one of a thousand and five which he composed So here is Shir Hamagnaloth a song of degrees Here are fifteen songs of degrees following one the other which are so named
tam grave pendet onus Of this great wonder the Philosophers after much study can give no good reason because ignorant of this that God hath appointed it so to be Psal 104.5 Heb. 1.3 The Poets fable that Atlas beareth up heaven with his shoulders the Lord our God by his Word alone beareth up heaven and earth Non fundamentis suis nixa subsistit terra nec fulchris suis stabilis perseverat Ambros l. 1. Exam. c. 16. sed Dominus statuit terram fundamento voluntatis suae continet The earth hath no pillar God hath not hanged it upon any thing but himself who is indeed infinitely more than all things The greatness of this work of God saith Merlin appeareth hereby that men cannot spread aloft the thinnest curtain absque fulchris without some solid thing to uphold it and therefore this must needs be the finger of God and an Argument of his Almightiness That was an odd conceit of Plato's that the earth was a kind of living creature having stones for bones rivers for veins trees for hairs c. But that was worse of Aristotle teaching the worlds eternity The earth is the element which is so much beneath man that he treadeth it under his feet is called terra à terendo from breaking and wearing And yet this which is so trampled upon abideth when man passeth away Eccl. 1.4 The earth as a Stage whereon the several generations act their parts and go off as the center of the world and seat of living creatures it stands firm and unmoveable The earth standeth saith Hugo de sanct vict Vt venientes mittat In Eccl. Hom. 1. pertranseuntes portet discedentes recipiat To send away those people that come to bear those that are passing away and to receive those that are gone And God said Gen. 1.9 10. Job 26.7 Psal 104.5 Eccl. 1.4 Hebr. 1.3 Let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth He hangeth the earth upon nothing He hath laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed for ever The earth abideth for ever that is untill the end Vpholding all things by the Word of his power Earth-quakes These subterraneous thunders are caused say some when sulphureous and nitrous veins being fired upon rarefaction do force their way through bodies that resist them Where if the kindled matter be plentiful and the mine close and firm about it subversion of hills and towns doth sometimes follow if scanty weak and the earth hollow or porous there only ensueth some faint concussion or tremulous and quaking motion Others tell us for Philosophers dispute much about it this is the reason in nature When there is a strong vapour included or imprisoned in the bowels of the earth that vapour seeking vent maketh a combustion there and so the earth shakes Histories are full and many mens experience can give instances of such terrible shakings of the earth In the dayes of Vzziah King of Judah Antiq l. 9 c. 11. Amos 1.1 Zech. 14.5 so terrible was that earth-quake that the people fled from it Of the horror of it Josephus relateth and telleth us That half a great Hill was removed by it out of its place and carried four furlongs another way so that the High-way was obstructed and the Kings Gardens utterly marred At Bern Folan Syntag. 841. Anno 1584. near unto which City a certain Hill carried violently beyond and over other Hills is reported by Polanus who lived in those parts to have covered a whole village that had 90. families in it one half house only excepted wherein the Master of the Family with his Wife and Children were earnestly calling upon God At Plevres in Rhetia Alst Chronol Anno 1618. Aug. 25. the whole town was overcovered with a Mountain which with its most swift motion oppressed 1500 people In Herefordshire Camd. Brit. Anno 1571. A great hill lifted up it self with a huge noise carrying along with it trees flocks of cattel sheep-coats c. God by such extraordinary works of his sheweth his justice and displeasure against sin as also his special mercy to his praying people I will shake the heavens Isa 13.13 Psal 18.7 and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger Then the earth shook and trembled the foundations of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth Stones A stone is nothing but hardned earth and hath the properties of the earth out of which it is generated Viz. 1. Siâ—city Citiùs è Pumice aquam Prov. or dryness Hence it was a miracle to bring water out of the Rock 2. Frigidity or coldness As cold as a stone we say 3. Gravity or heaviness As it is nothing but a product of the earth so it hath an inclination to descend to fall downwards Stones are naturally scattered upon the face of the earth hindring Travellers One part of Arabia was called Arabia Petrâ—a because it was full of stones and so uneasie either for tillage or travel Lopis à ladeâ—do pede 〈◊〉 haber They lie naturally hidden in the bowels of the earth or under the earth and are a trouble to the husbandman in tilling the ground And they are so dangerous that the Latine word is derived from hurting the foot They sank into the bottom as a stone Exod. 15.5 Minerals Many precious things are digged out of the earth as Gold Silver Brass Effodiuntur oyes c. Iron c. which God hath there hid and men have found out Though the vein lie low and far out of sight yet Mortals are quickly become Metallaries Some of the Ancients have wished that we had never found out these metals Et Plutonem brevi ad superos adducturos because of the great abuse of them Strabo saith that Phaletius feared lest in digging for Gold and silver men would dig themselves a new way to Hell and bring up the Devil amongst them Some sâ—y that he haunteth the richest mines and will not suffer them to be searched sure it is that by the inordinate love of these metals he drowneth many a soul in perdition and destruction Remember we that these things though never so much admired are but that which the basest element yields the guts and garbage of the earth It is observable that God appointed the Snuffers and Snuff-dishes of the Sanctuary to be made of pure Gold to teach us to make no account of that that he put to so base offices and is frequently given to so bad men Yet there is no hurt in having these metals so they have not us and get within us so we make not our gold our God saying to the fine gold Thou art my confidence Crates the Theban Philosopher is said to have cast his gold into the Sea to avoid as he pretended the hurt it doth man-kind saying Ep. ad Julian
Actus voluntatis à voluntate producitur sed à ratioue suadetur Vives l. de anima is unto the will and affections as the eye to the body the Captain to the soldiers the Pilot to the ship the eye be dark the body walks blindly if the Captain be ignorant the soldiers march disorderly if the Pilot be unskilful the ship sails dangerously So whilst the will and affectiors do follow such a blind ignorant and unskilful guide as the natural understanding is in supernatural things how can they walk without falling march without disorder or fail without danger of drowning The actions of the Will are In civilibus libera sed non in spiritualibus velle nolle But tota voluntas aversa à Deo Phaedra confessed to her Nurse Quae lequeris vera sunt sed furor suggerit sequi pejora Senec. Scotus compares the Will of man to an Horse at liberty and the Grace of God to the Rider By mans fall the Will lost not its nature but was changed in quality Sent. l. 1. distinc 17. therefore as the Horse can run freely without a Rider so can the Will of man move freely without the assistance of Gods saving grace but 't is a wild race being unbridled But once brought to conformity by Gods Spirit directing 't is like the Optick nerves which be whole at the roots though one of the branches be perished Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psal 110.3 Phil 2.13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Note here that Passions are motions of the sensitive appetite stirred up by the apprehension either of good or evil in the imagination working some outward change in the body They are so called to put a difference betwixt them and the Faculties of the soul which are naturally inbred in it and betwixt the Habits which are infused and acquired and also always alike and permanent To enumerate some Love Amor est voluntariâ—s quidam affectus quà m conjunctissimè re quae bona judicatur fruandi A passion or affection in the concupiscible appetite that it may enjoy the thing which is esteemed to be good as neer as it can Austin shews when our love is inordinate thus Diligens non diligenda an t aequè diligens quod minus vel amplius diligendum est aut minus vel amplius quod aequè diligendum est contra or dinem charitatis diligit That is He that loveth things that are not to be beloved or loveth things equally which are less or more to be beloved or loveth less or more that which is equally to be beloved He loveth not as he should love Hatred Est quo voluntas resilit ab objecto disconvenienti vel ut disconvenienti A turning of the concupiscible uppetite from that which is evil or esteemed evil Opposed to Love Joy Turk hist fol. 750. A passion arising from the sweetness of the object which we enjoy It is storied of one Sinan a Jew that he was so overjoyed with the sudden and unexpected return of his son whom he had for many years before given over as lost that in embracing of him he fainted and so presently for joy died Grief A passion of the soul which ariseth from a discontment that we have received from the objects contrary to her inclination Or a natural affection whereby the heart is grieved in respect of some evil thing which troubleth us A Painter diversly and by degrees presenting the sorrow of the Parents and friends of Iphygenia when she was sacrificed when he came to her Father he painted him with his face covered as confessing his Art not sufficient to express in the visage a grief of that degree Jactant Stoici 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu indolentiam And amongst the Thracians Sorrow was accounted so effeminate a passion that they adorned those Men that mourned like Women Fear A certain natural affection whereby men are stricken by reason of some dangerous and hurtful evil either true or imagined This cowardly passion when inordinate expectorates and exposes a man to many both sins and sufferings The Camelion is said to be the most fearful of all creatures and doth therefore turn himself into so many colours to avoid danger which yet will not be Anger It is a passion of the mind for wrong offered It differeth from Hatred for Anger seeks revenge sub ratione justi vindicativi but Hatred is ira invâ—terata Austin compares Anger to a more in a mans eye but Hatred to a beam Ira utendum est ut milite vel satellite non ut duce Arist Memory Memory is the Souls storehouse there we lay up observations Memoria rerum prateritarum being ararium animae There is a double act of it 1. Ut fideliter conservat 2. Vt promptè reddat and from thence we setch them out as occasions invite Our Memory naturally is like filthy Ponds wherein Fish die soon and Frogs live long Rotten stuff is remembred memorable mercies are forgotten Hence we that should be Temples of Gods praises are as graves to bury his benefits Most men write Injuries in marble Courtesies in the sand What 's bad they can retain sufficiently but in matters of God their memories serve them not Most men have Memories like Nets that let go the clear water and catch nothing but slicks and refuse stuff Or like Sieves that retain the chaff and let go the corn Or like the creature Cervarius that if he but look back forgets the meat he was eating though never so hungry and seeks for new Or Sabinus in Seneca who never in all his life could get by heart these three names of Homer Vlysses and Achilles The Cabalists until of late time wrote not but taught and learned by mouth and diligent hearing of their Rabbins committing things to memory Memory is like the leafs of books which being seldom used do cleave together The Soul should be as an holy Ark the Memory as the Pot of Manna preserving holy truths for holy uses Therefore every Scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 13 5â— is like unto a man that is an housholder which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old Conscience Conscience is Gods Spy and Mans Overseer It is called Conscientia saith Bern. quasi cordis scientia For Scientia is when the heart knows other things Conscientia quando cor novit se In Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Conscientia a joint knowledge or a knowledge with another Either cum alio that is with the High and Eternal God for none besides God and a mans own self hath an immediate knowledge of himself Or rather scientia cum alia scientia there is a knowledge whereby we know that we know and that is Conscience Damascen defines it thus It is lex nostri intellectus And certainly
Miln turned about with the wheel of Time the covetous man is Sampson toiling for each corn not seeking because not seeing the things of above Nay this unhappy wretch is like the Miln-wheel which all the day long turns about and at night remains in the same place Covetousness brings nought home at last It is written of the fish Scolopendrae that having suckt in the fishers hook that sowre-sweet morsel She hath a rare trick to rid her from it For instantly she all her guts doth vomit Tarpëia daughter to the chief Keeper of Romes Capitol Goâ—â—â— An t â— is said to betray it into the enemies hand bargaining to have for this treason all the golden Bracelets upon her enemies left hands who when they were admitted did cast not only their Bracelets but Bucklers upon her through the weight whereof she was pressed to death Servas pecuniam Cypâ— â—â—em quae te servata non servat Possidere se credunt qui potius possidentur nec ad pecuniam suam domini sed magis pecuniae mancipati Sequi Chriftum quomodo possunt qui patrimonii vinculis detinentur Needless it was Babington in Genâ—s and but a Philosophical folly or pang that Crates cast his money into the Sea and said Ego te mergam ne mergar à te For wealth and godliness may meet But take heed and beware of Covetousness Covetousness is to be hated Quid non mâ—rtaâ—ia pectora câ—git Auri sacra fames Quae reverentia leoum Quis metus aut pudor est unquam properantis avari because it is 1. A sin against nature making our soul terrene which should be celestial 2. The procurer of a curse Wo tâ— them that join house to house 3. The root of many evils 4. A besotting sin Thou fool 5. A leader into snares which drown men in destruction and perdition Let your conversation be without covetousness Hebr. 13.5 Love Gods love to Man The beloved Disciple tells us God is love 1 Joh. 4.16 So he is four ways 1. Substantialiter Qâ—icquiâ— in Deo Dâ—us est Alst Not that we should think him to be a quality who is a living substance but There is nothing in God but God God is not accidentally but substantially good 2. Causaliter We love him because he first loved us Magnes amoris amor Love is both the loadstone and whetstone of love Our love is but the reflex of his 3. Activè loving all that he made Man especially The ground of this love being wholly in himself 4. Passivè Being lovely and most worthy to be beloved O taste and see that the Lord is good Psal 34.8 Mans love to God When the subject of our hatred is sin it cannot be too deep and when the object of our love is God it cannot be too high Too many love God as men the Physician Non propter se sed propter sanitatem Love all but God above all Ordo charitatis est ama post Deum Patrem This is Loves method first love God then our Kindred And if it happen that God and they come in competition Odium in suos pietas in Deum est then hatred to Kindred is piety to God Pilate that for love of men condemned Christ did kill himself Judas that for love of money betrayed his Lord hang'd himself and Julian's Treasurer that for Julian's love did leave Christ did vomit blood and die suddenly So let all thine enemies perish O Lord. Say not because we are commanded to love God with all our mind soul and strength therefore it is not lawful to love any thing else For we answer We may love something praeter Deum sed omnia propter Deum We may love other things beside God if we love them in and for God Christ will have of his Church her first love just love and onely love Therefore she is called his Turtle-dove for as that bird hath but one mate so the Church must have God only for her Love Love makes Christs yoke easie and his burden light Ovid. Chrysol Solus amor nescir difficultates Yea Love makes men Martyrs for God Audacâ—m faciebat amor God had rather men should love than fear him to be called Father than Master O love the Lord all ye his Saints Psal 31.23 I will love thee O Lord my strength Psal 18.1 Mans love to Man Why we should love one another this one briefly and pithily expresseth thus 1. Dilecti diligamus We are loved our selves therefore let us love 2. Disâ—â—â—oâ— diligamus they are beloved whom we are charged to love 3. Yea Diligentes diligamus they also love God and us whom God commands us to love S. John proves the necessity of loving one another 1 Joh. 4.11 in these words viz. If God then first so loved us then ought we also to love one another Wherein he comprehends four Arguments If God who is Maker of heaven and earth Lord of all and therefore our Governor and Superior loved us base creatures then much rather should we who are equals love one another If God first loved us then ought we to love one another It is the best motive to love to perceive that we are loved God loved us freely But it is also necessary we should love one another 1. Necessitate praecepti because he hath commanded us to love them 2. Necessitate naturae for nature compels us The Pythagorians as Plutarah reports if they were angry one with another never slept till they had shâ—â—â—en hands And Pliny reports of two goats which meeting on a narrow bridge Honor may be honored but Love will be abused 1 Cor. 13.7 so that they could not pass both together and yet were not able to turn The one lay down and let the other pass over his back Indeed we are ready enough to tread on one anothers backs but to bear one anothers necessities we are unwilling 3. Necessitate gratiae Love is a vertue so necessary that a Christian cannot be without it The Apostle reasons from the extent If God so loved us that is so well so truly and sincerely as he could not but do Qui est summum bonum verunâ— illud unicum est and so much even so that he sent his onely begotten Son that he should die for our sins Then ought we in some measure to love one another It is a sure signe we love God when we love our brethren For suth one elegantly As lines in a circle drawn from the center to the circumference the neerer they come to the center from whence they proceeded the neerer needs must they come one to another and the farther off they go from it the more are they distant one from another So Christians the neerer they come to God that indivisible Center of whom and to whom are all things Rom. 11.36 in their love the neerer must they needs come in affection one to another and the farther they go from him in
to the lustre or brightness in gold Godliness to the weightiness or that propension in it which in the motion of it carries it toward the center Holiness respects the nature and quality of the action and engageth to a serious and zealous rectitude in these Godliness respects the end of the action and carries the agent in his intentions herein upon God Besides they are different in their nature in that Holiness is ascribed to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but never Godliness He is often said to be holy never godly And the holy Apostle exhorts to these as to two several graces 2 Pet. 3.11 Yet they are never divided in their subject For the holy man is stirred up of God to make God and his glory the soveraign end of all his ways which is Godliness To promote Holiness in the world God useth various engines viz. Precepts or commands Lev. 11.44 45. Motives and arguments 1. God himself is holy and he would have men communicate with him in his darling attribute 2. Men and women are brought into a capacity of being holy by the death of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.17 3. God hath made many great and precious promises unto it wherein he stands engaged to the sons and daughters of men 2 Cor. 7.1 4. God is unable to bear the world in an aversness from holiness Heb. 1.14 5. The beauty and glory of it hence often called by that name 2 Cor. 3.18 Eph. 5.27 6. The peace it brings 7. And joy it begets Examples The Scripture in the memory of those that were holy seems to embalm them with honour to posterity on purpose that being preserv'd the world by them might learn and follow holiness in all succeeding generations It hath the superscription express and image of the glorious God upon it What manner of persons ought we to be 2 Pet. 3.11 in all holy conversation and godliness Civility As there are some things that glister but are not true Gold so some things shining which are not true Grace Civility and Morality are far from true Sanctity Yet herein it is not only possible but easie to mistake Learn therefore to difference them Civility and Morality hath respect only to the outward carriage and comportment but true Sanctity hath respect chiefly to the heart searching into the secret corners the very spirit of the mind So did good David when he prayed Cleanse thou me from secret faults That teacheth a man to avoid gross vices notorious offences scandalous enormities But it is only Holiness which causeth a man to make conscience of the least sins as well as the greatest Serm. 1. de Sp. â— To which Bernard saith excellently Hanc sollicitudinem non facit nisi Spiritus Sanctus qui ne minimam paleam intra cordis quod possidet habitaculum patiatur residere Holiness inlightens a man to look on the same sins which Morality and Civility discovereth with another and a cleerer aspect since whilst the Civil person only abhors them as enemies to his good name and the Moralist as repugnant to reason the Holy man loaths them as breaches of Gods law and offences to his Majesty Thus repenting David and the returning Prodigal looked upon their sins as against and before God Psal 51.4 Luk. 15.21 Civility restraineth sin but Holiness conquereth it Civility lesseneth the actings yet taketh not away the power whereas Holiness though not all at once yet by degrees subdueth the power of corruption Lastly This is the peculiar efficacy of true Holiness that it doth not only irradiate the understanding but inflame the will and affections with a love to God and zeal for his glory In which respect it is that they whom Christ purifieth to himself a peculiar people are said to be zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 The soul hath her senses as well as the body and these must be exercised Heb. 5.14 A Bristol-Stone looks like a Diamond We had need to try the things that differ that we be not cheated and so undone as many a man is by purchasing a counterfeit commodity at an unreasonable rate This I pray Phil. 1.9 10. that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment That ye may approve things that are excellent Honesty By it generally all kind of duties are signified which men are mutually to practise one towards another without doing any uncomely or wicked thing An honest man had rather complain than offend and hates sin more for the indignity of it than the danger He hath but one heart and that lies always open All his dealings are square and above board he bewrays the fault of what he sells and restores the owner gain of a false reckoning He esteems a Bribe venemous and only to be gilded over with the colour of a Gratuity When his name is called in question his Innocency bears him out with courage His Conscience over-ruleth his Providence Finally he hates falshood worse than death He is a faithful client of Truth No mans enemy and it is a question whether more anothers friend or his own But contrariwise too many are like the Dragons of Armenia that have cold bodies and yet cast fire out of their mouths Like the Sea-fish which gapes as if she would swallow up the Ocean but being ript up and her entrails opened there is no water found in her belly Christians in shew Devils indeed In all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 Liberty Deus operatur omnia in omnibus necessitate infallibilitatis non coactionis Zanar Metaph. Deus efficaciter in homine libero operatur sed tantùm abest quòd hac efficatia tollat libertatem quòd magis eam ponit voluntas non potest cogi servata sua natura Quia eâ—si Deus potest cogere voluntatem meam ut lucrem poenas meorum delictorum tamen hoc non esset ex vi meae voluntatis nec ex coactione intrinsica libera sed ex violentia intrinsicâ— impellentis Deus autem agere solet per concursum influxum naturam agentem modificantem ideo ei non infert violentiam Liberè operari dicitur dupliciter 1. Quoad electionem sic est libera quia potest eligere non eligere 2. Quoad executionem sic potest impedire ab extrinsico per multa impedimenta Quod probatur locis multis Scripturae Cor hominis disponat viam suam sed Domini est dirigere gressus ejus In homine reperitur triplex libertas 1. Prima dicitur libertas à culpa quia in libertate natura est non peccare 2. A poena quia possumus evadere angustias mala quibus premimur 3. A coactione in electione quia possumus liberè eligere Duas priores libertates per peccatum primi parentis amisimus si stemus in puris naturalibus solùm tertia libertas remanet Bern. de grat lib. arbitr Liberty though but bodily is such an inestimable good thing
whereby we are become dead and buried with Christ Rom. 6.3 4 6. This Ark in the judgment of all Interpreters was a type of the Church The Ark was made after God's appointment not Noah's So the Church must be framed by God's will not by man's All were drowned that were not in the Ark So all regularly are damned that are not in the Catholick Church The Ark was neer drowning yet never drowned So the Church may be brought to a low ebbe yet it shall continue still There was in the Ark good and bad clean and unclean So we must never dream to have all holy and sanctified persons that be in the Church In the Ark there were divers mansions and rooms some for men some for beasts And In my Fathers house there are many dwelling places Noah and his family were saved in the Ark yet with much ado they endured much they were in continual danger they passed through many difficulties the smell of beasts little outward light the Ark ready to rush on rocks and mountains So the children of God shall be saved yet through many tribulations Lastly the Ark had but a few in it eight persons yet there was the Church Universality is no necessary note of a Church Christs flock is but a little flock The Ark was prepared 1 Pet 3.10 wherein few that is eight souls were saved by water Ark of the Covenant The Ark is a representation of the Church It was a chest or cabinet wherein to keep the two Tables of the Law Exod. 25. which above all other things must have the Law of God in it Signifying also thereby that Christ is the end of the Law covering the imperfection of our works It had upon it a Crown of Gold to set forth the Majesty of Christ's Kingdom or the eternity of his Deity which as a crown or circle had neither beginning nor end It was transportative till settled in Solomon's Temple So till we come to heaven shall we be in a continual motion It was a visible signe of God himself among them and therefore carried with staves that it might not be touched for reverence sake It was made of Shittim wood which corrupteth not Christ's body could not putrify in the grave c. In a word the several coverings did tipyfy Christ covering the curses of the law in whom is the ground of all mercy Which things the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temple It was exceeding famous Called The Temple of the Lord. Jerem. 7.4 The place where Gods name was 1 King 8.29 The holy and beautiful house Isa 64.11 Gods resting place 2 Chron. 6.41 The mountain of the Lord. Isa 2.3 The desire of their eyes Ezek. 24.21 The house of God Eccles 5.1 David had told Solomon the house he builded for the Lord Si Palatia Principum si aedes privatorum ornamenta sua habent quid in Templa Alsted Architec c. 9. must be exceeding magnifical of fame and of glory through all countreys 1 Chro. 22.5 There were 153â—00 men employed about the work of the Temple 1 King 5. The glory and stateliness of it you may read Cap. 6. It was known far and neare hence it was prophesied Psal 68.29 Because of thy Temple at Jerusalem shall Kings bring presents unto thee It was divided into three parts The Court of Israel the court of the Priests and Gods Court Hence Jeremy the Prophet thrice rehearses these words The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord Cap. 7.4 In the third court or Sanctum sanctorum the Lord did shew himself in a special manner unto the High-Priest once in the year The Temple was built of huge stones as may appear Mark 13.1 I conceive this is meant of the latter Temple re-edified by Zerubbabel Josephus writeth of them that they were fifteen cubits long twelve high and eight broad and so curiously cemented as if they had been inocculated one into another that a man would have thought they had been but one entire stone Quasi tota moles ex unico ingenti lapide in tantam magnitudinem consurgeret But there 's no trusting to forts and strong holds no though they be the munitions of rocks as Isaiah speaketh The Jebusites that jeared David and his forces were thrown out of their Zion Babylon that bore her self bold upon her twenty yeares provision laid in for a siege and upon her high towers and thick walls was surprized by Cyrus So was this goodly Temple by Titus He left onely three Towers of this stately edifice unrazed to declare unto posterity the strength of the place and valour of the vanquisher But sixty five yeares after Elius Adrianus inflicting on the rebelling Jews a wonderful slaughter subverted those remainders and sprinkled salt upon the foundation Hence was fulfilled the presage of our Saviour feest thou these great buildings there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down Mark 13.2 Quod vero Templum habere poscit Deus cujus Templum totus est mundus Cyprâ—dâ— Idóll van Dr. Sibbs c. in nostro dedicandus est monte in nostro consecrandus est pectore And certainly next to the love of Christ in dwelling in our nature we may wonder at the love of the Holy Ghost that will dwell in our defiled souls Delicata res est Spiritus Sanctus Let our care be to wash the Pavement of this Temple with our teares to sweep it by repentance to beautify it with holinesse to perfume it with prayers to deck it with humility to hang it with sincerity The Holy Ghost will dwell in a poor so it be a pure house Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God Which Temple ye are 1 Cor. 3.16 17. First-fruits The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God Exod. 23.19 The import of it seems to be this that the best yea and the best of the best is not to be held too good for God Thus saith the Lord I remember thee the kindnesse of thy youth Jer. 2.2 the love of thine espousals c. Circumcision De circumcisione Praeputii Aurium Labiorum cordis manuum pedum reliquorum membrorum Orig. Hom. 3. in Genes It was the seal of the covenant to the people of God Gen. 17.10 It was also to them a signe of the mortification of the old man and the resemblance holds well for 1. As in outward circumcision the fore-skin by which was signified natural pollution was cut off so by repentance the inward and spiritual circumcision our corruption is cut off from the heart and taken away 2. The body bled in that in this the heart in a spiritual construction And thus outward circumcision was but a signe of the inward that of the body did signify that of the soul the
the conscience of his faithfulnesse herein being more sweeter as it is more secret In favours done his memory is frail in benefits received never failing He is the joy of life the treasure of earth and no other than a good Angel cloathed in flesh It is said of Augustus that he was ad accipiendas amicitias rarissimus ad retinendas verò constantissâ—mus Euripides saith that a faithful friend in adversity is better than a calme sea to a storm-beaten Marriner The world is full of Jobs comforters and friends miserable ones who instead of comforting reproach vizarding themselves under the cloke of amity when their hearts are no better than lumps of hypocrisie But true friendship is Hercules knot indissoluble And like Mercuries staâ—â—e whereon are placed two snakes both the male and the female alwayes clipping and clasping together One asking a poor man how he would prefer his children his answer was Zenophon Cyrus is my friend But O happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help Psal â—46 5 and whose hope is in the Lord his God Kisse To kisse noteth 1. Worship and service 1 Kings 19.18 2. Duty and obedience Psal 2.12 3. Love and affection As a sign of unity and onenesse Salute one another saith Paul with an holy kisse Rom. 16.16 As it is the fashion among us for men meeting with their friends to shake hands So was it among the Jewes as appears by many places in both Testaments for men to kisse men at meeting and parting The Apostle intends a true conjunction of minds and affections forgetting all former offence This Peter calleth the kisse of charity and Austin Osculum columbinum the Dove-like kisse But there are unholy kisses The unchast kisse of the Harlot The idolatrous kisse of the Israelites to Baal The flattering kisse of Absolom and the trayterous kisse of Joab and Judas Above all its good to kisse him in whose lips grace is seated Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth Cant. 1.2 for thy love is better than wine Enemie Wisdom tells us it is good to keep a bit in the mouth of an enemie but much more of our spiritual enemies Fury fights against the soul like a mad Turk Fornication like a treacherous Joab it doth kisse and kill Drunkennesse is the master-gunner that sets all on fire Gluttony will stand for a Corporal Avarice for a Pioner Idlenesse for a Genleman of the company And Pride must be a Captain Let us therefore put on our spiritual armour To love our enemies is a hard task but Christ commands it and it must be done be it never so contrary to our foul nature The spirit that is in us lusteth after envy but the Scripture teacheth better things and God giveth more grace This is our Saviours Precept and this was his practice He melted over Jerusalem the slaughter-house of his Saints and himself Called Judas friend Prayed Father forgive them And did them all good for bodies and souls And all his children in all ages of the Church have resembled him Abraham rescueth Lot that had dealt so discourteously with him Isaac forgives the wrong done him by Abimelech and his servants and feasteth them Jacob was faithful to Laban who changed his wages ten times and alwayes for the worse Joseph entertained his malicious brethren into his house Elisha provides a table for them that had provided a grave for him And Stephen prayes heartily for his persecutors Lord lay not this sinne to their charge and prevailed as Austin thinketh for Pauls conversion In doing some good to our enemies we do most to our selves for God cannot but love in us that imitation of his mercy who bids his Sun to shine on the wicked and unthankful also Love your enemies Mat. 5.44 blesse them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you c. Read Rom. 12.20 21. Money It was and still is a common medler It is the worlds great Monarch and bears most Majesty What great designs did Philip bring to passe in Greece by his gold The very Oracles were said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to say as Philip would have them Antipater non tenuis fuit pecuniae ideo praevalidae fuit potentiae saith Egesippus he was a well-monyed man and therefore a mighty man But what security is in money Doth the Devil balk a lordly house as if he were afraid to come in Dares he not tempt a rich man to lewdnesse Let experience witnesse whether he dare not bring the highest gallant both to sin and shame Let his food be never so delicate he will be a guest at his table and perhaps thrust in one dish at his feast Drunkenness Satan will attend him though he have good servants Wealth is no charm to conjure away the Devil such an Amulet and the Pope's Holy-water are both of a force An evil conscience dares perplex Saul in the throne and a Judas with his purse full of money Can a silken sleeve keep a broken arm from aking then may a full barn keep an evil conscience from vexing Hell-fire doth not favour the rich mans limbs more than the poor's Dives goes to hell out of his purple-robes to flames of the same colour The frogs dare leap to King Pharaoh's chamber into his sumptuous pallaces The rich Worldlings live most miserably slav'd to that wealth whereof they keep the key under their girdle Esuriunt in Popina They starve in a Cooks shop The Poet tells us that when Codrus his * A little cottage in the forrest house burns he stands by and warms himself knowing that a little few sticks straw and clay with a little labour can rebuild him as good a tabernacle But if this accident light upon the Usurers house distraction seiseth him withall he cries out of this Chamber and that Chest of this Closet and Cabinet Bonds and Mortgages Money and Plate Strabo saith That Phaletius feared lest in digging for Gold and Silver Effodiuntur opes c. men would dig themselves a new way to Hell Plutonem brevi ad superos adducturos And bring up the Devil among them Gold is that which the basest yield the most savage Indians get servile Apprentices work miserable Muckworms admire and unthrifty Ruffians spend Yet the danger is not in having gold and silver so as these metals have not us Minut. Octav. so as they do not get within us But that is too often verified of which an Antient complaineth and not without cause Divites facultatibus suis alligatos magis aurum consuevisse suspicere quâ—m coelum That rich men mind Gold more than God and Money more than Mercy If wealth be wanting they sit down in a faithless sullen discontent and despair And if they have it they rise up in a corky frothy confidence that all shall go well with them Money answereth all things Eccl. 10.19 Clothing
given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Oh the unsearchable depth of my loving Saviour's love and the infinite value of my Redeemer's death upon whom fell the chastisement of our peace and on whom the Lord laid the iniquity of us all Oh who would not in a full eareer run and leap out of himself into the bosom of my crucified Lord in whose arms we may receive the solacing embracements of his infinite love None but he can bring us unto God for none but he can grant rest unto our souls As I live I will never seek any other Peace-maker among Angels or Saints in heaven or earth to make my peace with Heaven than him that is the King of the Saints Who though he accounted it no robbery to be equal with God yet for our sakes for my sake did humble himself to death even to the death of the Cross whereby having made our peace be hath freed us from all that 's ill and hath made us partakers of all that 's good He hath freed us from all that 's ill The blessed fruit of an happy peace is a well grounded security which whosoever is at peace with God enjoys Num. 17.23 enjoys a safe protection under his wings Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob neither is there any divination against Israel Subtilty cannot prevail against those whom the Lord hath resolved to bless nor power overcome whom the Lords stretched out arm will support What forces of arms of the mightiest man can resist the powerful arms of the Almighty or what wisdom of the wisest worldling can oppose the wisdom of the wisest God And if all these fail what can the Accuser of the brethren invent whereby to bring us into condemnation The Serpents head is bruised by the Womans Seed and Sin hath lost its sting for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Condemnation nor separation from the love of God Satan and the world may assault but with little good success The flesh and sin may labour to entice us but to little purpose Death and the grave may seise upon us but 't is but for a short time In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us And thanks be to God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Forasmuch then as that the Lord hath troden the wine-press of his Fathers wrath alone to free us from all ill Be ye oh be ye who are the Lords redeemed cautelous and circumspect in your conversation that by the errors of your ways and continual transgressions you incense not his wrath against you nor provoke the eyes of his glory Sudden destruction will assuredly surprise that soul that sin keeps at odds with God and Hell gapes wide open for such as will not be reclaimed It was Joram's proposition to Jehu Is it peace And it was Jehu's reply to Joram What peace so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jesabel and her witchcrafts are so many Out of doubt while we persist in wickedness adultery idolatry pride avarice sacriledge extortion oppression bribes perjury I might be endless we cannot be at peace with God and therefore lie ever open to the shot of general dangers As we are unfit through our obliquities to press into Gods presence here so is it impossible for us keeping the same path to be admitted into his glotious presence hereafter or to escape that deserved vengeance that comes swiftly from him to whom vengeance belongeth that driveth more furiously than did Jehu the son of Nimshi Break off then your sins to be at peace with God and Gods peace be with you So shall you receive large immunities as to be free from all ill so to be partakers of all good which is the second effect of this peace The largeness of my Gods bounty and my Saviours merits are not to be comprehended by humane capacity it is infinite Ponder the Apostles reason for this ample favour extended unto us and then let our souls rejolce Gods liberality is propounded in this wise He that spared not his own Son Rom. 8.32 but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things It cannot enter into my head to conceive how that the Lord will withhold what tends to our felicity being he gruâ—g'd not to give us what he loved best his onely Son He gave him without our demand and will therefore give all things without our desert What Paul said to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 3. I say to you that are reconciled to God All things are yours whether things present or things to come and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's The Lord giveth grace and glory saith the Psalmist Grace here Glory elswhere In a peaceable Commonwealth all things flourish men do plentifully enjoy themselves and plenty of all things without interruption whereas the discord and dissentions of factious Licentiates by rebellion against their Prince lays a gap open for ruine to enter upon them So when upon our address to God we have obtained a peaceable condition when we have laid down our arms or weapons intending no more to sight against Heaven when the Mediator of the New Testament by interposing himself betwixt God and us hath concluded an everlasting and unchangeable peace then then in very deed no good thing will be denied us There is no want to them that fear him Psal 34. This is most true For by this peace we are adopted the sons of God and heirs of glory whereby there is conveyed unto us by the eternal constitution of the Possessor of all things a just title to all things to blessings both temporal and eternal the treasures of his graces are conferred upon us the storehouse of his riches is ever open to us and the pure crown of immortality and royal diadem of glory is laid up for us For us who shall depart in peace according to Gods word and whose eyes shall see his salvation One word to you to whom a sinful life is far more pleasing than that that befits a Christian's Your iniquities separate between your God and you and deprive you of all that 's good I call you from Isaiah what he did from the Lord Children of transgression and a seed of falshood whose end cannot be good whilst you walk in those crooked paths wherein whosoever goeth shall not know peace Rectifie your ways alter your wild courses conform your selves to the will of God your Creator accept the Covenant of peace and live accordingly so shall your souls live Isa 55.7 Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Then blessed shall ye be in the city and blessed shall ye be in the field blessed shall ye be in the
body whereof Christ is the head Be we then exhorted as sensible of being in the presence of God to the love one of another which as learned Scaliger defines it Appetitus unionis Scaliger Exercitation a desire and inclination to a quiet union Charity is the soveraign preservative of peace and nothing makes us more like God than it saith one As all things are fill'd with his goodness so the universal is partaker of the good mans spreading love Let me also dehort from malice and envie which is a grand enemy to peace Invidia siculi non invenere Tyranni majut tormentum the Sicilian tyrants never invented a more cruel a more cursed torment Give it no countenance no harbour for it ever thirsteth after revenge and attributes to it self what belongs to God vengeance It is like Vipers wine which being drunk will never leave working until it discover it self and those intestine humours that depend upon it by stirring up strifes for hatred stirreth up strifes Prov. 10.12 Pliny Nat. Hist lib. 8. cap. 28. Mark the monstrous nature of this unnatural humour whereas all plants and other creatures have their growth and increase to a period and then their declination and decay except only the Crocodile Dalington in his Aphorism who ever groweth bigger and bigger even till death as Plinie did observe So saith ingenious Dalington have all passions and perturbations in the mind of man their intentions and remissions increase and decrease except only malicious revenge for this the longer it lasteth the stronger it waxeth and worketh still even when the maligne humour of avarice and ambition are setled or spent And would you know how this Crocodile-like sin growes bigger and bigger I will tell you It is Galens observation Galenus ' that when a humour is strong and predominant it not only converteth his proper nutriment but even that which is apt for contrary humours into its own nature and quality Of like force is this strong and wilful vice it not only feeds upon agreeable motions but makes even those reasons which are strongest against it to be most for it and so swells immeasurably big If therefore any one be troubled with this malady whereby this peace of Christians is disquieted I will give him a receipt of a medicine taken out of St. Cyprian which will cure him Venena fellis evome Cypr. lib. de Zelo livere discordiarum virus exclude purgetur mens quam serpentinus livor infecerat amaritudo omnis qua intus insederat Christi dulcedine leniatur Disgorge thy self of the poyson of thy gall cast out the venome of discords purge thy mind which is infected with serpentine envie and let all bitternesse which setled in thy heart be gently mittigated with the sweetnesse with the meeknesse of Christ Jesus It is the voice of God Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart Levit. 19.17 1 Joh. 3.15 Eph. 4.31 32 Homo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nec minum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tremelius of Cranmer he that hateth his brother is a murderer and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him This may somewhat satiate and allay the boiling heat of a revengeful mind Lest then this sin kill your souls following the Apostles counsel let all bitternesse and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even at God for Christs sake hath forgiven you For Christs sake then in the bowels of compassion forgive and forget all offences Cyprian 1. Forgive Demittentur tibi debita quando ipse dimiseris accipientur sacrificia cum pacificus ad Deum veneris saith Cyprian Thy sins shall be forgiven thee of God when thou forgivest other thy sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving shall be acceptable to the Almighty when thou shalt come peaceably before him Xenophon No mercy shall be shewed to them that shew no mercy 2. Forget Xenophon reports of Trasibulus that after he recovered his countrey he ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a forgetfulness of all injuries as indeed not worth keeping in mind the part truly of a generous spirit and heroick disposition which may well befit the best Christian to imitate O let Abrahams speech to Lot beget in every one of us ever hereafter a well grounded resolution of preserving peace Let there be no strife between me and thee for we be brethren saith he Religion tyes us beside reason to keep and maintain the Kings peace on earth if we will have the peace of Kings in heaven I have read of one Archidamus being chosen to decide a controversie between two that disagreed being sworn to stand to his judgment I lay this injunction upon you that neither of you depart this place until ye be reconciled to each other The like charge I lay on all Chistians by authority from heaven that at least ye depart not this life but in peace having your hearts cleansed from the leaven of malice and hypocrisie and filled with Christian amity and brotherly love I charge you as Joseph did his brethren at their departure from him see that ye fall not out by the way Ye are in the way to heaven go close together as hand in hand so heart in heart until you come to your journeys end heaven Now for a conclusion of the point I will use the same prayer for you which Paul did for the Thessalonians 1 Thes 3.12 The Lord make you to encrease and to abound in love one towards another and towards all men And thus much concerning Civil peace The second is Ecclesi astical the peace of the Church which is interrupted either by Heresie or Schisme Gal. 1.8 9. the one breeding dissention in Doctrine the other disorder in Discipline Against the authors and upholders of the first Saint Paul hath pronounced an Anathema If any man preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed Against the abettors of the second it is his judicial and Apostolical sentence seperate them from among you As faction divides so infection devours the Church of God if not prevented We who are Messengers of peace ought to walk like Paul and Titus Eodem spiritu iisdem vestigiis in the same spirit touching faith in the same steps touching good life Acts 4.32 It was reported of the Beleevers that they were all of one mind and one heart Oh! I would to God that all of us that bring the message of peace in our mouths who should be the sons of peace and brethren of unity were so affected as to suppresse all pragmatical dispositions in us Beleeve me my brethren fiery spirits apter for innovation than administration become not the servants of Christ Jesus The principles of Religion which Hereticks call into question are infallible grounds where on we should build our faith not disputable points
the Christ the Son of God is most forward to deny him his former protestations were forgotten his present commodity only thought upon And when the rascal multitude came forth with swords and staves and brought him to the Council all his friends forsook him the Shepherd smitten the sheep were scattered Friends and foes Jews and Gentiles men and women high and low rich and poor Prince and people added something to his Passion to augment his woe The Kings of the earth took counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed The Elders of the people the chief Priests and the Scribes beat their brains together to take away his life They send him to Pilate Pilate sends him to Herod Herod sends him to Pilate again and Pilate sends him to his death Thus was he tossed from post to pillar In all these places he suffered in his good name by blasphemous speeches uttered against him in numbring him amongst transgressors placing him betwixt two thieves In his honor and glory by opprobrious terms and scandalous irrisions and mockings In his substance in that they took away his garment In his soul he suffered sorrow and anguish and great fear surprised his heart In his body he suffered wounds and stripes Insomuch that it may be said Was ever any sorrow like his sorrow Were you present to behold the whole passage of his Passion you might see his head compassed about with a crown of sharp thorns instead of a crown of pure gold you might see his glorious Visage which the very Angels admired contemptuously spitted upon and his cheeks smitten with the palms of their hands You might see his hands and feet fast nailed to the Cross which he himself did carry and his sides thrust thorow with a spear You might see his blood trickling down to the ground and himself through the pangs of death and apprehension of the Fathers wrath lighting upon him for our sins crying My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Hereupon saith Bernard O bone Jesu quid tibi est nos peccavimus tu luis opus sine exemplo gratia sine merito charitas sine imo O blessed Saviour what ails thee We sinned and thou by thy blood dost expiate our sins here is a work without example grace without merit and love beyond all measure He felt the wrath of God upon his soul he felt the hand of a sin revenging Judge taking vengeance for the sins of the world upon him then taking away the sin of the world Where you might see also no sense free from passion As for his Touch he was smitten and nails thrust through his flesh as for his Taste he drank unpleasant vinegar and gall as for his Smell he was in an infectuous place the place of dead mens skuls as for his Hearing he was vexed with the uproars and hideous blasphemies of those that blasphemed and derided him as for his Seeing he beheld with grief his Mother and the Disciple that loved him shedding tears for him and observed no noubt in the anguish of his spirit the madness of the actors of his death Hence proceeded that heavenly prayer Father forgive them they now not what they do This was the lamentable case he was in until he gave up his Ghost They gave him no rest no rest in his body nor in his soul until his soul departed Thus he suffered and thus in suffering he died died the most ignominious and cursed death 2 Cor. 5. ult God made him to be sin for us that knew no sin that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us for cursed it every one that hungeth on a tree Gal. 3.13 Nothing could appease the wrath of the Father but the death of his Son Who died First to satisfie the justice of God for the sin of mankind for he once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God 1 Pet. 3.18 being put to death in the flesh 2. To manifest the truth and reality of the nature assumed to wit his manhood that he was true man and no phantasme 3. That by his death he might free us from the fear of death Forasmuch then as we are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through the fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage 4. That by dying corporally for sin and unto sin he might give us an example of dying spiritually to sin for in that he died he died unto sin once Heb. 2.14 15. but in that he liveth he liveth unto God Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 6.10 11. Crux pendent is Cathedra docentis Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow is steps 1 Pet. 2.21.5 That by rising from the dead he might make known the power whereby he overcame death and give unto us a lively hope of our resurrection from the dead And thus much for the sufferings of Christ generally exprest and specially implied The next point is the necessity of the sufferings and death of Christ Christ must needs have suffered It was necessary that Christ should suffer and in suffering die Necessitate decreti by the necessity of Gods Decree and infallible prescience Truly Luke 22.22 the Son of man goeth as it was determined Which determination is more plainly exprest Acts 2.23 Him that is Christ being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain In which respect it was inevitable And albeit he prayed Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me yet he submit shiâ— will to the will of his Father in saying yet not my will but thy will be done It was the eternal will of God and his unchangeable Decree that Christ should suffer for us it was foreordained before the foundation of the world 1 Pet. 1.20 And although his will was that that cup might passe over him that so his life might be prolonged yet consider this vitam appetit ut homo saith Theophilact Theophil in Luke 22.42 he desired life as he was man yet as an obedient child ever correspondent to his Fathers desire adds this withal not my will but thy will be done which is not seperate from my divine will saith the same Father It was necessary necessitate obligationis by the necessity of a promise whereby God was obliged and bound to see it actually performed Promises are a due debt Promissa cadunt in debitum That God promised this it is apparant by that speech of his the seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head and
none can see him and live Exod 33.20 So terrible the other that the Israelites trembled cap. 19.16 His sight so full of Majesty that Woe is me saith Isaiah I am undone for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts cap. 6.5 So full of terror his Voice that the Israelites said to Moses Speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we die Exod. 20.20 Thus would God come unto us his sight would dash us his voice would daunt us His presence is accompanied with lightning when he speaks he thunders Sinai was in a burning sever before God the Earth was troubled with a shaking ague the floods ran back at his presence the heavens dropt at the first sight Psal 68.8 The voice of the Lâ—rd is powerful the voice of the Lord is full of majesty Namper Câ—dros intelligit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quicquid est eximium in mundo the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars the voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire the voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh c. Psal 29. So that the Lord considering that Man is but flesh as weak as water he refrains from coming but not from sending to us for us Not Angels though ministring spirits as he did before the Law but having an eye to mans imbecility flesh of our flesh bone of our bone Men. Because himself would not thunder he sends Boanerges sons of thunder He sends not Angels spirits but Men-angels messengers Mat. 2. but little inferior to Angels And this he doth for several reasons besides that of his love and care viz. 1. To shew us in what reputation Man is with him He makes men not mean men but his Embassadors to men Such as do reveal his secrets Privy Councellors such as represent his Person a kind of Kings And this honour all his Saints have Psal 149.9 2. To exercise us in that high grace of humility God exalts man to humble man If the Lion roar who will not fear Amos 3.8 If the Lord speak who will not who cannot but obey No thanks to him then But when Man speaks and men obey hoc opus this is the work of humility Here he shews himself a true subject when he yields obedience to Gods word spoken by man albeit in dignity he be far inferior unto him 3. Because it is the surest bond of Amity If one needed not the instruction of another but every one should think himself sufficient of himself such is the pride of man what division what debate what contempt of one another Now this is the surest true-True-loves knot between man and man Let therefore a man so account of us saith the Apostle as the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the mysteries of God 1 Cor. 4.1 And Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you Heb. 13.17 SCALA JACOBI OR St James his Ladder JAMES â— 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetfull hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed ANTIQUITY reports that the statute of Merciery was erected where crosse wayes met to point out to passengers and pilgrims the direct paths they desired to travel So I may conceive of this blessed messenger of God the Apostle James made in the likeness of God In this world we are pilgrims and strangers where we have no abiding City but seek for one to come our way to that City which is the heavenly Hierusalem is through many tribulations and crosses where this Apostle being set up doth shew the way to us wherein we must walk if we will possesse the treasure of our hopes and long'd for felicity And because the way is ascendant leading gradually upward I therefore may compare it to a pair of staires or call it Scalam Jacobi St James his ladder wherein are to be observed 1. The bottome or ground 2. The several steps placed in a due proportion 3. The top or upper part which we aime to arrive at As for the bottome it is that good word of God the Gospel of Christ Jesus which the Holy Ghost by this Sainted Penman is pleased to stile a law describ'd by two singular attributes the one of perfection the other of liberty it is a prefect law of liberty As for the steps they are four the first is Speculation Whoso looketh the second is Perseverance and continueth therein the third is Remembrance he being not a forgetful hearer the fourth is Practice but a doer of the work As for the top of these staires it is the end of this Scripture and shall be I trust of my discourse blessedness this man shall be blessed in his deed I must stand a while upon the bottome of the staires the Gospel of salvation term'd a law the law of the spirit the law of faith the law of the spirit as the prime inditer the law of faith as the prime effect the law of the spirit in regard of the spiritual graces of God produced by it the law of faith as the special duty enjoined us in it Rat io nominis primum inquirenda we are now by the lawes of accurate teaching to enquire specially why the Gospel is called a law and that is 1. Because what is delivered therein to be observed of us is obligatory coming by way of command and having in it the regal stamp of supream authority 2. Because it prescribes punishments to the disobedient transgressors thereof sincere obedience and essectual beleeving in Christ being exacted of us upon pain of death 3. Because it containeth large promises of great rewards to the faithful observers of the sacred contents thereof Bernard as Bernard saith in his Meditations Si tormenta non terreant saltem invitent praemia if threatned punishments do not deterr us promised rewards may the more invite us As it is a law so it is a perfect law perfect in the Author Gods Spirit which is infallible not admitting either Popish legends to delude the People or traditional writs to destroy them Integra est doctrina ac proâ—nde animos redintegrat Jun. Psal 19. Perfect in the manner of delivery divine inspiration as proceeding from the will of God not from the will of man Perfect in operation as converting the soul making wise the simple rejoycing the heart in lightning the eyes and making the man of God perfect thorowly furnished unto every good work Perfect in the contents and matter as full and wanting nothing conducing to the bet tering of our knowledge in the wayes of piety our knowledge contemplative in matters of faith our knowledge practical matters of fact And perfect in the end Gods glory the glory of his mercy
grace that was given him Once a profest Enemy to Christianity now a profest Preacher of the Gospel of grace Once a Subverter of Gods Church now a Converter unto Gods Church On whom I will pass my censure as one did on Origen for his writing Vbi bene nemo melius â—bi male nemb pejus Where he hath done well none did better where ill none worse We read of two names that were given him Saul and Paul Hierom. S. Hierom is of opinion that he was first called Saul and by converting Sergius Paulus to the faith received that name Paul tanquam trophaeum as a victory Others suppose that he being a Pharisee was called Saul but after his conversion Paul that his Religion being changed he changed his name Origen thinks he had two names Origen as Matthew is called Levi and Solomon Jedidiah But it matters not much whether you call him Saul or Paul In both names is contained a Prognostication of good Saul signifies Lent of the Lord Lent of the Lord to try his people lent of the Lord to convert the Elect yet unregenerate lent of the Lord to confirm all in the faith of Jesus Christ praedicando precando by preaching praying by preaching to them by praying for them lent of the Lord to glorifie his Name by doing his will here on earth as it is in heaven As lent of the Lord so lent to the Lord As Hannah said of Samuel I have lent him unto the Lord as long as he liveth he shall be to the Lord. 1 Sam. 1.28 And as for his other name Paul that signifies Wonderful or Rest Wonderful for his Conversion for his Conversation All that heard him preach were amazed Act. 9. Wonderful for his Conversion respecting circumstances Light from heaven shining about him his blindness his falling to the earth going with a bloody mind post-haste to Damascus his hearing of a voice from heaven his trembling and astonishment his receiving of his sight by Ananias Wonderful for his Conversation in preaching in working miracles casting out evil spirits healing the sick whether absent or present Wonderful for patience in tribulation in labours in perils in death in all miseries In a word wonderful for faith See my Waters of Marah for life for doctrine wisdom understanding And here he took up his Rest resting from blaspheming Gods Name resting from persecuting Gods chosen Israel resting from all errors of faith of doctrine of life for a time in grace and now for ever by grace in glory by the grace that was given him And forasmuch as he was of the Tribe of Benjamin we may apply unto him the prophesie and blessing that Jacob gave to Benjamin Benjamin shall raven as a wolf in the morning he shall devour the prey and at night he shall divide the spoil Paul in his youth before his Conversion as a ravening Wolf persecuted and devoured the faithful but being made of a ravening Wolf as quiet as a Lamb he distributed the food of the Gospel unto the world by the grace that was given unto him Baronius speaking of Paul Baronius derives his name from the Latine word Paulus little We read of King Saul how he debased himself Am not I a Benjamite of the smallest of the tribes of Israel 1 Sam. 9.21 1 Cor. 15.9 Paulus quasi Paululus and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin We read the like of our Saul I am the least of the Apostles that am not meet to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God but by the grace of God I am what I am And again I am made a Minister of the Gospel according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me Opulentissima metâ—lla quo um in also latent venae unto me who am less than the least of all Saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ Eph. 3.8 9. So that Paul thus despicable in his own sight Sen. ep 23. Ruth 2.10 might say unto the Lord as Ruth said unto Boaz Why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldst take knowledge of me Thus you have heard of the Man who was inricht with the rich treasures of spiritual wisdom concerning whom I may demand of you as Pharaoh did of his servants concerning Joseph Can we find such a one as this is a man in whom the Spirit of God is Unto which demand I annex Pharaoh's answer Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this there is none so discreet and wise as thou art O Paul Therefore as Tully was called Phaenix Oratorum the Phenix of Orators Lactantius Phaenix Christianorum the Phenix of Christians and Cyprian the Christian Caesar Why not Paul Phaenix Apostolorum the Phenix or None-such of Apostles For his rare vertues for his invaluable gifts for the light of grace seen known understood perceived of James Cephas and John which when they had seen known understood and perceived they gave unto him the right hand of fellowship And thus I come to the act of union Grace brings in love and love union whereof it is an affection Perceived the grace that was given unto me they gave unto me and Barnabas the right hund of fellowship 1 Sam. 3.8 When they perceived Gods graces to him in him as Eli perceived that the Lord called the child Samuel they gave unto me the right hand of fellowship dextras societatis they made him a right Benjamite by spiritual union a son of the right hand they admit him into their fraternity or as Citizens speak they make him brother of their company Thus they go hand in hand to shew that Birds of a feather flock together Men indued with the same graces called by the same Spirit must be hand-fastned and heart-fastned by the same Gordian knot of love Let me not transcend the limits of these words I take it then that we have infimated here unto us the sweet harmony the consent the sympathy between the Ministers of the Gospel of grace This is pleasant musick in the ears of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity Psal 133. The curtains coupled together compassing the Tabernacle typically represented the concord and agreement of Ministers So a garment without seam about Christ the true Tabernacle full of Gods glory in whom dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily Their agreement must be like unto that of the parts of mans body exprest by Hippocrates one agreement one confluence all consenting being tied and united by the strong ligament of grace or love This union is spiritual therefore it must be an union of spirits an union of unions a meeting of friends exprest by the text fellowship But if you would know what fellowship you may find it Phil. 1.5 a fellowship in the Gospel and ver 27. stedfast in
one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel With one mind as the Apostles Act. 2. All were of one mind striving together not one against another but all together against their opposers for the faith of the Gospel And this is concors discordia an agreeing discord musical frets Hence then Union of minds makes fellows of the Gospel Union in vertue which is threefold is a badge of the union of minds Union in vertues intellectual in vertues moral in vertues spiritual In vertue intellectual there is heavenly knowledge in vertue moral there is honesty and goodness in vertue spiritual there is Religion faith and obedience A threefold cord of this making is hard to break saith the Wise man Therefore what the Apostle exhorts to all the faithful I restrain to my present matter Eph. 4.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let Ministers endeavour to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Worthy memory is the story of him that had Eighty sons who ready to breathe his last gave each of them a bundle of Arrows commanding them to break it But they conscious of their own imbecility ingenuously confess'd that it was a task impossible to be performed by them which taken he singled out the arrows and broke them every one by themselves with ease Thus saith he O my sons if ye hold together in brotherly love ye are invincible but if the cursed seed of discord be once sown in your hearts ye are gone ye are broken expect nothing but destruction I leave the application of this to you my Brethren Only remember this saying Let brotherly love continue Peace-makers must not be Peace-breakers for Septimum abominatio animae illius the sowing of discord is one of the seven things that God hates Pro. 6.19 with 16. God is love therefore Ministers of God must be Ministers of love like-minded having the same love of one accord of one mind Phil. 2.2 Animo animâque inter se miscebantur Act. 4.32 saith Tertullian of those Primitive Christians yea they were una anima one soul so Tremellius rendreth that text out of the Syriack all informed with one and the same soul all as one man Poets tell us of Theseus and Perithous of Achilles and Patroclus of Orestes and Pylades of Damas and Piphias of Aeneas and Achates faithful lovers sworne friends Holy Writ tells us of Abraham and Lot of David and Jonathan of Solomon and Hiram of Christ and John of Paul James Peter John true hearts all To shew of what nature their love must be I instance only in David and Jonathan David and Jonathan's souls were knit as if there were but one soul in two bodies And Jonathan loved David as his own soul 1 Sam. 18.1 Hence amicus quasi animi custos Far were they and ought ye to be from that execrable answer of Cain Am I my brothers keeper Far be from us all private grudgings Gen. 4. gilded over with fair words all publick contentions in matters of little consequence The first is a main trick of the Devils invention Mel in ore verba lactis fel in corde fraus in factis Their tongue is here in the West while their hearts stray in the East far enough asundea These are double-hearted as the Prophet speaks Facta est fides Evangeliorum fides temporum cùm fides una esse debeat eò pene ventum est ut nulla sit Hilary an heart and heart Monsters of men they are The other the Devil fathers too the root of it is pride But remember what the Apostle writes to Timothy The servant of the Lord must not strive 2 Tim. 2.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ne rixando amittatur veritas ut fere fit Whence so many Schisms in the Church of God whence so great havock of Religion whence so many Paradoxes and Chimera's of Opinions whence the first raising of that Antichristian Idol of Rome whence proceeded those Locusts that came out of the infernal pit I mean Jesuites and others of their disordered Orders whence so many murthers and poisoning of Kings whence the damnable â—ots invented by those Rake-hels I leave to name Is it not from contention founded on ambition A contentious spirit is a proud spirit Pro. 13. Only by pride cometh contention Is it not from private emulation Is it not in a word from the Devil for had not he been in them all had been well Hate then ye children of the most High harted and enmity See ye love one another but avoid these enemies of the Gospel as serpents They pretend to be servants of Christ yet they serve Antichrist Have no fellowship no peace with that painted Whore of Babylon shake not hands with her kiss her not She offers a golden cup but beware Mors in olla touch not taste not handle not it is full of poison full of abomination But rather hearken to the heavenly voice Depart ye depart ye go ye out from thence Come out of her come out of her Isa 52.11 Esto procul Roma qui cupis esse pius my people 2 Cor. 6.17 Rev. 18.4 How can they possibly agree with you who cannot agree among themselves And here I impose a task upon you and a blessing if ye perform it Pray for the peace of Jerusalem let them prosper that love thee Peace be then to thee and peace be to thine helpers for thy God helpeth thee as Amasai said to David 1 Chr. 12.18 And now to end this point I beseech you brethren with the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.10 I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment speaking the truth in love There must be the same mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same judgment Eph. 4.15 So be of one mind live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you 2 Cor. 13.11 And now I pass to the second part of the Text The Separation without breach of the Vnion whereof a word and away That we should go unto the Heathen and they unto the Circumcision Christs charge unto his Disciples was Ite praedicate Go and preach to all Nations to all the parts of the world East West North South A figure hereof might be those twelve Oxen that supported the molten Sea three looking towards the North three towards the West three towards the South three towards the East Mark 6. And our Saviour having gathered these Twelve together he sends them forth by two and two or by couples They go therefore they fulfill his command Take my yoke upon you Matth. 11. I may compare them thus coupled unto the two Milch-kine that carried the Ark from the Philistims unto Kiriath-jearim And the rather to Milch-kine because they being full of the sincere milk of