deadly condition As ye love your Souls give no sleep to your eyes nor peace to your hearts till ye find the sensible effects of the Death and Passion of Christ your Saviour within you mortifying all your corrupt affections and sinful actions that ye may truly say with S. Paul I am crucified with Christ Six several times do we find that Christ shed blood in his Circumcision in his Agonie in his Crowning in his Scourging in his Affixion in his Transfixion The instrument of the first was the Knife of the second vehemence of Passion of the third the Thorns of the fourth the Whips of the fifth the Nails of the last the Spear In all these we are we must be Partners with our Saviour In his Circumcision when we draw blood of our selves by cutting off the foreskin of our filthy if pleasing Corruptions Col. 2. 11. In his Agony when we are deeply affected with the sense of God's displeasure for sin and terrified with the frowns of an angry Father In his Crowning with thorns when we smart and bleed with reproches for the name of Christ when that which the world counts Honour is a pain to us for his sake when our guilty thoughts punish us and wound our restless heads with the sad remembrance of our sins In his Scourging when we tame our wanton and rebellious flesh with wise rigor and holy severity In his Affixion when all the powers of our Souls and parts of our body are strictly hampered and unremovably fastened upon the Royal Commandements of our Maker and Redeemer In his Transfixion when our hearts are wounded with Divine love with the Spouse in the Canticles or our Consciences with deep sorrow In all these we bleed with Christ and all these save the first onely belong to his Crucifying Surely as it was in the Old Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without bloodshed there was no remission Heb. 9. 22. so it is still and ever in the New If Christ had not thus bled for us no remission if we do not thus bleed with Christ no remission There is no benefit where is no partnership If Christ therefore bled with his Agony with his Thorns with his Whips with his Nails with his Spear in so many thousand passages as Tradition is bold to define and we never bleed either with the Agony of our sorrow for sin or the Thorns of holy cares for displeasure or the Scourges of severe Christian rigour or the Nails of holy constraint or the Spear of deep remorse how do we how can we for shame say we are crucified with Christ Divine S. Austin in his Epistle or Book rather to Honoratus gives us all the dimensions of the Cross of Christ The Latitude he makes in the transverse this saith he pertains to good Works because on this his hands were stretched The Length was from the ground to the transverse this is attributed to his longanimity and persistance for on that his Body was stayed and fixed The Height was in the head of the Cross above the transverse signifying the exspectation of supernal things The Depth of it was in that part which was pitcht below within the earth importing the profoundness of his free Grace which is the ground of all his beneficence In all these must we have our part with Christ In the Transverse of his Cross by the ready extension of our hands to all good Works of Piety Justice Charity in the Arrectary or beam of his Cross by continuance and uninterrupted perseverance in good in the Head of his Cross by an high elevated hope and looking for of Glory in the Foot of his Cross by a lively and firm Faith fastening our Souls upon the affiance of his free Grace and Mercy And thus shall we be crucified with Christ upon his own Cross Yet lastly we must goe further then this from his Cross to his Person So did S. Paul and every Believer die with Christ that he died in Christ For as in the first Adam we all lived and sinned so in the second all Believers died that they might live The first Adam brought in death to all mankind but at last actually died for none but himself the second Adam died for mankind and brought life to all Believers Seest thou thy Saviour therefore hanging upon the Cross all mankind hangs there with him as a Knight or Burgess of Parliament voices his whole Burrough or Country What speak I of this The arms and legs take the same lot with the head Every Believer is a lim of that body how can he therefore but die with him and in him That real union then which is betwixt Christ and us makes the Cross and Passion of Christ ours so as the thorns pierced our heads the scourages blooded our backs the nails wounded our hands and feet and the spear gored our sides and hearts by virtue whereof we receive justification from our sins and true mortification of our corruptions Every Believer therefore is dead already for his sins in his Saviour he needs not fear that he shall die again God is too just to punish twice for one fault to recover the summe both of the surety principal All the score of our arrerages is fully struck off by the infinite satisfaction of our Blessed Redeemer Comfort thy self therefore thou penitent and faithful Soul in the confidence of thy safety thou shalt not die but live since thou art already crucified with thy Saviour he died for thee thou diedst in him Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifies Who shall condemn It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again and lives gloriously at the right hand of God making intercession for us To thee O Blessed Jesu together with thy Coeternal Father and Holy Spirit three Persons in one infinite and incomprehensible Deity be all Praise Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen ONE OF THE SERMONS Preached to the LORDS OF THE High Court of Parliament In their solemn Fast held on Ashwednesday Feb. 18. And by their Appointment published by the B. of EXCESTER Acts 2. 37 38 40. 37. Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we doe 38. Then said Peter unto them Repent and be baptized c. 40. And with many other words did he testifie and exhort them saying Save your selves from this untoward generation WHO knows not that Simon Peter was a Fisher That was his trade both by Sea and Land if we may not rather say that as Simon he was a Fisher-man but as Peter he was a Fisher of men he that call'd him so made him so And surely his first draught of Fishes which as Simon he made at our Saviours Command might well be a trade Type of the first draught of men which as Peter he made in this place for as then the nets were ready to
way of the Sea beyond Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the people which sate in darknesse saw great light The Sun is not scornfull but looks with the same face upon every plot of earth not onely the stately palaces and pleasant gardens are visited by his beams but mean cottages but neglected boggs and mores God's word is like himself no accepter of persons the wilde Kern the rude Scythian the savage Indian are alike to it The Mercy of God will be sure to finde out those that belong to his Election in the most secret corners of the world like as his Judgments will fetch his enemies from under the hills and rocks The good Shepherd walks the wildernesse to seek one sheep strayed from many If there be but one Syrophoenician soul to be gained to the Church Christ goes to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon to fetch her Why are we weary to doe good when our Saviour underwent this perpetuall toyle in healing bodies and winning Souls There is no life happy but that which is spent in a continuall drudging for edification It is long since we heard of the name or nation of Canaanites All the Country was once so styled that people was now forgotten yet because this woman was of the blood of those Phoenicians which were anciently ejected out of Canaan that title is revived to her God keeps account of pedigrees after our oblivion that he may magnifie his mercies by continuing them to thousands of the generations of the just and by renewing favours upon the unjust No Nation carried such brands and scars of a Curse as Canaan To the shame of those carelesse Jews even a faithfull Canaanite is a suppliant to Christ whiles they neglect so great Salvation She doth not speak but cry Need and desire have raised her voice to an importunate clamour The God of mercy is light of hearing yet he loves a loud and vehement solicitation not to make himself inclinable to graunt but to make us capable to receive blessings They are words and not prayers which fall from carelesse lips If we felt our want or wanted not desire we could speak to God in no tune but cries If we would prevail with God we must wrestle and if we would wrestle happily with God we must wrestle first with our own dulnesse Nothing but cries can pierce Heaven Neither doth her vehemence so much argue her Faith as doth her compellation O Lord thou Son of David What Proselyte what Disciple could have said more O blessed Syrophoenician who taught thee this abstract of Divinity What can we Christians confesse more then the Deity and the Humanity the Messiaship of our glorious Saviour His Deity as Lord his Humanity as a Son his Messiaship as the Son of David Of all the famous progenitors of Christ two are singled out by an eminence David and Abraham a King a Patriarch and though the Patriarch were first in time yet the King is first in place not so much for the dignity of the Person as the excellence of the Promise which as it was both later and fresher in memory so more honourable To Abraham was promised multitude and blessing of seed to Davidâ—â—rpetuity â—â—rpetuity of dominion So as when God promiseth not to destroy his people it is for Abraham's sake when not to extinguish the Kingdome it is for David's sake Had she said The Son of Abraham she had not come home to this acknowledgment Abraham is the Father of the faithfull David of the Kings of Juda and Israel There are many faithfull there is but one King so as in this title she doth proclaim him the perpetual King of his Church the rod or flower which should come from the root of Jesse the true and onely Saviour of the world Whoso would come unto Christ to purpose must come in the right style apprehending a true God a true Man a true God and Man any of these severed from other makes Christ an Idol and our prayers sin Being thus acknowledged what suit is so fit for him as mercy Have mercy on me It was her daughter that was tormented yet she saies Have mercy on me Perhaps her possessed childe was senseless of her misery the parent feels both her sorrow and her own As she was a good woman so a good mother Grace and good nature have taught her to appropriate the afflictions of this divided part of her own flesh It is not in the power of another skin to sever the interest of our own loyns or womb We finde some fouls that burn themselves whiles they endeavour to blow out the fire from their young And even Serpents can receive their brood into their mouth to shield them from danger No creature is so unnatural as the reasonable that hath put off affection On me therefore in mine for my Daughter is grievously vexed with a Devil It was this that sent her to Christ It was this that must incline Christ to her I doubt whether she had inquired after Christ if she had not been vexed with her daughters spirit Our Afflictions are as Benhadad's best counsellors that sent him with a cord about his neck to the mercifull King of Israel These are the files whetstones that set an edge on our Devotions without which they grow dull and ineffectual neither are they stronger motives to our suit then to Christ's mercy We cannot have a better spokes-man unto God then our own misery That alone sues and pleads and importunes for us This which sets off men whose compassion is finite attracts God to us Who can plead discouragements in his accesse to the throne of Grace when our wants are our forcible advocates All our worthiness is in a capable misery All Israel could not example the Faith of this Canaanite yet she was thus tormented in her daughter It is not the truth or strength of our Faith that can secure us from the outward and bodily vexations of Satan against the inward and spiritual that can and will prevail it is no more antidote against the other then against feavers and dropsies How should it whenas it may fall out that these sufferings may be profitable and why should we exspect that the love of our God shall yield to forelay any benefit to the Soul He is an ill patient that cannot distinguish betwixt an affliction and the evil of affliction When the messenger of Satan buffets us it is enough that God hath said My grace is sufficient for thee Millions were in Tyre and Sidon whose persons whose children were untouched with that tormenting hand I hear none but this faithfull Woman say My daughter is grievously vexed of the Devil The worst of bodily afflictions are an insufficient proof of Divine displeasure She that hath most Grace complains of most discomfort Who would now expect any other then a kinde answer to so pious and faithfull a petition And behold he answered her not a word O holy Saviour we have oft found cause to wonder at
Disciples stood compassed in that bright Cloud exspecting some miraculous event of so Heavenly a Vision when suddenly they might hear a voice sounding out of that Cloud saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him They need not be told whose that voice was the place the matter evinced it No Angel in Heaven could or durst have said so How gladly doth Peter afterwards recount it For he received from God the Father honour and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my beloved Son c. It was onely the eare that was here taught not the eye As of Horeb so of Sinai so of Tabor might God say Ye saw no shape nor image in that day that the Lord spake unto you He that knows our proneness to idolatry avoids those occasions which we might take to abuse our own fansies Twice hath God spoken these words to his own Son from Heaven once in his Baptisme and now again in his Transfiguration Here not without some oppositive comparison not Moses not Elias but This. Moses and Elias were Servants this a Son Moses and Elias were sons but of grace and choice this is that Son the Son by nature Other sons are beloved as of favour and free election this is The Beloved as in the unitie of his essence Others are so beloved that he is pleased with themselves this so beloved that in and for him he is pleased with mankinde As the relation betwixt the Father and the Son is infinite so is the Love We measure the intention of Love by the extention the love that rests in the person affected alone is but streight true Love descends like Aaron's Ointment from the head to the skirts to children friends allyes O incomprehensible large love of God the Father to the Son that for his sake he is pleased with the World O perfect and happy complacence Out of Christ there is nothing but enmity betwixt God and the Soul in him there can be nothing but peace When the beams are met in one center they do not only heat but burn Our weak love is diffused to many God hath some the world more and therein wives children friends but this infinite love of God hath all the beams of it united in one onely Object the Son of his Love Neither doth he love any thing but in the participation of his Love in the derivation from it O God let me be found in Christ and how canst thou but be pleased with me This one voice proclaimes Christ at once the Son of God the Reconciler of the world the Doctor and Law-giver of his Church As the Son of God he is essentially interessed in his Love as he is the Reconciler of the world in whom God is well pleased he doth most justly challenge our love and adherence as he is the Doctor and Law-giver he doth justly challenge our audience our obedience Even so Lord teach us to hear and obey thee as our Teacher to love thee and believe in thee as our Reconciler and as the eternal Son of thy Father to adore thee The light caused wonder in the Disciples but the voice astonishment They are all falne down upon their faces Who can blame a mortal man to be thus affected with the voice of his Maker Yet this word was but plausible and hortatory O God how shall flesh and blood be other then swallowed up with the horror of thy dreadful sentence of death The Lion shall roar who shall not be afraid How shall those that have slighted the sweet voice of thine invitations call to the rocks to hide them from the terror of thy Judgments The God of mercies pities our infirmities I do not hear our Saviour say Ye lay sleeping one while upon the earth now ye lye astonished Ye could neither wake to see nor stand to hear now lye still and tremble But he graciously touches and comforts them Arise fear not That voice which shall once raise them up out of the earth might well raise them up from it That hand which by the least touch restored sight lims life might well restore the spirits of the dismaied O Saviour let that soveraign hand of thine touch us when we lye in the trances of our griefs in the bed of our securities in the grave of our sins and we shall arise They looking up saw no man save Jesus alone and that doubtless in his wonted form All was now gone Moses Elias the Cloud the Voice the Glory Tabor it self cannot be long blessed with that Divine light and those shining guests Heaven will not allow to earth any long continuance of Glory Only above is constant happiness to be look'd for and injoyed where we shall ever see our Saviour in his unchangeable brightness where the light shall never be either clouded or varied Moses and Elias are gone only Christ is left The glory of the Law and the Prophets was but temporary yea momentany that onely Christ may remain to us intire and conspicuous They came but to give testimony to Christ when that is done they are vanished Neither could these raised Disciples finde any miss of Moses and Elias when they had Christ still with them Had Jesus been gone and left either Moses or Elias or both in the Mount with his Disciples that presence though glorious could not have comforted them Now that they are gone and he is left they cannot be capable of discomfort O Saviour it matters not who is away whiles thou art with us Thou art God all-sufficient what can we want when we want not thee Thy presence shall make Tabor it self an Heaven yea Hell it self cannot make us miserable with the fruition of thee The Woman taken in Adultery WHat a busie life was this of Christs He spent the night in the mount of Olives the day in the Temple whereas the night is for a retired repose the day for company His retiredness was for prayer his companiableness was for preaching All night he watches in the Mount all the morning he preaches in the Temple It was not for pleasure that he was here upon earth his whole time was penal and toilsome How do we resemble him if his life were all pain and labour ours all pastime He found no such fair success the day before The multitude was divided in their opinion of him messengers were sent and suborned to apprehend him yet he returns to the Temple It is for the sluggard or the coward to plead a Lion in the way upon the calling of God we must overlook and contemn all the spight and opposition of men Even after an ill harvest we must sow and after denials we must woe for God This Sun of Righteousness prevents that other and shines early with wholesome doctrines upon the Soules of his hearers The Auditory is both thronged and attentive Yet not all with the same intentions If the people came to learn the Scribes and
be actors None can awake Lazarus out of this sleep but he that made Lazarus Every mouse or gnat can raise us up from that other sleep none but an Omnipotent power from this This sleep is not without a dissolution Who can command the Soul to come down and meet the body or command the body to piece with it self and rise up to the Soul but the God that created both It is our comfort and assurance O Lord against the terrors of death and tenacity of the grave that our Resurrection depends upon none but thine Omnipotence Who can blame the Disciples if they were loath to return to Judaea Their last entertainment was such as might justly dishearten them Were this as literally taken all the reason of our Saviours purpose of so perilous a voyage they argued not amiss If he sleep he shall doe well Sleep in sickness is a good sign of Recovery For extremity of pain barres our rest when Nature therefore finds so much respiration she justly hopes for better terms Yet it doth not alwaies follow If he sleep he shall doe well How many have dyed in Lethargies how many have lost in sleep what they would not have forgone waking Adam slept and lost his rib Sampson slept and lost 〈◊〉 strength Saul slept and lost his weapon Ishbosheth and Holofeâ—â—â— slept and lost their heads In ordinary course it holds well here they mistook and erred The misconstruction of the words of Christ led them into an unseasonable and erroneous suggestion Nothing can be more dangerous then to take the speeches of Christ according to the sound of the Letter one errour will be sure to draw on more and if the first be never so slight the last may be important Wherefore are words but to express meanings why do we speak but to be understood Since then our Saviour saw himself not rightly construed he delivers himself planly Lazarus is dead Such is thy manner O thou eternal Word of thy Father in all thy sacred expressions Thine own mouth is thy best commentary what thou hast more obscurely said in one passage thou interpretest more clearly in another Thou art the Sun which givest us that light whereby we see thy self But how modestly dost thou discover thy Deity to thy Disciples not upon the first mention of Lazarus his death instantly professing thy Power and will of his resuscitation but contenting thy self only to intimate thy Omniscience in that thou couldst in that absence and distance know and report his departure they shall gather the rest and cannot chuse but think We serve a Master that knows all things and he that knows all things can doe all things The absence of our Saviour from the death-bed of Lazarus was not casual but voluntary yea he is not only willing with it but glad of it I am glad for your sakes that I was not there How contrary may the affections of Christ and ours be and yet be both good The two worthy Sisters were much grieved at our Saviours absence as doubting it might savour of some neglect Christ was glad of it for the advantage of his Disciples Faith I cannot blame them that they were thus sorry I cannot but bless him that he was thus glad The gain of their Faith in so Divine a Miracle was more then could be countervailed by their momentany sorrow God and we are not alike affected with the same events He laughs where we mourn he is angry where we are pleased The difference of the affections arises from the difference of the Objects which Christ and they apprehend in the same occurrence Why are the Sisters sorrowful because upon Christ absence Lazarus died Why was Jesus glad he was not there for the benefit which he saw would accrew to their Faith There is much variety of prospect in every act according to the several intentions and issues thereof yea even in the very same eyes The father sees his son combating in a Duel for his Country he sees blows and wounds on the one side he sees renown and victory on the other he grieves at the wounds he rejoyces in the Honour Thus doth God in all our Afflictions he sees our teares and hears our groans and pities us but withall he looks upon our Patience our Faith our Crown and is glad that we are afflicted O God why should not we conform our diet unto thine When we ly in pain and extremity we cannot but droop under it but do we finde our selves increased in true Mortification in Patience in Hope in a constant relyance on thy Mercies Why are we not more joyed in this then dejected with the other since the least grain of the increase of Grace is more worth then can be equalled with whole pounds of bodily vexation O strange consequence Lazarus is dead nevertheless Let us goe unto him Must they not needs think What should we doe with a dead man What should separate if death cannot Even those whom we loved dearliest we avoid once dead now we lay them aside under the board and thence send them out of our houses to their grave Neither hath Death more horrour in it then noisomeness and if we could intreat our eyes to endure the horrid aspect of Death in the face we loved yet can we perswade our sent to like that smell 〈◊〉 arises up from their corruption Oh love stronger then Death Behold here a friend whom the very Grave cannot sever Even those that write the longest and most passionate dates of their amity subscribe but your friend till death and if the ordinary strain of humane friendship will stretch yet a little further it is but to the brim of the grave thither a friend may follow us and see us bestowed in this house of our Age but there he leaves us to our worms and dust But for thee O Saviour the grave-stone the earth the coffin are no bounders of thy dear respects even after death and burial and corruption thou art graciously affected to those thou lovest Besides the Soul whereof thou saiest not Let us goe to it but Let it come to us there is still a gracious regard to that dust which was and shall be a part of an undoubted member of that mystical body whereof thou art the Head Heaven and earth yields no such friend but thy self O make me ever ambitious of this Love of thine and ever unquiet till I feel my self possessed of thee In the mouth of a mere man this word had been incongruous Lazarus is dead yet let us goe to him in thine O almighty Saviour it was not more loving then seasonable since I may justly say of thee thou hast more to doe with the dead then with the living for both they are infinitely more and have more inward communion with thee and thou with them Death cannot hinder either our passage to thee or thy return to us I joy to think the time is coming when thou shalt come to every of our graves
how apt passionate mindes are to take all occasions to renew their sorrow every Object affects them When she saw but the Chamber of her dead Brother straight she thinks there Lazarus was wont to lye and then she wept afresh when the Table There Lazarus was wont to sit and then new teares arise when the Garden There Lazarus had wont to walk and now again she weeps How much more do these friends suppose the Passions would be stirred with the sight of the Grave when she must needs think There is Lazarus O Saviour if the place of the very dead corps of our friend have power to draw our hearts thither and to affect us more deeply how should our hearts be drawn to and affected with Heaven where thou sittest at the right hand of thy Father There O thou which wert dead and art alive is thy body and thy Soul present and united to thy glorious Deity Thither O thither let our access be not to mourn there where is no place for sorrow but to rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious and more and more to long for that thy beatifical presence Their indulgent love mistook Marie's errand their thoughts how kind soever were much too low whiles they supposed she went to a dead Brother she went to a living Saviour The world hath other conceits of the actions and carriage of the regenerate then are truely intended setting such constructions upon them as their own carnal reason suggests they think them dying when behold they live sorrowful when they are alwaies rejoycing poor whiles they make many rich How justly do we appeal from them as incompetent Judges and pity those misinterpretations which we cannot avoid Both the Sisters met Christ not both in one posture Mary is still noted as for more Passion so for more Devotion she that before sate at the feet of Jesus now falls at his feet That presence had wont to be familiar to her and not without some outward homeliness now it fetches her upon her knees in an awful veneration whether out of a reverend acknowledgment of the secret excellency and power of Christ or out of a dumb intimation of that suit concerning her dead Brother which she was afraid to utter The very gesture it self was supplicatory What position of body can be so fit for us when we make our address to our Saviour It is an irreligious unmannerliness for us to goe less Where the heart is affected with an awful acknowledgement of Majesty the body cannot but bow Even before all her neighbours of Jerusalem doth Mary thus fall down at the feet of Jesus so many witnesses as she had so many spies she had of that forbidden observance It was no less then Excommunication for any body to confess him yet good Mary not fearing the informations that might be given by those Jewish Gossips adores him and in her silent gesture saies as much as her Sister had spoken before Thou art the Christ the Son of God Those that would give Christ his right must not stand upon scrupulous fears Are we naturally timorous Why do we not fear the denial the exclusion of the Almighty Without shall be the fearfull Her humble prostration is seconded by a lamentable complaint Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died The Sisters are both in one mind both in one speech and both of them in one speech bewray both strength and infirmity strength of Faith in ascribing so much power to Christ that his presence could preserve from death infirmity in supposing the necessity of a presence for this purpose Why Mary could not thine Omnipotent Saviour as well in absence have commanded Lazarus to live Is his hand so short that he can doe nothing but by contaction If his Power were finite how could he have forbidden the seizure of death if infinite how could it be limited to place or hindered by distance It is a weakness of Faith to measure success by means and means by presence and to tye effects to both when we deal with an Almighty agent Finite causes work within their own sphere all places are equally near and all effects equally easie to the infinite O Saviour whiles thou now sittest gloriously in Heaven thou dost no less impart thy self unto us then if thou stoodst visibly by us then if we stood locally by thee no place can make difference of thy virtue and aid This was Mary's moan no motion no request sounded from her to her Saviour Her silent suit is returned with a mute answer no notice is taken of her error Oh that marvellous mercy that connives at our faulty infirmities All the reply that I hear of is a compassionate groan within himself O blessed Jesu thou that wert free from all sin wouldst not be free from strong affections Wisdome and Holiness should want much work if even vehement passions might not be quitted from offence Mary wept her tears drew on tears from her friends all their tears united drew groans from thee Even in thine Heaven thou dost no less pity our sorrows thy glory is free from groans but abounds with compassion and mercy if we be not sparing of our tears thou canst not be insensible of our sorrows How shall we imitate thee if like our looking-glass we do not answer tears and weep on them that weep upon us Lord thou knewest in absence that Lazarus was dead and dost thou not know where he was buried Surely thou wert further off when thou sawst and reportedst his death then thou wert from the grave thou inquiredst of thou that knewest all things yet askest what thou knowest Where have ye laid him Not out of need but out of will that as in thy sorrow so in thy question thou mightest depress thy self in the opinion of the beholders for the time that the glory of thine instant Miracle might be the greater the less it was exspected It had been all one to thy Omnipotence to have made a new Lazarus out of nothing or in that remoteness to have commanded Lazarus wheresoever he was to come forth but thou wert neither willing to work more miracle then was requisite nor yet unwilling to fix the minds of the people upon the exspectation of some marvellous thing that thou meantest to work and therefore askest Where have you laid him They are not more glad of the question then ready for the answer Come and see It was the manner of the Jews as likewise of those Egyptians among whom they had sojourned to lay up the dead bodies of their friends with great respect more cost was wont to be bestowed on some of their graves then on their houses as neither ashamed then nor unwilling to shew the decency of their sepulture they say Come and see More was hoped for from Christ then a mere view they meant and exspected that his eye should draw him on to some further action O Saviour whiles we desire our spiritual resuscitation how should we labour to
why did not those multitudes of men stand upon their defence and wrest that whip out of the hand of a seemingly-weak and unarmed Prophet but in stead thereof run away like sheep from before him not daring to abide his presence though his hand had been still Surely had these men been so many armies yea so many Legions of Devils when God will astonish and chase them they cannot have the power to stand and resist How easie is it for him that made the heart to put either terrour or courage into it at pleasure O Saviour it was none of thy least Miracles that thou didst thus drive out a world of able offenders in spight of their gain and stomackful resolutions their very profit had no power to stay them against thy frowns Who hath resisted thy will Mens hearts are not their own they are they must be such as their Maker wil have them The Figge-tree cursed WHen in this State our Saviour had rid through the streets of Jerusalem that evening he lodged not there Whether he would not that after so publick an acclamation of the people he might avoid all suspicion of plots or popularity Even unjust jealousies must be shunned neither is there less wisdome in the prevention then in the remedy of evils or whether he could not for want of an invitation Hosanna was better â—heap then an Entertainment and perhaps the envie of so stomached a Reformation discouraged his hosts However he goes that evening supperless out of Jerusalem O unthankful Citizens Do ye thus part with your no less meek then glorious King His title was not more proclaimed in your streets then your own ingratitude If he have purged the Temple yet your hearts are foul There is no wonder in mens unworthiness there is more then wonder in thy mercy O thou Saviour of men that wouldst yet return thither where thou wert so palpably disregarded If they gave thee not thy Supper thou givest them their Breakfast If thou maist not spend the night with them thou wilt with them spend the day O love of unthankful Souls not discourageable by the most hateful indignities by the basest repulses What burden canst thou shrink under who canst bear the weight of ingratitude Thou that givest food to all things living art thy self hungry Martha Mary and Lazarus kept not so poor an house but that thou mightest have eaten something at Bethany Whether thine hast out-ran thine appetite or whether on purpose thou forbarest repast to give opportunity to thine insuing Miracle I neither ask nor resolve This was not the first time that thou wast hungry As thou wouldst be a man so thou wouldst suffer those infirmities that belong to Humanity Thou camest to be our High priest it was thy act and intention not only to intercede for thy people but to transfer unto thy self as their sins so their weaknesses and complaints Thou knowest to pity what thou hast felt Are we pinched with want we indure but what thou didst we have reason to be patient thou induredst what we do we have reason to be thankful But what shall we say to this thine early hunger The morning as it is priviledged from excess so from need the stomach is not wont to rise with the body Surely as thy occasions were no season was exempted from thy want thou hadst spent the day before in the holy labour of thy Reformation after a supperless departure thou spentest the night in Prayer no meal refreshed thy toile What do we think much to forbear a morsel or to break a sleep for thee who didst thus neglect thy self for us As if meat were no part of thy care as if any thing would serve to stop the mouth of hunger thy breakfast is expected from the next Tree A Fig-tree grew by the way side ful grown well spread thick leaved and such as might promise enough to a remote eye thither thou camest to seek that which thou foundst not and not findig what thou soughtest as displeased with thy disappointment cursedst that plant which deluded thy hopes Thy breath instantly blasted that deceitful tree it did no otherwise then the whole world must needs doe wither and dye with thy Curse O Saviour I had rather wonder at thine actions then discuss them If I should say that as man thou either knewest not or consideredst not of this fruitlesness it could no way prejudice thy Divine Omniscience this infirmity were no worse then thy weariness or hunger It was no more disparagement to thee to grow in Knowledge then in stature neither was it any more disgrace to thy perfect Humanity that thou as man knewst not all things at once then that thou wert not in thy childhood at thy full growth But herein I doubt not to say it is more likely thou camest purposely to this Tree knowing the barrenness of it answerable to the season and fore-resolving the event that thou mightest hence ground the occasion of so instructive a Miracle like as thou knewest Lazarus was dying was dead yet wouldst not seem to take notice of his dissolution that thou mightest the more glorifie thy Power in his resuscitation It was thy willing and determined disappointment for a greater purpose But why didst thou curse a poor tree for the want of that fruit which the season yielded not If it pleased thee to call for that which it could not give the Plant was innocent and if innocent why cursed O Saviour it is fitter for us to adore then to examine We may be sawcy in inquiâ—â—g after thee and fond in answering for thee If that season were not for a ripe fruit yet for some fruit it was Who knows not the nature of the Fig-tree to be alwaies bearing That plant if not altogether barren yields a continual succession of increase whiles one fig is ripe another is green the same bough can content both our taste and our hope This tree was defective in both yielding nothing but an empty shade to the mis-hoping traveller Besides that I have learn'd that thou O Saviour wert wont not to speak only but to work Parables And what was this other then a real Parable of thine All this while hadst thou been in the world thou hadst given many proofs of thy Mercy the earth was full of thy Goodness none of thy Judgments now immediately before thy Passion thou thoughtest fit to give this double demonstration of thy just austerity How else should the world have seen thou canst be severe as well as meek and merciful And why mightest not thou who madest all things take liberty to destroy a plant for thine own Glory Wherefore serve thy best creatures but for the praise of thy Mercy and Justice What great matter was it if thou who once saidst Let the earth bring forth the herb yielding seed and the tree yielding the fruit of its own kind shouldst now say Let this fruitless tree wither All this yet was done in figure In this act of thine
Heaven and befool them in their own vain devices O Saviour how much evidence had thy Resurrection wanted if these enemies had not been thus maliciously provident how irrefragable is thy rising made by these bootless endeavours of their prevention All this while the devout Maries keep close and silently spend their Sabbath in a mixture of grief and hope How did they wear out those sad hours in bemoaning themselves each to other in mutual relations of the patient sufferings of the happy expiration of their Saviour of the wonderfull events both in the Heavens and earth that accompanied his Crucifixion of his frequent and clear Predictions of his Resurrection And now they have gladly agreed so soon as the time will give them leave in the dawning of the Sunday morning to visit that dear Sepulcher Neither will they goe empty-handed She that had bestowed that costly Alabaster-box of Ointment upon their Saviour alive hath prepared no less precious Odors for him dead Love is restless and fearless In the dark of night these good Women goe to buy their spices and ere the day-break are gone out of their houses towards the Tomb of Christ to bestow them This Sex is commonly fearful it was much for them to walk alone in that unsafe season yet as despising all fears and dangers they thus spend the night after their Sabbath Might they have been allowed to buy their Perfumes on the Sabbath or to have visited that holy Tomb sooner can we think they would have staid so long can we suppose they would have cared more for the Sabbath then for the Lord of the Sabbath who now kept his Sabbath in the Grave Sooner they might not come later they would not to present their last homage to their dead Saviour Had these holy women known their Jesus to be alive how had they hasted who made such speed to doe their last offices to his sacred Corps For us we know that our Redeemer liveth we know where he is O Saviour how cold and heartless is our love to thee if we do not hast to finde thee in thy Word and Sacraments if our Souls do not fly up to thee in all holy Affections into thy Heaven Of all the Women Mary Magdalen is first named and in some Evangelists alone She is noted above her fellows None of them were so much obliged none so zealously thankful Seven Devils were cast out of her by the command of Christ That Heart which was freed from Satan by that powerful dispossession was now possessed with a free and gracious bounty to her deliverer Twice at the least hath she powred out her fragrant and costly Odors upon him Where there is a true sense of favour and beneficence there cannot but be a fervent desire of retribution O Blessed Saviour could we feel the danger of every sin and the malignity of those spiritual possessions from which thou hast freed us how should we pour out our selves into thankfulness unto thee Every thing here had horrour The Place both solitary and a Sepulcher Nature abhors as the visage so the region of Death and Corruption The Time Night onely the Moon gave them some faint glimmering for this being the seventeenth day of her age afforded some light to the later part of the night The Business the visitation of a dead Corps Their zealous Love hath easily overcome all these They had followed him in his Sufferings when the Disciples-left him they attended him to his Cross weeping they followed him to his Grave and saw how Joseph laid him even there they leave him not but ere it be day-light return to pay him the last tribute of their duty How much stronger is Love then death O Blessed Jesu why should not we imitate thy love to us Those whom thou lovest thou lovest to the end yea in it yea after it even when we are dead not our Souls onely but our very dust is dearly respected of thee What condition of thine should remove our affections from thy person in Heaven from thy lims on earth Well did these worthy Women know what Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had done to thee they saw how curiously they had wrapped thee how preciously they had embalmed thee yet as not thinking others beneficence could be any just excuse of theirs they bring their own Odors to thy Sepulture to be perfumed by the touch of thy Sacred body What thank is it to us that others are obsequious to thee whiles we are slack or niggardly We may rejoyce in others forwardness but if we rest in it how small joy shall it be to us to see them goe to Heaven without us When on the Friday-evening they attended Joseph to the intombing of Jesus they mark'd the place they mark'd the passage they mark'd that inner grave-stone which the owner had fitted to the mouth of that tomb which all their care is now to remove Who shall roll away the stone That other more weighty load wherewith the vault was barred the seal the guard set upon both came not perhaps into their knowledge this was the private plot of Pilate and the Priests beyond the reach of their thoughts I do not hear them say How shall we recover the charges of our Odors or How shall we avoid the envy and censure of our angry Elders for honouring him whom the Governours of our Nation have thought worthy of condemnation The onely thought they now take is Who shall roll away the stone Neither do they stay at home and move this doubt but when they are well forward on their way resolving to try the issue Good hearts cannot be so solicitous for any thing under Heaven as for removing those impediments which lie between them and their Saviour O Blessed Jesu thou who art clearly revealed in Heaven art yet still both hid and sealed up from too many here on earth Neither is it some thin veil that is spred between thee and them but an huge stone even a true stone of offence lies rolled upon the mouth of their hearts Yea if a second weight were superadded to thy Grave here no less then three spiritual bars are interposed betwixt them and thee above Idleness Ignorance Unbelief Who shall roll away these stones but the same power that removed thine O Lord remove that our Ignorance that we may know thee our Idleness that we may seek thee our Unbelief that we may find and enjoy thee How well it succeeds when we go faithfully and conscionably about our work and leave the issue to God Lo now God hath removed the cares of these holy Women together with the grave-stone To the wicked that falls out which they feared to the Godly that which they wished and cared for yea more Holy cares ever prove well the worldly dry the bones and disappoint the hopes Could these good Visitants have known of a greater stone sealed of a strong watch set their doubts had been doubled now God goes beyond their thoughts and
for thanks who would be a debter With the God of Mercy this cheap payment is current If he then will honour us so far as to be blessed of us Oh let us honour him so far as to blesse him Quare verbis parcam gratuita sunt Why do we spare thanks that cost us nothing as that wise heathen O give unto the Lord ye mighty give unto the Lord the praises due to his name offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving and still let the foot of our song be Blessed be the Lord. This for the Descant of gratulation the Ground follows His own sake hath reason to be first God will be blessed both as Jah and Adonai the one the style of his Essence the other of his Soveraignty Even the most accursed Deist would confesse that as a pure simple infinite absolute being God is to be blessed for if Being be good and these two be convertible Nature must needs teach him that an absolute and infinite Being must needs be absolutely and infinitely good But what do I blur the Glory of this Day with mention of those Monsters whose Idol is Nature whose Religion is secondary Atheism whose true region is the lowest Hell Those damned Ethnicks cannot will not conceive of God as he is because they impiously sever his Essence from his inward Relations We Christians can never be so heavenly affected to God as we ought till we can rise to this pitch of Piety to blesse God for what he is in himself without the external beneficial relations to the creature Else our respects reflect too much homeward and we do but look through God at our selves Neither is it for us only to blesse him as an absolute God but as a Soveraign Lord too whose Power hath no more limit then his Essence the great Moderator of Heaven and earth giving laws to his creature overruling all things marshalling all events crushing his enemies maintaining his Church adored by Angels trembled at by Devils Behold here a Lord worthy to be blessed We honour as we ought your conspicuous Greatness O ye eminent Potentates of the earth but alas what is this to the great Lord of Heaven when we look up thither we must crave leave to pity the breath of your nostrils the rust of your Coronets the dust of your graves the sting of your felicities and if ye take not good heed the blots of your memories As ye hold all in â—ee from this great Lord so let it be no disparagement to you to doe your lowliest homage to his footstool homage I mean in Action give me the reall benediction I am sure that is the best They blesse God that praise him they blesse him more and praise him best that obey him There are that crouch to you Great ones who yet hate you Oh let us take heed of offering these hollow observances to the searcher of hearts if we love not our own confusion They that proclaimed Christ at Jerusalem had not only Hosanna in their mouths but palms in their hands too so must we have Let me say then If the Hand bless not the Lord the Tongue is an Hypocrite Away with the wast complements of our vain Formalities Let our loud actions drown the language of our words in blessing the name of the Lord. Neither must we bless God as a Soveraign Lord only but which is yet a more feeling relation as a munificent Benefactor Who loadeth us daily with benefits Such is man's self-love that no inward worth can so attract his praises as outward beneficence Whiles thou makest much of thy self every one shall speak well of thee how much more whiles thou makest much of them Here God hath met with us also Not to perplex you with scanning the variety of senses wherewith I have observed this Psalm above all other of David's to abound see here I beseech you a four-fold gradation of Divine Bounty First here are Benefits The word is not expressed in the Original but necessarily implied in the sense for there are but three loads whereof man is capable from God Favours Precepts Punishments the other two are out of the road of Gratulation When we might therefore have exspected Judgments behold hold Benefits And those secondly not sparingly handfulled out to us but dealt to us by the whole load loadeth with benefits Whom thirdly doth he load but us Not worthy and well-deserving subjects but us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rebels And lastly this he doth not at one doal and no more as even churls rare Feasts use to be plentifull but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 successively unweariedly perpetually One favour were too much here are Benefits a sprinkling were too much here is a load once were too oft here is daily largition Cast your eyes therefore a little upon this threefold exaggeration of Beneficence the measure a load of benefits the subject unworthy us the time daily Who daily loadeth us with benefits Where shall we begin to survey this vast load of Mercies Were it no more but that he hath given us a world to live in a life to injoy aire to breath in earth to tread on fire to warm us water to cool and cleanse us cloaths to cover us food to nourish us sleep to refresh us houses to shelter us variety of creatures to serve and delight us here were a just load But now if we yet adde to these civility of breeding dearnesse of friends competency of Estate degrees of Honour honesty or dignity of vocation favour of Princes successe in imployments domestick comforts outward peace good reputation preservation from dangers rescue from evils the load is well mended If yet ye shall come closer and adde due proportion of Body integrity of parts perfection of senses strength of nature mediocrity of health sufficiency of appetite vigour of digestion wholsome temper of seasons freedome from cares this course must needs heighten it yet more If still ye shall adde to these the order and power and exercise of our inward Faculties inriched with Wisdome Art Learning Experience expressed by a not-unhandsome Elocution and shall now lay all these together that concern Estate Body Minde how can the axel-tree of the Soul but crack under the load of these Favours But if from what God hath done for us as men we look to what he hath done for us as Christians that he hath imbraced us with an everlasting Love that he hath molded us anew enlivened us by his Spirit fed us by his Word Sacraments clothed us with his Merits bought us with his Blood becoming vile to make us glorious a Curse to invest us with Blessedness in a word that he hath given himself to us his Son for us Oh the height and depth and breadth of the rich mercies of our God! Oh the boundlesse toplesse bottomlesse load of Divine benefits whose immensity reaches from the center of this earth to the unlimited extent of the very Empyreal Heavens Oh that men would praise the
arrogate No no Godliness can no more be without power then the God that works it Shew me your Godliness in the true fervor of your Devotions in the effectual sanctification of your hearts and tongues in the conscionable carriage of your lives else to the wicked saith God what hast thou to doe to take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed Psal 50. 16. Ye have heard the power of Godliness hear now the denial of this power How then is it denied Surely there is a verbal there is a real denial rebus verbis as Hilary It is a mistaking of Logicians that Negation is the affection of a Proposition onely No God and Divinity find it more in practice This very power is as stoutly challenged by some men in words as truely denyed in actions As one sayes of the Pharisees answer concerning John's Calling verum dicebant mentiebantur so may I of these men It is not in the power of words to deny so strongly as deeds can both the hand and the tongue interpret the heart but the hand so much more lively as there is more substance in acts then sounds As he said Spectamur agendo we are both seen and heard in our actions He that sayes there is no God is a vocal Atheist he that lives as if there were no God is a vital Atheist he that should say Godliness hath no power is a verbal Atheist he that shall live as if Godliness had no power is a real Atheist they are Atheists both We would fly upon a man that should deny a God with Diagoras though as Anselm well no man can do this interius from within we would burn a man that should deny the Deity of Christ with Arrius we would rend our cloths at the blasphemy of that man who with the Epicures and Apelleians should exempt the cares and operations of God from the things below we would spit at a man that durst say There is no power in Godliness These monsters if there be such hide their ugly heads and find it not safe to look on the light Faggots are the best language to such miscreants But these reall denials are so much more rife and bold as they can take the advantage of their outward safety and unconvincibleness Their words are honey their life poison as Bernard said of his Arnoldus And these actions make too much noise in the world That which S. Chrysostome saies of the Last day that mens works shall speak their tongues shall be silent is partly true in the mean time their works crie out whiles their tongues whisper There is then really a double deniall of the power of Godliness the one in not doing the good it requires the other in doing the evil it forbids the one a privative the other a positive deniall In the former what power hath Godliness if it have not made us good A feeble Godliness it is that is ineffectual If it have not wrought us to be devout to God just to men sober and temperate in the use of God's creatures humble in our selves charitable to others where is the Godliness where is the power If these were not apparently done there were no form of Godliness if these be not soundly and heartily done there is a palpable deniall of the power of Godliness Hear this then ye ignorant and seduced souls that measure your Devotions by number not by weight or that leaning upon your idle elbow yawningly patter out those Prayers whose sound or sense ye understand not ye that bring listlesse ears severed from your wandring hearts to the Messages sent from Heaven ye that come to God's boord as a surfeited stomack to an Hony-comb or a sick stomack to a Potion shortly ye that pray without feeling hear without care receive without appetite ye have a form of Godliness but deny the power of it Hear this ye that wear out the floor of God's house with your frequent attendance ye that have your ears open to God's Messengers and yet shut to the cries of the Poor of the Orphan of the Labourer of the distressed Debtor ye that can lift up those hands to Heaven in your fashionable Prayers which ye have not reached out to the relief of the needy members of your Saviour whiles I must tell you by the way that hard rule of Laurentius Magis delinquit dives non largiendo superflua quà m pauper rapiendo necessaria The rich man offends more in not giving his superfluities then the poor man in stealing necessaries ye that have a fluent tongue to talk unto God but have no tongue to speak for God or to speak in the cause of the dumb ye have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof Shortly ye that have no fear of God before your eyes no love to Goodness no care of Obedience no conscience of your actions no diligence in your Callings ye have denied the power of Godliness This very privative deniall shall without your repentance damn your Souls Remember oh remember that there needs no other ground of your last and heaviest doom then Ye have not given Ye have not visited But the positive denial is yet more irrefragable If very Privations and silence speak much more are Actions vocal Hear this then ye vizors of Christianity who notwithstanding all your civil smoothnesse when ye are once moved can tear Heaven with your Blasphemies and bandy the dreadfull name of GOD in your impure mouths by your bloody Oaths and Execrations ye that dare to exercise your sawcie wits in profane scoffs at Religion ye that presume to whet your lawlesse tongues and lift up your rebellious hands against lawfull Authority whether in Church or State ye that grinde faces like edge-tools and spill blood like water ye that can neigh after strange flesh and upon your voluptuous beds act the filthiness of Sodomitical Aretinismes ye that can quaff your drunken carouses till you have drowned your Reason in a deluge of deadly Healths ye whose foul hands are belimed with Briberie and besineared with the price of blood ye whose Sacrilegious throats have swallowed down whole Churches and Hospitals whose maws have put over whole Parishes of sold and affamished Souls ye whose faction and turbulency in novel Opinions rends the seamlesse Coat not considering that of Melanchthon that Schism is no lesse sin then Idolatry and there cannot easily be a worse then Idolatry either of them both are enough to ruine any Church under Heaven now the God of Heaven ever keep this Church of ours from the mischief of them both ye whose tongues trade in Lies whose very profession is Fraud and cozenage ye cruell Usurers false Flatterers lying and envious Detractors in a word ye whoever ye are that goe resolutely forward in a course of any known sins and will not be reclaimed ye ye are the men that spit God in the face and deny flatly the power of Godlinesse Woe is me we have enough
of Godlinesse in the illuminating our eyes in raising us from our sins in ejecting our corruptions in changing our lives and creating our hearts anew we may at the last feel the happy consummation of this power in the full possessing of us in that eternall Blessednesse and Glory which he hath prepared for all that love him To the perfect fruition whereof he bring us that hath dearly bought us Jesus Christ the righteous to whom c. THE BEAUTY AND UNITY OF THE CHURCH In a SERMON preached at White-hall By J. H. Cant. 6. 9. My Dove my Undefiled is One. OUR last daies discourse was as you heard of War and dissipation this shall be of Love and unity Away with all profane thoughts Every syllable in this Bridal-song is Divine Who doubts that the Bride-groom is Christ the Bride his Church the Church whether at large in all the Faithfull or abridged in every faithfull Soul Christ the Bride-groom praises the Bride his Church for her Beauty for her Entirenesse For her Beauty she is Columba a Dove she is perfecta undefiled Her Entireness is praised by her Propriety in respect of him Columba mea my Dove by her Unity in respect of her self Una one alone My Dove my undefiled is but one So as the beautifull Sincerity the dear Propriety the indivisible Unity of the whole Church in common and of the Epitome thereof every Regenerate Soul is the matter of my Text of my speech Let your holy attention follow me and finde your selves in every particular The two first titles Columba and perfecta are in effect but one This creature hath a pleasing Beauty and an innocent Simplicity Columba imports the one and perfecta the other yea each both for what is the Perfection which can be attained here but Sincerity and what other is our honest Sincerity then those gracefull proportions and colours which make us appear lovely in the eyes of God The undefiled then interprets the Dove and convertibly for therefore is the Church undefiled because she is a Dove she is as Christ bade her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 innocent Mat. 10. 16. and therefore is she Christ's Dove because she is undefiled with the gall of spiritual bitterness Had ye rather see these Graces apart Look then first at the Loveliness then at the Harmlesness of the Church of the Soul Every thing in the Dove is amiable her Eyes Cant. 1. 15. her Feathers Psal 68. 13. and what not So is the Church in the Eyes of Christ And therefore the vulgar Translation puts both these together Columba mea formosa mea Cant. 2. 10. which Lucas Brugensis confesses not to be in the Hebrew yet addes Nè facile omittas Thy Dove O God yea why not thy Raven rather I am sure she can say of her self I am black And if our own hearts condemn us thou art greater Alas what canst thou see in us but the Pustles of Corruption the Morphews of Deformity the hereditary Leprosie of Sin the Pestilential spots of Death and dost thou say My Dove my undefiled Let malice speak her worst The Church saies she is black but she shies she is comely and that is fair that pleaseth Neither doth God look upon us with our eyes but with his own He sees not as man seeth The Kings daughter is all glorious within finite eyes reach not thither The skin-deep Beauty of earthly faces is a fit object for our shallow sense that can see nothing but colour Have ye not seen some Pictures which being look'd on one way shew some ugly beast or bird another way shew an exquisite face Even so doth God see our best side with favour whiles we see our worst with rigour Not that his Justice sees any thing as it is not but that his Mercy will not see some things as they are Blessed is the man whose sin is covered Psal 32. 1. If we be foul yet thou O Saviour art glorious Thy Righteousnesse beautifies us who are blemished by our own Corruptions But what shall our borrowed Beauty blemish the whiles thine infinite Justice shall we taint thee to clear our selves Dost thou justifie the wicked dost thou feather the Raven with the wings of the Dove whiles the cloth is fair is the skin nastie Is it no more but to deck a Blackmore with white even with the long white robes which are the justifications of Saints God forbid Cursed be he O Lord that makes thy Mercies unjust No whom thou accountest holy thou makest so whom thou justifiest him thou sanctifiest No man can be perfectly just in thee who is not truly though unperfectly holy in himself Whether therefore as fully just by thy gracious imputation or as inchoately just by thy gracious inoperation we are in both thy Dove thy undefiled In spight of all the blemishes of her outward administrations Gods Church is beautifull in spight of her inward weakenesses the faithfull Soul is comely in spight of both each of them is a Dove each of them undefiled It is with both as he said long since of Physicians The Sun sees their successes the earth hides their errours None of their unwilling infirmities can hinder the God of Mercies from a gracious allowance of their integrity Behold thou art all fair But let no idle Donatist of Amsterdam dream hence of an Utopical perfection Even here is the Dove still but Columba seducta or fatua as Tremelius reads it Ephraim Ephraim is a silly seduced Dove Ose 7. 11. The rifeness of their familiar excommunications may have taught them to seek for a spotlesness above And if their furious censures had left but one man in their Church yet that one man would have need to excommunicate the greater half of himself the Old man in his own bosome Our Church may too truly speak of them in the voice of God Woe to them for they have fled from me Ose 7. 13. It is not in the power of their uncharity to make the rest of God's Church and ours any other then what it is The Dove of Christ the undefiled The Harmlesness follows A quality so eminent in the Dove that our Saviour hath hereupon singled it out for an Hieroglyphick of Simplicity Whence it was questionlesse that God of all fowls chose out this for his Sacrifice Sin ex aliqua volucri Levit. 1. 14. And before the Law Abraham was appointed no other Gen. 15. 9. then a Turtle and a Pigeon neither did the Holy Virgin offer any other at her Purifying then this embleme of her self and her blessed Babe Shortly hence it was that a Dove was imployed for the messenger of the exsiccation of the Deluge no fowl so fit to carry an Olive of peace to the Church which she represented And lastly in a Dove the Holy Ghost descended upon the meek Saviour of the world whence as Illyricus and some ancients have guessed the sellers of Doves were whipt out of the Temple as Simoniacal chafferers of the Holy Ghost The
is but either private or unnecessary and uncertain Oh that whiles we sweat and bleed for the maintenance of these oracular Truths we could be perswaded to remit of our Heat in the pursuit of Opinions These these are they that distract the Church violate our peace scandalize the weak advantage our enemies Fire upon the Hearth warms the Body but if it be misplaced burns the House My brethren let us be Zealous for our God every hearty Christian will pour Oyle and not Water upon this holy flame But let us take heed lest a blind self-self-love stiffe prejudice and factious partiality impose upon us in stead of the causes of God Let us be suspicious of all New Verities and careless of all unprofitable and let us hate to think our selves either wiser then the Church or better then our Superiours And if any man think that he sees further then his fellows in these Theological prospects let his tongue keep the counsel of his eyes left whiles he affects the fame of deeper learning he embroile the Church and raise his glory upon the publick ruines And ye worthy Christans whose Souls God hath entrusted with our spiritual Guardianship be ye alike minded with your Teachers The motion of their tongues lies much in your eares your modest desires of receiving needful and wholesome Truths shall avoid their labour after frivolous and quarrelsome Curiosities God hath blessed you with the reputation of a wise and knowing people In these Divine matters let a meek Sobriety set bounds to your inquiries Take up your time and hearts with Christ and Him crucified with those essential Truths which are necessary to Salvation leave all curious disquisitions to the Schools and say of those Problems as the Philosopher did of the Athenian shops How many things are here that we have no need of Take the nearest cut you can ye shall find it a side-way to Heaven ye need not lengthen it with undue circuitions I am deceived if as the times are ye shall not find work enough to bear up against the oppositions of professed hostility It is not for us to squander our thoughts and hours upon useless janglings wherewith if we suffer our selves to be still taken up Satan shall deal with us like some crafty Cheater who whiles he holds us at gaze with tricks of jugling picks our pockets Dear Brethren whatever become of these worthless driblets be sure to look well to the free-hold of your Salvation Errour is not more busie then subtile Superstition never wanted sweet insinuations make sure work against these plausible dangers Suffer not your selves to be drawn into the net by the common stale of the Church Know that outward Visibility may too well stand with an utter exclusion from Salvation Salvation consists not in a formalitie of Profession but in a Soundness of Belief A true body may be full of mortall diseases So is the Roman Church of this day whom we have long pitied and labored to cure in vain If she will not be healed by us let us not be infected by her Let us be no less jealous of her contagion then she is of our remedies Hold fast that precious Truth which hath been long taught you by faithful Pastors confirmed by clear evidences of Scriptures evinced by sound Reasons sealed up by the blood of our blessed Martyrs So whiles no man takes away the crown of your constancie ye shall be our Crown and rejoycing in the day of our Lord Jesus to whose all-sufficient Grace I commend you all and vow my self Your common Servant in him whom we all rejoice to serve JOS. EXON The Contents CHAP. I. THE extent of the Differences betwixt the Churches Pag. 375 CHAP. II. The Original of the Differences 376 CHAP. III. The Reformed unjustly charged with Noveltie Heresie Schisme 378 CHAP. IV. The Romane Church guilty of this Schisme 380 CHAP. V. The Newness of the Article of Justification by inherent Righteousness 381 Sect. 2. This Doctrine proved to be against Scripture 383 Sect. 3. Against Reason 384 CHAP. VI. The Newness of the Doctrine of Merit 385 Sect. 2. Against Scripture 386 Sect. 3. Against Reason ibid. CHAP. VII The Newness of the Doctine of Transubstantiation 387 Sect. 2. Against Scripture 389 Sect. 3. Against Reason 390 CHAP. VIII The Newness of the Half-Communion 391 Sect. 2. Against Scripture 392 Sect. 3. Against Reason ibid. CHAP. IX The Newness of Missal Sacrifice 393 Sect. 2. Against Scripture ibid. Sect. 3. Against Reason 394 CHAP. X. The Newness of Image-Worship ibid. Sect. 2. Against Scripture 396 Sect. 3. Against Reason 397 CHAP. XI The Newness of Indulgences and Purgatory ibid. Sect. 2. Against Scripture 399 Sect. 3. Against Reason 400 CHAP. XII The Newness of Divine Service in an unknown tongue ibid. Sect. 2. Against Scripture 402 Sect. 3. Against Reason ibid. CHAP. XIII The Newness of a full forced Sacramental Confession 403 Sect. 2. Not warranted by Scripture 404 Sect. 3. Against Reason ibid. Sect. 4. The Novelty of Absolution before Satisfaction 405 CHAP. XIV The Newness of the Romish Invocation of Saints ibid. Sect. 2. Against Scripture 406 Sect. 3. Against Reason 407 CHAP. XV. The Newness of Seven Sacraments 408 Sect. 2. Besides Scripture 409 Sect. 3. Against Reason ibid. CHAP. XVI The Newness of the Romish Doctrine of Traditions ibid. Sect. 2. Against Scripture 411 Sect. 3. Against Reason 412 CHAP. XVII The Newness of the universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome ibid. Sect. 2. The Newness of challenged Infallibility 414 Sect. 3. The Newness of the Popes Superiorities to Councils 415 Sect. 4. The new presumption of Papal Dispensation ibid. Sect. 5. The new challenge of popes domineering over Kings and Emperours 416 CHAP. XVIII The Epilogue both of Exhortation and Apologie 417 THE OLD RELIGION CHAP. I. The extent of the Differences betwixt the Churches THE first blessing that I daily beg of my God for his Church is our Saviours Legacy Peace that sweet Peace which in the very name of it comprehends all happiness both of estate and disposition As that Mountain whereon Christ ascended though it abounded with Palms and Pines and Myrtles yet it carried onely the name of Olives which have been an ancient Embleme of Peace Other Graces are for the Beauty of the Church this for the Health and Life of it For howsoever even Wasps have their Combes and Hereticks their Assemblies as Tertullian so as all are not of the Church that have Peace yet so essential is it to the Church in S. Chrysostome's opinion that the very name of the Church implies a consent and concord No marvel then if the Church labouring here below make it her daily suit to her glorious Bridegroom in Heaven Da pacem Give Peace in our time O Lord. The means of which happiness are soon seen not so soon attained even that which Hierome hath to his Ruffinus Una fides Let our Belief-be but one and our hearts will be but
What an happiness is it that without all offence of Necromancy I may here call up any of the antient Worthies of Learning whether humane or divine and confer with them of all my doubts that I can at pleasure summon whole Synods of Reverend Fathers and acute Doctors from all the Coasts of the Earth to give their well-studied judgments in all points of question which I propose Neither can I cast my eye casually upon any of these silent Masters but I must learn somewhat It is a wantonness to complain of choice No Law bindes us to read all but the more we can take in and digest the better-liking must the Mindes needs be Blessed be God that hath set up so many clear Lamps in his Church now none but the wilfully blinde can plead darkness And blessed be the memory of those his faithfull Servants that have left their blood their spirits their lives in these precious papers and have willingly wasted themselves into these during Monuments to give light unto others LXXII Upon the red Crosse on a Door OH sign fearfully significant This sicknesse is a Crosse indeed and that a bloody one both the form and colour import Death The Israelites doors whose lintels were besprinkled with blood were passed over by the destroying Angel here the destroying Angel hath smitten and hath left this mark of his deadly blow We are wont to fight chearfully under this Ensign abroad and be victorious why should we tremble at it at home O God there thou fightest for us here against us under that we have fought for thee but under this because our sins have fought against thee we are fought against by thy Judgments Yet Lord it is thy Crosse though an heavy one It is ours by merit thine by imposition O Lord sanctifie thine Affliction and remove thy Vengeance LXXIII Upon the change of Weather I Know not whether it be worse that the Heavens look upon us alwaies with one face or ever varying For as continual change of Weather causes uncertainty of Health so a permanent setledness of one Season causeth a certainty of distemper perpetual Moisture dissolves us perpetual Heat evaporates or inflames us Cold stupifies us Drought obstructs and withers us Neither is it otherwise in the state of the Minde If our thoughts should be alwaies volatile changing inconstant we should never attain to any good habit of the Soul whether in matter of Judgment or Disposition but if they should be alwaies fixed we should run into the danger of some desperate extremity To be ever thinking would make us mad to be ever thinking of our Crosses or Sins would make us heartlesly dejected to be ever thinking of Pleasures and Contentments would melt us into a loose wantonness to be ever doubting and fearing were an Hellish servitude to be ever bold and confident were a dangerous presumption but the interchanges of these in a due moderation keep the Soul in health O God howsoever these Variations be necessary for my Spiritual condition let me have no weather but Sun-shine from thee Do thou lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and stablish me ever with thy free spirit LXXIV Upon the sight of a Marriage WHat a comfortable and feeling resemblance is here of Christ and his Church I regard not the Persons I regard the Institution Neither the Husband nor the Wife are now any more their own they have either of them given over themselves to other not onely the Wife which is the weaker vessel hath yielded over her self to the stronger protection and participation of an abler head but the Husband hath resigned his right in himself over to his feebler consort so as now her weaknesse is his his strength is hers Yea their very flesh hath altered property hers is his his is hers Yea their very Soul and spirit may no more be severed in respect of mutuall affection then from their own severall bodies It is thus O Saviour with thee and thy Church We are not our own but thine who hast married us to thy self in truth and righteousnesse What powers what indowments have we but from and in thee And as our holy boldness dares interesse our selves in thy Graces so thy wonderfully-compassionate mercy vouchsafes to interesse thy self in our Infirmities thy poor Church suffers on Earth thou feelest in Heaven and as complaining of our stripes canst say Why persecutest thou me Thou again art not so thine own as that thou art not also ours thy Sufferings thy Merits thy Obedience thy Life Death Resurrection Ascension Intercession Glory yea thy blessed Humanity yea thy glorious Deity by virtue of our right of our Union are so ours as that we would not give our part in thee for ten thousand Worlds O gracious Saviour as thou canst not but love and cherish this poor and unworthy Soul of mine which thou hast mercifully espoused to thy self so give me Grace to honour and obey thee and forsaking all the base and sinfull rivalty of the World to hold me only unto thee whiles I live here that I may perfectly enjoy thee hereafter LXXV Upon the sight of a Snake I Know not what horrour we finde in our selves at the fight of a Serpent Other creatures are more loathsome and some no lesse deadly then it yet there is none at which our blood riseth so much as at this Whence should this be but out of an instinct of our old enmity We were stung in Paradise and cannot but feel it But here is our weaknesse it was not the body of the Serpent that could have hurt us without the suggestion of sin and yet we love the sin whiles we hate the Serpent Every day are we wounded with the sting of that old Serpent and complain not and so much more deadly is that sting by how much it is lesse felt There is a sting of Guilt and there is a sting of Remorse there is mortall venome in the first whereof we are the least sensible there is lesse danger in the second The Israelites found themselves stung by those fiery Serpents in the Desart and the sense of their pain sent them to seek for Cure The World is our Desart and as the sting of Death is Sin so the sting of Sin is Death I do not more wish to finde ease then pain if I complain enough I cannot fail of cure O thou which art the true brazen Serpent lifted up in this wildernesse raise up mine eyes to thee and fasten them upon thee thy Mercy shall make my Soul whole my wound soveraign LXXVI Upon the Ruines of an Abby IT is not so easie to say what it was that built up these walls as what it was that pulled them down even the wickednesse of the Possessours Every stone hath a tongue to accuse the Superstition Hypocrisie Idlenesse Luxury of the late owners Methinks I see it written all along in Capitall letters upon these heaps A fruitfull Land maketh he barren for the iniquity of
more praise the mercy and wisdome of the giver and exercise the charity and thankfulness of the receiver The essence of our Humanity doth not consist in Stature he that is little of growth is as much man as he that is taller Even so also Spiritually the quantity of Grace doth not make the Christian but the truth of it I shall be glad and ambitious to adde cubits to my height but withall it shall comfort me to know that I cannot be so low of stature as not to reach unto Heaven CXXXVIII Upon an importunate Begger IT was a good rule of him that bade us learn to pray of Beggers with what zeal doth this man sue with what feeling expressions with how forceable importunity When I meant to passe by him with silence yet his clamour draws words from me when I speak to him though with excuses rebukes denials repulses his obsecrations his adjurations draw from me that Alms which I meant not to give How he uncovers his Sores and shews his impotence that my eyes may help his tongue to plead With what oratory doth he force my compâ—ssion so as it is scarce any thank to me that he prevails Why doe I not thus to my God I am sure I want no lesse then the neediest the danger of my want is greater the alms that I crave is better the store and mercy of the Giver infinitely more Why shouldst thou give me O God that which I care not to ask Oh give me a true sense of my wants and then I cannot be cool in asking thou canst not be difficult in condescending CXXXIX Upon a Medicinall potion HOW loathsome a draught is this how offensive both to the eye and to the scent and to the tast yea the very thought of it is a kinde of sickness and when it is once down my very disease is not so painfull for the time as my remedy How doth it turn the stomach and wring the entrails and works a worse distemper then that whereof I formerly complained And yet it must be taken for health neither could it be so wholsome if it were lesse unpleasing neither could it make me whole if it did not first make me sick Such are the chastisements of God and the reproofs of a Friend harsh troublesome grievous but in the end they yield the peaceable fruit of Righteousnesse Why do I turn away my head and make faces and shut mine eyes and stop my nostrils and nauseate and abhor to take this harmlesse potion for Health when we have seen Mountebanks to swallow dismembred toads and drink the poisonous broath after them only for a little ostentation and gain It is only weaknesse and want of resolution that is guilty of this queasinesse Why do not I chearfully take and quaffe up that bitter cup of Affliction which my wife and good God hath mixed for the health of my Soul CXL Upon the sight of a Wheel THE Prophet meant it for no other then a fearfull imprecation against Gods enemies O my God make them like unto a wheel whereby what could he intend to signifie but instability of condition and suddain violence of Judgement Those spoaks of the wheel that are now up are sooner then sight or thought whirled down and are straight raised up again on purpose to be depressed Neither can there be any motion so rapid and swift as the Circular It is a great favour of God that he takes leisure in his affliction so punishing us that we have respites of Repentance There is life and hope in these degrees of suffering but those hurrying and whirling Judgments of God have nothing in them but wrath and confusion O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger I cannot deprecate thy rebuke my sins call for correction but I deprecate thine anger thou rebukest even where thou lovest So rebuke me that whiles I smart with thy Rod I may rejoyce in thy Mercy CERTAIN CATHOLICK PROPOSITIONS Which A Devout Son of the CHURCH Humbly offers to the serious consideration of all ingenuous Christians wheresoever dispersed all the world over To all them who through the whole Israel of God follow Absolom with a simple heart BE not deceived any longer dear Christian Souls be ye free that ye may be safe There is a certain Sacred Tyranny that miserably abuses you and so cunningly beguiles you that you chuse rather to erre and perish God hath given you Reason and above that Faith do not so far wrong your selves as to be made the mere slaves of anothers will and to think it the safest way to be willingly blinde Lay aside for a while all prejudice and superstitious side-taking and consider seriously these few words which my sincere love to your Souls and hearty ambition of your Salvation hath commanded me as before the awfull Tribunall of Almighty God to tender unto you If what I say be not so clear and manifest to every ingenuous judgment that it shall not need to borrow further light from abroad condemn this worthlesse scroll and in your severe doom punish the Author with the losse of an hours labour But if it shall carry sufficient evidence in it self and shall be found so reasonable as that to any free minde it shall not perswade but command assent give way for Gods sake and for your Souls sake to that powerfull Truth of God which breaks forth from Heaven upon you and at last acknowledge besides a world of foul Errours the miserable insolence and cruelty of that once-Famous and renowned Church which to use Gerson's word will needs make Faith of Opinion and too impotently favouring her own passions hath not ceased to persecute with fire and sword the dear and holy servants of God and at last notwithstanding all the vain thunderbolts of a proud and lawlesse fury make much of those your truly-Christian and religious brethren who according to the just liberty of Faithfull men refuse and detest those false and upstart Points of a new-devised Faith But if any of you which God forbid had still rather to be deceived and dote upon his received Errors and as angry Curres are wont shall bark and bay at so clear a light of Truth my Soule shall in silence and sorrow pity that man in vain I wis we have had disputing enough if not too much Away from henceforth with all these Paper-brablings God from Heaven shall stint these strifes Wonder O Catholicks and ye whom it concerns repent Certain Catholick PROPOSITIONS which a devout Son of the Church humbly offers to the serious consideration of all ingenuous Christians wheresoever dispersed all the World over I. EVery true Christian is in that very regard properly capable of Salvation and for matter of Faith goes on in the ready way to Heaven II. Whosoever being duely admitted into the Church of God by lawfull Baptism believeth and maintaineth all the main and essential Points of Christian Faith is for matter of belief a true Christian III. The Summe of the Christian