under another title it comes from him as the gift of Tongues or Interpretation or Prophesie or the Word of Wisdom or the Word of Knowledg are reckoned by the Apostle to come from the same Spirit 1 Cor. xii 8. it may be most properly from him as he is the Spirit of Truth By the second way of knowledg it comes to pass that men of less capacities and lower understandings applying their affections as well as understandings to embrace the Truth do know and understand it more effectually are more resolute in the defence of it express it better in their lives and know more sometimes of the particular ways of God in his particular Providence and Direction of the affairs of his Saints for of this kind of wisdom the fear of the Lord always is the beginning and it often happens of the passages of the World too as they relate to Gods disposing order Yet by reason of the inabilities of understanding or want of the course or means of knowledg it falls out that they oftener err in the conceits and apprehensions of things than the other And more than so it as often comes to pass whether to humble them when they begin to be proud of their holiness and piety and think themselves so much above other men wiser better more holy more righteous than they or to punish them for some particular sin as disobdience curiosity of enquiring into depths above them singularity discontentedness self seeking or the like or to stir up their endeavours now beginning to languish or to make them yet more circumspect and wary in their ways for these or some such causes I say it comes to pass that God suffers them to run into grand and enormous errors foul and foolish extravagancies of opinion which if once they trench on practise and are deliberate in or might with easie industry have been avoided even grieve and quench that Holy Spirit that was in them and expel him too but if their errors be unvoluntary not easie for them at that time to be avoided or of lesser moment stand they may with the Spirit of Grace and they good men still How therefore now shall we know what is from the Spirit of Truth when he comes so to us is but a necessary enquiry yet the resolution is hard and difficult I know no better way to resolve you than by searching the nature of this Spirit of Truth as Christ has pleased to express him in his last most holy and comfortable Discourse of which the Text is but a part the several expressions of whose nature and office set together will I am confident assure us of a way to discern the Spirit of truth when it is that He speaketh in us You may turn your leaves and go along with me Chap. xiv 17. The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive so then 1. if the Article or Opinion which we receive be such an one as the world cannot if it be contrary to worldly interests carnal respects sensual pleasures 't is a good sign at first If it cannot enter into a carnal or natural mans heart if mans wisdom teach it not as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. ii 13. if it grow not in the garden of nature that 's a good sign 't is the Spirit of truth is come that thus enables us to receive a Doctrine so disadvantagious and displeasing Look into the next verse ver 18. I will not leave you comfortless If then 2. it be such an assertion that has good ground in it to rest upon that will not fail us in distress that will stick by us in our deepest agonies comfort us in our greatest discomforts not leave us when all earthly comforts do then 't is from above then 't is a true comfort a truth from this He this Spirit of truth that is the Comforter too See next v. 26. He shall teach you all things bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you If then 3. it be an assertion that carries the analogy of faith along with it that agrees with all the other principles of Christian faith that is according to the rule of Christs holy word that soberly and truly brings to our remembrance what he has said at any time or done for us that remembers both the words that he spake and the deeds that he has done his actions and example if it be according to his example of humility obedience patience and love if it bring us heartily to remember this Christs pattern in our lives and opinions too then it comes from him that should come and is worth your receiving and remembring it In the same verse again in the words just before he is called the Comforter and Holy Ghost who is also there promised to teach us too And if the Doctrine be such that not only comforts us in the receiving and remembrance but such also as becomes Comforters too that teaches us to comfort others the poor and needy the afflicted and distressed and to do it holily too as by the Holy Ghost that is with good and pure intentions and do it even to their Ghosts and Spirits as well as to their bodies if it teach true holy Ghostly spiritual counsel and all other convenient comfort to them our Christian brethren Then 't is 4. a doctrine from this Spirit of truth he comes in it Turn ye now to Chap. xv 23. But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father c. When the Doctrine 5. is no other than what either establishes the Doctrine of the holy Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost or contradicts it not and in all benefits received refers thanks and acknowledgment to the one as well as the other as from the one through the other by a third In this particular it is no other than the Spirit of truth for no other Spirit can reveal it Go on now through the vers He shall testifie of me The Doctrine 6. that bears witness of Christ that he is God that he is Man that he is Christ the Saviour of the World that he came to save sinners all whosoever would come to him not a few particular ones only that he is a complete and Universal Saviour such as he profest himself by entertaining all comers sending his Spirit and Apostles into all Nations commanding them to preach to every creature which are no other than his own words this is also from the Spirit of truth a Doctrine worthy Him that is the Comforter that brings so general a comfort with it Step now into the next Chapter Chap. xvi to which we owe the Text. When he is come he will reprove the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment ver 8. When the Doctrine is 7. such as it reproves the world of sin that it can do no good of it self that it is full of evil and corruption convinces
providence and common course But then I must have either an Angel from heaven to tell me so or an evidence from God which I can neither resist nor deny a full evidence besides that it is God that so assures me that he it truly is who requires my belief Otherwise I am to trust no further than reason will assure me nor hope more nor otherwise from Christ or God then true reason grounded upon Gods holy Word and possibilities and probabilities too will move me to To hope other is but to be our own deceivers 4. True hope in Christ should be rightly ordered First Faith then hope then rejoycing in hope then assurance not assurance at the first dash nor rejoycing neither Hope hath a kind of torment with it at the first when the thing we hope for is either delay'd or a great way off The nearer we draw to it the lesser is our torment the nearer are we to our rejoycing Whatsoever joy rises before we come somewhat nigh the thing we hope for is either none or very little and if Faith enter us not into our Hope if Hope be grounded upon Opinion only not on faith it will scarce hold a shaking fit See the Apostles order Rom. v. 3 4 5. first Tribulation then Patience then Experience then Hope then and not before that hope which maketh not ashamed Till you have been tried and tried again patiently endured affliction and temptation till your Patience be grown into Experience till you are become an experienced Christian have had experience both of Gods favours and his frowns and are become an experienced Souldier in the Christian Warfare one well vers'd in that holy trade you cannot have the hope which maketh not ashamed All hope that rises not in this method will but shame you In a word first the hope of righteousness in the order I have told you then the blessed hope of glory All other is preposterous and no better in the upshot than that which is in this life only for it will not hold or not hold beyond it though it talk never so much of another No without the hope of righteousness here a hope that expresses it self by righteousness in this life no hope no true hope I am sure of glory in the other 5. There is a fifth Hope that is as vain which neither knows how to go about nor pursue its ends nor entertain them neither when they come A kind of people there are who lay claim to much hope in Christ yet when good motions arise within them to beget this hope they either carelesly neglect or wilfully quench them when God shews them ways to confirm it they mind it not nay when Salvation it self seems to knock at their very doors they sit still and stir not so much as to open and let it in or if it fall out that they entertain it 't is with so much vanity and self-conceit so much empty prattle and boasting of it self so much shew and specious profession that Christ in whom it is pretended to be all is least of all seen in it True hope is never without humility and discretion it takes all opportunities to confirm and raise it self manages its motions with all carefulness sobriety humility and godly fear expects nothing but what in prudence it may slips no time but what of necessity it must uses whatsoever means it possibly can yet without the least vain ostentation to attain what it wishes and desires 6. To this end sixtly it endeavours after holiness The hope that does not so is no true hope in Christ at all Every one that hath this hope purifies himself says St. Iohn 1 Epist. iii. 3. hath his soul purified in obeying the Truth unto unfeigned love of the Brethren adds St. Peter 1 Epist. i. 22. St. Paul calls it a hope of righteousness Gal. 5. 5. And the Psalmist joins to it doing good Hope and be doing good Psal. xlii 5. as if there could be no good hope without doing good unless it did purifie us to all obedience and love This is the only hope in Christ we read of for approv'd and sound a pure holy obedient operative charitable hope Whatever hope else is said to be in Christ does but usurp the name and is no such and brings us no whither but to the end of the verse to be most miserable Yet 7. Stedfastness and constancy must be added to make hope compleat Upon Faith it must be grounded as we told you and Faith can admit no wavering Sure and stedfast the Apostle calls it Heb. vi 19. Hope without wavering Heb. x. 23. Anchor-hope and Helmet-hope strong and sure Sure nay sure and firm unto the end too Heb. iii. 6. So sure as that it carries rejoycing with it as if it had already obtain'd Heb. vi 11. No doubtful sad melancholick wavering or unconstant piece of business as the hopes of the world are now up now down now merry now sad nor as those false hopes in Christ without ground taken up without discretion pursued and with impurities and impieties daily defiled will one day prove No nor yet any impatient expectation but a hope with patience as the blessed Apostle 1 Thes. i. 3. a quiet and patient waiting for Christ 2 Thes. iii. 5. to be content to endure any thing though never so hard any time though never so long and think nothing too much for his sake There are so many mens hopes of the contrary nature so impatient of any service or hardship or endurance for Christ that with most it is come to more then an If If they have only a false hope in Christ so it is without an If too evident too common the more the pitty I have been somewhat long in discovering the false hopes we have in Christ which little differ either from impudence or presumption to say the least because the religious world as they would be accounted is too full of them because so many deceive themselves with their false glitterings and will needs be forsooth the Saints the only Saints who have hope in Christ who neither know the nature nor feel the power of it More false hopes even in Christ there are but such as may well be reduced to these heads as many false hopes as false beliefs and they are more then I can tell you more then any can more however then the day would give us leave to tell you if we would or could A hope in Christ 1. that misconceives him 2. a groundless 3. unreasonable 4. preposterous 5. indiscreet 6. unholy 7. a wavering inconstant and impatient hope are the only false hopes I have informed you of you may reduce all others to them but this one behind which the Apostle seems to imply by the rule of contraries when he tells us of a hope he had which made him use great plainness of speech 2 Cor. iii. 12. whereby he insinuates that the hope through Christ
these are all old worn tatter'd things not worth the taking up nothing now worth any thing but Christ nothing but Christ and those new things those graces are in him Thus old things are past with the true Christian but 2. all things also are become new in him He has a new heart and a new spirit he has no more a heart of stone but a heart of flesh a soft tender pliable heart a meek and well disposed spirit a loving spirit he is no more what he was the old ego he has a new understanding things look not to him as they did of old he vilifies the world and worldly things His affections new he affects not what he did before he contemns all things below He is a King and rules over his passions he is a Priest and sanctifies them with his Prayers he lives under a new Law the Law of the Spirit and not the Flesh he makes every day new Covenants with God A Member of the Church he is and the Kingdom of God is now within him He is a great adorer of the Sacraments of the Church and daily offers up himself a Sacrifice to God his Soul and Body and all he has and pours out his praises His Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost and the Altar of his Heart burns with the continual fires of Devotion and Charity He now lives no more but Christ lives in him that 's the new life he leads and it leads him into glory A new thing of which he has a glimpse and a kind of antipast here that makes him relish nothing else but cast all behind his back as old rags and dirt to press forward to the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus Phil. iii. 14. This is the new Creature the new man in whom old things are past away and all things become new And shall all things become new and not we shall all old things pass away and we remain in our old sins still every thing be cloth'd with a new lustre we only appear in our old rags still Certainly we cannot judge it reasonable Better use I hope we will make of this days Text of this New-years lesson Put off says the Apostle concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of our minds and put on that new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. iv 22 23 24. 'T is his counsel must be our practise The time past of our life may suffice us says S. Peter 1 Pet. iv 3. to have wrought the will of the Gentiles It is sufficient it is sufficient 'T is time now we unlearn our old lesson unravel our old work leave off our old course of life and begin a new to live henceford to righteousness and not to sin to God and not to men The new entred year calls for it the Text calls for it the Blood of Christ spent at his Circumcision lately past which yet this day and some days still to come commemorate cries for it that we would no longer count the blood of the new Covenant an unholy thing but betake us to it and live by it after a new fashion in newness of life I call you not to legal washings but the washings of Baptism and Repentance not to Iewish Feasts but Christian Festivals not to sacrifice Lambs and Sheep but your Souls and Bodies not to old Ceremonies but the new substance the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. Let him now begin his new reign in you let his new Commandment of Love be obeyed by you his Church purchased so dearly not be cowardly deserted by you keep his Covenant frequent his Temples adorn his Altars reverence his Priests follow the guidance of his Holy Spirit when he inspires good motions into your hearts amend your lives and become all new men in Jesus Christ. And when all these old things shall pass away and the new Heaven and Earth appear when he that sits upon the Throne Rev. xxi 5. shall make all things new then shall we be all made new again even these old decayed ruines of our bodies too and both souls and bodies clothed with the new Robes of Glory that shall never pass away but be ever new ever glorious for evermore THE SECOND SERMON ON THE Circumcision St. LUKE ii 21. His Name was called Iesus ANd to Day it was that He was called so when eight days were accomplished for his circumcising And they did well to call him so for it was the Name the Angel named him before he was conceived in the womb And he could be called by no better For Nomen super omne nomen says St. Paul of it Phil. ii 9. A name it is above every name for above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come Eph. i. 21. A Name that has all things in it that brings all good things with it that speaks more in five letters than we can do in five thousand words speaks more in it than we can speak to day and yet we intend to day to speak of nothing else nothing but Iesus nothing but Iesus The sooner then we begin the better And to begin the sooner we shall set upon it without either the Circumstances before or after in the verse or the Ceremonies either of Preamble or of Division of the words Only for Method sake and memory I shall shew you the fulness and greatness of this Name in these seven Particulars 'T is a Name of Truth and Fidelity 'T is a Name of Might and Power 'T is a Name of Majesty and Glory 'T is a Name of Grace and Mercy 'T is a Name of Sweetness and Comfort 'T is a Name of Wonder and Admiration 'T is a Name of Blessing and Adoration A faithful mighty glorious gracious comfortable admirable blessed Name it is given Him to Day to be called by but to be called by and to be called upon by us for ever that we also may be filled with the truth and power and glory and grace and sweetness and wonder and all the blessings of it This is the sum of what we have to say of this Great Name and now we go on with the Particulars A Name it is first of veracity and fidelity of faithfulness and truth This Iesus is but the old Ieshua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so much mentioned so often fortold so long expected all the Scripture thorow The Greek termination of◠only added that we might so understand that all those Types Prophesies and Promises were now terminated and at an end in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Iesus the Greeks and Gentiles taken in too to fulfill all that had been before named or spoken any way concerning him The testimony of Iesus is the very spirit of Prophesie Rev. xix
of Circumcision to which our Baptism succeeds to hollow them Ay but God now has promised to be the Father of them and of their seed and did he not so to Abraham first Gen. xvii 7. and yet must his Children be Circumcised What is it trow that these men would have Must the Iews dedicate their Children and must not the Christian were the Jewish Children Gods right and are not the Christians Do not we owe ours as much to him as they theirs Or must their Births be happy by an early Consecration and ours not theirs in a better condition under the wing of the Almighty ours in a meer natural state in our own meer protection theirs seal'd for Gods own ours without seal or any thing but their Fathers sin to know them by challeng'd wholly to our selves as if God had neither part nor portion in them Certainly did men but thus consider Children would not be so much injur'd by their Parents frowardness and could Children and sucklings understand it they would complain of so great an injury done to them the most imaginable that can be done to that tender age thus to be deprived of the blessing and taken out of the protection as much as lies in their Parents power of their God and Saviour Thus far we have considered only Gods right and the Child 's good in being brought into the Temple See we now the Parents Devotion and God honoured by it They brought in the Child and what better present can they bring can any Parents bring and offer than a Child how can they express their Devotion more to God than by offering what is dearest Now he brings his Child to God that brings it to be Baptized to be instructed to be brought up in the fear of God and the practice of true Religion He 2. brings him more peculiarly that devotes him to some peculiar Service of the Church as Anna did Samuel to the service of the Tabernacle He 3. brings him to God that commends him daily in his prayers to God for a blessing as Abraham did Ismael in that Petition O that Ismael might live before thee He 4. brings him to God that resigns him wholly at any time to God's disposal both in health and sickness both in plenty and want for any fortune or condition that God thinks fit or convenient for him Indeed there was a strange offering of a Child prescribed to Abraham Gen. xxii 2. to Sacrifice him on an Altar and God sacrificed this Child at last his Son upon the Cross for us but he requires not that we should do so with ours Yet this he does that with Abraham we should so resign the dearest of them to God that if at any time for his Service he command them from us and please for the profession of his Name or Truth to sacrifice them to the flames or to the Cross any way understood we should not think much to be so bereaved of them to their greater glory All these ways the Child is brought to God according to the Letter but in the Mystery he also brings his Child even who has none that brings what is dearest to him and submits it to Gods pleasure He 2. that blesses all his actions at the beginning with his prayers He 3. that devotes his first morning thoughts to Heaven He 4. that dedicates his first thoughts motions and intentions the first-born of his soul to Gods honour and glory So we may offer Children that have no Children bring a Child who have no Child Nay more we may bring the Child that is the best of Children above all Children the Child Iesus as well the barren Maid as the most fruitful Mother may do this It may be better too they that have no other Child may best tend upon the Child Iesus they that have none other to care for have the more care to bestow on him they that have no other to nurse or bring up may the easier and fuller apply themselves to nurse him up in their souls till he be grown up in them to a perfect stature and having no other to bring to the Temple may every day bring him He was brought here by a Virgin and I know not how he can be brought by any better Yet by a Virgin Mother here that both Virgins and Mothers Parents and others all conditions might have an interest to present him And sure no greater present none more acceptable no Child to this to the Child Iesus Bring him with us and come and welcome welcome at any time with him 'T is in him that all our offerings are accepted his Cross the Altar that sanctifies our gifts he the beloved Child in whom alone God is well pleased His Parents brought him in without a figure brought he was before in the type only and the shadow prefigured in Isaac and Solomon and Iosiah and in the offerings and sacrifices of the Law The great light or candle of this day first dispers'd those shadows all legal Purification days turned into so many Candlemas's by the bringing in of this eternal light this bright only Child of the Father of lights But are our candles all put out ceremony and substance vanish'd too is it not Candlemas still with up are we returned to that former darkness and no light left us to offer up no Child Iesus to offer still Yes still we have 't is an eternal light that this day sprung up beyond the splendor of the Lamps of the Temple We offer Christ even to this day still He offers Jesus that forms himself to the image of Iesus by putting him on as the Apostle speaks in righteousness and holiness by meekness patience obedience charity and brotherly love growing up by what degrees he can to the stature of Christ so presenting himself before God and he that does it in his youth at the first spring of his understanding days brings the Child Iesus the most acceptable because the most early and timely offering 2. He brings and offers Iesus who when he has done all he can offered all he is able given all he had yet renounces all as unworthy claims nothing by them thinks them not worth acceptance but wraps them all up in Christs Mantle presents his Merits as the only offering his Righteousness and abundant satisfactions to sanctifie all his other presents stands to none pleads nothing claims by nothing but only him 3. He offers Iesus that in a thankful remembrance of his love offers him up in the holy Sacrament as the only sacrifice of Thanksgiving beyond all other possible praises and for an atonement and reconciliation for his own sins and the sins of all the world 'T is time we set aside some time for such an Offering and in the Text we find it though not explicitely yet necessarily implied For When the Parents brought in the Child will easily tell us that a when a time there was and is a kind of relative conjunction that by joyning the
day as Simeons arms with the Child Iesus with the Lords Christ. This work is never unseasonable Christ may at all times be taken so with reverence into our mouths or arms or hearts or any part about us Yet he has a proper time besides and that is when he is presented in the Temple after his Circumcision and his mothers Purification At such a time as that when our hearts are purified by repentance and faith when the devout soul which like his Mother conceives and brings him forth has accomplished the days of her Purification and offered the forementioned offerings of the Turtle and the Dove and we circumcised with the Circumcision of the Spirit all our excrescent inclinations exorbitant affections and superfluous desires cut off we may with confidence take him into our arms But till then 't is too much sawciness to come so near him at least presumption to conceive we have him truly in our arms that he is truly embraced by us whilst we have other loves other affections which cannot abide with him already in our arms and too ready in our hands Prophane we him not therefore with unhallowed hands nor touch this holy Ark of the Covenant with irreverent fingers lest we die Many that have done so says the Apostle for so doing are sick and weak upon it and many sleep that is die suddenly in their sins whilst the hallowed meat is yet in their mouths 'T is as dangerous as death and damnation too to take Christ with unpurified and unprepared hearts or hands Take him not then till you are prepared Yet 2. if prepared take him when you can and as soon as you can when he is offered to you whilst you may To day if you will 't is offering day with him yet any day too when he is offered and whilst he is so for he always will not be so 't will not be always Candlemas he will not be offered every day There is a time when he will go and not return when he will not any longer strive with flesh when we shall stretch out our hands and he will not come nor hear nor see us neither To day if you will do it do it you are not sure of your selves to morrow much less of him To day if you will if not I know not what day to pitch nor will you find it easie to meet another if you at any time neglect the present This day then whilst it is called to day lay hold of him if you be wise and would not be put off by him with a Discedite hands off I have nothing to do with you nor you with me it is too late Many are the times and days as well as means and ways wherein Christ is offered to us but this day he has been thrust into our arms put into our hands and we have taken him Yet say I still take him up in your arms and I say it without either tautology or impertinence or impropriety Into our hands we have taken him and I hope into our arms into our bosoms into our hearts besides take him yet up higher and higher into our affections the very natural arms of our souls more and more into them nearer and nearer to us closer and closer to our hearts embrace and hug him close as we those we most affectionate-love and hold him fast that he may no more depart from us but delight to be with us as with those that so love him that they cannot live without him Thus 't is no impertinence to wish you to take him still though you have taken him Thus you are every day to take him or this days taking him will come to nothing or to worse If you go not on still taking him nearer and nearer deeper and deeper every day into your bosoms and hearts as you have this day into your hands and mouths you will be questioned in indignation by him Why have you taken me into your mouths Why have you taken me up in your hands seeing you now seem to hate me are so soon grown weary of me and put me from you and even cast me behind you Take heed I beseech you of doing thus of drawing back your hands so soon drawing back at all For after this favour whereby you have been made partakers of him whereby he has so infinitely condescended from himself as to be received into so unclean and filthy and extremely unworthy hands and souls to be embraced by such vile Creatures what can we render him sufficient for such goodness 'T is but this O man that he requires a poor thing O man that he requires at thy hand for this vast infinite favour and thou hast Simeon here doing it before thee blessing God And he took him up in his arms and blessed God Indeed we can do little if we cannot bless bless him that blesses us benedicere speak well of him say he is good and gracious loving and merciful unto us tell and speak forth his praise tell and declare the great and gracious things that he hath done for us the wonderful things that he this day did for the Children of men Came and took their place and was presented and accepted for them who were but reffuse and rejected persons were fain to send Bulls and Lambs and Rams the very beasts to plead for them glad of any thing to stand between them and their offended God even the heifers dung and ashes to make atonement for them and as it were her skin to cover them Numb xix 2. till this day when this holy Child was presented for all and all those former poor shifts and shelters at an end no need of those dead offerings more being fully reconciled by this living one for ever Bless we him and praise him and speak good of him for this Bless we him yet more for vouchsafing us the touches of his sacred Body for so kindly coming into our arms our own children do not sometimes do so but come often with much frowardness and crying reluctance and unwillingness This Child Iesus comes of his own accord slips down from Heaven into our laps when we are not aware is in our arms e're we can stir them up And that this Son of God should so willingly leave his Fathers bosom the true and only seat of joy and pleasure for ours the perfect seat of sorrow and misery and rest himself in our weak arms who have nor rest nor shelter but in his that he should thus really infinitely bless us and yet require no greater a return than our imperfect blessing him again How can we keep our lips shut our tongues silent of his praise But having this day seal'd all these favours and blessings to us by the holy Sacrament the pledge and seal of this love wherewith he loved us having so really and fully and manifestly and fast given himself into our arms we cannot sure but bless him both with our tongues and hands with holy Simeon make an
among the leaves that nurses a worm to consume it when we least think of it Nay though we had coronam militum a Crown an Army of men as thick as the spires of Grass to encompass and guard either our honours wealth or pleasures yet they would all prove in a little time but as the Grass all men are nothing else Sr. Iames i. 11. but particularly the rich man so says that Apostle ver 10. the rich man as the flower of the grass he shall pass away He shall not stay for a storm to blast or blow him away even the Sun of prosperity shall do it Mole ruit suâ his own weight and greatness shall throw him down For the Sun is no sooner mark but that no sooner risen with a burning heat but it withereth the grass and the flower of it falleth and the grace of the fashions of it perisheth so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways Mark that too in his very ways his own very ways shall bring him to ruine and destruction 'T is so with the leaves of honour 't is so with the leaves of pleasure the very Sun no sooner rises upon them but it withers them the very Sun-shine and favour of the Prince ruines them the burning heat of their pleasures waste them away make their pleasures troublesome and burthensome in a little while and a while after vanish and confound them with shame and reproach leave them nothing upon their heads but ill coloured and ill seated leaves ignominy and dishonour nothing in their souls but driness and discomfort their estates too oftentimes drained dry scarce any thing but the Prodigals Husks to refresh them or dry leaves to cover them But the Christians Crown is nothing such 't is a flourishing Crown Psal. cxxxii 18. a Crown of pure Gold Psal. xxi 3. a Crown of precious Stones Zech. ix 16. a Crown of Righteousness 2 Tim. iv 8. a Crown of Life St. Iames i. 12. a Crown of Honour Psal. viii 5. a Crown of Stars Rev. xii 1. a Crown of Glory 1 Pet. v. 4. a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away in the same verse eternal everlasting A flourishing not a withering Crown a Crown of Gold not of Grass of precious Stones not of Leaves of Righteousness not unjustly gotten of Life not unto Death of Honour not to be ashamed of of Stars not Stubble of Glory not vanity that never so much as alters colour but continues fresh and flourishing and splendid to all eternity An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us says St. Peter 1. Pet. i. 4. And having now compared our Crowns and finding so vast so infinite a difference between them Can we think much to do as much for this incorruptible Crown of Glory as the other do for their vain and corruptible one Shall they that strive for petty masteries for toys and trifles for ribbands and garlands be so exact in their observances so strict in their diet so painful in their exercises so vigilant in their advantages so diligent in providing strengthning and enabling themselves for their several sports and undertakings and shall we that are to strive for no less than Heaven it self be so loose in our performances so intemperate in meat and drink so sluggish in our business so careless of advantages so negligent in all things that make towards it Are leaves worth so much and the fruit of eternal peace so little Is a little air the vain breath of a mortal man to be so sought for and is the whole Heaven it self and the whole Host and God of it the praise of God and Saints and Angels that stand looking on us to be so slighted as not worth so doing doing no more than they Where is that man Dic mihi musâ virum shew me the man that can that takes the pains for eternal glory that these vain souls do for I know not how little enough to stile it But if we compare the pains the ambitious man takes for honour the voluptuous for his pleasure the covetous man for wealth meer leaves of Tantalus his Tree that do but gull not satisfie them the late nights the early mornings the broken sleeps the unquiet slumbers the many watches the innumerable steps the troublesom journeys the short meals the strange restraints the often checks the common counterbuffs the vexatious troubles the multitude of affronts neglects refusals denials the eager pursuits the dangerous ways the costly expences the fruitless travels the tortured minds the wearied bodies the unsatisfied desires when all is done that these men suffer and run through the one for an honour that sometimes no body thinks so but he that pursues it the other for a pleasure base oftentimes and villanous the third for an estate not far from ruine nay oftentimes to ruine his house and posterity If I say we compare these mens pains and sufferings with what we do for Christ and God and Heaven and happiness true real immoveable happiness and glory Good Lord how infinitely short do we come of them shall not they rise up against us in judgment and condemn us nay shall not we our selves rise up against our selves in judgment who have done many of these things suffered many for a little profit vain-glory or vain hope which we thought much to do for eternal glory This we do we strive and labour and take pains for vanity we are temperate in all things restrain and keep in our selves for the obtaining sometimes a little credit sometimes a little affection or good opinion from some whose love or good opinion is worth nothing or if it be is as easily lost as soon removed changed from us is commonly both corrupt and corruptible without ground and to little purpose But for Gods Judgment Christs Affection the Holy Spirits good Love to us for the praise of good men of Saints and Angels the whole choire of Heaven rejoycing over us nay for Heaven it self and blessedness and glory all which we might obtain with the same pains and lesser trouble and in the same time 't is so little that we do so far from all that I may without injury stile it nothing But for Gods sake for Christs sake for our own sake let it not be so for ever let us not always prefer Glass before Diamonds Barley Conrs before Pearls pleasure or profit or honour before Heaven and Happiness and Glory There are in Heaven unspeakable pleasures whole Rivers of them there There are in Heaven infinite and eternal riches which we can neither fathom nor number there is glory and honour and immortality and eternal life There are all these Crowns made incorruptible and everlasting all running round encircling one another like Crowns encircling our souls and bodies too like Crowns without end without period If we would have any Crowns Honour or Riches or Pleasure let us there seek them where they are advanced to an
away as the wind and empty air you are to come to it with prepared hearts to open your ears to spread your hearts to entertain it to bring the boughs of Olives peaceable and pliant dispositions boughs of Palms conquered passions bows of Cedar constant resolutions boughs of Myrtle loving affections to it and from Mount Olivet to Ierusalem remember it is from the Mount of Peace to the City of Peace that you may not forget to come in the unity of the Churches peace without Schism or Faction or schismatical and factious intentions if you look to meet Christ there 2. In both Olivet and Ierusalem you see there is a mystery the branches and garments cover mysteries all the way are kind of Sacraments and in the Blessed Sacraments it is we receive Christ Iesus Throw we then our garments in the way cast all our own from us that we may have none but Christ bring Palms and Pines and Olives Cedars and Myrtles and Willows all thick and all green verdant pleasing graces vertues and affections to them spread them all at the foot of the Altar that 's the Ass that Christ rides on the holy elements they that carry him they that convey him to us There 's our conquerour let us bring Palms there 's our peace-maker let us bring Olive-branches there 's the Lord our righteousness let us bring the upright Pine there 's our sweet-smelling savour in the eyes of God our eternal redemption let us bring Cedar-boughs there 's the great Physician of our souls let us bring him Balm there 's our love let 's bring him Myrtle there 's the well-spring of our life let 's bring Willows there 's the fulness of our good and happiness let 's bring him the branches of thick trees That we may do it better remember this way is the way to the Cross this procession to his passion This the way his Cross and Passion the meditation we are to receive him in Let us readily strip our selves of all our garments for him who is stript presently of all his for us Let us cover him with Palms and crown him with Olives let us make it our business and delight to be always strewing his way before him to be doing all our endeavours we can to entertain him Let us leave no branch of vertue out spread them as thick as possibly upon this earth of ours cover our selves with them that we may be the way our souls and bodies the way for him And now you see I hope how fit Palm-Sunday is to usher in the Passion to precede the receiving Christ the very Trees of the Wood have told you it I shall do no more spread the boughs no further 'T is you now must strew them or I have but hitherto strewed in vain The work is not to be done singly by the Preacher 't is the multitude that is to do it too 't is to be done in publick 't is to be done in private 't is to be done by the Apostles 't is to be done by the people 't is to be done by men women and children old and young poor and rich all to bear a part by the way if they hope to come to the happy end every one either to spread his garment or strew a branch or bring a sprig some one thing some another but all something to the honour of Christ to do it with much solemnity and respect outward and inward all of it as to one that deserves all that we can do to strew our souls to strew our bodies to fill our hands to spread all our powers and affections to entertain him to strew our souls with Palms and Olives Pines and Cedars Myrtles and Willows patience and meekness uprightness and constancy love and repentance and all holy vertues as thick as full as fair as may be think nothing too much nothing enough to do or suffer in his service Then shall our garments truly cover us and keep us warm then shall our trees bring forth fruit when boughs and garments are thus employed then shall our ways be strewed with peace every one sit under his own vine and drink the wine of it then shall our branches cover the hills and stretch out unto the River He that is the Branch in the Prophets stile shall so spread them for it give us the tree of life for these liveless boughs and for the spreading our garments over him spread his garment over us the robe of his righteousness the garment of glory where strewing our garments and branches with this great multitude in the Text we shall with that great multitude in the Revelation of all Nations which no man can number stand before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white garments and palms in our hands singing and saying Salvation unto our God which sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever Amen A SERMON UPON Good Friday 1 COR ii 2. For I determined not to know any thing among you save Iesus Christ and him crucified ANd this being Passion day I am determined not to preach any thing among you to day but Iesus Christ and him crucified I cannot preach any thing more seasonable nor you hear any thing more comfortable nor any of us know any thing more profitable St. Paul himself thought nor he nor his Corinthians could determined so here ex Cathreda And the Holy Church has thought and determined so too to send no other Epistles to preach no other Gospels to us this week thorow than of Iesus Christ and him crucified as if the sum of the Gospel the Gospel it self were nothing else no other knowledge worth the knowing at least at this time these days to be thought of or intended Not but that we may lawfully have other knowledges besides intend other knowledges too at other times in their proper times not but that we may know more of Iesus Christ himself than his being crucified but that all the knowledges of him tend hither Iesus and Christ his salvation and Office clearest seen here best determined hence that all other knowledges are to be directed hither to Iesus Christ are but petty and inconsiderable in respect and only worth the knowing when Christ is in them and we with Christ crucified in them or affections mortified and humbled by them that especially at this time nothing is so fit to take up our thoughts to employ our meditations nothing not of Christ himself no act or story of him as his crucifixion And yet the Text affords us a plainer reason and account of this so determined knowledge from the two Pronouns I and You. None so fit for this I for an Apostle a Preacher a Divine to be determined to to determine from to be determined by as Christ and him crucified nothing so fit to fasten his resolutions against the crosses and thwartings he is like
not find him she called to him but he gave her no answer Cant. v. 6. and thereupon tells the Daughters of Hierusalem ver 8. that she is sick of love that is so perplext and troubled at his absence that she is not able to hold up her head any longer no more than these are here Nothing certainly but doubts and perplexities can involve us vvhen vve have either lost our love or fear it to be sure nothing but doubts vvhen vve have lost him vvho is the only truth that can resolve us nothing but perplext ways when we have lost him who is the Way Which way can we resolve on when our way is gone What can we think can hold him whom the Grave cannot If in a seal'd Sepulchre under a mighty stone the dead body be not safe where can we think to sit down in security To lose a token or remembrance of a friends how are we troubled but to have his body stoll'n out of the Sepulchre his Grave rifled and his ashes violated how impatiently would we take it You cannot blame them for being much perplext for so great a loss I shall shew it greater in the Mystery The body is the Church and to have that taken from us the Church that glorious Candlestick removed and born away we know not whither what good soul is there that must not necessarily be perplexed at it What way shall we take when they have taken away that which is the Pillar of the truth and should lead us in it Whither shall we go when we know not whither that is gone where they have laid it or where to find it Poor ignorant women nay and men too may well now wander in uncertainties as they do full of doubts and perplexities full of cares and troubled thoughts which way to take what Religion to run to what to leave and what to follow seeing the body to which the Eagles use to flock the most Eagle-eyed the most subtile and learned used to be gathered is removed away and we have nothing to gather to scarce a place to be gathered together in Well may we now fear 2. what will become of us and what God means to do to us how he intends to deal with us having thus suffered our Lord to be taken from us Afraid they were that they had lost him quite I pray God we may have no cause to fear the same fear When Christ was but asleep the Apostles were afraid at a blast of wind that rose St. Mat. viii 25. and cry out they perish whilst he but sleeps Any thing scares us if Christ watch not over us not the visions only of the night but the very noises of the day any light air or report afrights us and blows us which way it please to any side any faction out of fear What hold then is there of us what little thing will not scare us when he is absent quite When his body the Church is removed from us where can we stay our wavering souls or fix our trembling feet Christ was no sooner dead and gone but away run all his Disciples into a room together and shut up themselves for fear of the Iews St. Ioh. xx 19. so coward-like and faint-hearted are we all when the Captain of our Salvation is slain before us nor can it be other all our life being hid in him and all our spirit only from his presence Part of these womens fear at least was at the sight and congress of the Angels Even Angels themselves do but scare us if the Lord of the Angels be not by us Nay even God himself is but a terror to us and a consuming fire without Christ 't is with him only under the shadow and shelter of his wings that we dare approach that inaccessible light that consuming fire Lose we Christ and we lose all our confidence in heaven all the ways of access to heavenly things all the pleasure and comfort of them we are nothing but agues and fears and frights not courage enough even to look up we with these perplexed souls go 3. bowing down our faces to the earth Thou didst hide thy face from me says holy David and I was troubled the very hiding of Gods face sore troubled him What think you to hide his whole body would do then Why then he goes mourning all the day long Psal. xxxviii 6. So did the two Disciples that went to Emaus ver 17. they walkt sadly and talkt sadly and lookt sadly like men disconsolate and forlorn such as were ashamed to shew their faces in the City after this was come to pass durst not look any body in the face upon it Alas how could it be otherwise with them All their hope was gone he that they lookt should have redeemed Israel could not redeem himself nay his body stoln out of the Grave and conveyed they knew not whither Well may they bow down their faces to the earth having now little hope above in heaven he being gone and lost by whom they only hoped and expected it Indeed if he be either so gone from us that we have no hope to find him or he be found in that condition in which there is no hope as there is none in a dead Saviour where ere he be no wonder if our faces then bend wholly to the earth if we look no further Let us take our portion in this life for we are like to have no other without Christ and Christ risen too hither it is we fall no looking higher not an eye to heaven so much as in a Prayer if we have not per Dominum Iesum Christ Iesus at the end of it in and thorough whom only we can with confidence look for a blessing thence and without whom at the end the Prayer is to no end or purpose II. Yet in as sad a Condition as this we speak of we are not utterly without hope if we again look upon the words at a second view For now 2. they as well decipher to us the condition of those that seek as of those that have lost their Lord and Master We may be as much perplext in our search as at our loss as vvell afraid to miss as startled at our loss as vvell bowdown our faces to the earth in seeking as in sorrovving And thus in the second vievv of the Text it is They had lost their Masters body and vvere now not only troubled at the loss but hovv to find it vvhere to look it Surely take but avvay his body the Church and the vvisest of us vvill scarce know to find him one vvill run this vvay another that vvay after him one vvill stand vveeping at the Sepulchre and think that a sad melancholy posture and business is Religion only another vvill run thence from the Sepulchre as fast as he can and think the finding Christ so easie a business that it does not require either a groan or a sigh others vvill be vvalking to Emaus up and dovvn
and joyful Resurrection But Christs grave 2. or Sepulchre has more in it than any else There sit Angels to instruct and comfort us there lie cloths to bind up our wounds there lies a napkin to wrap up our aking heads there is the fine linnen of the Saints to make us bright white garments for the Resurrection You may now descend into the grave with confidence it will not hurt you Christs body lying in it has taken away the stench and filth and horrour of it 'T is but an easie quiet bed to sleep on now and they that die in Christ do but sleep in him says St. Paul 1 Thes. ix 14. and rest there from their labours says St. Iohn Revel xiv 13. Come then and see the place and take the dimensions of your own graves thence Learn there how to lie down in death and learn there also how to rise again to die with Christ and to rise with him T is the principal Moral of the Text and the whole business of the day In other words to die to sin and live to righteousness that when we must lie down our selves we may lie down in peace and rise in glory I have thus run through all the Parts of the Text. And now I hope I may say with the Angel I know ye also seek Iesus that was crucified and are come hither to that purpose But I must not say with the Angel He is not here He is here in his Word Here in his Sacraments Here in his poor members Ye see him go before you when ye see those poor ghosts walk you hear him when you hear his Word or read or preacht You even feel him in the blessed Sacraments when you receive them worthily The eyes and ears and hands of your bodies do not cannot but your souls may find see and him in them all Some of you I know are come hither even to seek his body too to pour out your souls upon it and at you holy Sepulchre revive the remembrance of the crucified Iesus yet take heed you there seek him as you ought Not the living among the dead I hope Not the dead elements only or them so as if they were corporally himself No He is risen and gone quite off the earth as to his corporal presence All now is spirit though Spirit and Truth too truly there though not corporally He is risen and our thoughts must rise up after him and think higher of him now then so and yet beleive truly he is there So that I may speak the last words of the Text with greater advantage then they are here Come see the place where the Lord lies And come see the place too where he lay go into the grave though not seek him there Go into the grave and weep there that our sins they were that brought him thither Go into the grave and die there die with him that died for us breath out your souls in love for him who out of love died so for us Go into his grave and bury all our sins and vanities in that holy dust â— Go we into the grave and dwell there for ever rather than come out and sin again and be content if he see it fit to lie down there for him who there lay down for us Fill your daily meditations but now especially with his death and passion his agony and bloudy sweat his stripes and wounds and griefs and pains But dwell not always among the Tombes You come to seek him seek him then 1. where you may find him and that is says the Apostle at the right hand of God He is risen and gone thither And seek him 2. so as you may be sure find him Not to run out of the story seek him as these pious women did 1. Get early up about it hence forward watch and pray a little better he that seeks hâ—m early shall be sure to find him Seek him 2. couragiously be not afraid of a guard of Souldiers be not frighted at a grave nor fear though the earth it self shake and totter under you Go on with courage do your work be not afraid of a crucified Lord nor of any office not to be crucified for his service Seek him 3. with your holy balms and spices the sweet odours of holy purposes and the perfume of strong Resolutions the bitter Aloes of Repentance the Myrrhe of a patient and constant Faith the Oil of Charity the spicie perfumes of Prayers and Praises bring not so much as the scent of earth or of an unrepented sin about you seek him so as men may know you seek him know by your eyes and know by your hands and know by your knees and feet and all your postures and demeanors that you seek Iesus that was crucified let there be nothing vain or light or loose about you nothing but what becomes his Faith and Religion whom you seek nothing but what will adorn the Gospel of Christ. You that thus seek Iesus which was crucified shall not want an Angel at every turn to meet you to stand by support and comfort you in all your fears and sorrows nor to encourage your endeavours nor to assist you in your good works nor to preserve you from errors nor to inform you in truths nor to advance your hopes nor to confirm your faiths nor to do any thing you would desire You shall be sure to find him too whom your souls seek and He who this day rose from his own Sepulchre shall also raise up you from the death of sin first to the life of righteousness and from the life of righteousness one day to the life of glory when the Angel shall no longer guide us into the grave but out of it out of our Graves and Sepulchres into Heaven where we shall meet whole Choires of Angels to welcome and conduct us into the place where the Lord is where we shall behold even with the eyes of our bodies Iesus that was crucified sitting at the right hand of God and sit down there with him together in the glory of the Father To which He bring us who this day rose again to raise us thither Iesus which was crucified To whom though crucified to whom for that he was crucified and this day rose again to lift us up out of the graves of sins and miseries and griefs be all honour and power praise and glory both by Angels and Men this day henceforward and for ever Amen THE FIFTH SERMON UPON Easter Day 1 COR. xv 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable ANd if this Day had not been we had been so Miserable indeed and without hope of being other If Christ had not risen there had been no Resurrection and if no Resurrection no hope but here then most miserable we Christians to be sure who were sure to find nothing but hard usage here tribulation in this World and could expect no other or no better
still unseen and unheard or however expedit vobis it was expedient for them that Christ should go away that the Comforter might come for us it is not I am sure if we have none to come Settle we therefore this for an Article of our faith that he comes still I told you before how you should know it by his breathings inwardly in you good thoughts and desires his breathings outwardly good words and expressions by his workings with you good life and actions in a word by his gifts and graces But if this be all why is it now said When he is come Came he not thus before to the Patriarchs and Prophets were not they partakers of his gifts mov'd and stirr'd and actuated by him why then so much ado about Christs sending him now and of his coming now as if he was never sent never came before We read indeed in the Old Testament often of his coming never of his sending but by way of promise that God would send or of prophesie that he should be sent and that but once neither expresly Psal. civ 30. Emittes spiritum creabuntur So though come he did in those days of old yet voluntarily meerly we might conceive never sent never so distinct a notion of his person then then only as the Spirit of God now as the Spirit of the Father and the Son then only as the Power of God now as a Person in the God-head This the first difference between his coming then and now 2. Then he came as the Spirit of Prophesie now as the Spirit of Truth that is as the very truth and fulfilling of it of all the former Prophesies 3. Then upon Iudea and few else besides it may be Iob in the land of Vz and Rahab in Iericho and Ruth in Moab here and there now and then one now upon all flesh upon Iew and Gentile both alike the partition-wall like the walls of Iericho blown down by the breath of this Spirit by the blast of this horn of the most High 4. Then most in types and shadows now clearly and in truth 5. Then sparingly they only sprinkled with it now poured out Ioel's Effundam fulfilled Acts ii 1. a common phrase become now full of the Holy Ghost Acts vii 55. and filled with the Spirit Ephes. v. 18. 6. Then he came and went lighted a little but staid not motabat or volitabat flew or fluttered about mov'd and stirr'd them at times as it did Sampson Iudg. xiii 25. coming and going now 't is he is come He sate him down upon the Apostles Acts ii 3. sate him down in the Chair at their Synod Acts xv 28. Visum est Spiritui Sancto nobis calls us his Temples now not his Tabrnacles places of a during Habitation and is to abide with us for ever Lastly Then he came to help them in the observance of the Jewish and Moral Law now to plant and settle an obedience to the Christian Faith For Christ being to introduce a more perfect and explicate faith in the blessed Trinity and a Redeemer to wean men from the first elements and beggarly rudiments as the Apostle calls them to raise them from earthly to heavenly promises to elevate them to higher degrees of love and hope and charity and vertue and knowledge and being besides to arm them against those contradictions and oppositions that would be made against them by the world those persecutions and horrid ways of martyrdom they were to encounter with in the propagation of the Christian Faith for these ends it was necessary that the Spirit of Truth should come anew and come with power as it did at first with wonder that by its work and power those great and glorious truths might be readily received and embraced For this seems the very end of his coming to convince the world ver viii of this Chapter and to testifie of him Chap. xv 26. and to glorifie him in the very next verse to the text ver 14. to evince this new revealed truth to the souls and consciences of men that Messiah was come that Jesus was the Christ that the Iewish Sacrifices were now to have an end that the Prophesies were all fulfilled in him that his Law was now to succeed in the place of Moses's that he justified where the Law could not that through him now in his Name and in none other Salvation henceforth was to be preached to Iew and Gentile and God had open'd now that door of hope to all the world To bear witness to this and perswade this truth so opposite to Natural and Iewish reason or so much above the ordinary reach of the one and the received customs of the other thus to enhance Piety and Perfection thus to set up Christ above the Natural and Mosaick Law thus now to glorifie God in Christ and Christ as Christ need there was great need that the Spirit of Truth himself should come himself after a new fashion in a greater manifestation of his power than in former times bring greater grace because he required of us a greater work All this while we have given you but general notions of his coming either when he first came in his fulness on the Apostles and first Disciples or when secondly he comes on any as the Holy Spirit in good motions and affections We are yet to see when he comes as the Spirit of Truth to descend now thirdly to a distinct and particular enquiry When the Spirit of Truth is in us or come to us when we have him in us Nor is this way of consideration less necessary than the other though it may be harder far forsomuch as we daily see many a pious Christian Soul seduced into Error in whom yet we cannot doubt but the Holy Spirit has a dwelling many a good man also err in many opinions of whose portion of the good Spirit we make no question whilst some many others of less Piety it may be none more fully know the truth than either of the other Understand therefore there is a double way of knowing even divine truth 1. the one by the way of natural reason by principles and conclusions rationally and logically deduced out of the evidences of Scripture 2. the other by particular assents and dissents of the Understanding and Will purified and sanctified to all ready obedience to Christ. By the first it comes that the greatest Scholars the most learned and rational men know always the most truths both speculative and practick both in their Principles and Inferences and are therefore always fittest to determine doubts and give counsel and direction both what to believe and what to do in all particular controversies and debates which concern either Truth or Error or Justice and Injustice Right or Wrong the practices and customs of former times and Churches or their contraries and disuses and this may be done without the Spirit of Sanctification or the holy sanctifying Spirit under that title at least though indeed
Houses and Buildings nay rends the Mountains and breaks in pieces the Rocks before it 1 Kings xix 11. But never did Wind so tear up Foundations by the roots never did so strong Buildings fall before that tumultuous vapour as this rushing mighty Wind that this day came down from Heaven hath cast down before it All the high things of the earth Wisdom and Learning and Might and Majesty have faln as easily as so many Paper Turrets at its breath all have given up themselves and thrown all prostrate at the Word of this Spirit so that the whole World stood wondring and amaz'd to see it self so turn'd about by the meer words of a few simple Fishermen without force or eloquence or craft to see it self so tamely submit its glory to the humility of Christ its greatness to his littleness its majesty to his baseness its wisdom to the foolishness of his Cross its ease pleasure to the pains and patience of it But manus excelsi fecit hoc 't is the hand of the most Highest that has done it such a wind could come from none but God such a Spirit can be none but his none but he could do it and it is marvellous in our eyes his power as marvellous as his mercy both of them above any created ones whatsoever Well may such a Wind as this now fill the house as it follows in the fifth Consideration And yet commonly the wind fills the open air and not the houses Common winds do so indeed but this peculiar Wind fills the house and every corner comes in even when the doors are shut or else opens and shuts them as it pleases a sign 't is more than air or airy spirit 't is he only that searches the hearts and reins that can glide so into these close rooms of ours and 't is our happiness it is so that he thus blows into the house of his own accord and power For give me a Ship says St. Chrysostom with all its tackling sails and anchors spread all in order too and let the wind lie still let there be no gale stirring and all its furniture and men are nothing no more is the soul with all its preparations without the blowing of the Spirit nay no more is all our eloquence all our arguments and perswasions the subtilty of our understanding the richness of our conceipt and notion the sweetness of the voice the rhetorick of words the strength of reason the whole tackling and furniture of the Orator or Preacher unless the Spirit come and fill the sail and stretch the canvas and so drive on the Vessel 'T is this implevit we must hold by 't is his filling our empty house our lank and lither sails that blows comfort to us And 't is the enhancing of the benefit which is the last considerable in this similitude of the wind that it fills the house only where they are sitting It is no ordinary or common favour that God vouchsafes in filling our houses with the Spirit he hath not dealt so with any other Nation with any other people than the Christian people It is the Church only and the souls of Christians in it that this mighty wind as rushing and mighty as it is does content and contain it self in All other houses and places stand empty cannot get this Tenant 'T is the property of this Wind and no other to blow where it lists in this house and no other within doors all within the Church none without at all or the sound of it only passes out to call others in that they may see and wonder at the things that are come to pass this day that Iews and Proselytes Cretes and Arabians Parthians and Medes and all Nations under Heaven may beaâ— witness of the wonder and if they come in in some sort partake of it too of the wind though not of the tongues of some graces of the Spirit though not of the other Only come in they must into the Church of Christ which is his body before their veins be filled with this Spirit before they feel any motion of it Of the Wind I say such a portion of the Spirit as may breath into them the breath of life but tongues of fire are for those only who were sitting there before fitting as Governors of the Church to whom that baptism of fire was promised who were bid to tarry and expect it and when so enabled to go abroad then and use their tongues and blow the flames of divine love and charity through the World I should now proceed to these miraculous tongues the second representment of the Holy Spirit And me thinks I am unwilling to leave them unspoken of to which we ow our speech But your ears are already filled with the wind yet I hope 't is the proper wind of the day and the sound of it shall not vanish as the wind as ordinary winds and sounds nor my words as the soft air So much the rather in that this Point of the wind comes more home to us than that other of the tongues Tongues were for them that believe not says the Apostle but the Wind the rushing mighty Wind from Heaven to cast down all the strong holds of Sin and Satan for them that believe even for us all The fiery tongues concern the Apostles as a miraculous enabling of them to the work of the Apostleship to the preaching and divulging the Gospel of Christ but the breath and blowing of the Spirit concerns all Christians whatsoever under every notion To that our proper tenure is from this Wind nay so much the more because it is the breath of the Spirit not the tongue that makes us Christian the wind like that in Ezekiel quickens our dead bones into the life of Christ and by it we live to our own Salvation by the tongues only to anothers So having gotten our share already in this Wind from Heaven we may the easier bear the deferring of the discourse of the tongues thence And truly if we can now get the Spirit to blow upon these dead elements and quicken them to us into the body and blood of Christ we shall quickly by the vertue of that blood of the Vine speak with new tongues the Spirit will give utterance and we shall sing the praises of the Lord. That should be indeed the whole business of our tongues to day to be as loud as the loudest wind in our Thanksgivings O ye winds of God bless ye the Lord say the three Children in the fire O ye Children of the Lord bless ye the Lord in the Wind say I in this mighty rushing Wind acknowledge his goodness admire his power confess his praise who thus blows the sparks of grace up in us who clenses our souls from all impure airs and vapours who scatters the clouds of sorrow shews us the fairest face of Heaven who cools and refreshes and revives and purges us and wafts us to our heavenly Countrey by this holy
the Spirit appears but why the Spirit appears now now first and not before now first visibly to the world is worth enquiry And 't is to shew the preheminence of the Gospel above the Law That stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances says the Apostle Heb. ix 10. was but the Law of a carnal Commandment Heb. vii 16. The Gospel is a Law of spirit and life the Law of Moses a dead a killing Letter but the Gospel of Christ a quickning Spirit 2 Cor. iii. 6. the Law a course of shadows the Gospel only the true light It will appear so by the next Particular we are to handle the manner of his appearing In tongues in cloven tongues in tongues as it were of fire I shall invert the order for the fire it is that gives light unto the tongues to make them for to appear of the fire then first to shew them the better For the Spirit to appear as wind or breath is nothing strange It carries them in its name Spiritus à spirando every one can tell you But that this breath should not only blow up a fire but be it self also blown into it the Spirit here appear as fire that 's somewhat hard at first perhaps to understand Yet you shall see many good reasons for it Four great ones I shall give you which comprehend more under them 1. To shew the Analogy and correspondence of Gods dealings and dispensations how they agree both with themselves and with one another 2. To insinuate to us the nature and condition of the holy Spirit 3. To signifie the several gifts and graces of it 4. To declare its operations also and effects 1. The Holy Ghost here appear'd like fire that we might see it is the same God that gave both Law and Gospel the same Spirit in both Testaments The Law was promulgated by fire Exod. xix 18. the Lord descended on Mount Sinai then in fire The Gospel also here is first divulged by tongues as it were of fire in Mount Sion The difference only is that there were here no lightnings thunders clouds or smoke as there were there nothing terrible nothing dark or gloomy here all light and peace and glory 2. Under the Old Testament the Prophets oft were Commissionated by fire to their Offices the Angel takes a live coal from off the Altar and lays it upon Isaiah's mouth Isa. vi 7. Elijah the Prophet stood up as fire Ecclus. xlviii 1. Ezekiels first Vision was of appearances of fire Ezek. i. 4 13. The Commissions therefore of the Apostles were drawn here also as it were with pens of fire that they might the more lively answer and the better express the Spirit of the Prophets 3. That the nature of the Law they were to preach might be exprest too It was the Law of love and the holy fire of Charity was it they were sent to kindle in the World 4. It was to teach them what they were to expect in the World themselves fire and faggot affliction and tribulation the lot and portion both of them and of their followers ever since 5. It was to teach them what they were to be burning and shining lights to lead others into heaven Lastly That so all righteousness Law and Prophets might be fulfilled the types of the one and the promises of the other from the first of them to the last to St. Iohn Baptists that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire that the fire that Christ came to send into the earth and was then already kindled might now burn out into the World And all this to shew the Almighty Wisdom who thus agreeably orders all his doings from the first unto the last that we might with the greater confidence embrace the Doctrine of the Gospel which so evenly consented with the Law and was added only to bring it to perfection to raise up the fire of devotion and charity to the height 2. But not only to manifest the wisdom of the Father and perform the promise of the Son but secondly to intimate the nature of the holy Spirit Fire is the purest Element The holy Spirit is pure and incorruptible thine incorruptible Spirit says the Wise man Wisd. xii 1. No evill can dwell with it It will not mingle with humane interests By this you may know it from all other Spirits They intermix with private humours and self-respects and great ones fancies The holy Spirit is a fire and will not mix it must dwell alone has not a tongue now for this and then for that to please men and ease it self but is always pure and incorrupt Fire 2. is the subtilest Element it pierces into every part And whither can I go then from thy Spirit says holy David Psal. cxxxix 6. If I climb up into heaven thou art there If I go down to hell thou art there also If I take the wings of the morning and remain in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there also will it find me out Darkness cannot cover me thick darkness cannot hide me night it self cannot conceal me from thee O thou divine Spirit O keep me therefore that I may do nothing that may make me ashamed and hide my self seeing thy eyes will quickly pierce into me 3. Fire is an active nature always stirring always moving Nothing can be found better to express the nature of the holy Spirit It mov'd from the beginning actuated the first matter into all the shapes we see breath'd an active principle into them all renew'd again the face of the Earth when the waters had defaced it blows and the waters flow blows again and dries them up guides the Patriarchs inspires the Prophets rests upon the Governours of the People from Moses to the seventy Elders gives spirit and courage to the Martyrs Non permanebit spiritus meus in vagina says God Gen. vi My Spirit will not endure to be always as in a rusty sheath it will be lightning the understanding it will be warming the affections it will be stirring of the passions it will be working in the heart it will be acting in the hand it will be moving in the feet it will be quickning all the powers to the service of the Almighty nothing so busie as this holy fire nothing so active as this Spirit Though the nature and essence of it cannot be full exprest it is thus very powerfully resembled 3. The gifts of it more easily by this fire Seven there are numbred of them out of Isa. xi 2. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding the Spirit of counsel and ghostly strength the Spirit of knowledge and true godliness and the Spirit of holy fear all very naturally represented to us by so many properties I shall observe to you of the fire Fire it ascends it penetrates it tries it hardens it enlightens it warms it melts You have all these again in the seven gifts of the Spirit For 1. the holy Spirit
round about our thoughts to fix our eyes upon their piety and reward You know what the imagining a Heathen Cato present has done with some to fright them into honesty and shall not the presence of those blessed Souls shame our dulness into Piety if we would but suppose those stupendous patterns of unconquerable goodness always chearfully busied in beholding us encouraging us and rejoycing with us But we must not stand too long gazing into heaven There are blocks and traps in the way and we may chance to stumble we must look about us There are two impediments sufficient to hinder any man from runing when he cannot go for weight nor go on for snares We 'll handle each with his removal first apart then together and begin with the weight And yet peradventure Pondus were little were it not for Omne were it not a collective a collection of all of infinite weights Infinite in weight infinite in number above the Sand of the Sea and that you know can be nothing else but Sin Sin Sedet in talentum plumbi Zech. v. As heavy as lead A weight right for it 1. burthens as a weight How does the repentant soul groan and break Conteritur is ground to ponder under it ◠2. It wearies as a weight How tired is St. Paul with it Who O who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. vii 3. It presseth down as a weight down from the joys of heaven down from the throne of grace down to the Chambers of the grave down to the bar of judgment down to the depth of hell David found it by his deliverance Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell Every Sin is a weight but there are some heavier than other Some 1. Gravamina Spiritus weights with a powder such as even weary the holy Spirit and grieve it and make him leave his dwelling with us Mortal sins 2. Some heavier yet that so oppress our own spirits too that with a sad heavy eye they cannot see any thing but those dismal dungeons Hell and Desperation Sins of Despair 3. Some on the other side that look too high weigh up ut lapsu graviore to fetch down with a vengeance Sins of Pride and Presumption 't is one signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a weight that hoisting up the rebel Angels above their pitch as speedily pull'd them down from the highest Palaces of their new created glories to the lowest Prisons of damnation 4. And yet some sins there are of a lesser bulk such as some call venial yet heavy enough to lay us low enough Sins of infirmity and ignorance Dispose they do at least to the more grievous Peccatum quod mox per poenitentiam non deletur suo pondere ad aliud trahit St. Gregory The least the pettiest sin if it remain a while unrepented of is a weight to draw us to another that to a third so downward till we can go no lower And think you now we had not need of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to remove it Can we know it to be a weight and not deal with it as with a weight Either cast it away Abjecto pondere Beza translatest or lay it aside Deponentes So the Vulgar Cast it away nay first cast it out for 't is a weight within us Out of the heart 1. By the mouth in confession 2. By the eyes in the tears of contrition 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from us far from us by the hand of satisfaction Abjecto there 's some violence and passion in the word We use not to cast away things from us but out of some sudden 1. Fear 2. Shame 3. Anger 4. Joy or the like They are the Passions that enliven a repentance 1. Fear of judgment 2. Shame of sin 3. Anger at our selves 4. Joy and delight in God and goodness 1. The tremblings of Fear to begin with will shake sin off 2. Shame lay it down 3. Anger cast it from us 4. Joy and Love the love of God put it quite out lay it aside out of the way for if that holy fire once enter the house will be too hot for sin to dwell in But violent motions are but short and passions momentany Abjecto does well at first but it must be backt with a Deponentes a resolv'd and deliberate laying down of sin 'T is to be feared Abjecto cannot do 't alone sin has too deep a root to be cast off utterly on a sudden That 's Deponente's office to lay it down down by degrees First those Gravamina Spiritus then that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that pride in sin or as the word may bear it that dominion of it lay it aside as a tiresome burthen grow weary of it 2. Or as we do our cloaths when we go to bed not sleep in it 3. At least the weight of sin that is the guilt of sin by confession and absolution the spots and habits by contrary resolutions and endeavours the great weights the little ones all Omne Pondus every one omne pondus both in the singular to tell us every weight to be cast off not one single weight to be left hanging on No not the weight that is no sin not that for such an one there is Pondus terrenarum possessionum says St. Bernard What say you by riches Pluto the God of riches feign the Poets dwell's below Hell 's his kingdom And riches from the caverns of the earth they come and like waters to the Sea thither they naturally return down they carry us Not but that if you look up your eyes may behold a rich Abraham above in heaven Riches are as they meet with Owners The pious hand makes himself wings of these golden feathers to fly to heaven the wings of the Psalmists Dove that is covered with silver wings and her feathers like gold And if I must needs have riches Quis mihi dabit pennas columbae O that they may prove the wings of this Dove that I may flee away and be at rest The churlish fingers frame themselves fetters to chain them faster to the lowest Pit Indeed nothing more knits us to the earth than our wealth we are loth to use it in our life loth to leave it at our death though for a Kingdom Sell all you know he startled at it that thought he had kept all the Commandments from his youth I love not impossible tasks to perswade any amongst us now a days to that yet Emperours and Kings and Saints have done it and Qui capere potest c. for I would not have you think but honourably of those magnanimous Heroes such as we read of Acts iv those prime constant heirs of grace and glory 'T is but a counsel this and counsels it seems are out of date Well all of us to cast off riches when they come to Pondus no necessity till then keep them
of the glory or we of the examples as much as lies in these mens power of his Saints Two there are in the Text St. Andrew and St. Simon though but one in the day Christ calls by couples that the one might help the other if the one should fall the other might help him up that St. Andrews fortitude for that 's the interpretation of his name might strengthen St. Simons obedience which is the English of his and a couragious obedidience the meaning of both together the proper Lesson for the Text and day Three Points we promised you to consider in their obedience readiness sincerity and rightness we now prosecute them in order and their readiness first And they straightway followed him Verus obediens nescit moras True obedience says St. Hierom knows no delays He that stands disputing with his Lord or bargaining and conditioning with his Master or long consulting with flesh and bloud will scarce deserve the name of obedient even when he after so long does what he is bidden The temper of the obedient soul is far other St. Paul tells us when it pleased God to call him and reveal his Son in him that he might preach him among the heathen he did not immediately confer with flesh and bloud nor go up to Hierusalem to the Apostles to be resolved but into Arabia and so again to Damascus about the work that God did send him Gal. i. 16 17. When God sets us about his business our own fleshly interests or carnal friends are not to be consulted with lest they hang upon us and hold us back nor are we to stay the calling of a council even of spiritual friends before we set to our obedience in things so evident as Gods Commands but into Arabia the Desart rather that is to throw off all delays to desert those petty demurs that rise always upon a change After that indeed after we have first broken the threds that held us and made worldly affairs and relations stand off a little we may return to Damascus with St. Paul to that succus sanguinis as it is interpreted to the juyce of our bloud to consider and weigh our strength to particular points of our obedience but we must thence to Hierusalem to the Apostles and such as have been before us and such as are set over us to confer about the ways and means to correct and purifie our bloud to refine our flesh to get strength of counsel and direction how to break through all lets and obstacles and obtain strength against our weakness and so return again to Damascus after the other interpretation of the words incendii similitudo to burn up as it were the stubble of our affections to purifie and inflame them with the divine love with holy charity which with its active flame will enliven and quicken us that we shall straightway follow our Lord whithersoever he will without delay demur or disputation The young man that proffer'd fair to follow Châ—â—st but first desired to go and bury his Father was forbidden it St. Mat. viii 22. Even an act of charity such as is the burial of the dead must not be preferr'd before obedience Indeed with Elisha peradventure 1 Kings xix 20. we may have leave to go kiss our Father and Mother at our parting to use civilities to our friends and with some little solemnity leave the World and them Gods work does not make us unnatural or uncivil 't is none of his whatsoever is pretended that makes us unnatural that makes us disrespective of our friends or uncivil to them or utterly renounce the bonds of nature and relation It only requires that they should not hinder us that they should not stay or let us from our Masters business Kiss them we may but kiss and part not stay long upon Ceremonies when we are about our Masters business much less defer our following him till they are dead and buried till they forsake us first We must first be of the parting hand and let nothing keep us from him any longer than necessities and just civilities do exact Nay for these too we are to ask his leave And if he answer us as Elijah did him ver xxi Go back again what have I done unto thee Go but consider what I have done Go but consider quod meum erat feci tibi I have done my do thou must make hast if thou wilt find me or overtake me thou must not look for a second call then go back we may and slay our Oxen and boil their flesh with their Instruments and give unto the people that they may eat dispose of our affairs but with what hast we can not stay the resting or fetching so much wood to boil it but with their own instruments at hand boil them all in haste take the quickest course we can imagine to dispatch to give away much of our substance also to the poor and needy to make more haste and then arise and go after him and administer to him of the rest But if he answer us as Christ did the young man Follow me and let the dead bury their dead there is no striving then If as sometimes he does he call us in a nick of time where the opportunity of doing good is now in prime and if we stay but a little it will be gone Then let the dead bury their dead let even that natural charity be performed by some body else go we whether we are sent do we what we are bidden and think we that Christ says to us what he said to St. Peter upon some such like dilatory quere What is that to us Follow we him Let us always think when we hear him calling us to his service whether the Call be inward or outward within us by his Spirit or without us by his Minister that we cannot make too much haste to follow him It may be he has called his last and will call no more or he will be gone if we make not haste and we shal then at least have much ado to find or overtake him 'T is no easie overtaking him that rides upon the wings of the wind if he be once gone out before us 'T is not safe to loyter by the way for fear of temptations that may prevent our good purposes and quite overthrow all holy resolutions 'T is an unworthy usage and unmannerly to stand talking to any thing else when God is speaking to â—s to come to him 'T is dangerous to play away our precious time in excuses and follies in other business nay even in good business of our own even in an act of private charity or devotion when God calls us to his publick service and obedience Christ calls even Iudas to do his business quickly you may well think he would have St. Simon and Andrew be as quick in theirs Nay they were for in the midst of their work he called them ver 18. and in the midst they leave away with Nets
though what is it to be thankful I shall give you it in brief for I cannot be long and leave you to enlarge it To be thankful then is 1. Humbly and heartily to acknowledge Gods infinite goodness to us and our own infinite unworthiness of it He that thinks light of peace and unity that undervalues Gods calling us into one body or thinks he did any thing towards it to deserve it either understands not Gods goodness or is not thankful for it 2. To be thankful is openly and publickly to confess Gods mercies and our own engagements to be telling of them all the day long to make Hymns and Praises and Panegyricks daily for them I need not be so impertinent to tell you 't was Davids business commonly to do so for mercies that were not like these or quote the Psalms wherein he does But words are not all 3. To be thankful indeed is by our deeds to shew it to present our selves and all that is ours henceforward daily to his service to offer up our souls and bodies and what else is ours as peace offerings and sacrifices of thanksgivings never to fear we can do too much never to hope we can do enough for what God has done for us in thus reinstating us in our Church and our Religion thus bringing home our Prince and our Peace and that not with thunder and lightning to punish or upbraid us for our former sins not in a storm and tempest to fright us with a mercy not with fire and sword to embitter the blessing but in a calm with a still voice with joy and melody with no other noise than that of Hosannahs and Alleluiahs Be we therefore thankful unto him and bless his name for ever and ever for ever I say again for we have no time here limited to do it in only be thankful still be thankful For a good thing it is to give thanks unto the Lord Psal. xcii 1. Yea a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful Psal. cxlvii 1. II. Methinks I should need no arguments to you to perswade you to it either to thankfulness or to peace Yet so many being in the Text I must not be so injurious to you or it to pass them by Six I find in it to perswade to peace Ye are 1. called called 2. to it ye 3. are one body called 4 into that too can neither be 5. Grati nor 6. Gratiosi can neither be thankful nor appear gracious if ye be not for it for the Rule of peace And to be thankful and gracious you have good reason too for your being called for your peace for the body you are of and your calling into that to be members of it are all motives to perswade it The first Argument is your being called and 't is a good one To be called is to be Christians in effect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Adjective from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is so taken 1 Cor. i. 2. Rom. i. 6. and the Verb it self in several places may bear it too Eph. iv 1. and 4. Gal. i. 6. Now to be Christians is to be the Sons and Servants of the God of peace a very good reason that that the Son should be like the Father the Servant be as his Master is It was Abrahams argument to Lot to end all differences Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee or between my heardsmen and thy heardsmen for we be brethren Gen. xiii 8. It is the same for us but with some advantage Let there be no strife between thee and me for we be Brethren for we be Christians For if the Servants should not disagree when their Masters are brethren because they are so much less should they when they all have but one Master and themselves are brethren The meanest heardsmen should not by this reason none of the People but the chief Shepherds the great Pastors however they should think upon their Callings better than to fall out one with another As the Elect of God dearly beloved says St. Paul ver 12. you must not you must forbear you must forgive ver 14. 'T is the best way to make your Calling and Election sure to assure your selves and the world after all this that ye are Christians All are not that pretend to it The Servant that fell a beating his fellow-servants was but an Hypocrite I am sure he had his portion given him among them St. Mat. xxiv 49. was cut asunder because he would joyn no better For peace and true holiness go together no holy men however so called who are not peaceable false and hypocritical only is that holiness that is not joyn'd with peace and those Christians no better call'd so perhaps but not in the Apostles sense true Christians indeed The truly called ones are all for peace But 2. they are particularly called to that So the Apostle Ye are called unto peace 1 Cor. vii 15. Why Then let every man wherein he is called therein abide ver 20. even in this sense too every man stick to his Calling for 't is a holy one 1 Tim. i. 9. we told you so just now 't is a heavenly one Heb. iii. 1. peace dwells for ever there no jars no discords among the Saints or Angels And seeing God has thought us worthy to call us to it I hope we will bethink our selves and walk worthy of it Called I know we are to liberty Gal. v. 13. but not to use it for an occasion to the flesh but by love to serve one another Mark the end of it else says the Apostle for if ye bite and devour one another take heed ye be not consumed one of another ver 15. Indeed ye will a strong Argument to perswade to peace Yet 3. we have not only our general Calling the being Christians and our particular designment to it after that but our Interests publick and private both to perswade us to it We are in one body Now 't is neither for the interest of the body nor of the members to be at difference one with another If one member suffer all the members suffer with it 1 Cor. xii 26. And the body cannot be torn or rent but every Member is concern'd the least scratch with a nail or the prick of a pin or the touch of a thorn may by the ignorance or cunning neglect or ill managing of a heady Chirurgeon be improved into a Gangrene or a wound that may make the heart ake and all the members rue it We lose our health ere we are aware and the very neglect of a little air at a Cranny or the slighting the pettiest stirring of an humour sometimes endangers life and all There is nothing to keep us safe but order and peace to keep the humours quiet and the several members in due order How has the body of Christ the Church of God of which we all are members by the ill managing of a petty Controversie through the