righteous and just Secondly I say that there is crudelitas parcens misericordia puniens a sparing which is cruelty and a punishment that is a great mercie and such are the troubles pressures and punishments of God's Children mercies rather then judgments because they proceed not from God's Wrath but as the chastisements of a Father to his Children so do these come from the love of God towards his servants for their good whom he afflicteth here for a moment that they should be bettered and not be condemned with the Wicked hereafter for ever Thirdly I say that the Miseries Crosses and Calamities Reason 1 that the Faithfull suffer in this World are not always so much a punishment for their Sins Reason 2 though their Sins deserve much more Reason 3 and Sin is the root from whence all miseries do spring as trials and probations of their Faith and Constancie in God's love and service for so the Scripture saith that God tempted Abraham not temptatione deceptionis to deceive him as Satan tempteth us but temptatione probationis to try him whether he would obey the Commandment of God or not when he commanded him to offer his Son his onely Son Isaac for a Sacrifice unto God and so he tried the Israelites at the waters of Strife and as Moses saith in their Fourty years wandring through the Wilderness to see whether they would love the Lord their God and cleave unto him and continue faithfull in his service and so he doth plainly tell the Church of Smyrna that the Devil should cast some of them into Prison that they might be tryed and they should have Tribulation ten dayes and that is either ten years as Junius expounds it or else several times as others think yet all to this end that they might be tryed whether they would continue faithfull unto death or not and such were the afflictions of Job and of many other of the Saints of God they were justly deserved by their Sins and God in mercie sent them for their trial What the former Doctrine teaching the us And therefore whatsoever and how great soever a measure of Miseries Crosses and Troubles we have or shall suffer yet let us not faint nor be affraid of them and let not the Children of God be like the Children of Ephraim that being Harnessed and carrying Bows and so well prepared for the fight yet turned themselves back in the day of Battaile when there was most need of their assistance but as we have loved our King and have suffered all the calamities and burthens that are layd upon us for our faithfulness to him and the preservance of a good conscience so let us continue unto the end and never comply with any of the King's Enemies in the abatement of the least jot of our love and good opinion of the deceased King or with the Factious Non-conformists in the dis-service of God and the new invented Religion of our upstart Schismaticks let neither weight of trouble nor length of time change our minds because perseverance in Faith and Virtue is that which crowneth all the other Virtues and if at any time even at the last we forsake our first love and change our Faith we lose all the reward of all the former good that we have done and do by our revolt testifie that we were not good for the love of goodness nor adhered to the truth for righteousness sake but for some other by-respects for our own ends that never brings any to a good end and therefore the primitive Christians could never by any means be drawn to alter the least point of their Faith Prudent De Vincéntio and the right service of God but as Prudentius saith Tormenta carcer ungulae Stridénsque flammis lamina Atque ipsa paenarum ultima Mors Christianis ludus est All the Torments and Terrours of the World could never move them to change their mindes But some man may say Objection Providence hath decided the Controversy the King is dead Victrix causa Dits placuit and the Parliament hath prevailed against him and all his Friends and therefore what should I do now but comply with the stronger side and use that religion which they profess and that form of worship which they prescribe and so redeem the time that I have lost and repair some losses that I have sustained I answer Solution that our Saviour Christ to prevent this very Objection that the Jews might make to terrifie the Christians and to with-hold them from the faith of Christ because they had killed him and he was dead and therefore to what purpose should they adhere to a dead Saviour and hazard their lives and their fortunes to maintain the honour of a dead man that could not preserve his own life because a Living Dog is better then a dead Lion saith unto his Servant John I am he that liveth and was dead and behold or mark it well I am alive for evermore Amen and therefore let not my death deterr any man from following me or believing in me so I say that faith and truth are still alive and though oftentimes suppressed and afflicted yet not killed and therefore the Poet saith Dispaire not yet though truth be hidden oft Because at last she shall be set aloft And as another saith Terra fremat regna alta crepent ruet ortus orcus Si modo firma fides nulla ruina nocet And for King Charles I say though he is dead yet he is still alive many ways and that his blood like Abel's blood being dead yet speaketh and speaks aloud not onely to God These things were written and preached by the Author in the time of Oliver but also to every one of them that loved him that they should not so soon forget their faith and love to him that lost his life for their defence and the defence of the true Catholick Faith and though he be dead he is still alive alive with Christ in Heaven for evermore and alive with us on earth in the good that he did bring to us in the love that he shewed towards us and in the good that he left amongst us and shall we leave him and leave our love to him and our remembrance of him and forsake our faith and prove perfidious both to God and to the honour and to the memory of our deceased King and cleave to them to say and do as they say and do that have bereft us of him and would have destroyed us with him No no let us abhor them and their evil doings detest their false Faith and hate their Wickedness with a perfect hatred And though we have suffered much and may suffer much more at the hands of these Tyrants that are our new Masters yet let us submit our selves unto them but as Daniel and the rest of God's people did unto the Chaldeans full sore against their wills Iames v 11. Job lxii 12. and let us yield none otherwise to this present Government
death in any other Country where they should be but like Jonas among the Ninivites meer strangers Yet thus was Jeremy used and thus are we 3. This our Prophet was not only a Jew preaching unto the Jews 3 He was a dear lover of them for so many a man as Cateline among the Romans Vortigern among the Britains Speed l. 7. c. 4. and Simon Jason and others among the Jews and some others nearer home have betrayed their own Country 2 Machab. 4. the trust that their Country reposed in them but he was a faithful Patriot a hearty lover and no hater of his people Tertullian noteth how dearly Moses loved this Nation of the Israelites when rather than God should destroy them he earnestly requested that his own name might be blotted out of the Book of Life S. Paul sheweth the like love unto the Jews when he saith he could wish himself accursed from Christ Rom. 9.3 for his brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh And this our Prophet sheweth no lesse love unto them than the other as you may easily see by this his Prophesie and his Preaching to them and his Lamentation for them Yet all the love of these men and put all together was not comparable to the love of Christ who gave himself for them and prayed for them when they Crucified him And therefore well might he say Greater love than this hath no man John 15.13 that a man lay down his life for his friends which none of all the Prophets nor of the Apostles nor of the Martyrs that died all for themselves and suffered death for their own sins did lay down their life for others as our Saviour Christ did lay down his life not for himself but for his enemies and yet they loved them very much and very dear as I shewed to you before And so must all the Messengers of Christ and Preachers of God's Word How the Ministers and Preachers of Gods Word should love their people imitate these holy men to love Gods people for that the people can hardly reap any good from them whom they perceive not to love them but as we suspect the gifts of an enemy to be as the Belt of Ajax was to Hector and Hectors Sword to him in like sort the death of each other So we dis esteem and regard not the words of them that love us not But you see how the true Prophets and Servants of God loved this people and laboured all that ever they could for the good of the people to bring them unto God and to turn away Gods anger from them And what reward did this people render to these and to the rest of Gods Messengers and Teachers for all the love that they shewed unto them and the pains they had undertaken for them The very Heathen tells us that Amor amoris magnes durus est qui amorem non rependit Love is a Loadstone to draw love again and if we will do nothing else yet we can do no lesse than love them that do so dearly love us The very publicans and sinners do the same Yet behold The ingratitude of the Jews O Heavens and wonder O Earth at this ungrateful people who rendered to Gods Messengers evil for good and instead of loving them stoned them For they murmured against Moses rebelled against David persecuted Elias beheaded John the Baptist and as our Saviour saith they killed the Prophets Luke 13.34 and stoned them that were sent unto them And it is no strange thing for us to find many men walking in the same wayes and treading in the same steps as these Jews have done but it were very strange that we should be used any better than those better Messengers that were sent before us Luke 10.3 For our Saviour tells us with an Ecce Behold and consider it well I send you forth as lambs into the midst of wolves And you know the Fable how the silly lamb procul infrà bibens for drinking far enough below the wolfe was notwithstanding torn all to pieces by that cruel wolfe upon pretence that he stopt the current which was impossible for him to do 2. 2 The parties to whom this Message was sent The Parties to whom the Message was sent are shewed in these words this people and that is the people of the Jews that were then flos florum medulla mundi the choisest and the noblest of all the people of the world for You only have I known that is acknowledged for mine own people Amos 3.2 and mine own peculiar inheritance of all the families of the earth saith the Lord. And God shewed his great love towards them by the wonderful works that he had done for them For as the Prophet saith He eased their shoulders from their burdens Psal and their hands from making the pots and he delivered them out of that Egyptian-bondage and from the tyranny of cruel Pharaoh The great favours of God unto the Jews Then he gave them such Laws so holy and so just as neither Solon nor Lycurgus nor any other Nation of the World had the like And he fed them in the Wildernesse 40. years together with Manna that was the bread of Heaven and the Angels food and after that he thrust out 7. other Nations to make room for them and he gave them the labours of the people in possession and planted them in Canaan which was a Land that flowed with milk and honey and there he hedged them about as we were of late hedged here with all kind of blessings beneficia nimis copiosa most ample benefits And as the Schools say Privativa positiva for they had plenty in peace and victory in war and what was it not that this people had not And yet this people this peculiar people of God must hear this hard Message and they must undergo this sharp censure For as the Lord saith of Coniah Jeremy 22.24 were he as the signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck him thence and give him into the hands of those that seek his life So will he do with this people and with any other when they do prevaricate and offend him He will cut them off and cast them from him were they formerly never so precious in his sight How God dealeth with his dearest children when they depart from his service for no priviledge no prerogative no former piety can prevail with God to prevent his judgements when with this people they love to wander and refrain not their feet from their evil wayes But as these his dearly beloved people the Jews were cast off when they did cast off the true service of God and as those seven Churches of Asia Ephesus Smyrna Pergamos Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea that were planted by the Apostles and watered with the blood of Martyrs had their Candlesticks removed and themselves delivered up to groan under the Turkish tyranny
our brethren the more conformable we shall be to God who loveth all men as they are his creatures and doth good to all men by making his Sun to shine upon the good and upon the bad and sending rain upon the just and upon the unjust and so they that imitate God in loving all men and doing all the good they can unto all men do hereby shew themselves to be the children of their Father which is in heaven as our Saviour saith Matth. 5.45 And therefore seeing we are all brethren Aug. habetur 24. q. corripiuntur and the same God is the father of us Sic affici debemus charitatis affectu ut omnes velimus salvos fieri we ought so charitably to affect all men as not to separate our selves from them and to exclude them from our Churches or societies but to wish the health and salvation of all men and to do our best help and furtherance to save and to relieve every man which is as the Apostle saith To honor all men And this our love honor and esteem of all men The love and honor that we owe to all men 2 waies to be considered must be especially considered 1. In respect of the manner of it for 2. In respect of the matter of it for 1. It must be shewed really and truly from the heart without Hypocrisie and not as worldlings and wicked men do that 1 In respect of the manner of it as the Poet saith fronte politi Astutam vapido servant sub pectore vulpem That is in the Prophets words do speak friendly unto their brethren and imagine mischief in their hearts like Joab that said to Amasa Is it peace my brother and while the tongue thus annointed him with oyl the hand stab'd him to the heart for we should love our neighbours as our selves that is as truly and in as true a manner though not in as great a measure as we love our selves yea this is the commandment that I give unto you Joh. 13.34 How Christ hath loved us ut diligatis invicem sicut ego dilexi vos that ye love one another even as I have loved you And how hath Christ loved us 1. It was Amore vehementi non mediocri with no small nor mean love but with the greatest affection that could be Joh. 15.13 Rom. 5.10 for greater love then this hath no man that a man should give his life for his friend saith our Saviour and he gave his life for his enemies saith the Apostle 2. It was Amore vero non ficto with a true sincere love and not with a seeming affection and a dissembling heart And 3. It was Amore perseveranti non finienti with a continuall and lasting love for whom he loved he loved unto the end and not for a short space And therefore our love to one another should be great true and lasting love and not like the worldlings love that seems fair and full while we are in prosperity but will fall away like water when we fall into adversity and so verify the Poets saying Donec eris faelix multos numerabis amicos Nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes 2. This true honor and unfaigned love 2 In respect of the matter of it which is two fold that we owe and are injoyned to shew and render unto all men in respect of the matter consisteth in two things 1. No waies to hurt or wrong them 2. Every way to assist and to help them 1. 1 No waies to hurt them He that offereth injury unto his neighbour or doth wrong to any man An injury what it is doth contrary to the rules of nature saith Cicero Et injuria est verbo vel facto cum aâ—iquo injustè agere and an injury is to deal unjustly with any one either in word or deed saith Isidorus and you know that besides the breach of natures law such a one as either of these waies wrongs his neighbour breaketh the commandment of the Almighty God who doth expressely forbid us to defraud or oppress or any waies to wrong one another or the stranger that is amongst us as you may see it in Moses and Jeremy ful y expressed for Moses saith Thou shalt not steal nor deal falsly nor defraud thy neighbour and the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night untill the morning Lev. 19.11.13 and the Prophet Jeremy saith Thus saith the Lord Execute ye judgment and righteousness and deliver the spoyled out of the hand of the oppress r Jer. 22.3 and do no wrong do no violence to the stranger the fatherless nor the widow neither shed innocent blood for the very heathen Poet can tell you that Quaelibet extinctos injuria suscitat ignes Ovid. l. 3. de arte amandi Wrong and injuries stir up striffes and do kindle the flames of unquenchable fire and though as Aristotle saith Melius est injuriam pati quà m alteri nocere it is better to suffer wrong then to hurt another and as the Comick saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That man is to be deemed most excellent which knoweth how to suffer most injuries yet because the frailty of flesh and blood is such that as the proverb goeth Scribit in marmore laesus they that register benefits and good turns done unto them in the sands will ingrave all wrongs and injuries done to them in marble never to be blotted out of memory and Solomon tels us Eccl. 7.7 that oppression maketh a wise man mad and if wise men can so hardly brook to be oppressed then surely fools and simple men will be stark mad to see themselves injured and will be ready to be revenged upon every advantage And therefore we ought to take great heed that we do no injustice nor offer any wrong to any man because dealing righteously one with another is the mother and preservative of love amongst neighbours Esay 32.17 and of peace amongst all men Injustice and wrongs the cause of all mischief for as the Prophet saith The works of righteousness shall be peace and the effects of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Whereas injustice oppression and wrongs are the causes of Laws Murders Wars and all Mischiefs And yet I demand if any thing in the world be now so common and so publick as wrongs injuries and oppressions Especially of them whom we ought most of all to honor and to love for though S. Paul bids us to esteem our Governors and our Teachers that are over us 1 Thes 5.13 How fairly Pharaoh dealt with the Priest Gen. 47.22 and do admonish us very highly in love for their works sake and the very heathens did no less for when Pharaoh bought all the Lands of the Egyptians throughout the whole Kingdom of Egypt he bought not the Lands of the Priests but assigned a portion of corn to sustain them so
but will notwithstanding all the promises of the Gospel and all the threatnings of the Law most fearlessely run to all kind of wickeduess And although the servil-fear hath for its object malum poenae 1 Of the servil-fear the evil of punishment and the filial-fear hath malum culpa the evil of sin Qâ—ia in illo timetur ne incidatur in tormentum supplicii August in isto ne amittatur gratia beneficii because that by the first we fear the torments of Hell-fire and by the second we fear to lose the joyes of Heaven Gregor in pass Et quem à prava actione formidata poena prohibet formidantis animum nulla spiritus libertas tenet nam si poenam non metueret culpam proculdubiò perpetraret And he that abstaineth from evil only for fear of the punishment is not refrained by the freedom of Gods Spirit because he would certainly commit the sin if he were not withheld by the fear of punishment And so as S. Augustine saith Aug. l. 2. contâ—a pelag Qui timore poena non amore justitiae fit bonus nondum bene fit bonus nec fit in corde quod fierâ— videtur in opere quando mallet bonnm non facere si posset impune He that doth good for fear of the rod more than for the love of goodness doth not that good so well as he ought to do it neither is that done in the heart which seems to be done in the work when he had rather not do it if he might leave it undone without punishment Yet this servil-fear is very good and very necessary for most men That the servil fear is good and how because that as the needle draweth the threed after it so this fear entring first into the heart maketh way for the other fear to follow after and when this keepeth us from the evil it maketh us by little and little to fall in love with the good for as nemo repente fit pessimus but the sinner falleth into Hell by certain steps and degrees so we ascend to Heaven per scalas gratiarum by passing on from faith to faith and from one grace unto another that is from the weaker still unto the stronger and from the lesse perfect unto that which is more excellent The Scripture perswadeth us to this servil-fear Exod. 20.20 And therefore we are perswaded to this fear both in the Old and New Testaments As 1. Moses saith unto the Israelites God is come to prove you that his fear may be before your faces that ye sin not And the Prophet Esay saith Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your fear Esay 8.13 and let him be your dread And the Prophet Jeremy saith Fear ye not me saith the Lord and Will ye not tremble at my presence Pavor vester terror vester Jer. 5.22 which have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot passe it though the waves thereof tosse themselves yet can they not provaâ—l though they roar yet can they not pafs over it 2. Our Saviour saith Fear not them which kill the body Math. 10.28 but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell Which very thing is further amplified Luke 2.5 and the Precept reiterated by S. Luke And S. Paul saith Heb. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God And therefore the Prophet biddeth us to kisse the Son lest he be angry and so we should perish from the right way And yet such is the nature and so great is the sottishness of foolish man that he will be afraid where no fear is he will startle at his own shadow he will suggest fears and raise jealousies unto himself as we see the English Rebels have done out of nothing We fear every vain thing more than we fear God for they dreamed they were undone when they were most happy and they made the World believe the King raised War against his Parliament when we saw the Parliament caused the King to flee away to save his life Thus we fear flies and tremble at the sight of feathers and the great God that is a consuming fire whose voice teareth the Mountains dryeth up the Seas and shaketh the Wildernesse we are no whit afraid to provoke him every day for though he chargeth us with a sub-pae-na as we shall answer it at his dreadful Judgement To honour all men to wrong no man to obey the King and to do to all men as we would they should do to us yet Revenge against our neighbours Rebellion against our King Robbing the poor Killing the innocent and the like are things of no more account than killing flies So much do we fear our God! But against this every man will say that he feareth God and what he doth he doth it for his service So the grand Rebels Corah Dathan and Abiram tell Moses All the Congregation is holy So that Arch-hypocrite Saul saith I have performed the Command of the Lord and when Samuel reproved him that he had not obeyed the voice of the Lord he stiffely justifieth himself 1 Sam. 13.15 20. and saith yea I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the way which the Lord sent me and if any thing be amisse it is not I that am to be blamed for it but the people which took of the spoil and they took it to none other end but for the service of God that they might sacrifice unto him in Gilgal Even so all Rebels and all hypocrites justifie themselves under the spâ—cious pretexts of doing all for Gods honour and the good of the Gospel and if any thing be amisse it is that which they cannot help it is the fault of their unruly followers which also cannot so much be condemned because they intend all for the glory of God and by the spoil of the Bishops and Recusants to set up a Preaching-Presbytery which will be a very acceptable sacrifice unto God and a far better service than now is used And therefore I do very ill to taxe them that they fear not God And so the case standeth Marcus ait Scaurus negat I affirm it and they deny it But in truth though it is the property of all hypocrites to cloak their wickednesse under the pretence of bettering things Yet God likes better of what Himself requireth than of what these Will-worshippers think to be more honourable for him And as Samuel was faign to convince Saul by the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen so to prove these Rebels to be void of the fear of God I must say Si non creditis oraculis credite oculis If you will not believe my words look into their deeds for as the Tree is known by the fruits The two things that the fear of God doth 1. To
them You will perchance say yes they may be read by the Preacher but not quoted and cited to the hearers but as Virgil saith Hot ego versiculos feei tulit alter honores So I say this is to rob the Bees of their Honey and to eat that our selves which we our selves never gathered and so to take the Honour which is due to other men unto our selves which is a kind of Thest and an Injury done unto our deceased brethren and not so beneficial to the hearers who ought rather to respect them more then us But to prove both the lawfulness and the necessity of using the help of as many Authors as we can conveniently read you know that the holy Scriptures are like a deep well from whence we cannot draw out the water without the help of some things to reach it as the Samaritan woman said to Christ John 4.11 2 Pet. 3.16 The difficulty of the Scripture is more fully shewed in my book of the Great Antichrist it is full of Figures and Mysteries so difficult that in S. Pauls Epistles S. Peter saith there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some things hard to be understood and in other places much more and perhaps more difficult when as the Scriptures do comprehend a Literal or Historical sense and a Spiritual or a Mystical sense and the Literal sense is either simple which consisteth in the propriety of the words or figurative whereby the words are transferred from their natuaral signification to another signification as when Christ saith I have other sheep that are not of this fold the meaning is that besides the people of the Jews he had other people that were to be brought to the Church of God Et hujus sensus tot sunt genera quot sunt genera figurarum saith Bellarm. l. 3. c. 3. very truly And the spiritual sense is distinguished to be three-fold allegoricall tropological and anagogical and the not understanding in what sense the Scripture is to be interpreted hath caused many great scholars to erre most foully as Origen doth so allegorize the terrestial Paradise that he taketh away the truth of the History when for the trees he understands the Angels for the rivers the heavenly vertues and the coats of skin their humane bodies and others have as foully erred in taking that litterally which ought to be figuratively understood as Papias and those that follow him Just Martyr Iren. Tertul. Lactant. and some others do expound the new Hierusalem and the thousand years that the Saints are said they should reign with Christ altogether litterally which are figuratively to be understood as both S. Hierom and S. Ang. testifie And therefore S. Aug. demandeth how he that cannot understand Terence without a comment dares presume to understand the Scripture without a Teacher when as Quicquid est in scripturis illis altum divinum est all every thing that is in these holy Scriptures is very deep and divine And S. Paul saith that the letter killeth that is the words of the Scriptures litterally interpreted when they ought to be figuratively understood do bring men into many errours and indeed as S. Augustine saith Hinc omnes haereses dum scripturae bonae intelliguntur non bene from hence all Heresies and Errours do arise when the good Scriptures are misconstrued and not rightly understood For it is not enough for us to have the Bible in our hands and the words of it in our mouths unless we have also the sense and meaning of it in our heads Acts 8.21 therefore our Saviour Christ knowing that as the Eunuch who had perfectly read the prophesie of Isaiah yet understood it not without a guide and as the Jews Mal. 2.7 that had the Laws of God written upon their doors and the posts of their houses yet were they to seek the meaning thereof from the mouth of the Priests so our having the words of the Scripture at our fingers end would avail us nothing unless we understood it and understand it we could not unless with the Jews and the Eunuch we were instructed in the true sense and meaning thereof he sends his Embassadors the Bishops and Ministers as I said before to instruct his people to understand the sense and meaning of the holy Ghost and the voice of Christ in such and such words and places of the holy Scripture as are difficult and obscure and saith Luke 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me And of all those that Christ sendeth to explain his Will and to interpret his Voice and to give the true sense of his words unto the people who I pray you do ye think can best do it the preachers that are now living or those that are dead Surely the wise men were wont to say Who are the best Counsellors Dead Preachers rather to be believed then the living Preachers so saith Christ they have Moses and the Prophets that were all dead that the best Counsellors are the dead that is the counsels and instructions that the dead men have left in their books because they are no time-servers that fear the Tyrant or flatter for reward And truly I am of the same mind for our Preachers and instructors in the Word of God when I see many men for the love of preferment and many others for fear of loosing their livings doing that service to God and teaching those documents unto men which otherwise I know they would not do And therefore if you believe me or any other living man that Christ sendeth to instruct you why should you not rather or at least as soon believe S. Aug. S. Chrysost or any other of the holy Fathers that are dead when we are assured they were sent from God to declare his will unto his people and who we know were most learned zealous and most faithful Ministers of Christ And so you see what the sheep of Christ must do to hear his voice from those messengers that Christ sendeth and hath sent to inform them of it 2. 2 The negative part what they must not do What the must not do is here likewise set down by Christ and that is they must not hear the voice of a stranger which Christ hath not sent to declare his will and to explain his meanings for a strangers voice saith Christ my sheep will not hear but will fly from him for that they know not the voice of strangers Where you must observe Who is meant by a stranger that by stranger is not meant a stranger that cometh unto the people but a stranger unto Christ and to the truth of Christ and true service of God and because he speaketh here first in the singular number of a stranger whose voice Christs sheep will not hear but will fly from him and then in the plural number of strangers whose voice his sheep know not for though Tremel translates it out of the Syriack Non norunt vocem alieni yet the Greek
and in the unity of the souls substance there is a trinity of faculties the reason the will and the memory which being created in holiness fell away from the uncreated goodness of God And in the unity of Christian Religion there is a trinity of invaluable grace Faith Hope and Love whereby the relapsed trinity of mans soul is reunited unto the blessed favour of the Eternal Trinity of Gods Essence And these three graces I find most excellently delivered and explained by three of the chiefest Apostles the three worthiest Pillars of Gods Church S. The three chiefest graces exprest by the three chiefest Apostles 1. Faith expressed by S. Peter Peter S. Paul and S. John for as Faith is radix omnium virtutum the root of all virtues as S. Ambrose saith and prima quae subjugat animam Deo and as S. Hierome saith the first grace that bends and brings our souls to God and the foundation of all other graces from whence as from the root of a tree those fair and fruitful branches of hope and love do spring So S. Peter was the first of all the Apostles and his confession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou art Christ the Son of the living God was the Rock whereupon the whole frame of Christian Religion was established as both S. Ambr. and S. Aug. testifie And as hope is quasi columna quae totum spirituale aedificium sustentat 2 Hope explained by S. Paul as Laurentius Justinianus saith like the Pillar that beareth and upholdeth faith and love or the Anchor that preserveth the little ship of Gods Church in all storms as the Apostle calleth it and is indeed the only Nurse that feedeth inlargeth and maintaineth the very life of these graces So the blessed Apostle S. Paul was the greatest Inlarger and Cherisher of the Doctrine of Christ that we can read of for he caused the same by his own indefatigable pains to be planted and watered preached and published in abundance of places as you may see in the Table of his Peregrination collected out of his own writings and the Acts of the blessed Apostles and as love is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfection and complement of all virtues indeficiens thesaurus gratiarum an unexhaustible treasure of graces unguentum suave quo pestes animi sanantur oculi cordis illuminantur and that sweet precious oyntment which healeth all the sores of our souls enlighteneth the eyes of our understanding and sweetneth all those fruits that proceed from Faith and Hope 3 Love amplified by S. John Iohn 3. as S. Basil saith So that heavenly Evangelist and best beloved Apostle S. John is the best and chiefest expressor of Gods love to man and the most careful exacter and requirer of mans love to God again for what else doth he chiefly aim at in all his Gospel but to shew how God loved the world that he gave his only begotten and his dearly beloved Son coequal and coessential unto himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this Son was the Word and that Word was God saith S. Basil that whosoever believed in him John 3. should not perish but should have everlasting life And what else doth he in all his Epistles in every Chapter and almost in every verse but as the Prophet David in the 119. Psalm doth continually touch upon the strings of Gods Law so doth he as sweetly play upon the strings of Gods Love his love to us and that love which we owe and are so many wayes bound to render unto him And to his dying day when he could not go he would be carried to the Church in a Chair and when he was able to say no more his whole Sermon was ut diligatis invicem that they would love one another And no marvel for he was indeed the Disciple which our Saviour loved above the rest and before all the rest of the Apostles he was the chiefest child of Love as S. Aug. calleth S. Paul the best Child of Grace And therefore as S. Paul gave himself principally to magnifie the free grace of God so doth S. John wholly dedicate himself to amplifie the great love of God and as he doth the same in all his works so he doth it especially in this my Text which I may well call the Epitome of all his writings and it containeth these two things which contain the sum of all Divinity 1. Gods love to Man The sum of all Divinity two-fold 2. Mans love to God For what Is the end of the Law and the substance of the Gospel but to shew how God loved us and to teach us why and how we should love God again and manifest this our love to God by loving one another For to love God with all our hearts is the great command of the Law and to love one another as Christ hath loved us is the new Command of the Gospel In these two hang all the Law and the Prophets and in these are comprehended all our duties and all this is contained in these few words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quia causae precedit effectum Wherein the Apostle doth principally aim at the main ground and chiefest cause why we do and should love our God This is the sum of the whole expressed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore must be first treated of Indeed if we do contemplate of those infinitely amiable excellencies and transcendent beauties that are so accumulated and resplendent in the Essence of God which is that light in whom is no darkness at all We shall find that as Nazian saith of Christ he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly desiderable and wholly delectable so fully invested with such attractive excellencies as are easily able to confound the senses and to ravish the desires of all that truly consider them Worthy men worthily loved for when we hear Abraham so highly commended for his Faith David for his Valour Solomon for his Wisdome Hercules Achilles Alexander Hannibal Caesar and the like such glorious Heroes celebrated and admired for their eminencies above other men we cannot chuse but deem them worthy of love when so many wise men as have written of them thought them worthy of admiration and reputed them the Worthies of the world So when we consider the glory of nature and the beauty of bodies which is nothing else but an apt proportion and a just correspondence of the parts and colours of these visible creatures they do so intice our senses captivate our affections and ravish our minds that our hearts are more present in their desires with such bodies that they like and love then with our own wherein they sojourn and live But what are all the Mights and Monarchs of the World compared unto God No excellency any wayes comparable to the excellencies of God but as Lambs among Lyons or as the leaves that are driven away with the wind blown down from their Regal Thrones
from many sins they would fall into most fearfull abominations and did not he sustain them with his hand they would pull down many mischiefs and kindle many plagues upon their own heads 3. Way 3 By bestowing many gifts and favours upon his creatures as sending them raine and fruitfull seasons Acts 14.17 making the Sun to shine both upon the good and upon the bad and filling our hearts with food and gladness by giving us Health Wealth and Prosperity 4. Way 4 By that which is above all and beyond all the rest in giving his onely Son to redeem us when we were captives and to save us when we were utterly lost Seneca saith we esteem our selves too highly if we suppose our selves worthy that the revolution of Winter and Summer should be done for us But alas good Philosopher if thou thinkest it strange that the world should hold his course for our sake what wouldst thou think if thou knewest as much as we that God for our sake should send his only Son to suffer the most ignominious death of the cross to deliver us from everlasting death The inexpressable greatness of Gods love in sending his Son to redeem us for this love is so full of all bottomlesse Mysteries so transcendently infinite that all the other multitudes of his blessings heaped upon us in our creation and preservation are not worth the talking of or so much as to be once named in comparison of this blessing but as the light of the Sun obscureth all the light of the Starres so the consideration of this benefit swalloweth up all the memory of all other benefits whatsoever And therefore this is ever and anon shewed and urged as the chiefest argument of Gods love and as the most royal Present whereby the King of Heaven did so exemplarily commend his love towards the sons of men 1 Johon 4.9 for as the Apostle saith in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was manifested the love of God towards us that he sent his onely begotten Son into the world Why this benefit exceedeth all other benefits that we might live through him And the reason why this benefit transcendeth and excelleth all other benefits seemeth to be two-fold 1. Reason 1 Because That before our creation we had done nothing that had displeased God or opposed his purpose to produce us but before our redemption we had every way offended his Majesty rejected his grace and refused his favours towards us nay we had not onely slighted his love but we had also in all hostile manner done as we see others do now unto us rendered to him evil for good and for all his grace and loving favours we offered Wars and all despightful Indignities unto him Reason 2 2. Because in our Creation Dixit facta sunt he spake the world and they were made commanded and they stood fast but in working our redemption Multa dixit magna fecit dira tulit he spake many excellent Sermons he did many admirable Works and he suffered many intolerable Things and yet Solus homo non compatitur pro quo solo Deus patitur of all Gods creatures The exceeding greatness of the Mystery of our Redemption by the Incarnation Passion of Christ Col 1.26 1 Pet. 1.10 12. man alone regards not all this for whom alone God did all this And therefore this work alone was that astonishing project wherewith the invisible God blessed for ever intended in the fullest measure to glorifie all his Attributes even at once and to make himself far more admirably known by this then he was either by the Creation or the preservation of all the things of this world And this was that unsearchable Mystery that was hidden from the Ages and the Generations before in which God would make known the riches of his glory and which the holy men of God for many ages together longed to see and the Angels themselves desired 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most heedfully to pry into it So you see that God by innumerable wayes and specially by this superlative argument of his love to mankind doth sufficiently testifie that he loveth 3. For the extent and object of Gods love the Apostle saith that he loveth us 3 The Parties loved us Love what it is The extent of is The extent of Gods Love 1. Himself 2. All that he made and S. Austin defineth love to be a motion of the heart delighting it self in any thing And the better we conceive the thing to be the more is our heart inflamed to love it and therefore God being the chiefest good he must needs in the first place love himself best as the Father loveth the Son the Son in like manner loveth the Father and both of them equally love the holy Spirit and the Spirit them And besides himself God loveth all things that he made because all that he made were good Sin he made not therefore he loves it not but hateth the same with a perfect hatred But though God loveth every thing which he hath made That of all Creatures God loved Mankind best yet he loveth not all things equally alike for we finde that he shewed more evident testimonies of far greater love to mankind then he did to any other creature whatsoever for though he loveth his Angels with a very great and singular love when he maketh them his Ministers and these Ministers flames of fire that do continually burn with the love of his Sacred Majesty yet we do not read that he stileth himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of Angels as he termeth himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of men as Zanchy well observeth out of Tit. 3.4 And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his love to man more then to any other creature appeareth more manifestly by the manifold effects of his love As 1. In creating man alone after his own Image 2. In giving to him alone dominion over the rest of his creatures over all the works of his hands 3. In predestinating his onely begotten Son to take upon him our flesh thereby to exalt the humane nature alone above all other creatures whatsoever for though the Angels were of a pure simple and unspotted being and we of a terrene corrupted substance yet as the Apostle well observeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 2.16 he took not upon him the Angels but he took the seed of Abraham And therefore the Prophet David considering these many many testimonies of the divine love to man crieth out with admiration O God what is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the son of man that thou so regardest him thou madest him a little lower then the Angels but it was to crown him with glory and worship Psal 8 5. Gods love to men not equally alike to all men Prov. 8. Exod. 20. Psal 11.6 And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here hath an emphasis that God loved us men or mankind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
save us from all our sins And thus the true Saints that do hate their sins and lay hold on Christ do only love the Lord and the wicked that delight in sin and perceive not the sweetness of their Saviour cannot be said to love God for as the whole have no need of the Physitian and give no thanks for his Physick so they that feel not the sense of their own miseries and perceive not their Obligation to their Deliverer can have no love to God their Saviour Therefore seeing as the Poet saith Quod latet ignotum est ignoti nulla cupido And as S. Bern. saith non potes aut amare quem non noveris aut habere quem non amaveris we cannot love whom we know not nor enjoy whom we love not it behoveth us to search into our spirits to look into our own states to consider the multitude of our own sins and to bethink our selves in what need we stand of a Deliverer to see if this will not bring us in love with God our Saviour And then I beseech you Two special Points to be considered let us consider 1. What manner of Love we ought to have 2. How great a love it ought to be towards him And 1. I presume theâ—e is no man in this Assembly but he would think himself much injured 1 What manner of Lovewe ought to have if it were but imagined that he did not love God his Saviour and iâ— is not my desire to dishearten any when I wish from my heart that every the least sparke of your love to God might prove a Glorious Flame Yet I fear there be very many men that come into the world they know not why and live therein they care not how and go out of it again they cannot tell where but do live in it without a God and then die without any hope And others there be that dream of happiness and their hopes being but dreams they do therein but deceive themselves like those that dream they are at a pleasant Banquet yet when they awake their soul is hungry For as the Jews in our Saviours time did indeed persecute him because they were so blinded that they could not apprehend him to be the Son of God but for God himself they made full account that they alone and none but they did love him and for Moses vvhose very Name vvas the Glory of their Nation they professed to love him beyond measure so that vvhosoever spake any blasphemous vvords against Moses vvas thought vvorthy to be stoned to death Acts 6.11 John 5.42 V. 45. And yet our Saviour tels them I know you that you have not the love of God in you and that Moses in vvhom they trusted should accuse them before God So many Christians at the last day shall profess that they have prophesied in Christ's Name cast out Devils done many wonderful works in his Name rebelled against their ovvn King and killed their own Brethren and starved their own Shepherds and hazarded their own Lives for his sake and yet he shall protest unto them I never knew you i. e. to love me or to do these things for my sake but for your own ends and to satisfie your own desires and therefore depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And the reason is Two sorts of the Lovers of Christ 1. Formal 2. Real that there are two sorts of the lovers of Christ and two kinds of professors of Christianity 1. General 2. Special That formal this real that in shew this in deed that ingendred by Education by Country by Custome by conformity to the Laws and Fashions of them with whom they live and by a common sence of Gods outward favours for Christ his sake unto them and this infused by an inward operation of Gods Spirit in the heart in all sincerity and truth and is continually preserved and encreased by a lively sence of Gods special favour unto them through Jesus Christ And you know that S. Paul tells us he is not a Jew which is one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that which appeareth outwardly in the flesh i.e. which is but only born and bred a Jew of the seed of Abraham of the visible Synagogue and partaker of all the external Covenants of grace but he only is the right Jew which is one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inwardly in the secrets of the heart so he is not a Christian that is but only born a Christian and doth but outwardly profess Christianity to come to the Church to hear Sermons to receive the Sacraments Who is the true Christian and to accustome himself to all the outward formalities of Christianity but he is the true Christian that is so made by his second birth and by that internal grace which is indeed invisible unto others but most sensible unto himself and who as the Evangelist saith John 1.13 is born not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God And therefore seeing God is not mocked and that he requireth truth in the inward parts and the exactest kind of love that can be imagined let us not mock our selves by any presumptuous conceits of our love to God and so deceive our own hearts and betray our own souls which is the usual practice of too too many men for if we love God as we ought then our love must be as the Apostle speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in purity in simplicity or as the word signifieth in incorruption i.e. such as neither the most honourable nor the most profitable nor the most delectable things in this world can ever be able to lessen or diminish the least jot of our love to God when with the Apostle we disesteem our preferments and our honours and whatsoever else the world could confer upon us and account them all but as dung in comparison of our love to God and the discharging of that duty which we owe unto him for so Abraham forsook his Country neglected his honour and was ready to facrifice his only Son in obedience to the commands of God and so will all they do that do truly love the Lord as they out to love him 2. For the extent and quantity of our love to God S. Augustine saith Aug. de moribus Ecclesiae that Modus diligendi Deum est ut diligatur quantum potest diligi quanto plus diligitur tanto est dilectio melior And St. Bernard saith that Modus diligendi Deum est sine modo The measure of our love to God should be beyond measure so much that we should prefer his Love his Honour and his Service before our Father or Mother or Wife or Husband or Children or Pleasure or Profit or any other thing in this World yea before our own life which we should be ready and willing to lay down for the love of him and the defence of his truth and service Qui