Christ and resolution in his quarrel he gave an evident testimony when he protested himself ready to lay down his life for him Greater love then this in the Apostles judgment no man hath then to lay down his life for his freind This St. Peter had if we may beleive himself yea he began to express some acts of it when in defence of his Master he manfully drew his sword and wounded the servant of the high Preist But see how soon the scene is changed This good Champion of our Saviour as a Lion that is reported to be daunted with the crowing of a Cock is stricken out of countenance and quite amazed with the voice of a silly Damsel yea so far is he possess'd with a spirit of fear that he not onely denies but abjures his Master and perjures himself committing a sin not far behind the sin of Iudas yea treading it hard upon the heels But the mercy of God that leaves not the honour of his servant in the dust of death but is evermore careful to raise us up from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness suffers not this Rock this great Pillar of his Church to be overthrown He first admonishes him by the crowing of a Cock when that would not serve himself full of careful love and goodness though in the midst of his enemies forgets his own danger and remembers the danger of his servant Himself was now as a sheep before the shearer dumb and not opening his mouth yet forgets he not that he is that great Shepherd of the flock but David like rescues one of his fold from the mouth of the Lion and from the paw of the Bear He turns about and looks upon him saith the Text he cries louder unto him with his look then the Cock could with his voice Of all the members in the body the Eye is the most moving part that oft-times is spoken in a look which by no force of speech could have been uttered this look of Christ did so warm St. Peter almost frozen-dead with fear that it made him well-near melt into tears As if he had cried out with the Spouse Cant. vi O turn away thine eyes for they have overcome me he grows impatient of his looks and seeks for a place to weep what a look was this think you St. Ierom discoursing with himself what might be the cause that many of the Disciples when they were called by our Saviour presently without further consultation arose and followed him thinks it not improbable that there did appear some Glory and Majesty in his Countenance which made them beleive he was more then a man that thus bespake them whatsoever then appear'd in his looks doubtless in this look of his was seen some Sovereign power of his Deity that could so speedily recover a man thus almost desperately gone A man that had one foot in hell whom one step more had irrecoverably cast away It was this look of Christ that restored St. Peter Quos respicit Iesus plorant delictum saith St. Ambrose They weep for their sins whom Iesus looks upon Negavit primo Petrus non flevit quia non respexerat Dominus Negavit secundo non flevit quia adhuc non respexerat Dominus Negavit tertio respexit Iesus ille amarissime flevit St. Peter denies him once and repents not for Iesus look'd not back upon him he denies him the second time and yet he weeps not for yet the Lord look'd not back He denies him the third time and Iesus looks upon him and then he weeps bitterly Before I come to make use of this it shall not be altogether impertinent to say something unto some Queries that here arise concerning the condition of St. Peter and in him of all the Elect of God whilst they are in a state of sin unrepented of for as for St. Peter's faith which some make doubt of there can as I conceive no question be made It is not to be thought that St. Peter had revers'd with himself the confession that he had formerly made of Christ or that he thought doubtless I have err'd this is not the person whom I took him to be Indeed through fear and cowardize he durst not confess that with his mouth unto salvation which in his heart he beleived unto righteousness Any thing further then this that speech of our Saviour takes away wherein he tells him before-hand I have pray'd that thy faith might not fail But since our Age hath had experience of some who because the Election of God standeth sure and Christ's sheep none can take out of his hands conclude therefore that for the Elect of God there is no falling from grace that to David and Peter no ill could happen no though for so they have given it out that they had died in the very act of their sin To meet with such disputants I will breifly lay down what I conceive is to be thought in the point Wherefore parate fauces pani as St. Bernard speaks Hitherto I have given you milk provide your stomacks now for harder meat and such as befits strong men in Christ. Peter and Iudas for I will couple them both together in my discourse whilst they are both joyned together in sin Peter I say and Iudas in regard of their own persons were both more or less in the same case both fallen from grace both in a state of sin and damnation till the Repentance of St. Peter altered the case on his part But the Grace of God signified two things either the purpose of God's Election the Grace and Favour Inherent in the Person of God which he still casts upon those that are his notwithstanding their manifold backslidings or else it signifies the habit of sanctifying qualities Inherent in the Regenerate man those good Graces of God by which he walks holy and unblameable Again the state of Damnation signifies likewise two things either the purpose of Gods Reprobation or else the habit of damnable qualities in the sinful man From the state of Grace as it signifies the purpose of God to save the Elect can never fall In the state of Damnation as it signifies something inherent in us every man by nature is and the Elect of God even after their Calling many times fall into it that is they may and do many times fall into those sins yea for a time continue in them too David did so for a whole years space which except they be done away by repentance inevitably bring forth eternal death for the state of mortal sin unrepented of is truly and indeed the state of death yea the whole and sole reason of the condemnation of every one that perishes for Christ hath said it Except ye repent ye shall all perish So then you see that into the state of Damnation as it signifieth something inherent in us a man may fall and yet not fall from the state of grace as it signifies God's purpose of Election
c. In these words we will consider these three things 1. The Person David And David's heart smote him 2. David's Sollicitousness his care and jealousie very significantly expressed in the next words his heart smote him 3. The cause of this his care and anxiety of mind in the last words because he had cut off Saul's skirt In the first point that is in the Person we may consider his greatness he was a King in expectation and already Anointed A circumstance by so much the more considerable because that greatness is commonly taken to be a privilege to sin to be over careful and conscientious of our courses and actions are accounted virtues for private persons Kings have greater businesses then to examine every thought that comes into their hearts Pater meus obliviscitur se esse Caesarem ego vero memini me Caesaris filiam It is the answer of Iulia Augustus the Emperour's daughter when she was taxed for her too wanton and licentious living and counsel'd to conform her self to the sobriety and gravity of her father My father saith she forgets himself to be Caesar the Emperour but I remember my self to be Caesar's daughter It was the speech of Ennius the Poet Plebs in hoc Regi ante-stat loco licet lachrimari plebi Regi honeste non licet Private men in this have a privilege above Princes but thus to do becomes not Princes and if at any time these sad and heavy-hearted thoughts do surprize them they shall never want comforters to dispel them When Ahab was for sullenness fallen down upon his bed because Naboth would not yeild him his Vineyard Iezabel is presently at hand and asks him Art thou this day King of Israel When Ammon pined away in the incestuous love of his sister Thamar Ionadab his companion comes unto him and asks Why is the King's son sad every day so that as it seems great Persons can never be much or long sad Yet David forgets his greatness forgets his many occasions gives no ear to his companions about him but gives himself over to a scrupulous and serious consideration of an Action in shew and countenance but light Secondly As the Person is great so is the care and remorse conceived upon the consideration of his action exceeding great which is our Second part And therefore the holy Ghost expresses it in very significant terms His heart smote him a phrase in Scripture used by the holy Ghost when men begin to be sensible and repent them of some sin When David had committed that great sin of numbring the people and began to be apprehensive of it the Scripture tells us that David's heart smote him when he had commanded Ioab to number the people Wherefore by this smiting we may not here understand some light touch of conscience like a grain of powder presently kindled and presently gone for the most hard and flinty hearts many times yeilds such sparks as these He that is most flesh'd in sin commits it not without some remorse for sin evermore leaves some scruple some sting some loathsomeness in the hearts of those that are most inamour'd of it But as Simeon tells the Blessed Virgin in St. Luke's Gospel Gladius pertransibit animam tuam A sword shall peirce through thine heart so it seems to have been with David It was not some light touch to rase onely the surface and skin of the heart but like a sword it peirced deep into him To teach us one lesson That actions spotted though but with the least suspicion of sin ought not carelesly to be pass'd by or sleightly glanced at but we ought to be deeply apprehensive of them and bestow greatest care and consideration upon them The third part of our Text containeth the cause of David's remorse in the last words because he cut off Saul's skirt In the two former parts we had to do with greatness there was 1. a great Person and 2. great Remorse can we in this third part find out any great cause or reason of this so to make all parts proportionable Certainly he that shall attentively read and weigh these first words of my Text and know the story might think that David had committed some notable errour as some great oppression or some cruel slaughter or some such Royal sin which none but Kings and great men can commit But Beloved this my Text seems to be like the Windows in Solomon's Temple broad within but narrow without or like a Pyramide large and spatious at the Basis and ground of it but small and sharp at the top The Person and Remorse which are the ground and subject of my Text both are great and large but the Cause which is the very crown and top of all that is very small yea peradventure none at all For whether it be that my self accustomed to greater sins and now grown old in them have lost all sense of small and petty errours or whether indeed there be no errour at all in this action of David but onely some fancy some jealousie arising out of that godly and careful watch he kept over all his ways or whatsoever else it was that caused this scruple or remorse in David it is a very hard matter to discover and yet notwithstanding that we may make more open pass unto such Doctrines as I shall raise out of these words let us a little scan and consider what it was in this action that made David thus strangely scrupulous And first of all was it for that he had touch'd and taken that which was none of his own and therefore might seem to fall within compass of the Law against injury and purloining This seems not probable for when afterward in the like case he came upon Saul as he was sleeping in the Camp and took from him the Spear and the pot of water which stood at his head we do not read that his head that his heart smote him and yet he took what was none of his Or 2 ly was it that he did wrong and dishonour Saul in mangling his garment Indeed the Iews have a Tradition that this was the sin of which David was here so sensible And therefore say they whereas we read in the first of Kings that when David grew old they covered him with clothes but he gat no heat this was the punishment of his sin committed against Saul God so providing that garments should not be serviceable to him who had offended in wronging Saul's garments But this I must let go as a fable Or 3 ly was it that he had unadvisedly given way to some disloyal thought and at first resolved to revenge himself on Saul having him at the advantage though afterward he repented Indeed St. Chrysostom thinks so and therefore on those words at the latter end of the verse next before my Text And David arose he notes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See you not saith he what a tempest of rage and anger begins to rise in him for he supposeth him
to the Land of Promise Yea it is generally thought a matter of congruity that the world go well with every good Christian man Against those I will lay down this one conclusion That if we look into the tenour of the New Testament we shall find that neither the Church nor any Christian man by title of his profession hath any certain claim to any secular blessing Indeed if we look into the Iews Common-wealth and consider the letter of Moses Law they may seem not onely to have a direct promise of Temporal felicity but of no other save that For in the Law God gives to Moses the dispensation of no other but temporal Blessings and Cursings in the xxvj of Leviticus and the xxviij of Deuteronomy where God seems to strive with all possible efficacy to express himself in both kinds there is not a line conteining that which should betide them at their ends all their weal all their woe seem'd to expire with their lives What sense they had of future rewards or with what conceit they passed away to immortality I list not to dispute This suffices to shew that there is a main difference in the hopes of the Church before and since Christ concerning outward prosperity as for Christians to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostom they have greater and harder races to run greater prizes to take in hand then our Fathers before Christ. The Church was then in her youth she was to be led by sense as a child we are come to the age of perfect men in Christ. That the Church therefore might not deceive her self with this outward peace which is but a peace of ornament he strips her as it were of her borrowed beauty and washes off her Fucus gives her no interest in the world sends her forth into a strange Land as he did Abraham not having possession of a foot and which is yet more not having so much as a promise of any which yet Abraham had If Christ and his Apostles teach as sometimes they do Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and the righteousness thereof and these things shall be cast in upon you That Godliness hath the promise both of this life and of the life to come It is not presently to be conceived that every true Christian man shall doubtless come on and thrive in the world That which they teach is no more but this That we ought not to despair of the Providence of God for look what is the reward and portion of vertue and industry in other men the same and much more shall it have in Christians their goodness shall have the like approbation their moral virtues shall have the like esteem their honest labours shall thrive alike If sometimes it hath fallen out otherwise it is but the same lot which hath befallen virtue and honesty even in the Pagan as well as the Christian. In the fifth of St. Matthew where Christ teacheth us That the meek spirited shall possess the earth think we that it was the intent of the holy Ghost to make men Lords of the earth to endow them with Territories and large Dominions That which he teaches us is but a moral lesson such as common reason and experience confirms That meek and mild spirited men are usually the quietest possessours of what they hold But that these speeches and such as these in the New Testament be not wrong'd by us by being drawn to our avaritious conceits and thought to halt if sometime the meek-spirited become a spoil to the extortioner and be stript of all he hath give me leave to commend unto you one rule for the interpretation of them which will give much ease to unstable minds The holy Ghost delivering general propositions in things subject to variety and humane casualties is to be understood for the truth of them as far as the things themselves are capable of truth and according to the certainty of them There are many propositions fram'd even in Natural things of Eternal truth no instance neither of time nor person can be brought to disprove them our daily experience evermore finds them so There is a second order of things created by God himself subject to mutability which sometimes are not at all and being produced owe their being sometimes to one cause sometimes to another the efficacy of the cause no way being determined to this effect but of it self indifferent to produce it or not The managing of affairs whether in publick of Common-weals or in private of any man's particular state or calling Moral rules of behaviour and carriage yea all the things that are spoken concerning the temporal weal or woe of actions good or bad they are all ranged in this second order Now in all these things it is impossible there should be propositions made of unavoidable certainty If the rules and observations drawn for our direction ut plurimum usually and in the ordinary course of events hold currant it is enough to make them Maxims of Truth it matters not though at some time upon some occasions in some person they fail Now from the condition of these things the propositions made by the holy Ghost himself are by their Authour not exempted In the Book of the Proverbs the holy Ghost hath registred such store of Moral wisdom and Precepts of carriage in temporal matters that all the wisdom of the Heathen most renowned for Morality come far short of it These Precepts though with us they have as indeed they ought to have much more credibility as delivered unto us by an Authour of surer observation and exempted from all possibility of errour yet notwithstanding in regard of the things themselves they are of the like certainty of the same degree of truth when we find them in the Writings of these famous Ethnicks whom it pleased the holy Spirit to endue with Natural wisdom and Moral discretion which they have when we read them registred in the Oracles of God and thesame uncertainty have they in regard of some particulars when they be spoken by Solomon which they have when they are uttered by Plato or Euripides Solomon much inveigheth against the folly of Suretiship was it therefore never heard of that a wise man was surety for his neighbour with good success I. Caesar when he thought to have upheld his estate through mercy and clemency lost his life is it therefore false which Solomon teacheth that Mercy upholdeth the throne of the King He knew well and his son had dear experience of it that the peoples hearts are won and kept by mild and merciful dealing rather then by rough and tyrannous proceedings yet he could not be ignorant that even Kings sometimes reap mischeif and death there where they have plentifully sowed love and mercy Thus then and no otherwise are we to understand the holy Ghost preaching unto us the reward of the meek-spirited and the promises of this life to the godly For we are not to suppose that God in