Christ hath suffered for sins excepting no sins but that every one should have liberty to infer conclude and say for my sins Art thou a young sinner Christ hath suffered for sins Art thou an old sinner Christ hath suffered for sins Art thou a Jew sinner Christ hath suffered for sins Art thou a Gentile sinner Christ hath suffered for sins Art thou a bond sinner art thou a free sinner art thou a male sinner art thou a female sinner art thou a great sinner art thou a grievous sinner Christ hath suffered for sins Who ever thou art or whatever thy sins be here is no exception to thee or to them but thou mayst safely infer and say Christ hath suffered for sins therefore for my sins Only let thy sins be sins and think them not to be virtues say not All these things have I kept from my youth up say not I fast twice a week I give tythe of all that I possesse say not I have no sin for then what hast thou to doe with the sufferings of Christ be suffered for sins The whole need not the Physician but they that are sick He came not to call the righteous but sinners Therefore excuse not thy sinne as Adam did saying The woman which thou gavest me Neither colour it as Judas did saying Haile Master neither deny it as Gehazi did saying Thy servant went no whither neither defend it as Jonah did saying I doe well to be angry But freely and penitently confesse it as David did saying I have sinned against the Lord For then as David was so shalt thou be answered The Lord hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die and then thou mayst comfortably lay hold on the sufferings of Christ and apply them to thine own soul else thou hast no part or portion in him or them for Christ hath suffered for sins For sins I say in general all and of all Mr. Theoph. Thynne at Longleat And therefore also of this Infant whom our present businesse doth concern For all the seed of the Faithfull are within the Covenant of Grace as is proved Rom. 4. to wit that the promise is made to Abraham and his seed as well spiritual as natural even to all the faithful yea and to their seed also Act. 2.39 And though Infants have not actuall faith themselves yet being presented by the faithfull they are accepted as faithfull De liber arb lib. 3. cap. 23. as saith St. Augustin Pie recteque creditur prodesse parvulo corum fidem à quibus consecrandus offertur It is godly and rightly beleeved that the Infant in Baptism is profited by their Faith by whom it is offered And again De ver Apo. Ser. 10. Accommodat illis mater ecclesia aliorum pedes ut veniant aliorum cor ut credant aliorum linguam ut fateantur Our Mother the Church doth lend unto them the feet of others that they may come the heart of others that they may beleeve Ser. 3. de Annun the tongue of others that they may confesse And St. Bernard Supplet munus gratiae quod in eis habet natura minus possibile The work of Grace supplyeth in them that which in nature is impossible Yea they are said in some sort to have faith in as much as they have the Sacrament of Faith Aug Bonifacio Epist 23. And as the same Augustine speaketh Sacramentum fidei fides est Respondetur fidem habere c. The Sacrament of Faith is to them Faith It is answered they have faith in respect of the Sacrament of faith Ipsius fidei sacramentum fidelem facit the Sacrament of Faith makes the child faithfull Non rei ipsi mente annuendo sed ipsius rei sacramentum percipiendo not by assenting to the matter it self but by partaking the Sacrament thereof Doubt yee not therefore but earnestly beleeve that this Infant also hath his part in Christs sufferings which is thus generall for sins And thus I have briefly run thorough the three chief parts or points of this Text the sufferer his sufferings and the occasion of his sufferings Now considering the majesty of the sufferer the extremity of his sufferings and the vilenesse of the occasion I cannot let all this so slightly pass but I must needs draw out of it some further use and instruction And first it doth justly drive me into admiration of Christs wonderfull love to us When David heard of the death of his dear friend Jonathan he was so rapt with passion so ravished with admiration thorough the remembrance of his love that he calleth it wonderfull Wo is me saith he for thee my brother Jonathan very kind hast thou been to me thy love to me was wonderfull 2 Sam. 1. But now O David let me tell thee thy wonder was nothing it was but a shaddow to this love of Christ which we have to wonder at For Jonathan loved thee for that thy carriage and behaviour both toward him and his Father did deserve it but Christ loved us notwithstanding our carriage and behaviour deserved his and his Fathers hatred Jonathan loved thee well for that he much enjoyed the present and much more expected the future requitall of thy love to him but Christ loved us when he enjoyed our present enmity and had no hope of any future recompence Jonathan bewrayed his love to thee in that he clothed thee with his ornaments his robes and his garments 1 Sam. 18.4 and armed thee with his own weapons his sword and his bow but Christ bewrayed I had almost said betrayed his love to us in that he not onely clothed and armed us with his own spirituall robes and weapons but also took our raggs of corporall infirmity yea our sins upon himself Jonathan loved thy life and safety well but yet he loved his own better for when his father for anger against thee cast his spear at him he avoyded and fled and would not abide his Fathers fury but Christ loved our life and safety so well that for it hee was content to lose his own and did not shrink his own side from the spear If ever therefore O David thou hadst cause to call Jonathans love wonderfull much more cause have wee to give the same title to the love of Christ and to say to him very kind hast thou been to us O sweet Saviour thy love to us was wonderfull Yea needs must his love be wonderful seeing he himself is wonderfull for so the Prophet speaketh Is 9.6 He shall call his name wonderfull Wonderfull then is his name and wonderfull is his love for behold what wonders it worketh It caused the second person being God to take our nature to become flesh and to unite two natures God and Man Joh. 1.14 in one person behold a wonder It caused a Virgin to conceive breed and bear a sonne and to be at once a mother and a mayd behold a wonder It caused an innocent person to give his life and shed his
fragrant field unto the Lord. I speak not this to perswade any man wilfully to make himself miserable for our Saviour himself hath pronounced it to be A more blessed thing to give then to receive Neither doe I speak to commend or justifie the counterfeit zeal of those that mock the world with a false shew of wilfull poverty whiles shutting themselves up in a Cloister that they may seem to forsake the world they do indeed enjoy it in all superfluity Or at the least the worst of their misery is no more then that which that holy man prayeth for Pro. 30.8 Give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me If they have no excesse they are sure to feel no want but to be sufficiently provided for both for back and belly so long as they live there and are they not then very zealous think you in binding themselves to such a misery But my speech is to hearten all those with comfort on whom God hath layd affliction that they may bee so far from impatience as rather to rejoyce in tribulation Rom. 5.3 because it was their Masters common lot and portion for the Disciple is not above his Master nor the servant above his Lord it is enough for the Disciple to be as his Master and the servant as his Lord. Yea not onely the afflictions of life but death it self and the grave should be welcom and acceptable to us for Christ also hath passed them and by suffering hath sanctified them unto us so that the curse of death is turned into a blessing and the grave is become a bed of rest Rev. 14.13 and that Prophecie Is 11.8 is fulfilled The sucking child shall play upon the holt of the Asp and the weaned child shall put his hand upon the Cockatrice hole There is now no danger to Gods children in the hole of death that is the Grave for death hath lost his sting and cannot hurt us so that we may triumph and say O death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God which hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. In the last place let us learn not onely to admire Christs love to us nor onely to love him again nor only to love those that are like to him in suffering nor onely to love his sufferings themselves but withall to hate sin which was the occasion of his sufferings Sin was the occasion of Christs sufferings for had not Adam sinned Christ had had no cause or need to suffer If therefore wee love him wee cannot chuse but hate that which was to him the occasion of such a miserable life and such a shamefull painfull and cruell death David 2 Sam. 23. being an high Captaine though he longed for the water of Bethleem yet would not tast it when hee had it because it cost his three souldiers the hazard of their lives thathe might have it Much more we being servile souldiers though our soules long for the sweet waters of sin yet should we forbear to tast it because it cost our high Captaine Christ not the hazard but the very loss of his life that we might not have it God shewed Moses a tree wherewith he might make the bitter waters sweet Exo. 15.25 but behold I shew you a tree wherewith ye may make the sweet waters of sin to become bitter Look upon the tree of Christ remember his Cross and the pains he suffered thereon and the false sweetnesse of sin will quickly vanish and ye shall rightly rellish the bitterness of it If the delight of any sinne offer it self unto you cast Christ his Cross into it do but remember his sufferings for sin and all sin will presently grow distastfull For how can it choose but be hatefull to us if we consider how hurtfull it was to him The Jews would not put those thirty peeces into their Treasury because they thought them to bee the price of blood Mat. 27.6 but therein I must say they were deceived for Judas for that money did rather sell himself and his own soul then Christ or Christs blood For Christ was sold before even God had sold him before to death for the sin of man For when in the fall of man the devil offered sin unto God then did God threaten Christ unto him namely That the seed the woman should break the serpents head Gen. 3. And had not Christ been so sold before to death for sin not all the treasure in Jerusalem nor in all the world could have bought him Seeing then that Sin was the true and proper price for which Christ was sold how unworthy are wee the name of Christians yea how much worse are we then Jews if we suffer this price of blood to come into the treasury of our hearts If therefore any motion of pride arise in thy mind answer and tell it thou art the price of blood If any temptation of lust be offered to thine eyes answer and tell it thou art the price of blood If any provocation of anger or revenge be urged to thy hands answer and tell it thou art the price of blood If any greedinesse of gain move thee to wrong or oppression answer and tell it thou art the price of blood And whatsoever sin thou art tempted to answer and tell it thou art the occasion of my Saviours death thou art the price of Christs blood thou mayst not therefore come into the treasury of my heart O blessed Lord and sweet Saviour we do even with astonishment admire thy passing great love towards us we pray thee also by the fervent fire of thy great love that is upon us to kindle in us true love to thee again yea to all that are like thee in thy sufferings yea to thy sufferings themselves that we may patiently bear them whensoever they befall us But make us truly to hate sinne that was the occasion of thy sufferings We beleeve O Lord that by thy blood thou hast washt us from the guilt of sin wee beseech thee also make us more and more effectually find and feele that by thy spirit thou doest purge us from the love of sin that so our consciences may be comforted in all our life and especially in our death and our soules and bodies eternally saved in the life to come by and thorough thy all-sufficient sufferings and satisfactions For which unto thee with the Father and the Holy Ghost three persons one eternall God wee render all possible praise and thanksgiving and desire all honour and glory might and majesty may be ascribed for ever and ever Amen Finis Serm. 2. Trino-uni gloria Per me Gulielmum Gaium Martial At male si recites incipit esse tuus A SERMON preached at the Visitation held at Campden May 4. 1636. Text. JOH 13.17 If ye know these things blessed or happy are ye if ye doe them
it in this our spirituall Net Here is force for it is the power of the Word that first worketh the wil and then also worketh upon it It is he that worketh both the will and the deed Phil. 2.13 It is Gods power that both beginneth and continueth all our motion in grace for no man can come to me saith Christ except the Father draw him Joh. 6.44 And with this force here is also lenity for this draught is neither violent nor sudden Not violent but mild and gentle My yoke is easie and my burthen is light saith our Saviour Mat. 11. I drew them with the cords of a man even with bands of love Hos 11.4 There is indeed constraint for whatsoever the Lord pleaseth that doth he in heaven and in earth in the sea and in all deep places Ps 135.6 even in the deep of mans heart But yet withall there is liberty even the glorious liberty of the sons of God even as the fishes are drawn but not without their own swimming Neither is this drawing sudden but moderate and by degrees Some indeed are as it were angled up to heaven even by sudden motion effectually called as Paul from a persecutor to a Preacher Act. 9. and the thief from a reviler to a confessor Mat. 27.44 Luk. 23.40 But this is but by ones now and then rare examples But the more ordinary way of Gods calling and taking is by leisurable knocking I stand at the door and knock Rev. 3.10 Gods Word is likened to an hammer that breaketh the stone Jer. 23.29 Yet it alwaies breaketh not the stony heart at the first blow but by degrees Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo The drop of rain holloweth the stone not by force but by often falling And so doth Christ usually prevaile by his spirit Hee shall come down like the rain even as the drops that water the earth Ps 72.6 Learn here first to bee humble to deny naturall strength and freedome of will and to acknowledge Gods power in drawing thee The hour cometh and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear it shall live Joh. 5.25 Thou art but a dead thing till this voice doth quicken thee St. Paul saith in another case Boast not thy self and if thou boast thou bearest not the root but the root thee Rom. 11.18 It may be truly also said in this case Boast not thy self and if thou boast thou drawest not the net but the net thee It is Christ that makes this beasting and justly for why we have compelled him even so to stop our presumption to take it wholly off from us Let him bee true therefore and every man a lyar for thus he boasteth I when I am lift up from the earth will draw all men unto me Joh. 12.32 There 's the primus and the ultimus motor the beginner and ender of this draught the author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 Secondly learn also here to bee carefull and diligent and think not that the force of this draught doth priviledge thee to be idle Thou art drawn indeed by a superiour force and so as like the fish in the net thou haste thy swimming thine own motion Thou art first dead but Gods voice shall pierce thy deadness and make thee hear and then thou shalt not be dead still but live that is have thy motion God worketh thy will indeed but not to make it idle but to set it on work Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 Take therefore the Churches resolution Can. 1.4 Draw me and we will run after thee and that of the Psalmist I will run the way of thy Commandements when thou hast set my heart at liberty Psal 119.32 Thirdly learn here also to be fearfull be not high minded but fear Rom. 11.20 Blessed is the man that feareth alway Prov. 28.14 Thou must not think thy self to be caught at the first pull much lesse mayst thou presume on thy taking when thou hast yet felt no pulling or tugging or drawing at all but with much patience thou must endure and with perseverance expect the accomplishment of Gods work upon thee Giving diligence to make thy calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Proving thy self whether thou art in the faith or no 2 Cor. 13.5 The sprouting blade of corn upon the house top comes to no timely harvest it filleth not the mowers hand nor the binders bosom Psal 129.7 And they that are most rash and sudden in profession commonly prove to have no root and to endure but a season Mat. 7. For as not every calling to the Lord-doth make repentance Not every one that saith to me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven Mat. 7. So neither doth every calling from the Lord make faith Samuel was called the fourth time before he was sped of his errand 1 Sam. 3. Yea Judas after all his illumination proved but a lost child Joh. 17.20 Be sober therefore in the beginning that thou mayst hold out unto the ending and so run that thou mayst obtain 1 Cor. 9.24 for the hasty runner commonly is soonest out of breath St. John did outrun St. Peter and yet went last into the sepulcher Joh. 20.4 The work of the spirit by the Ministry of the Word is no violent or sudden hoysing like to Elijahs whirlwind 2 King 2.11 but a moderate drawing like to a draw-net And so much of the particulars observed in that it is compared to a draw-net 3. In the third place I observed painfulness and danger in that it is said to be cast into the sea First painfulnesse For the word cast implyeth not only the bare casting in but also the drawing and the whole managing of the work of Fishing which is the main matter of the Fishers labour For though it costeth him a great deal of pains to knit his net and to contrive it in its fashion for he is no right Fisherman that cannot knit his own net yet is it much more paines and labour to exercise it in the sea without which all is in vain And this also is the main matter of our calling even this very labour and exercise of spirituall fishing I mean the very exercise of Preaching it is laborious as well in practising as in preparing Yea without this all skill in contriving all art all learning all knowledge is all shall I say nothing yea worse then nothing instead of honouring us it will but condemn us For not to be able to labour is miserable but not to be willing is punishable therefore St. Paul confesseth Necessity is layd upon me and woe is me if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.16 Let no man therefore that undertaketh this Net think that he taketh a cushion or couch to sleep on a soft means of sweet ease but rather a labour of little ease a work that will require the straining of all his strength the striving
fully come For now and not before did his servants receive his full name in their foreheads being baptised in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And now being made known to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his triple unity revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of speciall excellencie he is become to us a King and we to him a Kingdom For now especially hee hath vouchsafed to specifie his Church by the name of his Kingdome Mat. 11. Hee that is least in the Kingdome of God that is in the state of his Church after this third revealing of himself This is the compleat mystery of godlinesse God is manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit 1 Tim. 3.16 And as In him so also By him to us is the Trinity especially perfected For this God of order allwaies observeth order as ad intra in his personall proprieties so ad extra in his outward works The Father creating the Son redeeming the Holy Ghost sanctifying And what had the former two works been without this third The Son of God had his two-fold marriage one personall with his flesh the other mysticall with his Church and in each the Father was the Donor the Son the Receiver there wanted not Bride or Bridegoom or giver But who could be worthy to be the minister in these holy conjunctions None but the Holy Ghost He was the Minister in the personall marriage For the word was made flesh but how he was conceived of the Holy Ghost Conceived the flesh supernaturally formed the Word hypostatically united And in the mysticall marriage likewise he is the Minister For if any man have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his But as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the Sons of God For this is that spirit of adoption by whom we cry Abba Father Rom. 8. He worketh the application of Christ unto us by faith and of us unto Christ by love and so is that marriage made The father is our Physitian the Son our Physick But the Holy Ghost is that blessed Apothecary which applyeth of this salve to every sore and administreth portions of this portion distributing to every one severally even as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 The Father was the sacrificer the Son the Sacrifice but where was the fire Wis 16. This charitas Dei this loving spirit this love of God Tit. 3.4 or rather this God Love for God is love 1 Jo. 4.8 was that heavenly fire wherein this sacrifice was finished For God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son Jo. 3.16 And through the eternall spirit Christ offered himself without spot to God Heb. 9.14 The Son is the arme the Holy Ghost is the hand the Father the body from which they issue or are derived And as in the body naturall the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee 1 Cor. 12. Yea the feeble members are so necessary that to the lesse honorable members we give more abundant honor so in this body of bodies this fountain of beings the holy deity the plurality of persons is no waies needlesse but their perfection consisteth not lesse in their Trinity then in their unty And lest we should think the Holy Ghost because he is the third in order to be the third in honor behold what abundant honor we are to give him The arm and hand work together and at once with the body and in and with the same strength yet the perfection and consequently the honor of the work more immediately belongeth to the arme and most immediately to the hand This Holy Ghost is the holy hand of God by which all the works of God are to us most immediately perfected With a mighty hand a stretched out arm he brought his Israel out of corporall bondage And with that stretched arme the redemption of the Sonne and this mighty hand the operation of the Holy Ghost he bringeth his Israel out of spirituall bondage I cannot shew you all the fingers of this hand for they abound yet not superfluously like that monstrous creature who had six upon each hand 2 Sam. 21. but richly as it becometh the Creator being Lord of all to be rich unto all Let it suffice that some of these fingers are expressed in the Scriptures Exo. 8.19 Pharaohs inchanters spake concerning the plague of lice This is the finger of God there is medius the strong finger of Power Exo. 31. Moses received the two Tables written with the finger of God there is Index the pointing finger of wisdom Lu. 11.20 Christ saith If I by the finger of God cast out Devills there is medicus the healing finger of mercy These are not those writing fingers in Belshazars vision Dan. 5. they write no fearfull inditement but they are those dropping fingers Can. 5. which droppe down pure myrrhe blessed distillations of grace and mercie to blot out the old handwriting that was against us Yea this hand enableth them on whom it resteth to prevail with God by holy wrastling as Jacob did Gen. 32.28 and to make violent entry by force into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 11.12 No marvell that Christ saith It is expedient for you that I go away Joh. 16.7 Why that the third person might take his course and turn that God unto us-ward might be perfected In him in respect of revelation By him in respect of application and operation Again this feast of the comming and appearing of the Holy Ghost is to us the feast of feasts the speciall feast We may compare it yea with reverence be it spoken we may preferre it to the feast of the Nativity in the former respects Namely in our own behalf this being the consummation of that unto us the Catastrophe the last scene of that divine act of the blessed Trinity In that feast God unchanged in himself descended unto man In this man changed and renewed from himself is lifted up unto God In that God became partaker of the humane nature in this man is made partaker of the divine nature In that one man was made the Temple of God 1 Cor. 6.19 in this every one of the faithfull is made so feverally and all-together jointly Eph. 2.21 That was begun secretly in the Virgins womb and accomplished obscurely in a stable This was done openly and publickly at a great feast and a solemn assembly In a word as the beginning without the end were vain so the end would not be without the beginning Therefore let no man put asunder that which God hath joyned together Yet exitus acta probat unto us the end and consummation is all in all Be it so then and let Saint Bernards player teach us the use of it Ser. 3. in Pent. that I follow it not further Solemnitatem praecipuam hodie celebramus utinam devotione praecipua Wee celebrate a speciall feast to day God grant we do it with speciall devotion that God
may truly use Jacobs words here and say This is none other but the house of God and this is the gatef heaven Gen. 28.17 Two things we may especially observe in the Text the matter and the manner the substance and the circumstance of the businesse here related The matter and substance is the coming and appearing of the Holy Ghost in sensible forms The circumstance is manifold chiefly it may be referred to the time when and the persons to whom this apparition was made With these points of the circumstance I will begin so to make way to the substance of the matter which is the larger and weighter point and part First then for the time And when the day of Pentecost was fully come This day as it is commonly held was the day of the publishing the Law upon Mount Smai In memory whereof the Jews kept a solemn feast which they commonly called The feast of weeks Deut. 16.10 It got also this name Pentecost because of the number of fifty being fifty daies after their Pascha the fiftieth day after their coming out of Egypt they received the Law and that day they kept this holy feast in remembrance thereof And this day was the fiftieth after Christs resurrection For it is plain that Christ suffered on the Jews preparation day of their Passeover and that the Passeover that year fell on the Sabbath which is therefore called An high day or the great Sabbath Joh. 19.31 and that they reckoned their fifty daies from the first of or after the Sabbath Lev. 23.11 15. which was Christs rising day the first day of their week So then this Pentecost was the fiftieth day from their Passeover exclusively and the fiftieth from Christs resurrection inclusively What then Behold the truth answerable to the figure that shaddow fulfilled in this substance As on the fiftieth day after their Passeover and their deliverance from corporall bondage under Pharoah they received Legem timoris the Law of fear upon Mount Sinai so on the fiftieth after day the accomplishment of our Passeover the Lamb of God slain and risen and our deliverance from the spirituall bondage under Satan we received Legem amoris the Law of love upon Mount Sion For Christ also is a Law-giver even the giver of a new Law as he himself speaketh Joh. 13.34 A new commandement give I you What That ye love one another Which yet is not a new or another Law but the fulfilling and consummation of the old Love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 The end of the commandement is love 1 Tim. 1.5 This Law was given when the Holy Ghost was given For the fruit of the spirit is love Gal. 5.22 The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of love 2 Tim. 1.7 This is that Law of liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free Gal. 5.1 Free in regard of the outward man because the inner man is accepted In my mind I serve the law of God though in my flesh the law of sin Rom. 7.25 Free not in the tie of obedience which is still upon us but in the tax of disobedience that is punishment which he hath taken from us Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 Well then brethren ye see your calling the sum of all is love Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart love thy neighbour as thy self the sincerity of the inside Truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 For he is an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile Joh. 3. 47. Truth of heart supplyeth defect of hand for ye are called into liberty Gal. 5.13 The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed us from the law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 And where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 Stand fast therefore in this liberty of love Gal. 5.1 As free and not having the liberty for a cloak of malitiousness but as the servants of God 1 Pet 2. Not usin your liberty as an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another Gal. 5 13. For indeed Love is the bond of perfectness Col. 3.14 binding not onely us one to another for the unity of the spirit is in the bond of peace Eph. 4.3 but binding us unto God and God unto us For he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 and that not for a time but for ever For this Law is not written with ink or in tables of stone corruptibly but in fleshly tables of the heart yea in the immortall table of the soul incorruptibly For though tongues cease or knowledge vanish away yet love never falleth away 1 Cor. 13. Now abideth Faith Hope Love but the chief of these is Love For Faith apprehendeth the promise hope attendeth the matter but Love sealeth and assureth confirmeth and strengtheneth both Again this coming of the Holy Ghost was the fiftieth day after Christs Resurrection and therefore the tenth day after his Ascension for he ascended not till the fortieth day Act. 1.3 and then he made his last promise of this which he now performed Ye shall be baptised with the holy Ghost not many daies hence Act. 1.5 He deferred it till the tenth day and on the tenth day he fulfilled it He deferred it till the tenth day that they might be exercised with expectation and whetted with delay For Gods delaies are nothing else but whettings His delay of judgements to the wicked is a whetting of his anger For if a man will not turn he will whet his sword Psal 7.13 Yea he will fourbish it that it may consume Ezek. 21.28 But his delay of grace to his children is a whetting to their zeal For the Physitian by restraint of dyet gaineth stomack health and strength unto his patient And God who best knoweth what is best for us by denying or by deferring grace oftentimes gives grace unto his children Else why did not St. Pauls threefold petition prevaile for his deliverance from that buffeting messenger of Satan but that he might receive a sufficiency of grace to strengthen him 2 Cor. 12. And else why did the prayer of the woman of Canaan suffer likewise a threefold repulse but even to whet her importunity and constancy that at the last she might receive that acclamation O woman great is thy faith Mat. 15.28 Again as untill the tenth day so no longer then the tenth day did Christ defer his promise but on that day he did fulfill it for God is not slack as some men count slackness 2 Pet. 3.9 Not so slack as to forget his promise Hath he said and shall he not doe it hath he spoken and shall he not accomplish it Numb 23.19 No but heaven and earth shall sooner passe away Patientia est non negligentia Aug. de ver ap ser 20. then one
home to him Againe as in regard of their objects so likewise of their subject or matter they were each one to be divided in himself Their matter how I doe not meane materia prima as I may call it their first matter the ground and foundation of their work for in that every one must be semper idem no changling For there is one Faith one Baptism Ephes 4.5 Other foundation can no man lay then that which is layd which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 Jesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same for ever Heb. 13.8 But I meane their matters of discourse and treatise their severall buildings upon this foundation In that diversity is required according to differences of times and places companies and occasions Namely to comfort and to threaten to speake learnedly and plainly properly and fitly as their audience shall require The Apostle bids Timothy Reprove rebuke exhort 2 Tim. 4.2 These be divers workes And he prescribeth milk for babes and strong meat for the strong Hebr. 5.13 These bee divers meates And hee knowes how both to abound and to be abased Phil. 4.12 these be divers measures And to be made all things to all men that by all means he may save some 1 Cor. 9.22 these be divers manners Ye see then we are not still to be tyed to one strain but to divide our tongues and to use our liberty in the spirit of discretion to all purposes And the learned may not despise our plainnesse for the ignorants sake nor the ignorant begrudge our learning for the learneds sake but bear one anothers burthen for Christs sake And not marvaile if sometimes ye hear the Law as well as the Gospell for the Holy Ghost came in cloven tongues intending thus to cleave and divide the Apostles tongues to severall purposes So much of their division But no doubt the most proper and direct purpose of those cloven tongues was to signifie the gift of divers tongues now to be bestowed upon the Apostles that they should bee endued with divers tongues enabled to speak divers languages which presently appeared to bee fulfilled And this as before I noted for my last point implyeth Union Namely the gathering of all Nations unto Christ that there might bee one field and one husbandman one flock and one shepheard For to that end the Gospel must be preached through the whole world And for the speeding thereof the Apostles are instantly furnished if not with all yet with the most languages What then look how the Nations were at first divided by the same they were now to be gathered Gen. 11. By division of tongues they were scattered and made divers people By division of tongues they are to bee gathered and made one people and to speake one language the language of Canaan the profession of the Gospell What then Note that God worketh by contraries and hee worketh upon contraries 1. Hee worketh by contraries that he may unite hee divideth that hee may gather hee scattereth that hee may exalt he bringeth low as in Joseph that hee may bring low hee exalteth as in Haman He giveth prosperity to some to befool them Thou fool this night will they take away thy soul from thee Luk. 12.20 And he taketh away riches from some to make them wise It is good for mee that I have been in trouble that I may learn thy statutes Psal 119.71 Yea he chooseth the foolish things of this world to confound the wise 1 Cor. 1. Yea he maketh the means of salvation to be to some the means of condemnation even the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2.16 And onely to serve to make them to know that there hath been a Prophet amongst them Ezek. 2.5 Beware then that yee measure not Gods works by outward appearance For no man knoweth either love or hatred of all that is before him Eccles 9.1 Presume not in prosperity despaire not in adversitie but pray for the right use and end of both that whether it be rod or staffe it may comfort thee And bee not content with outward things no not with outward hearing but take heed how ye hear lest ye make your condemnation the greater For God worketh by contraryes even gathering by division Lastly God worketh upon contraries to turn evill into contrary evill And again to turn evill into good 1. He turneth evill into contrary evill sinne into punishment A wicked union was turned into a cursed division the greatest conspiracie into the greatest confusion Namely the builders of Babel by division of tongues were scattered upon the face of the whole earth That Simeon and Levi all brethren in evill may knovv what the portion of evill union is namely division and separation I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel Genesis 49.7 Yea that all rebellious practisers against God may know that there is neither wisdome nor understanding nor counsell against the Lord Prov. 21.30 But the last is the best of all to wit that hee draweth good out of evill and turneth cursing into blessing What evill was there ever so great wherein Gods goodnesse hath not appeared The very sinne of Adam what abundance of goodnesse hath it drawn from God The malice of Joseph's brethren what a deale of good did God worke by it to him and them and to their families The crueltie of the Jews to Christ did not God turne it to the accomplishment of mans salvation That cursed confusion of Tongues at the building of Babel is it not now recompenced with a blessed division of Tongues whereby to make a spirituall building of living stones an holy temple unto the Lord our God What then Let us not contend with GOD for his suffering or for his punishing of evill in us but let us glorifie him for that he hath made every thing beautifull in its time Eccles 3.15 Yea that his mercie rejoiceth over his justice He will not alway be chiding neither keepeth hebis anger for ever Yea that as all natnrall motions are strongest at last so likewise his goodnesse increaseth with continuance like the Moon till it come to the full Old curses are turned into new blessings Behold all things are become new The Old Testament endeth with cursing Malach. 4.6 but the New with blessing Revelat. 22.21 God hath fully revealed himselfe in grace and shall shortly in glory In that therefore let us settle with glory to him and joy to ourselves even in that Amen of the Gospell which giveth grace and promiseth glory Even so Amen come Lord JESUS Finis Serm. sive tract 6. Trino-uni gloria Per me Gulielmum Gaium A SERMON against HYPOCRISIE Text. Luk. 12.1 Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie OF Truth and Righteousnesse God is the onely Author but deceit and falshood spring from the corrupted heart of man Onely loe this have I found saith Solomō Eccl. 7 that God made man righteous but they have sought out many inventions God made man
we flea the backs of beasts we pluck the plumes of birds And when we have searched both sea and land for dainties to feed it at last it self must be meat for worms And when wee have built stately Castles wherein to lodge it at last it must lie in a narrow grave or stinking toomb And when wee have rob'd all creatures for rich ornaments wherewith to cloth it at last it self must put on corruption If then with the Peacock we would turn our eyes from our plumes and behold our black legges that is consider our foundation or if with that proud King Dan. 2. we would take notice as well of the clay feet as of the golden head and silver body of our image we should easily perceive that it is subject to falling and that all our glory and pride must come down to the dust And so much of the first consideration expressing mans vilenesse namely the consideration of his corporall estate or condition both in respect of his beginning and of his ending Again mans vilenesse also appears in consideration of his temporall estate and condition and that both in respect of the miseries of his life and also of the shortnesse of his life First for the miseries of his life they be so many that I cannot propose to speak of them all I will but touch upon his defects wants and failings in the chiefe supplies of life that is food and rayment which will the more appear if we compare our selves with the bruit and unreasonable creatures For in both those kinds of things how easily and readily are other creatures sped and furnished and how hardly doth man get them First for food Consider the Ravens saith our Saviour they neither sow nor reap they have neither storehouse nor barn Lu. 12.24 But this is mans portion Gen. 3.19 In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread He must sweat for his bread before he hath it he must plow before he can sow and sow before he can reap and reap and thrash and winnow and grind and Bake and all before he can eat Such a world of work hath hee with a little grain of Wheat before he can make it fit sustenance to his body And for his raiment the case is much alike For whereas all other creatures are naturally clothed every one with his own coat some with wooll some with hair some with fur some with feathers onely man poor naked creature hath nothing of his owne to put on but must be ber holding to other creatures for every thing that he doth wear to the earth for his linnen to the sheep for his woollen to the wormes for his silkes to the birds tailes for his choisest and daintiest feathers that come so near the incest noses And indeed if every bird should take his own feather if every creature should exact and take from us what we have taken from them the sheep his woollen the Earth its linnen and so the rest then should man be left like Aesops Crown Moveat cornicula risum furtivis nudata coloribus All creatures may laugh at our nakednesse when we are stript of our borrowed feathers Neither do wee onely borrow our clothing of other creatures but we must take a great deal of paines with that which we do borrow before it will be fit for our use as may appear in the wooll our most ordinary wearing which requires as great plenty and as much variety of labour before it comes to our backs as the wheat doth before it comes to our mouths Thus is man born to labour as the sparks fly upward Job 5.7 To which difficulties of getting if yee will add the consideration of the hazard of keeping and the disquietnesse of losing which all are subject to in all temporall things then I doubt not but yee will be ready to subscribe to that of the preacher Eccles 1.14 I have seen all the works that are done under the Sun and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit Vse 1. And that we passe not this without some use and benefit let us in the first place consider what should be the cause thereof and what hath brought man so much below other creatures for in his Creation he was the King of creatures and therefore no lesse happy then they what then should be the cause of this alteration It was sinne beloved it was sinne that cursed offspring of hell that was the bane of all our blessedness It was sin that made a separation between God us It was sin that tumed our glory into shame our joy into sorrow our quiet into trouble our happinesse into misery our immortality into mortality For as soon as Adam had sinned the curses came over his head like waves in a stormy Sea Cursed is the earth for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the daies of thy life thornes also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee and dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Thus ye see that sin was the mother of all our mischief sin was the bane that poisoned us sin was the serpent that stung us even unto death for the wages of sin is death Rom. 6.23 And yet such is our foul folly and monstrous madnesse we are not yet out of love with this ugly monster of Hell that hath wrought us all this woe and misery We are more foolish then the silly sheep for though they feed upon their own bane yet they do it ignorantly not knowing that it will poison them but wee draw on sin with cart ropes Is 5.18 and drink iniquity like water Job 15.16 and yet we know it is most deadly bane and poyson to our soules We are more mad then Aesops Husbandman who finding a snake in the cold weather frozen in the field brought it home and warm'd it it at the fire For he did it before he was stung or had received any harm But we do not warm and revive but hatch and cherish not a snake but sin that is a serpent worse then Hydra not at our fires but in our brests and bosoms not that onely will sting us but that hath already stung us as aforesaid unto death They say that burnt children fear the fire and yet we ripe enough in age yet too childish in understanding cannot beware of the fire of sin which hath already burnt down the house of our happinesse and consumed our glory and laid all our honor in the dust but like the frantick Satyr we be in love with this fire and fall to imbracing it like the foolish fly we play with this flame till both our wings of faith and love be scorched and our soules fall headlong into Hell Flee therefore and avoid all manner of sin for it is the bane that poysoneth us it is the serpent that stingeth us it is the fire that will utterly consume us unlesse it be quenched by the tears of repentance and the blood of Christ 2. Vse Again