can trace their steps or track their way or over-take them in their lodging at night or tell us where it is Ask Philosophy and let that answer you Whence is it that the winds arise It answers you from a thin and airy vapour drawn up out of the earth towards the middle Region of the Air but repercust or beaten back by the grossness of some intervening cloud which drives it down obliquely with that violence we hear and feel This or something as obscure is all the knowledge we can get of it For ask now where that vapour rose It cannot tell Which way it went It know sit not In what part of heaven it first became a wind It cannot point it out What is become of it now 't is gone It resolves you not Into what part of the world it is retir'd when all is still It cannot answer you We use to say from the East or from the West from the North or from the South yet so uncertain must we needs confess the first point of their motion and so many points do they vary ere they come at us and so quickly are they gone by us that the wisest of us all cannot tell exactly either whence they were or whither they will But yet again if it be no more than such a kind of wind as is in the Text not Ventus but Spiritus a meer breath of wind or air that undoubtedly we know not whence it comes or whither it goes And yet the ways of the Spirit are more unsearchable We know not any thing at all of his eternal Procession it was before any time we can imagine We know nothing of his course or motion all that infinite while before the World began We understand nothing distinctly of it ever since His motions are so intricate so various and so infinite we cannot comprehend them The dispositions the gifts the graces he works daily in us we know not how they rise or how they spread or how they vanish Descend we a little to particulars We are sometimes mov'd we feel by the words of the Preacher by the reading of a Chapter by a devout Book or a godly Story and yet we know not why more now than at another time why at this time by a little touch and not before by long perswasions why sometimes by weak and slender at other times not by any means why to vertue oft-times contrary to our former natures and dispositions without any occasion given all sensible interests and motives clear against it whilst to another more easie and kindly to us we cannot be wrought Nor know we what becomes of any of those holy motions when they depart or we thrust them from us But if we should go about to dive into those hidden secrets of his Counsel why he should blow upon us and not upon others as good as we why upon the Iews so fully upon all the world besides so sparingly why he should take this woman from the Mill and not the other that works by her why of two in the same bed he should refuse the one and choose the other why he should by the same words and motions to two several men of the same tempers and education and at that time as near as can be conjectured in the same way and disposition breath effectually upon the one and not the other save this man presently and leave the other to himself we are here wholly at a loss they are mysteries of which we can say neither whence it is nor whither it tends but only to the glory of his grace and because it so pleases thee O blessed Spirit And seeing now we have told you all we can of Sic Spiritus of the first similitude the similitude betwixt the Wind and the Spirit let 's now see what we can make of Sic Spiritu natus of the second similitude betwixt the Spirit and every one that is born of it So is every c. II. General That He that is born of the Spirit should be some way like it is no wonder because he that is begotten may well be like him him that begets he that is born like her that bore him But how he comes either to be so begotten or born or be so like that may easily put us to a stand yet that too will come in as one part of the similitude For four Points of likeness we shall observe between the Spirit and him that is born of it as we did before between the Wind and the Spirit it self Like they are in their Natures in their Operations in their Sounds and in their Motions in the Evidence of those and the Obscurity of these 1. They are like in Nature first The Spirit spiritual and heavenly and so is he that is born of it He breaths nothing but heaven speaks nothing else lives there his Conversation wholly there Phil. iii. 20. his affections all upon things above his fashion not according to this World at all his face his eyes his hands his feet his ways look thither all He is so like him that he is now perfectly another thing than what he was before new soul new understanding new will new affections new all body and all that fram'd into new obedience quickned to a new life a meer new creature every way nothing of earth or flesh but all Spirit now You shall see the likeness of his nature plainer in the second Resemblance the likeness of his Actions and Operations to those of the Spirit 2. The Operations of the Spirit we told you 1. were calm and peaceable and so are His who is born of the Spirit Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance these are the fruits of the Spirit Gal. v. 22. and he that has the Spirit has all these He that has not is none of his The Effects 2. of the Spirit are purifying refreshing and quickning And he that has this Spirit as well as he that has this hope the Apostle speaks of 1. purifies himself from all uncleanness both of flesh and Spirit Then 2. refreshes and comforts others all that need it And 3. brings forth also all good fruits is fruitful in good works they mistake sadly that think themselves or others spiritual men without them And yet the strangest Operation is behind The Spirit bloweth where it listeth And can we make the Spirit and spiritual man agree here too Let 's try a little Two things there are in it A power and a liberty of blowing 'T is evident there must be power to do any thing every where and as evident there must be liberty to do every thing any where And both in power and liberty we shall find them like and first in power The Spirit is a Spirit of power he that is born of it is a man of power An host of men cannot so much as make him affraid Psal. xxvii 2. Sin it self cannot overcome him He that is born of the Spirit he
So that now we have gain'd the knowledge not only of his temporal but his eternal coming to his eternal Procession which though it be not the coming promised or intended here yet coming here upon the Context and Coherence relating so evidently to sending gives us but a just occasion both to remember to whom we owe this benefit the Father and the Son the greatness of it in that it is no less than infinite the Spirit of God God himself And 't is but fit here and every where to take notice of it that as the whence is above so the whither is beneath very much beneath him But we reserve that to a fitter place when we come to the persons that are guided by him 'T is best now to suspend a while the search of the nature to enquire into the time and manner of his coming But the time is next When he is come 3. Yea but when is that Sane novum supervenisse spiritum nova desideria demonstrant says St. Bernard you may know he is come by the desires he works in you when those begin to be spiritual hearty sincere and true to God then is the Spirit of truth come into you if you begin to long and breath and gasp after heaven 't is a sign some heavenly breath of the Spirit at least is slipt into you 2. When this Spirit that pants and beats after God within breaths out at the lips too ere it be long in prayers to God and praises of him in good communication all bitterness and malice and evil speaking and vanity too being laid aside as becommeth Saints This is a good sign too a true sign too if it be not meerly godly Phrases taken up to make a shew or to deceive if it proceed from the heart and inward Spirit 3. But the surest sign of it is in the hand in the works if they be such as are the genuine fruits of the Spirit Love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance Gal. v. 23. These are the Spirits perpetual attendants when he comes Boast men may of the Spirit but if they have no love if they be not the Sons of peace if patience and long-suffering be no vertue with them if gentleness appear not in their carriage if goodness and bounty to the poor abound not in them as well as faith if they be not meek and humble and sober and temperate temperate in diet in apparel in language in passion and affections and all things else boast they while they will of the Spirit and the Spirit of truth that they have it work and move by it are guided by it it will prove but the Spirit of error or the Spirit of giddiness or the Spirit of slumber they do but dream it or but their own Spirit at the best for such a one we read of and of Prophets that went according to it Ezek. xiii 3. foolish Prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing ignorant Prophets who know nothing yet pretend they know more than all the Learned all the Fathers that are gone crafty Foxes only they are says the Prophet ver 4. cunning to spoil and ravine that seduce the people saying peace when there is no peace ver 8. they build and dawb with untempered morter ver 10. build up Babel the house of confusion and plaister up all the Scriptures Texts that are against them with incoherent Comments wild distinctions and interpretations that stick together like untempered mortar they make the righteous sad and strengthen the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way by promising him life ver 22. and yet they there pretended the Spirit that he was come to them and God had sent them when indeed it was no other Spirit from the Lord than such a one as came from him upon Saul when the good Spirit was departed from him The Spirit of truth wants no such covering no such morter makes not the righteous sad makes no body sad by any oppression joy is the fruit of it strengthens not the wicked in his wickedness it is all for justice and righteous dealing And where it comes upon any it as Samuel foretold it 1 Sam. x. 6. and Saul found it 1 Sam. x. 9. gives him another heart turns him into another man The new man St. Paul calls it created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. iv 2. Indeed there was another kind of coming of his this Day He came to day not only into the hearts but upon the heads of the Apostles sate there and thence disperst his heavenly light into rays and flames came down in wind and fire and tongues in wind to shew that it was the Holy Spirit the very breath of heaven that came in fire to signifie the light of truth it brought and in tongues to express it to the world But it was his Inauguration day the first solemnity of his appearance that so both the Disciples and the World might know that come he was whom Christ had promised and be convinced by a visible apparition who else would not have been convicted by any inward evidence which had been without it But thus he appeared but only once In the effect of Tongues indeed but not in the appearance of them he twice afterwards fell upon some Disciples upon the Centurion and his Company the first fruits of the Gentiles Acts x. 46. and upon those Disciples at Ephesus who knew nothing but Iohn's Baptism that so they might sensibly find the difference of Iohn's Baptism and Christs Acts xix 6. They both assoon as they were baptized spake with tongues says the Text the one so honour'd to teach this truth that in all Nations whoever doth righteousness shall be accepted the Gentiles now in Christ as well accepted as the Iews the other so highly favoured that imperfect Christians might be encouraged to go on and not be dismaied to see so many glorious Professors so exceedingly transcend them These comings were miraculous only to found Christianity and settle an Article of Faith the Article of the Holy Ghost never distinctly known to the world till Christianity arose Christ himself was fain to confirm his Divinity by signs and miracles and the God-head of the Holy Ghost can be perswaded by no less But this once done he was to lead us by an ordinary tract no longer now by sight but faith that salvation might be through faith 1 Pet. i. 5. and the blessing upon them who have not seen and yet have believed St. Iohn xx 29. This I must needs say seems the prime and proxime meaning of the words but not the full When he is come points chiefly and nearest at this his first and nearest coming but not only at it Else are we in an ill case now if no spirit to come to us no guide to lead us no truth to settle us It must extend beyond that his visible coming to the ways of his coming unto us
elevates our souls by the Spirit of Wisdom coelestia sapere as it is Col. iii. 2. to those things that are above Sapientia est rerum altissimarum says the divine Philosopher Wisdom is of things of the higest nature of a high ascending strain 2. It penetrates and pierces like the fire by the Spirit of understanding understands that which the Spirit of man cannot understand 1 Cor. ii 11. the very things of God pierces into them all 3. It tries like fire by the Spirit of counsel and advice teaches us to prove all things and choose the best 4. It hardens us against all the evils that can befall us as fire does the brick against all weather by the spirit of fortitude and ghostly strength 5. It enlightens the darkness of our souls by the spirit of knowledge teaches us to know the things that belong unto our peace the ways and methods of salvation 6. It heats the coldness of our affections by the Spirit of piety and true godliness inflames us with devotion and zeal to Gods service And 7. it softens our obdurate hearts by the Spirit of holy fear that we melt into tears and sighs at the apprehension of Gods displeasure even as Wax melteth before the fire the highest hardest rockiest mountains melt and flow down at his presence when once his Spirit does but cast a ray upon them These are the seven gifts of the Spirit represented to us by so many properties of the fire 4. There are seven other operations and effects of the same Spirit as lively also exprest by it and make the fourth reason why the holy Ghost appears under the semblance of fire 1. Fire it burns and the Prophet Isaiah calls this Spirit a Spirit of burning Isa. iv 4. It makes our hearts burn within us as it did the Disciples going to Emaus St. Luke xxiv 32. puts us to a kind of pain raises sorrow and contrition in us makes the scalding water gush out of our eyes you may even feel it burn you 2. With this burning it purifies and purges too As things are purified by the fire so are our spirits and souls and bodies purified by the Spirit 3. For purifie it must needs for it devours all the dross the chaff the hay and stubble that is in us purges out our sins burns up every thing before it that offends is a consuming fire Heb. xii 29. so is God so is his Spirit 4. Yet as it is a consuming so it is a renewing fire Fire makes things new again And do but send out thy Spirit O Lord and they are made Psal. civ 30. We are all made for so it is that thou renewest the face of the earth the face of this dull earth of ours by putting into it the Holy Spirit 5. To this purpose it makes that like as fire it separates 5. things of divers natures silver from tin metals from dross Separare heterogenea is one of the effects of fire says the Philosopher to distinguish and divide between things of different kinds And Spiritus judicii discretionis the Prophet styles the Spirit a Spirit of judgment it is Isai. 4. 4. a discerning Spirit teaches us to discern between Dross and Gold Truth and Error between Good and Evil and without it we discern nothing This the Apostle reckons as a peculiar donation of it the discerning of spirits 1 Cor. xii 10. 6. Yet as it separates things of different natures so 6. it unites things of the same kind just as the fire does several pieces of the same metal into one body This holy Spirit is a Spirit of unity They that separate they have not the Spirit St. Iude 19. Schisms and Divisions Strife Heresies and Seditions are the works of the flesh not of the spirit Gal. v. 20. The fruit of the Spirit is love and peace says St. Paul there ver 22. And the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace we hear of too Ephes. iv 3. Into one Spirit we are baptiz'd all for there is but one one Spirit one Body one Hope one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God one all that are of God ver 5 6. nothing so contrary to the Holy Spirit as divisions of the members from the head or from one another a shrewd witness this against the spirits of our age and an evidence that to what spirit soever they lay claim they lay false claim to this they belong not to this Spirit which is so much for uniting all the parts of the body of Christ together 7. And this it can do when it s sees its time for lastly it is an invincible Spirit it bears down all before it turns all into it like the fire of all the Elements the most victorious and triumphant There is no standing out against this Spirit 't is an Almighty Spirit that can do what it will It inflames the air into a fire vain airy spirits into celestial flames of love and charity It dries up the water the raw waterish humors of our souls and fixes all waverings and inconstancies It burns up our earth and all the grass and hay and sprouts what ever that stand against it It sets whole houses all a fire sets us all a fire for Heaven and heavenly business Thus it burns it purifies it consumes and renews again it separates and it gathers and it caries all before it dees what it will in Heaven and Earth subdues Scepters vanquishes Kingdoms converts Nations throws down Infernal Powers and turns all into the obedience of Christ. To this purpose it is that it now also here comes in Tongues The second manner we noted of his appearance and that for three reasons 1. nothing more convenient to express either our business or him whose it is The Tongue is the instrument of speech the Word is express by it Christ is the Word the Holy Spirit as it were the Tongue to express him comes to day with an Host of tongues to send this Word abroad into all the World Nothing more necessary for the Apostles were to be the Preachers of it had receiv'd a Commission to go and preach St. Matth. xvi 15. wanted yet their tongues some new enablements went not therefore till they were this day brought them and a more necessary thing the Holy Ghost could not bring them for that purpose Yet they had need 2. be of fire sharp piercing tongues like the little flames of fire such as would pierce into the soul reveal the inmost secrets of the heart and spirits and it seems so they proved 1 Cor. xiv 25. piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit of the joints and marrow Heb. iv 12. Tongues of fire 3. to warm the cold affections of men into a love of Christ every tongue is not able to do that it must be a tongue set on fire from Heaven that can do that Tongues and tongues of fire sharp piercing tongues warm with heavenly heat are the only tongues
encouraged and confirmed him in it 4. His profession at it Behold said he I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God In those words he professed his faith and proclaimed his vision of it By this manner of considering it we shall do St. Stephen right and Christmas no wrong remember St. Stephens Martyrdom and yet not forget Christs being at it celebrate St. Stephens memory and yet no way omit Christs He being here to be lookt on as encourager of St. Stephens Martyrdom as much as St. Stephen for his Professor and Martyr By all together we shall fully understand the requisites of a Martyr what is required to make one such to be full of the Holy Ghost to look up stedfastly into heaven to look upon Christ as there and as boldly to profess it to be full of Grace and Spirit full of Piety and Devotion full of Faith and Hope full of Courage and Resolution all proportionably requisite to the spiritual Martyrdom of dying to the world and leaving all for Christ requisite too all of them in some measure to dye well at any time the very sum of the Text to be learn'd hence and practis'd by us If I add all requisite to keep Christmas too as it should be kept with Grace and Devotion with Faith and courage also against all that shall oppose it that our Christmas business be to be filled with the Spirit and not with meats and drinks to look up to Heaven to look up to Iesus and never to be afraid or ashamed to profess it there is nothing then in the Text to make it the least unseasonable I go on therefore to handle it part by part The first is St. Stephens accommodation to his Martyrdom how he stands fitted for it And surely he could not be better Full of the Holy Ghost Ghost is Spirit and what more necessary to a Martyr then a spirit The dreaming sluggish temper is not fit to make a Martyr he must have Spirit that dares look Death soberly in the face Yet every Spirit neither will not make a Martyr there are mad spirits in the world they call them brave ones though I know not why that rush headily upon the points of Swords and Rapiers yet bring these gallant fellows to a Scaffold or a Gibbet the common reward of their foolish rashness which they mis-reckon'd valour and you shall see how sheepishly they die how distractedly they look how without spirit The spirit that will bear out a shameful or painful death without change of countenance or inward horrour must be holy Where the Spirit is holy the Conscience pure the Soul clean the man dies with life and spirit in his looks as if he were either going to his bed or to a better place 'T is a holy life that fits men to be Martyrs But spirit and a holy Spirit is not enough to make a Martyr neither though the Martyrs spirit must be a holy one yet to dispose for martyrdom the holy Spirit must come himself with a peculiar power send an impulse and motion into the soul and spirit that shall even drive it to the stake And every degree of power will not do it it must be a full gale of holy wind that can cool the fiery Furnace into a pleasing walk that can make death and torments seem soft and easie Full of the Holy Ghost it is that Stephen is said to be e're we hear him promoted to the glory of a Martyr The Spirit of holiness will make a man die holily and the holy Spirit make him die comfortably but the fulness of him is required to make him die couragiously without fear of death or torment cruelty or rage By this you may now guess at Martys who they are not they that die for their folly and their humour not they 2. that die without holiness not every one 3. that dies as we say with valour and spirit not they that die upon the motion of any spirit but the holy one that one holy Spirit not they that die in Schism and Faction against the unity of this Holy Spirit the peace of his Holy Church none of these die Martyrs die Souldiers or valiant Heathen or men of spirit they may but men of the holy Spirit Martyrs they die not They only die such that have lived holily die in holy Cause in a holy Faith and in the peace of holy Church as in the Faith of one Holy Spirit ruling and directing it into unity upon good ground and warrant and a strong impulsion so to do without seeking for or voluntarily and unnecessarily thrusting themselves into the mouth of death And yet there are strange impulses I must tell you of the spirit of Martyrdom which ordinary souls or common pieties cannot understand Only we must know that the spirit of Martyrdom is the spirit of Love the very height of love to God which how that can consist with the spirit of Schism whereby we break the unity of Brethren or how a man can so highly love God as to dye for him and hate his Spouse the Church or his Brethren is inimaginable Some other engines there may be as vain-glory an obstinate humour of seeming constant to a false principle an ignorant and self-willed zeal which may sometimes draw a man to die but if the fulness of peace and charity does not appear there is no fulness of the Holy Ghost and they make themselves and their deaths but Martyrs that is witnesses of their own folly He that pretends to be a Martyr must have more then a pretence to the Spirit of charity II. And not to charity only but to devotion too He must 2. prepare himself for it stedfastly look up to Heaven nay into Heaven too fill his Spirit with divine and heavenly provision for it with St. Stephen here Who 1. looks up to Heaven as to his Country whither he was a going He longs earnestly to be there His soul with holy David's has a desire and longing to enter thither He that looks but seriously up to Heaven and beholds that glorious Building those starry Spangles those azure Curtains those lustrous bodies of the Sun and Moon that vast and splendid circumference of these glistering dwellings cannot but thirst vehemently to be there soul and flesh thirst for it O how brave a place is Heaven how brave even but to look on But if he can look as here it seems St. Stephen did into heaven too and contemplate the happy Choirs of blessed Saints and Angels the ineffable beauty of those inward Courts the ravishing Melody and Musick they make the quiet peace and happiness that pleasure joy and fulness of satisfaction and contentment there the majestick presence and blessed sight of God himself with all the store-houses of blessedness and glory full about him his very soul will be even ready to start with violence out of his body to fly up thither He that looks thus stedfastly looks
their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more ver 10. 12. a Covenant of pardon and remission such as the Sacrifices of the Law could not give were not able And new Books we have it written in as authentick as those old ones in the Iewish Canon where we may find all seal'd by the testimony of the Spirit Heb. vi the Author of the new Testament as well as of the old 6. The new Church has its new Sacraments Ite Baptizata for Ite Circumcidite Baptism for Circumcision and the Lords Supper for the Passeover in both which of ours there is more than was in theirs in those legal Ceremonies not only outward signs as they but inward graces 7. New Sacrifices the calves of our lips instead of Calves and Goats the sacrifices of Praises and Thanksgivings nay the sacrifice of a contrite heart and humble spirit the sacrificing of our lusts and the offering up of our souls and bodies a living holy acceptable Sacrifice Rom. xii 1. 8. A new Priesthood to offer them an unchangeable Priesthood now Heb. vii 24. Christ our High-Priest and the Ministers of the New Testament 2 Cor. iii. 6. as so many under-Priests to offer them up to God Christ offer'd himself a Sacrifice offers up also our Prayers and Praises to his Father has left his Ministers in his Name and Merits to do it too and this a lasting Priesthood to last for ever 9. We have a new Altar too so St. Paul Heb. xiii 10. an Altar that they which serv'd the Tabernacle have no power to eat of Take it for the Cross on which Christ offered up himself or take it for the holy Table where that great Sacrifice of his is daily commemorated in Christian Churches Habem says the Apostle such an one we have and I am sure 't is new 10. Temples we have many new the Temples of our bodies 1 Cor. vi 19. those both to offer in and offer up and 2. Churches many for that one Temple so long since buried in dust and rubbish 11. There is above these a new Spirit Ezek. xxxvi 26. not the spirit of bondage again to fear but the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Rom. viii 15. the spirit of love and not of fear the spirit of Sons and not of Servants a spirit that will cause us to walk in Gods Statutes keep his Commandments and do them Ezek. xxxvi 27. a new thing indeed that can make the Beasts of the Field to honour him as the Prophet speaks of it Isa. xliii 19. the Dragons and the Owls to do so the most sensual fierce cruel and dullest natures bow unto him that gives waters in the Wilderness and Rivers in the Desart Isa. xliii 19. 20. that blows but with his wind and these waters flow Psal. cxlvii 18. this is a new spirit that is so powerful And from this spirit it is that we 12. receive new life and vigour that we walk not under the Gospel so dully and coldly as they under the Law where the outward work to the letter serv'd the turn but according to the spirit in the inward purity of the heart as well as in the outward purity of the body To which lastly there is a new inheritance annexed a new Heaven and a new Earth which we may look for according to his promise 2 St. Pet. iii. 13. And are not these new things all good news worth our rejoycings Can we be ever old that enjoy such mercies are they not enough to revive the dying spirit nay to raise the dead one to set forth his praises who thus renews us as the Eagle renews his mercies to us every morning makes us Kings and Priests gives us easie Laws and pleasing Covenants effectual Sacrifices and saving Sacraments turns our bodies into his Temples and our hearts into Altars makes us a glorious Church and builds us Churches inspires us with a new Spirit and gives us a second life gives us a Kingdom gives us Heaven and all This is the new state under Christ since his coming ended and renewed our years unto us And therefore says our Apostle just before the Text If any man be in Christ he is a new creature all this new work is done upon him that 's the second way we are now to consider the words That in the Christian truly such all old things are past away and all things become new He is dead to sin Rom. vi 2. and he is dead to the Law Rom. vii 4. or if you will sin and the Law are both dead to him they can hold him no longer he is alive unto God Rom. vi 11. new created in righteousness and true holiness Will you have it more particular Why first then the Heathen ignorance and error that is past with them they are enlightned Heb. vi they know God and are known of him they are light in the Lord the very children of it The Heathen sins they are past with them in them they walkt once Ephes. ii 2. such they were some of them 1 Cor. vi 11. but now they are washt but now they are sanctified but now they are justified Nor are they now 2. under so slender a providence as the poor Heathen were God visits them often now and not only now and then and suffers them not to go on or fall back again into the old ways of infidelity But they are not only out of the Heathen condition but out of the Iewish too no more in bondage to the Law The sacrificing of Rams and Goats of all sensual affections is done already the unreasonable part is mortified in them they have been washt and need be wash'd no more they are oblig'd to no differences of meats no Iewish Sabbatizing no Circumcision no one particular place of Worship no legal Rites or Ceremonies Christ having abolished in his flesh the Law of Commandments says S. Paul contained in ordinances Ephes. ii 15. We are now at liberty he has made us free And we are now 3. under a new course of providence God leads us now by spiritual and eternal promises he threatens spiritual and everlasting punishments guides us by a clearer light than Prophesie the evidence of the Word and Spirit ties us not up to the Covenant of Works nor empty Ceremonies these things are past Makes us not rich that he may accept us but accepts us as we are He reckons not of us by our wealth or honour or learning or our parts we know no man so now ver 16. not Christ so now according to the flesh we value not any man now for any thing but holiness and righteousness for so much as he is in Christ. Nor does the Christian value himself now for any thing but for that of Christ which is in him riches he contemns honour he despises learning he submits all outward and externall priviledges and commendations he lays at the foot of Christ devotes them to his commands
these are all old worn tatter'd things not worth the taking up nothing now worth any thing but Christ nothing but Christ and those new things those graces are in him Thus old things are past with the true Christian but 2. all things also are become new in him He has a new heart and a new spirit he has no more a heart of stone but a heart of flesh a soft tender pliable heart a meek and well disposed spirit a loving spirit he is no more what he was the old ego he has a new understanding things look not to him as they did of old he vilifies the world and worldly things His affections new he affects not what he did before he contemns all things below He is a King and rules over his passions he is a Priest and sanctifies them with his Prayers he lives under a new Law the Law of the Spirit and not the Flesh he makes every day new Covenants with God A Member of the Church he is and the Kingdom of God is now within him He is a great adorer of the Sacraments of the Church and daily offers up himself a Sacrifice to God his Soul and Body and all he has and pours out his praises His Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost and the Altar of his Heart burns with the continual fires of Devotion and Charity He now lives no more but Christ lives in him that 's the new life he leads and it leads him into glory A new thing of which he has a glimpse and a kind of antipast here that makes him relish nothing else but cast all behind his back as old rags and dirt to press forward to the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus Phil. iii. 14. This is the new Creature the new man in whom old things are past away and all things become new And shall all things become new and not we shall all old things pass away and we remain in our old sins still every thing be cloth'd with a new lustre we only appear in our old rags still Certainly we cannot judge it reasonable Better use I hope we will make of this days Text of this New-years lesson Put off says the Apostle concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of our minds and put on that new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. iv 22 23 24. 'T is his counsel must be our practise The time past of our life may suffice us says S. Peter 1 Pet. iv 3. to have wrought the will of the Gentiles It is sufficient it is sufficient 'T is time now we unlearn our old lesson unravel our old work leave off our old course of life and begin a new to live henceford to righteousness and not to sin to God and not to men The new entred year calls for it the Text calls for it the Blood of Christ spent at his Circumcision lately past which yet this day and some days still to come commemorate cries for it that we would no longer count the blood of the new Covenant an unholy thing but betake us to it and live by it after a new fashion in newness of life I call you not to legal washings but the washings of Baptism and Repentance not to Iewish Feasts but Christian Festivals not to sacrifice Lambs and Sheep but your Souls and Bodies not to old Ceremonies but the new substance the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. Let him now begin his new reign in you let his new Commandment of Love be obeyed by you his Church purchased so dearly not be cowardly deserted by you keep his Covenant frequent his Temples adorn his Altars reverence his Priests follow the guidance of his Holy Spirit when he inspires good motions into your hearts amend your lives and become all new men in Jesus Christ. And when all these old things shall pass away and the new Heaven and Earth appear when he that sits upon the Throne Rev. xxi 5. shall make all things new then shall we be all made new again even these old decayed ruines of our bodies too and both souls and bodies clothed with the new Robes of Glory that shall never pass away but be ever new ever glorious for evermore THE SECOND SERMON ON THE Circumcision St. LUKE ii 21. His Name was called Iesus ANd to Day it was that He was called so when eight days were accomplished for his circumcising And they did well to call him so for it was the Name the Angel named him before he was conceived in the womb And he could be called by no better For Nomen super omne nomen says St. Paul of it Phil. ii 9. A name it is above every name for above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come Eph. i. 21. A Name that has all things in it that brings all good things with it that speaks more in five letters than we can do in five thousand words speaks more in it than we can speak to day and yet we intend to day to speak of nothing else nothing but Iesus nothing but Iesus The sooner then we begin the better And to begin the sooner we shall set upon it without either the Circumstances before or after in the verse or the Ceremonies either of Preamble or of Division of the words Only for Method sake and memory I shall shew you the fulness and greatness of this Name in these seven Particulars 'T is a Name of Truth and Fidelity 'T is a Name of Might and Power 'T is a Name of Majesty and Glory 'T is a Name of Grace and Mercy 'T is a Name of Sweetness and Comfort 'T is a Name of Wonder and Admiration 'T is a Name of Blessing and Adoration A faithful mighty glorious gracious comfortable admirable blessed Name it is given Him to Day to be called by but to be called by and to be called upon by us for ever that we also may be filled with the truth and power and glory and grace and sweetness and wonder and all the blessings of it This is the sum of what we have to say of this Great Name and now we go on with the Particulars A Name it is first of veracity and fidelity of faithfulness and truth This Iesus is but the old Ieshua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so much mentioned so often fortold so long expected all the Scripture thorow The Greek termination of◠only added that we might so understand that all those Types Prophesies and Promises were now terminated and at an end in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Iesus the Greeks and Gentiles taken in too to fulfill all that had been before named or spoken any way concerning him The testimony of Iesus is the very spirit of Prophesie Rev. xix
fortunate in our new Nativities or second Births or give us audience with the Almighty Alas these are but as the Star of Remphan and Moloch which only carry us into Babylon confound all the projects we build upon them The Star we are to look to is the Star of Iacob our Sol the Sun of Righteousness our Venus the Holy Spirit of love our Iupiter God the Father the great Iuvans Pater of the World These are the only Planets the Christian guides his motions by that make our business go well our time accepted our days lucky And That such a time there is in the great Affairs of souls a time of a readier acceptance with God and what it is that makes it so is now worth the considering That so it is the Scripture tells us plain The Prophet from whom our Apostle takes the words immediately before the Text and which he ushers in his own times and ours says as much Isa. xlix 8. calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tempus voluntatis a time not only when he will but when he is willing to hear us Tempus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we may render it the time of his good pleasure the Vulgar gives us it by tempore placito a time when he is pleased well pleased to hear us and be pleasant with us The same Prophet tells us too of a time not only when he may be found but when he is near ready and at hand to hear us Isa. lv 6. The Prophet David expresly Psal. lxix 13. speaks of an acceptable time to make our prayers in And To day if you will hear his voice in the Psalmist paraphrased by the Apostle to day while it is called to day shews there is a set day or days of audience with God wherein he sets himself as it were with all readiness to hear and help us an accepted time And will ye next know what it is that makes it so There are but two things that do Either Gods being in a good or pleasing disposition towards us or our being in a good and pleasing disposition towards him Come we but to him in either of these and we have nickt the time we are sure to be accepted 1. When he is looking upon him in whom he is always well pleased his beloved Son when he is propounding him to us in his Word or Sacraments scattering there as it were his gifts unto men then in those Solemnities is one sort of his accepted times wherein he is ready to do what we will desire him 2. But 2. when we our selves are in a good temper and disposition that 's another In tempore quo vos facitis voluntatem meam so the Chaldee paraphrases the Hebrew the tempus voluntatis or tempus placitum Isa. xlix 8. That time when you do what I would have you says God that 's the accepted time when I will hear you when our souls are in that order and obedience to our God that he would have them then will he be in that readiness to succour us that we would have him The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 goes for season And of seasons there are some you know more acceptable than others Two very acceptable and pleasant in the year the Spring and Summer There are the same in the souls of men A Spring when our graces and vertues begin to sprout and blossom bespread and cloth this earth we carry when the Sun of righteousness begins to smile and warm us when the air grows temperate our passions and affections moderate within us and all our powers breath nothing but Violets and Roses this as the Prophet stiles it the very time of love a disposition and time we cannot but be accepted in wherein God begins to be in love with us There is a Summer too when the hills the highest pitch and spirit of our souls stand thick with Corn and the valleys our lowest powers our inferiour passions laugh and sing when the bright raies of heaven shine hot upon us when we are hung full with all heavenly fruits when our hearts do even burn within us and the whole desires even of our flesh this dust that covers us are on fire for heaven when our hearts pant after the living brooks and our souls are a thirst for God to come unto him to appear before him This indeed is not only the time but the fulness of it when coming so replenisht with grace and righteousness we shall be fully accepted and be sure not to be sent empty away Indeed 't is sometimes an Autumn and a winter season with us A time when our leaves fall off our graces and vertues decay and wither when the fair beauty of a Summer-goodness either spent and dried away with too long a Sun-shine of prosperity or blasted by the first approach of some cold wind some touch of Winter some affliction now at hand makes the day look sad about us and melancholy too no way pleasing A time too there is when 't is high Winter with us our faith and charity grown cold and dead when the streams of our wonted Piety lie as it were chain'd up in icy fetters and the Sun of righteousness scarce appears above the Horizon to us These are times not to expect to be accepted in And such I told you were intimated here too Now is the accepted seems to say plain enough there is a time coming that will not be so that 's the third branch of our first Particular The one and twentieth year after the hundred and twentieth that God gave the Old World to repent in Gen. vi 3. was a year too late The next day after Ninivies forty given her would not have done her work Hierusalem our Saviour tells us had past her day Nunc autem abscondita the things of peace then hidden from her eyes were too sad a proof her day was set St. Luke xix 42. Nunc autem is full opposite to Nunc dies To day if you will hear his voice Heb. iii. shews if you will not you must not look for another They in the First of the Proverbs found no less they had passed their time refused Gods when he called upon them ver 24. They shall therefore call and he will not answer they shall seek him and that early too but he will not be found ver 28. he will but laugh at them for their pains ver 26. A shrewd Lesson to us not to neglect our day Indeed it is not in the power of Astrology to calculate this time nor of any humane judgment to define or point out the day when God has done accepting us but sure such a one there is or it were vain to fright us with a nunc autem with a But when there is no such matter if day after day would come and go and yet never bring on a night wherein no man could work Nay 't is requisite there should be so for were there no such time his very mercy would
among the leaves that nurses a worm to consume it when we least think of it Nay though we had coronam militum a Crown an Army of men as thick as the spires of Grass to encompass and guard either our honours wealth or pleasures yet they would all prove in a little time but as the Grass all men are nothing else Sr. Iames i. 11. but particularly the rich man so says that Apostle ver 10. the rich man as the flower of the grass he shall pass away He shall not stay for a storm to blast or blow him away even the Sun of prosperity shall do it Mole ruit suâ his own weight and greatness shall throw him down For the Sun is no sooner mark but that no sooner risen with a burning heat but it withereth the grass and the flower of it falleth and the grace of the fashions of it perisheth so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways Mark that too in his very ways his own very ways shall bring him to ruine and destruction 'T is so with the leaves of honour 't is so with the leaves of pleasure the very Sun no sooner rises upon them but it withers them the very Sun-shine and favour of the Prince ruines them the burning heat of their pleasures waste them away make their pleasures troublesome and burthensome in a little while and a while after vanish and confound them with shame and reproach leave them nothing upon their heads but ill coloured and ill seated leaves ignominy and dishonour nothing in their souls but driness and discomfort their estates too oftentimes drained dry scarce any thing but the Prodigals Husks to refresh them or dry leaves to cover them But the Christians Crown is nothing such 't is a flourishing Crown Psal. cxxxii 18. a Crown of pure Gold Psal. xxi 3. a Crown of precious Stones Zech. ix 16. a Crown of Righteousness 2 Tim. iv 8. a Crown of Life St. Iames i. 12. a Crown of Honour Psal. viii 5. a Crown of Stars Rev. xii 1. a Crown of Glory 1 Pet. v. 4. a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away in the same verse eternal everlasting A flourishing not a withering Crown a Crown of Gold not of Grass of precious Stones not of Leaves of Righteousness not unjustly gotten of Life not unto Death of Honour not to be ashamed of of Stars not Stubble of Glory not vanity that never so much as alters colour but continues fresh and flourishing and splendid to all eternity An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us says St. Peter 1. Pet. i. 4. And having now compared our Crowns and finding so vast so infinite a difference between them Can we think much to do as much for this incorruptible Crown of Glory as the other do for their vain and corruptible one Shall they that strive for petty masteries for toys and trifles for ribbands and garlands be so exact in their observances so strict in their diet so painful in their exercises so vigilant in their advantages so diligent in providing strengthning and enabling themselves for their several sports and undertakings and shall we that are to strive for no less than Heaven it self be so loose in our performances so intemperate in meat and drink so sluggish in our business so careless of advantages so negligent in all things that make towards it Are leaves worth so much and the fruit of eternal peace so little Is a little air the vain breath of a mortal man to be so sought for and is the whole Heaven it self and the whole Host and God of it the praise of God and Saints and Angels that stand looking on us to be so slighted as not worth so doing doing no more than they Where is that man Dic mihi musâ virum shew me the man that can that takes the pains for eternal glory that these vain souls do for I know not how little enough to stile it But if we compare the pains the ambitious man takes for honour the voluptuous for his pleasure the covetous man for wealth meer leaves of Tantalus his Tree that do but gull not satisfie them the late nights the early mornings the broken sleeps the unquiet slumbers the many watches the innumerable steps the troublesom journeys the short meals the strange restraints the often checks the common counterbuffs the vexatious troubles the multitude of affronts neglects refusals denials the eager pursuits the dangerous ways the costly expences the fruitless travels the tortured minds the wearied bodies the unsatisfied desires when all is done that these men suffer and run through the one for an honour that sometimes no body thinks so but he that pursues it the other for a pleasure base oftentimes and villanous the third for an estate not far from ruine nay oftentimes to ruine his house and posterity If I say we compare these mens pains and sufferings with what we do for Christ and God and Heaven and happiness true real immoveable happiness and glory Good Lord how infinitely short do we come of them shall not they rise up against us in judgment and condemn us nay shall not we our selves rise up against our selves in judgment who have done many of these things suffered many for a little profit vain-glory or vain hope which we thought much to do for eternal glory This we do we strive and labour and take pains for vanity we are temperate in all things restrain and keep in our selves for the obtaining sometimes a little credit sometimes a little affection or good opinion from some whose love or good opinion is worth nothing or if it be is as easily lost as soon removed changed from us is commonly both corrupt and corruptible without ground and to little purpose But for Gods Judgment Christs Affection the Holy Spirits good Love to us for the praise of good men of Saints and Angels the whole choire of Heaven rejoycing over us nay for Heaven it self and blessedness and glory all which we might obtain with the same pains and lesser trouble and in the same time 't is so little that we do so far from all that I may without injury stile it nothing But for Gods sake for Christs sake for our own sake let it not be so for ever let us not always prefer Glass before Diamonds Barley Conrs before Pearls pleasure or profit or honour before Heaven and Happiness and Glory There are in Heaven unspeakable pleasures whole Rivers of them there There are in Heaven infinite and eternal riches which we can neither fathom nor number there is glory and honour and immortality and eternal life There are all these Crowns made incorruptible and everlasting all running round encircling one another like Crowns encircling our souls and bodies too like Crowns without end without period If we would have any Crowns Honour or Riches or Pleasure let us there seek them where they are advanced to an
sinneth not 1 John v. 18. He is able with Simeon to break all the cords of it to smite all such Philistims before him when this Spirit comes upon him Nor Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature can overcome him Rom. viii 38. Over all these he is more than Conquerour Those things which before we were regenerate seem'd impossible when we are once born again are light and easie we can do any thing then through his Spirit that dwelleth in us Stablish us once with this free Spirit and 't is not cold or nakedness hunger or thirst wearisome journeys or dangerous shipwracks stripes or imprisonments racks or gibbets fire or faggot that can force us from our hold or over-power us This very Spirit upholds us in all our pains and at length blows away every thing that troubles or offends us Nor is this Spirit only a Spirit of Power but 2. of Liberty also and where the Spirit is there there is Liberty says St. Paul 2. Cor. 3. 17. that is he that has it is free too Free he is 1. from the bondage of Moses Law redeem'd from under that Gal. iv 5 6. Free 2. though not from the Obligations yet from the Rigours of the Moral Law Gal. iii. 13. Rom. vii 6. Free 3. from Sin made free from that Rom. vi 18. from the Dominion of it Free 4. from the Captivity of the Devil recovered out of his snares 2 Tim. ii 26. Free lastly from the Dominion of Death the sting of it is lost the victory of it gone 1 Cor. xv 55. So is every one free that is born of the Spirit Well may now his fame go out into all the World and his name into all the corners of the earth And indeed it does so in the next words in the next Point of the similitude Thou hearest the sound thereof Evident it is and evident it is to any heard it may be and any one may hear it Thou and Thou and Thou every Thou that will Evident it is first The Spirit is not a fancy nor are the Operations of it so neither The Spirit though it cannot be seen it self yet something there is of it that may be heard heard somewhat of it by the hearing of the ear the effects not always in the understanding only these very ears we carry are oft refresht with the sound of it our very senses sensible of the strength and power of it And he that tells us of grace or Religion all within of so serving God in the Spirit that neither our own nor other bodies are the better for it or shew any signs of it has turn'd his Religion and Devotion into air and imagination and not to Spirit By his fruits you shall know as well the spiritual man as the Prophet Nor has he secondly one peculiar ear-mark one tone and canting Dialect to discern him by He that is born of the Spirit is a free and noble and generous Spirit uses a Language that every body may understand 'T is not the Mystery of the Spirit but the Mystery of Iniquity that thus invelops it self in a private and affected Phrase which sounds 't is to be fear'd the Spirit of Schism Singularity and Rebellion and not of Love and Peace And yet as plain a sound as the Spirits is it is not lastly without some obscurity but that is not of the sound that 's plain and open but of the motion and course of which we may have leave to be ignorant and in many things can be no other That 's the last point wherein the Spirit and spiritual man are like Thou canst no more tell whence or whither those great things the regenerate man acts are than whence the wind or Spirit comes or whither it goes 4. But that so it is the amazements and doubts that this Day possessed those who were the witnesses of the wonders of this days work and their several judgments and conjectures concerning the Apostles this day filled with this holy Spirit will make it without question Some said What meaneth this Others said mocking these men are full of new wine All were amazed and in doubt Acts ii 12 13. The Apostles seem'd such strange things to them now since the Holy Ghost had faln upon them that they knew not new what to make of them or of any thing they did In the progress afterward of their lives and courses they were as little understood as much misconstrued by the world They were thought fools and mad-men when most wise and sober Acts xxvi 24. condemn'd for wicked when they were most innocent reckon'd the scum and off-scouring of the world 1 Cor. iv 13. when they were the Treasures and Jewels of it judg'd as dying when they only truly liv'd accounted sorrowful yet were always rejoycing esteemed poor yet so far from being so that they made many rich thought to have nothing and yet possessed all things 2 Cor. vi 9 10. So it was then so it always was so it ever will be The World will never never can conceive the nature and way of him that is born of the Spirit 1 Cor. ii 14. We know not what to make even of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text whether to read it born or begotten for 't is both and how he should be both by the same Spirit or how the same Spirit should be both Father and Mother to him we cannot tell How he is begotten by the Spirit how he is new born the ways of his brith the ways of his life the way of his death how he is wrought and form'd and moulded out of his old stiff stubborn temper into mildness and softness how the old man is mortified in all his members how the new man rises and grows in all his parts how he resists so many strong temptations how he can so chearfully renounce the World how he can so wholly deny himself how he can so merrily pursue a troublesome and despised vertue why he should do all this when there appears nothing but trouble sorrow and disadvantage by it are all mysteries so obscure and dark that night it self is mid-day to them Nor is it less to see with what calmness and contentedness he passes hence through pains and tortures nor can we conceive the glory and happiness that attends him Thus is the spiritual Heroe's life and death a mystery so far above the apprehension of dull-ey'd earth that it knows no more of its course or motion than it does of the winds neither what it is nor whence it comes nor whither it goes But after all these mysteries I end in plainness 'T is a Day indeed as well as a Text of mysteries and wonders but both Day and Text and Wind and Spirit will be all satisfied if they can leave these plain Lestons upon our Spirits That 1. we now get us up with Elijâ—h 1 King xix
sinister end or ground that therefore it may not only be the truth of the Spirit but have the very Spirit of truth with it that it may be evident it not only comes from him but that he also is come with it it must be sincerely and intimately embraced with our very hearts and spirits out of love to truth not any interest or by-respect and well habituated and actuated in us before we can say directly that the Spirit of truth is come Some truth or other may be come some ray and beam of his light be sent before him but himself not yet fully come for all truth comes along with him though not actually altogether yet a hearty resolute affection to all of it all truth altogether as God shall let it come I have been somwhat long in this particular about the Spirits coming because I see the World so much mistaken in it so often crying Lo here he is lo there he is lo here he comes lo there he comes when indeed he is nor here nor there with neither of them nor coming to them A word now of the manner of his coming 4. And that is 1. Invisibly for so comes a Spirit This is the coming we hold by and had he not come when he came as well invisibly into the hearts as visibly upon the heads of the Disciples their Tongues though all the tongues of men and Angels would have profited them nothing the fire then had it not enflamed their hearts and affections with a holy flame as well as encompassed their heads would have only lighted them with more glory into eternal fires Had not this wind blown as well within as that did without them it would have blow'd them little good Tongues and Prophesie Interpretations Miracles and the rest are but dona gratis data gifts more for others good than for our own they do not make us better in his sight 't is the invisible grace that makes us accepted Nay yet those very gifts and administrations however the appearance was without were wrought within by his invisible operation So that to the Apostles as much as to our selves his invisible coming is the only truly comfortable coming That 2. is Effectual too To come truly is to come effectually and in that he is called the Spirit of truth 't is plain he must effect what it is he comes for or 't is not true and real It was a mighty rushing wind he this day came in so mighty so effectual that it at once converted three thousand souls the Spirit of power is one of his names and the pulling down of strong holds casting down every thing that exalts it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ is one of his works 2 Cor. x. 4 5. 3. He comes gently that 's the common pace of one that is only said to come Gently step by step grace after grace gift after gift truth after truth leads by steps comes by degrees not all grace at a clap all gifts in a trice Nay as hastily as it seem'd to come this day St. Peter the chief of them was a while after at a loss for a truth had not it seems all truths together Of a truth now I perceive that God is no respecter of persons Acts x. 34. before it seems he perceived it not no more did the other Apostles neither who were all in the same error and convented him about this new truth and contended with him about it Acts xi 2. 4. Nay softly too as dew into a fleece of Wooll without noise without clamour no way like the Spirits now adays I will put my Spirit upon him and he shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets Isa. xlii 1 2. He is the Spirit of meekness who is the Spirit of truth and truth is never taught so soon so effectually as by softness and meekness the meek the best to teach the best to be taught 5. Yet as gently and softly as he comes he is often upon us on a sudden ere we are aware God uses to prevent us with the blessings of goodness as the Psalmist speaks Psal. xxi 3. He is come sometimes before we think of it Our hearts are in his hand and he suddenly turns them whither he will Saul does but turn him about from Samuel and God gives him presently another heart 1 Sam. x. 9. Samuel no sooner anoints David but from thence-forward the Spirit came upon him 1 Sam. xvi 13. And this note is made not that you should always look for miraculous changes and expect the Spirit without so much as setting your selves to seek him but to make you watch continually and wait for him that though he come suddenly he may not find you unprepared the doors shut upon him that he may not go as he comes for want of entertainment Yet the Phrase will bear another expression of the manner of his coming When he is come that is when he is grounded and well setled in us the Tense is the Aorist a Preterperfect signification signifies not coming but perfectly come This is not actually always to every one he comes to yet his intent it is in all his coming to stay and abide with us and so he does till we drive him thence But if we do not if we let him stay and dwell and remove him not then will he guide us into all truth that 's the End and Intention of his coming the next Point But I am beyond my intent and time already I shall only sum up this last particular of the manner of his coming and let you go You will peradventure understand it best by considering how the Spirit mov'd in the Creation the order the same in creating the new man in the soul that he there observed in creating of the World Now in the first Creation of the World He first moved upon the waters then created light and divided it from darkness he next divides the Waters and places a Firmament between them then 3. gathers the Waters together and makes dry land appear and bring forth grass and herbs and trees bearing seed then 4. makes two glorious Lights to rule the day and night and times and years then 5. creates fowl and fish and beasts and lastly makes man after his own Image Thus does he in this new Creation or Regeneration He first moves and stirs us up to good then darts in some glimmerings of light to shew us our own darkness sins and wretchedness Then next 2. divides the passions and powers of the soul and sets them their bounds employs some in things above whilst some other are left beneath Then 3. presently makes the dry and barren soul sprout out bring herbs and leaves and seeds into green flourishing desires holy resolutions and endeavours which carry with them seed much hope of encrease 4. To cherish these green and tender sprouts to direct
may be perfect thorowly furnished unto all good works 2 Tim. iii. 16 17. Inspir'd purposely by this Spirit to be a way to guide us into all truth and goodness But this may all pretend to and every one turns it how he lists We must adde a second And the second is the Church for we must know this says St. Peter know it first too 2 Pet. i. 20. That no Scripture is of any private interpretation There are some things so hard to be understood both in St. Pauls Epistles and also other Scriptures says he that they that are unlearned and unstable wrest them unto their own destruction 2 Tim. iii. 16. and therefore presently his advice follows to beware least we be led away with that error the error as he calls it of the wicked and so fall from our own stedfastness ver 17. When men unlearned or ungrounded presume to be interpreters or even learned men to prefer their private senses before the received ones of the Church 't is never like to produce better The pillar and ground upon which truth stands and stays is the Church if St. Paul may be allowed the judge 1 Tim. iii. 16. The pillar and ground of truth In matters of discipline when a brother has done disorderly tell it to the Church says Christ St. Mat. 18. 17. and if he neglect to hear that let him be unto thee as a heathen man and as a Publican He is no Christian. In matters 2. of doubt and controversie send to the Church to Hierusalem to the Apostles and Elders there conven'd in Counsel and let them determine it so we find it done Acts xv 2 28. In a lawful and full assembly of the learned Fathers of the Church such shall be determined that 's the was to settle truth In matters 3. of Rites and Ceremonies the Spirit guides us also by the Church If any man seem to be contentious about them St. Pauls appeal is presently to the Churches Customs We have no such custom neither the Churches of God that 's answer enough full and sufficient thinks the Apostle 1 Cor. xi 16. If the Churches custom be for us then 't is good and true we think or speak or do If against us 't is all naught and wrong whatever purity or piety be pretended in it Nay so careful was the Apostle to preserve the publick Authority of the Church and beat down all private ways and fancies by which ways only Schism and Heresie creep in that he tells Timothy though a Bishop and one well read and exercised in the Scriptures from a child 2 Tim. iii. 14. of a form of sound words he would have even him hold fast to 2 Tim. i. 13. and the Romans he tells of a form of Doctrine to be obeyed Rom. 6. 17. so far was that great and eloquent Apostle from being against forms any forms of the Church though he could have prayed and preached ex tempore with the best had tongues and eloquence and the gift of interpretation to do it too so far from leaving truth to any private interpretation or sudden motion whatsoever Nor is this appeal to the Fathers any whit strange or in Christian Religion only first to be heard of it was Gods direction from the first For ask now says Moses of the days that are past that were before thee Deut. iv 32. Stand you in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way says God Ier. vi 16. As if he had said Look about and see and examine all the ways you can yet the old way that 's the good one For enquire I pray thee of the former Age and prepare thy self to the search of their Fathers for we are but of yesterday and know nothing Iob viii 8. See how slightly things of yesterday new interpretations new devices new guides are accounted of And indeed in it self 't is most ridiculous to think the custom and practice and order and interpretation of all times and Churches should be false and those of yesterday only true unless we can think the Spirit of truth has been fifteen or sixteen hundred years asleep and never wak'd till now of late or can imagine that Christ should found a Church and promise to be with it to the end of the World and then leave it presently to Antichrist to be guided by him for above fifteen hundred years together Nor can I see why the Spirit of truth should now of late only begin to move and stir except I should think he were awak'd or delighted with noise and fury Nor is it reasonable to conceive a few private Spirits neither holier nor wiser than others for ought appears nor arm'd with Miracles to confirm their Doctrines should be more guided by the Spirit of truth than the whole Church and succession of Christians and Christian Fathers especially wherein at any time they agree Yet 3. not always to go so high Thou leadest thy people like sheep says the Psalmist by the hand of Moses and Aaron Psal. lxxvii 20. Moses and Aaron were the Governours of the Church the one a Priest the other a Prophet by such God leads his People by their lawful Pastours and Teachers The one the Civil Governour is the cloud to cover them from the heat The other the Spiritual is the light to lead them in the way The first protects the other guides us and we are bid to obey them those especially that watch for our souls Heb. xiii 17. Such as labour in the Word and Doctrine 1 Tim. v. 17. By such as God sets over us in the Church to teach and guide us into truth we must be guided if we will come into it In things unlawful nor one nor other is to be obeyed In things indifferent they always are In things doubtful 't is our safest course to have recourse to them provided that they be not of Corahs company that they exalt not themselves against Moses and Aaron nor draw us to it If they do we may say to them as Moses did to those Ye take too much upon you you Sons of Levi. God leads his People like a flock in peace and unity and by the hands of Moses and Aaron Thus 3. the Spirit guides into all truth because the Spirit is God and God so guides You have heard the way and means the first part of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Spirits guiding The Second follows his act and motion 1. He leads or guides us only he does not drive us that 's not the way to plant truth by force and violence fire and fagots not the Spirits sure which is the Spirit of love 2. Yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is we told you in it Some Act of the Spirit He moves and stirs up to it enlightens our understandings actuates our wills disposes ways and times occasions and opportunities to it that 's the reason we hear the truth more willingly at some time than other Paul
too yet in measure and order too no other then the Spirit gives them utterance 4. And lastly though first it be in the Text yet because it is but the circumstance and time of the story and not the main business or second of it and fittest to close up all in good time and order The Time when all this was done when these things came to pass when the Apostles were so dispos'd when the Holy Ghost thus descended when this strange issue fell out When the day of Pentecost was fully come in very good time the promis'd time Christs time Gods own time such as he had prefigur'd them in in the Law too at the fifty days Feast after the Passover a solemn day and somewhat more as you shall hear anon Thus we best join the History and the Moral the Doctrine and Use of Pentecost or Whitsunday nay the very Holy Spirit of the day and our souls to day together that we may not be like men that only come to hear news a story and away but such as hear the Word and profit by it Which that we may Come O mighty wind and blow upon us Descend O holy Fire and warm our hearts give me a tongue O blessed Spirit out of this days number and utterance give thy servants capacious spirits and remembrance that thy Word may rush in upon them as a sound from Heaven and fill the houses of all our souls with joy and gladness with holy fire of Piety and Devotion that we may with one accord one heart and mind speak forth thy praise and glory The first Point in the order I have set you is the disposition of them that the Holy Spirit will come and light upon 1. They are of one accord 2. in one place 3. sitting quietly and expecting there and that 4. also upon the solemn day when the day of Pentecost any solemn day or occasion is presented them They are first of one accord whom this Spirit vouchsafes to descend into This unity draws the Spirit to them that keeps it with them the house of unity is the only Temple of the Spirit of Unity That soul which breaks the bond of unity and divides it self from the Church of Christ from the company of the Apostles and their Successors the still Fathers of it cannot hold this holy wind cannot enclose this holy fire they are broken and crackt crack only of the Spirit but are really broken from that body in which only the Spirit moves Take and divide a member from the body be it the principal that in which most spirit was the heart or the head and once divided the Spirit vanishes from it will not sit nor dwell in it just so is it it in Christs Body the Church If one of the chiefest members of it one erst while of the devoutest and most religious in it once grow so proud of his own wisdom or gifts so singular in his conceits as to separate himself from his fellows from that body whereof Christ is the head he goes away like a member from the natural body and leaves the Spirit behind him that retires from him for it is one Spirit and cannot be divided from the body though it work diversly in it If this being of one accord of one mind be the temper for the receipt of the Holy Spirit as here you see it is and in reason it can be no otherwise it being the Spirit of love and unity What spirit are they of Whose Religion is Faction whose chief pretended Piety is Schism whose business is to differ from all the World Nothing can be more evident than that men are now adays much at a loss for the Spirit however every one claim to it seeing there is no accord but discord not diversities only but contrarieties but contradictions amongst them that most pretend the Spirit Indeed were this they any less a They than the Apostles themselves and the whole number of the then Disciples or had there been but the least division among them either about the manner of staying or expecting Christs Promise or which is less about the place to stay in It may be these men might have had a shadow for their separations but Apostles they were and in one place they were too altogether agreed in all were all in unity were all in uniformity not their minds only but their bodies too together Men thought it nothing a while since to withdraw themselves from the Houses of God as if no matter at all for the place they could for all that be of the same faith but too woful experience has prov'd it now that with the one place the one faith is vanisht with the ceremony the substance gone too with the uniformity of Worship the unanimity of our minds and the uniformity of our faith too blown into the air How shall we do O blessed Spirit in so many crackt vessels to retain thee Needs must the Spirit expire out of that body which has so many breaches and divisions in it so many divided houses so many broken Churches so many rotten Congregations I know if it be only necessity divides us and drives us into several dens and caves as it did the Primitive Christians in the days of those fiery persecutions that the Holy Spirit will ransack all the cranies and search out all the privatest corners be they above ground or under it but it is because the mind of all those several places is but one and in that respect they are no more than so many several cells of the one Catholick Church but where choice and not necessity wilfulness and not force singularity and not purity of Truth or Conscience makes the division and draws Disciples into Chambers Parlors Barns or Mills Woods or Desarts go not says Christ out after them say they what they will of Christ or Spirit there believe it not St. Matth. xxix 26. Two in a field and yet one taken and the other left two at the mill and one taken and the other left ver 40. So at the most I fear great hazard that any if they be no better no more orderly gather'd when the Master comes Or were they yet perhaps in several places sitting as they are here that is quietly and in true peace and faith expecting the promise of their Lord something might be said to excuse their separations but not only actually to break the unity of the Spirit and the bond of Peace but to breath out nothing but war contention and dispute to be so far from sitting down and either suffering for Christ or humbly expecting his time of assistance and deliverance out of their perplexities and discomforts as to take the matter into their own hands and prevent the coming of the Spirit of Peace by rising and raising spirits of war and confusion they must give me leave to tell them they know not what spirit they are of a heady guiddy furious spirit zeal I bear them witness with St. Paul
Houses and Buildings nay rends the Mountains and breaks in pieces the Rocks before it 1 Kings xix 11. But never did Wind so tear up Foundations by the roots never did so strong Buildings fall before that tumultuous vapour as this rushing mighty Wind that this day came down from Heaven hath cast down before it All the high things of the earth Wisdom and Learning and Might and Majesty have faln as easily as so many Paper Turrets at its breath all have given up themselves and thrown all prostrate at the Word of this Spirit so that the whole World stood wondring and amaz'd to see it self so turn'd about by the meer words of a few simple Fishermen without force or eloquence or craft to see it self so tamely submit its glory to the humility of Christ its greatness to his littleness its majesty to his baseness its wisdom to the foolishness of his Cross its ease pleasure to the pains and patience of it But manus excelsi fecit hoc 't is the hand of the most Highest that has done it such a wind could come from none but God such a Spirit can be none but his none but he could do it and it is marvellous in our eyes his power as marvellous as his mercy both of them above any created ones whatsoever Well may such a Wind as this now fill the house as it follows in the fifth Consideration And yet commonly the wind fills the open air and not the houses Common winds do so indeed but this peculiar Wind fills the house and every corner comes in even when the doors are shut or else opens and shuts them as it pleases a sign 't is more than air or airy spirit 't is he only that searches the hearts and reins that can glide so into these close rooms of ours and 't is our happiness it is so that he thus blows into the house of his own accord and power For give me a Ship says St. Chrysostom with all its tackling sails and anchors spread all in order too and let the wind lie still let there be no gale stirring and all its furniture and men are nothing no more is the soul with all its preparations without the blowing of the Spirit nay no more is all our eloquence all our arguments and perswasions the subtilty of our understanding the richness of our conceipt and notion the sweetness of the voice the rhetorick of words the strength of reason the whole tackling and furniture of the Orator or Preacher unless the Spirit come and fill the sail and stretch the canvas and so drive on the Vessel 'T is this implevit we must hold by 't is his filling our empty house our lank and lither sails that blows comfort to us And 't is the enhancing of the benefit which is the last considerable in this similitude of the wind that it fills the house only where they are sitting It is no ordinary or common favour that God vouchsafes in filling our houses with the Spirit he hath not dealt so with any other Nation with any other people than the Christian people It is the Church only and the souls of Christians in it that this mighty wind as rushing and mighty as it is does content and contain it self in All other houses and places stand empty cannot get this Tenant 'T is the property of this Wind and no other to blow where it lists in this house and no other within doors all within the Church none without at all or the sound of it only passes out to call others in that they may see and wonder at the things that are come to pass this day that Iews and Proselytes Cretes and Arabians Parthians and Medes and all Nations under Heaven may beaâ— witness of the wonder and if they come in in some sort partake of it too of the wind though not of the tongues of some graces of the Spirit though not of the other Only come in they must into the Church of Christ which is his body before their veins be filled with this Spirit before they feel any motion of it Of the Wind I say such a portion of the Spirit as may breath into them the breath of life but tongues of fire are for those only who were sitting there before fitting as Governors of the Church to whom that baptism of fire was promised who were bid to tarry and expect it and when so enabled to go abroad then and use their tongues and blow the flames of divine love and charity through the World I should now proceed to these miraculous tongues the second representment of the Holy Spirit And me thinks I am unwilling to leave them unspoken of to which we ow our speech But your ears are already filled with the wind yet I hope 't is the proper wind of the day and the sound of it shall not vanish as the wind as ordinary winds and sounds nor my words as the soft air So much the rather in that this Point of the wind comes more home to us than that other of the tongues Tongues were for them that believe not says the Apostle but the Wind the rushing mighty Wind from Heaven to cast down all the strong holds of Sin and Satan for them that believe even for us all The fiery tongues concern the Apostles as a miraculous enabling of them to the work of the Apostleship to the preaching and divulging the Gospel of Christ but the breath and blowing of the Spirit concerns all Christians whatsoever under every notion To that our proper tenure is from this Wind nay so much the more because it is the breath of the Spirit not the tongue that makes us Christian the wind like that in Ezekiel quickens our dead bones into the life of Christ and by it we live to our own Salvation by the tongues only to anothers So having gotten our share already in this Wind from Heaven we may the easier bear the deferring of the discourse of the tongues thence And truly if we can now get the Spirit to blow upon these dead elements and quicken them to us into the body and blood of Christ we shall quickly by the vertue of that blood of the Vine speak with new tongues the Spirit will give utterance and we shall sing the praises of the Lord. That should be indeed the whole business of our tongues to day to be as loud as the loudest wind in our Thanksgivings O ye winds of God bless ye the Lord say the three Children in the fire O ye Children of the Lord bless ye the Lord in the Wind say I in this mighty rushing Wind acknowledge his goodness admire his power confess his praise who thus blows the sparks of grace up in us who clenses our souls from all impure airs and vapours who scatters the clouds of sorrow shews us the fairest face of Heaven who cools and refreshes and revives and purges us and wafts us to our heavenly Countrey by this holy