nature Now any Symptom or Branch of pride or vain-glory is less deadly then the Root of Pride vain-glory or pharisaical hypocrisie Far be it from any of us to think that the like sin committed by a man regenerate doth not deserve worse at Gods hands then if it had been committed by an unregenerate or meer natural man because he thinks himself to be of the number of the Elect For if this sin or transgression be for Substance the same the Circumstances make it a great deal worse in a regenerate then in a meer natural man That saying of the heathen Satyrist or Censurer of ill manners holds as true in Divinitie as in Morality Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se Crimen habet quanto major qui peccat habetur The crime or fault is so much the greater by how much the partie offending is in his own esteem or others better qualified 12. From what Original is it then that the righteous Judge doth oft-times lesse punish the sins of men which have lived a godly life then he doth the like sins in men not as yet regenerate or in men that have been altogether barren of good works The true Resolution of this Probleme or Question must be taken from that general rule or Maxime That God will render to every man according to all his wayes either in Justice or in mercy Now albeit God alwayes punish the ungodly in this life Citra condignum in lesse measure then they deserve because his mercy and long suffering inhibits the execution of his punitive justice yet he alwayes rewards the good works which we do Ultra condignum far above their deservings for albeit the best works which we can do deserve no reward at all yet his infinite goodness will not suffer the least good works which we do to go without his Reward Rewarded we shall be either with some Positive Blessing or with the Mitigation of some punishment which our evil works had justly deserved From this Original it is that albeit the bad works of men regenerate or endowed with grace do weigh heavier in the scale of Gods Justice then the like works of men unregenerate do yet they do not sway so much because whiles he weighes the bad works of men regenerate in the scale of his justice he weighes the good works which they have formerly done in the scale of his mercy and bounty But as for such as have lived a lewd and godless life and have made themselves unworthy of his mercy their grosser sins are weighed in the scale of his Justice without a Counterpoize and therefore do sway the further and nearer towards hell albeit for their nature and quality they be not more heynous then some offences of the regenerate So that God is no Accepter of persons albeit in this life he punisheth the same sin more grievously in one then in another for this he doth not with any respect unto their persons but with respect unto his own mercy whereof the one sort are Capable the other are altogether unworthy And this was the true meaning of our Apostle and the ground of his Hope or good perswasion of these Hebrews Chap. 6. ver 9 10. But we are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation For God is not unrighteous to forget your works and labour of love which ye have shewed towards his name in that ye have Ministred to the Saints and do Minister CHAP. XXIX ROMANS 6. 23. But the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Three Points 1. Eternal Life the most Free Gift of God both in Respect of The Donor and of The Donee 2. Yet doth not the Soveraign Freeness of the Gift exclude all Qualifications in the Donees rather requires better in them then others which exclude it or themselves from it Whether the Kingdom of Heaven was prepared for all or for a certain number 3. The first Qualification for Grace is to become as little children A parallel of the conditions of Infants and of Christians truely humble and meek 1. THe Points remaining to be handled are Three The First is in part touched before That Eternal Life is nor only The gift of God or as the Vulgar renders the Original Gratia Dei but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The gift of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as if you would say The Gift of Gifts the greatest Gift and the Freest Gift that God hath to bestow on mankind for in or through Christ Jesus our Lord. The second that The Absolute Freedom or graciousness of this Gift doth not exclude all Qualifications of works or inclinations to good works but only confidence in works The third is The Qualification required in all such as hope to receive this Gift or The manner how they are to work out their own salvation that they may be capable or at least not Totally uncapable of this free gift To the first That Eternal Life is the Gift of Gifts or the most free or Gracious Gift that God hath to bestow on man may be easily proved from the Conditions required in a Free Gift And These are Two The first respects the estate or condition of the Donor as that he be not tied by any necessitie either natural moral or politick to bestow his benevolence The second condition respects the Donee And it is Absentia if not Carentia meriti Being without if not a want of desert or merit In both respects Life Eternal is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The most excellent and most undeserved Gift that can be given That it is freely given without any constraint or Tie of necessity is clear For no operations of the most Holy and Blessed Trinitie besides the Eternal Generation of the Son of God and the Eternal Procession of the Holy Ghost have any Natural necessitie in them These be operations of the Divine nature all extraneous things are works of Gods divine will and pleasure God who worketh all things worketh all things else according to the Counsel of his Will that is he so worketh them he so preserveth and ordereth them as it was free for him from eternity not to make them not to preserve them not so to order them as he doth He was when the world was not and might so have continued And this clearly evinceth that there was no Natural necessitie why he should create the world or any thing in it for so the world should have been as he is eternal without beginning Nor was there any Moral necessity that he should create the world or man or Angel for none could have impeached him of injustice or unkindness or of other transgression of any Law or Rule if he had never given them such Being as they have Nor was there any Politick necessitie that he should create the world or man or Angel in whose creation he had no respect to any private end he gained nothing by their Being the best
by the Right hand of God only the Power of God be literally meant as many other Protestant Writers take as granted or leave unquestioned then Christ cannot be said to come from the Right hand of God for it is impossible that Christ should come or that there should be any true motion from that which is every where Neither can it be said nor may it so much as be imagined that Christ should depart from the Power of God which wheresoever he be as man doth accompany and guard him But if by the Right hand of God at which Christ sitteth be literally meant A visible and glorious Throne then Christ may be said as truly and locally to come from thence as from heaven to Iudge the Quick and the dead At least His Throne may remove with him Now that by the Right hand of God at which Christ sitteth A Visible or local Throne is meant I will at this time add only one Testimony unto the rest heretofore avouched in the handling of that Article which is more literally concludent then all the rest and it is Heb. 12. 2. He endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Not at the right hand of his own Throne but at the right hand of the Throne of God the Father 2. For perfecting this Map or Survey of Christs coming to Judgment already begun would it not be as pertinent to know The Place unto which he shall come as the Place whence he comes By the Rules of Art or method this last Question would be more pertinent then the former But seeing the Scriptures are not in this Point so express and punctual as in the former we may not so peremptorily determine it or so curiously search into it This is certain That Christ after his descending from heaven shall have his Throne or Seat of Judgment placed between the heaven and the earth in the air over-shadowed with clouds But over what part of the earth his throne shall be thus placed is uncertain or conjectural at the most but probable Many notwithstanding as well Antient as Modern are of Opinion That the Throne or Seat of Iudgment shall be placed over the Mount of Olives from which Christ did ascend and This for ought we have to say against it may be A Third Branch of the fore-mentioned similitude betwixt the manner of Christs ascending up into heaven and of his Coming to Judgment that is As he was received in a cloud into heaven over Mount Olivet so he shall descend in the clouds of heaven to Judge the world in the same place But the Testimony of Scripture which gives the best Ground of probability and a Tincture at least of moral certainty to the former opinion or conjecture is that of Zach. cap. 14. ver 3 4. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those Nations to wit all those Nations which have been gathered in battel against Ierusalem and these in the verse precedent were all Nations as when he fought in the day of battel And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the East and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the East and toward the West and there shall be a very great Valley and half of the Mountain shall remove toward the North and half of it toward the South c. This place albeit perhaps in part it were verified in the destruction of Ierusalem yet may it be also literally meant of the Last General Judgment in which the rest of the prophecie following shall punctually and exactly be fulfilled 3. But to leave these Circumstances of Place from which and unto which Christ shall come and utterly to omit the Circumstance of Time which is more uncertain The most useful branch of the Third General Point proposed is to know or apprehend the Terrible manner of his Coming Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord saith our Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 11. we perswade men His Speech is very Emphatical and Significant an Aphorism of Life unto whose Truth every experienced Physician of the soul will easily subscribe For but a few men there be especially in these later times and these must be more then Men in some good measure Christian Men whom we can hope to perswade unto Godliness by the Love of God in Christ our Lord Albeit we should spend our brains in drawing the picture or proportion of the Love exhibited in Christ or give lustre or colour to the proportion drawn by the Evangelists with our own blood But by the Terror of the Lord or by decyphering of that last and dreadful day we shall perhaps perswade some men to become Christians as well in heart as in profession by taking Christ's Death and their own Lives into serious consideration Now of Terror or dread there be Two Corporeal Senses more apprehensive then the rest which are apt rather to suffer or feel then to Dread the evils which befal them The Two In-lets by which Dread or terror enters into the soul of man are the Eye and the Ear. All the Terrors of that last day may be reduced to these Two Heads To the strange and unusual Sights which shall then be seen and unto the strange and unusual Sounds or Voices which shall then be heard If we would search the Sacred Records from the Fall of our first Parents until our restauration was accomplished by Christ or until the Sacred Canon was compleat The notifications or apprehensions of Gods extraordinary presence whether they were made by voice or spectacle unusual have been fearful and terrible to flesh and blood though much better acquainted with Gods Presence then we are When our first Parents heard but the Voice of the Lord God walk in the garden in the cool of the day they hid themselves from his presence amongst the trees of the Garden Gen. 3. 8 10. When Gideon Judg. 6. 22. perceived that he which had spoken unto him albeit he had spoken nothing but words of comfort and encouragement was the Angel of the Lord Gideon said Alas O Lord God because I have seen an Angel of the Lord face to face The issue of his fear was Death which happily he conceived from Gods word to Moses Exod. 33. 20. Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live But to assure Gideon that he was not compriz'd under that universal sentence of Death denounced by God himself to all that shall see him face to face the Lord saith unto him ver 23 24. Peace be unto thee fear not thou shalt not die and Gideon for further ratification of this Priviledge or dispensation built an altar unto the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom that is the Lord send peace or the Lord will be a Lord of peace unto his servants Yet could not this assurance made by the Lord himself unto
in men of years and discretion Though with some abatement or allowance it holds in such as are converted to Christ upon their death beds These must apprehend Gods mercies in Christ resolve to do Good Works and leave testimonie of sorrow for their past negligence in doing Good Works For in such as are endued with knowledge of Christ and are enlightned to see their miserable estate by nature the self same Faith which apprehends Gods mercies in Christ cannot be idle it will be working that which is Good and acceptable in the sight of God In vain it it shall be for them to sue for mercie at Gods hands through the Merits of Christ unless for love to Christ whose Merits for them and Goodness towards them Faith apprehends they be ready to do the works which he hath commended unto them For as you heard before not every one that saith unto him Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven and his Fathers Will is that we do those things which he here commands But another special Branch of the same Will is That when we have done all this we faithfully acknowledge our selves to be unprofitable servants This our Plea for mercie as men altogether unworthy for our best Works sake to be partaker of Gods Goodness or of everlasting bliss is that justification which St. Paul so much insists upon in most of his Epistles and unto This Justification that is to our good success in making this Plea Good works are necessary and usually Precedent or as it is usually taught by Good writers Good works are necessary quoad presentiam to justification non quoad efficientiam Their presence is necessarie to Justification their Efficacy or efficiencie is not necessary for as you have heard before and shall afterwards Chap. 31. hear meritorious efficiencie they have none 7. But let us ever remember as I often put the Reader in mind when it is said VVe must renounce all our works in the Plea of Iustification or suite of Pardon for our sins This must be understood Of those good Works which we have done not of those which we have left undone For these are not ours These the Hypocrites and unbeleevers will be ready to renonnce He alone truly renounceth his Works that doth Good Works and yet when he hath done them puts no trust or confidence in them and seeks not to improve them so far as to make them meritorious but wholly relies upon Gods mercies in Christ appealing from the Law unto the Gospel Nor is it every sort of Relyance upon Gods mercies in Christ but A faithful and stedfast relyance that can avail and no man can faithfully rely upon Christs merits but he that is faithful in doing his Fathers VVill. 8. But is this Necessitie of good Works to be equally extended to all sorts of Good works So saith Saint James Chap. 2. 10 11. VVhosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guiltie of all for he that said do not commit adulterie said also do not kill Now if thou commit no adulterie yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the Law His meaning is That albeit we are diligent in many points of Gods service yet if we wittingly dispense with our souls in other parts of it this is an Argument that we Truly and faithfully observe no part For if we did observe Any part of his Commandments out of Faith or sincere obedience to Gods Will we would observe as much as in us lies every branch of his Will revealed For as true Faith will not admit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Respects of Persons which was the fault in the beginning of that Chapter taxed by St. Iames and gave occasion to the Maxim or principle in the words last cited so doth it exclude all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Partialitie to Gods Commandments or branches of His Will revealed If we love and prize one we must love and value all We may not love and respect One and neglect another This is the true intent and meaning of the Apostle which some to the wounding of their brethrens weak consciences have extended too far who say expresly or at least are so defective in expressing themselves as they occasion others to think That if a man either positively or more grievously transgress in breach of Gods Negative Precepts or often fail in performance of some Positive Duties commanded by him it is all one as if he had transgressed all Gods Commandments This is more then can be gathered from St. James in this place or from any other part of Gods word which only condemnes Partialitie to Gods Commandments Now a man may trespass oftner and more grievously against some one or more of Gods commandments whether Negative or Affirmative then he doth against others and yet do all this not out of any passionate affected Partialitie towards Gods Commandments or for want of uniformitie in his Faith or Affections towards Christ but only out of the Inequalitie of his own natural or acquired inclinations to some peculiar sins or vices in respect of others Some men as well before Regeneration or knowledge of Christ as after may be naturally or out of custome more prone to wantonness then unto covetousness Others again by natural disposition or bad custome may be more prone to covetousness to ambition or unadvised anger then unto wantonness Others again by bad education may be more prone to rash oathes or causless swearing then to any the former vices One sort after their regeneration or after they come to make Conscience of their wayes may offend more often and more grievously against the third Commandment then against the sixth or seventh Another sort may offend more grievously against the sixth Commandment Thou shalt not kill then against the seventh Thou shalt not commit adulterie A third sort such as are by natural disposition or custom given to wantonness may offend more grievously against the seventh Commandment then against the sixth A fourth sort more pecularly prone to covetousness or ambition may offend more grievously and more often against the last Commandment Thou shalt not covet then against any of the former And yet none of them fall under that censure of Saint James Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guiltie of all For they may all respectively offend in some one part or few points not out of any Partialitie to Gods Law or Commandments but out of the Inequalitie of their particular or peculiar dispositions to observe them Their desires or endeavours to observe those duties which they more neglect may perhaps be Greater then their desires or endeavours to observe those wherein they are less defective However this may fall out Yet this Rule is certain that Whosoever truly observes any or more of Gods Commandments out of Faith and sincere obedience to his
Master good Service in so just a quarrel would first begin to try his Valour in the Reformation of his own life in expelling all dissolute and inveterate lusts all immoderate and unruly desires out of his own heart So shall the words of his mouth and the Meditations of his heart be alwaies acceptable in the sight of the Lord his only strength and his Redeemer In whose strength and valor alone we must assault and vanquish our malicious Adversaries And unless Reformation do certainly judgement will begin at the Houses of God at those living Temples of his which have the platformes of true Religion in them but are not edified in good works Let not the Eunuch say I am a dry tree Nor let the meanest amongst us either in Learning Wit or outward Estate think that he can do nothing in this case For if we have but true faith we all know That it is not the resolute Soldiers arm nor these verest Magistrates sword nor the cunningest Politicians head nor the Potent Custom of Law that sets or keeps Kings Crownes upon their Heads but the lifting up of pure hearts and holding up clean hands to him that giveth wisdome to the Wise and strength to the Strong to him which hath the Soldiers arme the Magistrates sword the Politicians Wisdom all Power all Fulness at his disposal Wherefore Beloved in our Lord If either love to God or love to Prince if either love to that Religion which we professe or love unto those pleasant places which we inhabit or the good things belonging to them which we possesse If love to any or all of these can move our hearts as whose heart is there but is moved to some of these Oh let them move them in time unto repentance that we may enjoy these blessings the longer Let us draw neer unto our God and he will draw near to us Let us cleanse our minds and lift up pure hands and hearts unto the Lord for only such can lay fast hold upon his mercie lest our continuance in our own dayly transgressions added to the heavy weight of our predecessors sinnes pull downe Gods sudden judgements upon this Land Prince and People 13. And as for such O Lord as set their faces against heaven and against thee to work wickedness in thy sight and hold on still to fill up the full measure of their forefathers sins and cause the over-flowing vengeance of thy wrath Lord let them all perish suddenly from the earth and let their posterity vanish hence like smoke ere for their provocations wherewith they provoke thee daily the breath of our nostrils thine annointed Servant be taken in those nets which the uncircumcised daily spread for him And let us Beloved whom he loves so dearly seek to fill this Land with the good example of our lives and incense of our hearty prayers That under his shadow and the shadow of his Royal Off-spring we of this place with this Land and People may be preserved alive from all strange or domestick tyrannie Amen CHAP. XLV MATTH 23. verse 37. O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent to thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not 1. THe Summe of my last Meditations upon the former verses was That notwithstanding our Saviours Prediction or threatning of all those plagues shortly to befal Jerusalem there was even at this time A Possibilitie left for this people to have continued a flourishing Nation A Possibilitie left for their Repentance That their Repentance and Prosperity was the End whereat the Lord himself did aim in sending Prophets and Wise-men and lastly his only Son unto them The Former of the two Parts The Possibilitie of their Prosperitie and Repentance was proved from the perpetual Tenor of Gods Covenant with this people first made with Moses afterward renewed with David and Solomon and ratified by Jeremie and Ezekiel The Tenor of the Covenant as you then heard was a Covenant not of Death only but of Life and Death of Life if they continued faithful in his Covenant of Death if they continued in disobedience The later Part of the same Assertion viz. That this Peoples Repentance and Prosperitie was the end intended by God was proved from that Declaration of his desire of their everlasting Prosperitie Deut. 5. 29. Oh that there were such a heart in this people to fear me and keep my Commandments alwaies that it might go well with them and their posteritie for ever And the like place Psalm 81. v. 13. Isai 48. 18. These places manifest Gods love and desire of this peoples safety But the Abundance the Strength with the unrelenting Constancie and tenderness of his love is in no place more fully manifested then in these words of my Text. The abundant fervencie we may note in the very first words in that his mouth which never spake idle nor superfluous word doth here ingeminate the Appellation O Jerusalem Jerusalem This he spake out of the abundance of his love But Love is oft-times fervent or abundant for the present or whiles the Object of our love remains amiable yet not so constant and perpetual if the qualitie of what we loved be changed But herein appears the strength and constancie of Gods love that it was thus fervently set upon Ierusalem not only in her pure and virgin dayes or whiles she continued as chaste and loyal as when she was affianced unto the Lord by David but upon Ierusalem often drunk with the cup of Fornications upon Her long stained and polluted with the blood of his dearest Saints which she had even mingled with her Sacrifices Upon Jerusalem and her children when after he had cleansed her infected habitations with fire and carried her inhabitants beyond Babylon into the North-land as into a more fresh and pure aire Yet after their return thence and replantation in their own Land returned with the dog to his vomit and with the washed Sow to wallowing in the mire God would have gathered even as the Hen doth her chickens under her wings c. 2. In which words besides the tendernesse of Gods Love toward these Castawayes is set out unto us the safety of his Protection so they would have been gathered For as there is no creature more kind and tender then the Hen unto her young ones none that doth more carefully shroud and shelter them from the storm none that doth more closely hide them from the eye of the Destroyer so would God have hidden Jerusalem under the shadow of his wings from all those stormes which afterward overwhelmed her and from the Roman Eagle to whom this whole generation present became a prey If so Jerusalem with her children after so many hundred years experience of his fatherly love and tender care had not remained more foolish than the new hatched brood of reasonless creatures If so they had not been
not have appear'd so great in the creation of Earth and Water as it doth in the creation not of them only but of the whole heavens with all their Hosts and furniture The more Gods creatures be the greater be his praises for this Tribute he ought to receive from all of them for their verie Being In like manner though the Redemption of one or some few men do truly argue the value of his sufferings to be truly infinite yet the more they be for whom he dyed the more is his glorie the greater is his praise For all are bound joyntly and severally to laud and magnifie his Name for the infinite price of their Redemption 15. Lastly This Doctrine is so necessarie for manifesting the just measure of their unthankfulnesse which perish that without This we cannot take so much as a true Surface of it not so much as the least Dimension of Sin Some there be which tell us that we had power in Adam to Glorifie God but that finning in Adam our sin is infinite because against an infinite Majestie For so it is that the greater the Partie is whom we offend the greater always the offence is And thus by degrees they gather that everie sin against the infinite Majestie of God deserveth infinitie of Punishment But albeit the degrees of Sin which accrue from the degrees of Dignitie in the person whom we offend be successively infinite yet because these Degrees are indeterminate every man which hath any skill at all in Arguments of Proportion must needs know that it is impossible for the wit or art of man to find out the true Product of such Calculatorie Inductions or to conjecture unto what set measure of ingratitude these infinite degrees will amount It is not the ten-hundreth-thousandth part of any Sin that can be truly notifyed unto us by inferences of this kind How then shall we take the true measure of our Sinnes or the full Dimension of our unthankfulnesse From the Great Goodnesse of God in our Creation and the unmeasurable Love of Christ in our Redemption If God in our Creation as the Psalmist saies did make us but litle lower then the Glorious Angels that the might afterward crown us with Glorie everlasting if when through the First mans follie we had lost that Honour he made his Onely Son for a litle while for 33. yeares space lower then the Angels that he might exalt Him above all Principalitie and Power and in Him recrown us with Honour and Glorie aequal to the Angels Their Sin is truly infinite their unthankfulnesse is unexpressible and justly deserveth punishment everlasting who voluntarily and continually despise so great Salvation which by Christ was purchased for them No Torment can be too great no anguish too Durable because no Happiness could be in any degree comparable much lesse equal to that which they refused though treasured up for them in that inexhaustible fountain of happinesse Christ Jesus our Lord our God and our Redeemer To conclude this meditation It is a thing most seriously to be considered That though Gods mercies in Christ can never be magnified too much yet may they be apprehended amisse And that as it is most Dangerous to sink in Deep waters wherein it is the easiest to Swim so the more infinite Gods mercies towards us are the more deadly sin it is to Dallie with them or to take incouragement by the Contemplation of them to continue in Sin The contemplation of their infinitie is then most seasonable when we are touched with a feeling of the infinitenesse of our sins In that case we can not look upon them but we shall be desirous to be partakers of them and that upon such Termes as God offers them the forsaking of all our sinnes Pro. 28. 13. 16. But is this all that thou art to remember when thou art by Spirituall eating and drinking Christs flesh and blood a preparing thy self for Sacramental and Spiritual receiving him together in The Lords Supper is it enough to acknowledge that he payd as great a Ransom for thee as he did for all Mankind in general No! This is but the first part of thy Redemption and this first part of thy redemption was intirely and alsufficiently and most effectually wrought for thee before any part of thy bodie was framed before thy Soul was created it was then wrought for thee without any endeavour or wish of thine No more was required at thy hands for this work then was required of thee for thy creation But there is A second part of thy Redemption of which that saying of A Father is true Qui fecit te sine te non salvabit te sine te He that made thee without any work or endeavour of thine will not save wil not Redeem thee without some endeavour at least on thy part What then is the second part of the Redemption which wee expect that Christ should yet work in us and for us or what is the endeavour on our parts required that he should work it in us and for us The second part of our Redemption which is yet in most of us to be accomplished is The Mortification of our Bodies the diminishing the Reign of sin in them in a word our Sanctification or Ratification of our Election These are wholly Christ's workes the sole works of God for it is He that works in us both the will and the Deed and yet are we commanded to work out our own Salvation to make our Election sure But how shall we do this which is wholly Gods work or what are we to do that these works may be wrought in us Besides the renewing of the Astipulation or answer of a Pure Conscience and Resumption of our BAPTISMAL VOW heretofore mentioned we are to humble our selves mightily before the Lord by a meek acknowledgement of our vilenesse and sincere confession of our sinnes And if we so humble our selves Hee that giveth Grace to the humble will lift us up if we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse not only to remit and cover our iniquities but to purifie our hearts and renew our spirits and mindes that they shall bring forth fruits unto holinesse We are to call upon God by the prayer of faith and perseverance Turn thou us Good Lord and so shall we be turned Speak but Thou the word and Thy Servants shall be whole 17. Thus we may esteem of Christs love to us and yet not examin or judge our selves as wee ought before we eat This Bread and Drink this Cup. To examin and judge our selves aright requires these Two meditations or Two parts of one and the same meditation First How farre wee are guilty of Christ's Death by our Sinnes But this falles under the former Meditation That Christ Dyed for us all not onely all joyntly considered but for everie one in particular or as alone considered and if
over the souls and spirits of Kings and Monarchs over the blessed Angels under whose Guardianship the greatest Monarchs are then they have over their meanest Vassals So that His dominion extends beyond the definition given by Lawyers which comprehends only things corporal but meddles not with coelestial substances or spiritual as Angels which are not subject to the Iurisdiction of Princes nor can they be imprisoned in their coffers Men as they could not make themselves so neither can they by their valour wit or industrie gain or create a title to any thing which is not Gods and whereof he is not Absolute Lord before and after they come to be Lords and owners subordinate of it They cannot move their bodies nor imploy their minds but by his free donation nor can they enjoy his freest gifts but by his concurse or Co-operation He hath a Dominion of propertie over their souls yea an absolute dominion not of propertie only but of uncontrollable iurisdiction over their very thoughts as it is implyed Deut. 8. 17 18. He doth not only give us the substance which we are enabled to get but gives us the very power wit and strength to get or gather it Not this power only whereby we gather substance but our very Being which supports this power is his gift and unlesse our Being be supported and strengthned hy his power sustentative we cannot so much as think of gathering wealth or getting necessaries much less can we dispose of our own endeavours for accomplishing our hopes desires or thoughts To conclude then All we have even wee our selves are Gods by absolute Dominion as well of propertie as of Iurisdiction There is no Law in heaven or earth that can inhibit or restrayne his absolute Power to dispose of all things as he pleaseth for he works all things by the Counsel of his Will and He only is Absolute Lord. But absolute Lordship or Dominion how far soever extended though over Angels Powers and Principalites from this ground or universal Title of Creation is intirely jointly and indivisibly common to the Blessed Trinitie For so S. Athanasius teacheh us the Father is LORD the Son is LORD the Holie Ghost is LORD absolute Lord as well in respect of Dominion as of Jurisdiction and yet not three Lords but one Lord and if but One Lord then the Lordship or dominion is One and the same alike absolute either for intensive Perfection or Extension in the Son as in the Father in the Holy Ghost as in the Son Yet is it well observed by a judicious Commentator upon S. Pauls Epistles that to be LORD is the proper Title or Epitheton in S. Pauls Language of Christ the Son of God both God and Man and Emphatically ascribed to him even in those passages wherein he had occasion expressely to mention the distinction of Persons in the Trinitie As where he saith The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the love of God he doth not say of God the Lord and the fellowship of the Holie Ghost without addition of this title of Lord be with you all And so in our Apostles Creed we professe to Believe in God the Father Almightie without addition of the title LORD and so in God the Holie Ghost not in the Lord the Holy Ghost but in Christ our Lord. Which leades to the Second Point proposed in the Entrance to this Second Section CHAP. VII In what respects or upon what grounds Christ is by peculiar Title called The Lord. And First of the Title it self Secondly Of the Real grounds unto this Title 1. COncerning the name of Lord there is no verbal difference in the Greek or Latin whether this name or Title be attributed to God the Father as oft it is or to God the Holy Ghost unto the Blessed Trinitie or unto Christ God and Man Yet in the Hebrew there is a difference in the very Names or words The Name Jehovah which is usually rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominus or Lord is alike common to every Person in the Holie Trinitie as expressing the Nature of the God-head he that is being it self Howbeit even this Name is sometimes in peculiar sort attributed unto Christ But that Christ or the Son of God is in those places personally meant this must be gathered from the Subject or special Circumstances of the matter not from the Name or Title it self But the name Adonai which properly signifies Lord or King as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek doth implying as much as the Pillar or Foundation of the people is the peculiar Title of the Son of God or of God incarnate And for attributing this Title unto Christ as his peculiar the Apostle St. Paul had a good warrant out of the Prophetical Writings especially the Psalms which he questionlesse understood a great deal better then many great Divines and accurate Linguists have done his writings or the harmonie betwixt the Psalmists and his Evangelical Comments on them This Title of Lord Adonai is used most frequently in those Psalmes which contain the most pregnant Prophecies of Christ or the Messias his exaltation Psal 2. 2 4. The Kings of the earth band themselves and the Princes are assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ But he that dwelleth in the heavens doubtlesse he means the same Jehovah shall laugh Yet he doth not say Jehovah but Adonai the Lord shall have them in derision The Reality of Dominion answering to this Title of Lord whereunto the Messias against whom they conspired was exalted is more fully expressed in the same Psalm v. 8 9 10. Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the ends of the earth for thy possession Thou shalt crush them with a Scepter of Iron and break them in pieces like a Potters vessel Be wise now therefore ye Kings be learned ye Judges of the earth serve the Lord in fear and rejoyce in trembling Kisse the Son the Son doubtlesse of Jehovah lest he be angry and ye perish in the way when his wrath shall suddenly burn Blessed are all they that trust in him And so again Psal 45. which is as it were the Epithalamium or marriage song of Christ and his Church The Prophet exhorts the Spouse to do as Christ willed his Disciples to do and as Abraham had done at Gods Command Forget thine own people and thy Fathers house so shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty for he is the Lord reverence or worship him v. 10 11. And again Psal 110. wherein Christs everlasting Priesthood is confirmed by Oath it is said Jehovah said to my Lord Adonai sit thou at my Right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool But may not the Jew thus Object that seeing our Christ or their expected Messias is enstyled Adonai not Jehovah in these very places wherein his Exaltation or supreme Dominion is foretold That therefore he is not truly God as Jehovah is To this Objection our Saviours Reply
meer instinct of nature or would be as far to seek if he were put to give the true reason of it as the poor Pilgrim in the Fable was who being kindly entertained by a Satyr which had found him blowing his fingers for extremity of cold in the woods was unkindly thrust out of his house only for seeking to cool his broth with the same breath wherewith he had warmed his fingers 4. But in what practises or resolutions in the heathen was this divine truth of a Judgment after this life necessarily included The particulars are many but most of them may be reduced unto this General As many of the heathens as either esteemed the love of virtue honestie or godliness more dear then this mortal life with its appurtenances temporal or as many of them as did abhorre the practise of any villani or impietie more than death whatsoever they themselves did expresly say or think concerning this Article of Final Judgment in particular did by these practises or resolutions give authentick testimony unto it Now that virtue or honesty were to be more esteemed then this mortal life with all the commodities of it the most part of heathen Philosophers besides the Sect of Epicures did grant and maintain The Stoicks went further in the esteem of moral virtue then any wise Christian will do in practise then any good Christian ought to do in opinion but of their errors or Hyperboles anon Aristotle the Prince of Philosophers grants that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that some things be absolutely good so good that a man ought to love them more than life or rather to abandon life than their practise Some things again he grants absolutely evil So evil that a man ought rather to chuse death then adventure upon them such are Treason against our native Country Incest Perjury c. This great Philosopher in expresly granting thus much is necessarily concluded by his own Principles to grant a life after this life ended much better then this and a death or an estate of life much worse than death to such as have lived and died dishonestly Nor is he thus far concluded onely by his own Principles but by the very Principles of Nature whose chief Secretary he was For every thing that hath Being doth by an indispensable Law of nature desire the continuance of such Being as it hath but most of all of its Well-being or bettering of its present estate Now if mans hopes or fears were terminated in this life as needs they must with this life be terminated unless we grant a Judgment after death or an award of the evils which men fear or of the good things which they hope every man were bound in reason and by nature to seek the preservation or continuance of his own life before all things in the world besides Nothing were to be esteemed worse then a bodily death nothing so good as continuation of bodily life with health and competency Much better it were to be a part of this visible world then utterly not to Be. To avoid or put off this utter not-Being so long as were possible no devise could be dishonest no practise amiss We do not blame bruit beasts for making what shift they can for maintaining or saving their lives no means which they can use to this end onely are by us accounted foul for as we say they do but follow kind or do as nature directs them But what is the reason why in thus doing they do not amiss nor deserve blame Because nothing can be so ill to them as death nothing so good as life But for a Man to transform himself into a Beast or to continue beastly or filthy practices for continuance or preservation of his bodily life this the very Heathens did detest as unnatural base and odious What was the reason they saw by light of nature that man had better hopes then beasts are capable of as it were wrapped up for him in the constant practice of honesty and vertue and was capable withal of greater evil which might accrew from a dishonest and filthy life then any evil that is incident to the nature of beasts yet did not that Good which good men did aim at either in practice of virtue or by declining vice always betide them in this life in the Judgement of most Heathen 5. Two things there were which most later Heathens not the Stoicks onely did highly extol in Regulus the one That he did prefer the love of his Countrie before the contentments of this life which he might have enjoyed in plenteous manner The other That he did prefer a lingring and cruel death before the stain or guilt of perjury For being in hold or durance amongst the Carthaginians he was remitted to Rome upon oath That if he did not effect what they had given him in charge to treat for he should return again to Carthage and undergo such punishment as they should think fit to inflict It was in his power to have effected with the Romans that which the Carthaginians did desire but he would not use his power to perswade but rather to disswade the Romans from condescending to their enemies desire because he saw it would be prejudicial to their Commonweal and posterity though advantageous to him in particular But he accounted it rather loss then gain as well to himself as to the Roman State to save the life though of some worthy Peer as he was by breach of Oath or Perjury and in this resolution he returned unto the Carthaginians although he knew they resolved to put him to cruel and lingring torture The Observation upon this resolution of Regulus which will generally serve for all the like by what Heathen soever practised or commended is briefly This No humane practise or resolution can be truly commendable but onely so far as it helps to make the Practitioner a better man then he was before or could continue to be without such practise Was Regulus then a better man by this practise then without it he could have been Or did it truly propagate or continue that goodness which before he had If he by doing this did not continue his former goodness or become a better man his commendations are unjust the Fact it self was not truly commendable was no argument either of reason or wit in the Practiser or of honesty in the Resolution If by this Resolution he became a better man then before he was or without it could have been somewhat of Regulus did after the accomplishment of this fact remain to receive the due reward of this Resolution as either his soul his body or both For every real Accident or Attribute necessarily supposeth a real subject to support it and if no better doom had been reserved for Regulus then that which the Carthaginians his chief Judges on earth did award him he could not possibly either have continued or bettered his well-being by undertaking it it was altogether impossible for him to
the first day preserved but here was a new creation out of that which Philosophers properly term The mater that is the common mother of generation or corruption And thus God at the last day shall command not the earth only but the Sea also with the other Elements to give up their dead Rev. 20. 13. Lastly they extended this similitude too far which hence imagined that as the corn often dies and is often quickned and dies again So by the doctrine of Christians there should be a death after the Resurrection and a Resurrection after death or such a continual vicissitude between life and death as is between light and darkness This objection is punctually resolved by Tertullian in the 48. Chapt. of his Apologie The sum of his answer is That so it might be if the Omnipotent Creator had so appointed for he is able to work this continual interchange or vicissitude of life and death as well in mens bodies as in the bodies of corn sown or reaped or as he doth the perpetual vicissitude of light and darkness in the two Hemispheres of the world but he hath revealed his Will to the contrary And the reason is not the same but rather contrary in Gods crop or harvest as it is in the crops or harvests of mortal men As men in this life are mortal so is their food or nutriment and for this reason their nutriment must be supplied by continual sowing and reaping But God is immortal and so shall the crop of his harvest be Our Resurrection from the dead is his general crop or harvest and this needs to be no more then One because our bodies being once raised up to life again shall never die but enjoy immortalitie in his presence Heaven is his Granary and what is gathered into it cannot perish or consume 10. The general use of this Doctrine is punctually made to our hands by our Apostle in the last verse of this Chapt. Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. And more particulary 1 Thessal 4. 13. c. I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them which are a sleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope c. The Apostle there doth not forbid all mourning for the dead but the manner of mourning only that they mourn not as they which have no hope no expectation of any Resurrection after death Nature will teach us as it did these Thessalonians to mourn for the death of our friends and kindred And our belief of this Article will give us the true mean and prescribe the due manner or measure of mourning Our sorrow though natural and just yet if it be truly Christian and seasoned with Grace will still be mingled with comfort and supported by hope To be either impatient towards God or immoderatly dejected for the death of our dearest friends whose bodies God hath in mercy committed to the custody of the earth of the sea or other Elements is but A Symptome of heathenish ignorance or infidelity of this Article A Barbarism in Christianitie If we of this Land should live amongst Barbarians whom we had taught to make bread of Corn and accustomed to the tast of this bread as unknown to their forefathers as Manna at first appearance was to the Israelites but not acquainted them with the mystery of sowing and reaping they would be as ready in their hunger or scarcitie of bread to stone us as the Israelites were to stone Moses in their thirst if they should see us offer to bury that corn in the earth with which their bowels might be comforted yet if they were but so far capable of reason as to be perswaded or we so capable of trust or credit with them as to perswade them that there were no possibilitie left either to have bread without supply of corn or for corn to increase and multiply unless it did first die and putrifie in the ground hope of a more plentiful crop or harvest would naturally incline them to brook the present scarcity w th patience and to be thankfull towards such as would so carefully provide for them Now besides that the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God the committing of their bodies to the grave is but as a solemn preparation of seed for a future crop or harvest If in these premisses we do rely and trust in God our sorrow and heaviness for the dead though it may endure for a while will be swallowed up in comfort our mournfull tears and weeping will be still accompanied with praises and thanksgiving unto him that hath so well provided for them that live in his fear and die in his favour 11. But as this Doctrine administreth plentie of comfort in respect of friends deceased so it should move us to make choice of such only for our dearest friends as we see inclined to live in the fear of the Lord. Or if we have prevented our selves and this advice in making such choice yet let us never be prevented by others for making the main and principal end of our friendship or delight in any mans company to be this A serious study and endevour to prepare others and to be prepared by them to live and die in the Lord. As there is no greater comfort in this life then a faithfull and hearty friend So can no greater grief befall a man at the hour of death then to have had a friend trusty and hearty in other offices and services but negligent and backward in cherishing the seeds of faith of love or fear of the Lord or other provision of our way-fare towards the life to come No practise of the most malicious or most inveterate or most provoked foe can breed half so much danger to any man as the affectionate intentions of a carnal friend always officious to entertain him with pleasant impertinences which will draw his mind from the fear and love of God and either divert or effeminat his cogitations from resolute pitching upon the means and hopes of a joyfull Resurrection to everlasting life Even to minds and affections already sweetned with sure hope of that life to come what grief must it needs breed in this life if he be a loving husband to think he shall be by death eternally divorced from the companie of his dearest consort Or if he be an affectionate friend to consider that the league of mutual amitie in this life never interrupted but secured from danger of impairment whilst their pilgramage lasts here on earth should be everlastingly dissolved after the one hath taken up his lodging in the dust that all former dearest kindness should not only be forgotten but be further estranged from performance of any common courtesie then any Christian in this life can be in regard of any Jew or Turk or any Jew or
were changeable The life it self and the light of the world was in the Son of God John 13. And now dwelleth bodily in Christ who is God and man and when he shall appear the life which is in him shall be imprinted on us we shall be partakers of the life which is unchangeable And as is life he so is he light it self light unchangeable And when we shall see him as he is our knowledge shall from this vision be as He is without possibilitie of change without decay or diminution God saith the Apostle is Love and when we shall see him as he is we shall become like him in this Attribute also that is as his Love to us was everlasting without beginning so our love to him shall be uncessant unchangeable without ending And what expression of true happiness can be more full then to be everlastingly beloved of him who is Love it self and to love him everlastingly The fruition of all things which we desire or love cannot be so much as the the fruition of him who as he is all things else so is he love it self And as was said before although we have all things else which our hearts desire yet till we enjoy his presence we cannot have our hearts desire we cannot have the accomplishment of our love untill we enjoy his presence who is love it self But some will ask What shall we do that we may enjoy the comfort of his everlasting love and presence The Psalmist hath told us in few words Psal 37. 4. Delight thou in the Lord and he shall give thee thy hearts desire But how shall we delight in him whom we have not seen or how should we love him whom we know not We must take notice of our love to God who is invisible from the experience of our love unto our brethren whom we have seen we cannot assure our selves that we delight in him unlesse we delight in his Saints that are on earth This is the Importance of Saint Johns words He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hoth not seen 12. These are the usual Marks or Tokens whereby we are taught to know the truth of Our love towards God and of Our Allegeance to Christ But many there be who call themselves Brethren which have no other bond of brotherhood then Simeon and Levi had Many there be which boast in the Communion of Saints which have no other Union then such as Corah Dathan and Abiram had an Union in Conspiracie against Moses and Aaron against the visible Church and her Governors The Papists will tell you that the Communion of Saints is amongst them in their Church So will the Brownists and other Separatists So will such as live amongst us and yet complain of the burthen of Ceremonies in our Church And how shall men the unlearned specially know which of all these or whether any of these are the true Brethren of Christ or the Saints in which we are bound to delight This as will be replied you may know by their delight in hearing the word for he that loveth God loveth his word he that delights in God delighteth in his word Yea but many delight in the outward letter of the word only or in the word as it is interpreted by Teachers of their own Faction or after their own Fancie men either not able to discern the Evidence of truth or not willing to have it manifested unto them And how then shall any man know whether he love the Lord whether he delight in the Lord by delighting in any of their Societies which pretend themselves to be Christs Brethren to be Gods Saints Surely there is a better way then all these to delight aright in the Lord and to know that we delight in him and yet a way made known unto us by Gods Word A way A direct and plain way which we can not follow but by sincerely delighting in his Word The Word of God doth tell us and all sorts or Sects of men confess it that God is love that he is righteousnesse that he is holinesse that he is the God of all peace that he is good to all that he is merciful and long-suffering Now he that in these things doth imitate God he that is charitable and loving to all he that is merciful and beneficial to all so farre as his means will suffer him he that deals justly and truly with his neighbor he that doth delight in so doing he doth truly delight in the Lord and the Lord in his good time shall give him his hearts desire As there is a sinceritie of Conversation required towards men so likewise there is a Puritie of heart and Conscience towards God and he that delights in this or seeks after this doth delight in the Lord and he only shall truly know that he delights in the Lord or that his hope is stedfast For every one as Saint John saith that hath this hope to wit of seeing God as he is doth purifie his heart as he is pure And our Saviour saith as a blessing to the pure in heart that they shall see God They shall see him in this Life in his Word and in his works and in the life to come they shall see him as he is and be partakers of everlasting life which is the Crown of puritie and holiness CHAP. XXII ROMANS 6. 22 23. But now ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life The Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Of the Accidental Joyes of the Life to come A particular Terrar or Map of the Kingdom prepared for the Blessed Ones in a Paraphrase upon the Eight Beatitudes or the Blessedness promised to the Eight Qualifications set down in St. Matthew Chapter 5. Eternal Life the strongest obligation to all Duties Satans Two usual wayes of Tempting us Either Per Blanda or per Aspera 1. BUt if in the next life we enjoy His Presence who is Life it self who is Love it self who is All in All at whose right hand is Fulness of pleasures for evermore What need is there of any Access of Accidental or Concomitant Joyes It is true There is no need of them for so they should not be Accidental Therefore are they called Accidental because such as enjoy Gods Presence might be fully happy without them So God himself is most happy in himself he is Happinesse it self Yet even in this that he is Goodnesse it self that he is Happinesse it self he communicates both Goodness and Happiness to his Creatures so far as they are capable of them not by any Necessitie but Freely And when it is said that when we shall see him as he is we shall be like him part of this likeness doth herein consist that we shall communicate this Goodness and happiness to others so far as they are capable of it So that the Accidental or Concomitant Joyes of the life to come whose Essence
consists in the Fruition of God as he is Love although super-abundant yet are they not superfluous There is no wast there is nothing poured out from one which shall not be received in the same measure or manner by another But wherein do these Concomitant or Accidental Joyes consist Especially in these Two Particulars First In the Glorious Beautie of the Place which is called Sedes Beatorum the Seat or Mansion of the Blessed Secondly In the Society or companie of such as are so seated and made partakers of that Essential Blessedness which consists in the sight and vision of God as he is Happinesse it self For Visio amati est fruitio This is that which the Schools call The Fruition or enjoying of Gods presence Now that either the Place or the Societie of Saints and Angels can add or conferre any thing to our happiness this proceeds from Gods special presence in Both. 2. To begin with The Place or Seat of the Blessed How pleasant soever our Seat on earth may be yet this world it self is but Vallis lachrymarum A Valley of tears wherein some ruful spectacles are daily presented to our eyes wherein some woful news or unpleasant sounds possess our ears To hear and see what we now daily hear and see though we were Spectators only but no Actors would abate our Joy would be an Alloy to our present happiness Hence it is that St. John describing the Accidental Joys of the life to come saith Rev. 21. 1. I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more Sea And again verse 4. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are past away His meaning is not only That no man there shall have occasion to cry or that no sorrow or pain shall breed there But that there shall be no sorrow no cry there by way of Sympathie that is no ungrateful sound or spectacle shall approach their dwelling in the holy City which he describes at large in the same Chapter verse 11. unto the end The Compass and Form of it you have verse 16. It lyeth four square the length as large as the breath twelve thousand furlongs and the building of the wall of it was of Jasper and the City was pure gold like unto clear glasse Verse 18. c. Thus he describes The Beautiful Materials of the Place by the most glorious and most precious materials which this world affords And yet that is true of this Description which the Apostle saith of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Law The gates of pearl and the streets of gold transparent as glasse are no better then shadows of the good things to come which are treasured up in that heavenly Kingdom for all such as love Christ Jesus and the glory of his coming Now though it be true that in Gods house there be many Mansions Yet is not the Beautie or Glorie of them appropriated to one nor divisible amongst some few but alike Common to all One hath not the less comfort There because another hath more Those Two quarrelling Pronounes Meum and Tuum shall be excluded thence as common Barretters One cannot say to another This part of this glorious Kingdom is mine That is yours for every one that shall be accompted worthy to be an heir of that Kingdom shall be as Intire an Heir as if he were sole Heir So it is not amongst the Kings of the earth the greater Dominions one hath or the further he extends them the less he leaves unto his neighbors There is some small Resemblance of the Condition of the Blessed Ones in Heaven to be found in our Hearing sight and knowledge of things which we have here on earth A great multitude may hear a speech and every one hear all No man hath less comfort from the light or heat of the Sun by anothers injoying it unless he purposely stand between the Sun and him No man is prejudiced but rather furthered by another mans extraordinary knowledge specially of matters heavenly and not divisible into parts Howbeit here is a vast difference whilst we live on earth even when there is no matter of prejudice to any other but rather of benefit or advantage to many yet there is matter too much of envy for that breeds within mans self it comes not by infection from without But so it is not in the place of blisse in the heavenly City into which no unclean thing no unclean thought specially no envie no uncharitablenesse shall enter 3. As is the Place so is the Company or Societie Every one is Loving Every one is Lovely All be Sons of Peace their Love and Peace is mutual Ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the Living God the heaveniy Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels To the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12. 22. c. There is no Question at least there ought none to be but that the Essential Ioy or blessedness of the life to come shall not be Arithmetically Equall that is the measure of it shall not be one and the same in all for every man shall be rewarded according to his wayes The Eternal Life which is the Gift of God is the Award not of Commutative Justice nor of Distributive though if so it were it should be awarded according to Geometrical Proportion But it is an Act of mercy or bountie and being such there is no Question but he that loved God more in this world then others shall have a greater proportion in his love No Question but he which hath received a greater Talent and hath imployed it as well or better then he that hath received lesse shall have a greater reward And he which hath been more faithful in his Masters service or he in whom the Kingdom of Grace hath entred further in this life shall enter further into his Masters Ioy shall partake more fully of the Kingdom of Heaven And according to the lesser or greater measure of Essential happiness shall the measure of their expressions of joy or thanksgiving be And yet the Joy which amounts from their mutual expressions shall be equal and the same to all For though every one cannot so fully expresse his joy or thanksgiving as another doth yet he that comes short of others in this expression shall joy even in this that God is more or better glorified by another then by himself and such is the disposition of these heavenly inhabitants that so Gods name be truly glorified by all they respect not by whom it be comparatively most
when occasion or exigences of time require it should be This Qualification includes somewhat more or somewhat besides Poornesse in spirit or humility or patience in mourning Meeknesse is a moderation of anger in some special Cases such a Temper as our Saviour requires in his Followers when he commands them to turn the right cheek to him that smites them on the left and to be willing to redeem their peace with a troublesome neighbor that would take away the coat though it be with the losse of the cloak also Now this kind of Temper exposeth men to many kinds of Inconveniences hard to be digested by flesh and blood Many otherwise humble and ingenuous when they are toucht as we say in their Coppp-hold or in their inheritance will take courage and boldness sometimes more then were fitting though necessarie if they be resolved to defend their own without respect to the occasions or exigences of time For facies hominis in causa propriatanquam facies Leonis A mans face or presence in his own cause is as the face of a Lyon And he that cannot take his own part in his own cause and set the best Foot forwards may easily be turned out of house and home And yet there is no true Disciple of Christ but must expect to have his patience exercised in this kind to be injuriously vexed and molested by Others for that which is not Theirs Now he that in this Case will not vex or molest others again nor himself he is truly meek and unto men thus qualified or to encourage all to be thus qualified the Blessednesse of the life to come is promised not under the Title of a Kingdom or of Comfort but under the Title most contrary to the course and custom of this world wherein Meeknesse is commonly Accursed with loss of their own possession But Blessed saith our Saviour are the meek for they shall inherit or possesse the earth or the Land even that good Land where there is no Ejection no dis-inheriting of such as are possessed of it and therefore are the meek blessed because Meeknesse or quietnesse is the Way or Title to get Possession thereof 9. But the poor in spirit may have more honor then they can desire so may such as mourn have as much Comfort and the meek as large and durable an Inheritance as their hearts could wish But if this were all they could not be satisfied Every one of these have in this life their several Thirsts or Longings As he that mourns thirsts after Comfort the poor in spirit and the meek hunger and thirst after their Contentment in some kind or other But without all hope of satisfaction unlesse they hunger and thirst after somewhat else besides these particular contentments Man in his first estate was created righteous and unlesse there be a longing after that Righteousnesse which our first Parents lost whatsoever we gain or get besides cannot satisfie our desire either In Re or In Spe. Hence saith our Savior in the Fourth place Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be satisfied There is a thirst after honor preferment and ease and there is Auri sacra fames an unquenchable hunger after gold and Pelf but this cannot be satisfied all these are tortures to the soul wherein they harbour For though honour be Gods though gold and silver as the Prophet speaks be his yet he is not these these are not the same that He is but as we said lately God is righteousness He is Peace He is Love He is mercy and therefore whosoever delights in these he truely delights in the Lord and shall assuredly have his hearts desire he only shall be satisfied 10. But no man in this life doth or can delight in these works as he ought the most righteous man that ever lived on earth if God should enter into Judgement with him could not be absolved from the sentence of the Law and so long as he stands unabsolved or uncertain of his Absolution he cannot be satisfied he cannot have his hearts desire he alwayes stands in need of mercy And mercy he shall have that is merciful For it is Remarkable that this qualification of mercifulness is the only qualification or condition which is rewarded in kind in this we most perfectly resemble the goodness of God Hence saith our Saviour Blessed are the merciful But why are they blessed Not because they shall receive a Kingdom not because they shall possesse the Land not because they shall be satisfied but because they shall obtain mercy Without the exceeding mercy of God no man can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven neither into the Kingdom of Grace in this life nor into the Kingdom of Glory in the life to come and he that means to enter in at the Gate of mercy must bring his Ticket or rather his * Counter-part indented with him he must be merciful as his heavenly Father is mercifull otherwise he shall be excluded Righteousness towards God if it were possible to be severed from mercy towards man could not suffice 11. But that which comes nearest to true blesledness it self is Puritie of heart This contains the Root whereof Holiness is the fruit that Holiness whose End is Everlasting life Now he that desires to keep this puritie of heart must deprive his eyes of many pleasant sights and his ears of many delightful sounds and every sense of those particular contentments wherein the world most delighteth But in lieu of this loss he hath A blessing promised not only of this life but of the life to come In the life to come he shall see God as he is face to face and in this life he shall see him as through a glass and so he shall see him in his Word and in his Attributes And the best knowledge that in this life can be had The knowledge of God and of his Attributes without transforming the Divine nature into the similitude of our corrupt affections is To see his righteousnes and Justice without derogation from his Mercy or Goodness or to see him to be goodness it self and mercy it self without any diminution of his Justice To see his gracious and peculiar favour towards some without suspition or imagination of rigour or crueltie towards others To know him to be love it self without admixture of hatred towards any thing that he hath made 12. It is this sight of God or this apprehension of this uniformity be-between his Attributes which must transform us into such a similitude of his divine nature as in this life can be had that is such as may make us the children of peace This is the immediat fruit of purity of heart And unto men thus disposed to preserve peace as for their own particulars and to make peace between such as are at variance the blessedness of the life to come could not be promised under a more grateful Title then under the style
experience of did acknowledge as much as hath been formerly delivered out of Gods word to wit That men are usually misdrawn to do those things in particular which in general they desired not to do and to leave those things undone which in the calm of composed affections they desired to do either by the hope of some bodily pleasures or by fear of some bodily pain And unto this two-fold inconvenience he prescribed this brief Receipt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That men in youth especially should accustome themselves to abstinence and sufferance to abstinence from evil and to sufferance of evil that is unto abstinence from unlawful pleasures which we call Malum culpae or Evil of Sin and to endure with patience malum poenae the evil of pain or of some loss rather then hazard The quiet of Conscience by doing that which is evil or unlawful or by not doing that which is good specially when we are thereto required But this brief receipt or diet of the Soul without some other addition will rather serve to condemn us Christians then enable us to live a true and Christian life The Receipt though is good in the General but defective in these Particulars First Unless he knew more of Gods Will or of the mysteries of Christian Religion then we know any means by which he could possibly know either being an Heathen he was ignorant of many evils from which he was bound to abstain and altogether as ignorant what those good things were for whose love he was to suffer malum poenae the evil of pain loss or grievance rather then disclaim them Secondly Albeit he had known what was to be done what to be left undone yet being ignorant of this main Article of Christianity to wit of A Life everlasting which is the reward of well-doing the Crown of Holiness and of an everlasting Death which is the wages of sin and issue of unlawful pleasures His Receipt of Sustine Abstine was altogether as fruitless and vain as if a Physician should prescribe a Dosis or Recipe to his Patient of such Simples or compounded Medicines as cannot be had in this part of the world but must be sought for at the East or West-Indies or at the Antipodes whence there is no hope they can be brought before the Patient be laid in his Grave The Medicine which he prescribes is no where to be found but in the Word of God The Simples whereof it is compounded can grow from no other root or branch then from The Articles of everlasting Life and everlasting death The Belief of the One is the root of Abstinence from sinful or unlawful Pleasures The Belief of the other is the root of Patience or sufferance of malum Poenae or of sufferance for well-doing Howbeit to speak exactly both parts of his Receipt may be had from the Belief either of Everlasting Life or Everlasting Death but most compleatly from the belief of both The manner how thence they may be gathered is expressed by our Apostle St. Paul Rom. 8. 16. c. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God And if children then heirs heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ if we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together for I reckon that the suffrings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us c. 2. If all the sufferings of this life be not worthy of the glory which shall be revealed in us as the Rule of Faith teacheth us then conscience and reason it self bindes us to suffer all the Persecutions or Grievances which can be laid upon us rather then hazard our hopes or forfeit our Interests in the Glory that shall be revealed in all such as with patience suffer persecution or other temporal loss or detriment for the truths sake And this hope of Glory is as the Root whence Christian patience or sufferance must grow So is the fear of everlasting Death the root of our abstinence from evil or of repentance for former want of this abstinence This is the same Apostles Doctrine 2 Cor. 5. 10. For we must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men To what doth he perswade men To do those things which are good and which being done shall be rewarded not in Judgement but in mercy and loving kindness Those things by which we shall be reconciled unto God But were not these Corinthians reconciled to God before our Apostle thus perswaded them Yes so saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 18. God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ And when our Apostle and those to whom he wrote were reconciled unto God through Jesus Christ we that are now living were by the same means reconciled unto God For God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself Now if the world that is not this or that man not this or that generation of men but all generations the world of mankind were reconciled unto God when our Apostle wrote this Epistle yea when Christ offered himself upon the Crosse what need is there of any further reconciliation For that which God doth he doth most perfectly most compleatly 3. It is true Our reconciliation was most perfectly most compleatly wrought on Gods part by Christs death upon the Crosse he payed the full price of our Redemption of our reconciliation nothing may or can be added thereto Yet A Reconciliation there is to be wrought on our parts though wrought it cannot be but by the spirit of God and wrought it is not ordinarily but by the ministry of men as Gods Deputies or Embassadors So the Apostle adds ver 19. God hath committed to us to wit his Ministers the word of reconciliation Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as though Christ did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God So then God hath reconciled us all unto himself from the hour of Christs death and yet every one of us for his own particular must be reconciled to God by the Ministry of his Embassadors And the efficacy of their Ministry is demonstrated by working true repentance in us The means again by which they work this true repentance must be by representing the Terrour of the Lord or as our Apostle saith Act. 17. 30. by putting them in mind of the last and dreadful day The times of this ignorance to wit of the old world before Christs death God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Thus
to be our Redeemer No Act or work of God no not the first work of Creation was of more free Gift or bounty as the Romanists grant or less merited either de Condigno or de Congruo by any work of ours then the work of our Redemption So that the word Merit how often soever it be used by the Antient Latine Fathers carries no weight to sway us to any conceipt of True Worth in our Works for the purchasing of eternal life 3 But what if the Holy Ghost speak thus in Formal or Equivalent Terms as that Eternal life is the wages or stipend of our Works or that our Works are worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven or of the life to come Shall we not subscribe unto him Yes we will if the Romish Church can prove unto us that He thus spake or meant Now that he thus speaks or means they endeavor thus to prove First from all those places of Scripture in which Eternal life is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Merces that is a reward or stipend Now our Saviour himself thus speaketh Matth. 5. 11 12. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you From this and the like places they labor to infer that the patience of Martyrs is meritorious of Eternal Life To this and the like places the Answer is easie The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so the Latin Merces imply no more in the Language of the Holy Ghost then our English word Reward And hence the fruit or issue of our paines so it be grateful to men though no way deserved is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So our Saviour saith that the very Hypocrites which do all their works to be seen of men if they gain applause have their Reward Yet no man will say that a dissembler or hypocrite doth deserve or merit this Reward but rather punishment And Rewards we know are sometimes given freely out of meer bountie and liberalitie as well as by way of desert or merit Yea it is not properly a Reward unlesse it be a Gratuitie or Largesse That which a man works for upon Covenant or that which he receives by way of hire is not a Reward but a just Pay or Stipend and though it be most true that God renders to every one according to all his wayes yet in proprietie of speech he is said to reward none but those whom he remembers in mercie and bountie For so it is said Heb. 11. 5. He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that seek him not so of such as seek him not for them he punisheth and no branch of punishment is any branch of Reward This then we learn from our Apostle That the first thing to be believed in all ages is this That there is a God The second That this God is a Rewarder of those that seek him This truly infers That His Reward is worth the seeking after whether it be bestowed upon us in this or in the life to come but it doth not infer that our seeking after it is meritorious or worthy of the least of his Rewards And though Eternal Life be the Best and Last Reward of such as seek God yet it is not the Only Reward that he bestowes on them that seek him yea he bestowes Eternal Life or the Life of Glorie upon none upon whom he doth not first bestow the Reward of Grace The Kingdom of Grace is but the Entrance into the Kingdom of Glorie And when we teach new Converts to pray in the first Place for The Kingdom of Grace and to pray for it as the Reward or Gift of God Yea and the Romanists themselves do grant that no man can merit the Kingdom of Grace which is properly the Reward of such as seek God so that all their Arguments which they draw from this Topick that Eternal Life is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Merces and may therefore be merited by us are altogether groundless All of them conclude Aut nihil aut nimium either nothing at all or a great deal too much As That the First Grace may be merited which they themselves deny 4. Their next chief Topick is that Our works or endeavors are said to be worthy of Eternal Life and that in Canonical Scriptures To this purpose Cardinal Bellarmine citeth that of our Saviour Luke 10. 7. Dignus est operarius mercede sua The Laborer is worthy of his hire But I am perswaded that he took this upon trust from some idle or ignorant Scholler whom he had imployed to rake testimonies for his present purpose If his leisure had served him to look upon the Circumstances of the Text with his own eyes he might clearly have seen that our Saviour there speaks not of Eternal Life or of the Reward or Gift of God but of that Hire which is due unto the Preachers of the Gospel from such as are instructed in the Gospel The other Testimonies alledged by him are more Pertinent though not Concludent And they are in number Three The First is Luke 20. 35. But they that shall be accounted Worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage The second is 2 Thess 1. 4. We our selves saith he glory in you in the Churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure which is a manifest token of the righteous Judgment of God that ye may be counted Worthy of the Kingdom of God For which ye also suffer The third is Revel 3 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are Worthy This last Testimony affords them A new Topick or Frame of Arguments which they draw from this and the like places wherein The works or righteousness of the Saints are assigned as True Causes Why they enter into the Kingdom of heaven So our Saviour saith in the Final Sentence Math. 25. 34. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world FOR I was an hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirstie and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me This is as much saith Bellarmine as if he had said Ye are Therefore blessed of my Father ye shall Therefore enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Because ye have done these and the like good Works out of your Love and Charitie towards me Now if these works be The Cause Why they enter into the Kingdom of
free Pardon for all shall be excluded from it that are Unworthy of it But the grievous and most patient sufferings of the Apostles themselves are here adjudged by our Apostle to be altogether Unworthy of the Glory that shall be revealed in respect of Gods Justice Or if he should enter into Judgment with them after these three branches of Grace Faith Hope and Charity had fructified in them But have they no Answer to this Objection Yes Cardinal Bellarmine the only man which ever that Church had for traversing the Testimonie or verdict of Scriptures alleadged by our Writers hath Two in store or rather two branches of one and the same answer His answer in General is this That our Apostle in this place Rom. 8. 18. doth speak of the Substance of works done by just and holy men not of the absolute Proportion between them and the glory which shall be revealed If we respect the Substance of their works they are not equal for the one is momentany or temporal and the other eternal to the reward or gift of God which is eternal life or glory yet saith he there is a true or just Proportion between them 9. To put a Colour upon this Distinction he gives Instance First in the sufferings of our Saviour which were but temporary and no way comparable for duration of time with the everlasting pains of hell which without his sufferings we all should have suffered and yet his temporary sufferings did make a full and just satisfaction for the sins of men which deserved everlasting torments For what was wanting to the duration or continuance of his sufferings was supplyed by the dignity of his person which suffered them In like sort as he would have it the worth or dignitie of that charity from which the sufferings of Martyrs or other good works of just and holy men do proceed may make up that defect which they apparently have in respect of their short duration or continuance His Second Instance is that the pleasures or contentments of sin are in no wise comparable to the everlasting torments of hell which yet these momentary pleasures justly deserve for the contempt of God and his commandements and thus as he would have us believe the good works of Saints though but few and short may through the vertue of Grace or Charity as justly deserve eternal glory 10. But as his Answer in General is Sophistical so the Instances which he brings to prove it are most impertinent and if they be well scanned most pregnant for Us against him To the First we reply as all Divines agree That Christs sufferings though but temporary for duration and for quality not infinite did make a full satisfaction for the sins of mankind because the Person of the sufferer was truly and absolutely infinite his satisfaction or the value of his sufferings were truly infinite Non quia passus est infinita sed quia passus est infinitus Not because he suffered infinite pains but because He who suffered those grievous and unknown pains was truly infinite But neither the persons of the Saints which suffered martyrdom nor any pains which they suffered or good works which they did had any just Proportion to Infinity and therefore could not be Meritorious of eternal Glory which is for duration infinite either in respect of their persons or of their charity which questionless was much less then Christs love and charity towards us as man though this was not so absolutely Infinite as the love and charity of his Godhead So that this Instance is not only impertinent but altogether unadvised and the Reader may well wonder how such gross and somnolent incogitancie could possibly surprize so wary a man so great a Scholar as Cardinal Bellarmine was His Second Instance though it include no such gross incogitancie as the former nevertheless it is involved in an error too common not only to the Romanist but to many in reformed Churches For the pleasures of sin though but temporary deserve eternal death betwixt which and them in themselves considered there is no just proportion But the True Reason why they justly deserve this death is because men by continuing in sin and by following the pleasures of it do reject or put from them the promises of Eternal Life betwixt which and everlasting death there is a just proportion And when Life and Death everlasting are proposed unto us the One out of Mercie the other out of Justice it is most Just dealing with God to give such as chuse the pleasures of sin before the Fruits of Holiness the native issue of their choice But it could not have stood with the Justice of God to have punished our first Parents transgression with everlasting death unless out of his Free Bounty and liberality he had made them capable not of a temporal only but of an everlasting life But now that Adam hath sinned and made himself and his posterity subject unto everlasting death doth not this Original Sin or every Actual Sin which issueth from it deserve everlasting death Yes they do and would inevitably bring death upon all without intervention of Gods Mercy or Free Pardon made in Christ But this free Pardon being presupposed and being proclaimed unto the world it is not Sin Original or the Positive sins of men in themselves considered which bring everlasting death upon them but their wilful neglect or slighting of Gods mercy promised in Christ or of the means which God affords them for attaining this mercy which leaves them without Excuse or Apology or which makes up the full measure of their iniquity This is our Saviours Doctrine John 3. 17. God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved From what original then doth the condemnation of the world proceed Our Saviour tels us ver 19. This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darknesse more then light because their deeds were evil It is not then the works of darkness in themselves considered but considered with mens love unto them or delight in them that doth induce a neglect or hate of light which brings condemnation upon the world Now if the works of darkness or pleasures of sin which are but momentany do not in themselves procure everlasting death albeit they proceed from Sin Original much lesse shall the good Works of Gods Saints albeit they proceed from Grace procure or deserve everlasting life For the Grace by which we do them is from God not from our selves but the evil works which we do are our own God hath no share in them So that the Height or Accomplishment of sin consists in the neglect or contempt of Eternal Life and the neglect hereof could not be so heynous if this life could be deserved by us or if it were awarded to us out of Justice not out of meer Mercie and Grace 11. This difference betwixt the Title
Will as his love and zealous Observance of those commandments in whose practise he finds less difficultie increaseth his proneness to transgress the other from whose observance he is by nature or custom more averse will still decrease his Positive diligence or care to practise those duties which are not so contrary to his natural inclinations will alwayes in some proportion or other raise or quicken his weak desires or inclinations to observe those duties which he hath formerly more often and more grievously neglected or opposed 9. But some happily will here demand why our Saviour in this place of St. Matth. 25. 34. c. seeing all Good works are necessarie unto Salvation should instance only in works of one kind that is in works of Charitie towards others and not in works of Pietie and sanctitie as in fasting and praying It is an Excellent observation and so much the more to be esteemed by us in that it was made by Jansenius a learned Bishop not of Reformed but of the Romish Church that However fasting and other exercises of mortification be duties necessary in their time and place yet God is better pleased with us for relieving and comforting others in their affliction be it affliction of body or of soul then for afflicting our own souls and bodies And as for fasting One good Use of it is To learn by our voluntarie want of food truly to pitie and comfort others which want it against their wills we then truly fast or our fast is then truly religious when we fast not for thrift or sparing or for the health of body but that what we spare from our selves we may bestow not sparingly but cheerfully upon our needy brethren So the Prophet instructs us Esai 58. 5 6 7. Is it such a fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul is it to bow down his head as a bul-rush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him wilt thou call this a fast an acceptable day to the Lord Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoke Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Again Fasting is useful or expedient only at some certain times and seasons These duties here mentioned Mat. 25. 34. c. are at all times necessarie they are never out of season they are upon the respects last mentioned most seasonable when we Fast and yet in some sort more seasonable when we Feast For feasting of our selves or of the Rich being unmindful of the poor and needy is to bring a curse upon our selves and upon our plentie As we see it set forth in the parable of Lazarus and Dives See Pro. 22. 16. Luke 14. 13. St. Austine observes that the duty of praying continually is not literally meant of praying alwayes with our lips nor of multiplying set hours of Devotion but Omne opus bonum Every good work is a Real Prayer specially if we consecrate our selves to it by prayer The continuance of Good works begun and undertaken by prayer is a continuation of our prayers So that by Praying often and doing Good to others continually we may be said to observe or fulfill that precept Pray continually 10. As we cannot more truly imitate or express our Savior's disposition in more solid Characters then by the practise of these duties for he went about doing good healing all that were oppressed so are there no Duties which are so easie for all to imitate him in as these are None can plead exemption for want of means or opportunity to practise them For though some be so needy themselves that they cannot clothe the naked or feed the hungry yet may they visit the sick or resort to such as are in Prison As every one in some kinde or other may be the object of his neighbors charity so may every one be either Instrument or Agent in the doing thereof The rich may stand in need of visitation or of their Neighbors Prayers either for continuance or restauration of health and they cannot want other on whom to exercise their charity For as our Saviour saith Pauperes semper habebitis vobiscum You shall always have the poor amongst you And who knows whether the Lord in mercy hath not suffered the poor in these places to abound that the rich or men of competent means might have continual and daily occasion to practise these Duties here continually injoyned We of this place cannot want soil to sow unto the Lord For as the former Parable imports we shall not want occasion to put out the Talent wherewith God hath blest us to advantage So Solomon saith He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord and look what he layeth out it shall be payed him again Pro. 19. 17. What greater Incouragement can any man either give or require to the performance of this service then that which Our Lord and Master hath given to all which either truly love him or esteem of his love What can the Eloquence of man adde to this Invitation in this place What better Assurance could any man require then the solemn promise of so powerful and gracious a Lord Or what greater Reward or Blessing could any man expect to have assured unto him then that which our Savior here assures us Whatsoever we do to the poor and distressed he will interpret it as done to himself and really so reward it And with Reference to this Last Day of Final Retribution did the Psalmist say Psal 41. Blessed is the man that provideth for the sick and needy the Lord shall deliver him in time of trouble Sickness Death and Judgement are Critical days of Trouble But I know it will be Objected that The greatest part of the poor which dwell and sojourn amongst us are not such Little Ones as our Savior here speaks of that is not his Brethren Men or Children they be which for the most part draw near unto him with their lips when they hope to receive an Alms through his Name but are far from him in their hearts more ready at most times and upon no occasion to abuse his Name with fearful Oathes then to call upon it in Prayer in Reverence and Humility Would God the matter Objected were not too true However The truth of it doth not so much excuse the Contraction as it doth exact the Extension of your bowels of compassion towards them 11. Seeing for them also Christ shed his blood their ignorance of Christ and his goodness should move us all to a deeper touch of Pity and Compassion towards them then sight of their bodily distress of their want or calamity can affect us with And this
be we be but men whatsoever our estate be it is but Humane subject to chance and obnoxious to change Nature would tell us that whatsoever is evil whilest done unto us is evil also to be done to others And seeing there is no evil which we can do to others but the like may be done unto us we should be as unwilling to do any evil at all to others as we are to have any done to us For Nature it self doth as it were of course suggest a fear of being done to as men have done to others Hence springs that Negative precept Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris Again whatsoever is good whilst it is done to us the same is Good whilest done to others in like case nay as good to them as unto us And seeing All Good is to be desired we should be as desirous to do good to others as to have good done to our selves Yea seeing according to the mind of Christ Beatius est Dare quam accipere Acts 20. 36. to do good is better then to have good done to us as every action is better then Passion we should therefore be more desirous of that And hence riseth the Affirmative Precept Do as you would be done to Even the Heathen knew that it was better to give then to take Quas dederis solas semper habebis opes It was more to have a Conscience fraught with the memory of Good Turns done or benefits bestowed on others then to have store of possessions or goods and yet therewith to do little or no good 9. Yet are not these Two Rules so plain and evident unto natural Reason but natural passion and self-self-love will find exceptions against them There is no man will deny that these Rules were very Good in the old World or Golden Age or that they be Good now if all men would be content to observe them alike But he shall be sure to live by the losse that resolves to do better to any others then it is likely any will do to him Nay many in their heat of discontent at others bad usage of them will not stick quite to invert this Rule and think that it is just and right at least no wrong to use others as they have been used themselves Thus I have known some use more severity towards their inferiors then did well agree with their natural disposition only because they had been severely used by others whilest they were inferiors And this they think not amisse so they do it with no ill mind but only because they would not be the onely men that should be noted and marked as fit to suffer abuse and wrongs whilst their equals go Scot-free Thus sundry shut up from others by reason of infection have sought to infect others only because they would have companions in their miseries albeit it was not Man but God that brought that Bodily Evil upon them And thus many rude and barbarous Beggars being denied harbor or relief of such as might afford it them through a conceit of their own forlorn estate will seek to make others as poor or more miserable then themselves only that they may have some to be their equals or inferiors The like suggestions of evil and wrong in some degree or other will every mans Passions present unto his thoughts yet who so is but naturally wise either will not hear them or if this be too hard to put them off because passion is so familiar and intimate with the soul will not give sentence untill he have heard Reason speak which would oppose him Thus. 10. When thou wast hardly and despightfully used by others suppose abused in person disgraced in speech or indamaged in Goods c. did they well or ill that so did use thee If well why wast thou moved therewith Why dost thou complain Or rather why wouldst thou not be so well used again If evil they did why seekest thou then to imitate them in the evil which thou hatest for if it were evil in them whilst it was done to thee then will it be evil in thee whilst thou dost the like to others Yea perhaps much worse in thee because thou having suffered the like wrong before thou better knows what an heynous Fact it is to do the like For none knows none possibly can know so well what a greivous sin oppression is as he that hath been violently oppressed by others None can so distinctly perceive what an odious offence slander defamation or scurrilitie is as he that hath been scourged by scurrilous Tongues or wronged in his good Name by false accusers sly informers or envious whisperers Generally the nature and qualitie of all evil that happens to one man from another is much better known by suffering then by doing it For he that does it first perhaps scarce knows well what he doth he sees the nature of it but as it were afarre off But he that suffers it feels it at hand and knows it by experience Now the greater we know any evil to be and the more feeling touch we have of the nature and quality of it the more grievous is our sin if we practise the like Wherefore he that hath been most hardly dealt withall sins most if he deal so with others for he doth that to others which he is most unwilling should be done unto himself because he best knows the smart of the evil and according to his unwillingness of having the like done to himself will the smart of the sting of Conscience be for doing so to others Some perhaps or some mans Passions would here Reply These reasons hold true if we should so use them that never did us wrong as others have wrongfully used us but if the partie that used us ill come in our way we do him but right if we use him just so as he hath used us For Justice it self consists in Equalitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if we pay him but in the same measure that he did mete to us he is justly dealt withal It s true indeed he is but justly dealt withall because he is but done to as he had done to others So a thief or murderer is but justly dealt withall if he be hanged yet if every man that hath his goods stoln should do this which is but right unto a Thief or if every man that hath his friend or brother slain should but do that which is due and should be done unto a murderer not expecting the Judges sentence both might do themselves great wrong in doing that which was but right and due to the offenders respectively And so shall every one wrong his own soul and conscience that will prevent him in his judgements to whom vengeance belongeth by taking Revenge into his own hands and not expect his good leasure by lawful and publick means The Law of nature is Do As thou wouldst be done to not As thou hast been done to against thy will
Jonathans Death nor when the Angel of the Lord had smitten his people with the Plague of Pestilence Those against whom Amos speaks did sin in that they had their pleasant musick whilst their brethrens miseries did call them to the house of mourning These had their delightful Ditties whilst their brethren were ready to sing the Lords Song in a strange Land This was it that did so displease the Lord that they were so desirous to please themselves with these or any other delights whilst his heavy wrath was upon their neighbor Countries They drink VVine in Bowls and annoint themselves with the choice Ointments but no man is sorry for the afflictions of Joseph This was a grievous sin in Judah that they were not sorry for the affliction of Israel that is of the ten Tribes It was a grievous sin in the Princes and Nobles that they did not mourn and lament for the miseries of the mean and common People Therefore saith the Lord now shall they go Captive with the first that go captive and the sorrow of them that stretch themselves is at hand So certain it is That God will make their miserie greatest that will not equalize themselves in publick Calamities to their Brethren The Second Sermon upon this Text. CHAP. XXXIII MATTH 7. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so unto them For this is the Law and the Prophets The Second General according to the Method proposed Chapt. 32. Sect. 5. handled This Precept Do as ye would be done to more then Aequivalent to that Love thy neighbor as thy self For by Good Analogie it is Applicable to all the Duties of the first Table which we owe to God for our very Being and all his other Blessings in all kinds bestowed on us Our desires to receive Good things from God ought to be the measure of our Readiness to return obedience to his will and all other duties of dependents upon his Grace and Goodness God in giving Isaac did what Abraham desired And Abraham in offering Isaac did what God desired Two Objections made and answered 1. That This Rule may seem to establish the Old Pythagorean Error of Retaliation and the new One of Paritie in Estates 2. That the Magistrate in punishing offendors it seems in some Case must of necessitie either violate this Rule or some other THat this Precept Do as ye would be done to doth contain as much as that Other Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self is evident to every man at the first sight For that we desire either to have any good or no evil done unto us it is from the love we bear unto our selves And if we could be as desirous to do all good and as unwilling to do any evil unto others as we are to have the one done the other not done to our selves our love to Others and Our selves would be equal And if we love others or our neighbours as our selves then we have fulfilled the Law So St. Paul saith Rom. 13. 8. Owe nothing to any man but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law for this Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not bear false witnesse Thou shalt not covet And if there be any other Commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying even in this Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self But here ariseth a Question concerning the extent of these words If there be any other Commandment The Frame or Form of Speech is Universal and may seem to import thus much If there be any other Commandment whatsoever Notwithstanding the best Interpreters usually restrain it thus If there be any Commandment of the second Table it is comprehended in this short saying Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self Whereas St. Paul had here reckoned up all the Commandments of the Second Table save only one which indeed is rather the Medius Terminus or coupling of the First and Second Table as much belonging to the one as to the other that is Honour thy Father and thy Mother More fitly might the same words be restrained thus If there be any other commandment whether one of those Ten mentioned Exod. 20. or elswhere in the Law which concerns the duty of man to man be it one or be they more they be contained in This saying Love thy neighbour as thy self But as for our duty towards God or those four Commandments of the First Table they may seem no way comprehended in the former Saying and this restraint may it seems be gathered from our Saviours Doctrine Matth. 22. ver 37. For being asked which was the greatest Commandment in the Law He answered Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thine Heart with all thy soul and with all thy mind This is the first and great Commandment As if he had said This is that Commandment which contains in it most of the Rest or all that concern our duty towards God But there is A second like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and on these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets Hence as some collect our Saviour in my Text saith not This is the whole Law and the Prophets But This is the Law and the Prophets because This precept to their seeming is but equivalent unto That Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self which is but One and the lesse of the Two on which hangeth the whole Law and the Prophets 2. Yet may it be further Questioned In what sense These Commandments are said to be Two as whether they be as we say Primò diversa as distinct as the Commandments of Murther and Theft neither of which is any way included in the other or dependent upon it Or whether they be only so distinguished as the Old Testament and the New that is as is said Novum Testamentum velatum est in veteri et vetus Revelatum in Novo The New Testament is in the Old but invailed and the Old revealed in the New so we may say That the first and great Commandment Of loving God withall our heart and all our soul is implicitly contained in the second of loving our neighbours as our selves and the second again expressly or impulsively contained in the former Thus much is certain that no man loves his neighbour aright unless he love him for Gods sake whom He loves above all and whose love commands all other love In this sence saith St. James whosoever shall keep the whole law besides and fail in one Commandment that is wittingly and willingly or if he would grant himself an Indulgence or dispensation of breaking that one He is guiltie of all Why of all St. James adds He that said thou shalt not commit Adulterie said also thou shalt not kill His meaning is He that gave one commandment gave all and therefore he that breakes one willingly
outwardly and for fashion sake unless it be to persons of their own Rank whose evils and calamities they can apprehend as their own Secondly which is the worst of evils that can be imagined whilst they perform some Branches of the Affirmative Precept that is whilst they seek to pleasure others in their eagre desires of preferment or such things wherein they would be pleasured again they bring a necessity upon themselves of transgressing the Negative part of this Precept that is Of doing that to others which they would not have done unto themselves if they were in their Case I am perswaded That the miseries which fall upon the inferior sorts of men by the mutual desires of great men to do one to another as they would be done unto that is by pleasuring one another in their suites of honour preferment or inlarging their estates are more then all that God doth otherwise lay upon them in this life Many thousands whom God never cursed are by these meanes forced to seek their bread in stony places And is it possible that any man can perswade himself that if he were in such poor mens Cases he should be well pleased with their dealings who seek to enlarge their superfluities by the certain diminishing of other mens necessaries for life And yet who is he almost that thinks he doth not observe this Precept well enough if he be willing to do another man as good a Turn as he expects from him although he know not to whose harm it may redound If no determinate person for the present feel the smart they think Conscience hath no cause to cry As if God Almighty did not see as well what evil will hereafter insue as what is present and did not punish immoderate desires which necessarily bring on with them publick Calamities as well as outragious but private Facts 7. With this Fallacie A Dicto secundum quid ad Simpliciter we usually deceive our selves in the performance of this Dutie We think it sufficient to do as we have been done unto or if we do to some one or few as we expect from them or as we could desire to be done unto if their Case were ours Whereas we should examin it not from our affection to This or That man but by our Indifferencie of receiving and Returning good towards All. Oft-times to do one man good may be conjoyned with some others harm whom we have more reason to respect And here we may quickly mistake in the proposal of their Exigence as our own If you fulfil the Royal Law according to the Scripture which saith Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self ye do well saith St. James Chap. 2. 4. But if ye regard persons ye commit sin and are rebuked of the Law as Transgressors The Apostles Discourse in that place inferres as much as I have said And his meaning is that which our Saviour had taught in the Parable of the Samaritan That every man as man is our neighbor and therefore this Dutie of loving others as our selves and doing as we would be done unto was to be performed to all alike without respect of persons For that which we are to respect is the Exigence of their estate So much is Formally and Essentially included in the Dutie it self Not that we may not be more ready to do good to one man then to another for this we may do without respect of Persons Do good to all but especially to such as are of the Houshold of Faith The Object of this Dutie is man as man in his lawful desires Our love then or readiness of doing good must be increased according to the just exigencies of their desires where These are equal our desire of doing good may be augmented according to particular respects of nearness c. as To a Christian before a Turk to an English man before another For if we must love others as our selves we must be most ready to respect that in others which we in a Regular Way desire should be most respected in our selves Now next to eternal happiness life and the necessities thereof we most respect And if we stand in danger of losing the one or suffer want of the other we desire that those main Chances as we say may be secured before we begin to hunt after pleasures or superfluities If then we must Do to all men as we would be done unto without respect of persons that is excluding none we must first releive the necessities of such as want and tender the life of such as are in sickness or danger and then if occasion require we may require or deserve kindnesses in matters of innocuous pleasure as in feasting sporting furthering mens advancements or the like Otherwise to respect the pleasuring of a Dear Friend in these before the Releif of an Enemies necessities is preposterous and a breach of the Law Because it is to have respect of persons 8. The Rule is General in all Christian duties Our affections must be directed to the Adaequate Object as we term it and set not more upon one part then another but upon every essential part alike Or if any increase of affection or liking be to be made it should alwayes proceed from the increase of some Exigence essentialy included in the right Motive or Ground of our affection or from some Actual Intention of that Qualitie or Propertie in some part of the Object which is the Modus Considerandi or which is the allurement or Term of our desires or affections Otherwise setting our affections more upon one part than upon another for some Extrinsecal or Accidental Reasons not included as we say in modo Considerandi in the Formal Reason or property of the Object the observing of our duty in that part doth usually inforce a Defalcation or breach of it in some other just as uneven and irregular zeal to one or some few Commandments doth alwayes produce a dispensing with or neglect of the rest Ense Thyestaeo poenas exegit Orestes Orestes in seeking to Revenge his Fathers unnatural violent Death did no otherwise then he himself would have given the Son of his Body in charge if he had lyen upon his Death-bed But yet he ought this honour to his cruel and adulterous Mother to have let her die at least by some others Hands not to have imbrued his own in her blood not to have taken life from that body from which he received life The Poets Censure of his Fact is accute Mixtum cum pietate nefas dubitandaque Caedis Gloria maternae laudem cum crimine pensat A righteous man saith Solomon is merciful to his beast but the mercies of the wicked are cruel Pity upon dumb beasts is commanded in the Law especially to such as do man service And he that is merciful unto them upon a true respect in as much as they are partakers with us of Life and sense and communicate with us in our more general nature will be
extends thus farre Baruch Wouldst thou reap pleasures from a Land overspread with plagues and drowned with sorrow Or seekest thou applause or credit among a people now become an hissing and astonishment to all their neighbors Wouldst thou eat Lambs out of the flock or fat Calves out of the Stall whilest famine devours the men of warre whiles such as have fed delicately languish for hunger in the streets Wouldst thou be clothed with soft rayment or crown thy head with roses whilst such as have been brought up in scarlet embrace the dunghill Is it thy desire to glad thine heart with wine or with oyl to make thee a chearful countenance when as the visage of my Nazarites sometimes purer then snow whiter then milk is become more black then any coal Or dost thou affect to live at ease in Sion to be lull'd asleep with sound of viols whilst the the outcries of the maimed captives or mothers rob'd of their children are ready to wake the dead out of their sepulchres For a voice is taken up throughout all the Cities of Judah and Benjamin a voice of bitter weeping like that of Rachel mourning for her children and refusing comfort because they are not Sooner shal heaven fall to the earth and the whole earth shrink into its Centre then one word my Prophets have spoken shal fall to the ground And now if thou wouldst be instructed those dayes long since foretold by Micah are approaching The dayes Wherein Sion must be plowed as a field Ierusalem become an heap and the mountain of the house like the high places of the Forrest Thou seest whole cities whole Kingdoms subject to mortality and seekest thou to enclose that prosperity which they could not entertain within thy breast Albeit thou couldst hope to live happily in the midst of so great misery as is decreed against thy native Country yet what is or hath been therein what is it thine eyes have seen under the sun whereon thy love and liking could have been more affectionately set then mine have been upon this Land and people For hath it not been sung of old Ierusalem is the vinyard of The Lord of Hosts and the men of Iudah his pleasant plant yet I thou seest must forgo mine own inheritance and be deprived of Ierusalem my wonted joy and art thou so wedded to ought in it that thou canst not leave off to love it and be contented to take thy life with thee for a prey to possess in whatsoever place thou shalt make choice of 10. But is Baruch by this Donative discharged of his former Watchmanship in Jerusalem No! As the proposal of these Calamities ought in reason to wean his soul from wonted delights or seeking after great matters so one special End of his not seeking after these is that he may be more resolute and diligent in denouncing Gods judgements against this people The intimation of the former words may on Gods part be thus continued ¶ However I have determined to destroy this people which have forsaken me Yet do not thou forsake thy former Station repine not at thy wonted charge but execute faithfully with alacritie that service whereto my Prophet shall appoint thee What though thou hast seen no fruit of all thy former labours What though Iehoiakim begin to rage afresh and this people hold on still to rebell against thee Hath not my spirit continually Warred with the uncircumcised hearts of their forefathers Hath not the Great Angel of my Covenant wrastled from time to time with this stubborn and stiff-necked generation What could I have done more to my vine-yard that I have not done unto it Howbeit at every season whilst I looked for grapes it hath brought forth wilde grapes yet hitherto have I not ceased nor do I yet cease to prune and dresse it Have the inhabitants of Ierusalem at any time grieved thee or my Prophets Or do I now send thee with this message unto them and am not with thee Yes in all thy troubles I am troubled And what art thou or who is Ieremy Not against you but against me is the rebellion of my people for they have vexed my holy spirit And doth this complaint well become thee I fainted in my sighing and I find no rest ¶ All these and many like branches which without violence to the meaning of the Spirit might be spread out more at large are virtually enclosed in the Text. The force and efficacie of the perswasion ariseth more particularly from the Reference which these words Seek them not c. have to Baruchs repining at the message enjoyned by Jeremie and to that Reply of the Almighty upon his repining Behold that which I have planted will I pluck up c. Which last words unless I mis-observe the native propriety of the Original implie such an Emphatical Antithesis between the losses which God and Baruch might seem to suffer as that speech of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 36. implies betwixt Gods sowing and mans sowing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou Fool that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die The Implication is Much more shall that which is sowen in corruption by the Almighties immediate hand be raised in glory Our Prophets words are verbatim thus Ejus quod aedificavi destructor Egomet Of what I have built I my self must be the destroyer Ejus quod plantavi evulsor Egomet what was planted by me alone I my self must now pluck up Et tu quaereres grandia tibi As if he had said I may not reap where I have sown nor gather the fruits which I have planted and canst not thou be contented to forgo thy harvest which thou hopest for but diddest not sow To the least grain whereof thou canst have no Title none so just and soveraign as I have to this whole Land to every Soul that lives in Judah and yet the whole and every part of this fair crop must be pluckt up and transplanted 11. But though the Lord at this time had thus threatned and more than half shut the door of Repentance upon this stubborn people yet the Decree did not passe the irrevocable Seal of his absolute and unresistible Will until some fourteen years after as hath been shewed in former meditations out of this place As much as I now affirm is included in Ieremies words to Baruch at the very instant when he repined Jerem. 36. v. 6 7. Therefore go thou and read in the Roll which thou hast written from my mouth the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in the Lords House upon the fasting day and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their Cities It may be they will present their supplication before the Lord and will return every one from his evil way for great is the anger and the fury that the Lord hath pronounced against this people Whether they would pray in faith or no was Juris controversi a
to censure their forefathers to whom they owed more respect then we do to them for Idolatry prophanenesse and guilt of innocent blood and thus they censured them without dissimulation or affected zeal And yet in thus judging their Fathers they did condemn themselves for they did the same things or worse But you will say It is not possible that we should do the same things which these later Jewes did or worse things then they did For Christ cannot be buffeted cannot be spit upon cannot be crucified again Yet may we do those things and would to God oft-times we did them not which are more displeasing to him now enthroned in Heaven as King then all that the Jewes did unto him whilst he was in form of a servant here on earth It was not the evil which the Jewes did to him as to their professed enemie but the evil which was in themselves as their pride envie hypocrisie uncharitable censuring of others which made him that made them to be their enemie and him that had been their Protector to fight against them These are diseases not Proper to the Jewish Nation but Epidemical and common to all Nations and places The matter of them as our Apostle in this Chapter disputes is alike common to all But the Jewish Nation came to their Crisis at Christs first appearance in humilitie Our Critical Day is not to be expected until his second appearing in Majesty and glory Then nothing which lies hid in the heart but shall be laid open then and not before will all enmitie betwixt the serpent and the womans seed appear And in that day it shall be more tolerable for them which crucified him then for us unlesse we take warning by Gods known Judgements upon them and their seed to avoid those practises and accustomances which wrought and swayed them by means secret and unsensible to exercise enmitie and hostilitie against their Lord their Maker and Redeemer 14. And here my purpose was to have used the former Parallel betwixt the Ancient Jewes which killed the Prophets and the later which condemning them for so doing did not withstanding kill our Saviour as a Map whereby to shew you in what particulars many in this Land who not content with that discreet and judicious Reformation which is contained in the publick Acts and Liturgie of our Church by their solicitous care and anxious zeal to be extreamly contrary unto the Romish Church almost in all things do by judging her and her children condemn themselves doing the very same things or worse things then she doth and help to make up that measure of iniquitie upon this Land which the Romish Religion whilst it was here authorized had left unaccomplished But for this point and others which serve for use and application of the general Doctrine hitherto delivered this present time will not suffice The Application shall be brief Take heed you measure not your love to truth by your opposition unto error If hatred of error and superstition spring from sincere love of truth and true Religion the root is good and the branch is good But if your love to truth and true Religion spring from hatred to others error and superstition the root is naught and the branch is naught There can no other fruit be expected but hypocrisie hardness of heart and uncharitable censuring others CHAP. XXXVIII The Second Sermon upon this Text. ROMANS 2. 1. Therefore Thou art inexcusable O man c. 1. THe Points worthy our Consideration are Three First How our Fore-elders in the beginning of Reformation and many amongst us since the Reformation established did or do condemn themselves whilest they judge the Romish Church in particulars worthy of Condemnation by all Secondly How the Romish Church in General and many professing Reformed Religion condemn themselves even whilst they judge the Iews in Points most gross and damnable Thirdly How not the Romish Church only or the Jewish Synagogue but many amongst Professors of true Religion men in Opinion Orthodoxal evidently condemn themselves whilest they judge or censure the very Idolatry of the Heathen The Points for which one Church or Nation one sort of People or generation of men may judge another either concern matters of Manners and practise or matters of Opinion and doctrine or matters mixt that is Errors in Opinion which induce misdemeanors in practise If Errors there be any which do not draw after them dangerous or ungodly Practises these rather deserve pity or toleration then Rigid Censure But Doctrinal Errors which induce lewd practises are more dangerous more to be detested then the most gross or lewdest practises into which some men fall being not mislead or drawn into them by Plausible Errors or false doctrine Practises how gross soever if they want the supportance or Countenance of Doctrinal Rules pollute the souls consciences of the parties peccant they are not so powerful to seduce others But Misdemeanors or perverse Affections being coutenanced by Pretence or Colour of sacred Authoritie are most infectious Briefly there is no false Doctrine but it is an Inconvenience whereas grosser misdemeanors without error in doctrine are but Mischiefs And it is a Maxim received by the most sage and prudent that Better is a Mischief then an Inconvenience or at least an Inconvenience is worse then a Mischief But worst of all is an Inconvenience which draws Mischief after it and such is every Error in Doctrine which inclines or disposes men to evil practises or which doth leaven or malignifie the affections of the heart naturally bad or but indifferent That which our Fore-elders did most condemn in the Romish Church or at least that which they went about to reform was the Excessive Wealth which the Church or Clergie had gotten into their possession with the Transcendent Authoritie of the Papacie by which they sought to detain what they had gotten or to gather more Whatever the manner of getting their wealth or Revenues was the manner of using or imploying them was exceeding bad and did deserve yea require a Reformation Our Fore-elders did well in judging the Clergie for abusing Revenues sacred to the maintenance of idleneness superstition and idolatry But would to God they had not condemned themselves by judging them or that they had not done the same things wherein they judged them Happy had it been for them and for their posterity if those large Revenues which they took from such as abused them had been imployed to pious uses As either to the maintenance of true Religion or to the support of the needie or to prevent oppressing by extraordinary Taxes or the like This had been an undoubted effect of pure Religion and undefiled before God But it was not the different Estate or condition of the parties on whom Church Revenues were bestowed that could give warrant unto their Alienation or which might bring a blessing upon their intended Reformation but the Uses unto which they were consecrated or the manner how
members of the same Church without dissension And of all the Points in Divinity this day controverted in any Church or betwixt the members of any Church there is no one that doth naturally better brook diversitie of Opinions or acurate sifting without hazard of breaking the bond of Christian peace and charitie then the Controversie about the Certaintie of Salvation or of Perseverance in the state of Grace For Christian charity would presume that every man which hath his senses exercised in these or the like Points is desirous to be as certain of his own Salvation or estate in Grace as with safety of conscience his own understanding or rule of reason will permit him or can make him Such as know their own Estate in Grace by experience or otherwise stand bound in equity in Christian charity and in humanity rather to pity then to exasperate their brethrens weakness which have not the skill or like Experience to conclude for themselves so well as they do or which doubt whether the doctrine in Thesi in the General be true or false And yet we see by woful experience that the Contentions about these Points have been so bitter and so uncivil that no Papist or other Adversary shall ever be able to say more against the Certaintie of Salvation or mens Irreversible Estate in Grace then many such as have written for it have said against themselves For if by the Grace which they hold impossible for men to fall from they mean the Spirit of wisdom or understanding in matters spiritual or the Spirit of meekness of sobrietie and Christian charitie every man that hath any branch of the Spirit of Grace implanted in him may conclude without sin that many which contend most earnestly for Absolute perseverance in it either never had this Grace or else are totally fallen from it 11. The Third Point proposed was the Golden Mean which the Church of England mainteins as opposite to these Contrary Extremes but most consonant to the Evangelical Truth First Our Church doth acknowledge That Fides is Fiducia That the very nature of that Faith which differenceth a Believer from an Infidel or a Christian from a meer natural man doth necessarily include a Certaintie or full Assurance in it It must be without wavering without distrust or Doubt The only Question is About the right or orderly placing of this Certaintie of Faith or full Assurance Or What be the Points whereon it first must be pitched These questionless must be Points Fundamental and such is that That the Son of God did die for us that he did fully pay the price of our Redemption This every man is firmly to beleive otherwise he builds without a Foundation This Certainty of Faith or full assurance you shall find continually prest upon all hearers in the Book of Homilies and other Acts of the Church But how shall every private man be fully assured that Christ did die for him and that he fully paid the price of his redemption Sure no man can have a right or full assurance of this Particular unless he first assuredly believe that the Son of God did die for all men that he hath redeemed all mankind He that firmly and constantly believes this Proposition in some respect universal The Son of God did die for all men can never doubt or waver in Faith whether he died for him or whether he hath paid the full Price of his Redemption He which believes the General by an Historical or Moral Faith cannot chuse but believe the particular by the same Faith He that believes the General by a spiritual and true Christian Faith must believe the particular by the same Faith If the first Proposition Christ died for All men be De Fide The Second likewise Christ died for me must be De Fide too But how any man should have Assurance of Faith That Christ did die for him or hath redeemed him unless he be first assured by Certaintie of Faith That Christ did die for all men This I confess is a Point which I could never be assured of nor be satisfied in by any that plead for Special Faith 12. Sure I am that the Church our Mother doth teach us to begin our Faith or Assurance from the General Christ died for All men he hath redeemed all mankind And this General She grounds upon that Saying of our Saviour John 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life The Application or Use of this place you may find pithily prest in the third Part of the Homily Upon the Death and Passion of our Saviour To whom saith the Author of the Homily did he give his Son To the whole world that is to say to Adam and to all that come after him He was not given to Adam nor to such as come after him until Adam and all that came after him were lost until mankind were become his enemies And this is that which sets forth The wonderful love of God unto the world that he would give his only Son whom he loved for all of us which were his enemies Scarcely for a righteous man will one die saith the Apostle Rom. 5. 7. yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners he died for us 13. But when we are taught to beleive that Christ died as well for every one of us as he died for any we are bound to beleive not only that he shed as much blood for every one of us as he did for St. Peter or St. Paul but that he shed as much blood for every one of us as he did for all men That he paid as great a price for my redemption as he paid for the Redemption of all mankind It was not the Quantitie of his blood shed but the infinite Value of each drop which he shed that did pay the price of our Redemption Had the whole stream of his blood been much greater then it was if it had been of value less then infinite it could not have payed the price of one mans redemption and of price more then infinite his blood what-ever quantitie had been shed could not be for all So that he did as much for thee as he did for both thee and me as much for either of us as he did for the whole world His deservings of every one of us are infinite Were this apprehension or belief of the infinite and undivided love of God in Christ toward all and every man rightly planted in mans heart it would bring forth the fruits of Love he which is thus perswaded of Christs love towards him in particular would love Christ and would keep his Commandements would trust in Christ and in all temptations rely upon him 14. To conclude all concerning The right ordering or placing of that Certaintie or full
Lord to utter these words Or which is all one The fulfilling of his imprecation according to the Mystical sense Third The discussion of such Cases of Conscience or controversed Divinity as are naturally emergent out of the Mystical or Literal sense and are useful for this present or future Ages To begin with the Circumstance of the time wherein they were uttered That apparently was the dayes of King Joash Heir and Successor unto Ahaziah King of Judah who was next Successor save one unto good Jehoshaphat by lineal direct descent but no Successor at all to him in vertue or goodness or happiness of Government For Ahaziah was Pessimi patris haud melier proles a very wicked son of a most wicked father and too hard to say whether he or his Father Jehoram were the worse King or more unfortunate Governour But Joash the Orphan Son of Ahaziah hath the Testimonie of the Spirit of God That he ruled well whilst Jehiiada the High-Priest did live 2 King 12. 2. And his zeal to the House of the Lord recorded at large in this chapter as also in the 2 Kings 12. 4. was so great as more could not be expected or conceived either of Jehoshaphat Hezekiah or good Josiah And thus he continued from the seventh year of his Age until the five or six and thirtieth at the least A competent time a man would think for a full and firm growth in goodness But amongst the Sons and Successors of David we may observe that some begun their Reign very well and ended ill Others being extream bad in their beginning did end better then the other begun So Manasses in the beginning and middle of his Reign filled the City with innocent blood and died a Penitentiary This present King Joash begun and continued his Reign for thirty years or thereabouts in the spirit but ended in the flesh or rather in blood leaving a perpetual stain upon the Throne and Race of David This strange Apostacie or Revolt argues that his fore-mentioned goodness and zeal unto the House of the Lord was Adventitious and not truly rooted in his own brest That the fair Lineaments of a pious man and noble Prince were drawn not by his own skill but by the manuduction of Jehoiada the High-Priest as Children oft-times make fair letters while their Tutors guide their hands but spatter and blot and dash after they be left to their own guidance Jehoiada saith the Text waxed old and was full of dayes an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died and they buried him in the City of David among the Kings because he had done good in Israel both towards God and towards his House The solemnization of his death was a strong Argument of the respect and love which both Prince and People did bear unto him whilst he lived and much happier might both of them have been had they continued the same respect unto his Son and Successor But they buried their love unto Jehoiada and which was worst the zeal which he had taught unto the House of God in his Grave For so it followeth verse 17 18. Now after the death of Jehoiada came the Princes of Iudah and made obeysance to the King Then the King hearkened unto them and he left the House of the Lord God of their Fathers and served Groves and Idols Yet Gods love to them doth not determine with the beginning of their hate unto the House of God and to his faithful Servants For notwithstanding that wrath came upon Iudah and Ierusalem for this their trespasse yet he sent Prophets to them to bring them again to the Lord and they testified against them but they would not give ear And the Spirit of the Lord came upon or cloathed Zechariah the Son of Iehoiada the Priest who stood above the people and said unto them Thus saith God Why transgress ye the Commandement of the Lord that ye cannot prosper Because ye have forsaken the Lord he hath also forsaken you And they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the Commandment of the King in the Court of the House of the Lord. Thus Ioash the King remembred not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done unto him but slew his Son and when he dyed he said or inter moriendum dixit The Lord look upon it and require it 3. But did the Lord hearken to him or require his blood at the Kings and Princes hands which slew him Yes that he did oftner then once For it was required of their posterity But for the present he did visit both the King and his Princes most remarkably by an unexpected Army of the Syrians unto whose Idolatrous Rites they had now conformed themselves complying too well with them and with their neighbors the Heathen in all sorts of wickedness But here the Polititian will reply That the Syrians did upon other occasions intend to do some mischeif to the King the Princes and People of Judah For it was never unusual to that Nation to vex or molest Israel or Judah Nunc olim quocunque dabant se tempore vires As often as opportunity served as often as they could spy advantage And to assign the Probable or meritorious Causes of such Plagues as befal any Nation by their inveterate enemies unto the Judgment of God for this or that sin is not safe specially for men not endued with the Spirit of Prophecie In many Causes I confess it is not yet in this particular we need not be afraid to say as much as the Spirit of God or sacred authority of his Word hath taught us We say no more as indeed we need not for the point is so plainly and punctually set down by the pen-man of this Book from verse 23. to the 26. as it needs no Comment no paraphrase or marginal conjecture any of which would rather soyl then clear the meaning of the Text. And it came to passe at the revolution of the year that the hoast of Syria came up against him and they came to Judah and Ierusalem and destroyed all the Princes of the people from amongst the people and sent the spoyls of them to Damascus c. 4. The Observations or plain Uses which these Literal Circumstances of this Story afford are many I shall touch upon some principal ones As First To admonish Kings or other supreme Magistrates to reverence and respect their Clergy seeing Ioash did prosper so well while he followed the advice and counsel of the High-Priest Iehoiada but came to this fearful and disastrous end first by contemning the warning of Zechariah the Cheif-Priest and afterward by shedding of the innocent blood of this great Prophet of the Lord. But this will be a common place not so proper to this time and place wherein we live wherein there is such happy accord between the supream Majestie and the Prelacie and Clergie of this Kingdom as no good Patriot can desire more then the continuance of it
Prophets Wise men and Apostles to reclaim them if they would have hearkned to him or his Messengers Admonitions S. Luke puts this out of Controversie for repeating part of this story he saith expresly Therefore also said the Wisdom of God I will send them Prophets c. And Christ is styled The Wisdom of God not as man but as God and Consequently He spake these words not as man only but as God The same compassion and burning Love the same thirst and longing after Jerusalems safety which we see here manifested by a manner comprehensible to flesh and blood in these words of our Saviour in my Text or the like uttered by him Luke 19 with tears and sobs we must believe to be as truly as really and unfeignedly in the Divine Nature though by a manner incomprehensible to flesh and blood How any such flagrant desire of their welfare which finally perish should be in God we cannot conceive because our minds are more dazeled with that inaccessible Light which he inhabits then the eyes of Batts and Owles are by gazing on the Sun To qualifie this Incomprehensible Glorie of the Deitie the Wisdom of God was made Flesh that we might safely behold the true module or proportion of Divine Goodness in our Nature as the eye which cannot look upon the Sun in his strength or as it shines in the Firmament may without offence behold it in the water being an Element homogeneal to its own substance Thus should all Christs Prayers desires or pathetical wishes of mans safetie be to us as so many visible pledges or sensible Evidences of Gods Invisible and Incomprehensible Love and so he concludes his last Invitation of the Jewes I have not spoken of my selfe but the Father which sent me he gave me Commandment what I should say and what I should speak And I know that his Commandment is everlasting life whatsoever I spake therefore even as the Father said unto me so I spake Joh. 12. ver 49 50. And what saith our Saviour more in his own then the Prophet had done in the Name and Person of his God Isai 49. v. 14. Sion complained the Lord hath for saken me and my Lord hath forgotten me But he answered Can a woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands c. These and the like Places of the Prophets compared with our Saviours speech here in my Text give us plainly to understand That whatsoever Love any mother can bear to the fruit of her womb unto whom her bowels of compassion are more tender then the fathers can be or whatsoever affection any dumb Creature can afford unto their tender brood the like but greater doth God bear unto his children Unto the Elect most will grant But is his Love so tender towards such as perish Yes the Lord carried the whole Hoste of Israel even the stubborne and most disobedient as the Eagle doth her young ones upon her wings Exod. 19. 4. Earthly Parents will not vouchsafe to wait perpetually upon their children The Hen continueth not her Call from morning to night nor can she endure to hold out her wings all day for a shelter to her young ones as they grow great and refuse to come she gives over to invite them But saith the Lord by his Prophet I have spred out my hand all the day unto a rebellious people which walketh in a way that was not good after their own thoughts A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face that sacrificeth in gardens and burneth incense upon Altars of bricks which remain among the graves and lodg in the monuments which eat Swines flesh and broth of abominable things is in their vessels which say adding hypocrisie unto filthinesse and Idolatry stand by thy self come not neer unto me for I am holier then thou Isai 65. ver 2 3 4. Such they were and so conceited of our Saviour with whom he had in his life time oft to deal and for whose safetie he prayed with teares before his Passion These and many like passages of Scripture are pathetically set forth by the Spirit to assure us That there is no desire like unto the Almighties desire of sinful mans Repentance no Longing to his Longing after our Salvation If Gods Love to Iudah comen to the height of rebellion had beene lesse then mans or other Creatures Love to what they affect most dearely If the Meanes he used to reclaim her had been fewer or lesse probable then any others had attempted for obtaining their most wished End his Demand to which the Prophet thought no possible Answer could be given might easily have been put off by these incredulous Jewes unto whom he had not referred the judgment in their own Cause if they could have instanced in man or other Creature more willing to do what possibly they could do either for themselves or others then he was to do whatsoever was possible to be done for them And now O Inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judg I pray you betwixt me and my Vineyard what could more have been done to my vineyard that I have not done to it Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes brought it forth wild grapes Isa 5. v. 3 4. 6. But the greater we make the Truth and Extent of Gods Love the more we increase the difficultie of the Second Point proposed For amongst women many there be that would amongst dumb Creatures scarce any that would not redeeme their sucklings from death by dying themselves Yet what is it that they can do which they would not do to save their owne lives And did not God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son for it Yes for the world of the Elect I see not why any should be excluded from the number But to let that passe Gods desire of their repentance which perish is undoubtedly such as hath been said Yet should we say that he hath done all that could be done for them How chanceth it that all are not saved Was the Vineyard more barren then Sarah the fruit of whose womb he made like the Stars of the sky or as the sands by the Sea shore innumerable Was it a matter more hard to make the impenitent Jew bring forth fruits worthy of Repentance then to make a Virgin conceive and beare a son If it were not how chanceth it the Word of the Lord and that but a short one should bring the One to joyful Issue whilst the other the repentance of the Jewes and other ungodly men after so many exhortations and threatnings after so many promises of comfort and so many denunciations of woes as the Prophets the Apostles and their Successors have used is not to this day nor ever will be accomplished If repentance of men born and brought up in
sin be a work altogether impossible all of us should utterly perish none repent if possible to any shall it not be possible to the Almighty who alone can do all things if possible to him why is not repentance wrought in all whose salvation he more earnestly desires then the most tender hearted mother doth the life and welfare of her darling infant Hence with Seeming Probabilitie some may Conclude either that Gods Love unto such as perish is not so great as some mothers bear unto their children or else his Power in respect of them is not infinite And against our Doctrine perhaps it will be Objected That by thus magnifying Gods Love towards All we minish his Power towards Some From which to derogate ought is in some mens judgements the worst kind of Blasphemie a Point as dangerous in Divinitie to speak but doubtfully or suspiciously of it as in matter of State to determine or limit the Prerogative Royal. Howbeit if no other choice were left but a necessitie were laid upon us of leaving either the infinite Power or infinite Goodnesse of our God questionable or unexpressed the offence were lesse to speak not so much of his Power as most do than to speak ought prejudicial to that conceipt which even the Heathens by light of Nature had of his Goodness This Attribute is the Chief Object of our Love and for which he himself desires to be loved most and in this respect to derogate ought from it must needs be most offensive But his curse be upon him that will not unfeignedly acknowledge the absolute infinitenesse as well of his Power as of his Goodnesse Whosoever he be that loves his Goodnesse will unfeignedly acknowledge that he is to be feared and reverenced as the Almightie Creator Preserver and Judge of men and unless he were in Power infinite he could not be infinitely Good Howbeit he that restrains his Love and tender Mercie only unto such as are saved doth make his Goodness less at least extensively then his Power For there is no Creature unto which his Power reacheth not but so doth not his loving kindness extend to all unless he desire the good and safetie of such as perish 7. For winding our selves out of the Former Snare we are to consider a main difference between the Love of man or other Creatures and the Love of God to mankind Dumb creatures alwayes affect what they most desire if it be within the precincts of their power because they have neither Reason nor other Internal Law of right or wrong to controll or counter-sway their brutish appetites Man although indued with Reason and natural Notions of right and wrong is notwithstanding oft-times drawn by the strength or inordination of his tender affection to use such Means as are contrarie to the Rules of Reason Equitie and Religion for procuring their safetie or impunitie on whom he dotes Howbeit among men we may find some which cannot be wrought by any promise or perswasion to use those unlawful courses for the impunity of their children or dearest Friends which the world commonly most approveth Not that their Love towards their children friends or acquaintance is lesse but because their Love to publick Iustice to Truth and Equitie and respect to their owne Integritie is Greater then other mens are A fit Instance we have in Zaleucus King of Locris who having made a severe Law That whosoever committed such an offence suppose Adultery should lose his eyes It shortly after came to pass that the Prince his Son and Heir apparent to the Crown trespassed against this Sanction Could not the good King have granted A Pardon to his Son He had Power no doubt in his hands to have dispensed with this particular without any danger to his Person and most Princes would have done as much as they could for the safetie of their Successor nor could Priviledges or Indulgences upon such special circumstances be held as breaches or violations of Publick Lawes because the Prerogative of the person offending cannot be drawn into Example But Zaleucus could not be brought to dispense with his Law because he loved Justice no lesse dearly then his Son whom he loved as dearly as himself and to manifest the Equalitie of his love to all three he caused one of his own eyes and another of his Sons to be put out that so the Law might have its due though not wholly from his son that had offended but in part from himself as it were by way of punishment for his partialitie towards his son It were Possible no doubt for a King to reclaim many Inferiors from theft from robberie or other ungratious Courses so he would vouchsafe to abate his own expences to maintain theirs or afford them the solaces of the Court make them his Peers or otherwise allow them means for compassing their wonted pleasures But thus far to condescend to unthriftie subjects were ill beseeming that Gravitie and Majestie which should be in Princes If one should give notice to a Prince how easie and possible it were for him by these means to save a number from the Gallowes his reply would be Princeps id potest quod salva majestata potest That only is possible to a Prince which can stand with the safetie of his Majestie But thus to feed the unsatiable appetites of greedie unthrifts though such as he otherwise loves most dearly and whose welfare he wishes as heartily as they do that thus speak for them is neither Princely nor Majestical For a King in this Case to do as much as by some means possible he is able to do were an act of weaknesse and impotencie not an act of Soveraigne power a great blot to his Wisdom Honor or Dignitie no true Argument of Royal Love or Princely Clemencie In like Case we are to consider That God albeit in Power infinite yet his infinite Power is matched with Goodnesse as truly infinite his infinite Love is as it were counterpoised with infinite Majestie And though his infinite mercie be as Soveraign to his other Attributes yet is it in a sort restrained by the Tribunicial Power of his Justice This Equalitie of infinitenesse betwixt his Attributes being considered the former Difficultie is easily resolved If it be demanded whether God could not make a thousand worlds as good or better then this it were infidelitie to deny it Why Because this is an effect of meer Power and might be done without any Contradiction to his Goodness to his Majestie to his Mercie or Justice all which it might serve to set forth And this is a Rule of Faith That all Effects of mere Power though greater then we can conceive as possible may be done of him with greater ease then we can breath His only Word would suffice to make ten thousand worlds But if it be questioned Whether God could not have done more then he hath done for his Vineyard whether he cannot save such as daily perish The Case is altered and