sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of Death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Though these things buz about his ears like bees provoked or irritated yet they have lost their sting If the old serpent bruise his heel yet his head is broken if the Devil give us a false alarm by persecutions yet we are souldiers fighting under Christs Banner listed and registred into the Book of Life at our Baptism he hath bought and redeemed us by his most precious blood and no one can ravish us from him What soul can be so sordid as to fear the arm of flesh when he is guarded by the spirit of Christ that doth not only intercede for sinners but of sinners makes them become just That is not only Advocate of a bad cause but also renders it good That doth both pray and pay for us so that his pardoning of us is not onely a work of his mercy but also an effect of his justice Besides these obligations we have an infinite number of incitations to the love of Christ if we will but recollect our selves and seriously consider how often he hath delivered us from imminent danger caused inexpected overtures of evil intended to us that we might avoid them for according to the old Proverb Praemoniti praemuniti forewarned forearmed and afflicted us here that he might save us hereafter Now 't was the wish of that famous pillar of the Latin Church St. Augustin Hic ure hic tunde hic seca modo in aeternum parcas Cut saw burn my body here so thou savest my soul hereafter Now for shame let it not be said that God hath showred down his blessings on the sand Let us not be so bestial as to drink of the stream and ne'er think of the fountain without elevating our thoughts unto God the source of all benedictions But when we say God doth good unto us to the end that we may love him not that he stands in need of our Love but he will have us love him in regard that we cannot be saved if we hate him Nay farther that we love him proceeds from him as a gift for 't is he that kindles in us his love He doth not only bestow and confer his bona upon us but he gives us a hand to receive them grace to use them and vertue to glorifie for them so that Deus primo dat quod jubet and then jubet quod vult first he gives what he commands viz. Love Love is the gift of God and then he commands what is most agreable to his will and pleasure This first degree or step of Love though it be holy and useful yet 't is but principium amoris divini 't is but the prologue to the Love of God for he that loves God only for profit is like an infant or child that prays only for his break-fast and to speak properly such persons love not God but themselves Such love is but mercenary and injurious to God a palpable affront put upon the Deity Therefore he must know that hath gained this first degree he must proceed for non progredi est regredi to be at a stand is to be retrograde he must therefore I say ascend the second step The second degree of our Love toward God is to Love him 2 Degree not only for our profit but also for himself i. e. laying aside all consideration of his benefits that he is daily pleased to confer on us and though we expected no profit from him yet to love him supra omnia Holy David spake of this Love in the 69 Psalm Let all those that love thee rejoyce in thy name He counsels us to love God for his name because he is the supream Wise in his counsel just in his actions true in his promises whose habitation is in glory inaccessible enjoying a Soveraign perfection God whose life was without beginning and his duration without end his eternity without alteration his greatness without measure and his power irresistible That created the World by his Word governs it by his vertue and will reduce it to a Chaos of ruine when it is his pleasure Who in one sole vertue and perfection which is his Essence encompasseth all other vertues that are infused into all other creatures All other vertues do concentre in this punctum and the more they deviate from him the more eccentrique they are God therefore is to be loved for these preceding considerations more then for the good that he is pleased to confer upon us Our Saviour instructeth us the same in that most absolute pattern that he himself hath set before us in which he commands to beg the sanctification of his Holy Name and the advancement of his Kingdom before we put up a petition for our daily bread We naturally are enamoured with beauty now Light is the first of beauties without which there is no distinction between beauty and deformity God therefore being the primum lumen it follows necessarily that he be also the prime beauty He is the Father of Lights Pater Luminum saith St. James and holy David the Psalmist in the 36 Psalm 9. For with thee is the Fountain of Life in thy light shall we see light Wherefore in laying his hand to the stately Fabrick of the World when he reduced the Chaos of confusion into a beautiful and harmonious order he began first with the light as that by which his nature is best represented He is the Sun of Righteousness a Sun that never comes to the West never sets nor casts a shadow all things are naked unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things are bare-neckt unto him 't is in the Original being a metaphor taken from the mode in the Eastern Countreys where they go bare-neckt such a Sun as doth not only clarifie the sight but gives it also And judge you what a splendid sight-offending lustre this is that the Seraphims assisting at his Throne cover their faces with their wings as Isaiah saith 6 Chap. 2 vers not being able to endure so glorious a splendor And if at the coming and appearance of the humanity of Christ the Sun shall be benegroed in darkness as a petty light at the coming of a greater how if you cast an eye upon the life of God! The life of God ours is but a shadow if compared to it nay a nihil for our life is a flux or succession of parts But God possesseth and hath full and entire fruition of his eadem instanti and all together And his only begotten Son was willing to lay down his life for the redemption of us miserable and wretched sinners That Son that Isaiah calls Chap. the 9. Father of eternity was content to assume this frail flesh of ours He became Son of Man that we might become the sons of God He was born in a stable that we might
might be Heaven 5. 5 Cause The perfection of our spirits cannot be but in the union of or with the first of spirits who communicateth his bona or good things to us his Creatures as the Sun darts his rays upon us that is he gives them so he bestows them on us yet so that they depend on him after he hath disposed of them 6. 6 Cause True Love is that transformeth the amantem the Lover in amatum into the thing or party loved Now if a deformed person be never so highly enamoured with the captivitating beauty of a red white complexion he will never be able by this love to correct his deformity On the contrary in loving God we become sibi similes like unto him and as the holy Apostle saith in the second to the Corinth the third Chap. and the last verse Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord with open face are changed into the same image 7. And lastly Beauty 7 Cause being the first incitation to Love or the Tinder of the affections we shall soon be able to discern when the scales of ignorance are fallen from our eyes that this beauty as we term it that is here below is but a superficial colour or a cover to a bundle of filthiness but that the Lumen or true Light is the true beauty God therefore being the true Light and the Father of Lights is the chief beauty and the object on whom we all ought to fix our affections Natural Philosophy here is diametrically opposite to the Divine and jars with it much in this case for Philosophy affirms that Natural motion is better then that is against Nature On the contrary quoad amorem the Word of God that is our Divine Philosophy instructeth and perswadeth us that Love contrary to Nature is better then Love natural For since that Satan in seducing our first Parents hath defaced the image of God in Man our desires have had their constant course towards the World and as I may say our Love hath been precipitated from Heaven to the Earth The affection of the flesh is enmity against God Romans the 8. and the 7 verse If one love that love flows not from him naturally but it is a free gift of God And the Apostle St. Paul drawing us out of the mud and freeing us from the bait of all alluring delights of this World commands us to seek the things above Coloss 3. vers 1 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be skilful in the things above be wise in heavenly matters for according to the words in my Text We love God because he first loved us Our love therefore it appears manifestly is an effect of Gods Love to us nor is there any thing that we ought with more devotion or zeal to crave of God then Love for it is a pledg unto the faithful of Gods Love to him It is the first fruit the primitiae of Faith 't is the most exact and curious extract of the Image of God It is the most perspicuous mark of a child of God Love is the summe of Christianity This Love is the soul of our soul the life of virtue the rule by which we square or at least ought to do all our actions the summary or compendium of the Law 'T is the pillar or sustentaculum of Martyrs the Jacobs Ladder by which you may ascend the Heavens and true peace of conscience nay with holy reverence be it spoken it is a praelibamen or earnest-penny of that Sacred union and communion that we expect all to enjoy with God in Heaven world without end Our meditation could not pitch upon a more sublime subject for what is there that dare stand in competition with God either for his greatness or the sweetness and candor of his Love The profit of this Love of God is no way inferior to the delight for men are termed good or evil not for what they believe but what they love Let us all therefore labour for this and become proficients in the School of Christ and beseech the spirit so to mould our hearts that they may be wrought to a true and perfect Love of God lest we be abused and fooled into error with the sound of this word Love and mistake the spiritual for a carnal love an importunate or fretting corrosion of the heart an aguish alteration the last of vices for the first and best of vertues a brutish malady for an Angelical distemper 'T is true he that disposeth and conformeth himself to the Love of God must expect the hatred and bespattering calumnies of the world but God will cause the very discommodities that the world afflicts us with to be converted into commodity and profit for saith the blessed Apostle Rom. the 8. and the 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose Their corporeal afflictions are but spiritual exercises their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nocumenta documenta The malady of their body is a remedy for their soul for God alone is the true Aesculapius so divine a Chymist that he will convert poysons into Antidotes for his childrens health and security His wounds are balm saith the Divine Harper Psalm 14. vers 5. In all our sufferings for Gods sake there is not only matter of patience but occasion for glory they are scars of credit in the forehead conformities unto our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ and the livery of all Christian Souldiers And all this by the sustentation and support of this Love the sweetness whereof qualifies and abates the bitterness of all sublunary crosses Object But here some may object and say that the Love of God is pro confesso an excellent vertue but we must know him before we love him and we cannot compass any other but a lame and decrepit insufficient notion of him 'T is true but notwithstanding all this we ought still dare operam to it and make exact search after it and when we have it embrace it for ignorance must not be a Cloak or tegument to our negligence since we cannot gain so little of the true knowledge of God but some profit will accrue to us thereby and that will blow up the embers of the love of God in us to an acceptable degree of heat and pious zeal One ray of the love of God will outbalance and overvalue all the splendor of the Meridian Sun A dark obscure knowledge of God surpasseth the most acute and sharp insight into all natural things If one beam of the Sun chance to peep into a Dungeon the prisoner by this recollects the beauty and excellency of Light so that small and imperfect knowledg that we obtain of God is sufficient for a taste of the excellency of his Love and able to inflame us therewith besides 't is sufficient for salvation We love God because he loved us first We are so incapable of the Love
of God that we understand not what it is to love him This Tree of Knowledge grows not in our Eden This flower springs not up in our Garden 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a gift dropt out of Heaven proceeding from the Father who is Love and Charity as St. John saith This is a divine liquor the true Nectar that God poures into our souls guttatim drop by drop as in narrow-neckt vessels Wherefore to accommodate our selves to our native slowness we 'll endeavour to infuse into our spirits by little and little so by degrees to arrive at the highest degree and Apex of Love There are five degrees of this our Love to God 1. The first is to love God for the good he doth us and we expect to receive from him still 2. Secondly To love him propter seipsum or sui ipsius gratia for his own sake because he is most excellent and most amiable 3. Thirdly To love God above all things nay your own selves but to love nothing in the World but for his sake 4. Fourthly To detest and abhor himself for the Love of God 5. Fifthly to love him as we shall in the life to come when we shall be in glory with this love the Saints are extasied and assist at the Throne of God in secula seculorum We call these Degrees of Love and not species or kinds because the superior contain the inferior as the chiefest white differs from the other parcels of the same colour that are less clear and transparent not in specie but in gradu we must remount up these degrees or stairs and rest our selves a little upon every one of them 1. The first degree and lowest is Five degrees by which we are brought to love God To love God for the good he doth us upon this step of Love was King David when in the 116 Psalm and in the 1 verse I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplication and so in the 18 Psalm for God will have respect and love from us because he extends his bounty so liberally to us 'T is God that created us 't is God that preserves and keeps us being created that nourisheth our bodies that cherisheth our souls that redeemeth us by his Son that governs us by his holy Spirit that instructeth us by his word that hath vouchsafed to admit us as his servants nay his friends and children and which is more the same with himself Plato playing the Philosopher with the grace of God Plato blessed God for three things thanked him for three things 1. That he was created a man and not a beast 2. That he was born a Graecian and not a Barbarian and 3. That he was a Philosopher Now we that are instructed in the School of Christ a School of more strict discipline So ought we for these especially make another kind of distribution of the grace of God and return him thanks for these three things 1. That of all Creatures we were created men 2. That of all men Christians And 3. That among those that are Christians he hath made us in the number of the true elect And if you please you may add a fourth That he hath adopted us by his Son Jesus Christ before the foundation of the World having been carefull of us not onely before we had any existence but even before the world had its creation Now if God did manifest his love to us before we were how liberally will he extend it to us how bountifully will it flow from him when we invocate and call upon his Sacred Name and affect him with a filial and reverential love Now the smaller our number is the larger is our priviledge the more extensive and diffusive is his bounty and goodness to us to endow us with sight among so many blind persons as the portion of Jacob in Aegypt solely enlightned in the midst of obscurity Cimmerian darkness like the fleece of Gideon that was only bedewed with the grace of God when the rest of the earth was dry and destitute of it God hath encircled us with abundance of examples of stupendious caecity or blindness that he might raise our estimation of light and that we might make a farther progress in the way of salvation that so whilest it is called to day we may steer the ship of our souls by the Lanthorn of his Word All these vertues the constellation of all these graces depend upon one Soveraign and Prime one viz. reconciliation with God by the passion of our blessed Jesus This is the Chanel through which the graces of God stream unto us 'T is Jacobs Ladder that joyns Heaven and Earth together that rejoyns God and Man The Angels ascending this Ladder represent our prayers that we piously dart up to Heaven the Angels descending signifie the blessings of God that are distilled in answer to our prayers Jacob sleeping at the foot of the Ladder intimates unto us the quiet and tranquillity of conscience that we enjoy under the cool and comfortable shade of his intercession Before man was environed with horror and astonishment he could not cast his eye aside but he met with an object of fear If he look't upon God he discerned a consuming fire a supream Justice armed with revenge against sinners If he cast his eye upon the Law he immediately perceived the arrest of condemnation If he viewed the Heaven he concluded himself excluded thence by reason of sin If the World he saw his irreparable loss of dominion over the Creatures if himself a thousand spiritual and corporal infirmities At the signes of Heaven and the Earth-quake he was ague-struck with fear Then Satan Death Hell were his inveterate foes that either drew him to perdition or did behel and wrack him with the expectation of them But now every person that hath confidence in Christ Jesus changes his language and speaks in a more pleasing dialect If he look upon God he 'll say 'T is my Father that hath adopted me If his thoughts pitch upon the day of Judgement he 'll bespeak himself thus My Elder Brother sits there and he that is my Judge is also my Counsellor If he think on the Angels he cries out They are my guardians Psalm the 34. If he view the Heaven he terms it his habitation If he hear it thunder he 'll reply 'T is the voice of my Father If he consider the Law The Son of God saith he hath accomplisht it for me If he swim with the flowing tide of prosperity he 'll say God hath reserved better things for me If in the low ebb of adversity Jesus Christ hath endured far more for me God exerciseth or proves corrects or afflicts me making me therein conformable to his Son If he thinks on Hell the Devil or Death then he will triumph over all with the holy Apostle in the 1 to the Corinth the 15 Ch. and the 55 56 and 57 vers O Death where is thy
Fortior est qui se quam qui fortissima vincit Moenia He is the greatest Conqueror that can subdue his own passions and keep his body in subjection as St. Paul did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he I chastise my body from whence Friars draw their authority of chastising themselves though without cause and so take the word to be such a chastisement as School-masters use to boys We ought all of us against the grain of our flesh to mould and fashion our selves to repentance that so we may obtain a Trinity of Graces to save us Faith Hope and Charity and this Trinity of Grace will deliver us from a Trinity of Evils Blindness Error and Unbelief and if we be delivered from these we shall be freed from the predominancy of the World the Flesh and the Devil and if we be preserv'd from these we shall undoubtedly be crowned by the blessed Trinity God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost to whom be Glory Honour and Praise World without end Amen GOD AND MAN Mutually Embracing In the first Epistle of St. John the 4 Chap. and the 19 vers it is thus written We love him because he first loved us LOve is the punctum or centre SERM. III. about which the circumference of our thoughts doth move and the primus motor that induceth us to fix our spirits upon an object Love is to our souls as weight is to ponderous bodies for as the gravity of a body forceth it downward that it may enjoy a sweet repose in its centre so Love moves our souls to an object that promiseth repose and contentment therefore from hence it follows that as ponderous bodies move in a straight line toward their centre so if we will obtain a true rest our Love must be regular and proceed in a direct line by a divinely-composed motion This Text Beloved that I come from reading to you is the Epitome of Christian Religion or the great Folio of Christian duty reduced into a Decimo-sexto or pocket-volume In this Text there are two parts and these two parts are the two pillars of the Church and the whole Christian World 1. Our love toward God in these words We love him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Gods love toward us which is but the reason or rather efficient cause of our love toward him because he first loved us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not to stand upon the nice and fine-spun distinctions that the School-men make of Love we shall only divide it into two sorts Divinum and Humanum amorem into Love Divine and Humane the divine is couched down by the holy Spirit of God in the latter part of the verse because he loved us and the humane in the former We love him We will begin with the latter humane love or the love of man to God Spiritual or true love gives repose and contentment to the soul when as carnal or false love is an irregular agitation and an inconsiderate motion without a Terminus ad quem it is ever repleat with inquietude and distraction and never ceaseth or resteth till it despairs or is quite tired out which is not properly a rest but an impotency and inability of motion and the desire is strong when the power is weak like a horse that tied to a manger gnaweth his bridle asunder such are most persons their desires are strong their power but weak they desire most what they can least perform The cause of this disturbance is this Our Love selecteth out Reasons why we love not God perfectly 1 Cause and fixeth upon false objects and such that cannot satiate the desire for if you survey all sublunary things that deserve the name of beautiful you shall find in them no true quiet or rest but a concatenation of cares interwoven with perpetual trouble The greatest delicacies are consited in bitterness The acquisition of honour and preferment is painful and many break their necks in riding upon the airy stilts of Fame The possession of riches is uncertain and the loss certain if they leave not us by some accident Death Natures Bayliff will arrest us and force us to leave them To aim at such things is but ventum prosequi To pursue the wind an action as ridiculous as can be Grant they be good yet they are incertain therefore we must seek after our repose somewhere else since the earth cannot afford it and turn the compass of our Love toward Heaven For as the lower region of the Air is the habitation of winds tempests and earth-quakes but that part that is near the Heaven is serene and quiet so our Love so long as it adheres to sublunary objects will be full of trouble but 't will find rest and quiet if it lift it self up to Heaven and lay hold of the promises of God and then the soul though in the midst of the confusions and afflictions of this world be they never so thorny will have the fruition of an assured tranquillity like the Needle of the Compass that remains firm upon one point notwithstanding the violence of the scolding surges of a Tempestuous Sea and all because it is guided by the motion of the Heavens God is the sole object or at least ought to be of our Love and hath only a power to render us amiable by loving us He that only can nay that will give them felicity and that unutterable too that love him As the Apostle St. Paul writeth in the first to the Corinth the 2 Chap. and the 9 vers Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath entred into the heart of man to conceive the things that God hath prepared for them that love him He promiseth also in St. John chap. 14. vers 23. to come unto him that loveth him and make his abode with him O unparallelled Love that makes a Palace of our souls for the King of Glory and a Sanctuary of the Holy Ghost 2. 2 Cause Philosophy it self hath this down for a maxime that Natura Deus nihil fecerunt frustra that God and Nature made nothing in vain Now that infinite and insatiable desire or appetite that is in man were in vain if there were nothing to satisfie and content it Which since it is impossible to find out upon this Terraqueous Globe we must search after it in Heaven of God that is bonum infinitum an infinite good 3 Cause 3. Besides God created the world for the use of man and therefore without doubt he created man for something better then the world viz. God himself 4 Cause 4. God created man inter omnia animalia only secundum imaginem according to his own image with a straight body and an upright countenance according to mellifluous Naso Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri Jussit erectos ad sydera tollere vultus that so he might behold him whom he represented and that the But and White of all his actions and thoughts
an intent to contemplate his face but he transforms him into his own likeness or similitude by the irradiation of his splendor and perfection And if God be Charity and Love as the holy Apostle St. John affirms and all Christians are engaged to believe in the 1. of St. John 4 Chap. 8 vers it follows of necessity that the creature being by this beatifical vision made like unto God should be ravished with love and all on a flame with this spiritual fire Such a fire as hath imposed a name on the Seraphims to termed because of their ardor which is no other thing but the Love of God the fervor of their zeal and their promptitude and agility in his service This now should serve for a Use of exhortation to all good Christians Use viz. to labour after the love of God with all humility pious speed and integrity of heart that so they might be like unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle expresseth it And unless you be drunk with momentary and totally deprived of a sense or imagination of the super-excellency and plerophory of joy that is in Heaven you cannot but strive by a holy life and conversation to attain unto the everlasting Crown of Glory and the seat and society of the blessed Angels in Heaven where you shall chant forth in aeternum Hallelujahs to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost and live in felicity and joy that is unutterable to the praise and glory of Gods immortal name without care sorrow grief or distraction world without end Use 2 This serves for a Use of terror and horror to all wicked persons whose whole life hath been a perpetual wilful violation of Gods Law without any repentance of or amendment and conversion from their misdemeanours and offences They shall never enter into the joy of the Lord but have that terrible doleful doom and sentence passed upon them Go ye cursed into everlasting darkness where there is nothing but weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth totally deprived of Gods comfortable soul-vivifying presence being entombed alive in this pit of darkness ubi miseriae ubi tenebrae ubi horror aeternus ubi nulla spes boni nulla desperatio mali where you shall be surrounded with miseries benegroed in more then cimmerian and that perpetuall darkness too overwhelmed by and implunged into eternal horror where there is no hope of restitution to a blessed or redemption from an accursed estate but there must be tormented world without end Thus have I demonstrated unto you the happiness of those that fear God and their unhappiness that go a whoring after the lusts and concupiscences of the flesh we have shewn you the five Degrees of Love toward God and our meditation cannot soar any higher this is the last round of Jacobs Ladder that conveys us to Heaven We all profess I must confess to love God but few do it seriously and cordially and by this kind of external pomp and outward shew of profession we deceive ignorant man nay we put a fallacy upon our selves But there is no humane policy or sophistry that can cheat a God wherefore it is necessary for the prevention and knowledge of such counterfeit hypocritical persons to bring them to the touch and try what metal they are composed of to discern the true sincere and pure Love of God from the false and counterfeit And as there are five degrees of our Love to God so there are five marks or tokens visible enough whereby we may discern whether or no we have the true Love of God 5 Marks of Gods Love which we shall only enumerate and so conclude for the present 1 Mark The first mark or token of our Love to God is this viz. It extinguisheth all other unchaste and inordinate Love 2 Mark The second mark and effect of this Love is the peace and tranquillity of the soul and conscience The third mark is 3 Mark our Love towards our Neighbour The fourth mark is 4 Mark the delight and pleasure that we have and take in communing and conversing with God The fifth mark is 5 Mark a zeal for the glory of God that is increased or diminished according as God is honoured or dishonoured He whosoever he be that perceives these effects wrought in him may assure himself that he loves God with a true real and religious Love and though it may happen sometimes that his love may be abated the heat of his zeal be somewhat quenched the vigor of his affection somewhat debilitated though this Love be weak yet it argues it not to be false it is true for all that for as a weak faith is a good faith so a weak love is a good love The very Apostles themselves were termed by our Saviour men of little faith though it be small so it encrease indies day by day tending to perfection 't will without doubt end in happiness and eternal joy Thus have I laid down these five degrees or marks of our true love to God which I shall desist from discoursing any farther on at present but commit you to God and leave the handling of them to the next opportunity If God permit Amen THE SAINTS COMFORT in the day of death In the book of Job the 19 Chapter and the 25 verse it is thus written I know that my Redeemer liveth c. HE alwayes goes stumblingly SERM. V. that walks in the night said Jesus Christ the true light of the World Joh. 11.10 And he that walketh in darkness knows not whither he goes said his beloved disciple If there be any thing wherein this may be clearly known is is in the mistake of judgement which those make of themselves who being destitute of the celestial light of verity suffer themselves to be led away by their own natural darkness For there is nothing more frequent in their mouths then the complaint of their misfortunes nor nothing more rare then the confession of their faults they out-speak their punishments and palliate their crimes they declare themselves miserable but would not be thought wicked you shall often hear the Philosophers call man a dream of a shaddow a weather-cock of inconstancy an example of weakness a general rendezvous of dolours and misfortunes A Democritus laughing at his folly an Heraclitus bemoaning his calamities The one termes those happy that go quickly out of the world and th' other those more happy that never come into it All too much occupied in the sense of their misery but never in searching or acknowledging their sins All accusing Nature as a stepdame but no man himself as a rebellious or disobedient child He of all men seems to have best hit of mans condition who hath qualified him the miserablest and proudest of creatures for whereas all declamations upon the pitiful estate of humane nature ought to be so many lively lessons of true humility and that cloud of misfortunes that showres on their
the certainty of faith For it is a thing to be observed that in the Holy tongue many times love and hatred are taken for the things which one loves or hates and that which is translated to know signifies as often to dispose or to make use of a thing at our pleasure as where it is said in Job 38.33 Dost thou know the Ordinances of the Heavens or dost thou dispose of the government of each of them upon Earth And in this sense they are not altogether without reason that turn this verse thus But all things are so in the hand of God that none of men can use or dispose at his pleasure of what he either hates or loves Others as Arias Montanus think that by that which is before them the wise man meant those that were before them as friends Parents or Domestickes who many times under a veil of friendship conceal their hatreds and mortal envies which are very hardly discovered while they can be concealed under a feigned appearance Others understand this uncertainty of events of our love and hatred which are so hidden from us that they fall out often contrary to our desires and sometimes so cross that to day we hate what we must love hereafter and love that which we must ere long detest But without straying as much as may be from the literal sense 't is clear enough especially if we consider what immediately follows which serves both as a light and interpretation to this passage that is That all happens alike to all and the same accidents to the good and the bad for the wiseman would have us know that by exterior things by the ordinary course of the world and the good or evil that can be discern'd by the eyes of flesh it is very hard to distinguish who are lov'd or hated of God as 't is also dangerous to go about to judge of Gods curse or grace by th' adversity or prosperity of men And here the friends of Job were deceived when upon the evils that fell upon him they would conclude against him both the hatred of God and the impurity of his own life And here the Jews likewise abused themselves when they said We esteem the proud to be blessed and they that have tempted God were delivered And to this purpose the Psalmist tells us 37.7 9. Fret not thy self because of him who prospereth in his way and who bringeth wicked devices to pass for evil doers shall be cut off but those that wait upon the Lord they shall inherit the earth Sometimes the righteous man mourns under the oppression and he that walks upright is subject to a thousand evils the wicked are terrible and flourishing like a green bay-tree and they have more then their heart could wish Psal 73.7 And sometimes also joy and the voice of singing and triumph is heard in the tabernacles of the righteous and the wicked man is ensnar'd and overthrown by his own iniquities And so it is a hard matter to judge of this immutable will of God by accidents so divers and changeable But it goes far otherwise with the inward sense of conscience for the most righteous among men setting their life and works before the clearness of Gods justice do know well and profess openly that they find themselves worthy of hatred and so Moses said We are consumed by thee we are troubled by thy wrath thou hast set our iniquities before thee our secret sins in the light of thy countenance Psal 90.7 8. For this the Psalmist cryes out Enter not into judgement with thy servant for no flesh is righteous in thy sight And Daniel avowing the verity and justice of Gods judgements said Dan. 9.7 Lord with thee there is justice but shame and confusion of face unto us So the Centurion said Matth. 8.8 I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof and the Apostle St. Paul esteemed himself unworthy to be an Apostle 1 Cor. 23.9 But these men returning toward the compassions of God and relying upon the merits of the Redeemer of the World have not ceased to esteem themselves in him and for his sake worthy of eternal life And upon this assurance David saith Psal 16.11 Thou shalt make me to know the way of life Daniel besought the Eternal that according to all his righteousness his anger and fury might be turn'd away from Jerusalem Saint Paul assures himself that the Crown of Justice is reserved for him 2 Tim. 4.8 And in the Apocalypse 't is said of those that have not defiled their garments in the corruptions of the world that they shall walk with the Lamb in white cloathing for they are WORTHY Apoc. 3.4 And this consideration furnishes an answer to another passage which they alleadge to as little purpose as they have maliciously falsified this which we have now answered This is the saying of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.4 I find my self guilty in nothing but for this I am not justified A passage that cuts their throats For without doubt they dare not say that St. Paul was not assured of his salvation since to some other passages we have already produced that had no other subterfuge but that he was assured of it by particular revelation What is it then the Apostle would say but that this inward conscience whereof his conscience bears him witness is not sufficient to justifie him before God And of this he does not speak doubting but as in the Epistle to the Galatians he had said Gal. 3.10 That all they that are of the Law are under malediction and all they that seek to be justified by the Law are fallen from grace Gal. 5.4 Thus he pronounces openly and without any sort of uncertainty that by this he is not justified And yet it must be observed that this interior sentiment of his innocency is not extended over all the actions of his life for by that which followes may easily be comprehended that he speaks only of the execution of his charge wherein being conducted by the Spirit of God he knows he hath gone right As he said in another place 2 Cor. 1.12 This is now the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and sincerity and not in carnal wisdome but according to the grace of God we have convers'd with the world and chiefly toward you Now he that in some one of the actions and occupations of his life finds himself innocent will yet not stick to acknowledge himself in consideration of other things culpable And thus we see that David sometimes speaking of some action and particular cause wherein he implores the justice of God against his enemies does yet glorifie himself in his integrity to God Psal 18. to have kept the wayes of the Lord and not wickedly to have departed but elswhere he confesses his faults and in the 19 Psal he prayes the Lord saying Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and
movings of the body trembling and uncertain what can be said but that his body is so miserably agitated that his soul must be in great disorder And in this condition it is as uncapable to produce a good action as to take good counsel but from thence as from an infernal jakes do issue the most infamous vices and execrable actions that can be committed by men And as in an army after a terrour taken the battalions break their rankes in disorder all flye all run and nothing seen but blood and slaughter so it is when fear possesses the soul she troubles her self all vertues abandon her and the vices make a horrible wast and spoil From hence sprung up superstition and so many execrable sacrifices the very report whereof breeds horrour Cruelty claims her for her mother perfidiousness treason and dissembling owe her their original She hath hatcht tyranny and ill counsels and it is none but she that breaking the sacred bonds of nature is capable to animate fathers and mothers against their proper blood and their own bowels In a word 't is impossible to love the thing which we fear Behold then this monster which these Doctors nourish in these poor souls which God by so many promises of his love and assistance chases and banishes from the hearts of his children Fear not little flock for it is your fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdom Luk. 12.32 Nay but say they To day I am well assured but who can continue me this assurance till to morrow and afterwards He that perseveres to the end shall be saved Matth. 24.13 And what is there more changeable and inconstant then man So many assaults that Satan gives us so many dangers that beset us so many infirmities that are in us so many examples of Apostates that make shipwrack of their faith do they not give us cause enough to doubt Yes verily and to despair absolutely if we look no farther then to our selves But the power of God is perfected in our weakness 2 Cor. 12.19 If we be weak he is strong if we be changelings he 's immutable I have loved thee with an everlasting love and have therefore extended my loving kindness to thee Jerem. 31.3 Those whom he hath loved he hath loved to the end and the gifts and calling of God are without repentance Rom. 11.29 His foundation continues firm 2 Tim. 2.19 He knows who are his and none shall ravish them out of his hands and it is impossibile that his elect should be seduced Matth. 24.24 but those whom he hath foreknown he hath predestinated called justified and glorified Rom. 8.29 This chain of his love is altogether inviolable and therefore rest thy self upon his favourable power and upon his unchangeable goodness saying with David Psal 138. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me thy mercy O Lord endureth for ever forsake not the works of thine own hands Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever This assurance is the true humility which beats down the pride of man that he may glorifie God pride and presumption are to be feared when we go about to rely upon our selves when we sacrifice to our own nets and exalt the merit of our vertues but let not that man fear to glorifie himself that seeks his glory in the shame of the cross of Christ that strips himself of all other ornaments to put on Christ that celebrates not his own justice but the compassions of God I do not glorifie my self because I am just said St. Ambrose but because I am redeemed I will not glorifie my self at all because I am without sin but because I have obtained pardon of my sins I will not glorifie my self that I have profited any but because Christ is Advocate for me towards the Father 1 Joh. 1.2 that he hath shed his blood for my sake and for me hath tasted of death this is not arrogance but faith To preach and to publish that which thou hast received is not pride but devotion said St. Augustine And for conclusion it is least to be feared that this doctrine should make men negligent or be as a pillow under their elbowes to make their souls sleepy in the neglect of the means of salvation St. Paul draws a quite contrary consequence when he saith Philip. 2.12 13. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling and adds this for a reason for it is God that works in you both the will and the performance according to his good pleasure Will you say then that this belief makes men sleepy and choakes in their consciences both the duties of prayer and the exercises of charity contrarywise there is not a sharper spur to this acknowledgment then the knowledge of the Love of God and the assurance of his grace Who hath ever seen fear produce a good action And what is there in the world that is either fair or generous which is not to be attributed to hope It were a devilish malice to be wicked because God is good to turn the back upon him when he turns his face upon us to flye him because he seek us to change affection toward him because his love is for ever unchangeable toward us and because he will give a kingdom in heaven for us to cast our selves into the way that leads to infernal pains The children of God go another way and from the faith and assurance which they have of the love of their father they enflame their loves the more to him and feel themselves the more obliged to his obedience They fear to offend so good a Father and being purchased by so excellent a price they consecrate their bodies and spirits to his glory And as the sick man to whom Physitians have given assurance of recovery keeps himself from things that are contrary to his health and takes more willingly the remedies that are ordained him whereas he that despaires of his health abandons himself to his appetite So the faithful man knowing that God will impart to him of his glory goes by the way of sanctity and good works that he may attain to the other and having so many fair promises cleanses himself from all pollution of flesh and spirit finishing the sanctification in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 So Daniel knew that when the 70 years of the captivity were at an end God should deliver his people and therefore about that time he put himself upon prayer and fasting Dan. 9.2 3. So St. Paul Act. 23.24 31. had a promise for all those that were with him in the ship that none should be lost but yet when he saw the Mariners ready to withdraw themselves he did not spare to tell them that if they did not tarry with us we could not be saved The Pagans themselves never entred into combats with more courage then when they had their birds or the entrails favourable they never