vp yea and flourish in the courts of our God to full holinesse that we may stand fast in this estate we must take the staffe of Gods feare to prop vs vp in the feare of God Reu. 20.6 And this is rising to life viuification and blessed are they which haue part in this first resurrection And thus hauing seene a short view of all the words containe in them two generall parts 1. The antecedent or reason premised 2. The consequent or conclusiō inferred The antecedent in these words Seeing we haue these promises dearly beloued The conclusion in these Let vs cleanse our selues from all fi lt hinesse of the flesh c. And first of the former and then of the latter where with transposition of the words without alteration of the sense giue me leaue to salute your patience in the Apostles order Dearely beloued Dearely beloued Modus compellendi Ex abundantia cordis os loquitur in nature and in Scripture you know it to be true and here example and experience makes it good in both the Apostle such is the abundance of his loue that his tongue cannot containe but expresse the feruent desire of his heart in that he calleth his people Dearly beloued If you turne but your thoughts to that which he faith to his Philippiās 1.8 you shall find him like the Spouse euen sicke of loue toward them God is my record faith he how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Christ Iesus c. Had the Apostle either receiued or expected benefite for his loue it had bene lex talionis Ioh. 6.26 as the multitude loued Christ for the loaues and hypocrites do euen the same but for Paul to loue his Maisters flocke for their good on his part gratis and that in the absence of his Maister this loue is great Act. 9.15 and worthy of Paul whom Christ loued and chose him to be the Apostle of the Gentiles This Paul this patterne of loue must not be put vnder a bushell bur set on a candlesticke to giue light to all for this fatherly affection is one chiefe point of the Pastorall office Saint Peter for the example of all others Doct. 1. is bound vpon the allegiance of his loue to feed the flocke Ioh. 21. to seed them I say as a good shepheard with a watchfull and fatherly care and affection Saint Iohn if you reade his writings you shall find them dulcicora melliceta full as the Moone and nothing but full and plentifull drops of loue sweeter then the honey and the honey combe calling them children 1. Ioh. 2. little children babes little babes beloued and dearely beloued Moses complaineth of the yoke and burden which loue laid vpon him by consequence of his place for so you shal reade Numb 11.11 Wherefore haft thou afflicted thy seruant and wherefore haue I not found fauour in thy sight that thou layest the burden of all this people vpon me haue I conceiued all this people haue I begotten them that thou shouldest say vnto me Carrie them in thy bosome as a nurse beareth her sucking child By which we may see that teachers are pascendo pastores sed diligendo patres pastors for instruction but fathers for affection For howsoeuer we must sometime come like the watchmen in the Canticles qui non vult duci debet trahi yet this seueritie must be paterna non tyrannica Dum das verbera ostende vbera faith Bernard Bern. this gall must be mingled with honey this bitter water must come out of a sweete fountaine this sharpe reprehension from a louing affection it must be in spiritu mansuetudinis Galat. 6.1 Brethren if a man be fallen by occasion of infirmitie ye that are spirituall restore such a one in the spirit of meeknesse And in a word as our voices must be the voice of Iohn Baptist to crie vnto them so our hearts must be the hearts of Paul the Apostle to loue them for you are vnto vs dearely beloued And are you so to vs our dearely beloued Vse Then so ought we to be vnto you your dearely beloued for if our hearts must be liuely fountaines running full streames of loue towards you yours must not be drie cisternes of lead to wards vs againe for Amor amoris magnes durus est qui amorem nonrependit Loue is the loadstone of loue and for the children not to loue their fathers it is the highest pitch of ingratitude a finne against nature and such as is not to be named 1. Thess 5.12 1. Cor. 16.11 Gal 6.6 It is the Apostles rule that you should know and that after a speciall maner those which labour amongst you in the Lord and haue them in singular respect for their workes sake Surely brethren I must speake a little what I both heare and see to your iust commendation It would be a notable incitement and prouocation to all Gods messengers abroad in the land to labor diligently and conscionably in their callings if their pains were but requited with such loue and respect as is in this Citie if the wels of charitie which should water the Eden of God were vnstopped and made to flow towards them in other places abroad as they do here amongst you That which Saba said of Solomons 1. King 10.8 seruants may well be applied to the Ministerie of this Citie Happie are the men and happie are those thy seruants which stand euer before thee and heare thy wisedome so happie are those Ministers happie are those seruants of God which stand and speake in your presence which waite and minister at your altars But alas we that are criers in the wildernesse find other measure farre vnsuting our labour of loue If we did raine downe euery day golden Angels into their laps they would crie with him Ille mihi semper erit Deus illius Aram hugge vs nay adore vs make gods of vs bring buls drest with garlands to sacrifice vnto vs but showring downe that which is more precious then gold and whose price is farre aboue pearles the precious comforts of the Gospell the meanes of their eternall saluation they are senslesse of the good we do them O what good bloud would it breed in vs if as some other of your sweet ointments good examples I meane so this of loue and kindnesse to them that teach you the way to heauen might runne from the head to the skirts of the garment the vtmost coasts and corners of the land To conclude this point you that are called and entred into the place of nursing fathers and you that receiue the sincere milke of the word that your soules may grow thereby let me exhort you in the bowels of Christ Iesus to lend all your helping hands and consenting hearts that as you haue begun so you may make perfect this holy combination of Paul and his dearely beloued Concordia crescunt minutissima discordia vel maxima dilabuntur Surely brethren
of herbes then a tree and lastly hath boughes and branches wherein the fowles of heauen make their neasts And so the kingdome of heauen is oft compared to things increasing to teach our growth and progresse in weldoing if we haue faith to confirme it Lord I beleeue helpe my vnbeleefe Mar. 9.24 Luk. 7.47 Psal 129.139 if loue to increase it Many sinnes are forgiuen her for she loued much if zeale to enkindle it The zeale of thy house hath euen eaten me vp And as God hath begun and continued a chaine of his high fauours towards vs in predestinating calling Rom. 8.30 iustifying sanctifying and glorifying his Church so let vs encounter his loue with all diligence ioyning to our vertue faith to faith knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience godlinesse to godlinesse brotherly kindnesse to brotherly kindnesse loue 2 Pet. 1.5.6 And thus by ioyning together the linkes of this golden chaine of his graces we must grow vp from grace to grace Reason 1. Because we are as new borne babes and as a building begun As new borne babes desire the sincere milke of the word that you may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 Now as babes which are not fed do perish and as a building begun and not followed comes to nothing it is euen so in the nursing and building of the inward man 2. Because we haue tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come and therefore if we proceede not in well doing we crucifie the Lord anew vnto our selues and make a mocke of his fauours Heb. 6.6 Vse 1 1. This serueth for the examination and condemnation of those which the world calls harmelesse men who haue set vp their pride in this viz. To do no harme But he which proceeds no further is as one that hauing a long iourney to trauell doth pitch downe his rest in the midst of the way but as the Israelits that staied and died in the desert they saw not the land of Canaan no more shall any such see the saluation of God for the breach of the law is not onely commission but omission and the wages of sinne is death and omission of duty is commission of iniquitie This I say that he which endeuoureth an harmelesse life to deale vprightly and iustly and not to defraud or wrong his brother this man is in the way to the king dome of heauen but if thou wilt be perfect Hoc vnum restat do well and endeauour thy selfe to euery good work and thus we must grow in grace that we may attaine to ful holinesse and that is the perfection of our worke and the part that now ensueth To full holinesse The Apostle would haue vs like the wise builder in the Gospel who gaue not ouer his worke till he brought it to perfection we must grow to full holinesse from whence obserue No man must content himselfe with the beginnings of viuification but endeauour perfection The Israelits gathered Manna euery day but vpon the Saboath day to teach vs and teach thē that vntil that euerlasting Saboath of rest where we shall be glorified bodies and soules we must neuer stand still in our Christian growth But as the waters spoken of in Ezechiel grew vp by degrees first to the ankles then to the knees then to the loynes and lastly to the head and as the wheate our Sauiour spoke of grew vp by degrees first there was the blade thē came the stalke after that the full corne but lastly came the haruest euen so like that water we must grow higher and higher til we come to our head Christ and like that corne riper and riper vntill the end of the world when the Lord shall winnow the chaffe from the wheate the wheate he shall receiue into his garner but the chaffe to be burnt vp with vnquenchable fire Thus we must grow vnto full holinesse Mat. 2.9 For as the starre which directed the wise men in their search ceassed not till it came to the place where Christ was and there it stayed so must we not stay in the course of holinesse till we come to heauen where God is And as the kine of the Philistims which drew the Arke of God 1. Sam. 6. though they were milch and had calues at home the one to weaken them the other to withdraw them yet without turning to the right hand or left they kept on their way till they came to Bethshemesh so hauing once ioyned our selues to the yoake of Christ and bearing the arke of his law vpon our shoulders in the way of a vertuous life though we haue many hindrances wordly allurements the diuels temptations and our owne sinfull prouocations yet must we keepe on the way of holinesse to perfection and so the apostle exhorteth Phil. 3. Let vs as many as be perfect be thus mindid Luk. 1. like Zachary and Elizabeth of whom Saint Luke reporteth that they were both righteous befor God walking in all the commandements and iustifications of the Lord without rebuke that is without iust exception to be taken against them yet to dreame of an absolute and Angelicall perfection in a mortall man was the errour of the Pelagian heretikes but our perfection is in part not wholly in respect not absolute or perfect we may be said towards men but not in relation to God There is also a perfection by way of comparison with others and so optimus ille est qui minimis vrgetur he is the most perfect man which hath the fewest faults Yea and further there is a perfection of holinesse secundùm huius vitae modum according to the measure and proportion of this life and this perfection euery good man must haue Saint Paule describes it thus Phil. 3.3 I account not my selfe that I haue attained perfection but one thing I do I forget that which is behind and endeauour my selfe to that which is before and follow hard toward the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus So that this is the point We must resolue endeauour contend and striue for perfection as for a prize euer be adding grace till we are in some sort according to the capacity of our humane nature perfect men in Christ Ie sus and to this our Sauiour exhorts Beye perfect as your heauenly Father is perfect Math. 5.48 neither must we desist till we come to full holinesse Reason Because non progreds est regredi and our life is like the tumbling of a bowle vp an high hil which if it be throwne part of the way or halfe or more it returneth againe but if it be throwne to the top there it resteth so the hauen of holinesse it is Olympus an high hill which we must climbe to the top for to sticke or stay in the midst is but lost labour Againe our life is as a Boate rowed against the streame where if the rowers stay it goeth backeward of it selfe so in
promises of God are the ground of obedience I beseech you by the mercies of God saith Saint Paul Rom. 12.1 that you giue vp your bodies and soules a liuing sacrifice vnto God c. Where he makes Gods mercies the onely motiue to obedience for howsoeuer some do his will of compulsion because they dare do no other yet plures colligit amor and good men loue God for himselfe euen of zeale to his glory The Lord hath two ordinary Heralds of obedience viz. his promises and his threats Aut sequeris aut traheris either his mercies to allure vs or his iudgements to terrifie vs and therefore we say on behalfe of his mercies that the liberty of a Christian doth necessarily imply not lasinesse but holinesse and when we say that the promises of God are gratuitae our meaning is ex parte antecedente non consequente free on Gods part to vs for no inducement in vs to moue him to compassion but not so on our part towards him for they are done vpon condition of our obedience It is in his promises as in his threatnings they all runne not absolutely but with a prouiso expressed or at least wise vnderstood Si nisi non esset perfectum quidlibet esset Were it not for conditions and exceptions our end was present destruction Except you repent you shall all perish but the Nisi comes in like a Repriueall betwixt the sentence and the execution day and as it is in the case of threatning so likewise of promise for there is a twofold nisi of repentance and of obedience so that except we performe the conditions we haue no part nor claime in the promises The charge of Iosua makes it plaine Iosua 23. as that chapter doth dilate at large neither need I stand to cleare this point that all the promises run with the condition of holinesse for all the Sermons of the Prophets and Apostles giue witnesse to this purpose And this is the will of God euen your sanctification God hath purchased you to be a people Tit. 2.14 holy and peculiar to himselfe that you should be zealous of good workes therefore Gods loue and our obedience which God hath ioyned together let no man put asunder Vse 1 Are the promises of God the ground of obedience Then our doctrine is not a doctrine of liberty neither is the calling of a Christian a calling of ease for we preach not mercies or promises that men should liue as they list Should a malefactor contemne his Prince because he is mercifull or a sonne disobey his father for his loue and affection This I say that precedent promises can purchase no license for subsequent sinnes It is not our hope but the profession of our hope that shall saue vs. Saint Paule therefore saith 1. Cor. 5.7 Purge out the old leauen that you may be a new lumpe for Christ our passeouer is sacrificed for vs. Because he was crucified for vs let vs not crucifie him againe but rather because he was sacrificed for vs let vs sacrifice our selues for him in obedience and sanctity For Gods mercie and our obedience must be ioyned together and they that turne away obedience and faith from their hearts turne away Christs merits and mercies from their soules and they that will not weepe ouer him whom their sinnes haue wounded he shall neuer bleede ouer them that their sinnes my be pardoned and therefore 2. See the calumniation of our quarrelling aduersaries the aduersaries of the grace of God the Church of Rome which charge vs with that we neuer taught God he knowes our innocency viz. that we teach promise without obedience faith without workes and therefore that we are solifidians and teach a doctrine of licenciousnesse to all impietie But to these I say that we haue not so taught Eph. 4.20 neither haue we so learned Christ for we teach faith without workes to be a dead faith and the promises of God without our obedience shall do vs no good for howsoeuer they are sufficient in themselues yet are they not effectuall in vs. But to bring home their sinne to their owne doores to pay them with their owne coine or rather to strike thē with the rod which they haue prepared may I not say and experience beare me witnesse that I speake the truth in Christ and lie not Is not their doctrine a doctrine of liberty 1 Tim. 4.1 or rather of diuels which make merchandise of sinne as of flesh in the shambles making shipwrack of faith and a good conscience and hauing clad themselues with the figge leaues of a blind dispensation from a Popish broker they blush not at most direfull proiects but walke secure in the machinations and executions of all villany What shall I name that which is not to be named amongst Christians the tolleration of stewes and the like which yet is not paralelled among the nations Alas paruaqueror these be but trifles Seneca Audent aliquid breuibus gyaris carcere dignum To kill a King or poison a Prince to blow vp a Senate to defie God deface religion plot treasons spoile a nation these and the like are patronized among those Satanicall spirits and the actors canonized for worthies and their acts for workes of supererogation I might instance in their intended desolations in the dayes of our famous Deborah the memoriall of whose name shall be blessed for euer and their hellish treasons now in the dayes of our happie Ioshua whose yeares the Lord make as many ages and fill all his dayes with peace a Monarch for his power and a man after Gods owne heart so famous for his learning so learned in religion and religious in profession innocent from wrong peaceable in his wayes and mercifull to all if not too mercifull to them and yet did not these infernall spirits Antichristian pioners and Romish Mold warpes seeke to extinguish this glorious light and the life of the whole land vno tactu vno ictu vno nictu with one blow sulphurious blast in the twinkling of an eye to haue dismembred and crushed together the gouernment counsell wisedom learning iustice and religion of God in the whole land Oh inauditum nefas oh nefandum scelus Oh vnspeakable villanie especially to be countenanced or canonized but in the Rolles of hel or by a Pope a diuel incarnate and doth not the Pope giue libertie and dispensations for the committing of the same is not this a doctrine of libertie which doth giue libertie to make themselues as it were drunke with the bloud of so many worthies I dare be bold to say that all the Masses Dirges Trentals smoakie fumes and polluted lip-seruice and as the Apostle speaketh beggerly rudiments Gal. 4.9 or if you will cosening shifts of all the idolatrous Iesuites Monkes and Friers and adde to them all the English calues begotten by the buls of Rome cannot wash this one bloudie sinne from the Popes bloud-guiltie soule 3. What shall I say of the
the worke of holinesse we striue against the streame of our affections and if we desist or be slacke in weldoing they draw vs backe to cuill Vse 1 1. To teach vs the danger of apostacy as of those which fall from their holinesse which begin with Peter and end with Iudas hauing entred the couenant of grace they fall away like vntimely fruites trees that are twise dead and plucked vp by the roots Iude v. 12 whose end is to be burned which turne to their old bias of iniquitie as the dog to his vomite and as the sow that is washed to her wallowing in the mire Gen. 19.29 Lots wife for this we know was turned into a pillar of salt and set vp in example to season others and that we forget not our Sauiour sets a memento before her name Remember Lots wife Luk. 17. 31. for as it was with her Vbirespexit ibiremansit where she looked backe there she stood so no man putting his hand to the plough of holinesse and looketh backe is fit for the kingdome of God Saint Paul giueth the reason which who so considereth in heart it will cause the heart-strings to ake and the bones to quake for feare It is impossible saith he that they which were once enlightened and haue tasted of the heauenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and haue tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they fall away that they should be renewed againe by repentance Heb. 6.4.5 For they after they haue escaped the fil thinesse of the world saith Saint Peter 2. Pet. 2.20 through the knowledge of the Lord lesus Christ and are againe intangled therein and ouercome the latter end is worse then the beginning for it had bene better for them not to haue knowne the way of righteousnesse then after they haue knowne it to turne from the holy commandement giuen vnto them 2. It serueth to condemne our standing still our dulnesse and slacknesse in the pursuite of holinesse A miserie it is to see how the men of this our age are fallen from their stedfastnesse from zeale to coldnesse For where is that discipline in manners zeale to the word hunger and thirst after righteousnesse which doth become and adorne the Gospell of Christ May I not speake in generall and your consciences beare me witnesse Reu 2.4 that as the Church of Ephesus was charged so you are become changelings and haue forsaken your first loue And what should I name in particular that stedfastnesse in faith modestie in words that vprightnesse in actions mercie in workes that discipline in manners loue and vnitie among brethren which in the primitiue Church was the glorie of the first Christians Yea and brethren I must tell you that you did runne well and what should turne you out of the way of holinesse that you should haue an euill heart to depart from the liuing God This you know of a suretie that to him that striueth and contendeth to him is the kingdome giuen The kingdome of God suffereth violence and the violent take it by force To him that ouercometh to him will I giue the crowne of life Math. 11.12 Reu. 2.17 Math. 24 13. Reuel 2.17 And againe He that endureth to the end he and he onely shall be saued And of full holinesse we haue thus farre heard and spoken And now followeth the measure thereof viz. in the feare of God in the feare of God This last part of my text and labour sets downe 1. the measure of our holinesse viz. in feare and 2. the obiect of this feare viz. God For the former I finde by obseruation generally three kinds of feare a naturall feare a foolish feare and a feare of God the two former I finde not in my text neither will the time giue me leaue to seeke them out But for the last I finde it generally to be of two forts the feare of God it is either seruile or filiall the obiect of the former is Gods iudgement but the ground of the latter are the effects of his loue and mercie and both these in a different maner are the measure and foundation of holinesse And looke what difference is betwixt a seruant and a son they feare to offend the one for punishment the other for loue so howsoeuer good men loue God euen of zeale vnto his glorie yet it is not amisse to be restrained from sinne euen for feare of iudgement It is best saith Augustine to be a sonne yet better to be a seruant then an enemie Si non potes propter amorem iustitiae fac propter timorem poenae The affection of an enemie is hatred of a seruant is the rod of punishment but of a sonne is loue and reuerence And accordingly I find three sorts of feare the first of which is meerly slauish lumpish vnprofitable and dogged kind of feare full of hatred and diuellish despite and indeed the feare of diuels and reprobate spirits which findes no mercie because it seekes no mercie And the diuels do thus beiecue and tremble But there is a feare of Gods righteous iudgements which euen in good men hath a good effect for it restraineth from impietie Et maxima est poena timorem amisisse poenae Bernard I considered my wayes Psal 119.59 saith Dauid and so I turned my feete vnto thy testimonies For who so considereth his wayes shall find his wants and withall remembring the terrour of Gods iudgements and the necessitie of his iustice to punish yea and to punish according to the nature of offence it will daunt and terrifie the heart of any from offending if it be not past feeling And this is that which Augustine hath to like purpose Atimore tenera conscientia à tenera conscientia bona vita hinc decrescit timor seruitutis atque inde dulcescit Deus peccanti and thus the feare of Gods righteous iudgements is to good purpose for it is a bridle to restraine from finne and a step to beget the third which is the filiall feare of loue But Saint Iohn saith Perfect loue casts out feare 1. Ioh. 4.18 viz. this seruile feare and begets another borne of the free Spirit Psal 51. viz. this filiall feare the feare and reuerence of a sonne to a louing father Of this the Prophet speaketh There is mercie with thee O Lord therefore shalt thou be feared And this is that of which Saint Luke speaketh We must serue God without feare Luk. 1. Luk. 1.74 And Saint Paul makes it more plaine Rom. 8. not in the spirit of bondage for feare of punishment but in the spirit of adoption and freedome euen of zeale vnto his glorie And this is the best and most excellent way of feare which I do take to be the principall aime and intendment of my text And so to bring this feare backe to my text and my text home to your selues First because we must grow to full holinesse in feare