c. In the literal sense of the words 2. In his dealing with Christ in respect to man What is the Son of man 3. In his dealing with man in the sublimer sense of the Text again in respect to Christ what is man and the Son of man in the same sense too I. His mercy in his dealing with man will best appear 1. by what he did And 2. for whom he did it that he should do so much for man that he should do it for so little so little so inconsiderable a thing as man Six branches there are here of what he did 1. He was and is ever mindful of him 2. He visits him 3. He made him but a little lower then the Angels but one step below 4. He did that only too to exalt him to crown him as we read it 5. He crown'd him also 6. He crown'd him with glory and with worship too If you will know 2. for whom all this 'T is 1. For man Adam a piece of clay 2. For the Son of man Enos a piece of misery 3. For a meer quid est for a thing we know not what to call it 4. 'T is for one that the Prophet wonders God should mind or think on that he should come into Gods mind much more into his eye to be visited by him such a one that 't is a wonder he should be thought on II. His dealing with Christ in respect to man which is the Apostles interpretation of the words is a second manifesto of his mercy and shew'd 1. In his Exinanition that God for mans sake should 1. make him lower then the Angels That 2. he should make him so low as man As man 3. and the Son of man Such a Son of man 4. that we cannot know how to name him such a quid est such a we cannot tell what a wonder a gazing-stock not worth seeing or remembring and all only that man by him might be visited and remembred 2. In his Exaltation That notwithstanding all this God should a while afterwards remember him visit him crown him crown him with glory and honour III. And both Exinanition and Exaltation 3. that he might yet visit man the more remember him with greater mercies crown him with richer graces crown him with higher honours here then he did in the Creation and with higher glory hereafter then the first nature could pretend to Upon all these the second general the Prophets wonder comes in well will follow handsomely as the conclusion of all the application of all to teach us to wonder and admire at all this mercy and take up the Text and say it after David What is man Lord what is man that thou c. That we may wonder and worship too and give God Glory and Worship for this wonderful mercy for the glory and worship that he has given us I begin now to shew you his mercy in all the acts here specified and the first is his being mindful of us or remembring us 1. And he remembers that we are but dust Psal. ciii 14. and so deals accordingly blows not too hard upon us lest he should blow us clean away that 's a good remembrance to remember not to hurt us and the Lord hath been mindful of us says the Psalmist again Psal. cxv 12. hath and will ever be mindful of his Covenant Psal. cxi 5. though we too often forget ours The Bride may forget her ornaments Jer. ii 32. and the Mother her sucking child Isa. xlix 15. Yet will not I says God forget you The Hebrew here is in the future as the Latin is in the present but all times are alike with God what he is he will be to us even when he seems to forget us he is mindful of us Recordaris operationum ei says the Chaldee Thou remembrest his works to reward them but that 's too narrow Thou remembrest his substance all his bones and members forgettest none to preserve them Thou remembrest his soul to speak comfortably to it Thou remembrest his body to feed and clothe it Thou remembrest his goings out and his comings in to direct and prosper them Thou remembrest his very tears and puttest them up in bottles all these things are noted in his book Psal. cxxxix 15. put down there When we are shut up in the Ark and all the Floods about us then he remembers us as he did Noah and in due time calls us out When we are unhappily fall'n into Sodom among wicked hands and the City ready to be all on fire about our ears then he remembers us as he did Lot nay as he did Abraham rather when he delivered Lot Gen. xix 29. He is so good that he remembers us for one another remembers us for Abrahams Isaacs Iacobs and Davids sake remembers the Son for the Father the Nephew for the Uncle the Friend for the Friends Iobs friends for Iobs sake Iob xlii 8. So mindful is God of us so continually minding us such a care of us he has he careth for all no God like him for the care of all Wisd. xii 13. I would we were as careful again to please him as mindful of him 2. And yet 2. he is not only mindful of man but visits him too And thy visitation says Holy Iob has preserved my spirit Job x. 12. Will you know what that is Thou hast granted me life and favour so the words run just before not life only for his being mindful of us says that sufficiently but favour also his visiting intimates some new favour somewhat above life and safety Indeed visiting is sometimes punishing I will visit their sin Exod. xxxii 34. And 't is a mercy to man sometimes that God visits and punishes him it keeps him from sin increases him in grace advances him in glory And what is man that thou thus visitest him O Lord and sufferest him not to run headlong to destruction though he so deserve it But visiting here 2. is in a softer milder way 't is to bestow some favour on us Thus holy Iob in words somewhat like the Text What is man that thou shouldst magnifie him and that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him and that thou shouldst visit him every morning and try him every moment Job vii 17 18. So Gods visiting in Iobs interpretation is a magnifying of man a setting of his heart upon him to do him good a visiting him with some mercy or other every morning a purging and purifying him from tin and dross In the Prophet Ieremiah's stile it is the performing his good word unto us Ier. xxix 10. And in the Psalmists a Visiting with his salvation Psal. cvi 4. Great mercy without question Hence it is that he visits us by his Son to bring us to salvation Thus good old Zachariah understood it when he starts out as it were on a sudden with his Benedictus Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people S. Luke i. 68. He visits
19. We cannot discern his track by reason of their tumultuous doings These are they that are to be prepared and stilled and quieted the Soul calm'd and laid and smooth'd that Christ may come into it But this is the way into which and not by which he comes The way by which he comes or we meet him is first the way of Faith Faith is the way by which he comes into the souls of men the way in which St. Paul worshipped the God of his Fathers Acts xxiv 14. in and by which we first come unto our Lord and worship him as did our fathers Prepare your hearts for it prepare them for him that when he comes he may find faith upon the earth in this earth of ours where e're else he miss it And here as Faith is the way so the several Articles of it may pass for the paths God grant we keep them right and streight and our selves streight to them in this perverse and crooked generation 2. The way secondly by which we meet him is the Law Mandata Legalia says another Not much distant from St. Paul's stiling it Schoolmaster to Christ the way to bring us to him The terrors and threatnings of the Law a good way to prepare us for his coming the Types and Figures a good way to lead us to him that we may see he is the same that was and is and is to come the Saviour of all that were and are and shall be sav'd the same the Patriarchs promised the Sacrifices prefigured the Prophets prophecied of the Iews expected the Apostles preach'd of the world believed on and all must be saved by With such thoughts as these then are we to set upon our preparation 1. To break our high and haughty spirits by the consideration of the terrors of the Law the curses due to them that break it and alas who is it that does not so to make way to let him in Then 2. by the Types and Figures to confirm our faith and make them so many several paths to trace out his foot-steps and know his coming 3. The third way by which we are prepared or which we are to prepare for him is Repentance The very way St. Iohn Baptist came to preach His Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand being the same with this Prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths streight Those words of the Prophet the Text and his the Comment No way indeed to Christ but by this way No way but by Repentance to begin it Turn ye turn ye says the Prophet we are all out of the way God knows from the beginning If we will into the way again into the way of our Lord turn we must repent we must of our former ways and doings get us into better ways And then paths here will be the streight and narrow ways the rigours and austerities of repentance the streightning our selves of all our former liberties and desires making our paths so streight and narrow that no tumour of pride no swellings of lust no pack-horses or heavy carriages of the world or Devil may pass by that way any more nothing but Christ and his little flock of humble vertues such as can enter at the streight state none else henceforward to walk in it Prepare we repentance and all its parts and paths for the third way and its paths A fourth is Baptism the way St. Iohn Baptist came in too a way that nam'd him so the way that was always thought to lead all to Christ and his Kingdom that came there in any ordinary way Arise and be baptized Acts xxii 16. that 's the way to the Lord Iesus The way he sent his Disciples in to bring in the world unto him St. Mark xvi 16. whatever shorter way our new men of late have found for their Disciples The Articles and conditions of the Covenant of Baptism promised and undertaken by the baptized either in their own persons or by proxy are the title paths of this great way the several tracks that make it up the ways and paths we are to walk in if we intend ever to meet the Lord. The fifth way is Gods Commandments a way that we all must make ready for him his own way indeed drawn out by his own hands and fingers a way of which himself professes that he came not to destroy it as some vainly delude themselves but to fulfil it to perfect to exalt it to a greater height from the outward act to the inward thought from the lower degree of vertue to the highest of it from bare precepts to additional counsels from meer external performances to right and regular intentions in them And here as the moral Precepts are the great plain way so the Christian Enhâ—â—sements of them to the highest pitch the regulations of them to right intentions and Christian counsels are the paths the narrow and straiter paths The sum and short is this Holy Christian life and conversation in all its parts according to our powers and capacities is the fifth way to be prepared by them that seek the Lord and expect to see his face And yet if there be room and leave for a private conjecture the way of Gods providence in his judgments and mercies towards Ierusalem the way of his mercy in saving the believing and destroying the unbelieving Iew now near at hand may come in for a sixth way of the Lord A way indeed past finding out in all its secret paths yet to be prepared for and more then pointed at by the Prophet Isaiah in that place whence the words are taken and by St. Iohn in this God there bids comfort his captive people for their deliverance from Babylon was now nigh at hand and their enemies near destruction calls to them therefore to prepare themselves for it to make ready and expect it And here S. Iohn Baptist tells the people the Kingdom of Heaven is now at hand S. Matth. 3. 2. which by comparing it with that wrath to come threatned to the Pharisees and Sadduces v. 7. with his exhortation to flee from it and by the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord mentioned by the Prophet Malachi iv 5. in the place where S. Iohn Baptists coming is foretold and the dreadfulness of it exprest Chap. iii. 2. where he is said to come to prepare his way before him but ver 1 c. S. Iohns inviting to repentance to divert or shun it can be no other than Christs coming in Judgment against Ierusalem to execute vengeance upon his enemies and deliver his faithful servants vengeance and deliverance the two great manifestations of his Power and Kingdom and sure no more then need to cry out to us to prepare and make right paths against that coming make way for his judgments to pass by us and his mercies to come to us Thus you have the way and paths observe them many several paths but one only way to Christ and Heaven
cry'd out openly We fools we fools indeed how have we cheated our selves of Heaven the glorious Kingdom whilst the poor Lazarus's these poor contemptible things crept in and we with all our pride and riches and vaunting quite shut out ver 8. And now I may read the Text another way as an assertion not a wish and I find it read so Thus Si saperent intelligerent providerent If men were wise they would both understand and consider all these things without this ado They would presently turn considerarent into providerent too and so the word is rendred by the vulgar and provide now for their latter end And the provision will not stand us in much nor shall I stand long upon it Three ways to do it and you have all The Son of Syrach's 1. Remember thy end and let enmity cease says he Ecclus. xxviii 6. Let us not spend our wits our courage our estates any longer in feuds and enmities seeing God has now at length so strangely brought us all altogether The 2. way shall be his too with a little alteration Ecclus. vii 36. Remember thy latter end and that thou never henceforward do amiss I know 't is read remember and thou shalt not but 't is as true if read remember and thou wilt not if you consider it as you should you will also provide you sin no more To make all sure make the provision our Blessed Saviour would have you for a third Provide the bags that wax not old St. Luke xii 33. friends that will not fail you make them to you out of the Mammon you have gotten make the poor your friends with it That when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations S. Luke xvi 9. And consider lastly for the close of this part of the Text and I am almost at the close of all that all this is Gods desire He wishes it here he wishes it all the holy Text through Oh that there were such an heart in them Deut. v. 29. O that my people would hearken to it Psal. lxxxi 14. O that men would therefore Psal. cvii. four times in it II. And yet the second general of the Text tells you he does more wishes it so heartily that he complains again complains they answer not his wishes And wisht he has so often that he may well complain How often have I says he St. Luke xiii 34. so often nor they nor we can tell it Only so often Noluistis as often as he would so often they would not All the day long he had stretched out his hand unto them sent to them by his messengers early and late to desire them visited them with judgments courted them with mercies and yet they would not disobedient and gain-saying people that they were And therefore complain he does that do what he can he must give them up though with a Quomodo te tradam Hos. xi 8. with great regret and sorrow give them up for fools men of neither understanding nor consideration men that like fools throw away Gold for baubles men that are so far from understanding or considering that they live as if they car'd not whether they went to Heaven or Hell But I love not to lengthen out complaints in this case I should ne're have done and 't is time I should And the Text only insinuating not enlarging Gods complaints gives me an item to do so too Only give me leave in brief to sum up all Every wise man before at any time he begins a work sits down and considers what he has to do and to what end he does it O that we would be so wise in ours that we would retire our selves some minutes now and then to consider the ill courses at any time we are in or entring on And when we are got into our Chambers and be still thus commune with our selves What is this business I am about to what purpose is this life I lead this sin this waste this vanity Am I grown so soon forgetful of my late sad condition or so insensible of my late rebellions and of the pardon God has given me as thus impudently to sin again Is this the reward I make him for all his mercies thus one after another to abuse them still or is it that I am weary of my happiness and grown so wanton as to tempt destruction Is it that I may go with more dishonour to my Grave leave a blot upon my name and stand upon record for a fool or worse to all posterity for ever Is it that I have not already sins enough but I must thus foolishly still burthen my accompts Is it that I may go the more gloriously to Hell and damn my self the deeper Is it that I may purposely thwart God in all his ways of mercy and judgment cross his desires scorn his entreaties defie his threats despise his complaints anger him to the heart that I may be rid of him and quit my hands of all my interests in Heaven for ever Why this is the English of my sins my profaneness and debaucheries the courses I am in or now going upon and will I still continue them This would be considering indeed and a few hours thus spent sometimes would make us truly wise And let us but do so we shall quickly see the effect of them God shall have his wishes and we shall be wise and we shall have ours too all we can wish or hope and no complaining in our streets All our former follies shall be forgotten and all ill ends be far off from us and when these days shall have an end we shall then go to our Graves in peace to our Accompts with joy and passing by some of us perhaps even the gates of Hell come happily to the end of all our hopes the salvation of our souls have our end glory and honour and immortality and eternal life where we as Daniel tells us the wise do shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever Whether he bring us who is the eternal Wisdom of his Father Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit three Persons and one Eternal Immortal Invisible and only Wise God be all Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing for ever and ever A SERMON ON THE ANNUNTIATION OF THE Blessed Virgin Mary St. LUKE i. 28. And the Angel came in unto her and said Hail thou that art highly favoured The Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among women THe day will tell you who this Blessed among women is we call it our Lady-day And the Text will tell you why she comes into the day because the Angel to day came in to her And the Angel will tell you why he to day came in to Her she was highly favoured and the Lord was with her was to come himself this day into her to make her the most blessed among women sent
with the multitudes before and behind the whole multitude of Saints of so many Ager then with a few scattered headless heedless companies forbear it better pray and praise with them then prattle and prate with these better their Hosanna and Benedictus to him that cometh in the name of the Lord then these mens sensless Sermons and Discourses who come in their own name and of their own heads without Gods sending them at all Having then so full a Choir so many voices to bear us company let us also now sing with them Yet that we may be sure to sing in Tune let 's first listen a little to the key and more they bless in 'T is a loud one for 't is a crying they cried not in the sense we often take it for a mournful tone or note for 't is an expression of joy and gladness So S. Luke xix 37. They began to rejoyce c. but with a loud voice it was they praised him that 's the meaning so expressed in the same verse by that Evangelist Indeed true it is God has turn'd our songs of joy into the voice of weeping as the Prophet complains taken away our Feasts and gaudy days and we may well cry and cry aloud in that sadder sense of the word crying yet for all that must we not lay down the other or forget the Song of prayer and praise especially upon the point of Christs coming to us Here it must be crying in another tone singing speaking proclaiming the great favour and honour of him that cometh in the name of the Lord. Blessing and honour and glory to him that so cometh Now that we be not out in tune or note let 's mind the word we shall find the sweetest ways of blessing in it 1. 'T is a loud crying such is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that teaches us to be devout and earnest in our prayers and praises in blessing Christ. 2. 'T is loud and to be heard to instruct us not to be asham'd of our way of serving Christ he that is Christ will be asham'd of him so Christ professes S. Mark viii 38. 3. 'T is the crying of a multitude many multitudes and intimates to us what prayer and praise does best even the Puâ—lick and Common Service 4. 'T is the crying of several multitudes the same thing and insinuates peace and unity that 's the only Christian way of praising God one God and one Faith and one Christ says the Apostle and one heart and mind of all that profess them and 't were best one way of doing it the same Hosanna the same Benedictus the same voice and form of prayer and praise and Worship if it could be had 5. 'T is of some before and some that follow 't is not a confused or disorderly note or way hudling and confounding all together but the voice of Order where every one sings in time in tune and place some begin and others follow and the Chorus joyns all in decency and order this to preach decency and order to them that come in at any time or call any where upon the name of Christ even the very multitude here in Christs praise keep their parts and order 6. 'T is a crying yet of joy we told you the voice of mirth and gladness that we may know Christ is best served with a chearful spirit Christianity is no such dull heavy thing as some have fancied it it admits of Mirth and Songs so they be in nomine Domini either to the praise of God or not to his dishonour so they be not light or wanton or scurrilous or such like 7. This crying here is general and our praises of God must be so too all that is without me and all that is within me praise his holy name all the powers of my soul superiour and inferiour all the organs of my body all the instruments of my life and living my estate and means all to concur in giving praise to God in celebrating the mercies the humilities the condescensions the out-goings and in-comings of my Redeemer Thus we have the key and tune of blessing God and Christ devoutly confidently publickly unanimously orderly chearfully and universally with all our faculties and powers Let 's now hear the Song of praise Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he c. And that we may sing in tune let 's know our parts Three parts there are in it as in other Songs Bassus Tenor and Altus the Bass the Tenor and the Treble Hosanna to the Son of David there 's the Bass the deepest and lowest note the humanity of Christ in filio David being the Son of David the Bass sings that that 's low indeed for him we can go no lower Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord there 's the Tenor or middle part he and the name of the Lord joyn'd together God and Man united that 's a note higher then the first the Mediator between God and Man God in the highest Son of David in the lowest the middle note then follows And Hosanna in altissimis the Altus or Treble the highest note of all we can reach no higher strain we never so high We begin low that 's the way to reach high Hosanna to the Son of David Yet as low as it is 't is hard to hit hard to reach the meaning of it Hosanna a hard note so Interpreters have found it St. Augustine will have it an Interjection only to express rejoycing like that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Greeks or Io triumphe among the Latines The truth is 't is an expression and voice of joy and gladness though no Interjection an expression us'd by the Jews at the Feast of Tabernacles a joyful acclamation enough to authorize common and received expressions of joy though it may be they that use them do not perfectly understand them especially joy inexpressible such as ours should be for the Son of Davids coming may be allow'd to express it self as it can or as it does in other rejoycings when it can do no better Some interpret it Redemption others an Hymn or Praise others Grace others Glory others Boughs to the Son of David All yet concur in this that 't is a joyful wish for prosperity to Christ under the title of the Son of David Grace Redemption Praise and Glory Psalms and Hymns and all the other outward expressions of Thanks Respect and Joy be given to him who now comes to restore the Kingdom of his Father David Nothing too much to be given to the Messiah for him they always mean by the Son of David No inward or outward joy enough for the coming of our Redeemer But though Hosanna mean all these several rendrings yet the construction is no more then Salvum fac or salva obsecro Save we beseech thee like our Vivat Rex God save the King Save the Son of David we beseech thee and save us by the Son of David For
chiefs is a stile too little And yet can either He or We now say it and say truth if not the lye may redound peradventure to Gods Glory but it will work to our own damnation Best look to that 'T is an Hyperbole most think yet 't is no handsom hyperbolizing with God methinks We may find out a way I doubt not so to say it as yet to say nothing but our own bosom thoughts Three things observ'd we may both say and think we are any of us the chief of sinners 1. Look we upon our own sins with the severest eye with all the aggravations of them we can imagine Look we 2. upon other mens with the most favourable one with all the extenuations we can invent And then 3. compare we them so together and the work is done we may really suppose our selves of all men the greatest sinners To begin with our own sins and to aggravate them to purpose consider we them ever in their foulest colours how base and wretched in themselves how dishonourable to God how prejudicial to our Brother how scandalous to our Religion and how destructive to our selves Consider we next upon what poor grounds they were committed upon what slight temptations to what silly ends with what perfect knowledge with what full deliberation with what impudent presumption how wilfully against all good motions how resolutely against all assistances and perswasions to the contrary how desperately against all dangers threatned from them and how in gratefully to God and Christ. In a word what a long train of mischiefs they probably draw after them how many we involve commonly either in the guilt or in the punishment or in the example and thereby lay as it were a seed of wickedness for ever and so sin even in our worms and dust Thus we are to look upon our own transgressions But 2. When we look upon other mens we must do that but cursorily and glancing think they are never so bad as they are represented not so foul by much as they appear at first that their intentions perhaps were good or that it falls out far otherwise than they intended that what was done was upon mistake or error that it was but a slip or weakness or surreption that they have not the light the strength the grace the power that God gives us that they had not the means or opportunity to shun those sins that they were overpowered by strong temptations or were meerly overtaken or plainly forced to it and could not help it or had not the opportunity to do better that they did it ignorantly meant no hurt at all and possibly none may come of it that what e're it be they are heartily sorry for it that however they have a thousand vertues and good things in them to overpoise the evils they have done These are the ways we are to consider the sins of other men And then 3. if after this we compare our sins and theirs together ours under all the circumstances of aggravation with theirs under all extenuating considerations our greatest sins with their little ones our presumptions with their infirmities our vices with their vertues our bad or sinister intentions with their good and fair professions our corrupt natures with their good dispositions our selves as we are by nature and deprest by sin with them as exalted by any grace and vertue it will be no marvel no way strange if we think our selves the greatest sinners And indeed we have no reason to do other we know only our own hearts those we are sure are wicked but we cannot say so of other mens can at the best but suppose theirs of which in charity we ought always to think the best ever at least better than our own especially when even little and ordinary sins in some may be often worse than crying sins in others according to the difference of light and grace and the variety of circumstances that may attend them All which considered if we profess our selves the worst we shall now need no hyperbole to make it good nor fear it will be any whit worse for us though it be true St. Paul it seems held it the surest course thus by the greatest and humblest confession of his own unworthiness to plead his interest in this faithful saying in Christ Iesus coming into the world to save sinners And now sure 4. we may proclaim it must do so too 'T is not a saying to be kept secret no mysterious Cabala not to be revealed or committed only to a few This thing says St. Paul was not done in a corner Into the world he came that came to save us And to the world and through the world let it therefore be proclaimed for ever 'T is good says the Angel to old Tobit to keep close the secret of a King but 't is honourable to reveal the works of God Tob. xii 11. And to day is a good day to do it in A day wherein the Lepers said among themselves 2 Kings vii 9. If we hold our peace some mischief will come upon us I am sure there was enough upon us when men upon this day held their peace Well tell we now our news as they did theirs to the Court to the City to the Country to the world The Church bids us do do so to day Let the Preacher preach it let the people tell it let the singers begin it and go before and the Minstrels and Musick follow and answer it to day that Christ Iesus is come into the world to save sinners Yet to day we must do more then tell it We are to believe to accept to apply it too We have to day the best opportunity to do all to exercise our faith and to advance it to give a proof of our acceptance of Christs saving mercies and the sense of our own sins and miseries Yonder under the blessed Elements we shall meet our Saviour coming to us Shall I tell you how to accept that favour how receive and entertain him why when great Personages are coming to us we make clean the House we trick up the Rooms we set every thing in order we set forth our choicest Furniture put on our best Apparel we look out ever and anon to see if they be coming and when they are we go out to meet them we make our addresses with all humble and lowly reverence we welcome them with the best words we have we present them with some lovely present and take care that nothing unseemly be done before them whilst they stay Let us do so to him that came into the world to day Cleanse we our hearts and purifie our hands dress up all the rooms all the powers and faculties of our souls and bodies with graces and vertues set our affections and passions all in rule and order put on the garments of righteousness and true holiness let us long and thirst and hunger after him let us go out to meet him accost him
foundation of the earth it covers the deep with its wings covers Heaven and Earth with the Majesty of its glory IV. Yet so it might and we ne're the better but that fourthly 't is a Name of Grace and Mercy as well as Majesty and Glory Iesus is a word of which I may more justly say as Tully says of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it contains so much ut Latino uno verbo exprimi non possit It cannot be exprest in any one Latin or English word or any one indeed besides it self Mercy and Grace dwell in it it engrosses all and without it there is none any where to be found no Mercy out of Iesus no Grace but from Iesus no Name under heaven given by which we can be saved but the Name of Iesus Acts iv We are Baptized in the Name of Iesus Acts xix 5. We receive remission of our sins in the Name of Iesus Ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Iesus 1 Cor. vi 11. Ye are sanctified in the Name of the Lord Iesus in the same verse We are glorified by the Name of Iesus in that Name we live in that name we die To Iesus it is we run for grace and assistance whilst we live To Iesus we cry for Grace and Mercy when we die To Iesus we commit our spirits when we breath them out We can neither live nor die without our Iesus Thy name says the Spouse is oyntment poured forth Cant. i. 3. Now Oyl has three special uses for light for meat for medicine We have all in Iesus 1. He is the light that lighteth every one that comes into the world St. John i. 9. 2. He 's the meat that never perishes S. John vi 27. and feeds us up to everlasting life S. Iohn vi 54. 3. He 's the cure and medicine of all our maladies He wants nothing that has Iesus and he has nothing that wants him Omnia Iesus nobis est si volumus c. says St. Ambrose Iesus is all things to us if we will Curari desideras medicus est si febribus aestuas fons est si gravaris iniquitate justitia est si auxilio indiges virtus est si mortem times vita est si ire desideras via est si tenebras fugis lux est si cibum appetis alimentum est Dost thou want health he is the great Physician Art thou fried in the flames of a burning Fever he is the well-spring to cool thy heat Art thou over-laden with thine iniquity he is thy righteousness to answer for thee Dost thou want help he is ever ready at hand to succour thee Art thou afraid of death he is thy life Wouldst thou fain be going any whither he is the way Art thou in darkness and fearest to stumble he is a light to thy feet and a lanthorn to thy paths Art thou hungry or thirsty he is nourishment and food and meat and drink the truest What is it that thou desirest that he is not that this name will not afford thee Why it heals our sicknesses it supports our infirmities it supplies our necessities it instructs our ignorances it defends us from dangers it conquers temptations it inflames our coldnesses it lightens our understandings it rectifies our wills it subdues our passions it raises our spirits and drives away all wicked spirits from us it ratifies our petitions it confirms our blessings and crowns all our prayers In this name they end all that end well through Iesus Christ our Lord. In thy name O blessed Iesus we obtain all that we obtain through it we receive all that we receive so that say we may well with that holy Father Iesus meus omnia Iesus meus omnia Iesus is my all Jesus he is and all I have nothing else but him I will have nothing else but him and I have all if I have him V. And well may we now say fifthly 't is a name of sweetness and comfort too a seet name indeed oyntment we told you it was and a sweet oyntment it is that fills all the house with its precious odour insomuch as it makes the Virgins therefore love thee says the Spouse there in the fore-cited place of the Canticles Mel in ore in aure melos in corde subilus says S. Bernard 'T is honey in the mouth 't is musick in the ear 't is melody in the heart The soul and all its powers the body and all its members may draw sweetness thence O how sweetly sounds the Name of Iesus or a Saviour to one in misery to one in danger to one in any calamity or distress how does it rejoyce the heart and quicken the very bones Gyra regyra versa reversa says the devout S. Bernard non invenies pacem vel requiem nisi in solo Iesu. Quapropter si quiescere vis pone Iesus ut signaculum super cor tuum quia tranquillus ipse tranquillat omnia Turn you and turn you again which way you will which way you can you can never find such peace and quiet as there is in Iesus you will find none any where but in him If you would fain therefore lay you down to rest in peace and comfort set the seal of Iesus upon your heart and all will be quiet no dreadful visions of the night shall affright you no noon days trouble shall ever shake you In the midst of that terrible storm of stoâ—es about St. Stevens ears he but looking up and seeing Iesus falls presently into a quiet slumber and sweetly sleeps his last upon a hard heap of pebbles more pleasantly than upon a Bed of Down or Roses For 't is remarkable that the holy Martyr there calls out upon the Name of Iesus rather than that of Christ as if that only were the name to hold by in our last and greatest agonies Nor is it to be forgotten that this Name was set upon the Cross over our Saviours head to teach us that 't is a Name which set upon the head of all our Crosses will make them easie the thought of Iesus the reference to that holy Name the suffering under that will give both a sweet odour and a pleasant relish to whatever it is we suffer This looking unto Iesus as the Apostle advises Heb. xii 2 3. will keep us from being weary or fainting under them will make us conquerours more than conquerours Rom. viii 37. sure of our reward to sweeten all For neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus ver 38 39. This same Iesus at the end fixes and fastens all the love of God in Iesus will never leave us never forsake us keep but that devoutly in our hearts and piously in our mouths and we need fear nothing Come what can it sweetens all Methinks
St. Paul seems to find a kind of delight and sweetness in the very repeating it he so often uses it begins and ends his Epistles with it garnishes them all through with it scarce uses the very name of Christ without it as if it even sweetned that at least made it sweeter and made the Oyl and Chrism with which Christ himself was anointed run more merrily and freely to the very skirts of his clothing So that now is there any one sad let him take Iesus into his heart and he will take heart presently and his joy will return upon him Is any one fallen into a sin let him call heartily upon this Name and it will raise him up Is any one troubled with hardness of heart or dulness of spirit or dejection of mind or drowsiness in doing well in the meditation of this Name Iesus a Saviour all vanish and flie away Who was ever in such fear that it could not strengthen who in any danger that it could not deliver who in so great anxiety that it did not quiet who in any despair that it could not comfort and revive That we are not sensible of it is our own dulness and experience If we would but seriously meditate upon it we should quickly find it otherwise Nothing would please us where this Name were not No discourse would please us where it was not sometimes to be heard No writings delight us if this Name were left out All the sweetest Rhetorick and neatest eloquence would be dull without it our very prayers would seem imperfect which ended not in this very Name Our days would look dark and heavy which were not lightned with the Name of the Son of Righteousness Our nights but sad and dolesom which we entred not with this sweet Name when we lay down without commending our selves to God in it Our very years would have been a thousand times more unhappy than even those which we have seen of late would be nothing but trouble discontent and misery did they not begin in this Name were they not yearly usher'd in under the protection of it Were not this His Name was called Iesus proclaimed to day to begin it with we might call the year what we would but good we could not call it This setting forth Iesus a Saviour in the front is that which saves us all the year through from all the unlucky and unfortunate days that men call in it All the ill Aspects of Heaven of all the Stars and Planets grow vain and idle upon it and our days run sweetly and pleasantly under it The Psalmist seems thus to prophesie and foretel it Psal. lxv 12. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness and thy clouds drop fatness This day crowns the year this Name crowns the day all our dwellings would be but a sad wilderness all the year without it but they rejoyce and laugh and sing Hills and Vallies too being thus blest in the entrance of the year with this happy Name I end this point though so sweet that I part with it unwillingly with a stave or two of devout Bernards Jubile or Hymn upon it Nil canitur suâ—vins auditur nil jucundius Nil cogitatur dulcius quam Iesus Dei filius c. Iesu dulcedo cordium Fons vivâ—s lumen mentium Excedens omne gaudium omne deâ—iderium Nec lingua valet dicere nec litera exprimere Expertus potest oredere quod siâ— Iesum diligere There is nothing sweeter to be sung of nothing more delightful to be heard nothing more pleasant to be thought of than this Iesus Iesus the delight of hearts the light of minds above all joy above all we can desire the tongue cannot tell words cannot express only he that feels it can believe what sweetness is in Iesus A long song he makes of it It would not be amiss that we also made some short ones some ejaculations and raptures now and then upon it Give us but a taste and relish of the sweetness of thy blessed Name O Iesus and we shall also sing of it all the day long and praise thy Name for ever and ever and sing with the same Father Iesu Decus Angelicum in aure dulce canâ—icum in ore mel mirâ—ficâ—m in csrde nectar coelicum O Jesu thou joy and glory of Men and Angels thy Name is Musick in our ears honey in our mouths heavenly nectar to our hearts all sweetness all pleasure to us throughout wonderful sweet VI. Nay wonderful in all for 't is a Name of wonder and admiration Wonderful is one of the names the Prophet calls him by Isa. ix 6. And Cabalistical wits have pickt wonders out of it from every letter in all three languages In the Hebrew there are four letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and from the signification of these letters rise the mystery Iod signifies a hand Schin a tooth Vau a nail or hook and Ain an eye the hand is the instrument of power the teeth one of the instruments of voices and words the nail an instrument in his passion and the eye an instrument or great discoverer of mercy and pity By all these he is our Iesus by his power he overthrew our enemies which would have slain us by his word he revives our souls when they were slain and dead by his Passion he redeemed us from our sins and for his own mercy sake he did all these In the Greek there are six letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which according to the old device of vailing names in numbers amount to the number of 888. the first letter is 10. the second 8. the third 200. the fourth 70. the fifth 400. and the last 300. which put all together make up that number and by reason that eight is the number they say of the Resurrection that falling out the eighth day the day after the Sabbath which is the seventh include this Mystery That in Iesus is our rest and Resurrection to eternal quiet The name of Antichrist is covered in the Revelation under the number of 666. Now the six days are days of labour pain and trouble the seventh is but a short day of rest whilst we are here 't is only the eighth day that follows after all which must close up all in everlasting glory free from all labour pain and troubâ—â— and this is found in no other name than in the Name of Iesus nor given us in any other And that it may not pass for a meer fancy the Cuman Sybills verses thus foretold his Name many years before Tunc ad mortales veniet mortalibus ipsis In terris similis natus patris omnipotentis Corpore vestitus vocales quatuor autem Fert non vocalesque duas binum geniorum Sed quae fit numeri totius summa docebo Namque octo monades totidem decades super ista Atque hecatontadas octo infidis significabit Hominibus nomen Tâ—â— vero mente teneto There shall come says she into the
same Chapter the perswading us not to receive this grace in vain ver 1 of this the time certainly wherein we may thus be reconciled thus accepted to salvation is worth the seeing worth a Behold and a Behold worth laying hold on too a time to be accepted being a day of salvation And now is the time says the Text we are fallen upon And now is the Time say the Days we are faln among Times of reconciliation both Days of Salvation both Indeed the whole Time of the Gospel is no other Yet the Apostle applies it here to the Age he wrote in We may draw it down to ours we live in But the Church more particularly yet applies it to the time we are now in keeping the holy time of Lent a time wherein the Office of Reconciliation is set open to receive sinners in a time when the Embassadors for Christ as the Apostle stiles us ver 20. of the foregoing Chapter we that are workers together with him ver 5. are more earnestly to beseech the people and the people more especially to bestir themselves by the works of mortification and repentance to reconcile themselves to God a time when in the Primitive Church notorious sinners were put to open penance and punished in this world that their souls might be saved in the day of the Lord says our Church in the Commination and she her self by making these words part of her Epistle for the First Sunday in Lent she cries out to us as it were Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation this very time make much of it and lay hold upon it I shall give all their right take in all the time we can that seeing an accepted time there is a day of salvation to be had still to be had we may be sure not to miss it 'T is no idle trivial business this We cannot be too careful for it General and particular days and times all to be taken and all little enough to obtain salvation not to be thought much of though it were much more so we may but compass that at last I shall not therefore spend so precious time to study curiosity in a business so serious or to torture the Text into nice Divisions It shall suffice to shew you in these particulars 1. That an accepted time there is some time above others wherein God is most ready to accept us 2. That this accepted time is a day of salvation too wherein we shall not only meerly be accepted but accepted so far also as to salvation one or other Now is the day of c. 3. That Now is the Time this is the Day It is before us it is in present we need look no further 4. That God himself here points us to it bids us behold it sets an Ecce a mark upon it a red Letter as it were upon the Day that we might mark and mind it mind it above all other days besides 5. That we are therefore to do accordingly Behold and behold it now and again behold it again and again and so behold it as to accept it and apply us to it bring all ends of the Text together that we may find Salvation in the end 'T is an accepted Time we therefore to make it so as well as count it so make it perfectly accepted by accepting it These shall be the Particulars and of them all this is the sum That God in his goodness allowing us time to repent to receive his grace to reconcile our selves to him and lay hold upon salvation giving us daily deliverances and salvations too nay shewing and setting and pointing us out here a time to accept and save us in It is certainly our duty to take notice of it even now to do it even as soon as may be to accept his goodness and not neglect the day of salvation And That we may not but both accept and be accepted we shall shew you first that such a time there is wherein we may A time 1. still wherein we may find acceptation that God has not shut up the day and shut us out A time 2. wherein God is readiest to accept us readier than at other times That there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a season as well as time for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a seasonable opportunity when it will be the easier done The accepted time A time 3. yet so confin'd and limited that for ought we know there may be none beyond it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not always the season holds not ever And Now is the Time says in effect anon perhaps it will not be for this time in the next words is expounded into a day and we know the day spends and night will come on apace So that a time a ready time a limited time there is for our repentance and Gods accepting us These three make up our first Particular we are now to begin with And 1. that God still allows us time is worth a note He does not owe it us He might snatch us away in the height and fulness of our sins with as much justice as he does it not in mercy But he deals not with us after our sins nor rewards us according to our wickedness says Holy David Psal. ciii 10. Twelve hours of the day there are St. Joh. xii 9. and every one of them God is not only ready to receive us but goes out to seek us St. Mat. xx 3. and so on And at what time soever a Sinner doth repent so it ran of old and when he does so it runs now and both the same he shall save his soul God will accept him Ezek. xviii 32. 2. Yet for all that .2 all times are not alike We will not always find admittance at the same rate with the same ease As he will not always be chiding so he will not always be so pleasing neither We may knock and knock again and yet stand without a while sometimes so long till our knees are ready to sink under us our eyes ready to drop out as well as drop with expectation and our hearts ready to break in pieces while none heareth or none regardeth We should have come before or pitcht our coming at a better time God is in bed as it were and at rest with his Children cherishing and making much of them he is not a◠leisure to open to such strangers We must knock hard and importunately too to get him to open to us We are out of time But is he who is no accepter of persons become now an accepter of times Or would he have us turn observers of them Is there ever a star in heaven that can bring us into favour with the Father of lights Any so lucky an aspect there that can guide us up into his presence Can any or all the Planets in Sextile Trine or Square or any position else make us
incorruptibility made incorruptible where the leaves are turned into everlasting fruit incorruptible honour incorruptible pleasure incorruptible riches incorruptible all Let us but do for them thus advanc'd and heightned as we do for them when they are but fading and withering and unsatisfying and I say no more but you will with as much ease obtain this incorruptible and immortal as that mortal and corruptible God grant us grace to do so to strive for the mastery over our selves and lusts and sins so to be temperate abstemious vigilant and industrious in the pursuit of Heaven as we are or have been of the earth that we may at last be crowned not with a corruptible but an incorruptible crown of glory and everlasting life A SERMON ON THE Sixth Sunday in Lent DEUT. xxxii 29. O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end ANd if we be They who I am afraid we are we are now in a good time to do it Lent is a considering time A Time set us by holy Church to consider what we have done all the year before what we are to do all our years that are behind and what we shall do what will become of us if we do not when all our years are at an end It begins with a day of Ashes and it goes out with a week we hear of nothing in but the preparations to a Grave and the Resurrection so as it were to mind us of our latter end make us more serious about it at this time than ordinary from the first day of it to the last So the Text is not unseasonable nor the Wish in it unfit any way for the time And whether this Wish be Moses his or Gods this They his own people or their enemies it is no matter A good Wish it is from whomsoever to friend or enemy Only it intimates They are none of the wisest for whom it is For his own people it might well be Them he had led out of the waste howling wilderness ver 10. Them he had kept there as the apple of his eye as in the same verse and when he brought them thence fed them with the fat of Lambs and the kidneys of wheat ver 14. And upon this they grew fat and kickt ver 15. 'T is a good Wish for them that They were wiser For their Adversaries 2. it might be as well They had as little sense it seems very ready to grow high at any time upon prosperities and successes as if they and not God had done the business ver 27. 'T is a good Wish for them that they would understand a little better There 's another people that we know but I know not how to call them his or I know not whose they carry themselves so strangely I pray God it be not we at last whom the Wish may suit as well as any A people who some of them not long since were as it were in wasts and desarts like Gods own People in a condition sad enough God knows born thence no great while ago upon his wings since that set high and fed high with Corn and Wine and many good things else who for all that have not well requited God that did it Others of them who because they came in no misfortune like other folk nor were plagued like those other men stand much like Israels enemies upon their terms their righteousness or power or policy or somewhat did the work Both are become too much unmindful of the Rock of their Salvation as we have it ver 15. and have quite forgot to consider the latter end of things what may be yet that however things stand now the foundations of the mountains may be set on fire again as the Phrase is ver 22. if they be no wiser either of them than by continuance in sin to blow up the sparks and then who can assure his house or barns or shop or office at the next turn 'T is a good Wish for these too both of them that they would consider a little better on 't together in novissimo now at last For all these it may be and to be short and home for all these it is As in Moses's time for Israel and their enemies so in Ours for Us late enemies now friends together that we would all be wiser once that we men at least at last would understand the loving kindness of the Lord and consider the wonders that he hath done for the children of men But above all that men would think of this same latter end think that all things end not here there is somewhat to be lookt to after these days are done which wise men would look to and provide for O Si O that they would God wishes it and Moses wishes it and you and I all of us I hope may wish what they do without offence But do it we must besides else God will complain of Us as he does of Them here in the Text. For a kind of Complaint it is as well as a Wish O Si that they were a plain Complaint that they were not But be it a Wish or be it a Complaint and both it is a Wish for some that they were wise or a Complaint of them that they are not for three Particulars it is I. As a Wish 't is that the men here spoken of 1. were wise That 2. they would understand this somewhat or other that we shall see anon worth understanding That 3. they would especially consider their latter end II. As a Complaint it is for three things too that they vvere none of these that they vvere neither Wise nor Vnderstood nor Consider'd vvhat they should For O Si is but a kind of a sigh that 't is no other a very trouble to God that men are no better Of both this is the sum that They vvho in the midst of mercies after the sharp sense of former judgments and not yet out of the fear of nevv ones forget God and either by nevv sins or retriving old ones slight so both his judgments and his mercies they are neither vvise nor understanding nor considering men vvhat ere they go for but a sort that God vvill complain of vvho ere they be for somevvhat else and vvishes to be vviser to understand a little better and consider novv at last lest the latter end be vvorse vvith them than the beginning That it may not but that the Wish may take effect and God have no more reason to complain Let us now consider the Particulars where I must first shew you for whom before I shew you for what it is And yet I know not how you 'l take it I. Indeed that Israels enemies the Heathen should be a Nation void of counsel that have not any understanding in them ver 28. that I believe may be taken well enough But 2. that Israel Gods own people should be of the number they a foolish people and unwise as it is ver
and studies from the first of those tedious days and broken nights of studies of our exhausted spirits and neglected fortunes and preferments to attend our work to no purpose at all Thus besides those common miseries of a hopeless life with other Christians We have most vile dishonour and a whole lost life and a whole vain course of labour added to encrease our misery A third addition we have by the same Pen in this Epistle Chap. iv v. 9. and so forward to augment our misery beyond a Parallel We are men appointed unto death made a spectacle unto the World unto Angels unto Men fools for Christs sake weak and despised hungry and thirsty and naked and buffetted and without any certain dwelling place outed at any bodies pleasure labouring day and night reviled persecuted defamed by every tongue made the filth and off-scouring of the world and of all things even to this day ver 13. hated and envied of all kind of men the world hateth you says our Master for whose sake it does so S. Iohn xv 19. hated of all men said I yea hated of God too if our preaching be vain and there be no hope in Christ but here Miserable fools sure no such fools in the world again as we to endure all this in vain to place or keep our selves in so slavish so dishonourable so troublesom so afflictive so contemptible a condition when with the same or easier pains less cost fewer broken sleeps more worldly content larger liberties fuller friendships freer entertainments greater hopes we might take many several ways and courses of life more profitable more pleasurable more honourable Nor can we be so ignorant of our selves and parts many of us nor find we else any other reason to distrust but that we might in any other way promise to our selves as much power to mannage other means of thriving then Books and Papers as any others if we would apply our selves to the same ways and undertakings with them And had we no other hope but here you should quickly find we could do so were we not confident we serve a Master the Lord Christ whose service as it is perfect freedom so it is perfect honour whatever the world imagine it or please to call it were it not for the hope of a Resurrection when we shall find a sufficient recompence for all the affronts contempts and ill usages we suffer here where these ragged blacks shall be guilded over with the bright beams of glory where we whose office it is to turn many unto righteousness whatever be the success if we do our duty shall shine like Stars for ever and ever Dan. xii 3. So now you see the scene of the Text is altered quite there is evidence enough by our willingly and knowingly subjecting our selves to all these fore-mentioned sufferings that our hope in Christ is not only here and we no longer never miserable All before but a Supposition this the Truth which I told you should be the Second General though only summarily and exceeding briefly that Our hope the true Christians hope is not in Christ for this life only and therefore whoever is he to be sure is not miserable That our Hope is not only here is evident by so many signs that I shall only need but shew and name them as I pass We willingly suffer hardships bear restraints deny our freedoms debar our selves many lawful liberties lay by our hopes of worldly honour think not of the most profitable and probable preferments we contend to rigours and austerities we watch our paths we mark our steps we make scruples where the world makes none we accept restrictions in our lives that the worldling and gallant laugh at the whole business of our life is to be accepted of Christ our Saviour we remember his benefits we observe his days we believe his Resurrection and keep this Feast upon it we solemnize the memory of all his other glorious actions sufferings and mercies with all holy reverence and godly fear with thankfulness and love we hear his Word and study it we strive to do his will and fulfil his Commandements at every point passing by the satisfactions of our own inclinations and desires we receive his Sacraments and believe their power we by this days solemnity confess his rising and profess our own we leave all worldly interests for his bid adieu to all contentations which stand not with that which is in him we suffer any thing gladly for his sake to be counted fools and mad-men despised and trampled on revil'd and persecuted exil'd and tortur'd and slain for his sake for our hope in him for that we fear to displease him to lose his reward These are full manifesto's of the true Christians hope what it is he looks for what he means For who now can think by the very naming of these doings and sufferings truly acted and willingly undergone that our hope is either not in Christ or not in him beyond this life who so easily contemn this all the glories and pleasures of it and choose with deliberation and full consent that only in it which the world counts misery or affliction Especially if he but consider that we are not crazed men that do so but have our senses perfect our understanding clear clearer many of us than the greatest part even of understanding men the same passions with other men as sensible of any evils or afflictions naturally as any others and yet notwithstanding choose all this for our hopes sake in Christ only And when all these shall be new heapt and more imbittered to the Ministers of the Gospel above others through the spite of the world and the malice of the Devil on purpose to drive them from their hope and they daily see and know it are they such miserable fools and mad-men think you not only to perswade others to these courses but themselves also so readily to undergo them when they might enjoy all liberties and pleasures at an easier rate as well as others did they not verily believe and hope and even see and feel already by evident testimonies both within and without an abundant recompence hovering over them laid up for them superabundant in a Resurrection World now do thy worst against us thou canst not make us miserable do all thou canst not miserable at all We scorn thy spite We contemn thy malice We shall have another world when thou art none we shall out-live thy malice thy self Whilst tâ—ou art in thy greatest pride and glory Lo we trample on thee and when thou thinkest thou hast laid both us and all our honour in the dust we are above thee thou art made our foot-stool and thou thy self as scornfully as now thou look'st upon us shalt be one day forc'd to vomit up those morsels of us which thou hast â—wallowed and will 't thou nill't thou bring all our scatterâ—d aâ—â—es aâ—d least atomes of our meanest parts together and humbly offer
them 〈…〉 feet of the meanest Christian soul whom thou at at any time despoiled'st of them and either shrink away confounded with our glory or else be glad of a Resurrection as well as we Whilst those miserable wretches that thou so much courtedst and delightedst in and that thy Prince who rul'd and abus'd thee to all his lusts shall down together into eternal misery when those poor despised Christians whom thou so much maligned'st shall reign in glory Miserable they were not here maugre all the world could do against them they had that peace that joy that contentment still within which the world could neither give nor take away They found an unspeakable as well pleasure as glory in their very afflictions and bitterest sufferings being exceeding glad and counting all joy to be made so like their Master whose Ministers or whose Servants they were with him despising the shame and trouble of a contemptible and afflictive life or death for the joy set before them for the hope they saw at the right hand of the Throne of God Thus feeling nothing that could be truly or properly called misery whilst they took pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake as St. Paul professes he did 2 Cor. xii 10. whilst it all serv'd only to their contentment here and augment their happiness and glory hereafter they sure lost nothing then they are not miserable now who are so faln asleep And lift up your heads ye drooping Christians still they shall not be miserable that so at any time fall asleep but rise and live again and be yet more happy every one in their order every star their glory every star a different ray according to their hope and sufferings here as no men so little miserable here if all things be truly pondered so no men so happy hereafter as the Christians they of all men above all men souls and bodies both Pastor and People all that live and die under the glorious hope of a Resurrection by Christ who place not their hopes or affections in this life but in Him and in the other of all men they most blessed most eternally blessed To which blessed estate after this life ended He who is our Hope and who we hope will keep us in it He in whom we trust and I trust shall do so still not for this life only but the other too but for ever He of his mercy convey and bring us all every one in his due time and order even our Lord Iesus Christ. To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all praise and glory not in this life only but for ever and ever Amen A SERMON UPON Ascension Day PSAL. xxiv 3 4. Vho shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall stand up in his holy place Even he that hath clean hands and a pure heart and hath not lift up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour WHo shall ascend indeed if none must ascend but he that is clean and pure and without vanity and deceit The question is quickly answered None shall for there is none so dust is our matter so not clean defiled is our nature so not pure lighter the heaviest of us than vanity and deceitful upon the balance the best of us Psal. lxii 9. so no ascending so high for any of us Yet there is one we hear of or might have heard of to day that rose and ascended up on high was thus qualified as the Psalmist speaks of all clean and pure no chaff at all no guile sound in his mouth 1 Pet. ii 22. Yea but it was but one that was so What 's that to all the rest Yes somewhat ' t is He was our head and if the head be once risen and ascended the members will all follow after in their time Indeed 't is not for every one to hope any but such as are of his that follow him that belong to him 'T is a high priviledge that the Psalmist stands admiring at and therefore not for all yet for all that will for a who shall here is a who will set up for all that will accept of the condition Quis ascendet is who will as well as who shall They that will take the pains will do what they can to be clean and pure they shall His innocence and purity shall help out for the rest when they have done their best But if any man will ascend he must do his best must be clean and pure with Christ and through him or he shall not ascend and rise up after him 'T is the Lesson we are to learn from Ascension day to Whitsunday how to ascend after Christ into the hill of the Lord how to rise up in his holy place even to have clean hands and pure hearts not to lift up our minds to vanity or swear to deceive our neighbour to have our hands ascend and our hearts ascend and our minds ascend and our words ascend as into his presence all ascend after him The Psalm is one of them which the Church appoints for Ascension day and I see not but it may very well pass for a kind of Prophesie by way of an extatical admiration at the sight of Christs Ascension So it pass'd with the Fathers and with our Fathers too may so with us for never was it so fulfill'd to a tittle as by Christ and his Ascension He the only he of clean hands and pure heart and holy mouth and holy all he the first that entred heaven that got up the hill that entred into the holy place not made with hands Heb. ix 24 c. Not any doors so properly everlasting as those of heaven nor they ever open'd for any King of glory to come in as it is ver 7. but him I cannot tell how we should expound it otherwise without much more metaphor and figure Yet I will allow it too for the Prophets admiration at the fore-sight of the happiness of Gods peculiar people and their condition that God whose the whole earth is and all its fulness ver 1. should out of all its places choose Sion for his place he whose the World is and all that dwell therein as it follows there should choose out the Iews amongst all the dwellers to dwell among them only to serve him upon that hill that further this God whose all is should still of this all so particularly honour some as to give them the priviledge of his hill and holy place his solemn Worship and Service to go up first into his holy places upon earth and then afterwards ascend into the holy places the heavens for the words mean the one as well as the other Who are they What a sort of people are they that are so happy so much exalted upon the earth and over it 'T is worth the admiring worth the enquiring and we find it presently who they be even such as have clean
it and finds fault with it for infidelity and unbelief sets up Christs righteousness and blames the world for neglecting it and following its own vanity interests and humours professes the Prince of the world cast out by Christ the devil overcome and brought to to judgment by him our sins forgiven we acquitted and the World condemned this cannot be from the Spirit of the World nor from the Spirit of the Flesh nor from the Spirit of darkness and error for this were to bear witness against themselves but from the Spirit of light and truth Read the Text now over again When he c. he shall guide you into all truth If it be the Spirit of truth that informs you it will 8. dispose you equally to all truth not to this only or to that which most agrees with your education humour temper or disposition condition custom interest or estate but universally to all to any though never so hard or opposite to them so they be truths He that is thus affected towards truth is not only probable to be directed into truth in all his Doctrines and Assertions but may most properly be said to have the Spirit of truth already come speaking and residing in him Yet go a little further to the next words He shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that Spirit 9. that does not seek it self that opinion which renounces the glory of a Leader the ambition of a Faction the affectation of Singularity the honour of himself that speaks not of its own head but what he has heard with his ears and his Fathers have declared as done in the time of old that makes not new opinions but takes up the old such as Christ delivered to the Apostles they also to the Fathers they downward to their successors this is most probably if not most certainly the Spirit of truth The Spirit sure of humility it is that trusts not relies not on its self or its own judgment and the Spirit of humility is the Spirit of truth for them that be meek and humble them shall he guide in judgment and such as be gentle them does he learn his way Psal. xxv 8. Yet on a little And he will shew you things to come Those Doctrines 10. that refer all to the world to come which mind nothing seriously but things above and things to come which ever and only teach us to fix there they are surely from the Spirit of truth because no truth like that which is to fulfil all promises and that to be sure is yet to come One more glance and I have done with this and 't is but a glance to the very next words He shall glorifie me Those Doctrines which give God all the glory which return the glory of all to Christ which so exalt man only as the better thereby to glorifie God so set up Christ as that they make him both the healer of our nature and the preserver of it the remitter of our sins and the conferrer of Grace the first mover of us to good the assister of us in it the sanctifier of us with it the justifier of us thorow it the rewarder of us for it and yet all this while the accepter of us when we have done the best which accuses not Christ of false judgment in justifying the sinner whilst he is no better and pronouncing him just when he is no other than wicked and unjust nor denies the efficacy of his grace to make us clean to have a true cleansing purifying sanctifying power as well as that which they call the justifying these Doctrines which take not this glory away from Christ but give the power as well of making as pronouncing righteous to his grace that thus magnifie and glorifie his Justification and Redemption they certainly glorifie Christ are the only Doctrines that glorifie Christ truly and according to the Spirit of truth So now let 's sum up the matter Those Doctrines which are contrary to worldly carnal sensual respects not conceivable by the natural or carnal man That 2. stick by us when worldly comforts leave us That 3. are according to Christs Word and his Example accompanied with Meekness and Obedience Which 4. teach us charity and love to one another Which 5. inform us rightly in the prime Articles of the Faith Which 6. witness nothing more than Christ an universal Saviour as Adam the universal sinner Which 7. reprove the sins and infidelities of the World and show us the way to be acquitted from them Which 8. have a kind of conduct and sincere affection with them to all truths whatsoever under whatever term or name though never so odious so contrary to interest or honour Which 9. seek not their own name to get a name or set up a Faction but are consonant to the ancient Fathers and Primitive Antiquity with humble submission to it Which 10. lift up all our thoughts to heaven and 11. by all means possible can give God and Christ and the holy Spirit the glory deny nothing to them that is theirs under a foolish pretence only to abate and vilifie man beyond the truth these Doctrines are truth so much of them at least as agree with these Rules are from the Spirit of truth and are manifestations that the Spirit of truth is come to that soul that embraces them If all these together then the Spirit altogether if but some of these but some so much of that neither All Doctrines and Opinions 1. that savour of worldly or carnal interests that 2. change and wheel about according to the times and will not hold out to the last which 3. are not regulated by the Word of God or are any way contrary to Christs Example of Patience and Obedience Which 4. are not for peace and charity Which 5. deny any Article of the three Creeds we acknowledge Which 6. confine the mercies of our Saviour and bear false witness of him Which 7. advance any sin or suffer men to live in it Which 8. love not truth because it is truth but for other ends Which 9. seek any other title to be distinguished by than that of Christian or glories in it which disagree from the stream and current of Antiquity Which 10. fixes our thoughts too much below Or 11. rob God or Christ or the holy Spirit of the glory of any good or the perfection of their work be they cried up never so high for truth and Spirit the new discovery of Christ and new light of truth and the very dictate of the Spirit they are not so it is not when nor then that the Spirit of truth is come there is not that in them by which Christ has described the Spirit of truth One thing there is behind when all these requisites before are found in any Doctrine or Opinion this Doctrine indeed may be such as comes from the Spirit of truth yet accepted and entertained it may be through some other Spirit upon some
consider it as the voice of a sinful man of humane nature corrupted with sin Though all created Substances contract a kind of trembling or drawing back at the approach of God the very Seraphims covering their faces with their wings yet did not sin and folly cover them with a new confusion the weakest and poorest of them would draw a kind of solace and happiness from the beams of that Majesty that so afrighted them 'T is sin that speaks the Text in a louder key that more actually cries to him not softly and weakly out of weakness but aloud and strongly out of wilfulness to depart It does more then so It drives God from us not only bids him go but forces him It is not so mannerly as to intreat him it discourteosly and unthankfully thrusts him out of doors Exi a me Get you out says the sinful soul to God no obsecro no entreaty added not go out I pray thee or depart I beseech thee We should do well to think how uncivilly we deal with God we are not content to put him out of his own house and dwelling the temples of our bodies the altars of our souls by our sins nay and his holy Temples by sacriledges and profaneness but sometimes in ruder terms we bid him be gone and thrust him out by wilful and deliberate transgressions by solemn and legal sacriledges and profanenesses which we commit and reiterate in contempt of him as if expresly we said to him Go from us we will have nothing to do with thee any longer thou shalt not only not dwell but not stand or be amongst us The people of Gennesaret besought Christ to depart out of their Coasts These sinners will out with him whether he will or no and though he come again and knock to be let in and continue knocking till his head be wet with the dew and his locks with the drops of the night yet can he hear no other welcome from us then depart from us we are in bed well at ease in our accustom'd sins and we will not rise to let thee in we will not be troubled with thy company with a course so chargeable or dangerous as is thy wonted service Strange it is that we should thus deal with God but thus we do yet no man lays this unkind usage to his heart never considers how he thus dayly uses God If good motions arise within us we bid them be gone they trouble us they hinder our sports or projects our quiet or interest If good opportunities present themselves without we bid them go we are not at leisure to make use of them they come unseasonably If the Word preached desire to enter in if it touch our Consciences and strike home we bid that depart too it is not for our turn it crosses our interests or our profits or our pleasures we will not therefore have it stay any longer with us If God by any other way as of afflictions or of deliverances by blessings or curses or any other way come to us they are no sooner over nor these any sooner tasted but we send them gone to purpose and think of them again no more our sins return and send them going make us forget both his justice and his mercies This is the course the sinner treads to God-ward From whence it is that the soul thus ill apparell'd with its own sins dares not look God in the face without the mediation of a Redeemer She has driven God from her by her sins and having thus incens'd him flees away when he draws towards her Thus Adam and Eve having by sin disrob'd themselves of their original righteousness when they hear the voice of God though but gently walking towards them and calling to them they run away and hide themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the Garden Gen. iii. 8. They felt it seems they wanted something to shelter them from the presence of God into the thickets therefore they hie themselves as if they then fore-saw they had need of the Rod out of the stem of Iesse the branch out of his roots as the Prophet calls Christ Isa. xi 1. to bear off the heat of Gods anger from them Under the leaves of this branch alone it is that we are covered sheltered from the wrath to come His leaves his righteousness it is that clothes our nakedness the very garments which our first Parents were fain to get to themselves before they durst venture again into his presence There is no enduring Gods presence still no coming nere him unless we look upon him through these leaves from under the shelter of this branch of Iesse Tell the sinner who keeps not under this shelter that lies not at this guard of Gods coming to him of his looking towards him of his approach to judgment and with Felix he trembles at it puts off the discourse to another time refuses to hear so terrible news as Gods coming is if Christ came not with him Such a one has sin made him that he desires not to see him whose eyes will not behold sin Depart from me O Lord in stead of Thy Kingdom come is his daily Prayer Yet as hardly or unadvisedly as nature or corruption may deliver this speech of St. Peter's it may be delivered in a softer sweeter tone and so it was by him It may 3. be the voice of the humble spirit casting himself down at the feet of Iesus and confessing himself altogether unworthy of so great a favour as his presence If we peruse the speeches of humble souls in Scripture by which they accosted their God or their Superiors we shall see variety of expression indeed but little difference in the upshot of the words I am but dust and ashes says father Abraham Gen. xviii 27. Now how can dust and ashes with their light scattering atoms endure the least breath of the Almighty The Prophet Isaiah saw the Lord in a Vision sitting upon a Throne and presently he cries out Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts Isai. vi 5. What undone Isaiah Yes Wo is me I am undone for mine eyes have seen the Lord of Hosts who certainly cannot but consume me for so boldly beholding him I am not worthy says the Centurion to Christ St. Matth. viii 8. that thou should'st come under the roof of my house speak the word only as if his presence were so great he might not bear it And St. Paul assoon as he had told us that he had seen Christ 1 Cor. xv 8 tells us he was one born out of due time was the least of the Apostles and not meet to be called an Apostle as if the very seeing of Christ had made him worth nothing Indeed it makes us think our selves so of whom we ever think too much till we look up
blessed Spirits now inhabite those everlasting hills To put all together Thither they ascended up like clouds by the secret and spiritual operation of divine grace there they dwell like clouds their souls like the upper part of the cloud light and glorious though their bodies like the lower darkned in the grave There they move like clouds in heavenly order Thence they descend like clouds in the still showers of their happy examples that in them as in a glass we may see the power of faith the glory of their Lord who has made earth ascend beyond its nature and dwell above it And yet for all this is it but Nubem still a Cloud not a Star The Saints shall shine as stars Dan. xii 3. and methinks it being Nubem Martyrum the Martyrs flames should rise better into stars than clouds Should and shall in the Resurrection till then Nubem still some degree of darkness at least a less degree of light And whatsoever to themselves for us perhaps 't is necessary it be a cloud For had we not need of this dark word When did not God on purpose cloud their glories from our eyes were it not for this nubem this cloud that covers them man as subject to superstition as prophaness would quickly find out some excellencies for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fall down and worship Or if not necessary yet more convenient far For 1. a Star would only guide us a Cloud both guide and refresh us And 2. guide us better For Stars only appear in the night Clouds night and day we can see them so best follow them The Sun-beams put out star-light Prosperity cannot see a Star so small a glimmering ray A Cloud come it night or day in prosperity or adversity we perceive that presently so a cloud to teach us in all estates how to demean our selves like devotion in its ancient innocence Abrahams cloud when the days are calm and clear Iobs when the day is swallowed up in a tempestuous night So never destitute of a cloud 3. Clouds not Stars They are none but the Magi wise learned men can follow the Stars and their courses but every Peasant sees which way the Clouds move So if Stars they had been for none but wise learned men to follow now the poor Country man has a cloud to run by And yet how easily soever we perceive the track of the Clouds yet if there be a scatter'd multitude we are as easily distracted 'T were best to have but Nubem in the singular but one cloud 't is so Many drops but one cloud though the materials fetcht from several quarters The Martyrs all one Cloud to shew their unity all and each confessing witnessing one and the same truth for truth is but one So not St. Iudes clouds they not only empty no stillicidium Doctrinae in them no good to be learnt from them but clouds too in the Plural some moving this way some that way no constant course in division too one coursing against the other at such enmity is evil with it self 'T is only good and good men that keep together in nubem in peace and unity and by that you shall know them Be it a Cloud and but one Cloud the more probable still too small it may be to command the eye and then what are we the nearer Nubem not Nubeculam no diminutive will that do it If that will not tantam will So great a cloud Why how great So great that St. Paul ver 32. of the former Chapter tells them the day would fail him to shew them it all as if so great a cloud could not but shut up the day in darkness Our first Fathers of the World had no cloud to guide them nothing but natures dusky twilight This cloud begain to rise in the time of the Patriarchs but to appear in the time of Moses like Eliahs cloud at the red Sea went before him thence into Canaan covered the whole Land of Iudaea in the time of the Prophets So these Hebrews had cloud enough yea but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have more Even those Hebrews to whom this Epistle was sent they are in the Cloud About that time this cloud rising in the East spread its wings presently into the West and had almost in an instant fill'd up the corners of the World so that if you now ask again how great so great I cannot tell you Primitive Christians they in the number you will not wonder at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it become a cloud of Martyrs Indeed the Law of Moses had its Martyrs too Witness Isaiahs Saw the three Childrens fiery Furnace the emptied skins of the tortur'd Maccabees But since the time of Christ his servants have engrossed the name as if they only were the Martyrs and filled up tantam to the brim Their multitudes tireing the wit of cruelty and their patience overcoming it as if from the streams and rivers of their bloud heaven might now enskarfe it self in a scarlet cloud Well talk we may of Martyrum what we will yet if Nubem be not first they will be but Stultae Philosophiae all this while no better 'T is the order in the Text Nubem first then Martyrum First clouds lifted up to heaven in their thoughts and conversations and all in one the Sons of peace and unity if you can see Christ in the cloud then Martyrs if you will Schism and faction or discontented passion yield no Martyrs You shall know a Martyr by Nubem if that go first But taking Martyrs thus all are not Martyrs All died not for their faith but all are Testes Witnesses Witnesses of the Power Witnesses of the Mercy Witnesses of the Justice of God Of his Power in delivering them from sin of his Mercy in saving them from punishment of his Iustice in rewarding them with glory Witnesses to this curramus 1. to witness the possibility that this Race we are to speak of by and by may be run this Propositum the prize won for ab esse ad posse run the one they have and won the other long ago 2. To testifie the easiness that even the weaker Sex Sarah and Rahab the weakest age the three Children the army of Innocents have run it 3. To testifie the dignity that both King and Priest and Prophet David and Samuel and Daniel thought it worth the pains 4. To testifie the universal necessity all ages young and old all Sexes men and women all degrees high and low to run this race none excused And that you may not mistrust their testimony what is required to the best witness you have in them 1. That he knows what he speaks and what knowledge like theirs that speak by experience that now feel the reward of truth 2. That he will and dare speak it and these have fear'd no torments for it they are Martyrs of
fomenting all distates no reviving those wretched Principles and pretences that first ruin'd all our peace and quiet no scattering Libels and wonders up and down to amuse the people so to hinder them from reunion with the Church and keep them in perpetual discontent for they know not what These are not the words of such as seek the peace of Sion or heartily pray for the peace of Hierusalem They are not the words of peace my Brethren not the ways of it nor do they become the Messengers or Servants of the God of peace To raise needless scruples to canvase every word and tittle to make a noise and puther about every trifle to flutter and keep a stir as if we had much to say to make it out in number where it wants in weight to write and scrible over old objections answered over and over a thousand times to talk of peace and thus make ready for the battle if it must pass for peace 't is a peace that passeth all understanding in another sense than the Apostle meant we cannot conceive it we cannot understand it Would we but lay down our interests our envies our animosities our prejudices our pride our humours the justifying our selves and doings the glory we take in a false constancy that Magisterial conceit we have of our own judgment and that Popularity that undoes all were these out of the heart peace would be quickly in But if we stand upon punctilio's and will not pray but in our own words will not worship God unless we may do it in what Form we list our selves will no◠appear in the Congregation unless it be in one of our own gathering or choosing will quit the Church rather than an humour if the Church musick and harmony must drive all concord and agreement out of doors if the garments emblems of peace and purity affright us if order scare us if Uniformity drive us out of the Church if kneeling at the Altar and Feast of Peace must go for a reason to keep us from it if the very sign of the Cross of Christ by which we were reconciled for by his Cross it was says the Apostle must needs be made an Argument against all reconcilement 't is a sign we have no hearts for peace our hearts are not at all for it who may have it at so easie a rate upon so handsom terms and yet thus rudely thrust it from us as if we had sworn covenanted against it and all the ways that can lead to it Fain would we see some better expressions of it if it be otherwise Let 's try the Apostles in the next particular examine it by our ordinary deportment behaviour whether that be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mild and gracious as it should 5. What our common Translation here renders grati thankful St. Chrysostom and St. Ierom I told you and from them Erasmus turns gratiosi gracious In this sense we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. v. 4. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. xi 16. Both senses the word may bear and the Connexion will bear them too And to do both right we will balk neither we will take both Gratiosi first Be we mild and gracious kind and amiable The Apostle says it fuller in ver 12 13. beseeches us to be tender and compassionate meek and humble patient and long-suffering forbearing and forgiving These are the best symptomes and expressions of peaces ruling The words of peace are smooth and sweet they are no swords the looks of peace are mild and chearful they are not sower or dogged the hands of peace are soft and open they are not rugged or close they are easie and stretched out to all that come in to them These are the ways of peace and the best means to draw it on To look always austere and muddy to carry scorn and superciliousness in the countenance to be unsociable and untractable to run as far contrary as is possible to receive or joyn with none but upon our own conditions and reject all that look and speak and understand not just as we do our selves is so far from the paths of peace that I shall not stick to call it an open defiance of all the World Yet such men there are some that add to all a renunciation of all the forms and words and signs of civility and make it Religion to be unmannerly and sullen I know not what sense these men can have of peace who come not so near as the salutation of it addresses to it And truly I have but little to say for them neither who after so many condescensions from their Soveraign so great compliances so long forbearances so much forgiveness so fair a time given them to consider and come in and resolve all petty scruples for there are no other are not yet composed for peace who the more is yielded the less they are satisfied the more graciously they are dealt with the more averse and froward they are to a reconcilement the nearer we come the further they fly from us Only I know I am bound by St. Paul here to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to think and speak as mildly and gently of them as the thing will bear I would they would do so too Yet methinks if they like not Gratiosi they might do Grati if they like not to be gracious they might however to be thankful thank God and thank the King and thank the Church for their graciousness and forbearance be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second sense in that of thankfulness 'T is the last Motion I have to make out of the Apostles that ye would be thankful 6. 'T is a duty Ill assure you that lies upon us For it becometh well the just to be thankful Psal. xxxiii 1. I cannot tell you any thing more becoming No not more becoming us in regard of the mercies mentioned in the Text the Peace of God and the calling us to it in one body Each of them so ample subjects for our thankfulness that we cannot shew thankfulness enough for either Peace so great a blessing that Nil dulcius audiri nil delectabilius concupisci nil utilius possideri as one under St. Augustines name expresses it a blessing than which there is none more pleasant to be heard none more delightful to be desired none more profitable to be possessed And Gods calling us to it in one day calling us into one Church calling us then when we were almost out of call some of us in very remote parts of the earth some of us in dark corners at home some of us in dungeons some in dust almost ready to go down into it and be covered with it calling us all together out of our several graves as it were into a new life restoring us our head and uniting it to the members is so transcendent a mercy to us that we can never be sufficiently thankful Yet that we may be somewhat thankful
Common Service Every Magistrate that is every Governour of a Country every Maior of a City every Master of a Company every Father of a Family Some of these have their Statutes to be kept all of them their commands to be obeyed These are Secular Powers you have besides Spiritual such as take order for your Souls as the other for your Bodies and Estates your Bishops and Clergy Bishops are Fathers by their Title the Fathers of the Church so the first Christians so all since till this new unchristian Christianity started up Fathers in God 't is their stile however some of late Sons of Belial would make them Fathers in the Devil Antichrists perhaps that they might make them like themselves Strange Antichrists to whom Christ hath left the Governing of his Church these 1500 years 1. If you value them by their Antiquity they are Fathers for that their enemies being judges who would fain distinguish between their Offices and their Names that they might have some pretence to disobey them though more commonly they fill their mouth with scoffs and calumnies the language of the Devil than their books with the language of Antiquity truly understood 2. Fathers secondly for their Authority Time was when their Commands their Councils and Canons were Laws to Christians none of the least neither when their breach inferred the greatest punishment spiritual malediction 3. Fathers lastly for their tenderest Care over the tenderest part your Consciences Such who would quickly set all in order would you not listen too engagedly to by-respects Such whose commands you cannot complain of when you have examined them A hat a knee a reverent posture of the body are no such tyrannies as some please to fancy them You would do more in a great mans presence more for a small temporal encouragement A habit a Hood a Cap a Surplice a Name are wonderful things to trouble a devout Conscience You have more Ceremonies in your Companies and Corporations and you observe them strictly You will find it if you compare them If thus Fathers now their Precepts then certainly are to be obeyed Yet with this Rule ever both for them and all other inferiour Magistrates beside So far as they contradict not the Supreme Authority 'T is a rule in natural reason In two contrary commands the Superiours is to be obeyed Now to the King as Supreme we told you out of St. Peter to Rulers as sent by him that is as far as they are sent by him no further no further than their Commission from him Else Obedience can find no bounds nor Consciences no rest if the Supreme be not enough to terminate and guide all obedience into Your Father There is an argument in that word may make you obey him above all the world besides The tenderness of a Father Never could any challenge this name with greater justice never any so far condescended to his children to part with his own priviledges maintenance conveniences provision attendance He hath done as much for his Sons as the Rechabites for their Father left all even his houses for them lest by the insolence of some tumultuous spirits he should be forced to punish them What natural Father like this Father But whether he hath been used like a Father indeed you used him lately in your entertainment like a Conqueror and are justly honoured for it but whether by others like a Father let the affronts at his own Palace gate the sawcy Language in every rascal mouth the rebellious Sermons the seditious Libels cast abroad his own words where he is fain to proclaim to the world He is driven from you let these speak I say nothing Your Inferiour Magistrates have almost every where found disrespect And whether your Bishops and Clergy have been used like Fathers if the usage they have had of late the tumults about their houses the riots upon their Persons the daily insolencies the whole Clergy have met with in your streets never seen till now in a Civil Common-wealth in any ordered City upon the most contemptible men if the injuries done their Persons in the Churches at the very Altars once Sanctuaries against violence now thought the fittest places for it in the very administration of the Sacraments in their Pulpits both among you and abroad the Kingdom in a word so many slanderous malicious accusations without ground entertain'd with pleasure besides the blasphemies upon the whole Order if these cannot tell you after-ages will determine and in the interim let the world judge Our Fathers imperfections are not to be divulg'd though true much less false ones to be imposed upon them This is a reverence but due to Fathers 'T was cursedly done of Cham and he paid for it he and his with an everlasting curse to uncover his Fathers nakedness 'T was wretchedly done of Absalom to tell the people there was no man deputed of the King to hear them no justice in the Land and he thrived accordingly And let all the enemies of my Lord the King be as that young man is says Cushi Yet say we 't were well it were no worse How is all this made Religion too Oaths and Protestations intended certainly to better purposes abused to maintain rebellion and prophaneness Construed so in Pulpits and professed by their Scholars in the face of God and man pray God it go no higher and dare you after all this look for a blessing Alas you must lay by those thoughts till you have learned the Rechabites Lesson They used their Ionadab like a Father so reverenced his memory so preserved his name so obeyed him in all his several authorities so punctually so constantly so couragiously so sweetly so universally so sincerely so really so carefully with that contentedness without grumbling that humility without disputing that patience that readiness that full content of every Age Sex and Condition no weakness tenderness or priviledges pretended against it that God himself presently upon it promiseth a full reward Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel c. I am now at the Reward and 't is a full one full of 1. honour full of 2. proportions full of 3. blessings Full of 1. honour at the first Therefore thus as if their Obedience deserved it or God at least would seem so far to honour it He had promised length of life in the Commandment for it and God is not unjust It deserves therefore by the Covenant of his Promise yet by the interpretation of his mercy And 2. full of proportions it is Proportionable to the three Acts and Objects of Obedience You have obeyed your Father therefore you shall want no Sons there 's one You have kept his commandments therefore shall your Sons stand in them and by standing in them stand before God there 's a second You have kept all and done according to all that hath been commanded you fail'd in nothing therefore shall you have a reward all of you not a man of you fail for