humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse therefore they who desire to be affected and liked of him must be like affected to him and not exalt themselves above others in pride but rather abase themselves below them in humility not behave themselves as lords over the faith of others but rather demeane themselves as servants for Christs sake not pursue ambitiously the glory of this world but account it the greatest glory to partake with Christ in the infamy of the Crosse How unfit and incongruous a thing is it in contention to preach the Gospel of peace in rage and choler to treat of meeknesse in malice and hatred to exhort to Christian love and reconciliation in pride to commend humility in vaine glory to erect the Crosse of Christ that is to deny the power of it in so declaring it Yet if they will needs bee ambitious if their affections are so set upon glory and honour that nothing can take them off let them take the readiest course to compasse their desire which lyeth not in the higher way they have chosen by advancing themselves but in the lower way which Christ took by abasing himselfe For glory is of the nature of a Crocodile which flyeth from them that pursue it and pursueth them that flie it as S. b Hom. 7. ad Philip. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysostome excellently declareth it Glory saith he cannot be attained but by eschuing it if thou makest after it it maketh away from thee if thou flyest from it it followeth thee if thou desirest to be glorious be not ambitious for all truly honour them who affect not honour as on the contrary they hold a base opinion of such as are ever aspiring to honour and that for the most part without desert Two weighty reasons wee have in this verse to incline all Christian minds to obedient humility or humble obedience a patterne of it and the reward thereof he humbled himseâ—fe so low therefore God exalted him so high Of the patterne most lively drawne in the life and especially the death of our Saviour I have said something already and shall more hereafter yet can never say all As Socrates spake of Philosophy that it was nothing but meditatio mortis a meditation upon death we may of Divinity that it is in a manner nothing else but meditatio mortis Christi a meditation on Christs death for the learnedest of all the Apostles would be knowne of no other knowledge that he had or much esteemed but this I c 1 Cor. 2.2 desire saith he to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified d Lib. 7. nat hist c. 2. Genâ— Astoma radices florum secum portat longâ—ore itinere ne desit olfactus Pliny describeth unto us a strange kind of people in Africa that had no mouthes but received all their nourishment at their nostrils which is nothing else but sweet smells and fragrant odours who if they are to take any long journey provide themselves of great store of flowers and sweet wood and aromaticall spices lest they starve by the way I will not warrant the narration because I know it is a case over-ruled in Aristotles philosophy that smells nourish not but the application I can make good out of the Apostle who calleth the Gospel and the Preachers thereof odorem vitae ad viâ—am a savour of e 2 Cor. 2.16 life unto life Though the naturall life be not yet the spirituall is nourished by odours savours And howsoever we are not in our bodies yet in our soules we are Astomi and like those people of Africa recâ—ive nourishment from sweet trees and roots The sweet root we are alwayes to carry about us is the root of the flower of Jesse the savoury wood we are to smell unto is the wood of the Crosse that is the tree of life in the midst of our Paradise It is the ladder of Jacob whereby we ascend into heaven it is the rod of Aaron that continually buddeth in the Church it is the Juniper tree whose shade killeth the Serpent it is the tree which was cast into the waters of Marah and made them sweet no water so bitter no affliction so brackish to which the Crosse of Christ giveth not a sweet rellish But to proceed from the effâ—ct of Christs passion in us our comfort and salvation to the effect of it in himselfe his glory and exâ—ltation expressed in the letter of my Text Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him Wherefore Although there can be no cause given of Gods will which is the cause of all causes yet as Aquinas teacheth us to distinguish there may be ratio rei volitae a reason of the thing willed by God for God according to the counsell of his owne will setteth divers things in such an order that the former is the cause of the latter yet none of them a cause but an effect of his will For example in that golden chaine drawne by the Apostle Whom he hath f Rom. 8.29 predestinated those he hath called whom he hath called he hath justified whom he hath justified he hath glorified predestination is a cause of vocation vocation of justification justification of glorification yet all of these depend upon Gods will and his will upon none of them In like manner God hath so disposed the causes of our salvation that Christs incarnation and humiliation should goe before his glory and exaltation the one bee the meritorious cause of the other yet neither of them is causa voluntatis divinae exaltantis but ratio exaltationis volitae neither of them a cause of Gods will exalting but the former the reason of Christs exaltation as willed by God God Though Christ rose of himselfe and as himselfe speaketh reared up the temple of his body after it was destroyed ratione suppositi yet ratione principii it is most true God raised him up and therefore the Apostle saith else-where that he was g John 2.19 raised by the right hand of God that is divine power but because this divine power was his owne and essentiall to him as God he may be truly said also to have raised himselfe Hath highly exalted Above the grave in his resurrection above the earth in his ascension above the heaven in his session at the right hand of his Father In the words highly exalted there is no tautologie but an emphasis which is all one as if he had said Super omnem altitudinem exaltavit super omnem potestatem evexit he exalted him above all highnesse he gave him a power above all powers and a name above all names Him It is desputed among Divines whether this him hath reference to Christ considered as God or man that is to say whether he was exalted according to his humane nature only or according to the divine also Some later Expositors of good note and by name Mr. Perkins on the Creed resolve that Christ
perish You have here as before I shewed you the Church of Christ drawne as it were with a coale and expressed with three darke and sad markes 1 Frailty A woman 2 Perplexity Fled 3 Obscurity To the wildernesse Her nature is frailtie The woman Her state is uncertainty Fled Her glory obscurity remained in the wildernesse a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes From the frailty of her nature let us learne a lecture of sober watchfulnesse from the unsettlednesse of her estate a lecture of prudent moderation from her obscurity or latencie a lecture of modest humilitie 1 If the mother be fraile the daughter is like to be weake They who are subject to slip and fall must carefully avoyd high and narrow ridges as also slippery places and precipices or downefalls We scarce stand f Seneca de ira Recedamus quantum possumus à lubrico vix in sicco firmiter stamus sure upon drie firme and plaine ground therefore let us beware with all diligence how we come nigh high ridges with the ambitious or slipperie places with the voluptuous or downefalls with the presumptuous sinner let us pray to God 1 To make his way plaine before us 2 To order our steps in the plaine path 3 To support us continually with his right hand 2 If the Spouse of Christ be a pilgrime and flieth from place to place from Citie to Citie from Kingdome to Kingdome let us learne by her example and from the Apostle's mouth that g Heb. 13.14 we have here no continuing Citie but seeke one to come St. James by an elegant metaphor calleth the affaires of this world h Jam 3.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the course of nature a nowne derived from a verbe signifying to runne because the world runneth upon wheeles As in triumphes and pompous shewes we see towers and rockes and castles but enpassant carried in procession not staying any where such is the glory of this world The portable Arke in the Old Testament and the flying woman in the New are images of the militant Church in this world the one was drawne by beasts from place to place the other was carried with the wings of an Eagle from Country to Country neither of them was fixed When two Noble men strived about a fish pond and could by no meanes be brought to an agreement Gregorius Thaumaturgus by miracle suddenly dried it up so God in wisedome taketh away from us the things of this life if we too much strive for them Wherefore let us not build upon the sailes of a wind-mill let us not cast the anchor of our hope on the earth for there is nothing to hold by riches get themselves wings possessions change their Lords great houses according to Diogenes his apophthegme vomit and cast up their owners The favours of men are like vanes on the top of houses and steeples which turne with the wind The Church in many respects is compared to the moone she receiveth her light from the Sun of righteousnesse she hath her waxing and waining is never without spots is often eclipsed by the interposition of the shadow of the earth I meane the shadowes of earthly vanities Those who professe the art of turning baser metals into gold first begin with abstractio terrestrietatis à materia the abstraction or drawing away of earthlinesse from the matter of their metall in like manner if we desire to be turned as it were into fine gold and serve as vessels of honour in God house our earthly dregs and drosse must be drawne out of us by the fire of the Spirit that is our earthly cares our earthly desires our earthly hopes our earthly affections Hercules could never conquer Anteus donec à terra matre eum levasset till hee had lifted him up above the earth his mother no more can the Spirit of grace subdue and conquer us to the obedience of the Gospel till hee hath lifted up our hearts from the earth with these levers especially the consideration of 1 The vanity of earthly delights 2 The verity of heavenly comforts 3 The excellency of our soule 4 The high price of our redemption Can we imagine that so incomparable a jewell as is the soule of man was made to be set as it were in a ring on a swines snout to dig and root in the earth Did God breathe into us spirit and life nay did Christ breathe out his immortall spirit for this end to purchase us the happinesse of a mucke-worme that breedeth and feedeth liveth and dyeth in the dung or at the best the happinesse of an Indian i Chrysost hom 7. in ep ad Philipp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emmet that glistereth with gold dust about her St. Austin hath long agoe christened the contentments of this world in the font of teares by the names of solacia miserorum non gaudia beatorum solaces of wretched not joyes of blessed ones at the best they are but reliefes of naturall necessities For what is wealth but the reliefe of want food but the reliefe of hunger cloathing but the reliefe of nakednesse sleepe but the reliefe of watching company but the reliefe of solitarinesse sports and pastimes but the taking off the plaister and giving our wounds a little aire and our selves a little ease from our continuall labour and paines Like the gnats in Plutarch we run continually round in the circle of our businesse till we fall downe dead traversing the same thoughts and repeating the same actions perpetually and what happinesse can be in this The more we gild over the vanities of this world with the title of honours pleasures and riches the more we make them like the golden apples which hung at Tantalus his lips which were snatched away from him when he offered to bite at them For the k 1 John 2.17 world passeth away and the lust thereof Albeit the earth abideth and shall till the end of the world which cannot be now farre off yet all Monarchs Kingdomes States Common-wealthes Families Houses passe There is written upon them what Balthasar saw the hand writing upon the walls of his Palace Mene mene tekel upharsin Admit they abide for a large time yet we are removed from them by persecution invasion peregrination ejection and death Albeit our Lawyers speake of indefeisable estates and large termes of yeeres to have and to hold lands on earth yet they speake without booke for no man can have a better estate than the rich man in the Gospell to whom it was said l Luke 12.20 Thou foole this night thy soule shall be required of thee and then whose shall those things be which thou hast prouided so is he that layeth up treasure for himselfe and is not rich towards God Wherefore if ever we looke to arrive at the faire haven we must cast anchor in heaven and not trust in uncertaine riches but in the living God who here provided for the woman both a
Jeremy were they ashamed when they committed abominations nay they were not ashamed neither could they blush and bashfulnesse or rather cowardise in the excesse reproved by our Saviour in white livered professors o Luk. 9.26 Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words of him shall the sonne of man bee ashamed when hee shall come in his owne glory and in his fathers and of the holy Angels 2 Sometimes for a perturbation of the minde or irksome passion when our hearts smite us for some grievous sinne wherewith wee are confounded within our selves and with holy p Job 42.6 Wherefore I abhorre my selfe and repent in dust and ashes Job even abhorre our selves for the time 3 Sometimes it is taken for infamy and publike disgrace when a man is made q Zeph. 3.19 a spectacle of shame and derision to others According to the first signification men are said to be modest or shamefac'd according to the second ashamed and confounded in themselves according to the third shamed or put to shame or branded with a note of infamy and shame Shame in the first acception is the curbe of sinne in the second the sense and smart of sinne in the third the scourge of sinne shame in the first sense is in us by nature and groweth more and more by custome and is improved by the grace of humility in the second it is brought to us by sinne for as smoake sutteth so sinne blacketh soyleth and shameth the soule in the third sense men are brought to it by justice according to the words of the r Psal 40.14 Psalmist Let them bee brought to shame When the Apostle saith that Å¿ Eph. 5.12 it is a shame to name those things that are done by impure persons in secret hee taketh shame in the first sense and his meaning is the things they doe in secret are so foule so unnaturall so abominable that a modest or shamefaced man cannot endure to heare of them much lesse to rip them up and relate them with all their odious circumstances But when Ezra prayeth in these words t Ezra 9.6 O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God for our iniquities are encreased over our heads and our trespasses are growne up to the heavens hee taketh shame in the second sense Lastly when the Prophets threaten sinners with shame or by imprecations wish it unto them they take shame in the third acception u Hab. 2.10.11 Thou hast consulted shame to thine owne house by cutting off many people and hast sinned against thy soule for the stone shall cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber shall answer it that is thou hast taken a course and advisedly studied how to bring ruine shame and disgrace upon thy selfe * Nah. 3.5 Behold I come upon thee saith the Lord of hostes and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face and I will shew the nations thy nakednesse and the kingdomes thy shame that is I will expose thee unto ignominy and disgrace as the Prophet there expoundeth himselfe x Vers 6. I will cast abominable filth upon thee and make thee vile and set thee at a gazing stocke In this place the Apostle evidently taketh the word in the second sense What fruit had yee in those things whereof yee are now ashamed that is for which you now condemne your selves and seeme filthy and abominable in your owne eyes This shame though it come alwayes from evill yet good may come of it if wee seriously consider what brought this shame and confusion upon us and turne our anger upon it which set us at oddes with our selves and to this end the Prophet Ezekiel endevoureth to stirre up this perturbation or troublous passion in the Jewes y Ezek. 36.32 O yee house of Israel be ashamed and confounded for your wayes that is consider your owne follies give glory to God and take shame to your selves abhorre your selves for those sinnes for which yee have made God to abhorre you Shame in this sense may bee a meanes to keepe us from shame in the third signification and everlasting confusion for though shame bee alwayes a signe of evill past or present yet it is not alwayes an evill signe but oftentimes a signe of grace I cannot hold altogether with him in the Poet who seeing a young man dye his cheekes with the tincture of vertue said z Terent. Erubuit salva res est he hath blushed all is well yet with a little alteration the speech may passe Erubuit salutis spes est hee hath blushed therefore there is hope all may bee well For so it commeth to passe in our inward conflicts with sinne as in the skirmishes with outward enemies in the field though the battell goe sore against us and we lose both ground and men yet till the colours and ensignes be taken by the enemy the fight holdeth out and there may be hope of better successe but when the colours and ensignes are lost wee give the battell for gone Now the colours of vertue displayed by nature in the countenance appeare in the blushes of shame and modesty while these are to bee seene though wee give ground to Satan and lose many other gifts and graces yet there may bee some hope of victory but when Satan hath taken our colours and custome of sinning hath taken away all sense of sinne and blush of shame our case groweth desperate and without new aides and supply of graces from heaven it is impossible to keepe our standing much lesse recover our losses As nothing is more to bee grieved for than for this that wee cannot grieve for sinne so ought wee to be ashamed of nothing more than of this that wee are not ashamed of all finfull and shamefull actions Shame is the strongest barre which nature hath set before our unruly lusts and desires and if it bee removed nothing can keep them within compasse Yee are ashamed The godly and wicked are both ashamed sin affecteth them both with the like malady but they both apply not the like remedy the godly seeke to plucke out the sting that is sinne in the conscience which causeth all their anguish and paine but the ungodly and wicked liver endeavoureth onely to dead the flesh and thereby asswage the paine for the present leaving the sting of death in their soule sinne festring in their conscience The one abstaineth from sinne that hee may avoid the shame of it the other accustometh himselfe to it that hee may be lesse sensible of it hee hardeneth his brow and maketh it in the end of that metall that it will not yeeld or change hiew Hee is like to him that going into the water and finding it extreme cold by lightly touching it with the soles of his feet casteth himselfe suddenly into the river and plungeth himselfe over head and eares that hee may be lesse sensible of the frigiditie of that element
oftentimes withhold his rod from his dearest children To speake nothing of the reliques of originall sin in us after Baptisme which like cindars are still apt to set on fire Gods wrath and like an aguish matter left after a fit still cause new paroxysmes of Gods judgements ease it selfe and rest casteth us into a dead sleep of security which we are never thoroughly awaked of till God smite us on the side as the d Acts 12.7 Angel did Peter Prosperity and a sequence of temporall blessings like fatnesse in the soyle breed in the mind a kind of ranknesse which the sorrowes of afflictions eate out Moreover worldly pleasures distemper the taste of the soule so that it cannot rellish wholsome food which evill is cured by drinking deep in the cup of teares Neither seemeth it to stand with the justice of God that they who are to triumph in heaven should performe no worthy service in his battels upon the earth It is too great ambition for any Christian to desire two heavens and to attaine greater happinesse than our Lord and King who tooke his crosse in his way to his Kingdome and was crowned with thornes before hee was crowned with glory e Lact. div instit Lactantius rightly observeth Bonis brevibus mala aeterna malis brevibus bona aeterna succedunt that we are put to our choice either to passe from momentary pleasures to everlasting paines or to passe from momentary paines to everlasting pleasures either to forgoe transitory delights for eternall joyes or to buy the pleasures of sinne for a season at the deare rate of everlasting torments Were there no necessity of justice that they who are to receive a superexcellent weight of glory should beare heavie crosses in this life nor congruity of reason that they who are to be satisfied with celestiall dainties should fast here and taste of bitter sorrowes that they might better rellish their future banquet yet it were an indecorum at least that the Captaine should beare all the brunt and endure all the hardnesse and the common souldier endure nothing that the head should be crowned with thornes and the members softly arrayed that the head should be spit upon and the members have sweet oyntments poured on them Wherefore Saint Paul teacheth us that all whom God fore-knew he predestinated to be made conformable to the f Rom. 8.29 image of his Sonne who was so disfigured with buffets stripes blowes and wounds that the Prophet saith he had no g Esa 53.2 forme in him What himselfe spake of the children of Zebedee appertaines to us all Ye shall h Mat. 20.22 drink of my cup and be baptized with the baptisme wherewith I am baptized withall By baptisme he meaneth not to be dipped only in the waters of Marah but to be plunged in them over head and eares as the ancient manner of baptisme was He who was nailed to the Crosse for us will have us take up our i Mat. 10.38 crosse and follow him He that endured so much to shew his love to us will have us in some sort to answer him in love which as it is a passion so it is tryed rather by passions than by actions in which respect we must not only doe but suffer for his sake that our love may be compleat both in parts and degrees To you it is k Phil. 1.29 given saith Saint Paul not only to beleeve in him but to suffer for his sake For he l 1 Pet. 2.21 suffered for us giving us an example Should he have suffered all for us and as he tooke away all sinne so all suffering from us carrying away all crosses and tribulations with him patience should not have had her worke among other divine vertues and graces and thereby our crowne of glory should have wanted one most faire and rich jewell Wherefore God who is all goodnesse desirous to make us partakers of all the goodnesse which our nature is capable of by the misery of his distressed members giveth matter for our charity and compassion by our continuall temptations matter for faith by conflicts with heretickes and persecuters matter for constancy by the dangers of this life matter for wisedome by our manifold infirmities and frailties matter for humility by chastenings and afflictions matter for patience to worke upon Whether for these or any better reasons best knowne to himselfe it is that our heavenly Father holdeth a heavie hand sometimes over his dearest children certaine it is that few or none of them escape his stroake he chasteneth as many as hee loveth or as wee reade Hebr. 12.6 hee scourgeth every sonne whom hee receiveth therefore all that n 2 Tim. 3.12 will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer affliction Afflictions are in our way to heaven for wee must through many o Acts 14.22 afflictions enter into the Kingdome of God Before wee sing the song of Moses and the servants of God we are to swimme through a sea of burning glasse the sea is this present life swelling with pride wan with envie boyling with wrath deep with fraud and malice foming with luxuriousnesse ebbing and flowing with inconstancy which is here said to be of p Apoc. 15.2 I saw as it were a sea of glasse mingled with fire glasse to signifie the brittle nature thereof and burning to represent the furnace of adversity wherein the godly are still tryed and purified in this world And that we may not thinke that God his rod is for those only who are habes in Christ Jesus let us set before us David and Jeremy the former a man after Gods owne heart the latter a Prophet sanctified from his mothers wombe the former laid his heart a soaking in the brine of afflictions Every q Psal 6.6 night saith hee wash I my bed and water my couch with my teares and r Psal 102.9 I have eaten ashes for bread and teares have been my drinke day and night The other cryeth out in the bitternesse of his soule I am the man that have seen * Lam 3.12 15. affliction in the rod of his indignation Hee hath bent his bow and made mee a marke for his arrowes and hath filled mee with bitternesse and made mee drunke with wormwood Verily Job sipped not of the cup of trembling but tooke such a deep draught that it bereft him in a manner of all sense and put him so far besides himselfe that he curseth the very day of his birth and would have it razed out of the calendar Å¿ Job 3 4 5 6 7. Let that day be darkned let the shadow of death obscure it let it not be joyned to the dayes of the yeer nor let it come within the count of the moneths why dyed I not in my birth why dyed I not when I came out of the wombe Yee heare the loud cryes of Gods children whereby yee perceive they feele oftentimes the smart of their Fathers rod and are
and all the ingredients of that bitter cup which our Saviour prayed thrice that it o Mat. 26.44 might passe from him We have viewed the root and the branches let us now gather some of the fruit of the tree of the crosse Christs passion may be considered two maner of wayes 1. Either as a story simply 2. Or as Gospel The former consideration cannot but breed in us griefe hatred griefe for Christ his sufferings and hatred of all that had their hand in his bloud the latter will produce contrary affâ—ctions joy for our salvation and love of our Saviour For to consider and meditate upon our Saviours passion as Gospel is to conceive and by a speciall faith to beleeve that his prayers and strong cries are intercessions for us his obedience our merit his sufferings our satisfactions that we are purged by his sweat quit by his taking clothed by his stripping healed by his stripes justified by his accusations absolved by his condemnation ransomed by his bloud and saved by his crosse These unspeakable benefits which ye have conceived by the Word ye are now to receive by the Sacrament if ye come prepared thereunto for they who come prepared to participate of these holy mysteries receive with them and by them though not in them the body and bloud of our Lord and Saviour and thereby shall I say they become flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone nay rather he becommeth flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone The spirit which raised him quickneth them and preserveth in them the life of grace and them to the life of glory Howbeit as the sweetest meats turne into p Cal. l. 4. instit c. 14. sec 40. Quemadmodum sacrum hunc panem coenae Domini spiritualem esse cibum videmus suavem delicatum non minus quà m salutiferum piis Dei cultoribus cujus gustu sentiunt Christum esse suam vitam quos ad gratiarum actionem erigit quibus ad mutuam inter se charitatem exhortatio est ita rursus in nocentissimum venenum omnibus vertitur quorum fidem non alit non aliter ac cibus corporalis ubi ventrem offendit vitiosis humoribus occupatum ipse quoque vitiosus corruptus nocet magis quà m nutrit choler in a distempered stomach so this heavenly Manna this food of Angels nay this food which Angels never tasted proves no better than poyson to them whose hearts are not purified by faith nor their consciences purged by true repentance and charity from uncleannesse worldlinesse envie malice ranckour and the like corrupt affections If a Noble man came to visit us how would we cleanse and perfume our houses what care would we take to have all the roomes swept hung and dressed up in the best manner Beloved Christians we are even now to receive and entertaine the Prince of Heaven and the Son of God let us therefore cleanse the inward roomes of our soules by examination of our whole life wash them with the water of our penitent teares dresse them up with divine graces which are the sweetest flowers of Paradise perfume them with most fragrant spices and aromaticall odours which are our servent prayers zealous meditations and elevated affectious tuned to that high straine of the sweet Singer of Israel Lift ye up ye gates and be ye q Psal 24.9 lift up ye everlasting doores and the King of glory shall come in Cui c. THE REWARD OF PATIENCE THE LII SERMON PHILIP 2.9 Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him Right Honourable c. THe drift of the blessed Apostle in the former part of this chapter to which my Text cohereth is to quench the fire-bals of contention cast among the Philippians by proud and ambitious spirits who preached the Gospel of truth not in truth and sincerity but in faction and through emulation Phil. 1.15 Some indeed preach Christ out of envie and strife This fire kindled more and more by the breath of contradiction and nourished by the ambition of the teachers and factious partaking of the hearers Saint Paul seeketh to lave out partly with his owne teares partly with Christs bloud both which he mingleth in a passionate exhortation at the entrance of this chapter If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels of mercies fulfill yee my joy bee yee like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind Let nothing be done through strife or vaine glory Look not every man to his owne things but every man also to the things of others Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the forme of God thought it no robbery to be equall with God But made himselfe of no reputation c. In this context all other parts are curiously woven one in the other only there is a bracke at the fifth verse which seemes to have no connexion at all with the former for the former were part of a zealous admonition to brotherly love and christian reconciliation add this to voluntary obedience and humiliation in those he perswaded them to goe together as friends in this to give place one to the other in those he earnestly beseecheth them to be of one mind among themselves in this to be of the same mind with Christ Jesus Now peace and obedience love and humility seeme to have no great affinity one with the other for though their natures be not adverse yet they are very divers Howbeit if ye look neerer to the texture of this sacred discourse ye shall find it all closely wrought and that this exhortation to humility to which my Text belongeth hath good coherence with the former and is pertinent to the maine scope of the Apostle which was to re-unite the severed affections and reconcile the different opinions of the faithfull among the Philippians that they might all both agree in the love of the same truth and seeke that truth in love This his holy desire he could not effect nor bring about his godly purpose before he had beat down the partition wall that was betwixt them which because it was erected by pride could be no otherwise demolished than by humility The contentions among the people grew from emulation among the Pastors and that from vaine glory As sparkes are kindled by ascending of the smoake so all quarrels and contentions by ambitious spirits the a Judg. 5.16 divisions of Reuben are haughty thoughts of heart A high conceit of their owne and a low value and under rate of the gifts of others usually keep men from yeelding one to the other upon good termes of Christian charity Wherefore the Apostle like a wise Physician applyeth his spirituall remedy not so much parti laesae to the part where the malady brake forth as to the cause the vanitie of the Preachers and pride of the hearers after this manner Christ
and yet behold he now sitteth at the right hand of God and he who was abased beneath the lowest creatures is advanced above all and all bow unto him And therefore as the oake Ab ipso ducit opes animumque ferro taketh heart as it were and groweth by the stroake of the axe and as i Juel in Apol. Eccles Angl. Anteus the Gyant recovered his strength by his fall on the ground so should they take comfort from their afflictions and gather arguments of their future exaltation from their present fall and humiliation They are fallen and humbled therefore in case to be raised there is a why and a wherefore they should be exalted they are in a good way to honour wherein they may see our Saviours footsteps before them God woundeth and healeth he killeth and reviveth he letteth his children downe to the gates of hell to terrefie them for their sinnes and make them claspe about him and lay faster hold on his promises for he bringeth them backe againe The solemnitie used at the inauguration of the Emperour of the Tartars somewhat resembleth Gods dealing with his children the heires of the crowne of heaven k De rep l. 1. c. 8. Rex de sublimi solio demovetur vilissimae tabulae superpositus humi constituitur ad quem Pontifex orationem convertens Inspice coelum inquit Deum praepotentem universitatis regem intuere agnosce si justè imperaveris omnia ex animi tui sententiâ consequeris sin muneris officiique tui obliviscaris praeceps ex alto ac sublimi loco dejectus regali potestate bonis omnibus spoliabere ut ne tabula quidem haec cui insideas tibi relinquatur Bodin thus relateth it When the Nobles and Peeres are assembled the Prince to be crowned is taken out of a chaire of estate and set upon a low stoole or planke on the ground the Priest who is to sacre him useth these words Looke up to heaven and acknowledge the soveraigne Commander of the whole world and know that if thou rule justly hee will establish thy Throne under thee and settle the crowne upon thee but if thou cast away all feare of him and car◠of the peoples safetie and welfare he will pull thee downe from thy high Throne and lay thee on the ground take all from thee that he hath given thee and leave thee not so much as this sorry board thou sittest upon After which words hee is invested with Princely robes carried up in great state set in his Imperiall Throne crowned and proclaimed Emperour in like manner God before he advanceth his dearest children and putteth the Crowne of glory upon their heads setteth them as it were upon a low planke in some meane or deplorate condition upon earth that they may humble themselves under that mighty hand of his which l Psa 113.6 7. raiseth the poore out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dounghill that he may set them even with the Princes of his people Sith then God raiseth the poore from the dounghill to tread upon cloth of estate and sit in the Throne of Princes sith he advanceth men of smallest meanes to great estates and casting the bright beames of his favour upon the lowest and obscurest hovells and cottages maketh them illustrious and glorious why should any of Gods children by any extremity whatsoever be driven to resigne their estate in his promises to close their owne eyes before they are dead and yeeld up their last breath with sighes of griefe and groanes of despaire They lye but in the dust God raiseth from the dounghill as he did Job nay from the dungeon as he did Daniel and Jeremy nay yet lower from the grave as he did Lazarus nay yet lower from the neathermost hell as he did our Saviour Kings have long hands An nescis longas regibus esse manus and God hath out-stretched armes there is no place so high which they cannot reach and from thence plucke downe the proud no depth so low which they cannot sound and from thence draw up the humble The celestiall bodies distill their influence downe to the lowest vales which stayeth not all there but some part of it is conveighed yet lower by pores secret passages even to the bosome and bowels of the earth to the generation and perfection of the metalls and mineralls there and shall we not thinke that the beames of Gods favour can carry downe the sweetest influences of his graces into the deepest dungeon of misery and darkest chambers of death If art can make of ashes and trash pure and shining glasse if nature produceth gold of the basest of all the elements earth and precious stones of excrementitious moisture what marvell is it that God should make scepters of mattockes cedars of shrubs and of those that are accounted the off-scouring of all things starres of heaven No Christian doubteth of his power all the question that can be made is of his will and thereof we can make no question that heare his gracious promise that hee that m Luk. 14.11 humbleth himselfe shall be exalted Why then are not all that are humbled exalted A short answer may be because they humble not themselves as Christ here did neither are truly humbled All that are throwne downe presently doe not yeeld sicknesse may bring the body low and calamity the estate lower and yet the mind be high and haughty and that de facto they are not humble who complaine that they are not raised their repining at others preferment and their staying behind them maketh it manifest For nothing is so repugnant to humility as ambition ambition is of the Eagle and Falcons brood it soareth aloft but humility is è genere reptilium of the nature of wormes that creep on the ground He whom humility truly informeth how small his deserts how great his defects are how vaine the pompes of this world how secure a quiet and retired life cannot inordinately desire preferment which in his judgement is not preferment sith he preferreth a lower estate above it as more sutable to the lowlinesse of his mind With this two-forked ram therefore we may push downe all the forts which discontented spirits raise against the divine providence if they are truly humble they desire not to be exalted if they are not humble they deserve not Howbeit the cunning painter of vices in the tables of mens hearts setteth such a faire colour upon ambition that he sometimes deceiveth humble Christians and ere they are aware maketh them enamoured with it The colour is the advancement of Gods glory by their preferment for these or the like thoughts hee suggesteth God hath bestowed upon you some eminent gifts or graces this to deny were not humility but unthankfulnesse to bury these in oblivion and obscurity cannot but be prejudiciall to his glory therefore sith his commandement is n Mat. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that