such bitter lamentation My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee What may the cause of all this bee Alas all this was for our sins It was not Judas nor the Jews nor Pilate nor the Souldiers but they were our sins thy sins my sins that put the Son of God to all this sorrow Wee wee and none but wee were the evill beasts that devoured this Joseph Our sins were so hainous and had so provoked the Justice of God that there was no way to satisfie Gods Justice to appease his wrath and to make our atonement but by the precious blood of the Son of God crucified on the Cross And shall I now see my sins lye so heavy upon him as to make him sweat blood shall I see him even squeezed under the huge weight of my sins shal I see my sins crown him with thorns nail his hands and feet to the Cross gore his side with a spear with an unpierced heart Oh the deep sorrow that our hearts should bee filled withall when wee see Christs body bruising and bleeding upon the Cross It should bee with us then as it was with them Zech. 12. 10. They shall look on him whom they have pierced And how shall that sight affect them And they shall mourn and bee in bitterness for him as one that mourns for his onely Son as one that is in bitterness for his first born How bitterly will such a man mourn so bitterly shall they mourn when they look upon Christ whom they have pierced And great reason for is it not a matter of greater sorrow to pierce the onely Son of God the first born the first begotten from the dead than to lose one onely or first begotten son So here when wee look upon Christ whom wee have pierced this sight should fill our hearts with bitterness should make our hearts full of sorrow Not onely with an Historical sorrow or a sorrow of natural compassion when wee hear or see some sad or sorrowful event this is nothing but with a practical sorrow with an unfained sorrow of heart that wee by our personal sins have had our hands imbrued in the blood of the Son of God that our sins envenomed those thorns those nails that pierced him and by their venome made them put him to such bitter torment have wee hearts conformable to Christ on the cross Thou beholdest a broken Christ thou beholdest a bleeding Christ behold him therefore with a broken heart with a bleeding heart with a pierced spirit So behold Christ on the cross as the Virgin Mary beheld him there And how was that Woman sayes Christ behold thy Son How did shee behold him Simeon tells her Luke 2. 35. That a sword should passe through her soul then did a sword pierce through her soul when shee beheld him pierced on the cross that sight was a sword through the heart of her So when we see him pierced it should bee as a dagger in our hearts Oh wretch that I am that my sins have been thorns on his head nayls in his hands and feet a spear in his side Lord saith David when hee saw the people slaughtered by the Angels sword Loâ— I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these sheâ—â— what have they done So let every one say Loe I have sinned I have done wickedly but this innocent and immaculate Lamb what hath hee done It is I that have sinned and it is thou O Lord that hast smarted It is I that have sinned and it is thou O Lord that hast suffered It is I that have put thee to all these sorrows my oaths my uncleannesses my lusts my covetousness my drunkenness these were the Judassâ—s that betrayed thee these were the Jews that crucified thee Lord I have eaten the sowre grapes and thy teeth were set on edge Lordâ— I played the theef and thou restoredst the things theâ— tookest not Quid tam ad mortem quodnon Christi morte salvetur Bernardus HE was wounded for our transgresâ—ions with his stripes wee are heated Isa 53. What sweet comfort may faith retch hence Look upon the wounds of Christ on the Cross as on the Cities of Refuge where the pursued soul by the avenger of blood may flye for safety and sanctuary Indeed I am a grievous sinner I have wounded my conscience with my transgressions but behold my Saviour here wounded for my transgressions I have cause to bee troubled in my conscience for the wounds my transgressions have made therein but yet my confcience needs not sinke in a despondency of spirit whiles I look at these wounds of Christ here bee wounds for wounds healing wounds for stabbing wounds curing wounds for killing wounds Hee was wounded for our transgressions what wound so deadly that may not or cannot bee healed by his death and wounds What comfort is here for faith in the wounds of Christ crucified They pierced my hands and my feet Psal 22. They pierced his side with a spear and there came out water and blood nay there comes out of these wounds honey and oyl unto faith By these passages may our faith suck honey and oyl out of the rock and may taste and see how good and sweet the Lord is The nayls the spear the wounds all preach unto faith a reconciled God That God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself The Lords bowels are laid open by these wounds so as through them wee may see the tender bowels of his mercy and so as through them mercy flows from those bowels unto us Oh my Dove that art in the clefts or holes of the rock Cant. 2. 14. Some of the Ancients understood those clefts of the rock the wounds of Christ in which the Dove the Church hides and shelters her self However it may bee alluded to that should bee our work of faith when it sees those clefts of the rock opened like a Dove to betake her self thereunto for shelter and security against all fears and distresses that wrath and guilt may put the conscience to Do any fears of wrath trouble thine heart Doth any conscience of guilt disquiet thee with the fears of hell Why now for thy comfort behold the holes in the rock where thou mayest bee sheltered Dwell now in the Rock and bee like the Dove that makes her Nest in the side of the holes mouth Jerem. 48. Nessel thy soul in the clefts of this Rock See and fully beleeve thy peace to bee made with God in Christs blood and look upon him wounded for thy transgressions with such a faith as may fill thy heart with an holy security against all such fears Hannibal vel victor vel victus nunquam quiescebat Augustinus THe Devil left not our Saviour at the first and second temptation this Master-flye Beelzebub though beaten away once and again yet returns to the same place Hee solicits and sets upon our Saviour again and again as Potiphars wife did upon Joseph for all his many denials and is not onely importunate but
before men saith Christ to the Pharisees but God knows your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abamination in the sight of God A thing which I see in the night may shine and that shining proceed from nothing but rottenness but bee not deceived or if you bee yet God is not mocked when hee comes to turn the bottome of the bag upwards as the Steward did Benjamins all our secret thefts will out all our collusions come to light His Law is a Law of fire Deut. 33. 2. His Tribunal of fire Ezek. 1. 27. His pleading with sinners in flames of fire Isa 60. 15. The trial of our works shall bee by fire and before God who is a consuming fire Happy are they that are here purged by that spirit of judgement and burning Bona res neminem scandalizant nisi malam mentem Tertullian GOod meats displease none but the distempered pallats and must the wholesome dishes bee barr'd the table because they offend the aguish No Scandal in this case is medicinable You know the Physitian offends the sick that hee may the more surely cure him If to do well cause discontent wee then offend not against men but their errors and in this regard wee are tender to the persons themselves when wee strike down their ignorance In Matth. 8. where our Saviour taught the abrogation of Jewish Ceremonies and that the worst meats could not defile us the text intimates the Pharisees were offended nay and his Disciples from hence seem to intreat his silence Master Seest thou not that they are offended But did our Saviour regard it Let them alone saith hee They are blinde leaders of the blinde Christ meant to teach us when men grow discontented at the truth it self the offence is taken onely not given and they be said then rather to make than to receive a scandal Which may serve to reprove too many in our Church who still cry out of weakness who sit not easie though on their mothers ' knees they complain her cloaths do offend their tender eyes her Rites say they are scandalous and they must bee relieved by that text in Saint Paul If meat offend my brother I will eat no meat while I live It follows then that for their weak sakes wee must forbear those weak ceremonies But is the reason the same to eat is a private action in common converse wherein each man is true Lord of himself hee may command his actions and therefore in this case to use connivency is still to be thought most commendable But wee speak of actions publick solemnly designed for our Religious meetings actions enjoyned by Laws and approved by the far more which is the rule of Laws should the Church give content to some few that dislike shee would displease multitudes that approve her Ceremonies and so instead of a pretended sleight offence shee should run her self upon a true gross scandal Non omne quod licet etiam honestum est Paulus Canonista IT is a Rule of the Canonists and they borrowed it from their own Innocentius In all our actions three things must bee observed Quid liceat Quid deceat Quid expediat What is lawfull What decent and what expedient Our actions must not bee lawfull only for hee that doth no more than hee is bound to is rather wary than good and hath learned only safe dishonesty how by keeping the Kingdomes Laws hee may abuse her people There is a difference between strict Law and honesty In rigour things may bee done which yet are neither decent in the actor himself nor expedient for the Common-wealth It s thus in the Church too Many things hath God here left in their own selves indifferent hee hath therefore not forbidden them because they may oftentimes bee done in safety and yet cannot wee bee free except wee become injurious Is there no way to shew our own liberty but in our neighbours destruction Grant these things to bee lawfull yet they may bee unseemly and shall wee shame our selves They may bee expedient too and shall wee endanger others It is not enough to keep the first Precept to forbear things unlawfull A Christian man must bee wary too in matters of indifferency Quae per rationem innotescunt non sunt articuli fidei sed praeambula ad articulos Aquinas TO behold this goodly Fabrick of the world may soon force a Pagan to confess that there is a Deity but to know that this God is both three and one or that of these three one was Incarnate Here nature is blinde and requires help from a clearer light To instance in the Resurrection to see the Grave open the Earth trembling the Angels attending did no doubt perswade the Watchmen themselves that Christ was risen but to beleeve that hee rose both God and man This proceeds from the Spirit alone who only can enlighten them that sit in darkness Our domestick abilities may some way prepare us to entertain faith when it is received they may perchance confirm or awaken it but wee must confess the authour of it to bee the Holy Ghost alone and the word his instrument Notwithstanding where thou mayest use these helps neglect not the benefits of such outward testimonies for though faith come by hearing yet let Christians bee spectators too and learn as well to see God in his Works as to beleeve him in his Scriptures though that hee that made thine eye as well as thy soul exacts a tribute no less from thy fenfe than from thy reason These lower powers are made for his glory and when they are imployed to viler ends remember that thou dost not more abuse thy self than wrong thy Maker Mors optima est perire dum lacrymant Sancti Seneca in Hypol. SOmething is to bee given to Custome something to Fame to Nature and to Civilities and to the honour of deceased Friends For that man is esteemed to dye miserable for whom no friend no relative sheds a tear or payes a solemn sigh I desire to dye a dry death but am not very desirous to have a dry Funeral Some flowers sprinkled on my grave would do well and comely and a soft showre to turn those flowers into a springing memory or a fair rehearsal that I may not go forth of my doors as my servants carry out the entrails of Beasts But that which is to bee saulted in this particular is when the grief is immoderate and unreasonable and Paula Romana deserved to have felt the weight of St. Jeroms severe reproof when at the death of every one of her children shee almost wept her self into her grave But it is worse yet when people by an ambitious and a pompous sorrow and by ceremonies invented for the ostentation of their grief fill Heaven and Earth with exclamations and grow troublesome because their friend is happy or themselves want his company It is certainly a sad thing in Nature to see a friend trembling with a Palsie or scorched with Feavers or
on which wee so lean that wee yet stand our corrupt affections the bruised and broken reed on which if wee so lean wee fall If any then go onward in the true rode of Divine graces no doubt but the finger of the Almighty points out his way to true happiness but if hee wander in the by-paths of a vitious and depraved dissoluteness his own corrupt affections becken him to ruine How then can wee without sacriledge and robbing of divine honour make God the Father of so foul and unwashed a crime as obduration perditio tua ex te Israel If destruction dog thee thank thy corrupt affections not blame thy Maker for hee doth but leave thee and they harden To lay then with some depraved Libertines the weight and burthen of our sins on the shoulder of predestination and make that the womb of those foul-enormities may well pass for an infirmity not for an excuse For though God from eternity knew how to reward every man either by crown or punishment yet hee never enjoyned any man either â— necessity or a will to sin Compeseat se humana temerit as id quod non est non quâ—rat ne id quod est non inveniat August MOrtal thoughts should not carry too lofty a sail but take heed how they cut the narrow streights and passages of divine Predestination A busie prying into this Ark of Gods secrets as it is accompanied with a full blown insolence so with danger Humility here is the first stair to safety and a modest knowledge stands constantly wondring whilst the proud apprehension staggers and tumbleâ— too Here is a sea unnavigable and a gulph so scorning fathom that our Apostle himself was driven to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O depth and in a rapture more of astonishment than contemplation hee stiles it the Sacrament and mystery of his will being so â—ull of unknown turnings and Mâ—â—nders that if a naked reason hold the clue wee are rather involved than guided in so strange a labyrinth To inquire then the cause of Gods will were an act of lunacy not of judgement For every efficient cause is greater than the effect Now there is nothing greater than the will of God and therefore no cause thereof For if there were there should something pre-occupate that will which to conceive were sinful to beleeve blasphemous If any then suggested by a vain-glorious inquiry should ask why God did elect this man and not that wee have not onely to resolve but to fore-stall so beaten an objection because hee would but why would God do it Here is a question as guilty of reproof as the author which seeks a cause of that beyond or without which there is no cause found where the apprehension wheels and reasonruns giddy in a doubtful gyre Here a sorupulous and humane rashness should bee hushâ—d and not search for that which is not lest it finde not that which is Let him that can discry the wonders of the Lord in this great deep but let him take heed hee sinks not down then with this aspiring thought this ambitious desire of hidden knowledge and make not curiosity the picklock of Divine secrets know that such mysteries are doubly barred up in the coffers of the Almighty which thou mayest strive to violate not open and therefore if thou wilt needs trespass upon the Diety dig not in its bosome a more humble adventure suits better with the condition of a worm scarce a man or if so exposed to frailty It is a fit task and imployment for mortality to contemplate his works not sift his mysteries and admire his goodness not blur his Justice If any therefore stagger at those unfathomed mysteries of Gods Election and Predestination and his reason and apprehension bee struck dead at the contemplation of Gods eternal but hidden projects let him season a little his amazement with adoration and at last solace his distempered thoughts with that of Gregory Qui in fact is Dei c. In the abstruse and dark mysteries of God hee that sees not a reason if hee sees his own infirmity hee sees a sufficient reason why hee should not see Mee thinks this should cloy the appetite of a greedy inquisition and satisfie the distrust of any but of too querulous a disposition which with the eye of curiosity prying too nicely into the closest of Gods secrets are no less dazeled than blinded if not with profanation heresie Divine secrets should rather transport us with wonder than prompt us to inquiry and bring us on our knees to acknowledge the infiniteness both of Gods power and will than ransack the bosome of the Almighty for the revealing of his intents Is it not blessedness enough that God hath made thee his Steward though not his Secretary Will no Mansion in heaven content thee but that which is the Throne and Chair for Omnipotency to sit on No treasury but that which is the Cabinet and Store-house of his own secrets Worm and no man take heed how thou struglest with thy Maker Expostulation with God imports no less peremptoriness than danger and if Angels fell for pride of emulation where wilt thou tumble for this pride of inquiry as in matters therefore of unusual doubt where truth hath no verdict probability finds audience So in those obstruct and narrow passages of Gods will where reason cannot inform thee beleef is thy best intelligencer and if that want a tongue make this thy interpreter so thou mayest evade with less distrust I am sure with more safety Etsi domine ego commisi unde me damnare potes â—u tamen non amlâ—sisti unde me salvare potes Anselm O Blessed Jesus though I have committed those transgressions for which thou mayest condemn me yet thou hast not lost those compassions by which thou mayest save mee And therefore if our souls were insuch a streight that wee saw hell opening her mouth upon us like the Red Sea before the Israelites the damned and ugly feinds pursuing us behinde like the Egyptians on the right hand and on the left death and sea ready to ingulf us yet upon a broken heart and undisguised sorrow would I speak to you in the confidence of Moses Stand still and behold the salvatâ—on of the Lord. Thou then which art opprest with the violence and clamor of thy sinâ— and wantest an Advocate either to intercede or pity hear the voyce of the Lamb cry unto thâ—e I will hear thee out of my holy hill Is any heavily loaden with the weight of his offences or groans under the yoak and tyranny of manifold temptations Come unto mee I will refresh thee Doth any hunger after righteousness Behold I am the bread of life take eat here is my body Doth any thirst after the wayes of grace Loe I am a living spring come drink here is my bloud my bloud that was shed for many for the remission of sins for many not for all Hath sin dominion over thee or doth it reign in
by pure persons yet not onely no acceptance and blessing but an uncomfortable breach Even that soul shall bee cut off from his people vers 20 21. Sacramenta sunt fodinae gratiae dispositio est vasculum gratiae promajore dispositione affectu tuo majorem gratiam reportabis Euseb FIll the mens sacks with food as much as they can carry sayes Joseph to his Steward Gen. 44. 1. Look how they came prepared with Sacks and Beasts so they were sent back with Corn The greater and the more Sacks they had prepared the more Corn they carry away If they had prepared but small Sacks and a few they had carried away the less A prepared heart is a vessel that shall bee filled at the Sacrament Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Psal 81. 10. Now the more or less the heart is prepared the greater or lesser is the vessel According to the size and capacity of the vessel shall it bee filled Fill such mens hearts with spiritual blessings with vertue from Christ with the comforts of the Holy Ghost sayes the Lord at the Sacrament fill them with spiritual food as full as they can hold as much as they can carry What a sweet comfort is that Who desires not to carry away from the Sacrament as much as may bee Then bee careful to prepare our hearts and prepare them to the purpose the larger is our preparation the larger is our vessel the larger our vessel the larger is our largess and dole at the Sacrament If wee carry not away as much as wee would it is our own fault that by preparation wee did not furnish our selves with a more capacious vessel The poor pittances that many go from the Sacrament withall make them droop when they are gone They may thank themselves for if Josaphs brethren had brought small Sacks they could not have carried away much corn out of Egypt Let men come with hearts so prepared as they should and they shall bee laden and filled with as much as they can carry Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis Aristotle SAcraments work according to that disposition wherein they finde such as receive them Such as are the receivers so prove the Sacraments unto them It is in this case as it was with the woman under jealousie and suspicion of uncleanness drinking the cursed waters Numb 5. 27 28. And when hee hath made her to drink the water then it shall come to pass that if shee bee defiled c. Look then as the woman was such was the work of the water If shee were clean the water did her no hurt nay it did her good shee conceived seed shee became fruitfull but if shee were defiled and unclean it wrought with a mischief Her belly did swell her tâ—igh did rot and shee became a curse It is so in receiving the Sacrament As men are that receive it so is the work and efficacy of it either for good or hurt either for bain or blessing if a man bee prepared with repentance and so bee clean then the Sacrament brings a blessing it makes a man fruitful But if a man bee defiled and unclean as every impenitent sinner is then it banes and mischiefes him hee proves a more rotten and wretched sinner than before An unwholesome and diseased stomach that every food it receives it alters and rather nourishes the disease than the body and turns wholesome nourishment to matter of grief and vexation So an impenitent soul coming to Gods Ordinance in its fins and defilement doth but turn the wholesome nutriment of the Sacrament to the feeding of its disease and the increasing of its own sorrow and mischief as the water that made the clean woman fruitful made the unclean woman swell and rot God curses the Sacrament to an impenitent defiled person and so makes a sad breach upon him instead of a blessing Pertunte sole pereunt omnia Seneca FOr a man to bee stupid and senseless under corporal afflictions argues a very ill temper of spirit but for a man to be stupid and senseless under spiritual afflictions under such a spiritual affliction as this the loss of the Son the loss of Christ as a Comforter argues a very ill temper of spirit indeed Strive therefore O deserted stupid soul to affect thine heart throughly with thy loss thou hast lost more than Job when hee had lost children substance health honours and friends nay thou hast lost more than if thou hadst lost this world nay thou hast lost more than if thou hadst lost thy life which is of more worth than the world thou hast lost Christ which is richer than the world and sweeter than thy life What an infinite loss were it to this world to lose the Sun It were at once to lose all Pereunte sole pereunt omnia for all things serviceable for the use of man depend upon the motion and influence of that glorious body What a loss then is it to the lesser world to lose Christ the Son of Righteousness It is to lose all good at once for soul and body All graces close and wither when Christ departs as all fragrant flowers when the Sun withdraws his influence And when these flowers wither in the soul a man is a moving dunghil that stinks in the nostrils of God and man where ever hee comes A man that hath lost Christ may truly say as shee when the Ark was lost That his glory is departed As the Sun in the glory of the greater World So Christ the Son of Righteousness is the glory of the lesser world to wit man Thou hast lost that in the world that is more worth than the world and which all the world can never help thee to Thou hast lost that which would make the worst condition in this life a Heaven whereas the best without it is but a Hell thou hast lost that which would have been to thy soul a continual feast whereas now thy soul is in a continuall famine and leanenesse Thou hast lost thy spirits and thy soul as in a dead-palsie so that thou art a living dead-man fit for no spiritual service Thou hast lost thy head thou hast lost thy eyes thou hast lost thy hands thou hast lost thy cloathing nay thou hast lost thy best Father thy best Husband thy best Friend all all this and much more comfort is Christ to man Thou hast great reason then O deserted soul to lay to heart thy loss Ignis focalis immateriale non urit Aristoteles THe sorrows of Hell are such as principally torture the spirit The fire which wee make can onely burn and torture the bodies of men because this onely of man is material immaterials as the souls of men are our fire cannot fasten upon but that strange fire which God hath kindled in Hell for all that disobey him burns the souls of men though immaterial substances Nay so strange is that fire that it burns these immaterial substances most fiercely as being
the most sinfull part of man for it is onely sin that pitches and defiles the soul and makes it combustible which otherwise would never burn if all the fiery Artists of Hell did blow the bellows Now just such is that fire which conscience kindles upon the breach of integrity to wit a fire that burns inwardly and consumes the marrow of the bones and drinks up the spirits The Arrows which conscience shuts in upon a man upon the breach of sincerity are such as pierce principally the spirit As long as Job was patient under Gods hand hee felt the Arrows of the Almighty onely without him as I may say to wit in his body in his children and substance but when hee brake out and cursed his day hee presently complains that hee felt the Arrows of God within him and that the poyson of them drank up his spirits Job 6. 4. All that which before hee felt without was nothing to that which hee now felt within upon his spirit As the torments which damned wretches shall suffer in their bodies are nothing to those which shall continually flye up and down in their souls So David after hee had made breaches in his integrity God filled his loynes with loathsome diseases but this was nothing to speak of God made things strike into his heart and then hee roared I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart David felt pains gather about his heart and then hee cryes out The heart is the mark that God principally aims at when a Christian hath turned aside from his upright course other outward parts hee may hit and deeply wound but this is but to make holes into the heart where the seat of unsoundness that principally offends him is The Fire which Conscience kindles it may flash forth into the eyes and tongue and hands and make a man look fearfully speak desperately and do bloodily against the body but the heat of the fire is principally within in the furnace in the spirit it is but some sparkles and flashes onely that you see come forth at the lower holes of the furnace which you behold in the eyes words and deeds of such men Invidia est vitium permanens Aristoteles ENvy is a long lived thing it will live as long as there is any marrow in the bones It will hunt a David long through Ziph En-gedi many Wildernesses though never so long it will finde a Dart to throw at a David till it hath killed him or stabbed it selfe Envy fights desperately and unweariedly it will never give over as long as there is breath it will eat no bread till it hath done its work killed a Paul or sterved it self Envy is all spirit all evill spirits move it is a spirit of the right breed for the Devil it will fight and fight till death it will work to the utmost vires as long as nerves and sinewes binde bones together it is everlasting burning which nothing will quench but its own blood Ab extremis miseriae quies Seneca I Would speak to such from this sentence which are quite undone which have lost all mony and joy too which have many sufferings upon them for Christ but can make no joy out of them Surely I can guess your pain you are blinde you know not who hath stript you not when hee will return it again It is impossible for a man to joy under long suffering unless a man can look to the end of it This makes heavy afflictions light long afflictions short to look where they end Our light afflictions which indure but for a moment work about a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory Long-suffering is but a moment when compared with eternity of glory The great Heaven at a distance makes a little heaven at present a heaven in hell to that soul which hath it in its eye As those lower heavens give a great lustre and vigor at a distance to beholders and raise much so doth the Heaven of heavens It is a heaven to behold heaven afar off where ever the body bee It was Canaan to Moses to see Canaan afar off The fight of the end shortens the way suffering is deadly long when a man can see no end when a man is in darkness and can see no light it is hard to bring the soul to joy in such darkness A man must look upon affliction from one end to the other that would fetch in joy to his soul from suffering At one end of long suffering for truth is a father at the other end a reward which if seen well will make the longest suffering very short and very sweet Media gratiae ordinem creationis subeunt Aquinas THe means of Grace have the order of Creation stamped upon them Christ the great Wheel that turns all other wheels of our salvation is made unto us what hee is and made of God Who of God is made unto us Wisdome Righteousness c. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Christ is a full sea indeed but not a drop to us but as made of God So wee are made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the letter but of the spirit Could such a poor man as I by speaking a while to the ear turn the heart from sin to Christ did not a creating blessing sit on my lips Divine institutions have the formality of a creation in them because they have what they have and doe what they doe from supreme power onely above all cause and reason Therefore are Institutions and means of Grace not so much as mentioned Col. 1. 11. Giving thanks to the Father who hath mâ—â—e us meet to bee partakers of that inheritance of the Saints in light Onely the Father is here mentioned Means are so beside likelihood and reason to so noble an end as to make and fit souls for heaven Giving thanks to the Father who hath made c. None else worthy to bee so much as mentioned in this noble work Alterius perditio sit tua cautio Isidor FOr the wickedness of them that dwell therein it is that a fruitful land is turned into a wilderness saith David Psal 107. And the Heathen Historian saith little less when hee tells us that the ruine and rubbish of Troy are set by God before the eyes of men for an example of that rule that great sins have great punishments But now say the Learned not to bee warned by others is a sure presage of ruine Scipio beheld and bewayled the down-fall of Rome 〈◊〉 the destruction of Carthage And when Hannibal was beleagureing Saguntum in Spain the Romans were as sensible of it as if he had then been beating upon the walls of their Capitol A storm oftentimes begins in one place and ends in another When the Sword rides Circuit as a Judge it is in Commission Ezek. 14. 17. And when I begin saith God I will make an end 1 Sam. 3. Wee cannot but fore-see a storm unless
makes men do as God did when hee repented him Gen 6. 6. 7. And it repented the Lord that hee had made man on earth and it griâ—ved him at his heart But that was not all And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth both man and beast c. for it repents moe that I made them Nay repentance in man goes further one Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and hee was spared from the common destruction but hear not one lust or sin findes grace in the eyes of a man that truly repents but all must bee drowned in the flood of the tears of Repentance It is with a man that hath the griefe of true Repentance as it was with Nehemiah Neh. 13. 7 8. I came to Jerusalem and understood of the evill that Eliashib had done for Tobiah in repairing him a Chamber in the Courts of the house of the Lord and it grieved mee sore But hee rests not there but goes further therefore I cast forth all the houshold stuffe of Tobiah out of the Chamber What should Tobiah do with a Chamber there Therefore he not onely outs Tobiah but out goes all his stuffes too So doth repentance when it considers all the evill that Satan and corruption hath done and how they have taken up Chambers in the heart that should bee the house of God it is grieved sore and thereupon it outs Satan and all his stuffe neither Satan nor his stuffe shall bee chambered there any longer So doth repentance dispossess Satan of the soul as Christ dispossessed his body of him Mark 9. 2â— Thou dumb and deaf spirit I charge thee to come out of him and enter no more into him So repentance cast Satan and filthy abominations out of a man that they enter no more they are cast out for ever Tears of repentance are not onely wetting but washing tears Isa 1. 16. Wash you make you clean Davidâ— tears wash his couch Psal 6. and so much more wash himself Baptisme is called the Baptisme of repentance Luke 3. 3. In Baptisme there is a washing away of sin And how is Baptisme the Baptisme of repentance If in repentance there were not the doing away of sin If a man could shed a sea of tears yet if hee do not drownd his sin in that sea what were hee the better If a man should weep his eyes out yet if hee weep not his sins out to what purpose were it Wheresoever repentance is there must necessarily follow this forsaking and casting off our sins Try therefore thy repentance by this consider what have thy sins thy beloved sins been is thy drunkenness with loathing and indignation forsaken are thine oaths uncleannes covetousnâ—s curses c. with loathing and indignation abandoned It is a good sign but how idlely talk they of repentance who because they have blubbered out a few tears think all is well when yet they still live and lye in their sins and hold them as fast as ever the Mariners when they found out Jonas yet fain they would have saved him wondrous loath to cast him over-board Many see their sins and know them to bee dangerous sins but yet exceeding loath to shake hands with them loath to throw them into the sea but will rather adventure their own casting away than cast them over-board Never deceive thy self therefore though thou hast sighed cryed prayed begged mercy yet if still thou live and go on in thy sinful courses there is no truth of repentance in thee Dives in Evangelio damnabatur non quia abstulerat aliena sed quod non donaret sua Anselmus EVery Christian ought to imitate the high pattern of his Creator whose best riches is his bounty Hee that hath all gives all reserves nothing In our creation he gave us our selves in our redemption hee gave us himself and in giving himself for us gave us our selves again that were lost Onely good use then commends earthly possessions and hee alone knows the true use of the unrighteous Mammon that receives it meerly to disburse it For what commendation is it to bee the keeper of the best earth that which is the common coffer of all the rich Mines the earth wee do but tread upon and account vile because it hides those treasures whereas the skilful Metallist that refines these precious veyns for publick use is rewarded and honoured If therefore your wealth and your will bee not both good if your hands bee full and your hearts empty you deserve rather pity than commendation and may bee said to have riches indeed but neither goods nor blessings your burthens being greater than your estates and your selves richer in sorrows than in mettals And this was the rich Gluttons case in the Gospel who was damned not for taking away any thing from poor Lazarus but because hee relieved not his wants It is reported of Warram Archbishop of Canterbury being on his death-bed sent his steward to see what store of corn was in his Treasury and when answer was brought that there was either very little or none at all the good man cried Nimirum sic oportuit that it was very fitting it should bee so For when said hee could I dye better than when I am thus even with the world Vera virtus radices agit Seneca THings have their specification from their form Christ in the soul or truth in the heart is the form of a Christian Hence is that expression Hee is a Jew that is one inwardly so hee is a Christian which hath Christ in him and hee upright whose heart is so therefore is uprightness annexed in the 94 Psal and the 15. verse to that which is its proper subject and without which it subsists not nor can to wit the heart Vpright in heart all the upright in heart shall follow righteousness A good man is called a good man as hee can derive goodness from within A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good Truth treasured up in the heart is the onely true treasure and then out of this treasure motion made to this and to that expence from hence upon God upon man this is a good man and bringeth forth that which is good an upright heart A man is noted for an evill man as evill seiseth the heart Son of man these men have set up Idols in their hearts should I â—ee inquâ—red of at all by them Ezek. 14. So to set up truth in the heart as that and onely that which I love to bow down to and bee governed by this is an upright heart It is said of the Devill that hee abode not in the truth because no truth is in him Joh. 8. 44. whilst hee was in heaven heaven was not in him but pride and that is hell where ever it is Truth in the heart and wee abide in truth that is wee walk in it and ate ruled by it Lust in the
heart and let the creature bee where hee will in heaven or on earth hee abides in this is led up and down by this and not by truth and so is called according to that which is in him and informs him a sinful deceitful hearted man There is truth in the heart â—or in the midst of the heart the expression is I think with allusion to the natural form of the heart The heart hath a tunicle and a ventricle one to cover it the other to hold life bloud and spirits and these small ventricles are in the midst of the heart and these the life of the heart Truth within the tunicle of the heart is not enough it must bee in the ventricle in the midst The expression imports thâ—s much that if truth bee not in the soul as the soul of the soul as the life bloud in the heart giving life and motion to all the soul is not healed by it of its unsoundness and so consequently no upright heart The Psalmist speaking of a righteous man saith That his mouth speaketh wisdome and his tongue talketh of judgement But is this enough to give the formality of a righteous man Many can talk very soundly and judiciously and yet very unsound at heart Observe therefore what follows where hee centers the formality of integrity the Law of God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide Psal 37. 31. the small lines of truth the string of the heart the Law of God a Law in and unto the heart binding and loosing that which lives as it were a life by it self continually moving when all other parts are still that this organ which makes so many steps to others and yet not making one step but in and under the Law of Truth and Christ this is an upright heart Meditatio pascit scientiam scientia compunctionem compunctio devotionom Augustinus MEditation gives a man a sight and knowledge of himself of his sins of the riches of Gods mercy in Christ and such knowledge is it which works compunction of spirit wee are to bee taken up in the duties of Thanksgiving and to bee more than ordinarily inlarged therein There is no such way to inlarge the heart in that duty as by meditation to heat and warm our hearts So Psal 104. 33. 34. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live my meditation of him shall bee sweet I will bee glad in the Lord. There is nothing so feeds spiritual joy and so maintains and holds up that holy flame that should bee in a mans heart as doth meditation that is the oyl and fuel that keeps such fire burning the sweeter our meditation is the more is the heart prepared and inlarged to prayses and thanksgivings and joy in the Lord. Therefore as in other Religious exercises so more particularly in the Sacrament one special duty to bee done is to take up our hearts with serious meditation And for the better raising and feeding this meditation it is good when wee are come to the Lords Table to do as Solomon wishes to do in that case Prov. 23. 1. When thou fittest to eat with a Ruler consider diligently what is before thee Hee adviseth it for a mans better caution if hee bee a man given to his appetite that hee may not bee desirous of such dainties as are set before him But in this case it is good to consider what is set before us to provoke our appetite and to stir up in us a longing after those dainties Consider therefore what is set before thee what is done before thee Consider the Sacramental promises the Sacramental elements the Sacramental actions Behold then and meditate what a feast God hath prepared for us and set before us such a feast as that Isa 25. 6. A feast of fat things a feast of wine on the lees c. Alas how lean are our souls what hunger-starved spirits have wee but here bee fat things full of marrow to feed and fat our lean souls How dead and dull are our hearts but here is wine upon the lees wine that goes down sweetly That will cause the lips of those that are asleep to speake that will refresh and quicken our spirits Here wee see the bread broken the wine powred out Here wee see Christ crucified before our eyes now wee see him hanging and bleeding upon the Crosse we now see him pressed and crushed under the heavy burthen of his Fathers wrath Now wee see him in the Garden in his bloody sweat Now wee may behold him under the bitter conflict with his Fathers wrath upon the Crosse Behold the man saith Pilate This is our duty by meditation to present unto our selves the bitterness of Christs passion Exod. 24. 8. And Moses took the bloud and sprinkled it on the people and said Behold the bloud of the Covenant So here Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world And behold the bloud of that innocent and spotless Lamb yea behold him now shedding his precious blood to take away the sins of the world and look upon him as the Scape-goat bearing and carrying our sins upon him Represent we unto our selves in our meditations as lively as wee are able all the sorrows of Christs passion This Christ commands and makes it one main end of the institution of the Sacrament Do this in remembrance of mee Therefore appointed hee the Sacrament that therein wee might in special manner meditate upon his passion and his love to us therein David had a Psalm of remembrance Psal 38. in the title But for the death of Christ his love in it and the benefits by it wee have not onely some Psalms of remembrance as Psal 16. 22. and 69. and others But besides the Lord Christ hath to the worlds end appointed a Sacrament of remembrance that this great work of Christs death and his infinite love and mercy therein might above all other works bee meditated upon and had in remembrance FINIS A Catalogue of such Sentences of the Fathers and other Ecclesiastical and Civil Authors as are explained and applied to the use of the Pulpit and the practice of Christians in this Book QVà m malè est extra legem viventibus quicquid meruerunt semper expectant Page 1. Vestium curio sit as deformitatis mentium morum judicium est 3 Quicquid propter Deum fit equaliter fit 5 Sordet in conspectu Judicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis 6 Bone res neminem scandalizant nisi malam mentem 7 Non omne quod licet etiam honestum est 9 Quae per rationem innotescunt non sunt articuli fidei sed praeambula ad articulos 10 Mors optima est perire dum lachrimant sui p. 12 Nemo me lac hriâ— is decoret nee funera fletu faxit cur volito vivus per ora virum 14 Ne excedat medicinâ— modum 15 Si molliora frustrà cesserint medicus ferit venam 17 Suâ sponte cadentem
spiritual improvement but by way of restriction first humbly with submission to the will of God then conditionally so they prove advantagious either to our civil or moral good For otherwise if riches are pursued either with an unlawful or an unbridled desire they lead our reason captive blind-fold our intellectuals and so damp and dead all the faculties of the inward man that in way of conscience and Religion wee are benummed meerly Nabal himself not so stony and churlish not half so supine and stupid as wee And therefore your earthly sensualists have this woful brand set upon them by the spirit of They are men of the world they have their portion in this life onely Psal 17. Quid quaeris brevi immittere vasculo totum mare Hieronymus TO endeavour to express fully the joyes of heaven were as vain a work as to endeavour to put the element of waters or whole sea into a bason And this may appear from that story of St. August concerning St. Jer. of whom St. Augustine saith Quae Hieronymus nescivit nullus hominum unquam scivit what St. Hierom knew not no man in the world ever knew yet of the joyes of glory of heaven in the fruition of God St Hierom would adventure to say nothing no not then when hee was divested of his mortal body dead For as soon as hee died at Bethleem hee came instantly to Hippo St. Augustines Bishoprick and though hee told him Hieronymi anima sum I am the soul of that Jerome to whom thou art now writing about the joyes and glory of heaven yet hee said no more of that but this Quid quaeris brevi immittere vasculo totum mare Canst thou hope to pour the whole sea into a thimble or take the whole world into thy hand and yet that is easier than to comprehend the joy and glory of heaven in this life Nor is there any thing that makes this more incomprehensible than that semper in 1 Thess 4. 17. That wee shall bee with God for ever For this Eternity this Everlastingness is not onely incomprehensible to us in this life but even in heaven wee can never know it experimentally no not in heaven and all knowledge in heaven is experimental as all knowledge in the world is causal wee know a thing if wee know the cause of it so the knowledge in heaven is effectual experimental wee know it because wee have found it to bee so The endowments of the blessed those which the School calls Dotes â—â—aâ—orâ—m are ordinarily delivered to bee these three Visio Dilectio Fruitio the sight of God the love of God and the fruition the injoying the possessing of God Now as no man can know what it is to see God in heaven but by experimental and actual seeing of him there nor what it is to love God there but by such an actual and experimental love of him nor what it is to injoy and possess God but by an actual injoying and experimental possessing of him so can no man tell what the Eternity and Everlastingness of all these is till hee hath passed through that Eternity and that Everlastingness and that hee can never do for if it could bee passed through then were it not Eternity How barren a thing is Arithetick and yet Arithmetick will tell you how many grains of sand will fill this hollow vault to the Firmament How empty a thing is Rhetorick and yet Rhetorick will make absent and remote things present to their understanding How weak a thing is Poetry and yet Poetry is a counterfeit Creation and makes things which are not as though they were how infirm how impotent are all assistances if they be put to express this Eternity The best help in my poor judgement that can bee assigned is to use well Aeternum vestrum our own Eternity as St. Gregory calls our whole course of this life Aequum est ut qui in aterno suâ— peccaverit in aeterno Dei puniatur it is but justice that hee that hath sinned out his own eternity should suffer out Gods Eternity so if you suffer out your own eternity in submitting your selves to God in the whole course of your life and glorifying him in a constant patience under all tribulations It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation unto them which trouble yâ—â— and to you which are troubled everlasting rest 2 Thess 1. 6. Magna parvis minime exprimuntur Seneca SAcred Communication is to make suitable demonstration of infinite love Great love is not suitablely expressed by small things Springs make Channels Streams Rivers suitable to their strength they make their rent without suitable to their bubling within under ground Heaven is but a suitable expression of the love of a God It is but strange suitable to such a fountain but legible writing out of infinite love Were not heaven made communicable infinite love would bee but half expressed it would bee far more in it self than known to us It is with Christ here in this world as it is with a Christian a Christians fortune here doth not suit his titles called a King and hath nothing Now are wee the Sons of God but it doth not appear what wee shall bee Why wee shall bee but the Sons of God his meaning is that now Title and Revenew do not agree nothing in possession that speaks out the Sons of God the Son of a King State and Title do not fitly and fully express one another So it is with Christ now his love and his expression of it are short one of another Many expressions of love are made here but they all express it but brokenly Heaven will speak out an infinite love it will demonstrate it to the life to all senses at once which is such a demonstration of a thing as here man cannot make of any thing There a man shall have the advantage of all senses together to fathom infinite love Hee shall hear it see it taste it c. hee shall see the fountain where and how it riseth the Ocean how vast it spreads and how broad it bears Christ demonstrates infinite love fully fitly therefore is heaven made communicable to poor earthen creatures Partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. â— 12. Qui Gehennas met â—it non peccare meâ—uit sed ardere Ille autem peccare metuit qui peccatum ipsum sic ut Gehennas odit Augustinus THe Object of repenting sorrow is sin It is sin that specially afflicts and disquiets a repenting soul that is the thing that wrings and pinches it Where was it that the Prodigals shooe did specially wring him Luke 15. 21. Father I have sinned against heaven that is against God in heaven Hee doth not say Father I am in a depth of misery ready to perish with hunger in that pinching distress that I would bee glad to eat husks with Hogs But Father I have sinned This is the grief of a repenting soul that Gods Majesty hath
been offended in and by his sins this was that which lay heaviest upon and sat closest to Davids heart Hee neither cryes out of his discredit and shame in the world nor yet speaks a syllable of wrath or hell but Psal 51. 3 4. My sinis ever before mee against thee onely have I sinned and have done this evil in thy sight My sin is ever before me not Hel and damnation is ever before mee Not the fame and reproach of the world but my sin is ever before mee It is this Lord that pinches and disquiets mee that I have sinned and done this evill in thy sight A good heart fears more the committing of sin than the suffering of punishment following it Prov. 30. 9. Give mee not poverty lest I bee poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain Hee doth not say lest I bee poor and steal and bring my selfe under the Magistrates sword or thy wrath but hee looks onely at the sin lest I steal and take thy Name in vain Hee fears the prophaning of Gods Name more than the bringing of his name and person in question And to this purpose is that which Elihu charges Job withall Job 36. 21. Regard not iniquity for this thou hast chosen rather than affliction that is thou hast rather chosen sin and iniquity than poverty and affliction as if hee had said Inasmuch as thou hast vainly and rashly expostulated with God vers 20. desiring death rather than to bear this affliction thou art guilty of iniquity and sinnest in this thy choice This therefore implies that a good heart would rather chuse affliction than iniquity to suffer affliction than to do iniquity Now as a good heart is more afraid of sin than affliction and punishment so likewise a repenting heart is more grieved or sin committed than for sorrow to be suffered We shall find David in great anguish and distress of spirit Psal 25. 17 18. The troubles of mine heart are inlarged Oh bring thou mee out of my distress wringing pressing anguishes look upon my affliction and my pain Here bee troubles of heart distresses of spirit affliction and pain but what is it now that thus wrings distresses and pains David See the last words And forgive all my sins not forgive all my punishments Davids sin not his punishment was his pain Wee shall see the like in him 2 Sam. 24. 10. I have sinned greatly I beseech thee to take away the iniquity of thy servant Hee mentions not the taking away of any smart nay vers 17. Hee is willing to bear it I have sinned let thine hand bee against mee Hee begs that the punishment may bee laid upon him but begs that his iniquity may bee taken away Let God bee pleased to take away his iniquity and hee is nothing solicitous for the punishment The offence of God troubled him more than his personal smart So that Gods heart were but towards him in the pardon of his sin hee did not care though Gods hand were against him smiting him with temporal chastisement And this will better appear if wee do but compare Pharaoh with David Exod. â— 8. Intreat the Lord that hee may take away the Frogs from mee The Frogs troubled him more than his sin against God Take away the Frogs but no mention at all of taking away his sin And when afterwards a confession of sin is extorted from him yet was it not his sin that disquieted him Exod. 9. 27 28. not take away my sin but take away the Thunderings and Hail Lord sayes David Take away the iniquity of thy servant Oh! sayes Pharoah Take away these filthy Frogs and this dreadful Thunder A repenting heart is more troubled than a Thunder and Frogs It seems more filthiness in sin than in Frogs or Toads or ever else can bee presented more ugly to it A repenting sinner hath his eye upon God and upon his Law Hee sees the hollness of God that hee is a God of pure eyes that cannot behold iniquity Hab. 1. 13. Hee sees him a good gracious patient Father and so it cuts him to the heart to have offended such a Father and God Hee looks upon the Law and sees it to bee holy just and good and this galls him to the heart to have violated so holy and so pure a Law Now wicked men they look wholly at the justice and wrath of God at the curse of the Law and so nothing troubles them but the fear of hell and death If these might bee avoided the offending of an holy and good God the violating of an holy and good Law would not a whit afflict or disquiet them Nay it is remarkable in David that though hee had upon Nathans message to him confessed his sin and Nathan upon his confession had pronounced the pardon of it yet after this hee cryes out My sin is ever before me against thee onely have I sinned Mark then that even pardoned sin forgiven sin vexes and disquiets a repenting heart It pinches him and disquiets him though it be forgiven it grieves him that hee hath so plaid the fool and that ever hee was such a beast to offend so gracious a God When the Prodigals Father sees him coming afar off hee runs to meet him shews compassion to him falls upon him and kisses him That kiss was the seal of his pardon as if hee had said Behold I forgive all thy sin as when David kissed Absolom and Esau kissed Jacob they both did it in token of full reconciliation And yet for all this see how the Prodigal speaks hee sayes not O Father from the ground of my heart I unfainedly thank thee Oh how great is my Fathers goodness thus to pardon mee c. but Father I have sinned against thee I but his Father had kissed him and thereby testified that hee had freely forgiven him what need hee confess his pardoned sin Why is hee not rather in the confession of praise than in the confession of sin Oh no a repenting sinner is so affected and grieved with the offence of God in his sin that though God have pardoned and forgiven it yet hee cannot but mourn for it and be afflicted with it that so holy a Law hath been broken by him that so good a God hath been offended by him Psal 25. 6 7. Remember O Lord thy tender mercies remember not the sins of my youth If God remember mercy hee forgets and forgives sin If God forget it why doth David remember the sins of his youth Yes so will a true repenting heart do It will remember the sin that God forgets it will mourn for the sin which God hath forgiven Nou est poenitens sed irrisor qui adhuc agit unde poeniteat Bernardus REpentance not onely confesses but forsakes the confessed sin Job 34. 22. If I have done iniquity I will do no more That is the language and the resolution of true repentance Eph. 4. 28. Let him that stole steal no more True repentance