then Christ is not raised As sure as the head is V. 16. so sure the body is raised And then another Topique from whence he produces arguments is the absurd consequences and illations that would follow if there were no resurrection Of that kinde one is Nos miserrimi If in this life onely we have hops in Christ V. 19. we are of all men the most miserable Why because in this life we suffer persecution for this profession And another is Edamus bibamus Let us eate and drinke for to morrow wee shall dye V. 32. What needs this abstinence and this severe denying our selves the conveniencies of this life if all end in this life And lastly in the same kinde followes this Text Si omnino mortui non excitentur If the dead rise not at all why are they baptized for dead And by all these wayes doth the Apostle convay this knowledge of the Resurrection But would all these wayes serve Resurrectio mysterium would all this satisfie that Inquisition which wee have brought how this assurance of the Resurrection accrues to us Would any of these reasons or would all these reasons convince a man who were not at all prepossessed and preoccupated with a beliefe of the resurrection with an assurance thereof The resurrection was alwaies a mystery in it selfe Sacrum secretum a holy secret and above the search of reason For there are secrets and mysteries of two kindes as the Schoole presents them some things are so Quia quaedam interposita Because though the thing be near enough unto me yet somthing is interposed between me and it and so I cannot see it And somethings are so Quia longè seposita because they are at so remote a distance as that though nothing be interposed yet my sight cannot extend to them In the first sense the Sacraments are mysteries because though the grace therein bee neare mee yet there is Velamen interpositum there is visible figure a sensible signe and seale between me and that grace which is exhibited to me in the Sacrament In the second sense the resurrection is a mystery because it is so farre removed as that it concernes our state and condition in the next world For man sleepeth and riseth not Job 14.12 hee shall not wake againe nor be raised from his sleep till the heavens be no more that is not till the dissolution of all So then the knowledge of the resurrection in it selfe is a mystery Resurrectio Christs mysterium removed out of the Spheare and latitude of reason And to consider this remotenesse farther though the knowledge of Christ Resurrection be nearer us then our owne for first we know his because from his we argue and conclude our owne as the Apostle institutes his argument If the dead rise not Christ is not risen yet even the Resurrection of Christ V. 16. was so far from being cleare and obvious to the best and the best illumined understandings as that though Christ himselfe had spoken often of his Resurrection to his Disciples and Apostles yet they did not clearly throughly scarce at all understand his Resurrection When Christ said to the Jews promiscuously Solvite Templum hoc Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it I wonder not that they blinded with their own malice discerned no resurrection in that saying but applied it to that Temple which was forty sixe yeares in building For till the resurrection was really accomplished and actually performed the Apostles themselves understood not the Resurrection Then when Christ was risen from the dead and that those two great Apostles Peter and Iohn had been at the Sepulchre and received from thence so much evidence as convinced them and prevailed upon them then and not till then they began to understand the resurrection for John 22.9 till then sayes the Text expresly there they knew not the Scriptures that he must rise from the dead And truly Etiam post Resurrectionem if we take a holy liberty as piously we may to consider Christs bodily actions after his resurrection they were not such as without admitting any opposition might induce a necessity of confessing a resurrection For though he exhibited himself to their eyes to be seene and to their eares to be heard and to their fingers to be felt though he eate with them and did many other actions of a living body yet as the Angels in the old Testament did the like actions in those bodies which they had assumed so might Christ have done all these in such a body though that which was buried in the Sepulchre had had no resurrection It is true that Christ confirmed his Resurrection Multis argumentis as the vulgat reads that place Acts 1.3 with many infallible tokens sayes our former Translation with many infallible proofes sayes our later But still all these arguments and tokens and proofes wrought by way of confirmation something was otherwise imprinted in them and established by a former apprehension of faith and these arguments and tokens and proofes confirmed it For the reasons for the resurrection doe not convince a naturall man at all neither doe they so convince a Christian but that there is more left to his faith and he beleeves something beyond and above his reason The resurrection in it self Resurrectio nostra mysterium Christs Resurrection though it be clearer then ours Christs Resurrection even after it was actually accomplished was still a mystery out of the compasse of reason And then as it was above our reason so howsoever it be out proofe and our patterne for our resurrection yet it is above our imitation For our resurrection shall not be like his Omnes alii suscitati Christus solus resurrexit sayes S. Bernard All we shall be raised from the dead onely Christ arose from the dead We shall be raised by a power working upon us he rose by a power inherent and resident in himselfe And yet though in this respect our resurrection be more open to the proofe of reason then the resurrection of Christ for that which hath least miracle in it is most open to reason and therefore a naturall man would easilier beleeve that God might raise a dead man then that a dead man should be God and so able to raise himselfe which was Christs case for the God-head of Christ was as much united to his dead body in the grave as it was to his soule in Paradise or to his whole person consisting of body and soule before or after his death and resurrection Though in this respect I say our resurrection be more open to reason because it hath lesse of the miracle in it yet when we come to assigne reasons even for our resurrection as we see Athanagoras hath undertaken with a great deale of wit and learning and confidence in his Apology for the Christians to the Emperour within 155. yeares after Christ and the Schoole-men make account that
is done sayes the Apostle So that here is the case if the naturall man say alas they are but dark notions of God which I have in nature if the Jew say alas they are but remote and ambiguous things which I have of Christ in the Prophets If the slack and historicall Christian say alas they are but generall things done for the whole world indifferently and not applyed to me which I reade in the Gospell to this naturall man to this Jew to this slack Christian we present an established Church a Church endowed with a power to open the wounds of Christ Jesus to receive every wounded soule to spread the balme of his blood upon every bleeding heart A Church that makes this generall Christ particular to every Christian that makes the Saviour of the world thy Saviour and my Saviour that offers the originall sinner Baptisme for that and the actuall sinner the body and blood of Christ Jesus for that a Church that mollifies and entenders and shivers the presumptuous sinner with denouncing the judgements of God and then consolidates and establishes the diffident soule with the promises of his Gospell a Church in contemplation whereof God may say Quid potui Vineae what could I doe more for my people then I have done first to send mine only Son to die for the whole world and then to spread a Church over the whole world by which that death of his might be life to every soule This we preach this we propose according to that commission put into our hands Ite praedicate Goe and preach the Gospell to every creature and yet Domine quis credidit Lord who hath beleeved our report In this then the Apostle and this Text places the inflexible the incorrigible stiffenesse of mans disobedience in this he seales up his inexcusablenesse his irrecoverablenesse first that he is not afraid of future judgements because they are remote then that he does not beleeve present judgements to be judgements because he can make shift to call them by a milder name accidents and not judgements and can assigne some naturall or morall or casuall reason for them But especially in this that he does not beleeve a perpetuall presence of Christ in his Church he does not beleeve an Ordinance of meanes by which all burdens of bodily infirmities of crosses in fortune of dejection of spirit and of the primary cause of all these that is sin it selfe may be taken off or made easie unto him he does not beleeve a Church Now as in our former part we were bound to know Gods hand and then bound to reade it to acknowledge a judgement to be a judgement and then to consider what God intended in that judgement so here we are bound to know the true Church and then to know what the true Church proposes to us The true Church is that where the word is truely preached and the Sacraments duly administred But it is the Word the Word inspired by the holy Ghost not Apocryphall not Decretall not Traditionall not Additionall supplements and it is the Sacraments Sacraments instituted by Christ himself and not those super-numerary sacraments those posthume post-nati sacramēts that have been multiplyed after and then that which the true Church proposes is all that is truly necessary to salvation and nothing but that in that quality as necessary So that Problematical points of which either side may be true in which neither side is fundamentally necessary to salvation those marginal interlineary notes that are not of the body of the text opinions raised out of singularity in some one man and then maintained out of partiality and affection to that man these problematicall things should not be called the Doctrine of the Church nor lay obligations upon mens consciences They should not disturb the general peace they should not extinguish particular charity towards one another The Act then that God requires of us is to beleeve so the words carry it in all the three places The Object the next the nearest Object of this Belief is made the Church that is to beleeve that God hath established means for the application of Christs death to all in all Christian Congregations All things are possible to him that beleeveth Mar. 9 23. saith our Saviour In the Word and Sacraments there is Salvation to every soule that beleeves there is so As on the other side we have from the same mouth and the same pen He that beleeveth not is damned Faith then being the root of all Mar. 16.16 and God having vouchsafed to plant this root this faith here in his terrestriall paradise and not in heaven in the manifest ministery of the Gospell and not in a secret and unrevealed purpose for faith comes by hearing and hearing by preaching which are things executed and transacted here in the Church be thou content with those meanes which God hath ordained and take thy faith in those meanes and beleeve it to be influxus suasorius that it is an influence from God but an influence that works in thee by way of perswasion and not of compulsion It convinces thee but it doth not constraine thee It is as S. Augustine sayes excellently Vocatio congrua it is the voice of God to thee but his voice then when thou art fit to heare and answer that voice not fitted by any exaltation of thine own naturall faculties before the cōming of grace nor fitted by a good husbanding of Gods former grace so as in rigor of justice to merit an increase of grace but fitted by his preventing his auxiliant his concomitant grace grace exhibited to thee at that time when he calls thee for so saies that Father Sic eum vocat quo modo seit ei congruere ut vocantē non respuat God calls him then when he knows he wil not resist his calling But he doth not say then when he cānot resist that needs not be said But as there is podus glcriae as the Apostle speaks an eternall weight of glory which mans understanding cannot cōprehend so there is Pondus gratiae a certain weight of grace that God layes upon that soule which shall be his under which that soule shall not easily bend it self any way from God This then is the summe of this whole Catechisme which these words in these three places doe constitute First that we be truely affected with Gods fore-warnings and say there Domine credo Lord I beleeve that report I beleeve that judgement to be denounced against my sin And then that we be duely affected with present changes and say there Domine credo Lord I beleeve that report I beleeve this judgement to come from thee and to be a letter of thy hand Lord enlighten others to interpret it aright for thy more publique glory and me for my particular reformation And then lastly to be sincerely and seriously affected with the Ordinances of his Church and to rest in them for the means of our salvation and to
constitutions or onely a testimony of outward conformity which should be signaculum viaticum a seale of pardon for past sins and a provision of grace against future But he that is well prepared for this strips himselfe of all these vae desiderantibus of all these comminations that belong to carnall desires and he shall be as Daniel was vir desideriorum a man of chast and heavenly desires onely hee shall desire that day of the Lord as that day signifies affliction here with David Psal 119.17 Bonum est mihi quòd humiliasti me I am mended by my sicknesse enriched by my poverty and strengthened by my weaknesse and with S. Bern. desire Irascar is mihi Domine O Lord be angry with me for if thou chidest me not thou considerest me not if I taste no bitternesse I have no Physick If thou correct me not I am not thy son And he shall desire that day of the Lord as that day signifies the last judgement with the desire of the Martyrs under the Altar Vsquequo Domine How long O Lord ere thou execute judgement And he shall desire this day of the Lord as this day is the day of his own death with S. Pauls desire Cupio dissolvi I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ And when this day of the Lord as it is the day of the Lords resurrection shall come his soule shall be satified as with marrow and with fatnesse in the body and bloud of his Saviour and in the participation of all his merits as intirely as if all that Christ Jesus hath said and done and suffered had beene said and done and suffered for his soule alone Enlarge our daies O Lord to that blessed day prepare us before that day seale to us at that day ratifie to us after that day all the daies of our life an assurance in that Kingdome which thy Son our Saviour hath purchased for us with the inestimable price of his incorruptible bloud To which glorious Son of God c. SERMON XV. Preached at VVhite-hall March 8. 1621. 1 COR. 15.26 The last Enemie that shall be destroyed is Death THis is a Text of the Resurrection and it is not Easter yet but it is Easter Eve All Lent is but the Vigill the Eve of Easter to so long a Festivall as never shall end the Resurrection wee may well begin the Eve betimes Forty yeares long was God grieved for that Generation which he loved let us be content to humble our selves forty daies to be fitter for that glory which we expect In the Booke of God there are many Songs there is but one Lamentation And that one Song of Solomon nay some one of Davids hundred and fiftie Psalmes is longer then the whole booke of Lamentations Make way to an everlasting Easter by a short Lent to an undeterminable glory by a temporary humiliation You must weepe these teares teares of contrition teares of mortification before God will wipe all teares from your eyes You must dye this death this death of the righteous the death to sin before this last enemy Death shal be destroyed in you and you made partakers of everlasting life in soule and body too Our division shall be but a short Divisio and our whole exercise but a larger paraphrase upon the words The words imply first That the Kingdome of Christ which must be perfected must be accomplished because all things must be subdued unto him is not yet perfected not accomplished yet Why what lacks it It lacks the bodies of Men which yet lie under the dominion of another When we shall also see by that Metaphor which the Holy Ghost chooseth to expresse that in which is that there is Hostis and so Militia an enemie and a warre and therefore that Kingdome is not perfected that he places perfect happinesse and perfect glory in perfect peace But then how far is any State consisting of many men how far the state and condition of any one man in particular from this perfect peace How truly a warfare is this life if the Kingdome of Heaven it selfe have not this peace in perfection And it hath it not Quia hostis because there is an enemy though that enemy shall not overthrow it yet because it plots and workes and machinates and would overthrow it this is a defect in that peace Who then is this enemy An enemy that may thus far thinke himselfe equall to God that as no man ever saw God and lived so no man ever saw this enemy and lived for it is Death And in this may thinke himselfe in number superiour to God that many men live who shall never see God But Quis homo is Davids question which was never answered Is there any man that lives and shall not see death An enemie that is so well victualled against man as that he cannot want as long as there are men for he feeds upon man himselfe And so well armed against Man as that he cannot want Munition while there are men for he fights with our weapons our owne faculties nay our calamities yea our owne pleasures are our death And therefore he is Novissimus hostis saith the Text The last enemy We have other Enemies Satan about us sin within us but the power of both those this enemie shall destroy but when they are destroyed he shall retaine a hostile and triumphant dominion over us But Vsque quo Domine How long O Lord for ever No Abolebitur wee see this Enemy all the way and all the way we feele him but we shall see him destroyed Abolebitur But how or when At and by the resurrection of our bodies for as upon my expiration my transmigration from hence as soone as my soule enters into Heaven I shall be able to say to the Angels I am of the same stuffe as you spirit and spirit and therefore let me stand with you and looke upon the face of your God and my God so at the Resurrection of this body I shall be able to say to the Angel of the great Councell the Son of God Christ Jesus himselfe I am of the same stuffe as you Body and body Flesh and flesh and therefore let me sit downe with you at the right hand of the Father in an everlasting security from this last enemie who is now destroyed death And in these seven steps we shall passe apace and yet cleerely through this paraphrase We begin with this Vestig 1. Quia desunt Corpora That the Kingdome of Heaven hath not all that it must have to a consummate perfection till it have bodies too In those infinite millions of millions of generations in which the holy blessed and glorious Trinity enjoyed themselves one another and no more they thought not their glory so perfect but that it might receive an addition from creatures and therefore they made a world a materiall world a corporeall world they would have bodies In that noble part of that world which Moses
for they shall have a composition still and every compounded thing may perish but they shal be so assured and with such a preservation as they shall alwaies know they shall never dye S. Augustine saies well Aug. Assit motio absit fatigatio assit potestas vescendi absit necessitas esuriendi They have in their nature a mortality and yet be immortall a possibility and an impossibility of dying with those two divers relations one to nature the other to preservation will consist together So in this soule that hath this first Resurrection from sin by grace a conscience of her owne infirmity that she may relapse and yet a testimony of the powerfulnesse of Gods Spirit that easily she shall not relapse may consist well together But the last seale of this holy confidence is reserved for that which is the third acceptation of this first Resurrection not from persecutions in this world nor from sin in this world but from all possibility of falling back into sin in the world to come and to this have divers Expositors referred these words this first resurrection Blessed and holy is he that hath part in this first Resurrection Now a Resurrection of the soule seemes an improper an impertinent an improbable 3 Part. an impossible forme of speech for Resurrection implies death and the soule does not dye in her passage to Heaven And therefore Damascen makes account De ortho sid l. 4. c. ult that he hath sufficiently proved the Resurrection of the body which seems so incredible if he could prove any Resurrection if there be any Resurrection at all saies he it must be of the body for the soule cannot dye therefore not rise Yet have not those Fathers nor those Expositors who have in this text acknowledged a Resurrection of the soule mistaken nor miscalled the matter Take Damascens owne definition of Resurrection Resurrectio est ejus quod cecidit secunda surrectio A Resurrection is a second rising to that state from which any thing is formerly fallen Now though by death the soule do not fall into any such state as that it can complaine for what can that lack which God fils yet by death the soule fals from that for which it was infused and poured into man at first that is to be the forme of that body the King of that Kingdome and therefore when in the generall Resurrection the soule returnes to that state for which it was created and to which it hath had an affection and a desire even in the fulnesse of the Joyes of Heaven then when the soule returnes to her office to make up the man because the whole man hath therefore the soule hath a Resurrection not from death but from a deprivation of her former state that state which she was made for and is ever enclined to But that is the last Resurrection and so the soule hath part even in that last Resurrection But we are in hand with the first Resurrection of the soule and that is when that soule which was at first breath'd from God and hath long suffered a banishment a close imprisonment in this body returnes to God againe The returning of the soule to him from whom it proceeded at first is a Resurrection of the soule Here then especially I feele the straitnesse of time two considerations open themselves together of such a largenesse as all the time from Moses his In principio when time began to the Angels Affidavit in this booke That shall say and sweare that time shall be no more were too narrow to contemplate these two Hemispheares of Man this Evening and Morning of Mans everlasting day The miseries of man in this banishment in this emprisonment in this grave of the soule the body And the glory and exaltation of that soule in her Resurrection to Heaven That soule which being borne free is made a slave to this body by comming to it It must act but what this body will give it leave to act according to the Organs which this body affords it and if the body be lame in any limme the soule must be lame in her operation in that limme too It must doe but what the body will have it doe and then it must suffer whatsoever that body puts it to or whatsoever any others will put that body to If the body oppresse it selfe with Melancholy the soule must be sad and if other men oppresse the body with injury the soule must be sad too Consider it is too immense a thing to consider it reflect but one thought but upon this one thing in the soule here and hereafter In her grave the body and in her Resurrection in Heaven That is the knowledge of the soule Here saies S. Augustine when the soule considers the things of this world Non veritate certior sed consuetudine securior She rests upon such things as she is not sure are true but such as she sees are ordinarily received and accepted for truths so that the end of her knowledge is not Truth but opinion and the way not Inquisition but ease But saies he when she proceeds in this life to search into heavenly things Verberatur luce veritatis The beames of that light are too strong for her and they sink her and cast her downe Et ad familiaritatem tenebrarum suarum non electione sed fatigatione convertitur and so she returnes to her owne darknesse because she is most familiar and best acquainted with it Non electione not because she loves ignorance but because she is weary of the trouble of seeking out the truth and so swallowes even any Religion to escape the paine of debating and disputing and in this lazinesse she sleeps out her lease her terme of life in this death in this grave in this body But then in her Resurrection her measure is enlarged and filled at once There she reads without spelling and knowes without thinking and concludes without arguing she is at the end of her race without running In her triumph without fighting In her Haven without sayling A free-man without any prentiship at full yeares without any wardship and a Doctor without any proceeding She knowes truly and easily and immediately and entirely and everlastingly Nothing left out at first nothing worne out at last that conduces to her happinesse What a death is this life what a resurrection is this death For though this world be a sea yet which is most strange our Harbour is larger then the sea Heaven infinitely larger then this world For though that be not true which Origen is said to say That at last all shall be saved nor that evident which Cyril of Alexandria saies That without doubt the number of them that are saved is far greater then of them that perish yet surely the number of them with whom we shall have communion in Heaven is greater then ever lived at once upon the face of the earth And of those who lived in our time how few did we
the Resurrection marvaile at nothing so much as at this nothing is so marvailous so wonderfull as this And secondly the approach of the Resurrection The houre is comming And thirdly The generality All that are in the graves And then the instrument of the resurrection The voice of Christ that shall be heard And lastly the diverse end of the resurrection They shall come forth they that have done good c. God hath a care of the Body of man that is first And he defers it not that is next And he extends it to all that is a third And a fourth is That he does that last act by him by whom he did the first The Creation and all betweene the Redemption that is by his Son by Christ And then the last is that this is an everlasting separation and divorce of the good and the bad The bad shall never be able to receive good from the Good nor to doe harme to the Good after that First then Christ saies Ne miremini Marvaile not at this Ne miremini not at your spirituall resurrection not that a Sermon should worke upon man not that a Sacrament should comfort a man make it not a miracle nor an extraordinary thing by hearing to come to repentance and so to such a resurrection For though S. Augustine say That to convert a man from sin is as great a miracle as Creation yet S. August speaks that of a mans first conversion in which the man himselfe does nothing but God all Then he is made of nothing but after God hath renewed him and proposed ordinary meanes in the Church still to worke upon him he must not looke for miraculous working but make Gods ordinary meanes ordinary to him This is Panis quotidianus The daily bread which God gives you as often as you meet here according to his Ordinances Ne miremini stand not to wonder as though you were not sure but come to enjoy Gods goodnesse in his ordinary way here But it is Hoc Ne miremini hoc Wonder not at this but yet there are things which we may wonder at Nil admirari is but the Philosophers wisdome He thinks it a weaknesse to wonder at any thing That any thing should be strange to him But Christian Philosophy that is rooted in humility tels us in the mouth of Clement of Alexand. Principium veritatis est res admirari The first step to faith is to wonder to stand and consider with a holy admiration the waies and proceedings of God with man for Admiration wonder stands as in the midst betweene knowledge and faith and hath an eye towards both If I know a thing or beleeve a thing I do no longer wonder but when I finde that I have reason to stop upon the consideration of a thing so as that I see enough to induce admiration to make me wonder I come by that step and God leads me by that hand to a knowledge if it be of a naturall or civill thing or to a faith if it be of a supernaturall and spirituall thing And therefore be content to wonder at this That God would have such a care to dignifie and to crown and to associate to his own everlasting presence the body of man God himself is a Spirit and heaven is his place my soul is a spirit and so proportioned to that place That God or Angels or our Soules which are all Spirits should be in heaven Ne miremini never wonder at that But since we wonder and justly that some late Philosophers have removed the whole earth from the Center and carried it up and placed it in one of the Spheares of heaven That this clod of earth this body of ours should be carried up to the highest heaven placed in the eye of God set down at the right hand of God Miremini hoc wonder at this That God all Spirit served with Spirits associated to Spirits should have such an affection such a love to this body this earthly body this deserves this wonder The Father was pleased to breathe into this body at first in the Creation The Son was pleased to assume this body himself after in the Redemption The Holy Ghost is pleased to consecrate this body and make it his Temple by his sanctisication In that Faciamus hominem Let us all us make man that consuitation of the whole Trinity in making man is exercised even upon this lower part of man the dignifying of his body So far as that amongst the ancient Fathers very many of them are very various and irresolved which way to pronounce and very many of them cleare in the negative in that point That the soule of man comes not to the presence of God but remaines in some out-places till the Resurrection of the body That observation that consideration of the love of God to the body of man withdrew them into that error That the soul it self should lack the glory of heaven till the body were become capable of that glory too They therefore oppose God in his purpose of dignifying the body of man first who violate and mangle this body which is the Organ in which God breathes And they also which pollute and defile this body in which Christ Jesus is apparelled and they likewise who prophane this body which the Holy Ghost as the high Priest inhabites and consecrates Trangressors in the first kinde that put Gods Organ out of tune that discompose and teare the body of man with violence are those inhumane persecutors who with racks and tortures and prisons and fires and exquisite inquisitions throw downe the bodies of the true Gods true servants to the Idolatrous worship of their imaginary Gods that torture men into hell and carry them through the inquisition into damnation S. Augustine moves a question and institutes a disputation and carries it somewhat problematically whether torture be to be admitted at all or no. That presents a faire probability which he sayes against it we presume sayes he that an innocent man should be able to hold his tongue in torture That is no part of our purpose in torture sayes he that hee that is innocent should accuse himselfe by confession in torture And if an innocent man be able to doe so why should we not thinke that a guilty man who shall save his life by holding his tongue in torture should be able to doe so And then where is the use of torture Res fragilis periculosa quaestio sayes that Lawyer who is esteemed the law alone Vlpian It is a slippery triall and uncertaine to convince by torture For many times sayes S. Augustine againe Innocens luit pro incerto scelere certissimas poenas He that is yet but questioned whether he be guilty or no before that be knowne is without all question miserably tortured And whereas many times the passion of the Judge and the covetousnesse of the Judge and the ambition of the Judge are calamities heavy enough upon a man that is
they have brought it nearer to the understanding nay even to the very sense by producing some such things as even in nature doe not only resemble but as they apprehend evict a resurrection yet when all is done and all the reasons of Athenogaras and the Schoole and of S. Paul himselfe are waighed they determine all in this that they are faire and pregnant and convenient illustrations of that which was beleeved before and that they have force and power to encline to an assent and to create and beget such a probability as a discreet and sad and constant man might rest in and submit to But yet we shall finde also that though no man may speak a word or conceive a thought against the resurrection because for the matter we are absolutely and expresly concluded by the Scriptures yet a man may speak probably and dangerously against any particulur argument that is produced for the resurrection We beleeve it immediately intirely cheafully undisputably because we see it expresly delivered by the Holy Ghost And we embrace thankfully that sweetnesse and that fulnesse of that blessed Spirit that as he laies an obligation upon our faith by delivering the article positively to us so he is also pleased to accompany that Article with reasons and arguments proportionable to our reason and understanding for though those reasons do not so conclude us as that nothing might be said to the contrary or nothing doubted after yet the Holy Ghost having first begotten the faith of this Article Per ea augescit fides pinguescit as Luther speaks in another case By those reasons and arguments and illustrations that faith is nourished and maintained in a good habitude and constitution And of that kind are all the reasons brought by S. Paul here Argumentae Apostols The matter is positively delivered by him and so apprehended by us and his reasons as we said before issue out of two Topiques Be pleased to looke upon both The first is our patterne Christ Jesus He is risen therefore we shall In which though I have a faire illustration and consolation in that The Head is risen therefore the Body shall yet this reaches not to make my Resurrection like his for I shall not rise as he did And then from his other Topique his reasons rise thus If there be no Resurrection we that suffer thus much for the prefession of Christ are the miserablest men in the world Why so have not all Philosophers had Scholars and all Heretiques Disciples and all great Men flatterers and every private man affections And hath there not been as much suffered by occasion of these as S. Paul argues upon here and yet no imagination no expectation of a resurrection Leave out the consideration of Philosophers many of which suffered more then the Turks doe and yet the Turks suffer infinitely more in their Mortifications then the Papists doe Leave out the Heretiques which were so hungry of suffering that if they could not provoke others to kill them they would kill themselves Leave out the pressures of our own affections and concupiscencies and yet the covetous man is in a continuall starving and the licentious man in a continuall Consumption Take onely into your consideration the miserable vexation of the flatterer and humourer and dependant upon great persons that their time is not their owne nor their words their owne their joyes are not their owne nay their sorrowes are not their owne they might not smile if they would nor they may not sigh when they would they must doe all according to anothers mind and yet they must not know his minde consider this and you cannot say but that there is as much suffered in the world as this upon which S. Paul argues by them who place not their consolation nor their retribution in the hope of a resurrection He argues farther Edamus bibamus If there be no resurrection let us dissolve our selves into the pleasures of this world and enjoy them Why so too Have we not stories full of exemplar men that might be our patterns for sobriety and continency and denying themselves the sweetnesses of this life and yet never placed Consolation nor Retribution upon a Resurrection Would not S. Pauls own Pondus gloriae That there is an exceeding waight of eternall glory attending our afflictions serve our turne though that were determined in the salvation of the soule though there were no resurrection of the body It is strongly and wisely said by Aquinas Derogant fidei Christianae rationes non cogentes To offer reasons for any Article of faith which will not convince a man therein derogates from the dignity of that Article Therefore we must consider S. Pauls reasons as they were intended to Christians that had received the Article of the Resurrection into their faith before And then as God gave Adam a body immediately from himself but then maintained and nourished that body by other meanes so the holy Ghost by S. Paul gives the article of the Resurrection to our faith positively and then enables us to declare to our own consciences and to other mens understandings that we beleeve no impossible thing in beleeving the Resurrection for as it is the candle that lights me but yet I take a lanthorne to defend that candle from the wind so my faith assures me of the Resurrection but these reasons and illustrations assist that faith And so we have done with our first part How this assurance accrues unto us and passe in order to the other The consolation which we have from this resurrection of the body not onely in it selfe but as it gives us a sense of the spirituall resurrection of our soules from sinne by Grace We are assured then of a Resurrection and we see how that assurance growes 2. Part. But of what Of all Body and soule too For Quod cadit resurgit sayes S. Hierome All that is falne receives a resurrection and that is suppositum sayes the Schoole that is The person the whole man not taken in pieces soule alone or body alone but both For as Damascen expresses the same that S. Hierome intends Resurrectio est ejus quod cecidit iterata surrectio The Resurrection is a new rising of that which fell and Man fell A man is not saved a sinner is not redeemed I am not received into heaven if my body be left out The soule and the body concurred to the making of a sinner and body and soule must concur to the making of a Saint So it is in the last Resurrection so it is in the first which we consider now by Grace from sin And therefore we receive into comparison Triplicem casum a threefold fall and a threefold resurrection as in the naturall and bodily death so in the spirituall death of the soule also For first in naturall death there is Casus in separationem The man the person falls into a separation a divorce of body and soul and the resurrection from
this fall is by Re-union the soule and body are re-united at the last day A second fall in naturall death is Casus in dissolutionem The dead body falls by putrifaction into a dissolution into atoms and graines of dust and the resurrection from this fall is by Re-efformation God shall re-compact and re-compile those atoms and graines of dust into that Body which was before And then a third fall in naturall death is Casus in Dispersionem This man being falne into a divorce of body and soule this body being falne into a dissolution of dust this dust falls into a dispersion and is scattered unsensibly undiscernibly upon the face of the earth and the resurrection from this death is by way of Re-collection God shall recall and re-collect all these Atoms and grains of dust and re-compact that body and re-unite that soule and so that resurrection is accomplished And these three falls Into a Divorce into a Separation into a Dispersion And these three Resurrections By Re-union by Re-efformation by Re-collecting we shall also finde in our present state The spirituall death of the soule by sinne First then Casus in separationem the first fall in the spirituall death is the divorce of body and soule That whereas God hath made the body to be the Organ of the soule and the soule to be the breath of that Organ and bound them to a mutuall relation to one another Man sometimes withdrawes the soule from the body by neglecting the duties of this life for imaginary speculations and oftner withdrawes the body from the soule which should be subject to the soule but does maintain a war and should be a wife to the soule and does stand out in a divorce Now the Resurrection Resurrectie a casu in separationem from this first fall into a Divorce is seriously and wisely that is both piously and civilly to consider that Man is not a soule alone but a body too That man is not placed in this world onely for speculation He is not sent into this world to live out of it but to live in it Adam was not put into Paradise onely in that Paradise to contemplate the future Paradise but to dresse and to keep the present God did not breathe a soule towards him but into him Not in an obsession but a possession Not to travaile for knowledge abroad but to direct him by counsell at home Not for extasies but for an inherence for when it was come to that in S. Paul we see it is called a rapture he was not in his proper station nor his proper motion He was transported into the third heaven but as long as we are in our dwelling upon earth though we must love God with all our soule yet it is not with our soule alone Our body also must testifie and expresse our love not onely in a reverentiall humiliation thereof in the dispositions and postures and motions and actions of the body when we present our selves at Gods Service in his house but in the discharge of our bodily duties and the sociable offices of our callings towards one another Not to run away from that Service of God by hiding our selves in a superstitious Monastery or in a secular Monastery in our owne house by an unprofitable retirednesse and absenting our selves from the necessary businesses of this world Not to avoid a Calling by taking none Not to make void a Calling by neglecting the due offices thereof In a word To understand and to performe in the best measure we can the duties of the body and of the soule this is the resurrection from the first fall The fall into a divorce of body and soule And for the advancing of this knowledge and the facilitating of this performance of these duties be pleased a little to stop upon the consideration of both both of Spirituall and Divine and then of secular and sociable duties so far as concerns this subject in hand First for the duties of the soule Officium animae God was never out of Christs sight He was alwaies with him alwaies within him alwaies he himself yet Christ at some times applyed himself in a nearer distance and stricter way of prayer to God then at other times Christs whole life was a continuall abstinence a perpetuall sobriety yet Christ proposed and proportioned a certaine time and a certaine number of dayes for a particular fast upon particular occasion This is the harmony this is the resurrection of a Christian in this respect That his soule be alwayes so fixed upon God as that he doe nothing but with relation to his glory principally and habitually That he think of God at all times but that besides that he sepose some times to think of nothing but God That he pray continually so far as to say nothing to wish nothing that he would not be content God should heare but that besides that he sepose certaine fixed times for private prayer in his chamber and for publique prayer in the Congregation For though it be no where expresly written that Christ did pray in the Congregation or in company yet all that Christ did is not written and it is written that he went often into the Temples and into the Synagogues and it is written that even the Pharisee and the Publican that went to those places went thither to pray But howsoever Christ was never so alone but that if he were not in the Church the Church was in him All Christians were in him as all Men were in Adam This then is our first Resurrection for the duty that belongs to the soule Officium corporis That the soule doe at all times think upon God and at some times think upon nothing but him And for that which in this respect belongs to the body That we neither enlarge and pamper it so nor so adorne and paint it as though the soule required a spacious and specious palace to dwell in Of that excesse Porphyrie who loved not Christ nor Christians said well out of meer Morality That this enormous fatning and enlarging our bodies by excessive diet was but a shoveling of more and more fat earth upon our soules to bury them deeper Dum corpus augemus mortaliores efficimur sayes he The more we grow the more mortall we make our selves and the greater sacrifice we provide for death when we gather so much flesh with that elegancy speaks he speaking out of Nature and with this simplicity and homelinesse speaks S. Hierom speaking out of Grace Qui Christum desiderat illo pane vescitur de quà m preciesis cibis stercus conficiat non quaerit He that can rellish Christ and feed upon that Bread of life will not be so diligent to make precious dung and curious excrements to spend his purse or his wit in that which being taken into him must passe by so ignoble a way from him The flesh that God hath given us is affliction enough but the flesh that
the devill gives us is affliction upon affliction and to that there belongs a woe Per tenuitatem assimilamur Deo saies the same Author The attenuation the slendernesse the deliverance of the body from the encumbrance of much flesh gives us some assimilation some conformity to God and his Angels The lesse flesh we carry the liker we are to them who have none That is still the lesse flesh of our owne making for for that flesh which God and his instrument Nature hath given us in what measure or proportion soever that does not oppresse us to this purpose neither shall that be laid to our charge but the flesh that we have built up by curious diet by meats of provocation and witty sawces or by a slothfull and drowsie negligence of the works of our calling All flesh is sinfull flesh sinfull so as that it is the mother of sin it occasions sin naturall flesh is so But this artificiall flesh of our owne making is sinfull so as that it is also the daughter of sin It is indeed the punishment of former sins and the occasion of future The soule then requires not so large so vast a house of sinfull flesh to dwell in Macerationes corporis But yet on the other side we may not by inordinate abstinencies by indiscreet fastings by inhumane flagellations by unnaturall macerations and such Disciplines as God doth not command nor authorize so wither and shrinke and contract the body as though the soule were sent into it as into a prison or into fetters and manacles to wring and pinch and torture it Nihil interest saies S. Hierome It is all one whether thou kill thy selfe at one blow or be long in doing it if thou do it All one whether thou fall upon thine own sword or sterve thy selfe with such a fasting as thou discernest to induce that effect for saies he Descendit a dignitate viri not as insaniae incurrit He departs from that dignity which God hath imprinted in man in giving him the use and the dominion over his creatures and he gives the world just occasion to thinke him mad And as Tertullian adds Respuit datorem qui datum deserit He that does not use a benefit reproaches the Benefactor and he is ungratefull to God that does not accept at his hands the use of his blessings Therefore is it accepted as a good interpretation which is made of Christs determining his fast in forty daies Ne sui homicida videretur Lest if he continued it longer he might have seemed to have killed himselfe by being the author of his owne death And so do they interpret aright his Esuriit That then he began to be hungry that he began to languish to faint to finde a detriment in his body for else a fasting when a man is not hungry is no fasting but then he gave over fasting when he found the state of his body empaired by fasting And therefore those mad doctrines so S. Hierom cals them Notas insaniae habent yea those devilish doctrines so S. Paul cals them that forbid certaine meats and that make un-commanded macerations of the body meritorious that upon a supposititious story of an Ermit that lived 22. yeares Abbasll sperg without eating any thing at all And upon an impertinent example of their S. Francis that kept three Lents in the yeare which they extoll and magnifie in S. Francis and S. Hierom condemned and detested in the Montanists who did so too have built up those Carthusian Rules That though it appeare that that and nothing but that would save the patients life yet he may not eat flesh that is a Carthusian And have brought into estimation those Apocryphall and bastardly Canons which they father upon the Apostles That a man must rather sterve then receive food from the hand of a person excommunicate or otherwise detected of any mortall sin And that all that can be done with the almes of such a person is that it be spent in wood and coales and other fuell that so as the subtile philosophy of their Canon is it may be burnt and consumed by fire for to save a mans life it must not be spent upon meat or drink or such sustentation These Doctrines are not the Doctrines of this Resurrection by which man considered in Composito as he consists of soule and body by a sober and temperate life makes his body obsequious and serviceable to his soule but yet leaves his soule a body to worke in and an Organ to praise God upon both in a devout humiliation of his body in Gods service and in a bodily performance of the duties of some calling for this is our first Resurrection A casu separationis from having falne into a separation of body and soule for they must serve God joyntly together because God having joyned them man may not separate them but as God shall re-unite them at the last Resurrection so must we in our Resurrections in this life And farther we extend not this Resurrection from this separation this divorce The second fall of man in naturall death Casus in dissolutionem is Casus in dissolutionem The man being fallen into a divorce of soule and body the body fals by putrefaction into a dissolution of dust and the Resurrection from this fall is a re-efformation when God shall recompact that dust into that body This fall and this resurrection we have in our spirituall death too for we fall into daily customes and continuall habits of those sins and we become not onely as that Lazarus in the parable to have sores upon us but as that Lazarus in the Gospell that was dead Domine jam faetemus quatriduani sumus Lord we stinke in thy nostrils and we have beene buried foure dayes All the foure changes of our life Infancy Youth Middle Age and Old have beene spent and worne out in a continuall and uninterrupted course of sin In which we shall best consider our fall and best prepare our Resurrection by looking from whence we are fallen and by what steps and they are three First Nardus nostra Cant. 1.12 Perdidimus nardum nostrā We have lost the sweet savour of our own Spikenard for so the Spouse saies Nardus mea dedit odorem suum My Spikenard hath given forth her sweet savour There was a time when we had a Spikenard and a sweet savour of our own when our own Naturall faculties in that state as God infused them in Adam had a power to apprehend and lay hold upon the graces of God Man hath a reasonable soule capable of Gods grace so hath no creature but man man hath naturall faculties which may be employed by God in his service so hath no creature but man Onely man was made so as that he might be better whereas all other creatures were but to consist in that degree of goodnesse in which they entred Miserable fall Only man was made to mend and only man does grow
of particular sins Now after all this there is in naturall death a third fall casus in dispersionem In dispersionem the man is fallen in separationem into a divorce of body and soule the body is fallen in dissolutionem to putrifaction and dissolution in dust and then this dust is fallen in dispersionem into a dispersion and scattering over the earth as God threatens Comminuam in pulverem I will break the wicked as small as dust and scatter them with the winde Psal 18. For after such a scattering no power but of God onely can recollect those grains of dust and re-compact them into a body and re-inanimate them into a man And such a state such a dispersion doth the heart and soule of an habituall sinner undergoe For Pro. 17.24 as the eyes of a foole are in the corners of the earth so is the heart and soule of a sinner The wanton and licentious man sighs out his soule weeps out his soule sweares out his soule in every place where his lust or his custome or the glory of victory in overcomming and deluding puts him upon such solicitations In the corrupt taker his soul goes out that it may leave him unsensible of his sin and not trouble him in his corrupt bargaine and in a corrupt giver ambitious of preferment his soule goes out with his money which he loves well but not so well as his preferment This yeare his soule and his money goes out upon one office and next yeare more soul and more money upon another He knowes how his money will come in againe for they will bring it that have need of his corruptnesse in his offices But where will this man finde his soule thus scattered upon every woman corruptly won upon every office corruptly usurped upon every quillet corruptly bought upon every fee corruptly taken Thus it is when a soule is scattered upon the daily practise of any one predominant and habituall sin but when it is indifferently scattered upon all how much more is it so In him that swallowes sins in the world as he would doe meats at a feast passes through every dish and never askes Physitian the nature the quality the danger the offence of any dish That baits at every sin that rises and poures himselfe into every sinfull mold he meets That knowes not when he began to spend his soule nor where nor upon what sin he laid it out no nor whether he have whether ever he had any soule or no but hath lost his soule so long agoe in rusty and in incoherent sins not sins that produced one another as in Davids case and yet that is a fearfull state that concatenation of sins that pedegree of sins but in sins which he embraces meerely out of an easinesse to sin and not out of a love no nor out of a tentation to that sin in particular that in these incoherent sins hath so scattered his soule as that he hath not soule enough left to seek out the rest And therefore David makes it the Title of the whole Psalme Domine ne disperdas O Lord doe not scatter us Psal 58. And he begins to expresse his sense of Gods Judgements in the next Psalme so O Lord thou hast cast us out thou hast scattered us turn again unto us for even from this aversion there may be conversion and from this last and lowest fall a resurrection But how In the generall resurrection upon naturall death God shall work upon this dispersion of our scattered dust as in the first fall which is the Divorce by way of Re-union and in the second which is Putrifaction by way of Re-efformation so in this third which is Dispersion by way of Re-collection where mans buried flesh hath brought forth grasse and that grasse fed beasts and those beasts fed men and those men fed other men God that knowes in which Boxe of his Cabinet all this seed Pearle lies in what corner of the world every atome every graine of every mans dust sleeps shall recollect that dust and then recompact that body and then re-inanimate that man and that is the accomplishment of all In this resurrection from this Dilpersion and scattering in sin the way is by Recollection too That this sinner recollect himselfe and his own history his own annalls his own journalls and call to minde where he lost his way and with what tendernesse of conscience and holy startling he entred into some sins at first in which he is seared up now and whereas his triumph should have been in a victory over the flesh he is come to a triumph in his victory over the spirit of God and glories in having overcome the Holy Ghost and brought his conscience to an unsensiblenesse of sin If hee can recollect himselfe thus and cast up his account so If he can say to God Lord we have sold our selves for nothing he shall heare God say to him as he does there in the Prophet You have sold your selves for nothing Esay 52.3 and you shall be redeemed without money But how is this recollecting wrought God hath intimated the way Ezek. 37. in that vision to the Prophet Ezekiel He brings the Prophet into a field of dead bones and dry bones sicca vehementer as it is said there as dry as this dust which we speak of And he asks him fili hominis thou that art but the son of man and must judge humanely Putasne vivent ossa ista Dost thou think that these bones can live The Prophet answers Domine tu nosti thou Lord who knowest whose names are written in the Book of Life and whose are not whose bones are wrapped up in the Decree of thy Election and whose are not knowest whether these bones can live or no for but in the efficacy and power of that Decree they cannot Yes they shall sayes God Almighty and they shall live by this meanes Dices eis Thou shalt say unto them O ye dry bones heare the word of the Lord As dry as desperate as irremediable as they are in themselves God shall send his servants unto them and they shall heare them And as it is added in that place Prophetante me factus sonitus commotio As I Prophesied there was a noyse and a shaking As whilst Peter spake The Holy Ghost fell upon all them that heard the word So whilst the Messengers of God speak in the presence of such sinners there shall be a noyse and a commotion a horrour of their former sins a wonder how they could provoke so patient and so powerfull a God a sinking down under the waight of Gods Judgements a flying up to the apprehension of his mercies and this noyse and commotion in their soules shall be setled with that Gospell in that Prophet Dabo super vos nervos I will lay sinewes upon you and will bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath into you and you shall live and ye
should all fall into hell and so there is mercy in hell And therefore saies the same Father Out of an unspeakeable wisdome and Fatherly care as Fathers will speak loudest to their Children and looke angerliest and make the greatest rods when they intend not the severest correction Christus saepius gehennam comminatus est quam regnum pollicitus Christ in his Gospell hath oftner threatned us with hell then promised us Heaven We are bound to praise God saies he as much for driving Adam out of Paradise as for placing him there Et agere gratias tam progehenna quam pro regno And to give him thanks as well for hell as for Heaven For whether he cauterise or foment whether he draw blood or apply Cordials he is the same Physitian and seekes but one end our spirituall health by his divers wayes For us who by this notification of hell escape hell Psal 118.17 We shall not dye but live that is not dye so but that we shall live againe Therefore is death called a sleepe Lazarus sleepeth saies Christ And Coemiteria are Dormitoria Iohn 11.11 Churchyards are our beds And in those beds and in all other beds of death for the dead have their beds in the Sea too and sleepe even in the restlesse motion thereof the voyce of the Archangel and the Trumpet of God shall awake them that slept in Christ before and they and we shall be united in one body for as our Apostle sayes here Heb. 11.39 We shall not prevent them so he sayes also That they shall not be made perfect without us Though we live to see Christ we shall not prevent them though they have attended Christ five thousand yeares in the grave they shall not prevent us but united in one body Rapiemur They and we shall be caught c. Rapiemur We shall be caught up This is a true Rapture Rapiemur in which we doe nothing our selves Our last act towards Christ is as our first In the first act of our Conversion we do nothing nothing in this last act our Resurrection but Rapimur we are caught In everything the more there is left to our selves the worse it is done that that God does intirely is intirely good S. Paul had a Rapture too He was caught up into Paradise 2 Cor. 12.4 but whether in the body or out of the body he cannot tell We can tell that this Rapture of ours shall be in body and soule in the whole man Man is but a vapour but a glorious and a blessed vapour when he is attracted and caught up by this Sun the Son of Man the Son of God O what a blessed alleviation possesses that man and to what a blessed levity if without levity we may so speake to what a cheerefull lightnesse of spirit is he come that comes newly from Confession and with the seale of Absolution upon him Then when nothing troubles his conscience then when he hath disburdened his soule of all that lay heavy upon it then when if his Confessor should unjustly reveale it to any other yet God will never speake of it more to his conscience not upbraid him with it not reproach him for it what a blessed alleviation what a holy cheerefulnesse of spirit is that man come to How much more in the endowments which we shall receive in the Rapture of this text where we do not onely devest all sins past as in Confession but all possibility of future sins and put on not onely incorruption but incorruptiblenesse not onely impeccancy but impeccability And to be invested with this endowment Rapiemur Wee shall be caught up and Rapiemur in Nubibus Wee shall be caught up in the Clouds We take a Sar to be the thickest In Nubibus and so the impurest and ignoblest part of that sphear and yet by the illustration of the Sun it becomes a glorious star Clouds are but the beds and wombs of distempered and malignant impressions of vapours and exhalations and the furnaces of Lightnings and of Thunder yet by the presence of Christ and his employment these clouds are made glorious Chariots to bring him and his Saints together Psal 135.7 Those Vapours and Clouds which David speaks of S. Augustin interprets of the Ministers of the Church that they are those Clouds Those Ministers may have clouds in their understanding and knowledge some may be lesse learned then others and clouds in their elocution utterance some may have an unacceptable deliverance and clouds in their aspect and countenance some may have an unpleasing presence and clouds in their respect and maintenance some may be oppressed in their fortunes but still they are such clouds as are sent by Christ to bring thee up to him And as the Children of Israel received direction and benefit Exod. 13.21 as well by the Pillar of Cloud as by the Pillar of Fire so do the Children of God in the Church as well by Preachers of inferiour gifts as by higher In Nubibus Christ does not come in a Chariot and send Carts for us Acts 1.11 He comes as he went This same Iesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seene him goe into Heaven say the Angels at his Ascension Luk. 24.50 In what manner did they see him go He was taken up and a Cloud received him out of their sight So he went so he shall returne so we shall be taken up In the Clouds to meete him in the Ayre The Transfiguration of Christ was not acted upon so high a Scene In aëra as this our accesse to Christ shall be That hill was not so high nor so neare to the Heaven of Heavens as this region of the ayre shall be Nor was the Transfiguration so eminent a manifestation of the glory of Christ as this his comming in the ayre to Judgement shall be And yet Peter that saw but that Mat. 17.14 desired no more but thought it happinesse enough to be there and there to fixe their Tabernacles But in this our meeting of Christ in the ayre we shall see more then they saw in the Transfiguration and yet be but in the way of seeing more then we see in the ayre then we shall be presently well and yet improving The Kings presence makes a Village the Court but he that hath service to do at Court would be glad to finde it in a lodgeable and convenient place I can build a Church in my bosome I can serve God in my heart and never cloath my prayer in words God is often said to heare and answer in the Scriptures when they to whom he speaks have said nothing I can build a Church at my beds side when I prostrate my selfe in humble prayer there I do so I can praise God cheerefully in my Chappell cheerefully in my parish Church as David saies Psal 26.12 In Ecclesiis plurally In the Congregations In every
Congregation will I blesse the Lord But yet I finde the highest exaltations and the noblest elevations of my devotion Psal 35.18 when I give thanks in the great Congregation and praise him among much people for so me thinks I come nearer and nearer to the Communion of Saints in Heaven Apoc. 21.22 Where it is therefore said that there is no Temple I saw no Temple in Heaven because all Heaven is a Temple And because the Lord God Almighty and the Lambe who fill all Heaven are Obviam Domino as S. Iohn sayes there the Temple thereof So far towards that as into the Ayre this text carries us Obviam Domino To meet the Lord. The Lord requires no more not so much at our hands as he does for us When he is come from the right hand of his Father in heaven into the ayre to meet us he is come farther then we are to go from the grave to meet him But we have met the Lord in many a lower place in many unclean actions have we met the Lord in our owne hearts and said to our selves Surely the Lord is here and sees us Gen. â—9 9 and with Ioseph How then can I doe this great wickednesse and sin against my God and yet have proceeded gone forward in the accomplishment of that sin But there it was Obviam Iesu Obviam Christo We met a Iesus We met a Christ a God of mercy who forgave us those sins Here in our text it is Obviam Domino We must meet the Lord He invests here no other name but that He hath laid aside his Christ and his Iesus names of Mercy and Redemption and Salvation and comes only in the name of power The Lord The Judge of quick and dead In which Judgement he shews no mercy All his mercy is exercised in this life and he that hath not received his portion of that mercy before his death shall never receive any There he judges only by our workes Whom hast thou fed whom hast thou clothed Then in judgement we meet the Lord the Lord of power and the last time that ever we shall meet a Iesus a Christ a God of mercy is upon our death-bed but there we shall meet him so as that when we meet him in another name The Lord in the ayre yet by the benefit of the former mercy received from Iesus We shall be with the Lord for ever First Erimus We shall Bee we shall have a Beeing Erimus There is nothing more contrary to God and his proceedings then annihilation to Bee nothing Do nothing Think nothing It is not so high a step to raise the poore out of the dust Psal 113.7 and to lift the needy from the dunghill and set him with Princes To make a King of a Beggar is not so much as to make a Worm of nothing Whatsoever God hath made thee since yet his greatest work upon thee was that he made thee and howsoever he extend his bounty in preferring thee yet his greatest largenesse is in preserving thee in thy Beeing And therefore his own name of Majesty is Jehovah which denotes his Essence his Beeing And it is usefully moved and safely resolved in the School that the devill himself cannot deliberately wish himselfe nothing Suddenly a man may wish himself nothing because that seemes to deliver him from the sense of his present misery but deliberately he cannot because whatsoever a man wishes must be something better then he hath yet and whatsoever is better is not nothing Nihil contrarium Deo August There is nothing truly contrary to God To do nothing is contrary to his working but contrary to his nature contrary to his Essence there is nothing For whatsoever is any thing even in that Beeing and therefore because it is hath a conformity to God and an affinity with God who is Beeing Essence it self In him we have our Beeing sayes the Apostle Act. 17.28 But here it is more then so not only In illo but Cum illo not only In him but With him not only in his Providence but in his Presence The Hypocrite hath a Beeing and in God but it is not with God Cum illc Esay 29.13 Qua cor longe With his lips he honours God but removes his heart far from him And God sends him after his heart that he may keep him at that distance as S. Gregory reads and interprets that place of Esay Redite praevaricatores ad cor Return O sinners follow your own heart Esay 46.8 and then I am sure you and I shall never meet Our Saviour Christ delivers this distance plainly Discedite à me Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire Mat. 25.42 Where the first part of the sentence is incomparably the heaviest the departing worse then the fire the intensnesse of that fire the ayre of that brimstone the anguish of that worm the discord of that howling and gnashing of teeth is no comparable no considerable part of the torment in respect of the privation of the sight of God the banishment from the presence of God an absolute hopelesnesse an utter impossibility of ever comming to that which sustaines the miserable in this world that though I see no Sun here I shall see the Son of God there The Hypocrite shall not do so we shall Bee and Bee with him and Bee with him for ever which is the last thing that doth fall under ours or can fall under any consideration Of S. Hierome S. Augustine sayes Quae Hicronymus neseivit Semper nullus hominum unquam seivit That that S. Hierome knew not no man ever knew And S. Cyril to whom S. Augustine said that said also to S. Augustine in magnifying of S. Hierome That when a Catholique Priest disputed with an Heretique and cited a passage of S. Hierome and the Heretique said Hierome lyed instantly he was struck dumb yet of this last and everlasting joy and glory of heaven in the fruition of God S. Hierome would adventure to say nothing no not then when he was devested of his mortall body dead for as soon as he dyed at Bethlem he came instantly to Hippo S. Augustines Bishoprick and though he told him Hieronymi anima sum I am the soule of that Hierome to whom thou art now writing about the joyes and glory of heaven yet he said no more of that but this Quid quaeris brevi immittere vasculo totum mare Canst thou hope to poure the whole Sea into a thimble or to take the whole world into thy hand And yet that is easier then to comprehend the joy and the glory of heaven in this life Nor is there any thing that makes this more incomprehensible then this Semper in our text the Eternity thereof That we shall be with him for ever For this Eternity this Everlastingnesse is not only incomprehensible to us in this life but even in heaven we can never know it experimentally and
by his Angel satisfied his desire of knowledge Consider the anxiety and torture under which that Eunuch was in the Chariot Acts 8. till he was taught the meaning of the Prophet Esay And consider the way that God tooke God sent an Angel and that Angel sent Philip to him Instruction is from God but yet by the Ministery of man Philip askes him Doest thou understand He would have a confession of his impotency from himselfe Alas How can I sayes he except some man shouldguide me And Philip guides him and then how soone he comes to that holy cheerefulnesse Ver. 36. and dilatation of the soule I beleeve that Iesus is the Son of God Hieron and See here is water what doth hinder me that I be baptized Nec sanctior sum hoc Eunucho nec studiosior saies S. Hierom of himselfe I cannot have more desire to learne then he had yet in my self I have no more meanes neither and therefore must be under the same paine till the same hand the hand of God relieve me The soule of man cannot bee considered under a thicker cloud then Ignorance nor under a heavier weight then desire of knowledge And therefore for our deliverance in both our Saviour Christ here comforts us with The Comforter you you that are in the darknesse of Ignorance you you that are under the oppression of a hunger of knowledge you shall be satisfied for He that comes from my Father in my name He shall teach you That which the Vulgat reads Doeebit Eccles 6.9 Desider are quod nescias To desire to know that which thou knowest not yet our Translation cals The wandring of the desire and in the Originall it is The walking the pilgrimage of the Soule the rest lesnesse and irresolution of the Soule And when man is taught that which he desired to know then the Soule is brought home and laid to rest Desire is the travaile knowledge is the Inne desire is the wheele knowledge is the bed of the Soule Therefore we affect society and conversation to know present things Therefore wee assist our selves with History to know things past and with Astrology and sometimes with worse Arts to know future things The name of Master of Teacher that passes through the Scripture is Rabbi and Rabbi in the roote thereof signifies Magnum and Multum It is a word that denotes Greatnesse And truly no man should be greater in our eyes nor be thought to have laid greater obligations upon us Esay 19.20 then he that hath taught us When Christ is promised thus The Lord shall send them a Saviour and a Great one there is this word Rabbi The Lord shall send them a Saviour which shall be Rabbi a great Teacher Christ was a Saviour as he paid God a ransome for all As he made man capable of this Salvation he was this Rabbi this Teacher and in this capacity did those two Disciples of Iohn Baptist who first applied themselves to Christ apply themselves Magister ubi habitas Master John 1.38 where dwellest thou where may we come to School to thee where may we be taught by thee S. Paul hath shewed us the duty of all true disciples in the practise of the Galatians You received me as an Angel of God even as Christ Iesus and I beare you record Gal. 4.14 that if it had been possible you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me I thank him that brings me a candle when it grows dark and him that assists me with a spectacle when my sight grows old But to him that hath given the eyes of my soul light and spectacles how much a greater debtor am I I will not dispute against nature nor naturall affections nor dispute against Allegeance nor civill obligations nor dispute against gratitude nor retribution of Benefits But I willingly pronounce that I cannot owe more to any Benefactor to my Father to my Prince then I do to them that have taught me nor can there be a deeper ingratitude then to turn thy face from that man or from his children that hath taught thee This Christ presents for the first Comfort Doccbimini You are ignorant but that cloud shall be dispersed you would learne but have no help but that defect shall be supplyed you shall be taught And then this comfort shall be exalted to you in the person of the Teacher Ille docebit He whom the Father will send in my name He shall teach you Quintilian requires no more of a School-master but that either he be learned Ille or doe not think himself to be so if he be not Because if he over-value himself he will admit no Usher no assistant Here we have a master that is both absolute in himself and yet undertaken for by others too The Father sends him and in the Sons name that is to perfect the Sons work Tertullian a man of adventurous language calls him Tertium numen divinitatis tertium nomen majestatis The Holy Ghost hath but a third place but the same God-head but a third name yet the same Majesty as the first The Father or the second The Son Porphyry that denied the Trinity is convinced by S. Cyril to have established a Trinity because he acknowledged first Deum summum and then Conditorem omnium and after them Animam mundi One that is a supream God One that was the Creator of all things and One that quickens and inanimates all and is the soul of the whole world And this soul of the world is the Holy Ghost who doth that office to the soule of every Christian which the soul it self doth to every naturall man informes him directs him instructs him makes him be that he is and do that he doth And therefore as Tertullian cals Christ by the Holy Ghosts name for he calls Christ Spiritum Dei because as the office of our spirits is to unite the body and the soul so Christ hath united God and man in one Emanuel S. Basil gives the Holy Ghost Christs name for he calls the Holy Ghost Verbum Dei The word of God because he undertakes the Pedagogy of the soul to be the soules School-master and to teach it as much of God as concernes it that is Christ crucified Therefore when the Holy Ghost was first sent he was sent but to testifie of Christ At Christs Baptisme which was his first sending he was sent but to establish an assurance and a beliefe that that Christ was the Son of God in whom he was well pleased And this he did but as a witnesse not as a Teacher for the voice that wrought this and taught this came not from the Dove not from the Holy Ghost but from above The Holy Ghost said nothing then But when the Holy Ghost in performance of Christs promise in this Text was sent as a Teacher then he came in the form of Tongues and they that received him were thereby presently enabled
Learning Plato never stopped at any knowledge till he came to consider the holy Ghost Vnum inveni quod cuncta operatur I have saies Plato found One who made all things Et unum per quod cuncta efficiuntur And I have found another by whom all things were made Tertium autem non potui invenire A Third besides those two I could never finde Though all the mysteries of the Trinity be things equally easie to faith when God infuses that yet to our reason even as reason serves faith and presents things to that things are not so equall but that S. Basil himselfe saw that the eternall generation of the Son was too hard for Reason but yet it is in the proceeding of the Holy Ghost that he clearely professes his ignorance Si cuncta putarem nostra cogitatione posse comprehendi vererer fortè ignorantiam profiteri If I thought that all things might bee knowne by man I should bee as much afraid and ashamed as another man to be ignorant but saies he since we all see that there are many things whereof we are ignorant Cur non de Spiritu sancto absque rubore ignorantiam faterer Why should I be ashamed to confesse mine ignorance in many things concerning the Holy Ghost There is then a difficulty no lesse then an impossibility Possibilitas in searching after the Holy Ghost but it is in those things which appertain not to us But in others there is a possibility a facility and easinesse For there are two processions of the holy Ghost Aeterna and Temporaria his proceeding from the Father and the Son and his proceeding into us The first we shall never understand if we reade all the books of the world The other we shall not choose but understand if we study our own consciences In the first the darknesse and difficulty is recompenced in this That though it be hard to finde any thing yet it is but little that we are to seek It is only to finde that there is a holy Ghost proceeding from Father and Son for in searching farther the danger is noted by S. Basil to be thus great Qui quomodo interrogas ubi ut in loco quando ut in tempore interrogabis If thou give thy curiosity the liberty to ask How the holy Ghost proceeded thou wilt ask where it was done as though there were severall roomes and distinct places in that which is infinite And thou wilt ask when it was done as though there were pieces of time in that which is eternall Et quaeres non ut fidem sed ut infidelitatem invenias which is excellently added by that Father The end of thy enquiring will not be that thou mightest finde any thing to establish thy beliefe but to finde something that might excuse thine unbeliefe All thy curious questions are not in hope that thou shalt receive satisfaction but in hope that the weaknesse of the answer may justifie thy infidelity Thus it is if we will be over curious in the first the eternall proceeding of the Holy Ghost In the other the proceeding of the holy Ghost into us we are to consider that as in our naturall persons the body and soul do not make a perfect man except they be united except our spirits which are the active part of the blood do fit this body and soule for one anothers working So though the body of our religion may seem to be determined in these two our Creation which is commonly attributed to the Father Tanquam fonti Deitatis As the fountaine of the Godhead for Christ is God of God And our Redemption which belongs to the Son yet for this body there is a spirit that is the holy Ghost that takes this man upon whom the Father hath wrought by Creation and the Son included within his Redemption and he works in him a Vocation a Justification and a sanctification and leads him from that Esse which the Father gave him in the Creation And that Bene esse which he hath in being admitted into the body of his Son the visible Church and Congregation to an Optimè esse to that perfection which is an assurance of the inhabitation of this Spirit in him and an inchoation of eternall blessednesse here by a heavenly and sanctified conversation without which Spirit No man can say that Iesus is the Lord because he is not otherwise in a perfect obedience to him if he embrace not the means ordained by him in his Church So that this Spirit disposes and dispenses distributes and disperses and orders all the power of the Father and all the wisdome of the Son and all the graces of God It is a Center to all So S. Bernard sayes upon those words of the Apostle We approve our selves as the Ministers of God But by what By watching by fasting by suffering by the holy Ghost by love unfained Vide tanquam omnia ordinantem quomodo in medio virtutum sicut cor in medio corporis constituit Spiritum Sanctum As the heart is in the midst of the body so between these vertues of fasting and suffering before and love unfained after the Apostle places the holy Ghost who only gives life and soule to all Morall and all Theologicall vertues And as S. Bernard observes that in particular men so doth S. Augustine of the whole Church Quod in corpore nostro anima id in corpore Christi Ecclesia Spiritus Sanctus That office which the soule performes to our body the holy Ghost performes in the body of Christ which is the Church And therefore since the holy Ghost is thus necessary and thus neare as at the Creation the whole Trinity was intimated in that plurall word Elohim creavit Dii but no person of the Trinity is distinctly named in the Creation but the holy Ghost The Spirit of God moved upon the waters As the holy Ghost was first conveyed to our knowledge in the Creation so in our Regeneration by which we are new creatures though our Creation and our Redemption be religious subjects of our continuall meditation yet let us be sure to hold this that is nearest us to keep a neare a familiar and daily acquaintance and conversation with the holy Ghost and to be watchfull to cherish his light and working in us Homines docent quaerere solus ipse qui docet invenire habere frui Bernard Men can teach us wayes how to finde somethings The Pilot how to finde a Land The Astronomer how to finde a Star Men can teach us wayes how to finde God The naturall man in the book of creatures The Morall man in an exemplar life The Jew in the Law The Christian in generall in the Gospell But Solus ipse qui docet invenire habere frui Only the holy Ghost enables us to finde God so as to make him ours and to enjoy him 1 Cor. 2.14 First you must get more light then nature gives for The naturall man perceiveth not the things
Abrahams taske was an easie taske to tell the stars of Heaven so it were to tell the sands or haires or atomes in respect of telling but our owne sins And will God say to me Confide Fili My Son be of good cheere thy sins are forgiven thee Mat. 9.2 Does he meane all my sins He knowes what originall sin is and I doe not and will he forgive me sin in that roote and sin in the branches originall sin and actuall sin too He knowes my secret sins and I doe not will he forgive my manifest sins and those sins too He knowes my relapses into sins repented and will he forgive my faint repentances and my rebellious relapses after them will his mercy dive into my heart and forgive my sinfull thoughts there and shed upon my lips and forgive my blasphemous words there and bathe the members of this body and forgive mine uncleane actions there will he contract himselfe into himselfe and meet me there and forgive my sins against himselfe And scatter himselfe upon the world and forgive my sins against my neighbour and emprison himselfe in me and forgive my sins against my selfe Will he forgive those sins wherein my practise hath exceeded my Parents and those wherein my example hath mis-led my children Will he forgive that dim sight which I have of sin now when sins scarce appeare to be sins unto me and will he forgive that over-quick sight when I shall see my sins through Satans multiplying glasse of desperation when I shall thinke them greater then his mercy upon my death bed In that he said all he left out nothing Heb. 2.8 is the Apostles argument and he is not almighty if he cannot his mercy endures not for ever if he doe not forgive all Sin and all sin even blasphemy now blasphemy is not restrained to God alone Blasphemia other persons besides God other things besides persons may be blasphemed 1 Tim. 6.1 Iude 8 10. The word of God the Doctrine Religion may be blasphemed Magistracy and Dignities may be blasphemed Nay Omnia quae ignorant saies that Apostle They blaspheme all things which they know not And for persons the Apostle takes it to his owne person 1 Cor. 4.13 Being blasphemed yet we intreat and he communicates it to all men Neminem blasphemate Tit. 3.2 Blaspheme no man Blasphemy as it is a contumelious speech derogating from any man that good that is in him or attributing to any man that ill that is not in him may be fastned upon any man For the most part it is understood a sin against God and that directly and here by the manner of Christ expressing himselfe it is made the greatest sin All sin even blasphemy And yet a drunkard that cannot name God will spue out a blasphemy against God A child that cannot spell God will stammer out a blasphemy against God If we smart we blaspheme God and we blaspheme him if we be tickled If I lose at play I blaspheme and if my fellow lose he blasphemes so that God is alwayes sure to be a loser An Usurer can shew me his bags and an Extortioner his houses the fruits the revenues of his sinne but where will the blasphemer shew mee his blasphemy or what hee hath got by it The licentious man hath had his love in his armes and the envious man hath had his enemy in the dust but wherein hath the blasphemer hurt God In the Schoole we put it for the consummation of the torment of the damned Aquin. 221. q. 13. ar 4. that at the Resurrection they shall have bodies and so be able even verbally to blaspheme God herein we exceed the Devill already that we can speake blaspemously There is a rebellious part of the body that Adam covered with figge leaves that hath damned many a wretched soule but yet I thinke not more then the tongue And therefore the whole torment that Dives suffered in hell Luke 16.24 is expressed in that part Father Abraham have mercy upon me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and coole my tongue The Jews that crucified God will not sound the name of God and we for whom he was Crucified belch him out in our surfets and foame him out in our fury An Impertinent sin without occasion before and an unprofitable sin without recompence after and an incorrigible sin too for almost what Father dares chide his son for blasphemy that may not tell him Sir I learnt it of you or what Master his servant that cannot lay the same recrimination upon him How much then do we need this extent of Gods mercy that he will forgive sin and all sin and even this sin of blasphemy and which is also another addition blasphemy against the Son This emphaticall addition arises out of the connexion in the next verse In filium A word that is a blasphemous word against the Son shall be forgiven And here wee carry not the word Son so high as that the Son should be the eternall Son of God Though words spoken against the eternall Son of God by many bitter and blasphemous Heretiques have beene forgiven God forbid that all the Photinians who thought that Christ was not at all till he was borne of the Virgin Mary That all the Nativitarians that thought he was from all eternity with God but yet was not the Son of God That all the Arians that thought him the Son of God but yet not essentially not by nature but by grace and adoption God forbid that all these should be damned and because they once spoke against the Son therefore they never repented or were not received upon repentance We carry not the word Son so high as to be the eternall Son of God for it is in the text Filius hominis The Son of Man And in that acceptation we doe not meane it of all blasphemies that have beene spoken of Christ as the Son of man that is of Christ invested in the humane nature though blasphemies in that kind have beene forgiven too God forbid that all the Arians that thought Christ so much the Son of Man as that he tooke a humane body but not so much as that he tooke a humane soule but that the Godhead it selfe such a Godhead as they allowed him was his soule God forbid that all the Anabaptists that confesse he tooke a body but not a body of the substance of the Virgin That all the Carpocratians that thought onely his soule and not his body ascended into Heaven God forbid all these should be damned and never called to repentance or not admitted upon it There were fearfull blasphemies against the Son as the Son of God and as the Son of Man against his Divine and against his Humane Nature and those in some of them by Gods grace forgiven too But here we consider him onely as the Son of Man meerely as Man but as such a Man so good a
for so is it twice taken in one verse Psal 58.4 Their poison is like the poison of a Serpent so that this Hot displeasure is that poison of the soule obduration here and that extention of this obduration a finall impenitence in this life and an infinite impenitiblenesse in the next to dye without any actuall penitence here and live without all possibility of future penitence for ever hereafter David therefore foresees that if God Rebuke in anger it will come to a Chastening in hot displeasure 1 Sam. 2.25 For what should stop him For If a man sinne against the Lord who will plead for him sayes Eli Plead thou my cause sayes David It is onely the Lord that can be of counsell with him and plead for him and that Lord is both the Judge and angry too So Davids prayer hath this force Rebuke me not in anger for though I were able to stand under that yet thou wilt also Chasten mee in thine hot displeasure and that no soule can beare for as long as Gods anger lasts so long he is going on towards our utter destruction In that State it is not a State in that Exinanition in that annihilation of the soule it is not an annihilation the soule is not so happy as to come to nothing but in that misery which can no more receive a name then an end all Gods corrections are borne with grudging with murmuring with comparing our righteousnesse with others righteousnesse Job 7.20 In Iobs impatience Quare posuisti me contrarium tibi Why hast thou set me up as a marke against thee O Thou preserver of men Thou that preservest other men hast bent thy bow I. am 3.12 and made me a mark for thine arrowes sayes the Lamentation In that state we cannot cry to him that he might answer us If we doe cry and he answer we cannot heare Job 9.16 if we doe heare we cannot beleeve that it is he Cum invocantem exaudierit sayes Iob If I cry and he answer yet I doe not beleeve that he heard my voyce We had rather perish utterly Ver. 23. then stay his leisure in recovering us Si flagellat occidat semel sayes Iob in the Vulgat If God have a minde to destroy me let him doe it at one blow Et non de poenis rideat Let him not sport himselfe with my misery Whatsoever come after we would be content to be out of this world so we might but change our torment whether it be a temporall calamity that oppresses our state or body or a spirituall burthen a perplexity that sinks our understanding or a guiltinesse that depresses our conscience Vt in inferno protegas Job 14.13 as Iob also speaks O that thou wouldest hide me In inferno In the grave sayes the afflicted soule but in Inferno In hell it selfe sayes the dispairing soule rather then keepe me in this torment in this world This is the miserable condition or danger that David abhors and deprecates in this Text To be rebuked in anger without any purpose in God to amend him and to be chastned in his hot displeasure so as that we can finde no interest in the gracious promises of the Gospel no conditions no power of revocation in the severe threatnings of the Law no difference between those torments which have attached us here and the everlasting torments of Hell it selfe That we have lost all our joy in this life and all our hope of the next That we would faine die though it were by our own hands and though that death doe but unlock us a doore to passe from one Hell into another This is Ira tua Domine faror tuus Thy anger O Lord and Thy hot displeasure For as long as it is but Ira patris the anger of my Father which hath dis-inherited me Gold is thine and silver is thine and thou canst provide me As long as it is but Ira Regis some mis-information to the King some mis-apprehension in the King Cor Regis in manu tua The Kings heart is in thy hand and thou canst rectifie it againe As long as it is but Furor febris The rage and distemper of a pestilent Fever or Furor furoris The rage of madnesse it selfe thou wilt consider me and accept me and reckon with me according to those better times before those distempers overtooke me and overthrew me But when it comes to be Ira tua furor tuus Thy anger and Thy displeasure as David did so let every Christian finde comfort if he be able to say faithfully this Verse this Text O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure for as long as he can pray against it he is not yet so fallen under it but that he hath yet his part in all Gods blessings which we shed upon the Congregation in our Sermons and which we seale to every soule in the Sacrament of Reconcilation SERM. LI. Preached upon the Penitentiall Psalmes PSAL. 6.2 3. Have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weake O Lord heale me for my bones are vexed My soule is also sore vexed But thou O Lord how long THis whole Psalme is prayer And the whole prayer is either Deprecatory as in the first verse or Postulatory Something David would have forborne and something done And in that Postulatory part of Davids prayer which goes through six verses of this Psalme we consider the Petitions and the Inducements What David asks And why of both which there are some mingled in these two verses which constitute our Text. And therefore in them we shall necessarily take knowledge of some of the Petitions and some of the Reasons For in the Prayer there are five petitions First Miserere Have mercy upon me Thinke of me looke graciously towards me prevent me with thy mercy And then Sana me O Lord heale me Thou didst create me in health but my parents begot me in sicknesse and I have complicated other sicknesses with that Actuall with Originall sin O Lord heale me give me physick for them And thirdly Convertere Returne O Lord Thou didst visit me in nature returne in grace Thou didst visit me in Baptisme returne in the other Sacrament Thou doest visit me now returne at the houre of my death And in a fourth petition Eripe O Lord deliver my soule Every blessing of thine because a snare unto me and thy benefits I make occasions of sinne In all conversation and even in my solitude I admit such tentations from others or I produce such tentations in my selfe as that whensoever thou art pleased to returne to me thou findest me at the brinke of some sinne and therefore Eripe me O Lord take hold of me and deliver me And lastly Salvum me fac O Lord save me Manifest thy good purpose upon me so that I may never be shaken or never overthrown in the faithfull hope of that salvation which thou hast preordained for me These are
came to put a war upon us The zeale of his glory and the course of this world fight against one another It is not against all warre nay it is not against all victory that David prayes He cannot hope that he should be overcome by no Tentations but against such a war and such a victory as should bring him to servility and bondage to sinne That sin entring by Conquest upon him should governe as a tyran over him against such a sicknesse as should induce a consumption it is that he directs this prayer Sana me Domine Not Lord make me impeccable but Lord make me penitent and then heale me And he comes not to take physick upon wantonnesse but because the disease is violent because the accidents are vehement so vehement so violent as that it hath pierced Ad ossa and Ad animam My bones are vexed and my soule is sore troubled Therefore heale me which is the Reason upon which he grounds this second petition Heale me because my bones are vexed c. We must necessarily insist a little upon these termes Ossa The Bones The Soule The Trouble or Vexation First Ossa Bones We know in the naturall and ordinary acceptation what they are They are these Beames and Timbers and Rafters of these Tabernacles these Temples of the Holy Ghost these bodies of ours But Immanebimus nativae significationi sayes S. Basil Shall we dwell upon the native and naturall signification of these Bones Et intelligentia passim obvia contenti erimus Shall we who have our conversation in heaven finde no more in these Bones then an earthly a worldly a naturall man would doe By S. Basils example we may boldly proceed farther Membra etiam animae sunt Esay 42. sayes he The soule hath her limbs as well as the body Surdi audite caeci aspicite sayes God in Esay If their soules had not eares and eyes the blinde could not see the deafe could not heare and yet God cals upon the deafe and blinde to heare and see As S. Paul sayes to the Ephesians The eyes of your understanding being enlightned so David sayes Psal 3.7 Dentes peccatorum contrivisti Thou hast broken the teeth That is the pride and the power the venom and malignity of the wicked Membra etiam animae sunt The soule hath her Bones too and here Davids Bones were the strongest powers and faculties of his soule and the best actions and operations of those faculties and yet they were shaken For this hereditary sicknesse Originall sinne prevayles so far upon us that upon our good dayes we have some grudgings of that Fever Even in our best actions we have some of the leaven of that sinne So that if we goe about to comfort our selves with some dispositions to Gods glory which we finde in our selves with some sparks of love to his precepts and his commandements with some good strength of faith with some measure of good works yea with having something for the Name and glory of Christ Jesus yet if we consider what humane and corrupt affections have been mingled in all these Conturbabuntur ossa our Bones will be troubled even those that appeared to be strong works and likely to hold out will need a reparation an exclamation Sana me Domine O Lord heale these too or els these are as weake as the worst Ossa non dolent The Bones themselves have no sense they feele no paine We need not say That those good works themselves which we doe have in their nature the nature of sinne That every good worke considered alone and in the substance of the act it selfe is sinne But membranae dolent Those little membrans those filmes those thin skins that cover and that line some bones are very sensible of paine and of any vexation Though in the nature of the worke it selfe the worke be not sinne yet in those circumstances that invest and involve the worke in those things which we mingle with the worke whether desire of glory towards men or opinion of merit towards God Whensoever those bones those best actions come to the examination of a tender and a diligent Conscience Si ossa non dolent membranae dolent If the worke be not sinfull the circumstances are and howsoever they may be conceived to be strong as they are Ossa Bones works in a morall consideration good yet as they are Ossa mea sayes David as they are My bones such good works as taste of my ill corruptions so long they are vexed and troubled and cannot stand upright nor appeare with any confidence in the sight of God Thus far then first David needed this sanation this health that he prayes for Anima that his best actions were corrupt But the corruption went farther to the very roote and fountaine of those actions Ad ipsam animam His very soule was sore vexed It is true that as this word Anima the soule is sometimes taken in the Scriptures this may seeme to goe no farther then the former no more that his soule was vexed then that his bones were so for Anima in many places is but Animalis Homo The soule signifies but the naturall man And so opponitur spiritui The soule is not onely said to be a diverse thing but a contrary thing to the Spirit When the Apostle sayes to the Thessalonians 1 Thes ult 23. Now the very God of peace sanctifie you throughout that your whole spirit and soule and body may be kept blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ And where the same Apostle sayes to the Hebrews The word of God divideth asunder the soule and the spirit Heb. 4.12 here is a difference put between corrupt nature and the working of the Spirit of God the Holy Ghost in man for here the soule is taken for Animalis home The naturall man and the Spirit is taken for the Spirit of God But besides this these two words Soule and Spirit are sometimes used by the Fathers in a sense diverse from one another and as different things and yet still as parts of one and the same man Man is said by them not onely to have a body and a soule but to have a soule and a spirit not as Spirit is the Spirit of God and so an extrinsecall thing but as Spirit is a constitutive part of the naturall man So in particular amongst many Gregory Nyssen takes the Body to be spoken De nutribili The flesh and bloud of man And the soule De sensibili The operation of the senses And the Spirit De Intellectuali The Intellectuall the reasonable faculties of man That in the body Man is conformed to Plants that have no sense In the soule to Beasts that have no reason In the spirit to Angels But so The Spirit is but the same thing with that which now we doe ordinarily account the soule to be for we make account that the Image of God is imprinted in the soule and that gives him his
shall damne him but not a saving God a Iesus Beloved in the bowels of that Jesus not onely the riches and honours and pleasures of this world and the favour of Princes are as Iob speaks Onerosi consolatores Miserable comforters are they all all this world but even of God himselfe be it spoken with piety and reverence and far from misconstruction we may say Onerosa consolatio It is but a miserable comfort which we can have in God himselfe It is but a faint remembrance which we retaine of God himselfe It is but a lame confession which we make to God himselfe Si non Tui Si non Tibi If we remember not Thee If we confesse not Thee our onely Lord and Saviour Christ Iesus It is not halfe our worke to be godly men to confesse a God in generall we must be Christians too to confesse God so as God hath manifested himselfe to us I to whom God hath manifested himselfe in the Christian Church am as much an Atheist if I deny Christ as if I deny God And I deny Christ as much if I deny him in the truth of his Worship in my Religion as if I denyed him in his Person And therefore Si non Tui Si non Tibi If I doe not remember Thee If I doe not professe Thee in thy Truth I am falne into this Death and buried in this Grave which David deprecates in this Text For in death there is no remembrance of thee c. SERM. LIV. Preached to the KING at White-hall upon the occasion of the Fast April 5. 1628. PSAL. 6.6 7. I am weary with my groaning All the night make I my bed to swin I water my couch with my teares Mine eye is consumed because of griefe It waxeth old because of all mine-enemies THis is Davids humiliation and comming after his repentance and reconciliation Davids penance And yet here is no Fast It is true No Fast named David had had experience that as the wisest actions of Kings of Kings as Kings over Subjects so the devoutest actions of Kings of Kings as humble Subjects to the King of Kings the God of Heaven had been misinterpreted Of sighing and groaning and weeping and languishing as in this Text David speaks often very very often in the Psalmes and they let him sigh and groane and weepe and languish they neglect his Passion and are not affected with that but that is all they afflict him no farther But when he comes to fasting they deride him they reproach him Cares God whether you eat or fast But thrice in all the Psalmes does David speake of his fasting and in all three places it was mis-interpreted and reproachfully mis-interpreted I humbled my soule with fasting Psal 35.13 and my prayer returned into mine own bosome He did this as he sayes there for others that needed it and they would not thanke him for it but reproached him When I wept and chastned my soule with fasting Psal 69.10 Psal 109.24 that was to my reproach So also my bones are weake through fasting and I became a reproach unto them And therefore no wonder that David does not so often mention and publish his fasting as his other mortifications No wonder that in all his seaven penetentiall Psalmes which are the Churches Tropicks for mortification and humiliation there is no mention of his fasting But for his practise though he speak not so much of it in the Psalmes in his history where others not himselfe speake of him we know that when he mourned and prayed for his sick childe he fasted too And we doubt not 2 Sam. 2.15 but that when he was thus wearied I am weary with my groaning All the night make I my bed to swim I water my Couch with my teares Mine eye is consumed because of griefe It waxeth old because of all mine enemies he fasted too He fasted oftner then he tells us of it As S. Hierome sayes Iejunium non perfecta virtus sed caeterarum virtutum fundamentum Hieron If we must not call fasting as fasting is but a bodily abstinence a religious act an act of Gods worship yet it is a Basis and a foundation upon which other religious acts and acts of Gods worship are the better advanced It is so at all times but it is so especially when it is enjoyned by Soveraigne authority and upon manifest occasion as now to us Semper virtutis Cibus Iejunium fuit It is elegantly and usefully said At all times Leo. Religion feeds upon fasting and feasts upon fasting and grows the stronger for fasting But Quod pium est agere non indictum impium est negligere praedicatum Idem It is a godly thing to fast uncommanded but to neglect it being commanded is an ungodly an impious a refractary perversnesse sayes the same Father But then another carries it to a higher expression Desperationis genus est tunc manducare cum abstinere debeas Maximus de jejunio Ninevitarum Not to fast when the times require it and when Authority enjoynes it or not to beleeve that God will be affected and moved with that fasting and be the better enclined for it is desperationis genus a despairing of the State a despairing of the Church a despairing of the grace of God to both or of his mercy upon both And truly there cannot be a more disloyall affection then that desper are rem publicam to forespeak great Councels to be witch great actions to despaire of good ends in things well intended And in our distresses where can we hope but in God and how shall we have accesse to God but in humiliation We doubt not therefore but that this act of humiliation his fasting was spread over Davids other acts in this Text and that as a sinner in his private person and as a King in his publique and exemplar office he fasted also though he sayes not so when he said he was wearied I am weary with my groaning all the night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with my teares mine eye is consumed because of griefe It waxeth old because of all mine enemies But though this fasting and these other penall acts of humiliation be the body that carries and declares yet the soule that inanimates and quickens all is prayer and therefore this whole Psalme is a prayer And the prayer is partly Deprecatory In some things David desires that God would forbeare him as v. 1. Correct me not for if thou correct me others will trample upon me Rebuke me not for if thou rebuke me others will calumniate me And partly Postulatory that some things God would give him as Health and Deliverance and that which is all Salvation in the other verses Both parts of the prayer are as all prayer must be grounded upon reasons and the reasons are from divers rootes some from the consideration of himselfe and they argue his humiliation some from the contemplation of God and they testifie
his anchor Let him that hath any diffident jealousie or suspition of the free and full mercy of God apprehend God as God is his Salvation And him that walks in the ingloriousnesse and contempt of this world contemplate God as God is his Glory Any of these notions is enough to any man but God is all these and all else that all soules can thinke to every man Wee shut up both these Considerations man should not Mic. ult 5. that is not all God should be relied upon with that of the Prophet Trust ye not in a friend put not your confidence in a guide keepe the doores of thy mouth from her that lies in thy bosome there is the exclusion of trust in man and then he adds in the seventh verse because it stands thus betweene man and man I will looke unto the Lord I will looke to the God of my Salvation my God will heare me SERM. LXVI The second of my Prebend Sermons upon my five Psalmes Preached at S. Pauls Ianuary 29. 1625. PSAL. 63.7 Because thou hast been my helpe Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoyce THe Psalmes are the Manna of the Church Wisd 16.20 As Manna tasted to every man like that that he liked best so doe the Psalmes minister Instruction and satisfaction to every man in every emergency and occasion David was not onely a cleare Prophet of Christ himselfe but a Prophet of every particular Christian He foretels what I what any shall doe and suffer and say And as the whole booke of Psalmes is Oleum effusum Cant. 1.3 as the Spouse speaks of the name of Christ an Oyntment powred out upon all sorts of sores A Searcloth that souples all bruises A Balme that searches all wounds so are there some certaine Psalmes that are Imperiall Psalmes that command over all affections and spread themselves over all occasions Catholique universall Psalmes that apply themselves to all necessities This is one of those for of those Constitutions which are called Apostolicall Constitut Apostol one is That the Church should meet every day to sing this Psalme And accordingly S. Chrysostome testifies That it was decreed and ordained by the Primitive Fathers Chrysost that no day should passe without the publique singing of this Psalme Under both these obligations those ancient Constitutions called the Apostles and those ancient Decrees made by the primitive Fathers belongs to me who have my part in the service of Gods Church the especiall meditation and recommendation of this Psalme And under a third obligation too That it is one of those five psalmes the daily rehearsing whereof is injoyned to me by the Constitutions of this Church as five other are to every other person of our body As the whole booke is Manna so these five Psalmes are my Gomer which I am to fill and empty every day of this Manna Now as the spirit and soule of the whole booke of Psalmes is contracted into this psalme so is the spirit and soule of this whole psalme contracted into this verse Divisie The key of the psalme as S. Hierome calls the Titles of the psalmes tells us Hieron that David uttered this psalme when he was in the wildernesse of Iudab There we see the present occasion that moved him And we see what was passed between God and him before in the first clause of our Text Because thou hast been my helpe And then we see what was to come by the rest Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoyce So that we have here the whole compasse of Time Past Present and Future and these three parts of Time shall be at this time the three parts of this Exercise first what Davids distresse put him upon for the present and that lyes in the Context secondly how David built his assurance upon that which was past Because thou hast been my help And thirdly what he established to himselfe for the future Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoyce First His distresse in the Wildernesse his present estate carried him upon the memory of that which God had done for him before And the Remembrance of that carried him upon that of which he assured himselfe after Fixe upon God any where and you shall finde him a Circle He is with you now when you fix upon him He was with you before for he brought you to this fixation and he will be with you hereafter for He is yesterday Heb. 13.8 and to day and the same for ever For Davids present condition who was now in a banishment in a persecution in the Wildernesse of Judah which is our first part we shall onely insist upon that which is indeed spread over all the psalme to the Text and ratified in the Text That in all those temporall calamities David was onely sensible of his spirituall losse It grieved him not that he was kept from Sauls Court but that he was kept from Gods Church For when he sayes Ver. 1. by way of lamentation That he was in a dry and thirsty land where no water was he expresses what penury what barrennesse what drought and what thirst he meant To see thy power Ver. 2. Ver. 5. Ver. 3. and thy glory so as I have seene thee in the Sanctuary For there my soule shall be satisfied as with marrow and with satnesse and there my mouth shall praise thee with joyfull lips And in some few considerations conducing to this That spirituall losses are incomparably heavier then temporall and that therefore The Restitution to our spirituall happinesse or the continuation of it is rather to be made the subject of our prayers to God in all pressures and distresses then of temporall we shall determine that first part And for the particular branches of both the other parts The Remembring of Gods benefits past And the building of an assurance for the future upon that Remembrance it may be fitter to open them to you anon when we come to handle them then now Proceed we now to our first part The comparing of temporall and spirituall afflictions In the way of this Comparison 1 Part. Afflictio universalis 2 Cor. 4.17 falls first the Consideration of the universality of afflictions in generall and the inevitablenesse thereof It is a blessed Meraphore that the Holy Ghost hath put into the mouth of the Apostle Pondus Gloriae That our afflictions are but light because there is an exceeding and an eternall waight of glory attending them If it were not for that exceeding waight of glory no other waight in this world could turne the scale or waigh downe those infinite waights of afflictions that oppresse us here There is not onely Pestis valde gravis the pestilence grows heavy upon the Land but there is Musca valde gravis Exod. 9.3.8.24 God calls in but the fly to vexe Egypt and even the fly is a heavy burden unto them Job 7.20 2 Sam. 14.26 Lament
same thing againe I beleeve in the Holy Ghost but doe not finde him if I seeke him onely in private prayer But in Ecclesia when I goe to meet him in the Church when I seeke him where hee hath promised to bee found when I seeke him in the execution of that Commission which is proposed to our faith in this Text in his Ordinances and meanes of salvation in his Church instantly the savour of this Myrrhe is exalted and multiplied to me not a dew but a shower is powred out upon me and presently followes Communio Sanctorum The Communion of Saints the assistance of Militant and Triumphant Church in my behalfe And presently followes Remissio peceatorum The remission of sins the purifying of my conscience in that water which is his blood Baptisme and in that wine which is his blood the other Sacrament and presently followes Carnis resurrectio A resurrection of my body My body becomes no burthen to me my body is better now then my soule was before and even here I have Goshen in my Egypt incorruption in the midst of my dunghill spirit in the midst of my flesh heaven upon earth and presently followes Vita aeterna Life everlasting this life of my body shall not last ever nay the life of my soul in heaven is not such as it is at the first For that soule there even in heaven shall receive an addition and accesse of Joy and Glory in the resurrection of our bodies in the consummation When a winde brings the River to any low part of the banke instantly it overflowes the whole Meadow when that winde which blowes where he will The Holy Ghost leads an humble soule to the Article of the Church to lay hold upon God as God hath exhibited himselfe in his Ordinances instantly he is surrounded under the blood of Christ Jesus and all the benefits thereof The communion of Saints the remission of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting are poured out upon him And therefore of this great worke which God hath done for man in applying himselfe to man in the Ordinances of his Church S. Augustine sayes Obscuriùs dixerunt Prophetae de Christo August quà m de Ecclesia The Prophets have not spoken so clearely of the person of Christ as they have of the Church of Christ Hieron for though S. Hierom interpret aright those words of Adam and Eve Erunt duo in carnem unam They two shall be one flesh to be applyable to the union which is betweene Christ and his Church Ephes 5. for so S. Paul himselfe applies them that Christ and his Church are all one as man and wife are all one yet the wife is or at least it had wont to be so easilier found at home then the husband wee can come to Christs Church but we cannot come to him The Church is a Hill and that is conspicuous naturally but the Church is such a Hill as may be seene every where August S. Augustine askes his Auditory in one of his Sermons doe any of you know the Hill Olympus and himselfe sayes in their behalfe none of you know it no more sayes he do those that dwell at Olympus know Giddabam vestram some Hill which was about them trouble not thy selfe to know the formes and fashions of forraine particular Churches neither of a Church in the lake nor a Church upon seven hils but since God hath planted thee in a Church where all things necessary for salvation are administred to thee and where no erronious doctrine even in the confession of our Adversaries is affirmed and held that is the Hill and that is the Catholique Church and there is this Commission in this text meanes of salvation sincerely executed So then such a Commission there is and it is in the Article of the Creed that is the ubi We are now come in our order to the third circumstantiall branch the Vnde Vnde from whence and when this Commission issued in which we consider that since we receive a deepe impression from the words which our friends spake at the time of their death much more would it worke upon us if they could come and speake to us after their death You know what Dives said Si quis ex mortuis Luke 16. If one from the dead might goe to my Brethren he might bring them to any thing Now Primitiae mortuorum The Lord of life and yet the first borne of the dead Christ Jesus returnes againe after his death to establish this Commission upon his Apostles It hath therefore all the formalities of a strong and valid Commission Christ gives it Ex mero motu meerely out of his owne goodnesse He foresaw no merit in us that moved him neither was he moved by any mans solicitations for could it ever have fallen into a mans heart to have prayed to the Father that his Son might take our Nature and dye and rise again and settle a course upon earth for our salvation if this had not first risen in the purpose of God himself Would any man ever have solicited or prayed him to proceed thus It was Ex mero motu out of his owne goodnesse and it was Ex certa scientia He was not deceived in his grant he knew what he did he knew this Commission should be executed in despight of all Heretiques and Tyrans that should oppose it And as it was out of his owne Will and with his owne knowledge so it was Ex plenitudine potestatis He exceeded not his Power for Christ made this Commission then Mat. 28.18 when as it is expressed in the other Euangelist he produced that evidence Data est mihi All power is given to me in Heaven and in earth where Christ speakes not of that Power which he had by his eternall generation though even that power were given him for he was Deus de Deo God of God nor he speakes not of that Power which was given him as Man which was great but all that he had in the first minute of his conception in the first union of the two Natures Divine and Humane together but that Power from which he derives this Commission is that which he had purchased by his blood and came to by conquest Ego vici mundum sayes Christ I have conquered the world and comming in by conquest I may establish what forme of Government I will and my will is to governe my Kingdome by this Commission and by these Commissioners to the Worlds end to establish these meanes upon earth for the salvation of the world And as it hath all these formalities of a due Commission made without suite made without error made without defect of power so had it this also that it was duely and authentically testified for though this Euangelist name but the eleven Apostles to have beene present and they in this case might be thought Testes domestici Witnesses that witnesse to their owne
him for his ease that is compound with him easily and continue him in his estate and errors but Cape nobis Take him for us so detect him as he may thereby be reduced to Christ and his Church Neither onely this counsel of Christ to his Church but that commandment of God in Levit. Exod. 23.3 Lev. 19.15 is also applyable to this Non misereber is pauperis in judicio Thou shalt not countenance a poore man in his cause Thou shalt not pity a poore man in judgement Though a new opinion may seeme a poore opinion able to doe little harme though it may seem a pious and profitable opinion and of good use yet in judicio if it stand in judgement and pretend to be an article of faith and of that holy obligation matter necessary to salvation Non misereberis Thou shalt not spare thou shalt not countenance this opinion upon any collaterall respect but bring it to the onely tryall of Doctrines the Scriptures In the beginning of the Reformation in Germany there arose a sect whom they called Intermists and Adiaphorists who upon a good pretence were like to have done a great deale of mischiefe They said Since all the hope of a Reformation that we can promise our selves must come from a generall Councell and of such a Councel we can have no hope but by the Pope it were impertinent and dis-conducing to our owne ends to vexe or exasperate the Pope in this Interim till the Councel be setled and so the Reformation put into a way and in the Interim for this short time till the Councel these Adiaphora the indifferent things in which mild word they involved all the abuses and all the grievances that were complained of may be well enough continued But if they had continued so long they had continued yet If they had spared their little foxes then they had destroyed their vines If they had pitied the poore in judgement the cause had been judged against them If they had reprieved those abuses for a time they had got a pardon for ever And therefore blessed were they in taking those children and dashing them against the stones In taking those new-born opinions and bringing them to the true touch-stone of all Doctrines An ab initio whether they had been from the beginning or could consist with the Scriptures Neither doth this counsel of Christs Take us these little foxes nor this commandment of God Thou shalt not pity the poor in judgment determine it self in the Church or in the publique only but extends it self rather contracts it self to every particular soul and conscience Capite vulpeculas Take your litle foxes watch your first inclinatiōs to sins for if you give them suck at first if you feed them with the milke and hony of the mercy of God it shall not be in your power to weane them when you would but they will draw you from one to another extreme from a former presumption to a future desperation in Gods mercy So also Non misereberis Thou shalt not pity the poore in judgement now that thou callest thy selfe to judgement and thy conscience to an examination thou shalt not pity any sin because it pretends to be a poore sin either poore so that it cannot much endanger thee not much encumber thee or poore so as that it threatens thee with poverty with penury with disability to support thy state or maintaine thy family if thou entertaine it not Many times I have seene a suitor that comes in forma pauperis more trouble a Court and more importune a Judge then greater causes or greater persons And so may such sins as come in forma pauperis either way That they plead poverty That they can doe little harme or threaten poverty if they be not entertained Those sins are the most dangerous sins which pretend reason why they should be entertained for sinnes which are done meerely out of infirmity or out of the surprisall of a tentation are in comparison of others done as sins in our sleep but in sins upon deliberation upon counsell upon pretence of reason we doe see the wisdome of God but we set our wisdome above his we do see the law of God but we insert and interline non obstantes of our own into Gods Law If therefore thou wilt corruptly and vitiously and sinfully love another out of pity because they love thee so If thou wilt assist a poore man in a cause out of pretence of pity with thy countenance and the power of thy place that that poore man may have something and thou the rest that is recovered in his right If thou wilt embrace any particular sin out of pity lest thy Wife and Children should be left unprovided If thou have not taken these little foxes that is resisted these tentations at the beginning yet Nunc in judicio now that they appeare in judgement in examination of thy conscience Non misereberis Thou shalt not pity them but as Moses speakes of false Prophets Deut. 13. and by a faire accommodation of all bewitching sins with pleasure or profit If a Dreamer of Dreames have given thee a signe and that signe be come to passe If a sin have told thee it would make thee rich and it have made thee rich yet if this Dreamer draw thee to another God If this profit draw thee to an Idolatrous that is to an habituall love of that sin for Tot habemus recentes Deos quot vitiae sayes S. Hierom Hieron Every man hath so many Idols in him as he hath habituall sins yet Though this dreamer as God proceeds there be thy brother or thy son or thy friend which is as thine owne soule How neare how deare how necessary soever this sin be unto thee Non misereberis sayes Moses Thine eye shall not pity that Dreamer thou shalt not keepe him secret but thine owne hand shall be upon him to kill him And so of this pleasurable or profitable sin Non misereberis Thou shalt not hide it but poure it out in Confession Non misereberis Thou shalt not pardon it no nor reprieve it but destroy it for the practise presently Non misereberis Thou shalt not turne out the Mother and retaine the Daughter not leave the sin and retaine that which was sinfully got but devest all roote and body and fruits by confession to God by contrition in thy selfe by restitution to men damnified Elfe that will fall upon thee and thy soule which fell upon the Church That because they did not take their little foxes they endangered the whole vine Because they did pity the poore in judgement that is as S. Augustine sayes they were loath to wrastle with the people or force them from dangerous customes they came from that supine negligence in tolerating prayer for the Dead to establish a doctrinall point of Purgatory and for both prayer for the Dead and Purgatory they detort this text Else that is if no Purgatory why then are these men
with the Ancient Fathers 221. A. B. C Applause after Sermon given to the Primitive Fathers 48. D Applause of the people or popularity a dangerous and uncertaine thing not to be affected by any men especially not by the Clergie whom it usually deceiveth most ib. Approaches to Sinne how soone and easily they become Sinne 557. E Apostles why chosen out of simple fisher-men 719. C What things were called Apostles before Christs Apostles were so called 758 C Apostolicall Authority vainely claimed by the Pope 733. E Apostolicall Tradition what it is 781. E Articles of Faith how they are proved by Reason 178. A 611. D Atheist nothing so unnaturall as the Atheist 486. B Of the universall particular and practicall Atheist ibid. 487. A. B. vide 756. B. Authority of the Fathers not baulked by the Reformed Churches 557. A Though at the beginning of the Reformation our men were a little startled at it B. C B Balsame of the naturall Balsame in the body and in the soule 514. A Baptism of children how necessary 309. E. 425. B The Remembrance of our Baptisme a stop against sinne 310. A Christ why Baptised 425. A The Anabaptists argument against Baptisme of Children answered ibid. D The Baptisme of John whether the same with that of Christ 425. E The custome of late Baptising why tolerated in the Church 800. A Bees the manner of their working sub tecto 712. E Commended for their sedulity community secrecy and purity 713. A. B Beggers against ordinary Street-Beggers and relieving them Benedictines of their encrease and riches 602. E Benefactours and Founders their honorable commemoration and mention pleases God 85. D The Straights to which some of the Reformed Churches have been put about it ibid. The Benefits of this world seldom free 550. B Bishops not necessarily resident at their Sea 470. D Six thousand Bishops at one time in the Christian Church 471. A The passage between Athanasius and Dracontius who refused to be made a Bishop 471. D Bishop of Rome against his tyranny cruelty c. 284. B Against his Infallibility 698. C. 722. D His Imprisoning of the Holy Ghost 292. A His Universality 371. D Against his usurping Apostolicall Authority and not contenting himselfe with Episcopall 733. E Blasphemy not restrained to God alone other persons and things may be blasphemed 343. E No Blessing in this world without permanency and continuance 754. E Blessings of this world only Blessings in use 84. C How God blesseth man and man blesseth God 376. D Blessednesse what it is and what the Philosophers have thought of it 119. C. D. 752. A Whom Plato commanded the Poets and writers in his State to call Blessed 562. D. E That temporall Blessings doe not conduce at All to true Blessednesse 750. B The danger of Temporall Blessings without Spirituall 752. B What Plato thought Blessednesse 752. E Spirituall Blessednesse how it is superinduced upon Temporall as the reasonable soule upon that of sense 755. C. D Blood no Remission without it and why 6. D Christ shed it seven times 7. B The will the Blood of the Soule 7. A Blood taken for sin oftentimes in Holy Writ 132. A Bodies the Kingdome of heaven imperfect without them 145. A The little power we have over our own Bodies ibid. D Bodies glorified and their Dotes or Endowments 189. A. B Gods love to our Bodies 194. B. C Of sinning against our own Bodies by lust and licentiousnesse 195. D. E Bones what is meant by Bones in Scripture 516. C Bribery against it or receiving of Rewards 389. E Brothers the first enmity began in them 108. A Brownists their opinion that no particular Church may consist of more persons than may alwayes heare that man to whose charge that Church is given censured 471. C. D Building the Holy Ghost delights to use the name of Building and House 684. C Against Busy-bodies with other folks matters 721. E. 722. A Burthen how every thing even the least the Fly even the best as riches beauty comlinesse is a Burthen to us 664. C. D C CArd Cajetans reasons for not following the Judgement of the fathers in expounding Scripture 796. E. 79â— A. Calamities not to be jested at 478. E Not alwayes evidences of Gods displeasure ib. Calling the ordinary duties of our Calling not to be disputed but executed 41. A Such as are extraordinary may 42. A Against such as will take upon them no Calling 45. D. 411. B. 606. B How acceptable to God that labour is which is taken in an honest Calling 721. C Against Intruders and meddlers with other mens Callings ibid. E Calvin an approver of Ceremonies 80. D Candles the use of them in divine Service ancient 80. B Canonicall Houres no inconvenience in observing them so wee place no merit in them 596. D Catechizing the excellent use and benefit of it 250. A. 561. B. C. D. c. Cathedrall Churches why so called 115. C Censuring of Preachers and comparing one with another condemned 692. E Ceremonies of their antiquity and use 80. C They should differ from Mysteries ibid. Not hastily to be condemned ibid. E They are vehicula Religionis 300. B Against the Opposers of them ibid. How we are to love them 512. A Not to be disputed of by private men 575. C Changes of this world how many 481. D Of inconstancy and changing of minde 483. C Changes of sinne how dangerous 543. A Children of their love and duty to Parents 387 E CHRIST he came of women noted in Scripture for their incontinency 24. A He came to save All 26. C. 70. C. 66. B Learning at the height when hee was borne 72. C Whether hee was Man whilst in the Grave 157. A CHRIST his Death and Passion how necessary and how voluntary 7. D. 792. C Three remarkable Conjunctions at his Birth 11 B The world how full with expectation of it 21. D CHRIST shed blood seven times here on earth 7. B How effectually hee is present in the Sacrament 19. C His Incarnation no way so proper to deliver us as it 16. C His Humane Nature adunited to the Divine whether Impeccable 169. B The infinitnesse of his merits rather placed in Pacto than in Persona by the Schoole 179. B The difference betweene his Dying and other mens 272. E The severall Heresies concerning CHRIST 316. D CHRIST dyed for all men 741. E. 742. A. B Church the power of it in applying Christ to every particular soule 60. A The true Church which 61 A How soone multiplied and enriched 72. A. B The ten Persecutions of it 184 B. C The Church the ordinary place for knowledge and illumination of a Christian 228. A The Primitive Church how the whole world was bent against it 602. C The Church a Pillar and how 615. C What a losse it is to bee kept from Gods Church 664. A The care which God hath ever had of his Church 779. E Circle the proper Hieroglyphick of God and why 13.
August 1630. being with his daughter Mistris Harvy at Abrey-Hatch in Essex he fell into a Feaver which with the helpe of his constant infirmity vapours from the spleene hastened him into so visible a Consumption that his beholders might say as S. Paul of himselfe he dyes daily And he might say with Iob Job 30.15 Job 7.3 My welfare passeth away as a cloud The dayes of affliction have taken hold of me And weary nights are appointed for me This sicknesse continued long not onely weakning but wearing him so much that my desire is he may now take some rest And that thou judge it no impertinent digression before I speake of his death to looke backe with me upon some observations of his life which while a gentle slumber seises him may I hope fitly exercise thy Consideration His marriage was the remarkable error of his life which though he had a wit apt enough and very able to maintaine paradoxes And though his wives competent yeares and other reasons might be justly urged to moderate a severe censure yet he never seemed to justifie and doubtlesse had repented it if God had not blest them with a mutuall and so cordiall an affection as in the midst of their sufferings made their bread of sorrow taste more pleasantly then the banquet of fooles The recreations of his youth were Poetry in which he was so happy as if nature with all her varieties had been made to exercise his great wit and high fancy And in those pieces which were carelesly scattered in his younger daies most of them being written before the twentieth yeare of his age it may appeare by his choice Metaphors that all the Arts joyned to assist him with their utmost skill It is a truth that in his penitentiall yeares viewing some of those pieces loosely scattered in his youth he wisht they had been abortive or so short-liv'd that he had witnessed their funeralls But though he was no friend to them he was not so falne out with heavenly Poetry as to forsake it no not in his declining age witnessed then by many divine Sonnets and other high holy and harmonious composures yea even on his former sick bed he wrote this heavenly Hymne expressing the great joy he then had in the assurance of Gods mercy to him A Hymne to God the Father VVIlt thou forgive that sin where I begun Which was my sin though it were done before Wilt thou forgive that sin through which I run And doe run still though still I doe deplore When thou hast done thou hast not done For I have more Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won Others to sin and made my sin their dore Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun A yeare or two but wallowed in a score When thou hast done thou hast not done For I have more I have a sin of feare that when I have spun My last thred I shall perish on the shore But sweare by thy selfe that at my death thy Sonne Shall shine as he shines now and heretofore And having done that thou hast done I feare no more And on this which was his Death-bed writ another Hymne which bears this Title A Hymne to God my God in my sicknesse If these fall under the censure of a soule whose too much mixture with earth makes it unfit to judge of these high illuminations let him know that many devout and learned men have thought the soule of holy Prudentius was most refined when not many dayes before his death he charged it to present his God each morning with a new and spirituall Song justified by the examples of King David and the good King Hezekias who upon the renovation of his yeares payed his gratefull vowes to God in a royall hymne Esay 38. which he concludes in these words The Lord was ready to save therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the dayes of our life in the Temple of my God The later part of his life was a continued studie Saturdaies onely excepted which he usually spent in visiting friends and resting himselfe under the weary burthen of his weeks Meditations And he gave himselfe this rest that thereby he might be refresht and inabled to doe the work of the day following not negligently but with courage and cheerfulnesse Nor was his age onely so industrious but in his most unsetled youth he was being in health never knowne to be in bed after foure of the clock in the morning nor usually out of his chamber till ten and imployed that time constantly if not more in his Studie Which if it seeme strange may gain beliefe by the visible fruits of his labours some of which remaine to testifie what is here written for he left the resultance of 1400. Authors most of them analyzed with his owne hand He left sixscore Sermons also all writ with his owne hand A large and laborious Treatise concerning Self-murther called Biathanatose wherein all the Lawes violated by that act are diligently survayed and judiciously censured A Treatise written in his youth which alone might declare him then not onely perfect in the Civil and Canon Law but in many other such studies and arguments as enter not into the consideration of many profest Scholars that labour to be thought learned Clerks and to know all things Nor were these onely found in his Studie but all businesses that past of any publique consequence in this or any of our neighbour Kingdoms he abbreviated either in Latine or in the Language of the Nation and kept them by him for a memoriall So he did the Copies of divers Letters and Cases of Conscience that had concerned his friends with his solutions and divers other businesses of importance all particularly and methodically digested by himselfe He did prepare to leave the world before life left him making his Will when no facultie of his soule was dampt or defective by sicknesse or he surprized by sudden apprehension of death But with mature deliberation expressing himselfe an impartiall Father by making his Childrens Portions equall a constant lover of his friends by particular Legacies discreetly chosen and fitly bequeathed them And full of charity to the poore and many others who by his long continued bounty might entitle themselves His almes-people For all these he made provision so largely as having six children might to some appeare more then proportionable to his estate The Reader may think the particulars tedious but I hope not impertinent that I present him with the beginning and conclusion of his last Will. IN the name of the blessed and glorious Trinitie Amen I Iohn Donne by the mercy of Christ Iesus and the calling of the Church of England Priest being at this time in good and perfect understanding praised be God therefore doe hereby make my last Will and Testament in manner and forme following First I give my gracious God an intire sacrifice of body and soule with my most humble thanks for
performe that sacred Work And when to the amazement of some beholders he appeared in the Pulpit many thought he presented himselfe not to preach mortification by a living voice but mortality by a decayed body and dying face And doubtlesse many did secretly ask that question in Ezekiel Doe these bones live Ezek. 37.3 Or can that soule organise that tongue to speak so long time as the sand in that glasse will move towards its center and measure out an houre of this dying mans unspent life Doubtlesse it cannot Yet after some faint pauses in his zealous Prayer his strong desires inabled his weak body to discharge his memory of his pre conceived Meditations which were of dying The Text being To God the Lord belong the issues from death Many that saw his teares and heard his hollow voice professing they thought the Text Prophetically chosen and that D. Donne had preacht his owne Funerall Sermon Being full of joy that God had inabled him to performe this desired duty he hastned to his house out of which he never moved untill like S. Stephen Acts 8. He was carried by devout men to his grave And the next day after his Sermon his spirits being much spent and he indisposed to discourse a friend asked him Why are you sad To whom he replyed after this manner I am not sad I am in a serious contemplation of the mercies of my God to me And now I plainly see it was his hand that prevented me from all temporall employment And I see it was his will that I should never settle nor thrive untill I entred into the Ministery in which I have now lived almost twenty yeares I hope to his glory and by which I most humbly thank him I have been enabled to requite most of those friends that shewed me kindnesse when my fortunes were low And as it hath occasioned the expression of my gratitude I thank God most of them have stood in need of my requitall I have been usefull and comfortable to my good Father in Law Sir George More whose patience God hath been pleased to exercise by many temporall crosses I have maintained my owne Mother whom it hath pleased God after a plentifull fortune in her former times to bring to a great decay in her very old age I have quieted the consciences of many that groaned under the burthen of a wounded spirit whose Prayers I hope are availeable for me I cannot plead innocencie of life especially of my youth but I am to be judged by a mercifull God who hath given me even at this time some testimonies by his holy Spirit that I am of the number of his Elect. I am ful of joy and shall die in peace Upon Munday following he took his last leave of his beloved Studie and being hourely sensible of his decay retired himselfe into his bed-chamber and that week sent at severall times for many of his most considerable friends of whom he tooke a solemne and deliberate Farewell commending to their considerations some sentences particularly usefull for the regulation of their lives and dismist them as * Gen. 49. Iacob did his sons with a spirituall benediction The Sunday following he appointed his servants that if there were any worldly businesse undone that concerned them or himselfe it should be prepared against Saturday next for after that day he would not mixe his thoughts with any thing that concerned the world Nor ever did Now he had nothing to doe but die To doe which he stood in need of no more time for he had long studied it and to such a perfection that in a former sicknesse he called God to witnesse Devot Prayer 23. he was that minute prepared to deliver his soule into his hands if that minute God would accept of his dissolution In that sicknesse he begged of his God the God of constancy to be preserved in that estate for ever And his patient expectation to have his immortall soule disrobed from her garment of mortality makes me confident he now had a modest assurance that his prayers were then heard and his petition granted He lay fifteene dayes earnestly expecting his hourely change And in the last houre of his last day as his body melted away and vapoured into spirit his soule having I verily beleeve some revelation of the Beatifical Vision he said I were miserable if I might not die And after those words closed many periods of his faint breath with these words Thy kingdome come Thy will be done His speech which had long been his faithfull servant remained with him till his last minute and then forsook him not to serve another master but died before him for that it was uselesse to him who now conversed with God on earth as Angels are said to doe in heaven onely by thoughts and looks Being speechlesse he did as S. Stephen look stedfastly towards heaven till he saw the Sonne of God standing at the right hand of his Father And being satisfied with this blessed sight as his soule ascended and his last breath departed from him he closed his owne eyes and then disposed his hands and body into such a posture as required no alteration by those that came to shroud him Thus variable thus vertuous was the life thus memorable thus exemplary was the death of this most excellent man He was buried in S. Pauls Church in that place which he had appointed for that use some yeares before his death and by which he passed daily to his devotions But not buried privately though he desired it For besides an unnumbred number of others many persons of Nobility and eminency who did love and honour him in his life did shew it at his Funerall by a voluntary and very sad attendance of his body to the grave To which after his buriall some mournfull friends repaired And as Alexander the Great did to the grave of the famous Achillis Plutarch so they strewed his with curious and costly flowers Which course they who were never yet knowne continued each morning and evening for divers dayes not ceasing till the stones that were taken up in that Church to give his body admission into the cold earth now his bed of rest were againe by the Masons art levelled and firmed as they had been formerly and his place of buriall undistinguishable to common view Nor was this though not usuall all the honour done to his reverend ashes for by some good body who t is like thought his memory ought to be perpetuated there was 100. marks sent to his two faithfull friends * D. Henry King D. Mountfort and Executors the person that sent it not yet known they look not for a reward on earth towards the making of a Monument for him which I think is as lively a representation as in dead marble can be made of him HE was of stature moderately tall of a straight and equally proportioned body to which all his words and actions gave an unexpressible
the sorenesse of Circumcision they slew them all Gods justice required bloud but that bloud is not spilt but poured from that head to our hearts into the veines and wounds of our owne soules There was bloud shed but no bloud lost Before the Law was thorowly established when Moses came downe from God and deprehended the people in that Idolatry to the Calfe before he would present himselfe as a Mediator betweene God and them Exod. 32.28 32. for that sinne he prepares a sacrifice of bloud in the execution of three thousand of those Idolaters and after that he came to his vehement prayer in their behalfe And in the strength of the Law Heb. 9 22. all things were purged with bloud and without bloud there is no remission Whether we place the reason of this in Gods Justice which required bloud or whether we place it in the conveniency that bloud being ordinarily received to be sedes animae the seat and residence of the soule The soule for which that expiation was to be could not be better represented nor purified then in the state and seat of the soule in bloud or whether we shut up our selves in an humble sobriety to inquire into the reasons of Gods actions thus we see it was no peace no remission but in bloud Nor is that so strange as that which followes in the next place per sanguinem ejus by his bloud Before Per sanguinem ejus Psal 50.10 under the Law it was in sanguine hircorum vitulorum In the bloud of Goats and Bullocks here it is in sanguine ejus in his bloud Not his as he claims all the beasts of the forrest all the cattle upon a thousand hils and all the fowles of the mountaines to be his not his as he sayes of Gold and Silver The Silver is mine and the Gold is mine Hag. 2.8 not his as he is Lord and proprietary of all by Creation so all bloud is his no nor his as the bloud of all the Martyrs was his bloud which is a neare relation and consanguinity but his so as it was the precious bloud of his body the seat of his soule the matter of his spirits the knot of his life This bloud he shed for me and I have bloud to shed for him too though he call me not to the tryall nor to the glory of Martyrdome Sanguis animae meae voluntas mea The bloud of my soule is my will Bern. Scindatur vena ferro compunctionis open a veine with that knife remorce compunction ut si non sensus certe consensus peccati effluat That though thou canst not bleed out all motions to sinne thou maist all consent thereunto Noli esse nimium justus noli sapere plus quam oportet St. Bernard makes this use of those Counsels Be not righteous overmuch nor be not overwise Ecces 7.16 Cui putas venae parcendum si justitia sapientia egent minutione what veine maist thou spare if thou must open those two veines righteousnesse and wisedome If they may be superfluously abundant if thou must bleed out some of thy Righteousnesse and some of thy wisedome cui venae parcendum at what veine must thou not bleed Tostat in Levit fo 45. D. Now in all sacrifices where bloud was to be offerd the fat was to be offerd to If thou wilt sacrifice the bloud of thy soule as St. Bernard cals the will sacrifice the fat too If thou give over thy purpose of continuing in thy sin give over the memory of it and give over all that thou possessest unjustly and corruptly got by that sinne else thou keepest the fat from God though thou give him the bloud If God had given over at his second daies work we had had no sunne no seasons If at his fift we had had no beeing If at the sixt no Sabbath but by proceeding to the seventh we are all and we have all Naaman 2 Reg. 5.14 who was out of the covenant yet by washing in Jordan seven times was cured of his leprosie seaven times did it even in him but lesse did not Tostat in Levit 4. q. 16. The Priest in the Law used a seven-fold sprinkling of bloud upon the Altar and we observe a seven-fold shedding of bloud in Christ In his Circumcision and in his Agony in his fulfilling of that Prophesie gen as vellicantibus I gave my cheeks to them that plucked off the haire and in his scourging Esay 50.6 in his crowning and in his nayling and lastly in the piercing of his side These seven channels hath the bloud of thy Saviour found Poure out the bloud of thy soule sacrifice thy stubborne and rebellious will seaven times too seaven times that is every day and seaven times every day for so often a just man falleth And then Prov. 24.16 how low must that man lie at last if he fall so often and never rise upon any fall and therefore raise thy self as often and as soone as thou fallest Iericho would not fall Jos 6. but by being compassed seaven dayes and seaven times in one day Compasse thy selfe comprehend thy selfe seaven times many times and thou shalt have thy losse of bloud supplied with better bloud with a true sense of that peace which he hath already made and made by bloud and by his owne bloud and by the bloud of his Crosse which is the last branch of this second part Greater love hath no man then to lay downe his life for his friend yet he that said so Crux Joh. 15.13 did more then so more then lay downe his life for he exposed it to violences and torments and all that for his enemies But doth not the necessity diminish the love where a testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the testator Heb. 9.16 was there then a necessity in Christs dying simply a necessity of coaction there was not such as is in the death of other men naturall or violent by the hand of Justice There was nothing more arbitrary more voluntary more spontaneous then all that Christ did for man And if you could consider a time before the contract between the Father and him had passed for the redemption of man by his death we might say that then there was no necessity upon Christ that he must dye But because that contract was from all eternity Luc. 24.26 supposing that contract that this peace was to be made by his death there entred the oportuit pati That Christ ought to suffer all these things and to enter into his glory And so as for his death so for the manner of his death by the Crosse it was not of absolute necessity and yet it was not by casualty neither not because he was to suffer in that Nation which did ordinarily punish such Malefactors such as he was accused to be seditious persons with that manner of death but all this proceeded ex
if we consider those who are in heaven and have been so from the first minute of their creation Angels why have they or how have they any reconciliation How needed they any and then how is this of Christ applyed unto them They needed a confirmation for the Angels were created in blessednesse but not in perfect blessednesse They might fall they did fall To those that fell can appertaine no reconciliation no more then to those that die in their sins for Quod homini mors Angelis casus August The fall of the Angels wrought upon them as the death of a man does upon him They are both equally incapable of change to better But to those Angels that stood their standing being of grace and their confirmation being not one transient act in God done at once but a continuall succession and emanation of daily grace belongs this reconciliation by Christ because all matter of grace and where any deficiency is to be supplyed whether by way of reparation as in man or by way of confirmation as in Angels proceeds from the Crosse from the Merits of Christ They are so reconciled then as that they are extra lapsus periculum out of the danger of falling but yet this stability this infallibility is not yet indelibly imprinted in their natures yet the Angels might fall if this reconciler did not sustain them for if those words reperit in Angelis iniquitatem that God found folly Job 4.18 weaknesse infirmity in his Angels be to be understood of the good Angels that stand confirmed as procul dubio de diabolo intelligi non potest Calvin without all doubt they cannot be understood of the ill Angels the best service of the best Angels devested of that successive grace that supports them if God should exacta rigorous account of it could not be acceptable in the sight of God So the Angels have a pacification and a reconciliation lest they should fall Thus things in heaven are reconciled to God by Christ and things on earth too In terra First the creature as S. Paul speakes that is other creatures then men For at the generall resurrection which is rooted in the resurrection of Christ and so hath relation to him the creature shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption Rom. 8.21 into the glorious liberty of the children of God for which the whole creation groanes and travailes in paine yet This deliverance then from this bondage the whole creature hath by Christ and that is their reconciliation And then are we reconciled by the blood of his Crosse when having crucified our selves by a true repentance we receive the seale of reconciliation in his blood in the Sacrament But the most proper and most litterall sense of these words is that all things in heaven and earth be reconciled to God that is to his glory to a fitter disposition to glorifie him by being reconciled to another in Christ that in him as head of the Church they in heaven and we upon earth be united together as one body in the Communion of Saints For this text hath a conformity and a harmony with that to the Ephesians and in sense as well as in words is the same Ephes 1.10 That God might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him where the word which we translate to gather doth properly signifie recapitulare to bring all things to their first head to Gods first purpose which was that Angels and men united in Christ Jesus might glorifie him eternally in the Kingdome of heaven Then are things in heaven restored and reconciled sayes S. Augustine Cum quod ex Angelis lapsum est ex hominibus redditur when good men have repaired the ruine of the bad Angels and filled their places And then are things on earth restored and reconciled Cum praedestinati à corruptionis vetustate renovantur when Gods elect children are delivered from the corruptions of this world to which even they are subject here Gregor Cum humiliati homines redeunt unde Apostatae superbiendo ceciderunt when men by humility are exalted to those places from which Angels fell by pride then are all things in heaven and earth reconciled in Christ The blood of the sacrifices was brought by the high priest Tostat in Levit 16. in sanctum sanctorum into the place of greatest holinesse but it was brought but once in festo expiationis in the feast of expiation but in the other parts of the Temple it was sprinkled every day The blood of the Crosse of Christ Jesus hath had his effect in sancto sanctorum even in the highest heavens in supplying their places that fell in confirming them that stood and in uniting us and them in himselfe as Head of all In the other parts of the Temple it is to be sprinkled daily Here in the militant Church upon earth there is still a reconciliation to be made not only toward one another in the band of charity but in our selves In our selves we may finde things in heaven and things on earth to reconcile There is a heavenly zeale but if it be not reconciled to discretion there is a heavenly purity but if it be not reconciled to the bearing of one anothers infirmities there is a heavenly liberty but if it be not reconciled to a care for the prevention of scandall All things in our heaven and our earth are not reconciled in Christ In a word till the flesh and the spirit be reconciled this reconciliation is not accomplished For neither spirit nor flesh must be destroyed in us a spirituall man is not all spirit he is a man still But then is flesh and spirit reconciled in Christ when in all the faculties of the soule and all the organs of the body we glorifie him in this world for then in the next world wee shall be glorified by him and with him in soule and in body too where we shall bee thoroughly reconciled to one another no suits no controversies and thoroughly to the Angels Mat. 22.30 Luc. 20.36 when we shall not only be sieut Angeli as the Angels in some one property but aequales Angelis equall to the Angels in all for Non erunt duae societates Angelorum hominum Men and Angels shall not make two companies sed omnium beatitudo erit uni adhaerere Deo August this shall be the blessednesse of them both to be united in one head Christ Jesus And these reconcilings are reconcilings enow for these are all that are in heaven and earth If you will reconcile things in heaven and earth with things in hell that is a reconciling out of this Text. If you will mingle the service of God and the service of this world there is no reconciling of God and Mammon in this Text. If you will mingle a true religion and a false religion there is no reconciling of God and
Belial in this Text. For the adhering of persons born within the Church of Rome to the Church of Rome our law sayes nothing to them if they come But for reconciling to the Church of Rome by persons born within the Allegeance of the King or for perswading of men to be so reconciled our law hath called by an infamous and Capitall name of Treason and yet every Tavern and Ordinary is full of such Traitors Every place from jest to earnest is filled with them from the very stage to the death-bed At a Comedy they will perswade you as you sit as you laugh And in your sicknesse they will perswade you as you lye as you dye And not only in the bed of sicknesse but in the bed of wantonnesse they perswade too and there may be examples of women that have thought it a fit way to gain a soul by prostituting themselves and by entertaining unlawfull love with a purpose to convert a servant which is somewhat a strange Topique to draw arguments of religion from Let me see a Dominican and a Jesuit reconciled in doctrinall papistry for freewill and predestination Let me see a French papist and an Italian papist reconciled in State-papistry for the Popes jurisdiction Let me see the Jesuits and the secular priests reconciled in England and when they are reconciled to one another let them presse reconciliation to their Church To end all Those men have their bodies from the earth and they have their soules from heaven and so all things in earth and heaven are reconciled but they have their Doctrine from the Devill and for things in hell there is no peace made and with things in hell there is no reconciliation to be had by the blood of his Crosse except we will tread that blood under our feet and make a mock of Christ Jesus and crucifie the Lord of Life againe SERMON II. Preached at Pauls upon Christmas Day in the Evening 1624. ESAIAH 7.14 Part of the first Lesson that Evening Therefore the Lord shall give you a signe Behold a Virgin shall conceive and beare a Son and shall call his name Immanuel SAint Bernard spent his consideration upon three remarkable conjunctions this Day First a Conjunction of God and Man in one person Christ Jesus Then a conjunction of the incompatible Titles Maid and Mother in one blessed woman the blessed Virgin Mary And thirdly a conjunction of Faith and the Reason of man that so beleeves and comprehends those two conjunctions Let us accompany these three with another strange conjunction in the first word of this Text Propterea Therefore for that joynes the anger of God and his mercy together God chides and rebukes the King Achaz by the Prophet he is angry with him and Therefore sayes the Text because he is angry he will give him a signe a seale of mercy Therefore the Lord shall give you a signe Behold a Virgin c. This Therefore shall therefore be a first part of this Exercise That God takes any occasion to shew mercy And a second shall be The particular way of his mercy declared here Divisie The Lord shall give you a signe And then a third and last what this signe was Behold a Virgin c. In these three parts we shall walk by these steps Having made our entrance into the first with that generall consideration that Gods mercy is alwaies in season upon that station upon that height we shall look into the particular occasions of Gods mercy here what this King Achaz had done to alien God and to avert his mercy and in those two branches we shall determine that part In the second we shall also first make this generall entrance That God persists in his own waies goes forward with his own purposes And then what his way and his purpose here was he would give them a signe and farther we shall not extend that second part In the third we have more steps to make First what this sign is in generall it is that there is a Redeemer given And then how thus First Virgo concipiet a Virgin shall conceive she shall be a Virgin then And Virgo pariet a Virgin shall bring forth she shall be a Virgin then And Pariet filium she shall beare a Son and therefore he is of her substance not only man but man of her And this Virgin shall call this Son Immanuel God with us that is God and Man in one person Though the Angel at the Conception tell Ioseph That he shall call his name Jesus Mat. 1.21 and tell Mary her selfe that she shall call his name Jesus Luc. 1.31 yet the blessed Virgin her selfe shall have a further reach a clearer illustration She shall call his name Immanuel God with us Others were called Iesus Iosuah was so divers others were so but in the Scriptures there was never any but Christ called Immanuel Though Iesus signifie a Saviour Ioseph was able to call this childe Iesus upon a more peculiar reason and way of salvation then others who had that name because they had saved the people from present calamities and imminent dangers for the Angel told Ioseph that he should therefore be called Iesus because he should save the people from their sins and so no Iosuah no other Iesus was a Iesus But the blessed Virgin saw more then this not only that he should be such a Iesus as should save them from their sins but she saw the manner how that he should be Immanuel God with us God and man in one person That so being Man he might suffer and being God that should give an infinite value to his sufferings according to the contract passed between the Father and him and so he should be Iesus a Saviour a Saviour from sin and this by this way and meanes And then that all this should be established and declared by an infallible signe with this Ecce Behold That whosoever can call upon God by that name Immanuel that is confesse Christ to bee come in the flesh that Man shall have an Ecce a light a sign a token an assurance that this Immanuel this Jesus this Saviour belongs unto him and he shall be able to say Ecce Behold mine eyes have seen thy salvation We begin with that which is elder then our beginning 1 Part. Psal 101.1 and shall over-live our end The mercy of God I will sing of thy mercy and judgement sayes David when we fixe our selves upon the meditation and modulation of the mercy of God even his judgements cannot put us out of tune but we shall sing and be chearefull even in them As God made grasse for beasts before he made beasts and beasts for man before he made man As in that first generation the Creation so in the regeneration our re-creating he begins with that which was necessary for that which followes Mercy before Judgement Nay to say that mercy was first is but to post-date mercy to preferre mercy but so is
child is borne unto us a Son is given He was not given he was not borne in six hundred yeares after that but such is the clearenesse of a Prophets sight such is the infallibility of Gods declared purpose So then if the Prophet could have made the King beleeve with such an assurednesse as if he had seene it done that God would give a deliverance to all mankinde by a Messias that had beene signe enough evidence enough to have argued thereupon That God who had done so much a greater worke would also give him a deliverance from that enemy that pressed him then If I can fixe my selfe with the strength of faith upon that which God hath done for man I cannot doubt of his mercy in any distresse If I lacke a signe I seeke no other but this That God was made man for me which the Church and Church-writers have well expressed by the word Incarnation for that acknowledges and denotes that God was made my flesh It were not so strange that he who is spirit should be made my spirit my soule but he was made my flesh Therefore have the Fathers delighted themselves in the variation of that word so far as that Hilarie cals it Corporationem That God assumed my Body And Damascen cals it Inhumanationem That God became this man soule and body And Irenaeus cals it Adunationem and Nysen Contemperationem A mingling says one an uniting saies the other of two of God and man in one person Shall I aske what needs all this what needed God to have put himselfe to this I may say with S. Augustine Alio modo poterat Deus nos liberare sed si aliter faceret similiter vestrae stultitiae displiceret What other way soever God had taken for our salvation our curiosity would no more have beene satisfied in that way than in this But God having chosen the way of Redemption which was the way of Justice God could do no otherwise Si homo non vicisset inimicum hominis non justè victus esset inimicus saies Irenaeus As if a man should get a battaile by the power of the Devill without fighting this were not a just victory so if God in mans behalfe had conquered the devill without man without dying it had not beene a just conquest I must not aske why God tooke this way to Incarnate his Son And shall I aske how this was done I doe not aske how Rheubarb or how Aloes came by this or this vertue to purge this or this humour in my body In talibus rebus tota ratio facti est potentia facientis Even in naturall things all the reason of all that is done August is the power and the will of him who infused that vertue into that creature And therefore much more when we come to these supernaturall points such as this birth of Christ we embrace S. Basils modesty and abstinence Nativitas ista silentio honoretur This mysterie is not so well celebrated with our words and discourse as with a holy silence and meditation Immo potius ne cogitationibus permittatur Nay saies that Father there may be danger in giving our selves leave to thinke or study too much of it Ne dixer is quando saies he praeteri hanc interrogationem Aske not thy selfe overcuriously when this mystery was accomplished be not over-vehement over-peremptory so far as to the perplexing of thine owne reason and understanding or so far as to the despising of the reasons of other men in calculating the time the day or houre of this nativity Praeteri hanc interrogationem passe over this question in good time and with convenient satisfaction Quando when Christ was borne But noli inquirere Quomodo saies S. Basil still never come to that question how it was done cum ad hoc nihil sit quod responderi possit for God hath given us no faculties to comprehend it no way to answer it That 's enough which we have in S. Iohn Every spirit that confesses that Iesus is come in the flesh is of God 1 Ioh. 4.2 for since it was a comming of Iesus Iesus was before so he was God and since he came in the flesh hee is now made man And that God and Man are so met is a signe to mee that God and I shall never bee parted This is the signe in generall That God hath had such a care of all men Virgo is a signe to me That he hath a care of me But then there are signes of this signe Divers All these A Virgin shall conceive A Virgin shall bring forth Bring forth a Son And whatsoever have been prophesied before she shall call his name Immanuel First a Virgin shall be a mother which is a very particular signe and was seene but once That which Gellius and Plinie say that a Virgin had a child almost 200. yeares before Christ that which Genebrard saies that the like fell out in France in his time are not within our faith and they are without our reason our faith stoopes not downe to them and our Reason reaches not up to them of this Virgin in our text If that be true which Aquinas cites out of the Roman story that in the times of Constantine and Irene upon a dead body found in a sepulchre there was found this inscription in a plate of gold Christus nascetur ex Virgine ego credo in eum Christ shall be borne of a Virgin and I beleeve in that Christ with this addition in that inscription O Sol sub Irenae Constantini temporibus iterum me videbis Though I be now buried from the sight of the sun yet in Constantines time the sun shall see me againe If this be true yet our ground is not upon such testimonie If God had not said it I would never have beleeved it And therefore I must have leave to doubt of that which some of the Roman Casuists have delivered That a Virgin may continue a virgin upon earth and receive the particular dignity of a Virgin in Heaven and yet have a child by the insinuation and practise of the Devill so that there shall be a father and a mother and yet both they Virgins That this Mother in our text was a Virgin is a peculiar a singular signe given as such by God never done but then and it is a singular testimony how acceptable to God that state of virginity is Hee does not dishonour physick that magnifies health nor does hee dishonour marriage that praises Virginity let them embrace that state that can and certainly many more might doe it then do if they would try whether they could or no and if they would follow S. Cyprians way Virgo non tantum esse sed intelligi esse debet credi It is not enough for a virgin to bee a virgin in her owne knowledge but she must governe her selfe so as that others may see that she is one and see that shee hath a desire and a
much much is due to her and this amongst the rest That she had so cleare notions above all others what kind of person her Son was that as Adam gave names according to natures so the Prophet here leaves it to her to name her Son according to his office She shall call his name Immanuel Wee told you at first Immanuel that both Ioseph and Mary were told by the Angel that his name was to be Jesus and we told you also that others besides him had beene called by that name of Jesus but as though others were called Jesus for Iosuah is called so Heb. 4.8 If Iesus had given them rest that is If Iosuah had c. And the son of Iosedech is called so throughout the Prophet Aggai yet there is observed a difference in the pointing and founding of those names from this our Jesus so though other women were called Mary as well as the blessed Virgin yet the Euangelists evermore make a difference betweene her name and the other Maries for Her they call Mariam and the rest Maria. Now this Jesus in this person is a reall an actuall Saviour he that hath already really and actually accomplished our salvation But the blessed Virgin had a clearer illustration then all that for she onely knew or she knew best the capacity in which he could be a Saviour that is as he is Immanuel God with us for she and she onely knew that he was the Sonne of God and not of naturall generation by man How much is enwrapped in this name Immanuel and how little time to unfold it I am afraid none at all A minute will serve to repeate that which S. Bernard saies and a day a life will not serve to comprehend it for to comprehend is not to know a thing as far as I can know it but to know it as far as that thing can be knowne and so onely God can comprehend God Immanuel est verbuminfans saies the Father He is the ancient of daies and yet in minority he is the Word it selfe and yet speechlesse he that is All that all the Prophets spoke of cannot speake He addes more He is Puer sapiens but a child and yet wiser then the elders wiser in the Cradle then they in the Chaire Hee is more Deus lactens God at whose breasts all creatures suck sucking at his Mothers breast and such a Mother as is a maid Immanuel is God with us it is not we with God God seeks us comes to us before wee to him And it is God with us in that notion in that termination El which is Deus fortis The powerfull God not onely iâ— infirmity as when hee died in our nature but as he is Deus fortis able and ready to assist and deliver us in all encumbrances so he is with us And with us usque ad consummationem till the end of the world in his Word and in the Sacraments for though I may not say as some have said That by the word of Consecration Cornelius in the administration of the Sacrament Christ is so infallibly produced as that if Christ had never been incarnate before yet at the pronouncing of those words of consecration he must necessarily be incarnate then yet I may say that God is as effectually present with every worthy receiver as that hee is not more effectually present with the Saints in Heaven And this is that which is intimated in that word which we seposed at first Ecce for the last of all Ecce Behold Behold a Virgin shall conceive c. God does not furnish a roome and leave it darke he sets up lights in it his first care was that his benefits should be seene he made light first and then creatures to be seene by that light He sheds himselfe from my mouth upon the whole auditory here he powres himselfe from my hand to all the Communicants at the table I can say to you all here The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you and remaine with you all I can say to them all there The Body of our Lord Iesus Christ which was given for you preserve you to everlasting life I can bring it so neare but onely the worthy hearer and the worthy receiver can call this Lord this Jesus this Christ Immanuel God with us onely that Virgin soule devirginated in the blood of Adam but restored in the blood of the Lambe hath this Ecce this testimony this assurance that God is with him they that have this Ecce this testimony in a rectified conscience are Godfathers to this child Jesus and may call him Immanuel God with us for as no man can deceive God so God can deceive no man God cannot live in the darke himselfe neither can he leave those who are his in the darke If he be with thee he will make thee see that he is with thee and never goe out of thy sight till he have brought thee where thou canst never goe out of his SERMON III. Preached upon Christmas day at S. Pauls 1625. GALAT. 4.4 5. But when the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sonnes WEE are met here to celebrate the generation of Christ Jesus Esay 53.8 but Generationem ejus quis enarrabit sayes the Prophet who shall declare his generation his age For for his essentiall generation be which he is the Son of God the Angels who are almost 6000. yeares elder then we are no nearer to that generation of his then if they had been made but yesterday Eternity hath no such distinctions no limits no periods no seasons no moneths no yeares no dayes Methusalem who was so long lived was no elder in respect of eternity then Davids son by Berseba that dyed the first week The first Fiat in the Creation of Adam and the last note of the blowing of the Trumpets to judgement though there be between these as it is ordinarily received 2000. yeares of nature between the Creation and the giving of the Law by Moses and 2000. yeares of the Law between that and the comming of Christ and 2000. yeares of Grace and Gospell between Christ first and his second comming yet this Creation and this Judgement are not a minute asunder in respect of eternity which hath no minutes Whence then arises all our vexation and labour all our anxieties and anguishes all our suits and pleadings for long leases for many lives for many yeares purchase in this world when if we be in our way to the eternall King of the eternall kingdome Christ Jesus all we are not yet all the world shall never be a minute old Generationem ejus quis enarrabit what tongue can declare what heart can conceive his generation which was so long before any heart or tongue was made But we come not now to consider that eternall generation
from the tyran to cancell the covenant betweene hell and them and restore them so far to their liberty as that they might come to their first Master if they would this was Redeeming But in his other worke which is Adoption and where the persons were more particular Adoptio not all but wee Christ hath taken us to him in a straiter and more peculiar title then Redeeming For A servando Servi men who were by another mans valour saved and redeemed from the enemy or from present death they became thereby servants to him that saved and redeemed them Redemption makes us who were but subjects before for all are so by creation servants but it is but servants but Adoption makes us who are thus made servants by Redemption sons 〈◊〉 for Adoption is verbum forense though it be a word which the Holy Ghost takes yet he takes it from a civill use and signification in which it expresses in divers circumstances our Adoption into the state of Gods children First he that adopted another must by that law be a man who had no children of his owne And this was Gods case towards us Hee had no children of his owne wee were all filii irae The children of wrath not one of us could be said to bee the child of God by nature if we had not had this Adoption in Christ Secondly he who Eph. ◠by that law might Adopt must be a Man who had had or naturally might have had children for an Infant under yeares or a man who by nature was disabled from having children could not Adopt another And this was Gods case towards us too for God had had children without Adoption for by our creation in Innocence we were the sons of God till we died all in one transgression and lost all right and all life and all meanes of regaining it but by this way of Adoption in Christ Jesus Againe no man might adopt an elder man then himselfe and so our Father by Adoption is not onely Antiquus dierum The ancient of Daies but Antiquior diebus ancienter then any Daies before Time was he is as Damascene forces himselfe to expresse it Super-principale principium the Beginning and the first Beginning and before the first beginning He is saies he aeternus and prae-aeternus Eternall and elder then any eternity that we can take into our imagination So likewise no man might adopt a man of better quality then himselfe and here we are so far from comparing as that we cannot comprehend his greatnesse and his goodnesse of whom and to whom S. Augustin saies well Quid mihi es If I shall goe about to declare thy goodnesse not to the world in generall but Quid mihi es how good thou art to me Miserere ut loquar saies he I must have more of thy goodnesse to be able to tell thy former goodnesse Be mercifull unto me againe that I may bee thereby able to declare how mercifull thou wast to me before except thou speake in me I cannot declare what thou hast done for me Lastly no man might be adopted into any other degree of kindred but into the name and right of a son he could not be an adopted Brother nor cosin nor nephew And this is especially our dignity wee have the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father So that as here is a fulnesse of time in the text so there is a fulnesse of persons All and a fulnesse of the worke belonging to them Redeeming Emancipation delivering from the chaines of Satan we were his by Creation we sold our selves for nothing and he redeemed us without money that is Esa 52. without any cost of ours but because for all this generall Redemption we may turne from him and submit our selves to other services therefore he hath Adopted us drawne into his family and into his more especiall care those who are chosen by him to be his Now that Redemption reached to all there was enough for all this dispensation of that Redemption this Adoption reaches onely to us all this is done That wee might receive the Adoption of Sonnes But who are this Wee why they are the elect of God But who are they Nos who are these elect Qui timidè rogat docet negare If a man aske me with a diffidence Can I be the adopted son of God that have rebelled against him in all my affections that have troden upon his Commandements in all mine actions that have divorced my selfe from him in preferring the love of his creatures before himselfe that have murmured at his corrections and thought them too much that have undervalued his benefits and thought them too little that have abandoned and prostituted my body his Temple to all uncleannesse and my spirit to indevotion and contempt of his Ordinances can I be the adopted son of God that have done this Ne timidè roges aske me not this with a diffidence and distrust in Gods mercy as if thou thoughtst with Cain thy iniquities were greater then could be forgiven But aske me with that holy confidence which belongs to a true convert Am not I who though I am never without sinne yet am never without hearty remorce and repentance for my sinnes though the weaknesse of my flesh sometimes betray mee the strength of his Spirit still recovers me though my body be under the paw of that lion that seekes whom hee may devoure yet the lion of Judah raises againe and upholds my soule though I wound my Saviour with many sinnes yet all these bee they never so many I strive against I lament confesse and forsake as farre as I am able Am not I the child of God and his adopted son in this state Roga fidenter aske me with a holy confidence in thine and my God doces affirmare thy very question gives me mine answer to thee thou teachest me to say thou art God himselfe teaches me to say so by his Apostle The foundation of God is sure and this is the Seale God knoweth who are his and let them that call upon his name depart from all iniquity He that departs so far as to repent former sinnes and shut up the wayes which he knows in his conscience doe lead him into tentations he is of this quorum one of us one of them who are adopted by Christ to be the sonnes of God I am of this quorum if I preach the Gospell sincerely and live thereafter for hee preaches twice a day that followes his owne doctrine and does as he saies And you are of this quorum if you preach over the Sermons which you heare to your owne soules in your meditation to your families in your relation to the world in your conversation If you come to this place to meet the Spirit of God and not to meet one another If you have sate in this place with a delight in the Word of God and not in the words of any speaker If you goe out of this
place in such a disposition as that if you should meet the last Trumpets at the gates and Christ Jesus in the clouds you would not intreat him to goe back and stay another yeare To enwrap all in one if you have a religious and sober assurance that you are his and walke according to your beleefe you are his and as the fulnesse of time so the fulnesse of grace is come upon you and you are not onely within the first commission of those who were under the Law and so Redeemed but of this quorum who are selected out of them the adopted sons of that God who never disinherits those that forsake not him SERMON IV. Preached at S. Pauls upon Christmas day 1626. LUKE 2.29 30. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word For mine eyes have seen thy salvation THe whole life of Christ was a continuall Passion others die Martyrs but Christ was born a Martyr He found a Golgatha where he was crucified even in Bethlem where he was born For to his tendernesse then the strawes were almost as sharp as the thornes after and the Manger as uneasie at first as his Crosse at last His birth and his death were but one continuall act and his Christmas-day and his Good Friday are but the evening and morning of one and the same day And as even his birth is his death so every action and passage that manifests Christ to us is his birth for Epiphany is manifestation And therefore though the Church doe now call Twelf-day Epiphany because upon that day Christ was manifested to the Gentiles in those Wise men who came then to worship him yet the Ancient Church called this day the day of Christs birth the Epiphany because this day Christ was manifested to the world by being born this day Every manifestation of Christ to the world to the Church to a particular soule is an Epiphany a Christmas-day Now there is no where a more evident manifestation of Christ then in that which induced this text Lord now lettest thou thy servant c. It had been revealed to Simeon whose words these are that he should see Christ before he dyed And actually and really substantially essentially bodily presentially personally he does see him so it is Simeons Epiphany Simeons Christmas-day So also this day in which we commemorate and celebrate the generall Epiphany the manifestation of Christ to the whole world in his birth all we we who besides our interest in the universall Epiphany and manifestation implyed in the very day have this day received the Body and Blood of Christ in his holy and blessed Sacrament have had another Epiphany another Christmas-day another manifestation and application of Christ to our selves And as the Church prepares our devotion before Christmas-day with foure Sundayes in Advent which brings Christ nearer and nearer unto us and remembers us that he is comming and then continues that remembrance again with the celebration of other festivals with it and after it as S. Stephen S. Iohn and the rest that follow so for this birth of Christ in your particular soules for this Epiphany this Christmas-day this manifestation of Christ which you have had in the most blessed Sacrament this day as you were prepared before by that which was said before so it belongs to the through celebration of the day and to the dignity of that mysterious act and to the blessednesse of worthy and the danger of unworthy Receivers to presse that evidence in your behalf and to enable you by a farther examination of your selves to depart in peace because your eyes have seen his salvation To be able to conclude to you selves that because you have had a Christmas-day a manifestation of Christs birth in your soules by the Sacrament you shall have a whole Good-Friday a crucifying and a consummatum est a measure of corrections and joy in those corrections tentations and the issue with the tentation And that you shall have a Resurrection and an Ascension an inchoation and an unremoveable possession of heaven it self in this world Make good your Christmas day that Christ by a worthy receiving of the Sacrament be born in you and he that dyed for you will live with you all the yeare and all the yeares of your lives and inspire into you and receive from you at the last gasp this blessed acclamation Lord now lettest thou thy servant c. The end of all digestions Divisio and concoctions is assimilation that that meate may become our body The end of all consideration of all the actions of such leading and exemplar men as Simeon was is assimilation too That we may be like that man Therefore we shall make it a first part to take a picture to give a character of this man to consider how Simeon was qualified and prepared matured and disposed to that confidence that he could desire to depart in peace intimated in that first word Now now that all that I look for is accomplished And farther expressed in the first word of the other clause For for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Now now the time is fulfilled For for mine eyes have seen And then enters the second part what is the greatest happinesse that can be well wished in this world by a man well prepared is that he may depart in peace Lord now lettest thou c. And all the way in every step that we make in his light in Simeons light we shall see light we shall consider that that preparation and disposition and acquiescence which Simeon had in his Epiphany in his visible seeing of Christ then is offered to us in this Epiphany in this manifestation and application of Christ in the Sacrament And that therefore every penitent and devout and reverent and worthy receiver hath had in that holy action his Now there are all things accomplished to him and his For for his eyes have seen his salvation and so may be content nay glad to depart in peace In the first part then 1 Part. in which we collect some marks and qualities in Simeon which prepared him to a quiet death qualities appliable to us in that capacity as we are â—â—tred for the Sacrament Praesentatio for in that way only we shall walk throughout this exercise wee consider first the action it self what was done at this time At this time our Saviour Christ according to the Law by which all the first born were to be presented to God in the Temple at a certain time after their birth was presented to God in the Temple and there acknowledged to be his And then bought of him again by his parents at a certain price prescribed in the Law A Lord could not exhibite his Son to his Tenants and say this is your Land-lord nor a King his Son to his Subjects and say this is your Prince but first he was to be tendred to God his they were all He that is not
at the Kings table certain portions of bread are made bread of Essay to passe over every dish whether for safety or for Majesty not only so civilly changed but changed supernaturally no nor Theophylacts transformatus est which seemes to be the word that goes farthest of all for this transforming cannot be intended of the outward form and fashion for that is not changed but be it of that internall form which is the very essence and nature of the bread so it is transformed so the bread hath received a new form a new essence a new nature because whereas the nature of bread is but to nourish the body the nature of this bread now is to nourish the soule And therefore Cum non dubitavit Dominus dicere hoc est corpus meum August cum signum daret corporis Since Christ forbore not to say This is my body when he gave the sign of his body why should we forbeare to say of that bread this is Christs body which is the Sacrament of his body You would have said at noone this light is the Sun and you will say now this light is the Candle That light was not the Sun this light is not the Candle but it is that portion of aire which the Sun did then and which the Candle doth now enlighten We say the Sacramentall bread is the body of Christ because God hath shed his Ordinance upon it and made it of another nature in the use though not in the substance Almost 600. years agoe the Romane Church made Berengarius sweare sensualiter tangitur frangitur teritur corpus Christs That the body of Christ was sensibly handled and broken and chewed They are ashamed of that now and have mollified it with many modifications and God knowes whether 100. yeares hence they will not bee as much ashamed of their Transubstantiation and see as much unnaturall absurdity in their Trent Canon or Lateran Canoâ—â— â—s they doe in Berengarius oath As they that deny the body of Christ to be in the Sacrament lose their footing in departing from their ground the expresse Scriptures so they that will assign a particular manner how that body is there have no footing no ground at all no Scripture to Anchor upon And so diving in a bottomlesse sea they poppe sometimes above water to take breath to appeare to say something and then snatch at a loose preposition that swims upon the face of the waters and so the Roman Church hath catched a Trans and others a Con and a Sub and an In and varied their poetry into a Transubstantiation and a Consubstantiation and the rest and rymed themselves beyond reason into absurdities and heresies and by a young figure of similiter cadens they are fallen alike into error though the errors that they are fallen into be not of a like nature nor danger We offer to goe no farther then according to his Word In the Sacrament our eyes see his salvation according to that so far as that hath manifested unto us and in that light wee depart in peace without scruple in our owne without offence to other mens consciences Having thus seene Simeon in these his Dimensions with these holy impressions 2 Part. these blessed characters upon him first 1 A man in a reverend age then 2 In a holy function and calling and with that 3 Righteous in the eyes of men and withall 4 Devout in the eyes of God 5 And made a Prophet upon himselfe by the holy Ghost 6 still wayting Gods time and his leasure 7 And in that desiring that his joy might be spread upon the whole Israel of God 8 Frequenting holy places the Temple 9 And that upon holy motions and there 10 seeing the salvation of the Lord that is Discerning the application of salvation in the Ordinances of the Church 11 And lastly contenting himselfe with so much therein as was according to his word and not inquiring farther then God had beene pleased to reveale and having reflected all these severall beames upon every worthy Receiver of the Sacrament the whole Quire of such worthy receivers may joyne with Simeon in this Antiphon Nunc Dimittis Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace c. S. Ambrose reades not this place as we doe Nunc dimittis but Nunc dimitte not Lord thou doest so but Lord doe so and so he gives it the forme of a prayer and implyes not only a patience and a contentednesse but a desire and an ambition that he might die at least such an indifferency and equanimity as Israel had when he had seen Ioseph Gen. 46.30 Now let me die since I have seen thy face after he had seen his face the next face that he desired to see was the face of God For howsoever there may bee some disorder some irregularity in S. Pauls Anathema pro fratribus that he desired to be separated from Christ rather then his brethren should that may scarce be drawen into consequence or made a wish for us to imitate yet to S. Pauls Cupio dissolvi to an expresse and to a deliberate desire to be dissolved here and to be united to Christ in heaven still with a primary relation to the glory of God and a reservation of the will of God a godly a rectified and a well-disposed man may safely come And so I know not upon what grounds Nicephorus fayes Simeon did wish and had his wish he prayed that he might die and actually he did die then Neither can a man at any time be fitter to make and obtain this wish then when his eyes have seen his salvation in the Sacrament At least make this an argument of your having beene worthy receivers thereof that you are in Aequilibriâ—o in an evennesse in an indifferency in an equanimity whether ye die this night or no. For howsoever S. Ambrose seem to make it a direct prayer that he might die he intends but such an equanimity such an indifferency Quasi servus nonrefugit vitae obsequium quasi sapiem lucrum mortis amplectitur sayes that Father Simeon is so good a servant as that he is content to serve his old master still in his old place in this world but yet he is so good a husband too as that hee sees what a gainer he might be if he might be made free by death If thou desire not death that is the case of very few to doe so in a rectified conscience and without distemper if thou beest not equally disposed towards death that should be the case of all and yet we are far from condemning all that are not come to that equanimity yet if thou now feare death inordinately I should feare that thine eyes have not seen thy salvation to day who can feare the darknesse of death that hath had the light of this world and of the next too who can feare death this night that hath had the Lord of life in his hand to day It is a question of
consternation a question that should strike him that should answer it dumb as Christs question Amice quomodo intrasti Friend how camest in hither did him to whom that was said which Origen askes in this case When wilt thou dare to goe out of this world if thou darest not goe now when Christ Jesus hath taken thee by the hand to leade thee out This then is truly to depart in peace In pace by the Gospell of peace to the God of peace My body is my prison and I would be so obedient to the Law as not to break prison I would not hasten my death by starving or macerating this body But if this prison be burnt down by continuall feavers or blowen down with continuall vapours would any man be so in love with that ground upon which that prison stood as to desire rather to stay there then to go home Our prisons are fallen our bodies are dead to many former uses Our palate dead in a tastlesnesse Our stomach dead in an indigestiblenesse our feete dead in a lamenesse and our invention in a dulnesse and our memory in a forgetfulnesse and yet as a man that should love the ground where his prison stood we love this clay that was a body in the dayes of our youth and but our prison then when it was at best wee abhorre the graves of our bodies and the body which in the best vigour thereof Gen. 40. was but the grave of the soule we over-love Pharaohs Butler and his Baker went both out of prison in a day and in both cases Ioseph in the interpretation of their dreames calls that their very discharge out of prison a lifting up of their heads a kinde of preferment Death raises every man alike so far as that it delivers every man from his prison from the incumbrances of this body both Baker and Butler were delivered of their prison but they passed into divers states after one to the restitution of his place the other to an ignominious execution Of thy prison thou shalt be delivered whether thou wilt or no thou must die Foole this night thy soule may be taken from thee and then what thou shalt be to morrow prophecy upon thy selfe by that which thou hast done to day If thou didst depart from that Table in peace thou canst depart from this world in peace And the peace of that Table is to come to it in pace desiderii with a contented minde and with an enjoying of those temporall blessings which thou hast without macerating thy self without usurping upon others without murmuring at God And to be at that Table in pace cogitationum in the peace of the Church without the spirit of contradiction or inquisition without uncharitablenesse towards others without curiosity in thy selfe And then to come from that Table in pace domestica with a bosome peace in thine own Conscience in that seale of thy reconciliation in that Sacrament that so riding at that Anchor and in that calme whether God enlarge thy voyage by enlarging thy life or put thee into the harbour by the breath by the breathlesnesse of Death either way East or West thou maist depart in peace according to his word that is as he shall be pleased to manifest his pleasure upon thee SERMON V. Preached at Pauls upon Christmas Day 1627. EXOD. 4.13 O my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send IT hath been suspitiously doubted more then that freely disputed more then that too absolutely denied that Christ was born the five and twentieth of December that this is Christmas-day yet for all these doubts and disputations and denials we forbeare not with the whole Church of God constantly and confidently to celebrate this for his Day It hath been doubted and disputed and denied too that this Text O my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send hath any relation to the sending of the Messiah to the comming of Christ to Christmas-day yet we forbeare not to wait upon the ancient Fathers and as they said to say that Moses having received a commandement from God to undertake that great employment of delivering the children of Israel from the oppressions of Pharaoh in Aegypt and having excused himselfe by some other modest and pious pretences at last when God pressed the imployment still upon him he determines all in this O my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send or as it is in our Margin when thou shouldest send It is a work next to the great work of the redemption of the whole world to redeem Israel out of Aegypt And therefore doe both workes at once put both into one hand and mitte quem missurus es send him whom I know thou wilt send him whom pursuing thine own decree thou shouldest send send Christ send him now to redeem Israel from Aegypt These words then though some have made that interpretation of them and truly not without a faire apparance and probability and verisimilitude doe not necessarily imply a slacknesse in Moses zeale that he desired not affectionately and earnestly the deliverance of his Nation from the pressures of Aegypt nor doe they imply any diffidence or distrust that God could not or would not endow him with faculties fit for that imployment But as a thoughtfull man a pensive a considerative man that stands still for a while with his eyes fixed upon the ground before his feete when he casts up his head hath presently instantly the Sun or the heavens for his object he sees not a tree nor a house nor a steeple by the way but as soon as his eye is departed from the earth where it was long fixed the next thing he sees is the Sun or the heavens so when Moses had fixed himselfe long upon the consideration of his own insufficiency for this service when he tooke his eye from that low peece of ground Himselfe considered as he was then he fell upon no tree no house no steeple no such consideration as this God may endow me improve me exalt me enable me qualifie me with faculties fit for this service but his first object was that which presented an infallibility with it Christ Jesus himselfe the Messias himselfe and the first petition that he offers to God is this O my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send For me as I am I am altogether unfit when thou shalt be pleased to work upon me thou wilt finde me but stone hard to receive thy holy impressions and then but snow easie to melt and lose those holy formes again There must be labour laid and perchance labour lost upon me but put the businesse into a safe had and under an infallible instrument and Mitte quem missurus es send him whom I know thou wilt send him whom pursuing thine own decree thou shouldest send send him send Christ now As much as Paradise exceeded all
faine reduce it to a narrower compasse of time Hâ—die si vocem ejus audieritis that you would heare his voyce to day and not harden your hearts to day And to a narrower compasse then that Dabitur in illa hora sayes Christ Luk. 12.12 The holy Ghost shall teach you in that houre In this houre the holy Ghost offers himselfe unto you And to a narrower compasse then an houre Beati qui nunc esuritis qui nunc fletis Luk. 6.21 Blessed are ye that hunger now and that mourn now that put not off years nor dayes nor hours but come to a sense of your sins and of the meanes of reconciliation to God now this minute And therefore when ye reade Iusta pondera just weights and Just balances Levit. 19.36 and just measures a just Hin and a just Ephah shall ye have I am the Lord your God Do not you say so I will hereafter I will come to just weights and measures and to deale uprightly in the world as soon as I have made a fortune established a state raised a competency for wife and children but yet I must doe as other men doe Levit. 23. when you reade Remember that you keep holy the Sabbath day and by the way remember that God hath called his other holy dayes and holy convocations Sabbaths too remember that you celebrate his Sabbaths by your presence here doe not you say so I will if I can rise time enough if I can dine soon enough when you reade sweare not at all doe not you say Matt. 5.34 no more I would but that I live amongst men that will not beleeve me without swearing and laugh at me if I did not sweare for duties of this kinde permanent and constant duties arising out of the evidence of Gods word such as just and true dealing with men such as keeping Gods Sabbaths such as not blaspheming his name have no latitude about them no conditions in them they have no circumstance but are all substance no apparell but are all body no body but are all soule no matter but are all forme They are not in Genere deliberativo they admit no deliberation but require an immediate and an exact execution But then for extraordinary things things that have not their evidence in the word of God formerly revealed unto us whether we consider matters of Doctrine Extraordinary and new opinions or matter of Practise and new commands from what depth of learning soever that new opinion seeme to us to rise or from heighth of Power soever that new-Command seeme to fall it is still in genere deliberativo still we are allowed nay still wee are commanded to deliberate Melch. Canus to doubt to consider before we execute As a good Author in the Roman Church sayes Perniciosius est Ecclesiae It is more dangerous to the Church to accept an Apocryphall book for Canonicall then to reject a Canonicall booke for Apocryphall so may it be more dangerous to doe some things which to a distempered man may seeme to be commanded by God then to forbeare some things which are truely commanded by him God had rather that himselfe should be suspected then that a false god should be admitted The easinesse of admitting Revelations and Visions and Apparitions of spirits and Purgatory souls in the Roman Church And then the overbending and super-exaltation of zeale and the captivity to the private spirit which some have fallen into that have not beene content to consist in moderate and middle wayes in the Reformed Church this easinesse of admitting imaginary apparitions of spirits in the Papist and this easinesse of submitting to the private spirit in the Schismatike hath produced effects equally mischievous Melancholy being made the seat of Religion on the one side Basil by the Papist and Phrenzy on the other side by the Schismatick Multi prae studio immoderato intendi in contrarium aberrarunt à medio was the observation and the complaint of that Father in his time and his prophecy of ours That many times an over-vehement bending into some way of our owne choosing does not onely withdraw us from the left hand way the way of superstition and Idolatry from which wee should all draw but from the middle way too in which we should stand and walk And then Leo. the danger is thus great facile in omnia flagitia impulit quos religione decepit diabolus As God doth the devill also doth make Zeal and Religion his instrument And in other tentations the devill is but a serpent but in this when he makes zeale and religion his instrument he is a Lyon As long as the devill doth but say Doe this or thou wilt live a foole and dye a begger Doe this or thou canst not live in this world the devill is but a devill he playes but a devils part a lyer a seducer But when the devill comes to say Doe this or thou canst not live in the next world thou canst not be saved here the devill pretends to be God here he acts Gods part and so prevails the more powerfully upon us And then when men are so mis-transported either in opinions or in actions with this private spirit and inordinate zeale Quibus non potest auferre fidem aufert charitatem sayes the same Father Though the devill hath not quenched faith in that man himselfe yet he hath quenched that mans charity towards other men Though that man might be saved in that opinion which he holds because perchance that opinion destroyes no fundamentall point yet his salvation is shrewdly shaked and endangered in his uncharitable thinking that no body can be saved that thinks otherwise And as it works thus to an uncharitablenesse in private so doth it to turbulency and sedition in the publique Of which Eusebius we have a pregnant and an aplyable example in the life of Constantine the Emperour In his time there arose some new questions and new opinions in some points of Religion the Emperor writ alike to both parties thus De rebus ejusmodi nec omnino rogetis nec rogati respondeatis Doe you move no questions in such things your selves and if any other doe yet be not you too forward to write so much as against them What questions doth he meane That is expressed Quas nulla lex Canonve Ecclesiasticus necessario praescribit Such questions as are not evidently declared and more then evidently declared necessarily enjoyned by some law some rule some Canon of the Church Disturbe not the peace of the Church upon Inferences and Consequences but deale onely upon those things which are evidently declared in the Articles and necessarily enjoyned by the Church And yet though that Emperor declared himselfe on neither side nor did any act in favour of either side yet because he did not declare himselfe on their side those promovers of these new opinions Eo pervenere sayes that Author ut imagines Imperatoris violarint They
if thou pay these debts duly for as God tels us we may buy without money so we may pay debts without money and then ignorant and unlettered in the midst of thy library and languages and poore and beggarly in the midst of thy coffers and rentals if thou call not thy selfe to this account for his debt to himselfe alone is debt enough to oppresse any man Solus mihi servandus sayes S. Bernard I am Bishop over no man but my selfe I have no larger Diocesse then mine own person no mans debts to pay but mine own nor any man to pay them to but to my selfe Solus tamen mihi sum scandalo yet I am scandalized in my selfe I have brought an ill name upon my selfe to be an ill pay master to mine own soul Solus taedio though I have no creditor to disappoint but my selfe yet I am growen a gedious and dilatory man to my self I have taken longer and longer daies with my selfe and still put off my repentances from sicknesse to sicknesse Solus taedio solus oneri I am a burden to my selfe I have over-burdened my self even with collaterall security with entring into new bands with new vows upon my repentances new contracts new stipulations new protestations to my God which I have forfeited also solus oneri and solus periculo I am become a dangerous man to my selfe I dare not trust my self alone though I abstain from my former sinfull company yet custome of sinne hath made me a tentation to my self and I sin where no tentation offers it self Solus mihi servandus I have no body to save sayes S. Bernard in his Cloister but my self and I cannot doe that but I damne my self alone Begin therefore to pay these debts to thy selfe betimes for as we told you at beginning some you are to tender at noone some at evening Even at your noon and warmest Sun-shine of prosperity you owe your selves a true information how you came by that prosperity who gave it you and why he gave it Judg. 9.7 Let not the Olive boast of her own fatnesse nor the Fig-tree of her own sweetnesse nor the Vine of her own fruitfulnesse for we were all but Brambles Let no man say I could not misse a fortune for I have studied all my youth How many men have studied more nights then he hath done hours and studied themselves blinde and mad in the Mathematiques yet withers in beggery in a corner Let him never adde But I studied in a usefull and gainfull profession How many have done so too and yet never compassed the favour of a Judge And how many that have had all that have struck upon a Rock even at full Sea and perished there In their Grandfathers great Grandfathers in a few generations whosoever is greatest now must say With this staffe came I over Jordan nay without any staffe came I over Jordan for he had in them at first a beginning of nothing As for spiritual happinesse Non volentis nec currentis sed miserentis Dei It is not in him that would run nor in him that doth but only in God that prospers his course so for the things of this world it is in vain to rise early and to lie down late and to eat the bread of sorrow for nisi Dominus aedificaverit nisi Dominus custodierit except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain Come not therefore to say I studied more then my fellows and therefore am richer then my fellows but say God that gave me my contemplations at first gave me my practice after and hath given me his blessing now How many men have worn their braines upon other studies and spent their time and themselves therein how many men have studied more in thine own profession and yet for diffidence in themselves or some disfavour from others have not had thy practice How many men have been equall to thee in study in practice and in getting too and yet upon a wanton confidence that that world would alwayes last or upon the burden of many children and an expensive breeding of them or for other reasons which God hath found in his wayes are left upon the sand at last in a low fortune whilest the Sun shines upon thee in all these pay thy self the debt of knowing whence and why all this came for else thou canst not know how much or how little is thine nor thou canst not come to restore that which is none of thine but unjustly wrung from others Pay therefore this debt of surveying thine estate and then pay thy selfe thine own too by a chearfull enjoying and using that which is truly thine and doe not deny nor defraud thy selfe of those things which are thine and so become a wretched debtor to thy back or to thy belly as though the world had not enough or God knew not what were enough for thee Pay this debt to thy selfe of looking into thy debts of surveying of severing of serving thy selfe with that which is truly thine at thy noone in the best of thy fortune and in the strength of thine understanding that when thou commest to pay thy other thy last debt to thy self which is to open a doore out of this world by the dissolution of body and soule thou have not all thy money to tell over when the Sun is ready to set all the account to make of every bag of money and of every quillet of land whose it is and whether it be his that looks for it from thee or his from whom it was taken by thee whether it belong to thine heire that weepes joyfull tears behinde the curtain or belong to him that weeps true and bloody teares in the hole in a prison There will come a time when that land that thou leavest shall not be his land when it shall be no bodies land when it shall be no land for the earth must perish there will be a time when there shall be no Mannors no Acres in the world and yet there shall lie Mannors and Acres upon thy soul when land shall be no more when time shall be no more and thou passe away not into the land of the living but of eternall death Then the Accuser will be ready to interline the schedules of thy debts thy sins and infert false debts by abusing an over-tendernesse which may be in thy conscience then in thy last sicknesse in thy death-bed Then he will be ready to adde a cyphar more to thy debts and make hundreds thousands and abuse the faintnesse which may be in thy conscience then in thy last sicknesse in thy death-bed Then he will be ready to abuse even thy confidence in God and bring thee to think that as a Pirate ventures boldly home though all that he hath be stoln if he be rich enough to bribe for a pardon so howsoever those families perish whom thou hast ruined and those
that blessed Sermon of our Saviours which is called the Sermon of Beatitudes So that we shall make it a part apart to consider the Sermon from which this Text is taken before we dilate the Text it self into a Sermon for there will arise some usefull observations out of these three doubts first Quae concio what this Sermon it self was and then Quibus to what Auditory it was preached And lastly Quomodo in what manner Christ preached this Sermon And these three the Sermon the Auditory the disposition of the Preacher will also be three branches of this which we shall make our first part before we come to the other three of the Text it self First then there is this doubt made of this Sermon altogether 1 Part. whether this Sermon which S. Matthew records here be the same Sermon which S. Luke mentions in his sixth Chapter or whether they were preached at severall times The greater part of the ancients but yet not all take them to be severall Sermons The greater part of the later men and yet not all neither take them to be but one and the same Sermon If it be so if both be but one Sermon this may be justly considered that since S. Luke remembers but a few passages and a few parts of that Sermon in respect of S. Matthew for S. Matthews relation is large and particular and S. Lukes more briefe and summary they that come to heare Sermons and would make benefit by them by a subsequent meditation must not think themselves frustrated of their purposes if they do not understand all or not remember all the Sermon Scarce any Sermon is so preached or so intended as that all works upon all or all belongs unto all The Lord and his Spirit puts into the Preachers mouth a judgement against oppression against extortion against usury and he utters that judgement But perchance thou hast no lands to rack tenants no office to grinde suitors no mony to devoure a debtor by usury and so that passage of the Sermon bent against oppression or extortion or usury concernes not thee affects not thee But next to thee there may sit an oppressor or extortioner or usurer and he needed that and by Gods grace receives benefit by that which found nothing to work upon in thee And then thy turn comes after and God speaks to thy soul in a discovery of those sins to which thou art enclined and then he gives thy neighbour who was pinched and brought to a remorse before that refreshing which thou hadst before that is a thankfull acknowledgement that though he be subject to other sins yet God hath preserved him from that particular God directs the tongue of his Ministers as he doth his showres of rain They fall upon the face of a large compasse of earth when as all that earth did not need that rain The whole Congregation is oftentimes in common entendment conformable and well setled in all matters of Doctrine and all matters of Discipline And yet God directs us sometimes to extend our discourse perchance with a zeale and a vehemence which may seem unnecessary and impertinent because all in the Church are presumed to be of one minde in the proofe of our doctrine against Papists or of our discipline against Non-conformitans For Gods eye sees in what seat there sits or in what corner there stands some one man that wavers in matters of Doctrine and enclines to hearken after a Seducer a Jesuit or a Semi-Jesuit a practising Papist or a Sesqui-Jesuit a Jesuited Lady And Gods eye sees in what seat there sits or in what corner there stands some weak soul that is scandalized with some Ceremony or part of our Discipline and in danger of falling from the unity of the Church And for the refreshing of that one span of ground God le ts fall a whole showre of rain for the rectifying of that one soul God poures out the Meditations of the Preacher into such a subject as perchance doth little concern the rest of the Congregation S. Matthew relates Christs Sermon at large and S. Luke but briefly and yet S. Luke remembers some things that S. Matthew had left out If thou remember not all that was presented to thy faith all the Citations of places of Scriptures nor all that was presented to thy reason all the deducements and inferences of the Schooles nor all that was presented to thy spirituall delight all the sentences of ornament produced out of the Fathers yet if thou remember that which concerned thy sin and thy soul if thou meditate upon that apply that thou hast brought away all the Sermon all that was intended by the Holy Ghost to be preached to thee And if thou have done so as at a donative at a Coronation or other solemnity when mony is throwne among the people though thou light but upon one shilling of that money thou canst not think that all the rest is lost but that some others are the richer for it though thou beest not so if thou remember or apply or understand but one part of the Sermon doe not think all the rest to have been idly or unnecessarily or impertinently spoken for thou broughtest a feaver and hast had thy Julips another brought a fainting and a diffident spirit and must have his Cordials Thus then if S. Lukes Sermon be the same that S. Matthews was we see by S. Lukes manner of repeating it That a Sermon may be well remembred and well applyed though all the parts thereof be not so And then if these were divers Sermons and so preached by Christ at severall times there arises also this consideration That Christ did not and therefore we need not forbeare to preach the same particular Doctrines or to handle the same particular points which we or others in that place have handled before A preachers end is not a gathering of fame to himselfe but a gathering of soules to God and his way is not novelty but edification If we consider the Sermon in Saint Matthew and the Sermon in S. Luke the purpose and the scope of both the matter and the forme of both the body and the parts of both the phrase and the language of both is for the most part the same and yet Christ forbore not to preach it twice This excuses no mans ignorance that is not able to preach seasonably and to break and distribute the bread of life according to the emergent necessities of that Congregation at that time Nor it excuses no mans lazinesse that will not employ his whole time upon his calling Nor any mans vain-glory and ostentation who having made a Pye of Plums without meat offers it to sale in every Market and having made an Oration of Flowres and Figures and Phrases without strength sings it over in every Pulpit It excuses no mans ignorance nor lazinesse nor vain-glory but yet it reproaches their itching and curious eares to whom any repetition of the same things is irk some and
under our senses non sensus nor with any thing which we can bring studiously or which can fall casually into our fancy or imagination non phantasia And upon the whole matter and all the evidence he joynes in this verdict with S. Hierome Tunc cernitur cum invisibilis creditur God is best seen by us when we confesse that he cannot be seen of us S. Augustine denies not That our eyes shall be spirituall eyes but in what proportion spirituall or to what particular use spirituall he will not pretend to know Vtrum in simplicitatem spiritus cedat it a ut totus homo jam sit spiritus whether the body of man shall be so attenuated and rarified as that the whole man shall become spirit Aut animam adjuvet corpus ad videndum whether the body shall contribute and assist the faculties of the soul as in this life it doth Fateor me non alicubi legisse quod existimarem sufficere ad docendum aut ad discendum sayes that blessed and sober Father I confesse I never read any thing that I thought sufficient to rectifie mine own judgement much lesse to change anothers But to all those places of Scripture which are to this purpose That the Angels see the face of God and that we shall be like the Angels and see God face to face he answers well Facies Dei ea est qua Deus innotescit nobis That is the face of God to us all by which God is known and manifested to us in which sense Reason is the face of God to the naturall man the Law to the Jew and the Gospell to us and such a sight of God doth no more put such a power of seeing in our bodily eyes then it puts a face upon God We shall see God face to face and yet God shall have no face to be seen nor we bodily eyes to see him by For Non legi That I have not read sayes he This sayes he I have read Regi incorruptibili invisibili Vnto the King eternall immortall invisible c. Neither dare I sayes S. Augustine 1 Tim. 1.17 sever those things which the Spirit of God hath joyned Vt dicam incorruptibilem quidem in saecula saeculorum invisibilem autem in hoc saeculo I dare not say that God is immortall in this world and in the next world too but invisible in this world only and visible in the next for the Holy Ghost hath pronounced him invisible as far as immortall Si rogas sayes he if you presse me Cannot God then be seen Yes I confesse he can If you ask me how Cum vult sicuti vult He may be seen when he will and how he will If you pursue it can he not be seen in his Essence yes he can If you proceed farther and ask me how again I can say no more sayes he then Christ sayes Erimus sicut Angeli we shall be like the Angels and we shall see God so as the Angels do but they see him not with bodily eyes nor as an object which is that that S. Ambrose and S. Hicrome and S. Chrysostome intend when they deny that the Angels see the Essence of God that is they see him not otherwise then by understanding him All agree in this resolution Solus Deus videt cor solum cor videt Deum Only God can see the heart of man and only the heart of man can see God For in this world our bodily eyes do not see bodies they see but colours and dimensions they see not bodies much lesse shall our eyes though spirituall see spirits in heaven least of all that Spirit in comparison of of whom Angels and our spirits are but grosse bodies So far the Fathers leade us towards a determination herein and thus far the School Nulla visio naturalis in terris Here in this life neither the eyes nor the minde of the most subtile and most sanctified man can see the Essence of God Nulla visio corporalis in coelis The bodily eyes of no man in the highest stare of glorification in heaven can see the Essence of God Nulla visio comprehensiva omnino That faculty of man which shall see the Essence of God in heaven yet shall not comprehend that Essence for to comprehend is not to know a thing as well as I can know it but to know it as well as that thing can be knowen and so only God himself can see and know that is comprehend God To end all in the whole body of the Scriptures we have no light that our bodily eyes shall be so enlightned in the Resurrection Job 19.26 as to see the Essence of God For when Iob sayes In carne mea In my flesh I shall see God and Oculi mei videbunt Mine eyes shall see God if these words must necessarily be understood of the last Resurrection which some Expositors deny and Calvin in particular understands them of a particular resurrection from that calamity which lay upon Iob at that time and of his confidence that God would raise him again even in this life yet howsoever and to which resurrection soever you refer them the words must be understood thus In my flesh that is when my soule shall re-assume this flesh in the Resurrection In that flesh I shall see God he doth not say That flesh shall but Hee in that flesh shall So when hee adds Oculi mei Mine eyes shall do it he intends Oculos internos of which the Apostle speaks The eyes of your understanding being enlightned Ephes 1.18 So then a faculty to see him so in his Essence with bodily eyes we finde not in Scripture But yet in the Scriptures we do finde that we shall see him so Sicuti est As he is in his Essence How It is a safe answer which S. Augustine gives in all such questions Meliùs affirmamus de quibus minimè dubitamus Only those things are safely affirmed and resolved which admit no doubt This hath never admitted any doubt but that our soule and her faculties shall be so exalted in that state of glory as that in those internall faculties of the soul so exalted we shall see the very Essence of God which no measure of the light of grace communicated to any the most fanctified man here doth effect but only the light of glory there shall And therefore this being cleare that in the faculties of our soules we shall see him Restat ut de illa visione secundum interiorem hominem certissimi simus sayes that blessed and sober Father As our reason is satisfied that the Saints in heaven shall see God so so let our consciences be satisfied that we have an interest in that state and that we in particular shall come to that sight of God Et cor mundum ad illam visionem praeparemus Let us not abuse our selves with false assurances nor rest in any other then this that we have made clean and pure our
in the warfare Mat. 26.38 so we have our example in our great Generall Christ Jesus Who though his soul were heavy and heavy unto death though he had a baptisme to be baptised with coarctabatur he was straightned and in paine till it were accomplished and though he had power to lay down his soul Iohn 10.18 and take it up againe and no man else could take it from him yet he sought it out to the last houre and till his houre came he would not prevent it nor lay downe his soule Vae desiderantibus woe unto them that desire any other end of Gods correction but what he hath ordained and appointed for ut quid vobis what shall you get by choosing your owne wayes Tenebrae non lux They shall passe out of this world in this inward darknesse of melancholy and dejection of spirit into the outward darknesse which is an everlasting exclusion from the Father of lights and from the Kingdome of joy their case is well expressed in the next verse to our Text they shall flie from a Lyon and a Beare shall meet them they shall leane on a wall and a Serpent shall bite them they shall end this life by a miserable and hasty death and out of that death shall grow an immortall life in torments which no wearinesse nor desire nor practice can ever bring to an end And here in this acceptation of these words this vae falls directly upon them who colouring and apparelling treason in martyrdome expose their lives to the danger of the Law Scribanius embrace death these of whom one of their own society saith that the Scevolaes the Caves the Porciaes the Cleopatraes of the old time were nothing to the Jesuites for saith he they could dye once but they lacked courage ad multas mortes perchance hee meanes that after those men were once in danger of the Law and forfeited their lives by one comming they could come again and again as often as the plentifull mercy of their King would send them away Rapiunt mortem spontanea irruptione sayes he to their glory they are voluntary and violent pursuers of their own death and as he expresses it Crederes morbo adesos Baron Martyrâ—â— 29. Decemb you would think that the desire of death is a disease in them A graver man then he mistakes their case and cause of death as much you are saith he incouraging those of our Nation to the pursuit of death in sacris septis ad martyrium saginati fed up and fatned here for martyrdome Sacramento sanguinem spospondistis they have taken an oath that they will be hanged but that he in whom as his great patterne God himselfe mercy is above all his works out of his abundant sweetnesse makes them perjured when they have so Tworne and vowed their owne ruine But those that send them give not the lives of these men so freely so cheaply as they pretend But as in dry Pumps men poure in a little water that they may pump up more so they are content to drop in a little blood of imaginary but traiterous Martyrs that by that at last they may draw up at last the royall blood of Princes and the loyall blood of Subjects vae desiderantibus woe to them that are made thus ambitious of their owne ruine ut quid vobis Tenebrae non lux you are kept in darknesse in this world and sent into darknesse from heaven into the next and so your ambition ad multas mortes shall be satisfied you dye more then one death morte moriemini this death delivers you to another from which you shall never be delivered We have now past through these three acceptations of these words Conclusion which have falne into the contemplation and meditation of the Ancients in their Expositions of this Text as this dark day of the Lord signifies his judgements upon Atheisticall scorners in this world as it signifies his last irrevocable and irremediable judgements upon hypocriticall relyers upon their own righteousnesse in the next world and between both as it signifies their uncomfortable passage out of this life who bring their death inordinately upon themselves and we shall shut up all with one signification more of the Lords day That that is the Lords day of which the whole Lent is the Vigil and the Eve All this time of mortification and our often meeting in this place to heare of our mortality and our immortality which are the two reall Texts and Subjects of all our Sermons All this time is the Eve of the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ That is the Lords day when all our mortification and dejection of spirit and humbling of our soules shall be abundantly exalted in his resurrection and when all our fasts and abstinence shall be abundantly recompenced in the participation of his body his bloud in the Sacrament Gods Chancery is alwayes open and his seale works alwaies at all times remission of sins may be sealed to a penitent soule in the Sacrament That clause which the Chancellors had in their Patents under the Romane Emperours Vt praerogativamgerat conscientiae nostrae is in our commission too for God hath put his conscience into his Church whose sins are remitted there are remitted in heaven at all times but yet dies Domini the Lords resurrection is as the full Terme a more generall application of this seale of reconciliation But vae desiderantibus woe unto them that desire that day only because they would have these dayes of preaching and prayer and fasting and trouble some preparation past and gone Vae desiderantibus woe unto them who desire that day onely that by receâ—â—ing the Sacrament day that they might delude the world as though they were not of a contrary religion in their heart vae desiderantibus woe unto them who present themselves that day without such a preparation as becomes so fearful and mystesious an action upon any carnall or collaterall respects Before that day of the Lord comes comes the day of his crucifying before you come to that day if you come not to a crucifying of your selves to the world and the world to you ut quid vobis what shall you get by that day you shall prophane that day and the Author of it as to make that day of Christs triumph the triumph of Satan and to make even that body and bloud of Christ Jesus Vehiculum Satanae his Chariot to enter into you as he did into Iudas That day of the Lord will be darknesse and not light and that darknesse will be that you shall not discerne the Lords body you shall scatter all your thoughts upon wrangling and controversies de modo how the Lords body can be there and you shall not discerne by the effects nor in your owne conscience that the Lords body is there at all But you shall take it to be onely an obedience to civill or Ecclesiasticall
cals the Firmament that great expansion from Gods chaire to his footstoole from Heaven to earth there was a defect which God did not supply that day nor the next but the fourth day he did for that day he made those bodies those great and lightsome bodies the Sunne and Moone and Starres and placed them in the Firmament So also the Heaven of Heavens the Presence Chamber of God himselfe expects the presence of our bodies No State upon earth can subsist without those bodies Men of their owne For men that are supplied from others may either in necessity or in indignation be withdrawne and so that State which stood upon forraine legs sinks Let the head be gold Dan. 2.31 and the armes silver and the belly brasse if the feete be clay Men that may slip and molder away all is but an Image all is but a dreame of an Image for forraine helps are rather crutches then legs There must be bodies Men and able bodies able men Men that eate the good things of the land their owne figges and olives Men not macerated with extortions They are glorified bodies that make up the kingdome of Heaven bodies that partake of the good of the State that make up the State Bodies able bodies and lastly bodies inanimated with one soule one vegetative soule all must be sensible and compassionate of one anothers miserie and especially the Immortall soule one supreame soule one Religion For as God hath made us under good Princes a great example of all that Abundance of Men Men that live like men men united in one Religion so wee need not goe farre for an example of a slippery and uncertaine being where they must stand upon others Mens men and must over-load all men with exactions and distortions and convulsions and earthquakes in the multiplicity of Religions The Kingdome of Heaven must have bodies Kingdomes of the earth must have them and if upon the earth thou beest in the way to Heaven thou must have a body too a body of thine owne a body in thy possession for thy body hath thee and not thou it if thy body tyrannize over thee If thou canst not withdraw thine eye from an object of tentation or withhold thy hand from subscribing against thy conscience nor turne thine eare from a popular and seditious Libell what hast thou towards a man Thou hast no soule nay thou hast no body There is a body but thou hast it not it is not thine it is not in thy power Thy body will rebell against thee even in a sin It will not performe a sin when and where thou wouldst have it Much more will it rebell against any good worke till thou have imprinted Stigmata Iesu Gal. 6.17 The Markes of the Lord Iesus which were but exemplar in him but are essentiall and necessary to thee abstinencies and such discreete disciplines and mortifications as may subdue that body to thee and make it thine for till then it is but thine enemy and maintaines a warre against thee and war and enemie is the Metaphore which the holy Ghost hath taken here to expresse a want a kind of imperfectnesse even in Heaven it selfe Bellum Symbolum mali As peace is of all goodnesse so warre is an embleme a Hieroglyphique of all misery And that is our second step in this paraphrase If the feete of them that preach peace be beautifull And Vestig 2. Pax bellum O how beautifull are the feete of them that preach peace The Prophet Isaiah askes the question 52.7 And the Prophet Nahum askes it 1.15 and the Apostle S. Paul askes it Rom. 10.15 They all aske it but none answers it who shall answer us if we aske How beautifull is his face who is the Author of this peace when we shall see that in the glory of Heaven the Center of all true peace It was the inheritance of Christ Jesus upon the earth he had it at his birth he brought it with him Glory be to God on high peace upon earth Luke 2.14 Colos 1.20 It was his purchase upon earth He made peace indeed he bought peace through the blood of his Crosse It was his Testament Iohn 14.27 when he went from earth Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you Divide with him in that blessed Inheritance partake with him in that blessed Purchase enrich thy selfe with that blessed Legacy his Peace Let the whole world be in thy consideration as one house and then consider in that in the peacefull harmony of creatures in the peacefull succession and connexion of causes and effects the peace of Nature Let this Kingdome where God hath blessed thee with a being be the Gallery the best roome of that house and consider in the two walls of that Gallery the Church and the State the peace of a royall and a religious Wisedome Let thine owne family be a Cabinet in this Gallery and finde in all the boxes thereof in the severall duties of Wife and Children and servants the peace of vertue and of the father and mother of all vertues active discretion passive obedience and then lastly let thine owne bosome be the secret box and reserve in this Cabinet and then the best Jewell in the best Cabinet and that in the best Gallery of the best house that can be had peace with the Creature peace in the Church peace in the State peace in thy house peace in thy heart is a faire Modell and a lovely designe even of the heavenly Jerusalem which is Visio pacis where there is no object but peace And therefore the holy Ghost to intimate to us that happy perfectnesse which wee shall have at last and not till then chooses the Metaphor of an enemy and enmity to avert us from looking for true peace from any thing that presents it selfe in the way Neither truly could the holy Ghost imprint more horror by any word then that which intimates war as the word enemy does It is but a little way that the Poet hath got in description of war Iam seges est that now that place is ploughed where the great City stood for it is not so great a depopulation to translate a City from Merchants to husbandmen from shops to ploughes as it is from many Husbandmen to one Shepheard and yet that hath beene often done And all that at most is but a depopulation it is not a devastation that Troy was ploughed But when the Prophet Isaiah comes to the devastation to the extermination of a war Esay 7.23 he expresses it first thus Where there were a thousand Vineyards at a cheape rate all the land become briars and thornes That is much but there is more Esay 13.13 The earth shall be removed out of her place that Land that Nation shall no more be called that Nation nor that Land But yet more then that too Not onely not that people Esay 13.19 but no othe shall ever inhabit it It shall
never be inhabited from generation to generation neither shall Shepheards be there Not onely no Merchant nor Husbandman but no depopulator none but Owles and Ostriches and Satyres Indeed God knowes what Ochim and Ziim words which truly we cannot translate In a word 2 Sam. 24.13 the horror of War is best discerned in the company he keeps in his associates And when the Prophet God brought War into the presence of David there came with him Famine and Pestilence And when Famine entred we see the effects It brought Mothers to eat their Children of a span long that is as some Expositors take it to take medicines to procure abortions to cast their Children that they might have Children to eate And when War 's other companion the Pestilence entred we see the effects of that too In lesse then half the time that it was threatned for it devoured threescore and ten thousand of Davids men and yet for all the vehemence the violence the impetuousnesse of this Pestilence David chose this Pestilence rather then a War Militia and Malitia are words of so neare a sound as that the vulgat Edition takes them as one For where the Prophet speaking of the miseries that Hierusalem had suffered sayes Finita militia ejus Esay 42.2 Let her warfare be at an end they reade Finita malitia ejus Let her misery be at an end War and Misery is all one thing But is there any of this in heaven Even the Saints in heaven lack something of the consummation of their happinesse Quia hostis because they have an enemy And that is our third and next step Michael and his Angels fought against the devill and his Angels though that war ended in victory Vest 3. Quia Hostis yet taking that war as divers Expositors doe for the fall of Angels that Kingdome lost so many inhabitants as that all the soules of all that shall be saved shall but fill up the places of them that fell and so make that Kingdome but as well as it was before that war So ill effects accompany even the most victorious war There is no war in heaven yet all is not well because there is an enemy for that enemy would kindle a war again but that he remembers how ill he sped last time he did so It is not an enemy that invades neither but only detaines he detaines the bodies of the Saints which are in heaven and therefore is an enemy to the Kingdome of Christ He that detaines the soules of men in Superstition he that detaines the hearts and allegeance of Subjects in an haesitation a vacillation an irresolution where they shall fix them whether upon their Soveraign or a forraigne power he is in the notion and acceptation of enemy in this Text an enemy though no hostile act be done It is not a war it is but an enemy not an invading but a detaining enemy and then this enemy is but one enemy and yet he troubles and retards the consummation of that Kingdome Antichrist alone is enemy enough but never carry this consideration beyond thy self As long as there remaines in thee one sin or the sinfull gain of that one sin so long there is one enemy and where there is one enemy there is no peace Gardners that husband their ground to the best advantage sow all their seeds in such order one under another that their Garden is alwayes full of that which is then in season If thou sin with that providence with that seasonablenesse that all thy spring thy youth be spent in wantonnesse all thy Summer thy middle-age in ambition and the wayes of preferment and thy Autumne thy Winter in indevotion and covetousnesse though thou have no farther taste of licentiousnesse in thy middle-age thou hast thy satiety in that sin nor of ambition in thy last yeares thou hast accumulated titles of honour yet all the way thou hast had one enemy and therefore never any perfect peace But who is this one enemy in this Text As long as we put it off and as loath as we are to look this enemy in the face yet we must though it be Death And this is Vestigium quartum The fourth and next step in this paraphrase Surge descende in domum figuli sayes the Prophet Ieremy that is Mors. Jer. 18.2 say the Expositors to the consideration of thy Mortality It is Surge descende Arise and go down A descent with an ascension Our grave is upward and our heart is upon Iacobs Ladder in the way and nearer to heaven Our daily Funerals are some Emblemes of that for though we be laid down in the earth after yet we are lifted up upon mens shoulders before We rise in the descent to death and so we do in the descent to the contemplation of it In all the Potters house is there one vessell made of better stuffe then clay There is his matter And of all formes a Circle is the perfectest and art thou loath to make up that Circle with returning to the earth again Thou must though thou be loath Fortasse sayes S. Augustine That word of contingency of casualty Perchance In omnibus ferme rebus praeterquam in morte locum habet It hath roome in all humane actions excepting death He makes his example thus such a man is married where he would or at least where he must where his parents or his Gardian will have him shall he have Children Fortasse sayes he They are a yong couple perchance they shall And shall those Children be sons Fortasse they are of a strong constitution perchance they shall And shall those sons live to be men Fortasse they are from healthy parents perchance they shall And when they have lived to be men shall they be good men Such as good men may be glad they may live Fortasse still They are of vertuous parents it may be they shall But when they are come to that Morientur shall those good men die here sayes that Father the Fortasse vanishes here it is omnino certè sine dubitatione infallibly inevitably irrecoverably they must die Doth not man die even in his birth The breaking of prison is death and what is our birth but a breaking of prison Assoon as we were clothed by God our very apparell was an Embleme of death In the skins of dead beasts he covered the skins of dying men Assoon as God set us on work our very occupation was an Embleme of death It was to digge the earth not to digge pitfals for other men but graves for our selves Hath any man here forgot to day that yesterday is dead And the Bell tolls for to day and will ring out anon and for as much of every one of us as appertaines to this day Quotidiè morimur tamen nos esse aeternos putamus sayes S. Hierome We die every day and we die all the day long and because we are notabsolutely dead we call that an eternity an eternity of dying And
be strong enough to make benefit of that assistance And so death adheres when sin and Satan have weakned body and minde death enters upon both And in that respect he is Vltimus hostis the last enemy and that is Sextum vestigium our sixth and next step in this paraphrase Death is the last and in that respect the worst enemy In an enemy Novisssnsâ—s hostis that appeares at first when we are or may be provided against him there is some of that which we call Honour but in the enemie that reserves himselfe unto the last and attends our weake estate there is more danger Keepe it where I intend it in that which is my spheare the Conscience If mine enemie meet me betimes in my youth in an object of tentation so Iosephs enemie met him in Putifars Wife yet if I doe not adhere to this enemy dwell upon a delightfull meditation of that sin if I doe not fuell and foment that sin assist and encourage that sin by high diet wanton discourse other provocation I shall have reason on my side and I shall have grace on my side and I shall have the History of thousand that have perished by that sin on my side Even Spittles will give me souldiers to fight for me by their miserable example against taht sin nay perchance sometimes the vertue of that woman whom I sollicite will assist me But when I lye under the hands of that enemie that hath reserved himselfe to the last to my last bed then when I shall be able to stir no limbe in any other measure then a Feaver or a Palsie shall shake them when everlasting darknesse shal have an inchoation in the present dimnesse of mine eyes and the everlasting gnashing in the present chattering of my teeth and the everlasting worme in the present gnawing of the Agonies of my body and anguishes of my minde when the last enemie shall watch my remedilsse body and my desconsolate soule there there where not the Physitian in his way perchance not the Priist in hi shall be able to give any assistance And when he hath sported himselfe with my misery upon that stage my death-bed shall shift the Scene and throw me from that bed into the grave and there triumph over me God knowes how many generations till the Redeemer my Redeemer the Redeemer of all me body aswell as soule come againe As death is Novissimus hostis the enemy which watches me at my last weaknesse and shall hold me when I shall be no more till that Angel come Who shall say and sweare that time shall be no more in that consideration in that apprehension he is the powerfullest the fearefulest enemy and yet evern there this enemy Abolebitur he shall be destroyed which is Septimum vestigium our seventh and last step in this paraphrase This destruction this abolition of this last enemy is by the Resurrection Abolebieur for the Text is part of an argument for the Resurrection And truly it is a faire intimation and testimony of an everlasting end in that state of the Resurrection that no time shall end it that we have it presented to us in all the parts of time in the past in the present and in the future We had a Resurrection in prophecy we have a Resurrection in the present working of Gods Sprit we shall have a Resurrection in the finall consummation The Prophet speaks in the furture He will swallow up death in victory there it is Abolebit Esay 25.8 All the Erangelists speak historically of matter of fact in them it is Abolevit And here in this Apostle it is in the present Aboletur now he is destroyed And this exhibites unto us a threefold occasion of advancing our devotion in considering a threefold Resurrection First a Resurrection from dejections and calamities in this world a Temporary Resurrection Secondly a Resurrection from sin a Spirituall Resurrection and then a Resurrection Secondly a Resurrection A calamitate When the Prophets speak of a Resurrection in the old Testament 1. A calamitate for the most part their principall intention is upon a temporall restitution from calamities that oppresse them then Neither doth Calvin carry those emphaticall words which are so often cited for a proofe of the last Resurrection Job 19.25 That he knows his Redeemer lives that he knows he shall stand the last man upon earth that though his body be destroyed yet in his flesh and with his eyes he shall see God to any higher sense then so that how low soeve he bee brought to what desperate state soever he be reducedin the eyes of the world yet he assures himself of a Resurrection a reparation a restitution to his former bodily health and worldly fortune which he had before And such a Resurrection we all know Iob had In that famous and most considerable propheticall vision which God exhibited to Ezekiel where God set the Prophet in a valley of very many and very dry bones and invites the severall joynts to knit again tyes them with their old sinews and ligaments clothes them in their old flest wraps them in their old skin and cals life into them again Gods principall intention in that vision was thereby to give them an assurance of a Resurrection from their present calamity not but that there is also good evidence of the last Resurrection in that vision too Thus far God argues with them áre nota from that which they knew before the finall Resurrection he assures them that which they knew not till then a present Resurrection from those pressures Remember by this vision that which you all know already that at last I shall re-unite the dead and dry bones of all men in a generall Resurrection And them if you remember if you consider if you look upon that can you doubt but that I who can do that can also recollect you from your present desperation and give you a Resurrection to your former temporall happinesse And this truly arises pregnantly necessarily out of the Prophets answer God asks him there Son of man cna these bones live And he answers Domine tu nósti O Lord God thou knowest The Prophet answers according to Gods intention in the question If that had been for their living in the last Resurrection Ezekiel would have answered God as Martha answered Christ John 11.24 when he said Thy brother Lazarus shall rise again I know that he shall rise again at the Resurrection at the last day but when the question was whether men so macerated so seattered in this world could have a Resurrection to their former temprorall happinesse here that puts the Prophet to his Domine tu nósti It is in thy breast to proposeit itis in thy hand to execute it whether thou do it or do it not thy name be glorisied It fals not within our conjecture which way it shall please thee to take for this Resurrection Domine tu nósti Thou
Lord and thou only knowest Which is also the sense of those words Heb. 11.35 Others were tortured and accepted not a deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection A present deliverance had been a Resurrection but to be the more sure of a better hereafter they lesse respected that According to that of our Saviour Mat. 10.39 He that findes hi life shall lose it He that fixeth himself too earnestly upon this Resurrection shall lose a better This is then the propheticall Resurrection for the future but a future in this world That if Rulers take counsell against the Lord the Lord shall have their counsell in derision If they take armes against the Lord the Lord shall break their Bows and cut their Spears in sunder Psal 2.4 If they hisse and gnash their teeth and say we have swallowed him up If we be made their by-word their parable their proverb their libell the theame and burden of their songs as Iob complaines yet whatsoever fall upon me dmage distresse scorn or Hostis ultimus death it self that death which we consider here death of possessions death of estimation death of health death of contentment yet Abolebitur it sahll be destroyed in a Resurrection in the return of the light of Gods countenance upon me even in this world And this is the first Resurrection But this first Resurrection 2. Apeecatis which is but from temporall calamities doth so little concerne a true and established Christian whether it come or no for still Iobs Basis is his Basis and his Centre Etiamsi occiderit though he kill me kill me kill me in all these severall deaths and give me no Resurrection in this world yet I will trust in him as that as though this first resurrection were no resurrection not to be numbred among the rersurrections S. Iohn calls that which we call the second which is from sin the first resurrection Blessed and holy is be who hath part in the firstresurrection And this resurrection Christimplies Apoe 20.6 John 5.25 when he saies Verely verely I say unto you the houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the ovyce of the Son of God and they that heare it shall live That is by the voyce of the word of life the Gospell of repentance they shall have a spirituall resurrection to a new life S. Austine and Lactantius both were so hard in beleeving the roundnesse of the earth that they thought that those homines pensiles as they call them those men that hang upon the other cheek of the face of the earth those Antipodes whose feet are directly against ours must necessarily fall from the earth if the earth be round But whither should they fall If they fall they must fall upwards for heaven is above them too as it is to us So if the spirituall Antipodes of this world the Sons of God that walk with feet opposed in wayes contrary to the sons of men shall be said to fall when they fall to repentance to mortification to a religious negligence and contempt of the pleasures of this life truly their fall is up wards they fall towards heaven God gives breath unto the people upon the earth sayes the Prophet Et spiritum his qui calcant illam Esay 45.5 Our Translation carries that no farther but that God gives breath to people upon the earth and spirit to them that walk thereon But Irenaeus makes a usefull difference between afflatus and spiritus that God gives breath to all upon earth but his spirit onely to them who tread in a religious scorne upon earthly things Is it not a strange phrase of the Apostle Mortifie your members fornication uncleanenesse inordinate affections He does not say mortifie your members against those sins Col. 3.5 but he calls those very sins the members of our bodies as though we were elemented and compacted of nothing but sin till we come to this resurrection this mortification which is indeed our vivification Till we beare in our body the dying of our Lord Iesus that the life also of Iesus may be made manifest in our body 2 Cor. 4.10 God may give the other resurrection from worldly misery and not give this A widow may be rescued from the sorrow and solitarinesse of that state by having a plentifull fortune there she hath one resurrection but the widow that liveth in pleasure is dead while she lives 1 Tim. 5.6 shee hath no second resurrection and so in that sense even this Chappell may be a Church-yard men may stand and sit and kneele and yet be dead and any Chamber alone may be a Golgotha a place of dead mens bones of men not come to this resurrection which is the renunciation of their beloved sin It was inhumanely said by Vitellius upon the death of Otho when he walkedin the field of carcasses where the battle was fought O how sweet a perfume is a dead enemy But it is a divine saying to thy soule O what a savor of life unto life is the death of a beloved sin What an Angelicall comfort was that to Ioseph and Mary in Aegypt after the death of Herod Arise for they are dead that sought the childes life Mat. 2.20 And even that comfort is multiplied upon thy soul when the Spirit of God saies to thee Arise come to this resurrection for that Herod that sin that sought the life the everlasting life of this childe the childe of God thy soule is dead dead by repentance dead by mortification The highest cruelty that story relates or Poets imagine is when a persecutor will not afford a miserable man death not be so mercifull to him as to take his life Thou hast made thy sin thy soule thy life inanimated all thy actions all thy purposes with that sin Miserere animatuae be so mercifull to thy selfe as to take away that life by mortification by repentance and thou art come to this Resurrection and thugh a man may have the former resurrection and not this peace in his fortune and yet not peace in his conscience yet whosoever hath this second hath an infallible seale of the third resurrection too to a fulnesse of glory in body as well as in soule For Spiritus maturam efficit carnem capacem incorruptelae this resurrection by the spirit Irenaeus mellowes the body of man and makes that capable of everlasting glory which is the last weapon by which the last enemy death shall be destroyed A morte Upon that pious ground that all Scriptures were written for us as we are Christians that all Scriptures conduce to the proofe of Christ and of the Christian state 3. A morte it is the ordinary manner of the Fathers to make all that David speaks historically of himselfe and all that the Prophet speaks futurely of the Jews if those place may be referred to Christ to referre them to Christ primarily and but by reflection and in a second
consideration upon David or upon the Jews Thereupon doe the Father truly I think more generally more unanimely then in any other place of Scripture take that place of Ezekile which we spake of before to be primarily intended of the last resurrection but secundarily of the Jews restitution But Gasper Sanctius a learned Jesuit that is not so rare but an ingenuous Jesuit too though he be bound by the Councel Trent to interpret Scriptures according to the Fathers yet he here ackowledges the whole truth that Gods purpose was to prove by that which they did know which was the generall resurrection that which they knew not their temporall restitution Tertullian is vehement at first but after more supple Allegoricae Scripturae saies he resurrectionem subradiant aliae aliae determinant Some figurative places of Scripture doe intimate a resurrection and some manifest it and of those manifest places he takes this vision of Ezekiel to be one But he comes after to this Sit corporum rerum meánihilinterest let it sighnifie a temporall resurrection so it may signifie the generall resurrection of our bodies too saies he and I am well satisfied and then the truth satisfies him for it doth signifie both It is true that Tertullian sayes De vacuo similitudo non competit If the vision be but a comparison if there were no such thing as a resurrection the comparison did not hold De nullo par abola non convenit saies he and truly If there were no resurrection to which that Parable might have relation it were no Parable All that is true but there was a resurrection alwaies knowne to them alwaies beleeved by them and that made their present resurrection from that calamity the more easie the more intelligible the more credible the more discernable to them Let therefore Gods method be thy method fixe thy self firmly upon that beliefe of the penerall resurrection and thou wilt never doubt of either of the particular resurrections either from sin by Gods grace or from worldly calamities by Gods power For that last resurrection is the ground of all By that Verévicta mors saies Irenaeus this Last enemy death is truly destroyed because his last spoile the body is taken out of his hands The same body eadem ovis as the same Father notes Christ did not fetch another sheep to the flock in the place of that which was lost but the same sheep God shall not give me another abetter body at the resurrection but the same body made better for Sinon haberet caro salvari neutiquam verbum Dei caro factum fuisset If the flesh of man were not to be saved Idem the Anchor of salvation would never have taken the flesh of man upon him The punishment that God laid upon Adam In dolore in sudore In sweat and in sorrow sbalt thou eate thy bread is but Donecreverteris till man returne to dust but when Man is returned to dust Gen. 3.17 God returnes to the remembrance of that promise Awake and sing yethat dwell in the dust A mercy already exhibited to us in the person of our Saviour Christ Jesus Esay 26.19 in whom Per primitias benedixit campo saies S. Chrysostome as God by taking a handfull for the first Fruits gave ablessing to the wholw field so he hath sealed the bodies of all mankind to his glory by pre-assuming the body of Christ to that glory For by that there is now Commercium inter Coelum terram there is a Trade driven a Staple established betweene Heaven and earth Bernard Ibi caronostra hic Spiritus ejus Thither have we sent our flest and hither hath he sent his Spirti This is the last abolition of this enemy Death for after this the bodies of the Saints he cannot touch the bodes of the damned he cannot kill and if he could hee were not therein their enemy but their friend This is that blessed and glorious State of which when all the Apostles met to make the Creed they could say no more but Credo Resurrectionem I heleeve the Resurrection of the body and when those two Reverend Fathers to whom it belongs shall come to speake of it upon the day proper for it in this place and if all the Bishops that ever met in Councels should meet them here they could but second the Apostles Credo with their Anathema We beleeve and woe be unto them that doe not beleeve the Resurrection of the body but in gong about to expresse it the lips of an Angell would be uncircumcised lips and the tongue of an Archangell would stammer I offer not therefore at it but in respect of and with relation to that blessed State according to the doctrine and practise of our Church we doe pray for the dead for the militant Church upon earth and the trimphant Church in Heaven and the whole Catholique Church in Heaveen and earth we doe pray that God will be pleased to hasten that Kingdome that we with all others departed in the true Faith of his holy Name may have this perfect consummation both of body and soule in his everlasting glory Amen SERMON XVI preached at VVhite-hall the first Friday in Lent 1622. JOHN 11.35 Iesus wept I Am now but upon the Compassion of Christ There is much difference between his Compassion and his Passion as much as between the men that are to handle them here But Lacryma pass ionis Chrisi est vicaria August A great personage may speake of his Passion of his blood My vicargae is to speake of his Compassion and his teares Let me chafe the wax and melt your soules in a bath of his Teares now Let him set to the great Seale of his effectuall passion in his blood then It is a Common place I know to speake of teares I would you knew as well it were a common practise to shed them Though it be not so yet bring S. Bernards patience Libenter audiam qui non sibi plausum sed mihi planctum moveat be willing to heare him that seeks not your acclamation to himselfe but your humiliation to his and your God not to make you praise with them that praise but to make you weepe with them that weepe And Iesus wept The Masorites the Masorites are the Critiques upon the Hebrew Bible the Old Testament cnnot tell us who divided the Chapters of the Old Testament into verses Neither can any other tell us who did it in the New Testament Whoever did it seemes to have stopped in an amazement in this Text and by making an intire verse of these two words Iesus wept and no more to intimate that there needs no more for the exalting of our devotion to a competent heighth then to consider how and where and when and why Iesus wept There is not a shorter verse in the Bible not a larger Text. There is another as short Semper gaudete Rejoyce evermore and of that holy Joy
And even God himselfe who had that omni-sufficiency in himselfe conceived a conveniency for his glory to draw a Circumference about that Center Creatures about himselfe and to shed forth lines of love upon all them and not to love himselfe alone Selfe-love in man sinks deep but yet you see the Apostle in his order casts the other sin lower that is into a worse place To be without naturall affections S. Augustine extends these naturall affections to Religious affections because they are naturall to a supernaturall man to a regenerate man who naturally loves those that are of the houshold of the faithfull that professe the same truth of Religion and not to be affected with their distresses when Religion it selfe is distressed in them is impietie He extends these affections to Morall affections the love of Eminent and Heroicall vertues in any man we ought to be affected with the fall of such men And he extends them to civill affections the love of friends not to be moved in their behalfe is argument enough that we doe not much love them For our case in the Text These men whom Jesus found weeping and wept with them were none of his kindred They were Neighbours and Christ had had a conversation and contracted a friendship in that Family V. 5. He loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus saies the Storie and he would let the world see that he loved them for so the Jewes argued that saw him weepe V. 36. Behold how he loved them without outward declarations who can conclude an inward love to assure that Iesus wept To an inordinatenesse of affections it never came to a naturall tendernesse it did and so far as to teares Laerymae and then who needs be ashamed of weeping Look away far from me for I will weep bitterly sayes Hierusalem in Esay But look upon me sayes Christ in the Lamentations Behold and see if ever there were any sorrow any teares like mine Not like his in value but in the roote as they proceeded from naturall affection they were teares of imitation and we may we must weepe teares like his teares They scourged him they crowned him they nailed him they pierced him and then blood came but he shed teares voluntarily and without violence The blood came from their ill but the teares from his owne good nature The blood was drawne the teares were given We call it a childish thing to weepe and a womanish and perchance we meane worse in that then in the childish for therein we may meane falshood to be mingled with weaknesse Christ made it an argument of his being man to weepe for though the lineaments of mans bodie eyes and eares hands and feet be ascribed to God in the Scriptures though the affections of mans mind be ascribed to him even sorrow nay Repentance it selfe is attributed to God I doe not remember that ever God is said to have wept It is for man And when God shall come to that last Act in the glorifying of Man when he promises to wipe all teares from his eyes what shall God have to doe with that eye that never wept He wept out of a nuturall tendernesse in generall and he wept now out of a particular occasion What was that Quia mortuus because Lazarus was dead We stride over many steps at once waive many such considerable circumstances as these Lazarus his friend was dead therefore he wept Lazarus the staffe and sustentatio of that family was dead he upon whom his Sisters relied was dead therefore he wept But I stop onely upon this one step Quia mortuus that he was dead Now a good man is not the worse for dying that is true and capable of a good sense because he is established in a better world but yet when he is gone out of this world he is none of us he is no longer a man The stronger opinion in the Schoole is That Christ himselfe when he lay dead in the grave was no man Though the God head never departed from the Carcasse there was no divorce of that Hypostaticall union yet because the Humane soule was departed from it he was no man Hugo de S. Victor who thinks otherwise that Christ was a man then thinkes so upon a weak ground He thinkes that because the soule is the form of man the soul is man and that therefore the soul remaining the man remaines But it is not the soule but the union of the soul that makes the man The Master of the Sentences Peter Lombard that thinks so too that Christ was then a man thinkes so upon as weak a ground He thinkes that it is enough to constitute a man that there be a soul and body though that soul and body be not united but still it is the union that makes the man And therefore when he is disunited dead he is none of us he is no man and therefore we weep how well soever he be Abraham was loath to let go his wife though the King had her A man hath a naturall lothnesse to let go his friend though God take him to him S. Augustine sayes that he knew well enough that his mother was in heaven and S. Ambrose that he knew wel enough that his master Theodosius the emperor was in heaven but because they saw not in what state they were they thought that something might be asked at Gods hands in their behalf and so out of a humane and pious officiousnesse in a devotion perchance indigested uncocted and retaining yet some crudities some irresolutions they strayed into prayers for them after they were dead Lazarus his sisters made no doubt of their brothers salvation they beleeved his soul to be in a good estate And for his body they told Christ Lord we know that he shall rise at the last day And yet they wept Here in this world we who stay lack those who are gone out of it we know they shall never come to us and when we shall go to them whether we shall know them or no we dispute They who think that it conduces to the perfection of happinesse in heaven that we should know one another think piously if they think we shall For as for the maintenance of publique peace States and Churches may think diversly in points of Religion that are not fundamentall and yet both be true and Orthodoxall Churches so for the exaltation of private devotion in points that are not fundamentall divers men may think diversly and both be equally good Christians Whether we shall know them there or no is problematicall and equall that we shall not till then is dogmaticall and certain Therefore we weep I know there are Philosophers that will not let us weep nor lament the death of any And I know that in the Scriptures there are rules and that there are instructions convayed in that example that David left mourning as soon as the childe was dead And I know that there are Authors of a
middle nature above the Philosophers and below the Scriptures the Apocryphall books and I know it is said there Comfort thy selfe for thou-shalt do him no good that is dead Ecclus. 38.6 Et teipsum pessimabis as the vulgat reads it thou shalt make thy self worse and worse in the worst degree But yet all this is but of inordinate lamentation for in the same place the same Wise man sayes My Son let thy tears fall down over the dead weep bitterly and make great moane as he is worthy When our Saviour Christ had uttered his consummatum est all was finished and their rage could do him no more harm when he had uttered his In manus tuas he had delivered and God had received his soul yet how did the whole frame of nature mourn in Eclipses and tremble in earth-quakes and dissolve and shed in pieces in the opening of the Temple Quia mortuus because he was dead Truly to see the hand of a great and mighty Monarch that hand that hath governed the civill sword the sword of Justice at home and drawn and sheathed the forraigne sword the sword of war abroad to see that hand lie dead and not be able to nip or fillip away one of his own wormes and then Quis homo what man though he be one of those men of whom God hath said Ye are gods yet Quis homo what man is there that lives and shall not see death To see the brain of a great and religious Counsellor and God blesse all from making all from calling any great that is not religious to see that brain that produced means to becalme gusts at Councell tables stormes in Parliaments tempests in popular commotions to see that brain produce nothing but swarmes of wormes and no Proclamation to disperse them To see a reverend Prelate that hath resisted Heretiques Schismatiques all his life fall like one of them by death perchance be called one of them when he is dead To re-collect all to see great men made no men to be sure that they shall never come to us not to be sure that we shall know them when we come to them to see the Lieutenants and Images of God Kings the sinews of the State religious Counsellors the spirit of the Church zealous Prelates And then to see vulgar lgnorant wicked and facinorous men thrown all by one hand of death into one Cart into one common Tide-boate one Hospitall one Almeshouse one Prison the grave in whose dust no man can say This is the King this is the Slave this is the Bishop this is the Heretique this is the Counsellor this is the Foole even this miserable equality of so unequall persons by so foule a hand is the subject of this lamentation even Quia mortuus because Lazarus was dead Iesus wept He wept even in that respect Quia non abhibita media Quia mortuus and he wept in this respect too Quia non adhibita media because those means which in appearance might have saved his life by his default were not used for when he came to the house one sister Martha sayes to him Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not dyed and then the other sister Mary sayes so too Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not dyed They all cry out that he who only only by comming might have saved his life would not come Our Saviour knew in himself that he abstained to better purpose and to the farther glory of God for when he heard of his death he said to his Disciples I am glad for your sakes that I was not there Christ had certain reserved purposes which conduced to a better establishing of their faith and to a better advancing of Gods Kingdome the working of that miracle But yet because others were able to say to him it was in you to have saved him and he did not even this Quia non adhibita media affected him and Iesus wept He wept Etsi quatriduanus Etsi quatriduanus though they said unto him He hath been foure dayes dead and stinkes Christ doth not say there is no such matter he doth not stink but though he do my friend shall not lack my help Good friends usefull friends though they may commit some errors and though for some misbehaviours they may stink in our nostrils must not be derelicted abandoned to themselves Many a son many a good heire findes an ill ayre from his Father his Fathers life stinkes in the nostrils of all the world and he heares every where exclamations upon his Fathers usury and extortion and oppression yet it becomes him by a betterlife and by all other means to rectifie and redeem his Fathers fame Quatriduanus est is no plea for my negligence in my family to say My son or my servant hath proceeded so far in ill courses that now it is to no purpose to go about to reform him because Quatriduanus est Quatriduanus est is no plea in my pastorall charge to say that seducers and practisers and perswaders and sollicitors for superstition enter so boldly into every family that now it is to no purpose to preach religious warinesse religious discretion religious constancy Quatriduanus est is no plea for my Usury for my Simony to say I do but as all the world doth and hath used to do a long time To preach there where reprehension of growing sin is acceptable is to preach in season where it is not acceptable it is out of season but yet we must preach in season and out of season too And when men are so refractary as that they forbeare to heare or heare and resist our preaching we must pray and where they dispise or forbid our praying we must lament them we must weep Quatriduanus erat Lazarus was far spent yet Iesus wept He wept Etsisuscitandus Though he knew that Lazarus were to be restored and raised to life again for as he meant to declare a great good will to him at last so he would utter some by the way he would do a great miracle for him as he was a mighty God but he would weep for him too as he was a good natured man Truly it is no very charitable disposition if I give all at my death to others if I keep all all my life to my self For how many families have we seen shaked ruined by this distemper that though the Father mean to alien nothing of the inheritance from the Son at his death yet because he affords him not a competent maintenance in his life he submits his Son to an encumbring of his fame with ignominious shiftings and an encumbring of the estare with irrecoverable debts I may mean to feast a man plentifully at Christmas and that man may starve before in Lent Great persons may think it in their power to give life to persons and actions by their benefits when they will and before that will be up and ready both
and make him like himself The implicite beleever stands in an open field and the enemy will ride over him easily the understanding beleever is in a fenced town and he hath out-works to lose before the town be pressed that is reasons to be answered before his faith be shaked and he will sell himself deare and lose himself by inches if he be sold or lost at last and therefore sciant omnes let all men know that is endeavour to informe themselves to understand That particular Iesum that generall particular if we may so say for it includes all which all were to know is that the same Jesus whom they Crucified was exalted above them all Suppose an impossibility S. Paul does so when he sayes to the Galatians If an Angell from heaven should preach any other Gospell for that is impossible If we could have been in Paradise and seen God take a clod of red earth and make that wretched clod of contemptible earth such a body as should be fit to receive his breath an immortall soule fit to be the house of the second person in the Trinity for God the Son to dwel in bodily fit to be the Temple for the third person for the Holy Ghost should we not have wondred more then at the production of all other creatures It is more that the same Jesus whom they had crucified is exalted thus to sit in that despised flesh at the right hand of our glorious God that all their spitting should but macerate him and dissolve him to a better mold a better plaister that all their buffetings should but knead him and presse him into a better forme that all their scoffes and contumelies should be prophesies that that Ecce Rex Behold your King and that Rex Iudaeorum This is the King of the Iews which words they who spoke them thought to be lies in their own mouthes should become truths and he be truly the King not of the Jews only but of all Nations too that their nayling him upon the Crosse should be a setling of him upon an everlasting Throne and their lifting him up upon the Crosse a waiting upon him so farre upon his way to heaven that this Jesus whom they had thus evacuated thus crucified should bee thus exalted was a subject of infinite admiration but mixt with infinite confusion too Wretched Blasphemer of the name of Jesus that Jesus whom thou crucifiest and treadest under thy feet in that oath is thus exalted Uncleane Adulterer that Jesus whom thou crucifiest in stretching out those forbidden armes in a strange bed thou that beheadest thy self castest off thy Head Christ Jesus that thou mightst make thy body the body of a Harlot that Jesus whom thou defilest there is exalted Let severall sinners passe this through their severall sins and remember with wonder but with confusion too that that Jesus whom they haue crucified is exalted above all How farre exalted Three steps which carry him above S. Pauls third heaven Factus He is Lord and he is Christ and he is made so by God God hath made him both Lord and Christ We return up these steps as they lie and take the lowest first Fecit Deus God made him so Nature did not make him so no not if we consider him in that Nature wherein he consists of two Natures God and Man We place in the Schoole for the most part the infinite Merit of Christ Jesus that his one act of dying once should be a sufficient satisfaction to God in his Justice for all the sins of all men we place it I say rather in pacto then in persona rather that this contract was thus made between the Father and the Son then that whatsoever that person thus consisting of God and Man should doe should onely in respect of the person bee of an infinite value and extention to that purpose for then any act of his his Incarnation his Circumcision any had been sufficient for our Redemption without his death But fecit Deus God made him that that he is The contract between the Father and him that all that he did should be done so and to that purpose that way and to that end this is that that hath exalted him and us in him If then not the subtilty and curiosity but the wisedome of the Schoole and of the Church of God have justly found it most commodious to place all the mysteries of our Religion in pacto rather then in persona in the Covenant rather then in the person though a person of incomprehensible value let us also in applying to our selves those mysteries of our Religion still adhaerere pactis and not personis still rely upon the Covenant of God with man revealed in his word and not upon the person of any man Not upon the persons of Martyrs as if they had done more then they needed for themselves and might relieve us with their supererogations for if they may work for us they may beleeve for us and Iustus fide sua vivet sayes the Prophet Habak 2.4 The righteous shall live by his owne faith Not upon that person who hath made himself supernumerary and a Controller upon the three persons in the Trinity the Bishop of Rome not upon the consideration of accidents upon persons when God suffers some to fall who would have advanced his cause and some to be advanced who would have throwne downe his cause but let us ever dwell in pacto and in the fecit Deus this Covenant God hath made in his word and in this we rest It is God then not nature not his nature that made him And what Christ Christus Christ is anointed And then Mary Magdalen made him Christ for she anointed him before his death And Ioseph of Arimathea made him Christ for he anointed him and embalmed him after his death But her anointing before kept him not from death nor his anointing after would not have kept him from putrefaction in the grave if God had not in a farre other manner made him Christ anointed him praeconsortibus above his fellows God hath anointed him embalmed him enwrapped him in the leaves of the Prophets That his flesh should not see corruption in the grave That the flames of hell should not take hold of him nor sindge him there so anointed him as that in his Humane nature He is ascended into heaven and set downe at the right hand of God For de eo quod ex Maria est Petrus loquitur sayes S. Basil That making of him Christ that is that anointing which S. Peter speakes of in this place is the dignifying of his humane nature that was anointed that was consecrated that was glorified in heaven But he had a higher step then that God made this Iesus Christ and he made him Lord Dominus He brought him to heaven in his own person in his humane nature so he shall all us but when we shall be all there he onely shall be Lord
incorruptionem sicut anima per fidem Because our bodie shall be regenerated by glory there as our soules are by faith here Therefore Tertul. cals the Resurrection Exemplum spei nostrae The Originall out of which we copy out our hope and Clavem sepulchrorū nostrorum How hard soever my grave be locked yet with that key with the application of the Resurrection of Christ Jesus it will open And they are all names which expresse this well which Tertullian gives Christ Vadem obsidem fidejussorem resurrectionis nostrae That he is the pledge the hostage the surety of our Resurrection So doth that also which is said in the Schoole Sicut Adam forma morientium Theoph. it a Christus forma resurgentium Without Adam there had beene no such thing as death without Christ no such thing as a Resurrection But ascendit ille effractor as the Prophet speaks The breaker is gone up before and they have passed through the gate that is assuredly Mich. 2.13 infallibly they shall passe But what needs all this heat all this animosity all this vehemence about the Resurrection May not man be happy enough in heaven though his body never come thither upon what will ye ground the Resurrection upon the Omnipotence of God Asylum haereticorum est Omnipotentia Dei which was well said and often repeated amongst the Ancients The Omnipotence of God hath alwaies been the Sanctuary of Heretiques that is alwaies their refuge in all their incredible doctrines God is able to do it can do it You confesse the Resurrection is a miracle And miracles are not to be multiplied nor imagined without necessity and what necessity of bodies in Heaven Beloved we make the ground and foundation of the Resurrection to be not meerely the Omnipotency of God for God will not doe all that he can doe but the ground is Omnipotens voluntas Dei revelata The Almighty will of God revealed by him to us And therefore Christ joynes both these together Erratis Ye erre Mat. 22.29 not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God that is not considering the power of God as it is revealed in the Scriptures for there is our foundation of this Doctrine we know out of the Omnipotence of God it may be and we know out of the Scriptures it must be That works upon our faith this upon our reason That it is man that must be saved man that must be damned and to constitute a man there must be a body as well as a soule Nay the Immortality of the soule will not so well lie in proofe without a resuming of the body For upon those words of the Apostle If there were no Resurrection we were the miserablest of all men the Schoole reasons reasonably Naturally the soule and body are united when they are separated by Death it is contrary to nature which nature still affects this union and consequently the soule is the lesse perfect for this separation and it is not likely that the perfect naturall state of the soule which is to be united to the body should last but three or foure score yeares and in most much lesse and the unperfect state that in the separation should last eternally for ever so that either the body must be beleeved to live againe or the soule beleeved to die Never therefore dispute against thine own happinesse never say God asks the heart that is the soule and therefore rewards the soule or punishes the soule and hath no respect to the body Nec auferamus cogitationes a collegio carnis saies Tertullian Never go about to separate the thoughts of the heart from the colledge from the fellowship of the body Siquidem in carne cum carne per carnem agitur quicquid ab anima agitur All that the soule does it does in and with and by the body And therefore saies he also Caro abluitur ut anima emaculetur The body is washed in baptisme but it is that the soule might be made cleane Caro ungitur ut anima consecretur In all unctions whether that which was then in use in Baptisme or that which was in use at our transmigration and passage out of this world the body was anointed that the soule might be consecrated Caro signatur saies Tertullian still ut anima muniatur The body is signed with the Crosse that the soule might be armed against tentations And againe Caro de Corpore Christi vescitur ut anima de Deo saginetur My body received the body of Christ that my soule might partake of his merits He extends it into many particulars and summes up all thus Non possunt in mercede separari quae opera conjungunt These two Body and Soule cannot be separated for ever which whilst they are together concurre in all that either of them doe Never thinke it presumption saies S. Gregory Sperare in te quod in se exhibuit Deus homo To hope for that in thy selfe which God admitted when he tooke thy nature upon him And God hath made it saies he more easie then so for thee to beleeve it because not onely Christ himselfe but such men as thou art did rise at the Resurrection of Christ And therefore when our bodies are dissolved and liquefied in the Sea putrified in the earth resolv'd to ashes in the fire macerated in the ayre Velut in vasa sua transfunditur caro nostra Tertul. make account that all the world is Gods cabinet and water and earth and fire and ayre are the proper boxes in which God laies up our bodies for the Resurrection Curiously to dispute against our owne Resurrection is seditiously to dispute against the dominion of Jesus who is not made Lord by the Resurrection if he have no subjects to follow him in the same way Wee beleeve him to be Lord therefore let us beleeve his and our Resurrection This blessed day Ille Iohn 2.19 Iohn 10.17 which we celebrate now he rose he rose so as none before did none after ever shall rise He rose others are but raised Destroy this Temple saies he and I will raise it I without imploying any other Architect I lay downe my life saies he the Jewes could not have killed him when he was alive If he were alive here now the Jesuits could not kill him here now except his being made Christ and Lord an anointed King have made him more open to them I have a power to lay it downe saies he and I have a power to take it up againe This day Nos Iohn 2.3 we celebrate his Resurrection this day let us celebrate our owne Our own not our one Resurrection for we need many Upon those words of our Saviour to Nicodemus Oportet denuo nasci speaking of the necessity of Baptisme Non solum denuo sed tertiò nasci oportet saies S. Bernard He must be born againe and againe againe by baptisme for Originall sin and for actuall sin againe by repentance Infoelix homo ego
miser abilis casus saies he cui non sufficit una regeneratio Miserable man that I am and miserable condition that I am fallen into whom one regeneration will not serve So is it a miserable death that hath swallowed us whom one Resurrection will serve We need three but if we have not two we were as good be without one There is a Resurrection from worldly calamities a resurrection from sin and a resurrection from the grave First Exod. 10.17 1 Cor. 15.31 Psal 41.8 from calamities for as dangers are called death Pharaoh cals the plague of Locusts a death Intreat the Lord your God that he may take from me this death onely And so S. Paul saies in his dangers I dye daily So is the deliverance from danger called a Resurrection It is the hope of the wicked upon the godly Now that he lieth he shall rise no more that is Now that he is dead in misery he shall have no resurrection in this world Now this resurrection God does not alwaies give to his servants neither is this resurrection the measure of Gods love of man whether he do raise him from worldly calamities or no. The second is the resurrection from sin Apec 20.5 and therefore this S. Iohn calls The first Resurrection as though the other whether we rise from worldly calamities or no were not to be reckoned Anima spiritualiter cadit spiritualiter resurget saies S. Augustine Since we are sure there is a spirituall death of the soule let us make sure a spirituall resurrection too Audacter dicam saies S. Hierome I say confidently Cum omnia posset Deus suscitare Virginem post ruinam non potest Howsoever God can do all things he cannot restore a Virgin that is fallen from it to virginity againe He cannot do this in the body but God is a Spirit and hath reserved more power upon the spirit and soule then upon the body and therefore Audacter dicam I may say with the same assurance that S. Hierome does No soule hath so prostituted her selfe so multiplied her fornications but that God can make her a virgin againe and give her even the chastity of Christ himselfe Fulfill therefore that which Christ saies Iohn 5.25 The houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Son of God and they that heare shall live Be this that houre be this thy first Resurrection Blesse Gods present goodnesse for this now and attend Gods leasure for the other Resurrection hereafter 1 Cor. 15.20 He that is the first fruits of them that slept Christ Jesus is awake he dyes no more he sleepes no more Sacrificium pro te fuit sed à te accepit August quod pro te obtulit He offered a Sacrifice for thee but he had that from thee that he offered for thee Primitiae fuit sed tuae primitiae He was the first fruits but the first fruits of thy Corne Spera in te futurum quod praecess it in primitiis tuis Doubt not of having that in the whole Croppe which thou hast already in thy first fruits that is to have that in thy self which thou hast in thy Saviour And what glory soever thou hast had in this world Glory inherited from noble Ancestors Glory acquired by merit and service Glory purchased by money and observation what glory of beauty and proportion what glory of health and strength soever thou hast had in this house of clay The glory of the later house Hag. 2.9 shall be greater then of the former To this glory the God of this glory by glorious or inglorious waies such as may most advance his own glory bring us in his time for his Son Christ Jesus sake Amen SERMON XIX Preached at S. Pauls upon Easter-day in the Evening 1624. APOC. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection IN the first book of the Scriptures that of Genesis there is danger in departing from the letter In this last book this of the Revelation there is as much danger in adhering too close to the letter The literall sense is alwayes to be preserved but the literall sense is not alwayes to be discerned for the literall sense is not alwayes that which the very Letter and Grammer of the place presents as where it is literally said That Christ is a Vine and literally That his flesh is bread and literally That the new Ierusalem is thus situated thus built thus furnished But the literall sense of every place is the principall intention of the Holy Ghost in that place And his principall intention in many places is to expresse things by allegories by figures so that in many places of Scripture a figurative sense is the literall sense and more in this book then in any other As then to depart from the literall sense that sense which the very letter presents in the book of Genesis is dangerous because if we do so there we have no history of the Creation of the world in any other place to stick to so to binde our selves to such a literall sense in this book will take from us the consolation of many spirituall happinesses and bury us in the carnall things of this world The first error of being too allegoricall in Genesis transported divers of the ancients beyond the certain evidence of truth and the second error of being too literall in this book fixed many very many very ancient very learned upon an evident falshood which was that because here is mention of a first Resurrection and of raigning with Christ a thousand years after that first Resurrection There should be to all the Saints of God a state of happinesse in this world after Christs comming for a thousand yeares In which happy state though some of them have limited themselves in spirituall things that they should enjoy a kinde of conversation with Christ and an impeccability and a quiet serving of God without any reluctations or cōcupiscences or persecutions yet others have dreamed on and enlarged their dreames to an enjoying of all these worldly happinesses which they being formerly persecuted did formerly want in this world and then should have them for a thousand yeares together in recompence And even this branch of that error of possessing the things of this world so long in this world did very many and very good and very great men whose names are in honour and justly in the Church of God in those first times stray into and flattered themselves with an imaginary intimation of some such thing in these words Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection Thus far then the text is literall Divisio That this Resurrection in the text is different from the generall Resurrection The first differs from the last And thus far it is figurative allegoricall mysticall that it is a spirituall Resurrection that is intended But wherein spirituall or of what spirituall Resurrection In
the figurative exposition of those places of Scripture which require that way oft to be figuratively expounded that Expositor is not to be blamed who not destroying the literall sense proposes such a figurative sense as may exalt our devotion and advance our edification And as no one of those Expositors did ill in proposing one such sense so neither do those Expositors ill who with those limitations that it destroy not the literall sense that it violate not the analogy of faith that it advance devotion do propose another and another such sense So doth that preacher well also who to the same end and within the same limit makes his use of both of all those expositions because all may stand and it is not evident in such figurative speeches which is the literall that is the principall intention of the Holy Ghost Of these words of this first Resurrection which is not the last of the body but a spirituall Resurrection there are three expositions authorized by persons of good note in the Church Alcazar First that this first Resurrection is a Resurrection from that low estate to which persecution had brought the Church and so it belongs to this whole State and Church August nostri and Blessed are we who have our part in this first Resurrection Secondly that it is a Resurrection from the death of sin of actuall and habituall sin so it belongs to every particular penitent soul and Blessed art thou blessed am I if we have part in this first Resurrection And then thirdly because after this Resurrection it is said That we shall raign with Christ a thousand yeares Ribera which is a certain for an uncertain a limited for a long time it hath also been taken for the state of the soul in heaven after it is parted from the body by death for though the soul cannot be said properly to have a Resurrection because properly it cannot die yet to be thus delivered from the danger of a second death by future sin to be removed from the distance and latitude and possibility of tentations in this world is by very good Expositors called a Resurrection and so it belongs to all them who are departed in the Lord Blessed and holy is he that hath part in this first Resurrection And then the occasion of the day which we celebrate now being the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus invites me to propose a fourth sense or rather use of the words not indeed as an exposition of the words but as a convenient exaltation of our devotion which is that this first Resurrection should be the first fruits of the dead The first Rising is the first Riser Christ Jesus for as Christ sayes of himself that He is the Resurrection so he is the first Resurrection the root of the Resurrection He upon whom our Resurrection all ours all our kindes of Resurrections are founded and so it belongs to State and Church and particular persons alive and dead Blessed and holy is he that hath part in this first Resurrection And these foure considerations of the words A Resurrection from persecution by deliverance a Resurrection from sin by grace a Resurrection from tentation to sin by the way of death to the glory of heaven and all these in the first Resurrection in him that is the roote of all in Christ Jesus These foure steps these foure passages these foure transitions will be our quarter Clock for this houres exercise First then 1. Part. From persecution we consider this first Resurrection to be a Resurrection from a persecution for religion for the profession of the Gospell to a forward glorious passage of the Gospell And so a learned Expositor in the Romane Church carries the exposition of this whole place though not indeed the ordinary way yet truly not incommodiously not improperly upon that deliverance which God afforded his Church from those great persecutions which had otherwise supplanted her in her first planting in the primitive times Then sayes he and in part well towards the letter of the place The devill was chained for a thousand yeares and then we began to raign with Christ for a thousand yeares reckoning the time from that time when God destroyed Idolatry more fully and gave peace and rest and free exercise of the Christian religion under the Christian Emperours till Antichrist in the height of his rage shall come and let this thousand yeares prisoner Satan loose and so interrupt our thousand yeares raign with Christ with new persecutions In that persecution was the death of the Church in the eye of the world In that deliverance by Christian Emperours was the Resurrection of the Church And in Gods protecting her ever since is the chaining up of the devill and our raigning with Christ for those thousand yeares And truly beloved if we consider the low the very low estate of Christians in those persecutions tryed ten times in the fire ten severall and distinct persecutions in which ten persecutions God may seem to have had a minde to deale eavenly with the world and to lay as much upon his people whom he would try then as he had laid upon others for his people before and so to equall the ten plagues of Aegypt in ten persecutions in the primitive Church if we consider that low that very low estate we may justly call their deliverance a Resurrection For as God said to Jerusalem I found thee in thy blood and washed thee so Christ Jesus found the Church the Christian Church in her blood and washed her and wiped her washed her in his own blood which washes white and wiped her with the garments of his own righteousnesse that she might be acceptable in the sight of God and then wiped all teares from her eyes took away all occasions of complaint and lamentation that she might be glorious in the eyes of man and chearefull in her own such was her Resurrection We wonder and justly at the effusion at the pouring out of blood in the sacrifices of the old Law that that little countrey scarce bigger then some three of our Shires should spend more cattle in some few dayes sacrifice at some solemnities and every yeare in the sacrifices of the whole yeare then perchance this kingdome could give to any use Seas of blood and yet but brooks tuns of blood and yet but basons compared with the sacrifices the sacrifices of the blood of men in the persecutions of the Primitive Church For every Oxe of the Jew the Christian spent a man and for every Sheep and Lamb a Mother and her childe and for every heard of cattle sometimes a towne of Inhabitants sometimes a Legion of Souldiers all martyred at once so that they did not stand to fill their Martyrologies with names but with numbers they had not roome to say such a day such a Bishop such a day such a Generall but the day of 500. the day of 5000. Martyrs and the martyrdome of
a City or the Martyrdome of an Army This was not a red Sea such as the Jews passed a Sinus a Creek an Arm an Inlet a gut of a Sea but a red Ocean that overflowed and surrounded all parts and from the depth of this Sea God raised them and such was their Resurrection Such as that they which suffered lay and bled with more ease then the executioner stood and sweat and embraced the fire more fervently then he blew it and many times had this triumph in their death that even the executioner himself was in the act of execution converted to Christ and executed with them such was their Resurrection When the State of the Jews was in that depression in that conculcation in that consternation in that extermination in the captivity of Babylon as that God presents it to the Prophet in that Vision in the field of dry bones so Fili hominis Son of man as thou art a reasonable man dost thou think these bones can live that these men can ever be re-collected to make up a Nation The Prophet saith Domine tu scis Lord thou knowest which is not only thou knowest whether they can or no but thou knowest clearly they can thou canst make them up of bones again for thou madest those bones of earth before If God had called in the Angels to the making of man at first and as he said to the Prophet Fili hominis Son of man as thou art a reasonable man so he had said to them Filii Dei as you are the Sons of God illumined by his face do you think that this clod of red earth can make a man a man that shall be equall to you in one of his parts in his soul and yet then shall have such another part as that he whom all you worship my essentiall Son shall assume and invest that part himself can that man made of that body and that soul be made of this clod of earth Those Angels would have said Domine tu scis Lord thou must needs know how to make as good creatures as us of earth who madest us of that which is infinitely lesse then earth of nothing before To induce to facilitate these apprehensions there were some precedents some such thing had been done before But when the Church was newly conceived and then lay like the egge of a Dove and a Gyants foot over it like a worm like an ant and hill upon hill whelmed upon it nay like a grain of corn between the upper and lower Mill-stone ground to dust between Tyrans and Heretiques when as she bled in her Cradle in those children whom Herod slew so she bled upon her crutches in those decrepit men whom former persecutions and tortures had creepled before when East and West joyned hands to crush her and hands and brains joyned execution to consultation to annihilate her in this wane of the Moon God gave her an instant fulnesse in this exinanition instant glory in this grave an instant Resurrection But beloved the expressing the pressing of their depressions does but chafe the Wax the Printing of the seale is the reducing to your memory your own case and not that point in your case as you were for a few yeares under a sensible persecution of fire and prisons that was the least part of your persecution for it is a cheap purchase of heaven if we may have it for dying Mat. 13.44 To sell all we have to buy that field where we know the treasure is is not so hard as not to know it To part with all for the great Pearle not so hard a bargaine as not to know that such a Pearle there might have beene had we could not say heaven was kept from us when we might have it for a Fagot and when even our enemies helpt us to it but your greater affliction was as you were long before in an insensiblenesse you thought your selves well enough and yet were under a worse persecution of ignorance and of superstition when you in your Fathers were so farre from expecting a resurrection as that you did not know your low estate or that you needed a Resurrection And yet God gave you a Resurrection from it a reformation of it Now who have their parts in this first resurrection or upon what conditions have you it We see in the fourth verse They that are beheaded for the witnesse of Iesus that is that are ready to be so when the glory of Jesus shall require that testimony In the meane time as it followes there They that have not worshipped the Beast that is not applied the Honour and the Allegiance due to their Soveraign to any forraign State nor the Honor due to God that is infallibility to another Prelate That have not worshipped the Beast nor his Image sayes the Text that is that have not been transported with vain imaginations of his power and his growth upon us here which hath been so diligently Painted and Printed and Preached and set out in the promises and practises of his Instruments to delude slack and easie persons And then as it is added there That have not received his mark upon their foreheads That is not declared themselves Romanists apparently nor in their hands sayes the Text that is which have not under-hand sold their secret endeavours though not their publique profession to the advancement of his cause These men who are ready to be beheaded for Christ and have not worshipped the Beast nor the Image of the Beast nor received his mark upon their foreheads nor in their hands these have their parts in this first resurrection These are blessed and holy sayes our Text Blessed because they have meanes to be holy in this resurrection For the Lamb hath unclasped the book the Scriptures are open which way to holinesse our Fathers lacked And then our blessednesse is that we shall raigne a thousand yeares with Christ Now since this first resurrection since the reformation we have raigned so with Christ but 100. yeares But if we persist in a good use of it our posterity shall adde the Cypher and make that 100. 1000. even to the time when Christ Jesus shall come againe and as he hath given us the first so shall give us the last resurrection and to that come Lord Jesus come quickly and till that continue this This is the first resurrection 2 Part. Apeccato in the first acceptation a resurrection from persecution and a peaceable enjoying of the Gospell And in a second it is a resurrection from sin and so it hath a more particular appropriation to every person Aug. So S. Augustine takes this place and with him many of the Fathers and with them many of the sons of the Fathers better sons of the Fathers then the Romane Church will confesse them to be or then they are themselves The Expositors of the Reformed Church They for the most part with S. Augustine take this first resurrection to be a resurrection
from sin Inter abjectos abjectissimus peccator Grego No man falls lower then he that falls into a course of sin Sin is a fall It is not onely a deviation a turning out of the way upon the right or the left hand but it is a sinking a falling In the other case of going out of the way a man may stand upon the way and inquire and then proceed in the way if he be right or to the way if he be wrong But when he is fallen and lies still he proceeds no farther inquires no farther To be too apt to conceive scruples in matters of religion stops and retards a man in the way to mistake some points in the truth of religion puts a man for that time in a wrong way But to fall into a course of sin this makes him unsensible of any end that he hath to goe to of any way that he hath to goe by God hath not removed man not with-drawne man from this Earth he hath not given him the Aire to flie in as to Birds nor Spheares to move in as to Sun and Moone he hath left him upon the Earth and not onely to tread upon it as in contempt or in meere Dominion but to walk upon it in the discharge of the duties of his calling and so to be conversant with the Earth is not a falling But as when man was nothing but earth nothing but a body he lay flat upon the earth his mouth kissed the earth his hands embraced the earth his eyes respected the earth And then God breathed the breath of life into him and that raised him so farre from the earth as that onely one part of his body the soles of his feet touches it And yet man so raised by God by sin fell lower to the earth againe then before from the face of the earth to the womb to the bowels to the grave So God finding the whole man as low as he found Adams body then fallen in Originall sin yet erects us by a new breath of life in the Sacrament of Baptisme and yet we fall lower then before we were raised from Originall into Actuall into Habituall sins So low as that we think not that we need know not that there is a resurrection and that is the wonderfull that is the fearfull fall Though those words Quomodo cecidisti de Coelo Lucifer Esay 14.12 How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer the Son of the morning be ordinarily applied to the fall of the Angels yet it is evident that they are literally spoken of the fall of a man It deserves wonder more then pity that man whom God had raised to so Noble a heighth in him should fall so low from him Man was borne to love he was made in the love of God but then man falls in love when he growes in love with the creature he falls in love As we are bid to honour the Physitian and to use the Physitian but yet it is said in the same Chapter Ecclus. 38.1 V. 15. He that sinneth before his Maker let him fall into the hands of the Physitian It is a blessing to use him it is a curse to rely upon him so it is a blessing to glorifie God in the right use of his creatures but to grow in love with them is a fall For we love nothing that is so good as our selves Beauty Riches Honour is not so good as man Man capable of grace here of glory hereafter Nay as those things which we love in their nature are worse then we which love them so in our loving them we endeavour to make them worse then they in their own nature are by over-loving the beauty of the body we corrupt the soule by overloving honour and riches we deflect and detort these things which are not in their nature ill to ill uses and make them serve our ill purposes Man falls as a fall of waters that throwes downe and corrupts all that it embraces Nay beloved when a man hath used those wings which God hath given him and raised himselfe to some heighth in religious knowledge and religious practise Acts 29.9 as Eutichus out of a desire to hear Paul preach was got up into a Chamber and up into a window of that Chamber and yet falling asleep fell downe dead so we may fall into a security of our present state into a pride of our knowledge or of our purity and so fall lower then they who never came to our heighth So much need have we of a resurrection So sin is a fall and every man is affraid of falling even from his temporall station Mâ—rs Clem. Alex. more affraid of falling then of not beeing raised And Qui peccat quatenus peccat fit seipso deterior In every sin a man falls from that degree which himselfe had before In every sin he is dishonoured he is not so good a man as he was impoverished he hath not so great a portion of grace as hee had Infatuated hee hath not so much of the true wisedome of the feare of God as he had disarmed he hath not that interest and confidence in the love of God that he had and deformed he hath not so lively a representation of the Image of God as before In every sin we become prodigals but in the habit of sin we become bankrupts affraid to come to an account A fall is a fearfull thing that needs a raising a help but sin is a death and that needs a resurrection and a resurrection is as great a work as the very Creation it selfe It is death in semine in the roote it produces it brings forth death It is death in arbore in the body in it selfe death is a divorce and so is sin and it is death in fructu in the fruit thereof sin plants spirituall death and this death produces more sin Obduration Impenitence and the like Be pleased to returne and cast one halfe thought upon each of these Sin is the roote of death Death by sin entred and death passed upon all men for all men have sinned Rom. 5.12 It is death because we shall dye for it But it is death in it selfe We are dead already dead in it Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead was spoken to a whole Church Apoc. 3.1 It is not evidence enough to prove that thou art alive to say I saw thee at a Sermon that spirit that knowes thy spirit he that knowes whether thou wert moved by a Sermon melted by a Sermon mended by a Sermon he knows whether thou be alive or no. That which had wont to be said That dead men walked in Churches is too true Men walk out a Sermon or walk out after a Sermon as ill as they walked in they have a name that they live Iohn 5.25 and are dead But the houre is come and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Son of God That is at
these houres they may heare if they will and till they doe heare they are dead Sin is the root of death the body of death and then it is the fruit of death August S. Augustine confesses of himselfe that he was Allisus intra parietes in celebritate solemnitatum tuarum that in great meetings upon solemne dayes in the Church there within the walls of Gods house Egit negotium procurandi fructus mortis he was not buying and selling doves but buying and selling soules by wanton lookes cheapning and making the bargaine of the fruits of death as himselfe expresses it Sin is the root and the tree and the fruit of death The mother of death death it selfe and the daughter of death and from this death this threefold death death past in our past sins present death in our present in sensiblenesse of sin future death in those sins with which sins God will punish our former and present sins if he proceed meerly in justice God affords us this first resurrection How Resurrectio Thus. Death is the Divorce of body and soule Resurrection is the Re-union of body and soule And in this spirituall death and resurrection which we consider now and which is all determined in the soule it selfe Grace is the soule of the soule and so the departing of grace is the death and the returning of grace is the resurrection of this sinfull soule But how By what way what meanes Consider Adam Adam was made to enjoy an immortality in his body He induced death upon himselfe And then as God having made Marriage for a remedy against uncleannesse intemperate men make even Marriage it selfe an occasion of more uncleannesse then if they had never married so man having induced and created death by sin God takes death and makes it a means of the glorifying of his body in heaven God did not induce death death was not in his purpose Cyril Alex. but veluti medium opportunum quo vas confractum rursus fingeretur As a means whereby a broken vessell might be made up againe God tooke death and made it serve for that purpose That men by the grave might be translated to heaven So then to the resurrection of the body there is an ordinary way The grave To the resurrection of the soule there is an ordinary way too The Church In the grave the body that must be there prepared for the last resurrection hath wormes that eat upon it In the Church the soule that comes to this first resurrection must have wormes The worme the sting the remorse the compunction of Conscience In those that have no part in this first resurrection the worme of conscience shall never die but gnaw on to desperation but those that have not this worme of conscience this remorse this compunction shall never live In the grave which is the furnace which ripens the body for the last resurrection there is a putrefaction of the body and an ill savour In the Church the wombe where my soule must be mellowed for this first resurrection my soul which hath the savour of death in it as it is leavened throughout with sin must stink in my nostrils and I come to a detestation of all those sins which have putrified her And I must not be afraid to accuse my selfe to condemne my selfe to humble my selfe lest I become a scorne to men Augusâ— Nemo me derideat ab eo medico aegrum sanari à quo sibi praestitum est ne aegrotaret Let no man despise me or wonder at me that I am so humbled under the hand of God or that I fly to God as to my Physitian when I am sick since the same God that hath recovered me as my Physitian when I was sick hath been his Physitian too and kept him from being sick who but for that Physitian had been as ill as I was At least he must be his Physitian if ever he come to be sick and come to know that he is sick and come to a right desire to be well Spirituall death was before bodily sinne before the wages of sin God hath provided a resurrection for both deaths but first for the first This is the first resurrection Reconciliation to God and the returning of the soule of our soule Grace in his Church by his Word and his seales there Now every repentance is not a resurrection It is rather a waking out of a dreame then a rising to a new life Nay it is rather a startling in our sleep then any awaking at all Ephes 5.14 Esay â—0 1 to have a sudden remorse a sudden flash and no constant perseverance Awake thou that sleepest sayes the Apostle out of the Prophet First awake come to a sense of thy state and then arise from the dead sayes he from the practise of dead works and then Christ shall give thee light life and strength to walk in new wayes It is a long work and hath many steps Awake arise and walke and therefore set out betimes At the last day in those which shall be found alive upon the earth we say there shall be a sudden death and a sudden resurrection In raptu in transitu in ictu oculi In an instant in the twinckling of an eye but do not thou trust to have this first Resurrection In raptu in transitu in ictu oculi In thy last passage upon thy death-bed when the twinckling of the eye must be the closing of thine eyes But as we assign to glorified bodies after the last Resurrection certaine Dotes as we call them in the Schoole certaine Endowments so labour thou to finde those endowments in thy soule here if thou beest come to this first Resurrection Amongst those Endowments we assigne Subtilitatem Agilitatem The glorified bodie is become more subtile more nimble not encumbred not disable for any motion that it would make So hath that soule which is come to this first Resurrection by grace a spirituall agility a holy nimblenesse in it that it can slide by tentations and passe through tentations and never be polluted follow a calling without taking infection by the ordinary tentations of that calling So have those glorified bodies Claritatem a brightnesse upon them from the face of God and so have these soules which are come to this first resurrection a sun in themselves an inherent light by which they can presently distinguish betweene action and action what must what may what must not bee done But of all the endowments of the glorified body we consider most Impassibilitatem That that body shall suffer nothing and is sure that it shall suffer nothing And that which answers that endowment of the body most in this soule that is come to this first resurrection is as the Apostle speaks That neither persecution sicknesse nor death Rom. 8. shall separate her from Christ Iesus In Heaven we doe not say that our bodies shall devest their mortality so as that naturally they could not dye
know and of those whom we did know how few did we care much for In Heaven we shall have Communion of Joy and Glory with all Aug. alwaies Vbi non intrat inimicus nec amicus exit Where never any man shall come in that loves us not nor go from us that does Beloved I thinke you could be content to heare I could be content to speake of this Resurrection our glorious state by the low way of the grave till God by that gate of earth let us in at the other of precious Stones And blessed and holy is he who in a rectified conscience desires that resurrection now But we shall not depart far from this consideration by departing into our last branch or conclusion That this first Resurrection may also be understood to be the first riser Christ Jesus and Blessed and holy is he that hath part in that first Resurrection This first Resurrection is then without any detorting 4 Part. any violence very appliable to Christ himself who was Primitiae dormientium in that that action That he rosc again he is become sayes the Apostle the first fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15.20 Hier. in Mat. 27.52 He did rise and rise first others rose with him none before him for S. Hierome taking the words as he finds them in that Euangelist makes this note That though the graves were opened at the instant of Christs death death was overcome the City opened the gates yet the bodies did not rise till after Christs Resurrection For for such Resurrections as are spoken of That women received their dead raised to life again Heb. 11.35 and such as are recorded in the old and new Testament they were all unperfect and temporary resurrections such as S. Hierome sayes of them all Resurgebant iterum morituri They were but reprieved not pardoned Hier. They had a Resurrection to life but yet a Resurrection to another death Christ is the first Resurrection others were raised but he only rose they by a forraine and extrinsique he by his owne power But we call him not the first in that respect onely for so he was not onely the first but the onely he alone arose by his owne power but with relation to all our future Resurrections he is the first Resurrection First If Christ be not raised your faith is in vaine 1 Cor. 15.17 saies the Apostle You have a vaine faith if you beleeve in a dead man He might be true Man though he remained in death but it concernes you to beleeve that he was the Son of God too And he was declared to be the Son of God Rom. 11.4 by the Resurrection from the dead That was the declaration of himselfe his Justification he was justified by the Spirit when he was proved to be God by raising himselfe But thus our Justification is also in his Resurrection For He was raised from the dead for our Iustification how for ours Rom. 4. ult That we should be also in the likenesse of his Resurrection What is that that he hath told us before Our Resurrection in Christ is that we should walke in newnesse of life Rom. 6.4 So that then Christ is the first Resurrection first Efficiently the onely cause of his owne Resurrection First Meritoriously the onely cause of our Resurrection first Exemplarily the onely patterne how we should rise and how we should walke when we are up and therefore Blessed and happy are we if we referre all our resurrections to this first Resurrection Christ Jesus For as Iob said of Comforters so miserable Resurrections are they all without him If therefore thou need and seeke this first Resurrection in the first acceptation a Resurrection from persecutions and calamities as they oppresse thee here have thy recourse to him to Christ Remember that at the death of Christ there were earthquakes the whole earth trembled There were rendings of the Temple Schismes Convulsions distractions in the Church will be But then the graves opened in the midst of those commotions Then when thou thinkest thy selfe swallowed and buried in affliction as the Angell did his Christ Jesus shall remove thy grave stone and give thee a resurrection but if thou thinke to remove it by thine owne wit thine owne power or the favour of potent Friends Digitus Dei non est hic The hand of God is not in all this and the stone shall lye still upon thee till thou putrifie into desperation and thou shalt have no part in this first Resurrection If thou need and seek this first resurrection in the second acceptation from the fearfull death of hainous sin have thy recourse to him to Christ Jesus remember the waight of the sins that lay upon him All thy sins and all thy Fathers and all thy childrens sins all those sins that did induce the first flood and shall induce the last fire upon this world All those sins which that we might take example by them to scape them are recorded and which lest we should take example by them to imitate them are left unrecorded all sins of all ages all sexes all places al times all callings sins heavy in their substance sins aggravated by their circumstances all kinds of sins and all particular sins of every kind were upon him upon Christ Jesus and yet he raised his holy Head his royall Head though under thornes yet crowned with those thornes and triumphed in this first Resurrection and his body was not left in the Grave nor his soule in Hell Christs first tongue was a tongue that might be heard He spoke to the Shepheards by Angels His second tongue was a Star a tongue which might be seene He spoke to the Wisemen of the East by that Hearken after him these two waies As he speakes to thine eare and to thy soul by it in the preaching of his Word as he speakes to thine eye and so to thy soule by that in the exhibiting of his Sacraments And thou shalt have thy part in this first Resurrection But if thou thinke to overcome this death this sense of sin by diversions by worldly delights by mirth and musique and society or by good works with a confidence of merit in them or with a relation to God himselfe but not as God hath manifested himselfe to thee not in Christ Jesus The stone shall lye still upon thee till thou putrifie into desperation and then hast thou no part in this first Resurrection If thou desire this first Resurrection in the third acceptation as S. Paul did To be dissolved and to be with Christ go Christs way to that also He desired that glory that thou doest and he could have laid down his soul when he would but he staid his houre sayes the Gospel He could have ascended immediatly immediatly in time yet he staid to descend into hell first and he could have ascended immediatly of himself by going up yet he staid till he was taken up Thou hast
no such power of thine own soul and life not for the time not for the means of comming to this first Resurrection by death Stay therefore patiently stay chearfully Gods leasure till he call but not so over-chearfully as to be loath to go when he cals Reliefe in persecution by power reconciliation in sin by grace dissolution and transmigration to heaven by death are all within this first Resurrection But that which is before them all is Christ Jesus And therefore as all that the naturall man promises himself without God is impious so all that we promise our selves though by God without Christ is frivolous God who hath spoken to us by his Son works upon us by his Son too He was our Creation he was our Redemption he is our Resurrection And that man trades in the world without money and goes out of the world without recommendation that leaves out Christ Jesus To be a good Morall man and refer all to the law of Nature in our hearts is but Diluculum The dawning of the day To be a godly man and refer all to God is but Crepusculum A twylight But the Meridionall brightnesse the glorious noon and heighth is to be a Christian to pretend to no spirituall no temporall blessing but for and by and through and in our only Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus for he is this first Resurrection and Blessed and holy is he that hath part in this first Resurrection SERMON XX. Preached at S. Pauls in the Evening upon Easter-day 1625. JOHN 5.28 29. Marvell not at this for the houre is comming in the which all that are in the graves shall heare his voice And shall come forth They that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life And they that have done evill unto the Resurrection of Damnation AS the Sun works diversly according to the diverse disposition of the subject for the Sun melts wax and it hardens clay so do the good actions of good men upon good men they work a vertuous emulation a noble and a holy desire to imitate upon bad men they work a vicious and impotent envy a desire to disgrace and calumniate And the more the good is that is done and the more it works upon good men the more it disaffects the bad for so the Pharisees expresse their rancor and malignity against Christ Jâ—â—n 11.48 in this Gospel If we let him thus alone all men will beleeve in him And that they foresaw would destroy them in their reputation And therefore they enlarged their malice beyond Christ himselfe to him upon whom Christ had wrought a Miracle John 12.10 to Lazarus They consulted to put him to death because by reason of him many beleeved in Iesus Our Text leads us to another example of this impotency in envious men Christ in this Chapter had by his only word cured a man that had been eight and thirty yeares infirm and he had done this work upon the Sabbath They envyed the work in the substance but they quarrell the circumstance And they envy Christ but they turn upon the man who was more obnoxious to them and they tell him John 5. â—â— That it was not lawfull for him to carry his bed that day He discharges himself upon Christ I dispute not with you concerning the Law This satisfies me He that made me whole Veâ— â— bad me take up my bed and walk Thereupon they put him to finde out Jesus And when he could not finde Jesus Jesus found him and in his behalf offers himself to the Pharisees Then they direct themselves upon him and as the Gospell sayes They sought to slay him because he had done this upon the Sabbath And V. 16. as the patient had discharged himself upon Christ Christ discharges himself upon his Father doth it displease you that I work upon the Sabbath be angry with God be angry with the Father for the Father works when I work V. 17. V. 18. And then this they take worse then his working of Miracles or his working upon the Sabbath That he would say that God was his Father And therfore in the averring of that that so important point That God was his Father Christ grows into a holy vehemence and earnestnesse and he repeats his usuall oath Verily verily three severall times First ver 19. That whatsoever the Father doth He the Son doth also And then ver 24. He that beleeveth on me and him that sent me hath life everlasting And then again ver 25. The houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voice of the Son of God and they that heare it shall live At this that the dead should live they marvelled But because he knew that they were men more affected with things concerning the body then spirituall things as in another story when they wondered that he would pretend to forgive sins because he knew that they thought it a greater matter to bid that man that had the Palsie take up his bed and walk then to forgive him his sins therefore he took that way which was hardest in their opinion he did bid him take up his bed and walk So here when they wondred at his speaking of a spirituall Resurrection to heare him say that at his preaching the dead that is men spiritually dead in their sins should rise again to them who more respected the body and did lesse beleeve a reall Resurrection of the body then a figurative Resurrection of the soul he proceeds to that which was in their apprehension the more difficult Marvell not at this sayes he here in our Text not at that spirituall Resurrection by preaching for the houre is comming in the which all that are in the graves c. and so he establishes the Resurrection of the body That then which Christ affirmes and avows is That he is the Son of God Divisio and that is the first thing that ever was done in Heaven The eternall generation of the Son that by which he proves this to these men is That by him there shall be a resurrection of the body and that is the last thing that shall be done in Heaven for after that there is nothing but an even continuance in equall glory Before that saies he that is before the resurrection of the body there shall be another resurrection a spirituall resurrection of the soule from sin but that shall be by ordinary meanes by Preaching and Sacraments and it shall be accomplished every day but fix not upon that determin not your thoughts upon that marvaile not at that make that no cause of extraordinary wonder but make it ordinary to you feele it and finde the effect thereof in your soules as often as you heare as often as you receive and thereby provide for another resurrection For the houre is comming in which all that are in their graves c. Where we must necessarily make thus many steps though but short ones First the dignity of
houre is comming and now is because there are no other meanes to be hereafter instituted for the attaining of a happy Resurrection then those that now are established in the Church especially at a mans death may we very properly say Nunc est Now is the Resurrection come to him not onely because the last Judgement is involved in the first for that Judgment which passeth upon every man at his death stands for ever without Repeal or Appeal or Error but because after the death of the Body there is no more to be done with the Body till the Resurrection for as we say of an Arrow that it is over shot it is gone it is beyond the mark though it be not come to the mark yet because there is no more to be done to it till it be so we may say that he that is come to death is come to his Resurrection because he hath not another step to make another foot to goe another minute to count till he be at the Resurrection The Resurrection then being the Coronation of man his Death and lying downe in the grave is his enthroning his sitting downe in that chayre where he is to receive that Crown As then the Martyrs under the Altar though in heaven yet doe cry out for the Resurrection so let us in this miserable life submit our selves cheerfully to the hand of God in death since till that death we cannot have this Resurrection and the first thing that we shall doe after this death is to rise againe To the child that is now borne we may say Hora venit The day of his Resurrection is comming To him that is old we may say The hour is come but to him that is dead The minute is come because to him there are no more minutes till it doe come Miremini hoc Omnes Marvail at this at the descent of Gods love He loves the Body of Man And Miremini hoc Mervaile at his speed He makes haste to expresse this love Hora venit And then Miremini hoc Marvaile at the Generality it reaches to all all that are in the Grave All that are in the graves shall heare his voice c. God hath made the Body as a House for the soule till he call her out and he hath made the Grave as a House for the body till he call it up The misery and poore estate that Christ submitted himselfe unto for man Mat 8.20 was not determined in that That foxes had holes but he no where to lay his head while he lived but he had no grave that he could claime when he was dead It is some discontinuance of the Communion of Saints if I may not be buried with the Saints of God Every man that hath not devested Humanity hath a desire to have his bones lie at rest and we cannot provide for that so well any way as to bury them in Consecrated places which are in common entendment safest from prophane violences Even that respect that his bones might lye at rest seems to have mov'd one Prophet 1 King 13.31 to enjoyne his Sons to bury him in the Sepulcher where the other Prophet was buried He knew that Iosiah would burne the bones of all the other graves upon the Altar of Bethel as was prophecied and he presum'd that he would spare the bones of that Prophet and so his bones should be safe if they were mingled with the other Deut. 34.6 God expressed his love to Moses in that particular That he buried him And to deliver and remove him from the violence of any that lov'd him not and so might dishonor his memory and from the superstition of any that over-lov'd him and so might over-honour his memory God buried him in secret In more then one place doth David complaine That there was none to bury Gods Saints And the Dignity that is promised here in the Text is appropriated to them who are in the graves who are buried But then was that generall Is it simply plainly literally of them and them onely who are in graves who are buried Shall none enjoy a Resurrection that have not enjoy'd a Grave Still I say it is a comfort to a dying man it is an honour to his memory it is a discharge of a duty in his friends it is a piece of the Communion of Saints to have a consecrated grave But the word here is In monumentis All that are in Monuments that is in Receptacles of Bodies of what kind soever they be wheresoever the hand of God layes up a dead Body Psal 34.20 that place is the Receptacle so the monument so the grave of that Body God keeps all the bones of the righteous so that none of them are broken Though they be trod to dust in our sight they are intire in his because he can bid them be whole againe in an instant Some Nations burnt their dead there the fire is the grave some drowned their dead there the sea is the grave and some hung them up upon trees and there the ayre is their grave Some Nations eat their dead themselves and some maintained dogs to eat the dead Herod Strabo and as they called those dogs Canes Sepulchrales Sepulchrall dogs so those men were sepulchrall men those men and those dogs were graves Death and hell shall deliver up their dead Apâ—c 20.13 sayes S. Iohn That is the whole state and mansion of the dead shall be emptied The state of the dead is their grave and upon all that are in this state shall the testimony of Gods love to the body of man fall And that is the Generality All that are in the grave c. Our next step is Audient The Instrument the Means by which this first so speedy and then so generall love of God to man to man in his lowest part his body is accomplished unto him These All these All these that are in graves in all these kinds of graves shall heare his voice and that is the Meanes First whose voice That is expressed immediately before The Son of man In the other Resurrection in that of the dead soule ver 25. there it is said The dead shall heare the voyce of the Son of God In this which is the Resurrection to Judgement it is The Son of man The former Resurrection that of a sinner to repentance by preaching is wrought by a plaine and ordinary meanes here in the Church where you doe but heare a man in a Pew read prayers and pronounce Absolution and a man in a Pulpit preach a Sermon and a man at a Table consecrate and administer a Sacrament And because all this though it be the power of life and the meanes of your spirituall resurrection is wrought by the Ministery of man who might be contemptible in your eye therefore the whole worke is referred to God and not the son of man but the Son of God is said to do it In this Resurrection of the
is impossible to separate the consideration of the Resurrection from the consideration of the Judgement and the terrors of that may abate the joy of the other Sive comedoâ—sive bibo saies S. Hierom Whether I eate or drink still me thinks I heare this sound Surgite mortui venite ad Iudicium Arise you dead and come to Judgement When it cals me up from death I am glad when it cals me to Judgement that impaires my joy Can I thinke that God will not take a strict account or can I be without feare if I thinke he will Non expavescere requisiturum est dicere non requiret is excellently said by S. Bernard If I can put off all feare of that Judgement I have put off all imagination that any such Judgement shall be But when I begin this feare in this life here I end this feare in my death and passe away cheerefully But the wicked begin this feare when the Trumpet sounds to the Resurrection and then shall never end it but as a man condemned to be halfe hang'd and then quartered hath a fearfull addition in his quartering after and yet had no ease in his hanging before so they that have done ill when they have had their hanging when they have suffered in soule the torments of Hell from the day of their death to the day of Judgement shall come to that day with feare as to an addition to that which yet was insinite before And therefore the vulgat Edition hath rendred this well Procedent They shall proceed they shall go farther and farther in torment But this is not the object of our speculation Conâ—lusio the subject of our meditation now we proposed this Text for the Contemplation of Gods love to man and therefore we rather comfort our selves with that branch and refresh our selves with the shadow of that That they who have done good shall come forth unto the Resurrection of life Alas the others shall live as long as they Lucifer is as immortall as Michael and Iudas as immortall as S. Peter August But Vita damnatorum mors est That which we call immortality in the damned is but a continuall dying howsoever it must be called life it hath all the qualities of death saving the ease and the end which death hath and damnation hath not They must come forth they that have done evill must do so too Neither can stay in their house their grave for their house though that house should be the sea shall be burnt downe all the world dissolv'd with fire But then They who have done evill shall passe from that fire into a farther heat without light They who have done good into a farther light without heat But fix upon the Conditions and performe them They must have done Good To have knowne Good to have beleeved it to have intended it nay to have preached it to others will not serve They must have done good They must be rooted in faith and then bring forth fruit and fruit in season and then is the season of doing good when another needs that good at thy hands God gives the evening raine but he gave the morning rain before A good man gives at his death but he gives in his life time too To them belongs this Resurrection of the body to life upon which since our Text inclines us to marvell rather then to discourse I will not venture to say with David Narrabo omnia mirabilia tua I will shew all thy wondrous works Psal 9.2 Psal 105.5 Psal 119 18. an Angels tongue could not shew them but I will say with him Mementote mirabilium Remember the marvellous works he hath done And by that God will open your eyes that you may behold the wondrous things that he will do Remember with thankfulnesse the severall resurrections that he hath given you from superstition and ignorance in which you in your Fathers lay dead from sin and a love of sin in which you in the dayes of your youth lay dead from sadnesse and dejection of spirit in which you in your worldly crosses or spirituall tentations lay dead And assure your self that that God that loves to perfect his own works when you shall lye dead in your graves will give you that Resurrection to life which he hath promised to all them that do good and will extend to all them who having done evill do yet truly repent the evill they have done SERMON XXI The first Sermon upon this Text Preached at S. Pauls in the Evening upon Easter-day 1626. 1 COR. 15.29 Else what shall they do that are baptized for dead If the dead rise not at all why are they then baptized for dead O Dit Dominus qui festum Domini unum putat diem sayes Origen God hates that man that thinks any of his Holy dayes last but one day That is that never thinks of a Resurrection but upon Easter-day I have therefore proposed words unto you which will not be determined this day That so when at any other time we return to the handling of then we may also return to the meditation of the Resurrection To which we may best give a beginning this day in which we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus Aâ—d in his one Resurrection all those severall kinds of Resurrections which appertain unto us because howsoever these words have received divers good expositions from divers good Expositors and received one perverse exposition from our adversaries in the Romane Church who have detorted and deflected them to the maintenance of their Purgatory yet all agree that these words are an argument for the Resurrection and therefore proper to this day And yet this day we shall not so much inquire wherein and in what sense the words are an argument of the Resurrection as enjoy the assurance that they are so not so much distribute the Text into an explication of the particular words which is as the Mintage and Coyning of gold into severall lesser pieces as to lay up the whole wedge and ingot of Gold all at once in you that is the precious assurance of your glorious Resurrection In establishing whereof we shall this day make but this short passage Divisio by these two steps Glory in the end And Grace in the way The Glory of our bodies in the last Resurrection then And the Grace upon our souls in their present Resurrection now For as we do not dig for gold meerly and only for treasure but to dispense and issue it also for present provision and use not only for the future but for the present too So we doe not gather the doctrine of the Resurrection only for that dignity which the body shall receive in the Triumphant but also for the consolation which thereby our soules may receive in the Militant Church And therefore as in our first part which will be By what meanes the knowledge and assurance of the Resurrection of the body
accrues to us we shall see that though it be presented by Reason before and illustrated by Reason after yet the roote and foundation thereof is in Faith though Reason may chafe the wax yet Faith imprints the seale for the Resurrection is not a conclusion out of naturall Reason but it is an article of supernaturall Faith and though you assent to me now speaking of the Resurrection yet that is not out of my Logick nor out of my Rhetorique but out of that Character and Ordinance which God hath imprinted in me in the power and efficacy whereof I speak unto you as often as I speak out of this place As I say we determine our first part in this How the assurance of this Resurrection accrues to us so when we descend to our second part That is the consolation which we receive whilest we are In via here upon our way in this world out of the contemplation of that Resurrection to glory which we shall have In patria at home in heaven and how these two Resurrections are arguments and evidences of one another we shall look upon some correspondencies and resemblances between naturall death and spirituall death by sin and between the glorious Resurrection of the body and the gracious Resurrection of the soule that so having brought bodily death and bodily Resurrection and spirituall death and spirituall Resurrection by their comparison into your consideration you may anon depart somewhat the better edified in both and so enjoy your present Resurrection of the soule by Grace with more certainty and expect the future Resurrection of the body to glory with the more alacrity and chearfulnesse Though therefore we may hereafter take just occasion of entring into a war 1. Part. in vindicating and redeeming these words seased and seduced by our adversaries to testifie for their Purgatory yet this day being a day of peace and reconciliation with God and man we begin with peace with that wherein all agree That these words Else what shall they do that are baptized for dead If the dead rise not at all why are they baptized for dead must necessarily receive such an Exposition as must be an argument for the Resurrection This baptisme pro mortuis for dead must be such a baptisme as must prove that the Resurrection For that the Apostle repeats twice in these few words Else sayes he that is if there be no Resurrection why are men thus baptized And again if the dead rise not why are men thus baptized Indeed the whole Chapter is a continuall argument for the Resurrection from the beginning thereof to the 35. ver he handles the An sit whether there be a Resurrection or no For if that be denyed or doubted in the roote in the person of Christ whether he be risen or no the whole frame of our religion fals and every man will be apt and justly apt to ask that question which the Indian King asked when he had been catechized so far in the articles of our Christian religion as to come to the suffered and crucified and dead and buried impatient of proceeding any farther and so losing the consolation of the Resurrection he asked only Is your God dead and buried then let me return to the worship of the Sun for I am sure the Sun will not die If Christ be dead and buried that is continue in the state of death and of the grave without a Resurrection where shall a Christian look for life Therefore the Apostle handles and establishes that first that assurance A Resurrection there is From thence he raises and pursues a second question De modo But some man will say sayes he How are the dead raised up and with what body come they forth And in these questions De modo there is more exercise of reason and of discourse for many times The matter is matter of faith when the manner is not so but considerable and triable by reason Many times for the matter we are all bound and bound upon salvation to think alike But for the manner we may think diversly without forfeiture of salvation or impeachment of discretion For he is not presently an indiscreet man that differs in opinion from another man that is discreet in things that fall under opinion Absit superstito Geâ—son hoc est superflua religio sayes a moderate man of the Romane Church This is truly superstition to bring more under the necessity of being beleeved then God hath brought in his Scriptures superfluous religion sayes he is superstition Remove that and then as he addes there Contradictoria quorum utrumque probabile credi possunt Where two contrary opinions are both probable they may be embraced and beleeved by two men and those two be both learned and discreet and pious and zealous men And this consideration should keep men from that precipitation of imprinting the odious and scandalous names of Sects or Sectaries upon other men who may differ from them and from others with them in some opinions Probability leads me in my assent and I think thus Let me allow another man his probability too and let him think his way in things that are not fundamentall They that do not beleeve alike in all circumstances of the manner of the Resurrection may all by Gods goodnesse meet there and have their parts in the glory thereof if their own uncharitablenesse do not hinder them And he that may have been in the right opinion may sooner misse heaven then he that was in the wrong if he come uncharitably to condemne or contemne the other for in such cases humility and love of peace may in the sight of God excuse and recompence many errours and mistakings And after these of the Matter of the Manner of the Resurrection the Apostle proceeds to a third question of their state and condition whom Christ shall finde alive upon Earth at his second comming and of them he sayes onely this Ecce mysterium vobis dico Behold I tell you a mystery a secret we shall not all sleep that is not dye so as that we shall rest any time in the grave but we shall all be changed that is receive such an immutation as that we shall have a sudden dissolution of body and soul which is a true death and a sudden re-union of body and soule which is a true resurrection in an instant in the twinkling of an eye Thus carefull and thus particular is the Apostle that the knowledge of the resurrection might be derived unto us Now of these three questions which he raises and pursues first whether there be a Resurrection then what manner of Resurrection and then what kinde of Resu rrection they shall have that live to the day of Judgement our Text enters into the first For for the first That a resurrection there is the Apostle opens severall Topiques to prove it One is from our Head and Patterne and Example Christ Jesus For so he argues first If the dead be not raised
were baptized were such as understood their case persons of discretion such as had spent many months many times many yeares in studying and in practising the Christian religion and then were baptized and if these men say those Fathers fell after this it was impossible to be renewed that way impossible that they should have a second baptisme And it is scarce mannerly scarce safe to depart from so many as meet in this interpretation of this impossibility for they all intend that which S. Chrysostome expresses most plainly Dixit impossibile ut in desperationem induceret The Apostle sayes it is impossible that he might bring us before hand into a kinde of desperation A desperation of this kinde That there was absolutely no hope of a possibility of renewing as they were renewed before that is by baptisme But because at this time when the Apostle writ that questioÌ„ which troubled the Church so much after in S. Cyprians time of Rebaptization was not moved at all neither doth it appeare nor is it likely that any that fell so put his hopes upon renewing by a second baptisme there is something else in this Impossibility then so And that in one word is That the falling intended here is not a falling à nardo nostra from the savour of our own Spikenard the good use of our owne faculties lost in Originall sin nor a falling Ab unguento Domini that though the perfume an Incense of the name of Christ and the offer of his merits be shed upon us here that doth not restrain us from falling into some sins But this falling is as it is expressed a falling away away from Christ in all his Ordinances an undervaluing a despising of those meanes which he hath established for the renewing of a broken soule which is the making a mock of the Son of God and the treading the blood of the Covenant under foot When Christ hath ordained but one way for the renewing of a soul The conveyance of his merits in preaching the word and the sealing thereof in applying the Sacraments to that man that is fallen so as to refuse that as it is impossible to live if a man refuse to eat Impossible to recover if a man refuse Physick so it is Impossible for him to be renewed because God hath notified to us but one way and he refuses that So this is a true Impossibility and yet limited too for though it be impossible to us by any meanes imparted to us or to our dispensing and stewardship yet shall any thing be impossible to God God forbid For even from this death and this depth there is a Resurrection As from the losse of our Spikenard Rosurrectio our naturall faculties in originall sin we have a resurrection in baptisine And from the losse of the oyntment of the Lord the offer of his Graces in these meetings and the falling into some actuall sins for all that assistance we have a resurrection in the other Sacrament So when we have lost the savour of the field those degrees of goodnesse and holinesse which we had and had declared before when we are falleÌ„ from all present sense of the means of a resurrection yet there may be a resurrection wrapped up in the good purposes of God upon that man which unlesse he will himselfe shall not be frustrated not evacuated not disappointed Though he have foetorem pro Odore Esay 3.24 as the Prophet speaks That in stead of the sweet savour which his former holy life exhaled and breathed up he be come now to stink in the sight of the Church and howsoever God may have a good savour from his own work from those holy purposes which he hath upon him which lie in Gods bosome yet from his present sins and from the present testimony and evidence that the Church gives against him as a present sinner he must necessarily stink in the nostrils of God too yet as in the Resurrection of the body it shall come when we shall not know of it So when this poore dead put rified soule hath no sense of it and perchance little or no disposition towards it the efficacy of Gods purpose shall break out and work in him a resurrection And this S. Chrysostome takes to be intended in that which is said in the same place to the Hebrews That that earth which drinketh in the rain Heb. 6. and bringeth forth nothing but Bryers is Maledicto proxima nearest to be accursed That man is nearest to be a Reprobate But yet sayes he Vides quantam habet consolationem We apprehend a blessed consolation in this That it is said neare a curse neare reprobation and no worse for Qui propè est procul esse potcrit sayes he That soule which is but neare destruction may weather that mischiefe and grow to be far from it and out of danger of it It is true this man hath lost his paratum cor meum he cannot say his heart is prepared Psal 57.7 that he hath lost in originall sin This man hath lost his Confirmatum cor meum Psal 112.7 he cannot say his heart is est ablished that hath been offered him in these exercises but it hath not prevailed upon him He hath lost his variis odoribus delectatum cor Prov. 27.9 the delight which his heart heretofore had in the savour of the field in those good actions in which formerly he exercised himself and now is falne from But yet there may be cor novum Psal 51.10 a new heart a heart which is yet in Gods bosome and shall be transplanted into his A dupliâ—ate an exemplification of Gods secret purpose to be manifested and revealed by the Spirit of God in his good time upon him And this may work Chrâ—sost In insigni vehementi mutatione in such an evidence and demonstration of it self as he shall know it to be that because it shall not work as a Circumcision but as an Excision not as a lopping off but as a rooting up not by mending him but by making him a new creature He shall not grow lesse riotous then before for so a sentence in the Star-Chamber or any other Criminall Court for a riot might be a resurrection to him nor lesse voluptuous for so poverty in his Fortune or insipidnesse and tastlesnesse in his palate might be a resurrection to him Nor lesse licentious for so age or sicknesse nor lesse quarrelsome for so blowes and oppression might be a resurrection to him But when in a rectified understanding he can but apprehend that such a resurrection there may be nay there is for him it shall grow up to a holy confidence established by the sensible effects thereof that he shall not onely discontinue his former acts and devest his former habits of sin but produce acts and build up habits contrary to his former habits and former acts for this is the resurrection from this second fall In dissolutionem into the dissolution
shall know that I am the Lord God shall restore them to life and more to strength and more to beauty and comelinesse acceptable to himselfe in Christ Jesus Your way is Recollecting gather your selves into the Congregation and Communion of Saints in these places gather your sins into your memory and poure them out in humble confessions to that God whom they have wounded Gather the crummes under his Table lay hold upon the gracious promises which by our Ministery he lets fall upon the Congregation now and gather the seales of those promises whensoever in a rectified conscience his Spirit beares witnesse with your spirit that you may be worthy receivers of him in his Sacrament and this recollecting shall be your resurrection Beatus qui habet partem Apâ—â— 20.6 sayes S. Iohn Blessed is he that hath part in the first Resurrection for on such the second death hath no power He that rises to this Judgement of recollecting and of judging himselfe shall rise with a chearfulnesse and stand with a confidence when Christ Jesus shall come in the second Auâ— And Quando exacturus est in secundo quod dedit in primo when Christ shall call for an account in that second judgement how he hath husbanded those graces which he gave him for the first he shall make his possession of this first resurrection his title and his evidence to the second When thy body which hath been subject to all kindes of destruction here to the destruction of a Flood in Catarrhs and Rheums and Dropsies and such distillations to the destruction of a fire in Feavers and Frenzies and such conflagrations shall be removed safely and gloriously above all such distempers and malignant impressions and body and soule so united as if both were one spirit in it selfe and God so united to both as that thou shalt be the same spirit with God God began the first World but upon two Adam and Eve The second world after the Flood he began upon a greater stock upon eight reserved in the Arke But when he establishes the last and everlasting world in the last Resurrection he shall admit such a number as that none of us who are here now none that is or hath or shall be upon the face of the earth shall be denied in that Resurrection if he have truly felt this for Grace accepted is the infallible earnest of Glory SERMON XXII Preached at S. Pauls upon Easter-day 1627. HEB. 11.35 Women received their dead raised to life againe And others were tortured not accepting a deliverance that they might obtaine a better Resurrection MErcy is Gods right hand with that God gives all Faith is mans right hand with that man takes all David Psal 136. opens and enlarges this right hand of God in pouring out his blessings plentifully abundantly manifoldly there And in this Chapter the Apostle opens and enlarges this right hand of man by laying hold upon those mercies of God plentifully abundantly manifoldly by faith here There David powres downe the mercies of God in repeating and re-repeating that phrase For his mercy endureth for ever And here S. Paul carries up man to heaven by repeating and re-repeating the blessings which man hath attained by faith By faith Abel sacrificed By faith Enoch walked with God By faith Noah built an Arke c. And as in that Psalme Gods mercies are exprest two waies First in the good that God did for his servants He remembred them in their low estate Ver 23. Ver. 24. for his mercy endureth for ever And then againe He redeemed them from their enemies for his mercy endureth for ever And then also in the evill that he brought upon their enemies He slew famous Kings for his mercy endureth for ever And then He gave their land for an heritage for his mercy endureth for ever So in this Chapter the Apostle declares the benefits of faith two wayes also First how faith enriches us and accommodates us in the wayes of prosperity By faith Abraham went to a place which he received for an inheritance And so By faith Sarah received strength to conceive seed Ver. 8. Ver. 11. Ver. 34. And then how faith sustaines and establishes us in the wayes of adversity By faith they stopt the mouthes of Lions by faith they quencht the violence of fire by faith they escaped the edge of the sword in the verse immediatly before the Text. And in this verse which is our Text the Apostle hath collected both The benefits which they received by faith Women received their dead raised to life againe And then the holy courage which was infused by Faith in their persecutions Others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might receive a better Resurrection And because both these have relation evidently pregnantly to the Resurrection for their benefit was that the Women received their dead by a Resurrection And their courage in their persecution was That they should receive a better Resurrection therefore the whole meditation is proper to this day in which wee celebrate all Resurrections in the Root in the Resurrection of the First fruits of the dead our Lord and Saviour Christ Iesus Our Parts are two How plentifully God gives to the faithfull Divisio Women receive their dead raised to life againe And how patiently the faithfull suffer Gods corrections Others were tortured not accepting c. Though they be both large considerations Benefits by Faith Patience in the Faithfull yet we shall containe our selves in those particulars which are exprest or necessarily implyed in the Text it selfe And so in the first place we shall see first The extraordinary consolation in Gods extraordinary Mercies in his miraculous Deliverances such as this Women received their dead raised to life again And secondly we shall seethe examples to which the Apostle refers here What women had had their dead restored to life againe And then lastly in that part That this affection of joy in having their dead restored to life againe being put in the weaker sexe in women onely we may argue conveniently from thence That the strength of a true and just joy lies not in that but that our virility our holy manhood our religious strength consists in a faithfull assurance that we have already a blessed communion with these Saints of God though they be dead and we alive And that we shall have hereafter a glorious Association with them in the Resurrection though we never receive our dead raised to life again in this world And in those three considerations we shall determine that first part And then in the other The Patience of the Faithfull Others were tortured c. we shall first look into the examples which the Apostle refers to who they were that were thus tortured And secondly the heighth and exaltation of their patience They would not accept a deliverance And lastly the ground upon which their Anchor was cast what established their patience That they might obtaine a better Resurrection
our virility our holy manhood our true and religious strength consists in the assurance that though death have divided us and though we never receive our dead raised to life again in this world yet we do live together already in a holy Communion of Saints and shal live together for ever hereafter in a glorious Resurrection of bodies Little know we how little a way a soule hath to goe to heaven when it departs from the body Whether it must passe locally through Moone and Sun and Firmament and if all that must be done all that may be done in lesse time then I have proposed the doubt in or whether that soule finde new light in the same roome and be not carried into any other but that the glory of heaven be diffused over all I know not I dispute not I inquire not Without disputing or inquiring I know that when Christ sayes That God is not the God of the dead he saies that to assure me that those whom I call dead are alive And when the Apostle tels me That God is not ashamed to be called the God of the dead Heb. 11.16 he tels me that to assure me That Gods servants lose nothing by dying He was but a Heathen that said Menander Thraces If God love a man Iuvenis tollitur He takes him young out of this world And they were but Heathens that observed that custome To put on mourning when their sons were born and to feast and triumph when they dyed But thus much we may learne from these Heathens That if the dead and we be not upon one floore nor under one story yet we are under one roofe We think not a friend lost because he is gone into another roome nor because he is gone into another Land And into another world no man is gone for that Heaven which God created and this world is all one world If I had fixt a Son in Court or married a daughter into a plentifull Fortune I were satisfied for that son and that daughter Shall I not be so when the King of Heaven hath taken that son to himselfe and maried himselfe to that daughter for ever I spend none of my Faith I exercise none of my Hope in this that I shall have my dead raised to life againe This is the faith that sustaines me when I lose by the death of others or when I suffer by living in misery my selfe That the dead and we are now all in one Church and at the resurrection shall be all in one Quire But that is the resurrection which belongs to our other part That resurrection which wee have handled though it were a resurrection from death yet it was to death too for those that were raised again died again But the Resurrection which we are to speak of is forever They that rise then shall see death no more for it is sayes our Text A better Resurrection That which we did in the other part 2 Part. in the last branch thereof in this part we shall doe in the first First we shall consider the examples from which the Apostle deduceth this encouragement and faithfull constancy upon those Hebrewes to whom he directs this Epistle Though as he sayes in the beginning of the next Chapter he were compassed about with a Cloud of witnesses and so might have proposed examples from the Authenticke Scriptures and the Histories of the Bible yet we accept that direction which our Translators have given us in the Marginall Concordance of their Translation That the Apostle in this Text intends and so referres to that Story which is 2 Maccab. 7.7 To that Story also doth Aquinas referre this place But Aquinas may have had a minde to doe that service to the Romane Church to make the Apostle cite an Apocryphall Story though the Apostle meant it not It may be so in Aquinas He might have such a minde such a meaning But surely Beza had no such meaning Calvin had no such minde and yet both Calvin and Beza referre this Text to that Story Though it be said sayes Calvin that Ieremy was stoned to death and Esay sawed to death Non dubito quin illas persecutiones designet quae sub Antiocho I doubt not sayes he but that the Apostle intends those persecutions which the Maccabees suffered under Antiochus So then there may be good use made of an Apocryphall Booke It alwayes was and alwayes will be impossible for our adversaries of the Romane Church to establish that which they have so long endeavoured that is to make the Apocryphall Bookes equall to the Canonicall It is true that before there was any occasion of jealousie or suspition that there would be new Articles of faith coyned and those new Articles authorized and countenanced out of the Apocryphall Books the blessed Fathers in the Primitive Church afforded honourable names and made faire and noble mention of those Books So they have called them Sacred and more then that Divine and more then that too Canonicall Books and more then all that by the generall name of Scripture and Holy Writ But the Holy Ghost who fore-saw the danger though those blessed Fathers themselves did not hath shed and dropt even in their writings many evidences to prove in what sense they called those Books by those names and in what distance they alwayes held them from those Bookes which are purely and positively and to all purposes and in all senses Sacred and Divine and Canonicall and simply Scripture and simply Holy Writ Of this there is no doubt in the Fathers before S. Augustine For all they proposed these Bookes as Canones morum non sidei Canonicall that is Regular for applying our manners and conversation to the Articles of Faith but not Canonicall for the establishing those Articles Canonicall for edification but not for foundation And even in the later Roman Church we have a good Author that gives us a good rule Cajeâ—an Ne turberis Novitie Let no young Student be troubled when he heares these Bookes by some of the Fathers called Canonicall for they are so saies he in their sense Regulares ad aedificationem Good Canons good Rules for matter of manners and conversation And this distinction saies that Author will serve to rectifie not onely what the Fathers afore S. Augustine for they speake cleerely enough but what S. Augustine himselfe and some Councels have said of this matter But yet this difference gives no occasion to an elimination to an extermination of these Books which we call Apocryphall And therefore when in a late forraine Synod that Nation where that Synod was gathered would needs dispute whether the Apocryphall Bookes should not be utterly left out of the Bible And not effecting that yet determined that those Bookes should be removed from their old place where they had ever stood that is after the Bookes of the Old Testament Exteri se excusari petierunt Sessio 10. say the Acts of that Synod Those that
never spoken of the Resurrection to them they were likely to have heard of it from them to whom Christ had spoken of it It was Cleophas his question to Christ though he knew him not then to be so when they went together to Emaus Art thou onely a stranger in Ierusalem that is hast thou been at Jerusalem and is this Luke 24.16 The death of Christ strange to thee So may we say to any that professes Christianity Art thou in the Christian Church and is this The Resurrection of Christ strange to thee Are there any amongst us that thrust to Fore-noones and After-noones Sermons that pant after high and un-understandable Doctrines of the secret purposes of God and know not this the fundamentall points of Doctrine Even these womens ignorance though they were in the number of the Disciples of Christ makes us affraid that some such there may be and therefore blessed be they that have set on foote that blessed way of Catechizing that after great professions we may not be ignorant of small things These things these women might have learnt of others who were to instruct them Luke 24. â—â— But for their better assurance the Angell tells them here that Christ himself had told them of this before Remember sayes he how Christ spoke to you whilst he was with you in Galile We observe that Christ spoke to his Disciples of his Resurrection five times in the Gospell Now these women could not be present at any of the five but one which was the third Mat. 17.22 And before that it is evident that they had applied themselves to Christ and ministred unto him The Angell then remembers them what Christ said to them there Luke 24.6 It was this The Sonne of man must be delivered into the hands of sinfull men and Crucified and the third day rise againe And they remembred his words sayes the Text there Then they remembred them when they heard of them again but not till then Which gives me just occasion to note first the perverse tendernesse and the supercilious and fastidious delicacy of those men that can abide no repetitions nor indure to heare any thing which they have heard before when as even these things which Christ himself had preached to these women in Galile had been lost if this Angel had not preached them over again to them at Jerusalem Remember how he spake to you sayes he to them And why shouldst thou be loath to heare those things which thou hast heard before when till thou heardst them again thou didst not know that is not consider that ever thou hadst heard them So have we here also just occasion to note their impertinent curiosity who though the sense be never so well observed call every thing a salfification if the place be not rightly cyphard or the word exactly cited and magnifie one another for great Text men though they understand no Text because they cite Book and Chapter and Verse and Words aright whereas in this place the Angel referres the women to Christs words and they remember that Christ spake those words and yet if we compare the places Mat. 17.22 Luke 24.6 that where Christ speaks the words and that where the Angell repeats them though the sense be intirely the same yet the words are not altogether so Thus the Angell erects them in the consternation Remember what was promised that in three dayes he would rise The third day is come and he is risen as he said and that your senses may be exercised as well as your faith Come and see the place where the Lord lay Even the Angell calls Christ Lord Dominus Angeli Heb. 1.6 and his Lord for the Lord and the Angell calls him so is Lord of all of men and Angels When God brings his Soninto the world sayes the Apostle he sayes let all the Angels of God worship him And when God caries his Son out of the world by the way of the Crosse they have just cause to worship him too Colâ—â—â— 1.20 for By the blood of his Crosse are all things reconciled to God both things in earth and things in heaven Men and Angels Therefore did an Angel minister to Christ before he was Luke 1. Mat. 1. Luke 2. Mat. 4. Luke 22. Acts 1.10 in the Annunciation to his blessed Mother that he should be And an Angel to his imaginary Father Ioseph before he was born And a Quire of Angels to the Shepheards at his birth An Angel after his tentation And in his Agony and Bloody-sweat more Angels Angels at his last step at his Ascension and here at his Resurrection Angels minister unto him The Angels of heaven acknowledged Christ to be their Lord. In the beginning some of the Angels would be Similes Altissimo like to the most High But what a transcendent what a super-diabolicall what a prae-Luciferian pride is his that will be supra Altissimum 2 Thes 2.4 superiour to God That not only exalteth himselfe above all that is called God Kings are called Gods and this Arch-Monarch exalts himselfe above all Kings but above God literally and in that wherein God hath especially manifested himself to be God to us that is in prescribing us a Law how he will be obeyed for in dispensing with this Law and adding to and withdrawing from this law he exalts himself above God as our Law-giver And as it is also said there He exalteth himself and opposeth himselfe against God There is no trusting of such neighbours as are got above us in power This man of sin hath made himselfe superiour to God and then an enemy to God for God is Truth and he opposes him in that for he is heresie and falshood and God is Love and he opposes him in that for he is envy and hatred and malice and sedition and invasion and rebellion The Angell confesses Christ to be The Lord his Lord Dominus mortuus and he confesses him to be so then when he lay dead in the grave Come seethe place where the Lord lay A West Indian King having beene well wrought upon for his Conversion to the Christian Religion and having digested the former Articles when he came to that He was crucified dead and buried had no longer patience but said If your God be dead and buried leave me to my old god the Sunne for the Sunne will not dye But if he would have proceeded to the Article of the Resurrection hee should have seene that even then when hee lay dead hee was GOD still Then when hee was no Man hee was GOD still Nay then when hee was no man hee was God and Man in this true sense That though the body and soule were divorced from one another and that during that divorce he were no man for it is the union of body and soule that makes a man yet the Godhead was not divided from either of these constitutive parts of man body or soule Psal 22.7 1
is risen indeed risen of himself as the word sounds yet that phrase and expression He is risen if there were no more in it but that expression and that phrase would not conclude Christs rising to have been in virtute propria in his own power For of Dorcas who was raised from the dead Aâ—â— 9 4◠〈◊〉 11. it is said Resedit she sate up and of Lazarus Prodiit he came forth and yet these actions thus ascribed to themselves were done in virtute aliena in the power of another Christs Resurrection was not so In virtute aliena in the power of another if you consider his whole person God and Man but it was aliena à filio Mariae Christ as the Son of Mary rose not by his own power It was by his own but his own because he was God as well as man Nor could all the Magick in the world have raised him sooner then by that his power his as God he that is that person God and man was pleased to rise So sits he now at the right hand of his Father in heaven nor can all the Consecrations of the Romane Priests either remove him from thence or multiply him to a bodily being any where else till his time of comming to Judgment come Then and not till then The Lord himself shall descend from heaven in clamore sayes the Text in a shout with the voyce of the Arch-angell and with the Trumpet of God which circumstances constitute our third and last Branch of this first Part The dead shall rise first They shall rise in the power of Christ therefore Christ is God for Christ himself rose in the power of God and that power shall be thus declared In a shout in the voyce of the Arch-Angell in the Trumpet of God The dead heare not Thunder nor feele they an Earth quake In clamore If the Canon batter that Church walls in which they lye buryed it wakes not them nor does it shake or affect them if that dust which they are be thrown out but yet there is a voyce which the dead shall heare The dead shall heare the voyce of the Son of God Iohn 5.25 sayes the Son of God himself and they that heare shall live And that is the voyce of our Text. It is here called a clamour a vociferation a shout and varied by our Translators and Expositors according to the origination of the word to be clamor hortatorius and suasorius and jussorins A voyce that carries with it a penetration all shall heare it and a perswasion all shall beleeve it and be glad of it and a power a command all shall obey it Since that voyce at the Creation Fiat Let there be a world was never heard such a voyce as this Surgite mortui Arise ye dead That was spoken to that that was meerely nothing and this to them who in themselves shall have no cooperation no concurrence to the hearing or answering this voyce The power of this voyce is exalted in that it is said to be the voyce of the Archangel In voce Archangeli Though legions of Angels millions of Angels shall be employed about the Resurrection to recollect their scattered dust and recompact their ruined bodies yet those bodies so recompact shall not be able to heare a voyce They shall be then but such bodies as they were when they were laid downe in the grave when though they were intire bodies they could not heare the voice of the mourner But this voyce of the Archangel shall enable them to heare The Archangel shall re-infuse the severall soules into their bodies and so they shall heare that voyce Surgite mortui Arise ye that were dead and they shall arise And here we are eased of that disputation whether there be many Archangels or no for if there be but one yet this in our text is he for it is not said In the voyce of An Archangell but of The Archangell if not the Onely yet he who comprehends them all Colos 1.16 and in whom they all consist Christ Jesus And then the power of this voyce is exalted to the highest in the last word that it is Tuba Dei Tuba Dei The Trumpet of God For that is an Hebraisme and in that language it constitutes a superlative to adde the name of God to any thing As in Sauls case when David surprised him in his dead sleepe it is said that Sopor Domini 2 Sam. 26.12 The sleepe of the Lord was upon him that is the heaviest the deadest sleepe that could be imagined so here The Trumpet of God is the loudest voice that we conceive God to speake in All these pieces that it is In clamore In a cry in a shout that it is In the voyce of the Archangell that it is In the Trumpet of God make up this Conclusion That all Resurrections from the dead must be from the voice of God and from his loud voice In clamore It must be so even in thy first Resurrection thy resurrection from sin by grace here here thou needest the voice of God and his loud voyce And therefore though thou thinke thou heare sometimes Gods sibilations as the Prophet Zechary speaks Gods soft and whispering voyce in ward remorses of thine owne and motions of the Spirit of God to thy spirit yet thinke not thy spirituall resurrection accomplished till in this place thou heare his loud voyce Till thou heare Christ descending from Heaven as the text sayes that is working in his Church Till thou heare him In clamore in this cry in this shout in this voyce of Penetration of perswasion of power that is till thou feele in thy selfe in this place a liquefaction a colliquation a melting of thy bowels under the commination of the Judgements of God upon thy sin and the application of his mercy to thy Repentance And then In voce Archangeli this thou must heare In voce Archangeli In the voice of the Archangel S. Iohn in the beginning of the Revelation cals every Governour of a Church an Angel And much respect and reverence much faith and credit behoves it thee to give to thine Angell to the Pastour of that Church in which God hath given thee thy station for he is thine Angel Mal. 2.7 thy Tutelar thy guardian Angell Men should seeke the Law at the mouth of the Priest saies God in Malachi of that Priest that is set over him For the lips of the Priest of every Priest to whom the soules of others are committed should preserve knowledge should be able to instruct and rectifie his flock Quia Angelus Domini Exercituum because every such Priest is the Angell of the Lord of Hosts Hearken thou therefore to that Angel thine Angel But here thou art directed above thine Angell to the Archangell Acts 20.28 Ephes 5.23 Now not the governour of any particular Church but he Who hath purchased the whole Church with his blood
be well Christ said in his behalfe Verily I have not found so great faith no not in Israel When Christ makes so much of this single grain of Mustard-seed this little faith as to prefer it before all the faith of Israel surely faith went very low in Israel at that time Nay when Christ himself sayes speaking of his last comming after so many ages preaching of the Gospell When the Son of man comes shall he finde faith upon earth Luk. 18.8 any faith We have I say a blessed beam of comfort shining out of this text that it is no small number that is reserved for that Kingdome For whether the Apostle speak this of himself and the Thessalonians or of others he speaks not as of a few but that by Christs having preached the narrownesse of the way and the straitnesse of the gate our holy industry and endeavour is so much exalted which was Christs principall end in taking those Metaphors of narrow wayes and strait gates not to make any man suspect an impossibility of entring but to be the more industrious and endeavorous in seeking it that as he hath sent workmen in plenty abundant preaching so he shall return a plentifull harvest a glorious addition to his Kingdome both of those which slept in him before and of those which shall be then alive fit all together to be caught up in the clouds to meet him and be with him for ever for these two armies imply no small number Now of the condition of these men who shall be then alive and how being clothed in bodies of corruption they become capable of the glory of this text in our first distribution we proposed that for a particular consideration and the other branch of this second part and to that in that order we are come now I scarce know a place of Scripture more diversly read Immutabimur and consequently more variously interpreted then that place which should most enlighten us in this consideration presently under our hands which is that place to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 15.51 Non omnes dormiemus We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed The Apostle professes there to deliver us a mystery Behold I shew you a mystery but Translators and Expositors have multiplyed mysticall clouds upon the words S. Chrysostome reads these words as we do Chrysost Non dormiemus We shall not all sleep but thereupon he argues and concludes that wee shall not all die The common reading of the ancients is contrary to that Omnes dormiemus sed non c. We shall all sleep but we shall not all be changed The vulgat Edition in the Romane Church differs from both and as much from the originall as from either Omnes resurgemus We shall all rise again but we shall not all be changed S. Hierome examines the two readings and then leaves the reader to his choice as a thing indifferent S. Augustine doth so too and concludes aquè Catholicos esse That they are as good Catholiques that reade it the one way as the other But howsoever that which S. Chrysostome collects upon his reading may not be maintained He reads as we do and without all doubt aright We shall not all sleep But what then Therefore shall we not all die To sleep there is to rest in the grave to continue in the state of the dead and so we shall not all sleep not continue in the state of the dead But yet Statutum est sayes the Apostle Heb. 9.27 as verily as Christ was once offered to beare our sinnes so verily is it appointed to every man once to die Rom. 5.12 And as verily as by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne so verily death passed upon all men for that all men have sinned So the Apostle institutes the comparison so he constitutes the doctrine in those two places of Scripture As verily as Christ dyed for all all shall die As verily as every man sins every man shall die In that change then which we who are then alive shall receive for though we shall not all sleep we shall all be changed we shall have a present dissolution of body and soul and that is truly a death and a present redintegration of the same body and the same soul and that is truly a Resurrection we shall die and be alive again before another could consider that we were dead but yet this shall not be done in an absolute instant some succession of time though undiscernible there is It shall be done In raptu in a rapture but even in a rapture there is a motion a transition from one to another place It shall be done sayes he In ictuoculi In the twinkling of an eye But even in the twinkling of an eie there is a shutting of the eie-lids and an opening of them again Neither of these is done in an absolute instant but requires some succession of time The Apostle in the Resurrection in our text constitutes a Prius something to be done first and something after first those that were dead in Christ shall rise first and then Then when that is done after that not all at once we that are alive shall be wrought upon we shall be changed our change comes after their rising so in our change there is a Prius too first we shall be dissolved so we die and then we shall be re-compact so we rise again This is the difference they that sleep in the grave put off and depart with the very substance of the body it is no longer flesh but dust they that are changed at the last day put off and depart with only the qualities of the body as mortality and corruption It is still the same body without resolving into dust but the first step that it makes is into glory Now transfer this to the spirituall Resurrection of thy soul by grace here Here Grace works not that Resurrection upon thy soul in an absolute instant And therefore suspect not Gods gracious purpose upon thee if thou beest not presently throughly recovered God could have made all the world in one day and so have come sooner to his Sabbath his rest but he wrought more to give us an example of labour and of patience in attending his leasure in our second Creation this Resurrection from sin as we did in our first Creation when we were not made till the sixt day But remember too that the last Resurrection from death is to be transacted quickly speedily And in thy first thy spirituall Resurrection from sin make haste The last is to be done In raptu in a rapture Let this rapture in the first Resurrection be to teare thy self from that company and conversation that leads thee into tentation The last is to be done Inictu oculi In the twinkling of an eye Let that in thy first Resurrection be The shutting of thine eyes from looking upon things in things upon creatures in creatures
was said Thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee and how many women have no desire to their husbands how many over-rule them Hunger and thirst and wearinesse and sicknesse are denounced upon all and yet if you ask me Quis homo What is that man that hungers and thirsts not that labours not that sickens not I can tell you of many that never felt any of these but contract the question to that one of death Quis homo What man is he that shall not taste death And I know none Whether we consider the Summer Solstice when the day is sixteen houres and the night but eight or the Winter Solstice when the night is sixteen houres and the day but eight still all is but twenty foure houres and still the evening and morning make but a day The Patriarchs in the old Testament had their Summer day long lives we are in the Winter short lived but Quis homo Which of them or us come not to our night in death If we consider violent deaths casuall deaths it is almost a scornfull thing to see with what wantonnesse and sportfulnesse death playes with us We have seen a man Canon proofe in the time of War and slain with his own Pistoll in the time of peace We have seen a man recovered after his drowning and live to hang himselfe But for that one kinde of death which is generall though nothing be in truth more against nature then dissolution and corruption which is death we are come to call that death naturall death then which indeed nothing is more unnaturall The generality makes it naturall Moses sayes that Mans age is seventy Psal 90.10 and eighty is labour and pain and yet himselfe was more then eighty and in a good state and habitude when he said so No length no strength enables us to answer this Quis homo What man c. Take a flat Map a Globe in plano and here is East and there is West as far asunder as two points can be put but reduce this flat Map to roundnesse which is the true form and then East and West touch one another and are all one So consider mans life aright to be a Circle Pulvis es in pulverem reverâ—eris Dust thou art and to dust thou must return Nudus egressus Job 1. Nudus revertar Naked I came and naked I must go In this the circle the two points meet the womb and the grave are but one point they make but one station there is but a step from that to this This brought in that custome amongst the Greek Emperours that ever at the day of their Coronation they were presented with severall sorts of Marble that they might then bespeak their Tombe And this brought in that Custome into the Primitive Church that they called the Martyrs dayes wherein they suffered Natalitia Martyrum their birth dayes birth and death is all one Their death was a birth to them into another life into the glory of God It ended one Circle and created another for immortality and eternity is a Circle too not a Circle where two points meet but a Circle made at once This life is a Circle made with a Compasse that passes from point to point That life is a Circle stamped with a print an endlesse and perfect Circle as soone as it begins Of this Circle the Mathematician is our great and good God The other Circle we make up our selves we bring the Cradle and Grave together by a course of nature Every man does Mi Gheber sayes the Originall It is not Ishe which is the first name of man in the Scriptures and signifies nothing but a sound a voyce a word a Musicall ayre dyes and evaporates what wonder if man that is but Ishe a sound dye too It is not Adam which is another name of man and signifies nothing but red earth Let it be earth red with blood with that murder which we have done upon our selves let it be earth red with blushing so the word is used in the Originall with a conscience of our own infirmity what wonder if man that is but Adam guilty of this self-murder in himself guilty of this in-borne frailty in himself dye too It is not Enos which is also a third name of man and signifies nothing but a wretched and miserable creature what wonder if man that is but earth that is a burden to his Neighbours to his friends to his kindred to himselfe to whom all others and to whom himself desires death what wonder if he dye But this question is framed upon none of these names Not Ishe not Adam not Enos but it is Mi Gheber Quis vir which is the word alwayes signifying a man accomplished in all excellencies a man accompanied with all advantages fame and good opinion justly conceived keepes him from being Ishe a meere sound standing onely upon popular acclamation Innocency and integrity keepes him from being Adam red earth from bleeding or blushing at any thing hee hath done That holy and Religious Art of Arts which S. Paul professed That he knew how to want and how to abound keepes him from being Enos miserable or wretched in any fortune Hee is Gheber a great Man and a good Man a happy Man and a holy Man and yet Mi Gheber Quis homo this man must see death And therefore we will carry this question a little higher from Quis homo to Quis deorum Which of the gods have not seene death Aske it of those who are Gods by participation of Gods power of those of whom God saies Ego dixi dii est is and God answers for them and of them and to them You shall dye like men Aske it of those gods who are gods by imputation whom Creatures have created whom Men have made gods the gods of the Heathen and do we not know where all these gods dyed Sometimes divers places dispute who hath their tombes but do not they deny their godhead in confessing their tombes doe they not all answer that they cannot answer this text Mi Gheber Quis homo What man Quis deorum What god of mans making hath not seen death As Iustin martyr asks that question Why should I pray to Apollo or Esculapius for health Qui apud Chironem medicinam didicerunt when I know who taught them all that they knew so why should I looke for Immortality from such or such a god whose grave I finde for a witnesse that he himselfe is dead Nay carry this question higher then so from this Quis homo to quid homo what is there in the nature and essence of Man free from death The whole man is not for the dissolution of body and soule is death The body is not I shall as soone finde an immortall Rose an eternall Flower as an immortall body And for the Immortality of the Soule It is safelier said to be immortall by preservation then immortall by nature That God
see Death we answer It may be that those Men whom Christ shal find upon the earth alive at his returne to Judge the World shall dye then and it may be they shall but be changed and not dye That Christ shall judge quick and dead is a fundamentall thing we heare it in S. Peters Sermon Acts 10.42 to Cornelius and his company and we say it every day in the Creed Hee shall judge the quick and the dead But though we doe not take the quick and the dead August Chrys as Augustine and Chrysostome doe for the Righteous which lived in faith and the unrighteous which were dead in sinne Though wee doe not take the quick and the dead as Ruffinus and others doe for the soule and the body He shall judge the soule which was alwaies alive and he shall the body which was dead for a time though we take the words as becomes us best literally yet the letter does not conclude but that they whom Christ shall finde alive upon earth shall have a present and sudden dissolution and a present and sudden re-union of body and soul again Saint Paul sayes Behold I shew you a mystery Therefore it is not a cleare case and presently 1 Cor. 15.51 and peremptorily determined but what is it We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed But whether this sleeping be spoke of death it self and exclude that that we shall not die or whether this sleep be spoke of a rest in the grave and exclude that we shall not be buried and remain in death that may be a mystery still S. Paul sayes too 1 Thes 4.17 The dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the ayre But whether that may not still be true that S. Augustine sayes that there shall be Mors in raptu August An instant and sudden dis-union and re-union of body and soul which is death who can tell So on the other side when it is said to him in whom all we were to Adam Pulvis es Dust thou art Gen. 3.19 1 Cor. 15.22 Rom. 5.12 and into dust thou shalt return when it is said In Adam all die when it is said Death passed upon all men for all have sinned Why may not all those sentences of Scripture which imply a necessity of dying admit that restriction Nisi dies judicii natur ae cursum immutet Pet. Mar. We shall all die except those in whom the comming of Christ shall change the course of Nature Consider the Scriptures then and we shall be absolutely concluded neither way Consider Authority and we shall finde the Fatherrs for the most part one way and the Schoole for the most part another Take later men and all those in the Romane Church Then Cajetan thinks that they shall not die and Catharin is so peremptory Cajetan Catharinus that they shall as that he sayes of the other opinion Falsam esse confidenter asserimus contra Scripturas sat is manifestas omnino sine ratione It is false and against Scriptures and reason saith he Take later men and all those in the reformed Church Calvin and Calvin sayes Quia aboletur prior natura censetur species mortis sed non migrabit anima à corpore S. Paul calls it death because it is a destruction of the former Beeing but it is not truly death saith Calvin and Luther saith Luther That S. Pauls purpose in that place is only to shew the suddennesse of Christs comming to Judgement Non autem inficiatur omnes morituros nam dormire est sepeliri But S. Paul doth not deny but that all shall die for that sleeping which he speaks of is buriall and all shall die though all shall not be buried saith Luther Take then that which is certain It is certain a judgement thou must passe If thy close and cautelous proceeding have saved thee from all informations in the Exchequer thy clearnesse of thy title from all Courts at Common Law thy moderation from the Chancery and Star-Chamber If heighth of thy place and Authority have saved thee even from the tongues of men so that ill men dare not slander thy actions nor good men dare not discover thy actions no not to thy self All those judgements and all the judgements of the world are but interlocutory judgements There is a finall judgement In judicantes judicatos against Prisoners and Judges too where all shal be judged again Datum est omne judicium All judgement is given to the Son of man John 5. and upon all the sons of men must his judgement passe A judgement is certain and the uncertainty of this judgement is certain too perchance God will put off thy judgement thou shalt not die yet but who knows whether God in his mercy do put off this judgement till these good motions which his blessed Spirit inspires into thee now may take roote and receive growth and bring forth fruit or whether he put it off for a heavier judgement to let thee see by thy departing from these good motions and returning to thy former sins after a remorse conceived against those sins that thou art inexcusable even to thy self and thy condemnation is just even to thine own conscience So perchance God will bring this judgement upon thee now now thou maist die but whether God will bring that judgement upon thee now in mercy whilest his Graces in his Ordinance of preaching work some tendernesse in thee and gives thee some preparation some fitnesse some courage to say Veni Domine Iesu Come Lord Iesu come quickly come now or whether he will come now in judgement because all this can work no tendernesse in thee who can tell Thou hearest the word of God preached as thou hearest an Oration with some gladnesse in thy self if thou canst heare him and never be moved by his Oratory thou thinkest it a degree of wisdome to be above perswasion and when thou art told that he that feares God feares nothing else thou thinkest thy self more valiant then so if thou feare not God neither Whether or why God defers or hastens the judgement we know not This is certain this all S. Pauls places collineate to this all the Fathers and all the Schoole all the Cajetans and all the Catharins all the Luthers and all the Calvins agree in A judgement must be and it must be In ictu oculi In the twinkling of an eye and Fur in nocte A thiefe in the night Make the question Quis homo What man is he that liveth and shall not passe this judgement or what man is he that liveth and knowes when this judgement shall be So it is a Nemo scit A question without an answer but ask it as in the text Quis homo Who liveth and shall not die so it is a problematicall matter and in such
things as are problematicall if thou love the peace of Sion be not too inquisitive to know nor too vehement when thou thinkest thou doest know it Come then to ask this question 3. Part. not problematically as it is contracted to them that shall live in the last dayes nor peremptorily of man as he is subject to originall sin but at large so as the question may include Christ himself and then to that Quis homo What man is he We answer directly here is the man that shall not see death And of him principally August and literally S. Augustine as we said before takes this question to be framed Vt quaeras dictum non ut desperes saith he this question is moved to move thee to seek out and to have thy recourse to that man which is the Lord of Life not to make thee despaire that there is no such man in whose self and in whom for all us there is Redemption from death For sayes he this question is an exception to that which was said before the text which is Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain Consider it better sayes the Holy Ghost here and it will not prove so Man is not made in vain at first though he do die now for Perditio tua ex te This death proceeds from man himself and Quare moriemini domus Israel Why will ye die ô house of Israel God made not death â—ap 1.13 neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living The Wise man sayes it and the true God sweares it As I live saith the Lord I would not the death of a sinner God did not create man in vain then though he die not in vain for since he will needs die God receives glory even by his death in the execution of his justice not in vaine neither because though he be dead God hath provided him a Redeemer from death in his mercy Man is not created in vain at all nor all men so neare vanity as to die for here is one man God and Man Christ Jesus which liveth and shall not see death And conformable to S. Augustines purpose 〈◊〉 speakes S. Hierome too Scio quòd nullus homo carneus evadet sed novi Deum sub velamento carnis latentem I know there is no man but shall die but I know where there is a God clothed in mans flesh and that person cannot die But did not Christ die then Shall we joyne with any of those Heretiques which brought Christ upon the stage to play a part and say he was born or lived or dyed In phantasmate In apparance only and representation God forbid so all men were created in vain indeed if we had not a regeneration in his true death Where is the contract between him and his Father that Oportuit pati All this Christ ought to suffer and so enter into glory Is that contract void and of none effect Must he not die Where is the ratification of that contract in all the Prophets 〈◊〉 53.4.9 Where is Esays Verè languores nostros tulit Surely he hath born our sorrows and he made his grave with the wicked in his death Is the ratification of the Prophets cancelled Shall he not must he not die Where is the consummation and the testification of all this Where is the Gospell Consummatum est And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost Is that fabulous Did he not die How stands the validity of that contract Christ must die the dignity of those Prophecies Christ will die the truth of the Gospell Christ did die with this answer to this question Here is a man that liveth and shall not see death Very well For though Christ Jesus did truly die so as was contracted so as was prophecied so as was related yet hee did not die so as was intended in this question so as other naturall men do die For first Christ dyed because he would dye other men admitted to the dignity of Martyrdome are willing to dye but they dye by the torments of the Executioners they cannot bid their soules goe out and say now I will dye And this was Christs case 〈◊〉 10.15 It was not only I lay down my life for my sheep but he sayes also No man can take away my soule And I have power to lay it down And De facto he did lay it down he did dye before the torments could have extorted his soule from him Many crucified men lived many dayes upon the Crosse The thieves were alive long after Christ was dead and therefore Pilate wondred that he was already dead His soule did not leave his body by force 〈…〉 but because he would and when he would and how he would Thus far then first this is an answer to this question Quis homo Christ did not die naturally nor violently as all others doe but only voluntarily Again the penalty of death appertaining only to them who were derived from Adam by carnall and sinfull generation Christ Jesus being conceived miraculously of a Virgin by the over-shadowing of the Holy Ghost was not subject to the Law of death and therefore in his person it is a true answer to this Quis homo Here is a man that shall not see death that is he need not see death he hath not incurred Gods displeasure he is not involved in a general rebellion and therfore is not involved in the generall mortality not included in the generall penalty He needed not have dyed by the rigour of any Law all we must he could not dye by the malice or force of any Executioner all we must at least by natures generall Executioners Age and Sicknesse And then when out of his own pleasure and to advance our salvation he would dye yet he dyed so as that though there were a dis-union of body and soule which is truly death yet there remained a Nobler and faster union then that of body and soule the Hypostaticall Union of the God-head not onely to his soule but to his body too so that even in his death both parts were still not onely inhabited by but united to the Godhead it selfe and in respect of that inseparable Union we may answer to this question Quis homo Here is a man that shall not see death that is he shall see no separation of that which is incomparably and incomprehensibly a better soul then his soule the God-head shall not be separated from his body But that which is indeed the most direct and literall answer to this question is That whereas the death in this Text is intended of such a death as hath Dominion over us and from which we have no power to raise our selves we may truly and fully answer to his Quis homo here is a man that shall never see death so but that he shall even in the jawes and teeth of death and in the bowels and wombe of the grave and in the sink and furnace of hell
enough by it to meet Davids question Quis homo what man with Christs answer Ego homo I am the man in whom whosoever abideth shall not see death SERMONS Preached upon WHITSUNDAY SERMON XXVIII Preached at S. Pauls upon Whitsunday 1627. JOHN 14.26 But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name Hee shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you THis day is this Scripture fulfilled in your cares saith our Saviour Christ having read for his Text that place of Esay Esay 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me And that day which we celebrate now was another Scripture fulfilled in their eares and in their eyes too For all Christs promises are Scripture They have all the Infallibility of Scripture And Christ had promised that that Spirit which was upon him when he preached should also be shed upon all his Apostles And upon this day he performed that promise when Acts 2.1 They being all with one accord in one place there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty winde and filled the house and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sate upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost And this very particular day in which we now commemorate and celebrate that performance of Christs promise in that Mission of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles are all these Scriptures performed again in our eares and eyes and in our hearts For in all those Congregations that meet this day to this purpose every Preacher hath so much of this Vnction which Vnction is Christ upon him as that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him and hath anointed him to that service And every Congregation and every good person in the Congregation hath so much of the Apostle upon him as that he feeles This Spirit of the Lord this Holy Ghost as he is this cloven tongue that sets one stemme in his eare and the other in his heart one stemme in his faith and the other in his manners one stemme in his present obedience and another in his perseverance one to rectifie him in the errours of life another to establish him in the agonies of death For the Holy Ghost as he is a Cloven tongue opens as a Compasse that reaches over all our Map over all our World from our East to our West from our birth to our death from our cradle to our grave and directs us for all things to all persons in all places and at all times The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things c. The blessed Spirit of God then the Holy Ghost the third person in the Trinity Divisio and yet not Third so as that either Second or First Son or Father were one minute before him in that Co-eternity that enwraps them all alike this Holy Ghost is here designed by Christ in his Person and in his Operation Who he is and what he does From whence he comes and why he comes And these two Hee and His office will constitute our two parts in this text In the first of which which will be the exercise of this day we shall direct you upon these severall Considerations First that the Person designed for this Mission and true Consolation is the Holy Ghost You shall not be without comfort saies Christ But mistake not false comforts for true nor deceitfull comforters for faithfull It is the Holy Ghost or it is none His Comfort or no comfort Him the Father will send sais Christ in a second branch though the Holy Ghost be God equall to the Father and so have all Missions and Commissions in his owne hand yet he applies himselfe accommodates himselfe to order and he comes when he hath a Mission from the Father and this Father saies Christ which is a third branch in this part sends him in my name Though he have as good interest in the name of Adonai which is all our Powerfull name and in the name of Iehâ—vah which is all our Essentiall name as I or my Father have the holy Ghost is as much Adonai and as much Ichovah as we are yet he is sent in my Name that is to proceed in my way to perfect my worke and to accomplish that Redemption by way of Application which I had wrought by way of Satisfaction And then lastly that which qualifies him for this Mission for this Imployment is his Title and Addition in this Text That he is the Comforter Discomfortable doctrines of a primary impossibility of Salvation to any man And that impossibility originally rooted in God and in Gods hating of that man and hating of that man not onely before he was a sinfull man but before he was any man at all not onely before an actuall making but before any intention to make him in Gods minde That God cannot save that man because he meant to damne him before he meant to make him are not the way in which the Holy Ghost is sent by the Father in the Sons Name For they that sent him and he that comes intend all that is done in that capacity as he is a Comforter as he is the Comforter And this is the Person and this will be the extent of our first part It is the Holy Ghost No deceiving Spirit He though as high as the Highest respects order attends a Mission staies till he be sent And thirdly he comes in anothers name in anothers way to perfect anothers worke And he does all in the quality and denomination of a Comforter not establishing not countenancing any discomfortable Doctrines First then 1. Part. Spiritus sanctus the Person into whose hands this whole worke is here recommended is the Holy Ghost The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost The manifestation of the mysterle of the Trinity was reserved for Christ Some intimations in the Old but the publication only in the New Testament Some irradiations in the Law but the illustration onely in the Gospell Some emanation of beames as of the Sun before it is got above the Horizon in the Prophets but the glorious proceeding thereof and the attaining to a Meridianall height only in the Euangelists And then the doctrine of the Trinity thus reserved for the time of the Gospell at that time was thus declared So God loved the World as that he sent his Son So the Son loved the World as that he would come into it and die for it So the Holy Ghost loved the World as that he would dwell in it and inable men in his Ministery and by his gifts to apply this mercy of the Father and this merit of the Son to particular souls and to whole Congregations The mercy of the Father that he would study such a way for the Redemption of our souls as the death of his only Son a way which
soul and call the will ours we usurp the soul it self and call it ours and then deliver all to everlasting bondage Would the King suffer his picture to be used as we use the Image of God in our soules or his Hall to be used as we use the Temple of the Holy Ghost our Bodies We have nothing but that which we have received and when we come to think that our own we have not that For God will take all from that man that sacrifices to his own nets When thou commest to Church come in anothers name When thou givest an Almes give it in anothers name that is feele all thy devotion and all thy charity to come from God For if it be not in his name it will be in a worse Thy devotion will contract the name of hypocrisie and thine Almes the name of Vain-glory. The Holy Ghost came in anothers name in Christs name but not so as Montanus the Father of the Montanists came in the Holy Ghosts name Montanus said he was the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost did not pretend to be Christ There is a man the man of sin at Rome that pretends to be Christ to all uses And I would he would be content with that and stop there and not be a Hyper-Christus Above Christ more then Christ I would he would no more trouble the peace of Christendome no more occasion the assassinating of Christian Princes no more binde the Christian liberty in forbidding Meats and Marriage no more slacken and dissolve Christian bands by Dispensations and Indulgences then Christ did But if he will needs be more if he will needs have an addition to the name of Christ let him take heed of that addition which some are apt enough to give him however he deserve it that he is Antichrist Now in what sense the Holy Ghost is said to have come in the name of Christ S. Basil gives us one interpretation that is that one principall name of Christ belongs to the Holy Ghost For Christ is Verbum The Word and so is the Holy Ghost sayes that Father Quia interpres filii sicut filius patris Because as the Son manifested the Father so the Holy Ghost manifests the Son S. Augustine gives another sense Societas Patris Filii est Spiritus Sanctus The Holy Ghost is the union of the Father and the Son As the body is not the man nor the soul is not the man but the union of the soul and body by those spirits through which the soul exercises her faculties in the Organs of the body makes up the man so the union of the Father and Son to one another and of both to us by the Holy Ghost makes up the body of the Christian Religion And so this interpretation of S. Augustine comes neare to the fulnesse in what sense the Holy Ghost came in Christs name John 17.12 For when Christ sayes I am come in my Fathers name that was to execute his Decree to fulfill his Will for the salvation of man by dying so when Christ sayes here the Holy Ghost shall come in my name that is to perfect my work to collect and to govern that Church in which my salvation by way of satisfaction may be appropriated to particular soules by way of application And for this purpose to do this in Christs name his own name is Paracletus The Comforter which is our last circumstance The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost The Comforter is an Euangelicall name The Comforter Athanasius notes that the Holy Ghost is never called Paracletus The Comforter in the old Testament He is called Spiritus Dei The Spirit of God in the beginning of Genesis And he is called Spiritus sanctus The holy Spirit and Spiritus principalis The principall Spirit in divers places of the Psalmes but never Paracletus never the Comforter A reason of that may well be first that the state of the Law needed not comfort and then also that the Law it self afforded not comfort so there was no Comforter Their Law was not opposed by any enemies as enemies to their Law If they had not by that warrant which they had from God invaded the possession of their neighbours or grown too great to continue good neighbours their neighbours had not envyed them that Law So that in the state of the Law in that respect they were well enough and needed no Comforter Whereas the Gospell as it was sowed in our Saviours blood so it grew up in blood for divers hundreds of yeares and therefore needed the sustentation and the assurance of a Comforter And then for the substance of the Law it was Lex interficiens non perficiens sayes S. Augustine A Law that told them what was sin and punisht them if they did sin but could not conferre Remission for sin which was a discomfortable case Whereas the Gospel and the Dispensation of the Gospel in the Church by the Holy Ghost is Grace Mercy Comfort all the way and in the end Therefore Christ v. 17. cals the Holy Ghost Spiritum veritatis The Spirit of truth In which he opposes him and preferres him above all the remedies and all the comforts of the Law Not that the Holy Ghost in the Law did not speak truth but that he did not speak all the truth in the Law Origen expresses it well The Types and Figures of the Law were true Figures and true Types of Christ in the Gospel but Christ and his Gospel is the truth it self prefigured in those Types Therefore the Holy Ghost is Paracletus The Comforter in the Gospel which he was not in the Law In the Records and Stories and so in the Coynes and Medals of the Romane Emperours we see that even then when they had gotten the possession of the name of Emperours yet they forbore not to adde to their style the name of Consul and the name of Pontifex maximus still they would be called Consuls which was an acceptable name to the people and High-Priests which carried a reverence towards all the world Where Christ himselfe is called by a name appliable to none but Christ by a name implying the whole nature and merit of Christ that is The Propitiation of the sins of the whole world 1 John 2.2 yet there in that place he is called by the name of this Text too Paracletus the Comforter He would not forbeare that sweet that acceptable that appliable name that name that concernes us most and establishes us best Paracletus the Comforter And yet he does not take that name in that full and whole sense in which himselfe gives it to the Holy Ghost here For there it is said of Christ If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father There Paracletus though placed upon Christ is but an Advocate But here Christ sends Paracletum in a more intire and a more internall and more viscerall sense A Comforter Upon which Comforter Christ imprints these two marks of
dignity First The Father shall send you another Comforter Another then my selfe For Ver. 16. howsoever Christ were the Fountain of comfort yet there were many drammes many ounces many talents of discomfort mingled in that their Comforter was first to depart from them by death and being restored to them again by a Resurrection was to depart againe by another Transmigration by an Ascension And therefore the second mark by which Christ dignifies this Comforter is That he shall abide with us for ever And in the performance of that promise he is here with you now And therefore as we begun with those words of Esay which our Saviour applyed to himselfe The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me Esay 61.1 to binde up the broken hearted and to comfort all them that mourne So the Spirit of the Lord is upon all us of his Ministery in that Commandement of his in the same Prophet Consolamini Esay 40.1 consolamini Comfort ye comfort yee my people and speak comfortably unto Ierusalem Receive the Holy Ghost all ye that are the Israel of the Lord in that Doctrine of comfort that God is so farre from having hated any of you before he made you as that he hates none of you now not for the sins of your Parents not for the sins of your persons not for the sins of your youth not for your yester-dayes not for your yester-nights sins not for that highest provocation of all your unworthy receiving his Son this day Onely consider that Comfort presumes Sadnesse Sin does not make you incapable of comfort but insensiblenesse of sin does In great buildings the Turrets are high in the Aire but the Foundations are deep in the Earth The Comforts of the Holy Ghost work so as that only that soule is exalted which was dejected As in this place where you stand there bodies lie in the earth whose soules are in heaven so from this place you carry away so much of the true comfort of the Holy Ghost as you have true sorrow and sadnesse for your sins here Almighty God erect this building upon this Foundation Such a Comfort as may not be Presumption upon such a Sorrow as may not be Diffidence in him And to him alone but in three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour c. SERMON XXIX Preached at S. Pauls upon Whitsunday 1628. JOHN 14.26 But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name Hee shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you WE Eipasse from the Person to his working we come from his comming to his operation from his Mission and Commission to his Executing thereof from the Consideration who he is to what he does His Specification his Character his Title Paracletus The Comforter passes through all Therefore our first comfort is Docebimur we shall be Taught He shall teach you As we consider our selves The Disciples of the Holy Ghost so it is a meere teaching for we in our selves are meerly ignorant But wen we consider the things we are to bee taught so it is but a remembring a refreshing of those things which Christ in the time of his conversation in this world had taught before He shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you These two then The comfort in the Action we shall be Taught and the comfort in the Way and Manner we shall not be subject to new Doctrines but taught by remembring by establishing us in things formerly Fundamentally laid will be our two parts at this time And in each of these these our steps First in the first we shall consider the persons that is the Disciples who were to learne not onely they who were so when Christ spoke the words but we All who to the end of the world shall seek and receive knowledge from him Vos ye first Vos ignorantes you who are naturally ignorant and know nothing so as you should know it of your selves which is one Discomfort And yet Vos ye Vos appetentes you that by nature have a desire to know which is another Discomfort To have a desire and no meanes to performe it Vos docebimini ye ye that are ignorant and know nothing ye ye that are hungry of knowledge and have nothing to satisfie that hunger ye shall be fed ye shall be taught which is one comfort And then Ille docebit He shall teach you He who cannot onely infuse true and full knowledge in every capacity that he findes but dilate that capacity where he findes it yea create it where he findes none The Holy Ghost who is not onely A Comforter but The Comforter and not onely so but Comfort it selfe He shall teach you And in these we shall determine our first Part. In our second Part The Way and Manner of this Teaching By bringing to our remembrance all things whatsoever Christ had said unto us there is a great largenesse but yet there is a limitation of those things which we are to learne of the Holy Ghost for they are Omnia All things whatsoever Christ hath taught before But then Sola ea Only those things which Christ had taught before and not new Additaments in the name of the Holy Ghost Now this largenesse extending it self to the whole body of the Christian Religion for Christ taught all that all that being not reducible to that part of an houre which will be left for this exercise as fittest for the celebration of the day in which we arenow we shall binde our selves to that particular consideration what the Holy Ghost being come from the Father in Christs Name that is Pursuing Christs Doctrine hath taught us of Himselfe concerning Himselfe That so ye may first see some insolencies and injuries offered to the Holy Ghost by some ancient Heretiques and some of later times by the Church of Rome For truly it is hard to name or to imagine any one sin nearer to that emphaticall sin that superlative sin The sin against the Holy Ghost then some offers of Doctrines concerning the Holy Ghost that have been obtruded though not established and some that have beene absolutely established in that Church And when we shall have delivered the Holy Ghost out of their hands we shall also deliver him into yours so as that you may feele him to shed himselfe upon you all here and to accompany you all home with a holy peace and in a blessed calme in testifying to your soules that He that Comforter who is the holy Ghost whom the Father hath sent in his Sons name hath taught you all things that is awakened your memories to the consideration of all that is necessary to your present establishment And to these divers particulars which thus constitute our two generall parts in their order thus proposed we shall now proceed As when our Saviour Christ received that confession of
all the Disciples 1 Part. in the mouth of S. Peter Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Christ replied thereunto some things Mat. 16.18 which had a more speciall and a more personall respect to Peter then to the rest yet were intended of the rest too so when Christ in this text promises the Comforter he does that most immediately and most personally to them to whom he then spoke but he intends it to us also and the holy Ghost shall teach us us that are in our selves Ignorant Ignorantes which is our first Discomfort The Schooles have made so many Divisions and sub-divisions and re-devisions and post-divisions of Ignorance that there goes as much learning to understand ignorance as knowleg One much elder then al they elder as some will have it then any but some of the first Secretaries of the Holy Ghost in the Bible that is Trismegistus hath said as much as all Nequitia animae Ignorantia Ignorance is not onely the drousinesse the sillinesse but the wickednesse of the soule Not onely dis-estimation in this world and damnification here but damnation in the next world proceeds from ignorance And yet here in this world knowledge is but as the earth and ignorance as the Sea there is more sea then earth more ignorance then knowledge and as if the sea do gaine in one place it loses in another so is it with knowledge too if new things be found out as many and as good that were knowne before are forgotten and lost What Anatomist knowes the body of man thorowly or what Casuist the soule What Politician knowes the distemper of the State thorowly or what Master the disorders of his owne family Princes glory in Arcanis that they have secrets which no man shall know and God knowes they have hearts which they know not themselves Thoughts and purposes indigested fall upon them and surprise them It is so in naturall in morall in civill things we are ignorant of more things then we know And it is so in divine and supernaturall things too for for them the Scripture is our onely light and of the Scripture S. Augustine professes Plur a se nescire quam scire That there are more places of Scripture that he does not then that he does understand Hell is darknesse the way to it is the cloud of Ignorance hell it self is but condensed Ignorance multiplied Ignorance To that David ascribes all the distempers of the world They doe not know neither will they understand they walke on in darknesse and therefore Psal 82.5 as he adds there All the foundations of all the earth are out of course He that had made the most absolute conquest of Ignorance in this world Solomon is the best Judge of it the best Counsellor against it and he saies As thou knowest not how thy bones grew in thy Mother Eccles 11.5 even so thou knowest not the works of God who worketh all We are all equally Ignorant of all of naturall of spirituall things What though This That man knoweth not his time Eccles 9.12 but is snared in an evill time If he knew his time no time would be evill unto him Yet though he know not the present time but let that passe inconsiderately yet if he consider the future he may recover But he does not that he cannot doe that Eccles 10.14 Man cannot tell what shall be saies Solomon But may he not learne No. For who can tell him saies he there For he knowes not how to goe to the City In vulgar in triviall things he is ignorant of his end and ignorant of his way Bene facere nesciverunt saies the Prophet Ier. 4.22 They have no knowledge to doe good and what followes Erubescere nescierunt They are not ashamed when they have done evill Nesciunt cujus spiritus sunt Luke 9.15 It was Christs increpation upon his owne Disciples They knew not of what spirit they were They discerned not betweene a zealous and a vindicative spirit Nescitis quid petatis was Christs increpation upon his Disciples too You know not what you aske And yet this Nequitia animae Mat. 20.22 this wickednesse of the soule this pestilence of the soule Ignorance have men ventured to call The mother of devotion But miserable Comforters are they in respect of the Comforter the Holy Ghost for as that Cum perver so perverteris is spoken of God Psal 18.27 That God will learne of the froward to be froward so God will learne of the ignorant to be ignorant ignorant of us and to those that doe not study him here he will say hereafter Nescio vos I know not you This then is our first discomfort of our selves we are ignorant and yet there is a greater vexation then this that naturally we have a desire of knowledge and naturally no meanes to attaine to it Ignorance may be said to worke Appetentes as an in-appetency in the stomach and as an insipidnesse a tastlesnesse in the palate But the desire of knowledge without meanes to attaine to it is as a hunger in a dearth or in a wildernesse Ignorance is a kinde of slumbering or stupidity but this desire without meanes is a continuall racking a continuall pressing a far greater vexation and torment ignorance may work as a Lethargy but this desire as a phrensie Esay 37.3 This is the day of trouble saies Ezechias in the bitternesse and passion of his soule and of rebuke and of blasphemy for the Children are come to the birth and there is not strength to bring them forth To a barrennesse that is never to have conceived there belonged amongst that people a kind of shame and contempt and that is our case in ignonorance which is the barrenness of the soule But to come to the throwes of Childbirth and then not to have strength or not to have helpe to be delivered that is the dangerous that is the deadly torment and that represents our soule in this desire of knowledge without means to attain to it And yet this vexation no man can devest It is an hereditary a naturall impression in man every man naturally sayes the Philosopher desires to know to learne And yet nature that imprinted that desire in every man hath not given every man not any man in nature meanes to satisfie that desire for even by nature man hath a desire to know supernaturall things Solomon was extended with this desire of knowledge 1 King 3.11 but he found no satisfaction till upon petition and contracting all his desires into that One Dan. 9.23 he obtained it of God Daniel was Vir desideriorum A man composed of desires Dan. 10.2 and of solicitude He professes that he mourned three full weekes He eate no pleasant bread Ver. 8. neither came flesh or wine into his mouth nor oyle upon his body His comlinesse was turned into corruption and he retained no strength till God
to others in the plurall to many others But now it is Visum est mihi Spiritui Sancto It seemes good unto me to one man alone and when it does so it shall seeme good to the Holy Ghost too And of these two Hereticall violences to the Holy Ghost we complaine against that Church first that they put the Holy Ghost in a Rebellion against the Son of God from whom he proceeds And then as for the most part the end of them who pretend right to a Kingdome and cannot prove it is to lie in Prison That they have imprisoned the Holy Ghost in one mans breast and not suffered that winde to breathe where it will as Christ promised the Holy Ghost should doe For neither did the Holy Ghost bring any such thing to their remembrance as though Christ had taught any such Doctrine neither can they that teach it come nearer the sin The unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost then thus to make him a supplanter of Christ or supplanted by Antichrist But we hold you no longer in this ill Aire Charismata Spiritus blasphemous and irksome contumelies against the Holy Ghost we promised at first to dismisse you at last in a perfume with the breath of the Holy Ghost upon you and that is to excite you to a rectified sense and knowledge August that he offers himselfe unto you and is received by you Facies Dei est qua nobis innotescit That is alwaies the face of God to us by which God vouchsafes to manifest himselfe to us So his Ordinance in the Church is his face And Lux Dei qua nobis illucescit The light of God to us is that light by which he shines upon us Lex Dei Lux Dei his word in his Church And then the Evidence the Seale the Witnesse of all that this face which I see by this light is directed upon me for my comfort is The Testimony of the Holy Ghost when that Spirit beares witnesse with our spirit that he is in us And therefore in his blessed Name and in the participation of his power I say to you all Accipite Spiritum sanctum Receive ye the holy Ghost Not that I can give it you 2 Cor. 3.5 but I can tell you that he offers to give himselfe to you all Our sufficiency is of God sayes the Apostle Acknowledge you a sufficiency in us a sufficient power to be in the Ministery for as the Apostle addes He hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament Not able onely in faculties and gifts requisite for that function those faculties and gifts whether of nature or of acquisition be in as great measure in some that have not that function but able by his powerfull Ordinance as it is also added there to minister not the letter not the letter onely but The Spirit the Spirit of the New Testament that is the holy Ghost to you Therefore as God said to Moses I will come downe Numb 11.17 and talk with thee and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee and put it upon them God in his Spirit does come downe to us in his Ministery and talke with us his Ministers at home that is assist us in our Meditations and lucubrations and preparations for this service here and then here in this place he takes of that Spirit from us and sheds upon you imparts the gifts of the holy Ghost to you also and makes the holy Ghost as much yours by your hearing as he made him ours by our study Be not deceived by the letter by the phrase of that place God does not say there that he will take of the Spirit from us and give it you that is fill you with it and leave us without it but he will take of that Spirit that is impart that Spirit so to you as that by us and our present Ministery he will give you that that shall be sufficient for you to day and yet call you to us againe in his Ordinance another day Learne as much as you can every day and never thinke that you have learnt so much as that you have no more need of a Teacher for though you need no more of that man you may be perchance as learned as he yet you need more of that Ordinance We give you the holy Ghost then when we open your eyes to see his offers Those words of the Apostle Our selves have the first fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8.23 S. Ambrose interprets so Our selves we the Ministers of God have the first fruits of the Spirit the pre-possession the pre-inhabitation but not the sole possession nor sole inhabitation of the Holy Ghost but we have grace for grace the Spirit therefore to shed the Spirit upon you that that precious Oyntment Psal 133.2 the Holy Ghost is this Unction which was poured upon the Head upon Christ may run downe upon Aarons beard and from those gray and grave and reverend haires of his Ministers may also go downe to the skirts of his garments to every one of you who doe not onely make up the garment that is the visible but the mysticall body it selfe of Christ Jesus Ver. 3. The dew of Hermon descends upon the mountaines of Sion But the waters that fall upon the mountaines fall into the valleyes too from thence The Holy Ghost fals through us upon you also so as that you may so as that you must finde it in your selves The Holy Ghost was the first Person that was declared in the Creation The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters Gen. 1.2 that was the first motion This is eternall life to know God and him whom he sent Christ Iesus But this you cannot doe but by him whom they both sent the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 No man can say that Iesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Iohn Baptist who was to baptize Christ was filled with the holy Ghost from the wombe You who were baptized in Christ were filled in your measure with the holy Ghost from that wombe from the time that the Church conceived you in Baptisme And therefore as the Twelve said to the multitude Acts 6.3 Looke yee among ye seven men full of the holy Ghost So we say to the whole Congregation Looke every man to himselfe that he be one of the seven one of that infinite number which the holy Ghost offers to fall upon That as ye were baptized in the holy Ghost and as your bodies are Temples of the holy Ghost so your soules may be Priests of the holy Ghost and you altogether a lively and reasonable sacrifice to God in the holy Ghost Eph. 1.13 That as you have beene sealed with the holy Spirit of promise you may finde in your selves the performance of that promise finde the seale of that promise in your love to the Scriptures for as S. Chrysostome argues usefully Christ gave the Apostles no Scriptures but
Church of God celebrates this day the third Person of the Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity The Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost is the God the Spirit of Comfort A Comforter not one amongst others but the Comforter not the principall but the intire the onely Comforter and more then all that The Comfort it selfe That is an attribute of the Holy Ghost Comfort And then the office of the Holy Ghost is to gather to establish to illumine to governe that Church which the Son of God from whom together with the Father the Holy Ghost proceeds hath purchased with his blood So that as the Holy Ghost is the Comforter so is this Comfort exhibited by him to us and exercised by him upon us in this especially that he hath gathered us established us illumined us and does governe us as members of that body of which Christ Jesus is the Head that he hath brought us and bred us and fed us with the meanes of salvation in his application of the merits of Christ to our soules in the Ordinances of the Church In this Text is the first mention of this Third Person of the Trinity And it is the first mention of any distinct Person in the God-head In the first verse there is an intimation of the Trinity in that Bara Elohim That Gods Gods in the plurall are said to have made heaven and earth And then as the Church after having celebrated the memory of All Saints together in that one day which we call All Saints day begins in the celebration of particular Saints first with Saint Andrew who first of any applied himself to Christ out of Saint Iohn Baptists Schoole after Christs Baptisme so Moses having given us an intimation of God and the three Persons altogether in that Bara Eloim before gives us first notice of this Person the Holy Ghost in particular because he applies to us the Mercies of the Father and the Merits of the Son and moves upon the face of the waters and actuates and fecundates our soules and generates that knowledge and that comfort which we have in the knowledge of God Now the moving of the Holy Ghost upon the face of the waters in this Text cannot be literally understood of his working upon man for man was not yet made but when man is made that is made the man of God in Christ there in that new Creation the Holy Ghost begins again with a new moving upon the face of the waters in the Sacrament of Baptisme which is the Conception of a Christian in the wombe of the Church Therefore we shall consider these words And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters first literally in the first and then spiritually in the second Creation first how the Holy Ghost moved upon the face of the Waters in making this world for us And then how he moves upon the face of the Waters againe in making us for the other world In which two severall parts we shall consider these three termes in our Text both in the Macrocosme and Microcosme the Great and the Lesser world man extended in the world and the world contracted and abridged into man first Quid Spiritus Dei what this Power or this Person which is here called the Spirit of God is for whether it be a Power or a Person hath been diversly disputed And secondly Quid ferebatur what this Action which is here called a Moving was for whether a Motion or a Rest an Agitation or an Incubation of that Power or that Person hath been disputed too And lastly Quid super faciem aquarum what the subject of this Action the face of the waters was for whether it were a stirring and an awakening of a power that was naturally in those waters to produce creatures or whether it were an infusing a new power which till then those waters had not hath likewise beene disputed And in these three the Person the Action the Subject considered twice over in the Creation first and in our regeneration in the Christian Church after we shall determine all that is necessary for the literall and for the spirituall sense of these words And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters First then 1 Part. Aug Con. 11.2 undertaking the consideration of the literall sense and after of the spirituall we joyne with S. Augustine Sint castae deliciae meae Scripturae tuae Lord I love to be conversant in thy Scriptures let my conversation with thy Scriptures be a chast conversation that I discover no nakednesse therein offer not to touch any thing in thy Scriptures but that that thou hast vouchsafed to unmask and manifest unto me Nec fallar in eis nec fallam ex eis Lord let not me mistake the meaning of thy Scriptures nor mis-lead others Ibid. by imputing a false sense to them Non frustra scribuntur sayes he Lord thou hast writ nothing to no purpose thou wouldst be understood in all But not in all by all men at all times Confiteor tibi quicquid invenero in libris tuis Lord I acknowledge that I receive from thee whatsoever I understand in thy word for else I doe not understand it This that blessed Father meditates upon the word of God he speakes of this beginning of the Book of Genesis and he speaks lamenting Scripsit Moses abiit a little Moses hath said C. 3. and alas he is gone Si hic esset tonerem eum per te rogarem If Moses were here I would hold him here and begge of him for thy sake to tell me thy meaning in his words of this Creation But sayes he since I cannot speake with Moses Te quo plenus vera dixit Veritas rogo I begge of thee who art Truth it selfe as thou enabledst him to utter it enable me to understand what he hath said So difficult a thing seemed it to that intelligent Father to understand this history this mystery of the Creation But yet though he found that divers senses offered themselves he did not doubt of finding the Truth C. 18. For Deus meus lumen oculorum meorum in occulto sayes he O my God the light of mine eyes in this dark inquisition since divers senses arise out of these words and all true Quid mihi obest si alindego sensero quam sensit alius eum sensisse qui scripsit What hurt followes though I follow another sense then some other man takes to be Moses sense for his may be a true fense and so may mine and neither be Moses his C. 30. Hee passes from prayer and protestation to counsell and direction In diversitate sententiarum verarum concordiam pariat ipsa veritas Where divers senses arise and all true that is that none of them oppose the truth let truth agree them But what is Truth God And what is God Charity Therefore let Charity reconcile such differences 1.12 C. 30. Legitimè lege ut amur sayes he let us
when the Gentiles had been long accustomed to make every power and attribute of God and to make every remarkable creature of God a severall God and so to worship God in a multiplicity of Gods it was a great work to limit and determine their superstitious and superfluous devotion in one God But when all these lines were brought into one center not to let that center rest but to draw lines out of that againe and bring more persons into that one centricall God-head this was hard forreason to digest But yet to have extended that from that unity to a duality was not so much as to a triplicity And thereupon though the Arians would never be brought to confesse an equality between the Son and the Father they were much farther from confessing it in the Holy Ghost They made sayes S. Augustine Filium creaturam Haeres 49. The Son they accounted to be but a creature but they made the Holy Ghost Creaturam Creaturae not onely a Creature and no God but not a Creature of Gods but a Creature a Messenger of the son who was himselfe with them but a Creature But these mysteries are not to be chawed by reason but to be swallowed by faith we professed three persons in one God in the simplicity of our infancy at our baptisme and we have sealed that contract in the other Sacrament often since and this is eternall life to die in that beliefe There are three that beare witnesse in heaven The Father the Word 1 John 5.7 and the Holy Ghost and these three are one And in that testimony we rest that there is a Holy Ghost and in the testimony of this text that this Holy Ghost falls down upon all that heare the word of God Now it is as wonderfull that this Holy Ghost should fall down from heaven Cecidit Esay 14.12 as that he should be in heaven Quomodo cecidisti How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer thou son of the morning was a question asked by the Propher of him who was so fallen as that he shall never returne againe But the Holy Ghost as mysterious in his actions as in his Essentiall or in his Personall beeing fell so from heaven as that he remained in heaven even then when he was fallen This Dove sent from heaven Gen 8.7 did more then that Dove which was sent out of the Arke That went and came but was not in both places at once Noah could not have shewed that Dove to his sons and daughters in the Arke then when the Dove was flowne out But now when this Dove the Holy Ghost fell upon these men at Peters Sermon Stephen who was then come up to heaven saw the same Dove the same Holy Ghost whom they whom he had left upon the earth felt upon the earth then As if the Holy Ghost fall upon any in this Congregation now now the Saints of God see that Holy Ghost in heaven whom they that are here feele falling upon them here In all his workings the Holy Ghost descends for there is nothing above him There is a third heaven but no such third heaven as is above the heaven of heavens above the seat and residence of the Holy Ghost so that whatsoever he doth is a descent a diminution a humiliation and an act of mercy because it is a Communication of himselfe to a person inferiour to himselfe But there is more in this Text then a descent When the Holy Ghost came upon Christ himselfe after his Baptisme there it is said He descended Though Christ as the Son of God were equall to him and so it was no descent for the Holy Ghost to come to him yet because Christ had a nature upon him in which he was not equall to the Holy Ghost here was a double descent in the Holy Ghost That he who dwells with the Father and the Son In luce inaccessibili In light inaccessible and too bright to be seene would descend in a visible form to be seene by men And that he descended and wrought upon a mortall man though that man were Christ Christ also had a double descending too He descended to be a man and he descended to be no man He descended to live amongst us and he descended to die amongst us He descended to the earth and he descended to hell Every operation of every person of the holy and blessed and glorious Trinity is a Descending But here the Holy Ghost is said to have fallen which denotes a more earnest communicating of himselfe a throwing a pouring out of himselfe upon those upon whom he falls He falls as a fall of waters that covers that it falls upon as a Hawk upon a prey it desires and it will possesse that it falls upon as an Army into a Countrey it Conquers and it Governes where it fals The Holy Ghost fals but farre otherwise Mat. 21.44 upon the ungodly Whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken but upon whomsocver this stone shall fall it will grinde him to powder Indeed he fals upon him so as haile fals upon him he fals upon him so as he fals from him and leaves him in an obduration and impenitiblenesse and in an irrecoverable ruine of him that hath formorly despised and despighted the Holy Ghost But when the Holy Ghost fals not thus in the nature of a stone but puts on the nature of a Dove and a Dove with an Olive-branch and that in the Ark that is testimonies of our peace and reconciliation to God in his Church he fals as that kinde of lightning which melts swords and hurts not scabbards the Holy Ghost shall melt thy soule and not hurt thy body he shall give thee spirituall blessings and saving graces under the temporall seales of bodily health and prosperity in this world He shall let thee see that thou art the childe of God in the obedience of thy children to thee And that thou art the servant of God in the faithfulnesse of thy servants to thee And that thou standest in the favour of God bythe favor of thy superiours to thee he shall fall upon thy soul and not wound thy body give thee spirituall prosperity and yet not by worldly adversity and evermore over-shadow and refresh thy soul yet evermore keep thee in his Sunshine and the light of his countenance But there is more then this in this falling of the Holy Ghost in this Text. For it was not such a particular insinuation of the Holy Ghost as that he convaied himselfe into those particular men for their particular good and salvation and determined there but such a powerfull and diffusive falling as made his presence and his power in them to work upon others also So when he came upon Christ it was not to adde any thing to Christ but to informe others that that was Christ So when Christ breathed his spirit into the Apostles it was not meerly to infuse salvation into them but it was especially
castration in cutting off the eares There are certain veines behinde the eares which if they be cut disable a man from generation The Eares are the Aqueducts of the water of life and if we cut off those that is intermit our ordinary course of hearing this is a castration of the soul the soul becomes an Eunuch and we grow to a rust to a mosse to a barrennesse without fruit without propagation If then God have placed thee under such a Pastor as presents thee variety blesse God who enlarges himselfe to afford thee that spirituall delight in that variety even for the satisfaction of that holy curiosity of thine If he have placed thee under one who often repeates and often remembers thee of the same things blesse God even for that that in that he hath let thee see that the Christian Religion is Verbum abbreviatum A contracted doctrine and that they are but a few things which are necessary to salvation and therefore be not loath to heare them often Our errand hither then is not to see but much lesse not to be able to see to sleep Verbum It is not to talk but much lesse to snort It is to heare and to heare all the words of the Preacher but to heare in those words the Word that Word which is the soule of all that is said and is the true Physick of all their soules that heare The Word was made flesh that is assumed flesh but yet the Godhead was not that flesh The Word of God is made a Sermon that is a Text is dilated diffused into a Sermon but that whole Sermon is not the word of God But yet all the Sermon is the Ordinance of God Delight thy self in the Lord and he will give thee thy hearts desire Take a delight in Gods Ordinance in mans preaching and thou wilt finde Gods Word in that To end all in that Metaphor which we mentioned at beginning As the word of God is as hony so sayes Solomon Pleasant words are as the hony combe Prov. 16.24 And when the pleasant words of Gods servants have conveyed the saving word of God himselfe into thy soule then maist thou say with Christ to the Spouse I have caten my hony combe with my hony Cant. 5.1 mine understanding is enlightned with the words of the Preacher and my faith is strengthned with the word of God I glorifie God much in the gifts of the man but I glorifie God much more in the gifts of his grace I am glad I have heard him but I am gladder I have heard God in him I am happy that I have heard those words but thrice happy that in those words I have heard the Word Blessed be thou that camest in the name of the Lord but blessed be the Lord that is come to me in thee Let me remember how the Preacher said it but let me remember rather what he said And beloved all the best of us all all that all together all the dayes of our life shall be able to say unto you is but this That if ye will heare the same Jesus in the same Gospell by the same Ordinance and not seeke an imaginary Jesus in an illusory sacrifice in another Church If you will heare so as you have contracted with God in your Baptisme The holy Ghost shall fall upon you whilest you heare here in the house of God and the holy Ghost shall accompany you home to your own houses and make your domestique peace there a type of your union with God in heaven and make your eating and drinking there a type of the abundance and fulnesse of heaven and make every dayes rising to you there a type of your joyfull Resurrection to heaven and every nights rest a type of your eternall Sabbath and your very dreames prayers and meditations and sacrifices to Almighty God SERM. XXXIV Preached upon Whitsunday ROM 8.16 The Spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God I Take these words to take occasion by them to say something of the holy Ghost Our order proposed at first requires it and our Text affords it Since we speak by Him let us love to speak of Him and to speak for Him but in both to speak with Him that is so as he hath spoken of himselfe to us in the Scriptures God will be visited but he will not be importuned He will be looked upon but he will not be pryed into A man may flatter the best man If he do not beleeve himself when he speaks well of another and when he praises him though that which he sayes of him be true yet he flatters So an Atheist that temporises and serves the company and seemes to assent flatters A man may flatter the Saints in heaven if he attribute to them that which is not theirs and so a Papist flatters A man may flatter God himself If upon pretence of magnifying Gods mercy he will say with Origen That God at last will have mercy upon the devill he flatters So though God be our businesse we may be too busie with God and though God be infinite we may go beyond God when we conceive or speak otherwise of God then God hath revealed unto us By his own light therefore we shall look upon him and with that reverence and modesty that That Spirit may beare witnesse to our spirit that we are the children of God That which we shall say of these words Divisio will best be conceived and retained best if we handle them thus That whereas Christ hath bidden us to judge our selves that we be not judged to admit a triall here lest we incurre a condemnation hereafter This text is a good part of that triall of that judiciall proceeding For here are first two persons that are able to say much The Spirit it self and Our spirit And secondly their office their service They beare witnesse And thirdly their testimony That we are the children of God And these will be our three parts The first will have two branches because there are two persons The Spirit and Our spirit And the second two branches They witnesse and They witnesse together for so the word is And the third also two branches They testifie of us their testimony concernes us and they testifie well of us That we are the children of God The persons are withour exception the Spirit of God cannot be deceived and the spirit of man will not deceive himself Their proceeding is Legall and faire they do not libell they do not whisper they do not calumniate They testifie and they agree in their testimony And lastly the case is not argued so as amongst practisers at the Law that thereby by the light of that they may after give Counsell to another in the like but the testimony concernes our selves it is our own case The verdict upon the testimony of the Spirit and our spirit is upon our selves whatsoever it bee And blessed be the
because the Son is the second and the holy Ghost the third person but the second was not before the third in time nor is above him in dignity There is processio corporalis such a bodily proceeding as that that which proceeds is utterly another thing then that from which it proceeds frogs proceed perchance of ayre and mise of dust and worms of carkasses and they resemble not that ayre that dust those carkasses that produced them There is also processio Metaphysica when thoughts proceed out of the minde but those thoughts remaine still in the mind within and have no separate subsistence in themselves And then there is processio Hyperphysica which is this which we seek and finde in our soules but not in our tongues a proceeding of the holy Ghost so from Father and Son as that he remaines a subsistence alone a distinct person of himselfe This is as far as the Schoole can reach Ortu qui relationis est non est à se Actu qui personae est per se subsistit Consider him in his proceeding so he must necessarily have a relation to another Consider him actually in his person so he subsists of himselfe And De modo for the manner of his proceeding we need we can say but this As the Son proceeds per modu intellectus so as the mind of man conceives a thought so the holy Ghost proceeds per modum voluntatis when the mind hath produced a thought that mind and that discourse and ratiocination produce a will first our understanding is setled and that understanding leads our will And nearer then this though God knows this be far off we cannot goe to the proceeding of the holy Ghost This then is The Spirit The third person in the Trinity but the first person in our Text Spiritus noster The other is our spirit The Spirit beareth witnesse with our spirit I told you before that amongst the manifold acceptations of the word spirit as it hath relation particularly to man it is either the soul it self or the vitall spirits the thin and active parts of the bloud or the superiour faculties of the soul in a regenerate man that is our spirit in this place So S. Paul distinguishes soul and spirit Heb. 4.12 The word of God pierces to the dividing asunder soule and spirit where The soule is that which inanimates the body and enables the organs of the senses to see and heare The spirit is that which enables the soule to see God and to heare his Gospel The samephrase hath the same use in another place 1 Thes 5.25 Calvin I pray God your spirit and soule and body may be preserved blamelesse Where it is not so absurdly said though a very great man call it an absurd exposition That the soule Anima is that qua animales homines as the Apostle calls them that by which men are men naturall men carnall men And the spirit is the spirit of Regeneration by which man is a new creature a spirituall man But that that Expositor himselfe hath said enough to our present purpose The soule is the seat of Affections The spirit is rectified Reason It is true this Reason is the Soveraigne these Affections are the Officers this Body is the Executioner Reason authorizes Affections command the Body executes And when we conceive in our mind desire in our heart performe in our body nothing that displeases God then have we had benefit of S. Pauls prayer That in body and soule and spirit we may be blamelesse In summe we need seek no farther for a word to expresse this spirit but that which is familiar to us The Conscience Rem 9.1 A rectified conscience is this spirit My conscience bearing me witnesse sayes the Apostle And so we have both the persons in this judiciall proceeding The Spirit is the holy Ghost Our spirit is our Conscience And now their office is to testifie to beare witnesse which is our second generall part The Spirit bears witnesse c. To be a witnesse 2 Part. is not an unworthy office for the holy Ghost himselfe Heretiques in their pestilent doctrines Tyrans in their bloody persecutions call God himselfe so often so far into question as that he needs strong and pregnant testimony to acquit him First against Heretiques we see the whole Scripture is but a Testament and Testamentum is Testatio ment is it is but an attestation a proofe what the will of God is And therefore when Tertullian deprehended himselfe to have slipped into another word and to have called the Bible Instrumentum he retracts and corrects himselfe thus Magìs usui est dicere Testamentum quà m Instrumentum It is more proper to call the Scripture a Testament then a Conveyance or Covenant All the Bible is Testament Attestation Declaration Proofe Apoc. 11.2 Evidence of the will of God to man And those two witnesses spoken of in the Revelation are very conveniently very probably interpreted to be the two Testaments And to the Scriptures Christ himselfe refers the Jews Iohn 5.39 Search them for they beare witnesse of me The word of God written by the holy Ghost is a witnesse and so the holy Ghost is a witnesse against Heretiques Against Tyrans and Persecuters the office of a witnesse is an honourable office too for that which we call more passionately and more gloriously Martyrdome is but Testimony A Martyr is nothing but a Witnesse He that pledges Christ in his own wine in his own cup in bloud He that washes away his sins in a second Baptisme and hath found a lawfull way of Re-baptizing even in bloud He that waters the Prophets ploughing and the Apostles sowing with bloud He that can be content to bleed as long as a Tyran can foame or an Executioner sweat He that is pickled nay embalmed in bloud salted with fire and preserved in his owne ashes He that to contract all nay to enlarge beyond all suffers in the Inquisition when his body is upon the rack when the rags are in his throat when the boots are upon his legs when the splinters are under his nailes if in those agonies he have the vigour to say I suffer this to shew what my Saviour suffered must yet make this difference He suffered as a Saviour I suffer but as a witnesse But yet to him that suffers as a Martyr as a witnesse a crowne is reserved It is a happy and a harmonious meeting in Stephens martyrdome Proto-martyr and Stephanus that the first Martyr for Christ should have a Crown in his name Such a blessed meeting there is in Ioash his Coronation Posuit super eum Diadema Testimonium 2 King 11.12 They put the Crowne upon his head and the Testimony that is The Law which testified That as he had the Crowne from God so he had it with a witnesse with an obligation that his Government his life and if need were his death should testifie his zeale to him
an emphaticall denotation for to this purpose Ille and Ipse is all one And then you know the Emphasis of that Ipse Ipse conteret He or It shall bruise the Serpents head denotes the Messias though there be no Messias named This Ipse is so emphaticall a denotation as that the Church of Rome and the Church of God strives for it for they will needs reade it Ipsa and so refer our salvation in the bruising of the Serpents head to the Virgin Mary we refer it according to the truth of the doctrine and of the letter to Christ himselfe and therefore reade it Ipse He. If there were no more but that in David Psal 100.3 Rom. 8.16 It is He that hath made us every man would conclude that that He is God And if S. Paul had said Ipse alone and not Ipse spiritus That He and not He the Spirit beares witnesse with our spirit every spirit would have understood this to be the holy Spirit the holy Ghost If in our text there had been no more but such a denotation of a person that should speak to the hearts of all the world that that I lle that He would proceed thus we must necessarily have seen an Almighty power in that denotation But because that denotation might have carried terrour in it being taken alone therefore we are not left to that but have a relation to a former name and specification of the holy Ghost The Comforter For the establishment of Christs divinity Esay 9.6 Christ is called The mighty God for his relation to us he hath divers names As we were all In massa damnata Forfeited lost he is Redemptor Esay 59.20 A Redeemer for that that is past The Redeemer shall come to Sion sayes the Prophet Job 19.2 and so Iob saw His Redeemer one that should redeem him from those miseries that oppressed him As Christ was pleased to provide for the future so he is Salvator Mat. 1.21 A Saviour Therefore the Angel gave him that name Iesus For he shall save his people from their sins So because to this purpose Christ consists of two natures God and man he is called our Mediator 1 Tim. 2.5 There is one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus Because he presents those merits which are his as ours and in our behalfe he is called an Advocate 1 John 2.1 Rom. 2.6 Acts 10.42 1 Cor. 12.3 If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous And because every man is to expect according to his actions he is called the Judge We testifie that it is he that is ordained of God to bee the Iudge of quick and dead Now for Christs first name which is the roote of all which is The mighty God No man can say that Iesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost And there is our first comfort in knowing that Christ is God for he were an Intruder for that which is past no Redeemer he were a weak Saviour for the future an insufficient Mediator a silenced Advocate and a Judge that might be misinformed if he were not God And though he were God he might be all these to my discomfort if there were not a holy Ghost to make all these offices comfortable unto me To be a Redeemer and not a Saviour is but to pay my debts and leave me nothing to live on To be a Mediator a person capable by his composition of two natures to intercede between God and man and not to be my Advocate is but to be a good Counsellor but not of counsell with me To be a Judge of quick and dead and to proceed out of outward evidence and not out of his bosome mercy is but an acceleration of my conviction I were better lie in Prison still then appeare at that Assize better lye in the dust of the grave for ever then come to that judgement But as there is Mens in anima There is a minde in the soule and every man hath a soule but every man hath not a minde that is a Consideration an Actuation an Application of the faculties of the soule to particulars so there is Spiritus in Spiritu a Holy Ghost in all the holy offices of Christ which offices being in a great part directed upon the whole world are made comfortable to me by being by this holy Spirit turned upon me and appropriated to me for so even that name of Christ which might most make me afraid 〈◊〉 The name of Judge becomes a comfort to me To this purpose does S. Baesil call the holy Ghost Verbum Dei quia interpres filii The Son of God is the word of God because he manifests the Father and the Holy Ghost is the word of God because he applies the Son Esay 62.11 Christ comes with that loud Proclamation Ecce auditum fecit Behold the Lord hath proclaimed it to the end of the world Ecce Salvator and Ecce Merces Behold his Salvation Behold thy Reward This is his publication in the manifest Ordinances of the Church And then the Holy Ghost whispers to thy soule as thou standest in the Congregation in that voyce that he promises Sibilabo populum meum I will hisse Zach. 10.8 I will whisper to my people by soft and inward inspirations Christ came to tell us all That to as many as received him he gave power to become the Sons of God Iohn 1.12 The Holy Ghost comes to tell thee that thou art one of them The Holy Ghost is therefore Legatus and Legatum Christi He is Christs Ambassadour sent unto us and he is his Legacy bequeathed unto us by his Will his Will made of force by his death and proved by his Ascension Now when those dayes were come that the Bridegroome was to bee taken from them Christ Jesus to be removed from their personall sight and conversation and therefore even the children of the mariage Chamber were to mourne and fast Mat. 9.15 Cant. when that Church that mourned and lamented his absence when she was but his Spouse must necessarily mourn now in a more vehement manner when she was to be in some sense his Widow when that Shepheard was not onely to be smitten and so the flock dispersed Mat. 26.21 this was done in his passion but he was to be taken away in his Ascension what a powerfull Comforter had that need to be that should be able to recompence the absence of Christ Jesus himselfe and to infuse comfort into his Orphans the children of his mariage Chamber into his Widow the desolate and disconsolate Church into his flock his amazed his distressed and as we may properly enough say in this case his beheaded Apostles and Disciples Quantus ergo Deus qui dat Deum Aug. Lesse then God could not minister this comfort How great a God is he that sends a God to comfort us and how powerfull a Comforter hee who
Malediction not physick but poyson As it is in another Psalme Increpasti periit Thou hast rebuked them and they perished Psal 9.6 In these cases there is a working of the holy Ghost and that as the holy Ghost is a Comforter for it is a comfort to them for whose deliverances God executes these judgements upon others that they are executed but we consider a rebuke a reproofe that ministers comfort even to them upon whom it fals and so in that sense we shall see that this Comforter reproves the world in all those significations of the world which wee named before As the world is the whole frame of the world God hath put into it a reproofe Mundus magnus a rebuke lest it should seem eternall which is a sensible decay and age in the whole frame of the world and every piece thereof The seasons of the yeare irregular and distempered the Sun fainter and languishing men lesse in stature and shorter-lived No addition but only every yeare new sorts new species of wormes and flies and sicknesses which argue more and more putrefaction of which they are engendred And the Angels of heaven which did so familiarly converse with men in the beginning of the world though they may not be doubted to perform to us still their ministeriall assistances yet they seem so far to have deserted this world as that they do not appeare to us as they did to those our Fathers S. Cyprian observed this in his time when writing to Demetrianus Cyprian who imputed all those calamities which afflicted the world then to the impiety of the Christians who would not joyne with them in the worship of their gods Cyprian went no farther for the cause of these calamities but Ad senescentem mundum To the age and impotency of the whole world And therefore sayes he Imputent senes Christianis quòd minùs valeant in senectutem Old men were best accuse Christians that they are more sickly in their age then they were in their youth Is the fault in our religion or in their decay Canos in pueris videmus nec aetas in senectute desinit sed incipit à senectute We see gray haires in children and we do not die old and yet we are borne old Lest the world as the world signifies the whole frame of the world should glorifie it selfe or flatter and abuse us with an opinion of eternity we may admit usefully though we do not conclude peremptorily this observation to be true that there is a reproofe a rebuke born in it a sensible decay and mortality of the whole world But is this a reproofe agreeable to our Text A reproofe that carries comfort with it Consolatio Rom. 8.19 Comfort to the world it selfe that it is not eternall Truly it is As S. Paul hath most pathetically expressed it The creature that is the world is in anearnest expectation The creature waiteth The whole creation groaneth and travelleth in pain Therefore the creature that is the world receives a perfect comfort in being delivered at last and an inchoative comfort in knowing now that it shall be delivered From what From subjection to vanity Ver. 20. 21. from the bondage of corruption That whereas the world is now subject to mutability and corruption at the Resurrection it shall no longer be so but in that measure and in that degree which it is capable of Ver. 21. It shall enter into the glorious liberty of the children of God that is be as free from corruption or change in that state wherein it shall be glorified Esay 30.26 2 Pet. 3.13 as the Saints shall be in the glory of their state for The light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold And there shall be new heavens and new earth Which is a state that this world could not attaine to if it were eternally to last in that condition in which it is now a condition subject to vanity impotency corruption and therefore there is a comfort in this reproofe even to this world That it is not eternall This world is the happier for that As the world Mundus homines Mat. 18.7 in a second sense signifies all the men of the world so it is Wo unto the world because of offences There is a reproofe born in every man which reproofe is an uncontrollable sense and an unresistible remorse and chiding of himselfe inwardly when he is about to sin and a horrour of the Majesty of God whom when he is alone he is forced and forced by himselfe to feare and to beleeve though he would fain make the world beleeve that he did not beleeve in God but lived at peace and subsisted of himselfe without being beholding to God For as in nature heavy things will ascend and light descend rather then admit a vacuity so in religion the devill will get into Gods roome rather then the heart of man shall be without the opinion of God There is no Atheist They that oppose the true do yet worship a false god and hee that sayes there is no God doth for all that set up some God to himselfe Every man hath this reproofe borne in him that he doth ill that he offends a God that he breaks a law when he sins Consolatio And this reproofe is a reproofe within our Text for it hath this comfort with it That howsoever some men labour to overcome the naturall tendernesse of the conscience and so triumph over their own ruine and rejoyce when they can sleep and wake again without any noise in their conscience or sense of sin yet in truth this candle cannot be blowne out this remorse cannot be overcome But were it not a greater comfort to me if I could overcome it No. For though this remorse which is but a naturall impression and common to all men be not grace yet this remorse which is the naturall reproofe of the soule is that that grace works upon Grace doth not ordinarily work upon the stifnesse of the soule upon the silence upon the frowardnesse upon the aversnesse of the soule but when the soule is soupled and mellowed and feels this reproofe this remorse in it self that reproofe that remorse becomes as the matter and grace enters as the form that becomes the body and grace becomes the soule and that is the comfort of this naturall reproofe of the world that is of every man First that it will not be quenched in it selfe and then that ordinarily it induces a nobler light then it selfe which is effectuall and true Repentance As the world in a third sense Mundus mali Heb. 11.7 2 Pet. 2.5 signifies only the wicked world so it is Noah in preparing an Ark condemned the world And so God spared not the old world That world the world of the wicked suffer many reproofes many rebukes in their hearts which they will not discover because they
envy God that glory We reade of divers great actors in the first persecutions of the Christians who being fearefully tormented in body and soule at their deaths took care only that the Christians might not know what they suffered lest they should receive comfort and their God glory therein Certainly Herod would have been more affected if he had thought that we should have knowne how his pride was punished with those sudden wormes Acts 12.23 then with the punishment it selfe This is a self-reproofe even in this though he will not suffer it to break out to the edification of others there is some kinde of chiding himself for some thing mis-done But is there any comfort in this reproofe Consolatio Truly beloved I can hardly speak comfortably of such a man after he is dead that dyes in such a dis-affection loath that God should receive glory or his servants edification by these judgements But even with such a man if I assisted at his death-bed I would proceed with a hope to infuse comfort even from that dis-affection of his As long as I saw him in any acknowledgement though a negligent nay though a malignant a despitefull acknowledgement of God as long as I found him loath that God should receive glory even from that loathnesse from that reproofe from that acknowledgement That there is a God to whom glory is due I would hope to draw him to glorifie that God before his last gasp My zeale should last as long as his wives officiousnesse or his childrens or friends or servants obsequiousnesse or the solicitude of his Physitians should as long as there were breath they would minister some help as long as there were any sense of God I would hope to do some good And so much comfort may arise even out of this reproofe of the world as the world is only the wicked world In the last sense the world signifies the Saints the Elect the good men of the world Mundus sancti John 14.31 John 17.21 beleeving and persevering men Of those Christ sayes The world shall know that I love the Father And That the world may beleeve that thou hast sent me And this world that is the godliest of this world have many reproofes many corrections upon them That outwardly they are the prey of the wicked and inwardly have that Stimulum carnis which is the devils Solicitor and round about them they see nothing but profanation of his word mis-imployment of his works his creatures mis-constructions of his actions his judgements blasphemy of his name negligence and under-valuation of his Sacraments violation of his Sabbaths and holy convocations O what a bitter reproofe what a manifest evidence of the infirmity nay of the malignity of man is this if it be put home and throughly considered That even the goodnesse of man gets to no higher a degree but to have been the occasion of the greatest ill the greatest cruelty that ever was done the crucifying of the Lord of life The better a man is the more he concurred towards being the cause of Christs death which is a strange but a true and a pious consideration Dilexit mundum He loved the world and he came to save the world That is most especially and effectually those that should beleeve in him in the world and live according to that beliefe and die according to that life If there had been no such Christ had not died never been crucified So that impenitent men mis-beleeving men have not put Christ to death but it is we we whom he loves we that love him that have crucified him In what rank then of opposition against Christ shall we place our sins since even our faith and good works have been so farre the cause why Christ died that but for the salvation of such men Beleevers Workers Perseverers Christ had not died This then is the reproofe of the world that is of the Saints of God in the world Psal 84.10 that though I had rather be a doore-keeper in the house of my God I must dwell in the tents of wickednesse That though my zeale consume me because mine enemies have forgotten thy words Psal 119.138 I must stay amongst them that have forgotten thy words But this and all other reproofes that arise in the godly that we may still keep up that consideration that he that reproves us is The Comforter have this comfort in them that these faults that I indure in others God hath either pardoned in me or kept from me and that though this world be wicked yet when I shall come to the next world I shall finde Noah that had been drunk and Lot Gen. 9.21 Gen. 19.33 Numb 11.11 that had been incestuous and Moses that murmured at Gods proceedings and Iob and Ieremy and Ionas impatient even to imprecations against themselves Christs owne Disciples ambitious of worldly preferment his Apostles forsaking him his great Apostle forswearing him And Mary Magdalen that had been I know not what sinner and David that had been all I leave none so ill in this world but I may carry one that was or finde some that had been as ill as they in heaven and that blood of Christ Jesus which hath brought them thither is offered to them that are here who may be successors in their repentance as they are in their sins And so have you all intended for the Person the Comforter and the Action Reproofe and the Subject the World remaines only that for which there remaines but a little time the Time Cum venerit When the Comforter comes he will proceed thus We use to note three Advents three commings of Christ Cum venerit An Advent of Humiliation when he came in the flesh an Advent of glory when he shall come to judgement and between these an Advent of grace in his gracious working in us in this life and this middlemost Advent of Christ is the Advent of the Holy Ghost in this text when Christ works in us the Holy Ghost comes to us And so powerfull is his comming that whereas he that sent him Christ Jesus himself Came unto his own and his own received him not John 1.11 The Holy Ghost never comes to his owne but they receive him for onely by receiving him they are his owne for besides his title of Creation by which we are all his with the Father and the Son as there is a particular title accrewed to the Son by Redemption so is there to the Holy Ghost of certaine persons upon whom he sheds the comfort of his application The Holy Ghost picks out and chooses whom he will Spirat ubi vult perchance me that speake perchance him that heares perchance him that shut his eyes yester-night and opened them this morning in the guiltinesse of sin and repents it now perchance him that hath been in the meditation of an usurious contract of an ambitious supplantation of a licentious solicitation since he came hither into Gods
mala sunt in ordine That even disorders are done in order that even our sins some way or other fall within the providence of God But that is not the order nor judgement which the holy Ghost is sent to manifest to the world The holy Ghost works best upon them which search least into Gods secret judgements and proceedings But the order and judgement we speak of is an order a judgement-seate established by which every man howsoever oppressed with the burden of sin may in the application of the promises of the Gospel by the Ordinance of preaching and in the seales thereof in the participation of the Sacraments be assured that he hath received his Absolution his Remission his Pardon and is restored to the innocency of his Baptisme nay to the integrity which Adam had before the fall nay to the righteousnesse of Christ Jesus himselfe In the creation God took red earth and then breathed a soule into it When Christ came to a second creation to make a Church he took earth men red earth men made partakers of his blood for Ecclesiam quaesivit acquisivit Bernard Hee desired a Church and he purchased a Church but by a blessed way of Simony Adde medium acquisitionis Sanguine acquisivit Acts 20.28 He purchased a Church with his own blood And when he had made this body in calling his Apostles then he breathed the soule into them his Spirit and that made up all Quod insufflavit Dominus Apostolis dixit August Accipite Spiritum sanctum Ecclesiae potestas collata est Then when Christ breathed that Spirit into them he constituted the Church And this power of Remission of sins is that order and that judgement which Christ himselfe calls by the name of the most orderly frame in this or the next world A Kingdome Dispono vobis regnum Luk. 22.29 I appoint unto you a Kingdome as my Father hath appointed unto me Now Faciunt favos vespa faciunt Ecclesias Marcionitae As Waspes make combs Tertul. but empty ones so do Heretiques Churches but frivolous ones ineffectuall ones And as we told you before That errors and disorders are as well in wayes as inends so may we deprive our selves of the benefit of this judgement The Church as well in circumstances as in substances as well in opposing discipline as doctrine The holy Ghost reprovcâ—thee convinces thee of judgement that is offers thee the knowledge that such a Church there is A Jordan to wash thine originall leprosie in Baptisme A City upon a mountaine to enlighten thee in the works of darknesse a continuall application of all that Christ Jesus said and did and suffered to thee Let no soule say she can have all this at Gods hands immediatly and never trouble the Church That she can passe her pardon between God and her without all these formalities by a secret repentance It is true beloved a true repentance is never frustrate But yet if thou wilt think thy selfe a little Church a Church to thy selfe because thou hast heard it said That thou art a little world a world in thy selfe that figurative that metaphoricall representation shall not save thee Though thou beest a world to thy self yet if thou have no more corn nor oyle nor milk then growes in thy self or flowes from thy self thou wilt starve Though thou be a Church in thy fancy if thou have no more seales of grace no more absolution of sin Grego then thou canst give thy self thou wilt perish Per solam Ecclesiam sacrificium libenter accipit Deus Thou maist be a Sacrifice in thy chamber but God receives a Sacrifice more cheerefully at Church Sola quae pro errantibus fiducialiter intercedit Only the Church hath the nature of a surety Howsoever God may take thine own word at home yet he accepts the Church in thy behalfe as better security Joyne therefore ever with the Communion of Saints August Et cum membrum sis ejus corporis quod loquitur omnibus linguis crede te omnibus linguis loqui Whilst thou art a member of that Congregation that speaks to God with a thousand tongues beleeve that thou speakest to God with all those tongues And though thou know thine own prayers unworthy to come up to God because thou liftest up to him an eye which is but now withdrawne from a licentious glancing and hands which are guilty yet of unrepented uncleannesses a tongue that hath but lately blasphemed God a heart which even now breaks the walls of this house of God and steps home or runs abroad upon the memory or upon the new plotting of pleasurable or profitable purposes though this make thee thinke thine own prayers uneffectuall yet beleeve that some honester man then thy selfe stands by thee and that when he prayes with thee he prayes for thee and that if there be one righteous man in the Congregation thou art made the more acceptable to God by his prayers and make that benefit of this reproofe this conviction of the holy Ghost That he convinces thee De judicio assures thee of an orderly Church established for thy reliefe and that the application of thy self to this judgement The Church shall enable thee to stand upright in that other judgement the last judgement which is also enwrapped in the signification of this word of our Text Iudgement and is the conclusion for this day As God begun all with judgement Iudicium finale Sap. 11. for he made all things in measure number and waight as he proceeded with judgement in erecting a judiciall seat for our direction and correction the Church so he shall end all with judgement The finall and generall judgement at the Resurrection which he that beleeves not beleeves nothing not God for Heb. 11.6 He that commeth to God that makes any step towards him must beleeve Deum remuner atorem God and God in that notion as he is a Rewarder Therefore there is judgement But was this work left for the Holy Ghost Did not the naturall man that knew no Holy Ghost know this Truly all their fabulous Divinity all their Mythology their Minos and their Rhadamanthus tasted of such a notion as a judgement And yet the first planters of the Christian Religion found it hardest to fixe this roote of all other articles That Christ should come againe to judgement Miserable and froward men They would beleeve it in their fables and would not beleeve it in the Scriptures They would beleeve it in the nine Muses and would not beleeve it in the twelve Apostles They would beleeve it by Apollo and they would not beleeve it by the Holy Ghost They would be saved Poetically and fantastically and would not reasonably and spiritually By Copies and not by Originals by counterfeit things at first deduced by their Authors out of our Scriptures Tertul. and yet not by the word of God himself Which Tertullian apprehends and reprehends in his time when he
requires the tongue too because that spreads and diffuses his glory upon others too Calici benedictionis benedicimus sayes the Apostle The cup which we blesse 1 Cor. 10.16 is a cup of blessing When we have blessed it according to Christs holy institution then it derives holy blessings upon us and when we blesse God according to his Commandement he blesses us according to his promise and our desire Exod. 6.12 Ier. 1.6 When God imployed Moses and when he imployed Ieremy Moses and Ieremy had no excuse but the unreadinesse of their tongues he that hath a tongue disposed to Gods service that will speak all he can and dares speake all he should to the glory of God is fit for all Iames 3.5 As S. Iames sayes The tongue is but a little member but beasteth great things so truly as little as it is it does great things towards our salvation The Son of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verbum The word God made us with his word and with our words we make God so farre as that we make up the mysticall body of Christ Jesus with our prayers with our whole liturgie and we make the naturall body of Christ Jesus appliable to our soules by the words of Consecration in the Sacrament and our soules apprehensive and capable of that body by the word Preached Blesse him therefore in speaking to him in your prayers Blesse him in speaking with him in assenting in answering that which he sayes to you in his word And blesse him in speaking of him in telling one another the good things that he hath done abundantly for you I will blesse the Lord at all times sayes David Psal 34.2 Is it at all times sayes S. Augustine Cum circumfluunt omnia at all times when God blesses mee with temporall prosperity Cum minus nascuntur cum nata dilabuntur sayes that Father when thy gaine ceases for the present when that that thou hadst formerly got wasts and perishes and threatens penury for the future still blesse thou the Lord Quia ille dat ille tollit sed seipsum à benedicente se non tollit The Lord gives and the Lord takes away but the Lord never takes away himselfe from him that delights in blessing his name Blesse praise speake there is the duty and we have done with that which was our first Part And blesse thou God which is our second Part and a Part derived into many Branches Blessed be God even c. Here first we see the object of our praises whom we must blesse Benedict us sit Deus 2 Part. Deum solum God First Solus Deus God onely that is God and not man and then Deus solus the onely God that is God and not many Gods God onely and not man not that we may not blesse and wish well to one another for there is a blessing from God belongs to that Benedicam benedicentibus tibi sayes God to Abraham Gen. 12.3 I will blesse them that blesse thee Neither is it that we may not blesse that is give due praise to one another for as the vices and sins of great persons are not smothered in the Scriptures so their vertues and good deeds are published with praise Noahs drunkennesse and Lots incest is not disguised Iobs righteousnesse and holy patience is not concealed neither Rom 13.3 Doe that which is good sayes the Apostle and thou shalt have praise for the same Neither is it that we may not blesse that is pray for one another of what sort soever for we are commanded to doe that for our superiours inferiours may blesse superiours too Nor that wee should not blesse that is pray to one another in petitioning and supplicating our superiours for those things which are committed to their dispensation Luke 18.5 for the importunate sutor the widow is not blamed in the Gospel for her importunity to the Judge It is true the Judge is blamed for with-holding Justice till importunity extorted it But to blesse by praise or prayer the man without relation to God that is the man and not God in the man to determine the glory in the person without contributing thereby to the glory of God this is a manner of blessing accursed here because blessing is radically fundamentally originally here reserved to God to God onely Benedictus sit Deus God be blessed For properly truly none is to be thus blessed by us but he upon whom we may depend and rely and can we depend and rely upon man upon what man upon Princes As far as we can looke for examples round about us in our next neighbours and in France and in Spaine and farther we have seene in our age Kings discarded and wee have seene in some of them the discarded cards taken in againe and win the game Upon what man wilt thou rely upon great persons in favour with Princes Have we not seen often that the bed-chambers of Kings have back-doores into prisons and that the end of that greatnesse hath beene but to have a greater Jury to condemne them wilt thou rely upon the Prophet he can teach thee or upon thy Brother he does love thee or upon thy Son he should love thee or the Wife of thy bosome she will say she loves thee or upon thy Friend Deut. 13. he is as thine owne soule yet Moses puts a case when thou must depart from all these not consent no not conceale not pardon no not reprieve Thou shalt surely kill him sayes Moses even this Prophet this Brother this Son this Wife may encline thee to the service of other Gods Thou canst not rely and therefore doe not blesse not with praise not with prayer and dependance upon him That Prophet by what name or title soever he be called that Brother how willingly soever he divide the inheritance with thee that Son how dutifull soever in civill things that Wife how carefull soever of her owne honour and thy children that Friend how free soever of his favours and of his secrets that enclines thee to other Gods or to other service of the true God then is true Greatnesse is not the object of this blessing for Greatnesse is often eclipsed by the way and at last certainely extinguished in death and swallowed in the grave Goodnesse as it is morall is not the object of this blessing but blesse God onely God in the roote in himselfe or God exemplified and manifested in godly men blesse God in them in whom he appeares and in them who appeare for him and so thou doest blesse solum Deum God onely This thou must doe Deus solus Blesse God onely not man and then the onely God not other gods For this was the wretched and penurious narrownesse to which the Gentiles were reduced that being unable to confider God intirely they broke God in pieces and crumbled and scattered God into as many severall gods as there are Powers in God nay almost into as many severall
The naturall and essentiall word of God He hath his first name in the text He is the Lord As he is verbum illatum and Conceptum A person upon whom there is a Decree and a Commission that he shall be a person capable to redeem Man by death he hath this second name in the text He is Christ As he is The Lord he cannot die As he is Christ under the Decree he cannot chuse but die But as he is Iesus He is dead already and that is his other his third his last name in this Text If any man love not c. We have inverted a little the order of these names or titles in the Text Iesus because the Name of Christ is in the order of nature before the name of Iesus as the Commission is before the Execution of the Commission And in other places of Scripture to let us see how both the capacity of doing it and the actuall doing of it belongs onely to this person the Holy Ghost seems to convey a spirituall delight to us in turning and transposing the Names every way sometimes Iesus alone and Christ alone sometimes Iesus Christ and sometimes Christ Iesus that every way we might be sure of him Now we consider him as Iesus a reall an actuall Saviour And this was his Name The Angel said to his Mother Thou shalt call his name Iesus for he shall save his people And we say to you Call upon this name Iesus for he hath saved his people for Rom. 8.1 Now there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus As he was verbum conceptum and illatum The word which the Trinity uttered amongst themselves so he was decreed to come in that place The Lord of the vineyard that is Almighty God seeing the misery of Man Luk. 20.13 to be otherwise irremediable The Lord of the vineyard said what shall I doe I will send my beloved Sonne it may be they will reverence him when they see him But did they reverence him when they saw him This sending made him Christ a person whom though the Sonne of God they might see They did see him but then says that Gospell they drew him out and killed him And this he knew before he came and yet came and herein was Iesus a reall an actuall a zealous Saviour even of them that slew him And in this with piety and reverence we may be bold to say that even the Son of God was filius prodigus that powred out his blood even for his Enemies but rather in that acclamation of the prodigall childs Father This my sonne was dead and is alive againe he was lost and is found For but for this desire of our salvation why should he who was the Lord be ambitious of that Name the name of Iesus which was not Tam expectabile apud Iudaeos nomen Tertull. no such name as was in any especiall estimation amongst the Iews for we see in Ioscphus divers men of that name of no great honour of no good conversation But because the name implyes salvation Iosua who had another name before Idem Cum in hujus sacramenti imagine parabatur when he was prepared as a Type of this Iesus to be a Saviour a Deliverer of the people Etiam nominis Dominici inaugur atus est figurae Iesus cognominatus then he was canonized with that name of salvation and called Iosuae which is Iesus The Lord then the Son of God had a Sitio in heaven as well as upon the Crosse He thirsted our salvation there and in the midst of the fellowship of the Father from whom he came and of the Holy Ghost who came from him and the Father and all the Angels who came by a lower way from them all he desired the conversation of Man for Mans sake He that was God The Lord became Christ a man and he that was Christ became Iesus no man a dead man to save man To save man all wayes in all his parts And to save all men in all parts of the world To save his soule from hell where we should have felt pains and yet been dead then when we felt them and seen horrid spectacles and yet been in darknes and blindnes then when we saw them And suffered unsufferable torments yet have told over innumerable ages in suffering them To save this soule from that hell and to fill that capacity which it hath and give it a capacity which it hath not to comprehend the joyes and glory of Heaven this Christ became Iesus To save this body from the condemnation of everlasting corruption where the wormes that we breed are our betters because they have a life where the dust of dead Kings is blowne into the street and the dust of the street blowne into the River and the muddy River tumbled into the Sea and the Sea remaunded into all the veynes and channels of the earth to save this body from everlasting dissolution dispersion dissipation and to make it in a glorious Resurrection not onely a Temple of the holy Ghost but a Companion of the holy Ghost in the kingdome of heaven This Christ became this Iesus To save this man body and soule together from the punishments due to his former sinnes and to save him from falling into future sinnes by the assistance of his Word preached and his Sacrrments administred in the Church which he purchased by his bloud is this person The Lord the Christ become this Iesus this Saviour To save so All wayes In soule in body in both And also to save all men For to exclude others from that Kingdome is a tyrannie an usurpation and to exclude thy selfe is a sinfull and a rebellious melancholy But as melancholy in the body is the hardest humour to be purged so is the melancholy in the soule the distrust of thy salvation too Flashes of presumption a calamity will quench but clouds of desperation calamities thicken upon us But even in this inordinate dejection thou exaltest thy self above God and makest thy worst better then his best thy sins larger then his mercy Christ hath a Greek name and an Hebrew name Christ is Greeke Iesus is Hebrew He had commission to save all nations and he hath saved all Thou givest him another Hebrew name and another Greek Apoc. 9.11 when thou makest his name Abaddon and Apollyon a Destroyer when thou wilt not apprehend him as a Saviour and love him so which is our second Part in our order proposed at first If any man love not c. In the former part 2 Part. we found it to be one argument for the Deitie of Christ That he was Iehovah The Lord we have another here That this great branch nay this very root of all divine worship due to God is required to be exhibited to this person That is Love Cicero If any man love not c. If any man could see Vertue with his eye he would be
for thee Martyrium and his blessed Servants the Martyrs in the Primitive Church did so for him and thee for his glory for thy example Can there be any ill any losse in giving thy life for him Is it not a part of the reward it selfe the honour to suffer for him Muk 10.30 When Christ sayes Whosoever loses any thing for my sake and the Gospels he shall have a hundred fold in houses and lands with persecutions wee need not limit that clause of the Promise with persecutions to be That in the midst of persecutions God will give us temporall blessings but that in the midst of temporall blessings God will give us persecutions that it shall be a part of his mercy to be delivered from the danger of being puffed up by those temporall abundances by having a mixture of adversity and persecutions and then Tertul. what ill what losse is there in laying downe this life for him Quid hoc mali est quod martyrialis mali non habet timorem pudorem tergiversationem poenitentiam deplorationem What kinde of evill is this which when it came to the highest Ad malum martyriale to martyrdome to death did neither imprint in our holy predecessors in the Primitive Church Timorem any feare that it would come not Tergiversationem any recanting lest it should come nor Pudorem any shame when it was come nor Poenitentiam any repentance that they would suffer it to come nor Deplorationem any lamentation by their heires and Executors because they lost all when it was come Quid mali What kinde of evill can I call this in laying down my life for this Lord of life Cujus reus gaudet Idem when those Martyrs called that guiltinesse a joy Cujus accusatio votum and the accusation a satisfaction Cujus poena foelicitas and the suffering perfect happinesse Love thy neighbour as thy selfe is the farthest of that Commandement but love God above thy selfe for indeed in doing so thou dost but love thy selfe still Remember that thy soule is thy selfe and as if that be lost nothing is gained so if that be gained nothing is lost whatsoever become of this life Love him then Dominus as he is presented to thee here Love the Lord love Christ love Iesus If when thou lookest upon him as the Lord thou findest frowns and wrinkles in his face apprehensions of him as of a Judge and occasions of feare doe not run away from him in that apprehension look upon him in that angle in that line awhile and that feare shall bring thee to love and as he is Lord thou shalt see him in the beauty and lovelinesse of his creatures in the order and succession of causes and effects and in that harmony and musique of the peace between him and thy foule As he is the Lord thou wilt feare him but no man feares God truly but that that feare ends in love Love him as he is the Lord Christus that would have nothing perish that he hath made And love him as he is Christ that hath made himselfe man too that thou mightest not perish Love him as the Lord that could shew mercy and love him as Christ who is that way of mercy which the Lord hath chosen Returne againe and againe to that mysterious person Christ And let me tell you that though the Fathers never forbore to call the blessed Virgin Mary Deiparam the Mother of God yet in Damascens time they would not admit that name Christiparam that she was the Mother of Christ Not that there is any reason to deny her that name now but because then that great Heretique Nestorius to avoid that name in which the rest agreed Deiparam for he thought not Christ to be God invented a new name Christiparam Though it be true in it self that that blessed Virgin is Christipara yet because it was the invention of an Heretique and a fundamentall Heretique who though he thought Christ to be anointed by the Holy Ghost above his fellowes yet did not beleeve him to be God Damascen and his Age refused that addition to the blessed Virgin So reverently were they affected so jealously were they enamoured of that name Christ the name which implyed his Unction his Commission the Decree by which he was made a Person able to redeeme thy soule And in that contemplation say with Andrew to his brother Peter Invenimus Messiam I have found the Messias I could finde no meanes of salvation in my selfe nay no such meanes to direct God upon by my prayer or by a wish as hee hath taken but God himselfe hath found a way a Messias His Son shall bee made man And Inveni Messiam I have found him and found that he who by his Inearnation was made able to save me so he was Christ by his actuall passion hath saved me and so I love him as Iesus Christ loved Stephen all the way Iesus for all the way Stephen was disposed to Christs glory but in the agony of death death suffered for him Christ expressed his love most in opening the windowes Acts 7.56 the curtaines of heaven it selfe to see Stephen dye and to shew himselfe to Stephen I love my Saviour as he is The Lord He that studies my salvation And as Christ made a person able to work my salvation but when I see him in the third notion Iesus accomplishing my salvation by an actuall death I see those hands stretched out that stretched out the heavens and those feet racked to which they that racked them are foot-stooles I heare him from whom his nearest friends fled pray for his enemies and him whom his Father forsooke not forsake his brethren I see him that cloathes this body with his creatures or else it would wither and cloathes this soule with his Righteousnesse or else it would perish hang naked upon the Crosse And him that hath him that is the Fountaine of the water of life cry out He thirsts when that voyce overtakes me in my crosse wayes in the world Is it nothing to you all you that passe by Lament 1.12 Behold and see if there by any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger When I conceit when I contemplate my Saviour thus I love the Lord and there is a reverent adoration in that love I love Christ and there is a mysterious admiration in that love but I love Iesus and there is a tender compassion in that love and I am content to suffer with him and to suffer for him rather then see any diminution of his glory by my prevarication And he that loves not thus that loves not the Lord God and God manifested in Christ Anathema Maranatha which is our next and our last Part. Whether this Anathema be denounced by the Apostle by way of Imprecation 3 Part. Imprecatio that he wished it so or pronounced by way
tastlesse things Compare the Prophets with the Son and even the promises of God 2 King 4.34 in them are faint and dilute things Elishaes staffe in the hand of Gehazi his servant would not recover the Shunamites dead child but when Elisha himselfe came and put his mouth upon the childs mouth that did In the mouth of Christs former servants there was a preparation but effect and consummation in his owne mouth In the Old Testament at first God kissed man and so breathed the breath of life and made him a man In the New Testament Christ kissed man he breathed the breath of everlasting life the holy Ghost into his Apostles and so made the man a blessed man Love is as strong as death Cant. 8.6 As in death there is a transmigration of the soule so in this spirituall love and this expressing of it by this kisse there is a transfusion of the soule too And as we find in Gellius a Poëm of Platoes where he sayes he knew one so extremely passionate Vt parùm affuit quin moreretur in osculo much more is it true in this heavenly union expressed in this kisse as S. Ambrose delivers it Per osculum adhaeret anima Deo et transfunditur spiritus osculantis In this kisse where Righteousnesse and peace have kissed each other In this person where the Divine and the humane nature have kissed each other Psal 85.10 In this Christian Church where Grace and Sacraments visible and invisible meanes of salvation have kissed each other Love is as strong as death my soule is united to my Saviour now in my life as in death and I am already made one spirit with him and whatsoever death can doe this kisse this union can doe that is give me a present an immediate possession of the kingdome of heaven And as the most mountainous parts of this kingdome are as well within the kingdome as a garden so in the midst of the calamities and incommodities of this life I am still in the kingdome of heaven In the Old Testament it was but a contract but per verba de futuro Sponsabo I will marry thee Hos 2.19 Mat. 9.15 but now that Christ is come the Bride-groome is with us for ever and the children of the Bride-chamber cannot mourne Now by this we are slid into our fourth and last branch of our first part Exhortatic The perswasion to come to this holy kisse though defamed by treachery though depraved by licentiousnesse since God invites us to it by so many good uses thereof in his Word It is an imputation laid upon Nero That Neque adveniens neqùe profisciscens That whether comming or going he never kissed any And Christ himselfe imputes it to Simon as a neglect of him That when he came into his house he did not kisse him Luke 7.45 August This then was in use first among kinsfolks In illa simplicitate antiquorum propinqui propinquos osculabantur In those innocent and harmlesse times persons neare in bloud did kisse one another And in that right and not onely as a stranger Iacob kissed Rachel Gen. 29.12 and told her how near of kin he was to her There is no person so neare of kin to thee as Christ Jesus Christ Jesus thy Father as he created thee and thy brother as he took thy nature Thy Father as he provided an inheritance for thee and thy brother as he divided this inheritance with thee and as he dyed to give thee possession of that inheritance He that is Nutritius thy Foster-father who hath nursed thee in his house in the Christian Church and thy Twin-brother so like thee as that his Father and thine in him shall not know you from one another but mingle your conditions so as that he shall find thy sins in him and his righteousnesse in thee Osculamini Filium Kisse this Son as thy kinsman This kisse was also in use as Symbolum subjectionis A recognition of soveraignty or power Pharaoh sayes to Ioseph Thou shalt be over my house Gen. 41.40 and according to thy word shall all my people be ruled there the Originall is All my people shall kisse thy face This is the Lord Paramount the Soveraigne Lord of all The Lord Jesus Iesus Phil. 2.10 Mat. 28.18 at whose name every knee must bow in heaven in earth and in hell Iesus into whose hands all power in heaven and in earth is given Iesus who hath opened a way to our Appeal from all powers upon earth Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule Iesus Mat. 10.28 who is the Lion and the Lambe too powerfull upon others accessible unto thee Osculamini Filium Kisse this Son as he is thy Soveraigne It was in use likewise In discessu friends parting kissed Gen. 31.15 Act. 20.37 Laban rose up early in the morning and kissed his sons and his daughters and departed And at Pauls departing they fell on his neck and wept and kissed him When thou departest to thy worldly businesses to thy six dayes labour kisse him take leave of him and remember that all that while thou art gone upon his errand and though thou worke for thy family and for thy posterity yet thou workest in his vineyard and dost his worke They kissed too In reditu Esau ran to meet his brother and fell on his neck and kissed him Gen. 33.4 When thou returnest to his house after thy six dayes labour to celebrate his Sabbath kisse him there and be able to give him some good account from Sabbath to Sabbath from week to week of thy stewardship and thou wilt never be bankrupt They kissed in reconciliation David kissed Absalon 2 Sam. 14.33 If thou have not discharged thy stewardship well Restore to man who is damnified therein Confesse to God who hath suffered in that sin Reconcile thy selfe to him and kisse him in the Sacrament in the seale of Reconciliation They kissed in a religious reverence even of false gods I have sayes God 2 King 19 18. seaven thousand knees that have not bowed unto Baal and mouths that have not kissed him Let every one of us kisse the true God in keeping his knees from bowing to a false his lips from assenting his hands from subscribing to an Idolatrous worship And as they kissed In Symbolum concordiae Rom. 16.16 which was another use thereof Salute one another with a holy kisse upon which custome Iustin Martyr sayes Osculum ante Eucharistiam before the Communion the Congregation kissed to testifie their unity in faith in him to whom they were then Sacramentally to be united as well as Spiritually And Tertullian calls it Osculum signaculum Orationis Because they ended their publique Prayers with that seale of unity and concord Let every Congregation kisse him so at every meeting to seale to him a new band a new vow that they will never break in departing from any part of his
an Oath There is one event of all sayes he but sayes he This is an evill that it is so But what kinde of evill An evill of vexation because the weake are sometimes scandalized that it is so and the glory of God seems for a time to be obscured when it is so because the good are not discerned from the evill But yet God who knowes best how to repayre his own honour suffers it nay appoints it to be so that just and unjust are wrapped up in the same Judgement The Corne is as much beaten in the threshing as the straw is The just are as much punished here as the unjust Because God of his infinite goodnesse hath elected me from the beginning therefore must he provide that I have another manner of birth or another manner of death then the Reprobate have Must he provide that I be borne into the world without originall sin of a Virgin as his Son was or that I go out of the world by being taken away as Enoch was or as Elias And though we have that one example of such a comming into the world and a few examples of such a going out of the world yet we have no example not in the Son of God himselfe of passing through this world without taking part of the miseries and calamities of the world common to just and unjust to the righteous and unrighteous If Abraham therefore should have intended onely temporall destruction his argument might have been defective for Ezekiel and Daniel and other just men were carried into Captivity as well as the unjust and yet God not unrighteous God does it and avowes it and professes that he will do it and do it justly Occidam in te justum injustum I will cut off the righteous and unrighteous together There is no man so righteous Ezek. 21.3 upon whom God might not justly inflict as heavy judgements in this world as upon the most unrighteous Though he have wrapped him up in the righteousnesse of Christ Jesus himselfe for the next world yet he may justly wrap him up in any common calamity falling upon the unrighteous here But the difference is onely in spirituall destruction Abraham might justly apprehend a feare that a sudden and unprepared death might endanger them for their future state And therefore he does not pray that they might be severed from that judgement because if they dyed with the unrighteous they dyed as the unrighteous if they passed the same way as they out of this world they therefore passed into the same state as they in the next world Abraham could not conclude so but because the best men do alwayes need all meanes of making them better Abraham prayes that God would not cut them off by a sudden destruction from a considering and contemplating the wayes of his proceeding and so a preparing themselves to a willing and to a thankfull embracing of any way which they should so discerne to be his way The wicked are suddenly destroyed and do not see what hand is upon them till that hand bury them in hell The godly may die as suddenly but yet he sees and knows it to be the hand of God and takes hold of that hand and by it is carried up to heaven Now if God be still just though he punish the just with the unjust in this life Sinon parcat much more may he be so though he do not spare the unjust for the righteous sake which is the principall drift of Abrahams expostulation or deprecation God can preserve still so as he did in Aegypt God hath the same Receipts and the same Antidotes which he had to repell the flames of burning furnaces to binde or stupifie the jawes of hungry Lyons to blunt the edge of Swords and overflowing Armyes as he had heretofore Iohn 8.59.18.6 Christ was invisible to his enemies when he would scape away And he was impregnable to his enemies when in his manifestation of himselfe I am he they fell downe before him And he was invulnerable and immortall to his enemies as long as he would be so for if he had not opened himselfe to their violence no man could have taken away his soule And where God sees such deliverances conduce more to his honour then our suffering does he will deliver us so in the times of persecution So that God hath another way and he had another answer for Abrahams petition he might have said There is no ill construction no hard conclusion to be made if I should take away the just with the unjust neither is there any necessity that I should spare the wicked for the righteous I can destroy Sodome and yet save the righteous I can destroy the righteous and yet make death an advantage to them which way soever I take I can do nothing unjustly But yet though God do not binde himselfe to spare the wicked for the righteons yet he descends to do so at Abrahams request The jaw-bone of an Asse in the hand of Samson Tainen id facit was a devouring sword The words of man in the mouth of a faithfull man of Abraham are a Canon against God himselfe and batter down all his severe and heavy purposes for Judgements Yet this comes not God knows out of the weight or force of our words but out of the easinesse of God God puts himselfe into the way of a shot he meets a weak prayer and is graciously pleased to be wounded by that God sets up a light that we direct the shot upon him he enlightens us with a knowledge how and when and what to pray for yea God charges and discharges the Canon himself upon himselfe He fils us with good and religious thoughts and appoints and leaves the Holy Ghost to discharge them upon him in prayer for it is the Holy Ghost himselfe that prayes in us Mauz zim whch is The God of forces is not the name of our God Dan. 11.38 but of an Idoll Our God is the God of peace and of sweetnesse spirituall peace spirituall honey to our souls His name is Deus optimus maximus He is both He is All Greatnesse but he is All Goodnesse first He comes to shew his Greatnesse at last but yet his Goodnesse begins his Name and can never be worne out in his Nature He made the whole world in six dayes but he was seaven in destroying one City Jericho God threatens Adam If thou eate that fruit in that day Morte morieris Thou shalt dye the death Here is a double Death interminated in one Day Now one of these Deaths is spirituall Death and Adam never dyed that Death And for the other Death the bodily Death which might have been executed that day Adam was reprieved above nine hundred yeares To lead all to our present purpose Gods descending to Abrahams petition to spare the wicked for a few just is first and principally to advance his mercy That sometimes in abundant mercy he does
so but it is also to declare that there is none just and righteous Jerem. 5.1 Run to and fro through the streets of Ierusalem sayes God in the Prophet and seeke in the broad places If yee can finde a man if there be any that executeth Iudgement that seeketh Truth and I will pardon it Where God does not intimate that he were unjust if he did not spare those that were unjust but he declares the generall flood and inundation of unrighteousnesse upon Earth That upon Earth there is not a righteous man to be found If God had gone no farther in his promise to man then that if there were one righteous man he would save all this in effect had been nothing for there was never any man righteous in that sense and acceptation He promised and sent one who was absolutely righteous and for his sake hath saved us To collect all Conclusio and bind up all in one bundle and bring it home to your own bosomes remember That though he appeared in men it was God that appeared to Abraham Though men preach though men remit sins though men absolve God himself speakes and God works and God seales in those men Remember that nothing appeared to Abrahams apprehension but men yet Angels were in his presence Though we binde you not to a necessity of beleeving that every man hath a particular Angel to assist him enjoy your Christian liberty in that and think in that point so as you shall find your devotion most exalted by thinking that it is or is not so yet know that you do all that you doe in the presence of Gods Angels And though it be in it selfe and should be so to us a stronger bridle to consider that we doe all in the presence of God who sees clearer then they for he sees secret thoughts and can strike immediately which they cannot do without commission from him yet since the presence of a Magistrate or a Preacher or a father or a husband keeps men often from ill actions let this prevaile something with thee to that purpose That the Angels of God are alwayes present though thou discerne them not Remember that though Christ himself were not amongst the three Angels yet Abraham apprehended a greater dignity and gave a greater respect to one then to the rest but yet without neglecting the rest too Apply thy selfe to such Ministers of God and such Physitians of thy soule as thine owne conscience tels thee doe most good upon thee but yet let no particular affection to one defraud another in his duties nor empaire another in his estimation And remember too That though Gods appearing thus in three persons be no irrefragable argument to prove the Trinity against the Jews yet it is a convenient illustration of the Trinity to thee that art a Christian And therefore be not too curious in searching reasons and demonstrations of the Trinity but yet accustome thy selfe to meditations upon the Trinity in all occasions and finde impressions of the Trinity in the three faculties of thine owne soule Thy Reason thy Will and thy Memory and seeke a reparation of that thy Trinity by a new Trinity by faith in Christ Jesus by hope of him and by a charitable delivering him to others in a holy and exemplar life Descend thou into thy selfe as Abraham ascended to God and admit thine owne expostulations as God did his Let thine own conscience tell thee not onely thy open and evident rebellions against God but even the immoralities and incivilities that thou dost towards men in scandalizing them by thy sins And the absurdities that thou committest against thy selfe in sinning against thine owne reason And the uncleannesses and consequently the treachery that thou committest against thine owne body and thou shalt see that thou hadst been not onely in better peace but in better state and better health and in better reputation a better friend and better company if thou hadst finned lesse because some of thy sins have been such as have violated the band of friendship and some such as have made thy company and conversation dangerous either for tentation or at least for defamation Tell thy selfe that thou art the Judge as Abraham told God that he was and that if thou wilt judge thy selfe thou shalt scape a severer judgement He told God that he was Judge of all the earth Judge all that earth that thou art Judge both thy kingdomes thy soule and thy body Judge all the Provinces of both kingdomes all the senses of thy body and all the faculties of thy soule and thou shalt leave nothing for the last Judgement Mingle not the just and the unjust together God did not so Doe not thinke good and bad all one Doe not think alike of thy sins and of thy good deeds as though when Gods grace had quickned them still thy good works were nothing thy prayers nothing thine almes nothing in the sight and acceptation of God But yet spare not the wicked for the just continue not in thy beloved sin because thou makest God amends some other way And when all is done as in God towards Abraham his mercy was above all so after all Miserere animae tuae Be inercifull to thine owne soule And when the effectuall Spirit of God hath spoken peace and comfort and sealed a reconciliation to God to thy soule rest in that blessed peace and enter into no such new judgement with thy selfe againe as should overcome thine own Mercy with new distractions or new suspitions that thy Repentance was not accepted or God not fully reconciled unto thee God because he judges all the earth cannot doe wrong If thou judge thy earth and earthly affections so as that thou examine clearly and judge truly thou dost not doe right if thou extend not Mercy to thy selfe if thou receive not and apply not cheerfully and confidently to thy soul that pardon and remission of all thy sins which the holy Ghost in that blessed state hath given thee commission to pronounce to thine owne soul and to seale with his seale SERM. XLIII Preached at S. Dunstans upon Trinity-Sunday 1624. MAT. 3.17 And lo A voyce came from heaven saying This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased IT hath been the custome of the Christian Church to appropriate certaine Scriptures to certaine Dayes for the celebrating of certaine Mysteries of God or the commemorating of certaine benefits from God They who consider the age of the Christian Church too high or too low too soone or too late either in the cradle as it is exhibited in the Acts of the Apostles or bed-rid in the corruptions of Rome either before it was come to any growth when Persecutions nipped it or when it was so over-growne as that prosperity and outward splendor swelled it They that consider the Church so will never finde a good measure to direct our religious worship of God by for the outward Liturgies and Ceremonies of the Church But as
the manner of the eternall generation of the Sonne or of the eternall proceeding of the Holy Ghost or the manner of the presence of Christ in the Sacrament The Ministers of God are so far open-faced towards you as that you may know them and try them by due meanes to be such and so far open-faced towards God as that they have seene in him and received from him all things necessary for the salvation of your soules But yet their faces are covered too somethings concerning God they have not seene themselves nor should goe about to reveale or teach to you And it is not onely their faces that are covered but their feet too Their covered faces are especially directed to God denoting their modesty in forbearing unrevealed mysteries Their covered feet are especially directed to you They should not be curious in searching into all Gods actions nor you in searching into all theirs Their waies their actions their lives their conversations should not be too curiously searched too narrowly pryed into too severely interpreted by private men as they are but such because in so doing the danger and the detriment is thus far likely to fall upon your selves that when the infirmities of the Minister and your infirmities that is their faults and your uncharitable censures of their faults meet together that may produce this ill effect that personall matters may be cast upon the ministeriall function and so the faults of a Minister be imputed to the Ministery and by such a prejudice and conceit of one mans ill life you may lose the taste and comfort of his and perchance of others good Doctrine too All that is covered shall be made manifest sayes Christ You shall know all their faults and you shal know them then when it shall most confound them and least indanger you when it shall aggravate their torment and do you no harme that is at the day of Judgement In the meane time because it might hurt you to know their faults God hath covered their feet so far as that he would not have your looking upon their feet divert you from depending upon their mouths as long as by his permission they sit in Moses chaire and execute Gods Commission If they imploy their middle wings which were ordained for them to flie withall if they do their duties in breaking the bread of life and dispensing the Word and Sacraments and assisting the sicke in body and sicke in soule though God have in part covered their faces that is not imparted to them such gifts or such an open sight into deep points as perchance you desire yet he hath covered their feet too he hath for your sakes removed their faults from your survey as you are but private men Take the benefit of their two middle wings their willingnesse to assist you with their labours and in their other foure wings be not too curious too censorious too severe either their face-wings that is the depth of their learning or their feet-wings that is the holinesse of their lives They have six wings to these severall purposes Singuli senas and singuli senas sayes our Text every one of them hath six wings For for the first couple the face-wings howsoever some of the Ministers of God have gifts above their fellowes howsoever they have gained the names of Doctores Seraphici and Doctores illuminati with which titles they abound in the Roman Church yet their faces are in part covered they must not think they see all understand all The learnedst of all hath defects even in matter of learning And for the second couple the feet-wings howsoever some may make shift for the reputation of being more pure more sanctified then their fellowes yet the best of them all need a covering for their feet too All their steps all their actions will not endure examination But for the last couple however there may be some intimation given of a great degree of perfection in matter of knowledge and in matter of manners for in those creatures which are mentioned in the first of Ezek. which also signifie the Ministers of God there are but foure wings spoken of so that there are no face-wings they have an abundant measure of learning and knowledge And the Cherubim which may also signifie the same persons have but two wings no covering upon face or feet to denote that some may be without any remarkable exception in their doctrine and in their manners too yet for the last couple the two middle wings by which they fly and addresse themselves to every particular soule that needs their spirituall assistance the Ministers of God are never in any figure but represented Better they wanted face-wings and feet-wings discretion to cover either their insufficiency in knowledge or their infirmity in manners then that they should want their middle-wings that is a disposition to apply themselves to their flock and to be alwayes ready to distribute the promises of God and the seals of his promises the Word and Sacraments amongst them And this may be conveniently intended in their wings Now as they were Alati Oculi they were Oculati in our Text They have eyes as well as wings They fly but they know whither they fly In the doctrine of Implicite Obedience in the Roman Church To beleeve as the Church beleeves or as that Confessor which understands not what the Church beleeves makes you beleeve the Church beleeves In their doctrine of that which they call Blind Obedience that is to pursue and execute any commandement of any superiour without any consideration In both these there are wings enow but there are no eyes They fly from hence to Rome and Roman Jurisdictions and they fly over hither againe after Statutes after Proclamations after Banishments iterated upon them So that here are wings enow but they lack those eyes by which they should discerne betweene Religion and Rebellion betweene a Traytor and a Martyr And to take our consideration from them and reflect upon our selves They that fly high at matter of mysterie and leave out matter of edification They that fly over Sea for plat-formes of discipline and leave out that Church that bred them They that fly close to the service of great mens affections and purposes and doe the work of God coldly and faintly They may be Alati but they are not Oculati They may fly high and fly fast and fly far and fly close in the wayes of preferment but they see not their end Not onely not the end that they shall come to but not the end that they are put upon not onely not their owne ends but not their ends whose instruments they are Those birds whose eyes are cieled and sowed up fly highest but they are made a prey God exposes not his servants to such dangers He gives them wings that is meanes to doe their office but eyes too that is discretion and religious wisdome how to doe it And this is that which they seeme
to need most Pleni for their wings are limited but their eyes are not Six wings but full of eies sayes our Text. They must have eyes in their tongues They must see that they apply not blindly and inconsiderately Gods gracious promises to the presumptuous nor his heavy judgements to the broken hearted They must have eyes in their eares They must see that they harken neither to a superstitious sense from Rome nor to a seditious sense of Scriptures from the Separation They must have eyes in their hands They must see that they touch not upon any such benefits or rewards as might bind them to any other master then to God himselfe They must have eyes in their eyes spirituall eyes in their bodily eyes They must see that they make a charitable construction of such things as they see other men do and this is that fulnesse of eyes which our Text speaks of But then especially Intus sayes our Text They were full of eyes Within The fulnesse the abundance of eyes that is of providence and discretion in the Ministers of God was intimated before In the 6. verse it was said That they were full of eyes before and behind that is circumspect and provident for all that were about them and committed to them But all is determined and summed up in this that They were full of eyes within For as there is no profit at all none to me none to God if I get all the world and lose mine own soul so there is no profit to me if I win other mens soules to God and lose mine owne All my wings shall doe me no good all mine eyes before and behind shall doe me no good if I have no prospect inward no eyes within no care of my particular and personall safety And so we have done with our first generall part the Persons denoted in these foure creatures and the duties of their ministery in which we have therefore insisted thus long that having so declared and notified to you our duties you also might be the more willing to heare of your owne duties as well as ours and to joyne with us in this Open and Incessant and Totall profession of your Religion which is the celebration of the Trinity in this acclamation Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which is which was and which is to come To come therefore now to the second Part 2 Part. and taking the foure Euangelists to be principally intended here but secundarily the Preachers of the Gospel too and not onely they but in a faire extension and accommodation the whole Church of God first we noted their Ingenuitie and opennesse in the profession of their Religion they did it Dicentes Saying declaring publishing manifesting their devotion without any disguise any modification In that song of the three Children in the Fornace Dicentes O all ye works of the Lord c. there is nothing presented speechlesse To every thing that is there there is given a tongue Not onely all those creatures which have all a Beeing but even Privations Privations that have no Beeing that are nothing in themselves as the Night and Darknesse are there called upon to blesse the Lord to praise him and magnifie him for ever But towards the end of that song you may see that service drawne into a narrower compasse You may see to whom this speech and declaration doth principally appertaine For after he had called upon Sun and Moone and Earth and Sea and Fowles and Fishes and Plants and Night and Darknesse to praise the Lord to blesse him and magnifie him for ever Then he comes to O ye children of men Primogeniti Dei Gods beloved creatures his eldest sons and first-borne in his intention And then Domus Israel O ye house of Israel you whom God hath not onely made men but Christian men not onely planted in the World but in the Church not onely indued with Reason but inspired with Religion And then again O ye Priests of the Lord O ye Servants of the Lord those of Gods portion not onely in the Church but of the Church and appointed by him to deale between him and other men And then also O ye spirits and soules of the righteous those whom those instruments of God had powerfully and effectually wrought upon upon those especially those men those Christian men those Priests those sanctified men upon those he calls to blesse the Lord to praise him and magnifie him for ever This obligation the holy Ghost laies upon us all that the more God does for us the more we should declare it to other men God would have us tell him our sins God would have us tell other men his mercies It was no excuse for Moses that he was of uncircumcised lips Exod. 5.12 Ier. 1.6 No excuse for Ieremy to say O Lord God behold I cannot speak for I am a child Credidi propterea locutus sum is Davids forme of argument I beleeved and therefore I spake If thou dost not love to speak of God and of his benefits thou dost not beleeve in God nor that those benefits came from him Remember that when thou wast a child and presented to God in Baptisme God gave thee a tongue in other mens mouthes and inabled thee by them to establish a covenant a contract between thy soule and him then And therefore since God spake to thee when thou couldst not heare him in the faith of the Church since God heard thee when thou couldst not speak to him in the mouth of thy sureties Since that God that created thee was Verbum The Word for Dixit facta sunt God spake and all things were made Since that God that redeemed thee was Verbum The Word for The Word was made flesh Since that God that sanctified thee is Verbum The Word for therefore S. Basil calls the holy Ghost Verbum Dei quia interpres Filii He calls the holy Ghost the Word of God because as the Son is the Word because he manifests the Father unto us so the holy Ghost is the Word because he manifests the Son unto us and enables us to apprehend and apply to our selves the promises of God in him since God in all the three Persons is Verbum The Word to thee all of them working upon thee by speaking to thee Be thou Verbum too A Word as God was A Speaking and a Doing Word to his glory and the edification of others If the Lord open thy lips and except the Lord open them it were better they were luted with the clay of the grave let it be to shew forth his praise and not in blasphemous not in scurrile not in prophane language If the Lord open thy hand and if the Lord open it not better it were manacled with thy winding sheet let it be as well to distribute his blessings as to receive them Let thy mouth let thy hand let all the Organs of thy body all the faculties of thy soule concurre
comes Job 1.6 that the Sonnes of God present themselves before the Lord Satan comes also among them Not onely so as S. Augustin confesses he met him at Church to carry wanton glances between men and women but he is here sometimes to work a mis-interpretation in the hearer sometimes to work an affectation in the speaker and many times doth more harme by a good Sermon then by a weake by possessing the hearers with an admiration of the Preachers gifts and neglecting Gods Ordinance And then it is not onely their naturall power as they are Angels nor their united power as they are many nor their politique power that in the midst of that confusion which is amongst them yet they agree together to ruine us but as it follows in our text it is potestas data a particular power which besides their naturall power God at this time put into their hands He cryed to the foure Angels to whom power was given to hurt All other Angels had it not nor had these foure that power at all times which in our distribution at first we made a particular Consideration It was potestas data a speciall Commission that laid Iob open to Satans malice Potestas data It was potestas data a speciall Commission that laid the herd of swine open to the Devils tranportation Much more no doubt Mat. 8.32 have the particular Saints of God in the assistances of the Christian Church for Iob had not that assistance being not within the Covenant and most of all hath the Church of God her selfe an ability in some measure to defend it selfe against many machinations and practises of the Devill if it were not for this Potestas data That God for his farther glory in the tryall of his Saints and his Church doth enable the Devill to raise whole armies of persecutors whole swarmes of heretiques to sting and wound the Church beyond that ordinary power which the Devill in nature hath That place Curse not the King no not in thought Eccles 10.20 for that which hath wings shall tell the matter is ordinarily understood of Angels that Angels shall reveale disloyall thoughts now naturally Angels do not understand thoughts but in such cases there is Potestas data a particular power given them to do it and so to evill Angels for the accomplishment of Gods purposes there is Potestas data a new power given a new Commission that is beyond permission for though by Gods permission mine eye see and mine eare heare yet my hand could not see nor heare by Gods permission for permission is but the leaving of a thing to the doing of that which by nature if there be no hindrance interposed it could and would do This comfort then and this hope of deliverance hast thou here that this Angel in our text that is the Ministery of the Gospel tels thee that that rage which the Devill uses against thee now is but Potestas data a temporary power given him for the present for if thy afflictions were altogether from the naturall malice and power of the Devill inherent in him that malice would never end nor thy affliction neither if God should leave all to him And therefore though those our afflictions be heavier which proceed ex potestate data when God exalts that power of the Devill which naturally he hath with new Commissions besides his Permission to use his naturall strength and naturall malice yet our deliverance is the nearer too because all these accessory and occasionall Commissions are for particular ends and are limited how far they shall extend how long they shall endure Here the potestas data the power which was given to these Angels was large it was generall for as it is in the former verse it was a power to hold the foure winds of the earth that the winde should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree What this withholding of the winde signifies and the damnification of that is our next Consideration By the Land Venti is commonly understood all the Inhabitants of the Land by the Sea Ilanders and Sea-faring men halfe inhabitants of the Sea and by the Trees all those whom Persecution had driven away and planted in the wildernesse The hinderance of the use of the wind being taken by our Expositors to be a generall impediment of the increase of the earth and of commerce at Sea But this Book of the Revelation must not be so literally understood as that the Winds here should signifie meerly naturall winds there is more in this then so Thus much more That this withholding of the winds is a withholding of the preaching and passage of the Gospel which is the heaviest misery that can fall upon a Nation or upon a man because thereby by the misery of not hearing he loses all light and meanes of discerning his owne misery Now as all the parts and the style and phrase of this Book is figurative and Metaphoricall so is it no unusuall Metaphor even in other Bookes of the Scripture too to call the Ministers and Preachers of Gods Word Cant. 4.16 by the name of winds Arise O North and come O South and blow on my Garden that the spices thereof may flow out hath alwayes been understood to be an invitation a compellation from Christ to his Ministers to dispense and convey salvation Psal 135.7 by his Gospel to all Nations And upon those words Producit ventos He bringeth winds out of his treasuries and Educit nubes He bringeth clouds from the ends of the earth Puto Praedicatores nubes ventos August sayes S. Augustine I think that the holy Ghost means both by his clouds and by his winds the Preachers of his Word the Ministers of the Gospel Nubes propter carnem ventos propter spiritum Clouds because their bodies are seen winds because their working is felt Nubes cernuntur venti sentiuntur as clouds they embrace the whole visible Church and are visible to it as winds they pierce into the invisible Church the soules of the true Saints of God and work though invisibly upon them Psal 18.10 So also those words God rode upon a Cherub and did fly He did fly upon the wings of the wind have been well interpreted of Gods being pleased to be carryed from Nation to Nation by the service of his Ministers Now this is the nature of this wind of the Spirit of God breathing in his Ministers Spirat ubi vult John 3.8 that it blowes where it lists and this is the malice of these evill Angels that it shall not doe so But this Angel which hath the seale of the living God that is the Ministery of the Gospel established by him shall keep the winds at their liberty And howsoever waking dreamers think of alterations and tolerations howsoever men that disguise their expectations with an outward conformity to us may think the time of declaring themselves growes on
any subject a falling for for our bodies we say a man is falne sick And for his state falne poore And for his mind falne mad And for his conscience falne desperate we are borne low and yet we fall every way lower so universall is our falling sicknesse Sin it selfe is but a falling The irremediable sin of the Angels The undeterminable sinne of Adam is called but so The fall of Adam The fall of Angels And therefore the effectuall visitation of the holy Ghost to man is called a falling too we are fallen so low as that when the holy Ghost is pleased to fetch us againe and to infuse his grace he is still said to fall upon us But the fall which we consider in the Text is not a figurative falling not into a decay of estate nor decay of health nor a spirituall falling into sin a decay of grace but it is a medicinall falling a falling under Gods hand but such a falling under his hand as that he takes not off his hand from him that is falne but throwes him downe therefore that he may raise him To this posture he brings Paul now when he was to re-inanimate him with his spirit rather to pre-inanimate him for indeed no man hath a soule till he have grace Christ who in his humane nature hath received from the Father all Judgement and power and dominion over this world hath received all this upon that condition that he shall governe in this manner Psal 2.8 Aske of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance sayes the Father How is he to use them when he hath them Thus Thou shalt breake them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potters vessell Now God meant well to the Nations in this bruising and breaking of them God intended not an annihilation of the Nations but a reformarion for Christ askes the Nations for an Inheritance not for a triumph therefore it is intended of his way of governing them and his way is to bruise and beat them that is first to cast them downe before he can raise them up first to breake them before he can make them in his fashion August Novit Dominus vulnerare ad amorem The Lord and onely the Lord knowes how to wound us out of love more then that how to wound us into love more then all that to wound us into love not onely with him that wounds us but into love with the wound it selfe with the very affliction that he inflicts upon us The Lord knowes how to strike us so as that we shall lay hold upon that hand that strikes us and kisse that hand that wounds us Ad vitam interficit ad exaltationem prosternit sayes the same Father No man kills his enemy therefore that his enemy might have a better life in heaven that is not his end in killing him It is Gods end Therefore he brings us to death that by that gate he might lead us into life everlasting And he hath not discovered but made that Northerne passage to passe by the frozen Sea of calamity and tribulation to Paradise to the heavenly Jerusalem There are fruits that ripen not but by frost There are natures there are scarce any other that dispose not themselves to God but by affliction And as Nature lookes for the season for ripening and does not all before so Grace lookes for the assent of the soule and does not perfect the whole worke till that come It is Nature that brings the season and it is Grace that brings the assent but till the season for the fruit till the assent of the soule come all is not done Therefore God begun in this way with Saul and in this way he led him all his life Tot pertulit mortes quot vixit dies He dyed as many deaths as he lived dayes Chrysost for so himselfe sayes Quotidie morior I die daily God gave him sucke in blood and his owne blood was his daily drink He catechized him with calamities at first and calamities were his daily Sermons and meditations after and to authorize the hands of others upon him and to accustome him to submit himself to the hands of others without murmuring Christ himself strikes the first blow and with that Cecidit he fell which was our first consideration in his humiliation and then Cecidit in terram He fell to the ground which is our next I take no farther occasion from this Circumstance but to arme you with consolation In terram how low soever God be pleased to cast you Though it be to the earth yet he does not so much cast you downe in doing that as bring you home Death is not a banishing of you out of this world but it is a visitation of your kindred that lie in the earth neither are any nearer of kin to you then the earth it selfe and the wormes of the earth You heap earth upon your soules and encumber them with more and more flesh by a superfluous and luxuriant diet You adde earth to earth in new purchases and measure not by Acres but by Manors nor by Manors but by Shires And there is a little Quillet a little Close worth all these A quiet Grave And therefore when thou readest That God makes thy bed in thy sicknesse rejoyce in this not onely that he makes that bed where thou dost lie but that bed where thou shalt lie That that God that made the whole earth is now making thy bed in the earth a quiet grave where thou shalt sleep in peace till the Angels Trumpet wake thee at the Resurrection to that Judgement where thy peace shall be made before thou commest and writ and sealed in the blood of the Lamb. Saul falls to the earth So farre But he falls no lower God brings his servants to a great lownesse here but he brings upon no man a perverse sense or a distrustfull suspition of falling lower hereafter His hand strikes us to the earth by way of humiliation But it is not his hand that strikes us into hell by way of desperation Will you tell me that you have observed and studied Gods way upon you all your life and out of that can conclude what God meanes to doe with you after this life That God took away your Parents in your infancy and left you Orphanes then That he hath crossed you in all your labours in your calling ever since That he hath opened you to dishonours and calumnies and mis-interpretations in things well intended by you That he hath multiplied ficknesses upon you and given you thereby an assurance of a miserable and a short life of few and evill dayes nay That he hath suffered you to fall into sins that you your selves have hated To continue in sins that you your selves have been weary of To relapse into sins that you your selves have repented And will you conclude out of this that God had no good purpose upon you that if ever
shall look first how S. Paul contracted this knowledge how he knew it And secondly that the knowledge of it did not disquiet him not disorder him he takes knowledge of it with a confidence and a cheerfulnesse When he sayes I know it he seemes to say I am glad of it or at least not troubled with it And lastly that S. Paul continues here that way and method which he alwayes uses That is to proceed by the understanding to the affections and so to the conscience of those that hear him by such means of perswasion as are most appliable to them to whom he then speaks And therefore knowing the power and efficacy of a dying a departing mans words he makes that impression in them Observe recollect remember practise that which I have delivered unto you for I know that all yee shall see my face no more And so we shall bring up that circle which was begun in heaven in our last exercise upon this occasion in this place when Christ said from thence Saul Saul why persecutest thou me up into heaven againe in that Euge bone serve which Christ hath said since unto him Well done good and faithfull servant enter into thy Masters joy And our Apostle whom in our former Exercise for example of our humiliation we found faln to the Earth in this to the assistance of our Exaltation in his we shall find and leave upon the last step of Iacobs ladder that is entring into Heaven by the gate of death First then in our first Part our first Branch is 1 Part. That there is a Transivi as acceptable to God as a Requievi That God was served in S. Paul by applying his labours to many places as well as if he had resided and bestowed himselfe intirely upon any one When Christ manifested himselfe at first unto him trembling and astonished he said Act. 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have me to doe And when Christ had told him That in Damascus from Ananias he should receive his Instructions which were Ver. 15. That he should beare his name before the Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel After this commission was exhibited by Ananias and accepted by S. Paul that Propheticall Scripture laid hold upon him by way of acclamation Psal 19.6 Exultavit ut gigas ad currendam viam He rejoyced as a strong man to run a race 1 Cor. 15.10 Rom. 15.19 He laboured more abundantly then they all He carried the Gospel from Ierusalem to Illyricum That is as S. Hierome survayes it à mari rubro ad oceanum from the Red Sea a Sea within land to the Ocean without from all within to all without the Covenant Gentiles as well as Jews Deficiente eum prius terra quà m studio praedicandi He found an end of the world but he found no end of his zeale but preached as long as he found any to preach to And as he exceeded in Action so did he in Passion too He joynes both together 2 Cor. 11.23 In labours more abundant There was his continuall preaching In stripes above measure And then In prisons more frequent In deaths often Who dyes more then once Yet he dyes often How often Death that is every other mans everlasting fast and fils him his mouth with earth was S. Pauls Panis quotidianus His daily bread I protest sayes he by your rejoycing which I have in Christ I die daily Though therefore we cannot give S. Paul a greater name then an Apostle except there be some extraordinary height of Apostleship enwrapped in that which he sayes of himselfe Gal. 1.1 Paul an Apostle not of men neither by men but by Iesus Christ That in that place he glory in a holy exultation that he was made an Apostle by Jesus Christ then when Jesus Christ was nothing but Jesus Christ then when he was glorified in heaven and not a mortall man upon earth as he was when he made his other Apostles And that in his being an Apostle there entred no such act of men as did in the election of Matthias to that office though Matthias were made after the Ascension as well as he in whose election those men presented God two names and God directed that lot upon him and so Matthias was reckoned amongst the eleven Apostles Though we need not procure to him Acts 1. ult nor imagine for him any other name then an Apostle yet S. Paul was otherwise an universall soule to the whole Church then many of the other Apostles were and had a larger liberty to communicate himselfe to all places then any of them had That is it which S. Chrysostome intends when he extends S. Pauls dignity Angelis diversae Gentes commissae To particular Angels particular Nations are committed sed nullus Angelorum sayes that Father No Angel governed his particular Nation better then S. Paul did the whole Church S. Chrysostome carryes it so high Isidore modifies it thus He brings it from the Angels of heaven to the Angels of the Church Indeed the Archangels of the Church the Apostles themselves And he sayes Apostolorum quisque regionem nactus unicam Every Apostle was designed to some particular and certaine compasse and did but that in that which S. Paul did in the whole world But S. Chrysostome and Isidore both take their ground for that which they say from that which S. Paul sayes of himselfe Besides these things which are without 2 Cor. 11.28 that which commeth upon me daily The care of all the Churches for sayes he who is weak and I am not weak That is who lacks any thing but I am ready to doe it for him who suffers any thing but I have compassion for him We receive by faire Tradition and we entertaine with a faire credulity the other Apostles to have been Bishops and thereby to have had a more certaine center to which naturally that is by the nature of their office they were to encline Not that nothing may excuse a Bishops absence from his Sea for naturall things even naturally doe depart from those places to which they are naturally designed and naturally affected for the conservation of the whole frame and course of nature for in such cases water will ascend and ayre will descend which motion is done naturally though it be a motion from that place to which they are naturally affected And so may Bishops from their particular Churches Cyprian for Episcopus in Ecclesia Ecclesia in Episcopo Every Bishop hath a superintendency and a residence in the whole Church and the whole Church a residence and a confidence in him Therefore it is that in some Decretall and some Synodall Letters Bishops are called Monarchae Monarchs not onely with relation to one Diocesse but to the whole Church not onely Regall but Imperiall Monarchs The Church of Rome makes Bishops every day of Diocesses to which they know those Bishops can never come Not onely in the Dominions of Princes
ends but since we see no such ends nor use of this we are at our liberty to doubt of the thing it selfe God told Simeon that he should not die till he had seen Christ but he did not tell him that he should die as soone as he had seen him But so much as was told him was enough to make him content to die when he had seen him and to come to his Nunc dimittis to that chearfulnesse as to sing his owne Requiem God accustomed S. Paul no doubt to such notifications from him and such apprehensions in himselfe of death as because it was not new it could not be terrible When S. Paul was able to make that protestation I protest by your rejoycing which I have in Christ Iesus our Lord I die dayly 1 Cor. 15.31 2 Cor. 11.23 And againe I am in prisons oft and often in deaths I die often No Executioner could have told him you must die to morrow but he could have said Alas I died yesterday and yesterday was twelve-month and seaven yeare and every yeare and month and weeke and day and houre before that There is nothing so neare Immortality as to die daily for not to feele death is Immortality and onely hee shall never feele death that is exercised in the continuall Meditation thereof Continuall Mortification is Immortality As Cordials lose their vertue and become no Cordials if they be taken every day so poysons do their venome too If a man use himselfe to them in small proportions at first he may grow to take any quantity He that takes a dram of Death to day may take an ounce to morrow and a pound after He that begins with that mortification of denying himselfe his delights which is a dram of Death shall be able to suffer the tribulations of this world which is a greater measure of death and then Death it selfe not onely patiently but cheerefully And to such a man death is not a dissolution but a redintegration not a divorce of body and soule but a sending of both divers wayes the soule upward to Heaven the body downeward to the earth to an indissoluble marriage to him who for the salvation of both assumed both our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus Psal 2.17 Therefore does S. Paul say of himselfe If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith I joy and rejoyce with you all that is It is a just occasion of our common joy on your part and on mine too And therefore does S. Augustine say in his behalfe whatsoever can be threatned him Si potest vivere tolerabile est Whatsoever does not take away life may be endured for if it could not be endured it would take away life and Si non potest vivere sayes he If it doe take away life what shall he feele when hee is dead He adds the reason of all Opus cum fine merces sine fine Death hath an end but their reward that dye for Christ and their peace that dye in Christ hath no end Therefore was not S. Paul afraid of melancholique apprehensions by drawing his death into contemplation and into discourse he was not afraid to thinke nor to talke of his death But then S. Paul had another end in doing so here which is our last consideration To make the deeper impression in them to whom he preached then by telling them that he knew they should see his face no more This that S. Paul sayes Moriturus he sayes to the Ephesians but not at Ephesus He was departed from thence the yeare before for upon the newes that Claudius the Emperour who persecuted the Christians was dead he purposed to goe by Jerusalem to Rome In that peregrination and visitation of his his way fell out after to be by Miletus a place not far from Ephesus Ver. 22. He was bound in the Spirit as he sayes here to go to Ierusalem and therefore he could not visit them at Ephesus A man may have such obligations even for the service of God upon him as that it shall not be in his power to doe that service which he may owe and desire to pay in some particular Church It was in part S. Pauls case Vers 17. But yet he did what he could from Miletus he sent to Ephesus to call the Elders of that Church thither And then he preached this short but powerfull Sermon And as his manner ever was though still without prevaricating or forbearing to denounce the judgements of God upon them in cases necessary to make those whom he preached or writ to as benevolent and well-affected to him as he could for he was Omnia omnibus Made all things to all men to which purpose it is that he speakes and poures out himselfe Gal 4.14 with such a loving thankfulnesse to the Galatians Ye received me as an Angel of God even as Christ Iesus himselfe pursuing I say this manner of a mutuall endearing and a reciprocall embowelling of himselfe in the Congregation and the Congregation in him as certainely if we consider all unions the naturall union of Parents and children the matrimoniall union of Husband and Wife no union is so spirituall nor so neare to that by which we are made Idem spiritus cum Domino The same Spirit with the Lord as when a good Pastor and a good flock meete and are united in holy affections to one another to unite himselfe to his Ephesians inseparably even after his separation to be still present with them in his everlasting absence and to live with them even after death to make the deeper impressions of all his past and present instructions he speaks to them as a dying man I know you shall see my face no more Why did he so S. Paul did not dye in eleven yeares after this But he dyed to them for bodily presence now They were to see him no more As the day of my death is the day of Judgement to me so this day of his departing was the day of his death to them And for himselfe from this time when he gave this judgement of death upon himselfe all the rest of his life was but a leading far off to the place of execution For first very soone after this Agabus gave him notice of manifold afflictions in that Girdle which we spake of before There he was bound and emprisoned at Jerusalem from thence sent bound to Caesarea practised upon to be killed by the way forced to appeale to Caesar upon that Appeale sent prisoner to Rome ship-wracked upon the way at Malta Emprisoned under guard though not close prisoner two yeares after his comming thither and though dismissed and so enabled to visit some Churches yet laid hold upon againe by Nero and executed So that as it was literally true that the Ephesians never saw his face after this valediction so he may be said to have dyed then in such a sense as himselfe sayes to the Corinthians 1 Cor.
are vanity that is sure enough Psal 62.5 there is little doubt of that men of low degree can profit us nothing they cannot pretend or promise to doe us good But then sayes David there Men of high degree are a lye They pretend a power and a purpose to do us good and then disappoint us Many times men cannot many times men will not neither can we finde in any but God himselfe a constant power and a constant will upon which we may relie The men of Malta of what ranke soever they were did all men low and high will change their minds Neither have these men of Malta consider them in what quality you will so much honour afforded them in the Originall as our translation hath given them We say they changed their minds the Original says only this they changed and no more Alas they we men of this world wormes of this dunghil whether Basilisks or blind wormes whether Scarabs or Silkworms whether high or low in the world have no minds to change The Platonique Philosophers did not only acknowledge Animā in homine a soule in man but Mentem in anima a minde in the soul of man They meant by the minde the superiour faculties of the soule and we never come to exercise them Men and women call one another inconstant and accuse one another of having changed their minds when God knowes they have but changed the object of their eye and seene a better white or red An old man loves not the same sports that he did when he was young nor a sicke man the same meats that hee did when hee was well But these men have not changed their mindes The old man hath changed his fancy and the sick man his taste neither his minde The Mind implies consideration deliberation conclusion upon premisses and wee never come to that wee never put the soule home wee never bend the soule up to her height we never put her to a tryall what she is able to doe towards discerning a tentation what towards resisting a tentation what towards repenting a tentation we never put her to tryall what she is able to doe by her naturall faculties whether by them shee cannot be as good as a Plato or a Socrates who had no more but those naturall faculties what by vertue of Gods generall grace which is that providence in which he inwraps all his creatures whether by that she cannot know her God as well as the Oxe knowes his Crib and the Stork her nest what by vertue of those particular graces which God offers her in his private inspirations at home and in his publique Ordinances here whether by those she cannot be as good an houre hence as she is now and as good a day after as that day that she receives the Sacrament we never put the soule home we never bend the soule up to her height and the extent of the soule is this mind When David speaks of the people he sayes They imagine a vaine thing It goes no farther Psal 2.2 then to the fancy to the imagination it never comes so neare the minde as Consideration Reflection Examination they onely imagine fancy a vain thing which is but a waking dreame for the fancy is the seat the scene the theatre of dreames When David speaks there of greater persons he carries it farther then so but yet not to the minde The Rulers take counsell sayes David but not of the minde not of rectified and religious reason but They take counsell together sayes he that is of one another They sit still and harken what the rest will doe and they will doe accordingly Now this is but a Herding it is not an Union This is for the most part a following of affections and passions which are the inferiour servants of the soule and not of that which we understand here by the Minde The deliberate resolutions and executions of the superiour faculties thereof They changed sayes our Text not their mindes there is no evidence no apparance that they exercised any that they had any but they changed their passions Nay they have not so much honour as that afforded them in the Originall for it is not They changed but They were changed passively Men subject to the transportation of passion doe nothing of themselves but are meerely passive And being possest with a spirit of feare or a spirit of ambition as those spirits move them in a minute their yea is nay their smile is a frowne their light is darknesse their good is evill their Murderer is a God These men of Malta changed not their mindes but their passions and so did not change advisedly but passionately were changed and in that distemper they said He is a God In this hasty acclamation of theirs Deus He is a God we are come to that which was our principall intention in this part That as man hath in him a naturall Logique but that strayes into Fallacies in uncharitable judgements so man hath in him a naturall Religion but that strayes into idolatry and superstition The men of Malta were but meere naturall men and yet were so far from denying God as that they multiplied Gods to themselves The soule of man brings with it into the body a sense and an acknowledgment of God neither can all the abuses that the body puts upon the soule whilest they dwell together which are infinite devest that acknowledgement or extinguish that sense of God in the soule And therefore by what severall names soever the old heathen Philosophers called their gods still they meant all the same God Chrysippus presented God to the world in the notion and apprehension of Divina Necessitas That a certaine divine necessitie which lay upon every thing that every thing must necessarily be thus and thus done that that Necessity was God and this others have called by another name Destiny Zeno presented God to the world in the notion and apprehension of Divina lex That it was not a constraint a necessity but a Divine law an ordinance and settled course for the administration of all things And this law was Zenoes God and this others have called by another name Nature The Brachmans which are the Priests in the East they present God in the notion and apprehension of Divina lux That light is God in which they expresse themselves not to meane the fire which some naturall men worshipped for God nor the Sunne which was worshipped by more but by their light they meane that light by which man is enabled to see into the next world and this we may well call by a better Name for it is Grace But still Chrysippus by his Divine Necessity which is Destiny and Zeno by his Divine law which is Nature and the Brachmans by their Divine light which is Grace though they make the operations of God God yet they all intend in those divers names the same power The naturall man knowes God But then to the naturall
holinesse of life and fast and pray and submit my selfe to discreet and medicinall mortifications for the subduing of my body any man will say this is Papisticall Papists doe this it is a blessed Protestation and no man is the lesse a Protestant nor the worse a Protestant for making it Men and brethren I am a Papist that is I will fast and pray as much as any Papist and enable my selfe for the service of my God as seriously as sedulously as laboriously as any Papist So if when I startle and am affected at a blasphemous oath as at a wound upon my Saviour if when I avoyd the conversation of those men that prophane the Lords day any other will say to me This is Puritanicall Puritans do this It is a blessed Protestation and no man is the lesse a Protestant nor the worse a Protestant for making it Men and Brethren I am a Puritan that is I wil endeavour to be pure as my Father in heaven is pure as far as any Puritan Now of these Pharisees who were by these means so popular Sadducaei the numbers were very great The Sadduces who also were of an exemplary holinesse in some things but in many and important things of different opinions even in matter of Religion from all other men were not so many in number but they were men of better quality and place in the State then for the most part the Pharisees were And as they were more potent and able to do more mischiefe so had they more declared themselves to be bent against the Apostles then the Pharisees had done In the fourth Chapter of this Booke Ver. 1. The Priests and the Sadduces no mention of Pharisees came upon Peter and Iohn being grieved that they preached thorough Iesus the resurrection of the dead And so againe Act. 5.17 The high Priest rose up and all they that were with him which is sayes that Text expresly the sect of the Sadduces and were filled with indignation And some collect out of a place in Eusebius that this Ananias who was high Priest at this time and had declared his ill affection to S. Paul as you heard before was a Sadduce But I thinke those words of Eusebius will not beare at least not enforce that nor be well applied to this Ananias Howsoever S. Paul had just cause to come to this protestation I am a Pharisee and in so doing he can be obnoxious to nothing if he be as safe in his other protestation all is well for the hope and resurrection of the dead am I called in question consider we that It is true that he was not at this time called in question Resurrectio Act. 21.23 directly and expresly for the Resurrection you may see where he was apprehended that it was for teaching against that people and against that law and against that Temple So that he was endited upon pretense of sedition and prophanation of the Temple And therefore when S. Paul sayes here I am called in question for preaching the Resurrection he means this If I had not preached the Resurrection I should never have been called in question nor should be if I would forbeare preaching the Resurrection No man persecutes me no man appeares against me but onely they that deny the Resurrection The Sadduces did deny it The Pharisees did beleeve it and therefore this was a likely and a lawfull way to divide them and to gaine time with such a purpose so far as David had when he prayed O Lord Psal 55.9 divide their tongues For it is not alwayes unlawfull to sowe discord and to kindle dissention amongst men for men may agree too well to ill purposes So have yee then seen That though it be not safe to conclude S. Paul or any holy man did this therefore I may do it which was our first part yet in this which S. Paul did here there was nothing that may not be justified in him and imitated by us which was our second part Remains onely the third which is the accommodation of this to our present times and the appropriation thereof to our selves and making it our own case The world is full of Sadduces and Pharisees and the true Church of God arraigned by both The Sadduces were the greater men the Pharisees were the greater number 3 Part. Sadducaei so they are still The Sadduces denied the Resurrection and Angels and Spirits So they do still For those Sadduces whom we consider now in this part are meere carnall men men that have not onely no Spirit of God in them but no soule no spirit of their owne meere Atheists And this Carnality this Atheisme this Sadducisme is seene in some Countries to prevaile most upon great persons the Sadduces were great persons upon persons that abound in the possessions and offices and honours of this world for they that have most of this world for the most part think least of the next These are our present Sadduces Pharisaei and then the Pharisee hath his name from Pharas which is Division Separation But Calvin derives the name not inconveniently from Pharash which is Exposition Explication We embrace both extractions and acceptations of the word both Separation and Exposition for the Pharisee whom we consider now in this part is he that is separated from us there it is Pharas separation and separated by following private Expositions there it is Pharash Exposition with a contempt of all Antiquity and not only an undervaluation but a detestation of all opinions but his owne and his whom he hath set up for his Idol And as the Sadduce our great and worldly man is all carnall all body and beleeves no spirit so our Pharisee is so superspirituall as that he beleeves that is considers no body He imagines such a Purification such an Angelification such a Deification in this life as though the heavenly Jerusalem were descended already or that God had given man but that one commandement Love God above all and not a second too Love thy neighbour as thy selfe Our Sadduces will have all body our Pharisees all soule and God hath made us of both and given us offices proper to each Now of both these Duplex Sadducaus the present Sadduce the carnall Atheist and the present Pharisee the Separatist that overvalues himself and bids us stand farther off there are two kinds For for the Atheist there is Davids Atheist and S. Pauls Atheist Davids that ascribes all to nature Psal 14.2 and sayes in his heart There is no God That will call no sudden death nor extraordinary punishment upon any enormous sinner a judgement of God nor any such deliverance of his servants a miracle from God but all is Nature or all is Accident and would have been so though there had been no God This is Natures Sadduce Davids Atheist And then S. Pauls Atheist is he who though he doe beleeve in God yet doth not beleeve God in
Christ Ephes 2.12 for so S. Paul sayes to the Ephesians Absque Christo absque Deo If ye be without Christ ye are without God For as it is the same absurdity in nature to say There is no Sun and to say This that you call the Sun is not the Sun this that shines out upon you this that produces your fruits and distinguishes your seasons is not the Sun so is it the same Atheisme in these dayes of light to say There is no God and to say This Christ whom you call the Son of God is not God That he in whom God hath manifested himselfe He whom God hath made Head of the Church and Judge of the world is not God This then is our double Sadduce Davids Atheist that beleeves not God S. Pauls Atheist that beleeves not Christ And as our Sadduce is so is our Pharisee twofold also There is a Pharisee Duplex Pharisaeus that by following private expositions separates himselfe from our Church principally for matter of Government and Discipline and imagines a Church that shall be defective in nothing and does not onely think himself to be of that Church but sometimes to be that Church for none but himselfe is of that perswasion And there is a Pharisee that dreames of such an union such an identification with God in this life as that he understands all things not by benefit of the senses and impressions in the fancy and imagination or by discourse and ratiocination as we poore soules doe but by immediate and continuall infusions and inspirations from God himselfe That he loves God not by participation of his successive Grace more and more as he receives more and more grace but by a communication of God himselfe to him intirely and irrevocably That he shall be without any need and above all use of Scriptures and that the Scriptures shall be no more to him then a Catechisme to our greatest Doctors That all that God commands him to doe in this world is but as an easie walk downe a hill That he can doe all that easily and as much more as shall make God beholden to him and bring God into his debt and that he may assigne any man to whom God shall pay the arrerages due to him that is appoint God upon-what man he shall confer the benefit of his works of Supererogation For in such Propositions as these and in such Paradoxes as these doe the Authors in the Roman Church delight to expresse and celebrate their Pharisaicall purity as we find it frequently abundantly in them In a word some of our home-Pharisees will say That there are some who by benefit of a certaine Election cannot sin That the Adulteries and Blasphemies of the Elect are not sins But the Rome-Pharisee will say that some of them are not onely without sin in themselves but that they can save others from sin or the punishment of sin by their works of Supererogation and that they are so united so identified with God already as that they are in possession of the beatificall Vision of God and see him essentially and as he is in this life for that Ignatius the father of the Jesuits did so Sandaeus Theolog pâ—r 1. fo 760. some of his Disciples say it is at least probable if not certaine And that they have done all that they had to doe for their owne salvation long agoe and stay in the world now onely to gather treasure for others and to worke out their salvation So that these men are in better state in this life then the Saints are in heaven There the Saints may pray for others but they cannot merit for others These men here can merit for other men and work out the salvation of others Nay they may be said in some respect to exceed Christ himselfe for Christ did save no man here but by dying for him These men save other men with living well for them and working out their salvation These are our double Sadduces our double Pharisees now beloved Dissentio if we would goe so far in S. Pauls way as to set this two-fold Sadduce Davids Atheist without God and S. Pauls Atheist without Christ against our twofold Pharisee our home-Catharist and our Rome-Catharist If we would spend all our wit and all our time all our Inke and our gall in shewing them the deformities and iniquities of one another by our preaching and writing against them The truth and the true Church might as S. Paul did in our Text scape the better But when we we that differ in no such points tear and wound and mangle one another with opprobrious contumelies and odious names of sub-division in Religion our Home-Pharisee and our Rome-Pharisee maligners of our Discipline and maligners of our Doctrine gaine upon ns and make their advantages of our contentions and both the Sadduces Davids Atheist that denies God and S. Pauls Atheist that denies Christ joyne in a scornfull asking us Where is now your God Are not we as well that deny him absolutely as you that professe him with wrangling But stop we the floodgates of this consideration it would melt us into teares Sadducaei Pharisaei interni End we all with this That we have all all these Sadduces and Pharisees in our owne bosomes Sadduces that deny spirits carnall apprehensions that are apt to say Is your God all Spirit and hath bodily eyes to see sin All Spirit and hath bodily hands to strike for a sinne Is your soule all spirit and hath a fleshly heart to feare All spirit and hath sensible sinews to feele a materiall fire Was your God who is all Spirit wounded when you quarrelled or did your soule which is all spirit drink when you were drunk Sins of presumption and carnall confidence are our Sadduces and then our Pharisees are our sins of separation of division of diffidence and distrust in the mercies of our God when we are apt to say after a sin Cares God who is all Spirit for my eloquent prayers or for my passionate teares Is the giving of my goods to the poore or of my body to the fire any thing to God who is all Spirit My spirit and nothing but my spirit my soule and nothing but my soule must satisfie the justice the anger of God and be separated from him for ever My Sadduce my Presumption suggests that there is no spirit no soule to suffer for sin and my Pharisee my Desperation suggests That my soule must perish irremediably irrecoverably for every sinne that my body commits Now if I go S. Pauls way to put a dissention between these my Sadduces and my Pharisees Via Pauli to put a jealousie between my presumption my desperation to make my presumption see that my desperation lies in wait for her and to consider seriously that my presumption will end in desperation I may as S. Paul did in the Text scape the better for that But if without farther
troubling these Sadduces and these Pharisees I be content to let them agree and to divide my life between them so as that my presumption shall possesse all my youth and desperation mine age I have heard my sentence already The end of this man will be worse then his beginning How much soever God be incensed with me for my presumption at first he will be much more inexorable for my desperation at last And therefore interrupt the prescription of sin break off the correspondence of sin unjoynt the dependency of sin upon sin Bring every single sin as soon as thou committest it into the presence of thy God upon those two legs Confession and Detestation and thou shalt see that as though an intire Iland stand firme in the Sea yet a single clod of earth cast into the Sea is quickly washt into nothing so howsoever thine habituall and customary and concatenated sins sin enwrapped and complicated in sin sin entrenched and barricadoed in sin sin screwed up and riveted with sin may stand out and wrastle even with the mercies of God in the blood of Christ Jesus yet if thou bring every single sin into the sight of God it will be but as a clod of earth but as a graine of dust in the Ocean Keep thy sins then from mutuall intelligence That they doe not second one another induce occasion and then support and disguise one another and then neither shall the body of sin ever oppresse thee nor the exhalations and damps and vapors of thy sad soule hang between thee and the mercies of thy God But thou shalt live in the light and serenity of a peaceable conscience here and die in a faire possibility of a present melioration and improvement of that light All thy life thou shalt be preserved in an Orientall light an Easterne light a rising and a growing light the light of grace and at thy death thou shalt be super-illustrated with a Meridionall light a South light the light of glory And be this enough for the explication and application of these words and their complication with the day for the justifying of S. Pauls Stratagem in himselfe and the exemplifying and imitation thereof in us Amen That God that is the God of peace grant us his peace and one minde towards one another That God that is the Lord of Hosts maintaine in us that warre which himself hath proclaimed an enmity between the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent between the truth of God and the inventions of men That we may fight his battels against his enemies without and fight his battels against our enemies within our own corrupt affections That we may be victorious here in our selves and over our selves and triumph with him hereafter in eternall glory SERMONS Preached upon the PENITENTIALL PSALMES SERM. L. Preached upon the Penitentiall Psalmes PSAL. 6.1 O Lord Rebuke me not in thine Anger neither chasten me in thy het Displeasure GOD imputes but one thing to David but one sin The matter of Vriah the Hittite nor that neither but by way of exception not till he had first established an assurance that David stood well with him First he had said 1 King 25.5 David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he had commanded him all the dayes of his life Here was rectitude He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord no obliquity no departing into by-wayes upon collaterall respects Here was integrity to Gods service no serving of God and Mammon Hee turned not from any thing that God commanded him And here was perpetuity perseverance constancy All the dayes of his life And then and not till then God makes that one and but that one exception Except the matter of Vriah the Hittite When God was reconciled to him he would not so much as name that sin that had offended him And herein is the mercy of God in the merits of Christ a sea of mercie that as the Sea retaines no impression of the Ships that passe in it for Navies make no path in the Sea so when we put out into the boundlesse Sea of the blood of Christ Jesus by which onely wee have reconciliation to God there remaines no record against us for God hath cancelled that record which he kept and that which Satan kept God hath nailed to the Crosse of his Son That man which hath seene me at the sealing of my Pardon and the seale of my Reconciliation at the Sacrament many times since will yet in his passion or in his ill nature or in his uncharitablenesse object to me the fins of my youth whereas God himselfe if I have repented to day knowes not the sins that I did yesterday God hath rased the Record of my sin in Heaven it offends not him it grieves not his Saints nor Angels there and he hath rased the Record in hell it advances not their interest in me there nor their triumph over me And yet here the uncharitable man will know more and see more and remember more then my God or his devill remembers or knowes or sees He will see a path in the Sea he will see my sin when it is drowned in the blood of my Saviour After the Kings pardon perchance it will beare an action to call a man by that infamous name which that crime which is pardoned did justly cast upon him before the pardon After Gods reconciliation to David he would not name Davids sin in the particular But yet for all this though God will be no example of upbraiding or reproaching repented sinnes when God hath so far exprest his love as to bring that sinner to that repentance and so to mercy yet that he may perfect his owne care he exercises that repentant sinner with such medicinall corrections as may inable him to stand upright for the future And to that purpose was no man evermore exercised then David David broke into anothers family he built upon anothers ground he planted in anothers Seminary and God broke into his family his ground his Seminary In no story can wee finde so much Domestick affliction such rapes and incests and murders and rebellions from their owne children as in Davids storie Under the heavy waight and oppression of some of those is David by all Expositors conceived to have conceived and uttered this Psalme Some take it to have beene occasioned by some of his temporall afflictions either his persecution from Saul or bodily sicknesse in himselfe of which traditionally the Rabbins speake much or Absoloms unnaturall rebellion Some others with whom wee finde more reason to joyne finde more reason to interpret it of a spirituall affliction that David in the apprehension and under the sense of the wrath and indignation of God came to this vehement exclamation or deprecation O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure In which words we shall consider
32.29 Though Iacob seeme to have been rebuked for asking Gods name when he wrastled with him And so also the Angel which was to doe a miraculous worke Judg. 13.18 a worke appertaining onely to God to give a Childe to the barren because he represented God and had the person of God upon him would not permit Manoah to enquire after his name Because as he sayes there that name was secret and wonderfull And though God himselfe Exod. 23.20 to dignifie and authorize that Angel which he made his Commissioner and the Tutelar and Nationall Guide of his people sayes of that Angel to that people Feare him provoke him not for my Name is in him and yet did not tell them what that name was Yet certainly we could not so much as say God cannot be named except we could name God by some name we could not say God hath no name except God had a name for that very word God is his name God calls upon us often in the Scriptures To call upon his Name and in the Scriptures he hath manifested to us divers names by which we may call upon him Doest thou know what name to call him by when thou callest him to beare false witnesse to averre a falshood Hath God a name to sweare by Doest thou know what name to call him by when thou wouldest make him thy servant thy instrument thy executioner to plague others upon thy bitter curses and imprecations Hath God a name to curse by Canst thou wound his body exhaust his bloud teare off his flesh breake his bones excruciate his soule and all this by his right name Hath God a name to blaspheme by and hath God no name to pray by is he such a stranger to thee Dost thou know every faire house in thy way as thou travellest whose that is and dost thou not know in whose house thou standest now Beloved to know God by name and to come to him by name is to consider his particular blessings to thee to consider him in his power and how he hath protected thee there and in his wisedome and how he hath directed thee there and in his love and how he hath affected thee there and exprest all in particular mercies He is but a darke but a narrow a shallow a lazy man in nature that knows no more but that there is a heaven and an earth and a sea He that will be of use in this world comes to know the influences of the heavens the vertue of the plants and mines of the earth the course and divisions of the Sea To the naturall man God gives generall notions of himselfe a God that spreads over all as the heavens a God that sustaines all as the earth a God that transports and communicates all to all as the sea But to the Christian Church God applies himselfe in more particular notions as a Father as a Son as a holy Ghost And to every Christian soule as a Creator a Redeemer a Benefactor that I may say This I was not born to and yet this I have from my God this a potent adversary sought to evict from me but this I have recovered by my God sicknesse had enfeebled my body but I have a convalescence calumnie had defamed my reputation but I have a reparation malice in other men or improvidence in my selfe had ruined my fortune but I have a redintegration from my God And then by these which are indeed but Cognomina Dei his sir-names names of distinction names of the exercise of some particular properties and attributes of his to come to the root of all to my very Being that my present Being in this world and my eternall Being in the next is made knowne to me by his name of Iehovah which is his Essentiall name to which David had recourse in this exinanition when his affliction had even annihilated and brought him to nothing he fled to Iehovah the God of all Being which is the foundation of all his other Attributes and includes all his other names and is our next and last branch in this first Part. This name then of Iehovah that is here translated Lord Iehovah is agreed by all to be the greatest name by which God hath declared and manifested himselfe to man This is that name which the Jews falsly but peremptorily for falshood lives by peremptorinesse and feeds and armes it selfe with peremptorinesse deny ever to have been attributed to the Messias in the Scriptures This is that name in the vertue and use whereof those Calumniators of our Saviours miracles doe say that he did his miracles according to a direction and schedule for the true and right pronouncing of that name which Solomon in his time had made and Christ in his time had found and by which say they any other man might have done those miracles if he had had Solomons directions for the right sounding of this name Iehovah This is that name which out of a superstitious reverence the Jews alwayes forbore to found or utter but ever pronounced some other name either Adonai or Elohim in the place thereof wheresoever they found Iehovah But now their Rabbins will not so much as write that name but still expresse it in foure other letters So that they dare not not onely not sound it not say it but not see it How this name which we call Iehovah is truly to be sounded because in that language it is exprest in foure Consonants onely without Vowels is a perplext question we may well be content to be ignorant therein since our Saviour Christ himselfe in all those places which he cited out of the Old Testament never sounded it he never said Iehovah Nor the Apostles after him nor Origen nor Ierome all persons very intelligent in the propriety of language they never sounded this name Iehovah For though in S. Ieromes Exposition upon the 8. Psalme we finde that word Iehovah in some Editions which we have now yet it is a cleare case that in the old Copies it is not so in Ieroms mouth it was not so from Ieroms hand it came not so Neither doth it appeare to me that ever the name of Iehovah was so pronounced till so late as in our Fathers time for I think Petrus Gallatinus was the first that ever called it so But howsoever this name be to be sounded that which falls in our consideration at this time is That David in his distresses fled presently to God and to God by name that is in consideration and commemoration of his particular blessings and to a God that had that name the name of Iehovah the name of Essence and Being which name carryed a confession that all our wel-being and the very first being it selfe was and was to be derived from him David therefore comes to God In nomine totali in nomine integrali He considers God totally entirely altogether Not altogether that is confusedly but altogether that is in such a Name as
to a particular consideration of the waight of his sins nor to a comparison betwixt his sin and the mercy of God yet he comes to a Miserere mei Domine To a sudden ejaculation O Lord be mercifull unto me how dare I doe this in the sight of my God It is much such an affection as is sometimes in a Felon taken in the manner or in a condemned person brought to execution One desires the Justice to be good to him and yet he sees not how he can Baile him the other desires the Sherife to be good to him and yet he knowes he must doe his Office A sinner desires God to have mercy upon him and yet he hath not descended to particular considerations requisite in that businesse But yet this spirituall Malefactor is in better case then the temporall are They desire them to be good to them who can doe them no good but God is still able and still ready to reprieve them and to put off the execution of his Judgements which execution were to take them out of this world under the guiltinesse and condemnation of unrepented sins And therefore as S. Basil sayes In scala prima ascensio est ab humo Basal He that makes but one step up a staire though he be not got much nearer to the top of the house yet he is got from the ground and delivered from the foulnesse and dampnesse of that so in this first step of prayer Miscrere mei O Lord be mercifull unto me though a man be not established in heaven yet he is stept from the world and the miserable comforters thereof He that committeth sin is of the Devill Yea he is of him in a direct line 1 Iohn 3.8 and in the nearest degree he is the Off-spring the son of the Devill Iohn 8.44 Ex patre vestro estis sayes Christ You are of your father the Devill Now Qui se à maligni patris affinitate submoverit He that withdraws himself from such a Fathers house though he be not presently come to meanes to live of himself Basil Quam feliciter patre suo orbatus How blessed how happy an Orphan is he become How much better shall he finde it to be fatherlesse in respect of such a father then masterlesse in respect of such a Lord as he turnes towards in this first ejaculation and generall application of the soule Miserere mei Have mercy upon me O Lord so much mercy as to looke graciously towards me And therefore as it was by infinite degrees a greater work to make earth of nothing then to make the best creatures of earth So in the regeneration of a sinner when he is to be made up a new creature his first beginning his first application of himselfe to God is the hardest matter But though he come not presently to looke God fully in the face nor conceive not presently an assurance of an established reconciliation a fulnesse of pardon a cancelling of all former debts in an instant Though hee dare not come to touch God and lay hold of himselfe by receiving his Body and Blood in the Sacrament yet the Euangelist calls thee to a contemplation of much comfort to thy soule in certaine preparatory accesses and approaches Behold sayes he that is Look up and consider thy patterne Behold Mat. 9.20 a woman diseased came behinde Christ and touched the hem of his garment for she said in her self If I may but touch the hem of his garment onely I shall be whole She knew there was vertue to come out of his Body and she came as neare that as she durst she had a desire to speake but she went no farther but to speak to her selfe she said to her selfe sayes that Gospel if I may but touch c. But Christ Jesus supplied all performed all on his part abundantly Presently he turned about sayes the Text And this was not a transitory glance but a full sight and exhibiting of himselfe to the fruition of her eye that she might see him He saw her sayes S. Matthew Her he did not direct himselfe upon others and leave out her And then hee spake to her to overcome her bashfulnesse he called her Daughter to overcome her diffidence He bids her be of comfort for she had met a more powerfull Physitian then those upon whom she had spent her time and her estate one that could cure her one that would one that had already for so he sayes presently Thy faith hath made thee whole From how little a spark how great a fire From how little a beginning how great a proceeding She desired but the hem of his garment and had all him Beloved in him his power and his goodnesse ended not in her Mat. 14.36 All that were sick were brought that they might but touch the hem of his garment and as many as touched it were made whole It was farre from a perfect faith that made them whole To have a desire to touch his garment seemes not was not much Neither was that desire that was alwayes in themselves but in them that brought them But yet come thou so farre Come or be content to be brought to be brought by example to be brought by a statute to be brought by curiosity come any way to touch the hem of his garment yea the hem of his servant of Aarons garment and thou shalt participate of the sweet ointment which flowes from the head to the hem of the garment Come to the house of God his Church Joyne with the Congregation of the Saints Love the body and love the garments too that is The Order the Discipline the Decency the Unity of the Church Love even the hem of the garment that that almost touches the ground that is Such Ceremonies as had a good use in their first institution for raising devotion and are freed and purged from that superstition which as a rust was growne upon them though they may seeme to touch the earth that is to have been induced by earthly men and not immediate institutions from God yet love that hem of that garment those outward assistances of devotion in the Church Bring with thee a disposition to incorporate thy selfe with Gods people here and though thou beest not yet come to a particular consideration of thy sins and of the remedies Though that spirit that possesses thee that sin that governes thee lie still a while and sleepe under all the thunders which wee denounce from this place so that for a while thou beest not moved nor affected with all that is said yet Appropinquas nescis as S. Augustine said when he came onely out of curiosity to heare S. Ambrose preach at Milan Thou doest come nearer and nearer to God though thou discerne it not and at one time or other this blessed exorcisme this holy Charme this Ordinance of God the word of God in the mouth of his servant shall provoke and awaken that spirit of security in
postulationes Sanae When thou art established in favour thou maist make any suit when thou art possest of God by one prayer thou mayst offer more This is an encouragement which that Father S. Bernard gives in observing the diverse degrees of praying That though servandae humilitatis gratia divina pietas ordinavit To make his humility the more profitable to him God imprints in an humble and penitent sinner this apprehension Vt quanto plus profecit eo minus se reputet profecisse That the more he is in Gods favour the more he feares he is not so or the more he fears to lose that favour because it is a part and a symptome of the working of the grace of God to make him see his owne unworthinesse the more manifestly the more sensibly yet it is a religious insinuation and a circumvention that God loves when a sinner husbands his graces so well as to grow rich under him and to make his thanks for one blessing a reason and an occasion of another so to gather upon God by a rolling Trench and by a winding staire as Abraham gained upon God in the behalfe of Sodome for this is an act of the wisedome of the Serpent which our Saviour recommends unto us in such a Serpentine line as the Artists call it to get up to God and get into God by such degrees as David does here from his Miserere to a Sana from a gracious looke to a perfect recovery Luke 10. from the act of the Levite that looked upon the wounded man to the act of the Samaritane that undertooke his cure from desiring God to visit him as a friend as Abraham was called the friend of God to study him as a Physitian Iames 2.23 Esay 55.1 Esay 53.4 Because the Prophet Esay makes a Proclamation in Christs name Ho every one that thirsteth c. And because the same Prophet sayes of him Verè portavit He hath truly born upon himselfe and therefore taken away from us all our diseases Tertullian sayes elegantly that Esay presents Christ Praedicatorem Medicatorem as a Preacher and as a Physitian Indeed he is a Physitian both wayes in his Word and in his Power and therefore in that notion onely as a Physitian David presents him here Now Physitians say That man hath in his Constitution in his Complexion a naturall vertue which they call Balsamum suum his owne Balsamum by which any wound which a man could receive in his body would cure it selfe if it could be kept cleane from the anoiances of the aire and all extrinsique encumbrances Something that hath some proportion and analogy to this Balsamum of the body there is in the soule of man too The soule hath Nardum suam Cant. 1.12 her Spikenard as the Spouse sayes Nardus meadedit odorem suum Basil she had a spikenard a perfume a fragrancy a sweet savour in her selfe For Virtutes germaniùs attingunt animam quà m corpus sanitas Vertuous inclinations and a disposition to morall goodnesse is more naturall to the soule of man and nearer of kin to the soule of man then health is to the body And then if we consider bodily health Nulla oratio nulla doctrinae formula nos docet morbum odiisse sayes that Father There needs no Art there needs no outward Eloquence to perswade a man to be loath to be sick Ita in anima inest naturalis citra doctrinam mali evitatio sayes he So the soule hath a naturall and untaught hatred and detestation of that which is evill The Church at thy Baptisme doth not require Sureties at thy hands for this Thy Sureties undertake to the Church in thy behalfe That thou shalt forsake the flesh the world and the devill That thou shalt beleeve all the Articles of our Religion That thou shalt keepe all the Commandements of God But for this knowledge and detestation of evill they are not put to undertake them then neither doth the Church Catechize thee in that after for the summe of all those duties which concerne the detestation of evill consists in that unwritten law of thy conscience which thou knowest naturally Scis quod boni proximo faciendum sayes that Father Naturally thou knowest what good thou art bound to doe to another man Idem enim est quod ab aliis tute tibi fieri velis for it is but asking thy selfe What thou wouldest that that other man should do unto thee Non ignoras quid sit ipsum malum Thou canst not be ignorant what evill thou shouldest abstaine from offering to another Est enim quod ab alio fieri nolis It is but the same which thou thinkest another should not put upon thee So that the soule of man hath in it Balsamum suum Nardum suam A medicinall Balsamum a fragrant Spikenard in her selfe a naturall disposition to Morall goodnesse as the body hath to health But therein lyes the souls disadvantage that whereas the causes that hinder the cure of a bodily wound are extrinsique offences of the Ayre and putrefaction from thence the causes in the wounds of the soule are intrinsique so as no other man can apply physick to them Nay they are hereditary and there was no time early inough for our selves to apply any thing by way of prevention for the wounds were as soone as we were and sooner Here was a new soule but an old sore a yong childe but an inveterate disease As S. Augustin cannot conceive any interim any distance between the creating of the soule and the infusing of the soule into the body but eases himselfe upon that Creando infundit and infundendo creat The Creation is the Infusion and the Infusion is the Creation so we cannot conceive any Interim any distance betweene the infusing and the sickning betweene the comming and the sinning of the soule So that there was no meanes of prevention I could not so much as wish that I might be no sinner for I could not wish that I might be no Child Neither is there any meanes of separation now our concupiscencies dwell in us and prescribe in us and will gnaw upon us as wormes till they deliver our bodies to the wormes of the grave and our consciences to the worme that never dyes From the dangerous effects then of this sicknesse David desires to be healed and by God himselfe Sana me Domine O Lord heale me for that physick that Man gives is all but drugs of the earth Morall and Civill counsailes rather to cover then recover rather to disguise then to avoid They put a clove in the mouth but they do not mend the lungs To cover his nakednesse Adam tooke but fig-leaves Esay 38.11 but to recover Ezechias God tooke figs themselves Man deales upon leaves that cover and shadow God upon fruitfull and effectuall meanes 2 King 20.7 that cure and nourish And then God tooke a lumpe of figs God is liberall of his graces and gives not over a
conformity to Angels But divers others of the Ancients have taken Soule and Spirit for different things even in the Intellectuall part of man somewhat obscurely I confesse and as some venture to say unnecessarily if not dangerously It troubled S. Hierome sometimes Ad Hedibiam l. 12. Epist 150 how to understand the word Spirit in man but he takes the easiest way he dispatches himselfe of it as fast as he could that is to speake of it onely as it was used in the Scriptures Famosa quaestio sayes he sed brevi sermone tractanda It is a question often disputed but may be shortly determined Idem spiritus hic ac in iis verbis Nolite extinguere spiritum When we heare of the Spirit in a Man in Scriptures we must understand it of the gifts of the Spirit for so fully to the same purpose sayes S. Chrysostome Spiritus est charisma spiritus The Spirit is the working of the Spirit The gifts of the Spirit and so when we heare The Spirit was vexed The Spirit was quenched still it is to be understood The gifts of the Spirit And so as they restraine the signification of Spirit to those gifts onely though the word do indeed in many places require a larger extension so do many restraine this word in our text The Soule onely Ad sensum to the sensitive faculties of the soule that is onely to the paine and anguish that his body suffered But so far at least David had gone in that which he said before My bones are vexed Now Ingravescit morbus The disease festers beyond the bone even into the marrow it selfe His Bones were those best actions that he had produced and he saw in that Contemplation that for all that he had done he was still at best but an unprofitable servant if not a rebellious enemy But then when he considers his whole soule and all that ever it can do he sees all the rest will be no better The poyson he sees is in the fountaine the Canker in the roote the rancor the venom in the soule it selfe Corpus instrumentum anima ars ipsa sayes S. Basil The body and the senses are but the tooles and instruments that the soule works with But the soule is the art the science that directs those Instruments The faculties of the soule are the boughs that produce the fruits and the operations and particular acts of those faculties are the fruits but the soule is the roote of all And David sees that this art this science this soule can direct him or establish him in no good way That not onely the fruits his particular acts nor onely the boughs and armes his severall faculties but the roote it selfe the soule it selfe was infected His bones are shaken he dares not stand upon the good he hath done his soule is so too he cannot hope for any good he shall do He hath no merit for the past he hath no free-will for the future that is his case This troubles his bones Turbata this troubles his soule this vexes them both for the word is all one in both places as our last Translators have observed and rendred it aright not vexed in one place and troubled in the other as our former Translators had it But in both places it is Bahal and Bahal imports a vehemence both in the intensnesse of it and in the suddennesse and inevitablenesse of it And therefore it signifies often Praecipitantiam A headlong downfall and irrecoverablenesse And often Evanescentiam an utter vanishing away and annihilation David whom we alwayes consider in the Psalmes not onely to speake literally of those miseries which were actually upon himselfe but prophetically too of such measures and exaltations of those miseries as would certainly fall upon them as did not seeke their sanation their recovery from the God of all health looking into all his actions they are the fruits and into all his faculties they are the boughs and into the root of all the soule it selfe considering what he had done what he could do he sees that as yet he had done no good he sees he should never be able to doe any His bones are troubled He hath no comfort in that which is growne up and past And his soule is sore troubled for to the trouble of the soule there is added in the Text that particle Valde It is a sore trouble that falls upon the soule A troubled spirit who can beare because he hath no hope in the future He was no surer for that which was to come then for that which was past But he that is all considered in that case which he proposes he comes as the word signifies ad praecipitantiam That all his strength can scarce keepe him from precipitation into despaire And he comes as the word signifies too ad Evanescentiam to an evaporating and a vanishing of his soule that is even to a renouncing and a detestation of his immortality and to a willingnesse to a desire that he might die the death of other Creatures which perish altogether and goe out as a Candle This is the trouble the sore trouble of his soule who is brought to an apprehension of Gods indignation for not performing Conditions required at his hands and of his inability to performe them and is not come to the contemplation of his mercy in supply thereof There is Turbatio Timoris Mat. 2.3 Psal 107.27 A trouble out of feare of danger in this world Herods trouble When the Magi brought word of another King Herod was troubled and all Ierusalem with him There is Turbatio confusionis The Mariners trouble in a tempest Their soule melteth for trouble Luk. 10.41 Luk. 1.29 sayes David There is Turbatio occupationis Martha's trouble Martha thou art troubled about many things sayes Christ There is Turbatio admirationis The blessed Virgins trouble When she saw the Angel she was troubled at his saying To contract this John 11.33 There is Turbatio compassionis Christs own trouble When he saw Mary weepe for her brother Lazarus he groaned in the spirit and was troubled in himselfe But in all these troubles Herods feare The Mariners irresolution Martha's multiplicity of businesse The blessed Virgins sudden amazement Our Saviours compassionate sorrow as they are in us worldly troubles so the world administers some means to extemiate and alleviate these troubles for feares are overcome and stormes are appeased and businesses are ended and wonders are understood and sorrows weare out But in this trouble of the bones and the soule in so deepe and sensible impressions of the anger of God looking at once upon the pravity the obliquity the malignity of all that I have done of all that I shall doe Man hath but one step between that state and despaire to stop upon to turne to the Author of all temporall and all spirituall health the Lord of life with Davids prayer Psal 51.10 Cor mundum crea Create a cleane heart within me
hath imprinted in it So that is the time for every thing which God hath appointed for it Pray and Stay are two blessed Monosy lables To ascend to God To attend Gods descent to us is the Motion and the Rest of a Christian And as all Motion is for Rest so let all the Motions of our soule in our prayers to God be that our wills may rest in his and that all that pleases him may please us therefore because it pleases him for therefore because it pleases him it becomes good for us and then when it pleases him it becomes seasonable unto us and expedient for us SERM. LII Preached upon the Penitentiall Psalmes PSAL. 6.4 5. Returne O Lord Deliver my soule O Lord save me for thy mercies sake For in Death there is no Remembrance of thee and in the Grave who shall give thee thanks THe whole Psalme is Prayer and Prayer is our whole service to God Earnest Prayer hath the nature of Importunity Wee presse wee importune God in Prayer Yet that puts not God to a morosity to a frowardnesse God flings not away from that God suffers that importunity and more Prayer hath the nature of Impudency Wee threaten God in Prayer as Gregor Nazi adventures to expresse it He saies his Sister in the vehemence of her Prayer would threaten God Et honesta quadam impudentiae egit impudentem She came saies he to a religious impudency with God and to threaten him that she would never depart from his Altar till she had her Petition granted And God suffers this Impudency and more Prayer hath the nature of Violence In the publique Prayers of the Congregation we besiege God saies Tertul and we take God Prisoner and bring God to our Conditions and God is glad to be straitned by us in that siege This Prophet here executes before what the Apostle counsailes after Pray incessantly Even in his singing he prayes And as S. Basil saies Etiam somniajustorum preces sunt A Good mans dreames are Prayers he prayes and not sleepily in his sleepe so Davids Songs are Prayers Now in this his besieging of God he brings up his works from a far off closer He begins in this Psalme at a deprecatory Prayer He asks nothing but that God would doe nothing that he would forbeare him Rebuke me not Correct me not Now it costs the King lesse to give a Pardon then to give a Pension and lesse to give a Reprieve then to give a Pardon and lesse to Connive not to call in Question then either Reprieve Pardon or Pension To forbeare is not much But then as the Mathematician said That he could make an Engin a Screw that should move the whole frame of the World if he could have a place assigned him to fix that Engin that Screw upon that so it might worke upon the World so Prayer when one Petition hath taken hold upon God works upon God moves God prevailes with God entirely for all David then having got this ground this footing in God he brings his works closer he comes from the Deprecatory to a Postulatory Prayer not onely that God would doe nothing against him but that he would doe something for him God hath suffered man to see Arcana imperii The secrets of his State how he governs He governs by Precedent by precedents of his Predecessors he cannot He hath none by precedents of other Gods he cannot There are none And yet he proceeds by precedents by his owne Precedents He does as he did before Habenti dat To him that hath received hee gives more and is willing to bee wrought and prevailed upon and prest with his owne example And as though his doing good were but to learne how to do good better still he writes after his owne copy And Nulla dies sine linea He writes something to us that is hee doth something for us every day And then that which is not often seene in other Masters his Copies are better then the Originals his later mercies larger then his former And in this Postulatory Prayer larger then the Deprecatory enters our Text Returne O Lord Deliver my soule O save me c. David Divisio who every where remembers God of his Covenant as he was the God of Abraham remembers also how Abraham proceeded with God in the behalfe of Sodom And he remembers that when Abraham had gained upon God and brought him from a greater to a lesse number of righteous men for whose sakes God would have spared that City yet Abraham gave over asking before God gave over granting And so Sodom was lost A little more of S. Augustines Importunity of Nazi Impudence of Tertul violence in Prayer would have done well in Abraham If Abraham had come to a lesse price to lesse then ten God knowes what God would have done for God went not away saies the text there till he had left communing with Abraham that is till Abraham had no more to say to him In memory and contemplation of that David gives not over in this text till he come to the utter most of all as far as man can aske as far as God can give He begins at first with a Revertere Domine Returne O Lord and higher then that no man can begin no man can begin at a Veni Domine no man can pray to God to come till God be come into him Quid peto ut venias in me saies S. August Qui non essem si nonesses in me How should I pray that God would come into me who not onely could not have the Spirit of praying but not the Spirit of being not life it selfe if God were not in me already But then this prayer is that when God had been with him and for his sins or his coldnesse and slacknesse in prayer was departed aside from him yet he would vouchsafe to returne to him againe and restore to him that light of his countenance which he had before Revertere Domine O Lord returne And then he passes to his second petition Eripe animam Deliver my soule That when God in his returne saw those many and strong snares which entangled him those many and deepe tentations and tribulations which surrounded him God being in his mercy thus Returned and in his Providence seing this danger would not now stand neutrall betweene them and see him and these tentations fight it our but fight on his side and deliver him Eripe animam Deliver my soule And then by these two petitions hee makes way for the third and last which is the perfection and consummation of all as far as he can carry a Prayer or a Desire Salvum me fac O Lord save me that is Imprint in me a strong hope of Salvation in this life and invest me in an irremoveable possession in the life to come Lord I acknowledge that thou hast visited me heretofore and for my sins hast absented thy selfe O Lord returne Lord now thou art returned and seest me unable
of presumptuous sins and a Saviour in the vallies in the dejection of inordinate melancholy too A Saviour of the East of rising and growing men and a Saviour of the West of withering declining languishing fortunes too A Saviour in the state of nature by having infused the knowledge of himselfe into some men then before the light and help of the Law was afforded to the world A Saviour in the state of the Law by having made to some men then even Types Accomplishments and Prophesies Histories And as himself Cals things that are not as though they were So he made those men see things that were not as though they were for so Abraham saw his day and rejoyced A Saviour in the state of the Gospel and so as that he saves some there for the fundamentall Gospels sake that is for standing fast in the fundamentall Articles thereof though they may have been darkned with some ignorances or may have strayed into some errors in some Circumstantiall points A Saviour of all the world of all the conditions in the world of all times through the world of all places of the world such a Saviour is no man called but Christ Jesus only For when it is said that Pharaoh called Ioseph Salvatorem mundi A Saviour of the world besides Gen. 41.45 that if it were so that which is called all the world can be referred but to that part of the world which was then under Pharaoh as when it is said that Augustus taxed the world that is intended De orbe Romano so much of the world as was under the Romanes there is a manifest error in that Translation which cals Ioseph so for that name which was given to Ioseph there in that language in which it was given doth truly signifie Revelatorem Secretorum and no more a Revealer a Discoverer a Decypherer of secret and mysterious things according to the occasion upon which that name was then given which was the Decyphering the Interpreting of Pharaohs Dreame Be this then thus establisht that David for our example considers and referres all salvation Psal 98.2 to salvation in Christ As he does also where he sayes after Notum fecit salutare tuum The Lord hath made known his salvation Quid est salutare tuum saies S. Basil Luke 2. What is the Lords salvation And he makes a safe answer out Simeons mouth Mine eyes have seene thy salvation when he had seen Christ Iesus This then is he which is not only Satvator populi sui The Saviour of his people the Jews to whom he hath betrothed himselfe In Pacto salis A Covenant of salt an everlasting Covenant Nor onely Salvator corporis sui The Saviour of his own body as the Apostle calls him of that body which he hath gathered from the Gentiles in the Christian Church Nor only Salvator mundi A Saviour of the world so as that which he did and suffered was sufficient in it selfe and was accepted by the Father for the salvation of the world but as Tertullian for the most part reads the word he was Salutificator not only a Saviour because God made him an instrument of salvation as though he had no interest in our salvation till in his flesh he died for us but he is Salutificator so the Author of this salvation as that from all eternity he was at the making of the Decree as well as in the fulnesse of time he was at the executing thereof In the work of our salvation if we consider the merit Christ was sole and alone no Father no Holy Ghost trod the Wine-presse with him And if in the work of our salvation we consider the mercy there though Christ were not sole and alone for that mercy in the Decree was the joynt-act of the whole Trinity yet even in that Christ was equall to the Father and the Holy Ghost So he is Salutificator the very Author of this salvation as that when it came to the act he and not they died for us and when it was in Councell he as well as they and as soone as they decreed it for us As therefore the Church of God scarce presents any petition any prayer to God but it is subscribed by Christ the Name of Christ is for the most part the end and the seale of all our Collects all our prayers in the Liturgy though they be but for temporall things for Plenty or Peace or Faire-weather are shut up so Grant this O Lord for our Lord and Saviour Christ Iesus sake So David for our example drives all his petitions in this Text to this Conclusion Salvum me fac O Lord save me that is apply that salvation Christ Jesus to me Now beloved you may know that your selves have a part in those means which God uses to that purpose your selves are instruments though not causes of your own salvation Salvus factus es pro nihilo non de nihilo tamen Bernard Thou bringest nothing for thy salvation yet something to thy salvation nothing worth it but yet somthing with it Thy new Creation by which thou art a new creature that is thy Regeneration is wrought as the first Creation was wrought God made heaven and earth of nothing but hee produced the other creatures out of that matter which he had made Thou hadst nothing to doe in the first work of thy Regeneration Thou couldst not so much as wish it But in all the rest thou art a fellow-worker with God because before that there are seeds of former grace shed in thee And therefore when thou commest to this last Petition Salvum me fac O Lord save me remember still that thou hast something to doe as well as to say that so thou maist have a comfortable answer in thy soule to the whole prayer Returne O Lord Deliver my soule and Save me And so we have done with our first Part which was the Prayer it selfe and the second which is the Reasons of the Prayer we must reserve for a second exercise SERM. LIII Preached upon the Penitentiall Psalmes PSAL. 6.4 5. Returne O Lord Deliver my soule O Lord save me for thy mercie sake For in Death there is no Remembrance of thee and in the Grave who shall give thee thanks WEE come now to the Reasons of these Petitions in Davids Prayer For as every Prayer must bee made with faith I must beleeve that God will grant my Prayer if it conduce to his glory and my good to doe so that is the limit of my faith so I must have reason to ground a likelyhood and a faire probability that that particular which I pray for doth conduce to his glory and my good and that therefore God is likely to grant it Davids first Reason here is grounded on God himselfe Propter misericordiam Doe it for thy mercy sake and in his second Reason though David himselfe and all men with him seeme to have a part yet at last we shall see the Reason it selfe to
his devotion and present recourse to him some from both together God and himselfe joyntly which is an acknowledgement that God works not alone in heaven nor man lives not alone upon earth but there is a Conversation and a Correspondence and a Commerce betweene God and Man and Conditions and Contracts and Covenants and Stipulations betweene them and so a mutuall interest in one another From God himselfe alone David raises a reason v. 4. Propter misericordiam O save me for thy mercies sake for of the mercy of God there is no precedent there is no concurrent reason there is no reason of the mercy of God but the mercy of God from God and himself together he raises a reason v. 5. Quia non in morte For in death there is no remembrance of thee Destroy me not for if I die Quid facies magno nomini tuo as Ioshuah speaks what will become of thy glory of that glory which thou shouldest receive from my service in this world if thou take me out of this world But then as he begun in reasons arising from himself and out of the sense of his owne humiliation under the hand of God for so hee does v. 2. Quia infirmus Have mercy upon me because I am weake and cannot subsist without that mercy And Quiaturbata ossa his bones were vexed Habet anima ossa sua sayes S. Basil The soule hath bones as well as the body The bones of the soule are the strongest faculties and best operations of the soule and his best and strongest actions were but questionable actions disputable and suspitious actions And Turbata anima all his faculties even in their very roote his very soul was sore vexed v. 3. As I say hee began with reasons of that kinde arising from himselfe so he returnes and ends with the same humiliation in the reasons arising from himselfe too Quia laboravi in gemitu I am weary with my groaning all the night make I my bed to swimme c. As our Saviour Christ entred into the house to his Disciples Iohn 20.28 Ianuis clausis when the doores were shut so God enters into us too Ianuis clausis when our eyes have not opened their doores in any reall penitent teares when our mouthes have not opened their doores in any verball prayers God sees and he heares the inclinations of the heart S. Bernard notes well upon those words of Christ John 11. at the raising of Lazarus Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me That at that time when Christ gave thanks to God for having heard him he had said nothing to his Father but God had heard his heart Since God does so even to us he will much more heare us as David when we make outward declarations too because that outward declaration conduces more to his glory in the edification of his servants therefore David comes to that declaratory protestation Quia labor avi in gemitu I am weary with my groaning c. In which words Divisio we shall consider Quid factum and Quid faciendum What David did and what we are to doe for David after he had thrown himselfe upon the mercy of God after he had confessed and prayed and done the spirituall parts of repentance he afflicts his body besides And so ought we likewise to doe if we will be partakers of Davids example And therefore we may doe well to consider Quid faciendum How this Example of David bindes us how these groanings and waterings of his bed with teares and other Mortifications assumed after repentance and reconciliation to God lay an obligation upon us But this is our part Quid faciendum what is to be done by us First Quid factum what David did and truly he did much first gemuit he came to greane to sigh to outward declarations of inward heavinesse And Laberauit in gemits He laboured he travelled in that passion and as the word imports and as our later Translation hath it he was wearied tired with it so farre that as it is in the first Translation he faimed he languished with it First he sighed and sighed so and groaned and groaned so passionately vehemently and then openly exemplarily and he was not ashamed of it for he came to weeping though he knew it would be thought childish And that in that abundance Natare feci and Liqueseci lectum He watred his bed dissolved his bed made his bed to swimme surrounded his bed with teares And more he macerated his bed with that brine And then he continued this affliction It was not a sudden passion a flash of remorse but he continued it till his eye was consumed by reason of that anguish and despite and indignation as our diverse Translations vary the expressing thereof so long as night and day lasted so long as that he was waxen old under it and when this great affliction should have brought him safely into harbour that he might have rested securely at last his enemies that triumphed over him gave him new occasions of miserie his eyes were consumed and waxed old because of his enemies that is because he was still amongst enemies that triumphed over him Be pleased to take another Edition another Impression of these particulars A naturall mans Morall constancy will hold out against outward declarations of griefe yet David came to that he groaned A groane a sigh may breake out and the heart be at the more ease for that But Laboravit they grew upon him and the more he groaned and the more he sighed the more he had an inclination and not onely that but cause to doe so for he found that his sorrow was to be sorrowed for and his repentance to be repented there were such imperfections in all Therefore he suffered thus till he was wearied till he fainted with groaning and sighing And then this winde does not blow over the raine he weeps and weeps the more violently and the more continually extreames that seldome meet violence and lasting but in his case they did All this all night and all this all this while not amongst friends to pity him and condole with him but amongst enemies to affront him and deride him So that here are all the ingredients all the elements of misery Sorrow of heart that admits no disguise but flowes into outward declarations and such declarations as create no compassion but triumph in the enemy I am weary with my groaning c. To proceed then to the particulars in our first Part Quid factum What David did 1 Part. Gemit first Gemit He comes to sigh to groane to an outward declaration of a sense of Gods indignation upon him till he had perfected his repentance She sighed Lament and turned backward was Jerusalems misery To sigh and turne backward to repent and relapse is a wofull Condition But to sigh and turne forward to turne upon God and to pursue this sorrow for our sins then in such sighes The Spirit
in the next Psalme but one he that thought to sleepe out the night come to weepe out the night When the Saints of God have that security which S. Hierome speaks of Vt sanctis ipse somnus sit oratio They sleepe securely for their very sleepe is a glorifying of God who giveth his beloved sleepe yet David could have none of this Euseb But why not he Noctem letiferam nocte compensat First for the place the sinne came in at those windowes at his eyes and came in in fire in lust And it must goe out at those windowes too and goe out in water in the water of repentant teares And then for the time as the night defiled his soule so the sinne must be expiated and the soule washed in the night too And this may be some Embleme some usefull intimation how hastily Repentance follows sinne Davids sinne is placed but in the beginning of the night in the Evening In the evening he rose and walked upon the Terase and saw Bathsheba and in the next part of time in the night he falls a weeping no more between the sweetnesse of sinne and the bitternesse of repentance then between evening and night no morning to either of them till the Sunne of grace arise and shine out and proceed to a Meridionall height and make the repentance upon circumstance to be a repentance upon the substance and bring it to be a repentance for the sinne it selfe which at first was but a repentance upon some calamity that that sinne induced He wept then Omni nocte and wept in the night in a time when he could neither receive rest in himselfe which all men had nor receive praise from others which all men affect And he wept Omni nocte which is not onely Omnibus noctibus sometime every night but it is Tota nocte cleane through the night And he wept in that abundance as hath put the Holy Ghost to that Hyperbole in Davids pen to expresse it Liquefecit stratum natare fecit stratum Hieron it drowned his bed surrounded his bed it dissolved it macerated it melted his bed with that brine Well Qui rigat stratum he that washes his bed so with repentant teares Non potest in cogitationem ejus libidinum pompa subrepere Tentations take hold of us sometimes after our teares after our repentance but seldome or never in the act of our repentance and in the very shedding of our teares At least Libidinum pompa The victory the triumph of lust breaks not in upon us in a bed so dissolved so surrounded so macerated with such teares Thy bed is a figure of thy grave Such as thy grave receives thee at death it shall deliver thee up to Judgement at last Such as thy bed receives thee at night it shall deliver thee in the morning If thou sleepe without calling thy selfe to an account thou wilt wake so and walke so and proceed so without ever calling thy selfe to an account till Christ Jesus call thee in the Clouds It is not intended that thou shouldest afflict thy selfe so grievously as some over-doing Penitents to put chips and shels and splints and flints and nayles and rowels of spurres in thy bed to wound and macerate thy body so The inventions of men are not intended here But here is a precept of God implied in this precedent and practise of David That as long as the sense of a former sinne or the inclination to a future oppresses thee thou must not close thine eyes thou must not take thy rest till as God married thy body and soule together in the Creation and shall at last crowne thy body and soule together in the Resurrection so they may also rest together here that as thy body rests in thy bed thy soule may rest in the peace of thy Conscience and that thou never say to thy head Rest upon this pillow till thou canst say to thy soule Rest in this repentance in this peace Now as this sorrow of Davids continued day and night Oculus in the day for the better edification of men and in the night for his better capitulation with God so there is a farther continuation thereof without any wearinesse expressed in the next clause Turbatus à furore oculus meus as the Vulgat reads it and Mine eye is dimmed for despight or indignation as our former or as this last Translation hath it Mine eye is consumed because of griefe and to speake neerest to the Originall Erosus est oculus Mine eye is eaten out with Indignation A word or two shall be inough of each of these words these three Termes What the eye which is the subject what this consuming or dimming which is the effect and what this Griefe or Indignation which is the affection imports and offers to our application First Oculus the Eye is ordinarily taken in the Scriptures Pro aspectu for the whole face the looks the countenance the ayre of a man and this ayre and looks and countenance declares the whole habitude and constitution of the man As he looks so he is So that the Eye here is the whole person and so this griefe had wrought upon the whole frame and constitution of David and decayed that though he place it in the eye yet it had growne over all the body Since thou wast not able to say to thy sinne The sinne shall come to mine eyes but no farther I will looke but not lust I will see but not covet thou must not say My repentance shall come to mine eyes and no farther I will shed a few teares and no more but with this Prophet David and with the Apostle S. Paul thou must beat downe thy body to that particular purpose and in that proportion as thou findest the rebellions thereof to require Thou couldest not stop the sin at thine eyes stop not thy repentance there neither but pursue it in wholesome mortification through all those parts in which the sinne hath advanced his dominion over thee and that is our use of the first word the Eye the whole frame For the second word which in our Translations is in one dimmed Turbatus Reuchlin in the other consumed and in the Vulgat troubled a great Master in the Originall renders it well elegantly and naturally out of the Originall Verminavit Tineavit which is such a deformitie as wormes make in wood or in books If Davids sorrow for his sinnes brought him to this deformitie what sorrow doe they owe to their sinnes who being come to a deformitie by their own licentiousnesse and intemperance disguise all that by unnaturall helpes to the drawing in of others and the continuation of their former sinnes The sinne it selfe was the Devils act in thee But in the deformity and debility though it follow upon the sinne God hath a hand And they that smother and suppresse these by paintings and pamperings unnaturall helps to unlawfull ends doe not deliver themselves of the plague but
the principall arguments against Confessions by Letter which some went about to set up in the Romane Church that that took away one of the greatest evidences and testimonies of their repentance which is this Erubescence this blushing this shame after sin if they should not be put to speak it face to face but to write it that would remove the shame which is a part of the repentance But that soule that goes not to confession to it selfe that hath not an internall blushing after a sin committed is a pale soule even in the palenesse of death and senslesnesse and a red soule red in the defiance of God And that whitenesse to avoid approaches to sin and that rednesse to blush upon a sin which does attempt us is the complexion of the soule which God loves and which the Holy Ghost testifies when he sayes Cant. 5.12 My Beloved is white and ruddy And when these men that David speaks of here had lost that whitenesse their innocency for David to wish that they might come to a rednesse a shame a blushing a remorse a sense of sin may have been no such great malediction or imprecation in the mouth of David but that a man may wish it to his best friend which should be his own soule and say Erubescam not let mine enemies but let me be ashamed with such a shame In the second word Conturbentur Let them be sore vexed he wishes his enemies no worse then himselfe had been For he had used the same word of himselfe before Ossa turbata My bones are vexed Ver. 2. 3. and Anima turbata My soule is vexed and considering that David had found this vexation to be his way to God it was no malicious imprecation to wish that enemy the same Physick that he had taken who was more sick of the same disease then he was For this is like a troubled Sea after a tempest the danger is past but yet the billow is great still The danger was in the calme in the security or in the tempest by mis-interpreting Gods corrections to our obduration and to a remorselesse stupefaction but when a man is come to this holy vexation to be troubled to be shaken with a sense of the indignation of God the storme is past and the indignation of God is blowne over That soule is in a faire and neare way of being restored to a calmnesse and to reposed security of conscience that is come to this holy vexation In a flat Map there goes no more to make West East though they be distant in an extremity but to paste that flat Map upon a round body and then West and East are all one In a flat soule in a dejected conscience in a troubled spirit there goes no more to the making of that trouble peace then to apply that trouble to the body of the Merits to the body of the Gospel of Christ Jesus and conforme thee to him and thy West is East Zoch 6.12 thy Trouble of spirit is Tranquillity of spirit The name of Christ is Oriens The East Esay 14.12 And yet Lucifer himselfe is called Filius Orientis The Son of the East If thou beest fallen by Lucifer fallen to Lucifer and not fallen as Lucifer to a senslesnesse of thy fall and an impenitiblenesse therein but to a troubled spirit still thy Prospect is the East still thy Climate is heaven still thy Haven is Jerusalem for in our lowest dejection of all even in the dust of the grave we are so composed so layed down as that we look to the East If I could beleeve that Trajan or Tecla could look East-ward that is towards Christ in hell I could beleeve with them of Rome that Trajan and Tecla were redeemed by prayer out of hell God had accepted sacrifices before but no sacrifice is call Odor quiet is Gen. 8.21 It is not said That God smelt a savor of rest in any sacrifice but that which Noah offered after hee had beene variously tossed and tumbled in the long hulling of the Arke upon the waters A troublesome spirit and a quiet spirit are farre asunder But a troubled spirit and a quiet spirit are neare neighbours And therefore David meanes them no great harme when hee sayes Let them be troubled For Let the winde be as high as it will so I sayle before the winde Let the trouble of my soule be as great as it will so it direct me upon God and I have calme enough And this peace Convertantur this calme is implyed in the next word Convertantur which is not Let them be overthrowne but Let them returne let them be forced to returne he prayes that God would do something to crosse their purposes because as they are against God so they are against their owne soules In that way where they are he sees there is no remedy and therefore he desires that they might be Turned into another way What is that way This. Turne us O Lord and we shall be turned That is turned the right way Towards God And as there was a promise from God to heare his people not onely when they came to him in the Temple but when they turned towards that Temple in what distance soever they were so it is alwaies accompanied with a blessing occasionally to turne towards God But this prayer Turne us that we may be turned is that we may be that is remaine turned that we may continue fixed in that posture Lots Wife turned her selfe and remained an everlasting monument of Gods anger God so turne us alwaies into right wayes as that we be not able to turne our selves out of them For God hath Viam rectam bonam as himselfe speakes in the Prophet A right way and then a good way which yet is not the right way that is not the way which God of himselfe would go For his right way is that we should still keepe in his way His good way is to beat us into his right way againe by his medicinall corrections when we put our selves out of his right way And that and that onely David wishes and we wish That you may Turne and Be turned stand in that holy posture all the yeare all the yeares of your lives That your Christmas may be as holy as your Easter even your Recreations as innocent as your Devotions and every roome in the house as free free from prophanenesse as the Sanctuary And this he ends as he begun with another Erubescant Let them be ashamed and that Valde volociter Suddenly for David saw that if a sinner came not to a shame of sin quickly he would quickly come to a shamelesnesse to an impudence to a searednesse to an obduration in it Now beloved this is the worst curse that comes out of a holy mans mouth even towards his enemie that God would correct him to his amendment And this is the worst harme that we meane to you when we denounce the judgements of
Summum bonum this Happinesse this Blessednesse was For they considered only some particular fruits thereof and it is much easier how high soever a tree be to come to a taste of some of the fruits then to digge to the root of that tree They satisfied themselves with a little taste of Health and Pleasure and Riches and Honour and never considered that all these must have their root in heaven and must have a relation to Christ Jesus who is the root of all And as these Philosophers could never tell us what this blessednesse was so Divines themselves and those who are best exercised in the language of the Holy Ghost the Originall tongue of this Text cannot give us a cleare Grammaticall understanding of this first word in which David expresses this Blessednesse Ashrei which is here Translated Blessed They cannot tell whether it be an Adverb And then it is Bene viro Well is it for that man A pathetique a vehement acclamation Happily Blessedly is that man provided for Or whether it be a Plurall Noune and then it is Beatitudines such a Blessednesse as includes many all blessednesses in it And one of these two it must necessarily be in the Rules of their Construction That either David enters with an Admiration O how happily is that man provided for Or with a Protestation That there is no particular Blessednesse which that man wants that hath this This Reconciliation to God Eusebius observes out of Plato that he enjoyned the Poets and the Writers in his State to describe no man to be happy but the good men none to be miserable but the wicked And his Scholar Aristotle enters into his Book of Ethiques and Morall Doctrine with that Contemplation first of all That every man hath naturally a disposition to affect and desire happinesse David who is elder then they begins his Book of Psalmes so The first word of the first Psalme is the first word of this Text Blessed is the man He comprehends all that belongs to mans knowledge and all that belongs to mans practise in those two first in understanding true Blessednesse and then in praising God for it Davids Alpha is Beatus vir O the Blessednesse of righteous men And Davids Omega is Laudate Dominum O that men would therefore blesse the Lord And therefore as he begins this Book with Gods blessing of man so he ends it with mans praising of God For where the last stroak upon this Psaltery the last verse of the last Psalme is Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord Yet he addes one note more to us in particular Praise ye the Lord and there is the end of all And so also our Saviour Christ himselfe in his owne preaching observed that Method Mat. 5.3 He begun his great Sermon in the Mount with that Blessed are the poore inspirit Blessed are they that mourne Blessed are the pure in heart Blessednesse alone was an abundant recompence for all And so the subject of Iohn Baptists Commission before and of his Disciples Commission after Mat. 3.2 was still the same to preach this Blessednesse That the Kingdome of God that is Mat. 10.7 Reconciliation to God in his Visible Church was at hand was forthwith to be established amongst them Though then the Consummation of this Blessednesse be that Visio Dei That sight of God which in our glorified state we shall have in heaven yet because there is an inchoation thereof in this world which is that which we call Reconciliation it behooves us to consider the disposition requisite for that It is a lamentable perversenesse in us that we are so contentiously busie in inquiring into the Nature and Essence and Attributes of God things which are reserved to our end when we shall know at once and without study all that of which all our lives study can teach us nothing And that here where we are upon the way we are so negligent and lazy in inquiring of things which belong to the way Those things we learne in no Schoole so well as in adversity As the body of man and consequently health is best understood and best advanced by Dissections and Anatomies when the hand and knife of the Surgeon hath passed upon every part of the body and laid it open so when the hand and sword of God hath pierced our soul we are brought to a better knowledge of our selves then any degree of prosperity would have raised us to All creatures were brought to Adam and because he understood the natures of all those creatures he gave them names accordingly In that he gave no name to himselfe it may be by some perhaps argued that he understood himselfe lesse then he did other creatures If Adam be our example in the time and Schoole of nature how hard a thing the knowledge of our selves is till we feele the direction of adversity David is also another example in the time of the Law who first said in his prosperity Psal 30.6 He should never bee moved But When sayes he Thou hidest thy face from me I was troubled and then I cryed unto thee O Lord and I prayed unto my God Then but not till then The same Art the same Grammar lasts still and Peter is an example of the same Rule in the time of grace who was at first so confident as to come to that Si omnes scandalizati if all forsook him Si mori oportuit If he must die with him or dye for him he was ready and yet without any terror from an armed Magistrate without any surprizall of a subtile Examiner upon the question of a poore Maid he denied his Master But then the bitternesse of his soule taught him another temper and moderation when Christ asked him after Amas me Lovest thou me not to pronounce upon an infallible confidence I have loved and I doe and I will doe till death but Domine tu scis Lord thou knowest that I love thee My love to thee is but the effect of thy love to me and therefore Lord continue thine that mine may continue No study is so necessary as to know our selves no Schoole-master is so diligent so vigilant so assiduous as Adversity And the end of knowing our selves is to know how we are disposed for that which is our end that is this Blessednesse which though it be well collected and summed by S. Augustine Beatus qui habet quicquid vult nihil mali vult He onely is blessed that desires nothing but that which is good for him and hath all that we must pursue in those particulars which here in Davids Catechisme constitute this Blessednesse and constitute our third Part and are delivered in three Branches first The forgiving of our transgressions And then The covering of our sinnes And thirdly The not imputing of our iniquities First then that in this third Part we may see in the first Branch 3 Part. Transgression the first notification of this Blessednesse we
consider the two termes in which it is expressed what this is which is translated Transgression and then what this Forgiving imports The Originall word is Pashang and that signifies sin in all extensions The highest the deepest the waightiest sin It is a malicious and a forcible opposition to God It is when this Herod and this Pilat this Body and this soule of ours are made friends and agreed that they may concurre to the Crucifying of Christ When not onely the members of our bodies but the faculties of our soul our will and understanding are bent upon sin when we doe not only sin strongly and hungerly and thirstily which appertain to the body but we sin rationally we finde reasons and those reasons even in Gods long patience why we should sin We sin wittily we invent new sins and we thinke it an ignorant a dull and an unsociable thing not to sin yea we sin wisely and make our sin our way to preferment Then is this word used by the Holy Ghost when he expresses both the vehemence and the waight and the largenesse and the continuance all extensions all dimensions of the sins of Damascus Amos 1.3 Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Damascus and for foure I will not turne to it because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of Iron So then we consider sin here not as a staine such as Originall sin may be nor as a wound such as every actuall sin may be but as a burden a complication a packing up of many sins in an habituall practise thereof This is that waight that sunke the whole world under water in the first floud and shall presse downe the fire it selfe to consume it a second time It is a waight that stupifies and benums him that beares it August so as that the sinner feeles not the oppression of his owne sins Et quid miserius miscro non miserante seipsum What misery can be greater then when a miserable man hath not sense to commiserate his owne misery Our first errors are out of Levity and S. Augustin hath taught us a proper ballast and waight for that Amor Dei pondus animae The love of God would carry us evenly and steadily if we would embarke that But as in great tradings they come to ballast with Merchandise ballast and fraight is al one so in this habituall sinner all is sin plots and preparations before the act gladnesse and glory in the act sometimes disguises sometimes justifications after the act make up one body one fraight of sin So then Transgression in this place in the naturall signification of the word is a waight a burden and carrying it as the word requires to the greatest extension it is the sin of the whole World And that sinne is forgiven which is the second Terme The Prophet does not say here Forgiven Blessed is that man that hath no transgression for that were to say Blessed is that man that is no man All people all Nations did ever in Nature acknowledge not onely a guiltinesse of sin but some meanes of reconciliation to their Gods in the Remission of sins for they had all some formall and Ceremoniall Sacrifices and Expiations and Lustrations by which they thought their sins to be purged and washed away Whosoever acknowledges a God acknowledges a Remission of sins and whosoever acknowledges a Remission of sins acknowledges a God And therefore in this first place David does not mention God at all he does not say Blessed is he whose transgression the Lord hath forgiven for he presumes it to be an impossible tentation to take hold of any man that there can be any Remission of sin from any other person or by any other meanes then from and by God himselfe and therefore Remission of sins includes an Act of God But what kinde of Act is more particularly designed in the Originall word which is Nasa then our word forgiving reaches to for the word does not onely signifie Auferre but ferre not onely to take away sin by way of pardon but to take the sin upon himselfe and so to beare the sin and the punishment of the sin in his owne person And so Christ is the Lambe of God Qui tollit not onely that takes away Esay 53.4 but that takes upon himselfe the sins of the world Tulit portavit Surely he hath borne our griefes and carried our sorrowes Those griefes those sorrowes which we should he hath borne and carried in his owne person So that as it is all one never to have come in debt and to have discharged the debt So the whole world all mankinde considered in Christ is as innocent as if Adam had never sinned And so this is the first beame of Blessednesse that shines upon my soule That I beleeve that the justice of God is fully satisfied in the death of Christ and that there is enough given and accepted in the treasure of his blood for the Remission of all Transgressions And then the second beame of this Blessednesse is in The covering of sins Now to benefit our selves by this part of Davids Catechisme Sinne. we must as we did before consider the two termes of which this part of this Blessednesse consists sin and covering Sin in this place is not so heavy a word as Transgression was in the former for that was sin in all extensions sinne in all formes all sin of all men of all times of all places the sin of all the world upon the shoulders of the Saviour of the world In this place the word is Catah and by the derivation thereof from Nata which is to Decline to step aside or to be withdrawne and Kut which is filum a thread or a line that which we call sin here signifies Transilire lineam To depart or by any tentation to be withdrawne from the direct duties and the exact straightnesse which is required of us in this world for the attaining of the next So that the word imports sins of infirmity such sins as doe fall upon Gods best servants such sins as rather induce a cofession of our weaknesse and an acknowledgement of our continuall need of pardon for some thing passed and strength against future invasions then that induce any devastation or obduration of the conscience which Transgression in the former branch implied For so this word Catah hath that signification as in many other places there where it is said Iudg â—â— 16 That there were seven hundred left-handed Benjamits which would sling stones at a haires breadth and not faile that is not misse the marke a haires breadth And therefore when this word Catah sin is used in Scripture to expresse any weighty hainous enormous sin it hath an addition Peccatum magnum peccaverunt sayes Moses Exod. 32.31 when the people were become Idolaters These people have sinned a great sin otherwise it signifies such sin as destroyes not the foundation such as in the nature
sin no lesser covering serves then God in his Church It was the prayer against them Nehem. 4.5 August who hindered the building of the Temple Cover not their iniquity neither let their sin be put out in thy presence Our prayer is Peccata nostra non videat ut nos videat Lord looke not upon our sins that thou maist looke upon us And since amongst our selves 1 Pet. 4.8 Prov. 10.12 it is the effect of Love to cover Multitudinem peccatorum The multitude of sins yea to cover Vniversa delicta Lovè covereth all sins much more shall God who is Love it selfe cover our sins so as he covered the Egyptians in a red Sea in the application of his blood by visible meanes in his Church That therefore thou mayest be capable of this covering Psal 37.6 Commit thy wayes unto the Lord that is show unto him by way of confession what wrong wayes thou hast gone and inquire of him by prayer what wayes thou art to go and as it is in the same Psalme He shall bring forth thy righteousnesse as the light and thy judgement as the noone day And so there shall be no guile found in thy spirit which might hinder this covering of thy sin which is the application of Christs merits in the Ordinances of his Church nor the Not imputing of thine iniquity which is our last consideration and the conclusion of all This not imputing Imputing is that serenity and acquiescence which a rectified conscience enjoyes when the Spirit of God beares witnesse with my spirit that thus reconciled to my God I am now guilty of nothing S. Bernard defines the Conscience thus Inseparabilis gloria vel confusio uniuscujusque pro qualitate depositi It is that inseparable glory or that inseparable confusion which every soule hath according to that which is deposited and laid up in it Now what is deposited and laid up in it Naturally hereditarily patrimonially Con-reatus sayes that Father from our first Parents a fellow-guiltinesse of their sin and they have left us sons and heires of the wrath and indignation of God and that is the treasure they have laid up for us Against this God hath provided Baptisme and Baptisme washes away that sin for as we doe nothing to our selves in Baptisme but are therein meerely passive so neither did we any thing our selves in Originall sin but therein are meerely passive too and so the remedy Baptisme is proportioned to the disease Originall sin But originall sin being thus washed away we make a new stocke we take in a new depositum a new treasure Actuall and habituall sins and therein much being done by our selves against God into the remedy there must enter something to be done by our selves and something by God And therefore we bring water to his wine true teares of repentance to his true blood in the Sacrament and so receive the seales of our reconciliation and having done that we may boldly say unto God Doe not condemne me Iob 10.2 shew me wherefore thou contendest with me When we have said as he doth I have sinned Iob 7.20 what shall I doe to thee And have done that that he hath ordained we may say also as he doth O thou preserver of men why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity Why doest thou suffer me to faint and pant under this sad apprehension that all is not yet well betweene my soule and thee We are far from encouraging any man to antidate his pardon to presume his pardon to be passed before it is But when it is truly passed the seales of Reconciliation there is Dolus in spiritu Guile and deceit in that spirit nay it is the spirit of falshood and deceit it selfe that will not suffer us to injoy that pardon which God hath sealed to us but still maintaine jealousies and suspition between God and us My heart is not opener to God then the bowels of his mercy are to me And to accuse my selfe of sin after God hath pardoned me were as great a contempt of God as to presume of that pardon before he had granted it and so much a greater as it is directed against his greatest attribute his Mercy Si apud Deum deponas injuriam Tertul. ipse ultor erit Lay all the injuries that thou sufferest at Gods feet and hee will revenge them Si damnum ipse restituet Lay all thy losses there and he will repaire them Si dolorem ipse medicus Lay downe all thy diseases there and he shall heale thee Si mortem ipse resuscitator Dye in his armes and he shall breath a new life into thee Add wee to Tertullian Si peccata ipse sepeliet lay thy sins in his wounds and he shall bury them so deepe that onely they shall never have resurrection The Sun shall set and have a to morrows resurrection Herbs shall have a winter death and a springs resurrection Thy body shall have a long winters night and then a resurrection Onely thy sins buried in the wounds of thy Saviour shall never have resurrection And therefore take heed of that deceit in the spirit of that spirit of deceit that makes thee impute sins to thy selfe when God imputes them not But rejoyce in Gods generall forgiving of Transgressions That Christ hath dyed for all multiply thy joy in the covering of thy sin That Christ hath instituted a Church in which that generall pardon is made thine in particular And exalt thy joy in the not imputing of iniquity in that serenity that tranquillity that God shall receive thee at thy last houre in thy last Bath the sweat of death as lovingly as acceptably as innocently as he received thee from thy first Bath the laver of Regeneration the font in Baptisme Amen SERM. LVII Preached upon the Penitentiall Psalmes PSAL. 32.3 4. When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me my moysture is turned into the drought of Summer Selah ALL wayes of teaching are Rule and Example And though ordinarily the Rule be first placed yet the Rule it selfe is made of Examples And when a Rule would be of hard digestion to weake understandinge Example concocts it and makes it easie for Example in matter of Doctrine is as Assimilation in matter of Nourishment The Example makes that that is proposed for our learning and farther instruction like something which we knew before as Assimilation makes that meat which we have received and digested like those parts which are in our bodies before David was the sweet singer of Israel shall we say Gods Precentor His sonne Solomon was the powerfull Preacher of Israel shall we say Gods Chaplain Both of them excellent abundantly super-abundantly excellent in both those wayes of Teaching Poet and Preacher proceed in these wayes in both Rule and Example the body and soule of Instruction So this Psalme is qualified in the Title
or of remporall blessings doe but destroy us But God begun the new world the Christian Church with water too with the Sacrament of Baptisme Pursue his Example begin thy Regeneration with teares If thou have frozen eyes thou hast a frozen heart too If the fires of the Holy Ghost cannot thaw thee in his promises the fire of hell will doe it much lesse which is a fire of obduration not of liquefaction and does not melt a soule to poure it out into a new and better form but hardens it nails it confirmes it in the old Christ bids you take heed Mat. 24.20 that your flight be not in winter That your transgmigration out of this world be not in cold dayes of Indevotion nor in short dayes of a late repentance Take heed too that your flight be not in such a summer as this That your transmigration out of this world be not in such a drought of summer as David speaks of here that the soule have lost her Humidum radicale all her tendernesse or all expressing of that tendernesse in the sense of her transgressions So did David see himselfe so did he more fore-see in others that should farther incurre Gods displeasure then he by Gods good nesse had done this exsiccatian this incineration of body and soule sinne burnes and turnes body and soule to a Cinder but not such a Cinder but that they can and shall both burne againe and againe and for ever And the dangerous effect of this silence and roaring Ossa Naturalia Drut 29.5 David expresses in another phrase too Inveter averunt ossa That his bones were waxen old and consumed for so that word Balah signifies Your Clothes are not waxed old upon you nor your shooes waxed old upon your feet In the Consuming of these Bones as our former Translation hath it the vehemence of the Affliction is presented and in the waxing old the continuance Here the Rule fayls Si longa levis sigravis brevis Calamities that last long are light and if they be heavy they are short both wayes there is some intimation of some ease But God suffers not this sinner to injoy that ease God will lay inough upon his body to kill another in a weeke and yet he shall pant many yeares under it As the way of his Blessing is Apprehendet tritura vindemiam Lâ—vit 26. Your vintage shall reach to your threshing and your threshing to your sowing So in an impenitent sinner his fever shall reach to a frenzy his frenzy to a consumption his consumption to a penury and his penury to a wearying and tyring out of all that are about him and all the sins of his youth shall meet in the anguish of his body But that is not all Ossa Spiricualia Etiam animae membra sunt sayes S. Basil The soule hath her Bones too And those are our best actions Those which if they had been well done might have been called Good works and might have met us in heaven But when a man continues his beloved sinne when he is in doloso spiritu and deals with God in false measures and false waights makes deceitfull Confessions to God his good works shall doe him no good his Bones are consumed not able to beare him upright in the sight of God This David sees in himselfe and foresees in others and he sees the true reason of all this Quia aggravata manus Because the hand of God lyes heavy upon him which is another branch of his Confession It was the safety of the Spouse Aggravata manus Câ—at 2.6 Gregor That his left hand was under her head and that his right hand embraced her And it might well be her safety for Per laevam vita pr aesens per dextram aeterna designatur sayes S. Gregory His left hand denotes this and his right the other life Our happinesse in this our assurance of the next consists in this that we are in the hands of God But here in our Text Gods hand was heavy upon him and that is an action of pushing away and keeping downe And then when we see the great power and the great indignation of God upon the Egyptians Exed 8.19 is expressed but so Digitus Dei the finger of God is in it how heavy an affliction must this of David be esteemed Quando aggravata manus when his whole hand was and was heavy upon him Here then is one lesson for all men and another peculiar to the children of God This appertains to all That when they are in silentio in a seared and stupid forgetting of their sinnes or in Doloso spiritu in half-Confessions half-abjurations half-detestations of their sinnes The hand of God will grow heavy upon them Tell you your children of it sayes the Prophet and let your children tell their children and let their children tell another generation for this belongs to all That which is left of the Palmer worme the Grashopper shall eat and that that he leaves the Canker worme shall eat and the residue of the Canker worme the Caterpiller The hand of God shall grow heavy upon a silent sinner in his body in his health and if he conceive a comfort that for all his sicknesse he is rich and therefore cannot fayle of helpe and attendance there comes another worme and devours that faithlesnesse in persons trusted by him oppressions in persons that have trusted him facility in undertaking for others corrupt Judges heavy adversaries tempests and Pirats at Sea unseasonable or ill Markets at land costly and expensive ambitions at Court one worme or other shall devoure his riches that he eased himselfe upon If he take up another Comfort that though health and wealth decay though he be poore and weake yet he hath learning and philosophy and morall constancy and he can content himselfe with himselfe he can make his study a Court and a few Books shall supply to him the society and the conversation of many friends there is another worme to devoure this too the hand of divine Justice shall grow heavy upon him in a sense of an unprofitable retirednesse in a disconsolate melancholy and at last in a stupidity tending to desperation This belongs to all to all Non-confitents That thinke not of confessing their sinnes at all To all Semi-confitents that confesse them to halfs without purpose of amendment Aggravabitur manus The hand of God will grow heavy upon them every way and stop every issue every posterne every saly every means of escape But that which is peculiar to the Children of God is That when the hand of God is upon them they shall know it to be the hand of God and take hold even of that oppressing hand and not let it goe till they have received a Blessing from it that is raysed themselves even by that heavy and oppressing hand of his even in that affliction Psal 82. Psal 77. Habak 3.16 That when God shall fill their faces with shame yet they
but Himselfe so as if they be lost he is lost How long will a Medall a piece of Coine lie in the water before the stampe be washed off and yet how soone is the Image of God of his patience his longanimity defaced in us by every billow every affliction But for the Saints of God it shall not be so Surely it shall not They shall stand against the waters Psal 11 43. And the Sea shall see it and fly and Iordan shall be turned backe And the world shall say What ayled thee O Sea that thou fleddest O Iordan that thou turnedst back For they that know not the power of the Almighty though they envy yet shall wonder and stand amazed at the deliverance of the righteous Sto pulso sayes God of himselfe I stand at the doore and knocke Rev. 3.22 God will not breake open doores to give thee a blessing as well as he loves thee and as well as he loves it but will have thee open to him much more will he keepe Tentations at the doore They shall not breake in upon thee except thou open This then was that which David elsewhere apprehended with feare The sorrowes of the grave compassed me about Psal 1â— 5. and the snares of death overtooke mee Here they were neare him but no worse Psal 69 15. This is that that hee prayes deliverance from Let not the water flood drowne mee neither let the deepe swallow me up And this is that God assures us all that are his Isâ—y 43.2 When thou passest through the waters I will bee with thee and through the floods that they doe not overflow thee Maintaine therefore a holy patience in all Gods visitations Accept your waters though they come in teares for hee that sends them Christ Jesus had his flood his inundation in Blood and whatsoever thou sufferest from him thou sufferest for him and glorifiest him in that constancy Upon those words Tres sunt There are three that beare witnesse That Spirit and water and blood Bernard S. Bernard taking water there by way of allusion for affliction saith Though the Spirit were witnesse enough without water or blood yet Vix aut nunquam inveniri arbitror Spiritum sine aqua sanguine we lack one of the seales of the Spirit if we lack Gods corrections We consider three waters in our blessed Saviour He wept over Jerusalem Doe thou so over thy finfull soule He sweat in the garden Doe thou so too in eating thy bread in the sweat of thy browes in labouring fincerely in thy Calling And then hee sent water and blood out of his side Argust being dead which was fons utriusque Sacramenti the spring head of both Sacraments Doe thou also refresh in thy soule the dignity which thou receivedst in the first Sacrament of Baptisme and thereby come worthily to the participation of the second and therein the holy Ghost shall give thee the seale of that security which he tenders to thee in this Text Non approximabunt How great water floods soever come they shall not come nigh thee not nigh that which is Thou that is thy faith thy soule and though it may swallow that by which thou art a man thy life it shall not shake that by which thou art a Christian thy Religion Amen SERM. LX. Preached upon the Penitentiall Psalmes PSAL. 32.7 Thou art my hiding place Thou shalt preserve mee from trouble Thou shalt compasse me about with songs of deliverance AS Rhetorique is said to bee a fist extended and displayed into an open Hand And Logique a Hand recollected and contracted into a fist So the Church of God may be said to be a soule dilated and diffused into many Congregations and a soule may be said to be the Church contracted and condensed into one bosome So not onely the Canticle of Solomon is taken indifferently by the ancient and later Expositors by some for an Epithalamion and marriage Song betweene Christ and his Church by others for the celebration of the same union between every Christian soule and him but also many other places of Scripture have received such an indifferent interpretation and are left in suspence whether they be to be understood of the Church in generall or of particular soules And of this nature and number is this Text Thou art my hiding place c. For S. Hierom takes these words and the whole Psalme to be spoken collectively others distributively He in the person of the Church Hieron They of every or at least of some particular soules To examine their reasons is unnecessary and would bee tedious It will aske lesse time and afford more profit to consider the words both wayes In them therefore considered twice over wee shall see a threefold state of the Christian Church and a threefold mercy exhibited by God to every Christian soule First we shall see the Church under the clouds in her low estate in her obscurity in her inglorious state of contempt and persecution and yet then supported by an assurance that God overshadowed her Tu absconsio Tu latibulum Thou art my hiding place And in that first part wee shall consider the state of a timorous soule a soule that for feare of tentations dares scarce looke into the world or embrace a profession Secondly we shall see the Church emancipated enfranchised unfettered unmanacled delivered from her obscure and inglorious state and brought to splendor and beauty and peace blessing God in that acknowledgement Thou shalt preserveme from trouble And in that part wee shall consider the state of that soule exalted to a holy confidence and assurance that though she come into the world and partake of the dangers thereof in opening herselfe to such tentations as do necessarily and inseparably accompany every calling yet the Lord will preserve her from trouble And thirdly and lastly we shall see a kinde of Triumphant state in the Church in this world a holy exultation God shall compasse her with songs of deliverance In which part we shall also see the blessed state of that soule which is come not to a presumptuous security but to modest certainty of continuing in the same state still And these will bee our three parts in these words as they receive a publike accommodation to the Church and a more particular application to our selves Wee enter into these considerations with this observation 1 Part. That as God himselfe is eternall and cannot bee considered in the distinction of times so hath that language in which God hath spoken in his written word the Hebrew the least consideration of Time of any other language Evermore in expressing the mercies of God to man it is an indifferent thing to the holy Ghost whether he speak in the present or in the future or in the time that is past what mercies soever he hath given us he will give us over againe And whatsoever he hath done and will doe hee is alwayes ready to doe at
care is of the man and the soule is the man first a hedge about him and then about his house and about all that he had on every side Job 1.10 So day after day we shall finde arguments to establish our hearts in hope that the Lord hath compassed us and nothing shall breake in so as to take us from him but God shall say to us as to his former people Leva in circuitu oculos tuos Lift up thine eyes round about Esay 49.18 and behold which is one great comfort that he enables us to see and to know our enemies to discerne a tentation to be a tentation Omnes isti congregati sunt All these gather themselves together and come to thee which is another assistance that when we see our enemies multiply and that there is none that fighteth for us but onely thou O God we make a more present recourse to him But Vivo ego dicit Dominus As I live saith the Lord Velut ornamento vestieris thou shalt surely cloathe thee with them all as with an ornament and binde them on thee as a Bride doth which is the fulnesse of the mercy That as in another place he promises his children Panis vester sunt your enemies shall be your Bread Numb 14.9 you shall feed upon your enemies So here hee makes our enemies even our spirituall enemies our Cloathes and more then that our Jewels our Ornaments wee shall bee the stronger the warmer the richer by tribulations and tentations having overcome them as we shall if the Lord compasse us if he continue his watchfulnesse over us And that David sayes here first in the Churches behalfe God from the beginning carried a wall about his Church in that assurance Primitiva Mat. 16.18 Portae inferi The gates of hell shall not prevaile against it The Gentiles the Philosophers that were without the Church found a party Traitors Conspirators within The Heretiques and all these led and maintained by potent Princes that persecuted the Church The gates of hell were all opened and issued all her forces but Non praevaluerunt they never prevailed The Arians were sometimes more then the true Christians in all the world The Martyrians a sect that affected the name of Martyrdome could name more Martyrs then the true Church could but Evanuerunt yet they vanished The Emperours of Rome persecuted the Bishops of Rome to death yet when we looke upon the reckoning the Emperors died faster then Bishops Thou hast compassed me sayes the Primitive Church and so sayes the Reformed too Princes that hated one another have joyned in leagues against the Religion Reformata Princes that needed their Subjects have spent their Subjects by thousands in Massacres to extinguish the Religion Personall Assasinates Clandestine plots by poyson by fire by water have been multiplied against Princes that favour the Religion Inquisitions Confiscations Banishments Dishonours have overflowne them that professe the true Religion and yet the Lord compassing his Church she enjoyes a holy certainty arising out of these testimonies of his care that she shall never be forsaken And this may every good soule have too God comes to us without any purpose of departing from us againe Anima For the Spirit of life that God breated into man that departs from man in death but when God had assumed the nature of man the God-head never parted from that nature no not in death When Christ lay dead in the grave the God-head remained united to that body and that soule which were dis-united in themselves God was so united to man as that he was with man when man was not man in the state of death So when the Spirit of God hath invested compassed thy soule and made it his by those testimonies that Spirit establishes it in a kinde of assurance that he will never leave it Old Rome had as every City amongst the Heathen had certaine gods which they called their Tutelar gods gods that were affected to the preservation of that place But they durst never call upon those gods by their proper names for feare of losing them lest if their names should bee knowne by their enemies their enemies should winne away their gods from them by bestowing more cost or more devotion towards them then they themselves used So also is it said of them that when they had brought to Rome a forraigne god which they had taken in a conquered place Victory they cut the wings of their new god Victory lest he should flie from them againe This was a misery that they were not sure of their gods when they had them We are If he once come to us he never goes from us out of any variablenesse in himselfe but in us onely That promise reaches to the whole Church Esay 30.20 and to every particular soule Thy Teachers shall not bee removed into a corner any more but thine eye shall see thy Teachers which in the Originall as is appliably to our present purpose noted by Rabbi Moses is Non erunt Doctores tui alati Thy Teachers shall have no wings They shall never flie from thee and so the great Translation reads it Non avolabunt As their great god Victory could not flie from Rome so after this victory which God hath given his Church in the Reformation none of her Teachers should flie to or towards Rome Every way that God comes to us he comes with a purpose to stay and would imprint in us an assurance that he doth so and that Impression is this Compassing of thy soule with songs of deliverance in the signification and use of which word we shall in one word conclude all God hath given us this certitude Songs this faire assurance of his perpetuall residence with us in a word of a double signification The word is Ranan which signifies Joy exultation singing Lament 2.14 Psal 17.1 But it hath another sense too Arise Cry out in the night And Attend unto my cry which are voyces far from singing This God meanes therein That though he give us that comfort to sit and sing of our Deliverance yet hee would not have us fall asleepe with that musique but as when we contemplate his everlasting goodnesse wee celebrate that with a constant Joy so when we looke upon our owne weaknesse and unworthinesse we cry out Wretched men that wee are who shall deliver us from this body of death For though we have the Spirit of life in us we have a body of death upon us How loving soever my soule be it will not stay in a diseased body How loving soever the Spirit of life be it will not stay in a diseased soule My soule is loath to goe from my body but sicknesse and paine will drive it out so will sinne the Spirit of life from my soule God compasses us with Songs of Deliverance we are sure he would not leave us But he compasses us with Cries too we are afraid we are sure that we
consider us study us And that with his eye which is the sharpest and most sensible organ and instrument soonest feeles if any thing be amisse and so inclines him quickly to rectifie us And so this third part is an Instruction De sperandis it hath evermore a relation to the future to the constancy and perseverance of Gods goodnesse towards us to the end and in the end he will guide us with his eye Except the eye of God can be put out we cannot be put out of his sight and his care So that both our fraight which we are to take in that is what we are to beleeve concerning God And the voyage which we are to make how we are to steere and governe our course that is our behaviour and conversation in the houshold of the faithfull And then the Haven to which we must goe that is our assurance of arriving at the heavenly Jerusalem are expressed in this Chart in this Map in this Instruction in this Text I will Instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt goe I will guide thee with mine eye And when you have done all this Beleeved aright and lived according to that beliefe and died according to that life in the last voyce Surgite you shall finde a Venite as soone as you are called from the dust of the grave you shall Enter into your Masters joy and be no more called servants but friends no more friends but sons no more sons but heires no more heires but coheires with the only Son of God no more coheires but Idem Spiritus The same Spirit with the Lord. First then 1. Part. Instruit the office which God by his blessed Spirit through us in his Church undertakes is to Instruct And this being done so by God himselfe God sending his Spirit his Spirit working in his Ministers his Ministers labouring in his Church it is strange that S. Paul speaking so in the name of God and his Spirit and his Ministers and his Church should be put to intreat his hearers To suffer a word of exhortation Yet he is Heb. 13.22 I besech yee brethren suffer a word of Exhortation And the strangenesse of the case is exalted in this that the word there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solatii and so the Vulgat reads it and justly Vt sufferatis verbum solatii I bescech yee to suffer a word of Comfort What will yee heare willingly if yee doe not willingly heare words of Comfort With what shall we exercise your holy joy and chearfulnesse if even words of Comfort must exercise your patience And yet we must beseech you to suffer even our words of comfort for we can propose no true comfort unto you but such as carries some irkesomenesse some bitternesse with it we can create no true joy no true acquiescence in you without some exercise of your patience too We cannot promise you peace with God without a war in your selves nor reconciliation to him without falling out with your selves nor eternall joy in the next world without a solemne remorse for the sinfull abuses of this We cannot promise you a good to morrow without sending ye backe to the consideration of an ill yesterday for your hearing to day is not enough except ye repent yesterday But yet though with S. Paul we be put to beseech you Vt sufferatis That ye would suffer Instruction though we must sometimes exercise your patience yet it is but verbum instructionis a word of Instruction and though Instruction be Increpation for as the word is Solatium Comfort so we have told you it is it is Increpation too for all true comfort hath Increpation in it yet it may easily be suffered because it is but verbum but a word a word and away We would not dwell upon increpations and chidings and bitternesses we would pierce but so deepe as might make you search your wounds when you come home to your Chamber to bring you to a tendernesse there not to a palenesse or blushing here Wee never stay so long upon denouncing the judgements of God but that we would as faine as you be at an end of that Paragraph of that period of that point that we might come into a calme and into a Lee-shore and tell you of the mercies of God in Christ Jesus You may suffer Instruction though Instruction be increpation for it is but a word of instruction we have soone done and you may suffer them because they are but Verba not Verbera They are but words and not blowes It is not Traditio Satanae a delivering you up to Satan it is not the confusion of face nor consternation of spirit nor a jealousie and suspition of Gods good purpose upon you that we would induce by our Instruction though it be Increpation but onely a sense of your sins and of the Majesty of God violated by them and so to a better capacity of this Instruction which the Holy Ghost here presents In credendis in those things which you are bound to beleeve of which his first degree is Intelligere te faciam He will make ye understand he will worke upon your understanding for so much as we noted to you at first doth that word which we Translate here I will Instruct thee comprehend Oportet accedentem credere The Apostle seemes to make that our first step In intellectu Heb. 11.6 Hee that comes to God must beleeve So it is our first step to God To beleeve but there is a step towards God before it come to faith which is to understand God works first upon the understanding God proceeds in our conversion and regeneration as he did in our first Creation There man was nothing but God breathed not a soule into that nothing but of a clod of earth he made a body and into that body infused a soule Man in his Conversion is nothing does nothing His bodie is not verier dust in the grave till a Resurrection then his soule is dust in his body till a resuscitation by grace But then this grace does not worke upon this nothingnesse that is in man upon this meere privation but Grace finds out mans naturall faculties and exalts them to a capacity and a susciptiblenesse of the working thereof and so by the understanding infuses faith Therefore God begins his Instruction here at the understanding and he does not say at first Faciam te credere I will make thee to beleeve but Faciam te intelligere I will make thee understand That then being Gods Method To make us understand certainely those things which belong to our Salvation are not In-intelligibilia not In-intelligible un-understandable Tertul. un-conceiveavable things but the Articles of faith are discernible by Reason For though Reason cannot apprehend that a Virgin should have a Son or that God should be made Man and dye if we put our Reason primarily and immediately upon the Article single for so it is the object of faith
you were so well as the Horse and the Mule who though they have no understanding have no forfeiture no losse no abuse of understanding to answer for First then the Horse Superbus The proud man hath no understanding He hath forgot his letters his Alphabet how he was spelled and put together and made of body and soule You may as well call him an Anatomist that knowes how to pare a naile or cut a corne or him a Surgeon that knowes how to cut and curle haire as allow him understanding that knowes how to gather riches or how to buy an Office or how to hurt and oppresse others when he hath those meanes That absurdity that height of strange ignorance that the Prophet observes in an Idolatrous Image-maker Esay 44.16 is in this proud man He burnes halfe in the fire and the residue he makes a god He hath seene as great estates as his burne to ashes as great persons as himselfe ruined and destroyed burne out and vanish into sparks and stinking smoake He hath seene halfe his owne time burnt out and wasted and yet hee dreames of an eternity in himselfe He sayes I am and none else hee will not say so to me in expresse words but does hee not say so to the whole world in his manifest actions The Horse then Mulus The proud man hath no understanding and the Mule the licentious man as little The Ancients had a purpose to expresse that when they placed by their Goddesse of Licentiousnesse Venus A Tortoyse A Creature that had no heart capable of no understanding Gen. 19. And it is better expressed in those licentious persons who pursued Lots guests Their blindnesse brought them to an impossibility of finding the doore They were weary in seeking the doore And if they had found it they had sound it shut A man that hath wallowed long in that sin when he seekes a doore to repentance he will quickly be weary for there lie hard conditions upon him and he is in danger of finding the doore so shut as his understanding and that is all his key cannot open Hee will make shift for reasons why he should continue in that sin and he will call it ill nature or falshood or breach of promise and inconstancy to depart from the Conversation that nourishes that sin The doore will be shut and his Reason cannot nay his Reason would not open it but rather plead in the sins behalfe Thus far our first reason hath carried us Doe it not least you loose your understanding The field of that blessed seed The tree of that fruitfull graft The materials for that glorious building Faith For the understanding is the receptacle of Faith But doe it not the rather because if ye do it God will be brought to a necessity In chamo fraeno maxillas constringere to hold in your mouths with bit and bridle to come to hard usage when as he would faine have you reduced by faire and gentle meanes But to this way God is often brought and by this way of affliction the cure is sometimes wrought upon us S. Augustine proposes to himselfe a wonder why the first woman was called at first Gen. 2.23 and in her best state but Isha Virago which was a name of diminution as she was taken from the man for Isha is but a shee-man And then in her worse state when she had sinned Gen. 3.20 she was called Eva Mater viventium The Mother of all living she had a better name in her worst estate But this was not in respect of her sin sayes that Father but in respect of her punishment Now that she was become mortall by a sentence of death pronounced upon her and knew that she must dye and resolve to dust now sayes he there was no danger in her of growing proud by any glorious title affliction had tamed her and rectified her now and to that purpose sometimes does God bit and bridle us with afflictions that our corrupt affections might not transport us 2 Sam. 14. Wee finde that Absolom sent for Ioab The Kings Son for the Kings servant There was coldnesse some drinesse betweene Absolom and his Father Absolom was under a cloud at Court and so Ioab neglected him he would not come Absolom sent againe and againe Ioab refused But then Absolom sent his servants to burne Ioabs Corne fields and then Ioab came apace Affliction and calamity are the bit and the bridle that God puts into our mouth sometimes to turne us to him Behold we put bits into the horses mouthes that they should obey us Iam. 3.3 and we turne all the body about And to this belongs that A whip for the Horse a bridle for the Asse and a rod for the fooles back When we are become fooles made like the Horse and Mule that we have no understanding then God bits and bridles us he whips and scourges us sometimes lest our desires should mislead us a wrong way sometimes if they have to turne us into the right way againe But here in our text it is Ne approximent te Their mouths must be held with bit and bridle lest they come neere unto thee When God by their incorrigibility have given over all care of them Ne approximent yet hee takes care of us of his Servants of his Church and he bits and bridles his and our enemies so as that they shall not come neare us they shall not hurt us So God said to Senacherib Because thou ragest against me God was far enough out of Senacheribs reach 2 King 19.28 but God accounts his Jerusalem as Heaven and his Hezekias as himselfe Because thy rage is against me I will put my hooke into thy nose and my bridle in thy lips and will turne thee back by the way by which thou camest When man is become as the Horse proud of his strength In chamo et fraeno God shall bit him and bridle him so as that he shall be able to doe no harme and certainely the godly have not a greater joy when they are able to do good to others then the wicked have sorrow when having power in their hands yet they are not able to execute their mischievous purposes upon them that they hate Satan was glad of any Commission upon Iob because God made a hedge about him and about his house Ne approximaret That Satan could not come neare him He was glad God gave him power to annoy him any way but sorry that he exempted his person in that first Commission Onely upon himselfe put not forth thy hand He was glad that in a second Commission God did lay open his person to his power but sorry that he excepted his life Iob 2.6 Behold he is in thy hand but save his life For till the wicked come to an utter destruction of their enemies they thinke it no approximation They are never come neare enough to them And In chamo fraeno therfore God bits
themselves Be glad Rejoyce and Shout for joy Which joy is first an inward love of the Law of God Glad Psal 119.111 Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the joy of my heart It is not Dant but Sunt not that they Bring joy but that they Are joy There is no other joy but the delight in the Law of the Lord For all other joy the Wise King said Eccles 2.2 Of laughter thou art mad and of joy what is this that thou dost True joy is the earnest which we have of heaven It is the treasure of the soule and therefore should be laid in a safe place and nothing in this world is safe to place it in And therefore with the Spouse we say Cant. 1.4 We will be glad in thee we will remember thy love more then wine Let others seek their joy in wine in society in conversation in musique for mee Thou hast put gladnesse into my heart more then in the time that their corne and their wine increased Rejoyce therefore in the Lord alwayes Rejoyce Phil. 4.4 and againe I say rejoyce Againe that is Rejoyce in the second manner of expressing it by externall declarations Goe chearfully and joyfully forward in the works of your callings Rejoyce in the blessings of God without murmuring or comparing with others And establish thy joy so in an honest and religious manner of getting that thy joy may descend to thine heire as well as thy land No land is so well fenced no house so well furnished as that which hath this joy this testimony of being well gotten Job 20.4 For This thou knowest of old since man was placed upon earth that the Triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the Hypocrite but for a moment And then the last degree is louder then this Iubilate Shout for joy Iubilate Declare thy joy in the eares of other men As the Angels said to the Shepheards Luke 2. I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be unto all people So be thou a chearfull occasion of glorifying God by thy joy Declare his loving kindnesse unto the sons of men Tell them what he hath done for thy soule thy body thy state Say With this staffe came I over Iordane Be content to tell whose Son thou wast and how small thy beginning Smother not Gods blessings by making thy selfe poore when he who is truly poore begges of thee for that Gods sake who gave thee all that thou hast Hold up a holy chearfulnesse in thy heart Goe on in a chearfull conversation and let the world see that all this growes out of a peace betwixt God and thee testified in the blessings of this world and then thou art that Person and then thou hast that Portion which growes out of this root in this Text Mercy shall compasse him about that trusteth in the Lord. SERM. LXIV Preached upon the Penitentiall Psalmes PSAL. 51.7 Purge me with Hyssope and I shall be cleane wash me and I shall bewhiter then snow IN the Records of the growth and propagation of the Christian Church The Ecclesiasticall Story we have a relation of one Pambo an unlearned but devout and humble Ermit who being informed of another man more learned then himselfe that professed the understanding and teaching of the Book of Psalmes sought him out and applied himselfe to him to be his Disciple And taking his first lesson casually at the first verse of the thirty ninth Psalme I will take heed to my wayes that I sin not with my tongue He went away with that lesson with a promise to returne againe when he was perfect in that And when he discontinued so long that his Master sometimes occasionally lighting upon him accused him of this slacknesse for almost twenty yeares together he made severall excuses but at last professed that at the end of those twenty yeares he was not yet perfect in his first lesson in that one verse I will take heed to my wayes that I sinne not with my tongue Now that which made this lesson hard unto him was that it employed all his diligence and his watchfulnesse upon future things to examine and debate all his actions and all his words for else he did not take heed to his wayes at least not so as that hee would not sin with his tongue But if he had begun with this lesson with this Psalme which is but a calling to our memory that which is past The sinfull employment of that time which is gone and shall not returne The sinfull heats of our youth which since we wanted remorsefull teares to quench them even the sin it selfe and the excesse thereof hath overcome and allayed in us sinfull omissions sinfull actions and habits and all those transitory passages in which the Apostle shewes us our prodigality our unthriftinesse our ill bargaine when he askes us that question of Confusion Rom. 6.21 What fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed If he had begun his first lesson at this with the presenting of all his passed sins in the sight of the Father and in the Mediation and merit of the Sonne he would have been sonner perfect in that lesson and would have found himselfe even by laying open his disease so purged with Hyssop as that he should have been cleane and so washed as that he should have been whiter then snow For Repentance of sins past is nothing but an Audit a casting up of our accounts a consideration a survey how it stands between God and our soule And yet as many men run out of plentifull estates onely because they are loath to see a list of their debts to take knowledge how much they are behind hand or to contract their expenses so we run out of a whole and rich inheritance the Kingdome of heaven we profuse and poure out even our own soule rather then we will cast our eye upon that which is past rather then we will present a list of our spirituall debts to God or discover our disease to that Physician who onely can Purge us with hyssope that we may be cleane and wash us that wee may be whiter then snow In the words we shall consider the Person Divisio and the Action who petitions and what he asks Both are twofold for the persons are two the Physitian and the Patient God and David Doe thou purge me doe thou wash me and the Action is twofold Purgabis doe thou purge me and Lavabis doe thou wash me In which last part and in the first branch thereof wee shall see first the Action it selfe Purgabis Thou shalt purge mee and what that imports And then the meanes Purgabis hyssopo Thou shalt purge me with hyssope what that implies and then the effect Mundaber I shall bee made cleane and what that comprehends And in the other branch of that second part Lavabis Thou shalt wash me wee shall also looke
upon the Action on Gods part Lavabis Thou shalt wash mee and the Effect on our part Dealbabor I shall be white and the Degree the Extent the Exaltation of that Emundation that Dealbation that Cleansing supra nivem I shall be whiter then snow And then we shall conclude all with that consideration That though in the first part we finde two persons in action for God works but man prayes that God would worke yet in the other part the worke it selfe Though the worke bee divers a purging and then a washing of the soule the whole worke is Gods alone David doth not say no man can say Doe thou purge me and then I will wash my selfe nor doe thou make the Medicine and I will bring the Hyssope nor doe thou but wash mee begin the worke and I will goe forward with it and perfit it and make my selfe whiter then snow but the intire worke is his who onely can infuse the desire and onely accomplish that desire who onely gives the will and the ability to second and execute that will He He purges me or I am still a vessell of peccant humors His His is the hyssope or there is Mors in olla Death in the cup He He washes me or I am still in my blood He He exalts that cleannesse which his his washing hath indued or I returne againe to that red earth which I brought out of Adams bowels Therefore Doe thou purge mee with Hyssope and I shall be cleane Do thou wash me and I shal be whiter then snow First then 1. Part. for our first part wee consider the persons Of these God is the first Esay spoke boldly Deus saith the Apostle when hee said God is found by them that seeke him not But still we continue in that humble boldnesse Rom. 10.20 to say God is best found when we seeke him and observe him in his operation upon us God gives audiences and admits accesses in his solemne and publike and out-roomes in his Ordinances In his Cabinet in his Bed-chamber in his unrevealed purposes wee must not presse upon him It was ill taken in the Roman State when men enquired in Arcana Imperii the secrets of State by what wayes and meanes publike businesses were carried Private men were to rest in the generall effects peace and protection and Justice and the like and to enquire no more But to enquire in Arcana Domus what was done in the Bed-chamber was criminall capitall inexcusable We must abstaine from enquiring De modo how such or such things are done in many points in which it is necessary to us to know that such things are done As the maner of Christs presence in the Sacrament and the maner of Christs descent into Hell for these are Arcana Imperii secrets of State for the maner is secret though the thing bee evident in the Scriptures But the entring into Gods unrevealed and bosome-purposes are Arcana domus a man is as farre from a possibility of attaining the knowledge as from an excuse for offering at it That curiosity will bring a man to that blasphemy of Alfonsus King of Castile the great Astronomer who said That if hee had beene of Gods Counsell in the creation of the world hee could have directed him to have done many things better then he did They that looke too farre into Gods unrevealed purposes are seldome content with that that they thinke God hath done but stray either into an uncharitable condemning of other men or into a jealous a suspitious a desperate condemning of themselves Here in this first branch of this first part wee seeke God and because we seeke him where he hath promised to be we are sure to find him Because we joyne with David in an humble confession of our sins the Lord joyns us with David in a fruition of himselfe And more of that first Person God himselfe we say not but passe to the other to the petitioner to the penitent to the patient to David himselfe His example is so comprehensive so generall that as a well made David and well placed Picture in a Gallery looks upon all that stand in severall places of the Gallery in severall lines in severall angles so doth Davids history concerne and embrace all For his Person includes all states betweene a shepherd and a King and his sinne includes all sinne between first Omissions and complications of Habits of sin upon sin So that as S. Basil said hee needed no other Booke for all spirituall uses but the Psalmes so wee need no other Example to discover to us the slippery wayes into sin or the penitentiall wayes out of sin then the Author of that Booke David From his Example then we first deduce this That in the war-fare of this life there are no Emeriti milites none of that discipline that after certaine yeares spent in the warres a man should returne to ease and honour and security at home A man is not delivered from the tentation of Ambition by having overcome the heats and concupiscences of his youth nor from the tentation of Covetousnesse in his age by having escaped ambition and contented himselfe with a meane station in his middle yeares David whom neither a sudden growth into such degrees of greatnesse as could not have fallen into his thought or wish before nor the persecution of Saul which might have enraged him to a personall revenge considering how many advantages and occasions hee might have made shift to thinke that God had put into his hands to execute that revenge David whom neither the concourse and application of the people who tooke knowledge of him as of a rising Sun nor the interest and nearenesse in the love and heart of Ionathan the Kings Son which fals seldome upon a new and a popular man David whom not that highest place to which God had brought him in making him King nor that addition even to that highest place that he made him Successor to a King of whom the State was weary for as the Panegyrique sayes Onerosum est succedere bono principi It is a heavy thing and binds a Prince to a great diligence to come immediately after one whom his subjects loved So had David an ease in comming after one with whom the Kingdome was discontented David whom this sudden preferment and persecutions and popularity did not so shake but that wee may say of him as it is said of Iob That in all this height David did not sin nor in all these afflictions He did not charge God foolishly Though he had many victories he came not to a Triumph but him whom an Army and an armed Giant Goliah neare hand could not hurt a weaker person and naked and farre off overthrowes and ruines It is therefore but an imperfect comfort for any man to say I have overcome tentations to great sins and my sins have beene but of infirmity not of malice For herein more then in any other contemplation appeares the
of the state of the Christian Church There by the ordinary meanes exhibited there our Scarlet sins are made as white as Snow And the whitenesse of Snow is a whitenesse that no art of man can reach to So Christs garments in his Transfiguration are expressed to have beene as white as Snow Marke 9.3 so as no Fuller on earth could white them Nothing in this world can send me home in such a whitenesse no morall counsaile no morall comfort no morall constancy as Gods Absolution by his Minister as the profitable hearing of a Sermon the worthy receiving of the Sacrament do This is to be as white as snow In a good state for the present But David begs a whitenesse above Snow for Snow melts and then it is not white our present Sanctification withers and we lose that cheereful verdure the testimony of an upright conscience And Snow melted Snow water is the coldest water of all Devout men departed from their former fervor are the coldest and the most irreducible to true zeale true holinesse Therefore David who was metall tried seven times in the fire and desired to be such gold as might be laid up in Gods Treasury might consider that in transmutation of metals it is not enough to come to a calcination or a liquefaction of the metall that must be done nor to an Ablution to sever drosse from pure nor to a Transmutation to make it a better metall but there must be a Fixion a fettling thereof so that it shall not evaporate into nothing nor returne to his former nature Therefore he saw that he needed not only a liquefaction a melting into teares nor only an Ablution a Transmutation those he had by this purging and this washing this station in the Church of God and this present Sanctification there but he needed Fixionem an establishment which the comparison of Snow afforded not That as he had purged him with Hyssop and so cleansed him that is enwrapped him in the Covenant and made him a member of the true Church and there washed him so as that he was restored to a whitenesse that is made his Ordinances so effectuall upon him as that then he durst deliver his soule into his hands at that time So he would exalt that whitenesse above the whitenesse of Snow so as nothing might melt it nothing discolour it but that under the seale of his blessed Spirit he might ever dwell in that calme in that assurance in that acquiescence that as he is in a good state this minute he shall be in no worse whensoever God shall be pleased to translate him We end all the Psalmes in our service Conclusio those of Praise and those of Prayer too with a Gloria Patri Glory be to the Father c. For our conclusion of this Prayer in this Psalme we have reserved a Gloria Patri too This consideration for the glory of God that though in the first Part The Persons the persons were varied God and man yet in our second Part where we confider the worke the whole worke is put into Gods hand and received from Gods hand Let God be true and every man a liar Let God be strong and every man infirme Let God give and man but receive What man that hath no propriety therein can take a penny out of another mans house or a roote out of his Garden but the Law will take hold of him Hath any man a propriety in Grace what had he to give for it Nature Is Nature equivalent to Grace No man does refine and exalt Nature to the height it would beare but if naturall faculties were exalted to their highest is Nature a fit exchange for Grace and if it were is Nature our owne Why should we be loath to acknowledge to have all our ability of doing good freely from God and immediately by his grace when as even those faculties of Nature by which we pretend to do the offices of Grace we have from God himselfe too For that question of the Apostle involves all What hast thou that thou hast not received Thy naturall faculties are no more thine owne then the grace of God is thine owne I would not be beholden to God for Grace and I must be as much beholden to him for Nature if Nature do supply Grace Because he hath made thee to be a man he hath given thee naturall faculties because he hath vouchsafed thee to be a Christian he hath given thee meanes of Grace But as thy body conceived in thy Mothers wombe could not claime a soule at Gods hand nor wish a soule no nor know that there was a soule to be had So neither by being a man indued with naturall faculties canst thou claime grace or wish grace nay those naturall faculties if they be not pre-tincted with some infusion of Grace before cannot make thee know what Grace is or that Grace is To a child rightly disposed in the wombe God does give a soule To a naturall man rightly disposed in his naturall faculties God does give Grace But that Soule was not due to that child nor that grace to that man Therefore as we said at first David does not bring the Hyssop and pray God to make the potion but Doe thou purge me with Hyssop All is thine owne There was no pre-existent matter in the world when God made the world There is no pre-existent merit in man when God makes him his David does not say Do thou wash me and I will perfect thy worke Give me my portion of Grace and I will trouble thee for no more but deale upon that stocke But Qui sanctificatur sanctificetur adhuc Let him that is holy be more holy but accept his Sanctification from him of whom he had his Justification and except he can think to glorifie himself because he is sanctified let him not think to sanctifie himself because he is justified God does all Yet thus argues S. Augustin upon Davids words Tuus sum Domine Lord I am thine and therefore safer then they that thinke themselves their owne Every man can and must say I was thine Thine by Creation but few can say I am thine few that have not changed their Master But how was David his so especially sayes S. Augustine Quia quaesivi justificationes tuas as it followes there Because I sought thy Righteousnesse thy Justification But where did he seeke it Hee sought it and he found it in himselfe In himselfe as himselfe there was no good thing to be found how far soever he had sought But yet he found a Justification though of Gods whole making yet in himselfe So then this is our Act of Recognition we acknowledge God and God onely to doe all But we doe not so make him Soveraigne alone as that we leave his presence naked and empty Nor so make him King alone as that we depopulate his Country and leave him without Subjects Nor so leave all to Grace as that the naturall faculties
of man do not become the servants and instruments of that Grace Let all that we all seeke be who may glorifie God most and we shall agree in this That as the Pelagian wounds the glory of God deepely in making Naturall faculties joynt-Commissioners with Grace so do they diminish the glory of God too if any deny naturall faculties to be the subordinate servants and instruments of Grace for as Grace could not worke upon man to Salvation if man had not a faculty of will to worke upon because without that will man were not man so is this Salvation wrought in the will by conforming this will of man to the will of God not by extinguishing the will it selfe by any force or constraint that God imprints in it by his Grace God saves no man without or against his will Glory be to God on high and on earth Peace and Good will towards men And to this God of Glory the Father and this God of Peace and reconciliation the Son and this God of Good will and love amongst men the Holy Ghost be ascribed all praise c. PREBEND SERMONS Preached at St. PAULS The first of the Prebend of Cheswicks five Psalmes which five are appointed for that Prebend as there are five other for every other of our thirty Prebendaries SERM. LXV Preached at S. Pauls May 8. 1625. PSAL. 62.9 Surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lie To bee laid in the balance they are altogether lighter then vanity WE consider the dignity of the Booke of Psalmes either in the whole body together or in the particular limmes and distribution thereof Of the whole Body Basil it may be enough to tell you that which S. Basil saith That if all the other bookes of Scripture could perish there remained enough in the booke of Psalmes for the supply of all And therefore he cals it Amuletum ad profligandum daemonem Any Psalme is Exorcisme enough to expell any Devill Charme enough to remove any tentation Enchantment enough to ease nay to sweeten any tribulation It is abundantly enough that our Saviour Christ himselfe cites the Psalmes not onely as Canonicall Scripture but as a particular and entire and noble limme of that Body All must be fulfilled of me saith he which is written in the Law Luk. 24.44 in the Prophets and in the Psalmes The Law alone was the Sadduces Scripture they received no more The Law and the Prophets were especially the Scribes Scripture they interpreted that The Christians Scripture in the Old Testament is especially the Psalmes For except the Prophecy of Esay be admitted into the comparison no booke of the Old Testament is so like a Gospel so particular in all things concerning Christ as the Psalmes So hath the Booke of Psalmes an especiall dignity in the intire Body all together It hath so also in divers distributions thereof into parts For even amongst the Jewes themselves those fifteen Psalmes which follow immediatly and successively after the 119. Psalme were especially distinguished and dignified by the name of Graduall Psalmes Whether because they were sung upon the Degrees and staires ascending to the Altar Or because hee that read them in the Temple ascended into a higher and more eminent place to reade them Or because the word Graduall implies a degree of excellency in the Psalmes themselves I dispute not But a difference those fifteen Psalmes ever had above the rest in the Jewish and in the Christian Church too So also hath there beene a particular dignity ascribed to those seven Psalmes which we have ever called the Penitentiall Psalmes Of which S. Augustine had so much respect August as that he commanded them to be written in a great Letter and hung about the curtaines of his Death-bed within that hee might give up the ghost in contemplation and meditation of those seven Psalmes And it hath beene traditionally received and recommended by good Authors that that Hymne Matt. 26.30 which Christ and his Apostles are said to have sung after the Institution and celebration of the Sacrament was a Hymne composed of those six Psalmes which we call the Allelujah Psalmes immediatly preceding the hundred and nineteenth So then in the whole Body and in some particular limmes of the Body the Church of God hath had an especiall consideration of the booke of Psalmes This Church in which we all stand now and in which my selfe by particular obligation serve hath done so too In this Church by ancient Constitutions it is ordained That the whole booke of Psalmes should every day day by day bee rehearsed by us who make the Body of this Church in the eares of Almighty God And therefore every Prebendary of this Church is by those Constitutions bound every day to praise God in those five Psalmes which are appointed for his Prebend And of those five Psalmes which belong to mee this out of which I have read you this Text is the first And by Gods grace upon like occasions I shall here handle some part of every one of the other foure Psalmes for some testimony that those my five Psalmes returne often into my meditation which I also assure my selfe of the rest of my brethren who are under the same obligation in this Church For this whole Psalme Psalmus integer which is under our present consideration as Athanasius amongst all the Fathers was most curious and most particular and exquisite in observing the purpose and use of every particular Psalm for to that purpose he goes through them all in this maner If thou wilt encourage men to a love and pursuit of goodnesse say the first Psalme and 31. and 140 c. If thou wilt convince the Jewes say the second Psalme If thou wilt praise God for things past say this and this And this and this if thou wilt pray for future things so for this Psalme which we have in hand he observes in it a summary abridgement of all For of this Psalme he sayes in generall Adversus insidiantes Against all attempts upon thy body thy state thy soule thy fame tentations tribulations machinations defamations say this Psalme As he saith before that in the booke of Psalmes every man may discerne motus animi sui his owne finfull inclinations expressed and arme himselfe against himselfe so in this Psalme he may arme himselfe against all other adversaries of any kinde And therefore as the same Father entitles one Sermon of his Contr a omnes haereses A Sermon for the convincing of all Heresies in which short Sermon he meddles not much with particular heresies but onely establishes the truth of Christs Person in both natures which is indeed enough against all Heresies and in which that is the consubstantiality of Christ with the Father God of God this Father Athanasius hath enlarged himselfe more then the rest insomuch that those heretiques which grow so fast in these our dayes The Socinians who deny the Godhead of Christ
are more vexed with that Father then with any other and call him for Athanasius Sathanasius As he cals that Sermon a Sermon against all Heresies so he presents this Psalme against all Tentations and Tribulations Not that therein David puts himselfe to waigh particular tentations and tribulations but that he puts every man in every triall to put himselfe wholly upon God and to know that if man cannot helpe him in this world nothing can And for man Surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lie To be laid in the balance they are altogether lighter then vanity We consider in the words Divisie The maner and the matter How it is spoken And what is said For the first the maner this is not absolutely spoken but comparatively not peremptorily but respectively not simply but with relation The Holy Ghost in Davids mouth doth not say That man can give no assistance to man That man may looke for no helpe from man But that God is alwayes so present and so all-sufficient that wee need not doubt of him nor rely upon any other otherwise then as an instrument of his For that which he had spread over all the verses of the Psalme before he summes up in the verse immediatly before the Text Trust in God at all times for hee is a refuge for us and then hee strengthens that with this What would yee prefer before God or joyne with God man what man Surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lie To be laid in the balance they are altogether lighter then vanity Which words being our second part open to us these steps First that other Doctrins morall or civill Instructions may be delivered to us possibly and probably and likely and credibly and under the like termes and modifications but this in our Text is Assuredly undoubtedly undeniably irrefragably Surely men of low degree c. For howsoever when they two are compared together with one another it may admit discourse and disputation whether men of high degree or of low degree doe most violate the lawes of God that is whether prosperity or adversity make men most obnoxious to sin yet when they come to bee compared not with one another but both with God this asseveration this surely reaches to both Surely The man of low degree is vanity and as Surely The man of high degree is a lie And though this may seeme to leave some roome for men of middle ranks and fortunes and places That there is a mediocrity that might give an assurance and an establishment yet there is no such thing in this case for as surely still to be laid in the balance they are all not all of low and all of high degree all rich and all poore but All of all conditions altogether lighter then vanity Now all this doth not destroy not extinguish not annihilate that affection in man of hope and trust and confidence in any thing but it rectifies that hope and trust and confidence and directs it upon the right object Trust not in flesh but in spirituall things That wee neither bend our hopes downeward to infernall spirits to seeke help in Witches nor mis-carry it upward to seeke it in Saints or Angels but fix it in him who is nearer us then our owne soules our blessed and gracious and powerfull God who in this one Psalme is presented unto us by so many names of assurance and confidence My expectation my salvation my rocke my defence my glory my strength my refuge and the rest First then these words Surely men of low degree and men of high degree are vanity 1 Part. Quid home erga Deum are not absolutely simple unconditionally spoken Man is not nothing Nay it is so farre from that as that there is nothing but man As though there may bee many other creatures living which were not derived from Eve and yet Eve is called Mater viventium Gen. 3.20 The Mother of all that live because the life of none but man is considered so there bee so many other Creatures and Christ sends his Apostles to preach Omni Creaturae Marke 16.15 to every creature yet he meanes none but Man All that God did in making all other creatures in all the other dayes was but a laying in of Materials The setting up of the work was in the making of Man God had a picture of himselfe from all eternity from all eternity the Sonne of God was the Image of the invisible God Colos 1.15 But then God would have one picture which should bee the picture of Father Sonne and Holy Ghost too and so made man to the Image of the whole Trinity As the Apostle argues Cui dixit To whom did God ever say This day have I begotten thee but to Christ so we say Heb. 1.5 for the dignity of man Cui dixit of what creature did God ever say Faciamus Let us us make it All all the Persons together and to imploy and exercise not onely Power but Counsaile in the making of that Creature Nay when man was at worst he was at a high price man being fallen yet then in that undervalue he cost God his own and onely Son before he could have him Neither became the Son of God capable of redeeming man by any lesse or any other way then by becomming man The Redeemer must be better then he whom he is to redeeme and yet he must abase himselfe to as low a nature as his to his nature else he could not redeeme him God was aliened from man and yet God must become man to recover man God joyned man in Commission with himselfe upon his Creation Gen. 1.28 in the Replete and Dominamini when he gave Man power to possesse the Earth and subdue the Creature And God hath made man so equall to himselfe as not onely to have a soule endlesse and immortall as God himselfe though not endlesse and immortall as himselfe yet endlesse and immortall as himselfe too though not immortall the same way for Gods immortality is of himselfe yet as certainly and as infallibly Immortall as he but God hath not onely given man such an immortall soule but a body that shall put on Incorruption and Immortality too which he hath given to none of the Angels In so much that howsoever it be whether an Angel may wish it selfe an Archangel or an Archangel wish it selfe a Cherubin yet man cannot deliberately wish himselfe an Angel because he should lose by that wish and lacke that glory which he shall have in his body We shall be like the Angels sayes Christ In that wherein we can be like them Marke 12.25 we shall be like them in the exalting and refining of the faculties of our soules But they shall never attaine to be like us in our glorified bodies Neither hath God onely reserved this treasure and dignity of man to the next world but even here he
so pay my debts with my bones and recompence the wastfulnesse of my youth with the beggery of mine age Let me wither in a spittle under sharpe and foule and in famous diseases and so recompence the wantonnesse of my youth with that loath somnesse in mine age yet if God with draw not his spirituall blessings his Grace his Patience If I can call my suffering his Doing my passion his Action All this that is temporall is but a caterpiller got into one corner of my garden but a mill-dew fallen upon one acre of my Corne The body of all the substance of all is safe as long as the soule is safe But when I shall trust to that which wee call a good spirit and God shall deject and empoverish and evacuate that spirit when I shall rely upon a morall constancy and God shall shake and enfeeble and enervate destroy and demolish that constancy when I shall think to refresh my selfe in the serenity and sweet ayre of a good conscience and God shall call up the damps and vapours of hell it selfe and spread a cloud of diffidence and an impenetrable crust of desperation upon my conscience when health shall flie from me and I shall lay hold upon riches to succour me and comfort me in my sicknesse and riches shall flie from me and I shall snatch after favour and good opinion to comfort me in my poverty when even this good opinion-shall leave me and calumnies and misinformations shall prevaile against me when I shall need peace because there is none but thou O Lord that should stand for me and then shall finde that all the wounds that I have come from thy hand all the arrowes that stick in me from thy quiver when I shall see that because I have given my selfe to my corrupt nature thou hast changed thine and because I am all evill towards thee therefore thou hast given over being good towards me When it comes to this height that the fever is not in the humors but in the spirits that mine enemy is not an imaginary enemy fortune nor a transitory enemy malice in great persons but a reall and an irresistible and an inexorable and an everlasting enemy The Lord of Hosts himselfe The Almighty God himselfe the Almighty God himselfe onely knowes the waight of this affliction and except hee put in that pondus gloriae that exceeding waight of an eternall glory with his owne hand into the other scale we are waighed downe we are swallowed up irreparably irrevocably irrecoverably irremediably This is the fearefull depth this is spirituall misery to be thus fallen from God But was this Davids case was he fallen thus farre into a diffidence in God No. But the danger the precipice the slippery sliding into that bottomlesse depth is to be excluded from the meanes of comming to God or staying with God And this is that that David laments here That by being banished and driven into the wildernesse of Judah hee had not accesse to the Sanctuary of the Lord to sacrifice his part in the praise and to receive his part in the prayers of the Congregation for Angels passe not to ends but by wayes and meanes nor men to the glory of the triumphant Church but by participation of the Communion of the Militant To this note David sets his Harpe in many many Psalms Sometimes Psal 78.60 that God had suffered his enemies to possesse his Tabernacle Hee for sooke the Tabernacle of Shiloh Hee delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemies hands But most commonly he complaines that God disabled him from comming to the Sanctuary In which one thing he had summed up all his desires all his prayers One thing have I desired of the Lord Psal 27.4 that will I looke after That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple His vehement desire of this Psal 42.2 he expresses againe My soule thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appeare before God He expresses a holy jealousie a religious envy Psal 84.3 even to the sparrows and swallows yea the sparrow hath found a house and the swallow a nest for her selfe and where she may lay her yong Even thine Altars O Lord of Host my King and my God Thou art my King and my God and yet excludest me from that Luk. 12.7 which thou affordest to sparrows And are not we of more value then many sparrows And as though David felt some false ease some half-tentation some whispering that way Psal 84.3 That God is in the wildernesse of Iudah in every place as well as in his Sanctuary there is in the Originall in that place a patheticall a vehement a broken expressing expressed O thine Altars It is true sayes David thou art here in the wildernesse and I may see thee here and serve thee here but O thine Altars O Lord of hosts my King and my God When David could not come in person to that place yet he bent towards the Temple Psal 5.7 In thy feare will I worship towards thy holy Temple Which was also Daniels devotion when he prayed Dan. 6.10 his Chamber windowes were open towards Ierusalem And so is Hezekias turning to the wall to weepe Esa 38.2 and to pray in his sick bed understood to be to that purpose to conforme and compose himselfe towards the Temple In the place consecrated for that use God by Moses fixes the service and fixes the Reward And towards that place Deut. 31.11 when they could not come to it doth Solomon direct their devotion in the Consecration of the Temple 1 King 8.44 when they are in the warres when they are in Captivity and pray towards this house doe thou heare them For as in private prayer when according to Christs command we are shut in our chamber there is exercised Modestia fidei The modesty and bashfulnesse of our faith not pressing upon God in his house so in the publique prayers of the Congregation there is exercised the fervor and holy courage of our faith Tertull. for Agmine facto obsidemus Deum It is a Mustering of our forces and a besieging of God Therefore does David so much magnifie their blessednesse that are in this house of God Blessed are they that dwell in thy house for they will be still praising thee Those that looke towards it may praise thee sometimes but those men who dwell in the Church and whose whole service lyes in the Church have certainly an advantage of all other men who are necessarily withdrawne by worldly businesses in making themselves acceptable to almighty God if they doe their duties and observe their Church-services aright Man being therefore thus subject naturally to manifold calamities Excommunicatio and spirituall calamities being incomparably heavier then temporall and the greatest danger of falling into such
Cooke The other is a Physitian and though by bitter things provides for thy future health And such is the hony of Flatterers and such is the wormewood of better Counsellors I will not shake a Proverbe not the Ad Corvos That wee were better admit the Crowes that picke out our eyes after we are dead then Flatterers that blinde us whilst we live I cast justly upon others I take willingly upon my selfe the name of wicked if I blesse the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth or any other whom he hath declared to be odious to him But making my object goodnesse in that man and taking that goodnesse in that man to be a Candle set up by God in that Candlesticke God having engaged himselfe that that good man shall be praised I will be a Subsidy man so far so far pay Gods debts as to celebrate with condigne praise the goodnesse of that man for in that I doe as I should desire to be done to And in that I pay a debt to that man And in that I succour their weaknesse who as S. Gregory sayes when they heare another praised Gregâ—r Si non amore virtutis at delectatione laudis accenduntur At first for the love of Praise but after for the love of goodnesse it selfe are drawne to bee good Phil. 4.8 For when the Apostle had directed the Philippians upon things that were True and honest and just and purc and lovely and of a good report he ends all thus If there be any vertue and if there be any praise thinke on these things In those two sayes S. Augustine he divides all Vertue and Praise Vertue in our selves that may deserve Praise Praise towards others that may advance and propagate Vertue This is the retribution which God promises to all the upright in heart Gloriabuntur Laudabuntur They shall Glory they shall have they shall give praise And then it is so far from diminishing this Glory as that it infinitely exalts our consolation that God places this Retribution in the future Gloriabuntur If they doe not yet yet certainly they shall glory And if they doe now that glory shall not goe out still they shall they shall for ever glory In the Hebrew there is no Present tense In that language wherein God spake Futurum it could not be said The upright in heart Are praised Many times they are not But God speaks in the future first that he may still keepe his Children in an expectation and dependance upon him you shall be though you be not yet And then to establish them in an infallibility because he hath said it I know you are not yet but comfort your selves I have said it and it shall be As the Hebrew hath no Superlatives because God would keepe his Children within compasse and in moderate desires to content themselves with his measures though they be not great and though they be not heaped so considering what pressures and contempts and terrors the upright in heart are subject to it is a blessed reliefe That they have a future proposed unto them That they shall be praised That they shall be redeemed out of contempt This makes even the Expectation it selfe as sweet to them as the fruition would be This makes them that when David sayes Expecta viriliter Waite upon the Lord with a good courage Waite I say Psal 27.14 upon the Lord they doe not answer with the impatience of the Martyrs under the Altar Vsquequo How long Lord wilt thou defer it Rev. 6.10 Psal 40.1 Psal 52.9 But they answer in Davids owne words Expectans expectavi I have waited long And Expectabo nomen tuum still I will waite upon thy Name I will waite till the Lord come His kingdome come in the mean time His kingdome of Grace and Patience and for his Ease and his Deliverance and his Praise and his Glory to me let that come when he may be most glorified in the comming thereof Nay not onely the Expectation that is that that is expected shall be comfortable because it shall be infallible but that very present state that he is in shall be comfortable according to the first of our three Translations They that are true of heart shall be glad thereof Glad of that Glad that they are true of heart though their future retribution were never so far removed Nay though there were no future retribution in the case yet they shall finde comfort enough in their present Integrity Nay not onely their present state of Integrity but their present state of misery shall be comfortable to them for this very word of our Text Halal that is here translated Ioy and Glory and Praise in divers places of Scripture as Hebrew words have often such a transplantation signifies Ingloriousnesse and contempt and dejection of spirit Psal 75.4 Esa 44.25 Job 12.17 So that Ingloriousnesse and contempt and dejection of spirit may be a part of the retribution God may make Ingloriousnesse and Contempt and Dejection of spirit a greater blessing and benefit then Joy and Glory and Praise would have been and so reserve all this Glory and Praising to that time that David intends Psal 112.6 The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance Though they live and die contemptibly they shall be in an honorable remembrance even amongst men as long as men last and even when time shall be no more and men no more they shall have it in futuro aeterno where there shall be an everlasting present and an everlasting future there the upright in heart shall be praised and that for ever which is our conclusion of all If this word of our Text Halal shall signifie Ioy as the Service Booke Aeternum and the Geneva translation render it that may be somewhat towards enough which we had occasion to say of the Joyes of heaven in our Exercise upon the precedent Psalme when we say-led thorough that Hemispheare of Heaven by the breath of the Holy Ghost in handling those words Vnder the shadow of thy wings I will rejoyce So that of this signification of the word Gaudebunt in aeterno They shall rejoyce for ever we adde nothing now If the word shall signifie Glory as our last translation renders it consider with me That when that Glory which I shall receive in Heaven shall be of that exaltation as that my body shall invest the glory of a soule my body shall be like a soule like a spirit like an Angel of light in all endowments that glory it selfe can make that body capable of that body remaining still a true body when my body shall be like a soule there will be nothing left for my soule to be like but God himselfe 2 Pet. 1.4 1 Cor. 6.17 I shall be partaker of the Divine nature and the same Spirit with him Since the glory that I shall receive in body and in soule shall be such so exalted what shall that glory of God be which I shall
there is wholesome meat before too The cleare light is in the Gospel but there is light in Nature too Revel 19.9 At the last Supper the Supper of the Lambe in Heaven there is no bill of fare there are no particular dishes named there It is impossible to tell us what we shall feed upon what we shall be feasted with at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb Our way of knowing God there cannot be expressed At that Supper of the Lambe which is here here in our way homewards that is in the Sacramentall Supper of the Lambe it is very hard to tell what we feed upon How that meat is dressed how the Body and Blood of Christ is received by us at that Supper in that Sacrament is hard to be expressed hard to be conceived for the way and manner thereof So also in the former meale that which we have called the Dinner which is The knowledge which the Jews had in the Law it was not easie to distinguish the taste and the nature of every dish and to finde the signification in every Type and in every Ceremony There are some difficulties if curious men take the matter in hand and be too inquisitive even in the Gospel more in the Law most of all in Nature But yet even in this first refection this first meale that God sets before man which is our knowledge of God in Nature because wee are then in Gods House all this World and the next make God but one House though God doe not give Marrow and fatnesse Psal 63.6 81.16 as David speaks though he doe not feed them with the fat of the wheat nor satisfie them with honey out of the Rock for the Gospel is the honey and Christ is the Rock yet even in Nature hee gives sufficient meanes to know him though they come to neither of the other Meales neither to the Jews Dinner The benefit of the Law nor to the Christians Supper either when they feed upon the Lamb in the Sacrament or when they feed with the Lamb in the possession and fruition of Heaven Though therefore the Septuagint in their Translation of the Psalms have in the Title of this Psalme added this A Psalme of Ieremy and Ezekiel when they were departing out of the Captivity of Babylon intimating therein that it is a Psalme made in contemplation of that blessed place which we are to go to as literally it was of their happie state in their restitution from Babylon to Jerusalem And though the ancient Church by appropriating this Psalme to the office of the dead to the service at Burials intimate also that this Psalme is intended of that fulnesse of knowledge and Joy and Glory which they have that are departed in the Lord yet the Holy Ghost stops as upon the way before we come thither and since we must lie in an Inne that is Lodge in this World he enables the World to entertaine us as well as to lodge us and hath provided that the World the very world it selfe before wee consider the Law in the World or the Church in the World or Glory in the next World This very World that is Nature and no more should give such an universall light of the knowledge of God as that he should bee The confidence of all the ends of the Earth and of them that are a farre off upon the Sea And therefore as men that come to great places and preferments when they have entred by a faire and wide gate of Honour but yet are laid downe upon hard beds of trouble and anxiety in those places for when the body seemes in the sight of men to go on in an easie amble the minde is every day if not all day in a shrewd and diseasefull trot As those men will sometimes say It was better with me when I was in a lower place and fortune and will remember being Bishops the pleasures they had when they were Schoole-boyes and yet for all this intermit not their thankfulnesse to God who hath raised them to that height and those meanes of glorifying him so howsoever we abound with joy and thankfulnesse for these gracious and glorious Illustrations of the Law and the Gospel and beames of future Glory which we have in the Christian Church Let us reflect often upon our beginning upon the consideration of Gods first benefits which he hath given to us all in Nature That light Iohn 1.9 by which he enlighteneth every man that commeth into the World That he hath given us a reasonable soule capable of grace here that he hath denied no man and no other creature hath that That he hath given us an immortal soul capable of glory hereafter and that that immortality he hath denied no man and no other creature hath that Consider we alwaies the grace of God to be the Sun it selfe but the nature of man and his naturall faculties to be the Sphear in which that Sun that Grace moves Consider we the Grace of God to be the soule it self but the naturall faculties of man to be as a body which ministers Organs for that soule that Grace to worke by That so as how much soever I feare the hand of a mighty man that strikes yet I have a more immediate feare of the sword he strikes with So though I impute justly my sins and my feares of judgements for them to Gods withdrawing or to my neglecting his grace yet I looke also upon that which is next me Nature and naturall light and naturall faculties and that I consider how I use to use them whether I be as watchfull upon my tongue that that minister no tentation to others and upon mine eye that that receive no tentation from others as by the light of Nature I might and as some morall Men without addition of particular Grace have done That so first for my selfe I be not apt to lay any thing upon God and to say that hee starved me though he should not bid me to the Jews dinner in giving me the light of the Law nor bid me to the Christians Supper in giving me the light of the Gospell because he hath given me a competent refection even in Nature And then that for others I may first say with the Apostle Rom. 1.20 11.33 That they are without excuse who doe not see the invisible God in the visible Creature and may say also with him O altitudo The wayes of the Lord are past my finding out And therefore to those who doe open their eyes to that light of Nature in the best exaltation thereof God does not hide himselfe though he have not manifested to me by what way he manifests himselfe to them For God disappoints none and he is The confidence of all the ends of the Earth and of them who are a farre off upon the Sea Commit thy way unto the Lord Psal 37.5 sayes David And he sayes more then our Translation seemes to expresse The Margin hath
concionibus 1 Cor. 1.21 and what you give him in that Exercise Because God cals Preaching foolishnesse you take God at his word and you thinke Preaching a thing under you Hence is it that you take so much liberty in censuring and comparing Preacher and Preacher nay Sermon and Sermon from the same Preacher as though we preached for wagers and as though coine were to be valued from the inscription meerely and the image and the person and not for the metall You measure all by persons 1 〈◊〉 4. â—â— and yet Non erubescit is faciem Sacerdotis You respect not the person of the Priest you give not so much reverence to Gods Ordinance as he does In no Church of Christendome but ours doth the Preacher preach uncovered And for all this good and humble and reverend example fit to be continued by us cannot we keepe you uncovered till the Text be read All the Sermon is not Gods word but all the Sermon is Gods Ordinance and the Text is certainely his word There is no salvation but by faith nor faith but by hearing nor bearing but by preaching and they that thinke meanliest of the Keyes of the Church and speake faintliest of the Absolution of the Church will yet allow That those Keyes lock and unlock in Preaching That Absolution is conferred or with held in Preaching That the proposing of the promises of the Gospel in preaching is that binding and loosing on earth which bindes and looses in heaven And then though Christ have bid us Preach the Gospel to every creature Mar. 16.15 yet in his own great Sermon in the Mount he hath forbidden us to give holy things to dogs Mat. 7.6 or to cast pearle before swine lest they trample them and turne and rend us So that if all those manifold and fearfull judgements which swell in every Chapter and blow in every verse and thunder in every line of every Booke of the Bible fall upon all them that come hither as well if they turne and rend that is Calumniate us the person of the Preacher as if they trample upon the pearles that is undervalue the Doctrine and the Ordinance it selfe If his terrible Judgements fall upon every uncharitable mis-interpretation of that which is said here and upon every irreverence in this place and in this action Confesse that though he be the God of your salvation and doe answer you yet by terrible things doth the God of your salvation answer you And confesse it also as in manners and in prayers and in preaching so in the holy and blessed Sacrament This Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Luther calls safely In Sacramento Venerabile adorabile for certainly whatsoever that is which we see that which we receive is to be adored for we receive Christ He is Res Sacramenti The forme the Essence the substance the soule of the Sacrament And Sacramentum sine re Sacramenti mors ost Bernar. To take the body and not the soule the bread and not Christ is death But he that feels Christ in the receiving of the Sacrament and will not bend his knee would scarce bend his knee if he saw him The first of that royall Family Alvarez de Auxil Epist ad Phil. 3. which thinks it selfe the greatest in Christendome at this day The House of Austrich had the first marks of their Greatnesse The Empire brought into that House for a particular reverence done to the holy and blessed Sacrament What the bread and wine is or what becomes of it Damasc Damascen thinks impertinent to be inquired He thinks he hath said enough and so may we doe Migrat in substantiam animae There is the true Transubstantiation that when I have received it worthily it becomes my very soule that is My soule growes up into a better state and habitude by it and I have the more soule for it the more sanctified the more deified soule by that Sacrament Now this Sacrament which as it is ministred to us is but a Sacrament but as it is offered to God is a Sacrifice too is a fearfull a terrible thing If the sacrifices of the Law the blood of Goats and Rammes were so how fearfull how terrible how reverentiall a thing is the blood of this immaculate Lambe the Sonne of God And though God doe so abound in goodnesse towards us Vt possint injuriata Sacramenta prodesse reversis Cyprian as S. Cyprian excellently expresses it That that Sacrament which we have injured and abused received unworthily or irreverently at one time may yet benefit us and be the savour and seale of life unto us at another yet when you heare that terrible Thunder break upon you That the unworthy receiver eats and drinks his own damnation 1 Cor. 11.27 That he makes Christ Jesus who is the propitiation of all the world his damnation And then That not to have come to a severe examination of the Conscience before and to a sincere detestation of the sin and to a formed and fixed and deliberate and determinate resolution against that sin at the receiving of the Sacrament which alas how few doe Is there one that does it There is scorce one That this makes a man an unworthy receiver of the Sacrament That thus we make a mock of the Sonne of God Heb. 10.29 thus we tread the blood of the Covenant under foot and despite the Spirit of grace And that for this at the last day we shall be ranked with Iudas and not onely with Iudas as a negligent despiser but with Iudas as an actuall betrayer of the blood of Christ Jesus Consider well with what fearfull Conditions even this scale of your reconciliation is accompanied and though you may not doubt but that God the God of your salvation does answer you yet you must confesse too That it is by terrible things that he does it And as it is so in matter of manners and so in our prayers and so in our preaching and so in the Sacrament so is it also at the houre of our Death which is as far as we can pursue this Meditation for after Death we can aske nothing at Gods hands and therefore God makes us no answer And therefore with that Conclusion of all we shall conclude all That by terrible things the God of our salvation answers us at the houre of our death Though death be but a sleepe In morte yet it is a sleepe that an Earth-quake cannot wake And yet there is a Trumpet that will when that hand of God that gathered dust to make these bodies shall crumble these bodies into dust againe when that soule that evaporated it selfe in unnecessary disputations in this world shall make such fearfull and distempered conclusions as to see God onely by absence never to see him face to face And to know God onely by ignorance never to know him sicuti est as he is for he is All mercy And to
possesse immortality and impossibility of dying onely in a continuall dying when as a Cabinet whose key were lost must be broken up and torne in pieces before the Jewell that was laid up in it can be taken out so thy body the Cabinet of thy soule must be shaked and shivered by violent sicknesse before that soule can goe out And when it is thus gone out must answer for all the imperfections of that body which body polluted it And yet though this soule be such a loser by that body it is not perfectly well nor fully satisfied till it be reunited to that body againe when thou remembrest Mat. 26.36 and oh never forget it that Christ himselfe was heavy in his soule unto Death Mat. 26.39 That Christ himselfe came to a Si possibile If it be possible let this Cup passe That he came to a Quare dereliquisti Mat. 27.46 a bitter sense of Gods dereliction and forsaking of him when thou considerest all this compose thy selfe for death but thinke it not a light matter to dye Death made the Lyon of Judah to roare and doe not thou thinke that that which we call going away like a Lambe doth more testifie a conformity with Christ then a strong sense and bitter agony and colluctation with death doth Christ gave us the Rule in the Example He taught us what we should doe by his doing it And he pre-admitted a fearfull apprehension of death A Lambe is a Hieroglyphique of Patience but not of stupidity And death was Christs Consummatum est All ended in death yet he had sense of death How much more doth a sad sense of our transmigration belong to us to whom death is no Consummatum est but an In principio our account and our everlasting state begins but then Apud te propitiatio Psal 130.4 ut timearis In this knot we tie up all With thee there is mercy that thou mightest be feared There is a holy feare that does not onely consist with an assurance of mercy Pro. 21.15 but induces constitutes that assurance Pavor operantibus iniquitatem sayes Solomon Pavor horror and servile feare jealousie and suspition of God diffidence and distrust in his mercy and a bosome-prophecy of self-destruction Destruction it selfe so we translate it be upon the workers of iniquity Pavor operantibus iniquitatem And yet sayes that wise King Pro. 28.14 Beatus qui semper Pavidus Blessed is that man that alwayes fears who though he alwayes hope and beleeve the good that God will shew him yet also feares the evills that God might justly multiply upon him Blessed is he that looks upon God with assurance but upon himselfe with feare For though God have given us light by which we may see him even in Nature for He is the confidence of all the ends of the Earth and of them that are a far of upon the Sea Though God have given us a clearer light in the Law and experience of his providence upon his people throughout the Old Testament Though God have abundantly infinitely multiplied these lights and these helpes to us in the Christian Church where he is the God of salvation yet as he answers us by terrible things in that first acceptation of the words which I proposed to you that is Gives us assurances by miraculous testimonies in our behalfe that he will answer our patient expectation by terrible Judgements and Revenges upon our enemies In his Righteousnesse that is In his faithfulnesse according to his Promises and according to his performances of those Promises to his former people So in the words considered the other way In his Holinesse that is in his wayes of imprinting Holinesse in us He answers us by terrible things in all those particulars which we have presented unto you By infusing faith but with that terrible addition Damnabitur He that beleeveth not shall be damned He answers us by composing our manners and rectifying our life and conversation but with terrible additions of censures and Excommunications and tearings off from his own body which is a death to us and a wound to him He answers us by enabling us to speake to him in Prayer but with terrible additions for the matter for the manner for the measure of our Prayer which being neglected our very Prayer is turned to sin He answers us in Preaching but with that terrible commination that even his word may be the savor of death unto death He answers us in the Sacrament but with that terrible perplexity and distraction that he that seemes to be a Iohn or a Peter a Loving or a Beloved Disciple may be a Iudas and he that seems to have received the seale of his reconciliation may have eat and drunke his own Damnation And he answers us at the houre of death but with this terrible obligation That even then I make sure my salvation with feare and trembling That so we imagine not a God of wax whom we can melt and mold when and how we will That we make not the Church a Market That an over-homelines and familiarity with God in the acts of Religion bring us not to an irreverence nor indifferency of places But that as the Militant Church is the porch of the Triumphant so our reverence here may have some proportion to that reverence which is exhibited there Revel 4.10 where the Elders cast their Crownes before the Throne and continue in that holy and reverend acclamation Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honor and Power for as we may adde from this Text By terrible things O God of our salvation doest thou answer us in righteousnesse SERM. LXIX The fifth of my Prebend Sermons upon my five Psalmes Preached at S. Pauls PSAL. 66.3 Say unto God How terrible art thou in thy works Through the greatnesse of thy Power shall thine Enemies submit themselves unto thee IT is well said so well as that more then one of the Fathers seeme to have delighted themselves in having said it Titulus Clavis The Title of the Psalme is the Key of the Psalme the Title opens the whole Psalme The Church of Rome will needs keepe the Key of heaven and the key to that Key the Scriptures wrapped up in that Translation which in no case must be departed from There the key of this Psalm the Title thereof hath one bar wrested that is made otherwise then he that made the Key the Holy Ghost intended it And another bat inserted that is one clause added which the Holy Ghost added not Where we reade in the Title Victori To the chiefe Musician they reade In finem A Psalme directed upon the end I think they meane upon the later times because it is in a great part a Propheticall Psame of the calling of the Gentiles But after this change they also adde Resurrectionis A Psalme concerning the Resurrection and that is not in the Hebrew nor any thing in the place thereof And after one Author
all the glory ascribed And then that which fals within this commandement this Consideration is Opera ejus The works of God How terrible art thou in thy works It is not Decreta ejus Arcana ejus The secrets of his State the wayes of his government unrevealed Decrees but those things in which he hath manifested himselfe to man Opera his works Consider his works and consider them so as this commandement enjoynes that is How terrible God is in them Determine not your Consideration upon the worke it self for so you may think too lightly of it That it is but some naturall Accident or some imposture and false Miracle or illusion Or you may thinke of it with an amazement with a stupidity with a consternation when you consider not from whom the worke comes consider God in the worke And God so as that though he be terrible in that worke yet he is so terrible but so as the word of this Text expresses this terriblenesse which word is Norah and Norah is but Reverendus it is a terror of Reverence not a terror of Confusion that the Consideration of God in his works should possesse us withall And in those plaine and smooth paths wee shall walke through the first part The historicall part what God hath formerly done Say unto God how terrible art thou in thy works from thence we descend to the other The Propheticall part what upon our performance of this duty God will surely do in our behalfe he will subdue those enemies which because they are ours are his In multitudine virtutis In the greatnesse of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee Where we shall see first That even God himselfe hath enemies no man therefore can be free from them And then we shall see whom God cals enemies here Those who are enemies to his cause and to his friends All those if we will speake Davids language the Holy Ghosts language we must call Gods enemies And these enemies nothing can mollifie nothing can reduce but Power faire meanes and perswasion will not worke upon them Preaching Disputing will not doe it It must be Power and greatnesse of power and greatnesse of Gods Power The Law is Power and it is Gods Power All just Laws are from God One Act of this Power an occasionall executing of Laws at some few times against the enemies of Gods truth will not serve there must be a constant continuation of the execution thereof nor will that serve if that be done onely for worldly respects to raise money and not rather to draw them who are under those Laws to the right worship of God in the truth of his Religion And yet all that even all this This power this great power his power shall worke upon these his and our enemies is but this They shall submit themselves sayes the text but how Mentientur tibi as it is in the Originall and as you finde it in the Margin They shall dissemble they shall lie they shall yeeld a fained obedience they shall make as though they were good Subjects but not be so And yet even this Though their submission be but dissembled but counterfaited David puts amongst Gods blessings to a State and to a Church It is some blessing when Gods enemies dare not appeare and justifie themselves and their Cause as it is a heavy discouragement when they dare do that Though God doe not so far consummate their happinesse as that their enemies shall be truly reconciled or throughly rooted out yet he shall afford them so much happinesse as that they shall doe them no harme And Beloved this distribution of the text which I have given you is rather a Paraphrase then a Division and therefore the rest will rather be a Repetition then a Dilatation And I shall onely give some such note and marke upon every particular branch as may returne them and fix them in your memories and not enlarge my selfe far in any of them for I know the time will not admit it First then we remember you in the first branch of the first part that David 1 Part. Rex gubernat Ecclesiā in that Capacity as King institutes those Orders which the Church is to observe in the publique service of God For the King is King of men not of bodies onely but of soules too And of Christian men of us not onely as we worship one God but as we are to expresse that worship in the outward acts of Religion in the Church God hath called himselfe King and he hath called Kings Gods And when we looke upon the actions of Kings we determine not our selves in that person but in God working in that person As it is not I that doe any good 1 Cor. 15.10 but the grace of God in me So it is not the King that commands but the power of God in the King For as in a Commission from the King the King himselfe workes in his Commissioners and their just Act is the Kings Act So in the Kings lawfull working upon his Subjects God works the Kings acts are Gods acts That abstinence therefore and that forbearance which the Roman Church hath used from declaring whether the Laws of secular Magistrates do bind the Conscience or no that is whether a man sin in breaking a Temporall Law or no for though it have beene disputed in their books and though the Bishop of that Church were supplicated in the Trent Councell to declare it yet he would never be brought to it that abstinence I say of theirs though it give them one great advantage yet it gives us another For by keeping it still undetermined and undecided how far the Laws of temporall Princes doe binde us they keepe up that power which is so profitable to them that is To divide Kings and Subjects and maintaine jealousies betweene them because if the breach of any Law constitute a sin then enters the jurisdiction of Rome for that is the ground of their indirect power over Princes In ordine ad spiritualia that in any action which may conduce to sin they may meddle and direct and constraine temporall Princes That is their advantage in their forbearing to declare this doctrine And then our advantage is That this enervates and weakens nay destroyes and annibilates that ordinary argument That there must be alwayes a Visible Church in which every man may have cleare resolution and infallible satisfaction in all scruples that arise in him and that the Roman Church is that Seat and Throne of Infallibility For how does the Roman Church give any man infallible satisfaction whether these or these things grounded upon the temporall Laws of secular Princes be sins or no when as that Church hath not nor will not come to a determination in that point How shall they come to the Sacrament how shall they go out of the world with a cleare conscience when many things lye upon them which they know not nor can be informed
they had cast their nets often and caught nothing nor because it was uncertaine how the Market would goe when they had catched A man must not be an ill Prophet upon his own labours nor bewitch them with a suspition that they will not prosper It is the slothfull man that sayes A Lion in the way A Lion in the street Cast thou thy net into the Sea Prov. 26.13 and God shall drive fish into thy net undertake a lawfull Calling and clogge not thy calling with murmuring nor with an ill conscience and God shall give thee increase and worship in it They cast their nets into the Sea for they were fishers it was their Calling and they were bound to labour in that And then this For hath another aspect lookes another way too 2. Quia piscatores and implies another Instruction They cast their nets into the Sea for they were fishers that is if they had not beene fishers they would not have done it Intrusion into other mens callings is an unjust usurpation and if it take away their profit it is a theft If it be but a censuring of them in their calling yet it is a calumny because it is not in the right way if it be extrajudiciall To lay an aspersion upon any man who is not under our charge though that which we say of him be true yet it is a calumny and a degree of libelling if it be not done judiciarily and where it may receive redresse and remedy And yet how forward are men that are not fishers in that Sea to censure State Councels and Judiciary proceedings Every man is an Absolom to say to every man Your cause is good 2 Sam. 15.3 but the King hath appointed none to heare it Money brings them in favour brings them in it is not the King or if it must be said to be the King yet it is the affection of the King and not his judgement the King misled not rightly informed say our seditious Absoloms and Ver. 4. Oh that I were made Iudge in the land that every man might come unto me and I would doe him justice is the charme that Absolom hath taught every man They cast their nets into a deeper Sea then this and where they are much lesse fishers into the secret Councels of God It is well provided by your Lawes that Divines and Ecclesiasticall persons may not take farmes nor buy nor sell for returne in Markets I would it were as well provided that buyers and sellers and farmers might not be Divines nor censure them I speake not of censuring our lives please your selves with that till God bee pleased to mend us by that thought that way of whispering calumny be not the right way to that amendment But I speak of censuring our Doctrines and of appointing our doctrines when men are weary of hearing any other thing then Election and Reprobation and whom and when and how and why God hath chosen or cast away We have liberty enough by your Law to hold enough for the maintenance of our bodies and states you have liberty enough by our Law to know enough for the salvation of your soules If you will search farther into Gods eternall Decrees and unrevealed Councels you should not cast your nets into that Sea for you are not fishers there Andrew and Peter cast their nets for they were fishers therefore they were bound to do it And againe for they were fishers if they had not been so they would not have done so These persons then thus disposed Duo simul unfit of themselves made fit by him and found by him at their labour labour in a lawfull Calling and in their owne Calling our Saviour Christ cals to him And he called them by couples by paires two together So he called his Creatures into the world at the first Creation by paires So he called them into the Arke for the reparation of the world by paires two and two God loves not singularity The very name of Church implies company It is Concio Congregatio Coetus It is a Congregation a Meeting an assembly It is not any one man neither can the Church be preserved in one man And therefore it hath beene dangerously said though they confesse it to have beene said by many of their greatest Divines in the Roman Church that during the time that our blessed Saviour lay dead in the grave there was no faith left upon the earth but onely in the Virgin Mary for then there was no Church God hath manifested his will in two Testaments and though he have abridged and contracted the doctrine of both in a narrow roome yet he hath digested it into two Commandements Love God love thy neighbour There is but one Church that is true but one but that one Church cannot be in any one man There is but one Baptisme that is also true but one But no man can Baptize himselfe there must be Sacerdos competens as our old Canons speake a person to receive and a Priest to give Baptisme There is but one faith in the remission of sins that is true too but one But no man can absolve himselfe There must be a Priest and a penitent God cals no man so but that he cals him to the knowledge that he hath called more then him to that Church or else it is an illusory and imaginary calling and a dreame Take heed therefore of being seduced to that Church that is in one man In scrinio pectoris where all infallibility and assured resolution is in the breast of one man who as their owne Authors say is not bound to aske the counsell of others before nor to follow their counsell after And since the Church cannot be in one in an unity take heed of bringing it too neare that unity to a paucity to a few to a separation to a Conventicle The Church loves the name of Catholique and it is a glorious and an harmonious name Love thou those things wherein she is Catholique and wherein she is harmonious that is Lyrinen Quod ubique quod semper Those universall and fundamentall doctrines which in all Christian ages and in all Christian Churches have beene agreed by all to be necessary to salvation and then thou art a true Catholique Otherwise that is without relation to this Catholique and universall doctrine to call a particular Church Catholique that she should be Catholique that is universall in dominion but not in doctrine is such a solecisme as to speak of a white blacknesse or a great littlenesse A particular Church to be universall implies such a contradiction Christ loves not singularity Duo fratres he called not one alone He loves not schisme neither between them whom he cals therefore he cals persons likely to agree two brethren He saw two brethren Peter and Andrew c. So he began to build the Synagogues to establish that first government in Moses and Aaron brethren So he begins to
would chide the Kings openly and threaten the Kings publiquely and proclaime the fault of the Kings in the eares of the people confidently authoritatively therefore the Minister may and must do so God sent that particular Prophet Ieremy with that extraordinary Commission Ier. 1.10 Behold I have this day set thee over the Nations and over the Kingdomes to roote out and to pull downe to destroy and throw downe and then to build and to plant againe But God hath given none of us his Ministers in our ordinary function any such Commission over Nations and over Kingdomes Even in Ieremies Commission there seemes to be a limitation of time Behold this day I have set thee over them where that addition this day is not onely the date of the Commission that it passed Gods hand that day but this day is the terme the duration of the Commission that it was to last but that day that is as the phrase of that language is that time for which it was limited And therefore as they argue perversely frowardly dangerously that say The Minister does not his duty that speakes not as boldly and as publiquely too and of Kings and great persons as the Prophets did because theirs was an Extraordinary ours an Ordinary office and no man will thinke that the Justices in their Sessions or the Judges in their Circuits may proceed to executions without due tryall by a course of Law because Marshals in time of rebellion and other necessities may doe so because the one hath but an ordinary the other an extraordinary Commission So doe they deceive themselves and others that pretend in the Bishop of Rome an Apostolicall jurisdiction a jurisdiction over all the world whereas howsoever he may be S. Peters Successor as Bishop of Rome yet he is no Successor to S. Peter as an Apostle upon which onely the universall power can be grounded and without which that universall power fals to the ground The Apostolicall faith remaines spread over all the world but Apostolicall jurisdiction is expired with their persons These twelve Christ cals Fishers Piscatores quia nomen humile why fishers because it is a name of labour of service and of humiliation and names that tast of humiliation and labour and service are most properly ours fishers we may be names of dignity and authority and command are not so properly ours Apostles wee are not in any such sense as they were Nothing inflames nor swels nor puffes us up more then that leaven of the soule that empty aery frothy love of Names and Titles We have knowne men part with ancient lands for new Titles and with old Mannors for new Honours and as a man that should bestow all his money upon a faire purse and then have nothing to put into it so whole Estates have melted away for Titles and Honours and nothing left to support them And how long last they Exod. 3.14 How many winds blast them That name of God in which Moses was sent to Pharaoh is by our Translators and Expositors ordinarily said to be I Am that I Am Go and say I Am hath sent me sayes God there But in truth in the Originall the name is conceived in the future it is I shall be Every man is that he is but onely God is sure that he shall be so still Therefore Christ cals them by a name of labour and humiliation But why by that name of labour and humiliation Fishers Because it was Nomen primitivum Piscatores quia nomen primitivum their owne their former name The Holy Ghost pursues his owne way and does here in Christ as hee does often in other places he speakes in such formes and such phrases as may most worke upon them to whom he speaks Psal 78.72 Of David that was a shepheard before God sayes he tooke him to feed his people Mat. 2.2 To those Magi of the East who were given to the study of the Stars God gave a Star to be their guide to Christ at Bethlem Iehn 6.24 To those which followed him to Capernaum for meat Christ tooke occasion by that to preach to them of the spirituall food of their souls Iehn 4.21 To the Samaritan woman whom he found at the Well he preached of the water of Life To these men in our Text accustomed to a joy and gladnesse when they tooke great or great store of fish he presents his comforts agreeably to their tast They should be fishers still Beloved Christ puts no man out of his way for sinfull courses are no wayes but continuall deviations to goe to heaven Christ makes heaven all things to all men that he might gaine all To the mirthfull man he presents heaven as all joy and to the ambitious man as all glory To the Merchant it is a Pearle and to the husbandman it is a rich field Christ hath made heaven all things to all men that he might gaine all and he puts no man out of his way to come thither These men he calls Fishers He does not call them from their calling but he mends them in it It is not an Innovation Non Innovatio sed Renovatio God loves not innovations Old doctrines old disciplines old words and formes of speech in his service God loves best But it is a Renovation though not an Innovation and Renovations are alwayes acceptable to God that is the renewing of a mans selfe in a consideration of his first estate what he was made for and wherein he might be most serviceable to God Such a renewing it is as could not be done without God no man can renew himselfe regenerate himselfe no man can prepare that worke no man can begin it no man can proceed in it of himselfe The desire and the actuall beginning is from the preventing grace of God and the constant proceeding is from the concomitant and subsequent and continuall succeeding grace of God for there is no conclusive no consummative grace in this life no such measure of grace given to any man as that that man needs no more or can lose or frustrate none of that The renwing of these men in our text Christ takes to himselfe Faciam vos I will make yee fishers of men no worldly respects must make us such fishers it must be a calling from God And yet Mar. 1.16 as the other Euangelist in the same history expresses it it is Faciam fieri vos I will cause yee to be made fishers of men that is I will provide an outward calling for you too Our calling to this Man-fishing is not good Nisi Dominus faciat fieri faciat except God make us fishers by an internall and make his Church to make us so too by an externall calling Then we are fishers of men and then we are successors to the Apostles though not in their Apostleship yet in this fishing And then for this fishing the world is the Sea and our net is the Gospel The
it a Mysterie and a great mysterie yet he cals it a mysterie without controversie Without controversie great is the mysterie of God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit preached to the Gentiles beleeved in the world received into glory When he presents matter of consolation he would have it without controversie To establish a disconsolate soule there is alwaies Divinity enough that was never drawne into Controversie I would pray I finde the Spirit of God to dispose my heart and my tongue and mine eyes and hands and knees to pray Doe I doubt to whom I should pray To God or to the Saints That prayer to God alone was sufficient was never drawne into controversie I would have something to rely and settle and establish my assurance upon Doe I doubt whether upon Christ or mine owne or others merits That to rely upon Christ alone was sufficient was never drawne into Controversie At this time Christ disposed himselfe to comfort his Disciples in that wherein they needed comfort now their discomfort and their feare lay not in this whether there were different degrees of glory in Heaven but their feare was that Christ being gone and having taken Peter and none but him there should be no roome for them and thereupon Christ sayes Let not that trouble you for In my Fathers house are many mansions And so we have done with the former branch of this last part That it is piously done to beleeve these degrees of glory in Heaven That they have inconsiderately extended this probleme in the Roman Church That no Scriptures are so evident as to induce a necessity in it That this Scripture conduces not at all to it and therefore we passe to our last Consideration The right use of the right sense of these words First then Christ proposes in these words Consolation A worke Consolatio then which none is more divine nor more proper to God nor to those instruments whom he sends to worke upon the soules and consciences of others Who but my selfe can conceive the sweetnesse of that salutation when the Spirit of God sayes to me in a morning Go forth to day and preach and preach consolation preach peace preach mercy And spare my people spare that people whom I have redeemed with my precious Blood and be not angry with them for ever Do not wound them doe not grinde them do not astonish them with the bitternesse with the heavinesse with the sharpnesse with the consternation of my judgements David proposes to himselfe that he would Sing of mercy Psal 101.1 and of judgement but it is of mercy first and not of judgement at all otherwise then it will come into a song as joy and consolation is compatible with it It hath falne into disputation and admitted argument whether ever God inflicted punishments by his good Angels But that the good Angels the ministeriall Angels of the Church are properly his instruments for conveying mercy peace consolation never fell into question never admitted opposition How heartily God seemes to utter and how delightfully to insist upon that which he sayes in Esay Consolamini consolamini populum meum Comfort ye comfort ye my people Esay 40.1 And Loquimini ad cor Speake to the heart of Ierusalem and tell her Thine iniquities are pardoned How glad Christ seemes that he had it for him when he gives the sick man that comfort Fili confide My son be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven thee What a Coronation is our taking of Orders by which God makes us a Royall Priesthood And what an inthronization is the comming up into a Pulpit where God invests his servants with his Ordinance as with a Cloud and then presses that Cloud with a Vaesi non woe be unto thee if thou doe not preach and then enables him to preach peace mercy consolation to the whole Congregation That God should appeare in a Cloud upon the Mercy Seat as he promises Moses he will doe That from so poore a man as stands here Levit. 16.2 wrapped up in clouds of infirmity and in clouds of iniquity God should drop raine poure downe his dew and sweeten that dew with his honey and crust that honied dew into Manna and multiply that Manna into Gomers and fill those Gomers every day and give every particular man his Gomer give every soule in the Congregation consolation by me That when I call to God for grace here God should give me grace for grace Grace in a power to derive grace upon others and that this Oyle this Balsamum should flow to the hem of the garment even upon them that stand under me That when mine eyes looke up to Heaven the eyes of all should looke up upon me and God should open my mouth to give them meat in due season That I should not onely be able to say as Christ said to that poore soule Confide fili My son be of good comfort but Fratres Patres mei My Brethren and my Fathers nay Domini mei and Rex meus My Lords and my King be of good comfort your sins are forgiven you That God should seale to me that Patent Ite praedicate omni Creaturae Goe and preach the Gospell to every Creature be that creature what he will That if God lead me into a Congregation as into his Arke where there are but eight soules but a few disposed to a sense of his mercies and all the rest as in the Arke ignobler creatures and of brutall natures and affections That if I finde a licentious Goat a supplanting Fox an usurious Wolfe an ambitious Lion yet to that creature to every creature I should preach the Gospel of peace and consolation and offer these creatures a Metamorphosis a transformation a new Creation in Christ Jesus and thereby make my Goat and my Fox and my Wolfe and my Lion to become Semen Dei The seed of God and Filium Dei The child of God and Participem Divinae Naturae Partaker of the Divine Nature it selfe This is that which Christ is essentially in himselfe This is that which ministerially and instrumentally he hath committed to me to shed his consolation upon you upon you all Not as his Almoner to drop his consolation upon one soule nor as his Treasurer to issue his consolation to a whole Congregation but as his Ophir as his Indies to derive his gold his precious consolation upon the King himselfe What would a good Judge a good natured Judge give in his Circuit what would you in whose breasts the Judgements of the Star-chamber or other criminall Courts are give that you had a warrant from the King to change the sentence of blood into a pardon where you found a Delinquent penitent How rufully do we heare the Prophets groane under that Onus visionis which they repeat so often O the burden of my vision upon Judah or upon Moab or Damascus or Babylon or any place Which is not only that that judgement would be a
heavy burden upon that place but that it was a heavy burden to them to denounce that judgement even upon Gods enemies Our errand our joy our Crowne is Consolation for if we consider the three Persons of the holy blessed and glorious Trinity and their working upon us a third part of their worke if we may so speake is consolation the Father is Power the Son Wisdome and the Holy Ghost Consolation for the Holy Ghost is not in a Vulture that hovers over Armies and infected Cities and feeds upon carcasses But the Holy Ghost is in a Dove that would not make a Congregation a slaughter-house but feeds upon corne corne that hath in nature a disposition to a reviviscence and a repullulation and would imprint in you al the consolation and sense of a possibility of returning to a new and a better life God found me nothing and of that nothing made me Adam left me worse then God found me worse then nothing the child of wrath corrupted with the leaven of Originall sin Christ Jesus found me worse then Adam left me not onely sowred with Originall but spotted and gangrened and dead and buried and putrified in actual and habitual sins and yet in that state redeemed me And I make my selfe worse then Christ found me and in an inordinate dejection of spirit conceive a jealousie and suspition that his merit concernes not me that his blood extends not to my sin And in this last and worst state the Holy Ghost finds me the Spirit of Consolation And he sends a Barnabas a son of Consolation unto me A Barnabas to my sick bed side A Physitian that comforts with hopes and meanes of health A Barnabas to my broken fortune A potent and a loving friend that assists the reparation and the establishing of my state A Barnabas into the Pulpit that restores and rectifies my conscience and scatters and dispels all those clouds that invested it and infested it before That un-imaginable worke of the Creation were not ready for a Sabbath though I be a Creature and a man I could have no Sabbath no rest no peace of conscience That un-expressible worke of the Redemption were not ready for that Seale which our Saviour set to it upon the Crosse in the Consummatum est All were not finished that concerned me if the Holy Ghost were not ready to deliver that which Christ sealed and to witnesse that which were so delivered that that Spirit might ever testifie to my spirit That all that Christ Jesus said and did and suffered was said and done and suffered for my soule Consolation is not all if we consider God but if I consider my selfe and my state Consolation is all Christs meaning then in this place was to establish in his Disciples this Consolation Consolatio vera but thus Si quo minus If it were not thus I would tell you If this were not true consolation I would not delude you I would not entertaine you with false for he is Deus omnium miserationum The God of all mercies and yet he will not shew mercy to them who sin upon presumption So he is Deus omnium Consolationum The God of all Comforts and yet will not comfort them who rely upon the false and miserable comforts of this world How many how very many of us doe otherwise Otherwise to others otherwise to our own Consciences Delude all with false Comforts They would not suffer Christ himselfe to sleepe upon a pillow in a storme but they waked him with that Master carest not thou though we perish When will we wake any Master Mar. 4.38 any upon whom we depend and say Master carest not thou though thou perish We suffer others whom we should instruct and we suffer our selves to passe on to the last gaspe and we never rebuke our Consciences till our Consciences rebuke us at last Alas it is otherwise and you never told us Christ comforts then he disputes not that is not his way He ministers true comfort Domus he flatters not that is not his way And in this true comfort the first beame is That that state which he promises them is a House In my Fathers House c. God hath a progresse house a removing house here upon earth His house of prayer At this houre God enters into as many of these houses as are opened for his service at this houre But his standing house his house of glory is that in Heaven and that he promises them God himselfe dwelt in Tents in this world and he gives them a House in Heaven A House in the designe and survay whereof the Holy Ghost himselfe is figurative the Fathers wanton and the School-men wilde The Holy Ghost in describing this House Rev. 21. fills our contemplation with foundations and walls and gates of gold of precious stones and all materialls that we can call precious The Holy Ghost is figurative And the Fathers are wanton in their spirituall elegancies such as that of S. Augustins if that booke be his Hiems horrens Aestas torrens And Virent prata vernant sata and such other harmonious and melodious and mellifluous cadences of these waters of life But the School-men are wild for as one Author who is afraid of admitting too great a hollownesse in the Earth Munster lest then the Earth might not be said to be solid pronounces that Hell cannot possibly be above three thousand miles in compasse and then one of the torments of Hell will be the throng for their bodies must be there in their dimensions as well as their soules so when the School-men come to measure this house in heaven as they will measure it and the Master God and all his Attributes and tell us how Allmighty and how Infinite he is they pronounce that every soule in that house shall have more roome to it selfe then all this world is We know not that nor see we that the consolation lyes in that we rest in this that it is a House It hath a foundation no Earth-quake shall shake it It hath walls no Artillery shall batter it It hath a roofe no tempest shall pierce it It is a house that affords security and that is one beame And it is Domus patris His Fathers house a house in which he hath interest and that is another beame of his Consolation It was his Fathers and so his And his and so ours Patris for we are not joynt purchasers of Heaven with the Saints but we are co-heires with Christ Jesus We have not a place there because they have done more then enough for themselves but because he hath done enough for them and us too By death we are gathered to our Fathers in nature and by death through his mercy gathered to his Father also Where we shall have a full satisfaction in that wherein S. Philip placed all satisfaction Ostende nobis patrem Lord shew us thy Father and it is enough We shall see his
Princes shall rule in judgement be to be understood of an Hezekias or a Iosias or any other good King which was to succeed and to induce vertuous times in the temporall State and government Or whether this were a prophecy of Christs time and of the exaltation of all vertues in the Christian Religion hath divided our Expositors in all those three Classes In all three though in all three some particular men are peremptory and vehement upon some one side absolutely excluding the other exposition as amongst our Authors in the Reformation one sayes Dubium non est It can admit no doubt Calvin but that this is to be understood of Hezekias and his reigne And yet another of the same side sayes too Heshusius Qui Rabbinos secuti They that adhere too much to the Jewish Rabbins and will needs interpret this prophecy of a temporall King obscure the purpose of the Holy Ghost and accommodate many things to a secular Prince which can hold in none but Christ himselfe yet I say though there be some peremptory there are in all the three Classes Ancients Romans Reformed moderate men that apply the prophecy both wayes and finde that it may very well subsist so That in a faire proportion all these blessings shall be in the reignes of those Hezekiasses and those Iosiasses those good Kings which God affords to his people But the multiplication the exaltation of all these blessings and vertues is with relation to the comming of Christ and the establishing of his Kingdome And this puts us if not to a necessity yet with conveniency to consider these words both wayes What this civill liberality is that is here made a blessing of a good Kings reigne And what this spirituall liberality is that is here made a testimony of Christs reigne and of his Gospel And therefore since we must passe twice thorough these words it is time to begin The liberall man deviseth liberall things and by liberall things he shall stand From these two armes of this tree that is from the civill and from the spirituall accommodation of these words be pleased to gather and lay up these particular fruits In each of these you shall taste first what this Liberality thus recommended is And secondly what this devising and studying of liberall things is And againe how this man is said to stand by liberall things The liberall man deviseth liberall things and by liberall things he shall stand And because in the course of this Prophecy in this Chapter we have the King named and then his Princes and after persons of lower quality and condition we shall consider these particulars This Liberality this Devising this Standing First in the first accommodation of the words In the King in his Princes or great persons the Magistrate and lastly in his people And in the second accommodation the spirituall sense we shall consider these three termes Liberality Devising Standing First in the King of Kings Christ Jesus And then in his Officers the Ministers of his Gospel And lastly in his people gathered by this Gospel In all which persons in both sorts Civill and Spirituall we shall see how the liberall man deviseth liberall things and how by liberall things he stands First then in our first part In the civill consideration of this vertue Liberality 1 Part. Liberality It is a communication of that which we have to other men and it is the best character of the best things that they are communicable diffusive Light was Gods first childe Light opened the wombe of the Chaos borne heire to the world and so does possesse the world and there is not so diffusive a thing nothing so communicative and self-giving as light is And then Gold is not onely valued above all things but is it selfe the value of all things The value of every thing is Thus much gold it is worth And no metall is so extensive as gold no metall enlarges it selfe to such an expansion such an attenuation as gold does nor spreads so much with so little substance Sight is the noblest and the powerfullest of our Senses All the rest Hearing onely excepted are determined in a very narrow distance And for Hearing Thunder is the farthest thing that we can heare and Thunder is but in the ayre but we see the host of Heaven the starres in the firmament All the good things that we can consider Light Sight Gold all are accompanied with a liberality of themselves and are so far good as they are dispensed and communicated to others for their goodnesse is in their use It is Virtus prolifica a generative a productive vertue a vertue that begets another vertue another vertue upon another man Thy liberality begets my gratitude and if there be an unthankfull barrennesse in me that thou have no children by me no thankfulnesse from me God shall raise thee the more children for my barrennesse Thy liberality shall be the more celebrated by all the world because I am unthankfull God hath given me a being and my liberall Benefactor hath given me such a better being as that without that even my first being had been but a paine and a burden unto me He that leaves treasure at his death left it in his life Then when he locked it up and forbad himselfe the use of it be left it He that locks up may be a good Jaylor but he that gives out is his Steward The saver may be Gods chest The giver is Gods right hand But the matter of our Liberality what we give is but the body of this vertue The soule of this Liberality that that inanimates it is the manner intended more in the next word He deviseth He studieth The liberall deviseth liberall things Here the Holy Ghosts word is Iagnatz Deviseth and Iagnatz carries evermore with it a denotation of Counsell and Deliberation and Conclusions upon premisses He Devises that is Considers what liberality is discourses with himselfe what liberall things are to be done And then upon this determines concludes that he will doe it and really actually does it Therefore in our first Translation the first since the Reformation we reade this Text thus The liberall man imagineth honest things Though the Translator have varied the word Liberall and Honest the Originall hath not It is the same word in both places Liberall man Liberall things but the Translator was pleased to let us see that if it be truly a liberall it is an honest action Therefore the liberall man must give that which is his own for els the receiver is but a receiver of stollen goods And the Curse of the oppressed may follow the gift not onely in his hands through which it passed but into his hands where it remains We have a convenient Embleme of Liberality in a Torch that wasts it selfe to enlighten others But for a Torch to set another mans house on fire to enlighten me were no good Embleme of Liberality But Liberality being made up of
the true body and true soule true matter and true forme that is just possession for having and sober discretion for giving then enters the word of our Text literally The liberall man deviseth liberall things He devises studies meditates casts about where he may doe a noble action where he may place a benefit He seekes the man with as much earnestnesse as another man seeks the money And as God comes with an earnestnesse as though he thought it nothing to have wrought all the weeke to his Faciamus hominem Now let us make man So comes the liberall man to make a man and to redeeme him out of necessity and contempt the upper and lower Milstone of poverty And to returne to our former representations of Liberality Light and Sight As light comes thorough the glasse but we know not how and our sight apprehends remote objects but we know not how so the liberall man looks into darke corners even upon such as are loath to be looked upon loath to have their wants come into knowledge and visits them by his liberality when sometimes they know not from whence that showre of refreshing comes no more then we know how light comes thorough the glasse or how our sight apprehends remote objects So the liberall man deviseth liberall things And then which is our third terme and consideration in this civill and morall acceptation of the words By liberall things he shall stand Some of our later Expositors admit this phrase The liberall man shall stand to reach no further Shall stand nor to signifie no more but that The liberall man shall stand that is will stand will continue his course and proceed in liberall wayes And this is truely a good sense for many times men do some small actions that have some shew and tast of some vertue for collaterall respects and not out of a direct and true vertuous habit But these Expositors with whose narrownesse our former Translators complied will not let the Holy Ghost be as liberall as he would bee His liberality here is That the liberall man shall stand that is Prosper and Multiply and be the better established for his liberality He shall sowe silver and reape gold he shall sowe gold and reape Diamonds sowe benefits and reape honour not honour rooted in the opinion of men onely but in the testimony of a cheerfull conscience that powres out Acclamations by thousands And that is a blessed and a loyall popularity when I have a people in mine owne bosome a thousand voices in mine owne conscience that justifie and applaud a good action Therefore that Translation which we mentioned before reads this clause thus The liberall man imagineth honest things and commeth up by honesty still that which he calls Honesty is in the Originall Liberality and he comes up he prospers and thrives in the world by those noble and vertuous actions It is easie for a man of any largenesse in conversation or in reading to assigne examples of men that have therefore lost all because they were loath to part with any thing When Nazianzen sayes That man cannot be so like God in any thing as in giving he meanes that he shall be like him in this too that he shall not bee the poorer for giving But keeping the body and soule of liberality Giving his owne and giving worthily in soule and body too that is in conscience and fortune both By liberall things he shall stand that is prosper Now these three termes Liberality the vertue it selfe the studying of Liberality Rex this devising and the advantage of this Liberality this standing being yet in this first part still upon the consideration of civill and morall Liberality wee are to consider according to their Exposition that binde this Prophecy to an Hezckias or a Iosias in which Prophecy we finde mention of all those persons we are I say to consider them in the King in his Officers the Magistrate and in his Subjects For the King first this vertue of our Text is so radicall so elementary so essentiall to the King as that the vulgat Edition in the Romane Church reads this very Text thus Princeps verò ea quae principe digna sunt cogitabit The King shall exercise himselfe in royall Meditations and Actions Him whom we call a Liberall man they call a King and those actions that we call Liberall they call Royall A Translation herein excusable enough for the very Originall word which we translate Liberall is a Royall word Nadib and very often in the Scriptures hath so high a Royall signification The very word is in that place where David prayes to God to renew him spiritu Principali And this Psal 51.10 spiritus Principalis as many Translators call a Principall a Princely a Royall spirit as a liberall a free a bountifull spirit If it be Liberall it is Royall For when David would have bought a threshing-floore 2 Sam. 24.23 to erect an Altar upon of Araunah and Araunah offered so freely place and sacrifice and instruments and all the Holy Ghost expresses it so All these things did Araunah as a King offer to the King There was but this difference between the Liberall man and David A King and The King Higher then a King for an example and comparison of Liberality on this side of God hee could not goe The very forme of the Office of a King is Liberality that is Providence and Protection and Possession and Peace and Justice shed upon all And then this Prophecy considered still the first way morally Principes civilly carries this vertue not onely upon the King but upon the Princes too upon those persons that are great great in blood great in power great in place and office They must bee liberall of that which is deposited in them The Sunne does not enlighten the Starres of the Firmament meerly for an Omament to the Firmament though even the glory which God receives from that Ornament be one reason thereof but that by the reflection of those Starres his beames might be cast into some places to which by a direct Emanation from himselfe those beames would not have come So doe Kings transmit some beames of power into their Officers not onely to dignifie and illustrate a Court though that also be one just reason thereof for outward dignity and splendor must be preserved but that by those subordinate Instruments the royall Liberality of the King that is Protection and Justice might be transferred upon all And therefore Epistol ad Salvian S. Hierome speaking of Nebridius who was so gracious with the Emperor that he denied him nothing assignes that for the reason of his largenesse towards him Quòd sciebat non uni sed pluribus indulgeri Because he knew that in giving him he gave to the Publique Hee employed that which he received for the Publique And lastly our Prophecy places this Liberality upon the people Now Populus still this Liberality is that it
be diffusive that the object of our affections be the Publique To depart with nothing which we call our owne Nothing in our goods nothing in our opinions nothing in the present exercise of our liberty is not to be liberall To presse too farre the advancing of one part to the depressing of another especially where that other is the Head is not liberall dealing Therefore said Christ to Iames and Iohn Mat. 20.23 August Non est meum dare vobis It is not mine to give to set you on my right and on my left hand Non vobis quia singuli separatim ab aliis rogatis not to you because you consider but your selves and petition for your selves to the prejudice and exclusion of others Joh. 4.16 Chrysost Therefore Christ bad the Samaritan woman call her husband too when shee desired the water of life Ne sola gratiam acciperet saith S. Chrysostome That he might so doe good to her as that others might have good by it too For Adpatriam quâitur August Which way think you to goe home to the heavenly Jerusalem Per ipsum mare sed in ligno You must passe thorow Seas of difficulties and therefore by ship and in a ship you are not safe except other passengers in the same ship be safe too Cant. 1.4 The Spouse saith Trahe me post te Draw me after thee When it is but a Me in the singular but one part considered there is a violence a difficulty a drawing But presently after when there is an uniting in a plurall there is an alacrity a concurrence a willingnesse Curremus post te We We will runne after thee If we would joyne in publique considerations we should runne together This is true Liberality in Gods people to depart with some things of their owne though in goods though in opinions though in present use of liberty for the publique safety These Liberall things these Liberall men King Magistrate and People shall devise and by Liberall things they shall stand The King shall devise Liberall things Cogitabit Rex that is study and propose Directions and commit the execution thereof to persons studious of the glory of God and the publique good Magistratus And that is his Devising of Liberall things The Princes Magistrates Officers shall study to execute aright those gracious Directions received from their royall Master and not retard his holy alacrity in the wayes of Justice by any slacknesse of theirs nor by casting a dampe or blasting a good man or a good cause in the eyes or eares of the King And that is their Devising of Liberall things The people shall devest all personall respects and ill affections towards other men and all private respects of their owne and spend all their faculties of mind of body of fortune upon the Publique And that is their Devising of Liberall things And by these Liberall things Stabit Rex Magistratus these Liberall men shall stand The King shall stand stand in safety at home and stand in triumph abroad The Magistrate shall stand stand in a due reverence of his place from below and in safe possession of his place from above neither be contemned by his Inferiours nor suspiciously and guiltily inquired into by his Superiours Populus neither feare petitions against him nor commissions upon him And the People shall stand stand upon their right Basis that is an inward feeling and an outward declaration that they are safe onely in the Publique safety And they shall all stand in the Sunshine and serenity of a cleere conscience which serenity of conscience is one faire beame even of the glory of God and of the joy of heaven upon that soule that enjoyes it This is Esays Prophecie of the times of an Hezekias of a Iosias the blessing of this civill and morall Liberality in all these persons And it is time to passe to our other generall part from the civill to the spirituall and from applying these words to the good times of a good King to that which is evidently the principall purpose of the Holy Ghost That in the time of Christ Jesus and the reigne of his Gospel this and all other vertues should bee in a higher exaltation then any civill or morall respect can carry them to As an Hezekias 2 Part. Liberalitas a Iosias is a Type of Christ but yet but a Type of Christ so this civill Liberality which we have hitherto spoken of is a Type but yet but a Type of our spirituall Liberality For here we doe not onely change termes the temporall to spirituall and to call that which we called Liberality in the former part Charity in this part nor do we onely make the difference in the proportion measure that that which was a Benefit in the other part should be an Almes in this But we invest the whole consideration in a meere spirituall nature and so that Liberality which was in the former acceptation but a relieving but a refreshing but a repairing of defects and dilapidations in the body or fortune is now in this second part in this spirituall acceptation the raising of a dejected spirit the redintegration of a broken heart the resuscitation of a buried soule the re-consolidation of a scattered conscience not with the glues and cements of this world mirth and inusique and comedies and conversation and wine and women miserable comforters are they all nor with that Meteor that hangs betweene two worlds that is Philosophy and morall constancy which is somewhat above the carnall man but yet far below the man truly Christian and religious But this is the Liberality of which the Holy Ghost himselfe is content to be the Steward of the holy blessed and glorious Trinity and to be notified and qualified by that distinctive notion and specification The Comforter To finde a languishing wretch in a sordid corner not onely in a penurious fortune but in an oppressed conscience His eyes under a diverse suffocation sinothered with smoake and smothered with teares His eares estranged from all salutations and visits and all sounds but his owne sighes and the stormes and thunders and earthquakes of his owne despaire To enable this man to open his eyes and see that Christ Jesus stands before him and sayes Behold and see if ever there were any sorrow like my sorrow and my sorrow is overcome why is not thine To open this mans eares and make him heare that voyce that sayes I was dead and am alive and behold I live for evermore Amen Revel 1.18 and so mayest thou To bow downe those Heavens and bring them into his sad Chamber To set Christ Jesus before him to out-sigh him out-weepe him out-bleed him out-dye him To transferre all the fasts all the scornes all the scourges all the nailes all the speares of Christ Jesus upon him and so making him the Crucified man in the sight of the Father because all the actions and passions of the
away I am sure that thou who art returned to him and hast re-manifested thy selfe to him who in the diffidence of his sad soule thought thee gone for ever wilt never depart from mee nor hide thy selfe from me who desire to dwell in thy presence And so by this liberality I stand by giving I receive comfort We follow our text Rex Christus in the Context our Prophet as he places this liberality in the King in the Magistrate in the People Here the King is Christ The Magistrate the Minister The People the people whether collectively that is the Congregation or distributively every particular soule Afford your devotions a minute to each of these and we have done When we consider the liberality of our King the bounty of God to man in Christ it is Species ingratitudinis It is a degree of ingratitude nay it is a degree of forgetfulnesse to pretend to remember his benefits so as to reckon them for they are innumerable Sicut in visibilibus est Sol Nazlan in intelligibilibus est Deus As liberall as the Sun is in Nature God is in grace Bonitas Dei ad extra liberalitas est It is the expressing of the Schoole and of much use That God is Essentiall Goodnesse within doores in himselfe But Ad extra when he comes abroad when this interiour Goodnesse is produced into action Barnard then all Gods Goodnesse is Liberality Deus est voluntas Omnipotens is excellently said by S. Bernard God is all Almightinesse all Power but he might be so and we never the better Therefore he is Voluntas omnipotens A Power digested into a Will as Willing as Able to doe us all all good What good Receive some drops of it in S. Bernards owne Manna his owne honey Creans mentes ad se participandum So good as that he hath first given us soules capable of him and made us so partakers of the Divine Nature Vivificans ad sentiendum So good as that he hath quickned those soules and made them sensible of having received him for Grace is not grace to me till it make me know that I have it Alliciens ad appetendum So good as that he hath given that soule an appetite and a holy hunger and thirst to take in more of him for I have no Grace till I would have more and then Dilatans ad capiendum So good as that he hath dilated and enlarged that soule to take in as much of God as he will And lest the soule should lose any of this by unthankfulnesse Luke 6.31 God is kind even to the unthankfull sayes God himselfe which is a degree of goodnesse in which God seldome is nay in which God scarce looks to be imitated To be kinde to the unthankfull But if the whole space to the Firmament were filled with sand and we had before us Clavius his number how many thousands would be If all that space were filled with water and so joyned the waters above with the waters below the Firmament and we had the number of all those drops of water And then had every single sand and every single drop multiplied by the whole number of both we were still short of numbring the benefits of God as God But then of God in Christ infinitely super-infinitely short To have been once nothing and to be now co-heire with the Son of God is such a Circle such a Compasse as that no revolutions in this world to rise from the lowest to the highest or to fall from the highest to the lowest can be called or thought any Segment any Arch any Point in respect of this Circle To have once been nothing and now to be co-heires with the Son of God That Son of God who if there had been but one soule to have been saved would have dyed for that nay if all soules had been to be saved but one and that that onely had sinned he would not have contented himselfe with all the rest but would have dyed for that And there is the goodnesse the liberality of our King our God our Christ our Jesus But we must looke upon this liberality as our Prophet leads us in the Magistrate too Magistratus that is in this part The Minister As I have received mercy I am one of them as S. Paul speaks And why should I deliver out this mercy to others in a scanter measure then I have received it my selfe from God Why should I deliver out his Talents in single farthings Or his Gomers in narrow and shallow thimbles Why should I defalke from his generall propositions and against all Grammar and all Dictionaries call his Omnes his All a few Why should I lie to the Holy Ghost Acts 5. as S. Peter charges Ananias Soldest thou the land for so much Yea for so much Did God make heaven for so few yes for so few Why should I say so If we will constitute a place for heaven above and a place for hell below even the capacity of the place will yeeld an argument that God as we can consider him in his first meaning meant more should be saved then cast away As oft as God tells us of painfull wayes and narrow gates and of Camels and needles all that is done to sharpen an industry in all not to threaten an impossibility to any If God would not have all why tooke he me And if he were sorry he had taken me or were wearied with the sins of my youth why did he not let me slide away in the change of sins in mine age or in my sinfull memory of old sins or in my sinfull sorrow that I could not continue in those sins but still make his mercies new to me every morning My King my God in Christ is liberall to all He bids us his Officers his Ministers to be so too and I am even thus far If any man doubt his salvation if any man thinke himselfe too great a sinner to attaine salvation let him repent and take mine for his with any true repentant sinner I will change states for God knowes his repentance whether it be true or no better then I know mine Therefore doth the Prophet here promise this liberality as in the King in Christ Populus and in the Magistrate the Minister so in the people too in every particular soule He cryes to us his Ministers Consolamini Consolamini Comfort O Comfort my people Esay 40.1 and he cryes to every one of you Miscrere animae tuae Have mercy upon thine own soule Ecclus. 30.24 and I will commiserate it too Be liberall to thy selfe and I will beare thee out in it God asks Quid potui What could have been done more to my Vineyard Doe but tell him Esay 5.4 and he will doe that Tell him that he can remove this dampe from thy heart Tell him as though thou wouldest have it done and he will doe it Tell him that he can bring teares into
thunder a fearefull apprehension of Gods Judgements upon you And when you have had your contrition too that you have purged your soule in an humble confession and have let your soule blood with a true and sharpe remorse and compunction for all sinnes past and put that bleeding soule into a bath of repentant teares and into a bath of blood the blood of Christ Jesus in the Sacrament and feele it faint and languish there and receive no assurance of remission of sinnes so as that it can levy no fine that can conclude God but still are afraid that God will still incumber you with yesterdayes sinnes againe to morrow If this be their way they doe not preach the Gospell because they doe not preach all the Gospell for the Gospell is repentance and remission of sinnes that is the necessity of repentance and then the assurednesse of remission goe together Thus farre then the Crediderit is carried Baptizate wee must beleeve that there is a way upon earth to salvation and that Preaching is that way that is the manner and the matter is the Gospell onely the Gospell and all the Gospell and then the seale is the administration of the Sacraments as we said at first of both Sacraments of the Sacrament of Baptisme there can be no question for that is literally and directly within the Commission Goe and Baptize and then Qui non crediderit Hee that beleeves not not onely he that beleeves not when it is done but he that beleeves not that this ought to be done shall bee damned wee doe not joyne Baptisme to faith tanquam dimidiam solatii causam as though Baptisme were equall to faith in the matter of salvation for salvation may bee had in divers cases by faith without Baptisme but in no case by Baptisme without faith neither doe wee say that in this Commission to the Apostles the administration of Baptisme is of equall obligation upon the Minister as preaching that he may be as well excusable if hee never preach as if hee never Baptize Wee know S. Peter commanded Cornelius and his family to be Baptized Acts 10. ult wee doe not know if hee Baptized any of them with his owne hand So S. Paul sayes of himselfe that Baptizing was not his principall function 1 Cor. 1.17 Christ sent not me to Baptize but to preach the Gospell saith he In such a sense as God said by Ieremy Jer. 7.22 I spake not unto your fathers nor commanded them concerning burnt offerings but I said obey my voyce so S. Paul saith hee was not sent to Baptize God commanded our fathers obedience rather then sacrifice but yet sacrifice too and hee commands us preaching rather then Baptizing but yet Baptizing too For as that is true Hiero. In adultis in persons which are come to yeares of discretion which S. Hierome sayes Fieri non potest It is impossible to receive the Sacrament of Baptisme except the soule have received Sacramentum fidei the Sacrament of faith that is the Word preached except he have been instructed and chatechized before so there is a necessity of Baptisme after for any other ordinary meanes of salvation that God hath manifested to his Church and therefore Quos Deus conjunxit those things which God hath joyned in this Commission Ioh. 3.5 let no man separate Except a man bee borne againe of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven Let no man reade that place disjunctively Of Water or the Spirit for there must bee both S. Peter himselfe knew not how to separate them Acts 2. Repent and bee baptized every one of you saith he for for any one that might have beene and was not Baptized S. Peter had not that seale to plead for his salvation The Sacrament of Baptisme then Eucharistia is within this Crediderit it must necessarily be beleeved to be necessary for salvation But is the other Sacrament of the Lords Supper so too Is that within this Commission Certainly it is or at least within the equity if not within the letter pregnantly implyed if not literally expressed For thus it stands they are commanded Matt. 28. ult 1 Cor. 11.23 To teach all things that Christ had commanded them And then S. Paul sayes I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you That the Lord Iesus tooke bread c. and so hee proceeds with the Institution of the Sacrament and then he addes that Christ said Doe this in remembrance of mee which is not onely remember me when you doe it but doe it that you may remember me As well the receiving of the Sacrament as the worthy receiving of it is upon commandment In the Primitive Church there was an erronious opinion of such an absolute necessity in taking this Sacrament as that they gave it to persons when they were dead a custome which was growne so common as that it needed a Canon of a Councell Carthag 3. c. 6. to restraine it But the giving of this Sacrament to children newly baptized was so generall even in pure times as that we see so great men as Cyprian and Augustine scarce lesse then vehement for the use of it Musculus and some learned men in the Reformed Church have not so far declined it but that they call it Catholicam consuetudinem a Catholique an universall custome of the Church But there is a farre greater strength both of naturall and spirituall faculties required for the receiving of this Sacrament of the Lords Supper then the other of Baptisme But for those who have those faculties that they are now or now should be able to discerne the Lords body and their owne soules besides that inestimable and inexpressible comfort which a worthy receiver receives as often as he receives that seale of his reconciliation to God since as Baptisme is Tessera Christianorum I know a Christian from a Turke by that Sacrament so this Sacrament is Tessera orthodoxorū I know a Protestant from a Papist by this Sacrament it is a service to God and to his Church to come frequently to this Communion for truly not to shake or afright any tender conscience I scarce see how any man can satisfie himselfe that he hath said the Lords Prayer with a good conscience if at the same time he were not in such a disposition as that he might have received the Sacrament too for if he be in charity he might receive and if he be not he mocked Almighty God and deluded the Congregation in saying the Lords Prayer There remaines one branch of that part Docete servare Preach the Gospell Docete servare administer the Sacraments and teach them to practise and doe all this how comes matter of fact to be matter of faith Thus Qui non crediderit he that does not beleeve that he is bound to live aright is within the penalty of this text It is so with us and it is so
torments is the everlasting absence of God and the everlasting impossibility of returning to his presenâ—â— Horrendum est sayes the Apostle It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.31 Yet there was a case in which David found an ease to fall into the hands of God to scape the hands of men Horrendum est when Gods hand is bent to strike it is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God but to fall out of the hands of the living God is a horror beyond our expression beyond our imagination That God should let my soule fall out of his hand into a bottomlesse pit and roll an unremoveable stone upon it and leave it to that which it finds there and it shall finde that there which it never imagined till it came thither and never thinke more of that soule never have more to doe with it That of that providence of God that studies the life of every weed and worme and ant and spider and toad and viper there should never never any beame flow out upon me that that God who looked upon me when I was nothing and called me when I was not as though I had been out of the womb and depth of darknesse will not looke upon me now when though a miserable and a banished and a damned creature yet I am his creature still and contribute something to his glory even in my damnation that that God who hath often looked upon me in my foulest uncleannesse and when I had shut out the eye of the day the Sunne and the eye of the night the Taper and the eyes of all the world with curtaines and windowes and doores did yet see me and see me in mercy by making me see that he saw me and sometimes brought me to a present remorse and for that time to a forbearing of that sinne should so turne himselfe from me to his glorious Saints and Angels as that no Saint nor Angel nor Christ Jesus himselfe should ever pray him to looke towards me never remember him that such a soule there is that that God who hath so often said to my soule Quare morier is Why wilt thou die and so often sworne to my soule Vivit Dominus As the Lord liveth I would not have thee dye but live will nether let me dye nor let me live but dye an everlasting life and live an everlasting death that that God who when he could not get into me by standing and knocking by his ordinary meanes of entring by his Word his mercies hath applied his judgements and hath shaked the house this body with agues and palsies and set this house on fire with fevers and calentures and frighted the Master of the house my soule with horrors and heavy apprehensions and so made an entrance into me That that God should frustrate all his owne purposes and practises upon me and leave me and cast me away as though I had cost him nothing that this God at last should let this soule goe away as a smoake as a vapour as a bubble and that then this soule cannot be a smoake a vapour nor a bubble but must lie in darknesse as long as the Lord of light is light it selfe and never sparke of that light reach to my soule What Tophet is not Paradise what Brimstone is not Amber what gnashing is not a comfort what gnawing of the worme is not a tickling what torment is not a marriage bed to this damnation to be secluded eternally eternally eternally from the sight of God Especially to us for as the perpetuall losse of that is most heavy with which we have been best acquainted and to which wee have been most accustomed so shall this damnation which consists in the losse of the sight and presence of God be heavier to us then others because God hath so graciously and so evidently and so diversly appeared to us in his pillar of fire in the light of prosperity and in the pillar of the Cloud in hiding himselfe for a while from us we that have seene him in all the parts of this Commission in his Word in his Sacraments and in good example and not beleeved shall be further removed from his sight in the next world then they to whom he never appeared in this But Vincenti credenti to him that beleeves aright and overcomes all tentations to a wrong beliefe God shall give the accomplishment of fulnesse and fulnesse of joy and joy rooted in glory and glory established in eternity and this eternity is God To him that beleeves and overcomes God shall give himselfe in an everlasting presence and fruition Amen SERM. LXXVII Preached at S. PAULS May 21. 1626. 1 COR. 15.29 Else what shall they doe which are baptized for the dead if the dead rise not at all why are they then baptized for the dead I Entred into the handling of these words upon Easter day for though the words have received divers Expositions good and pervers yet all agreed that the words were an argument for the Resurrection and that invited me to apply them to that Day At that Day I entred into them with Origens protestation Odit Dominus qui festum ejus unum putat diem God hates that man that thinks any holy-day of his lasts but one day that never thinks of the Resurrection but upon Easter day And therefore I engaged my selfe willingly according to the invitation and almost the necessity of the words which could not conveniently scarce possibly be determined in one day to returne againe and againe to the handling thereof For they are words of a great extent a great compasse The whole Circle of a Christian is designed and accomplished in them for here is first the first point in that Circle our Birth our spirituall birth that is Baptisme Why are these men thus baptized sayes the Text And then here is the point directly and diametrally opposed to that first point our Birth that is Death Why are these men thus baptized for the dead sayes the Text And then the Circle is carried up to the first point againe to our Birth in another Birth in the Resurrection Why are these men thus baptized for the dead if there be no Resurrection So that if we consider the Militant and the Triumphant Church to be as they are all one House and under one roofe here is first Limen Ecclesiae as S. Augustine calls Baptisme The Threshold of the Church we are put over the Threshold into the Body of the Church by Baptisme and here we are remembred of Baptisme Why are these men thus baptized And then here is Chorus Ecclesiae The Quire the Chancell of the Church in which all the service of God is officiated and executed for we are made not onely hearers and spectators but actors in the service of God when we come to beare a part in the Hymnes and Anthems of the Saints by our Death and here we are
remembred of Death Why are these men thus baptized for the Dead And then here is Sanctum Sanctorum The innermost part of the Church The Holy of Holyes that is the manifestation of all the mysterious salvation belonging to soule and body in the Resurrection Why are these men thus baptized for the dead if there be no Resurrection Our first dayes worke in handling these words was to accept and then to apply that in which all agreed that these words were an argument for the Resurrection And we did both those offices we did accept it and so shew you how the assurance of the Resurrection accrues to us and what is the office of Reason and what is the office of Faith in that affayre And then we did apply it and so shew you divers resemblances and conformities between naturall Death and spirituall Death and between the Resurrection of the body to glory at last and the Resurrection of the soule by grace in the way and wherein they induced and assisted and illustrated one another And those two miles made up that Sabbath dayes journey When we shall returne to the handling of them the next day which will be the last we shall consider how these words have been misapplyed by our Adversaries of the Romane Church and then the severall Expositions which they have received from sound and Orthodoxall men that thence we may draw a conclusion and determination for our selves And in those two miles wee shall also make up that Sabbath Dayes journey when God shall be pleased to bring us to it This dayes Exercise shall be to consider that very point for the establishment whereof they have so detorted and mis-applyed these words which is their Purgatory That this Baptisme for the Dead must necessarily prove Purgatory and their Purgatory So then this Dayes Exercise will bee meerely Polemicall the handling of a Controversie which though it be not alwayes pertinent yet neither is it alwayes unseasonable There was a time but lately when he who was in his desire and intension the Peace-maker of all the Christian world as he had a desire to have slumbred all Field-drums so had he also to have slumbred all Pulpit-drums so far as to passe over all impertinent handling of Controversies meerly and professedly as Controversies though never by way of positive maintenance of Orthodoxall and fundamentall Truths That so there might be no slackning in the defence of the truth of our Religion and yet there might bee a discreet and temperate forbearing of personall and especially of Nationall exasperations And as this way had piety and peace in the worke it selfe so was it then occasionally exalted by a great necessity He who was then our hope and is now the breath of our nostrils and the Anointed of the Lord being then taken in their pits and in that great respect such exasperations the fitter to be forborne especially since that course might well bee held without any prevarication or cooling the zeale of the positive maintenance of the religion of our Church But things standing now in another state and all peace both Ecclesiasticall and Civill with these men being by themselves removed and taken away and hee whom we feared returned in all kinde of safety safe in body and safe in soule too whom though their Church could not their Court hath chatechised in their religion that is brought him to a cleere understanding of their Ambition for Ambition is their Religion and S. Peters Ship must saile in their Fleets and with their winds or it must sink and the Catholique and Militant Church must march in their Armies though those Armies march against Rome it selfe as heretofore they have done to the sacking of that Towne to the holding of the Pope himselfe in so sordid a prison for sixe moneths as that some of his nearest servants about him died of the plague to the treading under foot Priests and Bishops and Cardinals to the dishonouring of Matrons and the ravishing of professed Virgins and committing such insolencies Catholiques upon Catholiques as they would call us Heretiques for beleeving them but that they are their owne Catholique Authors that have written them Things being now I say in this state with these men since wee heare that Drums beat in every field abroad it becomes us also to returne to the brasing and beating of our Drums in the Pulpit too that so as Adam did not onely dresse Paradise but keepe Paradise and as the children of God did not onely build but build with one hand and fight with another so wee also may employ some of our Meditations upon supplanting and subverting of error as well as upon the planting and watering of the Truth To which purpose I shall prepare this day for the vindicating and redeeming of these words from the Adversary which will bee the worke of the next day by handling to day that point for which they have misapplied them which is Purgatory and the mother and the off-spring of that for what can that generation of vipers suck from this Text which is not If there be no such Purgatory but If there be no such Resurrection why then are these men baptized for the dead Heaven and earth shall passe away saith Christ but my word shall not passe away Matt 24.35 But rather then Purgatory shall passe away his word must admit such an Interpretation as shall passe away and evacuate the intention and purpose of the Holy Ghost therein How much of the earth is passed away from them wee know who acknowledge the mercy and might and miracle of Gods working in withdrawing so many Kingdomes so many Nations of the earth in so short time from the obedience and superstition of Rome as that if Controversies had been to have been tried by number they would have found as many against them as with them so much of the earth is passed from them How much of heaven is passed from them that is how much lesse interest and claime to heaven they can have now when God hath afforded them so much light and they have resisted it then when they were in so great a part under invincible ignorance God onely who is the onely Judge in such causes knowes and he of his goodnesse enlarge their title to that place by their conversion towards it But how much soever of earth or heaven passe away they will not lose an acre an inch of Purgatory For as men are most delighted with things of their owne making their owne planting their owne purchasing their owne building so are these men therefore inamoured of Purgatory Men that can make Articles of faith of their owne Traditions And as men to elude the law against new Buildings first build sheds or stables and after erect houses there as upon old foundations so these men first put forth Traditions of their owne and then erect those Traditions into Articles of faith as ancient foundations of Religion Men that make God himselfe of a piece of bread
for him of whose present beeing in heaven he was already assured surely S. Ambrose could have given no such answer as would have implied a confession or an argument for Purgatory But S. Ambrose is likely to have said to him as he does say there Est in piis affectibus quaedam stendi voluptas In tender hearts and in good natures there is a kinde of satisfaction and more then that a holy voluptuousnesse in weeping in lamenting in deploring the losse of a friend In commemoratione amissi acquiescimus Let me alone give me leave to thinke of my lost Master some way by speaking with him by speaking of him by speaking for him any way I finde some ease some satisfaction in commemorating and celebrating of him But all this would not have amounted to an argument for Purgatory So also if a man should have found S. Augustine in his Meditations after his Mothers death August and heard him say Pro peccatis Matris meae deprecor te Lord I am a suiter now for my Mothers sinnes Exaudi Domine propter medicinam vulnerum tuorum Heare me O Lord who acknowledge no other Balsamum then that which drops out of thy wounds Dimitte Domine Domine obsecro Pardon her O Lord O Lord pardon her all her sinnes And then should have heard S. Augustine with the same breath and the same sigh say Credo quòd jam feceris quae rogo Lord I am faithfully assured that all this is already done which I pray for and then should have asked S. Augustine What he meant to pray for that which was already done S. Augustine could but have said to him as he does to God there Voluntaria oris mei accipe Domine Accept O Lord this voluntary though not necessary Devotion But if a man would have pressed either of them for a full reason of those prayers it would have been hard for him to have received it They prayed for the Dead and they meant no ill in doing so but what particular good they meant they could hardly give any farther account but that it was if not an inordinate yet an inconsiderate piety and a Devotion that did rather transport them then direct them These then prayed for the dead and yet confessed those whom they prayed for to be then in heaven S. Chrysostome prayes for others and yet beleeves them to be in Hell Chrysost Potest infideles de Gehenna dimittere sayes he sed fortè non faciet God can deliver an unbeleeving soule out of hell perchance he will not sayes he but I cannot tell and therefore I will try And yet S. Gregory absolutely forbids all prayer for the dead Gregory where they dyed in notorious sinne As generally their whole Schoole doth at this day either for such sinners as dying in impenitency are presumed to be already in Hell or such as dyed so well that they are already presumed to be in possession of as much as can be asked in their behalfe If then they will still presse and pursue us with that question What could those Fathers meane by their prayer for the Dead but Purgatory We must send them to those Fathers and I pray God they may get to them to aske what they meant So much as any of those Fathers have told us we can tell them and amongst those Fathers Areopag S. Dionyse the Areopagite hath told us most He hath told us the manner and the Ceremonies used at the funeralls of Christians and amongst them the offices and liturgies and services said and read at such funeralls and expressed them so as that we may easily see That first the Congregation made a declaration of their religious and faithfull assurance that they that die in the Lord rest in him And then a protestation in the behalfe of that dead brother that he did die in that faith and that expectation and therefore was then in possession of that rest which was promised to them who dyed so And this testimony for themselves in generall and this application thereof to that dead man sayes he the Church then expressed in the forme of prayer and so seemed to aske and beg at Gods hands that which indeed they did but acknowledge to have received before they gave that the forme of a prayer as of a future thing which was indeed but a recognition of that which was present and past That they did then and that that dead brother had before embraced that beliefe This answer to their question What could they meane but Purgatory by those prayers they may have from those of those ancient times And thus much more from daily practise That every man who prostrates himselfe in his chamber and powres out his soule in prayer to God though he have said O Lord enter not into judgement with thy servant forgive me the sinnes of my youth O Lord O Lord blot out all mine iniquities out of thy remembrance though his faith assure him that God hath granted all that he asked upon the first petition of his prayer yea before he made it for God put that petition into his heart and mouth and moved him to aske it that thereby he might be moved to grant it yet as long as the Spirit enables him he continues his prayer and he solicits and he importunes God for that which his conscience assures him God hath already granted He hath it and yet he asks it and that second asking it implies and amounts but to a thankesgiving for that mercy in which he hath granted it So those Fathers prayed for that which they assured themselves was done before and therefore though it had the forme of a prayer it might be a commemoration of Gods former benefits it might be a protestation of their present faith or an attestation in the behalfe of their dead friend whose first obsequies or yearly anniversary they did then celebrate Add to this the generall disposition in the nature of every man to wish well to the dead And the darknesse in which men were then in what kinde of state the dead were and we shall the lesse wonder that they declined to this custome in those times especially if we consider Chemnicius Exam. De purgator fo 92. b. that even in the Reformation of Religion in these clearer times Luther himselfe and after him if perchance Luther may be thought not to have been enough fined and drawn from his lees The Apology for the Confession of Auspourg which was written after all things were sufficiently debated and had siftings and cribrations and alterations enow allowes of such a forme of prayer for the dead as that of the primitive Fathers may justly seeme to have been All ends in this that neither those prayers of those Fathers nor these of these Lutherans though neither be in themselves to be justified did necessarily imply or presuppose any such Purgatory as the Romane Church hath gone about to evict or conclude out of them Men might pray for the
as well that because Christ is called Porta A Gate therefore when Samson is said to have carried a Gate Samson must be a Christopher and carry Christ And because Christ is a vine and a way and water and bread wheresoever any of these words are they must be intended of Christ not to stand upon the argument and inconsequence I say this word Baptisme hath not that signification which he would have it have here in any of those other places of Scripture which he cites to this purpose They are but two and may quickly be considered The first is when Christ askes the ambitious Apostles Mat. 20.20 Luk. 12.50 Are yee able to drinke of the Cup that I shall drinke of and to be baptized with the baptisme that I shall be baptized with The second is in S. Luke I must be baptized with a Baptisme and how am I grieved till it be ended In both which places Christ doth understand by this word Baptisme his Passion That is true And so ordinarily in the Christian Church as the dayes of the death of the Martyrs were called Natalitia Martyrum The Birth-dayes of the Martyrs so Martyrdome it selfe was called a Baptisme Baptisma sanguinis The Baptisme of Blood That is also true but what then was the Passion of Christ himselfe such an affliction as Bellarmine speakes of here and argues from in this place that is an affliction so inflicted upon himselfe and undertaken by himselfe as that then when he did beare it he might have forborne it and refused to beare it Though nothing were more voluntary then Christs submitting himselfe to that Decree of dying for man yet when that Decree was passed to which he had a privity nothing was more necessary nor unavoydable to any man then the Death of the Crosse was to Christ neither could he not onely not have saved us but not have been exalted in his humane nature himselfe if he had not dyed that death for all that was wrapped up in the Decree and from that grew out the propterea exaltatus and the oportuit pati That all those things Christ ought to suffer And therefore therefore because he did suffer all that he was exalted And will Bellarmine say that the Martyrdome of the Martyrs in the primitive Church was so voluntarily sustained as that they might have forsaken the cause of Christ and refused Martyrdome and yet have been saved and satisfied the purpose or the commandement of God upon them If from us Bellarmine will not heare it let him heare a man of his own profession not onely of his own Religion but so narrowly of his own profession as to have been a publique Reader of Divinity in a great University as well as he Estius And he sayes Sunt aliqui recentiores qui baptizari interpretantur affligi There are some sayes he not all nor the most and therefore it is not so manifest a place Sunt aliqui recentiores There are some of the later men sayes he not of the Fathers or Expositors in the primitive Church and therefore it is not so reverend and uncontrolable an opinion But onely some few later men there are sayes he that thinke that Baptisme in this place is to be understood of Affliction But sayes the same Doctor It is an Interpretation valde figurata rara wholly relying upon a figure and a figure very rarely used so rarely sayes he Vt non ab alio quam à Christo usurpetur That never any but Christ in the Scriptures called Affliction Baptisme So that it lacks thus much of being a manifest proofe for Purgatory as Bellarmine pretends That it is neither the common sense but of a few nor the ancient sense but of a few later men nor a sense obvious and ordinary and literall but figurative and that figure not communicated to others but onely applied by Christ and appropriated to his Passion which was not a passion so undergone as that then when he suffered it he might have refused it which is necessary for that Doctrine which Bellarmine would evict from it But because Bellarmine in whom perchance the Spirit of a Cardinall hath not overcome the Spirit of a Jesuit will admit no competition nor diversity of opinion except it be from one of his own Order we have Iustinian a man refined in that Order Iustinian a Jesuit as well as he an Italian and so hath his naturall and nationall refining as well as he and one whose books are dedicated to the Pope as well as his and so hath had an Oraculous refining by an allowance Oraculo vivae vocis by the breath of life the Oracle of truth the Popes approbation as well as he and thus much better That Iustinians never were but Bellarmines books have been threatned by the Inquisition And Iustinian never was but Bellarmine hath been put to his Retractations And he sayes onely this of this place Aliqui referunt ad corporis vexationes pro Mortuis Some men refer these words to bodily afflictions sustained by men alive for the Dead Et haec sententia multis vehementer probatur sayes he This interpretation hath much delighted and satisfied many men Sed potest dici sayes he By their leaves this may be said If S. Paul aske Why doe men afflict themselves in the behalfe of them that are dead it may be answered sayes he That if they doe so they are fools in doing so S. Paul intends certainly to prove the Resurrection by these words neither sayes he could the Resurrection of the body be proved by all S. Pauls argument if that were admitted to be the right sense of the place for what were all this to the Resurrection of the body which is S. Pauls scope and purpose in the place If men were baptized that is as Bellarmine would have it if they did suffer voluntarily and unnecessarily affliction for the Dead that is to deliver their soules out of Purgatory what would all this conduce to the proofe of the Resurrection of the body But that we may have a witnesse against him in all his capacities as wee have produced one as he is a Jesuit and another equall to him as he was publique Professor so to consider him as a Cardinall for as a Cardinall Bellarmine hath changed his opinion in some things that he held before he was hood-wincked with his Hat to consider him therefore so we have a witnesse against him in the Consistory Cardinall Cajetan Cajetan who finds no baptisme of teares nor penance in these words no application of any affliction sustained voluntarily by the living in the behalfe and contemplation of the dead but adhering to that which is truly the purpose of the Apostle to prove the resurrection of the body hee sayes In hoc quòd merguntur sub aqua mortuos gerunt When in Baptisme they are as it were buried under the water as the forme of Baptizing was then by Immersion of the whole body and not onely
proofe of the Resurrection of the body and the answer was easie and obvious We doe not baptize living men in the name and in the behalfe of the dead for any other respect then for the salvation of their soules and what is that to the resurrection of the body So that this sense of Tertullians of Baptisme by a Proxy by an Atturney seemes not to be the sense of this place and yet because it savours of charity to the dead though it were an heretical custome Bellarmine prefers this interpretation of Tertullian before any other but his owne which we handled before Theodoret interprets this Baptisme for the dead to be a baptisme of Representation Theodoret. That in baptisme by being put under the water and raised up againe we represent the death and resurrection of Christ for the dead is for Christ for the testimony of Christ And therefore that baptizing by immersion by covering the party with water was so exactly observed in those times as it came to be thought that no man was well baptized except he had received it so by Immersion as by many Treatises and many Consultations amongst the Fathers by way of Letters and the Acts of some Councels we perceive And of this representation of the death of Christ in our Baptisme administred in that manner by Immersion S. Paul is thought by some to have spoken when he sayes Know ye not that all we that have been baptized into Iesus Christ Rom. 6.3 have been baptized into his death That is say they by that representation of his death in Immersion Neither is any thing more evident then that Theodoret was so far in the right that our baptisme and the rather in that forme of Immersion is a representation of the death and buriall and resurrection of Christ but yet to call this Baptisme therefore because it was a representation of Christ who was dead a Baptisme for the dead is a phrase somewhat more hard and unusuall then may be easily admitted in such a matter of faith as this is And besides that Baptisme which is this Representation is a Baptisme common to all all that are baptized are baptized so But the Apostle in this place makes his argument from a particular kind of Baptisme which some did and some did not use Quid de illis sayes he what shall become of them and Quid illi what doe they meane that are baptized in this peculiar manner So that as not Tertullians baptisme by an Atturney so neither Theodorets baptisme by Representation seems to be the sense of this place S. Chrysostome much about the same time with Theodoret and long after them both Chrysost Theophylact. at least six hundred yeares Theophylact meet in a third sense That because at the taking of Baptisme they did usually rehearse the Creed which Creed concluded with those articles The resurrection of the body and life everlasting therefore this baptisme for the dead should onely signifie a baptisme for the hope of the Resurrection But since they rehearsed all the articles of the Christian beliefe as well as that at Baptisme it might as properly be said that they were baptized for Christ baptized for the holy Ghost baptized for the descent into hell as for the dead And besides that this was also a baptisme common to all all rehearsed the Articles of the Creed it was not such a peculiar baptisme as the Apostle hath respect to here in his Quid de illis and Quid illi what shall become of them and what doe they meane by this their Baptisme And therefore this seems not to be the sense That this Baptisme for the dead should onely be a profession of that article of the Resurrection of the dead though S. Chrysostome and Theophylact concur in or derive from or upon one other that interpretation To come lower and to a lower rank of witnesses from the Fathers to the Schoole Aquinas Aquinas hath another sense and certainly an usefull a devout and an appliable interpretation which is That Mortui here are peccata Those that are called Dead here are Dead works sins and so to be baptized for the dead is to be baptized for our sins for the washing away our sins in an acknowledgement That although we did contract a leprous sin even in our conception That we were subject to the wrath and indignation of God before we were able to conceive that there was a God That before our bones were hardned the canker and rust of Adams sin was in our bones That before we were a minute old we have a sin in us that is six thousand years old That though we be as blind after we come out of our mothers bellies as we were there Though we passe over our time without ever asking our owne consciences why we were sent hither Though our sins have hardned us against God and done a harder work then that in hardning God against us yet though we have turned God into a Rock there is water in that rock Num. 20. if we strike it if we solicite it affect it with our repentance As in the stone font in the Church there is water of Baptisme so in the Corner stone of the Church Christ Jesus whom we have hardned against us there is a tendernesse there is a Well of water springing up into everlasting life As we have changed this water into stone petrified Gods tendernesse towards us Psal 114.8 so convertit petram in stagna aquarum sayes David He hath turned that rock into a standing water water and water that stayes with us in his Church and the flint into a fountaine of waters that is sayes S. Augustine seipsum suam quandam duritiam liquefecit ad irrigandos fideles At the beames of his owne mercy God hath thawed that ice and dissolved that stone into which we had hardned him and he hath let in a River of Jordan into his Church the Sacrament of Baptisme in the present act and subsequent efficacy whereof we are washed from originall and from actuall sins All these sins are the fruits of death as they are opposed against the Lord of life and pro hisce mortuis baptizamur sayes Aquinas for the dead that is for these dead workes we are baptized And certainly for a second sense to exalt our devotion by I should prefer this before any other But the principall and literall sense of this place this cannot be because it is a figurative sense and though the figure be not in the word Baptisme where Bellarmine places it for Aquinas speaks literally of a Sacramentall Baptisme yet it is in the other word In mortuis Aquinas doth not speak literally but metaphorically of the Dead and that may as ill be admitted in a matter of faith of so great importance as the other And besides this seems to conclude nothing necessarily for the resurrection of the body that we are washed from our sins And lastly this is still a
and Whitsontyde except they were surprized with sudden sicknesse and then they were baptized in their death-bed And both wayes the sense stands well That they were baptized pro Mortuis that is pro Derelictis where they were given over for dead when there was no hope of life Or els pro Mortuis that is pro statu Mortuorum onely with respect to their state after this life because they were going to the dead And these be Divina Compendia as S. Cyprian calls them Gods Abridgements who can give his grace in a minute for 7. l. 4. 2d Magnum as he sayes in the end of that Epistle Clinici an peripatetici whether they be walking or bed-rid Christians Sacramenti majestas sanctitas non derogetur The Sacrament hath the same power whether they be baptized for the living or for the dead that is to remaine with us in this world or to depart to them of the next And this Exposition is not so much the Exposition of later men as that it is destitute of the honour of Antiquity Haeres 28. for Epiphanius the eldest whom we have named yet but Tertullian opposes this sense and interpretation of these words to that sense which Tertullian laid hold of De baptismate vicario of his Baptisme by Proxy and Atturney It is so reasonable that we need no better approbation of it but that though it be especially pursued by Calvin that great professor Estius and reader in Divinity whom we spake of before hath given of it that it is Sensus apertus simplicissimus omnibus aliis anteponendus ad probandum id quod Apostolus instituit aptissimus It is the directest sense and the plainest a sense to be preferred before all the rest as being fittest to establish all that the Apostle proposed in this place To be baptized sayes he jamjam moriturus when he is ready to die is to be baptized pro mortuis for the dead with respect onely to the state of the dead and therefore in this interpretation which even the adversary hath approved and justified for us we may safely rest our selves and the rather because our translations have relation to this sense either as it is in our first Edition pro Mortuis for Dead that is as good as dead or as it is in the second pro Mortuis for the Dead for the state of the dead and the hope of the resurrection Thus beloved S. Paul hath made an argument here to prove the Resurrection of the body One of the hardest bones in the body one of the darkest corners in the mysteries of our Religion and yet all the Religions of the Heathens had ever some impressions of it Seculum resurrectionem mortuorum nec cum errat ignorat sayes Tertullian The world knew that there was some resurrection though they were not come to know what it was For he remembers that at their funeralls they prepared great feasts upon the graves of the dead and cried out to them Resurgite comedite bibite Arise and come to us and eat and drink with us They imagined some bodily being and some possibility of conversation with the living in the Dead You have understood S. Pauls Argument and yet perchance you have not understood S. Paul Quocumque respexer is fulmina sunt sayes S. Chrysostome All S. Pauls words work as lightning Et capit omne quod tetigerit It affects and it leaves some marke upon every thing that it touches And if hee have touched thee now his effect is not onely to make thee beleeve a future resurrection of thy body but to feele a present resurrection in thy soule and to make mee beleeve that thou feelest it by expressing it in thy life and conversation Ad intelligendum Paulum vita pura opus est To understand S. Paul a man must be an honest man Chrysost hee must mend his life that will be beleeved to have comprehended S. Paul For if he be onely the wiser and the learneder and not the better and the honester he hath but halfe understood S. Paul S. Paul condemnes Hymenaeus 2 Tim. 2.17 and Philetus for saying The Resurrection was past already That is as S. Augustine interprets it that all the Resurrection which wee are to have is nothing but a resurrection from sin If S. Paul say so bitterly that this doctrine doth fret as a canker because it is not enough what will he say if thou beest not come so farre as to a Resurrection from sin We fall away into manifold and miserable dejections but Qui cadit non resurget Jer. 8.4 Shall we fall and not arise shall we turne away and not turne againe Shall not God be able to multiply our resurrections as well as the Devill our falls from God Wee are dejected when we see the wicked prosper when God seemes to behave himselfe as a Prince that were not well setled in his government and durst not offend nor displease any party nor take knowledge of their insolent and rebellious proceedings When men that tempt God and never pray for any thing before hand nor thank him for it when they have it and yet sweat in their abundances when the children of God starve for their crummes we are dejected But David found a resurrection in this cafe and a strange one which was that he could bie downe and steepe in peace his resurrection was Psal 4.8 Dedisti laetitiam in corde Thou hast put gladnesse into my heart more then in the time that their corne and their wine increased If all Gods promifes be not presently performed unto us temporall supplies in all temporall wants spirituall supplies in all spirituall distresses presently administred wee are dejected But Abraham had a resurrection in this case when God had said to him In Isaac vocabitur semen tuum In Isaac shall all Nations be blessed and then had commanded him to stop up that fountaine to dig up that foundation to pull up that root of all this universall blessing to sacrifice that very Isaac yet Abraham erected himselfe Heb. 11.19 onely with considering That God was able to raise Isaac from the dead Hee left God to his owne will when hee would doe it it was resurrection enough to him to establish himselfe in the assurance that God could doe it If thou be dejected and depressed with the waight of thy sins if the malediction and curses and denunciations of Gods judgements against sinners lie heavy upon thee make hast to thy resurrection raise thy selfe from it as fast as thou canst for it is a grave that putrifies and corrupts and molders away a soule apace Laetetur cor quaerentium Dominum Psal 105.3 sayes David Thou art not in the right way of finding the Lord if thou doe not finde a joy in the seeking of him Though thou canst not setle thy selfe in a sense that thou hast found him yet thou hast if thou canst find a holy melting and joy
or departing with some parts of our Religion at such a deare price we may be helped but these are not his helps and this is a prayer of manifestation that all the way to our end hee will bee pleased to let us see that the meanes are from him Satura nos tua Satisfie us with that which is thine and comes from thee and so directs us to thee All this may be done too and yet not that done which we pray for here God may send that which is his and yet without present comfort therein God may multiply corrections and judgements and tribulations upon us and intend to helpe us that way by whipping and beating us into the way and this is his way but this is a Prayer of limitation even upon God himselfe That our way may be his and that his way may be the way of mercy Satisfie us early with thy mercy First then Saturae the first word Satura implies a fulnesse and it implies a satisfaction A quietnesse a contentednesse an acquiescence in that fulnesse Satisfie is let us bee full and let us feele it and rest in that fulnesse These two make up all Heaven all the joy and all the glory of Heaven fulnesse and satisfaction in it And therefore S. Hierom refers this Prayer of our Text to the Resurrection and to that fulnesse and that satisfaction which we shall have then and not till then For though we shall have a fulnesse in Heaven as soone as we come thither yet that is not fully a satisfaction because we shall desire and expect a fuller satisfaction in the reunion of body and soule And when Heaven it selfe cannot give us this full satisfaction till then in what can wee looke for it in this world where there is no true fulnesse nor any satisfaction in that kind of fulnesse which wee seeme to have Pleasure and sensuality and the giving to our selves all that we desire Ezek. 16. cannot give this you heare God reproaches Israel so You have multiplied your fornications yet are not satisfied Labor for profit or for preferment cannot doe it Hagg. 1. you see God reproaches Israel for that too Ye have sowne much and bring in little ye eat but have not enough ye drinke but are not filled ye cloath you but are not warme and he that earneth wages putteth it into a broken bag that is it runs out as fast as it comes in he finds nothing at the yeares end his Midsommer will scarce fetch up Michaelmas and if he have brought about his yeare and made up his Circle yet he hath raised up nothing nothing appeares in his circle If these things could fill us yet they could not satisfie us Iob 20. because they cannot stay with us or not we with them He hath devoured substance and he shall vomit it He devoured it by bribery and he shall vomit it by a fine He devoured it by extortion and he shall vomit it by confiscation He devoured it in other Courts and shall vomit it in a Star-chamber If it stay some time it shall be with an anguish and vexation When he shall be filled with abundance it shall be a paine to him as it is in the same place Still his riches shall have the nature of a vomit hard to get downe and hard to keep in the stomach when it is there hardly got hardly kept when they are got Luke 6. If all these could be overcome yet it is clogged with a heavy curse Wo be unto you that are full for ye shall be hungry Where if the curse were onely from them who are poore by their owne sloth or wastfulnesse who for the most part delight to curse and maligne the rich the curse might be contemned by us and would be throwne back by God into their owne bosomes but Os Domini locutum The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Christ himselfe hath denounced this curse upon worldly men That they shall be hungry not onely suffer impairement and diminution but be reduced to hunger There is a spirituall fulnesse in this life of which S. Hierom speakes Ebrietas foelix satietas salutaris A happy excesse and a wholesome surfet quae quanto copiosiùs sumitur majorem donat sobrietatem In which the more we eate the more temperate we are and the more we drinke the more sober In which as S. Bernard also expresses it in his mellifluence Mutuâ interminabili inexplicabili generatione By a mutuall and reciprocall by an undeterminable and unexpressible generation of one another Desiderium generat satietatem satietas parit desiderium The desire of spirituall graces begets a satiety if I would be I am full of them And then this satiety begets a farther desire still we have a new appetite to those spirituall graces This is a holy ambition a sacred covetousnesse Deut. 32.23 and a wholsome Dropsie Napthalies blessing O Napthali satisfied with favour and full with the blessing of the Lord S. Stephens blessing Act. 6.5 Full of faith and of the Holy Ghost The blessed Virgins blessing Full of Grace Dorcas blessing Act. 9.37 Full of good works and of Almes-deeds The blessing of him who is blessed above all and who blesseth all Christ Jesus a Luk. 2.4 Full of wisedome b Luk. 4.1 Full of the Holy Ghost c Joh. 1.14 Full of grace and truth But so far are all temporall things from giving this fulnesse or satisfaction as that even in spirituall things there may be there is often an error or mistaking Even in spirituall things there may be a fulnesse and no satisfaction And there may be a satisfaction and no fulnesse I may have as much knowledge as is presently necessary for my salvation and yet have a restlesse and unsatisfied desire to search into unprofitable curiosities unrevealed mysteries and inextricable perplexities And on the other side a man may be satisfied and thinke he knowes all when God knowes he knowes nothing at all for I know nothing if I know not Christ crucified And I know not that if I know not how to apply him to my selfe Nor doe I know that if I embrace him not in those meanes which he hath afforded me in his Church in his Word and Sacraments If I neglect this meanes this place these exercises howsoever I may satisfie my selfe with an over-valuing mine own knowledge at home I am so far from fulnesse as that vanity it selfe is not more empty In the Wildernesse every man had one and the same measure of Manna The same Gomer went through all for Manna was a Meat that would melt in their mouths and of easie digestion But then for their Quailes birds of a higher flight meat of a stronger digestion it is not said that every man had an equall number some might have more some lesse and yet all their fulnesse Catechisticall divinity and instructions in fundamentall things is our Manna Every man is bound to take in
joy we shall see when we see him who is so in it as that he is this joy it selfe But here in this world so far as I can enter into my Masters sight I can enter into my Masters joy I can see God in his Creatures in his Church in his Word and Sacraments and Ordinances Since I am not without this sight I am not without this joy Here a man may Transilire mortalitatem Seneca sayes that Divine Morall man I cannot put off mortality but I can looke upon immortality I cannot depart from this earth but I can looke into Heaven So I cannot possesse that finall and accomplished joy here but as my body can lay downe a burden or a heavy garment and joy in that ease so my soule can put off my body so far as that the concupiscencies thereof and the manifold and miserable enâ— cumbrances of this world cannot extinguish this holy joy And this inchoative joy David derives into two branches To rejoyce and to be glad The Holy Ghost is an eloquent Author Exultatio a vehement and an abundant Author but yet not luxuriant he is far from a penurious but as far from a superfluous style too And therefore we doe not take these two words in the Text To rejoyce and to be glad to signifie meerely one and the same thing but to be two beames two branches two effects two expressings of this joy We take them therefore as they offer themselves in their roots and first naturall propriety of the words The first which we translate To rejoyce is Ranan and Ranan denotes the externall declaration of internall joy for the word signifies Cantare To sing and that with an extended and loud voyce for it is the word which is oftnest used for the musique of the Church and the singing of Psalmes which was such a declaration of their zealous alacrity in the primitive Church as that when to avoyd discovery in the times of persecution they were forced to make their meetings in the night they were also forced to put out their Candles because by that light in the windowes they were discovered After that this meeting in the darke occasioned a scandall and ill report upon those Christians that their meetings were not upon so holy purposes as they pretended they discontinued their vigils and night-meetings yet their singing of Psalmes when they did meet they never discontinued though that many times exposed them to dangers and to death it selfe as some of the Authors of the secular story of the Romans have observed and testified unto us And some ancient Decrees and Constitutions we have in which such are forbidden to be made Priests as were not perfect in the Psalmes And though S. Hierome tell us this with some admiration and note of singularity That Paula could say the whole book of Psalmes without booke in Hebrew yet he presents it as a thing well known to be their ordinary practise In villula Christi Bethlem extrapsalmos silentium est In the village where I dwell sayes he where Christ was borne in Bethlem if you cannot sing Psalmes you must be silent here you shall heare nothing but Psalmes for as he pursues it Arator stivam tenens The husbandman that follows the plough he that sowes that reapes that carries home all begin and proceed in all their labours with singing of Psalmes Therefore he calls them there Cantiones amatorias Those that make or entertaine love that seeke in the holy and honorable way of marriage to make themselves acceptable and agreeable to one another by no other good parts nor conversation but by singing of Psalmes So he calls them Pastorum sibilum and Arma culturae Our shepheards sayes S. Hierome here have no other Eclogues no other Pastoralls Our labourers our children our servants no other songs nor Ballads to recreate themselves withall then the Psalmes And this universall use of the Psalmes that they served all for all gives occasion to one Author in the title of the Booke of Psalmes to depart from the ordinary reading which is Sepher Tehillim The booke of Praise and to reade it Sepher Telim which is Acervorum The booke of Heapes where all assistances to our salvation are heaped and treasured up And our Countryman Bede found another Title in some Copies of this booke Liber Soliloquiorum de Christo The Booke of Meditations upon Christ Because this booke is as Gregory Nyssen calls it Clavis David that key of David which lets us in to all the mysteries of our Religion which gave the ground to that which S. Basil sayes that if all the other Books of Scripture could be lost he would aske no more then the Booke of Psalmes to catechize children to edifie Congregations to convert Gentils and to convince Heretiques But we are launched into too large a Sea the consideration of this Booke of Psalmes I meane but this in this That if we take that way with God The way of prayer prayer so elemented and constituted as we have said that consists rather of praise and thankesgiving then supplication for future benefits God shall infuse into us a zeale of expressing our consolation in him by outward actions to the establishing of others we shall not disavow nor grow slacke in our Religion nor in any parts thereof God shall neither take from us The Candle and the Candlestick The truth of the Gospel which is the light And the cheerfull and authorized and countenanced and rewarded Preaching of the Gospel which is the Candlestick that exalts the light nor take from us our zeale to this outward service of God that we come to an indifferency whether the service of God be private or publique sordid or glorious allowed and suffered by way of connivency or commanded and enjoyned by way of authority God shall give us this Ranan this rejoycing this extern all joy we shall have the publique preaching of the Gospel continued to us and we shall shew that we rejoyce in it by frequenting it and by instituting our lives according unto it But yet this Ranan this Rejoycing this outward expressing of our inward zeale Delectabimur may admit interruptions receive interceptions intermissions and discontinuances for without doubt in many places there live many persons well affected to the truth of Religion that dare not avow it expresse it declare it especially where that fearfull Vulture the Inquisition hovers over them And therefore the Holy Ghost hath added here another degree of joy which no law no severe execution of law can take from us in another word of lesse extent Shamach which is an inward joy onely in the heart which we translate here to be Glad How far we are bound to proceed in outward declarations of Religion requires a serious and various consideration of Circumstances Dan. 6.10 You know how far Daniel proceeded The Lords had extorted a Proclamation from the King That no man should pray to any other God then the King for
afflictionis Verse 16. Studied and premeditated plots and practises swallowe mee possesse me intirely In all these dayes I shall not onely have a Zoar to flie to if I can get out of Sodom joy if I can overcome my sorrow There shall not be a Goshen bordering upon my Egypt joy if I can passe beyond or besides my sorrow but I shall have a Goshen in my Egypt nay my very Egypt shall be my Goshen I shall not onely have joy though I have sorrow but therefore my very sorrow shall be the occasion of joy I shall not onely have a Sabbath after my six dayes labor but Omnibus diebus a Sabbath shall enlighten every day and inanimate every minute of every day And as my soule is as well in my foot as in my hand though all the waight and oppression lie upon the foot and all action upon the hand so these beames of joy shall appeare as well in my pillar of cloud as in theirs of fire in my adversity as well as in their prosperity And when their Sun shall set at Noone mine shall rise at midnight they shall have damps in their glory and I joyfull exaltions in my dejections And to end with the end of all In die mortis In the day of my death and that which is beyond the end of all and without end in it selfe The day of Judgement If I have the testimony of a rectified conscience that I have accustomed my selfe to that accesse to God by prayer and such prayer as though it have had a body of supplication and desire of future things yet the soule and spirit of that prayer that is my principall intention in that prayer hath been praise and thanksgiving If I be involved in S. Chrysostoms Patent Orantes non natura sed dispensatione Angeli fiunt That those who pray so that is pray by way of praise which is the most proper office of Angels as they shall be better then Angels in the next world for they shall be glorifying spirits as the Angels are but they shall also be glorified bodies which the Angels shall never bee so in this world they they shall be as Angels because they are employed in the office of Angels to pray by way of praise If as S. Basil reads those words of that Psalme not spiritus meus but respiratio mea laudet Dominum Not onely my spirit but my very breath not my heart onely but my tongue and my hands bee accustomed to glorifie God In die mortis in the day of my death when a mist of sorrow and of sighes shall fill my chamber and a cloude exhaled and condensed from teares shall bee the curtaines of my bed when those that love me shall be sorry to see mee die and the devill himselfe that hates me sorry to see me die so in the favour of God And In die Iudicii In the day of Judgement when as all Time shall cease so all measures shall cease The joy and the sorrow that shall be then shall be eternall no end and infinite no measure no limitation when every circumstance of sinne shall aggravate the condemnation of the unrepentant sinner and the very substance of my sinne shall bee washed away in the blood of my Saviour when I shall see them who sinned for my sake perish eternally because they proceeded in that sinne and I my selfe who occasioned their sin received into glory because God upon my prayer and repentance had satisfied me early with his mercy early that is before my transmigration In omnibus diebus In all these dayes the dayes of youth and the wantonnesses of that the dayes of age and the tastlesnesse of that the dayes of mirth and the sportfulnesse of that and of inordinate melancholy and the disconsolatenesse of that the days of such miseries as astonish us with their suddennesse and of such as aggravate their owne waight with a heavy expectation In the day of Death which pieces up that circle and in that day which enters another circle that hath no pieces but is one equall everlastingnesse the day of Judgement Either I shall rejoyce be able to declare my faith and zeale to the assistance of others or at least be glad in mine owne heart in a firme hope of mine owne salvation And therefore beloved as they whom lighter affections carry to Shewes and Masks and Comedies As you your selves whom better dispositions bring to these Exercises conceive some contentment and some kinde of Joy in that you are well and commodiously placed they to see the Shew you to heare the Sermon when the time comes though your greater Joy bee reserved to the comming of that time So though the fulnesse of Joy be reserved to the last times in heaven yet rejoyce and be glad that you are well and commodiously placed in the meane time and that you sit but in expectation of the fulnesse of those future Joyes Returne to God with a joyfull thankfulnesse that he hath placed you in a Church which withholds nothing from you that is necessary to salvation whereas in another Church they lack a great part of the Word and halfe the Sacrament And which obtrudes nothing to you that is not necessary to salvation whereas in another Church the Additionall things exceed the Fundamentall the Occasionall the Originall the Collaterall the Direct And the Traditions of men the Commandements of God Maintaine and hold up this holy alacrity this religious cheerfulnesse For inordinate sadnesse is a great degree and evidence of unthankfulnesse and the departing from Joy in this world is a departing with one piece of our Evidence for the Joyes of the world to come SERM. LXXX Preached at the funerals of Sir William Cokayne Knight Alderman of London December 12. 1626. JOH 11.21 Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died GOd made the first Marriage and man made the first Divorce God married the Body and Soule in the Creation and man divorced the Body and Soule by death through sinne in his fall God doth not admit not justifie not authorize such Super-inductions upon such Divorces as some have imagined That the soule departing from one body should become the soule of another body in a perpetuall revolution and transmigration of soules through bodies which hath been the giddinesse of some Philosophers to think Or that the body of the dead should become the body of an evill spirit that that spirit might at his will and to his purposes informe and inanimate that dead body God allowes no such Super-inductions no such second Marriages upon such divorces by death no such disposition of soule or body after their dissolution by death But because God hath made the band of Marriage indissoluble but by death farther then man can die this divorce cannot fall upon man As farre as man is immortall man is a married man still still in possession of a soule and a body too And man is for ever immortall in both Immortall in
his soule by Preservation and immortall in his body by Reparation in the Resurrection For though they be separated à Thoro Mensa from Bed and Board they are not divorced Though the soule be at the Table of the Lambe in Glory and the body but at the table of the Serpent in dust Though the soule be in lecto florido Cant. 1.16 in that bed which is alwayes green in an everlasting spring in Abrahams Bosome And the body but in that green-bed whose covering is but a yard and a halfe of Turfe and a Rugge of grasse and the sheet but a winding sheet yet they are not divorced they shall returne to one another againe in an inseparable re-union in the Resurrection To establish this assurance of a Resurrection in us God does sometimes in this life that which he hath promised for the next that is he gives a Resurrection to life after a bodily death here God hath made two Testaments two Wills And in both he hath declared his Power and his Will to give this new life after death in this world To the Widows sonne of Zarephtha 1. King 17. he bequeaths new life and to the Shunamites sonne he gives the same legacy 2 King 4. in the Old Testament In the New Testament to the widow of Naims sonne Luk. 7.8 he bequeaths new life And to Iairus daughter he gives the same legacy And out of the surplusage of his inexhaustible estate out of the overflowing of his Power he enables his Executors to doe as he did for Peter gives Dorcas this Resurrection too Act. 9.40 Divers examples hath he given us of the Resurrection of every particular man in particular Resurrections such as we have named And one of the generall Resurrection in the Resurrection of Christ himselfe for in him we all rose for he was All in All Con-vivificavit Ephes 2.5 sayes the Apostle and Considere nos fecit God hath quickned us all us not onely S. Paul and his Ephesians but all and God hath raised us and God hath made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Iesus They that are not faln yet by any actuall sinne children newly baptized are risen already in him And they that are not dead yet nay not alive yet not yet borne have a Resurrection in him who was not onely the Lambe slaine from the beginning but from before all beginnings was risen too and all that shall ever have part in the second Resurrection are risen with him from that time Now next to that great Propheticall action that type of the generall Resurrection in the Resurrection of Christ the most illustrious Evidence of the Resurrection of particular men is this Resuscitation of Lazarus whose sister Martha directed by faith and yet transported by passion seeks to entender and mollifie and supple him to impressions of mercy and compassion who was himselfe the Mold in which all mercy was cast nay the substance of which all mercy does consist Christ Jesus with this imperfect piece of Devotion which hath a tincture of Faith but is deeper dyed in Passion Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not dyed This Text which you Heare Martha's single words Divisio complicated with this Text which you See The dead body of this our Brother makes up between them this body of Instruction for the soule first That there is nothing in this world perfect And then That such as it is there is nothing constant nothing permanent We consider the first That there is nothing perfect in the best things in spirituall things Even Martha's devotion and faith hath imperfections in it And we consider the other That nothing is permanent in temporall things Riches prosperously multiplied Children honorably bestowed Additions of Honor and Titles fairly acquired Places of Command and Government justly received and duly executed All testimonies all evidences of worldly happinesse have a Dissolution a Determination in the death of this and of every such Man There is nothing no spirituall thing perfect in this world Nothing no temporall thing permanent and durable And these two Considerations shall be our two parts And then these the branches from these two roots First in the first we shall see in generall The weaknesse of Mans best actions And secondly more particularly The weaknesses in Martha's Action And yet in a third place the easinesse the propensnesse the largenesse of Gods goodnesse towards us in the acceptation of our imperfect Sacrifices for Christ does not refuse nor discourage Martha though her action have these imperfections And in this largenesse of his Mercy which is the end of all we shall end this part And in our second That as in spirituall things nothing is perfect so in tempoporall things nothing is permanent we shall by the same three steps as in the former looke first upon the generall consideration the fluidnesse the transitorinesse of all such temporall things And then consider it more particularly in Gods Master-piece amongst mortall things the body of man That even that flowes into putrefaction And then lastly returne to that in which we determined the former part The largenesse of Gods goodnesse to us in affording even to mans body so dissolved into putrefaction an incorruptible and a glorious state So have you the frame set up and the roomes divided The two parts and the three branches of each And to the furnishing of them with meditations fit for this Occasion we passe now In entring upon the first branch of our first part 1. Part. In spiritualibus nihil perfectum Scientia That in spirituall things nothing is perfect we may well afford a kinde of spirituall nature to knowledge And how imperfect is all our knowledge What one thing doe we know perfectly Whether wee consider Arts or Sciences the servant knows but according to the proportion of his Masters knowledge in that Art and the Scholar knows but according to the proportion of his Masters knowledge in that Science Young men mend not their sight by using old mens Spectacles and yet we looke upon Nature but with Aristotles Spectacles and upon the body of man but with Galens and upon the frame of the world but with Ptolomies Spectacles Almost all knowledge is rather like a child that is embalmed to make Mummy then that is nursed to make a Man rather conserved in the stature of the first age then growne to be greater And if there be any addition to knowledge it is rather a new knowledge then a greater knowledge rather a singularity in a desire of proposing something that was not knowne at all before then an emproving an advancing a multiplying of former inceptions and by that meanes no knowledge comes to be perfect One Philosopher thinks he is dived to the bottome when he sayes he knows nothing but this That he knows nothing and yet another thinks that he hath expressed more knowledge then he in saying That he knows not so much as
E Citation of Scripture the words much more the Chapter and verse not alwayes observed in it 250. C. 325. D Complements of their abuse and use 176. A. B. C. 412. D Comforts how easily we mistake false Comforts for true 279. E. 382. D. 383. A. B 501. A Of the true Comfort of the Holy Ghost 353. D Of that Comfort and consolation which the Minister of the Gospell is to preach to all people 746. A. B C Confession to the Priest in some cases usefull and necessary 558. A 568. A. 589. B. C How necessary to Confesse 569. D. 586. E Confidence true Confidence proceeds onely from true goodnesse 171. E Confirmation whether a Sacrament 329. C The use and benefit of it ibid. D. E Continency that trial not made as should be whether young people can Conteine from marriage 217. B C Contrition Confession and Satisfaction three parts of true Repentance 568. A Conventicles against their private opinions 228. C Against them 455. A They are no Bodies 756. D Consideration of our selves and our insufficiencies how necessary 44. D. 45. A. c. Constitutions No sins to be layd and fathered upon them 90. A Corporations how they have no soules 99. A Covering of sinnes what good and what bad 569. E It is good to cover them from giving other men examples 570. A Counsell not to be given unlesse we love those to whom we give it 93. C How many miscarry in that poynt ibid. D Craft and that cunning and Craft which men affect in their severall Callings 411. D Creatures how farre we may love the Creatures and how farre not 398. E Curiosity against the excesse of it in matter of Knowledge 63. E. 64. A. 411. E. 563. B. 701. A Conscience obdurate and over-tender the effects of either 587. B. C. D Curses and Imprecations whether we may use them 401. C. D. 555. E D DAmned the consummation of their torment wherein it consisteth in the opinion of the Schoole 344. B More shall be saved than damned 765. C Of the torments of the damned 776. B. C The absence of God the greatest torment of the damned ibid. D Day of Judgement the manner of proceeding in it 140. B Fearefull even to the best 200. B. C The certainty and uncertainty of it 271. D To be had ever in remembrance and why 371. B. 389. C. 392. A Death how it may be desired of us and how not 38. A. B. C. D. 148. B. C. 531. D. E Against the ambition of it in the pseudomartyrs 142. C The word Fortasse hath place in all things but Death 147. C. D It is a law a tribute and a duty and how 147. E. 148. A We not to grudge if we dy soon or others live longer ibid. B Death how an enemy to mankinde and how not ibid E God made it not but maketh use of it 188. B Of undergoing Death for Christ 400. A B Not a banishment to good men but a visitation of their friends 463. C Death why so terrible to the good men of former times 532. D The often contemplation of Death takes much from the feare of it 473. E Debts of our Debts to God 87. C To our neighbours 93. E To our superiors 91. C To our selves 94. D Deceit and Deceiving the mischiefe of it 742. B The law will not suppose it either in a father or a master ibid. 42. Decrees of God to be considered only by the Execution 330. C None absolute considering man before a Sinner 675. C. D. E Departing from sinne to be generall 552. A We are not to retaine any one 568. D Deprecating of afflictions whether or no lawfull 504. B. C. D. E Desperation the sin of it greater and worse than that of presumption 398. C Severall sects there have been but never any of Despayring men 346. A Against it 360. D E God brings his servants to humiliation often but never to Desperation 464. Destroying whether man may lawfully destroy any one hurtfull species in the world 527. B 620. C De viâ the name of such as were Christians in the former times that is men of that way according to S. Chrysostome 426. B Devils capable of mercy according to many of the Fathers 66. A The Devils quoting of Scripture 338. C Devotion a serious sedulous and impatient thing 244. E It is good to accompany our selves to a generall Devotion 512 D It must be constant 586. B And not taken up by chance ibid. C Disciplining and mortifying Acts after God hath forgiven us our sinnes commended 546. E They inferre neither Purgatory nor Indulgences nor Satisfaction 547. A They are sharp arrows from a sweet hand ib. The necessity of them to make our Repentance entire 568. B Discretion the mother and nurse of all vertues 577. B What Discretion is to be used in telling people of their sinnes ibid. Division the fore-runner of destruction 138. D. E Not alwayes unlawfull to sow Division amongst men when they agree too well to ill purposes 493. D Doubting the way to know the truth 322. D Duels the inhumanity and sinne of them 5. E Duties of our calling not to be disputed but executed 41. A Of our generall weaknesse and impotency in spirituall Duties 513. C E EArly seeking of God what it is 245. C. D God is an Early God 809. A. B And we to seeke him Early ibid. D. E Eloquence required in the delivery of Gods Word 47. D Enemies profit to be made of them 98. A We come too soone to the name and then carry it too farre 98. C God and Religion both have Enemies 375 D 703. C How we may and how we may not hate our Enemies ibid. D. E Our Enemies are Gods Enemies 704. A Errours in the way almost as dangerous as Errours in the end 639. A. D Of the Errours of the Fathers of the Church 490. A About administring the Sacrament to children about the state of the soule after death c. 739. E Not good for the Church to play with small Errours and tolerate them when shee may as easily redresse them 782. B Esay rather an Evangelist than a Prophet 54. B Evill none from God 168. C. D Nothing is naturally Evill 171. A Example in all our actions and purposes wee to propose unto our selves some patterne or Example 667. D. Examples what power they have in matter of instruction 572. D. 593. A What care is to be taken in making the inordinate acts of some Holy men in Scripture our Examples 155. C. D. 488. D. E. 489. A. 526. E How farre Example works above precept or command 165. B Of giving good Examples to others 420. C God follows his own Examples 522. E Of giving bad Examples unto other men 570. A. 573. E Excommunication the use of it amongst the Druides and the Jewes 402. A Much tendernesse to be used in excommunicating any from the Church 667. A How many men excommunicare themselves without any Church-censure ib. B. C. 418.
B. C Expostulation with God how without sin 44. B. We may not excuse the inordinatenesse of all Expostulations of good men in the Scripture 132. C Nor come neere that excesse which we finde in some of them 155. C Of that in the widdow of Zareptha 218. A Against Extortion 94. A Against Extremities in matters of opinion 42. A. B. c. In Religion 326. D F FAith against implicite Faith 178. C. 411. C Faith and Reason how contiguous they are 178. B Faith how it is assisted by Reason 429. A. 612. A Of the imperfection that is in our Faith 818. D Faith and Works 78. E. 368. A. 567. D. E Our Workes more ours than our Faith 79. C. D. E. c. The Faith of others how profitable to us 105. D And how not 106. E Men not to deceive themselves with thinking that if they have Faith once they shall have it ever or have enough 819. B. C Fall sinne is a fall and how 186. D. 187. B. C. 462. D Against impossibility of falling from grace received 240. B. C Of Fame and getting a good name the necessity of it 680. A Fathers of the power of life and death which they had over their owne children 388. A How Jesuites slight the authority of the Fathers of the Church 489. C How they are to be followed 490. C Feare of the Feare of God 386. B The difference between fearefullnesse and Feare 387. B Servile and Filial Feare both good 386. D The Feare of God a blessed disease 466. B It constitutes the best assurance 694. C Not only a Feare but even a terror of God may fall upon the best men 70. A Festivalls the reason of their Institution in the Church 298. B Of applying particular Scriptures to particular Festivalls 423. D Filiation the markes of our spirituall Filiation lesse subject to errour than of our Temporall 338. E Fasting but thrice mentioned by David and he thrice derided for it 535. C The commendation and use of it ibid. D. E Finding of God the severall times of it 597. A Of Finding that which was lost 711. E The passage of the Usher in S. Augustine that found a bag of money and would not take so much as the tithe of it 712. A Fishers of men the Apostles why so called 734. E Flatterers how men may flatter the best men the very Angels yea and God himselfe 332. B Foliantes an Order in the Roman Church who only feed on roots and leaves 731. C Following Christ how we are to Follow in beleeving and in doing 731. E Against Forespeaking the Counsels or Actions of the State 535. E Foretelling of death the passage of the Monks of S. sidorus Monastery about it 473. C Forme of publike Prayer used amongst the very Gentiles 89. A And they had a particular Officer who made Prayers and Collects for them upon emergent occasions ibid. Which were received every five years ibid. Fortune and God how they consist together 711. C Freewill the obliquities of it from whence 283. D The power of it in our conversion 309. A. B Funerals of the duties belonging to them 196. A. 198. B Of the severall manner of them among severall nations 198. D Christian Funerals an evidence of Gods presence 826. B Fulnesse how in Christ and how in others of the Saints 3. C Three Fulnesses in Christ above others 4. A How Full all of us are of originall sin 2. E How Full God is of mercy 12. C Of Fulnesse without satisfaction and of satisfaction without Fulnesse 807. A Abraham why Full of yeares and yet not so old as Methusalem ibid. D Severall Fulnesses ibid. E G GEntiles and their salvation how prone the Fathers were in beleeving of it 261. D. 763. C Of the power of naturall reason in them and what many of the Fathers thought of it 314. C Of their multiplicity of Gods 378. B. 484. D. 502. E They durst not call their Tutelar Gods by their names 608. A Gentlenesse meeknesse and mildenesse the power of it both upon man and God 409. E. 410. A. B Glad God whether he be Glad that he is God 812. B Glorified bodies their Endowments applyed to the soule after her first resurrection 189. A. B. C Gloria Patri after every Psalme how ancient 88. C Glory against our feare of giving God too much Glory 58. E No Glory to God in destroying man only for his pleasure 85. B Glory what it is 88. A The light of Glory in heaven what 231. A All things we doe must be to the Glory of God 636. E Of the disparity and degrees of Glory in the Kingdome of heaven 742. D. 743. A. B. C Gluttony the effects and miseries of it 579. D God not to be loved in consideration of the Temporall Blessings he bestoweth upon us but for himselfe 750. C. D Foure wayes of knowing him 229. B God how present even in hell 226. D. E Seeing of God before us in our actions how necessary 169. E How we see him in a glasse 226. B How we are enemies to God 65. B All his wayes are goodnesse 66. E Severall positions motions and transitions ascribed to him 67. C How omnipresent with the Ubiquetary and the Stancarist 67. E Why he makes some poor others rich 84. E Glories not in destroying man till he finde cause 85. B Proposeth his glory to himselfe as the end of all his works 87. C. D. E All our wealth and honour to be ascribed to him 95. B Whether his Essence shall be seene in heaven 120. D. 230. D No evill from him 168. C Not the Author of sinne 368. E To be reverenced as a Father 388. C Of the reason of many Gods amongst the Gentiles 484. D God hates not any man but as a finner 628. C. D His mercy to all men 679. A. B The numberlesse number of Gods Benefits unto man 765. A Our Goods what care to be taken they be well gotten 83. A. 95. E They are abusively called Goods 168. D Goodnesse speciall in God 167. E. 168. A. B Golden Crowns of the Saints how forged in the Roman Church 743. D Gospell whether yet preached over all the world 363. D Why it is called in Scripture the Kingdome of God 472. A How compared to a net 736. C Grace against irresistible Grace 456. B Grace and Nature how they cooperate 649. D No consummative Grace in this life 735. B Graduall Psalmes which and why they are so called 653. E Great men not alwayes good and why 166. A But when good the more acceptable and their ill the more pardonable ibid. B. C The true end of Greatnesse 321. B. C. D Great men how dangerously obnoxious to their own servants 551 A Gretzer the Jesuite how injurious to the power of Kings in matters of Religion 698. D H AGainst making too much Haste either in Temporall or Spirituall Riches 520. D Hatred how it may consist with Charity 100 A Health Spirituall Health to
Fundamentals every man is bound to have but not of the superstructure and superedification 807. B How Imperfect all our Knowledge is in Arts and Sciences 818. A Knowledge against over-much curiosity in attaining to it 63. E. 308. C. 319. A. B Whether wee shall Know one another in the next world 157. C Of sobriety in Knowledge 270. C. 701. A Knowing of our selves how hard a thing it is 563. C Knowing of God foure ordinary wayes of it in the Schooles 229. B L LAbour three-fold Labour in the Scripture 538. B Law and the Gospell of the severall state of either 284. E. 285. A Of the Law of Nature under which every man is 362. C How the Law is said to shew what is sinne 687. B Lawes of Temporall Princes whether or no they binde the conscience of the Subject wherefore never stated by the Pope or by any Councell 741. B Liberality and Bounty Civill and Spirituall what 759. E Liberality a vertue that begets a vertue ibid. The true body and true soule of Liberalitie what it is 760. C Life the excellencie of it 69. D. E. 70. A All that is good included in it 70. A Light the first creature 759. D Literae Formatae in the Primitive Church their Institution and use 415. A Lord whether God could be called the Lord before there were any creatures a disputable thing 757. A The Judgement of Tertullian and S. Augustine either way ibid. B Love the first Act of the Will 225. D How we may love the creatures 398. E 598. B Against the Love of the things of this world 187. C. 399. C Against loving of God for the Temporall blessings he bestowes upon us 750. C Loving our enemies six degrees observed in it 97. B Lust and Licentiousnesse the burdens that it makes men under goe 623. D Lying whether it be lawfull before one that is no competent Judge 491. B M Macchabees their torture and patience 221. E. 222. A. B. C. c. Man what Man is 64. D. E. 65. A. c. The dignitie and honour of Man 655. C. D Hee cannot deliberately wish himselfe an Angel for he should lose thereby ibid. E Of those helps and assistances which Man affords to Man 656. D. E. c. Man is called every creature in Scripture and why 770. C. D Mary the Crownes of England Scotland Denmark and Hungary much about one time fell upon women whose name was Mary 243. E It is a noble and a comprehensive name and why 244. A Marriage of second Marriages 216. D. E. c Masters of that esteeme and regard is to bee had to such as have taught us or have beene our Masters 288. E. 289. A why called Patres-familias 388. B Mediocrity of Estate the commendation of it 661. A. B. c. 685. D Orders in the Church of Rome from both extremes but not one from the Meane 661. B. What is a Mediocrity to one is not nor ought to be to another 714. C Memory the Holy Ghosts pulpit oftner than the Vnderstanding 290. B. C Of the sinfull Memory of past sins how dangerous it is 542. D Mercie of God how much above his judgements 12. B. 67. A. 71. A How full God is of it C Occasionall Mercies what and how many D The Devils capable of Mercy in the judgement of many Fathers 66. A. 262. D The proper difference betweene Mercy and Truth 530. D Against those that abridge the great volume of Gods Mercies 568. E Of severall Mercies and refreshments which are none of Gods 810. E. 811. A God can doe nothing but in Mercy 811. C Merits foreseene no cause of Graces in us 5. A Millenarii their errour what and how generall almost all the Fathers tainted with it 261. C Miracles against multiplying of them in the Roman Chuch 36. D Mirabilis or the man that workes Miracles the first of those great names given to Christ by the Prophet Esay 58. C Nothing dearer to God than a Miracle 215. A They are his owne Prerogative ibid. B It is more to change Nature by Miracles than to make Nature 394. E No man to ground his Faith upon a Miracle as it seemes to him 429. A How to judge of Miracles whether they bee true or false 429. B Dangerous putting of God to a Miracle in saving us 456. B What is properly a Miracle 683. D The Creation it selfe none ibid. Monuments not in Churches in the Primitive times 730 D Mortification outward Mortification and austerity a specious thing 492. E Mortification to be generall of all the parts and not of one onely 541. B Mosselim a kind of Doctors amongst the Jewes that taught the people by parables and obscure sayings 690. E The Multitude of their levity judgement and changing of opinions 482. B. D Against Murmuring at Gods blessings if they be not as great as we desire 576. C Mute against standing Mute at examinations 491. C Mysteries of two kinds in the Schooles 203. D Every Religion under heaven hath had her Mysteries and some things in-intelligible of all sorts of men 690. D N NAmes and Titles nothing puffeth men up more 734. D The Heathen never called their Tutelar Gods by their Names and why 608. A Of getting a good Name amongst men and against those that neglect it 680. A. E Of mens retaining those Names that are most acceptable 285. B Of the Name of Christian and when it was given and how 426. B Adam named all creatures but himselfe and why 563. B Natalitia Martyrum their dayes of suffering so called and why 268. C. 461. C Nativities three Nativities to every Christian and which they are 424. E Nature of that sight which wee have of God even by the light of Nature 227. B. 686. E Of that power which some of the Fathers attribute to Nature without Grace 314. C Men doe not halfe so much against sin as even by the power of Nature they are able to doe 315. B. C Of the testimony which a Naturall soule gives unto it selfe of it selfe 337. B Nature not equivalent to Grace 649 A Nature not our owne ibid. Nature and Grace how they co-operate ibid. D Neighbour-hood and evill Neighbour-hood and communicating with evill men 420. C Noctambulones men that walk in their sleep wake if they be called by their Names 467. A Nothing there is nothing more contrary to God than to be to doe or to thinke Nothing 265. B The Devill himselfe cannot wish himselfe deliberately to be nothing C An Order of Friars in the Roman Church that in humilitie called themselves Nullanos or Nothings 731. C Of the Numberlesse number of Gods benefits to Man 765. A O OCcasionall instruments of Gods glory what cold affections they meet with in the world amongst men disaffected to Gods cause 154. E Occasionall mercies offered what and how many 12. D Occasionall Convertites who 461. C God no Occasionall God and why 586. B Devotion no Occasionall thing and why 244. E A great
Silence which is good 576. B. C Silence which is bad 577. D Good to be Silent sometimes even in good things and when 576. E Simple-men of this world why chosen for Christs Apostles 719. C Singular Gods speakes of things of grace in the Singular but of heavie things in the plurall number ever 711. A Single instances no safe concluding from them 460. E Neither in the case of the Thiefe on the Crosse nor S. Paul 461. B Singularity not ground enough to condemne every opinion 234. C Against Singularity 51. D. 177. C. 573. D. 722. B Of a Single testimony 234. B Sinne the cause of all sicknesses 109. C Little light and customarie Sinnes how dangerous 117. B. 164. C. D. 585. E All Sin is from our selves not from any thing in God 118. A. 330. D The Sin of the Heart the greatest of all Sin and why 140. D How well some Men husband their Sin 147. A That it is good for men to fall into some Sinnes 171. B. C Sinne is a fall and how 186. D. 187. C Whether it have rationem demeriti and may properly offend God 342. C Sinne not meerly nothing 342. E Not so much of any thing as of Sinne 343. C How soone Sinne is followed of Repentance 540. C How Sinne rises by little and little in us 585. C Against sitting in the time of Divine Service 72. D Socinians their monstrous opinions 317. C And nicknaming of Athanasius Sathanasius 654. D Against the growth of that pestilent Heresie of Socinianisme 821. B Sorrow for the dead how lawfull 157. C. D. E. 822. D Of the end lesse Sorrow of the wicked 632. B No communication of their Sorrow 634. D The Soule of the miseries of it in the body 190. A Of the lazinesse of the Soule in the disquisition of any Divine Truths 190. B C Of her excellency of knowledge in the next world ibid. C. D Of bending the Soule up to her proper height and putting of her home 483. D Soule and Spirit what the Fathers understand by them in Scripture 517. C Subjects how to looke upon the faults and errors of their Governors 13. C How reverent to be towards their Princes 92. D Supererogation against Workes of Supererogation and of the fondnesse of them 390. C 494. E. 495. A. 547. C. 732. E Superstition better than Prophanesse and why 69. A The danger of it to be prevented but how 485. E Supplications how they differ from Petitions or Prayers 553. E Synedrion the Originall and power of the Synedrion or Sanhedrim amongst the Jewes 491. E Herod called before it but not when hee was King 492. A T TEares against their inordinatenesse 155. A Never ascribed to God 156. D Well employed for the dead though they be at rest 157. A Of those whose constitution will afford no Teares 160. D Foure considerations that will enforce Teares 160. E. 161. A Of Teares shed for worldly losses ib. C. D. 162. A For sinne 539. B Of the effect of Teares 162. B How God is said in Scripture to heare Teares that make no sound 552. E Teares the humidum-radicale of the Soule 577. E Temporall blessings how seldome prayed for in Antiquitie 750. D. E They are blessings but blessings of the left hand 751. D Nothing permanent in them 823. D Tentations all men not alike enabled against them 310. E Whether it be lawfull to pray against all kind of Tentations 527. C One of the Divels greatest Tentations it is to make us think our selves above Tentations or Tentation-proofe that they cannot hurt us 603. E The use and necessity of them 789. C Thanksgiving the duty of thanksgiving better than that of Prayer 549. D How small it is if proportioned to the love of God unto us 550. B Thoughts of the greatnesse of sinnes of thought 140. D. 543. D Titles and bare empty Names how men are puffed up with them 734. D Torturing whether or no to be admitted in case of Religion 194. D Tongue how many it hath damned 344. B Tradition against the making of Traditions articles of Faith 779. D Transubstantiation the riddles and contradictions of it 36. E What true Transubstantiation in the Sacrament may be admitted 693. C Tribulations the benefit of them 563. B 604. A. B Spirituall Tribulations and afflictions heavier than Temporall 665. B. D. E Tribulation and affliction part of our daily bread which wee ought to pray for and how 787. B Tribute God never wrought miracle in the matter of money but onely for Tribute to Caesar 91. E Trinitie the knowledge of it not by naturall reason attained 301. B Not one of a thousand knows what himselfe meanes when he speakes of the Trinity 307. E Some obumbrations of the Trinity even in nature 379 What are illustrations of it to us Christians are no Arguments unto the Jewes 417. B Foure severall trinities 417. E. 418. A It is the onely rule of our Faith the Trinitie 426. E To be believed first of all but not last of all to be understood 428. C. D The opinions of severall Hereticks concerning it 429. D The severall wayes of expressing it by figures and letters 429. E Troubles five severall sorts of Troubles 518. D The universality and inevitablenesse of them 664. B Truth not alwaies to be spoken 576. E Turning of Gods Turning to us and of our Turning to God 524. B. C. D. 525. A. B. 526. A. B V VAgabonds and incorrigible rogues against receiving or harbouring of them 415. B. C Vaine things in themselves may be brought to a religious use 226. E Vbiquetaries 67. E Confuted by the Angels Argument 248. C Of that Vicissitude which is in all temporall things 823. D Vigils why discontinued in the Primitive Church 813. A Virginitie The dignity and prayse of it 17. C. D Three Heresies impeaching the Virginity of the blessed Lady 17. D Against vowed Virginitie 30. D Virgin Mary The errour of Tertullian about her 18. A Of the Manichees and Anabaptists 23. D Against appeales to her in heaven 46. A Borne in Originall sinne 314. A Called of the Fathers Deipara but not Christipara and why 400. D Threatned at a siege of Constantinople to bee drowned if shee did not drowne the enemy 418. E The Church onely in the Virgin Mary according to the Schoole 603. C Against Vncharitable objecting of repented sinnes 499. D Vnitie the Devils way to breake it 138. D The Vnsatiablenesse of sinne 709 C Vprightnesse what Vprightnesse is required of man in this world 677 B. C What it is to bee Vpright in heart ibid. 678. A. B. C Against Vsury 753. E. 754. A. Vulgate Edition of the Antiquity and Authority of it 542. E Not to be preferred before the originall ibid. W VVArre the miseries and incommodities of it 146. C. D Waters those of Baptisme sinne tribulation and death 309. C. c What is meant by Waters in Scripture 598. D Waiting upon Gods time how it consists with fervent Prayer 34. D Wings the severall acceptations of the Word in Scripture 671. B Winning upon God by prayer how well God likes it 513. E Wisdome of sinnes against it especially ignorance and curiosity 411. B Witnesse the credit of the Testimony dependeth much upon his credit that is the Witnesse 238. B Women our Saviour came from such as were dangerously suspected and noted in Scripture for their incontinence 24. A Never any good Angell appeared in the likenesse of a Woman 242. D Whether Women were created after Gods Image a question in S. Ambrose his Commentaries upon the Epistles that hath called those Commentaries in doubt 242. E Of Womens able in State affaires and matters of Government ibid. Powerfull in matters of Religion both on the right hand and on the left 243. A Wonder the difference between the Philosophers and the Fathers about wondering 194. A Word of God the very Angels of heaven referre themselves unto it 249. E Stronger than any reason to a Christian 394. B 815. A The onely rule of Doctrine 738. E The World is a sea and in how many respects 735. C Workes wee no enemies to good workes as the Adversarie doth traduce us 82. A. c No Faith without them 136. A We are to continue in them 554. B Workes good when to a good end 82. E To be done of what 83. A How they may be seene of men 141. B Sometimes there is good use in concealing our Workes of mortification 538. E Of those imperfections which are in the best of our Good Works 820 D. E Wounds of love how God doth so wound us that we kisse that hand that strikes us 463. A Z ZEale to be reconciled to discretion 10. A How the devill makes it his Instrument 42. B Of the Zeale we ought to have to Gods service 72. D Zeale distempered what it will doe 237. A Zeale and uncharitablenesse are two incompatible things 480. E Of Daniels Zeale in praying against the expresse Proclamation of the King 814. A. B. C Zoroastes he only laughed when he was born 21. A FINIS Errata Pag. line reade 22 39 waives 22 40 waives 22 50 waives 110 52 when he 116 40 may come 142 31 the Cato's 164 39 Manours 196 15 in indignifying 420 32 man 426 45 blown 534 35 Topicks 710 46 exorcised 751 43 or any people 782 63 Interimists In the life Pag. 15 line 12 for merit reade mercy Pag. 16. line 40. for friends reade friend
addition of comelinesse His aspect was cheerfull and such as gave a silent testimony of a cleere knowing soule and of a conscience at peace with it selfe His melting eye shewed he had a soft heart full of noble pity of too brave a spirit to offer injuries and too much a Christian not to pardon them in others His fancie was un-imitable high equalled by his great wit both being made usefull by a commanding judgement His mind was liberall and unwearied in the search of knowledge with which his vigorous soule is now satisfied and employed in a continuall praise of that God that first breathed it into his active body which once was a Temple of the holy Ghost and is now become a small quantity of Christian dust But I shall see it re-inanimated Iz Wa IOHANNES DONNE SAC THEOL PROFESSOR POST VARIA STUDIA QVIBUS AB ANNIS TENERRIMIS FIDELITER NEC INFELICITER INCUBUIT INSTINCTU ET IMPULSU SPIR S ti MONITU ET HORTATU REGIS IACOBI ORDINES SACROS AMPLEXUS Aº SUI JESU 1614. ET SUAE AETATIS 42. DECANATU HUJUS ECCLESIAE INDUTUS XXVII NOVEMBRIS 1621. EXUTUS MORTE ULTIMO DIE MARTII 1631. Hic licet in Occiduo Cinere Aspicit Eum Cujus Nomen est ORIENS A Table directing to the severall Texts of SCRIPTURE handled by the Author in this BOOK SERM. I. COLOS. 1.19 20. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell And having made peace through the bloud of his Crosse by Him to reconcile all things to himselfe by Him whether they be things in earth or things in heaven page 1 SERM. II. ESAIAH 7.14 Therefore the Lord shall give you a signe Behold a Virgin shall conceive and beare a Son and shall call his name Immanuel pa. 11 SERM. III. GALAT. 4.4 5. But when the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his Sonne made of a woman made under the Law to redeeme them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons pa. 20 SERM. IV. LUKE 2.29 30. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word For mine eyes have seene thy salvation pa. 29. SERM. V. EXOD. 4.13 O my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send pa. 39 SERM. VI. Lord who hath beleeved our report pa. 52 SERM. VII JOHN 10.10 I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly pa. 62 SERM. VIII MAT. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven pa. 77 SERM. IX ROM 13.7 Render therefore to all men their dues pa. 86 SERM. X. ROM 12.20 Therefore if thine enemie hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head pa. 96 SERM. XI MAT. 9.2 And Iesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsie My son be of good chear thy sins be forgiven thee pa. 102 SERM. XII MAT. 5.2 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God pa. 112 SERM. XIII JOB 16. ver 17 18 19. Not for any injustice in my hands Also my prayer is pure O earth cover thou not my bloud and let my cry have no place Also now behold my Witnesse is in heaven and my Record is on high pa. 127 SERM. XIV AMOS 5.18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord what have ye to doe with it the day of the Lord is darknesse and not light pa. 136 SERM. XV. 1 COR 15.26 The last Enemie that shall be destroyed is Death pa. 144 SERM. XVI JOHN 11.35 Iesus wept pa. 153 SERM. XVII MAT. 19.17 And he said unto him Why callest thou me Good There is none Good but One that is God pa. 163 SERM. XVIII ACTS 2.36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly That God hath made that same Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ pa. 175 SERM. XIX APOC. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection pa. 183 SERM. XX. JOHN 5.28 29. Marvell not at this for the houre is comming in the which all that are in the graves shall heare his voice And shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of life And they that have done evill unto the Resurrection of damnation pa. 192 SERM. XXI 1 COR. 15.29 Else what shall they do that are baptized for dead If the dead rise not at all why are they then baptized for dead pa. 120 SERM. XXII HEB. 11.35 Women received their dead raised to life againe And others were tortured not accepting a deliverance that they might obtaine a better Resurrection pa. 213 SERM. XXIII 1 COR. 13.12 For now we see through a glasse darkly But then face to face Now I know in part But then I shall know even as also I am knowne pa. 224 SERM. XXIV JOB 4.18 Behold he put no trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with folly pa. 233 SERM. XXV MAT. 28.6 He is not here for he is risen as he said Come See the place where the Lord lay pa. 242 SERM. XXVI 1 THES 4.17 Then we which are alive and remaine shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the ayre and so shall we be ever with the Lord. pa. 254 SERM. XXVII PSAL. 89.47 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death pa. 267 SERM. XXVIII XXIX JOHN 14.26 But the Comforter which is the holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you pa. 277. 286 SERM. XXX JOHN 14.20 At that day shall ye know That I am in my Father and you in me and I in you pa. 294 SERM. XXXI GEN. 1.2 And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters pa. 303 SERM. XXXII 1 COR. 12.3 Also no man can say that Iesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost p. 312 SERM. XXXIII ACTS 10.44 While Peter yet spake these words the holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word pa. 321 SERM. XXXIV ROM 8.16 The Spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God pa. 332 SERM. XXXV MAT. 12.31 Wherefore I say unto you All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men But the Blasphemy against the holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men pa. 341 SERM. XXXVI XXXVII JOHN 16.8 9 10 11. And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousnesse and of judgement Of sin because ye beleeve not on me Of righteousnesse because I goe to my Father and ye see me no more Of judgement because the Prince of this world is judged pa. 351. 361 SERM. XXXVIII 2 COR. 1.3 Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ