confess I have done wrong to accuse you of crossing the doctrine of S. Paul But who knows not that it is a devotion for dayes and not the profit of men that makes you observe them You believe you do GOD service in this very thing that you feast one day and fast another You give it to the dignity of the day and not to the necessity of order or to your edification neither do you esteem dayes alike Those which you observe you set up very high above others not only by reason of the Church's command but because they have the honour to represent and signify some mysterious thing Accordingly you hold that besides the use which Festivals may be of for your instruction and your having time for works of piety your very solemnizing of them is a Religious act such as makes up a part of Divine service and is as you say meritorious in the sight of GOD which is exactly the opinion and the practice of those whom the Apostle in this place doth oppose For they condemned Christians not for absence from the assembly of the Church on the day appointed for it or for having profaned such howers in the world as were destin'd unto the service of GOD or for having scandaliz'd their neighbour by this kind of fault but only and precisely as you do for not having celebrated a Festival-day What shall I say of the other point to wit the use of and abstinence from meats The Apostle saith Let no man judge you in eating In conscience dare you affirm that you judge none of the faithful in this behalf What mean then those so rigorous laws of yours against them that eat any flesh those laws of yours that deprive Christians of this liberty for more then one third of the year and condemn that man who during all this time shall tast one bit of Bief or Mutton to as heavy penalties as if he had committed a deadly sin You are come so far as you look not upon those who violate these fine laws as sinners You abhorr them as proâ—ne persons and Atheists and count them not for Christians Is not this a grave and holy discipline and well worthy of S. Paul and JESUS CHRIST to make the service of GOD consist in meat whereof neither abstinence Matth. 15. 1 Cor 8 8. Rom. 14.17 nor use as reason sheweth every one and as our Saviour and His Apostle do teach doth pollute or sanctify doth bring loss or gain it being a thing purely indifferent in it's self good or evil only as it hurts or helps the interests of temperance and charity But we shall have shortly a fitter occasion to speak unto you of this subject more at large For the present Beloved Brethren make your profit I beseech you of S. Pauls instruction Use the liberty which the LORD JESUS hath obtained for you as His Apostle doth declare It is not reasonable that men should take from you what GOD hath given you and bought with the precious bloud of His Son Only see Gal. 5.13 that you take not this liberty for an occasion to live after the flesh Lay by shadows since you are no longer children But embrace the body which is in JESUS CHRIST His Kingdom is neither meat nor drink and no one will He condemn for having eaten any of the things which he hath created for the faithful to use with thanksgiving If He otherwhile prohibited some of them it was to deliâ—â—ate and figure out by this fleshly abstinence that which is mystical and spiritual whereunto He hath shaped you by His cross Your abstinence Christian is to renounce the meat that perisheth to loath the passions and productions of vice whereon the world doth feed It nourisheth it's self with the works of sin Avarice and ambitions and injustice and luxury and the ordures of wantoness and the infamous sweets of revenge are the aliments it runs after and cannot live without This is O ye faithful that flesh the usage whereof is forbidden you This is the Lent which JESUS CHRIST and His Apostles have in truth enjoyned a Lent to be observed not fourty dayes only but all the year long even that we abhorr what is evil that we eschew vice as poison that our lives be pure and innocent and clean from all the filthines of the flesh This is in truth that abstinence that makes a Christian and without which no man can have place among the members of CHRIST Gal. 5.24 6.14 For they that are His have crucify'd the flesh with the affections and lusts therefore The world is crucify'd to them It 's provisions it's pleasures it's allurements are had in execration of them Whoever he be that fasteth this Lent exactly he shall have part in the resurrection of CHRIST JESUS Not a man shall attain thereto otherwayes Prosecute it in good earnest Christian Souls and powerfully mortify in your selves all the lusts of this accursed flesh which perisheth it's self and will make all those perish too that desire it's delights and cannot wean themselves from it's deadly dainties See what JESUS CHRIST hath done and suffer'd for the destroying of it See the excellency of that other divine food on which He would have you live Your true food is to fulfil the will of His Father This is the food of the Prince of glory and of all His Angels food that is holy and immortal which will leave in your Souls a divine relish and contentment much better then all the feasts on earth and after the consolations wherewith it will solidly strengthen your consciences in this life eternally repast you in the Heavens with the delights of blissful immortality Brethren this is the body whereof the abstinence of the Jews was the shadow and delineation only As for their festivals they were also figures verily not of those in Rome which to say true are meer shadows and weak repesentations themselves no less then these of the Jews only they are instituted by men whereas the Jewish were ordeined of GOD they were I say figures of the resting and spiritual contentment of the faithful Origen against Cels s. l. 8. p. 404. Our festival as one of the ancients heretofore answered a Pagan that reproached Christians for their having none our festival is to do our duty to worship GOD and offer Him the unbloudy sacrifices of our holy supplications to rest from our own works and entirely sequester our selves to the work of GOD to exterminate from among us that really servile and mechanick labour of vitious actions and spend our lives in the truly noble and divine exercise of Sanctification Our Passeover is to eat the flesh of the Lambe to make use of His bloud to pass out of Egypt unto Canaan out of the world unto GOD and from Earth to Heaven leaving the things that are behind and advancing daily towards the mark and prize of our calling Our Pentecost is to converse with CHRIST in heavenly places
with so rich a portion not envy any of the creatures the perfections and happiness they have Our whole life would be a perpetual feastival whereon free from the travail and turmoil of worldlings contemplating in spirit the glory of the Palace of our LORD meditating His promises breathing after His benefits and enjoying them for the present by faith and Hope we should in repose wait for the blessed day of our glorious triumph But alas how far are we from such a felicity This wretched and perishing earth is the sole object of our minds Our souls are no less fastned to it than our bodies It swalloweth up all our thoughts it possesseth our affections it takes up our cares and our labours and hath the use of all our time We have no desires and love but for the false goods which it sheweth us nor fear and horrour but for the evils wherewith it threatneth us As for Heaven and the things it comprehendeth we are so far from seeking them that we not so much as think of them except it be dreamingly or in manner of a divertisement when we are told of them in this place looking on the stately representations which JESUS CHRIST hath drawn us of them as an empty picture fair indeed and pleasing but good for nought saving to feed our eyes with a short and bootless pleasure not attracting nor engaging our desires This is the cause why our whole life is miserable full of griefs and fears of weaknesses of regrets and infelicities The least strokes overturn us the least losses and slightest afflictions bear us down because not being fastned to Heaven the only firm and sure place of the World we fluctuate exposed to the mercy of all that comes against us And as children cannot be appeased when their puppets are taken from them because they have set all their affection on them so are we seized and do take on when we come to lose some of these toyes of the earth There is no way to comfort us because we have fastned our hearts to them And to say truth our condition is worse than other mens they at least are subject but to the evils that either the infirmity of nature or as they call it the inconstancy of fortune do bring with them whereas besides these the bad Christian who is not a Christian but in name is moreover exposed to the persecution of the World so as to say plainly there is nothing more foolish nor more wretched than he who hath part in the temporal sufferings and hardships of true beleevers and none at all in their consolation or blessedness inasmuch as his profession exposes Him to the hatred of the World and his vice excludes him from the Kingdom of GOD. Awake then ye that are worldly and come once out of so dangerous an errour Let not the trumpet of Heaven the voice of our great Apostle have founded now in your ears in vain Do not add this contempt to your other crimes He hath advertised you of your duty He hath declared the reasons that oblige you to it Take heed lest if you shut your ears against JESUS CHRIST who speaks by His mouth you perish in the end with this earth and the things you seek on it How do you not perceive that you shall never find there the happiness you seek Why hath not the experience of so many millions of persons who daily spend themselves in this vain labour taught you that the things of the earth are all of them but vanities and illusions transient figures which promise pleasure honour and contentment but afford none which do not cure the maladies of the body nor of the soul which infinitely toil out those that seek them and never fill the hearts of those that possess them multiplying their desires and their fears inflaming and envenoming their passions instead of extinguishing them which are subject to infinite mutations which men and elements may bereave you of every moment and which considering the short and uncertain duration of the life we lead here below you can enjoy but a very little time supposing that nothing does deprive you of them before death At that time Matt. 16.26 What will it profit a man to have gained the whole world and lose his own soul It is sure a blindness incredible to one that saw it not I do not say that a Christian who hath hopes of the world to come but that even any reasonable man should adhere with so ardent and obstinate a passion unto such wretched and fruitless things We perceive it and confess it and make the bravest discourses in the World upon it and after all that false lustre which we behold in these things hath such a faculty to bewitch our senses that not a person but lets himself be caught thereby But the worst is that besides errour and vanity there 's in it a tendency to eternal damnation For men may not slatter themselves None can serve two Masters nor look on Heaven and earth both together He that seeks the one must of necessity renounce the other it being no more possible to seek than it 's to find at once the things beneath and those which are above Faithful Brethren choose you and take the better part and leaving worldly men to labour in vain after the things of the earth and to seek in it what they shall never find turn you your hearts and eyes towards Heaven as the Apostle calleth you to do There Christian is the felicity you desire There dwelleth rest and joy and immortality and the perfection of both soul and body These are the only things that are truly worthy of your prayers and your pains Seek them and mind them night and day Give your selves no rest till you have found them and do feel the first-fruits and beginnings of them in your hearts Let these thoughts sweeten your sufferings and consolate your losses T is in vain that you threaten me ye people of the World You cannot deprive me of what I possess nor hinder me from finding what I seek since upon the things of Heaven you have no power Whatever you bereave me of the best part of my treasure and the only part that deserves that appellation will still remain entire to me Let the same thought arm us against all tentations Thou Tempter promisest me the things of the earth but I seek those of Heaven which thou canst not dispose of Though I should lose all I have here below even to this flesh its self yet shall I find it again with a thousand-fold increase in Heaven Let this thought again keep us continually busied in the good and worthy actions of piety charity and honesty Let our manners resemble those of the inhabitants of that divine City which wee seek Let the light of their knowledge the ardency of their love the purity of their affections shine forth now betimes in our lives 'T is that to which that new nature JESUS
here that CHRIST is our life doth not simply signifie that He is the cause and author of our life but that it fully and wholly dependeth upon Him that without Him and separate from Him we have not a drop nor spark of life and that it is in Him alone we have all the being all the moving and all the feeling that respects the life of Heaven In very deed it is He that hath merited it for us by His death It is He that hath brought it to light by His Gospel It 's He hath shewed us a most accomplish'd pattern of it in His person at His issuing out of His sepulchre It 's He that hath given us the first-fruits of it by His word and Spirit and conserveth and increaseth them in us by His benediction It is He that keeps the fulness of it for us in His treasury on high as being the true Father of eternity And lastly it is He that taking this glorious life out of His heavenly cabinet one day will put it on us with His own hand Besides we do possess neither the beginnings nor the perfection of it but in Him and by the benefit of our communion with Him in that we are members and branches of His which cannot live but united with their head and incorporated in their vine The Apostle therefore saith that when this soveraign and only author of our life shall appear then we also shall appear in glory He hath appeared once already but in the flesh as the Apostle sayes GOD was manifested in the flesh He shall appear again a second time but in glory It 's this second appearing he doth mean when the LORD JESUS descending from the Heavens with the host of His Angels and seating Himself on a judicial Throne shall openly shew to all the creatures of the World His Glory and Godhead which the Heavens that contain his flesh on high and the weaknesses that cover His mystical body here below do now hide from the earth as we lately said Then saith the Apostle shall you also appear with Him in Glory At the coming of this sweet and happy season you as plants in the spring shall receive your life which from that sacred stock wherein it is now conserved shall be diffused into you and into all the other branches of this vine of GOD and crown you at an instant with its eternal verdure The glory whereof he speaks doth signifie the light the perfections the wonders and the pomp of blissful life perfect knowledge of GOD love and sanctity and joy the immortality of our bodies their beauty their brightness their strength and impassibility and in fine all the pieces of that infinite good the grandeur and excellency whereof we shall never distinctly comprehend untill the time that we possess it We shall then appear in this glory first because beside the first-fruits of it which we have JESUS CHRIST shall give us the fulness of it which we have not this undoubtedly the greatest and most illustrious part of His glory which now remaineth hidden in Him being then to be shed abroad upon us Secondly because the World which now despiseth and treads us under foot shall then see us in this glorious estate And as CHRIST our head shall be seen with astonishment by those that sometime pierced Him so they that now outrage His members shall then see them in their glory and be constrained to change their opinion and to acknowledge those for children of GOD and Saints of His whom in the present World they do deride and make by-words of Wisd â— 3 as saith the Book of Wisdome Thus you see Beloved Brethren what kind of life it is which JESUS CHRIST doth promise and communicate unto His faithful ones to wit the fruit of our faith and of that divine food which we have taken this morning the life of Angels the crown of Saints a super-eminent and eternal felicity in conjunction with a super-eminent and immortal glory It 's the rich treasury the living and inexhaustible spring of our consolation and sanctification Judge I beseech you what manner of persons they should be that have so high and so divine an hope and if it be not reasonable we should withdraw our thoughts and our affections from the earth to elevate them unto Heaven since it is there our life is and thence that we expect our chief happiness Christian are you not asham'd to long for earth you that have title for Heaven to labour for the meat that perisheth you that are destinated to a life which perisheth not to run after shadows you that in JESUS CHRIST have the substance of true and solid happiness How much more generous and constant are the children of this generation in their vanity Those of them that are of noble extraction and especially they that are brought up in hope of a Crown would not for any thing have a mechanick trade or foul themselves in sordid actions and even nations there are among whom they totally refrain from commerce with other men and account themselves defiled and profaned by having but touched a plebeian And you that are the issue of Heaven a child of the most High a brother of His Angels and an Heir of His kingdom you that are bred up with divine manna in the hope of an heavenly life and an immortal crown how have you the heart to grope in the mud and heap up dung to intermix with the miserablest bond-men of the earth and the profanest workers of iniquity A King's son heretofore refused to contend in the publick games because he saw no Kings do it Christian remember the dignity of your name separate your self from the exercises and divertisements of the people of the world Leave them the earth out of which they come and unto which they shall return Enter not into so ignoble and fordid a race in which you see none run but children of the earth the race of Mammon and the brood of vipers and serpents Purifie your hearts and your bodies let it never betide you to defile them with base and terrene either thoughts or actions Say not what shall we eat what shall we drink wherewithal shall we be clothed These are the thoughts and cares of bond-men These are the discourses of Pagans This is all they seek You that are Christians and whose life is hid in JESUS CHRIST seek His kingdom and His righteousness Let this be your ambition and all the passion of your souls Let this divine life and the glory wherewith it will one day crown you in the fight of Heaven and earth be night and day the object of your thoughts Take it away even at the present with an holy impatiency Begin betimes to live as you shall live eternally Let the contemplating of GOD let the love of His beauties let the meditating of His mysteries let the considering of and a conversing with His CHRIST be your employment and your refreshment in the present World
is the only source thereof to render Him thanks for it This is the just and reasonable Tribute this liberal LORD demandeth of us for so many benefits as he communicateth daily to our Brethren and our selves If our lowness and poverty render us incapable of other acknowledgement let us at least faithfully acquit us of this so easie an one and so rightful and say with the Prophet Psalm 116.12 13. What shall I render to the LORD All his benefits are upon me I will take the cup of deliverances and call upon the Name of the Eternal One. Let us study with so much the more care to render this sacred due to the LORD by how much more black and detestable the ingratitude of men is in this behalf Far from blessing Him for the benefits he doth their neighbours they scarce give Him thanks for those they receive of Him themselves They impute them to their own industry or fortune and as saith the Prophet Sacrifice to their Drag for the good successes that betide them yea some so insensible there are as it is not godliness it self but they give the glory of it to their own will and the strength of their free determination But it is not enough to render thanks to GOD for our Brethren there must be also prayer for them For as it is He that gives them all the good things they possess So there is none but himself that can preserve or augment them to them and thus our thanksgivings should be ever followed or accompanied with Petitions as the Apostle sheweth in saying that be giveth thanks to GOD for the Colossians praying alwayes for them The Title He giveth to GOD calling Him the Father of our LORD JESVS CHRIST is not put here in vain but to distinguish and specifie the object of our prayers and thanksgivings The appellation of GOD under the Old Testament was The GOD of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob the Patriarchs with whom He contracted the Old Covenant and to whom He promised the New Now His Name is the Father of JESVS CHRIST by whom He hath abolished the Old Testament and accomplished the New Besides hereby St. Paul remindeth us of that we can never enough meditate that it is by the mean of this sweet and charitable Saviour GOD hath communicated Himself to us and if we have the honour to be His children 't is by JESUS CHRIST of whom He is properly the Father having not adopted Him as us but begotten Him from all eternity of His own substance by reason whereof that also which He assumed to Himself in the Womb of the Virgin hath the same glory according to what the Angel said The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee said he to the Holy Virgin and the Vertue of the Highest shall overshadow thee Luke 1 35. whence also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of GOD. But the Apostle addeth in his process what were those blessings of the Colossians for which himself and Timothy so assiduously rendred their thanks to GOD the Father of our Saviour Having heard speak of your faith in JESVS CHRIST saith he and of the charity you have towards all the Saints He had never been among them as He will say hereafter putting them after the opinion of most Interpreters Col. 2.1 in the number of those Who had not seen his presence in the flesh Therefore he saith it was by hearing that he understood of their faith and charity Here is faithful Sirs the true matter of our joyings and thanksgivings for our neighbours not that GOD hath given them vigour of health abundance of riches the favour of the great the glory of fame the knowledge of Sciences and such other worldly good things which to say the truth are but figures dreams and shadows that secure no person as we daily see either from diseases of the body or death or from trouble and disquiet of conscience or true misery But indeed for that Heaven hath revealed JESUS CHRIST to them and shed into their souls that holiness without which none shall see GOD. For these two Graces Faith and Charity comprize within their compass the whole Kingdom of GOD. Faith is the entrance thereof and charity the accomplishment The one cleareth our understandings the other sanctifieth our affections The one is the light of the soul the other is the heat thereof The one believeth and the other loveth The one beginneth and the other finisheth the happiness of our life Now Faith respects indeed generally the whole doctrine of GOD revealed in His Word believing it undoubtedly true but yet it fixeth particularly on the Promise He hath made us to give us Eternal Life in JESUS CHRIST His Son 'T is this properly that renders Faith saving and vivifying Without this it would not differ at all from the faith of Devils who believe there is a GOD and tremble at it But this love of GOD which it apprehendeth and embraceth giveth it salvation and enables it to produce in us all that 's necessary for getting in to the celestial Kingdom according to the assertions of JESUS CHRIST and His Apostles in divers places of the Scripture that whosoever believeth in the LORD is already passed from death to life That there is no condemnation for him and that being justified by faith we have peace with GOD. Hence St. Paul to describe here true faith addeth expresly these words Faith in JEVS CHRIST He sheweth us in like manner the object of Charity by saying The Charity you have towards all the Saints that is as we have intimated afore towards all Christians all the faithful I confess that Charity extendeth it self to all men generally there being none to whom we owe not love and on occasion the offices which a true and sincere affection is apt to produce since all men are the Works and Images of GOD since in Adam they all have one common nature with us and all are called to the participation of faith and of eternity in JESUS CHRIST by the Gospel which without distinction or exception inviteth all Nations and persons to repentance and grace But so it is notwithstanding that Charity embraceth not all men equally It hath divers degrees in it's affections and loveth it's neighbours more or less as it perceiveth more or less in them the marks of the hand of GOD and the tokens of His CHRIST and Spirit Seeing therefore they appear no where more clearly than in the Saints that is in true believers it is evident these make the first and principal part of the object of Charity Gal. 6.10 according to what the Apostle saith elsewhere Let us do good to all but principally to the houshold of faith Besides that Union we have with them a much more strict and intimate one than with any others their necessity also doth particularly oblige us thereto the hatred and persecution of the world putting them for the most part in such
is not yet enough for my consolation CHRIST I confess sufficiently assureth me of the pardon of my sins What assurance doth he give me against so many enemies the world the evil Angels flesh and blood in midst of whom my way doth lye But Christian doth not the same Cross which hath merited your pardon give you also clear and undoubted evidence of your safety during the whole course of your life For since you understand by it that GOD hath delivered up his only Son to death for you how can you fear that he will with-hold any of the cares of his Providence from you Yet this is not all CHRIST JESUS who sheweth us these excellent and sacred verities in his death as it were engraven in great Letters on his Cross holds up others before our eyes of no less importance in his Resurrection Believers neither the pardon of your sin nor the assistance of GOD during your life would be sufficient for you for as much as after all death will swallow you up as well as unbelievers See then further in your JESUS the truth that is necessary to compleat your consolation By committing his spirit at the point of death into the Father's hands he teacheth you that GOD will receive your soul when you depart out of the world And by rising again the third day after he assureth you that your bodies shall one day be rais'd out of the dust And ascending into Heaven he assureth you that you shall be transported thither both soul and body to live and reign there with him in eternal glory As for the way which you must take to arrive at this high happiness his whole life and his death have clearly mark'd it out to you and he still shews it you from that lofty Throne whereon he is set Tread in my steps saith he if you will be exalted to my glory Follow the example of my innocence and of my charity if you desire to have part in the Crown of my Kingdom I have born injuries with calmness and patience I have constantly obeyed my Father even unto my death on the Cross and you see the honour wherewith he hath crowned me Imitate my obedience and you shall receive my recompence This is the lesson which the LORD JESUS giveth us shewing us incomparably more clearly than either the frame or government of the World or the Mosaical dispensation ever did both the Justice of GOD that we may dread him and the Power and Wisdom of God that we may reverence him and his mercy that we may love and serve him with all the strength of our souls serve him I say not with the sacrifices of old Judaism nor with the feeble and childish devotions of Superstition but with a pure and holy heart with works worthy of him with an ardent zeal a sincere charity a constant integrity and honesty a profound patience and humility an immovable hope and confidence These are the Verities which do constitute true Wisdom all of them as you see high and sublime but in like degree useful and salutiferous Here is not question of the nature of Elements of Animals of Plants or of Meteors nor of the motions of the Sun or of the Moon or of the other Planets but of the Beeing and the Counsels and the Conduct of that Great and Most High God who made and formed all those things and in comparison of whom Heaven and Earth are but a Mite of dust Question is not of numbers and figures which can neither diminish your mseries nor make your souls happy but of your peace with GOD of your consolation in this life and of your glory and immortality in the next It 's this which JESUS CHRIST teacheth us that Divine crucified Person who dyed and rose again for us It s this he shews us represented in high and splendid colours through all the pieces of his Mystery However Nature and the Law might discover the brims and first lineaments of this Celestial Wisdom it 's he alone who hath exhibited to us the whole body and shewed us the entire frame and structure of it Conclude we then that it is verily in him that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg are hidden as the Apostle saith Embrace we this Conclusion with firm belief and upon it bless we GOD first for that he hath vouchsafed to give his CHRIST unto Mankind and particularly for that he hath communicated him unto us mercifully presenting him to us both in his Word and in his Sacraments Next pray him to open our eyes more and more that we may discern these rich and precious treasures of wisdom and knowledg which he hath hid in him Let not the vileness of his Cross nor the veil of his Infirmity nor the simplicity of his Gospel and these Sacraments wherein he is offer'd to us offend us This very thing if we consider it as we ought makes up one principal part of the wonder and that we may rightly know and value this treasure let us cleanse our minds from the clay and mire of the earth let us purifie our understandings and rid them of the sentiments and opinions of the world which being fastned to its own dung doth prize nothing but the luster of its false honours and the vanity of its perishing riches and the delight of its unseemly pleasures Let us once set free our souls from these fordid and servile passions and acknowledg as is clear and visible and justified by experience that it 's an extream error and folly to seek one's happiness in such wretched things Lift we up our eyes unto Wisdom and desire the possession and embrace the study of it It is the jewel and ornament of our nature its whole dignity stands in it Without it man is little or nothing different from beasts nay in some sort in worse case than they as sinking beneath himself and falling into utmost misery But give we good heed lest we take a shadow for substance and a phantasm for true wisdom Be not deceived This wisdom is only in CHRIST JESUS All that pretended wisdom which hath the acclamations and applauses of people whether in the Courts or in the Schools of the world is but masked folly a disguised extravagance and a painted error which passeth by the principal and necessary part and amuseth its self about that which is of no profit nor any way provides for its own welfare which is the true end of wisdom Seek it therefore in JESUS CHRIST alone It is in him that you shall find the true substance of it And as those that have any treasure are wont to visit it often and have their hearts always in the place where it is so think you night and day upon this Divine Saviour in whom are hid the treasures of wisdom and knowledg Consider him pry into him and diligently sound him He is an Abyss of good things Have your hand ever there and draw thence by faith study and meditation all
the whole extent it hath for our edification and consolation without insisting precisely upon that particular use for which it was first written to the Colossians and that nothing in it may escape us we will examine if GOD permit the two heads which are proposed in it distinctly one after another The first is The estate we were in before the vocation of GOD in his Son Ye were dâ—ad saith the Apostle in offences and in the uncircumcision of your flesh The second is The grace that GOD hath shewed us in JESUS CHRIST He hath quickned you saith he together with Him having freely forgiven you all your offences Here is in sum the map of our whole Redemption The first part represents unto us our misery by Nature And the second our happiness under Grace That is the archrevement of the first and of the second Adam the death into which the one had sunk us and the life unto which the other hath raised us There 's none so ignorant but knows what life and death are As life is the sweetest and dearest of all our good things so death is the greatest and the last of all our evils Accordingly you see now prudent-Nature hath given Animals such an Instinct as to use all the strength and skill they have to preserve themselves alive and prevent their dying Other evils take from us each of them but some part of our comforts Death bereaves us of them all Bondage deprives us of Liberty Banishment of our Countrey Sickness afflicts our Bodies Shame or Infamy our Souls Pain troubleth our Senses Poverty incommodateth our life But there is no calamity so great as not to leave us the use or enjoyment of some good or at least of our selves Death extinguishing our life and by this means sapping and overthrowing the very foundation of our enjoyments doth at the same time despoil us of all other good things altogether Wherefore the holy Apostle and the other sacred Writers that they might represent the hideousness and misery of the condition of men that are without the grace of GOD do not call it simply a Bondage a Banishment a Sickness a Disgrace a Blindness a Poverty a Calamity a Nakedness They term it a Death to signifie that it is the utmost of all the evils that can betide our nature that it is a privation not of some good things only but generally of all so as nothing remains either in the spirit or in the senses or in the body of these miserable creatures that deserves to be called good It 's the term Isaiah makes use of to express the estate of people while they had no part in the Covenant of GOD Light hath shined saith he upon them that dwell in the region of the shadow of death Isa 9.1 And the LORD JESUS puts us all in the same condition before he hath called us Joh. 5.25 The hour cometh saith he and already is that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of GOD and they that hear it shall live And without doubt it is to these kind of dead that he willed one of his Disciples to leave the care of burying their dead Matt. 8.22 1 Tim. 5.6 And you know what the Apostle says of that Widow who passeth her time in the pleasures of sin That she is dead while she liveth And our Saviour tells that person who led a wicked life under a false reputation of piety Rev. 3. â— Thou hast a name to live but art dead S. Paul following the stile of the Holy Ghost doth call them dead who abiding in the ignorance that is natural to all men do neither know GOD nor his will Ye were dead saith he to the Ephesians Eph. 2.1 â— speaking of the time they spent in the darkness of Paganism ye were dead in trespasses and sins And a little after putting himself in the same number though he was otherwise a Jew When we saith he were dead in our trespasses GOD quickned us together with CHRIST which are precisely the same terms that he here applies to the Colossians whose original condition was in effect the same with that of the Ephesians they being both the one and the other of them by birth Pagans I well know that the men of the world and generally they that have no part in the grace of GOD do live and are sensible and go to and fro they do desire and fear and hope and exercise in sum all the actions in which life is ordinarily made to consist Yea I confess that to measure things by appearances and the outside only there are none that seem to live but they filling the world with the noise of their actions and motions while the faithful for the most part groan in some corner or pass their days obscurely in the silence of retirement without appearing or making themselves seen so as it may be said of them in this respect as the Apostle somewhere doth in another 1 Cor. 1.28 that GOD hath chosen things that are not to bring to nought things that are the flesh no more accounting the faithful to be any thing than if they neither lived nor existed at all and considering none but men of the world when things that live and indeed are do come to be reckon'd up But S. Paul himself clearly shews us that he speaks not here of the privation of this kind of life in as much as he saith not simply that we were dead but that we were dead in offences and in the uncircumcision of our flesh We must know therefore that there are two kinds of life the one carnal and natural which consists in the exercise of natural actions and faculties such as are common to us partly with sensitive creatures as drinking eating sleeping and the like partly with evil spirits as sinning offending GOD and our Neighbour The other sort of life is spiritual and divine having for its principle the Image of GOD and his Grace and for its actions the exercising of piety towards GOD and charity towards our neighbour Such a life as Adam's would have been if he had persever'd in the innocence wherein he was created and such as is the life of the holy Angels now in Heaven To these two kinds of life do answer two kinds of death the one natural which is the separation of the soul from the body and an abolition of the actions and motions and sensations which the union of these two parts of our beeing doth produce in us The other spiritual which is nothing else but a privation of the Image of GOD and of those good and holy faculties and habitudes and actions wherewith it is accompanied It 's this second kind of death the Apostle intends here when he saith that we were dead in offences and in the uncircumcision of our flesh For the Holy Ghost the true Judg and Estimator of things doth count all those for dead which have not the life of GOD how full of
that supposing a man be perfectly cured of vicious habits and inclinations yet would he nevertheless be faulty by reason of his fore-passed sins and consequently liable upon this account unto the curse with which and the terrors that precede it true life is so incompatible that it is not imaginable a man in such a state could ever resolve to serve GOD freely and sincerely Therefore GOD that he may throughly quicken us doth not only deliver us from the tyranny of vice and of the flesh by that Princely Spirit which he poureth into our inward parts but moreover pardoneth us all the sins whereof we are guilty and it seems in very deed if we do accurately observe the moments of his action in us that it 's there he does begin first remitting our former offences to the end that the sense of this goodness of His may cause us to love him and encline us to obey him and conform our selves with all our might unto his holy will The Apostle attributeth unto this remission two remarkable qualities One that GOD forgiveth us all our offences that is doth not impute to us any of our sins either in whole or in part but treateth us as if we had committed none at all Another is that he doth it freely and of meer grace for so doth the word giving used here in the Original properly signifie as our Translation hath well express'd by rendring He hath freely forgiven us The Scripture tells us not of any other kind of pardon For as to that which our Adversaries do assert to wit whereby the fault is remitted but the punishment exacted either in whole or in part or is bought out with the payment of our own satisfactions or the satisfactions of others it's a figment of their own Schools of which the Holy Ghost says nothing any where but represents unto us all that remission which GOD gives the faithful either at the beginning or in the progress of their regeneration as an entire pardon and purely gratuitous As for that satisfaction by which our LORD and Saviour obtained it for us it is so far from any way diminishing that it does infinitely exalt the bounty of GOD towards us since that he so loved us as that he might pardon our faults with the consent of his Justice he would have his only Son to shed his precious blood for the contenting thereof This is that we had to deliver upon this Text of the Apostle's Dear Brethren Let us hold fast what it hath taught us of the condition that all men are naturally in before GOD calleth them to his grace Let not their outward appearance deceive you nor the pleasures of their flesh nor the splendor of their pretended virtues either civil or moral All this is but a false image of life covering a carkass that 's stinking and abominable before GOD. Make account that they are dead and that if they walk it is not a true principle of life but sin the poyson of life which doth animate them and set them on working The issue will one day clear it to us all when the just judgment of GOD having stript them of that fallacious disguise which now hideth the hideousness of their nature shall shew it before Heaven and Earth and make us plainly see that they were but Sepulchers whited without and full of filth and infection within and cast them thereupon into that wretched and eternal death which is prepared for them with the Devil and his Angels Bless we GOD who hath deliver'd us from this perdition by his great mercy and hate we sin and the corruption of the flesh which had involv'd us in it Look we on them as pests and poysons that destroy our life and reckon we that we have liv'd no more time than what hath been exempted from our serving of them You deceive your self Worldling who count the days of your unclean pleasures or your vain honours the best part of your life To say plainly it was the time of your being dead and not of your being alive After so many years as you have tumbled up and down the earth you have not yet liv'd a moment You have all along been in a state of death And they that write upon your Tombs that you liv'd so many years and died such a day do grosly err You did not live when you offended GOD and your Neighbour or lost your time in the filth of your infamous delights And on the day that you shall quit the earth you will not cease to live for to say true you never liv'd but from one kind of death you will pass into another from the death of sin to a death of torment Christians if you love life and hate horror at death renounce sin and mortifie your flesh You cannot live except it dye Put in exercise that noble life which the LORD hath given you in his Son Act according to the Principles which he hath put into you by his Spirit and lay forth continually in good and holy works the Graces wherewith he hath vested you Faithfully love and serve him Let your minds meditate on nothing beside him your hearts desire none but him your tongues speak only of him Let the contemplation of the wonders of his love and the hopes of his glory be the whole food of your souls Respect those men in whom you see his Image shine Affect them and serve them for his sake looking upon their lives their estates their honour their bodies and souls as sacred and inviolable things Endeavour to enrich them by communicating of your prosperities unto them Offend no man Do good to all Let your charity and your innocence be conspicuous in the sight of GOD and Man Faithful Brethren This is that life truly worthy to be called life which GOD doth reward for the present with a joy and contentment of Conscience that 's a thousand times more sweet and savoury than any of the vain delights of the world and which he will crown one day with that glorious Immortality he hath promised It 's for this that he hath vouchsafed to forgive us freely all our offences all those so many horrible Crimes which had merited Hell-fire and is still ready to pardon all the sins we have committed since This so great and admirable loving-kindness of his tendeth only to withdraw us from sin and oblige us to love and revere so good a GOD. It 's for the self-same end that he hath raised up his Son from the dead and enliven'd us with him giving us faith hope and charity the principles of a new life even that henceforth renouncing sin and the flesh and turning our hearts towards Heaven where our treasure and our glory is we might live soberly righteously and godly in the present world looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great GOD and Saviour JESUS CHRIST Amen The Twenty-fifth SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER XIV Ver. xiv Having effaced the obligation
one upon another and is never satiated with this vain food It never sayes 't is enough it 's alway saying give give like the wiseman's horse-leach in the Proverbs Prov. 30.15 If it regulate your eating to day to morrow it will give you laws for your clothing and afterwards for each of the parts of your life not leaving so much as your looks or your breathing free It 's a Labyrinth wherein poor consciences go on intricating them selves without any issue and a snare which does first take them than bind them fast and in the end strangle them But let us now consider the two other reasons which the Apostle makes use of to shew the vanity of the pretended ordinances of superstition about the matter of meats and eating and drinking The second than is taken as we have already intimated from the nature of those things which abstinence from was commanded They are all saith he things that perish in the using That is such as are consumed in doing us service the very eating and drinking whereby they are taken doth destroy them and they are of so feeble and infirm a substance that they cannot be of use unto us without being corrupted and to nourish us they must first perish an evident signe that all the benefit we receive from them doth respect but this wretched mortal life it being neither possible nor imaginable that what perisheth and is consumed in us should have any force or vertue for the life of our soul which is immortal and incorruptible So you see the Apostle does here presuppose this maxime that neither Religion nor the service of GOD doth properly and immediatly consist either in the usage of or an abstinence from any of those things which serve to the maintaining of our common life and are consumed in serving thereto Rom. 14.17 as he saith elsewhere expresly that the Kingdom of GOD is neither meat nor drink but righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost He makes use of the same reason again in another place 1 Cor. 6.13 Meats saith he are for the belly and the belly for meats But GOD shall destroy both it and them His Master and ours had used it before upon the same argument to the same purpose against the vain scruples of the Pharisees the Patriarches of all this kind of disciplines T is not that Mat 15.11.17 saith he which enters in at the mouth that defiles a man Because as He adds immediatly after all that which enters in at the mouth goeth down into the belly and is cast out into the draught that is to say it perisheth and is consumed in the using 1 Cor. 8.8 Whence it comes that the Apostle pronounceth again elsewhere in consequence of the same doctrine that meat that is any certain sort of meat does not render us the more acceptable unto GOD 2 Tim. 3.4 and that there is neither gain in eating it nor loss in eating it not because as he saith elsewhere yet they are all created of GOD to be used by the faithful with thanksgiving so as nothing is to be rejected being taken with giving of thanks Sure were it not for the extreme blindness of men there would be no need for us to repeat and confirme so easie a lesson with such diligence and in so many places the sole light of reason and the nature of things it self teaching it us so clearly For who is there but sees this truth if he heed it ever so little and discovers of himself that one is not the better or the more holy for eating Herbs or Fish nor the worse or more vitious for living on other things All this seâ—ves but to sustein the seeble nature of this poor body and terminates there without penetrating to the soul whose essence is wholly spiritual It 's the conceptions of the understanding and the disposition of the heart and the habitudes that referr to them and the actions that proceed from them which make men good or bad and their morals laudable or blamable so as it 's a gross and a deplorable error though I grant it hath ever been and still is very common to make a part of piâ—ty and sanctity consist in eating of or absteining from some sorts of meats But the Apostle contents not himself with citing the conclusions of reason and the nature of the things themselves against the vain and pernicious ordinances of these Seducers For the overthrowing them without recovery and the taking away all pretext of defending them he further makes use in the last place of a strong and invincible argument drawn from their being established after the commandments and doctrines of men Thus it was that GOD did sometime strike the vain services of Israel 〈…〉 Their fear of me said He is an humane commandment taught by men And the LORD JESUS overturns all the authority of the Jewish traditions Mat. 15.9 with the same shot reproching them that it was in vain they honoured GOD teaching doctrines which were but commandments of men And it should seem 't is hence that S. Paul took both the conception and the expression he useth in this place This reasoning my Brethren is extremely considerable The Apostle rejects the ordinances of the Seducers because they are commandments and doctrines of men There 's no man but sees that this discourse hath no consequence unless upon presupposal that nothing ought to be receiv'd in Religion under the quality of necessary belief or service except it be either taught or commanded of GOD and not of men only It 's the doctrine of the Apostle S. Paul in this place the doctrine of the Prophet Isaiah in that other which we alledged even now it 's the doctrine of JESUS the Master of Apostles and Prophets in His dispute against the Pharisees O holy and pretious verity from how many errors wouldst thou deliver the world if according to the authority of our LORD and those two grand Ministers of His men would examine all things by thee as their rule and consider when some article in Religion is preached to us not whether it be specious and have some appearance of reason or whether it hath been yerwhile held by the Sages of the time past or be for the present believed by the greater part of Princes and people but whether it be indeed taught of GOD in His word or meerly set forth by men Dear Brethren by this short and simple method you may easily settle your thoughts about all the differences that rend Christendom at this day Take the Book of GOD and admit nothing into your belief but what you shall find either asserted or commanded therein refusing whatsoever the word of the LORD hath not authorized Sure I am that the Sacrifice of the Masse and Purgatory and Transubstantiation and the Monarchie of the Pope and the Invocation of Saints and in a word all that divideth us from Rome will remain among those commandments and
old man are left sound and whole to stretch out the one upon the ground and lye in ashes while the others are in pleasure It is not by an hair-cloth nor a whip that vices are subdued These things incommodate the body but do not sure amend the soul They humble the out-side they hurt not within But leave the old man there at full liberty with his thoughts and lusts And it is not without reason the Apostle advertiseth us else-where that bodily exercise profits little 1 Tim. 4.8 Experience hath justified his words the lives of those that addict themselves to such exercises being no better yea sometimes worse than the lives of others And it is not long ago The Jesuit Tetavius l. 5 c. 3. de la penit publique since Truth drew this confession from the penn of one of our greatest adversaries that such exercises do many times much hurt even mens spiritual advancement because of a secret opinionativeness and pride which they beget and feed in some spirits who become arrogant and haughty upon them and take occasion from them to contemn those that lead a more moderated life The Apostle therefore would have us instead of these childish and poorly profitable exercises to lay our our labour upon the mortifying of the members of the old man that is our 〈◊〉 And it is to the same intention of his that I referr what he addeth namely that these members are upon the heart which is a thing excellently noted what way soever you consider it For first these vices are all upon the earth if you respect either their rise or their business or lastly their end and desires It 's clear they all spring up out of the earth from admiration and coveting of earthly things they all creep on the earth in its excrements or in its fruits and rise no higher than its fumes and vapours wretchedly cleaveing to these sordid vanities which they feel to fleet away and perish between their hands while they gripe them and are enjoying them Where is covetousness Where is luxury Where is gluttony and ambition What seek they for What desire they For what do they toil themselves Sure you plainly see that the earth is their only element that the metal which the one desires and the flesh which the other longeth for and the messes that the third breaths after and the vanities that are the passion of the latter I say you plainly see that all this is but earth or fruits and productions of the earth They are then to say true these members of the old man that fasten us to the earth and not the members of this body it is sin and not simply this flesh For as to our body it needs but a little for its conversation during that little time we pass here below whereas the desires of vice are infinite Whence it follows according to the Apostle's conception that it is vice we are to mortifie and not the body the members of the old man and not those of the body Then again if you consider the place destinated to be the abode of the one and the other nature you will further see that the members of the old man that is vices are not but upon the earth It 's there they make their spoyl and exercise all their tyranny there they live there they dye there they rot unprofitably consuming themselves in their own wretched filthinesse They have no place in Heaven where enters nothing but what is pure where perfect sanctity liveth and reigneth eternally crowned with immortal glory But the members of our bodies which superstition fastens ou◠and ridiculously afflicts though they also be for present on the earth and have need of its elements yet they shall not remain there alwaies They shall be one day lifted up into the Heavens and enter into the Sanctuary of GOD and live on His manna and partake of the fruits of the coelestial tree of life Knowing now the meaning of this exhortation of the Apostle's you may easily of your selves without my saying any thing of it comprehend the connexion it hath with the precedent words which imported that we are dead and that our life is hid with CHRIST in GOD and that we shall one day appear with Him in glory For since we be dead to the world and called to the hope and the fruition of an heavenly life which is hidden on high in JESUS CHRIST and shall be one day manifested and given to each one of us who sees not that all this doth most strictly oblige us to draw off all our affections from the earth and to cut all the ties that fasten us unto it that is to mortifie our members which are on the earth all the vices that engage us and ensnare us in the things of the earth It remaineth that we consider the vices or members of the old man which the Apostle does particularly name and expresly injoyn us to mortifie He nameth five in all fornication uncleanness inordinate appetite evil concupiscence and covetousness I conceive that the four first are related to one and the same head and be but divers branches of one and the same stock to wit luxury or sensuality Fornication is the principal species of them the disorders whereof are so evident and so well known that no one can be ignorant of the nature of it Uncleannesse comprehendeth all the other ordures and pollutions that are contrary to the chastity and honesty of our bodies as incests violations and those other abominable furies of carnal passions which transgress even the laws of nature as corrupt as it is The word which we have translated inordinate appetite doth signifie literally perturbation or passion in the original tongue But it is frequently used to express the passion of lubrieity and the filthy disposition of a voluptuous and esseminate heart that easily receives the impression of all lascivious objects and abandons its self to these kind of pleasures and runs out and pours forth its self in a sort entirely to them Evil concupiscence which the Apostle addeth in the fourth place is the source or the root of all the vices of this sort For though concupiscence be often taken in general for all irregular appetites and desires whatever the objects are to which they are unduly carried yet it sometimes signifies those in particular which respect the pleasures of the flesh and we often use the word concupiscence in this sense in our vulgar language Nevertheless I grant that in this place it may be taken in a larger extent as importing inordinate coveting either of pleasures or of profits and riches because the Apostle speaks here of covetousness also and not of sensuality alone He calls this concupiscence evil to distinguish it from that which keeping within its just bounds desireth things lawful in a due manner and measure The last of the vices here touched by the Apostle is Covetousnesse a vice no less known than the fore-going Only
notable difference between the heavenly food which we receive in this Sacrament and the earthly meat we daily take for whereas the latter is for the nourishing of our bodies chang'd into their nature the former on the contrary for the enlivening of our souls transform them into its own Thus since we have participated this Morning of this precious Sacrament we cannot better employ the present hour than in meditating these words of the Apostle which contain and represent one of its principal effects Consider them therefore my Brethren attentively And that we may discern whether or no we have truly communicated of the bread of Heaven let us examine whether it hath produced and formed in our hearts that humility and kindness and all those other vertues which the Apostle enjoyns us in this place and reckon we that without this neither the LORD's favour in inviting us unto his Table nor the heavenly food there presented us will benefit us at all and that remaining far from contributing to our salvation it will aggravate our condemnation according to the Apostles saying in another place That whoever cateth of the bread of the LORD and drinketh of his cup unworthily eateth and drinketh his own judgment S. Paul if you remember having in general exhorted the Colossians to mortifie the members of the old Man did particularly nominate and specifie to them some of his principal Vices as covetousness fornication malignity wrath and such others expresly injoyning them to put them away But because it is not enough to forbear evil there must also be a doing good and it sufficeth not that we abstain from vice if we do not exercise the actions of vertue This great Apostle having forbidden the lusts and fins of the old Man commands us first in general to put on the New as you heard a week since and then in the progress of his speech he pointeth at some of the principal parts of this new Man by name It is precisely at the Verses we have read that he begins this discourse Put on then saith he as elected of GOD Saints and Beloved bowels of mercy c. This exhortation he infers from the precedent Verses and proposeth us at the entrance a reason that obligeth us unto this pursuit taken from the honour GOD hath done us to choose us for his Saints and his Beloved Next he commands us compassion benignity humility meekness patience five Vertues that refer as you see to the manner after which we are to carry our selves towards our neighbours and particularly towards those of them that suffer evil or do us any Afterwards he pointeth out two acts of patience and benignity the one is a bearing with and the other the pardoning of one another and to incite us to them he adds the example our LORD and Saviour hath given us of them So we shall have three Points to treat of in this action if the LORD will First the quality of elected of GOD Saints and Beloved which the Apostle gives us at the entrance to sway us to our duty Secondly the five Vertues which he recommends unto us and the exercising of them in the matter of that forbearance and mutual forgiveness which we owe one another And finally in the third place the example of JESUS CHRIST which he sets before our eyes as an accomplisht pattern and a most effectual argument of our sanctification Dear Brethren hear meditate and duly put in practise that Divine Lesson which the LORD JESUS gave you this Morning in the Mysterie of his Table and now repeats by the mouth of his Apostle The Apostle deduceth it from what he had generally asserted in the precedent Verses namely that we have put on the new Man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him who created him Thence he now concludes Put on then bowels of mercy kindness humility meekness patience The consequence is evident For since we do put on the new Man in JESUS CHRIST it is clear that these Vertues being as they are members and parts of this new Man it 's a duty of ours to put them on and that in defect of them this new Nature which makes us Christians would remain imperfect in us Brethren Mark well this reasoning and learn by it how hugely they deceive themselves who pretend without these Vertues unto the name and inheritance of Christians imagining that they are not necessary for all but only meet for such as will be perfecter and more excellent than the commonalty of the faithful It 's a principle laid down in divers places by the Apostle and acknowledged by the whole Church that no man is in CHRIST except he be a new Creature And himself teacheth us here that whoever is a new Creature must put on compassion and those other Vertues he nameth in order sure it follows then that whosoever hath not put them on is not a new Creature nor by consequent a Christian If therefore you will be Christians if you will aspire to salvation which GOD gives to none but those that are so renounce that pernicious error and embrace the pursuit of all these Vertues with vigorous resolution travelling incessantly in it until you have vested your souls with their habitudes sentiments and affections and fill'd your whole life with their actions It 's the thing to which you are also evidently obliged by the dignity of being the Elect the Saints and the beloved of GOD which you are stated in and the Apostle in this place minds you of Put on saith he compassion kindness as elected of GOD Saints and beloved The Hebrew Grammarians have noted that the word as is used in that language two manner of ways sometimes to signifie the analogy and resemblance of one thing to another and this they call the as of likeness For instance when our Saviour saith Be wise as Scrpents and simple as Doves Sometimes to signifie that the subject we speak of hath not the resemblance but the reality of that particular which we attribute to it and this they term the as of verity As when S. Joh. 1.14 John saith of our LORD JESUS CHRIST We beheld his glory to wit a glory as of the only begotten of the Father His meâ—ning is not that JESUS CHRIST was like the only Son of God but that he was so indeed and in truth and that the glâ—â—y which he and his companions beheld in him was just such as the glory of GOD's true Son should be An as of the first kind compares one thing with another An as of the second compares a thing with its self The first is a comparative Particle as the Grammarians speak and the second a rational one The as here used by the Apostle is of the second kind not of the first For he doth not mean that we should addict our selves to those Vertues which he enjoyns us as do certain other persons elected of God but that we do addict our selves unto them because we have
dignity of them the union of Husband and Wife is the most excellent and that upon which the others do depend or if you regard their rise Man was an Husband before a Father or a Master GOD gave Adam a Wife before He gave him Children or Servants Now though in this prime union the Husband possesseth the first place yet the Apostle beginneth at the Wife and doth the like in the two following orders instructing Children before Fathers and Servants before Masters either for that the subjection to which Wives and Children and Servants are obliged is more difficult and displeasing to our nature than the love and government of Husbands and Fathers and Masters is or for that the subjection of the one is the foundation upon which the others good government doth depend We will handle at the present no more but the lesson which he gives to Wives and Husbands contained in the Text that you have heard reserving that which concerns Children and Fathers Servants and Masters to another time The Wife's lesson is for words short but for sense of great weight and large extent Wives saith the Apostle to them be subject to your own Husbands as is meet in the LORD In which words first he commands Married women that subjection which they owe to their own Husbands and next shews them the manner of that subjection as is meet in the LORD As for subjection it 's an order that GOD hath established generally in all things which constitute any kind of body whether it be in nature or in either Angelical or humane society that some should depend on others Thus you see in plants the other parts depend upon the root and in animals upon the heart and they all upon the soul that makes them live Among men there 's no estate without a superiour that governs and inferiours that are governed In the composition of the world it self as it is one total you know that earthly things depend upon the heavens it 's they that govern all the rest neither is there any union or any body or natural compacted frame in the whole universe all whose parts are entirely equal GOD whose wisdome is infinite hath so ordered it for the benefit of things themselves those that are feeble and imperfect finding their perfection in the conduct of such as are more perfect and the more perfect reaping commodity and dignity from the subjection of those that are less This induced the Apostle to say in another place that GOD is not a GOD of confusion or of disorder but of peace Whence followeth that to resist subjection when persons are called to it is a thwarting of His will and a perturbing of His order a mark also not of fortitude and courage but of folly and malignity to oppose it conform to that which experience taught the Heathen themselves to observe even that good men are easie to be governed and that those that most unwillingly endure a superior are alwaies such as have least worth It having therefore pleased GOD according to this general disposition of His wisdom that in marriage man should be the head it 's with good reason that the Apostle exhortâ—th married women to be subject That word compriseth all the duty of the condition to which GOD calleth them and therefore the Holy Spirit useth it almost alwaies in this matter as in the Epistle to the Ephesians Eph. 5.22 Tit. 2.5 where these self-same terms occur and in the Epistle to Titus That saith he they be discreet chaste keepers at home good subject to their own husbands 1 Pet. 3.1 and in the first Epistle of St. Peter Ye wives saith he be in subjection to your own husbands I know well the expression doth displease our nature which in the corruption that sin hath brought upon it hateth all even the most lawful subjection And perhaps it is upon this accont that the Apostles have so often recommended it to Christian women that they might instruct them to combat this sentiment of our depraved nature and submit themselves unto GOD's order But certainly setting aside the word and the disorders which our sin doth sow in every condition there is no harshness in this conjugal subjection there 's nothing in it but is sweet and beneficial and advantageous both to the wife her self and also the whole family For it 's an error to think that all subjection is hard and vexatious That which the body oweth to the soul and the members to the head that which the air and earth do render to the heavens hath nothing of constraint nothing shameful in it on the contrary 't is in it that the glory of the body and the members and the elements does consist Among the Angels themselves whose being is full of perfection and of glory there wanteth not some kind of subjection the inferior Angels having dependance upon their chiefs And in the terrestrial Paradise if sin had not banished us thence amid the delights and perfections of an happy state the wise would not have been exempt from being subject to her husband an evident sign that this subjection is not incompatible either with her felicity or with her glory and that all the bitterness now found in it comes not from the thing it self but from sin which hath altered it as it hath all the other parts of our life and nature For in reality what does this subjection signifie but a just and rational a sweet and amiable dependance of the wife upon the husband like that of the body upon its head or upon its soul Of this subjection the first part which is as the root and stock of all the rest is a sentiâ—ent and disposition of heart when the wife acknowledgeth in her soul that the husband GOD hath given her is her head and as the wise man saith her guide who in the due order of their life ought to have the first place and that she is inferior to him since she is his wife whatever advantage she hath other-waies above him be it in wealth or in nobility yea even in prudence and abilites of spirit If she hath once setled this holy and respectful perswasion in her heart she will no more find ought of harshness or difficulty in all that subjection which she oweth her husband This sentiment alone is sufficient to form her unto it and bow without any violence all the actions of her life that way And it 's this in my opinion Eph. 5.33 that the Apostle meaneth when he saith else where that the wise should reverence her husband 1 Pet. 3.6 Such was the sentiment of Sarah whom St. Peter proposeth unto Christian women for a pattern of their demeanor She called Abraham her Lord as that Apostle doth expresâ—y note declaring by such respectful language in what esteem she had her husband and that she held him for her superior for the guide and governour of her life After this reverence the wives subjection comprehendeth also
His last breath with a spirit clear and a soul calm speaking to us of His approaching happiness and of the present grace of His LORD with so much efficacy as it stopped Your tears and in such manner forced the resentments of your grief that how just soever they were You had nevertheless a secret shame to make them appear in the presence and on the occasion of so vertuous a person as if Laments and Plaints should have in some sort offended His piety and dishonored the victory of his faith The same GOD that loosed Him so miraculously from earth to raise him up to heaven granted You to support the affection of His departure with a patience worthy Your vocation After so rude a blow He hath yet sustained You and conducted You to an honourable old age that few persons do attain And now I doubt not but Your principal consolation and the agitations of the present world and the infirmities of this age is the assured hope you have of arriving also one day at the port of that blessed immortality where contrary to the ordinary course of nature You have seen this dear Son enter before You. If in the holy exercises of Piety by which You daily prepare You for it the reading of these Sermons may find place and be of any use for Your consolation I shall therein have extream satisfaction at least I can well assure You it is one of my most ardent desires who pray GOD to preserve you with all your Family in perfect prosperity and remain inviolably From Paris April 1. 1648. SIR Your most humble and most obedient Servant DAILLE Imprimatur Tho. Tomkins Ex. AEd. Lambeth May 15. 1671. SERMONS ON THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS THE FIRST SERMON On the I II III IV V. VERSES Verse I. Paul an Apostle of JESVS CHRIST by the Will of GOD and the Brother Timothy II. To the Saints and faithful Brethren in CHRIST which are at Colosse Grace be unto you and Peace from GOD our Father and from the LORD JESVS CHRIST III. We give thanks for you unto GOD who is the Father of our LORD JESVS CHRIST praying alway for you IV. Having heard speak of your faith in JESVS CHRIST and of the love you have to all the Saints V. For the hope which is reserved in Heaven for you whereof you have heretofore heard by the Word of Truth to wit the Gospel THE Apostle St. Paul's Assertion is verified in the afflictions of the faithful by constant experience Rom. 8.27 and they ever work together for good to them that love GOD. Beside the excellent fruit which the afflicted themselves receive from them such as they sooner or later acknowledge with the Psalmist That it was good for them to have been afflicted Psal 119.71 they are also serviceable to the edification of others For as Roses the fairest and sweetest of Flowers do grow on a rough and thorny stock so from the afflictions of the faithful rugged and piercing to the flesh spring forth examples of their Vertue and instances of their Piety sweetest and most salubrious productions See what a rich store of benefits the tryals of Job and of David have yielded us It 's to them we owe that admirable Book of the Patience of the former and a good part of the Divine Hymns of the latter Had it not been for their afflictions we should not now enjoy after so many Ages that inestimable treasure of Instructions and Consolations What shall I say of the sufferings of St. Paul which did spead the Gospel all abroad and convert the world unto knowledge of the true GOD. His imprisonment at Rome alone under the Empire of Nero hath done the Church more good than the peace and prosperity of all the rest of the faithful that then were It gave reputation to the Gospel and made it gloriously enter into the stateliest Court in the world It inspired an heroick courage into Preachers of the truth It awakened the curiosity of some and inflamed the charity of others and filled all that great City with the Name and Odor of JESUS CHRIST Nor was it of use unto the Romans only It imparted its celestial fruit unto the remotest Regions and Generations For it was in this very confinement that this holy man wrote several of his Divine Epistles which we read with so much edification to this day as those to Philemon to Timothy to the Ephesians and that directed to the Philippians the Exposition whereof we last finished and the following to the Colossians which we have chosen to explain henceforth unto you if GOD permit Paul's Prison was a common receptacle whence have issued out those living Springs which water and rejoyce the City of GOD and will furnish it even to the end of the world with the streams it needs for its refreshment Having then already drawn from the one of these sweet Springs that Divine Liquor wherewith we have endeavoured according to the Ministry committed to us of GOD to irrorate the heavenly plants of your faith and love we now turn us my Brethren to the other a no less quick and plentiful one than the former Bring ye to it as the Lord requires souls thirsting for His grace and He will give you as He hath promised living water which shall quench your drougth for ever and become in each of you a Well springing up to eternal life The Church of the Colossians to whom this Epistle is addressed having been happily planted by Epaphras a faithful Minister of CHRIST the enemy failed not to sow forthwith his Tares within it by the hands of some Seducers these men would mingle Moses with our Saviour and together with the Gospel of the one retain and observe the Ceremonies of the other To make their error the more pleasing they painted it over with colours of Philosophy subtility of Discourse curiosity of Speculations and other such like Artifices Epaphras seeing the danger whereinto this prophane medly did cast the faith and salvation of his dear Colossians advertiseth St. Paul of it then Prisoner at Rome The Apostle to withdraw them from so pernicious an error taketh Pen in hand and writeth them this Letter wherein he sheweth them that in JESUS CHRIST alone is all the fulness of our salvation in such manner as that we should deeply injure Him to seek ought of it out of Him since in His Gospel we have abundantly wherewith to inform our Faith and form our manners without adding thereto either the shadows of Moses or the vanities of Philosophy At the entrance He saluteth them and congratulates them for the Communion they had with GOD in His Son Next he draweth them a lively pourtrait of the Lord JESUS wherein shine forth the dignity of His person and the inexhaustible abundance of His benefits Upon that he undertaketh the Seducers and refutes the unprofitable additions wherewith they sophisticated the simplicity of the Gospel Afterwards from dispute he
good thing so necessary for you If you have it not hitherto ask it of GOD incessantly with prayers and tears and quit Him not before you have obtained it If you have it thank Him for it more than for all the goods of the Universe and make account that in giving you charity He hath given you the Life the Kingdom and the Crown of Heaven Exercise this precious gift continually let there be none of your neighbours without feeling of it Do good to all Communicate what you have received the light of your knowledge to the ignorant the succour of your good offices to the afflicted the sweetness of your patience to enemies the consolation of your visits to the sick the assistance of your alms to the needy the example of your innocence to all with whom you converse But have a particular care of Saints the members of the LORD JESUS who serve Him here with you and how poor soever they be have yet been redeemed with His blood and predestinated to His glory as well as you Dear Brethren your labour shall not be in vain Your charity shall bring forth it's fruits in their season with a most abundant usury For terrene and perishing good things which you shall have sowed here below you shall one day reap on high those that are celestial and immortal for a little bread and a little money that you shall now give to JESUS CHRIST you shall receive from His liberal hand the delights of Paradice and the treasures of eternity This is the hope which is reserved for you in the Heavens It is not the word of weak and vain men that hath promised it to you You have heard by the Gospel the Word of Truth which cannot lye And as so magnificent an hope should enflame our Charity so should it comfort our patience and render it invincible under the Cross to which the Name of CHRIST doth subject us Consider a little what the men of the world do and suffer for uncertain hopes that whirl in the Air flote on the Sea and depend upon the Wind and Fortune to how many dangers they expose themselves to what travail and disquiet they condemn themselves Voluntarily passing nights and dayes in a most laborious servitude for an imaginary good that neither yet is nor perhaps shall ever be and which how happy soever the success of their designs may be they shall not enjoy at most but during some years only Christian shall it be said that you have less zeal for Heaven than these people have for Earth Their hope is doubtful Yours is assured Theirs dependeth on the will of men and the inconstancy of elements Yours is in Heaven Pursue then generously so high and glorious a design And since your hope is in Heaven have incessantly heart affection and thought there Regard no more either flesh or earth it is not here your bliss is JESUS CHRIST hath seated it on high at the right hand of the Father in the Palace of His holiness Let this excellent hope sweeten all the evil you suffer here below If you be not at ease here if you be despised if you have no part in the wealth or honours of the world think that in like manner neither is it here that JESUS CHRIST hath promised you the rewards of your piety That Heaven which you see so constant and immutable keeps them faithfully for you You shall there receive one day the honour the glory and the dignities you now breath after not to possess them during some miserable moneths as worldlings enjoy their pretended riches but eternally with a perfect and unspeakable contentment in the blessed communion of Saints of Angels and of JESUS CHRIST the Lord of the one and the others To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit the only true GOD blessed for ever be honour and glory to ages of ages Amen THE II. SERMON COL I. Ver. VI VII VIII Vers VI. The Gospel which is come unto you as also it is into all the World and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day you heard and knew the Grace of GOD in truth VII As also you have learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant who is a faithful Minister of CHRIST for you VIII Who also hath declared unto us your charity which you have in the Spirit DEar Brethren the Gospel of our LORD JESUS CHRIST is the most excellent and most admirable Doctrine that was ever published in the Universe It is the grand mysterie of GOD the wisdom of Angels and men the glory of Heaven and the happiness of the Earth It is the only seed of immortality the perfection of our nature the light of our understandings and the sanctity of our affections There is no Philosophy or other Discipline but this alone that is able to deliver us from the slavery of Devils and make us Children of the most High It is this solely that truly purifieth us from the filth of sin and clotheth us with a complete righteousnes that plucketh us out of the hands of death and hell and giveth us access to the Throne of GOD there to receive of His bounty life and supreme felicity All other religions invented and followed by flesh and blood are wayes of perdition disciplines of errour and vanity that present themselves to poor men in the thick darkness of their ignorance as those seducing fires that sometimes abuse Travellers during the obscurity of the Night leading them into the deeps of death and eternal malediction The Law it self though come from on high is nevertheless as much beneath the dignity of the Gospel as Sinai is beneath Heaven and Moses beneath JESUS CHRIST The Law affrighteth Consciences the Gospel assureth them The one slayeth the sinner the other raiseth Him up again The one maketh grace be desired the other makes it be enjoyed The one presented the shadows and figures of the truth the other giveth us the lively image and very body thereof Whence you may judge my Brethren how much it concerneth us to know so saving and Divine a Doctrine that we may embrace and obey it since the repose and happiness of our souls stand on it which we shall unprofitably seek any other where It is to enflame us with an ardent desire of this holy and blessed knowledge that the Apostle St. Paul proposeth to us so often in His Epistles the praises of the Gospel scarce ever naming it without adding presently something to its commendation as the custome is of those that love ardently never to speak of that they love without giving it some Elogy that testifies both its excellency and their passion Such is the manner of Our St. Paul towards the Gospel of his Master He hath his soul so full of the love and admiration of this Heavenly doctrine that He can neither pronounce nor write the name of it but He accompanies it with praises as the just and due marks of its dignity We have
only for the sitting us to do them Of the first sort is Astronomy which hath no design but to comprehend the motions of the heavenly bodies and the Mathematiques which are busied in the study of magnitude and number without having other end than to know the nature of them Of the second sort is Science Moral or the Ethiques which teach us but in order to action and shew us what each of the Vertues is to the end we may practise them and live according to the rules this Science gives us It 's disputed in the Schools to which of these two kinds of Sciences belongs Sacred Theologie that is the doctrine of Divine things revealed to us in the Gospel of our LORD JESUS CHRIST For on one hand it teacheth us divers things of the nature of GOD and of Angels and of the World to come and such other mysteries which seem to be objects of contemplation only and not of action On the other hand it gives us divers Rules for practice and this mixture hath induced some to think that it is a discipline not simple and uniform but miscellaneous and composed of the one and the other kind Our Apostle in my opinion clearly decides the question in this place For having afore wished the Colossians a rich and full knowledge of this divine doctrine in all wisdom and spiritual understanding he stayes not there but adds in the Text we have read the end it is subservient to To the end saith he ye may walk worthily as is beseeming the LORD unto the pleasing Him in all things fructifying in every good work Here you see he states it expresly that the end of knowledge is practice holy walking and fructifying in every good work being evidently doing Whence follows that it ought to be placed among the Active Sciences since their end is the Character of their nature and that which properly gives them the rank they are to hold I grant it treats of the Essence and Attributes of GOD but it 's with design to carry us thereby unto the love and service of His Majesty that is unto action Whence it comes that in Scripture to know GOD is almost alwayes taken for to serve Him according to that light of the knowledge of Himself which He hath given us But it is of no great importance for us to know what rank this heavenly discipline is of among the Sciences provided we hold fast this principle of the Apostle's that the end why we should be instructed in the knowledge of GOD is a godly life and not the soothing of our minds or the contenting our curiosity with a vain delight much less the being able to entertain with such high mysteries the company we chance to be in For as we call that man an Architect not who can handsomly discourse of buildings but that hath the art to erect them and as we give not the name and glory of a Captain to one that can elequently speak of War but to him that can manage it and is of capacity to conduct an army skilfully and can withstand and fight an enemy and acquit himself in all the functions of a military command so we must hold for a Christian not him who knoweth and can pertinently explain the duties of the faithful but him that performs them It 's in the life and not in talk that this Science doth consist in the heart and in the conversation not in the brain and in the tongue Let this then be effectually the end of this holy study Let us learn not simply to know or to speak but to do carefully reducing into practice all the prescriptions of this heavenly doctrine And that we may rightly comprehend this legitimate end of our knowledge let us meditate the lesson which the Apostle now gives us concerning it It contains two Heads First The very life and actions which we are to endeavour and Secondly The firmness and patience wherewith we should persevere in them These shall be GOD willing the two subjects we will treat of in the present action The Apostle explaineth us the former of them in the tenth Verse That ye may walk worthily as is beseeming the LORD unto the pleasing of Him in all things fructifying in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of GOD. In these words as you see he shews us first the end of the knowledge of the Gospel in general which is a walking worthily as is beseeming the LORD Next he sets before us the principal parts of this worthy walking The first respects the scope it proposeth to its self even the pleasing of GOD in all things The second the actions wherein it ought to be employed which are a fructifying in every good work The third its progress and advancement which is to increase in the knowledge of GOD. Here then Christian soul is the true and only end of that heavenly light which hath been communicated to you that you walk worthily as is beseeming the LORD You know the Scripture ordinarily compares the life of man unto a journey and the actions and designes and employments he passeth it in unto a path or way In effect after we are once entred the world we incessantly eloign us from the point of our Nativity as from the place whence we departed and advance towards death as a common habitation where all do meet alike some sooner others later As for other travellours they may stay if it seem them good or return unto the place from whence they came But we cannot possibly do the one or the other Time enwrapping us about from the first point of our life carryeth us away still forward whether we wake or sleep whether we consent to it or strive to the contrary without permitting us to turn back or to repose our selves one single moment just as he whom the Sea and the wind carry on in a Vessel so as his own particular motion serveth not at all either to stop or to slack his course But as the wayes and designes of travellors are very different so there is an huge diversity between the forms and manners of the life of men The way that the wicked follow is one and that of good men another The Pagan steereth one course the Jew and the Mahometan another and the Christian another wholly different This is that the Scripture calls The way of man understanding by this word the form and institution of life which every one doth follow And suitably to this dainty figure it often makes use of the word Walking to signifie directing forming and composing the life after some certain manner whether good or evil intending thereby the tenour of life we lead and the deportments and actions to which we addict our selves There is nothing more common in the Psalms and in the Proverbs than these forms of speech to walk in Integrity or on the contrary in Fraud and Iniquity and in the Writings of the New Testament to walk in Light or
good works so the exercise of good works cleanseth the eyes of our understandings and encreaseth true wisdom on the contrary the neglect of sanctification diminisheth this divine clearness in us and bringeth back by little and little the darkness of ignorance upon us For as the LORD giveth new graces to him that faithfully manageth His first presents so takes He away His Talent from Him that abuseth it Those that cast away a good conscience make shipwrack also of Faith and they that withhold the truth in unrighteousness are given up to a mind disfurnished of all judgement and GOD sendeth the efficacy of errour to those that receive not his Holy doctrine with love On the contrary He revealeth His secret and augmenteth His light to them that seek His commandments and are bent to do His will Let us hold fast therefore these two precious gifts of the LORD knowledge and good works Faith and Charity and studiously apply us to encrease the one by the other meditating and learning the mysteries of GOD that we may obey His will and obey His will that we may confirm our selves more and more in the knowledge of His mysteries Dear Brethren That which the Apostle hath desired for His Colossians is very much an accomplished knowledge of the Divine will a life worthy of the LORD a spiritual secondity fructifying in every good work and a continual advancement in heavenly wisdom Yet this is not all For how great and excellent soever these things be they suffice not without perseverance to conduct us to salvation and it 's impossible to persevere in them without a supernatural strength and firmness Therefore St. Paul wisheth again in the last place for these faithful people that they may be strengthened in all might according to the power of His glory in all suffering and patience of mind with joy This succour is necessary for us as well because of our own infirmities as for the multitude violence and obstinacy of our enemies For as to our selves though that celestial spirit wherewith GOD baptizeth us at the beginning of our vocation doth invest us with a new vigour yet so it is that there remaineth much weakness in us while we live on earth our inward man being yet but in its infancy a weak age and which easily lets it self sink if it be not sustained And as for our enemies we have a vast multitude of them that watch night and day to destroy us and ranged in diverse bands under the ensignes of the Devil the world and the flesh the principal heads of this black Army conjured to our ruine cease not to trouble us leaving nor wile nor forcible attempt nor malice nor violence nor threatning nor promise un-employed against us If we have repulsed one of them 〈◊〉 return again upon us diverse others which essay us on all sides espy where 〈…〉 weak and oftentimes turn our own weapons against us If we have overthrown avarice voluptuousness sets its self on foot If we defeat it also ambition enters in its place Hatred unites with it Desire of revenge pusheth us on Wrath provoketh us Envy seizeth us Persecution troubleth us Prosperity pusseth us up the success of our own combats tickleth us Oftentimes that which helps us on one hand hurts us on another as in a complicated disease in which the remedies cross one another or that which is good for the liver is dangerous for the Stomach Who seeth not that to preserve our selves in such a mingled Combate and against so many charges so confused and so obstinate for they last as long as our lives we have need of an extraordinary might we who of our selves have so little that we are insufficient even for one good thought But GOD armeth us with the power of His Spirit as with an impenetrable buckler under which we stand in covert amid that thick hail of blows that falls continually about us It 's this Divine power the Apostle wisheth here to the Colossians when he prayeth that they might be strengthened in all might that their souls might be confirmed their hearts hardned as a Diamond to resist all assaults their courages vested with an heroick ardour and firmness which all the rages of Hell or earth may never be able to overcome He prayeth they may be strengthened in all might because as we have to do with divers enemies and are sick of divers infirmities we have need to receive not one or two kinds of strength only but many different ones For even as in nature you see the strength of bodies is different one resisting one thing and yielding to another one having the vertue to repulse the force of one element but not to gard it self from another So in a manner is it in the souls of men Such a man will bravely free himself from the tentation of one Vice that will not be able to defend himself from another Such a man shall resist the violences of the world as will yield to the charms of its caresses Since that to lose a Victory it is enough to be overcome though by but one of their enemies 't is with great reason that the Apostle for preserving to these Colossians the honour of their Crown and Triumph wisheth them all strength that is a perfect strength which may be of proof against all the strokes of the enemy which may boldly undertake good and holy actions how high and difficult soever they be which may valiantly combate vices resolutely despise earthly things vigorously repell tentations and generously suffer afflictions He sheweth us also by the way the source of this heavenly might when after having wished that the Colossians might be strengthned in all might he addeth according to the power of the glory of GOD that is according to His glorious power by a manner of speaking ordinary in the style of the Hebrews Whence is it that these faithful people do receive this admirable strength necessary for their salvation From the glorious power of the LORD saith the Apostle that is from that immense and efficacious puissance of GOD which nothing can resist The Holy Spirit is so named in St. Luke Lâ—k 24.49 where the LORD commandeth His Apostles to tarry at Jerusalem untill they be indued with power from on high that is the Spirit he had promised them And St. Paul elsewhere making for the Ephesians a petition altogether like this which he here presents to GOD for the Colossians clearly termeth that the Spirit of GOD Ephes 3.16 which in this passage he calleth the Vertue or Power of His glory GOD grant you saith he that you may be powerfully strengthned by His Spirit in the inner man He calleth this Vertue of the Spirit of God glorious to express its admirable and unsurmountable force which triumpheth magnificently over all that opposeth its action which with the weakest means accomplisheth the greatest things which changeth when it will Shepheards into Law-givers and Kings Cow-heards into Prophets and Persecutors
the heart to offend still a LORD so charitable so admirable How is it that His so divine beneficence doth not transport our spirits doth not win to His service all the thoughts and affections and motions that we have Christians all the acknowledgement He demands of you for so much good done you is but that you live holy Refuse Him not so just and so reasonable a due He hath made you to partake of the inheritance of Saints Be not ye so ingrateful as to mix with the profane Be ye separate from them and have no communion with the impurity and ordure of their vices Despise not as Esau the title you have to so precious an inheritance Let it be dearer to you than all the perishing provisions and delights of the earth none of which is better than that pittiful pottage of Lentils for which the profane man did truck away His birth-right This inheritance is in light Live then as children of light Let your conversation be all radiant with those divine and heavenly vertues which the Gospel of your Saviour recommendeth unto you The darkness is now passed The Sun of righteousness is at his full height Let that infamous power of darkness under which you sometime groaned have no more authority over you Open all your understanding that you may perceive the glory of the LORD and suffer no more abuse by the illusions of errour Labour to encrease your light being still at the Scriptures of GOD the living spring of all spiritual illumination the inexhaustible treasure of saving knowledge But let this light shine also in your manners For it 's to no purpose to renounce the darkness of superstition if you remain in that of vice 1 Joh. 2.11 He that hateth his Brother saith St. John is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth for darkness hath blinded his eyes Remember you are no longer in the School of Satan the Prince of darkness You are in the Kingdom of the Son of GOD. Have thoughts and do actions worthy of so glorious a condition Let it purifie your life of all stench and sordidness Let it elevate your hearts above mortal things and set them in Heaven the residence of this Divine royalty But Dear Brethren as this Text doth oblige us to a singular studious pursuit of Sanctification so openeth it to us a living source of consolation and joy For if we knew our blessings and that wonderful grace which the Father hath shewed us what were there more happy than we We have part in the heritage of Saints The kingdom of the beloved Son of GOD hath been given us O great and magnificent portion Let the world boast of and adore its gold its honours and its delights as much as it listeth we have that better part which alone is sufficient to make us eternally happy though we should be deprived of all the rest Christian if the world bereave you of what you have in its fee and jurisdiction consider it cannot take from you the inheritance of Saints If it deny you its Leeks and Onions and Flesh-pots it shall not be able to debarr you from that divine light which shineth on you and which in spight of all its attempts shall conduct you to your bliss-ful Canaan If it take from you its honours if it drive you even out of its earth it shall not be able to wrest the Kingdom of the Son of GOD from you nor sequester that dignity and glory which you possess in it This is not a corruptible Kingdom it 's not like those of the earth that are subject to a thousand and a thousand disgraces miseries and mutations It 's an immortal Kingdom firmer than the Heavens so abundant in glory and in goodness that it changeth all those who have part in it into Kings and Priests Faithful Brethren content we our selves with so advantageous a portion Let us enjoy it for the present by a lively and an establisht hope sweetly bearing the incommodities of this small journey we take to get to it and patiently expect that blessed day on which our Heavenly Father having finished the work of His grace will raise us all up into His glory and put on our heads the crownes of life and immortality which he hath promised us in the eternal Communion of His well-beloved Son To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit the true and only GOD blessed for ever be all honour and praise to Ages of Ages Amen THE VI. SERMON COL I. Ver. XIV Vers XIV In whom we have redemption by His blood to wit the remission of sins DEar Brethren As the true and thorough knowledge of that great Redeemer whose remembrance we are at this day to celebrate is the only foundation of the piety and salvation of men in like manner on the contrary ignorance of His person of His offices and of His benefits is the source of those errors and abuses which have corrupted religion and consequently of that unhappiness into which the unbelieving the profane the superstitious and the heretical do fall We may say to all these people Joh. 4.10 as our LORD sometime did to the woman of Samaria If you knew who He is that speaks to you in our Gospel you would ask of Him the refreshment and consolation of your souls and He would give you living water 1 Cor. 2.8 springing up to everlasting life And as St. Paul said of the ancient Jews that if they had known the wisdom of GOD they would never have crucified the LORD of glory So may we say to all the enemies of Godliness in general that if they knew JESUS the Wisdom and Word of the Father they would not wrong either His truth or those that make profession of it JESUS rightly and throughly known believed and apprehended is enough to expell errour doubt superstition vice and death from our hearts and to establish truth peace joy holiness and salvation in them Accordingly you see that Paul the master of the whole world the Minister of truth the teacher of life and happiness for the executing of this high commission and opening the eyes of His gentiles and bringing them from the power of Satan unto GOD protesteth he determined to know nothing among them but JESUS CHRIST Crucified He findeth in this rich and inexhaustible subject all that was necessary for him to convert Infidels to confirm believers to comfort the afflicted to reduce the strayed and recover such as had erred He finds in it wherewith to confute the Philosophy of the Pagans wherewith to abase the presumption of the Jews wherewith to instruct the ignorant and to convince the intelligent It 's with the sole science of this JESUS that He plucketh men off from idolatry and sets them free from the slavery of vice It 's with the same again that he reformeth the abuses and cureth the wounds which errour hath caused in the Church It is his weapon against enemies without
and against the seditious within It 's with this Science he buildeth the House of GOD it is with the same also that he cleanseth and keepeth it pure Whatever the enemy be that appears he sets against him nothing at all but his Crucified JESUS For even as in nature no sooner doth the Sun appear in our horizon opening its beautiful and brightsome visage to the world but the shade and cloudiness that filled the air doth immediately vanish away so in the Church when the LORD JESUS ariseth in the hearts of men there shedding abroad the riches of His saving light and shewing His fairness to open view at the same instant errour and abuse do disappear being unable to sustain the force of this divine brightness and as the Psalmist sings on another occasion If He arise His enemies are dispersed and they that are against Him flee before Him He driveth them away as wind doth the smoke This then is the only assured means either to preserve or recover truth and the purity of heavenly doctrine even to propose JESUS CHRIST incessantly to the faithful and diligently shew them all His riches all His Vertue and His Grace This is the Apostle's method Thus he doth on all occasions still reducing his Schollars to JESUS CHRIST So you see in the Epistle to the Hebrews that he might put-by the shadows of the Jewish Law wherewith some of that Nation endeavoured to darken the Gospel he sheweth them at the beginning the majesty and divinity of the LORD JESUS setting Him up above men and Angels on the Throne of a super-eminent glory Thus he doth in this Epistle and indeed he combateth here a like errour For after he had saluted the Colossians and given them some tokens of the affection he bore them as you heard afore he now beginneth to speak to them of JESUS CHRIST discovering His Divine glory and the fulness of His goodness to them that being content with so rich a treasure they might not go beg either the succour of Moses or the assistance of Philosophy for the saving of their souls It is precisely at the Text we have read that he beginneth this excellent discourse For having before thanked GOD for the grace He had shewed the Colossians in translating them into the Kingdom of His well-beloved Son he takes occasion from thence to speak of Him adding In whom we have deliverance by His blood to wit the remission of sins This is the great benefit we have received from GOD by means of JESUS CHRIST Then he describeth in connexion herewith the excellency and divinity of His person Who is saith he the image of the invisible GOD the first-born of every creature But for this time we will content our selves with the first point the meditating whereof as you see My Brethren is very suitable to the action of the Holy Supper to which we are invited wherein the remission of sins which we have in JESUS CHRIST is sealed to us by His Sacrament wherein the blood by which He hath purchased it is represented and communicated to us wherein JESUS the Author of this benefit is pourtrayed before our eyes as broken and dead for us and as feeding us to everlasting life Lift we up then our hearts with religious attention that having rightly comprehended both the greatness of the grace of GOD and the excellency of His CHRIST we may present Him souls lively affected with sense of His goodness and may receive in consequence of it that joy and blessed life which He promiseth to all those that shall approach Him with such a disposition To aid you in so necessary a meditation I will examine if the LORD please what the Apostle teacheth us concerning the benefit which we receive of God in His Son saying that we have in Him deliverance by His blood to wit the remission of Sins In these words he briefly pointeth out who is the Author of deliverance even JESUS CHRIST what is the deliverance it self namely the remission of sins what the means is by which JESUS CHRIST hath obtained it for us even by His blood and lastly who they are that receive it from GOD namely we that is to say the Faithful He had said afore that GOD hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into His Kingdom Now he sheweth us by whom He effected that great work adding that we have deliverance in JESUS CHRIST He is the Author of our redemption our only deliverer the Prince of our salvation But whereas the Apostle saith that it is in Him we have deliverance this may be taken two wayes both of them good and commodious First as signifying that it is by Him we have been delivered For it is an Hebrew manner of speech frequent in Scripture to say in instead of by And after this sense the Apostle declareth how it is by JESUS CHRIST His Son that GOD hath accomplished the work of His good pleasure towards us having constituted Him the Mediator of mankind who according to the will of Him that sent him perfectly executed all those things that were necessary to put us in possession of salvation But this word in may also be taken in the sense it hath in our vulgar language as signifying our spiritual communion with the LORD by reason whereof we are said to be in Him and He in us 1 Jo. 2.2 For though He be the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world and the worth of His sacrifice so great as that it abundantly sufficeth to expiate all the crimes of the universe and although the salvation obtained by Him be offered in effect and by His will unto all men yet none actually enjoy it but those that enter into His communion by Faith and are in him by that means as that clause of His covenant expresly importeth Joh. 3.16 GOD hath so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life 1 Jo. 5.12 When it is that St. John protesteth aloud He that hath the Son hath life He that hath not the Son of GOD hath not life which is as much as if He had said He that is in JESUS CHRIST hath life and he that is not in Him hath not life according to what our LORD Himself said to His Apostles Joh. 15.3 Out of me ye can do nothing So you see this sence is good and clear and containeth an excellent doctrine That to enjoy salvation by JESUS CHRIST we must be in Him Nevertheless because the Apostle in this place designeth to shew us what the LORD hath done for our salvation rather than what He requireth of us for our participating thereof I would more readily take the words the first way in whom that is by whom we have deliverance And this indeed is the commonest exposition which the most and best Interpreters both ancient and modern do follow Let us next consider what the benefit of
longer either evil that can hurt thee or good that can be denyed thee if it be profitable for thy salvation Away with that cruel and extravagant doctrine which will have it that GOD remitteth the fault without remitting the punishment This is to oppose even natural sense and common reason For what is it to remit a sin save to punish it not and treat him that committed it as if He had not been culpable This is to give the Apostle the lye who proclaimeth both elsewhere That there is no condemnation to them Rom. 8.1 that are in JESVS CHRIST and here that the remission of our sins is a redemption For if GOD punished the faithful as is pretended He would do it after having condemned them to suffer since being most just He neither punisheth nor absolveth any without judgement And if notwithstanding our remission we escape not burning in the pretended Purgatory fire how is our remission a redemption Is this to ransome a criminal person to make Him be burned I grant the faithful after this remission obtained are not freed from divers afflictions during their temporal abode here below But I affirm that their sufferings are exercises or chastisements and not properly punishments of their sin The LORD sends 'em them not in His wrath but in His grace not to punish them but either to amend them or to prove them and render them conform to the image of His Son who was consecrated by afflictions in the dayes of His flesh Such is this remission of sins the redemption we have in JESUS CHRIST Let us now see by what means He hath obtained it for us The Apostle teacheth it us in saying That we have it by His blood We have already said how the word Redemption here used doth signifie that our deliverance was effected by the payment of a ransome This he expresly noteth elsewere saying 1 Cor. 6.20 that we have been bought with a price Now therefore he declareth what this price is what this ransome of our deliverance even the Blood of JESUS CHRIST 1 Pet. 118 19. St. Peter insisteth likewise on the same consideration We have been redeemed saith he not with corruptible things as silver or gold but with the precious blood of CHRIST as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot And the LORD JESUS informs us plainly of the same thing when speaking of the end and design of His mission Mat. 20.28 He saith that He came not to be served but to serve and to lay down His soul a ransome for many Semblably St. Paul 1 Tim. 1.6 that JESVS CHRIST gave Himself a ransome for all And in this same sense it is that we must understand what the Spirits of the Blessed do say Rev. 5.9 Act. 20.28 when they glorisie the Lamb for that He hath redeemed them to GOD by His blood and St. Paul in the Acts that GOD hath purchased the Church by His own blood By these passages and a multitude of others of like import it is evident that the Apostle both in this place and in the first Chapter to the Ephesians where He repeats the same words by the blood of CHRIST understands the violent death He suffered on the Cross with effusion of His blood which He did shed forth in great abundance through the wounds of His feet of His hands and of His side And it 's a thing common in all languages to signifie life by blood and the loss of life by effusion of blood But the Holy Ghost particularly useth this manner of speaking when there is reference to a Sacrifice For in such cases the blood of the Victime is almost alwayes put for the life it loseth when offered so as it need not be thought strange that these divine authors say the blood of CHRIST who is the only Lamb and most perfect oblation which all the old Sacrifices did typifie when they mean the life He spent for us on the Cross offering it to the Father as the propitiation for our sins This now is the great mysterie of the Gospel which was not known to men or Angels nor could have been ever thought on or conceived by any but the supream and infinite wisdom of GOD that JESUS CHRIST the wel-beloved of the Father the most Holy one should lay down His life for us be set in our stead and bear our sins in His own body on the tree and suffer in His sacred flesh and in His most holy soul the pains and sorrows we had merited to exempt us from them It 's this precisely that we mean when we affirm that He satisfied the Justice of GOD for us And the Apostle in these words furnisheth us to preserve this glory to our LORD against two sorts of adversaries one of them that impudently deny His having satisfied for us at all another of those who grant His satisfaction but do extend this honour unto others also and will have it appertain likewise to Saints and even to our selves As for the first they deserve not to be accounted Christians since they reject a truth so cleerly and so frequently asserted in the Gospel confessed by all the Church and which besides is the source of our comfort both in life and death and the only foundation of all our hopes For if JESUS CHRIST satisfied not for us what mean the Prophets and Apostles who proclaim at the beginning in the midst and at the end of all their Preaching that He dyed for our sins 1 Cor. 15.3 Isa 53.5 10. Rom. 3.24 Joh. 1.29 Heb. 9.27 28. 10.10 1.3 was wounded for our trespasses and bruised for our iniquities That the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed that His soul was made an offering for sin That He is our propittaion through faith in His blood That He is the Lamb of GOD which taketh away the sins of the world That He offered up Himself a sacrifice for sin and sanctified us by this oblation and purged away our sins by Himself I omit at present other places the number whereof is infinite These are sufficient to settle the truth For first since our deliverance is called a Redemption it must needs be that JESUS CHRIST hath purchased it for us by some ransome He gave in our behalf But He gave none at all except in dying He laid out His life and His blood for us and in our stead Again if it be not thus why saith the Apostle it is by the blood of CHRIST that we have the remission of our sins If it be not a satisfaction for our sins 't is evident it 's of no use at all to obtain us the remission of them In this case we should have it not by the blood or death of CHRIST which after this account would have contributed nothing thereunto but by the sole goodness either of GOD or of His Son For to say that the remission of sins is attributed to the blood
Creature DEar Brethren As the salvation of mankind the true end of the coming of our LORD JESUS CHRIST into the world did oblige Him to expiate sin and destroy the Dominion of Satan so the performing of these great works did require an infinite dignity and power in His person For as it was not possible He should give us eternal life without voiding our guilt and satisfying the justice of the Father and delivering us from the hold of Devils so it was alike impossible that He should perfect these effects without an infinite merit and a divine strength that is to say without being GOD none but a true GOD being capable of having an infinite either dignity or power As then the streams conduct us to their spring branches to their stock and root the house to the foundation that sustaineth it So the salvation which is of the LORD JESUS leadeth us to the acts by which He obtained it for us and from thence to the quality that was necessary in His person for the executing of those acts Salvation is the fruit of this tree of life The infinite merit of His cross is as the branch that bore this noble fruit and His almighty most holy and most divine person is the stock or root that did shoot forth this beautiful and blessed branch This order the Apostle observes here in the consideration of our LORD JESUS CHRIST He sets forth to us first His fruit that is our salvation or redemption the last end of His whole mediation Next He represents the means by which He acquired this salvation for us to wit the effusion of His blood for the remission of our sins from thence He now ascendeth to the Quality of His person which he magnificently describeth in the Text that you have heard saying that He is the image of the invisible GOD the first born of every creature forasmuch as by Him all things were created Wonder not Faithful Brethren that JESUS should give us life and eternity Us I say poor sinners that had deserved death and the curse of GOD. For He purchased remission of our sins by His blood and did by the sweet savour of His sacrifice perfectly appease the wrath of GOD which alone withstood our entring into His heavenly Kingdom Neither account it any more strange that this JESUS so infirm cloathed with frail flesh subject to all our sufferings should be able to offer so great and so precious a sacrifice to GOD. For how weak and despicable soever that form was under which He appeared here below He is nevertheless in reality the true Son of GOD His wisdom His word and His power the perfect pourtrait of His person His living and essential image the soveraign Lord and Creator of the Universe In this description of the dignity and excellency of the LORD JESUS the Apostle compares Him first with GOD the Father saying that He is the image of the invisible GOD. In the second place with the Creatures saying that He is the first-born of them and adds the reason of it in the two following Verses which is taken from His having made and established them all as their Creatour their preserver their last and highest end Afterwards He finally proposeth the relation He hath to the Church saying in the eighteenth verse that He is the Head thereof the beginning and the first-born from the dead having the first place in all things In these three points the soveraign dignity and excellency of the Saviour of the world is as you see comprised But because it would be difficult to explain them all three in one only action the richness and profoundness of the matter constraineth us to fix for this time on the two first and remit the remainder to another season We shall then have to handle in this exercise the two heads that are contained in the verse which we have read One that JESUS CHRIST is the image of the invisible GOD the other that He is the first-born of every creature The same LORD who shall be by His grace the subject of our discourse please to be the direction and light thereof too inspiring us with conceptions and expressions worthy of Him illuminating our understandings with the knowledge of His high and supereminent Majesty and enflâ—ming our hearts with a fervent love to Himself for the glory of His own great Name and our salvation As for the first Head the Apostle telleth us two things in it the one that JESVS CHRIST is the image of GOD the other that the GOD whose image JESVS CHRIST is is invisible For understanding aright how the LORD JESUS is the image of GOD we must observe at the entrance that the word image is of great extent signifying generally every thing that represents another so as things being very variously represented it comes to pass that there is great variety and difference of images Some are perfect which have in them an entire an exact and adequate resemblance of the subjects which they represent others are imperfect and express but some particular nay that too with some defect having not properly in them the same features and same essence which is in their original I place in this second rank all artificial images whether drawn by Painters or engraven or cut by Carvers or fashioned by Founders or woven by Embroiderers and workers of Tapistry which represent nothing but the colour the figure and the lineaments of men and animals and plants and such like subjects and to say true have nothing in them of their life and nature To this same order must be reduced that which Moses writeth that Adam was made after the image of GOD. It 's not to be thought he had such an essence as that of GOD is but this is said because the conditions of His nature had some resemblance of the properties of GOD namely in that He was endowed with intellect and will and had the dominion over animals and earthly creatures In the same manner must we take what St. Paul saith when comparing the two sexes of our nature 1 Cor. 11.7 he termeth the man the image and the glory of GOD whereas the woman is the glory of the man He calleth the man the image of God because of the advantage and superiority he hath over the woman having nothing above himself but GOD who is His head whereas man is the head of the woman because she was created of him and for him as the Apostle teacheth But beside these kind of images which represent their originals but imperfectly there are others that have a perfect resemblance of them Thus we call a Child the image of His Father a Prince the image of His Predecessour For a Son hath not meerly the shadow or the colour or the figure of his father he hath his nature his qualities and properties and if we may so say the whole fulness of his being a soul a body a life the same with those his Father hath A Prince
The things that are in heaven and those that are in earth But he addeth yet another division no less general taken from the quality of the things themselves which all are either visible as the Heavens the Elements the Plants and the living Creatures or invisible as the Devils and the Angels and the souls of men And to the end none might imagine that the good Angels by reason of the excellency of their admirable nature were excepted from this number the Apostle makes expressest mention of them giving a touch at the false Teachers thereby who taught the worshipping of Angels as he will shew hereafter To refute this error he ranketh them by name among the things that were created by JESUS CHRIST and that depend on Him and were made for Him For there is no doubt but they are the holy Angels whom he calleth here Thrones Rom 8.37 Ephes 1.21 Dominions Principalities and Powers And he useth these words so often in this sense as in the Epistle to the Romans and to the Ephesians and elsewhere that I wonder not a little at some Expositors who give them here another reference There is great likelihood that this diversity of names doth signifie a great difference among the Angels Indeed there is no sort of Creatures in the whole Universe but an admirable variety is found among them that Soveraign Wisdom which hath formed them having pleased to set forth the infinite riches of His power and understanding in the diversity of those ranks qualities and functions by which He hath distinguish'd things which are otherwise of a like yea of the same nature To pass by the rest who can reckon up the differences of estates of conditions of temperaments and inclinations which are observed among men All of them have the same nature none have the same form nor the same countenance We may not doubt but that there is somthing semblable among the Angels and that in their intelligible World there is some image of that variety which renders our visible one so beautiful and so mervellous The Apostle to express this difference of their Orders useth the names of those divers degrees which are found in the States and Polities of the world where are Thrones that is Monarchs and Kings Dominions that is Dignities which though very high yet art beneath Kings as Dukes and Archdukes then Principalities as the Governors of Cities and Provinces and lastly Powers such as inferior Magistrates are whom the Latines in the Apostle's time did call by the very name that we read here and it is yet in use * Il podestà among the people of Italy From whence in my opinion it may be with reason concluded that there is a diversity of charges and Ministries among the Angels If you ask me what the Orders of them be and how many and what the difference between them is and whether it consist in qualities of their nature or only in the employments GOD hath given them I am not ashamed to confess unto you freely with * Exchirâ—d c. 58. S. Augustine that I cannot tell the Scripture which alone could inform us having declared nothing about it to us As for that which the Roman Schools do sound withal upon this matter of nine Orders of the Celestial Hierarchy it is but the fansyings of a man that having overmuch leisure amus'd himself to fashion the same with the least unhandsomness he could in imitation of some fond Jewish imaginations of like nature and to make them weigh the more did set them forth under the holy and venerable name of Dionysius the Areopagite the frigid frothiness of his pufft-up stile his quirks and his vanity and his whole air being infinitely far from the gravity modesty and simplicity of the Apostles Scholars do sufficiently shew that he is nothing less than what he affirms himself to be and indeed long since some testimonies urged out of his Books by Hereticks Concil tom l. 855. Ep. Joan. Maroâ—ia Ep 〈◊〉 A. C. â—32 have been rejected by the Orthodox as Apocryphal and uncertain and such as were not S. Denys's at all Laying aside therefore beloved Brethren the empty and vain Authorities of an humane spirit let us content our selves with what the Apostle hath told us in this subject and let us diligently make our profit of His Divine instructions Let us learn from them first to adore the LORD JESUS as Creator of the Universe and to acknowledge by this work of His His true and eternal Divinity Let no objection or carnal difficulty let no Heretical subtilty ever pluck up this sacred truth out of our hearts Let us oppose the Apostl's Authority against all that men and Devils can say or invent to the contrary And admire we constantly the goodness and the wisdom of the Father who gave us such a Saviour as our necessity did require For none was able to repair us but He that first made us and the hand alone which created us could restore us to that blessed state from whence we had fallen by sin And since GOD hath given us for Mediator and the Prince of our Salvation the same whom this great frame had for its Creator let us embrace Him with a firm belief Be we content with His fulness and regard none beside Him in heaven or in earth The Angels how sublime soever their nature and their dignity be after all are but creatures not to speak of men who beside the infirmity of their being were all conceiv'd in sin But it is not enough to confess that the LORD JESUS is the Creator of all things and to acknowledge Him for our only Saviour and Mediator this Faith must work and fructifie in us it must spread it self into all the parts of our life must sanctifie our affections and actions arm us against all the temptations of the enemy comfort us in affliction and assure us against every fear For since JESUS hath created this grand Universe since Thrones and Dominions are the work of His hands since it is by His Providence that this All subsisteth in the state it is who seeth not with what Devotion we should serve so Puissant a Monarch This earth that beareth you this air that you breath these heavens that shine on you these plants and these living creatures that nourish or refresh you and these Celestial Powers which encamp about you all these things are productions of His power and presents from His bounty In like manner your own nature this body so skilfully composed and that soul which enliveneth it are works of His Providence which neither were created nor do now subsist but by Him Is it not reasonable that you should consecrate to His glory what you do hold only from His Grace Remember also what the Apostle addeth That as all things were created by Him so they were made for him Do not frustrate your Creator of His intentions Live for His glory since it was for it you were created For
Such was the sad and dismal estate of the world the end whereof could be nothing else but ruine and eternal perdition Therefore GOD to restore its primitive beauty yea to raise it to a perfection higher than that of its first original reconciled all things by His CHRIST both Terrestrial and Celestial He took away the wars the hatreds and the aversions that divided them and reduced them all into that union which they ought to have for His glory and their own good As to things on earth you know what was the enmity and the separatedness of the Jews and Gentiles whom the Law as a partition wall did bar off from the fellowship of the people of GOD. CHRIST laid this enterclose even with the ground and recalling the Gentiles associated and rea-allyed them with the Jews to make them thenceforth one only and the same people He did as much to the distinctions that separated the more Polite Nations from the Barbarous the Latines from the Greeks the East from the West the North from the South He removed all these marks and differences and united all Nations Sects and conditions into one only people into one only body namely His Church It 's thus that things on earth were reconciled As for things in heaven it was the good pleasure of the Father to reconcile them also by His Son For the Angels the true Citizens of heaven were our foes after sin whereas they are henceforth our Friends and our Allies united with us under JESUS CHRIST our common Head Aforetime they were armed against us with flaming sword now they fight for us and encamp about us They did drive us off from the entrance into Paradise Now themselves do bear our souls thither at their departure out of this life They take part in our interests they are sad at our disasters and rejoyce at our amendment And to testifie how delightful this Reconciliation is to them they saluted the birth of our Lord who came to make it with their songs and melodies For it they glorified GOD and blessed and congratulated men But as the mischief of our sin communicated it self to all the parts of the Universe even those that are without life putting them all in disorder and subjecting them unto vanity so I account that this blessed Reconciliation must be extended even to them also The will of GOD was to comprehend them also in it re-uniting the heavens with our earth and all the Elements with us For heaven which had nothing but Lightnings and Thunder for us and that would rather have been reduc'd to nothing than receive us into its courts is now liberal towards us of its comfortable light and openeth to us the most secret Sanctuaries of its glory Life is at accord with us Immortality is in good intelligence with our flesh the Grave is no longer our enemy the Elements shall be serviceable to our welfare they shall work no more against us And so you see how the will of GOD was to reconcile things on earth and things in heaven by His Son and reduce all the parts of the Universe unto good terms each with other This great work is begun the foundations of it are laid the pledges of it are given us But it will not be perfectly accomplished until the latter day when the world freed from the bondage under which it yet groaneth shall appear entirely changed its new heavens and its new earth and its new elements with the Angels and the Saints and all its other parts conspiring together in an eternal concord and an inviolable correspondence to the glory of their common Creator who shall then be all in all 1 Cor. â—â— as the Apostle elsewhere saith And it 's this in my opinion which he meaneth in this place when he saith That the Father would reconcile all things in Himself as the Original precisely runneth For these words signifie not the term but the end and event of this Reconciliation that is to say that it shall be made not with GOD as the greater part of Expositors have understood it but for the glory of GOD. For it is plain that heavenly things were not reconciled with GOD for they never were at odds with Him But it is no less evident that their Reconciliation with us in the sense we have explained it will redound to the glory of GOD when this whole Universe shall return entirely to its true and due union It 's this therefore the Apostle intendeth when he saith That it is the good pleasure of the Father to reconcile all things in Himself that is for Himself It remains now that we speak of the means which GOD made use of to bring this great work of the Reconciliation of the world to its end S. Paul shews it us when he addeth Having made peace by the blood of the cross of CHRIST The war that man had with GOD in consequence of his sin was as we said afore the true and only cause of the bad intelligence we were in with the Angels and the other parts of the World Whence it is clear that to make the latter cease there needed only an extinguishing of the former that is to reconcile us with the Creatures there needed only a recovering us to the favour of the Creator This is the means that the Father in His Soveraign Wisdom made use of And it 's this the Apostle meaneth when he saith That He made peace that is ours having pacified His own Justice and quenched all the burning of His wrath against us 'T is by the Sacrifice that JESUS CHRIST offer'd on His Cross that this miraculous change was wrought This precious blood contented the Justice of the Father and the odour of this Divine Burnt-offering sweetned His Spirit and of severe and inexorable as He was rendred Him propitious and favourable to us Instead of fulminating His avenges He tenders us the arms of His love and no man is so wretched but He is ready to receive him provided he accept the promise of His mercy with an humble faith It is not long since that upon one of the Texts foregoing we treated of the reality the worthiness and necessity of this Satisfaction by which the Lord JESUS made our peace with the Father through the shedding out of his blood on the Cross and the voluntary suffering there for us and in our room the curse which our sins deserved Therefore we will dispense with our selves for speaking more of it at this time and to conclude the Exercise will content our selves with the noting briefly upon each of the three Points explained the principal heads of Consolation and Edification which they contain And here dear Brethren which shall we most admire the goodness of the Father and the will He had to raise us up from our fall and to reconcile us with the whole Creation whose hatred and aversion we had incurred or His unspeakable wisdom in the ordering of this great work and in the means he
having before represented to the Colossians the reconciliation of things on earth and things in heaven by means of the peace which was made through the blood of CHRIST according to the good pleasure of the Father he now descendeth from general things to particular cases and to excite in the hearts of these faithful persons a more lively feeling of this grace of GOD he puts them by name in mind of the part they had in it forasmuch as the efficacy of this goodness of His had been displayed upon them and drawn them out from perdition and advanced them to highest happiness And you saith he who were somtime estranged from him and who were His enemies in your understanding in wicked works Yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh by death to render you holy and without spot and unreproveable before Him In these words as you see to heighten the excellency of the benefit GOD had done them he first sets before their eyes the miserable estate they were naturally in before the Gospel was preached unto them You were saith he somtime estranged from GOD and His enemies in your understandings in wicked works Next he sets forth the favour GOD had shewed them in the sequel notwithstanding all their unworthiness And yet now saith he he hath reconciled you in the body of His flesh by death Finally to sway them unto the pursuance of an exquisit sanctification he represents unto them the purpose or end of their reconciliation with GOD. To render you holy saith he and without spot and unreproveable before Him These are the three points we will handle GOD willing in this action distinctly one after the other The first and natural estate of the Colossians before grace Their reconciliation with GOD made in the body of the flesh of CHRIST by His death And the end of this reconciliation to be holy and unreproveable before Him Certainly since the sin of Adam corrupted and infected our nature there are no men born into the world but their condition of it self is most wretched Yet their misery is no where so clearly discovered as in the Heathen who are born and live without the Covenant of GOD. For as to those whom He preventeth with His grace breeding them up in His Church from the beginning of their life His light and His goodness encompassing them from their nativity do hinder the discerning so fully in them the horrid corruption of our nature Whereas Heathens having no other guide but that nature in them its state and strength is to be manifestly seen The Colossians to whom St. Paul writeth were of this rank Gentiles by extraction by religion and in manners before JESUS CHRIST enlightned them Let us behold in them an image of the condition which we should be in if GOD had not separated us from the rest of men and timely drawn us out of our original misery The Apostle saith first that somtime that is before their conversion they were estranged alienated namely estranged from GOD from His covenant and from His people as he explaineth it more largely elsewhere Remember saith he to the Ephesians that at that time Eph. 2.12 ye were without CHRIST having no communion with the common-wealth of Israel being strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and being without GOD in the world They had no communion with the true GOD were so far from adoring Him that they not so much as thought on Him and did deride the only nation in the world that knew Him and served Him This is clear by the Books of the ancient Heathens that have remained to our time as also by the ignorance and idolatry of the modern But the Apostle goes further yet and adds that at that time they were enemies of GOD which comprehends two things the one that they hated GOD and warred against Him the other that GOD accounted them and pursued them as His enemies For the first St. Paul speaks it expresly of the Heathen in the Epistle to the Romans where among other characters He giveth them He sets down this for one they are saith he full of envy murder debate Rom. 1.29 30. deceit malignity whisperers back-biters haters of GOD upon which a question ariseth how it is true that the heathen hated GOD For either they knew Him or they knew Him not If they knew Him not how did they hate Him since love and hatred are two passions which cannot be exercised but towards objects known it being no more possible to hate than it is to love what we know not And if they knew Him seeing He is the cheif good how is it possible they should hate Him since our will is not capable of hating good known To this I answer first that when the Scripture says the Heathen hated GOD it meaneth not that GOD was the proper and formal object of their hatred For it is certain that in this sense the Deity can neither be hated by them that are ignorant of it nor unloved by those that know it But the Holy GHOST thus speaketh for that these wretches do altogether as if they hated GOD It 's a manner of speaking familiar enough to say the cause for signifying the effect and the antecedent for expressing of the consequent Now these people in their blindness defaced the glory of GOD the most they could They battered down the most illustrious marks of His GOD-head They blasphemed His Providence They reviled His nature They robbed Him of the honour of creating and conserving the Universe and gave it to monsters They despised His Will and contraried all His orders They passionately loved what He most abhorred and abhorred what He is best pleased with Are not these ordinary and natural effects of hatred It 's therefore with much reason that the Scripture to set forth this impiety and fury of the Heathens saith that they hated GOD since they treated Him in the very same manner as if they had directly hated Him As when the Wise man saith somwhere Pov. 29.24 8.36 that the wicked hate their own soul or their own life it is not to signifie that their will hath properly in it any aversion for their own life on the contrary they but too much love it But to declare that they carry themselves just as if they expresly hated it affecting and practising with an extream vehemency the things that cause their ruine and neglecting and abhorring those that would lead them to salvation Secondly I say That though the Heathen have some knowledge of GOD yet because they phancy Him quite another then in effect He is they may be said in propriety of speech to hate Him For though it be not possible for us to hate good so far as it is good nevertheless it often happens that error representing things to us quite otherwise than they are in themselves we love what is indeed worthy of hatred and we hate what is in truth most worthy to be
loved From such an illusion did the Pagans hatred of GOD arise For imagining Him as a Tyrant full of cruelty and injustice or as an idle King that hath no care of His State it need not be wondered at if their understanding falsly conceiving Him under so monstrous a likeness their will was swayed to hate Him rather than love Him And those among them that had a better opinion of Him yet for all that loved Him not For by an extream errour of mind placing their supream happiness in the enjoyment of pleasures and vices and being not ignorant that GOD hateth them and punisheth them they considered Him as an enemy to their contentment So the love of vice induced them to hate Him Whence it followed that GOD on His side as being soverainly good and just condemned their impiety and had a will to punish it which is the thing that the Scripture figuratively calls GOD's hatred This is that the Apostle meaneth that the Colossians in their Paganism were enemies of GOD. But to shew us how deeply this enmity was rooted in them having said that they were enemies he addeth in their understanding This is the principal and highest faculty of our soul that moveth and guideth our wills and our affections and is by consequent the regent of our whole life The Apostle saith therefore that rebellion and enmity against GOD have taken up their seat in the understanding seizing if we may so say on this grand Tower of our nature and thence continually making war against GOD. This war the Apostle intends when he adjoyneth in wicked works I should never have done if I would attempt now to represent all the horridness of the heathens lives St. Paul sheweth us an Epitome of it in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans he there lays forth the principal fruits of their impiety their injustice their uncleanness and their abominations vice being grown to such an height among them that they did not only commit it but also favour it and took no shame to adore the very persons whom they confessed to have been extreamly commaculated with it This dissoluteness and being given up to wicked works was a clear conviction of their enmity against GOD which renders them altogether inexcusable Rom. 1.32 because how great and universal soever their corruption was yet they were not ignorant that they that do such things are worthy of Death as the Apostle saith there a little after This doctrine of his touching the estate of Heathens deserves great consideration For it teacheth us two points of very much importance First the quality and Secondly the extent of the corruption of our nature by sin As for its quality you see it is so horrible that it sets us far from GOD and makes us strangers to Him and His enemies so deep that it hath soaked into all the faculties of our souls even the understanding it self the noblest of them all and finally so contagious that it infecteth all our works with its venome none issuing forth but wicked ones Whence appears first how false and pernicious the imagination of those is who place this corruption in the lower part of the soul only in the affections and sensual appetites and in their resistance of reason and will have it that the understanding hath remained in its integrity St. Paul doth loudly pronounce the contrary lodging enmity and rebellion against GOD in the heathens understanding and he elsewhere testifies the same truth in divers places as when he saith 1 Cor. 2.14 that the natural man comprehendeth not the things of the Spirit of GOD that they are foolishness unto him and he cannot comprehend them and otherwhere that the sense Rom. 8.7 Ephes 4.18 or wisdom of the flesh is enmity against GOD that it yields it self not subject to the Law nor indeed can And in the Epistle to the Ephesians that the Gentiles have their understanding darkned Confess we then that this evil is universal that it hath depraved our whole nature and left nothing sound or whole in us from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head It hath extinguished the light of the understanding and filled it with thickest darkness It hath made irregular the motions of the will and put a dreadful disorder into all the passions and affections And so palpable is this that the two Masters of Pagan Philosophy have in some sort perceived it and as it were felt it while they were groping in their darkness they have left in writing the one of them Plato in Soph. Aristotle Ethic. l. â— that the soul of man is sick of two maladies ignorance and naughtiness the other that there is in our nature I know not what that resisteth right reason From the same ground you may see again how vain the conceit of those is that ascribe I know not what merits of congruity as they call them to men out of the state of grace Would you know how the Colossians invited GOD to gratifie them with the light of His Gospel They were saith the Apostle estranged from GOD and enemies in their understanding in wicked works If a subject do merit the favour of his Soveraign by turning His back upon Him and departing from Him if rebellion and enmity do oblige to shew graciousness if wicked works do incline the goodness of GOD to communicate it self to men then I confess they that are out of His covenant may merit His grace But since it is quite contrary and every body well knoweth that such carriage is a plain provoking of justice and doth inforce punishment who seeth not that man while he is in the corruption of his nature doth merit nothing either by way of condignity or of congruity but the curse of GOD according to what the Apostle elsewhere saith even that by nature we are children of wrath Eph. 2â— I said in the second place that this Text discovers also to us the extent of this corruption For if any sort of men could be found exempted from it in all probability it should be the Greeks the most polite and best civilized of all people Nevertheless you see the Apostle involves them here in this universal misery Whence appears how much some of the ancientest writers of Christianity were mistaken whom the love of learning and secular erudition did so charm Clem. Alexand. Strom. 6. as they stuck not to say that the Gentils by means of their Philosophy might become acceptable to GOD and attain salvation I grant they had a very quick understanding as we see by their Books in which they have left us admirable marks of the acuteness of their minds Neither do I deny but GOD presented them both in the nature of this vast universe and in its government with very clear and most illustrious arguments of His power wisdom goodness and providence as St. Act. 14. Rom. 1.19 20. Paul elsewhere saith that this supream LORD never left
render every man perfect in CHRIST JESVS For the first when he saith that he preacheth JESVS CHRIST his meaning is not simply that he speaks of JESUS CHRIST to those whom he instructed There never was an heretick but made some mention of Him and for the colouring of his dreams did mingle with them somewhat of the mystery of JESUS CHRIST even Mahomet himself the desperatest of all impostours that ever debauched men from the Gospel doth nevertheless speak of Him with honour and acknowledge in gross the truth of the call and doctrine of JESUS But the Apostle signiâ—ies that he declareth JESUS CHRIST alone preacheth none but Him that He is the only subject of His preaching and the filling up of his teachings according to the profession he expresly maketh elsewhere that he determined to know nothing among them 1 Cor. 2.2 whom he taught but JESUS CHRIST crucified His Epistles in which he hath left us a lively and a true picture of his preaching do sufficiently justifie his speech For such as have read those divine writings see that they are filled from the beginning to the end with JESUS CHRIST alone This adorable name shines out every where in them and there is no tract or chapter but it is engraven on it There are scarce two periods found together in which it doth not appear If he be to teach he proposeth no other secrets but those of the nature or the offices or the actions or the passions or the promises of JESUS CHRIST If he must combat error he wields no other weapons in it but the Cross of JESUS CHRIST If he aim to clear the obscurities either of nature or of the Law JESUS CHRIST alone is the light he useth to dissipate all kind of shadows and clouds From Him he fetcheth consolation for souls cast down either by the sense of their sins or by the heaviness of affliction In Him he finds all his motives and arguments for our sanctification JESUS CHRIST alone furnisheth him with all that 's necessary to pacifie our consciences to make glad our hearts to raise our hopes to confirm our faith to enflame our charity to inkindle our zeal to stiffen our constancy to encourage our patience to purifie our affections to loosen us from the earth and lift us up to heaven JESUS CHRIST is all his Logick and all his Rhetorick He is the rise of his arguments the magazin of his arms the great motive of his perswasions the soul of all his discourses In the determinations of this holy Doctor you no where meet with either Pope or Mass or devotions to Saints and Angels or Purgatory or auricular confessions or so much as one of those pretended mysteries that fill up the modern Theology He was fully content with JESUS CHRIST He believed it enough to preach Him and that he needed no more either to discharge his own duty or to advance our edification and truly he had reason For what is there I do not only say necessary and useful but any way good or great and excellent which is not in JESUS CHRIST Though other things which are recommended in religion were as true as they are false and as innocent as they are pernicious yet it is evident that in comparison of CHRIST JESUS they are miserably poor and childish In Him alone is found such true solidity as is able to content the soul in Him alone is wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption all the fulness of the Godhead all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge as S. Paul will tell us hereafter In this LORD alone is grace truth and life There is no salvation in any other Acts 4.12 No other name hath been given under Heaven unto men whereby they must be saved And yet alas though this be a truth so clear in it self and so authentically confirmed by the practice of our great Apostle there are people that professing to believe it do for all seek that elsewhere which is to be found in JESUS CHRIST only and having this living and overflowing spring of grace opened to all believers by the loving kindness of the Father yet go digging in the poor Cisterns of the creatures for the water of salvation They acknowledge that the merits of JESUS CHRIST are infinite His righteousness absolutely perfect His grace inexhaustible His power supereminent but they are not content with it however They adjoyn their satisfactions unto His the prayers of Angels and Saints to His intercession and do mingle the sufferings of men with the blood of the Son of GOD. But if the lusts of the world or the false blaze of error or the corrupt inclinations of the flesh do induce them to approve or to bear with so dangerous a mixture let us for our part Dear Brethren whom GOD hath delivered from such prepossessions adore the fulness of JESUS CHRIST Let us content our selves with his richness and never seek any true good any otherwhere than in Him Bless we GOD that from the Pulpits erected among us we hear no name sounded forth but His. Since S. Paul preacheth none but Him it is greatest reason that He alone should take up the mouth of Preachers and the faith of their hearers But the Apostle having declared the subject of His preaching addeth the matter of it We preach CHRIST saith he admonishing and teaching in all wisdom These are the two parts of the office of a good Preacher to wit admonition and instruction The first compriseth all the remonstrances that are made to sinners whether to reprehend their faults or to excite their diligence or to comfort their sorrows or to advertise them of any other part of their duty The second conteineth all the lessons of heavenly doctrine the exposition of each of the articles of the mystery of godliness Admonition reformeth manners teaching informs faith The one moveth the will and the affections the other instructeth the understanding The Apostle protesteth elsewhere Act. 20.21 31. that he carefully joyned these two offices together not contenting himself with teaching and testifying of faith in JESUS CHRIST but moreover incessantly admonishing every one with tears And you see these two wayes meeting thoughout his Epistles in which he not only expoundeth the mysteries of faith but ever and anon descendeth to the applying of those instructions to the carriage of those whom he instructeth reproving them chiding them comforting them encouraging them as they had need And as he practis'd thus himself so he gave order for the like procedure to others whom GOD had called to the holy ministry 2 Tim. 4.2 1 Tim. 3.2 2 Tim. 2.24 Tit. 1.9 2 Tim. 3.16 17. Preach the word saith he to Timothy be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all sweetness of spirit and doctrine And elsewhere he wills in general that every Pastor be not only apt to teach but also able to admonish by sound doctrine and to convince gainsayers Indeed these two offices are
necessary for the edifying of the faithful which is the end of the ministry It is not enough to propose the secrets of the Gospel in general unto them general things do not much stir us They must be touched in particular and the word of God which is the instrument of our profession is proper for these two operations as S. Paul expresly noteth when he saith that the Scripture is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteoussness that the man of GOD that is His servant or his minister may be accomplished and perfectly furnished unto every good work Such then as the LORD hath honoured with this sacred ministry should labour both in the one and the other of these two performances and make account that he calleth them not simply to teach but also to admonish For this here is not the pew of a Professor of Mathematiques or Physick who hath no other business but to explain the secrets of those sciences to those that hear them This Chair hath been prepared in the Church for the conducting of men to salvation not meerly to make them understand but to give them everlasting life to illuminate their minds to form their lives unto holiness to pluck them out of the snares of Satan and cause them to walk in the wayes of GOD. Faithful Brethren since you know that such is the nature of our charges you should not think it strange or ill that we execute them in this manner among you There are some that have a tender ear They willingly hear information and doctrine but cannot bear remonstrances Discourse about the mysteries of religion is pleasing to them but about their vices and their duty burthensome And this tenderness is a very bad sign as shewing that their morals are not found As a Physician judgeth that there is something amiss some sinew hurted or some collection of unnatual humors in those parts of the body which he cannot touch without putting the Patient to pain If you would have our ministrations to be entirely grateful to you reform your manners that nothing may remain in your life but what is healthy and vigorous Remonstrances do importune those only that have a diseased Soul But they should consider that if they be troublesome to them they are necessary for them and if the interest of our Office do oblige us to make them the interest of their salvation doth much more oblige them to suffer the same It is a salt somewhat sharp but wholsome a potion bitter but conducing to health But the Apostles addition that he teacheth in all wisdom must not be forgotten There is no need I should advertise you that he speaks of heavenly wisdom of that truth which is necessary to be known for the obtaining of Salvation It is evident therefore when he saith he teacheth in all this wisdom he signifies that he declareth all the mysteries of it to such as he instructeth that he hideth no part of it from them which it concerns them to know for their arriving at the inheritance of JESUS CHRIST It is the very thing that he speaks elsewhere more clearly and in express words namely when he taketh the Bishops or Pastors of the Church at Ephesus to witness that he had kept back nothing from them which was profitable for them but had taught it them Act. 20.20 21 27. and preached it publickly and from house to house tesstifying both to the Jews and to the Greeks repentance towards GOD and faith in JESUS CHRIST our LORD and a little after I have not shunned saith he to declare to you all the counsel of GOD. Whence it appears that the traditions which are pretended to have been not publickly and generally taught to all the faithful but delivered in secret to some only by the Apostles are not at all necessary to mens Salvation He that hath learned what the Apostle taught all men knows enough since he taught in all wisdom except men will say that he wanteth some knowledge who hath learned all wisdom But it hath alwaies been one of the artifices of curiosity to feign that men of GOD did not publish all and that they committed a part of their instructions only to the ears of some that were more perfect than the vulgar to the end that under this pretext it may make its own disquisitions and inventions pass for articles of divine doctrine I know well that this is a meer imagination as weak as it is bold and such as hath no other foundation than the passion of those that advance it But it is not my business to make any further inquiry into the vanity of it For what ever it be since S. Paul hath taught every man in all wisdom my simplicity is henceforth in safety The ignorance of your pretented secrets cannot be prejudicial to me since all the wisdom of the Gospel is comprised in the Apostles publick and common teachings From the same consideration you may perceive also how extravagant the dreaming of those is who would make it be believed that the doctrine of the Church is polished and perfected from age to age the succeding having added to the light of those that went before and that we should not wonder if the ancients either knew not or even spake contrary to some of the Articles of the Modern Divinity forasmuch say they as the Church not having yet at that time declared them the belief of them was not necessary By this account the Faith will have been imperfect in the Apostles time Yet S. Paul saith here that what he Preached to all men was all wisdom and he will add immediately that by it he rendred every man perfect in CHRIST JESUS whatsoever may be said in the matter it is clear that it 's enough to know the things that are sufficient to save us If that which the Apostles Preached did suffice for the salvation of the first believers we have nothing to do with that which men have added since For we seek but our salvation and it 's sottishness to imagine that what was sufficient to save believers in those dayes is not sufficient to do it in ours as if GOD had changed his design and the revelation of His Son and the Apostles Preaching were not the seal and the last perfection of all His dispensations The Articles which have been declared in the latter ages did make up a part of the wisdom Preached by the Apostles or no. If they made up a part of it they were no less necessary for the first ages than for the latter If they made up no part of it they are now as little necessary as ever And it avails nothing to alledge the Church to us For what authority soever may be ascribed to the company which is so called it hath not enough to make that necessary which in reality is not so not enough to shut up what GOD hath opened nor to contract what He hath dilated or to
crave that you may be filled with the knowledg of the Will of CHRIST in all wisdom and spiritual understanding To Prayer he added Action couragiously attacquing Error on all occasions refuting Seducers and discovering the vanity of their Doctrine and the malignity of their design not only by word of mouth but also by writing as we see by those divine Epistles of his which remain with us and in which the evidences of his great earnestness against these false Apostles do appear here and there in many places And as he laid on stoutly upon enemies so did he smartly take up the faithful reproving them admonishing and encouraging them to necessary firmness and constancy He marched with so high a generosity that he spared not S. Peter himself who having slipt through weakness and complacency into actions which seem'd to favour error Paul boldly undertakes him and sheweth him his fault with much liberty as himself gives us an account elsewhere In short Gal. 2. he omitted none of the duties of a valiant and vigilant Captain either against the foe or towards his friends and fellow-soldiers as is easie to be seen by his writings Yet his combat stay'd not here He often came to blows cheerfully suffering for this cause all the persecutions which the rage of the Jews and the malice of Seducers did contrive and form against him And to say the truth the very chain he was loaden with and the prison he was in when he wrote this Epistle did make up a part of this Combat of his it being clear by the History of the Acts that nothing had more inflamed the hatred of the Jews against him who cast him into this affliction than the zeal he shewed every where against the corruptions of such people as would retain the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law and hence it is that he told the Colossians afore Col. 1.24 he suffered for them because in effect and at the bottom it was for maintaining their liberty and the liberty of other Gentiles converted to the Gospel and for the keeping of their faith pure from all corruptive leaven that he fell into this tedious sufferance Such was Paul's combat for these faithful people Dear Brethren admire the zeal and the charity of this sanctified soul He was in the Prisons of Nero he stood as we may say upon the Scaffold and had his head on the block being indicted for a criminal matter which concerned his life And even in this estate his heart is in pain for the Churches of Colosse and Laodicea and for those beside that had never beheld him Their danger troubled him more than his own Neither prison nor death was able to extinguish or diminish his affection or to make him lay aside the least of his cares Having so great a Combat against his own person upon his hands he leaves it and on so pressing an occasion travelleth and combateth for others Certainly there cannot any thing be imagin'd more elevated or more ardent than this love We may truly affirm of it what is said in the Song of Solomon His love is strong as death and his jealousie is hard as the grave it's burnings are burnings of fire and a flame of GOD Many waters could not quench it nor could flouds drown it But observe again the prudence and apt procedure of this holy man in that he representeth these things to these faithful people for so good an end For being to entertain them with important matters and to decry errors which seduction did paint over with the deceitful colours of Philosophy and Eloquence that he might dispose their hearts to give him due audience and gain his remonstrances a necessary credit and authority he sets before them at the entrance the cares he had for their Salvation the combats he sustained for them and all the effects of that sacred amity he had towards them As a Captain who to keep firm his Soldiers in their duty represents to them his watchings and his pains-taking and his cares for their preservation and in sum all the marks of his affection to them or rather as a tender mother who to withdraw her dear children from giving ear to debauches sheweth them her fears her sollicitudes and her alarms the yearning of her bowels and all that she doth or suffereth for them Such is the Apostles holy artifice in the present business and it is grounded upon a maxime we all know namely that we much more believe those that love us and are affectionate for our welfare than those to whom we are indifferent He declareth to them his pains that they may take in good part his remonstrances and discovereth to them his passion that they may receive his counsels His aim is not to draw glory from it or to enhanse his esteem among them such a childish vanity had no place in the soul of this great man but indeed to render his instructions the more effectual to the Colossians thereby And the Combats which he for the same end tells them of should serve in like manner for examples unto us Let Ministers of the Gospel learn by them what love they owe their flocks what cares and combats their Office obligeth them to Let nothing in the world be dearer or more precious to them than the Salvation of the Souls committed to their charge let them take part in their joys and in their griefs let them feelingly resent their wounds apprehend their dangers labour incessantly for their edification To it let them consecrate the thoughts of their mind and the words of their mouth and the work of their pen and the actions of their life yea their blood and life it self if there be need saying with clear conscience as the Apostle in another place doth 2 Cor. 12.15 As for me I will willingly spend and be spent for your souls and be glad to serve for an aspersion upon the sacrifice and service of your faith Let this care and these thoughts fill their hearts day and night let them make account that there is neither affair nor occasion nor peril that dispenseth with them for the same no not death it self in the very gates whereof they ought to mind still their flock and combat for them by their prayers and their devout wishes Such is the faithful the love and the care we owe you We confess that without such watching and striving for your Salvation we cannot avoid the censure and chastisements of the supream Pastor Judg if it be not reasonable that you have affection and respect for those whom the love of your Salvation engageth to so many cares and labours and if it be not just that you receive their instructions with reverence and hearken to the product of their studies with attention that you comply with the zeal they have for your edification and attribute much to their counsels and suffer their liberty and impute to their affection the sharpness of their remonstrances when grief and fear draw
from them complaints and crys against your carriages that you consolate the pains they take for you by your resentment of the same and above all by your progress in the studious pursuit of piety For this is the only fruit they crave of all their cares and their combats they would account them most advantagiously recompenced if you do but profit by them if they perceive by the goodness of your manners and the sanctity of your life that they have not labored in vain But do not imagin I pray that their sollicitude doth discharge you of all care On the contrary it sheweth you with what earnestness and assiduity you should labor for your own Salvation For if they must heed your affairs with so much diligence what zeal should you put forth about them your selves Their travel may awaken and hearten you but it cannot save you except you travel your selves Their combating will win you no Crown if you take not part in it after their example Every one shall live by his own faith and no person be crowned for the zeal of his Pastor or his brother If your Pastors watch if they stand on their guard if they labour and combat blessed be GOD they shall receive their pay But their labouring will not excuse your loytering nor will their heedfulness justifie you neglects Every man shall bear his own burthen they may give you the example of their piety they will not be able to communicate to you the recompences of it Employ we then our selves both the one and the others Pastors and flocks about our Salvation with fear and trembling Let us all combat with Paul if we will be crowned with him Imitate we his Charity if we desire to partake in his Glory Let us extend our cares and our love as he did not only to the saithful whom we know but even to those whom we never saw For carnal amities I confess it is bodily sight and presence which enkindles and maintains them The eyes of the flesh are the authors and the preservers of them But in those of JESUS CHRIST it is otherwise It 's the Spirit that knits them It is its eye and its sight that causeth them both to begin and to continue For since it is properly JESUS CHRIST and His Gospel that Charity loveth it is evident that it ought to embrace all those which bear the marks of them whether they be absent or present The distance of times and places doth not hinder these sacred commerces The Apostle combateth even for those that had never seen him Let us also then love all true Christians and spread our affections as far as to those whom many Seas and many Mountains sever from us Let us combate for them by prayer and do them how far off soever they be from us all the Offices whereof our Charity shall be capable travelling with holy tenderness for the salvation and edification of one another But having considered St. Paul's combat let us now examine the end and design of it Whence comes it holy Apostle that thou takest so much pains and hast these Colossians and Laodiceans and even those that never saw thee so neer thy heart Why doth this carefulness follow thee to the very prison and come there to aggravate and invenom thy personal sufferings Why labourest thou so for them To the end saith he that their hearts may be comforted they being joyned together in love and in all riches of full certainty of understanding unto the knowledg of the secret of our GOD and Father and of CHRIST Thus doth the Apostle answer our demand I am in pain saith he for their consolation and their faith I combat to preserve this treasure to them and to prevent the enemies snatching out of their hands so precious and so necessary a possession By saying he combats for them that they may keep these Graces He sheweth That they were in danger to lose them if the enemies they had that is the Seducers and false Apostles did accomplish their design and perswade these faithful people to those errors which they were setting forth In effect it is evident that their doctrine of man's Justification by ceremonies and observations whether legal or humane is incompatible with the truth of the Gospel doth disturb the comfort of the faithful break the bond of charity confoundeth and embroileth the mystery of JESUS CHRIST bereaveth Him of His glory and of His plentifulness representing Him as poor and scanty and as needing the succour either of Moses or of Philosophy and the superstition of men to give us Salvation The Apostle nameth three things which he wisheth unto these Believers and which he would keep for them by his cares and combats Consolation of heart Conjunction in charity and the riches of a full certainty of understanding or as he expresseth the same thing in other terms knowledg of the secret of our GOD and Father and of CHRIST The first of these to wit Comfort of heart is the happiness of the faithful upon earth For it is that calm and tranquillity which their souls enjoy amidst the tempests of this life when they sweetly repose themselves upon their Master's word and are assured to partake of His Salvation notwithstanding the menaces and persecutions of the enemy and the defects and imperfections of their own course All heresie and error in Religion doth necessarily disturb this consolation because it shakes the truth and certainty of the doctrine of the Gospel upon which it is founded But the error which the Apostle sets himself to oppose did particularly strike at this part of our Salvation depriving consciences of that peace which faith in JESUS CHRIST doth afford them and casting them into a miserable agitation in that it makes their justification to depend on I know not what observances that are either vain and unprofitable or even impious and pernicious It 's this that animates S. Paul to combat it so vigorously every where because the faithful could not receive it without losing their true consolation that is their only hearts-good And this should make us jealous for the purity of the Gospel to keep it free from all admixture of error Let us not hearken unto those who tell us that if what they have added to the Gospel do displease us yet we cannot deny but they retain JESUS CHRIST and the foundations of our Salvation in Him It is a most evident delusion I confess that JESUS CHRIST giveth Salvation and Consolation but He doth it to those that embrace Him as He presents Himself to us on His Cross and in His Gospel naked and without adulteration and composition If you will have either vice or superstition with Him He will serve you for nothing save to augment your condemnation As food how good and wholsome soever it be will no less then kill you if it be mingled with poyson We must either receive JESUS CHRIST alone or renounce His Salvation There is no possibility to
intention in this place But that which they add is yet worse For from this ill interpretation they infer a false and a dangerous doctrine concluding from our Saviour's having all the treasures of Knowledg that the infinite wisdom of His Divinity was really transfused into His humane nature and by consequent all the other properties also of the Divine nature as its omnipotency its infiniteness and its presence in all places since there is the same reason for all these attributes of GOD and they are so in separable that none can have one of them without possessing of the rest See I pray you how fruitful error is and how truly it was said by one of the ancient Sages of the world That one falsity and absurdity being supposed many others do necessarily follow upon it For that which hath led or to say better which hath drawn these authors into this long series of errors is nothing but a false opinion which they have about the Sacrament of the Eucharist They incommodiously and unreasonably suppose that the flesh of JESUS CHRIST is really present in the bread And this absurdity hath engaged them by little and little in those others that are so much worse For not being able to relish that Transubstantion which those of Rome make use of to uphold this real presence of our LORD's body and deservedly rejecting it as full of absurdities and contradictions yet bent to retain their own bad presupposition they have had recourse for the maintaining of it to another well nigh as great an error namely that of Ubiquity and do affirm that the body of JESUS CHRIST is every where present and consequently in the Eucharistical signes and to defend a thing so strange and so contrary to sense to reason and to Scripture they have advanced this conceit that the flesh of CHRIST through its Personal union with the Divinity hath really receiv'd all the properties thereof that is that the Son assuming it unto Himself hath rendred it omnipotent immense and infinite a thing which hath induced them to corrupt divers passages of the Word of GOD that they might form out of them some prop for their error It is not the place here to make a thorough refutation of their doctrine nor to lament at large such persons their deserting of the truth in this particular who are illuminated with the beams thereof in others Would to GOD we might bury a fault which hath caused so much scandal in Christendom in eternal oblivion I will only touch at the concernment of the Text in hand and their abuse of it for the favouring of their opinion I say then that in this ratiocination of theirs they commit two notable faults the one that they do not take the Apostle's meaning aright and the other that they conclude wrong And to begin at the latter of these they conclude wrong for from the being of an infinite science and knowledg in JESUS CHRIST it doth not follow that the Soul of His humane nature understandeth and knoweth all the things that God knoweth as from the being of an eternal Divinity in JESUS CHRIST it no way followeth that His flesh is an eternal Divinity or from His having created the World that his Flesh created it like as if at least we may compare Humane things with Divine from a man's having in him an immortal intellect it follows not at all that his body is intelligent or immortal For as in Man there are two Substances the Soul and the Body which though united in the same subject do nevertheless conserve each of them their Properties apart the Soul its spiritualness and invisibility the Body likewise its visibility and palpableness the one a capacity to understand and will the other not after the same manner there are two natures in JESUS CHRIST which though personally united yet are not mingled or confused one with the other But retain each of them their essential and original qualities in such sort that the Divine nature abideth eternal infinite omnipotent and omniscient and the humane created in time bounded in place and endowed with a limited strength power and science Now as when we say of man in general that there is understanding and sense in him that he hath a visible or invisible essence that he is mortal or immortal each of these attributions ought to be understood in reference to that part of his nature to which it agreeth and not be confusedly applied to them both So if the Apostle had said as I grant he truly might that there is in JESUS CHRIST an infinite power or knowledg it should be referred to His Divinity and not to His Humanity For JESUS CHRIST being very GOD blessed for ever with the Father who doubts but that in this regard He is omnipotent and omniscient But thence it follows not that He is so in regard of His humane nature too And for any to deduce it from that attribution is as impertinent reasoning as if because there is in JESUS CHRIST a flesh conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin and which was infirm and crucified you would inferr that therefore His Divinity was also born of the Holy Virgin and that it too was fastned to the Cross But though it should be granted them that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg are hid in the humane soul of JESUS CHRIST yet still they would conclude wrong to infer thence as they do that the knowledg of His Soul is infinite and the same with that of GOD. We confess that this blessed Soul having had the honour to be personally united with the Eternal Son of GOD hath also thereupon been adorned with all the shining light of knowledg and wisdom whereof its nature is capable so as it may be said in this respect that all the treasures of them are hidden in it and that the knowledg which it hath of things doth much surpass the knowledg of Men and Angels both for its extent and also for its clearness and firmness Yet the nature of the subject wherein it properly resideth being finite it self is also necessarily finite whereas the knowledg of the Father and of His eternal Word is infinite even as the nature of the one and the other is infinite And it is to no purpose to reply that by this accompt the humane nature of JESUS CHRIST will have no advantage above the Saints of whom it may be said in this sense that all the treasures of wisdom are hidden in them since GOD who dwelleth in them hath an infinite knowledg and wisdom For this consequence is evidently false First by reason of the extream difference which is found between the graces communicated to the Saints and the gifts of light and knowledg that are insused into the Soul of our Saviour Secondly by reason of the infinite difference that is between their persons for though GOD do dwell in the Saints by His grace yet no one of the Saints is GOD whereas the Eternal Word
in the matter before us as well as worth I deny not but that some of these precious Verities are hid in the world and in man himself and that by attention and meditation they may be thence drawn out as appears by what the Pagans had learned who read no other book I grant moreover that the ancient Tabernacle of Mâ—ses afforded a yet greater store But what is all this in comparison of that abundance of them which JESUS CHRIST presenteth us Certainly there 's none but He to say true in whom this Divine treasure is found And for the fuller discovery of the unmeasurable abundance of His inexhaustible riches to us the Apostle contents not himself with calling it a treasure He sayes treasures in the plural so great and vast is the opulency of this Divine subject Yea he saith not simply treasures but all the treasures to shew us that there is nothing fair or exquisite or precious but is found in Him Now S Paul subjoineth in the progress of His speech what those treasures be which are in CHRIST The treasures saith he of wisdom and knowledg Away ye covetous who never hear speak of treasures but do fancy those of the world which to say the truth are but piles of dung heaps of clods of earth a little otherwise formed and coloured than other parts of this vile and low element be The jewâ—â— which the treasury of JESUS CHRIST is full of is of an infinitely more precious nature than the metals you adore It is saith the Apostle wisdom and knowledg The term wisdom is honourable among men and though they are ignorant of the thing nevertheless they respect the name of it confessing that it properly agreeth only to such knowledges as are at once both sublime and useful divine and salutiferous Surely to stick in this definition which themselves give of it it is clear that not one of all the Sciences that they have learned in the world by the strength of their own spirit doth deserve to be call'd wisdom For either they are low and of things of small elevation as the skill of their trades which have no employment but on the earth or at least they are vain and unprofitable as that which they tell us of the Heavens and their motions of nature and its mutations of numbers and figures and the measuring of bodies For what service doth that science do them whereof they vaunt with so much insolence Are they any whit the happier for it or ought the more assured by it Themselves do vilifie it when they are in a good mood and confess that all of it yields those that excell most in it but a very slender profit Will you call an useless industry Sapience and count him a wise man that busieth himself to no purpose On the contrary is it not the character of a fool to amuse himself in things of nought and toil about that which affords him no benefit as children that run after their shadow and course butter-flies What is the wisdom then which is truly worthy of so glorious a name Dear Brethren it is evidently the knowledg of Verities necessary to our Salvation those Verities that can make us happy and conserve peace and consolation in our Souls and conduct us through the accidents of this life to the possession of that supream felicity which all men naturally desire It 's this kind of knowledg that the Apostle meaneth here It s this which by way of excellence he calleth wisdom as alone deserving the name while all other kinds of knowledg do lie far beneath it As for Science which he doth adjoin I think we need not strive to sever it from Sapience as if they must necessarily be two different things I know well there are they that subtilly distinguish them some affirming that Sapience is the knowledg of GOD and of things divine Science the knowledg of Man and of things humane Others resolving that Sapience signifies the knowledg of things to be believed and Science of things to be done But not to dissemble I much doubt whether the Apostle ever thought upon these petty subtilities For the word Science in the Original generally signifies all knowledg and there is no reason to restrain it to the knowledg of things either humane or moral I judg it therefore more accordant with the simplicity of these Divine Authors to take the words Sapience and Science in well nigh the same sense and to say that the latter was added only to enlarge and enrich one and the same conception as if the Apostle had said that there is neither Sapience nor Science nor any true and Saving knowledg but it is in our Lord JESUS CHRIST In fine it must be observed that he saith These treasures are hid in CHRIST This is a very apt prosecution of his metaphor For treasures are not exposed to every one's view They are lockt up in some close cabinet and many times those that have them hide them in remote places or lay them under ground to keep off the eyes and hands of men from them Forasmuch as this is usually done the Apostle hath very gracefully used this word in the matter before him and the more gracefully for that something semblable may be observ'd in the dispensation of JESUS CHRIST Not that GOD hath any such design as avaricious men have or that He fearing lest people should see and seize His treasure hath directly hid it from them to prevent their sharing it Far be it from us to entertain a thought so injurious to the goodness and liberality of this Soveraign LORD who sent not His Son into the world but to save the world and delights in nothing more than in seeing us search into His treasuries and enrich our selves with His good things Who likewise hath clearly and magnificently laid forth in His CHRIST all His heavenly wealth by reason whereof that Son of His is called the Sun of Righteousness that is the most visible and most remarkable object in the Universe He hath sent His Servants every way to discover Him unto Mankind and from the tops of the highest places to call all men to a participation of this treasure of light Now both His brightness and their voice hath spread abroad so gloriously that it may be justly said Light hath been in the world Joh. 1.10 but the world perceived it not Wherefore our Apostle saith elswhere That if his Gospel be yet hid it is hid to them that are lost 2 Cor. 4.3 4. and whose understandings the GOD of this world hath blinded to wit the unbelieving that the light of the Gospel of the glory of CHRIST might not shine into them Where you see he attributes all the fault of worldlings not discerning the excellency of this treasure to their own blindness caused by the darknings and malice of Satan and not to the obscurity or hiddenness of the treasure it self which he gives a quite contrary name to calling it light
him by a person that know it not to be poyson who perchance took of it himself thinking it a remedy so error from whatever hand it come hath still a bad effect and the opinion they have of it who present it to us doth not change the venom of it nor impede its corrupting of our souls and extinguishing Divine life in us if we do receive it But the Apostle in this place pointeth out the means also which false Teachers use for the setting up of their errors That none saith he may deceive you by words of perswasions These he calls elsewhere in the same case sweet and flattering words Rom. 16.18 saying in his Epistle to the Romans that Schismaticks and such as make divisions contrary to the doctrine we have learned do seduce the hearts of the simple by sweet and flattering words 1 Cor. 2.4 And this he nameth again elsewhere the enticing words of man's wisdom Under these terms he comprehendeth all the advantages and attractives of discourse all that it hath in it which is apt to touch and win hearts as either probable reasons wherewith it is furnisht or beauty of terms and expressions or artificial disposition and graceful pronunciation There is none but knows how potent these charms of eloquence are They sometimes dazzel the best eyes and do deceive the firmest minds It 's a kind of Magick and Enchantment which makes things appear quite otherwise than they are and gives them colours and qualities that are not their own which maketh Honey pass for Wormwood and Wormwood for Honey black for white and white for black There is no cause so good but this kind of illusion overthrows nor so bad but it establisheth There is no affection which it doth not allay nor bâ—lâ—â—f which it doth not shake nor resolution which it doth not break It hath often 〈◊〉 the innocent to be condemned and the nocent absolved with applause 'T is by its sleights that truth how invincible soever it be hath sometimes seemed to be vanquished 'T is to its dexterity and its stratagems that error and falshood do we the greatest part of their lying-triumphs For feeling themselves in reality weak they have recourse ordinarily to this kind of Sorcery that they may carry by its illusions what they could never win by true and legitimate strength 'T is it that maintaineth Sophisters and Wranglers and Mountebanks and Seducers With the sophistry and prattle which it lendeth them they have the hardiness to shew themselves and to oppose the clearest truths and recommend the grossest errors But among all the busie people that use it there are none that employ it more perniciously than Hereticks and corrupters of Religion This false Rhetorick is the principal instrument they seduce withall Accordingly it is evident that they have always taken it up and scarce ever attempted upon Truth but with this sort of weapons And it must be confessed that they help themselves by them with wonderful dexterity Never was cause in matter of Religion more sordid or shameful or seeble than that of the Pagans yet they that pleaded it against the ancient Christians knew so well how to fard it with the colours of their false reasons and the gloss of their brave words that they made it pass for plausible among the multitude and rendered Christianity ridiculous to them how holy and lightsome soever its truth was Those Hereticks which arose from among Christians had no less ability and artificialness to recommend their impostures borrowing for this purpose from the Philosophers and Orators of the world the subtilties of their Logick and all the colours of their Rhetorick There are still left us some pieces of the one and the other in the Books of Antiquity as the Discourses of one Celsus in Origen of one Caecilius in Minutius of Porphyrius and Symmachus for Paganism divers writings of Tertullian for Montanism of Fanstus for the Manichees and of Julian for the Pelagians in S. Augustine It 's wonderful with what dexterity and with what grace and eloquence they do manage such bad and infamous subjects nor can I read them without lamenting the unhappiness of so many excellent and highlyapprovable things to be miserably profaned in the service of error as one cannot chuse but groan to see Marble and Gold and Azure and precious Stones employed in adorning the Temple of an Idol And I note it expresly to you my Brethren that you may not think it strange if those of Rome at this day do speciously defend a very bad Cause nor be much moved at the ostentation they make of it who are not ashamed to boast of the eloquence and subtilty of their Teachers as if this were one of the marks of truth I freely consent to the praises they give them and do acknowledg that words of perswasion as the Apostle here calls them do abound on their side but I dare affirm notwithstanding and am assured that every intelligent and unpassionate person will accord with me herein That how subtil and eloquent soever their Masters be and how much pains soever they have taken for the better plastring over and colouring and burnishing of their Doctrine in conclusion their works are not more neat nor more polite nor more specious and fair-seeming than the works of those Pagans and Hereticks whom I but now named yea to speak without passion I believe they are far inferior to them Let them forbear therefore to urge unto us for a mark of truth an advantage which is common to them with Pagans and Hereticks an advantage which the most infamous Causes do employ which the worst do ordinarily seek after more earnestly than the best so much more cunning being used in their defence by how much less strength they have in themselves Not that I would decry eloquence and acuteness or render them suspect with you as if they never were in other service than of error I willingly acknowledg they are excellent graces of GOD and that he gives them to men properly for the defence of Truth and sure they have not always had the hard hap to contend for Falshood They have often done good service to the Gospel and employed their might for its glory both heretofore against the Pagans and the old Hereticks and in our times against those of Rome as appears by the writings both of the Fathers and of our own Doctors a good number of them being found who even in this respect come no whit behind their adversaries besides their having the principal advantage that is the truth on their side This Paul himself who here condemneth words of perswasion when they recommend error doth not reject them when they are labouring for truth And though he was not much versed in the art of prophane eloquence whence it comes that he saith of himself that for speech he was as one of the Vulgar yet his discourses want no strength nor grace that rich heavenly knowledg which abounded in his heart giving
worship was gross and terrene and in some sort worldly in comparison of that of the new Isreal whom the LORD formed to worship GOD in spirit and in truth Whence it comes that he calls all the knowledg of the Jewish Rabbies 1 Cor. 2.6 8. the wisdom of this generation and those Rabbies themselves the Princes of this generation that is of this world Thus how hoary-headed and venerable soever the age of these rudiments of the world was the Apostle would not that the faithful should susser themselves to be taken under that pretence by those seducers that advanced the observation of them Behold what were those three colours wherewith these men be-painted their Doctrine The vain speculations of Philosophy The antiquity of Tradition and The authority of the Mosaical Ceremonies To which the Apostle adds and not after CHRIST By these very few words as with one blow he beateth down all the speciousness of these strange Doctrines Let men trick them up saith he as much as they will let them colour them with the subtilities of Philosophy let the practise of them be authorized by Tradition let them be recommended under the name of Moses and by the respect we owe to the rudiments of the former world all this hinders not but that we ought to despise them not only as unprofitable but even as dangerous since they are not after CHRIST He saith they are not after CHRIST First Because the LORD JESUS hath told us nothing of them in his Gospel whence it appears that we have good ground to reject from our belief all that is not found in the Scriptures of the New-Testament Secondly Because the Doctrine of JESUS CHRIST is wholly spiritual and celestial whereas those traditions and legal observations were gross and carnal And lastly Because besides their having no correspondency with the nature of the Gospel they do turn men aside from the LORD JESUS causing them to seek some part of their salvation otherwhere than in Him in whom it is so entirely seated as not the least drop of it is to be had in any other And what shew soever such as follow these Traditions do make of being resolv'd to retain JESUS CHRIST experience lets us see that they do but very slightly stick to him busying themselves wholly in the performance of their own devotions and placing the greatest part of their confidence in the same which comes from hence even that these are more grateful to them both for their novelty and for their being voluntary and indeed of less difficulty it being much easier to the flesh to acquit it self of some external and corporeal observances than to embrace JESUS CHRIST with a lively faith dying to the world and living unto him alone Thus you see what we had to say to you upon this advertisement of the Apostle's It is addressed to you also dear Brethren since you have adversaries who sollicite your belief in the same manner as those men did at first combat the faith of the Colossians They propose unto you the same errors and paint and gild them over after the same method with the vain colours of Philosophy with the plausible name of Tradition with the authority of Moses They are either Doctrines drawn forth from the speculations of Philosophers as the invocation of Angels and of Saints departed the veneration of Images the estate of souls in Purgatory and such like or humane Traditions as prayer for the dead Quadragesimal observances the Hierarchy the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome Monkery single-Single-life and others all crected by men without any foundation in the word of GOD. Or lastly they are Elements of the world ceremonial observances sometime instituted by Moses but abolished by JESUS CHRIST as the distinction of Meats Festivals Unctions Consecrations Sacrifice Fixation unto certain places and of all that we reject in our Doctrine there is not a particular but referrs to one of these three heads Remember therefore when they set upon you that the Apostle still to this day calls aloud from Heaven to you Take heed that none do make booty of you by Philosophy and vain deception after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after CHRIST Under these fair appearances there is hidden a pernicious design Men would take you away from JESUS CHRIST and make you a prey to and the Vassals of men Oppose to all their Artifices this one saying of the Apostle's That whatever the things which are enjoined you may be they are not after CHRIST they are not found in that Testament wherein he hath declar'd his whole will they have no conformity with the nature of his Gospel and do turn away the minds of men from that Soveraign LORD in whom alone is our wisdom and our righteousness our sanctification and redemption But Faithful Brethren as the Apostle's lesson should defend you from error so should it preserve you from vice Let that JESUS whom he so assiduously preacheth to you sill up your manners as well as your faith Love none but him as you believe in none but him Renounce the customs and vices of the world as well as its Religion Let the leaven of Philosophy have no more place in your actions than in your belief Receive the manners of men into your communion no more than the traditions of men If you be above the rudiments of the world be also above its infancy and its low and childish passions and affections they were sometimes pardonable in that childhood but are inexcusable in persons whom JESUS CHRIST hath advanced unto perfect men and such as by his illumination he hath brought unâ—â—fulness and maturity of age Let your souls henceforth have thoughts and aâ—â—ctions noble and heavenly and worthy of those high instructions which JESUS CHRIST hath given you Let your whole life be referr'd to him passing by the world and its elements this present generation and its lusts and idols with which the LORD JESUS doth not participate in any thing He hath crucified all those things for us and displayed before our eyes a new world brought forth out of the bosome of Eternity a world incorruptible and radiant with such glory as can neither be sullied or made to fade 'T is hither Faithful Brethren that you should elevate your desires This same is true Christian Discipline to dye with JESUS to this old world having no more sentiment or passion for its perishing-benefits and to live again with the same JESUS in that new world whereinto he is entred for us to breathe after nothing but its glory to think of nothing but its purity to rejoyce in nothing but in its peace and in the hope of its eternal pleasures To forgo for ever that which is passed and to tend with all our might towards the mark and price of our supernal calling justifying the verity of our Religion by the sanctity of our conversation so as there appear no more among us either ambition or hatred
or avarice or any of those loathsome defilements that do disfigure the whole life of worldlings The LORD JESUS who hath given us this excellent Divine Doctrine who hath founded it by his death and set it up by his resurrection who also hath in these latter times purged it afresh both of the vanities of Philosophy and of the traditions of men and of the elements of the world please to confirm us in it for ever by his good Spirit and to make it so efficacious for the sanctification of our life that after we have finished this earthly pilgrimage we may receive one day at our going forth of this vale of tears from his merciful hand the Crown of immortality which he hath promis'd and prepar'd for all true observers of his Discipline Amen The Twenty-first SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER IX Ver. IX For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily AS the Christian Religion doth consist in Principles and Practises incompably more sublime and salutiferous than any that the world ever learned in the Schools of Nature and the Law so was it delivered and instituted by an Author infinitely more excellent than any of those were who ever erected other Disciplines among men I will not insist upon the Authors of those various Religions which bore sway heretofore in the time of Paganism who though they were in esteem among Nations and raised to an high reputation of wisdom and vertue yet had the taint of an extream ignorance and vanity as their own Institutions sufficiently discover to any one that will take the pains to examine them in the light of Reason It would be injurious to the LORD JESUS the Founder and Prince of Christianity to compare him with such people But even Moses himself the great Teacher of the Hebrews and the Prophets who commented on explained and confirmed his Law are all insinitely beneath the dignity of this new Law-giver They were I grant Ministers of GOD the Mouth and Organs of his Majesty the Interpreters of his Will and Heralds of his Truth being endued as was suitable to so high Offices with an excellent sanctity a rare and extraordinary Wisdom and an heavenly Power which evidenced it self in them by miraculous effects But after all they were men and never pretended to be ranked above that feeble nature which was common unto them and us nor did receive any of those Honours which belong to the Divine whereas the LORD JESUS is so Man as he is likewise GOD blessed for ever and was so far from refusing Divine Honours that he hath expresly required them at our hands and enjoined us to adore him with the Father and to acknowledg him his Eternal Son This same difference the Apostle observes between the LORD JESUS and those other Ministers which GOD made use of in the former Ages God saith he having at sundry times and in divers manners in time past spoken unto the fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son Ebr. 1.1 Moses and the rest were Prophets of GOD JESUS is his Son The others were his Ministers JESUS is his Heir The others were faithful as Servants Ebr. 3.5 6. JESUS as Son is over the whole House In the others there did shine forth some marks of the commerce they had with GOD that Soveraign Majesty imprinting on their faces as upon Moses's in particular some sparklings of his glory But JESUS is His very Light the resplendency of his glory and the character of his Person Dear Brethren it doth highly concern us to know rightly this great dignity of our LORD and Saviour not only for the rendring to his Person the worship we owe him and of which we may not fail without offending the Father as himself hath told us John 5.23 He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father who hath sent him but also for our embracing with so much the more zeal the Religion he hath delivered us without ever admitting the perswasion that either men on earth or even Angels from Heaven can add any thing to the light the goodness and the perfection of the discipline of so great and so perfect an Author For this cause doth S. Paul here hold forth to the Colossians the Divinity of our LORD JESUS CHRIST In the precedent Verses he exhorted them to constant perseverance in the belief of his Gospel confirming themselves in it more and more and taking heed they gave no car to Philosophy and the vain traditions of seducers who endeavoured to corrupt sound doctrine by the mixing of divers inventions which they would add to it as if it were not perfect enough of it self to guide us to salvation The Apostle to bereave Error of this pretext and shew the faithful not only the sufficiency but even abounding of the Gospel represents unto them the soveraign perfection and divinity of its Author For in him saith he dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Since you have JESUS CHRIST saith he there is no need of recourse to others In Him as in a living and inexhaustible spring is all good necessary to your happiness a divine Authority to found your Faith an infinite Wisdom to direct you in all truth an incomprehensible Goodness and Power to give you grace and glory a quickning Spirit to sanctifie and comfort you All other things compared to Him are but poverty and weakness See how the Apostle fortifies the faithful in the doctrine of the LORD and in few words overthrows all that the presumption of flesh and blood may dare to set up beside or against his perfect truth For a right understanding of his words we must consider them exactly For though the number of them be small their weight is great they are rich and magnifick in sense and do contain within their narrow compass one of the noblest and fullest descriptions of JESUS CHRIST that is found in Scripture Let us see then first what all this fulness of the Godhead is whereof the Apostle speaketh And then in the second place how it dwells in JESUS CHRIST to wit bodily The LORD please to conduct us by the light of his own Spirit in so high a Meditation that of his fulness we may receive grace for grace and draw from it what may fill our souls with that life and salvation which overfloweth in him and can be no where found at all but in him As for the subject it self whereof S. Paul speaketh and in which he saith that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth none can doubt but that it is our LORD JESUS CHRIST For having said at the end of the verse immediately foregoing that the traditions of men and rudiments of the world are not after CHRIST he now addeth For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead Whence it is clear that the LORD JESUS CHRIST whom he had even then named is the Person of whom he speaks and to whom he attributes
all this fulness As little could any man be to seek who this JESUS was of whom the Apostle speaks All knew him at least confusedly and in gross and did conceive him a man born of Mary in Judea who having liv'd some years among the Jews had been at length crucified by the sentence of Pontius Pilate and who being risen from the grave to a new life had sent forth his Apostles to preach his Gospel and afterwards afcended up into Heaven And though all did not believe that he was risen again and glorisi'd yet all well knew that this was said of him so that both the one and the other hearing JESUS CHRIST named did presently conceive in their mind the Idea of this Person born and dying in Judea at such times and at such places with some retinue of Disciples during his life and after his death This then is the subject of which S. Paul speaks even JESUS CHRIST considered under this form of a man in which he manifested himself to the world and in which he was conceiv'd and figured in the minds of those that heard him named In this man whose appearance was like that of other men who was born and bred on earth sustained during his life with our common food subject to our infirmities who passed through the differences of our ages suffer'd our griefs felt our inconveniences and experimented the rigour of death yea the cruellest that was in this man I say whose body was nailed to a Cross and deprived of its soul and buried in a Sepulcher in this man under so mean and contemptible a form dwelleth faith the Apostle all the fulness of the Godhead It is ordinary in the Hebrew Language to signifie by the fulness of any thing that which the thing containeth as by the fulness of the earth Men and other living creatures Psal 24. which do fill it and by the fulness of the Sea the Isles which the Sea containeth After this manner of expression the qualities and perfections of any one nature may be call'd its fulness because they are the things that fill it and with them it is as it were furnished and adorned as the movables and ornaments of a room or an house are the fulness of it Therefore as if I should say that in Adam as he was at first created was found all the fulness of Manhood every one would easily perceive that my intention were to say the perfections of human nature the faculties and properties and beauties which it is full of and without which it cannot sustain the dignity of that name were all in Adam â—an immortal soul a vigorous understanding a free-will a body of excellent 〈◊〉 acute senses and in sum all the other faculties that have any place among the perfections of the nature of man So here when we hear the Apostle saying that the fulness of the Godhead is in JESUS CHRIST let us account that by this clause he meaneth those perfections and qualities which fill up the Divine nature in which this great and soveraign Beeing doth consist and which Theologues commonly call the Attributes of GOD. You know what the word Godhead doth signifie even the Nature and Essence of GOD. The fulness of the Godhead then is that rich and incomprehensible abundance of perfections whereof the supream and adorable Nature is full as His Life His Power His Wisdom his Justice His Goodness His Immensity His Eternity His Holiness and all the other Properties which it hath in an ineffable manner and which our understandings according to their mean capacity do conceive in it as the form of the Deity that is necessary for its having that Name a nature that wanteth it being incapable of being called GOD otherwise than falsly and improperly I grant some resemblances or rather some touches and lineaments of these Perfections of the Godhead do appear in the noblest of the Creatures as in the Angels for instance who are immortal and endowed with an admirable sanctity vertue and power But the fulness of them is not in any Creature at all neither can it be found that ever the Scripture spake in this manner of Angels and said that the fulness of the Godhead was in them Besides these blessed Spirits and other Creatures how excellent soever you can imagine them to be do participate of these divine perfections but in a very little measure Whereas the LORD JESUS hath them wholly And to make this evident to us the Apostle thought it not enough to say that the fulness of the Godhead is in Him but hath expresly declared that ALL this fulness dwelleth in Him that we might be assured there is not at all any Perfection or Excellency or Accomplishment in the Divine Nature but is found in Him Thus in these two or three words he hath comprised all that the Scripture teacheth us in divers places of the richness of the Perfections of our LORD and Saviour For instance it tells us That he is full of grace and truth that he is the Wisdom and the Power of the Father that he hath the words of life that he is the Way the Truth and the Life that in him are hid the treasures of wisdom and knowledg that he hath that might and strength which sustaineth all things now and which created them at first that he is the Everlasting Father and hath immortality and incorruption hath an infinite understanding whereby he soundeth the reins and discerneth all the thoughts of the hearts of men that he hath a super-eminent Glory to which all Creatures ought to do homage yea the Angels themselves who indeed adore Him the Empire and dominion over all the world the right and authority to judg all men and a multitude of such things as these Verily S. Paul hath comprised it all in one word saying here that all the fulness of the Godhead is in JESUS CHRIST it being evident that if he wanted any of these Names Rights and Attributes He could not have all the fulness of the Godhead which is ascribed here unto Him But let us now see in what manner he possesseth these things the Apostle expresseth it very briefly saying that all this fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily First the term dwelleth is illustrious signifying that all this copious abundance of perfections doth not reside in JESUS CHRIST for some time only appearing a little while and then withdrawing again so making some transient stay in Him a few moments and no more but that it abideth in Him constantly and for ever for so the word dwell in Scripture-use doth import The Word and the glory of GOD appeared in Moses and the Prophets when being moved by the power of his Spirit they uttered and acted Divine things but it dwelt not in them It only rested on them some hours space for the LORD 's recommending those Servants of His and for the setling their authority by these marks of his Providence and of his communicating with
that was born of the blessed Virgin and reciprocally the sufferings the qualities and the actions of the Flesh that was born of Mary are attributed to the Eternal Son of GOD as when the Scripture saith That GOD hath redeemed the Church with his own blood that the Lord of Glory was crucified that JESUS CHRIST is before Abraham was that he founded the Earth at the beginning and the Heavens are the work of his hands and other like expressions Dear Brethren such is the sense of these divine words of the Apostle Admire ye the force and the richness of the Scripture which hath in so few words blasted and beaten down all the inventions and dogmatizings of Error against the Truth both of the two Natures of our LORD and Saviour and of the union of them in His Person First These words do overthrow the impiety of those who bereave JESUS CHRIST of his Divinity and reduce Him to the degree and condition either of a meer Man or of a Person raised indeed above man yet made notwithstanding and created at the beginning as well as other Celestial and Terrestrial Creatures How can such blasphemy subsist before this Sacred Oracle which proclaimeth not simply the Divinity but that the Godhead and not this simply neither but that the fulness of the Godhead yea to omit nothing that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily If He be but a Man and no more no part of this fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him neither its Power nor its Wisdom neither its Goodness nor its Justice neither its Glory nor its Eternity For none of these Divine qualities do dwell in one who is but a man We must avouch that he hath in him verily those Perfections that fill up the Godhead that is the Divine Nature or deny that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him But if you grant me as deny it you cannot without giving the Apostle the lye that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him you must of necessity confess also that he is GOD no one if he be not GOD being capable of receiving holding and having in himself the fulness of GOD. For this fulness being infinite there is none but GOD that can contain it since there is not any but he alone who is infinite Now it dwelleth all in our LORD JESUS CHRIST It must therefore of necessity be confessed That He is GOD of a Nature infinite Whereby the frigid and frivolous evasions of those impious men are refuted who taking away from JESUS CHRIST the reality and true glory of Divinity do leave him the name of it and make a titular GOD of him a GOD as they speak created and raised up a while since who hath but the title of GOD not the nature the office not the essence Who can sufficiently detest the audaciousness of these Wretches that by this impiety of theirs do overthrow all the ground-work of the Scripture which hath insinuated nothing more clearly or more expresly than the one-ness of the true GOD Who is too so jealous of his glory as that he forbiddeth us upon pain of death to give his Name or his Worship or his Attributes unto any Creature of what quality soever If JESUS CHRIST be not the true Eternal GOD Creator of the Heavens and the Earth how will you miserable men avoid this condemnation you that give him the name and the adoration of the true GOD But S. Paul lays all their subtilty in the dust by saying formally here that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily The fulness of the Godhead is not an empty name or a titular dignity It is that which fills it it is that gloriousness it is that light it is that nature that truth and that perfection wherewith the Godhead is full It 's this therefore that dwells in JESUS CHRIST the substance of a true and real Divinity not an hollow and a vain shadow it 's the thing and not the title of Deity But as the Apostle doth by these words convince the impiousness of such as bereave our LORD and Saviour of the glory of his Divinity so doth he likewise confound the extravagancy of others who deprive him of his human nature foolishly affirming that he had but a false appearance in that kind For here are two subjects clearly represented to us one that dwelleth to wit the fulness of the Godhead another in which this fulness dwelleth to wit JESUS CHRIST the one is the Temple the other is the GOD that resideth in the same the one our Saviours Human nature the other the Eternal Son of the Father Two real and veritable subjects by the wonderful uniting whereof this sacred and adorable Sanctuary of GOD is made up and composed To take away the truth either of his Godhead with the former or of his Flesh with the latter is to destroy the Fabrick Again these words of the Apostle do in like manner overthrow the error of those who have corrupted the union of these two natures in JESUS CHRIST on one hand by dividing them as did the Nestorians on the other by confounding them as did the Eutycheans For if we sever JESUS CHRIST into two Persons the fulness of the Godhead will not dwell bodily in his Flesh This Man will have but gifts of the Divinity which are as it were some draughts and lineaments of it He will not have the Truth and the very Body of it Neither may it be reply'd That the Temple in which GOD resideth is a substance different from his Person For the Body is the residence of the Soul yet Soul and Body have but one and the same subsistence and do constitute but one and the same Person So as the dwelling of the Son in his Human nature as in his Temple doth not hinder but that this Human nature of his doth subsist with him in one and the same Person Yet though we may not divide these two Natures of our LORD it doth not follow that we must mix and confound them as they do who define the union of them by the Human nature its being made equal with the Divine and will have it to be become infinite and immense and endowed really in its self with all the properties of the Divine nature The Apostle saith indeed that the fulness of the Godhead dwells in CHRIST but he saith not that his Flesh was really chang'd into the Godhead The body by being personally united to the soul doth not thereby become soul It conserveth its own nature and hath only this advantage by that strict conjunction which knits it with the soul that they subsist together and make up but one and the same person Just so the Flesh of our LORD by the Word 's dwelling in it becomes one self-same Person with it being truly the body and the soul and in one word the nature of the Son of GOD yet it still keeps its original beeing and essential properties
and quickned by the Spirit of His Resurrection For He doth indeed command the Angels as their true and legitimate Master but He hath not assumed them nor wash'd them from their sins these holy and blessed Natures having never committed any Nor hath He by His merit obtain'd for them that life and bliss which they enjoy these all being benefits pertaining unto none but men Accordingly you shall not find that the Angels are called His Body or His Members This quality is peculiar to the faithful consonantly to what the Apostle elsewhere saith to wit Eph. 5.23 that CHRIST is the Saviour of His Body and every one knows that He is not the Saviour of Angels since they having not fallen from their original purity and felicity have had no need of being saved But come we now to the second point of our Text which the Apostle layeth before us in these words In whom also saith he you are circumcised c. He beginneth here to discover in particular and by as retail what he but now spake of in general namely our having been made compleat in JESUS CHRIST specifying one by one the perfections which those false Teachers sought for otherwhere than in JESUS CHRIST and shewing that they are to be sound plentifully in him so as there is no need to have recourse to any besides him or to add any thing to his Gospel for the acquiring of them Among all those things that these Seducers sought to shuffle into Religion there was none they pressed more than Circumcision which as you know was one of the Sacraments of the old Covenant wherein by cutting off the fore-skin was figured and exhibited to the Israelites the purifying of their nature by the abolishing of their sins and excision of their vices as also their entrance into the communion of GOD. In effect this Ceremony was of infinite importance For it was the seal of all the old Covenant the person who receiv'd it being by means of it consecrated and initiated to the Discipline of Moses and solemnly obliged to observe the same as the Apostle remonstrates to the Galatians Gal. 5.3 I protest saith he to every man who is circumcised that he is bound to fulfil the whole Law For this cause he begins with it in this place well knowing of what consequence this error was which annihilated the Cross of CHRIST and overthrew the whole mystery of his Grace Let none object saith he against this compleatness which you have in JESUS CHRIST that having not been circumcised you want the first and the principal 〈◊〉 sanctification This part of your perfection is not wanting any more than 〈…〉 and if you carefully consider what JESUS CHRIST hath given you throuâ—â— his Gospel you will find that though Moses's knife hath not touched you yet 〈◊〉 miss not of having a Circumcision through the goodness of our LORD yea such a one as is not only equally excellent with the other but even much more perfect Whence you see to how little purpose these men endeavour to make you subject to this ancient incision of the Law it being altogether superfluous to such as have pass'd through the hands of JESUS CHRIST The Apostle sets this consideration before the Philippians in a dispute of his against the same seducers We saith he are the Circumcision who worship GOD in the spirit Phil. 3.3 and glory in CHRIST JESVS and have no confidence in the flesh But here he explaineth in what follows this admirable circumcision which we have received in JESUS CHRIST and saith first that it is not made with hands next he adds in what it consisteth to wit in putting off the body of sins and lastly he termeth it the Circumcision of CHRIST He saith then first that this circumcision which we have in our LORD and Saviour is not made with hand whereby he affirmeth that it is not formally and precisely that circumcision which Moses gave the Jews the hand of man effecting that in their flesh This here is made by the operation not of a man but of GOD with the knife not of Moses but of CHRIST that is by that word of his accompanied by his Spirit Heb. 4.12 which is sharper than any two-edged sword In which respect alone it hath a great advantage above the circumcision of the Jews it being evident that the works of GOD are more excellent beyond compare than the works of men And as the Apostle telling us in another place that the building which we look for 2 Cor. 5.1 after the dissolution of this earthly tabernacle is not made with hand doth by that very reason demonstrate the excellency of it even that it is a work not of human art or nature but of the wisdom and power of GOD In like manner he here discovereth the worth and value of our circumcision in JESUS CHRIST by saying that it is not made with hand But the thing it self doth no less demonstrate the same than the quality of that operation by which we receive it For this circumcision made without hand which we have in JESUS CHRIST is as the Apostle here defines it the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh You know what he and the other holy Writers do understand by the flesh to wit this not only infirm and mortal but moreover defiled and corrupted nature which we all bring into the world comprehending not only the body and the senses but also the soul and it tainted and infected with the ordures of sin and in some sort transformed into flesh by the carnal qualities and habitudes wherewith it is invested its understanding being wholly dull and sensual its will earthly and brutish and its affections rebellious against the Law of Heaven and all of them set on the flesh This nature of man thus framed is that which S. Paul both here and frequently elsewhere calleth flesh The sins of this flesh are the habits of those divers vices that cover it and invelop it on all hands not those only that properly relate to the body and the satiating of its irregular appetites such as are they that refer either to gluttony and drunkenness or to luxury but also all others whatsoever which cross the Law of GOD and overthrow that order of righteousness and holiness which he appointed for all the faculties and motions and sentiments of our nature Gal. 5.19 20. as we are taught by the Apostle in many places and particularly in the Epistle to the Galatians where he placeth among the works of the flesh not only adultery and fornication and drunkenness but also idolatry and heresie and enmity and clamours and envyings and wrath and murthers and such like The mass of all these vices is that which he here calleth the body of the sins of the flesh Rom. 6.6 and he useth this manner of speaking again elsewhere as when he saith that the body of sin is destroyed our old man having been crucified with the
LORD And it must be confess'd that this figure is marvellously elegant and proper for this matter For even as the body comprehendeth in its self several members which have each of them their particular function and exercise in like manner this mass of corruption which we bear about in our nature is composed of many different Vices which have each of them their peculiar motion and operation Ambition tendeth one way Avarice and Intemperance another Envy defileth us in one manner Cruelty in another and each of these pests hath its own sentiment and ends Their motions are sometimes even contrary and do thwart one another as unclean spirits that are not at an agreement However at the bottom all these evils come from one and the same source and live in one and the same mass as all the members do make up but one and the same body Hence it is that the Apostle sometimes considering sins under this notion calleth them our members or the members of our flesh Col. 3.5 as when he commands us to mortifie our members which are upon the earth to wit fornication uncleanness inordinate affection and other like Vices Moreover as this body in which we live doth cover us all about so that mass of Vices wherewith our nature is infected doth encompass and on wrap us on all sides there being no part or faculty in us but is as it were invested and besieged with it Such is the corruption that we derive from the first Adam and by reason thereof the Apostle sometimes also calleth it the old man He saith therefore that the circumcision which we have in JESUS CHRIST is the putting off of this body of the sins of the flesh when the faithful person by the virtue of the Word and Spirit of the LORD JESUS doth cut off all the vices of the flesh which are the members thereof and strips himself of this old habit of sin and death wherewith the first Adam clothed us This is that which in the same sense he elsewhere calleth a putting off the old man as to former conversation Eph. 4.22 Col. 3.8 Gal. 5.24 which is corrupted by deceitful lusts And in this present Epistle a putting off of anger malignity and evil speaking and other such sins and again in another place a crucifying of the flesh with its affections and lusts All this amounts to the same sense and signifieth the mortifying of the flesh and the cutting off of its Vices that there may be an abstaining from all the sins which they are wont to produce in the lives of men of the world The Apostle adds in the end that this is the circumcision of CHRIST First because our LORD and Saviour hath expresly instituted it in his Gospel commanding us to be born again to deny our selves to change our deportments to put on a simplicity and humility like that of little children and to break all the ties we have with the flesh and the world if we will follow him and have part in his Kingdom This is the first and most important instruction in his Discipline Secondly It is the circumcision of CHRIST because it 's he alone who is the Author of it and doth effect it in us neither is there ought but his Gospel alone that can unclothe man of this body of the sins of the flesh For it is not possible but that a soul on whom the Doctrine of JESUS CHRIST hath been imprinted by the power of the Holy Ghost should renounce the world and the flesh Philosophy was so far from curing this malady that it did not so much as know it exâ—ctly The Law discovered it indeed and made man to feel the tyrannous strength of this rebellious body of the flesh wherewith he is naturally clothed and surrounded But it was unable to subdue and mortifie it as the Apostle teacheth us at large in the seventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans There is none but JESUS CHRIST who by the efficacy of his heavenly truths and the divine examples of his holiness thrust down into our hearts by the hand of his Spirit can circumcise us in this manner unfolding and dis-investing us by little and little of these wretched bonds and weakning and extinguishing the life of the flesh in us Compare now this Circumcision of our Saviour's with that of Moses and you will without difficulty perceive that it infinitely surpasseth it in dignity and excellency That of Moses wounded the body this of CHRIST enliveneth the soul The one par'd away a little skin the other mortifies the whole body of the flesh The one was in its self but a typical ceremony the other is a mystical verity The one mark'd the flesh the other maketh better and ennobleth the heart Without the one a man could have no part in the communion of the carnal Jews and by the other we enter into the alliance of the spiritual Jews whole praise is of GOD and not of men Whereby you may judg how extravagant the conceit of those seducers was whom the Apostle doth in this place oppose who notwithstanding that excellent and divine circumcision which Christians have receiv'd in their Saviour's School would yet bring them under that of Moses which was poor and weak and so many ways defective as if Christians could not upon a far better ground than the Jews glory that they truly are GOD's circumcised Now for a right comprehending of the force of the Apostle's reasoning it must be remembred that circumcision as well as the other ceremonies of the Mosaick Law was a figure which represented the abscission of the vices and lusts of the flesh as the Prophets themselves do clearly enough shew when they promise the ancient people that GOD will circumcise their heart and the heart of their seed Deut. 30.6 Jer. 4.4 that they may love him and live and command them to circumcise themselves unto the LORD and to take away the fore-skin of their hearts an evident sign that this external action did refer to the internal mortification and sanctification of the soul Since then the figure is unprofitable when the truth is attained and models do serve only till the things themselves be formed and perfected the use of them when this is done being no longer necessary you plainâ—y see that from the Apostle's saying here that in JESUS CHRIST we have this putting off or cutting off of the sins of the flesh that is the truth whereof circumcision was the figure and model it evidently follows that it is no longer necessary for us and that a wilful retaining of it still is an accusing of JESUS CHRIST of having not fulfilled in his Discipline the thing represented by this ancient type Iâ—'s true that even in the time of the Old Testament the faithful had some part of the sanctification signifi'd by their circumcision but what they had was weak and in small measure because the true causes on which it dependeth being all comprised in the Mysteries of
resurrection of JESUS CHRIST that gives us all this assurance putting in our hand a firm proof of the satisfaction of Divine Justice from the deliverance of our Surety and of our immortality from his having taken possession of the same for himself and us so as our souls being certifi'd of the transcendent goodness of GOD and of their own happiness do ardently embrace his Discipline and the endeavouring of a new life Besides that faith which purifies our 〈◊〉 and by which as we shall hear anon we are risen again in JESUS CHRIST could not take place in us if he were not risen from the dead Rom. 1.4 1 Pet. 1.3 since it 's by that he was declar'd the Son of GOD with power according to the spirit of holiness Therefore S Peter saith it 's by the resurrection of JESUS CHRIST from the dead that GOD hath begotten us again unto a lively hope And S. Paul for this very reason 1 Cor. 15.17 protesteth that if CHRIST were not risen our faith would be vain and we should be still in our sins It must then be concluded that in rising again he raised up us also by the same means forasmuch as by rising he gave being and clearness to the principles and causes of our mystical resurrection Opening his own tomb he by that means opened ours He broke in pieces the doors and barâ—s of our Sepulchers by quitting his own and raising himself from the dust he drew us up out of the earth and brought us forth from the abode of death that glorious life also wherewith he then vested himself hath inspired into us all the spiritual life motions and sentiments that we have O holy and blessed Communion O divine and incorruptible fruits of the Sepulcher of JESUS CHRIST The death of the first man did kill us and the death of the second maketh us alive The one's Sepulcher is our prison the other our liberty In the former do appear horror and malediction the signs of our guilt and of the just wrath of GOD but from the latter peace and life do bud out glory and immortality shoot forth The grave of Adam did extinguish and shut up for ever in a state of exinanition all the beauty strength and life of our nature The Sepulcher of JESUS CHRIST hath destroyed nothing but our sin it hath shut up and kept in only our old man that is the loathsomness and misery of our lives and instead of this abominable body of sin and death whereof it hath divested us hath as it were teemed with and brought forth a celestial and immortal nature which it puts on us together with our Saviour And thus you see what are the fruits of our communion with JESUS CHRIST namely the destruction of our old man and the creation of the new signified by the Apostle in these words we are buried and risen again with him Let us now consider the two fold means here intimated by the Apostle by which GOD doth make us partakers of them The first is Baptism being buried saith he with CHRIST by baptism wherein also you are rais'd again together with him For so do I take these words rendring wherein not in whom and referring this term not to JESUS CHRIST but to Baptism as it it had been said In which Baptism you are also raised again together with the LORD this construction being more natural and more convenient than the other as they that understand the original Language wherein the Apostle wrose with easily perceive if they take the pâ—ns to consider this Text there though it the bottom it make no difference which of these two ways be taken the whole amounting to the same sense whether you say that we are risen again in Baptism or in JESUS CHRIST In truth all the means which GOD makes use of in Religion have no other tendency but to communicate JESUS CHRIST to us as dead buried and risen again for us to the destruction of our old man and the vivification of the new Nor do they ever fail to produce these two effects in any of those that receive them as they ought Therefore the holy Apostles frequently ascribe them to the word of the Gospel which is the first and principal means that GOD makes use of to save us Rom. 1.15 Heb. 4.12 by reason whereof it is called his power to salvation As for the destroying of the old man the Epistle to the Hebrews attributes to the Word the virtue that operateth and effecteth it in us saying that it is quick and powerful 2 Cor. 10.4 5 sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and S. Paul elsewhere calleth it a weapon mighty to the pulling down of strong holds to the overthrowing of imaginations and every heighth that exalteth it self against the knowledg of GOD and for the bringing of every thought into captivity to the obedience of CHRIST And as to the life of the new man 1 Pet. 1.23 25 you know S. Peter teacheth us that the Gospel which is preached us is the seed of this life telling us that it is thereby we are born again That holy Supper of which we have participated this morning hath also the same effects For since it communicateth to us the body of JESUS CHRIST dead and buried and risen again for us we need not doubt but iâ— gives us also the virtue which it hath and is insuparably adherent to it for the putting to death the old Adam and making the new to live in us by its be-dewing our Consciences with his blood and feeding our souls with his flesh But although these two effects be common to all the means which GOD hath instituted and 〈…〉 use of in Religion yet the Apostle speaks here but of Baptism 〈◊〉 Because 〈◊〉 the first seal we receive of our Saviour and the proper Sacrament of our regeâ—eration which containeth the initials and beginning of our spiritual 〈◊〉 in the House of God whence it comes that treating of the same subject elsewhere Rom. 6.3 4. he makes mention of Baptism in like manner Know you not saith he that we all who have been baptiz'd into JESVS CHRIST have been baptiz'd into his death Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism Secoudly He so doth that he might with so much the more clearness confute the erroâ— he here combareth even by opposing to that circumcision which the seducers did press that Baptism which we have receiv'd in JESUS CHRIST whereby hath been fully communicated to us all that these people pretended to draw from the use of circumcision Their folly was therefore so much the more insupportable for that they would not only retain a shadow whereof JESUS CHRIST hath given us the true body but also withstood one of the old Sacraments of Moses its giving place to one of those which JESUS instituted If question be of the substance and very effect of
us powerfully forming our hearts and opening them by the might of his Spirit that they may receive his truth yea that he doth imprint and engrave it on them himself by a most efficacious action The term Energy for such is the Original and 't is that which we have render'd efficacy deserves great consideration properly signifying in the stile of the Book of GOD a powerful operation which surely accomplisheth its design and infallibly produceth its intention such as is the action by which GOD created the World an evident sign that the operation by which he produceth faith in us is so strong as that it bears down all contradiction so as none of those upon whom he vouchsafes to put it forth can resist it or hinder their understanding from believing The Apostle addeth that GOD hath raised JESUS CHRIST from the dead either to determine the object of our faith which is principally JESUS raised from the dead by the glory of the Father or which I think to be more pertinent to compare our mystical Resurrection with JESUS CHRIST's For seeing it is GOD who by his efficacious action giveth us that faith by which we rise again in CHRIST and seeing it is He again who hath raised our LORD from the dead it is evident that both the one and the other of these two works hath the self-same principle to wit the Almighty Power of GOD. Christians judg with what Power He worketh in his faithful ones since that he exerteth the same virtue to give them faith by which he raised his own Son from the dead as the Apostle informeth us yet more clearly in another place Eph. 1.10 20. where he prayeth that we may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he shewed in CHRIST when he raised him from the dead Neither let his saying that the Father raised him disquiet you as if this did cross the Scripture's asserting elsewhere that the LORD JESUS himself rais'd up the Temple of his Body when the Jews had overthrown it Joh. 2.19 It is true that he raised up himself but since his Power is the Power of the Father as being one only and the same GOD with him 't is evident it may be truly said that the Father raised him up the working of one of these two Persons being the working of the other as our Saviour declareth in S. John Joh. 5.19 that whatsoever the Father doth the Son doth in like manner also Whence it comes that the Scripture attributes the Creation of the world indifferently to the one and to the other Dear Brethren This is that which the holy Apostle the great Minister of GOD doth tell us in this Text. Oh how happy should we be if we had these Divine Instructions written in the bottom of our hearts and engraven in Capital Letters upon all the parts of our lives If our actions did justifie as our words profess That we are buried and risen again with JESUS CHRIST by Baptism and by the faith of the operation of GOD who raised him from the dead But alas it must be confessed to our shame there appears in the lives of most of us no print of the burial and least of all of the resurrection of JESUS The flesh lives and exerciseth as horrible tyranny in them as it doth in the lives of the men of the world It hath all its sentiments and all its motions at liberty The new man that breathes nothing but Heaven and loves nothing but Holiness hath no place in them it is so far from reigning there that it 's banish'd thence and acts no more than a dead body fast shut up in the grave Yet if nothing depended on the matter save our shame impudency would bear it out But the worst is our salvation and our eternal damnation doth depend upon it for JESUS CHRIST saves none but his Members such as are made conform to him and have been buried and raised again with him Awake we therefore from this mortal Lethargy which hath benummed our senses to this day Labour we day and night in prayer with sighs and tears and not cease until we feel the old man dye and the new live in our hearts As for the former both Nature and Experience do sufficiently shew us the extravagancy of its desires and the vanity of all its motions For I beseech you what profit does the flesh receivâ— from all the trouble that either its self takes or that it gives to others What benefit hath it from the turmoiling of its avarice or the burning of its ambition or the shamefulness of its pleasures or the sweetness of its revenges It torments its self it toils its self it embraceth wind and smoak and then perisheth oftentimes shortning its own duration by the violence of its agitations It hath but a little body which daily weakens to lodg and seâ—d and clothe for some years yet it travels and disquiets its self as much as if it had a million to maintain for the space of many ages Was there ever a greater folly Certainly should a man of composed mind behold our busie employments in the earth with the motives and designs of so many motions and troubles as we consume our selves in I make little question but he would take well-nigh all men for frantick or foolish and cry out not simply with the Wise man Vanity of vanities all is vanity but yet louder and in a tone more tragical O madness O phrensie All the World is but a company of sensâ—ess men But the seeing of the vanity of the flesh is not sufficient for the conceiving of a due horror at it Christian enter into the Sepulcher of your Saviour and you shall perceive there that besides vanity the life of the old man is all full of venom and wretchedness This sacred Body which you see lying in that Tomb in so pitiful an estate was pierced with nails potion'd with gall crowned with thorns cover'd with the reproach of men and the curse of GOD separated from its Soul and brought down to the dust to divert from you the punishments justly prepared for the disorders of your flesh Think what Hells it deserved since it was necessary that the LORD of Glory should suffer such strange usage to redeem it from them Having once discerned by such sensible evidences the vanity and malignity of the old man and the perdition into which he leads his Vassals how can you have the heart to let him live within you Beloved Brethren crucifie him and out him of the world He is unworthy to live Pierce him through with the thorns and nails of your JESUS Give him his gall to drink Put him to death with him and bury him in his Sepulcher to come forth no more Let his Avarice and Ambitions and all his Concupiscences remain eternally extinct in the dust of that salvifique grave that there appear no more
life soever they be in respect of earth and flesh And truly for just cause For if we consider the thing in the light of true reason we shall find that what men call life in them is unworthy of that name it being to speak properly meer death For living is right acting and exercising of faculties suitable to one's nature with such satisfaction and pleasure as he is capable of So as the true life of man for of him we speak is nothing else but a continual exercise of good and holy and just actions suitable to his true nature and worthy of that immortal soul which was given him at the beginning with such high contentment as must needs accompany the same Now it is evident that those that are in the flesh do do nothing like this Instead of those excellent and noble actions for which they were created they do none but base and bad ones Instead of meditating on GOD their Creator and on heavenly and divine things they dream on nothing but the flesh and the earth unworthily weltring in these bogs with all the sense and understanding they have Instead of loving GOD above all of adoring and serving him with all the strength of their soul their whole will is set on creatures and vanity And their Appetites instead of being subject to right reason do drag it into corruption and unrighteousness Sure this universal disorder in actions and motions is not to say true the life of a man it 's a depravation and an overthrow of it which deserves the name of Death rather than of Life As when a Clock is marr'd and all its motions put awry and confus'd there 's no longer the going of a Clock though it still have the parts it no longer doth the office it hath only the name of a Clock not the truth So is it with Man he hath still the broken remainders and ruins of his primitive nature but the pieces being confus'd and the wheels crush'd together and all motions disorderly he hath no longer the true life thereof he hath but a false and deceivable image of it Again acting in this horrible confusion it cannot be that he should have that pure and calm contentment without which his life is not life He must of necessity be always in doubt in distrust in fear and disquietness and at last fall under those just executions which this disorder doth deserve that is into that eternal death which is the wages of sin And though he doth not yet suffer this final infelicity while he is on earth nevertheless because it is infallibly his portion and will eftsoons assuredly betide him we are to count him even at present a dead man and look on him as on a Malefactor that is on the point of being condemned and executed For though he in the mean time doth live and breathe yet we stick not to say that such a one is a lost man because his punishment is certain Thus you see it is very justly that the Apostle reckons all those to be dead who are without the grace of GOD forasmuch as they do none of the actions of true life and eternal death is unavoidable to them while they are in this estate But the Apostle's words do signifie somewhat more yet For to be dead is not simply to be without exercising the actions of life it is an having lost the principles of life and a being incapable of doing the actions thereof You call him a dead man not who is simply without action and doth not exercise sensation or motion for they that are asleep or in a swoon are verily in that condition yet are not dead but him who cannot any longer act nor feel nor move and with action hath lost the faculty or power of it Sure then since the Apostle saith that carnal men are dead he means not only that they are without the operations and motions and sentiments of true life but that moreover they lye destitute of the faculty and power to act them Himself teacheth it us expresly elsewhere For as to their understanding which is the foremost and the ruling guide of all actions properly humane he saith not simply that it doth not comprehend the things of GOD but moreover that it cannot discern them The natural man saith he comprehends not the things of the Spirit of GOD 1 Cor. 2.14 for they are foolishness unto him neither can he understand them forasmuch as they are spiritually discerned And as for the Affections which are another principle of human actions he affirms likewise somewhere that the affection of the flesh is enmity against GOD Rom. 8.7 John 5.44 that it is not subject to the law of GOD nor indeed can be Our Saviour also saith of such as are in this miserable estate that they cannot believe and one of his Prophets had said long before Jer. 6.10 13.23 that the ear of that people was uncircumcised and that they could not understand and in general that they could no more do any good than the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots But the Apostle here doth further shew us the quality and the cause of this death under which we lay before the LORD did call us Ye were dead saith he in offences that is Eph. 2.1 in your sins as he expresly adds in the Epistle to the Ephesians and in the uncircumcision of your flesh I acknowledg this word is sometimes taken in the Scripture for the external condition of the Gentiles and circumcision on the contrary for the state of the Jews whence it comes that these two terms are used to signifie one of them the Gentiles and the other the Jews as when the Apostle saith elsewhere that the preaching of the Gospel to the uncircumcision was committed unto him and the circumcision unto Peter that is he receiv'd the charge of publishing the Gospel to the Gentiles and S. Peter to the Jews I confess also that these Colessians to whom he writes were by birth Gentiles so as it may be said of them that they were dead in that miserable heathenish estate they were sometime in Yet I do not think that this is intended by the Apostle in this place For in that case it would have been sufficient to say simply when ye were dead in uncircumcision i. e. in Paganism and there would have been no need to add as he doth in the uncircumcision of your flesh Besides it is evident it seems that he maketh here a secret opposition between that uncircumcision whereof he speaks and that circumcision which the Colossians had received from the hand of JESUS CHRIST whereof he spake immediately before saying that in JESVS CHRIST they had been circumcised with a circumcision not made with hand by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh Therefore as by circumcision in that passage a spiritual and mystical cutting off was signified so in the Text the Apostle takes the word uncircumcision
two things namely first the corruption of a nature destitute of all just and rational apprehensions and motions and secondly the guilt of sin and an obligâ—tion to eternal punishment In like manner that life to which GOD calleth us by his grace doth consist in two particulars first a restauration of His Image in us by the infusion of principles and faculties of true life and secondly the remission of our sins The Apostle here doth briefly speak of them both of the first in saying that GOD hath quickned us together with CHRIST of the second in adding that he hath freely pardoned us all our sins For the first GOD hath quickned us in that delivering us from the death we were under he hath put into us by the grace of his Spirit the principles of an heavenly life and formed in our breasts new hearts hearts illuminated with a new light to wit the good knowledg of his Truth and of the mysteries of his will Then in the second place by the virtue of this Divine flame he enkindleth in our souls the love of his most excellent Majesty charity towards our neighbour uâ—â—ection for just and honest things zeal for his glory abhorrence and hatred of sin and in a word sanctification and all the virtues which it comprehendeth that are the sproutings and productions of this second celestial and happy life which in his great mercy he conferreth on us From this new nature as from a blessed root do issue good and holy actions prayer worshipping of GOD frequent meditation and reading of his word extasies of love to him travels for his glory sufferings for his Name sake relieving instructing assisting of our Neighbour and such others that are as it were the flowers and fruits in the production whereof that life which GOD hath given us in his Son doth properly consist It 's the same thing that the Apostle elsewhere compriseth in few words saying Eph. 2.10 and 4.24 that we are the workmanship of GOD being created in JESVS CHRIST unto good works which GOD hath prepared that we should walk in them And again in another place that our new man that is the second nature which he formeth in us when he quickneth us by his grace is created after GOD in true righteousness and holiness The holy Spirit being rich and magnificent in its expressions doth explain this admirable and blessed operation of the grace of GOD in us by divers terms taken from different resemblances but all amounting to the same sense For to set it forth it saith not only as here that GOD hath quickned us but also Eph. 2.10 1 Pet. 1.3 Ezek. 36.26 Jer. 31.33 Rom. 11 23. Col. 1.13 1 Cor 3.6 Acts 16.4 Phil. 2.13 that He hath created us and in another place that He hath begotten us again the same is meant when it saith that GOD taketh out of us our hearts of stone and gives us hearts of flesh in which he writes his laws that He reneweth us and formeth us into new creatures or new men that He graffeth us by his power into the true olive that He translateth us out of the kingdom of darkness into his marvellous light that it 's He who giveth encrease the Ministers of the Word being nothing that He openeth our hearts and worketh in us effectually both to will and to do of his good pleasure and other like phrases which are found here and there in the Scriptures But the Apostle addeth here that GOD hath thus quickned us together with CHRIST shewing us by these words the cause and the manner of our vivisication namely that it was effected in JESUS CHRIST and with Him and by Him For as that death which we heretofore bore in our selves doth come from Adam the stock and original of our carnal beeing who by destroying himself destroyed us also with him and corrupting his own nature corrupted ours likewise so as it is in him and from him that we inherit this misery in like manner on the contrary that life which we have now receiv'd from GOD doth come from JESUS CHRIST the stock and root of the new nature who raising up himself unto life raised us up also according to what the Apostle saith elsewhere viz. that as all dye in Adam so likewise in JESVS CHRIST are all made alive But this assertion of his here that GOD hath quickned us together with CHRIST 1 Cor. 15.22 doth particularly refer to his resurrection as if GOD in restoring him to that glorious life which he receiv'd at his issuing out of the Sepulcher had at the same time given us also part therein And he speaks in this manner for two reasons principally The first is because it was then that JESUS CHRIST brought to light that blessed life whereof we have been made partakers and from him as from its source hath it been derived unto us so as that same time was the day of our new birth as well as his For if he had not been made alive no more should we have ever been Not but that the Father all had the might and power that was necessary to give us life again But his Justice could not have suffer'd him to give life to any of the sons of men if their Surety and Mediator had abode under death The second reason is That he being our Head and we his Members he our Pattern and we Copies drawn if I may so say from his Original when GOD raised him he re-enliven'd us also by the same means since by this action he obliged himself to vivifie us likewise it being evident that without this we should not have that conformity with our Head to which he predestinated us Not to mention for the present the efficacy this Resurrection hath to form in us faith and hope and love of glorious immortality which are the principles of that new life that GOD doth put into us by his Spirit as we intimated in the exposition of the precedent Verse There remains now the other part of this blessed life which GOD giveth us in his Son namely the remission of our sins S. Paul sets it before us here when he saith that GOD hath freely pardoned us all our sins For the Spirit of Sanctification which is as the soul of that new life he createth in our hearts doth indeed turn away our affections from vice and obstruct our committing of unjust ungodly and impure actions wherein we wallowed afore Yet this respecteth only the present and the future and if there were no more the guilt of sins committed in time past during our spiritual deadness would nevertheless remain in its strength it being clear that though the act of sin be past the faultiness wherewith it commaculates him who committeth it goes not off so soon It subsists still both in the conscience of the sinner if he have any and in the registers of the Justice of the Supream Judg of the World binding over the sinner unto punishment Whence it follows
when to represent his modesty Psal 131.1 he saith that he hath not walked in great things and too high for him Dear Brethren we have no need to ascend so far back as the Apostle's time for examples of this vanity Our Adversaries of the Communion of Rome do afford us a sufficient store who as they retain the errour of those whom the Apostle here taxeth serving Angels as they did so do inherit their temerity intruding into things they have not seen They do magisterially pronounce that men must serve and invoke Angels and Saints departed They boldly define the Religious Worship that is to be given and divide it us into its kinds naming one of them Dulia and the other Hyperdulia all with as much confidence as if they spake of things most obvious to sence I urge not for the present that Scripture doth blast this whole errour every where intimating that we ought to serve no one in Religion but GOD alone and with loud voice anathematizing the Worship of any creature I pretermit what it saith particularly against the Adoration and Worshipping of Angels as also that S. Paul doth expresly prohibit it in the Text. I keep singly to the rule he here gives me that no belief be afforded those who intrude into things they have not seen and do demand of these hardy Doctors in what Region in what part of Divine Revelation have they seen these Services these Dulia's and these Hyperdulia's of which they so positively speak Where is it that the Holy Ghost hath shewed them these brave Doctrines To what Prophet hath He revealed them To what Apostle hath He signified them Of what Evangelist have themselves learnt them Sure they must here be husht of necessity They have not seen one of these pretended mysteries in the Book of GOD. They cannot shew us any track of them any where except it be in the fancies of Plato and of the Heathen Philosophers the Disciples of Daemons and not of GOD men taught in the School of errour and not in that of truth They proceed further yet and make us discourses about the Orders of Angels and distribute to them their business and cut them out their Ministrations they rank the Saints and give to them each his Charge and employment And if you ask them how these Spirits being in Heaven do hear our Prayers and requests and by what means they see the secret motions of our hearts They answer some of them that the mirrour of the Trinity upon which they incessantly have their eyes doth present them all the Idea's of them others that GOD reveals them to them some other way But whence do they know this It is neither sense nor natural reason that hath shewed it them If therefore they have seen it any where it must be in the Revelation of GOD. Yet it is clear and they cannot deny it that neither this pretended mirrour nor any one of their other conjectures do appear there at all Cajetan in 22. q. 88. a. â— And one of their most famed Authors sufficiently declares it We do not know saith he by any certain reason whether the Saints do perceive our Prayers or no although we do piously believe it as if it were piety and not pittiful credulity to believe things of which we have no assurance But let him make what account of it he pleases This is evident that since he confesseth they have no assurance of these things it must of necessity be confessed also that it is extreamly ill done of them to intrude into them except he will reject the Authority of the Apostle in his condemning those here most expresly who intrude into things they have not seen This vanity doth further shew it self in the things they give out concerning the state of Souls in their fabulous Purgatory the scituation the structure and partitions whereof they represent together with the fire and torments of the Spirits that are there imprisoned with such a deal of confidence as if they were just now come from thence after many years stay in the place Nevertheless the truth is that neither they nor their Ancestors euer saw one jot of it either in the Scriptures of GOD or in the nature of things there being not a word any where of any one of these imaginations That which they say of their Transubstantiation with its conditions and circumstances and of the manner how the body of CHRIST is present in every crumb of their Hoste and in every drop of their Chalice Their positions likewise concerning their pretended Sacrifice of the Mass and concerning the relative or Analogical adoration of Images and concerning the Characters which some of their Sacraments do imprint upon the souls of men and in one word all the points of doctrine that we contest with them are of the same nature All of them are things they have not seen they intrude into them walk in them and strout vainly commanding the belief or practice of them under pain of damnation how doubtful and uncertain soever they be and furiously anathematizing all those who make the least doubt to receive them As for us Dear Brethren who through the grace of GOD have learned to preferr His voice before the imaginations of men and to fear the thundrings of Heaven more than the fulminations of Rome let us leave them in this vain humour or to say better pray to GOD to bring them out of it and give them to distinguish their own dreams from His declarations And for our further acquitting of our selves let us religiously keep to the Apostles direction Intrude we never into things we have not seen Neither be so simple as to follow those that do or to suffer our selves to be mastered over by them Let us rest in the things which GOD hath clearly revealed to us in His word which He hath so set before our eyes in that Divine Treasury of His truth as very children may there behold them This portion is sufficient for us if we cultivate it well we shall find in it abundantly wherewith to inform our understandings wherewith to calm our Consciences and sanctifie our hearts and perfect all the faculties of our souls Let no man presume above that which is written 1 Cor. 4.6 Rom. 12.3 Take heed of being wise above what is meet but be wise to sobriety Let the word of GOD be the rule of our science and His Book the bound of all our curiosity All knowledge is had without knowing any thing beyond it This consideration alone is enough to preserve us from all the errours of Rome For since the intruding into things we have not seen is a temerity condemned here by the Apostle and in matter of Religion we can have seen none but such as GOD hath revealed in His Word it evidently follows that we are obliged not only to forbear believing but also to proceed to the rejecting of all the Doctrines about which we are in contest with Rome
no one of which appeareth in the Word of GOD. And it is manifestly sin to reduce them into act or practice since according to the Apostle Rom. 1â— 23 Whatsoever is not of faith is sin it being certain that there cannot be any true faith of things which are not found in the Word of GOD seeing the same Apostle sheweth us that that hearing which produceth Faith in us is of the Word of GOD as we have intimated afore But I come to the other point where S. Paul taxeth the arrogance and presumption of the false Teachers It 's this properly that leads or to say better 〈◊〉 them into that Vtopia of things they never saw They are saith the Apostle râ—shly puffed up with the sense or understanding of their flesh By this understanding or 〈◊〉 of their flesh he meaneth all the vivacity ability and acuteness that nature hath endowed us with what ever degree of vigour and light reason doth of its self attain unto For under the word Flesh Scripture comprehends the whole nature of man that is to say not his body only to which this name doth properly belong but also his soul yea even his understanding his will and his reason which is the excellenceâ— part thereof forasmuch as sin since it infected our nature hath in such a manner condensated and corrupted and altered all the faculties of our soul that it hath turned them after a sort into flesh and blood not that it hath to speak propâ—ly destroyed the substance of them which as you know is still spiritual and immortal but by reason of its deading the vigour and embasing and deprâ—ving the dispositions of them having â—â—fâ—ned us to the earth and to our selves and filled 〈◊〉 afflictions and wills with so perverse and so violent a love of the flesh that all 〈◊〉 light of our understandings is obscured and blackned by the Conâ—agion of this poison and their conceptions are totally tainted with it all our discourses and reasonings in this misâ—rable estate being nothing but flesh and blood untill the Spirit of GOD doth come and reform us and oâ— carnal and natural as our understandings were make them spiritual by the infusion of its holy light into them Thus it is that our LORD 〈◊〉 16.17 1 Cor. â— and Saviour said to Peter It is not flesh and blood that hath revealed this secret in thee but my Father which is in Heaven And S. Paul protesteth that the natural man cannot comprehend the things which are of GOD. It 's therefore properly this reason or 〈…〉 of the natural man that is of a man not illuminâ—tâ—d from on high which the Apostle here calls the sense or understanding of the flesh But the good opinion which those Seducers have of it he terms a passing up with much elegancy For to say true it is but wind they are â—lown up with filled they are not Now not satisfied to have thus discovered their vanity he further adds that they are puffed up rashly that is to say in vain and without 〈◊〉 For indeed whatever the pretended acuteness of our mind may be it 's at the bottom so small a matter it 's a faculty so feeble so limitted and of so narrow an exâ—â—â—â— that if it give us any vanity 't is without cause They that best know themselves and do possess this part in an higher degree well perceive it and franâ—ly confess that all the light of our understanding is but a vapour it 's Science ignorance and its ability presumption For who is there but does daily find by making trial that the point of this so much esteemed understanding turns at the least difficulties that its sight is dazled at the meanest lights and that its reason is confounded in the plainâ—st meditations And when we consider not barely what each single person of us knows but all the Science that all mankind hath acquired during so many ages as its greatest and most accomplished wits have been busied about it we find that it s so little in comparison of what we are ignorant of that a drop of water hath more proportion to the whole Ocean It 's therefore without doubt a vanity extreamly foolish to make oftentation of it and to presume much of a man's self for so small an advantage But it is a much worse extravancy yet to take this understanding of the flesh for our guide in matters of Religion which are all of them divine and coelestial while it is incapable of conducting us in the very things of Nature and of the earth as experience lets us daily see so as we must conclude that all those who laying by the Word of GOD would instruct us in Religion by the light of their own understandings are all of them taken with as high degree of senslesness as ever was and that beside vanity there is phrensie in what they do and some such bruitishness as those mad people shewed who yet while would raise the Fabriâ—â— of their Tower up to Heaven This is just the malady of all the Hereticks and Sâ—ducers that ever rose up in the world Accordingly you see that the Apostle in the Epistle to the Galatians doth enroll Heresie among the works of the Flesh because it is a production of its understanding which incitated and heated by the presumptuousness thereof doth bring forth this wretched brood And it is remarkable that these same Seducers whose puffing up and pride the Apostle here discovers did notwithstanding make profession of humility of spirit as he himself doth testifie to shew us that we should not rely upon apparencies and that oftentimes under the habit and looks and outward actions of humbleness there are hidden hearts puffed up with vanity and swoln with pride And such is at the bottom the Genius of all those that would have their inventions to be valid in Religion Their very having the audaciousness to exceed the institutions of GOD doth evidence an insufferable arrogance forasmuch as instead of being content with His Orders and submitting to them with an humble and teachable spirit they undertake to cut out new wayes to Heaven I leave now to each one the care of applying this observation to those new rules which the spirit of superstition hath multiplyed for divers Ages almost to an infinity They all set the Cross over their Gates the services they perform to Angels and men the habits they shape for their zealous their countenances and their very looks and eyes ever fixed on the ground do promise a profound humility But GOD knoweth what the reality is And remitting the dijudication of it unto Him I only advertise you that you should not suffer such fair outsides to abuse you remembring how the Apostle hath here taught us that a profession of humility of spirit doth sometimes cover a foul rashly puffed up with the sense of its flesh as also that not seldom this very humility and pretended mortification is the matter which feedeth its pride and
us unto so just a duty Seek the things which are above where CHRIST saith he sitteth at the right hand of GOD. For it as our LORD sometime said where our treasure is there be our hearts also where should our souls be but in Heaven since it is in that blessed dwelling place that their treasure doth reside JESUS their good their life and their joy in whom is hidden all our felicity In time past under the Mosaical Law the faithful alwaies turned their eyes and thoughts towards the Temple at Jerusalem because it was the abiding place of the pledges of GOD's covenant with them and of the most precious symbols of His presence and glory Judge what our affection and earnestness should be for Heaven which containeth the true Ark of GOD where all the fulness of His Godhead dwelleth not in shadow and figure but really and bodily But there is more yet JESUS CHRIST is our Head and we His members How can we conserve this honour but in keeping close to Him and following Him faithfully without ever separating from Him or withdrawing from that Sanctuary where He dwelleth And indeed He expresly assures us in the Gospel that He willeth we should be where He is and that where the dead body is there also the Eagles gather together so as if we be truly of the number of His Eagles it is not possible but we should take our flight to Heaven since this divine body of our LORD and Saviour is there And hereby you see dear Brethren to note it by the way how distant the doctrine of St. Paul is from that of Rome For whereas the Apostle elevateth our hearts from earth to Heaven Rome brings them down as far as in her lyeth from Heaven to the earth fastning the hearts of her zealots on her material altars and ciboires which she pretends the LORD is enclosed in against the suffrage of the whole Church who hath ever constantly applied these words of the Apostle particularly to the Sacrament of the Eucharist exhorting the faithful when they celebrate it to have their hearts above Sure if JESUS CHRIST be here below as Rome would have it the Apostle does ill to command us to mind the things which are above and worse again in urging for a reason of it that it 's above that JESUS CHRIST resideth If for that the LORD is in Heaven we ought according to the Apostles instruction not to seek any thing on earth how much less I beseech you ought we to seek the LORD Himself there I do not advertise you that this is to be understood of the presence of the humane nature of JESUS CHRIST For you know that He is every where as to the essence and providence of His Divinity And as to the grace of His Spirit and the efficacy and virtue of His will and institutions we readily confess that the same is not confined to the Heavens and doth extend and shew its self wheresoever He pleaseth according to the promise He hath made us to be in the midst of us when we are assembled in His Name But the Apostle doth not barely say that JESUS is in Heaven He adds that He sitteth at the right hand of GOD. Divers Doctors have belaboured themselves much in the explicating of these words and at length there are some that have strangely disguised them as if they signified that our LORD 's humane nature had been invested with all the properties of the Divinity which would be no other thing but that it was transform'd into a Divine nature a conceit which all true Christians have horrour for confessing that the two natures do remain each of them in its integrity having been united in JESUS CHRIST but not blended together nor confused The Apostle if we please to hear him will tell us in two words what it is to sit at the right hand of GOD. For in the 15th Chapter of the first Epist to the Corinthians speaking of the estate to which JESUS CHRIST hath been exalted in the Heavens and in which he shall abide constantly unto the end instead of its being said by the Prophet from whom the expression was taken in Psal 110. that the LORD should fit at the right hand of the Father he saith simply that He shall reign till He hath put all His enemies under His feet an evident sign that this sitting at the right hand of the Father is nothing else but that supreme dominion which hath been given Him over all things and which He doth and shall exercise unto the end of all ages inasmuch as GOD hath made Him LORD Acts 2.36 and CHRIST as St. Peter speaks And this consideration doth again mightily strengthen the holy Apostle's exhortation For since Heaven is the throne on which the Prince of the Universe doth sit and from which He dispenseth and governeth all things at His will there is great reason we should turn our eyes thither-ward and have this Royal Court of our Soveraign in mind night and day to comfort our selves under the trouble that either the iniquity of men and devils or the intemperateness of other creatures does give us and to form our manners and all the parts of our life after the will and by the example of so great and so holy a Monarch Behold the Lesson Beloved Brethren which the Apostle gives us at this time that we seek not low but high things not those of the earth but the things of Heaven since we are risen up with JESVS CHRIST who is sat down on high in Heaven at the right hand of GOD. What would there be in all the World more happy than we if we took up a good and a firm resolution to obey Him and practise the thing He enjoyneth us These fears and these desires and so many other vain passions which trouble our whole life would have no more place in us We elevated far above that which men unprofitably covet or possess or apprehend should with Angels enjoy a Divine contentment From that glorious Heaven where we should be we should despise the vanities and variations of the earth and see its seasons pass on and its elements roul about and its idols perish and its pleasures fleet away without any perturbation being secure that none of its storms can ever reach that high and inaccessible region where our hearts and lives would be We should look upon death without terrour knowing that it could not take any of those things from us which we possess on high We should suffer all the accidents of this life without emotion because they can change no part of the things we have in Heaven The charms also and illusions of the World would touch us as little as its menaces and raging because the fruition of a greater good would render us insensible for lesser ones as the presence of the Sun puts out the shining of the stars Being content with Heaven and its eternity we should covet nothing more and satisfied
to extinguish and abolish in all the members of His Son that first life which they inherited from old Adam Secondly because the execution of this decree of GOD is begun and advanced in them for the present The mortal blow thereof the flesh receives in this life from the hand of JESUS CHRIST and cannot possibly recover it again Then in the third place because this execution already begun in them will not be long a finishing natural death which considering the few daies we spend here below is not far from either of them devesting first their souls of all terrene and carnal reliques and then the resurrection being finally to refine their bodies also at the last day when earthly life shall be entirely and quite and clean dissolved and destroyed It 's for these three reasons that the Apostle saith here and else-where that the faithful are dead in regard of the life of sin and of the flesh not that they have not in them yet some remainders of them but for that this death is ordained by the decree of GOD and already begun in them and will soon be infallibly finished Even as we reckon among the dead a malefactor whom a supream Court and a sick person whom a prudent and able Physitian have condemn'd to dye neither do we stick to say that he is gone he is dead because his death is inevitable and all the life that remains for him is no longâ—r any thing So when a man hath been mortally wounded we immediately rank him with the dead because his vitals are struck and all the movings and perceivings he yet hath are but his last gaspings and the last combat his life makes before it doth end It 's in the same manner with true believers The flesh in them is wounded to death and if it does yet stir if it struggle if it give them any blow this at most is a small matter in comparison of that life it other-while exercised in them At that time it reigned in them Now if it do fight yet it rules no longer It finds a spirit in them which resists it which makes head against it and in this unto-it-fatal conflict it loseth by little and little all the blood and life it hath yet left it Wherefore the LORD JESUS whose death as we have said is both the cause and the pattern of ours did not dye in an instant but a lingring death having continued five or six hours in an agony before He gave up the ghost It is thus that the old man dyeth in the faithful He is already pierced with the nails of our Saviour and fastned to His cross and in a dying estate and without hope of recovery Nevertheless he strugleth still and will be a-while in this estate losing blood and strength and motion and life not all at once but by little and little This same is the condition of true believers Whence appears the pernicious error of those men who having the old man not bound not pierced not wounded to death in them but living and reigning at full liberty and with his whole vigour do yet imagine that they pertain to JESUS CHRIST and are of the number of His true members It 's a mortal mistake JESUS owneth none for His but such as are dead with Him whose flesh is either already laid down and destroyed in the grave as theirs who live in Heaven or at least nailed to His cross as theirs who yet combat on earth I confess the presumption of those who vaunt they sin no more and feel no longer in themselves any motion or contradiction of the flesh is extremely vain But your errour worldling is no whit less who having sin reigning and the flesh living in you do not forbear to perswade your self that you are a true Christian If the flesh doth still breath in a true Christian if it hath still some motion and some feeling in him yet it hath dominion in him no longer It lives in him no longer it languisheth in him and is so weak as it plainly appears to be at the pangs of death Put it into this estate if you will be truly Christian Fasten it to the cross of JESUS Pierce it through with His nails and with His thorns Make it drink of His vinegar Take from it its pleasures draw out its blood and strength Again since this is our condition since we by the beneficence of our Saviour are dead in such sort as we even now explained you clearly see Christian that what the Apostle concludes upon it doth evidently and necessarily follow from it to wit that we should not seek any more the things which are on earth For since we have in JESUS CHRIST put off that carnal and vitious life for the maintaining and welfare whereof earthly things are subordinate who is there but comprehends that it would be an insufferable extravagancy for us to amuse our selves still about them It would be an errour as ridiculous as if one went an hunting after game or a buying precious stones and stuffs for a person either already dead or at least in the agony of death Such a person hath no more need of those things they being good only to feed or fashion that liâ—e which he no longer hath It 's just so that you Christian do who labour so ardently in the seeking after and acquiring of riches honours and other goods of the present World All this is the equipage of a life that you no longer have The flesh for whose delight and adornment those goods do serve is dead or at least death-struck in you It is crucified with the LORD and a crucified one hath nothing to do with meat nor jewels nor other things of the earth Luke 12.20 Thou fool said our Saviour to the rich worldling in the Gospel-parable this very night shall thy soul be required of thee and then whose shall those things be which thou hast laid up As if he had said that being once dead he could no more enjoy them Christian how is it you do not consider not only your dying e're long but that you are to say truth dead already that there is no carnal life for you any longer so as to conclude thereupon that you have therefore no need of all this earthly pelf which with such a deal of pain you scrape together I confess that while we are on earth we cannot altogether be without it But neither can you deny that for a living Christianly here we need but a little of it and for a little time because we have little left us of that life for which it is necessary Let us proportionably have little affection and adherence to it Let us use it but for necessity and not for delight Let us look upon the world with the eyes of pilgrims taking but so much of it as is requisite for our passing on Set we before us the example of the life of our LORD led on earth during the daies of His
all and most contrary to the design which by the grace of GOD we are entred on The Apostle therefore commands us to make mortal war upon them and to fight to weaken to kill and to destroy without pity all that we shall perceive in our selves to bear any affection or inclination to them Mortifie therefore saith he your members which are upon the earth c. The LORD please to bless now the voice of His Apostle and sink these words which Himself sometime inspired so deep into our fouls that they may be at this time effectual to our sanctification eradicating those accursed passions out of our hearts which cannot live nor fructifie there without dishonouring the Gospel and depriving us of that heavenly life to which we aspire The speech as you see contains two parts the first of which commands us in general to mortifie our members which are upon the earth The other represents unto us in particular some of these members of our old man which we are to mortifie to wit fornication uncleanness inordinate appetite evil concupiscence and covetousness which saith he is idolatry These are the two heads which the grace of GOD assisting we will consider in this action first the Apostle's general exhortation and then in the second place the vices which he doth by name and expresly give us order to mortifie As to the general exhortation it is conceiv'd in these words Mortifie therefore your members which are on the earth and to comprehend it aright we must consider the meaning of it and the coherence An understanding of the meaning of it does depend upon that clause your members which are upon the earth For there is no one but sees that this term members cannot signifie here as it ordinarily doth the parts of which our body is comâ—osed the hands the arms the feet and the like and as St. Paul useth it 〈◊〉 where when he saith Apply not your members to be instruments of iniquity unto sin Rom. 6.13 If he had had this intention here there would have been no need to add as he doth that these members are upon the earth every one plainly seeing it Besides what he saith in the sequel doth necessarily exclude this sense For he puts uncleanness and covetousness in the rank of those members which he orders us to mortifie things that are not parts of our bodies whereof neither the being nor name doth any way suit with them but indeed vices of our souls in which they properly reside and whence they spread forth themselves over our whole nature defiling and dishonouring it divers waies This addition leaves us no doubt at all but that these vices and others like them together with all filthy and shameful habitudes from whence bad actions proceed which he elsewhere calls the deeds of the body and works of the flesh are directly and precisely those members the mortifying whereof he commands us But you will say how and why doth he call them our members seeing they are not the parts of our nature which are all good and created of GOD but rather the maladies the leprosies and the pests of our nature supervening from without by the venomous breath of the old Serpent and his contagious commerce things that deprave and blast eat out and consume our being so far are they from accomodating it or adorning it or affording it either the benefit or the beauty which the body doth derive from that diversity of members wherewith it is so admirably furnished I answer that this is very true and that vices being the poison and ruine of our true being they cannot be properly called members of it it being evident that a disease is nothing less than one of the members of the body which it afflicteth Yet this for all that hinders not but the Apostle might upon some other account use this similitude and compare the vices of humane nature in the state it now is unto the divers members that constitute our body And for the right understanding of it you may please to remember that it is a form of speaking very common in all languages to compare those things unto a body which are made up of an accumulation or collection of many parts indeed different but nevertheless knit together in some order and having some sequel and dependance of some upon the rest among them whence it comes that we say the body of an Estate of an Army of a Town of a Family An whole wherein is no distinction of parts is called a mass one in which some distinction is to be be observed is termed a body Thence it comes that the Apostle compares that heap of vices and ill inclinations which existing now in all men from their birth goes on growing and gathering strength with age he compares it I say to and gives it the name of a body as you may remember you heard him speak in the precedent chapter where he saith that by our regeneration in JESUS CHRIST we have put off the body of the sins of the flesh This same body of our vices is also often compared to an entire person and called as you know the old man or the old Adam For first it is not one vice alone it 's a vast multitude of them a mass of horrors an hydra of evils a mixture of many poisons an heap of an infinity of ordures a complication of many maladies that do all at once make spoyl of one and the same creature and leave nothing sound nor whole in it from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head to speak with the Prophets but cover it all over with wounds and bruises with putrified and inveterate sores Then again these maladies though all pernicious and mortal are yet different among themselves there 's infidelity superstition distrust hatred or contempt both of GOD and our neighbour love of the flesh and the earth pride cruelty sloth luxury intemperance avarice and a thousand such others For who can so much as name them all And though the confusion that alwaies necessarily follows error and vice be to say true very great among them nevertheless there is some kind of order and sequacity to be observed in them For whereas it is knowledge that should move and guide our nature here it is ignorance that governeth this troop â—â—monsters Blindness is their guide and error their director And whereas in the due constitution of man the will follows the light of the understanding here the will followeth its darkness and embraceth those phantasms which the phrensie of its leader takes for real and solid things And as in the diseases of the body what disorder soever there be a certain order and regularity is nevertheless to be seen in their beginnings their progress and increases nothing coming to pass in them without cause so is it in the sicknesses of the soul they have their accesses their inflammations their returns and their periods that though there be nothing but
any other of the Ministers of JESUS CHRIST doth any where injoyn us to wear hair-cloth or to disfigure our countenances with a multitude of fasts and watchings or to go barefoot or to put on a cowl or renounce the usage of any of the meats which GOD hath created for our service much less to cover our selves with dung and filth or to gore our selves all over with disciplines Isa 1.12 God will one day say to those that amuse themselves in such mortifications Who hath required this at your hands and why have ye suffered so much in vain Gal. 3.4 The only mortification he demands of us is that of the old man that we beat down our vices and not that we rend our bodies that we deface our passions and not our countenances that we renounce our lusts and not His gifts That we give the discipline to our manners and not our shoulders As for our selves My Brethren I acknowledge that we have renounced the mortification of the superstitious the misery is we do not practise that which is our Saviours though without it no man can have part in Him or His kingdom as the Apostle intimates plainly enough here where he doth not own any person for a member of CHRIST risen who is not dead and else-where he affirms in expresse terms that they that are CHRIST's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts We amuse not our selves in bodily exercise No but neither do we more heed that of the spirit We spare our hearts no less than our bodies and do not treat the vices of the one any whit more roughly than the skin of the other Men see sufficiently by the actions of our lives that the members of this old man whom the cross of CHRIST hath condemned unto death remaining very far from being dead are scarce wounded in us that they are not so much as scratch'd that they live in us in their full strength and vigour and no more feel our Saviour's nails and thorns than if He had not died or we not believed in Him at all Our adversaries are nor to seek how to charge it home upon us and it is the only one of their arguments that puts us to confusion We easily answer all their other reproaches There 's none but this wherein our consciences enforce us to separate the cause of JESUS CHRIST and of His Gospel from our own For if His truth were to be judged of by the quality of our deportments who could defend it seeing the horrible disorder that generally appeareth in our lives Let us consider only the two articles here touched by the Apostle unchastity and avarice In conscience is the one and the other of these two passions dead among us Have they not as great a vogue as among the men of the World Is the modesty of youth the honesty of marriage is chastity and temperance better practised here than other-where Doth the fordidnesse and eagernesse of avarice less appear Verily I am extremely asham'd to say it all is alike except that those without do confess and discipline themselves and macerate their flesh with some kind of fasts and say their chappelet whereby at least they shew some sense of their faultinesse though they apply ineffectual and ridiculous remedies of it Whereas we after committing the same faults and dabling in the same filth come to present our selves impudently here without fearing GOD or having shame of men And if the voice of the LORD that resoundeth in this place do draw some sigh from us at our going hence we return every one to our vices as pleasant and as obstinate as ever GOD is so good that He hath hitherto attended our repenting But let us beware lest our obduratenesse do change His patience into fury and constrain Him in the end to punish such a refractory contempt of His word and His favours and avenge the affront we do His Gospel by living so ill in so fair and so divine a light Let us all descend into our selves Let us examine our carriage and our consciences Let each one interrogate himself Come my soul after so many moneths and years that JESUS CHRIST hath so carefully instructed thee what pains hast thou taken to conform thy self to Him and to imprint the image of His death and of His life upon thy behaviour Hast thou nailed thine old man to His cross Hast thou mortified his members Hast thou deprived them of that wretched vigour which they display with so much efficacy in the children of disobedience Do they leave thee at rest Or when they begin to trouble thee hast thou the courage to resist them Doth not avarice stretch out thine hand upon the goods of others or doth it not with-hold the same from imparting of thine own unto the poor Hast thou not felt its vain sollicitudes and fruitless melancholies it's insatiable cupidity and unbridled eagerness and that impudence it hath to despise and violate honesty laws and decency for the satisfying its inordinate desires But if avarice hath not importun'd thee tell me my soul hath not the lust of the eyes and the vanity of the flesh at one time or other insnared thee Hath not this traiterous Dalila lulled thee asleep Hast thou guarded the glory of that Nazareat to which GOD hath consecrated thee from her ambushments Brethren let us thus catechize our souls daily and about our other duties as well as these Let us not pardon them any thing Judge we them righteously and with inexorable severity Chastise them for all their faults and bringing them down at the feet of GOD make them weep and grone in His presence Let us reproach them with their ingratitudes and set before their eyes the benefits of GOD and the offences with which they have recompensed Him Denounce we also His judgements on them and the horror of His dreadful vengeance and not give them over untill they have taken a full and firm resolution to return no more to their ingratitudes Above all Dear Brethren let us make them hate and detest those two pests which the Apostle hath to day so solemnly condemned to dye to wit luxury and covetousnesse Let us execute his just sentence upon these two passions and cause them to suffer that death which they so many waies deserve For as to the first it impudently profaneth a body which belongs to JESUS CHRIST was redeemed by His blood washed with His heavenly water fed with His flesh and consecrated by His spirit Rends it from the communion of that divine body of which it is become a member to change it into one of the members of Satan Bereaves it of its glory and despoils it of the greatest honour it had and drawing it out of Heaven whither GOD had called it drags it into Hell I know well that men of the world flatter themselves and extenuate this sin And I am not ignorant that there are people among our selves who suffer themselves to be
not to be doubted but that the precipitaâ—ed deaths and ruines of so many great ones whom the world hath seen and still doth see perish with astonishment are for the most part from the same source even the debauches they have been carried into The accidents of particular houses and persons infected with this leaprousie are less marked yet are they nevertheless very remarkable And he that shall look narrowly into them shall find in them admirable examples of the justice of GOD upon these kind of sins and this in special that He commonly takes away His covenant from houses where such disorders reign I might easily let you see like foot-steps of the wrath of GOD upon the covetous whose unrighteousnesse He often punisheth with loss of senses of health of honour and of that very wealth which they love much better than their bodies and their souls themselves not to speak of the infamy which GOD sometimes poureth out upon them and the horrible miseries into which He lets them fall in their persons and in their posterity But I must pass to the other part of this Text and speak a few words of it and conclude For the Apostle after this wrath of GOD which he hath represented as falling from Heaven upon the children of rebellion because of their pollutions and avarices reminds the Colossians that themselves had sometime been in the same condition in which saith he you also walked other-while when ye lived in these things To live in these sins is to have the principles of our life infected with the venome of them To walk in them is to produce the actions of them The one is the power and faculty of life the other is the exercise and function of it For the having in ones self the principles and faculties of life this the Apostle termeth living and by walking he understands a putting forth the actions of the same as appears plainly by his saying elsewhere If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit For a man that Gal. 5.25 for instance is asleep does nevertheless live and hath life though he performeth not the actions of it As therefore to live in the Spirit is no other thing but to have the faculties and powers of our nature renewed and as it were new-east and regenerated by the vertue of the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST so on the contrary to live in sin is in like manner to have our understanding and will and the other powers of our nature putrified and corrupted and as it were empoisoned with Adam's sin by the contagion of his flesh And again as those do walk in the Spirit who exercise piety and sanctity and do conduct all the actions and motions of their lives according to the will of the Spirit so they on the contrary walk in sin who follow and fulfill the lusts thereof and employ themselves in no other exercise but the serving it and doing those evil works which naturally flow from the habitudes of it But we have spoken largely heretofore if you remember of this first life of old Adam which the grace of the LORD JESUS hath destroyed and mortified in us We have only to observe in our way that since the exercise of man in his state of nature before grace is to walk in vices and in grossest pollutions it must be an huge error to imagine that he should be able in such a state to produce works either meritorious as some say or preparatory to grace as others do pretend All he doth for this time if you believe the Apostle in the case is not good but to prepare for Hell and merit the wrath of GOD and to have any other opinion of it will be a diminution of the greatnesse of the grace of GOD towards us Let us think then Beloved Brethren on that shameful and miserable estate in which we naturally were and should have continued for ever with the children of rebellion living and walking in sins the wages and fruit whereof could be no other than eternal death if the LORD through His abundant grace had not delivered us from such a condemnation And resenting as we ought the greatness of the benefit He hath conferr'd upon us let us incessantly bless His mercy and goodness Thanks be ever rendred unto thee O holy and merciful LORD for that we being servants of sin thou hast made us free by Thy Son and given us by thy Spirit Rom. 6.17 to obey that express form of doctrine which hath been delivered us by thy servants But as heretofore the vices in which we lived did continually produce all kind of pollutions and sins and henceforth since the cross and grace of our LORD hath dried up this source of impurity let there no more appear any track of them in our manners Let the holyness of that new man whose name and blood we boast of shine forth in all the actions of our lives Above all let us banish thence those two capital and accursed pests of luxury and avarices for which you have heard here before all the mouths of Heaven opened to fulminate against the rebellious that serve them the curses of this world and of that which is to come And if the ignorance of such as lived in error withheld not the wrath of GOD heretofore from coming on them for these two kinds of sins what must those expect now who commit the same crimes in the light of JESUS CHRIST Sure as much as the disobedience and the rebellion of the one is more grievous and more enormous than that of others so much more terrible will be the wrath that shall pour from Heaven upon them than all the judgements of GOD the world hath seen in time past Your ingratitude Christian who so ill brook your name and your disobedience surpasseth in horridnesse all the unbelief both of the first world and of ancient Israel they rejected but the preaching of Noah and the ministry of Mâ—ses whereas you outrage the Gospel of the Son of GOD and as much is in you is make Him a lyer Yet you know how they were punished you know the deluges which the fault of the one brought upon all the earth You know the abysse opened its mouth to swallow up the others alive Heaven and earth and the elements were armed against them If their punishment makes you tremble why do you imitate their faults yea why commit you such as are more hainous and blacker than theirs GOD is good and merciful I acknowledge but to sinners repenting To those that mock at His instruction and make a jest of His menaces He is severe and inexorable And if they amend not they shall know sooner or later to their cost that it 's a fearful thing to fall into His hands But the LORD JESUS whom we invocate please to give us better things so reforming this Church by the power of His Spirit and of His voice that henceforth these crying sins be no more seen
man is worthy of our pity The devil that set him on work does properly deserve our hate It 's with this murtherer that we should be angry There it is that passion would be just But if by all these remedies we cannot prevent our being sometimes incensed against our neighbours at least let us stop when our perturbation boileth up Eph. 4.26 Let us not add sin to our emotion neither let the Sun as the Apostle speaks go down upon our wrath but hold we for certain that the shortest angers are the best Now if we can once devest our selves of this wretched passion we shall by the same means eradicate together with it that other of detraction or evil speaking which St. Paul here annexeth in the sequel For wrath is commonly the root from which the same doth spring that at least which the Apostle means who useth a word that signifies a man's reviling of his neighbour a thing scarce ever done but in choler But all evil-speaking whatever origine it hath is an accursed and a deadly plant the production and workmanship of the devil the father of evil-speakers For his trade you know is to calumniate to detract and say evil They that do the same are his disciples and it is from his suggestion and infusion they derive the poison of their tongue And as they have now part in his exercise so shall they have one day in his torments according to that which the Apostle teacheth us elsewhere namely that revilers shall not inherit the kingdom of GOD. Indeed since Heaven is the inheritance of charity 1 Cor. 6.10 and sanctity what portion in it can detraction pretend to which is so contrary to those two Vertues and gives them at once three deadly wounds goring and outraging by the same blow both the person of whom it speaketh evil and the person to whom and a man 's own It wounds the reputation of the person of whom it speaketh evil and as much as in it lies deprives him of his honour the greatest of our external goods and such as no riches can equal the value of It pollutes the ear of him that hears it and makes such a poison glide there-through into his heart as is apt to extinguish neighbourly charity and fill him with suspitions with aversion and hatred against his neighbour even to the raising sometimes of scandalous and mortal enmities and quarrels between them In fine the detractor doth not spare himself but profaneth his own tongue and abuseth it to the rending and scandalizing of his neighbour whereas it was given him by his Creator to be an instrument of benediction and edification And this seems to be properly the consideration which the Apostle here had in his eye Having cleansed our hearts from the ordures of wrath and malignity he also purifieth our mouths Eph. 5.3 4. taking out of them what is contrary to their sanctification Put away saith he wrath anger maliciousness evil speaking dishonest words out of your mouth And this is the reason why unto detraction he addeth dishonest speech because it defiles our mouths and corrupteth speech one of the most precious presents that Divine bounty hath made us and made that our mind might use it for the communicating of its good and holy conceptions unto others for their consolation and edification Whereas quite contrary he that makes unhonest discourses to them fills their ears with dung and fouls the purity of their hearts and shews the infection of his own out of the abundance of which his mouth speaks as our Saviour saith For as an ill breath doth signifie some inward indisposition and corruption so filthy and dishonest talk discovers impurity and unchastity in his soul who makes it Hence it is that the Apostle in another place expresly puts this among other parts of Christian sanctity that our discourses be pure and chast and honest Fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not be once named among you saith he as becometh Saints Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient And again else-where Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers Behold Beloved Brethren the divine doctrine of this great Apostle Conform we our whole life unto the same serving GOD in body and Spirit and sanctifying our hearts and mouths unto His glory and the edification of our neighbours eradicating first out of our souls all asperity and bitterness anger wrath and malignity and planting them with kindness and sweetness and patience towards all men then purging our tongues also from the poisons of detraction and from the filth of all dishonest speech consecrating them as precious vessels to the praise of GOD and the spiritual utility of men to the end there be nothing in our carriage but what is worthy of the discipline of our LORD JESUS CHRIST and that after we shall have so walked in His fear in all piety and honesty He may one day receive us into His Kingdom of glory where without holiness none shall enter Unto Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all honour and praise to ages of ages Amen THE THIRTY SEVENTH SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP. III. VER VIII IX Verse VIII Put away also all these things c. Evil speaking dishonest talk out of your mouth IX Lye not one to another AMong the advantages which raise our nature above that of animals speech doth undoubtedly hold one of the first ranks being as it is the interpreter of the mind the image of thought the instrument of communication the bond of society the instruction of ignorance the consolation of grief the parent and nurse of friendship and the sweetness of life If you consider it in its self what can be imagin'd more marvellous than this faculty which doth represent by a certain number of sounds not very different from one another the infinite variety of all those things that come into our minds and bringing them out of that inaccessible and impenetrable recess where our soul conceives and forms them within its self makes them appear abroad rendring that in some sort visible which was altogether invisible and that corporeal which was purely spiritual I well know that animals do discover the passions and movings of their souls joy grief fear desire by certain cries which they utter as often as they are surprized with the same But there is nothing in this that comes near speech For the voices of animals do proceed from nature it self whereas words of speech are an effect and an institution of reason Those are confused and inarticulate these distinct and formed with excellent art Those express nothing but the passions of a sensitive faculty these do represent the conceptions of the understanding But the utility of speech is no less than the wonder Without it assemblies of men would be but so many herds of cattle and
of them So is it with our LORD JESUS He is equally both necessary and approachable for all He offers Himself to the great He disdaineth not the least He gives Himself to the one and to the others and saves them all indifferently Come ye thâ—n all unto Him what-ever in other respects your condition or extraction be Lift up your eyes on Him and behold Him stretched out for you upon Moses's pole crucified for your sins and wounded for your iniquities His flesh pierced with nails His blood spilt on the ground presenting to you in this scandalous but salutiferous infirmity the treasure of life and happiness Bring unto Him souls full of faith respect and love and prepare for the receiving of Him not your bodily mouth or stomach places what-ever superstition say unworthy to lodge Him but your hearts your minds your understandings and affections that is the nobler part of your being There it is that He takes pleasure there it is that He would dwell Accordingly it's there that He should operate and display His vertue unto the extinguishing of the old man and the engraving of His own image As the body is not the object of this operation of His so neither is it the seat of His presence nor the throne of His Majesty But you plainly see My Brethren that this incomparable favour He placeth on you in being willing to come and dwell in your hearts doth oblige you to put off His enemie the old man and clear your selves of all His pollutions eradicate the habitudes of all his vices smother all his desires and cleanse your whole life from all his deeds This old man is the disgrace of your nature the poison of your soul the death of your life the cause of your unhappiness It 's he that destroyed you that banish'd you out of Paradise that bereav'd you of your true delights that made you subject unto vanity and the wrath of GOD and the hatred of His Angels and the tyrannie of Devils Devest your selves of this accursed and funestous habit Give your selves no rest till you be rid of it Tell me not that he holds too fast that you feel him sticking in your inward parts and in your marrow Where eternal salvation is concerned there 〈…〉 is to be taken If you cannot rid your selves of him other 〈…〉 better to pluck out your very bowels than spare them and pe 〈…〉 the truth is we slatter our selves and that to keep this pleasing enemie with us we makes our selves believe he is part of us as if we could not be mâ—n without fouling our selves in the dung of his vices Be not afraid of hurting oâ— outraging your selves by driving him from you It 's but the pâ—st and poison of your nature as we said afore Your life will be not as you imagine incommodated but discharged more free and more happy by it thâ—n it was Besides after the victory over him which CHRIST hath won upon the Cross it ill becomes us to complain of the strength of this enemie All his strength consisteth only in our cowardice in our feebleness and effeminacy JESUS CHRIST hath taken from him all the true strength he had He hath crucified him and overthrown all the foundations of his tyrannie and of his life discovering to us the horridness thereof and opening us the way to liberty and the gate of the house of GOD. Instead of this wretched and fordid and shameful form of life let us put on that new man who now presents and gives Himself unto us Let us have Him night and day before our eyes as the only exemplar of our true nature Let us copy Him all out and faithfully engrave upon our souls all the features of His Divine and glorious form Let the image of this new Adam shine forth in our whole life in our souls and in our carriages Dear Brethren it must be acknowledged that hitherto we have greatly failed in this duty For what is more unlike than we and this JESUS CHRIST to whose image we should be conformed He is humble and meek and pâ—tient as a lamb We are fierce and proud and cholerick as Lions He did good to His enemies and we hardly spare our friends He lov'd the greatest strangers and we hate our neerest neighbours He was most pure and holy and we are polluted with the ordures of intemperance He sought only His Father's glory and the salvation of men We muse upon nothing but earth and consider only our own interests With this dissimilitude or to say better contrariety how can we pretend to have put on the new man which is created after the image of JESUS CHRIST And how can it be thought but that we rather bear the image of His enemie Yet you are not ignorant what depends upon it and do well know that it is not possible to have part on high in the glory of the new man except we put him on here below In the name of GOD Beloved Brethren and as your own salvation is dear to you travel on this great and necessary design Repair the negligences of the time pass'd and discharging for the future with good fidelity what the Apostle's word and the Sacrament of this mystical table do equally require of you put off the old man who hath destroyed you Put on the new man who hath sav'd you renewing you in the knowledge and unto the likeness of this sweet and merciful LORD who died and is risen again for you that after you have born on earth the image of His holiness and charity you may bear it eternally in the Heavens together with that of His glory and immortality Amen THE THIRTY NINTH SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP. III. VER XII XIII Verse XII Put on therefore as * Elected of Gods Saints c. chosen of GOD holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindness humility meekness patience XIII Bearing with one another and pardoning one another if one hath a quarrel against the other even as CHRIST pardoned you so also do ye DEAR Brethren That which the Sacrament of the LORD 's holy Supper requireth of us and which it effecteth and produceth in us when we duly receive it is the very thing which the Apostle commands us in this Text and unto which he formeth us by these words of his He willeth that we be merciful kind humble meek patient and facile to pardon one another And the end and effect of the Sacrament is to make us so For it communicateth the LORD JESUS CHRIST unto us not that the substance of his Body may enter into ours nor that his flesh may be touched by our mouths and stomacks a thing both prodigious and impossible and which is moreover unprofitable and superfluous but indeed to transforms us into his Image and render us like him that is humble meek patient kind and merciful as he is forming these divine vertues in us by the essicacy of his Death which is celebrated in this Mysterie Whereby you see a
then do not we who know the vanity of our being the feebleness of our bodies the malignity of our hearts the ignorance and folly of our minds the perverseness of our affections the uncertainty and misery of our life the demerit of our sins and the eternal woe whereof they are worthy I say why do we not clothe our selves all over with a sincere and profound humility After these consideratons how can we have any puff of pride If you tell me it is true you were such by nature but that the grace of JESUS CHRIST hath made you otherwise I answer that herein you have cause indeed to acknowledge and glorifie His bounty but none to lift up your selves For you have nothing that is good but you received it of GOD and if you have received it why do ye boast of it The more He hath given you the more ought you to humble your selves as those branches bow most and hang down lowest which are most laden with fruit Thus you see that being nothing in your selves and having received of GOD all that you can have it is just that you be humble not to report here either the command for it which GOD gives us in a thousand places or the graces He promiseth unto humility or the pattern of it which He sets before us in His Son JESUS CHRIST or the ruine wherewith He menaceth the haughty After humility the Apostle lodgeth two of its daughters in our souls namely meekness and patience Meekness is properly that which we call gentleness the greatest grace of our behaviour and the amiablest ornament of our life It receives every one with an open heart and a pleasing countenance It is not easily provoked and as far as it can takes all things in good part It is assable and judgeth not with rigour It restrains the stirrings of choler and notwithstanding the occasions offered for it keeps and maintains it self in a sweet calm without becoming angry easily receiving as far as reason permitteth the excuses of those that have offended it and being much more readily appeased than irritated As this vertue is very grateful to others so is it exceedingly profitable and beneficial to our selves For living with men that is to say with weak and wretched creatures without gentleness that sweetneth all things we must needs be in a continual irritation and never have joy nor repose Patience is the sister of gentleness they do both of them bear vexations things without exasperation only with this difference that gentleness is exercised in reference to the fullenness the sottishness and the impertinency of those we converse with patience undergoeth other greater evils as outrages and affronts and those very afflictions which are sent us of GOD as sicknesses and losses and the like But for the better clearing of the nature of these two Vertues the Apostle particularly recommends unto us two eminent acts of them extremely necessary for Christians and of singular use in our whole life when he addeth bearing with one another and pardoning one another if one hath a quarrel against the other The first of these two acts pertaineth as well unto meekness as to patience For first if there be any defect either in the humour or in the person or even in the faith and piety of our brethren provided it be not a capital crime that tendeth to the overthrow of religion and salvation we ought not for this break with them nor reject or sadden them but bear with them with all sweetness remembring both the need we have that the like equity and condescendance be used towards us in many things wherein we are no more perfect than our brethren in the fore-mentioned and the example of our LORD and Saviour who according to the Prophet's prediction Mâ—â— 12.20 did not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax Then in the second place if our neighbours have offended us either by word or deed we must not forthwith betake our selves unto revenge as men of the world doâ— but endeavour to overcome them by sweetness bearing their wronging us with a Christian and generous resolution The other act that the Apostle commandeth us and which likewise respects those two vertues is our pardoning one another if one hath a quarrel against the other This is yet more than our bearing with one another which he first required of us For there are people found that bear with the fullenness or the infirmities of their neighbour yea with his offences whether it be that they have not the means to avenge themselves or that they count it not expedient to do it for the present who mean time keep and brood upon their resentments in the secret of their hearts waiting for an opportunity to shew them with advantage Wherefore the Apostle is not content to tell us that we should bear with one another he addeth further that we do pardon one another that is efface out of our souls all resentment of an offence received and eradicate all desire of revenge heartily remitting to our neighbours Mat. 18 35. the fault they have committed against us as our LORD enjoyns us when he saith that his Father will irremissibly punish us if we do not from our hearts forgive every one his Brother This duty reacheth universally to all the faithful and takes place in all kind of subjects as the Apostle signifies when he adds indefinitely if one that is any one of us hath a quarrel against another whatever the occasion of the quarrel be whether injurious speeches given or actions done either against our selves or any one of ours But because S. Paul was not ignorant how difficult this piece of Christian piety is our flesh having no passion stronger and more uneasie to be subdued than the resentment of offences and the desire of revenge to reduce us to this sweetness and divine patience and to beat down the fierceness of our hearts he proposeth unto us the example of the LORD JESUS the Prince of our discipline and Pattern of our life As CHRIST saith he hath pardoned you so likewise do ye He does the same also in the Epistle to the Ephesians Eph. 4.32 where he sets before us the example of GOD forgiving us all our sins for his Son's sake And what stronger reason than this could the Apostle alledge For JESUS CHRIST being our Head and our elder Brother unto whose image we ought to be conformed according to the predestinâ—tion of GOD how shall we be his members his Disciples and his living Pourtraits if we have nothing in us of that great and divine goodness he hath shewed us Though he had not exercised it but towards others yet we should be obliged to an imitation of Him But it 's our selves that he hath pardoned and not others only so that his example doth yet much the more strictly bind us For the inhumanity of that wretched servant in the Parable who when he himself had been gratifi'd by his
wherein he represents to us some of the principal uses we ought to make of it Ye teaching saith he and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs singing from your heart unto the LORD All the terms he useth in the first part are worthy of not a little consideration First his calling the Word of GOD which was deliver'd by the Prophets and Apostles and is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament the Word of CHRIST The Word of CHRIST both because He is the subject and the end of it as also for that He is the Author of it who inspir'd it by His Spirit into His servants in the same manner as the Apostle elsewhere termeth all the afflictions of the new and of the ancient Church Hebr. 11. even to those which Moses and the Israelites suffered in Egypt the afflictions and reproach of CHRIST because CHRIST is both the cause for which the faithful are afflicted and also the Director of their afflictions who sends 'em them and governs them by His Providence Whence it clearly follows that He is GOD since all Scripture is by inspiration of GOD and that He did subsist in the time of the Patriarchs and of all the ancient Church against the impiety of those Hereticks who deny the Divinity of our LORD and pretend that He had no subsistence in Nature until He was born of the Blessed Virgin Further in the next place we are to weigh in what manner the Apostle recommends unto us the study of this Word He saith not Let it be among you let it be read let it be known of you but using a term of much more force and efficacy than all that amounts unto he willeth that this Word of CHRIST do dwell in us Dwelling you know is properly affirmed of men and doth import their making their abode in this or that place their living and being ordinarily and almost alwayes there R. Moses Ben. Maim in More Nevo Chim l. 1. c. 25. Hence it comes as the the Learnedst of the Jewish Doctors hath well observ'd that the Scripture useth this word figuratively to signifie the constant and setled abiding of one thing in another though the thing which is said to dwell in the other be not animate and that other which it is said to dwell in be not properly a place or a space that containeth it As when Job execrating the day of his birth wisheth among other things that clouds may dwell upon it meaning that that day be continually covered with clouds that it never be without that sable and sad veil and as he explains himself that darkness and the shadow of death do for ever pollute it Though to speak properly it cannot be said that clouds which are inanimate things do dwell any where and much less dwell in a day or upon a day which is not a place or comprehensive space but a part of time And it is also in this figurative way that we must take all those passages of Scripture in which GOD His dwelling somewhere is spoken of as when He protesteth in Exodus and elsewhere often Exod. 29.45 Lev. 26.12 1 Cor. 6.16 that He will dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel a particular which the Apostle applyeth also to the Church of the New Testament the meaning is that His Majesty and His Providence should alwayes be with the faithful and never forsake them though to speak properly the LORD who is an infinite Essence and filleth Heaven and Earth without being enclos'd by them dwelleth no where It 's in this figurative sense that the Apostle here doth use the word dwell and verily with much grace and emphasis when He saith Let the Word of CHRIST dwell in you His intention is that it be constantly and setledly in you that it be an inmate with your hearts and lips that it never leave them And as our Souls dwell in our Bodies to quicken them and to govern all their motions in like manner that this Divine Word be the soul of your hearts abiding day and night there to conduct and regulate all your actions that it be as well known and as familiar to you as the persons that dwell at your house and pass their whole time with you But the Apostle not content with so vivid an expression addeth yet another term to signifie more fully how studiously we ought to fill all the faculties of our Souls with this Word of the LORD Let it dwell in you saith he richly that is abundantly and as the French Bibles have it plentiously in such sort as there may be neither any part of its mysteries which is not found in you its promises its commands its assertions its prophecies its instructions being all entertained and not one of them excluded nor any part of your selves but this Divine gâ—est is admitted to lodge and abide in your understandings memories wills affections deportments that it appear in your whole life and shine forth there in such a manner as every one may perceive it It 's also hereunto that the last words which he addeth in all Wisdom do refer wherein he shews us the end and the immediate effect of this dwelling of the Word of GOD in us namely the rendring us wise unto salvation and the giving us all the wisdom that 's necessary to glorifie GOD and obtain eternal happiness He would have it dwell so abundantly in us that we might derive from it all the knowledge it gives both of the things we should believe and of things we should do to be sav'd For it 's this he usually meaneth by that Wisdom which he recommendeth unto us And because this knowledge hath many parts of which some are useless without the rest thence it comes that he saith not simply let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in Wisdom but in all Wisdom to shew us that it is not enough to study some part of this Heavenly knowledge This it may be might have been sufficient for men under the Old Testament who were but in a minority a Christian being come to mature and full age ought to know all the will of GOD all His counsel and all that admirable Wisdome which He hath revealed to us by His Son and unfolded in His Scriptures Thus you see Dear Brethren what the meaning is of this precept of the Apostle In it now we have a great many things to observe And first his procedure in that having begun discourse of our Sanctification and not inclining to enlarge upon it further for the present he remits the faithful for learning the rest not to the voice of the Church but to the Word of CHRIST an evident sign that it 's not the Church as those of Rome pretend but Divine Scripture which is supream directress of the faithful It is true that Pastors are serviceable unto their instruction but it is as Ministers only and not as Masters nor do they Minister of
the LORD JESUS giving thanks by Him unto our GOD and Father DEAR Brethren The love that the LORD JESUS hath born us is so great and the benefits He hath conferr'd upon us are so various and so precious that we are evidently obliged to give our selves entirely to Him and we cannot substract from Him without ingratitude any part of what we are or have He hath laid down His life for us It is just therefore that we again do consecrate ours unto Him He hath redeemed us at the price of His blood and by this admirable ransom deliver'd from death and hell not only our Souls but also our Bodies and our whole Nature We are therefore wholly His and have no more any other Master but Him neither is there any justice in the world but will adjudge Him the propriety and possession of what costeth Him so dear But though of right we be his Vassals yet it hath pleas'd His love that we should belong to Him under another much more glorious title For He hath made us His brethren having obtained of His Father that He should adopt us for His children and accumulated this grace with all the highest favours that creatures can be exalted to I mean He hath made us partakers of His inheritance and communicated to us His Nature and His Spirit and crowned us with His immortality and with His glory Though he had not shed His Blood for us as He did who seeth not but that this His great and divine liberality should have purchas'd Him all the life and being and motion we can have and that to divert any part of it from His service would be a robbing of Him and a bereaving Him with abominable Sacriledge of a thing belonging to Him so legitimatly and for many so just and weighty reasons If we be not the most unjust and ingrateful persons in the world we ought all to have such sentiments and consequently look upon our nature and our life as things no longer ours but JESUS CHRIST's and dispose of them not after our own phansie and for our own interest but at His pleasure and for His glory And as you see that the servants of a Prince above all those whom he hath particularly obliged and favoured do set up his arms through all their houses and adorn their Halls and Chambers with his Picture and have his praises alwayes in their mouth and fill up their whole life with his name and glory so should we do to JESUS CHRIST and with so much the more zeal for that He is a LORD infinitely more rich more clement more liberal and more beneficent than any Monarch of the Earth Let our Souls and Bodies therefore bear His badges let His glory appear exalted in all our actions let the words of our mouths be dedicated to Him and our whole lives full of His Name breathing throughout nothing but His honour and service without ever swerving from His Will from His interests This Beloved Brethren is the Lesson which the Apostle S. Paul now gives us in the words that you have heard And whatever ye do saith he whether in word or work do it all in the name of the LORD JESVS giving thanks by Him unto our GOD and Father By these words he concludeth that excellent exhortation which he makes to all Christians in general of what sex or age or condition soever He began it at the first Verse of this Chapter and continues it on to our Text pointing out in it briefly but divinely as you have heard in the precedent exercises our principal duties on one hand the mortifying of the flesh with its lusts as fornication covetousness wrath and the like on the other hand the studying and exercising of all Christian vertues as humility kindness patience gentleness charity and peace To all these he addeth our knowing and continual meditating of the Word of GOD with Psalms and spiritual Hymns And here it was we made stay in our last action upon this Subject Now that he might not stand to treat severally of all a Christians other duties which would be prolix and even infinite and a Discourse of too great extent for an Epistle before he passeth to that particular exhortation which he addresseth in the following Verses to some certain ranks of believers as to Married persons to Fathers to Children to Servants and Masters he closeth up his first matter with the precept he here gives us A precept verily excellent and well worthy to Crown his exhortation since it comprehends in few words all the duties of a Christian both those which the Apostle hath expresly pointed at and those which his design of brevity caused him to pass over in silence without speaking of them by name To the end we may give you an exposition of it we will endeavour by the grace of our LORD to explain one after another the two parts that offer themselves in it First that whatever we do either in word or work we do it all in the name of the LORD JESVS Secondly that we give thanks by Him to our GOD and Father When the Apostle pronounceth that all we do in work or word be done in the name of the LORD JESVS he clearly gives Him our whole life For these two sorts of things which he subjecteth unto Him words and works do comprehend all the other parts of our life it being evident that nothing issues from us but what may be referred to the one or the other of these two kinds They are either words or works Words are the fruits of our mouths works are the effects or actions of our other parts and faculties I acknowledge that beside this our spirit also does act within us when it knows or considers things and desireth or rejecteth them But besides that these internal actions might be put into the rank of our works by extending the word a little beyond its ordinary signification as in effect some interpreters do give it such a meaning here beside this I say it is evident that most of the conceptions and affections and resolutions of the Soul do refer to words and external works as being the principles and motives of them For it is not possible that our words and works should be in the name of our LORD and Saviour except our understandings and wills do so address them and it 's properly this action of the Soul the Apostle signifies when he orders that we do in the name of CHRIST all we do The tongue indeed pronounceth the words and the hands and other parts of our bodies do execute those actions of ours which are called works But it 's the Spirit that moves them all and that directeth and guideth on their functions to that end or design it hath proposed to its self and draws them from such motives as it hath conceiv'd and form'd within its self And it is properly upon this that the difference of mens actions doth depend It 's this Character that gives them
Mat. 18.30 that is for His cause and unto His honour and with confidence in Him It 's in this sense the Apostle takes these words in our Text. Do all things in the name of the LORD JESVS He means first that we refer all we do unto His glory and take His honour for the end of all our actions and secondly that we act according to His will and order and lastly with an entire confidence in Him not presuming ought of our selves as if we were able to do any thing considerable by our own strength nor expecting any success but only from His favour and benediction Such is the rule which the Apostle here gives us By it you see First that he banisheth out of our lives all the unfruitful works of darkness that is all vitious actions actions contrary to justice to charity and to other Christian vertues it being evident that if we do nothing but in the name of the LORD JESUS we shall do none of these things since they all are opposite to His will to His commands and to His glory Secondly by the same means he perfecteth and enliveneth all those works of ours which of themselves and in their kind are good and commanded of God engrafting them by this rule upon the true motive from which they ought to proceed and directing them to the true end unto which they ought to tend which is without doubt the name of CHRIST and clensing them from all that impurity and viciousness which vanity or self-love might taint them with Good will be truly good if we do it in the name of JESUS CHRIST that is for His sake upon consideration of Him alone without seeking the approbation and acceptance or the interest and service of any other Lastly by the same rule the Apostle sanctifies those of our words and actions which are in their own nature indifferent purifying them by the name of the LORD from the filth and abuse wherewith the viciousness of men doth pollute them and elevating them to a degree of moral goodness which they had not of themselves in that he consecrates them to the name of the LORD and makes them to serve grace whereas of themselves they were instituted only for the uses of nature For instance if you observe this rule of the Apostle in your eating and drinking actions as every one knows indifferent of their own nature first this sacred name of the LORD JESUS will purge the exercise of them of the excesses of intemperance and drunkenness on one hand and of the vain and foolish scruples of superstition on another Secondly being referred to the honour of GOD and accompanied with invocation of His grace and thankful acknowledgement of His bounty of indifferent as they were in themselves they become good and holy and acceptable unto GOD. However I willingly grant that we must not so take the Apostles precept as if we were obliged in every act even to the least word we utter to raise our thoughts actually to the name of JESUS CHRIST and expresly implore His assistance by a particular prayer and formally eye His glory It sufficeth that we frequently and ordinarily make this application of mind to the name to the command to the help and to the glory of our LORD But necessary it is that we have the habit of this holy disposition so formed and radicated in our hearts that even when time or place or some other necessity surprizeth us and gives us not the leisure to think actually on the name of the LORD our souls yet do bend that way as of themselves being so habituated to it as without other discourse or consideration they may as to the substance discharge this duty and never do nor say any thing that tendeth not to the glory of our Saviour and is not conform to His will and consistent with the resolution we all ought to have of relying on JESUS CHRIST alone and referring none of our actions to any other end than His honour But I come to the other part of our Text wherein the Apostle adds that we give thanks by JESUS CHRIST unto our GOD and Father These words may be taken two wayes either for another precept apart added to the former or for some part and dependance of it In the first relation it 's a new order the Apostle gives us to thank GOD for the benefits He hath vouchsafed us in His Son He gives the same order to the faithful at Ephesus in welnigh the same words Giving thanks alwayes saith he for all things in the name of our LORD JESVS CHRIST unto our GOD and Father Under the second consideration the words are a reason of what he recommended afore and the title under which we ought to do all things in the name of the LORD JESUS namely for the rendring unto GOD the Father by His Son the thanks we owe him so as our whole life may be but homage and a perpetual act of gratitude to GOD by JESUS CHRIST His Son our LORD For it is not to be doubted but that the best and most proper means of thanking GOD the Father for those infinite benefits He hath confer'd upon us by the communion of His Son is so to frame our lives that we neither do nor say any thing but in the name of that Son of His that is as we have explained it according to His will and for His glory Now though it import not much which of these two expositions we follow since at the bottom the thing is still the same yet it seems to me the latter is more pertinent because it doth better and more clearly connect the Apostles words Thanksgiving is one of the most necessary and most universal offices of a Christian For if it be ingratitude to receive a kindness from any one without resenting it and giving him thanks for it what moment of our lives is there wherein we are not obliged to perform this duty unto GOD First of all this being of ours this life this body this soul and all the faculties of our nature are largesses of His which for all they be common to us with other men are not to be despised but ought to be consider'd as effects of an infinite goodness Then again what remerciments doth not the sending of His Son into the world and the death He suffered for us by the will of His Father oblige us to What shall I say as to those infinite blessings He hath obtained for us the remission of our sins our adoption to the number of His children the glory and immortality we hope for Add hereto His continual providence both over His Church in general and over each of us in particular His favourable bearing with us however great be not only our infirmities and imperfections but even infidelities and ingratitudes the admirable constancy of His Divine grace which our indignities can neither overcome nor put off and imperfections but even infidelities and ingratitudes the admirable
of their sex Moreover the interest of their Religion requires this performance at their hands though law and reason had not impos'd subjection on them to the end it might appear by their obedience that JESUS CHRIST doth not disturb the just order of humane societies but on the contrary form both men and women to all kind of righteousness and honesty much more exactly and effectually than other Religions do Lastly the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST having in divers places taken Marriage for a symbole of the union which is between Him and His Church he hath by that usage authorized and confirmed the duties of both the two Married parties and particularly the subjection of the wife since she is the image of the Church which ought to be subject unto CHRIST a matter which the Apostle hath elsewhere excellently made use of in this subject Eph. 5 23.24 The Husband saith he is the bead of the Wife even as CHRIST is the head of the Church Therefore as the Church is subject unto CHRIST so let wives be to their own husbands in all things Thus you see with how much truth and wisdom the Apostle here alledgeth unto Christian women that it is meet in the LORD that is in JESUS CHRIST they should be subject to their husbands it being clear by all we have been saying that all the considerations of the discipline of this same LORD and of the communion they have with Him do so strictly oblige them to this duty that if they fail of performance beside the fault and the disorder which they commit against the Law and institution of GOD and nature they also particularly offend the LORD JESUS and outrage the mysteries of His Gospel and scandalize His people But I have said that the Apostle does also by these words regulate and limit that subjection which the wife oweth her Husband For adding to the rest that in the LORD or according to the LORD he evidently sheweth that it reacheth no further than to such things as do not offend JESUS CHRIST She is subject to her husband I acknowledge but in things wherein she is not rebellious against GOD. She ought to please him but on condition she displease not their common LORD She owes him her obedience and her assistance and her service in adversity and in all the troubles of houshold affairs but not in sin The will of JESUS CHRIST is the true boundary of her subjection and complacency She ought to put on so far but further she may not pass without perrishing Whatever tye we have to any creature it still leaves the rights of GOD entire because our obligation unto Him is the first and most ancient the strictest and most necessary of all that we are under And if the Husband pretend to oblige his Wife or the Father his Child or the Prince his Subject unto any violation of the commands of GOD that is either to do what He forbids or not to do what He injoyns Acts 5.29 Luke 14.26 Matt. 10.37 in this case the faithful soul is to remember that we ought to obey GOD rather than men and that if we love father or mother husband or wife children or brethren or sisters or even our own lives more than CHRIST we are not worthy of Him nor can be His disciples But having thus heard the lesson which the Apostle gives the wife let us now hearken unto that he gives the husband Husbands saith he love your Wives and be not bitter against them He commands 'em to love them and forbids 'em to be bitter against them and in these few words compriseth all their duty This duty is no whit less just but indeed more sweet and pleasing than that which he prescribed the wives And observe I pray the Apostles prudence For when he had allotted the woman subjection for her share consequence seemed to require that he should give the man command and government for his But he doth it not He established the man's authority sufficiently by putting the woman in subjection to him and for the most part his strength and the other advantages of his sex do cause him to assume but too much Wherefore in stead of saying Husbands govern your wives or command them or of using some such word importing authority he saith unto them Love your wives to sweeten on one hand the subjection of the wife and to temper on the other hand the authority of the husband Wife let not your subjection fright you the Apostle subjects you not but to a person who loves you Husband let not your authority make you insolent If the Apostle subject your wife unto you it 's only to the end you love her Derive no vanity either the one or the other of you from the advantages he gives you If the love which the husband owes his wife make her haughty let her remember that withall she is subject unto him that loves her And if the authority which GOD giveth the husband flatter him let him not forget that the wife is not submitted to him but for the obliging him to love her the more Further this love which the Apostle would have husbands bear their wives is a sacred and sincere affection produced in their hearts not simply by that pleasing form and that grace and sweetness which naturally makes men love and seek unto this sex and which how perfect and charming soever it may be is at most but a flower of a very short and uncertain duration but principally by the will of GOD who hath joyned them with 'em who hath given them to them for companions in their good and bad fortunes for helps in all the parts of their life for a perpetuating of their name and lineage for the diminishing of their troubles and the augmenting of their joyes This perpetual and indivisible union which bindeth them together and which of two persons hath changed them into one flesh which hath mingled together all their interests and in their dear Children inseparably combined and confounded their blood and very nature all this I say must kindle in the foul of husbands a pure and an inviolable love unto their wives then again this love must flow forth from the heart into the external actions discovering and evidencing its self by such continual effects as may be truly worthy of it For love is not a dead picture nor a vain phantasie nor an idol without life and action It 's the liveliest and most active of all our sentiments It 's a will that affecteth and sets all the power one hath on work to procure some good to the person whom it loveth The first effect of this love is to be pleased in the presence of that which a man loves and not be able to suffer the absence of it long without disquiet The second to communicate to it all a man possesseth that is good and the third to guard and preserve it from all incommodity and molestation It 's thus the
Apostle would have husbands love their wives even First that they live ordinarily with them as far as the necessity of their affairs permits not finding sweeter divertisement nor more pleasing company any other where Then next that they carefully make them partakers of the graces GOD hath given them and principally in all that concerns the salvation of their souls which is the greatest good of all faithfully directing them about it both by good and holy speech and also by pure and vertuous deportment It 's in this they ought to exercise that advantage which nature and the Apostle gives them shewing themselves to be truly the heads and guides of their wives in the matters of GOD's service and of holiness of life for this end making provision of all necessary knowledge that if they at any time consult them in their doubts 1 Cor. 14.35 as S. Paul commands they may be able to instruct them least in defect of it it might be said of them as a Prophet sometime said of Idols Hab. 2.18 that they are teachers of nothing but vanity But unto these cares for the soul the husband ought to add those also which respect the present life labouring in his vocation and imparting to his wife a share of all the substance he possesseth or acquireth proportionably to her need of it either for her own necessary food and raiment or for the maintaining her children and family as befits her condition It 's this the Apostle means when he commandeth husbands to love their wives But he forbids them in the following words to be bitter against them that is to be â—roward to them requiring that all their conversation with them be full of sweetness and amity The Pagans themselves have observ'd the justness of this duty as what we read of one piece of their devotions beareth witness For when they sacrificed unto that idol of theirs whom they call'd Nuptial Juno because they gave her the superintendency of Marriage they were wont to take the gall out of the victim and cast it behind the altar signifying thereby as say the interpreters of their Ceremonies that there ought to be no gall nor bitterness in marriage The Apostles meaning then is that the husband do first purge his heart of all this sowrness and bitterness that he never suffer hatred nor malevolence nor anger nor provocation nor fretting nor disgust to enter there against a person whom he ought to love as himself Next he would have the husband clense all his words and actions from the same poison For if he who is angry with his neighbour without cause and gives him the least reviling word doth deserve torment as our Saviour declareth of what hells is not he worthy who outrageth his own flesh Her whom he ought to cherish and tenderly affect as CHRIST doth His Church But if the Apostle command a Christian to use no offensive or opprobrious speech against his wife he doth as little permit him to shew bitterness of spirit by an angry sad and obstinate silence which is no less provocative nor less sharp to say truth than the most outragious reproaches In conclusion by this clause the Apostle does further and with greater force of reason banish out of conjugal converse the cruelty and rigour and tyrannie of those boysterous barbarous husbands who treat their wives as bond-servants denying them that share which the laws of GOD and man do give them in the government and administration of the houshold And the utmost degree of this inhumanity is when unto revilings and contempt they add blows and excesses of hand an outrage which the authors of the Roman Civil Law thought so unworthy of the conjugal alliance that they permit the wife so exceeded against to break with her husband approving and authorizing her divorce if she can prove he struck her Thus Dear Brethren you have heard what we had to deliver for the exposition of this Text. It teacheth us all in general first that all sorts of people may and ought to read St. Paul's Epistles and by consequent all the holy Scriptures For why should this holy man address his speech here to wives and their husbands to children and their fathers to servants and their masters if he meant not that all these persons should have the reading of this letter Christians fear not to read what the Apostle hath vouchsafed to write you It 's in vain that some forbid you the reading which it is his mind you should practise None can know better than he how those Epistles must be used which he wrote Then again he shews us further here how unjust the indiscretion of those is who have so ill treated the worthiness of marriage that by their manner of speaking of it you would say they held it incompatible with Christian purity St. Paul doth every where maintain the honour of this holy order and never prohibit or disparage it at all Also as the precepts which he gives to Masters to Pastors and others do clearly authorize the right and the dignity of those conditions so is marriage established by the lesson he writes here and often else-where unto married persons But the Devil knowing well that this holy institution of GOD is infinitely profitable unto men both to preserve them from tentations to incontinence one of the broadest waies to Hell and also to sweeten the harshness of their natures by the tenderness of conjugal and paternal affections and for divers other ends of great importance unto civil life and unto piety it self the enemie I say not ignorant hereof hath subtilly made hatred or contempt of marriage to insinuate its self into the spirits of a sort of men under divers plausible pretexts so as in conclusion Christians who would think it have asserted it a piece of sanctification to abstain from it and in the sequel prohibited to the Ministers of Religion For our parts Beloved Brâ—thren we constrain none to marry If any have received this grace of GOD that they can contain and live pure out of this estate let them forbear it if it seem them good Only we say two things first that the making use of it is free to all there being no dignity nor profession in the Church excluded from Divine permission of it Secondly that to such as have not the gift of continency marriage is not only permitted but even necessary and of whatever rank they be their marrying is so far from offending GOD that they offend Him much if they marry not Hereto for a conclusion we adjoyn a serious exhortation to all who are in this estate that they sedulously put in practise the lesson which St. Paul hath now given them Even that wives be subject to their husbands as is meet in the LORD that Husbands love their wives and not be bitter against them Many complain of finding thorns in this condition instead of the roses they hoped for Men charge it upon the pride the levity the vanity the
their duty The command of obedience is expressed in these words Servants obey in all things them that are your Masters according to the flesh The very names which he makes use of do shew the justice of the duty which he gives them in charge For since they are servants and those whom they serve are their masters it 's evident that they are obliged by the reason and nature of the things themselves to render them exact and faithful obedience But his saying of Masters that they are their masters according to the flesh doth mitigate the rigour and the meanness of servitude limiting the power of masters and superiors and extending it no further than unto temporal and corporeal things not unto the soul and conscience Man may be master of our flesh GOD alone is LORD over our Spirits Whatever be the subjection of our bodies we have still our souls free and dependant on none but GOD their Creator who alone hath the power as well as the right to do them good or evil as our LORD and Saviour remonstrates unto us Fear not them saith He that kill the body Matt. 10.28 and cannot kill the soul but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell It is with this distinction that we are to take the obedience which the Apostle recommends unto servants in all things his meaning is in all things that lye within the Master's power and do purely and singly refer unto the flesh not reflecting on or touching the interests of the spirit For if our master according to the flesh command us things contrary to the will of our Master according to the spirit that is of GOD in this case it is evident that we ought to obey GOD rather than man and that if we owe much and in some sense even all things unto men yet we owe them nothing to the prejudice of GOD and that there is nothing but we should suffer rather than fail of that first and eternal servitude we owe to our Creator and Redeemer This holy doctrine of the Apostle's sheweth us first that the LORD JESUS CHRIST doth not at all disturb the order of humane societies He leaves to every one in them the just rights they are possessed of unto persons or things He subjecteth us unto Himself and unto GOD His Father but without doing wrong unto Caesar or any of the lawful powers that govern either Estates or Families He intends that all His should render to them what they owe them He destroys but the treacheries and tyrannie of sin and Satan Herod dread not His coming He will neither pull your Scepter out of your hand nor diminish in any thing the rights of your Crown His design is to give you Heaven not to out you of the earth to enfranchise you from the slavery of vices and not to deprive you of the service of your subjects Whence appears how unjust and scandalous the pretention of those is who under the ombrage of Gospel-liberty would abolish all dominion and soveraignty among Christians accounting it incompatible with the state of grace and their 's no less who subject even in respect of temporals all that are Christians not the greatest Monarchs excepted to one mortal man making their Crowns to depend upon his will and giving him authority to depose them and to loose their subjects from the yoke of their obedience dogmatizing too by the same means that a Christian Prince who falleth into heresie loseth the right he had over his people Can there a thing be said more pernicious or more contrary to the Apostle who would not that Paganism it self a matter worse than heresie should make Masters and Superiors lose any of the lawful rights they have over their Christian slaves Secondly the Apostle's limiting the authority and power of masters over their slaves in things of the flesh naming them their masters according to the flesh doth shew us that there is none but GOD alone who is our Master according to the spirit whence it follows that such as under any pretext whatever do peremptorily invade the Lordly ruling of our souls do grievously erre and usurp a thing which belongs to none but GOD an attentat which those of Rome are evidently guilty of in that they put the consciences of all Christians in subjection to their Pope and Council whereas the holy Apostles do expresly declare that they have no dominion over our faith 1 Cor. 1.19 1 Pet. 5.2 and advertise all the Ministers of CHRIST to feed the flock committed to them not as being Lords over GOD's heritage but so as they may be a pattern to them But I return unto St. Paul who having in general injoyned servants that obedience which they owe their masters according to the flesh in all things doth adjoyn the manner after which he would have 'em to obey them not serving to the eye saith he as bent to please men but in simplicity of heart fearing GOD. He first purgeth the carriage of Christian servants of a vice very ordinary with persons of that quality namely serving only to the eye because they have no other design but to content men They do not think themselves obliged by reasons of conscience but only by those of their own interest to do their masters any duty or service And so they serve them no further than they judge necessary for the exempting themselves from that chastisement which they should incurr if they failed to obey or for their procuring some recompence by winning their favour They respect nothing but this in all the obedience they render them Whence it comes that when they see their master present they play the good husbands as we say and labour at their work with most officious diligence and care But if he turn his back they return unto their nature caring for nothing less than for his service like that evil servant in the parable who seeing that his master delaid to come betook himself to his debauches and fell an outraging his Lord's houshold and wasting his goods All these peoples servitude is but a Comedy And as Players put on their disguise and act their parts when there is an assembly of spectators so these do not their duty but when their master looketh on And if they thought they could deceive his eyes and knowledge or avoid his correcting them or save their salary they would surely never take the pain to do ought of what he hath commanded them It 's this fallacious and truly servile disposition of heart which the Apostle here forbids to Christian servants when he says they should not serve to the eye as aiming only to please men But instead of this he would have them serve in singleness of heart fearing GOD that is sincerely without fraud or feigning and having more respect to GOD than men To that eye-service he had mentioned he opposeth singleness of heart and to the pleasing of men the fearing of GOD. The
at which you shall be examined will have no more complacency for you then for them That LORD whom you see over you is their Creatour and Redeemer as well as yours He hath put them under you but to govern them not to tyrannize over them to have care of them as his creatures and children not to tread them under foot as worms Remember He will treat you as ye shall have treated them You are his servants as they are yours or to say better they are your brethren and ye are not worthy to be so much as His Vassals You and they are one and the same flesh that came out of the earth and unto earth shall return but neither they nor you have any thing in common with GOD. He is in the Heavens and you crawl in the dirt He is the King of Glory and ye are but dust and ashes Yet such is His goodness that notwithstanding this infinite inequality He hath not disdained your nothingness He hath pardoned you your sins He hath washed you in the bloud of his Son He hath forgiven you all your debts He hath communicated to you His divine nature Respect His graces and have no less gentleness and goodness for your own flesh and bloud then this Soveraign LORD hath had for you who were His enemies With what face will you beg mercy of Him if ye be inexorable to your people How can you hope for the grace of your Master if you have none for your Servants I beseech you both have these holy thoughts night and day fore your eyes to the end you may faithfully discharge those mutual duties which the Apostle enjoyns you the one subjection and obedience the others justice and equity both of you living in such an holy correspondence as that the loyalty the respect the humility the submission and the diligence of servants may go in conjunction with the gentleness the gravity the liberality and benevolence of Masters If ye so do you will be happy the families where you live together in this manner will become the wonder of the earth and the honour of the Church The blessing of Heaven will fall continually on them and besides the contentment and repose which this kind of life will give you abundantly for the present it will also bring you hereafter into the possession of the heavenly inheritance But Dear Brethren it is not enough that those Masters and Servants to whom St. Paul particularly speaks do make their profit of his instructions We all have in them what to learn of whatever quality and condition we be For since he would have servants render so exact and so frank an obedience to their Masters according to the flesh judge ye what kind of obedience we owe to that Highest LORD whom we all have in Heaven The Master according to the flesh gave not his servant the being he hath and if he redeemed him he redeemed but his flesh and that at the price of a sum of money only Ours did make us and it 's by His liberality alone that we hold all the being life and motion that we have Nor hath He only created us He hath also redeemed the whole of us our soul and body flesh and spirit not with silver and gold which are corruptible things but with His own precious bloud having voluntarily sacrific'd His life to preserve us from death and give us an happy immortality Never Master had so much right to command His servants as He hath in reference to us Let us obey Him then in all things without reservation and consecrate this whole life of ours to His service the whole whereof we have once and again received from His grace Neither is it with this LORD as with Masters according to the flesh These oftentimes command things unjust or unhonest things contrary to our salvation which we cannot do without destroying our selves He commands us nothing but what is just what is honest and reasonable what is worthy both of Himself and of us Wherefore the most abject bond-servant owes his Master but a limited obedience whereas we owe ours such as is absolute and infinite His yoke is easie and His burthen light He demands no other thing of us but that we love Him and our brethren for His sake that we live honestly and holily that is be happy O ingrateful and execrable creatures that we are if we deny a Master to whom we owe so much so just and so reasonable so beneficial and so blessed an obedience Again judge ye Faithful if the bond-servant ought to obey his Master in singleness of heart with courage and affection as the Apostle says with what ardour promtitude and devotion should we serve ours who is not only allmighty and all-wise but also goodness love clemency and beneficence it self Then as for the bond-man though he ought to serve his Master at all times and in every place yet his Master sees him not always whereas we are ever under the eye of ours He hath a full view of us sees us within and without nor can we hide our selves in any place where He is not present We cannot speak a word nor form the least thought in the secret of our hearts but He 's a witness of it knows the whole assoon as our selves Now sure there is no slave so sottish and shameless but the Master's eye will keep in order and compel unto obedience It such a one be idle or exorbitant he is not so but in the other's absence Since then we have ours alway present what remaineth but that we be never idle that we employ all our time in His service bearing respect to His Divine eye that looketh on us and is over us both day and night Again even when the serving of a man is in question the Apostle would have the slave not serve to please the man meerly so great an integrity and probity doth he require in all our performances Judge then how much more holy and how much more pure from all interest that obedience should be which we render to the LORD JESUS GOD blessed for ever Undoubtedly they that serve Him to please men to gain their esteem and acquire a reputation for sanctity among them or to draw thence any other profit they I say beside their being ridiculous and vain do commit also an huge and an inexcusable sacriledge profaning the Name of GOD and the sacred acts of religion Matt. 6.2 and most unrighteously abusing them for worldly ends Such are those hypocrites that fast and pray and hear the word of GOD and celebrate His Sacraments and give alms to be seen and had in honour that in short serve not GOD but to please men They saith CHRIST have their wages They are paid they have nothing more to look for at GOD's hands For such vain and deceitful service they shall have no other reward but that vain and deceitful breath which they have coveted and sottishly preferred to the glory of
earth then to overcome the King of Kings your salvation is concerned The grace you crave of Him is the abolition of crimes that merit an eternal death and that which you sollicite with Him is not a piece of ground or an house or a small sum of money or some years of a temporal life or liberty It is Heaven and Eternity which you beg the treasury and palace of His CHRIST the peace and joy of his Spirit an immortal liberty an immortal life and glory It 's for this Beloved Brethren that we should be violent eager and obstinately importunate It 's for this we should spend days and nights in sollicitation at the feet of GOD and seize resolutely on Him and protest unto Him with a firm and fixed determination that we will not quit Him till He accord our desire No LORD thou shalt not escape me Either Thou must suffer day and night my importunities or I obtain what I petition for I will give thee no rest untill Thou hast fulfilled the desire of my heart I will have it from Thine hand or die begging it Such Christians is the perseverance which the Apostle commands us here and again elsewhere when he gives us order to pray without ceasing I have only two advertisements to add The first is that we may not understand these words as if he obliged us to quit all other exercise and lay aside the labour of the callings in which GOD hath set us and do nothing but pour out prayers as they say certain extravagant hereticks called the Eutiches that is the Prayers did sometime interpret it The Apostle who orders us here to pray without ceasing commands us also to labour and that with such necessity as he sentences that man not to eat who doth not labour These acts of our piety do not thwart one the other Prayer seasoneth and animateth labour hindereth it not That perseverance in it which is our duty is not continued praying without intermission but prayer frequently resumed and assiduously reiterated so as neither the trouble of waiting nor despair of obtaining nor any other consideration makes us give over the diligent practise of it The other advice we have to give you in reference to this subject is against superstition which regulateth prayers you know by the clock and scrupulously ties men up to the number and to the words of their orisons A Christian who hath his conversation in Heaven above time and the motions that make it measures his devotion by things themselves and makes his prayers not at the toll of a bell but at the signal of his need he lengthens or ends them not according to the number of beads in a chaplet but according to the movings of his heart Now after Perseverance in prayer the Apostle requires also of us vigilancy in it Persevere in prayer saith he watching in it with thanksgiving I freely yield that the faithful may steal away some hours from their repose and employ them in prayer provided it be done without superstition Nor do I deny but that the Prophets and the Apostles and the Christians of the primitive Church often did so rising at night and spending either in private or in their temples some hours in prayer and other exercises of piety Yet it seems to me that it is not of these watchings the Apostle speaketh here For there is another kind of Watch which we may call the Watch of the Soul and it 's only an attention of mind when we keep all our faculties in a good estate lively and working not asleep nor drown'd in idleness or in love of the world or in it's errors and vanities but awake and elevated unto GOD heeding him and intent upon His work looking unto CHRIST and for His day and expecting His salvation with earnestness and constancy Psal 130. â— It 's thus the soul of that Prophet watched who waited more attentively for GOD then the morning watchmen that waited with impatience for the break of day And hereto must be referred so many places of the New Testament that commanded us to to watch Watch and pray that ye enter not into tentation Watch Mat. 26.41 Mark 13.35 1 Thes 5.6 for you know not when the Master of the house will come Let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober 1 Cor. 16.13 Rev. 3.2 16 15. Watch ye stand fast in the faith quit you like men be strong Be vigilant Blessed is he that watcheth And the like often elsewhere For as the Apostle somewhere elegantly says of a widow who spends her time in the pleasures of sin that she is dead while she liveth so may we say in like manner of a person that takes no thought of GOD nor of his service nor minds the occasions of doing good and holy works how active and busie soever he otherwise is in the affairs of the world that he sleeps while he is awake This mystical sleeping is an insensibility of soul for the things of GOD. The waking or watching opposite to it is the attentiveness the sensibility and the acting of the soul about the things of salvation 'T is true this kind of watching is necessary for us in all the parts of our lives and that no season no occasion should ever find a Christian asleep in this sense But as prayer is the excellentest of all our services so doth it particularly require of us this watching this attention I account therefore that it 's precisely this the Apostle means when he commands us to watch in prayer He would have us bring unto it a soul awakened not overwhelm'd in the cares and passions of the world not loaden and weighed down with thoughts of the flesh not spiritless and languid but stretch'd forth and lifted up to GOD not heedless of what it doth or heeding it by halves but minding the things it asks of Him and that CHRIST of his in whose name it presents it's requests to Him By which you may judge what account we are to make of most mens prayers that are pronounced by the mouth alone without any attention of heart for custom rather then out of any solid devotion Certainly since prayer ought to be made with watching thereunto it is evident that these peoples supplications are to say true dreamings and not prayers They are vain words like to those which a man that dotes utters sometimes in his sleep Those of Rome are so far from taking Christians off from this abuse that they precipitate them into it by that strange and extravagant law for their services which orders the performing them to be in a language that the people understand not Our hearts are so vain that they can hardly keep close to the things and words we understand I beseech you what attention can they have for those they understand not And how do they watch in praying that are so far from thinking upon what they say as they know not what is meant Pies
and Parrots are capable of prayer and of devotion if the uttering of a few words without understanding them be praying to GOD. In fine the Apostle would have us further add to prayer giving of thanks And truly with great reason For how can we ask of GOD new favours if we make not our acknowledgments to Him for those we have already received This duty is so rational that though no other consideration did call for it the thing it self would oblige us to perform it The having receiv'd a benefit is cause enough for rendring of thanks It 's an odious ingratitude to have and use the gifts of GOD without expressing to Him our resentments of them But besides ingratitude it 's impudence too to present our selves to GOD and ask new benefits of Him if we thank Him not for the old It 's herewith therefore that all our prayers should begin and there is no kind of Rhetorique so powerful to perswade His giving for the future as an acknowledgment of what is past He loves to sow His mercies upon such ground as receives them with gratitude He readily hears the vows and prayers of those who have a deep and respectful sense of the favours He hath done them Now tell me not that ye have not yet received any thing from His liberality There 's not a man how wretched and forlorn soever but this Divine Sun of grace and bounty hath visited and imparted some of his benefits unto How much more hath he done it towards you whom He hath honoured with his covenant and unto whom He offereth His Gospel and his CHRIST and in Him all the treasures of His grace and of His glory For I omit this body and this soul this breath and light and that multitude of other good things which he communicateth unto all men in the course of nature But how can you without being dead or at least utterly stupid have no resentment of the grace He hath shewed you in calling you to His communion and thereby to the hope of salvation and eternity Yet though he hath done you so many favours already He forbids you not to crave more of Him His goodness is an inexhaustible deep Beg and pray boldly All that he requireth of you is that ye do it with thanksgiving that ye tender Him your resentments for His first favours if ye would have Him grant the requests ye make Him for further graces This is it Dear Brethren which the Apostle enjoyns the Colossians concerning prayer in general even that they persevere in it and watch unto it with thanksgiving He next sollicits them in the second part of our Text to pray particularly for Him Pray ye saith he together also for us that GOD do open c. As to this I will not stay to chastise the silly subtility of the superstitious who do conclude from the Apostle's requiring the Colossians to pray for him that therefore we may also pray the spirits of the faithful departed which are in Heaven to do us the same office As rationally as if I should infer from St. Paul's writing this Epistle to the Colossians that therefore we have warrant to write letters to the dead These Colossians of whom St. Paul demands the assistance of their prayers were persons living here beneath on earth persons with whom he had mutual commerce in such offices of charity He wrote to them they answer'd him He knew his words would reach them and he look'd again for theirs whereas we have no such commerce with the deceased And as for the reply which is made that they do know our desires and hear our prayers it 's a phansie asserted without proof and without reason such as nothing but the passion of a bad cause hath inspired errour with and which we may not believe since the word of GOD which is the rule and measure of our faith says nothing of it However it be since GOD who everywhere commands us to pray doth no where order us to pray to men departed since the Apostle who presseth the Colossians and divers other believers that were alive to pray unto GOD for him doth no where sollicite them either by his order or by his example to do him the like office by addressing prayers to Saints deceas'd we cannot be faulty in keeping religiously as we do to the commands of GOD and the examples of St. Paul and the other Saints of the Old and New Testament who have indeed prayed unto GOD and verily required the aid of the prayers of living faithful people but never invocated or sollicited the dead to pray for them All that can be duly concluded from this example of the Apostle is that while we war here below under the ensigns of JESUS CHRIST the charity that uniteth us all into one body obligeth us to pray for one another and not only Pastors for their Flocks but also Flocks for their Pastors Who was then or who hath since been greater then St. Paul Yet you see how he disdaineth not the prayers of private Christians He disdaineth them not said I He demands them and requires them expresly Elsewhere he demands the same assistance of the Ephesians and the Thessalonians Hence we may conclude that for any one to have the title given him of a Mediator between GOD and us it is not sufficient that he pray unto GOD for us For by this account the Colossians praying for St. Paul according to the warrant he gives them for it and the request he makes them about it might and should be stiled his Mediatours towards GOD which is infinitely absurd as every one would confess Whence first is refuted the abuse of those that give this glorious quality unto Pastors calling them Mediators between GOD and the people an abuse against which St. Augustine cried out long ago saying That if any man boasted Lib. 3. cont epâ— Parmen c. 8. he was a Mediator between GOD and his Flock good and faithful Christians could not suffer him but would look upon him as an Antichrist and not as an Apostle of JESUS CHIST and concluding that all Christian men recommend one the other unto GOD by their prayers but that we have one onely true Mediator Him that maketh request for us and for whom none makes request to wit our LORD JESUS CHRIST Hence secondly appears further that supposing the faithful departed do pray to GOD for each of us in particular as those of Rome pretend yet this would not be sufficient to acquire them that title of Mediator which they give them since that Flocks praying for their Pastors are not therefore their Mediators it being evident that for the meriting of this title there must be offered to GOD for us besides prayer a propitiation capapable of supporting it and of acquiring us the favour of the Father a thing that pertains to none to do but the LORD JESUS the prayers we make for one another having no other efficacy then what our common Head doth
subject and do entitle themselves Monarchs of not forbearing to put even greatest Princes and Emperors under the yoke of their domination and to exact of them as a mark of lowest servitude the kissing of their feet But this holy and admirable humility of the Apostle appears further still in his speaking as he does of Onesimus whom he sent with Tychicus unto the Colossians He is saith he our faithful Brother c. For who think you was this Onesimus to whom he does so much honour as to call him his faithful and beloved brother Dear Brethren it was a poor fugitive bond-servant that is a person of the meanest and most despicable condition of any at that time as St. Paul himself gives us to understand in the Epistle which he wrote in favour of this at-length-happy fugitive unto Philemon the Colossian his Master where he plainly intimates that this poor man stealing from his Master's house had fled into Italy and got to the City of Rome for safety But oh the admirable providence of GOD who knoweth how to carry on the salvation of His elect by waies that we cannot comprehend the Apostle hapning to be prisoner there and Onesimus led by his curiosity or some other such occasion having heard him was so affected at his preaching as that of a Pagan he became a Christian of a servant of Philemon a free-man of JESUS CHRIST and instead of that temporal impunity for the crime committed against his Master which he fought at Rome he there found the eternal remission of his sins and the salvation of his soul This is that which St. Paul elsewhere means when he saith that he begat him in his bonds Phil. 10. Now the Apostle having shewed him the fault he had committed in deserting his Master he resolves to return home to him and voluntarily render up himself unto his yoke again And that Philemon might pardon his offence he makes him the bearer of a letter which he writes him on this subject a letter so full of all the expressest testimonies of a tender and ardent affection which may be given as does sufficiently prove he did in truth account him as he here terms him his beloved Brother But some of the ancient Writers of the Church do further intimate that Onesimus profited so well in the knowledge of GOD and in piety as notwithstanding the meanness of his condition after the flesh he was advanced to the sacred ministery of the Gospel and executed it in the Church of Ephesus And truly the employment the Apostle gives him here in reference to this whole Church and the company of Tychicus whom he associates him with and the honourable title he gives him stiling him not only his beloved brother which every Christian is capable of but moreover faithful seems to shew that he had some office upon the account whereof for his conscionable acquitting himself in it this testimonial of faithfulness is given him And herein I conceive the Apostle doth also make a secret opposition between the good conscience with which he demeaned himself in this employment and the unfaithfulness he had afore-time shewed to his Master during the time of his ignorance if he hath been otherwhile unfaithful saith he he is now faithful after well-nigh the same manner as the Apostle elsewhere alluding to the word Onesimus which was his name and in Greek signifies profitable says of him to Philemon his Master He was in time past to thee unprofitable Philem. 11. but now profitable to thee and to me This is that Dear Brethren which the first part of the Text doth contain Come we now to the second In it the Apostle presents to the Colossians the salutations of three faithful persons all the three joyntly Ministers of the Gospel and by nation Jews who were then at Rome to serve and assist and refresh him in his imprisonment Aristarchus saith he saluteth you and so the rest in order Whence we may observe first in general what was the zeal and what the charity of those primitive Christians that the hatred and rage of the World was not able to keep them from rendring their devoirs and services to the Confessors and Martyrs of JESUS CHRIST even in Prisons nor from hastning to them out of places ever so far off to succour and comfort them it being evident that of the eight persons mentioned here and in the following Text some came from Greece others from Asia and some again from Syria and Palestine that is many hundred leagues to visit and serve St. Paul And by these Salutations which for their part they send the Colossians you see how these holy and charitable souls were affectionate to flocks as well as Pastors and those that were absent as well as them that were present In fine the Apostles vouchsafing to be as their Secretary on such an occasion shews us that he approves these offices of civility that is salutations of such as are present and by Letter of such as are absent In truth a Christian whose Charity and unfeigned cordial love of men is the principal vertue and as it were the soul and one of the prime principles of his life ought to acquit himself sedulously in all due offices of humanity and if there be in the deportments of other men any thing humane and praise-worthy he should practice it and sanctifie it to his LORDS use As for these three persons in particular the Apostle gives each of them his Elogium The first is Aristarchus a native of Thessalonica in Macedonia Act. 19.20 27.19 20 27. a person noted in the History of the Acts where you see him all along inseparably fastened to S. Paul a companion in his travels and in his tryals running the danger of his life with him in the sedition at Ephesus at his departure thence following him into Greece into Macedonia into Asia and Judea and at last embarking with him when he was carried Prisoner to Rome For this cause the holy Apostle in acknowledgment of so admirable a zeal makes him a sharer with him in his Crown terming him a Captive or Prisoner with him inasmuch as though those unjust Judges had not condemned him yet he took as great a part in the Captivity of St. Paul as if sentence had been given against his own person The second is Mark whom he signalizeth by the honour he had to be Barnabas his cousin german one of the most excellent Disciples of our LORD and that laboured in his work with greatest zeal and fervour as you see in the History of the Acts and some of the Ancients have even attributed to him the divine Epistle to the Hebrews The glory of this holy man being very great in all the Church of GOD the Apostle conceiv'd it a sufficient recommendation of Mark to say he was his Sisters Son He addeth only concerning whom you have received order I am much of their mind who understand these words of some letter that
the will of the LORD is and elsewhere again he commandeth us to prove it The necessity of the other point Rom. 12.2 our LORD JESUS CHRIST sheweth us when He saith in the Gospel according to St. Matthew Not every one that saith unto me LORD LORD shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.21 I acknowledge that while the beleever is here below there want many degrees both in his knowledge of the will of GOD and in the obedience he renders Him of that ultimate and supreme perfection which he shall one day attain unto in Heaven 1 Cor. 13.12 according to the Apostle's assertion in 1 Epist to the Corinthians that now we see through a glass darkly and know but in part but then we shall see face to face and know as we are known Yet this hinders not but that setting this comparison aside that measure of faith and holiness which the faithful do at present attain unto may be termed a perfection and compleatness because it is without hypocrisie reaching to internals and externals and doth include all the parts of true piety and chastity not one left out And it 's in this sense that the truly faithful are oft-times in Scripture called perfect and compleat to wit in reference to the state and measure of the present life for a distinguishing of them not only from prophane and brutish men who take up no part of the will of GOD at all but also from hypocrites and carnal Christians who consider but a part thereof halting between two and are throughly and absolutely neither in CHRIST nor of the world Epaphras had reason to desire this perfection for his Colossians since that no one without it can inherit everlasting life And they who dogmatize that it is not universally necessary for the obtaining of salvation and that it is a matter of counsel as they call it not of command they I say are grievously mistaken and do by this pernicious errour open a door of licence unto wicked men and furnish them with pillows to sleep upon in mortal security For our parts dear Brethren follow we the prayer of Epaphras and take good heed we never count that thing superfluous or unnecessary which he so instantly beg'd of GOD for his flock and sheep And knowing that they shall have no part in Heaven whose righteousness doth not exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and that JESUS CHRIST will receive in thither none but them that have done the will of GOD His Father let us apply our selves with all our might â—o know it and fulfil it Let us give our selves no rest untill by prayers and tears and by continual labour and exercise in the Gospel we have attained to be perfect and compleat in all the will of GOD. Yet it is not enough to attain hereto we must abide and stand firm in it as the Apostle here says persevere constantly to our last breath in this brave and blessed undertaking neither the menaces nor the caresses of the world neither the Sophisms of seducers nor the scandals of false brethren nor the weaknesses of our own flesh ever prevailing over us to make us vary For you know that the crown of salvation is for them alone that persevere It 's thus that Epaphras strove to obtain of GOD by his ardent and assiduous prayers that the Colossians might abide perfect and compleat in all the will of GOD. But because the Apostle knew how much it concerned this people to be firmly perswaded of the affection of their Pastor that he might assure them fully of it he alledgeth to them the authority of his own testimony For saith he I bear him witness that he hath a great zeal that is a very ardent affection for you and for them of Laodicea and of Hierapolis These were two Cities of Phrygia neighbouring on Colosse where the LORD JESUS had Churches that served Him in the faith of His Gospel And that of Laodicea is one of the seven to whom He caused to be written by St. John those excellent Epistles which are read in the first Chapters of his Apocalypse You see what care the Apostle takes to set Epaphras right in the Spirit of his flock Whence you may judge how execrable is the rage or envy of those who quite contrary to this holy man do by their detractions and ill offices endeavour to alienate or slacken the inclination of Churches towards their Pastors and in so doing render their ministry unprofitable to them But to proceed After the salutation of Epaphras the Apostle presents them that of Luke and Demas Luke the beloved Physitian saluteth you saith he and also Demas It 's the constant opinion from all antiquity that the first of these two is the same St. Luke that wrote the third of our Gospels and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles two of the most excellent pieces that we have in the Divine writings of the New Testament And verily besides the name of Luke his own history as seems to me leads us to it For himself relateth that he embarqued with St. Paul when he was carried prisoner into Italy and that he came with him to Rome as you may see in the two last Chapters of the Acts where he describes this voyage Therefore being there with the Apostle there is all the probability in the World that he 's the person St. Paul speaks of in this place it being not found that mention is made in Scripture of any other faithful man of that name He calls him Physician because of his former profession as you see that St. Matthew is sometimes termed a Publican because he e'rwhile was so before his conversion But that same heavenly call that had changed Matthew from a Publican into an Apostle and afore-time of a keeper of sheep made David a Pastor of Nations wrought a like miracle in St. Luke and of a Physician to the body made him a Physician of souls His two books shew us how able he was in this Divine art and as often as you read them at home or hear them publickly here where because of their excellency they are both of them explained to you make account that they are a quantity of wholsome medicines presented you to be applied to your souls as you have need I well know that there are some modern Expositors who referr what the Apostle saith here unto another Luke but they produce no valuable reason For whereas they alledge that the Apostle would have adorned this person with some more illustrious Elogie if he had spoken of Luke the Evangelist this is extremely feeble Is it not a very glorious qualifying of him to call him his well-beloved It 's a great honour to have the love of so holy an Apostle and an assured testimony of piety and vertue Withal it is not alwaies necessary to accompany the names of illustrious persons